Familiar

A/N…Well I think its official a lot of people have lost interest in this story. I knew it had to happen at some point but then again I thought the last two chapters were good, but anyway I just want to say that no matter how many reviews I get I will finish this story and I thank all of you who are still reading. And to those of you who aren’t I understand completely.

Familiar has become much longer than I ever intended and maybe that’s where the problem lies. Anyway thank you to everyone who is still reading and hugs to everyone who is reviewing.

Coru…thanks for the review. The reason why Salazar did not put a Draco in the chamber along with the basilisk is that there are none to find. The Draco that is his ancestor fathered Merlin, the line was continued by Merlin’s daughters and continued until Salazars birth. The creature is rarer than a dragon and rarer than a basilisk that is why it is considered the king of serpents and not the basilisk. Hope that helps.

Aaliyah…thank you for the review, Harry will be talking to Hermione in this chapter and he gets a few ideas that he then has to explain to everyone else. It’s now at the stage where Harry is slowly showing his strengths, he’s needing Krai’s help less and less now. He and Krai are slowly becoming equals now and eventually will be more friends than anything.

Heksy…Hey hun I loved the spiked pumpkin juice and special house elf cakes they went down a treat with the plot bunnies. Thanks for all of the encouragement sweetie and don’t worry I wont ever stop writing this I love it too much.

Shiola…Thank you so much that is exactly what I was going for with Ron. You’re right too often he’s just portrayed as a hot headed jerk, I really wanted to explore something different with him. I’m trying to be as original as I can within the genre, it aint easy but im trying.

Thrnbrooke…lol. We get to know a bit more about Hermione in this chapter. Thank you for the review, hope ya like this chapter.

WeasleyWench…hey just read you’re last update, it was perfect so don’t worry. I love hunting dogs, they are cool, gorgeous, powerful, protective and sweet. Gotta love em. Perfect for Harry in this I think. A charmed book would be kinda cool wouldn’t it and thankyou for comparing my story to it. It makes me feel all warm and fuxxy, but then again that might just be the spiked pumpkin juice I’ve been drinking.

PleiadesWolfe…Harry’s animagus form is an African Hunting Dog, they are super quick and vicious, but can be caring an protective just like any dog. They’re quite endangered and are absolutely gorgeous, they’re like tigers, no two have the same markings on their coat. You’ll have to wait and see whether or not Hermione comes back into the group.


Thank you for reviewing. Just wanted to say I again have computer problems but I’m still aiming to have chapter 29 up by next weekend.


Oh and I have no idea whether the Latin translations in this chapter are correct but they are the best I can do. Same goes for the Runes, I have very little knowledge on the subject and am doing my best. But if anyone notices a mistake can they let me know.

Chapter 28: Ritual


That night Harry and Ron returned to the Gryffindor Tower determined to talk to Hermione. They found her as they had seen her many nights since the start of the year, sat with Parvati and Lavender, giggling along in response to something one of them had said.

‘Hermione can we have a word with you for a minute?’ Harry asked her. That unsurprisingly set off another bunch of giggles and made Hermione blush.

Harry and Ron shared a glance.

‘Alright Harry.’ She said that with a smile and a slight blush as she stood. They led her over to the other side of the common room, where they could talk quietly for a moment without arousing suspicion.

‘Hermione we were just wondering how you were?’ Harry asked. ‘We haven’t had the chance to talk since we came back. I bet you’ve been spending most of your time in the library like usual?’ Harry prompted.

‘Oh no Harry, why ever would I spend my time in the library? Lavender and Parvati have been teaching me some charms to make my hair more manageable and tomorrow they’re going to give me a makeover!’ She squealed that last part.

‘That’s great Hermione.’ Ron said with a forced smile.

‘I know it is isn’t it. Well I’d better be going back we were trying to decide what we would be wearing to the Halloween party.’

‘But that isn’t for ages yet.’ Ron exclaimed.

Hermione just tutted at him and explained that a girl likes to have everything planned out whereas a boy would just throw anything on. She said that last with a little glance down at Ron’s attire which made the red head bristle a bit in indignation.

She left them. Harry and Ron just stared at each other for a moment.

‘That isn’t like Hermione Harry.’ Ron said.
‘No not the make up thing, but that last bit comparing boys and girls had a little bit of Hermione in it. There was a little bit of a lecturing tone to it. Let me think for a minute.’

They flopped down in the chairs, Harry with his back to the rest of the room. Ron pretended to strike up a conversation and began to talk incessantly on some subject while Harry thought.

What could possibly make Hermione act like that? It was too quick for the change to occur naturally, people did change but they never changed that quickly. He’d seen her a month ago, she’d acted a bit odd but she’d still been Hermione. Now she was completely different. He felt sure that if he’d have asked her if she’d finished that charms essay she’d have told him no.

So if it wasn’t natural, what was it? It could have been imperious but he doubted it. Krai would have known if she were and told him like he had done with Snape.

What about memory charms?

They’d already learned that Harry had a memory blocked and Dumbledore was the obvious suspect. The same thing could have happened to Hermione. But if it was a memory charm it was obvious that this one affected more than just the memory, it affected Hermione’s personality.

Huh, had his personality been affected by the memory charm on him? Would anyone even know?

That was another thing; she was acting different and no one had wondered why. Ron surely would have noticed if something was off with him, they were best friends. Hermione would have noticed too. But would the others, the rest of the seventh years? They were all friends but they weren’t as close as the ‘Golden Trio’ were, maybe because of that they wouldn’t have noticed a slight difference in either of their personalities. He looked around the room.

‘Neville, hey Neville. Come over here a second mate.’ Harry called. Neville smiled shyly as he headed over.

‘Can I just ask you Neville have you noticed anything strange about Hermione lately?’ Ron was listening avidly.

‘Erh yeh.’ Neville blushed. ‘What happened?’

‘What do you mean?’ Ron asked confused.

‘Well we all thought you’d had a falling out. We didn’t want to say anything, because we didn’t know how you’d react.’

‘Everyone thinks we’ve had a falling out?’

‘Yeah. So what happened?’

‘We don’t know. We saw her a couple of weeks ago and she was fine. She went on holiday with her parents, came back and hasn’t really spoken to us since. Though she did sit with us on the train didn’t she?’ Harry obviously got lost in thoughts again, so Ron quickly diverted Neville with talk of Quidditch.

Harry smiled to himself.

He didn’t dare tell Ron but it seemed spending time with Draco had brought out a little bit of sneaky Slytherin in his friend.

He cast his mind back to the beginning of the week.

Hermione had been fine on the train. She’d stared at him a bit like she had in Diagon Alley but she’d talked like normal Hermione, books and lectures. She’d questioned him thoroughly on why his clothes were so mucky, especially only on the back. And then she’d left him alone with a little huff and gone back to her book. He found it strange that Hermione hadn’t recognised him in Diagon Alley and she’d had a few odd moments there as well. But for the majority she had been normal Hermione. So that meant whatever had happened had started before then, but had been slow. Then after three weeks away with her parents she’d come back her old self, stared a little but a lot of people seemed to be staring at him.

He’d left straight after his chat with the sorting hat. He hadn’t even eaten his dinner and then the following day… he couldn’t remember even talking to Hermione the next morning. No he hadn’t, he hadn’t spoken to her and then after that all he remembered was her talking with Parvati and Lavender.

It had to be a memory charm of some sort and it had to be Dumbledore who’d cast it. If it was true then Dumbledore didn’t want them to hang around with Hermione and trying to find out what was wrong with Hermione would cause Dumbledore to focus on them again.
And that wasn’t a risk they could afford to take.
For now they couldn’t do anything about Hermione, no matter how much it hurt seeing her like this, they couldn’t do anything for her other than to try and find out exactly what sort of memory charm it might be and how to break it.

And when that was done he’d rip Dumbledore’s throat out for hurting his friend.


***


The following morning they again skipped breakfast and Ron moaned all of the way up to the Room of Requirement. If Harry wasn’t used to Ron and his appetite, he’d have found it really annoying and said something. But knowing Ron as he did he could just laugh at Ron’s obvious distress at missing a meal. Then again he wasn’t that happy about missing another breakfast himself. He was just glad they were able to have their dinner yesterday. Although Ron had still groused about the no meat rule that they’d had to follow. It may not be a particularly deadly ritual but purification was important no matter what. If he wanted to become an animagus without it taking years then they had to do this, for this was the only way.

Ron had also moaned over the preparations of the ritual. If bathing and washing your hair in water containing drops of lavender, rosemary and thyme oils…and salt, was a hardship, well, then Merlin help him if he ever had to do a harder ritual. So Ron had to be careful about his choice of clothing and only choose natural materials such as cotton or wool, there was no need to moan about it.

The Room of Requirement was the same as it had been yesterday; a cosy representation of the Slytherin and Gryffindor common rooms, the only difference was the hundreds of cushions on the floor, on which Draco was already sat. Around the room were symbols and lit candles, all of varying colours to symbolise protection and strength of mind. Harry nodded to himself, the room’s protections would not interfere with the ritual, they would most likely strengthen it.

Draco rose when they came in and Harry swept him into an intense kiss, his frustration at not being with Draco since the night before evident in his actions. Ron watched his best friend with a little hint of jealousy; he wanted someone to greet him like that.

‘Ok, ok. Enough you two; I don’t need to see that.’

They broke away quite reluctantly, heads bowed and arms still tightly gripping each other.

‘Sorry Ron.’ Harry whispered. ‘It’s just hard not being with him.’

‘S’ok mate, I was just joking.’

‘Well are we going to get started or what?’ Draco asked, finally breaking his hold on Harry’s shoulders.

They began to clear a space in the centre of the room, pilling most of the cushions around the edge of the room but leaving some in the centre. Once sufficient space was cleared Harry conjured a piece of white chalk. White to symbolise purity, beginnings and renewal, it was perfect for this type of ritual.

The first stage was to draw a circle in a clockwise direction. Even though the ritual wasn’t dangerous and would not harm them or anyone else there was always the possibility of unwanted energies seeping in and affecting the ritual casting so a circle was completely necessary. It was a shame that ritualism was a subject no longer taught at Hogwarts, believed to be old fashioned and outdated. That was one of the reasons this ritual wasn’t used often, most people even dark wizards steered clear of rituals because they could all too easily go wrong. And if they did there was no telling what could happen to the person trapped inside the circle.

Once the circle was sealed the three of them conjured many different coloured candles to line the inner wall of the circle.

The truth was that rituals were dangerous and most had been labelled as dark magic and banned accordingly, it was interesting that this ritual had made it past the scrutiny. But then again this one was a recent creation and therefore could be termed as not having any dark magic. But even the knowledge that a ritual was as light as could be, still didn’t influence many people to try it. This ritual condensed all of the pain and discomfort of the traditional trial and error approach to animagus transformations. The caster would experience slight discomfort during this phase that they were about to perform as it all happened within the mind. The second stage was the transformation of the body. The person would be forced to transform after their mind had undergone enough transformations to ensure a safe change. The body’s transformation could occur at any point and could not be stopped. The person during that one transformation received all of the pain that would have been felt over the several years needed to transform in the original way. It was an intense experience and it was this amount of pain that put off a lot of people from attempting the ritual. Add to that the fact that the ritual didn’t always work and well there were a lot of reasons not to do it.

It would hurt him to know Draco would be in pain, but not doing this could mean that Draco would be in more pain later on. An animagus form could mean the difference between torture/death and escape and for Draco he would settle for nothing than escape. Though he would prefer to rescue the blonde himself then he could protect him. Anyway no matter the reason the ritual was necessary to them and it had to be performed on this the last day of the weekend because it was a to day ritual. And when else would they have the time? They could wait until the holidays but Harry wanted his mate to be safe as soon as possible.

The candles that needed to be cast were: white to keep the circle pure, light blue to calm the occupants, purple to ward against harmful energies and lemon yellow to bolster the depleted energies of the circle’s occupants. Half of this was not actually necessary but Harry would not take any risks when his mate…and his best friend were involved.

For added security he drew several pentagrams, one of the oldest symbols of protection, at key points around the circle.

The finishing touches to the circle involved the transcription of runes…Algiz, for protection and Nauthiz, which had a minor meaning of self-initiated change. Fehu for creation and finally Kenaz the rune for transformation.

It would have been better to perform the ritual on Monday, according to the book the day was influenced by inner elements of the psyche. But Sunday was good enough and it was the only day open to them.

They arranged the cushions that they had placed in the centre earlier, making it so that none would touch the chalk or candles. Then they got comfortable, which for Harry and Draco meant sitting close together so they could touch. For Ron it meant plumping up a load of cushions and then falling backwards which resulted in a cloud of feathers, but if he was comfy then what did it matter.

And then they began the Bestia Mutatio Ritus.

Saying the words of the ritual in concert so as not to disturb the building magic.


‘Ego precor meus penitus veneficus ,
Ut beckon continuo creatura quisnam typicus meus animus.
Permissum meus mens interfixus via pro meus somes.
Quod meus somes insisto is ut is mos.’


They cleared their minds, until nothing was left apart from an image of themselves as humans and the image of the creature that had come to them last night. Once the images were clear they concentrated, bringing the animal’s image forward to overlay the one of their bodies.

As the book said they then felt an itching sensation along their spines and hands. Harry felt things shifting, rearranging themselves. He didn’t open his eyes, he knew that if he did he wouldn’t see anything anyway. The ritual being faster than the original method of transformation (which was basically trial and error) and more painful, had to be done in the mind first. This meant that everything he was feeling, the itches and the shifts were all happening to his mind. It was a way for the body to get used to the idea of transformation without the actual stresses of a physical change.

It was a strange feeling, to have the sensation of changing and yet knowing your body was still the same. He felt the bones of his arms and legs shift, he felt himself shrinking. He felt like he was falling onto all fours even though he wasn’t even standing.

The itching sensation intensified and spread, he knew it was supposed to be fur sprouting all over his body. His nose grew, so did his ears, his eyes changed position slightly. And last but not least he felt his teeth lengthen and a tail sprout from his rear. The sensation of being surrounded by a different body continued for some time. Finally Harry decided that that was long enough, this time he took the image of the animal away from that of his own body. This time he felt himself changing back.

Once the sensations had finished, he opened his eyes and looked around. They both had their eyes closed. But then again they’d had to shrink further than him and Ron had had to grow wings. That definitely wasn’t easy.

He settled back into the pillows to watch them, he felt so tired, he just wanted to sleep but he couldn’t not while Draco was still in the trance and there was clean up work to do. It was funny watching Ron, every so often he would give an odd little grimace. Draco just looked a little pale.

He watched them, there were no other physical signs other than slightly goose pimpled skin. Once they were all aware he spoke the closing words of the ritual, closing the circle and dousing the candles.

They then conjured besoms and swept the now un-magical chalk into a pile to be vanished.

‘Well, that’s it.’ Harry said looking around. ‘I suggest we all get some rest. Remember every spare moment where you’re not thinking or using your mind, imagine what you saw in your mind. Your animal overlaying your body. You should feel the same sensations you felt then. If not then you may have to repeat the ritual. After that it could be a day or more, maybe even a week before the mind has gone through the transformation enough for the body to attempt it. And remember that no matter where you are or what you are feeling, if the itching sensation starts then retreat to your rooms. Pretend you’re going to throw up if you have to but make sure you get away and find somewhere private. Cast silencing charms and privacy wards and do it fast. And make sure you get comfortable if you don’t have time to get somewhere safe then at least make sure you cast a silencing charm because even though the minds practiced it, the body hasn’t. So it will bloody hurt.’

They were on their way to the door when Ron spoke.
‘That was the weirdest bloody feeling ever.’ Ron said.

‘This is getting to be a habit, but I agree with the Wea…Ron.’ Draco winced expecting Ron to yell.

‘You know Malf…Draco. You’re not as bad as I thought you were.’

Draco smiled. ‘Truce?’

‘Truce.’ Ron replied, taking Draco’s hand.

Harry just smiled. They were exhausted he could see it, but they were making an effort.

And as much as he wanted to lock himself in this room with Draco, he knew he couldn’t. They’d been gone long enough. Dumbledore would be suspicious but hopefully not enough to question Ron or Draco. Harry knew he could withstand Dumbledore prodding his mind, he practiced occlumency every moment he could. If Voldemort couldn’t break into his mind even though he did have a direct link into Harry’s mind then Dumbledore certainly couldn’t.

They’d spent long enough together this weekend as it was and as much as it hurt him and hurt Draco, he knew it would be worse if Dumbledore had reason to question them. Draco and Ron wouldn’t be able to withstand an intrusion into their minds; he may not like spending this much time apart from Draco but for now doing so kept Draco safer.

They kissed goodbye, a slow loving kiss that somehow still felt desperate. They couldn’t imagine being apart when the other could go and transform at any moment. But they had to and it killed them inside.

Leaving each other at the door to go their separate ways was one of the hardest things either of them had ever done.




Well that’s it. I’m not gonna bother saying ‘if you’ve read please review’. Do what ya wanna do.


Bestia mutatio ritus…Animal transformation ritual.


EGO precor meus penitus veneficus ,
Ut beckon continuo creatura quisnam typicus meus animus.
Permissum meus mens interfixus via pro meus somes.
Quod meus somes insisto is ut is mos.….

I invoke my inner magic
To beckon forth the creature who symbolises my soul.
Let my mind pave the way for my body.
And my body follow it when it will.

If translations are wrong then I’m sorry, I can’t speak Latin apart from animal names so I got the translations from the following websites.

http://humanum.arts.cuhk.edu.hk/Lexis/Latin/
http://www.translation-guide.com/free_online_translators.php?from=English&to=Latin


RECOMMENDATION

I am recommending some HP/DM fics by Jennavere.

Single Wizard Seeking Same

http://archive.skyehawke.com/story.php?no=12808&chapter=1

If you want pure utter romance that’ll give you butterflies and the green monster of jealousy then read this.


Detention with Professor Malfoy

http://archive.skyehawke.com/story.php?no=7287&chapter=1&font=&size=

Established relationship. Draco gets offended when Harry says he’s the sub. Gods I want some punishment like this.


Gryffindor Seduction 101

http://archive.skyehawke.com/story.php?no=7112&chapter=1

Blaise wants to fuck Harry a few times and piss off. Draco finds he doesn’t like that. Fun and hot. Check it out.


Batman and its sequel Catwoman

http://archive.skyehawke.com/story.php?no=7496&chapter=1&font=&size

http://archive.skyehawke.com/story.php?no=7497&chapter=1&font=&size

Its Harry’s birthday, Draco has one too many Mai-Tai’s. And reveals a few secrets about our Harry.
Funny, Draco wanting Harry’s autograph.

The second one is definitely better though.
Catwoman is set the following day and oh god its priceless. Draco in a leather outfit.