3rd Summer-August 17, 1993

Fire burned away flesh and licked at the skin as an inferno of heat and pain ensnared the young adolescent's senses.   There was no escape from the inferno of fire that consumed him, no escape from his execution.  Hagrid was right...goblins really are not to be messed with, was Harry's last thought. Above him, the goblins watched the execution take place and there seemed justice for the crimes committed by a young wizard, justice for a goblin only trying to do their job.  Yet, strangely, as he was burned, he did not die.  Rather the flames began licking at his skin though not in a harmful way, yet there was still pain of a different sort, of his skin stretching and Harry found his head falling to the cavern floor, his screams echoing through the pit and renting the air, screams of pain changing to a guttural roar that shook the walls and caused a chill of fear to sweep through the goblins watching the execution.   Before anyone could contemplate what had happened, there was a pained roar and a scream from one of the dragons, the fire swirling together in a tornado as the temperature began to rise around them, at first comfortable but then it gradually grew hotter.  

Suddenly, the fire tornado vanished in a swirl of fire and ash, hot embers raining down on the pit as the dragons frantically screeched and turned to either fly or hurry quickly from sight, vanishing back into the darkness.  As the goblins stared and the fire died down, it revealed a horrific sight...a demon around five feet high with fire swirling around him, licking at his flesh which was burnt orange, blue and white feathered wings spreading from his shoulders and two horns which resembled a dragon, black as pitch and curving backward on his head with fox ears and tail. Black talons were etched on his hands and feet, clothing having burned away from the fire but what was worse was the color of the fire licking at his flesh...it wasn't orange but purple.  Heat could be felt radiating from the creature and at his feet lay the broken body of a young dragon, its head being kicked with a sweep of the creature's foot across the pit like a football.  No longer was this creature human...no it appeared to be a demon and the goblins immediately used their magic to contain the creature, the dragons briefly poking their heads out of caves before withdrawing at seeing the sight. For even a dragon, powerful and strong as it was, would dare to mess with a demon.   A young demon it might be, not even half its adult height, but still...even dragons knew a predator when they saw one.

"Alert the Ministry to a class five creature," hissed the lead goblin.  "Secure it and put it in a holding cell," came another order once the goblins had subdued the demon, a messenger taking off to inform the ministry of magic.  Goblins were a greedy and warrior race, not unlike orcs or ogres, but even they knew better than to tangle with or upset a demon and they had just done so.   This creature, this demon disguised as a human, was a young demon, not a child but still potentially dangerous and it begged the question...had the Potters hidden their demon heritage or were they even demons in the first place? Demons were classified as dark creatures and with good reason...a class five creature could never be domesticated or tamed.  While dragons were known wizard killers who ate and would harm humans, there were specialized humans able to work with them known as dragon tamers.  Such was not the case for demons who were chaotic fiends of raw physicality and rage, said to come from the abyss or in religious terms, Hell itself.  It was said even elementals were demons, albeit lesser demons while others considered elements as the ethereal embodiments of nature's aspects. 

The bright fluorescent lighting of a hospital room hit him, and green eyes slowly filtered open, blinking hazily at the lights before he slowly turned his head to first one side and then the other, trying to get the kink out of his neck.  Where was he and how did he get here? The only things he could remember were Gringotts, the wind whipping past him as he hurtled through the tunnels into the darkness and the dragons setting him on fire.  He didn't really remember the pain nor what had happened after but as he looked down at himself, he could see that he had some burns on his body that were wrapped in bandages.  He attempted to speak but his throat was hoarse and all that came out was a croak.

The subtle creak of a chair alerted him to the presence of someone within the room with him and he again turned his gaze to see an auror sitting in a chair, the man's piercing gaze turning towards Harry as the man saw that Harry was awake. Yet, there was no kind smile on the auror's face as he looked at the young teen.  Granted, the aurors didn't make friends with Harry but they were mostly friendly to him.  "Where...where am I?"

The auror stared at him in disbelief before turning back to look at his companion standing by the door.  "You're in Saint Mungo's," came another voice and Harry saw a nurse come into the room, escorted by a tall and bald black man, this being Kingsley who had been released from the Minster's office at hearing the information that the Potter boy had been taken to the hospital after the Minster received a disturbing incident about the boy. 

"St. Mungo's?"

"It's the hospital in Britain for the UK wizarding population," said the woman who was dressed in healer robes.  "You were burned pretty badly so we had to patch you up when you arrived," said the nurse.   "I'm Healer Wright.  How are your Mr. Potter?"

Harry didn't even ask how the woman knew his name because he knew why...they all seemed to know his name due to the events of Halloween and the attack on the Potters in 1981 when he'd been a mere tot.  It still baffled Harry, even today that there were so many people who knew his name in the wizarding world that now it didn't even phase him anymore.  The woman appeared middle aged with a rather brusque attitude but maybe she had to be when dealing with magical patients and maladies. 

Healer Wright walked forward and slowly peeled back the bandages to check his burns, finding the skin still red but beginning to heal.  She glanced back at Kingsley and the other two aurors in the patient's room before turning back to Harry who stared in disbelief at his chest where there was a large burn on it, red and inflamed, a burn that had white blisters on it. Healer Wright then put some burn salve on the teen's burns and then bandaged them up again with fresh bandages and gauze, putting a pain relief potion on the gauze so he would have some relief from the injuries he had sustained.   "Now, I'm going to just check your vitals and take some blood work," said Healer Wright.  "You seem slightly anemic, so I'd like to check your iron levels and hemoglobin levels and appear malnourished as well.  Tell me Mr. Potter. Have you ever been to see a doctor for your eyesight and your malnutrition?"

"No," said Harry, thinking that he didn't even know young first years were meant to get shots.  "Madam Pomfrey never gave me any shots.  The...my relatives got me some Muggle shots before primary school, but nobody ever said anything to my knowledge about the fact that I'm a bit skinny and my eyesight...I guess I get my dad's eyesight."

"Mr. Potter, you are severely underweight," said Healer Wright.   "You play Quidditch yes?"

Harry brightened.  "Yeah, I'm the youngest seeker at Hogwarts in a century.  I'm good too."

"It's not something to be proud of," said Healer Wright as she then muttered a spell and a hologram appeared over Harry which began separating itself into three different layers...skin and nerves, muscle and organs, and the skeletal system respectively.  "I can see you're suffering from malnutrition as I explained before and your bones," she moved the layer of bones to the forefront, "appear to have multiple fractures and breaks through the years, some not healing correctly," said Healer Wright as she pointed out a broken arm. To Harry's horror, he discovered these images revealed every injury he'd ever had, some words overlaying each other so that the healer had to wave her wand to separate them.     "You suffered a broken tibia at five years old?"

"What's a tibia?"

"It's your shin bone Mr. Potter," said Healer Wright.  "A bite from a dog that scarred on your leg...I'm surprised you don't have a limp with how deep it shows on the scans," she said.   "I guess the dog that bit you didn't break the bone or wasn't a big dog."

"It was my Aunt Marge's bulldog Ripper," said Harry. "He chased me up a tree when I was five and my got my leg before I managed to get up the tree. My relatives didn't call him back until sometime past midnight and I couldn't come down because he was growling and pacing around the tree like he wanted to eat me."

"A concussion at four years old with a fracture hairline in your skull at four?  Your bones vanishing from your left arm in your second year?"

"Lockhart vanished my bones, but Madam Pomfrey grew them back with Skelegrow," said Harry, not commenting on how Aunt Petunia had hit him around the head with a frying pan when he'd burned the bacon at four years old.  Healer Wright pursed her lips in a thin line, asking a few more questions and detailing more of Harry's treatment.  

"You should have been taken to the school infirmary or even St. Mungo's straight away," said Healer Wright, annoyance coloring her voice.   She then waved her wand, the injuries appearing on a scroll of parchment that soon hit the floor and she shook her head at this.  "With your malnutrition and brittle bones Mr. Potter, you shouldn't have been allowed anywhere on a broom, much less be allowed to play Quidditch for the past two years.  Any fall could have permanently injured you and required a hospital visit to St. Mungo's. What idiot could have given an eleven-year-old a broom, much less bent the rules for one child when it hasn't been in the history of Hogwarts...it probably has something to do with your savior status," she said.

Waving her wand and muttering a spell, she vanished the images and handed the parchment to Kingsley who looked it over for himself. "May I have a copy of this Healer Wright? The Minister will want to see this for himself."

"Yes, of course," said Healer Wright before she procured some vials and tubes with which to take Harry's blood.  "Now Mr. Potter, I'm going to take some blood for your blood tests.  Please make a fist," she said as she pulled out a torrent and tied it around Harry's upper arm, Harry doing as asked. Kingsley pulled out his own wand and waved it at the parchment, muttering a spell.

"Duplicare," he muttered, and a white light emitted from his wand which hit the parchment he was holding. It glowed white for a couple of minutes before an exact replica appeared in his hand and he handed the original copy back to Healer Wright who set it aside. 

"Well, Mr. Potter.  It is highly advised you do not engage in Quidditch this year and I will be recommending as such to the minister and the headmaster," said Healer Wright when she had finished with Harry's examination.   "Nor even recreational flying or any type of stunt that can cause you injury," she said.   Harry's pale face-tinged pink in embarrassment.

She sounds like she'd get along with Snape, he thought sourly.   I'm not that bad and I don't go looking for trouble.  This he told himself, despite knowing deep down it wasn't the case.  Harry had gone to rescue Hermione instead of informing a prefect or professor in his first year and he had taken Ron's idea of flying the car to Hogwarts last year instead of writing to someone at the school. He had just wanted to get to school and not locked up at the Dursleys for the entire year.   As the aurors left him alone, along with Healer Wright once she had taken his blood, he was given a sleeping draught and soon slipped into unconsciousness once more.

"...believe he's not..."

"...shut...restrain..."

"...maybe mistake..."

"Blood tests don't lie Shacklebolt."

"I can't believe..."

Voices filtered slowly around him, in and out of consciousness as he slept, and it wasn't until he felt a spell hit him that his eyes snapped open to see wands pointed at him.   Before he could ask a question, Harry found himself in magical suppression cuffs with his hands cuffed behind his back.    He then found himself hauled up by two of the aurors who moved forward and taken to a private floo area in a room for the staff.  "Ministry of Magic," said Kingsley as he tossed a pinch of floo powder into the hearth and Harry was hauled through with the two aurors following him in a woosh of flame.   Harry stumbled out of the fireplace, coughing and stumbling. He would have fallen were it not for the two aurors holding him up and didn't even get a chance to see they were back in the atrium as he was immediately led towards the lifts with the others following him.  One of the aurors had hold of Harry's wand though the teen didn't know it.  Once they had crowded into the lift, Kingsley pressed a button and Harry saw Kingsley press the level four button, the lift's gate came down and they were off. 

"Level 4, Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures, incorporating Goblin and Centaur liaison offices, the pest advisory board, the creature divisions and the Office of Misinformation," said the voice on the speaker. Kingsley lifted the lift grate as the doors opened and they walked down the hallway, Harry confused as to why they were here on this floor.

"Where are we?"

"The Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures," grunted the auror on his left.   "Give me an excuse to kill you creature and I'll gladly do it."

"Rowle," snapped Kingsley.  

"Please...can't someone tell me what's..."  But his words were cut off as the auror behind him hit him in the back of his knees, Harry falling to the floor with a pained cry.  

"Dawlish that's enough! We're to take it to be registered," he said, "not abuse it and risk it attacking us."

Harry, for his part, had no idea what was being spoken of. Why would he attack them? Yet he couldn't focus as Kingsley turned and hauled him to his feet by his shirt and marching him down the hall, passing a door that said Centaur Liaison Office on his right and Office of Misinformation a couple doors down on his left.  There was even a door that said House Elves and he knew Hermione would have a field day if she saw it.  Though he couldn't imagine Hermione ever being down on Level 4 but he found himself dragged forward before he could think much further on the House Elves department, being dragged past a door that said Werewolf Registry until they stopped at another door halfway down the hall.  "Where are we?"

"Registry," spoke the man Harry now knew as Dawlish.   Kingsley opened the door and the Aurors brought him inside. 

"Ah Kingsley, another creature to register? Which category is this?" questioned the man at the desk as Harry was pushed into a chair by Kingsley.    

"I'm not a creature! Please...why am I here? I didn't do anything!"

"That's what they all say," said the man at the desk.  "They all say they won't do whatever got them revealed as a creature again or that they'll be good or are innocent.  I don't know how you managed to hide yourself for...how old is it?"

"It would have been a third year," said Dawlish.  "It's been harbored by the Minster all this time."

"The Minister had no idea he was harboring a creature," said Kingsley, glaring at Dawlish.   "If he had, he would have followed protocol."

Protocol? Harry's eyes darted nervously to each figure that he could see, trying to find a friendly face but there were none.   "Please! I'm not a creature!  I'm just...human!"  But Harry found not a soul would look at him nor respond to his pleas.  "I won't...I just wanted to get my money for school supplies and didn't have my key!"

"His key?"

"Apparently the creature attacked a goblin and stole a cart to go down to its vault," said Kingsley.  "The goblins sentenced it to death and the dragons fled after one of their number was killed by him. The goblins sensed what he was and alerted the Minister who sent Dawlish and Rowle to the bank where it was taken to St. Mungo's for treatment.   Blood tests confirmed it's a creature but to answer the earlier question...it seems to be of the beast division."

"I see.  Where is it's wand?  It probably still has the wand on it."

"I don't have it! I dropped..."

"The goblins confiscated it," said Kingsley, handing it over to the man who remained seated.  

"Hmmm.  Holly," said the man.  "Kingsley, send a patronus to Ollivander and have him come here to determine the core and length of this wand as well as answer for giving a creature a wand when he knows creatures aren't allowed access to wands."

"Alright.  Expecto Patronum," said Kingsley and a silvery lynx appeared.  "Ollivander, you're needed at the Ministry's Beast Division for a creature possessing a wand," said Kingsley.  "Level 4 of the Ministry, take the floo and be here at once," he said before the lynx dashed off to deliver the message.  

The man opposite Harry surveyed him as they waited for the lynx to deliver the message and for Ollivander to arrive to answer for his crime.  If he truly didn't know then he would be issued a fine and if he did, it could mean jail time in Azkaban.   He then got to his feet and walked around to Harry.  "I'm going to ask some questions and you're going to answer them," he said. 

Harry nodded and the questioning began.   "What is your name?"

"What?"

"Your name. Do not make me repeat myself," said the man.

"Harry Potter."

"Age and birth?"

"Thirteen.  I was born July 31st 1980," said Harry, not understanding why he was being asked these questions.

"Species?"

"I...what?"

"Species. What is your species? What type of creature are you?"

"I..." Harry looked between the man and Kingsley, hoping for some sort of help, hoping for someone to say this was a mistake.  "I'm human! My parents were James and Lily Potter!"

The man ignored him and looked at the three aurors.  ""Demon," said Dawlish.  "Not sure what kind though but the flames didn't seem to affect it aside from some burning."

The man looked sharply at Dawlish before going to the next question.  "A demon? A class five creature?! Among students of Hogwarts?! What was Dum...markings?"

"I have a scar on my forehead in the shape of a lightning bolt," said Harry as he moved his fringe up to show the man. Unfortunately, what Harry didn't realize was that his scar was no longer there, burned off due to the dragon fire unknowingly activating his dormant inheritance. The man peered at the unblemished, if slightly reddened skin. 

"There's no scar there," said the man.  "So now you're pretending to be Britain's savior as well?"

"I assure you I am Harry Potter!"

"Note the creature is pretending to be the wizarding savior," said the man to the aurors who nodded.  Meanwhile, Rowle was surprised at this information.  Had the Dark Lord made a mistake in picking his enemy?  If this boy wasn't Potter, then who exactly was he and what had happened to the Potter child? Did he really exist at all? Had the rat fed the Dark Lord the wrong information that led to his downfall?  "Is that it?"  The man in charge of registration for creatures, be they being, beast or spirit, interrupted Rowle's thoughts and he shoved them into the inner recesses of his mind.  It would not be good for anyone to realize he supported the Dark Lord in the past.

"I have...a scar on my right arm from a basilisk...and a scar on my left leg from a dog bite when I was five," said Harry in a shaky voice, confused as to why his scar had disappeared. 

"A basilisk?" questioned Dawlish in surprise. "Are you telling me there's a basilisk at Hogwarts?"

"Yeah. Well, it's dead but I killed it in last year. Stabbed it through the skull with Gryffindor's sword."

"And does the Headmaster know of this?"

"Yes," said Harry.  "He learned about it when I went to save Ginny with her brother Ron and that fraud of a man, Lockhart."

"A basilisk...are you saying this is what was petrifying students at the school last year creature?"

Before Harry could say anything, the man making note of the boy's markings on a clipboard, there was a woosh of the fireplace and Ollivander stepped through.   "You wished to see me Lucian Cobweb?"

"Mr. Ollivander, we have some disturbing information here.  It seems this creature," he pointed at Harry, "has a Holly wand and we want to know the core as well as question why you gave a wand to a creature when you know they aren't allowed access to magic."

Ollivander's gaze flickered over to the other aurors and then to Harry before speaking.  "May I see the wand in question?"

Kingsley passed the wand over and Ollivander examined it, remaining silent for a few moments.  "Yes...I remember.  Holly with a phoenix feather core, eleven inches, nice and supple.  A curious wand, give the phoenix who gave the tail feather gave just one other, a feather to a young man who would become the Dark Lord.  Holly being good for Dueling, Dueling Spells, Defense Against the Dark Arts and good for those skilled in Occlumency.  Combined with its phoenix feather core which is good for Elemental Magic involving Fire Spells, Air Spells and Metal Spells as well as being good for Evil Repelling Spells and DADA. Brother or sister wands will never fight against each other," he said.  "This wand was made for Harry Potter and was curious that he should be destined for such a wand when its brother gave him the scar on his forehead.  But I am unsure about what you mean by a creature. As far as I am aware, Peverell's and early Potter generation have creature blood, but it became diluted down the line so that they were all human by the time Mr. and Mrs. Potter were born," he said.  "Harry Potter exhibited no signs of being a creature when he came to my shop. Had I known, I wouldn't have given him a wand and would have reported it."

"My parents?"

"No, James' parents," said Ollivander. 

"Noted," said the man known now as Lucien.  "Well then Mr. Ollivander, if you'll just make yourself comfortable, one of the aurors will question you under Veritaserum and then your punishment will commence."

Ollivander nodded and took a seat, leaving Kingsley to go fetch some truth serum and contact a lawyer to get information on the creature's test results. Twenty minutes passed before the man was back and Ollivander was sent on his way after paying a fifty galleon fine for providing a wand to a creature and an oath to not speak of this to anyone barring Minister Fudge and those in the room except for necessary testimony should it be needed in court. There was no need to swear on the man's magic or life as all wandmakers kept their word, bound by magic of their own understanding.  The barrister stood by patiently before being asked to step forward.

"I understand I am here to do a test on this creature and find out what it is?"

"That's correct," said Lucien.  "Though the goblins have revealed it to be a demon," he said and explained what had happened.

"If fire didn't affect it...it might be a fire demon," said the barrister, looking through his silver-wired glasses at Harry.

"I'm not a demon!"

The man nodded to Lucien and turned pulled out two sheets of parchment as well as two vials of blood, letting three drops from each vial drop onto the first parchment and a family tree began to form, showing Mr. and Mrs. Potter's sides of the family.  Generations of both lines spread out on both sides, though the Potter side ended up branching out more into the Peverell side while the Evans family only went back four generations, showing the combined Evans-Dursley line on the Evans side as well as the combined Potter-Peverell line on the Potter side as well as other families the Potters were related to and their relations.  None spoke a word as the blood spread across the parchment like ink, detailing other families that the Potters were related to and relations, detailing relatives living and dead.   "It seems the Potters having living family branches on the continent and the old world as well as being related to the extinct Fleamont family, the Blacks, the Crabbes, the Flints and the Bulstrodes as well as a family called Riddle and the Peverell's of course," said the man, "as well as being related to the House of Gaunt."

"Gaunt?" questioned Kingsley.

"An inbred and endangered family, the last British descendants of Salazar Slytherin," spoke the barrister.  "It's a distant connection but they're both related through the Peverell line.  House Gaunt took inbreeding and blood purity too far, producing a near squib who had a son in 1926 before her death, a child named Tom Riddle Jr.  And the late Mrs. Potter appears to have been related to the Vogel family, a German pureblood family who fought on the side of Gellert Grindelwald in the war," spoke the barrister which surprised everyone there...everyone except Harry who didn't know who Gellert Grindelwald was.  However, he felt like he was going to be sick when he heard that he was related to Tom Riddle, the man who had killed his parents.  

"Yes, it seems this Tom Riddle Jr. is better known as Lord Voldemort...a half-blood of a near squib and a muggle," spoke the barrister as he examined the parchment. 

"The Dark Lord was killed!"

"No, he wasn't," said the barrister.  "Not according to this family tree that lists him as still alive," he said.    And he murmured a spell, showing the tree in holographic form before everyone as well as muttering  a spell and writing the name ‘Tom Marvolo Riddle' in fiery letters as the Dark Lord's spirit had done last year in the Chamber of Secrets before rearranging them to spell out ‘I Am Lord Voldemort.'  "Really, wizards have not an ounce of logic and don't use their brains at all," said the barrister with a shake of his head.  "But you'll notice this right here," he said, pointing his wand towards the bottom of the map, showing a line descending from James and Lily Potter nee Evans.  "There was a child born named Harry James Potter...however according to this...it seems he perished at a young age."

As the group of adults looked at each other in shock and then peered at the family tree, this being another blow to them, they saw the name Harry J. Potter July 31, 1980-December 25, 1980.  "Then...who is this creature?" Lucien questioned, "and how has he been impersonating the dead son of Mr. and Mrs. Potter?"

"Can the family tree be lying?" questioned Kingsley.

"No," said the barrister.  "When wizards are born, their blood is taken at birth and put into a vial as well as blood taken from the parents. With the case of muggleborns, their blood is taken by the witch or wizard who visits them but the majority of Mugglebeorns never seek to learn about their wizarding ancestry so any familia connections are never found unless the Muggleborn comes to a barrister as an adult," said the barrister.   "But with the majority of Muggleborns leaving back to the mundane world upon graduation due to the lack of opportunities for them in Britain at least or leaving to other more welcoming wizarding communities abroad, they never think to learn about their heritage, believing themselves to have been blessed by the Goddess Hekate when they're usually descended from a witch or wizard that married a Muggle some time ago or from a squib that was tossed out of their family into the Muggle world."

This was news to everyone, more so to Rowle who couldn't believe he had followed a half-blood all these years.   In that moment, the man decided to not follow the Dark Lord if he returned at all.  "Now let us examine our young creature, shall we?"

Harry sat there in shock, hearing that he wasn't a Potter and that the real Harry Potter had ended up dying at a young age.  If he wasn't a Potter then who was he? Were his parents still alive?   Everything he thought he knew about himself was shattering around him.    "I'm not a creature! I'm not!" In his shock, he didn't hear the spell cutting into his hand nor feel his hand being grabbed and the blood dropped onto the second parchment, spreading into words. 

Elvoriuth

Class: Class 5 Creature

Creature Type: Tribrid (Fire Demon x Ice Phoenix x Kitsune)

Blood Status: Creature Blood

Parents: Eos (mother), Serkaxuth (father)

Creature Status: Class 5 Creature; Rare Tribrid

Class of parents: Fire Demon Class 5, Ice Phoenix Class 4, Kitsune Class 4

Creature Heritage: Ice Phoenix (100%-mother)

Demon-Fire (100%)

Kitsune Ancestry (Darkness/Fire tribes-7 generations skipped from father's side)

Age: 12 Years (immortal)-Born November 25, 1980

Features: Wings, horns, tail, sharp claws, fangs

Demon form (locked)

Kitsune forms (wolf-sized fox, regular fox-locked)

"I thought demons were stuff of myth and legends," exclaimed Dawlish.

"They seem to be a thing among the Mudbloods," said Rowle, unable to help himself.  "You know they don't believe in magic yet they believe in some creatures as being myth like dragons, giants and unicorns." 

"Muggles are a strange breed," spoke Dawlish. 

Meanwhile, Lucien was correcting the information, still surprised they were facing a rare tribrid and that the Potter child had perished so early in life.  Then who was it that had stopped the Dark Lord? This creature...yes...it was a danger even then. It wasn't ‘love' like Albus Dumbledore claimed but the creature's demon blood then.  And the Dark Lord was alive?   That could be a problem.

"Did the Potters ever have a will or adopt this child?" questioned Lucien.  

"The Potters never made a will," spoke the barrister.  "And I checked my files when I got a message from Kingsley.  They never came to me with a child they wished to adopt nor to any other contacts I have in the law firm.  No child was ever adopted by the Potters nor a will ever made.  As to how this child came into the care of Mr. and Mrs. Potter, I can only imagine there were glamors of some sort on the child to hide its true appearance or perhaps its true appearance was blocked like its kitsune and demon forms are locked.  This is all I can really tell you."

"Thank you, Johnathan," spoke Lucien.  "Please don't inform Dumbledore of this.  I wonder if the old man knew about this child not being the Potters' child or if he was unaware." Johnathan nodded before leaving through the floo once more. 

5th Year-September 1, 1995

As the Great Hall emptied at the close of the evening, the students all full and ready for bed or to have a couple hours to catch up before turning in for the evening, the staff remained at the head table finishing their own meals or taking the time to speak to each other over their plans for the upcoming school year.   As the last of the staff finished their meals, Dumbledore rose from his chair and spoke.   "If we are all finished, I'd like to have a staff meeting with the professors.   Dolores...Chervil...if you would please follow me to the staff room.  Dolores...if you like I can have a house elf take your belongings to your quarters and have the creature fed."

Dolores looked down at the creature at her feet before nodding and got to her feet, the tribrid's eyes tracking Dolores's movement before unfolding its body and crawling out to shake its pelt as its golden-yellow eyes staring unblinkingly at the other humans, stepping up to the woman's side as other staff got to their feet.   "I suppose it deserves a reward and a meal for being obedient," said Dolores.  "Follow the house elf and remain in my quarters," spoke Dolores, the tribrid bowing his head.  "You may eat what the house elf brings you.  Adrian prefers raw meat and blood," said Dolores to the house elf that popped in as it was summoned by Dumbledore.  

"Thank you, mistress," spoke the creature, causing gasps from some of the professors. 

"It talks?" questioned Pomona.

"'Course it does," said Hagrid. "Don' know much about ‘em m'self but both kitsune an' demons talk."  Elvoriuth turned his gaze towards the hybrid and then turned, walking after the house elf that led the tribrid through the halls as the staff made their way towards the staff room on the ground floor while Elvoriuth was led to the Grand Staircase and up to Professor Umbridge's office, heading up three flights of stairs. Each shift of the tribrid's claws echoed in the area around him yet he found some students were lingering upon the stairs, students of all ages who pressed against walls. The house elf in question seemed skittish and fearful of the tribrid following it whereas the students were curious, the fox bird moving easily up the moving stairs and often overtaking the house elf, forcing the tiny creature to use its own form of apparition to keep up with the slave. 

Yet it wasn't long until they managed to arrive at the woman's office, a plain office it was and located at the end of the Serpentine Corridor, a corridor that also housed the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom.  Left alone in the room with his mistress's luggage, Elvoriuth unfurled his wings and stretched them out before looking around the office. Given the cold in the room, Elvoriuth closed his eyes before opening them, the temperature slowly but steadily beginning to rise, releasing his hold on his thermal manipulation when it grew warm enough.   Padding towards empty hearth, he turned his head as a house elf popped in with a bowl of water and a bowl of meat chunks with some bread, a low warning growl in his throat.  The tiny creature squeaked in fear and disappeared with a pop, leaving Elvoriuth alone.  Turning his head back to the empty hearth for a moment, he turned and padded across the room towards the bowls and lowered his head, his salmon-colored tongue darting out to lap at the water, only to exhale and then exhale frost onto the water to cool it down, ice crystals appearing on the edges of the bowl.  The water was never cold enough without him making it cold.    

Once his thirst had been sated, he turned to the meat left for him and sniffed it, his eyes briefly scanning the room yet there was nobody within except himself.  As his jaws closed on one of the meat chunks, it didn't take long to tear it to manageable bite-sized morsels and he was soon finishing off his meal, hunger and experience driving him to consume his food before it was taken away.  He might not be at the Ministry anymore, but he remembered and he had magical tattoo to prove it, located on the inside of his left ear as well as the brand belonging to his mistress visible on his shoulder despite his feathers and fur.  One wouldn't know it by looking at the creature, but he had once been a student here, though had forgotten what it was like to be human in the years since his true heritage had been revealed and his world had come crashing down, the tribrid once known as Harry Potter, Boy-Who-Lived.  Not sure how long it would be before his mistress returned from the staff meeting, Elvoriuth concentrated, and his body began to lose form, instead fading to become wisps of shadow before he darted into a dark corner of the office and appeared outside the office where he then set off down the corner, his paws making no sound in his shadow form as he moved.  His hunger sated for the time being, though he wished there had been some blood to drink, Elvoriuth decided to see if Hogwarts had changed at all and see what it was human prey did when in a school without any supervision.  As he understood his mistress's appointment, they were sent here or rather his mistress was to keep an eye on the Headmaster and the students. He would suffer if he got back and his mistress was already in her office but the tribrid was restless and he couldn't escape his mistress anyway...the magic of enslavement would not allow him release nor any offspring he had. It was only that law, that bound his descendants to his mistress and her family that would keep him from being castrated when he found a female to mate with and possibly a mate found suitable by either his mistress or the Ministry.

Knowing he couldn't be tracked by the portraits in his shadow form, left him free to explore the castle at his leisure and even if he moved across the floor into the center, he would be alright unless light shone on him.   Immediately, once exposed to the darkness of the castle, his eyes adjusted and his night vision kicked in with the only downfall being he could be blinded by light and his eyes were somewhat sensitive in the day, allowing his paws to take him where they willed, however he stopped when he heard voices and lowered himself into a crouch, slinking forward until his eyes picked up two teens talking nearby.  Unintentionally he'd somehow found himself on the seventh floor and thankfully the area was dark but there were students out of their common room.  "I can't believe Harry didn't show up again this year," said a girl with bushy brown hair.  "Even the Headmaster has no idea where he is.  He's supposed to know!"

"The Headmaster's not infallible Hermione," said the boy beside her.  "You haven't met the Dursleys.  I met them once when dad took me, Fred and George with him to get Harry during fourth summer before the Quidditch World Cup.  It wouldn't surprise me if the Dursleys did something to Harry."

Hermione frowned at her friend.  In truth, Hermione and Ron weren't close friends anymore without Harry there to mediate between them.  It was with a sad and shocking realization that Hermione realized that she was only tolerated in Gryffindor because of being friends with Harry and Ron had gradually gravitated towards Dean and Seamus while Hermione found herself alone again as she had been in first year before the troll incident yet even afterwards, Hermione didn't have any friends among her peers in Gryffindor nor among the other houses. Nobody from Slytherin would be friends with a Muggleborn and she didn't really have much of a chance in class to make friends with members of Hufflepuff or Ravenclaw.  In truth, Hermione felt alone and wasn't sure whether she could continue with attending Hogwarts but what other options did she have? 

Beauxbatons was far away in France and Durmstrang didn't take Muggleborns. Where Ron had gravitated towards his dorm mates, Hermione became withdrawn and spent most of her time in her dormitory or the library, nestled in books and homework.  She had always been a bookworm and withdrawn even when a child among her peers in primary school, too smart for her own good and bullied because of it.  When she had found out magic existed, that she was special, she had wanted to prove herself to not only her parents who didn't really understand the world she had been destined for and believed that at Hogwarts was a chance to make friends. Yet she found the other students lacked any common sense and logic, found she wasn't as behind as she had feared and that others shunned her for her book smarts and intellect at Hogwarts as they had done all her life.  Now with the Ministry possibly interfering in Hogwarts, even if Ron and other students didn't realize it, she wasn't sure if she wanted to continue attending this school of magic. In fact, her parents had wanted to remove her from school at the end of second year due to her being attacked by a monster and hearing about her being attacked by a troll didn't set well with them when they had heard of it.  But Hermione had protested, saying she had friends at Hogwarts and she couldn't possibly leave them.  Was that the wrong choice?

"Earth to Hermione," said Ron. "Honestly, no wonder you don't have any friends," missing the look of hurt on Hermione's face as she heard that.  "I was saying," he emphasized with no small hint of annoyance on his face, "that I don't know what happened to Harry or why he didn't return to Hogwarts.  Maybe he's getting training from some friends of Dumbledore's.  You know Black's after him, he could have been sent somewhere secret and not allowed to contact us for his own safety so Black can't track him down and turn him over to the Dark Lord."

"But Ron, the Headmaster even asked us if we had seen Harry at all on the train after the Welcoming Feast in third year. Why would he pretend to not know where Harry was in that case and ask us if we had seen him?"

"I don't know Hermione...but I miss Harry being here.  I just hope he's alright," said Ron.  "And it isn't the Headmaster's job to tell us something, even if we are Harry's best friends."

Hermione stared at Ron in disbelief, finding it hard to believe he had come to such a conclusion on his own since Ron was usually about slacking off on his homework and playing chess instead of studying like he should be...maybe if he studied more, he would get better grades. Neither noticed the tribrid watching them from the shadows.   Elvoriuth didn't know these children, but Harry Potter had. However, he had never been Harry Potter as he had learned in his third summer.  Not only that, but he had forgotten what it was like to be human in the two years that had passed since being away from Hogwarts, those first two years at school being hazy memories at best, even if they were contained within his starball he currently wore around his neck.  They thought that Black had been after him...after Harry he had to remind himself.  Elvoriuth found his ears flattening before he turned and disappeared back into the castle, heading back for the stairs leading away from the Gryffindor Corridor, his ears twitching as he heard the bushy haired girl giving the password and the creak of the portrait opening to allow admittance to two students of the house.  

"Crucio," hissed Umbridge as Elvoriuth walked through the door of the woman's office a few hours later.   The spell hit the tribrid dead on, causing him to collapse on the ground as white-hot knives pierced his skin, causing the creature to scream in agony, his legs kicking as his body was subjected to the torture of humans.   Even though he was part demon, he could still be affected by the torture curse.  "I told you to remain in here," hissed Umbridge as she stared down at her slave.  Elvoriuth could say nothing while being punished by his mistress, not until she released the spell and he lay there panting, his head lowering as he dropped down into a submissive pose with his tail going between his legs.  It was only when the woman had put her wand away that Elvoriuth dared to speak, his voice labored as aftereffects went through him. 

"Sorry mistress," panted Elvoriuth.  He knew it would do no good to inform his mistress why he had left their room, knowing she would be upset either way.  He then lifted his head to see she had already unpacked everything, and he sat up, watching as she made her way towards the hearth.  Seeing the fire was down, Elvoriuth got to his paws and made his way to the hearth where he curled up on the logs and then burst into purple flames, warming the room, and catching the logs on fire, sighing in contentment as the fire swirled around him.  Out of his three elements, fire was his favorite, probably because it warmed him and being a fire demon though his kitsune ancestry helped as well, the part of the kitsune that came from the fire tribes.

"Have you learned anything mistress?"

"The new History of Magic professor is a vampire," spoke Umbridge.  "Hopefully he is more competent than the previous professor who was a ghost and contributed to the poor scores in History of Magic for a few decades.  That is why the students will be having History of Magic classes at night now and not only that, Dumbledore had the gall to hire a werewolf in third year! A werewolf...and harbor it as a student as well!"

Elvoriuth lifted his head, eyes turning towards his mistress as she told him this.  "Are werewolves not dangerous mistress?"

"They are required to register on the werewolf registry underneath the Beast division," said Umbridge dismissively.   "This wolf that was hired was apparently a student here at Hogwarts like yourself once, only it attended all seven years and nearly killed a student during its time here.  A class five creature being allowed among students without Ministry knowledge, let alone nearly killing a student.  They cannot be trusted, the vile beasts they are.  Even when they're human, they cannot be trusted."

Elvoriuth flicked his tail in response, not having learned about werewolves in his two years of education.   "How do you know this mistress?"

"Severus was kind enough to inform me of Dumbledore's stupidity in third year as well as the fact that the wolf nearly killed him in their fifth year and that Potter saved his life," she said. "Allowing Acromantulas so close to students and that half-breed oaf Hagrid to harbor them willingly when they're man eaters...if it were in my power, that man would be arrested and removed from his position.  Cornelius will be shocked about what is happening in this school and Dumbledore's poor hiring procedures as well as letting dangerous creatures attend school with normal students. Perhaps it is necessary to have every student submit to an inheritance test to determine if there are other hidden creatures attending the school. I shall have to suggest it to Cornelius during my report."

He wasn't sure what to think of the fact that Snape had been the one to be nearly killed by a werewolf but as to the werewolf itself, Elvoriuth found his hackles raise at the mention of the wolf. He'd learned through experience that though wolves were afraid of demons, they were dangerous against kitsune, being bigger than kitsune unless the kitsune was able to take on its wolf-fox form.Elvoriuth gave no answer as he remained within the hearth, the fire curling around him comfortingly and licking at his fur. Fire was warmth and comforting yet he also knew it could be dangerous.  He also knew he could be punished by being denied the chance to have a fire at all and when that happened, he had to rely on his own thermal manipulation to keep him warm or cool though he didn't have thermal resistance nor cold resistance.   Thus, he could end up freezing despite his feathers and fur providing thermal insulation.   Being hosed down with water could also chill him, especially if it were ice cold.   "What will I do mistress during your classes?"

"You will sit in on classes with me and patrol the room, alerting me to any mischievousness.  I plan on using you tomorrow in my first Defense Against the Dark Arts lesson with all seven years. Perhaps if you do well this week, I will allow you some blood of one of the Mudblood slaves and access to the forest to hunt." Elvoriuth bowed his head, his mistress tutting to herself as she sank within a chair and Elvoriuth rested his head back down in the fire as it licked around him and cast a warmth about the otherwise cold office.