One Day They'll Know Your Name

Animal names

The week waiting for the mandrake leaf to do whatever it was doing in the vials passed quickly and the group added the chrysalis, easily finding a dark place to put the nearly completed potions. The following two weeks also passed quickly, with the teens all finding each other as the sun rose to do the Amato Animo Animato Animagus spell, and again at sunset. They all got excited when they heard the second heartbeat after a couple days, going to the kitchens to celebrate before going to bed.

The electrical storm came right on time, and Harry quickly let his friends into the Chamber of Secrets. "Remember, Sirius said we have to all be separated somehow. I'll ask Salmissra if she can coil around so that there's space for each of us without any of us being able to see the others to minimize the likelihood of us attacking each other for any reason. That sound good?"

The others nodded in agreement and Harry turned to Salmissra. Would that be acceptable?

Of courssse, hatchling. Sssafety firssst. If you grab your disssgusssting not water then I will coil around each of you.

Harry nodded and grabbed his vial, heading for a corner. The others followed suit, finding a spot in the room. Salmissra wound herself around, leaving plenty of space in case their forms were larger than expected, and closed her eyes.

**************

Hermione sat cross legged and comfortably. She had read that the first change was easier when you were comfortable, so she had changed to colorful leggings and a hoodie after classes let out. She quickly looked at her potion. It was blood red, just as it should be. She took a deep breath and closed her eyes, then said the incantation they had been saying every day for the last three weeks. When she completed that, she quickly put down her wand in the corner behind her as she drank down the potion in one gulp. It surprisingly wasn't as horrid as many other potions.

She sucked in a breath at the pain that came moments later, squeezing her eyes closed to try to stave it off just a bit. This was way worse than the cramps she had started getting during the summer. She distantly heard gasps from the other members of Les Amis and gritted her teeth in an approximation of a grin. A double heartbeat sounded in her chest, like it had when they were doing the incantation twice a day, but it was far more intense than the faded beat it had been previously.

A shape appeared in her mind. It was quite similar to Crookshanks, the half kneazle that her parents had gotten her during their yearly visit to Diagon Alley. Hermione gasped as the image got clearer. It was a beautiful long haired cat, a dark brown with hints of lighter brown on bits of her back.

A moment later, Hermione blinked and looked down. The floor was closer! And she had paws! She turned in a quick circle, shocked at how easily she moved, and found her tail. It was extremely fluffy. She shook herself. She'd have to find a mirror later to see if she looked exactly like the image in her mind.

She concentrated for a moment, nearly gritting her teeth, and finally she was sitting cross legged again, human. She looked at her hands, then reached around, looking to see if she had any remaining cat features. Satisfied that she was fully human, she grinned widely, then startled as Salmissra started to move away.

************

Neville was nervous. Not that he wouldn't be able to do it, his friends had long since gotten his confidence up to better levels, but that he would be some stupid animal like a cockroach. Although, cockroaches were pretty cool. They were practically impossible to kill, and they were actually pretty good for plants. They rarely ate plants, and often spread pollen around as they scurried through a garden or greenhouse. Still, he didn't want to be a cockroach.

Neville settled against the wall of the chamber and took a deep breath before incanting the spell and downing the mouthful of bright red potion. He doubled over in pain as a second heartbeat pounded in his chest. He squeezed his eyes shut as a shadowy animal appeared in his mind. It was small, but not as small as an insect. If he had to guess, he would be a medium sized bird.