//------------------------------//
// Chapter 5 
// Story: Harry Potter and the Evil Within 
// by Damaged 
//------------------------------//

"… and we don't even know if it will work. So, failure to attain the end result will not be grounds for failure. If you can learn the subject matter, make the potion required, and work the spell—you will pass." It was hard to think of him as anything but my uncle Sirius. I know he was technically my godfather, but uncle felt better given how much family I had left at this point.

He had a strange way of gathering everyone together and making everything he said seem like a secret that only he could share. He also had a book on becoming an animagus, which apparently he'd written.

"Now, if you'd all open your book to the forward, I'd like you to read that and think if this is really the class for you. You are welcome to leave at any time—you'll just have a free period on Monday afternoons."

Following the directions, I opened the book and flicked to the forward.



A practical guide to becoming an animagus. A lofty title, but in truth you will be branded a monster by several wizards and witches just for being one. Mark my words, this is not something you should undertake lightly. As you gain the knowledge and understanding of the world having a completely different form can give, it will leak other things through—hopefully not fleas, though.

Becoming an animagus is an arduous process and there is no certainty as to what you will become. Some become cats, others dogs, I have met several insect animagi, as well as a deer and rat. And, as any animagus will tell you, along with the higher gifts of the creature you will become, so will you gain some of its banal qualities.

But don't despair. You will gain far more from being an animagus than you will lose.



When I lifted my head from reading it, it was just in time to see several other students stand up, turn, and leave the room. It wasn't many, but the fact that some had at all, even after becoming pony to varying degrees, seemed odd. They'd already changed once already, why wouldn't they roll the dice for something else?

"Now that we're a little more focused, and you're all more committed to the goal of becoming an animagus, I have this for each of you." Walking around the room, Sirius passed out leaves. "Mandragora, commonly known as mandrake. For one month you must keep the leaf of a mandrake under your tongue. If you mistakenly swallow it or it falls out—you will have to start again.

"The full moon might rise here every night, but I am assured it's the duration that's far more important than the actual moon-phase timing. So, for the next thirty days, you will learn to eat, drink, sleep, and speak with that."

Ron raised his foreleg and waited. When Sirius pointed at him, he asked, "Did you manage it first time?"

"No. I became an animagus with two others—none of us got it first time. After the first week, though, it gets easier." When he'd walked around and set a leaf on every desk, Sirius walked back up to the front. "There're three hours until dinner. If you're going to get used to keeping that under your tongue, now would be a good time to start. Please, everyone read the first chapter of the book and I'll see you Wednesday."

When I stood up to leave, Sirius fixed me with a look and shook his head slightly. So I waited until everyone else had left.

"You may not be able to do this, Harry." He gestured at the leaf still on my desk. "You can test right now, thankfully. Put it in your mouth—under your tongue—and come over to the fireplace."

As soon as he told me what to do, I knew. Becoming a nirik, getting angry, setting myself ablaze. "It's when I wizard out, right?" I slipped off my glasses and set them on the desk beside me, put the leaf into my mouth, and made my way to the fireplace.

"'Wizard out'?" He raised an eyebrow that told me I'd probably said what I was thinking out loud.

"You know, when you get so caught up in using the wizard way of dealing with problems that you forget that you can just tip a bucket of water on a fire. That's wizarding. At least, that's how I think of being a wizard." I shrugged my shoulders as best I could while walking on all fours and got into the fireplace.

And got a little upset.

I wasn't really angry, though I could always get that if I needed to, just upset enough to become a nirik and stomp around a little. The problem was that the mandrake leaf burned to a crisp before I even finished catching on fire properly. At least that made me angry enough to get a good bit of heat into the stones of the fireplace. 

Finally, though, I felt drained of anger. It wasn't going to work and that's all there was to it. Sometimes life didn't give you the choices you want.

My flames sputtered out.

"Is it still there, Harry?" Sirius was sitting a little back from the fireplace.

I shook myself and stepped out. "Gone. Burned up in less than a second."

"How long can you manage without"—Sirius gestured to the fireplace—"that?"

Grabbing and putting my glasses back on, I started packing my books up. "A day if I'm lucky, but then my annoyances build up and I'll randomly catch fire. That's no good for anyone involved." 

He sighed. It was the kind of sigh that told me he'd done his best but things wouldn't work out. I already knew that. "You'll want to leave, then."

"No." With the books in my saddlebags balanced, I put them on and made my way for the door. "No, I want to stay and learn all this. I have friends in this class and it will help me understand what they are going through."

Leaving the room, Ron and Hermione closed in beside me. I looked from one to the other. "What's up?"

"We heard, Harry." Hermione sounded a little upset.

Ron nudged me with a shoulder. "You shouldn't feel like you need to keep doing it just because of us."

"It's not just because of you, that's just what I told Sirius. I like knowing how this stuff works, too, and if my two best friends are going to be animagi, I really want to know how it works." I nudged Ron back, shoving him a little to the side—but given Hermione's size compared to me, figured I'd best leave her alone. "You've both stuck by me through—through all of this craziness. That means a lot."

"The only reason I'm going to try is in case I get an animagus form with something better than hooves." Ron looked down at his hooves (which looked different to my split ones). "A monkey would be neat. Or even something like a bird."

That made me look up at Hermione. When she didn't give her reason, I asked her, "Why are you doing it, Hermione?"

Ron made a choking sound. "You know her, Harry. If it's magical, Hermione will study it. What do you have next?"

"I was thinking of grabbing an early lunch, maybe even practice riding my broom." It was starting to worry me that I'd need to find a steady supply of gaffer tape if I wanted to compete in any quidditch games.

"Oh, right, before I forget. Ginny wanted to chat. Fred said he left her in the Gryffindor common room." Ron slowed a little. "I need to go and see McGonagall about something."





Hermione Granger waited back with Ronald Weasley as their friend walked off for their house dorm rooms. When she was confident Harry was out of earshot, she sighed and said, "Thanks, Ron."

"He doesn't get it sometimes, does he?" Ron changed his direction from heading to the headmistress' office to the main hall.

Looking at her hands, Hermione shook her head. "He's a good friend, still."

"One of the best. Any thought about what you'd like to be as an animagus?" Getting to know Harry had proved something to Ron that no amount of hearing about him third hand would have—Harry Potter didn't read others' emotions well when he had his own problems to deal with.

"Do you promise not to laugh?"

Ron looked up at Hermione and shook his head. "You know I can't promise that. What I can do is promise to tell you what I hope to get." 

"Good enough. I want to become a cat. A big calico. It might seem crazy, but ever since I messed up that polyjuice potion, I—I've liked the idea of trying it again." Even now, just remembering the situation, Hermione found herself smiling.

"You'd be the smaller one of the group then. Me, I wanna be a lemur." Trotting along to match Hermione's long stride, Ron was more than happy to let his imagination run wild. "They have hands and big tails and can climb really well."

It was a surprise to Hermione that he'd thought about it that much. "A lemur? Really? And what if you don't get that?" 

"Then I'll adapt and use whatever I get." Ron shrugged and stepped into the great hall. It wasn't set up for a main meal, but when they walked in a house-Elf spotted them and vanished. "Could we get some—lunch…"

"They'll be back, don't worry." Hermione walked up to the bench and sat on a chair. "Even if I don't get a cat, I'd be happy with most of the animagus forms I've seen. I just feel so out of place like this."

"Just so long as I have more to work with than hoo—Oh, thanks!" The house-Elf that set a plate of salad before Ron looked surprised and blushed a little before disappearing.

Watching the brief interaction, Hermione was ready when her own lunch appeared. "Thank you," she said to the Elf. She got the same blushing reply before they vanished again. "They seem much happier than Dobby was."

"Did you see that one that came in with Professor Black? He's living out with Hagrid now." Despite how much he would have railed against such a diet before, Ron could now appreciate a good salad. The texture and flavor agreed with his new palate.

"Do you think Hagrid is forcing him to live out there?"

"From what I heard, he's a free house-Elf. He was in Azkaban for killing someone." It seemed open and shut to Ron, though given the reputation Azkaban had gotten recently—what with locking up Hagrid and Sirius, whom both he knew now—he didn't consider getting locked up there to be as big a red flag as before. "Maybe we should go down and talk to Hagrid? About becoming animagi, I mean."

"Do you suppose he knows any?" Hermione asked.

"Well, he knew Professor Black. What about Professor Lupin? Isn't he an animagus too?"

Looking around to be sure they were alone, Hermione said, "I heard he's a werewolf. That's why we never see him at dinner."

It was, as Ron well knew, a horrible fate for anyone. "Dark curse that. If he is"—Ron paused a moment, thinking about what he was about to say—"then I guess that makes him better suited to be our Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher."

"It's not just that anymore, remember? It's just Defense now. There's too much going on to be able to hope it'll just be dark wizards out to get anyone. I heard even the Ministry is acting odd."

Ron tilted his head. "Haven't you heard all the stuff about them?"

"Huh?"

"They attacked Ginny and a pony helping her learn magic. They're doing a lot of rotten stuff." The topic soured Ron on his food only slightly—more of a slowdown than actually putting him off eating. "I wouldn't go getting chummy with them if I was you."

Slumping back a little, Hermione let out a little huff. "It would be good if someone told my family these things."

"Well, I mean, your parents are—were—muggles. Kinda weird how easy they took the whole magic thing. Dad says that most muggles get really strange when they find out about magic." Ron was at the bottom of his plate. He would have complained but a smiling house-Elf set a nice egg salad down in a bowl beside him. "Thanks. They seem much happier."

"Probably on account of there not being so many Slytherin around," Hermione said. "And, I'll have you know, my parents realized there was a whole new market of patients for them in the Wizarding World. Sure, some witches and wizards fixed their teeth with spells, but do you have any idea how many Goblins there were who wanted a little work done?"

"N-Not really." Well adept at using his hooves to pick things up, Ron was having little trouble devouring everything put before him. He tuned out a little as Hermione started rattling off dentistry terms describing everything Goblins had done to their teeth in the time her parents had been working in the Wizarding World. When he finished the last of his food—and another house-Elf appeared—he held up his hoof. "No more for me, thanks."

It struck Hermione how nice Ron was treating the house-Elves. Most other witches and wizards she'd met tended to just ignore them. "So, uh, what class do you have after lunch?"

"Hermione, we have the same classes. It's Care of Magical Creatures with Hagrid." Sitting more upright, Ron looked around the hall now he realized there were more students around. Most, though, had left the two of them alone—Ron figured it was because Hermione wouldn't stop talking about cavities and fillings for five whole minutes.

"School seems a little less…" Hermione looked around the room cautiously, trying to come up with the right word to use. "A little less intense. Have you seen anyone give or take points yet?"

"Snape, remember? He gave points to Slytherin, but he didn't take any from anyone. Do you think he's going soft?"

"Snape," Draco said as he took a seat opposite Ron and Hermione, "isn't going soft. He glared at me for that whole class."

The shock of having Draco Malfoy sit down and voluntarily talk to them shook Ron to the core of his existence. Then he tried to remember what Draco had said. "Wait, so Snape's angry with you?"

"Because she left Slytherin," Hermione said.

"He," Draco snapped. "I'm not a filly, so get that through your heads."

"You're not?" Ron asked, confusion running rampant. While he had to admit that Draco was going around dressed more than anyone else, he definitely had a female pony's looks to his face.

It was the first time he'd confronted someone at the school about it, and Draco was mildly annoyed that it was Ronald Weasley and Hermione Granger. "No, I—It's complicated. Can you just treat me like I'm a guy?" 

"Okay," Hermione said. "So is it because you left Slytherin or not?"

"Yeah. He can't even dock points off me to annoy everypony else into bullying me back in line, since I don't have a house. So all he can do is glare." When a house-Elf set a plate in front of him, Draco muttered, "Thanks."

"'Everypony'?" Ron asked.

"Huh?"

"You said 'everypony' just now."

Draco stretched a wing out of the shirt he wore to pick up a fork and start spearing his salad. "Yeah. I want to be a pony, so I'll talk like a pony. Ponies say everypony and somepony. You should get used to it since you're a pony too now."

"Why'd you sit down here?" Hermione asked, changing the subject.

"Because you—" Taking a slow breath, Draco choked back the normal slur he'd have used with a muggle-born. "Because you two seem nicer than most of the others. There's a few Slytherins and a couple of Ravenclaws."

"Nicer?" Ron asked.

"Yeah. Nicer. Like you just said you'd treat me like I'm a guy. That kind of thing."

"I still don't get what you mean"—Ron held up a hoof to stop himself from being interrupted—"and I'm not inclined to be nice to you given all the crap you've done to us, but I know what it's like to not be taken seriously and trusted. Also, sticking it to a few Slytherin is always a good laugh, innit?"

"I'm sorry for all that stuff I did. I was—" Draco just let out a sigh and put his fork down. "I was a git."

"What happened to Crabbe and Goyle?" Ron asked, trying to get his head around this new version of Draco Malfoy.

"Their families didn't take it all seriously, or if they did they didn't move fast enough." Closing his eyes, Draco tried not to dredge up images of his parents fighting their final battle. "I guess if you had too much to stay for, the idea of leaving was hard to swallow."

"Do you have Care of Magical Creatures next?" Ron asked. He wasn't exactly sure why he wanted to change the topic, but Draco didn't seem to want to continue it.

"Yeah I—Oh. Hagrid." Draco tried to hide his groan behind a mouthful of food, but neither Ron nor Hermione were ignoring him. "Someone else I need to apologize to."

"You're doing a lot of that." Hermione surprised even herself by how approving her voice was. "Have you thought of apologizing to Harry?"

Groaning, Draco stood up and left the rest of his meal. "I'd rather not talk about him," he said, walking down the bench toward the entrance of the great hall.

Ron gave Hermione his best this is all your fault look, then jumped to his own hooves and trotted off after Draco.

Glaring after the pair, Hermione stood up. "How is any of this my fault?" she asked of no one in particular, and certainly not the house-Elf that appeared to clean away the plates. "Sorry. I didn't mean—Thank you."





Rubeus Hagrid wanted to get to the bottom of the forest and how far it reached. He's spent a month walking through the wilderness, and though it mostly felt like an entirely new world—which was fair, since it was one—there was still a sense of the Forbidden Forest about it. After a whole month spent wandering around getting good and lost, he realized that not only had some of the trees of the Earth forest been transplanted to the Crystal Empire, but so too had some of the animals.

On long walks he had found the trails of hippogriffs, unicorns, and even some Acromantula had apparently made it through. He wasn't sure if any centaurs had made it, but given how much the Forbidden Forest denizens had spread out, he was confident he had missed at least a few strange species.

So, after he spent that month getting lost, he decided he had to get found—which took another month. The situation had given him plenty of time to think and decide how he wanted to continue with his classes at Hogwarts. It also helped him clear out some of the emotional backwash of his time in Azkaban.

That all explained how he was ready for his first class of the school year feeling much more himself and less like an inmate of Azkaban, with a hippogriff standing at his side. What had surprised him was the little pegasus that glared up at him. "You wot?"

"I just wanted to say I'm sorry. I—" Draco took a deep breath and let it out. Out in the open, with his wings able to feel the breeze, he felt more centered and himself—his new self, that is. "I was wrong to get you in trouble with that dragon hatchling. Probably a million other things I can't even remember doing."

If Draco didn't sound so honest to him, Rubeus might have been able to bring back the anger of losing Norbert, but he also remembered the sight of Draco's parents sacrificing themselves to buy people time. He shrugged his shoulders. ""S alright. Have you met a hippogriff before?"

Draco had to look up and up and up. The hippogriff would have stood a bit above his head height before he wound up as a pony. Spreading his wings, he took off and hovered upward—letting his pegasus magic make the effort to stay aloft practically nonexistent. 

For a moment he wondered how he would have acted if he were still his old self and not trying to be a pony in spirit as well as form.

"This is Buckbeak. Proud creatures, hippogriffs. You need to let 'em acknowledge you before you get close. Here, he can see you, just give 'im a bow and wait to see if he bows back." Though it was colder than the usual home for hippogriffs, Rubeus was confident that they could handle a bit of snow. "Go on, the worst 'e'll do is—Well, you probably don't want to know the worst 'e'll do."

Biting his lower lip, Draco flew a little closer to the hippogriff.

"Alright. Bow to 'im."

Wanting to take a look at Rubeus to see if he was laughing at him, Draco nonetheless took his warning to heart—mostly because Buckbeak's beak was almost large enough to fit around his head. Carefully, he bowed his head, taking his eyes off the hippogriff.

When Draco lifted his head back up, it was to see that Buckbeak was likewise dipping his head.

"Go on and pet him. He's given you permission. Don't try anything too fast."

Keeping his wingbeats slow, Draco got a little closer and gently ran a hoof down Buckbeak's face. "Do you want to fly?" He didn't know why he asked it, the creature couldn't understand him—but at the same time the flare of excitement (or what he thought was excitement) shone in Buckbeak's eyes.

Stepping back as Buckbeak spread his wings, Rubeus stared Draco and the hippogriff shot into the sky. "Drat, that's the only hippogriff I've found, too."

"Was that Draco Malfoy?" Harry asked as he walked up to Rubeus.

"Sure was. 'Ere, did you know we have some actual unicorns in the woods?"

Harry looked around at the sound of hooves approaching, seeing more of his class arriving—including Ron and Hermione. "You mean not the pony kind, right?"

"Uh, right." Rubeus had to think for a moment to work out what he'd meant, but now he was running into the other problem—having a practical class about hippogriffs without actually having a hippogriff. Luckily for him, Draco and Buckbeak picked that moment to both crash into the ground with sextet of hooves. "Right!"

Draco was still a bit of a conundrum for Rubeus, but he could recognize when someone wanted a sea change well enough. "This here's Buckbeak…"