A/N:Hello again everyone. You guys are the best. 110 favorites 190 follows 58 reviews and over 15000 views; Thank you all for your continued support. Yes I know, I'm a day late, but life happens; been busy and my laptop decided that it was the prefect it to act up; Thank you Youtube, and your many videos on fixing stuff. That being said, I'd like to thank SuperRes7 for being my one hundredth 's good to pass that milestone, but I still have many more to pass;you should see your cybercookie in your inbox. Once more, I apologize for any grammatical errors, that I may have missed.

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Disclaimer: I own nothing of Harry Potter or anything dealing with its franchise; Only the OCs.

Chapter-11

Controlling Instincts, Summer Nights, and Sunny with a Chance of Nargles

The skies above were filled with clouds, with the sun peeking through occasionally and a gentle breeze was flowing through the quiet moor, as two individuals were beneath a large tree as they relaxed after a harsh training session. Su Li sat with her back against the tree while one of her hands moved to pull back the idle flowing hairs back behind her ear, and her other hand continued to caress the gently fur on the head of the large feline predator that was resting on her lap. While feeling the vibrations coursing through her caused by the purring of the large animal; Su looked down on the tiger known as William with a content smile gracing her face. The pass days that weren't spent on training, were spent learning about his animagus and the changes that it brought in regards to how he interacted with her.

The Tiger was a creature that represented power, ferocity, wrath, beauty…and passion. Whatever William had done…was not the usual method to become an animagus, given the fact that it seemed to have a will of its own. From what William had told her, his mindscape had changed; it no longer was of his home and its surrounding grounds, but it now contain his manor surrounded by a thick dense forest that was difficult to navigate. When he tried to change his mindscape or suppress his new traits, the tiger lashed out at him; which must have been painful encounters if the headaches he got was anything to go by.

He soon realized that it was an exercise in futility to fight myself for control of…myself, and began learning to cope with the new addition to his personality. Throughout the month she noted that he liked eating his meat a bit on the raw side and he had more awareness and ferocity when he dueled with either her or her sister, and best of all…he was more affectionate and possessive. He had a new tendency to brush against her when they walked through the house and field together or hold her when they were alone. Then there was the occasion purr that escaped him when she would hug him; how he now liked to bury his head into her hair when she did. The new tendency she liked the most though was when he became loss in desire when they snogged and held her close to his body; that happened so often now that they finally figured out how to snog and still breathe. She wasn't ashamed to say that she channeled her inner Slytherin and used this to keep him away from her sister; not that Juniper seemed to mind, if anything her new antics seemed to amuse her sister greatly if that smug smile she wore on her face whenever she took William away after they finished training was any indication. But this new side to William and her sister's words were pushing her to advance their relationship, and she spent most of the summer thinking about how to approach the subject with him.

As she was lost in thought, she didn't notice that there was a large Eagle owl beside her, until she heard the quiet hissing from the large back snake that was William familiar, who rested itself in coils as it basked in the midday sun, with a large red stone in the center of its coils, gleaming gently in the sunlight; she noticed that the owl seemed to be carrying a large satchel tied to its chest with the Gringotts Logo stitched into the material. The Tiger stopped its purring and opened his eyes at the hissing of the snake, Sashet if she remembered correctly, to what she thought could be a glare at the owl before it changed before her eyes into the form of William, who was now sitting up right as he reached for the satchel, and taking out the contents within. Su Li watched William read through what looked to be a manuscript and used his wand to seemingly highlight various sections. Though her inner Ravenclaw was curious as to what could be written on the large collection of parchment, she remained silent as he read through. She watched in silence for some time until he handed the parchment back to the owl and spoke to it.

"Bring this to Nymeria Cunningham. She'll finalize it." he said, and then watched the owl fly away before he turned on to his back and laid back down onto her lap with his eyes closed.

With curiosity finally getting the best of her, she asked softly, "What was that William?"

"A contract I'm setting up with Gringotts Bank." He answered with his eyes stilled closed.

"Why would you need a contract with them?" she asked softly, and then watched as he eyes moved ever so slightly, in a way that she recognized as him weighing options.

"I have plans for the future…plans that are currently in the works for the day I reveal my real name to the world." He replied.

"Which name is that?" she spoke softly as her hand started to caress his dark brunette hair, causing him to start purring, but not as strongly as he did as a tiger.

"…Dagworth" he paused as he answered; his eyes now open to reveal his slightly slitted pupils that were focused intently on her.

She took in what he said while he watched her intently. While vague, the name was still known for its accomplishments, and it explained so much above William; his behavior, drive, and focus on some distant goal, his manipulation and plots to get close to those in their year group who would grow to inherit important positions of power, his knowledge of spells that she hadn't heard of or seen. She looked to her left at the fabled Philosopher's Stone whose guardian was also staring at her intently like its master. She put it all together and she could see what the picture created. "You're rebuilding the House of Dagworth" she stated softly.

"Yes." He replied simply.

"How can I help?" she asked softly, and watched as surprised filled his eyes, while his face remained expressionless.

"That's it?" he asked.

"Yes" she said softly.

"Why"

"You're leaving tomorrow right?" Su asked, and watched as the tangent seemed to catch William off guard before he answered.

"Yes…Daphne invited me to her home…as you already know" he answered with wariness that would've slipped pass anyone who didn't know him as intimately as she did.

"W-what do you think about her?" she hesitated slightly as she asked him, while turning her head away from him as not to reveal her nervousness of the answer. Her sister's words had been ringing constantly within her every time she was alone with him, and she was worried about how she faired with the likes of Daphne as competition.

"She's smart, cunning, ambitious, and beautiful." He answered her, though she couldn't see his face, she could still feel his intense stare on her.

"D-Do you l-like her?"

"I suppose so. She makes a good ally with her resources and connections."

"I mean…do you…fancy her…"

"…No."

Su Li exhaled the breath that she didn't know that she was holding. It was good to hear from him that he held no interest in the girl, except how useful she was to him. With knowledge that her biggest competition was well behind her, it bolstered her confidence and looked back down at William, whose eyes held amusement and a knowing look within them. "And what do you think about me?"

She listened to him chuckle, and then spoke in a whisper as he stared into her eyes, "Yes Sukie…I fancy you."

She flushed as he said her name and her skipped a beat when she heard him say that he fancied her. HER; not Daphne, not Juniper; HER. She was a very happy girl at that moment, and she showed it by leaning down and snogging the boy resting on her lap; enjoying the feel of his rough tongue as it played and danced around her own. Reluctantly, she stopped and leaned back up slightly, causing their lips to be just out of reach of the other and stared into William's eyes, which she could see was now hazy with the same desire that she was feeling, and spoke in her softly and what she hoped was a sultry tone, "I fancy you too."

"You still haven't explained why you're willing to help so easily." He said as he played with the strands of hair that had fell around her head, creating a curtain of raven black around them.

"Because I'm your best mate" she said teasingly, feeling bold in her new security as his interest.

"As far as I'm aware, best mates don't go so far."

"Does a girlfriend?" she asked as she brushed her lips against his.

"You're usually the sadistic wallflower; where is this Gryffindor courage coming from?" he teased.

She punched his shoulder lightly and softly spoke, "I'm not a wallflower." He chuckled at her replied, and gave his answer by using his hand to bring her back against his lips. Su Li enjoyed the moment, secure with the knowledge of her new position. She was his and he was hers; and anyone who said otherwise would see how much of a dragon she really was.

Meanwhile miles away, a group of four children were buzzing around on brooms above an open grassy field, as they flew to and fro towards two makeshift hoops that stood high above the grown. As a red ball flew through an undefended hoop, one of them spoke.

"Annnd, that game goes to me and Harry. The crowd grows wild as they cheer for him, and the most handsome redhead to grace the field." One of the redheads spoke as the four met in the center of the field and started descending towards the ground.

"I'm clearing the handsome on out of the lot of us Forge" Said an identical redhead to the one that spoke.

"You've clearly got a lazy eye, making me more handsome twin Gred" the addressed Forge replied.

"Your right leg is shorter than the other-"

"You've got a unibrow-"

"More freckles-"

"-and an overbite" They both said together as they all landed.

"Would you two quit it…and you only won because Harry has a better broom" the shortest of the three redheads grumbled as he gripped his broom tightly in his hand.

"Don't get Ginny's knickers in a twist Ronnikins, we were just having a laugh." One of the twins said.

"Yeah, besides your broom will get just as good as Harry's, and all the beautiful witches will come begging for a go at it-"

"-though with you comparing your broom with Harry's and wearing Ginny's knickers, you probably prefer wizards to come instead." At Ron's perplexed look, they both laughed.

Harry stood there watching the byplay with a content smile, though he didn't understand what the two were getting at, he knew them well enough that they were having a go at Ron, and even though he had only been here for a few hours, he felt slightly envious at how good Ron had it; especially when you compare his family with the Dursleys.

He had arrived here earlier this morning due to the rescue attempted made by the three before him, with a flying car no less. His summer with the Dursleys had been almost as bad as the years prior. While he still got the most miniscule portions of food, he at least got the second bedroom where his elephantine cousin used to store his toys; however his Uncle Vernon had locked away his trunk with his school things and his wand. While he was worried about being unable to do any of his assignments, what had worried him the most was when his friends had seemed to stop writing him.

At first, he received letters almost daily from an ancient looking owl, that seemed to always time its entrance to when he was around his uncle, causing him to go through rapid shades of red from the 'unnaturalness' or the 'freakishness', and took his letters and burn them and locked Hedwig away, causing him to not be able to write back. That continued for the early part of the June and mid July, until one day the owl stopped coming, much to his Uncle's joy. He spent the rest of his birthday and the summer thinking that his friends thought that he didn't care to write them, and they did the same in response to that. That however, wasn't the case, as he learnt a few days ago.

A house elf that went by the name, Dobby, had taken to stealing his letters as a means to make him think that his friends didn't care, in order to make him want to not go back to Hogwarts. While the little creature wasn't clearly about what it was, he stated that there would be some great danger that was heading to the school, which caused him to immediately think it was Voldemort trying to get the stone once more. Thinking that was the case of the danger and having no intention of not going back to the place that he loved, he immediately refused to promise the elf that he wouldn't go, which had caused the creature to get him in trouble, and his subsequent imprisonment in his own room.

He came out of his thoughts as one of the twins spoke as he patted Ron's back, "You'll get it when you're older Ronnikins. Come on you lot, mum's probably finished cooking up a storm for lunch." Harry followed the two as they all flew out of the fields with Ron's grumbling could still be heard as he flew at his side, but it was indistinguishable with the wind bellowing in his ears. As they drew closer to the Weasley home, Harry took in the sight of the building.

The building was a perfectly good house, though suffering from wear, which was later extended upwards and built upon with another structure that was supported by thin support beams, and was lean quite unsoundly to the left. It was not form magic, Harry was sure the build would have collapsed on itself, but despite all that it still had a warm and welcoming feel to it, that Harry had only experienced at Hogwarts. As he entered the house behind the twins, and into the kitchen, he heard a gasp and then a red steak of hair disappearing around at door to the dining room, which was swing from its recent use.

"Ginny dear, could yo-" Harry heard a voice from the other said of the kitchen and noticed Mrs. Weasley standing there looking around slightly bewildered, "Now where could that girl have gone to…Never mind; George, could you bring the rolls to table, and you Fred, the teapot and butter." She said addressing her sons.

"Anything I can help with, Mrs. Weasley?" Harry asked, wanting to be helpful. He was met with a cheerful smile and a crushing hug, as Mrs. Weasley started leading him into the dining room.

"Thank you Harry, but you're a guest, just sit here for the moment, lunch will be right out." She replied.

Harry didn't have to wait long before the table was occupied; Mrs. Weasley sat at one end of the table with other being unoccupied, given that Mr. Weasley was currently at work. Ron last beside him, with the twins sitting across from them, Percy, Ron's oldest brother that lived with him, was sitting beside the empty chair that Mr. Weasley had occupied earlier at breakfast, reading a book while he started taking bites of his food without paying any attention to them, and Ron's sister, Ginny, sat beside Mrs. Weasley, sitting lower on her chair, practically hiding under the table.

"Ginny, sit up dear, can't have you going to Hogwarts with poor manners like that."

"Yeah Ginny, One Ron is bad enough." Fred, Harry thought, said as he tilted his head towards Ron whose mouth was stuffed with bread and jelly around his lips; upon feeling eyes on him, he looked up at them all and spoke with his mouth still full, "Wah?"

As Mrs. Weasley whipped out her wand and sent a spell that cleaned Ron up, George spoke to Ginny, "Speaking of Hogwarts, ready to take on your troll for your sorting and join your dear older brothers?"

"You're just making that up; they wouldn't make us go up against a troll." Ginny said defiantly before shrinking in on herself when she noticed Harry's attention on her.

"I wouldn't be so sure Ginny -" one of the twins said.

"-Harry and Ronnikins had to find their own troll-" the other twin continued.

"-In the girl's restroom-"

"-And bloody kill the thing." The twins finished together.

"Fred, George. Language!" Mrs. Weasley shouted at the two.

"We didn't kill it, that was William-" Harry said, but was interrupted by Ron whose attention was caught in between bites.

"But we did take the thing down so that he could." Ron supplied.

"Who's William?" Ginny asked shyly as she leaned forward on the table.

Before Harry could speak, Ron spoke up, "He's a slimy Slytherin that always flaunts how good he is at spells or how smart he is. Especially when he's in classes that we share with him, always trying to beat Hermione; he's as bad as Malfoy."

"And he's a slimy Slytherin that we've yet to successfully prank-" one twin spoke.

"If we didn't know better, we'd have thought that we were losing our touch." The other said.

Harry frowned slightly at the picture they were painting about Hermione's friend, but he didn't say anything or share his own opinions on the boy.

Fred was about to speak when he noticed something and spoke, "I think you've got enough elbow grease there Ginny." Said girl looked away from her stare at Harry and turn them at her brother with a bewildered look, before she looked down and noticed that she was resting her elbow in the butter. Realizing that Harry was now looking at her and was attempting not to laugh, she came as red as her hair and practical ran out the room with her mother trying to call her back.

With Ginny gone, Mrs. Weasley turned on Fred and gave him a look, "Why did you have to embarrass your sister."

Fred looked sheepish as he replied, "I didn't mean to mum, but she was hogging all the butter."

Harry struggled not to laugh at the expression on Fred's face. He may have only been here a few hours, but he knew that this place would be just as magical as Hogwarts, and certainly much better than any day spent at the Dursleys.

As he came out of the fireplace by way of the Floo network, he stepped through the pub that was lightly crowded and headed towards the entrance to Diagon Alley, and in quick order, he had the barrier open and was heading towards the large white bank of Gringotts, deep in thought. William's summer certainly was eventfully. Though he seemed to be spending most of it lately exercising his skills in cunning and misdirection against the experienced Lord Greengrass, the cunning attempts of Daphne, and Tracey's prying; the family as a whole were an interesting bunch, especially the charismatic and joyful little Astoria and the refined elegance, yet equally playful Lady Greengrass. He had managed to get this small reprieve when the letters for their school equipment came; Mrs. Greengrass wanted to put off their shopping until the week following, when there would be a book signing by a famous wizard by the name of Gilderoy Lockhart; not wanting to do his shopping during such a crowded time, William begged off. And then there was his time spent with Sukie, his girlfriend; a small smile broke on William's face at that thought as he approached a goblin at one of the teller stations, and started his journey towards his Family's Vault.

His time there was well spent; Juniper Li was an excellent teacher and skilled duelist in the arts of physical and magical combat. While they had only focused on the magical aspect of his training, he had seen as much of her physical capabilities when she sparred against Su, where the two seemed to go fiercely at each other; especially Sukie. He had never seen the girl fight so determined before, even when taking so much punishment from an opponent who was clearly outclassing her. While he was interested in the martial arts, it would have to wait until he could give it his full attention. On that note, his skill in transfiguration, combat magic and casting had improved greatly due to the training he received. The largest transfiguration he could now do were now Ursidae and the most complex were conjuring two suits of armor. Maybe it was due to his 'other half', but he seemed to have an affinity to the fierce felines, which suited his style of dueling just fine, but being able to transfigure large bears, would certainly help when strength and intimidation was needed over speed and power; while the suits of armor were still brittle in terms of resistance against damage, he had great control of them and they now moved in fluent motions, than the disjointed ones that first occurred when he tried. However, seeing the rigid motions of the armor felt instinctively wrong for him, and he was thinking about away to fix that.

In terms of his wandless abilities, that had hit a block of sorts. While he was clear in his intent and will with his magic, nothing seemed to take; his magic felt like it unraveled when he pushed it towards his hands with the intent of using a wand based spell, which resulted in a large wastage of magic, and random effects; that alone was encouraging, as he seemed to be able to recreate 'accidental magic', but it was frustrating that his magic seemed unable to do any sort of intentional spell, let alone what he saw possessed Quirrell do.

He stopped his deep thinking as he brought the chained Head ring up to the indentation on the vault, and watched as it opened, and stepped inside. Not much had changed since he last entered, except for the increased amounts of gold within the vault that brought a sense of pride and accomplishment to William. While a vast majority of it would disappear to fund the now signed contract, he would make it back soon enough, through the hold, and his plans with the stone that had come to him when he had first held the stone in his possession. The galleons used by Gringotts were charmed in a way that could not use them outside of the wizarding world, meaning, one could not sell or use them outside of magical transactions. This was where the stone came into his plans; he would convert iron into gold, sell that in the muggle world, and allocate the funds to both his muggle and wizarding ventures. Though, he would have to sell overtime in order not to inflate the price and ruin the market for the rare commodity, it would solve all his funding problems, and secure his House's wealth. The only problem lied with his inability in working the stone. Alchemy was as esoteric as magic could get, and a difficult field to master; he was not deluded in his abilities to understand it at his current level, let alone work the stone. But hopefully, the person he had in mind would have the knowledge required. As he stopped filling the magically extended moneybag, he moved towards the book shelves that were in the vault and start taking books on enchanting, warding and potions for both himself and his sister. Now that she was aware of her heritage, he had every intention of molding his sister into the powerful witch she clearly can become and bring her into the fold. While he felt guilty in thinking it, his sister would be a great asset in reaching those that he himself could not; like for instant, those that were currently in Gryffindor…Heir Longbottom and caught his attention a long time ago.

It wasn't long before William returned to the surface and made his way towards the various shops to purchase his school equipment. While he was well aware of Nymeria's desire to do his shopping for him, she had more important duties to attend to than simple buying books, and it gave him the opportunity to both check the apothecaries that he owned and carry out his true purpose for his trip. As he finished his shopping and was making his way towards Knockturn, he covered his head with his cloak and he noticed that his wand began to vibrate slightly as the phantasm of his 'other side' appeared with its muscular frame ready to attack in an instant, as it walked ahead of him. As he made his way through the dark alley, he keep his eyes and his magic alert, but something seemed to have caught the attention of his 'other side' as it stopped and looked down one of the darker side streets in the alley, and then ran down it. William felt a pressure on his back and head; similar to the pressure he felt that night he killed the Troll. As he cautiously turned the corner, he was met with the sight of a young girl dressed in the brightest yellow sundress he had ever seen, that it seemed to reject the darkness around it and give the illusion of casting its own light, being corner by a hooded figure and the phantasm of a tiger barring its fangs unnoticed by the figure with its back to girl in a defensive stance, who was staring airily at the space that his phantasm stood. From where he stood, he could smell the lust, excitement, and anticipation that was radiating from the figure.

Acting in the response of his magic, William silently casted his familial binding spell, and watched as the black chains wrapped bodily around the figure and pressed with a crushing force, causing the figure to grunt out painfully as he lost his balance, and fell to the ground. He walked pass the man struggling weakly on the ground as he started gasping for breath and approached the girl, while blocking her view of the dying man. "It's not safe for little girls to wonder down here." He said plainly to her.

"Oh I know, I was following a Nargle along Diagon Alley, when I was caught unawares by those pesky Whackspurts. By time I realized it, I was already down here, and when I started looking for directions back, a Nargle led me to that man and told me to follow him. When he led me down here, I thought the Nargle may have made a mistake, but it told me to wait, and then you came and stood in front of me, followed by you coming around the corner to defend me. It must be quite a amazing to be able to look left and right at the same time, I wish I could do that." She said with a dreamy tone in her voice as she rocked slightly back and forth on her heels, while beginning to hum to herself softly.

While William tried to interpret her speech, he took in the girl before him. She was blonde with an almost slivery appearance to her hair that seemed to reach her back, a full head shorter than him and had weird accessories acting as earrings. Her scent was hard to interpret, as it seemed to constantly change, but the one constant was the airy smell of dandelions and that she was content. He also noticed that she had wide and amazingly bright blue eyes that seemed to be staring dreamily at something off in the distance as she hummed softly. Curious about the strange girl, William used the opportunity to use his passive legilimens, and enter the mind of the girl, which resulted in him gripping his head from the massive headache he got the instant he did. Her mind had been filled his strange colors and whirls, and shapes, and lights and things that he could not interpret or fathom.

'What the bloody hell was that!' William thought as he gripped his painfully pounding head.

"You seemed to have an infection of Whackspurts; you need to think happy thoughts if you want to get rid of them" She said to him.

"What's your name?" William asked, intrigued by what was going on inside the mind of this girl and the things that she claimed.

"Luna Lovegood, and you two?" she asked in her dreamy voice.

"Two?" William asked.

"Oh yes" she said nodding her head rapidly, "The You in front of me, and the You beside you on your right, that's staring at you and me. That You looks quite beautiful by the way…not that You don't look beautiful too, but I don't think you'd appreciate being called beautiful like the You beside You would."

Her speak pattern was disorientating, but he managed to figure out that she was speaking about the phantasm of his magic…the girl could see magic!? Was that even possible?

"My name is William Cunningham" he replied.

"No its not." She said dreamily.

"Pardon?" William said curiously.

"You sounded like you were trying to convince both you and myself that is your name." she replied in her dreamy tone, causing William to visible raise an eyebrow. This girl was becoming more intriguing by the moment.

"You'll be attending Hogwarts this year" he stated more than asked. He was certain he would've noticed an enigma like this girl around the castle.

"Yes, I'm quite looking forward to seeing the castle and making friends." She said dreamily while staring into the distance.

"Would you like me to escort you out of the Alley?" William asked as he started ushering the girl out the side alley, while blocking her view of the dead body and filing away what she said.

"No, I should be quite alright now, and you have still have business to attend to. Goodbye William, and Goodbye to you too, William" she said as the phantasm nuzzled into her hand, and then started to skip her way up the dark Alley, her sundress still casting the illusion of rejecting the dark surroundings due to its brightness.

William began to walk to his destination, while occluding his mind from think about the girl. There were questions and theories upon questions and theories that were created from his brief interactions with the girl and the conceptualization of magic and his understanding of it. He would've brushed her tangents off as the ramblings of an imaginative girl, if he hadn't seen the odd things around them for her point of view. Even now, with his mind occluded, the girl and found her way back to the main focus of his thoughts, but that stopped however, as he opened the store with the picture of a Crow as its sign.

Walking in, he looked around, taking in the vacant store and approaching the counter, he rung the small bell twice and waited. It wasn't long before the ethereal beauty of Crow ascended the stairs and took in his form briefly before addressing him," My, little one, you have grown quite a bit since I've last saw you. And you've been quite the busy one; Killing Trolls, Poisoning Lords, Misappropriating ancient artifacts, Planning a revolution and Elevating Goblin Clans beyond their station; it warms my heart to watch a Dagworth at play once more, I'm practically bouncing in anticipation of what changes your sister will cause." She stated as she stared at he shocked eyes of the boy before her and tutted before she continued on to say, "Did I not say that I would be keeping an eye on you?"

While William knew internally that this should raise alarm bells to him, The calming presence of Crow seemed to have kept his normal reaction in check as he replied, "I didn't realize that when we started corresponding it would entail stalking; I feel completely unprepared." He finished as he watched Crow lean against the counter top facing him directly.

"Not that I don't enjoy the company of a Dagworth, but what brought you here; your eyes have been gleaming since you arrived, and I find myself curious as to what plots and schemes are churning I your head." She stated.

William mental asked Sashet, who had been a constant presence in his shadow since they gained the stone, to deposit it in his hand out of view and he held it in his enclosed palm as he spoke, "As you're apparently aware, I've recently fell upon an ancient artifact-," Crow chuckled lightly as he spoke, "-a few months ago, however I'm unable to use it. But it is my belief that someone as o-" William paused at the dark look that seemed to come on Crow's face and a warning from his 'other side' he continued carefully wording the rest of his sentence, "-Cultured and experienced…" the dark look vanished as fast as it came, and he carried on, "would know of methods or knowledge that I lack on the matter."

Crow leaned further o the counter and spoke, "And what's stopping me from simply taking it from you."

"The stone is unattainable an conventional means; even if you did somehow manage to get it, you seem to have a vested interest in me, and if not me, my family name; you wouldn't do anything to destroy the trust built so far, and you wouldn't do something so rash and stupid, when you are aware I'm loaning it to you anyways." William said simply.

Crow smiled as she spoke, "And what's stopping me from simply leaving with it?"

"You're hiding," William said, and upon seeing the small smile that still graced Crow's lips, he continued, "I may not know why or from what, but you're hiding. That, and if you are going to get the stone, you'll first swear an oath."

Crow let out a graceful laugh and then spoke, "And there is the hidden motive." A cheeky grin was on her face as she continued, "You not only wanted my services, but my name as well." She paused and gained a serious look on her face as she spoke, "Very well young one, I shall humor your attempt, but You shall give me your oath not to mention or speak of my name or communicate it through any medium, mental or physical, unless you are addressing me in my presence and we are alone."

William gave his answer by saying the oath with the listed stiplulations, and with a small flash of a blue light, it was sealed. With that done, he watched as Crow took out a serpentine wand, that was jet black in color, and listened as she spoke:

"I, Herpeton…."

And there you have it. This was a short chapter, but it was more of a transition chapter than anything else. I've got nothing to really say this time around, mainly because I want you to come to your own conclusions.

Please review and let me know your thoughts on the chapter and how I can improve.

Till next time.