Wolfsbane

It's Harmless

            

When the thirty days were up, I had never been so happy. The bitterness of the mandrake leaves would stay in my mouth for weeks, but if this worked out, it would be more than worth it. The electrical storm that we were waiting for was coming to a head, and as long as nothing went wrong during the brewing, we would all be animagi. We were standing in the clock tower courtyard, waiting with potions in hand for the first strikes of lightning. Severus' eyes were locked on the sky, Lucius' on the potion in his hand.

"Okay everyone. First strike, as long as your potion turns blood red, it's safe to drink. If it doesn't, toss it and we'll try again. We have as many tries as we want, as long as the electrical storms hold out for us. Cast the animagus spell one last time, and we should be able to kick this off." As Severus was speaking, the clouds thundered, and a strike of lightning hit the ground. Everyone's eyes flew to their potions, and indeed, it turned a deep red. I cast the spell as quickly as I could, pulled the stopper without hesitation, and slammed the potion back as quickly as I could. I wondered what creature I would turn into, and briefly wondered if a phoenix was possible. One moment I was standing upright, and the next, it was as if I was on my hands and knees, and my vision seemed to change. My friends around me had disappeared, and were replaced by creatures of all sorts. I hadn't realized the transformation until the sound of the thunder was right in my ears. It was louder, as if someone had hit a drum directly beside my ear. It took several minutes for me to will myself back into my human form, but the transition was easy, like walking through a doorway. The others seemed to follow my lead, and also changed back into their human forms.

"That was wild! It was like all my senses were heightened!" Everyone nodded to Bella's uncharacteristically excited comment. We tried to figure out who was who in our animagus forms, but it took each of us transforming one at a time to confirm. Elias had taken the shape of an owl, a great-horned to be specific. I knew very little about how an animagus worked, but I wondered if this form was meant to be a reflection of ourselves. If that was the case, then Elias was very much an owl. Like big brother, watching over us, and helping to guide us with his seniority or 'wisdom'. Lucius had transformed into a fox, as snow white as his hair, and I thought the cunning trickster was very much a reflection of his attitude and personality. Narcissa was blessed with a repeat of her patronus. Her manx had manifested as her, and the paws were a stark white against ginger fur, it did truly look like she was wearing mittens, or socks. Bella turned into a rather large snake, some sort of python. Her venomous mouth was quenched, and her true nature revealed, she would suffocate her victims, and I realized that as much as she talked, her true danger was revealed in her silence. Severus transformed into a raven, glistening black feathers and all, he definitely seemed like a fly on the wall, overseer type. Know all, tell nothing. When I transformed, Elias and the others seemed mesmerized from my lower position. I tried circling myself and caught sight of a bushy tail, and thought maybe I was a fox too. When I changed back, Elias seemed over joyed.

"Looks as though you really are our leader. A wolf Nix, that's you, through and through. Leadership, loyalty, I think it's fitting that you would take that form. Alright, lets head back to the common room before we're seen, and we can work on coming up with better names for ourselves based on our animagus form." We spent the rest of the night discussing our animagus forms and coming up with new names. Narcissa moved from Mittens, to Socks, because of the white paws her animagus form had. Bella converted from Mane to Coil, from the way pythons coiled themselves around their prey. Lucius kept his name of Snow, and we all thought it was fitting and un-worth changing. Elias was retitled Wings, as basic as it sounded. A few names had been tossed out, but Wings sounded the best of all of them. Severus was granted the name Seer, ravens having been common pets and familiars to many famous witches and wizards with the gift of foresight. The others fought over what my new name should be, Flames no longer fitting in any way. It was several hours before the entire group was in agreement, minus myself. I noticed that was a reoccurring theme, my friends would take the decision's that mattered most to me, and made them without me. I had yet to mind, most of their ideas were grand ones, much like Severus' choice in my new surname.