FicWad

A/N: I forgot to put a disclaimer in so here it goes: I don’t own Harry Potter.

A/N 2: The Jimmy Carr joke was “four Chinamen and a zeppelin.” He had placed an ad in a newspaper stating he was looking for them. At the same time, he placed an advert for an arch nemesis and a lost notice for virginity. That man is incredibly funny, and a bit twisted. I’ve seen his new show and it is well worth going to.

A/N 3: In case you haven’t noticed, this will be clichéd. What can I say? I’ve read a lot of fan fiction, so if you’re idea appears, please don’t be offended. You’re probably not the only one.

Chapter 2

Harry walked slowly back towards Gryffindor Tower, thinking about what had happened in the last couple of hours. He had been studying in the Chamber of Secrets and he had nearly finished the animagus potion. Then he had ended up saving Daphne Greengrass from Malfoy and led her to Slytherin’s private quarters, something he hadn’t even done with Ron and Hermione. He didn’t want to tell two teens because, even though they were his best and only friends, they annoyed him sometimes.

Ron was pigheaded and prejudiced while Hermione was constantly nagging. They were complete opposites: he wanted to play quidditch constantly and not worry about his homework or the upcoming exams; she was too worried about the upcoming OWLs and was determined to prevent Harry having any sort of social life, mediocre as it was.

Harry sought someone who was a balance between the two. He wanted to find someone who took their school work seriously, but still enjoyed life. If he told Ron about the chamber he would over-react, think Harry really was Slytherin’s heir and refuse to speak to him for months. Hermione would worry about him and instantly think the worst. She would start to see him as the next Voldemort. For all the differences, Hermione and Ron would both think he was evil. Admittedly, he wasn’t quite sure how Ginny and Neville would take the news.

As he rounded the second to last corner before Gryffindor Tower he encountered Professor McGonagall.

“Mr Potter!” she gasped in relief, the stern face she wore nearly constantly momentarily faltering. “I’m glad you’re safe.” The stern head of house look returned. “What were you doing?”

“Umm…” Harry didn’t know what to say. “I had a dream,” he said lamely.

“Another one? Was it in anyway similar to the one at Christmas; is anybody hurt?” she asked hurriedly.

“No, I don’t think so. It just showed the corridor and then it ended.” Even though Harry had worked at his occlumency, it weakened in his sleep and he had the dreams occasionally. It usually happened when Voldemort was in a good mood, or angry.

“Okay, you might want to find your friends. They were in a state of panic when they contacted me.”

“Thanks Professor!” shouted Harry as he ran off.

He sprinted down the passage to the common room and skidded to a stop before the entrance. He gave the password without being prompted and the portrait swung open.

He noticed the head of nearly everyone in the room turn to him as he clambered in.

“Harry!” screeched Hermione, before she pulled him into a hug that would have made Mrs Weasley proud. She was soon replaced by Ginny and finally Ron. After thumping Harry on the back Ron realised they were hugging and pulled away quickly, offering Harry his hand. He cleared his throat and said “Good to see you’re alright, mate.”

“Good morning to you too,” said Harry.

“Where were you?” asked Hermione, with her arms on her hips, looking too similar to the Gryffindor head of house for comfort. Harry laughed at the thought.

“What are you laughing at?”

“You,” Hermione looked offended, “It’s just that you look like McGonagall right now.”

The witch in question lowered her hands as Ron, Ginny and Neville laughed.

“You’re avoiding the question Harry,” she said.

Harry decided to give them the same excuse he had used with McGonagall. “I couldn’t sleep, so I decided to go running. You know, to clear my head.”

“Okay,” said Hermione.

“Yeah mate, want to go get some breakfast?” asked Ron. The others laughed.

“Trust you to bring up food,” said Neville.

“But I’m hungry!” complained Ron.

“Aren’t you always?” Ron aimed a light punch at Harry’s shoulder. “You guys go on; I’ll catch up with you. I’m just going to have a shower.”

“Right, we’ll see you in the Great Hall then,” agreed Ron, eager to eat.

Once the others had gone, Harry ran up to his dormitory and had a quick shower, before running down to Myrtle’s bathroom. He waved his wand over the outside of the door. There was a pair of wards; both of which would cause some pain. Harry wondered where Malfoy had learnt them, but realised that his assessment last night had been accurate. From the inside he wouldn’t have been able to remove them, but if he opened the door he would’ve been hit by several cutting curses and been left with more than a few burns.

He quickly siphoned off any power reaching the wards and watched as they flared once before vanishing. With the rush of power he received from absorbing the wards he opened the door and checked for any other traps; there were none.

He closed the door quickly and made his way back toward the Great Hall. He walked in, once again noticing the eyes following him. He glanced at the Slytherin table. Malfoy hadn’t arrived, but he thought he noticed a small nod of recognition from Daphne as she sat beside Tracey Davies and Blaise Zabini.

Harry didn’t know much about any of them even though they had never badmouthed him. Tracey Davies was a brunette with brown hair and a light tan. Apparently she was the second smartest person in the year. Blaise Zabini had a control of the dark arts that would surpass even Malfoy’s. Rumour had it that he was an excellent duellist. His family lived in Greece, where the Dark Arts were legal, but was very level-headed and had never attacked anyone. He was of moderate build, relatively skinny, with dark hair, eyes and skin.

He realised that he was staring and turned back to face his friends. Hermione looked nervous; there were only another couple of days before the start of their OWL exams and the stress was starting to get to her. Ron was eating like a pig, again, and Ginny was watching with disgust. Neville was eating nearly as much as Ron, but slower and with more manners.

He looked further up the table and saw Katie Bell. She saw him looking and smiled, which prompted him to wave at her in reply. She was beside a few girls from her own year that Harry didn’t know, as well as Angelina and Alicia. All of them turned to see what she was smiling at before returning to their conversation, giggling all the time.

Harry ate quickly and tried to think what he had first thing. Hermione saw his confused look and simply said “Defence.” It was a routine for them; Harry would finish his breakfast and try to think about what subject he had, but Hermione would always tell him. Even at the end of the year he still couldn’t remember his timetable.

He rose to his feet as he saw Ron finish. As a group Harry, Hermione, Ron, Neville and Ginny walked out of the Great Hall. Ginny left them to attend Charms as the others continued to DADA.

They entered the classroom to find most of the other pupils already seated and found their customary seats towards the back, beside the long windows. Before long, they heard the sound of someone clearing their throat and stopped their conversation to face the front of the class.

“Now class,” began Umbridge “Would you please open your books to page one hundred and eighty-two. You are then to read until page one hundred and ninety. In exactly forty minutes we will discuss what you have read.”

Harry snorted. Once again they weren’t learning anything useful. “Mr Potter,” called Umbridge, “For your disrespect, I will see you in my office at eight o’clock tonight.”

Harry groaned; once again he was going to have to use the blood quill. He might as well make the detention worth his time to get.

“Why?” he asked cheekily.

“Mr. Potter!” shrieked Umbridge. “You will report to my office because -”

Harry cut her off. “No, I meant, why are we learning this stuff? None of it’s at all useful.”

“Do you think you could do a better job?”

The members of the DA laughed, “Yeah.”

Umbridge’s face was turning a shade of red that even Vernon would be hard pushed to replicate. “Go on then,” stuttered Umbridge.

“What?” asked Harry, who was confused.

“Teach the class,” stated Umbridge, her complexion returning to normal. It didn’t take a master of leglimency to realise that she thought Harry would either back down, or fail miserably.

Once again the members of the DA struggled not to laugh. “No problem,” said Harry, acting confident, although he wasn’t sure how Malfoy would react. The blond in question spoke up as Umbridge entered her office.

“Yeah, go on Potter, have a go. Then we can laugh when you fail.”

“Is that the best you can think of?” asked Harry, brushing off the comment. “You’re really going to have to work on your insults.” That comment got the third laugh from the Gryffindors in the class.

“Right, let’s see,” said Harry as he thought, “Let’s start with something easy: the basic shield spell.” Harry had drilled this into all members of the DA, so he knew they would find it easy enough.

He demonstrated the wand movement and incantation before letting the others try it. He watched as everybody in his house performed it first time, as well as Blaise Zabini, who looked bored. He struggled not to chuckle as Malfoy was incapable of producing even the weakest shield.

Before he knew it the class was over. He released the others without giving homework. He watched Daphne walk up to him as it ended and she said “Potter, whatever I may have against you, I can admit that that was one of the best Defence lessons this year.”

Everybody else looked stunned, but Harry knew that he couldn’t be too familiar with her. “Thanks Greengrass.”

Harry then noticed Umbridge standing outside the door which led to her office, her face once again that particular shade of red.

“Ms. Greengrass! I expected better of you. Showing such respect for a teacher! You’re parents will be informed of this, and you can accompany Potter for his detention tonight see as you think it was so good!”

Daphne merely shrugged her shoulders before walking out of the class completely unfazed.

Harry went back to his desk and started packing his schoolbag. Both Ron and Hermione appeared annoyed.

“Watch yourself Harry,” advised Ron.

“Yeah,” agreed Hermione, “Why would she say something like that? I think it’s some sort of trick.” Ron didn’t surprise Harry, but Hermione’s comment did. He hadn’t expected her to be so prejudiced.

“Don’t worry,” said Harry calmly, “What’s the worst that could happen?”

*

“You may leave now,” declared Umbridge.

Harry and Daphne quickly gathered their bags and left the room, walking towards Myrtle’s bathroom.

“I don’t believe she made us do that,” declared Daphne, “My father will hear about this.”

“I can believe it,” stated Harry.

“Huh?”

“So eloquent,” commented Harry, causing Daphne to hit his arm. “That’s what I’ve had to do during all my detentions with her.”

“What?” shrieked Daphne. “You do know that the use of a blood quill, unless it is used to sign legal documents, is completely illegal?”

“No,” said Harry, this was news to him; even Hermione had told him that.

“And you’ve been using it in all your detention?”

“Yeah, so has most of Gryffindor Tower. Open.”

Daphne suppressed a shudder at the use of parseltongue. “I’ll send an owl to my dad; he’ll probably take the bitch to court for this.” Daphne had a gleam in her eyes which showed her desire for revenge.

“Yeah, that’s what we call her as well.”

“What?”

“Well done, you’ve gotten past making grunts,” said Harry sarcastically. He evaded Daphne’s punch. “Umbitch,” he said.

“I like it.”

“I thought you might; in here.” Harry and Daphne were now standing in Salazar’s private chambers, the animagus potion between them.

“Are you going to finish this tonight?”

“Yeah, all we need to do is add the powdered next eye, bottle it for anybody you want to give it to, and add a drop of our own blood.” He said this while throwing in the newt eye. The potion bubbled for a few seconds as Harry counted to four. He breathed a sigh of relief as it stopped bubbling when he said “four.” This told him that the potion was okay to use.

“Here goes nothing,” said Harry as he lowered a bottle into the mixture.

“Wait; I want to take it at the same time,” declared Daphne. She took a bottle and dipped it in the potion as well. They both let a drop of blood fall from the cuts left by the blood quill. The potion turned orange. The two teens nodded to each other and simultaneously drank the mixture.

Harry’s world exploded into pain. It felt as if his bones and muscles were on fire, even as they were being twisted out of shape. He could hear himself screaming, and knew from Daphne’s shriek that she was experiencing the same pain he was.

Suddenly, the pain stopped and was replaced by a feeling of comfort. What had once been on fire was now warm, as if he had been lying in the sun all day. He looked up and saw a gray wolf glaring back at him. He felt himself laughing he was so happy, but what he heard was different. It sounded like a purr, which left him wondering what he was. Then the pain returned.

Once again he felt his body change shape. When he looked back at Daphne he was surprised to notice that she had turned into another animal. It looked like an osprey to him. Then his mind connected the fact that he still wasn’t looking down on her. That meant he had another animagus form. Then the pain hit him again. He could feel himself growing and knew that he was retuning to his human form.

A few seconds later he was on his hands and knees, panting. The pain had been excruciating, far worse than anything he had experienced before. It even rivalled the cruciatus. His hair was matted to his forehead by a layered of sweat and he swept his fringe out of the way as he glanced towards Daphne. She had returned to her human form as well, and was breathing heavily.

“Now … I know … why … the Ministry … doesn’t … allow anybody to teach … that at school,” she said, between pants.

Harry chuckled, then nearly convulsed as his the pain in his ribs returned. “Don’t make me laugh.”

The two rested for a couple of minutes before Daphne broke the silence. “I don’t believe I have two forms. It’s rare enough to have one, but two…”

“I know the feeling,” commented Harry dryly, “Although I’m almost certain that Dumbledore has multiple forms.”

“Do you know what they are?”

“No, an anyway, enough about him, what am I?” asked Harry.

“I’m not going to tell you until you tell me,” replied Daphne.

“No, you say first.”

“How about we write them down?”

“No, it’s alright. I’m not sure I have the strength to write.”

Daphne laughed softly. “So…?” She leaned in to hear what Harry was going to say.

“Your first form is a gray wolf,” he told her.

“And…?”

“Oh no, it’s your turn to tell me one.”

“Right, that’s fair enough. It’s a snow leopard; a big snow leopard.”

“Osprey,” said Harry quickly.

“I’m not too sure about the other, but it was an eagle. I’m pretty sure it was a steller’s sea eagle.”

“I’ve never heard of that before; what does it look like?”

“It’s dark, but has a white forehead, thighs, shoulders, wingtips and tail. It was big as well; the wingspan must’ve been about two and a half metres!”

“What about the snow leopard?”

“It’s nearly the biggest leopard ever seen. It must be about one eighty metres with a tail of around a metre. I’ve even heard that they can jump up to fifty feet, that’s fifteen metres.”

“That’s pretty impressive. Well, the osprey had a wingspan of about a metre seventy, and was about half a metre tall. It’s black and white. The face is fairly cool; it’s white, but has a thin black stripe down the middle. The gray wolf looked impressive; it was bigger than any I’ve heard of.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, it looked more about the size of a werewolf, or shadow wolf, but it was obviously a gray wolf; the snout and tail give it away.”

“You know a lot about wolves?”

“Yeah, I thought it’d be cool. And Remus is a werewolf, so I can tell the difference.”

“Remus?”

“Professor Lupin.”

“Lupin; as in lunar, like the moon?”

“Yeah, someone has a twisted sense of humour. It was about one seventy five long and the tail was around sixty centimetres.”

“That is cool.”

“Yeah it is. Anyway, you up to try them out?”

“What do you mean? Doesn’t it take months to become an animagus?”

“Yeah, but it did; I spent nearly the full year brewing that potion.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, my dad thought the same way you did. They could’ve been turning into their animals about a year before they figured it out.”

Daphne laughed. “I’m really glad you know that then.”

“Me too, so you wanna test them out?”

“Let’s go for it.” Daphne looked as if she was concentrating for a second before her body began to shimmer. Harry watched as her body slowly changed until it formed the gray wolf. Harry then concentrated on the snow leopard and within half a minute he had changed shape. He could feel the animal’s mind at the back of his head, but knew he could control it.

He sprinted round the room, exited. He could feel the muscles of his legs flexing as he walked. His padded feet made a soft sound on the floor. He smelt the air and was surprised by how different it was. He could almost taste a wolf beside him. His eyesight was amazing as well. He could see the subtle differences in colour on the floor.

He turned round just as a gray wolf barrelled into his side. Then he and Daphne started play-fighting. They circled each other until Harry leapt forward, and clean over Daphne. The snow leopard really could jump. Again he felt Daphne hit his side and he tumbled over. He managed to turn around and pin her to the ground.

The two teens turned back and instantly started laughing.

“Oh dear!” exclaimed Daphne, “That was great fun!”

“Yeah, you want to try out the birds?”

Daphne didn’t even bother replying and shimmered for a minute before an osprey stood before Harry. It tilted its head to the side as if it was impatient. Harry chuckled before concentrating on the sea eagle. In about twenty five seconds it stood there proudly.

Daphne looked at him for a second before flapping her wings and taking off. He felt the pressure at the back off his mind again, but it was different; it seemed more aggressive, but less intelligent. It wouldn’t be too hard to control either, but did allow him to fly almost instinctively.

He flew up and joined Daphne on one of the rafters in the ceiling. The feeling of flying without a broom was amazing, exhilarating, liberating. He didn’t stay there for too long though, and within seconds he was back in the air, flying round Slytherin’s private quarters.

After a few minutes he landed and returned to his original, humanoid form and was soon joined by Daphne.

“Wow,” was all that she could say.

“Yeah,” agreed Harry.

The two sat in a comfortable silence before Daphne spoke again. “I feel…different.”

“What do you mean?”

“I feel … more powerful.”

Harry examined his body for a few seconds, running his right hand over his left shoulder and noting the definition. He also noticed the same, if not more, in his legs and arms.

“Yeah, I feel more muscled,” he agreed. He saw Daphne copying his actions for a few seconds, rubbing her hands down her legs, which were nicely toned. Harry stared for a few seconds before shaking his head. “Not so fast there, Daphne,” he commented.

She immediately moved her hands and blushed. Harry laughed at her behaviour, which led to her punching his arm again.

“Ouch,” they both said.

“Your punch is a fair bit stronger,” commented Harry.

“I honestly didn’t mean to hit you that hard, and it felt like I was hitting one of the suits of armour anyway.”

“If I’m honest, your legs did look pretty good as well.”

“Now who’s the one who needs to slow down?” replied Daphne quickly.

Harry laughed and rose to his feet.

“Where are you going?”

“I’m going to look at some of those books, do you want to come?”

“Sure, why not? It’s not everyday I get the chance to look through one of the founder’s personal library.”

“Well then, if you’re going to be sarcastic about it you might as well leave.”

Daphne looked contrite. “Sorry.”

“Don’t worry, I was only joking.”

“That’s good, because it didn’t want to have to hit you again.”

“You know, I never would’ve thought that you’d be into the rough stuff.”

“You cheeky bastard.”

“I have my moments.”

“Quite often,” said Daphne.

Harry pretended to ignore her and scoured the bookshelf, looking for interesting titles. Hermione had always said not to judge a book by its cover, but he wasn’t Hermione. He hesitantly reached out to take one and relaxed as he managed to draw it out. It looked like a journal of some kind and when Harry read the inscription in the front cover he realised what it was: Slytherin’s spell-book.

It had been thought lost to the ages, but now he held it in his hands. The secrets of dark magic from ages past were in his hands, all he had to do was read it and he could become powerful, almighty.

Harry slammed the book shut, resisting temptation. If he read that he would succumb to the dark side. He picked up the book beside it. It detailed some of the ancient curses, the equivalent to modern unforgivables. He couldn’t feel the tendrils of twisted magic from this book so he sat on one of the sofas and began to read. He barely noticed as Daphne slumped down opposite him with a book about magical theory.

*

Harry woke up slowly several hours later. He glanced at the clock on the wall. It was nearly half six! He didn’t have much time to get back to Gryffindor Tower without a repeat of yesterday.

He hastily woke Daphne and grabbed six bottles, filling them with the animagus potion. He cast a cushioning charm on them as he roughly shoved four in his pockets and handed Daphne two.

“Hurry up,” snapped Harry as he changed form into the snow leopard. Within seconds there was a wolf beside him. They raced across the main chamber and through the secret entrance. Harry barely heard the basilisk declaring that they would have to talk. He never managed to figure out how the snake knew it was him.

As soon as they were outside Harry regained his human form. “See you later?” he asked.

“Sure, I want to explore a bit with my forms.”

“Right, see you in class.” Harry started to change into the sea eagle.

“Later,” said Daphne as Harry took off. He flew up to Gryffindor Tower and in the window beside his bed that was permanently open in case Hedwig had something for him. He just managed to change into his human form as he heard movement from behind one of the curtains which surrounded each bed.

“Morning Harry!” called Neville. Harry heard Seamus groan.

“For fucks sake, Neville, keep it down. Will you?” shouted Dean.

“Too early…back to sleep,” yawned Ron.

“Ron,” called Harry, “Hurry up.” There was no movement. “Hermione wants to talk to you.” Instantly Harry heard the sounds of Ron leaping out of bed and the other four burst into laughter.

“Aww, is little Ron growing up? Does he have feelings for one Hermione Granger?” teased Seamus.

“Fuck you,” said Ron light-heartedly. The rest just laughed.

“I could make another comment about Hermione and what you just said, but I’m too nice,” said Seamus. Once again the Irish man’s comment was greeted with laughter.

“Screw this,” said Ron. There was a slight pause before he said, “Actually, disregard that, you could make another comment. I’m away down for breakfast. Are you coming Harry, Neville?”

“Just give me a sec.”

“I’m ready now.”

“Right, we’ll wait for you in the common room Neville.”

The two boys walked down the stairs to the common room to find Hermione and Ginny waiting for them.

“Neville will be down now,” said Harry. Seamus and Dean walked past them and out the portrait hole. As he left Seamus winked at Ron and pointed to Hermione. Harry laughed, but Ron face turned the same colour as he face.

Hermione ignored the colour of Ron’s face and tried to engage the boys in a conversation about the exams which were due to start the next week. Yesterday had been there last day of classes, and from now on they were free. They were meant to use the time to study, but only Hermione ever did and Harry wondered why they kept stopping the classes.

Fortunately they were rescued from Hermione’s study plans by Neville’s timely arrival.

“Sorry I kept you waiting,” he said.

“No problem mate.”

“But now that you’re here, let’s get food!”

“Ron, you’re appetite is insatiable,” said Hermione.

“I’m a growing boy, what can I say?” said Ron.

Harry was surprised by how hungry he was as well, and quickly started moving in the direction of the entrance. The others missed his exit until the portrait swung open noisily and ran to catch up with him.

“What’s the rush Harry?” asked Ron.

“I thought you said you were hungry,” commented Harry.

“I did, but you seem to be starving with that pace.”

Harry slowed down and Ginny started walking beside him. Neville, Ron and Hermione were a couple of metres behind them.

“What’s up with you?” asked Ginny.

“What do you mean?”

“You’re walking differently, and you seem more … um … more like you’re hunting or something. What happened?”

“It’s a surprise,” said Harry. “You’re pretty observant.”

“Yeah well, it’s really obvious when you look. You’re just more graceful. So what happened?”

“I told you, it’s a surprise.”

“Aren’t you going to give me a hint?”

“Nope, but you’ll find out after the DA tonight.”

“Come on, just tell me.”

“Nope, it’s a surprise.”

“But I hate surprises,” whined Ginny.

“Not this one you won’t.”

“Please” said Ginny.

“Just wait until tonight, and don’t say anything to the others. And make sure you don’t get a detention tonight as well.”

“Ah, I suppose I’ll wait.”

“That’s a good girl.”

They entered the great hall and sat in their usual seats at the Gryffindor table. Harry piled as much food he could reach onto his plate. There was enough sausages, bacon, tomatoes, beans, eggs, both fried and scrambled, mushrooms, black pudding and toast in front of him that even Ron was staring.

“Jeez Harry, there’s no way you could eat all that. I mean, you’re a runt of a thing.”

“I’m hungry.”

“So we gathered.”

Harry didn’t bother to reply and instantly started eating. The others stared in amazement as he ate more than they thought his five and a half foot frame could hold.

“Hold on there Harry,” said Hermione, “Why are you eating so much? The only time a wizard could eat as much as that would be if they were approaching their magical maturity, or puberty. But magical maturity doesn’t happen until you nineteen, at the earliest, and you’ve pretty mush finished growing.”

Harry looked at her pointedly. This was happening sooner than he had even thought it would.

“Shit,” said Ron.

“You aren’t serious,” said Hermione, she was shell-shocked. “Imagine how powerful you would be…”

Harry swallowed. “Yeah, I calculated the age I would make my magical maturity at and I expected it to be around my sixteenth birthday; this is earlier than I expected.”

“You can calculate it?”

“Yeah, but I wouldn’t bother. It uses a lot of potions and Arithmancy. It took me nearly a month to do it. And I lost a lot of blood for it.”

“You used blood magic!” Hermione was nearly passing out. “But it’s dark!”

“I know, but a lot of potions use your own blood. Even the animagus potion needs it.” Ginny’s eyes widened as she stared at Harry. He glanced in her direction and nodded slightly. Hermione was too shocked to notice, and Ron wouldn’t anyway, but Harry was pretty sure that Neville had caught the look.

“Can you show us that surprise now, Harry?” asked Ginny innocently.

“Surprise!” shouted Ron, “What surprise, I love surprises.” He sounded like a small child in a sweet shop. The others looked intrigued as well. There was no way Harry could avoid telling them now, and Ginny knew it. She smiled triumphantly at Harry.

“You’re really devious,” he said.

“I know. Isn’t it great? I’ve learnt so much from Fred and George over the years.”

“Right, follow me, but you’ve got to promise me something.”

“What?”

“Promise not to react at first and wait for me to explain. I’m warning you now that you’ll think I’ve turned dark, but I haven’t.”

One by one the others promised. Ron was first and Hermione took a bit of persuading, but in the end she agreed.

Harry led them out of the Great Hall and up the stair cases and started walking down the corridor towards Myrtle’s bathroom.

“Where are we going?” asked Neville.

Ron seemed to realise where they were going as he stopped walking. “Harry, we aren’t going there, are we?”

Harry didn’t answer and kept walking. Ron caught up with him. “Jeez man, why are we going there?”

Ginny was the next to guess where they were going; her face paled. “Harry, are you sure about this?”

“Completely, I’ve been before. And trust me, this isn’t the real surprise.”

“Well…okay then, if you’re sure about this.” Harry walked calmly into the bathroom.

“Hello, Myrtle,” he called. “Open.” The use of parseltongue surprised Hermione, but Neville didn’t react at all, he had grown a lot in the past year and his bravery was starting to shine through.

The entrance slid open and Harry waved elaborately toward the entrance. “Enter, if you dare,” he said melodramatically. Neville went first, followed by Hermione and Ron. Ginny hesitated for a second.

“Don’t worry about it, Ginny. There’s nothing that’ll hurt you down there.” She nodded at him, took a breath and stepped into the tunnel with Harry following quickly after.

He slid down the tunnel and came to stop behind the group, which was frozen in place.

“I thought you said that there was nothing that could hurt us,” whispered Ginny. She was staring at the basilisk that lay on the ground before them, it appeared to be asleep.

“Nope, I said that there is nothing that will hurt you,” said Harry loudly.

“Um, mate, sorry to point this out to you, but there’s a snake there,” said Neville. Said snake lazily raised its head to survey the group.

“Not just a snake,” said Harry, “It’s the king of serpents.”

Hermione blanched. “Bollocks.”

“Language, Hermione,” chided Harry.

“Hello, little one.

“Hi.”

“The others are worried, I can taste their fear.”

“Yeah, I forgot to explain about you to them. You know, how you have a third eyelid and everything.”

“You just did.”

“What do you mean?”

“I made it so that they could understand.”

“Um…thanks.”

“It was a pleasure. One of them took to it easier than the others.”

“What does that mean?”

“One of them has an inner snake.”

“You mean one of them is a snake animagus?”

“If that is what you call it.”

“It is. Anyway, you said we needed to talk…”

“Yes, I wanted to tell you of my abilities and what the bond means will happen to you.” Harry heard Hermione gasp.

“You seem to know much of my abilities, though, so I will skip that section. It is longer and more complex to explain. The only thing the bond does is grant you a means of ordering me about, but it also facilitates to other advantages.”

“What advantages?” asked Harry, who was very interested.

“Well, I will be able to grow more, and gain more power among my kind. You will gradually develop some of my abilities.” There were another couple of gasps from behind Harry.

“You mean I’ll be able to kill people by looking at them.”

“Yes, although you will also develop the third eyelid. You will also develop fangs, and poison if you want. You may even be able to grow scales at will.”

“You sure it’s only when I want to?”

“If you develop the power, then yes.”

“That’s good, because I definitely wouldn’t want to walk around with scales covering my body.”

“There is nothing wrong with that, but you should hurry along, young one. The others are growing restless.”

“He’s right Harry, we don’t really think you’re evil, after all you are Harry Potter, we just want the surprise,” said Ron. Harry was shocked; Ron wasn’t usually so accepting about stuff. That had been proved by his reaction to Daphne when she talked to him, but he was taking this fairly well.

“Thanks Ron,” said Harry, and then he started walking, “Well, come on.”

“Right behind you,” said Hermione.

Harry gave them the guided tour of Slytherin’s chambers and they actually seemed quite accepting. Finally he led them into the room with the potion.

“And finally: the potions room.” Harry drew the bottles he had been carrying out of his pocket. “Here you go.”

“What is it?”

“The animagus potion,” the others were shocked, “I’ve been working on it for nearly the full year, and the last ingredient is your blood.”

“There isn’t any for you,” pointed out Hermione,

In reply Harry changed shape into the leopard. The others were stunned and stood open mouthed as Harry changed back.

“That’s amazing Harry -” started Neville.

“Two secs, I’m not done yet,” interrupted Harry as he turned into the sea eagle. He flew round their head before landing on Ron’s shoulder.

“That is cool,” said Ron. “You’re a bit heavy though.”

The eagle seemed to smirk at Ron before Harry changed back, still on Ron’s shoulder. Ron stumbled and fell to the ground as the others laughed.

“Get off me you fat lump!” shouted Ron playfully as he pushed Harry.

“With pleasure; your shoulder isn’t very comfortable,” said Harry. “Now all you need to do is add your blood and drink.”

Harry ordered the others to drink it at the same time after their potions had all been mixed with their blood. As one they raised the containers to their lips and swallowed it all, before collapsing in pain and screaming.

*

Well, there you go, another chapter done. Thanks for all the reviews last time, keep them coming, it’ll only improve the story.

Please provide suggestions for animagus forms for Ron, Hermione, Ginny, Neville, Tracey and Blaise. I’m pretty sure about what they’ll be, but could change my mind.

Thanks for reading
Concealed-Convict