Laid Bare

"Much better," Padma said, handing the completed practice exam back to Pansy after she'd finished looking it over. "I don't think Professor McGonagall will have any complaints with your transfiguration knowledge when we go back for our sixth year. You've come a long way already."

"And I owe it all to you," Pansy said, grinning as she glanced down at the piece of parchment, finding far less red correction marks from Padma than there had been the last time. Pansy would never have expected to be the type of person who filled out practice exams over her summer break, much less that she would actually be excited to do so, but here she was. It was amazing how having a goal to motivate you could shift your priorities so much. Pansy was very pleased with the progress she'd made at the end of last term, and even more pleased at the strides she'd been making so far this summer. By the time September 1st rolled around, she felt like she was going to be ready for anything her professors could throw at her.

"You've put in the work," Padma said, tossing her quill down on top of her writing desk. "I just guided you along and gave you a helping hand, that's all."

"And I thank you for it," Pansy said, rolling her shoulders and stretching out her stiff back. "Now if you could just give me a rub down and get rid of all this tension, I'd really have something to thank you for." She smirked as she said it.

"I can do that for you, if you want," Padma said calmly. "Our mother taught Parvati and I how to give a nice massage. I've been told I'm pretty good at it."

"Are you serious?" Pansy asked. She'd just been joking, but a massage sounded pretty damn amazing right now. "Because if you're really offering, I'm not going to say no."

Padma smiled. "Get down on your belly on the bed."

"Don't mind if I do." Pansy climbed onto Padma's bed and flopped down onto her belly. She felt the bed shift as Padma climbed onto it, and a few moments later the other witch's hands were on her shoulders.

"Just relax," Padma whispered. "Let me rub that tension out of you."

She wasn't kidding about her skill, or about rubbing the tension out of her. Padma's hands felt like magic on her body, and Pansy groaned as she rubbed her shoulders and back. It occurred to Pansy that other than her time in the hospital wing, Padma's were the first hands other than her own to touch her body since Harry started dating Daphne and Tracey and stopped shagging her. She'd missed it immensely.

"Ahh, that's bloody fantastic!" Pansy said. She sighed when Padma's hands pushed her shirt up so she could rub the bare skin of her back. "Merlin, Patil, that's great! I haven't felt this good in months!"

"I'm glad to hear it," Padma said while continuing to massage her. "Just let me know if there's anything else I can do for you."

"You're earning an Outstanding as it is, trust me," Pansy said. Padma's fingers soothed a knot out of her spine, and she moaned. "Ohh, fuck! About the only way this could get any better is if you threw in a happy ending." Padma's hands stopped moving, but they didn't leave Pansy's body.

"Is that really something you want me to do?" Padma asked her. Pansy couldn't see her face, but there was not a hint of a joke in her voice. Pansy stiffened, afraid that her attempt at a joke had offended Padma and threatened to ruin one of the few true friendships she'd ever had not long after it had begun. But she didn't sound angry…

"I, uh, I guess that depends on if you're actually offering, and what you'd expect to happen afterwards," Pansy said slowly. She didn't know what was running through Padma's head right now, but she figured honesty was the best policy here. "Because it's been a long time for me, and toys can only do so much. The thought of having a, uh, helping hand down there sounds pretty damn good. But I'm not really looking for a, you know, relationship, not with you. Not that you're not attractive and all, but I'm not really a--"

"You're rambling," Padma said, and now she did sound amused. "Relax, Pansy. I'm not looking for a relationship here either. I'm just offering to take care of you. When it's done we can go back to just being friends. Think of it as a thank you for what you did in Hogsmeade. I need to reward my hero, don't I?" One of her hands left Pansy's back, ran down her arse and dipped between her legs to rub her crotch through her clothes.

Pansy laughed in disbelief. "I can't believe you're really sitting here offering to get me off with your fingers in your bed!"

"Fingers, mouth--whatever it takes," Padma said.

"You've come a long way, Padma," Pansy said. "It wasn't so long ago that I called you a prude, watched you give your virginity to Harry and laughed at how in over your head you were. Now you're casually offering to go down on me, no strings attached."

"I guess we've both done some growing since then," Padma replied. "Now what's it going to be, Pansy? Do you want me to get you off or not?"

"You're sure it's not going to mess up our friendship if I say yes, right?" Pansy asked. As much as she could use a nice orgasm, it wouldn't be worth losing out on the companionship she'd started to form with the Ravenclaw.

"I see no reason why it would," she said, shrugging. "Shagging Harry was amazing, but I have no problem just being his friend now. And Parvati didn't suddenly stop being my sister just because we fucked him together."

"I'm very interested in hearing more about Harry fucking you and your sister at the same time," Pansy said as she got up onto her hands and knees. She rolled over onto her back, stared up at Padma and grinned. "But for now, I'll take that reward if it's all the same to you."

"It'll be my pleasure," Padma said, returning her grin and sitting back on her knees between Pansy's legs.

"Oh, I doubt that," Pansy whispered, watching as Padma pulled her trousers and underwear down her legs. "I seriously doubt that."

Padma's fingers reached between her legs and brushed against her vulva, and Pansy groaned. It had been far too long since she'd had anything but sex toys or her own fingers touching her down there, and Padma's fingers rubbing along the outer lips of her pussy reminded her of how good it could feel to have someone else's attention on her.

"So what would you prefer, Pansy?" Padma asked while slowly rubbing two fingers along her pussy. "Do you want me to stick with my fingers, or would you like me to use my mouth too?"

Pansy's answer was quick in coming. "Mouth, please," she requested. She spread her legs wider to give Padma plenty of room.

Padma Patil was a beautiful witch. Pansy had always been into blokes primarily, but she could admit it when she found another woman attractive. Before that would have stirred jealousy inside of her, but she didn't feel that way now. Padma wasn't potential competition for a rich and powerful man, which was how Pansy used to look at other women. This attractive witch's attention was on her, at least for today. Even though they were just going to go back to being friends when this was over, it was an exciting thought.

Pansy watched her beautiful friend get down on her belly and settle in with her head between her legs, and she would admit that it was a damn pretty sight. Padma brought her fingers back into contact with her pussy, but it was the first lick of her tongue that really got Pansy excited.

More licks and finger rubs followed, but it didn't take long for Pansy to conclude that this was Padma's first time going down on another woman. Pansy couldn't get upset about that; it wasn't like she had any more experience with it from that side of things. But when she compared it to the way Harry had handled her, the lack of expertise was noticeable. She wasn't about to complain though. She was just happy not to be alone, as she had been for far too long now. And even if Padma clearly was new to this, the amateurish licks and rubs still felt pretty good from Pansy's point of view.

"Let me know what you like," Padma said, pulling her head back slightly and looking up at Pansy from between her thighs. "I'm new to all of this, but I've always been good at following instructions. It's your turn to guide me now, Pansy."

Pansy leapt at the offer. Thanks to her time with Harry, she knew exactly what would get her off. She took inspiration from the oral sex Harry used to give her, and guided Padma to how and where she could be most effective. "Try sticking a finger inside of me and pumping it back and forth," she said. "And I like direct contact on my clit."

Padma nodded her head and went back to work, and just as she'd backed up her words about knowing how to give a great massage, she proved now that she was great at following directions. She slid a finger inside of Pansy and began to work it back and forth, and quickly had it pushing in deep and pulling back quickly once she realized that Pansy really did prefer an emphasis on penetration and movement as opposed to careful stroking. She added a second slim finger along the way, and before long both of them were pumping hard inside of Pansy's pussy and making her groan.

As for her mouth, she put that to similarly effective use now. Before she'd been taking slow licks along her pussy lips, but now she trusted her fingers down there while she used her mouth to focus on her clit. She batted Pansy's clit with her tongue, not bothering with teasing and giving her the direct stimulation that had always worked best for her.

Was Padma licking her or fingering her as well as Harry did? No. But she was doing a damn good job all the same, especially with this being the first time she'd ever gone down on another woman. Between the pair of fingers pumping inside of her pussy and the tongue at work on her clit, Padma was making Pansy feel things that she hadn't felt in months.

"Fuck, that's good, Padma!" Pansy groaned. "You're doing great! Keep going!"

Padma did keep going, and after a few more minutes of licking and fingering she brought Pansy to a high she hadn't experienced in months. The orgasm that her new friend brought her was not quite as strong as the ones she'd grown used to with Harry, but it was still enough to bring a wide smile to Pansy's face. She rested her hands on top of Padma's hair, squeezed her thighs together against her face and moaned as the Ravenclaw's mouth and fingers made her cum. Hopefully Padma wouldn't mind getting a little wet in the course of giving her this reward, because there was no stopping herself from squirting all over her friend's face.

Pansy's body relaxed on Padma's bed after her orgasm was done, and she sighed in satisfaction. She felt as if a great weight had been lifted off of her. As relaxing as the massage had felt, there was nothing that could beat a nice orgasm when it came to helping Pansy relax.

"So?" Padma asked. She pulled back and planted her hands on either side of Pansy's head, hovering above her. "How was it? Feeling relaxed now?"

"Feeling better than I've felt in a long time," Pansy said, stretching her arms above her head and relaxing on Padma's bed.

"So I guess you feel you've been rewarded properly for your heroics, then?" Padma smirked down at her, and Pansy laughed.

"Being licked like that was more than worth the time I spent in the hospital wing," Pansy said. "If that's the kind of reward a hero has to look forward to, maybe Harry isn't such a fool after all."

"Yeah, there's no shortage of witches who'd like to thank him personally, is there?" Padma said. She shook her head and sighed. "Shame Daphne and Tracey snapped him up. I'm not broken up about it or anything, but shagging him a few more times before he settled down would've been fun, you know?"

"Yeah, I know what you mean," Pansy said. "I definitely know what you mean." It still seemed hard to believe that she would in all likelihood never sleep with Harry again. "But hey, it's not like fun can't be had even without Harry and his huge dick. You just reminded me of that, friend."

--

"Take care of yourself, you old wolf," Sirius teased. He was using humor to gloss over more serious emotions, which Harry had learned was something his godfather did often. Usually those emotions revolved around Harry in some way, but this time around it was his best friend who his godfather was concerned for. Remus was set to depart on a mission for the Order of the Phoenix which was going to keep him away for some time, so they were saying their goodbyes before he departed.

"I feel like I should be giving that warning to you," Remus said. He turned his head towards Harry and gave him a smile. "Make sure this old rogue doesn't get into too much trouble while I'm gone, won't you, Harry?"

"I'll do my best," Harry said, returning the smile. "Hopefully the next Order meeting after you come back won't be as tense." Harry did not attend the Order meetings himself so as to avoid conflict with certain people, but both Sirius and Dumbledore himself kept him up to speed on what was happening. Considering that most recent meetings had apparently been turning into shouting matches before the end, he felt relieved that he wasn't sitting in on them and instead just had the important bits shared.

"Yes, we can certainly hope for that," Lupin said, sighing. "I know there is distrust among certain members of the group, but I hope we'll ultimately remember that we're all on the same side and cooler heads will prevail in the end." Sirius grumbled under his breath about not being sure that a certain greasy bat was on their side, which had become a common point of contention from what Harry understood. Sirius was not alone among the Order in thinking that Snape wasn't doing anything to justify his position as a spy, and in fact might be actively sabotaging them.

"Still, it hasn't all been bad," Remus went on. "We've been having some successes in recent weeks."

"Yeah, so I've heard," Harry said. "Professor Dumbledore seems pleased with how the summer has gone so far." Dumbledore had been more proactive lately, particularly after the assault on Hogsmeade and the murder of his brother Aberforth, and in taking this more active approach the Order had managed to stop several attacks and shut down more than one attempt from Voldemort to gain new recruits as well as supplies, both of which he seemed rather low on at the moment.

Unfortunately they never seemed to capture as many active Death Eaters as they would like. Though the efforts of the Death Eaters were generally unsuccessful, they always seemed to see any large-scale traps coming and avoided falling into any blunders that would lead to a large number of arrests.

This was what led to more than one member of the Order, Sirius included, to suspect Snape of treachery. Lupin, while far from Snape's friend, put more faith in the judgment of Dumbledore and took him at his word when he said Snape had his trust. Fortunately they didn't resort to shouting at each other about it at least, but Harry had seen more than one awkward moment between Sirius and Remus when the topic had come up. Thankfully Sirius had kept his remarks under his breath this time, and they'd avoided spoiling this goodbye with another disagreement.

"Do take care of yourself, Remus," Sirius said, holding out his hand to his old friend.

"I shall, Sirius," Remus said. "See that you do the same." He took the offered hand and shook it before moving towards the floo. As he picked up the floo powder and prepared to toss it into the fireplace, he looked back over his shoulder at Harry. Harry recognized the playful smirk on his face, and even though he was more used to seeing it from Sirius, he knew that Remus had his moments of humor as well.

"I understand you're meeting up with your girlfriends later today, Harry," he said. "Do try not to get into too much trouble, because this is one area where Sirius and I will be of no help."

--

"You both look beautiful," Harry said, smiling at his girlfriends as they walked in. Daphne smiled, while Tracey snorted and shook her head.

"We only just got here and you're already laying on the charm," the redhead said, amused.

"You could at least wait until we've made it to the restaurant," Daphne added. "We're not even out of the Leaky Cauldron yet." They'd chosen this as their meet-up point before the three of them left together to meet with Fleur at the muggle restaurant the latter had chosen. Harry was grateful for the brief moment alone with his two girlfriends before the meeting. Even though he'd arranged this, he was still a bit nervous about how it might go. Seeing Daphne and Tracey there, looking beautiful in their muggle dresses, helped to calm his nerves somewhat.

"Let's squeeze in a quick bit of PDA before we go," Tracey said, grinning. She pressed herself against his chest and leaned her head up towards him, and Harry tucked his finger under her chin and gave her a kiss on the lips. She pulled back faster than she normally would have to allow Daphne her own turn, and the blonde accepted it. Daphne stepped into his arms, and Harry hugged her sexy body to him and planted his lips on hers. She sighed into his mouth as he kissed her, and it was oh so tempting to just remain there like that with her in his arms and forget the rest of the world.

Tracey cleared her throat to remind them that they had somewhere to be, and Daphne stepped back out of his arms with a slight blush on her cheeks. Harry shook himself, moving beyond the disappointment of losing her warmth and looking towards the meeting with his friend who had formerly been much more than that. He held out his hands, and Daphne and Tracey each took one of them in one of theirs.

"Ready?" he asked once their hands were locked together.

"Yes, we might as well get on with it," Daphne said, right before Tracey's stomach growled.

"Hey, I'm hungry!" she said, grinning unapologetically. "I had a very light breakfast."

"We'd better be off then, before that thing gets any louder," Harry said. He visualized the destination and apparated away, bringing them both with him via side-along apparition.

They appeared in a back alley near the restaurant, and stepped out and walked in through the front entrance while continuing to hold hands. They attracted more than one interested glance, but Harry knew that this time around it didn't have anything to do with his fame. This restaurant was in the muggle part of London, so most if not all of these people had no clue who he was. They were just looking his way because he was walking hand in hand with a pair of beautiful women. Harry found that he liked this sort of attention far more than the usual Boy-Who-Lived stuff.

He stepped towards the host at the front of the restaurant, as Fleur had instructed him to. "We're here for the Delacour party," he said. The woman nodded.

"Right this way," she said, stepping forward to lead them through the restaurant. Harry and the girls followed her towards a back room, and when she opened the door they saw Fleur sitting at a large table alone. She was dressed rather casually, but still looked incredibly beautiful. To be fair, Harry doubted Fleur could make herself look anything less than stunning if she tried.

"Hello," she said, looking up and smiling at them as she stood from her seat. "Thank you for joining me."

"Thanks for having us," Daphne said formally. She and Tracey stood there, and Harry realized he should probably introduce them both to Fleur officially.

"Fleur, this is my girlfriend Daphne Greengrass," Harry said. "Daphne, this is Fleur Delacour."

"A pleasure," Daphne said, stepping forward to shake Fleur's hand.

"Bonjour," Fleur said in greeting.

"And this is my other girlfriend, Tracey Davis, Daphne's half-sister," Harry continued once Daphne had taken a seat at the table. "Tracey, this is Fleur Delacour."

"Little old me, shaking hands with the Beauxbatons champion," Tracey said with a smile as she greeted Fleur. Fleur giggled.

"I am sure you have done far more than that with the winner of the tournament," Fleur teased as she shook her hand. Once Tracey was seated as well Harry stepped forward to give Fleur a quick hug, though he was careful to keep his hands to himself and remain strictly friendly rather than amorous.

"I apologize for the large room," Fleur said when they were all sitting down. "I did not want our conversation to be interrupted by all of the attention I would draw as a veela."

"So it affects muggles too, huh?" Tracey asked. Fleur nodded with a sigh.

"Oh yes, they are no more immune to it than the average wizard," Fleur answered. "I clamped down on my allure as much as possible before I arrived, but I was still getting glazed looks just on the walk from the entrance to this private room."

"That sounds like quite an annoyance," Daphne said. "I'm not sure any amount of beauty could be worth all that attention."

"It can be exhausting at times, yes," Fleur said, smiling. Harry knew that she was used to snide and catty remarks from other women when it came to her veela heritage, so Daphne showing commiseration instead had to be a welcome change for her.

Harry smiled, thinking to himself that this might go alright after all.

--

"I shall look forward to our next meeting," Fleur said, shaking hands with both Daphne and Tracey again at the end of their meal.

Harry felt that things had gone fairly well. The girls had been cordial towards each other, even if there was still a bit of awkwardness to it. But all in all it hadn't been too bad.

Most of the conversation had been spent learning about each other, with a focus on his role in all three of their lives. Fleur had described how they'd become friends during the tournament thanks in large part to his heroics in pulling Gabrielle out of the lake, though thankfully she stopped short of mentioning the sexual side of that friendship where she'd taken his first time and taught him how to make love to a woman. She'd just told them that Harry had been his usual heroic self and had also been a gracious host who helped her stave off the loneliness while she stayed at Hogwarts during the tournament. She described herself and Harry as the best of friends, and if Daphne and Tracey found anything wrong with that statement they did not outwardly show it.

Daphne and Tracey had in turn explained how Daphne had been partnered with Harry in class at the start of the last school year, and how things had grown between them as well as her half-sister and best friend Tracey from there. Fleur listened to it all calmly, and as far as Harry could tell she exhibited no jealousy over the fact that the pair of Slytherins were now dating the man who had once been her lover.

All told, the meeting probably went about as well as he could have hoped for. Would it be naïve to think that the three girls had instantly become friends? Yes. But while they might not be friends, they didn't treat each other as enemies either. He would settle for that for now. It was a solid enough start between his girlfriends and the woman who he still considered a dear friend even if the sexual component to their relationship was a thing of the past.

"Yes, I'll owl you when we can finalize a time for us to meet later in the summer," Daphne said to the veela. "We'll be in touch."

"I cannot wait," Fleur said with a smile. Then she looked to Harry. "Harry, I wonder if I could ask for a favor from you?"

"I'm listening," he said.

"As I've told you, Gabrielle will be staying with me here in England during the summer," she said, and Harry nodded. "My job will keep me busy throughout the day during the week, so I was hoping Gabrielle could spend some time with you at your home so she won't feel so lonely. I know you've said that many people come and go in your home with Sirius."

Before Harry could open his mouth, Daphne spoke up. "We would be happy to spend some time with her as well," she said, face guarded. Harry kept his face neutral, but his mind was working quickly and trying to figure out the reason behind the offer. Was it purely a friendly gesture, or was there some ulterior motive there? Harry didn't think there was any sort of malicious intent there; if he thought such a thing was even a possibility, he would not be dating Daphne or her sister. But he knew that she rarely did anything for no reason.

"That would be lovely, thank you," Fleur said, smiling. "I hope you can both become good friends with my sister." She sounded legitimately pleased by the idea.

The four of them left the restaurant, and the other two gained a fuller appreciation for what Fleur was talking about as plenty of heads turned to watch the veela depart. Fleur accompanied them as far as the back alley they'd all used as an apparition point before waving and apparating back to her home. As soon as she was gone, Daphne tugged on Harry's sleeve.

"Can we talk?" she asked. She didn't sound angry or anything, but he could tell this wasn't a request for a casual chat either.

"Sure," he said, shrugging. He'd been hoping to spend some more time with them after the meeting with Fleur ended anyway. "We can go back to my place." Sirius and the other Order members currently staying there were out on some assignment today, so they would have the place to themselves.

They apparated back to his house, and the three of them walked through the empty manor until they made it to his room. Once his girlfriends were inside he locked and silenced the door, sensing that this probably wasn't going to be a conversation they would want anyone else to hear should they get back soon.

His feeling rose higher when he turned around to see Daphne sitting on his bed with her hands in her lap, and more importantly saw Tracey pacing around the room nervously. He frowned, not understanding what could have her so worked up. The meal hadn't gone that badly, had it?

"So what's on your mind?" he asked, looking back and forth between the sisters. Daphne looked to be gathering her thoughts, but Tracey blurted out what was on her mind.

"Is Fleur your ex-girlfriend?" Tracey asked him without preamble.

"Tracey, you can't just ask something like that," Daphne said, frowning. "It's rude." Tracey rounded on her.

"Don't pretend like you don't want to hear his answer too," Tracey said.

"You're being unfair to him," Daphne said. Harry noted to himself that she did not dispute what her half-sister said about her own interest in the question. "Harry knows he wasn't your first. How would you like it if he started demanding to know who you've slept with?"

That stopped Tracey short for a moment, but she crossed her arms over her chest and shook her head, showing that she wasn't going to back down. "No one who came before Harry means anything to me," she said. "I barely speak to any of those blokes." She looked to Harry. "And I'm not about to ask any of them to have lunch with you. Fleur is a big part of your life, Harry. If there's history there beyond just being friends, I think we need to know about it."

"We never dated," Harry said defensively, frowning at being questioned like this. As Daphne had alluded to, he'd never asked Tracey who she'd been with before him, nor did he plan to. He didn't think it was fair of her to demand to know of his past while not offering up anything of her own. She obviously wasn't going to let it go though, so he gave her a partial truth.

"And did you want her to be?" Tracey asked instead. "Do you like her, more than one friend should like another?"

"I'm not sure either of us want to hear the answer to that question, Tracey," Daphne said quietly.

"And you're not entitled to it either," Harry bit out. He'd been annoyed before, but Tracey was starting to make him legitimately upset now. "I do not appreciate being interrogated like this."

"But--" Tracey began, but Daphne shook her head and cut her off.

"He has a right to be angry," Daphne said. Tracey looked back and forth between them both, realizing that she was on her own here. She finally sighed and shook her head.

"I'm sorry, Harry," she said. "I know I'm being rude, but I can't help it. You telling us you're friends with Fleur bloody Delacour was enough of a shock, but today I saw it for myself. I saw the way you two talked, and how she looked at you, and how you looked at her. I didn't like it at all; I didn't like seeing how close you were to the most beautiful woman I've ever seen. It made me jealous, and it made me afraid that if a woman that gorgeous is that close to you, she might be able to steal you away from me." She looked over at Daphne. "From us, I mean."

Harry followed the path of her eyes over to Daphne sitting on the bed, and he could see for himself that even if she was acting like it didn't bother her and was trying to remain calm, she shared Tracey's fears to some degree. It was obvious that they weren't simply going to be able to brush this aside unless he was open and honest with them about his past with Fleur and where things currently stood between them. His only other option was to refuse to talk and walk away, and while he felt he would have been well within his rights to do so, that would more than likely do major harm to their relationship going forward.

"I told you Fleur and I never dated, and that was the truth," he said as he walked over and sat down on the edge of the bed. "But she was the first person I slept with, and it was a pretty regular thing throughout the tournament and the following summer, and even into the next term. She was there for me to help me through one of the toughest times in my life, when so many people were indifferent towards me or actively against me due to the tournament. She was there, and I grew to like her. I grew to like her a lot, eventually."

"But you never actually dated?" Daphne asked, seeming confused.

"No," he confirmed, shaking his head. "We slept together a lot, and she taught me loads about how to please a woman. But during our fifth year, I confessed to her that I didn't just want to be her friend with benefits and wanted to actually date her, for real."

"And?" Tracey pressed, biting her lip and staring at him. He thought it should be pretty obvious what happened next, since he'd already stated they'd never actually dated. But she still seemed nervous, so he went on.

"She rejected me," he said, shrugging. "She tried to be as delicate about it as she could, but she suggested that we were better off as strictly friends who sometimes took care of each other's physical needs, and that I would meet the right person for me someday." Daphne shook her head, still looking confused, but as it was Tracey who had been most upset, it was her he looked to now. She still stood there staring at him, still looking vulnerable. "Later that same night was when I stumbled on Pansy in a delicate situation, and I think we were both in need of some relief and something to take our minds off of everything else going on, so we hooked up. You know what happened next."

Tracey looked like she was being assaulted by a myriad of emotions at the moment as she absorbed his story and his confirmation that he had indeed shagged Fleur, and had even asked her to be his girlfriend. Daphne was schooling her emotions better, but he could tell she was not unaffected by the admission either. He decided to keep going.

"Yes, I liked Fleur," he admitted, "and it hurt when she rejected the possibility of something more. But I now feel the same way about you two that I felt about her back then." Tracey's eyes dropped and a guilty expression came to her face, while Daphne's face cleared as if she'd just come to some sort of realization.

"Thank you for being honest and forthcoming with us, Harry," she said. "Now come and sit down on the bed, Tracey." She reached around Harry's body to pat the empty spot next to him, and scooted into position on his other side as her half-sister sat down. "I think you owe Harry an apology." Tracey nodded.

"I'm sorry, Harry," she said, bowing her head. She sounded guilty and relieved and exhausted all at once, and he reassured her by taking her hand in his and giving it a squeeze.

"I'm sorry also," Daphne said, which surprised him.

"You don't have anything to apologize for," he said, shaking his head. With Tracey the apology was understandable. Even if he understood her jealousy, especially after meeting Fleur and seeing their closeness, he wouldn't pretend that the interrogation hadn't gotten on his nerves. But he could tell she felt guilty and genuinely remorseful about it, so he'd just accepted the apology and prepared to move on. But he saw no reason for Daphne to apologize for anything in this situation. However she might have felt, she'd chastised Tracey for the invasive questioning.

"No, I do," Daphne disagreed. "Meeting Fleur was a nightmare." Before Harry could even think of how to respond to that or how to reassure her, Daphne continued on. "I already knew she was beautiful, because who the fuck doesn't? But seeing how intelligent she is too, and more importantly how well you get on with her, made me feel inferior. It made me feel like I wasn't good enough to be your girlfriend." She pointed her finger at Tracey on his other side. "I'm sure if you asked her, she'd tell you she felt the same way, if you couldn't already tell by how she reacted."

"Yeah," Tracey agreed quietly. "She's intimidating as hell, even if she's not trying to be."

"You haven't done anything wrong, Harry," Daphne said. "Neither has Fleur. This is something that Tracey and I just have to get over ourselves." She smiled at him. "You telling us that you feel as strongly for us as she felt for her before certainly helped." Tracey smiled too.

"Yeah, that was nice," she said, nodding. The smile left her face quickly though. "I'll say it again: I'm sorry, Harry. I saw how close you two were, and it made me afraid. Even though we knew all about your past with Pansy, seeing you with Fleur felt different. Seeing how close you are with her, I couldn't stop myself from thinking you might reject me and throw me away if you had a chance to be with Fleur." Harry winced, thinking that his admission of not only sleeping with Fleur but asking her to be his girlfriend could not have helped Tracey's insecurity. "But I shouldn't have gone off on you for something you have no control over. My jealousy isn't your problem; it's mine."

Harry gave himself some time to consider his response before he spoke, wanting to get his words right and not screw this up. "I won't pretend I'm not still at least a little bit upset about how you acted," he admitted, looking at Tracey. "It hurt to think you didn't trust me." She nodded in understanding. "But I remember how I felt after Fleur rejected me; I remember feeling inadequate. So I can't really fault you for how you feel. And more importantly, I know you really are sorry. So I accept your apology, and if there's anything I can do to help either of you work through this, just ask."

Tracey nodded and smiled at him, and she leaned her head in to rest on his shoulder. Daphne leaned in on the other side and rested her own head on his shoulder, and Harry put his arms around them both as they all relaxed. It was a nice quiet moment, and a chance for them to decompress after an emotional few minutes.

Their relationship was not perfect. There were complications and concerns for all three of them to work through, and Harry knew that even when they made it through this issue and Daphne and Tracey worked past their insecurity concerning Fleur, other problems would arise. That was life; there would always be issues that arose. But as long as the three of them tackled those problems together and dealt with them honestly and openly instead of bottling it all up and letting them fester, he was confident they could handle anything that came their way.