Defence, Pretence, Offence

Chapter 10 - Embarrassing

Harry looked around. He could already feel his face heating up. It wasn't that he was embarrassed by his Animagus form, well, actually it was. His face had to be turning a bright red. Even Draco had smirked when Harry had told him what it was. It was prestigious, but so completely mortifying at the same time. Nervously, trying to judge how much space there was available, he did his best to hide his embarrassment.

"I'm not sure there's enough room," he said, "and the hooves might mark the floor."

"Is your animagus animal the same as your father's, Harry?" Professor McGonagall asked; clearly she had picked up on his reluctance.

"No," he replied, "that's just my Patronus. My animal is more equine."

"A horse?" his head of house enquired.

Hermione had raved about it for days after he had first transformed, but then Hermione saw the world very differently from anyone else he knew. That was one of the reasons she was so brilliant. It was the connotations that got to him.

"Unicorn," Harry all but mumbled.

It was a magical creature, very unusual, but unicorns were so pure and flighty.

"Harry, did you just say unicorn?" Professor McGonagall appeared to believe she had misheard, either that or she was too shocked to believe him.

He nodded and tried not to look at anyone else except his house head.

"Black one," he said very quickly, and prayed that he wasn't blushing as furiously as he thought he was.

[Well we can put an end to all that virgin nonsense at least,] Draco said in his head, which really didn't help all that much.

There was complete silence in the room. Harry was becoming really fed up with gaining that reaction. So far he had managed to do something in every class that had afforded him unwanted attention, and he just wanted one where that didn't happen. McGonagall appeared to realise he was uncomfortable, but she did not look about to back down.

"I'm sorry, Mr Potter," Professor McGonagall said with a sympathetic incline of her head, "but I would very much like to see this. Mr Longbottom, Mr Finnegan, please move your desk out of the way."

"I haven't, um since," he wasn't sure he was even capable of the transformation anymore.

It wasn't something he had tried since he had so completely changed. He didn't know if that could have an effect on the result.

"Don't worry, Mr Potter," Professor McGonagall said, "the Animagus Transformation comes from within. You have always been as you are, it is simply that it shows on the outside these days as well. Just do as you would normally do."

Harry nodded; he really hoped she was right.

Taking a deep breath, he reached inside and found the spell that had been an integral part of him since he had first cast the Animagus transform. At his call it sparked to life and lanced through every cell, taking his body and morphing it into his animal shape. It didn't exactly hurt, but it was a disconcerting feeling. He lost his hold on the real world for a moment.

When it returned he could feel strong muscles in unfamiliar form and all the people in the room spoke to deep instincts that urged him to run. As Professor McGonagall rose to her feet, her eyes open in shock, Harry couldn't help himself, he snorted and tried to back away. He soon found that he had no space. Unicorn instincts warred with his human ones as he fought panic. Animal instincts were not supposed to be able to overcome human ones, but the unicorn's natural urges were simply so strong.

Suddenly Draco was standing directly in front of him. He hadn't even noticed Draco move. His soulmate placed his hand on Harry's unicorn head, rubbing gently around the single white horn.

[Ssh,] Draco's mental voice spoke calmly in his mind, [it's okay. I won't let them hurt you.]

[Instincts,] Harry tried to explain, [can't think straight with all these people.]

[Can you turn back or do you need me to empty the room?] Draco asked, still moving his hand in slow semi-circles.

[Don't want to cause a scene,] Harry said almost desperately.

Draco's other hand came up and stroked the side of his face.

[Okay,] Draco said, the epitome of calm that Harry couldn't manage at the moment, [we can do this.]

[Wasn't like this last time,] Harry insisted almost ready to panic completely.

[Harry, calm down,] Draco commanded as Harry stamped one hoof. [Show me the transformation. Go through it in your mind. Let the logic take over from the instinct.]

Draco's voice was so calm and powerful that he did exactly what he was told. He found everything he knew, everything he felt, everything he had done that was to do with the Animagus transformation. He packaged it up and gave the whole thing to Draco. As his magic shifted under his skin he saw Draco's eye go very wide with surprise, and Harry could feel the shock running through his soulmate.

Obviously that had not been quite what Draco meant.

With someone else to worry about, the unicorn instincts faded into the background and Harry regained control of himself. Taking hold of his magic, he transformed himself back straight away.

[Draco, what did I do?] he asked anxiously, and reached out to his soulmate.

Draco's eyes had a glassy, dazed look to them.

[I think,] Draco said very slowly, and shook his head, [I think you just gave me everything I need to be an Animagus in under a second.]

"Gentlemen, is everything alright?" Professor McGonagall asked.

Harry snapped back to the fact that they were not alone.

[Step back a little,] Draco said silently before Harry could reply to his house head.

Harry looked back at his soulmate straight away and shook his head; he knew what Draco intended to do without needing to be told.

[I can do this,] Draco insisted excitedly, [trust me.]

Before he could object or do anything, Draco had moved back with his wand in hand and Harry heard the incantation for the initial Animagus transformation. He felt the strange disconnection that always accompanied the change from human to animal and then he was looking into grey eyes surrounded by pure silver fur that shone white in the light. The closest animal Harry had ever seen which equated to what his soulmate now looked like, was a snow leopard, but Draco was bigger and had none of the spots.

[What do I look like?] Draco asked as Harry just stared.

He did have the wherewithal to send a mental image of what he was seeing, but only just.

[Bloody hell,] was Draco's distinct opinion, [I'm a Freyja's cat.]

Harry was none the wiser; they had never studied those in Care of Magical Creatures. Draco's Animagus form was almost as alluring as Draco's human one and Harry couldn't help himself as he put his hand out to touch the fluffy fur. It was as soft as he had anticipated and Draco let out what sounded suspiciously like a purr as he ran his fingers over the big cat's head.

[What's a Freyja's cat?] Harry asked rather absently as he let his eyes and magical senses explore his soulmate's new form.

[Freyja is a Norse goddess,] Draco told him silently, the low rumble continuing to emit from his cat form as Harry let his finger's wander. [In legend her chariot was drawn by two large cats. Freyja's cats live in Scandinavia; they are reclusive and rarely seen. They have the ability to send out a spell similar to Stupefacto, which they use when cornered or when hunting large prey.]

[And they're beautiful,] Harry added with a small smile; [you forgot that.]

He was so wrapped up in the incredible beast before him that Harry almost forgot they were in a classroom.

"Mr Malfoy," Professor McGonagall's voice drew him back to the present and she sounded worried, "exactly when did you master the Animagus transformation, and why did you not reveal it when the other three did?"

Much to Harry's disappointment Draco flowed back into his human form and gave the head of Gryffindor and apologetic smile.

"Sorry, Professor," Draco said, using all his charm, "I really don't quite know how to explain it. I wasn't an animagus until just now; Harry ... um ... Harry passed the skill along."

From the expression on his head of house's face, Harry was sure that the woman was not quite sure whether to believe Draco or not. It was rather a fantastic story, and he could understand her scepticism, but lying was not something Professor McGonagall could expect from either of them anymore.

"Harry showed you?" the head of Gryffindor asked slowly.

"I panicked," Harry decided to step in, "when I changed. I've never done it with so many people around before. Draco tried to calm me down by making me go through everything I knew about the Animagus transformation, but I must have taken it one step further without really meaning to. It was really strange."

And it had been; Harry still felt a little light headed from the whole experience. He wasn't quite sure how the transfer of information and magic had taken place. It had just happened. Becoming an Animagus was not simply about mastering a spell; there were steps to go through. Draco hadn't gone through any of them and yet now he was able to transform. Harry couldn't help wondering what other connotations that could have, but he was more worried about the now right about then.

"Do you require anything, Harry?" Professor McGonagall asked, switching from teacher to friend in an instant.

"I think I just need to sit down," he said with small shrug of apology; "it was a bit of a head rush."

"For you and me both," Draco said, but didn't seem anywhere near as dazed as Harry was feeling.

"In that case, Gentlemen," Professor McGonagall said, "thank you very much for your demonstration. If you would not mind I would like to talk to all four of you for a few moments once this class is finished. For now we will talk about the Animagus Reversal Spell. Now this spell can be unpleasant for the Animagus, so it is advised to use all other possible methods to achieve a reversal first, if there are options available. However, it is very useful when faced with someone who refuses to transform or who has become stuck in their animal form due to a spell or illness."

Harry sat down and tuned everything external out for a few moments.

[Are you sure you're okay?] he asked Draco.

[That's my line,] Draco replied.

[Yeah, but I didn't just have a whole load of information and magic dumped into me without my consent,] Harry pointed out.

[You did exactly what I asked you to do,] Draco said, [only your instincts weren't firing correctly so it was a little more intense than I expected. Anyway, thank you, that is going to save me months of work and I get to be a magical creature like you.]

Draco actually sounded pleased, so Harry gave up with any guilt he might have been feeling. He just hoped he could make it to the end of class without doing anything more embarrassing.

It wasn't until a little later he remembered just what a range of people were in the room and he couldn't help glancing over to see what the Slytherins were thinking. Unfortunately he seemed to have missed his chance as they were apparently ignoring him.

[They were impressed, very, very impressed,] Draco said, noticing where his attention was. [I think you just took a big step into cementing their allegiance for good.]

[Why?] he asked.

[In all that reading you did to find your animal shape did you look up magical creature Animagi?] Draco asked.

[No,] he admitted. [Hermione seemed quite excited, but she often does about the strangest things and we had so much going on at the time.]

[That's because the amount of magic it requires is staggering,] Draco told him, [and both you and I just did it like it was nothing. There's impressive and then there's us.]

Draco sounded so smug that Harry could only smile quietly to himself.