//------------------------------//
// Chapter 24 
// Story: The two Potters and the Three Princesses 
// by Vladimir 
//------------------------------//

	Griphyx sits on a rock outside as he stares off into the dark grey cloudy sky. Next to him, is Nightmare to his right, while on his left is Luna. Ruby sits at he feet, she has her tails, ears, eyes and fangs out. She looks up at him and smiles.
"Nice day, huh?" She asks. Griphyx nods his head softly
"Yeah, real nice day. Been back a week and it feels nice to just sit here." He says with a smile. They all sit on the cliff edge as they look out at the sea. Ruby leans back against Griphyx's legs and sighs with a content smile gracing her red lips.
"Yeah." She agrees. The four of them watch the sea move, before Ruby jumps up and sits in Griphyx's lap. Her being taller, causes him to blush, as he looks away from her chest. "Nice to see you aren't like Nick, if I did this to him, he'd say something about me...." She grumbles as she lay in his lap.
"Y...Yeah, I um...managed to hear your last conversation with him. Is he really that...I don't know, strange?" Griphyx asks. After hearing their conversation, he had become curious about why American's were so...perverse.
"Yes, apparently in America, or at least their Witches and Half-Blood women, that are similar to me tend to...sell themselves for...um...things." She says with a slight blush.
"Does he ask you to do those kinds of things?" Nightmare asks. The four of them have been bonding more and more. Mot students say that Griphyx and Ruby are dating each other, but the truth is that they look out for each other.
"No, not really. But he asks me if I ever have, or if any of my family members have as well." She explains, blushing more. Nightmare smirks playfully.
"Have you~?" She asks. This makes Ruby freeze up and squeak. "Oh my...you HAVE!?" She yells.
"N...No! I haven't!! I've done things, but nothing like those!! I haven't even gotten my first kiss yet!" She squeaks out in embarrassment. Nightmare howls in laughter.
"Oh, you should see the look on your face! Ha!" She doubles over laughing. Luna giggles lightly.
"That was kind of funny..." She says.
"I...I guess it was..." Ruby says with a small smile, when she see's Griphyx not even looking at them, but towards the castle, she grows worried.
"I don't understand...." He mumbles out before he sighs and runs a hand through his hair. 
"Don't understand what?" Ruby asks. Griphyx looks over his shoulder at her.
"The hissing, the whispering, the large yellow eyes in the windows. I just don't understand!" He exclaims in annoyance. Ruby smiles sadly before hugging him gently around the abdomen and holds him close, causing him to blush.
"It's okay, Griphyx. If you want, the three of us can help you find out more about together with you, alright?" She says, smiling down at him. He smiles up at her and nods.
"Sure!" He exclaims happily. But then gets a puzzled look. "Can I ask you a question, Ruby?"
"Sure." She chirps out.
"How old are you?" He asks. Ruby blushes before smiling down at him.
"Well, for human years I'm 12, but for my Half-Blood years, about 16." She answers. Griphyx blinks before blushing more.
"How?" He asks,
"Well, my family line is...older than most would think. My family comes from Japan, but during the late 1800's we came over here, and started a new family branch. It's kind of confusing." She explains with a sheepish smile.
"So, your part Japanese?" He asks.
"Yes, why?" She asks.
"Well, it's just that when Harry, Tia, Artemis, Nyx and I were sucked into that strange temple, we met some deities FROM the Japanese folklore. They seemed REALLY nice!" He exclaims with a smile. Ruby looks down at Griphyx.
"You met more gods?" She asks.
"Well, briefly, but yeah. Everything just sort of flows together though, like I can remember bits and pieces, but not EVERYTHING that had happened, so, maybe." He says with a slight shrug. Ruby smirks and rubs his chin softly, making him shiver a bit.
"Cute." Is all she says before her tails coil around them both as she hisses at Malfoy.
"Told you they was here!" Says another new student of SLitherin, he too, is a American, and from the sound of it, from that New York City place that Griphyx, Harry and the Princesses saw in the movies.	
"Right you are, and his little girl friend to. Hold on, she looks older, hey! Who are you!?" Malfoy order's out. Ruby and Griphyx both deadpan.
"It's Ruby, you snake." Ruby hisses out.
"His girlfriend? Ha! Yeah right! As if HE could land such a babe. C'mon sweetcheeks, why don't ch'ya come over here's and uh, y'know, make yourself useful?" The New Yorker boy says with a grin. Ruby clenches her jaw shut, but then blinks when the boy his holding his stomach. "Awe crap!" He yells in pain.
"That's for picking on my friends." Nick says from out of nowhere, his wings shimmering as his feathers rustle slightly.
"Gah! You stupid little ANGEL!!" The boy roars as he whips out a strange black and green wand shaped like a snake. He flicks his wrist and fires out an overly large magic bolt at Nick, hitting him in the chest. Snake-like-chains coil themselves around Nick's form and force him to hit the ground, he cries out in pain as he lands onto his wings. "I ain't finished with ya yet!" He snarls as he fires another over large bolt of magic, hitting him in the chest, but giving him a burn.
"Aah!" He yells out in pain.
"That little..." Nightmare and Luna start, but then when a gust of wind forms, they watch the new kid fly into the air, a bruise on his left cheek and his eyes wide. When the boy falls onto his back, he blinks.
"The hell just...?" He stops and freezes. Standing there before him is a mostly changed Griphyx. His coffin like wings fanned out, his bone and flesh tail coiling and uncoiling. Most of his face is covered in a strange skeletal skull, while his left eye looks somewhat normal, his right resembles a socket with that flame eye staring back at them all.
"What the bloody hell!?" Ron yells in fear as he see's his friend looking more and more like a monster. "What's happening to Griphyx!?!?" He yells.
"I don't know, but...he looks pretty pissed." Nick coughs out in pain. Griphyx glares at the group who harmed his friend.
"You FREAK!!" The boys yell out, firing magical bolts at Griphyx. Griphyx steps back in very slight pain before he growls and holds his wand to the side. The sickle like black forms, before straitening into a familiar sword. Dumbledore, McGonagall, Hagrid and Snape appear at the seen, only to wonder what is going on.
Griphyx steps towards the group, but this makes them all but the new kid run away.
"Think you can take me on!? You freaking demonic dragon thing! I'll show you!!" He roars in fury as his legs become one and his hands are claws. His hair become snakes and he gains poison dripping fangs and two bight glowing yellow eyes. A snake mask forms around his head and jaw-lining. "Bring it!" He roars. His wand forms into a double sided axe.
'Can all Half-Bloods make their wands or any other tools into a weapon?' Griphyx thinks.
"Yes, we can." The boy say, making Griphyx's eye widen. "All Half-Bloods have a best inside them, and that beast can become an unbreakable weapon." He states before appearing before Griphyx, axe raised in the air above his had. "NOW YOU PAY!!" The boy screams out in anger. Griphyx blocks with the flat of his sword and grunts.
'Dang...how could I not have known this bucking stuff!?' Griphyx roars in his mind.
"We will help you. Just relax, and let us work with you, Griphyx." The other Griphyx says. Griphyx agrees and then he feels his body go numb, before he feels his limbs move faster than he could have thought.
'WHAT!?' The boy roars in his mind. 'HOW COULD HE BE SO QUICK!?' He thinks as he feels his shirt be cut. 'At least he can't get through my scales and skin, otherwise I would have freaking died! Damn it, how could this little crap stain be so strong!?' He roars mentally, dodging swipes.
Griphyx watches as his body pushes the boy back and send him into a rock, before he regains control. Griphyx grabs the boy by the throat and growls.
"Do you yield?" He growls out. The boy nods and when Griphyx releases him, the boy reverts back to normal and flees from the area, back towards Malfoy's group. Griphyx smirks, before he too reverts back to normal, and then his world goes dark once more. This was going to be a LONG year.