7 Chapter 7

A week later, on Harry's birthday, the girls arrived at Hermione's house, so that she could help the pureblood ladies dress more appropriately for a muggle shopping centre, since purebloods had no sense for muggle fashion. Harry hadn't told them it was his birthday, intending to surprise them with the news.

Neville had arrived at Grimmauld Place, and Harry had modified some blue jeans and a button-up shirt in black, which he told him to keep open at the top. Neville, of course, didn't know about muggle fashion either, so he just went with it. Half an hour later, they arrived at Hermione's house, by taxi. Harry had wanted to give Neville the chance to get used to the sights and sounds of muggle London, first.

Hermione opened the door for them as they arrived and they saw the other ladies there, all in muggle-friendly attire. Knowing the plan, Neville opened the door of the mini-van for the girls, like a gentleman, which Hermione's mother would drive them to the shopping centre in. They thanked him and all squeezed into the back seats, filling them up entirely.

"In the front with me, Neville." Hermione's mother said as she got in.

Twenty minutes later, and a bit of struggling to find a parking spot, since it was a Friday at the end of the month, and they exited the van and looked at the great big structure that contained hundreds of shops and thousands of people. Hermione's mother, aware that the majority of the group were unused to such places, took a moment to tell them to ask directions to the information booth should they get separated and then took them on a tour, starting at clothing shops and jewellery stores, all the way through to the food courts and cinema.

They looked at the titles of available movies and ended up choosing Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Harry thought it might be funny to compare what muggles thought of vampires, with what the magical world knew, even if he had hoped for a movie about space, to freak the girls out a bit. They had half an hour till the next showing, so they decided to take a break and get something to eat. The meal was small pizzas and sodas, since there would still be popcorn later.

They watched the movie and most of them were more impressed with the quality and sound of the movie than the concept of the movie itself, though it was nice to see a strong female protagonist, even if she was a little too scatter-brained and American for the mostly English-raised purebloods.

When the movie ended, everyone in the group had smiles on their faces and wanted to watch another movie, but Mrs Granger decided that they'd have to make plans to come again on another occasion. She needed to stretch her legs and the fact that she knew vampires existed in the magical world, gave the movie a feeling of being a little too real for her tastes.

They moved back through the shopping centre and entered a couple of shops. The Pureblood girls were amazed with the fashion they saw and wanted to explore and look at things. Harry was paying for the trip, and offered to buy them all swimming costumes, since nobody but him and the Grangers had muggle money and he had learned the Grangers had a swimming pool. By the time they left, the Pureblood girls were all talking about how scandalously one girl had been dressed or how a Goth-looking girl looked like a vampire.

That led to a discussion about how factually incorrect the movie had been. A lot of what Hermione's mother heard, made it sound like vampires were far more dangerous than what the movie portrayed. Fortunately it seemed that they weren't all that common in the UK, since the Aurors monitored their movements.

When they arrived back at the Granger house, Hermione's mother separated the boys and girls, and Hermione showed them up to her bedroom, where they would change into the newly purchased swimming attire, while Harry and Neville took turns in the bathroom to change.

The weather wasn't exactly scorching, but warm enough to enjoy the water, which Harry decided to warm up, just a bit, for comfort. The girls soon came trooping out with towels and blushed as the boys looked at them. Neville was blushing too, but Harry smiled and said, "You girls look amazing!"

The girls smiled through their blushes and soon they were all in the pool enjoying the water. Everyone but Lavender had one-piece swimming costumes, but Lavender had liked the look and feel of a two piece costume and had gotten that instead. As a result, Neville didn't come near her. It was a bit too much skin for him to handle.

Harry also noticed that the girls started looking more female, rather than the undefined genderless people he had seen them as before. Hormonally speaking, it seemed that his life was about to start becoming interesting, when he realised he had a reaction as one of the girls had accidentally rubbed up against him. It was completely innocent, but his knowledge of this time of his life and the thoughts that popped up in his head were definitely something he instantly buried with his occlumency. Thankfully he hadn't reacted physically, and he was able to enjoy the swimming experience without incident.

Neville, however, seemed to be fully in the grasp of burgeoning hormones and he couldn't keep his eyes off of Lavender, or more specifically, her chest. She had nothing to brag about yet, but the slightest upturn of her lips as she noticed him looking, told Harry that she was fully aware of her reaction on the boy and was enjoying the attention.

Harry just smirked and splashed Neville in the face. This quickly turned into an all-out splashing war, which seemed to distract Neville enough to get control of himself. After that, Lavender seemed to have gotten enough attention, and stopped blatantly trying to get him to notice her, for which Neville was grateful.

After the swimming, they dried off and went to go change back. Imagine their surprise, when the girls came back down and there were balloons, snacks and a cake.

"What's this?" Hermione asked, wondering when her mother had bought a cake.

"Neville's birthday was yesterday." Harry said with a smirk.

"And Harry's birthday is today." Sirius said as he walked around a corner. "He said he wanted to surprise you."

"What?!" Hermione exclaimed. "I didn't even get you something!"

"I didn't get you a present for your birthday either, Hermione." Harry said easily. "Neville and I decided that we didn't want to make you girls feel like you had to get us something, so surprise!"

The girls did seem surprised, but not necessarily happy. They soon started getting over it though, when it was pointed out that they hadn't been told on purpose. Hermione still berated herself. She was sure she'd heard his date of birth at some point.

Having eaten as much as they had at the shopping centre, they didn't eat a lot of the snacks and cake, which Hermione's dentist parents approved of, even when they found out that magicals clean their mouths with a spell. Hermione had told them and there was a small argument between them as Hermione asked her parents to let the school nurse adjust her front teeth, which she was slightly ashamed of, having been called names for her slight overbite for years.

Harry resolved to look up how to do that so that he could teach her the spell, in thanks for her help in preparation for the first space-flight. The girls sat around the lounge and when Hermione's father put a tape in the cassette player, they were all hooked on the first ever Star Wars movie. Apparently he was a fan of the franchise and had purchased all three tapes.

The girls watched engrossed in the futuristic space opera. It was already fifteen years old, but it was a classic. Harry kind of remembered the plot and the story, but watched it again anyway. The girls seemed more impressed with this story and started asking questions the moment the movie ended. Harry had already seen the entire series, so he stayed quiet, while Hermione's father tried to explain to them about special effects and how the lightsabers are not real, but made to look like they did, after the filming was complete.

This didn't seem to satisfy the girls, though, and they turned to Harry. "Could you make a lightsaber?" Pansy asked.

"I've never thought about making a real lightsaber." Harry admitted. "It would be really difficult, since the science doesn't really exist. This is what you call science-fiction. They use some real concepts and expand upon what is possible, with fictional concepts. Lasers don't work like that."

"So, the weapons they used were all fake?" Parvati asked.

"Not all, not really." Harry said. "Lasers do exist, but they take longer to cut through things and they stop where their light is intercepted by physical objects. They also have no physical weight, at least not in the sense that they could hit each other and stop. You'd need some sort of force field to do that, but then the laser would do nothing because it's encased in the force field."

"So that Death-Star thing. It couldn't destroy a planet?" Daphne asked.

"Theoretically, if you could generate enough heat and light, with an application of enough force… I suppose something like that could be made." Harry allowed. "But I can't imagine how much power something like that would take."

"That's good to know." Daphne sighed. The idea of someone getting it in their heads to destroy the planet, disturbed her.

"Remember people, this is fiction." Hermione's father spoke up. "It's supposed to be a fun and epic story of good triumphing over evil."

"Not many people would like stories where the bad guy wins in the end." Remus said, from where he sat next to Sirius.

Sirius, however had a thoughtful look. "Maybe we can try and make a lightsaber." he theorised. "We'd just have to substitute lasers for some kind of active magical beam."

Harry thought about that. The idea actually had some merit. "That's not a bad idea, but how would you even go about making a beam that thin, so that it would cut through things or make contact with other beams of its kind?"

"Magic." Sirius shrugged. "I'm sure you'll think of something when you have the time. After all, we don't want to be unprepared for when the evil space dark lords come to destroy the planet, do we?" he finished with an evil grin.

The ploy worked and the kids all laughed, but Harry was still thoughtful. He knew Sirius was right. Magic should be able to do something similar, if not exactly the same thing. He'd have to think about that for a bit.

The party soon broke up, as the parents and guardians in attendance started showing up to pick up the girls. Neville would be staying over at Harry's house, where Augusta Longbottom thought he had spent the entire day anyway. They didn't want to give the old battle-axe a heart-attack, by telling her they had planned on going to a muggle shopping centre. They had never been able to find an arcade at the shopping centre closest to Hermione's house. Harry would simply need to remember to take him to one closer to his house, next time.

The movies and the girls' reaction to them, had given Harry an idea that he wanted to try out, so he disappeared into his room for the next couple of weeks. He knew well that he wouldn't be able to tell when, or even if, Lucius would even still try to drop the diary in with Ginny's shopping this time around, so he resolved to see if his changes had affected that part of the coming school year.

In the meanwhile he had other things to do.

By the time the first of September rolled around, Harry was ready to surprise his friends again and he met up with them at the platform. Harry was disappointed that Dobby didn't seem to try and stop him this time around. Maybe the little guy didn't know what he looked like? But that hadn't stopped him last time, so Harry wondered if Lucius had decided to keep his plans to himself, this time around, with his son's loyalties now in question. Then he remembered the Fidelius. Dobby couldn't find him, and hadn't needed to intercept mail, so he didn't know where he lived or what he looked like. Knowing that, made him feel better.

Harry greeted the girls again and was greeted politely, but with smiles from the parents. Harry wasn't sure he liked the blushes he was getting from all the girls this time around. Sirius hadn't told him that they had all shown up with marriage proposals, but he wouldn't put it past the old dog to try and surprise him by setting up a harem for him. Whatever was happening, the girls knew about it and were staying quiet about it around their parents.

The Patil twins, Daphne, Pansy, Susan, Hermione and Neville were sitting in his compartment with him. It was convenient that it was all the members that made up his 'inner circle', but Harry suspected that it was no chance occurrence. Harry waited for them to be out of the station, before he asked about it. "So, anything I should know?" he tried.

"About what?" Susan asked innocently, even as she blushed like… well, like a twelve-year old girl.

"Why are all of you girls blushing?" Harry asked. That's when he realised Hermione was also blushing.

"Harry, can we talk about your letter?" Hermione asked. "In private."

"What letter?" Harry asked.

This seemed to stop the blushing that was going on. "You got one too?" Susan asked Hermione.

"I didn't send any letters." Harry said. "We've been talking on the boards. I didn't need to send any letters."

"I got one too." Neville said. He had been quiet all the time that they were on the train, seeming confused when he was told to join them again.

"WHAT?!" the girls in the compartment all exclaimed.

"Okay, stop!" Harry said. He turned to Hermione. "May I see your letter, please? I'm getting the feeling I'm being pranked, or that someone is trying to interfere with my relationships."

Hermione seemed uncertain for a moment, but finally handed him a letter.

He opened it up and read:

My Dearest Hermione

I think I've fallen…

He stopped reading immediately. "Okay, I'm assuming I supposedly sent you all mail confessing my everlasting love or something?" The girls nodded. He looked at Neville, "What did the letter to you say?"

"I don't think I should say." Neville said, looking at the girls.

"Okay, let me guess." Harry said. "I told you to leave the study group?" Neville shook his head. "I told you to stop looking at the girls?" Neville shook again. "I told you to stop being friends with the girls?" Neville hesitated and then nodded. Harry sighed. "It seems someone is indeed trying to set me up for a break-up with my friends. I even have an idea who."

'Dobby, you sly little motherfucker!' Harry berated in his head. 'When you couldn't get to me, you decided to make it so I lose all my friends at the school, by making it unbearable to be around them.'

The girls now looked sad and wouldn't look at him. He had to do damage control and quick. "Listen, ladies. I think you are all beautiful and would make any boy happy to have you on his arm. What I will never do, is choose one of you over the others. I just couldn't do that to the rest of you. So until we're older, can we just be friends and forget that whoever sent this, did so?"

The girls still didn't look at him. "Fuck! This is so stupid!" Harry said as he jumped up. "I'm going to fix this, don't worry." He stormed out of their compartment and went looking for Draco. He found him a couple of cars down, sitting with other Hufflepuffs. Older Hufflepuffs. Maybe they were reminding him to be a good boy after the holiday away?

He opened the door and walked in. "Draco, just the man I'm looking for." Harry said. "I need you to come to my compartment, quick."

"What do you want, Potter?" Draco asked with a sneer. It seemed he was reverting and the Hufflepuffs had decided a refresher course was necessary.

"Hey! Speak politely, and call him Black. You know he doesn't like being called Potter!" one of the older girls said. Then she turned to him and smiled. "We're just reminding him of his manners." she said.

"Should one of us accompany you? He's been in the presence of a bad influence it seems." one of the boys said, with a scowl at the boy.

"And I hate interrupting the re-education." Harry said. "You guys worked wonders on him last year."

"Thank you." the older Hufflepuffs smiled at him. Harry could have sworn he saw a yellow crest with a badger in all their eyes for a moment.

"I can handle him." Harry said, pulling the boy up by the front of his shirt in one hand and lifted him off the ground. "We'll be back in just a few minutes. I need to introduce him to the concept of inter-house cooperation." he said as he walked out with the boy still in one hand, lifted in front of himself.

The Hufflepuffs looked at him like he was Helga Hufflepuff, back from the dead, and nodded with smiles on their faces. Harry ignored the many looks as people looked after him and compartments opened behind him to look at him, after he passed. Harry only stopped when he arrived at his own compartment and opened it with a thought, before he tossed the boy onto the floor at the girls' feet.

"Draco." Harry said dangerously. "Call your house-elf." he said after he closed the door and used his magic to make the windows dark, to give them privacy.

"Wh-why?" Draco tried. Potter was too powerful. This couldn't be natural. If only he had more time!

"I'm not asking again." Harry said as a window opened and Draco lifted from the floor and his head stuck out the window.

"Dobby!" Draco called instantly, his eyes wide with fear.

There was a 'pop!' and Dobby was in the compartment. "You called, master?" the elf said. He noticed Draco with his head out the window, looking like he was going to jump. Then he noticed the girls, and behind him, the great Harry Potter himself.

"Order your elf to tell me if he had anything to do with the letters that were sent to my friends." Harry instructed Draco.

"Tell him!" Draco insisted, still halfway out the window.

"I… I…" Dobby tried.

"Let me make this easier for you." Harry said, finally remembering to take out his 'wand' and stupefying Draco, before dropping him onto the floor unconscious. "He can't hear you, Dobby. He's unconscious."

"You must not be going to Hogwarts!" Dobby said instantly. "I sent the letters, yes, so that you would not be able to have friends! To make them fight, so that they cannot stand by you! You are the Great Harry Potter! You have to be safe!"

"Do you know who has the diary?" Harry asked. "Is it Ginny Weasley?" he tried.

Dobby couldn't answer, but his eyes flashed to Draco.

"Oh, you've got to be fucking shitting me!" Harry exclaimed. "His own son!?"

Dobby looked down at the floor. "I's cannot be telling you, Harry Potter, sir. I's be in trouble when he wakes up."

"Don't worry, Dobby." Harry said, kindly. "I'll obliviate him. He won't know what happened."

"The dark lord… the dark lord has powers…" Dobby tried.

"Not for long, Dobby." Harry assured him. "You may go home. Thank you, my friend. Let's meet again soon, under better circumstances, okay?" he offered the house-elf.

"F-friend?" Dobby asked.

"For trying to help me." Harry said, before he looked sternly at the elf. "But don't do that again, okay?"

"Dobby promises." Dobby said with a small nod, before he disappeared again, his giant eyes brimming with tears at Harry's words.

Harry cast another stupefy at the idiot boy and started searching through his pockets. Soon enough he found the bloody diary, right there in his pocket. "Motherfucker!" Harry exclaimed again. "He was going to sacrifice his own son to see Voldemort return!"

"How do you know this?" the spectral form of Tom Riddle asked as he appeared.

The girls screamed and Neville actually stood up to cover the girls closest to him.

"Trade secret." Harry said. Then he turned to Hermione. "I'll be back as soon as I can. If I can't find the train, I'll be waiting at the station to meet you, okay?" Harry said.

"Okay." Hermione said.

Harry looked down at Malfoy and said, "Keep him stunned." Then he lifted up and shot out the window, diary in hand.

The spirit of Tom Riddle vanished from the compartment.

"Do any of you know how to cast a stupefy?" Hermione asked. She knew the spell, of course, but hadn't had time to practice it on a person.

There were shakes of the head, all around, but Neville smiled. "I can always do it the muggle way." he said. "Always wanted to hit a Malfoy, anyway." he added.

Harry had only travelled far enough to not be seen and then Apparated back home and directly into the vault, where the rest of Riddle was kept.

"Where did you find that!?" The older Tom Riddle asked.

"That's what I wanted to know." the spirit from the diary asked as it appeared.

Harry ignored them both. They couldn't project out of the vault, since Remus had added wards that stop spirits. It was intended for ghosts, but it seemed to work on the annoying spirit, too. The book was put in a secure locker and Harry took a moment to ward it from tampering. Then he went upstairs.

"Moony! Padfoot!" he called. "Get both your furry arses down here!"

Only Remus appeared. "Harry? What happened? Did the elf finally show up?"

"Yes, but it seems Lucius had other plans this time around." Harry spat. "Where's Sirius?"

"He's at one of the strip clubs at a wolf resort." Remus said with a roll of his eyes. "You'd think he'd learn after the last Veela almost burned his face off."

"He gets in free." Harry scoffed. "It's the boobs. He can't resist a nice pair. Anyway, I got the diary. It's in secure lockup and the Riddles are talking."

"Riddles?" Remus asked.

"The book started to manifest already." Harry said. "Lucius probably gave it to his son earlier, than he gave it to Ginny last time around. I need you to keep a watch and ensure he doesn't become corporeal."

"Done." Remus said instantly. "I'll set up a mirror with one of the security teams to watch it, when I'm not able." he promised.

That had been a shock to Harry. He hadn't known they had security teams, but he understood the need. When you have warehouses stocked with transport items, you needed security, after all. The wolves in charge were very, very dedicated, since they loved to hunt down thieves. They were all in one location and watched mirrors setup in the warehouses, to monitor everything. When something happened they took a portkey and started to hunt.

"Thanks Remus." Harry said. "I need to get back to the train. Hopefully the others have kept Draco unconscious."

And with that he apparated away again and flew along the train tracks. It didn't take him long to find the train and re-enter the compartment, where the others were sitting in silence, watching Draco.

"Did I miss anything?" Harry asked.

"Damn!" Neville swore. "I never even got to hit him!"

"Neville!" Hermione exclaimed. "You shouldn't use such language!"

"I'm sorry, Hermione." Neville said. "You're right."

"I'm proud of you, Neville." Harry said. "I really enjoy it when people use the English language to express themselves so passionately."

"You already did what you went to do?" Susan asked. "How did you fly like that?"

"Yes, and I'll show you another time." Harry said, glad they were talking to him again, instead of just the floor. He realised that they were happy with the idea that he liked them and this had broken their spirit a bit, but he couldn't undo what Dobby had done. He could teach them some things that would help them get over it, though.

"Let's memory-wipe the unfortunate bastard." Harry said as he put his hand on the boy's head. He closed his eyes and concentrated, casting an obliviate to remove the memory from the moment he entered the Hufflepuff car. Then, for good measure, he added an aversion to writing in diaries, to counter the no-doubt already implanted compulsion to do so.

Then he picked the boy up and walked him back to the Hufflepuff compartment, ignoring the, once again staring, students. "Here you go, guys. Don't be too hard on him. He was controlled by an artefact his father gave him that would have killed him and caused the rebirth of Voldemort. Cheers!" he said as he sent an enervate at the boy who was now laying on the floor of the compartment.

Draco's eyes shot open and he looked around. "What am I doing on the floor? When did we leave for school?"

Harry didn't care to stick around and returned to his own compartment. When he sat down, he asked, "Are you guys feeling better yet?"

"I'm just angry at myself, for being so excited about something someone else sent me." Hermione admitted after a moment. "I should have just asked."

"How could you have known?" Harry asked. "The handwriting looked like mine, at least. I didn't read too much into the letter. Only the first sentence or so." There was quiet again. Harry would just have to give them time, probably. He didn't like waiting though. "So, the next project will be putting a house on the moon. Are any of you interested in discussing the design?"

That opened things up nicely as everyone looked at him in awe. "A house?" Padma asked.

"On the moon?" Parvati added.

"Is that even legal?" Susan asked.

"Who's going to stop me?" Harry chuckled. "Besides, we intend to place it under a Fidelius, so nobody will even know it's there."

"What's a Fidelius?" Padma asked, already wanting to learn more.

"Well-" Harry started. What followed was a lecture that got them all talking about the possibilities of magic. Harry had known that the Fidelius was an obscure magic, but he had thought it would be more widely known about, even if Remus had ended up needing to buy the information from the goblins.

A short while before they arrived at Hogwarts, Susan asked, "If I wanted to date you, would you say no?"

"I wouldn't know how to answer you, Susan." Harry said. "The fact is I like you all quite a bit, but I don't have enough lordships to go around."

"Take them." Pansy said instantly. "Challenge for the titles, on the pain of losing your own. People would underestimate you because you are so young."

"Also, you could have yourself tested with the Goblins to claim any hereditary titles that you may not know about." Daphne added.

"I do know that one of my ancestors was a Peverell." Harry mused. "Perhaps they had a lordship?"

"Like, from The Tales of Beedle the Bard?" Susan asked.

"The same." Harry said. "I'm currently the owner of all the Hallows, too. I have the stone and the wand used to be Dumbledore's but I've currently got its allegiance."

"The cloak of invisibility?" Someone asked from the door.

"Family heirloom." Harry said smiling at the new arrival. "Hello Luna Lovegood. Call me Harry Black, please?"

"Okay, Harry Black." She said with a smile, not having reacted at all to him knowing her name.

"Are you going to join us?" Harry asked.

"I've never been in a Harem." Luna said dreamily. "Is it a lot of fun?"

"Never had one, wouldn't know." Harry smiled at her. "Maybe one day, though. Have you seen how pretty all these girls are?" he asked in a stage whisper. "I'd be one lucky bloke."

"I'll think about joining you later." Luna said. "I don't know that I like all the Nargles in the air just now."

"I completely understand." Harry said solemnly. "And I'm working on fixing that."

"Good." Luna said. "Nargle infestations can fester and attract Wrackspurts."

"I'll do my best." Harry promised.

"Okay." Luna said as she closed the door and walked away again.

"What just happened?" Hermione asked. "What are Nargles and Wrackspurts and how do you know that girl?"

"Luna just came to introduce herself." Harry started. "Nargles are her way of saying there's a lot of bottled emotion, or something and I suspect Wrackspurts are supposed to be jealousy, or conflict. Luna is going to be a member of this group, as she'll be attracting the bad sort of attention, because she sees the world differently than the rest of us."

Hermione started rubbing her temples and repeating over and over, "Trade Secret, Trade Secret, Trade Secret…"

"She really hates when you mention things you don't explain properly." Padma said conversationally.

"I know, but there really is a reason for that." Harry said. "If my missions this year go to plan, I'll be able to inform you all about it, but you might need to swear magically binding oaths to protect the secrets. It is literally life-or-death stuff."

Hermione sighed, then. "At least the end is in sight." she allowed. "Until then, what do you mean you're the Master of the Hallows?"

"He who has the allegiance of all the Deathly Hallows becomes the Master of Death." Daphne recited. "It's a childhood story in the magical world."

"What does that mean?" Hermione asked.

"Nobody knows." Harry said. "And who cares. It's a story. I don't need any of the Hallows. I can disillusion myself and don't need a wand. I don't want to speak to the dead either. I'd much rather leave them to their rest."

"Speak to the dead?" Hermione asked with wide eyes.

"It's supposed to be the power of the stone." Pansy put in, looking interested in his statement about not needing a wand. Harry was obviously hiding a talent. "The Master of Death may be a useless title, but it holds weight in the Magical world. If you used it to your advantage…"

"I like to make my own fortunes, thank you very much." Harry said. "Why do you think I'm Harry Black and not Harry Potter?"

"Because the name is too well known?" Padma offered.

"Yup." Harry said.

"Harry, what did she mean by Harem?" Hermione asked.

"You know what a harem is Hermione." Harry chuckled. "In the magical world, a Lord is allowed one wife for every noble title, so if I wanted all six of you girls to be my wives I'd need six titles."

"Three." Susan corrected.

"What?" Harry asked.

"You'd need three titles." Susan said, while Daphne and Pansy nodded in understanding. "Bones, Greengrass and Parkinson are already three. We can be the ladies for our own titles and you'd become the lord for those. All you'd need is one more."

Padma spoke up, "Our older brother will become Lord Patil." Parvati nodded along.

"And you would be okay with that?!" Hermione asked incredulously. Then she turned on Harry, "And who said that I'd want to be in a Harem or marry you?"

"The letter made me realise that I might need to share Harry." Susan admitted. "Since I'd have my own title already, it would be expected that he'd need at least two more wives. It's tradition."

"Aren't we moving a bit fast here?" Harry asked. "I mean, we're only twelve. You might find someone better."

"Better?" Pansy scoffed. "I don't think so. You're powerful, wealthy and intelligent."

"You've got the whole of Hufflepuff behind you for your attitude." Susan added. "The fact that the study group has representatives from all houses helps."

"Ravenclaw is more after him for his intelligence, but they'd stand behind him if needed." Padma said.

"Slytherin is afraid of you." Daphne said. "After you broke down that wall to protect us, the girls all support you and so the boys are all too scared to cross you. They'd all likely swear loyalty, just for your protection or protection from you."

"Gryffindor thinks you're the second coming of Merlin." Parvati added. "After you made the twins your apprentices in the first year and showed no fear of the Professors, ordering them around and skipping classes as you please, you can do no wrong by them. You even attacked Dumbledore and received points for it."

"So you're all just going to go with this harem idea?" Hermione asked scandalised.

"That's not really my idea." Harry admitted. "Sirius did mention the protection and advantages we can offer to people and strongly advised me to start claiming to be dating many girls, while I look for my future wife or wives. There are reasons I don't like that idea myself, but I'm only a man, and the idea of being surrounded by beautiful girls and, one day, women, isn't something I would ever complain about.

"You also don't have to make up your minds right now." Harry continued. "I don't intend to get married right out of Hogwarts. I'll probably spend a couple of years working on projects and expanding the company, first, while I work on new and improved ways to do things. If any of you want to give it a shot after school, we can give it a go. If you want to remain only friends with me, that's fine too, and I'd love to keep that relationship."

He turned to Hermione, "I'm sorry that letter disappointed you so much, when it turned out I didn't write it. The fact is, I do care for you, but we're too young to know what love is. Right now, let's stick with the relationship we can all understand. Friendship."

Hermione looked like she was going to complain, but finally nodded. She realised he was right. Her mother had warned her that things might get a little confusing over the next couple of years, because she was entering a new time of her life, where she'd start becoming a woman. She was still upset, but happy that Harry was being reasonable, at least. "That's probably a good idea." she finally admitted.

"I'm assuming this plan is also supposed to stay secret?" Pansy asked, for clarity. She knew that this could become an issue for Harry later on, but for now, she could cement her position as his supporter by taking his concerns into account. She personally didn't think she'd be interested in anyone else. She had been raised to think of these things and to look out for her future husband. A powerful, influential person to strengthen her family. Her mother supported the idea, even though her father wouldn't comment. She feared he was up to no good.

It was a quiet moment, and the five pureblood girls looked up and around, realising that the others were probably having similar thoughts. The suggestion for them to spend more time with the future Lord Potter and Black, and become close to him, had been reasonably universal. They were also warned that he'd start becoming more attractive to other girls and that they should try and make it difficult for said other girls to approach him, to protect their friend, if not their claim.

The conversation started up slowly again and Harry decided to allow the conversation to be drawn back to the point he had made about not needing a wand. He demonstrated his skill and asked Hermione to show them her own progress. During the school holiday, she'd been practicing a lot and was able to cast most of the simple spells that they had learned the previous year, and one or two ones that were from later years, which she thought might be useful.

This obviously led to a discussion about how they had trained in the skill and everyone got the crash-course, deciding that they simply had to learn the ability. It was too useful not to. The fact that Harry's way of doing this could be considered his own family magic was mentioned, and everyone agreed that it would be too good to share, since it gave them an advantage no one else had.

Neville was just happy to be included. Harry hadn't hidden anything from him, and while it seemed that the girls were seemingly spoken for, at least they didn't throw him out and still treated him like a friend, as they always had. He decided to continue to listen and learn from Harry, who had very quickly become his best friend. He wouldn't deny him what he was planning, even if he was slightly jealous of him. What boy wouldn't be, after all?

By the time they arrived at Hogwarts, Draco had turned up to apologise for his behaviour, even if he didn't remember what he had said for some reason. He had noticed himself losing time over the school holiday, but felt a little better now, and had needed to prove himself to the higher year students, by making the apology. The fact that the magic diary his father had given him had disappeared, bothered him, but only a little bit, for some reason.

They arrived at the castle and waited for the sorting to happen. When Luna's time came, Harry clamped its mouth shut and pronounced "Gryffindor!" for it. The Creevey boy went to Hufflepuff. They could deal with him. He'd also fit right in. Harry was unsurprised that Ginny was sorted into Gryffindor as well, but ignored her blushing and stammering as she sat nearby, instead making sure she saw him smile and chat with the Gryffindor girls his age.

Before the feast ended, Harry made eye contact with Snape and indicated that he needed a moment of his time, mouthing, 'We need to talk'.

Snape's eye twitched, not liking that the boy though he could summon him like this, but the fact that he had never done so before, intrigued him, so he nodded slightly. As the other children made their way to the common rooms, Neville and the Gryffindor girls waited for Harry as he entered a nearby classroom, when Snape exited the Great Hall and followed him in, closing the door after himself.

"What do you want, Black?" Snape asked. "Surely you couldn't have already gotten in trouble already?"

"Draco Malfoy is your godson, correct?" Harry asked, instead of answering.

"He is." Snape said as his eyes narrowed.

"Last year, I made the hat place him in Hufflepuff for a reason. To keep him out of trouble." Harry said. Snape made to interrupt, but Harry held up a hand and continued. "Unfortunately his father didn't like his personality change and decided to take steps. Do you know who Tom Riddle is?"

Snape's face showed a moment of shock, before he nodded, but he kept his mouth shut.

"Good, that will make this simpler." Harry said. "Tom Riddle once gave a diary he enchanted to one of his loyal followers. The diary had the specific purpose of keeping a part of himself alive, even if he died. The diary contained his memories, you see, and would compel people to write in it, draining their life force as it became stronger, until it could manifest and become alive."

"What does this have to do with Draco?" Snape asked. He was no fool, but he couldn't imagine Lucius doing this to his own son.

"You suspect correctly." Harry informed him, when he saw the look. "I found the diary on Draco on the train ride here and went to go deposit it in a secure location. The spirit of Tom Riddle was already able to manifest, but not completely. I need you to keep an eye on your godson, to see if he starts losing time, since part of the purpose of the diary is to take control of the victims as they become connected to it."

"Couldn't you destroy the diary?" Snape asked, having lost some colour.

"I do know how, and I have my reasons for not doing so immediately." Harry said. "If you want me to do it in a few days, if you discover any erratic behaviour, I will, but you must let me know the minute he goes missing or becomes unaccounted for. I've got people monitoring the diary as well, to ensure that the manifestation disappears."

Snape looked at Harry for a long moment, before nodding. "One of these days, you will need to tell me how you know these things, without the flimsy excuse of family magic. It will only work for so long. This is a human life we're talking about, and the most feared dark lord of all time."

"I've already mostly disposed of the dark lord and his artefacts." Harry stated easily. "That would need to remain between the two of us though, since there's still one that I haven't gotten my hands on."

"He made more?!" Snape exclaimed. He knew what Harry was talking about was the darkest of magics. He didn't know how it was done, or what it was called, but things of this nature usually attracted people like Tom Riddle.

"A couple." Harry nodded. "We should have the last one tracked down and put in a safe location by the end of the month." he assured the man. "We intend to place them all in a Fidelius on the dark side of the moon." He smiled evilly at Snape. "Give him his immortality. In a place where he will never have any human contact, ever again."

Snape was impressed, despite himself. "I understand." he said, as he too, sported an evil grin. "I've underestimated you, Black. I always thought you were a smart Gryffindor. It turns out you are conniving too. You'd have done well in Slytherin."

"The hat wanted to put me there, but I convinced it to put me where nobody would suspect I am secretly running the school from the shadows." Harry smirked.

Snape understood this was a joke, though, so he didn't respond. "Well done, Black. Fifty points from Gryffindor for your effort."

"Thank you professor!" Harry said. "I'm wondering if the house point system can show negative values."

"It can't, but it will take a while to show any points coming in." Snape said as he turned and walked to the door. Before opening the door however, he turned back. "And Black. Thank you."

"Only a pleasure." Harry said. "Draco is still an innocent at this point. His father wanted to change that, and I suspect he didn't know what he was doing, not completely anyway. I know he loves Draco."

Snape nodded, opened the door and left. Lucius may not have known what he was doing, but he still endangered his kid with a dark artefact. He'd be keeping a very close eye on him. He'd also be talking with Pomona, to ask her to keep an eye on him as well and to have her little minions do the same. He knew the Hufflepuff stigma, as well, but it wasn't talked about.

Harry re-joined his friends and left for the Gryffindor tower. They arrived to find Luna Lovegood waiting for them, with Ginny sitting next to her. "Hello Harry Black. Thank you for putting me in Gryffindor."

"You're welcome Luna." Harry said easily.

"What is she talking about, Harry?" Fred asked.

"Well, Fred, I suspect she's referring to the fact that I can control the sorting hat with my pranking skills." Harry said easily.

"Why would you do that, though?" George asked. They had long since stopped trying to fool the boy.

"Luna is a special case, much like Draco was last year." Harry smirked.

"You did that?!" the twins chorused, looks of awe on their faces.

"Who else would put Draco Malfoy in Hufflepuff, for fuck's sake?!" Harry swore. "I'm very disappointed in you boys. You really should know your master's handiwork by now." The fact that a lower year had just swore and talked to the twins like they were below him was met with smirks throughout the common room.

"How could we know?" Fred asked. He didn't mind playing along for now.

"You were an ickle firstie!" George said.

"I've never been anything of the sort." Harry said. "I started school this year. Last year was my twin brother, who I now keep locked away, so that nobody can know we switched places."

The twins laughed at the obvious joke, until another Harry Potter, looking like he had just been through hell, hair singed and a black eye, limped through the portrait hole.

Harry turned to him and said, "You! How did you escape my Veela prison!?"

"The same way you escaped it last time." the 'other' Harry stated as he caught his breath. It was just an illusion. "I had to satisfy all twenty of them until they changed allegiance and gave me the key, of course."

There was a flash of red and the new arrival dropped unconscious. "Damn! I knew Harry Black wouldn't be held in check by only twenty Veela. That's it! I'm doubling the guard. Can't have him escaping again, after all." He did a bit more of an illusion and made it look like he had made a portkey to take the other boy away and dispelled the illusion after a flash.

Harry turned to see a lot of confusion in the room. Some of the people even had wands drawn on him. "Is that really you?" Hermione asked, uncertainly.

"Sorry. I can't tell you, it's a Trade Secret." Harry shrugged, ignoring the wands and going to sit by Luna. "So, how was your first feast?" he asked.

At the mention of his standard excuse, all the wands dropped, many realising it had been a show for their entertainment. The older years, while impressed, had to explain it to a few. Some seemed like they still believed it was real and looked at Harry suspiciously.

"Twenty Veela?" some were asking.

"The feast was nice." Luna said. "The entertainment here in Gryffindor does seem more enjoyable though."

"More enjoyable?" Hermione, who had finally taken a seat nearby, asked.

"Than in Ravenclaw, yes." Luna said. "I can't imagine that they have a master illusionist in their common room. I'm glad that Harry decided the hat was wrong. I even have a friend here." she said, indicating Ginny, who had yet to speak.

"Good on you, Luna. The Weasleys can be nice people. They all do get kind of passionate about things, though." Harry said in thought. It was true, he realised. They all tended to get obsessive about what they do. Ron had eating and quiddich, with a little chess thrown in. Bill left home to explore Egyptian wards, his passion was curse-breaking. Charlie had the dragons. The twins had their pranks. Arthur had his plug collection. Even Percy wanted nothing more than to be respected and overdid things on that front, till everyone thought he was stuck-up.

"What do you mean, passionate?" Fred asked. The twins had yet to leave, since they wanted to know how Harry had done that and hoped he'd explain himself. Luna had given them a clue though and they suspected they now understood.

"You two are the easiest." Harry scoffed. "You can't go five minutes without thinking of pranking someone. There's nothing wrong with it, of course. They always say, do what you're passionate about."

"You should watch out for Ginny, then." Fred smirked.

"She's passionate about Harry Potter." George said, sending his little sister into a furious blush.

"That's not nice, Fred." Harry said. "How would you like it if I told Angelina you fancied her?"

Fred suddenly became the one to blush as Angelina was clearly within hearing distance. Especially when Harry had raised his voice on purpose.

George smiled at his brother's discomfort, but that was a mistake as Harry added, "Or that George likes Alicia?" George was soon blushing as Harry turned to the boys. "What do you girls think? Should I tell them that you like them too, or is it none of my business?" he asked the girls who had been smiling at the revelation.

"Okay!" Fred exclaimed, taking the attention off the now blushing girls. "We get it!"

"Sorry Ginny. We should have minded our own business." George added. Harry could be mean, when he was making a point.

"Do I need to teach you this lesson every year?" Harry asked.

"One more time, will most likely do the trick." Ginny said softly, as she finally spoke. Harry was not who she had thought, but she didn't mind him coming to her rescue. Even if he wasn't nice about it.

"She speaks!" Harry cheered. "And here I thought you were mute."

"In the Weasley family?" Fred asked, glad to be off the subject from before.

"You'd have more luck finding a Banshee than a mute." George said.

"Good old mum." the twins said together, with a sigh. There was a bit of laughter and things settled back down again.

"How do you tell the twins apart?" Ginny asked, having noticed that they didn't try to deny who they are. "Not even mum can tell."

"Trade secret." came the communal response again, as Harry just smirked. Even Percy had joined in, shaking his head as he did so.

"Honestly, Harry." Fred tried a bit later.

"With what you did earlier, you could have so much fun." George said.

"You could give people days off, while you make copies appear in class." Fred said.

"Or you could take a nap under the desk, while a copy sits in for you." George said.

"Magic takes concentration." Harry said. "I thought you'd have learned that by now."

"But you're Harry Black!" Fred said.

"Defeater of dark lords," George added as they started switching.

"And Defence Professors,"

"Smartest kid in school,"

"Highest point earner,"

"And loser,"

"And most of all,"

"Heir to the Marauders!" they finished together.

"Marauders?" one of the other students asked.

"My uncles and father considered themselves pranksters and called themselves the Marauders." Harry explained. "They liked to make people laugh, seeing as how there was a war on. Tried to lift spirits, you see."

"Anything good?" another student asked.

"As I recall… they once snuck into Slytherin and changed all the mirrors to show the girls as boys and visa-versa." Harry said. "The plan backfired though, since all the boys spent the entirety of the prank walking around topless and looking at reflections."

"You wouldn't happen," Fred started.

"To know that spell do you?" George finished.

"If I did, I wouldn't tell you wankers!" Harry laughed. "Still, better that the x-ray goggles. Those would get you killed and all the girls in school would hate me."

"You can make x-ray goggles?" Hermione asked, aghast.

"Why do you think I don't wear glasses anymore?" Harry smirked. "Remus and Sirius got tired of me using them to find out where they hid all the candy!" The unexpected explanation was met with a couple of laughs, while most of the girls giggled through their blushes, realising he was joking.

"But, you could make them?" Hermione clarified.

"To be honest, I do know how to make a version of x-ray goggles, but they look through not just clothes, but also skin and muscle. The healers use them sometimes, to help work on broken bones and stuff." Harry explained. "Why do you ask?"

"I was just thinking it would be nice to give my parents access to something like that." Hermione said.

"I don't see why we can't." Harry thought aloud. "But you have to remember that it's highly likely that these things will only work for magicals and we're not allowed to share magic with muggles."

Hermione slumped. "That's too bad. I really would like to give them something that they can use and they'd find something like that ever so useful."

"Don't worry, Hermione." Harry said. "If you really want that, we'll look for something, okay? All else fails, I'll just have to make a new spell for it." Hermione smiled at him at that. "In the meanwhile I have something else to show you once we are back in study group."

"What is it?" Hermione asked, excitedly.

"It's a surprise." Harry said with a smirk. He didn't want to bring up her insecurities in front of so many people after all. He could teach her the magic and she could practice it until she could do it wandlessly and show her parents. With the ability to restore the teeth to normal, they would likely get used to the idea and stop arguing with her.

"Why did you tell her now, then?" Ginny asked.

"It's fun to tease her." Harry said with another chuckle as Hermione fumed at him.

The evening turned out rather calm and all the first-years had settled in nicely. Harry waited for everyone to be asleep, then he snuck downstairs to do some late-night reading. He remembered Luna mentioning that she sleep-walked and wanted to be sure she didn't hurt herself or something. He couldn't always do this, but in the beginning, he wouldn't mind doing the extra effort.

Nothing happened that night and Harry was disappointed that the Arithmancy book didn't cover things like making things work for muggles. He resolved to make another trip to the restricted section at some point in the next week.