Chapter Nineteen
Toad, that under cold stone
Harry opened his eyes on the first of April and leapt from Hermione's bed and into her shower. Parvati screamed and slapped him on the chest. "Prat! Scare me to death. All you had to do was say!" Parvati turned round and bent over. Harry, eyes firmly fixed on the magnificent muscled back and pert arse in front of him, grabbed the soap and stepped into her. Lying across her back, nestled firmly into her bottom, he reached around and soaped her breasts. Parvati giggled and slowly stood up as Harry soaped her whole front, ending on his knees with his face snuggled into her right buttock as he finished her legs and feet. Parvati could only lean against him, dizzy from whatever he was doing with his hands and his heart; she turned in his arms and leant back against the wall to catch her breath as Harry somehow directed the stream of warm water over her. Parvati slowly collected her wits, pushed Harry's face back from her taut belly, and pulled him to his feet and pressed a lingering kiss on his lips. She then returned the favor, taking up the soap and washing Harry and then turning him under the stream of water. She barely resisted taking him in her mouth but instead pressed him to her cheek as the soap sheeted off of him. Harry reached to turn the water off and they stepped from the shower into a red-faced and panting audience in the bathroom.
Hermione smiled. "That is the most sensual thing I believe I've ever seen."
The Gryffindor Coven and Kristen Thomas nodded. "I fully expected him to jam her full; when he didn't, well, it just got better."
Parvati smiled. "I'll fix that later."
Harry smiled hugely. "Come on, ladies, big day. It's the other twins' birthday. See you in the entry hall in ten minutes." He was literally hopping from foot to foot before he scampered away, showering the room with kisses.
The witches looked at each other and grinned. The Weasley twins were in so much trouble. Harry was all the way on and apparently intended to torture them into submission with every prank he and they, the Coven, could think of.
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The Weasley twins arrived in the entry hall, smiling. Harry waved at them and the crowd turned and smiled. Suddenly they burst into song and "For they are jolly good fellows" roared around the entry hall. Neville had never been so glad. By the time the song ended he had his laughter under control. The twins were neon pink and green until they looked at each other, then they were normal. They looked around at the smiling faces and blushed pink when they looked at each other and chartreuse when they weren't looking at each other.
Harry led the group outside and into their stretches with the crowd chuckling and the twins confused.
Harry began partner-resisted exercises with Neville; the twins looked more and more confused as their pranks during their first four years of school--and the targets of them--scrolled down each of
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their backs, but only when the other twin couldn't see them.
Fully expecting one of Harry's special tarantellas, the twins, like true Gryffindors, stepped up and led the run, not knowing that their list of misdeeds against their schoolmates was constantly scrolling down their backs.
They wondered about the silence behind them and finally spun around to see a forest of wands aimed at them. They tried to turn but the curse hit them first and Harry fell over laughing as the neon colored duck-billed platypus that slipped into the lake, to appear next being juggled by the giant squid. PT was over for the day.
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Ron awoke while everyone was at PT and made his way to the shower. Thankfully the wand and he had become expertly efficient at the Scourgify. Ron stood in the shower with visions of Alicia Spinet dancing in his head and his hand bobbing on his cock. He had managed a peek into the witches' shower at practice the other day and she was awesome. There had to be a way to get into that. He was a wizard, after all. He wondered since Alicia was a natural blond but her pubic hair was a little darker; would Ginny be auburn down there rather than new copper? Aaack, not Ginny again! Chess--yes, that's it, chess. Oppenhiemer's gambit. Pawn to queen three. Oh my. Let go of your cock, idiot, you're still thinking of Ginny. Aaargh! No, no! No coming, noooooo! Oh gods! Mum will kill me! Only if Ginny doesn't.
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While Ron was perving, Parvati was getting her due from this morning in the second floor girls' loo and then giving Myrtle a shot at the body and Harry. The girls were right. This was great fun and oh gods, what a visual. There had to be a way to get pictures of herself getting shagged by Harry. "Myrtle!"
"What, Parv?" Myrtle whined. She had been concentrating.
"Not in the ass with him that big!" Parvati was terrified--Harry was huge!
"You'll love it. Now just stay there and feel. First you have to completely relax."
Harry's head popped in past her ring of muscle and Parvati grunted. Myrtle smiled with Parvati's face. "See, he's so gentle. Oh gods, you can feel every vein. Parvati?"
Off trapped in a corner of her mind, Parvati was nearly in shock. She could feel every vein and every one of them brought her to a new orgasm bigger than the last. This wasn't possible. Oh Kali, she was an ass queen!
Myrtle's gentle laughter encouraged Harry but he still went very, very slowly. H
The Coven tittered at Parvati's small steps and grateful sigh for her medium heels the rest of the day. She hardly noticed as her thoughts were that while she was possibly an ass queen, it required more practice.
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Fred and George thanked Hagrid and Professor Flitwick--Hagrid for getting them away from the giant squid and Professor Flitwick for reversing the combined charms on them. They managed to
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get around a corner before the two staff members fell down laughing. "It may be a tough day, Fred."
"You think, George? Did you notice the little blighter just stood there laughing? He hasn't even pranked us yet."
Fred nodded. "We'll have to be very careful. He's powerful, but subtle sometimes."
George nodded.
Alicia and Angelina watched them and giggled. Alicia put the Minox camera away again. They were running a log of the pranks and results--"they" being the witches, Marjorie, and Katherine. They had joined forces and were just waiting for the twins to reach a certain point. Alicia and Angelina found that they really, really liked Katherine and Marjorie. The twins' only hope was to like all four of them. Well, maybe not their only hope with females--they were fairly good-looking- -but their only hope with one of this group.
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Albus sat smiling magnanimously out over the Great Hall, his eyes twinkling madly as he surface- scanned student after student as they entered. Ron walked in and made eye contact and Albus recoiled slightly. Great--after the Chamber he had an incestuous pervert to deal with on top of somehow getting Longbottom ready. Although Potter seemed to be what Longbottom needed. Potter gave him confidence and that study group was pouring knowledge down the boy like they'd unscrewed his head. Maybe his hanging out with an incestuous pervert was just youthful high spirits.
Speaking of which, here were the very definitions looking like they were ready for combat. Albus chuckled. April Fools Day looked to be a little different this year. How did those two get to be those wonderful day-glow colors?
The twins did manage to collect a horde of gifts along with the pranks that came their way; a lot of books from the Coven, gags from their friends and clothes from their parents, all in all the best birthday yet for them. They could take it as well as dish it out and enjoyed both. Except for when their mother showed up in a very full corset, garter belt, red satin thong, fishnets and heels in the packed Gryffindor common room and came on to them like gangbusters. Ron fled screaming about "his eyes, his eyes" and Percy followed shortly, hand over mouth; but the twins, being made of sterner stuff, lasted until a breast popped out of the way-too-full corset. After they fled, Nym fell over laughing and morphed back to herself as she scampered up the stairs, releasing the Transfiguration on her robes.
H "Why don't you just rub one out now, Weasley? You are watching, after all." "No I'm not, Neville." "Sure, Ron." Neville sighed. It was Saturday the tenth and Oliver had just let them go from a
monstrous practice.
Ron blushed lightly. Neville grinned at him. "You're going to have to make yourself into something if you want one of them, Ron. They're smart and powerful. They aren't going to tolerate a wizard less than themselves."
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"Bloody Potter," Ron grumbled.
Neville sighed. "You can't blame him for your own laziness, Ron. You don't see your brothers skiving off all the time."
"Bloody twins."
"You're impossible, do you know that?" Neville stood and left. Ron quickly finished changing and followed him.
On the other side of the curtain Alicia continued to rise slowly up and down on Harry. She really couldn't care less whether or not Weasley watched her taking one of the best shaggings of her life. Harry was in a mood and she wasn't going to break it.
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Later, at Potter Castle, Perenelle narrowed her eyes at Narcissa. "They have to start using contraceptive charms and the potion, and even that may not be enough. He's in love with Leyland and his magic will move to provide him with more and more children. Someone will be pregnant soon."
Narcissa shrugged. "And if they are? My master wants children; we should give them to him."
"Sacre bleu! They're children, Narcissa! Children having children? This will not go down well at all. If he wants children now, you need to give them to him."
"Well, if Harry and Hermione were married--"
"Emma! Morgana, he's warping your minds too. Narcissa I can understand, but you, Emma? You being driven by his need to formalize his relationship with your daughter and keep all other claimants away, this I do not understand. You aren't magical."
Emma's thought processes stopped as if she had been dashed with icewater. Perenelle smiled. "Yes, now you see. He is very, very powerful. He unconsciously bends like thoughts to his; no, not even him really--his magic. Thank Circe his thoughts are all about making his women happy. If he should go evil he would make Riddle seem an Auguste.
Lily looked out from her brooch that Emma was wearing. "Nicholas?"
Nicholas nodded. "It's not just him. The six of them, the inner circle--Harry, Hermione, Susan, Padma, Daphne, and Nym--their magics are linked. Narcissa may be soon, but Luna will probably be sooner. He, or they, will grow more powerful. This is probably what Riddle tried to do with his Mark. I'll start working with them so they understand and can begin to control their unconscious influence on those around them."
Narcissa looked thoughtful. Andromeda took one look at her. "No, Cissy." "She's our sister, Andromeda. Plus she could carry the Lestrange line through."
"She's mad as a hatter and a marked Death Eater, Cissy. She's a Dark magic user. We have no idea whether she's fertile or not."
"Harry could enslave her, and the line-securing potions will force her to bear to term as long as she still has the correct organs."
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Lily finally caught her breath from her gasp but then she thought. "She never did hurt anyone that night, and thinking back, she never killed anyone I know of, tortured a few but nothing bad-."
Alice Longbottom exploded, "Other than carving on my Neville like he was a tree!"
Lily grimaced. "As it could have been. Yes, other than that Alice. If what Nicholas said is true, then Riddle is using the marked Death Eaters' power. We're better off with them dead."
Narcissa bristled. "I said he could enslave her, not we could kill her, Lily."
Nicholas shrugged. "Right now he can't draw on them. If he's reincorporated he'll be able to. We'd be better off killing them now, at least arranging some accidents. That way Dumbledore and Riddle would be more evenly matched. They would draw in the more radical elements of both the light and Dark and more effectively destroy each other, leaving Harry less of both sides to have to clean up.
"As for Bellatrix, Harry enslaving her would put him in direct confrontation with Riddle. I think we would be best served by Sirius beginning to visit her with Narcissa and slipping her some nutrient potions. Run a few scans on her and let's see if she has some kind of condition that causes this supposed madness, and what her possible breeding status is, before we even broach this with Harry.
"If so we can cure it if possible. Harry's girls are truly amazing at medicine and potions, some of them; all are competent. Then if she's in good enough shape when Riddle returns we can take her and her husband and hide them. Harry can take whatever action with her he needs to then. That will take her and her husband's power away from Riddle."
The discussion raged and moved on to the other Death Eater wives and what to do about them, until the golden afternoon was interrupted by Harry flying out of the French doors and across the lawn where the extended Coven parents sat having their discussion, with Hermione in hot pursuit.
Daphne, Susan, and Padma led the coven out and Lily arched a brow. Daphne sighed. "We were in the reading room with the study group. Harry left early to go by his room and see Neville. When we all left behind Hermione, a fifth year--"
Padma interrupted. "--that we didn't even know was a poufter--"
Daphne continued, "--had Harry hemmed up in the hallway. Harry was doing fine fending off his advances but when he reached over and grabbed Harry's forearm Hermione went all territorial and hit him in the back of the head with a roundhouse kick."
Susan took over. "The idiot drew his wand on her."
Daphne finished "Harry broke every bone in his body, we think." All three of them looked helpless and shrugged.
The first laugh came from Sirius, of course. Lily finally got enough quiet to ask, "This boy is in the Hospital Wing?" Susan nodded. "Obliviated." James, on Sirius's tie, rubbed his hand through his hair. "So why is Hermione trying to kill Harry?" Padma sighed. "She's convinced she had it under control. Harry reacted on instinct. She thinks he
thinks she's weak. They're fine." Daphne smiled dreamily. "Oh yes, they are now." Dan put his fingers in his ears. "I really don't want the play-by-play of the make-up sex." H "Not possible."
Nicholas rolled his eyes. "Yes it is, Harry, and you and your inner circle are doing it. Narcissa planning how you'll get children on every woman she sees--I think she even has a Perenelle contingency should I die--and Emma having this marriage urge are indicators of it. No normal mother, when confronted with her just-teenage daughter being sexually active, would immediately start planning the wedding; her father, perhaps, but not her mother.
"You must recognize it to be able to control it. We only fully realized it a week ago, so we have some time."
Harry grunted. "So this plan for the Death Eaters could be part of that, then."
"Yes, but it's not, Harry. That's just sound strategic planning. The Coven parents will execute it with or with out your influence, the arranging accidents part. You need to get in front of that on the line preservation part. They lived through the first rise of Riddle; they have no intention of doing so again. They were damaged and hardened by it, as you were by your childhood. The Americans have a nice phrase: 'combat-accelerated Darwinism'. They apply it to their troops and enemies."
Hermione reached over and slapped Harry lightly on the chest. He was mocking Nicholas. "Stop that, Harry."
Harry pouted. "Fine for you, Ne. You don't have to knock them up and have them around like Narcissa. Uh, that came out totally wrong."
Narcissa looked over with frosty blue eyes. Harry tried to save himself. "I love you, Cissy. I don't want any more, though."
The frosty blue eyes calculated for a moment, then she reached over and touched his bare arm. "You'd better be glad that works better now, Harry, or I'd be a crying mess right now and you would be hexed soprano. You really don't want any more women around--what kind of teenager are you? You don't even think of sex every other thought any more. I just found a whole treatise with nothing sexual in it."
Harry grinned. "A well satisfied one, thank you all very much."
Susan grinned at him. "Be that as it may, Harry, the plan is politically sound and leaves our covers not only alive but in better positions. They can be happily gay their whole lives, escort us to a few public events, and never worry about heirs if you build them all ones on their mothers, sisters, or us. We've even captured eight of the nine you nutted as covers. And the rumors about them have died right down. Amazing what a little inappropriate décolletage and a giggle will do."
Narcissa nodded. "And it's not like the wives will mind. You, Hermione, and I can triple-team them and they'll be yours forever."
Harry arched a brow at Nicholas and he nodded. "Apparently you really, really like children."
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Perenelle cleared her throat. "Which brings us to the next point. You Coven witches and Squibs have to start taking the potion and using contraceptive charms. Especially you, Nym. Unless, of course, you want to go to class pregnant."
They all blinked. Gwenog smiled and rubbed her belly; she was just beginning to show. Nym nodded vigorously along with the Hogwarts Coven and the younger Squibs. Some of the older Squibs looked thoughtful before nodding too; Uni would be difficult pregnant, nanny elves or no.
Gwenog barked a laugh. "You'll just have to be satisfied with breeding us, Narcissa, and the trophy wives for now, Harry."
Harry pouted outrageously before he broke and smiled, then shook his head. "No trophy wives yet. That plan needs refining. They need partners to be linked with after my--erm, their heirs are born."
Narcissa nodded. Harry continued, "So, anything else influenced by our magic, Nicholas?"
Nicholas and Perenelle shook their heads. Nicholas answered, "We don't think so, Harry. Well, no other people. You are amazingly focused on your women and children. The Coven's other activities--physical training, studying, research, manufacturing, business--seem to be focused on providing the required wealth to support them and the power and skill to protect them. That is-- well, not normal, perhaps, but acceptable as you provide for the people involved along the way with decent wages, interesting work, and chances for advancement."
Perenelle looked at Luna and then Harry. "So what about the Chamber of Secrets?" Perenelle had recognized Luna as a true seer and had been working with her to sort her visions from reality in her mind. The only other person who could spend any significant time in Luna's mind was Harry, not because her defenses were so good but because it was a sickening riot of images. Harry just overwhelmed that when he was in there. Luna could achieve amazing levels of concentration about some things. Harry wearing her out mentally was one of them.
Luna shook her head. "No new, erm, lines, if you will. Still the same three. We find it and kill it, the creature I mean. Neville and Ron find it and get killed by it. Or the school closes. Lately there is an odd kind of combination of the three that's becoming more, perhaps urgent is the word."
Harry shook his head. "Those last two are out. Although we're no closer to finding it."
Luna nodded. "Ginny told me she, Ron, and Neville had been to see Hagrid. He admitted to the spider but said it never hurt anyone. Ron is spending all his time looking for spiders. Oddly enough he's scared nearly witless of them."
The inner circle cracked up suddenly at Harry's Good, maybe Ron'll quit wanking all the time! The boy was becoming legendary. It was a boarding school, after all.
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Chapter 27
On Wednesday the fifteenth of April Ginny caught Ron in the hallway and forced him at wandpoint into the nearest empty classroom. She used a series of spells that no first year should know to secure the room. She was very diligent in study group.
Ron looked at her burning red face. "What?"
Ginny exploded in a preternaturally bad imitation of Ron's voice. "'Ginny! Oh, Ginny!' What the hell is wrong with you, you pervert? You talk in your sleep while you're wanking, calling my name! I can hardly show my face."
"It's a lie! Goddamn Potter!"
"He had nothing to do with this! I traced the rumor back to your slacker alcoholic buddy Finnegan. You'd better fix this before Neville hears about it, Ron, or I'll kill you!"
Ron opened his mouth and then clapped it shut. Ginny's eyes were burning red and her hair was floating around her head. She spun on her heel and left. Ron ran to the common room, up the stairs to his dorm room, and leapt on Seamus. Dean Thomas watched, prepared to laugh, and then ran for help. Weasley was trying to kill Finnegan.
The first person Dean ran into was Neville. "Neville, where's Harry? Weasley is trying to kill Finnegan with his bare hands."
Neville blinked. "Not here. In his study group or on the way there, probably. Come on."
Neville charged up the stairs, took one look at Weasley bashing Finnegan's head on the floor, and Stunned them both. He and Dean levitated them and took them to the Hospital Wing.
Ginny, nearly in tears, ran into something in the hall on the way to study group and bounced off, landing on her ass. "Beg pardon, Ms Weasley." Draco offered her a hand up. Ginny smiled reluctantly and let him help her to her feet. Draco pulled her up and to his chest and his eyes changed somehow. "Ginny, oh, Ginny."
Before he could laugh he found himself on fire. Weasley had never drawn her wand but her eyes were glowing red. Draco ran screaming down the hall. Sirius and Remus knocked him down with simultaneous Stunners, put him out, and levitated him to the Hospital Wing at a run. The students in the hall looked at Ginny with her glowing eyes and floating hair, and every thought of the rumor they had heard, or of telling a teacher about this, fled their minds on winged feet.
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Pomfrey was just getting the pugilists settled after cleaning them up and healing them--she had left them Stunned; the Longbottom lad had shown great presence of mind there--when Sirius and Remus ran in levitating the still-smoldering Malfoy. She looked at the boy and flinched; he was completely covered in burns. "Put him in this tub." She flicked her wand, and a tub of blue gel appeared and Malfoy's clothes vanished. His whole body was burned.
Sirius and Remus lowered Malfoy in, supporting his head. Poppy brushed them back. "No, no, all the way in." She installed a miniature Bubble-Head Charm around his nose and mouth and pushed him firmly down in the gel after she Stunned him. Remus and Sirius backed away.
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Dumbledore bumped them forward when he pushed the doors of the Hospital Wing open. He went to the beds of first Ron, then Seamus, and after putting a hand on both their heads grunted and stepped back. "Not Petrified. A fight apparently, typically wizard, over some witch apparently." He seemed to be talking to himself.
Neville and Dean looked at each other. Neville thought, Over a witch? They must have been wanking over the same one. They could never get one to pay attention to them. Dean caught his eye and grinned. Neville and Dean suppressed their laughter at the circle-wank gone wrong.
Dumbledore strode to the blue-gel-filled tub. "Much more serious, potentially fatal. What happened, Professors?"
Sirius shrugged. "It looked like Malfoy knocked a young witch down, then pulled her up by her wrist and burst into flame."
Remus nodded and went along as Sirius reinforced his Occlumency. "I suspect he assaulted a claimed witch and the other wizard's magic overpowered his."
Dumbledore looked around. Sirius's and Remus's eyes followed his and just as they all lit on Longbottom, he had to sit down. He was very pale. Dumbledore smiled and thought, Well, the Boy Who Lived is a man now. He turned back to Draco. "I have tried to be forgiving but this, I believe, will require your attention, Lord Black."
Sirius blinked. Dumbledore sighed. "You hold House Malfoy's Heir and Regent, do you not?"
Sirius blinked again. Dumbledore nodded. "I leave this matter in the hands of his Head of House, then." He left the Hospital Wing, inordinately pleased. Neville was coming right along and now Sirius had the hot potato, not him.
Poppy looked at Sirius. "He'll be fine in the morning; you can deal with him then."
Sirius blinked again and Remus steered him away. As soon as they cleared the doors they looked at each other. "Study group."
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In the reading room Harry was looking at Ginny with his mouth open. She stamped her foot. "Only a little, Harry, and I was already mad!"
Harry snapped his mouth closed. "How do you light someone on fire 'a little', Ginny?" "Haaarrrryyy!"
"Oh, hell no, Ginny! The puppy-dog eyes won't save you this time. You're going to anger management classes, young lady. Even I don't just light people on fire! What if Remus and Sirius hadn't been there?"
Ginny mumbled something. Harry frowned. "What?" "We would have had one less pure-blood ponce to deal with."
Harry put his head in his hands. Hermione took over the conversation with Ginny. Septima looked at Bathsheba and Aurora. "On fire? That little slip of a witch lit a wizard older than her on fire? Without a wand?"
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"But with her lord's magic, apparently."
"Aiiie! Morgana's saggy teats, Sirius, stop sneaking up on me!" Septima had her hand over her heart.
Sirius grinned unrepentantly. "Young Draco is in a burn potion bath up in the Hospital Wing, apparently courtesy of you, Ms Weasley. Well, you and your lord. Been doing that bonding thing a lot, have you? Dumbledore has turned Draco over to his Head of House so you'll have to do something about him, Harry." Sirius paused. "Oh, that reminds me." He dug in a pocket and flipped Harry a small golden object. "Neville Longbottom is occupying a bed, apparently magically exhausted. Ron Weasley is in a bed recovering from injuries sustained in what appears to have been a vicious fistfight with Seamus Finnegan, who is occupying another bed. Do you know anything about this, Harry?"
Harry snatched the object out of the air with no effort. He peered at it and sighed. Hermione took it and stuck it on Harry's finger. The Malfoy Family ring joined the others and Harry felt it submit immediately. He smiled thinly; at least one thing about the house was smart. Well, two: Leyland was brilliant.
Harry raised his hand. "Draco Malfoy, I cast you from the family, never to darken the door or the name of Malfoy ever again."
A corona of blue-white light burst from Harry and passed through the school and then wizarding Britain. In the Hospital Wing Draco felt it and moved restlessly even in his Stunned state.
Dumbledore felt it and smiled. Yes, nicely played, Sirius. Now he could gain control of Draco no- name. If the boy wanted to survive he would need a powerful patron and, well, there could be none more powerful, could there? With Severus in Azkaban an appropriate spy could be very useful and the boy was good looking. Better than Severus even. A few years from now....
In the Ministry, records updated themselves and Draco changed from "Draco Malfoy" to "Draco ?".
In Potter Castle Narcissa felt it and surprised herself by shedding a lone tear. Andromeda, Tonks, and Bellatrix felt it too, all with varying degrees of concern.
Near Brest, Jacques Malfoi felt it and growled in frustration. This new head was already casting members out? This could not stand!
Sirius looked at Harry with a raised brow. "Well, that's fairly final, Harry." Harry shrugged. "I could kill him instead." Sirius smiled grimly. "We might wish we had." H
On Sunday the eighteenth Harry was lying on the lawn, head on Hermione's flat belly, when Marie Caldwell, still self-appointed mistress of the post, snorted and dropped a letter on his chest. "Jacques Malfoi wishes an audience with the Malfoy."
Narcissa's head snapped around. "He's a snake in the grass, Harry. Where, Marie?" "He's waiting at Malfoy Manor."
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"Shit!" "Narcissa! Leyland!" "Oh hush, Harry. He'll hear worse. What are we going to do? Harry?" Hermione lifted her head and sighed. "At least he has trunks on."
Jacques Malfoy sat in the chair behind the Patriarch's desk. He watched the door open and smiled sardonically at the apparent fifteen-year-old boy. "You are the new head's plaything? Where is he? I am glad that he is so generous with his toys, but I prefer to conduct business first."
Harry grinned. "Well, good to know I'm not causing a problem for the family, then."
Jacques screamed in surprise as he burned to ash.
"Harry! You just made Ginny go to anger management classes for that very thing."
"When did you get here, Ne? It wasn't the same thing. I wasn't mad at all. Let's go talk to these others."
Hermione threw up her hands. "The ones you left all over the estate are alive?"
"Ne, don't be this way."
"What way, Harry? You just run off and do whatever you feel like and I can't?"
"Ne! You're in my head; you knew where I'd gone and what I was doing. I would have come back if it was too crazy."
Hermione stepped up and beat on Harry's chest with her fist. "Beast, scared me." She kissed the surprised Harry passionately. The Coven arrived through the trunk she had dropped on the ground, smiled at them, and moved around collecting Malfois and laying them out on the lawn. It was quite the collection, from grandfather to youngest children.
Narcissa was fuming. "Intended to move right in, no doubt." She kicked Beatrice's unconscious but very attractive pale blond form. "Veela bitch."
Harry rolled his eyes. "Narcissa!"
"You should shag her and all her daughters right now and kill all the wizards, Harry. We'll take care of this problem. I wonder if Augusta could knock us up some line-securing potions?"
Harry looked at Hermione. "See? That's angry." Hermione huffed. "I know what angry is, Harry. I am married to you, after all."
Harry pouted. Then grinned like an idiot, she said she was married to him. No one else said a word. Finally, when the Malfois were all gathered--including the Disillusioned ones, thanks to Nym's contacts--Sirius whistled. "Damn, Harry. How did you Stun all these?"
Harry shrugged. "I wanted them unconscious, except for Jacques." Susan shuddered. "Who was a serious perv. You should have heard him proposition Harry." Daphne grinned. "What is it with you and poufs, Harry?"
Harry cleared his throat. "Anyway, like I said, I wanted them unconscious. The magic then did something to them. I walked into Lucius's study and Jacques was sitting behind the desk. He propositioned me for later and I burned him up. Problem solved."
Nym shook her head. "Not really, Harry. Every male here over, say, thirty has a Dark Mark. None of the women do, though."
Su ran over to look. "Oh, I want some of these. We can take the Marks off the rest and put them in stasis. Just the Marks, not the whole Death Eaters."
Harry put his head in his hands. Hermione gave him a hug. "Not to say anything, Harry, but this is what happens when we don't plan and you go all over savage, it affects the rest of us. Now sweet little Su is all bloodthirsty again."
Harry gave her a hug and a smirk. "Yes, dear."
"Prat."
Remus rubbed his face. "While this is all very entertaining, what are we going to do now?"
Harry smiled at Hermione. "Put them all in the Potter Castle dungeon and plan."
Hermione grinned back. "Good boy. Take me home, Harry."
Otto blinked at his master and then nodded. He popped away and gathered the elves; soon enough, the still-unconscious Malfois were naked in cells.
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On Thursday the twenty-second Beatrice Malfoi looked up when she heard heels clicking on the flagstones outside her cell. She snorted when Narcissa came into view. "So Jacques was unsuccessful against your lord--our lord, I suppose."
Narcissa smiled. "Very good, Beatrice. I was afraid you were going to be difficult."
Beatrice chuckled. "I am held naked in an unknown dungeon that hums with power. How difficult could I really be? So what is our lord's plan?"
Narcissa waved her door open and came in. Beatrice moved and found herself frozen. Narcissa smiled. "Dobby, I'm afraid. Harry gave him some rather broad instructions and he interprets them rather broadly. Please, no sudden moves or he might do something rash. Now Harry, our lord Harry James Potter, the Duke Potter, Gryffindor, Slytherin, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff and several others has decided the house is to go in a different direction. He is working on freeing the wizards from their Marks. If he can't they will live out their days here in these dungeons. The younger wizards and the witches will be freed after he's satisfied with them and their loyalty. There has been talk of binding the witches to him in the traditional manner, but he doesn't really want to do that."
Beatrice chuckled. "I am not sure I am not insulted. A teenager and he doesn't want this?"
She waved at her body, finding she was unfrozen. Narcissa smiled. "Don't be insulted, Beatrice. He is the Warlock of a Coven."
Beatrice blinked. "At what, twelve? All those scions nutted at Hogwarts...your new son. Oh my. Poor Jacques never had a chance. I warned him. So our lord will get an heir on me and perhaps Josephine and Melissa, and the rest of us will swear loyalty? Too bad about the wizards; hopefully
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he will be able to do something about that. He will, of course, help the rest of us find husbands?"
Narcissa blinked. "Uh, Harry intends to take your oaths, use this loyalty charm of his on you, and send you home. He's already planning your ward updates."
Beatrice frowned. "That will never work. We will need guarantees; his blood is the best one." Narcissa frowned. "Don't be stubborn, Beatrice! You won't like him angry." "Phhht! Send him to see me--oh, and send me Josephine and Melissa. We will convince him."
Narcissa shook her head. "It's a really bad idea to consider him a boy, Beatrice. I doubt even you as a full Veela will be able to turn him if he balks. If you insist on this course I will, as the Malfoy Matriarch, take your request to him. Meanwhile, if I can have your oaths, the witches and unmarked wizards can be moved to more suitable quarters."
"Of course, Narcissa. Swear me and let's get the others." H
The twenty-fourth found the Malfois meeting the Coven. Beatrice stepped into the master bedroom of Camelot and her heart clenched for a moment. The room was packed full of naked witches of every possible age and description, at least those of breeding age. So plan number one was out, then. She blinked but her pure-blood trophy training kept her still when the sixteen-year-old with the magnificent body and the wild, curly brown hair waved at her and her clothes disappeared. Waved, mind--no wand. "This is it, Narcissa?"
Hermione circled Beatrice. "Not in very good shape. Harry can shag it if he wants to but it will need to be in much better shape before he gets a child on it."
Beatrice turned an interesting shade of red and opened her mouth. The cat fell across her breast, not gently. "No talking."
Hermione moved on to Josephine: nineteen, half Veela, Beatrice's daughter and absolutely stunning; and Melissa, her first cousin, twenty-two, half Veela, and perhaps even more ethereally beautiful than Josephine. "Harry will like these. Leave them here and take the other away, Narcissa. We'll send them back to their cells once Harry has a chance to shag them."
Beatrice moved and ran into a backhand that knocked her down. The lithe apparent sixteen-year- old stood over her. "I am the Matriarch here, Beatrice. He chose me. I will not disappoint him, and if necessary I'll kill you to prove it to him. You will do exactly as I say or you will die. He has women by the score if he wants them, some better looking and more talented than you or your half- Veela daughters and nieces. All more devoted. The only thing that matters to us is him."
Beatrice wiped the blood from the corner of her mouth and looked up into the oddly glowing golden brown eyes and shuddered. The witch spoke no lie. They were fanatically devoted to Harry Potter. Not the Potters, not magic, nothing but him.
Hermione waved and Beatrice was healed. "You actually took that much better than I would have. Now, since you see the way of it, we can talk. Harry is out playing with Leyland at the Castle but you should know he can hear and see through us. Oh, and I'm sorry for hitting you, but you had to be made to see."
Beatrice blinked. These people were insane! She looked at Narcissa, who shrugged and put out a hand to raise Beatrice to her feet. "I would go with Hermione. Harry would have just cut you all
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loose in the world. He really doesn't like bullies and that's what he considers Death Eaters. Politics, especially sexual politics, are not something he does. If you can convince us and her you might get your wish, though."
Josephine nodded. "Listen to her, Mother." Beatrice eyed her daughter. "Why, dear? I can still take my chances with our lord."
Josephine snorted; "Leaving alone this room full of beautiful powerful witches? See that odd pink hair over there? That's Nymphadora Tonks over there in his bed, a full Metamorphmagus. I have heard of her and fought wizards' fantasies of her. He can literally have any woman he wants from any era and anywhere with just her."
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Harry sat on the lawn--well, in the sandbox off the patio, with Leyland and a stormy look. Sirius walked over and sat in a rattan chair with James' tie on. James looked at Harry. "So?"
Harry sighed. "They aren't going to go for just vassal--erm, hood 'tude? Anyway, Beatrice and the other Veela are trying to influence Hermione."
Emma walked over and sat down, chuckling. "Bet that's not going well for them, is it, Harry?" "More like not for me, Emma. Beatrice accepted Hermione's dominance almost immediately." Sirius grinned. Harry sighed "Not that way, Sirius."
Lily looked from her brooch on Emma's shirt with narrowed eyes and Magda smacked Sirius lightly in the back of the head. Sirius frowned. "Are you all right, dear? That had hardly any pep in it at all."
Magda squirmed a little. "Upset stomach."
Sirius promptly forgot the other conversation and oriented on Magda. They all did. She rolled her eyes. "I'll be fine. Now, Harry, what about the Malfois?"
Harry grimaced at her. He had held some small hope that this would distract them all. "They actually have made some valid arguments both ways. Well, both ways that help them. I'll be leaving them without men over thirty--in other words, no wizards in their prime--at least for the foreseeable future, and blood is better to tie some wards to. Also, unfortunately for me, I can find Narcissa anywhere on the planet or in near space anytime and I know if she has, well I know her physical condition at all times."
James suddenly laughed. "Lils, I'm all grown up. First I come up with the vassal thing for the contract witches and now I feel Harry's pain over this. A few years ago I would have been dancing and cheering for Harry to shag them all. Sorry, Harry, no tricks I know on this one. They do make sense."
Hermione led the Coven and the Malfoi witches and young wizards onto the patio. The Coven parents blinked. Even suppressed, there was a lot of Veela allure in this group. The Coven fell in around Harry who had stood, brushed the sand off himself, and turned to the approaching crowd after picking up Leyland. The Malfois sailed up and bowed or curtsied. Harry sighed and waved. The Malfois felt the loyalty charm wash over them.
Beatrice smiled. "Thank you, my lord. Now about the claiming of the women?" She released her
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allure and Harry frowned. "Don't do that, Beatrice. It actually makes me mad. I don't like being controlled." Beatrice goggled and slammed her controls on. "Beg pardon, my lord." POP! "Owww, that had some pep. Better, love?" "I'll 'better love' you, drooling dog!" Sirius ducked the next swing.
Harry could only laugh, a deep belly laugh. Beatrice frowned in confusion. Harry stepped into her and kissed her on the cheek, leaving her blushing like a schoolgirl. "Welcome to the family, Beatrice. It's never dull for long."
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Sunday, May second, Harry found Beatrice and Narcissa in the study of Potter Castle with Hermione. He had had a lie-down, with Joan Sterns, after the completely out of control practice Woods had just put them through. Harry sat in a wingback after greeting the ladies. Beatrice looked at Hermione again. "So Nicholas and Perenelle Flamel tutor you all? Harry already had a run-in with the Dark Lord and you think some monster is loose in your school, but you aren't too worried because you're talking to the teenaged Dark Lord who started all this through some enchanted diary. The Coven has Squib members and you are all in business together, and Harry plans to let the pure-bloods fight it out and then step in and pick up the pieces after killing Riddle and perhaps Dumbledore? Merde, I told Jacques to leave you alone, Harry."
Harry grinned at her. "Second thoughts, Bea? We don't have to...." He made a vague motion over his lap. "It's not too late for you to just go on your way."
Beatrice narrowed her eyes and her accent became very pronounced. "There is perhaps something wrong with me, Harry? I smell, perhaps? I know it is not that I am unattractive. Your godfather may be brain damaged by now."
Harry backpedaled. "Uh, no, you smell very nice. Erm, uh, I hear Mother calling!" He fled. Hermione looked at Beatrice with a smile and gave her an opera clap. Narcissa shook her head. "Bea, you're going to regret winding him up so much when he gets you in bed."
Beatrice flipped her long platinum-blond braid over her shoulder from its position on her breast. "I'd better. All this work! Insulting really, and these exercises! I am a full Veela, you know, Hermione."
Hermione just looked at her. "And very very beautiful as are the others of your house even the wizards are beautiful. He took all of us on last Christmas, and the Harpies too. We had to stop he didn't. Trust me, the exercises will come in handy. Besides, if you keep getting sexier it will just help you in France."
"Bah! Like here the Dark wizards are asexual or poufters because they went too far. Herve killed two the other day. The other boys are just like him. Perhaps Harry went too far on that loyalty charm. They are positively Gryffindor, subtle as a cannon and all about honor and family now. If someone threatens one of the girls they are completely merciless and how do you say it? Short fuzed.
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"Anyway I will probably not find a husband; a few lovers, male or female, no doubt, probably female with the Harpies and Narcissa and the other Trophy wives, wizards are not appealing to me other than Harry, but no husband. The family reputation precedes us and is too fresh. The girls will do all right, I hope, with the neutral and light families, but not I; too many faults, a Malfoi, the Malfoi Matriarch, a widow, and a Veela. Yes, yes, Narcissa, Malfoi with an I. That is too many strings for a wizard of the station I would be willing to accept. He could just contract a younger, never-married witch.
"I will take what Harry offers. Soon, I hope."
Hermione nodded. "Yes, well, maybe. Harry will be ready for you soon. He likes you, when you aren't laying it on too thick. Well, he likes that too, but he isn't sure what to do about it."
Beatrice threw her hands up. "Men! Me, he can do me!"
Hermione and Narcissa giggled. When Beatrice was trying to seduce Harry you could cut the sexual tension with a knife, and if she was within ten yards of him she was trying to seduce him. Neville normally fled when she appeared now. Sirius put a cushioning charm on the back of his head.
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The eighth of May found Harry, Hermione, Lavender, Parvati, Alicia, Angelina, Katie, and the others in the Gryffindor locker room listening to a rambling but rousing pre-game speech.
The Quidditch stands were jammed with students and parents. The extended Coven and the Harpies were in the stands, the extended Coven now including the Malfois. Beatrice had succeeded beyond her wildest dreams yesterday and Harry had taken her to unconsciousness three times last night and scared her witless with a grin and a "to be continued" after a very vigorous morning session. Hermione was right, Narcissa too: she had wound him too tightly. Josephine smirked at her mother. "I'll be happy to help with our lord, Mother."
"After all this work, Josephine? No! Well, maybe."
Josephine laughed and the crowd roared as Lee introduced the teams. The twins looked at Harry.
"Diggory is good, Harry."
"No fooling around."
"Catch the Snitch and--"
"--get us out of here."
Harry grinned. "If I Stun one of you, can the other talk?"
Fred glared. "Yes, smart-arse. Now go catch the bloody Snitch."
Harry smiled and orbited the twins. "Tense, aren't we?"
As George opened his mouth to reply the Snitch blasted by his head followed by Harry, and the game was on.
The twins took off after the Bludgers and Angelina led the Chasers into an attack. Gwenog and the Harpies watched, nodding. Some of these witches would need contract offers in a
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few years. Not just the Lions, either. That one Beater of the Badgers' was no joke. "HARRY, JINK LEFT!"
Harry jinked and the Bludger off Louisa's bat sailed past his head. Gwenog looked relieved. Lee commented, "And Harry dodges Louisa's love tap."
"Jordan!" Minerva's correction was a little half hearted. That bludger had been headed right for Harry's head.
"And appears to be still on the Snitch with Diggory closing now. The Lionesses are running riot over the meager Badger defense, and there's another goal for Spinnet, making it thirty-ten Gryffindor." Lee never missed a beat.
Harry followed the Snitch over the top and into a screaming power dive as Cedric pursued him closely. They turned around the base of the Slytherin stands and Harry's blazing reaction time saved Draco from being impaled on a broomstick, either Harry's or Cedric's. Harry looked at the smirking Draco and thought, What the hell is wrong with him? We nearly killed him!
Daphne turned and grabbed Tracey and Eliza. They stood and Pansy and Millicent followed them. As they quickly made their way down the stands, Harry cursed luridly and pulled for altitude. He had lost the Snitch.
Draco laughed and then felt the hair on the back of his neck rise. He turned and looked down the wands of Daphne, Tracey, and Millicent. Eliza stood slightly off to one side and Pansy off to the other. Draco took them in and smirked. "Well well, what can I do for you ladies?"
Eliza snorted. "Not embarrass the House by interfering in the game again, Draco." "Gladly. Some of these deserve their paltry amusements. Soon they will be gone."
Daphne rolled her eyes. "Are you still on that kick, Draco? Whoever the Heir actually is, he's doing more harm than good."
"He's ensuring the supremacy of pure blood, you slmmmph! MMMPH MRRRMPH MMPH GRRRWWWW!"
Millicent twirled her wand and sheathed it. "You should watch your mouth there, no-name. You're less than a house-elf as far as those of blood are concerned, ejected from your house. Did you think we wouldn't know? Now run along, elf, before I decide to insure the wizards of the house know and recognize your status, fully. Of course I might just beat you senseless and leave you nude in the seventh year dorm."
Draco looked at the muscular, attractive, dark-haired and ice-blue-eyed, nearly six-foot witch and her eager grin, paled, and fled. Daphne leaned into Millie and kissed her on the cheek. "Thank you, Millie."
Millie blushed, then chuckled. "I've been waiting to get back at him for his snide little comments about me since first year. That was almost enough. I nearly had him wetting his pants for a second. I may still chuck him nude into the seventh year dorm, though."
Pansy nodded. "I'll help."
Oliver took advantage of a break in the action to look around and wondered why Ron was looking like he'd been smacked with a Beater's bat. That boy was a puzzle, brilliant at strategy and pants at life.
Next to Ron on the bench Lavender was poking at him with a conjured hatpin. Hermione and Parvati were watching him not react at all but just stare into the stands where the Coven was sitting and drool. Hermione snapped her fingers. "The Veela. Beatrice and the other Malfoi Veela!"
Parvati nodded. "I wonder if there's a correlation between IQ and susceptibility to the charm. I mean, they have it damped all the way down but look at Ron here and some of those others in the stands. None of them are the sharpest knives in the drawer and they are all hypnotized."
Lavender looked thoughtful and stopped poking Ron. He wasn't noticing anyway, and he was bleeding on the bench.
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Harry and the Gryffindors came out on top of the game and thus won the Cup. The locker room was a loud, crowded, bawdy party. Neville and Ron left when it got completely out of control, Neville because Ginny was smiling at him and Ron because the Lionesses weren't smiling at him.
They wandered into the castle from a trip around the grounds and were nearly run down by Harry and the Coven running in the door and up the stairs. Neville, with Ginny, took off after Harry while Ron was still spluttering. Neville caught Harry fairly easily, which surprised him. Harry was apparently listening to something.
Harry was. He was listening to the creature's mad ranting and trying to follow it. It was leading them down the hall when it suddenly disappeared. "Bloody hell! I've lost it." Harry spun on his heel and ran up the corridor the other way.
"Lost what, Harry?" Neville panted. They were running flat-out. "The creature, Neville. I heard it, but then I lost it."
Harry and Neville skidded around the corner, leading the girls, and found Dumbledore bent over the apparently Petrified Cederic Diggory and Penelope Clearwater. Hermione snorted. Diggory was Petrified with a handful of Clearwater breast and Penelope had her hands full of Diggory wand, fortunately outside the clothes in both cases. Percy, the prick, was going to go insane; this would be fun.
Dumbledore knew he was in trouble and would probably be suspended until there was another, worse attack. Someone was going to have to die and he was going to have to find the creature and kill it. "Ah, Neville, Mr Potter. On the spot as usual. You must continue your hunt. Talk to Hagrid." He made shooing motions with his hands and Neville backed away. Harry went with him perforce, as Neville had ended up in front of him due to stopping late after they rounded the corner.
Harry turned and led the group to the reading room. Once inside he turned to Hermione. "A snake that Petrifies people? It has to be a snake because it was talking in Parseltongue just now, about the pipes being so small."
Hermione nodded. "A Basilisk. How is it getting out, though? Phht--where is it getting out from?"
Harry tapped the Map and began marking on the map the locations where he had heard it. Megan leaned in and started putting in the locations of the attacks. Soon enough they had a roughly spherical area marked which was centered on Myrtle's bathroom.
They all looked at each other for a moment before Tracey said, "We need to beat on diary Riddle some more."
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Hermione nodded. "And talk to Myrtle."