The Bond of the Links

Chapter 3

Harry was stunned. An Animagus? Him? Suddenly, he felt excited, but then another emotion overtook him. Fear. It was more like a sense of urgency, like something was happening that he didn't know. Shalimar started. She was looking at him worriedly.

'Sirius, can I speak to you in private for a moment?' she asked. Harry looked at her curiously, but she avoided his eyes. That was strange.

'Sirius I think it won't be long before we have to tell Harry the truth. I sense that he just felt a feeling of urgency, like he has to do something and he might find out the truth himself. It's better if we tell him. It's September right now. I think his powers will have developed enough by the New Year to let us tell him about everything. That will give him about one or two months to gain control of his powers and be ready for whatever comes our way.'

By the time Shalimar had finished, Dumbledore and McGonagall were listening too. Dumbledore nodded saying, 'I think we should trust Shalimar's judgment. After all, she is connected to him.' Sirius nodded. They turned to Harry again, who was looking nonplussed.

'Sorry Harry. Anyway, let's return to the subject at hand,' Dumbledore said swiftly, avoiding his gaze. Harry was slightly hurt at being left out of something, but shrugged and faced them.

'So the animal that you become will reflect upon your character,' Sirius said. Harry nodded. He had been taught this in Transfiguration.

'Harry, your Animagus lessons will begin next week. Shalimar will be there as well to assist you. Meet me in my office at 7pm in the evening every Monday, Wednesday and Sunday. Harry nodded, and Shalimar and him walked out towards the Potions classroom after taking their bags. Shalimar was quiet and Harry didn't try making any conversation.

Suddenly she said, 'Harry you're not mad at me for not saying anything in front of you are you? You'll find out soon enough, don't worry. You're going to enjoy it, though not the whole time.' Harry looked at her. Somehow, he found it hard to stay angry with her for long.

He smiled at her as they entered the classroom. Everyone else was already assembled. However, they weren't late, so Snape had no excuse to take off points. He sneered at them as they sat down together at a table next to Ron and Hermione's.

'We'll be making a Healing Potion today. This is more advanced than what you have already learnt. I don't want ANY mistakes. Those of you who damage this potion will find yourselves in detention faster than you can say "Help". Yes, even you, Potter. Don't expect that you can get away from punishments just because your dear, biased godfather is here. I will make sure that he, for one, cannot help you,' Snape's eerie voice reached everyone's ears. Harry was fuming.

Before he could say anything, though, a quiet snarl came from his side. He turned to see Shalimar and almost fell off his seat in shock. She was looking at Snape in such a scary and loathing expression that even Harry felt scared. But what rattled him most were her eyes. They were feral, feline, to be exact, and glowed.

Fortunately, no one noticed. Shalimar's eyes suddenly turned back to the usual chocolate-brown, and she turned to him. She must have noticed his expression, because she quickly said, 'I'd really like to do something to that slimy old bat, honestly. Sirius is innocent as a rose compared to him! Hmph! Biased indeed!'

Harry snorted with laughter, and judging from the strangled sounds next to them, Ron and Hermione had heard her too. Comparing Sirius with a rose was not exactly the best idea with Snape breathing down their necks.

Shalimar had Divination with Ron and Harry. She liked the subject, but one lesson told her that if she wanted practice, she would have to go somewhere. Trelawney was a fraud. Except for her occasional predictions, according to Harry. Several Death-of-Harry predictions later, they walked expectantly towards Sirius' classroom.

As soon as the class was ready, Sirius started talking. 'Now I don't want to start the class with everyone staring at me like I was a ghost. Anyone has a question?' No one dared say anything. Sirius' face cracked into a grin. 'Hey! I'm not going to kill you people. I- ' But Hermione interrupted.

'EVERYONE CAN YOU JUST STOP STARING? HE IS OUR PROFESSOR FOR GOD'S SAKE!' Everyone jumped at her sudden outburst. A few people giggled.

'I think Hermione said the rest for me,' Sirius said, grinning.

'And Sirius to all of you please! Though if a Slytherin asks, it's Professor Black,' he said, winking at them. Ron's eyes misted over, and Harry could just imagine him thinking about Malfoy.

'Anyway, today, we are not going to do any magic. There are times when you can't be quick enough to block a curse. So you have to prepare yourself physically. Not just to dodge curses, but also for fighting, if the need ever arises. There are plenty of ways to disarm a person without magic. The Muggle way is unexpected and works to your advantage.'

By the end of this speech, quite a few people looked stunned. Harry looked at Ron and Hermione. They were looking as nervous as he was. Shalimar was the only one who looked the same. The reason became evident a few moments later.

'Shalimar here is going to help with the demonstration. If you need any help from anyone besides me, you can go to her. Shalimar, up here please,' Sirius said, grinning when he saw Harry looking at her strangely.

Shalimar slid out of her seat and walked to the front of the classroom. She removed her robes, revealing a comfortably loose T-shirt and sweat pants. Sirius first told her to do a front kick. She did so, with power and grace at the same time. There were no awkward movements. She demonstrated a series of basic kicks they would be learning at first. Shalimar did it effortlessly, but Harry saw the look of concentration on her face whenever she kicked a target with precision.

Everyone in the class was absorbed in the lesson; some nervous, some eager. Sirius came along and paired off everyone. Harry was with Shalimar, feeling unaccountably nervous. After all, he had never learned this before, no thanks to the Dursleys.

'I'll go first,' Shalimar said. Harry nodded wordlessly. She demonstrated again. Harry, fortunately, was in good shape. He repeated the kicks after her, albeit awkwardly. He soon mastered the kicks and practiced doing them swiftly.

'Nice work, Harry. You're catching up fast. So far, you're the best amongst your classmates, besides Shalimar,' Sirius said coming up to them. He gestured towards the rest of the class as he spoke, many of who were having plenty of trouble. Neville, for example, kept losing his balance and falling flat on his backside. Harry chuckled. Ron, being tall, was having trouble with balancing too. Hermione looked like she wanted to study the theory in a book before she tried it.

'Ok class, we'll end the lesson here. Many of you need help. We'll spend the next lesson doing that. There's no point in continuing if you are prone to injuries. Since we have 15 minutes, I shall ask Shalimar to come up here and spar with me. Observe carefully how we block each other's moves and counter-attack. It will help you in learning your moves. At this, even Shalimar looked apprehensive. She silently went over to Sirius again.

'Shalimar, we'll have a contact sparring, but targets should only be shoulder, legs and arms. Be careful,' Sirius said.

'You need your training as well,' he added in an undertone. She nodded. Harry watched as Sirius and Shalimar faced each other. They got into a fighting stance. The atmosphere was tense. Shalimar sprang at Sirius, who quickly jumped aside. But Shalimar had been feinting. With an extra quick step, her kick rounded up on Sirius' shoulder, right on target. Sirius immediately delivered a roundhouse kick to her arm.

Both of them got into a heated fight, carefully attacking only each other's shoulders, arms and legs. Harry had never seen such grace and power for fighting in a girl before. After five whole minutes of sparring, they stopped. Both had wide grins on their faces. Shalimar's whole face was lit up with her expression. Sirius dismissed them.

They went back to Gryffindor tower, discussing the events excitedly. 'Wow Shalimar. That was amazing!' Ron said enthusiastically. Harry and Hermione nodded in agreement. Shalimar smiled.

'Will you guys wait for a few minutes. I'll have a quick shower before dinner,' she said, sweating profusely. She sprinted up the stairs, two at a time. 'How can she have so much energy?' Hermione said, wonderingly.

'Jealous?' Harry asked teasingly.

'No! I mean- well, I just can't do the thing properly. I'm just- just...' Hermione trailed off, turning red.

'I'm sure she'll help you. It's not as if I'm good at it either!' Harry reassured her. Hermione smiled at him. A moment later, Shalimar came back down, dressed in a pair of shorts and a T-shirt, her robes slung over her shoulder. 'Sorry to keep you waiting. Let's go,' she said, while wearing her robes.

Dinner was pleasant, with the stars shining overhead in the enchanted ceiling. After the events of the day, they were all particularly hungry. They finished eating and wandered out onto the grounds. Their curfew wasn't for another hour. They were just strolling along the lake, when Harry heard a most unwelcome voice.

'Why Potter? Added another member to your little group have you? What's her weakness? After all, you have no parents, Weasel's got no money and Granger's got no pure blood. What does she lack?' Draco Malfoy strolled up in front of them. Hearing him, Shalimar stepped up to him.

'Why do you care Malfoy? If you are so sure that I lack something, surely you don't want to be associated with me? Now get lost.'

Malfoy looked furious. He drew out his wand slowly. 'Be careful there, Shalimar. No one messes with a Malfoy.' Before Harry could do anything, Malfoy muttered a spell. This was bad; they barely had time to grip their wands.

Just before the hex hit her, however, Shalimar raised her right hand and said, 'Bacelectio!' The spell was hit by a beam from her finger and rebounded. Malfoy ducked just as it grazed past his ear. Harry, Ron and Hermione stared, open-mouthed.

Instead of smiling, though, Shalimar's face looked like it was carved from stone. 'That was a Dark Arts spell you used, Malfoy. You are going to pay.' The trio looked shocked. Harry recovered first and stepped up beside Shalimar. Malfoy sneered, 'How do you expect to do that?'

Harry's face mirrored Shalimar's. This time Malfoy had gone too far. Before he could do anything, Shalimar said, 'You wanted to know what I lack? Conscience.' With that she walked right up to Malfoy. Malfoy backed away. Then, looking like he was about to run away, he lunged.

Shalimar leapt up into the air as if a gust of wind had caught her, gracefully and catlike. She jumped higher than was humanly possible. Coming back down, she whipped around and faced Malfoy. She advanced slowly on him, and her eyes were feral once more; glowing green and showing catlike pupils.

Malfoy's eyes, usually calm and icy gray, betrayed his fear. He tried to keep the smirk on his face and silently walked off, nearly managing to hide his obvious fear. Shalimar smirked in satisfaction. Ron and Hermione, who had been standing behind them, came up to them.

With contempt, the group watched Malfoy walk off into the tower. If they had not been so caught up in making sure he was gone, they would have realized that Harry and Shalimar's rings were glowing.