A Stormy New Years

Oz looked at his own personal marauders map for a long while, incredibly happy with the results. With the snake tracked on it now, he felt his anxiousness lift quite a bit, All he needed to do now was prepare for when he shows up back in the fireplace study and confront him.

'He's been way too suspicious... I cant leave him alive even if he's the founder of my house. If I remember correctly Dumbledore has knowledge on how to manipulate portraits... Spells to shut them up and shut them in. If I get those spells off of Dumbledore I can lock Salazar in place and then destroy him'.

It was known that in Dumbledore's office, the man has many different portraits, especially of the headmasters before him. If anyone was going to have experience with dealing with portraits it would be him.

'After I get rid of Salazar... All thats left is to wait for Quirrell to lose his patience and go for the stone. I can then take Harry with me and go down there, both in order to destroy Quirrell and get the stone for myself...'.

Organising his mind, Oz came back up from the fireplace study and went to bed. This Christmas was certainly fruitful for him in many ways.

.

A week rolled by in which Oz decided to relax. This week was a week he always found weird, even in his past life. The lead up to the new year. To him it felt almost something like a grace period where he naturally found himself more relaxed.

As Oz was relaxing though, Dumbledore sent him an urgent notice a day before new years eve. Oz opened the messaged addressed to him and it said:

'Tomorrows' weather seems to be stormy just before the new year... Ive gotten snape to concoct an Animagus potion. Meet me out at the quidditch stadium at 11:30pm and we will begin your Animagus transformation'.

As Oz read the message, two things crossed his mind. The first thought was:

'What is this guy the weatherman now?'.

The second thought was:

'So Snape has concocted the potion apparently... He is a potions master for a reason and in the 6th year in the canon it was proven that he was something of a genius when it came to potions as a whole...'.

Oz still felt incredibly guarded around Dumbledore and his people, So much so that in the past months since Dumbledore offered to procure him the Animagus potion he had taught himself a diagnostic spell that can scan a potion for all the substances within. Oz's personal potion making was improving leaps and bounds, however he was just out of reach of being able to create his own Animagus potion. That didn't mean that he didn't know the recipe though, so using the diagnostic spell he'd be able to tell what ingredients were used and if anything foreign was added he'd know instantly.

'Always better to be safe than sorry...'.

After reading the message, Oz began to write a reply to send to the old man which was simply giving him the 'ok' signal on the time and place.

Looking out into the calm night, Oz was feeling an excitement fill his gut at the prospect of becoming an Animagus. Knowing that tomorrow would be a big day for him, he decided to go to bed early so he was fully rested and prepared for the day and night to come.

.

[New Years Eve: 11:00pm]

Oz was getting prepared in his room, ready to go out to the quidditch grounds to meet Dumbledore. He sneaked a peak at his personal marauders map to see that presently Dumbledore was still in his office.

'That guy probably plans to flashily appear in front of me with apparition or something exactly at the time designated...'.

Oz then checked where both Quirrell and Salazar were. His eyes widened as he saw that they were in the same room.

'Finally they meet up for me to see. So there must have been some talk and connection between the snake and his heir this year that led to all those events on Halloween... It is a bit concerning they are meeting up on New Years Eve though...'.

Noting all this, Oz put the map away. Something else to mention, In the past week between Christmas and new years he had already sent the original marauders back to the Weasley twins. Now Oz had his own better map, there was no need for him to keep the old original anymore.

Looking at the time, Oz saw that it was now 11:10pm.

'Time to make a move...'.

.

<Dumbledore POV>

Tonight was the night I would help the boy become an Animagus... Honestly I didn't know what to expect.

His Patronus was a dragon after all so there's a high chance his Animagus will be a dragon also, the questions were then how powerful will this dragon be? What dragon will he be?

After I initially reeled him in to be my own disciple I saw there was a bit of defiance in his eyes as he compromised and agreed. Even as I've taught him over the past couple months, he still holds defiance in his eyes for me. Such a scenario is truly suffocating at times but if I expected this to all take only two months then I would truly be a fool.

Turning around I looked at the clock on the wall to note the time.

[11:20pm].

Looking down towards the footpath to the quidditch stadium, I could see the boy walking towards the area I specified. he was actually creating a cloak with magic so no rain would hit him out in the turbulent weather.

Seeing this display of wandless magic I had to sigh. This boy is indeed a prodigy. The past two months showed me that painfully. He's soaked up everything I've taught him so far as if magic was natural to him, as if it was just another limb on his body. Wandless magic, especially for those his age should be next to impossible to cast up to a certain level but he was able to with no problems.

I could only marvel at the boys prowess. His talent and intelligence at his age is definitely leagues above what mine was when I was that young... He's probably even a tier above riddle in that regard as well.

Again I looked at the time to see it was now [11:29pm].

Seeing this time I looked out to the quidditch stadium to see that the boy had arrived inside and on the grounds.

"I guess its times to begin...".

At this sight I apparated.