HPF161-170

Chapter 161

As they walked in, they saw Sirius standing

off to the side. "Sirius!" Harry happily

exclaimed before ducking across to give his

godfather a hug. One Sirius was happy to

return.

"I hear you've been frustrating Ol' Twinkles a

lot since I last saw you," said Sirius.

"Yep!" beamed Harry. "I figure he'll soon lose

his temper with me enough to act without

proper thought, and create a situation we

can use to get him fired from at least one of

his titles."

Sirius chuckled before pretending to sniffle

and wipe a tear from his eye. "Your father

would be so proud. Quite the little Marauder

you're turning into."

"Alright, that's enough, you two," said Deece,

chuckling a little. As she was speaking, the

Grangers walked in.

"What did we miss?" asked Ant.

"Sirius encouraging Harry to misbehave,"

replied Mathias, holding a chair for Deece.

With an equal number of males to females,

the ladies were all sat at the same time.

Harry sat between his bondmates on one

side of the table, opposite Cele who sat

between Ant and Sirius. The Greengrass

adults sat at opposite ends.

After a very enjoyable meal, Matthias

opened the semi-serious discussion after

dessert by turning to Sirius. "You need to

congratulate your godson, Sirius," he said.

"Why?" asked a surprised Sirius. "Did he

score all Outstandings on his end-of-term

exams?"

"No. He asked Ant and I for the hands of our

daughters in marriage, this afternoon,"

Matthias calmly replied.

Sirius's head snapped to stare in surprised

happy shock at Harry. "Pup!" he exclaimed.

"Well done! And faster than... Wait." He

quickly looked at Matthias and Ant before

asking, "Did you two say yes?"

"Yes," both fathers replied.

"With the bond..." Matthias replied, before

his voice trailed off. "Well, it's going to

happen magically soon, anyway..."

Turning to grin back at Harry, Sirius

exclaimed again, "Pup!" Leaning forward, he

asked, "So, when's the wedding?"

"August," Harry replied. "When in August is

up to Deece and Cele."

"Well done!" Sirius said again. Turning to

Matthias, he asked, "Do we need to

negotiate a contract?"

"Not if they don't want one," Matthias

replied, indicating the teens.

Surprised by the question, Harry replied, "I...

don't know." Turning to look at Daphne he

raised an eyebrow to her in question.

"We'll discuss it, Harry," she replied.

Turning back to Sirius, Harry said, "I didn't

know contracts were still used. But, Daphne's

right, we'll discuss it."

"We'll need to," Sirius said, quite serious all

of a sudden. "As well as being the Head of

House Potter, you're also my Heir Designate

for House Black. I would be remiss in my

duties as both your Head of House for House

Black and supposed Regent for House Potter

if I didn't."

Recognising the seriousness of the situation,

Harry nodded almost solemnly back.

"Good," Sirius said with a firm nod of his

own. "Now that the legally-stuff is out of the

way, have you collected the engagement

rings yet?"

"Errr... Sirius," stuttered Harry. "I've only

asked their fathers for their hands in

marriage; I haven't specifically

asked them yet."

"Too right," said Daphne. "I expect bended

knee, the works, Mister Potter."

"Then, how about we go to Gringotts

tomorrow, and we ask the goblins if we can

go into the heirloom vault to pick up rings?"

he asked. "I'm sure there'll be plenty from

which to choose from within the vault. Or,

we can go to a jeweller and you can pick

something new?"

When he saw his bondmates wanted to see

each other, Harry sat back to allow them.

The girls leaned forward at the same time

and looked at each other. A few moments

later, Daphne said, "New," while Hermione

added, "Matching."

"A jeweller, it is!" Harry firmly stated. "Which

is good. You two need to decide whether you

want something to pair with the promise

rings, or simply replace them with the

engagement rings."

"Wow!" said Cele. "That was just... wow!"

"It's like they've been married for years,

already; isn't it?" asked Deece.

All the adults nodded in response. The three

teens blushed.

Suddenly realising what Harry had said, Cele

sat forward and looked pointedly at

Hermione. "Promise rings?" she asked.

Blushing in embarrassment for not showing

her parents before, Hermione held her hand

out palm down to her mother, across the

table.

Taking her daughter's hand by the fingers,

Cele looked down and saw the ring on her

finger, up close. "It's beautiful!" she softly

said. "I've never seen anything like it."

While Hermione explained the significance of

the stones, their layout and the metal chosen,

Daphne was showing hers to her mother.

Harry had no idea the Greengrasses hadn't

seen the rings before.

"Who designed them?" asked Deece.

"I did," Harry sheepishly replied. "But, it was

the young lass at the jewellers who cleaned

up the design before sending them off to be

made."

"Still, did you design the layout?" she

pressed.

"I did," he replied. "And what stones to use,

the cut, in what order, and why."

"Well, they're perfect," Deece firmly stated.

"The right amount of stone and they tell a

story, as such rings should. Unique and

understated. They'll immediately be family

heirlooms when you pass and will come to

represent part of your family history for

future generations."

"Shall we retire to the parlour?" Matthias

suddenly asked.

With nods, the party of eight moved into the

parlour. Plans were made for the following

day for the teens. Christmas shopping was

also arranged.

The next morning, all eight Floo'ed to the

Leaky Cauldron before immediately heading

into the Alley. Sirius took the three teens

directly to the jewellers while Deece went

with Ant and Cele went with Matthias to

start their own Christmas shopping. They'd

planned to meet for lunch back at one of the

cafes in the Alley.

Chapter 162

Harry led his party direct to the jewellers.

Entering, Harry was happy to see the same

lass behind the counter. "Hello again," he

said to her.

"And, hello again, Mister Potter," she looked

back with a twinkle in her eye and a

matching smirk.

"Yes, well," he blushed. "I hope you'll forgive

me for the little subterfuge of our last

meeting."

"Of course," she said. "And, what can I do for

you, today?"

"I'll be needing matching engagement rings,"

he softly replied.

Looking back in happy surprise she said,

"Well! That was fast!" She turned to the two

girls and asked, "And you're the two lucky

ladies who've found themselves bonded to

our Mister Potter?"

"We are," replied Daphne, a little aloof, while

Hermione only nodded. Their demeanour

was lost as both girls blushed a little.

The sales witch grinned back before she

moved over to slide a large tray of rings out

from under the display case. Beckoning the

three over to look, she asked, "See anything

there you like; or will we be designing

custom rings again?"

"It's up to you two ladies," Harry softly

instructed his bondmates. "If there's nothing

there that takes your fancy, I'm sure we can

find something else; or, go custom."

Daphne looked up and asked the sales witch,

"Anything more suited to a future Missus

Potter? Certain... standards must be kept."

"Of course," the sales witch smoothly replied.

She reached into a set of drawers behind her

and drew forth another tray.

As she laid the tray on the display case

alongside the first, Harry could see this one

had more intricate rings with larger stones.

"Better," Daphne muttered, and both girls

moved to scan through the second tray.

"Something with emeralds in a three stone

setting? Or, multi-stone?" Daphne asked

Hermione.

"Yes, and either," Hermione softly replied.

Suddenly, Hermione's hand snapped up with

a finger pointing close to and at a ring. "That

one?"

"Nice pick," said Daphne, looking closer. "Set

it aside, and we'll see... that one!" Her own

hand with pointed finger had come up to

indicate another ring.

Looking forward, as well, Hermione breathed,

"Nice. We'll set it aside, too."

The girls trawled through the entire ring

collection - both expensive and cheaper - and

had a good dozen rings set aside of similar

styles. All of them had a single large diamond,

or many smaller diamonds. All were settings

offset with emeralds. All were solid gold

bands.

After the first fifteen minutes Harry had

drifted away from watching over the girls to

the other side of the shop. And, while the

girls were occupied, whispered with Sirius

about buying matching earrings and

necklaces.

Thinking about the sort of settings and

arrangements the girls were looking at, Harry

and Sirius quickly had a selection in mind.

"These would look nice for both of them for

the Ball," Sirius whispered. "However, there

are far nicer pieces within the Potter

heirloom vault."

"I... understand that. However, I want the

first two sets I give the ladies to be their

own," replied Harry.

Sirius nodded in understanding and gave

Harry's shoulder a gentle squeeze.

"Harry!" called Daphne.

"It seems the ladies have reached a

decision," Sirius whispered into Harry's ear.

Both menfolk walked back to the other side

of the store where both girls stood waiting.

"What have you two been up to?" Hermione

asked a little accusatory.

"Browsing," replied Sirius.

Before Hermione could start to question

more, Harry smoothly cut in and asked,

"Reached a decision?"

Both girls looked at each other before

turning back. "We need your help," replied

Daphne.

Both girls stepped apart and indicated two

rings sitting side-by-side on a black velvet

cloth on the display case. One was a cluster

of diamonds ringed with tiny emeralds; the

other was a solitary diamond with a similar

ring of tiny emeralds.

"Can't decide which?" Harry gently asked.

"No," Hermione replied with a little

frustration in her voice.

"Then how about you tell me how you came

to this point and I'll see what we can do from

here," he instructed.

A quick glance at each other and Daphne

covered how she came to decide on the

cluster setting. Then Hermione gave a similar

explanation on how she came to the setting

with the solitary diamond.

Once she'd finished, Harry asked them both,

"Tell me, what is more important to you? Is it

that you match; or that you have the ring of

your heart's desire?

"I know it's a nice idea to have matching

rings; but, both of you are unique. There is

no reason for you to have to be happy with

the same choice." Turning to Hermione he

said, "If the setting with the solitary diamond

is the one you want; then, we'll get that one

for you. Turning then to Daphne, he said,

"And, if the setting with the diamond cluster

is your choice; then, we'll get that one for

you.

"Is this alright with both you ladies?" he

asked.

The two girls looked at each other in surprise

for a long moment before they both turned

to Harry and kissed him on opposing cheeks.

Stepping back, Hermione said, "He's

brilliant."

"Yes," said Daphne. "Who'd have thought?"

And both girls broke into laughter at Harry's

expense while he blushed.

"Ha!" exclaimed Sirius. "Smooth,

pup! Smooooth!"

Still blushing, Harry stepped forward

between the girls and paid for the two rings.

He was relieved to discover that both were

similarly priced; but, winced almost

imperceptibly when told what those prices

were.

With a ring in each of two matching boxes,

Harry pocketed them both and said, "Now

we need to decide when I present them to

you. Do I bend a knee in the presence of your

family, or your friends?"

Chapter 163

Another quick glance between the girls and

they both said, "Family."

"Then, later this afternoon at the Farm, it is,"

he smiled.

With all three teens smiling at each other,

Sirius looked over them at the sales witch

and said, "And you, my dear, will not speak

of this until these three and their families

decide to make it public. Am I clear?"

"Of course," the sales witch replied with a

little curtsey. "I suggest you speak with

Adeline Bancroft. She's the high society

social events reporter. She's not as... rude...

as that Skeeter woman. Besides,

announcements of engagements are her

bailiwick, anyway."

"Thank you," replied Harry, with a small nod.

"You've been most helpful."

The sales witch gave another small smile and

nod in return as they left the store.

Shopping then began in earnest for the teens.

They had to hurry to make what purchases

they wanted through the various stores

before meeting at the cafe for lunch.

A hurried lunch then led to a reorganisation

of the three groups. Harry went with Deece

and Cele, and Hermione and Daphne went

with Matthias and Ant. Sirius prowled on his

own as he first had to visit Gringotts to take

care of some Black family business. The teens

then switched which adults they were with.

And Sirius met up with 'the boys' a little

later.

When he caught up to Harry, Matthias and

Ant, Sirius took Harry aside for a moment.

"It's now official, Harry. You're my Heir."

Quite moved by the gesture, Harry quietly

replied, "Thank you, Sirius. That means a lot

to me. However, I hope you'll soon find

someone who'll be the next Missus Black and

produce an heir of your own."

"I plan on it, pup," his godfather replied with

a smile and a hand on Harry's shoulder.

"However, I'm not rushing things. And, I

wanted to make sure that spawn of Malfoy

couldn't get his hands on the Black fortune."

Harry just nodded in response.

By the time shopping was completed,

everyone was pretty much exhausted, and

they headed back to the Farm by Floo from

the Leaky Cauldron.

Once back at the Farm everyone headed for

their rooms to drop off bags of shopping.

Then Harry asked everyone to meet him in

the parlour.

With Ant and Cele sitting on one couch,

Matthias and Deece sitting on another, and

Sirius in an armchair, Harry asked both girls

to join him in the middle of the floor. With

them standing side-by-side, he dropped to

one knee before them both and took one of

their hands in each of his own.

"I know this bond we share means we will

marry," he said. "However, I also understand

how important it is to young women the

world over to properly be proposed to. And,

though we share a bond, I don't want either

of you to think it means you have to miss out

on things, such as a proposal like your peers

will receive when their time comes.

"So; Daphne Anna Greengrass and Hermione

Jean Granger, will you both do me the great

honour of being my wives?"

"Yes, Harry," they both said almost

simultaneously.

With a happy grin, Harry let go of both their

hands and reached into his pocket where

he'd dropped both ring boxes in the store;

and pulled them out. Carefully, he opened

both boxes and removed the rings from

within.

With Daphne, again, standing to his left and

Hermione to his right, he held the

engagement rings in each hand accordingly.

Both girls glanced at each other with a grin

before both held forth their left hands, palms

down and with fingers splayed.

Making sure to do both at the same time,

Harry slipped the rings onto the ring finger of

each. Thankfully, the two rings flashed

together as they resized from a sizing charm.

He then stood and wrapped both girls into a

three-way hug, as the adults all came

forward to congratulate them.

"That was wonderful!" exclaimed Deece.

"Both, at the same time. No fiancée has

primacy."

"That was the idea," replied Harry. "I hope

something similar can be arranged for the

wedding. I don't want either of them to think

they are my second wife; as I love them both,

equally."

That earned him extra tight hugs and squeals

of pleasure from both girls.

They separated to receive hugs and kisses

from the elders before Harry asked both girls

to step apart for a bit.

Once they'd separated, and the adults

discussed other matters, Harry held a hand

of each girl before him and quietly said, "I

think we should tell them the truth about the

true nature of the three-way bonds."

Both girls looked back with a little shock

before both also showed trepidation. "Do

you think that's wise?" asked Hermione.

"Yes," he replied. "Because of our angels

they all know that this a bond made in

Heaven. I think if we calmly explain it to

them they'll accept it better than you think.

And I don't want it to be a secret from

them."

Both girls glanced at each other for a few

moments before they both nodded. They

were both clearly a little afraid of the

reaction they'd receive; but, they were also

agreed that it was a secret they shouldn't

keep from them.

"Besides," he continued, "When we get

married I want it to be a true three-way

marriage. I don't want it to be me just

marrying two wives."

Thinking while nibbling on her lower lip,

Hermione suddenly looked up with

understanding written on her face. "You

want it so you marry both of us, I marry both

of you, and Daphne marries both of us."

"Yes," he firmly replied. "As it should be."

"Alright," said Daphne. "But, you're the one

who's going to have to tell them."

"I figured as much," he wryly replied. "I'm

also feeling as if I'm being urged to tell them,

anyway."

As the three teens turned to walk back to

join the adults, Harry called out, "Could

everyone please take a seat, again? There's

another important matter we need to tell

you."

Once everyone was, again, seated - this time

with Harry sitting between both his

bondmates on the longest couch - he sat

forward a little and said, "There's another

issue about our relationship we need to tell

you about."

That got everyone's attention.

"What we didn't know when you were each

told about our bond was something we

didn't learn about until later," he explained.

Chapter 164

"Actually, it was Luna... using that natural

mage sight gift she has... who made us aware

of it. It was then confirmed by the school

medi-witch, Madam Pomfrey.

"Luna saw that there wasn't just a soul bond

between me and Daphne, and me and

Hermione. She also saw that there was a

latent soul bond between Hermione and

Daphne that needed to be established. She

let us know that the three-way soul bond

was a true three-way soul bond. Using her

gift she explained that the bonds between

me and these two lovely ladies would not

reach full potential without the simultaneous

bonding between them."

"Wait," said Sirius. Indicating Hermione and

Daphne he asked, "There's a soul bond

between Hermione and Daphne, too?"

"Yes and no," corrected Harry. "It would be

better to say there is a soul bond between

Hermione, Daphne and I. It's one bond with

the three of us. We had only been working

on two-thirds of the bond and didn't know

about the final third. That final third is the

part between Hermione and Daphne."

Clearly confused, Matthias asked, "But, how

can you possibly finalise such a bond?"

Hermione replied, "With Luna's and Madam

Pomfrey's help, we have... discovered... that

it is not the physical act of love that will

strengthen or finalise a bond. It's all based

on emotion.

"What we have discovered or otherwise

determined is that the bond strengthens

when our feelings of commitment and

intimacy with one another is strengthened. If

you think about it, sexual intercourse...

coitus... besides being a physical act of love,

is a representation of the ultimate in

intimacy between two people.

"Harry logically argued that a soul bond

couldn't form between two people when the

act of sexual intercourse did not also contain

emotional intimacy, such as what occurs in

an act of prostitution... or rape."

"That's... quite profound," said Deece, sitting

back and thinking to herself. "It would mean

that what we have come to believe about the

creation, development and sealing of bonds

is wrong."

"Well, the creation of them is right,"

corrected Harry. "Just, not why it's right.

John clarified it for me."

"And why is it a kiss that establishes the

bond?" asked Matthias.

"For exactly the same reason a dementor

sucks out your soul through the mouth with

the Dementor's Kiss," replied Harry. "As odd

as it sounds, the mouth is the most direct

route from outside the body to the soul. Plus,

connecting mouth-to-mouth is quite an

intimate act. That is the time when two souls

come their closest to one another in a

moment intimate for both involved. Hence

the term, 'Love's First Kiss'."

"Have you established the part of the bond

between Hermione and Daphne?" asked

Deece.

Both girls blushed while Harry calmly replied,

"Yes. It occurred a few days after we found

out about it, in the presence of both Luna

and Madam Pomfrey, in the infirmary at

Hogwarts. And, yes, there was also the bright

flaring of silvery aura between them. Only

this time, it also covered me.

"Immediately after the aura glow faded,

Madam Pomfrey confirmed the

establishment of the part of the bond

between them."

"And why have you decided to tell us about

this, now," asked a visibly but quietly

perturbed Ant.

"Because, when we marry in August, I think

it's a good idea for the wedding... not to be

just me marrying Hermione and Daphne, and

each marrying me... but, me marrying

Hermione and Daphne, Hermione marrying

me and Daphne, and Daphne marrying me

and Hermione; a true three-way marriage.

And Deece and Cele needed to know this for

their plans for the wedding."

"You're alright with this?" Ant asked

Hermione, directly.

"Yes, Daddy," Hermione quietly, but firmly,

replied. "Remember who set this up."

With a visible sag of surrender, he said, "I

don't know how those three... angels... are

going to work this so our family and friends

don't see anything wrong..."

"There is nothing wrong to see, anyway, Sir,"

Harry firmly interrupted. "I know the mores

of Christianity erroneously view a marriage

must only be between a man and a woman,

but you know now that is incorrect.

You know it."

With a gesture of his hands in quick

surrender, Ant quickly said, "Forgive me,

please. It... was a poor choice of words."

With a sigh, he continued, "I meant... how

the angels would stop our family and friends

seeing that which would completely shake

their personal worldviews."

"I don't think that's what's going to happen,

Ant," said Matthias. "From what I figure,

your family and friends will still see

everything; it just won't appear to be

anything... out of the ordinary... for them. I

daresay they'll be magically compelled not to

talk about it later."

"That was my impression, as well," added

Deece. "If it doesn't happen, their memories

of the event will have to be removed from

them."

"What? Why?" asked Cele.

"The International Statute of Wizarding

Secrecy for our world was established in

1692 to hide us away from the muggle

world," explained Matthias. "However, that

was well before the creation of spells and

potions that could remove the memory of

the magical world from the minds of muggles.

It was also too much, too late.

"By 1692 the witch hunts, in England, were at

an end. The last known witch to be executed

was a muggleborn witch by the name of

Temperance Lloyd, a decade earlier. And,

very quickly after that, witch hunting became

a crime punishable by death in the muggle

English courts. No such witch hunting that

has lead to the death of another has

occurred since.

"No, the Statute was only passed by the

newly formed ICW, the International

Confederation of Wizards, because of the rise

of such witch hunts in other parts of the

world. It was no longer a problem, here.

Though, to be fair, we didn't know that until

about a century later."

"And, though Magical Britain doesn't know it,

or won't accept the truth of it, those in

senior enough positions of authority within

the United Kingdom... muggle Britain...

government are well aware of the existence

of magical Britain and the rest of the

wizarding world," added Harry.

"Pardon?" asked a clearly shocked Matthias

while Deece looked back in fear.

"Look. The Wizengamot derives its name

from the Witenagemot; which is an Old

English word meaning 'Meeting of Wise Men'.

They, because there was more than one and

up to about a dozen, were councils of the

ennobled and important ecclesiastical

members of society formed to advise the

current kings. They're known to have existed

from sometime in the seventh century to the

eleventh century.

"In the eleventh century it was replaced by

the conquering Norman King, William the

First, by the single Curia Regis... King's

Council... which then remained until the

signing of the Magna Carta in 1215. The Curia

Regis then quickly morphed into what

became the founding of modern Parliament

with its various ministries.

"Now, if there's one thing any organised

body that is successful generates a lot of, its

paperwork... parchmentwork. You have

records of meetings, legislation, notes,

minutes, reports, all sorts of things like that.

And, as is their wont, such paperwork is

rarely destroyed. Such documents form the

basis of records in large libraries. Even the

Wizengamot and the Ministry of Magic know

this and work that way.

"So, even though the Statute made it

international law to keep the wizarding

world a secret since 1695, there have existed

records of the wizarding world, in the muggle

world, since as far back as the seventh

century. That's over a thousand years of

bureaucracy documenting everything. Yes, a

great much of that has since been destroyed;

but, not the very important stuff. Historians

and record keepers of their day would not

have stood for it.

"Also, spells and potions, including the

Obliviation curse, do not destroy those

documents. A great many of them still exist

through to today. So, it is not a stretch of the

imagination to come to the conclusion that

the wizarding world is well known by the

muggle world in positions of great authority

in muggle government. The chance it is not is

so slim as to be considered nigh impossible.

"What the Statute of Secrecy actually

manages to accomplish is to keep

the average muggle citizen unaware of the

wizarding world; not the muggle world as a

whole. It would not surprise me, in the

slightest, that the United Kingdom has

departments within their multitude of

bureaucracies that are tasked with

monitoring wizarding Britain; nor, that the

same could be said for other governments

around the world."

"Sweet Merlin!" breathed Matthias, utterly

shocked with the truth of Harry's 'lesson' in

English government history. "Why did none

of us think of that?"

"One of the main differences between the

muggle world and the wizarding world is that

those raised in the muggle world have grown

up knowing to question

practically everything. Muggles are far more

inquisitive than magicals. There are a great

many muggles whose job in life is to discover

knowledge. Some do it as historians, some

do it by observing and experimenting with

the modern world in its various facets, and

some look to what knowledge does not exist

now and try to figure out when the answers

will be able to be discovered.

"Those raised in the wizarding world,

however, often come to the conclusion that

something is so because of magic, and don't

look any further. They don't understand the

tenets of what's known as 'critical thinking'...

Never assume, never accept; always question.

The most powerful word in the lexicon

arsenal of a muggle is: 'Why', closely

followed by 'What', 'When' and similar. And

they will not accept the answer, 'Because it

is'. And Cele demonstrated that when she

immediately asked 'why?' when you said the

Obliviators would need to be called in if the

angels didn't do their thing to the muggle

guests at the wedding. For her, it was nearly

an instinctive reaction to ask."

"Annnnd... that's just brought us back to the

original question," said Deece. "I suggest we

leave things there so we can go and enjoy

the evening meal the elves have made for us.

I don't know about the muggles

having their worldviews upset; but, that

knowledge has just upset ours."

The eight then headed into the informal

dining room for a wonderful dinner. By

unspoken agreement, the subject of

wizarding secrecy law was not discussed

again.

Chapter 165

The next evening, Harry raised a new topic.

"Late yesterday afternoon we talked about

the latent part of the soul bond between

Hermione and Daphne. I know that came as

quite a shock because, as Matthias asked,

how would we finalise such a bond.

"At that time we told you how we figured

out it has more to do with the emotional side

of love, rather than the physical side. Now

that you've had time to think that over, I

think I need to explain further the nature of

souls."

With head nods from the adults, Harry

explained, "I had a bit of... what do they call

it?... an epiphany. A... sudden understanding

of the concepts of life, body and souls. I've

now come to understand that matter better. I

think it was our angels who first got me

thinking about it. And I think my angel,

specifically, had something to do with that."

Seeing the understanding on the faces of

everyone else, he continued. "People tend to

think we are what you see before you; the

flesh and blood and personality; and that we

have souls. I believe that is incorrect."

Seeing the confusion he clarified. "I believe

we do not have souls; we are souls, and

we have bodies.

"Now, think about that for a minute. If I'm

right... and I believe I am... it answers a lot of

questions concerning why, for example,

Dementor's Kiss Syndrome has the effect it

has; and what the Killing Curse actually

accomplishes."

Harry could see the dawning understanding

on the face of Matthias, Deece and Sirius;

but, not Ant and Cele.

"You see, the Dementor's Kiss strips the soul

from the body. If you are the soul, as I

believe, it explains why Dementor's Kiss

Syndrome leaves the body functioning but

there being absolutely no response from the

person within. The reason is because there is

no longer anyone there to respond.

"The body has what're known as autonomic

functions. The heart beating, the lungs

breathing, food in the stomach being

processed, the liver and kidneys filtering your

blood, et cetera, are not controlled by the

person. They all happen apart from conscious

thought. That is, they are not controlled by

the soul within. However, while food being

processed in the stomach is automatic, the

act of eating and drinking is not automatic;

that requires conscious thought. You have to

be in control of the physical body. So, with no

food or water going into the body, it soon

dies. It also explains why the Imperious curse

doesn't work on someone who's been

Kissed.

"As for the Killing Curse, it works by stopping

the body like snuffing a candle. It snuffs

out life by making the body instantly unable

to sustain continued life. That immediately

renders the body uninhabitable for the soul.

The soul is driven out and lives on, but the

body doesn't. In a way, it is the exact

opposite of the Dementor's Kiss.

"Now, the proof. If a person didn't exist

within the soul, rather than the body, then

you wouldn't have ghosts. They would be

impossible to exist. A spirit, without

consciousness, is impossible. And we know

ghosts have consciousness; they think. We

can talk to them and they will talk back to us.

Ergo, you are the spirit, the soul, not the

body you currently inhabit. That is only a

physical shell you inhabit to interact with the

physical world.

"Secondly, it explains how Voldemort...

Riddle... is going to come back. At the

moment he is a spirit... a soul without a body.

We three know he is going to create himself

a body for that soul to enter and remain

inhabiting.

"I just thank the Gods he either hasn't

thought of it, or can't figure out how, to

inhabit a body that's been Kissed. And I pray

to all that is Heavenly that no one else ever

does, either."

He let them gel on that for a while before he

brought the subject back around.

"Now let's bring that back to us three," he

said, indicating himself and the two girls.

"It's called a soul bond, not a body bond.

That implies it deals with our souls rather

than our bodies. They've at least got that

right. This is one of the reasons why I believe

it's not the physical act of love but, rather,

the spiritual act of love and commitment to

one another that both strengthens the bond

and will eventually see it finalised and

sealed.

"Proof of that exists in that there

has never been a soul bond or binding

formed through an act of sexual assault, or

similar; or through an act of prostitution, or

similar; as Hermione mentioned, last night.

"You see, our sex is determined by our

physical form - male and female. But, our

souls are not, except for physical shape. Our

souls become shaped due to the physical

form, which is why ghosts always have the

shape of their body at the time of their death.

That includes defects such as

Nearly-Headless Nick's near total

decapitation, Moaning Myrtle's glasses,

Professor Binns's aged frailness, and the

Bloody Baron's blood upon his robes, to

name a few.

"And the physical form, through body

chemicals, impresses on the thinking; and,

therefore, the person - the soul. That,

together with society's mores, is how man

becomes attracted to woman and vice versa.

However, sometimes, the body chemicals do

not impress fully upon the soul because the

chemicals are weaker... or, the soul is simply

stronger... and you occasionally have

homosexuality.

"For us three," he said, again indicating

himself and his bondmates, "Our souls are

bonded, and it was done through Heaven.

The souls that are Harry James, Daphne Anna

and Hermione Jean, are bonded. Or, more to

the point, are in the process of bonding. It's

our souls that are attracted to one another.

As such our sexes, and our chemically-driven

sexuality, have nothing to do with it. Because

of the body chemicals impinging on our

thinking, it both helps a lot and gets in the

way. However, it's us as souls that will soon

finalise the bond. And we are not owned by

our individual sexes."

When he finished, he sat back, but remained

a little tense worried about their reactions.

Surprising to Harry, it was Hermione who

first spoke. "Harry," she asked. "When did

you become a metaphysical philosopher?"

Harry snorted and replied, "I've always been

one, I think. Or, at least, a general

philosopher. It was those bloody potions that

stopped me from being able to think so well.

Now that Weasley's no longer dosing me

with loyalty potions and the like my mind's

becoming freer. I'm able to

properly think again."

"That's... deep!" said Sirius, the first of the

adults to respond; and not having heard

Hermione, he was so deep in thought.

"I'll say!" snorted Ant.

"If he's right, it explains a lot," said Deece. "It

also makes a great deal of sense."

"It also makes the idea of Daphne and

Hermione... interacting... a great deal easier

to accept," said Matthias.

"Which, I think, is the reason he explained

it," added Cele.

Harry smiled and nodded.

"So, what you're saying is," asked Ant. "We

need to stop thinking of you three as the

physical you; and start thinking of you as the

soul you?"

Chapter 166

"No and yes," replied Harry. "You know us as

the physical us. I cannot expect you to think

any differently to that on that matter. What

I'm asking you to start considering is the soul

us, as well.

"I know society's mores makes it hard for you

to accept there will be a... more intimate

relationship... between Hermione and

Daphne. I'm trying to give you something to

help you rationalise it, so you'll be more

comfortable with it."

"It does help," said Cele. "And I can't believe

I've just realised that."

"It helps me!" said Daphne, giving Harry a

very direct look. "I just wish you'd shared it

with us, first."

"Sorry," Harry sheepishly replied. "But,

something inside me told me the time wasn't

right until now."

"You're going to have to give me this talk

again later, Harry," grouched Hermione. "I

don't have the manuscript for our book on

hand. This needs to go into the book."

"Book?" asked Deece.

"We've been asked to write a book about

soul bonds by Madam Pomfrey," explained

Hermione. "She wants us to document

everything we learn so people's

understanding of soul bonds can be

enhanced... or corrected."

"You're not using your names, are you?"

asked a suddenly worried Matthias.

"No," she replied. "We'll use pseudonyms for

the actual characters. And we've agreed to

use nom de plumes... pen names... for the

authors. Not even the eventual publishers

will be allowed to know our real names."

"When you've got the time to write it down,

Hermione, ask Matthias if you can borrow his

pensieve to check your own memory of this,"

suggested Harry.

"That's a good idea," said Matthias, nodding.

"I think I'll do the same. There are aspects of

that... lesson... that I want to speak with

others about. Dementor's Kiss Syndrome and

the effects of the Killing Curse, for example.

If Harry's right, and I think he is, it'll open up

new research into both of those."

Gathering herself, Deece asked, "I think we

all need time to absorb what we've just

heard. Who's up for an evening libation?"

With affirmatives from the group, a house elf

was called to take orders.

Once everyone had a drink of their choice,

Harry started on the next part of what he

wanted to share with them.

"Now, on the matter of ghosts," he said,

licking his lips of suds of butterbeer. "Does

anyone know the reason why only magicals

become ghosts? Or why, after centuries of

searching using vivisection and the like,

they've never actually been able to find what

it is in the physical body that makes a muggle

different to a magical?"

After head shakes all round, he explained.

"Both those subjects have, essentially, the

same answer. It's because witches and

wizards don't control magic with their bodies;

they control it with their souls. And that's

because magic is channelled through the soul;

not the body.

"When you think about it, the proof is before

you when you meet a ghost and discover that

only magicals can become ghosts. A ghost, as

you now know, is a soul that has yet to pass

on to the afterlife. And, it's only through

their ability to wield magic that a soul

doesn't immediately pass on with the death

of the physical body.

"If magic was part of the body instead of the

soul, then as soon as the soul departed the

body it would be no different to the soul of a

muggle. Therefore it would, just as muggles'

souls do, pass on.

"I started thinking about this at the end of

second year when the piece of Tom Riddle's

soul that was locked into his diary began to

draw off the life force of Ginny Weasley,

before I destroyed the diary.

"Even before that soul piece was fully

corporeal, Riddle was able to wield and use

Ginny's wand. He used it against me. If the

magic is channelled through the physical

body, that should not have been possible. So,

too, should it not have been possible if magic

is not channelled through the soul.

"Next, ghosts can talk. We can hear them.

That should not be possible without magic.

Air does not pass through lungs and out over

vocal chords to make sound; sound, which

we hear as speech. So, it must be magic in

the soul of the ghost that allows it to talk to

us. Magic recognises the need and replaces

the operation of the vibrating vocal chords.

"It also explains muggleborns a lot more

thoroughly. It makes no sense, whatsoever,

that there is continually occurring the same

genetic... alteration... that causes a

muggleborn to suddenly occur across very

diverse people. However, it becomes obvious

when you understand the number of children

born to magicals has substantially dropped

off. Those souls waiting to be born have to

go somewhere. So, it's into the forming

bodies of muggle foetuses they go."

After Harry quietened and sat back again,

Mathias said, "Again that makes a lot of

sense. I'm definitely going to have to talk to

some people about this."

"Damn, Potter," muttered Daphne. "You're

both full of surprises and a lot smarter than

you act."

Harry just impudently grinned back.

Talk then devolved to lighter topics for the

rest of the evening before bed.

With the Yule Ball taking place at the school

the next night, the Greengrasses arranged for

their Yule dinner the evening before,

Christmas Eve.

The intervening days since their major

shopping trip to Diagon Alley saw a trip

shopping at a muggle shopping mall, led by

the Grangers; quiet days at the Farm; Daphne

attempting to teach Harry and Hermione

how to ride a horse - somewhat successful

for Hermione, but an unmitigated disaster for

Harry; Harry coaxing Hermione onto a broom

for more advanced lessons in riding a broom;

and time spent together for Harry to get to

know his future in-laws and his godfather

better, and the girls to get to know their own

future in-laws.

By Christmas Eve even Ant had come to

accept his daughter was soon to be married

to two people; one of whom was another

girl.

The next morning, the combined families

were gathered in the parlour around the

Christmas tree, under which was piled the

gifts in a manner similar to muggle families.

Matthias offered the position of 'Gift Giver'...

the person who sits near the tree and hands

the gifts out... to Sirius. And, Sirius was both

deeply honoured and quite moved by the

gesture.

With gifts being passed out in quite an

orderly fashion, there did not exist the usual

large mess of torn and shredded Christmas

wrapping paper; of which the Greengrass

elves seemed somewhat disappointed.

Chapter 167

Harry picked up a usual haul, without the

cheap and homemade sweets and jumper

from the Weasleys, this year. He also

watched carefully as he and Sirius gave each

other a direct look as he passed Harry's gifts

to both girls.

Harry, feeling quite pleased with himself,

watched as both opened their gifts at the

same time and saw the earrings and necklace

chokers within. He'd bought them when he

was with Ant and Matthias and the girls were

off with Cele and Deece during their

shopping within the Alley.

Both girls looked completely dumbfounded

by the gifts, at first, before Daphne softly

said, "Oohh... Harrrry!" They then both

attempted to snog him to within an inch of

his life before both Ant and Matthias directly

and pointedly cleared their throats as their

wives unabashedly grinned and Sirius was

trying not to laugh. All three teens were

blushing as they separated.

Giving his own throat a little clearing cough,

Harry said, "I thought you might like them to

wear for tonight."

"They'll be perfect," gushed Hermione, again

looking down at the earrings and choker

within its velvet-lined box.

"Mmm," hummed Daphne with a verbal nod

in agreement, still looking down at her own

earrings and choker.

Remus even stopped in to wish everyone a

Merry Christmas and was immediately

invited to stay for a while and enjoy

Christmas lunch. He told them what he'd

been up to since they last saw him at

Hogwarts, and how he was, yet again,

looking for work.

For what looked like it might have been an

often offered offer, Sirius offered Remus

access to 'The London House' at Grimmauld

Place for him to stay; and Remus gratefully

declined, yet again.

Trying to reduce the embarrassment... or add

to it, he knew not which... Harry said to

Sirius, "He probably has a secret girlfriend he

doesn't want you to know about yet,

Padfoot."

With his eyes alight with glee, Sirius turned

to Remus and asked, "Is that it, Moony ol'

mate? You've got a secret giiirrrlfriend?"

Blushing... Remus stammered back, "N-no,

no! Nothing like that. No!"

Remus asked Harry for a quiet word after

lunch, and they stepped into the entrance

hall for a few minutes.

"What did you want to talk to me about,

Moony?" asked Harry.

Harry could see his other honourary uncle

thought it was a difficult matter to discuss

and took a few moments to compose his

thoughts. Eventually, he sighed and asked,

"Harry, do you suddenly dislike Dumbledore?

Has he done something that's greatly

offended you?"

Harry stared back for a few moments before

he replied, "That depends. Is it you asking; or,

is it you asking on his behalf?"

Confused, Remus asked, "Does it matter?"

"Yes," he replied, almost coldly. "It's time for

flat-out, straight-up honesty, here, Remus. So,

is it you asking, or did he ask you to ask on

his behalf?"

Still somewhat confused, but now quite

aware this was something important to his

cub, Remus quietly but honestly replied, "It's

me asking, cub."

Allowing the tension that he didn't realise he

had been feeling to ease out of his body,

Harry said, "Then, yes and no. I've recently

put a great deal of thought into what's been

happening in my life, both before and after

starting at Hogwarts, and have come to

understand that Dumbledore has been

responsible for almost all the bad things that

have happened to and around me.

"He is responsible for ignoring the wishes of

my parents in where I was to be placed if I

was orphaned; he is responsible for not

checking up on me to make sure I was being

well cared for while under the abusive hands

of my muggle aunt and uncle; he is

responsible for knowingly and continually

sending me back to an abusive environment

when both I and Madam Pomfrey made him

aware of the condition of my health, when I

arrived at Hogwarts as an eleven year

old; he has illegally, and with full

understanding of the law, often cast

Legilimens upon me; he has known Snape

does the same thing; he blocked me from

receiving any mail from someone not

on his personal approval list, and that

included Gringotts; he is partly responsible

for Sirius not being given a trial, and being

sent straight to Azkaban; he is responsible for

Sirius not getting a trial when he escaped,

when he had it in his power to do so; he was

supposed to be responsible for looking after

my family's financial holdings until I was

emancipated, and didn't do it, causing great

financial harm to me and mine; he attempted

to use compulsion charms on both myself

and my bondmates to force our compliance,

and was caught red-handed in the

act; he had both Hermione and me loaded up

with tracking charms left, right and centre,

and some of those were blood-based, which

is illegal; he is aware the Weasleys attempted

to secretly dose me with love potions keyed

to Ginevra, and loyalty potions keyed to Ron,

plus other things, and then allowed them to

return to the school; he then attempted to

pervert the course of justice and get them all

off when I forced it to trial; and there's quite

a bit more. However, those are the ones I

know for sure and am willing to talk about.

"He is actively working towards trying to

control me through: Withholding information

from me, such as the true wealth of my

holdings; why Riddle is still trying to kill me

and why he's trying to control me;

attempting to guilt-trip me into staying a

student at Hogwarts and giving up my hard

won emancipation; illegally and in direct

contravention of my parents' wishes,

maintaining magical guardianship over me;

using the portraits, ghosts and house elves of

Hogwarts to spy on me; trying to stop me

from leaving the school grounds as is my

right; trying to butt into my House business,

including attempting to put up listening

charms in a sealed and warded room where

I'm involved in House business; plus others.

"He is absolutely terrified I'm going to take

myself, my bondmates and Daphne's little

sister and transfer us all to another school

outside of Britain; and won't say why he's

terrified of that.

"The man has a very frighteningly unhealthy

interest in me. I do not like it, and will no

longer tolerate it. Because of

his known actions, at least, I consider the

man my personal enemy and on my personal

enemy list. And, anyone doing his bidding, is

automatically added to that list when I learn

who they are.

"There are far, far too many people who

think the sun shine's out of that whiskered

wanker's arse; and that he can do no wrong.

He has people convinced to do the wrong

thing all because he says it's for some

undefined amorphous 'Greater Good', and

will never tell anyone what that supposed

greater good actually is. I fully intend to get

as far from him and his greasy clutches as I

can, as soon as I can.

"He has all these people under his control

through that little illegal bird club of his. And

they, too, are quite happy to break the law

for him if he asks. That included Sirius;

though, not any more. I consider those

people also on my enemy list. So, if you're in

that club, resign from it or consider your

honourary uncle status revoked. If I had

thought he'd sent you here to spy on me, I

would not have hesitated to take you down,

through whatever means necessary, and

throw your arse head first through the Floo

into the Three Broomsticks.

Chapter 168

"Does that answer your question?"

Gaping back in complete shock, Remus

stuttered, "Y-yes, Harry; it does."

"Good," Harry firmly said back. "Now; I'm

sorry for becoming such a hard-arse about it;

but I and my family, here, seem to be

spending way too much time blocking

Dumbledore from interfering with me and

mine. He just won't quit."

"We three have spent the better part of the

past four months learning every ward and

detection charm we can learn to block that

manipulative old coot from, again, getting

me in his clutches. You wouldn't believe how

many tracking and monitoring charms we've

found. Our two personal house elves are

having a lot of fun finding and destroying

those charms on an almost daily basis.

They're also the only two house elves we

allow to prepare our meals and drinks while

in the castle.

"So, Remus, you have choice to make; stay

away from him and his subtle little

manipulations... or me."

"That's going to be difficult, cub," Remus

sighed. "He's done so much for me."

"Ah, yes," said Harry. "He let you attend

Hogwarts. Tell me, Remus: How

many other children with a furry little

problem has he allowed to attend? None.

How many were, or are, just as worthy and

would have been willing to take the same

protections you did? Probably a great many.

So, why haven't there been any others?

"If you do run into him, be prepared for him

to try and manipulate you. One of the one's

he'll definitely use is trying to guilt-trip you

into doing what he wants because he

allowed you attend the school. The second

will be to tell you it's for the Greater Good

and expect you to comply. All the while he'll

adopt that much disappointed favourite

grandfather persona he uses, with his eyes

twinkling merrily away. You'll see.

"He's also tried to talk to both my

bondmates away from me; which is also

illegal; using the same tactics. Please, don't

allow him to do it to you. Plus, if you do run

into him, as soon as you're away from him,

check yourself for tracking and monitoring

charms. He can't seem to help himself, there.

"And, finally, don't look him directly in the

eyes at close distances. As I said, he's a

master Legilimens and is able to scan your

surface thoughts without use of the

Legilimens charm. That twinkly eye thing he

does? It's a cantrip designed to draw your

eyes to his so he can do the passive scan."

"He might try a few other things first before

he finally resorts to, 'Remus, my boy; you're

going dark!' and adopt an expression of

fearful concern. That, at least, should prove

to you he's a manipulative old bastard.

Apparently, he's tried similar with Sirius; just

as he continues to try with me.

Frowning but nodding, Remus sighed and

said, "Alright, cub. I'll go and talk to Sirius

about it, first; but I'm concerned you may be

reading into things as sinister actions where

nothing of the sort actually exists."

"Good," Harry nodded back. "Always

question; never just accept something as fact

without further evidence. No wonder you

were the brains behind the Marauders."

Taking a breath and trying to relax again, he

asked, "Shall we go and find out what

everyone else is up to?"

With a nod, the old wolf followed Harry back

to the other guests.

After Remus spent some time apart with

Sirius, he came back to again wish Harry a

Merry Christmas before he left. Harry could

see he was not very happy with what Sirius

had told him.

Looking to his godfather, Harry asked,

"Remus not happy with what he heard?"

"Yeah," sighed Sirius. "He tried to tell me

you've become over-the-top paranoid.

However, I then stepped him through

everything I knew... which seemed to

confirm a lot of what you told him... and he's

having trouble accepting it. His problem is,

he doesn't want to accept it; but, his logical

side is telling him it's all true. He'll need to

work through it for himself. Give him time."

Harry nodded back.

It wasn't too much longer that both girls,

with both mothers, disappeared claiming

they were getting ready. And that Harry

wasn't to enter Daphne's 'old' room until

they said he could.

He quickly glanced at his new watch, a gift

from both girls, and saw that it was barely

2.30 in the afternoon.

"Four hours, we've got, before the portkey,"

he muttered to his godfather. "What takes

them so bloody long to get ready?"

"They like to make it a 'ladies time' for

bonding," Sirius replied with a grin. "Besides,

neither of your girls has been able to spend

time with their mothers since you've arrived.

This gives them time to talk about things

they'd rather the menfolk not know about."

"And what are the menfolk supposed to do

while we wait?" asked Harry.

"We bond," Sirius laughed, before wrapping

Harry in a hug and giving him a 'noogie'.

Releasing him, he dragged Harry over to the

two fathers. "Harry's a bit miffed because

the girls have disappeared for four hours."

Both men grinned back. Matthias said,

"Enjoy it while you can. It's not often you can

get out from under the watchful gaze of your

spouse."

"That's why I took up clay pigeon shooting,"

said Ant. "Cele can't stand the noise of the

guns, so leaves me to it."

"Mine's golf," admitted Matthias. "I once

heard another man say it meant 'Gents only,

ladies forbidden'. But, I think he was just

making a joke. I see many ladies playing the

sport."

"He was!" laughed Ant. "Ladies have been

playing golf for over a century."

Harry sighed and said, "I only played

Quidditch. However, now that we've been

re-sorted to be together in Ravenclaw,

Hermione's put her foot down and won't let

me play, anymore."

"Why in Merlin's name not?" asked Sirius,

honestly curious and clearly a little offended

for his godson.

"Well, out of the two games I played in first

year, A possessed Professor Quirrell hexed

my broom to try and throw me off. He

succeeded but I caught the snitch in my

mouth and was only saved from being badly

hurt from the fall by Professor Snape. The

second game was okay. But, I missed the

third because I was already in hospital.

"In second year, in my first game, a bespelled

bludger was used to attack me. It broke my

wrist and arm. I then crashed while catching

the snitch one-handed and was lucky I wasn't

hurt any further. Because of that faker,

Gilderoy Flophart, I had to have all the bones

in my right arm regrown. The second match

against Ravenclaw was alright. I didn't get

hurt there. And the third game was cancelled

because it was the day Hermione and

Penelope Clearwater were petrified by the

basilisk.

Chapter 169

"In third year, first game, I was attacked by

dementors and knocked out. I feel about five

hundred feet, but Dumbledore managed to

tag me with an Arrest Motion charm while I

was falling, and someone else cast a

cushioning charm on the ground directly

under me. I woke up in the infirmary. In the

second game, Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle

attempted to sabotage my broom. It nearly

worked, too. But, Hermione was able to stop

them before they were successful. And in the

third game, I ended up bruised and a little

bloody as the Slytherins played really rough.

That was a short few hours in the infirmary.

"Of course, this year, Quidditch was

cancelled due to the Tri-Wizard Tournament.

I wanted to organise a few pick-up games but

that's when Hermione, with Daphne backing

her, put her foot down. Her argument is that

since I've gotten hurt so much, and that

Madam Pomfrey has even put a bronze

plaque up over one of the beds with my

name on it stating that bed is reserved for

my personal use, it's time I hung my

Quidditch armour up. Plus, with the re-sort, I

can no longer be the seeker for the Lions.

And they both say it wouldn't be fair to Cho

Chang to knock her off her slot as seeker for

the Ravens, if I wanted to play for the

Ravenclaw team.

"Besides, she thinks I've already got enough

opportunities to get hurt by being in the

Tournament. She also added that, if I get hurt

playing Quidditch, that could jeopardise me

being well enough for any of the events of

the Tournament. That would put my magic at

risk for not being able to compete."

"You have a bed with your name on it?"

asked a chuckling Sirius. "You're more like

your father than you think. I think he had a

similar plaque over a bed."

"I'm still allowed to ride my broom, though,"

said Harry. "I think they've decided they can

only push it so far before I'd baulk. Besides, I

really only played seeker for something to do

while riding my broom. Even now I take a

snitch out with me when I ride at the pitch;

and just practice chasing it down. I think they

know I still pull the dangerous moves but

justify it to themselves by way of; if they

can't see it, it doesn't happen."

"Maybe we should think about finding you a

different sport, Harry," mused Ant. "I'd like

to take you out, next summer, down to the

range I'm a member of; to see what you're

like handling a shotgun."

"And to the golfing range," added Matthias.

"I'd like it if my son-in-law enjoyed whacking

a little white ball and walking for a few hours

with me. It'll give us a chance to talk,

occasionally."

Surprised at the offers, Harry was quite

moved and replied, "Thank you. Yeah. Thank

you, both. I'd like to try both, if you don't

mind."

"We can do that," replied Ant.

"Besides," said Harry, with a wry grin. "I

think a muggle shotgun would be

a wonderful weapon to use against Death

Eaters who're trying to kill me."

Three hours later, Harry hurried upstairs to

'his' room to get changed. When he walked

in the door, he could see his formal robes for

the Ball were already laid out; including his

accessories, underwear, shoes and socks.

A quick shower and dry, shave and teeth

brushing and he was ready quite quickly and

early.

When he returned downstairs, Sirius was the

first to stand to greet him. "Looking suave

there, Pup."

His godfather then walked across and

adjusted a few things before stepping back to

take another look. "Yeah, looking good."

"I think there's going to be quite a few young

witches who're going to be quite jealous of

our Daphne and Hermione," said Matthias.

The men teased him for a little while longer

before both fathers were called upstairs. A

minute later they were each leading their

daughters back downstairs.

Harry took one look at his girls and forgot to

breathe.

He just stood there, not realising his mouth

was agape until his godfather reached across

and used a finger to push his jaw closed.

That's when he discovered he was quite

light-headed from lack of oxygen.

He swayed a little before stepping forward.

"You both look... divine!" he softly told

them.

Daphne was wearing a shimmering green

dress with one bare shoulder. It hugged her

torso to low on the hips before it was met

with a gathering of material that fell as a

loose skirt to the ankle. The entire dress was

trimmed with very fine silver beading. With

her hair done up in soft waves the jewellery

Harry bought her for Christmas accessorised

it all perfectly. She held in her gloved hand a

small silver clutch purse.

Hermione was wearing a similar style dress.

However her bodice had both shoulders

covered, sleeveless and with a modestly

plunging neckline in silver with emerald

highlights, before it ended with a similar flare

at the hips akin to Daphne's, also dropping as

a skirt to the ankle. Unlike Daphne she

showed just the hint of cleavage between her

breasts. Her hair was in a similar style but

was shaped with soft curls to drop over one

shoulder. She, too, was carrying a similar

clutch purse in a gloved hand and was

wearing the jewellery Harry bought her for

Christmas. Again, they were perfect on her.

The three stood for photographs, for a little

while, before Matthias said, "You'll need to

go beyond the wards before your portkey will

work. I'd say Floo to the Three Broomsticks

first; but, you don't want to get any soot on

you."

"I had Mikey clear a patch of path on the

other side of the front gate, a little while

ago," said Deece. Jelly and Mikey will elf

apparate you to that spot and you can

portkey from there."

With about a minute to go, Matthias and Ant

brought capes they'd been carrying forward

and helped the girls put them on. With last

minute kisses on cheeks and handshakes, the

Greengrass house elves popped the three

teens to just the other side of the main gate.

Harry reached into his pocket and pulled out

the rope portkey, holding it out for the other

two to grab hold.

"Remember," Hermione said to him. "Just as

the portkey is about to stop make sure you're

turned in the direction of the spin, and be

ready to run a little. That way you won't end

up sprawled across the floor of the Entrance

Hall."

Harry grinned back, just as he felt the hook

behind the navel feeling of an activated

portkey.

The portkey didn't have them arriving in the

Entrance Hall, as Harry expected. Instead,

they arrived in the antechamber where the

first years waited before the sorting.

Professor McGonagall was there to greet

them.

Chapter 170

Though he didn't end up sprawled across the

floor, Harry did end up falling to his knees.

"Damn!" he muttered.

Both girls remained on their feet with

Hermione near enough for her to have heard

him. "Language, Harry James!" she scolded

him.

Harry didn't bother to reply as he first dusted

his knees off before using a Cleaning charm

on them. While he was doing that, Professor

McGonagall was complementing both girls

on their outfits as she conjured up a cloak

rack and hung their cloaks up for them.

When he was ready, Professor McGonagall

asked, "All set?"

"Yes, Ma'am," Harry muttered, a little

annoyed with himself.

"Very well," she said, before turning to the

door and opening it. She then held the door

open for the three teens to exit; Harry in the

rear.

"Escort your ladies straight inside, Mister

Potter," the Professor said as he passed her.

"The Headmaster would like a word before

the Ball begins.

"No thank you, Professor," replied Harry.

"I'm having a very good Christmas Day so far,

and I don't want to ruin it by speaking with

that manipulative old... man."

Not even waiting for a response, he

continued on. Once a few steps away from

the door, both girls had stepped to a side

each... Daphne on the left, Hermione on the

right... as Harry came up between them.

Each then took an elbow and allowed Harry

to escort them across the Entrance Hall.

There were moving through the crowd of

school mates, looking for friends, when

Daphne spotted Tracey on the arm of Blaise.

She gave a little squeal of excitement and

rushed over to hug her friend.

"Well, hello stranger," said a grinning Tracey.

"I take it you're enjoying your time away

from the school?"

"Oh, yes," replied Daphne. "Mother and

Father invited Hermione's parents and

Harry's godfather to spend the break with us.

I'm learning a lot about the muggle world,

too. It's been wonderful."

Harry and Blaise looked at each other and

smiled. "So," said Harry. "Is this a date

between you two? Or..."

"Just friends," Blaise smoothly added.

"And, where's Mister Urquhart?" asked

Harry.

"He's managed to snag a date for himself

with a Ravenclaw," replied Blaise. "He'll be

along, I'm sure."

Hermione, meanwhile, had spotted Neville

coming up from the basement with his date,

Hannah Abbott. Walking over to them, she

smiled at both and said, "Hello, you two."

Neville gawked just a little at Hermione

before he stammered, "Her-Hermione?"

"Don't look so surprised, Neville," she replied

with a little blush. "Hogwarts robes and rules

about dress are very unflattering."

"I'll say!" added Hannah. Noticing Neville's

expression, she jabbed him in the arm.

"Don't stare!" she scolded him.

Neville immediately blushed and stammered

out an apology. "Sorry. It's just...

so different to see friends so dressed up."

Harry and Daphne were saying hello to a

couple of fellow year mates in Ravenclaw

when Dumbledore came up behind Harry

and sternly said, "Mister Potter."

Turning, Harry looked coldly back and, with a

very slight tilt of his head, said, "Headmaster

Dumbledore."

"I asked Professor McGonagall to inform you

to meet me in the Great Hall on your arrival,"

said Dumbledore.

"So I understand, Headmaster," replied Harry.

"However, I had other plans."

With clearly visible anger, Dumbledore asked,

"I am not used to students ignoring my

wishes, Mister Potter."

"Headmaster," Harry sighed, almost

excessively. "Today is Christmas Day; and we

are gathered here for the so-called

traditional Yule Ball. I do not wish to have

this day ruined for my fiancées and myself by

getting into an argument with you.

"We are on holidays. As such, our time is our

own to do with as we wish. Now, unless

there's something so urgent it cannot wait

until school recommences, please leave us

be."

"I wish to discuss matters relating to your

continued education," fumed Dumbledore.

"Surely, you do not wish to discuss this in

public."

"No, you're right, I don't," replied Harry. As

Dumbledore started to look like he'd won the

argument, Harry continued, "However, as I

have to remain here until the completion of

the third task, there's plenty of time to

discuss that particular issue. Today will not

include that time. After I return on the

Express in a little over a week from now we

can sit down with my bondmates and my

legal representative and discuss the matter

then.

"In the meantime, I'm still under instruction

from Madam Bones and Mister Ackerman,

my legal representative, not to meet with

you in private. Will there be anything else,

Headmaster?" Throughout, Harry kept his

tone light and respectful; though his

expression remained closed and cold.

Dumbledore stood there for a few moments

more before he finally said, "No, Mister

Potter. That's all. I'll see you when you

return."

As the old man was about to turn away Harry

quickly asked, "Is that the time you want to

meet with me, my bondmates and my

representative, Headmaster? The evening we

return? I need to know so I can organise for

Mister Ackerman to be here."

"Another time, Mister Potter," muttered the

Headmaster before he quickly hurried away

and back into the Great Hall.

As the Entrance Hall was becoming

uncomfortably full, Professor McGonagall

opened the doors to the Great Hall and

announced all those except the champions

could enter. "Please, quickly find your seats

so our Champions can make their entrance."

With a fiancée on each arm, Harry led his

two girls into the Hall immediately behind

Blaise and Tracey, and Horace and his date,

Lisa Turpin. The seven of them quickly found

a table for themselves, with one chair spare.

They had no sooner sat down when Percy

Weasley hurried over and said to Harry,

"Mister Potter, you and your date for this

evening are expected to enter with the other

Champions and be seated at the head table.