A million little times

Chapter 18 - Your Sweet Smile

Rita walked into the Library that morning before class and gave Madam Pince a winning grin.

"Good morning!" she said cheerily.

Madam Prince just grunted at Rita, looking her up and down suspiciously.

Rita continued unperturbed "I wanted to impress Professor McGonagall by writing an extra credit report on Animagus and I was wondering if you could recommend a couple of books on the process for me."

Madam Pince raised one eyebrow.

"Oh and I also brought you a treacle tart." Rita said, offering up her last bargaining chip.

"Follow me." Said the woman begrudgingly. "And leave the treacle tart there."

She led Rita through the halls of the library, the books getting dustier as they rounded corner after corner.

"Here is the section on Animagus." Said the librarian. "You may have one hour."

Rita grinned up at the unpleasant woman. "Thank you so much."

Pince nodded and Rita immediately grabbed the first book.

It hadn't been touched in years by the look of it. She opened it and found the chapter on Animagus.

The chapter started with many warnings and a few images of witches and wizards stuck as half animal or exploding. She grimaced but ignored the warnings. After all, if she did everything right like she always did there wouldn't be an issue.

Next was a paragraph reading. "If you intend to become an Animagus it is of the utmost importance that you are of age, have a Ministry approved teacher, and report to the Ministry of Magic for registration. If a witch or wizard is found to be an unregistered Animagus they will be sentenced to serve time in Azkaban. The time period of this sentence will be determined by the Ministry of Magic."

Rita let out a small laugh at that. She had zero intentions of reporting herself to the Ministry. That destroyed half the usefulness of being an Animagus.

She continued to read:

"The process to becoming an Animagus will require the following ingredients:

A Mandrake Leaf held in the casters mouth for the period of one full moon to the next

A hair from the caster's head

A teaspoon of dew that had not seen the sun or been touched by human feet for seven days

And lastly the chrysalis of a Death's head hawk moth."

Rita quickly jotted down the ingredients in the notepad she had brought with her and then began to copy the instructions on the transformation.

"The Mandrake Leaf must be held in the witch or wizard's mouth for a month, starting at one full moon and ending at the next. At the next visible full moon the leaf must be spit into a vial within view of the moon's rays. Then the caster's hair must be added, along with the teaspoon of dew and the Death's head hawk moth chrysalis.

The mixture should be hidden in a dark quiet place until an electrical storm arrives. Until the electrical storm arrives the caster must hold the tip of their wand to their heart every day at sunrise and sunset without fail. As they hold the wand they must chant the incantation "" Amato Amino Animato Animagus""

When the lightning storm appears the caster must move to a large and secure place, recite the incantation for a final time, and drink the potion. If all instructions are followed correctly, the caster will have become an Animagus.

Rita snapped the book shut with delight. She was determined to do this and already knew where to find most of the ingredients. With her hour being almost up and here stomach rumbling and reminding her of breakfast she rushed out of the library thanking Madam Pince on the way out.

She arrived at the Slytherin table in a frenzy, not wanting to miss breakfast, and Bellatrix gave her a quizzical look.

"Where were you?"

Rita shrugged as she stirred some sugar into a cup of tea. "Just at the library researching something."

"Care to share?"

"No, not particularly."

Bellatrix stared at her through narrowed eyes. "Alright."

Rita stared back, eyebrows raised teasingly. "Alright"

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Here is some fanart I made of Rita and Bellatrix!