Summary:
Slytherin is known for being the House of deceptions and secrets, but Gryffindors have plenty of secrets of their own and mastered deception before Godric Gryffindor ever left the halls of Hogwarts. Gryffindor is the House of the Creature races, and their resident celebrity - the famous Boy-Who-Lived - is not as human as everyone expects.
With an inside view on how the Wizarding World treats creatures like himself and his mates, Harry decides that neither the Light nor the Dark are sides of the war he wants to fight for. It is time for a completely new side to make themselves known. How will the war end when the creature races decide to strike out on their own?
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, all recognisable characters belong to J. K. Rowling. I make no profit from this fic.
A/N: I have this fic posted on Ao3 as TheCatsTales. Apparently there is already a TheCatsTales on FFN though, so here I am just CatsTales. I prefer Ao3 over FFN but there are more readers here, which is why after almost a year I've decided to cave and finally make an account here. If you want a reply to comment or to get new chapters as soon as they are posted it, find me on Ao3 as I am more active there.
Story Warnings: slash (non-explicit but if you don't like, don't read), threesome (possibly more-some), Creatures that are not just human+ (i.e. they will not be humans with wings/horns/who turn furry once a month and happen to want/need a mate - they are different races with different cultures, behaviours, dietary needs etc. - wendingoes eat people, demons aren't known for their great morals, goblins hate everyone, I think you get the picture), possibly more warnings that will be added to chapters as necessary. To those who are asking: no, I will not be adjusting the story description to include these warnings unless FFN decide to increase the character limit or develop a tagging system that enables me to do so. The purpose of the description is to attract readers and the limit makes a real summary difficult as it is, I'm afraid you will just have to give that back button a workout if you don't like the warnings listed here: sorry for wasting 5 seconds of your life.
Chapter Warnings: Brief, non-explicit non/dub-con - nobody says no but the use of a disguise means one partner is not aware of the true identity of the other.
The demon surveyed the room, taking in the scents and sounds.
Only once or twice a century was a demon from the Realm permitted to cross the divide into the Earthworld. He had no intentions of wasting the opportunity afforded to him, and it seemed that luck was on his side tonight. In only the second house he had visited, he had found exactly what he was looking for. The room contained a bed, and in that bed lay an animagus and, more importantly, a witch who was a carrier - a human magic user who was capable of carrying a creature's child.
From the scent of the room, it was clear that the couple were trying for a child but had yet to be successful. The witch was fertile, but it was well known that animagi found it difficult to conceive, and needed all the help they could get from fertility potions for both partners. A fact that made the demon feel a brief pang of guilt - the drive to find a mate and have children was something he understood well, along with the frustration that came with being unable to do so - but it was quickly buried under a wave of anticipation. The animagus had the rest of his life to try for a child of his own, but it could be another a century before another demon was permitted to enter the Earthworld, and could be millennia before he himself had another opportunity to do so. The conditions were too perfect to back out now just because it would set back the animagus' family plans.
Drifting forwards, the demon used a tendril of his magic and the essence of the animagus to form a body for himself. It took a few moments to adjust to having a body again, then it took a few more to adjust to the differences in this body compared to his own. How in the Realm did humans avoid falling on their face without a tail to balance them? Once he was sure that an attempt to walk would not result in an embarrassing face-plant, he made his way over to the mirror attached to the back of the bedroom door.
He smirked. He looked good - in a kind of soft, fleshy, why-is-there-no-tail, very human way. The body formation had worked like…well, magic.
The body was almost an exact clone of the animagus that lay sleeping in the bed. There were a few discrepancies, some features that had carried over from his true body that currently lay comatose back in the Realm. His eyes were slitted, and glowed slightly in the dark of the room, and his teeth were just a little too sharp to be human, but there was nothing that would raise suspicion in the low light.
The use of a quick illusion ensured that the witch would not notice that there were two versions of her mate in the room, and a sleeping spell would keep the animagus in a deep sleep until the demon left. Slipping over to the bed, the demon gently rolled the sleeping animagus to the very edge of the large bed so he would not get in the way.
Disguise in place and potential competitor taken care of, the demon set about doing what he had come here to do: ensuring the continuation of his line.
As he lay next to the witch he reached out with his magic, banishing any remaining traces of the animagus' essence, as his hands and mouth were occupied giving the witch a very pleasurable wake up call. Amid moans of pleasure and murmurs of "James", unnoticed pulses of magic prepared her body for the ordeal of carrying a demon child in a human body, tweaking the natural biology of the witch into something that would better suit the needs of the child she would be carrying. There was a final eruption of magic as they screamed out their climax, forcing the first few days worth of development to happen in seconds; to any medical scan, it appear as though the witch had conceived over a week ago.
Confident that the continuation of his line was assured, the demon spent several minutes lying next to the witch, who was lost in her after glow and rapidly falling asleep again, marvelling over the tiny pulses of magic he could already feel from the little bundle of cells. A little bundle of cells that would grow into his son or daughter. A son or daughter that he would never get to see.
With that sobering thought, the last of the sated haze that had surrounded him vanished. Most of his task was complete, but he still had a few finishing touched to add. First and foremost was doing as much as he could to protect the life he had just created. He would be an absent father, there was no way to avoid that, but that did not mean he would be an uncaring one.
Once again, he reached out with his magic, showing far more care and delicacy now than he had with anything since crossing the divide. Ever so gently, he cradled the minute presence with his magic, being extremely careful not to overpower the tiny pulses of magic coming from the tiny magic core that was already beginning to develop. Painstakingly slowly, he swaddled the tiny presence in protective magic, first placing layers of supportive magic to help the baby grow into its full potential in the womb, then wrapping it in general protective magic that would keep away illnesses and minor accidents while the baby was newborn and unable to protect itself, and finally placing a complex web of unique demonic magic to protect the child from malignant magic and life threatening physical harm.
Well over an hour later, he finally drew his magic back. The child was now as protected as he could possibly manage. He would just have to hope his efforts kept his child away from harm, and trust the child's mother and 'father' to keep them safe and raise them well. It was the closest a Realm demon could get to raising their Earthworld young.
Task complete, the demon reluctantly began removing any evidence of his presence in the room. Rolling the sleeping animagus back into his position in the centre of the bed, cuddled up to his mate, the demon dismantled the illusion and cut off the magic feeding the sleeping spell. It would take a couple of hours for the spell to completely dissipate but the animagus would wake up naturally in the morning, unaware that any magic had been cast on him. With a final sweep of the room to ensure no traces of his magic had been left, the demon allowed his constructed body to dissolve and submitted to the force pulling him back across the divide to the Realm and into his waiting body. His connection to the Earthworld now severed, he could only continue with his life and hope his future son or daughter grew up strong, healthy and happy.
Back in the bedroom, the animagus and now pregnant witch slept on, unaware of a prophecy being made several miles away and what fate had in store for them and their unborn child.