In the Harry Potter Without Harry Potter

Chapter 403: Animagus' Change (2 in 1)

Instead of picking up his wand, Jon aimed the ring at his chest.

The pronunciation of the ring version of the Animagus Transformation incantation had been worked out long before he had officially made the Animagus potion.

It was not difficult, for even in the absence of the potion, one could attempt to cast a spell on one's heart with the ring and one's body would feel the reaction, as long as he kept changing the pronunciation of the incantation, then he can find the one that made his heart react most strongly.

"Amato Animo Animato Animagus."

Jon pronounced the incantation with a different pronunciation than the normal one, and the very next second after the incantation, he gulped down the red potion from the crystal vial!

In an instant, a heart-rending pain swept through Jon's entire body, forcing him to fall to his knees in the first instance, sweat soaking out of all parts of his skin.

The pain surpassed even the pain that would have been caused by a Cruciatus Curse, but Jon held on without making a sound, just clenching his teeth and feeling with his mind the changes his body was producing.

He felt his body temperature drop and then rise, one moment his body was hot and covered in sweat, and the next he was shivering from the cold, but soon this temperature change subsided and although it was obvious that Jon felt different from what he had just felt, he was not uncomfortable, but rather he felt very warm and comfortable.

All of a sudden, a second heartbeat drummed in Jon's eardrums.

The sound of that newborn heartbeat distinguished itself from his original one, so powerful and empowering even in its first beat!

Yes, Jon felt the power.

He didn't know if it was an illusion or if it was real, but just as the second heartbeat sounded, he inexplicably felt that his body had become much lighter, his hands he is clenching became much firmer, and his whole body felt like it had been reborn.

Because he had read through a lot of actual cases and had got relevant experience from Professor McGonagall, Jon could be sure that a normal Animagus transformation would never have such a change.

A different kind of magical power surged through Jon's body and soon followed along with the beating of the newborn heart to the third gem of the ring, which then immediately returned to his body and was then injected into his "new" heart.

Jon could feel the pain in his body begin to diminish, while a golden light lit up in his mind.

He was tempted to make contact with that light to see what his other form really looked like, yet the dazzling light burned like fire, and it completely obstructed Jon's ability to have a clear picture of the creature within.

Gradually, the slow-beating newborn pulse began to beat for the seventh time when, the next moment, everything stopped!

Jon's senses returned to reality, the golden light that had been clearly visible in his mind was gone, and the newborn pulse ceased to be active and fell silent again, leaving only the sound of his original heartbeat.

The feeling of his body being wrapped in a hot spring also disappeared, as if nothing had changed in his body from the beginning.

Jon stood up from the ground somewhat bewildered, his body was dry, not drenched in sweat as his robes had been at first, and he looked at his hands, his nails were neatly trimmed, and his fingers were white and long, even feeling a little more tender than he had seen them before, with no sign that they had turned into any kind of claws or furry palms.

But now, with all the magical signatures on his body seemingly stopped, it was only logical that Animagus had succeeded.

Except that Jon hadn't turned into any animal, nor did he show any physical changes that were different, at least not that Jon himself noticed any difference.

If there was anything really unusual, it was that he felt like he had become a little lighter, jumped a little higher in place apparently than he had before, and his body was a little more powerful; let's say that Jon had felt like he was at the normal level of body composition for a normal 15-year-old close to entering high school before, but now he felt like he was fully reaching the slightly upper strength of an adult.

And vaguely, he also felt that this physical strengthening was not over, his body was being nourished by a strange and unusual magic of another kind, one that was strange, yet he was sure it belonged to him.

But what kind of Animagus doesn't change the shape of a wizard?

This magic was still essentially a type of transfiguration, but Jon did not exhibit the slightest trace of transfiguration.

Puzzled, Jon touched himself all over his body, neither something was missing nor anything was added, he was sure that there was no change to his physical appearance, and to experiment further he picked up his wand and casually cast two spells, neither the strength nor the effect was half as different as before.

He looked at the third gem on the ring, which had been marked by Animagus' special magic and there was no way to add any more magic to it, which meant that he had actually succeeded, but could Animagus be considered successful without turning into an animal?

Jon was puzzled, and after puzzling over it all by himself, he decided to go and see Professor Dumbledore just to be on the safe side.

Dumbledore is a top Master of Transfiguration anyway, and he would know more about it than Jon himself.

When Jon had just walked out of the meeting room with a depressed look on his face, he happened to run into Hermione and Lavender, both of whom were holding their books as if they were going to return them back to the library.

"Good evening, Jon." Lavender greeted him with a wave.

Jon also snapped out of his musings and responded.

"Good evening."

Upon seeing his face, however, Lavender yelped in surprise and Hermione froze in place.

Jon noticed the difference in their expressions and couldn't help but touch his face, frowning as he asked.

"Is there something different about me?"

"It feels like you've got handsome!" Lavender exclaimed, he could hear that it wasn't a compliment from her.

Hermione blinked and said the same.

"And your eyes."

"Eyes?" Jon was about to raise his wand and turn it into a mirror to look at his eyes when Hermione pulled a small round mirror out of her own pocket and handed it to him.

Looking in a mirror, Jon then realised just what kind of change he had undergone.

His skin looked a little more refined and fair than before, so that's what Lavender had said about looking more handsome, and it was the change in his eyes that was most striking.

Jon's turquoise pupils had turned pale gold at some point, and the dazzling gold did not just appear on the surface; if you looked closely, you could see that there was a golden fire pulsing slightly in his eyes, just like the golden glow he had seen lighting up in his own mind after drinking the potion earlier.

Such a change made Jon feel even more incredulous.

Even if the Animagus used was no longer the same as normal, it wasn't as if this was the only change that the transformation produced, was it?

What was the point of just making him a little more gigolo-looking?

Is it more conducive to picking up girls?

Instead of making Jon's depressed mood better, the discovery of such a change made him even more unhappy.

He hurriedly said goodbye to Hermione and Lavender and made his way to Dumbledore's office.

When Jon arrived, Dumbledore looked like he was crafting something under the verbal communication of the Slytherin portrait, and when he looked up and saw Jon for the first time, the expression on his face froze visibly for a moment, and then he smiled and complimented him.

"Very good Transfiguration, Jon, you can even change the pupils of your eyes meticulously already, this would have added 20 points to your house for such a skill as yours if I were still Professor of Transfiguration at Hogwarts again."

"Don't be ridiculous Professor, I can't believe you can't see that a change like this in me isn't from a normal transfiguration technique."

Jon was certainly not in the mood to joke about anything with Dumbledore at this time, he scratched his hair and sat down opposite Dumbledore.

"As Professor McGonagall should have told you, I have been planning to learn Animagus since last year, and it was supposed to be my success on this thunderstorm day, I don't know why I didn't transform into some kind of animal, just the surface of my body changed in some way like this."

Dumbledore crossed his arms at the top of his desk and his face turned serious.

"I know you're studying to master Animagus, but I also know that this Animagus you have to learn is very different from the normal ones, right?"

Jon had only concealed the source of the ring magic, as he and Slughorn had agreed to do in the first place, but he hadn't intended to hide what he was learning from Dumbledore.

"Yes, as I envisioned when I was learning it, this Animagus I am mastering not only can change a wizard's appearance, but it can make the magic itself change as well, meaning that it can turn a wizard into a magical creature with unique magical abilities. But I can feel now that the magic within my body has indeed changed, though the body does not have that much of a change in outward form, which makes me wonder if my Animagus has succeeded."

Dumbledore listened to Jon's statement, while carefully observing Jon's appearance at the moment, and he gave his guess.

"I have never read in any spell book of this Animagus you speak of, nor have I seen anyone who has successfully learned to do so. But there have been many cases of wizards throughout the ages who have tried to transform into magical creatures, but without exception, their magic not only failed to change but it prompted them to become half-human, half-beast monsters. Since you have sensed a change in your magic, I think you have actually succeeded, as to why your appearance has not yet changed in the same way as your magic, perhaps there is some sort of lack of chance?"

Jon mused.

"A chance?"

This time Fawkes flew up to his shoulder at some point and pecked him in the face with his pointed beak.

"Sorry, I don't have time to play with you right now, Fawkes, I'm trying to think of something."

As if he understood Jon's words, Fawkes flew back up to the golden perch but didn't groom his feathers as he had done when Jon had come in there at first, and just cocked his head and stared into Jon's eyes.

Dumbledore's words this time didn't have that riddler's guise of being clouded and unintelligible, but Jon still hadn't figured it out.

"And what kind of chance should it take?"

Dumbledore shook his head directly at this.

"There has never been a success story, so naturally no one knows this, but I think that just as a thunderbird will be born in a thundercloud, a phoenix will be born in a sea of flames, and a newborn unicorn will surely receive nature's favours, the kind of chance you need still depends on what kind of creature your Animagus is. I can't help you with that, you need to find it out for yourself."

Jon eventually left the Headmaster's office with doubts coming and going one after another.

He felt that Dumbledore had a point, the Animagus transforming into a magical creature with magical abilities would be different from a normal animal no matter what.

Even the most common magical slug in the world contained its own unique kind of magic ability, and while Jon had magically completed his transformation, he was still in the process of transforming into an Animagus, and when exactly that process would be completely finished would require a chance that no one could predict?

A chance that no one could have predicted?

Jon suddenly blinked, when it came to predictions, didn't he know one of the most famous prophets in the magical world?

Thinking of this, Jon felt like he had found the key to breaking the game. He became excited and immediately rushed to the fireplace in the school dedicated to floo powder teleportation, and using the floo network connecting France and Durmstrang, he arrived that night in Durmstrang, far away in the northernmost part of Europe.

The students of Durmstrang were surprised when he appeared in this castle, as everyone knew that he was participating in the Triwizard Tournament and should not have had time to drop in at this time.

Still, every student who saw him addressed him respectfully as Professor Green.

Such an address was much more respectful and formal compared to before; after all, Jon's achievements were all visible to the naked eye after he departs from Durmstrang.

Other than that, Jon had good luck today when it came to finding someone, Grindelwald hadn't gone anywhere tonight, he was in the headmaster's office reading a document that looked like a lab report.

After hearing Jon's reason for coming, there was no half-hearted change of expression on his face.

"It's been so long since you've been back, I thought you had forgotten all the promises you made in this office before, and then you come back to ask for my help?"

A cheeky smile instantly appeared on Jon's face.

"You know, I've been competing in the Triwizard Tournament for the past six months or so, and I really haven't had much time in between. Besides, haven't I come to see you specifically now? That little help or big help is all incidental and by the way thing."

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