Unexpected Animagus, Chapter 1
Differences Between American and British Changelings
"Now, just relax and let your animal spirit come to you, Harry. At this point, it is skittish, and slow to trust you. Don't force it."
Harry stayed still, sitting on the floor of Grimmauld's Place, in a darkened room, his legs crossed Indian style. In his mindscape, he saw himself sitting the same way, but in the middle of a forest. He was alone, except for the soft rustling of the wind and the leaves.
He breathed slowly, calmly, following Sirius' instruction. He felt a presence closing in.
Meanwhile, half a world and a whole dimension away, a boy walked nervously, somewhere in Central Park. He was disguised as a common teenager. His natural skin shade hidden under make-up. Expertly applied by a friend.
He was there to act as bait for a predator.
He contained a smirk. If whomever was ambushing kids in Central Park tried to get nasty with him, they would get a big and nasty surprise and maybe a trip to the hospital.
Suddenly, he felt a strange presence, his finely tuned senses warned him that somebody was watching him.
So, no need to ruin the surprise. He kept the charade up, acting as a scared kid. He remembered his years as a child actor, and reigned in his tendency to ham things up.
He his behind a tree, and looked around. Strangely, the temperature seemed to drop. But only inside a small clearing.
Looking around, he tiptoed towards a different tree. He could almost smell a presence, right in the center of the clearing.
Carefully, he circled around the center of the clearing. Right in the middle, his sharp eyes revealed that the grass had been disturbed. There was an indentation, almost… no. Exactly as if somebody had sat there.
The animal spirit came closer to Harry.
Slowly.
So slowly.
Harry didn't dare to open his eyes, for fear of scaring the spirit away.
He stayed still.
"That's weird…" he thought, tempted to call this event in, but he felt no danger, just contained eagerness and curiosity.
He kept going to the place where somebody had recently sat.
Harry could feel the spirit coming closer and closer.
Sirius' voice seemed to come from very far away. Keeping him calm, anchored…
His nose told him that whomever it was, it has been there not too long ago.
No. Scratch that. The smell was very recent, as if…
Invisible?
He squatted next to the center of the clearing, and extended a hand towards where a person sitting there would be.
Something touched him!
He touched something!
Surprised, he jumped back. "Hello? Is somebody there?"
No answer.
Harry opened his eyes suddenly.
"Pup! Are you okay?"
"It touched me, Sirius!"
His godfather grinned like a loon. "Did you see it!?"
"No, but it didn't feel like any animal I know of, it was kinda like a person touching my back."
"That's strange. When we did it, it did feel like an animal nuzzling us."
Sirius rubbed his chin, thinking. "Well… I guess the only thing to do now is to try changing. We didn't know our forms until we changed the first time."
Sirius turned Harry around, keeping his hands on his godson shoulders. "Imagine the change, feel it, accept it. It will be easier if you close your eyes. I am here to catch you."
Harry nodded, closed his eyes, and allowed himself to change. He could feel his body changing, just a bit.
'Let's see… I still have hands… no paws, no wings or flippers."
"Whenever you feel ready, Harry."
"Uh… Sirius… I felt a change… but not really."
"Well, sometimes it takes a few tries." There was a gurgling noise, coming from Harry, Sirius chuckled, "I guess your animal form wants to eat. Let's go grab a bite. Tomorrow we try again, okay?"
Harry felt disappointed and shrugged. He took his wand, and said "Lumos" to lit the lamps around the room. He heard a gasp from Sirius.
"Harry! What happened?"
"Uh? What do you mean?"
"Here, look by yourself." Sirius handed him a mirror. Harry almost dropped it when he saw his reflection.
Instead of the familiar face of an awkward teenager, with untameable black hair, green eyes, oval-shaped face, and a lightning bolt-shaped scar on the forehead, the face that looked at him from the other side of the mirror was round, topped by wavy hair. But the most striking thing about this other face was the colour.
"Sirius! I'm green! Completely green!"
Half a world and a dimension away, Garfield Logan stood up, the presence had disappeared. He checked his make-up in a pocket mirror, and saw a green streak under his jaw. Quickly, he went back into the denser agglomerations of trees near by, and pulled a communicator from a secret compartment. "Robbie? Gar here, I need to evac, make up failure." He waited for the answer, and continued. "No, just clumsy. I'll fly away to the Tower, see if Donna can fix this.
After looking around, the teenager disappeared, and in his place a green bumblebee flew away.
Author note.
I have wanted to write an OP Harry for a good while, but not Spectre-level. I've been a big fan of the New Teen Titans ever since the first issue, and want to dedicate this snippet to the great George Perez, who recently announced he has little time left.
Mr. Perez, thank you. For everything.