Disclaimer: I only own everything that resides in my room. Oh, and my own original stories. Everything else is someone else's.

Chapter 9

Some Things Should Go Undiscovered

Harry,

Haia and I are both happy to hear that you are doing well. She would be writing this herself, but she was called in yesterday when a Manticore attacked a small village. I know that she would be happy to hear of your progress, though.

And Slytherin? Humphf. I should have known. Your mother could easily have been one, what with the way she could convince people to do any number of things for her. The same goes for your father. I was a Ravenclaw myself, only three years in front of your mother. Congratulations, my boy.

Snape? Severus Snape? I thought he had been imprisoned…or at least put on trial. The last I heard of him, he was supposedly being put on trial for assisting the Death Eaters. Since it seems he's working at Hogwarts, he can't have been found guilty for it. And his job doesn't surprise me. He always was a wiz at potions.

Now, just remember…be careful. And remember that we are always here for you, Harry.

William

Harry smiled slightly as he finished William's letter, folding it and stuffing it into the pocket of his jeans. He enjoyed hearing from his foster father but to see the man's handwriting before him just made his heart ache for Japan even more. More than anything, he wanted to be back in the home where he'd grown up – where it seemed safe and where he'd been ignorant of the world.

But he couldn't go back to those days when he was young and carefree. No. Not whilst he knew that Voldemort was about and still – still – after power as well as the one who had defeated him.

Sighing heavily, Harry laid his hands on the cold, stone floor of the North Tower and pushed himself up. A gust of wind blew past him as he stood, finding its way into the circular room through the open door that led outside onto a small balcony.

The han-akurei stood there for a long moment before he turned and drew his wand. A swift gesture and a flick of his wrist had the door locked and the stairwell below was charmed to warn him when someone was approaching.

Smiling at his success, he tucked his wand carefully up his sleeve then sat down in the middle of the Tower room, his legs tucked under him. As he settled his robes about him, he swept his leather cap from his head, allowing his mane of hair to cascade down past his shoulders. His ears flicked up and Harry nearly moaned as the wind gently brushed the dark fur on them. It had been so long since his ears had felt anything but stillness and the stuffiness of his cap…

Setting the cap aside, he untucked his shirt and unwound his tail from his waist. Curling it underneath his partially raised leg, he gently brushed the gray fur that had hints of black stripes streaking it.

"Now," he whispered to himself, "the last…"

Closing his eyes, he slowly released a few of his more noticeable demonic traits. His fingernails abruptly lengthened into vicious claws, all of them as sharp as a well-honed blade, and changed from pale peach to jet-black. In his mouth, his canines lengthened a half-inch, as did the two teeth on either side of them. The remainder of his teeth simply sharpened into razor points.

When his eyes snapped open a second later, they were no longer their normal emerald – or even human looking. They had a deep, inner glow that made them seem on fire and a fierceness within them that did not show in his human eyes. Any trace of humanity was gone from those eyes, including the rounded pupil, which had shrunk and lengthened into that of a cat's.

Harry nearly collapsed onto his back when he opened his eyes and reached a clawed hand out to steady himself.

"Gods…" he breathed as he felt the full rush of being back in his fully han-akurei form. The sheer relief his body felt being back in its truest form was overwhelming.

Shaking himself, he sat back up and took a deep breath before closing his inhuman eyes.

He had come to the Tower to read William's letter – but there was also another purpose in coming here. Here he could do as he wished in silence and without having to worry about anyone finding him.

Here he could practice his Animagism. And he had been, since Snape had given him the book nearly three months and a half before.

Stilling everything in his mind, he thought back to the book's instructions. It said that he had to clear his mind and to concentrate, to reach deep within himself and call out to the animal that lurked within him. The book claimed that everyone possessed an animal spirit within himself or herself, be they Muggle or Wizard.

The difficulty was finding it.

Harry had been attempting to forcefully search for it but now he was ready to try a different approach.

He was going to let it find him.

Taking another deep breath, he let his mind slowly sink into blackness. After what had seemed an eternity in the dark, he called silently out for something – anything to answer him.

Silence met his call for a long time but he kept calling, again and again – for how long he did not know.

Shoulders slumped, he finally decided to give up when there was a soft stirring within himself. His brow furrowed as he felt the feeling grow faster and faster, as if it were bounding up out of his body.

Harry's eyes flew open and he gasped wordlessly as his body was thrown forcefully back onto the stone floor by an unseen force. The back of his head cracked loudly against the stones and rang with the pain for a few good minutes.

When the pain receded, Harry cracked open one eye…only to see the head of a slightly transparent Siberian tiger looking down at him.

Hissing furiously, he backed up, ignoring the ringing in his head. Ears flat and eyes wide, he backed away from the transparent tiger until he hit the far wall. Staring at the tiger, which stood motionless in the center of the Tower room, he took a calming breath and wished his pattering heart to still.

"You're…you're my animal spirit, aren't you?" he slowly asked the beast.

The tiger nodded, its calm emerald eyes boring into Harry's own. As it took a step forward on its paws (which were big enough to take off the han-akurei's head as well as his neck), he noticed that a scar in the shape of a lightning bolt slashed over the tiger's right eye.

The big cat purred and laid itself down at Harry's feet, its big paws just barely touching the tips of his bare toes. It stared at him with mournful eyes until the han-akurei leaned forward and scratched behind the gray-tipped ears.

"I can touch you," whispered Harry in shock as he felt the tiger's fur underneath his fingers. The fur was soft and amazingly warm despite the animal's transparent appearance.

The tiger purred happily at the contact and leaned its head into the caress, causing Harry to smile.

A sound of bells tinkling softly shattered the moment. Harry's head shot up and he hissed angrily as he realized someone was coming up the stairs towards the Tower. He looked to his spirit to tell it to get away but it was already gone.

Blinking for a moment, he grabbed his cap from the floor and ran out onto the balcony. His ears picked up the sound of the door unlocking and he jumped up onto the rail of the balcony, using his tail and toe-claws to balance himself there.

He turned, eyes wide and half-glowing from the moonlight as the door inside the Tower opened. Then he leapt up onto the roof and ran up the sloping surface to its pointed top. From the room below him, he heard a gasp and footsteps running.

Whirling about, he stared defiantly down at whoever had come up after him, mouth set in a snarl. His eyes glowed because of the moonlight reflecting onto them and he knew he looked a fearsome sight standing in the half shadows atop the tower.

When he heard a terrified gasp below him, he looked and caught eyes with the culprit. Those eyes were brown and he had come to know them well.

They were the eyes of Hermione Granger.

Hissing angrily at himself for staying, Harry turned and leapt from the roof of the Tower. He fell twenty feet down to one of the castle's battlements and landed on all fours. Half a second later he was up and running for all he was worth, keeping himself to the shadows, all the while berating himself.

Stupid, stupid, fool…

Back on the Tower balcony, Hermione was just getting over her shock. As she staggered back against the stone railing, her foot hit something and slid out from under her. Landing with an "Oof!", she looked around for what she had tripped on.

A corner of a folder sheet of white paper glinted at her from where it lay near the shadows created by the balcony. Leaning forward, she gingerly picked it up and opened it.

Her eyes widened as she read it and then read it twice to make sure she wasn't dreaming. Then her brow gaze slid up towards the Tower roof, where she had seen what could easily have been a demon from a fantasy novel.

"Harry?"

- - -

"Professor! Professor Snape! Professor, please!"

Snape opened the door of his office and was shocked to find, not one of his Slytherin's standing there, but a tear-stricken Hermione Granger.

A Gryffindor was standing at his door past curfew.

Old alarm bells that had kept him alive for years among the Death Eaters began to ring in his ears as he asked, "What seems to be the problem, Miss Granger?"

"It's…it's Harry, sir," mumbled the Prefect. "I think…I think something's wrong with him."

"Really?" said Snape. "Let us go see then."

Stepping out of his office and closing the door firmly behind him, he turned to the right and walked the short distance down the corridor to where Myelin Slytherin née Gryffindor's portrait was. The woman was sleeping at the table painted into her portrait and he gently rapped his knuckles against the frame to wake her.

"M'lady," he said in a gentle voice that made Hermione start. "M'lady, we seek your charge."

Myelin's gray eyes flickered open then widened as she saw the two of them standing there.

"Oh. Forgive me, Severus." She stood and straightened out her skirts before asking, "What does the Head of Slytherin seek at my portrait this night?"

"Your charge, m'lady," replied Snape.

Myelin frowned and said, "Harry isn't here, Severus. Didn't he tell you?"

Snape frowned now.

"Tell me what?"

"He went to the North Tower some hours ago. And he told me you knew!" Myelin's face clouded and she spat, "That imp! I'll kill him."

"Now, now, Myelin," said Snape, lifting a hand as he noticed Hermione had gone white as a sheet. "Do remember that we need young Mister Potter. Now, Miss Granger, if you would mind explaining the reason why you just went white as a sheet?"

Hermione shivered and replied, "Sir…I just came from the North Tower. Harry wasn't there. But…"

" 'But?' " repeated Myelin. "But what, child?"

"Be gentle, woman!" spat Snape to the portrait. He then looked at Hermione and gently asked, "What did you see, Hermione?"

Egged on by the professor's gentle tone and his use of her first name rather than her surname, the bushy-haired girl stammered, "There was s-something there but it wasn't Harry! It-it couldn't have been!"

"You are wrong, Mia-san," said a voice from the shadows across the corridor that caused them all to start.

A bare, clawed foot appeared and then Harry followed it, his cat-slitted eyes glowing gently in the torchlight. His ears were laid against his head as he looked sadly at his friend and murmured, "It was me you saw."

"But…Harry," began Hermione only to be cut off by Snape.

"This is no conversation to have within this corridor. M'lady Slytherin, if you would?"

"Of course," said Myelin, swinging her portrait open. "And don't be too hard on him, Severus."

"I won't," said Snape as he stared into Harry's eyes.

Harry met his stare then walked past him and Hermione into the room. He didn't look at either of them as he did this, but walked straight in, making a beeline for a comfy chair near the fire.

"In, Miss Granger," said Snape, his hand pressing gently on her back to propel her forward.

She entered the room with Snape at her heels and Myelin's portrait swung closed behind them, leaving the barely lit corridor empty once more.

- - -

"What were you thinking?"

Harry winced at Snape's tone and mumbled, "I didn't think I'd be disturbed."

"In the North Tower? For Merlin's sake, boy, what made you think that? Why didn't you just stay here?"

"Because I couldn't stand it anymore!" shouted Harry. His fists clenched were they laid in his lap before he continued in a softer voice, "This room felt as though it was closing in on me. I needed air, sir."

"Did you not think you would get caught?" spat Snape.

"I had warning wards up!"

"So why didn't you run?"

"He did," said Hermione softly, breaking into the conversation.

Snape turned to stare at her then looked at Harry as he growled, "Is this true?"

"Yes," mumbled Harry. "I got up onto the roof and was about the run when I turned back. I wanted to confront whoever had come up onto the Tower. I…I thought it was one of the professors."

"But it wasn't," spat Snape. "It was Miss Granger and now we are in a right mess!"

"I'm sorry!" shouted Harry. He sagged back into his chair and whispered, "What more do you want me to say, sensei?"

Snape sighed and walked over to the chair the teenager slumped in. He reached out and tilted Harry's chin up so he could look into the han-akurei's inhuman eyes.

"Sorry is enough, Harry," he said gently. "Sorry is quite enough for me. Just remember, I worry for your safety in this castle as I worry for my own. Were anyone to know of either of our rather sordid past's, we would not be allowed in this school."

"I know," whispered Harry. "I'm sorry, sir."

"I know. Now…I believe Hermione requires an explanation."

Harry shuddered and turned to look at Hermione as Snape released his chin. He leaned forward, one clawed hand reaching out toward where she sat across from him, saying, "Hermione…"

The bushy-haired girl leaned away from him fearfully and Harry pulled back, shame in his eyes.

"I'm sorry," he whispered, not looking at her. "I didn't mean to frighten you."

"What are you?"

Harry winced at the question as though she had struck him. He then looked up at her with his inhuman eyes that showed shame and fear and answered her question in the only way he could.

"I am something that should not exist."

Hermione frowned. "What?"

"I am a han-akurei, a half demon," said Harry softly without looking at her. "My mother was Lily Evans as they say but my father…my father was not James Potter. A demon named Harper met my mother whilst she was in Japan and she fell for him. I am the result of their union."

"But…but they found your body! And it was human!"

Harry smiled grimly at that.

"Yes. My dear double. When I was born, my mother knew she could not keep me. At least not with the war in England going on and her being called back. So she asked her friend, Haia Subaki, to take me and to keep me until she could return for me. Despite Haia's family background as demon slayers, she did this for her friend." Harry paused for a moment then continued, "Before she left Japan, my mother created a double of me with Haia's help. She replaced all of my father's features with those of James Potter, leaving her with a normal child without demon blood. Only, this child wasn't truly alive."

Harry looked up then and smiled grimly at his friend.

"So there," he said. "Now you know. I am not the infamous Boy-Who-Did-Not-Live. That was my double. I am nothing but a bastard child who would be shunned by all were they to find out what I am."

"All but the Dark Lord," said Snape softly, causing Harry to look sharply at him. The han-akurei then laughed harshly and nodded, causing Hermione to wince.

"You speak true, sensei. Our mutual 'friend' Voldemort would indeed enjoy sinking his claws into me." Harry smiled darkly and hissed, "But I will never allow that to happen."

He then turned to Hermione and said, "Now you know what I am, Mia-san. With that knowledge alone you can destroy me as well as the teaching staff."

"They know?" gasped Hermione.

"How else would Harry be here, Miss Granger?" asked Snape. "Albus Dumbledore does not know everything that goes on within these walls but he knows most. Were Harry to have attempted any subterfuge, he would have been turned over to the Ministry as not only another imposter, but a half demon as well."

"You aren't supposed to exist?"

Harry winced at her disbelieving tone then nodded.

"Hai, Mia-san," he said softly. "The Ministry in Japan does not care so much about my kind as we have existed there for centuries. But here…here in my mother's homeland I am as shunned as a werewolf."

"Why?" asked Hermione.

"Me and my kindred are seen as a danger, much like the werewolves. They think of us as mindless beasts who could go on killing sprees at any point in time."

"It is possible," said Snape softly with a pointed look at the han-akurei.

Harry nodded and turned his head to look at the professor.

"Yes, sensei," he said softly. "It is possible but not probable. And since Haia and William taught me of the dangers my demon blood costs me, I have put the utmost care into making sure that I put no one in danger. Even if I were to become a danger, there would be no need to make me leave. I would do so of my own will."

"The question is, Mia-san," he continued, turning his cat-eyed gaze onto her with a concentration that startled her. "Can you keep my secret…or will our dear sensei be forced to Obliviate you?"

Hermione's brown eyes widened and she turned to gape at Snape. The dark professor pinned her with his midnight gaze and said, "Do not doubt Harry's word, Miss Granger. I – and all the staff – are sworn to keep his secret safe."

"Even if it means Obliviating a student?" asked Hermione timidly.

"Even if it means Obliviating a student," confirmed Snape.

"Oh God…"

"Mia-san!" snapped Harry as the bushy-haired girl sagged in her chair. He reached out and grabbed her wrist, holding it delicately in his clawed hand.

She jerked at the contact and sat up abruptly from her near faint. Her wide brown eyes jerked down to the sharp black claws caressing her wrist then swung her eyes up to Harry's face. She stared for a moment into his inhuman, cat-like eyes before her eyes wove over his face, searching for what lay behind those gemstone orbs.

Fear and shame bore to the forefront in his face but behind them she could see the same Harry she had come to know. The same humorous young man who sat by her every day in Potions class and who saw the Potions Master standing nearby as very few others did.

Slowly, she lifted her right hand and placed it over his, her fingers spasming before they took her command to fall gently onto the back of his hand.

Forcing a smile, she softly said, "I'll keep your secret, Harry."

The han-akurei returned her smile, his fangs flashing slightly.

"Thank you, Mia-san. Thank you."