Harry was glad as he got up to leave. He thanked God internally that Dumbledore couldn't read minds. It would have been such a disaster if he could. Just as he was about to reach for the door, he stopped. Read minds? Legilimens...how could he forget that. Dumbledore did know how to read minds. Doesn't that mean that Dumbledore knew what he said was not true? Oh boy, he was in deep trouble. But if Dumbledore knew, then why didn't he show it? What is the Sorting hat told him?
"Is something the matter, Harry?", Dumbledore inquired.
Harry turned around to face the headmaster, pale in face. He should tell him, hoping that Dumbledore would not ask too much about it. Should he risk it? What if it causes some kind of butterfly effect and changes the outcome of the things in future?
"Sir, there is something I want to tell you, but I don't know if I can"
"Well Harry, you can tell me anything you like."
"I am just afraid it might turn some of the future events, so I'm not sure yet"
Dumbledore peered into his eyes.
"Well Harry, then I believe it would be wise not to speak of it to anyone", Dumbledore smiled.
Dumbledore knew. He knew Harry had not told him the truth. He knew it.
"I understand sir"
"Well Harry, if in the future you want to tell me something, you already know my office and I'm pretty sure that with your magic you would be able to come up here even without a password", Dumbledore chuckled.
Harry was about to leave when he thought that he should ask Dumbledore about Animagus.
"Sir, actually I have a question that I have pondered over for a long time"
"And what would that be Harry?", Dumbledore asked looking up from a book he had gotten out of nowhere.
"I have always wondered about animagus. I mean I know how to make the potion and considering that my Dad was one, I think I might be one too. But I never really got the hang of how is it possible for a person to transform into an animal completely and still retain their mind and transform back."
"Well Harry, all I can say is that that is one of the wonders of magic. But to really answer your question, being an animagus is just using internal Transfiguration without your wand."
"You know how when you transfigure a person into an animal you have to make sure to retain their minds? It's similar to that but instead of doing it to someone else, you are doing it to yourself"
"Well I believe you should get going now Harry, its quite late", Dumbledore added with a look at his watch.
Harry nodded and bid the Headmaster good night before walking out of the office. He was thinking about how he should start with his animagus potion while subconsciously using his magical energy to guide himself to the Gryffindor common room. Once he was outside Fat Lady's portrait, he panicked. He didn't know the password.
"Password?", Fat Lady asked.
"Well, I don't exactly have the password yet, please wait for a minute", Harry smiled sheepishly.
Harry instinctively closes his eyes and lets his magical energy guide him. Drawing upon his untapped well of magical intuition, he extends his hand toward the enchanted entrance.
As if in response to the magical undercurrents surrounding him, the portrait subtly reacts to Harry's touch. As he does so, a faint glow envelops his hand, resonating with the magical frequencies of the protective wards. With a mental effort, he unravels the magical encryption, uncovering the password.
"Caput Draconis"
At this the portrait swung forward and Harry climbed inside. The common room was already deserted as everyone was probably already in bed. Harry went up the stairs to the boys dormitory and went to his bed. Looking at his bed, he thought he should change somethings about it. But maybe due to his prior thoughts on animagus. Harry decided that he will do all the necessary changes next day, and he cast a silencing charm around his bed before flunking down on it. Harry did not realize how tired he was and as soon as he laid on his bed, he was asleep.
Harry had a very bizarre dream that night. In the dreams, Harry was surrounded by a very bizarre environment. There was clouds of multicolored mist floating around, darkness with distant flickering lights. Harry heard a sound coming from behind, almost like a slithering sound, so he turns around.
What he saw was the most majestic and bizarre serpent-like creature slithering towards him. The creature slithered gracefully, its scale aglow with an ever-changing palette of colors. Its eyes were a shimmering green color. It's eyes seemed to have an otherworldly wisdom in them. Harry observed it fascinatedly, he couldn't help but be drawn towards it. The creature left behind trails of stardust in its wake.
The creature came to a stop right in front of Harry, looking into his eyes. Harry felt its gaze, it seemed to stop Harry from moving as if he was trapped in time. The creature lowered his head and gently nudged Harry's chest with its head. Harry could move again after that. He looked into the creatures eyes. There was a bizarre pull that Harry felt to the creature, almost as if he had known that creature for his entire lifetime, which was not possible since Harry would definitely remember reading about such a fascinating and majestic creature.
Upon looking closer at the creature, Harry noticed that it's scale were almost glassy and seemed to have various colors flowing through them. Harry raised his hand to touch them and just as he was about to touch them, he was jerked awake by Ron.
Harry glared at Ron, he was just about to touch the creature.
"Oi, don't look at me that way. You sure wanna miss the first breakfast at Hogwarts?"
"I was having a really good dream Ron and you woke me up before I got to the best part!", Harry grumbled.