Third Place - Action/Adventure

The following morning, Harry was the first one up in his dorm. Well, in the entire Slytherin house. He quickly separated himself from his bed, picked up his Quidditch gear and stuffed it all into a bag, grabbed his broom and headed out of the dorm and so, out of the common room. He had the mind to pick up his tooth brush and toothpaste before he left though, and headed down to the Slytherin Quidditch changing rooms to get ready.

He took a quick shower, cleaned his teeth and donned his Quidditch garb. He then stuffed his bag into his locker, spelled the door locked, took a hold of his broom and made to leave so he could get in some practise laps. He knew he probably should have woken Blaise so that his friend could join him... but he really needed time to think. He closed the doors to the Slytherin locker-room and then stepped out into the misty morning and breathed in deeply.

Silence. Utter silence.

Delicious.

He grinned at nothing in particular, mounted his broom and took off. He sped up into the air and closed his eyes, loving the feeling of the wind blowing through his hair. He lapped the pitch with his eyes still closed a few times before turning the nose of his broom directly upwards and accelerating. Once at a height he felt comfortable with, he upended the broom and brought it back down to earth at such a speed that it was probably true that no mortal eyes would be able to follow him.

While he was doing all this, his thoughts were on his fathers.

Were they still disappointed with him? He hadn�t meant to forget feeding! He had been worried about Hermione. She had been pretty shaken up after the Troll incident at Halloween and Harry had been a constant at her side for a while afterwards.

He had simply forgotten about the need for food when the need of a friend became priority.

They were going to be there that day, watching him play. His fathers, that is. Hopefully they would anyway.

He wouldn�t be able to concentrate! He�d be constantly looking over, to see if they had disappointment written on their faces. Yet if they didn�t come, he�d constantly be looking to see if they had arrived yet.

He pulled out of his dive spectacularly when he was only a metre from the ground and weaved his way around the stands. When his broom reached the Parents and Professor�s stand, Harry flew vertically once again, his eyes closed, but instead of going high as he did before, he turned lazily and flew at a moderate speed around the pitch.

When he was on the side of the pitch that was opposite to the Parents and Professor�s stand, he stopped dead. He swore he could feel eyes on him. He opened his eyes and scanned the grounds below, only to find no one down there. He then decided to look in the stands, and he did so... stopping only when his gaze landed on the Parents and Professor�s stand.

That was where his feeling was coming from. There were people watching.

His eyes widened. He saw the blank expressions on his Father�s faces and couldn�t stand it. He unknowingly let a lone tear fall before speeding towards the entrance of the Slytherin Quidditch locker room.

He knew they�d follow him, without a doubt, but he at least had a few seconds before they arrived. He furiously wiped at his eyes and sat himself with his back facing the door, on one of the benches the locker room had to offer. When he heard the door opening again, he sighed, and drew his knees up, resting his forehead against them and waiting.

He felt a hand stroking his hair back and unconsciously leaned into it, almost desperate for comfort of the fatherly kind. He sensed his fathers sitting down either side of him just as they did the day he�d forgotten to feed. He also felt himself let loose the tears he�d kept back during the past two weeks, uncaring that it could be perceived as a weakness.

He needed to cry. He needed his fathers.

He was pulled into someone�s lap and rocked silently, his head was in either his Da�s or his Pa�s chest.

"Shh..." someone whispered into his hair. Someone else had taken a hold of his hand and was running their fingers across the skin of the underside of his wrist gently. He then felt his wrist being elevated before the points of two canine Vampire teeth pierced the skin of his wrist, causing him to cry out slightly.

He didn�t fight it though. Just as he didn�t fight it when his chin was eased up and lips were pressed to his. The touch of his father�s (he wasn�t quite sure which one yet) tongue to his lips made him ease them open and accept the tongue into his mouth. And the first thing he tasted was his father�s blood.

Ivan�s. He knew the Vampire that was kissing him to be Ivan, his Da.

He cut his own tongue on his razor sharp canines and took in as much of his Da�s blood as he could.

Kissing ones father in such a manner may be unheard of and even frowned upon in the Wizarding world or even the muggle world, but in the Vampire world, it is what a parent does with a child when the child needs feeding, needs to feel grounded, to be reminded of who they are, to be reassured of their parent�s love for them.

And Harry readily accepted. He could feel his Da drinking also.

When they each pulled away, they licked the other clean of any stray drops that might have spilt from their mouths and Harry allowed his head to be pushed gently back to his Da�s chest. His tears were gently wiped away and then the only sound that could be heard was Harry�s harsh breathing as he struggled to get himself under control.

"May I ask, what has hurt you so my son?" his Da asked eventually, tilting Harry�s chin up again until their eyes met. Harry tilted his head to the side so that it fell out of his fathers grasp and then averted his eyes as he clung onto the Corvus robes for dear life.

"I�m sorry," he managed to choke out after a minute. "I � I didn�t mean to forget but Hermione was upset after the troll and I just � I was worried about her � and now you hate me and I disappointed you and I-" he forced himself to break off there when he felt the almost incredulous look from his Da and Pa.

"Ahh" Ivan said softly and then he chuckled and pressed a kiss to Harry�s head. "So you thought we were angry and disappointed with you. Then we didn�t come to visit you and our letters have been nothing but brief and to the point. My dear son, you know we two love you more than life itself, we were not angry or disappointed, not even to begin with. We were just worried." He said and smiled when Harry looked up at him with disbelief and hope in his eyes.

"That�s right. The only reason we have not been here to visit is because there was an attempt on your Aunt Cerelias� life. No, don�t panic, she�s absolutely fine, your Da and I have just been busy crushing the smaller clan out of existence," his Pa said and Harry nodded his approval and then hesitated slightly as his Da looked at him in concern.

"We should have told you, I know how down you get when you think we�re disappointed and for two straight weeks? Never Har, do you hear me? We love you and we�re proud of who you are," he said firmly and Harry felt a blinding smile spread across his face as he threw his arms around his Da�s neck and pressed a kiss to his cheek.

"I was so scared that-"

"I know Harry, and for that I am truly sorry. We did not even consider you would be hurting so. It wont happen again," he said and then he stood up quickly and smirked as Harry had the choice of wrapped his legs around his Da�s waist or falling to the floor. Harry chose the former without hesitation and he rolled his eyes as the door burst open and the rest of the quidditch team entered. Quite a few of them openly stared but nobody was stupid enough to say anything and Harry turned his attention back to his Da.

"Now, as I understand it you have a match to play. I can see that our little bonding has made you hungry though, so let me feed you," Ivan said and he wore a wicked smirk but before Harry knew what to say to that, his Da swept down and crushed their lips together again, cutting his tongue on Harry�s sharp fangs.

Really, the gasps and even a scream from a girl that he received in return for that was amusing, but Harry was positive he would get his Da back for this little display. Blood pooled in his mouth at a larger quantity and Harry swallowed greedily, feeling better now than he had in days. He pulled back after a minute and then licked the last bit of blood from the corner of his Da�s mouth and then he smiled sweetly.

"Point to Ivan," he said softly and then grinned again, "just wait until I get you back,"

"That�s more like it. Though you know you will never succeed in pranking me, Mr. Potter-Corvus, your Pa and I are the masters," Ivan teased and then he laughed when Harry sniffed indignantly and he patted his son on the shoulder before wishing him luck and slipping from the room.

When Harry turned around, he wasn�t surprised to be faced with numerous stares and he quirked an eyebrow before crossing his arms over his chest.

"It�s called feeding, that�s generally how a father feeds his son. Get over it." He sneered as he grabbed his broom and sat back down, waiting for the rest of them to finish getting ready. He couldn�t stop the smirk when he heard a whispered comment from Adrian Pucey.

"Damn! Well his father can feed from me anytime,"

Harry could hear the sound of voices and knew that the other students were making their way to the quidditch stands, he pulled out a book and buried his nose in that while waiting for the others to hurry up. He wasn�t really that nervous anymore, he knew his Da and his Pa were out there and he knew that they were proud of him and that they hadn�t been angry this past two weeks, so relief and excitement were about all he felt.

"Corvus," he looked up at the sound of his name and saw the captain, Marcus Flint, stood in front of him with his arms crossed and a glare. "I take it the Hufflepuff told you what to do? You do actually know how to play this right?" he asked and Harry rolled his eyes before looking back down at the book and turning the page.

"You take me for a fool mortal; don�t make that same mistake again. Yes, I know how to play, no thanks to you or the rest of the team." He replied neutrally and then he sniffed mockingly and closed his book. "The only reason I am playing, is because I love to fly. I don�t like you and you don�t like me, you tell me what I need to know and we�ll get along just fine. Other than that, don�t speak to me," he smiled sweetly when then and grabbed his broom before following the rest of the team out onto the pitch.

Madame Hooch was refereeing and she sent him a wink before she turned to the two team captains and glared at them forcefully.

"Now, I want a nice fair game, all of you," she said when everyone had gathered around her, Harry wasn�t surprised in the least when he noticed that she was speaking particularly to the Slytherins. From what Cedric had told him, the Slytherins liked to play dirty, and they could for all he cared. As long as they didn�t ask him to that was.

Harry looked around at the stands and he felt a little dizzy when he saw the smiling and laughing faces of what looked to be the entire student body... but then his saw his two fathers sitting in the parents and teacher box and he grinned. He mounted his Twigger when Madame Hooch gave the instruction to and then he rose up above the pitch, higher than the rest of the players and turned his attention to the game.

A Gryffindor chaser already had the Quaffle and was flying towards the goal and Harry watched as she passed it to another and then to another before Slytherin took the Quaffle themselves. Harry hovered above the game and closed his senses in; it wouldn�t be fair of him to cheat now would it?

A Bludger came right at him and Harry tilted his broom out of the way just in time and grinned as the Weasleys twins sped after it and offered him a cheerful wave. Cedric had said it was best to keep out of the way until he saw the snitch so that he wasn�t attacked before he had to be, or something like that anyway. Gryffindor had scored four times in the last ten minutes and Harry couldn�t help but snort softly at the Slytherin�s incompetence, Gryffindor appeared to have a good team together.

"All right there, Harry?" Fred Weasley yelled as he came back after smashing the Bludger down towards the Slytherin chasers.

"Slytherin in possession," the commentator, Lee Jordan, was saying. "Chaser Pucey ducks two Bludgers, two Weasleys and Chaser Bell and speeds towards the � wait a minute � was that the snitch?"

Harry had already seen it and had started to dive before Jordan had even finished speaking. The Gryffindor seeker, Marlon Higgs, had seen it too. Harry�s broom was faster though and so he took the lead in what had been a neck and neck race, all the chasers seemed to have forgotten what they were supposed to be doing as they hung in mid-air to watch.

Of course, that was until a Bludger smashed into his ribs and knocked him off course. By the time he was able to pull his broom straight, the snitch was gone but thankfully the Gryffindor seeker had lost it too. Harry sent a heartfelt glare to the Weasleys and then grinned at the somewhat sheepish shrug he received in return.

It was twenty minutes later when Harry dodged another Bludger that was dangerously close to his head that he saw it. In the Parents and Professor�s stand, there were six vampires edging dangerously close to the Corvus two. Why hadn�t the teachers noticed anything? More importantly, why hadn�t his fathers?

He nudged his broom closer and he could sense magic strongly, and as one vampire was clearly stood in front of Albus Dumbledore, one would have to assume they were somehow invisible to everyone inside that box. His senses opened automatically and he quirked an eyebrow, he could only sense his two Da�s in the stand, everyone else was supposedly mortal.

How had they blocked their scent?

Without a thought, Harry reached down and pulled his dagger out from the holder on his ankle and he threw it sharply. Screams erupted from quite a few people, and Harry had to admit that to them it looked like his dagger was aiming straight for Albus Dumbledore. But then it sank into the vampire�s heart easily and said vampire fell to the floor and whatever charms he had on him failed.

"Da... to your left... Pa... Right behind you..." He shouted as he pulled out his other blade and threw it with deadly accuracy and pieced a second attacker right between the eyes. He watched as his two fathers struggled against opponents they obviously couldn�t see but then Dumbledore lifted his wand and muttering something under his breath, whatever enchantments the vampires had been under fell immediately and Harry smirked.

"Saved your ass again, Da," he said with a grin when his Da pulled a dagger out of the heart of the last assassin. Ivan straightened up and glared at his son pointedly.

"Haven�t you got a game to play?" he snarled mockingly and Harry grinned, he was about to reply when a little gold ball caught his attention and his right hand shot out and his fingers curled around out without looking.

"Apparently not," he said and grinned at the amusement from nearly all of the teachers and his two fathers. According to what Lee Jordan was shouting then, Slytherin had won the match by ten points, and catching the snitch earned them 180 points. He shook his head in disgust and looked pointedly at his head of house.

"I thought you said Slytherin had the best team, did they all leave last year or something? Because this one is complete and utter sh-"

"Try rubbish Harry, you offend a lot less people with milder language," his Pa interrupted smoothly and Harry grinned sheepishly before shrugging. He looked over his shoulder and watched as the Slytherins smirked smugly at the Gryffindors and he rolled his eyes, if he hadn�t caught that snitch then they would have lost. The Gryffindors seemed to have taken their narrow defeat well though and were grinning and patting each other on the backs.

"I knew I should have been in Gryffindor," he muttered, mostly to himself and then realised he was still hovering on his broom in front of the teachers box when he heard a snort of amusement from McGonagall. "I�m going to get changed Da, will you still be staying for a while?" he asked hopefully and grinned when both of his fathers nodded.

"Aye, we�ll wait outside the changing room for you,"

Having spent the rest of the day with his two fathers after the match yesterday, Harry woke Sunday morning in a brilliant mood and once he was dressed in his Corvus robes, he leapt onto Blaise�s bed with a grin and shook the vampire awake. He grinned when clearly annoyed eyes snapped open and then bounced off the bed and onto his feet.

"C�mon you lazy bastard, we have to meet Terry and Hermione," he said as he pulled some clean robes out of the other vampires trunk and then threw them at him. Blaise gave a long suffering sigh as he glared irritably at his younger charge but Harry just clasped his hands in front of him and rocked backwards and forwards on the ball of his feet.

Harry left Blaise to it then as he turned back to his own bed and grabbed his weapon holsters and daggers from off the bedside table, and the one from under his pillow. By the time he was completely ready, so was Blaise, and so they left the dormitory, past the other sleeping first years, and into the common room.

In the Entrance Hall, they met with Hermione and Terry and instead of going into the Great Hall like they usually would, Hermione led them out onto the grounds and across to a small wooden hut. Hermione had, apparently, told this Hagrid fellow that her friends wanted to meet him, and so they had all been invited over for breakfast.

"�Mione? Is that you? Come on in!" the large man shouted over a dog�s barks. Harry and Terry exchanged looks and then decided that Hermione and Blaise could most definitely go first, ignoring the amusement from Blaise the four of them filed into the little hut and Harry looked around before his eyes fell on the large man who had nearly deafened him all those months ago when bringing the first years across the lake.

"Good morning Hagrid. I�d like for you to meet my friends, Terry Boot, a first year Ravenclaw. Blaise Zabini a first year Slytherin, and Harry Potter-Corvus, though you undoubtedly know which house he is in," Hermione said clearly and Hagrid shook hands with the three male first years before going back to a large pot of boiling water.

"Its nice t�meet ya. I�ve heard all �bout you three of course, from Hermione here and the teachers," he said and Harry exchanged smirks with his friends.

"We like to keep people on their toes," he said smoothly as he sat down on one of the chairs by the table. Harry listened to the idle chatter between Hermione, Terry and Hagrid for over twenty minutes before he decided to push things along in the direction he wanted them in. of course, he had to wait for the right minute first.

"I see you like dogs, Hagrid," he said mildly as he ran his hand over Fangs coat with a small smile. The groundskeeper turned to look at him and then grinned.

"Aye, I love all sorts of little beasts really, but dogs are a man�s best friend as they say," he replied and Harry nodded, still not looking up.

"I wondered perhaps whether you have met the beautiful three headed beast that�s on the third floor corridor, likes to take chunks out of peoples legs, apparently." He said in that same bored tone, as if he was talking about the weather. Hermione, Terry and Blaise were glaring at him fiercely, quite clearly trying to say that this wasn�t the time.

"How do you know about Fluffy?" the large man asked as he dropped his teapot. Harry smirked, clearly satisfied with himself, while his three friends gawped at Harry as if he was insane.

"Fluffy?"

"Yeah � he�s mine � I bought him off a Greek chappie I met in the pub las� year � I lent him to Dumbledore to guard the-" he cut himself off there, clearly cursing himself for saying so much and Harry�s smirk widened. Now, they knew that that dog thing belonged to Hagrid and they knew that it was guarding something for sure. They could only speculate before but now they knew.

"Yes?" Terry prompted but Hagrid shook his head gruffly.

"That�s top secret stuff that is; I can�t say anything else,"

"Now really, I promise we can keep a secret," Harry purred, leaning forward slightly.

"Listen to me, all three of yuh � yer meddlin� in things that don� concern yeh. It�s dangerous. You forget that dog, an� you forget what it�s guardin�, that�s between Professor Dumbledore and Nicolas Flamel-" again he cut himself off, flustered and looked absolutely furious with himself and so Harry sat back in his chair, covered his smug grin and decided to change the subject.

"So Hagrid, I hear you are familiar with the forest, what sort of creatures are in there really?" he asked, he had what he needed now and Hagrid looked more than a little relieved at the change in subject.

Unfortunately, Harry hadn�t realised that the groundskeeper could go on for hours on that particular subject and so by the time the four of them left, they were extremely bored and knew just about everything they didn�t want to know about the forbidden forest. Harry walked on in front, aiming back for the castle as Blaise, Terry and Hermione jogged to catch up to him, glaring still.

"What did you have to go and change the subject for? If we had kept pushing him, he would have told us!" Terry hissed and Harry looked over his shoulder to make sure that nobody could overhear him before he shrugged and then allowed his smug smirk to break across his face.

"Aye he would have told us what he wanted, and then he would have told Dumbledore that we knew. We got everything we needed out of him... and a hell of a lot more. We know who that thing belongs to, we know that Nicholas Flamel has something to do with it and therefore we know exactly what it is guarding," he stated plainly and ignored the blank looks he received from his friends.

"Well...? What is it guarding?" Hermione snapped and Harry rolled his eyes.

"Patience my mortal friend, I will show you as soon as we get to the library. Be content in the knowledge that we have what we wanted,"

"You know, that was really very clever how you went about that then � I mean how you got exactly what you wanted and knew just when to back down," Terry said after a minute and Harry flashed him a blinding smile.

"I�m a Corvus, I learnt from the best."

Once in the library, Harry left his four friends at one of the tables in the corner and then went to search for the book he had read not so long ago. He finally found it and pulled a huge old book out into his arms. He flicked through the pages and then found the one he wanted before walking back to the table were his friends were waiting impatiently. Clearing his throat dramatically, Harry prepared to read it out to them.

"The ancient study of alchemy is concerned with making the Philosopher�s Stone, a legendary substance with astonishing powers. The Stone will transform any metal into pure gold. It also produced the Elixir of Live, which will make the drinker immortal." He said and then looked up to see the completely dumbfounded look on his friends faces and he smiled again.

"There have been many reports of the Philosopher�s Stone over the centuries, but the only Stone currently in existence belongs to Mr Nicholas Flamel, the noted alchemist and opera-lover. Mr Flamel, who celebrated his six hundred and sixty-fifth birthday last year, enjoys a quiet life in Devon with his wife, Perenelle who is six hundred and fifty-eight." He finished and was amused by the silence.

Terry whistled loudly.

"So, the dog must be guarding Flamel�s Philosopher�s Stone. Flamel must have asked Dumbledore to keep it safe for him, because they�re friends. The break-in at Gringotts is tied into this too; someone else is after the stone and so Dumbledore keeps it here, supposedly the safest place in England," he summed it up and Harry nodded, he already knew who was after the thing, or at least had his suspicions, but he didn�t bother to voice them as he sat down opposite his shapeshifter friend.

"Sooo � now that we know, why exactly did we go to all this trouble of finding out?" Hermione asked after a long silence and Harry snorted softly.

"Curiosity... and because we were told not to... Now that we know I suppose we can leave it at that. I doubt that three-headed dog is the only thing guarding something as powerful as the Stone anyway and it�s got nothing to do with us," he said with a shrug.

"Aye, but immortality...? Can�t say it would be nice to meet an enemy who has that now, canwe?" Terry asked again and Harry rolled his neck to the side.

"The only person, who has a chance of getting through the enchantments that are undoubtedly set around it, is Quirrell. We definitely don�t want him to get it, but Dumbledore�s having him watched anyway."

"So you can sense it! When you didn�t say anything, I thought I was going crazy," Blaise said after a minute, staring at him accusingly. Harry smirked and closed the book, placing it back on the shelf.

"Of course I can, I would be blind, deaf, dumb and just plain stupid not to. The headmaster has, of course, been informed and as I said he is being watched. Come on, lets get down to dinner and actually have something edible to eat... we can empty our pockets in the bin on the way down there," he said as he brought out one of Hagrid�s cakes and curled his lip up in disgust.

"Well, I never said we were going down there to eat!" Hermione said defensively and Harry looked at her with amusement.

"When one says they have been invited to breakfast, one generally thinks that they will eat there," he retorted as he turned to leave. The snickers of his friends followed him out of the room, he had been the only one polite (or stupid) enough to actually try eating one.



The Heir of Corvus I: The Philosopher�s Stone - Chapter 14

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