𝙳𝚘𝚗'𝚝 𝚋𝚎 𝚊𝚏𝚛𝚊𝚒𝚍 𝚝𝚘 𝚜𝚙𝚊𝚖 𝚖𝚎 𝚠𝚒𝚝𝚑 𝚌𝚘𝚖𝚖𝚎𝚗𝚝𝚜, 𝙸 𝚕𝚘𝚟𝚎 𝚛𝚎𝚊𝚍𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚖 <𝟹
The holidays ended much quicker than any of them had expected, shortly after new year's, student began to return and fill up the common room. Harry and Ron were furious at Hermione, they couldn't possibly believe she would do such a foul thing as to take away Harry's broom.
Y/N understood why she was worried, but she managed to conceal her annoyance upon seeing Harry and Ron practically ignored her. She'd hadn't been particularly been avoiding Y/N, but they only time Y/N would see Hermione was at night in the dormitory, or during meals and classes, she managed to run off to the library during her free time.
Classes started again. The last thing anyone felt like doing was spending two hours on the grounds on a raw January morning.
Hagrid had provided a bonfire full of salamanders for their enjoyment, and they spent an unusually good lesson collecting dry wood and leaves to keep the fire blazing while the flame-loving lizards scampered up and down the crumbling, white-hot logs.
The first Divination lesson of the new term was much less fun, Professor Trelawney was now teaching them palmistry, and she lost no time in informing Harry that he had the shortest life line she had ever seen.
Y/N was growing tired of repeatedly having Professor Trelawney claim that Harry was going to die.
"Still looks ill, doesn't he?" said Ron as they walked down the corridor to the great hall for dinner. "What d'you reckon's the matter with him?"
There was a loud and impatient "tuh" from behind them.
It was Hermione, who sat on a bench.
"And what are you tutting at us for?" said Ron irritably.
"Nothing," said Hermione, bringing her bag back over her shoulder.
"Yes, you were," said Ron. "I said I wonder what's wrong with Lupin, and you —"
"Well, isn't it obvious?" said Hermione, with a look of superiority.
"If you don't want to tell us, don't," snapped Ron.
"Fine," said Hermione in annoyance, and she marched off.
"She doesn't know," said Ron, staring resentfully after Hermione. "She's just trying to get us to talk to her again."
"You know, you should stop being so rude to her, she was only trying to look out for Harry" Y/N said. Ron rolled his eyes.
"Harry doesn't have a broom now!" He said. Y/N huffed and looked at Harry for support of any sort. He didn't say anything for or against her. She sighed and went after Hermione.
Time seemed to go by rather quickly as classes began to get more difficult. Harry would disappear for his anti-dementor lessons and quidditch practices most of the time, leaving Y/N with Ron and Hermione.
Y/N,
Nymphadora is going to be here tomorrow after dinner. She'll meet with you at my office
I happen to really enjoy treacle tarts.
A.P.W.B.D
"Am I supposed to bring some treacle tarts?" Y/N asked confusedly as Harry read the letter.
"No" Harry said in amusement, "it's the password for his office"
"Ohhh" Y/N said in realization, she looked up to see Harry with a smirk on his face.
"Stop it"
He smirked wider.
Y/N playfully smacked him across the head. "You weirdo" she said rolling her eye with a faint smile.
***
"Er- Treacle Tarts?" Y/N said as she stood in front of the large gargoyle statue. It slowly began to spin around revealing a white marble spiral staircase.
Y/N walked up the staircase and was met with Dumbledore sitting at his desk with a bright purple haired witch sitting across from him.
"Ah Y/N" Dumbledore said standing up. The woman turned around with a bright smile on her face.
"Wotcher Y/N" Tonks said standing up and shaking Y/N's hand.
"Y/N, this is Nymphad-"
Tonks' hair turned a flash of red looking at Dumbledore with a hard glare. Dumbledore noticed immediately "-Tonks, this is Tonks" he said. Her hair changed back to it's vibrant purple color and she turned back to Y/N with smile.
"Hi" Y/N said awkwardly with a small smile. Tonks smiled at her eager to teach and get to know someone who was just like her, she had also recently found out that they were second cousins and wanted to get to know her.
Dumbledore took them both to an empty classroom that was no longer in use.
"You've had your ability concealed up until this year, right?" Tonks asked.
"Yeah, my friend Hermione's been looking into- well.. lots of books, there wasn't much she was able to find, so far I can change individual body parts"
Tonks nodded and stayed silent for a bit and wore a serious expression it was as if she was analyzing.
"Since you've had your ability concealed for so long that's the most you'll be able to do"
"Oh.."
"Im kidding!" She said with a large smile and a laugh, "you're much too serious! loosen up! It's all fun, for example-"
Right in that moment Tonks turned into a clone of Y/N
"Woah-" Y/N said staring in amazement, Hermione had said it might be possible to change into different people, but Y/N didn't think she'd be able to.
Tonks then turned into a small Hamster (with purple fur) and began to run around cheerfully, she then picked up her speed and appeared to have tripped tumbling forward rolling in a ball form. Y/N cracked a smile wondering if she did it on purpose.
She didn't
Tonks turned back and stood up nearly toppling over while rubbing the back of her sore neck. "Blimey- that was exhausting" she said, "I'll be sure to tell Moody I did my workout for today" Tonks said as she steadied her breathing.
"That was- just wow.." Y/N said at a loss of words. It was all so unreal.
She out of so many people was a metamorphmagus.
"Cool right!" Tonks said.
"Can you turn into other animals? Or just that one?" Y/N asked.
"You can turn into anything- well not objects.. but almost anything.. I personally prefer to only fully change into a hamsters it takes up less energy"
"Is it difficult?"
"Not at all! All you have to do is really concentrate. Let's do this- think of an animal, a single animal that you want to be very comfortable and master turning into"
Y/N nodded and took a while to come up with different options, she had thought of a fox first. It was beautiful and elegant, but much to exotic to wander around in public. Then a dog came into mind, it sounded great.. until she remembered about that shaggy black dog that kept approaching her.
No, she wouldn't let that stop her.
A dog seemed like a perfect fit. Fun, playful, and of course, she could wander the streets in her animal form without anyone batting an eye.
"Ok I've got it" she said deciding on an Australian Shepherd, she'd always wanted one of those when she was younger, ever since she had seen a dog that had blue eyes at a pet store, it never left her mind. Her parents would always say no 'because they shed heavily'
Now she'd shed her fur all over her house and her mother couldn't do anything about it. The thought made her suppress a laugh.
Tonks agreed that a dog was a good option, she then proceeded.
"Close your eyes and feel every detail. Think of the fur texture, is it soft? Feather like?" What color are your eyes?"
Y/N thought of everything, Tonks continued to ask questions to describe the animal. Y/N pictured everything perfectly in her brain, all she needed to do was change into it.
Tonks continued.
"What do you sound like?"
"How fast can you run"
"Are you able to swim?"
"How high can you jump?"
The questions continued allowing Y/N to picture the animal beautifully.
A large stunning light furred dog with a mixture of grey, white and brown, medium length straight fluffy fur with icy blue eyes and a long tail. Short floppy ears with white paws.
"There! You did it!" Tonks exclaimed. Y/N opened her eyes and for a second she seemed much shorter, but then she turned right back into her human form.
She felt exhausted. But she hadn't done anything..
"You had it for a couple seconds! All perfect, it'll take some time to get used to it" she said. Y/N nodded but couldn't help but feel disappointed. It was still very soon, but even the mere thought of parading around the castle as a dog excited her.
"How long did it take you?" She asked.
"A couple weeks, I suppose the simpler the animal the easier it must be" she said shrugging.
The rest of the session went by remarkably quickly, she managed to change into the dog form for a maximum of 5 minutes and then gave out. After a couple tries she decided to try a small version of the dog, it's puppy form.
That gave much better results. She was able to hold that form for about 15 minutes and it was incredible, she was of course, incredibly short and the perspective from a dogs eyes were amazing, she could already imagine all the questions Hermione would ask her. When she changed back she was very tired, Tonk said she would come by next week at the same time and they could continue.
Y/N had one goal.
She needed to be able to switch to her animal form by her next session, Tonks was only able to help her a few times before she was sent off to France for a more intense Auror Training.
Y/N was most definitely going to need guidance when it came to morphing into people.
Other than that, Y/N had decided she would practice in private and only show her animal form when she had perfected it, it was going to be amazing.
***
Ravenclaw played Slytherin a week after the start of term. Slytherin won, though narrowly. According to Wood, this was good news for Gryffindor, who would take second place if they beat Ravenclaw too.
Hermione's immense workload finally seemed to be getting to her. Every night, Hermione was to be seen in a corner of the common room, several tables spread with books, Arithmancy charts, rune dictionaries, diagrams of Muggles lifting heavy objects, and file upon file of extensive notes; she barely spoke to anybody and snapped when she was interrupted.
"How's she doing it?" Ron muttered one evening as they sat finishing an essay on Undetectable Poisons for Snape. Y/N looked up. Hermione was barely visible behind a tottering pile of books.
"Doing what?" Said Harry
"Getting to all her classes!" Ron said. "I heard her talking to Professor Vector, that Arithmancy witch, this morning. They were going on about yesterday's lesson, but Hermione can't've been there, because she was with us in Care of Magical Creatures! And Ernie McMillan told me she's never missed a Muggle Studies class, but half of them are at the same time as Divination, and she's never missed one of them either!"
"Don't worry about it" Y/N said biting the head off of a chocolate frog.
"You know" Ron said looking at her intently, "well go on then- explain"
Before Y/N was able to come up with some random excuse, Oliver came over looking very disappointed.
"Bad news, Harry. I've just been to see Professor McGonagall about the Firebolt. She — er — got a bit cross with me. Told me I'd got my priorities wrong. Seemed to think I cared more about winning the Cup than I do about you staying alive. Just because I told her I didn't care if it threw you off, as long as you caught the Snitch first." Wood shook his head in disbelief.
"Honestly, the way she was yelling at me...you'd think I'd said something terrible. Then I asked her how much longer she was going to keep it..." He screwed up his face and imitated Professor McGonagall's severe voice.
"As long as necessary, Wood"...I reckon it's time you ordered a new broom, Harry. There's an order form at the back of Which Broomstick...you could get a Nimbus Two Thousand and One, like Malfoy's got."
"I'm not buying anything Malfoy thinks is good," said Harry flatly.
***
January faded into February, with no change in the bitterly cold weather. Tonk had returned after 2 weeks to help Y/N with her transformation, she was increasing rapidly. At night Y/N would wait until everyone in her dorm had fallen asleep before walking to the bathroom and practicing. It was starting to get easier for her.
By the time she had her next meet with Tonks she was able to successfully stay in her dog from as a puppy size, however holding the larger shape still proved difficult.
The match against Ravenclaw was drawing nearer and nearer, Harry still hadn't ordered a new broom. He was now asking Professor McGonagall for news of the Firebolt after every Transfiguration lesson, Ron and Y/N standing hopefully at his shoulder, Hermione rushing past.
"No, Potter, you can't have it back yet," Professor McGonagall told him the twelfth time this happened, before he'd even opened his mouth. "We've checked for most of the usual curses, but Professor Flitwick believes the broom might be carrying a Hurling Hex. I shall tell you once we've finished checking it. Now, please stop badgering me."
A couple days later Harry and Y/N were walking back to the Gryffindor common room. Harry walked right into Professor McGonagall halfway up the stairs.
"Do watch where you're going, Potter!"
"Sorry, Professor —"
"I've just been looking for you in the Gryffindor common room, Well, here it is, we've done everything we could think of, and there doesn't seem to be anything wrong with it at all — you've got a very good friend somewhere, Potter..."
Y/N beamed and Harry's jaw dropped. She was holding out his Firebolt, and it looked as magnificent as ever.
"I can have it back?" Harry said weakly. "Seriously?"
"Seriously," said Professor McGonagall, and she was actually smiling. "I daresay you'll need to get the feel of it before Saturday's match, won't you? And Potter —do try and win, won't you? Or we'll be out of the running for the eighth year in a row, as Professor Snape was kind enough to remind me only last night..."
Harry and Y/n walked upstairs toward Gryffindor Tower. As they turned a corner, they saw Ron dashing toward him, grinning from ear to ear.
"She gave it to you? Excellent! Listen, can I still have a go on it? Tomorrow?"
"Yeah...anything..." said Harry, his heart lighter than it had been in a month. "You know what — we should make up with Hermione...She was only trying to help..."
"About time" Y/N muttered rolling her eyes.
"Yeah, all right," said Ron. "She's in the common room now working — for a change."
They turned into the corridor to Gryffindor Tower and saw Neville, pleading with Sir Cadogan, who seemed to be refusing him entrance.
"I wrote them down!" Neville was saying tearfully. "But I must've dropped them somewhere!"
"A likely tale!" roared Sir Cadogan. Then, spotting Harry, Ron and Y/N "Good even, my fine young magical folk! Come trap this loon in irons. He is trying to force entry to the chambers within!"
"Oh, shut up," said Ron
"I've lost the passwords!" Neville told them miserably. "I made him tell me what passwords he was going to use this week, because he keeps changing them, and now I don't know what I've done with them!"
"It's okay Neville I'm sure it's just inside" Y/N said to him kindly. Neville seemed to calm down a bit at her reassurance.
"Oddsbodkins," said Harry to Sir Cadogan, who looked extremely disappointed and swung forward to let them into the common room. There was a sudden, excited murmur as every head turned and the next moment, Harry was surrounded by people exclaiming over his Firebolt.
"Where'd you get it, Harry?"
"Will you let me have a go?"
"Have you ridden it yet, Harry?"
"Ravenclaw'll have no chance, they're all on Cleansweep Sevens!"
"Can I just hold it, Harry?"
After ten minutes or so, during which the Firebolt was Passed around, the crowd dispersed and Harry and Ron had a clear view of Hermione, bent over her work and carefully avoiding their eyes while sitting beside Y/N, Harry and Ron approached her table and at last, she looked up.
"I got it back," said Harry, grinning at her and holding up the Firebolt.
"See, Hermione? There wasn't anything wrong with it!" said Ron. Y/N glared at Ron, so much for making amends.
"Well — there might have been!" said Hermione. "I mean, at least you know now that it's safe!"
"Yeah, I suppose so," said Harry. "I'd better put it upstairs."
"I'll take it!" said Ron eagerly. "I've got to give Scabbers his rat tonic."He took the Firebolt and, holding it as if it were made of glass, carried it away up the boys' staircase.
"Can I sit down, then?" Harry asked.
"I suppose so," said Hermione, moving a great stack of parchment off a chair.
Harry looked around at the cluttered table. "How are you getting through all this stuff?" Harry asked her.
"Oh, well — you know — working hard," said Hermione. Close-up, Harry saw that she looked almost as tired as Lupin.
"Why don't you just drop a couple of subjects?" Harry asked, watching her lifting books as she searched for her rune dictionary.
"I couldn't do that!" said Hermione, looking scandalized.
"Arithmancy looks terrible," said Harry, picking up a very complicated-looking number chart.
"Oh no, it's wonderful!" said Hermione earnestly.
"Im sure it is" Y/N said sarcastically.
"It's my favorite subject! It's —"
A strangled yell echoed down the boys' staircase. The whole common room fell silent, staring, petrified, at the entrance. Then came hurried footsteps, growing louder and louder — and then Ron came running into view, dragging with him a bedsheet.
"LOOK!" he bellowed, striding over to Hermione's table.
"LOOK!" he yelled, shaking the sheets in her face.
"Ron, what —?"
"SCABBERS! LOOK! SCABBERS!"
Hermione was leaning away from Ron, looking utterly bewildered. Y/N looked down at the sheet Ron was holding. There was something red on it. Something that looked like-
"BLOOD!" Ron yelled into the stunned silence.
"HE'S GONE! AND YOU KNOW WHAT WAS ON THE FLOOR?"
"N-no," said Hermione shakily.
Ron threw something down onto Hermione's rune translation. They leaned forward. Lying on top of the weird shapes were several long, ginger cat hairs.
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A/N: Thank you for 3.7k reads! I'll hopefully have another chapter out by Sunday <3
Also this is the Australian Shepherd dog in case anyone was wondering:
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𝔈𝔭𝔥𝔢𝔪𝔢𝔯𝔞𝔩
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"ɢᴏᴏᴅ ᴛʜɪɴɢꜱ ɴᴇᴠᴇʀ ʟᴀꜱᴛ"