Hello and welcome.

In this story Harry accidentally becomes an animagus, which does not make it unique in the fanfiction universe. However, while this story line has been explored many times before, I feel like a lot of stories abandon the animal form quite quickly; after animal Harry is discovered, he rarely returns to his animal form and it does not impact the story much beyond that point. This story is an attempt to keep the animal form at the centre of the story.

Furthermore, I felt like trying to write a story for my own amusement and possibly improve these skills a little. This is my first story and I am doing this for fun. As such, any constructive criticism will be appreciated. Be aware, English is not my mother tongue, a lifetime of exposure to American popular culture has probably hugely impacted my vocabulary.

Chapter 1: Hunting

Carefully he peeked out of the school gate, checking on both sides if anybody was waiting for him. When he did not spot anybody, he sighed and tightened the straps of his schoolbag one last time. Then he exited the gate and started walking homewards carefully.

After a few meters he saw them, they had hidden behind a parked car. Bryan yelled "Get him boys" as the bullies jumped up and ran towards him. Their faces a mix of anger and happy anticipation as they charged.

He quickly twisted around and started running in the other direction and the three other boys sprinted after him. The latest round of Harry hunting had begun. Why did they never grow tired of this? Why was nobody stopping them?

The three boys chasing him were a few of the fitter of Dudley's friends, the ones responsible for chasing him, swiping his legs and holding him down until the bigger boys could join them. The regular chases had resulted in Harry becoming quite fast, lately he had been able to outrun them, much to their frustration. They had even given up the game for the last week, bored by their lack of success. But not today, after what happened today in class, the hunt was on.

Harry quickly ran around the corner into the alley between the school and the church. When the hunters rounded the corner, one of them repeated their previous call: "Get him boys". Dudley and his remaining friends jumped from their hiding places and blocked the alley. This was a trap.

Harry was going full speed, the only way to go was forward at this point. Approaching the first boy, he feinted to the right, but at the last moment he pulled the right arm of the boy and changed his direction to the left. By turning right again, he was also able to pass the second boy. But at this point harry had lost his speed, making it more difficult to avoid the other attackers.

Dudley had been waiting behind the first two boys and now swung his fist straight in Harry's face. Harry tried to turn his head away in the last moment, but Dudley caught him on his left jaw. Harry felt his head spin and saw black spots. He fell on the hard pavement, but immediately tried to roll away from the danger that was his cousin. "Let's teach him a lesson!" Dudley shouted angerly.

Today was a bad day. Normally the other kids in the class, the ones not part of Dudley's gang, ignored him. But today Emma had approached Harry to give him an envelope. "Here you go Harry", she had chirped happily.

His cousin had immediately interjected, "what is that?"

"It's an invitation." Emma had replied. "An invitation to my birthday party. Mother allowed me to invite ten classmates."

Dudley had frowned, "Where is my invitation?"

"I am not going to invite you. You are a nasty, stupid boy. I don't want you at my party." Emma had replied.

Things had not gone well from there.

At lunch time, Emma's yoghurt had mysteriously opened in her schoolbag, spoiling all her papers and stuff. In the afternoon break she had found her new, beautiful coat buried in the playground. At the end of the day, Harry had no longer been invited to the party.

Harry scrambled on his feet, trying to get away. But he was kicked down by Eric, Dudley's best friend. Rolling on his back, he watched his cousin approaching, his face twisted with anger. "Today we will try something new, my friends." Dudley reached in his pocket and took out a switchblade. "Let's give my dear cousin a scar on his cheek to match the one on his forehead." Dudley said as the knife sprang open.

Harry kept crawling backwards, while Dudley and his gang approached him. This was a new level of Harry hunting. Sure, he had received bruises and some wounds from them. But cutting his skin? Some of Dudley's friends watched each other uncertainly. "Are you sure that is necessary, Dudders?" Bryan asked. But Eric answered, "That is just what the little freak deserves. Don't worry, we will not end up in trouble." Eric was a very disturbing boy.

Breathing heavily, Harry started to panic, he had to get out now. Releasing his arms from his school bag he scrambled on his feet one last time, fleeing away in the only direction available to him, further in the alley. "Get him!" Dudley howled. Harry gained ten meters before the bullies started chasing him. His heart was beating madly in his chest. He was sprinting as fast as he could, but he felt the other boys close. He dashed around the corner, going into the small alley that lead to a small side entrance to the school. Maybe there was still a teacher present that would save him?

But he immediately realised his mistake, at this hour, this entrance had been closed already. A feeling of desperation washed over him, this was going to end badly.

But then something happened.

Harry felt a warm glow spread from the centre of his body to his legs, his arms, his feet, his toes,…, This glow turned to a burning sensation and the next thing he knew, his body changed, shrunk, became less heavy and darker. Instead of moving his legs, he was flapping his wings. His wings? What was this?

When Dudley and his gang turned the corner, they did not see Harry. They only saw a startled crow that flew away from the noise they were making. "Where did he go?", Dudley shouted.

Meanwhile the new crow flapped his wings harder and flew up in the air. When he reached the school building, he landed on the rooftop, trying to make sense of what had just happened. Down in the alley he heard Dudley shout again, "But where could he have gone? We just saw him round the corner!". Harry opened his beak and a happy caw was heard from the roof.

The gang kept checking every corner of the alley, but after fifteen minutes they gave up. "We will get the little freak tomorrow, Dudders.", Eric had said, "In the meanwhile, Bryan here can buy us all some candy at Tesco".

"But Eric, I bought you all some candy yesterday." Bryan dared to reply.

"You should have thought of that before you let the little Freak escape, Twerp." Eric roughly grabbed Bryan around his neck and starting pulling him away. Laughing, the rest of the boys followed the pair. While passing Harry's schoolbag, Dudley picked it up and dropped it in a waste bin

Harry had watched from his spot on the roof. The initial relief after his miraculous escape had started to turn to worry. How would he change back into a boy? How did he change into a crow in the first place? Would he be able to fly down now that the initial adrenaline rush had gone away?

He managed to glide down the roof into the gutter, which luckily was dry, but very dirty. Looking for a way down he hopped the complete length of the gutter, bit he did not see any way other than flying. After a while the sun started setting, it was march and the days were still quite short. Surprisingly, Harry was not affected by the cold wind on top of the roof too much, his feathers protected him. But the hungry feeling did start to bother him.

When it became even darker, Harry found a place to shelter in an old bird's nest that was lying in the gutter. Tucked away there, the draining events of the passed hours caught up with him and he fell asleep.