Harry was awoken by loud knocking on his door, as soon as he got up he was joined by Chestnut who didn't seem to mind the low growl he emitted as he stalked sleepily to the door. He glared up at the potions master, not caring if he was being rude. His glare must have been a shock since Snape took a step back. "There is a meeting Potter, you are to attend." The older man replied to Harry's silent question. Harry grumbled angrily and rubbed his eyes, stepping out of the room and letting the door close behind him. Chestnut nestled in his mess of hair and Harry waved his hands at Snape in a motion that said lead the way. He'd never been this irritable when waking up before but he was still tired and wanted desperately to go back to his warm bed. He was lead out of the apartment area and down through an open field that was somehow still in the building and still in the Submissive Sanctuary. The warm grass and sunlight seemed to tease Harry about how he couldn't just lay down and have a nap there which irked him more than he already was. Once in the meeting room all eyes turned to him, he was disheveled with sleep and had a scowl on his face that would frighten a grown man.
"I take it you don't like to be woken up Mr Potter." McGonagall said slightly amused by his sour expression.
"Not when I'm tired." He growled.
"I apologise but there are some people here who would like to speak with you all." The woman replied. "Is that an owlet on your head?"
"Huh? Oh yeah... That's Chestnut. Headwig had chicks." He mumbled. He brushed past Snape and sat next to Luna, everyone noticed how her smile soothed Harry's mood. Luna was simply smitten by Chestnut, exclaiming she must meet the others as well, which Harry said would be fine by him. Chestnut took to Luna as well, nibbling her finger gently and making the girl giggle. It turned out there was a whole subculture of inheritance, within the subculture of wizards and witches, under the main culture of humans, Harry didn't think to hard about it it hurt his head, a council oversaw the growth of every generation and since this one had woken up early they were here to check for abnormalities or complications. Harry was made to show his humanoid beast form which he hadn't even done yet so it annoyed him when the man with the clipboard kept prodding him to do it.
He reached for the hum of energy he'd been ignoring, if he grabbed it all he'd go straight to his full beast form, something that wasn't advised by the clipboard man. Eames was his name if Harry recalled. So Harry mentally clicked into about a third of the way of the strange energy, he felt a tickle as his features adjusted. His hair lengthened, his fingernails curved into claws he grew black feline ears and a long feline tail of the same colour, he gazed at it thoughtfully, it could be a normal house cat but he didn't seem to think so, he felt more powerful than that. Then the wings came tearing through his shirt and curving around him, feathery wings, shiny, sleek and black in the outside and edges like his fur, but the inside was soft dark grey feathers that promised warmth and comfort. Eames seemed impressed. When the beast like features melted away Eames fixed Harry's shirt for him and asked how he felt.
"Agitated mostly. And tired." Harry said suppressing a yawn.
"Your teacher mentioned it lessens around the small female Veela." Eames added. Harry wondered which teacher had mentioned that. Probably McGonigal.
"Luna is a good friend, and she has an air about her that calms me down." He admitted.
"Yes it seems she's already part of your friend circle." Eames wrote something down onto the clipboard. "Have you eaten anything?"
"Turkey sandwich."
"How did that settle in your stomach."
"Pretty well, didn't taste as good as I'd usually think it would though."
"No I dare say it wouldn't, cooked meat is fine for you to consume but I dare say the closer it is to being raw the better it would taste." Harry recoiled, he didn't want to eat raw meat. "Don't worry, you won't have to eat raw meat, but your meat cooked rare would probably be quite appetising for you." Harry still didn't find that to be a better alternative. He was measured and asked about his previous measurements.
"Height has depleted by 7 cm, shoulder width by 3 cm, waist width has stayed the same, possibly because of your already emaciated state. Hips have gotten wider by 2 cm. You're quite under weight but not sickly. Are you starved at home?" Eames asked.
"I don't have to explain my home life to you. Besides I spend most of my time here." Harry snapped. "How much longer is this going to take?"
"We just have to get a blood sample and then we're done. It's very simple, just a quick needle." Eames stepped back as Harry's anger spiked. "You won't even notice it, it's to check that you are as healthy as you look. Look over there." Harry followed Eames hand to where Luna was getting her needle done, he squirmed at the thought but if Luna could do it with a smile surly he could. He sat down again, though he hadn't noticed that he'd stood up, and Eames pulled out the needle. "You'll just feel a little prick, I find it helps if you don't look." Harry looked away and bit his lip, little pick, yeah right. It felt just has it should have, like a piece of metal being jabbed into his arm and collecting his blood. Eames put the syringe down and offered Harry a lollipop like he was a child, well he was a child but still. He glared and snatched the lollipop away anyway, he wasn't going to give up a free lollipop. Eames stood up and walked over to McGonagall, with his heightened sense of hearing Harry easily picked up on their conversation, he also found he didn't much like the lollipop at all. Too sweet for his newly sensitive tastebuds.
"How is he?" McGonagall asked.
"Well he's stressed, and very skinny. But he's in no immediate danger." Eames replied.
"And his results?"
"He's smaller than average, but that's by our 16 year old standards. Poor little thing was already quite small so the purge didn't get rid of much of his mass. He let me take blood but he's quite untrusting of strangers and seems to be in quite a bad mood, poor dear. As he is I can't tell cat breed.
"Yes, his life is not an easy one, and I fear it may not get easier from here."
"Well him, along with a few others are able to handle themselves quite well it seems, with a guard each they'd be able to attend school regularly rather than be cooped up here. But that's entirely up to you. He's not a pureblooded species so I can't tell for sure if he'd be okay around Dominants but from his demeanour I'm guessing he'll be fine. He's a strong boy, despite his size."
"Are you sure-" A loud screech caused Harry to hiss and cover his ears. His eyes narrowed to slits and he turned to see Daphne and Draco fighting. The were getting a bit too close to Luna for his liking. Harry leapt up and threw Draco to the left and growled until Daphne stepped back. Luna blinked unsure of what to make of the situation. Harry turned to the blonde and looked for any sign of injury or distress.
"You okay?" He grunted. Luna beamed at him with her usually dreamy air and nodded.
"Oh yes, quite alright. That was rather frightful though wasn't it? I wonder why they were fighting..."
"I don't care why." Harry scoffed. "They could have hurt you." Draco was up again and he glared at Harry and Daphne before sweeping away. Daphne scowled after him and went the other way.
"Those two are like fire and ice." Came a voice from behind him. He turned to face Blaise Zabini. "Intended for marriage accept the two of them are both submissive and hate each other."
"Any idea what set them off this time?" Luna asked pleasantly.
"Draco said something rude about her hair." Blaise said with a shrug. "Honestly I don't really care. The lot of them are idiots." With that Blaise left as well.
"Mr Potter that was very dangerous." Eames sighed. "Jumping between two fighting inherited is quite a deadman's game."
"It wasn't a game." Harry snapped.
"He did it to make sure I didn't get hurt." Luna said softly with a smile. "Come on Harry, you just be tired. I was thinking of napping in that lovely field." Luna took Harry's hand and lead the boy away.
"What an odd pair, it's almost like a couple but not quite." McGonagall mumbled.
"Friend circles amongst Veela and Werecats are sacred, once part of it each protects the other like family with a vicious outburst waiting for any who intend to harm." Eames explained.
---
Harry returned to his apartment momentarily to drop off Chestnut and introduce Luna to the others and then the two inherited made their way to the field. Harry spotted Hanna snoozing by the small pond where as Shamus was napping under a tree. Colin was curled up in the branches above reading. The Slytherin's were probably sulking in their rooms. Luna and Harry took up a spot where the sun promised to shine for a while and settled on the grass. Harry's first instinct was to grasp his core and take his full beast form. Instead he took his humanoid form spreading out his wings to absorb the sunlight as he lay in the grass. Luna did the same and both quickly nodded off.
Blaise Zabini stepped out of his room just as Daphne was exiting hers. "That prat Malfoy out and about?" She asked coldly.
"Nah, princess is too precious to lay in a field. I was going to head over there, seams all the others are sleeping there." He replied.
"Hmm, I will come as well, warm my scales before the night falls." She sighed. They made their way down to the fields and both stopped to watch the sleeping forms of Luna and Harry. Luna's wings were a pretty silver colour where as Harry's was a midnight black with dark ashy grey inner feathers. "So he's a werecat/Veela hybrid." Daphne murmured.
"Hehe, look at his tail twitch." Blaise said. Daphne's eyes gazed upon the long furry appendage with mild amusement. As Harry dreamed his tail curled and uncurled or twitched and flicked. Eventually watching them sleep made Daphne tired so letting her legs morph into a long tiger-snake tail she fell asleep beside Luna and Blaise let out his wings and tail and fell asleep next to Harry.
---
McGonagall walked into the sanctuary's fields to find that all the students in it had migrated to the centre. Luna and Harry in the middle. Daphne and Blaise on the sides, Colin and Shamus snoozed by Harry and Luna's feet and Hannah by their heads. All would have been peaceful if not for Draco who stormed into the field slamming the door loudly and causing a flurry of wings and tail as everyone was startled awake. As they calmed McGonagall stormed over to Draco to scold him.
"Ow! Zabini you stood on my tail!" Shamus shouted.
"Well you trod on my wing!"
"That wasn't me that was Greengrass!"
"How dare you I would never!"
"Yes you would I saw you!"
"Stay out of it Creevey!"
"All of you shut up!" Harry shouted sitting up, making everyone pause. "Who cares who did what, it's your own fault for sleeping so close together."
"Morning everyone." Luna added. "Or is it afternoon?"
"Easy for you to say you and Lovegood were at the centre." Daphne scoffed.
"Who asked you to all sleep around us anyway?" That shut everyone up. Harry rubbed the sleep from his eyes, he certainly wasn't tired anymore but that was a hell of a way to wake up. His wings folded themselves against his back and his tail curled around him as he sat hugging his knees. "What happened anyway?"
"There was a loud bang!" Colin cried. "From over there." All eyes fell on Draco who paled at the glares. He'd just gotten 5 points from Slytherin for that and now they were all pissed at him too.
Eventually they go tired of glaring at him but the serenity of the field had been shattered and no one felt like staying any longer. Harry said goodbye to Luna, Hannah, Shamus and Colin and even responded when Daphne and Blaise said goodbye. He then went straight to his kitchen for food before promptly passing out on his bed. He knew cats slept a lot but this constant desire to just lounge around was rather unsettling. Maybe he'd ask McGonagall the next day.