Chapter 1

Justin

They had come with no warning. I had been warned of the Ministry's fall. My family had been on a vacation in Ireland at the time I'd gotten Susan's message, a very lucky break for me. I would have been caught instantly if I was still at home. We'd just kept moving from place to place since, keeping out of sight.

We never even knew they were close before we were surrounded by the soft pops of apparition. And by the time we registered they were there, they were already firing spells at everyone in the room.

"Mum, no!" I screamed, ducking a spell only to watch her being thrown right off her feet, not rising again. A loud scream and crash quickly informed that my Dad had been blasted away too.

Before I could even respond, my arms and legs snapped together and I fell right onto my nose.

"Got the bloody thief." A voice sneered from above me. The world around me then quickly shifted.

"Justin Finch-Fletchley, you are hereby found guilty." I cowered, sinking into the chair instead of fighting its chains, as I had been doing for a good ten minutes. The toad, Umbridge, was sneering down at me like she was a Queen or something as she took my wand in her hands and made a big show of snapping it. Now I wasn't just terrified and desperate, I was heartbroken. That was my first wand, the first thing I ever bought on my first trip into Diagon Alley. I had always gone out of my way to take such good care of it. And she just smirked with her fellow, bigoted, racist, delusional Ministry members as she went on to snap the pieces again. "For the crime of stealing a wizard's magic, you shall be sentenced to life in Azkaban.

"NO! YOU KNOW THAT'S NOT TRUE YOU TWO TIMING TOAD!" I screamed as she brought down her mallet and the chains loosened around my arms a split second before Dementors glided through the room and lifted into the air, dragging me away. "YOU FILTHY TRAITORS! LET ME GO! LET ME GO, LET ME GO!"

The world around me barely stayed focused for more than a second after that. One moment, the Dementors were dragging me away, the next I screaming in agony as laughing wizards struck me with curse after curse. The next, the shackles were closed tightly around my wrists while another guy brought a whip down on my leg. The people around me were screaming both in physical pain and mental anguish as cruel men and women shot smiles curses at them and Dementors pooled around us. People hanging limply, never to move again. People taking them away, dragging most across the floor. And then the ones that were worse. The ones that cast spells and let dead walk away themselves. Inferi.

"Oh, look at this one. Still so healthy and strong." A woman cooed wickedly, her deranged face taking up my entire world of view. "Such a handsome face. I'll remember you." With that, she let loose the most evil, most cliché wicked witch cackle I'd ever heard and sent shivers of pure terror right down my spine.

"AAAAHHHHHH!" Screaming, I threw myself straight up, swinging my arms desperately. I had to get her off me, get her away from me, get...my arms untangle from my soft, thick blanket?

"Right. Just a nightmare. Not there no more." I puffed, quickly trailing my still wild eyes over everything around me. I needed reassurance, all the reassurance I could get.

Though little light was coming through the window so early in the morning, the lamp I'd taken to leaving on at night more than made up for it. I couldn't believe it and I'd never admit to it, but I'd grown quite afraid of the dark and cold. It was to be expected, considering what happened to me, but I still felt very insecure and pathetic, having such childish fears.

Fortunately for my fear induced mind, neither existed in my room. The lamp shined dull, but soothing light into every crack and sheets and blankets were like a cocoon, keeping me warm and toasty. That alone managed to calm me down.

Still, I continued to look around, just to be safe, just make sure that I was still free from them. But yes, there were no Dementors there with me. No malevolent witches, no bloody bodies. Feeling my wrists over, I sighed in relief. No, painfully tight, wrist slitting shackles.

The furniture around me was a bit dark, expensive and a bit too gothic for my tastes, but right now, as far as I was concerned, it looked like the decor of an elegant palace. Even the serpentine figureheads on the top of the bedposts looked beautiful and inviting to me. It was perfect. Because it wasn't my old cell in Azkaban.

Taking a few more deep breaths and forcing myself to wake up properly, I wiped a load of sweat from my brow with one hand and picked up my new wand with the other, running my fingers all over it. Waves of reassurance poured through me as the warm, welcoming, tingling strands of magic interweaved from the wand into my hand, bringing my own magic to life. I had only been in Azkaban for a week or so, but even then, surrounded by so many Dementors, so full of pain and misery, it already felt like my magic had receded, pushing back to core and refusing to come out. Now, I could feel it all over again, from my fingers to my toes. It was a comfort that I never realised I had before and desperately hoped I would never lose again.

Calming down now and wide awake, I quickly waved my wand to check the room, sighing in relief when my magic confirmed that the silencing wards were still intact. The last thing I needed was to disturb the others.

"Well, no point staying in bed." I sighed, pulling back the covers and throwing my feet over the edge. Shivering as my bare feet met the cold, wooden floor, I quickly pulled myself up, gathered some clothes and headed straight for the bathroom as fast as I could.

The one good thing about nightmare induced early rising was the fact that I didn't need to wait or squabble with the others. Walking down the hall, quickly but quietly, not wanting to wake the others, I was free to walk straight into the bathroom. Locking the door, I placed my clothes and a towel by the sink and turned on the water before removing my shirt and boxers and jumping right into the shower.

"Aaauuuuggghhhh!" I moaned blissfully, throwing my head back as the hot water pounded down on my skin, instantly dispelling all the cold from my body. Hot showers, another thing you never appreciate until you don't have them anymore. So is warmth.

I took my time bathing myself. We were at the Grimuald Place, a magical home, so it's not like the hot water was ever going to run out. The old Pureblood elites that used to live here would never allow that to happen. I didn't have to worry about being considerate of the others either. Harry and Hermione were early risers, but even they didn't get up as early as I had been lately. They both usually made their way down to the kitchens first thing in the morning. As for Ron, well he'd sleep past noon if we'd let him.

Finishing up, I stayed under the hot water for a few more minutes, just enjoying the hot spray massaging my muscles, before shutting the water off and drying myself. Wrapping my towel around my waist, I rubbed the steam off the mirror and took a look at my reflection.

A small grin grew as I took in my form. My skin was lightly tanned and healthy looking. I'd regained the little weight I'd lost and my stomach didn't complain about what I put into it anymore. All the cuts and bruises I'd had in my prison cell were healed the night I escaped, but that's all magic was able to cure in an instant. All the rest of it took time, sunlight and a few nutrient potions Hermione whipped up for me. It was amazing how quickly a stay in Azkaban could damage your body. It should have taken much longer to deteriorate that much, even if it wasn't too horrible yet.

The only thing that really told you that I'd experienced hell was my eyes. I was very careful when I was around the others to hide it behind happiness and excitement. It was easy to do, I was ecstatic to be free and every day I not only had some fun with magic, but I morphed. I have this beautiful red kite morph that I'm absolutely in love with. I always thought that nothing could be better than magic, but to be able to fly high and fast, not on a broom, but by your own power, your own wings...I've never felt so alive, free and exhilarated. The way it soars, dives, turns, everything so effortlessly, so completely devoid of fear, I could never describe how happy and free I feel when I'm up in the sky. Then there's the cape buffalo. Yes, it's temper is absolutely nuts, but it is powerful, unyielding. I love practicing with that form too. It's unbelievably reassuring, the raw power in those huge muscles and the stubborn will of its mind. It makes me feel safe. Like nothing will be able to imprison or confined me ever again. I'm too powerful to be held down by a few shackles and a bar door now. At least, that's how I like to think of it.

All of that excitement, all of those distractions definitely do make it easier to be happy around the others. But when I'm alone, when I know no one will see, you wouldn't recognise my eyes. Every time I look at my reflection in this mirror, the eyes looking back at me are disturbingly jaded. It scared me, to know that those were my eyes. Before Azkaban, I never once saw anything close to that on my face. I saw many emotions in them before, usually happiness and excitement, anger, a bit mischievous sometimes, worry when test time was coming around, but they were always bright and alive. The dullness I could see in them now sent shivers down my spine. It was like I was looking at a completely different person.

"No more of that." I told myself firmly, giving my reflection a glare as I started getting dressed. "The others will be up soon and they are not seeing you! Perk up Justin, life's not bad at all anymore."

Throwing my used towel into the hamper, I gave my reflection one last look over, making sure that my eyes matched my grin before heading out the door and down to the kitchen.

Noticing that Kreacher, Harry's House elf, was already well into the process of making the most important meal of the day, I gave him a happy nod and set to work making myself a coffee. It was the one thing, besides clothes, that I had to go out and buy when Harry and the others agreed to let me join them. They all drank tea, but I couldn't stand the stuff. Could barely handle pumpkin juice either. As far as I'm concerned, pure water and butterbeer were the only drinks the Wizarding world had got right.

"Mmm." Grinning as the first mouthful went down my throat, I took my usual seat at the dining room table and waited for the others to show. If Kreacher was already cooking, that meant that at least Hermione and Harry were awake by now and since I'd left every door from the kitchen to the stairs open, hopefully the smell of bacon and eggs sizzling would help Harry coax Ron down too.

Sure enough, it didn't take long before the soft thumps of someone descending the stairs met my ears, followed a moment later by Hermione walking slowly through the doorway.

"Good morning Hermione." I smiled before taking another sip of my coffee.

"Morning Justin. Up early again I see." Hermione greeted, making a beeline for the smoking pot of tea as it levitated its way from the kitchen onto the table. "Sometimes I wonder if you sleep at all." She mused, keeping her eyes focused on her cup as she started pouring with one hand and grabbed the milk with the other. "You're always the first up and the last down."

"Yes well, I always was up with the sun." I shrugged, taking another sip. It wasn't that big of a lie, I was always an early riser. Though before, it wasn't quite so early and I went to bed earlier. "Though I'm hardly the only one who could be accused of not sleeping quite right." I added teasingly, raising an eyebrow. "You're almost as bad as me."

"I suppose that's true." She conceded with a shrug. "I do lose track of time when there's a good book in front of me."

"Particularly one with three thousand pages." I chuckled as she sent me a mock glare.

"Well, pulling off break-ins into the most defended places in the Magical UK requires a lot of study."

"That book last night was on the rights of Beings and Beasts, not the Ministry itself. If anything, you were planning to take the Ministry by storm another way." I countered with a smirk.

"Well maybe I am." She stated proudly, completely unphased by being caught out. "After all, the Death Eaters and Yeerks will be dealt with eventually and we may be able to use the slavery and oppression they've caused to force the Ministry to understand the position they've forced others to live in and fix relinquish the unfair, prejudice laws against them."

That's Hermione for you. There's no guarantee that we were going to be able to stop the Yeerks, they're invading the entire planet and the Animorph rebellion teams were few and small, but she had already declared that yes, we would win against both enemies and she was going to use the damage to create a paradise. You have to admire her, this girl does not think small by any means.

We didn't have to wait too much longer for the others to show up, though they looked far more dishevelled than Hermione or myself. Whereas Hermione kept her clothes neat and brushed her hair and I, coming from one of those families that has an image to uphold, made sure I was perfectly presentable before leaving the bathroom of a morning, Harry and Ron looked like they'd just crawled out of bed and followed their noses blindly. Then again, in Ron's case, that was probably exactly what he'd done.

"Food." The redhead moaned, flopping down into his seat and staring hard down at the table. "How much longer is there to wait?"

"Good morning to you too, sunshine." I rolled my eyes, giving Harry a nod as he sat down beside me with a chuckle.

"Augh, just what I needed, another morning person." Ron groaned in response, looking up just long enough to give me an annoyed glare. "Why must you be so...awake in the morning?"

"Because some of us actually have a seize the day attitude to life, as opposed to your laziness." Hermione retorted for me as I nodded along.

"What's there to gain from being mopey and moody?" I added, looking at him expectantly."

"More sleep if everyone around you agrees." Was Ron's only response before he placed his head down on the table and waited for the food to show up.

"Maybe someone should introduce him to caffeine." I pondered, finishing off my mug. "That would wake him up."

"So would a bucket of ice water. I suggest sticking to methods that don't risk hyperactivity." Harry replied amusedly. "He's never had caffeine. We don't know how it'll affect him. At least we know to run after we throw the water and that he won't catch us."

"And he's s'pose to be my best mate." Ron whined within his arm as the rest of us laughed. Still, he had no time to say anything else, for it was at that moment that Kreacher had breakfast appear on the table. Within seconds, Ron had gone from sluggish and barely alive to having a fully loaded plate and practically inhaling his food.

"I don't care what you say, I will never get used to that." I muttered, watching on with disgusted fascination. It was rather disturbing to watch, but at the same time, so astounding that you just can't take your eyes off of it.

"I know I sure haven't." Hermione agreed, ignoring him completely as she grabbed her bowl of porridge. "Just turn your head away and keep an eye on your own plate."

"And slap away any hands that try to take anything from it." Harry added jokingly, taking a little bit of everything offered at a much more lax and polite pace.

"Hey! I don't steal others food!"

"Ronald, swallow, then talk!" Hermione snapped as food crumbs flew in all directions. Harry just laughed while I pushed my chair and plate further away from the messy redhead.

Still, piggy boy Weasley's eating habits aside, a feeling of pure contentment crossed over me as we ate. Breakfast had become my favourite time of the day. It was when everything seemed most normal and cheerful. Like things were before. I mean, sure, they weren't my Hufflepuff year mates or my parents, but they were my friends and we were sitting together, eating a good meal filled with laughter and good natured teasing, like we didn't have a care in the world. All the problems we had now were always left until after the food had settled in our stomachs, no mention of the Dark Lord or Yeerks to be found.

Yeah, it was this point in the day that I really felt like my old self again.

AN: And we're back with the third installment. I hope you enjoyed the chapter. Just felt like I'd mention that this story will have a much faster pace than the last one. We're not following a shy, insecure young man this time, we're following the Golden Trio. Impatience and recklessness is their forte. I'm also going to warn you that this story, sadly, will not update as quickly as the last one did. At the moment, it'll probably be fortnightly updates until I run out of chapters.