Hybrid Destiny

Chapter 12

The next morning, Harry was rudely awakened when a certain werewolf crept into the dormitory and proceeded to dump ice-cold water (there were still chunks of ice in that water) all over the bed. Harry jumped out of that bed so quickly it took a few moments to realize he had yet to hit the floor. Remus looked up and saw Harry hovering several feet off the floor via gorgeous black, silver, and green wings.

“Remus, what the hell was that for? Harry demanded huffily. Remus didn’t answer because he was too busy staring at Harry’s wings. Harry finally noticed that he seemed to be taller than Moony and looked down, only to notice a large amount of empty space between his feet and the floor. He finally landed on the ground and consciously retracted his wings. That was all that was needed to break Moony’s silence.

“That was different. I expected you to jump out of bed, but the flying was unanticipated. I do love the wings, though,” said Remus conversationally.

“Must be my fight or flight instincts, literally,” said Harry wryly. “Now would you like to explain why you had to come into my dorm and pour ice water all over me?”

“Well, I thought we might spend the day together. It has been a while since I’ve seen you. Plus, I want to test these new powers you have,” said Remus.

“All you had to do was ask. Drastic measures were not needed. Now if that was all, I am going to take a quick shower. How about I meet you in the Room of Requirements?” he said.

“Fine, be there in an hour,” said Remus as he headed for the door.

Harry just sighed before heading for the shower. Hurrying with the shower, he quickly got dressed, and rushed to the Room of Requirements. Remus, of course, was already waiting and wonderful man that he was, had food waiting. Harry thankfully sat down and started eating.

“I think this is the most I have ever seen you eat,” said Remus looking in awe at the amount of food Harry was packing away.

“Well, Poppy says I have to keep my energy levels up and apparently my new magic uses a lot of energy. I have to replace that energy somehow,” said Harry still eating.

“Just let me know when you’re done and we can get started,” said Remus as he picked up his book and started reading.

After another five minutes of silence as Harry finished his breakfast, he was finally full. “Okay, what do you want to first?” he asked.

“What new powers have you discovered?” asked Remus.

“Draco and I researched about royal elves in library and we found that these nifty coloured streaks all through my hair actually indicate what branch of power I can use and the strength of said power. You notice that I have an awful lot of red and silver streaks in my hair? Well, the red indicates a power over predatory beasts and the silver indicates a strength in healing. The more streaks of colour, the stronger the ability. I haven’t really worked on the elfin powers yet. Severus said he would go to the Forbidden Forest tomorrow to practice with the predatory beast power, though. The only fae power I have used is the portals and that was totally by accident, unless you count the wings and that was by accident too,” said Harry.

\"Did you read that book I got you for your birthday? Elves and fae are considered nature-based magical creatures. What I mean by that is, nature-based magical creatures usually have limited control over things like plants, animals, and the elements. Elves, for example, can usually make plant-like grow in even the most barren of deserts. The fae, on the other hand, have limited sway over certain elements like water or air,\" asked Remus.

Harry ducked his head sheepishly and said, \"Actually, no. I had just gotten my gifts when this whole inheritance thing started and I was unconscious for most of the night. When awoke, I was in the infirmary and all of my things had been packed and sent to the dorms and when I actually did work on my homework, I put the most difficult and boring essays first. I know. I\'m just making excuses.\"

\"Well, you have had an eventful summer and there\'s still a few weeks left. Why don\'t we start practice tomorrow, and you go read that book I got you. It will also help with your DADA essay,\" said Remus.

\"Okay. Oh and thanks, Moony. For everything,\" said Harry running to the door and heading back towards the tower. Once he was back in his dorm, he immediately went to his trunk and found the book Moony had given him. It took him three hours to finish the book. By the time he had finished the last page, Harry had decided to go ahead and write the essay assigned as well, which took another two hours. As he was writing the last sentence, he once again heard someone banging on the portrait door. Carefully setting the parchment aside to dry, Harry made his way down the stairs to see who was making all the noise.

\"Who is it?\" he yelled through the door.

\"Open the door, Harry,\" said Draco irritably.

Harry hurriedly opened the door and immediately asked, \"What\'s wrong? What happened? Are you alright?\"

Draco stared at him for a moment before deliberately closing the door and stepping closer to Harry. \"What\'s wrong? What happened? Am I alright?\" he asked incredulously. \"The questions should be, Where have you been? Why were you not present for lunch? What did that mangy werewolf do to you?\"

\"I\'ve been here reading a book for my DADA essay and also completing said essay. I wasn\'t at lunch because I was busy and didn\'t realize that much time had passed, and Moony didn\'t do anything to me. He just reminded me that I had a good source of research material on hand that I had forgotten about,\" said Harry defensively. \"I was going to practice with him this morning, but he decided I should read that book first, so we put off practice until tomorrow. Severus is also supposed to help me tomorrow as well.\"

\"They can\'t. That\'s one of the reasons I needed to find you. Mother\'s memorial service is tomorrow and the entire Order will be at Malfoy Manor. I came to invite you as well,\" said Draco.

\"Are you sure I should be there? I would have thought your father would have disapproved of my presence to such a personal event,\" said Harry hesitantly.

\"Father already said it was alright to invite you. Are you going?\" asked Draco.

\"Yes, I\'ll go,\" said Harry.

\"Okay. Did you finish your essay?\" he asked.

\"Yes. Did you want to borrow that book? It was really helpful, especially since it had more detailed descriptions of royal elves and fae than any of the other books we read,\" said Harry.

\"Sure. That\'s the only essay I haven\'t done,\" he said.

\"Well, wait right here and I\'ll get that book for you,\" said Harry before running up the stairs. He was back in minutes and handed the book to Draco. \"Here you go. Now that I\'m done with the essay, I think I will go to the kitchens and get something to eat. I don\'t want Poppy to hunt me done because I missed a meal. I\'ll see you later.\"

Once Draco and Harry had left the tower, Draco headed towards the Malfoy suite and Harry headed towards the kitchen. When he entered the kitchen, the only house elf he saw was Dobby. \"Hello, Dobby. I missed lunch. Would you mind terribly getting me something to eat? Poppy will kill me if I miss any more meals.\"

\"Yes, Harry Potter sir. Right away, sir,\" said Dobby enthusiastically as he rushed to obey. Before long, Harry had enough food in front of him to feed a small army. Once he was full, Harry just asked, \"Do you mind if I take some of this food with me? I still have a lot to do and I would like to have some food on hand just in case I miss dinner.\"

\"Yes, sir. Of course. Take as much as you need,\" said Dobby helpfully.

\"Thanks, Dobby,\" said Harry as he gathered food in a basket. \"Good night, Dobby.\"

Good night, Harry Potter,\" said Dobby.

Harry took his food back to the dorm and decided he would practice a little before bed. He concentrated on his wings first. He practiced sprouting and retracting his wings for an hour before he was satisfied that they would work on command. He then moved onto seeing if he could control any elements. After well over an hour with no results, he was starting to get hot and irritable. He thought he was going to have to take a cold shower to cool down, when a misty breeze flowed through the dorm. It wasn\'t a very strong wind, but it was better than nothing. Now he was tired and hungry so he quickly ate, took a shower, and went to bed.

The next morning, Harry had just gotten dressed when he heard someone banging on the door again. Running down the steps he opened the door saying, \"Draco do you have to bang so loud...ly.\" He blushed a bright red when he saw that Lucius had been banging on the door instead. \"I\'m sorry Mr. Malfoy. I thought Draco was the culprit once again.\"

\"Quite alright. The service starts in one hour. You need to be in the Great Hall in fifteen minutes,\" he said.

\"Thanks. I\'ll be there on time,\" said Harry still blushing slightly. Lucius just nodded and walked back towards his suite. Harry just shut the door, ran back upstairs to get his black robes, and headed towards the Great Hall. The colour still hadn\'t left his cheeks when Draco showed up.

\"What\'s wrong, Harry? Are you getting sick?\" he asked in concern.

\"No, I just embarrassed myself,\" said Harry ducking his head.

\"How did you do that?\" asked Draco.

\"Your father was knocking on the portrait door this morning and I thought it was you. I didn\'t exactly yell at him, but it was close,\" he explained. Draco just smirked and patted his elf\'s shoulder in mock sympathy.

\"Is everyone here? We will have to use portkeys to get to the Manor because the anti-apparation wards and floo restrictions are in place,\" asked Albus. \"Right then, get in groups of three and safe journey.\"

\"Come on,\" said Draco pulling Harry towards Lucius. Lucius tapped the portkey and with a jerk, they landed in the Manor\'s ballroom. Harry, of course, lost his balance immediately (he really hates portkeys) and bumped into Lucius. Fortunately, Draco caught both of their arms before they could go crashing to the ground. Harry just muttered a sorry while blushing once again. Soon afterwards, everyone else had arrived.

The memorial service was conducted with no problems or uninvited guests, and soon the whole entourage was back at Hogwarts having lunch in the Great Hall. Harry still couldn\'t look at Lucius without blushing. He was absolutely mortified. As soon as he could leave and still be polite, he was out the door in a flash. He went straight to the Room of Requirements because he knew Moony would eventually look for him there. He was staring out of the window that had appeared when he decided he wanted a view of the lake, when the door opened behind him. Harry, still staring out of the window, just asked, \"Did you talk to Severus about going to the Forbidden Forest to help with the training?\" When he didn\'t immediately get a response, he finally looked towards the door. Instead of Moony, both Malfoys were standing there. The now familiar blush flared to life on his cheeks and he said, \"I\'m sorry. I thought Remus had arrived.\"

\"Well, I asked him where you had gone and he gave me directions,\" said Draco.

\"What did you need?\" asked Harry.

\"I read that entire book last night and just wanted to know if I could go to the forest and watch your training,\" he explained.

\"Oh. I don\'t mind but it\'s really up to Severus and Moony,\" said Harry shrugging.

\"Uncle Sev said it was fine with him. His exact words were \'You may actually learn something new.\' Father is also going. He wants to see what kind of new powers you have,\" said Draco smirking when his father glared at him.

\"Did he tell you what time to meet him there?\" he asked.

\"He said to be there in twenty minutes or you forfeit the vast amounts of knowledge he could contribute,\" said Lucius speaking up for the first time. Of course, when Harry just stared at him like he had grown another head, he finally added, \"Don\'t look at me like that. Those were his words not mine.\"

Harry just snickered for a moment before doubling over in laughter. \"Ha ha ha. The vast amounts of knowledge he could contribute. I swear he sounds like Dumbledore. Let\'s go then. I would hate to forfeit that knowledge.\"

Harry, Draco, and Lucius walked to the entrance hall and saw Moony and Severus waiting for them. \"Did you find him alright?\" Moony asked Draco. Draco just nodded and they all headed towards the Forbidden Forest. They walked for about fifteen minutes before finally stopping. Severus raised his wand and cast a summoning spell for any wolves in the area. Several wolves soon surrounded them, and those wolves did not seem happy if the snarls and growls were anything to go by. Harry\'s magic instinctively reached towards the wolves and emitted a soothing blue pulse of light. Soon the wolves were perfectly calm and sitting on the ground. Remus decided to test him a little more by lunging towards Harry as if attacking. Harry\'s magic immediately wrapped around Remus with that same blue pulsing light and Remus sat on the ground hard.

Harry rushed to Remus and asked, \"Are you alright? I didn\'t mean to that. You just lunged at me and.... that.\" Harry was about to panic. He was so afraid that his magic had done something bad to Remus and he couldn\'t even tell them how it happened.

\"I\'m fine, Harry. That was absolutely incredible,\" said Remus still a bit dazed.

\"Huh?\" was all Harry could say. Severus and Draco just rolled their eyes at his eloquence.

\"When that magic wrapped around me like that, it just sent pulses of the most soothing, calming feelings imaginable. The wolf was just suddenly happy almost,\" explained Remus. \"The biggest thing, though, is that the calming effect wasn\'t just on the wolf. It calmed me down completely as well.\"

\"Well that makes sense, sort of,\" said Draco slowly. \"I mean, when man is about to attack, can he not be considered predatory?\"

\"I guess when you put it that way, it does make sense,\" said Lucius.

\"Okay, if you are all going to get philosophical, I want to go back to Hogwarts where I can at least be comfortable,\" said Harry. They all agreed and started back to school. It took them a few minutes to realize that the wolves Harry had calmed so successfully were following them through the forest. Harry cautiously walked up to the wolf closest to him and slowly reached to pet his head. He almost jerked his hand back when the wolf moved and shoved his head into Harry\'s palm.

\"Oh look. Harry has a new friend,\" said Draco smirking at Harry the whole time.

\"Shut up, Draco,\" said Harry as he continued to pet the wolf. He smirked when Draco took a step closer and the wolf growled at him causing him to take a quick step back. Harry just gave one last pet and returned to the rest of the group. The wolves howled and ran back into the forest. \"Well that was interesting,\" he said and with that he continued towards the edge of the forest. They finally managed to make it back to Hogwarts before splitting up to change and wash before dinner.

Harry hurried back to the Great Hall and managed to get there before everyone but Albus and Minerva. When Poppy arrived, she just smiled in greeting. Finally Lucius and Draco, then Severus, and lastly Remus arrived. Harry was practically bouncing in his seat because he was starving. As soon as the food appeared, he started loading his plate. After ten minutes of continuous eating, he finally paused long enough to notice the stares. He just scowled and kept eating. He had eaten twice the amount of everyone else there by the time he was done. He pushed his plate away, excused himself, and was gone before anyone could get a word in edgewise.

Harry was tired and just really wanted to go to bed. He hadn\'t been in his room long before someone was banging on the portrait door. He just wearily walked down the stairs and opened the door. Draco didn\'t say word, he just pushed his way into the room. Once he saw how tired Harry looked, he ushered Harry upstairs, made sure he got changed for bed, and pushed him into bed. Harry was out in minutes. Draco leaned down and kissed his forehead, but when he straightened up to leave, he found he couldn\'t. Harry had grabbed a hold of his hair and robe and didn\'t seem inclined to let go. Draco ended up just getting into the bed with the elf and was immediately used as a pillow. Harry\'s head moved to his shoulder and he draped an arm and a leg over him. Draco just smiled at the cute little elf and was soon asleep as well.