I. Hate. Being. Sick.
I don't own Harry Potter, only Lizzie, Whizzy, Morgan and Emma.
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Chapter 3 - The Beast Within, pt. 2
Barty Crouch Jr. scowled darkly as he wandered through the crowds, obtaining more ill gotten funds. Lestrange and Wormtail were wearing on his patience more every day, and he seriously considered stunning his companions and finding another place to stay before the aurors arrived.
Crouch was interrupted from his thoughts by the sounds of a struggle, and of someone shouting in protest. He stopped to see two large police officers dragging a struggling man into a car. Crouch quickly spun around and left the scene before the officers saw him, deciding it was time to get his sandwiches elsewhere.
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Sirius sighed as he sat in a closed door with Remus, sitting in front of a bubbling cauldron while his companion chopped and ground various potion ingredients.
"She seemed fine with it all," Sirius complained, stirring the potion carefully. "I mean, I thought she already knew; she is a healer after all." Remus sighed as he vigorously ground some beetle eyes into a fine powder. Having served as James' makeshift counselor whenever he had a fight with Lily made him familiar with this situation. Except for the part where his best friend's son and two friends were in a potion-induced coma for almost ten hours now.
"She may be a healer, Padfoot, but I highly doubt that Lizzie can remember every effect of every single potion ever made," Remus reasoned as he measured out a tablespoon of ground beetle eyes and handed it to his companion. "Besides, you really should have told the children what to expect before they took the potion."
"Where's the fun in that?" Sirius protested as he dropped the beetle eyes into the potion and stirred it into the brew.
"I highly doubt that the Zabinis and the Grangers will find that their daughters are in potion-induced comas indefinitely particularly amusing, Sirius," Remus snorted. Sirius sighed as he set the stirring spoon aside and allowed the potion to simmer.
"You're probably right...as usual," he admitted glumly. "And there's still the problem about how the hell I'm going to apologize to Lizzie," he continued, rubbing his temple tiredly.
"You could always get on your knees and beg for forgiveness, like when you missed your first anniversary," Remus suggested.
"Very funny, Moony; I'm serious," Sirius deadpanned, "wormwood extract ready?"
"I've known that you're Sirius for years, I can remember your name, and here," Remus shot back while handing Sirius a bottle of clear liquid, who then poured five drops into the potion.
"That was lame, Moony," Sirius groaned as he capped the bottle of wormwood extract. "Do you remember what James did to get back into Lily's good graces?" he asked hopefully.
"Offerings of flowers, chocolates, offers to clean the house, or combinations thereof," Remus recited as he carefully and reluctantly lined up and sliced several squirming grubs. "And sometimes, he got down on his knees and begged forgiveness," Remus added, grimacing as he scraped the eviscerated grubs into a bowl and cleaned the cutting board with a wave of his wand.
"Damn, Whizzy already cleans the house," Sirius grumbled as he added more water to keep the potion the right consistency. "I need the bulberry juice now."
"Can't help you then, Padfoot," Remus said, shrugging, handing Sirius a custard cup full of juice.
"I know," Sirius sighed dejectedly. "Still don't have to like it."
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Harry stumbled through the wasteland of his dream world for what seemed like hours. Despite no sunlight piercing the thick clouds above, Harry felt dizzy and feverish, even though he was not sweating, and his shuffling feet kicked up dust along his path.
His feet growing sore and his mind dull from exhaustion, Harry stopped his fruitless wandering and fell to his knees before collapsing onto his back. As Harry closed his eyes to try and rest, he heard a sharp cawing from above him. He opened his eyes to see a familiar raven circling above him.
"How wonderful," Harry muttered sarcastically. The black-plumed bird glided down towards Harry and landed gracefully on his chest, its talons digging through Harry's shirt and prodding into his flesh. It shuffled its way up Harry's torso, until it was staring at Harry, its beak barely touching his nose. Harry looked down to see the bird's piercing green eyes staring intently back at him.
Harry frowned in confusion as something about the raven seemed familiar. He sat up, and the raven fluttered to the ground with a squawk. For several seconds, Harry stared at the bird, until something clicked inside his mind.
"Are you…me?" Harry asked the raven, immediately feeling stupid for doing so. To his surprise, the raven let out a caw and jumped at him. As Harry fell back and instinctively held up his hands to block it, the bird fell through him, and Harry suddenly found himself sitting up in the sitting room of 12 Grimmauld Place, wrapped in the arms of his hysterical Godmother.
"Mum! Mum! Get off!" Harry shouted as he tried to struggle out of Lizzie's hold.
"I'm sorry," Lizzie sniffled, wiping away a stray tear, "I've just been worried. Are you okay, do you feel fine?" she asked, feeling Harry's forehead for a fever.
"I'm fine, Mum, I'm just tired," Harry said, dismissing Lizzie's anxiety. He turned to see Hermione and Blaise's catatonic forms, but Michael and Emma were missing. "Where are Michael and Emma?" Harry asked.
"Sleeping," Lizzie answered. "I had to give them a sleeping draught to get them down; they would have stayed up all night otherwise. You should do the same."
"Mum, I'm fine, I-" Harry tried to protest, but was cut off by a glare from his mother. Nodding obediently, Harry stalked up the stairs and into his room, where he laid in his bed, trying to will himself to sleep.
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Blaise cautiously wielded her makeshift club as she slowly walked through the forest, her shoes making a squelching sound as she treaded through the muddy ground. With the salty sweat stinging her eyes and blurring her vision, she stopped to wipe it from her brow.
As she lowered her sweat-coated arm, Blaise froze as she heard a rustling above her, and raised her branch. She spun around, searching for the animal following her, but the dense treetops made it difficult to see due to a lack of sunlight.
Finally deciding that she was hearing things again, she began to resume her aimless wandering, but froze in her tracks. Hanging in front of her was a large python. Faced with a sudden shock, Blaise forgot her weapon and did the first thing that came to her mind.
She screamed.
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Hermione sighed as she sat in the small rowboat she had remained since she had first consumed the Animagus potion. The sea otter that she had shared company with earlier had left; unfortunately, it had left the remains of the fish it had consumed in the boat, and the hot sun was rotting the scattered fish bones and entrails, creating a foul smell.
Hermione had attempted several times to escape the kelp forest, but every time she tried to row away, her oars would get tangled in the rope-like plants, so she was essentially trapped there.
Hermione groaned as she held her head in her hands. She had not thought to research the Animagus potion before consuming it, and Sirius simply said that it "would come to her," whatever that meant. Her attempts to figure out the way the potion worked, as well as the gentle rocking of the boat as it bobbed on the waves, had started to give Hermione a headache.
Suddenly though, Hermione felt light, then felt something pulling at her from within, and her world began to fade away....
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"It's been fifteen hours, Sirius, is the potion ready?" Lizzie asked her husband, a gurgling Morgan in one arm.
"Right here," Sirius said, holding up two vials. Lizzie took the vials and handed Sirius Morgan, who clung to Sirius' shirt, cooing quietly.
"Remus, could you hold her head up, please?" Lizzie asked as she uncorked the first vial and knelt down next to Hermione. Remus held up the teenager's head and Lizzie gently poured the potion into her mouth, rubbing her throat to make her swallow. After the last drop had been consumed, they waited for several tense moments as Remus lowered Hermione's head back down. A few seconds later, Hermione shot up, gasping for air. After the adults had successfully calmed her down, they repeated the procedure for Blaise. After forcing both girls to eat two sandwiches and almost a liter of water each, Lizzie showed them to the guestrooms where they would spend the night.
After the children had been put into bed (including Morgan, who after a good nursing went right to sleep), Lizzie and Sirius began preparing for bed. However, after handing Lizzie the Animagus counter potion, she began giving Sirius the cold shoulder again.
"Liz, honey, I'm sorry," Sirius pleaded, growing desperate. "I admit it, I made a mistake. Could you find it in your heart to forgive me?" Lizzie sighed as she turned to him.
"Yes, you made a mistake," she conceded, crossing her arms, "but I'm not the only one you should be apologizing to. You placed children, our children in a potentially dangerous situation without telling them what the potion would do, or what to do once they drink it. What would have happened if they had been injured while they were in that dream world of theirs? And if something did happen to them, what would you tell your parents?" She sighed tiredly as she raised her hand, preventing Sirius from answering. "You know what? Let's just talk about this later; I'm too tired for this right now." Her rant finished, Lizzie climbed into bed and turned off the light on her side of the bed. Sighing, Sirius could do nothing except repeat her actions, plunging them into darkness as they drifted into a fitful sleep.
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The next day, after the children had woken up and Sirius had given them his apologies, he explained to them how to meditate to achieve the actual metamorphosis into their Animagus forms. He also told them that this process takes time, but Harry and Michael would probably get them first, due to their experience meditating for Occlumency.
That night, Blaise, Hermione and Emma were returned to their parents outside the Muggle entrance to the Leaky Cauldron.
After returning to her home and greeting her mother, Blaise immediately dove for the Daily Prophet, eager to get to its crossword puzzle, but stopped when she saw the front article.
MASSIVE CHANGES IN HOGWARTS STAFF
By John Windsten
In a move that has not been seen since the time of the Founders, newly appointed Hogwarts Headmistress Minerva McGonnagal has made eight positions available on the Hogwarts staff. As with every year for over 30 years now, the Defense Against the Dark Arts position is vacant, as well as the position of Transfiguration and Care of Magical Creatures professors, due to the aforementioned promotion of Prof. McGonnagal, as well as the retirement of CoMC teacher Alexander Kettleburn. Other positions include Potions, Divination, History of Magic, Muggle Studies and castle caretaker, due to the sacking of the positions' previous holders.
"Upon reviewing past records concerning certain subjects, I was appalled by the poor markings from most students," Headmistress McGonnagal said after asked about the incident. "After conducting a staff-wide investigation, I felt it necesssary to relieve certain people in order to improve the learning environment at Hogwarts. We are supposed to be the best school of magical learning in Europe, and having such inadequate teachers reflects poorly on us all."
For comments from other teachers, past and current, turn to page 17.
If you are interested in applying for an open position, turn to our job advertisement section, pages 65-68.
Hmm, Blaise hummed mentally. This school year should be interesting, she thought to herself before flipping to the back of the paper and extracting the page containing the crossword puzzle.
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I've finally updated, please don't kill me.
Okay, here's a question concerning this story: Do you want me to bring Ron and Ginny into the story as possible threats to our harmony goodness, or keep them as ignored background characters? If you're a registered member of fanfiction DOT net, I've got a poll in my profile you can vote in. If you're not, just leave a vote in your review.
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