Previously on Harry Potter and the Pack of Shadows…

On his 16th birthday, Harry receives a time delayed letter from his father, telling him about an inheritance that no one could have ever expected. On his 16th birthday, Harry received a demonic heritage from a Blood Adoption that had saved him from death as babe and on that fateful Halloween night.

Harry had succeed in protecting his people from a purist extremist invasion, and in the aftermath of that battle, he found a father-figure that had been denied to him by the schemes of madmen. Now back in the human World, he has set in motion not only his desire to court his Dark Wizard, but also he had begun to pave the way to free the Wizarding World from the clutches of two madmen, who desire to either destroy him or control him.

Will he succeed in freeing the Wizarding World or will he fail at the hands of another enemy that he did not foresee?

Chapter 49: A Future Decided

Harry leaned back in his seat. It was his first day back from his suspension, and he was currently waiting for Professor Binns to make his ghostly appearance and to begin his lectures.

It had been a trying couple of days since he came back from Ma-Terrarum until he was able to resume his classes. After the situation in the Great Hall, McGonagall had called the teen into her office nearly every other day in order to interrogate him on where he had been during the five days that had passed in the human realm. The young demon Lord felt no need to explain himself to the old crone that he had actually been gone for a little over three months… that was neither here nor there… And of course, Harry knew that the ancient hag's interrogation really was on behest of Dumbledor, which the Mageling had thought was odd. The raven-haired teen knew that the old man preferred to perform his own interrogation, using his own methods.

The young wizard just shook his head, freeing himself of his thoughts on the decrepit Headmaster and turn his thoughts onto his education and future.

While in the demon realm, recovering from his injuries, the young Gryffindor and his General had spoken often on what the younger demon had wanted to do with his life. Sather had commented that just because the half-demon was a Lord, it did not mean that the young Mageling should just settle with it. The pair had stayed up well into the evening nearly every night as they talked about what the Shadow Hound wanted for himself.

Harry had quietly confessed to the older demon one night that before learning that he was a wizard, Harry had only thought of surviving until he could legally leave the Dursley and that he had thought about being either a gardener or a cook since those were the only chores he had truly enjoyed doing. But then he came into the Wizarding World… and his future had already been dictated for him…

According to the Wizarding World, he would graduate from Hogwarts, join the Auror Program and become an Auror like his father, defeat ol' Tommy boy, marry a lovely witch, who was probably a redhead just like his mother, and then have the proverbial two point three children…

For a time, Harry had also confessed that he would have accepted that path already laid out for him; however, with the death of his godfather and the damned prophecy looming over his head, Harry really had to force himself to open his eyes and look at the events in his life from a different perspective… and then something amazing happened, he discovered his demonic heritage!

The young Mage saw this as a golden opportunity to finally be himself! To finally to be free!

The young wizard knew that when he put an end to Riddle, he could not really remain in the Wizarding World if he wanted to be free… The Wizarding World would expect him to solve each and every one of their problems, only to turn around and blame him when he could not. And if it was not the public of the Wizarding World out to control him, then it would be the Ministry. The Ministry would either try to control him for their own gain, or they would declare him as the next Dark Lord, locking him up in Azkaban or outright killing him… And heavens only knew what Dumbledor had plan for him when Riddle was defeated and destroyed.

No… none of those prospects would have been conducive to Harry living a happily-ever-after. And of course, the raven-haired wizard also knew that going to the Muggle World after graduation was not an option either. He had no formal education, which would not helped him in getting a steady job, nor did he have any paper trail to speak of to even verify that he existed… But being a demon… now that opened a whole new world, figuratively and literally, for him to explore and grow… An entire world that did not expect him to save them from every evil that came their way. A new chance to gain an education and find himself.

So, while he had rested and recovered from the torture he had suffered at the Keep, he and Sather talked and decided that the young Shadow Hound would study under the Mage Masters of Ma-Terrarum for his magik studies, and Harry would also continue his nin-nus studies, both magical and Muggle. When Sather had suggested that Harry should continue his Muggle education, he was a bit confused. Sather then pointed out one of the reasons why he believed that the nin-nus mages were so weak and stagnate was because they did not expand their knowledge. (The Blood Hound had promised to tell his young Lord how he came to his opinion at a later time upon seeing the question on the dark-haired youth's face.)The nin-nus mages just accepted the knowledge given to them by those in power, accepting the word of those like Dumbledor and the Ministry as the truth.

Harry honestly could see and understand his General's point.

After all, he was witnessing, even living, the truth that the Blood Hound was talking about. With all the misadventures that Harry had endured since coming into the Wizarding World, the student population and the entire magical community still turned to the ancient Headmaster for advice… Hell, the young man knew that if anything like what he had experienced happened in the Muggle World, the Headmaster would have been out of a job and brought on charges faster than one could say 'Avada Kedavra'.

One day after a talk with Sather, Harry found himself just staring at nothing but a history book in his lap. The information was fascinating to the young Mageling, and it did give him a startling revelation about himself…

Harry knew absolutely nothing of the Wizarding World's history nor of its customs and practices, and without that knowledge, he felt that he was always floundering to catch up, to understand. True, he was so very grateful that he had Mina to help him out, but he knew that he could not always depend on her. She would not be by his side forever. He would need to know and understand for himself the world around. The young half-demon then decided that he would just learn, try to see what made the Wizarding World the way it was and not rely on the gibberish that Professor Binns - whenever the spirit did not speak about the Goblin Rebellions - and others spewed out, and the Mageling was also curious about the Muggles.

If he was going to start from the beginning of the Wizarding World, he might as well also learn about the Muggles. The two communities had lived together at one time without issue, which oddly lead him to wanting to know what the world had been like when demons, wizards and Muggles had also lived together. A small smile formed on Harry's face when he realized that he wanted to truly learn about history and not just for the sake of passing the course. He truly and honestly wanted to know. And when the Lord and the General next spoke, Harry told Sather of his decision to study history of all three worlds- the demons, the nin-nus mages and the regular nin-nus - the Blood Hound beamed in pride at his Lord's curiosity and maturity.

The ancient warrior had lived a very long time and had seen many lords and ladies come and go. He had observed that the lords and ladies, who reigned and prospered for many Marks, were the ones with the keen understanding of history and the effects of past actions had on the present, while the lords and ladies, who reigned for a short and strife filled time, had no interested in such matters. Plus, with the young Shadow Hound's interest in studying his people's history, the old General did not have to worrying about the half-demon becoming lazy like so many nobles have been known to do…

When Harry had returned to Hogwarts after his recovery, he had told his Pack of his plans to study history, which understandably surprised his Pack, but they gave him their support. And Mina, dear Mina, was ecstatic with Harry's decision that she immediately wrote a letter to her father - an amateur historian himself - for recommended books for her ot'frat to start reading. Harry had felt extremely relieved that his Pack was supportive of him that he had ventured out to his Head of House in order to get his class schedule revised.

The young demon should have known that his decision to study history would not be well received by Dumbledor's Second-in-Command, especially since she and the teen had already been butting-heads in regards to his so-called disappearance during his suspension. The moment he had stepped into her office to discuss his class schedule, the old hag had waylaid him in attempts to take his caduceus from him, believing that such an ancient and valuable artifact should not be in the hands of a irresponsible teen, who did not understand the value of such an artifact, nor should it been known to the public that such an artifact had resurfaced.

And the way she reacted to the sword's existence, Harry had wondered what Dumbledor had told the old witch on how the half-demon defeated the basilisk in his second year…

Fortunately for him, his caduceus had some protective spells placed on it to prevent theft and to prevent anyone unworthy from laying claim on the famed blade. When the old crone could not forcibly take his caduceus - after receiving a nasty shock, when she tried to summon the sword to her -, she resorted to blackmail… well at least, Harry assumed it was the witch's attempt at blackmail because she had threatened to take away his nomination for the Auror Program if he did not hand over the sword, and Harry's response…

He laughed. Not a small chuckle but a full on barking laughter, and the look on McGonagall's face made the young man laugh even harder, with tears streaming down his face. The Gryffindor witch became red with a mix of anger and embarrassment that one of her students would disrespect her in such manner and had mentally agreed with the Headmaster that perhaps it was time to truly train the unruly boy to kill He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named. At least, in her opinion, the training would teach the boy a lesson of respecting his betters.

It had taken Harry a few moments to regain his composure, and when he did, he boldly and solemnly stared at his Head of House and told her that he did not care if she, or even if the Headmaster, pulled his nomination. He had already withdrawn his name from the Applicant Registry earlier that morning. He continued on to say that he was not going to let her, the Headmaster nor the Wizarding World dictate his life any longer. He then presented her with his list of classes that he wanted to take. He warned her that if she did not approve of his course selection then he would happily go over her head.

McGonagall, of course, bristled at the thought of being threatened by the impetuous boy, but she immediately smirked in stating that the Headmaster would never approve of the young wizard's course selection and that he would have to take the Auror Pre-Requirement courses since it was his destiny.

Harry gave the old crone a feral smile as he leaned in close and quietly explained that when he stated that he would go over her head, he had meant that he would go to the Board of Governors and the Press. While Harry may hate the Daily Prophet and the public's delusions of owning him, he, however, would not hesitate in using them for his own benefits. Before leaving the hag's office, he off-handedly asked how the public would react if it was let out that she was preventing the Boy-Who-Lived from studying what he wanted. While McGonagall was not as obvious as the Dursleys when it came to keeping certain appearances, the old hag too was concerned and worried about what the public thought of her. Especially since she was a witch with a certain amount of power that was unheard of in such a patriarchy backward society as theirs…

The next day, Harry got the classes he wanted.

The memory of that battle of wills still placed a feral grin on the half dog-demon's face whenever he thought back on it. Hermione and Neville had just looked over to their Alpha and broke into a fit of giggles. An emerald orb peered at his two packmates as soon as he heard them, but nothing was said between them to ruin the good mood. Harry lightly smiled and was about to close his eyes again when he noticed his classmates straightened their posture and began writing.

Curious, Harry sat up and expanded his senses to find the source of his classmates unusual behavior. Neville and Hermione immediately felt the familiar tendrils of their Lead's magik encompass the classroom. They looked over at Harry, who took note at how his classmates - those who had not nodded off to sleep - were acting as if they were taking notes from a lecturer. The raven-haired teen curiously watched as a few would even look up toward the front of the classroom periodically before looking back down. He even noted a few of the Hufflepuff students not paying attention but looking around as if they had sensed something. He pushed it aside for the time being as he concentrated on the latest puzzle before him.

"Harry?" Mina whispered, knowing the demon's sensitive hearing would hear her.

"What is everyone doing?" The green-eyed wizard asked as he motioned with his head to the rest of the class.

"They're taking notes… on the 193rd Goblin Rebellion of 1623..." Neville replied with a frown, "Didn't we already have this lecture…? I'm sure we did…"

"From who?" Harry cautiously asked.

This caused the pair to blink before Hermione answered.

"Professor Binns… he just came through the door… Harry, are you alright?"

The half demon was quiet as he squinted his eyes, trying to see if he could spot the ghostly professor. But he saw nothing, and that unnerved him given what he was… without uttering a single word, the young Mage gathered his things into his satchel and left. He did not even have to look behind him to know if his packmates had followed. They just did, and no one tried to stop them.

"Harry!" Hermione gasped as she spotted her ketsuguis-kyfra waiting for them, "What's going on? Why did we leave?"

"Not that I'm complaining." Neville mumbled.

"I didn't see him." The raven-haired teen answered.

"See who?"

"Binns… I didn't see him, which shouldn't be possible… he's dead… I should be able to see him." Harry racked his hand through his unruly hair.

"What do you mean that you should be able to see him?" Neville questioned.

"I'm a Shadow Hound." Harry sighed, "A Cwn Annwn of old lore… I can see, hear and even touch the dead…"

"You mean like a Necromancer?!" Hermione whispered in excitement.

"No… they deal with making prediction using spirits and/or with re-animation of a corpse, depending which sect they belong to…" Harry mumbled absently with a frown, "Binns is dead… I should be able to see him and he me… but I didn't, and he didn't… If he's not dead then what is he…?"

The half demon's mutterings worried his packmates, but they patiently waited until their Alpha had calmed down before asking him any more questions.

"C'mon…" The green-eyed youth murmured before heading down the corridor.

"Wait! Where are we going?!" Neville asked as he jogged after his Lead.

"To see if I can see the other ghosts of Hogwarts…"


Translations:

Ma-Terrarum (youma-lingua) - Demon Realm

Nin-nus (youma-lingua) - human

Ot'frat (youma-lingua) - younger brother

Caduceus (Latin) - wand

Ketsuguis-kyfra (youma-lingua) - blood-brother