Author's Note

Hi guys -I'm back!

Well. Obviously.

Okay, so firstly I want to apologize for taking so long to update this story. I've had a huge writers block concerning it and didn't get any good ideas of what I wanted to write until this afternoon, actually. So I just took a seat at my laptop and then it basically wrote itself. It was awesome, I tell you! AWESOME!

I also already have the general idea about chapter four, so hopefully it won't take quite as much time to get that finished.

And speaking of chapter four, some of you may have noticed the change in the numbering of the chapters. I got a review from DrWooty about the prologue looking more like a chapter one, and after taking a closer look at it I have to say that I agree. Hence the little remodeling. Hope it doesn't confuse you too much. I know I had a bit of a trouble finding my way at first, embarrassingly enough. And its my story!

By the way, I would love for you guys to do me a small favour. As I've mentioned somewhere, sometime, in some author's note, in some story - damn, that's long! - English isn't my first language, so if you notice anything wrong with grammar, spelling and what not, feel free to tell me. And if anyone notice if I have used American spellings and expressions instead of the British one, please tell me. The story is taking place in England after all.

And for those of you who are waiting for The Ghost of Konoha and The Swallow in the Box, you'll have to wait a bit longer - I seem to have hit a bit of a speed bump. Quite the big one, actually... Sorry!

Anyway, I'll just stop babbling.

For disclaimer see Chapter 1 - Running!

Now read, enjoy, be happy and REVIEW!

Chapter 3 – Introductions

Before Snape and Dumbledore finally returned a few minutes later, everyone wanted to have their share in the discussion about the mysterious guest outside. There had been all kinds of theories in just that short amount of time.

Some thought it was a former Death Eater turned good, some (Fred, George and surprisingly also Sirius) guessed it was Snape's "long lost bastard son", as they put it. Harry suspected the three of them just wanted a chance to insult the Potions professor and get away with it.

Ron was once again in one of his more pessimistic moods and was sure that, whoever the person was, he would be a spy Voldemort sent to infiltrate the Order, a suggestion that was shot down right away together with the twins' theory. The one about the Death Eater turned good was a bit more plausible in comparison, even if most were sceptical towards it all the same.

Harry, Hermione, the Weasley parents and Remus however, decided to stay out of the discussion in favour of pondering over it silently in their own minds, instead of mouthing off about it.

When the two men returned however, Dumbledore carrying a small, just about soaking wet, white bundle in his arms, the discussion got to an abrupt end when they all saw that no one was following them.

"The hell?" Ron burst out while pointing almost accusingly at Snape and Dumbledore. "I thought you said there was someone here?"

Snape glared daggers at the redhead, but before he even could open his mouth and retort Dumbledore interrupted with a small laugh.

"Of course", he said and smiled at Ron. "He's right here."

And without another word he dropped the bundle, which unfolded itself and soundlessly landed on the table staring at them with silvery eyes. Everyone except for Snape and Dumbledore, who were taking a seat at the large kitchen table, stared back. To tell the truth, Harry could barely believe his eyes.

"Uhm, professor Dumbledore?"

"Yes, Harry?" The white haired man smiled.

"That's a cat, sir."

"That it is." The reply was accompanied by an amused smile and some intense twinkling in the blue eyes.

"But... It's a cat!"

"Obviously", Snape answered drily, sipping the tea Molly Weasley had handed him and the other man. "Are you trying to make something of this, or is that all you plan on saying? Get to the point will you, Potter!"

"It's just that I thought you said it was a member of the Order? How can a cat be a member of anything? At all?"

Snape just sighed and rolled his eyes as if he thought Harry was the most stupid person in the entire world – something he probably also did.

"Don't be stupid, Harry", Hermione said with what Harry thought of as her "teacher's voice", slamming her book shut. "He's obviously an animagus, and not a real cat. Probably an unregistered one, at that. Correct?" she continued turning towards Dumbledore almost eagerly.

"Correct, Miss Granger", he answered with a small smile. "And we want him to stay that way for now. For good reasons too."

"Because he's a spy?" Remus questioned, before narrowing his eyes with sudden suspicion. "Or is there something else?"

"Both", Snape said expressionlessly. "But it's not in our right to tell you about it. If he feels that any of you have the need to know, I'm sure he will tell you himself."

"Or maybe even show you", Dumbledore chuckled, nodding at the cat.

Everyone turned to the animal which was still eyeing Dumbledore with an unreadable expression in its grey eyes. Then it huffed silently as if giving in to something before taking a huge leap off the table.

But as the animagus landed on the floor with a small thud, there was no longer a cat in front of them, but a large white Samoyed dog with thick fur and a fluffy curled tail. All in the kitchen drew a huge breath in awe, except for Dumbledore, who just smiled happily with twinkling eyes, and Snape, who continued to calmly sip his tea as if nothing had happened.

The dog huffed again and would probably have rolled its eyes if it had had the ability to do so, before it shook its entire body to try and get rid of some of the lingering water and dirt still stuck in its fur. As soon as that was done with, it padded over to the fire place and stretched out in front of it with a content sigh.

The other humans just gawked at the dog, then at Snape and Dumbledore, then at the dog, before finally turning to the two men for an explanation. As the knowledge seeker she was, Hermione was the first to actually voice the question though.

"That was... How is that even possible?" She just about screeched. "An animagus is only supposed to be able to take the shape of one animal in their life. Or have I gotten that wrong?" The last sentence came out almost panic-stricken.

"No", Sirius answered her with a frown. "You're not wrong. That is how it is for the rest of us, but... I just don't get this! How is this bloody possible, Dumbledore?"

Dumbledore chuckled.

"Have you ever heard about the Merlin Mutation, young master Black?" he then said with twinkling eyes.

Sirius drew a breath and just stared at him with an open mouth.

"What?" Remus managed to choke out. "But that's-!"

"Please tell me you're joking?" Sirius finally interrupted the other man with a weak voice. "That's supposed to be barely more than a legend. Do you have any idea how rare that ability is?"

"Of course he does, Black!" Snape sneered at him. "What's surprising though, is that you know about it even existing."

Sirius looked like he was about to start growling so Harry decided to butt in before the two dark haired men could begin any serious fighting.

"I don't want to interrupt here or anything, but..." he began.

"Of course not", Fred and George muttered, both with an identical smirk each, only to receive a glare from both Harry and Hermione.

As soon as the two redheads had their mouths shut, Harry turned back towards Dumbledore.

"As I was saying, professor", he continued while shooting the twins another sharp look. "What the hell are you all talking about? What's the Merlin Mutation?"

Harry looked over at Ron and Hermione, and saw that they were just as lost as him on this – something that wasn't all that surprising when it came to the red head, but Hermione did usually know about these kinds of things. It must really be something extremely rare if not even she had heard anything about it.

"Well", Dumbledore began. "To put it simple, it's a kind of magical condition you are born with. It's very closely connected to Metamorphmagic – being a mutation of the gene that causes it – which I'm sure you are familiar with, considering all of you know Nymphadora Tonks. The difference in this case is that instead of just changing appearance, our friend over there is able to change his species completely."

"That's it?" Ron looked flabbergasted. "That doesn't sound very special at all."

"That was the short version, Weasley", Snape snapped. "There's a lot more to this condition than just that, but it is not deemed necessary for everyone in here to know everything about it."

At this he shot a quick look towards Remus, but the werewolf was at that moment eyeing the Samoyed and therefore didn't seem to notice, so Harry decided to just shrug it off. At least for the time being.

"What?" Hermione seemed shocked at this statement. "But what about-?"

"That will do for now, Ms. Granger", Dumbledore interrupted sternly but with a small smile. "The basics will be enough knowledge for today. But I'm sure you can find out more about it for yourself if you are really interested in this type of magic."

"Yes, sir", she mumbled with a blush, looking slightly dejected before returning back to her book.

"Now then, Harry", Dumbledore smiled excitedly. "I believe you were talking about something that happened at your uncle's place this summer. Before Severus interrupted us...?"

"Yes, sir", Harry answered with a grin of his own. "You see, it was my cousin..."

And so Harry enthusiastically threw himself headfirst into the story about how Dudley had managed to nearly blow up uncle Vernon's car during a driving lesson – while not even being in the vehicle at the time.

Draco only barely listened with one ear as the old headmaster gave a short explanation about his so called "condition". Draco didn't really like the fact that it was called that – he liked to think of it more as an "ability" – even though he knew they were right to call it for what it truly was. It wasn't all that positive after all, considering.

While the topic soon changed to something about Potter's summer and an exploding car, Draco slowly dosed off. He was warm and dry and even though he really wouldn't have had anything against a good square meal, he felt that he for once could relax. For the first time in nearly two years he finally felt safe.

The Samoyed sighed with content and began to sluggishly thump its tail against the worn rug it was currently occupying. Why not just give in to the dog for a little while? After all, it wasn't as if he was in any acute need of using his brain at the moment.

This continued for little over an hour, with the humans talking about just about anything and everything Draco wasn't interested in so the dog just continued to enjoy the warmth of the flames in the fire place. Draco was just about to fall asleep when something suddenly caught his interest, or concern to be more precise.

Dumbledore finally put down his third cup of tea and turned towards Mrs. Weasley.

"I must really thank you for your hospitality, Molly", he smiled. "But I think it's time for us to get going. Don't you agree, Severus?"

Severus, who had been quiet for most of the time during the evening, nodded.

"That would probably be for the best", he agreed as he rose to his feet.

Draco immediately lifted his head from his paws and stared at the two men. He was trying to suppress the dog in order to be able to properly comprehend for what the others were talking about and not just judge by their actions.

What did he just say?

He blinked after the two wizards and cocked his head to the side as they begun to move towards the kitchen door leading to the hallway and the front door.

He's leaving? Where's he going? He thought confused.

Walk? The dog put in excitedly and perked its ears.

No, not walk – leaving... Severus is leaving!

This thought was strong enough for Draco to push the dog away completely and take charge of his own mind, all without having to using too much of his remaining energy. In an instant he shot forward and managed to grab a hold of the sleeve of Severus robe with his teeth, just before the man was about to leave the kitchen and follow Dumbledore.

Severus was jerked to a stop and looked down with a small frown on his face.

"What are you doing?" he said with the frown deepening as Draco didn't release him immediately.

Draco gave a whine and looked up at him pleadingly with large eyes. Severus all but gave a small groan in frustration, but got down on one knee before carefully taking Draco's head in both of his large hands and meeting his gaze.

"Look, Dra..." Severus closed his eyes for a moment and swallowed hard, before wetting his lips and correcting himself. "Merlin. I have to go, you know that. We both know that the Dark Lord will be calling to a meeting in the near future that I have to attend to. But there are a few things that need preparing before that can happen, and in order to be able to do those preparations I need to leave. Do you understand?"

He gently stroked Draco's soft velvety ears with his thumbs and gave a small fond smile, directed to the animagus. Draco whimpered and pressed his face against Severus' chest, showing that he understood but still silently asking for some sort of well needed comfort.

Severus gave a small sigh, circled his arms around Draco's neck and buried his face against his thick white fur.

"I know you don't feel comfortable about this situation, Draco, but there isn't much of a choice", he whispered into the fur so no one would be able to tell what he was saying. "I dislike this just as much as you do, but it's the safest place for you at the moment. He will be looking for you – he already is I imagine – and the only place where he can't get to you, except for Hogwarts, is here."

He drew back and stared sternly into Draco's grey eyes.

"So make sure to behave!" the last was uttered so the whole room could hear him. "No need to go and bite someone or do anything else stupid in order to get yourself thrown out of the house, is that clear?"

Draco licked his godfather's cheek and gave a small wave with his tail to show that he would listen to Severus and do as he said. Unless someone gives me a reason to bite them, of course, he thought as pictures of Potter and Weasley's faces popped up in his head.

"Glad to hear that" Severus said while ruffling the fur on Draco's head as he got to his feet, before turning to glare at the rest of the room. "And what exactly are you lot gaping at?"

Draco followed Severus' glare and found everyone staring between him and his godfather as if they had both grown a second head each. He raised a mental eyebrow and waited.

No one seemed to be able to find strength enough to speak and could only keep gaping at the two of them, while Severus scowled and Dumbledore just smiled at the scene before him. He seemed to find something mildly amusing about the whole situation.

Finally Severus scoffed and rolled his eyes in annoyance.

"You know, just because Slytherins don't usually show their affections in public like every other Gryffindor, that doesn't mean we don't have any for each other. So you might as well stop trying to catch flies whenever you deem it fit to do so!"

He turned to Draco.

"Take care now, alright? And make sure to behave!"

Draco actually managed to roll his eyes this time.

Severus scowled at him but didn't make a comment, and just followed the old headmaster to the kitchen door. Before exiting the room however, he hesitated and the scowl on his face deepened as he clearly made a decision. A second later he turned back to the others in the room and fastened him eyes on the werewolf.

"Lupin, a word?"

The former Defence Against the Dark Arts professor blinked at him with confusion written all over his features, before nodding and following the other through the door.

A second later Dumbledore poked his head back trough the opening, with a smile on his face and his eyes twinkling like mad behind the crescent shaped glasses.

"And Molly – you might want to feed your new charge as soon as possible. I believe most of that volume of his is just fur and not much of anything else. He could really do with some meat on those bones."

He disappeared, only to pop back in a second later.

"His code name is Merlin, by the way. In case you feel the need to call him by something other than 'Dog', or whatever animal he'll be using at that moment."

The old man smiled broadly and gave a small wave, before disappearing again, this time permanently.

Draco blinked after him together with the rest of the room's occupants, before mentally shrugging and trotting over to Mrs. Weasley, only to plant his butt on the floor and stare up at her with pleading eyes.

She stared back.

"What is it, dear?"

What do you think? He licked his nose. Food, of course – I'm hungry!

"I won't understand what you want unless you give me some sort of clue, love", Mrs. Weasley said now in a sterner voice, putting her hands on her hips.

Hey, it's not my fault you don't speak dog! I'll let you know I'm being every bit obvious here. But fine, if that's how you want it...!

He cocked his head to the side and gave a long drawn-out whine.

Foooooood...! Come on, give me!

Mrs. Weasley just stared at him with a raised brow, clearly not amused and apparently not having the slightest clue about what the hell Draco was trying to tell her. Suddenly a loud barking laugh rang out through the room, making everyone start at the sound.

They all turned and found Sirius Black just about roaring with laughter while banging his fist against the kitchen table, no one having even the slightest idea of what he found so amusing. By the time he had finally managed to stop laughing and catch his breath, Mrs. Weasley's glare could all but kill.

"And pray tell, my dear Sirius, what it is you find so amusing?" she hissed and narrowed her eyes further.

The dark haired man cleared his throat and wiped away an invisible tear, before meeting her gaze right on without flinching. Draco couldn't help but find him a little brave, but then again, the man had belonged to Gryffindor.

"He's hungry."

The plump woman just stared at him.

"I'm sorry – what?"

Black rolled his eyes.

"The dog." He pointed at Draco. "He's hungry, and right now he's all but crawling in the dirt in order to get something in his stomach. In other words; he's begging while still trying to be polite, even though I can imagine he's close to starving at the moment. He most have gotten raised pretty damn good..."

He narrowed his eyes and kept his gaze lingering on Draco.

"And I think Dumbledore's right when he said all that volume is just fluff and fur. I mean, the old man barely mentioned food and the mutt's practically drooling all over the floor already. So I'd suggest you feed him."

Draco, who decided to ignore the insult in favour of food, nodded towards Black and wagged his tail.

Exactly! Good man! He turned to Mrs. Weasley and met her eyes. Now do as he says, and feed me!

He whined.

"Yes, alright! Alright already!" She threw her hands into the air. "I'll get you some food. Show a little patience..."

I'd say I've been pretty damn patient already... But I'll be gracious and forgive you as long as you give me something nice.

Draco perked his ears and followed Mrs. Weasley around with his tail wagging like mad, as she began slamming with bowls and other things at the counter. A moment later she turned back towards Black.

"Considering you are the dog expert here – what do you suggest I feed him? We don't really have any dog food at the moment, after all."

Black gave the redheaded women a sharp glare before considering her question.

"Well, we don't want to feed him too much since he probably won't be all that used to big meals yet", he paused for a second. "Half a pound of minced meat should be alright, without seasoning of course, otherwise he'll get one hell of a stomach ache, and I don't want to be the one to deal with that. A raw egg would probably do him good as well – lots of protein and other healthy stuff. And a bowl of water, obviously."

Mrs. Weasley stared at him.

"Minced meat?"

"Either that, or you could just cut up a couple of sausages for him." Black shrugged. "It really doesn't matter all that much, as long as they aren't too heavily seasoned. The meat would probably be preferred though."

Meat! The dog suddenly cut in excitedly. Meat is good! Meat, meat, meat, mea-!

Shut up already! Draco barked back and pushed the dog out of the way once again.

This really wasn't good. He was too tired to be able to stay in this form much longer without getting overwhelmed. He needed to shift, and soon.

MEAT!

But for the love of...! Draco actually growled out loud this time, causing everyone to turn their attention towards him. Would you back OFF!

He chased the dog away again, practically biting its tail off, but things were starting to get too hard for him. The pressure he felt was no longer just mental, but also physical. A second longer in this form and he would break, and that was something he couldn't afford. Not now. Not ever.

Draco would have preferred his human form, but considering what Dumbledore had said, that wouldn't really be safe. His original would have to do at the moment. He knew that the ferret wasn't exactly ideal, but at least he wouldn't feel any pressure if he used it.

He took a deep breath and shifted.

A searing pain shot through his brain all the way through his spine, causing him to scream. All of a sudden the voices of all the animals he'd ever shifted into were around him talking. Screaming. Raging. He couldn't even distinguish one from the other. Couldn't make out what they were all saying. They were taking over and it was too much for him.

Draco crumbled.

Cliffhanger...! Sorry, everyone - you'll have to wait a bit longer. (God, I'm evil!)

In the meantime - a late "Happy New Year!" and take care!