Chapter 9
After turning back to human, Demona looked over at the stone form of her son, and beside him, the stone form of Constance.
She wondered if Harry realized the female was interested in him.
Demona had noticed it after taking her turn in the ring. And she was pleased to see that her skills were still sharp, even if she hadn't gone full out. In fact, Demona really only went full out against the Hunters, Macbeth, and Thailog after he had threatened Angela. Even fighting her old clan, she held herself back.
She may not have agreed with Goliath and the clan's point of view, but they were fellow gargoyles. And, though she would never admit it out loud, she did still care for them in a way.
But after her turn, in which Constance actually managed to give her a workout before she pinned the large gargoyle, she had encouraged Harry to take a turn. She did this both because sparing was fun, and she was sure Harry would enjoy, and she wanted to assess just how well Macbeth had been teaching their son. Harry had gone up against the gargoyle called Staghart first. It was clear the other male didn't take the sparing seriously after Harry pinned him in a matter of moments. He had then demanded an immediate rematch, which he did take seriously. But either Staghart wasn't as good as he thought he was, or Macbeth was doing that well training Harry, because a few minutes into the fight, Harry had Staghart in a chokehold, and after trying to escape for a few moments, Staghart conceded the fight.
As Griff stepped into the ring, having arrived in time to catch the end of Harry and Staghart's fight and getting Harry to agree to spar with him, Demona had caught a glimpse of Constance, and the speculative look on her face. That look was of more interest to her than the fight, which lasted a good fifteen minutes before Harry used his tail to suddenly trip the other gargoyle, and pin him to the mat. And even as Constance asked Harry for a match, Demona could tell she was interested in her son.
Maybe not enough to pursue him as a mate, but enough that she was considering pursuit.
To be honest, the red-haired gargoyle wasn't sure how she felt about her son potentially taking a mate. On one hand, she had just been reunited with him, on the other, he was at the age when, even if he had still been human, he would be pursuing a potential mate.
And from what she had seen, she didn't see anything she disliked about Constance. At least she wasn't like Broadway, she still had no idea what her daughter saw in the food loving male though she supposed her choices were rather limited in the Manhattan clan.
The match between her son and Constance was a good one. Although he ultimately lost, Harry lasted a while before the female pinned him to the mat.
By the end of the match, Macbeth had joined her on the sidelines. And after taking a look at the time, the two of them decided that they had best get back, especially if Demona was going to give Harry his magic lesson. After informing Harry about the time, and telling him if he wanted his lesson tonight they had to leave, Constance asked if she could come with them.
Macbeth had obviously been surprised at the request, but Demona had smirked slightly before agreeing.
She was positive Constance just wanted to know more about Harry, to determine if he was what she wanted in a mate. So Demona agreed Constance could come with them, and a few minutes later, the three of them were on their way back to Macbeth's townhouse.
After Harry's lesson, during which she covered several rune clusters (her son's knowledge in this vital subject was lacking, and she had lectured him about the importance of runes and her disappointment in taking divination just because his friend Ron had when she found out about this), there had only been a few minutes until dawn, and the two permanent gargoyles had gone up to the roof to change into stone, with Demona following.
And now that Harry was stone, Demona turned and walked back into the house.
She wanted to talk to Macbeth about both the London clan, and whatever he talked to Arthur about.
00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
Macbeth looked up from the desk in his office when Demona walked in.
He was going over his pay statements to insure their accuracy. Due to his longevity, he had built up a rather decent fortune and owned several properties around the world. Since he couldn't be everywhere at once, he had set up automatic payments with his accounts a while ago. But it was always a good thing to go through his records and make sure nothing had gone amiss.
"I suppose you want to know what Arthur and I discussed?" he stated, leaning back in his chair.
"I would," Demona confirmed.
Macbeth took a breath, unsure how Demona would take this. "Arthur is willing to aid me in dealing with the magical community. And since I know you don't want to deal with them, I was thinking that I could stay here in Britain, at least until Sirius' name is cleared, and you could take Harry back to Manhattan where it's safer," he explained.
He watched patiently as Demona considered his words. Finally she asked, "Are you sure about this?"
"Harry's more than capable of handling himself in a fight now," the old Scotsman stated. "He's not as good as either of us yet, but considering our experience, I doubt he ever will be. According to you, he's a natural in the air, maybe even better than you. We don't really have any more reason for him not to at least visit Manhattan."
"What do you propose then?"
"We confront Dumbledore with our survival, perhaps see if we can't judge his friends bigotry in some way, and if all goes well, Harry can see his friends on his birthday next week. Afterward, you can take Harry to Manhattan, while Arthur and I deal with clearing Sirius, and perhaps hunting down Pettigrew."
The gargoyle in human form was silent for a moment, before saying, "I don't see a problem with any of that."
Macbeth noticed the pensive look on her face. "What is it?"
"A thought," she explained. Smirking, she explained, "The London Clan has several mate less females. I was thinking of asking if Constance would like to come with us, and judging whether we could arrange for Lexington and Brooklyn to visit to try and find mates."
Macbeth grinned," Does this have anything to do with the looks she was throwing at our son?"
"Maybe," Demona conceded.
Macbeth snorted in amusement. "I never thought I'd see the day you played matchmaker Demona."
Demona shrugged. "Speaking of our son, he asked me during our lesson if it was possible for a gargoyle to be an animagus. Since I never became one, and you're the actual animagus between us, I told him I'd ask if you knew."
The old king frowned in thought for a moment. "I don't see why gargoyles couldn't," he admitted. "In fact I imagine it would the screw-ups would be easier, I mean gargoyles have a higher…tolerance…," Macbeth's eyes widened as he realized why the pain Demona went through at dawn and dusk felt familiar. "Demona, may I try something?"
"What?" she asked, more than a little suspiciously.
"The reverse animagus spell," he explained.
Raising a brow, Demona crossed her arms and asked, "Why?"
"It's just a theory, but if I'm right, you and Harry both might be able to become human at will."
"What, exactly are you saying?" the gargoyle in human form asked.
"I think all Puck did was unlock your animagus form, before forcing you to go through the change at dawn and dusk."
Demona eyed him warily, but took a breath before saying, "Go ahead."
Macbeth stood and walked around his desk. Raising his hand, and mentally wishing he had a wand, he muttered the words to the spell, only to immediately double over as the pain of being forced out of (or into for that matter) one's animagus form traveled over the bond between he and Demona.
When he looked up, it was to find Demona once more a gargoyle, though she was stone at the moment, probably due to it being daytime.
"Well I'll be, it worked," he muttered to himself.
He was about to try the spell again, but stopped himself. He wasn't sure the spell would work while Demona was in stone sleep. And even if it did work, Demona hadn't been able to enter stone sleep for a long time now. And she had admitted to him that sleeping in a bed was no substitute for the rejuvenating effects of stone sleep.
He'd let her enjoy it for now.
Now all he had to do was figure out the easiest way to teach both Demona and Harry to transition between forms at will.
000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
Meanwhile In New York
Owen Burnett, Puck in disguise, grinned slightly.
He might be in human form, but he could still feel his magic. And it seemed that Demona had finally figured out the secret of his gift to her.
This would make things much more interesting when the gargoyle returned from wherever she was.
00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
Sorry for the delay. But I'm going to be waiting two weeks before posting now. Between work and life in general, I'm not getting the time to work on this as much as I'd like, and my supply of Chapters is dwindling faster than I can add to the pile. And I'd like to at least get a write one, post one rate, rather than a post two, write one rate. I'm hoping a bit more time between postings will give me some breathing room.
And I know this is short, but the next chapter is a longer one. It involves some Harry/Constance bonding, and Demona and Macbeth finally revealing themselves to Dumbledore.
Please Review, Check Out the Challenges in My Forums, and the Stories I have for Adoption under the title, Please Adopt Me!