บท 37: Chapter 37 (Part 2)
That was already far more people than there were supposed to be
and it didn't even include Fleur's side of things!
Speaking of Fleur, she had complained about the weather of course.
But then, when did she not complain about the weather in Britain?
Still, her complaints were not entirely baseless this time. November
this far north was ill-suited for the outside event that she wanted.
Unwilling to give up on the idea of an outdoor family picnic, she had
drafted him to set up a web of climate control spells and turn the
grounds of his estate into a pleasant spring day. As far as
temperature was concerned at any rate, even a brief glance outside
of the spell perimeter would tell you that it was in fact early winter.
" At least you will not be having enemies in your nest this time. " Etal
hissed out of his collar, where he was huddled in his miniature form.
" Unless you count my mate's family as enemies. " Harry quipped
back.
" Always a danger to be certain. " The quetzalcoatl replied with a
hissing laugh.
"Harry!" Penny called with some urgency, causing his head to snap
in her direction.
"What happened?" Harry asked, alarmed at seeing her running in his
drection with her boyfriend, Daniel, in tow.
Harry wasn't sure how he felt about Daniel. He was a a few years
older than Penny at twenty-five, of average height and fairly
unassuming appearance. He seemed nice enough, but Harry
couldn't help being wary of him. It wasn't anything that Daniel had
done, it was just the fact that he had no aura to read.
"Sirius is traumatising the house-elves by insisting that he's going to
man the barbeque grill." Penny explained.
Traumatising was probably an apt word, Harry thought wryly. Not
only was Sirius utter crap at anything related to food preparation, but
he was also intruding on what Teeny and Kreacher considered their
domain.
"I'll go tell him to-" He was interrupted by the distinctive sound of a
Portkey arrival and growled in frustration as he saw the small field of
silver-blonde hair that had just showed up in his backyard. Fleur had
apparently not held back with the invitations either, which probably
explained the change in venue.
"I've got to take care of this." He said to Penny, who looked as
surprised by the mass of veela as he felt. "Just tell Sirius to stop
before he hurts himself or something."
"Don't you think I've tried?" Penny asked crossly. "He won't listen."
" Etal, can you go with her and smack some sense into Sirius?"
Harry asked the quetzalcoatl.
" I suppose. " Etal said a bit sullenly. He always did like to hang
around veela.
Penny hurried off then with Etal in tow, just in time for Fleur to rush
into his arms.
"Harry!" She greeted enthusiastically, kissing him with enough
showmanship that it simply had to be for the benefit of anyone
watching. Once she was done, she grabbed his arm and began
leading him towards the newcomers. "Come, let me introduce you to
my family."
"Alright." Harry agreed, not that there was anything else to do at this
point.
" You've already met my parents and sister of course ." Fleur began
in French once they reached the group, gesturing at the slightly
tense trio.
" Mr. and Mrs. Delacour. Gabrielle ." Harry said with a nod, also in
French.
" Lord Potter ." They said a tad nervously.
" Just Harry please ." Hadn't they done this already?
" Very well… Harry . You must call us Apolline and Sebastian then. "
Apolline agreed, relaxing minutely. Then she reached into what had
to be an expanded pocket and brought ou a bottle of wine " Our
daughter tells us that your family owns a vineyard, so we thought
you might appreciate a French wine. "
" Thank you. " Harry said and accepted the bottle, though he actually
wanted to laugh. He didn't think that was meant to be as
condescending as it came off as. At least it answered the question of
where Fleur got her French superiority complex from.
"Teeny," He called, causing the little house-elf to appear. "could you
please add this bottle to the ones that are set to be used today?"
"Teeny do it, Master." The hyper little elf said enthusiastically, took
the bottle and popped away.
" This is my grandmother, Aurélie ." Fleur moved on with the
introductions once that was done.
Aurélie was a stately older veela in her late sixties, but her beauty
hadn't waned a bit. The only sign of aging was the occasional line or
wrinkle around her eyes and mouth. Honestly, she looked more like
Fleur's mother than grandmother, while Apolline looked like an older
sister.
She was also far less reserved than Apolline, though that was to be
expected since she hadn't been around to see Lucius Malfoy's
spectacular execution. Though according to Fleur that might have
turned her on instead…
" So this is the man that caught my granddaughter's interest. " She
said brightly, moving forward to give him a hug and kiss his cheeks
in that particular French way that made introverts uncomfortable just
to think about, though Harry didn't think that the hug itself was
supposed to be that tight. " I can certainly see why. " She added with
a purr.
Aaaand there it was, the flirting that Fleur had warned him about. Not
that Harry would be opposed to screwing the super hot granny…
After the GILF came Apolline's two sisters, Adeline and Aurore, one
younger and one older than Fleur's mother. Each also had daughters
of their own, Adeline had one that looked to be about ten or eleven
and another that was just over a year younger than Fleur. That one
looked at him like he was a juicy steak, so Harry didn't need an
introduction to guess that this must be Delphine, Fleur's
friend/cousin/fuckbuddy that she liked to tease with tales of how
impressive he was and how good she had it. Aurore also had two,
both older than Fleur but still single, though the eldest already had a
little four-year-old daughter of her own.
Every single one gave him a hug and kissed his cheeks, even the
prepubescent ones practically demanded that he stoop low enough
for them to do it. They might not be old enough for their more carnal
instincts to be active, but they were still drawn to his powerful magic.
The three mature but as of yet unattached veela also flirted
shamelessly, while Fleur's aunts looked like they were holding back
from doing the same.
Harry had serious trouble keeping track of who was who, with only
the presence of the three husbands allowed him to keep some level
of distinction between them. They all looked like fraternal twins to
each other, closer even, all silver-blonde hair and sky-blue eyes.
Even their facial structures and body types were similar enough that
it was obvious that their genes were essentially identical. That would
figure since they were all descended from the succubus Velana and
the father didn't contribute any genes, preserving the looks of their
foremother.
They also brought more gifts, mostly in the form of various French
dishes. If nothing else, they made for a good opportunity to lead the
gaggle of veela towards the main picnic area and introduce them to
everyone else.
Later .
Harry ignored the mouth-watering smell of cooking meat as he
finished off his meal. His recent Skinwalking successes had given
him cravings for red, or even raw meat, and he was deliberately
refusing to eat any until the urge passed. Ahiga had apparently
neglected to mention a few consequences of Skinwalking into a
carnivore, the bastard.
Knowing that Skinwalking wasn't like Animagus training, Harry
reduced his already low meat intake to zero until this alien set of
instincts he'd taken into himself was brought to heel rather than
accepting it as part of himself, even if he had to force himself to
chew rather than spit like he wanted to. He typically ate meat no
more than once a week or so anyway and avoided dairy like the
plague - among other things, it made sperm taste like crap according
to his research and he was far more attached to enthusiastic
blowjobs than he was to cheese. Still, the self-enforced vegan diet
combined with a carnivore's cravings made him poor company while
eating and drove him to take his food to a bench along the edges of
the picnic area, where he could glower at his plate and chew angrily
without snapping at anyone that tried to talk to him.
At least it was a good vantage point to observe the goings on.
With so many people not knowing each other, it should have been
awkward. Groups should have formed, made up of people that were
familiar with each other. At least, that was how Harry understood
strangers tended to act when brought into a crowd - they sought out
the comfort of the familiar.
Not so for veela apparently. Fleur's mature cousins and grandmother
had immediately started prowling for suitable conquests. Harry
himself had been especially popular with them earlier, to the point of
irritation actually. He had nothing against the amorous attention and
would happily invite one or two to share their bed for the night, but
the constant conversation had begun to wear on him. Fortunately,
Fleur had noticed and led them off.
Since then, they had redirected their attention to the other guests,
the single ones at least, though he wouldn't be surprised to hear that
they'd propositioned the couples as well.
The ones that had no experience with veela were ridiculously easy to
pick out of the crowd. That look of awkward incredulity at their
forwardness or the glazed looks of those overcome by the Allure
were a dead give-away.
Still, despite having to run interference to keep things from getting
out of hand, aided by Narcissa, Andromeda, Dora and Fleur, Harry
had to admit that this picnic thing was going pretty well. The veela
had well and truly smashed the ice and everyone was having a good
time. A few people were probably going to have a very good time
afterwards as well, which would no doubt improve morale among his
employees even if getting them laid by a gaggle of horny veela
wasn't the reason they'd been invited. Though he'd have to keep an
eye on things to make sure that none of them got stolen from him
and led to France by their cocks…
And there had been no major disasters so far, in spite of Sirius'
valiant attempts to man the barbeque grill and cause one. Sirius had
sulked over that, but was now happily distracted by Fleur's oldest
cousin.
Dora was currently looking a little uncomfortable with Fleur perched
in her lap. Understandable since their respective parents were also
there and Ted looked like he was still having trouble reconciling the
new reality he found himself in.
Luna was telling tales to the three prepubescent veela present. What
she was actually telling them was anyone's guess, it could be about
crumple-horned snorkacks or last night's bedroom escapades.
Neither would be at all strange given the audience and speaker.
Etal was also a big hit, being cooed over by any veela he
approached, much to his obvious pleasure. The self-important flying
noodle.
Remus Lupin, the joyless void of self-pity that he was, seemed to be
the only person not enjoying himself. In fact, the werewolf had spent
most of his time so far attempting to dodge the attempt of Fleur's
second oldest cousin to seduce him until she'd given up on him.
Harry couldn't fathom why he'd do that, especially after the trouble
Sirius had gone through to point her at him. Veela couldn't contract
lycanthropy and it was fairly close to the New Moon anyway, so that
couldn't be it. Maybe he was just a virgin or intimidated by beautiful
women? Or maybe his self-esteem issues were making him think
that he didn't deserve a good time. Whatever.
His people watching was interrupted as he saw one of the guests
approaching him. It was Fleur's grandmother, Aurélie.
"Not much of a social person, are you, Harry?" The senior veela
asked in perfect English.
"Not really, no." Harry admitted.
Aurélie sat next to him without waiting for an invitation and stretched
in that uniquely sexy way that only beautiful women could properly
manage. Ye gods, but it was easy to forget that this woman was
sixty-seven.
"I think Fleur might have taken that as a challenge." She chuckled.
"She was always the fiercest of my descendants."
"Remind you of yourself?" Harry quipped with a small grin.
Aurélie seemed delighted by the question. "She told you about me
then?"
"Oh yes, you're something of a personal hero of hers apparently."
Unlike her daughters, Aurélie had never married. Instead, she'd
been a sort of adventurer, visiting exciting new places, getting into
trouble, sleeping her way through the local wizard population,
inevitably getting pregnant, returning home to give birth and then
repeating the whole exercise.
She'd not been much of a mother apparently, leaving her offspring in
the care of France's veela commune while she was off on her
escapades and only properly settling down when her youngest was
already six.
Fleur had always theorised that she'd felt bad about that and had
spent more time with her grandchildren as a way to make up for not
really being there for her daughters. She now lived in the very
commune that had taken care of her children and helped with the
new young ones.
The way she sighed a bit sadly at his words seemed to lend
credence to that theory. "Apolline never did appreciate me 'teaching
her daughter my bad habits', but I suppose she has a right to feel
resentful. I didn't do right by my daughters, not really."
"They seem to have turned out fine." Harry said non-committally.
"They did." Aurélie agreed.
They stayed quiet for a while, just watching the proceedings. Fleur
eventually looked in their direction, smiled, pointed them out to Dora
and said something that had the metamorphmagus looking more
than a bit shocked.
"Looks like Fleur just had a great idea." Aurélie purred.
Apparently he wasn't the only one that thought Fleur had just
suggested an orgy with her grandmother.
"That is her idea face." Harry agreed.
"So what do you say, Harry? Do you have what it takes?" Aurélie
challenged, dropping a hand on his thigh.
"The better question is if you have what it takes, old woman." Harry
smirked.
"Ho… back in my day, those were fighting words."
"They still are."
"So, that was… interesting." Ted said as he and his wife prepared for
bed.
"That's one way of putting it." Andromeda chuckled. "I liked the
Delacours, but the younger veela were a lot more forward than I
expected. They must have taken their cousin's open relationship as
a sign that they could let their hair down."
"I still can't believe we got invited to an orgy."
" I still can't believe you were about to say yes." Andromeda said
sternly.
"I'm sorry!" Ted said urgently, in dire fear of his wife's wrath. "It must
have been that Allure thing you warned me about."
"I know, I was just teasing you." She assured, giving him a quick
kiss.
Ted breathed a sigh of relief. Banishment to the couch averted.
"But I'll expect more self-control out of you next month." Andromeda
warned jokingly.
Right, the women had decided that they were going to have
Christmas dinner together, once again at Potter Manor since it was
the only residence with sufficient room. Ted had quite clearly seen
that Harry wasn't altogether pleased about having his home
appropriated like that, but had consented to keep the women happy.
Aside from the 'you pulled my daughter into a harem' thing, Ted
actually rather liked Harry. He was not above enjoying a bit of
schadenfreude at his expense though.
"Yes, dear." He said back with a grin.
"Good, now get over here and make me feel like a teenager again.
All the sex in the air has had me feeling randy for hours already."
Well, Ted supposed that there were upsides to his daughter's life
choices.
November 24th.
Aurélie woke up with the first light of dawn as always, taking a deep
breath and simply reveling in the satisfaction she felt. Last night had
been more fun than she'd had in decades.
"Good morning." Fleur said softly, having of course woken up at the
same time.
"Morning." She replied just as softly, looking over at their other
bedmates with a frown. "Where did Harry go?"
Aurélie had been looking forward to giving the powerful young wizard
a good morning as well and was a bit miffed by his absence.
"He must have gone running." Fleur said with a small frown of her
own, no doubt having had the same idea.
A wizard that woke up early to exercise? Will wonders never cease.
"What about Nymphadora?" Aurélie asked, looking at the
metamorphmagus wetting her lips. She may not be as powerful as
Harry, but she was still utterly delicious.
But Fleur just shook her head with a wry smile. "She will kick us in
the head if we wake her up this early."
"Shower then?"
"Shower."
The two of them carefully extracted themselves from the bed,
making sure that they didn't wake the other two women sharing it
with them.
A couple of minutes later they were soaping each other up in the
large shower and Aurélie decided to bring up something that had
been on her mind for some time now.
"You have done well for yourself, Fleur." She began. "Three lovers,
all of them a lot more powerful than average… any veela would envy
you."
"It is more than just that." Fleur replied softly. "They are all wonderful
people and I love them."
"But he is not yours." Aurélie stated knowingly.
"No," Fleur admitted with a challenging lift of her chin."but I am his."
Aurélie smiled at her favorite(not that she would admit it)
granddaughter's fierceness. It was not a very veela sentiment that
Fleur had just expressed, but she had experienced what Harry was
like for herself. That was not a wizard that would be bent to another's
will.
Apolline would not be happy if she were to hear this, but then her
middle daughter had always been less of a risk-taker.
And it wasn't like Fleur was some weak-willed ninny, unable to
ensnare a wizard with her charms. Indeed, she had actually become
a most impressive example of a veela over the past couple of years.
Her magic was powerful, her Allure strong and controlled far beyond
anything she'd ever seen.
Aurélie had been both baffled and intrigued when she'd noticed how
her granddaughter was becoming more changed with every visit, but
after last night she understood. Fleur was not merely having her
basic needs met, she was able to gorge herself as much as she
pleased.
Their kind generally had to be content with what they could get while
pretending to be human, plus whatever tidbits they could keep
hidden. Things had been slowly improving for them over the last few
decades, but they would likely never be able to get away with
cultivating large harems the way they would have wanted to. Even if
they had, those harems were generally filled with weaker wizards
rather than specimens as impressive as Harry, Nymphadora and
Luna.
"And are you happy with that?" Aurélie asked.
"Yes." Fleur said firmly. "Harry may not be perfect and it may go
against my instincts to not be focus of attention, but he is worth it, all
three of them are worth it."
Aurélie smiled a bit wistfully at the utter certainty in her
granddaughter's words. Fleur was in love, she had to be in order to
accept a subordinate position in her relationship. That was a luxury
even for humans.
Not long after that, the shower doors opened and Harry stepped in.
"Ladies." He greeted, his skin shining with sweat and looking
magnificent.
"Harry." Both veela greeted in unison and exchanged a look. A silent
agreement was reached and they started washing him.
Aurélie shamelessly exploited the opportunity to fondle. A minute
after thoroughly washing them, she found herself pinned to the
magically cushioned wall of the shower while he pounded into her.
Just like last night, he didn't give her room to do anything except
take his relentless assault, but Aurélie found it hard to complain
when it was this good. His magic seemed to shine even brighter
today.
When he discharged into her, all she could do was gasp as her own
climax was triggered by the influx of powerful magic.
But he did not Join with her like she knew he could, keeping his soul
private and walled off from the grasp of her Allure. Aurélie was glad
of it. Quite a relief really, to not have that bit of unnecessary intimacy
getting in the way of the sex.
Luna and Dora were still fast asleep by the time the three of them
got out of the shower, so they decided to head downstairs and get
some breakfast.
Of course, there were three other mature veela that had also stayed
over…
" Harry, you invited our grandmother to your bed, won't you invite us
too? " The oldest, the one that already had a daughter, purred in
French, invading his personal space quite deeply. The other two
backed up their cousin firmly, also invading his personal space.
Harry considered that logic to be highly suspect, especially in light of
the fact that the trio of veela had hijacked the breakfast that Teeny
had prepared for him.
" Yes, Harry, it truly would be discourteous if you didn't show my
granddaughters the same hospitality you afforded me. " Aurélie said,
not even bothering to hide her amusement.
" Weren't my godfather and two of my employees enough for you? "
He asked, pouring himself a glass of juice. He was quite sure that
said godfather and employees were currently sleeping off the sideeffects of a veela's libido.
" They were alright, but Fleur has told us such outrageous stories
about you. We want to see for ourselves. " Delphine purred, doing
something that could easily be classified as dry humping his leg. All
three were also blasting their Allure at him at max power, not that it
did anything… except maybe turn them on even further when they
saw that he was unaffected.
Harry turned to Fleur with an amused smile on his face. " What do
you think, Fleur? Should I take the time to entertain your cousins?
Are they even worth it? "
While the three veela gasped in exaggerated outrage and turned to
their cousin, practically demanding that they be allowed to show their
skill in the bedroom. Veela were so predictable sometimes, just imply
that their sexual prowess was lacking and they'd become determined
to prove you wrong. Well, if they liked you enough that was.
Fleur listened to the demands with a distinct air smug satisfaction.
Having her cousins drooling all over him was about the equivalent of
having a Ferrari and watching envious family members begging to
take it for a ride.
Of course, Fleur's cousins didn't know what kind of dynamic their
relationship had and Harry was content to let them think that she
was in charge for now. He could practically see Fleur's ego swelling,
which would probably be amusing later.
" Well I suppose I could let you have some fun with my man. " Fleur
said, as if making some great sacrifice. It would have been more
effective if she could stop looking so smug though.
Later.
Harry dumped himself into an armchair with a relieved sigh. Even his
prodigious, rune-enhanced stamina had limits and attempting to
satisfy three veela at once had just about exhausted it, especially
with the brief shower adventure that had preceded it.
"Those veela are really something, huh?" Sirius grinned at him from
his own chair.
"That they are." Harry nodded, privately thinking that Fleur was the
best.
"I wonder if Lucile would agree to another romp." Sirius mused.
Harry's brow briefly furrowed as he tried to remember which one was
Lucile. Judging by context it was the oldest of Fleur's counsin's, the
one that was already a MILF. She'd been the one to sleep with Sirius
at any rate.
"I'd stay away from her if I were you, unless you have some desire to
get married and become a stepfather to a four-year-old veela that I
don't know about." Harry warned with a smirk.
"To get shagged like that every day it'd be almost worth it." Sirius
joked.
"I'd just end up having to fuck another woman because you couldn't
keep up with her." Harry mocked.
"This is my punishment for pranking you in fourth year, isn't it, Lily?"
Sirius asked of the ceiling. "There's no way that your son could grow
up to be such a snarky little bastard without otherworldly influence."
"Keep telling yourself that, Sirius. Keep telling yourself that."
December 2nd.
Harry breathed deeply, his entire focus turned inward. This had to be
done right.
He sought out the spirit fo the wolf that was now part of him. It had
been a painstaking process to get this far, with every step a struggle,
but he finally felt confident that he could control it.
The wolf came to the surface and began to change him, bones and
flesh reforming and while fur grew. It was an unpleasant sensation,
so much more unpleasant and unnatural than an Animagus
transformation.
The more he changed, the stronger the wolf became, but it no longer
tried to overtake him. It took a long minute for his transformation to
reach the halfway point that Ahiga had used to confront him and
Sirius, but Harry kept pushing further. Another minute passed before
Harry dropped to all fours and panted with his tongue hanging out
from his lupine muzzle.
The wolf form was large, much larger than it had been when he had
skinned it, but that was a matter of body mass proportion. Unlike the
Animagus transformation, he was not inverting the state between
man and animal, but forcing the animal form over the man.
Also unlike his raven form, the instincts of the wolf were much more
distinct. The mental aspect of the transformation had been
considerably more challenging than the physical.
"Harry, you're so cute!" Luna squealed and rushed to hug him
around the neck.
Harry was amused by his mate's antics and feeling playful in
response, so he gave the side of her face a massive lick.
Instead of being digusted, Luna merely giggled at the slobber
covering her cheek.
"I guess we can keep him, as long as he doesn't shed hair all over
the house." Dora quipped.
"Or chew on my shoes." Fleur added.
Harry was still feeling playful and loped clumsily over to the two
women. Another difference from the Animagus transformation -the
wolf's instincts being distinct from his own meant that he was as
uncoordinated as a newborn pup.
Dora seemed to guess what he was intending and stepped back.
"Don't you dare." She warned.
But Harry did dare, rising up on his hind legs and toppling her over.
Then, once she was pinned under him, started licking her face, much
to her shouts of protest and disgust.
December 16th.
"What can I do for you, Auror Tonks?" Bonesy asked.
"I would like tender my resignation from the Auror Corps, Ma'am."
Dora said formally, speaking past the lump in her throat.
She didn't really want to quit, but she couldn't stand being an auror
anymore with what she was helping Harry do.
Bonesy looked momentarily surprised before her features smoothed
out again.
"I'd hate to lose someone with as much promise as you, Tonks." She
said carefully. "May I ask what brought this on?"
How was she supposed to answer that? Im sorry, but I can't be an
auror anymore while moonlighting as an accessory to murder,
kidnapping and a bunch of other crimes.
She had insisted on being present every time that Harry interrogated
one of the people he kidnapped. Only once had they snatched
someone that didn't deserve to die. That man had been an
unpleasant bigot, but lacked the nerve to actually act on those
beliefs. Him they had obliviated and returned home, everyone else
they'd caught though…
Dora had never realised how bad this pureblood supremacy
movement was. Even those that hadn't been death eaters were often
guilty of killing or tormenting muggles for fun. They didn't even see
those without magic as people, but more like animals. Worse even,
because at least they didn't hate animals.
Though it had made her uncomfortable, she had agreed with Harry
on the need to remove these people before Voldemort could come
back and make use of them, but having the true depths of their evil
revealed to her, sometimes under Veritaserum and sometimes in
enraged ranting… well, it could change a person. It had certainly
changed her. These pureblood supremacists… there was no point in
pretending that they didn't need to be put down. Most of them were
so brainwashed and deluded that they actually thought of
themselves as heroes for 'purging the muggle filth'.
"A conflict between my personal and professional life, Ma'am." She
finally said.
"I see." Bonesy said simply, giving her a scrutinising look.
Dora resisted the urge to sweat. Knowing that Bonesy knew - or at
least heavily suspected - that Harry was behind the recent string of
disappearances, was deeply disconcerting. Still, the fact that she
wasn't really acting on those suspicions was at least a little bit
reassuring.
"This wouldn't happen to have anything to do with Yaxley, would it?"
Bonesy spoke again after a long few seconds.
Ah, Yaxley, another death eater remnant. That one had been
especially personal because he had been a senior administrator in
the DMLE. It would certainly explain why the Aurors always seemed
to be a step behind the Death Eaters during the war.
Needles to say, Bonesy had been beyond livid when they had
investigated his home for clues about his disappearance and found a
set of Death Eater robes in his closet. Hell, the entire DMLE had
been livid.
Yaxley hadn't actually been dumb enough to keep the robes there,
but several others had been and it had been simple enough to plant
them.
Bonesy's question might sound innocent enough, simply inquiring if
she was quitting out of shame at having worked alongside a death
eater, but the sharp tone of warning in her voice said otherwise. She
was being asked if she was no longer able to keep Harry pointed at
the right people.
"No, Ma'am, I will always uphold the principles of law and order, but
Harry is intending to travel to Egypt in a couple of months and I'm
going with him."
That was perhaps more blatant than she would have liked, but she'd
never been good at subtle wordplay. All this dancing around the
subject was Narcissa's thing.
Bonesy stared at her hard for nearly a full minute, until the only thing
keeping Dora from sweating like a pig was the iron control she was
exerting over her body.
"Very well,Tonks." The DMLE director finally nodded sharply. "Send
me and Scrimgeour a letter of resignation and I'll have you released
from duty."
Dora nodded in relief and nearly ran from the office. As if to say
goodbye one last time, the carpet tripped her up and made her take
a nasty spill on the floor outside the office.
"I'm alright, I meant to do that." She assured the Bonesy's amused
secretary, face burning in embarrassment. She'd thought that her
days as a klutz were behind her now that her Metamorph ability was
more tightly controlled, but that meeting had been so tense that her
relief at having it end had caused enough of a shift to mess up her
balance.
December 25th.
Draco Malfoy had not been having a good time since angrily sending
his mother away. In retrospect, sending away the one person that
could have advised him as he acclimated to life as an adult and head
of the family had not been a good idea, but his pride would not let
him admit that.
So he had muddled through it on his own. His father had never really
gotten the chance to teach him how to manage the family's finances
or various business interests, so those had suffered under his
inexperienced hand.
But things were finally starting to look up for him now. He may have
lost a considerable chunk of money and business to his rivals, but
now he had finally been invited to a meeting of his peers. None of
this mudblood Christmas nonsense that had infected their world
lately either, but a proper Yule celebration.
That celebration was over now and he was ensconced in the parlor
of Lord Avery's manor, along with lords Flint, Rookwood, Bulstrode,
Yaxley and Mulciber.
"Alright, Avery, we're all here, now what did you want to talk about?"
Bulstrode near-demanded.
Draco thought that was rude, but Lord Avery seemed used to it.
"I think you know what I want to talk about." Avery sighed. "People
have been disappearing, our people. Macnair and the Carrow twins
could be written off as coincidence - those three were always weird -
but what about Thaddeus Nott, Edward parkinson and Alexius
Carrrow? Three Lords of noble Houses - an ancient one in the case
of Nott - just vanishing into thin air? And what about all the others
like Thorfinn Rowle, Gibbon and Jugson? All of them had one thing
in common, they were all respectable purebloods."
Draco knew about these disappearances. His old friends, Vincent
Crabbe and Gregory Goyle, had lost their fathers that way, as had
Pansy. Theodore Nott, another housemate from Slytherin, was now
an orphan. Those were the ones he knew, but there were others.
"He's right." Lord Yaxley said grimly. "My nephew, Corban, he
vanished too. And Bones isn't doing a damn thing about it even
though he was a senior administrator in the DMLE."
"Of course she isn't."Lord Rookwood scoffed. "The Aurors found a
set of Death Eater robes and a mask in his home when they went
looking for him. Bones probably raised a drink to whoever did it."
"Those were planted there!" Lord Yaxley said angrily.
Draco thought so too, though he wouldn't be surprised if Corban
Yaxley had indeed been a death eater. In fact, he was fairly certain
that everyone here except him was one. That was why he had been
so pleased to be invited to dine with these great men, who had at
one point been on the front lines of the fight to reclaim their world
from the mudbloods alongside his father.
"It was Potter, wasn't it?" he finally spoke up. Even Speaking that
bastard's name still brought the anger back, even after all this time.
"Had to be." Lord Mulciber said. "Nott opposes his insane werewolf
legislation and vanishes two days before it was to be discussed
again? That couldn't have been a coincidence."
"It's not the only thing either." Lord Bulstrode said with a scowl.
"Potter has Fudge wrapped completely around his finger and has
been using the panic about all these disappearances to get him
passing even more insane policies. A few more years of this and
purebloods will be reduced to begging in the streets, if there's even
any of us still alive by then."
"So what are we going to do about it?" Draco asked eagerly, already
dreaming of revenge against his hated enemy.
"Unfortunately, there isn't much we can do about it." Lord Flint said
darkly. "Potter has Bones, Fudge, the Prophet and the public on his
side. Lucius must have seen this coming and tried to get rid of him
before he became a problem, but we all know how that turned out.
And now he even has Narcissa helping him along."
Draco's clenched his jaw at the mention of his father and mother.
Remembering how his father was murdered still lit a fire in him.
Thinking of his mother also made him mad, but not at her. No, he still
loved his mother and had realised that Potter must have done
something to her. He would free her from that evil bastard's influence
one day.
"There is one thing we could do." Lord Avery said cautiously.
Draco was eager to hear it, but everyone else seemed to already
know.
"You can't be serious." Lord Bulstrode said flatly.
"What choice do we have?" Avery argued. "Do we wait for Potter to
kill us all one by one instead?"
"What are you talking about?" Draco asked.
The other five exchanged grim looks, sighed and nodded.
"We're talking about leaving the country-"
"And let Potter win?!" Draco demanded furiously, surging to his feet.
He was completely incensed by the cowardice.
"Sit down, boy." Avery snapped and glared at Draco until he did so,
then he continued. "We were used to Dumbledore's dawdling and let
Potter get too strong. 'He's just a boy, what can he do?' we thought.
Well now we've got a halfblood with too much power and a head full
of crazy ideas tearing our world down one stone at a time. We tried
fighting Potter indirectly and failed - he has too much support now.
Trying to kill him would be almost like trying to kill Dumbledore - far
too dangerous. What we need is someone that can match him… we
need the Dark Lord."
Draco waited for him to elaborate, but his impatience got the better
of him. "But the Dark Lord is dead."
"As it turns out, he might not be." Rookwood said. "The Dark Lord
would often say that he had traveled further down the path of
immortality than anyone else ever had. We hadn't really figured out
what that meant until we started hearing rumors and whispers of
strange things happening in Albania recently. Stories about a dark
spirit haunting the forests. We think it might be our lord down there,
seeking a way to return to physical form. Even the Dark Mark has
started getting darker again."
Now Draco was almost bouncing in excitement. If the Dark Lord
could be revived, then everything would be put to rights!
"So we're going to search for him?" He asked, barely keeping his
glee contained.
"Yes, but we have to be smart about it." Mulciber cautioned. "With
Nott in Potter's hands, he might know this too and if he catches wind
of us trying to bring the Dark Lord back, he'll probably stop bothering
with subtlety and come after us like an angry dragon. We have to
make him think that we're just running."
"We could set a trap for him." Draco suggested, his jaw clenching at
the thought of hiding from Potter.
"I told you, it's too dangerous." Avery growled. "We have no idea
what kind of magic he has at his command so any trap we set could
just as easily backfire on us."
"What do you suggest then?" Draco asked bitterly.
"The five of us and a few others we plan to recruit, we have
connections on the continent, we can get in touch with people that
would be sympathetic to our cause and give us shelter, but Potter
will no doubt have his eye on us even if he can't get at us anymore.
We'll have to stay far away from Albania, hidden under powerful
wards. But you, Draco, you're young and look like less of a threat
because you've never really done anything to him outside of a few
schoolyard scuffles."
"And let's not forget Narcissa." Flint broke in. "We all know how
much she loved you, still loves you. Her being Potter's mistress will
actually protect you."
Draco ground his teeth together at the unwanted reminder of how his
mother was being defiled. "What do I have to do then?"
Yaxley answered his question, paying no heed to his terse tone.
"First, you'll need to keep going as you were for a while so that it
doesn't look like we left together. You'll receive a letter from an old
business associate of your father's a month or so after we've left.
Invite him to dinner and accept his offer of a business opportunity in
Italy. Stay there for a few months, make it look like you're planning to
transplant the Malfoy family like your ancestor did centuries ago
when he moved from France to Britain. Keep your head down, buy a
house, make friends, get a wife even - Italy is one of the few places
left in the world where you can still find a pureblood witch of good
breeding and it would help your cover. Whatever you do, don't give
Potter any reason at all to turn his attention to you. If your mother
sends you any more letters and you decide to reply, assume that
Potter will read them too, so don't suddenly change your behavior.
Once you've got a routine established, go to Albania and make
contact with the local wizards. There's no Ministry there, but there
are are a few places where you can find magicals. Find our lord and
help him return."
"I'll do it." Draco agreed with barely any time spared for thinking. His
mind was filled with scenes of glorious revenge.
"Good. While you're doing that, we'll be gathering support wherever
we can find it and keeping Potter's eyes off you."
That sounded perfect to Draco and he agreed instantly, determined
to succeed.
"You think he'll succeed?" Mulciber asked.
"Maybe." Avery shrugged. "He won't have to suffer the Dark Lord's
displeasure for leaving him hanging these past fifteen years at least."
"Yes, but we will." Bulstrode scowled.
"We'll have sent Draco to him and we'll provide him with new
recruits." Flint argued. "Surely he'll forgive us?"
"Yes, because our lord was known for his forgiveness." Yaxley said
sarcastically and then sighed. "But it's not like we have much choice.
If we don't do anything Potter is going to run Britain into the ground
with his muggle-loving policies and I don't think he'll give up on killing
us even if we leave the country."
The others slumped at that undeniable truth.
"I suppose we'd better start moving our gold and contacting the
others then." Mulciber sighed.
December 25th. Potter Manor.
"Harry, could I have a word, in private?"
Harry looked at Aurélie in confusion and wondered why there was a
sudden dread in his heart. This wasn't another sexual proposition, he
was sure of it. The senior veela was dead serious, not flirty. That
couldn't be good.
The Christmas get-together had been a bit too social for his liking but
not terribly painful. As far as pseudo in-laws went, the ones that
came along with Dora and Fleur were easy enough to get along with.
What then, could be the cause of this unreasonable dread?
"Alright, follow me to my study." He said.
"You may want to include your ladies as well." Aurélie suggested.
Now Harry was even more baffled and worried, but he agreed to do
so.
A few minutes later, his trio of girlfriend joined them in the study,
looking at Aurélie expectantly, who took a deep breath and dropped
the bomb.
"I am pregnant."
There was a dumbstruck silence that felt like the longest five
seconds of Harry's life.
"And I'm…?" Was all he managed to croak out. He'd already broken
into cold sweat.
"Well I admit that I did sleep with a couple of other wizards lately, but
you are the only one likely to have gotten me pregnant." Aurélie
confirmed with an amused smile. "You are fortunate that the other
three of my granddaughters you slept with were on the potion, or
they might have been here with me right now, delivering similar
news."
Another silence ensued, shorter this time.
Fleur broke it by shrieking happily and jabbering congratulation at
her grandmother in French. Harry was still far too stunned to really
register what was being said.
"You've really gone and done it now, Harry." Dora said wryly, then
shook her head and sighed. "I guess it was bound to happen
eventually."
Harry couldn't respond with anything other than a blank stare as his
mind helpfully replayed every bit of information he had on veela
reproduction. Sperm count and strength were irrelevant, only the
magic mattered. Contraception spells were useless, only a veelaspecific potion could prevent them from getting pregnant. Veela
became fertile somewhere in their mid to late teens and reached
peak fertility in their early twenties, after which it started dropping off,
but never completely vanished because they did not ovulate or
menstruate, nor did they go through menopause. That was the
theory anyway since veela fertility wasn't something that worked on
measurable scientific principles, but observations supported it. He
had speculated on how much of a factor the magical power of the
father played in the chances of conception, but had no hard data
from which to draw any conclusions.
Harry hadn't for a moment considered that a sixty-seven-year-old
veela would still be able to get pregnant. They had enough trouble
conceiving when they were young. Even if that was with wizards far
weaker than him, surely his power couldn't compensate for that
much? Apparently it could.
"What will this make me?" Luna wondered.
"What do you mean?" Dora asked, puzzled.
"In relation to the baby, what will it make me?" Luna elaborated. "Am
I going to be an aunt? Cousin? Mother-in-law? Aunt-in-law? Niecein-law?"
"Erm… I don't think you'll be related to it at all?"
"Oh." Luna sounded disappointed, Harry dimly registered.
The two veela ceased their rapid and enthusiastic French
conversation and turned back to the others
"Harry," She began gently. "you don't have to worry about acting as a
father or providing financial support. I may be getting a bit old to be a
mother, but I could easily live for another forty, fifty or even sixty
years and I have enough gold to be comfortable. In truth, I would like
to thank you for this gift, unintentional and unexpected though it was.
I hadn't thought to be blessed with a fourth daughter."
Harry could only nod, unable to articulate properly just yet. Aurélie's
assurances that he didn't have to be a father to the baby made him
feel as if he'd just dodged an avalanche. Financial support he would
have been fine with and would provide gladly if she ever asked, but
being a father? No way. He had stuff he wanted to do and stuff he
had to do, stuff that children did not go with. They made him
spectacularly uncomfortable as it was.
"Can we visit Harry's daughter once she's born?" Luna asked
hopefully.
"We will visit." Fleur said firmly before Aurélie could answer. "I want
to be part of my new aunt's life."
Harry did not want anything of the sort. He was still in full 'dodge any
and all responsibility' mode. Unfortunately, there was simply no good
way to tell your girlfriend that you didn't want to visit the baby you put
in her grandmother. Had anyone in the history of ever needed to say
such a thing?
"Of course you can visit." Aurélie assured. "I would be very happy if
you did in fact, but there is something you need to be aware of."
"What?" Harry managed to ask, though it came out far more nervous
than he would have liked.
"As you might imagine, a veela getting pregnant at my age is not a
common event. Unheard of actually. There was quite an uproar
when the healers found out. I have them sworn to silence for the
moment, but the news will get out once I start showing . We spoke to
several people about our visit here last month and it will not take
long to connect the dots. Your reputation as a powerful wizard will
also work against you here, as you are the most obvious candidate
to have fathered my baby and I doubt Fleur's counsin's will stay quiet
about it in any case."
"What are you saying?" Harry asked, his previous dread coming
back.
"There are other older veela out there that would love to have more
daughters but are unable to conceive anymore with average wizards,
as well as younger ones who either have trouble conceiving at all or
will simply be drawn to a wizard powerful enough to impregnate a
veela my age." She explained bluntly. "I am sorry, Harry, but in a
year from now at most, every veela in the world will know that you
are prime breeding material. They will descend on you in droves.
They will attempt to seduce, bribe or persuade you to sleep with
them for whatever reason. They may even seek to supplant Fleur,
join your little harem in their own right or perhaps simply have a one
night stand with you for the thrill."
Harry sank into the nearest chair, wondering at how fucked a person
could be. The unintentional pun almost made him snort. He took a
deep breath and shoved the confusing tangle of emotions to the
back of his mind.
"Well, fuck." He said succintly.
"Surely they would not be so blatant?" Fleur asked in surprise and
some alarm. "There have been powerful wizards before and they did
not have veela hounding them like you described."
"Times have changed. Veela are more accepted now than we have
ever been and it is no longer as dangerous to pursue someone as it
was even a few decades ago. Moreover, the fact that you are one of
his lovers and that he has already gotten me pregnant will be
enough to assure most of them that there is no danger in
approaching him."
"And the werewolf legislation he pushed through the British
Wizengamot recently will have also reinforced his image of nondiscrimination." Fleur groaned. "You are right, they will be all over
him."
"And what are we supposed to do about this mess?" Dora asked,
sounding severely exasperated. Harry couldn't blame her. At this
point even he was wondering if he was worth the bother.
"I do not know what to tell you." Aurélie shrugged apologetically.
"You could send a message of blanket refusal to the communes, but
I doubt it will have much effect. You could also set aside a certain
amount of time every week to entertain them. It would impose some
order on the situation, but I can understand why you might not be
comfortable with that."
Yes, that would be quite uncomfortable. Having a constant stream of
beautiful women wanting to hop into bed with him was one thing, but
this sounded like it would get tiresome real fast. Shit, it was already
tiresome and it hadn't even happened yet. And that wasn't even
mentioning his unwillingness to be a sperm donor for every veela
looking to get pregnant.
He could think of one course of action that would prevent this thing
from blowing up, but he wasn't going to mention it. Judging by
Aurélie's words so far, she would never agree to have an abortion
and it would only serve to piss Fleur off if he suggested it.
"You said a year before it gets out?" He asked instead.
"A year at most." Aurélie corrected. "I will start showing in a month or
two. The news will start spreading then and it is anyone's guess how
long it takes before all of us know it. It will likely be closer to six
months than a year."
"Right. Well, I suppose if worst comes to worst we can just move to
Black Island permanently." Harry sighed.
Putting the manor under Fidelius was another option, but not really a
feasible one. Not only would the spell be iffy to cast given the
number of people that had already been over, but the Fidelius also
had two serious weaknesses. The first was that the Secret Keeper
could not stay within the secret for more than a couple of hours at a
time without breaking the spell and the second was that the Secret
Giver had to trust the Secret Keeper before he could pass on the
secret. Seeing as the only people he trusted enough to hand such a
secret to were Luna, Fleur and Dora, the Fidelius was not viable.
"I am sorry for the inconvenience this will cause you." Aurélie
apologised, though it didn't come off entirely sincere thanks to the
smile on her face.
"It's fine." Harry sighed. "Dora was right earlier - it was bound to
happen eventually. Having hordes of beautiful women after my
sauce is admittedly an unusual consequence, but it's hardly the first
time something blew up in my face. Sirius is never going to let me
hear the end of it though."
January 2nd. Hogwarts, Headmaster's office.
"Good afternoon, Alastor." Albus greeted his visitor. "What do you
have for me?"
"Nothing." The man most commonly known as Mad-Eye Moody
grunted.
"Nothing?" Albus blinked.
"Nothing." Alastor confirmed as he dumped himself into a chair.
"Could you perhaps elaborate?" Albus prompted.
"Not much to elaborate on." The scarred and maimed wizard
growled. "You asked me to look into all these disappearing death
eaters-"
"We don't know that they are death eaters." Albus interjected.
Alastor gave him a look that conveyed his disagreement - and
possibly profanity - before continuing as if he had not been
interrupted. "I looked into it and I didn't find a damn thing. I talked to
Amelia and her boys didn't find anything either; no spell traces, no
physical evidence, no witnesses, no reports of anyone acting
suspiciously beforehand, nothing at all to go on. The best they got
was some spell residue that was too decayed to be useful.
Whoever's doing this is good, damn good, and they must have some
way of collecting information without drawing suspicion too, they'd
have to if they wanted to snatch some of the people they did."
"Thank you, Alastor." Albus said, nodding thoughtfully.
Moody nodded at the dismissal and left, leaving the ancient
headmaster alone with his thoughts.
He was deeply troubled by recent events. They reminded him
sharply of what had been happening prior to the outbreak of the war
against Voldemort. Tom had also been adept at making people
disappear without a trace.
But it could not be Tom this time. His old student may not be entirely
sane anymore, but he would not have returned from death only to
start destroying his own power base.
Albus did not like the thought that Harry Potter was the most likely
person to be behind this. He was only sixteen, still a boy that should
be enjoying his youth. There was no proof that it was him, but there
was no denying that Harry had profited greatly from the
disappearances. Not so much in gold as in political clout, especially
as most of his political opposition among the most traditionalist
families had recently packed up and left the country. Then there was
the fact that young Nymphadora had recently left the Auror Corps,
Alastor had been quite put out about that, but Albus wondered if
Harry had something to do with it.
And he couldn't forget that Harry also knew the prophecy… was it
possible that he was trying to undermine it? Albus couldn't tell. There
was simply no proof .
He wanted to believe that Harry had nothing to do with it. The lad
had - in spite of his stated indifference - used his power and
influence to do good so far. The improved werewolf legislation would
do much to keep all but the worst of the werewolves away from
Voldemort.
He had done other things too, smaller things. Albus may not approve
of how Harry was manipulating Fudge, but he couldn't say that any
of it was harmful the way that Lucius Malfoy's manipulations had
been. Anyone with eyes to see could tell that Fudge's recent,
uncharacteristic competence was due to Harry's whispered
suggestions and sometimes overt support. The current minister was
enjoying a very high popularity these days thanks to that association,
which only made him ever more dependent on Harry.
It didn't add up. Albus didn't think that Harry had lied when he'd said
that he didn't care for politics, everything else that he knew about the
lad supported that assertion, so this maneuvering was out of
character for him. Why was he doing it?
And where was Voldemort? Albus had been sure that he would have
acted by now, his reappearance during Harry's first year seemed to
portend that the prophecy was moving towards resolution now that
the Dark Lord's fated enemy had returned to the magical world, but
then things had quieted down again. Was Voldemort even capable of
acting? He didn't really know how much freedom of action a
disembodied spirit held in this world by Horcruxes had.
So many unanswered questions… Albus was used to being the one
with the answers, not the questions. Ever since Harry had left
Hogwarts it seemed like events were bypassing him and he didn't
much care for it. How was he supposed to prepare for Voldemort's
return when he was lacking critical information?
January 10th. Ymer Island, Ravenhead.
Edward Parkinson had no idea what day it was or how long he'd
been here, having no means by which to measure time. He didn't
even know where 'here' was . All he knew was that he'd gone
horseback riding as he did every Saturday - a somewhat eccentric
hobby for a proper pureblood, he knew, but he hadn't let that stop
him from enjoying it - and the next thing he knew, he was waking up
in a prison cell.
It wasn't bad, as far as prison cells went, much better than Azkaban
to be sure. It was made entirely of smooth, dark stone and was
neither too cold nor too hot. He had a a raised stone rectangle with
permanent cushioning charms weaved into it and a bedroll on top of
it to sleep on. He also had a sink that provided all the water he
wanted and there was a magical toilet in a sectioned off area so at
least he didn't have to do his business in full view of his fellow
prisoners. Meals were delivered regularly and they were more than
just bread and water as he'd half-expected. He even had a working
shower to wash himself in.
All in all, it was fairly comfortable, if lacking in entertainment aside
from talking to the other captives. Nothing compared to the luxuries
he was used to, but honestly better than he'd feared when first
waking up.
Potter was apparently not interested in being cruel, but he wasn't
interested in being kind either. In fact, Edward got the feeling that
Potter found this entire exercise of abducting people and bringing
them to wherever this place was to be quite tedious. It was a
disquieting feeling, to be thought of as a mere nuisance.
He would have wondered why the young wizard was even doing it if
he hadn't been able to glean from the interrogation he received soon
after waking up in captivity that the Dark Lord was still alive
somehow and that Potter was acting to weaken him.
That had been a shock, and not a particularly pleasant one either.
Edward had been sure that the Dark Lord was dead and had been
glad of it. However much he hated the muggles and mudbloods, it
had quickly become clear that Voldemort was not any better for their
world than that filth. Maybe that was why he'd never made it into the
Inner Circle.
The certainty that joining the Death Eaters had been a bad idea had
once again been reinforced by Potter. The Dark Lord had been a
cruel master and now Potter was a ruthless enemy, for no other
reason than that association.
Edward once again cursed the youthful foolishness that had led him
to this situation, caught in the middle of a power struggle between
two wizards that could squash him like a bug… At least his wife and
daughter were safe, Potter was at least not as indiscriminate and
monstrous as the Dark Lord… or was that just the effect of his
women? Edward briefly considered what the Dark Lord would have
been like if he had a woman or two to keep him company and
snorted in laughter. The only woman crazy enough to get near
Voldemort would be Bellatrix and that lunatic would only serve to
make him more monstrous rather than less.
"What's so funny, Parkinson?" Alexius Carrow demanded from his
own cell.
"Nothing, just a thought I had." Edward sighed, garnering a scoff
from the other man.
Carrow was taking his imprisonment much less calmly than him and
was constantly looking for an excuse to start an argument. Edward
supposed that he would be feeling upset too if he'd lost an ear and
two fingers during Potter's interrogation like Carrow had.
"Was it a thought about how we're going to escape?" one of the
other prisoners asked sarcastically.
Edward sighed again. Escape… that would be quite a trick. They
had no wands and no idea what Potter had done with them, the cell
was solid stone, the bars thick steel, wards prevented any Apparition
or Portkeys… If there was any way to escape from this place, he
couldn't think of it.
The other continued debating ideas about how to escape, all of them
quite unrealistic. Some even thought that the Dark Lord would come
to save them, the news of his continued existence having spread.
Edward didn't participate in those discussions. He'd once been
hopeful about escape or rescue too, but seeing Potter take people
out of their cells and never returning them made him doubt that any
of them would ever be tasting freedom again.
The grind of stone on stone imposed an abrupt, heavy silence on the
room. That sound heralded Potter's arrival and for all of their
bravado and pride, none of them wanted to draw the powerful young
wizard's attention. Edward was uncomfortably reminded of the
change in atmosphere when Voldemort entered a room.
Potter's footsteps seemed to echo like thunder through the room,
though realistically the sound was nothing impressive. It was the
promise of another one of them being led off to die that made them
loud.
All of them waited tensely as he walked past them, frozen like
frightened deer, too afraid to move for fear of drawing attention.
Edward tensed fearfully when Potter stopped in front of his cell and
give him a considering look. Then he sighed in relief when those
unnerving green eyes turned away and landed on Alexius.
"Carrow, today is your day I think." Potter said.
"You'll pay for this, Potter!" Carrow suddenly screamed, flinging
himself at the bars.
The once powerful lord now looked half-mad, his eyes wide and wild.
"The Dark Lord will destroy you!" Carrow continued screaming.
"Maybe." Potter allowed, clearly unimpressed. "I won't say it's
impossible for Voldemort to win in the end despite everything I'm
doing, but you won't be around to see it."
Then he sent a stunner at Carrow, sending him unconscious to the
ground.
A quick transfiguration opened a hole in the bard and Potter levitated
the unconscious wizard out, leaving the dungeon without another
word.
Edward took a seat on the block of stone that acted as his bed in this
place and put his head in his hands, trying to calm his racing heart.
He wasn't sure how much more of this he could take.
Later. Ravenhead Spire.
Carrow hadn't died well, Harry thought, not that it was much of a
surprise. Privilege, snobbery and an unwarranted sense of
superiority rarely made for a strong spine. At least his death had
been useful, he was getting better at directing the magical discharge
of unwilling sacrifice. He already had some new ideas for tweaks that
could be made to the ritual circle that would prevent the energy from
lashing out unpredictably. Hopefully he wouldn't need more than two
or three more attempts to get it just right, he had a limited supply of
victims after all.
Amelia Bones had recently used her now well-staffed, well-trained,
and well-equiped DMLE to conduct a raid on Knocturne Alley and
clean out a lot of the illegal activity going on there, leading to quite a
few people being given free housing in Azkaban. That was good for
Magical Britain and slightly inconvenient for Harry. A lot of the people
he had in his dungeons had liked hanging around Knockturne Alley
after all. Carrow, for example, had been snatched as he was
performing one of his twice weekly visits to the brothel down there.
Given his position, you'd think that the slimy bastard would have had
a mistress or two to cater to those needs, but he had apparently
developed a liking for one of the whores working there. The funny
part was that this particular whore was a muggleborn. Carrow
couldn't even keep his own prejudices consistent.
It was unfortunate that aside from Nott, Parkinson and Carrow, none
of the other problematic lords had displayed any easily exploited
habits. Their manors were warded too well for him to break through
without alerting them, so he couldn't just break in whenever he
pleased.
Etal could slip through the wards as if they weren't there, the peculiar
magical properties of a quetzalcoatl allowing him to remain
undetected. The Anti-Portkey Ward prevented them from abusing the
shit out of that unfortunately and the quetzalcoatl was far too
recognisable anyway. If anyone saw him then it would be game over.
It was a moot point now anyway. His targets had scattered all over
Europe, setting themselves up in places where it would be
problematic to abduct them. The two that had gone to Durmstrang
and suddenly taken up teaching especially.
He was surprised that none of them had gone to Albania. Before
dying, Nott had squealed about the rumors and suspicions that he
and his friends had about Voldemort hanging around Albania. Maybe
he had underestimated how relieved they were to have their master
gone?
Harry wished that he could do something about Voldemort directly,
but no magic that he knew would be able to contain a wandering
spirit. If he went to Albania himself, the only thing he would achieve
would be to alert his enemy and perhaps spur him to action. He had
no choice but to leave him be.
Truthfully, now that Voldemort's minions had made a run for it, he
was at a bit of a loss as to what to do. The remaining Horcruxes
remained elusive, with his only possible lead being Bellatrix, to
whom he couldn't get through official channels because visits to
maximum security prisoners had a mandatory Auror presence.
Frustratingly, Sirius' escape from Azkaban via Animagus
transformation had spurred the Ministry to add addition protections to
the island that would block any repeats of that stunt. His own raven
transformation would have been perfect for infiltrating the place
stealthily.
He would have still risked it if only he could be sure that any potential
Horcrux in Bellatrix's keeping was the last one. It wouldn't matter
what the Ministry knew if that were the case.
Would be nice if Dumbledore did something too. He thought with a
scowl before shaking it off.
From what he could tell about the old wizard's movements, which
was admittedly not much, Dumbledore was mostly snooping after
him rather than Voldemort. And he was slower than dripping honey
in winter about even that. He could have been an Ent in Lord of the
Rings with how slow he was, they could even call him Slowbeard.
Slowbeard they call me, because it takes me at least three months to
react to anything. He snorted at the thought.
Harry had a sense that things were coming to a head, and that the
days of going unchallenged were running out.
There was still at least a month and a half before they could head off
to Egypt. Being the principal force behind Magical Britain's new
werewolf legislation meant that he had to stay and get everything
running and that took time. At least Lupin would finally be useful for
something, being both a werewolf and a good organiser that could
be relied on to not do anything egregiously stupid.
The communication mirror business had also taken off and been an
immediate success. That was another venture that took up - and
would continue to take up - enough time that he couldn't just leave
the country yet.
The timing was actually pretty lucky, as they would likely be in Egypt
when the shitstorm with Fleur's pregnant grandmother broke out. He
was still having trouble reconciling the fact that he'd gotten a woman
pregnant, even if it was a veela.
Maybe he would get lucky in Egypt too and find some ancient spell
or ritual to deal with disembodied spirits? They had been big on
Necromancy after all. That would be terribly convenient but Harry
didn't hold out much hope for it.
The grind of stone on stone interrupted his thoughts and Harry
smiled as he sensed Luna's familiar aura.
The petite blonde hurried over to him and burrowed under his coat,
jamming her cold hands against his skin.
"Brrr," She said with a shiver. "Why do you have the Windbreaker
disabled?"
"Standing on top of a tower just isn't the same without the wind."
Harry replied, amused.
"But you've been up here for hours." Luna pouted up at him. "Aren't
you cold?"
Harry blinked. Had it really been that long? He'd come here after
sacrificing Carrow, finding this open space to be more conducive to
shaking off the grasping reach of the Void than his gloomy laboratory
below, but he must have really gotten lost in thought.
Instead of answering, Harry drew on what Light he could reach here.
It was winter in the Arctic Circle, which meant essentially permanent
night, but there were always the stars.
Luna sighed happily as his body and magic heated up the air around
him and rubbed her face against his chest.
"Better?" He asked, petting her hair and exerting iron control over
the sudden impulse to fuck her raw on the spot. Light was so much
more troublesome than Dark, but at least its side-effects were shortterm and obvious. Etal liked it too, though he wasn't sure if that was
just him being a snake and liking it warm or some quetzalcoatl
instinct that he couldn't articulate properly.
"Much." Luna chirped and then giggled. "But I think we woke up
Pokey the Impregnator."
Harry groaned in despair. Luna, Fleur and Dora had saddled his
penis with that nickname in the wake of him getting Fleur's
grandmother pregnant, the giggly wenches.
He supposed it could be worse. They could have been pissed
instead of amused. It was honestly the only reason he wasn't more
annoyed by the ridiculous nickname.
"No, you woke him." Harry said sternly. "Now you get to put him back
to sleep."
Luna squealed with laughter as he tossed her over his shoulder and
made his way back into the tower, to the rarely used bedroom he
had installed into it.
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