"Mr. Potter, I told you that you can't speak to Mr. Weasley whenever you please in my lesson," Professor Snape snapped, staring horridly at Harry.
Rolling his eyes, Harry turned to face his book, staring at the words but not reading them. He was still in awe of how far he managed to get with his wolf transformation; all he really needed was one last trigger to get him all the way. He hoped that it would come soon because he still had multiple forms to work on and he was desperate to start on the next one.
"Hey, Ron, how long do you reckon it would take to--?" Harry's question was cut off by a throat-clearing by a disgruntled Snape. Fed up of hearing his snide voice, Harry spoke up. "Yeah, yeah, I know. Ten points from Gryffindor."
Snape seemed almost amused by this, his lips twitching into a slight smirk. "I was going to say five, but your suggestion seems much more appealing."
Harry didn't speak for the rest of the lesson.
* * *
"You bloody idiot," Ron muttered, pushing Harry away from the rest of the glaring Gryffindors. "They hate you even more now."
Harry groaned. "Yes, I know, Ron."
"They're going to be complaining about this to the rest of the house, you know." Ron continued, obviously not noticing how irritated Harry was getting. "I mean, any opportunity to hate Harry Potter any more than they already do, they'll take it."
"Okay, Ron. I get it." Harry seethed, gritting his teeth, but his best friend just ignored him.
"I mean, now Snape's going to be in a bad mood with Gryffindor all day! And they'll all blame you and--"
"Ron, for god's sake I get it! I completely get it! Snape hates me. Everyone hates me. Just. Shut Up!" Harry roared, his canine teeth elongating. He stormed away from Ron, feeling his anger grow even more, fur spurting from his face. His vision turned sharper, and he began to panic. He couldn't shift; not here in front of everyone. In a hazy mind set, Harry dashed off of the school grounds and into the forbidden forest where he was sure no one would be able to see him.
He stripped off his clothes, feeling his back begin to arch more. Immense pain surged through him as his legs shortened, his jaw extended and he seemed to get closer and closer to the ground.
What's happening?
That was a dumb question. Harry knew exactly what was happening and how fast it was happening. He had completely transformed into his first animagus form.
He began to growl as he realised that he had no idea how to turn back. Would he just relax as he did before? Harry tried this out, attempting to loosen every muscle in his body. Roll his eyes into the back of his head and just feel the human seep back into him. He could feel himself slowly begin to transform when he heard a familiar voice: "Ouch! James! You just stepped on my foot!" Lily complained, her voice loud and clear in the hauntingly quiet forest.
"Sorry, love!" James said.
Harry could tell that they were rather far, yet with his sharp, wolf ears, he could hear them as if they were just five feet away.
Still, curious to see what his parents were up to in the middle of the forbidden forest, Harry quietly crept up to where the voices came from.
"Why are we out here anyway?" Lily asked, her voice sounding much louder now, Harry noticed. He presumed he was rather close to them.
"We're almost there -- ow!" James yelped. Harry poked his head around a tree just in time to see him walk straight into a branch. An involuntary snort of amusement came from Harry and he automatically pulled his head back to hide.
"Did you hear that?" Lily said. She whipped her head around in search of whatever had made that noise.
"Probably nothing," James brushed it off, continuing to walk. "Come on,"
* * *
Harry followed in their footsteps for about te minutes when they finally came to a halt in an open area.
Crispy brown leaves decorated the floor, with twigs and branches hiding amongst them. Subtle gusts of wind swept through the darkening forest, with the sunlight fading quickly. An unpleasant odour swept through Harry's nose; a mixture of the damp mud against his padded feet and the rotting fruit that littered the ground.
A large oak tree stood in centre of the clearing, and it seemed to Harry that there was something carved into it. Even with his enhanced wolf vision, he found it hard to decipher what was written.
"Oh gosh James," Lily gushed. "I can't believe you remembered this place! We haven't been here, well, in nearly twenty years!"
James just smiled at his wife, a pure, smitten smile. He watched as Lily strode up to the tree and traced the words written on it.
To my dear Lily (the future Mrs. Potter),
Not even the killing curse could separate us.
Love James, 1977
Lily read it out, her laughter ringing around the otherwise quiet forest. A bittersweet moment passed with Harry just watching his parents stare at each other. They enveloped each other in a tight hug, with nothing but love radiated off of them. A familiar feeling of gratitude filled Harry as he knew that the bond and love his parents shared had saved his life more than once.
Harry realised that he had never properly thanked them, but he didn't have time to ponder this for very long.
Three people with billowing black coats and a face mask as black as the tattoo on their arm came running out of the forest, their wands all aimed at Lily and James; Death Eaters, Harry thought with distaste. Harry instinctively darted back, trying to reach for his want but remembering that he didn't have hands nor a wand on him.
He watched, horrified, as his parents were left defenseless as their wants were acciod their wands away. Thankfully, he hadn't been spotted, but Harry was slightly worried that they would be able to hear his heart thumping in his chest; it was that loud.
"So, I guess it's true," the familar voice of Lucius Malfoy rang through the clearing. "Lily and James Potter back from the dead . . . I wonder if the famous Potters would be any good at defending themselves without their wands, hm? Wouldn't want to leave poor old Harry alone again."
Harry held back a snarl, but wasn't surprised to see that his parents didn't.
"What do you want from us?" James said courageously, and Harry admired his bravery. He recalled the time when Sirius was telling him all about his father and had mentioned that courage was a very distinctive trait of his.
Lucius twirled James' wand around his fingers, his feet treading lightly over the crisp leaves. Cold, frigid eyes glared in his direction for a brief moment and Harry was once again forced to pull his head back, thankful for the large oak tree that kept him well hidden.
The tension in the forest was so thick that you could cut it up and serve it for dinner; a feeling of hatred passing between the two groups of people was tangible, painting a loathsome stature on each and every one of them.
"Lord Voldemort may want us dead, but that will never happen." Lily sneered, standing up straight and staring Lucius in the eye.
The latter's eyes burned with rage. He leaned in close so he was nose to nose with her. "You dare speak his name, you filthy mudbl-?"
Lucius wasn't able to finish his sentence as James had already pounced.
Yells erupted from the five as James tackled Lucius to the floor, dodging the spells that were being shot at him. The remaining two Death Eaters ran over to help, one gripping Lily to stop her from getting away and the other to try and pin down James.
Throughout all this, their backs had all been turned to Harry. Seizing his opportunity, Harry knew that he couldn't lose his parents this time if he could do anything to stop it.
With a determined growl that went unheard by the rest of the group, Harry ran straight up to the salt and pepper man holding his mother and in a moment of weakness for him, Harry sprang onto his back and knocked him to the ground, digging his claws into his back for good measure.
With a surprised gasp, Lily swirled around to see her savior only to see a well built wolf standing in the way, with soft grey fur and a menacing set of teeth.
Not wasting any time, Harry caught the other two of guard by grabbing onto the third man's calf and knocking him clean over, swiping his feet straight out from under him and sending him tumbling into a tree.
The last was Lucius, who had managed to lose his wand in the fight but had cleverly held his arm around James, threatening to take him away.
"I don't know what you are and if you can even hear me, but if you take one more step I swear to God I will apparate both James and I out of here in a flash."
Harry was careful not to look straight at any of them in fear that they would recognise his eyes or see the mark on his forehead. However, he supposed that the rest of the fur would have blended in with it so surely the grey of his mark wouldn't be distinguishable against the white of his fur.
"What are you then, an animagus? How scary. Powerless against me." Lucius smirked. "You don't have a wand, only a set of pathetic teeth." James struggled against Lucius' arm. "Come on James, you can do better than that."
Then something fierce grew in James' eyes as Lucius hesitantly lowered to pick up his wand on the floor. He turned in Lucius arm and used his forearm to knock the other to the side. Harry wasted no time in speeding forward and using his muscular legs to jump off the ground and straight onto Lucius' back as he had picked up his wand.
Harry knew it was only a matter of time before Lucius would grab James' arm and apparate away, so he did a quick turn and bit down on his shirt to tug him back before Lucius could touch him.
With a crack and a swear word, Lucius had disappeared, leaving the two unconscious men on the ground and Harry with his parents.
Harry sprinted away, ignoring the confused yells of Lily and James behind him. He couldn't let them know it was him -- not until he was ready.
It literally took me like four months or something ridiculous to update. I am so so sorry. Here's a bit of action to make up for it lol, let me know what you thought of their battle!!
I'm going to go back and edit this in a couple of hours but I thought I would just get it finished now because I don't want you guys to go without it for any longer!
Which form do you want Harry to develop next? Leave me a comment so I can see which one I should write about next!!
the forms are as follows:
a lion, a dolphin, a dragon, a stag, a phoenix, a horse and then of course the wolf
also please dont forget to vote!! it means the world :)
-M
22.11.16 -
current read count : 65.6K (i think lol)