Disclaimer: Harry Potter and Gargoyles belong to their respective owners, neither of which is me, I'm merely borrowing their characters. I am not making any money off of this story.

Author's Note: My sincere apologies to everyone reading this. I know it took a long time to get out but I went through a rough patch and it took me a few months to get back into a writing mood. My grandmother had been very sick and passed away over the summer. When that happened I was unable to bring myself to continue to write until now. I would like to thank everyone who saw my note in my profile and sent me thier condolences. I promise that the updates should be much more regular now.

Also I believe that the time difference between London and NYC is 5 hours, so if the plane leaves Britain at 10 am, takes 9 hours to get there, then they land at 2 pm EST. I also know that magic isn't tracked through wand use, but for this story it fits better, so I am using the wand tracers plot device.

Chapter 5

Heathrow Airport

"Hermione, I think we overlooked something in our plan" Harry muttered as they tried to corral their friends into one area of the enormous airport.

She shot him a glare and said "Oh really, and what might that be?"

Harry winced, neither of them were in a very good mood at the moment. When they had made their plans to travel the muggle way, they had overlooked one simple, obvious fact: Their friends were purebloods who had never been truly exposed to muggles and muggle technology before, both of which the airport had in abundance. Harry winced again as he spotted Ron exclaiming over a conveyor belt while Luna went on about looking for some creature or other in the device. Even Ginny, who had taken muggle studies, was gawking at everything. Then again, Harry wasn't much better when he wasn't busy trying to keep track of his friends, afterall the Dursleys never took him anywhere so he had never seen anything like the airport before either.

After finally managing to herd their friends into a lounge area to wait for their flight, Harry and Hermione collapsed into the chairs available. The others also sat down, but continued to look around the airport in excitement from their seats, though thankfully no longer asking questions that would get them odd looks from the other passangers. An older, dark skinned woman looked up from where was sitting nearby and glanced at the group. "First time flying?" she asked with a hint of amusement. She spoke with an accent, the teens noticed absently, as they nodded. "It's always exciting the first time. Then it just becomes boring and annoying, especially when your flights get delayed, or transferred and you have to catch connecting flights." She spoke from experience. "I'm Diane Maza" she introduced herself.

Polite and proper as ever Hermione took up introductions for the group. "Hello Mrs. Maza. It's nice to meet you. I'm Hermione Granger and these are my friends Harry Potter, Neville Longbottom, Luna Lovegood, and Ron and Ginny Weasley" indicating each person as she named them. "Have you flown often?" she asked Diane.

"Yes, many times, and please call me Diane. May I ask where you are traveling to? Where are your parents?" Diane asked as she took in the appearances of the teens. The group of teenagers had woken up late and had been unable to obtain new clothes to travel in, so they were wearing the best clothes they could find that would fit in in the muggle world. Hermione's clothes were alright of course but Harry was still wearing Dudley's old cast-offs which were ragged and at least four sizes too big. Ron and Ginny's clothes were frayed and patched in places, obviously second-hand, and Neville and Luna's clothes were mismatched.

Hermione correctly guessing what Diane was thinking, inwardly winced. The last thing they needed was for people to start paying attention to them. Unfortunately none of them knew any charms to fix the clothes. Hermione began with the cover story she and Harry had come up with. "We are going to New York. Harry has some relatives there that we are going to stay with. Unfortunately the trip was finalized at the last minute. We attend a boarding school up north, so all we really had with us were our uniforms and a few spare casual clothes, most of which are dirty. Our parents sent our luggage ahead and none of us realized that that would mean we had nothing to wear on the journey there. None of us wanted to wear our uniforms on such a long trip, so we scrounged through our limited wardrobe and that of some classmates to find clothes that we could wear today. I'm aware that we must look such a fright but it was the best we could do."

Diane nodded, it made sense but there was a something about the story that didn't ring true (after raising three children, she could spot bullshit a mile away), so she filed it away for later reference. "I am from New York. I've been abroad, tracing my roots in Nigeria. I am returning home now, to be with my family. If you like I could try to give you information, from a native's perspective."

Diane had said the magic words for Hermione immediately began bombarding Diane with questions, such as what's the city like, what is the weather like, what kinds of museums and libraries are there to visit, what are some of the historical areas of importance, is it safe at night,etc. Diane answered her questions as best as she could. At the last one she said, "The city is as safe as any city can be at night. My husband and son were both police officers before retiring, and my daughter is a police detective as well. No city is ever without crime, but ours is well protected and the crime rate has gone down in recent years."

This led Hermione to ask "Why? What happened in recent years?"

"Why, the gargoyles happened, that's what. Those beings are the best thing to happen to the city in recent years. They swoop down and take care of any criminals foolish enough to cross their path. They protect the city and those in it from the worst parts of society."

Diane's answer clearly shocked the teenagers. They were used to thinking of gargoyles as dark creatures, yet here this muggle woman was claiming they were good, that they protected the innocent. Thinking furiously Hermione asked "But I heard on the news that the gargoyles had blown up a police station. If they are so good why would they blow up a building full of police officers?"

Hermione's question made Diane scowl. "The gargoyles didn't blow up the police station, they would never do that. In fact that's why I'm in such a rush to get home. That police station was the one that my daughter works out of. I want to make sure she is alright. I know what those blasted reporters are saying about the gargoyles but they're all wrong. The gargoyles are good, and they caught the ones that were behind the destruction of the station. It was a group of people who were out to destroy the gargoyles."

The teenagers were really confused by the woman's vehement defense of the gargoyles and sat in silence for a few minutes. That is, until Ron noticed something creeping across his chair, inching it's way closer and closer to him, ready to take a bite out of him with it's venomous fangs. He leapt from his seat, screaming. "AAAAHHHHHH!!! Spider! Spider! Kill it, get rid of it, just get it away from me!"

The group shared a laugh, the tension broken, as Ginny reached over and swatted the spider away, rolling her eyes at her brother's fear. Even Diane had a chuckle or two over Ron's reaction. "That reminds me of a tale I learned while in Africa. Have any of you heard the tale of Anansi?" When they shook their heads, Diane went on to tell them the story, as well as a carefully edited version of the more recent tale that she experienced first hand with her daughter and the gargoyles. Eventually their flight was called to board the plane and the teens said goodbye to Diane as they went to their separate seats.

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Manhattan (Main Offices of Nightstone Unlimited)

Demona, now in her human form of Dominique Destine, paced her spacious office in frustration. "Damn it!" she cried, hurling an object from her desk at the wall, where it shattered. "Damn Titania for being bloody right!" She growled with a hint of a British accent.

She had been attempting to track down Harry for the last few days with no luck. None of her sources could find any information on him in the real world, the non-wizarding world that is, and it's not like she knew where to find any wizarding sources. She couldn't just waltz into a wizarding center, even if she knew where to find one which she didn't. In her human form, she had no way of proving who she was to gain access as she didn't have a wand, and in her gargoyle form all that would occur would be for a riot to start or a lynch mob to form.

Demona paused in her pacing, trying to recall Titania's exact words. 'You will encounter many obstacles in your search, so I leave you with a hint. Your son will find you. Even now he is with those loyal to him and working on discovering his past and heritage. But beware for he has enemies who will try to stop him. Do not leave this isle until you are reunited with him or you may never be.'

"So I have to wait for Harry to come here before I can find him. But he probably thinks I'm dead, so how would he know to look for me? What am I missing?"

Demona sat down at her desk and continued to ponder over Titania's words and what they could mean while attempting to get some work done.

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Preparing to land at LaGuardia (approximately 2 pm

"This was a really bad idea" Harry repeated to Hermione for what seemed like the hundredth time. Hermione gave him a glare. In her opinion, Harry was part of the problem, just not as much as the other four. Traveling the muggle way had seemed like a good idea at the time but they never took into consideration that the others had never really been exposed to muggle technology. When they had boarded the plane the others had began excitedly examining things again, like they had in the airport. The stewardess had looked at them oddly but had patiently escorted them to their seats (First Class thanks to the goblins) and answered a few of their questions about the plane.

The real trouble started when the plane actually lifted off. There was some turbulence, and several of the teens turned green. Ron and Neville had the worst reactions, and needed to use something the stewardess called a "barf bag". After that things got worse. With Ron and Neville feeling ill, Luna and Ginny became worried that the plane wasn't safe and was making them sick. Hermione and Harry tried to reassure the other four, but Harry had his doubts as well, having never flown in a plane before and not knowing what to expect. Fortunately the stewardess' started showing some movies which took their attention off their fears as they became entranced in what they were watching. They questioned and exclaimed over what was shown in the movies, much to the other passengers annoyance. Even Harry was excited having never really been allowed to watch movies at the Dursleys.

Once they had settled in for the flight, Ron and Neville had begun to feel better. Ron's appetite came back in force when the stewardess' began serving the inflight meal. He had three servings, that came back to haunt him now that they were landing. Now that the plane was landing the teens (except for Hermione and to a degree Harry) fears were returning. They worried about crashing, and Ron lost the meal he had eaten to the "barf bag" again.

Finally it was over, now all they had to do was exit the plane and make their way through customs then they could go to their hotel and try to find some answers.

"Next time I'm flying myself" Ron moaned as he waited for his stomach to settle. The stewardess' and other passengers were glad to see the group go, they acted too strange and asked the weirdest questions.

Finally the group made it through customs, collected their luggage and exited the aiport. Harry was unsurprised to find a car waiting for them. The goblins really did think of everything.

Flashback

As the group traveled through Gringotts to the back exit, Griphook turned to Harry and gave him a large packet. "Here you are Mr. Potter. This should help you in your travels. Inside you will find what the muggles call a debit card. You can use it in any store and the money will be taken directly from your vault. This will be very helpful if you intend to travel through the muggle world. Also included are reservations for a hotel in Manhatten as well as details on the provided transportation."

"Thank you Griphook. I really appreciate all the help that you and the other goblins have given us. Is there anything else you think we should know?" Harry questioned the goblin.

"Yes, you should know that the laws against magical beings are not as strict in America as they are here in Britain. Also, I feel that you and your friends have shown yourselves to be better than most wizards in your treatment of goblins and other nonhumans, therefore I am going to let you in on a secret. There is a charm on all underaged wizards wands that allows the ministry to track magic. I am willing to remove this charm from each of your wands. Also, as you do not wish to be tracked I will scan each of you for tracking charms and remove any I find."

The group of teens didn't know what to say to this. The ability to do magic out of school was a dream come true and Griphook's offer to remove tracking charms from them was something they hadn't even considered. They hadn't even thought that the Order may have placed tracking charms in addition to the wards. They quickly agreed and thanked the goblin profusely.

Griphook quickly removed the underage charms and a few minor tracking charms from several items on the teens before turning to Harry. "It seems Mr. Potter that you had many tracking charms on yourself but somehow have already neutralized them. From what I can tell it seems that a large magical backlash of some sort seems to have overloaded and canceled them, including the one on your wand." Harry was quiet, knowing that Griphook was talking about his first transformation. "In any case you are all "clean" now and nobody will be able to track you. Here is the exit, I wish you and your friends luck in whatever it is you are attempting to do." A section of the wall opened and the group once again thanked the goblin as they made their way through to an empty section of the muggle underground.

End Flashback

The group took the car, a limo to their hotel, The Hilton, where they checked into their rooms. The goblins had arranged for them to have a large penthouse suite with several bedrooms connected to a sitting/family room area and a kitchenette. The group picked rooms, and placed their things inside before returning to the main area to make plans.

A.N.: I know not a lot of action. The next chapter will be out soon and things should start happening then.