Third Place - Action/Adventure

Harry paused outside of Snape’s rooms and he straightened his robes absentmindedly as he stared at the door. His little chat with his fathers the previous evening had done more than confuse the hell out of him; it had made his undead-heart sore with love for them. They had, of course, been right. He was a Corvus and he would forget that for nobody, if people were so determined to call him Potter then they could do so, but that didn’t mean he had to like it. His Pa was right when he said that he had had three fathers in his life and he found himself incredibly lucky for that, he would not fault his mortal father for leaving him when it was quite clearly out of his hands.

Instead he would be thankful for what he had. He could find no flaw in the headmasters reasoning for why Snape was such a bastard, especially if the old man thought that there was a possibility that Snape’s older master still lived... if barely. No, he was a Corvus, he was better than the angry little child he had been these past few days, he would show this Snape that he could be the better man and he would ignore the insults that came his way.

Unless the fool dared to insult his fathers of course...

That was out of the question.

He pushed the door open after a brief knock and wasn’t very surprised to see the Potions Master with his nose buried behind pieces of paper as he sat at his desk. The man didn’t even look up from his work and instead pointed to a cauldron that had been set up and then at the board where some instructions had been written. He nodded without a word and moved to the desk opposite from his professors. He read through the instructions carefully twice and then he turned to identify the ingredients. Thankfully he had read his potions books before term started and he wasn’t completely incompetent.

From what he could tell it was a simple potion to cure boils and so he set about following the instructions step by step. After a while, he could feel eyes on him but he didn’t bother to look up and he took the cauldron off the boiler before adding the porcupine quills. It was nice and quiet now and he couldn’t even hear the sound of Snape writing on his parchment.

"Have you made potions before?" Snape asked eventually in an oddly calm and civil tone. Harry looked up finally to see him stood behind his desk watching neutrally. Well, if the man was going to attempt to be civil then so would Harry.

"No sir, but I do know how to read and it would be rather difficult to make it wrong when one has step-by-step instructions," he said simply as he stopped stirring clockwise and started for five strokes anti-clockwise. Snape actually seemed to be amused by that for a minute but Harry didn’t let it distract him, the last thing he wanted was for his potion to balls up now, after all.

"When you have finished and cleared away all of your things you can leave," Snape said after a minute as he moved back to his desk and to his papers. Harry nodded and he scooped some up into a bottle and then carefully cleared everything away before washing the cauldron, he didn’t want to give Snape anything to moan about now did he?

He was about to leave and then he paused at the door and looked over his shoulder at his professor. The man looked irritable and weary as he stared unseeingly down at the parchment of what looked to be essays. Well, it’s his own fault for giving out so much homework on the first week... but then again, he was a teacher and that’s what he was supposed to do.

"I apologise," Harry said slowly and smirked when Snape looked up startled and just stared at him blankly. "I apologise for threatening you... but I’m not sorry for my words. I understand why you have to be a bastard to me, but I’ll make you a deal now. If you leave my fathers out of it then I’ll hold my tongue and my anger... all three of my fathers," he said again and Snape nodded without a word, his eyebrow arched. Harry went to leave and then paused again.

"Where you friends with James Potter...? Is that why you refuse to call me a Corvus?" he asked curiously and Snape sneered at him.

"Not in the least, James Potter was a useless little prick. I despised him as much as he despised me. I do believe I have dismissed you," he snapped and Harry grinned before he bowed mockingly and then he slipped out onto the corridor and shook his head. He should really head on down to the Slytherin common room now but he couldn’t be arsed and it was only five in the afternoon... and it was Saturday. He changed direction and headed down to the library, unsurprised to see it very nearly empty.

Blaise would be looking for him in a while and so Harry grabbed a book and sat in the corner out of the way. He had grown up with guards following him everywhere, but at least when he was at home, he could stay in his part of the manor with his two fathers and without guards watching his every move... here he would be lucky if he could go for a piss without Blaise following.

He’d been reading his book for a grand total of five minutes before the door to the library opened once again. He would have just ignored such an occurrence had the scent of the being that just entered been mortal. As it was, the scent was far from mortal. He slowly set down his book and waited for the being to step into his line of sight. When it did so, Harry was shocked and amazed to find that the Shapeshifter he had sensed was a first year Ravenclaw. Terry Boot, if he remembered correctly.

The history between Vampires and Shapeshifter’s isn’t really noted down in any text but from what Harry had been taught, they were very proud creatures but keep a tight reign on their emotions... the children less so than others because, after all, it’s natural for a child to be emotional. Harry sat back and waited for the new arrival to notice him.

Terry Boot, first year Ravenclaw, felt as though someone, somewhere was watching him. Usually, he wouldn’t have such a problem with this but this time it was unnerving. He quickly glanced from left to right and back again, checking in vain to find a possible culprit. He picked up the book he’d actually come into the library looking for as he passed it and tried to shake the uneasy feeling off. And once again, he was unable to do so.

Growling under his breath in annoyance, he spun around 180 degrees and halted, his own deep brown eyes locking with near glowing green ones.

Oh. Terry thought dryly. So that’s why I’m nervous. He shook his head to clear his wayward thoughts and started towards the corner in which his fellow first year, Slytherin though he may be, sat staring right back at him.

Harry grinned at the Shapeshifter stopped but a foot in front of him. He deliberately made a show of sniffing the air that reeked, though not in an uncomfortable way, of Shapeshifter and his grin transformed into a smirk.

"One has to ask, what a lone shifter like you, is doing in Hogwarts." He drawled, still holding eye contact with the new arrival. "Either you are the exception to the Golden Rule, or my teachers have been sorely mistaken in the information they provided." He gestured with one hand to an empty seat opposite him and waited patiently for the Shapeshifter to take it.

"I have to say though," Harry continued after the Shapeshifter, Terry, he reminded himself, had sat down. "I hope it’s the latter as my teachers could do with being knocked down a peg or two." Terry chuckled at this comment and grinned cheerfully at the Vampire.

"Well I can tell you that I am one of a few exceptions to the Golden Rule but having said that, Shapeshifter’s provide very little information about themselves out to the public." He shrugged his shoulders elegantly and sighed in mock-distress. "I mean, where’s the magic in something everyone knows everything about?"

"An excellent point," Harry bowed his head in acceptance. Both Terry and Harry were silent for a moment before the Shapeshifter adjusted himself on his seat and held out his hand to the Vampire.

"Terry Boot, first year Ravenclaw, Shapeshifter and the only one to attend Hogwarts in 200 years." Harry grinned at the Shapeshifter that was offering his friendship and leaned forward to take the proffered hand firmly.

"Harry Potter, first year Slytherin, Vampire, heir to Ivan Corvus and Dante Delgardo, heir to Ivan’s throne as leader of the Corvus clan and as an after thought, the boy-who-lived... to-be-a-Vampire." The new friends laughed quietly together, each suddenly remembering that they were in fact, inside the school library.

"Corvus..." Terry mused when the pair calmed themselves down. He sat back in his chair and folded his arms over his chest. "When was the last assassination attempt?" At this blunt question, Harry burst into fresh bouts of laughter.

"September the 1st for me... I have no doubt in my mind that there have been more since I’ve been here," He shrugged nonchalantly then froze, sniffed the air discreetly and groaned. He mouthed down mockingly from five to zero and waited for the voice of his minder to reach his ears.

"Ah, there you are." Blaise said with no small level of relief filling his tone. Harry rolled his eyes and Blaise sniffed indignantly. He nudged against Harry’s shoulders playfully and then plopped down into the seat next to him with a sigh. "I’ve been looking everywhere for you! You could have told me you were coming to the library after your detention,"

"I could yes, but then that would rather defeat the object wouldn’t it?" Harry replied innocently and then he nodded over to Terry and introduced him. He sat back and crossed his arms over his chest impatiently as Blaise started to grill the shapeshifter for answers and was rather amused at the skill the Ravenclaw possessed at deflecting the questions so easily, and at the frustration in the elder vampire.

"Would you be at all upset if we continued this entertaining conversation outside gentlemen? Only it’s been a long day and I could use some fresh air." Blaise said eventually and Harry smirked as he saw that the real problem was Madame Pince, the librarian. Harry turned his head to the side and glanced out of the small window, there was a rather nice storm going on out there, the clouds had darkened and the rain was battering against the glass. He grinned.

"Of course, the weather is perfect. Will you be joining us Terry?" he asked politely as he climbed to his feet and dusted off his robes. The shapeshifter sent an irritated look to Blaise but he nodded anyway and placed the book back on the correct shelf.

Harry grinned mischievously as he stopped by the lake. He waited until his friend had turned to see what was keeping him, and then he moved forward quickly, placed his hand on Blaise’s shoulder and pushed him forcefully into the lake. He and Terry leant against each other as they collapsed in helpless laughter when Blaise came up coughing, spluttering and glaring. As one, they backed away. Blaise was climbing out of the water now and he had a glint in his eye as he stared at Harry and a cold smirk twisted at his lips.

He sidestepped the other vampires attack easily and then hissed as Terry decided he needed a swim and pushed him. Instead of fighting it, Harry jumped in and dove head first into water, pushing down until he could touch the floor with his hand and his feet were buried under the surface. After a minute, he pushed himself back up and grinned when he saw both Terry and Blaise were in the water and heading in his direction... most probably to see if he was alright.

"Are you tapped in the head?" Terry asked in disbelief but Harry just smirked and ducked him under with no warning. The storm was still going strong and the wind was howling as the thunder rolled through the night.

They stayed in the lake laughing and joking for a while but when the mood was firmly set in the sky, they decided it was time they made back for the warmth of the castle. Harry climbed out first and he tugged at Terry and Blaise’s hand until his two friends were standing either side of him and trying to dry off a little... It probably wasn’t helped by the fact that it was still raining forcefully.

"Did you read the newspapers yesterday?" Terry asked as he pulled his soaking wet robes tighter around him. Harry led the way to the castle and he shook his head with a frown. The Wizarding newspapers barely had anything in there that would interest him anyway and so he had never understood why his fathers preferred to read them. "Gringotts was broken into. Apparently the burglar managed to escape unharmed and the vault they attempted to steal from had been emptied earlier the same day. How’s that for unlucky?"

"I thought that was supposed to be impossible," Harry said mildly as they stepped into the Entrance Hall and shook off some of the loose rain. "From what I have read, and seen, in Gringotts, it is supposed to be impossible to break in," he elaborated with a shrug. The news didn’t concern him in the least and so he was only mildly interested.

"Well that’s why it’s all such big news, because it is supposed to be impossible. Its worrying the witches and wizards because nothing of the sort has happened since Voldemort was alive and kicking," Terry explained patiently and then he straightened up and looked off down the corridor. "I’d better be getting back to the Ravenclaw common room; I’ll meet you out here before breakfast tomorrow" he added and then melted into the shadows and took off.

Harry glanced at Blaise, who at the same time, glanced at him. "You realise, that wasn't particularly fair of Terry...right?" The elder Vampire looked back in the direction the Ravenclaw had disappeared down and nodded his head once. "Of course," He amended. "I always figured that trick to be solely Vampiric. You know, the whole blending into the shadows thing..." Harry snorted and turned to walk back to their Slytherin Common Room.

"He's a shifter...he could turn into anything he likes and have their traits. That in itself makes Terry’s situation here at Hogwarts a special one. He’s a shifter, which gives him the abilities of anything and everything he likes, and he’s a wizard. You see the potential I’m seeing?" he asked and Blaise nodded approvingly as he caught up and walked by his side.

"Pureblood superiority" Harry muttered with a role of his eyes and then entered the Slytherin common room. He wasn’t surprised to see that most people where awake and either doing their homework or concocting some sort of trouble. Harry let his gaze travel around the room before he sank back into a large armchair and closed his eyes for a while.

He probably should so his homework today so that he wasn’t stuck in here all day tomorrow but he could be arsed. So he turned his thoughts inward instead and wondered what he, Terry and Blaise could do the next day. Perhaps it was about time he and Blaise started on the pranks that they had planned to let loose, Terry would probably like to join them on that and he was rather looking forward to Malfoy’s face.



The Heir of Corvus I: The Philosopher’s Stone - Chapter 8

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