As the Liveliness Potion lesson concluded, it was almost dinnertime.
Amelia spoke up and said, "After dinner, there is something I wish to reveal to the Yellow Quartet. Heather, may I please stay for dinner tonight? I don't want to go home and come back later."
"But of course, Amelia, my BFF since we were schoolgirls together!", replied Heather warmly.
"If I may ask?" interjected Sirius, "Amelia, where do you live and who do you live with?"
"I live at Bones Manor. I've been living alone since Susan left Bones Manor at the start of September, " answered Amelia.
"Have you had any feelings of loneliness and emptiness relating to living alone since Susan left?" Sirius asked Amelia in a concerned voice.
"Regularly, " admitted Amelia uncomfortably, "It's hard to come home from work to an empty house. The times I've visited here have all been very uplifting though. My feelings of loneliness and emptiness would be far worse without these visits."
"Well, " said Sirius seriously, "Heather would have to be the one to make the offer since this is her house, but I really think it would be better for you to stay here and live here until such time as you can take Susan home. Living along isn't good for people. The loneliness and emptiness can be a real struggle."
"I'd be delighted to host Amelia at Abbott Manor for the time being, " said Heather sincerely.
"As I'm the Secret Keeper for Bones Manor just as Heather is the Secret Keeper for Abbott Manor, I could leave Bones Manor for awhile and not have to worry about anybody accessing it that shouldn't, " said Amelia matter of factly, "Heather, I would like to accept the offer, but I'll need to make one trip to Bones Manor to retrieve my clothes, magical supplies, things I need for work, etc. "
"Amelia, you can go make that trip now and I'll have Topsy prepare a room for you, " promised Heather.
"Thank you, Heather, " said Amelia gratefully, "And thank you Sirius for suggesting this."
"Loneliness eats away at people in a very unhealthy way, " said Sirius bluntly, "Trust me, Amelia, this will be better for you and you will see that quickly."
Topsy, who had overheard the conversation, popped in and said, "Mistress Abbott, Topsy will quickly prepare a room for Mistress Bones to stay in and then Topsy will make dinner."
"Thank you, Topsy, " said Heather kindly.
After Topsy had prepared Amelia's room, finishing by placing a name tag with the name Amelia on top of the entrance to the room, she went and prepared dinner.
Amelia retuned and put away her possessions before joining Harry, Amy, Susan, Hannah, Sirius, and Heather for dinner.
They all enjoyed a dinner of flame grilled hot dogs with mustard, ketchup, and hot sauce, onion rings, and Jack Daniels and afterwards Amelia said, "Harry, Amy, Susan, and Hannah, I have some information to reveal to each of you about a certain characteristic of yourselves. "
"And what might that characteristic be?" asked Harry curiously.
"Your animagus forms, " explained Amelia patiently, "To be clear, while Dumbledore dumbed down many of the standards at Hogwarts, this is not such a case. Becoming an animagus is LEGITIMATLY difficult magic. It is also EXTREMELY dangerous magic. For these reasons, wizarding law requires all witches and wizards to be at least sixteen years old before attempting to become animagi. As you're all still about five years too young to attempt to become animagi, I won't describe the long and difficult process involved. You will each have to decide for yourselves when the time comes whether or not you wish to attempt to become animagi. However, there is a spell that can reveal what your animagus form would be if you were to choose to become an animagus. Personally, I think it's good for you to know several years in advance what your animagus forms would be because that information may help you decide whether becoming animagi is something you wish to pursue and you'll have some time to think it over before you make the decision."
"That makes all the sense in the world, " agreed Harry.
"The spell to reveal animagus forms is a complex nonverbal spell, said Amelia clearly, "Only a small handful of highly skilled witches and wizards can perform it, but I'm one of the few who can."
"How does it work?" asked Amy eagerly.
"I will make a few wand movements finishing by pointing my wand at your heart, " answered Amelia, "ALL of the wand movements MUST be 100% precise for this spell to work. That's why it's such a complex nonverbal spell. A few seconds and a few nanoseconds after my wand has been pointed at your heart, a virtual image will temporarily appear in front of you showing exactly what you would look like in animagus form.
"100% exact?" asked Susan.
"100% exact!" confirmed Amelia.
"This should be interesting, " piped up Hannah.
"It should, " said Amelia eagerly, "I'll start with Harry."
Amelia retrieved her wand from her right hand pocket and make a few movements before pointing the wand at Harry's heart.
A few seconds and a few nanoseconds later, a virtual plump yellow fwooper appeared in front of Harry.
"That's super cool!" piped up Harry excitedly, "As I pride myself on being part of the Yellow Quartet, I love that my animagus form is yellow. I also love fwoopers, as I feel they represent everything that is good about the peaceful life, being peaceful and content birds. Plus, being a bird animagus would allow me the power of flight without a broom, that would be pretty neat!"
"I hope my animagus form is a dog, " blurted out Amy.
Amelia now performed the spell to reveal animagus forms on Amy and not too long after Amelia's wand had been pointed at Amy's heart, a virtual image of a pure white dog showed itself in front of Amy.
'YES!" yelled Amy, "Woof! Woof!"
"Woof! Woof!' piped up Sirius, grinning at Amy.
"It's perfect, " grinned Amy, "Being an albino, it's so perfect that my animagus form is pure white! AND I get to be a dog. Oh, and I LOVE that my animagus form is the same animal as Sirius's."
"So, " smirked Harry, "Sirius, whose last name is black, has a black dog animagus form, while Amy, who is an albino, has a white dog animagus form. Curious how these things work out sometimes."
"It's wonderful the way Amy and Sirius have taken to each other, " smiled Susan.
At that, without a trace of embarrassment, Amy and Sirius walked up to each other and licked each other on the hand.
"Your turn, Susan, " said Amelia eagerly, excited to see what her niece's animagus from would be.
Almost immediately after Amelia's wand was pointed at Susan's heart, a virtual hippogriff of beautiful stormy gray color was present in front of Susan.
"I'm pleased that my animagus form is a hippogriff, " piped up Susan in a satisficed voice, "Respect and loyalty are the traits I value above all others and hippogriffs really represent that. You must earn their loyalty by respecting them. There's something about that that feels so right to me. I like the gray color as well. To me, the color gray represents non judgmentalism and being able to look at things from multiple points of view instead of just saying, "This is right and that is wrong in black and white terms."
"I'm really proud of you, Susan, " said Amelia genuinely, "You have perspective and maturity beyond your years."
"Thanks, Aunt Amelia, " said Susan glowingly, "And welcome to Abbott Manor. I'm really glad you're joining us."
"I won't be here all the time like Heather and Sirius, " Amelia reminded Susan, "I will still be working."
"All the same, I really appreciate the fact that I'll now get to see you every day, " said Susan gratefully, "Having you here for dinner every night will be really nice."
"Might as well reveal the last one, " said Amelia cheerfully.
The result of Amelia's wand being pointed at Hannah's heart was a virtual orange kneazle appearing in front of Hannah.
"To be honest, I don't really care about my animagus being orange, " admitted Hannah, "I don't dislike it, but I somehow just don't care what color my animagus form is. I am delighted that my animal is a kneazle though. I'm very fond of kneazles as I admire their true intelligence and disdain for unsavory characters."
"Well, " said Heather happily, "It seems like all four of you are happy with your animagus forms."
"We are!" chroused Harry, Amy, Susan, and Hannah.
"Do you guys think you'll want to be animagi five years from now when you'll have the opportunity?" Sirius asked Harry, Amy, Susan, and Hannah.
"YES!" replied Amy at once.
"I don't know yet, " muttered Harry, Susan, and Hannah.
"The thing is, " said Harry in a businesslike voice, "We don't know yet what the process of becoming animagi actually entails. We'll have to learn that before we can even think about that decision. And if there is difficulty and danger involved, we'll need to give the matter serious thought before making a choice."
"That doesn't mean we won't do it, " said Susan matter of factly, "But we should only do it if we are absolutely sure we want to."
"It will need to be a through and thoughtful decision, " added Hannah.
"It is not a decision to be made lightly, " agreed Amelia, "Which is one of the many reasons I support the law requiring witches and wizards to be at least sixteen years old before being allowed to become animagi. There's a lot of responsibility that comes with the decision."
"Either way, I'm glad we now know our animagus forms, " said Harry brightly.
Harry, Amy, Susan, and Hannah were years away from having any consideration of whether they would pursue becoming animagi. Right now, they were just really glad to know their animagus forms and they were all immensely satisfied with their forms.