Chapter 15
The summer sun warmed the air surrounding Surrey's local high school. School was released a mere three days ago which meant no teenager should have had any reason to be climbing out of one of the school windows. Apparently two did. A fit young man dressed in a complementing claret tee shirt and baggy kaki shorts climbed out first. His dark hair was swept back into a low ponytail that reached about an inch or two past the base of his neck. Right behind him a young woman tumbled out of the window on top of him. Her honey-brown wavy hair was pulled back in a half ponytail. She wore a pair of short red shorts and black hiking boots with a tight white tee shirt that exposed her midriff.
"Well," Shiva asked excitedly as she helped Tai up to his feet, "Where to?"
Tai laughed and brushed off his shorts, "calm down, we need to take a little walk first."
Together the pair walked along the streets of Surrey, occasionally holding hands or stopping to look at something particularly interesting. Finally Tai stopped and casually leaned against a lamppost to face Shiva.
"Look over my shoulder," he said quietly. Shiva lifted her eyes from his face and gazed behind him. "Across the street and two houses over, there's a guy working in the yard."
Sure enough, Shiva spotted a shirtless, dark-haired youth pushing a mower across an overgrown lawn.
"Is that him?" She asked in excitement. Tai nodded. "Oh, wow! And he's just a kid. Cool. This is gunna be so much fun! Well, what are we waiting for?"
"Wait," Tai grabbed her arm, "We have to be careful about approaching him. Remember what I said? He's suffered a lot recently. I've only spoken to him briefly once; it was really just an introduction. Oh, that and there are people who are almost always watching him that he doesn't really trust at the moment."
Shiva blinked at him in surprise. "What—is everyone out to get this kid?"
"Actually yes," he replied dryly.
"Just leave it to me then," Shiva cried as she sprinted towards the property.
"Shiva!" Tai hissed angrily, but it was too late. The girl in question was making a beeline for the poor, unsuspecting lad.
"Hey Sexy!" She yelled as she went sprinting towards him. The boy looked up at her with startled green eyes as a faint blush touched his cheeks. Shiva's demonic hearing could make out a faint chuckle from a patch of bushes near some trees.
"Never again," Tai moaned into his hands. He took a deep breath, squared his shoulders, and stalked towards the nuisance he had brought along with him.
"Hi there!" Shiva smiled warmly at the young man in front of her. He looked as if he was only a couple of inches taller than her. His messy black hair fell past his ears and his bangs hung over his eyes. He skillfully blew a strand of hair out of his face as he quietly gazed at her with starting green eyes through his round-rimmed glasses. He wore extremely baggy pants that hung dangerously low on his hips, even with the help of a belt (which Shiva thought was very risqué) and he had a slim figure. His chest and arms were lightly muscles and he was a bit red from recent exposure to the sun.
"Hey," he replied unenthusiastically. He had turned off the mower when she arrived and was standing casually with his thumbs clinging to his back pockets. Behind his back, where Shiva wasn't able to see, his right hand twitched—itching to grasp the wooden stick behind him.
"So anyway..." Shiva continued, "I was chilling across the street over there and saw a potential sex god... which would be you... incase you're that slow. Anyhoo, I got this insane urge to turn you into my sex slave and thought I should ask you before I took you by force."
The boy just stared at her. Shiva sighed, and then realized she didn't ask Tai what his name was. 'Idiot' she thought to herself.
"So, what's your name? Unless you want me to call you sex god?"
Shiva smiled at the thought. A picture of Tai, the young man in front of her, and Isha as her slaves—wearing nothing but togas and collars on their necks—flashed in her mind. She quickly shook her head, trying to dispel the alluring image so that her horny demonic nature wouldn't start making any uncalled for decisions.
The boy paused for a moment before replying, "It's Reg, Reginald Fairfield."
Now it was Shiva's turn to stare. She knew he was lying; she could smell it. But something about the name was familiar...
"Shiva!"
Shiva and 'Reg' both turned to face Tai who had just made it onto the lawn by that point. 'Reg' seemed to recognize Tai by the look on his face.
"Hey, Harry. I am so sorry about this. She made me take her with me," Tai grimaced at the lame excuse, "Oh yeah! This is Shiva. Shiva, this is Harry Potter."
Harry visibly stiffened at the mention of his full name.
"But he told me his name was Reg!" She whined.
Tai looked at Harry incredulously.
"Did you get that off of 'Boy Meets World'?"
'Oh,' Shiva thought.
Harry grinned at him and Tai started laughing. Shiva unconsciously admired what a nice smile Harry had.
"So what brings you here?" Harry asked.
"You have a really sexy accent!" Shiva exclaimed, suddenly very excited.
Harry looked mildly confused for a moment, "Erm..."
Tai hit Shiva on the head.
"Stop it," he commanded. He turned to Harry, "can we talk about this inside?"
"Sure," he replied easily. He started to walk towards the house when he stopped and faced them once more, "Just agree with anything I say, ok?"
Tai and Shiva nodded before following him into the ridiculously clean house. They didn't make it five feet into the hallway before a thin, long necked woman heatedly swooped down on them.
"Who are these people?" she hissed at Harry while shooting Tai and Shiva dirty looks. Her eyes dodged around suspiciously and she craned her neck to look out the window, "You are not to be bringing more freaks into this house!"
"My headmaster sent them," Harry said calmly, "he thought I could use a little company. Don't worry we'll be quiet. You won't even know we're here..." and he breezed by her up the stairs. Tai and Shiva followed him past the woman.
"I can tell they like you," Tai said sarcastically as he eyes the small, dark room. Harry shrugged and picked up an oversized shirt from the floor and put it on.
"So you're a wizard?" Shiva asked him as she plopped down at his desk and rifled though his homework.
"Shiva! Get out of that!" Tai yelled at her.
"No, it's ok. As long as she doesn't hurt it. That's my homework." Harry said.
"Oh, WOW!" Shiva cried in excitement, "You use quills? And parchment?"
Harry laughed, "Yeah, we do."
Shiva went back to examining odd things in the room, softly voicing her amazement. Tai turned to Harry.
"So, have you thought about what I said?" he was, of course, referring to a while ago, when he literally attacked the boy while he was in Hogsmeade (apparently Harry was banned from it but snuck out anyway). Gennai had taken him there to witness the life of wizards and pointed out the famous boy when he was alone. It was then that Tai introduced himself to the youth (ignoring Gennai's protests) and tried to convince him to ally with the digital world.
"I still find it hard to believe you live in a computer." Harry stated flatly. Tai laughed.
"Well, it's not so much a computer than all the data collected and merged into a parallel dimension."
"Uh-huh..." Harry said disbelievingly.
"We live in a coliseum!" Shiva piped up, poking her head through a tent of a shirt and clutching the mass of pants that we're held up only by her hands. Harry threw his head back and started laughing.
"Shiva!" Tai yelled at her, "What are you doing? Get out of those! And you—don't encourage her!" he growled pointing his finger at the young wizard who was still laughing on the bed.
"Are these really yours?" Shiva giggled. She tugged at the oversized shirt that draped down to her knees. Harry's laughing slowed to a stop.
"Erm... yeah. They're actually my cousin's. I don't own any muggle clothes of my own." He said with a hint of embarrassment.
"Muggle?"
"Non-magic people," he replied easily. Shiva only nodded.
"So," Tai said, "will you ally yourself to the digital world? We're in a war and you're in a war; I think both sides can use all the help they can get."
"I still really don't see how I can be of much help."
"I can!" Shiva exclaimed loudly as she waddled to the bed.
"Shiva, take those damn things off!" Tai scowled at her.
Shiva ignored Tai and plopped herself right in Harry's lap. The British boy blushed a brilliant red.
"You're going to be an extremely valuable ally after you kick Voldemort's Ass. And before the war is over you will need our help. Hell—you need our help right now! Look at these clothes!"
Harry stood up abruptly causing Shiva to fall unceremoniously on the floor.
"Whoa, whoa, wait. How do you know about Voldemort? And what makes you think I'll kill him? What—I mean—are you a seer?"
"Yeah... how do you know that?" Tai asked guardedly. And why the hell hadn't she said anything to him?
Shiva rubbed her butt and stood up too.
"Hello," she said waving her hands, "I'm Shiva... the psychic demon! I've seen this. To answer your last question, no, I'm not a seer. And I never said you would kill Voldemort."
"You're a psychic?" Harry asked, "And how is that different from a seer?"
"Well, I move things around with my mind and get dreams of the future—"
"Wait—dreams as in premonitions?" Harry interrupted.
"Yeah, whatever they're called, I get them. And I can also break into people's minds if I want," she leaned in and leered at him, "Don't worry, this is the real deal, none of that shit Trelawny gives you."
"How did you...hey! Don't go through my head!"
"If you don't want people to go through your head my dear, you must get some walls up around it." She sang, prancing around the room until she tripped on the legs of the giant pants and went crashing to the ground.
"Just give it up," Tai said to Harry when he opened his mouth to replay, "She's always going through mine. Annoys the hell out of me."
"Yeah, well I have stuff in there that shouldn't be known by just anybody." Harry replied huffily.
"Don't worry about that prophecy," Shiva said waving a dismissive hand from her place on the floor, "It's all gunna work out for you in the end."
"I thought you said I don't kill Voldemort."
"Where the hell did you learn all this shit?" Tai exclaimed.
Shiva ignored Tai.
"You don't. You can't. His soul is immortal."
"Well then he's obviously going to kill me. Neither can live while the other survives... sound familiar since you went through my head? How is that 'working out' for me?"
"He's not going to kill you."
"Ok, now she's freaking the hell out of me..." Tai mumbled.
"So the war will never end." continued Harry.
"Yes it will. It won't last as long as the first, I can tell you that."
"Well then he must kill me!"
"He can't. No one can."
"I'm immortal?" Harry asked finding this very hard to believe.
"Not yet..."
This got Harry's attention. Tai, by this time, had long since given up trying to figure out what the hell they were talking about. He would beat it out of Shiva later.
"What do you mean?" Harry asked.
"I can't tell you that! It would ruin all the fun!"
"Shiva!"
"Let's go shopping." She said in a bored tone, deciding she was done with the conversation. Tai and Harry merely blinked at her.
"Come on!" She urged, heading for the door.
"Shiva, we didn't come here to shop." Tai stated crossing his arms.
"Come on. I want to play dress up Harry."
"I'd rather not." Harry said deadpanned.
"But I have a credit card and a master plan!" Shiva exclaimed getting a starry-eyed look on her face.
Neither boy moved to follow her.
"We're leaving now." Shiva growled sternly
Still, no one moved.
"NOW!" she roared at them. Her human appearance almost flickered. The two young men reluctantly followed her down the stairs and out the door.
"Wait a minute!" Harry exclaimed, grabbing both their arms and leading them back into the house.
"What now?" Shiva asked impatiently. She did not want to be deprived of her dress up game any longer.
"I don't know if Tai told you, but there are people out there—"
"Oh, yeah. Yes, yes, he told me." Shiva said.
"Damn it," Tai ran a hand through his bangs in frustration, "I forgot about them."
Shiva shook her head ruefully at the two, pondering males in front of her.
"Boys, boys, boys. When will you learn?" She threw an arm around each of their shoulders, "Women have the solution to everything?"
Without warning all three of their bodies dissolved into wisps of smoke, evaporating from the property of number four Privet Drive.
BREAKWhen Tai opened his eyes again he was found standing in front of the high school that he snuck out of earlier. Next to him were Shiva and Harry, the latter looking as lost and bewildered as he.
"What...the hell...was that?" Tai asked slowly. He turned to face a smug looking Shiva. Harry watched her expectantly.
"That, my delicious partner-in-crime, is called shadow walking. It's a natural form of transportation for space demons."
"That was wicked, that's what it was," stated Harry excitably. He was literally bouncing on the balls of his feet. This was the most emotion Tai had seen him show yet, "That was like apperating, only better! You have got to teach me that!"
Shiva laughed, "I'm not sure if would work for a human, but I'll see what I can do."
"Hold on," Tai interrupted, "how come I've never seen this happen before?"
Shiva grinned at him sheepishly.
"Well, for some reason, it doesn't work in the digital world. It only works in the real world."
Tai looked confused, "Huh? But that doesn't make sense..."
"I know, I know. But we really need to get shopping now. Harry, do you know any good stores?"
"Not around here, there might be some in London though."
"We don't have time for that," Tai argued.
"Then let me introduce you to the knight bus." Harry grinned. He pulled his wand from his back pocket and complacently lifted it into the air.
BREAK
"That was Awesome!" Tai exclaimed as they climbed off the knight bus. Harry grinned in agreement. Of course he might have been grinning because of the number of times Shiva banged her head on the window. He wasn't sure yet.
"So now what?" Harry asked, looking at the agitator.
Shiva rubbed her sore head one last time before linking arms with both of her victims and dragging them down the London streets.
"Harry, I've got the perfect style picked out for you."
"Merlin save me," Harry muttered.
Twenty minutes later, The-Boy-Lived found himself standing amidst racks and racks of dark garments, the load of clothes in his arms getting heavier and heavier as Shiva and a male clerk (who openly announced his sexual preferences with a few well delivered innuendos to a panic stricken demi-god) tossed the clothing at him.
"Alright! That's a good start. Try them on hunny buns!" Shiva said after she thought they had a sufficient start with the clothing.
"I'll say..." Rudolf (the clerk) murmured while staring avidly at Harry's 'buns'. Apparently Harry heard him because he threw a scathing look over his shoulder as he marches towards the dressing rooms.
"I am such a goddess!" Shiva praised herself. Tai rubbed his hands over his face and sighed.
"Shiva, I like Harry, I really do, but I don't want to spend the whole day shopping for him."
"Don't worry; I've got special treats planned out for all of us," she grinned manically. Tai responded with a groan.
"Oh My! I haven't been this turned on since... well, the guy with the ponytail walked in!" exclaimed Rudolf, effectively drawing the pair's attention the dressing room door.
Harry stood before them in a pair of faded denim jeans with a tight dusty red t-shirt with white sleeves and collar.
"Turn around," Shiva commanded. Harry rolled his eyes but complied.
"Mmm, will you look at that butt in those pants?" Shiva mumbled.
"Baby, I couldn't agree more." Agreed Rudolf.
Harry quickly went back to facing them with a glare.
"Well," Shiva said in a businesslike manner, "I like these. I think darker colors would go better with you; they would bring out your eyes more. What do you think Rudolf?"
"Oh, I quite agree."
For the next hour, Shiva and Rudolf had made Harry try on and model dozens of clothing. Harry seemed to agree with their assessment on the dark colors. He especially liked the shirts with dark-biased logos on them; they gave him a sense of defiance.
"Man, you are morbid..." Tai said with a shake of his head. He spent most of the time napping in a chair outside the dressing room, much to the young wizard's envy.
In the end, he left the store with about 7 pairs of pants varying from black leather to faded jeans to khakis, several shirts in black or dark colors, a couple of gym pants and shirts ("'Cause I know you'll be training for Tim-Tim (Voldemort)...right?" Shiva had said with a hard look), socks, boxers, a couple of belts, a pair of running shoes, a pair of black leather boots, a leather jacket, a jean jacket, a suede jacket, and at the last second, a leather trench coat.
"Shiva, I'm not going to need all these damn clothes," Harry complained as he walked out of the store with several bags.
"Oh, hush. It's good to have variety. Now its time for the fun stuff!"
BREAK
"This," Tai asked incredulously, eyeing the store they were in front of, "is the fun stuff?"
The three stooges were standing in front of a CVS pharmacy store.
"No, you fool; this is for those condoms you promised Angela and Griff," Shiva said as if it were obvious, "and we might as well get some for ourselves while we're here."
"What?" Harry asked in alarm, but he was already being pulled into the store. It took Shiva all but three minutes to come back to the counter with an armful of condom boxes.
"Do you really need that many?" Harry asked warily as they were being rung up at the counter.
"Of course! Some of these are for us for the next time I drop by," Shiva gave him a saucy wink before skipping out of the drug store.
"Let's go!" Shiva yelled as soon as the sun hit her. She broke into a run down the street. Tai and Harry shared a weary glance before reluctantly following her. A few minutes later they found her standing impatiently in front of a Tattoo and Piercing Parlor.
"Oh, Shiva...you cannot be serious," said Tai, but he had a grin on his face. Harry too was grinning, but he seemed more nervous about the whole issue.
"Come on Harold, you already have the clothes of a bad-ass juvenile delinquent, you might as well look like one!"
"My name isn't Harold," Harry stated flatly.
"Oh? What is it then? It can't really be just Harry, can it?"
Harry simply ginned mischievously at her before sliding through the door.
"Oh, that boy," Shiva growled and followed him in. Tai shook his head grinning and entered the store last.
BREAK
"Oh, damn!" Harry laughed, "I cannot wait to see the look on Hermione's face when she sees this!"
As he laughed, a glint of metal flashed from within his mouth. Shiva and Tai laughed along with him.
In the beginning it started out with a nose ring for Shiva (In addition to her already triple pierced ears), and getting both ears pierced for both of the guys. Then Tai decided he wanted a nipple ring, while Harry decided he wanted a thick ring on the upper part of his ear. Then he wanted a nipple ring too when he saw Tai's. At this point Shiva wanted an eyebrow ring. Then Harry wanted a lip ring. Two seconds after getting it, he wanted a tongue ring as well. By this time Tai and Shiva were firm believers that Harry Potter had an obsession with needles. Just when the man who worked there thought he could leave for his lunch break, the trio decided to get tattoos.
Shiva got a tattoo on her right hipbone of an intricate design of a Celtic wheel while Tai had a fierce, flaming phoenix tattoo (Harry described what a phoenix was) on his right arm ("Very mannish," Shiva said while wiggling her eyebrows).
As soon as his first tattoo, an Ankh on his left bicep, was completed, Harry demanded another one. The second one was designed after the Seal of Cagliostro. The tattoo was a snake in the shape of an S with a finely crafted arrow plunged diagonally through it. It wasn't so much the design as the size of it that was shocking to the two digital guardians. The tattoo was placed on his back stretching from just above his tailbone to the middle of his shoulder blades. Tai and Shiva's diagnosis on his needle problem had only been confirmed.
BREAKFour hours later, the three of them were standing in front of the high school in Surry.
"Potter, you're a real freak you know that?" Tai said, shaking his head at a very different young man than what they started out with that morning.
Flashback
After spicing up their bodies with tattoos and piercing, the three of them went out to eat lunch at a small pub. Then Shiva dragged the two young men to an optometrist to get Harry some new glasses. This was something Harry was all for. When they arrived there, small world that it is, the owner of the store happened to be a very good friend of Isha's, a fox demon. Disguised as a human, he was about an inch taller than Tai and looked about thirty with short reddish brown hair. Shiva, ever the so easily excitable, literally launched herself at him, asking an array of questions on Isha's health.
The owner was more than happy to help out any friend of Isha and took the three of them in the back of the store where he had a lab set up. There he had Harry pick out whichever frame suited him the most. Harry decided on a pair of small rectangular frames and the demon took them into another room. Twenty minutes later he brought them back out. They were tinted yellow.
"Try them on," Shippo (as he had introduced himself earlier) urged. Cautiously, Harry placed the glasses on his face and gasped.
"What?" Shiva and Tai asked eagerly.
"I—I can see your skeletons!"
Shippo grinned, "Look at Shiva, and don't concentrate as hard."
Harry complied while Shiva gave Shippo a hard look. Suddenly Harry whistled.
"Black lace knickers Shiva? Don't tell me you wore those just for me!"
"ARRGH!" Shiva growled as she punched Harry in the chest, whipped around, and punched a laughing fox demon in the stomach. She didn't need to punch Tai; he had held his hands up in submission.
"These are amazing!" Harry said happily. Shiva crossed her arms and grumbled her disagreement.
"Oh, that's not all," Shippo said, "concentrate on one of the bricks on the wall and picture it up close. Then think 'magnify'"
Harry did so and Shiva and Tai were able to see the glasses shimmer from yellow to blue.
"Whoa!" Harry exclaimed.
"What now?" Tai asked in interest.
"They zoomed in on it! There's a lot of dirt on there..."
Shippo smiled at him, "These glasses have six featured with a different color for each one. The first one is normal—just think in your head 'normal' and they'll appear clear. The next one is sun; they'll turn into sunglasses. Then there is 'nocturnal' where they turn green, 'infrared' where they turn red, they turn yellow with the 'x-ray' feature, and with 'magnify' they turn blue."
"Oh Merlin," Harry said, plunking down in a chair. He was still trying to get used to the fact that there were demons walking around. Shippo chuckled.
"A lot to take in, I know. You can change the intensity of each feature by concentrating. It may take a while to get used to so practice with them alright?"
Harry nodded dumbly before shaking his hand and thanking him profusely.
"How much will this cost?" Shiva asked.
"Just the regular price of glasses," Shippo said, ringing them up at the front of the store, "I have a feeling I'll be owing you in the future. Make sure to say 'hi' to Inu Yasha for me."
He winked at them before attending to other customers.
And of course, after the glasses there had to be the haircut. Harry's hair was still messy, but much more fashionably so. It was layered and flipped out from about the bottom of his ear to the nape of his neck. His bangs fell in his face, gently brushing the top of his cheekbones, and parted on one side a little just so that his scar was visible.
End Flashback
Harry just stuck out his tongue at Tai, tongue ring and all.
"You do look pretty damn hot, you know that right?" Shiva said, eyeing his butt in the dark blue jeans he was wearing, "A real bad ass."
"I'm not supposed to be a bad ass you know," Harry grinned. He fluttered his eyelashes and took on a more wistful, feminine voice: "I'm supposed to be the tragic hero."
Tai laughed.
"And what do you want to be?" he asked.
Harry pretended to think for a moment, "...a bad ass."
"Then that's what you shall be!"
Shiva smiled at them, still not believing her luck at landing two gorgeous men in her company.
"Well, I think its time to get going, eh?" Shiva asked, wrapping her arms around Harry's shoulders from behind. The two of them disappeared in a swirl of smoky wisps—reconfiguring seconds later in his bedroom along with all the bags.
"I'm serious about you teaching me that," Harry said. Shiva giggled and stepped forward and began playing with the collar of his shirt.
"I will be visiting again," she said. She looked up into his brilliant green eyes.
"Good. I want to see what you really look like. I heard that you were part demon..."
"Did you now?" Shiva smirked, playing along.
"As a matter of fact I did," He smiled, his lip ring moved as his mouth did.
"You know... I think you owe me a little pay back for all that money I spent on you today..."
Harry suddenly looked nervous.
"Um, I have lots of gold—"
"Not that kind of pay back," Shiva said. She leaned forward and quickly captured his lips with hers. Harry remained frozen in shock for a moment before deepening the kiss. It was a short kiss, both of them pulled away from each other after a few seconds, but it was fun nonetheless.
"You know, I'm liking that tongue ring more and more," Shiva purred, she glanced at the clock on his desk and suddenly jumped away from him with a yelp.
"Ahhh! I've got to get back to Tai! He probably thinks I've raped you! And don't think I won't!" She said heatedly at Harry's disbelieving laugh, "I will return for the rest of my 'payment'."
"Tell Tai he's got himself an ally," He said softly.
Shiva smiled at him before disappearing from Private Drive
DODODODODODODODODO... DUM
See? Wasn't that fast? Ok, as you can see I'm mixing a bunch of stories together but hey—whatcha gunna do right?
And it looks like Tai's got some competition...