Sophia was currently standing on a black lake, the surface of the water rippled with every step she took. One after another, white particles began to form around her, giving shape to the lake and its surroundings.
Then, from out of nowhere, the shape of a white bird, walking on the lake, appeared before her eyes. The bird looked at her, and she looked at the bird.
They stayed still in comfortable silence until Sophia spoke "Come." She said to the bird in a warm tone, extending her arm.
The bird followed along and as it got closer, it posed her beak on top of Sophia's hand. A white flash extended throughout the lake, blinding everything.
—--------------------------
A white crane broke through the dark night sky of England, it almost seemed to shine with the contrast it provoked. After a few laps around the garden, it returned back to the ground in a graceful manner.
"Congratulations, Ms Bailey, with you we are done with the five of you, and everyone managed to complete the animagus process on their second try." Professor Malik extended his congratulations towards Sophia and towards Sophia's parents.
Her parents put on her the robe so she could turn back again.
Sophia cleared her throat after undoing her transfiguration. "Thank you, professor." She beamed a tired smile at him. "Could I maybe rest before continuing the conversation?"
Professor Malik nodded in affirmation, following behind her and her parents.
—--------------------------
"Hell yeah!" William shouted in excitement as they gathered after breakfast.
The rest of them followed along, expressing their happiness.
"Honestly, I don't see why Professor McGonagall says that it's a complicated and hard process, the five of us did it just fine." Elsie said, in a bit of a haughty tone.
Allen raised an eyebrow. "So are we ignoring the first time we tried it?" He teased her a bit.
A shade of pink appeared on her face when Allen finished talking. "We- Well, we failed one time, you know, just one time. So I think we did better than most people."
"I agree with Elsie, although there is something I'm curious about." Armand stopped for a moment before continuing. "Isn't it weird how three out of the five of us became flying animals? What are the odds?"
"Hmm, I know, but that just means that it will be the two of you who will have to keep up with us instead, whenever we transform." A smug smile formed on Sophia's face. "After all, a ground animal can't keep up with a sky animal, can it?"
—----------------------------
"It's not fair! How did you guys win the race?! It's not even about magic! We are taking our animal forms, it doesn't make sense that a lion," She pointed at Allen. "And a panther," then pointed at Armand. "Are faster than a crane, a peregrine falcon and a golden eagle!
We are flying! It doesn't make any sense!"
Armand and Allen looked at each other before shrugging their shoulders, as if not knowing what Sophia was talking about.
"Maybe none of you are that used to flying and ended up losing." Allen suggested.
"Cheaters! The two of you are bloody cheaters!" William cried in frustration. "I demand a re-do."
Allen raised an eyebrow. "Sure, you are on."
In the end, they spend the rest of their winter break racing against each other, and while Armand managed to win a few times, Allen on the other hand, was getting the hang of his magic in his animagus form.
His ability didn't change that much, regarding the Mystic Gaze, he was still able to see other people's dantian and their magic flow, there was an added downside to it, well, if you wanted to see it as that. But in the case of an enemy, it was pretty much an advantage, since it intensified his gaze, being a black lion and all made it more threatening, though he didn't know if it was actually an upgrade on his ability or they feared him more because a lion was looking at them.
—--------------------------------
"Are you ready, kids?" Asked Mrs Bailey as the five of them gathered in front of her.
"Yes, mum." "Yes, aunt." Yes, Mrs Bailey."
They all responded almost in unison, albeit some with less energy than the others.
"Alright then, let's get this over with." She clasped her hands together and turned around, grabbing a handful of floo powder and giving to each kid a bit of it. "Now, let's remember before we step into the fireplace, where are we going?"
"The Ministry of Magic." Answered William.
"You are correct, Mr Cooper, and for what reason?"
Allen sighed before answering. "To register our animagus form."
Mrs Bailey nodded in affirmation. "Very good." She gave them a last look before speaking again. "I know that it's something you would want to keep secret to show off to your other friends, but it is the law, and all of your parents agreed to it before the five of you started the process."
She turned towards Allen. "I'm glad you are registering with your friends as well. Even if you didn't have an obligation to do so from us." Giving him a warm smile.
They walked towards the fireplace and disappeared one after another, until only Ms Bailey was left.
"Ministry of Magic" She said out loud, throwing the ashes she was holding in her hand, making a raging green fire spurt from the ground up, engulfing her completely.
Minutes later, they found themselves in the 'Animagus registration' sub-department.
A small breeze passed through as they waited for someone to arrive. They had been waiting for twenty minutes now for someone to arrive. Apparently, it wasn't that used since no one in Britain wanted to go through the procedure of becoming an animagus.
"The last time someone registered was…Professor McGonagall?! How many years is that?" Elsie cried.
"Wait, you can see when people registered? That's insane! Wouldn't that make the five of us a bump in numbers? Since no one has done it in who knows how many years." Sophia added.
Allen peeked from the side. "Uh, so in the last couple of years, only six people registered?"
"Officially, at the very least, there might be unregistered animagus here and there that didn't want to register." A voice came from their left, a chubby man was walking towards them, carrying in his arms a couple of folders, mixed in with a multitude of forms flying around.
The kids turned their heads to the side, with a questioning look on their faces.
The man wiped off sweat from his forehead. "Sorry for arriving late, Ms Bailey. They didn't inform me of your arrival until now."
She responded with a small smile before answering. "It's okay Mr…" She looked down, waiting for the man to speak.
"Ah, yes, sorry, my name is Bobby, Bobby Bubbleton, pleasure to meet you, Ms Bailey" The man pocketed his napkin before extending his hand.
"A pleasure to meet you as well, Mr Bubbleton, I'm sorry if I might sound rude, but we have a fixed schedule so I wanted the kids to register as fast as possible so we can continue with our day."
"Of course, of course, no problem! Follow me, right this way." He guided them through a door with a golden plate, with the inscription 'animagus register' engraved on it.
The procedure was fairly simple, all they had to do was to take a photo from the front, normally, and in their animagus form, then Mr Bubbleton brought to them a massive red book that with the tap of his wand, it shrank to a normal sized one, and asked each of them to write their name and their animal form, then he attached the photos to the book with a book binding spell.
After that they were free to go. Though they didn't expect the massive amount of reporters outside of the room, waiting for them.
"For the Daily Prophet!"
"Please, this way!"
A few flashes here and there were shot before the cameras stopped functioning, when they turned around, they saw a small dome covering them, making their cameras useless.
"Gentlemen," Ms Bailey turned her head towards a short-haired blonde with flashy glasses and a floating notebook and pen. "Lady. I don't appreciate the sudden press conference. And I believe the Malfoys won't appreciate it either, so why don't we stop it here, before it begins?"
They all let out displeased groans before turning back.
Allen raised an eyebrow surprised to see Rita Skeeter so early, and to be honest, he didn't expect to see her at all.
'But nothing like the present to take care of things before they become troublesome.'
When they were leaving the sub-department, he casted a few alarm spells on the back of all of the reporters' notebooks, including Rita's and a small spell to forcibly turn people to their animagus' form.
He timed it for three minutes after they left, thinking that they would follow them anyway.
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"Ack! My notebook!"
"Wha- What?! My camera!"
"Wait, look, there!"
One after another, the reporters' notebooks were catching itself on fire, leaving nothing behind but a trace of ash, which were promptly sweep by a sudden gust of wind. Then the cameras began to explode, making Rita Skeeter click her tongue in frustration.
As they were about to catch up with the newly registered animagus, something inside of her rumbled. Her stomach suddenly felt like if she were about to vomit, but nothing came out of her mouth, then her legs gave in, making her fall on the ground, fellow reporters tried to help her to stand up, and other people turned around to see what was the commotion about.
'No, no no no no no." Were her last thoughts before she was forcibly turned to an emerald beetle, shocking everyone around her.
From the multitude of chimneys, a young man let out a smirk before it became his turn to use the floo network.
'Well, that takes care of one thing, not too sure how badly it'll affect the canon, but whatever, I never had much sympathy for her in the books, nor in the movies.
Goodbye Rita Skeeter, you didn't pose much of a threat.'
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'RITA SKEETER, AN UNREGISTERED ANIMAGUS OR JUST A HOAX?!'
"After five youths decided to go through the arduous process of the animagus transfiguration and register in the Ministry of magic as per the law, something stood among them. And that was the discovery of a century, when Rita Skeeter, our resident news reporter, tried to get an interview with them, she suddenly transformed to a flying beetle, shocking everyone at the Ministry. Whether she is an animagus or just the result of an unjust prank will be soon declared in a hearing in the following weeks. In the case of her being an actual animagus, she could face up to a year in Azkaban for not registering her animal form. For more information go to page 13."
"Isn't that crazy? To think that Rita Skeeter was an animagus and it was found out the same day we went to register." Elsie said, putting down the daily she got from one of the owls.
"Probably someone had a grudge against her or something." Sophia shrugged her shoulders, putting down her own daily. "I would worry more about us, right now."
It had been a few days after they came back to the castle, and a multitude of eyes were already looking their way. While none of the diaries publicly announced their names, it just took an owl to the Ministry to get an updated animagus list from them, after all, they were public records for a reason.
So pretty much everyone who cared at Hogwarts knew that the five of them were the ones the diaries were talking about.
Ever since they arrived, the amount of students who looked their way began to increase, and it became worse when the windmill of rumours that is Hogwarts was ignited.
There was only one out of the five whom they dared not to look, for fear of him looking back at them.
Allen Lionheart was currently trying to appear composed and unbothered, without looking at anyone, fearing that he might make them cry.
'So much for being cunning and resourceful.' He rolled his eyes. 'I feel like I'm becoming a one-trick pony at this rate. I want to ask the hat if he didn't put me in here just because he found it amusing.'
As he was immersed in his thoughts, he didn't notice all of the students around him flinching in fear after he clicked his tongue out of annoyance.