Harry's Animagus Holiday

Harry's Animagus Holiday

After a long day of doing chores in the Dursleys' garden under the hot summer sun, Harry dragged himself up into his room, noticing a bit unnerved that Hedwig had returned with a letter for him.

'Probably from some of my friends fretting over me because of Sirius' death,' he mused, unwillingly taking the letter from Hedwig. 'From Hogwarts?' he thought in surprise, having already received his OWL results two weeks ago. He quickly broke the seal on the back of the envelope.

'Dear Mr. Potter,' it said,

'We have decided to offer a voluntary Animagus class for all sixth year students, who want to learn the Animagus transformation. The class will take place in my holiday home in Italy during the last week in August. Professors McGonagall and Snape will accompany the group and will act as your guardians during the week.

There will be classes in the mornings and in the evenings, while we are planning several excursions to magical places around Italy in the afternoons.

If you're interested to participate, please send us your reply immediately. In that case, this letter will turn into a Portkey on Sunday morning at ten o'clock. It will take you to Hogwarts, from where the group will take a Portkey to Italy together. Please bring your trunk and an additional bag for the week in Italy, since you will return to Hogwarts by Portkey in time for the Sorting.

Please note that this week won't be a holiday week but a study week involving much work for all participants. I also want you to understand that you won't be able to transform into your Animagus form after a week, but you'll get a head start and will be training twice a week during the school year.

We hope to see you on Sunday,

Albus Dumbledore.'

Harry read through the letter three times, not able to believe his luck. 'I'm going to get away from here a week earlier? Plus, I'll be able to learn how to become an Animagus! That's absolutely fantastic!' he thought, sitting down at his desk to formulate his reply.

'Dear Professor Dumbledore,

Thanks a lot for the invitation. Of course I'd like to participate in the course, and I'm looking forward to it.

Best regards and I'll see you on Sunday,

Harry Potter'

"Hedwig, I'm sorry, but I need you to fly back to Hogwarts and hand this to the Headmaster or to Professor McGonagall," he told his owl, gently fastening the letter to her foot.

Hedwig gave him a knowing shoo-hoo and took off into the night, while Harry lay down on his bed, happily thinking, 'Only five more days and I'll get away from here!' He reached for the last piece of Mrs. Weasley's birthday cake, which he had carefully spared to last until his return to Hogwarts when he'd finally be able to eat a proper meal. 'Only five more days until I'll get something to eat other than bread and water.'

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The next few days passed much too slowly for Harry's liking. On Saturday afternoon, he finally told the Dursleys that he was going to leave the next day, much to their pleasure. When he woke up on Sunday morning, he told Hedwig to fly to Hogwarts, brought her cage as well as Professor Dumbledore's letter down with him, and asked his aunt to give him his trunk.

"Before you leave, you have to mow the lawn and weed the garden," Petunia told him, causing Harry to put the glass of water, which he had just filled for himself, down and hurry to do his chores in the garden in spite of the rain that was pouring down on this morning to finish in time to take the Portkey.

Harry nearly flew back into the house, grabbing his trunk, the cage, and the parchment, only seconds before he felt the pull behind his navel, knowing that the Portkey would take him to Hogwarts. Seconds later, he found himself in the Great Hall at Hogwarts. Sighing in relief, he looked around, noticing that their group consisted of eight students. Apart from Harry, the only other Gryffindor students were Hermione and Neville. Blaise Zabini, and Terry Boot were there as well as Susan Bones, Mandy Brocklehurst, and Millicent Bulstrode.

"Harry!" Hermione shouted excitedly, pulling him into a bear hug. "I'm so glad that you're here as well. I had hoped that Hedwig would show up, so that I could send you a letter, but unfortunately she didn't, and not even Ron wrote to me."

"Since he's not here, I suppose he wasn't allowed to come," Harry replied, slightly disappointed. "Sorry, I wanted to write to you, but Hedwig only came back from Hogwarts yesterday. If you ask me, she must have a boyfriend here, because she seems to have spent a lot of time here during the holidays. Dumbledore even sent his letter with her, and she was the one, who brought my OWL results."

"Ah right, the OWLs, Harry..."

To Harry's great relief, the Headmaster interrupted the girl's tirade before it could even begin by addressing the students. "I want to remind you that you're leaving for a study week, not for holidays. You will participate in this summer class as classmates indifferently to your current Hogwarts House. You will not be able to earn points for your House, and your teachers won't take points from your House. However, they can of course give you detention or punish you as they see fit. Any of you, who doesn't give her or his best during the week, will be sent home and has to come back to Hogwarts the normal way. Please leave your trunks here; the house elves will take them to your dormitories. Only take your bags with you. Now, I wish you good luck for your Animagus practice and enjoy your study holiday."

When Dumbledore stepped back, Professors McGonagall and Snape approached the students, a plush snake in their hands. "Please grab the snake; it's our Portkey," Snape instructed the students, causing everyone to obey at once.

An instant later, Harry felt the usual pull behind his navel, before everything turned around. Soon, the group was standing in a huge entrance hall, where they were greeted by Dobby and another house elf, whom Dobby introduced as Professor Dumbledore's personal house elf Twinkle. The elves led them into a very bright living room, where Professor Snape addressed the students.

"First of all, you will head up to your rooms and unpack. We'll meet here again at exactly twelve o'clock for lunch. Now I'm going to tell you your room numbers. Please make sure to listen and note that neither the parings nor the rooms are negotiable. Bones and Brocklehurst Room One, Bulstrode and Granger Room Two, Boot and Longbottom Room Three, and Potter and Zabini Room Four."

'Oh no!' Harry thought in absolute annoyance. 'Leave it to the greasy git to pair me with Zabini instead of Neville. Well, at least it's not Malfoy,' he realised and climbed the stairs, following the professors and his classmates. When he entered the room after Blaise, he stopped dead in his tracks. 'Beautiful,' he thought, looking though the huge window straight in the park, where he could see a small lake, surrounded by a ring of pine trees that was interrupted by a few tiny beaches.

"That looks extremely inviting. We should go out for a midnight swim; don't you think so?" Blaise suddenly pulled Harry out of his reverie.

"Yeah, that would be great," Harry replied eagerly, looking around the room for the first time. It was nearly as big as the dormitory in Gryffindor and was held in different shades of blue and white. He slowly unpacked his belongings, letting his view wander out to the lake every few minutes.

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After a Hogwarts-like lunch, during which Harry could hardly eat anything because he felt full after a few bites and because his throat felt unnervingly scratchy, which didn't help to fuel his appetite, the group was ushered into a huge practice room. The room was equipped with a dozen comfortable sofas and chairs, and Professor McGonagall motioned the students to take a seat. One after another took the Animagus potion, while the others watched curiously in what kind of animal the person that had taken the potion was going to transform.

Harry excitedly watched as Hermione transformed into a snowy white owl. 'Just like Hedwig,' he mused. 'Oh, how much I envy her; she'll be able to fly without a broom. I wished I could become a bird too.'

Finally, it was Harry's turn. He anxiously gulped down the potion, noticing that everything became black for an instant, before his field of vision all of a sudden greatly expanded, and he could see wings all around himself. 'What am I?' he thought, trying to look at himself. However, he could only see blue feathers.

"A water phoenix," he heard his Head of House commend his form, causing him to try to do a few happy but uncertain steps on his bird's feet, before he automatically transformed back much too soon.

While the students had transformed, Professor Snape had taken magical photos of all of their Animagus forms, which he handed over to the students as soon as all of them were finished with their transformation.

"All right; now we're going to commence with our first practice," McGonagall told them. "Please watch your picture closely, so that you know your form as well as possible. Then you try to change your left arm into the left front leg, wing, or whatever your animal has instead of your arm. Please be discouraged if it won't work. If you're really lucky, you might be able to transform your left arm by the end of the week."

Harry and his seven classmates did their best, but when they ended the practice at dinnertime, none of them had managed to change the tiniest bit of their bodies. After dinner, they were instructed to spend the evening in the library in order to find out as much as possible about their animal.

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By the time Harry went to bed, he noticed that his throat was becoming really sore instead of just being scratchy. 'Well, no wonder after spending three hours in the rain doing garden work this morning,' he mused, pondering if he should tell Blaise that he didn't want to go for a swim during the night. However, he was so glad to get along with the Slytherin so far that he didn't voice his thoughts but immediately agreed when Blaise asked if they should pull through with the idea.

"But how will we get out of the house? Maybe they have even charms on the doors," he replied worriedly, while he pulled his swimming trunks under his pyjamas. "Shall we ask Dobby, if he can take us out to the lake?"

"That's a good idea," Blaise agreed, and Harry called Dobby.

"Yes, I wills wake yous up at midnight and takes yous to the lake and back," Dobby promised and popped away only seconds before Professor Snape entered the room.

"Is everything all right here?" the teacher asked in a voice that held no malice, causing Harry to look at him in surprise.

"Yes, sir," both boys replied, and the teacher nox-ed the lights out, leaving the door a crack open as he left the room.

At midnight, Dobby woke the two boys up and popped them out in the park. "Please don't tells the professors that I brought you here. I is leaving the kitchen door open, so that you cans comes in whenever you want," the small elf told them, before he vanished with a pop.

Harry and Blaise quickly took off their pyjamas and headed into the lake. "Oh, the water is much warmer than that of the lake at Hogwarts," Harry said in surprise.

"Of course; remember we're in Italy," Blaise replied and proceeded to swim, followed by his roommate.

Thirty minutes later, Harry was beginning to shiver in spite of the warm water. "I'm getting cold, so I'll go out and wait for you on the beach," he told the other boy, who gave him a look of concern, if Harry could interpret the boy's expression correctly in the moon light.

"You sound a bit hoarse. Are you all right, Potter?"

"Yes, I'm fine. Could you call me Harry though?"

Blaise laughed. "All right; I'm Blaise then. Nice to meet you, Harry. Let's go back to bed; we wouldn't want you to catch a cold."

The two boys threw drying charms at each other, put on their pyjamas, and quickly entered the building through the open kitchen door, closing it behind them. When they reached their room, Blaise silently closed the door behind them and threw a silencing charm at the door.

"What are you doing?" Harry enquired, coughing.

"I just wanted to talk with you for a moment without Professor Snape listening in. Since you obviously caught a cold, there are two options. You can either ask Snape for Pepper-up potion in the morning and be forced to spend the day in bed, or you call Dobby and ask him to bring you some without alerting the teachers."

"That's a good idea," Harry croaked and called Dobby, who quickly popped to Hogwarts and brought Harry a phial with Pepper-up potion.

"Ah, that's much better; thanks a lot, Dobby," Harry said gratefully after gulping down the potion.

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In the morning, Harry felt much better. Blaise stepped over to Harry and reached out to feel his forehead. "You're still a bit warm though, and if you feel unwell, you should tell Professor Snape, before it gets worse."

Harry nodded, and the two boys headed down to the dining room right in time for breakfast. During the morning, the students tried again to transform their left arms, while McGonagall went from one to the next giving advice and Professor Snape sat there watching them until his colleague called him over. "Severus, perhaps you could work with Ms. Granger and Mr. Potter," she suggested, causing her students to throw her unbelieving looks. "Remember that Albus was better able to help you than I," she reminded the teacher when he joined them.

"I know, Minerva," Snape replied and turned to Hermione and Harry. "Look exactly how I do it. I will only change my left arm right now."

The two Gryffindors watched in amazement as the teacher's arm turned into a black wing. "A raven?" Hermione guessed.

"Exactly, Ms. Granger. Imagine your left wing and try to change your arm accordingly," the teacher advised them in a soft, silky voice that made Harry curiously look at the teacher once more.

'He seems much nicer than at Hogwarts,' he mused astonished, while he tried to follow the teacher's example. By the end of the morning class, Harry finally managed to transform his arm into the blue wings of his phoenix form.

"Harry!" he suddenly heard Hermione shout, and only when he looked up in bewilderment, he noticed that his arm was gone.

Harry flapped his wing a few times, noticing that his feathers were very beautiful.

"A pity that I can't give points to Gryffindor; very well done, Mr. Potter," Professor McGonagall commended the boy, before she ended the practice for the morning.

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In the afternoon, the group visited a magical day school situated in the suburbs of Rome. The children only had classes until four o'clock in the afternoon, before they took the Floo network to return to their parents. After a tour around the school, the sixth year students of the Italian school took care of their guests while the teachers met with their Italian colleagues. When the students returned home at four o'clock the Potions professor met the guests and invited them to the huge Potions laboratories, which were extremely impressive even to students for whom Potions didn't belong to the favourite subjects like Harry and Neville.

"We should have something like that at Hogwarts," Hermione blurted out in complete amazement, causing the whole group to laugh.

"Here in our school, we have two important subjects," the Potions professor explained, "one is Divination and one is Potions. However, while we have the better facilities you have the better teacher. Professor Snape is the best Potions Master worldwide at this stage."

"We know that, Professor," Hermione replied, "but it would be nice to have better facilities as well."

"Maybe even I would be able to brew better in such surroundings," Neville spoke up, causing the whole group to laugh.

"You could speak to Professor Dumbledore about the matter," Snape suggested.

"Believe me; we will do that," Hermione promised, before suddenly a quick motion behind her caught everyone's eye.

While they were talking, Harry suddenly noticed that his vision was getting blurry and he was seeing stars, before everything turned black and he noticed himself falling down.

An instant later, Harry opened his eyes. "What happened?" he asked in confusion, noticing that he was lying on the floor with a pillow under his head while everyone was watching him in concern. He quickly tried to sit up, but felt himself being pushed down again.

"Stay put, Mr. Potter, and tell me what exactly happened. Did everything just turn black?" Professor Snape enquired, speaking in a soft silky voice.

"No, I saw stars," Harry stammered, "and then everything turned black."

"All right, then it's probably because his blood pressure is too low," Snape talked to McGonagall, while his Italian colleague returned with the school nurse, who pointed her wand at Harry's arm and confirmed Snape's assumption, before she told him, which potion he had to brew for the boy and how much of it he would need.

"He should eat more and drink coffee. Fortunately, he doesn't have a concussion in spite of hitting the hard stone floor, but he might get a headache later on and should rest today," the nurse explained.

Back to their domicile, the students were allowed to do what they wanted during the last hour until dinner, while Snape and McGonagall accompanied Harry to his room and made him lie down on his bed.

"Harry, are you feeling all right?" his Head of House asked in obvious concern.

"I'm fine," Harry replied quickly, causing the teachers to frown.

"Well, you have to make sure that you eat properly," Snape instructed him before he asked, "I take it that your relatives didn't feed you."

Noticing that it was more a statement than a question, Harry merely nodded his head.

"How bad is your headache?" the teacher asked, "and I need to know exactly, so that I know which Potion you'll need.

"Hurts a bit," Harry replied, feeling completely embarrassed, especially when he all of a sudden felt the Potion Master's cool hand on his forehead.

"You need a fever reducer as well, Mr. Potter, which is strange, because the nurse said you didn't have a concussion. I want you to remain in bed for the rest of today except for dinner, and when you're not better in the morning, we'll ask Madam Pomfrey to come and check on you," Snape decided, before he excused himself to head to the Potions lab in the cellar.

Professor McGonagall sat down on the edge of Harry's bed and conjured a cool cloth, gently adjusting it on Harry's forehead. "Harry, we can only help you concerning your home life, if you tell us about the Dursleys," she said softly.

Harry threw his Head of House a surprised look. "What should I tell you? That they hate me? I thought you'd already know that, considering that my first Hogwarts letter was addressed to 'the cupboard under the stairs' and that I begged Professor Dumbledore each summer not to send me back there. Apart from that, Professor Snape watched lots of memories about my home life when he tried to teach me Occlumency last year."

McGonagall's face turned white. Of course she had known that the Dursleys were horrible persons but she hadn't imagined the situation for her little lion so bad. Harry told the stunned teacher about his home life, before Snape entered the room to give Harry his potions and call him and his Head of House for dinner.

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After dinner, Harry was sent to bed again and due to his worsening headache he didn't even protest. His classmates took turns sitting with him, talking to him in quiet voices. Blaise was the last to keep him company and told him that the teachers would come to check on him at the beginning of curfew, which was a few minutes later.

When the teachers arrived, Snape sat down on the edge of Harry's bed and felt his forehead, frowning. He pulled a magical ear thermometer out of his robe pocket, which he stuck in Harry's left ear for a moment, causing the thermometer to flare orange. "38.3 (101) degrees," the professor stated, giving McGonagall a concerned look. "Maybe he has a concussion in spite of what the nurse told us. Should we call Poppy?"

"Professor, I think I might have a cold," Harry spoke up. "My throat is a bit sore."

The teacher lit the tip of his wand and peered into Harry's mouth, finally nodding contentedly. "Yes, you have a slight throat infection." He called Dobby and asked him for two potions, which he made Harry drink, noticing that the boy obviously felt bad enough not to question him.

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In the morning, Harry still had a splitting headache. However, remembering what Dumbledore had told them what would happen to those, who didn't give their best, he replied, "No, sir," when Snape asked him if his head still hurt.

"Your throat is still red and you're running a temperature. I suggest that you stay in bed and we'll see how you are at lunchtime," Snape told him in a surprisingly gentle voice, causing Harry to throw him a pleading look.

"No, Professor, please let me attend the class. I feel fine," he told the professor, ignoring his roommate, who was rolling his eyes at him.

"All right," Snape agreed, "provided that you promise to go back to bed if you feel worse."

Harry more or less spent the morning watching the others, who had yet to transform their left arm, while he kept the wing on his left side and tried to transform his right arm from time to time, noticing that his headache worsened with each try.

While they were still practising, Professor Snape was called to the fireplace. When he returned a few minutes later, he told his colleague, "Our visit to the Ministry of Magic won't take place today but on Thursday, and we can't visit the library today instead but only tomorrow. So we should go to the town today."

"All right," McGonagall replied hesitantly, throwing Harry a worried glance.

"I can take the group alone, and you can remain here with Harry," Snape added in a small voice. "Let's see how he is after lunch, and then we'll decide."

After lunch, Harry hesitantly asked McGonagall if the trip to the town was being considered as a study excursion or a fun trip, causing the professor to give him a stern look and reply, "A trip to Diagon Alley would hardly be considered useful for your studies, Mr. Potter."

The teacher's expression softened immensely when Harry gave back, "All right, Professor; I wouldn't wish to miss a study excursion, but in that case I'd like to stay here today." Harry even managed to convince the teachers that he would well be able to stay on his own, especially with Dobby and Twinkle in the house with him.

Shortly before the others left, Professor Snape entered Harry's room, closely followed by Hermione. The teacher quickly checked on Harry and made him drink two potions, stating, "It was a wise decision to remain here today. With the fever you're running you're clearly not well enough to gallivant through the town. I suggest that you remain in bed the whole afternoon. We'll be back in time for dinner."

"Harry, shall I stay with you?" Hermione asked hesitantly.

"No, Hermione; enjoy your afternoon; I'll listen to Professor Snape and try to sleep for a while.

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On the next day, Harry's condition improved slightly, so that he could convince Professor Snape to let him join the others for their visit to the Italian Ministry of Magic. The group talked with several people, who explained how their specific divisions within the Ministry worked. Hermione asked many questions, which the Ministry employees seemed happy to answer, while Harry found the whole excursion quite boring.

On their way through the Ministry, Harry suddenly noticed that he was getting dizzy again. However, the instant, in which colourful stars appeared in front of his eyes, he managed to sit down on a step of the stairs they were just descending.

"Harry, what's wrong?" Blaise asked immediately.

"I just felt as if I was going to faint again," Harry admitted in a small voice. "I'd like to sit here for a while. Could you please tell Snape or McGonagall without alerting all the others?"

"Of course," Blaise promised, and an instant later, Snape sat on the step next to Harry, giving him a piercing look, before he handed him a potion, which Harry gulped down gratefully.

"I'm sorry, Professor; thank you," Harry mumbled. "It's probably all right again."

"Let's stay here until the others come back," Snape replied, pushing Harry back when he tried to get up from the stairs.

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On the next day when the group visited the magical library, Harry was not so lucky but fainted on their tour through the huge building. Fortunately, the teachers had tried to remain near the boy all the time and Professor Snape was fast enough to catch him before his head hit the stone floor again.

'Where am I? What happened?' Harry mused when his mind slowly turned back to consciousness. He found himself lying on a comfortable sofa within the huge library. Hermione and Professor McGonagall were sitting on the edge of the sofa talking to each other in low voices.

"It would be great to have such a library at home as well," Hermione whispered longingly.

McGonagall let out a small laugh. "Maybe that would be a job for you, Hermione. After your NEWTs, you could found such a library and try to find donators all over the country. Professor Dumbledore and I would try to get the Ministry to support you."

"Harry!" Hermione suddenly noticed that Harry had turned conscious again. "Are you all right?"

"Yes; I'm sorry," Harry replied, trying to sit up.

"No Harry, please wait until Professor Snape comes back. He just went to look for an Apparition area, so that he can take you back home," McGonagall instructed him in a soft voice.

"No Professor, I'm fine; please, I don't want to go home. I'll try and do everything you want, but please don't send me home," Harry whispered, panicking.

"Harry, it's all right. Nobody is going to send you home to the Dursleys. With 'home' I meant Professor Dumbledore's home here," McGonagall replied soothingly, before she stood up to make space for Snape, who had just returned.

He took the place at Harry's side and gripped Harry's wrist with one hand while he looked at his watch, before he finally released Harry's wrist and felt his forehead instead. "I'm going to take him home and call Poppy," he told his colleague.

"No Professors, please let me stay here; I'm fine," Harry begged the teachers.

"No, Harry, you just fainted a few minutes ago, and that was the third time in four days," McGonagall replied sternly. "We'll be back in time for dinner, which is in two hours."

"Exactly," Snape agreed, picking Harry up in his arms, and carried him out of the room to the apparition area, from where he apparated them back to the entrance hall of Dumbledore's house. The teacher made Harry sit on one of the sofas in the living room and headed to the fireplace to call the Headmaster.

"Hello Severus, my boy," Harry could hear Dumbledore's voice that was laced with concern. "Is something wrong that you call me at this time of the day?"

Snape sighed, before he replied, "Mr. Potter fainted three times in four days. We assume that the reason is extremely low blood pressure due to the fact that the Dursleys starved him over the summer. Moreover, he is feverish and is suffering from headaches, and we'd like Poppy to come and check on him. Is Poppy available at Hogwarts, so that you can send her over, or where can we contact her?"

"Of course Poppy is here in case you need her. She might be out for a few hours, but she'll return in time for dinner at the latest. I'll send her over as soon as she's back. Is everything else all right, Severus?"

"Yes, Albus, thank you," Snape replied and ended the Floo connection, turning to Harry.

"I don't know if you heard what the Headmaster told me, but Madam Pomfrey is not at the castle at the moment; she'll be back around dinnertime and come here as soon as possible."

"I'm sorry, Professor, I'm fine. If you want to return to the library, I'll be fine on my own here," Harry said hesitantly.

"Harry, you're not fine, and I don't intend to leave you alone here." He sat down on the edge of the sofa and once more felt Harry's pulse and forehead, before he told Harry to stay put while he went to fetch a few potions.

Harry visibly relaxed after gulping the potions down. He closed his eyes and drifted off to sleep in the blink of an eye. He woke up to the excited voices of his classmates all around him. He sat up and smiled at his classmates. 'It's funny,' he thought. 'We're all in different Houses and weren't even friends before we came here, but now we're all very close to each other. Even the professors have begun to call us with our first names. I really like it here.'

All of a sudden, the fireplace flared and Madam Pomfrey stepped out. While McGonagall quickly filled her in what was wrong with Harry, Snape shooed all of his classmates away from the sofa, so that Poppy could check on the boy.

"Hello Madam Pomfrey; I'm sorry that you had to come here," Harry mumbled anxiously, afraid that the Healer would decide to send him back home.

"That's no problem at all, Mr. Potter, but fainting in libraries is something, which I don't like at all," Pomfrey replied gently and waved her wand at the boy, frowning at the results. Turning to McGonagall and Snape, she sighed. "His blood pressure is indeed dangerously low. He has to eat more, and he needs the potion to raise the blood pressure every morning and at lunchtime for the next few weeks. I'll check on him at school on a daily basis until I can see a solid improvement."

Harry sighed in relief. 'That doesn't sound too bad,' he thought.

However, the Healer continued, "The fever he is running results from a concussion. Did he hit the floor when he fainted?"

Snape quickly explained what the Mediwitch at the school, who had checked on Harry, had told them, but Pomfrey shook her head. "No Severus, he definitely has a concussion and he needs to rest for the next few days, at least until his headache and fever are completely gone. Did you hear that, Mr. Potter? And no magic for at least a week; let's say until I tell you that you may do magic again."

"Oh no!" Harry threw the Healer a horrified look. "But..."

"No buts, Mr. Potter. I should take you with me to Hogwarts," Pomfrey replied thoughtfully.

"Poppy," McGonagall jumped into the conversation. "Don't take him back to Hogwarts. We'll be able to look after him. Albus would only send him back to his relatives."

"We can't risk that, Poppy, knowing that it's their fault that he's ill in the first place," Snape agreed with his colleague.

"All right, Mr. Potter, I'll leave you here, but I expect you to do exactly what Professors McGonagall and Snape tell you. You may not do any magic, and you have to rest as much as possible. I'll come and check on you every evening between dinner and curfew."

As soon as Madam Pomfrey had taken the Floo back to Hogwarts, Harry turned to his two teachers. "Thank you, Professors, for saving me from going back to my relatives."

"You're welcome, Harry," both replied simultaneously.

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There were only two more days of training left, during which Harry still suffered from a bad headache and a fever. However, knowing that they would hardly be able to keep Harry in bed, the professors allowed him to rest on one of the sofas in the practice room, so that he could watch his classmates, while they practised to transform their left arms. 'It's good to know that I already managed to transform my left arm,' Harry mused on Friday morning, unconsciously trying to transform his right arm.

"Harry, you're not allowed to do magic, and if you can't obey, you'll have to go to bed," McGonagall, who had been watching Harry, admonished him lightly at the sight of his right phoenix wing.

"I'm sorry, Professor, it wasn't intentionally," Harry quickly explained, causing Snape to raise an eyebrow at the boy.

In the afternoon, the group went to visit another magical school that was specialised on Herbology and Care of Magical Creatures. However, Harry was not allowed to go, and Professor McGonagall decided to stay at home with Harry, since his condition had worsened after his unintentional transformation work in the morning. The professor sat on the edge of Harry's bed, where Professor Snape had ordered him after noticing that his fever spiked again. She conjured a cold cloth, gently wiping his flushed face.

"You have to be careful, Harry," she told him, "I know that you didn't mean to do magic this morning, but the Animagus transformation affords especially much magic, and if you don't want to spend the first week of the school year in the hospital wing, you mustn't do it again."

"I'll try," Harry replied, sighing. "I know, but I completely forgot that I'm not allowed to do magic, probably because I was watching the others all the time. I'm glad that I can already transform my arms; otherwise it would be much more unnerving to watch the others practise."

"I believe that immediately," McGonagall smiled. "You're already very advanced, Harry, and we're going to meet twice a week to continue our class when we're back to Hogwarts."

"That's great," Harry replied happily, "not only because of the Animagus training, but also because we all got so close during this week, but we're all in different Houses at Hogwarts, so it'll be great to be able to meet twice a week."

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On Saturday afternoon, the students were allowed to do what they wanted. Since most of them wanted to visit the town once more to buy presents, Professor McGonagall accompanied the group to the Italian Diagon Alley, while the Potions Master stayed at home with Harry.

"Professor, you really don't have to stay here with me; I'm fine on my own," Harry told the teacher, feeling very uncomfortable that the teachers meant they had to keep him company. 'On the other hand it's nice. They both behave like parents towards me,' he thought, feeling very happy.

"I thought we could play a game of chess together, if you feel well enough," the teacher suggested, raising an eyebrow.

"I'd like that, but I'm not good at all," Harry replied hesitantly, causing the professor to begin teaching him how to properly play wizard's chess. By the time the others returned from their excursion, he had the impression as if he had learnt a lot during the afternoon.

"Thanks a lot, Professor, and thank you so much for letting me stay here, although I couldn't do magic during the last few days."

"You're welcome Harry," Snape replied, adding thoughtfully, "There is something else I'd like to speak with you about. Due to the fact that you revealed several things about your so-called family, Professor McGonagall and I have decided to try to get the guardianship over you. So far, the Headmaster wouldn't have allowed us to do so; however, since even Madam Pomfrey can confirm that you were ill because of the neglect by your family, we expect Professor Dumbledore to agree, so that you won't have to return to the Dursleys at all, provided that that is what you want."

"Of course, Professor," Harry replied eagerly. "I'd love you and Professor McGonagall to become my guardians."

"Oh Harry, that's brilliant," Hermione commentated when Harry told her the story on Sunday afternoon. "Then you'll have a real family."

"Yes, I'm looking forward to it, and I know that it will be great because they already behaved like parents this week. I'm so happy, Hermione," Harry replied, absentmindedly holding on to the stuffed snake that would take them back to Hogwarts.

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"Harry, are you feeling all right?" a soft, silky voice penetrated Harry's ears, causing him to glance around in confusion.

He found himself in the Great Hall, and the seven students and two teachers, who had participated in the Animagus holiday in Italy together with him, were kneeling around him, obviously waiting for him to get a grip on himself.

"I'm sorry," he mumbled, trying to overcome the dizziness from the Portkey travel. All of a sudden, he noticed that Professor Snape was steadying him and blushed deeply. "I'm sorry, Professor; I'm all right now," he apologized quickly.

"You may take your luggage to your dormitories. Your common rooms still open on the password 'Summer holidays'," McGonagall addressed the students. "Please be back in time for the Sorting and dinner. Normally, the students arrive around six o'clock, depending how late the Hogwarts Express is. We'll all meet tomorrow evening right after dinner for our Animagus class. Mr. Potter, please remain here. You have an appointment with Madam Pomfrey first," the teacher added sternly, causing Harry to groan.

"Oh no, Professor, I'm fine. I don't need to see Madam Pomfrey again," Harry protested, quickly grabbing for Professor Snape's arm when the man all of a sudden let go.

"Absolutely fine, I see," Snape smirked, before he gently led Harry to the hospital wing, where he motioned him to lie down on the bed right next to Pomfrey's office.

Madam Pomfrey waved her wand at Harry several times, before she said, "Mr. Potter, you're still running a slight temperature, and your concussion is not completely healed yet. I'll let you attend classes; however, you may not do any magic until I tell you otherwise, and I want you to rest as much as possible and stay here at least overnight for a few days."

Seeing that Snape and McGonagall, who were both waiting patiently, nodded their agreement, Harry dare not protest. 'Well, it could be worse,' he tried to console himself, while the Mediwitch cast several more diagnostic spells on him, causing his teachers to frown.

"What's wrong, Poppy?" McGonagall asked in concern when Pomfrey clucked disapprovingly.

The Mediwitch sighed. "His tendency to faint will probably turn out as a chronic problem, because of the extreme malnourishment, which he obviously had to endure over a much too long time. He probably needs to take potions on a regular basis, and I'm not sure if we'll get the problem in grip completely. We'll have to watch him closely over the next few months."

Turning back to Harry, Pomfrey made him drink two potions, before she told him, "You may accompany your teachers to the Great Hall for the Sorting, but I expect you back here today right after dinner."

"I'll bring him back," McGonagall promised, causing Harry to frown.

'I'm not a baby,' he thought, feeling absolutely annoyed by all the attention.

"Poppy, Severus and I are going to drag Albus here after curfew. We need your help with our talk concerning the guardianship problem," McGonagall continued.

"Well, Albus will better agree, if he doesn't want me to contact the Ministry about child neglect," Pomfrey replied sternly. "All right, I'll see you later. You better head for the Great Hall now."

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During dinner, Harry sat between Hermione and Ron, but somehow, he already missed his friends from the trip to Italy, especially Blaise, who had become a good friend over the week, but also the others.

When McGonagall escorted Harry back to the hospital wing later on, she motioned him to sit down on his bed, while she took a seat on a chair. "Harry, there is something I wanted to talk with you about," she hesitantly began to speak. Seeing that Harry gave her an enquiring look, she continued, "I intended to make you Quidditch captain this year. However, I'm not sure if you're physically well enough to fulfil the post. What do you think, Harry?"

Harry sighed and remained thoughtful for a moment, before he replied honestly, "I'm not sure either, Professor. Of course I'd love to play Seeker again, but maybe it would be better if you gave the captain position to Ron."

They talked for a while but in the end agreed on the solution Harry had suggested, and McGonagall made Ron the Quidditch captain.

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On Monday evening, the small group met in the entrance hall, and Professors McGonagall and Snape led them to an unused classroom that was a bit hidden behind an alcove in a rarely used corridor behind the hospital wing. The professors had prepared the room, so that it was similar to their practice room in Italy, and the friends looked around in delight.

"May we practise here at any time?" Hermione asked eagerly, causing everyone to look at the teachers expectantly.

"You're only allowed to practise when someone is with you, who could call help in case you're in trouble," McGonagall replied sternly. "We're going to have our Animagus lesson here every Monday and Thursday evening right after dinner. Please consider this and do your assignments early enough, so that you won't get problems with unfinished homework. The room will open on a password, which is 'Animagus Holiday'."

"We can meet here and do our homework together," Blaise whispered to Harry, who gave his new friend an excited nod.

By the time the children were dismissed, all of them had agreed to meet in their Animagus room the next evening. Over the next few weeks, the eight friends met in the room whenever they had time, even if their House mates didn't like the fact that they hung out with people from other Houses every evening.

"We only need two dormitories, and then we could open our own House, the Animagus House," Neville laughed one day, when they were having a party in their Animagus room for Hermione's birthday.

"That's a brilliant idea," Harry agreed immediately.

"Well, perhaps you could speak to your new guardians about the matter, Harry," Hermione threw in.

Harry let out a snort, unable to overtone the simultaneous query of the others, "New guardians?"

Harry sighed. "Yes, Professors McGonagall and Snape are my guardians now, so that I don't have to go back to my relatives anymore. I'd never thought that Dumbledore would agree, but they told me I had to thank Madam Pomfrey for that."

"Somehow, all the teachers look like first years when they're confronted by Madam Pomfrey," Hermione grinned. "Everyone respects her immensely."

"That's right, and nobody dare say anything against her; that's why I'm still stuck in the hospital wing overnight," Harry replied dully.

"Let's just ask them about the Animagus dormitories," Mandy spoke up. "Since the holidays, McGonagall and Snape are much more like Heads of House to me than Professor Flitwick. Maybe they'd even let us look after Harry, so that he could stay with us."

"You don't think that they'd really allow us to have our own House, do you?" Blaise asked, rolling his eyes.

"We don't need an own House, merely two dormitories," Millicent countered. "We can still belong to our old Houses and play Quidditch for them like in Harry's case. We just want to live together. We spend all our free time here in the room, so why do we have to walk all the way back to our dormitories only to sleep there?"

All of a sudden, the door opened and to everyone's surprise the Headmaster walked in. "Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. Oh my, that looks delicious," he stated, helping himself to a hand full of Bertie Bott's beans, followed by a pumpkin pie.

"Hello Professor," Neville quickly said, handing Dumbledore a glass of butterbeer, which he accepted smiling.

"How nice of you to join us, Professor," Susan added. "We're just having Hermione's birthday party."

"Oh yes, I thought so," Dumbledore replied. "Happy Birthday, Ms. Granger."

"Professor, we were just discussing if it was possible to have our own dormitories here instead of going back to our Houses every night," Blaise told the Headmaster, handing him a second glass of butterbeer.

Dumbledore slowly stroked his beard, deep in thought. "As far as I know, this happened before. Students became friends with those of other Houses and wanted to remain together. I believe it was during the time of Headmaster Dornhan, one hundred and twenty years ago. The only problem we have to solve is that you need someone like a Head of House, who would be willing to look after you. Well, the teachers' floor, where you can find the entrances to their private quarters are not far from here, so I don't think it'll be a problem," he mused aloud.

"Perhaps Professors McGonagall and Snape would be willing," Hermione threw in.

"And perhaps I'd be allowed to stay in our dormitory then instead of going back to the hospital wing each night," Harry said quietly, causing the Headmaster to throw him a pitying look.

"I know, my boy. I'll see what I can do. I'll speak to the four Heads of House, and I'll inform you tomorrow night," Dumbledore promised and returned to his office, thanking them for their hospitality as he left the room.

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At dinner the next day, Dumbledore made an announcement. "Dear students, as many of you certainly know, we had a small group of eight sixth year students, who spent some time together this summer on an Animagus holiday. These students are still practising together to transform into their Animagus forms every evening. On their request, I decided to assign them their own dormitories in order to spare them the way back to their normal dormitories at curfew every evening. Please note that they will remain members of their House, be able to receive or lose House points, and play on the Quidditch teams."

After dinner, the eight students eagerly hurried to their Animagus classroom, stopping dead in their tracks. The room held a brand new fireplace as well as two doors leading to small rooms with four beds each on both sides of the room. Two more doors right next to the bedrooms led to bathrooms. 'Wow, these are similar to the prefects' bathrooms,' Harry mused in amazement.

"It really was the best we could do to speak with Dumbledore," Neville stated contentedly. "Do you think we can move in tonight?"

"Well, today is Monday anyway, so that Professors McGonagall and Snape will join us here," Hermione replied eagerly. "They will tell us what to do."

The teachers let them work hard that evening, and shortly before curfew, Harry managed to transform his left leg into a small phoenix foot.

"My you're fast, Mr. Potter," McGonagall commended the boy and ended the lesson, seeing that the Headmaster entered the room.

"Good evening. I wanted to see how far you're able to transform," Dumbledore greeted them, and Harry noticed in annoyance that his eyes were twinkling merrily.

All of them transformed one by one, and they were all able to transform their left hands. The only student, who could transfigure his right hand as well, was Blaise, who was a black cat. Harry once more managed to change both hands and this time even both feet.

"Very impressive, Harry," the Headmaster commended, before he explained, "The fireplace in this room is only connected to Professors McGonagall's and Snape's offices, classrooms, and private quarters as well as to Madam Pomfrey's and my office, and you'll only be able to talk with them and not to floo, since students cannot use the Hogwarts internal Floo system."

"Professor, may I stay in the dormitory too?" Harry asked Snape, who was standing next to him, in a small voice.

"Yes, Harry, you may stay here, but Madam Pomfrey wishes to see you every morning before breakfast," his new guardian replied softly.

"Please remember that curfew still applies to you, and Professor Snape or I might come to check on you at any time," McGonagall stated firmly, before the professors left the room later in the evening.

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A few weeks later, Harry asked Ron at lunchtime, "Ron, when are we going to have Quidditch practice?"

The red haired boy gave him a surprised look. "Quidditch practice? Who said you'd be on the team? Ginny is going to play Seeker. You're not a real Gryffindor anyway. Why don't you play for Slytherin or any of the other teams? You aren't even my friend anymore after taking my girlfriend from me."

"I... what?" Harry asked incredulously. "Ron, are you ill?"

However, his former best friend stood up and walked away without sparing another look for Harry or Hermione, who was sitting on Harry's other side.

"Harry, let's go and speak with Professor McGonagall," Hermione said firmly, pulling the completely stunned Harry with her to the professor's office, where she told her Head of House about the conversation between Ron and Harry that she had just witnessed.

McGonagall let out a deep sigh. "Thank you for informing me, Ms. Granger," she finally said. "Mr. Weasley will not be on the Quidditch team anymore, and of course he won't be captain either. Ms. Bell will be the captain this year, and you, Harry, are going to be the Seeker. I'll inform Ms. Bell and Mr. Weasley accordingly."

"But Professor..." Harry began hesitantly but was interrupted by Hermione.

"No Harry, it's Ron's own fault. He has to learn that he can't be jealous of you all the time. Every year, he throws a temper tantrum due to his abnormal jealousy of you; remember, even in our fourth year when you had to participate in the Triwizard Tournament, which you didn't want at all. And now, he's jealous because you're in the Animagus group together with me."

"I completely agree with you, Ms. Granger," McGonagall threw in. "Harry, it's all right. Mr. Weasley will survive the disappointment. Now, I believe it's time to head to your afternoon classes."

"Oh right, Harry, we have to go," Hermione replied after a glance at her watch and dragged Harry with her towards the History of Magic classroom.

"Hermione, I'm going to skip History of Magic," Harry told the girl in a small voice. "I'm going to take a walk around the lake.

"Harry, are you all right?" Hermione asked in concern, noticing that her best friend seemed very depressed.

"Yes, of course," Harry replied, already continuing in the direction of the entrance hall. Deep in thoughts, he walked half around the lake, not even noticing how cold the late October air was, before he finally leaned against a tree and began to cry for the loss of his very first friend. 'Maybe he'll come around like all the other times,' a voice deep in the back of his mind spoke up, but somehow Harry knew that it would be different this time. 'Hermione my girlfriend?' he mused. 'She's my best friend, but that's all. I can't understand what Ron's problem is.'

All of a sudden, he began to feel lightheaded, and colourful stars appeared in front of his eyes. He quickly sat down, musing, 'That's strange; I thought I'd only have this fainting problem inside,' before the small voice in his head told him, 'It's your own fault, because you didn't eat anything for lunch.'

Still feeling completely dizzy, Harry leaned against the tree, thinking frantically, 'I can't faint here, where nobody will find me. I have to remain conscious.' He anxiously closed his eyes, hoping in vain that the world would stop turning around. Only when he began to shiver, he noticed how cold it was and pressed himself against the tree to be somewhat protected against the cold wind.

After a while, he felt a little better and tried to stand up, steadying himself against the tree, but he had to sit down again immediately as a bout of dizziness overcame him. After what seemed to be an infinite time, he managed to slowly crawl back in the direction of the entrance doors, and finally, holding on to the last tree next to the lake, he succeeded in standing up to a straight position, so that he could walk back the rest of the way.

Harry was just about to enter the castle, when Hermione, Neville, and Professor Snape came through the entrance door, letting out a simultaneous sigh of relief at his sight.

"Harry, what happened?" Hermione asked in concern. "We were so worried when you didn't show up for Potions."

"I'm sorry, I just went for a small walk, but then I felt so dizzy that I had to sit down. Only now it became better," Harry replied in a small voice, feeling incredibly relieved when the professor gently steadied him.

"Ms. Granger or Mr. Longbottom, please tell either Professor Dumbledore or your Head of House what happened and inform them that I'm going to take Harry to my private quarters for dinner. I'll check on him and if necessary take him to Madam Pomfrey afterwards," Snape instructed Harry's friends, before he led Harry to his quarters.

"This is not far from my dormitory," Harry realized in surprise.

"Yes, that's why the Headmaster allowed you to have your dormitories there," Snape explained softly, before he called Dobby, patiently enduring the fuss the small elf made at the sight of Harry, and ordered him to bring dinner.

Harry ate as much as he could, before he pushed his still half full plate away, sighing. "I'm sorry, Professor, for making you eat dinner here," he apologized in a small voice.

"Harry, there is no need to be sorry. First of all, it's not your fault, secondly, I enjoy having dinner here in my small kitchen, and thirdly, since I'm your guardian and you're going to live with Minerva and me outside of school, I wanted to show you my quarters, which are your new home, anyway." He rose from his seat and stepped around the table to Harry, gripping Harry's wrist with one hand while he looked at his watch, before he finally released Harry's wrist and felt his forehead instead.

"Are you feeling better now, Harry?"

"Yes, much better. I only have a bit of a headache," Harry admitted, causing the teacher to summon a headache potion, which he handed Harry. "Thank you, sir," Harry said gratefully, sighing in relief as the pounding in his head diminished to a dull ache.

"In private you may call me Severus, Harry," the teacher told him in his soft, silky voice, before he explained, "The house elves have added a room to my quarters for you, which also has a door leading to Minerva's living room. Do you feel well enough to stand up?"

"Of course," Harry replied and curiously followed the professor into what the man showed him as his own room. 'My first own room,' Harry mused in absolute amazement, looking around with interest. The room was kept in light blue colours and held a four poster bed, a huge wardrobe, a desk with a comfortable looking chair as well as a large book shelf. However, the best of all was a charmed window that allowed the view onto the Quidditch pitch and the lake, Harry's favourite view. "This is totally brilliant," Harry blurted out in awe. "Thank you so much, err... Severus."

"You're welcome, Harry. The doors to Minerva's and my quarters are charmed, so that you're able to enter our quarters, and of course you may stay here in your room at any time. Professor Dumbledore wants to add another door leading straight into one of the castle halls. However, I could convince him to ask you where you want it to lead first." He raised an eyebrow at the child, noticing that he still looked extremely pale.

"It would be great if it could lead into our Animagus common room or at least end up in the corridor next to it," Harry said pensively.

"That's possible. We just have to tell the Headmaster what you want. Now, you can either stay here or come with me to your common room. I believe that our Animagus lesson is about to commence, and I have to show up, even if I suggest that you go straight to bed tonight."

Harry reluctantly agreed, feeling that the headache potion had only helped so much. When they entered the Animagus common room, everyone was already assembled, throwing them worried looks that made Harry cringe.

"It's all right, Mr. Potter, go to bed, and I'll explain what happened," Snape told him in his soft, silky voice.

"Thank you sir," Harry replied and went straight to bed with a short detour to the bathroom. Lying in his comfortable bed, he heard the others have fun, but he felt too miserable to join them. Shivering violently, he got up once more to fetch a warm Weasley sweater to wear over his pyjamas, but at the sight of the sweater, the memory of his encounter with his former best friend returned, and he cried himself into sleep.

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In the morning, Harry woke up to voices right next to his bed, noticing that he still had a splitting headache and that his throat had become sore too.

"What's wrong with Harry?" a voice, which he recognized as Neville's, queried. "He's always the first to be up in the morning."

"He looks ill," Blaise said thoughtfully.

All of a sudden, Harry felt a cold hand on his forehead that caused him to shiver violently. He lazily opened his eyes. "I'm sorry," he told his friends, finding that his voice sounded very hoarse, "I'm going to get up now."

"I don't think so," Blaise replied sternly. "You probably caught a cold yesterday when you were out on the grounds for a longer time just in your normal school clothes. I'm going to fetch Professor Snape."

"No," Harry croaked, groaning inwardly.

"Do you prefer to be dragged to the hospital wing?" Blaise enquired. "Because that is what'll happen otherwise."

"Kay," Harry mumbled sleepily, nestling deeper under his covers.

A few minutes later, Blaise returned with Professor Snape, who motioned the others to head down to breakfast, while he sat down on the edge of Harry's bed.

"Harry, can you open your eyes and tell me what's wrong?" the professor asked gently, giving the boy a piercing look.

Harry looked at his guardian through glassy eyes. "I think it's just a cold, sir," he croaked, fiercely rubbing his forehead against the annoying headache.

Snape pulled an ear thermometer out of his robe pocket, sticking the business end into Harry's ear for a second. "38.8 (102) degrees," he stated, frowning. I'll give you a dose of Pepper Up potion and a fever reducer, and we'll see how you feel in a few hours. I'll come back and check on you at lunchtime. You can always call Dobby and let him fetch Madam Pomfrey, if you feel worse."

Harry eyed the potions with a disgusted expression, especially the Pepper Up potion, but he obeyed and gratefully snuggled back under his covers, when he felt the effects take place.

Before the professor left the room, he called Dobby and instructed the elf to bring a bowl of chicken broth for Harry and make him eat his soup.

"Of course, I wills makes Master Harry eats his soup, Master Professor Snape, sir," Dobby squeaked, thrilled to be asked to look after his favourite master.

Snape kept Harry in bed for the day, before he advised him to spend the weekend either in bed or on the sofa in the common room resting, because he was still running a temperature and had a bad cough. While his classmates went to Hogsmeade on Saturday, Harry spent the time practising the Animagus transformation, and by the time everyone returned to the common room, Harry had drifted off into an exhausted sleep, but he was able to transform his whole body except for his head into his phoenix form.

"I wonder what he has been doing," Hermione whispered to Blaise when she sat down on the edge of the sofa, placing a hand on his forehead.

"Why? What should he have been doing?" Blaise asked astonished.

"I don't know, but he feels much warmer than in the morning," Hermione replied in concern.

Fortunately, Harry didn't have to answer to the question, since Professor Snape came to check on him, while he was still asleep, and after quickly taking his temperature spelled a cough potion and a fever reducer laced with a light sleeping draught into the boy's system. When Harry woke up in the morning, he found himself back in his bed.

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It took Harry four more weeks, before he was able to transform his whole body into his phoenix form. On Monday of the last week before the beginning of the winter holidays, he suddenly transformed completely. Unfortunately, he couldn't keep himself on his tiny bird's feet at first and stumbled to the floor.

While McGonagall gently helped the phoenix back onto his feet, Snape transformed into his raven form and advised Harry, how it would be easier to balance himself on his bird's feet. Harry practised the whole evening and by the time curfew began, he was already running around the common room, flapping his wings as if he wanted to take into the air.

"Harry, I suggest that you call Fawkes and ask him to show you how to fly and especially how to flash," Minerva said gently. "Even Professor Snape won't be able to help you with that."

'Will Fawkes come to me, if I call him?' Harry mused and decided to try it out at the next opportunity.

As soon as the two professors left the common room through the connecting door to Harry's own room in their quarters, Neville addressed the others. "I think we should have a party. The fact that Harry managed the Animagus transformation screams for a party."

"That's right," Blaise agreed immediately, and seeing that everyone nodded their heads, he called Dobby, who nearly stumbled over his own feet in excitement.

"Of course, Master Blaise, Dobby wills brings you many delicacies for your party. Dobby wills bes back in the blink of an eye." With that the little elf popped away, causing the common room to erupt into laughter.

"Dobby is too funny," Millicent chuckled.

Unfortunately, none of them had thought about the fact that their common room was only two doors away from their professors' living rooms, and a few minutes after midnight, a very irate McGonagall was standing in the door to Harry's room, glaring around the room.

"Professor, we're celebrating that Harry managed the Animagus transformation," Hermione quickly tried to save the situation, causing a small smile to play on the professor's lips.

"All right, I can understand that it warrants for a party, but it's already after midnight, and you have classes tomorrow. Please go to bed now," the teacher said in a slightly softer voice, only to add, "If only one of you misses breakfast tomorrow, all of you will be in trouble."

'Oh no,' Harry groaned inwardly. He already felt slightly dizzy and knew from recent experiences that he would probably still feel dizzy in the morning after drinking butterbeer without eating anything in the evening.

"Harry, are you all right?" Hermione enquired in concern.

"I shouldn't have drunken the butterbeer," Harry mumbled. "It always makes me feel dizzy, especially if I don't eat much."

"Then we won't drink any the next time," Hermione replied in determination and gently took Harry's arm. "Let me help you back to your dormitory."

"It's all right, I'm fine," Harry protested, blushing deeply. 'That's too embarrassing,' he mused, while he slowly stood up, leaning heavily onto Hermione's arm when a bout of dizziness overcame him.

Hermione gently led him into the boy's room and made him sit down on his bed, before she sat next to him and with a wave of her wand exchanged his clothes with his pyjamas. Still feeling lightheaded, Harry lazily leaned against the girl, craving the warmth of her body.

Hermione gently stroked Harry's cheeks, whispering, "I love you, Harry."

"Love you too, Mione," Harry mumbled, before he closed his eyes, feeling extremely comfortable under her soft touch. Very slowly and carefully, he began to move his hands over her body, sensing that she enjoyed his touch just as much as he liked her embrace. It was nearly two o'clock in the morning when Hermione finally headed over to her own bed. Harry drifted off to sleep with a smile playing on his face and the taste of her lips still on his own.

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To Harry's slight disappointment, all of his seven best friends returned home over the winter holidays. Harry moved into his own room, although it was only two doors away from his dormitory, but Minerva and Severus invited him to spend his time in their living rooms, so that he wasn't alone all the time, and Harry enjoyed the feeling of having his own family for the first time in his life. 'As much as I love to have my friends around, it's a nice feeling to have adults, to whom I can speak or whom I can ask questions whenever I want,' he mused.

When Harry finished his assignments, Severus offered to take a look at his work, and Harry hesitantly handed his homework to his guardian, who corrected everything in red ink with many hints and tips where Harry could do further research to improve his essays. In the end, Harry had to write everything once again, but he was extremely grateful that his guardian took so much time for him and helped with his work like he imagined a parent would do for his child.

One day during the second week of the holidays, Harry hesitantly walked to the Headmaster's office in order to ask Fawkes if he could teach him how to fly and flash, and the phoenix happily agreed. By the time his friends returned from their holidays, Harry was able to walk on his phoenix feet, fly, and flash as if he was a real phoenix, while the others were still trying to transform their limbs.

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Blaise was the next, who managed to transform his whole body, and at the end of January, the eight friends held their second Animagus party.

"Harry, you know that you shouldn't drink butterbeer," Hermione admonished him lightly, when Harry proceeded to take a glass of the brown liquid.

"Hermione, I'll be all right, and I wouldn't mind being taken to bed by you again," Harry replied in a soft voice, throwing the girl a fond look. After the last party, they hadn't spoken about the matter at all, and sometimes Harry asked himself, if it was real that she had kissed him and told him that she loved him. 'Well, I was neither asleep nor delirious that night, so it has to be true,' he thought and decided to ask her on a date for Valentine's Day.

This time, they ended the party at midnight, and as before, Hermione accompanied Harry to his dormitory, although he seemed much more alert than the last time and didn't complain about feeling dizzy either.

"Thank you, Hermione," Harry said when he sat down on his bed, pulling her into a light embrace.

"You're welcome, Harry. As you know I had to make sure that you arrive here safely," she smiled, placing a kiss on his forehead.

"Hermione, um... I'd like to... um... I mean, would you come on a date with me on Valentine's Day?" 'I'll take her to Hogsmeade on that day and ask her to become my girlfriend,' he mused.

"Yes," the girl replied. "I'd love that. I'll try hard to practise transforming, so that we can fly somewhere."

"That's a brilliant idea. If we fly, we don't even have to wait for the Saturday after the fourteenth, but we could go on Valentine's Day, right after classes," Harry mused aloud.

Unfortunately, fate obviously didn't agree with their plan, and until Monday, the twelfth of February, Hermione didn't manage to transform into her owl form. On Wednesday evening, Harry pulled her over in his own room in order to at least have a few undisturbed hours.

When McGonagall entered the Animagus common room to check on the students a few minutes before curfew, she found Neville and Susan in the common room, Blaise and Mandy in the boys' dormitory, and Terry and Millicent in the girls' dormitory. On her way back to her quarters, she took the short way through Harry's room, seeing Harry and Hermione sit on the sofa in front of the charmed window, watching the stars. Harry had laid his arm around Hermione's back, looking very relaxed, and the girl was leaning against him, a happy smile playing on her lips.

"Oh Harry, Hermione, I'm so sorry to disturb you. I didn't know you were here," she apologized, shocked about her lack of consideration.

"That's all right, Professor. Curfew just begun anyway," Harry replied in a soft voice, smiling at his guardian.

"Good night then, Harry, Hermione," McGonagall returned, smiling at her favourite students.

HP HEALER POMFREY HP

Over the next two days, Harry used his classes planning how to spend the day in Hogsmeade with his girlfriend. During the Christmas holidays, Professors Snape and McGonagall each had taken him to Hogsmeade and had shown him spots in the town, which normal students, who only knew the town from their few Hogsmeade visits, didn't know.

Unfortunately, during his classes on Friday morning, Harry noticed that he was getting a cold. His head and his throat became so sore that he decided to skip lunch and instead go and ask Madam Pomfrey for a Pepper Up potion, so that he would be able to take his girlfriend to Hogsmeade the next day.

The Mediwitch eyed him worriedly, knowing that Harry wouldn't come to her if he wasn't feeling extremely bad. She took his temperature and cast a diagnostic spell at him, before she sighed and headed to her office to fetch potions for the boy. When she returned with a phial of Pepper Up potion and a small goblet with a light blue potion, which Harry recognized as fever reducing potion, she said softly, "I'm sorry, Harry, but you won't be able to go anywhere tomorrow. Stay inside and rest, and if you don't feel better tonight or tomorrow, you must come and see me immediately, before it gets worse. I'm not a hundred percent sure if this is a mere cold."

In spite of noticing that the Pepper Up potion only helped so much, Harry tried hard to hide from his friends how bad he felt, deciding to ignore Madam Pomfrey's warning and go to Hogsmeade with Hermione. In the morning, he dragged himself out of bed, feeling absolutely horrible. Since he had agreed with Hermione and the other three couples of their friends, who were all going to the town, to eat breakfast at Hogsmeade, they went straight to the entrance hall and left the castle.

Unfortunately, after a few minutes of walking, Harry began to feel so lightheaded that he had to sit down. "I'm sorry, I'm a bit dizzy," Harry admitted in a small voice, causing Hermione and Blaise to steady him and eye him in concern, noticing his flushed cheeks and glassy eyes.

"I believe you're going to have a date in our dormitory today," Blaise said sternly, causing Hermione to hesitantly extend her delicate hand to Harry's forehead, before she let out a huge gasp.

"Harry, you're burning up," she said horrified. "Let me take you back to bed."

Hermione gently led Harry back to his dormitory, supporting his arm all the way. As before, she quickly exchanged his clothes to pyjamas with a wave of her wand and made him lie down, before she gently tucked him in. "Stay awake for a moment and let me take your temperature," she told him softly and headed to the bathroom, returning with an old Muggle thermometer. "Harry, please open your mouth for a moment," she instructed him, holding out the thermometer.

"No, please not now. I want to talk with you first," Harry replied, sounding slightly hoarse.

"All right," Hermione sighed and carefully pulled his pyjama top down, sticking the long, glassy stick under his armpit.

Shivering violently, Harry reached out for her hand. "Can you lie down with me for a while?" he asked pleadingly, and Hermione couldn't resist his glassy green eyes.

She took off her robes and lay down next to him, surprised when he gently pulled her into his arms. "Hermione, I'd like you to become my girlfriend," he whispered, softly moving his hot hands over her cheeks.

"I'd love to become your girlfriend, sweetie," Hermione replied and leaned over, searching his mouth with her lips, ending up in a long kiss that was only disturbed by the beeping of the thermometer.

Harry took the annoying thing out, placing it on the night table without giving it so much as a glance and turned to his side, pulling his girlfriend to another passionate kiss, before he all of a sudden pulled off. "Mione, I'm sorry, we shouldn't do that; otherwise you'll get sick as well."

"I don't mind, Harry. We never have time just for us, and this was my dream for months," Hermione replied softly. "I'm just worried, because you feel so hot. How high was your fever?" she suddenly remembered and reached out for the thermometer.

"No idea; doesn't matter," Harry replied, shrugging.

"39.3 (102.7) degrees; Harry, that's quite high. Let me call Madam Pomfrey," Hermione said worriedly.

"No Mione, I'm fine. I only want you today. Let's just cuddle today, if you're not afraid to get sick as well," Harry mumbled, gently caressing her small breasts.

After an hour of intense kissing and cuddling, Harry drifted off to fevered dreams, holding Hermione close in his arms. They spent most part of the day asleep, even Hermione, who was lulled into sleep by the warmth of his body. She only woke up in the afternoon, when Harry all of a sudden began to speak in his sleep, begging Madam Pomfrey to let him go to Hogsmeade, because he had to ask Hermione to become his girlfriend.

'He's delirious,' she mused and worriedly took his temperature again, seeing that it had gone up to 39.8 (103.6) degrees. 'I need to fetch Madam Pomfrey,' she thought and hurriedly sat up.

However, Harry had woken up by her cold touch and opened his eyes when he felt her shift her weight. "No Mione, stay with me," he begged, pulling her back into his arms.

'He's only doing that because he is delirious,' Hermione realized when Harry gently moved his hands over her body while his mouth captured her lips into a long and passionate kiss.

Only when Harry let go because he began to shiver violently, Hermione managed to get up, pull over her robes, and hurry to the fireplace to call Pomfrey, who was at Harry's bedside a minute later.

"Harry, you have the Animagus flu," she told him. "You can either join me in the hospital wing or remain here in your own bed, but you need absolute bed rest for a week. You don't have to worry about your friends, because this illness is only contagious if you have intense body contact or kiss someone."

"I won't kiss anyone," Harry whined. "I wanted to go to Hogsmeade with Mione and ask her to become my girlfriend today."

"He's delirious," Hermione quickly explained to the Mediwitch. "He already asked me to become his girlfriend and kissed me."

'Oops,' she only realized what she had just admitted to, when Pomfrey pointed her wand at her head and told her, "You're already getting a fever. A week of bed rest for you as well, Ms. Granger."

Although they both felt absolutely horrible, they enjoyed their week in bed. Since Harry was too dizzy to get up, Hermione came into his bed each morning and afternoon when their friends were in class. She only returned to her own bed before meal times, knowing that either Pomfrey or the teachers would come and check on them. They spent the whole week cuddling and kissing, and when they finally were allowed out of bed, the other three couples, who were just about to share their first real kiss, wondered how they could have become so close in such a short time.

HP HEALER POMFREY HP

By the beginning of the summer holidays, all the Animagus students had managed their first transformation too, and Harry and Hermione, Neville and Susan, Blaise and Mandy, and Terry and Millicent were planning a huge quadruple engagement party for the next Christmas holidays.

On Professor Dumbledore's invitation, the eight spent most part of the summer holidays between their sixth and seventh year in his manor in Italy. Over the summer, they busied themselves thinking about what they wanted to do after their NEWTs.

"I'd love to build up a huge library for the British magical world like the Italians have one," Hermione voiced, and with the help of Professor McGonagall, who visited her students for a while, she managed to convince the others to help her.

"But do you think that'll make so much money that we'll be able to live from it with eight people?" Millicent asked, unbelievingly.

"I'm not sure about that," Hermione had to admit.

"As far as I know, Professor Dumbledore wants to invite some of you to take over vacant teachers' positions next year," McGonagall threw in pensively. "That would give you the chance to help with the library but not depend on it."

"Vacant teachers' positions?" Hermione queried.

"That is for the Headmaster to explain," McGonagall replied, smiling.

Professor Snape, who also kept them company for two weeks, accompanied them to the Italian library, which they had visited the year before, and when he explained to the Italian wizards and witches that the group had been so impressed by their library that they wanted to set up their own library in Britain, the Italians became extremely helpful. They advised Hermione and her friends how to proceed, and they even offered to work close together with them and set up a system of mutual book exchange that would enable people in England to borrow books from Italy and vice versa.

"Thank you so much, Professor, for taking us there and talking to the people," Hermione thanked Snape profusely. "The information they gave us is very valuable."

"Well, I hope you'll have a good share of Potions books in your library, Ms. Granger," Snape replied, smirking. "I might be willing to advise you in that area."

"That would be wonderful," Hermione sighed happily.

HP HEALER POMFREY HP

A few days before they returned to Hogwarts for their seventh year, Professor Dumbledore visited them.

"Professors McGonagall and Snape told me what you're planning," he began. "I've taken the liberty to speak with the Minister of Magic about the matter, and your activity will be highly welcomed in the magical world of Great Britain. You will receive financial support from the Ministry, if you hand in an application, which I'm willing to do for you. If you allow me to make a few suggestions..."

Seeing that everyone looked at him expectantly, he continued to explain a well thought plan to all of them. At first, the students were annoyed by his interfering, but finally, in the summer after their seventh year at Hogwarts, they noticed that everything worked out exactly as the Headmaster had suggested the year before.

Dumbledore offered them the Shrieking Shack to use for their library. "Of course, the building will have to be completely renovated and probably be magically extended to all sides; however, it would be an appropriate building, and it would be a great profit for our school to have the library on our grounds. Unfortunately, you'd have to pay for the renovation, although I can offer you the building for free."

"The renovation is no problem," Harry threw in.

"What I can offer as well," the Headmaster continued, "are four positions at Hogwarts, which might be interesting, since you won't need eight people working in the library full time, at least not in the beginning."

HP HEALER POMFREY HP

During the following school year, they couldn't find much time to think about their future plans, which didn't really matter, because they knew that they didn't have to send applications out and search for jobs, so that they could concentrate fully on their NEWTs.

At the end of the school year, Dumbledore retired as Headmaster and remained at Hogwarts as advisor for the school. As such, he offered his connections and experience to assist Hermione with the library, which she accepted gratefully. Professor McGonagall became the new Headmistress and managed to convince Harry to take over the position of the Transfiguration teacher and of the Gryffindor Head of House."

At the same time, Neville became an apprentice to Professor Sprout, who planned to retire at the end of his apprenticeship, so that he could follow her as Professor for Herbology. Professor Flitwick suggested Terry as his successor for the Charms position and Ravenclaw Head of House, and Mandy Brocklehurst took over Madam Pince's place as librarian in order to ensure an effective cooperation of the school library with the 'British Magical Library' as Hermione decided to name the library.

Dumbledore chose Blaise Zabini, who became Hermione's assistant, to take him with him to introduce him to the other European libraries, to the Ministry, and to the other places, where his connections could be useful, so that Hermione could concentrate on the research side more than the public relations side.

Immediately after their NEWTs, with the help of Susan and Millicent Harry began to organize the renovation of the Shrieking Shack, and by the end of July, the building for the new library was finished. It was a white stone building in a southern European style with huge magical windows and ceilings that were charmed to look like the sky according to the model of the Great Hall at Hogwarts. As Dumbledore had suggested the three-storeyed building was magically extended in all four directions to an enormous size that exceeded that of all other magical libraries in Europe.

McGonagall as the new Headmistress assigned each couple their own teacher quarters in the castle, which were all connected to their former common room, replacing their old dormitories, and the eight friends often met in the common room in the evenings.

"We will still keep your room, and you're always welcome to use it, Harry," McGonagall told him softly, causing Harry to throw his guardian a grateful look.

"That's right, Harry. Even if you're of age now, we'll still be your guardians, and you may always think of our quarters as your home," Snape agreed in his soft, silky voice, causing Harry to swallow firmly in order to press the tears back that wallowed at the back of his eyes.

After a huge quadruple wedding at Hogwarts at the beginning of August, the eight friends spent a short honeymoon in Italy, before Harry and Terry had to concentrate on preparing their Transfiguration and Charms classes and the others intensely began to gather books for the new library.

On New Year's Day the following year, Minister Scrimgeour, Headmistress McGonagall, and Hermione Potter as Head of the library opened the Magical British Library in a huge ceremony, in which more than one thousand wizards and witches from all over Europe participated.

Everything went so well that only a few months later, the four friends couldn't manage all the library work on their own anymore, and the four Heads of House at Hogwarts asked their best students from the four lower classes for volunteers, who wanted to help in the library to gain some pocket money. From that time onwards, Hermione always had a group of students working with her, especially third and fourth years, who wanted to stock their pocket money for their next Hogsmeade visit.

One night, Hermione whispered to Harry, "You need to construct another building." Seeing him throw her a questioning look, she explained, "We're going to need a school for the little ones in a few years' time. There will be at least two of them next summer."

Harry's eyes widened as he eyed his wife in delighted disbelief.

"Yes, Harry, we're going to have twins," Hermione answered the unasked question, watching how a huge smile spread over her husband's face when an image of two mischievous four-year-olds pranking the whole school appeared in front of his mind.

The End

I am not a native speaker of English. Please excuse my mistakes.

All recognizable characters belong to J. K. Rowling, and I am not earning anything by writing this story.