Chapter 6

Harry smiled as he raced through the air.

It had been a few weeks now since he'd been reunited with his parents, and Demona had finally decided he was proficient enough at gliding to not need her supervision anymore.

Of course, said lack of supervision had only come after chasing his mother through a rather complex obstacle course of buildings, clotheslines, and construction zones.

And now, he was gliding relatively alone. Hedwig had joined him, and the two of them were soaring over London. And while Harry did miss the sun, now that he went into stone sleep during the day, he had to admit, London from above, at night with all the lights shining, was a pretty amazing sight.

This…this was freedom.

When she had first explained that being grounded was the worst punishment a gargoyle could endure, Harry hadn't believed his mother. But now…Now he couldn't imagine a life where he couldn't glide.

Slowing down as he spotted a skyscraper under construction, Harry grinned. Harry may enjoy gliding itself, but, perhaps due to his mother's rather intense lessons or his own love of a challenge, he enjoyed the complexity of an obstacle course. Circling the construction site once, making sure there wasn't anyone present, Harry decide why not. There was no one present, and the beams and rafters of the building would make for a rather fun obstacle course.

Gliding above the structure, Harry tucked in his wings and began to dive…

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Constance was out gliding with Staghart.

Her rookery brother had fine white fur covering his body, cloven feet, and the head of a stag, complete with antler like horns. Like most of the clan, he had feathered wings. With a thin build, Staghart was also slightly taller than Constance.

"What's the difference between a lawyer and a snake?" Staghart asked.

Constance rolled her eyes. She loved her friend, she really did, but sometimes, he was just annoying. And for some reason, he had decided to share his rather worn out by now jokes while they glided.

He really needed some new material.

"You can trust the snake," she deadpanned, having heard the joke many, many times before.

Staghart, or Amp as he preferred to be called (yet only he did), huffed. "You're supposed to let me tell the punchline," he chastised.

"Then by all that is good and holy, get some new jokes," she told him, grinning for the first time since he started telling jokes. When she didn't get a response, she looked back at him. "Staghart?"

The male's attention was focused away from her. Pointing towards a skyscraper under construction, he said, "Is that another gargoyle?"

Constance focused on the building her friend was pointing at. Sure enough, she spotted a gargoyle weaving through the ironwork. Following close behind it was a white…something. She and Staghart were too far away to make out any details aside from the general shape of a gargoyle, with pale blue coloring.

"No one in our clan has that coloring," she said, knowing this since, as Clan Second, it was her job to know, if not the name then appearance, of every gargoyle in the clan. After a moment of thought she grinned, "I suppose we'd better introduce ourselves."

The two gargoyles adjusted their flight path towards the building.

As they got closer, they we able to see the tight turns and maneuvers this new gargoyle was pulling. They also noticed the white thing following him was a snowy white owl.

"Whoever this is, they're good," Staghart commented.

Constance knew he was correct. She knew that neither of them could pull the sudden turn around an I-beam and descent this strange gargoyle had, at least not in the cramped conditions of a building under construction. In fact, she doubted most of the clan could pull the maneuvers.

The two gargoyles watched this strange gargoyle and owl for a few more moments, until he glided clear of the building, not to far from where they were circling.

"That's some pretty impressive gliding," Constance said, drawing his attention to them.

He looked startled, clearly having not seen them.

"You're gargoyles!" he said, sounding stunned.

Staghart snorted. "Of course we are," he said amusedly. "What else did you expect, flying hamsters?"

Rolling her eyes, Constance said, "Ignore him. For some reason he thinks he's funny, despite all of his jokes being outdated or idiotic."

"Hey!" the antlered gargoyle protested.

"I'm Constance, and this idiot is Staghart," Constance introduced them.

"But everyone calls me Amp," Staghart added.

The female snorted. "Only he calls himself Amp," she told the blue skinned gargoyle.

"Harry," the Gargoyle introduced himself. "And sorry about my reaction. It's just that, aside from my mother, I've never seen another gargoyle."

"Sorry to hear that," Constance said truthfully. She knew that, aside from her own clan which actually had to restrict breeding so that couples only laid two eggs instead of the possible three, that there were few clans left, and that those clans weren't necessarily the most prosperous. Since it was a bit rude to talk on the wing, unless you were close or working together, Constance pointed down at one of the rooftops. "Why don't we land and talk some more?"

"I'd like that," the now identified Harry said.

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Macbeth was getting irritated with himself.

Ever since he regained his memories of being James, the shared pain of Demona's transformations kept reminding him of something. It was a problem that kept irritating him, even if he kept in the back of his mind.

He'd already asked Demona if there was anything familiar about the pain.

Let's just say that her rather scathing remark was actually quite restrained. The look she gave him however was anything but, and Macbeth considered himself lucky they were, well he still wasn't sure what to call their little truce. And it kept Macbeth from pushing the issue.

He felt his eyes drawn to a small knick-knack in his office.

It was a bronze statue of a stag. He smiled fondly, recalling running as a stag with Sirius, Remus, and even Peter. Those were fun days.

As his thoughts turned back to his musings on why that pain was familiar, he resolved to go out some time and change into his animagus form. He hadn't done it since regaining his memories, and he had always enjoyed it.

There was something freeing about running through the woods as a stag. He imagined Harry and Demona got a similar feeling from gliding.

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Once they landed, Constance was able to get a better look at Harry, and the snowy white owl that perched itself on his shoulder.

He looked to be about her and Staghart's age. He had messy black hair that it looked like he was trying to grow out and deep green eyes. His browridge was rather prominent, with rather defined points towards the outside of his head. His ears were elfin in appearance, being longer and pointed. He was also thin, though as with all gargoyles he was clearly muscular. But his muscle definition would be considered average amongst gargoyles. Spurs protruded from the top of both his knees and extended from his elbows. And his wings were like Constance's own, leathery, with a small hand-like appendage. And his tail was thick, long, and muscular, very much unlike most of the London clan, whose tails tended to be rather short, if they had them at all.

He wore what appeared to be a black loincloth, held up with a heavy belt.

All in all, he appeared to be a perfectly healthy gargoyle, probably of Scottish descent if she remembered her lessons on gargoyle appearances correctly.

She watched as the owl lightly nipped his ear, and he smiled. "Sorry girl," he apologized, reaching up and stroking the bird's feathers. Looking over at her and Staghart, he said, "I almost forgot to introduce you to Hedwig. She's my best friend, and the smartest owl I have ever met."

The owl seemed to stand straighter, if that was possible, and stare regally at the English gargoyles.

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After introducing Hedwig, Harry took a good look at the two new gargoyles.

The male, Staghart, looked to be built similarly to himself, in terms of body shape. Though his body appeared to be covered in fine white fur. He had cloven hooves, instead of taloned feet, which Harry imagined made scaling building a bit more difficult. His wings were featured, and didn't appear to have a talon or fingers on them. His head resembled a stag, even having horns that resembled antlers, if they weren't actually antlers. His eyes appeared to be a light blue. And he appeared to be wearing what harry thought was a blue spandex with gold trimming. If he had a tail, it was rather short as Harry couldn't see it from the position he was in.

The female, Constance, was much more muscular than him or his mother. And while in the air, he'd mistaken her for being fat, now that they were standing on the ground, or a rooftop as the case may be, he noticed she actually had a slight hourglass like figure. Her head resembled that of a boars, complete with tusk, with dark brown, almost black, eyes. She had strawberry-blonde hair that was pulled into pigtails, and matching tufts of hair on her outer forearms. Her hide was a light brown, almost tan color, though her wings, which resembled his own, were a slightly darker brown on the inside (similar to how his and his mothers were a slightly darker blue). He had managed to get a glimpse of her tail, which was short and barely fell to her knees, which had a small tuft of hair on the end. There were only three talons on either foot, one of which resided on her inner angle, that were dark brown in color and actually looked quite sturdy. She wore a green tunic that made Harry think of a dress, with thigh-high slits on both sides, for some reason. She also appeared to be wearing bracelets on both wrist, and a matching belt.

After seeing himself and his mother, and having his sister Angela described to him (along with the rest of the Manhattan clan), neither resembled what he expected other gargoyles to resemble.

"She's beautiful," Constance said, smiling at Hedwig.

"A bit full of herself though," Staghart commented, earning him a reproachful look from the owl, as well as a light slap to the back of the head from Constance.

Hedwig barked approvingly at the female gargoyle's actions.

"So what brings you to London," Constance asked.

Harry hesitated slightly. "I'm not sure how to explain it," he said, after a moment. "But my parents and I are staying in London for a while."

"Parents?" Staghart questioned. "I thought you said the only gargoyle you'd seen besides yourself was your mother?"

Harry winced slightly. "That has to do with the 'not sure how to explain it,' I mentioned. And to be honest, I should probably talk to them before I say anything else."

The two other gargoyles looked at each other a moment, before Constance spoke again. "We have a manor on the outskirts of London our clan uses. If you'd like, you can come and meet them."

"Really?"

Constance grinned. "Unless something is done to betray our trust, the London Clan welcomes all gargoyles. Though the last gargoyles encountered by our clan didn't receive a very warm welcome, but that was due to extreme circumstances."

"I think I'd like to meet a clan. I'll apologize now however if I accidently offend anyone. My mother's taught me gargoyle customs, but I've never actually used them."

"Come on then," Staghart said, stepping over to the edge of the roof, before jumping off.

Constance sighed audibly, causing Harry to look at her.

"He's my best friend, but he's always in such a hurry," she explained. Smiling at him she said, "Just follow me, and I'll lead you to Knight's Spur."

"Knight's Spur?"

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Hermione Granger sighed as she stepped out of the terminal.

She didn't really want to be here, but her parents were going to an international dentistry conference in Los Angeles and didn't feel good leaving her back in the UK, even with the Weasleys. So instead, she'd been put on a plane to Manhattan to spend the rest of her summer with her uncle and his family.

Her mother may not get along with her brother, but since the birth of her cousin, they'd heard from her grandfather that he had restrained his tendencies a bit.

Besides, they may not get along, but that didn't mean her mother and uncle didn't love one another. And her parents felt better leaving her with family. And frankly, her grandfather was getting a bit old, and lived in a small town with little to do. At least in Manhattan, her parents were sure her uncle could find something to keep Hermione occupied, besides worrying about her missing friend.

She noticed her uncle standing next to a blonde man over by baggage claim. The blonde was holding a sign proclaiming 'Hermione Granger.'

Walking towards them, she noticed her uncle smile. "Hello Hermione. You're looking good. And I swear you're the spitting image of Diana," he said, referring to her mother. He gestured to the man beside them. This is my assistant, Owen Burnett."

"Hello Uncle David, Mr. Burnett." She greeted. "I just need to grab my bags."

"Very well," her uncle said. "Owen?"

"Right away sir." The blonde turned to Hermione and said, "If you would come with me, and point out your bags, we can be under way shortly."

Raising an eyebrow at her smirking uncle, Hermione followed his assistant.

Staying with her uncle, David Xanatos, would certainly be interesting.

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"I'm sure he's fine," Macbeth tried to reassure Demona as the two stood on the roof.

There was less than half hour until sunrise, and Harry had yet to return from his glide. And while Demona had been caught out before dawn before, this was her son, who until a few weeks ago had been human, who was missing.

"Are you trying to convince me or yourself," the redhead replied, not taking her gaze from the skies as she searched them for her missing son.

The old king sighed, but resumed his own search. Demona did have a point after all.

Then a few moments later, he spotted the blue form of his son. "There!" he yelled, drawing Demona's attention to the direction he was pointing.

The two parents watched as their son raced towards them, and as soon as he landed, Demona demanded, "Where were you? Do you have any idea how close you're cutting it? Sunrise is almost here."

"I'm sorry," Harry apologized. "I lost track of time. But…I met King Arthur."

"What?" Macbeth asked, wondering if Harry had indeed met Arthur. He himself had met the legendary king, and he wouldn't blame Harry if he lost time talking to the man.

The old Scotsman may have turned down Arthur's offer for a place at his side as a knight, but that didn't mean he didn't respect the man.

Just as Harry opened his mouth to respond, the sun broke over the horizon, turning him to stone, and turning Demona human as both she and Macbeth were wracked with pain.

As soon as the pain of her transformation was done, Demona looked back at Harry and sighed. She wouldn't find anything else out about Harry's lateness until sundown. Looking over at Macbeth she asked, "Do you have any idea what he meant when he said he meat King Arthur?"

"The man's real," Macbeth said. "I actually met him, and raced against him to retrieve Excalibur. He seemed to know me, though I can't say I remember meeting him before then. If Harry met the man, I understand why he's so late."

"And if it's an imposter?" Demona asked.

Macbeth grinned, though there was no mirth in his smile. "Then I'll make sure the man wishes he'd never lived."

If this King Arthur was an impersonator trying to use his son, Macbeth would deal with it personally. Not only would he protect his son, but he respected Arthur too much to allow such a blasphemy.

He did hope it was the real Arthur. He hadn't really gotten a chance to talk to the other king during their last meeting, at least not beyond turning down his offer and a few taunts and barbs during their race for Excalibur.

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So I got a lot of comments about using Constance as Harry's mate. Some were positive, some were negative. I thing the most common complaint was that she resembles a pig. So I want to address a couple things. The first is that Gargoyles, while similar, are not human. Appearance is not quite as important to them as it is to humans, and what they find attractive is different. And while Harry has been raised as a human, he still has those instincts. That said, as of this point, he doesn't see Constance as attractive.

Second, Constance will be pursuing him. I won't go into details since I don't want to spoil anything, but this is partly due to gargoyle culture, and partly due to Harry being raised human.

Lastly, I see a lot of Brooklyn romance stories. He has a beak and horns, and of the main gargoyle cast, resembles a human the least. Yet he's more popular as a romance option than Broadway or Lexington, from what I've seen on this site. So my question is this, what's the difference between a beak and horns as opposed to a pig snout and tusk? I'm not trying to be rude, or single anyone out, but I think it's a valid question.

Really, I think the big objection to Constance is that she resembles an animal, while Brooklyn doesn't.

As for Hermione, I have plans for her. That's all I'll say.

Anyway, I hope you Enjoyed the chapter, Please Review, Check Out the Challenges in My Forums, and the Stories I Have for Adoption under the Title: Please Adopt Me!

And for those of you wondering, Harry's first meeting with the London Clan and Arthur will be explained in a flashback the next chapter.