Chapter 11

"My eyes are a side effect of a spell that was cast on me a while ago," Lily answered McGonagall. "And although most of the negative effects of the spell have been rectified, it now causes my eyes to glow red when I am extremely angry. Speaking of which," she turned back to Dumbledore. "I believe we asked you some questions."

Rather than answer the redhead, Dumbledore asked, "Did you really need to hit Severus?"

Lily's eyes flared red again briefly, and Macbeth said, "Stop evading the question Dumbledore. You have much to answer for."

Albus sighed. I couldn't acess your will," he told them. "Since you're alve, it is obviously why the goblins wouldn't release it. Without it, I had no proof to Sirius innocence, and since I could not remember who was to take young Harry in after Sirius, I placed him with his closest relative."

Macbeth glared at the Headmaster. It was a logical explanation, if it wasn't complete bullshit. When he'd gone to Gringotts, he'd inquired as to why his and Lily's will was ignored if it was believed they were dead. The goblins had confirmed thier deaths (no doubt due to something the Weird Sisters did), but no one had come to open the will. And the goblins were forbidden from opening the will by treaty with the Ministry (supposedly to prevent tampering).

"That's funny," the former king commented. "The goblins told me no one came to open the will."

"And you would trust the goblin's word over mine?" Albus asked, somewhat incredulously.

"Without hesitating," Demona told him.

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"So, what do you want to do?" Harry asked, as he finished putting the dishes in the dishwasher.

Constance paused for a moment to think. She was prepared to begin courting Harry, it was one reason she had wanted to spend time with him. He had displayed many attractive qualities.

His biggest appeal was that he was a capabable warrior, though not quite at her level. Despite being less skilled and weaker physically, he didn't take offense to the fact and wasn't intimidated . Sadly, that was something many males lacked, prefering to be the physcally superior in a relationship, or intimidated by her vastly superior skills and strength.

From what she understood, this was a common problem amongst human females as well, though perhaps not as prevelant.

On top of that, Harry was a suberb glider, the only gargoyle she had seen that was better than him was his mother, Demona. And though she wasn't exactly the best glider, her sheer bulk limiting what she could do, gliding was important to her. Though she supposed it was important to any gargoyle.

Skill at gliding was a highly attractive trait amongst gargoyles. Constance felt lucky that none of the other clan female's besides Una had seen him glide, and Una already had a mate. Though Una had commented that were she unmated and younger, she may have pursued Harry as a mate herself.

The London Clan leader had then smirked and chuckled when Constance possessively growled at her.

Then when one added in his magical ability, a skill that, while common amongst gargoyles, went largly untrained for various reasons; his talent in the kitchen, which was never a bad thing, especially when even the smallest of gargoyles could out eat a human; and his manner, which was polite, if a little quiet until he was comfortable around you, and honorable, as proven by his rescue of a woman who was about to raped while on one of thier glides, he was higly desirable as a mate in the female's eyes.

And while she was sure Harry liked her, she wasn't exactly sure to what extent. He may just see her as a friend, and have no romantic interest. He may see her as a potential mate. Or he may see her as a friend, and not realize he is already attracted to her.

He was a male after all, and males were rather dense.

She'd need to be subtle, to try and gauge his reactions.

Knowing that, she decided against going for a glide. As while that was subtle and enjoyable, it perhaps too subtle. Then she remebered the large hot tub she had seen on her tour of the house when she had first visited the home.

Communal bathing wasn't uncommon amongst gargoyles, so Constance had no hesitation in being nude with Harry. And while the hot tub would be big enough for the two of them to fit comfortably, they would be closer than if they entered the communal bath back at Knight's Spur. So she believed it to be a good idea.

It was more intimate than gliding, or visiting the clan's comunal bath, but not something so intimate that it was outside the realm of friendship.

Of course, as a gargoyle, Constance wasn't exactly knowledgable about the cultural diffrences between gargoyles and humans. And though she knew Harry had been human, she didn't know the human implications of what she was about to suggest.

"How about we spend some time in the hot tub?"

Harry paused as he was setting the dishwasher. Turning to the gargess, he asked, "What?" his voice a little strangled.

Constance frowned, hearing the slight change in Hrry's voice, and unsure of the reason. But she repeated her request. "The hottub, we could spend some time in it."

"But...we don't don't have bathing suits?"

"You mean those garments humans wear when swimming?" At Harry's nod, she asked, genuinly confused, "Why would we need those?" Her eyes narrowed slightly. "You don't bathe while dressed do you?"

She hoped not, but occasionally individuals had strange quirks. And while bathing with one's clothes on wasn't a dealbreaker to Constance, she wasn't sure how to deal with it.

"Of course not," Harry assured her. "But..we'll be naked."

Now Constance was wondering if Harry was slow in the head. That would be sad, as he appeared rather intelligent. "Of course we would be."

Harry's mouth opened and closed several times. Finallly he said, "Constance, I get the feeling I'm missing something here. But you know I was raised as a human right?"

"Yes, you and your parents explained it when we first met."

"Humans, in general, are only nude when they are alone or with thier...mate or possible mate," he explained.

Constance's eyes widened. "Oh...I didn't know that," she admitted. "Gargoyles general have a comunal bathing area. And while it would be considered improper to touch another unless allowed or mated, it is quite common that all gargoyles present are nude, man and woman."

That explained Harry's reactions so much. She didn't quite understand why humans behaved in such a way, but if Harry was raised to follow it...

"I can think of something else if you would prefer," Constance suggested. "Though I'll admit a bit of disappointment. The communal bath at Knight's Spur is often noisy, and it can sometimes be hard to relax there."

"That's alright," Harry assured her. "We can still do it, I suppose I need to get used to it anyway. And it would be better if my first experience was with a friend rather than a bunch of strange gargoyles."

"Excellent," Constance said with a smile. "You finish up with clean-up, and I'll go make sure the tub is ready."

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For once in his long life, Albus Dumbledore was at a loss.

James and Lily Potter alive were not in his plans. Nor was it in his plans that they have custody of Harry.

Sighing, he told them, "I am sorry you don't believe what I'm telling you, but it is the truth."

It wasn't, but he had nothing better was coming to mind. Besides, it was never a good idea to change your story when you were lying.

James and Lily looked at each other, and James said, "In that case Headmaster, I hope you understand that Harry will not be returning to Hogwarts. Good day."

The couple was out the door before the implications of what James said passed through his mind.

He stood and rushed after them, Minerva a few moments behind him.

But the elderly wizard and witch were just fast enough to witness James and Lily apparate from the castle gates.

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Constance had already shed her tunic when Harry entered the room.

He couldn't help but gulp at the sight before him.

Without the tunic, it was obvious that the gargess wasn't fat. Her muscles were clearly defined, and clearly visible. When she turned and smiled at Harry, he could see the slight hourglass shape in her figure, along with her eight-pack abs.

He also couldn't help but notice that aside from the hair on her head and forearms, there was no hair on her entire body. And that her breast were large, quite large by human standards, and firm; with nipples were a few shades darker than the rest of her hide.

"The tub is just about done heating," Constance said, reaching up and pulling out the bands that held her hair in pigtails. She looked at him expectantly. Finally, she said, "Are you going to take your loincloth off, or just stand there?"

He quickly realized he was staring at her, and looked away, removing his belt, and letting the loincloth fall to the floor as he did so.

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She didn't show it, but Constance was pleased with Harry's reaction.

Strictly speaking, it was rude to stare when bathing. But she took it as a good sign, especially as he wasn't running from the room.

As Harry removed his belt, she turned and stepped into the tub.

Technically speaking, the hot tub wasn't a hot tub. It was an actual bath tub, set into the floor. But it had heaters in the water to keep it warm, and a filtering system to clean out the soap and dirt.

Demona had mentioned that she'd made those changes magically, as well as increasing it's size, after she moved in, due to her gargoyle nature. Macbeth hadn't complained.

And as she settled into the water, Constance could understand why. It felt fantastic. Turning so she could see Harry, she was glad he was being so open to this.

Though she still wondered what humans had against communal bathing.

She'd seen most of Harry's body already. His light muscles weren't as defined as hers, but her was clearly fit. And the bit she hadn't seen, wasn't anything disappointing. She'd seen smaller cocks in the communal bath at Knight's Spur. And she couldn't actually think of any she'd seen that were bigger.

Regardless, she was more than confident that, should they actually become mates, he'd be able to please her. Even if he'd had a smaller cock, female's were rather elastic. As it was, if they ever did progress to that point, he'd no doubt feel like a tight fit.

As Harry stepped into the tub himself, Constance asked him, "So, what has your mother explained about gargoyle culture?"

In order to avoid situations like earlier she needed to know this. She understood Demona wouldn't have necessarily explained everything to Harry, it was the nature of explaining one culture to someone raised in another. You took something for granted, and forgot the other person had no idea about it. Even she may not be able to get everything out of Harry or explain everything to him, but that didn't mean she couldn't help.

Plus she hoped the conversation would get Harry to relax and forget about his apparent embarrassment, as he still wasn't looking at her.

Besides, maybe if he got comfortable enough, she'd ask Harry to help her clean her wings...

Maybe. Touching, let along washing, another's wings was a rather intimate gesture after all.

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I apologize if there are any bad spelling errors. I lost my Word Program and had rely on internet spellchecking when I reviewed the chapter before posting. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed.

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