Harry Potter and the Order Of the Phoenix [69]
“Open your eyes,” came Professor McGonagall’s voice. Harry opened his eyes and there was a mirror floating in front of his face. Harry jumped back when he saw what he saw in it.
Harry saw his face in it, only it was more… hairy. His entire head was covered in golden hair, and he had a small mane growing all around his neck. Harry opened his mouth and saw small, clear, sharp teeth popping out.
Harry looked over at Ron and burst out laughing (well, growling). Ron’s face was a light green, and he had big, bulging eyes that were at least the size of baseballs. Hermione had a shiny horn coming out of her head that was about five inches long, and her face was becoming slightly elongated. But, just as Harry saw them all this way, all three of them went back to normal. They all looked extremely disappointed.
“Why’d we go back to normal so quickly professor?” asked Hermione, feeling her head for any sign of a horn.
“You were not concentrating on your animal form,” said Professor McGonagall sternly. “You three were looking at each other’s transformations, and you stopped thinking about your own.”
“How come we didn’t transform exactly into our animals professor?” asked Ron. “I imagined every detail on the chameleon, and all I got were the eyes.”
“And the green skin,” whispered Harry to Ron. They both laughed silently.
“In order to do a perfect transformation, Mr. Weasley, you need to exaggerate your animal’s features in your mind. If its horn is eight inches tall, imagine it to be sixteen. If its skin is a light-green, imagine it to be a dark lime. The more you exaggerate your features, the more accurate you will be.”
“And Sirius made this looked easy,” whispered Ron to Harry. Professor McGonagall had heard him.
“Yes, he does make it look easy Mr. Weasley. As does any Animagus. However, it took him all of three years to get it down perfectly, and each of you has barely worked on it for a week. Now, continue imagining your animals and their features. When you do transform, concentrate hard on staying that way, try not to become distracted.”
Harry, Ron, and Hermione worked on their transformations until late into the evening. They got tips from Professor McGonagall and by the time she announced the lesson was over, each for them could perfectly form the head of their animals, and hold it for about ten seconds. It was very difficult to keep from laughing and becoming distracted while transforming, especially when Ron’s head shrunk down to the size of the chameleon’s, being far to small for his body.
As they were walking down the hallways, finally leaving their lesson, talking excitedly about their transformations, they stopped suddenly after hearing a very loud scream from far away.
“What was that?” whimpered Hermione.
“I don’t know,” said Harry, standing dead in his tracks looking around. The voice screamed again.
“It’s coming from over there!” yelled Ron. He pointed his wand in the direction of the Great Hall, and when they entered the room, the voice screamed again. All of their heads tuned the other door that led out of the Great Hall, and near the Headmaster’s office. They ran though that door, and when they got through it, the scream came again.
“It’s coming from the Hospital Wing,” said Harry. At once, he immediately realized what was going on. “It’s Malfoy. He must have drink his potion.” Each of them put an expression of forced sadness on their faces, and the scream came again.
“Should we see him?” asked Hermione.
“No, that’s probably the last thing he wants: to be comforted by his enemies, us thinking he’s weak,” said Harry. “Let’s give him this one.” They all walked away from the Hospital Wing, and back to the Gryffindor Common Room. While they were walking, they head no more screaming, so either Malfoy wasn’t in pain anymore, or Madam Pomfrey