AN: connected to my other HP daemon fic but you don't need to have read it. Feedback is much appreciated :) A note about Neala's form can be found at the bottom of the fic.

Might do a Draco/Harry story based on this 'verse.

Neala settles when Harry is twelve years old. It's Christmas eve and he and Ron are the only ones in their dorm; Seamus, Dean and Neville have all gone home for Christmas.

Ron's Kirek had settled last Christmas as a husky dog with rusty red and white fur. When Kirek settled as a dog no one was surprised; his parents both had canine daemons, so did Bill (a wolf hound) and the twins (a fennec fox and a coyote). Daemon forms did that sometimes; ran in families. Like the Malfoy's daemons always settling as something snowy white or the Smith's daemons almost always settling as some type of badger.

Harry's father had a doe for a daemon, his mother a little wren so Harry had no idea what Neala would finally settle as.

"A lion," Ron would joke.

"Nah, something magical, like a unicorn!" Seamus would say.

"A unicorn?" Dean would scoff, "No, that's not nearly heroic enough for The Boy Who Lived! It'll be a dragon or a phoenix! Something like that."

Neala would laugh softly. She never liked big, magnificent forms, even when they were younger. She preferred smaller shapes, cats, rodents, birds so when she settled as a hare he wasn't surprised.

Everyone else was though.

The next morning he tells Ron he'll need to go and register her form on Boxing day and Ron gives him a blank look, "That's it?" he says after a while. "She's a rabbit?"

"A hare, actually." Neala snaps indignantly from Harry's shoulder, her long ears twitching.

Kirek makes an remorseful noise, "We're sorry," she says. "It's just we thought..."

"She'd be more impressive?" Harry suggests smirking.

Ron smiles and shrugs apologetically and Harry laughs softly, "I keep telling you; I'm not that special."

The teachers look disappointed as well and Harry's not offended, he finds it all pretty amusing actually. Even Hermione and Adrial look slightly disappointed. "Not that she isn't wonderful, Harry. It's just that..."

In the end she hurries of to the library and researches hares. She comes back happier and tells them her findings proudly, "The Algonquin tribe honored the Great Hare as a demiurge, a role in the creation of the world. The Egyptians also saw the hare involved in a creation story. For them, the hare came to mean procreation, and then immorality. The Goths saw the hare as fleet and swift, and symbols of diligence."

Harry and Neala both agree that her research was unnecessary but it made her feel better so they keep quiet.

When term starts again Hermione tells anyone who'll listen about why Neala being a hare isn't as dull as they first thought. Even so Harry gets numerous disapproving looks that make Neala gnash her teeth and flick her ears in annoyance.

The only person who doesn't seem surprised is Draco Malfoy who snorts, "Suits you, Potter." And stalks off with Adrasteia flouncing beside him as an arctic wolf.

Neala shouts, "Thanks!" before Harry can stop her and Adrasteia pauses and looks back at them for a few seconds before vanishing round the corner after her human.

Daemon Notes:

Neala is a Gaelic name meaning champion and I chose a hare for her because of the above symbolism and because Harry's never struck me as an openly heroic person. He sees himself as more or less equal to those around him.

Kirek is also a Gaelic name and it means "the strong one, the brave one." she's a husky which symbolises companionship, loyalty, determination and team work. They're also adorable.

Adrasteia is a Greek name "does not flee" or "inescapable" it's also fittingly an epithet of the Greek goddess Nemesis. She later settles as a phoenix.