Lily Black and the Twin Souls

Chapter Ten: Animagus

As the weeks leading up to the winter holidays passed, Lily found herself growing more and more excited. Except of course for those horrible days surrounding the full moon, when she had to see Teddy in the hospital wing looking horrible. 

One day in potions class, Lily heard Dracula loudly say,

"I do feel so sorry  for all those people who have to stay at Hogwarts for Christmas because they're not wanted at home." Dracula had taken to bullying Harry about not having a proper family, once he found that people were so impressed with his flying. Lily had enough of his constant bullying and said just as loudly,

"I feel sorry for those who have to go home for Christmas, simply to keep up the act of being a proper family, rather than those who go home for the holidays simply because they are loved." Dracula looked mad at that, but Snape had entered the classroom just in time to stop him from going after her. 

On the day of Christmas Eve, Lily and Teddy were practically bouncing off the walls in excitement. Today was the day, the day that Lily would finally become an animagus. They ignored everyone who tried to speak to them, but each other and when they saw the lightning storm begin, nearly fainted. 

Soon the potion was done and Lily and Teddy had made their way to the room of requirement. Once inside, Teddy sat in an armchair in the corner of the room and watched in fascination as Lily unstoppered the bottle. Lily looked at Teddy, grinning and called out,

"Wish me luck!" Then she downed the potion in one gulp and pressed her want to her heart. She really hoped this worked, she wasn't sure she could bear another full moon af watching Teddy injure himself and be unable to do anything about it. 

She took a deep breath and chanted the incatation one final time,

"Amato, Animo, Animato, Animagus," 

For a moment nothing happened, and then Teddy dropped his wand in shock when Lily started shrinking and growing fur. 

Lily glanced down at her hands-no paws. She had done it! She was a beautiful bright red fox. Teddy came over to her and picked her up in fox form, saying,

"You make an adorable fox Lily-Flower!" Then he noticed a book that hadn't been there before and picked it up. He flipped through the pages and burst out laughing,

"Lily-Flower, this book has a page on the characteristics of a fox, and it's practically the definition of you!" Lily cocked her furry head to the side and Teddy read,

"A fox's characteristics; Autonomous, Generous, Creative, Flirtatious, Procrastinating. Ha! That's you exactly!" 

Lily shifted back to human form and burst out laughing, 

"That is so true, well maybe except for the generous part. Wait, no, I am generous, I mean, I allow people to see my beauty, and admire me, if that isn't generousity than I don't know what is!" They both burst out laughing and Teddy gave her a hug, saying,

"See, this is why I love you! You're just so...you!" Lily smiled at that and returned his embrace,

"Aww, I love you to Shadow, now we can finally come up with a name for me!" Teddy nodded and they discussed names, all the way back to the common room, before finally deciding on Flame, or Flamie, which they both loved. They were now officially Shadow and Flame, the Trouble Twins. They were practically twins, so they decided to just make it official.

Lily shifted back into a fox and Teddy picked her up. They entered the common room and some of the other Gryffindors who had stayed rushed over to Teddy to meet Flame. Teddy told them she was something of an early christmas present, but wouldn't be around much. He used the excuse of her liking to roam the grounds. 

Lily loved the attention and pranced around the common room, showing off her animal form. She noticed Harry, and Ron whispering to each other in a corner and jumped into Harry's lap to see what they were talking about. Harry looked down at her in surprise before turning to Ron.

"Hey Ron I don't suppose you've seen Lily, have you? It's weird her and Teddy are never apart, but Teddy's over there," he said nodding to Teddy who was sitting in an armchair by the fire. Ron shrugged and said,

"I don't know, that is weird, I don't remember the last time I saw one of them without the other. They are quite attached to one another." Harry shrugged and continued,

"Well anyway, I still feel like I've heard the name Nicholas Flamel before. I just can't remember where from! It's quite annoying, it's like on the edge of my mind and I just can't reach it." Ron shrugged and shook his head,

"I dunno mate, I think Hermione will be the one to figure it out, she's the smart one after all." Harry nodded then looked deep in thought,

"I guess, but I have a feeling Lily and Teddy know more than they're saying. Did you see their faces when we asked about it that day?" 

"Yeah, probably. No matter, I'm sure we'll figure it out at somepoint." Harry nodded and they started talking about chess. 

Lily jumped off his lap and pranced over to Teddy, who picked her up and brought her to his dormitory.

Once they were up there, Lily jumped onto Teddy's bed and shifted back smiling slightly.

"I love being an animagus, it's so fun, and now you have a pet fox too!" Teddy laughed,

"Yup! So Flamie, did you find out anything interesting?" Lily frowned,

"Well, they found it weird that we were apart, Harry thinks he knows the name Nichola Flamel from somewhere, and the think we know more than we're saying, oh, and they think Hermione will be the one to figure out who he is, and I've got to say, I agree." Teddy nodded thoughtfully, 

"Well, they're not wrong, and I csn't believe it's taking them this long to figure out who he is, I mean I know they aren't Ravenclaws, but still, and Hermione is really bright." 

"I know! It's kind of funny," They both laughed and talked for a while longer before they got tired and decided to go to bed.