Love of a Monster

Title: Love of a Monster
Author: Juno
Email: Juno_skywalker@yahoo.com
Rated: NC-17 *series is rated as a whole*
Pairings: Draco/Harry
Archive: Sure, just email me so I know where it is.


Disclaimers: I don't own HP or Gargoyles. I'm just borrowing the characters and/or the ideas from the series, however, ~Bolt~ and the story belong to me. I'm not making any money off of this. *Damn it!* This was only written for the enjoyment of fan-fiction readers and so that I might grow as a writer. :^)


Author's Notes: The sentences with * * around them is for personal thoughts and < > for the actions of a characters. This is my first time writing with first person POV inserts, so please bear with me. I wanted to try something new with this series and I hope you all like it. Please feel free to criticize as feedback is welcome. However, any flames will be used for toasting of marshmallows to make smores and popping of my popcorn. After all, a woman has to have her snacks. ;^)


Summary: What would life be like for the famous Harry Potter if he could be someone else? Will he survive being condemned to this alternate life that was never supposed to be?

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Part 1: Mankind...


"Potter! Your partnered with Longbottom." Professor Snape said with a wicked gleam in his eye.


I groaned to myself. *Some days it just doesn't pay to get up in the mornings, this seemed to be one of those days.* If, I didn't know better I'd swear Snape wanted me dead. However, seeing as Neville hadn't managed to actually kill anyone with one of his potions... *YET*, I knew I could at least look forward to wishing he had. Don't get me wrong. Neville is a nice bloke, but when it comes to potions to say Neville Longbottom is a walking disaster area waiting to happen was, to say the least, an understatement.


Though I must say, last month, I did enjoy seeing Draco Malfoy spend three weeks unable to talk due to one of Neville's potions. The potion caused the Slytherin student to spit out frogs every time the ponce opened his mouth. *Heee heee heee.* Best three weeks of my life.


Shaking my head, I gathered my things together. As I picked up my things to head over to my *cough* partner's table, I looked around and received sympathy glances from most of my class mates. Hell, even some of the Slytherin seemed to feel sorry for me seeing that they themselves had in fact fallen victim to Neville's mishaps.


As I started to pass by, Hermione whispered. " I'll make copies of my notes and get your class assignments for you so you don't miss anything important while your in the hospital wing, Harry."


"One of these days, Hermione, you've got to get your priorities straight." Ron teased her as he rolled his eyes. "Anyway, Neville has been getting better." He finished lamely, with a bit of a shrug.


I just smiled at their banter and moved quickly to my new seat. Neville looked like he was about ready to cry. *Great. I'm going to spend the rest of the day in quarantine.* If I could just get him to loosen up he'd be less likely to blow something up. Leaning close to Neville, I whispered, "No worries, Nev. You can do it. Just take it one step at a time and I'll help you through it." pasting on a smile that I could only hope was encouraging. It seem to do the trick since he visibly relaxed and returned my smile.


Professor Snape finished pairing off everyone in the class fairly quickly after that. I was nervous but tried my best not to show it. Bringing out my notes on the potion we were about to attempt, I checked the procedure. It was a healing potion and seemed simple enough. I looked next to me at my partner to see him doing the same.


We , as the muggles would say, went by the numbers. Adding ingredients one by one we checked and re-checked the portions as we dumped them in, just to be on the safe side. I was actually surprised when I noticed that the potion looked the way it was supposed to. It was bubbling nicely and even smelled like rum, exactly as my notes said it should. Neville was stirring when I left him to get one of the goblets for the testing our brew. All he had to do was add three pinches of shavings from a gargoyle's horn while I was gone. Neville was dusting off his hands when I came back and he began to stir again.


"All right class, you should be finished by now. I suspect that some of you will no doubt be squeamish about this next part, but for those of you..." Professor Snape looked directly at me as he all but growled, "... who did your assignment correctly, this should be no great feat for you."


Taking up the knife we were given, I placed it to my wrist and cut swiftly. Hissing at the pain, I stared down at the deep gash and watched blood poured freely from the wound. Neville handed me the potion filled goblet with a shaky hand. I tried smiling but I was feeling a little green so I don't think I pulled it off very well. Bringing the cup to my lips, the smell of rum, coconuts, and something else was very strong. I closed my eyes and drank deeply.


The goblet fell from my suddenly numb hand as my eyes watered and bugged out. My throat burned as I choked. I felt as if I couldn't breath and my stomach was suddenly on fire.


"PROFESSOR!!!" Neville cried out.


As suddenly as it happen, the sensation abated to a tingling feeling where my wrist was sliced. I felt someone's hand on my back. Looking over my shoulder, spotted Snape looking concerned and peeved at the same time.


"Are you all right, Mr. Potter?" Snape asked in his usual condescending tone, with an undercurrent of worry laced through his voice.


I nodded and pointed to the potion. Croaking out "SMOOTH." and gave a bit of a watery smile. The comment gained a few chuckles from the room. Professor Snape sent a withering look around the room before lifting up my wrist to inspect the gash. We watched as it healed itself in a split seconds time. *Well, I'll be damned. We did it.*


"It would seem that your potion is too strong. However, given your partner's history I would have to say you did well gentlemen." Snape sounded like he was about to gag at his own round about compliment. "How much of the shavings did you add to the potion?"


Neville looked nervously at his notes and stutteringly replied. "Th-th-thirteen pinches, sir."


I closed my eyes and mentally groaned.


"Class! Would someone like to tell Mr. Longbottom how many pinches of gargoyle horn shavings is supposed to be added?" boomed Snape's from behind me.


Hands went up all over the room but of course Snape had to pick his favored student. "Three pinches, Professor." Malfoy answered with a smirk.


"Three, Mr. Longbottom, NOT thirteen. You would do well to remember that!" he boomed again and headed to the next table in a swirl of black.


I waited until Snape was out of ear shot before whispering to Neville in his ear, "Yeah, but it worked." and then winked at him.


Neville practically beamed at my words. The bell rang shortly after that and I walked with him outside and we waited on Ron and Hermione to join us. We didn't have to wait long.


"NEV! Man, you did it!" Ron called out and patted the other boy on the back.


"Yes, now if you can just fix your notes you'll be set for next time. You've improved so much Neville, I'm proud of you." Hermione kissed Neville on the cheek.


I watched as he blushed and smiled shyly at Hermione. "Th-th-thanks."


The rest of the day went well and as night drew closer I found myself strangely energized. I stayed up most of the night, long after the others had fallen asleep, just staring out the window at the stars. Just as dawn approached, my eyelids grew heavy, I drowsily made my way to my bed and did a quick "Do Not Disturb" spell. I closed the curtains around my bed, relaxing deep into the soft mattress. After all, I didn't have to be up at any particular time today because it was a Saturday. So I settled in for a nice nap and figured I'd grab a quick bite later and maybe practice some new moves for my up coming game next week. *Things are looking up.* I smiled to myself and dropped off to sleep.


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I awoke just as the sun was going down. Eyes still closed, I tumbled out of bed and shuffled to the lou to relieve myself. Placing a hand against the wall, I leaned forward a bit and rolled my head back and forth to release some of the kinks in my neck. It was then that I noticed something was off. Cracking an eye open I peered around but nothing seemed out of place. Sighing to myself, I opened both eyes and looked at every corner for what ever it was. Nothing. Everything seemed fine, still I just couldn't shake the feeling something was really wrong. Shrugging a little, I finished peeing and went to wash my hands. As I reached out for the soap that was when it dawned on me what was wrong. My hands were twice their normal size and my skin was now a blue-gray. I knew, I should be panicked but I found that I was strangely calm. Sighing to myself, I shook my head to clear it a bit. I didn't even have to guess what was wrong. Nope, after years of dealing with Neville's potion, it didn't take a genius to realize the potion from yesterday's class had gone wrong after all. It had just taken longer to kick in was all. I grabbed up the soap and washed my large hands that were beginning to look more and more like claws. Splash some water on my face and I patted it dry. Scrounging up the courage, I braved looking into the mirror to assess the damage.


"Bloody HELL!" was all I could think to say as I stared in horror at the mirror. My reflection revealed that I wasn't completely human anymore. Instead I was now caught between being both a gargoyle and human forms.


*Great. Just great... Nothing like spending my effin' weekend trying to get myself out this mess.* I thought to myself sourly.


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