Everyone should keep in mind as they read that so far everything we see is still from Harry's perspective. You don't see all the reasoning that goes on behind the actions of other characters. Furthermore keep in mind that I'm trying to go for realism and at the same time build a very specific undertone to the government of the wizarding world that is hinted to but never explored in the real books. I hesitate to say more than that for fear of spoiling but please don't be discouraged at seemingly contradictory behavior from some of the characters. Remember that public opinion can change and that governments often seek to shape public opinion with less than honest information. Thanks to everyone who has left feedback.
The attacks by various dark creatures, especially Dementors, continued to plague the muggle world and tax the Ministry's resources for several days after the initial attack. Strangely though no Death Eaters were involved, at least not that anyone could discern. Harry tried to put the attacks out of his mind and concentrate on his magical studies. Hermione tended to the potion every night, usually alone, unless a spell needed to be cast, in which case Remus would be sure and go along.
Life at Grimmauld Place was even more boring than it had been the previous summer since the cleaning was nearly complete. Ron was especially put out since Harry insisted on studying almost every waking hour. Even Hermione seemed to be a bit concerned with his unusual behavior, though she had a difficult time finding a way to fault him for acting like her. Molly didn't stay in the house full time anymore, she went back to the Burrow which, was apparently becoming rather run down, but she made sure to drop in and fix meals as often as possible. Remus spent a lot of his time in the library searching for books or other items that might pose a danger to someone. Everyone spent a lot of time in the study reading, even Ginny when she wasn't back at the Burrow with Molly.
Harry was excited when he arose early one day only about a week since his birthday, a bittersweet week filled with fun and friends, but overshadowed by the knowledge that Voldemort's hordes were tormenting innocent people. Today they would begin the final stage of the animagus transformation. The last phase of the process took an indeterminate amount of time, it could be that they would assume their animal forms today, or it could take several more days. He sat down at his desk after caring for Hedwig and poked idly at the papers strewn about. As he glanced around his eye settled on the sack of shards from Sirius' mirror.
"Kreacher," he called out.
"Master is calling Kreacher?" a little voice asked.
"Yes, I was wondering if you knew where Sirius' magic mirror is," Harry said.
"Kreacher has it," the elf said slowly. Harry realized with a jolt that Kreacher must have taken the mirror to make sure that Harry would be unable to contact Sirius. Rage swelled up, but Harry forced it back down.
"I seem to have broken the other one," he said briskly, "can you repair it?"
"Oh yes, Kreacher can fix," the elf said quickly.
"Can you fix it without leaving the house?" Harry asked.
Kreacher's ears drooped noticeably as the elf responded.
"Yes, Kreacher can be fixing it here," he replied.
"Good, then fix this mirror without leaving the house and when you're finished place both mirrors here on my desk," Harry commanded and dismissed the elf.
It was still a couple of hours before everyone else would be getting up so Harry crept across the hall to the study where he could read his pocketbook in comfort. The section he was on now dealt with conjuring, but Harry didn't quite grasp all the concepts. Still, he committed the wand movements and incantations to memory. When he got back to Hogwarts he was sure he could find something in the library to explain the basics. Of course, that was only if he couldn't find such a volume in his own extensive library. He had packed several books on transfiguration and conjuring in his trunk, but hadn't been able to look at them yet. Harry winced uncomfortably. Thinking of books often led to thinking of Hermione. Thinking of Hermione was beginning to always lead to the same conclusion that Harry was afraid to admit to himself. He cared for Hermione more deeply than a friend should. Harry sighed and walked to the window. He had cared for Hermione as more than a friend for some time now, he just hadn't been able to admit it to himself. Did she feel the same way about him? Should he tell her his feelings? Would it be more dangerous for her if he had feelings for her. Harry considered that seriously for a moment before deciding that it wouldn't matter if he had feelings for her or not. She was a muggle born witch and more importantly she was his friend. She couldn't be in more danger than she was now, regardless of how they felt about each other.
Harry heard the doleful tones of the grandfather clock in the hall striking the new hour as he continued his soul-searching analysis. He didn't want to hurt his friendship with Hermione, or Ron for that matter. Harry didn't think that Ron would react poorly to the idea of his two best friends being together, but then again Harry wasn't sure of his own feelings for very long, so how could he predict how Ron would feel? Harry sighed again, he was doomed either way it seemed, except that if he didn't tell Hermione he would probably always regret it and he had promised himself that he would stop keeping things from other people. Harry brightened a little. Hermione wouldn't shun him no matter what, she'd proven that, and Ron wouldn't either. Harry resolved to talk to Hermione as soon as possible as he began pacing back and forth nervously.
It was still quite early when Hermione walked into the study looking cheerful and rested. Harry silently gave thanks that she was an early riser, he didn't know how long this would take and he wanted to be able to think this through with no rush.
"Uh, Hermione, could we talk for a bit?" he asked.
"Sure Harry, what's up?" she replied.
"Well, lets go to the library," he said suddenly, all his words escaping him.
Hermione allowed him to lead her out of the room. He could see she was looking at him strangely, wondering what was causing his nervous behavior.
"Is something wrong Harry?" she asked, her voice filled with concern.
"No, no, nothing wrong, just wanted to talk someplace private," he said, then mentally cursed himself as he realized how strange that sounded. Hermione didn't seem to mind though since she had just nodded and continued to walk. They reached the library and Harry motioned for her to sit down at the long table as he closed the doors.
"Ok Harry, now what is this about?" Hermione asked as he sat down next to her. "I don't know how to say all this, so I'll just begin at the beginning," Harry said.
He took a deep breath and looked into her large brown eyes before continuing. Suddenly he was unsure what to say at all, as all the pain he had been suppressing the entire summer seemed to rush to the fore of his mind. Hermione reached out and gently put her hand on his arm.
"It's about Sirius, isn't it?" she asked. Harry tried to shake his head, but he couldn't move.
"Harry, you can tell me," she said softly.
"Its not just Sirius," Harry said in a shaky voice as he willed himself to continue.
"Ever since…that night…I, I didn't know what to do anymore, Hermione," Harry said.
"It's not your fault Harry, you couldn't have known that it was a trick, your last dream had been real," Hermione said forcefully.
"I know," Harry said grimly, "Dumbledore told me as much."
Hermione's face darkened into a scowl at the mention of Dumbledore.
"I told him," she hissed, "I told him to keep you informed, I warned him what could happen."
"He thought he was doing what was best," Harry broke in, "but this isn't about that."
Hermione looked at him quizzically and Harry stood up, frustrated. Hermione looked on apprehensively as he began pacing in a short line back and forth in front of her.
"Harry, this isn't like you," she said hesitantly.
"No, it isn't," Harry said with a humorless almost sneering laugh, "I think I nearly went insane during those first few days after Sirius died. I sat in my room without sleeping for days once I finally got back to the Dursleys. So then I started trying to take my mind off of it, off of the nightmares, off of everything. I did everything you'd always told me to do Hermione. I studied for my classes; I practiced Occlumency, lot of good that'll do now. I promised myself I'd never let someone die because I'd been too irresponsible to do my work."
Hermione jumped up and stopped his furious pacing by grabbing his shoulders, forcing him to look at her. Now she knew why he had suddenly started studying constantly, forcing himself to be calm when he looked ready to scream with rage or frustration. He was trying to do everything he thought he should have done before.
"You can't do this to yourself Harry, Sirius didn't come to save you just so you would stop living," she said.
"You've heard the prophecy, I can't live until he's dead," Harry spat bitterly.
"You can try, or are you just going to take some stupid prophecy's vague predictions and make them a reality. Actions matter Harry, not words," Hermione said hotly.
"I'm sorry Hermione, sorry for the way I treated you last year, sorry for not listening to your advice. I…"
"Then listen to my advice now," Hermione said, cutting him off, "I know you need to study and control your emotions. Goodness knows you gave us all a hard time last year, but you just can't quit being who you are, you can't stop living Harry, no matter what some prophecy says."
"You're right Hermione, you always are, I don't know what I'd do without you. The only thing worse than losing Sirius was the thought of losing you." Harry said. He saw Hermione twitch strangely and felt her grip on his arms tighten ever so slightly.
"It's ironic, or tragic, or something," Harry continued in nearly a whisper, "I couldn't focus on doing the things that might have saved Sirius until he was gone. I told myself that I'd never make that mistake again. So that's why I wanted to…I know that nothing will ever come between us, you're my best friend Hermione."
"Harry, what-" she started to interrupt but he silenced her.
"I see you die in my nightmares Hermione," he said, gazing into her quickly moistening eyes, "It's the most terrible feeling I've ever had, to think that I might lose you forever, and that's why I need to tell you, that, I, I love you Hermione."
Hermione choked back a sob as she flung her arms tightly around Harry and pressed her face against his chest.
"Harry, oh Harry," she said, her voice muffled and racked with sobs.
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to upset you, I just thought you should know how I felt," Harry said.
"Oh Harry, you're so dense," Hermione said as she pressed her lips against his fiercely, "I love you too, I have for so long now."
They gripped each other tighter in the awkward embrace of two people who had never really kissed or loved before. Harry felt his chest contracting in such an intense wave of emotion that he could barely breathe, or think for that matter. The world disappeared and there was nothing else except Hermione's tender warmth clinging to him in sheer joy.
"Y-You, do?" he asked, feeling elated, yet not willing to believe such a thing to be possible lest his hopes be dashed.
Hermione's face was still inches away, her lips slightly puffy and her eyes sparkling brightly. Harry felt her bushy hair tickling him as it shimmered and waved with her every movement. Harry and Hermione disentangled themselves and sat back down in the straight-backed library chairs, her hands now grasping his tightly.
"I've been in love with you ever since fourth year," Hermione said as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.
"Since fourth year? What about Krum?" Harry asked incredulously.
"I only went out with him because he asked me to, and I knew you wouldn't," she said simply.
Harry suddenly remembered Krum confronting him about his relationship with Hermione. Krum had figured it out, but he'd never given it a second consideration. Lights seemed to go off in Harry's head as he re-examined the last two years.
"So, all those times you asked me to study with you, or knit, you were, you mean you…"
"Yes, I wanted to be around you so much because I hoped you might start to like me as more than a friend," Hermione said with a dreamy little sigh.
Harry had never seen Hermione act like this; it was like a whole new side of her had emerged in the space of a couple
minutes.
"I'm sorry, I was too busy feeling sorry for myself," he said.
"You mean too busy staring at Cho," Hermione joked.
"Yeah, that too," he said glumly, "I don't know what I was thinking. Is that why you didn't just say something?"
"Partially, you know I told you that girls don't often come right out and lay their feelings bare like that," she said. "I was afraid you wouldn't feel the same way either and I didn't want to ruin our friendship."
"I feel like such a prat now," Harry said, "I'm so lucky I came to my senses before you gave up on me."
Hermione grinned, "Its more like you're lucky you came to your senses before I got frustrated enough to hex you."
Harry put his arm around Hermione's shoulder and drew her in close to him where she wrapped her arm around his waist. They sat there for a few minutes, just enjoying each other's company, and basking in the perfect feeling of best friends in love. Harry hoped that nothing would ever come between them, but the problem of Voldemort started to gnaw in the back of his mind again.
Uncomfortably Harry looked down at Hermione, his heart fearful that their new relationship would put her in even more danger even as his brain told him that she was already a top target of the dark forces.
"We probably shouldn't advertise that we're together now," he said slowly, "Voldemort would be even more anxious to get to you and the papers would never let us rest."
"No, we shouldn't, and not just because of Voldemort and the Daily Prophet either. This could cause problems even amongst our friends," Hermione said as she chewed her lip. "Like for instance Molly may be a bit of a problem."
"Molly, but why would she be a problem?" Harry asked.
"Ginny told me last year that Molly has this idea in her head that you should go out with Ginny and Ron should go with me," Hermione said, "but Ginny got over you ages ago."
"I don't think that Molly would interfere in something like this, no matter what she thinks is suitable. Not to mention that I never liked Ginny that way. What about you and Ron?" he asked.
"Well, I don't think Ron ever had a thing for me, though with Ron you can never know, but I never liked him that way. Ginny and I decided that it was just Molly's wishful thinking," she said.
"We really should tell Ron, he deserves to know," Harry said.
"Yes, I suppose so, but we can wait a little while," Hermione said.
"So that means no holding hands and no snogging," Harry said with a wink. Hermione grinned.
"Well, at least not in public," she said as she leaned in and gave him another kiss.
"I think I can live with that," he said.
"Me too," Hermione said quickly, "This feels so nice, please tell me I'm not dreaming."
"No dream, but we had better get down to breakfast," Harry said as he looked at the clock, "This does seem a little strange though. I mean, I'd ask you to go with me to Hogsmeade on weekends, but we already do that, its not like we need to date to get to know each other better."
"We've been dating for five years Harry, we just didn't know it." Hermione said as they walked out of the room, arms around each other. They reluctantly let each other go when they got back to the inhabited parts of the house. Harry hadn't realized just how comfortable it made him feel to be close to Hermione, but now that he knew he hated not being able to be close to her constantly.
Thankfully, Molly had come by to fix breakfast so they didn't have to suffer through another round of Remus trying to cook, which always ended up as everyone eating toast. Harry had asked them why they didn't put in some non-magical cooking equipment so that he could help out, but apparently there was too much magic in the house for such things to work properly.
"Harry, grab that juice, lets go eat upstairs," Hermione said as Harry finished loading his plate with eggs and bacon.
"Sure," he replied as he grabbed the pitcher and followed her upstairs.
"I felt like eating alone on our first morning together," Hermione said with a big smile. Harry grinned back at her as they sat down across from each other; a small table between them supported their meal.
"It's only been fifteen minutes and we're already acting suspiciously," he said.
"Really Harry, I just wanted to discuss the potion with you, it'll be ready tonight," she said with a smirk.
"I hope I can fly," Harry said, "that would be the most useful transformation I think."
"I suppose," Hermione said with a shudder. She still hated flying.
"If you're a bird flying will be like second nature," Harry said, trying to be optimistic, but Hermione still looked unconvinced.
They continued to eat slowly as the rest of the house began waking up. They heard Ron's plodding footsteps hurry past and Ginny was complaining about something. Hermione had picked up a copy of the Daily Prophet.
"Look at this, the Ministry is conducting raids again," Hermione said as Harry scooted his chair next to hers so he could see what she was pointing at.
"You mean like the muggle artifact raids that Mr. Weasley was going on during second year?" Harry asked.
"No, these are against wizarding items. Fudge has passed another decree banning all sorts of things like invisibility cloaks or whatever else Fudge has decided could be used by the "Dark Forces." Hermione said.
"I'd better hide my cloak then, I usually just leave it folded in my trunk," Harry said darkly.
"It's not just raids either, Fudge is doing all kinds of things like trying to ban certain magical artifacts and potions. He's even trying to impose curfews, it says here that Diagon ally is shut down at midnight every night now." Hermione continued.
"Yeah, look there, people now have to register and license all floo powder trips. You need a bloody passport to legally apparate, floo, or portkey anywhere now," Harry said furiously.
"None of this is going to stop Death Eaters," Hermione said exasperatedly, "Does Fudge really expect them to obey the law?"
"I really don't think that is the point, look at this list of suspects," Harry said, "I recognize a few of these people, like Mundungus Fletcher, they're Order members."
"Do you think Fudge is still running his vendetta against Dumbledore?" Hermione asked.
"Looks that way," Harry said.
"The Daily Prophet made sure to cast all these new directives and raids in as favorable light as possible," Hermione said, "Necessary this, safety that, blah blah blah."
"Ah, something interesting in the paper?" a voice asked from the doorway.
Harry and Hermione jerked apart quickly at the sound of Remus' voice. Harry felt his face warming as he realized that Hermione's head had been resting against his shoulder as they flipped through the paper. Remus didn't wait for them to answer his question before continuing.
"Did I ever tell you two how much you remind me of James and Lily?" he asked as he walked back to the window to look at the morning sky.
Hermione looked at Harry and mouthed the words "he knows." Harry nodded and took a deep breath.
"Is it that obvious?" he asked.
"Probably not, but then I watched James and Lily for several years," Remus chuckled.
"Please don't tell anyone," Hermione said, "It would only create problems if this got out."
"Don't I know it," Remus said, "I read the papers you know. Some people always jump to the wrong conclusions. I'm afraid some of the members of the Order might not take such news with very much joy either. I'll not breathe a word of it to anyone."
"Why would Order members be upset?" Harry asked.
"Its not that they are against the idea of you being with someone in the abstract Harry," Remus said gently, "Its just that they might see such an involvement as a, er, distraction. That is to say, some would feel you should concentrate on training."
"Hermione is the best thing that ever happened to my motivation to train," Harry said seriously.
"I've been trying to get him to study for years," Hermione said.
"Hm, yes, I don't think that was quite the way Harry meant it," Remus said as Harry blushed, "but the point is well taken. I happen to think it's wonderful that you two are together, I've been expecting it for some time now."
"Thanks Remus, we appreciate it. We plan on telling Ron and I think Ginny already figured it out, but no one
else," Harry said.
Remus smiled reassuringly, "I know you'll be able to tell everyone someday without having to worry about
it."
"It doesn't matter what anyone else knows, all that matters is that we're together," Hermione said as she looked at him with soft eyes.
"That's right," Harry affirmed quickly as he gave her hand a squeeze.
Remus cleared his throat and changed track, "So is the potion about ready?"
"Yes, it should be finished tonight," Hermione replied, "We'll need you to apply the finishing charm and then it will just be a matter of time as we learn to bring out our transformations."
"It took James several days as I recall, but then both of you are much more powerful than James was, especially you Harry," Remus said encouragingly.
"I just hope that we all have a form," Harry said modestly.
The three continued to discuss the finer points of animagus transformations after Remus cleaned up after their breakfast with a wave of his wand. It wasn't long before Ron finished his breakfast and tramped up the dark stairs to join them. The house stubbornly remained gloomy, but at least the paintings in the hall woke up much less frequently than they had used to.
"Ok, now that everyone is here we need to start getting ready for the potion," Hermione said crisply.
Ron rolled his eyes, "Its still morning, I thought the potion had to be taken in the evening."
"There are still several charms to be placed on each of you," Remus said.
"We shouldn't be eating anything for the next twelve hours either, food could potentially interfere with the potion," Hermione said.
Harry made sure he had his pocketbook before following Ron and Hermione out of the room. Remus went down to tell Molly to make sure they went undisturbed for the rest of the day. They made their way down the winding stone stair to the dank hallway that led to the potion chamber.
"We can use one of these empty side rooms to practice our transformations in," Hermione said as she gestured to a nearby door as she pressed the right square to open the door. The three walked back to the end of the room where the potion was bubbling and letting off a faint vapor. Harry noticed that the smallest flame was under it now and the potion itself had changed from a thick greenish substance to a watery violet.
Remus picked a book off of a nearby table and flipped through a few pages until he found the one he wanted.
"Ok, first of the charms, comon Harry, you first," he said as he gave his wand a flick. Harry stood in front of him watching carefully as Remus began chanting and waving his wand about. Harry had never seen a spell like this before. Most spells were a simple movement followed by a short incantation, but this was a long series of wand movements accompanied by a spell that sounded like a song. Just as Harry was about to give up he was bathed in a soft violet light that made his skin and muscles become transparent enough so as to reveal his skeletal structure.
"Ok, next," Remus beckoned to Hermione. She chewed her lip nervously as he began his chanting again.
"Nice bones," Harry whispered to her slyly as she stepped aside for Ron. Hermione elbowed him softly and stifled a giggle as they watched.
"Right then," Remus said nothing to do for a while.
"That was bizarre," Ron said as he rubbed his arms slightly, "made me tingle a bit."
Remus shrugged unconcernedly, "It affects everyone a little differently."
"Who wants to check out this spell book I found while we wait?" Harry asked.
"Oooh, it looks advanced," Hermione said.
"Sure, bring it over here Harry," Remus said as he conjured up chairs.
Ron let out a little whine, "You're really putting a strain on my allergic to studying traits Harry."
"Don't think of it as studying Ron, you'll never see spells this cool in Flitwick's class." Harry replied. He opened to the section on charms and started reading the different effects out loud. There was an Acceleration Charm that allowed the user to move rapidly from one place to another. It was touted as a poor man's substitute for apparation since wards or jinxes couldn't block it, but it was only for short distance use.
"I could never master that one, most wizards can't either. It requires some powerful magic behind it because the caster has direct themselves even as they cast it. As I recall this charm mixes some aspects of time travel, levitation, and motion charms in order to work." Remus said.
"We'll definitely want to learn it then; no one will be expecting it," Hermione replied.
"There's no wand movement involved," Harry noted, "you just point your wand at yourself and concentrate, kinda like apparation."
Remus turned the page and nearly choked, "Werewolf's Bane Charm."
"This charm creates dozens of silver spikes and hurls them in a tight pattern over a wide area," Harry read.
"I take it you've seen this one used before," Hermione said gently.
"Only once, and thankfully I wasn't on the receiving end," Remus said.
"This could be useful against things other than werewolves. Dozens of silver spikes would do lots of damage to a normal person too," Harry said thoughtfully.
"It would be hard to block or dodge too. The Shield Charm doesn't cover a big enough area," Ron said.
Remus flipped forward a few pages in the book, "That's what the Barrier Charm is for. It creates an invisible wall of crystallized energy in a cylinder around the caster. When overwhelmed it shatters into destructive shards that can be flung back at the caster's opponents."
Ron leaned in and pointed at a footnote on the page, "Warning, these spells are only as strong as the caster."
"Right, that's the danger with more advanced charms, jinxes, hexes, and even curses. It depends on the magical power of the caster as to how effective each spell will be." Remus explained.
"Practice matters too," Hermione said defensively.
"Only to a point Hermione, but I wouldn't worry if I were you, as easily as you mastered spells during your third year in my defense class your natural abilities are very strong."
The rest of the day seemed to go by rather quickly as they discussed the interesting and often unheard of spells that was in Harry's little pocketbook. Remus or Hermione kept track of the time to make sure that they didn't miss any of the various charms that the needed to have cast on them for the animagus transformation. Each charm got successively less colorful than the previous one until finally the last charm to be applied looked like the lumos spell. Harry also noticed that the potion had simmered down to roughly half its original volume and was now completely clear. Remus dished up three flasks full of the liquid and corked them before ushering them out of the potion room. They walked into a smaller room next to it that was relatively empty so as to give them plenty of space to transform.
"Ok, everyone stand apart and brace yourselves, this may be painful, and don't worry if you can't transform tonight, most wizards can't," he said as he handed each of them a flask.
Harry uncorked his flask and looked down at the innocent fluid. Ron and Hermione were already drinking theirs so he quickly began drinking too. This isn't so bad, he thought as he finished it off. No sooner had he done so a sharp spike of pain ripped at his stomach and rippled into the rest of his body. He was vaguely aware that Ron and Hermione were thrashing around on the floor as he dropped heavily to his knees. Harry tried to concentrate like the texts had instructed and felt the pain lessen slightly. He began to systematically work on the pain in each of his limbs, trying to gain control over it and will it to go away. It was a difficult and tedious process, each time he managed to stamp out the burning sensation in one spot it flared up in another. After what seemed hours he had managed to reduce the pain to a dull throbbing sensation.
"Remus," he tried to say, but nothing came out.
A bright blue light flashed on and Harry felt the pain nearly go away. He opened his eyes, unaware that he had closed them, and tried to get up. Instead of getting up he rolled over a few times until he bumped into something soft, bushy, and grey. Suddenly he felt something grasp him firmly around the legs and lift him off the ground. Harry panicked momentarily until he was deposited on top of the desk next to a large owl. Remus' face loomed largely in front of them.
"Well done you two," he said, "wait here for a minute while I see to Ron."
Harry blinked and looked at the owl again. Hermione, he thought, but all that came out was a strangled screech. Realization dawned slowly in Harry's mind that he was much smaller and lighter than he had been a few moments before. Carefully trying to move he felt a strange sensation like thick toe nails against the hard smooth surface of the table. He lifted an arm to touch his face, but it wouldn't bend properly. I'm a bird too, he thought with elation.
Hermione's head was swiveling back and forth as her huge eyes blinked to adjust to their new abilities. She could see Remus struggling with something on the floor, but even more interesting was the sleek broad tailed falcon sitting next to her. Curious markings around its eyes looked faintly like the round wire rimmed glasses that Harry was always wearing. Is that Harry? It must be, she thought.
"Right then, that was spectacular you three, now transform back," Remus instructed.
Harry concentrated, but nothing happened. Hermione seemed to be having trouble as well and he still couldn't see Ron since he was afraid he'd topple over if he tried to move to the edge of the table. Remus watched him for a minute before whipping out his wand again and muttering an incantation. Harry felt his limbs morphing back into human form until he found himself sitting on the edge of the table. On the floor was a large wolf with a sinister looking grin on its face.
"Wow Ron, nice form," Harry marveled at the fearsome looking creature.
Hermione was now sitting next to him, Remus had helped her transform back too. Ron wagged his tail rather dog like as he too was hit with the animagus-revealing spell and turned back into his human shape.
"That's probably enough for tonight," Remus said.
Hermione and Ron both looked as tired as Harry felt. "I hope this gets easier soon."
"It will Harry, now that you know what it is like to make both transfigurations you should be able to practice it on your own," Remus said.
"We can use this room until we get the hang of it," Ron said excitedly.
"Now there's only one thing left to do," Remus grinned at them, "you each need to choose a nickname for each other."
"For each other?" Hermione asked apprehensively.
"Marauder's tradition," Remus said, his grin widening.
The trio sat back down sleepily and thought for a few minutes about what each other's name would be.
"I think Ron's name should be Gleamtooth because his teeth stood out more than any of his other
features," Harry said finally.
"The feature that stood out most on you was your glasses," Hermione said jokingly, but at Harry's hurt
look added hastily, "or your tail. How about Fantail?"
"Nice, nice, true Marauding names both," Remus interjected.
Now they just needed one more short, descriptive name for Hermione. After a few failed trials it was Ron who came up with a name she liked, Greywing. Tired, but immensely proud of themselves, the three new Marauders dubbed Fantail, Greywing, and Gleamtooth trudged up the stairs that led out of the dungeons behind their mentor, the last of the original Marauders, Moony.