Escape

"So I've been thinking," Harry murmured.

Hermione and Ron both perked up and looked over to him with curious expressions. Ginny, at Harry's side, already knew what he was contemplating.

"What about?" Hermione asked.

"My dad," Harry started. "And the other Marauders, I suppose."

"What about them?" Ron asked.

"They were Animagi,"

"Yeah, and...?" Ron prompted further, but Hermione already had a look in her eye which told Harry she already suspected exactly what he was going to suggest.

"Maybe we should become Animagi, as a sort of tribute to them. Carry on their legend, so to speak," Harry suggested.

"Become Animagi? But, doesn't that take years?"

"Well, maybe, but they accomplished it by their fifth year of Hogwarts. We're way past that point. Why not try?"

"I think it's a brilliant idea, Harry!" Hermione cried out, the spark in her eyes glowing brighter with excitement. "I'm sure we could do it, with some effort. And can you imagine how helpful it will be to be able to morph into an animal?"

"What animal do you think we'll all be?" Ginny asked.

"There's a potion that's supposed to show us. I read about it somewhere. Oh, I need to visit Flourish and Blotts again," Hermione murmured, making Harry and Ron grin at each other. Typical Hermione.

"There. It should be done. Who wants to try it first?" Hermione asked, stepping away from the cauldron where a purple potion sat, now finished.

"I will. It was my idea," Harry offered.

He stepped forward and dipped a small cup into the potion. Looking back at the other three, Harry lifted his cup and drank it down hurriedly.

The others watched as he abruptly went pale and started coughing.

"Harry? What is it? Was the potion bad?" Ginny asked, moving forward to help him, but Hermione stopped her.

"It's supposed to do this, Ginny. Just wait,"

After a few moments, Harry's coughing fit stopped and he gripped the table tightly, his eyes closed and a grimace on his face. After nearly five minutes, his eyes opened wide and he stared out at them.

"Well, what did you see?" Ron prompted.

Harry frowned. "My form is...an octopus,"

"An octopus?" Ron replied, laughing slightly.

Ginny gaped at him. "I was suspecting something a little more..."

"Not slimy?" Ron offered.

"No! I was going to say Gryffindorish, actually,"

"Listen. I think it fits Harry very well," Hermione informed them, her nose in a rather large book. "The first sentence under octopus in my animal encyclopedia is this, 'The octopus is well known for being able to escape even the most precarious situations by retreating into cracks so thin, the predator can't follow.' If that doesn't sound like Harry, I don't know what does."

Harry, looking thoughtful, nodded, then sighed. "It's a pity that I didn't discover this earlier. The Second Task would've been much easier as an octopus,"

"What is that?"

Harry smiled as Ron stared dumbly toward the wall behind his desk. The entire wall was covered with an enormous fish tank, and was filled with fish of many colours.

"It's his sanctuary," Ginny informed Ron. "When he wants to be alone, he retreats to his tank, as an octopus."

"It looks rather nice, actually," Hermione said, walking closer to examine several of the fish who were close to the edge.

"It's peaceful," Harry agreed lightly.

"Of course, he can also hide from me in there. The tank's a bit wet for a fox," Ginny said.

"I wanted to have a pond in the back yard that I could have gone to instead, but this will have to do," Harry commented, leaning against his desk. He was actually quite enjoying being an octopus. It fit him well.