Chapter 1- An inheritance of a different kind

It was the summer of nineteen ninety three, and a twelve year old Harry Potter was not having a good summer at his relatives, that wasn't exactly the strangest thing as he'd never enjoyed his time living with his relatives, given how they treated him that wasn't a surprise.

It was the summer before his third year at Hogwarts with this being his second time returning to his relatives' home, so he knew just what to expect by now. Minimal food, long lists of chores, being locked up for days on end, and beaten for the slight mistake. Yes, it was fair to say he hated it there.

He had been let out only to make the meals for the day but didn't get to eat any of the food he made, only being given a glass of water and some stale bread through the cat flap on his door. The only other time he had been out of his room for the past week was his noon bathroom breaks and even then, his aunt had forgotten to let his out three of the four days that week.

He was currently laying on what his relatives gave his as a bed, if you could call a broken bed frame and an inch mattress bed, nursing himself after Vernon had given him a kicking. Apparently, a business deal at his work went sideways, and of course, his whale-of-an uncle blamed his for it even when there was no way it could have been.

Harry listened quietly as he heard the chimes of the clock in the hall as the hours grew late, at least he knew he would be getting out more in the next week. He had heard his aunt ranting about Marge the barge coming over at the end of the next week. So that would mean he would be out tending to his aunt's garden to make sure it was in top form for her visit. Funnily enough it and cooking were really the only two things he enjoyed doing while he was at his relatives.

Oh, how he could not wait to get back to Hogwarts. The chimes of the clock sounded from outside in the hall, just one more month now.

"Happy birthday to me" Harry muttered to himself, but as the last chime struck all of Harry's body shook with pain as he let out a soundless scream, his eyes shooting wide in as pain wracked his body worse than anything he had ever felt before.

His back arched as he lay on the thin mattress and his eyes and mouth open wide in pain. It felt like every muscle in his body was on fire as white-hot pain flooded every nerve in his body before it was too much for him, and darkness took him.

---Scene break---

Multiple hours later in the middle of the night Harry awoke, his body still stiff and sore, his muscles tender and his clothes soaked with sweat.

His vision was blurry, and he could barely see at all. Slowly sitting up in his bed he took off his glasses to clean them, wondering what that pain had been but when he took off his glasses he found his vision cleared up completely, he was stunned speechless, he could see perfectly now without his glasses.

"What the hell is going on" Harry muttered to himself but froze after he did so, his voice was different, a few pitches higher.

Moving from the bed he went to get up but when he did, he felt something move behind his and spun to see what it was only to see something move when he did.

Climbing to his feet he turned again only to see the same again when he moved, that was when he felt something and turned slower the third time and to his surprise, he saw it. He had a tail… no not one… four.

They were only a couple of feet long, but were bushy and black, tipped with silver, four black and silver fox tails, all coming out from the base of his back above his butt.

"What," Harry gasped as he reached behind his as he stopped turning but no sooner had he done so did he have to suddenly grasp for his jeans as they started to fall down, that was when he noticed the other changes to his body.

He had never been large or bulky in any way, he was lean and toned. Both of which helped him when playing quidditch he supposed, but now he was lean and toned in a completely different way.

His waistline had slimmed while his hips had widened, his shoulders were less broad, and his skin felt smooth to the touch. He was even an inch taller than before. Looking behind him, he blinked as he caught a glance at his ass which had most definitely not been that round a few hours prior.

He went to his bedside table and took out the cracked hand mirror he had in there to look at himself more closely and when he caught sight of his face, he did a double take.

Just like the rest of his body his face was flawless, smooth skin and soft features, slightly pouty lips, and a smaller nose. When he began to gawk at himself, he noticed that his teeth were now pure white and looked much sharper than before. But what really took his attention was what was on top of his head.

Two black fox ears, both tipped with silver stoop on top of his head as if they had sprouted through his hair which had grown even longer by a good two inches in just a few hours, seeing that and everything proved to be just too much for him as he stumbled backwards onto the bed once again as he began panicking.

'What is this, what's going on, why is this happening' Harry thought with his chest heaving as he began to hyperventilate as his emotions skyrocketed.

What would the Dursley's think when they saw him like this, they already treated his like a freak, what would they do to him when they saw him with ears and tails.

As those thoughts entered his head his panic began to reach new highs as his imagination greeted his to several scenes of thought none of which were pleasant. Ranging from the Dursley's caging him like some sort of animal as the tamest, to Vernon hacking his tails and ears off as the last.

But just as he was about to imagine even worse scenarios of what his future might hold suddenly a sense of warmth, comfort and safety washed over him making him gasp as he felt the feeling flow out from within him. He did not know where it came from, but he didn't care.

After going through so much pain and then such shock at seeing himself change the warm sensation and feeling was more than welcome and Harry couldn't help but melt into it as he let out a slight whimper never wanting this feeling to end.

'Are you okay little one?' A voice suddenly said, making Harry open his eyes wide in shock as he suddenly began to look around in a panic only for the comforting feeling to wash over him again to calm him.

But even though the feeling felt nice he was now warry having heard a voice but seeing no one in the room that could have spoken it.

'That's because I am not physically there little one, I am speaking in your mind' the voice said again making Harry freeze where he sat on the bed.

In his mind, was he serious? Well he remembered the sorting hat during his sorting ceremony doing something of the same, but that had been a while and he had almost forgotten what it was like.

'An apt example of how we are talking, though I don't know how I feel about being compared to that ratty old hat' the voice said again and Harry could feel a sense of amusement behind it's words.

'Then, how are you talking to me' Harry thought after a moment, being wary of the strange voice that he had never heard before.

'That is simple, little one, I am speaking to you through our bond, I am your mate' the voice replied with a gentle tone.

'M-mate,' Harry stuttered in his mind, he didn't know why but hearing that made a warm pleasant feeling bubble up inside his one tinged with excitement but he pushed that feeling down and then asked 'what do you mean mate?'

The voice chuckled for a moment before replying, 'let me guess. You are a muggle born, and today is your birthday?'

Harry swallowed and nodded in his mind, 'well I'm sort of a muggle born, I guess you could call me muggle raised, and how do you know it's my birthday?'

Harry felt the voice smile as it spoke next, 'and I assume that you felt a blinding pain covering your whole body that made you pass out, and when you awoke you were different than when you fell asleep, even more beautiful than you were before?'

Harry felt his cheeks heat up slightly as he heard the voice describe his appearance as beautiful but nodded again, 'yes, my body is different than before, I also have fox ears and four tails'.

The voice went quiet upon hearing that, and for a moment Harry didn't know why but he felt worried if he had said something wrong, but after a few moments the voice spoke again.

'I see, that is… interesting,' The voice said, sounding as if it was thinking deeply on what he had said.

'Do you know what's happened to me? I'm kind of freaking out here,' Harry asked hoping whoever this voice was could help his to understand what had happened to his or if it could change his back.

'Yes I do, you have come into your magical inheritance, little one, which from the sounds of how you have described your new form I would estimate that you are now a Kitsune, or what Japanese muggles would refer to as a fox demon' the voice explained to him, making Harry give a squeak when he heard what he was.

"I'm a demon!" Harry said in a high pitched squeak making him cover his mouth having not meant to say it aloud but thankfully after a moment he didn't hear any movement from the rest of the house, so he hadn't woken up the Dursleys.

His worry soon faded away as the comforting feeling returned to his as the voice spoke again, 'don't get so hung up on labels, little one, demon is just a classification, it doesn't make you evil, you still have freewill to make your own choices.'

Harry took a breath to calm himself down a bit more before speaking in his head again, 'Are you the same as me then, a Kitsune?' Harry asked.

In response he heard a chuckle in his mind before the voice spoke again, 'no little one, I am something else entirely, but I will leave just what I am a secret until we meet for the first time, same for our names I want both to be a surprise, for now just call me Orion, it's my middle name'

Harry felt a bit better having a name for the voice and smiled, 'call me James then, it's my middle name'

'James, lovely,' the voice seemed to purr in a pleased tone making Harry shiver as he heard it in his mind, 'now how are you feeling, I could feel your worrying over our bond, were you just scared by your new form?'

'Yes, I don't suppose there is a way for me to go back to being what I was, is there?' Harry asked less hopeful than before guessing that this change was permanent.

'No,' the voice replied confirming Harry's fear, 'you cannot change back to what you were. An inheritance is a permanent change' Orion said over the link making Harry's stomach drop for a moment only to pick up the next moment when he continued, 'but I can teach you how to hide your more noticeable features like your ears and tails, most all who come into creature inheritances hide their features when in public so as not to draw attention to themselves'

'That would be great,' Harry replied smiling now, 'I was worried about how my muggle relatives would react to seeing me like this, they… don't exactly have the best opinion on magic and seeing me with fox ears and tails might not go down well' he said trying to downplay what he suspected their reactions would be.

Once again Orion went silent hearing his explanation and Harry could feel concern and restrained anger in his tone as he spoke again, 'James, do your relatives hurt you?'

Harry bit his lip as he thought on how to respond but apparently he took too long and Orion had gleaned all he had to from his silence as he heard a deep animalistic growl in his mind that made his flinch.

But the next second feeling his fear the growl stopped as Orion spoke again, 'I am sorry little one, my creature side reacted rather poorly to the thought of anyone hurting you, my creature can be rather protective of what it sees as mine'

Harry wasn't sure how to react to that, on one hand he wanted to snap that he didn't belong to anyone and didn't need to be protected, but another part of him felt warm and happy that someone wanted his and wanted to care and protect him.

Another few moments passed before Orion spoke again, 'I will help you to hide your features little one, but I ask that if you feel that you are in danger there that you leave as soon as you can, if you need a place to stay I have more than enough room at my home for you'

At the thought of leaving the Dursleys Harry felt a smile come to his face, he wanted to do so very badly, but at the same time he didn't know if he could trust Orion, so for the time being he'd have to think on it, 'okay, give me the night and I'll think it over and get away as soon as I can'

Orion purred in his mind once more pleased with his answer, 'that's good little one, now let's see to hiding your ears and tail, then you should get some sleep, it is almost dawn after all' Orion mused.

Harry nodded and listened closely to Orion walk his through the steps to hide his ears and tails, picturing them disappearing and the strange foreign feeling came over his as he opened his eyes to see his tails were gone, and after checking his mirror saw his ears were gone as well, and his teeth were back to normal, if slightly whiter than before.

Harry couldn't help but sigh in relief, 'thank you' he said in his mind and got the impression of a smile back.

'You're welcome little one, now off to bed, we can talk more tomorrow, contact me again when you get away and we can meet so that I can take you somewhere safe.' Orion told him, making Harry nod as he lay back down in bed and pulled the covers over her.

'Good night Orion,' Harry thought in his mind as he closed his eyes.

'Good night little one, pleasant dreams' Orion responded as the feeling of warmth and comfort passed over their bond and Harry relaxed into it and was asleep in minutes.