Summary…Just days after the DOM a mysterious letter arrives and Harry is faced with a decision. Reject the offer and continue on the path Dumbledore has set for him or forge a new one and challenge every opinion ever forced on him.
SLASH. Creature fic, new school, Grey/Powerful Harry… Oh if anything warning worthy develops I will put the warning in the authors note. I'll also try to highlight it in the text. K?
A/N…Right as stated in the summary this is SLASH so i would hope that anyone whose got to this point has got that by now, so remember if you don't like it don't read it. HBP and eventual DH spoliers, but I think most people will have read that by now, so just in case. Will mention Mpreg but it isnt likely it will actually happen in the story. Could do but i doubt it.
Sorry I havent mentioned anybody here, i'm going to try and reply to everyones review directly instead of in the chapter. The only time i'll put a reply in the chapter is when it addresses something that I think needs explaining.
Pairing news...So far i have had several votes for some canon males and even a few for oc's. Its still wide open though one person is in front by a couple of votes so at the moment he's the favorite. At the moment i'm not sure whether i'll just use the one with the most votes or whether i'll create a poll a bit further into the story when i've introduced some oc's. Anyway keep nominating and now onto the chapter.
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A/N...Someone asked me about Harry's submissiveness so I just thought I'd clarify. In this fic Harry will do whatever he wants in the bedroom, he may dominate his partner or they him. The oly time he will be termed a submissive is when he is intending to have children. when he wants to have babies he will have to be the bottom. The only problem is that his creature instincts may not believe that his mate is strong enough to father the kids. Only someone who Harry deems strong enough will be able to father them. He may love someone but that doesnt mean they will give him children. Hope that helps.
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Mysteria
Chapter Three
After shrinking the remaining items still unpacked, including his presents from the night before they placed them in his trunk, which Silay then shrunk and placed in his pocket. Silay then side-along apparated Harry to an alley just next to the Leaky Cauldron. Harry with Hedwig perched on his shoulder.
As they were walking the last few feet to the Cauldron Harry realised that Silay hadn't explained his remark about him having an affinity with many creatures. But he didn't need to ask, it was explained the moment he stepped through the doorway into the barely lit pub. A wizard at the table nearest the door had a cage with several rats he was supposedly selling and every single one of them stood up on their hind legs and chattered excitedly as Harry approached. He was very surprised to hear the odd word amongst the squeaks. Hedwig just clicked her beak in a disapproving way from her place upon his shoulder. This of course quietened the rats almost immediately.
Moving away from the wizard's excited babbling, that he had been trying to get them to do that for ages, they stepped out into the backyard that housed the entrance to Diagon Alley. Harry had kept his head down in the pub not wanting to be recognised. Much to his dismay he still had the damn scar. Being a curse scar and not a normal scar it wasn't as clear with the lightening of his skin but it could still be seen. Before tapping the bricks Silay turned to him.
"I'm guessing by the look you shot those rats that you could hear a few words."
"Yes I did. Is that what you meant-?"
"Yes it was." Silay laughed. "You will always have good relationships with animals. Most of them will be able to understand your wishes even if they can't understand your words and will act accordingly. I don't know how you get these feelings across but you will be told how to at the school. But there are some animals who you will be able to talk mind to mind with. The conversation is apparently very limited but perfectly understandable. It's usually more common with animals that have a connection to you. Familiars in particular."
"Even Hedwig?" he asked glancing at her.
"Even Hedwig." He assured. "If she wants to talk that is, Owls are rather quiet by nature so you might have to work hard just to get a hello." And while Harry digested that Silay tapped the bricks and they entered Diagon Alley.
Their first stop as always was Madam Makin's Robes for All Occasions. Before they entered Hedwig flew up to perch on the sign to wait for them to get done shopping. Madam Malkin herself who was busy behind the counter took one look at them and seemed to snap to attention before ushering them into a private room.
"You're my third so far this morning. How are you Silay, I haven't seen you for three years?" She said pushing Harry up on to a stool and taking out a tape measure.
"Perfectly fine my dear. Calfora has expressed her regret that you don't visit more." Harry had felt a sudden twinge of interest when the Headmistresses name had been mentioned. He knew it was her last name and not her first that Silay had used. He found it strange that she would want to be known that way.
Then again if he was honest with himself he would have been just as curious about any other woman that ran a school such as the one he was going to. He didn't know much about the place but based on the skills of the people it produced he knew he would be in for a tough time. She must be one tough old bird.
"Visiting." Madam Malkin scoffed. "When do I have the time, if it isn't your lot, its Hogwarts, or its purebloods wanting wardrobe overhauls. But I'll make some time to visit this year, don't you worry about that. Probably won't be till Christmas though." She finished with the measuring and moved over to a cabinet where she removed several items of an icy blue and several more of a darker midnight blue.
With a flick of her wand all of the appropriate items were in their places and resizing to fit him perfectly. Once she had done one set she moved on to another. She was going to stop at three but Harry asked for two more, so that he had one for each day. What he didn't realise was that this would actually mean ten robes, as there were separate robes for winter and summer. Something that he would be very grateful for. The difference between the robes were one was lightweight and the other not; also the colours of each separate piece of the uniform were reversed. In other words if one piece of the summer uniform was light blue then that same piece in the winter uniform would be dark blue and so on. The only exceptions were the cloaks; both were ice blue with midnight blue trim and symbols. The only differences were the materials each cloak was made out of. Confusing when you think about it but it looked cool and that was all that mattered.
Before ushering him down he got a good look in the mirror. The uniform was simple yet aesthetic, although it did have quite a few layers to it. He had been ecstatic when he'd seen the first part of the uniform. A simple T-shirt and trousers done in the school's colours. This was then followed by an under robe, something that hadn't appeared in the Hogwart's uniform. On top of this was the outer robe like he'd worn at Hogwarts, just a lot less itchy. The whole ensemble was finished with a cloak.
Harry found himself grinning, no button up shirts, no ties or best trousers. This was brilliant. He took a closer look at his new summer uniform.
The under robe was open, meaning it had no sleeves and flowed freely from the waist down. It had a stand up collar and joined at the neck. It stayed together with seven small buttons until it reached the waist where a strip of slightly creased material made a sort of belt. It was about four inches wide and was the same colour as the rest of the robe, which was ice blue. The rest of it flared out from the hips and would no doubt stream when walking, like Professor Snapes'. The only mark on it was the school's crest, a full moon surrounded by a crescent, done in midnight blue upon the left breast.
The trousers were midnight blue and like the robe fit like a second skin. In other words much tighter than any other clothing he'd owned. The boots were midnight blue ankle boots, slim, fitting the shape of the foot perfectly. There was a second higher and sturdier pair for winter.
The summer uniforms over robe was midnight blue with an icy blue symbol on the breast, these were exactly like his Hogwarts robes, meant to be worn open and flowing, they just weren't made of the same thick wool as Hogwarts'. There was also a slightly thicker version of the over robe to be worn in the winter but as mentioned before this one was a light blue instead.
As well as a light weight summer cloak, there was also a thicker cloak that had been made water proof for colder days or rainy ones or even very snowy ones, if the thick woollen jumpers that could be worn over the under robes were anything to go by.
He would have to watch how he dressed. Knowing his luck he would mix up the items and end up wearing a medley of the two. He ran through the main items again in his head. Both the summer and winter cloaks were icy blue in colour, the only way to tell them apart was by looking at the thickness of the material. The summer over robe was midnight blue, the winter one ice blue. The summer under robe was ice blue, the winter one midnight blue.
All these items were to be worn over the t-shirt and trousers also supplied. Students could choose to discard the cloaks and outer robes if they wished but had to wear the under robes unless given permission to remove them by a teacher. The outer robe and cloak were mainly for changes in the weather. On really warm days they could just wear the t-shirt and trousers and wear the under robe as an open one if they wanted. This sounded good to him as in the height of summer Hogwart's black woollen robes could be a real pain.
He loved the uniform, no more ties, stifling black robes or annoying button up shirts. The t-shirts made a lot more sense to him, each one had the schools symbol on it. The t-shirts came in both colours, it didn't matter which one you wore.
The uniform was a lot more varied and relaxed than the standard Hogwarts one. Hats were not part of the wardrobe, but students could wear them if the weather was particularly vicious. Surprisingly there was underwear and socks also with the school crest on, if one wanted to buy them that is, he didn't.
After that, when he'd finally thought they were done he had to try on duelling robes (one light blue and one dark, the dark apparently had a heavier durability, the light was more for show and presentations), dress robes (one light blue, one dark) and several varieties of protective robes (one each for potions, curses, the dark arts, DADA and blood magic) all with the schools symbol on. Even he could tell the difference between each robe but that didn't mean he saw the need for them. They didn't have protective robes at Hogwarts just normal school ones. A thought did occur to him later Maybe that's why there were so many accidents at Hogwarts.
All in all he'd bought eighteen robes so far that day and he was about to ask for more. He must be insane. Then again the duelling ones were practice ones, he'd been told by Silay that eventually he'd have to get some proper made to order ones. But that could apparently wait until he was closer to finishing school.
Even though he was regretting the question, he knew he needed to ask. So he did, he asked Madam Makin's about getting an entire new wardrobe. She smiled at the hesitancy in his voice and led him to a sort of changing room with a manikin inside.
"Now once I am gone this manikin will take on the shape of your body. All you need to do is imagine what you want and it will appear on the manikin, when you see something you like tap it with your wand and say "Make". It's that simple."
"Er…but what if I don't know what looks good on me?"
She smiled at him in understanding. "If the manikin judges the clothes as unsuitable it will not create them. And will show you an alternative, this might be a variation in colour or theme, but it's wise to heed it. If it likes something it will not allow it to be wiped unless you are insistent. It has a mind of its own and will not allow anyone to leave this shop with clothes that will look bad on them. I have a reputation to keep after all. Right then Mr Potter I'll let you get on with it then."
And with that she turned around and left him alone. Watching her leave he didn't see the actual moment of change, but by the time he turned round again he was looking at himself. A very naked him.
He got a real good look at himself. Probably a better look than he wanted…it was weird seeing your own arse from that angle and the damn stripes. It looked like someone had painted silver v's on his hips and then decided to colour his shoulder blades in for good measure. Luckily the strip above his arse wasn't nearly as big as the other ones. Even more luckily he didn't have any new colours on his cock, no thankfully that was normal...definitely longer than it had been though. He'd muscled up as well…and had gotten taller, he realised that when his first attempt at imagining resulted in his usual length jeans coming in way too short for his new body.
He got the hang of it pretty soon though and realised he did have a fashion sense after all, only a couple of his initial attempts went wrong.
He started with jeans, black, blue, distressed, stone washed, ripped, he went for them all. He even made some with additions, like chains or black designs a little like tattoos. Next he got himself a couple of dress trousers, just in case and a couple of smart shirts to go with them. He was able to design some new trainers, one pair black and one white. He chose silver and gold accents, gold on the black ones and silver on the white ones. And then for the hell of it got another two pairs but with the colours reversed. Then a black pair with a bit of green on them. Never having shopped for himself before he found it a little hard to stop. He then got himself some black boots and feeling daring some bottle green ones too. He got a couple of t-shirts in the same colour and some more dress-robes.
He got t-shirts and button downs in every colour he could think of, blues, reds, greys, greens, browns and black being the most common. Although he did manage to find a dark purple that suited him well. It went very well with his new skin tone. For a laugh he decided to try out some really gross colours and almost laughed when the manikin seemed to wipe them as quickly as they appeared. He created t-shirts with strange patterns and designs but only liked a couple enough to keep.
The clothes he chose were either tight or loose depending on what he felt like at the moment. He created several jackets, thin and light, one in black and one that was both light and dark brown. And again he couldn't resist a green one; it was becoming his favourite colour. Then a purple one and even a red one. And after thinking what the hell, he got some long coats in the same colours, the red and green ones coming down to his ankles and being quite close fitting. He decided on old fashioned fastenings that ended at his waist, this gave each coat a slight military look, not modern of course, something that wouldn't have looked out of place a couple of hundred years ago. These coats were made from the same material as the jackets, so really they were just very long jackets but who cared.
He got a thicker coat that belted at the waist for winter; he got that in bottle green and as an afterthought a black one just to be conservative. As a final thought he added a few hoodies and shirts that were to be worn over the top of t-shirts. All of the shirts were rather loose and had different designs or quotes on them. The quotes were things he'd seen muggles wearing on their t-shirts.
He finally emerged at quarter to eleven, when he went to pay for his purchases Madam Malkin beat him to it, she handed him the shrunken packages and said that all dealings with the school's students were discreet so she would send the bill to Gringott's later as she trusted him.
But before leaving he asked her what would be the best place to buy a magical bag. After all if he had to carry several pairs of robes around a day he certainly needed a bigger bag. She smiled and told him the trunk store at the end of the alley. Harry made a mental note to go there later.
They left and headed to the bookshop.
"I don't think I want to know how much I spent in there."
"Probably not." Silay smiled.
"So do you have that sort of arrangement with all the shops here?"
"No, just Madam Malkin, I think it was easier to organise the situation with a robe maker than trying to act independently. Everything else can be bought in varying locations. We go all over the world for supplies to keep the trail cold."
"Cool. So what are we getting from here?" he asked as they entered Flourish and Blotts.
"Some of the texts are available at this store, we will have to go farther afield for others though. After that we will try the menageries before heading into Knockturn Alley. After that we will need to make a quick foray into Muggle London before apparating to France."
"France really?"
"Yes."
"Cool, I've never been there."
Silay wanted to ask the boy if he'd ever been anywhere other than his school, Little Whinging or London, but refrained from doing so. The more he learnt about the boy, the more similar their situations seemed.
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Flourish and Blotts wasn't as busy as it was at the other times he had been there. But that was understandable; the book lists wouldn't be out for a couple of days yet. They seemingly browsed the shelves, Harry picking up whatever he fancied and putting it in the carry basket, Silay making systematic additions and discreetly indicating the next stack of shelves that they needed to visit.
He got his books for Transfiguration, Potions, Charms, DADA, Herbology and Healing. Harry found it odd that none of the books they had picked up were the ones used by Hogwarts. He decided to get copies of the last two grades of the Standard Book of Spells, just to complete his collection and after some thought he picked up a couple of wizarding history and protocol books. He picked up some books for fun too, wizarding fiction and the like (some from the used section as they didn't have newer copies) as well as some other books that Silay suggested. These were all from the required fields and were all more intensive, but easier to understand than the books he had been learning out of at Hogwarts. They gave fuller explanations, especially in potions.
They couldn't get any more of the required texts from there, as the Ministry had long ago regulated the types of books that could be sold. Things like Blood Magic and inventing your own curses were illegal unless sanctioned by the Ministry.
Silay paid for their books with the schools money, stating that a bill would be sent to Gringotts later.
Afterwards they headed to the Magical Menagerie where Harry caused quite a ruckus. The place had always been noisy but now it was unbearable, any shoppers that were inside quickly hurried out, leaving only Harry and Silay inside. The sales assistant gave them a sour look before plugging her ears with muggle ear plugs. Harry didn't mind her rudeness; after all if he had to talk to a snake he'd rather she not hear and freak out.
He headed straight over to the snakes. But soon found that none of them were what he wanted, they were all lazy, fat serpents that didn't seem to want to talk at all. Looking around the store he saw various types of birds, most were multi-coloured and really bright and chatty but an annoying chatty. He was heading out when a flash of green caught his eye. Looking up he saw a little white cat. Barely out of kitten-hood but powerfully muscled. The cat was male you could tell by the way he sat, his back perfectly arched as he was nonchalantly cleaning a paw. Harry reached out his hand towards him and he left off licking his limbs long enough to butt his head against Harry's hand and lick his fingers before returning to his wash. He caught a flash of pale green eyes when he looked away, which he found odd because he was sure that the cat's eyes had been blue.
The feel of the tongue on his hand had been strange but not unpleasant; it was a show of affection as much as when Hedwig nipped his ear. Foreign, not entirely human to him, but it still held the same feeling as a hug.
Making his decision he told the shop assistant he wanted him. Five minutes later he left the shop with a cat basket that was purring extremely loudly.
"Do you still want to look for a snake or are you ready to move on?" Silay asked him.
"I'd still like a snake. They'll have snakes in Knockturn Alley won't they, so I can always have a look there can't I?"
"Yes you can, there are also some other menageries located near our other stops so there is plenty of time for you to find another. We have about forty five minutes though before I have to send off the list. So I suggest we go straight to the Menagerie in Knockturn and if we don't find one, rush through our business there and head to another shop."
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Knockturn Alley had two menageries, the first surprisingly had no snakes at that time and the second only sold Owls, which really surprised him. Disappointed they headed to the apothecary, where they bought a complete potions set, most of the ingredients Harry had never even heard of. He was sure Snape had never even mentioned them. A coded discussion also bought them several strangely shaped vials for holding and containing various essences. For a moment the idea of containing essences in vials worried him. But once they were outside Silay explained that essence was conjured and summoned not stolen from living things. Only Master's manipulated living essence. And it would be quite a while before he had to use them anyway so he might be more comfortable using the vials by then.
Passing some railings on their way to the apparition point Harry suddenly heard hissing.
"Master?"
Harry turned around and for a moment couldn't see anything. But then something strange happened. One of the metal snakes that adorned the railings moved. It was a thin thing only half an inch wide and quite short, a quarter of a metre at most, its head easily twice as thick as its body. It was pure silver, bright and shiny with large black eyes like coals. There was a cross-hatching of lines down its back and horizontal lines across its belly.
"Master?"
"Hello, I'm Harry, who are you?"
"We are Silvera Master."
"We?" Harry asked. The snake nodded, pointing its head to other little snakes that were slowly uncoiling themselves from the railings and moving closer.
"We are one Master. We are yours we shall do whatever you will."
"When you say one, what do you mean?"
"We mean this my Master." With that the other snakes, making four in total wrapped themselves around each other joining at the head. The final form was a diamond headed snake with a larger spiral like body a little like a short rope. She was beautiful; he assumed she was a girl based on the cadence of her speech. It was different from the more throaty hissing speech of the males.
He turned to Silay who had remained silent all this time. His teacher was looking at him with a slightly awed expression on his face.
"Can she be classed as one if like this?" Harry asked hopefully.
Silay had to clear his throat before he could speak. "She is one. She's an Indian Rope Snake, one creature that has the ability to split its body into four smaller snakes. If any of those snakes are separated for two long then they cannot rejoin and grow separately, eventually splitting themselves further. Judging by the fact that her body is only a quarter of a metre she is only a juvenile. Shall I put her down as your third familiar?"
"Yes, if she'll come." He turned back to the snake. "Do you wish to come with me little one?"
"Oh yes please Master." He smiled.
"There's no need to call me Master little one, Harry will do."
"But you are a snake speaker Master, it is not respectful to call you anything other than Master, Master." Deciding he was fighting a losing battle Harry held his arm out to the snake who slithered up without hesitation.
Once she was firmly wrapped around his arm the clock above their heads struck a quarter to twelve. After adding Silvera to the list, Silay clicked his fingers; the parchment rolled itself up and disappeared.
"Right that's done then. Now is there anything else you want to do around here before we move on?"
"Um well, I wouldn't mind getting a hair lengthening potion from the apothecary in Diagon and having my hair styled if that's alright?"
"Perfectly understandable but why don't we get some lunch at the cauldron first?"
After Harry agreed they headed to the cauldron and placed their orders. While they were waiting for their food, Harry decided to change into one of his new outfits. He chose black jeans and a dark steel grey t-shirt with his black trainers with the silver stripes. He stuffed his old clothes in the bag, thinking he'd get rid of them later. Who knew what wizards could do with clothes, they had DNA all over them after all. After all he'd used polyjuice potion at a young age, who's to say someone couldn't use his DNA the same way. Thinking about it, using polyjuice potion was really a big invasion of privacy wasn't it?
When he got back downstairs he found somebody else sat at the table having a conversation with Silay.
The man there was dark skinned and dark haired, he was chatting away to Silay who seemed interested and friendly. There was another boy sat next to them, pale skinned and dark haired he looked very familiar, but all Harry could see was the back of his head. The boy moved slightly and Harry recognised him.
"Neville!"
Neville spun around and exclaimed "Harry!"
Luckily the Cauldron was rather busy so with all the chatter no one had really heard him shout. Harry hurried over and gave him a quick one armed hug.
"Oh Merlin look at you! How are you mate?" Neville had changed. He was still the same in looks, he just wasn't a boy anymore.
"I'm alright Harry, how are you after, well after the Ministry?" Harry felt the thoughts of Sirius coming towards him but held them back with a forced smile.
"I'm alright Neville, I'm dealing with it. So you're going too then?" he asked with a smile. Neville answered with one of his own.
"Harry come sit down." Silay called. Harry sat next to Neville and saw that the other man, Neville's mentor was looking at him intently.
"Hello Mr Potter, I'm Kire Halford. I will be your Blood Magic tutor, Silay here told me you were taking the subject."
"I am, yes."
"I see you and Neville know each other." Kire said. He appeared quite easy going, the perfect person to take Neville around and explain stuff to him. The boy got agitated easily. He wondered if the school kept a watch on them to make such perfect judgements on their needs.
"It's good that you'll both know somebody." Silay said with a smile, he was glad that Harry already knew someone. He just hoped both of them made it to the school.
All in all they spent half an hour with Neville and Kire, before heading off to get Harry's hair cut.
"You don't need to go to the apothecary; they'll lengthen your hair first if you ask." Silay told him as he pushed Harry through the door.
Harry was ushered into a chair before he knew what was happening. A woman's long nailed hands were carding through his hair.
"It's in really good condition. So what do you want doing with it?"
"Er I'm not sure." Harry replied. "I was thinking of going for something a little longer, I thought my hair might be a little bit more manageable if it was longer."
"Hhhhmm I agree. How long were you thinking?" she said tugging on a few strands so that they framed his face.
"Maybe to my shoulders."
"Ok I'll lengthen it a bit more than that and then we'll see what we have to work with."
He spent about half an hour in the chair. By the time she finally turned him around to face the mirror he was a little worried. The only thing that hadn't really been forced to change much was his hair and now he was altering that himself. But he needn't have worried.
In the end his hair reached his stomach, it was still unruly but looked more like it was meant to be that way than the rat's nest it had been. It was all different lengths, the longest piece reaching his stomach and the shortest his cheekbones. The cut was extremely jagged, giving him an edgy look; it was a mix of long, mid and short lengths. And not all in the same place, the shorter lengths weren't all at the front for one thing, they were all over. After some debate they had decided to add some green highlights and a few amber ones as the colour really brought out the colour of his eyes for some strange reason.
All in all he was really pleased with his new look, he looked kind of feral if he did say so himself.
"Now I've charmed the colours so that every time your hair grows the colours will spread to cover the new growth. If you want to straighten it or curl it or anything here's a booklet listing some styling and conditioning charms. If you want the colour charms removing you'll have to come back." He then thanked her for the booklet and happily paid her for her time.
When he got back to Silay, who had been waiting with his snake Silvera and the so far un-named cat, the man just nodded but Silvera decided she just had to comment.
"Very good Master, it should be much easier for you to attract a mate now."
A meow sounded from the carrier, it seemed the cat was also in agreement.
"Yeh thanks. " Harry said sarcastically.
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