Unmanageable Mischief

- Chapter Six -

Last Chapter's ending was rewritten. Here's a summary on what changed:

Luna Lovegood finds Harry trapped in his Animagus form and assuming it to be the work of Nargles, asks Harry if he would like to wait for her father so they can get him help.

Harry comes to the conclusion that Nargles are the floating eyeballs his instincts know to be Unowns. Likewise he discovers that they appear to be invisible to others, though that suddenly brings to question why his relatives threw him out.

• ———— • ———— •

It hadn't taken long for Luna's father to appear. Lightly out of breath and disheveled. He was one of the more eccentric-looking wizards Harry had seen.

Slightly cross-eyed, with shoulder-length white hair the texture of candyfloss, he wore a white cap whose tassel dangled in front of his nose and robes of an eye-watering shade of a dirty white rug. An odd symbol, rather like a triangular eye, glistened from a golden chain around his neck. The necklace gave Harry a peculiar feeling of familiarity.

"There you are!" The man had paused to catch his breath, looking around seemingly not noticing Harry, "How unfortunate it looks like we missed the gathering of Nargles. Did you get the chance to see it Luna?"

Luna beamed up at her father, shaking her head. "No, but Harry did!"

Harry, despite his confusion gave into the prevailing sense of innate playfulness, giving a soft yip at her words finally drawing her father's attention to the fox dangling in her arms.

"Oh!" He gapped, "What do we have here? I've never seen this kind of fox before. Looks rather magical doesn't it." The man wiggled his pale brows earning a giggle from his daughter and an amused snort from Harry.

At their amusement the man's smile grew, "Well, Harry! Allow me to introduce myself. I am Lord Xenophilius Lovegood, the father of the lovely lady beside you. Call me Xeno. Now what exactly happened here?"

Harry gave the newly dubbed—Xeno—a playful yip in greeting. Oddly enjoying the playful eccentricity of the two beside him. Looking to Luna to explain.

"The Nargles played a prank on Harry, now he's struck like this." Luna explained in a daze, softly petting Harry's head. Something which Harry approved of as it rid of the sand clinging to him.

"What an absurd prank!" The man exclaimed. Drawing out his wand, Harry tensed momentarily forcing himself to relax as he recognized the familiar words, a simple transfiguration reversal spell.

He sat still on the sand as the spell hit him, only to stare in confusion as it fizzled out into nothingness after hitting him.

A frown emerged on the man's face. "Oh dear..."

Harry did his best to control the panic selling up within his chest. Looking at the two hoping they had a solution.

Luna looked on dazedly. "We best take him to Gringotts, Father."

A complicated look appeared in Xeno's eyes as he looked at Harry. Before understanding bloomed quickly, a sparkle lighting up his eyes.

"Oh!" He exclaimed. "One of those is it? Indeed, we should. Gringotts will get you all sorted out."

Harry tilted his head in confusion. One of those? His fur bristled in nervousness. Was the situation more complicated than just being stuck in his Animagus form?

His mind rolled back to his research on Animagus. He'd admit that his transformation was strange, not to mention it seemed to hold a stronger prevalence over his human body than it should. From the drastic change in his appearance, to the slow change of his personality.

Honestly, his 'symptoms' more closely resembled Creature Inheritance, than the side effects of becoming connected to his inner animal.

Such a thing was not possible however. True Creature Inheritance was an extremely rare thing. A transformation from a human being into a pure Magical Creature due to the power of the creature blood flowing in one's viens. There hadn't been a documented one of those in thousands of years.

However even in such a case, the prominence of Creature blood, no matter how little, would be manifested clearly on wizards and witches even before the inheritance with the reveal of prominent physical traits of the species.

Like the Malfoy Family. Their platinum bleach blonde hair was the most dominant trait of Veelas'. However, the Veela blood in the family was so minuscule that it was the only physical trait which emerged in them. Draco Malfoy certainly didn't possess the innate allure of Veela, nor did he have the feathery trait of a harpy like form. As such the present day, Malfoy's could not claim to be Veela.

(Harry would argue that Draco had certainly inherited their shrill screaming whine though. But then again that could just be a purely Malfoy trait.)

Harry had no such dominant physical traits. Nothing besides his unnaturally glowing green eyes, horrible eyesight, and his untamable hair. But even those had changed with his transformation.

Not to mention that Creature Inheritance's only existed for humanoid creatures. A human could not procreate with a dog, a cat, or a horse (no matter the existence of centaurs). As their genes were not compatible or similar enough with humans to result in a pregnancy.

So Harry was certain this wasn't some kind of Creature Inheritance. That certainty worried him.

The uncertainty of his origin had Harry agreeing with Luna. Gringotts was his best option.

However that brought with it a swelling nervousness. Going to Gringotts meant going to Diagon Alley. Which would be fine it he didn't currently look like an unknown species of magical fox. Whether he was an Animagus or not, Harry didn't think he'd enjoy the consequences of getting caught at the moment.

"Worry not, Harry." Harry startled at he found himself being lifted from the sand and placed gently into Luna's arms. Xeno smiling at him as he batted the sand from Harry's coat.

"A glamour will be placed on you, one which will make you appear as a Kneazle." Xeno assured him. "We will be Apparating(?) to the Apparition spot in Diagon Alley closest to Gringotts as well."

Ah. Harry nodded in understanding. He hadn't considered something so simple to hide him. Sagging into Luna's arms in relief, he let out a thankful yip.

At his response, a smile blossomed on the lips of the Lovegoods' before him.

"Let me warn you, Harry. Side-along apparition is not very comfortable the first time. Make sure you hold on to Luna." There was a stern warning in Xenophillius' words that had Harry pausing. Clutching Luna's small arms as tight as he could with paws, he gave an affirmative nod.

Thankful for the warning, Harry felt magic, carrying a desire to conceal, settle over him. Before finding himself and Luna pulled into the man's arms, an uncomfortable suctioning feelings surrounding him as with a crack they were whisked away from the park.