"Are you sure it's okay to ask him?"
"Yeah, Professor Snape already talked with him to stop using his crazy eyes on us, so even if we bother him, he can't do much."
"Hmm… I'm not too sure… What if he still attacks us anyway, then what, uh?!"
"Then we tell Professor Flitwick! You dumbass, he's still a student like us, he can't do much."
"But I've heard that-
UH?!
Whaa-"
Suddenly, the ravenclaw tripped mid-sentence, followed by his friend. A small puddle of oil appeared right after he took a step forward.
"What the hell? Where did this come from?" Asked one of them, annoyed.
"I- I don't know."
And while they were discussing, Allen escaped from their sights.
—------------------
The next few days a multitude of students began to experience weird happenings all around them, puddles of oil appeared right before them, making them fall down, a tile on the floor suddenly breaking up, making them fall again, the sudden appearance of small bushes, which again, made them fall.
At least half of the student body experienced this phenomenon whenever they tried to look for any of the second year animagus.
And that's why one of the students related to it was being questioned by his head of house.
"Professor, I'm sorry if I sound rude, but can they prove that I did it?" A glint showed on Allen's eyes as he spoke to Professor Snape.
But he wasn't buying it. "Do you honestly expect me to believe that you had nothing to do, when all of your friends are involved in it?" His voice dropped down, it had a calm but threatening tone.
"Did any of them see me cast a spell to make them fall? Professor, I'm serious, I haven't used my wand to do any of that, it's unfortunate, but nothing a good salve can't fix for a few scratches, right?"
Something in the way Allen talked rubbed the Professor in the wrong way, but he was right, no one saw him casting spells, even when the kids were a few meters behind him, not only that, but other students who were on opposite sides of the castle from where he was, also experienced the same things.
"Sigh." Professor Snape let out a disgruntled sigh, massaging his brows. "Kid, it makes sense what you are saying, but just because something makes sense, doesn't make it the truth." He spat out the last words as if they were venom.
"Hmm." Allen nodded his head, closing his eyes. "I'll take it into consideration for the future, Professor Snape.
If that's all, can I be excused?"
The professor grinded his teeth, a silent rage showed on his white skin. "Go, now. And don't let me catch you, Mr Lionheart."
"Thank you, professor." Allen stood up, with his heart beating at a thousand per second.
'Can't believe that worked! Well, no, not really, it didn't work, but it did at the same!'
As he was about to leave, Professor Snape stopped him again. "And no transforming in the hallways."
"Yes, professor." He answered.
"Even though there are no rules against it." He muttered under his breath as he went out.
"What was that?"
"No, nothing professor, have a good evening."
—-----------------
A group of girls were talking amicably in a yellow couch with tints of black, a multitude of plants hanging around, and wood furniture all around. Some students were discussing the current happenings, while others, with better things to do, were talking about their homework and the upcoming exams.
They all had one thing in common, and that is that they looked at the girls' way every so often, after all, they were the very two first hufflepuffs to achieve the animagus transfiguration in who knows how many years, and the fact that they were only in their second year made it even more impressive.
"So, how did you do it?" Asked one of the girls.
"For the last time, Ivonne, we went through the process, it's not something you can jump just because you want to, it's actually something you need to do."
"Nooo, come on, Elsie, you know what I'm talking about! The sudden tripping of every student who tries to look your way or your Slytherin friends."
"Hmm." One of the other girls nodded violently. "That's right! Is that something you learnt after becoming an animagus? Or did one of you become a really small animal?"
"No, nothing of the sort. You've seen the register, none of us are small animals, nor does it give you weird ways to cast magic." Sophia said with a bit of a haughty tone in her voice and a bit of pride.
"But then, how does this keep on happening? And it's only with the ones who are trying to follow you."
Elsie shook her head. "I don't know, but Professor Sprout already asked us about it, so if that's everything you wanted to ask, I think we are done here."
"Ah! No, come one Elsie, Sophia! We just wanna know!"
Sophia let out a soft "hmph," her lips pursed together as they stood up. "Sorry, but we have homework to do, Professor McGonagall left us more to do after finding out we managed to become animagus, saying that 'If you can do that at your age, then I see no reason to nurture your talents in transfiguration'.
The girls couldn't respond to anything since they knew Sophia was telling the truth, after all, they saw first thing after classes resumed from the winter break, how Professor McGonagall praised them but also scolded them for it.
—--------------------------------
"How did things go on your end over the Yule vacations?" Allen asked Helena as he caressed her hands.
She hummed in agreement before speaking. "The same as always, nothing really out of the ordinary happens, well, except for the influx of ghosts." Helena took a moment to think about the previous days. "Yes, their visits have begun to decrease and if they keep on being stubborn about wanting to meet you, Sir Nicholas drives them off."
"What about you? How did it go on your end? I've heard a lot of stories about you and your friends, one more impressive than the other, and they keep on escalating it." She let go of one of her hands and put it to her mouth, as if thinking of something. "Is it true that the five of you had to fight a horde of ghouls for the right to try the transfiguration?"
"Wha- What? They are that?"
Helena nodded with a finger posed on her chin before continuing. "And then, when you went to register at the Ministry, did they make you go through five tests, which included fighting against other animagus from other countries to see how you fare in your fighting abilities?"
"Are you-"
"Then, you had to duel against each other using both spells and your transfiguration to see which of the five is the best?"
"Wow wow wow, time out!" Allen shouted exasperatedly, making a rapid gesture, separating their hands from each other and extending them to the sides.
Helena let out a few chuckles, covering her mouth. "Of course, I know all of that is a lie, but I still wanted to tease you a bit."
"Ahh." He let out a relieved sigh. "You got me there, hahaha."
"But still, I want you to tell me what happened."
"Right, well, nothing too out of the ordinary happened. Did I tell you we were trying to become animagus?"
She nodded her head. "You mentioned it on occasions, yes."
"Well, the first time we tried it didn't work, the second time we tried it did, and then when we went to the Ministry to register, following our professor's advice, mind you, and even my friend's parents," He scratched his head a bit frustrated. "If it were for me, we wouldn't have done that, you know, it's cool, isn't it? To have something like an animal transformation as an ace in the hole."
He disheveled his hair thinking back on it. "But no! We had to register!
Argh!
And now everyone knows, it's a bit underwhelming to be honest, and to top it all off, Professor McGonagall is giving us more homework because we managed to achieve the transfiguration at a young age, so for her that means that 'We can take on more work.'
And, well, it's true, I can do it just fine, but William's suffering a bit, you know? Even Elsie and Sophia, but Armand and I can take it head on just fine."
Helena grabbed his hands again, feeling their warmth. "So is that why a lot of students are tripping around lately, whenever they are looking at your friends or following them?"
"We- Well, it could be." Allen hesitated as he answered her question. "But I'm sure it's just a big coincidence, after all, I'm never close to any of them when it happens, aren't I?"
She let out a few chuckles again. "I'm not trying to interrogate you, but I would appreciate it if you told me what happened."
He spent a few minutes thinking about it before answering. "Ok ok, it's just harmless spells anyway.
Well-timed alarm spells here and there around the castle and it helps me train my accuracy from long distances and see how much I can do with it."
"Alarm spell? But that spell is not made to shoot other spells, it's just a simple spell that will ring a loud sound in a determined time." Her Ravenclaw side came out and she began rambling, looking for answers.
Allen shrugged his shoulders. "I just think what I want the spell to do, you know? And, I don't know if it works but, since it's an alarm, the spell is predetermined to go off at a certain point that you decided in time, right?"
She nodded, following along.
"Then, that means that instead of having a 'sound' go off when the predetermined amount of time is over, I chose to have a spell instead, and it works."
Helena began to murmur some stuff under her breath after he finished talking, most likely she was trying to find a reasoning behind his answer.
'Good luck trying to find any real meaning behind it, I just thought of a spell from a novel I used to read and wanted to try it, can't believe it works so well.
I wanna try other spells but nothing really comes to mind' He closed his eyes and rubbed his chin as he thought back on all of the media he used to consume.
"Allen."
Helena's voice suddenly broke him out of his thoughts. "Yes?"
"Would you mind showing me your animagus form? I haven't seen it ever since you came back." She gave up trying to make sense of his explanation about the spell and decided to change the topic.
"Hmm." He looked a bit conflicted, as he began to squirm around in his seat, scratching his head and evading her gaze, then looking back at her.
Finally, he gave up, dropping his shoulders. "Alright, but don't laugh, okay? My animagus form will be different when I grow up, alright?"
"Alright." She answered.
Allen took a few steps back, closing his eyes and taking a big breath, after he released it, a small cub was in front of Helena, fur black as the night sky and his eyes maintained the violent nature of his ability, yet the small figure in front of her was too adorable to feel any kind of danger from him.
She picked him up as if he were a cat and hugged him, putting him over her shoulder. "You are adorable, and you are telling me you don't want to show this to anyone?"
Allen let out a small, unsatisfied roar.
"I'm impressed you can keep the spell even in this form," Helena began to pat him on the back, treating him like a baby. "Did you practice to be able to cast spells even as an animal? Doesn't that interfere with your transfiguration?"
He tapped her on the shoulder, signaling her to let him down. When his paws touched the ground, Allen took on a small pose, planting himself on the ground.
A second roar left his mouth after Helena looked at him again with tenderness, but this time, she felt something in his voice, it was packed with magic and not only that, a small fire shout out of his mouth as he roared.
Then he lifted both of his front paws and hit the ground as hard as he could, raising a two meter wall of rock.
Before she could cross the wall to see him, Allen was already behind her, he used the spell he developed back at the orphanage and the use of said spell grew after entering Hogwarts, the one who augments his physical abilities as much as he can pour out his magic and his body can take it.
After undoing the transfiguration he let out a smug smile show on his face. "I've been practicing, without the others knowing, of course, what do you think?"
"You know animagi can't use magic in their animal form, right?" Helena asked, shocked by the sudden performance he showed her.
"Yeah, but that wasn't gonna stop me, after all, only becoming an animal can get boring down the line, so might as well make it something entertaining!"
Her eyes opened almost as big as saucers before letting out a laugh escape her mouth. "Anything else you want to tell me?" She asked with curiosity and Allen could swear that he saw her blush for a moment.