Chapter 275 - Ch: 71-75 (18+)

Ch: 71-75

71 An End And A Beginning

I put Petunia's things into my storage space and walked down the street to leave through the Leaky Cauldron. In the corner of my eye, I caught the sight of the floating broom in the window of Quality Quidditch Supplies and it gave me a neat idea, especially when I remembered the restriction of first years not being allowed a broom.

I chuckled at subverting that and entered the shop. It was fairly crowded as several others shopped and stared at the Firebolt on display. It was the fastest and most expensive broom on the market and the others were in awe of it. I approached the clerk that stood behind the counter and thought about how to ask for what I wanted.

"Can I help you?" The man asked.

"I hope so." I hedged and he raised his eyebrows at me. "I have a friend that wants to buy a pile of brooms, only they don't need to be top of the line or anything. Do you give discounts for bulk orders of older brooms? Like the Comet 260 or the Nimbus 2000?"

The man gave me an odd look. "Does this shop look like I can stock piles of four year old brooms?"

I glanced around at the small space and sighed. "Is there any chance I can get a contact address for the Comet or Nimbus company?"

The man's odd look changed to a frown. "Look, kid. Either buy one of my available broom models or you can leave my store. I'm not telling you how to cut me out of possible sales."

It was my turn to frown. "I wasn't asking you to..."

"I don't want to hear it." The man cut me off and waved at the front door. "Thank you for wasting my time."

I opened my mouth to hotly retort, then huffed. "You are an idiot."

"Sure I am. Now get out." The man said, sternly.

I barked a laugh and started to walk over to the door. "I can't wait until the Daily Prophet hears that this shop refused to help Harry Potter buy replacement brooms for Hogwarts." I said loudly, just so everyone else in the store heard me. "Imagine being stupid enough to give up on the commissions for selling 50 brooms!"

The other shoppers started talking loudly as I left the store. I glanced back and saw the man's pale face. Hedwig hooted and looked smug, which made me chuckle.

"Yes, he definitely regrets not listening to me asking about a bulk purchase." I said and walked down the street. I felt out with my magic as several people ran out of the store behind me and headed right over to the Daily Prophet building to spill the story. "I'll write up a note with my idea and send you off to the Nimbus company. Dealing directly with the company seems like a much better idea."

"Hoot." Hedwig responded.

I went to the pub and chose to have a quick meal for lunch and Hedwig stole one of my sausages. Tom chuckled at the sneaky thief and brought me two replacements. She stole one of them, too. He laughed and patted my shoulder in commiseration before he went back to tending the bar.

We finished our meals and I drank my butterbeer, paid for the food and left a generous tip, and left a happy Tom behind as I used the floo to go back home. Petunia was delighted to get everything so soon and thanked me with a quick hug.

"Are you visiting Tonks today?" Petunia asked as she let me go. "You know she'll want to know you accepted."

I nodded. "I need to talk to her about what she's going to do after graduating, too."

"Did she get her marks already?" Petunia asked and started to pull some of the things she wanted out of the enlarged bag.

"Last week, I think. She sounded excited, anyway." I said and Petunia nodded. Getting high marks on NEWTs was a good reason to be excited.

"Tell Andromeda hello for me." Petunia said and then gave me a pointed look. "You need to stop with the wandering hands, too."

"My hand slipped one time when I hugged her!" I defended myself.

"I'm pretty sure that squeezing and caressing her butt with both hands does not count as a slip." Petunia countered with a flat voice.

"In my defense, she was wearing workout tights and had just finished exercising." I said with a grin. "Besides, both she and Tonks whacked me good for it. Ted just laughed."

Petunia shook her head at me. "I don't know why they put up with you."

I stepped back in close to hug her again. "Because, just like you, they loooooove me."

Petunia snorted and hugged me back as she leaned into me, then seemed to stiffen. "Don't you dare!"

I laughed and let her go without groping her. "I'm not suicidal, Aunt Petunia. Vernon would kill me if I ever touched what he loves like that, no matter how tempting it is."

Petunia blushed and shook her head at me again. "Get going, you. I don't want to see your face until supper."

I darted in and kissed her cheek before she could stop me. "Love you!"

Petunia swatted at me and I ran. "I love you too, you scamp!"

I took off the outer-robes and stored them as I went to my mail room. I wrote up the request for the Nimbus company and tied it to Hedwig's leg. "Have fun, girl. There's no rush coming back."

"Hoot." Hedwig said and took off out through the specially enchanted owl window.

I left the mail room and went the teleportation room as I changed into my Harry Potter look and put on my fake glasses. I activated the circle and flashed over to the one in Andromeda's backyard. I walked to the house and knocked on the back door. It opened after a moment and Andromeda stood there with a slightly sad face.

"That's not a good look to have when looking at me." I said instead of saying hello.

"Come in, Harry." Andromeda said and stepped back.

I could hear some arguing in the living room and held in my sigh. I was sure what this was going to be about and took Andromeda's hand. She squeezed it tightly and led me through the kitchen and into the living room.

"I'm an adult now and it's my decision!" Tonks almost screeched as she shouted. "And I made it!"

"You don't realize the danger!" Ted shouted back.

"Yes, I do! I know all about..."

"Is this a bad time to say I got my Hogwarts letter today?" I asked and both father and daughter jerked as if slapped, then they looked embarrassed. "By the way, I accepted."

"Harry." Tonks said in a soft voice and blushed before she looked away from me.

Well, crap. I thought and knew what was going to happen. "You're breaking up with me, aren't you?"

Tonks didn't look back at me as her face changed to the color red. "I'm going to be too busy with Auror training for... personal things like a steady boyfriend. The instructors also recommended not having personal attachments that could be used against you."

Andromeda's hand in mine squeezed harder and I wasn't sure if she was trying to reassure me or was warning me to not start shouting. Either way, she was trying her best to handle the situation.

"Is becoming an Auror what you really want to do with your life?" I asked her.

"Yes, it's what I've always wanted. To make a difference." Tonks said and her red face changed to a normal skin tone. "My abilities are the best for stealth and infiltration and my interview was overseen by the Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement herself, Amelia Bones. She really wants me to be one of her Aurors and promised to assign me the best mentor for training."

"Alastor Moody." I said and she nodded. I looked at Ted's sad face and then at Andi's. "Your parents are scared for you, Tonks. Being an Auror can be extremely dangerous at times."

"I know! I'll be careful and..." Tonks paused and finally turned her head to look at me. "You're not scared for me?"

"No, I'm terrified." I said and all three of them had wide eyes. "One lucky spell from any of the criminals you meet will end your career and possibly your existence. There's no take-backs and no do-overs from something like that." I gave her a pointed look. "I'll give you a few things to protect you, even though you're tossing me aside."

"Harry, I... I don't want to. It's just... I..." Tonks stopped talking and blushed. "I can't devote any time or effort to our relationship anymore."

I held my free hand out to her and wagged it. Tonks sighed and took out the license she had that declared her to be an Official Harry Potter Girlfriend. I altered it and handed it back. She looked at it and tears came to her eyes. It now said she was an official ex-girlfriend.

I reached into my pocket and pulled out several things. A protective amulet similar to mine, a protective cloak also like mine, and a book on offensive spells. Tonks took them and her tears flowed down her cheeks. I stayed quiet and turned to hug Andromeda. She hugged me back and her own tears dropped onto my shoulder. I let her go and held a hand out to Ted to shake his hand. He shook it and nodded.

"I'll drop off more things to sell next week." I promised and looked at Tonks. "Good luck, Tonks."

"Th-thanks." Tonks said and hugged the things I gave her to her chest. She didn't move to give me a hug or a kiss goodbye, so I didn't offer either.

I nodded and turned around and left the room. I heard a soft sob from behind me and I couldn't tell if it was from Tonks or Andromeda. In the end, it didn't really matter. I went through the kitchen and walked out the back door of the house, across the yard, and stepped onto the teleportation circle.

With my mind in some turmoil over what just happened, I made a fairly rash decision. I concentrated on a particular magical signature that was inside my protective amulet and activated the teleportation circle to send me to the closest one.

I appeared inside a dark and dusty room in front of a grimy glass cabinet. There was Slytherin's locket and I used magic to open the cabinet and levitated the locket out. I slipped it into my storage space and closed the cabinet. When I used a magic detection spell, I didn't find any living things inside Grimmauld Place.

I went down to the kitchen that I knew was at the bottom of the house and found the dried out corpse of Kreacher in the furnace room. I went back up through the house to the front door and the painting of Walburga Black was still and silent. There was no magic in the painting, either. I figured that when Andromeda chose to reject the family, it must have broken whatever magic was left inside the house.

I went up to the library and there was no magic or protective charms on the door or in the room, which meant I could empty the place. So, I did. I took out my school trunk and converted the fifth compartment into a library and levitated all of the books into it. I would have to check them for curses and jinxes later. I stored the trunk again and went back down to the front door, cast several charms on it to keep it permanently locked, and teleported away.

I arrived back home in the teleportation room and went to the castle's library. I picked through the books to find one on advanced Arithmancy and settled down at the desk to work out a spell for searching for things. I had to heavily modify my magic detection spell to look only for a specific magical signature and then I had to rework the magic used to boost the distance to cover the United Kingdom.

Nearly four hours later, I had my modified spell. I went downstairs and had supper with my family and they all saw the look on my face and didn't comment on it. They knew something was bothering me and left me to deal with it on my own. Petunia gave me a questioning look and I shook my head, so she nodded back and stayed quiet.

I went back to the library and started working on another spell to keep myself distracted. I wanted to modify my teleportation circle to reverse its effect. I didn't want to teleport to something, I wanted to teleport something to me. I spent the rest of the evening working on it and was mostly done when Nanny popped in and told me to go to bed.

I thanked her and she led me to my room and helped me change, then she tucked me into bed. Her kiss on my forehead gave me pleasant memories of when I was younger and I drifted off to sleep with a smile on my face, despite the horrible news I had that day.

I finished the modifications the next morning and left the castle to go to the local park. It was the only place nearby that I could make a temporary teleportation circle outside and I put up a notice-me-not charm around the sandbox and quickly transfigured the sand into a stone slab for what I needed. I carved in the runic sequences and changed the appropriate things to reverse the effect.

When I was done, I set up several protective spells and shields around it, then took out Slytherin's locket. I set it into the middle of the six foot wide teleportation circle and cast the location spell and used the magical signature of the soul piece inside of it. There was a slight glow from my protective amulet and I nodded at the confirmation.

I took it off for the first time in my life and put it beside the locket. I concentrated on the results of the spell and poured magic into the teleportation circle. It took quite a lot, because none of the objects I was looking for were without their own protections and under protective wards. My version of teleportation ignored most wards when it was inside of them, so I poured in more magic to compensate.

Twenty seconds later, a small flash of light happened and Tom Riddle's diary appeared. It must have been the closest one. Ten seconds later, the Gaunt Family ring appeared. I kept the magic flow up and waited another twenty seconds before Hufflepuff's Cup appeared. I chuckled at that, because I didn't have to enter the bank to get it, which meant the thief warning didn't apply to me.

Another twenty seconds later, there was a flash of light and the diadem of Rowena Ravenclaw appeared. I nodded at the retrieval spell being so successful that it even found something inside a secret room inside of Hogwarts. Just as I stopped adding magic to the teleportation circle, a large flash of light happened and a very surprised Professor Quirrell appeared in front of me.

I immediately scooped up my protective amulet, put it on, and jumped up to wrap my hands around the idiot's neck. The man screamed as his skin started to turn to ash and he tried to fight me off. I held on without trouble and his struggles slowed and stopped as the ash and rot reached his brain. I let go and he collapsed to the ground and continued to dissolve away.

When his body finished turning to ash and left only his clothing behind, a dark black cloud floated up from his remains. It screamed at me and flung itself at me. I smiled as it did so and instead of going through me, it hit my amulet and the enchantment sucked the disembodied spirit inside without trouble. Voldemort screamed as he was absorbed and I thanked my book adventure with the mummy for teaching me the spell to do that.

That was all seven pieces of the monster's soul. My scar, the diary, the locket, the cup, the diadem, the ring, and Voldemort himself. He hadn't found the snake yet and wouldn't make it a horcrux until after he had a body again, which was never going to happen. The triwizard tournament wasn't happening for another three years and I already had all of his soul pieces.

With my darker thoughts after my breakup with Tonks, it only took me a couple of minutes of sitting there to come up with the best way to deal with them all. I debated keeping him around and letting him power the blood wards around the neighborhood, then chose to exchange his soul for another power source instead.

I stored everything in front of me and transfigured the stone back into sand, removed the notice-me-not and protective spells around the sandbox, and walked away from the park. I went back home and around to the backyard. I barked a hello to the griffon on guard and it barked back. I waved and went into the feeding pen to put on some protective gear before I grabbed one of the sheared sheep and dragged it out.

This caught the attention of several griffons and two of them landed to watch me closely. It made me chuckle, because they somehow knew I was going to let them have a great chase when I was done. I took out each of the horcruxes and transferred each of the soul pieces into my amulet. It started to glow with a black light and became brighter with each piece.

With Voldemort's entire soul inside the amulet, the blood wards almost exploded and expanded to cover most of Little Whinging. It made me laugh at that, because I could hear someone yell at the very strong protection ward that pushed away anyone with bad intentions.

I did one final transfer from the amulet into the sheep to drop Voldemort's soul into the poor thing and from the sheep into the amulet. It would power the blood wards from now on and Voldemort was about to become someone's lunch. It was no surprise to me when the wards reduced to barely cover the castle and part of the street outside.

"Baaaaa." The sheep lamented sadly and every griffon stiffened and perked up at the sound. "Baa?"

"You better start running, Voldesheep!" I said and smacked his shaved butt.

"BAA!" The sheep yelled and took off like a shot.

Every single griffon let out a squawking yell to start the hunt and dove for him.

"BAAAAAAAA!" Voldesheep yelled as he was chased and attacked by the whole herd of very happy griffons that loved chasing enthusiastic prey.

I laughed and laughed as he gave them the best hunt they ever had. A great time was had by all, except by Voldemort. He was eventually caught and his last bleat of defiance was cut off by the winning griffon that tore out his throat. It barked happily and spread its wings triumphantly as it posed.

72 Picking Up The Pieces

After seeing Voldesheep being chowed down on by a herd of griffon, my mood over Tonks breaking up with me was lightened. I was secretly glad that I had previously resolved to not take it too hard if she lost interest in me, in case I was just a phase for her. I apparently was and she pushed me aside to have a career.

It was just too bad that she didn't realize I would have happily waited for her while I fully supported her. Making rash decisions seemed to be universal, even though she believed I really did all of the adventures I had done in my books. Not surprisingly, most adults didn't believe it. Well, not all of it, anyway. It wasn't my fault they didn't investigate to find out that the stories were completely true.

That thought made me laugh and I went back inside the castle. I was halfway across the kitchen when Amy lunged out from behind the counter and tried to tackle me. I partially dodged, grabbed her arm and leg, and swung her around in a circle like a merry-go-round.

"WHEEEEEE!" Amy yelled as her long black hair flapped behind her. She laughed and laughed as I spun her a bunch of times.

Petunia sighed from the kitchen table. "Must you do that inside?"

I slowed down and carefully stood Amy on her feet, then held her steady as she wobbled. Her face was red and she couldn't stop giggling. "There's nowhere for her to ambush me outside."

Petunia rolled her eyes and took a sip of tea. "That's not a good enough reason."

Amy eased off her giggling and hugged me. "Harry loves me! He won't listen if you tell him to stop."

I looked down and saw the smug look on her face and looked back at Petunia. "She's not wrong."

Petunia shook her head. "Go jump in your piles of fan mail or something."

"LET'S DO THAT!" Amy shouted and dragged me out of the kitchen. I glanced back just before the door shut and saw that same smug look on Petunia's face, so I knew where her daughter had learned it from. We passed Dudley on the stairs and he gave us a questioning look.

"Fan mail cannonballs." I said and he laughed and turned around to follow us.

We always had a great time diving into the giant pit of fan mail that I had collected over the years. They were all spelled to not crumple or tear and the house elves had covered the pit with cushioning charms, so there was no danger of paper cuts or anything.

"Why do you keep all of this?" Dudley asked and jumped to do a half-gainer and landed on his back and sunk down a couple of feet. Amy laughed pretty hard and she did a swan dive and disappeared under the surface letters.

"So I can tell anyone that talks to me that I got whatever they sent and saved it." I said and jumped from the side, did a backflip, and pulled my legs in to do an actual cannonball.

A pile of letters shot up into the air and fluttered all around us. When I surfaced, both Dudley and Amy were laughing.

"I have a master list of everything, too. Notes, cards, gifts, and things I sent in return." I said and started to do a backstroke. Amy quickly joined me and we raced around Dudley as he technically floated in the middle. Cushioning charms were the best.

"You're really doing the whole best Harry Potter thing at your new school, too?" Amy asked me.

"Yep! I can't disappoint my fans." I said and made a face at her as she passed me. "Hey! You won!"

"YAY!" Amy yelled and stopped moving. She sunk down slightly and started giggling as she slowly sunk out of sight and letters and cards flowed over her head.

"Ooo, Amy wants to play the submarine game!" I said and Dudley barked a laugh and rolled over onto his belly. The two of us slowly sunk down into the piles of letters to join her. The hunt was on!

Amy won, of course. She was too cute to lose to two big lugs like Dudley and I.

*

On my birthday, I was a little depressed again. I didn't have a second private birthday party at Andromeda's. I did have a pretty good laugh as I watched Hagrid pace back and forth on the other side of the street for half of the day. The aversion ward was still working, even with a sheep powering it. It made me wonder what Hagrid would think about a sheep holding him at bay and my depression faded away.

I received much more fan mail this year and spent the rest of the day opening gifts and cards and sent off thank you cards with added personal responses to the more notable ones. On the plus side of being single, I now had nothing holding me back from flirting with the fairer sex... not that I let that stop me before. I usually never took it too far, like I did that one time with Andromeda.

Damn, she had a nice ass. Her husband Ted agreed with me and didn't mind me copping a feel. He's a great guy for allowing it. Did me making him rich have something to do with that? Nawww.

Oh, another pair of panties. I thought and put them aside. Black lace this time. Nice.

I wrote out a quick note and thanked them for thinking of me and that I appreciated it. I was not tempted to send them a pair of my boxers in response. Not only would that be in bad taste, it would be more fun to do that in person. I didn't recognize the name, so that idea was out. I put the card in an envelope and added her name, then put it on top of the outgoing stack.

I worked for quite some time to get them all done. I had just finished the last one when Hedwig flew in and landed on the edge of the desk. She had an envelope in her beak and she passed it to me. My breath caught on thanking her, because I saw that it was Andromeda's name on it. I gave Hedwig a pet and she softly hooted.

I opened the note and felt several conflicting emotions as I read it.

Dearest Harry,
I must apologize for my daughter's rash and shortsighted decision. If she spent even one moment thinking about anyone else but herself, she would realize cutting you out of her life like she did, was the second biggest mistake she has ever made in her life. Becoming an Auror was the first and it immediately caused the second.
Because of her choices, you can no longer use her as a substitute for me and I can no longer live vicariously through her. I've lost count of how many times I've intentionally interrupted your fun time together, just to make sure she didn't take things too far. I didn't want you to waste it on her, and in hindsight, it was the wisest decision I have ever made.
If she could toss you aside for her own ambition, not realizing that you could have helped her achieve it, then she didn't deserve taking that last precious thing from you, like she had with all of your other first times.
My final thought to share with you... please remember that you are only breaking up with my daughter and not her entire family. The afternoons you've spent here after we visit Sirius have been the best. Both Ted and I will forever regret it if you make the same mistake as Nymphadora and choose to toss us aside.
With love and wishes for a happy birthday,
Auntie Andromeda

I sat there and read the letter two more times before I realized she was right. I hadn't spent any time there when I dropped off the next trunk of stock for them to sell. I didn't even have the excuse that Tonks was there, because she had already moved out.

"Can you bring her a note back for me, Hedwig?" I asked my familiar.

"Hoot." Hedwig said, clearly determined.

"Thank you." I said and gave her another pet, then quickly wrote out my response. I needed a little time away from where I had made so many great memories that involved Tonks and reminded me of her. Now that I had, I could visit again without feeling bad that I was there and using Tonks as an excuse.

Hedwig took off with it before I could put it in an envelope and I chuckled at her rushing. It would probably prove to Andromeda that Hedwig came back as soon as possible and it should make her relax about the whole thing. At least, I hoped so. I had kind of screwed that up in my grief.

I thought about staying there to see if Andromeda would send something back, then chose to go to bed instead. Since our normal Azkaban visit was still on, she would be expecting me after breakfast in a few days and she could talk to me then. I would need to buy a tub of Chunky Chocolate Chip Ice Cream as an apology, too.

I went to my room and wasn't surprised to see Nanny there. I gave the house elf a warm smile as she helped me change and then she tucked me into bed. She only did that on the days she knew I needed reassurance and today was one of those days. She kissed my forehead like always and I went to sleep with a smile on my face.

*

It was disappointing that there was no such thing as parole in the wizarding world. Even when we tried to submit legislation to start changing the laws just enough for it to become an option later, it was shot down by the Light side, or the Progressives in the Wizengamut. They didn't want criminals out before they served their time, which the rest of the members reluctantly agreed with.

On the positive side of the political front, after years of hard work, Amelia successfully passed the bill for restricting 'mood altering potions' to authorized and licensed brewers. It had been an ingenious ploy on her behalf to monetize it and the Wizengamut eagerly swallowed it whole. If there was one thing that they all wanted more of, it was money. Being legally obtained made it that much better.

I gave her several very expensive suits and outer-robes for work and sent them to her inside a shrunken clothing cabinet that was expanded on the inside. It was a full dressing room with walls and walls of normal clothing for a woman to wear and they all had resizing charms on them to automatically fit her. One wall was all angled mirrors for her to admire herself, too.

The thank you letter I received in return for that was almost blush-inducing. She heavily hinted that Susan would be more than happy to express her thanks on her behalf, if I was open to the possibility. I sent a quick note back full of flirting and innuendo as I expressed my regret that she didn't want to express her thanks to me herself. I wasn't surprised that she didn't write back to accept. She was a highly respected lady, after all.

*

On September first, I donned my Harry Potter costume, with the expensive cape and fake glasses, and formed the scar on my forehead. I went downstairs to the living room as my cape billowed out behind me and Amy giggled when she saw me.

"That's not pretentious at all." Dudley said with a laugh.

"Do you like it? I spelled it to billow when I move." I said and turned around and the cape billowed out behind me.

"At least it's stylish." Petunia commented.

"I thought Nanny made you fancy robes for today?" Amy asked me.

"She did. I'll put them on when I reach the platform to greet my fans and the press." I said and turned back to face her and posed in my hero pose. "Tadaaaa!"

Amy laughed and poked me in the chest. "Don't do that in front of the cameras. You want them to like you, not make fun of you for being foolish."

I pulled her into a hug and kissed her forehead. "Wise advice. I'll keep my poses solely for important people like you."

Amy hugged me back and sighed. "I'm... I'm really going to miss you."

"I don't see how. I can teleport back here whenever you want as soon as I set up a teleportation circle at Hogwarts." I said and gave her a squeeze.

"Then stay here until tonight." Amy said.

I chuckled. "I have to go there on the train first. It's tradition."

"That takes all day!" Amy countered.

"Yes, it does. It lets us meet new people and the other students to meet up with the friends they probably haven't seen all summer."

Amy pouted and looked up at my 5 foot 8 inches of height. "I don't care about anyone else. I just want my cousin to never leave me."

I knew exactly what to say to that. "Amy, I may be leaving home for a while to go to school; but, I am never leaving my family."

"Never?" Amy asked, her voice full of hope.

"Never ever." I promised.

Amy smiled slightly and her face changed to show determination. "Then I'll wait for you, Harry."

I opened my mouth to thank her and she stood up on her tippy-toes and kissed me right on the mouth. It only lasted for a second and she broke the kiss, blushed to a bright red, and ran out of the living room. The shocked looks on Vernon's, Dudley's, and Petunia's faces, matched mine. As far as I was concerned, that had come right out of nowhere.

It took Petunia a few moments to shake the shock off. "I'll talk to her."

"Y-yeah. Thanks." I whispered.

Petunia put a hand on my shoulder briefly as she passed me and followed her daughter.

"Well." Dudley said and then smiled at me. "That just happened."

I sighed. "Dudley..."

"No, I didn't know. I knew she liked you. I just didn't realize she liked you liked you."

"Please don't tease her about it." I almost begged.

"Hey, don't tell me how to do my job." Dudley said as his smile grew into a grin.

"Bloody hell." I said and rubbed my forehead. "If you leave her alone and don't make this whole thing worse, when you turn 16 and get your license, I'll buy you the sports car you like."

"You gonna enchant it, too?" Dudley asked.

"Of course. I won't put you in danger just because you want to drive a deathtrap."

Dudley chuckled and slapped my shoulder. "Bribe accepted."

"Thanks." I said and watched him walk away. I practically felt Vernon stand up and approach me, even though I wasn't using my magic detection spell.

"Harry." Vernon said and his tone of voice was so low that it rumbled.

"I promise nothing happened." I said and held up my hands as I looked back at his face to see his glare. "I've only ever been the best second brother that a little sister could have asked for."

Vernon's glare changed to a blank face. "Maybe that's the problem."

I sighed and had to nod. "I think I have to agree with you. I never suspected... I would have..."

Vernon sighed, too. "I can't tell you to stop."

"No, you can't." I said and took a deep breath. "I can't stop, either. She'll think it's her fault if I do."

Vernon nodded and kept that blank gaze on me.

"I need to go." I said and left the room. I felt his eyes on me all the way to the floo room. The feeling didn't fade until I called out Grimmauld Place and disappeared in the flames. King's Cross Station was within walking distance of that address and it was the easiest way to reach the train without trouble instead of trying to teleport near a crowded station.

73 Hogwarts Or Bust Part One

It didn't take me long to reach the train station. It was almost 10 in the morning and the train was set to leave at 11. I walked through the station and easily picked out all of the magicals around me that were going to Hogwarts. I was a bit of a troll for several minutes as I made sure to stand in certain places to let them get a glimpse of me and then I would put the hood of my invisibility cloak up and disappeared.

It put me in a great mood for what was going to happen next and I went to the barrier between platforms. In a stroke of inspiration, I created a sign above it with a notice-me-not charm keyed to muggles. It had an arrow pointed down and the platform name, then in brackets below it, 'yes, really'.

I chuckled and stepped through the barrier and stepped to the side in case anyone else came through. I took out my fancy outer-robes and slipped them on under my cape before I took off my invisibility cloak and stored it.

"There he is!" A girl's voice shouted almost immediately.

Camera flashes littered the crowd and I was suddenly surrounded by adoring fans and the members of the press. I beamed a smile at them and had to fight my instincts to pose. Like Amy had warned me, I wanted them to like me, not make fun of me.

"Thank you all for coming over here to greet me. It's nice to finally meet you in person." I said and gave them a little wave. My cape billowed out because I moved and more flashes came from the various cameras to catch the moment.

Most of the girls blushed and a few of the older ones made aroused sounds. The fancy robes really made me look like the dashing hero and I would have to thank Nanny for making them so well. For now, it was time for me to amaze my captive audience. I glanced into my storage space at my master list and used detect to get the names of everyone around me.

I stepped close to the first girl and smiled warmly at her as I took her hand and kissed the back of it. "Miss Dunbar, I've enjoyed the letters you've sent me over the years. The kneazle toy you gave me two Yule's ago still sits on my bedroom shelf and overlooks my study desk."

Fay looked almost faint and her face was so red that you couldn't tell where her face ended and her red hair began. "You... you... you remember that?"

I chuckled and let her hand go. "Of course I do. How could I ever forget something so important?"

Fay started to sway and I easily caught her in my arms as she slumped. The cameras flashed again and I chuckled and revived her. I stood her back on her feet. "Please excuse me. I have more people to greet."

"O-o-okay." Fay said and carefully stepped back and was engulfed by the girls that wanted to be next.

I turned to a blonde and gave her a huge smile. "Miss Brown! I can't mention what you gave me for my birthday. Just know it has a prominent spot in my desk drawer, so that it is always at hand."

Lavender blushed and looked proud.

"How are your parents? Did you mother give birth yet?" I asked and kissed her hand.

"Frantic and mum's not due for another month." Lavender answered and then caught her breath. "You really do remember what people write!"

I let her hand go and turned to the next girl. "Ah, Miss Greengrass. I haven't heard from you or your sister in a few months. Were you hoping that absence would make the heart grow fonder?"

Daphne blushed from embarrassment. "I... well..."

I chuckled at her pretty much admitting it was true. I took her hand and kissed it. "It's all right. People can get busy in their lives. I won't hold it against you."

Daphne sighed. "It didn't work."

"It might have, if I hadn't had the unfortunate experience of my longtime girlfriend breaking up with me to focus on her career." I said and every single girl gasped, Daphne included. "I could have used a sympathetic ear and perhaps a few comforting cuddles for most of the summer."

Daphne looked like I had kicked her puppy.

I stepped close and gave her a kiss on the cheek. "It's all right, Miss Greengrass. If you had known, I'm sure you would have helped. You don't have to feel bad that you didn't know."

Daphne nodded and stepped back into the crowd. I kept watching her with my magic detection spell as I turned to the next girl and did the same knowledge trick with her. Daphne went to her parents that stood off to the side of the platform and told them what I said. She was pulled into a hug by her mother and her father patted her shoulder.

I stayed there for almost 45 minutes and pretty much gave a reverse interview for the press. No matter who stepped up to gain my attention, I said their name and proved that I knew something about them. One of the male students tried to mess me up and dared me to remember them when they hadn't sent me anything. I told him his name and that his parents sent me a Yule card in 81 to thank me for defeating Voldemort. He and everyone else were stunned.

"On that note, we all should grab our things and get on the train. It'll be leaving soon." I said.

The crowd quickly broke up and all of them were muttering about how amazing it was that I knew everyone. The press had a great story as well. I grew up away from the wizarding world and I still knew about everything going on. It was quite the scoop.

I checked the invisible clock in my head and nodded as I went to the barrier to go back to the muggle side. I cast a notice-me-not charm keyed to muggles on myself and went through. I knew who was coming and figured I had to subvert their expectations, too. It was quite easy to see the large gaggle of redheads as they entered the train station. I walked right over to them and silently cast the same muggle notice-me-not charms on them.

"Hello, Percy!" I said a bit loudly to get their attention and to stop Molly from starting to talk loudly about the platform and muggles being all over the place.

All six redheads jumped slightly and came to a stop as they stared at me.

I shook Percy's hand. "It's nice to meet you." I said and turned to Fred. "Hello, Fred. I see you're still the handsome one."

Fred shook my hand with a chuckle.

I turned to George. "Good show, George. You're still the smart one."

"Oi!" Fred said and George laughed and shook my hand.

I turned to Ron and frowned slightly. "I don't know who you are and I know who everyone is."

The twins laughed and patted me on the back. "He's our little brother, Ron."

"Nope, not ringing a bell." I said and they kept laughing. I stepped around Ron and gave a very big smile to the blushing girl behind him as I took her hand and bent over it to kiss it. "And here she is, the girl I came here to meet. One of my biggest fans."

Ginny let out a squeak instead of talking.

"I still have all your letters and birthday cards, Miss Weasley. I hope you liked the pictures I sent you in return."

Ginny squeaked again and nodded her head several times.

I reached into my pocket and took out a copy of the picture with my head in the Nundu's mouth. "Here's one more for your collection."

Ginny squeaked again and hugged it like it was one of my plushie dolls.

That gave me an idea and I looked at Molly. "My apologies if this is too forward and personal, Mrs. Weasley. Were you able to buy any of my plushie dolls for Ginerva?"

Ginny looked sad and Molly shook her head.

"They were too popular and sold out before we could get anywhere near the stores selling them." Molly said with a sigh.

I nodded my head and reached into my pocket. "I suspected as such. I would have sent this to you long ago if I had known you didn't get any of the newer ones."

"Newer ones? What do you... sweet Merlin!" Molly gasped as I took out a life-size Baby Harry Plushie.

"Just so you know, there are only three others of these in existence. They were the first test models and every other one is half the size." I said and handed it to Ginny. It joined the epic hug my picture was in and I was glad they had the same enchantments as the fan letters in my swimming pit or it would have been ruined.

"H-Harry, we... we can't accept that! It's too valuable!" Molly protested.

I smiled at her and pointed to Ginny's blushing and happy face. "That's what makes it valuable, Mrs. Weasley. Without people like her, it would never become something that anyone wants."

Molly looked at her ecstatic daughter and saw that I was right.

"We better get moving. The train leaves in five minutes." I said and they all jumped again.

We made a beeline to the barrier and went through it, almost in a pile. I had to hold in my laugh as they all scrambled to board the train with their trunks. I helped transfer them from the trolley as Molly hugged each of her children and shoved them onto the train.

"I wish I could go, too." Ginny whispered low enough that she thought no one heard her.

I leaned out the door of the train as it started to pull away. "Don't worry, Ginny! It's only a year! For magicals that live for almost 200 years, that's nothing!"

Ginny blushed again and ducked her head behind my plushie. She looked pleased, though.

"Don't forget to write to your favorite hero!" I waved to her and she waved back. I chuckled and leaned back in to see four surprised looks.

"You're not trying to trick our sister, are you?" The twins asked at the same time.

I reached out and patted their shoulders. "Of course not, my new friends! I'm encouraging a longtime fan to not be so shy around me." I said and they nodded. I glanced down at their clothes and had to smile. They were not hand-me-downs or cheap muggle ripoffs. "I see the school subsidies are being put to good use."

"That was true?" They asked, shocked.

"That it was me setting it up for those that needed it? Yes, it's true." I confirmed and then let them in on the secret. "Honestly, I wanted to encourage parents to have more children and not have to worry about paying so much money for them to go to school when they were of age."

The four of them just stared at me.

"Who better than the Weasley family as an example?" I asked and they kept staring. I laughed and waved behind them. "Fred, George, I bet Lee's waiting for you. Percy, good luck finding Penelope's compartment. She's probably on her Prefect rounds." I said and pointedly looked at his chest and the Prefect badge there.

"Right! I need to go!" Percy gasped and grabbed his trunk from the pile and ran down the compartment as he dragged the thing behind him.

"Locomotor charm!" I shouted at him.

"Thanks!" Percy said and waved his wand at his trunk. It shot up off of the floor and floated behind him as he ran unencumbered.

"You wouldn't happen to know that spell, do you?" Fred asked me.

I nodded and tapped his trunk and tapped his hand. "Locomotor Fred's trunk."

The trunk floated up to hover behind him.

"Wicked." The twins said as one.

I did George's trunk next and the pair walked away and had a whispered conversation that I didn't bother listening to. It was probably in their special twinspeak shorthand and I wouldn't understand it anyway.

"See you later, whoever you are." I said to Ron and walked around him to follow the twins.

"Oi! What about my trunk?" Ron asked.

"I can't cast the spell if I don't know your name!" I lied and waved at him over my shoulder.

"It's Ron! RON WEASLEY!" Ron yelled.

"Sorry! It doesn't ring a bell!" I joked and opened the door to the next train car. I could swear that I heard a few giggles from one of the compartments as I passed it, so I stopped and peered into the window to see a group of girls looking back at me. "Ladies." I said and gave them a beaming smile and winked at them, making them giggle and blush.

I went to the next car and searched for a mostly empty compartment to sit in. I stopped when I reached one with someone that wasn't on the platform. I politely knocked and waited for the door to open before I spoke.

"Hello, Miss Abbot. Do you mind if I intrude on you and your friend to join you for the journey to school?" I asked her and she blushed to a deep red. I only received stuttering and sputtering in response.

"H-Harry." Susan whispered and stared at me.

"Hello, Miss Bones. I hope your auntie liked the clothing cabinet I sent her." I said and Susan was reduced to a stuttering mess like Hannah was as she tried to thank me for it. I held in my laugh at so easily flustering both girls and took Hannah's hand and led her back to her seat beside Susan and sat her down, went back and shut the compartment door, then I sat across from the pair of friends.

Unlike them, I was determined to wait their embarrassment out and just sat there and smiled at them without trying to talk at all. I did keep changing my gaze from Susan's face to Hannah's, so they would know I wasn't ignoring one for the other. I didn't want to give them a reason to be jealous of each other, either.

It took a good 10 minutes before the girls calmed down enough to realize that it was completely silent in the compartment. That embarrassed them again and they couldn't quite meet my eyes. I stopped holding in my amusement and softly laughed at the situation. It didn't take long before they joined me and started to relax.

"Do you still have my Baby Harry plushie?" I asked Susan and she nodded. "I heard it's a very valuable collector's item."

"It is. I haven't met or know anyone else that has one." Susan said. "Auntie checked around as well and no one else has one."

"That's probably because they were never up for sale." I said and both girls sucked in sharp breaths. "I only gave them to three girls at the time. One to you, one to the Greengrass heiress because of a contract with their family, one to my distant cousin to apologize for an accident that was mostly my fault, and I just gave a fourth one to one of my biggest fans."

Both girls stared at me and didn't say anything.

"Ginny will be joining us next year and I had to give her something I knew she would treasure until then." I explained and Susan nodded. "So, what did you lovely girls do this summer?"

"We went to the beach!" Hannah said a little loudly and then blushed.

Susan couldn't stop her giggle. "It was local, so the water was a bit cold." She said and briefly glanced down at her friends breasts. "Hannah's bikini was under a lot of strain."

Hannah gasped and whipped her head around to glare at her friend. "Says the girl that almost lost her top when she dove into the water the first time!"

I chuckled and both girls turned to look at me with wide eyes. I leaned forward and smiled warmly at them. "That sounds like two sides to a great story." I said and kept my eyes at their eye level and didn't look down at their well-developed chests. "Why don't you start at the beginning?"

Hannah and Susan exchanged looks and nodded to each other.

"Well, it all started when Hannah invited me over to spend a week's vacation at their beach house." Susan said and explained what had happened and how the whole beach thing came about.

I sat there with a smile on my face as both girls visibly relaxed and then started to try to embarrass the other by telling me all about their playful antics.

74 Hogwarts Or Bust Part Two

"...and that's how I found out our boobs are nearly the same size, except Susan's are bigger around and mine are more pointed." Hannah said, a bit proudly.

"You could have figured that out without groping me so much!" Susan said with a laugh.

"But not as much fun." Hannah and I said at the same time, as if we planned it, and we laughed.

"I can't believe you're as big of a tease as she is." Susan said, clearly amused.

"I can't help it. I had a steady girlfriend until this summer and she was a shameless tease." I defended myself.

Both Hannah's and Susan's smiles faded.

"I'm sorry to hear that, Harry." Susan said.

"I was, too." I responded. "She wants to become an Auror and had to devote all her time to training."

"I want to be an Auror, too." Susan said, not realizing she was essentially taking herself off of the market as an available girlfriend for me. "I want to be a great one like my auntie."

"What about you, Hannah? Any big plans for the future?" I asked to distract them.

Hannah shook her head. "I don't want to think about that until I pass my OWLs. I'll have two years after that to make any big decisions about what I want to do for the rest of my life. That's plenty of time."

"What about you, Harry?" Susan asked me.

"Me? I thought my future was already set." I answered. "I'm the savior of the wizarding world."

"You're not going to try for another job?" Hannah asked me.

"Why settle for mediocrity when I'm already at the top?" I asked back and Hannah softly laughed. "Although, I doubt anyone would refuse to hire me. That's assuming they don't claim I'm over-qualified. That would be embarrassing!"

Both Susan and Hannah giggled.

"That really would be embarrassing." Susan agreed.

"And really funny!" Hannah added. "I'm sorry, Mister Potter. You are just too popular to wait tables at the Leaky Cauldron. We can't handle the extra workload from all the fans that visit. Ha ha!"

The three of us laughed pretty hard at the thought of Tom the barman turning me down because I would bring in too much business for him to handle. We spent the rest of the trip to Hogwarts coming up with a bunch of ridiculous situations and outrageous excuses for people to not hire me. It was a great time and both girls looked quite pleased about that.

I tried to stand and excuse myself for them to get changed and it was Hannah that stopped me, to my surprise. She gave me a shy look and gave my arm a light squeeze before she whispered about being there when Amelia had convinced Susan to thank me on her behalf. I couldn't refuse a sincere offer like that, so I sat back down and gave her my full attention.

Hannah blushed as she slowly unbuttoned her blouse. She didn't hesitate as her fingers worked, though. When she decided she was going to do this for me, she choose to go all out and gave me a very nice striptease. It was only missing a bit of background music as she slid her top off and revealed a fairly nice bra.

Her fingers danced slightly across the top of her bra and highlighted the barely restrained flesh there. She even tugged it a little and showed me a bit of her nipples. Her fingers moved down her chest, her waist, and to her skirt. She unbuttoned it and held it, gave me a pretty sexy look, then turned around and slowly slid the cloth down and bent over at the same time.

That was when I knew she hadn't quite thought that move out, because as the skirt hit the floor and she was bent right over to show me she was only wearing a thong, she hadn't realized the thong had shifted aside and wasn't covering anything. At all.

"Do you like what you see?" Hannah asked, her face still red, and she braced her hands on the seat.

"Yes, I really do." I said, my eyes wide. Damn, that's a really nice view!

Susan saw my expression and had to lean out from her seat to look at what I could see. She caught her breath at Hannah fully exposing herself. "Hannah, your... um... your panties are..."

"I know they're wet." Hannah interrupted. "This is... I knew I would like... well..." She stammered. She also didn't try to stand up and stayed bent over. "It's exciting and my heart's beating so fast!"

Susan's mouth dropped open as her friend reached back and caressed her own butt with a hand and pulled her cheek aside, then she slapped it!

I stared at Hannah being bold like a Griffindor, then realized something. She was a Hufflepuff and hard working, so she wasn't going to half-ass a striptease. It also gave me an idea. "May I?"

Hannah looked back over her shoulder as she wiggled her ass at me. "If... if you want to."

"After a show like that? Of course I do." I said and she watched as I knelt on the floor behind her. "It's even nicer than my ex-girlfriends."

Hannah's blush went deeper. "Th-thanks."

I smiled at her. "She also liked it when I did this." I said and leaned in and slipped my tongue into her dripping slit.

"OHHH!" Hannah gasped and came. Her body shivered and she had to drop to her elbows on the seat to brace herself. That managed to stick her ass out more and gave me easier access.

I took full advantage of it and dug my tongue right in there and kissed and suckled on her. She started to loudly moan as I did so and I had to cast both silence and notice-me-not spells on the door. I didn't pause in working her over, though. She was nice enough to show off for me, so the least I could do was thank her for it.

Susan sat there with her mouth hanging open and watched as I pleasured her best friend. Her eyes were wide and she seemed to be memorizing everything I was doing. I also figured she was regretting not doing this herself. It was debatable whether she wanted to be the giver or the receiver.

After about ten minutes, Hannah's legs were quivering so much that her ass shook and her cheeks lightly slapped the cheeks of my face. It was a pretty neat trick, actually. When I slipped a finger inside of her, careful of her hymen, she screamed out and came so hard that it splashed onto my chin. Her legs buckled and she dropped to her knees and her head rested on her arms on the seat.

"W-w-wow." Susan whispered and stared at her trembling friend.

I licked my finger off as Hannah look back at me. "Thank you for the thank you."

Hannah let out a little giggle and seemed proud. "I want to... do that again... when I recover."

I chuckled and took out my wand to clean myself up and then did the same to her. "There's not enough time left before we reach Hogsmeade." I reminded her.

Both she and Susan gasped.

"I think... I need a hand." Hannah said and blushed again.

"Allow me." I said and levitated her trunk down and took out a Hogwarts uniform for her and then I levitated her into the air and used my wand to put it on her without touching her.

Both Susan and Hannah stared at me using so much magic.

"I doubt using my hands and touching you all over would have helped." I said with a smirk.

Hannah giggled as she thought about it. "Probably not."

I twisted my wand and she turned around and I eased her backwards to sit on the bench seat.

"Thank you, Harry." Hannah said.

"It was my pleasure, Hannah." I said and put her trunk back up onto the rack and sat down again. I looked over at Susan and she looked conflicted. "It's all right, Susan. Hannah was quite loyal to do that on your behalf."

Susan blushed and looked away from me and at Hannah's face.

"She's quite the Hufflepuff." I commented and Hannah looked happy.

"Yes, she is." Susan said and leaned down to hug her.

Hannah hugged her back. "You need to change, too."

Susan let out an odd sound and let her go. "I can't do that!"

Both Hannah and I laughed.

"I think what happened was just a happy consequence of Hannah's choice to strip instead of just changing." I said and both girls looked over at me. "If she had only pulled her clothes off and put on her uniform, I would have barely seen anything and she wouldn't have looked so sexy or tempted me so much."

Hannah softly laughed and looked pleased again.

"Maybe the next time we're on the train, I'll be the one to strip for you?" I asked her.

Hannah caught her breath and blushed hard. "I think I would like that."

Susan gave her friend a look, gave me one, and sighed.

"Shall I get your trunk for you?" I asked and she nodded. I levitated it down and Susan quickly pulled off her clothing and put on the school uniform with the outer-robes. "You see? That was pretty efficient and I barely saw any of her milky-white skin."

Susan blushed and sat down. Hannah put an arm over her shoulders and gave her a one-arm hug.

I put the trunk back onto the rack and went over in my head about certain events that usually happened during Harry's first train ride to Hogwarts. The first event was meeting Ron Weasley as he lied and said everywhere was full, which I changed by ignoring him and saying I didn't know his name.

The second event was meeting Hermione Granger as she looked for Neville's toad. Since Neville didn't lose his parents, his uncle probably never gave him a toad after trying to kill him to see if he had magic. Being tossed off a pier and out a second story window would have never happened with Alice and Frank around. He probably had his own wand, too.

The third thing was Draco Malfoy searching for the famous Harry Potter to try and sway him to be friends with Voldemort's death eater children. Since all the death eaters except Severus Snape had been caught, their magic stripped, sent to prison, and eventually died, most of the wives and the children fled the country to avoid persecution.

That should mean most of Slytherin House will be empty. It made me wonder how the house could even function with most of the members in prison or in another country. Would they bother trying to gain house points anymore? Did they have a Quidditch team to compete for the cup? Have they gained any new students the last few years or were they smart and chose to go to another house?

The train pulled into Hogsmeade station and I stood up and held my hands out to the two girls. They exchanged amused looks and each took a hand.

I helped them stand and smiled at them. "Should we wait a minute or join the throng trying to get off the train as quickly as possible?"

"That depends on if you want to cause another riot like you did at King's Cross Station." Susan said.

"Oh, you were there and just avoided it all?" I asked and she nodded. "I didn't get to embarrass... I mean impress you in front of the reporters."

Susan laughed. "I knew that's what you were doing, considering the things you get up to in your books."

"Hey, in my defense, I have no choice what happens in my books." I said with a grin.

Hannah laughed. "Of course you don't." She said and kept hold of my hand as she went to the compartment door. "It should be okay now."

I followed her and Susan walked behind me as we joined a smaller crowd in the hallway and ignored the whispered conversations that picked up when the other students saw me. When we exited the train, Hagrid called for the first years. It made me wonder if he would have said anything if I hadn't left the train. He tried to get my attention, only his eyes kept sliding over me and he was frowning.

I tried to not laugh at his attempts to work through the aversion ward I had copied onto my protection amulet. I couldn't leave such a great thing behind and had to take it with me. It worked and kept people from doing Dumbledore's assignments where I was concerned. The funny thing was, I wondered why I was allowed onto the train when I didn't have a ticket.

I shrugged the thought aside and held Hannah's hand as we went down the path and to the edge of the Black Lake. The boats were big enough to hold four teenagers, so Susan, Hannah, and I entered one and a brown-haired boy joined us. It was Justin Finch-Fletchly and I greeted him by name, which shocked him and he stayed quiet for the entire ride across the lake.

Susan and Hannah had their mouths clamped shut to stop their laugh and gave me pointed looks. I smirked at them and pointed to the castle. When they turned and looked at the brightly lit up castle, I couldn't resist casting a few spells and slipped my wand out to add more power.

Way above the castle, a firework exploded and a bright red circle of sparks expanded. A blue one went next and all of the students made 'oo' and 'ah' sounds as several more went off in different colors, then a whole series of them went off in a row and words formed.

"Really?" Susan asked.

"What?" I asked with a chuckle. The words welcomed the new and returning students to the castle on behalf of Harry Potter.

"Never mind." Susan said with a sigh. Hannah giggled and lightly elbowed her side.

We arrived at the docks and climbed the stairs and walked around the castle to the front doors. Hagrid knocked and Minerva McGonagall opened them. Her glare was nothing compared to Vernon's, so I easily ignored it. She gave a speech about houses being like family and I barely held in my laugh, because some students had horrible families and a bad home life.

I glanced around and recognized a lot of the students listening to the drivel and saw a happy Neville, a pensive Hermione, a frowning Ron as he stared at me, and a bubbly Lavender as she licked her lips and also stared at me. I winked at her and she smiled and made a kissing motion. I nodded slightly and she beamed a smile at me.

"Follow me." Minerva said and turned away.

We followed her and entered the castle for the first time. I used a magic detection spell and a sharp pain lanced through my head. I cancelled the spell and held in my groan at not testing that beforehand. Either the wards were preventing me from casting that kind of spell or there was too much magic around for it to make anything out and shoved the jumbled details of everything into my head.

I did a quick healing spell on myself and several of the students behind me made surprised sounds as I briefly glowed gold. I didn't turn to acknowledge that they saw anything and hoped they didn't ask me why I glowed when I entered the castle. They might make the wrong assumptions. Then again, I was Harry Potter, the savior of the wizarding world. Their assumptions might actually be right.

75 School Is Cool

The sorting ceremony was only a bit different than canon, thankfully. Most of them went where they normally went, except for the Slytherin students. Millicent Bulstrode went to Hufflepuff, as did Tracey Davis. Daphne Greengrass went to Ravenclaw, which had turned a lot of heads in surprise. Funnily enough, the only Slytherin student sorted was Blaise Zabini.

Oh, and Neville went to Hufflepuff. The bright smile he had as he was warmly welcomed by his house had made a lot of the Hufflepuff girls give him searching looks, even the older years. Unlike the pudgy and shy version he should have been, he was in shape and was proud of his skills in growing things.

I went into Griffindor, of course. The hat barely touched my head when it yelled. It's whispered words of supreme arrogance and confidence excused me from every other house, made me laugh. I couldn't even argue that I was a better fit for Ravenclaw after all the books I had read to get ideas for spells.

Not surprisingly, Hermione also went to Griffindor. I hadn't had a chance to talk to her privately to convince her to go into Ravenclaw, which meant I might have to take a more active role in guiding her to become a more well-rounded person. Either that or give her a compulsion spell or two. She loved attention from authority figures and I would need to stop that and not let her ostracize herself.

I would also have to do something about my sleeping arrangements. Staying in a dorm with four other blokes was not going to be conductive to my extracurricular activities or allow me freedom of movement. I had a lot of things I needed to do as the Boy-Who-Lived and couldn't be hampered like that.

Ron had tried to barge into my personal space after his own sorting and he tried to shove off Hermione from one side and Lavender from my other side, because he wanted me all to himself. I pointed that fact out and reminded him that I was not a bloke's bloke and he needed to go find someone else of a like mind. It made everyone around us laugh and his face went red from embarrassment.

I felt a hand run up my thigh and smiled at Lavender, whom looked a little surprised I wasn't saying anything or stopping her hand's progress. When it reached a certain area and she felt a distinct hardness there, she let out a little gasp and then her hand roamed and made sure to discover exactly how big it was.

Lavender shuddered slightly when her task was done and gave me a fairly sultry look. I nodded slightly and continued eating, as if I hadn't just agreed to let her see it first-hand. She gave me a little squeeze and patted it before she also concentrated on eating.

After the meal and some nice desserts, treacle tart for the win, the headmaster stood up and declared the third floor corridor on the right-hand side was out of bounds and students would suffer a painful death if they went there.

I glanced around at the older Griffindors and saw all of their eager faces. Challenge accepted, Albus. I thought with a smile and held in my chuckle.

We were dismissed and the fifth year prefects brought the first years to the Griffindor common room in the tallest tower in the castle. There was no house meeting, no rules set, and no explanation of anything.

Perfect. I thought and slipped on my invisibility cloak when no one was looking. I went to the prefects that were chatting and whispered a question about the head boy and where he would stay. The seventh year prefect grumbled that it was a slimy Slytherin that had won it this year and he had wanted to move into the apartment-like room at the very top of the tower.

I walked away and went up the spiral stairway all the way to the top and the door was locked and spelled to not be entered by anyone but the Head Boy. I chuckled at the simple solution and formed a doorway next to the door and added another door and cast a notice-me-not charm on it. I stepped into the room and smiled at the extravagance.

"Nanny?" I asked and a few seconds later, the nanny elf popped into the room.

Nanny glanced around the apartment and nodded several times. "This room bees appropriate."

I chuckled and gave her a hug. "I thought so, too."

"I bees staying here to takes cares of youse." Nanny said, her voice sure.

"That's why I called you. I can't trust anyone else to do your job as well as you do it."

Nanny looked pleased at that. "I bees helping youse unpack."

I took out my trunk and she made quick work of getting my clothes sorted and put into the closet. She had to expand it to make it all fit, too. When she was done, she helped me change into my pyjamas and tucked me into bed.

"You miss taking care of us when we were young, don't you?" I asked after she kissed my forehead.

"It bees a nanny's only job to takes care of the little ones." Nanny said and petted my messy hair.

"I'll do my best to give you a lot more work in the future." I promised.

Nanny smiled at me. "Youse always say the bestest things, Master Harry."

"I don't want to remain the last Potter, Nanny. The only way to fix that is to make many more little Potters."

Nanny chuckled. "Youse bees having lots of funs to doos that."

I chuckled as well. "You always remind me of the important things, Nanny."

Nanny patted my head one last time and stepped back. "Youse goes to sleep for now. Playtime can start tomorrows."

"Goodnight." I said and closed my eyes.

"Goodnights." Nanny whispered and popped away with barely a sound.

The night passed quickly and I woke up just before dawn, like always. I climbed out of bed, stretched like a lazy cat, and pulled off my pyjamas. I went to the bathroom and did my duty, then took a shower to clean myself of sweat and dried off when I was done.

Nanny popped in when I left the bathroom and helped me dress in a custom Hogwarts uniform that she, Butter, and Moppy had made for me. It looked just as expensive as my costume and it fit perfectly, which showed off my muscular physique even better than my costume did.

"That reminds me." I said out loud and pulled Nanny into a tight hug. "Those fancy robes were the best. They fit perfectly and made me look extremely professional and that I had dressed up specifically to meet my fans. They loved seeing me done up like that, so thank you. Thank you very much."

Nanny blushed. "It bees my job to makes youse look youse best."

I eased my hold on her and smiled. "I like how you can choose to change your ideas of how to properly take care of me."

Nanny let out a little laugh and pushed me away. "Youse not be getting any ideas, Master Harry!"

It took me a moment to get what she meant and I had to laugh, too. "You're right. I should stick to my own species."

Nanny nodded and clicked her fingers to make a hairbrush appear and it quickly combed my hair. "Youse bees presentable."

"Thank you." I said and glanced in the mirror on the bathroom door. I really do look good. "If you want to introduce yourself to the castle elves as my personal elf, just so they don't think you're an intruder, go ahead."

"I bees doing that last night." Nanny said, a little smugly.

I chuckled at that look on her face. "How many of them propositioned you?"

"Sixteen, including the heads elf." Nanny answered proudly.

I barked a laugh and patted her head. "If you need my permission to socialize with them, you have it."

Nanny beamed a smile at me. "I bees taking it seriously and will choose a good one, Master Harry."

"That's entirely up to you, Nanny." I said and walked over to the new door. "Have fun with it."

Nanny nodded and waved at me as I left. I went down the stairs and it was still really early, so I had a choice to make. Do I sneak into the first year dorms and pretend I slept there or do I go do what I want? Decisions, decisions. I chuckled and walked across the empty common room to the doorway and expanded it into an actual walkway and not the tunnel it had been.

I patted the reformed stone in thanks for allowing the change and pushed open the fat lady's portrait. She didn't say anything as I walked down the hallway and down the stairs. I thought about how I could fix my problem with my detection spell overloading my head with too much information and almost slapped myself in the face for being so stupid.

I turned around and went back to the Griffindor common room and up the stairs to the third year dorm as I put on my invisibility cloak. A quick spell told me where the twins kept their trunks and one of them glowed when I asked for the Marauder's Map.

Instead of dispelling the wards and protective spells on the lid and lock of the trunk, I levitated the whole thing into the air and cut open the side. I reached in and pulled out the piece of old parchment that was the map and copied it, shoved it back inside the trunk, and repaired the damage. I put the trunk back and left the room with the solution to my problem.

I took the cloak off again and stored it as I left the common room. The fat lady stayed quiet and I went down the hallway and the first set of stairs. I cast a notice-me-not charm on the parchment and activated it with the password, then instead of casting my detection spell, I funnelled it into the parchment.

I felt the thing connect to Hogwarts through the wards, which told me exactly how the map was able to track everyone in the castle. It was using the castle's own detection wards to do it. It was no wonder my head felt like it was splitting open when I tried to do the same thing, because it wasn't just things in my range, it was everything and everywhere inside the castle.

I chuckled at that and used a few more spells, mostly to see what other wards existed and what they could tell me. I almost laughed out loud at the dozens of exceptions that had been made to the malevolence protection wards, including the dark mark and the curse on the Defense Against the Dark Arts job.

Should I tweak things? Would Hogwarts let me and not notify Dumbledore? I asked myself and shrugged. I would only make little changes and see if the headmaster reacts. If he doesn't, I'll change some of the bigger things. So, I removed the exceptions for the curse and casting spells with a wand in the hallways. Let's see how long before someone complains to Snape and him to Dumbledore.

I followed the map down through the castle to the front doors. They opened for me and I patted the door on the way by. I made my way down to the Black Lake and easily found an out-of-the-way spot to ward off and created a teleportation circle. I joined it to the others and felt the magic drain as it connected to all of them.

I had built a pretty intensive network of teleportation circles all across Europe by this point, thanks to Petunia's penchant for travelling in style when Amy was old enough. I had one in every country of note, including several in Australia, Africa, South America, Asia, and the Caribbean. That's why it was so draining. The best part was that the cost to use them afterwards was negligible.

When I checked the invisible clock in my head, it was close to the time I needed to make an appearance back in the Griffindor common room, so I went back into the castle wearing my invisibility cloak. I used the map to avoid anyone that was already up, like several professors, Argus Filch, and his cat. I did give her a scratch under her chin and behind her ears at the same time as I passed her.

Mrs. Norris let out a purr and then stopped walking as she looked around and wondered what the hell just happened. It made me chuckle and her little cat eyes stared at where my disembodied laugh came from. I took out a bag of cat treats and tossed her one. She easily caught it and chewed as she kept staring at me. I tossed her another one and quickly walked away.

I made it back to the tower just as a bunch of the upper years came down the stairs and populated a good portion of the common room. They sat down and started chatting about different things and I walked by and up the stairs. I thought about waiting to reveal myself, then shrugged and took off my cloak and walked back down the stairs.

"Look at that, Alicia. The conquering hero is up before breakfast is served." A black skinned beauty said when she saw me. Four other girls sat around her on two facing couches.

I walked over to her with a smile on my face. "And how exactly does Miss Johnson know what my morning routine is like if she didn't experience it for herself?"

Alicia let out a laugh. "He's got you there, Angelina."

Angelina swatted her friend's knee. "He's two years younger than me. Hero or not, that's a bit too.."

"My ex-girlfriend was six and a half years older than me and she graduated last year." I interrupted her and the group of girls gasped. "It shouldn't be that surprising. When I'm legal age, no one will care how old the people I date are."

"That's true." The brown-haired girl with them said and gave me a pretty close examination with her eyes. "Did you really date a girl from Hogwarts?"

"Yes I did, Miss Bell. She gave up her Hufflepuff ways this summer and dumped me to focus on her future career." I answered.

"Well, the Duffers aren't known for their brains." Katie said and patted the space beside her.

I sat down next to her and put my arm across the back of the couch. She gave me a raised eyebrow and I smirked and wagged my eyebrows at her. She softly laughed, leaned back and against me, and I put my arm around her shoulders.

"That was pretty slick." Angelina admitted.

I couldn't resist saying what I said next. "I have a free arm right here." I said and raised my hand.

That made all the girls laugh and I joined them. Angelina and Alicia seemed to have a silent battle of wits as they stared at each other, as did the two other girls, then Angelina accepted the challenge and moved from where she sat and sat down beside me.

I put my arm around her shoulders right away and hugged her in close. "I love Griffindor bravery."

That made all the girls smile and they resumed their previous conversation as if I hadn't just interrupted them. They were talking about Quidditch plays and how they would start training with their insane coach next week after the first year flying lessons. The other two girls, the fifth and sixth year prefects, promised to drum up interest with the rest of the house to get them to show up.

"They don't allow first years on the house teams, do they?" I asked and they all shook their heads. "Is that because they aren't allowed to bring their own brooms?"

That made them all pause and think about it.

"Probably." Katie said. "They would have to use the school brooms and those are terrible."

"Or borrow a broom from an older student that's not using it." Alicia said. "That almost never happens, even within families, since no one would spend that kind of money on a broom if they weren't going to play."

"Trust like that would take a long time to earn for something that important." I agreed, since I knew how much brooms cost. I was tempted to let them know what I planned and chose to wait. I didn't want to get their hopes up of having me on the team or remind them of the story in the newspaper where I couldn't buy the brooms from the shop.

Angelina turned slightly towards me and she looked into my eyes. "Are you asking for a specific reason?" She asked and then her eyes widened. "Wait a minute! You're Harry bloody Potter!"

I had to clamp my mouth closed to not laugh at her shout. She clearly saw my amusement, though.

"Did you ignore the first year rule and bring a broom to school?" Angelina pointedly asked me and all of the girls gave me similar pointed looks.

For some reason, I knew I shouldn't lie to her. "I can freely admit that I did not bring a personal broom to school."

The other girls started to slump in disappointment before Angelina sucked in a sharp breath.

"What is it?" Alicia asked.

Angelina's eyes almost smouldered as she stared into mine. "You actually did it."

I kept my mouth shut and didn't say anything.

"Do what?" Katie asked as she leaned out to look at her.

"Remember how much we talked about that article during the summer about some random kid going to Quality Quidditch Supplies on behalf of Harry Potter to buy brooms for Hogwarts?" Angelina asked and the other girls gasped. "Yeah, that's right. Can you guess who managed to do it?"

I actually felt the shift in magic in the room around me and slowly turned my head to see the hungry looks on their faces. "I... ah... think I need to go." I said and started to stand up.

Two hands grabbed my robes and pulled me backwards onto the couch to almost lay down. Angelina and Katie loomed over me as they held me down and the other girls surrounded us.

"Why don't you tell us about what you brought to school?" Angelina said in a deep sexy voice.

I felt myself grow hard and all five girls looked down at it and back at my face.

"I think someone doesn't mind if a girl asserts her dominance a little." Angelina said and her other hand went to my erection. She rubbed it and hummed in approval at the size. "So... Harry... darling." She whispered and leaned down to put her face barely an inch above mine as her other hand kept moving on me. "What..." *rub* "...did..." *stroke* "...you..." *caress* "...bring..." *tug* "...for us?"

I glanced up at all of their expectant and eager faces. "I may have... bought a few... Nimbus 2000s." I said between panting breaths.

"How many?" Katie asked and her hand joined Angelina's and rubbed me. "Merlin, he's really hard."

"I bought... 50 of them... to give to Madam Hooch." I admitted.

Both Katie's and Angelina's hands tightened on me through my expensive pants, then Angelina dove for my mouth and Katie went for my neck as they kept jerking on me. It didn't take them long to get me off after that and I moaned into Angelina's mouth. She seemed to really like that and broke the kiss to show me the smug look on her face.

"Ladies, we need to let the rest of the team know." Angelina said and gave my waist a look and saw the wet spot. Bold as brass, she slipped a fingertip under the waistband of my pants and pulled it back out with a bit of white fluid on it. "I think you need to get cleaned up, Mister Potter. You seemed to have made a mess." She gave me a pointed look and slowly licked her finger off.

"Why don't you help me?" I asked and her eyebrows went up. "You don't think once is all I have in me, do you?"

Angelina's smug look changed to a smirk as she moved back to let me sit up. "I don't mind seeing if bragging is all you can do."

I sat up and then stood, took her hand, and helped her stand as well. "Katie, do you want to wait until later or are you joining us?"

Katie looked a little surprised, then she laughed. "Griffindors fly where cowards fear to walk."

I helped her stand as well and led them both over to the stairs.

"Hold on, we're not going to the first year boy's dorm to let them see..." Angelina protested.

"No, we're not." I interrupted her and led them up the stairs to the very top. I brought them into the room through the new door and they looked surprised and also happy that no one else was there. "We only have half an hour before breakfast is served." I said and started to strip off.

"It lasts an hour and a half. We have plenty of time." Angelina said and started to strip off, too.

Katie didn't comment and took off her clothes as she watched me.

I dropped my boxers to the floor and both girls let out happy sounds. "Ladies, the bath is this way."

"Screw the bath." Angelina said and kissed me hard, pushed me onto the bed, then shoved her mouth onto my still hard member. She moaned at the feeling and I moaned at her giving me some great feelings in return.

Katie looked a little lost, so I pointed at her dripping wetness between her legs and then at my face. "OKAY!" She yelled and dove onto the bed to climb over me, straddled my face to let me lick her, and moaned loudly as she leaned against the headboard to hold on.

Angelina stopped sucking to look at us. "Merlin, that's so hot."

"I'm Harry, not Merlin." I said and then suckled on Katie's nub to make her scream.

"The great Harry Potter, savior of the wizarding world..." Angelina said and stroked me with her hand several times, then she straddled my waist and rubbed my tip over her soaked opening. "...is about to go on another great adventure."

"My first." I said and both girls paused. "My ex's mother made sure I didn't waste my first time."

Angelina blushed hard at that. "It won't be a waste, Harry. I promise."

"I know." I said and reached for her hips and pulled Angelina down as I shoved my tongue up into Katie. Both girls cried out in pleasure at being penetrated.

"Sooo good!" Angelina moaned and started to move.

"Deeper, Harry! Dee... OHHHH!" Katie yelled and moaned as she came hard. She shook and shivered and took several deep breaths as she reached for my hair and pulled on it to hold my mouth on her. "Don't stop. Don't stop." She begged, so I kept going.