Chapter Text
“Are you nervous?”
The question slipped out before Harry could stop it. Immediately, he felt a bit foolish. Of course Ginny was nervous. They both were. Tonight was the night. Harry could feel the approaching storm. The sky was growing dark and cloudy, and it made the hair on his arms and the back of his neck tingle. Sirius and Remus had been on edge all day, murmuring to each other when they thought Harry and Ginny weren’t near, going tense and silent upon realization that they were.
“Of course,” Ginny said, rolling over towards him. They were laying in bed together, their hands clasped between their bodies. A red tendril of hair slipped off her shoulder and landed on Harry’s arm. He pinched it with his free hand, lightly rubbing the silken strands between his fingers.
“I think – do you think – ” What a Gryffindor he was, he thought, unable to even finish a stupid sentence. But the fear that maybe he wouldn’t be able to do this at all nagged at him. The two of them becoming an Animagus was so important to Sirius. He really didn’t want to let Sirius down now, after everything that Sirius has done for them.
“I don’t know,” Ginny said slowly, her eyebrows furrowing. “But Dad and Uncle Remus said it would be okay, so...?” She looked over at him, uncertainty painted across her features. They both wanted to believe that, but it was so hard when adults had failed them before. He didn’t think that Sirius and Remus would lie to them, but he had also realized that there wasn’t always much difference between a lie and comfort.
Harry sighed. “I want to be an Animagus with you. I don’t want to be left behind.”
“Well, you’ll go first. If you can’t, I’ll wait,” Ginny said, and there was that stubborn glint in her eyes, as though she could will Harry’s Animagus counterpart into reality through sheer force of determination alone.
“Right,” Harry said. He didn’t think it was that simple, but having Ginny say it still helped. He let go of her hair and reached up to his forehead, easily finding his scar. The angry red line beneath his fingers pulsed with that weird third heartbeat for just a moment, and he fought back a shudder. He still didn’t know what it was, but he wanted it gone no matter what it took.
“Harry, it’ll be okay,” Ginny whispered. She shifted closer to him, until she could lay her head on his shoulder. Harry lifted up their intertwined hands and stared at them. They’d lain just like this in Azkaban once, he remembered. Only then their cot had been small and hard beneath them, not huge and luxurious like their bed.
Ginny squeezed his hand and he sighed again, squeezing back. The spark of gold that was Ginny pulsed in the back of his head. It was a comforting reminder that he truly wasn’t alone anymore. He had Ginny and Sirius and Remus, which was more than he’d ever had in his whole life. He didn’t want to lose any of them. He didn’t want things to go wrong now that they were finally going right...
“Kids?” Sirius tapped lightly on the doorframe, and Ginny rolled over and sat up.
“Is it time?” she asked.
“It’s time,” Sirius confirmed. “Remus is just putting the finishing touches on everything. I came up here to help you guys get ready.”
“We’re ready,” Harry said, deciding that he was. All of this waiting around, all this fear, he was tired of it. He sat up too, and Sirius smiled.
“Okay, good. Follow me,” Sirius said, beckoning to them. They obediently climbed off of the bed and went to him.
Sirius took them downstairs to a room that they didn’t use much; it was at the far end of the northernmost corridor. It was a large room, but dark since it lacked a fireplace. Tonight, Remus had filled the room with hundreds of burning candles. He’d drawn a large circle with various symbols around in it in the middle of the floor. No, not symbols, Harry realized. Runes. Remus had painstakingly drawn dozens of runes. He was still doing it now even, down on his hands and knees, carefully copying a rune from a book. He didn’t even seem to have noticed that they had arrived.
“What are they for?” Ginny asked, pointing to the runes.
“To help with this,” Sirius said, and he gently tapped Harry’s scar. Harry reached up and covered Sirius’s hand, looking up at him.
“What is it?” he asked, unsure if he really wanted to know. It wasn’t good. That much was obvious.
“We’ll tell you after,” Sirius said quietly. “I promise.” He looked Harry right in the eyes, his expression perfectly, well, serious. Harry stared at him for a few seconds before nodding. Sirius had never broken a promise to either him or Ginny before. Harry had to trust him now.
“What exactly is going to happen?” Ginny asked, biting her lower lip. Her hand clutched at Harry’s even tighter than before.
“You’re going to go first, Ginny. Not to be rude, but it’s best to get your transformation out of the way first,” Sirius said, almost apologetically, but Harry could tell that Ginny hadn’t taken any offence. She nodded like that made perfect sense to her.
“And then me?” Harry said, his nerves making his heart pound anew.
“That’s right. You don’t need to worry about anything, Harry, except for your transformation. Remus and I are going to take care of the rest,” Sirius said. He rolled up the sleeves of his shirt. “Remus will extract it, and then I’ll take care of destroying it. We have everything I need.” There was a look of grim satisfaction in his eyes as he led the two of them over to a table in the corner.
Harry looked at the table curiously, noting that it held only two objects. One was a box made out of what appeared to be silver, small enough to fit in the palm of Harry’s hand. The other was a thick, fat glass vial about the length and width of Harry’s forearm. He reached out a finger to curiously poke the box, and Sirius quickly grabbed his hand and pulled it back.
“Nuh uh, don’t touch that. It’s highly corrosive and dangerous,” he said. “It’s basilisk venom.”
“Where on earth did you get basilisk venom?” Ginny asked, looking shocked. “That costs a fortune. And I remember Bill saying that it’s pretty rare.
“I’ll tell you after,” Sirius said again. “But for now, don’t touch it. We need it, and we can’t get anymore right now.” He glanced over as Remus finally straightened up with a groan.
“Alright, I think we’re ready,” Remus said, smiling tiredly at them.
“Let’s get your vials,” Sirius said. He was starting to look excited, and Harry could feel that excitement catching on. He caught Ginny’s eye and shared a grin with her as they ran from the room.
Both of their potions had turned a deep red colour, like the colour of blood. Harry breathed a sigh of relief as he picked his up, cradling it carefully in his hand as he and Ginny returned to Remus and Sirius. He didn’t know what they would’ve done if the potion had turned any other colour, but it would’ve been really disappointing as any other colour meant that they would’ve had to start the whole process all over again.
“Alright Ginny, you’re first,” Remus said. “You remember what to do?”
Ginny nodded. She took out her wand and pointed it at her heart, whispering, “Amato Animo Animato Animagus.”
Then she uncorked the vial and drank it down without hesitation. Harry watched her closely, itching to walk over and take her hand. But he stayed where he was as Ginny’s eyes became unfocused and distant, like she was seeing something that no one else could. Remus quickly walked over to her and gently took her wand from her hand. Then he backed up to where Sirius and Harry were.
In the blink of an eye, Ginny was gone. Sitting in her place was a little red fox.
“A fox!” Sirius said, clearly delighted by this. “That’s great, Ginny. You did it!”
Ginny looked up at them and made an odd chirping noise. Harry finally moved forward, kneeling down in front of her and looking at her with awe. He estimated that she probably weighed about three quarters of a stone. Her chest and snout were both white, with darker reddish-brown fur on all four paws and on her right ear. The rest of her fur was the exact same shade of red as Ginny’s hair in human form. Dark brown eyes stared up at Harry, thankfully full of human intelligence.
“Ginny?” Harry asked softly, and she chirped again and moved forward to press her snout to Harry’s hand. For some inexplicable reason, Harry’s eyes watered. He blinked back the tears and smiled, gently stroking her head. Her fur was so soft.
“Excellent job, Ginny,” Remus said warmly. “Okay Harry, it’s your turn.”
Harry’s stomach twisted with a fresh bout of nerves as he stood. Ginny twined around his legs, leaving some red fur on his pants, then scampered over to Sirius. Sirius bent and picked her up, patting her head for a moment before he set her down on a nearby chair. Ginny sat, curling her bushy tailed around her paws. She had some white fur on her tail too, Harry noticed for the first time.
“Just do your part, Harry, and leave the rest of it to us. Stand here.” Remus indicated the centre of the circle. Harry stood in the middle and took out wand.
“Amato Animo Animato Animagus,” he murmured, pointing his wand at his heart. He felt the same usual heat running through him, then the feeling of a second heartbeat – and then the feeling of a third. He tried not to grimace as he pulled the cork and downed the potion. Unusually for most potions he’d taken, which generally tasted disgusting, this one tasted like clear, fresh, icy cold water.
Something twisted in his chest, and the room slowly blurred over. Harry found himself looking at a small wildcat of some sort. The animal looked back at him calmly. It had tawny fur with a white belly and two white back paws. Random black patterns zigzagged through its fur, except around its eyes. Two black circles, not unlike spectacles, circled the cat’s eyes, and Harry felt a sudden pang for Professor McGonagall.
Then the next thing he knew, his forehead was burning ferociously. Harry cried out with both surprise and pain as an ache swept through his whole body. But the worst pain was still on his forehead, and it built until it felt like his scar was on fire, and he thought maybe something had gone wrong. The spark in the back of his head that was Ginny began to pulsate, radiating glittering gold light, pushing away, burning away, tendrils of shadow that Harry had never before noticed. And then, suddenly, it felt as though that shadow was being forcibly pulled out of him, wrenched right out of his forehead with no prior warning. He staggered and fell forward onto paws – yes, not hands, but his front paws, collapsing onto the floor. Blood streamed down his forehead, temporarily blinding him, and he let out a confused, pained roar.
There was a soft little chirp and then a bushy tail brushed his nose, another furry head gently butting against him. Harry inhaled a very familiar scent and settled, the burning spark in the back of his head easing now as he recognized Ginny. She curled up beside him and began to clean his face with her tongue, gently lapping at his fur. Harry whined in pain and leaned into her.
Remus and Sirius were yelling at each other, but he could barely make out the words. He stayed right where he was, safely beside Ginny, until she had cleaned his face enough for him to be able to see. Harry looked up, a little scared, as a frankly enormous shape reached for both of them. But then the scent of Sirius reached his nostrils and he relaxed as Sirius scooped them both up.
"A fox and an ocelot," Sirius said, sounding like he was laughing and crying at the same time. “It’s gone, Harry. We got rid of it. You’re free. You’re finally free.”
Harry didn’t know what “it” was, but he was dreadfully glad to be free. He leaned up and gently licked the side of Sirius’s face in thanks.