Harry's first thought upon waking was that his body hurt, mostly his back. And he couldn't remember any reason why it might be hurting. His second thought never made it into being, as the moment he opened his eyes all his brain could come up with was ahhh! He scrambled sideways and managed to fall over the far side of the bed in a tangle of limbs and sheets, while a musical giggle was heard in the background. The reason for this, was because as soon as his sleep-blurred eyes opened and focused, he realized he was staring into another pair of eyes, and a face was poised mere inches above his own.
He definitely had no memory of letting anyone into his room, but maybe they were sent by Dumbledore? As he tried to get free of his bedding, he realized something else. There were wings growing out of his back! He didn't know which strange thing to deal with first, but decided that the stranger in his room was a little more important.
"I see you are finally awake. I was beginning to think you would sleep the morning away, and it is so boring watching people sleep. At least as boring as watching grass grow."
Finally free of his bedding, Harry stood slowly and got a better view of his visitor. She looked to be in her early twenties, and was short, but still a little taller than he was. Pale silver-blonde hair fell to her waist, and she had green eyes. But the most striking feature was her wings. They were large and bat-like, in white and blue like the summer sky. The blotches on them gave them a marble effect.
"Uh... I'm sorry, I don't think I know you? And how did you make it up here without setting the Dursley's off?"
The girl laughed again, the sound reminding him a little of wind chimes. "Oh them! I used a whisper of Air and they never knew I was here. And once I was, the wards on this room will keep them from remembering it, or you, exist." She snaps her fingers and grins at him. "Easy!
So. I am Ash, and I am to be your Guide since I found you first. What is your name child?"
Harry's head reeled a little, this girl spoke quickly, and hadn't stopped moving since he laid eyes on her. It almost seemed like she physically could not stand still, and Guide? What did he need a Guide for?
"My name is Harry, Harry Potter. What do you mean you are my Guide? What is a Guide and why do I need one?"
"Why to your Demon inheritance of course! You're living in the mortal realm, otherwise you wouldn't need a Guide. You'd already know everything you need to know, but most Demons born to mortals don't know hardly anything at all. So that's where I come in. I felt your awakening, and since I got here first, that means I get to keep you until you know all about our kind, I get bored, or your mates decide to take over your teaching."
Ash was bouncing slightly on her toes by the time she finished her 'explanation', but Harry hardly noticed. Demon inheritance?! I can't be a demon, I'm a wizard! And demons are evil, like Voldemort! I don't feel evil, she has to be wrong!
Perhaps noticing Harry's disbelieving look, Ash made a flowing twist of her wrist and first two fingers, pointing them at the wall directly in front of Harry. The moment her hand stopped moving, the wall rippled and turned into a mirror. There, staring out at him was...himself. But the Harry in the mirror wasn't much like the Harry that had gone to bed the night before. He had grown, if only a little, and he guessed he was around 5'5". His skin was still tanned, but now it had almost red tinges to the tan. His hair was a little longer, reaching to the tops of his shoulders, and were those... horns he saw peeking out of his hair?! His eyes were still the bright green that resembled his mother's, but they were also slit-pupiled like a cats, and he had small but sharply pointed claws on the ends of each finger. But by far the biggest change that he could now see, was the wings he had noticed earlier. The were large, and just as bat-like as Ash's, but his were the dark charcoal of smoke, with blood red blotches. There were no scales or fur or hair, just thin skin over bone.
"You're a Fire Demon of course. There are 6 types of demons you know, Storm, Shadow, Water, Air, Fire and Earth." As she said Air, she made a small almost-bow with her head and motioned to herself, so Harry could only guess that meant that Ash was an Air Demon.
This was still a little hard for him to process. Seeing was not always believing as he had learned since coming to the Wizarding World, but in this case, he was thinking he would have to belive that what he was seeing and hearing were indeed the truth. As he pulled his eyes away from the mirror, he finally registered the state of his room. Other than the bed, Hedwig's cage, and one chair in the far corner, nothing remained. Well, nothing that was recognizable at any rate. There were pieces of wood, none larger than the size of a pencil, ripped pages from books, shreds of Dudley's cast-off clothing, powder that might once have been broken nick-knacks or other assorted broken objects that were stored in 'his' room. In short, it looked like a tornado had hit the room while he slept.
"What happened to the room? The Dursley's are going to be so angry!"
"Oh that. It was the magics from your inheritance. And you don't need to worry about your guardians, that's my job now. We won't be staying here much longer, just waiting on you to catch up on a few things, and then we'll collect your stuff and head off to the Realm."
"Whoa wait a minute! What do you mean I'm not staying here any longer? I mean, it's not that I like it here or want to stay, but I can't just go off and leave for who knows where. I have friends here, and school, and we can't forget the insane wizard who wants to kill me."
Ash's cheerful and slightly scatter-brained demeanor changed the moment Harry mentioned someone wanting to kill him. Now she looked the part of a demon. She stopped bouncing around the room and playing with random bits of debris, and somehow, with only a few inches between their heights, managed to tower over him menacingly.
"Someone wants to kill you? And you want to stay here and let them try? Are you totally insane? Fire demons are supposed to be smarter than that! Get your stuff, we're leaving for the Realm right now. Any other explanations can wait until we get you to a wizard-free zone."
"Wait! He doesn't know where I live, Dumbledore said the blood wards keep Voldemort from finding me. And of course I don't want to let him try! But no one has bothered to teach me how to defeat him, they just pat me on the head and tell me that the grown-ups will worry about that, all the while ignoring the fact that a prophecy said I have to be the one to do it." Harry kicked a pile of wood in frustration as he thought of all the times he had gone to the various adults in his life and they had all brushed him off as being too young to be told anything useful.
"Blood wards? There are no blood wards on this house, the only wards of any kind were monitoring wards, keyed to you. I reattached them to the baby whale who lives here. It's not like they would have worked in the Realm in any event, but at least this way they aren't attached to you anymore."
"But my mother's sacrifice, she died to save me. Dumbledore said it was the reason Voldemort couldn't touch me, and that since she had let him kill her, I had to live here since the wards would only work if I lived with my mother's sister who shared my blood. They're supposed to keep the Death Eaters and Voldemort from finding me!"
"Sorry kid, there were no such things on the house when I got here. Are you sure this Dumbledore person can be trusted? Would he gain anything from lying to you?"
"I...don't know. He's the leader of the Light, he has to be trustworthy, I mean, everyone looks up to him and he defeated the last Dark Lord..."
"Just because someone seems good and Light, doesn't mean they are good or Light. Look at us. We're demons. But that doesn't make us evil or Dark! Some of us are of course, but there are also many neutrals and Light demons. Haven't you learned yet that just because it looks pretty doesn't mean it's safe? And just because it looks scary or evil, doesn't mean that it is?"
Harry sank down on the edge of his bed, head once more reeling. It made so much sense when you looked at it this way. And yet... it was so hard to believe. He didn't have anywhere near the amount of information he needed, about Dumbledore or Demons. Either way, could he really go off and leave his friends behind? They'd stood by him through so much already, it seemed like he would be throwing everything back in their faces if he just ran off without a word. And he'd need money wherever it was they were going, wouldn't he? Maybe he should try to talk Ash into taking him to Gringotts, and letting him write a few letters so his friends wouldn't think he'd been kidnapped by Voldemort.
"Ash... What is the Realm? And before we go there, I need to do a few things."
"The Realm is like this world, but not. It's where most of the demons, Fae, Djinns, Incubus, Succubus, and many other creatures live. We chose to leave the Mortal Realm when humans and wizard kind started hunting and persecuting us. There are a few wizards living there, but they are few and far between. Mostly it is a world for what wizards would term, Dark Creatures to live without fear of being hunted to extinction. You will love it there, I promise! There are so many of our kind, and so many things to do!"
"Alright. I suppose a short visit won't be too bad, but I can't stay there. I have friends here, and things I have to do in this realm Ash. And still, there are things I need to do before we go there. The first one is to stop by Gringotts."