Trinity

Chapter 33

The next couple of months passed with an almost eerie peace. Christmas came accompanied by a flurry of snow and ice. Most of the Seventh Years chose to remain at Hogwarts for the holidays, partly at the urgings of their parents who wished them to remain safe and partly because they had started to realise that their time at school would soon be over and they wanted to spend as much time together before life and careers started separating them.

Harry took advantage of this; pushing the DA into almost daily training sessions. He was pleased to see how well Neville did as the leader of the DA with Ginny and Luna as his deputies. With his new wand he found magic much easier and without Snape making his life miserable he found school to be much more fun. But he'd really flourished as the leader of the DA and Harry felt reassured that the students were safe in Neville's hands. He couldn't quite put his finger on why he thought it was important that the students be ready for anything, he just knew was. He also made time to sneak down to Hogsmeade whenever Snape was free to teach him Occlumency.

Christmas Day itself was spent opening presents with his friends and then in a monster snowball fight that escalated after a stray snowball from a Second Year collected Ron in the back of the head. He immediately and rather comically demanded instant revenge and it had led to a snowball fight split on Year levels rather than Houses - the Sixth and Seventh Years against everyone else. When the teachers finally descended on them to call things to a halt for dinner no one could decide who had won and truthfully no one really cared; they'd had too much fun.

The first day of the New Year heralded Harry, Ron and Hermione's first successful transformations into their animagus forms. Harry managed it first and his first reaction when he transformed was one of shock. He froze in place and the fur on the ruff of his neck and along his spine stood on end and his tail fluffed out impressively.

"Well done, Harry," Minerva said with delight and some amusement. "A panther. Very impressive, though you'd look much more impressive if you let your fur settle."

Harry took a couple of deep breaths as he calmed himself and his fur down. Finally the novelty of the transformation got to him and he marvelled at how much information you got. He felt not like Harry as such but more like a panther with Harry's personality. He seemed to instinctively know the hows and whys of being a panther.

Ron snickered as he looked Harry over. "You're not going to be able to fool anyone, Harry. Your eyes are still the same colour and you've still got your scar." He walked over and poked Harry in the head. "Here. It's a white lightning bolt in your fur."

Harry bared his teeth and growled as menacingly as he could manage in his slightly distracted state of mind and the others laughed.

"Now, now, Ron," Minerva said archly. "I think you should concentrate on your own transformation."

Ron laughed again and returned to where he'd been sitting. He closed his eyes and went back to concentrating on the spell then with a yelp, he too transformed. Harry looked over and mentally snickered when he saw the dog sitting where Ron had been. Its fur was the same shade as Ron's hair.

"Very good, Ronald," Minerva said, clapping her hands. "I believe you are an Irish Setter though I've never seen one with quite that shade of fur."

Ron the dog barked and stood, staggering momentarily then shaking himself vigorously. His success seemed to galvanise Hermione and a moment later, she'd succeeded as well. A low, slightly startled hoot drew their attention and they saw the brown owl that stood where Hermione had been.

"Excellent, Hermione," Minerva said with delight. "Now, can the three of you transform back?"

The three animals concentrated then one by one transformed back into their human forms.

"That was bloody brilliant!" Ron burst out excitedly the moment he was human again.

"I'll say," Harry said, his eyes dancing.

"Definitely," Hermione added in a heartfelt tone.

Minerva laughed, surprising them as they'd never seen her like that before. "Don't look at me like that," she chided them with amusement. "I am perfectly capable of laughing and enjoying myself. Besides you very much reminded me of me the first time I managed the transformation. Now, I recommend you spend some time in your animal forms. I suggest you head outside first though."

"Thank you, Minerva," Harry said with a brilliant smile. "Thank you for teaching us this."

"Yeah, thanks," Ron added. "I've wanted to learn ever since we first met Sirius."

"Thank you," Hermione said. "You've been so patient."

"You've been excellent students," she said then she raised an arch eyebrow. "I expect to see the same fervour in your classes as well."

The trio grinned then left the room, heading for the Entrance Hall. Once they got outside the paused on the steps and after a minute or two of concentration, transformed into their animagus forms. Ron leapt off the stairs and floundered through the snow with a particularly doggy expression of amusement on his face. Hermione leapt into the air a little awkwardly and began to slow manoeuvre her way through the air. Harry eyed the snow rather fastidiously then leapt down into it, enjoying the flexibility and strength he had in his new form.

They played outside for nearly an hour with Harry and Ron exploring the strengths and limitations of their new forms and occasionally wrestling with each other. Harry quickly learned to be careful as he outweighed Ron and was considerably stronger than him. He also had very sharp claws and had no intention of hurting his friend. Hermione spent the time testing her wings and exploring the knowledge of flying she gained with the new form. She found that she could fly almost completely silently though any stiff breeze that blew up caused havoc with her soft feathers. She also found herself able to see things on the ground incredibly well and when a small mouse bounded across the snow she had to restrain herself from stooping on the poor creature.

Finally they returned to the steps and transformed back. They trooped inside and headed up to the common room Harry and Hermione shared. Once there they collapsed into chairs and Dobby brought them hot chocolate.

"That was great," Ron said contentedly.

"Yeah," Harry agreed absently.

"My...instincts nearly got the better of me," Hermione said ruefully. "I nearly swooped down on a mouse."

"You sure it was a mouse?" Ron asked, looking a fraction more alert.

"Definitely," Hermione said firmly. "I have very good eyesight as an owl."

"I had to fight the panther's instincts a couple of times," Harry said, staring into the fire with a satisfied expression.

"What should we call ourselves?" Ron said after a moment of silence. "I mean, your Dad was Prongs, Sirius was Padfoot and Remus is Moony. We should have names too?"

"We'll have to register as well," Hermione added.

"Minerva's got the forms," Harry said then he grinned. "Yeah, we need names, don't we?"

The trio were silent as the thought about names for themselves and the others.

"Sennett," Hermione said with a firm nod. "I had an Aunt whose surname was Sennett. She told me once it meant wise one."

"Good choice," Harry said with a smile. "You're our wise one and the owl is the symbol for wisdom."

"Yeah, that's a good one," Ron added putting his arm around Hermione's shoulders and kissing her cheek.

Hermione blushed then leapt off the couch. She hurried over to one of the book shelves and pulled a large book out. She dumped it on the nearest desk and flipped through the pages. When she found the one she was looking for she turned and grinned at Ron.

"What about Rufus for you?" she said. "It's Latin and means red-haired one."

Harry laughed. "That'd be perfect."

Ron thought about it for a moment. "Rufus?" he said dubiously.

"It'll be our little in-joke," Hermione insisted. "Kind of like Prongs was except in reverse. Prongs referred to his antlers and no one knew why. Anyone, like us, who knows what Rufus means will be able to guess who you are but everyone else will just think it's a name."

A smile slowly grew on Ron's face. "Hey, I kind of like that idea. Okay, Rufus it is. Now, what about Harry?"

Harry smiled. "I've already decided. I've been looking up names ever since we started this. Barak."

"Barak?" Hermione said curiously. "Why that one and what does it mean?"

"It's kind of like Rufus," Harry explained. "I actually got it from Anthony Goldstein. It's a Hebrew word that means lightning."

Hermione and Ron laughed.

"Good one," Ron said. "Barak. Another in-joke that we'll know."

"Sennett, Rufus, Barak," Hermione said with satisfaction. "A bit more serious than the Marauders but I suppose we're a bit more serious than the Marauders ever were at school."

"Yeah, none of the Marauders had a psychotic madman after them," Ron said dryly.

"Thanks, Ron," Harry said with amused exasperation.

"Uh, uh, that's Rufus to you," Ron said, shaking his finger at Harry and grinning.

"Bugger off, Rufus," Harry said with a laugh.

"That's better, Barak," Ron said with smug satisfaction.

"Are you two ever going to grow up?" Hermione said a look of amused disapproval.

"Nope," Harry said cheerily.

"Never!" Ron added loudly.

Hermione rolled her eyes. "I'm friends with children."

"You better believe it, Sennett," Harry said as Ron tossed a pillow in Hermione's direction.

She quickly dodged and threw the pillow back and the three friends dissolved into laughter.

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

When classes started up again their fellow students were often confused to hear the new names but most of them just dismissed it as yet another 'Trio thing'. A few asked questions and were fobbed off with mysterious remarks and grins. Minerva and Remus guessed almost immediately and asked them what the names meant. When they were told, they both laughed and said they were definitely appropriate.

"I'm staying with you at the next full moon," Harry said bluntly when they were talking to Remus.

"Harry, that's not necessary," Remus demurred. "Hermione makes the Wolfsbane. I'm perfectly safe."

"Did Sirius stay with you as Padfoot on the nights of the full moon when you were taking Wolfsbane?" Harry asked rather pointedly.

"Well, yes," Remus admitted.

"Then I am too," Harry said firmly.

"I've...gone back to using the Shrieking Shack," Remus said hesitantly. "For safety's sake. Just in case the Wolfsbane stops working. I know it's not meant to but...I think I prefer to be safe rather than sorry. Bill joins me there."

"I'm still staying with you...and Bill," Harry replied. "I doubt a calm Moony or a twitchy Bill are going to be much of a threat to Barak."

"I'm coming too," Ron said firmly. "Bill's there and he's my brother. If Rufus can help in any way then I'm going to be there."

"Then I suppose I'd better come as well," Hermione said. "Someone's got to keep you lot out of trouble."

Remus looked at the three students. "I'm...not going to be able to talk you out of this, am I?" he said ruefully.

"No," Harry said. "Would you have been able to talk my father or Sirius out of something like this? No? Well, why expect me to start?"

Remus laughed a little helplessly and gave in with good grace while saying firmly that he was not going to be the one to tell Mrs Weasley that her youngest son was spending the full moon night with a werewolf. That had made Ron blanch for a moment then he remembered her reaction when he stood up for himself about the Order and joining Harry and he calmed down...at least a little.

As January and then February passed things began to pick up a bit more. School was the most immediate problem. Their classes began to get more and more difficult and the homework piled up as they readied themselves for their NEWTs. Outside of the school sightings of various Death Eaters began to be reported with increasing frequency thought they were not attacking anybody. It almost seemed like they were just letting themselves be seen. Snape could tell them little about what was going on; he had been ordered to concentrate his attentions on an increasingly fading Nagini.

In light of this Harry spent some time talking with the ancient Asmodeus and got the agreement of the little snake. Asmodeus would lure Nagini out of the Riddle Manor when Snape was ready and then the Potions Master would steal the Hufflepuff artefact. He would make his way either to the Headmaster's rooms or if necessary to Hogwarts itself. Once that was done, the end game would begin since Voldemort would likely notice the disappearance of the artefact very quickly.

Harry had found it harder and harder to get to sleep as the days passed. Mostly he was keyed up because things were largely out of his hands now. He had to rely on the Potions Master and he'd spent so many years hating and distrusting the man that it was hard to trust him now. As his insomnia persisted he found himself prowling the halls as Barak more and more often. He preferred to do this rather than toss and turn or do anything to wake up his dorm mates. As he prowled he was often joined by Mrs Norris, Crookshanks and, even once or twice, Professor McGonagall.

Tonight he'd gone to bed early but woken just after midnight. He quickly realised he wasn't going to get to sleep again quickly and he slipped out of bed and tiptoed down the stairs. Once he'd climbed out through the entrance hole, he changed into Barak and padded down the corridor. He was joined after about fifteen minutes by Mrs Norris and the two cats, one large, one small, prowled around. They'd just walked past the entrance to the Ravenclaw dorms when Harry caught an oddly familiar scent. He paused and went back to where he'd first detected the scent, ignoring the questioning meow from Mrs Norris.

His tail lashed from side to side as he sniffed at the scent. It was indeed familiar but he couldn't think who or what it was. Mrs Norris meowed a question again and Harry yowled back softly. Mrs Norris came forward and sniffed at the scent Harry had found. As Harry watched, Mrs Norris blinked then she hissed and her fur fluffed up in alarm. He yowled an urgent question at her. He'd discovered during his first outing with Mrs Norris that he could understand the cat after a fashion. It wasn't like talking to another person but he could definitely understand what she was saying even if there weren't words as such.

Mrs Norris response came between hisses and small growls and once he'd deciphered it, Harry growled as well and his claws screeched on the stone floor. A small movement caught his attention and he saw Mrs Norris backing away from him warily. He calmed himself enough to reassure her then sent her off to find Professor McGonagall. Once she was gone, he picked up the scent again and began to follow it. He tracked it down the corridors and finally ended up at the door that led to Moaning Myrtle's bathroom. He stared at the door for a long moment then returned along the scent trail to where he'd started. When he got there he found the grey tabby that was Professor McGonagall sitting and waiting, just the end of her tail twitching slightly. When she saw him coming she transformed back and he did the same.

"It's Pettigrew, Mr Potter," she said without preamble. "I would recognise that scent anywhere."

"That's why it seemed familiar," Harry exclaimed.

Minerva nodded grimly. "Yes, the feline part of your brain recognised the scent that you had picked up when human. Your human brain is not sophisticated enough to recognise by scent but your feline brain can."

"And because I'd never scented him as a panther that's why I recognised but couldn't place the scent?" Harry asked.

"Indeed," Minerva replied with smiling approval then she sobered. "Where did the scent trail end up?"

"At Moaning Myrtle's bathroom door," Harry replied. "Which undoubtedly explains how Wormtail evaded the wards. I expect the Chamber somehow isn't part of them."

"Then there is an entryway of some sort down there," Minerva said, her lips thinning with worry.

Harry paused and thought. "I suppose there must be. The Basilisk must have had some way of getting out to feed. It could hardly have spent all that time down there and not been eating."

"Mr Potter, I would like you and your friends to venture down there as soon as possible and discover where that entry is. Once you find it, close it," Minerva said.

"Of course," Harry said with a nod. "But I want to see where Wormtail's been going first."

"With any luck, he may still be in here somewhere," Minerva said just before she changed back into her cat form.

Just as Harry shifted back into his panther form Mrs Norris returned with Crookshanks beside her. The snub-nosed ginger cat sidled up to Harry and weaved through his front legs for a moment. Harry gave a brief swipe of Crookshank's head with his tongue, inwardly amused that Hermione's cat was the only one wasn't at all wary of him; both Mrs Norris and even Minerva gave him a wide berth at times.

Harry quickly picked up Pettigrew's scent again and began to follow it along the corridor, the three cats following along behind him. As they tracked the rat, the scent trail slowly began to grow both fresher and stronger and Harry almost unconsciously picked up his pace. When the scent finally became strong enough to have been laid down only moments before, Harry slowed into a hunting pace. The three cats mimicked his actions and they crept rather tensely along the corridor. A small movement up ahead had all four felines crouching and freezing in place. As they watched the movement coalesced into the scurrying form of a small rat and when he saw that the rat had one silver paw, Harry began to growl low in his chest.

The sound carried in the quiet corridor and the rat froze, looking around nervously. Before he could determine what had made that sound, the three cats had burst out of their positions behind Harry and streaked down one side of the corridor. Harry quickly followed them and the sudden movement of his large form drew the full attention of the rat. There was a panicked squeaking sound and the rat turned and started to scurry down the corridor. However he'd stared at Harry for just a fraction too long, certainly long enough for the three cats to make enough ground to catch up with him. And Harry had so completely drawn his attention, Wormtail hadn't even seen the three cats. As such when Crookshanks pounced on him, he didn't even see him coming.

Crookshanks proved yet again his intelligence at that moment. Though he had caught the rat, he did not bite it nor did he extend his claws more than necessary. He merely held the rat, helped by Mrs Norris when she arrived. Minerva quickly transformed back into her human form and whipped out her wand. The moment she had it pointing at the rat, Crrokshanks and Mrs Norris moved back and she stunned the rat with a quick Stupefy. Through this Harry had been pacing back and forth, growling and with his tail lashing angrily. Once Wormtail had been stunned he paced forward, his intent written on every inch of his sleek, black form.

"Barak! Harry!" Minerva's voice lashed out like a whip and Harry halted, one paw raised, claws unsheathed and gleaming in the dim light of the corridor.

"Change back now!" Minerva ordered.

Harry stayed as he was for a long, long moment then he slowly backed off to the other side of the corridor. He changed back, his gaze still fixed on the unconscious rat still being guarded by Crookshanks and Mrs Norris. He started when Minerva placed a hand on his shoulder and looked up at her.

"I understand your anger, Mr Potter," she said kindly. "But what you were planning was not a solution. Let the Aurors and the Ministry deal with him. I doubt that Voldemort will move mountains for him."

Harry took a deep shuddering breath then let it out slowly. "Yeah," he breathed. "I know. It's just..."

"I know," Minerva said gently. "Do not let your anger propel you into an action you would only come to regret."

Harry's gaze flicked up and he looked at her with surprise. She returned that look solemnly and he slowly nodded. She gave him a small nod then turned and conjured a small cage. She picked up the stunned rat and placed him in the cage, locking it securely then casting a number of spells around it.

"I shall take Mr Pettigrew here up to my office and summon the Aurors first thing in the morning," she said with grim satisfaction. "I suggest you get some sleep, Mr Potter."

Harry watched as she picked up the cage then he looked around the corridor that they were standing in.

"Um, I'm going to have a look around and see if I can figure out what he was doing here," he said thoughtfully.

Minerva eyed him archly for a moment then she nodded. "Very well. Try not to spend the entire night here. Your teachers will not be pleased if you sleep through their classes."

With that the Headmistress swept down the hall with the cage dangling from one hand. Crookshanks looked between Harry and the rapidly departing Headmistress then he quickly scampered after McGonagall. Mrs Norris eyed Harry with smug satisfaction and he bent down and gently patted the cat.

"Thank you," he murmured and Mrs Norris looked pleased.

Harry straightened again and looked around. This part of the school was disused and most of the rooms were locked. He pulled out his wand and cats a quick Lumos, playing the light around until he saw the small rat paw prints in the duct on the floor. Mrs Norris seemed to work out what he was doing and she sniffed around for a while before sitting in front of one of the doors, her tail flicking impatiently.

Harry walked up to the door and carefully turned the handle, pushing the door open and playing the light around inside. He frowned as he walked in and looked around. The room was liberally dotted with rat paw prints as well as larger footprints but other than that the only other thing in the room was a large mirror. Harry walked over to the mirror and just for a moment he thought it was the Mirror of Erised. When he got closer he realised it wasn't. It was about the same size but where the Mirror of Erised had an ornate gold frame with an inscription carved on the top, this mirror had a plain wooden frame of some kind of black wood. And the mirror showed no reflection; instead it showed a swirling greyness.

Harry looked into the swirling grey for a moment then he noticed that the footprints in the dust came to halt in front of the mirror as well. Clearly Pettigrew had spent some time standing in front of this mirror but why? Obviously he knew how to work it. Harry frowned as he walked around the mirror, the light from his wand playing up and down as he examined it. He had taken a look at the back of the mirror and was just about to walk back around to the front when something near the base of the mirror caught his eye. He crouched down and shone the light from his wand onto the base of the back of the mirror. When he saw what had caught his attention, his eyes widened and he gasped.

There at the very base of the mirror was a small, carved paw print and just beside it a carved crescent moon.

"Padfoot and Moony," Harry whispered. He then stood up and barked, "Dobby!"

There was a small pop and the little house elf appeared by his side.

"Harry Potter sir! What can Dobby do to help you?"

Harry was pleased to see Dobby looking so eager. The house elf had been a little put out by Harry's peremptory dismissal at Malfoy Manor and it had taken a fair amount of fast talking from Harry to mollify the little creature.

"Dobby, could you please go to Professor Lupin's rooms and ask him if he would join me here?" Harry asked.

"Dobby would be happy to do this," Dobby said then he disappeared with a crack.

Harry walked around to the front of the mirror and waited patiently. After about twenty minutes, the door opened and Remus came in, looking slightly breathless and a touch irritated.

"Harry! What's this all about?" he asked with some exasperation. "Do you have any idea what the time is?"

Harry shone the light from his wand on his watch and grimaced a little at the time. It was close to one in the morning. Light bloomed throughout the room and he looked up to find that Remus had lit the torches around the wall.

"Sorry, Remus," Harry said mostly unrepentantly. "But what on earth is this?" He gestured to the mirror behind him.

Remus frowned as Harry moved aside then his eyes widened and he gaped.

"The mirror," he breathed. "I always wondered what happened to it."

"What does it do?" Harry asked urgently.

"It lets you see into the staff room and the teacher's offices," Remus said, a blush colouring his cheeks. "Or at least that's what it's supposed to do. It's a bit erratic though; you can't view the rooms for more than about ten seconds at a time. And sometimes it doesn't work at all. Sirius and I could never quite work out what was going wrong. We always suspected there was some kind of spell on the staff room and offices that was interfering with the mirror." He frowned as he glanced around the room. "Why?"

"We caught Wormtail about half an hour ago," Harry said. "It looks like he's been getting in through the Chamber of Secrets and been using this room."

Remus' jaw dropped. "How long?"

"Not long, I think," Harry replied. "The scent trail wasn't that old."

Remus looked confused at that statement then he snorted with amusement. "Prowling the corridors again, Barak?"

Harry grinned sheepishly at him. "Couldn't sleep."

Remus gave him a worried look. "You should speak to Madam Pomfrey. She could give you something for that." He looked over at the mirror again and frowned thoughtfully. "I know you said Peter got in through the Chamber but how? I thought you said Parseltongue was needed to open it."

"Except I'm not sure I actually closed the door when I left the Chamber," Harry said with a grimace. "I was a bit more worried about Ginny and Ron and how the hell we were going to get out of there."

"Are you going to go down and have a look?" Remus asked.

Harry nodded. "The Headmistress asked me to go down with Ron and Hermione tomorrow to have a look."

Remus nodded slowly. "And where's Peter?"

"The Headmistress has him," Harry replied. "She's going to turn him over to the Aurors tomorrow."

"You...didn't do anything?" Remus asked carefully.

Harry smiled mirthlessly. "I wanted to but Minerva stopped me. She said that I shouldn't do something in anger that I'll just end up regretting later."

"She's right," Remus said though Harry couldn't tell who he was trying to convince just then. Finally the greying werewolf shook his head. "I think we should both get back to bed. You have a lot on your plate for tomorrow and so do I." He glanced over at the mirror. "And I think I'll come back up here tomorrow and remove that mirror."

"How does it work?" Harry asked as they both headed for the door and Remus doused the lights.

Remus chuckled. "Same way as the Map."

"So much for originality," Harry teased.

"It was still in the testing phase," Remus replied with a small laugh. "We planned on changing the password later."

"How come it was just you and Sirius?" Harry asked curiously. "I saw the carving of the paw print and crescent moon on the back."

"I wondered how you knew to get me. Well, Peter wasn't much good at the sort of magic we were using though he knew about what we were doing and it was going to be a present for your Dad," Remus replied sheepishly.

"Gee, my Dad got the best presents," Harry said dryly as they came to halt at the point where they needed to part ways.

Remus laughed. "Pity we never managed to get it to work properly."

"Now I believe you were a Marauder," Harry said with a grin. "That was definitely an appropriate Marauder response."

"Why, thank you," Remus said dryly. "Now get to bed."

Harry gave him a mock salute then headed back to the Tower.