Chapter XIX: Isn't It Enchanting?

I don't own Buffy the Vampire Slayer or Harry Potter. They belong to Joss Whedon and Joanne K. Rowling respectively.

*Desperately dodges the pitchforks and torches.* I know, I know... I'm very, very late. My bad. This chapter took me quite a while to get to where I'm halfway happy with it. I think I'm finally there now. I hope it was worth the wait. Next week, I intend to post a new entry in the 31 Halloween Knights.

Deputy Headmistress' Quarters
Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry
November 29th 1994

Standing nervously in front of the Deputy Headmistress' quarters, Harry tried desperately not to fidget. The last time that he had come to this room it had been at Professor Harris' insistence. He'd never been to a professor's quarters before or since and was not precisely sure if such things were strictly allowed. Still, he had made sure to knock on the door firmly. It simply wouldn't do to let his nervousness show. He was a Gryffindor after all and Gryffindors charged forward.

It seemed like hours, though in reality it was all of thirty seconds, before the brass knob twisted and the door was drawn back to reveal Professor Harris. Contrary to Harry's worries, the professor flashed a comforting grin and asked what they, Professor McGonagall being present as well, could do for him.

Harry fought down his hesitation. He had ignored the concept of the animagus since last year solely because he had believed it to be a rare ability. He would ignore it no longer. "Professor, you said in class that animagus is a common ability. How can that possibly be when the animagus registration list is so… small?"

The professor turned to flash a grin at his wife, bowing deferentially to her at that. "While I am quite well versed in the reasons for that, perhaps my good wife would prefer to tackle this one. It is, after all, her area of expertise."

Harry was shocked to see the usually stiff Professor McGonagall leveling a teasing expression at her husband. "Passing the buck, eh Alexander? Typical… A woman's work is never done." And then, almost as if the playfulness had never occurred, Professor McGonagall's face returned to its usual serious professionalism. "My husband was quite correct when he claimed that animagi were very common or, more correctly, that those with the ability to become an animagus are very common. I believe research has shown that something like a third to half of Wizarding Britain has the ability to become an animagus. That being said, the number of those who have become one are very low."

"But… but why?" Harry sputtered. "Being an animagus seems so wicked. If you had the ability, why wouldn't you follow through?"

The transfiguration professor turned back to her husband. "You are the more qualified for explaining why you wouldn't want to complete the transformation." Her voice was tinged with something Harry couldn't identify. Was it disappointment that her husband hadn't become an animagus too, or was it something else entirely?

Professor Harris frowned slightly. "Becoming an animagus is not an easy or swift process, Harry. Even assuming you have the talent, it requires a lot of dedication and focus to achieve. It's an endeavour that will take at least two years before you can really get use out of it, which often puts some people off. Even if you manage the transformation, however, you do not control what you will become. The animagus transformation is a reflection of the animal that reflects your inner soul and that animal is not always one that is pleasing to you, or useful, for that matter.

"For example, I understand that Viktor Krum is studying to be an animagus and is almost at the level of full transformation. He is already registered with the Bulgarian authorities. His form, when complete, will be that of a great white shark. Now, while that form would be very useful in the water, it is absolutely useless outside of it. Krum feels, for whatever reason, that this transformation is worth it to him and so he pursues it regardless of its limitations…

"I, on the other hand," The professor's frown deepened in disgust, "Am gifted with the form of a spotted hyena, Harry. Suffice it to say that, for reasons that are deeply personal to me, I absolutely refuse to pursue that form despite its limited potential usefulness to me."

"And so, Mr. Potter," Professor McGonagall took up the explanation again, "The answer to the question that you have not asked is this: "If you wish to become an animagus you must have the commitment to dedicate years of your life to it before you can really get anything out of it, and you must be willing to embrace your form regardless of what you feel it says about you. My husband is far from alone in his rejection of his form. Most of those who are told that their forms are something that they feel to be rather a pathetic animal will choose not to pursue it.

"My husband here, for example, chose to pursue the skill of enchanting once his potential animagus form was revealed to him. He felt that enchanting, which he had already been revealed to be adept at, was a better course of study for him."

"Enchanting," Harry tasted the word on his tongue. "What exactly is enchanting?"

"Enchanting," Professor Harris spoke up again, "Is another common magical ability. It is rarer than animagus, covering only a quarter to a third of Magical Britain, but it is still quite prevalent. Enchanting is the ability to permanently imbue spells, particularly charms and curses, into an object."

"That's it?" The words were out of Harry's mouth before he could stop himself.

"Gryffindors." The absolutely disgusted drawl drew an irritated raised eyebrow from Harris' wife, but she remained silent. Harris continued. "That's it, Mr. Potter? You speak from a sad lack of vision there. The ability to enchant an object is the ability to change the entire battlefield. My eye patch, for example, is heavily enchanted. I have a spell upon it that prevents others from using legilimency on me, despite my inability to use occlumency. I also have a rather delightful curse upon it so that anyone who attempts to remove the patch and wishes me harm will be… punished rather vociferously." The almost predatory smirk on the professor's face was disturbing, and yet… and yet that did sound useful.

"Better still," the professor continued, "you can enchant objects with spells in advance of a battle in order to save your strength magically. Enchanting an object naturally takes as much, actually more, out of you then simply casting the spell in a fight. The advantage, though, is that you can enchant your object and recover, and then use it later without using any new magical energy during the actual fight."

"How…" Harry hesitated. "How does one find out what sort of talents they have? I know that I'm a parselmouth, but that's not very useful and I'd like to know if I could be an animagus or an… enchanter? Is that the term?"

"It is the term, Mr. Potter," Harris replied, "But do not dismiss the usefulness of such a rare talent as parselmouth. I don't know what you can do with it, given the stigma against it in most of the western nations, but I understand that the Indians and the Australians in particular revere those few with the parselmouth talent. Perhaps you should seek out one of the Patil twins and see what they have to say. They are fairly new to Britain, after all, and might at least be amenable to contacting a knowledgeable relative who can help you explore it fully."

Seeing that Harry was considering his point, the professor apparently decided to get back to answering Harry's actual question. "And as for revealing the scope of your abilities… that would require a revealing potion. I'm afraid that potions of that nature are not amongst my skills. The only people in house that could produce one are Professor Snape and Professor Dumbledore. The potion is rather complex, you see. Most people who seek the revealing potion go to Gringotts and pay a mint to have them find an appropriately skilled potions master."

"Actually, Alexander, there is one other appropriately skill potions master in house at the moment. Olympe Maxime, unless I am wrong, was the potions mistress for Beauxbatons before her ascension to headmistress."

Professor Harris grinned a rather unsettling grin. "Well now… that might be useful indeed…"

Beauxbatons Carriage
Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry
December 6th 1994

"We thank you for granting young Harry this opportunity, Madame Maxime."

The Beauxbatons Headmistress smiled faintly at Xander as she stirred her cauldron precisely. "It is nozzing, Professor Harris. It offers me ze opportunity for my own champion, as well. Fleur will benefit greatly from zis potion. Monsieur Potter, are you ready?"

Harry shivered faintly. This was his future on the line. "I'm ready, Professors. Harry cautiously looked over the glass of bluish sludge that had been presented to him before drinking it down. In that moment, he noted that he was displaying a rather visible aura, though he was not able to make any sense of it for himself. Harry had the sense of a zoological exhibit as both Harris and Maxime stared sharply at him and made copious notes. The waiting was interminable as the two professors compared their notes and appeared to compile it all into a final report.

Finally, mercifully, Harris turned and bowed to Maxime. "Your assistance and experience has been invaluable, Madame Maxime. Would you like me to remain to assist you with Delacour?"

Harry practically twitched with impatience, but Beauxbatons' Headmistress was merciful. "Non, Professor Harris. One of my own head students can provide a second set of eyes for Fleur's potion."

Harris bowed deeper. "Then we two will take our leave and bother you no more. We thank you again for your assistance, Headmistress."

Harry managed to muster a thank you too as they exited, before impatiently turning to his professor for details.

To Harry's utter irritation, Harris said nothing. Instead, the professor led the boy up to the DADA classroom in utter silence. Even upon arriving, the professor fired off any number of spells about the classroom, apparently checking for spies. Finally satisfied, the professor returned his gaze to the student. "Now, would you care to discuss the results of the revealing potion?"

"Yes…" Harry practically descended into parseltongue with that hiss. "What is with all of the secrecy, Professor? Maxime already knows what you saw and will doubtless tell Delacour."

"Madame Maxime and Miss Delacour, Harry. Being respectful costs you nothing and creates a good impression of you in the eyes of observers."

"Even with someone who shows no respect in return?"

"Especially then, Harry. If you show respect while the person you speak to shows none, then that makes them look the fool. If, however, you fail to show proper respect, then that failure in others will be overlooked as being justified."

Harry chewed his lip, not liking the idea of showing respect to Snape after Snape had spent so long denigrating him, and yet not able to dispute the professor's point. Finally he decided to turn back to the previous topic instead. "What about the revealing potion, Professor?"

Harris smiled faintly. "Madame Maxime has been bound by oath to keep secret that which is revealed in the revealing potion. It is a common thing for people to wish to keep their talents quiet. It can be quite advantageous. The animagus registry is another reason people often avoid that transformation. The registry takes away a primary advantage of the talent… anonymity."

Harry huffed faintly in frustration. "But what are my talents?"

Xander smirked. "You are really quite talented, Harry. You have one rare talent and three separate common talents. You are a parselmouth, an animagus, an enchanter and a partial metamorph."

Harry gaped. That all sounded great, but… "What does that all mean, Professor? I mean, you told me some last week, but the whole lot of it."

Xander nodded sagely. "I believe that I told you last week that the Patil twins were your best bet for information on being a parselmouth. I also believe that I clarified the issue of what an enchanter is back then. That only leaves animagus and metamorph. An animagus, you already know about. You simply wish to know your form. You are a Death's-head Hawkmoth."

"A moth?" Harry gaped in shock and rage. "I'm a moth."

Xander's face was merciless. "Be grateful that your form, at least, is not a constant reminder of a traumatic experience from your childhood, Mr. Potter. Do recall that I warned you that not everybody appreciates their form. You do not actually have to pursue it if you don't want to."

"I don't…"

"Well then, I suggest you focus on one or more of your many other talents, Harry. It's not like animagus was your only one."

Harry finally managed to calm down. He had assumed, perhaps even hoped, that his form would be similar to his father's. It was a disappointment, but the professor was right. He had other talents he could explore. "What exactly is a partial metamorph?"

Harris dropped the previous topic readily. Apparently he hated discussion of his animagus form rather ardently and was quite willing to move on. "Partial metamorph is a very limited form of shapeshifting that presents in a variety of different ways, most often being a person being able to change their hair colour."

"But I can't do that."

"No you can't. I said that was a typical representation. Your ability appears to manifest to reinforce your self-image. You believe that you are meant to look a certain way and your metamorph ability works constantly to maintain it."

"Would that cause my hair to grow back overnight after it was shaved off?"

"Almost certainly."

"What about my scar?"

Harris shrugged. "Either the magic in the scar was sufficient to overpower your metamorph powers or the scar is incorporated into your self-image."

Harry sighed. "That doesn't sound very useful."

"It isn't. The more common the ability is, Harry, the more likely it is to either be difficult to master or relatively useless in the grand scheme."

"So what would you recommend then, Professor?"

Xander smirked faintly. "Look into your rare ability as you may, Harry. I'm sure there is something useful to be found in it. As for your common abilities, I would be willing to teach you enchanting as part of our sessions. Perhaps you can visit New Mexico when you've fully mastered your talent."

"Huh?"

Xander sighed. "My humour is still wasted on the young and British…."

Until next week folks

Jasper