Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or any of the characters whose names can be found in the Harry Potter books.
A black haired figure strode through halls of Flaeria. Like many creatures who attended the school his form looked partly human. The key differences however were the golden wings protruding from his shoulders and the set of metallic blue horns poking through his messy jet black hair. His emerald eyes stared straight down the hallways and he walked with a purpose. Occasionally a passing student would whisper to another that they'd never seen the boy before but generally his passing went unnoticed.
Harry climbed the stairs, heading towards East wing.
"All things grow." Harry said to the wall before the common room and it melted at his command revealing the dorms beyond.
Harry smiled as he stepped forward, trunk in one hand. Some people looked up to see who had entered and then turned their attention back to what they were doing. Glancing around the youngest Potter spotted two girls sitting in the corner. They both had long brown hair and their backs were adorned with wings.
"Fia! Heather!" Harry called. The girls heads shot up and their mouths dropped open.
"Harry?" Fia asked, getting to her feet, Heather at her side.
The younger Potter grinned, "that's me."
Fia screamed and jumped at him, while Heather followed more sedately.
"You have WINGS!" Fia yelled, looking her friend up and down while Harry grinned.
"No kidding," he replied and Fia glared and smacked him over the head.
"Nice horns" Heather remarked, also looking him up and down.
"Thanks," Harry smiled, revealing his fangs.
"OH MY GOSH!" Fia yelled "YOU'VE GOT FANGS!"
Harry blushed while Heather rolled her eyes.
"She's a got thing about fangs." Heather informed Harry. "She reckons they're cute."
Harry raised an eyebrow at Fia as she glared at Heather. "They ARE cute." Fia said fiercely.
"Whatever you think," Heather said dismissingly.
"What about acromantula?" Harry asked, referring to the giant spider creature.
"They're, sorta cute" Fia paused as she said each word.
"Yeah, if you like legs" Heather added and Fia growled and pounced onto her friend.
"Well as fun as I'm sure it would be to watch you two fight it out I'm gonna put my stuff away." Harry said to the pile of legs and arms on the floor.
"Yeah, yeah" Fia said, mock glaring at Heather whose hair was ruffled.
Harry snorted and moved towards his dorm only to be bowled over by Toby.
"Oof" he grunted as the cratach placed his hooves on his chest.
"AWWW man!" Toby groaned. "Everyone around here has wings now!"
Harry grinned, "Nath doesn't," he pointed out.
Toby grinned, "since when have I counted him?"
The black haired boy grinned in response before whipping his leg around to knock Toby's hind paws over and dump the cratach on the floor. Getting to his feet Harry grinned down at his friend.
"What was that for?" Toby asked, also getting to his feet.
"Knocking me over" Harry grinned and darted off before Toby could get him back.
--
Harry found he fell quickly back into the routine of things. The next morning he was up at five running laps as per usual.
"Two more laps to go," Toby panted, passing Harry, only one lap ahead.
With no breath to talk Harry could only nod, pumping his legs harder and giving a flap with his wings to get him airborne for a few steps. He'd found his wings could be used for more than just flying. He could gain some speed and endurance by becoming airborne for a few strides.
Collapsing beside Toby five minutes later Harry lay on the hard dirt, waiting for his breath to come back.
"Alright boys!" Meric yelled, coming over to them. "Get up, NOW!" Harry and Toby staggered to their feet, Nath was already over to the side, lifting weights. His muscles strained to lift the twenty kilogram he had been assigned.
"Toby, you've got vertical jumps. I expect to see you going over 2 metres by the time I get back. Potter you're coming with me." Meric commanded.
"Yes Professor," Toby replied, nodding to Harry he trotted towards the mounds of dirt that had been set up for the purpose of extending jumping height.
Meric turned towards the open plains and began to walk, Harry following behind. The pair walked for only a few minutes, till they reached a very open area. Meric stopped and Harry came to an abrupt halt behind him. Spinning around, Meric addressed his student;
"How much flying training have you done?"
"Um," Harry said, not expecting the question. "Not much."
"Show me." Meric demanded.
"Yes professor" Harry replied, extending his wings.
Taking a deep breath the dragon hybrid gave a powerful flap and his feet left the ground. With a huge amount of effort he gave another power flap and started to gain altitude. Three more powerful wing beats saw Harry hovering twenty feet above the ground. Feeling his wings begin to ache he levelled them out and simply caught some updraughts, circling aimlessly.
"HIGHER!" barked Meric from only a few feet below Harry. He was using his own wings to gain altitude.
Straining his weak wings muscles Harry gave another two powerful flaps before his wings gave way and he spiralled towards the ground. Plummeting fast, he open his wings like a glider and drifted the last few feet to the ground.
"Not bad for an amateur." Meric commented, landing metres behind Harry. "But definitely not good."
Harry almost rolled his eyes at his mentor but caught himself at the last minute. Meric never gave out compliments without tagging an insult on the end.
"For the next three weeks after warm up I expect you to strengthen your wings muscles. I'll check in on you occasionally but you're big and ugly enough to train yourself. In three weeks I expect you to be able to reach four hundred feet and be able to hold that for thirty minutes. GET TO IT!" Meric finished with a yell.
Harry jumped in fright, his wings spreading out. "Yes sir" he said and with one powerful beat of his wings he was airborne again.
--
Harry circled lazily above the grounds of Flaeria, enjoying the feeling of the wind in his hair. Two weeks had passed since he'd arrived back at school and his wing muscles were finally starting to develop. He had found that flying like this was so much like being on his broom, but at the same time it was so different. The black haired boy flipped in the air before going back to thinking. When he'd been growing up his parents hadn't let him on a broom. Their reasons were justified, thinking him a squib they hadn't been sure of the consequences of letting him fly alone, but still.
Harry dived suddenly and rose just a quickly back into the air, the harsh wind whipping at his hair.
Matt had always talked about how wonderful flying was, just being free, nothing to hold you down. The closest Harry had gotten was running through the forest, but he always felt like there was something he was missing, and he finally found it.
Doing a couple of loops, Harry settled into a gentle rhythm. He had been noticing the improvements in his fitness for his time at Flaeria. It wasn't like he was a slacker before he came, on the contrary he had been very fit, but compared to the exercise he did now, the run he used to do every morning seemed like a gentle stroll.
"If all your going to do is drift than I'm going back inside" Aidan remarked suddenly, swooping down to soar next to Harry from where he had been flying.
"Go ahead." Harry said calmly, doing another loop. "I'll probably be out here for another hour."
If phoenixes could roll their eyes than Aidan would have, but he had to settle for simply nodding his head in consent. "I'll see you later then," Aidan remarked, and he tipped his wings to take him back to the castle.
Harry sighed as his thoughts traveled across the sea to England. While he may have been born in the cold country it felt nothing like home. When he had returned for Christmas he had dearly missed the high temperatures of Australia and the friends he had made at Flaeria. His family was also starting to seem different. He and Matt had never been really close, not like the Weasley twins but now the difference was becoming more pronounced. With him not attending Hogwarts they had less in common to talk about, and while the silence wasn't uncomfortable it was noticeable.
He had begun to like the way the other students at Flaeria talked about their families. None of them lived with just their parents and siblings, they lived in packs or colonies. If he ever had a family he wanted it to be large, the idea of a colony appealed to him. Aidan said it came from his dragon blood, an instinct. Just as it was becoming natural to growl and spread his wings if he felt threatened or wanted to appear dominating.
"Harry!" A female voice called from behind him and the raven haired boy was abruptly broken out of his thoughts.
"Oh, hey Fia, hey Heather." Harry called to the Nymphs who had drawn level with him in the air.
"Me and Heather were going to go up to the Blue Mountains." Fia said, gesturing to the shapes in the distance that Harry assumed were the mountain range. "We were wondering if you wanted to come with."
"Sure," Harry agreed, nodding to the girls.
Fia grinned, "race ya!" She yelled and shot out in front, leaving Heather and Harry to catch up.
--
"Guys, can we break" Harry panted, his wings straining in the effort to keep him above ground.
"If we stop we'll never get there." Heather said, glancing back at Harry who groaned in annoyance.
Fia had suggested the three of them visit the Blue Mountains but the hour flight was proving difficult for Harry.
Clenching his teeth against the pain in his wings Harry gave another beat, desperately trying to keep up with Fia and Heather who had slowed down so he could catch up.
"Ahh," Harry grunted and his wings gave well fully. The ground raced up to meet him and he rolled on the red dirt, wings wrapped around him.
"Harry!" Heather and Fia exclaimed, diving down to their grounded friend.
"Ahh" Harry yelled, grabbing his arm as the girl's landed. He staggered to his feet as they reached him and promptly collapsed back onto the ground.
"Harry, Harry can you hear me?" Fia asked, kneeling by her friend. Heather was standing a few feet away, allowing Harry to breathe and Fia to work.
"Cold," Harry answered.
"Harry, can you hear me?" Fia asked again calmly, letting her healer training take over.
"Help me," Harry whispered.
"I'm trying Harry but I need you to talk to me," Fia said, reaching over to feel her friend forehead and pulling away when she felt his burning skin.
"Cold, wet. Help me. SOMEONE HELP ME!" Harry screamed, pain ripping through his body, his limbs lashing out. Fia flung herself backwards to avoid being hit by her friend arms, her breathe coming in short gasps.
"Heather, he's running a fever and obviously delusional. We've got to get to Flaeria." Fia said, her voice filled with fear.
"How," Heather's voice revealed her own fear at the situation as Harry struggled to his feet again, only to collapse.
"I have no idea." Fia said weakly as Harry managed to get to his feet and stumble forward a few steps before falling.
"Harry, you need to rest" Fia said, approaching the suffering teen.
"Help me," Harry whispered his gaze meeting Fia and she gasped in shock. His normally emerald green eyes had changed to a sickly yellow.
"Heather you have to fly back." Fia exclaimed, her eyes never leaving Harry's yellow ones. "I'll stay here."
"Got it" said Heather, already taking off and disappearing rapidly into the horizon.
"Harry, listen to me." Fia commanded. "You need to rest, you're sick." Placing a hand on his shoulder, she attempted to push him gently to the ground.
Harry ignored her, his wings stretched to their full span and he took to the air.
"HARRY!" Fia yelled, jumping up after her friend and taking to the air.
His wings beat hard and Harry felt his muscles spasm and he dropped a few feet in height but his eyes were fixed on the mountains, only a few hundred metres away and rapidly coming closer.
"HARRY!" Fia yelled again, her desperation clear in her voice. She was gaining slowly on her friend, but the fever had given him speed he hadn't possessed before and she was finding it hard to catch up the ground.
Harry's eyes drooped as he entered the shade of the mountains. The area was grassy and green. Shrubs and trees grew all around and the forest was dense. His ears perked up he heard a soft screeching, snapping his head to the source of the noise and took off towards the left only to be tackled by Fia.
The nymph grabbed Harry from behind and held on, her arms wrapped around him.
"Harry your sick." Fia said calm, "you need to land"
"It's so dark," Harry whimpered. "and I'm all alone."
"It's okay Harry." Fia whispered soothingly "you're not alone, I'm here."
"It's so cold" Harry whimpered, his voice beginning to again volume and strength. "AND I'M ALONE! I'M ALONE!" In a moment of strength Harry ripped away from Fia and dived towards through the trees towards the ground.
Fia dived after him. "HARRY!" She yelled, scanning the area. "HARRY, WHERE ARE" she stopped short.
In a clearing was a griffin chick, they were renowned for their tempers but this one appeared quite happy where it was, seated in Harry's lap. Its eyes were closed in contentment as Harry stroked its furry body.
"Harry," Fia said cautiously, approaching the pair.
The griffin's eyes immediately snapped open and it screeched a warning to stay back. Its eyes were the same sickly yellow colour that Harry's had changed to.
A burst of flame behind her caused Fia to scream in shock, causing the griffin to screech as well.
Meric stepped forward from the flames, his cloak billowing around him. His grey eyes scanned the area quickly before coming to rest on Harry with the griffin chick curled in his lap.
"Why am I not surprised?" He said, striding forward. "It's always one of mine that ends up in this sort of mess."
The griffin cheek screeched as Meric approached but he payed it no mind. Crouching mere metres from Harry and the griffin that both looked ready to attack at any minute he began to speak calmly.
"I know you're not well right now small child" he said softly, addressing the griffin. "and have not seen enough years to know how to speak but I'm here to help you." Meric reached out a hand towards Harry but the griffin snapped his beak at the fingers.
"The boy will not be taken from you." Meric said slowly. "But we must get you both to a safe place. You will have good food and shelter."
The chick seemed to consider this for a second when Harry piped up. "I trust him." He said.
This seemed to meet the young griffin's approval and he allowed Meric to help Harry to his feet, the griffin still cradled in his arms.
"Come here girl!" Meric barked at Fia who stumbled quickly over.
"Grap on" Meric instructed seconds before the group vanished in a burst of flame.
--
"He's running a high fever, they both are."
The nurse surveyed the two patients on the bed in front of her. They had been brought in minutes ago by Meric. The boy had been held bridal style in Meric's arms and a small griffin chick was cradled in the boys' own arms. At first she had attempted to separate the boy from the griffin but it had become apparent immediately that neither would allow this.
The chick had snapped widely at any attempt to touch him and the boy had growled at any attempt to separate him from the chick. It had gone as far as the boy had taken a snap at a finger that came too close and the nurse had barely whipped her hand out of the way to avoid being bitten.
So now they lay next to each other in the same bed, white sheet coving them both. Harry had wrapped his figure around the small shivering body of the griffin in an attempt to share his warmth. The shadow phoenix had also joined the party. He was perched on the bed head, overlooking the boy and chick in a guarding manner, glaring ever so often at the nurse who he seemed to have taken a great disliking to.
"They're both running a fever of 140°C, which if you're wondering is by no means normal for either of them. A griffin should have a temperature of about 126°C-130°C a fever like this isn't too uncommon for young ones, though this chick has obviously been alone for a while as it is severely malnourished. But the human" the nurse paused, her eyes flicked over the thin pale body.
"That is a totally different case. While his temperature is above that of a normal human it is currently 40°C than it should be. This alone should have killed him but he's also as malnourished as this chick. I've never seen a case this bad. Surely someone would have noticed if he looked like this." She addressed the man behind her.
Meric's eyes racked over Harry's thin body, taking in the sight of bones almost visible through the thin limbs.
"I saw this boy yesterday." Meric said. "And he didn't look like this."
The nurse turned abruptly around to face the professor. "This kind of malnourishment doesn't happen overnight. It takes weeks, even months to reach this stage. If what you say is right than it appears that this boy has somehow mimicked this griffin."
"And yet, the nymphs said he was showing symptoms before he even saw the chick." Meric replied.
"I can't explain it." The nurse said in a huff, crossing her arms. "I've seen some strange illnesses in my time but never anything like this."
Meric only grimaced, though most assumed this was his version of a smile. "The boy baffles us all."
A soft cooing woke Harry from his slumber. He felt a soft linen covering his body and the bed he was lying on was not his own. Opening his eyes warily Harry looked straight into the piercing yellow eyes of a griffin chick.
It cooed as soon as his eyes opened and pounced onto his chest.
"Oof" Harry grunted as the wind was knocked out of him.
"Nice to see you're awake."
Harry's head whipped around to gaze at Aidan who was perched on his bed head.
"Heh," he laughed nervously at the angry look on his familiar's face.
"You know, you could have at least sent me a message. I'm not picky I wouldn't have minded if it said something like. Gonna go find lost griffin, will probably look half dead when I get back. Don't worry. But instead I sit here wondering why you look like you haven't eaten in a year."
"Um," Harry said nervously but was interrupted by a harsh squawk from the griffin.
"Leave Sam alone" the chick squawked.
"Woah!" Harry exclaimed, almost falling off the bed in shock. "I thought you didn't know how to talk yet."
The griffin grinned up at the black haired boy. "Nah, I'm just shy Sam," he squawked.
"Sam?" Aidan asked, looking from the griffin to Harry.
"Yeah, that's Sam." The griffin said firmly, like he was addressing an idiot.
"I am?" Harry asked, feeling slightly confused as well.
"Course you are, you're Sam" the griffin replied, quite sure of itself.
"Um, actually I'm Harry."
"Hmm, I think he's right actually" Aidan said. "You do look like a Sam."
"WHAT?!" Harry exclaimed. "Since when? I'm Harry."
"Sam!" The griffin said firmly, looking quite cross.
"Alright I'm Sam." Harry said, feeling as though he was having a serious identity crisis here.
"So now that we've discovered that Harry is in fact Sam. Who are you?" Aidan asked.
"Me? My name's Brodric." The newly identified griffin said.
"Brodric?" Aidan said questioningly. "Mind if I call you Brod?"
"I don't mind." Brod said and thus, two people were renamed in fifteen minutes.
--
"So Sam" Aidan started as the trio of human, griffin and phoenix trooped out of the hospital wing.
"I'm never going to get used to this." Sam who used to be Harry remarked.
"You'll pick it up." Brod said from Sam's arms.
"And besides," Aidan added. "You're at a new school and got a new look. You need a new name."
Harry grimaced. "I liked my old name."
"But this one is cooler," Brod replied in his high pitched squawk.
"If it'll get me some peace than I'll be Sam." Sam said, through he hadn't quite acepted it yet.
--
"HARRY!" Fia screamed as soon as the raven haired boy entered the common room. She crossed the room in two leaps and stopped right in front of Sam, her arms crossed.
"Hey Fia," Sam said, looking slightly nervous.
"WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED!" Fia screamed, her eyes wide and slightly frightening.
"Um," Sam started. "You see,"
"He was helping me," a small voice pipped up.
Fia's attention suddenly switched to the griffin in Sam's arms. "I thought you didn't know how to talk?"
Brod gave a slight laugh, which sounded more like a screech. "That's what Sam said too."
"Sam?" Fia asked, cocking her head to the side.
"Not you too!" Sam exclaimed.
"Me too what? And who's Sam?"
"He's Sam." Brod replied, looking quite proud of himself.
"Harry is Sam?" Fia asked.
"To put it simply, yes" Aidan added.
"You do kinda look like a Sam." Fia said, slowly, considering the matter.
"Thanks, I think." Sam replied, looking just slightly put out.
"But I'm getting side tracked here." Fia said suddenly. "Now, WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED BEFORE!"
"Um," Sam started. "Well, you see."
"No, I don't see that's the problem." Fia interrupted.
"Well, I don't really quite understand it either. But Aidan reckons it's got something to do with the fact that my magic recognised the distress of another creature and bonded us together."
"Really? Could you sense that the griffin was in danger?" Fia asked in interest.
"Well, not really." Sam said. "I just started feeling like something was wrong and the rest is sorta blurry."
"Hey, Sam you made it out of the hospital wing."
Sam and Fia, whipped around the see Heather coming into the common room.
"How did you know he's now being called Sam?" Fia asked.
Heather shrugged. "Harry never really suited you, you always looked more like a Sam."
"Harry, you're back!" Toby yelled across the common room.
"He's changed it to Sam," Fia yelled back.
"He looks like a Sam!" Toby called back
"I give up." Sam murmured, accepting defeat. "It seems that I was destined to be Sam."
If anyone had been paying much attention to Sam at this point rather than talking about his name, someone might have noticed the moment where his eyes flashed gold.
"He has accepted his destiny" a deep male voice remarked.
"Indeed he has," This time it was a female voice that spoke.
"The time approaches when we shall meet, young dragon." The male voice spoke again. "And when we do, all shall be revealed."
Author's note: I thought I might post this note at the end so all you people reading this who are going WHAT THE HELL!! WHY SAM!! might be able to understand the method in my madness. Getting to the point; every story I write has two meanings, you just have to know where to find them. In this particular story, all the names have meanings, and it just so happens that Sam means sun child. And thus why at the end of the story when Sam accepts his name, the random voices come in saying he's accepted his destiny. And for anyone who wants to know Broderic means brother. The reason for this will become more apparent as the story goes on. But anyway, this chapter is the name change for Harry, from now on he will be referred as Sam. There is again a reason for this and it will become apparent as the story goes on. If you don't like the whole name change thing then my solution is don't read the story, though I'd appreciate it if you did...even though updates come so irregularly...Please review I like comments just as much as the next author.