Disclaimer etc. in part 1.

Notes: And here those still reading this finally get to find out what's up with the demons. I've made them up, I've made up the words, and I'm working on making it sound sort of parseltongue-y. And if you really want to know, I do intend for the demons to have something to do with things. I'll be taking bits of HBP and DH, but not much for the final resolution. Not much here really. Thanks to all those people who are enjoying this enough they either reviewed or put me on their updates list.

Petunia flung an arm at Harry, "Yes. Take him. Take him and keep your damn freakish ways away from me!"

At that Harry felt the world spin briefly. "Take me? Take me where? And why?"

"You did not tell him?" inquired the apparent spokesperson. There was a hissed undertone to his words that become apparent the more he spoke.

"I want nothing to do with you . . . things!" snarled Petunia. A rumble of anger made its way through the group of demons. She didn't even seem to notice the violent mood that sprang up at her words. "I just want to be normal! Why is that too much to ask? Why do all you damn freaks keep thinking us normal folk want to be like you!?"

Before the muttering group of snakeskinned demons could attack, Harry intervened. "What is it Aunt Petunia is supposed to have told me? Where am I supposed to be taken and why?"

The leader of the demons let out a hissing sigh. "Humans call us fithian demons. We are of the Silasseth clan. The Asselifess," he explained.

Harry frowned. "Those who feel the selves of others?"

"So you have already begun to gain the gifts of your heritage," the spokesman seemed delighted. "Already you can speak the tongue of our people."

At that Petunia huffed and snarled, "I don't care what so-called gifts the freak has. You have what you want, now all of you get out of my house and never darken my doorstep again."

Before the muttering could restart Harry sighed and turned to the leader again. "Since you know who I am and all that, will you leave Aunt Petunia alone now? I expect everyone will be happier if the Dursleys don't have to put up with any more paranormal stuff."

"Of course lissihess. There is no reason for us to remain now that we have found you." He turned and gestured for the others to leave.

As Harry and a much bemused Hermione turned to follow the demons out Petunia grabbed Harry's arm and snarled at him. "I had best never see your freakishness again. Do you understand me? You and your sheer ungrateful . . ." With those words Hermione cracked and whipped out her wand. The next few seconds her hands and voice were a virtual blur as hex after hex left her wand. By the time she was done Petunia's perfectly white living room with its monochromatic glory of expensive designer decorations were a multicoloured mishmash of kitsch and Petunia had been turned into a large hedgehog wearing a clown wig and big floppy shoes on each foot. Harry stared at Hermione.

"Forget moral superiority and the right thing," she said in response to his look. "That . . . woman . . . deserves whatever she gets."

"But a hedgehog Hermione? And how long will it last?"

"Well I suppose I could have done an ostrich, it would have been more appropriate, but Buffy's potion inspired me." She turned and started walking away. "And the transfiguration will revert a few hours after your uncle and cousin return home, but the charms on the living room will stay for as long as the Dursleys live here. It will automatically transform overnight back to this no matter what they do to replace the furniture and decorations."

Harry gave her an impressed look and a smile. "You are frightening Hermione."

"Thank you."

In spite of Harry's interest in what the demons wanted from him or with him, they wouldn't tell him anything until they were somewhere deemed 'safe' by the clan. However, eventually Harry, Hermione and some very disgruntled witches and wizards there to protect Harry from any errant Death Eaters he stumbled across were all ensconced in a nearby greenhouse with the fithian demons.

Hermione spoke first. "What was that you called Harry before? Liss . . . something?"

"It means . . . something like beloved child I think," Harry replied. "It's a lot like the parseltongue word for hatchling."

The one who was at least the spokesperson, if not the leader, started to explain. "I am Issithiass. We have been seeking you for quite a long time lissihess."

"But why?" Harry asked. "I mean, is there some particular reason? Something you need from me-"

He was interrupted by a spate of hissing from the gathered fithians. "There is nothing we need of you," Issithiass told him. "You are of our clan. It is that simple. We merely wish to grant you the opportunity to become one of our clan in truth rather than merely by descent. When the clan shaman spoke of a child born of a line which had left our clan for the human world, one who had the powers of the Asselifess, we wished to care for him . . . you."

Harry blinked briefly and then asked again. "There's nothing you want of me? You just want . . . wanted to . . . to raise me? As a member of the clan? Of the family?" He began to frown slightly. "I mean, you're sure? You're not trying to-"

Issithiass interrupted with a derisive-sounding hiss. "To lie to you? To tell you we wished one thing when we wished another? No. It is not our way to do such a thing. If we merely wished your presence for assistance of some kind we would have approached you with offers of exchange."

Slowly, a smile crept over Harry's face. Hermione took a deep breath. She knew that this was something Harry had always wanted. Family that wanted him around because he was family and not just because of what he could do for them. She also knew that Harry had never quite felt like the Weasleys were his family or her, or anyone else. The number of times he had been relied on as the only person who could save them left him feeling somewhat like his only worth lay in being The-Boy-Who-Lived. If these demons were telling the truth, then Harry truly had what he wanted.

But therein lay the problem. Were they telling the truth? Did they truly want him because he was blood kin, or did they have some other purpose that they couldn't know. Already Harry was walking among the fithians, exchanging friendly-looking parseltongue words with them. The aurors guarding them looked uncomfortable and Hermione knew that she had to step in. "Harry? I know you want to spend more time here, but we do have to get back to Hogwarts."

"But Hermione, I . . ." He caught her look and understood she had other reasons to ask beyond merely wanting to get back to classes. "You're right, of course." He turned back to Issithiass. "Is there a particular way I can contact you? I have friends that I have to tell about you and I am in my last year at boarding school."

The demon smiled, looking surprisingly benevolent despite the fangs visible in his mouth. "Of course you wish to inform your friends, and I would never wish you to be forced away from the path you are on solely at our whim. As to contact, let me give you my email address," he said, "Just because I am a demon does not mean that I cannot use a computer."

A couple minutes later they were on their way to a parkette nearby where they would be out of sight to use the portkey back to Hogwarts. The moment they were settled on their feet, Hermione was darting off to Gryffindor tower with Harry hot on her heels wondering what had her so anxious. As they cleared the portrait entrance to the common room, Hermione made a beeline for Buffy and demanded to use her email. "I need to speak with Mr. Giles immediately," she insisted.

Harry frowned. "Why? You're not . . . Issithiass isn't evil Hermione!" He said as he suddenly understood what she was doing.

"How do you know?" She demanded. "Harry, I understand how much you want family, and I know he seemed very nice. But how can you be so certain he's not just trying to trick you. Just because he said they wouldn't doesn't mean they actually wouldn't."

"What happened?" Ron demanded. So while Hermione tapped away at the keyboard, writing a letter to Giles asking for all the information he had on fithian demons, Harry told them about the trip to Surrey. By the time he finished, Buffy was squinting at him a little, her head tilted sideways, and Angel's nostrils were flared as though testing Harry's scent.

"What?" Harry asked, a little twitchy at the close scrutiny.

Angel shook himself a little and replied, "Now that you've brought it up, I can tell that you're not completely human." He shook his head a little. "It's hard to pick out because there are so many things around here I've never encountered, the oddity gets a little lost in the shuffle."

"It's true," Buffy agreed as she stopped the disconcerting stare in Harry's direction. "I can tell there's something off about you normally, but I couldn't tell how much of that was from your curse scar and stuff and how much was other stuff." She shrugged. "Now that I know about the demon part of you I can tell it's there and stuff, but if you hadn't told me I would never have figured it out."

Harry sighed in resignation. "Do you know anything about fithian demons Buffy?" he inquired.

"They're definitely not known for causing any sort of trouble," Angel responded in her place. "I do know that I've never heard much bad about them." He frowned slightly. "I had heard something about them having some sort of psychic abilities, but never anything specific."

Perking up from her letter, Hermione said, "Didn't Issithiass say something about seeing peoples' thoughts or some such?" she asked Harry.

"The Asselifess. Those who see the selves of others. Roughly," Harry said. "But I got the feeling it related to something more than just thoughts or feelings. It's more like . . ." He paused, searching for the right words. "Like seeing souls," he finished.

That gained him some wide-eyes stares from the others, except for Hermione who was now adding further details to her lengthy email to Giles.

Buffy abruptly stood. "Okay, so right now we don't know anything and we have to wait until Giles gets back to Hermione before Harry's going to do anything in particular. Right?" she turned to Harry who, a little reluctantly, nodded back. "Then I'm going to go hunting. Join me Angel?" she asked her boyfriend. He nodded and stood as well. That signalled an end to the whole discussion and Harry and Ginny broke off to snuggle in a corner, Hermione headed straight for the library to see what she could dig up on fithian demons, and Ron wandered about, looking for someone foolish enough to challenge him at a game of chess.

As the others were settling in for a quiet evening in Gryffindor tower, Buffy and Angel were using Buffy's usual escape route for heading out to patrol for vampires, hopping off the roof onto the lower section of roof down the line until they had a relatively short drop to the ground. "Is there some reason we have to keep doing this?" Angel asked. "They know you're the Slayer now. Couldn't we just walk out the main doors like normal people?"

Buffy rolled her eyes as they crossed into the tree line, their easy lope turning into a steady walking pace now that they were actually in the forest and needed to be more cautious. "For one thing, if we got noticed by one of the prefects, they'd dock points, the rest of the tower would totally shun us for losing points, then I'd have to explain what I was doing out and get permission and all that stuff and it would take forever." She glanced over at him. "People already think I'm really weird too. At least this way it keeps the weirdness factor down to something ignorable."

"Jumping out the window is less weird that special permission?" Angel asked sceptically.

And then they were interrupted by a loud snarl and a couple fyarl demons and a vampire came bursting out of the underbrush. As was usual for that kind of demon, the fyarls just slammed headlong into Angel, swinging their arms around with tremendous force although with no real skill as they tried to pummel him into mush. The vampire on the other hand, launched herself at Buffy with a flurry of well-practiced kicks and karate chops that had Buffy struggling as she faced the rare challenge of a vampire as well trained in combat as she was.

It was rare as most vampires were so much stronger than the humans they hunted there was no need to have more than the most rudimentary fighting skills. Most of the time vampires simply relied on faster reflexes, greater strength, heightened senses and the fact that they could take a great deal more damage than the people they were trying to kill. This one wasn't. In fact, they were quite closely matched and Buffy began to worry about this one. Because not only was Angel somewhat preoccupied with the fyarls, Buffy wasn't sure that, at this rate, she'd manage to hang on long enough for him to dispose of them.

"What's the deal?" Buffy asked, "You just leap out at us like that? No warning, no banter," she got out between swings. "What's the deal with the demons anyhow?"

"Silence Slayer!" shouted the vampire in the usual melodramatic fashion these meetings took after Buffy didn't fold like a cheap lawn chair. "You and the Traitor have been destroying the natural order for too long." With that she launched a spin kick that sent Buffy flying backward. Dimly Buffy heard Angel shout her name as she got to her feet and braced herself for the next attack. But it never came. Instead, there was a lengthy silence and Buffy chanced a look around.

The fight had taken them out of the Forbidden Forest and onto the Hogwarts grounds. The vampire and two demons were staring dumbfounded at the castle that had loomed out of nowhere. Buffy took the momentary pause to stake the vampire, at this point she wasn't above doing while her opponent's back was turned, and Angel whipped out the broadsword he'd been carrying from absolutely nowhere and beheaded the Fyarl, then yanked out a knife, also from nowhere and stabbed it through the heart. The other demon took off into the woods too quickly for them to follow.

"Wow," said Buffy.

Angel pulled her close. "I know. That was too close for comfort," he told her. "I was terrified when that vampire knocked you down."

"Yeah, that too," said the Slayer. "But what I was really wondering was where the hell were you keeping that sword?"

"What?"

"What are you, like the Highlander or something?" she asked as they started back up to the school. "I mean, it was just like, no sword -- whoosh – sword. Ow." Buffy hissed as Angel's hand accidentally found the serious bruising on her side.

Angel tugged her over and lifted up her shirt before she could even react. "Oh Buffy. Let's get you inside. I want to take a better look at that."

She batted at his hands. "It's fine. Doesn't hurt all that much. Probably a cracked rib or something. I'll be fine by morning. I've had 'em before."

"Right." Angel scooped her up, and carried her over to one of the side entrances to the school despite her protests. "Who the devil is this 'Highlander' anyhow? Have you been hanging around with some Scottish boy at this school?"

"You are so out of touch with pop culture it's not even funny," Buffy groused.

As Angel carried her along the hall, Buffy suddenly realised they weren't heading toward the tower at all. "Where are you taking me?" she demanded.

"The school nurse," he replied. "You're hurt, and if everything I've heard from Harry is right, she'll fix you up in no time and I won't have to worry."

Buffy glared at him from her spot in his arms. "You don't have to worry now. I'm fine – ow!" she broke off as Angel began trotting up the stairs taking the steps in threes and jostling her a little as he did.

"You wouldn't be in pain if you were fine. QED," he said with just a trace of smugness.

"What?"

"Your classical education is so very lacking it's not even funny," Angel sniped back at her.

"Meaning what?" Buffy demanded, incensed. And then she noticed they were arriving at the hospital wing doors. "No! No no no no no!" Angel ignored her and walked in. "Angel, I hate hospitals and. . ." she broke off at the sight of Madam Pomfrey who had stepped out of her office.

"What seems to be the trouble?" the mediwitch inquired.

Angel gently laid Buffy down on one of the beds and then held her down to keep her from bolting. "We think she has a cracked rib."

Buffy's look at Angel promised dismemberment at a later date.

"Hmm," began Madam Pomfrey. "You're right about that." She turned around and came back with two potions. "Take this one for the ribs, and this sleeping potion. You'll heal faster if you're asleep and unable to cause yourself more damage."

Buffy stared. "Harry's right. You do like taking people hostage in this place!"

There was a brief pause as Pomfrey glared at her. Then she spoke. "If I could trust that you students would not go hurtling off to damage yourselves again I would be fine with allowing you to leave. As it is, long experience has taught me that, if I do not restrain the students, they will reinjure themselves within a matter of minutes."

Buffy shot a pleading look at Angel who just said, "Don't even think it. I'll sit on you if I have to."

Thus entrapped, Buffy took the two potions and fell asleep still muttering about that various dire ways she was going to take revenge on her boyfriend for making her spend a night in the hospital.