Chapter 8 (TROHP)

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lordamnesia: I'm glad you like my story. Since you can't wait, here's chapter eight. Huh, that rhymed, I think.
death444: Since you can't wait for more, here is chapter eight.
==August 22nd, 1992.==
My summer vacation was spent wisely. I had achieved an immense ten percent in magical growth, though it became increasingly difficult, because I had to work even harder the more power I gained. I came back to Durmstrang on August the eighteenth and successfully tested out of Transfiguration. Professor Ivanova guessed my reasons and wasn't happy, but couldn't deny me considering how well I did. This freed up more time for me to study the Native American Animagus method.
I even managed to test into fourth year Charms.
I met the new Dark Arts teacher, and Alexys grandfather, Zeus Megalos. He was intimidating to say the least, not very talkative either. He seemed to silently judge and appraise me, but I wasn't sure if I passed or failed. I could tell he was very powerful, around my own power level. He just seemed more confident in his power and seemed to know he could defeat his fellow teachers. Karkaroff in particular even seemed to fear him.
As I contemplated that, I was walking by his classroom.
"Ah. Mr. Potter," He said, exiting his classroom. "I was just heading to the welcoming feast myself. I shall join you, we will talk about your private lessons that you will having with me." I kept my expression under control. Who did this old man think he was? "Deimos asked me to personally teach you advanced magic, and I agreed after hearing of your skill. Your lessons will begin tomorrow after classes, and I will push you to your magical limits, but your powers will grow like never before; especially after you complete that ritual with Miss Abegg." Professor Megalos said, enjoying my look of shock.
"Oh yes, the pro-Grindelwald families are all aware. Everyone wants to see what your capable of, Harry. Even I do. Your having access to the Potter, Peverell, and Black Family Libraries provides truly exciting possibilities." He said, to my confusion. "I fought along side of Arcturus Black, Charlus and Dorea Potter, and members of the Abegg, Megalos, Xanthopoulos, and Aesalon families. Arcturus Black and Dorea Potter née Black rained courses upon Grindelwalds enemies that reduced them to puddles of human goo. Charlus Potter ripped the life from hundreds and turned them into undead slaves using Peverell Necromancy." He said, watching my expression of awe.
"Grindelwalds supporters bathed entire armies in Fiendfyre and Greek fire, though the Greek Fire was mostly provided by the Megalos family. And then, when we were near success, it all came to an end. Albus Dumbledore, Henry Potter, Fleamont Potter, Alastor Moody, Newt Scamander, and Tina Goldstein all attacked Grindelwalds elite. They were barely winning, but your grandfather and great-grandfather were very powerful and managed to eventually defeat Charlus and Dorea. They began to aid the weaker of the force, Newt Scamander and Tina Goldstein, and within two tiring hours Grindelwalds elite laid defeated. An hour later and Dumbledore had managed to defeat Lord Grindelwald, with his servants as a witnesses."
"You have access to all that powerful magic, Mr. Potter. You simply need to train hard and learn it all." He said, and I decided that I was going to. I needed that powerful magic at my disposal.
"I will. What will I be learning from you first?"
"I will be making sure you can duel at an acceptable level and utilize your magic to it's fullest potential. I will provide you with lists of spells for you to learn that you won't find here at Durmstrang. You will also study the Restricted Section and try to test out of several classes to free up more time for me to train you." His demanding personality was beginning to get on my nerves. "I know much of what Lord Grindelwald knew, and should be able to guide you to a similar level of power."
"Alright, thank you," I said, politely.
"Just work hard. I know your not adverse to rituals, and can always remove your need for sleep, or attain greater power." I nodded in agreement, but I didn't want to do that ritual. I didn't have the expensive ingredients anyway. "I can provide you with the ingredients if needed, I have more than enough stocked up." I nodded gratefully.
"So, are you looking forward to becoming an Animagus?"
"Of course! I'm excited about the possibility of having multiple forms. I hope one of them is magical, I'd really love to be a phoenix or basilisk or dragon." I said, to his amusement.
"Good luck. It's believed to be a one in a million chance and you have to have similar personality traits, and enough magic to handle the transformation and the strain of it. I'm surprised you didn't have a Nundu for one of your desired forms."
"Well, now, that I know personality traits play a factor I'd probably have to possess a permanent case of gas or halitosis, and be deeply ashamed of it." I said, causing him to laugh.
"If you test that theory, wait until you graduate Durmstrang or decide you have learned enough. I don't want to smell that, nor does anyone else." He said in amusement.
"Which includes me, also, sir." I said, as we neared the doors of the Dining Hall.
"Well. I'll let you join your friends, be gentle with the ladies." He said, with a teasing smile.
"I'll try." I said, in slight embarrassment. I really didn't mean to hurt Alexys, and I wished I hadn't. I walked away, to join my friends.
"Hey, Harry!" Alexys said, with a smile.
"Hey, Alexys." I said, with a smile in return.
"Looking forward to becoming an Animagus this year?" Alexys asked.
"Of course! Your grandfather and I were just talking about it."
"Looking forward to persuading me to teach you?" Abigail asked with a flirty smile, which amused Ajax, Aindrea, and Alexys.
"Yes, I am. When do you want me to 'persuade' you?" I asked, putting persuade in air quotes.
"Tonight!" She said, excitedly.
"Excellent," I said as Highmaster Karkaroff entered.
"Before you begin to eat, I have an announcement. We have a new Dark Arts professor, Zeus Megalos." He said, causing murmuring to break out.
"The Megalos family is infamous throughout the world as being extremely powerful, and is commonly derided as dark." Alexys explained, looking at the hall in disdain.
"Ah." I said, in understanding.
"Silence!" Karkaroff ordered. "You will treat him with the appropriate respect or face the consequences!" The food then appeared on the tables. "You may now eat!"
Dinner passed in oppressive silence, which most of the students belonging pro-Grindelwald families found very amusing.
When it was over, I retired to my room, followed closely by Abigail and Alexys.
The next day passed in a blur, classes were somewhat challenging, but I still thrived and made great progress.
Finally, it was time for my first lesson with Professor Megalos. I entered his classroom nervously.
"Good, your early." He said, with a smile. "Set down your book bag and prepare yourself."
I quickly obeyed, and sat my bag down in a place with natural shielding in the form of tables.
"Okay," He said, getting my attention. "Only the killing curse is forbidden in our duels. Prepare yourself, because I won't be gentle with you." He said in warning. I drew my wand and assumed a dueling stance.
He began with a powerful bone breaker, which I deflected away. He seemed to approve, because he smiled, while still studying me. He quickly sent two more at me, from his wand and hand. I quickly deflected the two spells, that appeared to be the first of many spells in the form of barrage. I quickly pushed my body harder, deflecting spells with my wand and with wandless magic. When his barrage was over, he looked pleased.
I felt his magic surge and smelled ozone. I knew what was coming, and immediately countered with a rope of fire and it met his lightning curse head on. I pushed, experimentally, and felt his power briefly become overwhelmed, before he suddenly ended the beam struggle and blasted me back. I barely managed to stay on my feet, but I managed to send a blasting curse at him. He shielded and managed to not even be knocked back.
I began my counter attack with a barrage of wanded and wandless bone breakers and bludgeoning curses, but his shield withstood it with ease. He smirked at me! I called up more of my power and-
Was hit by a red light! My last thought? 'I hope that was a stunning spell.'
I was re-awoken an unknown amount of time later.
"Your performance was just okay. Your spell deflection was incredible. You managed to identify the lightning curse and counter it, and would have overwhelmed me in a beam struggle; if I were much more inexperienced. You managed to recover from my counter-attack and make your own during that. Your wandless magic will need to be fully demonstrated to me, then I can identify any weaknesses in it and help you improve it. You need to make calling up more power second nature and effortless to do. I recommend practicing on training dummies and building up your time. You need to be able to do that while maintaining a solid defense. You need to incorporate Transfiguration into duels too. I wasn't sure if you were omitting that because of what class I teach."
I nodded along, making mental notes.
"I was omitting it, but I'll likely need to practice with it." I said, to which he nodded in understanding.
"Then you will now have your chance." He said, and I readied myself. "Begin!"
I quickly conjured objects and transfigured them into lions and sent them to attack. I quickly conjured several flocks of birds and sent them to attack. I turned all the desks into pigs and had them attack too. He destroyed the lions and birds with highly controlled Fiendfyre and untransfigured the desks, while I sent arrows at him. He had to dodge the arrows, and I took this time to repeat my earlier strategy with a couple modifications. He easily countered my strategy. That just wouldn't work.
Fumos, I thought. The smoke screen spell did its job, I quickly transfigured the smoke into daggers and launched them at Professor Megalos. I was rewarded with one hitting his arm, before he suddenly shielded; causing them to shatter. He dropped the shield, and I launched the shards at him, and held them an inch from his body.
"Yield?" I asked nervously. I knew I had gotten lucky, I was fighting with textbook methods and decided to try imagination at the last moment.
"Yes, I yield." He said, and I quickly vanished the shattered daggers. "Your Transfiguration was textbook and uninspired, at first, but you seemed to detect that and then used a brilliant and simple strategy combining Charms and Transfiguration. You have the knowledge, but need more experience at duels involving Transfiguration. I take it most of your magical combat was more direct, and to the point?"
"Yes, it was. I haven't had a chance to truly apply it in a duel, so I'd like it if we had more of these duels."
"And we will be having a great many of them. I intend to push you to your limits, and shall not rest until you can defeat me with ease." He said, looking truly excited at the prospect of being defeated.
"Well, I'll strive to make your dream of being defeated come true." I said, in amusement.
"Good. You need to begin studying for that event, but now you need to demonstrate your abilities in wandless magic."
Hours later...
I was just returning to my room, quite tired from demonstrating my skills, and noticed Abigail and Alexys waiting outside my door.
"Hello, ladies." I said politely.
"Ready for your first lesson?" Abigail asked, with a smile.
"Of course!" I said excitedly. I quickly unlocked the door to my room.
When I entered, I sat my book bag down on a table.
"You'll need to move some things to make room." Abigail said, to my confusion. "Sometimes you can get large forms."
"Alright." I said, beginning to levitate my furniture out of the way. I managed to create forty feet of open space.
"Okay, please take a seat on the floor," Abigail said. I obeyed. "I'm going to cast a spell on you that allows you to bond with and communicate with animal spirits. When I cast it, you will go into deep meditation by tuning out all thought and focusing entirely on entering the meditation; including ignoring all sound and smells." That might be difficult. "Your skill in Occlumency should greatly help you."
"When you succeed, you will see your form or forms and will need to go half way to them. Do not go any further, you will know when to stop." She said, making sure I understood. "They will come the rest of the way to you, when they do you should exit the meditation. They cannot hurt you, but they can be spooked and abandon you, if you haven't fully integrated them into your being. Some animal spirits will leave if you disgust them, that is why there are so few phoenix and unicorn Animagus' in history. Most phoenix spirits leave before the holder can even become aware of them. I'll cast the spell now."
"Adanvdo adudalvdo." She said, holding her palms facing me. I was quickly enveloped by the blue light that left her hands.
"Begin meditating."
I obeyed and quickly closed my eyes, emptying my mind of all thought and even emotion.
I was not sure how long it took, but eventually I appeared in a field and saw three forms. I focused on them, and saw a black cat, a large tiger, and a massive snake. I felt that I could safely approach and began walking towards them, making sure they didn't see me as a threat. As I got closer, I noticed that one form was a black panther, the others were a larger than normal tiger, and I couldn't identify what kind of snake the other one was, but it was massive, at least thirty feet long and powerfully built.
I got halfway there and stopped, and began the waiting period. I just hoped that I didn't have to wait long.
I stared at the animal spirits without fear.
The first to approach was the panther. He stared me down one last time, before he placed his head against mine, and disappeared.
The tiger approached next. It got in my face and roared, but I sat unfazed and seemed to pass his test. He placed his head against mine and disappeared.
The snake approached me next. I could feel its apathy and coldness, it seemed to be radiating it or otherwise conveying the emotion to me. It was a predator and it did whatever it had to, too survive. It was beautiful and terrifying. It placed its massive head against mine and disappeared. I exited the meditation.
When I opened my eyes, I saw Alexys and Abigail almost dozing off.
"Wake up, ladies!" I said, with a smile.
"Welcome back! You were gone for hours." Alexys said, with an undertone of concern.
"That's surprising. I only had three forms; a panther, a tiger, and a massive snake."
"To transform into your forms you simple find your recently assimilated spirits, accept it and let your body fill with magic. You need to use Occlumency or strong will-power to prevent the spirit from completely taking over, specifically your mind. You simply need to call upon the spirits and allow them surface, just make sure you have and retain control. You can try one now, just start small." Abigail said. She seemed to be eager for me to finish.
I called upon the panther animal spirit and felt a foreign presence in my mind and my body began to tingle. I accepted the bodily control and began to fill my body up with magic. My physical body and my clothes disappeared, in my place was a mighty black cat, a panther, with my green eyes. I had successfully completed my first Animagus Transformation!
"Congratulations, Harry!" Abigail and Alexys said. I growled in response. I already missed being able to talk.
I began to move around, getting used to my transformed body.
Ten minutes later, and I had memorized the feeling of the form.
"To return to your human form, you simply need to focus on it." Abigail said. I quickly did so. "I think you can handle the rest alone. This method is better and safer, with barely any risks. Any questions?"
"Yes, why do I feel suddenly stronger?"
"It's a beneficial side-effect. It allows users of this method to become much more physically stronger than users of the other, inferior method. More forms equals more strength, speed, and agility while in human form. Any more questions?"
"When can I thank you ladies for what you did tonight?" I asked, with a smile. They knew what I was asking.
"Whenever you want." Alexys said, in amusement.
"Great. Are there any spells to counter accidents with this method, and can you teach me that spell some time?"
"Yes, there are and I will teach them to you this week." Abigail replied.
"Okay, that's all the questions I have. I'll walk you ladies back to your rooms."
"No need for that," Alexys said, in amusement. "We'll spend the night!"
The next morning was...memorable. I had fully recovered the magic I used and did my exercises while Abigail and Alexys were asleep. When they woke up, we decided to do the funnest exercise known to every species that enjoys sex. When we finished with that, I experimented with my snake Animagus. After it was mentioned to resemble a boa type snake, I decided to call it Titanoboa. After getting comfortable with that form, I tried my tiger form. Which was identified as a large Siberian Tiger, it was similar enough to my panther form that I easily became comfortable with it.
My day passed in much the way as yesterday, classes were easy for me. Sadly Professor White was trying to get a mastery student to tutor an idiot who had Karkaroffs favor. I refused citing my poor progress in mastery potions, a full schedule and my advanced post-mastery studies; in Transfiguration and Dark Arts. He caved and passed the burden that was Viktor Krum onto someone else with a less busy schedule.
Finally, it was time for my next private lesson with Professor Megalos.
I nervously entered his classroom.
"Good, your early. Feel free to make that a habit."
"I intend too."
"Good. Have you begun studying any books from the Restricted Section yet?"
"No, I haven't. I spent part of last night and this morning getting used to my three Animagus forms. I checked out a book earlier today though, and I'll read it in my spare time. It's regarding Battle Transfiguration. I chose it because that seemed to be my biggest weakness." I said, to his approval.
"Good. Then I'll teach you obscure and rare magic that you cannot learn here and would have difficulty learning elsewhere."
"Great! What's first?" I asked excitedly.
"I'll teach you some soul magic, blood magic, and necromancy." He said with a smile, obviously amused by my excitement.
The incantation for spirit bonding/communicating was in Cherokee. The credit for the translation goes to Cherokee dot org.
His snake Animagus is the extinct and modernly named Titanoboa, the monster snake. I take no credit for the naming. I wanted him to have a symbol of his uniqueness and dominance, and having something that awesome, fear inspiring, and powerful should serve that purpose.
==Authors Note==
Authors Note: The Native American Animagus method was inspired by and borrowed from A Second Chance at Life, by JasonZ0654. I made a couple additions to grant low-level superpowers to Harry though, more Captain America than the Hulk though; IE the strength boost. The method was used by a few other authors, of course, but I remember that story best. By the way, Jason, if your reading this, update please!
Category:TRoHP Chapters