Hermione didn't think Arthur was bragging.
She knew her cousin too well—he wasn't the kind of person who liked to talk big, and he never did things he wasn't sure about.
"What are you standing there spacing out for? Sunrise is here. Time to start," Arthur urged.
Hermione snapped out of it and quickly pulled out her wand, turning to face the rising sun.
She activated every rune inscribed on her wand. The tip rose and pointed at her heart as she focused and began to recite:
"Amato, Animo, Animato, Animagus."
In the very next instant, Hermione felt it—a second heartbeat, faint, right beside her own.
At first it was just a whisper.
Then it began to thump more firmly, rhythm matching her real heart, until the two beat as one.
"Arthur, I feel it!" Hermione said excitedly, looking up at him.
"Good." Arthur nodded. "Then it's my turn."
He slowly rose into the air, hovering above the clearing. Spreading his arms, he let his magic surge forth and tug on the forces of nature.
A gust of fierce wind tore through the trees. Overhead, the clouds thickened rapidly, their color moving from white to gray, then to a heavy, roiling black.
The bright dawn sunlight was completely swallowed.
It was as if night had fallen all over again.
Hermione stared blankly at the sky, stunned by the display of power—and her esteem for Arthur rose to yet another level.
Arthur descended back to the ground, landing lightly.
Then he raised a hand and pointed toward the spot where the Animagus mixture was buried.
A bolt of lightning crashed down with a deafening crack, turning the clearing white as day for a heartbeat.
The ground split open where it struck, leaving behind a smoking crater.
Inside it, the mixture had transformed into a blood-red potion, quietly resting in the broken earth.
"Alright, Hermione. Your turn," Arthur reminded her.
Hermione nodded, scooped up the potion, and tossed it back in one gulp. Then she repeated the sunrise step, wand tip pressed to her chest.
"Amato, Animo, Animato, Animagus!"
As soon as the words left her mouth, Hermione felt an invisible force wrenching her apart, as if it meant to tear her body to pieces.
"Ah—!" She couldn't help but scream in pain.
"Hermione," Arthur's voice cut in sharply, "focus. Search your mind for the animal that appears. Then commit to the change—hold onto it and transform into it."
Hearing him, Hermione grit her teeth, forcing herself to push aside the tearing pain and withdraw into her thoughts.
In Arthur's eyes, her transformation had already begun.
Her robes blurred and shifted, turning into soft animal fur. Whiskers sprouted from her cheeks, and a pair of pointed cat ears appeared atop her head.
Her body began to shrink, smaller and smaller, until finally—
A snow-white ragdoll cat with soft, fluffy fur stood where Hermione had been.
Arthur stared for a long moment.
…Had he just stolen Professor McGonagall's job?
(McGonagall: I'm tired. Let the world end. Why are this master and disciple pair both so obsessed with stealing my thunder?)
He was also a little surprised. He hadn't expected Hermione's Animagus form to match her Patronus—both a cat.
Still, the ragdoll cat looked exactly like her.
Around her neck and chest was a thick, fluffy collar of fur, like she'd let her hair down and it had flared around her face—a tiny snow lion in feline form.
At first, the newly-formed ragdoll cat panicked like any startled kitten, darting about the clearing.
But gradually, she calmed down.
Arthur knew that was Hermione wrestling the animal instincts under control.
Once she'd steadied herself, the little cat lifted her front paw and examined it curiously.
Arthur produced a mirror and set it in front of her.
Through it, Hermione saw her Animagus reflection properly for the first time—a ragdoll cat, almost entirely white, with only the faintest traces of light color on the ears and tail.
She let out a silent sigh of relief.
At least she wasn't something weird.
She'd read the horror stories. There was once a wizard whose Animagus form was a fish; at his first transformation, before he'd learned how to change back properly, he suffocated from lack of oxygen and died.
As she was mulling over those morbid tales, Hermione suddenly felt herself lifted off the ground. She twisted around to see Arthur holding her in both arms.
He was grinning, and not in a wholesome way.
"Heh. The wheel of fortune turns, little kitten," he said cheerfully. "It's my turn to bully you now."
With that, he hugged her closer and started vigorously petting, rubbing, and squishing.
Hermione, however, remained utterly unbothered.
She just lay quietly in his arms, letting him manhandle her, eyes half-lidded like she was enjoying a premium spa session.
She was used to it.
Back in first year, when they would sneak out at night for snacks, Hermione had always turned into a cat with the Mimic Veil and curled up in Arthur's arms all the way to the kitchens and back.
After Ranni joined their late-night snack squad, Hermione had been too embarrassed to keep doing it.
Now, wrapped once again in Arthur's embrace in cat form, she felt a flicker of nostalgia.
Arthur, seeing that she wasn't resisting at all, stopped after a while.
"How does it feel?" he asked.
"It's… a very strange sensation," Hermione replied, using mental speech. "It's different from the Mimic Veil. It feels like I was always supposed to be this cat—like this is really my body. But not being able to speak or cast spells… that's going to take some getting used to."
"You just reminded me," Arthur said. "There's something else you can make use of."
He took out a red seal—the Dragonblood Tribe's inheritance stamp—and pressed it firmly onto Hermione's furry little paw.
Just like when he'd done it himself, the stamp flared, and the inheritance information poured into her mind.
Moments later, Hermione felt the magic in her little cat body begin to circulate again.
"Arthur!" she exclaimed, excited. "I think… I can cast spells! And I can talk! These new spells and abilities in my head—they're all from Cat Quest! Is this that Dragonblood Mark they mentioned in the game?"
When Hermione got excited, her words always came in a rush.
Arthur didn't interrupt. He simply waited patiently for her to finish.
Once she'd finally stopped, he nodded. "Yes. It's the Dragonblood Mark."
Hermione let out a heartfelt sigh. "That's… incredible."
"Alright," Arthur said, smiling. "Try out your new powers. At the same time, get familiar with your Animagus form."
Hermione nodded, slipped out of his arms, and bounded toward the open clearing to test out her abilities.
"Mm?"
Arthur's gaze suddenly shifted toward Hogwarts Castle.
He sensed Snape hurrying in their direction—and with him, Professor McGonagall.
Apparently, the disturbance he'd caused had been a little too… conspicuous.
McGonagall had felt the surge of powerful magic from her office and decided to come investigate. On her way out, she'd run into Snape, who had sensed the same thing, so the two came together.
Unlike McGonagall, though, Snape already knew who that magical pressure belonged to.
When he'd sensed just how strong the surge was, he'd assumed Arthur was in a serious fight, and came as fast as he could.
The two professors emerged from the trees and saw—
Arthur standing calmly in the clearing, and above him, a ragdoll cat flying around in the air, casually tossing out spells.
"Arthur, what are you doing out here? What exactly happened?" McGonagall demanded.
"I'm more interested in that," Snape said, pointing. "A spellcasting cat? Some new magical creature?"
"Good morning, Professor McGonagall. Professor Snape," Arthur greeted politely. "That's not a magical creature—that's Hermione's Animagus. The magic you felt just now was me helping her complete the transformation."
"Arthur! Do you realize what you're saying?" McGonagall stared at him, incredulous. "The very first step of Animagus training alone takes a month. I've only just finished explaining the theory to Miss Granger—how on earth could she have completed the entire Animagus process already? And Animagi transform into ordinary animals. That," she jabbed a finger toward the flying ragdoll, "is very clearly not ordinary!"
As she spoke, the ragdoll cat in question noticed their arrival.
Hermione swooped down, landed gracefully, and shifted back into human form in front of them.
"Professor, Professor Snape—what are you doing here?" she asked innocently.
Arthur didn't bother arguing. He simply spread his hands and gestured toward Hermione.
She was the best answer.
McGonagall stared at Hermione, utterly stunned, at a loss for words.
This… this wasn't magic.
This was cheating.
Who finished Animagus transformation in one night?
And even then, how was she still casting spells in animal form?!
And the most infuriating part was—
She was jealous.
Snape, by contrast, was relatively calm.
He was already used to the absurdity that trailed Arthur and anyone close to him. A one-night Animagus job was, frankly, not even top ten in "Arthur-caused nonsense."
"What exactly did you do to generate that level of magical backlash?" Snape asked Arthur.
Arthur waved a hand dismissively. "Nothing much. Animagus transformations need a violent thunderstorm, right? I was too lazy to wait, so I made one."
Snape stared at him for a moment in silence.
"Nothing much," he repeated internally.
Right. Changing the weather and calling lightning from the sky apparently didn't count as "much."
He'd thought Arthur was fighting for his life out here.
McGonagall, hearing their exchange, was even more shocked.
"Wait," she cut in sharply, turning to Snape. "Severus—are you saying that enormous magical surge earlier came from Arthur?"
"Is there something wrong with that?" Snape replied flatly.
Something wrong?
McGonagall felt her heartbeat skip a few times.
Wrong didn't even begin to cover it.
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