Secrets of the Animagi

Chapter 12- The Rules of Space and Time

Harry arrived at the secluded courtyard ahead of the other apprentices. He'd worn his Invisibility Cloak as a precaution, careful not to disturb Luc as he left the villa a few minutes before midnight. He quickly removed the cloak and tucked it into his robes. Not a moment too soon he saw, as shadows slipped one by one between the thorny topiaries guarding the entrance. By the time the bells had finished their midnight tune, Professor McGonagall had joined them in her cat form.

"I have a hard time believing we won't be discovered," said Ellen as she stooped to tie her shoe.

Having quickly transformed into her customary human shape, Professor McGonagall muttered a charm under her breath before answering. "Madame Maxime assured me that this location is completely secure," she said resolutely. "She allowed me to cast a Concealment Charm on the area, and surely you don't think there aren't additional safeguards. Unless you were exceedingly noisy during your walk here, it is unlikely anyone knows our whereabouts. Once you can demonstrate a convincing Animagus form, I will allow you to travel that way just so long as you do not arrive here together. Now, if everyone is ready-"

Under the professor's watchful eye, each of the apprentices began their transformation. Harry took a deep breath and closed his eyes to block out the distractions caused by his fellow students. He was determined to go as far as possible with transformation, no matter how uncomfortable it felt. As he assumed his Animagus form, he could feel feathers sprouting from his skin. With his eyes closed, the sensation caused by his legs shortening was much like being in an out of control lift. His wings were of no help to him as he fell beak first into the dirt.

"Aw, wittle Potty-owl went oopsie," hissed a voice to his left.

Harry cautiously opened his eyes. A large, evil-looking lizard with stripes like a Slytherin tie was regarding him with its head cocked to one side and its tongue flicking in and out.

"Draco?"

"Hello, Snack."

"Go eat someone your own size," Harry hissed in annoyance. His wings flopped awkwardly as his regained his balance.

"Not hungry anyway, Scarhead. Guess you just got lucky. By the way, I've never seen an owl with trainers."

Before Harry could retort, a flash of blue light restored him to his normal appearance.

"Potter, Malfoy, enough hissing! We have enough work to do without all the idle chatter," said Professor McGonagall sharply. "Now Miss Chang, perhaps you can share your secret for transforming your clothes. Your classmates were rather fashionably clad animals, but terribly conspicuous."

~~~~~

Harry wondered if becoming an Animagus was really worth the energy as he trudged back to villa after the third weekly lesson. Certainly Professor McGonagall had mastered the process, but he doubted she had done it so quickly. Why was the class being pushed so hard? The transformation itself was exhausting. Add to that the additional energy required to control the animal instincts that came with the form, and it was all he could do to reach the villa without collapsing on the path. This time, he hadn't even bothered wearing his Invisibility Cloak outside of the courtyard. His arms had hurt too much to retrieve it from his pocket. He couldn't imagine how it would have felt if he had actually spent the lesson flying. Aside from short, awkward flights across the courtyard attempting to escape from Draco's hungry gaze, his wings seemed more of a hindrance than anything else.

He stumbled in the darkness just as he reached his bed. Hoping he hadn't awakened his room mate, he tried to make as little noise as possible as he removed his clothes. Unfortunately, the bed creaked as he lay down.

"Harry?"

"Sorry Luc, just got up for some water. Go back to sleep."

"Er, that was some water break. Is it customary for Hogwarts students to take two hours for that? Some secret ritual to be performed, perhaps?"

"Alright, I admit it. It was a girl. Happy?"

"You dog, do tell."

"In the morning, I'm beat."

~~~~~

"Ool ook erriblarry."

"Ron!" said Hermione irritably as she rustled her Daily Prophet.

Ron swallowed his mouthful of porridge and tried again. "You look terrible, mate."

Harry slumped over his plate of toast. The few hours of sleep he'd managed were of no help. He felt as if he'd been tortured by a mad combination of the Whomping Willow and Hermione's old Time Turner. It took too much effort to even look at his best friends, much less Luc, who he knew was leering by now. He was about to attempt to reach for his butter knife when he saw a pair of navy blue shoes next to his chair.

"Harry, could I have a word?" It was Cho.

"Er-"

"Have some of this tea first, Professor McGonagall insists."

Harry took a sip. It was revolting, tasting suspiciously like unsweetened tea brewed in an unwashed coffee pot and then spiked with Pepper Up Potion. He gagged it down, hoping he wouldn't bring it back up on Cho's meticulously polished shoes. As soon as it reached his stomach he felt marginally better. At least he felt able to raise his head a few centimetres. He took a piece of depressingly dry toast from his plate and followed Cho out of the dining hall.

They sat on the nearest bench. Cho looked hardly more energetic that Harry. It must have sapped her to collect him from the table.

"Thanks for the potion."

"Any time. I needed someone to test it anyway."

Harry's stomach churned menacingly. "You what?" he sputtered.

"I'm just trying to break the ice."

"What ice?"

"You've barely spoken to me for ages."

"It's not like we have classes together." Harry sensed from the look on Cho's face that he'd said something wrong. "Often, that is." Nice save, he thought.

"I was just wondering if you might have a bit of time to practice, you know, before next week."

"With me?" He stared at his toast. It looked even less attractive in direct sunlight.

"I am talking to Harry J. Potter, correct?" Cho was starting to sound like Professor McGonagall. "Here, have one of my scones. I managed to butter it."

"Fanks," Harry said carefully around a mouthful of crumbs. If he chewed slowly enough, maybe he'd have time to process Cho's request. "Don't chuck anything at my head, but why are you asking me?"

"Well, we both do need the practice. Besides, Ellen spends a lot of time during lessons chasing her tail. As for Malfoy; he's just plain scary."

"I see your point."

"Well?"

"Will Friday night at nine do?"

"Perfect. Now, if you'll excuse me, it looks like your friend has something to say."

As Cho rose from her seat, Harry turned to look. Ron was lounging under a tree a few feet away, looking not a bit guilty about attempting to eavesdrop.

"Way to go, mate. So, Cho's the secret of your fatigue, is she?"

"Yes, er I mean no."

"Don't deny it, I saw the way she floated out of here. Have to admit, I didn't think you had much of a chance. Not after the Diggory thing. Luc told me you disappeared last night. Is there actually a place around here to, you know, meet?"

"Would you get your mind out of the gutter? We were talking, that's all. I only told Luc there was a girl last night because that's what he wanted to hear."

Harry hoped he sounded convincing. It was more or less the truth, considering he and Cho hadn't been alone in the courtyard last night.

Ron looked doubtful for a moment, then laughed abruptly. "Those Beauxbatons blokes must all think alike. You know, right after you left with Cho I heard Malfoy catching it from his crowd. Since Cho looked much more rested than you, and you'd never have spent quality time with Ferret Face-"

"Right," interrupted Harry. He felt it more than past time to change the subject, not to mention undeniably relieved that Hermione had not been party to their conversation. She wouldn't have let him off so easily. He was going to have to find a better way to travel to and from his lessons. Blast Professor McGonagall for insisting everything be kept secret.

"Ron, do you have the time? It should be just about time for Potions."

"Did you forget you own a working watch?"

Harry felt for the watch in his pocket. A watch, a watch. Why didn't he think of that before? It was high time he used Mrs. Figg's gift for more than just marking the hours.

~~~~~

Harry sat at his desk studying the Aurors' Watch manual. Up until now, he hadn't thought the timepiece to be of much practical use, especially since the hand set for Dark detection seemed to be spinning any time he so much as glanced at it. Maybe Mad-Eye, oops Crouch he corrected himself, had been right about students always hiding something. And as he wasn't travelling anywhere at the moment, the Compass hand was equally superfluous.

He decided to test the other functions one by one, starting with the Diviner. It pointed toward the pitcher of water on the bedside table. Not bad, if he were thirsty. Next, he tried the Familiar Locator. To his surprise, it immediately displayed a familiar, whatever that was, directly behind him and only a few feet away. Interesting.

"Whoo!"

Harry whipped around to see his owl perching on the window sill. Well, that made sense. Two down, two to go. He took a few moments from his experiments to take the letter Hedwig was holding in her claws and reward her with an Owl Treat.

Harry swallowed as he set the hands for the Time Turner. According to the manual, it only worked twelve hours in either direction. Just a few minutes into the future seemed safe. He'd just have to ignore the admonition against time travelers being seen. After all, he would only be seeing himself experimenting with the watch. How dangerous could it possibly be? Just to be sure, he sent Hedwig off to the school owlery before he finished setting the watch. He wasn't sure that she would understand the complexities of time travel and not attack either one of his selves.

One minute to go. Harry took a deep breath. Thirty seconds to go. One more deep breath. Harry watched as the activation hand crept toward its destination. Suddenly, everything went blurry and there was a loud pounding sound as he lost his balance.

"Harry, I know you're in there!"

"Hermione?" The dizzy spell was over, but Harry knew the trouble had just begun. He wasn't sure why he didn't feel he was in the future. But he did know that the sooner he got rid of his visitor, the better off he would be.

"Would you let me in? It looks ridiculous for me to be yelling through a door."

Harry reluctantly opened the door. Hermione burst into the room.

"So you and Cho, how nice for you! She isn't too depressed is she? Lord knows you've had enough of that to last a life time. I was just talking to her room mate and she said that-"

"Hermione, what are you babbling about?" He wondered if Hermione would notice the manual on his desk before he could turn the page. Too late.

"What are you up to? Let me see that." Hermione snatched the booklet from the desk. A Time Turner? Are you insa- Akk!"

"What's wrong?" Harry distinctly heard his voice in stereo. Oops.

"Don't turn around," she said weakly.

"I've seen me before." More stereo effect. Bugger, he had really hoped to have a conversation with himself.

"Harry, how long is this supposed to last?"

"About five minutes, hopefully. Can I please see myself? I feel like I've got an echo, and it's really starting to bother me."

Hermione sighed. "You might as well, I suppose. It's my guess you'd already decided to ignore the rules of space and time."

The two Harrys sat down on the bed and looked each other over critically.

"Smooth move letting her in," said the latecomer.

"You know how she is."

"Yeah, yeah."

"There is no way I'm going to tolerate both of you discussing me," said Hermione as she flopped onto the bed between the her best friend and his past (or was it future) self. "Now be quiet until this is over."

The latecomer raised one eyebrow and looked over at himself. "Tempted much?"

"Very," said Harry. "But perhaps it would be best not to make her angry."

"I've got an idea," said Hermione. "You can both explain what you were doing with Cho in the middle of the night. Harry to my right, you go first."

"Er, well-"

"Never mind. Harry number two? And you better say something more than he just did."

"I wasn't-"

"Oh forget it. It's obvious Luc and Ron were exaggerating anyway. I think I'd be able to tell if you were actually up to something. Let's just go back to the original plan and sit quietly."

The Harrys looked at their watches. Only a minute or so to go, hopefully. They looked up at the ceiling.

"And absolutely no whistling," she instructed.

Sigh, just a bit longer. Even libraries were more fun than this. There was another knock at the door.

"Don't either of you dare," hissed Hermione.

"Harry? Are you in there? I thought I saw Hermione in the hall a bit ago."

"Not a peep, Ron?" Bugger, now it was Luc. "C'mon in, maybe Harry's sleeping off the effects of last night's adventure."

The door opened. Harry wished he had a camera to capture the moment. The looks of three people witnessing his time travelling would be priceless.

"So, you and Cho, how nice for you!" said Hermione from the doorway.

Harry realised he was sitting on his bed alone. What happened to Luc, Ron, and his other self? Why was Hermione not sitting next to him? Did she not remember that they'd already had this discussion? Oh well, maybe this time he'd get it right.

"Er, no Hermione. There is no Cho and I, no more than there is a you and I."

"Odd."

"What?"

"I saw an odd blurry thing when I walked in. Something going on?"

"No."

"I can tell you're lying by the way you're staring at your desk. What's over there?"

"Nothing." Too late. Hermione picked up the manual and sat on the bed.

"Your watch has a Time Turner? Have you been experimenting?" she asked suspiciously.

"Maybe a little."

"Harry, sit. I want you to promise me you'll be careful if you do it again. You know time travel is dangerous. You're lucky nothing horrible happened. Did any one else see you?"

Harry could feel his temperature rise. He wasn't interested in hearing a lecture from Hermione. He had travelled through time twice now with no ill effects. He wasn't completely stupid. He was just about to argue with her when he heard Ron knock on the door and then Luc's voice inviting him in. The door opened.

"What are you two up to, pretending to not be in?" blustered Ron. Luc didn't say a word, instead he gave Harry a look not unlike the one this morning.

Hermione quickly got to her feet. "As you can see, there is nothing going on here. I was helping Harry pull himself together. That unmerciful flirt Cho made quite a scene this morning. And then, it turns out she's been cavorting with Malfoy at all hours. He almost made a fool of himself writing a letter to her." She grabbed a sheet of parchment from the desk and set fire to it with her wand before dropping it into the dust bin. "Now if you'll excuse me, gentlemen, it's time I changed for dinner."

Harry arose and ushered her to the door. "Thanks," he whispered.

"You owe me one, if not two really big ones," she whispered in return just before turning to walk down the hall.

Only one, muttered Harry to himself. She had unwittingly torched his Investigative Skills assignment.

~~~~~

Luckily, Luc's interest in Harry's whereabouts faded by Friday evening. Luc and his classmates, including Ron, had planned a revising session in the villa's library that evening. With the weekend curfew now in force, Harry fully expected to be able to return from practice with Cho before he was even missed. He planned his excursion to the courtyard as he dug into his trunk for the Invisibility Cloak. If he took the opportunity to transform in the dormitory, he would be able to leave unobserved. That is, if he was able to fly properly. It was a dubious proposition. With his luck, he would probably be discovered thrashing about in a rose bush by morning, unable to either fly or transform back into his proper form.

Deciding in favour of using the cloak, Harry shoved it into his pocket. With plenty of students still wandering about the villa, there was a chance that doors seeming to open and close by themselves would be noticed. Harry walked quietly down the hall and out the front door. He was halfway to the courtyard before he reached an area clear of other students. Knowing he might not get another opportunity, he quickly slipped on his cloak before proceeding. Cho was waiting for him. She too had chose to travel in human form.

"There you are. Any problems getting here?"

"Not one. You?"

"Ellen's covering for me if needed. She's revising with my room mate this evening, so she'll keep her occupied until I return."

"So she knows I'm here, too?"

"Not really, she thinks I'm practising with Draco instead of you. That thought alone was enough to keep her away," said Cho with a nervous giggle.

"So why is it you still need practice? You seem to be really good."

"I'm still working on the reverse transformation. I need someone to use the spell if I get stuck."

"I'm not going to be of much help, then. I've never heard the actual words."

"I think you'll catch on quickly. It's simply a slight flick of the wand combined with Animagus Reverso. Ellen and I practised on each other last week. Ready?" She didn't give him time to answer. In less than a minute, she had transformed into a sleek black cat with a white front paws.

He flicked his wand and muttered the reversing spell. Cho was right, it was a simple spell, at least on an Apprentice Animagus. As quickly as she had become a cat, she now returned to her usual form.

Agreeing not to help again unless she signalled, he sat on a bench to watch Cho practice. She was actually quite good, although she needed help to get rid of her cat's nose and whiskers. After a few repetitions, it was Harry's turn. His owl transformation had become a bit faster over the last few weeks, but he warned Cho that he wanted to spend his practice time flying rather than reversing immediately.

To his delight, it was much easier to fly when he wasn't worried about escaping from Draco. He circled the courtyard several times before landing softly in the dirt. Willing himself to return to his normal state, he got as far as defeathering before having to signal Cho with a hoarse hoot. Harry felt just a bit embarrassed by the experience, but the chance to fly had been exhilarating. He looked forward to Wednesday, when he would fly all the way from the villa to the practice site.

Bidding Cho goodnight, he watched as she slipped out of the courtyard and into the night. He donned his cloak and did the same, hoping that there would be no need to dodge other students on his return to the villa. Other than tempting fate by passing within inches of Hermione as she read her Language Theory text in the common room, Harry made it back to his room with no incident. His cloak was safely stowed before Luc returned to the room just after ten o'clock.

~~~~~

Harry woke up to Luc shaking him. It was still dark outside, and he was lying on the floor, sweaty and tangled in his sheets. "Wha-"

"You were yelling in your sleep and then you fell out of bed. I'm surprised no one else woke up."

"Sorry."

"Do you remember what happened?"

He rubbed his scar. It was tingling, but at least his head didn't feel like it was about to split open. "Not a clue." The return to nightmares wasn't a welcome development, but without a memory of what he had seen, there wasn't much point in confiding in anyone yet.

When morning finally arrived, it seemed to have taken an eternity. Harry had been unable to sleep. And now, he stumbled to his trunk in search of fresh clothes to wear to breakfast.

"You look like death warmed over."

"Thanks, Luc."

"Sure you don't want to sleep in? It's Sunday, you know."

Harry yawned. "I promised Ron and Hermione I'd meet them at seven thirty. Hermione has our day all planned out."

"That's an hour away." Luc groaned and rolled over.

"I'll walk slowly," he said as he shut the door.