Harry McGonagall

Chapter 25 - Friends of the Family

Harry Potter and all characters, etc. belong to J.K. Rowling, not me.

Harry McGonagall – Chapter 25 – Friends of the Family

"Excellent. I see you're all on time," greeted Remus Lupin as he opened the door to his classroom. Harry, Hermione, Padma and Brianna walked in. It was Saturday morning, the day of their first Patronus lesson with Professor Lupin.

"To begin with, let's see how well you're doing so far. Harry, you first."

While he stepped forward and summoned his wand out of his holster, Remus was once again struck by how much this blond boy with an American accent otherwise reminded him of his old friends. His face was almost identical to James' at that age, except for his eyes, which looked exactly like Lily's. He was brought back to the present by the spell being cast.

"Expecto Patronum!" shouted Harry, causing a round shield of light to come from his wand.

"Good job, Harry. I'm sure that helped hold back the Dementor on the train."

"For a few seconds," he replied, slightly blushing, "but then it was able to push it to the side like my Patronus was nothing."

After the other three had demonstrated the spell, Brianna complained, "I couldn't even get that small shield up at all when that monster was in our compartment," sounding ashamed.

Remus nodded. "It is much more difficult to cast the spell when a Dementor is near, and you're all going to have to work very hard to master this spell. It's actually a N.E.W.T. level charm, so it's amazing that you've already had any success with it, especially you, Brianna. You should be proud of what you've accomplished. Now, let's see if we can't improve all your Patronuses before this lesson is over..."

-HM-HM-HM-

After lunch, the four students went to Professor LaVelle's French class, which had twenty-nine students of all grades and houses. Since it was that small, she decided to keep them all in one class – every Saturday afternoon. Hermione knew everything covered in the first lesson, but still wanted to continue in the class. Harry found he was having much difficulty learning a second language.

The next morning was the Ravenclaw Quidditch tryouts, with Roger Davies, the new captain, having everybody earn their positions, even if they'd had them the previous year. Harry found that they went very much the way they had under Michelle the previous year, starting off with everyone flying around the pitch to eliminate a few hopefuls who couldn't fly a broom to save their lives.

Roger obviously kept his starting position, and Sean Bradley, a 4th year who'd been on the team since his 2nd year, was clearly the best Chaser candidate and would naturally keep his starting position. That left one open spot on the starting team, and the competition was fierce. Hermione, on her Nimbus 2001, gave her best, and from the stands Harry could easily see she'd improved a lot over the past year, even if she wasn't as good as Davies and Bradley. When Chaser tryouts were over, he honestly couldn't predict who would win the coveted position on the starting team, but told Hermione she'd done a great job.

When it finally was time for the Seekers to try out, Cho Chang was, yet again, Harry's only competition. She had improved over the previous year, but Harry managed to beat her to the Snitch, yet again. Since it was only the two of them, it was obvious that Harry would be a starter while Cho would be a reserve.

-HM-HM-HM- As soon as the tryout was over, Harry and Hermione went to lunch, sitting with Padma, who had spent the morning doing 'Muggle Studies' homework. "How'd it go?" "Harry was fantastic!" said Hermione enthusiastically, causing Harry's ears to turn pink. "I was okay," he answered. "I managed to beat Cho, anyway, and she was my only competition. Hermione flew the best I've ever seen her. I think she has a good chance of making the starting team this year." "There were others better than me," replied Hermione with a slight frown. "I think you underestimate yourself," he replied before shrugging his shoulders. "Anyway, we should know tonight what Roger decides." "You're right," sighed Hermione. "There's no point in worrying about it." "Besides," interjected Padma, who'd enjoyed listening to them discuss the tryouts, "we've got something else to look forward to today – our special lesson." Both Harry and Hermione grinned. He said, "At 1:30..." "In Professor McGonagall's office," completed Hermione. -HM-HM-HM- After lunch, the C.A.R.E. group met together at headquarters to study until the trio left to meet with Headmistress McGonagall for extra help in Transfiguration. It's not that they didn't trust anyone in their group, but the Animagus lessons were supposed to be a complete secret. They walked up to the gargoyle guarding the entrance. Harry looked distinctly uncomfortable as he faced the statue. "I can't believe Aunt Minnie went and..." he grumbled before Hermione interrupted him with a smirk. "Green-Eyed Seeker," she proclaimed, convincing the gargoyle to move, allowing them access to the stairs. Harry's ears turned pink. "It could be worse," Padma commented. "She could have made it, 'I luv my 'ittle nephy-poo.'" Harry glared at her without comment as they walked. Hermione was laughing as she knocked on the door. "Come in." "Hello, Professor," greeted Hermione as she opened the door. "I must say I like your new password." A small smile crossed the older woman's lips. "It's easy for me to remember and I doubt many people would guess it." "Plus, it has the extra benefit of irritating me," added Harry dryly. "There is that," she replied nonchalantly before chuckling for a moment. The girls giggled madly as Harry's face turned red. "Before we embarrass my nephew any further, I thought I'd let you know the punishment that I'm assigning to everyone who uses the vile m-word or shows blood-prejudice in another way." "You mean what Malfoy and his goons are going to be doing?" asked Harry. "Yes, they are the first recipients of this punishment." "So, what is it?" asked Padma. "I've given them each a copy of the school O.W.L. records for the past hundred years. They are public records. Their jobs are for each of them to tally up the number of O.W.L.s that went to pureblood, half-blood and muggle-born students and mathematically determine their distribution – which group got more per person – and then write up a report about their findings." Hermione's eyebrows came together as she thought about this for a few moments before asking, "What will their findings be?" "That the purebloods have been doing more poorly with each generation," Minerva sadly replied. "Oh, certain individual purebloods, including James Potter, have done well, but on the whole their magical ability and intelligence have been declining." "Due to inbreeding?" suggested Hermione cautiously. "Most likely," nodded Minerva. "Many families are so concerned about making sure their blood remains pure that they'll marry their own cousins. Misters Crabbe and Goyle are products of that." She took a deep breath, shaking her head. "So far, the Malfoy family hasn't gone beyond fourth cousins, but I wouldn't be surprised if it does in the next generation or two." "I can just imagine Malfoy's conclusion," said Harry. "The muggle-borns are cheating," finished Hermione. "If he remembers to use the right term," commented Padma. "Now that I've told you about that," stated Minerva, "I believe we should get started. We all know why we're here." "To become party animals," replied Padma with a grin. "To become Animagi," corrected Minerva, now entering what they knew as lecture mode. Padma's expression returned to normal. "This is a long and difficult process, which takes nearly two years on average. You've all read and understood the book I gave you, so one of you should be able to tell me the first step in the process, which you will begin now." Hermione's hand immediately shot up in the air. "Hermione," said the Headmistress. "Since this is not a formal class, I don't believe that it is necessary to observe that particular protocol of raising your hand to speak." Her ears turned pink, but she spoke anyway. "Sorry, Professor. The first step is to clear your mind in order to get tuned-in to your instincts." "Correct. I would reward points for that answer, but we want this training to be off the record." "Isn't that first part similar to preparing to learn occlumency?" asked Harry. "Yes, to a point. However, that is where the similarities end. In order to become an Animagus, you must delve deep within yourself to learn your very primal nature. It will probably take several weeks before you're able to tap into that form, and even then, you won't know what it is until you successfully transform, but I have high hopes that you'll all be able to begin attempting to transform a finger by Christmas." "A finger?" repeated Harry with a dismayed expression on his face. "Yes, Harry," she answered a bit harshly. "I told you this will take about two years of hard work. If you haven't the patience for it, now's the time to say so." "I'm sorry," he apologized, properly humbled. "Very well. To begin..." -HM-HM-HM- Two hours later, a very mentally exhausted trio made their way into RavenclawTower. Harry had honestly believed that the Animagus exercises would be easy, but he was proven wrong. It did give him an even higher respect for his Aunt Minnie for going through all of that work to become a tabby cat. However, he had made up his mind to become a 'party animal' and was determined to see it through. Besides, he knew there was a prophecy involving him and Voldemort, even though he didn't know the exact contents. If it did turn out to mean he had to fight Voldemort, he wanted to have every possible weapon he could, including the ability to turn into an animal, during that fight. "Oh, look," commented Padma. "They've already got the Quidditch roster posted." Hermione tensed up immediately. "R-really?" she asked. Deciding not to comment on his best friend's nervousness, he put a hand on her shoulder and gently pushed her forward. "Come on. Let's see who Roger picked." As soon as they were close enough, Harry scanned the list with his eyes.