Chapter 37 (Part 1)

Halloween. Potter Manor.

When will it end? Harry thought with some desperation as he gave a polite greeting to the newest arrivals and pretended not to notice how their daughter was eyeballing him.

Narcissa had warned him that the turnout was likely to be larger than normal since he was the one hosting it, but he hadn't really appreciated what she meant. It felt like half the magical population of the British Isles was cramming itself into his ballroom.

Narcissa was very pleased, unlike him. Then again, the only contribution he'd made for this ball was to tell the ravens and crows to make themselves scarce for the day. No need to be giving people any ideas.

The youngest Black sister had really gone all out with the preparations, so Harry supposed she had every right to feel satisfied. She'd advertised, spread rumors and gossip, issued invitations, hired musicians, decided on the food and drinks, made seating arrangements and much more. She'd even colluded with Bryanna, Tiana, Jade and Isabel to usurp control of their wardrobe.

Not that the results were displeasing. Harry himself had been crammed into an outfit that bore only a passing resemblance to formal dress robes and emphasised his physique. It was a tad uncomfortable, but mostly because it wasn't what he usually wore than any other reason. It was custom made after all.

The girls were much more interesting to look at in his opinion.

Fleur was as gorgeous as ever of course, but she was especially eye-catching today in a dress that looked like liquid silver and hugged all her curves. She had been the cause of much staring and stuttering already and was noticeably smug about it. Noticeable for him at any rate, everyone else was too busy either drooling on themselves, scowling enviously or fuming jealously.

Luna was still a bit young to pull off those kinds of shenanigans, nor would she ever have the curves or oozing sexuality for it, but she was looking very nice in an emerald-green dress and her hair styled into pretty curls.

The real showstopper turned out to be Dora however, much to the metamorph's vast discomfort. From what Harry had been able to discern in the lead up to the ball, she was simulataneously every clothing designer's and stylists wet dream and worst nightmare.

On the one hand, she could wear anything at all, in any color and adjust herself to match it perfectly. On the other, that meant that there was no way to be sure that they'd gotten her 'best look'.

Though if her current one wasn't way up there, Harry would eat his boots.

She was a bit taller than normal and a lot more curvy, with breasts and hips that attracted at least as much staring as Fleur did. Her dress was also chosen to take maximum advantage of her ability to have a perfect figure on demand. the elaborate garment shimmered a royal purple and hugged her body perfectly, revealing just enough slightly tanned skin to emphasise her beauty without being trashy. The final touch that made it so much better was the matching royal purple color of her eyes and the dark blue hair to contrast it, thick and wavy so that it looked like dark ocean water running down her head. Even her face was different, more sensual and attention-grabbing, though still identifiably Nymphadora Tonks. He'd had trouble not carrying her off to bed when he first saw her like this.

All three girls were standing to his right, the position for spouses or other kinds of dates. It was a bit awkward since there were three of them, but they made due by standing in a line with linked elbows, arranged by height, first Dora then Fleur and lastly Luna.

Narcissa stood to his left, in the position reserved for important servants or family members. Or both as the case often was.

She was wearing a pale lavender dress in a style similar to Dora's, though noticeably less impressive, with a small Black family crest sitting over her heart like a badge of allegiance.

The final member of their greeting party was Etal, who hovered above Harry's head at full size. That, aside from looking impressive, also let him get a taste for the magic of everyone that approached them.

They had been standing like this for a nearly an hour already and the stream of arrivals didn't look to be lessening just yet.

Harry couldn't spare much effort to feel annoyed though, he was far too busy continuously sending Dora a sense of support through his magic, or at least as best as he was able in this setting. She was feeling incredibly uncomfortable and was suppresing the urge to shift into a less extraordinary form. She'd always had the ability to make herself as beautiful and exotic as she pleased, but had instead chosen to be merely pretty and a bit quirky.

Given the usual reactions that her talent generated from people, it was understandable why she'd have an aversion to looking too good.

So standing at his side in an implicit public reveal of their relationship, looking criminally beautiful, was very hard on her. Harry had actually not expected her to go this far, he'd thought she'd show up looking as she normally did aside from a fancy dress and he would have been perfectly happy with that. Skeeter was no doubt gnashing her teeth in fury at being unable to write some sensationalist garbage about a junior auror using her abilities to seduce him or something. The vicious shrew would have liked nothing better than to simulataneously imply that Dora was a whore and that he was just using her for her looks.

Harry had no idea how Narcissa had managed to convince her to do this, but he did know that he was going to have to do something nice for her above and beyond just taking her to a concert. Come to think of it, he'd also need to coordinate with Fleur and Luna so that they could all reassure her that she was loved and appreciated regardless of how she looked.

"Horace Slughorn, Potions Master!" The door herald announced, the name breaking Harry out of his thoughts.

"Slughorn?" Harry muttered to Narcissa through clenched teeth as the corpulent walrus waddled through the door. "What is he doing here?"

He'd never met the man, but he had heard about him. A shameless social networker that liked to 'collect' the acquaintance of the rich, the famous and the powerful. The old wizard had been sending out subtle feelers for some time in an attempt to meet him, but Harry had never been interested.

"He must have wrangled an invitation from one of the other guests, I certainly didn't invite him." Narcissa hissed back, sounding pretty displeased herself.

" I wonder how far he would roll if you pushed him down a hill? " Etal mused just before Slughorn reached them.

Harry's expression cracked into a smile at the amusing thought.

Slughorn turned out to be more refined than his appearance would suggest. Not that it was a big achievement, but he was courteus in his greetings, gracious in his acceptance of Harry's welcome and didn't slobber over the girls' hands when he kissed them, which was more than some had been able to manage.

He was a bit too hasty to be considered polite in his attempts to establish connections however.

"Please call me Sluggy." The retired professor insisted with a wide smile. "Most of your parents did after all."

"So I've heard." Harry said non-committally.

"Wonderful!" Slughorn enthused, looking utterly pleased. "I do hope you'll make some time to talk to me later on."

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

"I look forward to it." The human walrus said and waddled off.

" Porc. " Fleur muttered.

"I was thinking walrus myself." Harry offered.

Fleur considered that before nodding. "You are right, that disgusting mustache does make him look more like a walrus than a pig."

Harry smiled slightly, noting Fleur's now perfect English pronounciation, though she still had a distinctive French purr to it. Narcissa had coached her on that for the better part of a month, much to the veela's irritation.

"I wonder how far he would roll if we pushed him down a hill?" Luna mused.

Harry had to quickly bit his lower lip to keep from laughing.

"Etal was wondering the exact same thing earlier." He said, his voice trembling slightly with laughter.

"Great minds think alike." Dora quipped.

Etal preened and Luna giggled.

"Don't giggle!" Narcissa hissed. "Here comes the next one."

"Thorfinn Rowle and his escort, Adrastia Zabini." The herald called.

Harry could only sigh wearily, resisting the urge to palm his face.

"What the hell is she doing here?!" Dora hissed furiously.

"I'm sure she'll let us know soon enough." Harry sighed in defeat.

Rowle was a very big man, both in height and in girth. Unlike Slughorn however, his size was all muscle, a very rare feature on a wizard. Narcissa hadn't known if he was a death eater or not, but she did know that he held those kinds of views, which is why he'd been invited in the first place despite not being from a prominent family. Pureblood yes, but not noble or even significantly old.

And Adrastia looked as stunning as ever of course, wearing a tight black dress with a plunging neckline. In spite of Rowle's hulking size, she still managed to be the greater presence between the two of them.

"Mr. Rowle and Ms. Zabini, be welcome in my home." Harry said formally for the umpteenth time this evening.

"Thank you, Harry." Adrastia purred back, making Rowle tense. "Lovely to be here again."

"You two know each other?" Rowle asked, with a worried crease appearing on his forehead.

"In passing." Adrastia said airily, as if it was of no consequence. "Why don't you go say hello to some of your little friends?"

"You'll be there too, right?" Rowle asked further, a sliver of worry entering his tone.

"Of course, darling. Now off with you, I need a brief word with Harry." Adrastia shooed him away.

"Husband number eight?" Harry asked sardonically once the big blond lump skulked off. It was plainly obvious to him that Rowle was already caught in the Black Widow's web.

"I had number eight while you were in America, the poor dear fell overboard and was eaten by sharks while we were on our honeymoon cruise." Harry, Dora, Fleur and even Narcissa snorted disbelievingly at that. "Sometimes, only the fact that he left me his private yacht, his pride and joy, sustains me through the tragedy."

"My heart bleeds for you." Harry replied sarcastically.

Adrastia favored him with a sultry smile that gave her dark eyes a predatory gleam. "Will you save a dance for me, Harry? I would love to catch up."

"Sure, whatever." He sighed.

"Wonderful! I look forward to it."

"I bet you are." Harry muttered once Adrastia sashayed off, no doubt to put the leash back on Rowle. "Looking forward to complicating my life again that is."

The torturous routine of acting like a stiff-necked ponce as he greeted his guests did eventually end, even if not quickly enough for Harry's tastes. Then came time to open the festivities.

Harry danced with each of his girls while the other two danced with each other. It was a convenient way to shut out any outsiders looking to dance with one of them, either lecherous wizards or gold-digging witches.

Harry did still end up dancing with possibly the most dangerous woman present in short order though.

"So, what's up with you and Rowle?" He asked. "I didn't think he had anything worth taking."

"He makes for a convenient coat rack, but other than that you are spot on. The only thing I needed him for was to get into this party. Shame on you for not inviting me, Harry." Adrastia said, finishing with a pout.

"Could it have been because I didn't want you here?" He asked sarcastically.

"Nonsense." She dismissed airily and changed the subject. "I must congratulate you though, you've amassed quite the harem."

Harry rolled his eyes but decided not to argue semantics. "Why are you here, Adrastia?"

"Several reasons." She said lightly. "Foremost among is of course my desire to see you again after such a long time."

"Of course." Harry didn't believe a word of it.

"The next is to offer you a little gift."

"What gift?" He asked warily.

"Why, my date's life of course. He is on your list, isn't he?"

Despite his best efofrts, Harry froze for a moment.

"What makes you think I have a list?" He asked.

"Come now, Harry, there's no need to be coy." Adrastia chuckled. "First you kill Lucius Malfoy in such a spectacular fashion, then three known pureblood supremacists vanish into thin air. Then you leave the country and things settle down, but soon after you return, two more disappear? That seems a bit unlikely to be coincidence, so I ask again, is Thorfinn Rowle on your list?"

Harry stared hard at the smiling woman, wondering what her game was.

"No." He answered without elaborating. The Rowles were blood purists according to Narcissa, but not all blood purists were necessarily dangerous and he couldn't simply start killing everyone that might be a recruit for Voldemort. That would require wiping out a good 20% or more of Britain's magical population.

"Hmm, perhaps he should be." Adrastia suggested casually. "His idea of pillow talk is to complain about you killing his precious Dark Lord and dream about how glorious the life of a lackey would be. Apparently he and a few of his friends were to have been initiated into the ranks of the Death Eaters during the 2001 Christmas holidays."

"I see." Harry frowned. "You wouldn't happen to know the names of these friends, would you?"

"Purely by chance, I do happen know their names."

Harry nearly snorted. Purely by chance, yeah right. He had yet to encounter Adrastia in a situation where she didn't have some kind of leverage.

"And what would it cost me to get you to share?" He could investigate Rowle's friends himself, but he'd never be sure if he got them all… or if he got too many.

"Very little actually. Bjomolf would like to speak with you again."

Harry felt his expression harden at the mention of the vampire. He was still feeling sour about his last interaction with one of them.

"I can't say I'm eager to meet with him."

"Yes, that bad business you had with Ophelia. Bjomolf understands and will come to a time and place of your choosing, alone."

Harry's eyebrows shot upwards in surprise. That seemed terribly uncautious for someone that had managed to live for over a thousand years.

"Why would he put himself at risk like that just to talk to me?"

"He has his reasons I'm sure, but he didn't share them with me. Now, do we have a bargain?" Adrastia asked just as the dance was ending.

"I'll think about it."

"Excellent. Do let me know your decision before the night is over, yes?"

"Sure."

Narcissa sighed sadly as she looked over at the guests. Her son hadn't accepted the invitation she'd sent him. Harry had warned her that Draco would probably refuse to come to any party hosted by him, but she'd so hoped to reconcile with him…

With an effort of will, she pushed her disappointment aside and focused on enjoying her success. Harry was the host of course, but she had been the one to do all the work and that was something that she could take credit for. Everyone who was anyone knew that she was a trusted confidante to Harry and that carried a lot of prestige. Her word was taken seriously and she could wield plenty of influence, more than she'd ever had as Lucius' wife.

None of Harry's three ladies cared much for this aspect of their lives, but they were still very young. Until they were ready to take over, she would be happy to act in their place, though she wasn't above nudging things along a little bit.

"May I have this dance?"

Fleur looked up from her conversation with Nymphadora's parents and saw a familiar face. The face of the wizard that had asked her to the Yule Ball during the Twi-Wizard Tournament two years ago. What was his name again?

"You may." She said, holding out her hand so that he could help her up. She hadn't accepted many requests to dance so far, not with the unworthy wizards that had asked, but this one made her curious.

"It's been a while, Fleur." The wizard said. Fleur still couldn't remember his name. Something that started with an R?

"Almost two years." She said.

"How've you been?" He asked.

"Great, Harry has been wonderful." As if she didn't know why he had sought her out. Men were so transparent sometimes.

"Really?" He asked, sounding skeptical. "Does he even have any time for you with all those other women around him?"

Fleur nearly scoffed. Clearly he hadn't learned anything about veela over the past two years. Then again he didn't feel any stronger than he had then either, so that was hardly a surprise. The only reason he wasn't drooling already was thanks to her much greater control of the Allure.

So unlike Harry, who had never stopped growing more impressive.

"They are my women too." She purred, taking glee in the way his jaw slackened in surprise.

"Excuse me, Fleur, do you mind if Roger dances with me?" Luna's voice intruded, sounding a bit… giggly.

Fleur suddenly experienced an intense feeling of déjà vu.

"Not at all." She said, going along with what she presumed was happening.

"Wonderful. Come along, Roger." Luna said imperiously and dragged the surprised wizard off.

"But-" He tried to protest, only to have Harry talk right over him.

"Have fun now." He said and muscled into Fleur's arms, with her help of course.

"This feels familiar." She said with a grin as she watched the now identified Roger stare at them in disbelief.

"You don't say?" Harry said, smirking wickedly. No doubt he and Luna hadn't been able to resist a re-enactment of their Yule Ball save.

"You still don't dance as well as a Frenchman though." Fleur smirked back.

Harry leaned in for a possessive kiss that left her breathless.

"It's a good thing I have other skills then, isn't it?"

Yes, that was a very good thing indeed.

Amelia Bones hated these parties. She hated having to attend because of her position, she hated the politicking and backroom dealing they covered, but most of all she hated seeing criminals in expensive robes strutting around and pretending that they weren't scum.

With that in mind, she was doing what she usually did at these things, staying off to the side somewhere and keeping to herself.

And watching of course.

Potter was playing the gracious host well, but Amelia couldn't help feeling as if she was watching a man prowling for victims. It was possible that she was projecting, but there was just something about his body language when he spoke to certain people and the way he and that quetzalcoatl were hissing to each other in Parseltongue that had her hackles up.

Amelia's eyes slid over to one of the young wizard's dates.

Auror Tonks… Amelia wondered how much the junior auror knew. She was unlikely to be ignorant of it, given that Moody had trained her. Was she turning a blind eye much the same as Amelia herself was, or was she actively participating?

Amelia had to admit to having mixed feelings about that relationship. On the one hand, Auror Tonks was a promising witch with a good head on her shoulders and the idea that she was keeping an eye on Potter's actions was a relief. On the other, Potter might have subverted her loyalty like he'd clearly done with Lucius Malfoy's widow. Moody had praised her abilities and potential and that was no simple thing to achieve, so she was inclined to believe that Tonks wasn't truly compromised even if she was infatuated with Potter.

Of course, this all hinged on whether or not Potter was the one behind the recent rash of disappearances, but her gut was telling her that he was. Moreover, her gut was also telling her that Potter knew that she supected him, and that he also knew that she wasn't all that upset.

As luck would have it, the shapeshifting auror noticed her regard and started approaching.

"Hey, boss." The metamorphmagus greeted with the usual irreverence she had when not working. Amelia could never openly admit it, but she did like that. "You're looking about as happy to be here as me."

"Not enjoying yourself then?" Amelia asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Not in the slightest." Tonks briefly grimaced and shook her head, sending her currently dark blue hair spilling across her shoulders. "I can't believe I let Narcissa talk me into this shite. 'Your parents will be so proud' she said, 'you'll stick out like a sore thumb if you don't look your best' she said. What a load of bollocks, I feel like a prize poodle with the way people are staring at me."

Amelia wasn't surprised that people were staring. Tonks was looking incedible tonight. She'd also overheard some mutters over the presence of Andromeda Tonks, the banished Black sister, and her husband Ted. They were seated right next to Potter, which drew yet more muttering.

She decided to change the subject. "So, you and Potter? And here I thought that those stories about him hitting on you while we were discussing Black's innocence a few years back were just rumors."

"It's complicated." Tonks grimaced again.

"Yes, I imagine it is." Amelia said with a glance over to Potter's other two women, rather amused. The amusement quickly faded when she saw Potter dancing with Adrastia Zabini again. "I think you might want to rescue your beau before the Black Widow gets her hooks into him."

How it burned her to know that she was looking at a killer and the best she could do was give out warnings. Zabini could have given Lucius Malfoy lessons on being slippery.

Tonks glanced over and a hard expression crossed her face. "Harry can handle Zabini."

That was a rather lot of faith placed in a teenager with known womanising tendencies. Amelia wondered if Zabini would mysteriously vanish soon as well. It would certainly serve her right.

"He's good at that, is he? Handling people?" She probed.

Auror Tonks looked distinctly discomfited by the question. "Pretty good, yeah."

"I suppose you help him do it? Keep him from screwing up?" Amelia continued casually.

Tonks briefly froze, confirming a great many of Amelia's suspicions.

"All three of us do, you know how men can get, haha." The metamorphmagus said with a nervous and obviously forced laugh.

"I'm sure he'll be fine then." Amelia nodded, ignoring the reaction.

A few minutes of tense small talk later, Tonks made her excuses and left her alone again. Amelia watched as she made a B-line towards Potter and whispered something into his ear. The powerful young wizard looked directly at her and gave a brief nod.

That was good, her tacit approval of what he was doing had been received. Hopefully so had the warning to select his targets carefully. Without any solid evidence, especially in light of Potter's prominence, it was about the only thing she could do, so even this fragile understanding between them was reassuring to have.

Revenge for her family was good, but not at the expense of innocents.

"Well, I think that we can call tonight a resounding success." Narcissa said with satisfaction once the party was over and all the guests had gone home.

The youngest Black sister felt that she had good reason to be satisfied, especially in light of the fact that she had been the main organiser. The turnout had been beyond expectation, Potter business interests had been advertised further in the wines used and clothing worn, the coming communication mirror enterprise had also been talked about. Perhaps most importantly, Harry had cut an imposing figure and all three of his girlfriends had been the picture of grace and elegance. Gaining support for Harry's plans should be a cinch now.

"And I cant believe I forgot how much I hated these things." Andromeda groused from where she was slumped on the couch. "Serves me right for letting my baby sister cajole me into attending with the thought of seeing my daughter dolled up for a change."

"She did look amazing." Ted had to say even though he hadn't enjoyed himself overmuch either. There had been too much snobbery everywhere.

"She did." Andromeda allowed and looked at her sister suspiciously. "You were in charge of the outfits too, weren't you, Cissy?"

"I was." Narcissa nodded proudly.

"I figured as much with the way it was all arranged so that it practically screamed that Nymphadora was to be the next Lady Black."

"What?" Ted blinked.

Andromeda and Narcissa exchanged a look that communicated volumes of exasperation with the male species.

"Narcissa was basically dressed in a much less impressive version of what Nymphadora was wearing. By itself that would have been just a subtle indicator of their respective esteem in the eyes of the family head, but she also had the Black family crest on her dress. Again, by itself that would have been nothing more than an archaic bit of symbolism denoting loyalty to House Black. Combined, along with the occassion and whatever rumors Cissy might have been spreading, it all came off as a heavy-handed hint that our daughter is the Lady Black in all but name." Andromeda explained to her clueless husband before turning a glare back onto her sister. "Though I have a feeling that Harry and Nymphadora aren't aware of it."

Ted blinked again and shook his head. All these unspoken social cues that the purebloods were so fond of were ridiculous.

Narcissa lifted her chin unrepentantly. "Her manners may be a bit rough around the edges, but she would make an excellent Lady Black. I'm sure that Harry will eventually stop being obstinate and marry her. Maybe it'll even get you to stop being stubborn and accept a reinstatement into the family."

"The boy's only sixteen, you can't expect him to be marrying anyone." Ted protested, but was summarily ignored by the Black sisters.

Andromeda growled in aggravation. Her sister had been insistently pestering her to accept Harry's standing offer of reinstatement for some time now.

"What good would that do, Cissy?" She demanded. "It's just a load of pointless posturing:"

"I just want my big sister back." Narcissa said, staring back soulfully.

"Don't give me that look!" Andromeda snarked. "It hasn't worked since you were seven and it isn't going to work now. And we're still sisters."

"Would it really be so terrible?" Narcissa asked with a sigh. "You know that it isn't the same Black family that you walked out on. Aside from Harry, Sirius is the only official member left and he'd like nothing better than to watch it go extinct."

Andromeda scowled, but Narcissa didn't ease up with the doe eyes.

"I'll think about it." She finally huffed grudgingly a good minute later.

"That's all I ask." Narcissa said smoothly, prompting a snort from her sister.

"We should probably get going." Ted said after a slightly awkward moment of silence.

"You could spend the night." Narcissa suggested. "There's plenty of room."

"I'm not sure if I'm comfortable staying in the same house that my daughter is probably having an orgy in at this very moment." Ted grimaced.

"Nymphadora?" Luna questioned.

Some incomprehensible sounds were the only answer she received. Of course, that was only to be expected since the metamorphmagus was currently lying belly down on the bed, with her face buried in a pillow.

It was a position decidedly lacking in grace.

"Nymphadora?" Luna tried again, only to get the same incoherent reply.

Luna turned to look at Harry and Fleur, who were just watching with amused eyes.

"Come on, Dora, talk to us. What's wrong?" Harry asked.

"Nothing." She huffed.

"If there's nothing wrong, then why are you sulking?" Luna asked reasonably.

"Can't a girl sulk for no reason?" Nymphadora sulked.

Luna considered that for a moment before nodding to herself. A girl could, in fact, sulk for no reason.

"But why would you want to?" She questioned out loud. "Sulking isn't a very pleasant activity, now is it?"

"This ball wasn't a very pleasant activity, but we still did it."

"It wasn't that bad." Fleur said, sounding like she was holding back laughter.

"Yes it was!" Nymphadora pouted. "Sirius had the right idea in regards to it."

Sirius had barely heard the word 'ball' before making plans to be elsewhere on the day. Luna knew this because Narcissa had chewed him out for it quite loudly.

"So how long are you going to sulk?" Luna asked.

"Until I forget how everyone was trying to suck up to me just because I'm fucking Harry."

"You should try actually being me for a day." Harry said with a chuckle. "I had four men trying to pimp their daughters out to me in exchange for favors, one woman offering both herself and her daughter, five offers of a bathroom quickie and three subtle inquiries if I have room for more mistresses. And that's just the sexual parts, I must've gotten at least three times that amount of non-sexual propositions."

"Yeah, I got some of that too." Nymphadora said grumpily, propping herself up on her elbows. "I'm going to have to deal with that bullshit all the time now aren't I?"

"It's a distinct possibility." Harry admitted.

Nymphadora sighed in defeat and slumped back into the pillow.

"My life is ruined."

"Don't you think you're being just a little melodramatic?" Harry asked.

Luna had to agree. It was rather melodramatic.

"No!" Nymphadora wailed melodramatically.

"How is it that the oldest of us is the most immature?" Fleur wondered.

"You don't understand!" Nymphadora continued unabated. "How am I supposed to do my job properly if everyone thinks of me as just one of Harry's harem girls?"

Harry rolled his eyes and reached out with his arm as if grabbing something. Nymphadora levitated into the air with a yelp.

"Hey, what gives?" She demanded. "Put me down!"

"Girls, could you please undress her." Harry requested.

"Okay." Luna chirped.

"Gladly." Fleur smirked.

"Don't you dare!" Nymphadora threatened, but was rather hindered by the fact that she was floating in the air.

Despite the metamorph's attempts to resist, Luna and Fleur had no trouble undressing her, at which point Harry stepped forward and took her into his arms bridal style.

"What you need is a nice warm soak to calm you down." He said, calmly walking towards the bathroom.

Nymphadora muttered something that Luna didn't catch, but she didn't struggle and merely leaned her head against Harry's chest.

A few minutes later, all four of them were sitting in the large tub and enjoying the hot water. Nymphadora was still trying to sulk, but was failing to do it properly thanks to the pampering she was receiving.

"I know these parties are a pain in the arse and that the sudden public exposure doesn't agree with you, but it'll be fine." Harry was saying soothingly. "Give it a week or two at the most and the sheep will lose interest."

"Did you at least get what you needed?" Nymphadora asked with a sigh, leaning against him.

"Oh yes, Etal got all of their scents. A little time spent gathering intelligence on their movements and making plans and we can snatch them up." Harry answered with a vicious smirk.

Luna didn't much care for this business of hunting down the Death Eaters. She didn't like hurting people in general. Still, these were the same people that had taken Daddy away from her and would kill Harry and Fleur and Nymphadora and her if they got the chance. They weren't likely to change their ways and if Voldemort came back they would return to his side. Killing them was the only way to stop them, so it had to be done. She was just glad that Harry could do it since she doubted she would have been able to by herself.

"That's good I suppose." Nymphadora muttered. "And Bonesy as good as gave us her blessing."

Luna decided that things were entirely too grim, so she grabbed Harry's erection and beamed at him. "Dibs!"

"Hey, that's not fair!" Fleur protested immediately.

"All is fair in love and war." Nymphadora quoted with a snicker, getting a betrayed look from the veela.

Luna was pleased. Her loves were smiling and laughing. She was almost tempted to let Fleur have the first go at Harry's penis to make her happy.

Then he pulled her into his lap, kissed her and wrapped her in his powerful magic and she decided that she didn't want to do that after all.

November 5th.

Adrastia poured herself a glass of wine and looked over at the sleeping wizard sprawled on her bed.

Thorfinn Rowle was dumb as a post and had certain notions about women. The lump had thought to turn the tables on her and take the money she had amassed for himself, after he got bored of fucking her of course. A fool, but not the first to think up that scheme. Certainly not the brightest.

She was on her third glass of wine when the knocking that she was waiting for came.

"It seems the Raven has come, knocking upon my chamber door." She quipped to herself, smiling at her own wit.

"'Drastia?" Rowle mumbled, voice still slurred from sleep.

A jet of red light sent him back to unconsciousness.

"Nevermore." Adrastia said mockingly, putting down her wand and tying off her silk robe.

The trip through the empty house that had once belonged to her fifth husband was short and she didn't bother checking who was at the door before opening it. That presence could belong to only one wizard.

True to her expectations, Harry was there along with his women. All of them were dressed in basilisk hide as if preparing to go to war. Silly of them really.

"Harry darling." She greeted, throwing her arms around the young wizard and sending a thousand welcoming whispers sliding across his magic. "I was beginning to think you wouldn't show."

"Adrastia." He replied shortly, not returning the embrace and ignoring her magic as a mountain ignored the wind.

"Please come in." She invited, allowing the foursome to enter. "Would any of you like something to drink?"

Three of them refused as she had expected them to, but the youngest surprised her.

"Do you have any fruit juice?" Luna asked.

Apparently it surprised her guests as well.

"We'll get you some fruit juice when we get back home." Nymphadora Tonks promised, shooting Adrastia a distrustful frown.

"Do you think I would be so uncouth as to poison guests in my own home?" She asked in amusement, quirking a challenging eyebrow at the metamorph.

Both she and the veela clearly thought so, but Harry was smarter than that. He knew that she'd only be that overt in dire need.

"It's fine." He said, giving a quelling look at the two suspicious women that made them subside.

Adrastia felt a familiar heat pool between her legs at the subtle show of power. Ah, if only he would let himself be tempted to her bed, she was sure that the ancient dance of flesh and magic would be like nothing she'd ever experienced before. Even if she lost the struggle for dominance, it would be worth it to try at least once.

"Come." She beckoned and led her guests into the kitchen and making for the magical version of a refrigerator in it, basically just a box with cooling and preservation charms on it really. "I hope you like pear juice."

"I've never had any." Luna said. She took a curious sip and her eyes lit up. "This is really good! Harry, we should start having pear juice."

"Sure." Harry agreed without issue.

"Can we just do what we came here to do?" Nymphadora asked tersely. So impatient.

"There is no need to rush." Adrastia said with a smile, knowing it would annoy the metamorph.

"Dora's right though, we really should get this over with." Harry interjected.

Adrastia sighed. "Very well then, follow me."

She led them up to her bedroom and waved her hand at the naked and uncoscious wizard. "He's all yours."

"Had one last shag with him before handing him off to die?" Nymphadora asked caustically as Harry cast a Duplication Charm on the sheets and used them to wrap the burly pureblood in them.

Was that supposed to be an insult? Adrastia felt her lips twitching into a smile again.

"Obviously." She drawled.

"Dora, could you please grab his robes?" Harry asked, neatly preventing the metamorphmagus from escalating the situation.

Adrastia admired the elegant control he had over his women.

"Well, that's that." Harry said, the sheet-wrapped Rowle slung over his shoulders. "We'll be going now."

"Do get in touch if you need help with any of your other targets." Adrastia graciously offered.

"Right." Was his only reply and she doubted he would be doing anything of the sort. A pity.

"Thank you for the juice." Luna said with a bright smile, handing back the now empty glass.

"I'm glad you enjoyed it." She said with a smile, finding herself rather liking the young girl's sincerity.

Then they were gone, apparating out with a series of pops.

Adrastia sat back down at the small table and poured herself another glass of wine.

Now what was she to do that her plaything was gone? Rowle may have been boorish clod, but training him had at least been passably amusing. Not much of a challenge, but a distraction nonetheless. Bjomolf had better appreciate the boredom she was suffering at his request.

November 8th.

Harry sat waiting at the park table, dressed in his basilisk hide coat. It was well after dark and public parks were not necessarily safe once the Sun went down, but he had little to fear from any hooligans that might show up trolling for trouble and the man he was waiting for had an extreme allergy to sunlight.

It was no more than fifteen mnutes into his wait that Bjomolf showed up, right on time. The ancient vampire was not wearing the expensive suit that he'd last seen him in, but a far more casual outfit of hiking shoes, plain black trousers, nondescript black T-shirt and an open black leather jacket over it.

He was also carrying a plastic bag.

"What's in the bag?" Harry asked tersely without bothering to give a greeting. He was ready to activate his emergency Portkey at a moment's notice.

Bjomolf grinned and pulled a Jenga box out of the bag.

Harry stared. What the fuck?

"I thought we could play while we talk." Bjomolf answered the unasked question, still grinning.

"You want to play… Jenga?" Harry said slowly, still having trouble believing it. Somehow the thought of an eleven-hundred-year-old vampire playing Jenga just didn't compute.

"Yes." Bjomolf said without elaborating and sat down.

"So, what did you want to talk about so badly that you'd send Adrastia to play messenger girl?" Harry asked while the ancient vampire set up the tower of blocks.

"I know that your feelings on vampires must not be too charitable after what Ophelia attempted." Bjomolf said.

"You'd be right about that."

The old Viking nodded, both at the response and in satisfaction at his Jenga tower. He removed one block from the bottom, placed it on top and gestured for Harry to make the next move.

"I warned her not to do that, but I suppose your blood proved too tempting. She always was a bit of a glutton." Bjomolf said.

"So… what? Is this supposed to be some kind of apology?" Harry asked.

"No, of course not." Bjomolf smiled toothily. "We both know that apologies are not worth the breath wasted on them. Think of this as more of an attempt to re-establish relations after Ophelia's blunder."

"I'm not sure I want anything to do with your kind after Ophelia's blunder, as you call it."

"I thought as much, but the future is chaotic and we may well find ourselves in a situation that requires interaction. Would it not be better to have resolved the tensions between us before that happens, if it happens?"

"What are you implying?" Harry asked suspiciously. It sounded reasonable, but he couldn't help feeling that there was some kind of hidden meaning behind all of this.

"I have lived long and seen much, enough to know that letting trouble fester often has deadly consequences."

Wasn't that the reason that Harry was currently purging the Death Eaters?

"And how do you propose we resolve tensions?" He asked a tad sarcastically. "Play Jenga until we're friends?"

"Ah, if only it were so easy." Bjomolf said with a grin. "No, I am aware that we must move slowly if we are ever to be allies in the future. To that end I am offering my aid."

"In what exactly?" Harry asked skeptically.

"Riddle." Bjomolf said, badly startling him. "He's still alive, isn't he?"

"What makes you say that, and how do you even know about him?" Harry asked cautiously.

"We do like to keep track of dangerous wizards - Albus Dumbledore, Tom Riddle, yourself… As for Riddle's continued existence… well, he dies in mysterious circumstances with no body ever being found, then you begin eliminating his old followers. Not to mention the prophecy between you."

Harry was once again badly startled by how much this vampire knew.

Bjomolf apparently noticed, as he grinned at him again. "I sent one of my people to snoop into your Department of Mysteries in case you were wondering how I knew about that. I don't know what it says, but I'm going to assume that it's a standard 'kill or be killed' type. The ones involving dark lords usually are."

"Let's say that you're right, how do you think you could possibly help me kill him for good?" Harry asked slowly.

"Well I would have to know what kind of help you need first." Bjomolf said, seemingly paying more attention to the Jenga tower than the conversation.

Harry scowled and clammed up. He simply didn't trust Bjomolf enough to give him any more information.

They moved a few more blocks on the Jenga tower in silence before Bjomolf spoke again.

"Well, I just wanted to let you know that we are willing to help you with your little problem if you need it."

"I'll keep it in mind." Harry said and activated the Portkey.

Bjomolf contemplated the Jenga tower. It was almost ready to fall.

"Riddle, huh?" He mused. "A violent, sadistic dark lord, ready to rise again? A selfish, easily disliked champion to oppose him? How convenient."

He deliberately removed a critical block from the Jenga tower and watched it topple across the table with a smile.

November 13th. Nott estate.

Thaddeus Nott sighed to himself as he walked through the hedge maze of his private garden. His wife had loved this place and he came here to remember her, but it was hard for him to relax even in this place these days.

Everything just seemed to be going the wrong way lately, had been going wrong for some time to be honest.

It was tempting to think that it had started when the Dark Lord fell, but that wasn't true. Treasonous as the thought was, the Dark Lord's downfall had been quite beneficial for him and his peers. They'd been able to avoid prison and use the post-war period of rebuilding to get their society on the right track.

No, things had started going wrong when Potter had killed Lucius. The damned boy was ruining everything. He cared nothing for good breeding or tradition and seemed intent on ripping their society apart down to the bedrock. Fudge, the fool, was of course doing whatever the boy wanted. The Boy-Who-Lived was simply too popular - and more importantly rich - for it to be any other way.

This absurd werewolf legislation was only the most prominent example of Potter's lunacy, and it actually stood a good chance of being passed! If there was ever a sign that proper values were being discarded, that was it.

But that was far from his only worry these days. People were starting to disappear, good people. Not nobles, but still people of good breeding. Every time he thought about it, Thaddeus felt a cold chill creep into his blood. It was eerily reminiscent of how the Dark Lord had begun to make his bid for power - by killing off the mudbloods that had the temerity to attempt rising above their station. The only difference was that this time it was purebloods disappearing.

Deep in his heart, Nott knew who was behind it. Potter was like the Dark Lord had been in the early days, but his polar opposite in goals. That was damned scary, because if the Dark Lord hadn't started becoming so erratic towards the end, he'd likely be in control of Britain now.

A raven croaked above him and he threw a dirty look at the bird. The blasted things seemed to be everywhere these days.

Without warning, Thaddeus felt a spell slam into his back and unconciousness quickly followed.

Thaddeus woke up groggy, his mind still fuzzy from being stunned. The first thing he noticed was that he was bound in a hard, stone chair.

The second thing he noticed was the emerald-eyed wizard staring at him with a knife in hand, his three sluts behind him.

"Hello, Thaddeus." Potter said with a smile that made his stomach drop.

November 23rd.

"For a self-proclaimed anti-social bastard, I sure do seem to be playing host to a lot of parties lately." Harry muttered, watching the flurry of activity going on around him. At least Teeny and Kreacher were happy with the extra work.

He wasn't sure what had happened to the original idea of a small family get-together concocted between Fleur and Andromeda that would have consisted of just Fleur and Dora's immediate relatives, but he had been informed that it would be held at Potter Manor rather than in France as originally envisioned.

That change of plans had led to a domino effect of more changes. Since they were having the party at Potter Manor, Narcissa and Sirius were included by default. Narcissa had in turn suggested that he also invite Penny and Septima as senior employees. Penny had then asked if she could bring her boyfriend and parents and Septima had suggested inviting those of her former students that had signed employment contracts for Potter Communications, arguing that it would be good for morale or something like that, what with the business slated to go into operation soon. At that point, Harry had abandoned all hope of it being a small event and invited Bryanna, Tiana, Jade, Isabel and whatever dates they might have as well, figuring that it was only fair. Sirius must have been feeling left out, because he had invited the Weasley twins and Remus at about the same time. Fred and George had also brought their own dates, Angelina Johnson and Katie Bell, though which went with which was debatable.

Luna had even asked if they could invite Ginny, which had honestly thrown Harry for a loop. He hadn't so much as thought of the redhead in a long while, but Luna apparently still considered her a friend. Fortunately, that idea was nixed by an exasperated Dora, who pointed out that Ginny was still in Hogwarts and couldn't just leave at will, something that both Luna and Harry had actually forgotten about.

That was already far more people than there were supposed to be and it didn't even include Fleur's side of things!

Speaking of Fleur, she had complained about the weather of course. But then, when did she not complain about the weather in Britain? Still, her complaints were not entirely baseless this time. November this far north was ill-suited for the outside event that she wanted. Unwilling to give up on the idea of an outdoor family picnic, she had drafted him to set up a web of climate control spells and turn the grounds of his estate into a pleasant spring day. As far as temperature was concerned at any rate, even a brief glance outside of the spell perimeter would tell you that it was in fact early winter.

" At least you will not be having enemies in your nest this time. " Etal hissed out of his collar, where he was huddled in his miniature form.

" Unless you count my mate's family as enemies. " Harry quipped back.

" Always a danger to be certain. " The quetzalcoatl replied with a hissing laugh.

"Harry!" Penny called with some urgency, causing his head to snap in her direction.

"What happened?" Harry asked, alarmed at seeing her running in his drection with her boyfriend, Daniel, in tow.

Harry wasn't sure how he felt about Daniel. He was a a few years older than Penny at twenty-five, of average height and fairly unassuming appearance. He seemed nice enough, but Harry couldn't help being wary of him. It wasn't anything that Daniel had done, it was just the fact that he had no aura to read.

"Sirius is traumatising the house-elves by insisting that he's going to man the barbeque grill." Penny explained.

Traumatising was probably an apt word, Harry thought wryly. Not only was Sirius utter crap at anything related to food preparation, but he was also intruding on what Teeny and Kreacher considered their domain.

"I'll go tell him to-" He was interrupted by the distinctive sound of a Portkey arrival and growled in frustration as he saw the small field of silver-blonde hair that had just showed up in his backyard. Fleur had apparently not held back with the invitations either, which probably explained the change in venue.

"I've got to take care of this." He said to Penny, who looked as surprised by the mass of veela as he felt. "Just tell Sirius to stop before he hurts himself or something."

"Don't you think I've tried?" Penny asked crossly. "He won't listen."

" Etal, can you go with her and smack some sense into Sirius?" Harry asked the quetzalcoatl.

" I suppose. " Etal said a bit sullenly. He always did like to hang around veela.

Penny hurried off then with Etal in tow, just in time for Fleur to rush into his arms.

"Harry!" She greeted enthusiastically, kissing him with enough showmanship that it simply had to be for the benefit of anyone watching. Once she was done, she grabbed his arm and began leading him towards the newcomers. "Come, let me introduce you to my family."

"Alright." Harry agreed, not that there was anything else to do at this point.

" You've already met my parents and sister of course ." Fleur began in French once they reached the group, gesturing at the slightly tense trio.

" Mr. and Mrs. Delacour. Gabrielle ." Harry said with a nod, also in French.

" Lord Potter ." They said a tad nervously.

" Just Harry please ." Hadn't they done this already?

" Very well… Harry . You must call us Apolline and Sebastian then. " Apolline agreed, relaxing minutely. Then she reached into what had to be an expanded pocket and brought ou a bottle of wine " Our daughter tells us that your family owns a vineyard, so we thought you might appreciate a French wine. "

" Thank you. " Harry said and accepted the bottle, though he actually wanted to laugh. He didn't think that was meant to be as condescending as it came off as. At least it answered the question of where Fleur got her French superiority complex from.

"Teeny," He called, causing the little house-elf to appear. "could you please add this bottle to the ones that are set to be used today?"

"Teeny do it, Master." The hyper little elf said enthusiastically, took the bottle and popped away.

" This is my grandmother, Aurélie ." Fleur moved on with the introductions once that was done.

Aurélie was a stately older veela in her late sixties, but her beauty hadn't waned a bit. The only sign of aging was the occasional line or wrinkle around her eyes and mouth. Honestly, she looked more like Fleur's mother than grandmother, while Apolline looked like an older sister.

She was also far less reserved than Apolline, though that was to be expected since she hadn't been around to see Lucius Malfoy's spectacular execution. Though according to Fleur that might have turned her on instead…

" So this is the man that caught my granddaughter's interest. " She said brightly, moving forward to give him a hug and kiss his cheeks in that particular French way that made introverts uncomfortable just to think about, though Harry didn't think that the hug itself was supposed to be that tight. " I can certainly see why. " She added with a purr.

Aaaand there it was, the flirting that Fleur had warned him about. Not that Harry would be opposed to screwing the super hot granny…

After the GILF came Apolline's two sisters, Adeline and Aurore, one younger and one older than Fleur's mother. Each also had daughters of their own, Adeline had one that looked to be about ten or eleven and another that was just over a year younger than Fleur. That one looked at him like he was a juicy steak, so Harry didn't need an introduction to guess that this must be Delphine, Fleur's friend/cousin/fuckbuddy that she liked to tease with tales of how impressive he was and how good she had it. Aurore also had two, both older than Fleur but still single, though the eldest already had a little four-year-old daughter of her own.

Every single one gave him a hug and kissed his cheeks, even the prepubescent ones practically demanded that he stoop low enough for them to do it. They might not be old enough for their more carnal instincts to be active, but they were still drawn to his powerful magic. The three mature but as of yet unattached veela also flirted shamelessly, while Fleur's aunts looked like they were holding back from doing the same.

Harry had serious trouble keeping track of who was who, with only the presence of the three husbands allowed him to keep some level of distinction between them. They all looked like fraternal twins to each other, closer even, all silver-blonde hair and sky-blue eyes. Even their facial structures and body types were similar enough that it was obvious that their genes were essentially identical. That would figure since they were all descended from the succubus Velana and the father didn't contribute any genes, preserving the looks of their foremother.

They also brought more gifts, mostly in the form of various French dishes. If nothing else, they made for a good opportunity to lead the gaggle of veela towards the main picnic area and introduce them to everyone else.

Later .

Harry ignored the mouth-watering smell of cooking meat as he finished off his meal. His recent Skinwalking successes had given him cravings for red, or even raw meat, and he was deliberately refusing to eat any until the urge passed. Ahiga had apparently neglected to mention a few consequences of Skinwalking into a carnivore, the bastard.

Knowing that Skinwalking wasn't like Animagus training, Harry reduced his already low meat intake to zero until this alien set of instincts he'd taken into himself was brought to heel rather than accepting it as part of himself, even if he had to force himself to chew rather than spit like he wanted to. He typically ate meat no more than once a week or so anyway and avoided dairy like the plague - among other things, it made sperm taste like crap according to his research and he was far more attached to enthusiastic blowjobs than he was to cheese. Still, the self-enforced vegan diet combined with a carnivore's cravings made him poor company while eating and drove him to take his food to a bench along the edges of the picnic area, where he could glower at his plate and chew angrily without snapping at anyone that tried to talk to him.

At least it was a good vantage point to observe the goings on.

With so many people not knowing each other, it should have been awkward. Groups should have formed, made up of people that were familiar with each other. At least, that was how Harry understood strangers tended to act when brought into a crowd - they sought out the comfort of the familiar.

Not so for veela apparently. Fleur's mature cousins and grandmother had immediately started prowling for suitable conquests. Harry himself had been especially popular with them earlier, to the point of irritation actually. He had nothing against the amorous attention and would happily invite one or two to share their bed for the night, but the constant conversation had begun to wear on him. Fortunately, Fleur had noticed and led them off.

Since then, they had redirected their attention to the other guests, the single ones at least, though he wouldn't be surprised to hear that they'd propositioned the couples as well.

The ones that had no experience with veela were ridiculously easy to pick out of the crowd. That look of awkward incredulity at their forwardness or the glazed looks of those overcome by the Allure were a dead give-away.

Still, despite having to run interference to keep things from getting out of hand, aided by Narcissa, Andromeda, Dora and Fleur, Harry had to admit that this picnic thing was going pretty well. The veela had well and truly smashed the ice and everyone was having a good time. A few people were probably going to have a very good time afterwards as well, which would no doubt improve morale among his employees even if getting them laid by a gaggle of horny veela wasn't the reason they'd been invited. Though he'd have to keep an eye on things to make sure that none of them got stolen from him and led to France by their cocks…

And there had been no major disasters so far, in spite of Sirius' valiant attempts to man the barbeque grill and cause one. Sirius had sulked over that, but was now happily distracted by Fleur's oldest cousin.

Dora was currently looking a little uncomfortable with Fleur perched in her lap. Understandable since their respective parents were also there and Ted looked like he was still having trouble reconciling the new reality he found himself in.

Luna was telling tales to the three prepubescent veela present. What she was actually telling them was anyone's guess, it could be about crumple-horned snorkacks or last night's bedroom escapades. Neither would be at all strange given the audience and speaker.

Etal was also a big hit, being cooed over by any veela he approached, much to his obvious pleasure. The self-important flying noodle.

Remus Lupin, the joyless void of self-pity that he was, seemed to be the only person not enjoying himself. In fact, the werewolf had spent most of his time so far attempting to dodge the attempt of Fleur's second oldest cousin to seduce him until she'd given up on him.

Harry couldn't fathom why he'd do that, especially after the trouble Sirius had gone through to point her at him. Veela couldn't contract lycanthropy and it was fairly close to the New Moon anyway, so that couldn't be it. Maybe he was just a virgin or intimidated by beautiful women? Or maybe his self-esteem issues were making him think that he didn't deserve a good time. Whatever.

His people watching was interrupted as he saw one of the guests approaching him. It was Fleur's grandmother, Aurélie.

"Not much of a social person, are you, Harry?" The senior veela asked in perfect English.

"Not really, no." Harry admitted.

Aurélie sat next to him without waiting for an invitation and stretched in that uniquely sexy way that only beautiful women could properly manage. Ye gods, but it was easy to forget that this woman was sixty-seven.

"I think Fleur might have taken that as a challenge." She chuckled. "She was always the fiercest of my descendants."

"Remind you of yourself?" Harry quipped with a small grin.

Aurélie seemed delighted by the question. "She told you about me then?"

"Oh yes, you're something of a personal hero of hers apparently."

Unlike her daughters, Aurélie had never married. Instead, she'd been a sort of adventurer, visiting exciting new places, getting into trouble, sleeping her way through the local wizard population, inevitably getting pregnant, returning home to give birth and then repeating the whole exercise.

She'd not been much of a mother apparently, leaving her offspring in the care of France's veela commune while she was off on her escapades and only properly settling down when her youngest was already six.

Fleur had always theorised that she'd felt bad about that and had spent more time with her grandchildren as a way to make up for not really being there for her daughters. She now lived in the very commune that had taken care of her children and helped with the new young ones.

The way she sighed a bit sadly at his words seemed to lend credence to that theory. "Apolline never did appreciate me 'teaching her daughter my bad habits', but I suppose she has a right to feel resentful. I didn't do right by my daughters, not really."

"They seem to have turned out fine." Harry said non-committally.

"They did." Aurélie agreed.

They stayed quiet for a while, just watching the proceedings. Fleur eventually looked in their direction, smiled, pointed them out to Dora and said something that had the metamorphmagus looking more than a bit shocked.

"Looks like Fleur just had a great idea." Aurélie purred.

Apparently he wasn't the only one that thought Fleur had just suggested an orgy with her grandmother.

"That is her idea face." Harry agreed.

"So what do you say, Harry? Do you have what it takes?" Aurélie challenged, dropping a hand on his thigh.

"The better question is if you have what it takes, old woman." Harry smirked.

"Ho… back in my day, those were fighting words."

"They still are."

"So, that was… interesting." Ted said as he and his wife prepared for bed.

"That's one way of putting it." Andromeda chuckled. "I liked the Delacours, but the younger veela were a lot more forward than I expected. They must have taken their cousin's open relationship as a sign that they could let their hair down."

"I still can't believe we got invited to an orgy."

" I still can't believe you were about to say yes." Andromeda said sternly.

"I'm sorry!" Ted said urgently, in dire fear of his wife's wrath. "It must have been that Allure thing you warned me about."

"I know, I was just teasing you." She assured, giving him a quick kiss.

Ted breathed a sigh of relief. Banishment to the couch averted.

"But I'll expect more self-control out of you next month." Andromeda warned jokingly.

Right, the women had decided that they were going to have Christmas dinner together, once again at Potter Manor since it was the only residence with sufficient room. Ted had quite clearly seen that Harry wasn't altogether pleased about having his home appropriated like that, but had consented to keep the women happy.

Aside from the 'you pulled my daughter into a harem' thing, Ted actually rather liked Harry. He was not above enjoying a bit of schadenfreude at his expense though.

"Yes, dear." He said back with a grin.

"Good, now get over here and make me feel like a teenager again. All the sex in the air has had me feeling randy for hours already."

Well, Ted supposed that there were upsides to his daughter's life choices.

November 24th.

Aurélie woke up with the first light of dawn as always, taking a deep breath and simply reveling in the satisfaction she felt. Last night had been more fun than she'd had in decades.

"Good morning." Fleur said softly, having of course woken up at the same time.

"Morning." She replied just as softly, looking over at their other bedmates with a frown. "Where did Harry go?"

Aurélie had been looking forward to giving the powerful young wizard a good morning as well and was a bit miffed by his absence.

"He must have gone running." Fleur said with a small frown of her own, no doubt having had the same idea.

A wizard that woke up early to exercise? Will wonders never cease.

"What about Nymphadora?" Aurélie asked, looking at the metamorphmagus wetting her lips. She may not be as powerful as Harry, but she was still utterly delicious.

But Fleur just shook her head with a wry smile. "She will kick us in the head if we wake her up this early."

"Shower then?"

"Shower."

The two of them carefully extracted themselves from the bed, making sure that they didn't wake the other two women sharing it with them.

A couple of minutes later they were soaping each other up in the large shower and Aurélie decided to bring up something that had been on her mind for some time now.

"You have done well for yourself, Fleur." She began. "Three lovers, all of them a lot more powerful than average… any veela would envy you."

"It is more than just that." Fleur replied softly. "They are all wonderful people and I love them."

"But he is not yours." Aurélie stated knowingly.

"No," Fleur admitted with a challenging lift of her chin."but I am his."

Aurélie smiled at her favorite(not that she would admit it) granddaughter's fierceness. It was not a very veela sentiment that Fleur had just expressed, but she had experienced what Harry was like for herself. That was not a wizard that would be bent to another's will.

Apolline would not be happy if she were to hear this, but then her middle daughter had always been less of a risk-taker.

And it wasn't like Fleur was some weak-willed ninny, unable to ensnare a wizard with her charms. Indeed, she had actually become a most impressive example of a veela over the past couple of years. Her magic was powerful, her Allure strong and controlled far beyond anything she'd ever seen.

Aurélie had been both baffled and intrigued when she'd noticed how her granddaughter was becoming more changed with every visit, but after last night she understood. Fleur was not merely having her basic needs met, she was able to gorge herself as much as she pleased.

Their kind generally had to be content with what they could get while pretending to be human, plus whatever tidbits they could keep hidden. Things had been slowly improving for them over the last few decades, but they would likely never be able to get away with cultivating large harems the way they would have wanted to. Even if they had, those harems were generally filled with weaker wizards rather than specimens as impressive as Harry, Nymphadora and Luna.

"And are you happy with that?" Aurélie asked.

"Yes." Fleur said firmly. "Harry may not be perfect and it may go against my instincts to not be focus of attention, but he is worth it, all three of them are worth it."

Aurélie smiled a bit wistfully at the utter certainty in her granddaughter's words. Fleur was in love, she had to be in order to accept a subordinate position in her relationship. That was a luxury even for humans.

Not long after that, the shower doors opened and Harry stepped in.

"Ladies." He greeted, his skin shining with sweat and looking magnificent.

"Harry." Both veela greeted in unison and exchanged a look. A silent agreement was reached and they started washing him.

Aurélie shamelessly exploited the opportunity to fondle. A minute after thoroughly washing them, she found herself pinned to the magically cushioned wall of the shower while he pounded into her.

Just like last night, he didn't give her room to do anything except take his relentless assault, but Aurélie found it hard to complain when it was this good. His magic seemed to shine even brighter today.

When he discharged into her, all she could do was gasp as her own climax was triggered by the influx of powerful magic.

But he did not Join with her like she knew he could, keeping his soul private and walled off from the grasp of her Allure. Aurélie was glad of it. Quite a relief really, to not have that bit of unnecessary intimacy getting in the way of the sex.

Luna and Dora were still fast asleep by the time the three of them got out of the shower, so they decided to head downstairs and get some breakfast.

Of course, there were three other mature veela that had also stayed over…

" Harry, you invited our grandmother to your bed, won't you invite us too? " The oldest, the one that already had a daughter, purred in French, invading his personal space quite deeply. The other two backed up their cousin firmly, also invading his personal space.

Harry considered that logic to be highly suspect, especially in light of the fact that the trio of veela had hijacked the breakfast that Teeny had prepared for him.

" Yes, Harry, it truly would be discourteous if you didn't show my granddaughters the same hospitality you afforded me. " Aurélie said, not even bothering to hide her amusement.

" Weren't my godfather and two of my employees enough for you? " He asked, pouring himself a glass of juice. He was quite sure that said godfather and employees were currently sleeping off the side-effects of a veela's libido.

" They were alright, but Fleur has told us such outrageous stories about you. We want to see for ourselves. " Delphine purred, doing something that could easily be classified as dry humping his leg. All three were also blasting their Allure at him at max power, not that it did anything… except maybe turn them on even further when they saw that he was unaffected.

Harry turned to Fleur with an amused smile on his face. " What do you think, Fleur? Should I take the time to entertain your cousins? Are they even worth it? "

While the three veela gasped in exaggerated outrage and turned to their cousin, practically demanding that they be allowed to show their skill in the bedroom. Veela were so predictable sometimes, just imply that their sexual prowess was lacking and they'd become determined to prove you wrong. Well, if they liked you enough that was.

Fleur listened to the demands with a distinct air smug satisfaction. Having her cousins drooling all over him was about the equivalent of having a Ferrari and watching envious family members begging to take it for a ride.

Of course, Fleur's cousins didn't know what kind of dynamic their relationship had and Harry was content to let them think that she was in charge for now. He could practically see Fleur's ego swelling, which would probably be amusing later.

" Well I suppose I could let you have some fun with my man. " Fleur said, as if making some great sacrifice. It would have been more effective if she could stop looking so smug though.

Later.

Harry dumped himself into an armchair with a relieved sigh. Even his prodigious, rune-enhanced stamina had limits and attempting to satisfy three veela at once had just about exhausted it, especially with the brief shower adventure that had preceded it.

"Those veela are really something, huh?" Sirius grinned at him from his own chair.

"That they are." Harry nodded, privately thinking that Fleur was the best.

"I wonder if Lucile would agree to another romp." Sirius mused.

Harry's brow briefly furrowed as he tried to remember which one was Lucile. Judging by context it was the oldest of Fleur's counsin's, the one that was already a MILF. She'd been the one to sleep with Sirius at any rate.

"I'd stay away from her if I were you, unless you have some desire to get married and become a stepfather to a four-year-old veela that I don't know about." Harry warned with a smirk.

"To get shagged like that every day it'd be almost worth it." Sirius joked.

"I'd just end up having to fuck another woman because you couldn't keep up with her." Harry mocked.

"This is my punishment for pranking you in fourth year, isn't it, Lily?" Sirius asked of the ceiling. "There's no way that your son could grow up to be such a snarky little bastard without otherworldly influence."

"Keep telling yourself that, Sirius. Keep telling yourself that."