Chapter 2: Of Disturbing Dreams and Ferret Kings.
A/N: I know it's been ages, but my Muse is playing games with me, she decides when I write, not me. Hope you enjoy it.
Harry was kneeling in the middle of the classroom, exactly in the middle of a large circle of ancient runes. A complicated diagram was drawn underneath him, he barely understood how McGonagall had drawn it, let alone what it did. Slivers of smoke escaped four purple candles placed on the circle's perimeter, making the room smell strongly of Frankincense and Myrrh.
These were the only source of light in the whole room, and he could barely see Draco in the corner, watching in poorly-restrained awe. His Transfiguration teacher however, was clearly visible right in front of him, chanting some archaic formula in a firm voice. Sweat pearled on his forehead and his knees were beginning to complain, but Harry could stay here for hours more, he had been waiting for this for far too long.
It was the Freulodorus Ritual.
McGonagall's chanting slowly quickened, and the smoke started swirling together over Harry's head, falling back down after meeting at a summit, making it look like Harry was trapped in a swirling smoky fountain.
The fumes were beginning to make him light-headed, and he welcomed it, like he had been told to do. His eyesight blurred and a ringing sound covered all others. He was acutely aware of all his nerves, and his spine felt like it was filling with icy water.
He passed out after a few seconds, and the dull thump as his body hit the floor was the only sound in the room as its other two occupants looked on with enraptured patience.
His vision was still terribly blurred when he woke up, feeling completely disorientated. Everything slowly came into focus and he found himself in one of Hogwarts's corridors, but he couldn't tell which. He got up and took a few steps, wondering how he had gotten there, missing the fact that his feet made no sound as they slapped the stone floor.
Just as he was passing a classroom, the door swung open too fast for him to jump out of the way. But strangely, he didn't get hit. The door was now open behind him, he had somehow gone through it, just as he went through Filch a half-second later when he exited the classroom, bounding towards another corridor.
"What the hell?"He spoke out loud.
But before he could really ponder what indeed was happening, Madam Pince followed through the doorway, looking rather dishevelled, compared to her usual impeccable standards. Harry jumped away from her, shouting in surprise, but she didn't look at him. She just looked left and right, then sped off in the opposite direction that Filch had, not even having glanced Harry's way.
Harry thought he was going to feel sick. This meant that they…Pince and Filch were…uugh…
"Well, I guess I was right when I told Hermione they were an…urgh…item. That's definitely something I'll have to tell her, after all, it isn't everyday that I'm right."
But how did he go through them? Why didn't she notice him? Had he died during the Ritual? Was he now a ghost? He thought better to drop that disturbing line of thought.
"Think Harry, think. The Ritual, it makes you dream, so is this…a dream? A very disturbing and horribly realistic dream really, but it is a possibility…
Before he could wonder about the significance of dreaming about Filch and Madam Pince 'going at it', he heard two people laughing from the next corridor, and their footsteps told Harry they were getting closer.
He hid behind a big statue of two kneeling wizards pointing at what looked like an apple with confused and argumentative looks. He didn't know if he would remain 'invisible' to whoever was coming but he didn't want to test it.
Just as he thought they were going to pass into the corridor, he saw two people dash for the darkened alcove in front of him, and he didn't get a chance to see if he could recognize them.
He did however see a pitch black cat stroll regally through the corridor, and he stared at it, dumbfounded.
This didn't look like Mrs. Norris, this cat had a bizarre zigzagged tail and had a gray shadow around his eyes. Its legs seemed slightly tilted towards the inside of its body, how could a cat have knobbly knees?
It disappeared around the next corner to the staircases, and Harry was wondering whose pet that had been. Somehow he felt he had already seen it, though he couldn't figure out where.
His confusion was interrupted by two new voices entering the corridor. He turned back to the initial corridor, and it all clicked. There, walking way too close to each other than Harry thought should be legal between two Head Prefects, were Hermione and Ernie.
This was a memory. So he must be hidden with Malfoy just in that alcove in front of him. So that's why no one could see him! Though this meant that Filch and Pince really were an item…
But ju
st as t
Though, why was he in a memory? This was supposed to be a dream, why was he reliving a recent event?
As if to answer his question, he felt the world around him give a massive lurch and he was back in the classroom, standing up somehow, with a worried looking McGonagall looking at him and a bored looking Malfoy in the back. It took him a while to regain his focus and boundaries and readjust to his surroundings.
"Mr Potter, I see you have resurfaced. How did it go?"
He didn't know what to say exactly. "Umm…it was…good?"
"What did you see, Mr Potter?" Harry noticed Malfoy peeking up at that.
"I saw…" he shivered as he remembered the first thing he saw, he would never look at the caretaker the same way again. "I was in a memory, it was actually of a night not too long ago Miss. But I thought it was supposed to be a dream, wasn't it?"
"Ah but it was. Not all dreams are completely fictional. There are many different things that one sees when performing the Freulodorus Ritual, memories are not uncommon however. I do not need to know the details of the dream, I just need you to focus on it, and tell me if there was anything that did not pertain to what really happened."
He paused and remembered the dream. He decided not to bring up the inter-staff relationship he had discovered, but apart from that, couldn't exactly recall anything out of the ordinary.
"No Professor there wa -" and he spotted the drawing on the chalkboard, where McGonagall had used her own transformation as example. The cat!
"Actually there was! There was this cat that just pretty much strolled through my dream randomly. Was that actually my animagus form?" He tried to keep the excitement out of his voice.
"Describe the feline to me."
"It had this strangely shaped tail, zigzagged, and it was all black, except for these gray circles around its eyes. I don't really remember anything else though, it was so random…"
She gave him one look over and actually smiled. "Well Mr. Potter, I think it was indeed your animagus form. The physical similarities confirm it as well. Would you call the tail lightning-shaped?"
Professor McGonagall saw it click in Harry's head and was amused by the childish grin that swept his face. Before Harry could say anything, Draco was pushing him out of the diagram.
"Ok your time is done now, it's my turn."
And the Ritual restarted, this time with Harry as spectator. It was a lot more boring on this end of it, but Harry couldn't wipe the silly smile from his features: he would actually be an animagus!
Though McGonagall hadn't made it explicit, the Freulodorus Ritual is more than a way to show one's animagus form, it is also a basic eligibility test, showing you whether or not you have the possibility to become an animagus. And Harry had passed!
He admitted to himself that he wanted Malfoy to pass too, continuing alone would almost ruin the experience, and well, maybe he had fun walking back to the corridors with Malfoy too.
Finally, Malfoy stood up, then opened his eyes, slowly refocusing on the room like Harry had.
"Mr. Malfoy? How was it then?"
He threw her an anxious look, and turned away. "It was fine."
"Was it a modified recollection like Mr. Potter's?"
"Err no, it was a dream. No reality, just fantasy."
"Well what happened then? Do you know what your animagus form is?"
"Well, the dream kind of points to it, but I think I need to do the Ritual again because I'm sure it must be wrong."
"Nonsense. Mr. Malfoy what did you see?"
Harry could guess why Malfoy was reluctant, after all his boasting, he wasn't a dragon, and that must have touched his Slytherin pride a tad. But was his form that bad for him to be so reluctant?
"Well I saw myself, and I was in the hallway, and there was Potter, and um, that old Professor Moody, and I lifted up my hands and…oh hell… I lifted up my hands and these…these ferrets just came from everywhere to attack them."
Wait, thought Harry that means that…that Malfoy is…his animagus is a FERRET!!!
He burst out laughing, and even McGonagall was having trouble keeping a straight face.
"Were there any similar features?" she managed to ask with a forced neutral tone.
If looks could kill, Harry would be about 40 feet down in a smoking crater with the look Malfoy was giving him.
"Well they were all beige coloured, kind of like my hair Miss."
"Mr. Potter, calm yourself. Now."
Her tone sobered him up like a bucket of icy water.
"As for you Mr. Malfoy, though I suppose there was more to the dream, I assure you it all points to the ferret." Harry couldn't help snorting. "Mr. Potter if you cannot control yourself perhaps we should leave your training at that, hm?"
Noooooo no no "No Miss, excuse me, I will control myself."
There was a pregnant pause, while the two boys waited for their teacher's instructions.
"Alright, both rituals went faster than I had presumed, so this leaves us with some free time. If both of you feel you are up to it, we could begin a simple transformation."
Malfoy's disgruntled look lightened slightly, and Harry looked determined. They both nodded, so the Professor continued.
"Alright, so now we begin the practical part of the course, the part I assume both of you have been waiting for." She waved her wand and the room was spotless, smoke-less, and odourless as all that remained was a desk and newly lit candles along the walls.
"Now then, I will ask for your absolute concentration in this, because this is where things get dangerous. I will not accept any foolishness or rashness. Do I make myself clear?" The room seemed to get darker and the boys felt a chill at the bottom of their spines. Again, they simply nodded.
"Very well. Extend out your hand like so, and picture the animal you will eventually turn into. Now, picture that animal's paw that corresponds to your extended hand. Picture only the paw, we will only be transfiguring one hand tonight. Then, when you have that image set in your mind, think Animorphum." Her extended hand suddenly morphed into that of her tabby cat's front right paw, and the startling differences in proportionality were rather disconcerting.
Both boys though, didn't manage any change at all. "Concentrate boys. Show me that all our lessons and concentration exercises were not for naught."
Harry started sweating and he felt very hot around his temples. He pictured the black cat's front paw, trying to single it out from the rest of its body. Closing his eyes, he thought Animorphum. He opened his eyes, hopeful, but his hand was still extended, nothing different.
"Woh!" exclaimed Malfoy. "Did you see that!? My hand was full of fur!"
"Hmm, yes Mr. Malfoy, it did change, but it is barely a partial transformation, you must concentrate more." McGonagall, always the kill-joy.
If Malfoy can get somewhere, I must be able to do it too. He scrunched his eyes closed and thought hard about the paw, pictured it fully in his mind, even pictured his hand transforming into it like the Animagus in front of him had done, and recited the incantation.
He knew he had succeeded before opening his eyes, as a strange weightless feeling overcame his right hand. His opened eyes confirmed it, and it freaked him out to see his right forearm mould into an extremely thin hairy black paw.
"Very good Mr. Potter. Well done."
They both turned to Malfoy expectantly and Harry gave him his best prideful look as he challenged him to do it.
Malfoy's eyes flared and he stared at his hand like he was trying to burn a hole through it. A few seconds later, it slowly shaped itself into a tiny blond claw-like paw. It looked even stranger on Draco's arm, it was about a third of Harry's paw.
"Marvellous. I am impressed by both your ease at this. It took me at least an hour to turn my hand into a cat's paw, and it turned out to be the wrong paw." Harry was surprised by the insight into McGonagall's youth, Malfoy seemed completely oblivious, still staring at his 'paw' with a mixture of disgust and disbelief.
She cleared her throat. "Now, to get your hands back, it is the exact opposite process. Think of your hand, and recite inwardly Humanimorphum." She demonstrated easily as her hand shifted back and forth from cat form.
They both managed it on the second try, probably thanks to their other hand helping the visualization.
"Excellent. You have both done very well and I suspect that the next lessons will pass by very quickly. I warn you however, this is only the beginning, do not attempt anything more than this for now. I expect both of you to have mastered this transformation by next week. Goodnight boys."
"Goodnight Professor" they said in unison as they stepped out of the classroom.
They spent a few moments in silence, both contemplating their Animagus forms, in awe at the prospect of finally being able to change into an animal soon.
Harry was first to break the silence. "So Malfoy, should I call you King Ferret now?" He couldn't help at chuckle.
"Yeah yeah, laugh it up Potter, you just wait until we can fully transform and I whoop your freaky-tailed kitty arse"
"Oh no, Malfoy the bouncing ferret, what will I do?"
"Okay shut up now. How fares the Hermione affairs?"
"Well, even after Macmillian imposed himself on her, she's still completely bonkers for him. I really don't know what she sees in that pompous git. I thought she'd have dropped him on the spot after his stunt the other night."
"Yeah well, I doubt little miss bookworm has much confidence in herself when it comes to boys, so maybe she thinks it's the best she can get."
"Wow Malfoy, that's deep for a blond ferret." He said half humorously and half in wonder.
"What can I say, I am a man of many skills and talents." He said with a smile that betrayed his sarcasm.
"Getting girls doesn't seem to be one of them though, judging by Ginny's still happy relationship with Neville."
"Ah, all in due time Potty. Give my plan time to work itself out."
"Ah yes, the piss-her-off-so-much-she-realises-she-loves-me plan. Foolproof…"
"Potter, we've got to take matters into our own hands. These girls don't know what they're missing with us. But they're both so smitten with their dudes that they don't notice it. We need to break them up, there's no other way."
"No objection here, but how to do it?"
"This is where we will put my Slytherin brilliance to use. At the moment, they're happy, so there's no problems. We need to get them unhappy, and for that, we need to find out what makes them unhappy. We're going to have to learn their likes and dislikes, so we'll need to follow them around I suppose, and we'll need to amplify their dislikes in their boyfriends, while doing all the right things in their eyes ourselves. Soon enough, they'll end up hating their boyfriends, and loving us."
"And this following them, you think Hermione wouldn't notice me following her while she did her rounds with Macmillian?"
"Not if you're a cat she won't."
"Perfect! I didn't know you had it in you to think so well, Malfoy."
"I try…"
"Alright then, I'd say we have about two weeks until McGonagall approves for full transformation, and that's where we really set the plan in motion. But what do we do until then?"
"We make preparations." Malfoy had a devilish glint in his eye. "I think we should prepare anything that could prove useful in breaking the two happy couples up. You suck royally at potions, so I'll prepare some useful potions."
"I'll contact Weasley's Wizard Wheezes, see what fun stuff they can supply, and I'll look through some of the books I have on amusing hexes and spells."
"Excellent. Looks like we've got it all figured out, nothing can go wrong."
Of course, most things are always easier said than done…
[A/N: The Animagus forms were dictated by the challenge restrictions, so please don't tell me you thought they should've turned into wolves or phoenixes etc… Questions however, are most welcome. Next chapter, we get some insight on the two girls and their relationship, as well as some duly awaited transformations.]