"We need to make America great again!"

"I sense….a disturbance."

"I find your disturbance….disturbing."

"That gave me cancer."

"It should."

[Text as found written in Harry's first journal. This journal entry was found hidden in a hollowed-out copy of 'The Monster Book of Monsters', which was buried beside a bench of roots near the Lovegood home. The original copy now rests in Harry's and Luna's personal library.]

Just in case I die from this thing, I'm writing down what happened.

Day One of Mutation:

OK, this is weird. Duh, I'm mutating, but it's pretty freaking weird for a mutation. Trust me, I know. So, we need some context. This last school year I was injected with venom from a basilisk that wasn't exactly basilisk venom, yet I was somehow immune to it. Luna tells me that the poison could be different because Caroline (the basilisk) is a naturally born basilisk, which basically means two of those things had lived long enough to do it, (personally, I think that that's amazing). Luna also tells me that I could be immune because I am a direct descendant of Salazar Slytherin. For some reason, everyone who can speak parseltongue from birth smells a certain way to snakes, which could mean that I'm not entirely human, (no surprise there) which explains why this specific weird thing is going on with me.

So, I was injected by the poison and was immune to the bite. It flushed out of my urinary track (which hurt a lot) and eventually faded from my memory. However, it has had certain effects on my body that have increased in intensity until, just now, weird things are happening. Just today I woke up with intense pain behind my eyes. Well, more intense than usual (werewolves are sensitive to light). I checked my eyes in a mirror like I do every day and, lo and behold, my eyes are now slitted. I should have known something was going on, since I had an unnaturally large vertical field of vision. The green in my irises are now extremely intense and there's one other thing.

I now have three lids on each eye. The first that closes is clear, the second is cloudy, and the third is my regular lid. After a while, the pain died down completely, which was surprising since I had felt pain there for a while now. I think things are going to be OK, but I don't know if the mutation will mess with something vital, so I might as well record this. So far, the Lovegoods (especially Luna) find this new appearance to my eyes enjoyable and tell me not to worry, but Dudley finds it slightly unsettling.

Day Two of Mutation:

OK, now things are getting freaky. I woke up this morning to find that my scalp and back itched like crazy, so I got into the river and washed, only to find that a stripe of hair, from the base of my neck to my forehead, had begun to shed hair until it went completely bald. Also, skin on my spine, from the base of my neck to the base of my spine, had begun pealing to reveal smooth forest-green scales. Once all of the skin peeled, the scales meshed with the skin as if it were completely natural. By the end of the day, the bald spot began to show some scarlet red hair. I also noticed as I bathed that the cold makes me tired rather than wakes me up, and the warmth wakes me up rather than makes me tired. I'm starting to notice a reptilian pattern here.

Day three of Mutation:

In the morning the red hair had grown in. Luna loves it, and so does Xenophilius. Dudley is getting used to it. The mutations don't seem to be harming me, which is good because they have complete control over my body. This morning, I woke up to a very strange sensation in my mouth. I looked into a mirror and saw that my tongue was peeling off several layers of tissue. Well, if I didn't do it, my next meal would, so I obediently tore off as much tissue as possible, which was made much easier by the fact that my tongue can extend pretty far now. Eventually I tore off all of the tissue to reveal a long, black, and forked tongue. I also found that it fit perfectly into two holes that had formed in the roof of my mouth overnight and functions as a second, much more powerful nose. This thing extends about an inch further than my first one!

Luna would have explored kissing with that tongue if my teeth didn't begin to hurt like hell. By the end of the day, half of my teeth had fallen out with their roots still intact, and others were threatening to.

Day four of Mutation:

As I had expected, the rest of my teeth fell out overnight. However, I didn't wake up without any teeth. I woke up with a full set of triangular teeth. Where my canines once were, there are now two teeth that were bigger than the others. Also, I found out that I have no gag reflex and my jaw can dislocate in the middle, allowing me to open my mouth to extreme proportions.

Since the mutations appear to be snake-like in nature, and seem to have somehow been caused by my exposure to Caroline's venom, Luna and I both agree that I need to test these mutations out for poison and how they will incorporate themselves on my wolf form, if at all.

OK, now I've done the tests and have found this out. I bit a rabbit while in human form. It died seconds later. My teeth do have poison. In wolf form, my teeth and claws have poison, my eyes are still slit, and a long stripe of red hair goes from nose to tail tip. Luna finds the whole thing very attractive, to my relief, and all of my pain is now gone, hopefully for good.

[End of Journal]

Harry had just finished writing the last of his journal and put it down as Luna ambushed him with a hug.

"You know, I think you do smell different from other humans, Furry." Luna said, taking a deep breath of Harry's neck, feeling his bite scar, as well as his scaly spine. She then sat next to him on a bench of roots next to the river, holding his hand. Norberta was to their left, head and neck arching over, looking into the thin, slow, and deep river, hunting for fish. There were tall trees hanging over the river, and you could occasionally see a small leaf or twig fall into the river and slowly follow the current to their right. Dudley was under Norberta's wing, making a red flower turn purple and become much bigger. The overhanging trees gave the river and surrounding banks a green tint.

An owl arrived carrying a glass of dittany infused with silver. To check if it was real, Harry bit his arm without injecting venom, and then put a few drops of the solution on the wound. It sealed up almost immediately. The owl had already flown off because he had mailed the order with money, which was the only way they accept it. Norberta slammed her head into the water, thinking "I got one!" even though the others had never seen what Norberta caught because she swallowed it the moment she caught it. Cuddles slithered from the ground to rest on Harry and Luna's shoulders, saying

"Hello, you two."

"Hello." Harry and Luna said simultaneously, taking in everything around them and within themselves. Everything resounded as peaceful and calm. Then, they heard a 'SNAP!' from in front of Xenophilius' home, signaling the warp of space/time necessary to apparate. Harry and Luna guessed that they were there for Xenophilius and ignored it, but Dudley got up to see who it was and walked off. Harry trained his ears to hear what was being said at the house. He could hear three heartbeats other than Xenophilius' unusually slow one. There, he heard this conversation.

A man said, "Hello, are you Xenophilius?"

"Yes. Why are you here? Who are you?"

"We are here because certain spells we have placed here tell us of the presence of a basilisk."

"Well, I don't have a basilisk, but as long as you do not break anything you may search my house and the surrounding premises. That symbol….Why would the Department of Mysteries be investigating something that is obviously within the jurisdiction of whoever deals with magical creatures these days?"

Harry heard a beeping noise, a second man said, "Sir, we're picking something up." Harry turned around to look at the men through the trees. They were turning and walking in their direction. They walked past Dudley, intent on the device that one of them was holding. It seemed to be a metal box with an antennae sticking out of it. The tip of the antennae lit up whenever they pointed it in his direction. They got their wands out. Harry stood and drew his own and hid it behind him as he grasped his hands together behind his back. Luna did the same, sensing the danger. Norberta decided to stay put, preparing to ambush the men if things came down to it. Xenophilius was following the men. Harry felt their minds. They closed off everything except the device's readings and a general feeling of impending doom. He couldn't bond with them because right now their world was dark and evil. Harry and Luna strode towards them.

As they got closer, Harry heard the device beep faster and their hearts race with it. Was he the basilisk? That would certainly make sense. The men stopped as the device flat lined just ten feet away from Harry. They looked ahead and didn't see what they expected to see, just a small child with a funny haircut accompanied by a girl with almost-white blonde hair that went down to her waist and dressed in a simple yet elegant white silk dress. Then, when Harry got closer, they realized what the device was flat-lining for. They looked at Harry with round and terrified eyes, fixated on his slitted ones. Then one of them pointed their wand and Harry's eyes flashed in brilliant pain. Harry fell to the floor just before a killing curse was projected from the man's wand and passed through the spot where Harry's head once was. Harry shielded himself in electricity, anticipating another attempt on his life, but the man was already dead. All three of them were.

The men lay on the ground, twitching violently as if experiencing seizures, grey fluid (later confirmed to be liquefied brain) and blood was pouring out of their noses while blood and chunks of lung spewed out of their mouths, in sync with their now irregular and violent heartbeats. Luna threw up and Harry would have if he had a gag reflex, despite their past experience with gore, because of the smell. It smelled to anyone who hadn't already encountered liquefied brain most like a toxic-smelling mix of prune juice and vomit. Xenophilius didn't have any reaction to the smell (Snorting various powders to heighten mental awareness and magical ability was something he experimented with as a teen, effectively killing his sense of smell and making him inadequate at hunting in wolf form), but the gore made him throw up anyway.

Harry thought to Luna as she convulsed, "Do you think we should dissect their bodies so that we know what happened to their organs?" He got no thoughts from her, only a general feeling of disgust. "Guess not." Then he used a modified version of 'scourgify' to make their bodies and respective gore cease existing. Dudley was mentally scarred from the event, to the point of insanity in fact, but Luna repaired his mind by erasing his memory of it and then simply told him what happened without mentioning the gore or the smell. Finally, when Xenophilius and Dudley were calm, Harry, Luna, and Norberta explained what Happened to the men and Harry. They accepted it and then Harry began experimenting with his eyes. Luna wasn't particularly upset about the men dying. In fact, she was glad they died; they had tried to kill Harry after all. She was upset about how they died, though.

The tests revealed that Harry had to try very hard to kill with his eyes unless his life was threatened. If he closed his first set of eyelids, it only paralyzes the target. If the first and second eyelids closed, then the target simply feints momentarily. And if all of his lids are closed, then nothing happens. Also, Luna is immune to his gaze. During the tests, Harry didn't feel any more pain when the gaze activated, but he did feel particular warmth around his eyes, as well as a noticeable drain on his life energy. Anyway, no one showed up after that, strangely.

-oOoOo-

The days passed by and It eventually became time to go to Diagon Alley to get their school things. They left just after dinner time by apparition and got their money from Gringotts quickly. Just as they were leaving, Harry heard a distinct beeping sound coming from outside and went outside to see what it was. He looked in horror when he found dozens of agents from the Department of Mysteries entering Diagon Ally, searching their minds didn't reassure him, as he found out that they knew they were looking for a human boy, though they were unsure of what he looked like. They had orders to kill him on sight.

Luckily, they hadn't made it all the way to the bank, so Harry and Luna slipped the invisibility cloak on and the beeping from the devices stopped immediately. Luna explained the situation to Xenophilius with her mind. He was very worried but acted normal, heading back to the Leaky Caldron. All of the agents looked infuriated and extremely scared. They all seemed overly paranoid of everyone around them. Harry and Luna went to Knockturn Alley in order to avoid the devices somehow. Luckily, they didn't bump into anyone until the very end. A man grabbed Luna's shoulder while she was under the cloak. Harry closed his first two eyelids.

"Wow. You two seem to be in a rush away from those Department of Mysteries blokes. Care to explain why?"

"Why do you want to know?" Luna asked calmly.

"Depending on the circumstances, I could help you. I own a hotel nearby for the lost and unfortunate. We are especially suited to housing creatures of near-human intelligence as well as almost-humans, especially those that would otherwise be harmful to society. We are pretty rich so we don't need payment, but we do need labor. Now, why are they chasing after you?"

Despite Luna's warning, Harry said, "I'm some sort of mutant thing and they want to kill me. I accidentally killed three of their men."

The man grunted, smiling, "Yes, good, and why are you here, miss?"

"His fate is tied to my own. I am a veela that has been bound to him."

"Indeed. Follow me." The man said, striding off. They followed. "My name is Tiberius Woodrift. My wife's name is Aurora. Our hotel contains several not-entirely-human individuals. We have two married vampires, a werewolf that's leaving this September, and a runaway dementor. We also own a book shop next to the hotel on various non-human beings, many of them rare. Tell me, what are you exactly?"

Harry answered, "I seem to demonstrate snake-like qualities. I suspect that I am part human, part basilisk."

"That would explain the red stripe, I suppose. Male basilisks have the same thing"

"How can you see us under the cloak?" Luna asked.

"It's a gift some wizards have, to see past illusions that affect the eyes. It has helped me out quite a bit in the past. Are you two interested in soul magic?"

Luna asked, "How did you know we would be?"

"The bonds you two share are much more powerful than the average Marriage Bond, to the extent of sharing all of the bonds that you two form, which means that either one or both of you have significant knowledge in the field. I also sense that you two share several hundred soul bonds with others, most of them rare creatures or powerful magicians. I figured that you two would want to continue your education in the field."

"Yes, of course we would." They said together. Tiberius looked at them in humor.

"Oh, yes. Definitely Soul Magic. Anyway, my mutant friends, do you have any mealtime preferences?"

Luna spoke as Harry became distracted by a strange-looking bird that was looking at them through a window. "Um, yes. I prefer raw and unbled meat and am basically a carnivore. Harry is the same, but he can also eat live mammals whole as well as drink blood for sustenance if it came to it."

"Drink blood, did you say? Do you guys have anything other than basilisk in you? And, since you are veela, shouldn't you be particular towards desserts?"

"Well, Harry and I are both werewolves but we are able to control our lycanthropy, and Harry had just begun to develop his more snaky qualities this summer. "

"Really? Werewolves able to control their curse. I've heard of werewolves all around the world attacking humans when it wasn't the full moon recently. Something about a miracle cure that makes wolf and man become one in the mind. Those infected seem to be able to control it as well. Many are beginning to consider Lycanthropy a gift now, as the attacks seem to be targeting officials and other important people. The political arena has been shifting in favor of werewolves recently, though there are great conflicts among the people recently. There are still some absolutely terrified of werewolves. Unfortunately our other guest hasn't gained the ability to control his wolf form. Have you found out how to help him?"

"Well, I was the one that came up with the method that did this."

He chuckled, "This just gets better and better."

-oOoOo-

The hotel looked dark and dreary from the outside, but not run down. It was neat and clean, although the plants were dying out a little, everything else was fine. Harry repaired the plants without letting Tiberius know. They went inside and saw an empty lobby. It was very dark, yet finely upholstered, as if the common inhabitants didn't like sunlight yet still enjoyed creature comforts. The primary colors of the room were deep blue and forest green. It was cold, which made Harry very drowsy. Luna sensed Harry's drowsiness and held him close, trying to warm him. Harry appreciated this.

"Well, you two are cozy." A woman said from the kitchen, looking through a massive rectangular hole in the wall, the bottom of which had a table attached to it so that she could serve people meals.

Tiberius said, "Hello, Aurora."

"Hello, dear," she said. They hugged through the hole in the wall. The layout of the room was fairly basic. There was a fireplace to the left, opposite the hole in the wall, and a big couch facing it. There were a few islands of chairs and couches, the biggest being centered on the fireplace. There was a fire blazing and three people around it, eating something. Apparently they were having dinner. Actually, two of them weren't eating, but drinking. The one that was eating was eating violently. The other two were far from the eater.

Harry and Luna walked up to them. Harry sat next to the eating man and Luna sat on Harry's other side. The man was obviously a werewolf because what he was eating was a bloody steak. The man across from them that was drinking something red with a woman spoke,

"That is Remus Lupin. He's a werewolf. What are you?"

Harry spoke, "I happen to be a werewolf as well, but I am also part basilisk. Luna is a werewolf."

The woman spoke now, "How unique. What is your name?"

Harry thought to himself 'well, their minds don't seem hostile. Might as well,' then said, "My name is Harry Potter. This is Luna Lovegood."

Suddenly, Lupin stopped eating his steak for a moment when Harry said his name. Then he resumed eating. The drinking couple seemed highly interested in them now. The man said, "A pleasure to meet you, Harry. My name is Nikolai Dracula, and this is my wife, Isabella."

"Wait….Do you mean count-"

"No, that was my uncle. I am just Dracula." Now it became apparent to Harry that the red liquid they were drinking was blood.

"Hmm. Where did you get that blood?" Harry asked, now suddenly hungry.

"Over there." He said pointing at the hole in the wall. There were two pitchers; one with water and one with blood. Harry looked around as Aurora gave Harry and Luna a steak each.

"Eat up." She said, smiling at them.

Harry said, "I want to thank both you and Tiberius for everything you two are doing here."

"Well, thank you, dear." She said, smiling more broadly. Harry noticed a few bond threads form between them of their own accord. Harry pushed things a little further and, within seconds, a pretty solid bond had formed between them. Harry also got Tiberius, who noticed what was going on but didn't say anything about it. The Draculas seemed to have thick barriers around their minds, so Harry was unsuccessful in bonding with them. Lupin, however, was far more open to a soul bond than most people he had met, so it was only seconds before Harry could think into his mind.

"You seem particularly open to a Soul Bond. Why is that?"

After a moment of silent calculation, he gave an emotionless answer; "Are you theHarry Potter?"

Harry became slightly annoyed with the predictable line of questioning that he came across when meeting new people, but he didn't let that emotion slip through. After all, he was talking to a werewolf. Ever since curing the better half of the werewolf community, as well as becoming a werewolf himself, Harry was surprised they hadn't made him their king, or Alpha, or whatever you call a ruler of all werewolves, and wouldn't blame them either. He did just give them freedom from their curse. Hell, he would have thoroughly enjoyed the attention if it weren't for the fact that it was Luna who had discovered the curse in the first place, but he didn't complain for a very specific reason. It just so happens that, in the case of the male Alphas, they were essentially made the Alphas that they are by their spouses. Despite (and possibly because of) the relationship an Alpha's spouse has with the Alpha, much of the decisions made by the Alphas at meetings are usually rough quotes from their spouses. It's a rather amusing exchange that goes on. The bigger, tougher, male Alphas get the credit for their spouse's superior knowledge, and their spouses gain political power in turn (as well as some prestige amongst the other spouses). So, in the end, saying anything would simply disrupt this almost mechanical agreement between Alpha and spouse (as well as most of the couples in the werewolf community) which is not something that Harry wanted to do.

Anyway, Harry simply replied to the question with, "Yes."

"I was told to keep an eye on you at school."

"By who?"

"Dumbledore. I am Remus Lupin. Have you read my book yet?" He said, probably oblivious to the fact that Dracula had already introduced them, given that he was eating at the time.

"Yes, it was enlightening. Did you just say that Dumbledore asked you to keep an eye on me?"

"Yes."

"Why?"

"Because there is a killer on the loose, and we suspect that you are his next target. He escaped from Azkaban just after spending nights whispering 'he's at Hogwarts' over and over again in his sleep."

Luna's mind exploded with worry and Harry sensed the room become hotter as her inner fire kicked in. Harry sent her calm feelings, not wanting the building to burn down and using the energy surges coming off of her to feed her more romantic side rather than her angry side. It wouldn't do to attract the attention of the department of mysteries with a fire.

Harry said, "Well, that's a very dangerous thing for him to do."

Lupin looked curious, "I don't understand. He's a very powerful dark wizard. Last thing he did before going to Azkaban is killing thirteen people and vaporizing another. How, other than the obvious, is it dangerous for him if he tried to kill you?"

"My more snaky qualities allow me to kill anyone I look at." Lupin briefly glanced at his eyes for a second and then jumped as he realized the mistake he made, though he didn't drop dead. Harry laughed a little, "No, I have to want to kill you for that to work." Lupin looked vastly relieved. Luna, distracted from her paranoid mental search around the room by this, giggled happily, leaning on Harry now. Then, in a thought to Harry, Luna said,

"For a second I felt a life form unlike anything I have sensed."

"Perhaps you felt the dementor that Tiberius was talking about."

"Do you want to ask about it?"

Harry then asked Lupin, "Hey, what's a dementor?"

Lupin replied simply, "A dementor is a very dark creature that siphons the happiness out of people. It is one of the foulest creatures you can encounter in the wizarding world. I heard that Tiberius was housing one here. Is that true?"

Tiberius interrupted, "Yes, that is true, and don't call them foul. Dementors are terribly misunderstood creatures. The dementor upstairs is here because it is running away from the Ministry, just like Harry. She is on the run for refusing to give the dementor's kiss to someone she sensed was innocent."

Lupin then said, "Well, if they're so good and everything, then why isn't she down here with us?"

"Because she can only hold her aura in for so long."

Dracula then became very interested, "Wait, what aura?"

Tiberius said, "All dementors are able to siphon the happiness out of those around them. This is how they stay alive. Rather than killing and eating something, they take away their happy feelings for the time being. They do this through a mental aura that is focused around their bodies. They can also force a soul to depart from its body, like the killing curse, but that does nothing for them personally."

"Interesting, are they able to use this aura to take away bad things?"

"Yes, but that starves them."

"But still, why don't they do that more often?"

Tiberius continued darkly, whispering every word laced with pain and anger. "Would you help someone who persecuted you? Trapped you inside of a prison surrounded by criminals with corrupted minds whose only happy feelings are that of torture, murder, or even worse? I think not."

The room was silent for a moment. Then, when Tiberius realized that no one would speak, Tiberius began to make a speech. "They are born in that prison. As children they know only the twisted thoughts of others against the innocent thoughts of the dementors around them. They know only the pain they must suffer to stay alive. Most of them have never experienced a significant sense of Love. They have never had peace. This young dementor above us has only just felt a proper sense of happiness ever since running away from Azkaban. Theirs is an eternal darkness." A single tear fell on the floor. It didn't come from Tiberius. Harry's heart ached for the dementor. For all dementors. Luna's did, too. Harry got up and said,

"Where is the dementor now, Tiberius?"

The man stopped for a second, giving Harry a questioning look, then grunted and nodded, saying, "This way. Do not go inside." Then he walked towards some stairs to the left of the hole in the wall at the corner. They went up to the third out of three floors in the building. As they walked through the door that let them into the floor, all of the rooms were to the left. Each floor had five rooms, allowing for a total of ten hotel rooms. They went all the way to the end of the floor. As they got closer, the air became colder and more humid. Harry saw unseasonal frost on the windows to his right that were in front of every door. Then there was that sinking feeling. It felt terrible, as if he would never be happy again. But Luna, who felt Harry feel this, fought back this feeling with her own. Soon, Norberta joined in and Harry was no longer affected by the depression that came about when the dementor fed off of his happiness.

Tiberius eventually stopped one door from the very last door of the hall. "You would do good to try to bond with it. I know I've tried, but its mind is so twisted that I can only master feelings with her. However, don't go any closer to that room. If you do, the dementor could go into a feeding frenzy, which wouldn't be good for you. It has been starving itself for days, probably longer. Try not to attract too much attention to yourself." Then, Tiberius took a few steps back and sat just a few doors away, wand at the ready. Luna thought to him from the living room below,

"You had better not take any risks, Harry. Do what you can, but do not give up your life trying to save one dementor."

"I know, my love. I wouldn't leave you unless it was necessary."

"You better not." This last thought was laced with small amounts of humor, but Harry could still detect some anxiety behind it all. Harry obeyed, only allowing his mental presence in the dementor's room to be minor. Minutes passed and a very minor bond had formed. Harry was now capable of exchanging feelings with the dementor. At least he thought it would work that way with his experience, but he didn't dare test it out as that could have triggered the dementor's feeding instincts. The dementor only knew of the bond's existence at an unconscious level, any pushing to form the bond any way but naturally would result in the dementor feeling the bond form, which wouldn't be good at all.

So, Harry let quite a few more minutes pass, and now he had spent an hour to bond. He had successfully enabled thoughts to be shared between them, and the passage of feeling would have come automatically if they were strong enough. It just so happens that the dementor felt depression very strongly at that moment, and was thinking to herself.

"….hungry…..thirsty….pure life outside….no hate….must-No, I mustn't. I must stay in this room. The kind man will give me things to feed on soon. I don't need humans. Soon I will be strong enough to leave…."

The dementor paused for a very long minute, then "What is that I feel? Are you another dementor? Is somebody there?" Another pause as Harry emptied his mind of all thoughts and feelings. "Never mind, that was probably just that girl downstairs again. It did feel like her." Harry kept his mind empty. This was now a very delicate point in the bonding process. He had to weave the bonds himself to add on another effect; a powerful instinct that Harry was a friend. How the dementor's day and possibly rest of her life went all hinged on whether or not Harry did this right. Harry felt slightly on edge because the last time he attempted this was almost two years ago with Fluffy; the big three headed dog that used to guard the third floor dungeons.

Then seconds later he weaved a classic weave into the bond, completing what he came there to do. He could now speak directly to the dementor without fear of harm. Then suddenly, Harry felt something….moving, for loss of a better term. Something in the bond was moving. It was moving where? He didn't know. What could it possibly be? He didn't know that either. He tentatively let his neutral feelings towards the other side of the bond, aiming to let her know that the bond had formed and that Harry was there. Half way across, Harry sensed something….crawling towards him along the bond. Like a spider down a web towards its prey.

A brief moment's fear and surprise was more than enough to let the dementor, who was the one moving towards him down the bond, know that there was, in fact, someone within range of her aura. As the dementor's deep instincts (which were far deeper than those instincts Harry had planted) took hold of her, Harry experienced a brain-splitting mental spike entering his mind. It was so strong that he was completely immobilized. As Harry fell face first onto the floor, he could feel every last thing that the dementor was currently thinking and feeling. He was faintly aware that he had broken his nose, or at least bruised it.

She was enshrouded with this intense Hunger. There was nothing happening in her mind that wasn't saturated in it. A desperate need to feelsomething. Anything good. This need drove her to extremes. Harry had barely hit the floor when he already felt the others of his bonds grow weak and collapse as well. Harry closed off his mind to the others, who recoiled from the pain and gladly let the bonds close for now. He sensed two foreign minds attack the dementor viciously, which surprisingly slowed it down. His vision was fading to black and he was shaking violently. He could hear a distant screaming. A screaming for….he didn't know. He couldn't think. Then…light….and….

-oOoOo-

Harry was aware, long before he had completely awoken, of a deeply ingrained sense of emptiness. He felt the others trying to wipe its black, ink-like contents from his mind. They tried everything, but it just wouldn't be removed as quickly as they would have liked. It was fading, though. Harry felt it work best with Luna's, Norberta's, and Caroline's love. He drifted into awareness, feeling like someone who was being washed ashore by a high tide. The feeling seeped into his bones and muscles, and so, Harry noticed, did warmth. This is when he realized that he was extremely cold, as if he had fallen through the ice of a frozen lake and had been rescued.

However, above all, the emptiness demanded attention. Despite all of the good things that were currently happening to him (the warmth, the love, the safety) Harry felt an absence of need for these things. An absence of a want for them, too. Though, he supposed that want and need were now the same, but didn't care if they were. He largely didn't care about anything right now. It had been a long time since he last felt like this. He wanted to shrug off this feeling of purposelessness. As soon as he wanted it gone, his mind opened to Luna, Norberta and Caroline when he didn't even know that he had closed himself off from them. As soon as his mind opened, the love from them blasted him, which caused his patronus armor to temporarily blind those around him for a few seconds.

As Harry opened his eyes, Luna smiled above him, squeezing his arm. Harry smiled back and his tongue flitted out of his mouth automatically, and he recognized the tastes of Luna, Tiberius, and the Draculas. Lupin was not there. His taste was….stale, Harry guessed. At least, the taste was….greyer than normal. Less sweet, he supposed. It was replaced by the smell of a more wolf-like creature. There was also something else there. It smelled….damp, maybe. Like fog. It came with a second smell that was so unlike any other smell he had ever smelled that it opened up a completely new dimension of smell to him. It was nothing like he had ever smelled. It was a good smell, but….implied a bad one. It gave him a feeling of freedom and relief, as if he had been thirsting for something only to be quenched. He felt this every time he bit into a meal no matter how much he had already eaten, but this feeling had a very different texture. He couldn't describe it.

Harry was on a living room couch in front of the fire. He sat up and looked around the room as Luna sat to his left, holding his hand. The Draculas were sitting in a loveseat next to the fire, appearing to be asleep, Isabella leaning on Nicolai. Tiberius was across from them to the right of Harry on a rocking chair, looking at him with concern. Luna spoke as soon as she sat down,

"I am glad you are OK, Harry," Luna whispered, anxiety leaving her in the same way darkness leaves in the presence of light. A few seconds passed, then Tiberius spoke,

"I have never seen anyone affected by the dementors so."

Harry asked, "Why was I affected so badly?"

"Likely because you have felt extremely happy in your past. That's probably also why it went over the edge when she sensed your presence."

"That makes sense. But, how is it that you didn't have the same effect on it?"

"You seem to have become used to being open to every mind around you. When it comes to those that want to harm you, this openness can become dangerous."

Harry laughed a little at this, rejuvenated by his bondmate's support. "Yeah, I can tell." Harry sat up, smiling a little, and then realized what the unrecognizable smell was coming from. In the corner of the room, the dementor was hovering, looking at him. It was small, as if it was a seven-year-old child. Though Harry became, for the briefest moment, almost terrified, his direct connection with Luna and Norberta drowned the feeling within the vast calmness of the other two. No emotion or cold temperature came off of it from its aura. Its mind state seemed almost normal. It seemed docile for the time being, so Harry hesitantly reestablished a mental connection.

Now that Harry was able to behold its entire mind…no, her entire mind…he realized how much of her mind he was closed off to before. It was a whirlwind of activity with several senses that were different; sight, taste, and smell being the most noticeable. With such an open and active mind, the strange senses made it almost impossible for him to map, or even recognize, her memories. The only indicator of time Harry could pinpoint were the memories that had been severely deteriorated (clues of a younger, less complex mind) and he could only do that with a tenth of the memories there. The senses were very different from human sense. It appears that dementors saw using a mix of sonar and thermal vision, using a membrane that covered their entire face except the layer of skin above the nose. They smelled through that membrane and it was a lot more powerful than most humans, though was half as powerful as Harry's. (Although, Harry was only 1/5 human.) Its ears acted to magnify the power of the dementor's sonar vision.

The very first feeling that hit Harry was a mix of regret and relief. That very second, a voice that was very much like a human female's resounded through his mind and reached every corner, though was only a whisper. "I am so sorry."

"You don't need to be."

….

"Hello. You already know who I am. Who are you?"

"...My…My name is Lucy. Did I hurt you?"

"It'll take a hell of a lot more than that to hurt me, Lucy. You don't need to worry."

Lucy seemed slightly relieved by this, and then asked, "Why are you so kind?"

"Because, despite our apparent differences, all we want in the end is the same. We both seek true happiness. The difference between you and me is that you need it to survive. That makes you someone who could be one of my best friends. I can give it to you, Lucy. I can cure you. You don't need to seek it anymore."

If Lucy had a heart, it would have fluttered with hope. She answered in a calm voice, "How?"

"I don't know. I remember reading about giving dementors a source of happiness that never ends, but I don't remember what book it was or how exactly it said to do it. I'm sure that I can find it once I'm back at Hogwarts. Will you come to Hogwarts with me?"

"No. They will find me at Hogwarts. Serious Black has escaped because of me. Now he is hunting you and you need to be protected by both Dumbledore and the Ministry. That means that they will likely station some of my sisters at Hogwarts for patrols."

"Sisters?"

"The other dementors. All of us are female."

"Why is that?"

"Once we acquire enough good emotions, we reproduce by emanating a fog, which then coagulates around extreme feelings of happiness in near pitch-black conditions into a couple of dementors. I hear it is quite an experience, but there hasn't been a fogging in a very long time. The oldest of us, Aerialla, gave birth to us a long time in the past, but the fog had formed me three years ago in a dessert."

"Strange. Anyway, how long do you think you could last holding in your aura?"

"At least a couple of weeks."

"If a ministry member spotted you among other dementors, would they recognize you?"

"We all look the same, Harry."

"Right. Would your sisters turn you in to the ministry?"

Her mood darkened, "Our loyalties only go as far as their control over us."

"Good, then why don't you come with Luna and me onto the train under our invisibility cloak and get to Hogwarts, where we could work on a way to somehow help with your lack of happiness."

"….Well…"Here Lucy paused, thinking, "Yes, I think I should. It's better than my idea."

"What is your idea, anyway?"

"Fly into the wilderness and live alone, feeding on animals, hoping that I don't get discovered by the ministry."

"Well, I don't think there is a true wilderness anywhere near here. The closest you are going to get to uninhabited land is the forbidden forest. A vast majority of it remains unexplored and is home to many otherwise extinct creatures. You could live there with the others I have bonded with if you want."

"Of course! Harry, that's amazing!" Lucy didn't move that much in excitement, but she did radiate a tremendous amount of happiness. "I never have to go back to that place again!"

"Yeah. It's sad that the ministry won't consider that Azkaban tortures more than prisoners."

Tiberius, unaware of the mental exchange, interrupted. "Um, Harry?"

"Yes?"

"Well, Do you hear that sound?" Just upstairs, a screaching, howling, and smashing sound was occurring just above him.

"Yes."

"That's Lupin. You passed out for several hours. Now it is the full moon and he is in his wolf form. Could you cure him?"

"Of course." Harry then proceeded to cure Lupin. For some reason, the transformation had to run its course for the night, but after that Lupin would be able to choose when to transform.

Days later, it was two weeks before the first day of school. Harry got a letter from Dumbledore at that time. It said this,

Dear Harry,

I have received news of what has transpired this summer in relation to the Department of Mysteries. I have taken care of the problem for the time being. They have agreed to stop hunting you under the condition that you attend a hearing that will take place three days from the moment you receive this letter. The topics that will be discussed are your full experiences with and knowledge of Soul Magic, Lycanthropy, and everything in relation to Caroline and The Chamber of Secrets. They may discuss subjects related to your inhuman developments and your personal relationships with other species. I know that this could either be difficult or exciting for you to do, but understand this; if you refuse, they will capture Norberta and you and the questions they want answered will be answered anyway. I trust you will make the right decision.

In great compassion,

Albus

Seconds after reading the letter, Norberta said that an agent of the Department of Mysteries had showed up at the Lovegoods to make an official apology concerning "The unfortunate events that had occurred between my department, your family, and the Potter family." Through Xenophilius' eyes, he witnessed the agent give Xenophilius a letter explaining what Dumbledore's letter had explained and Harry said that it was unnecessary to send it via owl.

-oOoOo-

Lucy's radiating happiness had cost her a lot and she had to recover in some way. Luna and Harry stayed connected at the mind, as always, and reached out from the boundaries of their own minds to touch the lives of those around them. In the end, Lucy was able to sustain herself on them alone, and neither of them could feel the loss. Lucy was growing fast, as if her growth had been stunted and now she was being fed correctly again. Some of her scabs were healing. She said that she was the happiest she had been in a long time, probably forever.

In the three days between receiving the letter and the hearing, the bonds between Harry and Lucy grew thick and dense. As a result, Harry began to experience strange things. One began to show itself within hours. Luna, viewing Dumbledore's letter through Harry's eyes, asked this question after recovering from the disorientation of coming back into her body,

"Hey, what's that blotch in your vision?"

"What bl-…Oh! That's weird."

"Yes it is. What is it?"

Harry looked around. It wasn't caused by his eyes because the spots were staying with the objects they were in front of. Over the next several minutes, these spots became more defined around the objects that he was looking at. It appeared to him that he was seeing thermal vision. It integrated itself well. In situations where there was a lot of light, he had to want to see thermal vision in order to see it. In conditions of total darkness, it would stay on no matter what he did. With the thermal vision, he could see through walls, but not through his second layer of eyelids. When in wolf form, it was always on, no matter what. The Draculas and himself were bluish purple, normal humans were yellowish, and Luna was glowing white (probably because of her latent connection to fire). The colors ranged from white at the hottest to purplish black at the coldest. It worked well with Shadow Magic. All he had to do is wreath an area in shadow and he was the only one that could see.

The next thing that developed was the power of levitation. He could already fly, but he couldn't cast spells while flying, so this was a bonus. He also already knew how to make other objects fly, but never as many as he could now, and he never had as much control as he now did.

Another thing that Harry could do is speak directly to Lucy. It worked just like parseltongue, and even felt similar to parseltongue. Her voice was slightly female and always a whisper, though it reached across a room and through walls as if she were standing next to you. She would get annoyed at Harry for 'yelling', which felt like talking normally to him. Some other things that came up were; he could now sense other life forms, he had more powerful shadow magic, and he became resistant (and eventually impervious) to the dementor's aura.

Harry would have continued his observations, but then the hearing demanded his full attention.

OK. I have changed some things. First off, I'm integrating the concept of realism; making it seem as if these are actual events in history that I am reporting in a narrative form. This is going to be such a fun fiction to write. Sorry for the long wait, by the way. Please comment.