Harry Potter and the Lost Animagus

Chapter 1

The Death of a Minister

Cornelius Fudge was never a great wizard. In fact, a closely kept family secret was that he was considered a Squib by most of his family. His letter to Hogwarts had been such a surprise to his grandmother that she had suffered a heart attack. Cornelius had worked his way through school getting fair marks. At the age of 21 he had taken a job as an aide to the Minister of that time he started to work hard.

After a failed attack on the Ministry of Magic, when Fudge was in his late forties, proved fatal for quite a few members of the Ministry, Fudge found battered and beaten was thought to have fended off the wizards. Immediately, reporters were noticing him and his opinion of himself soared. When Minister Marrow and Headmaster Dippet of Hogwarts, simultaneously retired, He and Albus Dumbledore were shoe-ins for the jobs. When Fudge was asked to become Minister of Magic his already bighead grew larger.

And here he was today. He was on his way home, passing through an area where Dark activity was once common when he saw it. He had just passed an alleyway when something caught his eye. A small swishing figure ran past. This wouldn't have been so strange had it not been for the- gleaming silver hand.

Now, Cornelius Fudge had quite a few traits, but the two that stood out were ambition and stupidity. Fudge knew his popularity would soar if he single handedly captured a dark wizard (For Fudge was quite sure that was what he had seen.). So he set out down the alleyway after the figure. After following the alley a ways he saw another glimpse of the silver hand. Quickening his pace he turned the corner and found a doorway. The inside was pitch black. Fudge's thoughts reverted back to him smiling as he received the Order of Merlin with a young beautiful witch hanging on his arm...

"Right- o," he muttered and walked straight in to the darkness. He felt his stomach give a tug and he crashed down in what seemed to be a dark room. Pulling himself to his feet, he looked around. Pure darkness surrounded him. He was a bout to move when a sudden light came out of nowhere directly on him.

" Ah Minister Fudge," came a cold, silky voice out of the darkness. "How nice to see you again."

"W-Who's there? Show yourself!"

"So happy to oblige, Minister." The voice seemed closer. Fudge spun around, hoping to catch some indication of the speaker in the blackness around the area of light he was standing in. He saw it. Two red eyes stood out against the blackness. Then the lights turned on. Fudge screamed.

"You-You -You are DEAD!!!" Fudge screamed as the tall, thin figure drew closer.

"Fudge, I assure that I am not. However you soon will be." With that Voldemort gave a cold, mirthless laugh. " I do have to thank you however, your constant vehemence in my return has made my dealings so much easier. I am so surprised a squib like you ever made Minister. Well we will have to rectify that mistake."

Before Fudge could even reach for his wand, however a green flash blinked followed by a whooshing sound and Fudge knew no more.

**************

The fifteen-year-old boy named Harry Potter woke up with a start. A cold sweat drenched him and his bed. His scar felt as if it was being dug into his head with a dull knife. Rubbing his eyes Harry realized that he was back at Privet Drive. He shoved on his glasses and checked the time. 7:00. Harry flipped his blanket and got up. And promptly fell down. He could barely move he was so weak. What the!? It's probably got some thing to do with that nightmare. Better owl Dumbledore...Harry made his way to Hedwig's cage (feebly, mind you) and pulled out a spare piece of parchment. The Dursley's, who Harry lived with, and were his next of kin, after Voldemort had killed his parents 14 years ago, were the biggest Muggles (non-magic folk) Harry knew, but he was forced to live with them. Their security about his magical items had certainly died down in the last year. They still didn't like him though. Harry began to write his letter.

Dear Professor Dumbledore,

I had the weirdest dream last night. Voldemort killed Minister Fudge. Is he ok? I don't know. This is the first dream I have had in a while. Hopefully, everything is fine; I will see you at Hogwarts. Thanks for your time.

Sincerely,

Harry.

Harry then drafted a similar letter to Sirius and tied them both to Hedwig.

" Could you deliver these both for me? I know it is a lot but I think you can do it," Harry said softly hoping his cousin didn't hear him. Hedwig swelled with pride and flew away. Harry sighed. He missed his friends. Somehow he found himself thinking of Hermione often. His thoughts drifted back to the kiss she had given him on the platform after term. Shocked he immediately remembered Cedric and the look on Cho's face.

Tomorrow was his birthday and he had something to look forward. As he got dressed he mentally judged himself in the mirror. He was no longer scrawny but was still pretty skinny. He had grown about 3 inches and was coming up on 6 feet. Hurrying downstairs to get some breakfast, (Dudley's diet had gone off beam) Harry tried to get his mind off of things. As he sat down at the table he grabbed a toast and started to butter it.

" Boy," came the gruff voice of his uncle, "we have decided to take a family vacation to Majorca."

" Ummm ok, when do we leave?" answered Harry, very surprised that the Dursleys would invite him on a vacation.

" WE leave in two days, not YOU," sneered Vernon Dursley, his voice filled with venom. "See if you can get those Weasels or whatever to baby sit you, cause I not damn well leaving you in this house by yourself!"

"OK!" Harry shouted hardly containing his excitement. He bounded up the stairs and practically ran into his cousin Dudley.

"Out of the way, freak." His voice hoarse from the amount of fat pressing against his vocal chords. The stairs creaked under the combined weight of the two boys (or rather one boy). Harry slipped passed him, almost tipping off the side banister, as Dudley occupied the entire space between the wall and Harry. Once past his ridiculously rotund cousin, Harry quickly made his way to his room. He ran to his cage only to realize that Hedwig was still out to Dumbledore and Sirius.

"Wanker," he muttered. Frustration at waiting began to build up in his stomach. Harry began to turn around when he was hit a brown bullet of some sort. The air was knocked out of him as he collapsed to the floor. He clutched wildly at his forehead as he writhed on the floor. That was until he realized his scar wasn't hurting. Rising from the ground, red at his own stupidity he looked for the force of the blow. "PIG! You stupid.... Umm ..OWL! " Harry said unable to think of a suitable insult.

He noticed a small note attached to the giddy owl's leg. After nearly ten minutes of launching himself at the hyperactive owl he finally managed to restrain him enough to slip a note of his leg. Letting his guard down, Harry was bashed in the bottom of the chin by the wily bird. Rubbing his chin he unrolled the note.

Dear Harry,

I wish we could have you stay for the summer, but we're visiting Charlie in Romania. Maybe you could stay with Hermione, but that probably wouldn't be that fun, I mean blimey, she'd stuff your face in bloody textbooks for the entire rest of summer. I'm really sorry, but attached is your birthday present, a miniature dragon model, I'm sorry that its singed, but one of the dragons decided to sneeze while I was wrapping it.

Gotta send this before Pig gets barbecued by a dragon..

Ron

Harry's heart sank as he read the letter. He sighed. He should have known, nothing was ever this good for him, why should it be now? He reread the letter, and then felt his heart jolt. Maybe you could stay with Hermione... Would he want to stay with Hermione? Of course he would! This was even better! Perhaps a bit awkward, but-- "Oh my god," Harry whispered out loud. He didn't fancy Hermione, did he? Did he? She was just his friend right? Or maybe not.. He shoved that idea out of his head, and got out another parchment and quill.

**************

Hermione was finding it hard to look at Harry as they drove to her house. He was tall and, unlike she had remembered him, handsome. She snuck another glance at him, and hoped that she wasn't blushing. He had been unusually quiet, but then again, so had she. The silence was starting to weigh down between them, to the point where Hermione couldn't bear it anymore.

"So, I have your present at home. I was about to owl it when Pig came..."

Harry just smiled. She didn't know it, but the silence was killing him too. They pulled into the driveway of a white house in a suburban neighborhood. They got out of the car, and Harry took his trunk out from the back; he could carry it now that he had some muscle. They were silent all the way up to the guestroom, where finally Harry spoke.

"Thanks for letting me stay here." Hermione felt a tingle go up her spine as he spoke. His voice was soft and quiet, almost shy. What am I thinking?! She thought, This is Harry, I don't suddenly term his voice.. Well.. Sexy..

"Of course we'd have you how could we not?" She hid a sigh of relief that her voice sounded normal.

"Well.. It's sort of, well, awkward, for me to be staying at your house, I mean, you're a girl and--"

Hermione cut him short. "Hel-lo, Harry, we're best friends and besides, I've stayed at The Burrow tons of times."

Harry tried not to feel disappointed. Well obviously he wouldn't admit that he liked her or anything, but she had said they were just friends. Well, she probably wouldn't have admitted it either, but still, it bothered him. Little did he know, it bothered her also.

**************

Draco got up shakily, the tears he couldn't hold back streaming from his eyes, and the pain was too much to bear. He looked at his father, the older man's eyes shielded, his emotions masked by a veil of indifference, of uncaring.

"Had enough yet, son? Or would you like some more?" Lucius sneered. Draco paid no attention, and walked over to his mother, who was curled on the ground, shaking. He bent down to hold her, and Lucius's voice came again, with that dreaded, but familiar word.. "Crucio."

Draco was on his hands and knees again, trying not to scream, trying not to call out in pain. He felt as if his head would explode, and he could taste the blood trickling from his lip where he was biting it.

Lucius took the spell off again. Draco stood up, looked at him again, his eyes black with anger. "You can use as many unforgivable curses on me as you want, but don't, don't use any on Narcissa." He usually referred to his parents by their names now, it didn't matter, only his mom cared, and he barely knew her.

He had always "admired" his dad, or at least that's what everyone at Hogwarts thought. There always had been a hate burning inside him like an eternal flame, unable to be extinguished, burning so that it might one day consume him.

Lucius just smirked. "You will be a Death Eater, son. You will."

"No. I said NO! God dammit, can't you take a hint?!" Draco couldn't suppress that outburst, he had to say it.

"Crucio."

**************

Hermione heard Harry's footsteps, and tried as best she could to shield whatever it was that she had on her desk from sight.

"Hey, what's that?" Harry inquired, pointing to whatever she was holding. She made as good an attempt as she could to put it away, but he was too fast and grabbed it out of her hands. And almost fainted.

"AUSTIN POWERS?!?! HERMIONE?! AUSTIN POWERS?!" He was shocked. This was his Hermione? Watching AUSTIN POWERS?! He shook his head in disbelief. "Wow. I should camp out here more often. Maybe I can find out more interesting personal stuff about you to blackmail you into doing my homework with."

Hermione flushed redder than she already was. "I'm allowed to have any obsessions I want, and go ahead and tell Ron, he probably doesn't know what Austin Powers IS and if you tell him, I'll hex you into next Thursday!" She softened her words with a smile.

"Hey, 'Mione?

"Mm...?"

"I've always wanted to watch Austin Powers."

"I'm warning you Harry, it's extremely vulgar and not appropriate for children of our age."

"Hermione? We're fifteen, and if its so inappropriate, why exactly do you watch it, hmm?"

She flushed again. "Ok, fine."

And so they sat down to watch Austin Powers.

**************

Harry woke up the next day with a start. He hadn't had a nightmare last night. That was strange. Since Voldemort had been resurrected he had been having nightmares every night. What had happened now that had stopped it? Trying to move on to something else in his mind, he got up and stretched. He had got a goodnight's sleep and felt a lot stronger. He was about to go find Hermione when a small noise made him turn his head around.

" Whoa...." was all he could say. Hovering out his window was a beautiful dark red and yellow bird. A phoenix. His first though was that Dumbledore had sent Fawkes to give him something when he realized it. Streaked through the bird's wonderful plumage were large blacks lines. After an annoyed yet strangely haunting squawk from the bird, Harry snapped out of his reverie, and rushed to the window.

" Here you go," Harry said pointing towards Hedwig's water dish. Instead the beautiful bird settled down on Harry's shoulder. Immediately, Harry felt as if a great weight had been lifted off his shoulders. Then he noticed the note on the phoenix's left leg. He unrolled it.

Dear Harry,

Sorry I couldn't write earlier Ii was kind of held up... anyway, I hope you are feeling better and that you are not plagued by bad dreams. Stay strong Harry. You will make it. I don't know if you have heard it yet but due to the rise of Voldemort, Dumbledore wants all 4^th years and above to have magical familiars. So here is your birthday present. It took me awhile to procure this phoenix, but he seems very nice. I hope you two bond and stay good friends. I will be seeing you soon. Hehe You will see what I mean soon. Stay strong, Harry.

Sirius

Harry stood still in awe staring at Sirius's letter. THE PHOENIX WAS HIS! He couldn't get his mind off it. He turned to the bird, which had fluttered off his shoulder and had landed on his bedpost.

" Hello, My name is Harry," he said, feeling kind of foolish talking to a bird.

"Hello, Harry." If a bystander were watching this he would see a boy talking to a bird then a boy jumping 6 feet in the air.

" You, You TALKED!!!" Harry exclaimed! " HOW IS THAT POSSIBLE!?"

" Harry, only you can hear me. I am your familiar. Are you okay?" The bird gave Harry a questioning look.

" Yes, I'm okay. You just gave me a fright. So, what is your name?" Harry asked eager to know more about his new familiar.

"Blaze. I am bound to you and I hope to be your friend. I believe my father is bound to someone you know. His name is Fawkes. Do you know him?" The bird gave Harry another questioning look.

"Yes, Yes I do. My headmaster is Fawkes' partner," Harry explained trying to find the right word. " So," Harry was about to continue when he heard a noise. He turned to find Hermione staring at him with a perplexed look.

"Harry..." she said slowly, "were you just having a conversation with that bird?"

Blaze picked himself up and gave a squawk that definitely show anger and flew straight at Hermione. She screamed in terror.

"NO, BLAZE STOP!" Harry screamed trying to stop the bird, which was actually quite large.

"WHO IS SHE? DID SHE WANT TO HURT YOU! " Blaze questioned.

"She is a friend of mine. She wasn't trying to hurt me," Harry explained softly to the bird. " Don't worry, She is ok."

" Oh, I am sorry." Blaze turned to Hermione and gave her what look distinctly like a bow.

"WOW, Harry that is amazing. How did you stop him?" Hermione asked her eyes wide with the excitement of new knowledge.

"He is my familiar. I think you have to get one also. Some new rule at Hogwarts," Harry told her. Blaze began preening himself.

"Ohh, wow. I have to do some research. Come with me. We are going to go to the Wizard Library in the next town. Lucky I have some magical neighbors eh?" She said all of this very fast. It took Harry a little bit of time to compose himself.

" Ummm, Ok. Blaze, could you stay here and guard the house?"

" Of course, Harry," Blaze answered while singing softly.

"Ok thanks," Harry said as he and Hermione left.

**************

" Look, it is NOT my fault that YOU left the house in your pyjamas!" Hermione yelled, while trying to suppress laughter. Trying, but not succeeding.

" YOU could HAVE TOLD me!" Harry shouted back while also laughing. They finally made it to the library. Harry walked in first. He turned around to wait for Hermione. She tripped and ended up flying straight into Harry's arms and her lips landed on his.

They held that position for a few minutes before they realized what had happened.

" OH MY GOD! I AM SO SORRY HARRY! I DIDN'T MEAN TO!" Hermione yelled as tears ran down her face.

" Hermione, shh, its ok. I am fine. In fact I rather enjoyed it." He gave her a rougish grin. However on the inside his heart was beating so fast he could barely breath. WE KISSED! WOW! IT WAS GREAT! WHAT WILL HAPPEN TO OUR FRIENDSHIP? So many thoughts were running through his head at once that he didn't realize that Hermione had brushed herself off and stood up.

" Ok, I am sorry. It was an accident. Let's get going," she said in a cold voice. Harry's heart sank as he followed her to the back of the stacks.

"Hermione?" he ventured.

"Yes, Harry?"

"What exactly did we come here for?" he asked, trying to lighten up the mood.

She groaned and gave him a smile. He smiled back. And then they walked hand in hand to the top floor of the library.