The Daemon from New York City

Chapter 1: The Daemon

Disclaimer: Well you probably know the rigmarole, but I'll say it anyway. most of the places, people, or things in this story come from Harry Potter. They are J.K. Rowling's and not mine.

Background: This takes place while Harry is in Diagon Alley for 2 weeks at the beginning of PoA.

Note: I tried to fit this in the story as well as I could, if you see somewhere where something seems unlikely (besides my writing style, I'm NOT J. K. Rowling) or off or just plain spelled wrong (I tried to get everything but no guarantees), please tell me and I will try to change it or explain it asap.

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As Harry Potter walked down Diagon Alley he looked around him; witches, wizards, creatures, and many other odd people walked around him. He saw one boy throw a pet puffskin, the ball of fur flew down the street and the other boy raced after it, the first ran after him. A teenage girl pushed past him and Harry realized it was nearing lunch, people would soon start clogging the streets, and he didn't want to deal with the press of people today. One girl was racing up the street and nearly knocked him over, in a second Harry saw why. Right behind her was a boy crouching low on his broomstick; he zoomed through the crowd and headed after the girl. Harry saw a Ministry of Magic official appear and go chasing after the boy. Harry quickly ducking into the nearest shop, a weapon shop, and sucked in his breath slightly. It was a small shop, just beyond the Gringots' bank, and there were all sorts of blades hanging around the shop. There were swords, knives, daggers, dirks, blades, and parts of the different knives; pommels, grips, hand guards, hilts, grinding stones, cleaning cloths, and sheathes. The blades glinted at him form every corner, every thing was shiny and sparkled. Some hung form the ceiling others were on racks and yet others were lying on tables on in drawers. Harry almost missed the girl at the counter in all of the light reflected form the blades. But how could he? She leaned against the counter; her head propped up in one hand and watched him. She was around 5' 6", 23, had an Asian skin tone, and definitely stuck out. Instead of the wizard robes that many people wore, she wore muggle clothes. Yet even for muggle clothes she stuck out. For one, she looked like she knew muggle clothing and how to wear it; and two; it fit her. She wore a warm gray tank top and dark, charcoal gray pants that tucked into black, shiny, combat boots. He noticed that at each of her hips there were two matching sheaths that held two identical looking knives. She had a hat on her head held at an angle that hid one eye from him, but the other eye gazed at him intently. Harry stopped and stared at her and at all the knives around her. He had never come into this store before. He was only just starting to explore Diagon Alley and hadn't been to all the shops yet. He was surprised at the voice that arose from her lips. The voice was melodic but held a rough note to it. "Knives ain't exactly your thing; are they?" she asked but seemed to already know the answer. She straightened up and Harry noticed the scars on her. She had a slash on her left cheek and her left, lower arm; plus a stab on her right lower arm near the elbow. She also had several tattoos. One was an emerald green rattlesnake that twined around her right upper arm. A black wire fence encircled her upper left arm, and a star with 5 dots around it and surrounded by a mist of gold and silver was in the center of her forehead. The corners of her mouth lifted up slightly as he took in her appearance. "Guess ya don't see tattoos or muggle outfits here a lot do ya?" again it seemed she knew the answer so Harry didn't answer. "I'm from New York City, in America." She filled in when he was still quiet. Finally Harry regained his wits. "Yes, Yes I know where New York City is," her accent was undeniable now he knew where she came from. Suddenly a large cat like creature jumped up effortlessly on the desk and spat at something on the floor. The cat was a large one, it had a lions tail, large ears, and speckled fur; a kneazle. Harry turned his gaze towards the floor and saw a runespoor. The vivid orange and black striped snake had one body but three heads. Her slight smile faded as the runespoor approached. She clutched the neck of the kneazle and said soothingly, "Calm down Ferox," the kneazle quieted but still had it's hackles raised. (A NOTE: Runespoors were known to be a dark wizard's pet.) "This is Ferox, my kneazle, and that is Tace, my boss' runespoor," she looked at him when he said, "That's a REAL runespoor?!" Harry had never seen one before. "Yup, live and breathing," Harry crouched down and stared at the snake. Just then a customer came in and while the girl was helping them Harry took the chance to walk behind a display of Samuari swords. The runespoor followed him. Once there; Harry crouched down again and talked to the snake, a quiet hiss left his lips and the snakeheads lifted as one to listen to the parseltounge. "Who are you?" hissed Harry. "Tace, master" the snake answered without hesitation. (ANOTHER NOTE: Tace means 'Silence!' in Latin) "Why do you can me master?" Harry asked it. "Because all of those who can talk to us are masters over serpents." Harry seemed dumbfounded for a minute; then it occurred to him that he didn't feel out of place with the snake, he felt as if there was a part of him that knew and wanted to know or dominate the snake. It felt, well, RIGHT to talk this way. Harry realized that it was becoming easier and easier to talk in parseltounge. In some ways this scared him, but the excitement of talking to a runespoor overruled his quavering insides. Before he could ask the snake more he heard the sound of the door and quickly stood up and stooped over a display of thrusting knives. He turned around at her chuckle; "Did Tace have much to say?" She was leaning on the counter again and was petting Ferox who was lying down in front of her. "What? What are you talking about?" Harry wondered how she knew, she nodded her head towards the display he had knelt behind, I could hear ya; I can speak parseltounge." Harry sucked in his breath, and then let it out gustily as he said, "You can?!" he was surprised to say the least. "Yeah, just because it's a rare gift doesn't mean no one has it." A question popped into Harry's head but he was hesitant to ask it, Most parseltounges were though of as evil, how did she get people to think she wasn't evil, or unless she was evil? He head was reeling. "What is it?" she asked him, Harry's brows furrowed. "How do you know that I have a question?" He asked, "I grew up in NYC, New York City. There you have to know everything that's going on around you. You need to know what the old lady on the top floor is up to and what the enemy gang is planning. However unimportant it may seem, it can save your life later. 'Specially if the enemy is planning an attack and the lady is moving; all those boxes and furniture is a convenient way to get out of the building. Plus it helps to know what people are thinking, lying, or holding back at council." "Council?" Harry was getting more confused by the minute; What was this girl talking about? "Sorry," she smiled apologetically at him, "Most of what I said didn't make sense did it? I forget that people here don't have as many gangs or council or anything." Gangs? Council? What was she talking about? She grinned at him and reveled white straight teeth. "Look, unless ya wanna to listen to my life story, not much of it is gonna to make sense." Harry looked out the window and saw the press of people crowding the streets and the hot sun beaming down, but in the store it felt calm, cool, and collected; as if it was a place taken out of time to just recoup and rest. He looked back at the girl and she held out her hand he took it and the grip was firm, and short. "Heather Yusoki, but my nickname was the Daemon back in NYC, or Dae for short, call me Dae." "Ok, Dae," Harry managed to stutter out, The Daemon? "Harry Potter, just Harry." He said, quite simply compared to her long explanation. She smiled at him and said, "Hey Harry, want ta eat with me?" She waved a knife at the counter; Where did that come from? and there was a checkered cloth, a picnic basket, and two chairs at the counter. With a knife, what is going on? Dae sat down and smiled at Harry's astonishment, "Sit down and I'll explain." So, Harry sat. When he was seated, Dae dug into the basket and brought out steaming food. There was a container of lemonade, some hot drumsticks, and chips. "Not a very healthy meal, but we'll survive," She gave a laugh, it was a full one, not tinkling or a chuckle, but a full laugh that fully communicated her joy and happiness; Harry like it. "You see," Dae started, "wands are made of a magical substance, that is the focus of the magic. The best I can explain it is that we have raw power in us, using a wand helps us to focus and to project and increase what magic we do. We can do things without a wand, like what many kids do when their young, they are upset, or angry, or hurt and do crazy things with magic. When I was 5, I felt that one of my friends was deserting me and I felt so depressed, I started a whirlwind in our apartment. Here I was a 5-year-old child in a corner, and there was a whirlwind of wind and furniture and other things whirling around me; sort of a protective barrier. They had to put protective shields on my friend so her could go through and calm me down. She smiled with a wistful expression and sighed. "I still miss New York. I moved there when I was 3, from India. I am a mixture of half a dozen Asian races; Korean, Japanese, Indian, and Chinese to name a few. My older siblings were all grown up and had left home or were at boarding school or something. My parents wanted me to have a new life, and to move to a place where they could get more money. Where else but America, the land of the free?" She piled a plate with food and handed it to Harry along with a goblet of lemonade, then she piled herself a plate. Suddenly her brows furrowed and she set down her plate and goblet. "Harry, a lot of things have happened to me, and I'm sure a lot has happened to you too." Harry suddenly realized what was different. She treated him like a cross between Ron, Hermoine, and a kind friend. She was a friend like Hermoine and Ron, she hadn't looked at Harry's scar once that Harry noticed and she treated him with respect and attention. Harry liked her but still was wary about her. She must have realized Harry's doubt because she said, "Look, I'll tell you about my past and you can tell me about your past if you want to, too." Harry was still doubtful but nodded, he could decide later if he would or wouldn't tell her about himself; besides he was interested to see what her past was and he hadn't much else to do. He had never met an American too. Mrs. Figg had some cousin that lived in America that she had pictures of plastered on her refrigerator, but that was about the extent of his American contact. "Ok, tell me about you and how you're a parseltounge, since you hinted that you are." The Daemon grinned and said, "With pleasure."

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Well, what do you think? I know it is kind of odd, and some of you will shoot me down (IF you review, which I doubt, 'cause I rarely get reviews), but bear with me. I got the idea helping a friend out by trying to come up with ideas for her hp fan fic and I liked this idea. I REALLY like it and I hope you people like it too. I can't really tell you what's going to be in chap 2 'cause I really don't know myself. Dae has showed me lots of flashbacks to her past, but I'm not sure how much Harry will see in their conversations. Oh, anyone have any ideas how old Charlie and Bill are? Well PLEASE review, thanks! Bye!

~Kit ;)

REVIEW! PLEASE!

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