Bill Weasley was half-sitting on the edge of the wooden table in the middle of the room. His left thigh was hitched up on the top of the table, foot dangling down into space, while he used his right leg to brace himself. He was wearing a tight black t-shirt and well-worn dark blue jeans with tall dragon hide boots. He was tall and thin, his hair was pulled back into a messy ponytail that was darker than most of his family, and the fang earring glinted as he turned to see the group coming through the door.

Charlie whirled around to face them, his face a mix of worried frustration that quickly died away when he saw no immediate cause for alarm. It looked as though he had been pacing the room before they arrived. He wore dragon hide pants and boots with a dark blue t-shirt, the dragon hide looked worn and had a few scorch marks here and there. He was shorter and stocky, built along the same lines as Fred and George, though his hair was a brighter shade of red.

Once they were all in the room, Ash flicked her fingers a few times and muttered softly under her breath. Harry could feel wards spring to life, covering the entire room. When she was done, she leaned against the wall near the door and started cleaning under her nails.

"It's good to see you again Harry. Though I'm still not sure why we're all here, the twins were fairly cryptic in the note they sent us. Mum's been having a fit, certain something happened to you two." Bill looked at Fred and George as he said the last bit. He seemed to ignore the wards that had gone up, but Harry could tell that the eldest Weasley son had noticed and filed it away for later.

"Well you see Bill,"

"Harrykins has gone and gotten himself into typical Harry mischief."

"And he managed to drag us into it as well."

"Had to leave the flat and the shop, too many noses poking into things they had no right to."

Bill rubbed his forehead and held up a hand, stopping Fred and George. "Enough you two. I have enough of a headache from dealing with mum and Ron." Dropping his hand, he looked at Harry and quirked his lips into a small smile. "Care to explain what's going on then? Please? Dealing with them on a good day is next to impossible. And today hasn't been what I'd call 'good.'"

"Oi!"

"Hey!"

Harry just laughed and moved forward to take a seat, Fionn ghosting along beside him. "This may take a while..."

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"I can't believe..." Charlie shook his head. "Rather, I can believe it, it's one of the reasons Bill and I chose to move so far away from the family. She's always been a bit of a control-freak. It's just hard to take in, about your own mum and all..."

"And Ron's always been a bit of a prat, but I never would have thought he'd do something like this. The rest of us grew up knowing right from wrong, even Perce..." Bill trailed off. "We didn't know anything about this Harry. If we had you can be sure we would have said something to you."

Charlie nodded, his face grim. "Any idea if dad or Gin were in on it? I can't believe dad would be, but I don't know how mum would get it all past him if he wasn't."

"I've no idea. I know Molly and Ron for sure, they had vaults set up with the stolen money. But I haven't talked to the rest of your family yet. I'd hate to think Arthur or Ginny was in on it, but I won't know for sure until I can talk to them alone." Fionn tucked himself under Harry's left arm, ignoring the uncomfortableness of the chair arms between them, and Charlie grinned.

"So, who are your friends Harry? Now that we've gotten past the bad news, at least for now. Aren't you going to introduce us?"

"Oh, uh... That's another long story..." Harry glanced at Fionn and Ash, and then studied the two eldest Weasley brothers. He was glad they hadn't been in on Dumbledore's plans, and he did trust them to an extent. But could he trust them with the rest of the mess? Fred and George were now smack in the middle of it as well, and he didn't want to divide up the good Weasley's if he didn't have to. And that's what secrets did, they divided people. Even the good secrets could open up vast distances, and he wasn't sure if this qualified as a good or a bad secret. He ran a hand through his hair as he tried to work through all the ramifications.

"All right." Harry sighed and then continued. "Let me get all the pertinent details out, and then you can ask questions. It's a bit hard to take in at first, at least it was for me!" He waited for Bill and Charlie to nod and then closed his eyes a moment as he figured out how to start. "So on my 16th birthday, I came into a creature inheritance. I had no idea, I passed out, and when I woke up Ash was there." He waved his hand in Ash's direction. "She about scared the life out of me as she was literally two inches in front of my face." Ignoring the snickers from Ash and the twins, Harry focused on Bill and Charlie.

"She told me I had turned into a Fire Demon, and that she was to be my Guide. After we left the Dursley's, she took me to The Realm, which is apparently where most Demons and other creatures live. I met Fionn there my first day. Found out that my life was even more screwed up, I had a brand on me that suppressed my Demon powers, and was tied in with a soul component as well. When we were able to get that taken care of... there was a spell malfunction of some kind. We're still not entirely sure what happened, but, uh... FredandGeorgearenowWaterDemons." He said the last part so fast, it took a moment for Bill and Charlie to process it, and they still didn't look like they thought they had heard him right.

"Sorry, what was that last? I could have sworn you just said that Fred and George had been turned into Demons." Bill leaned forward a little from his seat on the table.

Harry blushed and looked at the floor. "Fred and George are Water Demons. It was some kind of magical backlash, but we still don't quite know how. They were behind shields that were supposed to keep out any magic raised in the room, but somehow they were still hit with enough of the power to completely change their species. If they hadn't had their inheritance yet, it could be blamed on that, if of course you had Demon in your family line, but since they're over the age of inheritance, no one seems to know how it happened." He glanced up and was slightly reassured that Bill and Charlie didn't look angry, they just looked confused. And that was of course, when Ash decided to 'help'. Harry, Fred and George popped up out of their chairs as the glamors fell and their wings weren't neatly tucked away into not-space anymore. Which of course meant that they couldn't sit, as the chairs weren't made for winged creatures.

Harry shot a glare her direction, but she was back to pretending to ignore the room. "Ash is an Air Demon, and tends to have a rather twisted sense of humor, as well as no tact or sense most of the time." Ash blew a raspberry in Harry's direction and then smirked.

"Saves time trying to explain, humans tend to go for the 'seeing is believing' thing and all that."

"Okay... So if you were all under glamor, what about him?" Bill motioned towards Fionn, as Charlie was already up and examining George's wings with fascination. George looked put-upon as Fred snickered and moved out of reach.

"Fionn is a Golden Fae, he's not a Demon so he doesn't have wings. His talent is illusion." A swarm of translucent golden butterflies appeared from nowhere, and flew around the room a few times before fading back to nothing again.

"And the war? If you're a Demon now, and have somewhere to escape to, are you still going to fight? I wouldn't blame you for leaving, our side hasn't really done right by you up to now." Bill was standing now, having come forward a bit to get a better look, without crowding like Charlie was still doing to George.

"I'm not running away Bill. I am living in the Realm now, and building a life there." Harry glanced at Fionn and smiled. "But I won't abandon the Wizarding World to Voldemort. Regardless of what Dumbledore and the rest have done to me personally, there are hundreds of innocent people who will die if I don't fight. So fight I will, once I've gotten more training. Fighting now would only get myself killed, I don't know anywhere near enough."

"Charlie!" Bill smacked the back of his brother's head. "Leave George alone before he turns you into a test subject. Again." Turning back to Harry, Bill gave a short nod. "Glad to hear it. Especially the part about getting training. Let me know if I can be of any assistance, I'll do whatever you need of me if I can."

AN: Delayed longer than I like, I blame Charlie entirely. For some reason he didn't want to cooperate. *lol* And thanks again to my wonderful beta, Nicky Noodle!

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