To be honest, it wasn't much different in the non-magical world. People there lived their normal, everyday lives, focussing on family and friends, jobs and the government and their sport of choice. It was exactly the life that Vernon and Petunia Dursley had always emphasised.
But to Harry, it sounded almost like a prison sentence. Where was the excitement? The challenges? The adventure?
And when he compared it to his own life he shuddered.
He'd left this world behind. He'd travelled the world, seen wonders, met people, eaten food that no one here could even imagine. And when he'd finally 'settled', it was only to almost instantly fall into a life of adventure with the Avengers. Tony, Peter, Matt, even Doreen and Gwen kept life exciting, unpredictable, and he wouldn't have it any other way.
"Harry!" a high-pitched squeal interrupted his musing.
Before he'd even had a chance to look around, his face was full of long, red hair and his lap was filled with a lithe, female body.
"Hi, Ginny," he smiled once he'd recovered the breath that she'd knocked out of him.
"It's so good to see you again," she said, wiggling around until she was sitting sidewards on his lap, one arm draped around his shoulders.
"You, too," he said, shooting a look at Hermione, a look she promptly ignored.
"You should have told me you were coming, I'd have gotten you season tickets with the Harpy's," she continued. "As it is, I can use my connections to get you in the top box at our next home match."
His mouth snapped closed as she continued talking, not allowing him a chance to respond.
"And you've simply got to come home to the Burrow. Mum is dying to see you again. She's promised to cook all of your favourites; we'll make it a family reunion. Where are you staying? I hope it's not here – no offence, Hannah. Doesn't matter, you can come stay at my place, with me. We've got so much to catch up on, now that you've got your wandering out of your system. And I can introduce you to all the important people, of course."
Harry looked around the table at the faces sitting there grinning madly at him as she continued babbling on. Dean seemed to be almost laughing, a fact that Harry wasn't amused with, especially considering that Ginny had apparently only broken up with him – again – a month or so back.
"Ginny. Ginny. Ginny!" he said, getting progressively louder. Finally, he'd caught her attention enough to interrupt her latest sentence. "Thanks for the offer, but I've got a place, remember? Grimmauld? And as for your Mum and Dad, of course I'll make sure to go over and visit while I'm here, but this is just a visit. I'm heading back to New York when I'm done here."
Hearing that caused every conversation to stop and heads to swivel to look firstly at him and then at each other.
The party seemed to stutter then and it wasn't long before the first ones began leaving – after all, most had children to get home to. When it seemed polite, Harry, too, made his farewells and gave his thanks to Hannah and Neville before he, too, left, seeking something to assure himself that he wasn't going to be stuck in this world where the greatest excitement was assured if your quidditch team had won their latest match.
ooo00ooo
"If you could resume your Animagus form?" Minerva asked.
Harry sighed but stood from his seat and moved to the open area of the Headmistress' office.
This, he thought, would have been so much cooler if I'd been something, anything else. Even a pigeon, at least then it'd be something I could write off as having strategic value – able to blend in and gather intel. But this?
On second thought, there was only one bird form that Harry thought would have been worse to have – a merlin. He could just imagine it now. The entire wizarding world going absolutely nuts over the idea of him being the second coming of the greatest wizard in history. If he thought his fame was bad now, it'd be nothing compared to that.
"Mister Potter?" Minerva interrupted his thoughts.
Harry, hearing the impatience in her voice, quickly closed his eyes and concentrated.
Instantly, his body began transforming.
Slate-grey and black feathers grew on his head, out of his back and from his arms as they morphed into wings. His chest feathers rippled as they emerged – chestnut brown bands on white with some orange highlights. His feet quickly changed into the talons that he'd grown used to in this form. The only anomaly in his form marking him as an Animagus instead of a true bird of this species was the fact that instead of bright yellow eyes, they were banded by emerald green.
"Well done, Harry," Minerva smiled, "a truly remarkable feat. And I must say that this form suits you perfectly. A sparrowhawk."
Harry cocked his head up at her and glared as best that a bird could.
"Really, Mister Potter, is that necessary? I'm not the one that you're perturbed with, if I understand you correctly," she admonished. "And this form suits you perfectly. Small, fast and incredibly good flyers, capable of outflying most other birds."
"Yes," Harry replied after transforming back. "but Tony's going to pay out on me so much, especially since he's been calling me 'Sparrowhawk' for ages."
"Obviously this 'Tony' has exceptional intuition," Minerva countered.
"No, he just likes being a jerk," Harry muttered.
Minerva's glare told him that the only reason she was refraining from commenting was because she didn't know the man.
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