20 Chapter 19

Harry finally had no projects to complete in any hurry, so he started falling into a routine of training in the Room, sitting in on study sessions with the study groups, planning out his new ship's layout and new additions, and playing with the idea of the long distance sensor. The rest of the time, he was thinking of his plans for the basilisk.

Harry had already discovered his way of avoiding eye-contact with the basilisk. X-ray goggles. He'd simply add the spell to his sunglasses and he wouldn't be able to see the thing's eyes. He was waiting for a good time, though. Since he was no Parselmouth, he'd need to use brute force, or so he thought, until he remembered opening the doors in the past. He might not remember what he had said, but he remembered saying it. He tried out the theory, by making an illusion of himself saying it, and was happily surprised to see the illusion speaking in the sibilant language.

Now that he had his plan reasonably well thought out, he just needed to get Daniels to join him and go on the hunt. Madam Maxime would be disappointed, but Harry didn't want to risk the headmistress getting hurt. She'd have to settle for the recording he planned on making.

By the time the next weekend rolled around, Harry had called Daniels and went to fetch the man. Daniels was a bundle of excitement. "How are we doing this?" he asked as they entered the second floor girls bathroom.

"We'll be asking a lady to join us." Harry said. "Oh, Myrtle?" he called.

"What do you want?" the wailing ghost whined.

"Do you remember seeing big yellow eyes just before you died?" Harry asked.

"It's hard to forget the day you died." Myrtle agreed. "How do you know that?"

"We're about to go kill your murderer." Harry said. "Do you want to see it die?"

"Really?" the girl asked, her face showing shock.

"That's the idea." Harry agreed. "But you'll have to remember not to look at the eyes again, or you'll be petrified, okay?"

"Okay." the ghost promised.

"And remember to be quiet. We don't want the thing to try and attack us, before we're ready." Harry requested.

She nodded again, and Harry nodded back, before his illusion appeared and spoke, making the opening for the chamber of secrets appear. Harry flew them down the sewer pipe, with Myrtle floating along behind them, and they stopped to look at the moulted skins laying in the chamber outside the chamber proper. Daniels reached into a pocket and withdrew a large bag, before summoning the skin into the bag. Harry gave him a look.

"What?" Daniels asked. "This is valuable stuff. It does nobody any good, just laying here."

"How deep is that bag?" Harry asked instead.

"Big enough for this and a seventy foot snake corpse." Daniels admitted. "We'll be stripping the thing down and keeping the skeleton as decoration for one of the resorts. The potions ingredients for basilisks are a controlled substance, so we'll have to go through third-party resellers to sell what we don't want to keep."

"Keep some of the venom for me." Harry suggested. "I've got an idea of a use for that."

"Sure thing, Mister Black." Daniels agreed easily as he stuffed the large bag into his pocket again.

Harry moved forward and opened the last door and soon they came face to face with the sculpture of Slytherin.

"Here." Harry said, passing the x-ray specs to Daniels.

Daniels knew the plan and quickly donned the glasses. "Are you ready?" he asked Harry.

"I'll leave it to you in the beginning." Harry said. "Just let me know if you need help."

"You're leaving it to me?" Daniels asked.

"If I manipulate my lightsaber, I can easily kill the thing with one hit, directly to the brain." Harry explained. "I did invite you to help, though, so I don't want you to be bored."

"That's mighty decent of you, Sir." Daniels said with a wolfish grin.

"My pleasure." Harry said, before making the illusion of Tom Riddle to open the mouth for the snake to come out. Harry kept the illusion up, waiting for the snake to attack. As had happened before, the snake exited the mouth and slithered onto the path. That's when the illusion finally ended. The creature seemed confused, until it saw the large man rushing at it.

This was its den, and it would not allow interlopers. Not with the master having been absent for so long, so it attacked.

Daniels enjoyed the fight, dodging attacks and strikes, using his own lightsaber to strike glancing blows and to see how the snake moved, until he was ready. It was actually quite interesting watching the snake move, since its posture and movements were quite easy to follow by watching its skeleton. The snake lunged a final time and he jumped up and over the head, driving his lightsaber down into the dead centre of the skull. The snake writhed and thrashed for a good couple of minutes as it went through its death-rattle, before it finally lay dead still.

"Well, Myrtle?" Harry asked looking back at the girl. "Myrtle?" the ghost just hung there staring open-mouthed at the giant snake and the one that killed it.

Harry had started wondering if she had looked at its eyes, but then a smile appeared and she sighed out, "Thank you," before starting to vanish slowly as she rose up, her spiritual form seeming to gain some colour before she vanished completely.

"Huh." Harry said. "Do you think she moved on?" he asked Daniels, who was already stuffing the giant head of the snake into the similarly giant bag.

"Don't care." Daniels said. "Come help me with this, will you? The snake is heavier than I thought."

"Right, sorry." Harry said as he went to assist. Harry ended up lifting the snake's body, while Daniels held the bag and it slipped right in. "There you go." Harry said. "Let's get out of here." he suggested.

Daniels nodded to Harry and they left the chamber.

That evening, during dinner, a sheet of white cloth unfurled behind the dining teachers as they ate dinner and the students looked up. Some whispering started around the hall until a voice was heard, from the speakers Harry had hidden next to the cloth, and an image appeared. Harry focussed on the candles around the hall and snuffed them until it was dark.

Harry had edited the recording, which was made from both his own sight, and recording discs which had followed both him and Daniels around. Certain parts of the conversation, like mention of wandless magic for example, had been edited out. It followed them as they went into the girls' bathroom. Harry had cheated a bit and recorded an illusion of things being done differently, not wanting to reveal that he had used an illusion of using Parseltongue. He'd simply made it look like he had forced the opening to appear by brute strength.

Moaning Myrtle's appearance and agreement to follow, left Dumbledore to worry. The giant skins were even more worrying. The students gasped at the sight of the giant ancient Basilisk. Harry had needed to record an illusion of that fight, making it as close to the original as he could, but adding blacked out spots where the eyes were, so that people didn't worry about the recording killing them.

The recording ended when Myrtle vanished.

Then Harry appeared, sitting by a desk, with Daniels standing behind him, the hilt of his wolf-head-pommeled Lightsaber clearly visible. "Good evening ladies and gentlemen." the Harry on the screen started, with a smile on his face. "What you just saw was a recording, slightly modified for your protection, of the head of security for Marauders Inc. taking down the monster inside the Chamber of Secrets.

"It was the same monster that killed Myrtle Elizabeth Warren when the chamber was first opened in 1943 by Tom Riddle. As you saw in the recording, Myrtle seems to have found peace, knowing her murderer has finally been brought to justice. Ladies, please feel free to use that bathroom again. That is all." Harry finished as the recording ended and the real Harry relit the candles around the room and went back to his dinner.

There was stunned silence and everyone turned to Harry. He looked up with a mouth full of mashed potatoes. "Wha'?" he asked past the food.

There were some snickers and then a loud applause broke out. As people congratulated him on the victory. Harry then pointed out that Daniels had done the work. All he'd done is take the wolf to the chamber. Nobody doubted Harry could have done it, with how calmly he had stood on the other side of the chamber. His own lightsaber was in his hand at the time, and people had seen him using it a time or two.

"Why did you not slay ze beast?" Fleur asked.

"Do I look like I need more attention?" Harry asked. "I already get all the attention I could want."

"But you don't deny zat you could have killed it?" Fleur asked.

"Harry could kill it and probably fight a dark lord at the same time, with his hands tied behind his back." Neville scoffed.

"Blindfolded." Hermione added.

"While eating dinner." Ron added.

"What is it with you and food?" Hermione asked, turning to Ron.

"I like eating." Ron said with a shrug. He really did.

"I'll not dignify that with a response." Harry said. He'd not even dignify the thought by pondering the possibility. Chances were, he could figure out how to do all that, but didn't want to consider it. It would probably also be best to discourage these kinds of thoughts.

The professors were having a discussion about the implications of the revelation, but Snape was already on his way down to the boy. "Black." he said. "We need to harvest that creature. It's worth a fortune."

"Daniels already took it to have it harvested." Harry said.

"But, what about the school?" Snape asked, a little disgruntled.

"Did the Headmaster not increase your budget recently?" Harry asked looking over at the man. "I did set up a payment plan and everything. He's not hiding the money away is he?"

"No. He's increased the budget, but…" Snape trailed off.

"You want some of those parts don't you?" Harry asked with a bit of a smirk. "You'll have to speak to Daniels. It's his kill. The proceeds will likely go to the security team's budget for expansion and equipment, so if you want them, you'll have to pay for them. Sorry."

"Don't you get part of the proceeds?" Snape tried.

"The security force works for Marauders Inc." Harry said. "With that, it's all going into my pocket, in an indirect way."

Snape stewed for a moment. "I'll be sending you a list. Get me a discount, at least." he finally said, before he turned and walked back to the head table.

"Why do you always have to do strange things?" Hermione asked, again.

"Hey, at least you can't complain that I went down there unprepared or without help." Harry pointed out.

"There is that." Hermione allowed.

Harry had finally taken the time to use Hermione's contracts and had started teaching both Fleur and Victor the wandless magic he had been teaching his friends. They took to the instruction with vigour, but they had to start focusing on their own preparations for the second task as well, seeing as how they couldn't use these skills in public. They would later be able to take advantage of it, perhaps during the third task, when they could hide the skills better, but until then, they'd have to rely on their other skills.

The group had been seeing a lot more of Fleur, and Harry had spotted the girls talking with Fleur privately a time or two, but when she started sitting with the group at most every meal, Harry knew something was up, but he was leaving it to them to tell him what had changed. That evening, as it so happened, was that time.

Harry was sitting in his favourite armchair, reading a book on detection magics, how they theoretically functioned and what they did or allowed one to do, when Hermione sat down in front of him. "Harry, we need to discuss something." she said.

Harry looked up and realised the common room was empty, except for him and her. "Sure, how can I help?" Harry asked, switching off the display to his personal Library Interface.

"What do you think of Fleur?" Hermione asked, instead of answering.

"She's pretty, intelligent and funny, when she's not hung up on her insecurities." Harry said. "Why?"

"Insecurities?" Hermione asked. She'd not picked up on that. She'd not picked up on the funny, either, but that didn't mean she wasn't different in private. She tended to act differently when it was just Harry and herself, too.

"That's private." Harry said. "If you didn't notice, it's because she's trying to hide them."

Hermione sighed. If Harry knew something about her that she, herself, didn't want to get out, she'd appreciate this level of discretion. "Okay, so, the thing is… She wants to join us." she finally blurted.

"She's already sitting at our table during meals and studying in the library." Harry said.

"No, I mean us, us." she said, pointing between the two of them. "She wants to be able to claim that she's one of your girlfriends."

"Sure." Harry said. "Was that it?" he asked.

"Just like that?" Hermione asked, slightly affronted. This was difficult for her. His easy acceptance hurt her, because it seemed like he didn't care as much as he should.

"She wants to claim it, right? Not be one, but have the same protection?" Harry clarified. "I'm not opposed to people having my protection, Hermione. That's why I started the plan in the first place. What I feel for you girls and who we say I'm involved with don't have to be mutually exclusive."

Hermione felt better after that. "That sounds right." she said. "You'll likely have to start being more familiar with her, but nothing more than we normally do in public."

Harry smiled at her and reached forward to pull her into his lap as he sat back, and she blushed as he put his arms around her. "Not like this, then?" he asked over her shoulder, as he held her around the middle.

"No." she said back as Harry kissed her on the neck, softly. "Definitely not like this." she breathed, bending her head away, to give him better access and closing her eyes as she did so. Harry held her for another moment tightening his grip just a little, before he let her go. She didn't move however. Instead she sat back against him. "That felt very nice." she finally said.

"To me too." Harry said. "But I'm afraid you'll have to get up, before this goes any further. I'm finding you a little hard to resist, just now." He'd had to shove his emotions aside and was speaking very emotionlessly. Hermione felt very good in his arms, though.

"Maybe," Hermione breathed and swallowed nervously, "maybe it's not such a bad thing. I love you, Harry. I like it when you show me you care. We're almost never close like this." she turned herself to the side and brought their faces together, kissing him deeply.

Harry's control was being tested heavily, and his one hand held her flat belly, while the other moved over her hip and ran down her leg to the lower thigh. When the kiss finally broke, Harry said, "Hermione, you're really making it difficult for me to control myself." He squeezed her leg for emphasis.

Hermione swallowed again as she considered what she was feeling, before she finally nodded and slipped from his lap. "Sorry." she said, before turning to leave, but Harry got up quickly and pulled her back in for another passionate kiss.

"Don't ever say sorry for showing me how you feel for me." Harry said sternly after the kiss broke again. "It's not something I'm ashamed of, and neither should you be."

"Okay." she said as he hugged her.

"One day, when we're older, we'll be able to show each other more affection, but that day is not today." Harry said. "You understand, right?"

"We're still young, and maybe a bit emotional." Hermione confirmed. "I still like it." she admitted.

"We can do that again sometime, as long as the rest of the group is there to pull us away from each other, if we get too hot and heavy." Harry said. For emphasis, he slapped her ass lightly.

"Hey!" Hermione objected, even as she smiled. "Don't take liberties, now that you've had a taste!"

"Can't blame a bloke for wanting to touch that perfect posterior." he smirked after her. She laughed, but continued on her way.

Harry smiled. He was glad that hadn't gone further, intellectually at least. He'd still need a cold shower.

He sighed then, recognizing the situation for what it was and walked to the infirmary, to get the calming potion McGonagall had suggested a while back. Harry was keeping his emotions under control, as he asked his Aunty Poppy for the potion and she smiled knowingly at him.

"I'm very proud of you, for realising that you need it, and coming to me." Poppy said. "There is nothing wrong with showing affection and wanting to be close to your girls, but it is smart to control yourself in those situations. You could do irreparable damage to your relationship if things go too far, while you act in a moment of passion."

"I know that, mentally." Harry said. "Emotionally, my mind is screaming at me to pour the potion down the drain." he admitted. "So, I'll be taking that immediately, if you don't mind."

"Not in the slightest." Poppy said, handing him the potion. "If your girls knew that you were doing this for them, they'd be very happy that you're taking precautions for them. I'd suggest you send them my way, should their passions get the better of them, as well."

"I don't know that I could have that conversation with them." Harry said. It would be difficult to say such a thing without having them feel rejected, especially in a moment of passion.

"I'll remind Minerva to have a talk with the girls of the house." Poppy said, knowing why bringing it up would be difficult for Harry. She remembered a time in her own youth, when she had to tell a boy and he didn't react well, either. "It is her duty as a Head of House."

The next task would take place on the 24th of February. That meant he had a little more than a month to work on his projects. He decided to prioritise the most recent edition and went to Poppy with what he had come up with.

The next cinematic presentations were preceded by something new to the magical world. An informative commercial, or infomercial. Poppy Pomfrey appeared on the screen, with a smile.

She informed in clinical terms, without specifics, but still with enough emphasis to get her point across, that there was a solution to emotional control issues. If anyone felt that they needed to speak to her about either their own problems or their partners', they simply needed to visit her in the infirmary. She also mentioned that she would keep any such discussions private, as they would be covered by her oaths of privacy.

There was quite a bit of giggling and some jokes, but there were a few people that took the message to heart, when they realised that they or their partners may be having a hard time controlling said emotions. In all, it wasn't any big deal, and the message was received as it had been meant.

Harry couldn't work on his other spaceship, but he could work on the long range sensor. He had finally achieved success and tested the sensor by pointing it at the moon. The resultant feedback he got gave him a sense of having detected a large landmass. The results had returned to him in just over 1.3 seconds, which made him smile.

That was how long it took for the light to travel to the moon. It seemed the moment the laser touched the surface, he had instantly gotten his feedback. Now he just needed to find a way to make a visual representation of what he had found.

Shortly before the second task, he had finally gotten the magic down and could make a representation of what he found with an illusion. It still required him as a medium to make the illusionary representation, but he could move the laser and take the feedback to 'map' what he had found. That would not work in the long run, but Harry had faith that he was moving in the right direction.

He had finally gotten word back that the astronaut team were being allowed to sign the contract, as long as general information, that was not specifically protected, would be allowed in reports. Harry had also gotten word from the PM that a large amount of elements were researched and found. Should Harry need it, he'd be able to arrange the purchase of said elements.

He had not been able to find the time to contract the team, and Doctor Hawk was starting to become impatient, if her numerous messages was anything to go by. Harry had given her a Comm for the purpose of contacting him, after all. She was also grateful for the functionality, since her daughter was apparently working for Marauders Inc. in one of their African resorts, and she had been struggling to stay in touch. Owls simply took too long in her opinion.

On the day of the second task, Harry walked down to the lake with most of his ladies by his side. Hermione and Luna were nowhere to be found. Harry knew what that meant. He'd already had Remus place monitoring crystals throughout the lake, Fleur and Krum had agreed to let Harry charm both their eyes and have disillusioned, floating monitoring discs follow them, for both the purposes of the recording and to display their progress on three large displays, which would activate the moment they jumped into the water.

For the purposes of the task, Harry had even made a large map of the lake, using his newly developed sensor and used it to display their current locations over the three displays. Nobody would know that these displays would appear until they had jumped into the water. Harry suspected that nobody would complain about it either, considering without those, there would be no enjoyment for the crowds anyway.

Dumbledore made his speech, and the moment the cannon sounded, he was drenched in the lake's cold water, courtesy of Harry. Harry suspected he knew it was coming, since the moment the water was above him, he's stiffened for a moment, before he continued with the speech. But Harry couldn't stay behind to check his reaction, as he had already jumped in.

He cast a bubble-head charm over his entire head and a warming charm on his body. Then he propelled himself forward using his banishing charm method.

Harry had warned Fleur to be prepared for the Grindylows, so he didn't stay behind to watch her. Instead he simply let his power direct him through where the Grindylows dwelled and made illusions of piranhas surround his body, scaring the creatures away, as the piranhas swam after them, and one or two actually biting down on the creatures, as Harry's telekinetic magic gave them some real substance.

The piranhas didn't stop there. They cleared a path right through the weeds, biting and snapping through them easily as Harry went. When Harry arrived at the Merfolk village, he laughed when he saw one of them peeking out of a structure, which likely served as a home, and quickly ducking away as the school of hundreds of piranha circled around Harry hungrily.

He saw Luna and Hermione there and sent a couple of piranha to snap the binding and pull Luna to him. He cast a warming charm on the girl and kept her by his side. Then he sank to the bottom of the pool, conjured a recliner and sat back. To the viewers outside, it looked like he had enlarged his bubble to make a private beach for himself and his unconscious guest, while the piranha circled the bubble protectively. He then 'summoned' a comic book and sat back to wait for the other competitors.

Victor was the first to show up in his partial shark transformation, and he quickly grabbed Hermione and swam off. Harry suspected he would have shown shock at seeing him relax on a chair, if the fish was able to show such an emotion, but he had not stopped once. Say what you will about Victor Krum, but he was very driven and goal oriented.

Fleur finally arrived and Harry quickly ended his illusion, making it look like the water closed in on him as he stood up. Then he moved himself to her side and smiled at her. She freed her sister, who was her hostage again, and then Harry levitated the bunch of them up and out of the water, floating them back toward the pier, where people were laughing and cheering them all the way, as they watched on the large monitors.

As they went Harry cast a couple of drying charms all around and conjured a couple of thick warm bathrobes onto their shivering forms.

"How are you doing Luna?" Harry asked her as he held her to his side, for a little extra warmth.

"Cold." Luna said. She wasn't even shivering. Rather, she was looking down at the water, with her head cocked to the side, as she tried to follow one long tentacle of the giant squid.

"Sank you, 'arry." Fleur said. "Zat was really cold."

"What took you so long?" Harry asked, casting a warming charm on her. Her nature must be more susceptible to cold weather. He doubted she didn't already have a warming charm up, but she instantly looked like she was feeling better.

"Zere were many Grindylows." Fleur said, with a little relief showing on her face.

"But I cleared a path for you." Harry said, cocking his head to the side.

"Zat was you?!" Fleur exclaimed. "I sought it was a trap! I went srough ze weeds!"

Harry chuckled and shook his head. "Last time I'm doing something nice for you." he said.

"Fleur, did you win?" the small blond next to Fleur asked in French.

"We saved you, that's all that matters, Gabrielle." Fleur replied. Then she indicated Harry and spoke in English. "'arry Black eez ze real chevalier. 'e watched you for me, until I arrived."

"Merci." Gabrielle said.

"You are welcome, Mademoiselle Delacour." Harry said as he bowed to her as they finally landed on the pier.

Gabrielle giggled and Fleur hugged her sister, before she hugged Harry and whispering another thanks. Harry looked at Luna then. "You want to get out of here?" he asked.

"It would be nice to go change." Luna said. "There are also many Nargles in the air here."

Harry thought he knew what that meant and looked around. He saw a couple of disgruntled faces from the Durmstrang contingent and a few more from the judges panel, probably because Harry hadn't taken things as seriously as he could have. He shrugged then and lifted both of them up, before flying to the castle, ignoring the objections being yelled after them. Most of which were from the reporters, hoping for another scoop or possibly an interview.

Harry landed them in the Gryffindor common room. Before Harry could turn and go for a shower, Luna grabbed him in a hug. "You never let me thank you." she said.

"I should be thanking you." Harry said. "I know you volunteered for the role of hostage."

"They would have taken someone else if it wasn't me." Luna said with a smile. "I knew you'd have missed the other girls more."

Harry took a step back and looked her in the eyes seriously. "I would miss any of you equally. Don't ever think I'd miss you less, because it's simply not true." Then he kissed her. When he broke the kiss, she was smiling up at him.

"Thank you, Harry." Luna said. "I think I liked hearing that."

"Get used to it." Harry said. "I'll say it as often as you need to hear it."

Luna smiled then and pulled him in for another kiss, before she broke away abruptly and started skipping to the girls' staircase. "I think it's best if we stop there, or I'll have to go to get a potion from your Aunty Poppy." she called behind herself.

Harry smiled after the girl, before he went for his shower. He suspected she was only joking. It was as he was drying himself that he had a sudden realisation. Fleur and Victor's eyes were still recording them. "Oh, shit." he murmured. He quickly got dressed, slipping his harness on after his underwear, as was his habit these days. Then he quickly exited the bathroom. He was stalled from leaving by the celebration that erupted at his exit from the dorms, so he spent a few minutes thanking everyone for their support, before saying he'd be back in a short while.

When he knocked on the door to the coach, it was opened quickly, this time. The girls were all standing there waiting for Fleur to apparently come from the bathroom, confetti and drinks in hand. It didn't matter how well she finished, to them. They supported her as a champion every time. Apparently, they intended to surprise her when she exited. It took another while, before she did come out and she was surprised by the shower of confetti and the cheer, but she smiled prettily, until she saw Harry.

"Oh, um, congrats, I guess?" Harry said. He thought she may have just realised that she may have been giving him a show.

"Pardone moi." Fleur said quickly as she stepped forward and grabbed Harry's hand, pulling him into the bathroom and closing the door again with the entire room suddenly giggling and blushing, a few cat-calls being heard, before Fleur cast privacy charms on the door and all noise stopped.

"Um." Harry began.

Fleur, however, had other ideas. She pressed him against the wall and kissed him deeply as she moulded her body to his. Harry was glad for the fact that he had recently taken a certain potion, because the girl's aura was trying desperately to affect him. A few minutes later, wherein Fleur's hands had run up and down his chest and stomach, through his hair and around his back, pressing herself to him, there was a heavy knock on the door.

Fleur froze at that and took a step back with a sigh. "Pardon." she said, before turning to the door and opening it.

The strict face of Madam Maxime met them. "I sink zat is enough celebration, non?" she asked.

"Oui." Fleur said unabashedly, as she walked out of the bathroom, leaving the emotional wreck, which was Harry, to stand there in shock. There were squeals of approval from the other girls.

"I'm in so much trouble." he said to himself.

"You are not." Fleur called back, poking her head back around the corner. "I got permission first."

"You got permission for that?!" Harry asked. He could imagine his girls allowing the girl to kiss him, maybe once, but not like that.

"It is why you 'ad potion." Fleur said with a smirk, before disappearing again.

Harry was dumbfounded for a moment, until he remembered. Pansy and Daphne had cornered him the previous day after asking to speak to him for advice on how to do something with their wandless magic, and then… they set him up! They snogged the living daylights out of him, until he had no choice but to take the potion! "Oh, you girls are going to pay for that." he mumbled. "But first…"

Harry walked out of the bathroom, with a bit of a vindictive smile. Fleur, thinking she'd gotten one over on the biggest prankster in Hogwarts, saw the smile and realised there was retribution coming, as her own smile slowly slipped from her face.

Harry walked up to her and snapped his fingers. Fleur felt magic doing something on her eye. Her eye! "Sorry for being late, Fleur. I just needed to come stop that recording. I'll let you know when I'm done with the editing. Perhaps we'll show an unedited copy in the Great Hall tonight, so that the students can really get to know their champions, you know?"

"'arry?" Fleur asked a little apprehensively.

"Boy, I really hope that recording doesn't have anything inappropriate on it." Harry said as he turned and walked back to the door. "Nah, I'm sure it's fine, as is." he finished as the door opened and he flew off.

"'arry!" Fleur called after him. "Come back!" Harry didn't seem to hear her and he just continued on. "Mon Dieu." she swore.

"What's wrong, Fleur?" Madam Maxime asked in French.

Fleur sighed. "Harry decided it would be a good idea to record the task from the perspective of the champions, for a film he is making." she said.

"That sounds wonderful!" Madam Maxime said. "Why are you upset, though?"

"Harry just stopped the recording, which was connected to my own sight." Fleur said. "And I just showered."

Madam Maxime thought about it, then smirked. "Well, it's not like you stare at yourself in the mirror or anything, right?" She doubted Harry was the type to actually use such a recording. He was likely already planning on erasing it.

Fleur blushed deep red as she remembered. She had inspected her inner thigh pretty thoroughly, after Madam Pomfrey healed a Grindylow bite there. She had inspected it while she was in the shower, too! "Mon Dieu!" she exclaimed again.

Harry was already in Madam Pomfrey's office. He told her of what had happened and wanted a witness as he replayed the recording, till just after the task and then erased the footage after that without looking through it. He remembered to stop Victor's recording as well and did the same with that.

"But you can't tell her, okay?" Harry said. "She and my girls are about to experience a dry spell, and I'm not taking that potion again, if they've been doing it on purpose."

Madam Pomfrey sighed. "The girls are just playing Harry." she scolded. "Though, from your description, I think Fleur took advantage of the permission, which she likely did get." She couldn't tell Harry that Fleur had admitted to her that she was attracted to him, or what she had discussed and arranged with the other girls. It would break her healers' confidentiality oath. She knew Harry was keeping in shape and the increase of girls showing up for calming potions since the task, told her that Harry was in for an interesting time. Well, him and Victor Krum.

"I don't know." Harry said. "Could they have been testing me? Would they have wanted me to push her away?" he asked. "I mean, I know that there's something going on, with how the girls have been talking to her in private, but I couldn't push her off me without either hurting her or her feelings. Should I have just done that?"

"I think you should speak to your girls about it." Madam Pomfrey said. "Chances are, there's extenuating circumstances."

Harry looked up at her, as her words rang in his head. She'd used those words before, when describing something she knew about, but couldn't say. "So you know and can't talk about it." Harry sighed, then. "Fine. I won't ask, so don't worry. I'll just have to take your advice, like I always do."

"Smart man." came a voice from the door.

"What do you want, you old goat?" Harry asked the Headmaster. He was still not happy with the old man, for making him participate. Though he had to admit, he had said there'd be consequences if he was chosen as a fourth champion. He was chosen as the legitimate Hogwarts Champion this time. The old man was using his political skills, but he had successfully pulled one over on Harry, who had basically given him permission, by not specifying that he didn't want to participate, at all.

That Sirius had attempted to do the same thing, as a prank, basically made it mandatory that he had to forgive that offense. The issue with the cover-ups and continued lapses of judgement, however, he didn't think he'd quickly forgive, if ever.

"I'd merely like to talk to you, Harry." Dumbledore said.

"If this is about that article, you can forget about it." Harry said dangerously. "I'm not having any retractions printed and the parents have a right to know. Covering for those boys makes you as bad as them."

Dumbledore entered the office and softly closed the door, making sure to do it openly and not in the fashion of a person that wanted to trap someone inside. "I'm not happy about your methods, something I'm sure you can sympathise with, but the results have been making some good waves, which I will not deny are making a difference for the better." He'd not be saying Greater Good anytime soon, if he can help it. He'd had that thrown in his teeth already.

"No, I'd like to talk to you about your plans for the future." Dumbledore continued. "Specifically your plans for change."

"You're not a metathesiophobiac, are you?" Harry asked.

"Um." Dumbledore said.

"Fear of change." Harry elaborated. He had read the term somewhere and found it was a very apt description for the majority of the wizarding world.

"Oh." Dumbledore said. "Nice word. And no, I'm not afraid of change. I'm more interested in your plans to deal with people that are meta-thesio-phobiacs?" he asked. Harry nodded, confirming he had the word right, and Dumbledore smiled. "I really like that word. I could use it around the purebloods to describe them and they'd not know to be insulted."

"You're welcome." Harry said drily. "Is that all?"

"Do you two need me to leave?" Madam Pomfrey asked sourly. It was her office, after all.

"No, please." Dumbledore said. "Stay. Harry has not been allowing me to speak to him till now. If your presence allows the conversation to happen, I want you here."

"If you're not intent on talking to me about the article, we can talk somewhere else." Harry offered.

"Stay." Madam Pomfrey decided. She wanted to hear this. The headmaster was not on her good books these days. "I insist."

"Fair enough." Dumbledore said. Harry conjured a chair for Dumbledore without looking or moving. "Thank you, Harry." He said graciously as he sat down. "Now, would you mind terribly, telling me about your plans for the wizarding world?"

"I have no plans for the magical world, except to sell them stuff." Harry shrugged.

"But, what about the changes you've been making?" Dumbledore asked, with a knowing look.

"I've not been doing that." Harry said. "That would be Remus and Sirius. For some reason they think I'll be following through with my original plans to leave the magical world once I've finished my magical education."

"You were planning on leaving?!" Dumbledore exclaimed.

"What would you do if the magical world kept on trying to make your life a living hell?" Harry asked.

"But-" Dumbledore tried.

"No, let me." Harry interrupted. "Let's talk about the first time around. I wanted to have a loving family and your actions ensured that they died. I wanted hope for my future, you kept on trying to get me killed. I wanted my godfather, you ensured he was locked away and didn't allow his name to be cleared. I wanted to live past seventeen, I died due to your plans.

"This time around, I've needed to scrape and fight for every advantage and you still manipulate the system to make me do things against my will." Harry said. "I know you meant well, but were you in my shoes, could you honestly say you'd want to stay in such an ass-backwards world? Especially if you knew there was another one where people would fall over themselves for the advantages you could provide."

Dumbledore had not quite experienced that many slaps in the face in a long time. He sat there and contemplated the words. He couldn't very well say that Harry had brought most of this up before, because they were still pertinent. Before he could speak, though, Harry continued.

"Let's forget about all that." Harry said. "Even if I forgive you for every horrible, disgusting, selfish, half-baked idea you've ever had, I'd still not want to be part of this world for the simple facts that the government is corrupt, the people are mostly all sheep and there has not been an original thought to cross a wizard's mind since the invention of the Floo network.

"Do you even know about the troubles facing the whole world? Mundane and magical alike?" Harry asked. "Did you know that this world will not survive my lifetime unless magicals get off their asses and start helping?"

Suddenly Harry laughed a sarcastic snort of laughter. "Oh, and here's the best part. It's against the law to help the mundane world in any real way. If I save the world, I'll likely get the Dementor's Kiss for my trouble. So, if I make plans, expand my knowledge, build up my resources and produce a fleet of spaceships and terraform Mars, so that I can start over after the rest of humanity is dead, so be it."

"Harry…" Dumbledore said. All colour had left his face and he looked heartbroken in that moment. He had really thought Harry was going to lead the Wizarding World into future. "Please tell me you're not seriously thinking of abandoning all of mankind?" he asked.

"Of course not." Madam Pomfrey scoffed. "He plans to sort things out and then he'll probably do what he said anyway. And I wouldn't blame him. If Mars is capable of sustaining life and he really finds a way to colonise it, I'll be on the first ship off this planet and help him start a new world where magicals and non-magicals can live together. Where knowledge is shared and stagnancy isn't congratulated and called tradition."

"Well said, Aunty Poppy." Harry said with a smile to her. "You'll be the first one on my list when the time comes. You and the rest of the family."

"And your girls?" Poppy asked.

"If they want to, they can come, but I don't want to take them away from their homes and families." Harry said.

"Then take them too." Poppy scoffed. "I don't have one doubt that you can find a way to do that."

"That is a good point." Harry said. "If we can shrink and place a house on the moon, we can likely do the same on Mars."

"Hold on." Dumbledore said. "You're seriously telling me that your plans include moving your family and friends to a planet that would likely take hundreds of years to make liveable?"

"Nah." Harry said. "I can likely do it in ten. Sooner if I have a proper support system from the mundane world. Their current estimate is 1000 years, but they don't have our advantages. One of my plans to fix the Earth would likely already help in the process on Mars, where there is a high carbon-dioxide level. I'd just need a way to stabilise the nitrogen and other gasses to make breathable air. Then introduce a couple of magical plants that grow quickly and spread far, to start making the soil more fertile and, boom, Terraformed."

"You're seriously planning this." Dumbledore said in realisation.

"Well, I'm oversimplifying." Harry said. "There are thousands of things to take into consideration, but my research has recently uncovered a new magical principle that will make my life so much simpler."

"New magical principle?" Dumbledore asked.

"Family magic, old man." Harry said with a raised eyebrow.

Dumbledore grumbled at that. "Fine. But we have a couple of years to change your mind, right?" he asked hopefully.

"I'll likely stick around for many more years." Harry said. "Hell, I might even find a way to enable instantaneous travel between the planets at some point and be able to work on both, simultaneously."

"Are you serious?" Dumbledore asked, again. The boy must be a certifiable genius! "How do you even think of these ideas?"

"I'm not very smart to be honest." Harry said with a shrug. "I just decided to learn a little bit of science. I'm barely into college level stuff and I've already achieved things the magical world thinks impossible. Once Hermione gets started, that's when you will see real genius at work. I'll look like a footnote in history compared to her achievements."

"Hermione Granger?" Dumbledore asked. "But, her grades are below yours?" Harry just raised an eyebrow. Dumbledore then nodded in understanding. "Yes, of course. You're not exactly her age, are you? You really expect her to match and outshine your achievements?"

"She's a real genius." Harry said. "While I use the work of other smart people, she'll be able to outshine me on my best day, if she had only the knowledge I had. She'll be creating whole new fields of magic before she's done. I guarantee it." he said vehemently.

"I'll be keeping an eye on her, then." Dumbledore said. Maybe…

"Don't you dare!" Harry said. "She's mine. Don't even think of trying to take her from the course she is on. She'll achieve much more with me if she doesn't get pulled into your machinations."

"I wouldn't dream of it." Dumbledore said, lifting his hands in defence. "You have given me much to think about. Could we continue this discussion on another occasion? I feel the need to think about what I have learned. Perhaps I can work out an exemption in the Statute, for the purposes of saving the world…"

"You could do that?" Harry asked, for the first time hearing something useful from the old man.

"Well, I am the Supreme Mugwump of the ICW." Dumbledore said with a slight smile. His eyes were not twinkling though. His mind was suddenly burdened by the fact that he had lost the opportunity to turn Harry into the next Leader of the Light. And he had done so by his own actions. "Those same laws you, correctly, said I flaunt to give people second chances, can be flaunted to make exceptions for other things."

"If you can do that, I'd actually have a use for you, for once." Harry said. "If you can keep your word on that."

"Let me think on it first. We can discuss your requirements to help the world at our next meeting." Dumbledore said. "When were you thinking to start that project?"

"I've already started." Harry said. "I've got a couple of scientists that have family in the magical world, already waiting for me to bring them my ideas, so we can start. I'll need to establish a new agency, which has the right to operate in both worlds."

Dumbledore's mouth fell slightly open for a moment as he tried to find the words. When had the boy started contracting muggles to start working on global issues? "I'll start making plans." he said finally.

"Don't go looking for my people, Dumbledore." Harry warned. "If one word of this gets out, you'll not be receiving second chances from me. You know that I can already withdraw from Hogwarts. I hear France is lovely this time of year."

"France is frozen this time of year, Harry." Madam Pomfrey stated, not reacting to his threat to the headmaster.

"That's not the point and the Headmaster knows it." Harry shrugged.

"I'll not break my word." Dumbledore said as he got up, to leave.

Harry wouldn't take any chances. Marauders Inc. was about to employ muggles and all of Harry's girls and friends. Even if it was only for a yearly wage of a sickle, to ensure they still appear on the books. "I'm sorry, Albus." Harry finally said.

Dumbledore turned around and looked at the boy. "What for?" he asked.

"I know you've never been malicious, but that doesn't mean I'll trust your judgement easily, without proof that you are not trying to manipulate me again." Harry said. "As of this moment, all my friends and family are employed part time at Marauders Inc. The scientists that I'll be working with and even the Prime Minister and his staff and the Royal family are now under the employ of the company in the capacity of consultants. Your vow now protects the country from even your slightest manipulations."

Dumbledore looked at Harry sadly. "I'm truly sorry you feel that they need to be protected from me, but were I in your shoes, I suspect I'd do the same." he said. Then he left.

The old man felt like a part of him had just died. He had so thoroughly betrayed the boy that he would think of him as an enemy to be protected from. When he got to his office, he pulled out a bottle of scotch and poured a drink. While he sat in his favourite chair and contemplated the flames of the fire, tears started leaking from his eyes, and he broke down, weeping for the child he had failed so terribly. A child he would have loved to raise as a grandfather would have.

"That was very harsh, Harry." Madam Pomfrey said.

"What would you have done differently?" Harry asked. "He means well, but he always hurts the people he tries to help. It's like he's cursed or something…" He looked up at the Matron. "You don't think…?"

"I'm almost certain the headmaster is just old and tired." Madam Pomfrey denied, with a sigh. "If only he was cursed. That could excuse his many failings and maybe restore a little of the faith I had in him."

"We can always try?" Harry asked. He hadn't liked seeing the old man so very sad. He felt bad for doing what he had, but he couldn't see any other choice. Albus Dumbledore had been a great man, but he was not living in the real world. Not anymore.

"If you want to, I'll be there." Madam Pomfrey said. "But let's give it a couple of days, okay? Let the sting of this conversation fade a bit."

"Okay." Harry said, before turning to Pomfrey and hugging her. "Thank you for being there for me today. This wasn't an easy conversation. I didn't like doing what I did."

"I know, Harry." Poppy said. "You're a good boy. While I know you are intellectually older, your emotions are still at a tender age, and I know this hurt you, even if you're keeping it bottled in. This is the time where your friends and family should be around to support you."

"I think I'm going to go to the common room now. My friends are all still waiting for me, to celebrate the second task." Harry said as he withdrew from Poppy's motherly arms.

"That's a good idea." Poppy said. "Let them cheer you up. Maybe one more calming draught?" she offered.

"It's too early." Harry said. "I only took the last one you sent with me yesterday."

"Those girls must be getting you quite frustrated." Poppy said with a bit of a smile.

"Yeah." Harry said. "It's come to my attention that they did the most recent one on purpose, to ensure I didn't get carried away with Fleur."

"The girls are playing with fire, then." Poppy said. "I'll have to talk to them. Don't worry, I'll be careful not to mention specifics."

"Could you at least shed some light on why they'd allow Fleur to kiss me?" Harry asked. "I'd think they'd get jealous. Why would they allow this?"

"I really can't tell you, but you might find a clue in the library, if you researched Veela?" Poppy offered.

"This is some form of creature heritage thing?" Harry asked.

"I really can't tell you." Poppy repeated, with a look stating that Harry should really look into it.

"Okay." Harry said. "I'll do that before I discuss this with the girls, then."

"Good." Poppy said. "Now go have fun, young man. And don't get carried away. I saw the twins sneak off earlier through one of the hidden passageways to Hogsmeade. Hopefully they didn't get their hands on anything too strong or intoxicating."

"Knowing them, they have a bottle of firewhiskey stashed somewhere already, for occasions, though I doubt they'd bring that out with so many students around." Harry said with a bit of a smile as he left.

The party was what Harry needed at that moment. He decided to let go a bit and performed a couple of illusions for the entertainment and bewilderment of his fellow students. By the time people started heading off to dinner, Harry decided to stay in. Dobby soon appeared with a plate for him.

"Master Harry must not be going hungry." Dobby said. "Old goat headmaster must be learning that Harry is not his toy."

"Thanks Dobby." Harry said with a smile. "Can you check on the old goat for me? He looked very sad when he left our meeting earlier today."

"Dobby knows." Dobby said. "Dobby thought you'd ask, so Dobby went to see."

"And?" Harry asked.

"The Headmaster was crying, sir." Dobby said with downcast eyes. "He looked very sad."

"He was crying?" Harry asked, sitting upright.

"He was very sad." Dobby repeated.

"Damnit! Now I feel guilty!" Harry exclaimed.

"Dobby is sorry!" Dobby exclaimed, feeling he'd let Harry down. "Dobby knows he mustn't but Dobby wants to punish himself."

"And then we'd both feel bad and I'd feel worse because you hurt yourself for me?" Harry asked. "No, but I think I'll have to give the manipulative old bastard a bit of hope."

"Hope, sir?" Dobby asked.

"Can you take him something to eat, if he's still in his office?" Harry asked. "Tell him it's from me."

"Of course, sir." Dobby said, before he vanished.

"Will I never escape his emotional manipulations?" Harry asked himself, after a while. He'd been sitting there and watching the fire as he contemplated the Headmaster.

"Not likely." a voice said. Harry looked up at the old man he had once crafted to allow himself to move around in the world.

"How are you…?" Harry trailed off, realising he was speaking to himself.

"You fell asleep." the man said. "This is your mind trying to come to terms with your emotional state, since you aren't allowing yourself to feel everything. Or, at least I think that's it. Either that or you're going insane."

"You can only know what I know, so I suppose it really is either." Harry allowed, before he concentrated and an ocean appeared before him, instead of the fire, and the sun shone down on him. "Well, at least I know this isn't real. Don't people usually wake up when they realise they are asleep?"

"You could be casting an illusion?" the man offered. "And I'm not the one unravelling at the seams." the man said. "Not feeling your emotions is bad for you, you know?"

"Yeah, I know." Harry said. "I'm going to have to do something about that. I can't go through life not feeling anything."

"What would be the point of life, then?" the man asked.

"You're here, and I'm not making you talk… So you're what, my subconscious?" Harry asked, instead of answering.

"Makes sense." the man said. "I suppose I should tell you that you're really frustrated and should probably get laid, but we both know you'll just suppress the urge again."

"The girls aren't ready for something like that." Harry agreed. "I'm willing and able, but I don't want to ruin what we have."

"Intellectually, though, you've been withholding for 27 years." the man pointed out.

"Are you seriously going to tell me that my subconscious is only interested in sex?" Harry asked incredulously.

"Your emotions are too young to be bottled up." the man said. "Don't look at me like that, you know it's true or I wouldn't have said it."

"And what do you want me to do about it?" Harry asked. "If I violate my girls at this age, they'd likely grow unnaturally attached or reject me because of their own emotional states. Doing something about my frustration with them would likely only backfire."

"Have you asked them?" the man asked, obviously knowing the answer. "Look, I'm not saying impregnate them! There are other things, though, right? You know the psychology here. Girls get frustrated just like boys. Even more so in some circumstances. They are likely waiting on you to make a move."

"Says the sex-crazed subconscious of a fourteen-year old boy." Harry mocked.

"You'd rather go insane?" the man asked. "You're not helping yourself and you need some form of release. Hugs and kisses only go so far. At least speak to the girls. Who knows, maybe this all ties in to what they had Fleur do?"

"You think so?" Harry asked, but the man was suddenly gone. "Of course he thinks so, because suddenly I think so."

"Harry?" a voice asked and Harry's eyes shot open with a start.

"Huh?" he asked, looking blurrily around, until his eyes focussed on Hermione. "Hermione? How long was I out?"

"A couple of hours." Hermione said. "The rest of the dorm has gone to bed already. You should too. That couch isn't made to be slept on."

"Okay." Harry said, still not completely awake. "Sit with me for a bit, first?" he asked smiling up at her and holding a hand out to her.

Hermione smiled at him and sat down in front of him and he pulled her in close, pulling her to lie down next to him, on the couch which had suddenly expanded. "What are you doing Harry?" she asked.

"Cuddling." Harry said. "I heard it's nice." Hermione didn't respond immediately, but Harry could feel she was tense, but the tension slowly left her and she finally relaxed. "Is this a bad idea?" Harry asked, then. "Am I making you uncomfortable?" he asked.

"No Harry." Hermione denied with a sigh. "I like this." she admitted.

"Can I ask you a question?" Harry asked, still looking at her hair.

"What?" Hermione asked softly, as Harry's fingers made small circles on her stomach.

"Am I frustrating you girls?" Harry asked. "Should I be trying harder to be more intimate?"

Hermione was quiet as she stiffened a bit. Then she took his hand and lifted it off her stomach. Harry worried that he had asked the wrong question, but she turned around and lay down again, so she could look at him, placing his hand around her. "Did Fleur kiss you today?" she asked.

"I'm assuming there was a purpose to that?" Harry asked. "I was worried that you girls were going to hate me, for not rejecting her."

"We were actually hoping you wouldn't." Hermione said. "No straight man should be able to reject the full allure of a Veela, especially if they like the man."

"So, the dream I just had… It was somehow caused by her kiss?" Harry asked. He ignored her insinuation that Fleur liked him, for the moment.

"What did you dream?" Hermione asked, blushing a bit.

"Nothing sexy." Harry said. "But my subconscious was very upset with me for not trying harder to get lucky. It told me to speak to you girls about it. Told me that you're likely as frustrated as I am."

Hermione looked him in the eyes as she moved closer to him and kissed him, her hand going to his and moving it down her side until he was holding her rear. When she broke the kiss, she was smiling a bit, even as she blushed. "We have been experiencing some urges, but every time we try and… get closer, you push us away. It's difficult to not feel rejected at that, no matter what you say."

Harry's hand was in heaven. Well, technically it was on her ass, but it felt like it was in heaven. Using said hand, he drew her in closer and she allowed him to pull her against him, until she felt his excitement. "Does that feel like I'm rejecting you?" he asked.

Hermione swallowed and her eyes clouded over slightly as she suddenly kissed him again, while her breathing increased.

An hour later, some things may have happened, but it wasn't 'the act'. That being said, they were both sated, even though they were both fully clothed still, and had almost fallen asleep on the couch, in each other's embrace, before Hermione's logical mind came back to her and she suddenly sat up. "We can't be caught here." she said. "The prefects will likely be coming back from rounds soon."

Harry groaned. He really wished they were in the Room of Requirement now, but he'd set up the security to protect all the inhabitants of the school, including himself and Hermione. He sat up as well. "I should probably go take a shower anyway." he admitted. Then he pulled her to him again and kissed her deeply.

When the kiss broke, Hermione's breathing had increased again, but she was smiling at him now, and she giggled and said, "You can't be that insatiable."

"You are just so beautiful. It's hard not to want more." he said.

"I'm afraid you'll have to wait." Hermione whispered to him, with a smile. "You've got other girls hoping for some attention, too, you know."

"And that's not going to bother you?" Harry asked honestly.

"A little," Hermione admitted, "but I've known for long enough now, to be prepared. Your girlfriends have all agreed on sharing you."

"So, that's what you all are now?" Harry asked. "Officially, I mean?"

"We've officially been your girlfriends for a year now, Harry." Hermione said primly. "Didn't you get the memo?" she joked.

"And the other girls, under my protection?" Harry asked.

"Publicly, they are waiting for full membership." Hermione said. "Privately, they are all aware of the actual situation, but will claim partial membership, until they are ready, or have found someone they are willing to leave your protection for. If they find someone worthwhile, they will withdraw membership and go to the boy they want, and seek comfort. At that point, you will take on the role of big brother, so that they still have some of your protection."

"You girls have really planned this out." Harry said. "And what about Fleur?"

"She did us a favour." Hermione said. "For that, she gains partial membership, with a possible eye on full membership. She really likes you Harry, but she feels like I did a couple of years ago. She doesn't want to share."

"So, she's still thinking, but you girls are going to offer her full membership if she decides it's worthwhile?" Harry asked.

"Yes." Hermione said.

"And my opinion on the matter?" Harry asked with a smirk.

"We know you like her Harry." Hermione said. "After the last couple of years of getting to know you, we have learned some of your mannerisms. You might not realise it, but you look for her, when she sits with her friends at another table and you tend to draw her into our conversations because her opinion matters to you."

"Is that going to be a problem?" Harry asked.

"We don't all like the idea of the group growing." Hermione admitted. "Veela, though, have some gifts, that may be useful to the group later on, when we become… more intimate." she finished delicately.

"I'm going to have to read up on Veela, aren't I?" Harry asked with a sigh.

"I would suggest it." Hermione nodded.

She gave him the name of the book, and even the page with the pertinent information, before she gave him one last lingering kiss, and left. Harry watched her as she left. What they had just done, brought a smile to his face. It was all reasonably clean, over the clothes stuff, but the feel of her still lingered in his hands and on his body.

The next morning, his girlfriends were all gathered at the Gryffindor table and they were all speaking in whispers as Hermione blushed. Fleur was sitting off by her friends, but she sent him a knowing smile as he arrived. When Harry approached, the other girls all blushed, except for Luna, but she had a new kind of dreamy smile. They stopped talking when he joined them.

"Anything interesting?" Harry asked, with a smile and the girls smiled back at him. Harry though he actually saw relief on some of their faces. Just for the fun of it, seven Harry illusions appeared behind his girls and Fleur and put their hands on each girl's shoulder, reminding them that he had talents that may yet prove useful in the future. "Anything interesting?" all the copies repeated as Harry dished up. It wasn't something he could do without concentration, but his years of practice made it reasonably simple.

"'arry?" Fleur asked as she turned around, looking at her own copy. "'ow are you…?"

"Trade secret." all the copies and most of the hall said. This lead to a bunch of laughter and Harry made the copies walk around to him, before seeming to get on the same bench as him and sliding into his own form.

'Anything I should be aware of?' a message from Minerva McGonagall asked on his Comm.

'It's a private matter. Nothing to worry about.' Harry replied.

'Were you safe?' she asked. McGonagall had seen many couples come through Hogwarts. She knew the signs, but she also knew Harry would not allow things to go too far, but needed to be sure.

'We didn't need to be.' Harry replied as he blushed, like a schoolboy.

'Good.' Came the final reply.

"Who are you talking to?" Hermione asked. She hadn't seen the message, but she had seen the blush. Instead of answering, Harry held out the Comm, so only she could see. Hermione soon joined him in the blush. "She doesn't need to know that!" she whispered harshly.

"She's only being a good Aunt and Head of House." Harry whispered. "She's not going to make this public, but she needs to know that things are under control."

"Still." Hermione whispered indignantly. "It's private."

"She probably knows every single couple in this school, Hermione." Harry whispered. "She has a lot of experience, as you might know. The fact that she knows who all my girlfriends are, and you were all whispering excitedly, means she already knew."

Hermione still looked unhappy, until Harry leaned over and placed a kiss on her cheek. She blushed again, but smiled at him, feeling better.

"What about us?" Parvati asked.

Harry smiled at her and blew her a kiss, which turned into an actual heart and made physical contact, with both the feel and sound of a kiss. Then he repeated the action with all of the girls, when they pouted at being left out.

"I say, brother mine." Fred said in a posh tone.

"I believe I see it too, brother." George added.

"Could it be that our dear master has finally upgraded his relationships to official status?" Fred asked.

"I do believe he has, brother." George agreed.

"Bully!" they both exclaimed. "Jolly well done, old chap!" Fred added.

"And congratulations, to you all." George said to the girls, finishing their little show.

"Thank you, old bean." a Harry copy said from their other side. "But I dare say, my twin is not too happy at all the attention you are drawing to them. I'd be careful, as he doesn't seem to be in a mood for your shenanigans."

"Indeed." yet another Harry said. "Harry seems the type, who would pull some sort of prank, while you are distracted by his twins."

The Weasley twins looked at each other, then, and realised that Harry had somehow made them look like himself, while they were distracted. "We're quintuplets!" the exclaimed together.

"Seriously, how do you do that?" one of the Harrys asked. It's not like they could have trained that.

"You must be a fraud." Fred said.

"Real twins would know." one of the copies added, while George found he was muted and his illusionary face just smiled.

Fred looked shocked and looked between the two Harry's on either side of him. "Wait, I'm confused, now." he said. "Who's who?"

"I'm Fred, of course!" the copy said again.

"But…" Fred said as he stood up and took a step out of his seat. "I don't like this, Harry. Please stop?"

Instantly the copies were gone and they looked like themselves. Fred sighed in relief and sat back down. "Thanks Harry." George said. "But that was really creepy. How did you know-"

"What you would say?" Harry asked, smirking at them as he turned into one of them. "Elementary, my dear brothers. I used logic."

"He must be a fake." Fred said aloud. "No Weasley would be caught dead using logic."

"Hear-hear!" both George and Harry said.

"Seriously, stop that!" George complained.

There was a lot of laughter around after Harry's addition to the show. It was weekend, so people were not in any hurry to leave, but Harry had to go check up on the Headmaster and sent him a message. He had not come down to breakfast.

'How are you doing, Albus?' Harry's message read. There was no immediate response, though, so Harry decided to do something. He walked to the gargoyle and said, "Move aside or I'll make you."

Surprising Harry, the gargoyle jumped aside instantly. Shrugging, Harry walked up the steps and to the door of the office. He knocked, but there was no answer, so Harry opened the door and entered.

On the floor, in front of the fire, lay Albus Dumbledore snoring, with a nearly empty bottle of scotch clutched in his hand. Sighing, Harry walked up to the man. He'd found Sirius in this position a time or two, after all. Harry had no idea where the Headmaster's personal chambers were, so he conjured a bed and placed the man in it.

When Dumbledore awoke a couple of hours later, he was surprised that he felt rather good. He looked up and realised he was in a bed, which was in his office. Next to his bed, there was a nightstand, with a glass of water and a letter, with the words 'Olive Branch' written on it.

He got up slowly and took the glass, drinking some water, before he took the letter and opened it.

Dear Albus,

I may not know what caused your departure from the path you were on, but I'll try and offer you one last chance to prove yourself to me.

Firstly, the reason you are dead sober is due to an Egyptian sobering charm. It lasts a year, so you'll be quite unable to get the slightest buzz for that time.

Secondly, I'll be taking you someplace this evening, so we can eliminate the chances that you are being compelled or manipulated in some way. Meet me after dinner by the Quiddich pitch.

Sincerely

Harry Black

PS: Hagrid has been waiting patiently for you to realise that his name has been cleared, so that he can start learning to use magic again. I suggest you don't wait too much longer, or I'll be forced to help him myself.

Dumbledore read the letter a few times, as a little flame of hope burned in his heart, suddenly. He had not squandered his last chance, after all. A smile stretched on his face as he lay back again, with his eyes closing as he sent a prayer of thanks out into the universe.

Harry's day was an eventful one. No sooner had he returned than he was dragged off by his girls, to the quiddich pitch. He was told to bring out the saucer and to take them up, for a bit of alone time.

By the time dinner arrived, Harry was tired, but elated. All his girls, except for Luna, had insisted on some private time, so Harry had had to make a separated chamber with the piece of wall dedicated to the airlock. The fact that all the girls were wearing dresses, unlike Hermione, who was wearing her favourite jeans the previous evening, meant that some things happened differently, but it was still mostly clean, if not necessarily dry. They had all felt the need to clean up, before dinner.

Dinner was spent in reasonable peace, but the ladies knew Harry had plans this evening. He had also sent a message to his aunts Minerva and Poppy, stating that they were going on a field-trip. Nobody else was invited this time.

An hour after dinner, they were all standing in the Moon House, which had become its official name.

"Let me see if I have this right?" Dumbledore said. "You're going to kill me and bring me back from the dead, to release me from any curses I may be under?"

"And any unbreakable vows, yes." Harry said with a nod. They had done the research and tested the theory, with a vow made with lesser consequences.

"What about vows made by people to me?" Dumbledore asked.

"They'll be released, but they'll not know." Harry said.

"Since they'd have to test the vow by breaking it, they will likely never find out." Madam Pomfrey said.

"But you'll need to take a vow directly after, to not interfere with Marauders Inc. again." Harry said. "No offense, Albus, but I still need that assurance."

Dumbledore pondered that. How long had Harry been able to do this? What a marvellous power to wield. Unfortunately, he didn't know of any curses he was under. That didn't mean it didn't exist, but he still doubted he was under the influence of such things. Still, if it would gain him some freedom from some of his oaths, he'd definitely go for it.

Dumbledore looked at Madam Pomfrey. "You're sure this is safe?"

"We've not tested the process on someone as old as you, if that's what you mean, but from what I've seen, age shouldn't matter." Madam Pomfrey replied.

"If you are being affected by magics that you don't know about, this is a good way of countering them." McGonagall agreed.

"And you are all hoping that I am, in-fact, affected by something?" Dumbledore asked. He felt a surge of relief at their communal nod. If they were hoping for this, he'd not lost all their faith in him. Not completely, anyway. He just hoped that they were right. "Very well, then." he said, before turning to Harry. "Mister Black, would you please kill me?" he asked.

"With pleasure." Harry said, with just a hint of mischief. He transfigured the table and had Dumbledore lay down on it. "I'm about to curse your heart to stop. Do you accept and agree to this?" he asked.

"I, Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore, being of sound mind and clear of compulsions, that I'm aware of, agree to accept the curse." Dumbledore said.

"So mote it be." Harry said, casting the spell. He did not speak after that, but only watched the Headmaster as he got his magic ready to react.

"Am I supposed to be dead?" Dumbledore asked.

"The curse was set to kill you in thirty seconds." Harry said.

"Oh." Dumbledore said. "So I still have a couple of-" he stopped and his head dropped to the side.

"Or ten." Harry smirked. Then he turned to his aunts. "Should we get a cup of tea before we retire for the evening?" he asked, with a bit of a smile, even as he focussed his magic into the man's body. He was recording the event again, to keep on record, as they intended to do from now on.

"Maybe after-" McGonagall started, also with a small smile, but her voice cut off as Harry tackled her and Poppy into each other and covered them all in a powerful shield, transfiguring the floor of the house around them as he did so. A powerful wave of magic flowed out from the dead man and dissipated, after cracking the walls of the building and lashing out at all the furniture.