No Longer

Moonstone Runestone

Harry Potter**

"I am Professor Demetrius Hollybrook," the man said, causing a niggling sensation in Harry's mind.

Where had he heard that name before? Hollybrook, Hollybrook, Hollybrook. Wracking his mind, he managed to dredge up his first encounter with a patron of his club. He'd been reading his book on potions, the notebook with the Male Pregnancy Potion, to be specific, when he'd met the elf Heir Xavier Hollybrook.

Squinting his eyes, Harry focused his magic onto the man. There was a faint distortion of the air around him, and it was impossible for him to not explore further. Using his magic to reveal the man's true form, but ensuring Harry would be the only one capable of seeing it, he used substantial power.

A slim elf with crimson hair and crimson markings on silvery skin where his freckles once were stood in place of his teacher. The eyes were much larger, still blue, but cobalt rather than any natural human shade. He had narrow lips over sharp teeth and a small nose.

"You're an elf?" Harry said, before he was able to help himself.

The Professor's eyes sharpened, "And you-" he paused delicately, "must be Harry Potter, the boy I've heard so very much about. Now, what I wonder is, what are you."

Harry had always known elves saw more than humans, wizard or otherwise, but he didn't know the answer to the man's question, and anything he tried to say would no doubt ring false with his own unsurety.

"I don't know Professor," Harry said, voice careful, "Perhaps, perhaps we can come to an arrangement. I say nothing of your race, you say nothing of my. . . more unique traits."

"I accept. I do wish to know how you discerned I was an elf, however. Elven magic is more powerful than wizarding, as I assume you already know."

"Indeed it is, but perhaps I am not entirely a wizard," Harry said mysteriously.

"Maybe not," the elf agreed.

"I can answer some of your interest though," he said, deciding it necessary to at least share a fraction of his knowledge, "I have, on prior occasion, met Heir Hollybrook, so I looked beneath the surface to ascertain whether you were as he was or not."

"And where, child, would you have met such a person as that? Also, there are multiple Heir Hollybrooks. Could you please elaborate?"

"Heir Xavier Hollybrook."

The elf's nostrils flared, and he stood abruptly up from his seated position behind his desk. His eyes narrowed to slits, and his lips curled back to better reveal his sharpened incisors.

"HOW DO YOU KNOW THAT NAME!" he snarled, his eyes flashing golden with a magic surge.

Harry tilted his head, not understanding. The man had gone to his club after all, surely he couldn't be so reclusive as all that. It made no sense for him to be a secret. He'd been very familiar with the other magical creatures too, many knowing him by name.

"Why are you surprised?" Harry asked, head still canted.

"Because," he hissed, "No wizards are supposed to know the name of the true heir!"

Harry nodded his understanding, "Ah. I understand now. You need fear nothing from me. If it would make you feel better, I give you leave to test my mental barriers for weakness."

The elf seemed to be in a rage, and Harry was relatively sure he wouldn't have tried to do it were he not overwrought, but as it stood, the elf tried to attack his mind. The power behind the attack would have been staggering to an ordinary wizard, but Harry remained unwavering beneath the pressure.