Chapter 8

The next morning, as McGonagall handed out class schedules, Harry asked her for a bit of time at the end of the day, after classes, and she told him to meet her in her office. Classes went like they normally did, with Harry ignoring the professors as he no longer wanted or needed to hide his skills and knowledge. As far as he knew, nothing could affect the cup, which was still stored in Gringotts, the only people able to enter would be the owners, who were in Azkaban.

Harry went to McGonagall's office and knocked on the door.

"Enter." She called and he walked in and stood in front of her desk. "How can I help you Harry?"

"Did you know I've never been called into your office, this time around?" Harry said. "Besides detentions, I thought I'd have been here a couple of times by now."

"Despite your attempts to subvert the rules and the way you like to cause distractions, you are actually quite the exemplary student, Harry." She told him with a smile. "You could put a bit more effort into homework, when you decide to do it, but your dedication in class, no matter what you are studying, tends to make the others work harder. I find your classes to be the ones in which the students focus the best. They do tend to look for your example during practical work as well."

"I hadn't noticed." Harry said, honestly.

"Why are you still standing? Sit down." She said with a fond smile at the boy.

"Oh, right." Harry said, before he stood up straighter. "Professor McGonagall, I have a request to make. I would like the use of a large unused room, which I can use to set up a new project I have been working on."

McGonagall noticed his back straightening and the fact that he referred to her as professor, rather than the more familiar 'Aunty Min' like he usually did. It seemed this was to be an official request. She sat up straighter as well and asked, "What were you planning on doing in this room, should I deign to allow you the use of one?"

"I would prefer to keep that as a surprise, Professor." Harry said. "I assure you that it would have a positive effect on the student's morale and you could use it as a form of reward, or punishment, whichever you prefer. I'll also show you the finished product first, so that you may decide whether I may proceed."

"This is an official request?" McGonagall asked.

"Yes, professor." Harry confirmed.

"Then I am afraid that without further details, I couldn't allow you to proceed." McGonagall said officially. Then she sat back with a smile and said, "How about you enlighten me?"

Harry sighed. "Well, there goes that surprise." he said, before he sat down and proceeded to tell her his plan. It wasn't all that difficult, really, and he'd already prepared all the spells and special items he'd need. She finally agreed to the plan with a smile on her face, as long as he gave the school staff the opportunity to use the room first, as a proof of concept. In the meanwhile he'd be allowed to set up a room which she walked him to directly after the meeting. It was an auditorium, most likely set up specifically for large presentations. In other words, it was perfect.

Harry then went to the study group. Luna was sitting nearby with Ginny. They were doing their homework as well and Hermione, having heard Harry's statement that Luna would be joining them, had decided that she'd offer her help for her classes. They weren't in their group, because it would be impossible for them to all study the same material, after all. They were nearby, though, and asked Hermione for help every now and then, as Harry took questions for their group at that time. It meant he was interrupted more often, but he needed to ensure Luna was kept safe and happy this time around. If it kept Ginny safe as well, he wouldn't complain. He still hadn't changed his mind about her, though.

When study session ended, Harry stayed with the group to chat a bit, joking around and encouraging the girls with physical contact that now made them blush, but accepted happily. He also continued his farce with Daphne and Pansy, so that they'd be left alone, whenever Slytherin students were about. This now included hugging them from the side, over the shoulders, and smiling at them whenever they spoke to him.

The other girls knew the reasons, but that didn't make them feel better about being left out, so Harry ended up walking around the table to check work and would place his hand on their shoulders and encourage them through squeezes and other methods of physical contact.

He was in such a position after the session, bent over Hermione's shoulder and resting one hand on her other shoulder as he made a correction on her diagram for the spell he was teaching her, as he felt something behind him. One of the older girls had squeezed his rear as she walked by!

He looked back and saw a smile disappearing behind a bookshelf. "Excuse me a moment, ladies, if you please?" Harry said.

He turned to the bookshelf and followed the frisky older girl, to thank her, but ask her not to, only to come face-to face with a wand.

"Imperio." he heard her whisper. And he allowed his face to go blank, waiting for the command, so that he could refuse it. 'You will sneak out and meet me on the next Hogsmeade weekend at the Hog's Head.' a voice said in his head. 'You will tell no-one.'

Damn. If he resisted now, she'd know. He didn't know if she had co-conspirators, but he also didn't need to, since the girl could come down with a sudden case of Veritaserum poisoning, like what tended to happen at the school these days. There was unfortunately also the chance that the girl was being controlled as well, though. He couldn't risk it, so he allowed the command to settle in. He could still resist it later, after all.

The girl felt the curse settle and smiled at her victory. 'You may carry on as normal until then.' The voice said. Harry nodded and turned around and went back to his friends. The next Hogsmeade weekend could be interesting. As he recalled it was scheduled for two weeks from then. He'd noticed that the girl was an upper-year Gryffindor. He really disliked finding that out. She was pretty too. If she was being controlled, he didn't want to know what she had been through or for how long.

Harry left the session with many smiling girls following behind, to go to dinner. That evening, he was lying in bed, chatting with Sirius and Remus, updating them on the project, when Harry said, "Oh, and I have instructions not to say something."

"What?" Sirius asked, confused.

Remus didn't take so long to catch on. "Is this immediate or planned?" He turned to Sirius then, "Possible coercion, moron!"

"Right, sorry." Sirius said.

"I have no plans for the Hogsmeade weekend in two weeks." Harry said. He wasn't telling them that it was on the Hogsmeade weekend after all.

"I'm assuming you can't tell us what or who?" Sirius tried.

"What or who, what?" Harry asked, confirming that he needed to keep it secret.

"Any chance you can tell us a location?" Remus asked.

"Not one of the bars." Harry said. "Especially the one where the Headmaster's brother works."

"Are you unable to resist, or are you playing along?" Remus asked.

"Don't want to tell you." Harry confirmed that it was his choice.

"Okay, good. At least you can still exert control." Remus sighed. "We'll be there, Harry. In the meanwhile, carry on with your normal projects. Leave this to us."

"I trust you Remus." Harry said.

"Hey! What about me?" Sirius asked.

"Would you trust a stoner, when you're… not… compromised?" Harry asked as he felt the mind control spell fighting him. It really was a weak spell. He'd almost broken it, just then. As it was he had quite a bit of freedom to play with the instructions to bend them without breaking them.

"Fighting the spell?" Remus asked, worried.

"Opposite." Harry said.

"I understand, and I'll explain it to Sirius." Remus said with a smile.

"Hey! I under-" Sirius began, but Remus ended the call.

"Bloody mongrel." Harry muttered with a fond smile as he decided to tuck in for the night, but then he remembered that he was watching out for Luna, so he sighed, picked up a book from the restricted section, which he had disguised as a complicated Ancient Runes book and went down to the common room, for a couple of hours of reading. Nothing happened that night either.

Harry started on his project the next day. With classes and study group, the only time he had to work on the project was after dinner, which meant he only had a two-hour period in which he could work on it. It would take him all week with that… if he wasn't who he was, that is. He was able to set up most of the presentation and test some of the features before his time ended on that first night. He left the room, locking it with the password McGonagall had provided him and went back to the common room. That night he didn't want to read, he had another part of his project to plan.

He was sitting in the common room examining a plate of glass that was floating in front of him, when he heard footsteps coming from the girls' staircase. He quickly hid himself with a spell and waited to see who it was. He was surprised to see it was Hermione. Making himself visible now would likely scare the girl, so he just sat there and watched as she sat down on an armchair near the fire and sighed, staring into it.

It seemed she had something on her mind, so he decided to come out of hiding. First he cast a silencing charm on her and then he revealed himself. As he had suspected, she seemed to scream, when he said, "Hi" casually from where he sat. "I silenced you so your scream didn't wake the house. I'm undoing it now."

"What are you doing here?" Hermione asked in a harsh whisper as her heart raced.

"I was working on one of my projects." Harry said. It wasn't a complete lie.

"Why are you working on it at this hour?" she asked.

"I was also keeping an eye out for sleepwalkers." Harry confessed. "But, I don't have a lot of time to work on surprises these days, so I make time at the end of the day, when the common room is empty."

"Have you found any?" she asked as her heart-rate finally calmed down. "Sleepwalkers I mean."

"Not yet." Harry said. "What about you? Why are you up?"

"I couldn't sleep." She said, but she didn't make eye contact.

"Something I should know about?" Harry asked.

"No." she said, a little too quickly.

"I can drop it if you want, but I can tell something is bothering you." Harry said.

There were a couple of minutes of silence as they both looked into the fire, before Hermione finally said, "I think I'm jealous, okay?"

"Jealous?" Harry prompted.

"You keep on giving the other girls more attention than me." Hermione said. "I noticed the effort you put in, to be friendly and hug and… touch them. Since the thing with the letters."

"I didn't notice giving them more attention." Harry said. Had he been doing that?

"You still put a hand on my shoulder and come close to me, but… I don't know, okay? I'm confused. That's why I'm here. To think." she finally said.

"Should I leave?" he asked.

"No." she said with a sigh. "I don't dislike your company, Harry. Quite the opposite. I'm just not sure about this many wives thing. It feels wrong to me. That being said, I don't want you to leave me behind, either. I like spending time with you. You're my best friend! I don't want to lose that!" she exclaimed and turned her head as tears started running down her face.

She'd never had friends and Harry had always been such a wonderful one. She didn't want to think of her life here at Hogwarts without him. She wanted them to be friends always. She couldn't say that she wanted more, either. She didn't see herself in that kind of relationship, yet. Especially the kind the other girls had in mind, but she knew he wasn't just a friend to her. Not after the letter. It had changed things.

"Can I tell you a secret?" Harry asked as he looked at her.

"What?" she asked, not looking at him.

"You're my best friend too." Harry said. It was true. She'd always been his best friend. When he came back, he thought of her first, after his own situation. He'd made plans to go visit her even, but then remembered she'd not know him. How would he even introduce himself? The idea bothered him so much, he ended up not visiting her at all.

"Really?" Hermione asked, finally looking at him. "Why?" she couldn't help adding.

"I can't tell you that, yet." Harry admitted as he got up, to go sit by her. "It has something to do with what I need to tell you at the end of the year." Hermione was shocked when an arm enfolder her and pulled her onto his shoulder. "But I'm not lying to make you feel better, I promise."

Hermione felt a smile break on her face, even as the tears continued, but a few happy ones joined the confused ones. "Thank you." she whispered. "For being my friend."

"Always, Hermione." Harry promised. "But do me a favour and don't tell the other girls that you're my favourite? I don't want another scene like on the train."

Hermione giggled despite herself and closed her eyes on his shoulder as she nodded, silently, as Harry held her to him. Then a thought occurred to her, "Even more than Lavender?"

"Why would I like her more than you?" Harry asked.

"Well… when we were swimming…" she trailed off.

"Oh, you mean how Neville couldn't stop looking at her chest?" Harry asked with half a smile. He knew Lavender would grow faster than the other girls and would be very open about how proud she was of her size, judging by the clothing she wore later on. Hermione nodded again, blushing, but glad Harry couldn't see it. "Don't get me wrong, I'm a boy, I like boobs, but she hardly has anything and I'm not really interested in the size of boobs yet. I know I might like that later on, but I thought you looked very pretty in your swimsuit too."

Hermione's smile only grew and she snuggled into Harry's side contentedly after that. It wasn't long, before he realised she was asleep. He could just imagine McGonagall storming into the common room, looking for answers, but she also knew he wasn't like that, so he sighed and floated her off of him and levitated himself up the girls' stairs, to her dormitory. He didn't know what bed was hers, but fortunately there was only one open bed and it was empty, so he took her there and tucked her in, before going back downstairs, never touching the ground, since he knew there were wards on them to detect boys.

He was not really surprised to see McGonagall standing in the common room, waiting with her hands on her hips. "Well?" she asked, dangerously.

"Hermione had a bit of a difficult time and needed to talk. She fell asleep down here and I didn't want to wake her, so I took her to bed." Harry said as he sat down and pulled out the glass he had placed against the sofa he was on earlier.

"That's very gentlemanly of you," she allowed, "but it doesn't explain how you bypassed the protections to the girls' dorm."

"Magic." Harry shrugged.

"I know you used magic, Harry, but the stairs detect flight as well. Boys have tried brooms in the past you know." she said.

"Does it detect banishing charms?" Harry asked. He didn't know everything about the magic protecting the girls' dorms, after all. He'd just tested a theory. McGonagall stood there staring at him for a while longer. "Do you honestly mean to say that you were seriously worried about my intentions, Aunty Min?" he finally asked, looking up at her.

"No." she said. "I don't worry for your intent. I worry for the safety girls feel at entering their dorms. If they knew you could bypass them-"

"They'd likely leave their curtains open and hope I'll jump in, yes, I know." Harry said with some self-deprecating humour. "I don't intend to tell anyone and hopefully tonight was the only time this will happen. I promise I'll try and wake the girl, should I ever comfort a crying girl until she's asleep again."

"She was crying?" McGonagall asked in concern, walking closer and taking a seat.

"It was about the thing Sirius wants me to do." Harry said. "The other girls don't seem to mind, but its bothering Hermione, about as much as it used to bother me. Before Sirius pointed out all the protections such an arrangement would offer the girls."

McGonagall sat back and thought about it for a bit. "Should I speak to her for you?" she finally offered. She hadn't been behind it until the revelations of the previous year. Now she just wished Harry could do something for all the girls. She still wasn't behind the idea of all those wives, and especially calling it a harem, but she knew how the girls in his group were protected by his association. Especially the Slytherin girls. According to Severus, the rest of the Slytherin house treated them like spun glass, not even fighting with each other in their presence.

"I don't think that would be a good idea." Harry denied. "She'd feel betrayed that I talked to you about her. I don't want to keep things from you, but I also don't want her feeling that I discussed her insecurities with you."

"You have to understand that she is in a fragile stadium of her mental and physical development." McGonagall warned. She knew he knew this already, but thought she should point it out anyway. "Chances are, you'll have to comfort all of those girls a few times over the next few years, if you plan on proceeding with this plan."

"I know." Harry said. "And I'll enjoy the highs with them and support them through the lows. It's the gentlemanly thing to do."

"Just don't enjoy the highs too much." McGonagall warned. "You're also entering an emotional period in your life. I know you're more mature, but your hormones will be doing some interesting things to you, as well, and you might get caught up in the experiences."

"Thank Merlin for occlumency." Harry said deadpan. "I've got the emotions in check. It's the physical issues I worry about. I'll be able to resist the temptation of looking up skirts with my skills, but the effects of the thought crossing my mind on my body will be the problem." He wasn't looking forward to the raging libido and spontaneous erections.

"I do appreciate your delicate phrasing." McGonagall allowed. "If you find that you are having difficulties, consult Poppy. She's got calming draughts that are made specifically for such things."

"I didn't know that." Harry said. "Thanks. When those problems start presenting themselves, I'll be sure to go see her. Mentally I'm a little disturbed at the idea of schoolgirls affecting my body, but whatever happened to me, seems to have imparted the knowledge and power, but left my physical desires and growth at the proper place. It would feel strange to date a 25-year old, right now, even though, mentally, that should be my target age group."

"It is a good thing too." McGonagall said. "Your future would be much harder if you couldn't enjoy the company of your peers."

"Define my peers?" Harry offered.

"Fair enough." McGonagall allowed, before getting up. "I'm off to bed. Don't stay up too late, young man." she warned.

"Yes, mum." Harry joked after her, not knowing her heart had skipped a beat at hearing it. Had he known, he may have avoided saying it or gone to give the Matriarch of their little, strange family a hug, before bed. As it was, McGonagall was pleased that he had been forthright with her and her maternal instinct was humming with contentment. She had helped raise him this time and he was doing just fine. She'd be purring if she was a cat, just now.

Harry finished what he was doing with the glass and shrunk it back and placed it delicately into a pouch, where he had 23 others just like it. Then he went off to bed.

The following week was uneventful, except for Lockhart. Harry enjoyed tripping the man up and having him make a fool of himself. When he did something dangerous, Harry's magic would confine the damage to the professor's immediate location. When he called on Harry, he ignored the man or straight out told him to bugger off, thanking him for point losses.

Poppy had been watching him carefully, and none of the older girls, or boys, had been seen alone with him for any extended period of time, nor did they show any signs of memory loss. At least it seemed like he wasn't a pervert. No matter how much he messed up or tripped and fell or got hurt, he always came back with a smile and excuse for his horrible performance. Harry was finding it quite entertaining, actually.

The weekend of the Hogsmeade weekend finally fell upon them and Harry waited until the other students had left. Then he strapped on a similar device to the ones he had given to Sirius and Remus, before he flew off to Hogsmeade under a disillusionment charm. He landed by the Hog's Head and looked inside, to see if the person who 'invited' him was there. He only saw Aberforth behind his bar and an old man, seemingly asleep on the bar counter, so he waited. His magic had already detected Sirius and Remus, waiting inside, but hidden. His orders did tell him to meet the girl there, after all.

He waited a couple more minutes and then he saw a small group of girls troupe up to the Hog's Head. They seemed to come from Madam Puddifoot's Tea Shop. They were also not wearing their school clothes. Rather, they were wearing dark, heavy cloaks. Their faces also didn't look too friendly.

"Where is he?" one of the girls demanded.

"He's probably still on his way." the one who had charmed him said. "The girl said she did as we asked. I'd be able to tell if she lied. Let's wait inside."

That confirmed it for Harry. These weren't girls from the school. Probably other people in disguise. That made things rather simple for him. He waited for them to enter the bar and then walked in. The three 'girls' looked back at him and the one who looked like the one who had charmed him smirked. "You made it." she said as her wand appeared in her hand. "Let's go for a walk, shall we?"

"Okay." Harry said, acting slightly dazed for effect. He followed them out, noting Sirius appear in his dog form from behind the counter, while Aberforth looked after them. He couldn't tell where Remus was, right now, but didn't care either. He trusted the old wolf. As they made it outside, the girls stayed quiet and led him off into a wooded area. Before the apparent leader turned on him and said, "Imperio."

It was a much stronger effect this time and Harry could tell the man was experienced with the spell. 'You will do as we ask.' was all it said. That was smart. You could amend your original order with verbal commands. Harry allowed the spell to sink in, for the moment.

"Did it work?" one of the other girls asked.

The original girl smiled and said, "We've got him." All three smiled then. "Tell us how you're controlling the werewolves." the girl demanded.

"Friendship and money." Harry said. "And we don't control them. They are happily employed."

"Tell us about your family magics." one of the others asked.

"They are awesome." Harry said, following the command exactly.

"What are they?" the same girl clarified.

"Secrets." Harry replied truthfully again.

"Is he fighting you?" the girl asked her leader.

"Not as far as I can tell. Try being more specific." The leader said.

"What are the uses and effects of your family magic?" the girl tried again.

"They come in handy and make me happy." Harry said. He was having fun with this, now.

"What is the incantation?" the leader tried.

"I don't need incantations." Harry said.

"He must be lying." the leader announced. "He's somehow resisting the spell."

"Well, technically I did learn the incantation, but when I learned the magic involved, I no longer needed the incantation so I forgot them." Harry said. It was true. He cast spells by feel these days and hadn't needed an incantation in years. It was just about that time that the anti-apparition magic went up. Harry quickly shook the Imperius off and shot up into the sky after lifting his arm, to indicate his direction, before making a lazy turn and returning to the scene, where the girls were already all down, surrounded by twenty men in military combat fatigues.

He landed next to Sirius, who was still in dog form and sitting on his haunches with his tongue lolling out. "Are they wolves?" Harry asked.

The dog barked affirmatively, before turning into Sirius. "I smelled Polyjuice on them. I'm assuming they are the actual ones who arranged this situation?"

"Seems like it." Harry said. "You heard what they said. They were after the family magic and were careful not to mention what family magic, to protect who they are or who sent them. I'm thinking Pansy or Daphne's fathers didn't like what they heard and planned this little outing for me, thinking that I'd be an easier target."

Remus walked calmly up to them. He was also in combat fatigues. "How did you like the show?" he asked with a smile.

"Missed it." Harry said. "When I turned around, they were all down already. How did they get so close, so quickly?"

"The security teams were picked for their stealth." Remus said proudly. "These are the hunters and trackers of our pack."

"Good idea." Harry said with a nod. "I can't understand why Purebloods are so stupid about this. Werewolves would make the best Aurors."

"Their loss." Sirius said. "Our gain." Then he walked up to the men, who had already tied up the 'girls'. "First round's on me boys!"

There was a cheer and then the people all disappeared, via Portkey. Likely illegal ones.

"You got this from here, cub?" Remus asked.

"What?" Harry asked.

"There are girls somewhere down there, likely bound and gagged." Remus reminded him. "We did the dirty work. Your job is to save the damsels. With the casters out cold, now is the time to break them from the spell." He smiled and winked before he too disappeared, but in a turn of apparition.

Harry sighed and started floating up. The device he had come up with, to do his superman impression from earlier, was a body harness. He hadn't even made it. He simply went to an outdoor shop that sold hiking and spelunking equipment and purchased climbing gear that wound around the body to support it. Then he runed and spelled it like one of his brooms and connected its functions to one of the connected ropes that were strapped to his forearm. To activate it a specific movement was necessary as well. You didn't want to wear one and accidentally shoot off, while reaching for a knife at the dinner table, after all.

He was floating using said harness now. He quickly made his way to Madam Puddifoot's Tea Shop and scanned around. Sure enough, he found three figures lying on the ground inside the bathroom. Harry was again disillusioned as he floated around and through the people in the shop and then made his way to the bathroom, which was locked, predictably. He cast an unlocking spell, which didn't work, so he had to resort to unlocking it manually in the way he had learned to years before, and entered, before closing the door and locking it again.

Fortunately the idiots, whoever they were, hadn't had time for 'fun', but that didn't stop them from stripping the girls to take a look. They likely planned to come back shortly after questioning and capturing him, to finish what they started. Harry was just about fed up with the magical world after this. He disillusioned the girls, after covering them up, and floated them out and flew straight back to school and to the infirmary.

"Aunty Poppy!" Harry yelled.

"Harry! What's going on?" Madam Pomfrey asked as she ran out of her office at the urgency in Harry's voice.

Harry made the girls visible again and placed them on the nearest beds. "These girls were captured by some people who wanted to use them to get to me, during the Hogsmeade visit. I found them naked in the bathroom at Madam Puddifoot's. I don't think they had time to do anything today, but that girl," he said pointing at the one that had cast the spell on him, "was under an Imperius, most likely since before school. I'm hoping she was targeted at the train station, otherwise whoever did this will die."

"Where are the ones that did it?" Madam Pomfrey asked with anger in her voice, while she drew curtains around the girls and started checking the girls over inside them. Harry had never seen her this angry before. He could understand it, though. The girl that had been controlled would likely have disappeared after this. She was under someone's control for too long. She would not be able to understand or explain away the missing time if they obliviated her.

"The wolves of Marauders Inc. stopped them and took them into custody." Harry said. "Whoever they are, were Polyjuiced to look like these girls. The wolves will wait for it to wear off before they do anything else. I'll be going there now to keep an eye on them."

"Don't do anything rash, Harry." Poppy said.

"Like what, feeding their genitals to wild dogs while they watch?" Harry asked darkly.

"Yes, like that." Madam Pomfrey said.

"I'm not making promises." Harry said as he turned and flew out of the infirmary.

He exited the wards and apparated home, where he went to the vanishing room and exited to their Texas house. He walked to the security office and didn't even need to ask the guard, still on duty, where they were. "They are in lockup, downstairs, Mister Black." The guard said instantly, at seeing the murderous looking twelve-year old.

Harry didn't even acknowledge him. He simply walked through and to the secure lockup, which was actually set up as a secure place to keep werewolves, if they, for some reason, couldn't get away in time for the full moon. It also served as their drunk tank, for when people got rowdy or territorial, which happened often with werewolves apparently. All their locations had such facilities.

Harry spotted Remus and Sirius standing in front of the cell, surrounded by the security wolves, talking, seemingly arguing about something. "…but what if the girls… Harry. What are you doing here?" Sirius asked as he noticed him. Then he saw the look. He looked back at Remus, "See!" he demanded.

"What happened, Harry? Are the girls alright?" Remus asked urgently. Sirius had been pointing out that the girls may have been assaulted or dead. He now feared that Sirius may have been right. Count on Sirius to keep his head clear when it came to Harry's well-being.

"As far as we can tell, they hadn't been sexually assaulted… today." Harry said darkly.

"Thank Merlin!" Sirius breathed in relief.

"They were probably going to return later and do so, though. They were already naked." Harry added.

"Sir, permission to plan a hunt?" One of the wolves growled. He was a big man with a deep voice and a thick, but well-kept brown beard and shaved head. He was also covered in muscles with thick veins that you could see through the tank top he wore. He seemed dangerous in human form. Harry wouldn't want to face him when he transformed.

"Permission denied." Remus said instantly. "At least, until we know who they are and if all of them were planning on getting in on the act. We won't do vengeance here, men. We'll do justice." HE didn't know he was quoting Madam Bones and her view on how Aurors were supposed to work.

"Understood, sir." the man said as he visibly calmed himself and took a step back. The other men also seemed to calm themselves. The 'hunt' was where they released the prey and then hunted them down. They often did this exercise to hone their skills, but today, they wanted to hunt the smartest prey.

Harry didn't know it, but all the wolves knew his scent. It was one of the first things they learned when they joined. If Harry was ever in trouble, they fully intended on having the wolves descend on whatever enemies they could find. When they smelled him today, the pack instinct had kicked in and Harry was considered part of the pack. A cub even. They didn't like seeing him in a state of agitation. It was making them want to act.

Remus, however, was the Alpha. What he said was law. Not by fear, or power, but by the fact that he cared for and provided for the pack, and well. Respect was all he ever got from any of them. The security force was, perhaps, slightly more zealous in their loyalty, since they worked directly under Remus, while the bikers and other teams had different command structures.

Harry hadn't ever seen this sort of behaviour, and resolved to find out about it later. For now he stood back and waited, his eyes not leaving the three unconscious people. Remus and Sirius understood. Once they knew who it was and administered the Veritaserum, they'd find out everything they could, before they turned them over to the authorities, if they turned them over.

Half an hour later, the first one started to change, followed shortly by the other two. "Macnair, Nott and Avery. All Death Eaters. All claiming Imperius." Sirius said as he recognized them.

"They'd be out of custody in hours if we hand them over." Harry said.

"I say we let the men have their way." Sirius said, crossing his arms as he considered the prisoners. They were all rapists, murderers and torturers in his eyes.

The wolves smiled at his statement, but didn't move.

"Let's try something different." Remus said, with a thoughtful look. Then he turned to Harry. "You need many noble titles, right?"

"I like where your mind is at." Harry said after a moment, his own smile growing. "We'd need to be careful, though. We can't have people find out what we're doing."

"I'm sure we can stay under the radar." Remus said. "We do have this hungry group of wolves who'd like nothing more than to hunt down the remaining Death Eaters, one at a time."

The wolves were now openly grinning with all their teeth visible in the most wolf-like smiles Harry had ever seen. "I think I'm going to like you guys." Harry said. "Remind me to put more time into finding a cure for the transformation. I want to be a wolf someday too."

"Only if we find a cure." Remus insisted. "You can do what you want with your life, but while transformations can't be controlled completely, you're not allowed."

"Okay, fine." Harry said with a sad pout. It was completely put on, but it worked and he looked like a scolded schoolboy. The effect for the wolves in attendance, though, was that Harry didn't look down on them at all. In fact it seemed he looked up to them. Some chests puffed out in pride as the youngest member of the pack accepted them with open arms with his words and actions.

"Until then, what do we do with this lot?" Sirius asked.

"We keep them." Remus decided. "The security team will keep an eye on them and we will start expanding on the cells so that we can house all the Death Eaters we capture."

"Done, sir." the big wolf said. "We'll handle the expansion and upgrade the wards to block anything short of a directed nuclear strike." he said vehemently.

"Thank you Daniels. I'll leave it in your hands." Remus nodded. "Until then, strip these fuckers down and only wake them for feeding time."

"Yes, sir!" the wolves all saluted and set to work, while Harry was led off by Remus and Sirius.

Harry arrived back at the school two hours after he left and went straight back to the infirmary.

"How are they doing Aunty Poppy?" Harry asked as he stuck his head in the office door, after knocking softly, not having looked behind the privacy curtains.

"They are doing fine, Harry." Poppy said as she walked over to him and pulled him in for a hug. "You were right, too, thankfully. None of them had been assaulted yet. What did you find out?"

"The men are pureblood and were all Death Eaters." Harry said. "We'll be holding on to them so that the ministry can't set them free again."

"You're holding them against their will?" Poppy asked. Then she thought about it and said, "Good. Let's keep them contained until your uncles find a way to deal with them. For all I care they can all disappear without a trace and I would only sleep better at night."

"That isn't the plan just now, but I'm sure the plans can be amended." Harry said. "They will use the usual method to ensure they are not also being 'controlled'." he added.

"I'm assuming I can't tell the girls any of this?" Poppy said.

"Use your own discretion on that, Aunty. I would tell them, but I'm just thinking of their peace of mind." Harry confessed. "Did you tell Dumbledore?"

"Not yet." Poppy admitted. "Considering he wouldn't tell the parents, I'm inclined to skip it."

"Fair enough." Harry said. "I've been avoiding the old man as well. He keeps on nagging at me to tell him stuff. I'm tired of him sending me knowing looks as well."

"Should I tell him to stop?" Poppy asked. She didn't like the headmaster all that much these days. She'd jump down his throat if Harry wanted.

"Nah, I think the old goat is just happy that I know everything he has been stewing over for years. I haven't forgiven him or anything, but I can't be angry at him for trying to protect me, either." Harry said. "Now he's just annoying. I wish I could put the hat on his head and send him to Hufflepuff, like I did with Colin."

"I'm still not happy that you are taking liberties with people's futures like that." Poppy said sternly. "If the boy was just annoying you, there was no reason you couldn't just speak to him to get him to stop."

"Hasn't helped me much anyway." Harry said. "He's still following me around with that bloody camera, every chance he gets."

"You can't blame the boy." Poppy said. "You're a real life hero in his eyes. Let's forget for a moment the books. Since you came back, you sent your abusive relatives to prison, rescued your godfather from prison, saved many girls from abuse, added security features to a school that was supposed to be safe, created a spaceship and took it into space and stopped the worst dark lord in living memory. Let's also not forget saving all the werewolves from a life of poverty and rejection from society. By all accounts, I'm surprised you don't have a bigger following."

"Thanks." Harry said sarcastically. "All I need, more Creeveys. His brother joining in was bad enough last time. And the werewolves were Remus's idea. He and Sirius did that all on their own."

"Did it happen last time?" Poppy asked.

"Well, no, but-" Harry started.

"Get used to it, young man." she said sternly. "I don't see you helping less people in the future. The only way you could avoid getting more famous, is if you started wearing a mask and a cape, like those cartoons you love so much."

This actually put a thought into Harry's head. Sure he could copy a lot of things some superheroes could do, but he never saw himself in spandex. No, he had a completely different idea. "Thanks, Aunty Poppy. You gave me an idea."

"You're not seriously contemplating doing that?" she asked incredulously.

"No." Harry said with an evil smile. "I was thinking exactly the opposite actually."

Harry left the infirmary as he contemplated his current plans. He had to put the thought away though, because he had a surprise for the girls first. He took out his whiteboard and saw a couple of messages on it.

'Herm: Has anyone seen Harry?' Hermione's writing stated.

'Parv: He's not been in the common room all morning.' Parvati's said.

'Pad: I was in the library earlier. He wasn't there either.' Padma's stated.

'Sue: I heard a rumour that he was seen flying out of the infirmary earlier today!' Susan's said.

'Herm: What!? Is he okay?'

'Sue: Just checked with a prefect. Three girls were assaulted on the Hogsmeade trip and Harry rescued them, before taking off.'

'Herm: I hope he hasn't gone to hunt down whoever did that!'

'Daph: It wouldn't surprise me.' Daphne added.

'Pansy: Wasn't he supposed to meet us at his project room later?' Pansy asked.

'Herm: I'm already here. He'll get these messages when he's able.'

'Nev: I'll come keep you company.'

'Herm: Harry, you better be okay!'

'Nev: As if anyone could seriously hurt Harry."

It had been Hermione's ideas to shrink the markers and charm normal markers to different colours. The colours had become a bit much though, so Daphne had come up with the idea of using shortened names to simplify things. Padma had found a spell to make the ink in the pens bottomless. There was an issue in the beginning with the magical ink not wanting to wipe off, but a bit of work and a couple of spells had fixed that too.

Harry had missed a couple of messages at some point too, and Hermione had asked her dad how people solved that with modern technology. Adding a scroll function was difficult work and ended up making Harry need to make whole new boards for them, with a railing around the edges and an aluminium bar which slid over the right hand rail. Since everyone could now write in smaller script, the messages grew longer and Harry had had the bright idea of adding light grey lines to make things neater.

'Harry: I'm on my way.'

He quickly looked through the other messages that were waiting in the personal communications section. Most of the girls had tried to get him to respond at some point and all of the messages showed concern. Neville's made him laugh, though.

'Nev: Give 'em hell Harry! Next time, take me with you.'

Harry had been amazed at the boy's sense of humour and personality, on the whiteboards. It seemed that he had really enjoyed the ability to think carefully before he wrote and as a result had become more outspoken and honest.

When he turned the corner and spotted the whole study group looking out for him, he smiled. When the girls spotted him, they rushed at him and hugged him in a large group-hug. Even the girls not in the inner circle were waiting anxiously.

"Are you okay?"

"Where did you go?"

"Did you get them?"

"What happened Harry?"

"I'm fine, I'm fine." Harry said over the many questions. "It's a long story, but this one I can tell you. Let's get into the project room first though, before anyone else shows up."

Harry led them into the room, to a reception area he had set up. He'd added doors and lights and everything he could think to make the experience really memorable.

"Harry, why does this room look like-" Hermione asked looking around.

"Don't say it and spoil it for me!" Harry interrupted.

Susan wasn't going to wait any longer though. "What happened?" she asked.

Harry took a breath and started retelling the story. "Two weeks ago, I was placed under the Imperius Curse." There were gasps and looks of fear, but Harry ignored it and continued. "It was really weak and I knew I could break it, but I realised that the caster, a seventh-year Gryffindor girl, could have been put under the same spell and told do what she did. Since I had no way of knowing and wanted to catch everyone involved, I played along.

"I was to meet the girl in Hogsmeade, so I went there today. The girl was being impersonated by someone, under Polyjuice. I followed them and confirmed their plans. Then the wolves of Marauders Inc. captured them. I had a way of letting my family know, after all, and the Imperius had been weak enough to break easily.

"When they were taken away, for interrogation, I went to go look for the girls. They were stuffed in a bathroom stall, unconscious, so I brought them to Madam Pomfrey." Harry finished.

"But, you were seen-" Susan started.

"Oh, right." Harry said. "I went to go make sure the prisoners were being handled properly and to confirm who they were."

"Who was it?" Susan asked.

"I'd rather not say." Harry said.

Pansy had noted that Harry wasn't looking at her or Daphne. "They were Death Eaters, weren't they?" she asked in a monotone voice. She had feared her father may have planned something. "Was it my father?" she asked then.

"No." Harry said quickly. Then he looked at Daphne, "Not yours either."

"That doesn't mean they didn't arrange this." Daphne said.

"I honestly don't know." Harry said. "I left the interrogation of the prisoners to the security wolves and my uncles."

"What will happen to them?" Susan asked. She knew the problem with Death Eaters. They were almost always wealthy, well connected and Purebloods. Meaning, they got away with things.

"I suspect that they will remain imprisoned for a while." Harry said. "Is that going to be a problem?" he asked Susan, knowing that she wouldn't want to lie to her aunt.

"I… don't think so." Susan finally decided. "When I tell my aunt, I suspect she'll have some questions, but she knows the problem with Death Eaters. If you can keep them secure until you release them to the proper authorities, I don't think she'll be forced to give you or your company up."

"Thank you Susan." Harry said.

"Harry?" Hermione asked with a small voice. "What happened to the girls?"

Harry could see her worry. This subject kept on coming up here at Hogwarts. What was it about magic and being able to get away with things that drove people to becoming rapists? He knew, of course. The question answered itself: because they knew they could get away with it. At least, they thought they could get away with it. He'd have to start making examples of these monsters.

"Harry?" Hermione tried again, when his face darkened and didn't answer her. "Please, no." she begged.

"No!" Harry said reaching out to her as she took a step back. "They didn't have a chance. Madam Pomfrey said that they were fine and the girls are resting peacefully."

"Why did you look so angry?" Fay asked. She was not unaware of what had been going on either. That was one of the main reasons she had joined the study group. That and making friends. Her timid and quiet nature had often stopped that from happening.

Harry sighed. "I can't be sure," he lied, "but the men may have planned on going back for the girls."

Hermione looked like she thought he had lied, like most of the girls, but nobody said anything. Nobody wanted to think about it.

"Are the wolves allowed to castrate them?" Neville asked, his own eyes flashing in anger.

"If they're not, and the Veritaserum proves that they were planning on doing something, I'll do it myself." Harry swore.

"Using a blunt instrument." Daphne added. "That's what Professor Snape said he'd do."

"Suddenly I like Professor Snape a little more." Neville said with a satisfied nod.

"Okay!" Harry said after he took a long breath. "Let's forget about all of that for now. The bad guys are behind bars. The girls are in-tact and safe and I've got a surprise for you, but first, cheering charms and tickling charms." Harry said, affecting an evil smirk and started sending many spells at the girls and Neville.

It took a bit of doing and a couple of rounds of chasing the girls around like he was going to catch them, but the distraction worked, despite the fact that the girls ended up letting him catch them, just so that he could stop tickling them. When the smiles were mostly back in place, Harry led them through the doors into the auditorium.

"Welcome to the Hogwarts cinema." Harry said with a victorious smile.

The auditorium had had a make-over. Lush carpeted floors and comfortable seats, complete with curtained walls and magical lights, which lit the stairs. The seats even had holders for pop-corn and drinks. For now, they'd have to settle for house-elf delivered snacks, but Harry planned on giving the professors the full experience, with popped corn, sweets and soda.

"You made a movie theatre?" Hermione squealed. "But how? I thought technology and magic doesn't mix?"

"It really doesn't, but it turns out magic and basic science, definitely can." Harry said, as he produced his pouch. From within, he summoned three pieces of what looked like glass and hovered them in front of him. "I can't tell you how, since it is family magic, but I was able to set up a way for light and sound to travel through and be stored in these."

-Flashback-

After the success of the day at the movies, he had worked on the principle for a while. He had gone to the cinema again and scratched a flaw into a piece of glass at the same time as he made the same flaw in the glass through which the cinema projected the movie onto the screen. He had successfully bound them, one way of course, and was able to see the image the projector was projecting through the clear glass, even though he'd had to play with the focus a bit, using conjured glass.

The sound had been more difficult, as he didn't have something to copy sound like he could do with images or the written word. Sure the mirrors could transport the sound, but it was hardly cinema quality. He'd ended up having to go to the local library and started studying how sound worked and what could conduct it best. It turned out that metals such as aluminium, which was quickly turning into his favourite metal, and certain crystalline structures, like diamond, could carry sound vibrations best.

Seeing as how he'd learned enough about diamonds at the library, he'd simply transfigured a large amount of coal he had gone to purchase, into the thin plates of diamond that he carried with him along with the glass for the projectors. It didn't surprise him when it took a lot of power to make the plates, but he was very happy with the end-result.

Then he went about testing ways to record sound and ended up with a nifty little spell that could copy and project sound from a crystalline substance. He'd settled on diamond for the substance to copy the sound through and onto, but hadn't needed to engrave the sound, like one would do with a turntable. Instead it recorded the sound's structure onto the crystal-structure of the plate of diamond.

Each piece of diamond could contain hundreds of hours of recorded sound as well, but he'd found that the quality increased, the more spread-out he made it, so he ended up needing to erase the transfigured diamond's structure and re-record things until he got the best quality. He'd then needed to go back to the cinema and placed strips of diamond, which worked like the mirrors, in the speakers of the cinema. They were connected to diamonds he had on him, with which he recorded the transmitted sound onto other pieces of diamond, specifically spelled for quality.

After that he'd needed to work on projecting the sound out. He'd gone to a local electronics store, to ask how speakers worked. The younger lads in the store laughed at him, and told him to go home and ask his dad. Harry had almost just walked out of the shop, when an older gentleman showed up and the laughter died.

Turns out the older gentleman both owned the shop and worked on repairs. He took Harry aside and described to him, as best he could, how different speakers transmitted different spectrums of sound. The higher the frequency, the more precise the speaker and the smaller the cone diameter. For lower ranges like bass, you needed to have a lower frequency, but bigger cone.

That was all interesting, but Harry didn't want to invent a whole new kind of speaker. Fortunately he had magic, and money. He paid the man to show him how a speaker worked and to show him what he could. This had been the most educational part, as he suddenly had an idea of how to achieve his goal.

Before he left, he purchased a couple of big speakers and a couple of the smaller ones and carried them out on his own, making it look easy. He'd also given the man a large tip and said he'd have loved to tip his staff if they hadn't tried to laugh him out of the store.

The man had smiled at him as he left, before turning on the suddenly cowed workers, who had gathered to see the kid walk away with the equipment that was larger than himself.

Harry had found the last part quite simple. Copying the form of the speakers, he created a housing which would project the sound waves through small, medium and large conical openings. It wasn't perfect, at first, but using the original spell form the mirrors, he finally achieved success, by letting the sound vibrations from the diamond strips be projected through the newly designed magical speakers. It took a little fine-tuning, but the sound was finally perfect.

Then he had run into a new problem. He didn't want to wait for the cinema to start the movie for them to be able to watch the film. In a strange twist of magic, it turned out he had already created the perfect storage medium. The diamond plates were able to record the light in the same way that they recorded audio. Thus the three pieces of 'glass'. Stereo audio and light.

Setting up the new cinema had been simple in comparison to working out how to make the magic work.

He fully intended on showing the adults something they'd enjoy, but for the girls, he had decided on a movie that came out that year, which even he had heard about in the future and had taken care not to watch himself. He'd even recorded the other movie trailers, so that the audience could see what they might be able to watch one day.

He ushered the first guests to the prime seats in the room and went to the projection station. There he placed the light recording of the movie he had chosen onto a pedestal and the two audio tracks into their corresponding slots, where they would transmit the audio to the speakers. He had needed to synchronise the audio and light himself, in the beginning, which was what he had been working on in the common room for the last week.

Now he could join his friends and trigger the start from where he sat, between Hermione and Daphne, who had claimed the seat before a sullen looking Pansy could. The other girls had already decided that they would take turns, but allowed the current seating arrangement for now.

Harry started the recording and all the eyes were suddenly locked on the screen. The trailers played, which they knew to expect this time, and then the movie started, while Harry extinguished the lights, with the sound of a bell, followed by flames and then smoke, which coalesced into the word: 'Aladdin'.

Hermione squealed in delight again, having wanted to watch this movie when it came out, but being in Hogwarts made that impossible, until now, it seemed.

When the movie ended, the girls were all looking tearful, but smiled anyway for the happy ending that only a Disney movie could give.

"Thank you Harry!" Hermione exclaimed and hugged him from her seat. "That was the best surprise you've given us yet!"

There was a chorus of thanks from the other ladies and Neville, who smiled happily as well. "This was so much better than that Buffy thing!" Lavender exclaimed. "I wish we could show it to the other students."

"There would be a stampede to move out of Europe so that they could find their princes and princesses and fly around on magic carpets." Susan said with a giggle. It was suddenly such a romantic idea.

"Why are flying carpets outlawed?" Daphne asked. She felt the same way, much as everyone else.

"I think it has something to do with carpets being considered muggle artefacts." Harry said.

"That's stupid." Hermione said. "Muggles use brooms too!"

"That's right! What makes carpets more muggle than brooms?!" Lavender exclaimed. The other girls all agreed.

"Can we show this to more students?" Susan asked. She could just imagine some of her house-mates reaction to the idea of a cinema.

"I'm going to need to show the Professors a movie first." Harry said. "Something that they will enjoy, but is also child friendly."

"Are there movies that children can't watch?" Pansy asked.

"Oh, yes." Hermione said instantly. "There are all kinds of genres. Everything from fantasy to documentary. With age restrictions and everything."

Harry nodded along. One of the films he had recently acquired was Basic Instinct. He'd likely not be showing that, even to the seventh-years. It would likely only frustrate the kids into doing things that really shouldn't happen in a school and get the cinema shut down as a result. He wasn't certain that the wizarding world was ready for something like that. He might set up a cinema for the wolves, though. He suspected they'd be worldlier and be able to tolerate something so blatantly sexual.

The girls were soon talking about the movie again and the 'Study' in 'Study Group' was soon forgotten as they walked to the Great Hall for dinner. They all went to their separate tables, but they couldn't talk about Harry's project, so Harry, Hermione and Neville started talking about how cool a flying carpet would be.

During dinner, Harry ignored all the stares. The Hogwarts rumour mill, must have been very active today. He was soon approached by McGonagall. "Mister Black, could I have a word with you after dinner please?"

"Of course, Professor." Harry said, thinking he might know what this was about.

He waited for dinner to be over and followed McGonagall out of the hall and to her office. The moment the door was closed the motherly figure grabbed him into a hug. "When I heard what happened I nearly decided to go to Grimmauld Place looking for Sirius and Remus! Thank you for bringing the girls back!"

"It's not a problem, Aunty Min." Harry said, hugging the woman back. "I couldn't leave them there like they were, after all."

"How did you know to go looking for them?" she asked. "How did you know they were impersonated?"

"It's a bit of a story." Harry said as she released him and gave him a look that said he would not be leaving her office until she knew every single detail. So he told her.

"Imperiussed at the station?!" McGonagall exclaimed. "The poor dear must have been terrified the entire time!"

"I'm not going to argue with you about that." Harry said. "It might be a good idea to have her see a mind healer, to smooth over the events."

"You might be right." McGonagall nodded. "And you were able to throw off the curse easily?"

"I had training, in my previous life." Harry shrugged. Moody may have been a fake, but he taught very well. "I needed to act controlled, though, so that we could find out what was going on."

"And the wolves just knew to be there?" McGonagall asked.

"I let Remus and Sirius know that I was under someone's control two weeks ago." Harry shrugged. "They questioned me and realised I was in control enough to give them clues and planned the whole thing out. I think Aberforth was also in on it, since he allowed Sirius to hide behind his bar."

"And they didn't tell me…" she said with her eyes narrowing. "I might just go visit them anyway."

"What would you have done?" Harry asked. "You realise that if I hadn't done what I did, she may have simply disappeared and turned up somewhere in a ditch, right?"

McGonagall seethed for a bit, before she closed her eyes and counted to ten. "Fine. But I don't have to be happy about it. And your uncles will be telling me in the future if anything like this happens. Even if I must keep myself in check, I don't like being kept out of the loop!"

"I understand that." Harry said. "And thank you for your concern, but I think right now, those girls should be your primary focus. I've told you before, I can take care of myself."

McGonagall sighed and nodded at him. "The girls have requested that you visit them, to thank you."

"I don't think-"

"You will go speak to them, Harry." She insisted. "They are fragile and you are likely the only male that they will trust for a while. Don't break them even more."

Harry went back to his common room, having forgotten to tell McGonagall that the project was complete. Hermione, Lavender, Parvati and Neville were waiting for him, but they didn't look worried this time. They knew Harry and McGonagall were close.

"Hi guys." Harry said.

"I'm taking it she wanted to ask about your day?" Hermione asked, not wanting to say it out loud, since there were still many people in the common room. She needn't have bothered, since all the heads were looking at him, much as they had been doing at dinner.

"Yeah, Harry." Fred asked.

"How was your day?" George asked.

"Because we heard some interesting rumours." Fred said.

"Apparently you saved three girls,"

"Flew without a broom,"

"And all of that within an hour of the Hogsmeade visit starting."

"Interesting." Harry said. "I didn't also happen to fight a group of Death Eaters too, while leading a group of werewolves?"

"Not as far as we heard." Fred said easily.

"But you never know what the students will believe by tomorrow." George added, as both twins smirked at him.

"Throw a dragon in there if you want to." Harry said. "It'll round the story out nicely, I think."

"But I saw you!" Ron exclaimed. "You flew right over me as you left the school!"

"We saw you, too." Dean Thomas added, pointing between himself and Seamus Finnegan. Those three had become close, and Harry was happy that Ron wasn't alone.

"Really? Are you sure you saw what you think you saw?" Harry asked, as he made an illusion of himself over himself and disillusioned his real body. The illusion walked forward and said, "Because here in Hogwarts, things aren't always what they seem." It walked forward to Dean, who stood up and backed away, but the illusion continued walking and as every head watched it, Harry became visible again, just as the illusion walked through Dean, who fell over as it vanished. "I've heard of stranger things." Harry said and all the heads whipped back to him.

"You have to teach us how to do that!" Fred demanded.

"It's magic Fred." Harry said. "You do it with power and focus. If you asked nicely, I'm sure Flitwick could teach you a thing or two."

Hermione giggled, when she saw Dean fall over, and soon those of the study group were laughing with her. Then the rest of the house started laughing as the obvious prank from earlier today became clear to all. It would not last, though.

"But you did rescue three girls during the Hogsmeade visit." Percy pointed out.

Harry sighed. "I did happen upon three unconscious girls, yes." he said. "I didn't want to talk about it because the girls will likely want to keep their private affairs, private. I'll ask you all to not bother them with questions." There was suddenly silence and nobody moved as Harry turned serious. "Am I clear?" he asked quietly. There was suddenly a lot of affirmative nods. "Good. If you keep your word and don't bother the girls, I'll have a surprise for all of you by next weekend."

There was suddenly an excited whispering and smiles all around. Harry hadn't noticed when he had gained the ability to control the entire house with just a few words and a bit of encouragement, but he wouldn't complain if it got the girls a little peace, when they returned. They were all seventh-year Gryffindors, so their absence had been noticed, but it wasn't uncommon for older years to hang out with friends until just before curfew.

The evening started winding down and Harry was tired, so he retired to his room. He called up Sirius and Remus, who confirmed that everything was still fine. Harry dutifully told them that McGonagall expected them to tell her in the future if they knew of something that was going on, especially like what had happened and warned them to be on the lookout. She wasn't in a happy mood when he left her.

Sirius had scoffed, but then lost some colour and informed him that it seemed they had a visitor. It seemed McGonagall had made plans to visit them that night still. Harry wished them luck and closed the connection, before laying back.

His recent success with the communications devices and the cinema had all sorts of ideas swimming through his mind. He didn't consider himself an inventor, having copied most of his devices from muggle technology. It was one such a device that had him falling asleep with a plan for his next project.

He didn't need to worry about the cup. That was in Remus and Sirius's hands. They apparently had a fool-proof plan. He was wondering about that these days, but they didn't want to tell him and he'd not push. They likely wanted to do something showy and gain some bragging rights in the process.