I encourage reviews of any type.

Harry Potter and the Breath of Life

"In this book you will learn of the habitats and characteristics of animals you were no doubt told didn't exist. Myth, legend, tall tales, but in each story is a nugget of Truth. We are already aware of thestrals, creatures that can't be seen until a death witnessed, what is to say that similar animals don't exist? That Nargles or Humdingers don't have secrets of their own that they wish to keep? We cannot see the wind but we can feel its presence and see what it affects. So why then are Memirs, worms that are attracted to fear and are responsible for the 'shiver down the spine' said to not exist? We feel it. Hair-knot forming Nargles...pheremone spurting Glucite bugs..don't pay any attention to these double standards. Wizards and witches, with the ability to disillusion themselves, have no excuse! It's one of the many unwritten laws of the magical world: Just because you can't see it, doesn't mean it's not there." - Excerpt from Creatures of Legend That Do Exist! by Celeste Marianne Lovegood

"Ah, anything I can help you with, Mr. Potter?" Harry turned and took in Tom the bartender's gap-toothed nervous smile silently. The moment he had stepped into the Leaky Cauldron, it was as if his senses had been kicked into overdrive...without actually doing so. He thought he could smell more, but wasn't sure. Colours appeared to be more vibrant but it was an unsure thing, kicking in when he spotted a rat going down an alley, but disappearing when he looked at a car. He felt like ants were pouring over his skin as he stood there in the dim pub and his muscles were tensing for no reason.

Thana, who was fully corporeal this time around and still in the guise of the deceased Constanze, stepped forward and nudged the boy discretely. "We'll be fine, thank you," she informed in a clipped tone of voice, sounding as if she was barely restraining the urge to turn her nose up. Tom's grin faded a bit but he nodded and went back to washing what looked like the same glass he had been scrubbing last year.

Harry knew that was his cue to start moving in the direction of the back exit but it was like he grew roots.

--Are you alright?--

He just couldn't take his eyes off the bartender, off his neck.

It wasn't a pretty neck, covered in gristle and some traces of grime. Leathery skin, a protruding Adam's apple and thick tendons but he could see a pulse. Without realizing it, he began to lean forward a little, as if preparing to reach out and grab-

He was whacked upside the head.

He gulped down a yelp and turned his head to glare at Thana who had an oblivious innocent look on her face. "What was that for?" he hissed and she just tilted her head to the side, making him growl.

"Restrain yourself," she said simply, before her voice turned cold. "Before I rip the ability out of you." Harry's eyes widened as the blood drained out of his face, stomping on the impulse to take several steps back.

"Okay," he murmured. Inside his head, a whisper leapt to reassure him.

--Taking life is addicting, she just doesn't want you to become a mad mass murderer-- An image flashed into his mind of a gaunt man with wild black hair and solid onyx eyes, holding an obsidian blade covered in blood, yelling in some foul language. Harry shook his head to dispel the picture.

I'm not going to go psycho. he thought firmly and there was a mental sigh.

--So you say--

Thana's left hand used the back of his neck to guide him out the back exit to the dead end muggle alleyway where she tapped a brick. Just like last year, the wall shifted open, inversely collapsing in a spiral to reveal Diagon Alley, the place he was going to get his second year school supplies from...as well as meet Mr. and Mrs. Malfoy. He took a breath and stepped through.

At any other time, Harry might have complained about being forced to buy Thana a banana split but this time, it was a very good stalling tactic. They had gotten practically everything on the list and even some extra stuff such as officially ordaining "Constanze Ergusson" as Harry's cosigner for the vaults and sending a request for transfer of guardianship through to the Ministy.

All that he needed now, were the books for DADA.

But he had seen the hell that tried to pass itself off as Flourish and Botts.

"Who came up with ice cream, anyway?" Thana mumbled around a small spoon. Harry raised his eyes from his own Brownie Sprinkle Delight (no Brownies were harmed in the making the sign read) but seeing her sucking on the silver eating utensil made him shift uncomfortably, feeling heat rise in his face.

"Um, some guy a couple hundred years ago?" he guessed, averting his gaze to the people wandering past Fortescue's. Damn, the line had grown even longer. Who the hell was this Lockhart guy anyway? So the dandy wrote a few books, he defeated Voldemort! Twice!

"Dead?"

"Yeah, probably," he said faintly, watching as the crowd continued to grow in dismay. At this rate it would take hours for him to be able to grab his books, maybe even a day, sheesh. Despite all of the people, there was no sign of the familiar platinum blond hair of his fellow Slytherin or even of people that might be related to him.

"Fuck," he heard her curse under her breath and then louder, "Probably too late to make him immortal for a job well done, huh?"

Harry turned his head and gave her an incredulous stare. "That's all a person has to do? Make something for your sweet tooth and they're immortal just like that?"

She had the grace to look sheepish but not apologetic. "But I like it..." she whined, spoon still sticking out of her mouth. "And I like you, not as much as ice cream, but enough so don't complain!"

"I rank lower than a frozen treat, " Harry deadpanned, right eyebrow beginning to twitch in annoyance as he continued to scan the crowd. "I feel so loved."

She took the spoon out of her mouth and jabbed it in his direction, as if it were a spear or some other pointy object. "You got the attention of an Incarnate, boy," she began seriously. "Wars have been fought over that, the most recent about 45 years ago." Harry's green eyes found her dull pale blue ones as his bracelet, hidden underneath long sleeves, warmed. A small smile flitted over his face.

"I won't take you for granted, Thana," the boy whispered and she gave an imperious nod before ruining the moment by shoveling more ice cream into her mouth. Harry rolled his eyes and turned back to surveillance when he caught sight of blond hair. He sat up ramrod straight, surprised before hopping out of his chair. "Thana, finish that quickly, I see Malfoy!"

She waved him off. "Yeah, yeah, go on ahead."

He didn't need to be told twice, making his way over to that flash of yellow but as he got closer there were more and more glimpses of red. Weasleys, he thought with some distaste. He was sure they weren't bad people but the twins and that boy Ron didn't make good first impressions on the train and just made worse ones during the school year when they bothered to acknowledge his existence.

Pushing in between some people, he came upon the scene of a fist fight. A blond, aristocratic looking man with a cane was trading blows with a heavier set, balding red headed man wearing glasses. Draco was nearby, his face devoid of its usual arrogant smirk as the red headed boys Fred, George and Ron cheered their father on. Without thinking about it, Harry cupped his hands in front of his mouth.

"Go Mr. Malfoy!"

Both Draco and the man he assumed to be his father, jerked in surprise which let the balding man get a good shot in with a ...port-a-potty? A woman ran up to help the blonde man off the ground, white-blonde hair and blue eyes, he almost thought it to be Pal for a moment but when he got a good look at her face, he relaxed. He wasn't sure what he would have done if it had been Pal, but it was likely something that began with Crucio. That woman grated on his nerves like no one else, just her attitude rubbed him the wrong way.

Her tendency to call him a 'thing' didn't help.

"Potter!" Draco was jogging up, an embarrassed flush on his face. Most likely from the fact that Harry had seen his father be knocked on his ass by a toilet seat. "I didn't see you arrive..."

"Was eating ice cream with my cousin," he said by way of explanation. "Too many people are in the bookstore." The dark scowl that crossed Draco's face made Harry smile.

--Lemme guess, Lockhart's a female heart throb but the scum of the earth to males--

Seems like it, now that I think about it, the men didn't look very happy.

"It won't be long till they get no more and no less than what they deserve, " Malfoy Senior was ranting as he approached with his wife, still wiping dirt off his tailored robes. "A disgrace is what they are..." he trailed off to appraise Harry, who unconsciously tightened his stance and squared his shoulders. After a moment, Harry became uncomfortably aware of the half mohawk he was sporting since he didn't bother to cut it over the summer. Not a pureblood haircut, was all he could think as the elder Malfoy's silvery blue eyes bored into him. Shit.

The man suddenly stuck out a hand. "Harry Potter, I presume?"

He shook it, making sure his grip was firm but not too pressuring. "Mr. Malfoy?"

After a short nod, the man waved a nonchalant hand at the woman beside him who was watching with these rather cold blue eyes. "My wife, Narcissa." She held out her hand and Harry grasped it, preparing to kiss it like he should, but as soon as their hands touched, a little lightning shock cracked in the air. Neither Draco nor his father gave any indication of having seen the light blue spark, but Narcissa dropped her hand as if he was some horrid monster.

--Oi, how rude!--

A little hurt and confused, he just pasted a polite smile on his face.

"We are looking forwards to your visit at Yule's, but I'm afraid we're short on time right now." As Draco gave him an apologetic glance, Harry simply nodded.

"I understand."

He watched them leave, wondering if his father James would be something like Malfoy senior, being a pureblood but then decided it was unlikely. The Malfoys wouldn't be caught dead marrying a muggleborn. Sighing a bit, he turned and nearly jumped out of his skin when he saw Thana right behind him, brilliant blue eyes tracking the departing blonds.

"Well, well, well..." she mused throatily. "That's interesting..."

"What was-...that spark?"

"She's quite a bit more fragile than you but in the end, I suppose that doesn't matter."

Harry scowled at the non-answer. "What are you talking about!"

Thana smirked, blue eyes flashing gold. "Narcissa...Malfoy? She's a Chosen."

Ginny was absolutely mortified, running along the street back towards the Leaky Cauldron, trying not to remember the accusing glares from her brothers. She had been surprised when Mr. Malfoy had patted her on the head, that's why she didn't pull away. That's all!

Busily trying to convince herself that there was nothing wrong with her, while at the same time unwilling to believe that there was something wrong with her brothers, she wasn't watching where she was going. She ran into someone, hard, hard enough to knock them both to the ground and Ginny's tattered books scattered all over the street.

"Oh! I'm so sorry..." the girl began to babble but was stopped by a hand.

The woman she had run into was a pretty and kind looking one, white-blond hair and stormy blue eyes with a smattering of freckles across the bridge of her nose. She was wearing rather elaborate white and sky blue robes that the girl was horrified to see pick up dirt as the woman began picking up nearby books.

"I wasn't watching where I was going either," the stranger admitted easily in a soft tone, smiling faintly. "So we are even." Her hand landed on a black and roughed up looking book and hovered there for a second.

"Um, that's not mine..." Ginny said quietly. It wasn't. She didn't recognize it.

The woman gave her a patient look. "Are you sure? It fell with the others..." Ginny took it from her anyway, intent on dumping it off somewhere or seeing if the clerk at Flourish and Botts was missing a book. Her fingers folded around it and she almost gasped as a flood of soothing warmth ran down her arms.

"Wha-what is...?"

"A special book," the woman said gently as Ginny's warm brown eyes, flashed silver. "Are your parent's not waiting for you?"

With a panicked squeal, Ginny curtsied awkwardly with her arms full, and took off running again.

Once she was sure the girl was not going to look back, the woman began to change. Her freckles disappeared, her face sharpened into more elegant features and her eyes lightened to a vibrant electric blue. "You poor thing," she whispered, nodding to a patch of empty space. "I'm so sorry."

Harry was so very glad to be home but as soon as he saw the sword sticking up from the lawn, his good mood took a dive. He stalked over, grinding his teeth, and gave it a good, swift kick.

Clang!

And began hopping around on one foot in pain while Thana laughed at him.

Surprise, surprise, Draco's mom is a Chosen...but of who? Review!