Chapter 49

September 6th, 2018.

Hidden away in the private quarters of his secret hideaway, away from the eyes of his followers, Voldemort paced. His teeth were clenched, his fingernails dug into his palms and if his body still had the ability, he would be sweating.

Following Nagini's death and Potter's insinuation that Bellatrix had talked, he had been unable to dismiss a gnawing worry for his Horcruxes. Justifiably so as it turned out, because they were gone!

Lucius had cost him the diary, but he had assured himself that there was no way that they could have figured out where the others were, if Potter and Dumbledore even recognised them as Horcruxes. Going to check and finding the ring and Slytherin's Locket to be missing from their hiding places had obliterated that assurance.

The protections around the Gaunt shack had been breached and Regulus Black had apparently betrayed him. He'd always wondered what had happened to the man and now he knew - he had been torn apart by the inferi after stealing Slytherin's Locket and leaving that taunting message behind. No doubt he'd sent the real locket to the Black Family home with that house elf, where Potter had stumbled upon it. Or maybe Regulus had even arranged to have it destroyed himself all those years ago.

Ravenclaw's Diadem he was unable to easily check up on, but now he feared it was also gone. He couldn't think of any way that Potter could have learned about the diadem, but then he couldn't think of any way for him to have known about the ring either.

Hufflepuff's Cup was still in the Lestrange vault at least, Rodolphus had been able to sneak in and check since the goblins didn't care about his criminal status, but did Potter learn about it from Bella? He had insinuated that he had broken her and if he knew about the Horcruxes in general terms it wouldn't have been a stretch for him to guess that she might have been entrusted with one and divine the importance of the cup.

The worry gnawed at him constantly now. What if the diadem was also destroyed? Should he check up on it and risk accidentally exposing it to his enemies? What if he only had one Horcrux left? What if Potter was already plotting ways of getting the cup out of Gringotts? Should he move it somewhere else or leave it where it was? The cold hands of death felt like they were reaching for him, something he'd thought he wouldn't need to worry about ever again.

'Live in fear' Potter had said. Voldemort was enraged over the fact that he was living in fear. He had always been wary of Dumbledore, but the old man only ever played defense. Potter was different, he took any opportunity to attack and didn't hold back at all.

He seriously contemplated creating another Horcrux just in case, but turning Nagini into one had already put a terrible strain on him. There was a limit to how much a soul could be mutilated and Voldemort suspected that he was right at the edge of that limit. He never let on to it, but the body he was using sometimes felt more like an ill-fitting suit of flesh than a real body, as if he might slide right out of it if he wasn't careful. He feared that fracturing his soul any further would reduce him permanently to that wraith-like state that he'd spent so many years in.

So he was stuck between fear that his immortality was slipping away and fear of the consequences should he attempt creating another.

And that wasn't even the end of his problems. None of his Death Eaters would dare say it, but Voldemort knew that their morale was low and that some of them were regretting their choices. They needed a decisive victory, but it was eminently clear at this point that they wouldn't be getting any of those for as long as Potter and his women were around. Any time they put so much as a toe out of hiding, overwhelming force was brought to bear against them.

Voldemort was the only one that could fight any of them, but even he couldn't handle all of them, not even with the reflex-enhancing ritual that had granted him inhuman speed and reaction times. Worse still, Potter was steadily getting better. At the moment Voldemort knew that he still had a firm advantage over him in direct combat, but the distance between them was shrinking and there was still the 'surprise' he'd hinted at…

In addition to the cold hands of death reaching for him, Voldemort now also felt like he was racing against time. His own power had plateaued decades ago, whereas his nemesis was young and still growing in strength. Would it end with them being equals as the prophecy said, or would Potter surpass him? His lack of knowledge on what else the prophecy said also squirmed in the back of his mind like a worm.

Deep down, buried beneath the mountain of arrogance that he used to smother his myriad of mental complexes, Tom Riddle recognised that of the two of them, Harry was the better wizard. It was obvious enough - He could do some wandless magic, but nothing nearly on the level that his enemy could. He recognised this and he feared because he knew the legends of Merlin and Andros the Invincible and other historical wizards. He had always considered himself one of them, even better than them, but Harry's clearly superior mastery of magic had rattled his confidence badly. He had also gotten a brief glimpse into Harry's mind with his Legilimency attack and was greatly disturbed by what he found there.

The only thing that Harry felt for their struggle was a sort of lazy contempt, irritation and a little amusement for the banality of it. He would fight to the end and was utterly determined to win, but still considered the outcome to be irrelevant in the grand scheme of things, as if they were nothing more than a pair of dust motes in the breeze. Voldemort hadn't felt so utterly disregarded since before the first time he discovered his magic and was simulataneously enraged and frightened by it.

Those feelings set the theme for him now.

He felt trapped between his fear of facing an enemy that was genuinely dangerous to him and his hatred of admitting any kind of weakness even to himself, between the demands of his ego to retaliate to avoid losing face and the need to rethink his strategy, between his urge to check on Ravenclaw's Diadem and the fear that he may inadvertently expose it if it yet remained hidden, between the urge to move Hufflepuff's Cup out of Gringotts and the fear that doing so would endanger it further.

Voldemort's precarious grip on sanity began slipping, and not slowly.

He had never been the picture of mental stability in the first place, but as long as things went more or less his way it wasn't immediately noticeable beyond his obvious psychotic tendencies. Now his sadistic temper was constantly on a razor's edge and people got Crucio'd for causing him the slightest displeasure, real or imagined. Those Death Eaters he chose to teach as a way of countering the threat of Luna, Tonks and Fleur suffered more than most, but they were also the most fanatical of his followers and their pain combined with the constant exposure to his twisted magic warped them further.

His planning abilities also narrowed in focus as his thoughts became consumed with fear and hatred towards his prophesied enemy. Tunnel vision developed as important considerations were disregarded in his obsession, considerations which no remotely sane wizard would disregard. The more intelligent of his followers would have warned him of the danger once upon a time, but now they were either too terrified to speak up or not brought into his confidence in the first place.

September 6th, 2018. Spellhaven.

"Alright, Cissy. What's the damage?" Harry asked.

He had offered to give his PR specialist/emissary/spokesperson/mistress a vacation to deal with her son's death, but she said that she preferred to keep busy. Harry wasn't sure if that was a healthy way of dealing with grief, but what did he know? He had a very different philosophical perspective on death than most people and didn't really experience grief the same way either.

"Not too bad, actually." The blonde witch said. "The involved countries have lodged a formal protest against us and Magical Britain for violating their sovereignty and endangering the Statute of Secrecy by engaging in magical combat in what is considered to be muggle territory. There was also some debate about censuring you for flagrant use of Blood Magic and a few have made demands that you remand any prisoners that were taken on their land."

Harry snorted. The first three things were just so much hot air and the last was simply not going to happen.

It hadn't surprised him overmuch when he learned that the magical world didn't have any extradition treaties in place. Like so many other issues, it was handled by the 'old boy network' that was pervasive among magicals due to their low population and long lives. Verbal agreements and money would be exchanged in return for prisoners of interest and that was it.

Making laws about it would have inconvenienced the people in power so they hadn't made any. Well now they could be inconvenienced by the lack of laws, because Harry wasn't playing that game.

"So nothing but empty grumbling?" Harry summarised.

"For now." Narcissa admitted. "It hasn't been long so there might be more coming though. At the very least we will face greater resistance to anything we propose to the ICW in the future."

Loss of political capital. Expected and not terribly important. It wasn't like Harry planned to meddle in international politics beyond keeping it out of his backyard.

"I guess the epic propaganda battle continues." Harry sighed and rolled his eyes. "See if you can return fire with the usual; we're the only ones doing anything, get off your butts, stop getting in the way of killing a Dark Lord, etc."

"I've already spoken to our media department." Narcissa smiled.

Since when do we have a media department? Harry wondered. He knew, of course, that they had their own privately owned media business with the telemirrors, but calling it a department made it sound rather governmental. Maybe it was in one of those documents that he'd only skimmed over before signing? Given Narcissa's complete loyalty, he felt fairly safe allowing her a significant degree of independent authority over his affairs and that included trusting her summaries of important documentation.

Still, he'd have to look into this later just to make sure it was really okay and that Narcissa hadn't created some kind of ridiculous dictatorial propaganda machine for him.

"What about the evidence we presented on Karkaroff?" He asked.

"The Scandinavian Ministry of Magic said they would 'take it under advisement'."

Harry's expression twisted with irritation. The Scandinavian peninsula was still rife with pureblood sentiment and they probably didn't want to do anything about Durmstrang's headmaster because he was doing such a good job spreading that around at their premier school. That the supposedly reformed Death Eater was supplying Voldemort with young idiots was likely irrelevant to them.

If only Durmstrang was a bit easier to get into, he would have assassinated Karkaroff already. Unlike Hogwarts and Beuxbatons, Durmstrang was a veritable fortress bult into a mountain and much of it went underground. He wouldn't be surprised to learn that Tolkien had somehow heard of it and been inspired to base Moria on it. Flying in through a window in the form of a raven was simply not possible.

Aside from being a place of magical learning, it had also been created to be a bastion against the spread of Christianity. The local magicals had been mostly runeworkers and loremasters before the arrival of wand wizards around a century before Durmstrang was built, many of which doubled as a pseudo-priesthood for the Old Norse religion after missionaries succeeded in converting the chieftains and kings that had acted in the role previously. The Old Norse faith still died out eventually, but it took a couple of centuries longer among the magicals and it didn't get supplanted by anything as had happened among the mundane population.

"Anything else?" Harry asked.

"Not at the moment, though I have no doubt this situation will drag on for quite a while yet."

"Alright, thank you."

Nodding at the clear dismissal, Narcissa left the room.

Harry let his head fall into his hands and made inarticulate noises of exasperation. They still hadn't quite gotten done dealing with the aftermath of Voldemort's attack on Spellhaven last month and now this shit was being added on top of it.

Yet another sign that mixing magic and politics had been a terrible mistake. A thousand years ago, there had been no such thing as a stupid wizard, now the world was full of them.

But enough about that. He thought bracingly and lifted his head with a deep inhale. I was supposed to be joining David and the girls for a strategy meeting ten minutes ago.

"You're late." Dora said flatly as soon as he walked through the door.

"Sorry, my meeting with Narcissa ran late." Harry explained.

"Is that a euphemism for fucking her?" The metamorphmagus asked archly. "Because I am going to be very unhappy with you if you made us wait just to take care of Pokey."

Harry sighed in exasperation. Get one grandmother pregnant and your cock was stuck with a stupid nickname for eternity.

"He wasn't having sex with Narcissa." Luna interjected with Zen-like serenity.

"How can you tell?" Fleur asked curiously.

"He doesn't have that 'I just had sex' aura." Luna explained, yet did not explain.

"I have an 'I just had sex' aura?" Harry asked in consternation.

"I just said that you don't. Weren't you listening?" Luna asked back, staring at him with a tiny perplexed frown.

"I meant…" Harry stopped himself and just sighed again. "… nevermind, let's just listen to what David has to say."

The former military man stepped forward and coughed slightly to cover his embarrassment. Amusingly enough, being of a rather old-fashioned persuasion, he had more trouble getting his head around their very untraditional relationship than the magic. He was too polite to actually say anything, but it was quite obvious that something was not computing.

Fleur thought it was hilarious and sometimes played it up just to mess with him. Even Dora occasionally played tricks on the man by casually shifting gender mid-conversation. Luna seemed oblivious, but Harry wondered if she would one day take it upon herself to helpfully try 'explaining' it to him. That was one event that he didn't want to miss.

"Right, well I've reviewed your memories and there's a few things that stood out to me." David began. "First, the encounter in the Ministry with this Malfoy guy. I know you had almost every conceivable advantage over him, but that's no reason to be acting like a Bond villain. If he had explosives on him instead of whatever the hell that potion was, all three of you would probably be dead."

Harry winced. He knew that he had a penchant for talking to his enemies, or taunting them if they were significantly weaker than him. It was a terrible, stupid habit and he knew it, but he'd never tried to ditch it because… well, because he was proud of his power and it appealed to his sense of drama if he was being perfectly honest.

David was right, they were lucky that Malfoy hadn't had explosives and that was probably only because an exploding potion was one that had been brewed incorrectly. There was no such thing as a stable bottled explosion.

"I'll try to keep it in mind for the future." Was the best Harry could give him, because he couldn't promise for sure that he'd be able to resist slipping in a few taunts to his enemies.

David didn't look entirely pleased by the lukewarm response, but let it go for the moment.

"Next, Fleur's battle in Hogsmeade." He went on, turning to the veela. "You did well in removing the giant first, it was soaking up your side's fire and distracting them badly. Sending that… uh… pizza golem… to handle the trolls was also well done because it freed you up to act elsewhere. The problem is that you spent nearly thiry seconds just watching it fight and doing nothing ."

"I was surprised." Fleur defended.

"That's not an excuse, the middle of a fight is no time to be sitting out in the open and gawking."

"Fine, it won't happen again." Fleur said stiffly, crossing her arms.

"Good." David nodded firmly, ignoring her clearly offended pride.

Harry had warned him that it was useless to butt heads with a veela, especially this veela, when pride came into it. Being a career military man before his honorable discharge, David naturally wasn't satisfied with that and insisted that stubborn pride got people killed.

So Harry had told him that he would handle it later. When David pressed him on it, he may have taken a bit too much amusement in informing the man that the best way to make a veela listen was to subjugate their pride and the best way to do that was to subjugate them sexually.

The memory of the man's intensely awkward expression still made him smile. It really was fun messing with David's conservative inclinations.

Harry glanced over at Dora and the metamorphmagus gave him a subtle nod. She would cover for him if necessary for the next hour or two while he fucked some sense into Fleur and made her take David's words to heart.

"While we're talking about the pizza golem." David turned to Luna. "It's a clever thing to make and surprisingly dangerous, but in the future, don't spring these things on your allies. Surprises are for the enemy."

"Okay." Luna agreed without fuss. Her dreamy tone and absent expression would give the impression that she was only saying that to make him go away if not for the tiny pout she was sporting. "I just wanted to impress my family."

"I was impressed." Fleur was quick to say, throwing her arm around the smaller blonde's shoulders and smiling down at her. "Steve was quite something."

Luna smiled happily and nuzzled Fleur's breasts.

"Moving on." David interrupted the moment, clearly trying not to stare at the spectacle. "Next day's fights went about as well as anyone can expect out of a mixed force and with how little time I've had to work with the Raven Host. I don't have much to say about the performance of the girls that I haven't already said."

"But you do have something to say about mine." Harry concluded.

"Yes, sir." David was still prone to slipping into military discipline at times. "I can't really comment on the duel itself - that's your territory - but why would you give your enemy information, any information, that wasn't meant to trap him? You told him that you learned about his snake from a captured subordinate. You warned him that you had a surprise cooking for him. He's got to be feeling the walls closing in on him by now and there's no telling how someone that mentally unstable is going to react."

"I got carried away." Harry admitted. He was not a fighter by nature, but he had still developed some taste for battle in spite of that. There was a thrill in knowing that death was only one wrong move away and it made his normally calm soul sing with exhilaration. The fact that it had been dawn and the Sun had just risen, filling his magic with Light, also hadn't helped.

"I'll try to think of a way to train that out of you." David said, obviously seeing no need to press the point further.

Harry simply nodded. This was why he had brought the man here after all and getting huffy about his criticism would be counter-productive.

"Anything else?" He asked, giving David the opening for the thing they'd discussed the previous day.

"Just one thing." The man said and turned to look at Dora. "Tonks, your behavior could be a problem."

"What?" Dora said in surprise and a little indignation. "My behavior?"

"Yes, your behavior." David nodded implacably. "It borders on insubordinate."

"We aren't the bloody military!" Dora retorted, a hint of snap in her tone.

"That's true." David conceded. "And maybe insubordinate isn't the right word. I won't say anything about how the dynamic between the four of you works outside of combat, but the way you contradict Harry, who is clearly the leader, and force him to accept your way of doing things or else you'll go off on your own could have serious repercussions in combat. What if he gives an order that you don't like and you either stop to argue with him or ignore it to do your own thing? I know you're older than him, that he isn't trained for command and that as an Auror you were technically in a position of authority over him for a while, but cracks inside the team are more dangerous than the enemy."

"I do that because I know how his mind works." She glowered. "He didn't care about any of those kids. I could almost see him thinking of ways to maximize damage to Voldemort at their expense. Merlin help me, because I can't help loving him, but he needs someone to prod him into doing the right thing or he'll watch the world burn and turn it into a science project."

"The choices won't always be between right and wrong. You're fighting against a sadistic monster and he will take advantage of your morals. He's unbelievably arrogant, more than anyone I've ever heard of, but he's not stupid. What if he sets up hostages to split you up? Harry orders you to stay together and ignore the obvious trap, but you ignore him instead and go anyway. Maybe you overcome it and come out the big hero, but more likely you die and then what's going to happen? The four of you are close, far too close for my tastes to really be going into combat together, not to mention too young and untrained. If one of you dies, the shock will cripple the other three. Fleur will do that veela transformation thing and go berserk, Luna is honestly too soft to take a loss like that and keep functioning until the danger is over and Harry is - as you've noted yourself - dangerously close to being an amoral sociopath and I'd rather not see what grief does to him."

"He's right, Dora." Harry interjected before the metamorphmagus could think up a counter-argument. "Voldemort wasn't expecting to be found so soon, so he didn't have time to really booby trap the hostages, but he might very well do it next time and we won't be able to afford the risk of splitting up until the fighting is done. Draco's little suicide rush already proves that he's started to think in terms of ambushes instead of direct combat and he's probably also figured out that he can't beat me without getting rid of you first."

She pursed her lips, brows pulled into a mutinous scowl.

She really was the most troublesome of his women. Luna would never go against her family and Fleur, while being naturally inclined towards subverting men's wills with her feminine wiles, would follow his lead because he had thoroughly asserted dominance over her. She still played sexual power games with outsiders - probably to soothe her pride more than anything - and Harry didn't care about that, but within the group she was mindful of the social structure and obedient when it counted.

Dora was another matter entirely. A stubborn, willful woman with ideals and strong opinions. Not the type to try subtly manipulating him in return for validation and withholding it if displeased as was the usual female MO, but someone who would insist on things, challenge his authority and possibly go rogue if denied on an issue she felt strongly enough about.

Could be all that extra testosterone and other male hormones swimming in her body with Fleur regularly asking her to manifest male appendages and messing up her female instincts. Harry hadn't missed that, when the two of them had first started out, Dora's attitude towards other women had been 'not bad, but men are better'. Nowadays she was completely bisexual and apparently had no preference. She'd also become more combative and less playful over time, but Harry couldn't be sure if that was the gender bending or the stress of fighting Voldemort and all the ugly parts of humanity she'd been exposed to over the past few years. Probably a bit of both.

"I had to promise not to go off alone anymore like I did last month." Luna pointed out.

The metamorphmagus gave her a frustrated look.

"Nobody is asking you to agree with everything I do, Dora." Harry spoke up again. "By all means, argue with me all you like, as long as you only do it out of combat." Truth be told, he kind of enjoyed it when she was being argumentative. It made topping her in bed afterwards all the sweeter.

She was silent for a long few seconds before exhaling noisily. "Fine."

"Alright, I've already put together some team training exercises to get you all used to giving and following orders." David said with somewhat forced enthusiasm.

"And I'm increasing our own training time together to about three hours daily." Harry added.

Fleur and Dora groaned. They knew that 'three hours' actually meant 'twelve and a half days'. They didn't like spending so much time in the Hyperbolic Time Chamber because it was rather confining and it completely threw their sense for the passage of time out the window, but Harry was determined to at least have them make their own staves before the next clash against Voldemort.

Harry himself spent even more time in there, no longer concerning himself about night or day in real time. If he kept up this pace, he'd catch up to Fleur in age soon.

September 8, 2018. Ottery St. Catchpole.

Ginny quietly slipped out of the Burrow while Bill was keeping their mother distracted.

The past week had been a little bit… unbearable, mostly due to the Weasley matriarch. Between Ron's injury and Ginny's refusal to reveal what she'd been talking to Harry about, the tension in the Burrow had been thicker than pea soup and not a day passed without shouting or crying, oftentimes both. Ron had pulled through in the end, but it had been a near thing according to the healers and their mother was still prone to going into what could only be called 'frenzied fretting' about 'her poor baby'.

Ginny felt bad for Ron, she really did. He would be on a costly potions regime for the rest of his life once he was released from St. Mungo's, to mitigate the effects of the curses he'd been hit with. Still, she wasn't going to let herself be smothered because of it or emotionally blackmailed by her mother's hysterics and this past week had amply demonstrated that she needed to get away for a while before her own temper snapped.

Usually it wouldn't have been a problem because she'd be at Hogwarts by now, but Hogwarts had been closed for the foreeable future despite Dumbledore's protests. The new DADA teacher had apparently been killed in the fighting - before his job had even properly started, which had to be some kind of record. Combined with the loss of Hagrid, Harry's killing of Snape and the general uproar caused by the attack, Hogwarts closing down for a while was pretty much a foregone conclusion.

So here Ginny was, going to meet with Luna at her old home. They'd been in contact over the past week and now she was going over to stay with her for a while. Bill hadn't liked the thought of her joining the Raven Host, but had respected her freedom to choose and just advised her to get more information before making any final decisions, which dovetailed perfectly with her need to get away from her mother for a while. It was admittedly not very nice or brave of her to just slip away like a thief without telling anyone, but she did not want to deal with the fit her mother would throw if she knew. Bill had agreed to explain it to her… but only after she had given him the cute little sister act. He wasn't eager to be a target for their mother's temper either.

The Rookery wasn't more than ten or so minutes away at a fast walk, so it didn't take her long to arrive.

Luna was already there, wearing a lovely blue sundress and she was… hugging her old home?

Ginny approached cautiously. Yep, Luna was definitely hugging the chess piece themed building.

"Luna?" She ventured bemusedly, staring at the content smile on the blonde's face.

"Hello, Ginny." Luna said, not opening her eyes or moving away from the Rookery.

"What are you doing?" Ginny asked slowly.

"Listening to the stone." Was the serene answer.

"Ah… Does it have a lot to say?"

"Oh, yes." Luna nodded, finally peeling herself away and turning to look at her fully. "It remembers Mummy and Daddy and me. It misses us, which made me feel a little bad for never visiting this old place, but I think it's happy that I found another family to be with."

Ginny really didn't know what to say to that. She knew that magical dwellings could develop strange quirks, sometimes almost seeming to have personalities, but this was taking it a bit far. Maybe she should have expected this though. Luna had always been a little strange.

"Should we get going?" She asked instead of commenting.

"Yes, we should." Luna nodded and held out a small length of rope. "Grab on."

"Ready." Ginny said once she had a firm grip on the obvious portkey.

" Snorkack! "

Spellhaven .

Long distance portkeys suck. Ginny thought sourly as she picked herself off the ground. A regular portkey was bad enough with its 'hook-you-by-the-navel' feeling, but the transition was so quick that it wasn't hard to keep your feet once you got used to it. Not only did a long distance one feel like it yanked harder, but it also felt like it took a while to arrive at the destination, which had made Ginny feel the need to compensate for sense of motion and left her sprawled on the ground.

"That was a pretty good landing for your first time." Luna said cheerfully, much to her irritation, and grabbed her hand. "Come on, I'll show you the room you'll be staying in."

Ginny let herself be led off, finally registering her surroundings.

Everything about this place screamed of wealth, from the wood paneling to the artwork and light fixtures. The youngest Weasley had never felt so out of place in her life and was acutely aware of her own family's financial status.

The feeling didn't abate when they arrived at the room she was to be staying in. The accomodations in Hogwarts had been very luxurious to her eyes, but this place was all silk sheets, super soft carpeting and satin curtains. The room even had a bloody balcony.

"… and just call for Teeny if you need anything." Luna was finishing up. "There's also Kreacher, but he tends to be a bit surly to anyone that isn't us."

"Alright." Ginny nodded, standing akwardly in the middle of the large room.

"Do you want to see the rest of the island?"

"Please." Ginny tried not to sound too relieved as she answered, but she was. There would be time to get used to all this opulence tonight, when it was dark and she was alone.

"Spellweaver, I was not expecting you until tomorrow." The massive magical creature asked with its hoarse voice, an eyebrow arched in question.

"I brought a friend!" Luna beamed. "Kitty, this is Ginny. Ginny, this is Kitty the Sphinx."

"Greetings." The sphinx said, tail lazily flicking through the air.

"Hi!" Ginny squeaked. Her mind was still trying to comprehend what kind of courage Luna had to be capable of calling a sphinx 'Kitty', because she strongly doubted that was a name the sphinx had chosen for herself.

"We play riddle games twice a week." Luna informed her cheerfully. "Or sometimes we play chess or checkers. I know that Harry also comes by every so often to talk history with them. Do you want to join us tomorrow? I could try to find a game that all three of us could play together."

"Sure, I guess." Ginny replied awkwardly. The initial fear had left her at the obvious friendship between Luna and 'Kitty', but she was having a hard time picturing a sphinx playing chess, or any other game really.

"Great!" Luna cheered. "We'll be back tomorrow, Kitty. I still have to show Ginny the rest of the island."

"I will await your arrival." Kitty said simply.

"You said you joined the House quidditch team, so I thought you might like this." Luna was saying.

Ginny stared wistfully at the ongoing game. Yes, she had joined the Ravenclaw quidditch team as a chaser and been damn good at it. She'd even been leaning towards going professional after graduating, but quidditch wouldn't help if she found herself fighting for her life and family again.

For the first time, she felt like she could understand why Harry had been able to drop out of Hogwarts without so much as a glance back. House points, quidditch and good marks on exams were nice if you were aiming for an ordinary life, but Harry had obviously never intended to be ordinary.

She vividly recalled the look of unimpressed contempt he gave people, herself included, who tried to berate him about the House points he had cost Ravenclaw with his belligerent attitude, or to those who tried to talk to him about upcoming quidditch games. It had baffled and frustrated her at the time, but now she had to wonder what had happened to him that he had come into Hogwarts already jaded enough to be like that.

"You can pick up one of the brooms and join a game for fun whenever you want." Luna continued.

"Sure." Ginny nodded. It would make for a good way to unwind at least, and the brooms were top quality so she might join a game just to test one out.

"Come on, I want to show you my little girl next!" Luna squealed happily and grabbed her hand.

Ginny could only gape at her friend in shock. Surely Luna hadn't just implied that she had a daughter?

"This is Marae, she's mine and Harry's and Nymphadora's and Fleur's daughter." Luna beamed.

The towering dryad looked back with a curious expression on her stiff, wooden face.

Ginny wasn't sure if she should be relieved or amazed or what.

"She's not exactly little." She said inanely, staring up at the seven and a half feet of plant woman.

"I think her mother might have been an oak." Luna replied equally inanely.

Marae suddenly stepped forward and reached towards Ginny's face, which made her instinctively flinch back. Thankfully for her peace of mind, the dryad stopped, although the sort of pouty feeling she got from her was very unnerving.

"Don't worry, she just wanted to breastfeed you." Luna explained reassuringly.

"What?" Ginny asked in disbelief.

"See the nectar leaking from her nipples? She likes to share it with everyone." Luna explained some more and then paused. "You should only drink it if you want to have sex though. Part of her is made from Fleur's magic so that stuff is basically diluted liquid Allure and ingesting it will make you very randy."

"Oh." Ginny fidgeted awkwardly. She'd had one or two broom closet adventures last year, but nothing more than heavy snogging and some petting. "Speaking from experience?"

"Oh yes. It's especially useful for one-on-one sex sessions with Harry, otherwise he wears me out too quickly." Luna was obviously not embarrassed at all, which struck her as just a little unfair.

"Is he, uh, that good?" Ginny just knew that she was blushing all the way up to the roots of her hair, but she had been curious about sex for years now and this was too good a chance to pass up.

"Would you like to find out for yourself?" Luna asked guilelessly. "His preferences are for tall-ish, curvy women with dark or blonde hair over petite redheads, but he's not that picky."

"NO!" Ginny burst out in mortal embarrassment, feeling her face heating up several more degrees.

"Are you sure?" Luna peered at her skeptically.

"Yes, I'm sure. I do not want to sleep with Harry."

"Don't worry about that, Harry wouldn't let you get much sleep." Luna remained earnest and helpful.

"Can we please stop talking about this?" Ginny begged.

"Okay."

Marae gently patted her head as if trying to comfort her, which would have been much sweeter if she wasn't also trying to direct her towards a leaking nipple.

After escaping the dryad's amorous attention, the tour continued in a slightly less exciting manner. Luna showed her several other entertainment venues, introduced her to the man that was primarily in charge of training the Raven Host, took her to a late lunch and finished it off with a trip to a veela-run massage parlor.

Ginny had noted with some amazement that Luna was being given a lot of deference. She had been treated almost like royalty, they didn't even pay for their lunch! It had been pretty easy to slip back into comfortable familiarity with the flighty blonde, but the subtle indications of Luna's social status disturbed the illusion that it was just like old times. In many ways even more so than the occasional glimpse of the magical power she now held.

Still, she enjoyed herself for the most part, even if she didn't feel like she belonged. The massage parlor had been particularly awkward and she hadn't really wanted to go at first, but Luna had friends there and insisted.

Luna's friends were apparently more in the category of 'friends' and the sexual overtones were thicker than porridge, but Ginny had to admit that these veela knew their stuff. Despite her discomfort at the thought of some randy veela feeling her up, she'd been nearly forced into relaxation.

That Luna seemed completely comfortable and even promised to invite the masseuses over to the cháteau someday soon was both familiar in how utterly blasé it was and at the same time further reinforced the sense of disconnect between Ginny and her old friend.

Now they were back at the cháteau, so that she could be formally greeted as a guest or something of the like. Ginny didn't really get it, but was willing to go along with it since Luna insisted that it was important.

The first person they ran into was Narcissa Malfoy. Or Black again, Ginny supposed, but it was hard for her to stop thinking of the blonde witch with her cold beauty as anything but a Malfoy.

"Luna, I'm glad you and your guest are here." She said, smiling at them in a way that left Ginny feeling quite nonplussed. She couldn't claim to really know the woman, but it was hard to imagine someone who could smile like that being married to the likes of Lucius Malfoy or raising a little monster like Draco Malfoy.

"What is it, Narcissa?" Luna asked.

"I've had Molly Weasley intermittently floo-calling me for the past three hours, demanding to speak to her daughter. I told her I'd pass on the message but she seems to have convinced herself that we're holding young Ginevra hostage or something and has been getting increasingly hysterical about it."

Ginny wanted to facepalm in embarrassment. Would it kill her mother to stay calm for a change?

"Sorry about that, she's been a bit out of sorts with Ron's injury and has been driving the rest of us crazy with her coddling." She said uncomfortably. "I sort of snuck out without telling her to avoid an argument, but I left behind a note and told Bill everything. I guess she didn't listen."

"I understand what it's like to be worried about your children." Narcissa said tightly, grief bleeding through her controlled mask for a moment.

Ginny belatedly remembered that this woman's son had died not long ago, fighting against the side she was supporting. The papers had not been kind to Draco Malfoy after his death.

"Is Harry back yet?" Luna asked, breaking the awkward silence that was just starting to establish itself.

"No, he's been working longer and longer recently." Narcissa shook her head with slight exasperation. "I suppose I can't complain since he finishes all the necessary paperwork promptly now instead of putting it off like he used to, but I'm worried about him."

"Nymphadora and Fleur were planning to talk to him about that." Luna nodded. "I think I'll sleep with Ginny tonight and leave them to it."

"What?" Ginny asked, startled by the unilateral decision.

"We could talk about girl stuff!" Luna continued enthusiastically.

"Alright…" Ginny accepted cautiously, but also with some anticipation. She did have friends in Hogwarts, but not terribly close ones, always more of a friendly outsider than a core part of any group.

Her group had been Harry and Luna, and she had often wondered at how different things would be if she'd been a little less demanding and a little more accepting back then.

Would she have gone with them when they left? Probably not since they were both orphans and she had her family's opinions to consider, but maybe they wouldn't have lost touch.

"Could you go talk down Molly Weasley first?" Narcissa broke in again.

"Sure!" Luna chirped. "Come on, Ginny."

Ginny wondered once again at the distinct feel that the much older witch had been deferring to the younger.

Talking Molly Weasley down when she was in one of her moods, especially when it was a mood brought about by worry, was never an easy task, but Ginny managed it. Eventually.

"Sorry about that. Mum worries too much." She said sheepishly to Luna, who had been helping in the mounmental task.

"Your mother loves you." Luna said simply.

"Yeah, she does." Ginny nodded. Nobody could ever say otherwise, but she was an adult now and knew that if she didn't fight for her independence, she'd be treated like a child forever. That might have been fine for Ron, whose life goals seemed to include sleeping and eating interspersed with chess or quidditch, but it wasn't fine for her.

"Harry's back." Luna suddenly announced with a bright smile. "Let's go greet him."

"How do you know?" Ginny asked, confused by the sudden knowledge.

"Magic." Was the completely unhelpful answer.

True to Luna's word, they did indeed find Harry in short order.

"Harry!" Luna beamed at him happily.

"Luna." He replied in a tone that Ginny could only call 'hungry'.

That impression was only reinforced when he stepped forward to give the blonde witch a kiss. Not a simple peck on the lips or chaste gesture of affection either, but an aggressive claiming of her mouth with one hand fisted in her hair.

Ginny blushed and looked away, feeling like an intruder.

It felt like an age passed in squirming discomfort before she heard them separate and dared to look again.

Luna had a dazed smile on her face as she looked up at Harry. His hand was still tangled in her hair possessively as he smirked in obvious satisfaction.

Fearing that they might forget she was there, Ginny quietly cleared her throat.

Both sets of eyes swung towards her.

"Ginny." Harry said. His voice was even rougher than before and his green eyes glowed with a hungry light that left her feeling naked and exposed.

"Hi, Harry." She managed to squeak. Flushing even brighter and looking away.

By Merlin this was embarrassing. She wasn't here to resurrect her old crush on him, but there was just something so damned attractive about him and she wasn't even sure what it was. Maybe it was the way his sleeveless shirt displayed his muscular chest and arms, or the stubble on his cheeks that gave him a roguish appearance, or even the sharp smell of fire and metal hanging around him.

"Look at me." He demanded abruptly.

He hadn't raised his voice, but Ginny still jumped slightly in surprise and unthinkingly obeyed. She struggled to keep from trembling, either in fear or something else. The intangible sense of power around him was nearly overwhelming, so much different from Luna's calm presence.

"So, you decided to try for the Raven Host after all." It obviously wasn't a question, but Ginny felt compelled to answer anyway.

"Y-yes." In the privacy of her thoughts, she cursed the small stutter. She was supposed to be an adult now!

"I'll test your resolve tomorrow." He said with a small nod. "Feel free to make yourself at home. Now if you'll excuse me, I need to borrow Luna for a little while."

"But I haven't showed her everything yet." Luna protested.

"She's a big girl, I'm sure she'll manage on her own until I'm finished with you." Harry purred and unceremoniously threw the petite blonde over his shoulder, ignoring her surprised squeal, turned around and started walking away.

Ginny gaped at his retreating back in shock.

"Ginny!" Luna called out urgently from where she was slung. "If you see Fleur or Nymphadora, tell them to come to our bedroom!"

"Okay…" Ginny said hesitantly, wondering if this was normal and if her friend was going to be alright or if she should get help. Luna didn't appear particularly distressed, so it was probably fine… then again, when did Luna ever appear distressed?

Harry disappeared behind a corner, leaving her frazzled, worried, confused and perhaps most importantly, alone.

"You were aura seducing her." Luna said as soon as they were out of Ginny's hearing range.

"I was not, I'm just horny as fuck." Harry retorted. Of course, his aura projected his need and someone with senses as dull as Ginny would just find her interest drawn to everything she found attractive about him without ever realising what was really going on.

"Couldn't you have gone for Narcissa or Septima?" She asked. "It really is quite rude to leave a guest hanging like that."

"I could have, but I wanted you." Harry grunted and adjusted her so that she wouldn't slip off his shoulder.

"Oh, alright then."

The rest of the short trip to the bedroom was made in comfortable silence, except for Luna's cheerful humming.

Harry had to smile at the low level absurdity that seemed to follow Luna around like perfume. He could clearly sense her arousal and anticipation and knew that she was humming to herself as a way to pass the time before they got to the fun, but to a casual observer it would be baffling.

Once they were in the master bedroom, Harry tossed Luna onto the bed in a high arc.

"Wheeee!" She squealed as she flew through the air and giggled as she bounced on the enchanted matress a few times.

Harry quickly cast the specialised spell he'd invented for removing one's shoes and socks, because really, removing those before sex was the worst.

The shirt was next to go, leaving him topless and barefoot.

"You've gotten kind of bulky lately." Luna observed. She was lying on her stomach, head propped up on her elbows and bare feet kicking in the air. She looked irresistibly cute with her pale blue sundress and open smile.

"It happens when you spend a lot of time working a forge." Harry said wryly as he approached the bed.

"I like it." She declared, reaching for his belt. "But you should still take it a bit easier."

"I'll think about it." He said, but didn't really mean it. Voldemort was like the proverbial fly in the soup, spoiling an otherwise good life, and he wanted him gone. His current project should decisively swing the direct combat advantage in his favor and it would give his girls even more protection. That was worth overdoing it a little bit.

Luna hummed in response, not commenting on the obvious evasion. Instead, she seemed completely focused on the task of undoing his belt, her tongue sticking out cutely in a show of concentration.

"Aha!" She proclaimed triumphantly when the belt buckle surrendered to her deft fingers. His pants were tugged down with the enthusiasm of someone opening a Christmas present.

Then she proceeded to giggle and rub her nose into his silk-clad crotch, apparently purely for the pleasure of rubbing against the smooth material.

"Luna…" Harry growled warningly.

She looked up at him with an impish smile, but stopped playing around and pulled down his underwear.

"Hello, Pokey." She cooed at his manhood as it dangled in front of her face. "Did you miss me?"

Harry took a deep breath, put a hand on her head encouragingly and exhaled as she began to gently kiss the tip and run her tongue along the shaft.

He'd spent another nine days in the Hyperbolic Time Chamber just now and his libido was roaring at him to pin her to the bed and take her, but he resisted the impulse. Luna enjoyed taking her time during the foreplay and he liked to accomodate her, however hard it was.

Fortunately she understood that his forbearance had limits and hinged on her not messing around too much.

Her feet were still kicking and it was actually kind of distracting. The action was incongruously childish and jarringly out of sync with what else she was doing.

Then Harry felt magic being shaped, magic that was focused on his family jewels.

Looking down sharply, he met Luna's eyes. The pale blue irises were often inscrutable, but this time the request for permission was clear in them.

That already made him feel like a bit of a hypocrite. How often had he used spells on her or Dora or Fleur during sex without asking? Very often, almost every time even. He had been doing it long before they were even aware of it actually.

So he willed himself to relax and gave Luna another encouraging pat on the head. If he couldn't trust Luna then he couldn't trust anyone.

She beamed at him brightly and went back to work.

Harry's attention this time was split evently between her roving tongue and the magic she was shaping. It was clearly a new spell judging by the painstaking care she was putting into crafting it.

It took a couple of minutes before it was ready and Harry had to restrain himself from disrupting it as it settled on his genitalia like a form-fitting piece of clothing. The spellwork was familiar and something that he himself used often, a sensation amplifier and something to delay release, but adjusted for a man.

"Expertly cast." He praised, smiling in both pride at her progress and amusement at the timing of the teacher moment.

"Thank you." Luna flashed him another smile and then took his manhood into her mouth.

Harry groaned in pleasure, immediately feeling the difference. He'd never sought to increase his own sensations during sex because a significant part of the fun for him was being in control and sensation overload was the opposite of control.

Fleur would have immediately capitalised on the advantage and tried to take charge, even Dora might have thought it was too good an opportunity to pass up, but Luna was just too nice to do that. She knew what he liked and was happy to provide it for him.

At least one of us is nice. Harry thought wryly as he stepped a bit closer to the bed, giving Luna no real choice but to deepthroat him because her position and his hand on her head didn't allow her to easily back up. He'd long since trained her to supress her gag reflex.

Luna accepted the new situation without complaint and started humming some tune as she bobbed her head on his shaft, also to the rhythm of whatever song she was humming oddly enough.

Harry groaned in both pleasure and frustration as the spell held his climax at bay. He pushed harder on Luna's head in an effort to somehow facilitate orgasm, disrupting her rhythm as he forced her to take him all the way to the hilt.

But the orgasm didn't happen and he soon had to let go so that Luna could breathe. She immediately backed up all the way and looked up at him the sort of amused exasperation that one gave to someone that had just done something very silly.

"Don't do that, Harry." She admonished. "The spell won't wear off until I finish my song and you just made me start over."

Harry was both irritated and a little bit amused.

"Alright, get on with it then." He huffed, keeping his hands by his sides.

What followed was the longest few minutes he'd ever experienced outside of temporal shenanigans. Luna's song was something slow and leisurely and he felt on the edge of bursting the whole time. It took a serious effort of will not to grab her head and roughly facefuck her, with the knowledge that it wouldn't help being the only thing that was really stopping him. His jaw hurt from how hard he was clenching it the whole time.

When Luna finished humming her song and the spell broke, his knees nearly buckled from the relief as he unloaded himself down her throat.

When it was over, Harry was panting as he carefully removed his hands from where he'd grabbed Luna's head.

She slowly pulled her mouth off his member, lingering at the head a little while to lick off the last drops of his release and then disconnecting with a loud pop. She looked at him with an expectant grin. "Did you enjoy it?"

"Yes, but I think I'd rather you use this technique sparingly." He replied dryly. The raw physical pleasure had been great, the lack of control not so much.

"Okay." Luna chirped and rolled over onto her back so that she was looking at him upside down.

"My turn to taste you, I think." Harry said with a leering grin, reaching over her to grab the dress by the skirt and pulling it off her in one move.

Harry looked down at his youngest girl and his grin widened in both anticipation and some amusement. The anticipation was for the athletic body that her aerobics routine with Fleur had given her. Her breasts were only modest B-cups on the low end of the scale, making her look quite flat in her current position and her short frame wasn't especially curvaceous, but the lines of her body were well defined and attractive nonetheless. Plus, all those squats had given her an arse that any woman could be proud of.

The amusement was for the animated menagerie of animals cavorting over her lacy white panties.

"I see you've been enchanting your underwear again." He commented.

"I like the tingles." She said, cupping her groin.

"I'll give you tingles." Harry muttered to himself, reaching under her to undo her bra and capturing one of nipples in his mouth.

"Your beard tickles!" Luna giggled.

Harry deliberately rolled his jaw along her skin, grinning at her squeals of laughter.

"You're mean!" She pouted when he relented.

Harry gave her a quick upside down kiss. "Yes. Yes, I am."

He kicked off the pants and underwear that were still pooled around his ankles and settled down on top of her, both of them now having their heads at the foot of the bed.

"Pokey's woken up agaaaaain, and he's poking me agaaaain~." Luna sing-songed impishly, wiggling her underneath him.

"Shush, you." Harry said and kissed her again, deeper this time.

Luna sighed happily into his mouth and ran her small hands across his sides and arms, quite clearly enjoying the muscles there.

Harry slowly moved down her body, laying kisses and little bites over her neck, collar bone, breasts and stomach until he reached her panty-clad pelvic region.

The lacy undergarment had an obvious wet spot on the groin area, giving mute testimony to Luna's arousal. Harry buried his nose there and inhaled deeply.

"You smell as sweet as ever." He said teasingly.

"That's because I eat my fruit and veggies." She informed him sagely.

"Good girl." Harry said and pulled off the panties, nearly rolling his eyes as the animated critters on them tried to 'attack' his fingers.

Once the panties were sent flying across the room - perhaps with slightly too much glee at the fate of the animated beasties 'living' on them - Harry grabbed one of her feet and started kissing his way up her leg from the ankle onwards.

When he returned to her groin he took another deep whiff - she really did smell sweet - and dragged the tip of his tongue across her nether lips, picking up the liquid evidence of her arousal. She tasted as sweet as she smelled, an understated and subtle flavor, but he loved it, just like he loved the little gasps and moans she made in response.

Harry swirled his tongue around her clitoris, expertly applying the original version of the vers same spell that Luna had used on him earlier. Her moans and squirming increased in intensity along with her pleasure.

He kept at it for a while longer, taking immense enjoyment in both the pleasure he was giving her and the power it gave him over her, but he pulled away before she reached her climax.

"No, don't stop." Luna panted, raising her eyes to give him a pleading look.

Harry crawled over her body until they were face-to-face again.

"Shush, you." He repeated and claimed her lips in another deep kiss. Down below, he adjusted the angle of his manhood and slowly slid inside her soaking passage.

Luna gasped against his mouth and clung to him as she was filled.

Once he was all the way in, Harry stilled and smiled into the kiss as he felt her clenching and squirming beneath him, obviously trying to goad him into moving.

But he didn't move, choosing to focus completely on the spiritual side of things instead. His magic pushed into her, reaching towards the core of her being and she reached towards him in turn. The bridge formed between their souls, built strong over years of complete trust and acceptance.

He started moving in a slow rhythm of thrusts and she matched his timing perfectly with the angling of her hips to give him better access. Although they remained distinctly Harry and Luna, they were also connected at too deep a level to be just Harry or just Luna.

Time became a meaningless concept as the physical and spiritual sensations flowed between them in a feedback loop. Neither could have given an accurate estimate of how long it went on before they shuddered in each other's arms as they reached their peak together. Not that it was possible to reach it any way but together when linked so deeply.

When lucidity returned and the spiritual bridge between them started unraveling, Harry rolled off her and lay on his back, taking a deep, satisfied breath.

Luna followed him and cuddled into his side. She grabbed one of his hands and moved it to her back, sighing happily when he took the hint and started gently dragging his fingers over her flushed skin.

The term 'post-coital bliss' took on a whole new meaning when the Joining was factored into the equation and they spent a happy few minutes just pressed together as the threads that had briefly bound their souls together slowly untangled and they each became completely their own person again.

"When the time comes, this is exactly how I want you to give me babies." Luna said dreamily.

"Thinking of babies already?" Harry asked with an arched eyebrow that she couldn't see. Luna was only seventeen.

"Nymphadora and I wouldn't mind waiting a while before having them, but Fleur wants to get pregnant as soon as Tom Riddle is dead. These are her most fertile years after all, even if that's less of an issue with how powerful Pokey is."

"And the three of you want to have kids at the same time." Harry guessed with a resigned tone.

"Yes." Luna confirmed brightly. "It'll be so much fun!"

Harry didn't see where the fun in dealing with three pregnant women at the same time was going to be, but he wasn't going to try talking them out it. He wasn't even going to ask Fleur to wait a while longer, citing her grandmother as an example of there not being any rush. Veela breeding instincts were quite powerful in their early to mid twenties, so it probably wouldn't do any good to try anyway. Plus, he knew that a few extra years weren't going to lessen his aprehension at the concept of fatherhood. He had kind of been hoping that they wouldn't drop him into the deep end right away though, but he really should have known better.

"Did you three discuss how many kids you each wanted?" He asked, too much of a pessimist to think that they'd be satisfied with one each.

"I'd like at least two, a girl and a boy." Luna said brightly. "I want to name them after my mum and dad."

Harry was willing to give his girls a lot of leeway, especially on the subject of naming their potential offspring since he didn't have any particular preferences, but no way in the Nine Hells of Baator, the six hundred and sixty-six pits of the Abyss and Mystra's magically moist cunt was he going to let his son be named Xenophilius. That would be just cruel.

Then he was struck by inspiration and a devious grin grew on his face.

"Why not flip the genders, use you mother's name for a boy and you father's for a girl?" He suggested, grin widening. "Xena and Pan. That way the names keep their Greek roots and honor your parents without being unoriginal."

"That's a great idea, Harry!" Luna enthused and gave him a quick peck on the lips before settling back down.

It was an effort of will for Harry to not burst into cackling laughter.

Pan might have that unfortunate association with Peter Pan, but he chose to ignore that and focus on the Greek god of the same name. The name would even be highly appropriate if the child ended up being anything at all like his mother.

Having a daughter named Xena would be the real kicker though. He could already imagine Dora's expression when she heard about this one and it was going to be even better when he gave her a chakram for a birthday present. Her tenth perhaps? That was old enough to start learning how to toss around a deadly weapon, right? If the edges were magically blunted and cushioned of course, he wasn't completely insane.

Maybe his looming fatherhood was going to have some upsides after all.

They spent a couple of minutes in comfortable silence after that. Luna eventually got a little bored and started fondling his crotch to amuse herself, which quickly resurrected his erection.

Harry's hand drifted down her back and began kneading first one bun and then the other. Then his middle finger slipped down the little valley between them that was commonly known as the butt crack and began probing at her anus.

"Do you want to shag my bum, Harry?" Luna asked, smiling up at him.

"What gave it away?" He asked back mockingly.

"Your finger."

"That was a rhetorical question, Luna."

"Oh. Well, what if I don't want my bum shagged?"

"Nonsense, of course you want your bum shagged."

"That was a rhetorical question, Harry."

"No it wasn't." Harry insisted. "That was the presentation of a hypothetical scenario."

"It was too a rhetorical question!" Luna insisted right back.

"I'm going to rhetorically wreck that sassy little arse of yours!"

Luna squealed and launched herself off the bed with a tinkling laugh.

Harry followed in hot pursuit, but the petite blonde proved canny prey, using her small size to juke around armchairs and jump over couches like a rabbit.

Not for the first time, Harry wondered why the fuck they needed such a huge bedroom and so much extra furniture. However enjoyable it was to fuck on them, that was the only thing anyone ever used it for.

Still, there were only so many evasions Luna could pull of and Harry got his hands around her waist before long.

"Nooo, let me gooo!" Luna demanded through her giggles.

"No chance." Harry denied with a snort and carried the wiggling blonde over to one of the previously mentioned couches that served no function except as extra places to fuck on.

In fact, Harry suspected that this might very well have been their purpose to begin with seeing as the cushioned sides were the perfect height for bending someone over.

Luna continued struggling with as much strength as her wiry limbs allowed, so Harry summoned a pair of handcuffs from the toy chest, pulled her hands behind her back and snapped them on her wrists.

Now having Luna's wiggling mostly under control, Harry summoned another item, this one from the substances cupboard.

Something that looked much like a medical syringe flew to his hand, but it had a rounded oblong tip instead of a thin needle. Within this item was contained one of his more fun creations, a magical lubricant designed to disintegrate any fecal matter and leave one's rectum more slippery than a greased eel. And minty fresh to boot.

Luna began wiggling her rear end ferociously in an attempt to prevent him from inserting the item, but Harry was not deterred. He pressed lightly on the plunger to squirt out a small drip of the lubricant and coat the tip, then he slapped the squirming blond over the cheeks.

Luna jumped slightly in surprise and that was all the time he needed to insert the lube applicator into her anus.

Which was of course the time then the door to the bedroom opened and admitted the other half of their foursome.

Harry looked at the amused faces of Fleur and Dora, down at his jutting erection, at the handcuffed Luna with a bright purple lube syringe sticking out of her butt and concluded that there was only one thing he could possibly say.

"This is exactly what it looks like."

That got him a couple of amused snorts.

"Hello, Nymphadora. Hello, Fleur." Luna greeted brightly, tossing herself over with a small grunt so that she could see them as well. "Did Ginny send you here like I asked her to?"

"She did." Fleur said with a wide smile. "It looks like we've come just in time."

Dora rolled her eyes and muttered something that Harry didn't quite catch, but it sounded a lot like 'thirsty whore'.

"She also said something about you wanting to spend the night with her?" The metamorphmagus said it like a question.

"Yes, that's why I need you to take over shagging Harry for me." Luna said with a nod. "He's just come out of the Hyperbolic Time Chamber and you know how he gets."

"Oh yes, we know." Fleur said huskily, staring at his erection and licking her lips in a way that was probably classified as public indecency in the majority of the world.

"I suppose we could take one for the team." Dora's smirk suggested that this wasn't just a noble sacrifice on her part.

Harry decided to be difficult.

"I don't know." He said thoughtfully, rotating the lube syringe that was still sticking out of Luna's butt. "I kind of had my heart set on reaming Luna's tiny little arse."

Fleur walked up to him sexily, ran her hands over his bare chest and whispered hotly into his ear. "I'll let you ream mine later."

Harry turned to face her and reached up to twist one of her nipples in a way that was just this side of painful. She was only wearing a very thin silk top so it was easy to do.

"Maybe that's the problem." He said with a soft menace over her moan/yelp. "Maybe I don't want you to 'let' me. Maybe I want you to struggle and fight and squirm."

Fleur shuddered and looked at him with a wanton expression, skin flushed and eyes black.

"I can do that." She whispered softly.

Harry stared at the lust pooling in the black-eyed gaze for a few moments longer, rolling her nipple between his fingers the whole time, before wordlessly yanking the lube syringe out of Luna's butt and tossing it off to the side.

"We'll see." He told the veela, deliberately making it sound like a promise. With a wave of his hand, Luna's handcuffs undid themselves.

"Thank you." Luna said beamingly after springing off the couch and gave Fleur a peck on the cheek. "I'll just go take a shower to wash as much of Harry's sperm out of my vagina as I can before I go to Ginny's room."

And with that she skipped off to the attached bathroom. Harry continued to stare into Fleur's eyes as he rolled her nipple between his fingers, wondering how long it would take her to break. Judging by her panting, it might not be too long.

"Should I go find another room to sleep in as well?" Dora asked eventually, stepping closer with her arms crossed. She sounded snarky and Harry tasted a whiff of jealousy in her tone.

Ah, the downsides of managing a harem (and Harry had long since given up on calling it anything else) - the eternal balancing act to make sure you weren't neglecting anyone. Dora was by far the most likely to fall prey to insecurity in this manner despite her outward confidence.

"And leave me alone with just Fleur to play with?" He asked sardonically, nodding his head at the veela. "Just look at her, she's almost ready to cream herself and I've barely done anything."

Harry could almost laugh at how predictable the results of his dig at Fleur's sexual prowess and stamina were.

Dora smirked, obviously both amused by the dig and pacified by the implication that she could do better.

Fleur swelled in outrage, glared at him, then at Dora's smirk and then she grabbed the metamorphmagus by the head and began to vigorously kiss her, clearly giving him the cold shoulder in response to his insult.

Harry merely smirked and enjoyed the show. Too easy.

Fleur was terribly simple to manipulate if you understood her likely reactions and knew how to apply just the right amount of pressure to her pride or vanity to trigger them. It wasn't the first time he'd used her like this to defuse any hints of discontentment from Dora, nor was it likely to be the last.

The two women divested each other of clothing while pointedly ignoring him, no doubt thinking all the while that they were punishing him.

Harry pointedly ignored their pointed ignoring of him and pressed himseld up against Dora's back, inserting his arms between the two women, groping and caressing and sucking hard on the metamorph's neck in that one spot that she liked in particular.

He couldn't go after Fleur or else Dora's previous jealousy would flare right back up. Of course, by not going after Fleur first, he'd increased the veela's indignation. Not only because he was ignoring her 'punishment', but also because he'd usurped her fun while doing it.

Successfully managing a harem would probably be worth a doctoral thesis at a university sociology class, especially when you kept a couple of mistresses on the side. Luna was the only one that never gave him any trouble.

On the other hand, the rewards…

Harry cast a quick spell and the sex swing came alive to grasp at Dora's limbs, hoisting her upwards until she was horizontal with her legs spread apart before him at conveniently head level.

That done, he grabbed Fleur's hand and dragged her towards the hanging metamorph with him, pushing her down on her knees while he focused his own mouth on the glistening lips held open in front of him.

Fleur could have refused the unspoken command, could have turned away with a huff and continued giving him the cold shoulder, but she didn't. She didn't, because she was horny and her instincts worked against that course of action, because she was used to having all of her attempts at taking charge, overt or covert, foiled and was thus habituated into subservience. What she did was obediently start sucking his cock, albeit in a manner that could best be described as 'angrily enthusiastic', but that just made Harry smirk against Dora's sex as he indulged in tasting her. He was going to have fun fucking the anger out of Fleur later, which was the second part of defusing tension within the harem.

Definitely worth a doctoral thesis, juggling all this female ego.

Luna skipped out of the bathroom a few minutes later, dressed in just a bath robe, gave each of them a quick kiss good night and left to join Ginny in one of the guest rooms.

Harry spared a mournful glance at her retreating arse. Ah well, there was always next time.

Luna knocked on the door of Ginny's room, recalling Narcissa's lectures on how it was impolite to just barge into other people's living spaces. Or bathrooms in the case that sparked that lecture in the first place.

She pouted slightly at the memory. She had needed to talk to the older blonde about something and Narcissa could stay in the bath for hours . Maybe she was part mermaid?

The door was opened by a startled looking Ginny.

"Luna?" The redhead said in a questioning tone.

"Ginny." Luna returned cheerily. "Can I come in?"

"Of course." The redhead said quickly and waved her in. "Are you alright?"

"Yes." Luna smiled dreamily. After such a lovely shag and refreshing shower, she was more than alright.

"Oh." Ginny looked nonplussed by her answer. "It's just that… well, Harry looked pretty… um, intense… when he carried you off. And you've got nothing on except a bath robe."

Luna's brows knit together in confusion at Ginny's stumbling words, not sure what she was getting at. "Harry is always intense and I'm wearing a bath robe because I just got out of the shower."

"Oh." Ginny repeated awkwardly. "Could you put on some clothes?"

Luna pouted. Why did everyone want her to put on clothes all the time? "Why?"

"Because it's making me uncomfortable."

Luna considered that for a moment and then nodded. "Okay."

She made her way to the closet and pulled out a set of red silk pajamas.

"Better?" She asked once she was dressed.

"Yes, thank you." Ginny sighed in relief.

"You should change too." Luna advised, holding up a similar set. "We can have a pajama party!"

"Alright…"

Luna cocked her head sideways, wondering why Ginny sounded so reluctant.

"Could you please turn around?" The redhead asked, blushing.

"Fine." Luna said with another pout. She had wanted to see if Ginny groomed her bush at all or if she just let it grow free.

"Alright, I'm done."

Luna turned and immediately glomped the redhead. Then she proceeded to rub herself up against the redhead.

"Luna?!" Ginny exclaimed, blushing tomato red. "What are you doing?"

"Silk rubs." Luna explained sagely and rubbed some more.

"Quit it!" Ginny squirmed around uncomfortably.

Luna looked up at her with a sort of stern exasperation.

"You really need to learn how to enjoy the simple things in life." She said matter-of-factly. Honestly, how could anyone not like silk rubs?

"It's just weird to have you rubbing up against me like that, okay?"

"Bleeding from your vagina every month was weirder, but you got used to it."

Ginny gaped at her, speechless. Luna wondered what that look was about, but dismissed it as one of those silly things that people did.

"Besides, I can see your nipples through the silk. You liked it." She said instead.

Ginny gasped and covered her breasts, causing Luna to tilt her head sideways and blink slowly.

"I do not like girls that way!" Ginny snapped.

"But you do like getting silk rubs!" Luna said brightly.

Ginny groaned and slumped in a defeated posture that simply made no sense .

"Can we stop talking about this?"

"Okay. Do you want to do girl stuff now?"

"What do you mean by 'girl stuff?" Ginny asked with a sigh.

"We could do each other's hair and talk about what we've been doing for the past few years." Luna suggested.

"Sure, I'd like that." Ginny nodded, looking relieved for some reason.

September 9th, 2018.

Ginny stumbled and grabbed onto Harry's arm to keep from falling to the ground as the long-distance portkey deposited them at their destination.

"Sorry." She smiled at him apologetically and righted herself. At least she wasn't eating dirt this time.

"No problem."

"Where are we?" Ginny asked, looking around curiously. They were on a mostly flat plain with a few low hills surrounding them. The ground was dry and dusty, dotted with sparse shrubbery and the rare tree. It reminded her of Egypt and the blistering heat of the late afternoon gave further credence to that feeling.

"Somalia." Harry answered blandly and started walking towards one of the lonesome trees.

"Oh." She'd never heard of it.

"That's on Africa's eastern coast."

Ginny said nothing as she followed along, feeling embarrassed by her lack of knowledge. She knew that Egypt was in Africa, but that was the extent of her knowledge. And even that was only because of that one trip her family had taken there years ago.

"Why did you bring me here?" She asked hesitantly.

"A lot of people ask to join the Raven Host, either for something as ridiculous as prestige or because they want to learn from me and Dora, but we can hardly spare the time to sift through all the chaff in search of those who have what it takes, so I designed a little test." He explained.

"What kind of test?"

"Of resolve." He replied simply and waved his hand at the tree which they had now arrived at. The air around it shimmered and now she could see an unconscious dark-skinned man tied to the trunk with his hands behind his back.

"No." Ginny whispered in horror as it dawned on her exactly what kind of test this was. "No, I can't."

"The Raven Host is a collection of witches and wizards that I feel have what it takes to be trusted in a fight to the death." Harry continued in the bored tones of someone that had given this speech several times already. "This test would normally come after I got some idea of a person's character, but I already know you well enough."

"I can't just murder an innocent man!" Ginny cried.

"Innocent?" Harry sounded amused. "Let me tell you something about Somalia. It has been gripped by one war or another for more than thirty years now, with negligible breaks in the fighting and no end in sight. Currently, the conflict is between the internationally recognised, but quite corrupt, official government on one side and religious lunatics with too many guns and too little sense on the other. Our friend over here was conscripted and indoctrined into the latter group at a young age. Since then he has killed, raped, murdered, kidnapped, tortured, enslaved and been an all around twat. He is many things, but innocent isn't one of them."

Ginny couldn't look at Harry or at the man she'd been brought here to kill. It was taking all of her willpower not to be sick.

"I can show you his memories if you don't believe me." Harry offered, sounding far too casual for her tastes. "Or if you prefer a live demonstration, I can take you to some of the areas that have been ravaged by the war. Mental trauma and moral outrage guaranteed either way."

She could only shake her head silently, wishing that she could sit down somewhere. Her knees were feeling a bit weak.

"it's alright if you can't do it." Harry said reasonably. "Honestly, I would have been very surprised if you could have done it."

"Then why did you even bring me here?" She asked meekly, feeling very relieved but still quite sick.

"Everyone that joins the Raven Host goes through a test like this eventually. Killing is a lot like any other significant thing one does in life - it gets easier with practice. I bring them here and find them a victim that is similar to a Death Eater in behavior and tell them to commit murder, because if you can murder a man then you can definitely kill him in combat. And if you can't bring yourself to murder even someone as horrible as this, then it's best that you don't go into combat at all."

"Oh." Ginny said lamely. "But I don't want to learn how to kill, I just want to learn how to fight in case I have to."

Harry stared at her like she was the most confounding person to have ever lived.

"You know, I think that you actually still haven't truly grasped the realities of the situation." He said thoughtfully.

"What do you mean?" Ginny asked warily.

"Observe." He said simply and waved a hand at the bound man.

His bonds fell apart and he woke up, looking around in confusion for a second before spotting them. His expression turned into something that made Ginny take a step back nervously.

He said something in a language she didn't understand, but it was unmistakeably a demand of some sort. He took a step forward.

Harry pointed the gun at the man and he froze, indecision in his face. Then Harry threw the weapon towards him !

"Harry!" Ginny hissed, watching in wide-eyed alarm as the confusion in the man's face turned to glee.

"Wait for it." Harry said calmly.

The man said something… gloaty.

"Well that's classy." Harry said dryly. "He just said that after he kills me he's going to rape you and keep you around as a sex slave because he likes your hair. Quite the romantic soul we've got here."

Ginny turned horrified eyes on him and was even more sickened when she saw the malicious anticipation on his face grow in response. She instinctively hid behind Harry.

The man said something else and pulled the trigger. Ginny flinched at the clicking sound, but then stared in confusion. She wouldn't claim to know a lot about muggle weapons, but that didn't seem right.

The man was obviously also confused, because he stared at the gun as if it had betrayed him, turned it around in his hand and slid something out of the handle, his perplexed expression growing more profound by the second.

Harry made a grasping gesture and the gun was ripped from the other man's hands. He directed a smirk down at her. "User restricted. You didn't really think I was going to let him have a usable weapon, did you?"

Ginny said nothing, because she actually had thought that.

Then she noticed that the man was starting to move towards them.

"Look out!" She called.

Harry turned the weapon on him and fired it twice. The gun made quiet, obviously magically silenced, bangs and the man fell to the dusty ground with an agonized scream.

Ginny jumped in fright.

"Changed your mind about killing him yet?" Harry asked, as if he hadn't just blown out someone's knees.

Ginny looked at the ground and shook her head. She was now thoroughly convinced that he was indeed a horrible man that probably deserved to die, but she couldn't kill a defenceless person. Maybe if he had still been a threat, but not when he was screaming in pain on the ground.

"Alright then." Harry shrugged and fired the weapon again, cutting off the pained screaming so abruptly that Ginny flinched violently. "Ah, the rush of satisfaction when you remove stupidity from the world. Truly sublime."

"You're a monster." She said quietly, not sure where she was getting the courage to say that to his face. The shock of seeing someone killed right in front of her seemed to have tilted the world sideways.

"What is man if not a monster shackled by the trappings of civilisation?" Harry asked philosophically. "To walk the path of power means looking at some very dark shadows, both in your surroundings and within yourself. Only through self-realisation will you ever find the strength to break the yoke that binds you."

"I don't know if I can do that." Ginny admitted meekly.

"Most people can't. It's easier to live in chains than to take notice of the world's evils. Metaphorical chains, but all the harder to shatter or cast off for their lack of physicality."

"I thought you didn't believe in evil. 'The only good is knowledge, the only evil is ignorance', wasn't that what you said?"

"That quote got around, did it?" Harry looked surprised. "Gossiping Aurors, go figure. But yes, I do believe that. You think our rapey friend here thought himself evil? He didn't, almost nobody does. He and those like him are convinced that anyone that doesn't share in their mass delusion are the evil ones and need to be killed or subjugated by any means necessary. They think themselves virtuous for what they're doing. They cling to their ignorance and false knowledge like a security blanket, terrified of the world's uncaring truths. They will, in fact, actively seek to destroy truth and wisdom wherever they can because their minds and souls are too small to accept them. And this attitude isn't limited to religious zealots, they're just the most extreme example. That is why I say that ignorance is the only true evil. Mankind as a whole is a base and trifling creature, an unthinking animal driven by instinct that will bite anything that frightens it, including itself. If you want to be powerful you have to rise above, and to do that you must know and understand what you are leaving behind."

Ginny kicked at a stone, not looking at either Harry, this killer that she had once called a friend, or the dead body of the unquestionably evil man on the ground nearby. She wanted to go home.

"I was monologuing again, wasn't I?" Harry suddenly asked, frowning. "Honestly, which idiot shoehorned me into the role of a hero in this story? I make a much better villain. At least monologuing would be in the job description then."

Ginny scrunched her eyesbrows in confusion. What the hell was he muttering about?

"Are you sending me back to the Burrow?" She asked, deciding that changing the subject was safer.

"Hmm? No, you're Luna's guest so you can stay as long as you want. You can ask her to supervise visits to our library if you want to learn a few spells, you can train with Dora and the Raven Host recruits if you want to learn how to fight, you can even go to Fleur if you want some experienced help in exploring your sexuality, but only come to me if you want to leave behind the world of comfortable lies."

September 17th, 2018. Spellhaven.

"Won't you please forgive me?" Fleur asked with a pout, projecting so much feminine cuteness that almost any man would buckle and immediately apologise for upsetting her, even if she was actually the one at fault.

Unfortunately for her, Etal was a cold-blooded reptile and not susceptible to the blatant emotional manipulation Fleur was attempting. He hissed at her in a most aggrieved manner and settled down even further around Tonks' neck.

"I think that might have been more effective if you'd let go of the staff first." The metamorphmagus observed dryly.

Fleur instinctively gripped the aforementioned staff tighter. It was six feet of ivory-pale wood, the shaft smooth and the top shaped into a duo of transformed veela craddling a solar focusing crystal between their wings. The core was a lock of hair from her grandmother, just like her wand, which was half the reason for Etal's sulking. She had simply felt a greater connection to her veela nature than to the quetzalcoatl.

"We still love you just as much, Etal, but not everyone can resonate with your feathers." Luna tried, holding her own pale white staff. Hers was shorter to accomodate her small height and had a shaft adorned with playful swirls. The top was shaped like the head of a unicorn, with the solar focusing crystal acting as the horn. Etal's feathers hadn't felt quite right to her either, so she had gone to the Forbidden Forest to ask a unicorn mare if she would part with a few tail hairs. This was the other half of the reason for Etal's sulking.

Luna's staff reminded Harry that he should look into acquiring some unicorns to settle on the island, even if it would make a certain quetzalcoatl sulk even more.

Speaking of which… Etal obstinately stuck his head into Tonks' shirt.

"I guess he has a new favorite." Harry commented dryly, amused by all this drama that the quetzalcoatl was causing. The feathered serpent was taking the fact that Luna and Fleur chose other cores for their staves entirely too personally.

"I guess so." Tonks snickered, reaching up to run her hands along the smooth scales. Her own staff was a slightly lighter red than Harry's and of a simpler design, being mostly smooth and unadorned except for the head, which was formed into an open-mouthed quetzalcoatl holding a solar focusing crystal in its teeth. Unlike the other two girls, she had felt a good connection with Etal's feathers and decided to use one. That currently made her his favorite.

Their gathering was interrupted as Narcissa swept into the room.

"What is it?" Harry asked immediately. There was no meeting scheduled with Narcissa right now, so this had to be at least of mild urgency.

"A letter from Adrastia Zabini." The youngest Black sister said without preamble. "She says that she has something important to talk to you about."

"That seems… out of character?" Tonks ventured questioningly.

"It is, she's never serious when she doesn't have to be." Harry agreed.