Adult-FanFiction.org : Harry Potter

A Consternating Transformation	By : The-Shiny-Slowpoke Category: Harry Potter > Het - Male/Female Views: 28077 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 6
Disclaimer: The Harry Potter series and it's characters belong to JK Rowling and I make no profit from this work of fiction :)

Chapter List
- 1
- 2
- 3
Harry sighed as she trudged into her brand new room, glancing around warily. She didn’t like that she’d had to move… Although she did understand. Under the current circumstances, she wasn’t exactly a guy.
And best friends or not, she didn’t want Ron and the other guys to see her in any state of undress.
She was deeply afraid of the day any man took sexual interest in her. She didn’t know if she was straight or a lesbian, but the idea of being with a bloke was a bit… Strange. She was too used to being one of the lads.
She glanced around at the room, very thankful that McGonnagal had put her in a room with just Hermione for company. It’d be strange sharing with the girl, but she was somewhat accustomed to it after having to sleep with the brunette and the female Weasley throughout the holidays.
If there had been any other girl’s sharing a room with Harry, she doubted she’d be so comfortable. She didn’t want anyone she didn’t know well seeing her… All female. She was reluctant enough letting Hermione choose her clothes and help her dress, she didn’t want some stranger saying her scantily clad.
“Do you think this will ever… Not be weird?” Harry asked Hermione softly, undressing and changing into the pyjamas at the top of her suitcase. She just wore some of her old shirts from being a guy at night, as they were now quite loose, and very comfortable. She wasn’t quite comfortable enough to wear a nightie or any of that lark. Hermione frowned at the other girl’s question, turning to face her as she changed into her own pyjamas, some flannel shorts and a vest.
“Err… Well yeah, I guess. We’ll all get used to it someday, and it’ll just be one of those strange stories we tell when we’re older. People will lose interest in the change eventually, probably quite quickly. They never hang on to gossip for long.” The brown eyed girl explained, looking a little dubious. She wasn’t sure if she believed her own words. It would be weird, but she couldn’t tell Harry that. The girl needed comfort, even if that meant bending the truth a little.
Harry nodded and sighed, moving to the small ensuite with her wash bag. Hermione had made her assemble a wash bag before coming, full of soaps and shampoos and her toothbrush. The dark haired girl stared at her reflection numbly for a moment before pulling out her toothbrush. It would take a while for her to get used to the sight of herself… She was used to seeing a speccy, scrawny teenage boy in the mirror. Not this curvy, soft looking… Woman. She was still a little scrawny, her stomach was concave and she would swear she had lost a few inches in height, but she looked fuller. Her body seemed more balanced than before.
It was bizarre.
After brushing her teeth Harry crawled into bed, watching as Hermione did the same. She waited until the other girl was comfortable, before muttering a soft ‘nox’ to cut out the lights. The green eyed beauty sat in the dark silently for a while, just thinking. Tomorrow lessons would start, and so would what was essentially a new life for the girl. She had to rediscover who she was, and adjust to the large amount of attention Hermione and Ginny ensured her she would get.
Even she could see she was a bit attractive. She didn’t think any more so than she was before though, but she had never had high self-esteem so that was hardly a surprise… Insecurities were common place with her, they always had been. Living in the public eye for the last eight years had not done any good for her self-image, especially not with the most recent changes to her appearance.
-
“Right ‘n… This year, thanks ter some extra fundin’ from the Ministry, we ‘ave got a real treat fer you lot. We’ve managed ter get some new creatures, and build some ‘omes for ‘em on the grounds.” Hagrid opened, standing before the gaggle of students that was the eighth year. Due to how few students in the year came back, they were all taught as one class, and all had to do the same subjects. If a student wanted to do a subject not in the standard list, they could seek extra tutoring outside of lesson time (which, no surprise, Hermione was doing as several of her favourite subjects were not included).
The compulsory subjects were Astronomy, Care Of Magical Creatures, Charms, Defence Against The Dark Arts, Herbology, History of Magic, Muggle studies (no doubt due to the promotion of blood equality after the war), Potions and Transfiguration. There were three lessons of each a week they had been told, but tuition and revision sessions were offered regularly. Most of the stuff taught was regular seventh year curriculum, with some small subtractions (regarding DADA mainly) due to the experience the year already had.
Students could drop a subject if they really hated it, but were expected to take up an unoffered class with the seventh years unless they had good reason not to.
Harry groaned softly, shooting a sideways glance at Ron when Hagrid told them they had new beasts to learn.
Great. Something even worse than a flobberworm, perhaps?
“As ‘n ongoin’ project this year, yer gonna each be given a creature of yer choice from what we have, and raise it yerselves. O’course, if yeh can’t take care of yer creature we will intervene, but it’ll be an automatic fail…” The half giant continued, oblivious to his class’s reluctance.
“More flobberworms…?” Ron sighed, wrinkling his nose. Hagrid’s eyes twinkled at the question.
“No Ron, much, much better.” He insisted, making the class groan unhappily. Everyone was expecting the worse… What they were not expecting, was for Hagrid to take them round the back of his hut, where there were several boxes containing the young of various creatures.
Various bird eggs from Merlin knew what (which Hagrid said were a mixture of Jobberknoll subspecies, not that anyone was comforted by that as some of them looked suspiciously different), the most adorable baby kneazles (that the majority of the girls were crooning over), what looked like bowtruckle eggs and tiny little Puffskeins.
“Now, for all yeh girls fawning over the Kneazles, they’re half cat, as ‘s against Ministry regulations to have a full Kneazle without a license.” Hagrid announced when he saw the gaggle of girls surrounding the box of softly mewling kittens. The girls however did not seem at all fazed by this news.
“A’right… I’ll call yeh all up one by one, and you can pick yer project pet. At the end of the project, if you ‘ave done well and ‘ave bonded with yer creature, our ‘eadmistress has given me permission to let yeh keep ‘em.” He announced, to the delight of most of the girls in the class. “Don’ all be goin’ for those kneazles though, a few of those eggs are very rare and not like the others. Thought I’d add a bit o’ a surprise there.” He chuckled, winking. Ron grimaced, eyeing the eggs suspiciously. Hagrid had more or less confirmed everyone’s confusion of the eggs.
“What about supplies for them…? Like cages or tanks and food…” The ginger inquired, eyeing a puffskein, which without a doubt looked the easiest of the creatures on offer.
“The school ‘as put enough funding into this project to provide food, and accommodation for whatever you get if you can’t afford it yehself.” Hagrid assured him, smiling warmly.
“What’re the small eggs in the box on the far right…?” A soft drawl asked. Harry turned to see Draco Malfoy was the asker, standing with his arms crossed at the back of the group, leaning against the side of the hut.
“Those’re bowtruckle eggs… Bowtruckles are probably the ‘ardest of the lot.” Hagrid admitted, assuming no one would want them but offering them anyway. He could hatch and release them if they went unclaimed. “A’right, now everythin’s in order, step back and I’ll call yeh forward one at a time so there’s no risk of damagin’ the creatures.”
The class moved into a group and stood about seven or eight feet from the boxes, a little excited now they knew what the creatures were… Nothing too ominous, all of them were manageable (and thankfully legal, despite Hagrid’s track record).
“What do you want Harry…? I’m thinking of going for a Puffskein… I’ve got Crookshanks, so I know how to look after a half-kneazle already… But Puffskeins aren’t very challenging. I can’t get a Jobberknoll or a bowtruckle though, Crookshanks might try eat it… And that’s not very helpful for the project…” Hermione mumbled to her best friend, chewing her bottom lip softly as she eyes the pets on offer.
“Then just go for a Puffskein. They grow a bit too big for Crookshanks to try and devour, but don’t mind being batted about a bit. They’d be like a living, willing, toy for the furry monster.” Harry mused with a soft laugh, grinning. “I’m just going to get one of the bird eggs and hope for the best… I like birds.” She added, eyeing a beautiful mottled green egg. It was a bit bigger than some of the others, but it caught her attention.
-
“’Arry Potter.” Hagrid called, making Harry sigh softly under her breath as every eye in the class sought her out. Half of the class had already been up, and there seemed to be an even divide. Most of the girls had gone for kneazles, and most of the boys had gone for puffskeins.
The raven haired girl walked forward to the crates containing the animals, and scooped up the green egg she had noticed earlier. She noticed Hagrid grin proudly.
“Well, there’s a surprise.” The large man joked, beaming widely. Harry gulped, guessing she must have got one of the mystery eggs… She glanced down at the large, warm egg in her palm, eyeing it cautiously.
“What..?” She asked softly, wary.
“Yeh got one of the special eggs ‘Arry! ‘Ere, take this.” Hagrid insisted, handing Harry an old leather bound book. Each student had been told where in the library they could find books on their creature to help raise it, but Hagrid had bought this book himself, in case anyone got one of the special eggs.
Harry clutched the book to her chest with one arm and walked to the group of students that had already got their creatures, cupping the egg in one palm. It only just fit in her hand. There was only one more large egg like his (except more darkly coloured), and the remaining students seemed to be avoiding it like the plague, worried about what it was. Until Draco was called up.
The blonde Slytherin scooped up the almost black, dark green egg, examining it before raising his eyes to meet Hagrid’s.
“Ah, yeh got the other special egg… ‘M afraid I’ve only got one of those books, yeh’ll have to share it with ‘Arry.” The half giant mused, scratching his head and glancing over at Harry. Draco looked over at the dark haired girl and smiled, walking towards her. Harry frowned but didn’t protest, a bit confused. It wasn’t a nasty smile… She knew Draco had changed during the war, but was he willing to be civil with her after everything…? She hoped so, else working together would be hard. Draco stopped beside her, eyeing her egg before meeting her eyes.
“Have you taken a look at the book yet…? I want to know what we’ve gotten ourselves in for…” The pale Malfoy chuckled, nodding to his own egg with a grin as Hagrid continued to call the last few students. Harry shook her head and flipped the book open to the front page and read the title. The book was old, so the title on the outside had worn off, but inside, written in slightly faded green ink were the words ‘Keeping An Augurey’.
“These are Augureys…? That’s great… I’ve always wanted a phoenix. They’re very interesting creatures… It’s a shame we couldn’t get normal phoenixes, but they’re very hard to obtain as they don’t trust humans easily…” Draco hummed, running a hand over the smooth shell of the excessively warm egg. “It explains why the eggs are warm to the touch though.”
Harry moved over to one of the tables set out on the grounds when they were told to go study their creature. For most of the class this meant going to the library, so Draco and Harry were sat outside alone. It was a double lesson, so they still had an hour and a half to go. Harry pulled off her jumper and gently bunched it up on the table before settling her egg into the dip in the middle. Like a nest. Hagrid walked over to them as Draco did the same, thinking it a good idea after seeing Harry do it.
“Right then, you two got the Augureys! These eggs are from the Augurey we bought for the third years lessons, that is currently in Professor McGonnagal’s care. I ‘ope you two can take care of these, they’re mighty delicate creatures an’ can be very shy… So look after ‘em.” He told them, before beaming. “I ‘ave faith in yeh, do yer best and I’m sure they’ll love yeh.” The bearded man then left them alone, no doubt to go put the remaining creatures inside. Hagrid’s hut had been completely rebuilt after the war due to the damage done to it when the acromantulas came out of the forest. It’s foundations had been weak due to the fire the year before the battle, so it came down easily. McGonnagal’d had the building rebuilt, with extra room and a lead on to a large stable like room where creatures could be kept for lessons.
“Right then… Shall we get started?” Draco suggested, running his hand reverently over his egg. For a student who had previously hated the subject, he seemed eager now. Then again, that was the case with most of the eighth year students. It was a project worth doing the subject for.
“…what’s your deal Malfoy?” Harry blurted suspiciously, still deeply confused by the boy’s amicability towards her. The blonde sighed at that question, looking a little sad for a moment before covering it with his old indifferent mask.
“Is it so hard to believe I’ve changed…? I did what I did when we were young because it was the way I had been raised… Surely you realise I had a change of heart? For Merlin’s sake, you found me bawling in a bloody bathroom in our sixth year… And I didn’t identify you to my aunt when you were at our Manor last year, even though I knew it was you… I didn’t want Voldemort to win the war. I hated the man. I followed him because if I didn’t, my family would be killed.” The Slytherin huffed a little mournfully, being honest to Harry for what she thought was probably the first time… Ever.
“Oh… Well… I know you’re not evil or anything, I’m just confused about why you’re being so… Civil. Good or not, we’ve never gotten along.” Harry insisted quietly, a little ashamed by her assumption that Draco would still be unkind to her.
“I have no reason to dislike you, quite the contrary. You saved my life more than once… What right do I have to be unkind?” Draco reasoned, frowning. Harry understood that at least… She could get used to that. If Draco wanted to be civil, Harry would let him.
“Alright… That’s fair enough. Sorry for assuming… You must understand my initial wariness.” She crooned with a small smile, flipping the book open between them when Draco nodded his understanding, reading the chapter guide of the book and flicking them to a chapter entitled ‘hatching an egg’.
“Yeah, I do. It was too much to hope for thinking you’d be fine with me from the off. I was a dick before.” The pale boy laughed half-heartedly, smiling weakly back at the girl. “Right… Well, it says here that the eggs must always be kept warm… Which is understandable. They are a breed of phoenix.”
“Does it say how…? I know dragon eggs have to actually be kept in fires.” Harry disclosed, glancing over at the book.
“It says a warming charm, if no mother is present, will do best. Eggs are usually taken from the mother in domesticated Augureys, as they can be sold on. Augurey’s are quite naturally warm, so I imagine the mother just sits on them to keep them warm enough in the wild.” Draco explained, pointing at the spell recommended in the book.
“Calefacio?” Harry questioned, frowning. She’d not heard of that spell before… According to the book it was very simple, and didn’t need any gestures or wand flicks. Just for the user to think about warmth.
“Doesn’t seem too complicated… Calefacio~!” Draco called, directing his wand at his egg. The egg glowed briefly, as the book said it would. “Okay… Well that worked. It says the spell must be reapplied every four hours until the egg hatches… That means getting up in the night… Merlin, it’s going to be like having a baby!” He chuckled, grinning. Harry cast the spell on her own egg, watching it glow momentarily before returning to normal.
“It says we have to supervise the egg at all times, as the baby is delicate and can die quickly if is unseen to when it hatches… Hatching can take anything from a few days to a week after laying. We’ll have to ask Hagrid when he comes back how long ago the eggs were laid.” Harry read, pressing a hand gently to the egg and seeing it was indeed much warmer than before. “We’ll probably need to cast a sensory spell on the egg, so that we’ll wake up if they hatch in the night.”
Draco nodded at that, casting the spell required wordlessly as Harry did the same. Hagrid came back out five minutes later whilst they were both making notes on what to feed their chicks when they hatch.
“Hagrid~! When were these eggs laid…?” Harry shouted to the large, hairy man, looking up from where she was writing with her phoenix quill. She’d found the feather at Grimmauld place when she had gone there briefly in the holidays, and fashioned it into a quill. She assumed it was an old quill from Fawkes, as no one had seen the bird since Dumbledore had died.
“Errr… Friday I think. Yeah, Friday. I’ve keeping them by my fire until now… ‘Ave you put heating charms on them yet?” He asked the two of them, puffing his chest out proudly when they nodded. “Good ter see yer lookin’ after them already. Have yeh read through the hatchin’ process then?” He purred, grinning when they nodded again.
“We’re just making notes on what they need feeding in the different stages of childhood.” Harry explained, gesturing to their parchment and the book between them. “We’ve also placed sensory charms on them so we know when they begin to hatch.” She added, glancing at her egg, which was still motionless in her bundled up jumper.
“Thas’ great. The others should be back soon… Will you need any help with the feedin’?” Hargid hinted, glancing over at the castle to see if the rest of the class were returning yet. They weren’t.
“No, I think we should be able to cover it… Neither of us are particularly short of money, and they don’t eat anything difficult or expensive. Mainly bugs and such…” Draco replied, flashing a brief smile. Hagrid nodded before going to gather the food he already had for the Puffskeins and Kneazle kittens, placing it on the wooden table closest to his hut. Harry didn’t miss the suspicion in his eyes when he glanced back at Draco. The kittens and puffskeins were still small enough to need bottle feeding, so he had a specially formulated milk that he’d be providing courtesy of Madame Pomfrey and Slughorn. Once they’d grown old enough the students would need to find a way of providing for them, whether that was with school funding or their own money.
All the teachers had been warned about the students having their creature project, as for the first few months the beasts would all be too little to be left alone and would be going to classes with them.
“So we need to hand feed them larva, maggots and bug eggs for the first few weeks?” Draco queried, wrinkling his nose a little.
“Yeah, the eggs first, until they’re a bit bigger. When they’re little, bug eggs are all they can really eat… Then when they’re a bit bigger, they’ll eat larva and maggots. When they’re fully grown they will mainly hunt for themselves, and will eat fairies mostly. Some insects.” Harry confirmed, glancing over his notes. “We’ll need to make a temporary nest or two for them whilst they’re young, as they dislike being confined to cages. Cages make them nervous. I’d say a nest with a permanent heating charm for our dorms, and a smaller nest that we can carry around with us in our bags when they’re young and don’t like being alone…” She added, chewing her bottom lip.
“Are they particularly fussy about what the nest is made from?” The blonde asked, glancing at his makeshift jumper-nest.
“They prefer nests of natural materials, but that’s about it.” The green eyed girl told her project partner, glancing at the forbidden forest briefly. “Hagrid! Can we skirt the edges of the forbidden forest for some materials to make nests?” She called to their teacher, grinning when he nodded.
“I’ll keep an eye on yer eggs for yeh.” He offered, sitting at their table and ignoring the seat creaking in complaint. Draco stood with Harry, the two of them heading towards the dark mass of trees.
“We can use magic to hold the nest together, we don’t want it falling apart every time we move it. We can also put protective charms and such on them to keep the little chicks safe…” The blonde hummed as they padded to the tree line.
They spent the next half an hour collecting various branches, leaves and vines, what should be enough for one small next and one large nest each. They carried the bundle of plant life back to their table to find Ron and Hermione sat there with Hagrid, bottle feeding their Puffskeins. Hermione had chosen a bright red puffskein, and Ron a golden coloured one.
Typical Gryffindors… Draco thought to himself, sitting back by his egg as Hagrid stood. Ron shot him a suspicious look but the blonde just ignored him, moving his egg over so that he had space to make the first nest. He and Harry dumped their supplies on the floor beside the table, within arm’s reach.
Harry checked her egg as she shot a quick greeting at the couple down the other end of the table.
“Did you find out what your egg is Harry…?” Hermione asked, watching her weave the twigs together the way the book explained.
“Hm…? Yeah, they’re Irish Phoenixes…” The dark haired girl answered idly, focussing hard on crafting the nest properly.
“Augureys???” Ron questioned incredulously, eyeing the eggs a little reverently.
“That is what an Irish Phoenix is…” Draco muttered to himself, earning a stern glare from Harry at his mocking.
Hermione shook her head when Ron went to angrily retort, silencing her ginger boyfriend and pushing the bottle back into his hand in an attempt to get him to continue feeding his project pet.
Harry weaved the wider twigs into the shape of a basic frame, starting with a roughly circular base building up into rings for the sides. She then began to thread the thinner twigs through the frame to fill in the holes, looping vines throughout to keep the twigs securely in place. It looked a little too neat and secure to be a natural nest, but she wanted something safe, not something that looked authentic. The chick wasn’t exactly going to care what it’s nest looked like. Hagrid brought over some downy feathers that he had preened from the young hippogriffs he was keeping in a field behind his hut for Draco and Harry, to line the nests and make them comfortable. The two thanked him, before weaving the soft feathers into the inside of the nests. Harry had completed her small nest in no time, and moved the egg from her balled up jumper to the nest. She eyed the completed nest proudly, thoroughly impressed with how well it had actually gone. Draco was working on his larger nest first, so hadn’t quite completed it.
“That looks really good Harry…” Hermione insisted, examining the sturdy little nest. Harry had expected it to go poorly, so was quite pleased with the result.
“Thanks ‘Mione… Do you know any charms to make it more secure? I know one to stop it being able to tip over… But I want to make sure it won’t fall apart.” The saviour of the wizarding world crooned, scratching her head. Hermione nodded, pulling out her wand and muttering a few incantations. Harry muttered her own to stabilise the nest, casting a charm that would always make it land base down if it fell or was dropped, reducing the risk of the egg or chick getting hurt.
“There… I’ve reduced how flammable it is. Now it can only be set alight by fiendfyre, so you can put it by the fire place to keep the chick warm if you want. I also increased the density of the twigs so they’re harder to damage. The Augurey should be safe in there.” Hermione imparted softly with a warm smile, pushing the nest back towards her best friend.
“That is an impressive nest… Can you make me one like that? I’ll make your larger nest for you if you do.” Draco offered hopefully, smiling kindly. Hermione frowned at his kindness but said nothing, turning to watch Harry. The other girl nodded with a shrug.
“I don’t see why not. Anything to do less work…” She joked with a grin, beginning the process all over again. This nest turned out a little bit messier, but Harry trimmed back the twigs that stuck out further then they needed to until it looked almost as neat as the first. She added the feathers needed, raising her head to see Hermione enchanting the large nest Draco had made. The dark haired girl raised an eyebrow, surprised Hermione was helping the boy. Not as surprised as Ron however, whose mouth was hanging open in shock.
Draco looked up from where he was half way through the second large nest and smiled. “Thank you Granger… I appreciate it.” He told her, before continuing to weave smaller twigs through the large frame he had already created for the second. Making a nest wasn’t actually as hard as either of them had expected… Thank Merlin. Harry passed Hermione the small nest he had completed for Draco to charm, thanking her profusely for her help and smiling widely.
“You’re the best Hermione, cheers.” She insisted, carefully lifting Draco’s egg and putting it in the new nest.
“Take the first nest I made, I’ll have this one… Hopefully I’ll have it done before the lesson ends.” Draco ordered Harry as he watched her sort his egg out for him.
“Oh, thank you. It looks great, I’m sure our feathered friends will love them…” She insisted with a grin, placing the small nest in the larger one to make them easier to carry.
Hagrid was moving around the class handing out the readymade formula. “Yer’ve all got two days’ worth o’ formula there, you’ll need ter come to me for more when yeh run out.” He told them as he walked, smiling approvingly at Harry and Draco’s nests. The students who’d taken Jobberknoll eggs were all trying less successfully to make small nests for their birds, eyeing Harry and Draco’s longingly. Their eggs also needed warming charms, but less powerful ones that lasted twelve hours at a time rather than four because less heat was needed.
“A’right! Class is almost over, so if yer’d like to start getting ready to go…” Hagrid called, hearing a few groans and smiling. It would seem this project had been a very popular idea, and the students were reluctant to leave. “Now don’ be like that! We’ve got another lesson Friday afternoon, when I’ll be checkin’ yer takin’ good care of yer creatures!” He chortled, watching the students packing away their formulas and nests. Harry put the larger, practically indestructible nest in his bag, carrying the smaller one containing the egg rather than risk damaging the egg.
“Do you want to keep the book to study from tonight, and give it to me tomorrow? We’ll circulate it between us so we both get to read everything through.” Draco dictated, standing beside Harry with his own egg and nest in his hands.
“Sure, I’ll give to you in potions tomorrow.” Harry allowed with a smile, actually quite happy with how amicable they had managed to be. Being civil with Draco was nowhere near as hard as he had expected. At that Draco nodded and returned to his own friends, who were waiting for him at a different group of tables.
“Getting chummy with the golden trio Draco?” Blaise inquired, cupping a small deep purple coloured Puffskein in his palm and grinning.
“There’s no point in being hostile with them, Harry and I sort of have to work together.” Draco blew off, rolling his eyes. “Now are we going to Transfiguration or not?”
“We are… And shouldn’t you be calling her ‘Harriet’ or something similar?” Pansy snickered, smirking childishly. Draco rolled his eyes again at that, beginning to walk back towards the castle with Blaise, Pansy and Theo.
“Harry is short for Harriet, and even if she is a girl now I doubt she wants to change her name.” The blonde reasoned.
“Since when did you call Potter by his –her- first name anyway? Fancy her?” Theo joked, winking, a small Kneazle snuggled into the crook of his arm.

“Do be serious, Nott…” Draco snorted defensively, scowling at the rat-faced boy.

Author's Note: This chapter introduces you to the new school system, and the pet project in Care Of Magical Creatures for the eighth and seventh years. I hope you like the idea, I thought it was quite sweet. The subjects that were made compulsery are really the most popular ones, and the point of keeping COMC is that most of it is really teaching them responsibility. Getting them to look after something other than themselves.
Thank you for reading, and as always, reviews are most welcome :)
The-Shiny-Slowpoke
- 1
- 2
- 3
You need to be logged in to leave a review for this story.You need to be logged in to leave a review for this story.
Report Story

A Consternating Transformation