74 Chapter 74

With the exception of McGonagall handing over her class to some old biddy to teach and now sat in Dumbledore's gaudy throne-like chair as Headmistress, everything quickly returned to normal at Hogwarts.

The excitement from McGonagall's speech about Dumbledore's 'retirement' at the feast on the first night back had given way to the monotony of routine schoolwork.

Unfortunately for Chad, the Hogwarts house-elves had refused to switch their loyalty from the magical school.

They had ended up under McGonagall's control when the school acknowledged her as its new Headmistress, removing Dumbledore and giving her authority over them. Only three young elves joined House Peverell after deciding they wanted a change of career.

Although he had failed to advance one step closer to having total control over their race, Chad wasn't bothered by it. Canon showed how unimaginative they were without his training when they ran at wizards with knives while under fire from ranged spells.

Waiting a month for the mandrake leaf stuck to the top of his mouth to be over, Chad used the time to clear his schedule for the fun stuff. He couldn't go hunting a giant Basilisk while worrying about the preparations of the Animagus ritual.

Draco had been hunted down for a conversation when the blatant cold shoulder treatment started to become tiresome for Chad. Eleven-year-olds didn't do subtly very well.

"Hello, Draco," Chad said after cornering the blonde-headed ponce after dinner.

Although he had Crabbe and Goyle with him, Chad wasn't worried if a fight broke out. Schoolyard jinxes from children only killed when plot armour was in play.

"What is it, Potter? Can't you see I'm busy?"

Much like Ron Weasley, Draco's embarrassment was shifting into anger since his age and maturity had yet to teach him control. Hell, even adults perceived emotions like anxiety, shame, sadness, fear, frustration or guilt as threatening to our well-being and used anger to cope.

Chad could relate since his negative emotions also tended to end up as anger. It was not the most healthy coping mechanism, but he had long since learned to make his anger cold and calculated, not heated and emotional. He needed to if he wanted to make smart decisions.

When a priest explained away the death of his parents in his first life with 'God's mysterious plan', his sadness had quickly dissolved into rage. It was also when he stopped believing in God, though R.O.B had once again made him a believer. Just not in an altruistic and all-loving one.

"Listen Draco, I understand you are distancing yourself from me because of the conflict between our parents from years ago, but that is no reason for us to be enemies. You are not your father, and my parents are dead, why must we continue their feud? I just wanted to let you know I don't hold any ill will towards you and would like to see our working relationship resumed."

To say Draco was shocked at such a straightforward resolution to the situation was an understatement. Children's egos made it hard for them to apologise without parental intervention, but Chad was not a child.

He would rather keep Draco as an ally instead of having to put up with his absurd threats and antagonism like in canon. He had no problems being the one to instigate the mending of their relationship.

After the shock wore off, Draco was quick to filter the information he received through his childish interpretation and came to the conclusion that he liked Potter. He showed respect but was not boring, like Crabbe and Goyle.

"I don't know what you are talking about Potter, I was just trying to think of a new insult for the Weasel without your help. But now that you are here, I suppose you might as well give me some ideas." Draco replied as nonchalantly as he was able.

Chad saw the deflection for the olive branch it was and decided to play along.

"How about 'the only magic Ronald Weasley is capable of performing, is how he managed to find some friends'?" Chad suggested, happy to supply the Slytherin with insults for his Gryffindor nemesis.

After a second to think over the joke, Draco burst out into laughter. Crabbe and Goyle followed along even if they were too stupid to get it, they had long since learned to mimic the moods of their boss.

"Good one Harry, I will be sure to use it."

"No worries, just remember to keep my name out of it, I don't want the idiot annoying me."

Just like that, Draco once again directed his focus solely on the youngest son of the Weasley family, and Chad didn't need to worry about any lifelong hatred developing.

As much of a ponce as Draco was, he certainly was entertaining when he was not directing his venom at you. With that issue out of the way, Hogwarts fell back into a comfortable if boring routine.

Snape had been experiencing something of a reversal in his reputation as the most hated Professor at Hogwarts since Chad had edited his mind. He was still a strict teacher, but now actually taught the class instead of just writing the potion recipe on the blackboard.

With Slytherin following Snape's lead by relaxing their more aggressive stance towards the other houses, the school had never been more peaceful.

Quirrell was out of the picture, Dumbledore was unable to instigate animosity against Slytherin, and Snape was no longer moaning about Lily Potter.

Chad had found out that the main reason Snape was such a waste of space, was because he had become an emo after his first friend threw him away in favour of his tormentor.

Chad was unsure if his mother was merely a temperamental b*tch, or if his dad had used other magical means to gain her affection. Either way, they were both dead, and Chad wasn't going to be putting up with Snape being a detestable emo about it for the rest of his life.

The change in mood had done wonders for Snape, and he had even gained a bit of a fan base when he started to actively help people pass his potions class instead of enjoying himself by tormenting them.

With no other distractions or annoyances, Chad was able to concentrate on his Animagus project. At first, he had thought becoming an Animagus was more hassle than it was worth, which was why not many people bothered with it.

Not only was it time-consuming, it had real dangers that were not just limited to the risks of the first transformation, but also in the chance to adopt your animal's personality traits. Due to the complexity of the magic involved, the time it took, and its limited use, the trade-off was not worth the benefits to most people.

But Chad's Patronus was a Hungarian Horntail and who didn't want to become a shape-shifting dragon? He was also hoping his transformation would give him some insight into transfiguring his minions without them exploding.

If Viktor Krum could turn half his body into a shark, why couldn't Chad increase muscle mass? Was it because he did it on himself? But then why could people turn others into animals? Chad was sure he was missing something and hoped his soon to be new ability provided the missing link.

The first week of February saw the climate warm across Europe and a rise in thunderstorms. Thanks to Crystal's weather updates from news programs on television, Chad had been able to intercept the second thunderstorm she reported to him.

The first had been during the day, and it was not worth recalling Boppy or the chance of him being discovered using illusions to take Chad's place. Not when there was another storm expected to hit Germany the next night, and it would still be a full moon.

Snape had already been prepared to make the potion for him, and once it was ready to consume, elf travel had whisked him to a large open area where he could complete the process of becoming an animal at will.

As Chad stood in the rain while thunder boomed and the first lightning lit the sky overhead, he shouted out the incantation he had recited at every sunrise and sundown since he placed the mandrake leaf in his mouth.

"Amato Animo Animato Animagus!"

He then drank down the vile blood-red potion, anything with a Death's-head Hawk Moth chrysalis was never going to taste nice.

Almost immediately, fiery pain and an intense feeling of a double heartbeat assaulted his senses. The shape of the creature he would soon transform into appeared directly into his mind, even as he willed it to be a dragon.

Unfortunately, his dreams of becoming a fearsome Hungarian Horntail were destroyed since they did not have blue feathers. Nor were they 50cm long if the tail feathers were included. Chads new animal form was a blue coloured bird that he didn't recognise.

Since fighting the transformation would only see him become a permanent amalgamation of a human and bird, Chad could only concentrate on what his mind was directing him to become.

With his Occlumency shielding his mind from adopting any peculiar bird-like qualities, he morphed into his new form that was capable of flight. Once complete, he marvelled at the ability to still have full control over his mind, yet have the body of a bird.

How did the size and computing power of a human's brain compare to that of a bird? There was a reason why calling someone 'bird brain' was considered an insult, yet Chad retained the full function of his usual intelligence!

While the thunderstorm raged overhead, Chad was not game to test out his new instinctual ability to fly. No, once he morphed back into his fully clothed human form, Chad's only thought was to find out exactly what type of bird he was. More details would help make the transformation smoother.

Arriving via elf to a closed London library due to it being nighttime, Chad started searching for any books that covered exotic birds. Man, did he miss the internet!

After an hour of searching, he found a match in a bird native to the island of Madagascar. The Blue Coua (Coua caerulea) was a species of bird in the cuckoo (Cuculidae) family.

'The f*ck? did I just become part of a family that likes to cuck people?' Chad thought in disbelief.

Was this because he took over Harry Potter's Body?

Or did it have to do with swapping places with Dudley?

'Oh wait, it says here that the Blue Coua is not a parasitic cuckoo. It builds its own nest and rears its young itself. Still, how am I supposed to explain this to Sirius?' He lamented, this was something his prankster godfather would forever hold over him.

He still couldn't believe the animal that best suit him was a cuckoo bird! Where was his awesome dragon form? At the very least he should have been some kind of apex predator!

Though it could have been worse, he could have been a parasitic cuckoo bird instead of just a distant relative. He would take the knowledge of his Animagus form to his grave if that was the case!

If Chad ever had children, he would be raising them himself. No way was he going to let others fill their heads with stupid ideas like Black Lives Matter or become a Social Justice Warrior!

"Well, at least I can fly, I guess," Chad said aloud, trying to cheer himself up from this damaging blow to his ego.

To make matters worse, his shape-changing ability revealed nothing new about his transfiguration difficulties. The process was almost instinctual once he concentrated on the animal form his mind decided suited him best.

Even by focusing all of his Occlumency enhanced willpower, he could not change what animal he became either during or after he had taken the potion to become an Animagus.

He would forever be a cuckoo bird...