*** Author's Note-Thanks again for all of the great reviews. I want to especially thank Lady Starlight who has reviewed every chapter and has provided very helpful comments and suggestions for improving the story. In fact, I had to repost the last chapter to fix some errors she had pointed out but I also posted this chapter today-I didn't want anyone thinking I had put up a new chapter only to find a slightly revised chapter they had read last week. Anyways, thanks again. Once again, I wanted to remind the readers that sentences in italics represent someone's thoughts-it will become increasingly clear why that is important. Thanks again for reading and leaving reviews. Now on with the story.
Ch 13: Animagus Anyone?
About a week after receiving their OWLs, Hermione, Ron, Harry, Fred and George met in the study after Harry's lessons were finished for the day. Hermione explained the difficult and intricate nature of the Animagus process to everyone there.
"If you're not sure you want to do it, tell me now, because it wouldn't be a good idea to try and stop in the middle. So if you want out, decide now." She looked around. Everyone looked a little scared and nervous, but nobody moved. "Very well, then, for the next week, we will be learning the various spells and procedures you will need to enact over the next couple of weeks. I hope I am making myself perfectly clear when I say that the slightest imperfection, because of lack of concentration or joking around, can have extremely serious, even fatal consequences." She looked directly at the Weasley twins.
"Don't worry Hermione. We may make lots of funny items for our shop, but we are deadly serious when we cast the spells to make them. We're not stupid enough to fool around with this kind of magic."
Hermione appeared satisfied, and began teaching them the necessary words and movements they would have to perform in a week.
As Harry's lessons continued as normal, the group of five met each night to practice under Hermione's direction. By the end of a week, she believed everyone had perfected the necessary spells. That Saturday night, an hour after they had all retired to bed, they snuck out quietly to the magical tent in the backyard. Once there, Hermione carefully explained the procedure they were to begin that evening.
"After drinking the potion, each of you will need to cast the first six spells we have been practicing. Together with the potion, they will help you enter a trance that will help you identify your alternate animal form. You will need to keep repeating the spells until you can visualize the form you are to take. At first, the image doesn't have to be exact, but you need to know in general if you're some kind of bird, or a cat, or a bear or something. The seventh spell will reveal to you exactly the form you will take. The eighth spell, which you will have to cast every night before you sleep, will help you focus that image within your mind, so that a week from now we can try the actual transformation. The ninth spell will help you achieve the initial transformation next week, and the tenth spell will allow you to transform later on without needing a spell or a wand, you will be able to do it simply by thinking about it. I've read that sometimes the initial change can be painful, but you must focus on the spells. Continue with the spells no matter what happens, or it will get a lot worse. Any questions? OK, this is your last chance to change your mind. All right then, let's start."
Fred and George drank their potions and fell to the ground moaning.
"Say the spells," urged Hermione. They began the first spell and seemed to be in a little less pain.
With round eyes, Ron looked at Harry and Hermione, then he drank his potion, followed by Harry. Ron quickly fell to his knees, just like his brothers. Harry drank his potion and seemed fine, though his face looked a bit odd as he started the spell. Moving over to Ron, Hermione urged him to start the spell. He just clasped at his stomach. "Do it," she hissed urgently. For a minute, she wondered whether she had made a mistake with the potions, but Harry still seemed OK. "What if I accidentally poisoned them?" she thought, terrified. Slowly, Ron's body relaxed as he began reciting the first spell.
Relieved, she glanced over at Harry, who didn't seem to notice her and she moved to take her potion. The Weasleys seemed to be doing better, so she drank the final potion. She felt nothing but the bad taste as it slid down her throat. As she began the first spell, she seemed surrounded by darkness and felt herself falling. "Concentrate, concentrate," she told herself. "Focus on the spells." As she cycled through the spells, she lost all sense of time, but gradually seemed to sense a shape forming around her. As she continued, she became increasingly aware of feathers, then a beak, claws, and wings. She was a bird of some sort! As the form seemed to solidify she became increasingly excited. As she flexed her new appendages, she rotated her head and felt an exploding pain erupt.
Groggily, Hermione woke up and put her hand to her head. "Owww," she mumbled and looked around. Everyone else was still reciting the spells. She checked her watch and noticed that nearly four hours had passed. "What?!?!" she thought. "This part of the process was only supposed to take an hour or two, perhaps three at the most." She had not read of a single case taking more than three hours, yet hers had taken four. And everyone else was still working through their spells. What had gone wrong? A few minutes later, the twins woke from their trance, looking shaky. Several minutes later, Ron woke, too, holding his head. Nearly twenty minutes later, about four and a half hours into the process, Harry blinked and looked around with a shocked look on his face.
"When you said it could be painful, you weren't kidding, were you Hermione?"
"No, but it shouldn't have taken us this long to do the spell either. I was pretty sure we did everything right, but I'm not so sure," replied a concerned Hermione.
"You said we were supposed to be able to eventually focus on one animal, right?" asked Fred.
"Yes, just one animal form."
"Well, I feel like I'm split in two," said George.
"Yeah, me too," chipped in Fred. "I could see some sort of cat, a big one, fairly clearly, but it felt like I kept swapping places with something else, like a bird or something."
"Me, too," added George, "though I definitely felt like a bird, maybe a hawk. But I felt like I kept switching places with something bigger. Maybe like a cat."
Looking at his brothers, Ron muttered, "I kept feeling torn between two images as well. Sometimes I was a big cat, like a lion or something. Sometimes I was a big, ferocious bird. I thought I was losing my mind."
Hermione looked shocked. "That is impossible. There isn't a single case of somebody having more than one form. It's always been just one animal form."
The Weasleys shrugged. "What is your form Hermione?" asked Ron.
"An owl, I believe. A bird at any rate."
Ron laughed, "That figures." He turned to Harry. "You're awful quiet mate. What do you think you're going to turn into?"
Looking around at his friends, Harry said in a low voice, "Well, at first I thought I was some kind of snake." He shuddered. "Then I noticed I had four legs as well."
"A lizard?" asked Hermione.
Looking right at Hermione, Harry replied, "Not unless you know of any lizards with wings. I think I'm going to be a dragon."
Silence dropped over the group. Hermione exclaimed, "But that's impossible, Harry. Nobody has ever turned into a magical creature before. It's impossible."
"I don't know Hermione, but that's what it looked like to me. And we've seen a few dragons haven't we-I mean I think I know what one looks like. But I think it was a small dragon for some reason."
Hermione was muttering to herself, "This is incredible, I can't believe this is happening." Getting a hold of herself, she continued. "Well, we have no choice but to continue. We don't have much longer before dawn, so we better begin with the seventh spell. It shouldn't take more than a few minutes, but then again, who knows."
She watched to make sure everyone was casting it properly, and then cast it on herself. She saw herself as a beautiful, light brown owl. As the form became very clear and distinct, once again she felt a sharp pain in her head.
Waking up again, she noticed that almost half an hour had passed. The twins and Ron were already awake, but Harry still seemed to be in a trance. Ron looked over at Hermione and said softly, "It seems like all three of us have two animal forms. Those two see a large, reddish brown panther and a red-tailed hawk. I see myself as a tiger and a huge reddish hawk."
Hermione gasped, "That's incredible." The twins and Ron just grinned with huge smiles.
Ten minutes later, Harry too, awoke from his trance. "Yep, I'm a dragon alright. Boy does my head hurt."
"It does? So does mine. Anyone else?" she looked at the three Weasleys.
"No, we're just bushed."
"Hmm. It's probably just the strain of the spells. Here's the eighth spell that you need to use every night this week until we meet next Saturday to finish the transformation. Do not forget to do this every night." She quickly reviewed it with them and then they hurried back to the house before the sun came up for a few minutes of sleep. Luckily it was Sunday, so there wouldn't be any classes. They would have the entire day to sleep, if they wanted.
As the teenagers headed towards the stairs, Hermione pulled Harry aside to speak with him privately while the others went straight to their bedrooms.
"Harry, I don't know if you remember them, but you're still having nightmares every night."
Harry looked horrified.
"They seem to be getting better, well, I'm sure they're still terrible, but you're not screaming and thrashing around as much. Look, the only reason I brought it up is that I'm worried that they might cause a problem with the success of the transformation. Molly and I have noticed that if we put a damp cloth on your forehead, it seems to relieve the fever that always occurs with your nightmares. What I suggest is that either Molly or I wait with a damp cloth while you fall asleep to try and head off the nightmares before they disturb your sleep."
Harry looked embarrassed at the thought of either Molly or Hermione watching over him while he tried to fall asleep.
Noticing his concern, Hermione bristled, "Get over it Harry. We've been doing it all summer. This is too important to let a little shyness or pride prevent you from getting the sleep you need this week. Especially with the form you might take, I don't want to take any chances that something bad will happen. Now if you would prefer that Molly stays…"
"Oh, no," exclaimed Harry, "I'd rather have you…" looking around quickly, Harry dropped his voice, "I mean, we don't want to do something out of the ordinary and raise Molly's suspicions…"
"No, of course not," replied Hermione, secretly pleased that Harry had chosen her to stay.
"But maybe it would be better if you came in after I was asleep. I think I would have a hard time falling asleep with you sitting there staring at me…"
"Honestly Harry. I wasn't going to be just sitting there staring at you," replied Hermione rather indignantly, "I was planning on bringing some books to read."
"Well, whatever, but let's just keep this between us, OK?"
"And who on earth did you think I was going to tell? The twins?" laughed Hermione.
The plan seemed to work fairly well that week. Ron was always the first to fall asleep and after several deadly glares and nasty threats from Harry and Hermione, had kept his humorous remarks to himself. Hermione read quietly in a corner of the room while Harry tried to fall asleep despite Ron's loud snoring. She kept her promise not to stare at Harry the entire time and only peeked up occasionally to stare at Harry as he slept. As soon as he started moaning or thrashing about in bed, she would quickly apply a cool cloth, wait for him to calm down, and then return to her room to get some sleep.
The following week passed like usual, except that both Hermione and Harry suffered terrible headaches all week. Several of his teachers noticed that Harry wasn't as sharp as usual, but when asked he just brushed off their questions. Dumbledore's lessons were easier than usual for some reason, he just emphasized the need to continue with the various mental techniques they had been practicing.
The following Saturday night, the five youths met again in the magical tent. Hermione began right away.
"By now, you should have a perfect image in your head of the form, or forms, you will be able to take. The first spell will allow you to transform into that shape for the first time." Looking at the Weasleys, she instructed, "I suggest you three focus very hard on just one form, and then we'll have you cast the ninth spell again for the second form. We don't want any hawks with panther hindquarters. That could get pretty messy."
They gulped but listened as Hermione carefully reviewed the spell.
George cast his spell first and the others gasped as his body slowly transformed into a large panther with reddish brown fur. Fred went next and a moment later there were two identical panthers prowling around the floor of the tent. Ron went next and transformed into a huge tiger with dull orange stripes. Larger and heavier than the panthers, he began to chase one of them around. All three began to wrestle until Hermione shouted, "Enough. Now transform back. Now try your second form." All three did and quickly became hawks, though once again Ron was larger than either of his brothers.
"Excellent," observed Hermione. "You realize of course, that you only have to inform the ministry of one of your forms?" She smiled at the twins.
"That's right, we can still be unlicensed Animagi like the rest of you," exclaimed Fred.
"Very clever, but not very honest, Hermione. Excellent idea however. Fred, I do believe that we're having a very positive influence on Miss Granger," smiled George.
"Now I believe it is Harry's turn," Hermione turned nervously to Harry and tried to give him an encouraging smile.
Harry focused intently for a moment, then cast the spell. He slowly shrank until he assumed the form of a tiny dragon about three feet long. His scales seemed to shimmer a bright silver. The dragon walked awkwardly on its four legs for a moment and whipped its tail around a few times before it learned to balance itself properly. Coiling its legs, it sprang into the air and began beating its wings, only to crash back to the floor in a heap. It lay there for a moment, and then transformed back into Harry. He had a large smile. "I guess I'll have to work on that flying thing a bit more," he added sheepishly. Squinting oddly he peered through his glasses, took them off, squinted again and then put the glasses in his pocket.
"Wow, that was so cool, mate. But do you know how tiny you were? My tiger form could swallow you in one bite."
"Your normal mouth is big enough to swallow him in one bite, Ron," joked Hermione. "But you'd have to be able to catch him first."
"What do you mean, Hermione?" asked Ron.
"Well, I'm not sure exactly what magical abilities Harry's dragon might have, but as a magical creature he will probably have some. And I seem to remember reading about some of the defenses of smaller dragons like camouflage and apparation. We can probably check in Harry's new Magical Animal Encyclopedia."
"Do you remember anything about mental abilities, Hermione?" asked Harry.
"Not off the top of my head. Why do you ask?"
"Nothing. Just curious."
Puzzled, she just looked at Harry. "Well, let me review the tenth spell, so that you can all do the transformations instantaneously without spells or wand and keep practicing. Especially you Harry. Then I'll finish mine and we can go back to the house." She made sure they could all do it correctly and then waited for each one to finish.
Satisfied that all of their transformations were complete and that they were safe, Hermione invoked the ninth spell and transformed herself into a beautiful, brownish owl. For a moment she thought her head would explode as a jumble of voices erupted inside of her head. Looking at Harry, she focused on what he was saying and thankfully the other voices quieted down.
"Wow, what a beautiful owl. Maybe she'll learn to enjoy flying more now,"she heard Harry say but then realized his lips hadn't moved.
"Am I going crazy?" she thought. She turned to look at each of the other Weasleys in turn and realized she could hear what they were thinking even though they weren't saying anything out loud. "This can't be possible." She looked back at Harry. As she focused on what he was saying she seemed to imagine an enormous labyrinth with passages and doorways twisting every which way. Some of the passages seemed bright and well lit, while others seemed dark and forbidding. She moved towards one passage with a door in front and attempted to open it.
"Get out Voldemort! Get OUT! This is my head and my memories!" The raw anger and fury shocked Hermione. She felt a building rage around her gathering tremendous force.
"Harry! Please, no, I'm sorry! I didn't mean to pry. I didn't realize…"
She felt the gathering rage stop temporarily, as if held in check by a tremendous will.
"Hermione?" came a much calmer voice, much more like the voice Harry normally used. "Is that you? But how?" Then she felt the rage build again. "This is just another trick Voldemort! I won't be fooled again!"
"No, Harry! Please wait! Look at me! Look at the owl! I don't know how to explain it, but somehow as the owl I can hear the thoughts of those around me. You have to believe me, Harry. Please! It's me, Hermione!" she pleaded.
Harry stared at her with a look of amazement in his eyes. "You can hear me?"
"Yes."
"But why did you try and get into my head. I could feel you trying to read my mind or something…"
"I didn't know what I was doing. I'm sorry Harry. I didn't realize. You know I would never do anything to hurt you…I'm so sorry."
"It's all right. I believe you. There's no harm done. Maybe you should transform back and we'll all head back to the house and get some sleep."
"OK, that sounds like a good idea," replied Hermione.
When she transformed back, Hermione pressed her fingers against her temple. "Ohhh, these headaches just keep getting worse and worse."
Harry looked and smiled, "I know what you mean. Finish your spell and we'll all go get some rest."
Hermione cast the tenth and final spell and smiled. All of a sudden her head exploded with pain as four different voices seemed to start shouting incoherent things at her. Putting both hands to the side of her head she collapsed to the ground screaming. The last thought she could discern before she blacked out was what she thought was Harry's voice trying to comfort her saying, "It's OK Hermione, everything will be OK. It'll be OK."
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