Weekly Drabble Challenge - Magical Mishaps: Stuck!

[mugglemathdork]

Being a wizard, or a witch, isn't easy. You can get lost in the Floo network. You can blow a buttock off with your wand, or worse, you can get lost in a time/space continuum while traveling back in time to take an extra class, or helping a convicted felon escape on a Hippogriff amongst other nasty mishaps if you're not too careful.

However, sometimes magical mishaps can't be helped. So what do you do? How do you deal? And how do you fix it?

For this challenge, you have to write about someone getting stuck in their Animagus form.

The following form must be used when submitting your drabble responses to this post -

Name:
House:
Title:
Warnings:
Words:

Winners will be awarded 15, 10, and 5 points respectively.

All drabbles must be less than 500 words; All standard grammar rules, and MNFF submissions guidelines apply.

The challenge will be up for a week, and be closed exactly a week later (January 24th.)

MithrilQuill and I will be judging them and posting results a couple of days later.

All questions should be referred to the Question Corner - Do not post questions here. Only drabbles!

Other than that...have fun!

~Gato Loco & Mith~

[h_vic]

Name: h_vic
House: Hufflepuff
Title: Feline Grace
Warnings: None
Words: 419

Minerva McGonagall stalked along the corridor daring anyone to comment on her presence. Of course, she could hardly grant detention in her current state, but woe betide any foolhardy student once she regained her more accustomed form. In the meantime, she could always content herself with scratching their eyes out…

It was humiliating enough for a witch of her calibre to have gotten stuck like this, but what was far more galling was that, since she doubted the gargoyle guarding the headmaster’s office would construe a purr as the correct password, she was unable to approach Albus for help and would have to resort to the only other person in the castle whose competence she trusted sufficiently to allow him to perform such complicated spellwork on her. Severus would never allow her to live it down.

Slinking through the crack of Severus’ door, which had been left ajar, she sprang onto his desk, neatly landing in the middle of the parchment that the Potion’s Master was attempting to mark.

“What the–?” he spluttered in irritation. “Minerva?”

She sat down on his desk, front paws planted on the edge, and nodded curtly in very unfeline fashion.

A small smile quirked at the corners of Severus’ lips, which looked distinctly unaccustomed to such an action.

“You wouldn’t be unable to transform, would you? How unfortunate! I suppose you’ve come for my assistance?” There was faint mockery in his carefully bland tone and Minerva merely glared at him with a look that would have made a student stutter in fear of a year of detention. Severus, though, had not been her student for many years, and his amusement was not so easily quelled. She hissed and arched her back in obvious threat.

“Is that really the way to treat someone whose help you require?” Severus taunted her, raising his wand and making a series of complex motions interspersed with snippets of incantation.

Suddenly, Minerva found herself once more human, but still perched on Severus’ desk, now in a distinctly undignified position.

“A hand, Minerva?” Severus offered as she attempted to climb down.

“One word, Severus, one word, and I swear…” she snapped, ignoring the proffered hand.

“Of course not,” he replied with a roll of his eyes that made Minerva realise she was being quite ungrateful.

“Thank you,” she muttered grudgingly as she turned to leave, unaware of the other professor’s slight smile at her retreating back as he wondered just how long it would take her to notice the whiskers.

[butter_beer_drinker]

name: butter_beer_drinker
house: Gryffindor
Title: Revealing
Words: 500
Warnings: None

Harry stepped out of the shower and wiped the steam from the mirror. He stared at himself for a long time concentrating as hard as he could. He didn’t understand why he couldn’t master becoming an Animagus. His father, Sirius and even Pettigrew had been able to do it, why couldn’t he?

He closed his eyes again and concentrated hard on changing himself into an owl. Ron had laughed at the form he had chosen but Hermione had commended him. He knew that he could easily hide out in Hogwarts or anywhere in the magical community if he blended in. At last he gave up and swore in defeat, however it was a loud hoot that echoed through the bathroom.

Harry’s eyes shot open and he found himself looking up at the sink. He began to hop around in excitement and flap his wings. After a few moments he rose into the air and clumsily zoomed around the bathroom. He wanted to show Ron and Hermione that he had finally done it so he concentrated hard on becoming himself again, but nothing happened. He tried unsuccessfully to wrap his talons around the handle.

Ron stepped into the bathroom and screamed in fright at the owl that flew out at him. With a thump he landed on his bum and the owl screeched and flew at him. He seized the frantic animal and realized that it had a lightning bolt scar across the top of its head. “Harry?”

The owl calmed and hooted softly. “Blimey Harry, you did it.” Harry just blinked at him in response.

Ron raced down the stairs to the common room and without thinking tried to run up to the girl’s dormitory. Harry flew out of his hands when the slide appeared and a group of girls gathered at the top. Harry fluttered his way up to Hermione and crashed into her the other girls scattered in the wake of his clumsy flying.

Harry hopped around in front of Hermione waiting for her to recognize him. He pecked at her leg a couple of times as she tried to walk off muttering about the incompetence of some owls. She stopped when he drew blood.

“What?” Hermione swung around to face him and she too saw the scar and the faint outline of Harry’s glasses. “Very well done Harry, you finally figured it out.” She paused when he began to shake his head back and forth. “Oh no, you can’t undo it can you?” Harry gave her the best pleading look he could. Hermione told him to follow her.

Inside her dorm room Hermione retrieved her wand and pointed it at Harry. She did a few complicated twists of her wrist then a bright blue-white flash of light erupted around the owl and then Harry was standing there. He rushed towards Hermione to hug her but she quickly turned away as her face flushed scarlet red. “Next time you do that Harry, make sure you have clothes on.”

[Mistletoe]

Name: Mistletoe
House: Slytherin
Title: Feeling It
Warnings: None
Words: 500

“So, now all that’s left to do is just… feel it?” the boy asked, the last words fading as he flipped through the pages of a particularly large and particularly old book. Beside him sat a boy with dark hair that dropped onto his aristocratic shoulders. Sitting on the floor across the room was another boy, legs crossed in front of him, mumbling to himself as he drug his finger across a page. Another boy cloaked in tattered robes was coaching him as he sat on a chair behind the muttering boy’s shoulder.

“If that’s what it says James, then that’s what you do. It can’t be that hard,” the dark haired boy replied as he leaned back on the legs of his chair.

The two boys across the room fell into silence as they heard Sirius’ last remark, and now all three were staring directly at him. The boy in tattered robes allowed a grin to jump to his mouth, but it was gone the next instant.

“If it’s so simple, then why don’t you have a go?” Remus taunted from his place across the room, glancing between James and Peter for support.

“Yeah, have a go, Sirius. You know, since it’s so simple,” Peter said, smirking at Remus.

“What are you, scared?” A small voice sounded from beside him, masked by withheld laughter.

Sirius stood up and walked to the middle of the room, contacting each of the other boys’ eyes with his own before he stopped. Closing his eyes, he took on a look of deep concentration, creasing his forehead in thought. The air in the room had gone still as the three boys watched him. After a few tense moments when all breathing had ceased, the boy they knew as Sirius morphed quickly into a dog with hair to match his own. The dog stared down at himself, his head bouncing from extremity to extremity before it let out a loud bark. He jumped up on his hind legs and ran from Peter to Remus to James, leaving them all with a line of slobber down their cheeks. The three laughed with joy as the dog pranced in front of them.

Suddenly, fright took residence in the dog’s eyes and he calmed immediately. He shook his head around as if attempting to shake fleas from his fur, but he surely couldn’t have fleas… yet.

The three looked between each other, confusion evident in their faces. Something wasn’t right. No, something was very wrong by the instant change in the dog’s demeanour.

“I think he’s stuck,” Remus suddenly announced as comprehension dawned on his face. “He hasn’t read about transforming back yet, has he?”

A laugh erupted from Peter as he watched the dog, and James replied, “No, I’m just reading that bit now. Is there any way for us to switch him back?”

Remus joined in Peter’s laughter as the dog lay down and put his paws over his eyes. “He just has to feel it.”

--Kat

[Stubbornly_appeared]

Name: Stubbornly_appeared
House: Gryffindor
Title: Red and Fangs
Warnings: Self-injury
Words: 399

Cool, cool scales. His scales. They flowed over the ground effortlessly and powerfully.

He had done it. Of course he had done it, silly him- it had only taken three tries. And now here he was, a snake sliding across the floor in an abandoned dungeon classroom. What a feeling it was.

This was power. Simple, smooth power: the kind that people craved because it was just so perfect. He was efficient and strong and lethal. One bite of his fangs and death knocked. What he could do now... a pity he hadn't thought of this earlier, when he still had many years of school left.

He looked around the room, not really seeing with his red eyes. Instead, he flicked at the air with his forked tongue (he would have laughed if he could of when he thought of the Devil) and tasted the beautiful chemical sensations on the air.

Chemicals, though. Nothing real. In an instant, he was reminded that he was human. He couldn't do anything immeadiately trapped in this form. Concentrating hard, he willed himself back to warm-bloodedness.

And failed. It was too hard. He could stay like this forever, shrug off all parts of his humanity and become a serpent.

No, no; his mind raged against itself. He struggled and fought. He thought of everything he must do and things he needed a wand and hands to hold it. He though of his plans. Snakes didn't live forever.

Now he was panting on the floor of the dungeon, warm again but cold. His tongue- still forked- licked at the air but then faded painfully back to normalacy. He felt at his mouth. Two fangs were there where his canines were usually. Running a finger down them, he felt their sharp point and sighed heavily, almost moaning.

He moved his arm up futher and bit into it. The pain was strong. Venom raced into his veins, happily burning through him. Still, he dug in his fangs further still and felt the warm, sticky-sweet blood in his mouth and on his lips.

After a moment, he released his grip and felt the fangs slide back away into nothingness. His arm throbbed painfully, but gloriously sang to him. Venom coursed through his veins- it was a part of him now.

Later, when he looked in the mirror, he noticed that his eyes retained a tinge of red.

Wow. That was REALLY bad, wasn't it?

*snicker*

Oh, well.

-Stubby

[Weasleyboyfreak]

Name: Weasleyboyfreak
House: Proud Puff
Title: An Inner Light
Warnings: D/A
Words: 410

Unhappiness, coldness, desolateness, they were all things that he felt, being trapped in that awful place. The bitter cold stone floors were just as miserable as he was, never receiving any warmth because of the heartless monsters that constantly haunted them. They were unfortunate creatures of the Wizarding world, trapping their prisoners in an unbearable labyrinth. These hooded demons floated by, waiting to take his soul that would leave him in a fate worse than death.

He had been imprisoned in this death block for a crime he did not commit, people around him driven to the break of insanity, unable to handle the emotionless torture. He pitted them, fools locked away in a cell of dead dreams, crushed hopes, and dried emotions, all because of their own doing. The man on the other hand was not like them, he was not a criminal. He was just caught at the wrong place at the wrong time, accused of killing a so-called friend, one that had sold out his best friends to save himself. That coward deserved to be in the prison of lost souls, not him.

However, the man with long straggly black hair could find some inner warmth, trapping his mind within a form that could not be touched by the hands of evil. His memories kept him in his sanity. His most cherished thought would not be taken way from him by the ghosts of evil. He had found a way to survive the tortures ways of Azkaban Prison, one that the Dementors couldn’t detect.

Sirius Black found himself trapped within a warmth that he would not relinquish. They could not steal his happiness in a form that he had developed in his childhood, one with so many memories. Keeping him safe from the evils that surrounded him.

Even if Sirius wanted to, he couldn’t bring himself to come out of his animagus form. He was stuck in a world free of gloom, at least in his memories. Sirius couldn’t give up the warmth and happiness that his memories brought. And as a dog, his safety and sanity was insured. They were trapped within an animal, unable to be taken by the hands of death.

He would find a way out, a way to seek revenge on the one that destroyed his life and took away the people he loved. But for now, he would remain trapped, by his own will, as a dog. Padfoot would live on.

[pokethedevil]

Name: pokethedevil
House: Gryffindor!
Title: Oh, What a Life…or Nine!
Warnings: Character Death
Words: 498.

Oh, What a Life…or Nine!

Mavis and I had been friends as long as I can remember. We grew up together, went to school together and even got a job at the same shop together. But then Mavis went away, he just left, left me all alone. Then one day, out of the blue there came a great big colorful bird, and in its beak was a letter, from Mavis.

He said he was sorry for leaving me, but told me not to worry, we would see each other soon, and till then he would keep writing. But he never told me where he was. He kept to his promise and every month, a letter arrived, delivered by a bird as exotic and vibrantly colored as the last.

And one day, came Mavis himself, in the flesh, right there in a bowler hat and coat, a little gray, but otherwise he was still my same old Mavis. We embraced like brothers, and then he sat me down on my own couch and began the untold story of his journeys.
Mavis had been experimenting with a potion, what it was he would not tell me, but he had worked years and years on it to make it perfect. It was not his own concoction, said he, rather something he had perfected. There had been cases, he told me, of the potion going terribly wrong and the results were too upsetting to discuss. But he had taken care of that, he had made the formula less complicated, no more of those terrible accidents, no more pain. He had done his part for society, made this world a better place to live in, with a little less loss and pain, he hoped.

In my minds eyes is forever frozen that look in his brown eyes when he pleaded with me to take the potion with him, that desperation, that yearning. How could I refuse? My friend was on his knees, begging me to dive into the unknown. I consented at once.

He took out two bottles, the colorless potion swirling about inside of them, bubbles emerging every now and then. He handed me one and opened the cork of his own. With a final toast and a wink, I watched my friend tilt his head back and did the same myself.
Agony unbearable, a seething sensation, my insides shrunk, I felt myself disappear into the unknown and then all was black.

***

My friend had been unsuccessful. The potion, as was terribly obvious to me now was one that could give a wizard the power to change into an animal and back again. But it hadn’t worked…I was stuck as a cat! And Mavis- Mavis was dead!

***
Life can be strange, deceiving and whimsical.
I am now a pet ‘kitty’, and my owner will serve as a reminder of my dead friend…
My name is Crookshanks and I am the cat of Miss Hermione Granger, great great granddaughter of Mavis Granger.

Oh, what a life!

[MissyQuill]

Name: MissyQuill
House: Roar, roar, Gryffindor!
Title: That Brat!
Warnings: Language, Sexual Situation
Words: 461

I really hate that brat!

When I had chosen this animagus form back in sixth year, I though it was perfect. The one untraceable way of getting information out of unwilling sources. Why, in this form I was practically a part of the scenery and in summer weather, in the gardens, I was the scenery.

Even as a lass of sixteen I knew that my talents lay in the sharp point of my quill, my ability to charm words out of the people they would dearly regret later on and my knack for inventing spicy stories when real ones got too bland.

At 22, I was a star. Mighty witches and wizards trembled to hear my name. Great politicians indulged me to no end craving a good review. Famous WWN stars willing to do anything for a good publicity piece. The unending streams of little and expensive gifts for “being a great writer.”

As for the public, I was their sweetheart. The smart, sassy, and beautiful (even if I do say so myself) reporter who bravely tackled all issues with her blunt quill, who did not care for offending anyone as long as she got her story.

Though, asked uncountable times, I never revealed the secret of my success. Why would I? My secret kept me powerful, important. It also kept me warm at night for living the life of a public figure ensures you many a flings but not love.

But this brat, this hideous brat, this hideous obnoxious, overbearing brat had found out my secret. Merlin knows how she’d done it, figured out the secret I’d kept for well over twenty years. Not only was she a complete and utter wretch, she was a smart wretch too. I hated admitting it but it was true. And I had never been one to underestimate my opponents, even if they looked like something the Kneazle dragged in.

Now I’m stuck in this blasted glass jar because of her. No matter how hard I beat my whisker thin feelers against the glass, I can’t get out. No matter how many angry buzzing noises I make, nobody will come to my aid. And obviously I can't turn back into my human form because of insufficient room. Curse that Unbreakable Charm. I had never been able to do it properly but she apparently had no problem with it.

In my life, I hated many things. Like Ice Mice, short fingernails, arrogant editors who tried to argue with me, but now I can safely say that the thing (for she can be called only that) I hate the most is Hermione Granger and I swear upon my Quick Quotes Quill that I will pay her out some day. I swear it!

[Merlynne]

Name: Merlynne
House: Slytherin
Title: Unstoppable
Warnings: none
Words: 476

After all that time, it had come. After too many hours in the library bent over an enormous tome on Self Transfiguration, he had done it. He had let go of that which had been him, and he had taken on his Animagus form. In a single moment of desperate losing, the world had shaken and gone blurry, and Sirius Black found himself arched upon the floor of the Hogwarts library.

But it didn’t feel strange. It felt good. He felt good. Shaking out long black hair, he let out a bark of laughter. No, a bark.

A dog, a dog! Wait until Remus hears I’m a dog!

He barked again.

The librarian, a ferocious woman named Pince leaned out of her desk.

“What by Merlin...a dog!” she declared angrily upon seeing an animal in her carefully catalogued library.

Yes, a dog, Sirius though to himself, filled with utter glee and drove him to spring forwards towards the door. Attempting to draw himself up onto two legs, he barreled the door with one shoulder. It wasn’t graceful, and Sirius felt the impact throughout his animal body, but the door opened enough to admit his slender form. Pince pursued, but her two thick legs were no match for his four. He was wild and young, and no one could stop him. As a million-toned scent met his nose, Sirius gave another bark. No, no one could stop him now. Perhaps not even himself.

Two days later, Sirius awoke in the forbidden forest from a dream of cold evenings among the trees and being chased out of the school by the caretaker. He was naked, and his thin skin pressed against the snowy earth and a jagged branch that had fallen from one of the trees. Standing around him were James, Remus, and Peter.

“Sirius?” Peter called, voice uncertain. “Are you okay?”

“What?” Sirius barked, coughing as he encountered a large amount of phlegm in his throat. “Where am I? How did I get here?”

“You got stuck,” Remus explained, removing his cloak to toss to Sirius. “It took us an hour of chasing you and shouting, for you to come to. We tracked the dog down because we figured it had to be you. ”

“Raiding the kitchens, terrorizing the girls’ dormitory,” James pointed out.

“Right,” Remus said with a disapproving look at James. “But what you did was dangerous. You could have lost your identity completely and been stuck forever. You should have waited for us to be with you. It’s been two days.”

“Merlin,” Sirius exclaimed, pulling the cloak on.

“Don’t worry,” James sang cheerily. “In no time at all we’ll have you house trained and everything.”

Remus snorted, abandoning his adult-role. “Right. This is Sirius we’re talking about.”

Sirius laughed as well, and wondered if his laugh always sounded like a dog’s bark.

[deeobee]

Name: deeobee
House: Ravenclaw
Title: This time around
Warnings: mild language (?)
Words: 498

“C’mon Peter,” Sirius said. “Don’t be a wet blanket.”

“Yeah,” James added. “Just do it. Everyone else has.”

Remus shot the two of them an exasperated look.

“Everyone else, meaning you and Sirius,” he said, then turned to Peter. “Don’t do it if you don’t feel comfortable. Something bad could happen if you’re not ready.”

The four friends were sitting on the floor of their dorm, books scattered around them, practicing highly illegal Animagus transformations. They’d been researching the theory and spell work for months and finally decided they were ready to start practicing.

James looked over at Peter, whose forehead was starting to bead with a nervous sweat.

“Don’t worry, Peter, you’re ready,” he said. “I mean, you’ll have to do it eventually if you want to come to the Shrieking Shack with us, so why not now?”

Peter knew Sirius and James would bully him until he tried, so he closed his eyes and concentrated on transforming. A flash of white light surrounded his pudgy body, and seconds later a large brown rat had taken his place.

Sirius burst into laughter.

“You did it, Peter! Bloody hell, you’re a rat!”

Peter scampered across the rug, testing out his new legs. James watched in amusement.

“Not the most attractive animal, but good job mate.”

“Now try to change back,” Remus said.

The three friends watched in silence as the rat stilled, and seconds later began running around frantically, emitting loud squeals. Sirius picked him up before he could scamper under a bed.

“Oh no,” Remus said. “Peter, are you stuck?” His answer came in the form of frenzied, high-pitched squeaking.

“Leave it you to botch this up so spectacularly,” James said, looking at the rat in Sirius’ hands. Sirius was tightly gripping Peter, preventing him from escaping.

“It’s okay Peter,” Remus said, taking the squirming rat from Sirius. “I’ve read about this in one of the books James got from the library. All it takes to reverse the transformation is a spell. I think I wrote it down, just in case. Let me find it.”

Peter stopped wriggling and visibly relaxed.

“Don’t be so hasty, Moony,” Sirius said, grinning. “Let’s have some harmless fun before changing him back.”

He picked Peter up by the tail before Remus could protest and put him in the cavernous pocket of his robes, planning on taking him out at dinner to scare unsuspecting first years.

Peter sighed deeply, fidgeting around in the folds of black material. His sigh came out as a high-pitched squeak. Of course this would have to happen to me, he thought. He shifted around in the pocket trying to find a comfortable position, figuring it would be a while until Sirius got bored and handed him back over to Remus.

He felt a large hand pat the pocket of the robe. “Doing okay in there, Wormtail?” Sirius asked. “Just give a little shout if you need anything.”

He could hear James laughing.

Peter hated his friends sometimes.