An: This one ended up really short. :(
Chapter 23 has now been edited.
both chapters edited by dianemalfoy
PPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPP
The next morning at breakfast Theo spoke up for the first time in front of Serpens and Alex. "Serpens, yesterday you were telling us about how there are different Lords for each country the family has assets in. If that is so, who is the head of house?"
Said man smiled at Theo. "That was quite a bit to dump on both of you in once afternoon." He took a drink and straightened in his chair. "That very issue is one of the reasons most families only have a son and daughter, or just a son. So that the power stays with the main line and there is no issue over who is Head of House. There are a few like our family who see the sense in branching out and expanding our power base though.
"When that happens there are three types of families, those with a static Head of House, a fluid Head of House and those with a distributed Head of House."
"Like the Malfoy's, Zabini's and us." Sammy chimed in. "The Malfoy family have a static Head, that's Marcus, he's Lucius' and Mikhail's grandfather, and Samuel's brother. Marcus holds veto power over every other Lord Malfoy, and while they may technically rule in each of their countries he can override their decisions. Or he can disown them which would rob them of their Lordship."
"Yes." Serpens said with a nod and proud smile at Sammy. "Marcus is the Lord in France, Samuel in Bulgaria and Mikhail here in Greece. Though by the power and influence they hold, Samuel should be Head and that causes tension in their family. Marcus feels somewhat threatened by his brother and Samuel is discontented being second in line.
"Fluid Heads of House, like your friend Zabini, are slightly different. They still have a Head of House with veto and disinheriting power, but the Head of House is not always the same, it belongs to the Lord or Lady who has the highest rank or most income, which is usually the same person. Your friend Zabini's family in Britain is the Head of House, because they are Archaic and Noble. Here in Greece they only hold the title Archaic and Honorable, that is due to them losing a great deal of respect and power about 200 years ago when the then Greek Lord slept with, against her will, the gorgon high priestess Medusa. Along with punishing the family she was allowed to turn him to stone after the trial, he still stands in the High Priestess' garden."
"We should take them to see the Priestess while they're here." Sammy said translating for Alex. "I agree with Uncle Alex, I love the gorgons. They all wear blindfolds and Ancient Greek clothing, and besides the snakes for hair they are very beautiful."
"Sounds like an excellent plan Samantha. Now for the last type of Head of House, ours. Distributed Heads of House share the power among themselves. Vetoing and disinheriting must be done by majority vote. That is why there are usually three Lord Perciville's at one time. Currently there are five since your arrival. Myself Lord of Greece, Lydia, Lady of Italy, Harricius, Lord of Britain, Liam, Lord in the Philippines, and Ian Lord of Russia. They will all be arriving before your party, except Ian's family they will be here the day of. His daughter Natasha has a performance and can't come sooner."
"She's a ballerina in the Russian Ballet." Sammy added. "She's so graceful." The girl added sounding in awe.
Serpens chuckled. "Ian is my Uncle. His branch of our family has the highest income, while mine is the oldest. Liam is my cousin, my aunt's son, she has a daughter as well, Clarissa, but she took her Australian husband's name. Liam has five children, four boys and a girl, while his sister has two sons."
"Why don't they show up on the list of people with access to my vaults?" Harry asked
Serpens smiled warmly at him. "You are very sharp Harry. The two vaults you have access to are part of the Perciville family but our assets are too large for just one vault. Ian and Liam each have their own Perciville family vault, and a vault of Slytherin secrets that they share with their lines. Several hundred years ago during the last Goblin war when the bank was nearly breached our family decided to split their knowledge of the Slytherin line so that if one bank was lost then not everything would be taken. There are only three of these and when Liam's kids grow old enough they will have to share the knowledge between them."
Harry nodded. "So I have even more family than I thought I had?"
"You do." Serpens replied with a nod drinking his coffee. "But that isn't a bad thing."
"No it isn't." Harry answered with a smile.
PPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPP
The week seemed to slip by. Clarissa, her husband and their sons, Mathew and Steven arrived on Monday. Her and her sons looked more like Weasley's than Perciville's. Living in sunny Australia their red hair had lightened into fiery orange but they all shared Harry's killing curse green eyes. When Serpens had mentioned her children, Harry assumed people his and Sammy's age, but Steven was the same age his mother would have been and Mathew five years older. They were beaters on the Australian national team, but throughout the season played on separate teams.
Liam arrived on Thursday the 29th. He was massive. Liam was 6'10" and twice as broad as Serpens. His hair was the color of fresh blood with one dark green eye and one that was ice blue. He had a husband, Fernando, and a wife Amea. Harry thought they were a bit of a strange triad because Amea looked several years younger than her husbands. Of their five children only Christian and Anthony were as tall as their father, though both were narrower than him. Anthony was the oldest and Fernando's son, followed by David his full brother, Basal, Amea's oldest, then Christian, Fernando's youngest and finally Regina the baby and Amea' daughter, who was two years Harry's junior.
Harry spent a lot of time with Liam and his sons Anthony and Christian. Turns out the reason for their size is that all three are also dominant Drakes. The two's mates choose to wait until the public ball to come so that Harry wasn't overwhelmed all at once. He was grateful, having a big family was nice but meeting twelve relatives at once was a bit much.
PPPPPPPPPPPPPP
The morning of the party, Theo woke the house with a scream. Liam and his Drake sons beat Serpens to the room even though he was closer. They burst in wings and claws out ready for an attack. Only to relax back with a chuckle when they saw what had scared the boy.
Serpens pulled Theo into his arms and kissed his curls. Clinging to the older man, Theo was able to speak. "What's happened to Harry?" He asked voice thick and tears on his long lashes.
On the bed was a large thing that looked vaguely like Harry but was glossy and hard to the touch. "Don't worry." Liam said. "This is perfectly natural. Harry is going through his metamorphosis. A few hours before we come into our inheritance we form a protective shell, almost like a cocoon."
"More like a beetle shedding its skin." Anthony cut in. "We didn't want to alarm you both so we said nothing, because usually it happens in a Drakes sleep and the change is complete by morning."
"We are very sorry we didn't mention it." Christan said with his head low.
Liam grasped his son's shoulder. "Harry is fine, as opaque as the shell is he should break out of it anytime now."
As it turned out, Harry came out of the shell nearly an hour later just as Theo was coming out of the bath. He let out a much quieter shriek when the shell around Harry seemed to bulge then melt into nothing. Inside lay Harry still fast asleep.
His hair was longer, haloing around his head and his features were more mature making him look 16 or 17 in place of the thirteen he now was. Theo guessed he was broader than Serpens, taller too, though just so and nowhere near his massive cousins. The biggest change in Theo's mind was his physique. Before Harry had been thin as a rail with no muscle mass, now he had well defined muscles most body builders would be proud of. His legs and arms were the thickest, with him only having a 4-pack abs. All of which Theo could see because Harry was now nude. The moment Theo noticed he was ogling Harry, he squeaked again and turned around.
The sound must have woken him because Harry groaned and rubbed his head. Harry yelped, causing Theo to look back at him. Harry was now sat up in bed poking at the horns on his forehead. They were twisted like a kudu's coming out of his forehead above each eyes before turning back over his head and then up. Now that Harry was sitting up and Theo was doing his best to ignore the nakedness, he saw the wings. They were the same green as Harry's eyes with jet black lines over the bones. When Harry stood, he stumbled from his new height and the weight of his horns, wings and tail. The back of the wings were solid black and so where the spines running the length of his back. Though his tail was the same color as his skin.
Stretching and folding the new wings were easy and just like the book said they sat on his back like a cape with the two little fingers at the end of each wing clasping each other over his color bone. Incidentally enough he didn't notice his lack of clothes until he closed his wings. That made Harry bright red turning his back to Theo, his tail moving to cover himself on instinct.
Theo chuckled at him. "I'll go get Liam and Serpens." He said leaving the room.
Liam was chuckling when he returned with an outfit stolen from Christan who was closer to Harry's size.
"I guess I need to have my wardrobe altered." Harry said still pink.
Liam chuckled. "Your old clothes can't be altered to fit you. You have grown much too big. When clothes are expanded in size they make up for it by losing thickness. If you were to alter your old clothes to your size then they would be thin as rice paper."
Harry nodded that made sense. After about fifteen minutes of instruction and practice Harry was able to get his drake features to melt back into his body. He was still a bit wobbly and Liam helped him down the steps. Harry didn't notice until they arrived at the table how softly Liam had been speaking to him.
With so many people here now they were using the main dining room with a massive table that can seat 100. Though they all eat at one end. Harry stumbled back into Liam when they entered and he was hit by a wall of sound. Harry nearly panicked and released his features but Liam's calming hands on his shoulders prevented it.
"I know it seems like they are shouting but it's just us. Our hearing is so much better than that of a human. Eyesight as well, we can see slightly better than humans in the day, but at night our vision is even better than that." He explained slowly raising his voice from almost a whisper he had been speaking in to normal tone so that Harry could get used to it as they walked to their seats.
"I hear you received a creature inheritance." Remus said after Harry had sat down. "But no one told me what you are."
Before Harry could answer, Serpens spoke up. "Remus you are a nice man and were once good friends with Harricus' parents but you are not family and quite frankly it is none of your business." he stated with finality.
Remus looked at Harry who shrugged. "This is all new to me, and if you can't trust family who can you trust?"
"I was like family to James and Lily."
Harry glared letting out a sub-vocal growl. His temper shorter from the recent change. "I am not James and Lily Potter. I am Harricius John Potter-Perciville, and if you were so close to them why didn't you think of looking for me at my mother's sister's house?"
Remus lowered his head but didn't have an answer for that. Serpens gave him an icy glare, he hadn't thought of that just taking the man at face value for Harry's sake.
Lydia chimed in to break up the tension. "Harry dear, you should eat up, your guests will be arriving soon."
Harry looked at her and smiled thankful for the distraction.
PPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPP
The party was something else. Lydia and her helpers had out done themselves. There was a bit of shock when Trilok and his family showed up with Griphook. And again when the minotaurs Valor and Thelose arrived.
Everyone had just accepted the new arrivals when the first portkey arrived. It was Hermione and her family. As soon as her parents were steady, Hermione raced into Harry's arms.
"I am so sorry. I was stupid and selfish and mean." She said breaking into tears. "I promise I'll do better. Mum and I had a long talk about what I was doing and how I was being a terrible brat. Please forgive me?"
Harry looked at her and could see she was sincere. "No. I won't forgive you, it's going to take more than a sorry to patch things this time Hermione. But I will let you prove you can change. Do that and I will forgive you, but we won't ever forget, just in case you slip back into your old habits."
Hermione nodded in understanding. She could now see how much she had hurt her friend. Before anything more could be said, the next portkey arrived dropping the whole Weasley clan.
PPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPP
AN: Hope this one clears up some of the questions from reviewers.