Before her and Draco's eyes, Remus transformed into a grey-brown wolf with distinctly golden highlights in his fur. They all stood stunned, and then Remus's tail began to furiously wag back and forth; it wasn't exactly wolf-like, but it made her think of Sirius, and she imagined that was where Remus had got his inspiration. His amber eyes looked alert and very similar to what they normally saw in Remus's human face. He pranced around the room a few times and then came over to snuffle at Draco before looking back at Hermione with a look in his eyes that said he wondered what she was waiting for.
She looked at Draco, who was smirking at the antics of his ex-professor, and the younger man nodded at her, so she repeated her spell for a second time, not allowing herself to consider that it might not work for the Slytherin. Draco seemed similarly confident, and a moment later, there were two wolves in front of her, and Draco was behaving just like Remus, gambolling about the room, smelling everything, gazing with sharp eyes at things that he had not perceived as a human.
Draco was about two thirds the size of Remus, and he was predominantly white with grey blue eyes that were rarely seen on adult wolves. She hadn't previously appreciated how much a wolf's face could express emotion, but there was no doubt in her mind that the two of them were the happiest wolves in existence right now. She let them have fourteen whole minutes of chasing one another round and round her lab, growling and yipping and making happy wolf noises at one another, and then she reminded them of the task at hand.
"All right, you two, you have one minute in which to admire yourselves in these mirrors before I turn you back into human form."
The looks they shot her were ones of annoyance, but they nevertheless came over and obediently looked at their reflections. Draco circled round and round on the spot, and she wasn't entirely certain whether he was admiring himself from all angles or chasing his tail.
Remus seemed to be staring at his form very intently, and she knew that he was marking the differences between this true wolf form and the werewolf form he had always transformed into up until fifteen minutes ago.
"Gentlemen," she said authoritatively, knowing that they would not change back any time soon on their own, "come over here and lie down. Having four feet suddenly switch to two tends to make people fall over until they've got the hang of the switch in balance."
She'd be using a spell to get them out of the transformation because they didn't have the preparation—or the mental discipline, yet—to do it themselves.
Draco obeyed, and after a quick "Förvandlas till människa," she had him back in human form. The Slytherin didn't look too pleased to find that he was lying on the floor, but she knew that he would have been more annoyed by a painful fall; although he'd been an Animagus already, the difference in size between the ferret and the wolf made her doubt that he would have stayed on his feet this time around.
Remus was still standing, and after looking into his very solemn eyes, she suddenly understood why he was on all fours. As a werewolf, he had ended every full moon painfully collapsed on the floor; tonight, he didn't care if he fell, but he was going to make this transformation as different as possible in every way. She nodded to him and stepped closer.
"Förvandlas till människa."
A human sprouted from the wolf, shooting to his regular height and lurching ungainly as his balance shifted completely. She caught him as he stumbled and braced herself to keep them upright. To her surprise, once he'd regained his balance, he didn't let her go but wrapped his arms tightly around her and held her close.
"Hermione," he breathed.
She blinked back tears and had to sniff for a moment.
"Don't you worry," she said, despite all her promises not to make promises. "We're going to get this one."
He nodded against her before pulling away. Draco was grinning at both of him.
"That's so much cooler than being a ferret."
They both laughed before she resumed her no-nonsense tone once more. "You're eating more food, and then we're going to go through the basics of using those spells on your own. You'll practice more before you leave because until you get the hang of it, it's too easy to get stuck as an animal or to transform back into human form without clothing."
From the redness of Draco's ears, he had experienced that one personally at least once.
"Remember," she continued, "that you must always have your wand with you when you transform in the beginning. Unless you're extremely adept with wandless magic, there's every chance that you won't be able to transform back into your human form. Statistically, those fledgling Animagi who don't have their wands with them are more likely to remain animals and not respond to spells if others try to transform them. You should take care at all times but especially in these early stages."
They both nodded solemnly and tucked into the breakfast that she'd had the sense to have ready for them.
"We do get to eat meat again at some point?" Draco asked, noticing the lack of sausage on their serving trays.
She nodded. "Once the moon has risen, you're free to eat whatever you wish. Until eight-oh-seven, however, you're eating what I want you to eat."
He snorted. "You're getting a lot of mileage out of being in charge, aren't you, 'Mione?"
"Seizing the moment while I can," she agreed cheekily. "So," she hauled over her logbook and opened it up, "how are you both feeling?"
She took down their descriptions of how they'd felt while transformed, how they felt now, and what they'd thought of the transformation process. They both seemed very happy. Now that the initial euphoria had faded from her mind a little, she felt it incumbent upon her to remind them that this was only half the battle. She didn't want them to be discouraged, but she didn't want them to forget that they still had a big hurdle to face on the full moon.
Both of them nodded. "We know," Remus said, still sounding so very happy. "But this is visible and definite progress, Hermione. No werewolves have ever been able to transform into Animagi after they were bitten, whether or not they could do it beforehand."
She'd done the research, too, and she nodded in understanding.
"Even if we don't get any further than this, I now know what a painless transformation is like, and I can feel what it's like to be a wolf without having to worry about what the werewolf wants to do."
She appreciated that he was trying to see the positive in even the possibility of failure of the final stage of the cure.
It was now half six in the morning, and they'd made it past the moment of the new moon. Both Remus and Draco were anxious to try the transformation again, and she allowed it after what she hoped was adequate practice of the incantation and wand movements. She felt rather Minerva-esque as she was doing it, and from the looks on their faces, she might well have been channelling a bit of the stern Transfiguration professor as well.
Draco's solo transformation was much smoother than Remus's, as he'd done all this before, but Remus, too, managed it without any assistance. It went more slowly than normal, and while he pranced around for a few more minutes, getting back into the habit of being a wolf, she reminded him that once mastered, the transformation was almost too quick for anyone to see the transition between the two forms.
It needed to be instantaneous and without thought to minimize the danger of getting stuck at some point in the middle of the transformation, which was another one of the dangers inherent in trying to become an Animagus. Transfiguration experts had to be called in for incomplete or partial transfigurations that the Animagus couldn't fix, and sometimes even the experts couldn't put the Animagus back together perfectly.
She only let them have ten minutes in animal form before she told them to transform back. Draco managed it after about twice as long as normal, apparently still needing to think a little about turning from a wolf into a human. It took Remus nearly five minutes to manage it, but he kept wolfishly glaring at her when she suggested that she do it for him. But he finally managed it, and his look of joy and triumph told her that the patience had been well-rewarded.
She congratulated them both on getting the hang of it so quickly—she had memories of Ron taking weeks—and reminded them of the concentration techniques that they needed to employ if they were ever stuck.
"Both the human and the animal are always inside of you." They knew this, but a reminder never hurt. "A person in animal form who forgets his or her human form does so because it's been pushed so far into the back of his or her mind it's been effectively lost."
She didn't believe that it was actually gone but rather that it became inaccessible, much like the animal part was for someone who had never tried to become an Animagus to begin with.
"You've read the material I gave you. You know that state can become permanent. Therefore, I don't want you to try to transform for more than fifteen minutes at a time to start. If you ever have trouble getting out of your animal form, it's important not to panic. Think human thoughts, remember your multiplication table or potion ingredients or anything that will help you concentrate on being human. Calm yourself, wait a few minutes, and try again. If you're still unable to transform, find someone who can help you. If possible, make contact with someone who will be aware of what you are doing and will know what has happened if an animal wanders up to them and looks desperate. I'm happy to assist you, Draco, but I know you might have a little more difficulty, Remus. Can you get up to the castle more frequently until we get this settled in February? You should be getting as much practical experience as you can."
He nodded. "I'll make it a priority. There are very few people before whom I could transform into a wolf without causing a great deal of panic. Of them, you are the only two who wouldn't have a great many other questions. I'll come by as often as I can."
She nodded. "Just make sure it's after midnight if you want to see me." They both grimaced as they remembered her detentions. "It would probably only take Draco a couple of days to get the hang of the counter spell, and then the two of you could spot one another, if that's all right."
They agreed readily to this plan.
It was now nearing seven in the morning, and they decided that it would be safer for Remus to sneak back out while everyone was at breakfast, so they kept up with the transformations until half seven. By then, Draco was almost up to regular speed, and he looked as though he was well on his way to settling quite happily into this form.
Hermione knew that Harry would be especially anxious to see that Draco was fine, and Remus agreed that he could see himself out discreetly.
Draco transfigured his clothing so that it wouldn't look as though he'd spent the whole night in her bedroom, and then the two of them made their way out into the common room where Harry was once again on the couch waiting for them.
"All right?" he asked, eyes scanning Draco minutely as though looking for any signs of permanent injury that she had been hiding from him the day before.
Draco smiled. He seemed to be enamoured of any show of concern that Harry made on his behalf.
"Just fine," Draco said. "You?"
Harry was still scanning over his body and answered absently. "Fine, thanks. You're sure there's nothing wrong?"
"Do I not look all right?" Draco asked with mock-censure.
"Oh, no, you look wonderf—That is to say, you look just fine," Harry said with another spectacular blush. "Breakfast time?" he asked, leaping off the couch as though he'd been catapulted.
Draco and Hermione shared a grin and let Harry get away with leading them up to breakfast, where they sat with the Ravenclaws. Draco eyed all the food that was on the table with delight, but she was pleased to note that he didn't take a single meat product until the requisite few minutes past eight. But then, it didn't really surprise her that he was as anal about those sorts of things as she was.
Transfiguration was next, and Draco murmured to her afterwards that the only reason he hadn't nodded off was because he had transformations so much on his mind anyway. Having just successfully undergone a should-have-been-impossible transfiguration, he was feeling pretty chipper about the class.
Hermione was pleased that he was so functional and happy. Arithmancy, though, did not go quite so well; she had to nudge him several times when his eyes closed. Halfway through class, she gave up and ensured that her notes and answers were in excellent order; he evidently wasn't taking in a word that Septima was speaking.
He yawned his way down to dinner, and Harry looked immediately concerned. Hermione managed to get them all through the meal and back downstairs, and it wasn't difficult at all to convince Draco to make it an early night; as soon as Harry got involved in the requesting, it was all earnestness and solicitude and puppy-dog eyes, and Draco didn't stand a chance against Harry's puppy-dog eyes. He went to bed, and Hermione smiled at Harry.
"You all right?" she asked. "I'm not stepping on any toes?"
He shook his head, smiling at her with what appeared to be genuine happiness. "Draco's great. If he's helping you out with a potion, that's really cool. I'm glad to see that you're getting on so well. I don't think he's going to mesh so well with the rest of my friends."
Oh, she was going to be able to give him such a great surprise in the near future.
"I'm sure we'll manage," she said casually. "How's your homework going?"
He laughed. "It's going fine, thank you, Mother." He summarized what he'd been doing and how his days looked in the future. They did homework for a few hours together, and then she headed off to her detention, meeting Severus in his classroom as requested.
She was subjected to more of the silent treatment when she arrived, but she knew she mostly deserved it this time, so she made no protest. He finally gestured at a giant pile of cauldrons in the sink, and she wondered if he'd had his classes dirty them deliberately because the pile looked to be unnaturally large. Without a word, she set to work. It went without saying that she wasn't to use magic in the endeavour, so she neither asked nor made the attempt, just scrubbed until her fingers felt as though they were going to wrinkle up and fall off.
She put the clean cauldrons on the counter until she ran out of space and then she made a second layer. Followed by a third. She didn't think she'd fit a fourth without making the pile really precarious, but the seemingly unending number of dirty cauldrons finally dwindled and then disappeared. She had no idea what the younger years had been brewing, but she could have sworn that the remnants in the cauldrons resembled nothing so much as superglue.
She brushed her now frizzy and damp hair out of her face for the millionth time and turned back to face Severus, who turned out to be sitting at his desk watching her work. She'd assumed that he was grading and wondered how long he'd been staring at her. She narrowly fought off a blush and said, "I've finished cleaning the cauldrons, sir. Is there another task for me to perform this evening?"
He considered this for what she thought was an inordinate amount of time.
"You may go, Miss Granger," he finally pronounced, drawing the syllables out.
"Thank you, sir."
A Tempus in the hallway told her that it was half twelve, and she took her Veritaserum capsule and reminded herself to try not to get on Severus's bad side; it was hard on the fingers.
Harry had been kind enough to wait up for her, and he sympathized very sincerely with the state of her hands.
"Rotten luck, annoying him. It was going so well, too."
She shrugged. "That seems to be the extent of our relationship. Brief happy moments and then long periods of my upsetting him for reasons that I often have trouble grasping. In this case, however, it's my own fault; I have to live with the consequences."
"And he's just changed what you're doing in detention?" Harry pursued. "It didn't get worse than that?"
She regarded him seriously. "You'll not try to do anything about it?"
He grimaced. "Not a promise I want to make if you're trying to extract it."
"But I'm going to do it anyway."
He sighed. "Very well. No interference on my part. What did he do?"
"Gave me detention until the end of the year."
Harry's face twisted. "That's months of detention for one day that you didn't go! That's not reasonable."
"Harry," she said with a bit of a helpless laugh, "I skipped a detention with Professor Snape." Not even Harry had ever done that. "Of course I'm being punished heavily."
"You're sure you couldn't talk to him about whatever potion thing you were doing with Draco?"
She shook her head. "I can't discuss it right now. Maybe later. I … I'll try later. He'll hopefully understand then. And you know it'll only get worse if you try to talk to him, right?"
Harry made another face. "Yeah. Trying not to get you stuck here after we've graduated. I'll keep my nose out of it."
"Thank you, Harry."
They both went to bed, although she sneaked out a few hours later to visit with Castina and the herd. She needed to recharge after the sleepless night she'd had, and she could unburden herself without seriously worrying that her herd mare was going to charge into the castle and have strong words with Severus. Castina was sympathetic but thought Severus's behaviour was rather typical. Hermione felt much better when she headed back into the castle.
Over the next several days, Hermione's life settled into a pretty definitive pattern. She taught Draco how to counter the Animagus transformation and made sure that his transformations continued to go smoothly. She began to obsessively check her Weresbane again, as she would need to begin making the fresh batch in less than a week. She spent her days in class and her evenings on both school days and weekends doing the most unpleasant jobs that Severus could come up with for her.
There were rats' brains to clean and place into fresh containers of pickling juice. There were more cauldrons to scrub, the whole classroom to clean on a memorable day when one of the second-year students had exploded a cauldron that managed to cover a large percentage of the classroom in bright violet sludge. She was curious as to what the student had been trying to make but didn't think it was safe to ask. She wondered, too, what—if any—punishment this second-year had received, as cleaning up one's mess was normally an important component of Potions accidents.
They completed these detentions in almost total silence; Hermione could understand his pointed instructions without asking questions, and he made no attempt to engage her in conversation. The detentions went on until she finished her task, and they were always long enough that she was dragging her aching limbs out of the room and back to her own quarters by the end of the night. Harry waited up for her every time despite her telling him that it was unnecessary, and sometimes Draco was there, too, calling it a night once she returned.
She was very happy that Harry and Draco's relationship was going well, but it was a little depressing to see the two of them together when she and Severus had turned into a first-class disaster. Still, it would hardly make her happier if they were fighting, too, so she supposed she would just try to live vicariously through the two of them.
Severus said not a word to indicate that he had noticed that she'd finished her first set of detentions and started on the new ones. She was relieved that Draco had no trouble with his transformation and was indeed able to work with Remus without her supervision because on Thursday, she started brewing the Weresbane again.
Since Harry knew that she was juggling her school work along with all the detentions, he didn't even question the fact that she was ducking out from dinner and he didn't see her for hours at a time. On Friday, she was just able to finish brewing the Weresbane in time to make it to her detention fifteen minutes early.
Today, she needed to figure out how the rest of the term was going to unfold because on Saturday, she couldn't be in detention from nine until past midnight. That cut right through the Weresbane-brewing time, and the potion was still more important than any other consideration.
If she already had detention until the end of exams, then she didn't suppose that there was anything else he could do to her—beyond expelling her, of course, but Albus would probably step in if he attempted it. If the current detentions were set to end with the term, then she could be making the situation worse for herself by not showing up tomorrow—as she really didn't want to have detention during exam time if she could prevent it—and it might be better, despite his mood, to try to rearrange the time for the detention in question.
The only other option she had was Polyjuice, a potion that she did not actually have on hand. That would mean that she would have to steal it from Severus to be able to use it against him. Somehow, she doubted he'd be amused. And while she could probably convince Draco to cover for her on Saturday—he knew why she was doing this—on the tenth when she needed him to be taking the Weresbane she'd brewed, it would have to be Harry who took the Polyjuice.
And her mind simply failed at imagining Harry Polyjuiced to look like her and serving her detention with Severus. It had Very Bad Idea written all over it.
Before she could decide which desperate option to choose, therefore, she wanted to know where she stood with Severus.
Fortunately, the man was in his classroom and able to tell time, apparently, because he said flatly, "You're early."
She cleared her throat. "I wanted to discuss my detentions with you, sir, and I thought that conversation would be more appropriate before the detention itself was occurring."
He sat back in his chair and crossed his arms. "Oh?"
He seemed very expectant, and she wasn't certain of what.
"Yes, sir," she said at her most docile. "By my calculation, there are one hundred and twenty-two additional detentions between the thirtieth of January, when I would have finished the original two weeks, and the end of May. Since we haven't spoken of it formally, I wanted to verify the time they would be occurring and check if they ended at the end of May or if they went until the literal end of the school year—which would be the fourteenth of June, as I'm sure you know, and would make it one hundred and thirty-six detentions."
He sat forward again, dark eyes boring into hers. "You worked out how many detentions you have."
"Yes, sir," she answered, still uncertain of his tone. "It seemed sensible; I wanted to be aware of my responsibilities for the rest of the year."
"So you know how many detentions you have left for the year?" He sounded as though he were testing her.
"Including the one I'm about to start in a few minutes, either one hundred and twenty nine or one hundred and fifteen depending on the end date."
"You've no doubt worked out how many hours that would be?"
She thought that he sounded faintly amused and hoped that was a good sign.
"Averaging three hours per detention, sir, that would be three hundred eighty-seven or three hundred forty-five. Which is sixteen or just over fourteen days, respectively."
She'd sat down and done all the calculations days ago.
"You're feeling entirely sanguine about doing almost two and a half weeks of solid detention?"
She blinked. "Well, I'm pretty resigned, sir, yes. It's going to be until the end of the year, then?"
"What?"
"You said almost two and a half weeks of detention, sir, so I take it you intend for me to complete detention until the end of the exam period?" It would make exams a bit miserable, but it meant he couldn't possibly give her any more detentions no matter what she did.
"I intended for you to stop a week ago, nonsensical witch," he said, sounding exasperated.
She stared at him. "I'm sorry?"
He let out a huff of breath. "I wanted to ascertain your seriousness, but you didn't once question any of the completely odious tasks that I set you, just kept coming back again and again."
She was having trouble grasping what he was telling her. "You're not making me have detention until the end of the year?"
He shook his head with a look of condescension, and she took it that she was supposed to have grasped that more quickly.
She sank bonelessly into a chair.
"Oh."
"You sound disappointed."
Her eyes flew to his. "God, no. I just spent a good deal of mental energy gearing myself up to survive it, that's all, and it's a little surprising to find it was all needless. I definitely don't want you to reinstitute them in kindness to me."
He smirked. "I don't think even the Hufflepuffs would have put up with my plan so agreeably. You didn't voice a single complaint."
"I skipped one of your detentions, sir," she pointed out. "I didn't think I had the right to complain."
"But it was for a reason important enough for you to suffer through up to three hundred eighty-seven more hours of detention." There was an edge of mockery in his repetition of the hours she had worked out.
She shrugged. "Well, yes."
"Then it was important enough to skip detention," he said simply. His eyes narrowed. "Naturally, if you ever tell anyone I said that, no one will find your body."
She smiled at him for the first time in what felt like forever. "Understood, sir. My hands thank you."
He rose. "Come."
It wasn't even to his lab but to his sitting room where he proceeded to serve her tea and engage her in a decent conversation. He still seemed mildly boggled that she'd treated the whole detention fiasco so seriously whereas she was shocked that he hadn't done so. She couldn't imagine what his reaction would have been if she'd confronted him on his "odious tasks" only to find that he'd meant them in earnest. They'd be back to the finding-the-body scenario, she was sure.
"At least you know I follow through on my promises," she said quite cheerfully now that yet another misunderstanding had been cleared up.
She was beginning to think they needed to write their intentions down on pieces of parchment and exchange them regularly or something.
"Hmm," he agreed. "You seem very stalwart, certainly."
He let her go after no more than an hour with a dry comment that he rather thought she'd earned a respite.
She thanked him profusely several times, and he waved her away. Harry and Draco looked quite surprised to see her when she arrived just after ten o'clock, and she was glad that she hadn't caught them in an embarrassing position. She'd not heard of it going beyond the one kiss, but there was no saying when they'd get carried away.
"What are you doing back?" Harry demanded. "You surely didn't decide to skip another one?"
She laughed. "I've been threatened with enough bodily harm today, so, no. I'm not supposed to say."
Harry nodded. "Uh huh." He waited all of three seconds. "So what happened?"
She sighed, although her lips tipped up at his impatience. "You can't ever say." He opened his mouth. "Don't make me swear you to secrecy."
He nodded more solemnly now. Draco looked a little puzzled until Harry quietly explained that Marietta Edgecombe's acne was Hermione's doing. Draco agreed with even more alacrity than Harry that he would never speak of the matter.
"I don't have any more detentions."
They blinked in surprise. "How on Earth did you get out of them?" Harry demanded. "Did Albus intervene?"
She shook her head. "No, I went to Severus to discuss the rest of them, and that's when I learnt that he had actually expected me to call him on how ridiculous they were and not do any of them."
They blinked at her, and she explained in detail. Draco was about as amused as Severus had been that she'd done all that work whereas Harry thought it was rather unsporting that Severus hadn't clued her in sooner.
"I don't have detention for the rest of the year," Hermione said with finality. "I'm perfectly satisfied with today's outcome."
All three of them could agree about that, so they settled in without further argument to do homework for what remained of the evening.
The next morning after breakfast, Harry approached her about becoming an Animagus. Hermione realized she should have anticipated it; he didn't know that she was all of four days away from testing the most important potion of her life. As far as he was concerned, life had finally settled a little from the craziness that was January, Draco was in good health, and even she had finished her insane run of detentions.
Given how anxious Harry was to perform this transformation, he'd been extraordinarily patient about it, really, and she was lucky he hadn't tried to do it on his own while she was otherwise occupied. Since her life was going to get even busier starting on Tuesday—because the potion would work or she'd be having a mental breakdown because of its failure—Harry had probably inadvertently chosen the most sensible time to make this attempt unless he wanted to wait until June.
It wasn't difficult to get time away from Draco given that the blond was trying to get time alone for his and Remus's transformations. She still regretted that she couldn't have them all work on this together, but she knew it wasn't practical. Revelations would be made at a later date.
She actually had to give Harry a mild sleeping potion to get him to sleep in the evening; he insisted that he wasn't even a little bit tired, but when she told him that they wouldn't be making any sort of attempt if she had the slightest doubt about his being perfectly awake and aware later, he took the draught and went to bed without protest.
Because she knew Harry; he had started contemplating asking her to do this once she'd come back from her aborted detention last night. That meant he'd spent time considering whether it would be rude to ask so quickly after she'd finally regained some free time of her own. Having evidently decided that the risk was worth it, he would have wanted to ensure that he was ready to undertake the task, and that meant he'd reviewed the Animagus book and her notes. And that meant the amount of sleep he'd gotten last night was minimal at best.
Having discarded the possibility of performing the transformation during the afternoon or evening in case Severus called a training session or they were called upon as Head Girl and Boy, letting Harry sleep now so that they could try during the night had seemed the most logical course of action. There was less chance of interruption the later it got.
She brewed from shortly before eight until nearly eleven while Harry slept. She would need to bank the heat shortly before half three in the morning; if they hadn't finished by then, she was sure that Harry would be able to spare her for a few minutes.
Once she had everything tidied up, she woke Harry. He was so instantly awake, excited, and ready to go that it was as though he hadn't taken a sleeping draught at all. They headed to Room One. As she saw the barely suppressed energy and his almost visible nervousness as Harry paced the room, she conceded that making him perform his first transformation in front of the boy he was crazy about would not have been a good plan.
Especially, she barely suppressed a grin, if he had the problem most beginners had and ended up without his clothes at some point during the process. Of course, she imagined that would likely do wonders for eliminating Draco's restraint when it came to his daft belief that he wasn't good enough for Harry right now. She needed the Slytherin to be in top form on Tuesday, however, making the irresistible distraction of a naked Boy Who Lived something that she would try to avoid.
Harry swore up and down that he'd been keeping up with his reading and his mental preparation, and a quick viva voce examination confirmed this fact. Harry knew how to be very serious about a topic when it was necessary.
She warded the room with especial care given that it would be quite unfortunate if anyone came across them while they were working on this. Harry would be vulnerable while he was training, and even if they were found by someone who meant them no harm, the scene being witnessed would give their secret away to anyone who didn't know. While they were most likely to be found by those who did already know, she would really prefer to keep this detail between her and Harry for as long as she could.
"Before we start," she said, "I need to ask something annoying of you. Two somethings, actually."
His anxious movements stilled as he met her eyes and took in her serious expression.
"What?"
"First, I'd like you to promise to obey me while these lessons are continuing and until I say that you're free to do as you please in Animagus form."
"Of course," he answered immediately.
"Harry," she admonished, "a moment's consideration, please. If I say stop, you have to stop. If I say we're not going to try again for a week, we're not going to try again for a week. That's what I need you to agree to."
His nose scrunched up as he took the time to think about what she was saying, but he nodded again.
"I know you're doing what's best for me. What's the other thing?"
"I'd like you to promise me that you won't go beyond any of the Hogwarts wards in your Animagus form."
Puzzlement showed on his face now. "But … don't you go into the Forest all the time? I mean, beyond the wards?"
She nodded. "But never beyond the border of the Forest. Besides, it would be more disastrous if you were captured." He opened his mouth to protest, but she overrode him. "You know that as soon as you're in your animal form, you're going to get so excited about the idea of not being recognized as Harry Potter, you're going to want to go everywhere and see everything. I want to make sure you're safe. Please, Harry."
He considered her, green eyes thoughtful. She was sure that he'd recognized that she hadn't made his agreement a condition of her teaching him, and she hoped that he'd also noticed that she wasn't asking for more than his word.
Once he saw his form, she was pretty sure he'd understand exactly why she had asked, and she'd prefer that she had this promise before he was airborne.
"What if there's an emergency?" he asked.
She laughed. "I hate to say this, but if there's an emergency meaning you would foolishly leave the grounds in human form, I'd rather you go in your Animagus form."
The indecision left his features, and he gave a sharp nod. "You have my word."
She smiled. "Thank you, Harry. You might as well take off your glasses. You can practice transforming with them later."
He obeyed with alacrity, always pleased when he had reason not to wear them.
After that, the process was remarkably similar to the one she had undergone with Remus and Draco except that Harry really had studied this topic extensively this year and last year, and he was able to cast the spells on his own.
He meditated for almost an hour before he opened his eyes and cast the first spell, showing that the meditation had worked just as it was supposed to; he wasn't aware of what his animal form was in so many words, but he was accessing it, and he'd known instinctively when it was time to continue to the next phase.
All his reactions were painted across his features; she could see his child-like wonder at the mental feeling of transforming. The only transformation Harry had ever felt before was that of the Polyjuice Potion. Although it wasn't nearly as painful as the transformation into a werewolf, it was most definitely an unnatural one—especially in the particular context that Harry recalled.
This seamless and natural mental shift from human to animal would remain in Harry's mind as a clear objective now. He was giddy in his excitement once the spell terminated. She imagined it was not only because of what it had felt like but also because this was the step which he had failed at last year when the group of them had tried. This time, she had seen the ease with which he had managed it, and she knew that had to be a big boost to his self-esteem.
She didn't want him to become over-confident and try too much, too fast, however, so she sat him down and made him drink some water and rest for a bit before she let him move on to the next spell. She could see that he was doing his very best to obey her and not get snappish or whinge that he was fine, so she only made him rest for half the time that the most cautious part of her wanted him to.
She'd have to be sure never to tell him what her own transformation had been like; a unicorn had been guiding her, and they hadn't exactly done everything by the book. Hermione was in charge of this transformation, though, and that meant she was going to be cautious. Just imagining what would happen if the Boy Who Lived was stuck mid-transformation or injured in some freak accident was enough to convince her of the necessity of going carefully.
For the next step, she Conjured a large mirror and set it right in front of him. When he cast the spell that allowed him to see the beginnings of his transformation, the result was as bizarre on him as it had been on everyone she'd ever witnessed under the effects of this spell. His nose began to elongate and started to harden into a beak. He sprouted red feathers along his forehead and cheeks, and his arms began to flatten and broaden, partway to being wings.
Harry stared at himself for a long time in the mirror, his expression of confusion especially amusing given his current facial configuration.
"What am I?" he said finally. "A parrot?"
She had to bite her tongue to keep from laughing.
I heard that! Fawkes said with outrage. A parrot?
She sent him mental peals of the laughter she couldn't express out loud. Just think how pleased he'll be when he sees what he really is. He's trying not to get his hopes up too high.
Fawkes didn't send back any actual words, just a lot of indistinct grumbling and an image of him turning his back on them and tucking his head under his wing on his perch in the headmaster's office. Despite this, she knew that he was still paying careful attention to his protégé.
Still suppressing the giggles, she turned her attention back to Harry. To be fair to him, there'd been very little but the red feathers for him to go on, and he apparently wasn't knowledgeable enough in ornithology to realize that the beak-like protuberance that he had wasn't anything like a parrot's.
He kept up a running commentary as he examined himself. "Well, it wouldn't exactly be inconspicuous, but at least it has wings. Wings are good. And I s'pose I could always pretend to be a Muggle kid's pet if I got caught or something…. Not exactly the animal that anybody'd expect me to be, so I guess it's safe and all that."
She realized she'd better stop him before he got himself so mentally geared up to being a parrot that he influenced his change; she believed that Draco had subconsciously let it affect his choice. Given Harry's relative power—not to mention the odds with which improbable things happened to him on a regular basis—she didn't want to take unnecessary chances.
"Let's shed those feathers and move on, shall we?" she proposed briskly.
During this break, she fed him extra-strong Butterbeer and cinnamon and ginger biscuits. He found this very odd, she could tell, but he refrained from asking questions, and she refrained from telling him that she had considered a bottle of hot sauce and a bowl of spices as well.
She sighed as she realized she was doing that Albus-manipulative thing again. He was doing what he thought best, just as she was doing right now. But that was really a debate for another time. Harry was looking at her with those puppy-dog eyes of his and was clearly ready to move on to the next phase.
She could see the moment he'd cast that the physical senses had kicked right in. He was gazing around the room as though he'd never seen it before, showing that his eyesight was sharper than even his corrected sight had been, and he blinked at the room in astonishment.
She whispered her question as quietly as she could and saw his head snap up as he heard the words: "Still think you're a parrot?"
His guileless green eyes blinked at her, and she knew that the parrot notion had gone right out of his head. She knew that many abilities weren't revealed with this spell; she hadn't known just from this spell that her horn could purify water or just how far she could run without tiring, but when she had cast it, there had been a very strong sense of new abilities and amazing possibilities which she suspected were overwhelming Harry now just as they had her.
When he released this spell, she had him sit back down and meditate to restore his equilibrium, and she didn't get a word of protest out of him. He seemed to be aware of how much he'd been shaken, and he knew full well which spell came next.
As he settled into his meditation and closed his eyes, she wondered if he recalled and appreciated that she was letting him perform all these spells in a row. The book she had given him recommended spreading it out over a bare minimum of a week, repeating each of the transition spells several times over a period of days in order to acclimate and ensure that magical levels were optimal for the final transformation.
She and Harry had a lot of magical strength at their disposal, and she knew that he'd been hoping and studying for this since sixth year—and probably dreaming of it since third when he'd learned that his father and Sirius could do it. She'd managed it all in one go with Castina's assistance, so she trusted that he could do it with hers. Plus she had acquired a fair bit of experience with an accelerated timeline thanks to her Weresbane, leaving her more confident that it could be pulled off quickly by anyone who had the right motivation and the correct sort of help.
Nearly a half hour elapsed, and then Harry's eyes popped open, and he gazed at her with certain eyes.
It was the moment of truth.
She nodded at him. He rose to his feet in one fluid motion, drew a deep breath, and gripped his tightly grasped wand even tighter. He closed his eyes and spoke the incantation firmly: "Förvandlas till djur."
He was concentrating fiercely, and she and Fawkes were watching closely for any signs of distress. None came, however. Harry was desperately determined and very magical; he had a great deal more discipline and skill than when he had tried to learn the N.E.W.T.-level Patronus Charm at thirteen, so she wasn't surprised to see his body blur, shift, and slowly resolve itself into a brilliant red and gold form low to the ground and roughly a third of his previous size.
Closed eyes blinked open as the change stabilized. His head tilted to one side as he processed all the sensory differences between now and a moment ago. And then he saw the mirror.
Harry's gait as a brand new phoenix was rather ungainly, but he made it over to the mirror, standing within all of an inch of it to peer at himself closely. He ruffled his tail feathers, looking inordinately pleased, even in bird form, when this resulted in the colourful movement and display of the plumage in the mirror. Experimentally, he spread his wings, looking even more content as he tilted them back and forth and got used to the feel of them extended as well as tucked at his side.
He looked over at her and made a musical chirping sound, looking immediately surprised at what had come out of his mouth.
Phoenixes sing, Harry; surely you hadn't forgotten that?
I'm a phoenix!
She laughed. I'd noticed. How are you feeling?
Extraordinary, he said immediately.
He sounded blissful.
Better than a parrot? she teased.
Oh, he groaned. You won't tell Fawkes I said that, will you?
The phoenix appeared in a flash of light.
I heard it myself, and I've spent all my time since then thinking of new nicknames for you, Boy-bird. Perhaps Pea-brained Parrot? Or Polly?
At least in phoenix form, Harry's blushes didn't show.
I didn't guess what I would be, either, she confessed to him.
He sent her a brilliant mental grin, physically turning in a circle, still a little awkward but better than he had been moments ago.
What do you think? he asked hopefully.
Welcome, Fawkes said very seriously. It has been a long time since I have known a human such as you.
The phoenix, she realized, probably had more than one tale that he could tell about Pure Adults and Animagi, but Hermione had always trusted that what she said to him was in confidence. Without really thinking about it, she had always believed that her secrets would be honoured even after she was dead and long-buried, and this confirmation was reassuring.
Since there was now another phoenix in the room, Hermione retired her teaching position and settled on the floor with her back up against the wall as she watched Harry learn how to be a bird.
Fawkes, she was pleased to see, was as cautious with Harry as she had been, ensuring that he could walk, hop, run, turn, and perform every other conceivable land-bound movement before the subject of flying was even broached.
Once it was, there were still all kinds of wing and tail movements that Fawkes obliged Harry to learn from a standing position before he was willing to move on to what the fledgling phoenix really wanted to do.
Upon request, Hermione Conjured a pillar beneath Harry that raised him up nearly to the ceiling. As Fawkes had explained, there was a reason that baby birds were eventually pushed out of their nests; that first flight was most easily accomplished with gravity and instinct. The niceties of taking off and landing could be worked out afterwards.
Fawkes flew up so that he was hovering next to Harry before taking off with a musical trill. To Hermione, it looked as though Harry just threw himself after the other phoenix, but Fawkes had been right. About halfway down, Harry opened his wings, and a moment later, he'd adjusted his descent and was levelling off so that he could fly round the entire room—which he proceeded to do multiple times, letting out his own trill that was so evidently thrilled that it brought a smile to Hermione's face.
It was the same as when he had gotten on a broom for the first time; Harry Potter was meant to fly, even Hermione could see that. As he raced Fawkes round the room a few more times, took corners with his wingtips practically brushing the stones and swooped down to skim just above the floor before rushing towards the ceiling again, she knew that Harry wouldn't ever regret that he wasn't a stag like his father.
Hermione was impressed but kept up her extra Cushioning Charm on the floor and walls just in case. Fawkes showed Harry how to slow, brake, and land several times, and then it was time for Harry to attempt it on his own. He came in a little fast, stumbling the slightest bit as he touched down, but there was no need for her charms.
She applauded, and he sent her a mental grin and strong feelings of affection. She rose to her feet as he flicked his wings as though he were going to immediately try to take off.
I know you want to fly again, but you need to change back into human form.
But—he started to protest.
She simply raised an eyebrow, and the promise he had made to her appeared to come back to him.
Right. Back to human form.
She smiled at his attempt to sound agreeable and not grumpy. He closed his eyes, and she could almost feel him pulling in on himself and reminding himself what it felt like to be human.
In reverse slow motion from the transformation she had watched not so long ago, the red melted away as Harry grew larger and taller and pale-skinned. Once he was human again, he opened his eyes and grinned at her.
"Good job, right?"
She pressed her lips together and offered as serious a nod as she could manage under the circumstances, given that while all integral body parts had re-formed just as they ought, several external items were missing. She Conjured a robe and handed it to him without a word.
She now knew that when he blushed, it extended well past his sternum and down his chest. He shrugged hastily into the robe, skin still an amazing shade of pink.
"Can we never speak of that again?" he asked hopefully.
She smiled at him. "You did extremely well, you know. You managed to transform from bird to standing human with very little awkwardness; I can't count the number of people who would have ended up on their arses rather than on their own two feet like you did."
"I'd rather land on my arse with clothes," he said immediately.
She smiled. "Some people can't manage either. Once we're able to show our forms to everyone else, you can wow them all with your entirely clothed transformation. Your secret is safe with me."
"Hold on," he said suddenly. "How did you transform? If you didn't have you to be a super guide, how did you do it?"
She smiled, having a fleeting vision of a Time-Turner-using self coming back to instruct the novice Hermione in her Animagus skills.
"I went out to the Forest. Castina helped."
"But Castina doesn't transform."
"But she's a unicorn, and I'm a human who turns into one. We managed all right," she answered easily.
"With clothes?" he asked pointedly.
"If Castina saw me without clothes at any point, you'll never know," she said evasively.
Harry looked as though he were contemplating marching out to the Forest and seeing if Castina was proof against his puppy-dog eyes, but then he caught sight of Fawkes and was adequately distracted, thankfully, because Hermione had, in fact, been entirely without clothing for more than one of her early transformations. Especially given that clothing was so foreign to unicorns, it had taken a while for Hermione to be able to make the necessary mental adjustment.
Thanks, Fawkes. That was brilliant.
You're very welcome, Boy-bird. It was my pleasure. But I'd better go make sure Albus hasn't gotten into horrible trouble in my absence; we will continue later.
Okay, Harry agreed cheerfully. Thanks again. Bye, Fawkes.
The phoenix launched himself into the air and disappeared in a flash of light. Hermione could almost see the questions forming in Harry's mind, but he refrained from asking her, correctly divining that she was not the expert in these matters.
"There's time," she told him. "Plenty of time to talk it over with him thoroughly. You spent longer in animal form than is usually recommended for a first time, so it'll be good if you think human for a little while, all right?"
He nodded in agreement.
She gave him the standard warning about being trapped in animal form forever and losing his human mind to make sure that he was taking the entire matter seriously. To be perfectly honest, she wasn't sure if she and Harry were in the same danger as others because all the unicorns and phoenixes she'd ever met were quite clever; keeping a self-aware, conscious, and very smart unicorn or phoenix mind didn't exactly seem like a hardship. Still, there was no saying that a "magical animal" brain was meant to run a human body, so caution was still the word of the day.
Harry agreed to get further lessons from Fawkes before he attempted to fly anywhere but in Room One or their quarters. Fawkes could also teach him how to Mask himself into the form of an ordinary bird, and Harry had recognized the necessity of that ability.
She was startled when he launched himself at her and wrapped his arms around her in a death grip. She realized that he'd apparently decided that the dire warnings for the future meant that the first lesson was over.
"You're the best," he said. "Thank you so much."
She hugged him back tightly. "You're very welcome, Harry. It was, as Fawkes said, my pleasure."
The next several days flew by as she brewed and monitored the Animagus transformations of her friends. Before she knew it, the second very important Tuesday was upon them. Remus had once again sneaked into the castle in the wee hours of the morning, and he and Draco had performed a whole slew of final practice transformations. Both of them could now transform smoothly and quickly, and Remus hadn't lost his clothing beyond the first couple of times. They were anxious to move on to the second step and appeared to be ready for it.
They'd both impressed her with their ability to transform with their wands sheathed; they still had them on their persons, but they no longer had to hold them, normally a step that only advanced Animagi like Minerva achieved. Holding the wand to transform, there was always the chance that instead of melding into the animal along with the person's clothing, it would be lost. This could happen especially in moments of panicked transformation and would leave the wizard without a wand, dangerous in early transformations and inconvenient if the Animagus changed locations before transforming back into human form.
Hermione hadn't ever actually used her wand for her transformation; Castina had been teaching her to become a unicorn her way and that hadn't included human props. Hermione, like Remus and Draco now, had had her wand sheathed on her arm. She wondered if the two of them had a better sense of the integral nature of the animal form thanks to all the grappling they had done with the foreign werewolf. Maybe they were just very motivated.
The potion had only been ready shortly before eight in the morning, and she'd had to fob Harry off once more so that he wouldn't worry about where the two of them were. She observed Draco and Remus carefully for an hour before she and Draco headed reluctantly to class.
They returned at lunchtime to the welcome news that Remus reported considerable difference from his standard pre-transformation feelings. He was calmer, not pulled about by the werewolf struggling for freedom. He said he did feel an urge to be in his Animagus form, and she allowed it. Stressing the naturalness of the wolf form along with the human one was essential to her cure.
She had added special transfigured bars to one end of her lab; Remus and Draco each had a separate cage, and she had them warded and layered in spells to ensure that in the worst-case scenario, no one would be in any danger.
The original Wolfsbane had been made and set aside; she'd wanted to be able to say with all honesty to Severus and Poppy that she'd made the potion.
Remus had tested the bars with his increased strength, and Draco had shot a fair few spells at them until they were all satisfied that they would hold. She'd woven runes into these wards, just like around her quarters, so that she would be the only one who could lower them with any sort of ease; she intended to make sure that even in apparently human form, Remus and Draco couldn't get out until she'd thoroughly tested them, and they had both approved of this caution.
Draco and Hermione were the jittery ones all day. When Remus had seen how anxious Draco was, he had been concerned that the potion was not working as well for the blond as it was for the older man, but Draco had sat down and thought about his feelings and then assured the other man that he wasn't feeling any increased blood lust or moon anxiety. No, he was just panicking as a human, and as Hermione was in a similar state, she understood completely.
This was the culmination of a great deal of work, and it was now only a matter of hours until they found out whether or not her cure would be successful.