Heritage

Heritage
By Queencyane
(HP/LoTR crossover) In his sixth year, Harry finds himself changing.....and he can\'t stop it, but it has to do with a long-lost secret of his heritage.
Rated: NC17 (so I am free to go wherever the story may take me)
CAUTION! HEAVY OoTP SPOILERS! Procede at your own risk!
Disclaimer: I am a VERY poor college student. I receive no money for any of my stories. This is just something I do for my own amusement. I make no claims to LoTR or Harry Potter.


Chapter 9

He sat there for hours, trying to comprehend the changes that had happened to him. His hearing was keener. His vision was vastly improved, so much so that not only had he not had to wear his glasses in months, but he could see through the darkness of the dark forest as though it were day. And his strength . . . he remembered how easily he had beaten those Slytherins.

Slowly, Harry rose to his feet. Mind reeling, he turned on the faucet and splashed some icy cold water on his face. He ran his hands though his messy shag, pulling his black hair over his ears ast ast as he could. He shuddered and his fingers shook as they brushed his now pointed ears. He considered putting up his hood, for about two seconds. Wearing his hood up indoors would only attract more attention. Taking a deep breath, he approached the door. He heard the sound of footsteps in the corridor, voices calling to one another. He hesitated, fear searing into his heart. Then, before he could change his mind, he opened the door and darted out. He melted easily into the shado

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Harry fidgeted with his broom, looking nervously at his teammates in the changing room. They had beaten Ravenclaw 190-40, which explained the te ext extremely jovial mood. Everyone was talking and laughing as they showered and dressed. Except for Harry. He was sitting on a bench in front of his locker, polishing his broomstick. When his handle was clean and gleaming, he took out his clippers and trimmed the bristles. His mossy eyes glanced up every few minutes. He couldn’t risk showering in front of the others. With his hair plastered to his head, they would see his ears. He finished his broom and put it back in the locker.

‘Come on, Hurry up.’ Harry groaned internally. He picked up his guards and started conditioning the leather. Biting his bottom lip, he waited in wary anticipation for everyone to leave the bathroom.

“Harry, aren’t you going to shower, mate?” Ron walked up to Harry, toweling himself off. Little water droplets trickled down his chest and collected in the towel at his waist.

“Yeah, in a bit. I have to finish this. I haven’t properly cleaned my gear in a while. Can never be too clean, you know?”

Ron eyed him strangely. “No, I guess not. Are you coming to the party?” asked Ron as he pulled on his trousers.

“Maybe. I’ll be up in a bit.” Harry started unlacing his robes. Almost all of the team was gone and the rest were leaving. The door banged loudly and he didn’t hear a sound from out in the changing room. It was probably safe now. He shrugged out of his trousers, letting them drop to the floor.

The water had been running for awhind wnd was obviously very hot. The changing room was now a haze of steam. He opened up the door to the shower and stepped in. he turned on the tap and ran his fingers under the water, testing the water temperature. Reaching up, he adjusted the showerhead to spray outward instead of down so it would actually hit his head. He was one of the tallest in school now. If he didn’’t move the showerhead, hw would have to hunch down to get it. Harry sighed, even showering had become more complicated this year.

After a long while, he leaned back and picked up the shampoo bottle. Harry dropped his head back and dripped shampoo on his mane and worked his fingers through his hair. Slowly he began to build a rich lather, gently massaging his scalp as he did so. He turned around and stepped under the stream of water. The water fell over his hair, sending soap bubbles in a path down his front. His skin was turning red from the heat from the water. Cursing himself, he turned off the shower and headed back to the changing room. He pulled his clothes out of the locker and undid the towel from around his body, letting it fall to the floor.

Ginny was leaning up against the wall, waiting for Harry. tilltill wasn’t talking and ever since the last Slytherin match, he had become even more withdrawn. And it was really starting to worry her. He had become the first one up and the last one down. Ducking in and out of classes nearly as fast as his firebolt. He often seemed jumpy and quiet. He was talking even less and when he did, it was in short non-committal phrases. Her increasing worry for Harry weighed as heavily on her mind as a cement block.

“Hey Ginny, what are you doing?” Ginny lookp top to see her brother standing next to her.

“Waiting for Harry.” She sighed and turned towards the locker room. Ron followed her gaze.

“You can wait if you want, but you’ll be here for a bit. He just jumped in the shower as I got out.”

“I can wait.” She said calmly.

“Suit yourself.” Ron started to walk down the hall, then stopped and turned back to his sister. “Ginny…”

“Hmmm.” She looked at him curiously.

“Harry has been acting very strange lately, more than usual. When he’s not in class or practice or eating, he’s in his room. He’s always staring out the window with a strange look on his face when he thinks I’m not looking. Has he,” Ron paused. “Has he said anything to you?”

“No, I wish.” Ginny sighed. “He said he would when we were in the hospital wing, but he never did. Then he started avoiding people.”

“Yeah,” Ron exhaled and stared at the floor. “You coming to the party?”

“Of course,” she said. “With Harry.”

Ron snorted and walked away. “Good luck.” He called over his shoulder.

Ginny tapped her foot impatiently against the stone floor. Everyone else had left, but she didn’t want to leave without Harry. ‘What is taking him so long?’ Tired of waiting, she pushed away from the wall. She took a deep breath, summoning all her Gryffindor courage, and marched into the boy’s steamy changing room.

Ginny could see him through the faint steam of the changing room and the sight that met her eyes stopped her in her tracks. He had his back to her and she admired the firm muscles of his back and arms. Ginny watched, mesmerized, adropdrop of water dripped off his hair and ran down his exposed back, leaving a small track of water. Her eyes wandered upward.

“Harry,” she whispered weakly. He whipped around in shock. His shock, however, was nothing compared to Ginny’s.

“Ginny? What are you doing in here?” She gapped at him and he suddenly realized how very exposed he was.

“My god . . . Harry . . . Your . . . Your ears . . .” she stammered, mouth hanging open in shock, unable to look away.

He put his hands up, touching his ears. “Yeah, I know” He sat back down on the bench dejectedly.

She walked closer and came to a stop only a few feet in front of him before turning to look at his ears again.

“What’s happening to you?” A thousand jumbled thoughts raced through her mind.

Harry gave a bitter laugh. “I wish I knew” He stared at the floor. He didn’t need to see her to know she was staring at him. He could feel the heat of her gaze on his face, more importantly his ears.

“I’m sure it’s not as bad as it seems.”

Harry head jerked up. “Not as bad as it seems! I’ve sprouted pointy ears!” He stared at her, his face a mask of shock and anger.

“Ok. It’s worse than it seems.” She admitted reluctantly.Ginny sat down next to him and tucked her legs underneath herself. They sat in relative silence for what felt like an eternity to Harry, though it was only a few minutes. “How did this happen?”

“I don’t know.” His eyes were fixed on the stone floor intently, as if to look right through it.

“Well,” Ginny exhaled. “Out of all the things I thought you might be hiding . . .” She paused. “Sprouting body parts definitely didn’t make the list.”

Harry smirked and let out a small chuckle. Harry ran a hand though his soaking wet hair and felt himself flush under Ginny’s glances.

‘Does he know? Does he have any idea how breathtakingly handsome he is? That shirt looks like he was poured into it. Not that I\'m complaining...’ Just thinking about him made her lower abdomen clench. The other girls of Hogwarts were no more immune to Harry than she was. Every girl who passed him stopped to take a second look. It was all she could do keep from staring at his beauty, to keep her fingers from running over the muscles in his arms and down those washboard abs…

Ginny shook her head, embarrassed by the route her thoughts were taking of Harry lately. He had always been handsome, but it had never affected her like this, much less all the girls in school. She turned back to Harry, drinking in his features. He reached up to brush a strand of hair behind hiseredered ear. Ginny bit her lip and a slight blush crept across her cheeks.

“Harry, can I…” she murmured, awed by the little points of his ears.

Harry turned and looked at her, puzzled. “What?”

The reddish blush on Ginny’s cheeks deepened and she cleared her throat, which had gone suddenly dry. She fidgeted with the sleeve of her jumper. “Can I…um…Can I…” She seemed to choke on her words. The blush on Ginny’s cheeks spread across her entire face, her face heating.

“What?” Harry asked, exasperated.

She swallowed hard and looked deep into his eyes. Slowly, she raised her hand, her fingers moving in the direction of his ears. Her fingertips brushed the rims of his ears.

‘What is she do…’ Harry trembled and his eyes closed softly.

Entranced, Ginny traced the upper lines of the delicate shells, her fingertips brushing softly across one pointed tip. She ran her fingertips along the upper lines of the ears. Her fingers met the tip of his ear and slowly made their way down along the bottom rim. Tiptoeing back and forth across the ridge, she traced its sides, taking in the strange shape. She was so spellbound by his ears; she didn’t even notice the look on his face or the fact that he was trembling.

Harry couldn’t think. It felt as though his body was rippling, like a hundred Cornish pixies had been set loose in his stomach. Tiny rivers of joyful pleasure danced through his body like flames licking his insides. It burned and tickled all at the same time. Never in his life had he felt anything like it.

When her fingers brushed across the tips of his ears again, Harry felt a sharp spike of pleasure rip through him. He gasped and shuddered.

Ginny froze. Her hand jerked away, breaking contact.

“Oh Harry... I’m sorry.”

Trembling, Harry drew a deep breath and placed both hands on the cold stone floor to steady himself.

“No, It’s alright Ginny. I...” Harry took another deep breath and tried to stop his body from shaking.

Ginny cut him off. “No, it’s not alright. I hurt you. I am so sorry Harry. I didn’t…”

Harry held up a hand. “You didn’t hurt me,” he gasped.

“But…it looked like it hurt.” She brow knit in confusion.

“Trust me,” he breathed deeply. “I felt something, but it wasn’t pain.” He swallowed deeply, his Adam’s apple bobbing in the throat.

“Ohhh”

He wouldn’t have thought it possible for her blush any deeper. He was wrong. The poor girl couldn’t even make eye contact with him. She kept staring at the floor, a rosy bloom in her cheeks. Ginny started to pull away, when Harry grabbed her.

“No Gin, it’s ok. Really. I didn’t know that would happen, how could you?”

“How could that happen?” She still looked embarrassed. “I mean, just from your ears?”

“I have no idea.” They sat in silence, Harry’s hand still clutching her arm.

“It’s amazing ” Her eyes traveled over his ears again.

He snorted. “Easy for you to say. You aren’t the one sprouting new body parts
“I
“I can see how that would be scary,” she chuckled and gave a small smile.

Harry gave a soft chuckle and sat back against the wall. “Ginny...” Harry looked over his shoulder and into Ginny’s chocolate eyes.

She blushed under his gaze. Dropping her eyes from his, she looked at the floor. \"D-don\'t worry Harry, I won\'t tell anyone about your ears. I wonay aay anything. To anyone.”

Harry slowly let out a breath he didn’t realize that he was holding. “Thank you” his emerald eyes scanned her face.

\"Anyways, I think your ears are pretty,\" She stated very softly, feeling her cheeks burn.

Ginny slowly reached over and took Harry’s hand, lacing his fingers with hers. He looked down at their hands and back to his face. The corners of his mouth turned up in a tiny smile and she answered with one of her own soft smiles. They sat in the changing room in silence, clutching each other’s hands.

Finally, Ginny spoke. “Harry, you need to tell Dumbledore about this.”

“No.”

“Maybe he can help…”

“No!” Harry pulled his hand from hers and stood. He walked over to the sink and leaned up against it. “People already think I’m a freak. If anyone were to find out about this...” Harry shook his head hard. “No. No telling anyone.”

Ginny sighed heavily. “What about Hermione?”

“What about her?”

“She is the resident genius. If anyone can find out what’s wrong with you, it’s her.” Ginny got up and walked to Harry. With one hand, til tilted his face up. “She’s your friend, our friend. She won’t think you’re a freak. She never has before.”

“I haven’t grown new body parts before.” He joked with a tiny smile that didn’t reach his eyes.

“Harry.” Her chocolate eyes pleaded with him, begging him to agree. Harry nodded his consent. She smiled.

Harry reached into his locker, found his jumper, and pulled it on. Gripping his right hand tightly, she pulled him to the door. Turning around, she quickly ran her other hand through Harry’s hair, making sure his ears were sufficiently covered. Ginny peaked out the door. No one was in sight and they crept cautiously back to the common room.

They quickly blended into the party crowd and Ginny led him up the stairs to Hermione’s prefect room.

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