A/N: All characters contained herein are the sole property of Ms. Rowling.
Harry was soaring high above the clouds on his firebolt. He could feel the wind blowing though his hair. Ginny clung tightly to him, her arms wrapped securely around his waist. Grinning mischieviously, he dipped the broom into a swift dive.
"Harry!" he heard her squeal.
"Harry? Harry? Come on wake up. You too Ron," said the voice of Neville Longbottom. Harry groaned.
"Go away Neville. It cannot possibly be morning yet," Ron mumbled sleepily.
"'Fraid so. Ginny and Hermione sent me to wake you up and there is no way I am facing those two and without you," said Neville.
Harry cautiously cracked open one eye to see light streaming in the window. Sighing, he yawned, stretched, and sat up.
"Thanks Neville. You can go tell them we'll be right down," he said ripping the blankets off of a once again snoring Ron. "Come on mate. Up and at em. Hermione will have your hide if she has to hand out schedules all by herself."
Ron rolled groggily out of bed and began throwing on clothes. Harry dug through his trunk in search of a clean shirt. Neville, as he had said, was not going back down without Ron or Harry. He sat down on his bed grinning at his two bleary eyed friends.
"You were out late last night. Exactly how much trouble did you end up in?" he asked.
Harry grimaced. "Three nights worth of detention with Filch and two rolls of parchment on all of the things which could've gone wrong with the transfiguration we did on the Slytherins."
"That's rough," said Neville.
"Yeah but it's worth it to have seen Malfoy with a tail wagging out the back of his robes," said Ron laughingly.
Neville snorted. "Yeah it was nice to see him get his for a change."
Harry and Ron were ready at last, so the three boys headed down to the common room where they were met by Ginny and an impatient Hermione.
"Finally! We're going to be late," said Hermione grabbing Ron's hand and practically dragging him down to the Great Hall with Neville, Harry, and Ginny trailing in their wake. The foursome made their way to the Gryffindor table, while Neville went to the Ravenclaw table to see Luna.
Professor McGonnagall came by and gave Hermione a stack of schedules, which she in turn divided between herself, Ron, Ginny, and Colin Creevey, the other fifth year prefect. Between the four of them, the papers were quickly handed out and they had soon rejoined Harry at the table.
The young Marauders soon found themselves doing their best to fend off questions about last night's prank. People from both Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw kept dropping by to congratulate them on their "brilliance", while the Gryffindors demanded to know how they'd managed it. About halfway through breakfast, people finally seemed to have had their fill, so Harry was at last able to look at his schedule.
"Hrmm... looks like double Transfiguration this morning," said Harry, glancing at Ron and Hermione's schedules as well. They would all have this class together. "What about you Gin?"
"UGH! I have Potions with the Slytherins. That is so not fair," she said.
"Ouch! Sorry sis," said Ron.
"At least you get it out of the way," Harry added comfortingly.
A rush of noise overhead anounced the arrival of the owls with the morning post. Harry really was not expecting anything, so was suprised when the decripit ball of feathers that was the Weasley family owl came hurtiling straight at him and Ron. Errol landed with a plop in Ron's cereal bowl and dropped a bright red letter on the table between them before collapsing in a heap.
"Bloody hell! She sent me a howler," said Ron going pale. Harry was staring transfixed at the name, or rather names, on the now sizzling envelope.
"Oh no!" he said, paling even more than Ron.
"Better open it before it explodes," Ginny advised sagely.
Squeezing his eyes shut, Ron reached out and opened the letter. The screaching voice of Mrs. Weasley boomed out across the Great Hall.
"Ronald Billius Weasley and Harry James Potter! I am so dissappointed in you two. What in Merlin's name were you thinking? Someone could've been hurt! I thought you were both more responsible than this! Ronald you could've lost your prefect's badge and Harry, as quidditch captain you should be setting an example! Three detentions! Three! On your first day! Not even Fred and George managed to do that! I had better not hear that either of you has gotten up to anymore hijinx or you will be dealing with a lot more than detention!"
The letter finished shouting out its message and shredded itself in a shower of red paper. Ron by this time was positively scarlet. Harry, who was not fond of attention under the best of circumstances, was absolutely mortified to find every eye in the hall upon them, including a smirking Malfoy.
He looked around at his friends who were all grinning openly. Feeling betrayed he turned his eyes to the staff table, only to see Remus and Tonks laughing ouright at his predicament. Dumbledore had a distinct twinkle in his eyes and even Prof. McGonnagall seemed to be having dificulty keeping a straigt face.
"Oh sure!" said Harry grumpily. "Laugh it up. Ron and I might as well just dance a jig on top of the table wearing nothing but Dobby's tea cozy for your enjoyment next time. It'll be less embarrasing."
"That would be... interesting," said Ginny a mischievious grin on her face. Harry blushed scarlet.
"Ewww Ginny! I'm right here," said a scandalized Ron. "Do you mind not sharing those kinds of thoughts with me... especially about Harry," he added with a shiver.
"He brought it up Ron, not me," said Ginny trying to look innocent. Hermione rolled her eyes.
"All of this is your own fault you know," said Hermione primly. "If you would..."
Fortunately, she was interrupted before she could get into full swing by the arrival of yet another owl. This one was a handsome silver color. It swooped low over Harry's head and dropped a letter on his plate, before flying back out the window from whence it came. Opening the letter, Harry quickly scanned though it, chuckled, and handed it to Ron. Hermione leaned in to get a better look.
"Who is it from?" Ginny asked.
"Fred and George," Hermione answered, taking the letter from Ron and reading out loud.
"Hey Mates!
Sorry about the howler. We tried to stop her, but you know Mum. We hear through the grape vine that the prank was brilliantly executed. Congratultions and way to uphold the fine Marauder tradition. We are so proud.
Your benevlent benefactors,
Fred and George
Ginny laughed. She had always been particularly close to Fred and George and was missing them a great deal already this year.
"We'd better get moving if we're going to get decent seats in transfiguration," said Hermione noticing that people were starting to leave and head to their classes. They all grabbed their things. Harry gave Ginny a quick peck on the cheek and promised to meet her here for lunch before following Ron and Hermione to Prof McGonnagall's classroom.
They slipped into their usual seats noticing that this year's class was smaller then previous years. After giving her usual opening remarks, Prof McGonnagall began to lecture them on the first topic they would be studying this term.
"This year we will begin to work on human to animal transfiguration. While true animagus are very rare, most witches and wizards can manage at least partial transfiguration," McGonnagall said.
"Can anyone tell me what the first step in animagus transformation is?" she asked. Naturally Hermione's hand was the first in the air.
"Yes Miss Granger," Prof. McGonnagall smiled.
"In order to begin transfiguration, the animagus must first determine what animal they will become so that they can get a clear picture of the animal in their heads before transformation," said Hermione.
"Very good Miss Granger. Three points to Gryffindor. Now, there are many ways to determine what your animagus form will be. There are a number of charms which can be performed to find the animal spirit within the witch or wizard. Can anyone tell me what one of these is?"
Hermione's hand again shot into the air. McGonnagall nodded at her indicating she should answer.
"The Patronus charm," Hermione said promptly. Harry's eyes widened as it connected in his brain that he would have the same animagus form as his father.
"Excellent. It is nice to see that some people did their homework over the summer," said McGonnagall. "For the first several weeks of the term, we will be concentrating on learning the Patronus charm. Those of you, like Mr. Potter, who have already mastered this will assist those who have not yet learned it."
Harry, Ron, and Hermione exchanged a look. Only those three knew that a large portion of the reason they would be learning the Patronus had very little to do with Animagi. The rest of the period proceded fairly uneventfully and, before Harry knew it, it was time for lunch.
The three friends headed down to the Great Hall laughing and talking. Harry entered the room, expecting to see Ginny already waiting on him, but she was nowhere to be seen. He frowned slightly. Hermione, who always seemed to know what Ron and Harry were thinking, raised an eyebrow at him.
"What's wrong Harry?" she asked.
"Nothing really. It's just that Ginny promised to meet me here and she's late," he answered, trying to hide his growing sense of unease. Now it was Hermione's turn to frown.
"Colin? Have you seen Ginny?" Hermione asked as Colin walked past.
"Not since potions. She had to stay behind and clean up. That slimy Marcus Parkinson knocked over her cauldron. He claimed it was an accident, but it didn't look like one to me. Naturally, Snape docked Ginny points," Colin said shaking his head.
"She's probably just still cleaning up," Ron said. "She'll be here soon mate. Sit down and have a sandwich."
Harry nodded, but was not completely convinced. "You're probably right. All the same, I'm going to go wait for her," he said.
Harry walked out of the Great Hall and stood near the door waiting. A fierce internal debate was raging inside him. A part of him said that if anyone could take care of themselves it was Ginny. The other part of him was worried sick. As the minutes ticked by, Harry's concern increased. He had just decided to go looking for her when he heard someone coming around the corner. Relief shot through him. That had to be Ginny.
He felt his alarm triple, however, when it was not Ginny who came around the corner, but a widely smirking Draco Malfoy.
"Out here all alone Potter? Where's that red-headed weasel you call a girlfriend? She leave you already?" he sneered.
"That's none of your business Malfoy. Now I suggest you and your little friends scamper off before I finish what I started yesterday on the train," Harry shot back.
"I was only trying to be friendly Potty," Malfoy said sounding anything but. "I was merely concerned about the littlest weasle's safety. I hope she hasn't met with some sort of... accident." An evil grin slashed across Malfoy's face. Harry's eyes widened.
"If you have touched one hair on her head Malfoy..." Harry growled.
Malfoy laughed and entered the Great Hall with Crabbe and Goyle following menacingly in his wake.
Harry didn't wait for the doors to close behind them before he tore off in search of Ginny.
A/N: I know... evil cliffy. I have the next chapter already written though and will submit it as soon as this one is aproved. Again thank you to Danielle the fabulous moderator, and to my son Will for being my beta. Also a HUGE thank you to all of you who have reviewed. You are awesome! Hope you liked this chapter. Thanks for reading. Please review.