Easter break began beneath a perfect sky.
The full moon hung bright and round above the trees of the Forbidden Forest, its silver light spilling across a quiet clearing near the edge of the Black Lake.
Five figures stood in a small circle.
No one spoke.
They had waited an entire month for this moment.
Callidora Nott stood in the center, shoulders tense, the mandrake leaf still tucked in her cheek after thirty long days.
Around her stood her witnesses.
Lucy Winterbourne, arms crossed but clearly nervous.
Stella Addington, calm but watching everything closely.
And a pair of redheads trying very hard not to ruin the moment.
The moonlight fell directly into the clearing.
Perfect.
Calli took a slow breath.
Then she removed the leaf from her mouth.
Thirty days of work.
She quickly placed it into the small crystal phial.
Everyone leaned forward.
Without hesitation she yanked several strands of her own hair free.
Lucy visibly winced.
"Merlin, Calli."
But Calli had already dropped the hair into the phial.
Lucy immediately passed her the small vial of dew they had gathered from the cave.
Calli poured it in carefully.
Fred stepped forward next.
In his hand rested the final piece.
A Death's-head Hawk Moth chrysalis.
He dropped it into her palm.
Calli added it to the mixture.
Then looking up at the moon, she raised the phial high above her head, stretching her arm as far as she could toward the sky.
The moonlight struck the crystal.
Silver light poured through the glass.
No one moved.
No one breathed.
Even the forest seemed to go silent.
Seconds passed.
More seconds.
Fred shifted slightly.
Lucy stared at the phial.
George squinted suspiciously at the moon.
Stella simply waited.
Finally Fred couldn't stand it anymore.
"That was anticlimactic."
Lucy looked between Calli, the phial, and the moon.
"Did it work?"
George tilted his head.
"Yeah. Grow a tail or transform or something."
Calli lowered her arm slowly.
Very carefully she sealed the phial and placed it back into the familiar velvet pouch.
Fred frowned.
"That's it?"
Calli dusted her hands off calmly.
"It's not done yet."
Fred groaned loudly.
"Oh come on."
"What do you mean it's not done?" He said dramatically. "How long is this bloody process?"
Calli tucked the pouch safely away.
"Now we wait."
George blinked.
"For what?"
Calli answered simply.
"We place the phial somewhere dark and quiet and leave it undisturbed until the next lightning storm."
Fred stared at her.
"You're joking."
Calli shrugged.
"Whenever that might be."
Lucy slowly looked up at the sky.
It was perfectly clear.
Not a single cloud.
Stella folded her arms thoughtfully.
"A lightning storm." She repeated. "In Scotland?"
George snorted.
"You'll probably have to wait fifteen minutes."
Stella smirked.
Calli chuckled softly.
"Exactly."
Unfortunately the joke aged poorly.
Because the next morning the sky was still clear.
And the day after that.
And the day after that.
Bright blue skies stretched endlessly over Hogwarts Castle, as if the weather had personally decided to sabotage Callidora Nott's Animagus ambitions.
But the waiting itself was part of the magic.
Once the phial was sealed and hidden away, the process demanded absolute discipline.
Every day, without fail, Calli had to perform the next step.
At sunrise and again at sundown, she would press the tip of her wand over her heart and whisper the incantation:
Amato Animo Animato Animagus.
Every morning.
Every evening.
Without missing a single time.
Lucy caught her once at dawn near the Slytherin dorm windows, standing barefoot on the cold stone floor, wand pressed lightly to her chest as the rising sun filtered through the depths of the lake.
Stella noticed her slipping out again at sunset by the edge of the grounds.
Neither of them interrupted.
The ritual demanded focus.
Repetition.
Patience.
Days passed.
Then more days.
And somewhere along the way, something strange began happening.
One evening, as Calli pressed the wand-tip to her chest and spoke the incantation again, she felt it.
A second beat.
Soft.
Faint.
Not her own heartbeat.
Another one.
Right beneath the wand.
She froze for a moment.
The sensation was eerie, like another pulse answering hers from somewhere deep inside.
But she remembered the instructions exactly.
It was normal.
And it had to be ignored.
So she simply whispered the incantation again.
"Amato Animo Animato Animagus."
And kept going.
Patiently.
Waiting for the storm that would finish what she had started.
YOU ARE READING
Callidora ☆ Fred Weasley
FanfictionCallidora Nott has always known exactly what is expected of her. As the daughter of one of Britain's oldest pure-blood families, her future has already been carefully planned; alliances, power, and a life shaped by tradition she never chose. At home...
