Nine Lives and Bad Luck

2

Fair warning, there's a second version of this, although this one is being published first, and it takes the Harry is a natural animagus idea and has a darker Harry where basically what if the person introduced in this chapter does not exist. So... possibly keep an eye out for that book. I'll say something in an authors note in this book when it gets posted.

-T.A.L.A.

Harry frowned upwards from the table he was on, specifically, he frowned at the person who sat in a chair before him all the while they choked back on their laughter, or rather perhaps it was best to say that he frowned as best as he could while he was still stuck as a tiny kitten, "I- oh my- I can't believe this, I mean-" They fell back into laughter as their head fell forward onto the open book that rested besides Harry on the table, "m-maybe- I guess you could say it's because cats have nine lives- plot twist you were a cat all along. The Dark Lord's defeat ended in- in catastrophe ."

The idea was somewhat frightening, and definitely not a crisis he needed at the moment, he never had even considered that he had actually been a cat transfigured into a human boy- he still thought the word transfigured was a weird word- all along, but then if that was so, what happened to the real Harry Potter?  He honestly didn't think that the being currently laughing about his situation would care either way, he could have been the Dark Lord the book spoke of  and they would still be laughing and making poor attempts at cat jokes about it.

Harry had stayed with the Sully's for half a year, he was under the care of Rosy for a little more than a year of that time and then she had passed, but it seemed all things had to come to an end and during one of his semi frequent visits to the outdoors a neighbor's new dog had gotten loose, it's teeth gouging into his side and forcing him to flee. By the time he had recovered his senses he was far away from Privet Drive and lost beyond hope.  He didn't even remember running.

It was so typical of his luck for that to happen, but in the same manner he had also been lucky enough to run into the being that now snickered in amusement into the book; 'Recent History of Our Magical World; Dark Lords and Political Trends' that lay open on the table.

     Magic hadn't come as quite a shock to him after almost a year of coming to terms that he was now a cat. He just had a name to his... condition... now. Silk, as he had begun to call her when they first met two months ago had informed him that, like her, he was probably a natural animagus meaning that one day he would- or rather had- turned into a different animal and be unable to return himself to his normal state.

    Anyone could force an animagus change to come over them, naturals included, but naturals were granted by magic- or so Silk said- one or more forms that would come naturally, and suddenly, to them. He would change back... Eventually. However, when he did he would be able to switch forms and even merge them as he pleased, unless he discovered another natural shape in which the process would be repeated all over again.

See, forced animagus transformations- the ones brought about through using potions and long, dangerous, convoluted rituals-  were undergone through sheer will power and magical intent, often times needing a goal to change forms or coming to see the animagus form as another 'them', but natural transformations were a piece of their magic itself and needed no external factors like potions, meditation, or trials; it just happened. Sometimes more than once because- here Silk had laughed at his horrified face- people who were inclined to be naturals tended to have at least two natural forms, anywhere between two and eight on average, in fact. Especially either two or eight specifically, actually. Two magically balanced numbers to even out the instability of multiple forms.