Chapter 11: How Is This Possible?
Saturday November 19th 7:11pm.
"Remember, trust your inner animal. It knows what it needs, way better than your human side does, so trust it. As soon as you take the potion, it will start whispering to your very core, calling for you to do certain things to make it comfortable when you change for the first time. Find somewhere warmer if your animal needs it. Cooler if that is what is needed. A smaller creature may want a small space where they feel safe and secure, or it may desire large, open spaces, listen to it. After you have changed, stay in that form for a few minutes before changing back. Rest until I tell you that you have recovered and change back to your animal. We will continue this for over an hour, until the transformation is a quick and easy process. You will be tired and probably a little magically drained at the end, but I have some potions from Madam Pomfrey to aid with that. Are you ready to begin?" Although Minerva had already told all of this to Harry, she always liked to reiterate it before any of her students were to become animagi for the first time. It was a serious undertaking that he was about to go through, and every one of the students she had taught were 3 years older than Mr. Potter.
"Yes I'm ready, but what if…" The nervous boy took a moment to set himself before continuing with his concern. "What if It doesn't work? What If I can't change? Or if I don't have an animal form?"
"While it is possible that you don't have an animal form, it is very rare. Only around 1 in 10 who attempt to become animagi have that problem, but if it does prove to be the case for you we will know within a minute of you taking the potion and there will be nothing further that we can do. There is no shame in that, no body has been able to work out what causes it, our best guess is that it is random. Professor Dumbledore, who as I'm sure you are aware was the transfiguration professor before me, is one such example of a person unable to make the change because of the lack of an animal. And no one can accuse him of being underpowered or underskilled now can they?" At his shake she continued. "While you are young, and not as skilled at transfiguration as I would like or usually expect from a student, you are magically powerful and in the end that is often enough to compensate for other failings."
"I'm not that powerful Professor." 'To his credit he truly believes that.' Minerva thought to herself as her student tried to persuade her otherwise.
"I am well aware of your feats Mr. Potter. Did you not cast a fully corporeal Patronus charm last year?" She waited long enough for him to respond in the affirmative. "It was very impressive from what I hear. If you were able to achieve that, you should be able to succeed tonight. I can tell you honestly Harry that you are both magically talented and magically powerful, in fact you are one of the most powerful, if not the most powerful, student I have ever taught. Your Patronus proved that, and I have a feeling that today will only confirm it." She smiled at the boy to reassure him, before handing him the potion.
Harry accepted the potion from his teacher, but still hesitated to drink it. No matter how much she tried to reassure him, he couldn't shake a feeling that a disaster was going to happen tonight.
"Well here goes nothing then." The boy said as he raised the vial to his lips, steeling himself for what was to come.
"Now remember you have one hour to change from when you drink the potion. Do not rush it though, otherwise it could have disastrous results. It you fail to reach a place where you feel comfortable to change, we will have to wait a week or two before attempting it again." The only response Harry gave was to tip his head back and drown the potion in one gulp. The concentration on his face changing to a look of confusion as the potion started to take effect.
"What. What is happening? I hear two, whispers I guess you could call them, telling me different things." The student struggled to both understand and explain what was happening. "One wants warmth, no fire. The other wants darkness. Does any of this make sense Professor?" The youth turned to the older witch.
Minerva took a moment to think over what her cub had been telling her and decided there was only one possible answer. "There are no recorded cases, but it has been theorised that it is possible. I believe that you have two animals inside you, either they are fighting for dominance, or you must let them both out. You may end up having two animagi forms. Amazing! If I am right that is." The professor looked sheepish for getting excited at potentially bearing witness to magical history.
"What should I do Professor?" Harry was a little overwhelmed by it all and sought his teachers guidance.
"Is there somewhere which stands out to you as where you should go? Maybe somewhere that suits them both?" This was far from usual and the transfiguration professor didn't have any guidelines to follow. It seemed to be the right thing to say as her student took off in search of Merlin only knew what. As was her responsibility she took of in pursuit of the cub, regretting her age as he kept increasing the distance between the two. The progress the two made scattered the few students out and about in their wake.
Minerva finally caught up with the student as he was catching his breath, in the second-floor girls bathroom. Albus had told her about the hidden entrance in the bathroom so she new instantly where Harry intended to go for his transformation. "Are you sure about this Mr. Potter?"
~open~ Harry said in parseltongue after nodding his resignation for what must be done. It wasn't until the pipe that they were to slide down appeared that Harry recognised the flaw in his plan. 'How are me and Professor McGonagall supposed to get back up afterwards? Surely there is another entrance, Voldemort was hardly likely to slide down when he was letting the Basilisk out the first time around.' It was then that an idea hit him. ~stairs~ when that didn't work he continued with other options, ~staircase, ramp, passageway, ladder~ it was after he said the ladder that small divots appeared on the wall as a concert ladder built into the pipe. "I will jump down first Professor. I know what to expects so can check if everything is okay."
"I appreciate your concern Mr. Potter, but believe it or not I am quite capable of defending myself, and have been since before you parents were born. Also I hardly think it would be acceptable." Minerva finished indicating the dress that she was wearing. Not giving him a chance to respond she stepped into the abyss, leaving Harry with no option but to wait. Giving his professor a minute to get out of the way, he also stepped into the darkness.
/
When Harry regained his feet at the bottom of the long pipe, he looked around to see McGonagall standing by the rubble created by Lockhart at the end of Harry's second year. Walking over to his professor he was sure he heard her sigh.
"Such a shame that a room as amazing as the one on the other side of this slip was created for such evil. It could have been used for anything, at what did Slytherin do with it? Put a level 7 classified beast in a school!" Any further ranting that the deputy head of Hogwarts was going to do was lost as she regained control over herself. "If you give me a few minutes I can sure up a small passageway for us to traverse through to the Chamber."
True to her word the professor had a hole ready for them in less than five minutes, and they continued on their journey in companionable silence. After another whispered ~open~ the pair were in the Chamber of Secrets. This fact was reinforced by Minerva's gasp when she lay eyes upon the corpse of the Basilisk for the first time.
"My poor cub!" The professor exclaimed as she wrapped Harry in a tight hug for the first time. "You were so brave, but never to something so reckless again!" Regaining her composure she let go of her student and walked over the the dead beast.
"That's weird. Professor why hasn't it started to decompose yet? It's been over a year after all." That the Basilisk looked to be in perfect condition, apart from the damage done by Harry and Fawkes, surprised the boy.
"Basilisk hide is incredibly tough, I would have been surprised if it had started to rot. The insides and flesh might have started to go, but I doubt it. A Basilisk is a very powerful, dark-magic creature, it probably take 5, if not 10, years for it to start breaking down." Minerva relayed all this without tearing her eyes away from the corpse.
"Well I am going to change into the first animal now Professor, if that is okay?" He received a grunt in affirmation, as Minerva still hadn't taken her eyes off the monster that had caused her young lions so much pain. "Ostendere Bestia" Harry spoke out the incantation doing the wandwork that he been taught, all the while envisioning his inner animal being revealed.
/
Hearing the spell and a hiss from behind her, Minerva turned around to a sight as shocking as the one that had been in front of her previously. "How is this possible?" Out of her shock she watched the giant snake move around in front of her, before she realised how dangerous doing so could prove to be. She covered her eyes while shouting out, "Turn back now Harry!"
Surprised at the fear in her voice, and the change to the plan she had set out earlier, Harry focused on becoming human and used his magic to bring the change about. "What's wrong Professor?" Harry said as he rushed over to his teacher. Hearing his voice Minerva slowly removed her hands from in front of her eyes.
"Are you aware what you turned into Mr. Potter?" They were still on the clock after all if Harry had a second creature so she got straight down to business.
"I was a snake, quite a large one to. Was I an anaconda or python of some size?" Why was she frightened by a snake?
"Not just any snake, Harry, a Basilisk!" Her voice was full of wonder, fear and shock.
"That cannot be possible Miss! You yourself told me that you can't become a magical creature." Harry was as shocked by her words as Minerva appeared to be for saying them.
"I am well aware as to what I said Mr. Potter! I have told a hundred different student it over the years after all. Until today I also believed that it was impossible for an individual to have two form, but it appears like that will be the case for you as well. Remember that a Basilisk is very dangerous creature, it's stare can kill and its venom can kill with ease. Use your form with care. I am going to look away, and you need to change between your Basilisk and human forms several times, before we move on to your next form. Let me know when you have done that several times.
/
"Okay Professor, I have done as you asked. It feels smoother than when I first changed, but it does still hurt when I change. Is that normal?" Having changed to his Basilisk form three more times after his original change it felt easier with each turn.
"That pain is just your body's reaction to the shock of changing so drastically, it will reduce and disappear completely over time as you get used to the change. Do you think you are ready to follow the other voice?" Time was running out so Minerva wanted to hurry proceedings along.
"Yes of course Miss, what should I do?" Harry was fascinated to find out if he had a second form and what it was if he has one.
"This is new territory, but my best bet would be to just listen to the anima and follow its instincts." Hearing her statement, Harry took a moment with his eyes closed to meditate on what he was being told.
"Okay Professor, I know what is needed. You need to create a fire surrounding me in a circle." The boys words shocked his teacher, but he cut over her response. "Trust me, it feels right." Still being sceptical she did as the student asked and cast several intricate fire spells, creating a wall of flames around the boy.
"Ostendere Bestia" Harry cast, and then in a blink of his eye he was gone. Hovering in his place, with a casual flap of its wings was the most gorgeous, pure gold, Phoenix Minerva had ever seen let alone heard of.
"How is this possible?" In her shock McGonagall didn't even realise that she was repeating her earlier response to seeing Harry's first animagus form. "Amazing Mr. Potter! You really are breaking the rules of magic today." Shaking her head in wonderment, before joy flowed through her system as the Phoenix trilled out happily as he flew through the flames.
Harry continued to sing as he flew around the room, simply enjoying the experience of flying. Since his first time on a broom he had loved the feeling of flying, but that failed in comparison to the freedom and experience of flying with his own wings. He never wanted to stop flying!
"Mr. Potter, please change back." A feeling of lose swept through Harry as McGonagall spoke up, he let out a sad trill not knowing how it effected his Professor. After he changed back Minerva walked up to him. "How are you feeling? Tired?"
"A little Miss, but I feel like I can fly for hours." His excitement boiling over and he couldn't stand still.
Nodding to the youth, Minerva was the voice of reason. "In a minute Harry, but we need to set some guidelines. Just stick to the basics of movement and changing into the form at the moment. You obviously can fly, and your trilling tugs at the emotions like a Phoenix so you have to be careful! Next Saturday we will work on what traits you have gained from your animals."
"But Professor! The first task is before then! I may need the traits!" The boy started to panic thinking about the upcoming task and the hope that had just been snatched away from him.
"I understand your concern Harry, but we simply do not have the time to train you enough with either, let alone both, before the first task. As a last ditch effort if everything else is failing you might have to use one, but it may suit you better to have these trump cards up your sleeve for later in the tournament." Having said her piece she allowed Harry to change back to his Phoenix form.
Over the next half an hour Harry changed into both forms multiple times, allowing his professor to inspect each form. His Basilisk was 12.6 meters long, and a 3 meter circumference at his thickest point. As a Phoenix he was 84 centimetres tall with a 106 centimetre wingspan. This made his Basilisk a little over half the length and two thirds of the circumference of Slytherins monster by their estimate. His Phoenix was about 4/5ths of Fawke's size by Minerva's guess, since Fawke's wasn't present.
"I still don't understand how this has happened Harry, not just are you a magical creature, but you are two! It's astonishing, it really is." Minerva shock her head while looking off into the distance wondering how he could break such essential foundations to the understanding of animagi magic.
"I have a theory about that. I think the reason I am two creatures, and those two in particular is because of what happened here in the chamber. The Basilisk venom and Phoenix tears coursing through my veins led to this outcome." It was the only logical thing he could think of.
Minerva though about what he had said, and nodded when she realised that it was the most likely cause. "We will keep this quiet, that theory, otherwise people might try stack it in their favour when seeking to become an animagus, which could prove deadly if not monitored well. Any way, that is enough for tonight Harry, drink these potions and I will see you at breakfast tomorrow." After he had downed the potions they went their separate ways.
A/N: A New chapter for you all, hope you enjoy
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