"You okay, Farsight, mate?" Harry had just drifted off to sleep. The adrenalin had worn down and promptly knocked the boy out.
"Oh, Hey Ret you still awake..." Draco loved using the Nicknames. It made him feel connected to a higher purpose.
"Still a bit- oh god what does Hermione call it?"
"High strung?"
"Yeah proably. What about you?"Ron asked, as he placed Mandy into her mister for the night. Trevor quickly hopped over and Ron held the door open for him.
"Just thinking about my Father I guess."
"Ah, yeah? What about him?"
"Just thinking." Ron had learnt a thing from his mother and sister. He turned to Draco and glared.
"Uggh fine I was actually thinking about when my mother broke up with him. I wish I had been there to see It Ron. According to Dobby, my mother shouted the house down. She turned her back on everything my father believed him. Just for me."
"That must have been a sight."
"Dobby told me that all the paintings hid in the basement for HOURS! At least I haven't seen my father since that Christmas."
"Do you know the woman he's marrying?"
"Yeah. She's like this really low key dark witch. She was in school with my Cousin Dora. It's not fair."
"Does your mum seem happier now?" Ron asked.
"Yeah, she speaks to her sister, Andromeda, more now. And Sirius of course."
"What about you?"
"I don't know. I just hate that my dad forced us out." Draco tuned. "I mean, he didn't Actually force us out, but it wasn't like we had any other choice. Then he goes and marries HER! It's obvious it's just to give him a replacement Heir."
"Well, you still have your mum, and you're Sirius's Heir, right. Harry said he told Sirius that he didn't want you to have to split it."
"Well yeah. My mom knew he was getting married. For months. And she didn't tell me. I got her owl earlier."
"You're better without him, right Dray. He wasn't much of a father in the first place. If anything I would feel sorry for this 'replacement heir'; they have to suffer under that prick now."
"Yeah I guess I should-"
Draco was interrupted, when a scream ripped through the room. Draco moved up first. "Harry? Harry, come on!"
Ron leaned down by his bed. "Come on, Sparks, wake up! Harry…"
"Mate, wake up; its' alright." Harry had fallen to sleep before he managed to put his silencing charm up.
"Guys…" Panicked gasps pulled Harrys body as he woke up.
"Hey, nightmare again." Draco looked down at the boy through the darkness.
"Oh, sorry guys." Harry said groggily.
Ron let an amused snort come out of his nose. "Its fine mate. We hadn't gone to sleep yet."
"Maybe you should get a new mind healer?" Hermione suggested that morning at breakfast.
"I don't Need a mind healer. I'm fine."
The silence told Harry all he needed to know. He could deny it all he liked but they thought he did. Everyone did.
"Have you heard from Sirius?"
"Yeah, he's both furious and impressed with the dragon. He says the house is almost ready but I don't know what he means. He seemed overly excited about it."
"Maybe he renovated a castle?" Ron suggested.
"Maybe he built his own house." Hermione suggested as well.
"I bet he bought a house really close to one of us." Draco declared. "That seems like something he would do."
"Not a clue." Harry admitted. He was doing his runes homework at the table. He had two days left to finish it but there was a lot going on in his life.
"Anyway, are we taking the Twins to you know where, so we can teach them you know what?" Draco asked.
"Ginny's coming too." Ron reminded him.
"And Luna right?" Draco corrected him.
"After History." Harry agreed. The food disappeared and everyone began to get up. "Transfiguration first."
Ron looked on the verge of a panic attach as they left Transfiguration. "Oh my god. Harry you didn't tell us we needed to take dates."
"I did, on our way to the robe shop. You were mocking me about Luna, remember?"
"Oh yeah." Ron smiled as if recalling the memory. "Ah bloody hell. What girl is going to want to go out with me?"
"Lavender Brown. Fay Dunbar. Genevieve Quinin. Fray from Hufflepuff." Harry counted on his fingers. "If you have Mandy with you I'm sure even Fleur would say yes. They're loads of girls. Just ask them quick."
"Really. They'd like to go like with me?" he asked, incredulously.
"Sure, you dingbat." Harry smiled. "Come on, I need to pick Luna up by Charms."
Harry walked through the Halls, holding Luna's hand. It wasn't easy, as she liked to skip, but he managed. Ginny listened as Ron and Hermione explained to her more about what they were going to be doing.
The twins were bouncing- something- on the floor when they entered the room of requirement.
"Guys."
"Oh, Harry." George lost his concentration and the - whatever it was- splatted on his face. "Well that failed."
"You're early?" Fred inquired as he went to grab a quill. "Melts on human contact."
The boys placed their experiment back into a pot and took their gloves off.
"So what's on the agenda for today."
"Drink this." Hermione was amazed by how simple the transformations were. Well once the bastard of a potion had been brewed. Her own words. She called the potion a bastard. There were a few ways to encourage animagus transformation; this was the quickest Hermione could find.
George looked critically at the tiny bottle as Fred downed his. Both girls looked apprehensive but drank theirs too.
Ginny let out an embarrassing belch. She went to apologise but her body started to stretch and standing where she used to be was a horse. A horse with huge feathered wings.
The horse was a light brown, but its mane and tail were a bright red like Ginny's hair.
"Well done, Ginny." Hermione congratulated her and pointed the girl/horse to the mirror. Upon seeing herself, Ginny reeled back in shock. When she had calmed down, Ginny looked at herself again, and lifted her wings up. The wingspan was longer than her entire body. She looked back and forth at the wings; she seemed proud of them.
"Okay Gin." Ron came forward. "You need to turn back now. Okay… imagine your hair and nose. Human things. Fingers and skin and… stuff…"
"You can do it Ginny." Fred assured her.
After a moment, Ginny was knelt on the floor, looking exactly like she had before. "That was great."
"That was awesome, Gin!"
"Why didn't it work for you guys?"
"They just need a higher dose." Hermione explained. "Could you shift over by Harry and Draco? We'll be practicing again once everyone has it."
"Okay guys." Draco leaned over and passed everyone else their next lot of vials.
"Alright, Bottoms up." Fred declared and Luna followed the boys in swallowing her bottle.
George dropped to the floor, morphing into a red fox. When everyone took notice of him he looked into the mirror. George gave a little jump when he saw himself. The fox was a trickster spirit, and it suited him well.
"Sweet." Everyone was quite surprised when Fred had another and didn't react.
On the Forth Luna shifted.
"She's gone!" Hermione gasped.
"No she didn't. She's right here." Harry said, as he moved forward and stroked his girlfriends head. "She's a Thestral. And she's Beautiful." Harry smiled at her. "Come back Luna."
Luna changed back the quickest; she stood in her human form smiling at Harry.
"Will you go to the yule ball with me, Luna?"
"I've already said yes, Harry. There is no way I would change my mind."
Fred gulped his next bottle at the end of this exchange. He even had to grab a fifth, but the first drops had barely touched his tongue when he started to change.
George fell to the floor laughing in front of the Rooster. "You're - You're a-a-a CHICKEN!"
Fred just pecked him.
"Ow! That hurt! I'm bleeding!"
The Fred Chicken looked proud of itself.
"Get back here, you little Cock!" George began chasing his Chicken brother around.
"George, leave him alone. If you kill him Ron might try to eat him." Ginny gasped, laughing her arse off.
The chicken clucked and jumped off the ground in fright. Fred, unfortunately for him, was a flightless bird, so the endeavour was just humorous. Everyone knew Ron's obsession with chicken; especially when Roasted.
This chicken panic made almost everyone laugh. Luna did not.
Fred came back to a human form. "Thank you, Luna."
"hmm?"
"You didn't find amusement in my terror."
"Oh, I did." Luna corrected. "I was just thinking; the holly trees are thick this year."
"Umm, right?" No one knew how to really handle Luna. They just took cues from Harry.
"They are?" Harry asked and Luna nodded. "I hadn't noticed. Snowy weather this year then."
"Most defiantly."
"I guess Hagrid will probably be finding some good Christmas trees then."
"Come on, enough chit-chat." Draco cut in. "We need to get practicing, Sparks."
"I can't help it!" The sparking problem just wouldn't go away.