Outside the Forbidden Forest, Felix, Professor McGonagall, and several students looked at each other through the thick curtain of rain. They held their wands up, and from the tips of their wands a thin stream of air poured out, forming a vague umbrella-shaped layer of air above their heads to keep the rain out.
The few people present tried to control themselves from looking at Professor Hap or giving any odd expressions. Because it was not the professor himself who was holding up his wand, but a Niffler. Valen sat on Felix's shoulder, as her eyes darted between the three students, Draco, Hannah, and Hermione, who the Great Demon King said would turn into little animals in a short while.
Harry and Ron are also present, and the excuse they made at first to observe the Animagus transformation process was sternly rejected by Professor McGonagall.
"There's no need for that."
But the two played the emotion card, "We're Hermione's best friends and are really worried about-" Surprisingly, Professor McGonagall looked at them critically for a moment before nodding her head in agreement. Harry and Ron mentally hailed their good luck.
"You can start now."
Professor McGonagall said the moment the first lightning bolt cut through the sky. Above the heads of the group, above the thick black clouds, a huge thunderbird in a magic form spread out its wings and circled and soared above the clouds little by little.
Hermione, Hannah, and Draco staggered into the Forbidden Forest when they heard the voice, scattered and ran in different directions, disappearing in the blink of an eye into the range of the raging storm. They needed to get the crystal vial of potion that had been hidden at the edge of the Forbidden Forest as soon as they could.
Professor McGonagall held her wand tightly in both hands, the rain blown by the wind wetting her hair and trickling down her somewhat pale cheeks, her knuckles whitening from the force of her clenching.
"They will be all right." She murmured.
Felix looked further into the depths of the forbidden forest, the rainstorm and darkness did not obscure his view as the three glowing silhouettes continued to fade away in the grey and white background, at which point Felix suddenly turned back to look in the direction of the castle from which they had come.
A flash of lightning streaked by, and he seemed to see a blurred silhouette standing on the castle balcony.
Felix narrowed his eyes.
Harry also followed Professor Hap's line of sight, then opened his mouth wide in surprise and exclaimed out loud, "Neville?" In the darkness, a blurred figure darted towards them, appearing and disappearing in the chaotic flashes of lightning.
Professor McGonagall jumped to her feet in surprise.
"You- Longbottom, why are you-" she asked speechlessly
Neville was breathing heavily, his face and body completely wet from the rain and covered in mud, as if he had tripped and fallen more than once midway. With a panting voice, he announced, "I - succeeded - at sunset today - I felt - -"
"You felt the throbbing of the Animagus?" Professor McGonagall finished the sentence for him.
"No... yes - that's right." Neville said amidst the rain.
"Then move as quickly as you can, it is still not too late." Felix said.
Neville nodded heavily and excitedly turned and ran towards the forbidden forest. Professor McGonagall looked at his back and uttered in a low voice that filled with excitement, " This is incredible, counting Longbottom, there are four ... all four of them have mastered the Patronus Charm ... This discovery is sure to be one of the most groundbreaking transfiguration theory in this century."
She suddenly turned to Harry and Ron and said seriously, "Potter, Weasley, you should never give up, it's totally worth a try ... I'll have to talk to Vergil and Jamilyn and suggest that they should take some time to learn the Patronus Charm ... "
Vergil and Jamilyn are the two seventh-year students from the Transfiguration Club who are still insisting on reciting the spell each day at sunrise and sunset.
Harry and Ron nodded wordlessly, feeling the mandrake leaf in their mouths become a little more important. The two exchanged a silent glance and made up their minds that it would be best to eat in the special canteen for the next period of time.
Felix looked up into the sky, dark clouds completely obscuring the moon, black clouds pierced every now and then by a flurry of blinding lightning bolts, leaving behind solid patches of light on the retina as thunder rumbled.
They waited in silence, and finally, the first person came back.
It was Hermione, her once fluffy hair now plastered to her face, her trouser legs stained with mud, and she was shivering from the cold, but she still clutched a small crystal potion vial in her hand tightly, the mixture of multiple ingredients in the vial now transformed into a blood-red potion.
"Professor, I did it, the potion-" she said excitedly.
Felix raised his hand gently with a smile on his face, and in front, behind, and left and right side of Hermione, four walls rose up to her neck and closed around her to form a space that joined together.
"Miss Granger, you are only one step away from success."
"Kee ki!" Valen cheered her on.
Hermione took a deep breath, pointed the tip of her wand at the spot where her heart should be, and with a trill she recited the incantation, "Amato Animo Animato Animagus." Then she drank the potion from the vial in one gulp and closed her eyes as she waited.
Several pairs of eyes were firmly fixed on her face.
"Profess, Professor ... It is a beaver - my Animagus form is a beaver." Hermione said without being able to control herself.
"Very well, that is what we expected." Felix said calmly, with a certain convincing power in his tone, and Hermione's teeth chattered as she struggled to hear what he was saying. "You should be feeling sharp pain and two intense heartbeats by now, you will have to blend into the other with no reluctance, there is nothing to worry about, you have experienced a dozen transfigurations, and each time you have wandered off to the edge of losing control, the feral rush from the Animagus is nothing compared to that."
"We are here." Professor McGonagall said in a strong voice.
Hermione shuddered and nodded slightly, and at that moment, the transformation began as the walls started to once again blend into the ground.
Harry and Ron had to desperately control themselves to keep from screaming.
They had seen Animagus transformation before, but when it happened to a familiar friend, they realized just how weird it was. Every part of Hermione's body was undergoing a complex human transfiguration - one that was far more advanced than what they had been exposed to in class - the wet hair shortening a little, her head and body shrinking as if she had suddenly fallen victim to the professor's zooming magic, the outline of her head gradually morphing towards that of a rodent, the clothes on her body constantly tightening and blending into her skin, and turning into a kind of dark brown fur, her hands and feet transforming into slender paws ... a beaver appeared in front of the eyes of the crowd.
"Splat!"
Hermione's wand dropped and bonked twice on the wet ground.
"Now, don't forget, you have to figure out how to properly place your wand before you transform." Professor McGonagall warned in the pouring rain, to which Harry and Ron obediently nodded.
Felix's eyes lit up as he stared unblinkingly at the creature in front of him, it was about two feet long, which made the beaver relatively large compared to rodents of the same genus, but it was still dwarfed compared to the other creatures. It was a good thing that no one in the scene cared what form of Animagus they might be; the significance of the magic itself was all that mattered.
From the view of magic energy, the creature in front of him was nearly devoid of any magical fluctuations, all magic was converged in the deepest part of its body, nearly solidified, and it was surprisingly somewhat similar to a squib.
There was a momentary flash of trance in the beaver's eyes as it let out two short grunts. "Snort-" the beaver glanced reproachfully at Ron, who had laughed out loud, and Ron apologized with a serious look, "Sorry, Hermione. I was looking for the wizardly features on you, and I thought it might be those big pair of teeth."
Harry desperately tried to hold it in to keep himself from laughing out loud along with Ron.
"Whoosh!"
Valen jumped off Felix's shoulder and stood in front of the beaver, gesticulating excitedly.
The beaver barked twice, but unfortunately, they still couldn't speak the same language.
The rain parted above Felix's head, and he leaned expressionlessly against the suddenly raised wall. At that point, Valen was already writing in the air with her exclusive wand, and the beaver glanced sadly at her wand, which had fallen to the ground, and then she looked down at her short hands, the whiskers on the side of her mouth curling up to reveal a pair of large slatted teeth.
A long, slender palm was brought toward her.
The beaver stared blankly at the small peas in Felix's hand with an expression of confusion. Then she slapped his hand away in annoyance, and she yelped with a note of anger.
Felix withdrew his hand as if nothing had happened.
"Well done, Granger. It looks like you can easily resist the feral nature in your body, which is good, now you can try to change back."
" You have even prepared this specifically, Professor?" Harry asked with a dumbfounded look.
"I did quite a bit of preparation for the test." Felix said calmly, "In addition to the peas, there are insects and pears that peacocks like to eat, plant seeds that squirrels prefer, and of course, I didn't prepare Neville's share, but his Patronus is a cat, and I happen to have dried, salted small fish here."
In the time it took for them to talk, Hermione finally found the trick to change herself back, and she smoothed out her messy hair. As she picked up her wand, she glared at Felix in dissatisfaction.
"Professor, you are so well-prepared." She said with a huff, she had almost failed to resist the temptation to try the peas before, it was hard to figure out how the professor had come up with it.
"After the transformation, your tastes would change." Felix said briefly as if he was explaining it to Hermione, his eyes still fixed on her, and Professor McGonagall couldn't stand to look at it any longer as she cleared her throat.
"Um... Professor? What did you find out?" Hermione said with a slight flush to her cheeks, her face burning a little from his attention.
"Soul nodes." Felix muttered.
"What?"
"I'm not sure," Felix said after thinking for a moment, "Wizards' souls are distinctly different from the ordinary person, and I suspect that magic plays a major role in that. One piece of evidence is that even ghosts are magical, which gives them the ability to interfere slightly with real objects. So what makes a wizard's soul so special, and what acts as the link between soul and body?"
"You think it's magic?" Hermione asked in a light tone, and at one side Harry and Ron exchanged a surprised look.
"Just a guess." Felix shrugged as the rain crackled against the leaves, and after a moment he turned his head to look into the Forbidden Forest, where Draco Malfoy appeared at the edge of the forest, almost ten minutes slower than Hermione.
But it could have been due to the fact that he had tidied up his clothes midway through; his hair was slicked back, and his clothes were dry as he strode unhurriedly towards them, and the red crystal vial in his hand held in the most prominent spot.
The corners of Harry and Ron's mouths dropped.
"Stinking show-off." Ron muttered in a small voice. Harry thought that was on point.
Draco was only slightly surprised to learn that Hermione had completed her Animagus transformation, but he didn't mind having an extra spectator around, and a few moments later he was proudly showing off his gorgeous, beautiful peacock feathers, and he even took two bites out of the pear that Professor Hap had offered.
As soon as he transformed back, Ron immediately and unceremoniously scoffed at his brief out of control behaviour, "This way he won't be flaunting around in front of us." He said to Harry with great foresight.
"I was just trying out the peacock's sense of taste." Draco retorted with a red face, Harry and Ron folded their arms in unison and gave him a sneer, determined not to acknowledge whatever Draco would claim.
Professor McGonagall ignored the childish behaviour of these men as she walked over to Felix and looked worriedly at the darkened forbidden forest.
"Felix ... Hannah Abbott and Neville Longbottom haven't made it back yet."
"There is no reason for them to be this late," Felix said with the same confusion, "I know the approximate location of where they hid their crystal vials, it's not too far from here, even if the path was harder to follow because of the rainstorm, they should have come back by now."
"They couldn't possibly be got lost, could they?" Professor McGonagall raised an eyebrow.
They looked at each other, and both saw a look of disbelief in each other's eyes. Two students got lost together? But the possibility did exist, and Professor McGonagall told Harry and the others to stay where they were while she and Felix headed to the Forbidden Forest to look for them.
"You guys stay here, I don't want to find out that you are all lost too by the time we get Longbottom and Abbott back." Professor McGonagall said as Felix left Valen behind and pulled two flying brooms out of his ring, Professor McGonagall leaped into the sky as the two glided through the rainstorm.
"There."
After a few minutes of searching, Felix's magic perspective made a contribution, and they found Neville and Hannah about two kilometres from the edge of the forbidden forest, the two students surprisingly staying together.
Professor McGonagall landed angrily from the sky and then opened her mouth so wide in surprise that she didn't even notice the rain pouring in.
The two students - only one person on the scene, to be precise - and Neville trudging through the mud with a red squirrel in his arms, and the rain trickling down his hair, when he saw Felix and Professor McGonagall, Neville seemed to breathe a huge sigh of relief.
"Oh - thank goodness - Professor, you're here at last, Hannah, Hannah's here." He showed the two professors the red squirrel that lay peacefully in his arms.
"Longbottom, what the hell is going on here?" Professor McGonagall cried out, as she glared at the red squirrel, "Is this Hannah Abbott? She took her magic potion in advance? Didn't I tell you that you must return with the magic potion and take it under the supervision of the Professor?"
The red squirrel shuddered.
"All right." Professor McGonagall sighed and compassionately took the red squirrel from Neville's arms and stepped aside to carefully reassure Hannah.
Neville, meanwhile, stammered to explain what had just happened.
"After I got the potion, I was going to head back, when I saw Hannah walking past in the distance, that was in the direction further inside the forbidden forest, and I thought I was going in the wrong direction ... " "So you decided to follow her to make sure and confirm. " Felix asked. "Yes, Professor." Neville said softly, "Hannah was running fast, and my vision was so bad in the rain that I almost lost her a few times, but I probably guessed she was lost."
"We could guess that too, but why did she break the rule and take the potion?"
"Oh, Professor ..." At this point, Hannah, who had managed to regain her human form under Professor McGonagall's guidance, said with a sniffle, "I'm so sorry, I, I lost my way... ...and was worried I wouldn't make it in time, so I decided, decided ..."
"Decided to transform in a corner where no one was around." Professor McGonagall said in a stern tone.
"Yes, that's right," Hannah cried, "I'm sorry, I was so scared and worried that my months of hard work would be wasted, so my head got confused and I, I did well on the controlling feral side part of the lesson ... "
"Miss Abbott, the lesson that Professor Hap and I prepared was not meant for you to use as an excuse to take risks." Professor McGonagall said sternly.
"Professor McGonagall," Neville said, mustering up his courage, "Hannah actually regained her own sanity, and it was me who felt that it was time to go back to the site -"
"That's very thoughtful of you." Professor McGonagall said with a grunt, she looked up at the sky, almost an hour had passed, and the clouds began to grow thin, and the silhouette of the Thunderbird faintly became visible.
"You have delayed too much previously, Mr. Longbottom, I suggest you to transform here, with Professor Hap, and I am watching ... you do have your magic potion with you, right?"
Neville nodded his head hurriedly.
A few minutes later, he transformed into a tortoiseshell cat, identical to his Patronus form. The tortoiseshell cat meowed twice, and a small smile appeared on Professor McGonagall's tense face, but it was gone in the blink of an eye.
So by the time Felix and Professor McGonagall returned from the Forbidden Forest, all four students had completed their Animagus transformations. Professor McGonagall didn't mention Hannah's blunder in front of Harry and the rest and simply told them that Hannah and Neville, the two of them had completed their transformations in the Forbidden Forest because of time constraints.
"That's cool!" Ron said enviously.
The atmosphere on the way back was very relaxed and Ron kept asking Neville and Hermione how they felt when they transformed, "Is it any different from normal transformations?" By the time they returned to the castle, Hannah was already talking and laughing normally.
"You guys have a good night's rest tonight and don't try to transform in private," Professor McGonagall said, "Come to my office tomorrow morning, and I'll use the two days of the weekend to get you familiar with transformations as quickly as possible, and - you have a bunch of forms that you need to fill out."
She used her wand to summon a few cups of hot cocoa, and after watching them finish it, she let them go back.
"Minerva, don't be too harsh, at least it turned out well, well -" Felix stammered, seeing a sudden smile spread across Professor McGonagall's face as she leaped up and said with joy, "What a day to remember, Felix! I must go back for a drink."
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