This chapter will be introducing a new concept. Aside from "speech," `thoughts,' and speaking through the mind, there is also *animal language* being used. It will be used first without any warning, so be warned now, I guess. It will be partially explained in this chapter, though, but the full story won't unfold just yet.
A few more things, too. Long author's note today, I suppose. First of all, last chapter McGonagall made a comment about Fudge - that's wrong, obviously. He's dead. She should have said that they didn't want the Ministry finding out about the Order yet, as it is in a state of disarray still. Secondly, When Dumbledore spoke to Harry and Hermione about Ron and Miss "Granger," that should have been Miss Weasley - Ginny - instead. My mistake, sorry.
It has also come to my attention that some of my copywrite notices are rather harsh and foreboding. I'm not much for that type of thing myself, so I went with what a few people close to me suggested. I'm sorry for how they came across - while it is true that I am rather attached to the ideas that I spent years developing, there are better ways to ask people not to steal them that I have used.
Like, please don't use the ideas in this story that I have mentioned belong to me. If you wish to or simply want more information, just send me an email, and we can talk.
And feel free to use those ideas from JK Rowling, as that I have no say or control over. They aren't mine to begin with, anyway.
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Chapter Twenty One: Wandless Magics (Core)
The sound of Hermione breathing was all that Harry was focusing on that morning in the study. Although Professor McGonagall had suggested that they focus on either nothing at all or the sound of the fire, Harry found himself relaxing more listening to the steady in and out breaths from his classmate and - he could admit it - his girlfriend.
"You have decided on a size, Harry?" McGonagall's strict voice was usually distant and soft, but Harry resisted the temptation to open his eyes just yet anyway. He knew he wasn't supposed to until she said so.
"I..." Harry started as a brief image of a large black dog flashed through his mind. "Yes. I want to be a larger animal. Like my father and... Sirius." He whispered the last name, and found himself thinking of the fireplace suddenly. He was very glad that Remus had done some redecorating in the form of throwing out a few house elf heads.
"And you, Hermione? I assume you have chosen, correct?"
Harry half thought he felt her nod in response to the question before she replied, but he might have just been hearing things. "I want to be a smaller animal... like you, Professor," Hermione admitted.
"Very good," McGonagall said, clapping her hands together once to tell them to open their eyes. Even though it was the second day of lessons - and the fourth lesson in total - they were used to the command by now. "In that case, I want you both to concentrate your magic. While you are focusing with your eyes open this time, you must scan through your mind for animals of the appropriate size. In theory, you should..." she trailed off as a glow started to surround Hermione.
Harry's focus was shot the moment she started to shrink down in size until she was standing at about the same level of Crookshanks. He was very glad that the half kneazle wasn't in the room suddenly. She stayed that size for three long breaths before snapping to her original height again.
Their Professor cleared her throat with a smile and nodded. "Indeed. You should adjust your size to match. This means you are ready for the next step." As she said this, she looked to Harry, who quickly started to focus again after giving Hermione a brief smile.
It was the oddest sensation as everything around him started to grow just a little bit. Once he was sure that everything was at least a foot taller than it had been moments ago, just as quickly the experience was over and everything was back to normal. He looked back and forth between his professor and Hermione. "Did I do it right?" he asked.
"Absolutely, Harry," Hermione reassured him.
"Good," McGonagall said. "You can both do it properly. In that case, I want you to do it thirty more times, and then you may take a short break to get something for lunch. After lunch, we will delve a little deeper into your magic and see if we can get a glimpse of your animagi form." At their shocked expressions, she smiled lightly to them. "Usually it would take several weeks to get to the stage that you have both reached. You should be very proud, but we still have a lot of work to do."
When Harry collapsed into the closest chair in the kitchen an hour later, he wondered briefly if he now had an idea about how a marathon runner must feel after training, and the idea brought a smile to his face as Hermione slumped into a chair next to him.
"That's wonderful, isn't it?" she asked with a weak smile. "I mean, that we're so far along already. If we really push ourselves this afternoon and evening, then we might even be able to take form, even if it is only briefly."
"Aren't you tired, `Mione?" Harry asked in disbelief.
"Beyond tired," Hermione said with a grin as she set her head on the table just a moment before Harry did. "I think Ron would say knackered, actually."
"True. Hungry, though? Or thirsty?"
"Not enough to get up just yet," she replied, lifting her head and pushing her brown bushy hair out of her equally brown eyes. "Why? Hoping I'd be able to get it for you?"
"No!" Harry objected at once, sitting up quickly and finding her giggling at him. He loved it when she giggled -her eyes seemed even richer whenever she did, and he found himself getting lost in them again. When she blinked, the spell was broken and he shook his head. "No, I was offering, actually."
"You can move?"
"No need," Harry replied. He looked over to the counter and saw a basket of dinner rolls and a pitcher of pumpkin juice that someone had probably left out earlier by mistake. "Accio rolls and pitcher," he said, holding up both hands to catch the basket and jug as they flew towards him. "Accio goblets," he added once he had set them down. Turning back to Hermione, he found her staring at him in some sort of shock. "What?" he asked. "Didn't you think of a summoning charm?"
"I... Harry..." Hermione started, shaking her head as though to clear cobwebs from it. "You just summoned those without a wand, didn't you?"
Looking back to the goblets in his hand and the food on the table, he shrugged. "I guess. Do you want some or not?"
"Of course I do!" Hermione replied hastily, picking up a roll and biting into it rather savagely as he poured some juice for both of them. "But I was just saying that what you did just now..."
"I've been doing little things like that for a while," Harry interrupted her. "Summoning stuff and the Lumos and Nox spells, I mean," he explained. He saw an odd glint in her chocolate eyes suddenly, and he held up a hand. "Can we save the lesson for later, Professor?" he asked with a grin. Leaning in a bit, he dropped his voice to a whisper. "Your parents didn't yell too much at you this morning, did they?"
His sudden shift of topics seemed to catch her by surprise, but she recovered quickly enough. After taking a pull from her goblet, she leaned in as well. "My mom's very understanding," she whispered. "So's my dad. They know we're not doing anything that we're too young for. How about you?"
Harry shook his head. "Well, Remus started by trying to teach me a few locking and silencing charms..." he said slowly, waiting for her reaction. When she shot back in surprise, he couldn't help but chuckle. "Then I pointed out that he sounded too much like Sirius." The laughter was gone from his eyes in an instant at the name, and she leaned in quickly.
"What did he say?"
"He said he was trying to make me feel better," Harry admitted. "But then I told him that I wanted his reaction, and if I was going to be punished for it, so be it."
Hermione looked into Harry's green eyes for a moment as though searching them before saying anything. "You'd take a punishment over him reacting like..."
"Yes," Harry cut her off. "Remus is my godfather now," he added. "So I don't want him pretending to be someone else when he's acting out his responsibilities."
"So I guess that means we won't be sleeping in the same bed again for quite some time, right?" Hermione asked in a quiet whisper. After her talk with her mother in the early morning, she couldn't help but be a little disappointed by the way things were turning out. She wanted to be as close to him as possible at night - his mere presence meant so much more than ever before suddenly.
"Do you want to know the one piece of advice he gave me?" Harry asked with a grin. When Hermione nodded hesitantly, as though afraid of the answer, he went on. "He said that when we are alone, I should never hesitate to listen to you first, above all others."
Hermione smiled broadly as she leaned back in her chair again. "I knew I liked him for at least one good reason," she laughed. "He really said that?"
"Not quite what I expected either, truth be told," Harry admitted.
They both sat in relative silence for a few minutes as they ate what Harry had brought over before standing again. Hermione stopped Harry by the door. "So, does that mean we can spend tonight together, too?"
"So long as you don't mind if I kiss you," Harry said, wrapping an arm around her to pull her a little closer. "I didn't really get to say good morning today, after all."
Unfortunately, their lessons after lunch didn't go quite as well as any of them had hoped, given how exhausted they were. Taking half an hour break after draining themselves really wasn't enough. They did manage to change sizes a few more times, and McGonagall told them about a few of her friends who were also animagi.
This fact seemed quite odd, given that they had never seen her with anyone outside of the school before. She seemed almost lost in another world as she spoke about her friends that she hadn't seen for several years - they would only get together for a reunion every now and again.
After supper, on the other hand, was a lot better. The long rest and good food seemed to help replenish their magic reserves to an almost brand new level. After their relaxation exercises, their Professor stood up and abruptly changed into a cat.
Harry smiled to Hermione and nodded to her. "You first," he offered.
Although she looked a little nervous, she closed her eyes and brought her hands up a little to try and help her focus. The odd white glow surrounded her again, and at the ground before her a small animal seemed to be taking form in the light. With a bushy lion tail and the feline physique, the animal sat proudly in front of her.
In an instant, the creature vanished again and Hermione faltered for a moment before sitting down hard on the ground, feeling drained. She shook her head at Harry when he tried to go to her aide. "Your turn, first," she insisted while the tabby cat just looked back and forth between them.
"Right," Harry agreed. Unlike Hermione, he kept his eyes open as he brought his hands up. The point of this exercise was to show them what their forms would look like, and give them an indication for tomorrow just what they were striving towards.
The glow that formed around him shifted abruptly to be in front of him instead, and a large creature started taking shape. It took him more than a minute to realise that he was looking at what appeared to be a leopard with grey fur and black splotches before the air shimmered in front of him and he fell back in shock, the form vanishing in an instant.
The leopard had spread a set of brilliant blue translucent wings just before he had fallen.
When he came back to his senses and found both Hermione and McGonagall hovering over him, concern evident on their faces, he shook his head and smiled. "I'm fine, don't worry," he said quickly. "Just a little more tired than I expected, that's all."
"Did you manage to see your animal first, Harry?" McGonagall asked as Hermione helped him back to his feet. "If not, then I am afraid that I must ask you to try again."
Harry frowned at the question. "Of course I saw it. Didn't you?"
Hermione answered before their Professor could. "Only the person attempting the image can see the creature before them, Harry. We don't know if you saw anything or not," she explained calmly, though she still seemed worried about the way he had just fallen over. "But you saw it, then? What are you going to be, Harry?"
"You first," Harry suggested with a grin to her.
To his surprise, she actually blushed at his suggestion and looked away. "Looks like I'm following in your footsteps, Professor," she said softly. "A cat was in front of me."
After what Hermione had said just a moment earlier, Harry decided it best to stay quiet until they were alone together. He knew that it wasn't just a cat - it looked far to much like Crookshanks to be `just a cat,' after all. "Congratulations, `Mione," Harry said with a half forced smile. He was proud, but surprised that she didn't pick up on what he had. "I think it fits you."
"Thanks," she whispered before looking back to him harshly after a long silence. "Well?"
"Well what?" Harry asked, pretending that he didn't know what she was talking about.
"I believe Hermione wishes to know what form you will be taking, Harry," McGonagall explained. "As do I, actually."
Harry nodded and took a deep breath. "I think I'm a leopard, actually," Harry replied after a moment. "That's what it looked like to me, anyway."
"Very good, very good indeed," McGonagall said with a small smile to both of them. "Fine choices. You will do well. Get a good night's sleep tonight, and tomorrow, we will see about first time transformations."
"Isn't tomorrow Christmas, Professor?" Harry pointed out.
"We aren't doing anything until New Year's, Harry, remember?" Hermione asked, nudging him before putting an arm around his waist. "So no rest for the weary, I'm afraid."
"I'm still giving you something tomorrow," he promised her.
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Night had properly fallen in London, and particularly in Number Twelve, Grimmauld Place. Everyone who was staying the night was in bed and all the lights were off save what was given off by the fires that were crackling under their own will.
Harry Potter, however, was not sleeping. Nor, he was sure, was the beautiful witch in his arms that was lying with him. Sure, he knew she was trying to sleep, or perhaps only pretending for his own benefit, but even after sleeping together for only two nights now, he could tell when she was faking it and when she wasn't.
"You aren't sleeping, are you?" Harry whispered after finally summoning his Gryffindor courage and giving her a light squeeze. "What's wrong?"
Hermione didn't respond right away, though she did look up to him slowly, her eyes large and dark in the quiet solitude of their room. Together with her bushy brown hair, Harry found himself thinking of a cute little bear cub as he looked down to her.
"Something doesn't make sense, that's all," she whispered. "But why aren't you sleeping yet, Harry? Aren't you tired?"
"You bet I am," Harry said with a grin as a yawn half interrupted his voice. "But I can't very well fall asleep right now if you need me, now can I?"
Hermione squeezed him a little tighter and seemed to try to burrow a little deeper into his chest as she did so. "It's comments like that that make you so special, you know?" she whispered. When he didn't reply, she looked up to him again. "Would you think it odd if I told you that I saw something impossible earlier?"
"You're turning into a kneazle, not a cat!" Harry blurted out before he could stop himself. When her eyes went even wider in surprise, Harry closed his firmly, not wanting to see her reaction to his bold statement. Her words had reminded him, but he couldn't take them back now.
"You could see, too?" she asked in surprise.
"What do you mean, `too?'" Harry asked, opening his eyes slowly to see her smiling at him. "What, do you mean that you could see..."
"The blue wings?" Hermione whispered. Harry didn't know what to say, but fortunately Hermione kept going. "I don't know what they mean, Harry. I've never heard of an animal like that. Maybe the elves know something, or even Rozan. But a leopard with wings?"
"Lyra," Harry said without thinking.
"Lyra?" Hermione asked in amazement.
Harry shrugged. "I don't know where that came from, actually," he admitted. "But that's what it's called. I know that much, anyway."
To his surprise, Hermione didn't seem skeptical at the news that the name of the creature suddenly came to him, even though he didn't have the faintest idea of just what a lyra really was. "Well, during one of our breaks tomorrow, we'll have to look through our book from Care of Magical Creatures, won't we?" she suggested. "Maybe it is in it, and we can figure out just what all this means." She fell silent for a moment, and Harry could make out the fact that she was biting her lower lip as she tilted her head down a little, and knew she was thinking about something still. He didn't have to prompt her, though. "Do you think Ron and Ginny have really forgiven us?"
"For what?" Harry asked bitterly. "For trying to enjoy life?" He felt Hermione stiffen a little in his arms, and he sighed. "Sorry, `Mione, but it really upset me how they reacted. You know that. But if they have come around... it'll be alright. Everything will go back to normal. Or at least, as normal as things get around me." When he felt her molding into him again, he tightened his grip around her and felt her shudder a yawn. "Now, no talking. Time sleep now."
"Yes Grawp," Hermione smiled, closing her eyes and letting her dreams keep her in Harry's arms.
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It was midmorning, and Harry had yet to decide which was a better treat - waking up with Hermione still in his arms, or Professor McGonagall letting them go without training that morning. Yes, it was Christmas morning, but it somehow didn't feel like to Harry.
Part of this was because ever since he had been brought back to the wizarding world, Christmas was always a time when he was surrounded by friends - even if it was only Ron and Hermione. Today, however, had been very odd thus far, mostly because of Hermione's obvious absence.
When Harry asked her parents about where she was, they were surprisingly tight lipped with their answers, too. She had gotten up so quickly that morning, he hadn't had a chance to ask what her plans for the day were aside from training, and he was quickly finding that his house was much larger on the inside than he had first assumed, even after the time he had spent there last year.
As he was climbing up the stairs after checking the kitchen again, movement behind him called him to a stop. He turned at the sound of his voice being called, and found himself face to face with one he hadn't expected to see again until the school year had started.
The Wanderer was holding out his hands to Harry, and had a small package in either hand. When he made no other movement, Harry descended the stairs again and took both of the oddly wrapped items carefully, but didn't take his eyes off the elf, who had his hood down.
"I believe you will both find those quite useful," Talisien said calmly. "And after Ali suggested it, I thought it prudent to give them to you in person. I have long since learned not to ignore her advice. I decided that since this day holds value to humans, it would be a good day to gift them to you."
Harry filed that information away as he shook his head. "Thanks and all," he said quickly. "But do you know where Hermione is? She took off this morning, and I know she's somewhere in the house, but I haven't been able to find her..."
Harry trailed off as the Wanderer turned and vanished almost instantly. Before he could even try to follow after him, he found Hermione standing just behind where the elf had been, smiling a little shyly to him.
"Sorry, Harry," she said softly. "But I had something to do this morning before I could really spend much time with you," she explained, taking her hands out from behind her back to reveal a small package wrapped in gold paper. "Can we go to our room?"
`Our room?' Harry thought with a little thrill shooting up his spine. Rather than trust his voice, he simply nodded and climbed the stairs again. Once at the door, he held it open and ushered Hermione inside before closing the door again and sealing it with one of the locking charms that Remus had ended up teaching him in the end.
"Find anything out about lyras, Harry?" Hermione asked as she settled herself onto his bed. "I mean, I know that you checked the library for me - I'm sure that was one of the first places you looked, actually - but did you actually do any reading while you were there?"
Harry looked at her blankly for a minute before answering. "There's a library in my house?" It always amazed him how Hermione seemed to know more about his own home than he did. "Well, I guess there is, obviously, but where is it?" He sat down on the bed next to Hermione and shook his head before she could answer. "Never mind. Tell me later," he whispered. "I didn't get to wish you good morning today, either..."
To his surprise, Hermione pulled back after a quick kiss on the lips and smiled nervously to him. "Later, okay?" she whispered. "First, I've got something to give you before I lose my nerve."
Harry set the two packages from the Wanderer down on the floor and stood up from the bed quickly to pull out his gift to Hermione from the desk in the room. He had left it wrapped in the red and white cloth, but there was no time left to wrap it properly anyway.
"I've got something for you now, too."
He gave her his gift as she gave him his, but saw right away that she barely even noticed that he had given her anything. Whatever was in the small box had her on edge, so he turned his attention to it instead of her face - and more importantly her expressive eyes and lush lips.
He ripped the paper from the box in one quick movement, and found himself holding a wooden box that seemed to have been carved from a single block of wood. It reminded him of a brief instant of the gift that he had received from Kailyn for his birthday, for it had been in a similar type of box. Lifting the lid carefully, he took out a golden chain that had a small medallion on the end.
The medallion seemed to be made of gold as well, and looked almost as old as the necklace that he had seen Fey wearing in Diagon Alley before school started. It was about the size of a walnut, though it was flat, and had - interestingly enough - a lightning bolt engraved upon the otherwise smooth surface.
After getting over his initial surprise, he held it out to Hermione slowly. She looked into his eyes for a moment until she understood what he was asking, and set the gift from him aside as she took the chain. Undoing the clasp, she reached around his neck and did it up again carefully, letting the weight of the medallion itself fall to his chest to rest just below his collarbone as she gave him a quick kiss on the nose.
He didn't have to ask what the medallion was for... the look in her eyes and the way she was acting told him more than enough.
"My parents promised," she whispered into the silence before Harry's body took over on instinct and pulled her to him, up into his lap as he held her as close as possible. She turned her head to meet his lips and found herself pulled into a kiss more passionate and desperate than she had ever even dreamed about.
Sometime between when their mouths parted to allow each other access and Hermione closing her eyes to reveal in the sensations, they ended up lying down on the bed with Harry underneath Hermione, both her hands on his chest as his hands seemed to fly up and down her back driving her wild, making her kiss him even more fiercely.
She started at the feeling of his hands against her bare back as her blue tank top was pushed up just a little, and moaned as he pulled her down a little closer. She felt that if they were any closer together they would be one person, and that made her blush and pull away just a little to look into his eyes.
Slowly, she moved one of his hands from the small on her back around to her stomach and held it there for a moment. It was on the outside of her shirt again, but she didn't care. As she stared into his wonderful ocean eyes - both for their sea green and the emotions that were pouring from them - she moved his hand up slowly.
She gasped as his fingers ran along the nipple of her left breast, and felt him pull away just a little before she pushed into him, trying without saying anything to keep him there. He seemed to get the message as she leaned in to kiss him again, since he started to caress her breast through the fabric of her shirt and bra, causing her to moan into his mouth.
Neither had any idea how long they stayed like that, but all of a sudden Harry pulled his hand away from her breast and returned it to her back. During their passion, he had switched breasts once as he switched the positions of his hands, and she held her breath, assuming he was just doing the same thing until he simply held her close, causing her to collapse on top of him, breathing heavily.
"We have to stop," Harry whispered into her ear, having turned her head just enough to prevent them from kissing again right away. "Your parents will be wondering where we are soon, I still have a gift I want to give you, and if we don't stop now, I don't think I'm going to want to stop."
"That's a change from two days ago, isn't it?" Hermione whispered back, shivering at the feel of his breath on her neck and ear. "You said then that..."
"I know," he cut her off. "And I stand by that," he added. "But if we keep going now, I don't know if I'll be able to hold back... even though I want to."
"You are amazing, you know that, Mr. Potter?" Hermione said with a smile as she propped herself up on her elbows. "Most wizards your age - scratch that, most boys your age would give anything to be in your position with a willing female, but you're refusing to do anything, even though I'd let you."
"I'm not most wizards, `Mione," Harry whispered in return as he gently pushed her up. Getting the message, she moved off him slowly and helped him up too so they were both sitting down on the bed again. "I would have thought you'd know that by now," he added with a grin.
They stayed silent for a moment before Hermione looked back to Harry again. "I take it you liked your first present, did you?" she asked carefully. Although she understood the elven vows, it didn't mean she wasn't nervous about them now that they had started. She knew how important Harry felt them to be, and didn't want to mess them up by mistake.
"I love it," Harry replied, fingering the metal carefully as he turned the medallion over a few times before letting it fall to the chain again. "Only one vow left, now," he added. "And it's basically engagement then."
Hermione didn't reply, but instead picked up the cloth wrapped gift from Harry. "So, what's in here?" she asked, trying to guess through the fabric. It wasn't a light object, but it wasn't too heavy, either. She knew for certain that it was a hard object, but the fabric was so thick that it concealed it otherwise.
"Open it and find out," Harry suggested gently as he tucked a stray strand of her brown hair back over her ear and out of her face.
She blushed at how gentle he was being before turning back to the task at hand and removing the fabric. She could practically feel the effects of time on the cloth, and knew that it was centuries old, yet still holding together. Although she was curious where he had come across such an old object, she said nothing until she withdrew the dagger from the cloth, looking at it in the simple brown leather sheath it had come in.
Although the pommel was golden with an odd marking upon it, the hilt itself was rather simple as well, and the grip was wrapped in black leather. She pulled it slightly from the sheath and stopped the moment it started to come free from it.
The blade seemed to be glowing white. Looked up to Harry, she found that he seemed to have a glow around him, too, though to say just what colour would have been impossible - he seemed to either have a glow that was an absence of all colours or a mixture of them all. Even though she knew it was a paradox, she couldn't explain it any other way.
Looking to herself, she found a white and blue glow - just like she had when she had looked at herself through her magics' eye as Fey had suggested during her detention earlier in the year.
If she focused a little, she could still see everything around her, but also saw the magics that were flowing around and through things. It was as though she could see both with her magics' eye and her normal vision at the same time.
The moment she returned the blade to the sheath entirely, the extra energy vanished and her normal vision returned completely. She could only look to the weapon in surprise - a dagger that could reveal all magics around her was invaluable. She knew Harry had a good deal of galleons in his Gringotts account, but she doubted it was enough for this!
"It's so you can take part in my lessons with Kailyn," Harry explained when she looked up to him. "I figured that you wouldn't just want to sit and watch, and now you can take part, too. Great, right?"
A little voice was nagging Hermione, and she looked back down to the dagger. "Is there anything special about mine?" she asked quietly.
"You mean like there is with the Oakrium?" Harry asked with a smile as he patted the dagger at his own side. The blade on his weapon was much longer than that of Hermione's new one, but they were both still daggers. "I don't think so. I got it from Fey, who said it would be excellent for you to train with," he explained. "Why?"
"Just curious," Hermione replied. Before she could say anything else, there was a knock on their door, followed swiftly by a few muffled curses and then an Alohomora spell. When the door still didn't open, Harry got up and muttered something under his breath as he pulled it open to find Professor McGonagall on the other side, flanked by both Hermione's parents - she figured that her dad had been the one who had cursed.
Hermione wasn't sure how she did it, but somehow she managed to keep a straight face, even though Harry had cracked up the moment he had laid eyes on their Professor. She was wearing a large red hat with white trim and a white pompom on the end rather than her usual black pointed hat.
She also looked a little affronted at Harry's laughter, and turned to Hermione instead. "Once you have both donned your gifts from Talisien, I would like you downstairs in the study for some training. Today - with a little luck - you should be able to transform for the first time."
"Gifts from Talisien?" Harry asked in surprise, looking back to the small packages. "What did he give us? And how do you know about them?"
"He asked me to ensure that you knew they were not against the regulations of the school," she replied with a small smile. "We do wear school robes, after all."
Hermione had already bent down to pick up the package with her name written on it, and passed the other one to Harry. They both removed the leaf wrappers and found themselves hold a very thin piece of green fabric. Letting it unfurl completely, they found that they were holding cloaks.
Before either really took a chance to look at them, Harry swung his around and did it up around his shoulders. Although the fabric seemed very light, he could feel the weight of it on his back and knew that it was very strong material. The hood seemed to have gone up of its own accord, and he pushed it down at once to free his head before looking down at himself.
This meant that he missed Hermione putting on her cloak, too. She felt much better wearing it suddenly, as it let her hide what clothes she was wearing, making her feel a little more at home in the wizarding household where no one aside from herself - at least, no non-muggles - were wearing anything but robes.
Both nodded to one another and followed their Professor downstairs and back to the study where they had been training thus far. Hermione paused briefly to give her mother a quick hug and her father a kiss on the cheek before running to catch up.
Both parents exchanged a slow look to one another, smiled, and went downstairs to the kitchen to help prepare a dinner for later on in the day.
"Professor..." Harry started once she had closed the door behind Hermione. "I've got a quick question before we begin today, if that's alright."
"It will be, Harry, but as I said yesterday, if I am calling you by your names, you might as well return the favour," she suggested, flicking the tip of her hat out of her sight again. She wasn't sure why she had agreed to wear it in the first place, but Mike had been quite insistent.
"Are magical creatures possible through animagus training?"
His question seemed to have caught her off guard, but she smiled and nodded slowly. "They are possible, but rather rare. Why, I remember when I was training... years ago now, I suppose, one of my best friends took on a magical form," she explained. "A very dangerous form at that, but it was very magical as well. He can become a lethifold."
"No!" Hermione blurted out before she could stop herself. "A creature of shadows like that? I thought animagus were rather restricted to safer forms," she said a bit calmer, trying to hide her embarrassment at having shouted out.
"There is record of a single basilisk animagus in the past, Hermione," McGonagall reminded her. "As I'm sure you are aware if you think for a moment about the registered witches and wizards." Hermione flushed under the veiled compliment, but didn't say anything. "Why do you ask, Harry?"
"Because I think Hermione's a kneazle, not a cat," he explained. "And I don't know what the ruddy hell I am."
"Harry!" Hermione said loudly in shock. Swearing at a teacher, especially one that was taking their time to teach them extra activities...
"Can you describe it?" McGonagall didn't seem fazed at all by either outburst.
"I think I'm a lyra," Harry replied easily. "At least, that's the name that comes to me. The animal looks like a leopard to me, but it also has blue transparent wings at the same time, and I know leopards don't have those, right Minerva?"
McGonagall remained silent for a few minutes, as though lost in thought, and then she shook her head. "We shall see," she declared. "Now, relaxation, and we will begin."
After the hour long relaxation exercise was over and she had clapped her hands, both students stood from the ground again. Surprisingly, their cloaks didn't seem to get in the way of sitting or standing, as though they were practically alive themselves.
"Now that I have shown you how to change your size and how to make your animal appear before you, it is time to try and put the two steps together," McGonagall explained slowly. "This is the most draining step of all, and very difficult to perform. Your mind must be relaxed and ready for the first several times, until the form is locked into your core's memory, at which point it will be a second nature affair."
"Do you really think we can do it this early?" Hermione asked, obviously excited. "I mean, I think it's a great idea, but no one in recorded history has ever done it so quickly. They spend weeks at a time adjusting their size and then months to get their animals to appear before them, right?"
"You are two very talents individuals, Hermione," she replied. "And, unlike with many who learn, you have a competent teacher showing you the steps and pushing you to succeed. Not only that, but time is of the essence, remember?"
"More than competent," Harry corrected her, earning them both a small smile. "And I'm not fishing, Prof... er... Minerva. I mean it. Who else could teach Neville to transfigure a needle into a matchstick in his first year?"
After receiving the nod from McGonagall, Hermione closed her eyes and her entire body started to glow softly. The jewelry that she wore seemed to sparkle under the soft, warm light, making it that much more obvious, and the dagger seemed to positively pulse under the energy itself.
Harry would later swear that he had only blinked before Hermione vanished from in front of him to be replaced by a proud looking cat like creature on the ground. She had brown fur, a bushy brown lion tail with a triangular end, and a somewhat squashed looking face, but her eyes...
Harry got on all fours to look into Hermione's kneazle formed eyes, and found the brilliant warm brown looking back to him. Even if she was in a different form, her eyes were the same.
He must have blinked again, because Hermione was suddenly sprawled on the floor breathing very heavily, as though she had just run several miles and moved eight or nine pianos up and down a flight of stairs. She was smiling, though, and their Professor actually clapped for her.
"Well done, Hermione, well done," she applauded her. "I know you are tired now, but it was the first time, after all. Once your mind is calm enough to assume the form easily, you will no longer have any difficulty, and the glow will stop as well."
From the pointed look she was giving Harry, he knew it was time for him to try. Sparing a quick glance to Hermione to make sure she was still recovering, he finally closed his eyes and willed his mind to a blank. He found this quite hard to do with how much Hermione seemed to be suffering.
Eventually, he found himself starting to glow as she had done, and then his world shifted perspectives. In the place where Harry Potter had been standing now stood a leopard four feet tall at the shoulders with grey fur and black splotches covering his body. The eyes of the leopard stayed the same piercing green that Harry's were, but then no one was watching his eyes any longer as the leopard's back arched suddenly.
From his back, two great glowing translucent blue wings rose up and beat once. Then twice. Both McGonagall and Hermione looked on in amazement as the wings seemed to pass through the chair and couch in the room as though they weren't even there, and then Harry actually lifted off the ground by several inches.
Then, as suddenly as it had all started, he had reverted to human and came crashing down to all fours on the ground. He was breathing very heavily, and looked up slowly as Hermione rushed over to make sure he hadn't hurt himself.
"That was very effective, both of you," McGonagall said with a larger smile than either had seen from their Head of House in six years. "Well done. Now, I won't ask for any more from you until after we have eaten. If you need to take some time, now would be a good time," she added.
Hermione nodded to her as she left, and then she looked back to Harry. "I've got to go to the loo," she announced. "I'll catch up with you later, alright?"
"I'm just going to go speak to Buckbeak for a while," Harry replied with a nod. "I'll meet you in the kitchen later?"
Hermione nodded and then leaned down to give him a quick kiss on the lips before pulling away again. "I'll never get tired of doing that," she whispered as she left.
Harry smiled and nodded, his breathing returning to normal slowly. "And I'll never get tired of letting you," he whispered to the empty study.
It took Harry more time than he would later admit to actually get to his feet once he was alone, but once he was up he just continued until he was sitting in the upstairs room that was almost an attic. This room held a bundle of hay in one corner, a pile of dead rats in another, and a very large hippogryff in the middle of the room who seemed rather pleased to see Harry.
*Hello, Buckbeak,* Harry said as he bowed to the creature in the centre of the room. *I hope everyone is treating you well.*
*They are, Harry. Don't worry.*
It was perhaps the greatest sign of his lack of energy that he barely noticed that Buckbeak had actually answered him. *I just thought I'd come up to make sure you weren't too lonely. I know Sirius used to spend a lot of time with you, but...*
*Sirius is no longer among us,* Buckbeak finished for him.
*Right.* A soft silence fell between the two very different creatures - human and hippogryff - before Harry met Buckbeak's eye again. *I miss him a lot today, you know.*
*I would expect so. I understand from Crookshanks that today is a special day for humans, right?*
*It is Christmas Day,* Harry confirmed. *And please remind me to thank Crookshanks for keeping you company the next time I see him.*
*He usually comes by shortly.*
The two continued in silence until the door was inched open and the orange half kneazle slipped inside. It was at that point that Harry looked back up to Buckbeak slowly. *Buckbeak?*
*Yes, Harry?*
*Why can I talk to you suddenly? Why can I understand you?*
*I don't know, Harry.*
*Oh.* Harry looked slowly away from the magnificent creature and down to Crookshanks who was currently trying to climb into his lap - a rather unusual show of affection to someone who wasn't Hermione. *And you? Can you understand me, too?*
*Of course I can, Harry. I'm not stupid you know.*
*I would never assume that you were.*
*You've called me stupid before. You and Red both have.*
*Red?* Harry asked aloud, though he knew that the creature was referring to Ron. Before the bundle on fur in his lap could reply, Harry sighed and shook his head. *I know who you mean. Sorry about all that. You were sort of bothersome and all, but surely you've heard other humans call each other stupid and know that they don't mean it, too, right?*
*Indeed.* Crookshanks looked up to him, and Harry was more than a little confused by this point. *I know you aren't lying, so I understand what you mean. Still, thank you for the apology.*
*My pleasure. Do you know where Hermione is?*
*She is in your room changing,* Crookshanks replied. *She moved some clothes from her trunk into your dresser while you were up here talking with Beaky.*
*You don't mind the name Beaky?* Harry asked, looking up to the flying mixed creature beside him.
*Hagrid was very good to me, Harry. I would never object to a name from him.*
*I like the name you use for Mia, Harry,* Crookshanks offered suddenly. *Mione sounds so endearing. It was a good choice. She likes it when you call her that, too. She told me as much.*
Harry nodded and scooted the animal out of his lap as he stood up. He bent to wipe the dust and hay off his new green black cloak, but found it still clean. *Well, I think I'm going to talk to Mione for a bit. You two alright here?*
*Of course we are.* Both creatures looked to him carefully, and then Buckbeak bowed to him. *But thank you for your concern.*
Harry closed the door behind him carefully, but then thought better of it and left it open just a little so Crookshanks could leave when he wanted to later on. Descending the stairs to the second floor, he went down the hall and knocked on the door to his room.
Hermione opened it almost at once, and smiled to him. *You never have to knock to get into your own room, Harry,* she said in a soft voice. The smile vanished from her face when she saw the serious expression on his. *What's wrong?*
Harry took a deep breath before replying. *Did you ever tell Crookshanks that you like it when I call you Mione?*
His question seemed to startled Hermione, who just looked at him in surprise before catching herself. *How did you know that?* she asked in a whisper. *Did you hear me telling him?*
*No, he just told me,* Harry said with a shrug as he sat down on his bed. *After I had a lovely conversation with Buckbeak - who likes the name Beaky, by the way, because of Hagrid - Crookshanks offered that information. He also said that you had moved some of the clothes from your trunk into my dresser,* he added with a grin to her.
*You are going to have to explain yourself better than that, you know, Mr. Potter,* Hermione said with an odd expression on her face. *I mean, I know you can talk with snakes, that's parseltongue for you. But talking with a hippogryff and a kneazle or cat, that's something else entirely.*
*It doesn't make much sense to me, either. I do have a thought, though, one that I'll be asking Professor McGonagall about later,* he admitted. *Probably tomorrow, because I think tonight I'll be too tired to understand her answer. You know, I was talking to Buckbeak for almost ten minutes before I realised how odd that was?*
*Oh, she said that after supper we should probably just get to bed,* Hermione corrected him. *She saw how tired I was in the kitchen earlier as I tried to get a glass of water. She had to pour it for me, can you imagine?*
*You're... you are staying with me tonight, aren't you?*
Hermione smiled as she put her arms around Harry's neck. *Voldemort himself couldn't take me from your side,* she promised him as she opened the door and lead him downstairs to eat.
If anyone had been sitting outside the door listening in, all they would have heard were several different hisses, growls, and a few mews and purrs, none of which could be explained by the two that left the room. Once downstairs with the others, only normal speech was heard when either spoke - though it wasn't very common anyway, given how tired they both were.
Two more purrs would have been heard as Harry wrapped his arms around his witch as they laid down on their bed together after he pulled up their blanket. *Sleep well, Mione.*
*You too.*
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He knew his good mood wouldn't last. At least, he should have known. His Christmas vacation had started out horrible with the news of the attacks from Voldemort's Death Eaters, but then had drastically improved. But nothing good had ever lasted for very long with Harry - except Hermione, of course.
These thoughts weren't on his mind when he woke up with said witch in his arms, of course. After giving her a proper good morning greeting which he had failed to do for the last couple of days thanks to either interruptions or her taking off early, they both got up and Harry went to the shower first.
Once they were both ready to face the world again, aware of the fact that it was actually almost lunchtime, rather than breakfast time, they made their way downstairs. It was only when Harry pushed the door open to the kitchen that he knew the good times had come crashing to an end.
"So good of you to join us at last, Potter," Professor Snape said from his chair at the end of the table. Next to him sat McGonagall, as well as both of Hermione's parents. "I have given my report already, and now I will be off," he said, standing swiftly and walking passed the two who were still standing in the doorway.
Harry turned as he passed and found the Potions' Master to have stopped at the door, and was currently looking at Hermione. "I thought you were leaving," Harry pointed out in a cold voice.
"I just want to warn you, Miss Granger, that pregnancy is no excuse for missing my classes. I never made an exception for anyone in even my own house for such a thing, and there is no way that I would ever make it for a know-it-all mudblood Gryffindor."
Several things happened all at once as soon as the words left his mouth. Hermione staggered backwards in surprise at his words, for she had never heard any teacher use the foul term before, but that was the least of the things that happened.
Jane and Mike Granger both cried out in surprise as the pitchers of water and pumpkin juice on the table suddenly shattered, along with every glass that was in the cupboards and the windows themselves. Professor McGonagall stood quickly to try and stop whatever was happening from happening, but then the fire in the fireplace roared, shooting out flames to a dangerous height.
The chairs closest to Harry and Hermione were warped out of shape, and Snape was plastered against the wall next to the door as the table started to inch backwards, only held in place by a determined professor of transfiguration and both of Hermione's parents, who had no idea what was going on. McGonagall tried to walk towards Harry, who had his head down and was taking deep breaths, but otherwise was not moving, and found some invisible barrier pushing her backwards suddenly.
"Get out," Harry's voice suddenly sounded through the rush of wind that had abruptly started in the large kitchen, carrying his words and whipping them around dangerously. "Get out of my house, and never come back." His voice held so much anger and sounded so dangerous that no one could find any response to what he was saying. Harry looked up slowly at Snape, who was still frozen against the wall, and a feral growl escaped his lips. "Now!"
Somehow, Snape managed to pull himself from the wall and found himself thrown from the room by the invisible barrier that seemed to be pulsing from Harry. Once he was gone, Hermione and McGonagall both turned to Harry swiftly, though the professor had come no closer to him yet.
Hermione set a hand on Harry's arm to try and calm him down, and he looked to her sharply, meeting her warm eyes in an attempt to pacify his anger as he had so often in the past. Her gaze always calmed him down, and he knew that he needed it desperately this time.
The moment their eyes locked together, though, Harry was no longer seeing the girl by his side, or any of the other activity in the room. He was not aware of the door crashing open as Dumbledore rushed into the kitchen, nor was he aware of the fact that both Remus and Bill Weasley followed closely behind him.
All he was aware of -without any warning - was several images that flashed through his mind. It took him a moment to recognise the experience, during which time he saw several things.
Hermione, dressed in a brown shirt and blue overalls, looking about five as she was picked up from primary school by her father. None of the other kids were talking to her, but her father hugged her and picked her up to give her a piggy back ride home.
Hermione again, older this time, dressed in a simple skirt and blouse combination with a red tie - the senior uniform at primary school. She was with both her parents this time, talking about the wonderful time she had had with them in the school library.
Another scene with Hermione, this time she was looking down at a letter. Harry knew at once that it was her Hogwarts acceptance letter, and he saw her talking with her parents about it. They were reassuring her that she would have no trouble making friends at her new school.
He saw one more scene before recognising what was going on and trying as hard as he could to put a stop to it. Hermione, looking like she had a couple of days ago, talking to her mother in his room. He was sure, somehow, that they had been talking for a few minutes already, but he heard her mother ask her why she wanted to stay in the same bed as him. His concentration at the task at hand faltered at her eventual response just before he had managed to pull out of her memories.
"Because I love him."
Without warning, Harry suddenly heard Hermione's scream of either terror or pain - he wasn't sure which - and all the rest of the noise in the room. He had managed to force himself out of her mind, though his momentary lapse in concentration had not helped much. It had been much harder than he had expected, and when he tried to say something to her, anything to try and apologise for what had happened, no words came out of his mouth.
Instead, a low gurgling sound rushed forth as blackness took him. He was only vaguely aware of the fact that Hermione had moved to catch him before he knew nothing else.
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Once Dumbledore had ensured that Harry was resting in his bed properly, her left Hermione with her parents upstairs and returned to Minerva, Bill, and Remus, who had stayed downstairs to wait for him.
"What happened, Minerva?" Dumbledore asked in a quiet voice.
"I don't know," she admitted softly. "All I know is that when Severus said something to Hermione as he was leaving, power suddenly burst from Harry. It was all I could do not to shout in surprise - I have never felt such strong accidental magic before, Albus."
"What Snape was saying is true, then?" Bill asked in surprise. "That Harry attacked him?"
"If Harry attacked Snape, then I'm sure he deserved it!" Remus said strongly. "I don't believe that he would have done so without valid reason." He paused and looked at each of the others in the room, his eyes resting on Bill. "No one aside from those in this house is to know, you understand?" he said softly. "But Harry and Hermione are very close. She is staying in the same bed as him these days - though I know that nothing has happened between them like that, Bill."
"I didn't say anything!" Bill objected.
"You're a Weasley, you didn't have to," Remus said with a grin, pointing out how much the eldest child was blushing at the thought of what had happened. All the Weasleys turned red for the simplest of reasons. "If Harry attacked Snape, then he must have said something against Hermione."
"The power that Harry let out earlier is beyond anything I have seen before, Albus," Minerva explained quietly. "In all my years, I have never seen anything like that!"
"The way you're describing it, I think I've seen it once," Bill said softly. "When one of my buddies got hit by a powerful curse he failed to deactivate. Power burst from him like some sort of bomb," he explained, even though he wasn't sure if everyone present would understand the analogy. "It was enough to knock us off our feet, but nothing more than that. The power tore him apart, though. Took weeks to gather enough for the funeral."
The others in the room looked surprised by the story, but Remus was the first to speak. "But Harry did it of his own accord," he pointed out. "And he seems fine now. A little tired, but otherwise, he wasn't too bad off, right, Albus?"
"Indeed. Exhaustion was the only fault," Dumbledore said with a nod. "Though what happened afterwards seems almost more upsetting. It seems he scanned Miss Granger's mind by mistake while trying to calm himself down once Professor Snape had left."
"He always does that," McGonagall pointed out. "Well, not scan her mind, i'm sure, but every time he's stressed out or worried - in class or out - he seems to look to her for support, and always seems better for it after. I would have objected to his actions in class if it didn't seem to actually let him concentrate better and actually pay attention."
"Has he done it recently?" Dumbledore asked after a moment of thought.
McGonagall paused for a moment before answering. "Not really... not since that whole Ministry incident, now that I consider it. Even after the attacks, he seemed too upset to listen to her, let alone look her in the eye to..." She trailed off and looked to the Headmaster in surprise.
"I believe so, Minerva. At least, it is how it appears at the moment."
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Until the sun sets upon a broken world…
The Shadows
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