Author's Notes: This chapter came out a bit short... Sorry about that! Well, some chapters will be shorter and some will be longer.

Song: 'Gem Stone' by Under 17 and Funta (from Popotan -- I can't believe I've been listening to Funta while writing this. I must be going mad!)


Ch. 7: The Shape Changer

The mystery man escorted the adventurers beyond mountains and valleys. They had walked for hours, but all their questions went unanswered, especially Janryu's. He seemed to be the one asking the most questions and wouldn't give up even when the white guy seemed to ignore him.

"Hey, come on! So you don't want to tell us who you are, where you are from, your age, your status as a magical being, anything! Huh? Are you even listening to me? You should at least tell us your name, you geek!"

The man suddenly stopped and placed an almost waking Harry on the ground. "You'll rest here. It's close to where the next fragment is."

Neville looked curiously at the man. "Do you have a scanner for the fragments too?"

The man's eyes locked with Neville's, almost frightening the boy as the eyes were golden. "I don't need one, magical human child. I will leave you. You will be safe here for now."

"Why don't you join us? You seem to be taking care of us from afar!"

"It is not the right time. I'm not strong enough yet."

Janryu gave an incredulous look: "Not strong enough? Who are you kidding?"

The man ignored the vampire and kept his eyes on Neville's. Luna then asked one of the questions Janryu had been asking gaining no response, with a very soft and dreamy voice: "What is your name?"

The man's eyes turned to Luna. "Angelus." With that the man suddenly disappeared in a flash. It almost seemed as if he had vanished, but it was due to him moving extremely fast.

Janryu was furious. "Why couldn't he answer my questions? He didn't answer to Dianeia's questions either! That guy is too weird!"

Dianeia thought for a few seconds and replied: "Maybe he only answers to the ones from the other world in a certain sense. At least that's my theory."

Harry looked at them confused. He had just seen the man in almost glittery white clothes leave after giving them his name. So the man's name was not Tenshi. That was partly a relief if that Tenshi had died in Al's last battle. Harry didn't want to deal with dead people coming back to life. He quickly got into a standing position and started to scan the place. The next fragment was indeed very close so they had to get on their way there. Something was still bothering him though. Why had Angelus reappeared? What had he missed? "Were we attacked? I can't help but notice that we are somewhere else. I saw that man leaving after he placed me on the ground. I did register that he had been carrying me, although I wonder how he could easily do that... He doesn't look that strong..." Harry saw the smiles and could figure that something had indeed happened while he was 'out.' They would probably tell him on their way to the fragment. "Well, let's go!"

"Shouldn't we eat something first?" asked Janryu. "I also want to hunt. I need blood."

Harry nodded. He was indeed rested, but the others weren't. Using fire magic he created a fire and assigned Luna and Dianeia to keep it burning while he went hunting with Neville and Janryu. They had supplies in their sacks, but as Janryu wanted to hunt they thought that perhaps they could also get some meat.

In the end Neville and Harry didn't hunt anything, but Janryu did. He was able to take blood from some animals and got them three bird like creatures that reminded Harry and Neville of cornish hens. After hunting Harry and Neville weren't sure if they would be able to handle eating the poor creatures, to which Janryu told them matter of factly: "They're already dead, you know?"

They arrived at their campsite and a feeling of dread washed over Harry. Dianeia and Luna weren't there. Janryu and Neville also reacted by leaping backwards. Just then Luna got to the area and stared at them. "Something the matter?" The boys shook their heads and Harry breathed a sigh of relief. "Sorry we weren't here. It's just that we spotted some creatures." Luna's expression changed to sudden excitement. "I think they are Crumple-Horned Snorkacks!"

Harry and Neville looked at each other and both started to laugh uncontrollably, but Luna didn't seem annoyed at all. As a matter of fact, she smiled. Harry looked at her when he started to calm. "Where are they?"

They followed Luna to a hill and she somehow created an object that reminded Harry of omniculars and passed them to Harry pointing to an area. Dianeia was also there looking at the creatures with some special green glasses that Harry wondered where she got them from. "I've never seen those before," Dianeia spoke. "I wonder if they're edible as they look like young hogs, except for the fact that they have horns."

Harry looked with the imitation of omniculars and confirmed what Dianeia was saying. The creatures looked like piglets with spiral-like horns. Harry passed the omniculars to Neville and the boy gaped as he saw the creatures.

Janryu didn't need anything to magnify his sight. He could focus the creatures perfectly and muttered. "I wonder what they're blood tastes like. Should I hunt one?"

Luna freaked out. "You want to eat them?"

At that Dianeia looked at Luna. "If they're edible I can't see why not! I am normally a veggies being, but I handle meat in my human form." Harry laughed a little as Dianeia licked her lips. She was probably hungry too.

In seconds Janryu was crouching and disappeared from their side. With great agility he was skipping grounds at a very fast rate and was getting closer to the pig like creatures. If the snorkacks had indeed perceived the hunter they didn't show any signs of it. They kept grazing the pastures as they were. Janryu jumped out of his hiding spot and grabbed one of the creatures. The other snorkacks suddenly reacted, but instead of running away they suddenly grew up in size and opened big muzzles full of very sharp teeth. The muzzles were opened so big that Janryu would have fit inside one three times.

Harry, Neville, and Luna blanched as they saw the change in the creatures while to their horror Dianeia laughed. Janryu didn't seem intimidated either where he was. He simply bit the neck of the one he caught, made a gruesome gesture at the other snorkacks, and fled from the area. The snorkacks didn't even try chasing the vampire. They simply closed their horrendously giant mouths and returned to normal size to continue grazing. It made Harry think that maybe things like that were very common in that world. As Janryu approached them with the poor already dead animal hanging from his mouth by its neck Harry turned to Dianeia: "I thought they would try to eat Janryu. Those teeth looked scary enough!"

Dianeia laughed again and shook her head. "They only eat grass and hay probably. That was just a defensive mechanism to chase attackers away. Many leaf eating animals have mechanisms like that to protect themselves. I found it funny as it was so unexpected, but I should have suspected they would try to defend themselves somehow.

Neville looked disgusted at Janryu holding the dead snorkack in his mouth. "Please, remove that! You look like an odd animal yourself!"

Janryu removed the piglet looking creature from his mouth and his fangs hid. He grinned at Neville before saying: "Let's cook the food! Come on!" He noticed Luna's suffering expression at seeing the dead snorkack. "It's blood is alright so I've concluded they're edible. Why do you look at me like that?"

XxXxX

After they were full they started their journey to get the other summon fragment that was in that seemingly almost deserted land. They walked until they reached a certain point in the middle of a field and the scan stopped there. Harry had expected another cave, mine, or something like that. He certainly didn't expect the fragment to be underground.

"What's wrong, Harry?" Neville asked full of concern.

"It seems that the fragment is under this earth..."

Luna smiled. "Well, we certainly cannot dive under earth... Why don't we just use a summoning charm?"

Harry blinked and nodded. "That's actually a great idea! We can try it! At least in this case! Let's see... Accio summon fragment?" Nothing happened. "Maybe it will only obey the correct person to own it."

Neville then muttered: "Accio summon fragment."

To their surprise the earth started to tremble and crack. They all had to jump to different sides when the earth started to open during the tremor, but just then an animal came out and they all looked at each other and then at the animal. The animal looked like a sort of rodent and had hair that was between gray and brown. It had black and white on its face that reminded of a panda in a certain way. It looked at them and then at Neville. Neville exclaimed with a twinkle in his eyes: "It's a badger!" The animal started to float in the air and turned into a brown fragment that entered the wizard that had just spoken. "That was easy, wasn't it?" Neville added, but he spoke too soon. There was a sudden earthquake and something else came from the crater that had previously formed.

The monster that rose seemed to be completely made of mud and started to throw mud balls at them. Janryu dodged with ease while Luna created a shield in front of her. Dianeia did the same as Luna. Harry inserted his sword into the monster, but the sword got stuck and the monster started to suck Harry into itself to the young wizard's horror. Harry's arms were already halfway inside the monster and he tried pulling back in vain. Neville shot at the monster with no effect and then tried a lightning bolt that shocked both the monster and Harry. "ARE YOU TRYING TO KILL ME, NEVILLE!" Harry yelled desperate.

Janryu was going to throw some knives, but reconsidered. Harry's arms were completely inside the monster by that point. Janryu tried to think fast, but didn't know what to do. Same happened with Neville and Dianeia. They were out of ideas. Luna started to chant at that moment behind her shield and Undine appeared above her. Harry's body was almost completely inside the monster and the summon that looked like a female made of water washed the mud monster making it melt little by little. In minutes the monster was gone and Harry dropped unconscious as he couldn't breathe for the time he was trapped.

Before returning to her master Undine washed Harry and then returned to Luna's body. Dianeia quickly started to revive the boy, but he wasn't breathing. "Not again! This leader of yours likes to stop breathing!"

"I don't think he does it on purpose..." said Neville and suddenly asked: "Wait a minute, has this happened before?"

Dianeia nodded and immediately started her respiratory session on Harry, which was something that made both Janryu and Neville blush madly. "Maybe I should stop breathing too," stated Janryu with an evil grin. Neville looked at the vampire incredulously.

Harry woke up with Dianeia's lips on him. She noticed it and quickly broke the connection as he started to cough. This time she was the one blushing and lowering her eyes to the ground. She rapidly asked. "Are you alright?"

Harry turned red and nodded. "Thanks." He lowered his eyes too not wanting his gaze to lock with hers. He touched his lips unconsciously and went redder. A tinge of excitement washed over his whole body and he wondered how it would be if he could kiss her for real. He shook his head to rid it of strange thoughts. They had to continue and their mission in that land was over. "We have to get to the port again..."

"The ships don't sail until the morning. We should find a village to stay in or camp somewhere," stated Janryu looking at the sky.

Dianeia stood up from her kneeling position. "Not camp. I have a bad feeling about these lands at night. We'll find a village." She raised her rod and concentrated with her eyes closed. "There's a village to the west and there's a port that can be reached in a thirty minute walk from the village. We'll go there, but it's far. Maybe we should teleport."

After calculating where they should Apparate to Harry picked up his sword. The group got together and Apparated to the village's entrance. They entered and as it had happened before they drew stares from the villagers. Some even fled to their houses mumbling the word 'children.' It almost seemed to Harry that to see children was like seeing ghosts. There were also women that started to cry and he figured that they were probably broken mothers that had lost their little ones.

At last they entered the Inn and the owner didn't even look at them. He simply charged for their stay and provided them with the keys to their rooms. Neville, Harry, and Janryu would be together in a room while Luna and Dianeia would be in another room.

The night passed without any complications and after having breakfast in the Inn they started their thirty minute walk. Halfway to the port Harry asked Dianeia: "How many lands do you have in this world. Are there many?"

Another voice repeated exactly the same questions in Harry's voice, making the group jump in alarm. "What was that?" Harry asked.

They all heard Harry's voice again asking: "What was that?" It was like a perfect echo.

"Who's doing that?"

"Who's doing that?"

"Cut it out!"

"Cut it out!"

Luna signaled with her finger at a point above Harry, making everyone look upwards. Floating above Harry was another Harry, grinning. "Who are you?"

"Who are you?"

"You are not me!" exclaimed Harry angrily.

"I am not you!" The other Harry's wording had changed. The floating Harry changed to Janryu, then to Luna, then to Neville, then to Dianeia.

Dianeia laughed. "It's a shape-shifter!"

At that, the other Dianeia changed to a boy that landed between them. The boy had white blonde fluffy hair that almost seemed as if he had a light yellow cloud on his head for hair. His eyes were the same colour of his hair. The boy wore a silver tunic and silvery loose pants. His ears were slightly pointy. Harry could easily figure that the boy wasn't human. "What are you?"

"I'm of mixed blood. My mother is a fairy while my father is an elf."

"How do you float?" Neville asked curiously.

"I don't!" The boy giggled. "Many can miss my wings!" The boy sprouted wings that were transparent and almost like an insect's. They were obviously fairy wings. "My name's Soshlan! I'm almost sixteen years old! I've noticed you since yesterday and have been following you because you are children! You have avoided getting captured like myself, but I wonder how you manage that when you are all together! Wouldn't it be easier to hide if you go on separate ways?"

"We are not hiding," said Harry, surprising the boy. "We plan to stop the dark lord."

Soshlan paled. "Are you insane? No one can stop him!"

"Someone has to and in order to return to my world I have to stop him along with my friends."

"You're from the other world? Like the one in the history books?" Harry nodded. "Wow... What are your names?" They introduced themselves and Dianeia and Janryu did the same, but clarifying that they weren't from the other world. The elf-fairy looked amazed. "Can I go with you too? All of my friends have been captured. I've avoided being captured because when they come I simply take the form of an old man that I saw once. I can only take the form of someone or something I've seen before, but my friends didn't have my gift. I miss my friends..." At that the boy wore a very sad expression that seemed to make the clouds reunite above them as if about to rain on them. "So... Can I?"

"What about your parents?" asked Neville worried.

"I can't go back to them. I have to constantly change places to avoid getting caught. If I return to my people I will only become an easy target. My mother was the one who sent me away."

"Maybe he can help," said Luna dreamily while Harry went thoughtful.


Thanks to the reviewers!

yoYO: Grandmother paragraphs? Nah, I can't handle very long paragraphs for some reason... I guess it's for the better... About the mysterious man... Well, at least you got the name... Ahaha!

lovenotknown: You make me blush... Well, this fic has me with ideas, but at the same time it's a bit difficult write. I have a hard time looking for vocabulary, but I guess that makes it a bit challenging which is great!

Please Review. Thanks!