Okay, to answer a review I recieved -- no! Harry does not have a sister! I'm a little bit more original than that people. Not much, but a little bit. Maybe I'll use that idea further down the road, but for now, no sister. Good try, though :)
As for the length of time between updates -- sorry! Hopefully this isn't too short for y'all, and it has been beta'ed, so that's always a good thing. I found myself a beta willing to work on all of my stories, not just one in particular, so hapiness abounds.
And now, I must be honest with you. I've forgotten some of the parts of this plot. I shall go through my e-mails and look to find the basic plot that was sent to the group I'm a member of, but right now I only remember the bare basics. I just want to warn y'all of this -- I know it has to do with voldie being dead, and two different species' of magical creatures, but that's where my mind is drawing a blank. I will most likely be able to get one more chapter out, before those missing bits of plot have to be re-discovered. Can't get very far without the basic plot being understood, now can we?
The next chapter has already been started, so another update should be comming soon. I seem to have discovered an obsession with star wars lately, however, so that's taking up a bit of my time -- as well as all these wonderful fics that I keep finding.
But I'm ranting. Enjoy the fic, and, as always, remember to review! Feed the author! Lest she die of starvation :) Toodles!
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He awoke to heat. It was everywhere, seeming to surround him even as he took in his surroundings. He lay in a small room -- at least compared to what he had grown used to in his years at Hogwarts. It was larger than his room at his relative's house, but far smaller than even the smallest dorm in the Castle that he thought of as his only true home. For all it's small size, however, it was elegantly furnished still, heavy silken draperies shielding his view of the entire room, and white lace curtains allowing the sun to stream in to the room. The sheets above him were of the finest quality -- far better than anything he had found in Hogwarts, caressing his skin and feeling slightly cool to the touch.
That was nice. Anything cool was nice, at this point. He was broken out of his musings by the sound of the door opening, however, and Harry straightened himself into a sitting position, eyes guarded as he watched the man enter slowly in to the room, a tray balanced on one hand as he used the other one to close the door behind himself, blocking out a view of the hallway beyond. Harry never once took his eyes off the stranger now advancing on him, not in the least bit fooled by the smile the mysterious man wore on his full lips. The greatest evil generally wore the most beautiful facade. Kind of like Draco Malfoy.
The man's smile faltered only a little as he sat down on the edge of the bed, still on the recieving end of such a heavy glare. He set the tray of steaming food to his right, before leaning back, with both his hands splayed out behind him to support his weight. He returned Harry's intense stare with one of his own. They could have stayed like that indefinately, neither one willing to move first, if Harry's stomach hadn't growled loudly in protest of being ignored, especially with food so close by, lying untouched. The man grinned at the noise, before waving his right hand at the food. "Help yourself. It certaintly isn't going to eat itself."
Harry simply continued to glare, steadfastly ignoring his (quite insistent) stomach. He'd gone for longer period of time without food before, and he could certaintly do it again. The mysterious man simply sighed, closing his eyes for a moment before opening them and standing to his feet, pacing over to one of the windows that lined one side of the room. What would you say if I told you that you're entire life had been a lie, Harry?"
"I'd say you were delusional." Came the quick retort, and a smile crossed the man's lips. Turning back to face his young charge, he gestured at the tray of steaming food. "Please, eat. If I were going to kill you, I would have done it while you slept." Instead of putting the young man at ease, as he had planned, however, his words only seemed to aggravate him even more, and put him even more on edge. "There are more ways to harm a person that simply casting the killing curse. How do I know you didn't slip something into the food?"
Sighing in exasperation, the older man strode across the room, picking up a fork and sampling each of the different trays for himself, unable to stop the smile that blossomed on his face at such luxuriant foods. This wasn't the usual fare that he always got to eat, and he had to forcibly stop himself from eating the rest of it, before the boy even had a chance to change his mind.
Setting the fork back down on the plate, he stepped back away from the bed, meeting the boy's wary gaze. "As you can see, there is nothing wrong with the food. Now will you please eat?" Harry grudgingly sat up straighter in the bed, reaching for the fork as he began to greedily shove food in to his mouth, eyes never straying from his companion. The man merely smiled, however, before turning on his heel and sweeping from the room.
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He hated this. Hated the fact that Harry didn't trust him, hated the fact that so many lies had been told to the boy. It didn't matter why those lies had been told, or how much protection they had afforded the boy. What mattered was that those lies had been told, and now they were paying the price for it.
Perhaps it would have been better if they had simply refused to work with Dumbledore, refused to acknowledge the prophesy, left the wizarding world to its wars and squabbles, of which it seemed to have an abundance. The wars of mortal men should not concern them so ...
But in the end, it had been left up to his parents to decide, and they had chosen to give their son up to his destiny, to give him up to Dumbledore. Had they done the right thing? He still wasn't sure. Harien turned away from the scrying glass, sighing heavily before turning to his silent companion, a sad smile on his lips. "Well, at least we got him to eat." He murmured, hoping to gain a smile from his ompanion. He was not successful. James Potter smiply sent him a glare, before turning his attention back to the scrying glass, reaching out a hand to trace the outline of his son's face on the crystal surface.
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Harry rose unsteadily to his feet, stumbling a little as he attempted to find his footing. Grasping hold of a bed post, he attempted to take a shaky step, only to end up falling heavily to the floor, letting out a small groan. This wasn't good. Pushing himself up to his knees, he stayed there for a moment, staring at the closed door with a scowl firmly planted on his face. How the hell was he supposed to escape here, if he couldn't even stand on his own two feet for more than two seconds?
The more important question, however, was why couldn't he stand on his own two feet? Had there been something in the food after all? Perhaps that was why the other man had left so quickly after he'd started eating -- to hide the weakness that would overtake his limbs. Several rooms away, Harien winced softly as he watched the teen once again struggle to his feet, hands clecnhing in to fists to stop himself from rising to help the boy. The kid wouldn't welcome his help, anyway.
In his mind's eye, he could still see the way Harry had glared at him, eyes narrowed into little slits, his green eyes almost seeming to glow. It had been ... quite unnerving. Watching as Harry once again attempted to rise to his feet, Harien winced slightly, slanting a glance at his silent partner. James was quiet, worrying his bottom lip with his teeth, the only outward sign of his distress for his struggling son. Otherwise, his face remained stony, brown eyes trained on the scrying glass.
It was going to be a long night.
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SCRYING GLASS -- A tool that allows one to view images of other places, as long as that place is not warded against such tools. Unlike Occulmency, it does not enter into a person's mind, but simply shows an area, such as a room, or a woodland clearing. The more familiar you are with the area, the easier it is to scry that particular area. While usually they are shaped like a round globe, they can technically be any shape and size.
A/N Many terms used here, such as SCRYING GLASS, are taken from the game Advanced Dungeons & Dragons (AD&D), thus proving that I am a geek. Deal with it :)