/A.N./ I have always wanted to do a story about harpies but not those creatures that were in the Greek stories so I tweaked them a little.

Quote: War is a cowardly escape from the problems of peace.

Thomas Mann


Next Step

Chapter One: New Friends, New Leads

By Salaphina


"He killed…"

"My clan, yes, he did. Because we wouldn't join him."

Understanding looks went all around. They knew Voldemort wasn't kind to those who defied him. Even if they weren't under his control to begin with.

Harry picked up from here. "You see, the harpies have amazing powers. There very strong too. Almost nothing can defend against them. In fact, Amai only knew of two. Unicorn blood and pixie wings. When put in the right potions this can disable them but even that can't kill them."

"It surprised us all when the Soulless One killed my father. Somehow he used my father's power against him. You see, power differs with the person in our clan but my family has had a pretty steady flow of dark users."

"Dark users?" Hermione was fascinated by the story. There had been very little reading in the Hogwarts library about creatures like the one sitting across from her.

"Yes. Most in my clan have power over an element, not always, but most. Light, fire, earth and stone are the most common. Water, ice, wind, darkness are the least common. In fact I think that my family is the only one to put out a steady flow of dark users. Then of course there are the random ones that are irregular but sometimes pop up a lot in families with no certain element. Like electricity, sound, physics like telekinesis and mind-readers, scryers, impaths, healers and things."

"What do you have," asked the twins. This new comer had them enthralled. Everything about her fascinated them. She was beautiful, exotic, and powerful and chances were that they could get a hold of a couple of her feathers, they could be used for experiments.

"Well," she hesitated. "I have a couple of things actually." She was shrinking away again but oddly this time it was toward Tonks. "It's one of the reasons I survived. Many of my clan didn't, but most of those who did are like me. Multitalented I guess you would call us. And usually are powers are very different from that of our family. That's way I am a tracker. Because our powers are different they are usually stronger too. So we get picked for the high level positions. See, I know a girl; she is a really good friend of mine and is also one of the survivors. Her family is famous for their strong light users. But she is an even stronger telekinetic and healer. My brother, the only one in my family to survive besides me, he's my twin and he has completely opposite powers I do but he's are just as strong. That's why I am here and why it is my duty to avenge my clan."

They all sat silently, taking that in.

Then Charlie asked, "Why do you call them your clan? Aren't they your family?"

She blushed, surprising all of them. "Well, we are encouraged to mate within the clan. So calling them my family seems kind of incestuous."

That certainly wasn't what they had expected to hear. And it caused Mr. Weasley to chock on his tea.

Harry sighed. He knew that Ginny would not be happy he had showed up with a girl in tow but that he could deal with but if everyone started think Amai's family inbred, weird thoughts might pop up. So he cut it off at the pass.

"Well, anyway I brought her here because we can be mutually beneficial to each other." This caught everyone's attention.

"How?' Lupin asked. "I'll admit it would be nice to have others on our team besides wizards particularly beings so powerful. But how can her being her move things along?"

Harry leaned closer and asked, "Did you not hear her? She can track magic. Locations included. That means if we give her something to go off of she can track down the rest of Voldemort's Horcruxes or help at least." This caused mutterings of interest all around.

Fred turned to her and asked, "Can you really do that?"

She nodded. "It is one of my powers. They call it runa discru. It's a type of scrying, but I don't have to use mirrors or water to do it, and I can be on the move at the same time. It allows me to sense magic in any form. That's why I was in Godric's Hollow. There is a very concentrated magic residue there. More so than any other I have seen so far. It is right on top of where Harry's parent's house was at the time they were killed. The power of the spell The Soulless One cast and the protection Mrs. Potter left on her son is very powerful. It must have been to have lasted so long. Even thought muggles have built over the site."

Hermione came over and sat next to Amai, getting in close and trying, discreetly to look at her wings which had been folded in to groves along the spine of her back.

Amai noticed and craned her neck to look behind her. "Is something wrong?"

Hermione blushed and looked away. "No nothing. I was just uh…well, I was just…"

Tonks chuckled and said, "I think she would like to see your wings. You can expect things like that form her. She's noisy." Tonks winked.

"I am not! I am just curious."

"Well," Amai hesitated then turned to face Tonks so that her back was toward Hermione and spread her wings a little. "If you want to look, go ahead. Just don't pull on the feathers please."

The twins, who had been rising from their seats, sat back down with groans of disappointment. And Mrs. Weasley, who was now sure that the girl was not going to steal Harry from her daughter, smacked them on the back of their heads as she walked forward.

"I am sorry dear, for my outburst earlier." She looked sheepish and sorry for the way she had acted. "You two have probable had a long trip, can I get you something to eat? You always look son thin Harry, dear."

Harry smirked and said, "You should worry about Amai, not me, she is the one that hasn't eaten in two weeks."

Amai looked sharply at him and glared.

Mrs. Weasley ignored this and started fussing over the girl. "What do you mean two weeks?! How can someone go so long without eating? No wonder your skinny! I'll go make you something right now!" And she rushed out.

Amai however made a swipe at Harry. She missed but barely. It was obvious he had had some practice at it. She growled, actually growled. The happy look in the twins' eyes darkened. Yes, her feathers will do quite nicely in that new potion we're developing.

Sirius spoke up, he was interested in the girl his godson had brought home. She was beautiful, powerful, and if she could help, she might just ensure that Harry made it through the war.

So he laughed and said, "You look like you have a lot of practice at that Harry. Got a wild one on your hands, huh?" He laughed again as everyone snickered at Amai's resulting blush. Then he turned to Amai and said, "I don't see why you're so mad, it isn't healthy to go that long with out eating. I'm surprised you can still stand."

Lupin then said, with a curious expression, "I believe I read somewhere," at which Sirius ask in a sarcastic voice "Really?" that made Lupin look sharply at him and the twins smother another snicker. "That harpies, or bird related magical creature of any sort really, had very particular eating habits."

Amai looked at him in surprise. The girl with the bushy hair had not known anything about her kind and Harry had said that she would be able to tell Amai her whole family history. He did not say that the werewolf mate of the nice woman Tonks was smart as well. But she replied, "Yes we don't eat but two or three times a month. And when we do we eat meat or fruit."

This had both the bushy haired girl and the wolf leaning in closer. "Is that so? What kind of fruits do harpies eat? And do you eat your meat cooked?"

She couldn't help but think, are they related?

But she didn't get a chance to answer when Mrs. Weasley came back in wearing a confused and somewhat horrified expression on her face. Before anyone could ask her what the matter was she said, "Snape just …apparation…blood all over the kitchen…unconscious…oh dear." Then promptly passed out.


Feed back would be much appritiated. :)