To her surprise—and Ron's—she managed to complete the initial stage of the Animagus process on her first try at the end of January.
"Sincerely, I thought you wouldn't be able to finish the potion," Ron said, tactlessly. She smacked him on the back of the head. "Hey! I'm just being honest!"
"It's not like thunderstorms are uncommon here in northern Scotland."
"No, I didn't mean because of the storm. I meant because you actually did the potion right."
Harika punched him again. She had improved a lot in Potions without Snape! She had to drink it as soon as possible, so with Ron as a witness, she swallowed the disgusting, blood-colored potion. She pulled out her wand and pointed it at her heart, just as she had been doing since she started the process.
"Amato Animo Animato Animagus."
She felt a sharp pain in her chest that quickly turned into an intense ache, just as she felt the double heartbeats within her again. They were so strong she thought she had two hearts. She let out a cry of pain that morphed into a high-pitched squawk. Slowly, she began to lose height. Her body shifted under Ron's watchful, surprised, and slightly fearful gaze. When the transformation was complete, she realized her form wasn't as small as she had imagined. Looking down, she saw—stunned and delighted—that her feathers were mostly white, with some dark gray and black ones. She noticed the magnificent black talons on her strong, sturdy orange legs.
"Uh… Harika? Are you in there?" Ron asked, startling her. "You're gonna love this. Wait here while I get your camera."
Ron ran inside the house. He took a few pictures without really knowing what he was doing, but she thanked him with another squawk. He conjured a mirror in front of her so she could see herself. She startled again at her own reflection. She was a massive bird, one she had never seen before. White was the dominant color, followed by dark gray and black. Her eyes, of course, were green, and her orange legs had sharp black talons larger than Ron's hand. Her curved beak made her think she might be some kind of eagle. The feathers on her head stood up slightly like a collar, except for a couple that stuck out vertically in a messy way, colored in a lighter gray. To be honest, her fierce appearance scared her a little.
"Merlin… You're huge! I've never seen a Muggle bird this big. What are you supposed to be? I wish Hermione were here," Ron said aloud. "Can you fly?"
Harika tried but was completely uncoordinated after the transformation. Walking was easy, so she practiced that first, then tried flapping her wings. It was a strange sensation since they didn't work like her human limbs. It took her a long time to get used to them—to Ron's great amusement. Her first flight attempt was pathetic. She barely lifted off the ground before crashing onto the picnic table bench. Ron was doubled over with laughter as he watched her struggle, but Harika was determined. She could fly without a broom! It was incredible!
"WOOOOOOOOO!" she shouted when she finally managed to soar over the lake without falling.
She looked at her reflection in the water with excitement and joy. Some birds scattered in fear at her sharp, crystalline cry. She felt like the queen of the sky. She spotted Ron from afar, on the other side of the lake, as if she had binoculars for eyes. It was amazing.
"I can't believe you got it right on the first try," Hermione said when she visited that weekend and Ron showed her the pictures. "I'm still waiting for a thunderstorm to happen."
"What do you think she is?" Ron asked. "Looks like some kind of eagle."
"I think she's a harpy eagle. Let me check."
Ron snorted with laughter at that, while Harika just rolled her eyes. Hermione returned with a Muggle animal encyclopedia. It only took her three minutes to confirm her guess. She showed them a small printed picture and let Harika read the eagle's characteristics. Harika was stunned to learn that its talons were the same size as a bear's, measuring 15 centimeters.
"You're not going to blend in very well," Hermione commented. "They're not common in Europe."
"I don't care. I can fly, Hermione! Fly!"
"I knew that's all you'd care about," her friend laughed. "You'll have to register with the Ministry."
"Ugh. Seriously?"
"Yes, unless you want to go to Azkaban."
"I don't know if I should. As soon as I register, everyone will know my form."
"You should talk to your lawyers to ensure the Ministry respects your privacy with a confidentiality agreement."
By March, her lawyers had managed to get her registered without causing a stir, using confidentiality contracts just as Hermione had suggested. She had already visited Paris, Madrid, and Lisbon, but since her final exams were approaching, she decided to slow down on traveling for a while. She also finally read those introductory books on the magical world that she had never bothered with before, feeling like an idiot for not asking Hermione for them earlier. Now, she understood a lot more than before. In her spare time, she started reading about Metamorphmagus abilities, though she wasn't sure if she had a trace of the gift or if her magic was just acting weird.
By April, Teddy turned one, and Hermione returned home for spring break.
"I finally did it!" she told them with a big smile. "I transformed!"
"Really?" Ron grinned. "What are you?"
"You won't believe it… I'm an otter."
"Like your Patronus?" Harika asked in surprise. "Can we see?"
Hermione transformed after a few seconds. As soon as Harika saw her, so small and adorable, she had to suppress a squeal before picking her up. She heard Hermione's high-pitched chirps as both she and Ron stroked her head.
"Isn't she adorable?"
"Way more than you, for sure," Ron commented.
"Hey!"
"What? It's true! Every time you transform and look at me, it feels like you want to eat me!"
"That's just my face, you idiot!"
Hermione returned to her human form, beaming. Soon after, the final stretch before exams began. Harika kept going to the gym to keep from losing her mind but visited Andromeda less and went on fewer photography excursions. She had upgraded her camera with all sorts of Muggle and magical gadgets. The only one who didn't seem stressed about exams was Ron, who was making great progress in his Auror training.
When exam time came, after locking herself at home to revise, practice potions, and perfect spells, she arrived at the Ministry along with far more people than expected. Most of them were Slytherins her age, whom she avoided. She had enough to worry about without having to look at Pansy Parkinson's stupid face. For a whole week, she took exam after exam until she thought her brain would melt from so much writing and thinking.
"But you're finally done!" Ron said on Friday when he greeted her with a huge smile. "We have to celebrate!"
"Maybe tomorrow. I'm exhausted."
They met up with Hermione and the rest in Hogsmeade. It wasn't the first time they had gathered in the village, but it was the first time they were all together. Harika looked at the castle in the distance, feeling much less sadness than she had a year ago. Maybe because it was fully restored now, or maybe because she had healed enough to not break down in tears.
"So, what are you all planning to do now?" Seamus asked, interrupting her thoughts.
"Professor Sprout offered me a Mastery program with her at Hogwarts," Neville said, blushing as his friends congratulated him.
"I'm going to join a Quidditch club."
She listened as everyone shared their future plans, having no idea what she wanted to do. To her surprise, Luna had a proposal for her.
"Mr. Scamander has accepted my request to teach me Magizoology," Luna began. "He has the resources for a new worldwide research expedition, but he needs a photographer to capture the new discoveries. I showed him some of your photos, and he really liked them. He wants to offer you the position if you're interested."
"Really?" she asked, astonished. "But how long would this… tour last?"
"At least a year. Maybe a year and a half."
Harika blinked. This had definitely caught her off guard. She didn't know what to say until Hermione smiled and said:
"Well, luckily, you already have a tent, don't you?"
"That's right!" Ron laughed. "And this one has nothing to do with the other one!"
Hearing her friends assume she would accept made her wonder why she wouldn't. It wasn't like she had anything better to do, considering she didn't want to work at the Ministry or as a professional Quidditch player. At least she'd be earning money while traveling the world—something she had wanted to do anyway—and she could figure out what to do with her life once Luna's apprenticeship was over. The more she thought about it, the more excited she was to accept the offer.
Of course, she ended up saying yes. Hermione was also accepted into the Ministry due to her impeccable qualifications. Harika also got very good grades, though nothing compared to her friend's. So, when July arrived, Hermione and Ron moved from her house to a Muggle apartment far from the capital, which they could comfortably afford with their combined salaries.
The expedition, set to begin in August, would depart from London. Harika had already met her companions: Newton Scamander and his wife, Tina, as well as their assistants, Alfred and Lenora. Their grandson, Rolf, who, like Luna, was also studying under Newt's tutelage, would be joining them as well.
"Let's begin this adventure, ladies and gentlemen!" Newt grinned as they toasted the night before their departure.
Harika and Luna had already said their goodbyes to all their friends. Harika had also locked up her house in Unapool, converted some gold into Muggle money, and packed all her belongings into her bottomless backpack. The last thing she wanted was to leave her fortune gathering dust in her house—or all the ancient and highly valuable magical books she had inherited from the Blacks and bought with her own money. Surely, she could use them in her free time to see if something caught her interest. After all, once this job was over, she'd need to figure out what to do next, right?
"It wouldn't be a bad idea to buy potion ingredients. You never know when you'll need a potion," Hermione advised, tossing ingredients into the shopping basket as if there were no tomorrow. "Especially you."
"Hey!" she protested, slightly indignant. Hermione ignored her.
"And, most importantly, considering you're going in search of dangerous magical creatures."
"I got it."
That's how she ended up buying a portable apothecary with runes and spells to preserve a variety of ingredients. Harika didn't think she would need them, but if Hermione, Andromeda, and Molly felt more at ease knowing she had them, who was she to argue? Obviously, besides already prepared potions and ingredients in case she ran out, she also carried an immense amount of clothing, books, and new magical supplies.
"Actually, your friend is absolutely right. That's exactly what we carry, you know?" Lenora said one of the first nights when she overheard her talking about it with Luna. "You never know what you might encounter in the wild."
"Very true. You should review books on magical barriers to protect your tent while you sleep."
Alfred handed her a rather worn copy of a book, which she ended up skimming through that week. After listening to the experts, she decided to take their advice and start studying a few things… for her own safety. Luna, who had her own tent, already had some experience thanks to her travels with her father, so she advised her to read a couple more books on survival and spells that any magical traveller needed, such as a translation spell or an enchantment to determine whether a Muggle plant was edible.
"You have no idea how many times I've used these spells with Dad. Even more than magical barriers."
Harika, who hadn't even considered that they might travel to places where English wasn't spoken, felt rather embarrassed for not having thought of it. Since their journey began in China, she decided to start practicing translation spells. There were several. The simplest one allowed her to hear the translation in her own language but didn't let her speak or read it. Another, more complex spell, would allow her to assimilate the language and learn it as long as people spoke to her in Chinese repeatedly. At first, she wouldn't understand anything, but within a few weeks, she would have learned the language at the cost of a daily headache. However, these spells didn't work for reading texts in another language.
"There's an old enchantment that allows you to learn the written language," Rolf whispered, winking at her. "It's illegal in the UK, but not in all countries."
"And where can I find this enchantment?"
"If I were you, I'd try this book."
Rolf handed both Luna and her a copy of a book on illegal enchantments. She quickly understood why it was illegal. First, if performed incorrectly, it could cause a stroke in the user. And second, if anyone could use the spell, language academies would cease to exist, so they had lobbied to ban it under the excuse that it was extremely dangerous. Was it dangerous? Yes. Was she going to try it? Also yes.
She bought an encyclopedia in Chinese and cast the spell. She quickly realized why so few people used it. Chinese, for starters, was not a language lacking in vocabulary. Adding to that the fact that it was completely different from English… The migraine she got that Saturday left her bedridden, unable to get up due to nausea and a pounding headache.
Luckily, no one seemed to notice her colossal mistake, and when she got up the next day, the third Sunday since they had started the expedition, she realized she could read the encyclopaedia and understand it perfectly. Another week of listening to Chinese while photographing the re'em, and she had finally learned the written and spoken language. She promised herself she wouldn't learn another complex language this way for a very long time.
Fortunately, they spent a few weeks in China, so she practiced her new language at markets while buying plenty of potion ingredients that didn't exist in Diagon Alley, as well as gifts for her friends, which she sent through a private owl service.
When they finished in China, they travelled through Russia. They spent an entire month crossing the vast country, so she used the illegal spell again to learn the language. She wouldn't wish the migraine she got on anyone, but she recovered much faster. What was one day in bed wishing for death in exchange for learning a language that would take years to master?
"You study Occlumency?" Tina asked when she stepped out of her tent and heard her telling Luna that she was feeling much better than the last time.
"Yes, why?"
"Because Occlumency makes it much easier to learn languages with this spell," she admitted. "My sister is a natural Legilimens, so for years, I learned Occlumency to have some semblance of privacy whenever I was near her. When I started doing these tours with Newt and used the spells, I realized that once the mind knows where to store knowledge thanks to Occlumency, it becomes easier to learn new languages."
Harika considered it silently. It made a lot of sense, to be honest. She cast a spell against the scorching sun while watching her friend and the others crouched behind some bushes, spying on a creature. It was the last day studying that animal, so she had already taken every possible photograph. Tina, beside her, wasn't as interested in Magizoology as her husband, so after a couple of days observing the creatures, she seemed a bit bored.
"Don't get me wrong, I love my husband dearly, but I have no interest in spending ten hours studying the defecations of one creature or another," Tina said with the brutal honesty of older people. Harika let out a small laugh. "And I don't think you do either."
"Not really. I'm not very interested, but I wanted to travel, and this job gives me plenty of free time to study and… to find something that truly interests me."
"Oh? You don't know what you want to do with your life? That's normal. Many young people are in the same situation."
"The thing is, it doesn't feel that way… I think I'm the only one among my friends who doesn't know what to do with their life."
Tina glanced at her contemplatively, seemingly pondering something, perhaps her next words.
"Maybe it's because your generation was shaped by war. When you realize how quickly everything can end, it's like you feel the urgency to decide what to do and how to live."
And in that precise moment, Harika understood why she found it so difficult to decide. Harika had already died. She knew better than anyone how easy it was to lose one's life. A large part of her was unconcerned about choosing a future career because she had already lost that sense of urgency Tina was talking about. Therapy and her recent experiences had made her realize that what she truly wanted was to be free, not tied down to a damn Ministry job like Hermione. Why did she have to choose a job when she returned to the UK? With the money she had, she could live without working for the rest of her life.
She started smiling as she felt a weight lift off her shoulders. She didn't have to do anything if she didn't want to. She didn't give a damn what others thought. She was going to spend the next few years studying whatever interested her and traveling the world with her trusty camera.
"Ah! I like that expression much better," Tina smiled. "Can I ask what changed?"
"I just realized something very important," she said, proceeding to explain her thoughts.
"Not a bad plan. If you have money, why not? You've already given a lot to your country. Still, I'd think of a way to keep earning income. You never know when things might take a turn."
"Like what?" Harika frowned, realizing she had a point.
"Hmm… What most people with wealth do is buy and rent properties. Literally living off the income. Or maybe invest in a business or buy shares."
"That's not a bad idea… I could generate income without having to physically manage anything."
"Exactly! And in the meantime, you could do whatever you wanted. Like studying Charms."
"What?" Harika blinked at Tina's mischievous smile. "Why do you say that?"
"Haven't you been doing that since we arrived in China? I saw Rolf give you that book. I know that besides the translation charm, you've been practicing others. And from what I've heard from Luna, you learned the Patronus Charm when you were just thirteen."
Clearly, nothing escaped Tina's notice.
"You think I could achieve a mastery in Charms?"
"Why not?" Tina shrugged. "How about this? While Newt teaches Rolf and Luna, I could teach you Charms and Defence Against the Dark Arts."
"Seriously?!" Harika asked in astonishment. "That would be incredible!"
And just like that, almost unintentionally, she started a double mastery with Tina and, to a lesser extent, Newt Scamander. The weeks flew by even faster. They traveled across Asia until they reached Africa, where Harika saw incredible things that broadened her perspective. She had never considered herself particularly intolerant, but she realized that traveling and seeing the world from another point of view was exactly what many people in her country needed.
Had she never left the UK, she wouldn't have seen creatures almost no one knew about, nor would she have learned five languages—albeit illegally—nor would she have improved her photography skills to the point where she was beginning to realize she was becoming a professional.
She also wouldn't have met Sofiane and Amari in Kenya when their travel groups coincided in search of one of Newt's mysterious creatures, nor would they have told her about the magical school in Uganda where most African witches and wizards studied.
"At Uagadou, we don't use wands in the upper-level courses," Sofiane said, to her astonishment. "Our ancestors practiced magic wandlessly. It was during colonialism that wands were introduced to Africa, though many remained sceptical of a tool created in the West."
"In the end, we decided to learn how to use a wand, but without losing the ability to perform magic without one."
"One of the biggest challenges at Uagadou is Animagus transformation," Newt said, nodding and jotting something down in his journal. "Here, many believe that a true wizard is one who can transform without a wand."
"That's due to the tradition in some tribes where one is only considered an adult when they can transform," Amari explained, his white smile standing out against his sharp features and high cheekbones. He was as tall as he was dark-skinned, and incredibly slender. "That's why most Transfiguration Masters have come from Africa."
"Transfiguration Master?"
"To become a Transfiguration Master, one must be an Animagus. There is nothing more difficult in Transfiguration than transforming oneself without a wand and returning to human form without losing one's mind to the animal. Of course, that's not the only thing a Transfiguration Master studies, but by that point, most spells and transformations should be a breeze."
"Huh. I never would have thought… So, could I ask to be examined by a Transfiguration Master to see if I qualify for a mastery?"
"You can transform?" Newt looked up from his journal with childlike curiosity.
"Yes, and my friend Hermione, and probably more students from my old Hogwarts class."
"Actually, no, Hari," Luna interrupted. "The only ones who managed it were Hermione, Padma, and you. I tried, but I knew it was pointless. I'm not ready to discover my animal form yet."
"Really? I didn't know that. Hermione never mentioned it."
The truth was that, once again, she had taken it for granted that since most of them had enrolled in that extra Transfiguration class, they had all managed to transform. She was quite surprised to realize that she had succeeded when the transformation rate was actually so incredibly low. Although… had she perhaps managed it because she believed it wasn't that difficult? If she had known that only one or two people succeeded each year, she was sure she would have sabotaged herself. Maybe that's why Hermione hadn't told her anything.
During the two and a half months she spent in Africa, Harika was put in touch with a Transfiguration master who evaluated her knowledge. She wasn't granted mastery right away, but she was assured that she would be ready before leaving the continent if she dedicated all her free time to studying and practicing Transfiguration. Seeing the great opportunity that had presented itself, Tina and Newt decided to help her by teaching her all kinds of tricks and testing her day after day.
On the second-to-last day before leaving South Africa, Harika stood before the panel of African judges. She demonstrated various transformations, conjured and vanished objects, passed the oral tests on theoretical knowledge, and finally transformed into her harpy eagle form. After nearly five hours of examination, the jury delivered their verdict.
"Congratulations, Transfiguration Mistress Harika Potter. You have achieved an understanding of Transfiguration that few in the West ever reach."
Harika couldn't believe it. She— a Transfiguration Mistress.