Chapter 25

Day of the meeting with Fudge.

Harry woke up and let out a discontent sigh. He was wedged between Fleur and Luna and would have liked to stay there, but his left arm was sore and he needed to relieve his bladder.

It wasn't dawn yet, so both blondes were sleeping like the dead and he was able to extricate himself without much difficulty. The girls only let out a few sleepy grumbles before closing the distance between them in search of body heat.

Smiling wryly, Harry pulled the covers over them and padded over to the bathroom without bothering to put on any clothes. It was amazing how quickly your sense of modesty could get eroded around a veela that absolutely refused to sleep anything but naked and a pouting Luna who didn't understand why she should wear pajamas if Fleur didn't. It hadn't taken long before he ended up foregoing clothing as well.

Once he came back, he no longer felt like returning to bed, so he got dressed in a pair of shorts and T-shirt.

"Teeny, could you please bring me my trainers?" He whispered, not wanting to wake the two women.

The requested footwear appeared in front of him with a barely any sound.

"Thank you, you're the best." He whispered again, grinning at the flash of happiness his words produced. Heh, house elves.

Now suitably attired, Harry walked to the balcony that the master bedroom had attached to it, smiling at the still dark sky. Then he vaulted over the railing with a grin. Jumping from the second floor was usually a good way to break your legs, or at least hurt them a lot, but the Slowfall spell made sure he impacted with only enough force to slightly bend his knees.

A short stretching session later, he took off at a run. He wasn't the most enthusiastic exerciser, but he liked the benefits and so did it anyway. Running was admittedly new, but he figured that if he was going to exercise then he might as well do this too. He had read many a warning about skipping leg day and decided to heed them.

Fleur had her own exercise routine, somewhat to his surprise as he had never seen her doing it while at Hogwarts. Apparently exercise was a common veela activity, driven largely by inborn vanity. Even the laziest veela would rather sweat for hours at a time than get even slightly chubby. Fat shaming was a way of life for them if Fleur's overall attitude when talking about it was any clue.

Harry had gotten a chuckle out of learning that. Veela fit so many 'appearance obsessed blonde' stereotypes that it was really quite hilarious, except for the parts where they could set you on fire if they got angry.

That she liked to do her own routine later in the day and didn't want to join him was actually a relief to Harry. Fleur might be living with him now, but he wouldn't have wanted to spend every waking moment with her.

Around half an hour later, he was back under his balcony, breathing hard and sweating. Running sucked. Good thing he had runes that would massively shorten the amount of time it would take for his body to get used to the new form of exertion. He wasn't sure if he could have been arsed to do this the slow way.

Looking upwards contemplatively, Harry shrugged, applied a Featherweight spell to himself and jumped as hard as he could. His now very low weight allowed him to propel himself quite a bit higher than necessary and it took some flailing and some more magical assistance to deposit him safely back on the balcony. Good concept, but needs work.

Luna and Fleur were awake by now, which he had expected since the sun was up. The enthusiastic makeout session they were currently engaged in was less expected, but not any kind of shock. He'd known that the two of them got up to this sort of thing sometimes, though he'd never seen it himself. It was hot, really hot and he couldn't object without being the worst sort of hypocrite.

"Good morning." He said, causing the two girls to break their liplock and return his greeting.

"Did you enjoy your run?" Luna asked, seeing his clothes.

"Not really." He answered wryly. "Did you enjoy your kissing?"

"Mhm." She nodded happily. "Fleur is a very good kisser."

"I know." Harry grinned back.

"Why don't you come over 'ere zen." The veela in question purred invitingly.

"Gotta finish my workout first." He replied and took off everything except his underwear. The sweaty clothes vanished instantly, confiscated by the cleanliness obsessed Potter elf.

Fleur pouted at the rejection. Giving him a blowjob first thing in the morning had become a habit that she didn't like having disrupted. His magically potent seed was orders of magnitude superior to even the best coffee or tea in the world as a way to start the day. For a veela at least.

Harry paid no heed to her pout and quickly got into position to do some push-ups. Then he frowned at the sudden weight on his back.

"Luna, why are you on my back?"

"I'm helping." She explained serenely. Then she licked him between the shoulder blades and giggled. "Mmmm, salty."

Harry shook his head and determinedly ignored the feeling of her small breasts pressing into him. He could have told her to get off, but even he was not immune to the caveman urge to show off in front of his women.

Doing push-ups with someone on your back was predictably a lot harder than it was without the extra weight, even if Luna wasn't exactly heavy. The fact that her tongue would occasionally dart out of her mouth and lick up some sweat with more giggles or that her hands were a bit adventurous wasn't helping.

"Are you done now?" Fleur asked huskily once he stopped, licking her lips suggestively. Watching his muscles flex hadn't done anything to cool her off.

Harry suppressed a smirk. He had plans for the horny veela, plans that involved frustrating her as much as possible. He had dodged having sex with her since they got back from Hogwarts for that very reason. "No, I still have to do some sit-ups."

Fleur pouted again, but remained undeterred. "I can 'old your feet and count zen."

"Alright." Harry agreed, though privately detemining to stick his feet to the floor with magic anyway since he doubted she could actually keep him still.

Fleur, still naked, pressed her hands to his feet as he started on the sit-ups, staring avariciously at the obviously erect member hidden by his underwear.

"Ten." She purred at the appropriate time, holding her arms in such a way that it emphasized her breasts.

"Twenty."

Luna was content to just watch from the side for a while, but she eventually moved behind Fleur and examined the veela's naked bum. This was the first time she got to see it displayed quite so blatantly. She judged it to be a very nice bum, firm and round. Twisting around to look at her own, Luna frowned. Her own didn't seem nearly as good. Just to make sure, she gave it a good squeeze and then did the same to Fleur's in order to make a comparison. Yes, there was no doubt about it. Fleur had the better bum. Hers was much flabbier.

Fleur jumped slightly at the unexpected grope and twisted her head around to look at Luna. "What was zat for?"

"You have a very nice bum." Luna stated matter-of-factly.

" Merci ." Fleur said, bemused both by the sudden compliment and the delivery of it.

"How do I get a bum like that?"

Fleur smiled at the younger girl. "I can show you later today." It would be nice to share her aerobics routine with someone like she had done with her mother at home.

"We may need to get you some exercise clothes if you're planning to join Fleur." Harry interjected, having been greatly amused by Luna's clinical arse assessment .

"Are we going to go see Bryanna and Tiana?" Luna asked with a smile. She would get to see those two again as well as start getting a firm bum. It was going to be a good day.

"That would be for the best." Harry replied with a nod, stopping his sit-ups and getting up to stretch a bit. He wasn't sure if they made exercise clothes, but it shouldn't be too hard for them.

"I would like to come as well." Fleur said quickly. She wanted to meet these friends of Harry's. Not only would they be going to Black Island together, but she also recognized the names as belonging to his previous sexual partners.

"Alright." Harry shrugged and started walking towards the bathroom.

"Where are you going?" Fleur asked, quickly standing up. She was not going to miss out on her morning treat.

"To take a shower, I stink." He replied blithely, not stopping or turning around. There was an unseen grin on his face though, knowing that Fleur had expected some fun to be had.

Fleur stared after him with her mouth open and then marched after him with determination. The shower was big enough for two people.

Luna skipped after them. The shower was big enough for three people.

This shower is big enough for six people. Six fat people. Harry estimated.

He had no idea why anyone would need a shower this big, but he chalked it up to the typical mindset of rich people about how everything needed to be unnecessarily big. Harry wasn't impressed enough with his own family to forget that the Potters had probably been just as cunty as any other purebloods at some point. His old man wouldn't have been a pureblood if they hadn't cared about 'maintaining the purity of their bloodline'.

The cuntiness level of his family aside, he supposed he could understand the size of the shower. It really was quite convenient to be have it so big and space expansion charms were good at making things convenient. Especially when you didn't have to worry about plumbing. Water Conjuration enchantment on the the nozzles and water Vanishing on the drain and voilà, shower. In theory, even a below average wizard would make a passable plumber. In theory.

"Is it normal for a penis to twitch like that?" Luna asked inquisitively, staring at the only such organ currently present. She'd seen it before of course, but Harry always tried to hide it from her so this was the first time she had a chance to really examine it.

"Sometimes." Fleur answered, amused.

Harry manfully ignored them and wondered how it had come to this, sharing a shower with two girls and letting them ogle his junk, especially since one of these two girls was his fourteen-year-old best friend.

Ah yes, snowballing. He'd let Luna get away with a lot of things because he wanted to be there for her after the loss of her father and she'd gotten used to sleeping in his bed and bathing with him. He'd managed to keep things platonic despite Luna's obvious curiousity, but then Fleur had come into the picture. The hypersexual veela had encouraged Luna's interest from day one and completely wrecked any chance of things staying platonic. As it was, Harry had pretty much resigned himself to the idea of things taking a sexual turn with Luna as soon as she hit sixteen and the promise to her father expired. It wasn't that he was repulsed by the thought of sleeping with her, far from it, but Luna was just special. Fleur had already talked to him about it and encouraged him to accept her advances.

He still found the harem idea strange, but he had to admit that he was more comfortable with multiple casual sexual partners than a single serious one. Raven Animagus leanings towards monogamy or not, he wasn't particularly enthusiastic about committing to anyone. Though he also wasn't ruling out the possibility that the Joining was playing a part in making things comfortable.

"It's cute." Luna declared.

Harry could practically feel his masculinity dropping at Fleur's giggling in response to that one.

"It is not cute." He asserted.

"But just look at it, it's like a puppy!" Luna insisted.

Fleur slapped a hand over her mouth to contain her laughter, though her eyes still twinkled merrily.

Harry shot her a look. Not really an annoyed look, because it was impossible to be truly annoyed at Luna's strangely innocent sexuality, but a Look.

"I am sorry." Fleur apologised, though it came off as rather insincere thanks to the sparkle in her eye and the smile on her face.

"I bet you are." Harry grumbled, not genuinely upset. He was well used to Luna's comments after all.

"Let me make it up to you." Fleur said invitingly, stepping closer and going in for a kiss.

Luna watched with a smile as it happened, holding back a giggle as Harry's penis bounced against Fleur's hip.

"I want a kiss too!" She piped up as soon as they stopped.

Harry looked over at his first and best friend with some degree of consternation, pursing his lips thoughtfully. He knew that Luna wouldn't push if he said no nor would she be upset, but she clearly wanted this and would just ask for it again later.

A quick glance towards the third shower occupant only got him a mischievous smile and a 'get on with it' gesture. Figures.

With a mental shrug, Harry decided to just do it. Luna knew what she wanted and he had no tangible objection to it really. Even the standard 'I don't want to ruin our friendship' argument wasn't any good here. Luna's brain simply didn't work that way. To her, there was no difference between 'best friend' and 'spouse', with sex just being a fun thing that people did with each other. Wrapping his head around that one had taken quite a while.

"Alright, come over here." He said, getting a beaming smile from her.

Harry was oddly nervous about kissing his best friend for the first time, but she had no such restraint and practically jumped into his arms.

Fleur smiled gleefully from where she was watching. She hadn't expected to loosen Harry up enough for this until they got to Black Island.

And speaking of loosening up, this would be the perfect time to extract her morning treat.

Harry tensed momentarily when he felt a hot mouth envelop his manhood, but relaxed quickly. He had been intending to dodge Fleur's advances for another day, but he wasn't going to push her off now that she'd started. Besides, Luna didn't seem willing to break the kiss any time soon.

"Here eez your juice, my lord." Fleur said as she set a glass of orange juice in front of Harry, leaning down to say it into his ear seductively.

"Thank you, Fleur." Harry said, smiling at her. That maid outfit really did look great on her.

"Eet eez my pleasure to serve you, my lord." Fleur said in the same seductive, breathy tone and sat down next to him. This kind of servile behavior was a bit humiliating, but a bet was a bet and there was only one day left anyway. It helped that Luna was sitting on his other side dressed in an identical - if smaller - maid uniform, happily munching on a piece of toast.

Sirius watched all of this with vast amounts of pride, amusement and envy. Not even he could claim to have had a veela dressed as a sexy French maid obeying his every command. James would have had a tear in his eye if he could see this… then they would all have lumps on their heads when Lily saw it. But it would have been totally worth it.

Penny did her best to ignore it altogether. The whole thing was embarrassing.

"So, meeting with Fudge today." Sirius said out of the blue. "Any idea what he wants?"

Harry shrugged. "Probably panicking without his good friend Lucius to do his thinking for him."

Sirius snickered, that sounded about right.

"I imagine that he wants to make me a visible ally to boost his popularity or something like that."

"Are you planning to go along with it?"

Harry shrugged again, this time more pensively. "I'm not sure. I'd have to see what he has to say first, though I'd prefer to just distance myself from politics entirely."

"You could influence him to start pulling this country out of the Dark Ages." Penny suggested. "Given what you've said about him before, he doesn't seem hard to convince."

Harry nodded with a sigh. That was true, Fudge's only agenda seemed to be staying Minister of Magic, which made him laughably easy to manipulate.

"I suppose I could do that, but I'm not sure I want to be connected to that bumbling idiot. He seems like the type to jump from one mess to another and then beg other people to help him fix it."

"It was just a thought." Penny shrugged. "You could do a lot of good with the power you have."

Harry knew that he could. The problem was that he didn't want to . Trying to fix the shithole that was the magical realm of the United Kingdom would bog him down with politics and keep him from doing what he really wanted to.

But he could see Penny's perspective. She might have gotten lucky with this job he'd given her, but that was exactly the problem, it had all been down to luck. He knew that it must grate on her that Britain was so blatantly bigoted. She would likely be disgruntled if he did nothing to at least try fixing it.

"So," Sirius said loudly into the slightly uncomfortable silence that had descended. "any thoughts on how you're going to handle my dear cousin Narcissa?"

"Nope." Harry said adroitly. He had no idea whatsoever.

Sirius was quiet for a moment and then…"You're thinking of boinking her aren't you?"

Harry's next bite of food almost went down the wrong pipe, but he was fortunately not the only one as Penny and Fleur seemed equally surprised. "What?"

"She might be an annoying, snobby bitch, but there's no denying that Cissy is a hot piece of arse. I wanted to bone her too before I learned why incest is bad." Sirius explained.

That was better than having his godfather guess the contents of the conversation between him and Adrastia, Harry thought.

Unsure of how to respond, he retreated into sarcasm. "Well I'm certainly thinking about it now . And I doubt a little thing like familial relations would have stopped you from humping a woman."

"Don't be so crass, Harry." Sirius said sternly. "I do not 'hump' women, I escort them through the gates of paradise."

"Of course you do, that's why they're lining up at the front door for you."

"I'd never be so rude as to make them wait by the door when there's plenty of Sirius to go around."

"I see senility is already setting in. Penny, please look for a good retirement home that I can dump him into when the rest of his mind goes."

"Sure thing."

"A kennel will also work in a pinch."

"Noted."

"Or I suppose we could just sell him to the Chinese, a big dog like that would probably feed quite a lot of them."

"See if I offer to take either of you with me to the Holyhead Harpies game after this." Sirius sulked.

"Not interested." Two voices said in unison.

"But it's the Harpies!" Sirius protested, looking more towards his godson than Penny. "The all female quidditch team! And I've got VIP tickets that will let us meet with them after the game."

"Are they going to invite us to an after game orgy?"

"Maybe?" Sirius said, his tone conveying zero confidence in that outcome.

"Well I wouldn't want to steal all the fun if they do." Harry drolled. "Have to throw my dogfather the odd bone."

"You're all heart." Sirius retorted sarcastically.

"I know." Harry said smugly, turning his head to look at the amused veela sitting at his side. "Fleur, could you please pass me that plate of mangoes over there?"

Fleur managed to put a sultry expression on her face instead of rolling her eyes in exasperation. Not only could he summon it wandlessly, but he had also asked the house elves not to do it, just so that he could make her do it. "Of course, my lord."

Harry stared shamelessly at the sexy rump in his face as Fleur bent over while reaching for the requested plate and exchanged a grin with his godfather.

Harry stepped out of the visitor's entrance to the Ministry of magic and almost immediately had to supress the amusement he was feeling.

As soon as he'd been noticed, the atmosphere changed. People muttered, some even gasped, but all scampered out of his way as if he would start throwing fireballs at the slightest provocation.

This trend continued all the way to the Minister's office. The wizard manning the wand registration desk stammered and waved him through without doing his job, everyone suddenly needed to get off the lift when he entered and on every floor the ones who had been intending to get on took one look at him and quickly backpedalled.

Harry would have been annoyed if it wasn't so damn funny. Having the lift to himself was also pretty sweet.

"Hello, I'm here to see the Minister." He said politely to Fudge's pretty secretary, who was looking at him a tad wide eyed.

"Of course, go right ahead, Lord Potter." She replied, flashing him a nervous but wide smile.

"Thank you."

Harry's lips twitched into a smile as he walked past her. That one had some spine in her, more than the ninnies he'd encountered so far anyway.

The first thing he saw when he opened the door to Fudge's office was the Minister of Magic himself, pacing nervously.

"Harry!" The man exclaimed and rushed to shake his hand. "So glad you could make it."

"Cornelius." Harry said back, inwardly amused at how terrible the man was at hiding his emotions. Worst. Politician. Ever.

"Please have a seat. Would you like something to drink?" Fudge went on, just as nervously.

"No thanks, I'm good." Harry replied, sitting down in the offered chair. "What did you want to talk to me about?"

"Oh, errm, yes." The Minister stammered, thrown off by the 'straight to the point' approach. Lucius had never been so direct. Ah, of course! Lucius! "I just wanted to see how you were doing after that bad business with Lucius the other day. I'd never have thought him capable of assassination."

Harry couldn't help raising a sardonic eyebrow, wondering if they were even talking about the same Lucius. Malfoy had practically oozed shady vibes. "People can surprise you like that."

Fudge seemed oblivious to the irony in his tone, as per usual. He sighed in a faux weary manner, as if some great burden lay upon his shoulders. "Very true, I hadn't expected it of Dolores either."

Harry had to resist a snort this time. Now there was a woman that was nothing but ooze. "Don't be too hard on yourself, Cornelius, you can't be expected to know everything." Although you definitely should have known this.

The Minister was once again deaf to the irony. "You're right of course and at least this mess is over with now."

I can't believe he's this pliable . Harry thought to himself in disbelief. Fudge had always been a puny wizard, but his aura was shifting around like a jellyfish in a shallow ocean. He would go along with literally anything that benefited him as long as it was in his comfort zone. "Yes, good thing that. I can get on with my life now."

Fudge fidgeted nervously before speaking and then threw out a very unsubtle fishing line. "Is there any particular goal you've set for yourself now that you're an adult?"

"Not really." Harry shrugged. "Sirius and I, as well as a few others, are going on a vacation for the summer and after that I'm intending to do a little travelling. See the world, you know?"

"A great thing, to broaden your horizons." Fudge said effusively and then went back to nervousness. "But, err, you will still spend some time in Britain, won't you?"

"Probably, why do you ask?"

"Well, there is an annual celebration of your victory over You-Know-Who held on Halloween and I was hoping that you would attend this year."

Fudge looked so hopeful that Harry might have even felt bad about his next words if he had actually liked the guy. "I'm not usually one for parties and I can't say that one celebrating my parents' murder appeals to me…"

The Minister seemed to be attempting both a mortified pallor and an embarrassed flush at the same time. The end result was sort of blue.

"… but I'll think about it. You can rest assured that I'll give you my decision with time to spare." Much as he would like to flatly refuse attendance, he was too cautious to do it, particularly with Adrastia's warning still fresh in his mind. Better to hedge his bets as much as possible.

Fudge seemed to regain his ability to breathe upon seeing that he hadn't inadvertently offended his guest.

"Thank you, Harry, I appreciate that." He said, taking out a handkerchief and dabbing at the sweat on his forehead.

"Think nothing of it, Cornelius." Harry replied, his thoughts already elsewhere.

Adrastia was right. Again. He really was going to need a fucking social secretary.

Fleur walked through the door of Harry's bedroom with a feeling of anticipation in her gut.

"You wanted to see me, my lord?" She asked breathily, clasping her arms together so that her breasts were pushed even further up. She was inwardly cringing at her own behavior, but at least it was the last day of the bet.

"Indeed I did." He sounded amused, the smug bastard. "How have you enjoyed working for me, Fleur?"

"Eet 'as been an honor, my lord." She answered vapidly, holding back the umpteenth eyeroll of the past three days. The only thing that made it bearable was the knowledge that she would have made him act just as ridiculous if she had been the winner. At least he hadn't insisted that she stay in character 24/7, something that she might have done.

"Having all your needs taken care of?"

No, she was not having all her needs taken care of! She'd been expecting some roleplay and him to be bending her over every piece of furniture in the manor during this bet, but he'd been avoiding everything except the occasional blowjob, which really wasn't helping her libido at all. The lack of sex was frustrating in the extreme.

Not that she was going to throw aside her pride and admit that.

" Oui, I am content."

"Good, good." He nodded, looking neither surprised nor put off at her answer. "I have just one last thing I need you to do before your contract expires."

"Anyzzing for you, my lord." Fleur breathed seductively.

He grinned slightly, obviously enjoying himself. "I need a second opinion on the quality of my sheets, so if you could please take your clothes off and lie down on the bed for me that would be grand."

"Right away, my lord." Fleur agreed as if there was nothing strange about the request. This was an obvious and rather clumsy lead up to sex, but she was so horny after three days of teasing that she didn't even care.

She undressed with unecessary sexuality that she was gratified to note had his full attention and then spread herself across the bed sensually.

"Zey are wonderful sheets." She declared and continued in a faux worried manner. "I 'ope my lord is not planning to take advantage of me."

Harry smirked at her and snapped his fingers. Immediately, thick bands of leather wrapped around her wrists and pulled her arms tighly towards the sides of the bed.

"I'm afraid that's exactly what I'm planning to do." He said over her surprised gasp.

Fleur tugged at her bindings but found them to be far too strong to break, probably enchanted then. Well, her preference as far as bondage went was on the other end of the spectrum, but she couldn't protest since the bet was still active. Besides, any sex was better than no sex and he hadn't gotten her to admit that she wanted it, so it was still a win in her book.

"Please be gentle with me." She said sultrily.

"Oh, I will." He replied. Fleur wasn't sure if she liked that gleam in his eye.

True to his words, he was very gentle, taking hold of her left foot and trailing a line of kisses up her leg. Fleur felt herself moistening in anticipation as his lips passed her thigh and she closed her eyes, expecting to feel them on her lips.

He was almost there when he backed off and took hold of her right foot, repeating the process there. To her irritation, he once again backed off just before he reached the out edges of her labia.

"Why so angry?" He asked innocently in response to her glare.

"Nozzing." She huffed, wishing that she could turn her back to him. Staring at the ceiling would have to do.

Harry chuckled and started undressing, again drawing her eyes towards him. The sight of his erect manhood had her clenching as if it was already buried inside her.

Once he was fully naked, he crawled back on the bed and went immediately for the aching spot between her legs, making Fleur arch towards him with a happy sigh as he slowly ran his tongue over her sensitive bits. While her favorite part of him was definitely dangling from between his legs, she was also very impressed by what he could do with his tongue. Most men didn't know how to do anything but talk with it.

He stopped far too soon for her tastes, but she felt the familiar tingle of his magic settling over her clitoris. He was spoiling her with all these pleasure enhancing spells he knew. He moved over her and she expected to feel the tip of his member prodding at her entrance, only to frown in confusion as she felt him reach between them and place it lengthwise along it. What was he up to now?

Something in her eyes must have reflected her confusion because he looked amused. Instead of answering the unspoken question, he laid a gentle kiss on her lips. Fleur returned it eagerly, tasting herself on his tongue.

"Veela are an interesting species." Harry suddenly spoke. "So similar to humans, and yet so different."

"'Arry?" She questioned, wondering what he was up to.

"I've been fascinated by your transformation ever since the first time I saw it." He continued.

Fleur understood where he was going with this now and her eyes widened.

"'Arry, no. Don't do zis." She pleaded. She remembered their first time and how torturous his teasing had been. The raw need that had almost robbed her of thought. It wasn't the first time she had transformed into the avian form, but it had been the most intense by far and the transformation hadn't even been complete. She was honestly frightened of what she would do in that lust maddened state if fully transformed.

"Sorry, Fleur, but I just gotta know." He replied with a grin and began the teasing.

Fleur tried to resist, but it was useless. The kisses along her neck and collarbone, the little nibbles and teases of her nipples, the feel of him throbbing against her core, the tingle of his magic around her clitoris. She couldn't deny her nature and her self-control started to fray.

It got worse when the fuzz started cropping up on her body, as it only enhanced the sensation. Soon after that her vision sharpened and she knew that her eyes must be black as coal. The fuzz thickened and covered her whole body soon after that, followed by the first golden feathers. Her voice had long since turned into a shrill cry by the time the talons started growing on her fingers. She didn't even hesitate in trying to use them to cut through her bindings, but they were toughened by spells and resisted her efforts easily.

Her arms ached from her constant attempts to yank them free, but she didn't feel it. Her legs were unbound and she kicked them furiously in an attempt to get free and mate with the wizard on top of her. When that failed, she blasted him with her Allure at a strength that she could never muster in normal circumstances. And when that failed, she released a piercing shriek of frustration that rattled the walls.

Fleur had lost herself to her instincts by the time that her face started to elongate and transform into a beak. Her arms were completely obscured by golden feathers.

Harry rose up to a kneeling position and grabbed at her flailing legs, holding them still with little effort, though still more than he would have expected given their respective positions and body types. Her magic was going wild and his runes were stinging painfully, but he still held back on penetrating her, wanting to see how far this would go.

He had to quickly throw his own will against hers when he felt flames starting to form and decided that perhaps pushing her any further would be unwise.

Still holding her taloned legs, he reared back and speared himself into her soaked passage in a single motion, grunting in surprise at the furnace he found in there. He knew she'd be hot, but this was crazy.

The transformed Fleur shrieked again at being suddenly filled, struggling even harder now in an attempt to take control.

Harry didn't last long, her heat and tightness being completely ridiculous right now. He emptied himself into her with a loud groan that was completely overshadowed by Fleur's final triumphant shriek.

Harry had long since noted that Fleur seemed to be better lubricated than most human women and small squirts of fluid were common during orgasm, but this time she might as well be a fountain. The spray was so forceful that it reached even over his head and forced him to shut his eyes as he was drenched.

Fleur's transformation slowly receded, leaving behind a panting veela that was shuddering in exhaustion.

Harry quickly released her bindings and laid himself over her, sending out his magic to perform the Joining. Her had held back on it before, not wanting it to interfere.

" Bâtard . " Fleur gasped out, shakily wrapping her arms and legs around him.

"Sorry, but I've been fantasizing about doing that ever since the first time." Harry said with an unapologetic grin.

Fleur murmured something about revenge but nodded off before she could finish the sentence. Having his weight on her, his potent seed in her and the soothing darkness of his magic over hers was too much in addition to her exhaustion. She was fast asleep in moments.

Harry looked at the sleeping veela in amusement and turned them around so that she was laying on his chest. He wasn't really that tired yet, but he supposed he owed her a cuddle after forcing her to transform like that.

Narcissa walked up to the door of Number 12 Grimmauld Place and took a fortifying breath. Her childhood home had never looked so intimidating before.

She was wearing her best robes and was as prepared as she could be. This had to go right, it just had to.

She knocked on the door.

To her surprise a familiar face answered. A familiar face wearing decidedly unfamiliar clothing.

"Kreacher?" She blurted out. What in the world was the Black elf doing dressed in what looked like a miniature suit?

"Mistress Narcissa." The old house elf said in greeting. "The Master is expecting you."

"Take me to him then." She ordered imperiously.

The house elf said nothing and simply started walking deeper into the old house, miffing her slightly but she followed anyway. As they passed through several rooms, Narcissa noticed that the house seemed… emptier. Was Potter refurnishing?

Then they came upon an eyesore that she simply couldn't keep quiet about. "What is that ?"

"A brick wall." Kreacher answered blandly.

"Don't get clever with me, elf." Narcissa snapped. "What is a brick wall doing there?"

"Master Harry ordered it built so that Mistress Walburga's portrait would not be seen or heard anymore."

Yes, Narcissa could imagine that Aunt Walburga wouldn't be too happy about a half blood and her blood traitor son using Grimmauld Place. With how loud the woman could be, it was no wonder that Potter wouldn't want to listen to her.

It wasn't much longer before they arrived in the room where her host was waiting for her. He didn't rise from his seat to greet her, not that he was obligated to, but it was slightly rude. It also told Narcissa that she was entering negotiations with a disadvantage, but she'd already known that.

"Your guest, Master Harry." Kreacher said formally.

"Was she polite?" Harry asked right away.

"No, Master."

"I see. Thank you, Kreacher."

The elf nodded and popped away.

Narcissa had frozen with fear during that short conversation. The house elf had been a test. She hadn't exchanged a single word with her new family head yet and she'd already failed a test.

"My lord." She greeted nervously, hoping that she still had a chance to fix this.

Potter simply nodded and gestured for her to take a seat, which she did. He said nothing and neither did she, afraid of making another misstep. The silence seemed to drag on forever, with every second becoming more tense than the last.

Narcissa had to force herself not to fidget. He had to be doing this on purpose to make her uncomfortable and it was working. The too-green eyes seemed like they were staring right through her.

"I suppose we might as well get to the point." He finally muttered. "You're here because you're afraid I'll kick you out of the family."

Narcissa nodded, unsure if she could speak past the lump in her throat. This wasn't going even close to how she had hoped.

"And if my guess is correct, you're also hoping to convince me to give you a stipend to live on since you don't have access to the Malfoy vaults anymore."

Narcissa nodded again. She had been hoping to work up to that after she had softened his opinion of her a bit.

"Why should I?" Potter demanded, making her flinch at the abruptness. "Your son is an annoying brat and your husband tried to have me killed."

"I had nothing to do with that." Narcissa defended.

"You only cheered from the sidelines, so it's fine?" The rhetorical question was asked with biting sarcasm.

She lowered her gaze, not daring to deny it. She could feel desperate tears prickling at her eyes. She was angry at the downturn her life had taken, but it was overshadowed by fear. Showing anger at the cause of her misfortune wouldn't help. She had met the Dark Lord once and knew this oppressive atmosphere, the presence of someone too powerful to risk angering

She started when Potter launched himself out of his chair with a grunt and started pacing. He looked irritated.

"Please." She begged, feeling her pride shrivel in the face of desperation. "We need help. I can't afford to pay for Draco's Hogwarts tuition. I can't buy him a new wand. We won't even be able to buy food soon." And wasn't that a sad irony, they lived in a huge mansion and had a vault full of gold but were still in danger of starving.

She had hoped it would be easier, but she'd come begging and got the beggar's treatment. It was much more unpleasant being on this side of things that she'd thought it would be.

Harry took a deep breath and scowled. Then he continued pacing.

Narcissa was not a good woman. He'd never been this close to her before, but now that he was he could get a good feel for her. That's what he'd been doing while he'd been quiet.

Just like Sirius had said, she was a snobby bitch. The 'I smell something foul' expression he'd seen on her face during the award ceremony was a perfect reflection of her soul. Her attitude towards Kreacher certainly backed up this assessment. If their positions were reversed, she would have turned him away without a second thought. This was the type of person that you laughed at and made karma jokes about when something bad happened to them.

Of course, they usually weren't teary-eyed and begging for help while you laughed at them. It rather killed the amusement.

But he was loath to be moved by her obvious distress. Helping your enemies out of pity didn't seem like a good idea to name just one reason. Her aura wasn't nearly as unpleasant as Umbridge's had been, but it still grated against his own and made him want to lash out at her. A lot of people had annoying auras, but these snobby purebloods ranked among the worst with the sense of superiority they carried around with them. Harry knew that his own contempt for people like her was partly to blame for that because it made their auras clash, but that was besides the point. Even now, when she was begging and desperate, Narcissa believed deep down that she deserved better than this, something that he disagreed with vehemently. This was exactly what she deserved.

"You haven't answered my question." Harry finally said. "Why should I help you?"

Narcissa pulled herself together as much as she was able. This at least she had come prepared for. Potter's muggle upbringing and young age worked in her favor here.

"I could be of use to you. I'm sure that your steward is very capable, but she won't have the connections that I do. Who owes favors to who, how certain people think, which events are worth attending and which can be ignored, which charities are worth donating to and how much… I can tell you about all of this and more."

That was exactly what Adrastia had suggested he use the woman for and she would indeed be useful. Figures that Narcissa would have the same thought, though she was unlikely to be nearly as clever as the Black Widow.

"And you expect me to trust you to do this?" He asked sardonically. "You, whose husband I killed just a few days ago?"

Narcissa swallowed the grief and anger generated by that reminder. Her marriage to Lucius had never been what could be called passionate, neither one of them being so inclined, and what little of it there had been had long since gone out over the years, but they had cared for each other. Asking for help from his killer was not fun, but it was the most palatable option she had left. For her son, it was worth it.

"I would be willing to swear an Unbreakable Vow if that would satisfy you, my lord." She said stoically.

Harry shook his head at the suggestion. Unbreakable Vows were finicky things and he didn't trust them. Sure, they would kill anyone that broke one, but a clever enough person could reinterpret the wording without too much difficulty. To get one that was foolproof you would need wording worthy of a lawyer and a whole contract worth of conditions. That was a problem, because the person making the vow had to be 100% clear on what they were vowing or else it wouldn't take hold, which meant simple statements and not three page contracts. And a person could only make one Unbreakable Vow, so they couldn't just be piled on top of each other.

There was plenty of room for betrayal when you were prevented from doing or compelled to do one specific thing, even if it was broad in scope. But of course, the broader the Vow, the less specific. Swearing loyalty was very open ended and open to interpretation, making it easily possible to circumvent it. And a too specific vow could be worked around.

It wasn't really that hard to lie and tell the truth at the same time, nor was it really betrayal if Narcissa would just happen to gossip carelessly somewhere without checking for eavesdroppers.

No, he wouldn't accept an Unbreakable Vow. It was too easily sidestepped and just gave a false sense of security. Not to mention that Harry was sure that if it ever came down to choosing between keeping her vow to him and Draco, Narcissa would choose her son. His own mother's sacrifice was all the evidence he needed to prove that a mother's love wasn't something to be dismissed lightly.

There were written magical contracts that he could make for Narcissa to sign, but those had the opposite problem of an Unbreakable Vow. They could be as long as you pleased, but they didn't have the force required because it wouldn't be enforced by her own magic. Violating them caused inconveniences at best and there was always the possibility of loopholes being found.

The Goblet of Fire was an anomaly, but one that wasn't relevant since it couldn't be used here.

Harry honestly felt that magically compelled loyalty would eventually end up causing more problems than it solved.

"No, I don't want that." He said with a wave of his hand.

"What kind of assurance do you want then?" Narcissa asked stiffly.

Harry stared at her silently for a few seconds and then walked around the chair she was sitting on and placed his hands on her shoulders.

Narcissa went as stiff as a statue, sweat beading on her forehead. The palpable pressure of his magic that she had been feeling the whole time increased.

Harry ignored her reaction and extended his magic into her guarded aura. She was much too tense to be manipulated, but he could still get a clear sense of her feelings and motivations.

"A better questions is why you would come to me for help. Surely you know some people that would be willing to help you out?"

"Under different circumstances, there may have been, but after the show of power you put on, they will fear to be associated with me or Draco." That much was true. The Parkinsons were really the only family she could have trusted to help her, but they had nervously shuffled her out the door when she had gone to talk to them.

The only other families that would have both the funds and inclination to help her were Avery and Nott, but those were not good people for a vulnerable woman to go asking for help. Disgusting old lechers the both of them, and their progeny was no better. They wouldn't need her help navigating the social waters they were in. If she asked them for help, she would end up being someone's mistress.

Harry hummed thoughtfully as he examined the impressions he got along with her stoic answer. The hurt feelings of a betrayed friend, fear, revulsion. The truth was clearly more complicated than her words indicated, it was more than just fear of him that was preventing her from asking someone else. He was just the least terrible option.

"Not even Crabbe and Goyle?" He asked curiously. The way that the two apes followed Draco around made him think that both families were beholden to the Malfoys somehow.

"They worked for Lucius and won't have the means to support us." Narcissa pointedly didn't mention that some of the work that they did for Lucius had been of the illegal variety. She didn't know what exactly and had never tried to find out since her duty was to present an image of squeaky clean respectability at all times, but she was almost sure that it wasn't legal. Crabbe and Goyle would soon encounter financial problems of their own without their patron.

Truth, but cast in shadow. Harry discerned. Narcissa was already lying with the truth.

"Why not get a job? That's generally what people do when they need money."

Narcissa briefly clenched her fists before carefully relaxing them. "I don't have any skills that would allow me to find employment and fear of you would again work against me. It could be months before I find someone willing to employ me and we don't have that long, I need to pay for Draco's Hogwarts tuition in just under two weeks and our food supply would run out even sooner."

Harry smiled humorlessly. There was a ring of truth to her words, though the indignation he was sensing also indicated that she thought working for a living to be beneath her. The second part was entirely true at least.

"Why should I care about Draco's education? Sometimes when I look at his face all I can think of is how much I'd like to sharpen my knife on his ribs." She stiffened beneath him, aura full of fear and protective anger for her son. It was brought under control swiftly, but she had been ready to fight for a moment there.

"Please, he's just a boy." Narcissa pleaded. "My only child."

Grief, old and bitter and full of longing hung on the edge of his perception. A sense of loss for what could have been.

Harry frowned in thought. Narcissa would have had Draco when she was twenty-five or so if his calculations were correct, rather late into her marriage since she had been wed at eighteen. Miscarriage or stillbirth? Or perhaps a baby that had been discarded for not being magical enough? A prissy pureblood like her would likely consider that worse than a stillbirth. It was the only reason he could think of for what he was sensing. Didn't matter he supposed, but it would make Narcissa all the more resolute in looking after her son. All the more dangerous.

"That he's your only child means nothing to me. I won't help educate a future enemy, I prefer them stupid you see." He quipped, gripped by a moment of dark humor.

"Please, I'll do anything." She begged.

Now there was the first bit of absolute truth he'd heard from her so far. She may not want to do anything, but she would. That was dangerous.

"Can you teach him to be less of a cunt?"

A flash of anger shining through the desperation at the insult to her son. Strong doubt rising to the surface. A sense of determination in the face of the hopeless.

"I can." Narcissa said firmly.

A lie. She didn't believe it. She would try, but she didn't expect to succeed, Draco being too old and too angry to let the death of his father go. She just felt that she had to say it in order to get the help she needed.

Harry took his hands off her shoulders and walked across the room to stare through one of the rare windows of Grimmauld place.

"I won't cast you out of the family." He said after a couple of minutes of silence.

Narcissa nearly slumped with relief. That was a worst case scenario averted. "Thank you, my lord."

"But I'm not inclined to help you either. You came here asking for help, but the first thing you do is disrespect Kreacher, then you ply me with lies and half-truths. How am I supposed to trust you?"

Narcissa stiffened with fear. Had Potter somehow picked up on her omissions? The hands on my shoulders, he must have done something. Some form of Legilimency? I didn't feel anything.

She couldn't let this happen. Even without being cast out of the Black family, her prospects were still grim and unlike Andromeda, she had no one to help her through it. No one that wouldn't squeeze every bit of use they could out of her at any rate, and they would still expect her to be thankful for it and compensate them ten times over once Draco came of age.

"I apologise unreservedly for my treatment of your servant, my lord." She said formally, standing up.

"I wasn't the one you were rude to though." Harry pointed out, turning around to face her. "Kreacher."

The old house elf appeared instantly. "Master?"

"Narcissa here has something to say to you."

Narcissa kept the disdain off her face as the Black elf looked at her, clearly puzzled. How the mighty have fallen when a pureblood had to apologise to a house elf of all things, but needs must.

"Kreacher, I was rude to you earlier and you did nothing to deserve it." She said with as much sincerity as she could muster. "Could you find it in your heart to forgive me?"

Kreacher blinked in shock at hearing those words and looked towards his master for direction, but Harry was looking elsewhere. He would need to figure this one out by himself.

"Kreacher will forgive Mistress Narcissa." He said slowly. She had never been nice to him, but she had never been cruel either. Kreacher had honestly only registered the rudeness because the master had specifically directed him to report any, otherwise it would have gone unremarked. A house elf getting any respect was still something of a foreign concept to him despite both Regulus and Harry giving it to him.

"That will be all." Harry said with a nod and the elf popped away, then he turned back to his guest. "Nice apology, if I hadn't known better I would have thought it was actually sincere."

"I am… unused to apologising." Narcissa said.

"Especially to a house elf, huh?"

The memory of the broken thing left behind after Draco had vented his anger on it flashed through her mind.

Dirty laundry was piling up in Malfoy Manor with no house elf to clean it. Dust and dirt was starting to become visible and magical pests would show up soon. Perhaps worst of all, there was nobody to cook the meals and neither she nor Draco had any skill in the kitchen. The quality of their diet had taken a sharp dive lately.

She had thought about requesting the funds to buy a new elf or asking if Potter would loan them the services of his own, but that might be problematic now.

"I don't think anyone is used to apologising to a house elf." She said, forcibly keeping the sense of humiliation at being forced to do so out of her tone.

"A warning sign if ever there was one." Harry muttered under his breath.

Narcissa couldn't hear what he said and worried that it was something negative, so she closed the distance between them and lightly placed her hands on his chest.

"Is there nothing I could do to persuade you to help me?" She asked, biting her lip. She had hoped to avoid this, but it wasn't looking likely.

I can do this. It's just like any other lover I took over the years . She told herself. The sex between her and Lucius had always been a bit… perfunctionary, and had dropped off greatly after Draco's birth. They had both taken the occasional lover to satisfy their respective itches, only really having sex with each other when they were both in the mood at the same time, which was rare to say the least. It was a fairly common practice among the pureblood elite as a way to keep marriages happy, or at least content.

Potter was just the way she liked them, young and handsome. Certainly vastly better than the leering old men whose bed she might end up warming if he turned her away. The way his gaze darkened with interest boded well. Something was finally going right. He might be powerful, but he was still a young man with a young man's weaknesses.

"You're playing a dangerous game." Harry warned. "If we do this you'll never be the same again."

There was no denying that Adrastia's suggestion to use the Joining and literally fuck some loyalty into Narcissa held a certain visceral appeal, but he had decided not to do it. Not because he was such an exemplar of virtue that he would shy away from using such a technique on an enemy(and Narcissa was definitely an enemy right now), but because he hadn't wanted to order her to sleep with him. Now that she was offering though…

Narcissa smiled for the first time since she'd arrived, thinking his words to be just the boasting of a boy still full of himself. He would find her harder to impress than whatever lowborn sluts he'd been bedding in Hogwarts.

"Well I could hardly walk away without seeing if that was true…"

As her back arched and she cried out her first orgasm, Narcissa briefly considered that she had badly underestimated Potter.

He had led her to the master bedroom, told her to strip and lie down on the bed. That had been the first clue that she wouldn't be taking control like she'd expected.

After she had done so, he had surprised her by going for her groin with his mouth. She'd never met a man that actually seemed to like doing that before. Lucius certainly hadn't and the other men she'd taken to bed had to be ordered to do it.

She wasn't sure if it was experience or eagerness, but it certainly felt better than it had on those occasions.

There was barely any time to get her wits about her again when he pulled himself above her and smashed his lips against hers, shoving his tongue into her mouth and making her taste herself. Narcissa was a bit repulsed by that, but in no position to fight it off as he grabbed her wrists with one hand and pinned them above her head. His other went between them as he lined his member up with her opening.

Narcissa wanted to protest this treatment, but all that escaped her mouth was a ragged gasp as she felt him sliding into her. He was much bigger than she expected, but that barely registered over the sheer volume of sensation that roared through her body. If she hadn't just climaxed, she was sure that would have done it. As it was, the overstimulation left her barely able to think.

Now inside her, he grabbed one wrist in each hand and pinned them to the sides of her head. Completely in control, he began a steady thrusting rhytm that robbed Narcissa of her breath and left her whimpering with every motion. When he pushed all the way in, it was too much and she was too full, but when he pulled out, she was instantly empty and bereft and wanted it back. She'd never imagined sex could be like this.

Harry himself was focused more on her soul than on her body. The licking he'd given her was as much to loosen her up as it was to apply a couple of spells. Share Sensation and Amplify Sensation. Silly woman thought she was experienced when she barely knew the first thing about sex. He would take a lot of satisfaction in shattering her delusions.

Narcissa screamed out another orgasm and Harry delved deep into her soul. And what an unpleasant soul it was; petty, vindictive, bigoted, arrogant. But there were bright spots; the love she had for her son and a core of inner strength that stemmed from it.

That wasn't what interested him though, he couldn't use any of that.

A sense of pleasure, a desire for more. A base, primal affection for the one who'd made her feel good, who had pushed away the grief of a slain mate. Ah, there it was. Harry seized on those nebulous feelings and fed them, diluting the resentment she also bore for him.

Narcissa caught her breath and looked at him with bleary eyes that got clearer by the moment. Walls were rebuilt and Harry lost access to her innermost self, but what was done was done.

He saw her open her mouth with intent to speak and thrust again, turning it into another cry of pleasure. She writhed uselessly in his arms as he restarted his motions, her legs feebly clutching at his waist.

Having not had an orgasm of his own yet, he climaxed quickly and discharged into her. The spells he'd cast made sure that his pleasure triggered hers again.

Seed rushing into womb, a burst of fulfillment, warmth spreading through body and soul. Harry seized on this too and encouraged it, making her want it again.

Narcissa panted for breath, her face plastered with sweat and eyes staring blankly at the ceiling. She'd never been so thoroughly fucked in her life. Her whole body was tingling and her mind was still fuzzy.

"Turn around." Harry ordered.

"What?" She asked, frowning in confusion. Why would she turn around?

He apparently wasn't willing to wait for her to figure it out and rolled her over himself, then he pulled her hips up and positioned her on wobbly knees. She felt a familiar thickness prodding at her entrance again.

"No." She moaned in protest. Her whole pelvis seemed to be on fire with sensation and she was far too tired to take any more.

But he didn't listen and sheathed himself in her again.

Narcissa was too tired to cry out anymore. All she could do was let out small moans with every thrust and let him do whatever he wanted. He clearly knew what he was doing anyway.

With both of them having climaxed recently, the next one was a ways off, but Harry was content to take his time. Narcissa was too tired to do anything but take it and take it she would.

Once again dressed, Harry stared at the sweaty, panting woman on the bed and considered what he'd just done.

He had just taken the first step towards making Narcissa a different woman, by means of directly influencing her soul.

Joining with her had been… strange. Different from anyone else he'd ever done it with.

A lifetime of being spoonfed pureblood dogma had made Narcissa's character incompatible with his own. Everyone saw life through the lens of their own subjective point of view and generally found those with opposing views to be infuriating. Harry's cynical contempt for witches and wizards who squandered their gifts was never going to mesh with Narcissa's sense of entitlement based on heritage. It wasn't anything so simple as a specific point of contention even, just a general incompatibility.

No wonder Adrastia did this all the time. Fucking Narcissa into submission had been a huge rush. The feeling of her surrendering to his desires in both body and soul was indescribable.

"My lord?"

Harry snapped out of his thoughts and looked towards Narcissa, now recovered somewhat though still looking tired and flushed. "Yes?"

"Was I persuasive enough?" She asked, biting her lip.

Oh right, the money issue. "I'll arange for Draco's tuition to be paid and set up a stipend for you today." He fully expected Malfoy Junior to be a problem in the future, but he would just have to deal with that when it became an issue.

"Thank you, my lord." Narcissa smiled in relief and then became nervous again. "What will my duties be?"

"While I do need a social secretary, you won't be doing anything for now. I will expect you to show up if I call, but I'm not planning to do anything that needs your input until after the summer."

Narcissa understood that if she was called before the end of the summer it would be for sex and nothing more. Well, that was fine. He was an exceptional lover, by far the best she'd ever had, so it wouldn't be an onerous or repulsive task. She had been prepared to endure worse for her son.

"I understand." She said with a nod.

"Good, now if that's all…?"

"There is one more thing." She said nervously.

"What kind of thing?" Harry said neutrally.

"Could I borrow enough gold to buy a house elf? We would of course repay you as soon as we could."

Harry narrowed his eyes suspiciously. "I would think the Malfoys would have a house elf of their own."

Narcissa clutched at the sheets. She wanted to lie but feared that he would know. Better to just get it over with. "Draco killed it after… after you killed Lucius. He was in a rage and took it out on our elf."

"I see." Harry said with no expression on his face. "And you think I should subject another house elf to that?"

"No, it's just that…" Narcissa trailed off, lowering her eyes to the floor. "We need help. We don't know how to maintain a home or cook for ourselves."

Harry snorted in amusement. Aristocrats were the same everywhere it seemed, useless without their servants. Not that he had any room to talk, the best he could do was spaghetti and tomato sauce. Premade tomato sauce.

That gave him an idea actually. "Go clean yourself up, I need to go get something."

Narcissa was confused but did as he said, taking a quick bath to wash off the sweat and other bodily fluids.

By the time she was done, Harry had returned and was waiting for her with an odd yellow-black book in his hands.

"Here." He said and gave it to her.

"Cooking Basics for Dummies." She read, an angry flush coming to her face. She tried to keep her tone neutral, but some anger leaked into it nonetheless. "Is this supposed to be a joke… my lord?"

"This is supposed to help you learn how to cook for yourself." Harry said mildly, having expected this reaction from the spoiled woman. "The book wasn't written with a magical home in mind, but I'm sure you'll be able to adapt. You can use it or not, but either way I am not going to expose another house elf to Draco's hissy fits."

Narcissa heard the warning in the words and knew that her new benefactor was at the end of his patience. She didn't understand why he cared so much about house elves, but she didn't need to in order to realise that another peep of protest might see her tenuous good fortune evaporate.

"So how did it go?" Draco sneered resentfully when his mother made it home.

"It went well." Narcissa answered primly. "You will be able to go back to Hogwarts and we will have a stipend to pay for our expenses."

"And what did Potter want in exchange?" Draco sneered again. The mere thought of going to his nemesis for help made his blood boil, but his mother had been clear about how little choice there was. It still made him want to explode in rage, but there wasn't much he could do about it.

"I will organise his social commitments for him after the summer."

"That's all?" Draco asked skeptically and the noticed the book in her hands. "What's that?"

"It's a muggle cookbook." Narcissa said in resignation. "He was unwilling to allow us to buy another house elf."

"He expects us to eat like muggles ?!" Infuriated, he tore the book from his mother's hands. The title did not improve his temper and he hurled it across the room. "FOR DUMMIES?! I'LL KILL HIM!"

"Draco!" Narcissa snapped sharply, breaking her son out of his rage. "You will do nothing! I was barely able to persuade him to help us at all. I will not have you ruining it all now."

Draco stared at his mother for a long few seconds before his face paled. "You're fucking him. You're fucking Potter ."

Narcissa straightened her spine at her son's horrified whisper and answered with the dignity that had been drilled into her throughout her childhood. "I did what I had to."

"He killed Father !" Draco screeched, skin tone reverting back to crimson. "He killed Father and you're fucking him!"

"I'm doing it for you!" She yelled back, her voice breaking. She took a deep breath to calm down before continuing. "Draco, don't read too much into this. There was never much hope that I would be able to avoid doing something distasteful to get us out of this mess and this is quite tame compared to my other options. Lucius… Lucius did not have the kind of friends that you can rely on if you get in trouble. Lord Potter is at least fair-minded enough that he didn't use me and then send me away with nothing to show for it."

Draco stomped away with a strangled scream of frustrated rage, eyes burning with tears at what his mother had been reduced to doing. He'd never imagined that it was possible to hate someone as much as he hated Potter right now, he was so angry he could barely breathe. He would get his revenge one day. Potter would regret everything he'd ever done to House Malfoy.

Ravens and crows had become a common sight around Potter Manor. They were smart birds and had quickly cottoned on to the fact that one of their own lived here in a vast nest that was full of food and offered plenty of shelter.

Harry did nothing to discourage this, rather enjoying the hundreds of cawing and croaking black birds that now sat on the manor and the trees around it at all times. He knew that Penny, Sirius and Fleur thought it was creepy, but he and Luna liked it.

At the moment, Harry was sitting alone on a thick three branch in the woods around his home, surrounded by the corvids. He had with him a magically expanded bag full of nuts that he was feeding to the birds as he thought about the most recent dilemma he was in.

This thing with Narcissa was strange. She was a beautiful woman to be sure, but he was conflicted about sleeping with her again.

She was an enemy, no debate at all on that. She wouldn't hesitate to stick a knife in his ribs if she thought it would benefit her, but she needed him. Fucking her appealed more for the base satisfaction of dominating an enemy than for carnal pleasure.

He wasn't sure what to feel about that. Yes, he'd discovered within himself an enjoyment of being dominant during sex, but this was something else.

He scratched at both sides of his chest, where ArHain and Ca'Daith were carved and grimaced. Light and Dark, Void and Stars. Two opposing forces, both beyond human understanding and both linked to runes that affected his mind. If he could, he would travel back in time and knock his younger self's teeth out. He'd been such an idiot, fooling around with things he barely understood. He still wouldn't undo it if given the choice, because the benefits really were too good for that, but he could've wished for it to be done better.

Dark muted emotions and Light magnified them. In theory, they should cancel out. In practice, it meant that the more low key ones were muted and the more impulsive ones magnified, the strength of each effect being dependent on the day-night cycle. Just as the Joining influenced others, the changes he had made to his own soul influenced him. There was no escaping it.

Harry was consciously aware of the fact that he was slipping further and further away from 'socially acceptable', but that didn't help him do anything about it. He didn't actually feel that there was anything wrong with that, which was of course the entire fucking problem. He couldn't muster any concern over it .

He still wasn't in danger of becoming the Dark Lord that Dumbledore was so worried about, but he was having trouble seeing the problem in killing an enemy and fucking his wife. Lucius had tried to kill him and Narcissa had been the one to initiate things, so where was the problem? Besides, she would benefit from it too and she'd probably be a better person at the end of it. At the moment, Narcissa was a bit of a cunt really.

Sirius wouldn't like it, but Sirius wasn't going to be told. He was more careful about letting his godfather in on things these days, he'd already proven himself a security leak after all.

Penny wouldn't like it either… probably. She was a nice girl, but perhaps a bit sheltered. She wouldn't be told what he was doing either.

Luna wouldn't care, her own moral compass was in its own way just as compromised as his own.

Fleur he wasn't sure about, he still didn't have a full grasp on the veela's mindset. He suspected that she wouldn't bat an eyelash at learning that he was using sex as a tool of dominance but he could be wrong.

Dora… Dora would be furious. But Dora wasn't around anymore and he had no reason to appease her.

The bottom line was that he had enjoyed it and he knew that Narcissa had enjoyed it. He needed a social secretary and Narcissa needed work. He needed her loyal and this was a good way making her loyal.

Sure, it was unethical, but what was ethics anyway? Little more than popular opinion and he always disdained that.

"What do you guys think? Is it really so terrible that I'm using Soul Magic on an altogether unpleasant woman to make something better and more useful out of her?" He asked the birds.

They all looked at him with beady black eyes and cocked heads. They understood that the man-raven was asking about a female and making her better and they knew of magic, but they didn't understand the question. At length they decided that making a female better was always good and said so.

Harry rolled his eyes at their response. Make female better. Was hardly the answer to his problem, but he supposed asking a bunch of birds for advice was never going to amount to much.

The raven Animagus huffed irritably. He was tired of thinking about this. To Hell with it, I've already fucked her once so I might as well do it all the way to the end. She was the one who initiated it anyway.

The next few weeks passed with much less of note happening.

The general public still continued to shuffle out of the way fearfully whenever Harry appeared, but nothing more than that.

The general public was also strangely let down by the lack of follow-up to his killing of Lucius Malfoy. People had for some reason expected him to go on some sort of crusade against purebloods or to attempt taking over the Ministry or something similarly flashy and were hit with the most bizarre sense of wasted build-up at the lack of action.

This was unknown to Harry, who busied himself with his own matters and firmly ignored the world outside of his interests. He'd have to deal with it when the summer was over, but for now he was going to do his own thing.

He met with Narcissa four more times at Grimmauld Place, screwing her silly at each occasion and feeding her desire and subservience.

He didn't say anything about this to the other occupants of Potter Manor, only telling them that he was going somewhere on his own. Since this was hardly out of the ordinary, they didn't question it. They knew that he had given Narcissa a job and that she would take over all the social aspects from Penny after the summer, but that was all they knew.

Fleur had settled into well and made fast friends with everyone. Luna and even Penny joined in on her afternoon exercise sessions and she went out with them sometimes. This was all to the good for Harry as it gave him the solitude he needed.

The days passed quickly and soon it was time to leave for their vacation.

"Everyone ready to go?" Harry called out, looking at the congregation of people gathered on his front lawn.

He got a murmur of affirmation back from them. They were all feeling a bit spooked by the multitude of black birds peering at them from everywhere. Heh, scaredy cats.

"Alright, grab hold of the rope and we'll be off." He said clearly, looking them over while he waited for them to follow his instructions.

Fourteen people. That was actually a number that had startled Harry a bit when they had all showed up at his manor today. He'd never really counted how many people were coming.

The five actual residents of Potter Manor, the four girls from Arundel plus one boyfriend, Penny's parents and one Metamorphmagus.

The last person was a youngish dark haired woman with rosy cheeks who was here at the invitation of his godfather.

Sirius had gone to the Holyhead Harpies game, but there had been no invitations to any orgies. He had however somehow managed to make a girlfriend out of Hestia Jones, the cousin to the Harpies' captain, Gwenog Jones. Harry had been leery of including Sirius newest temporary bedwarmer in on their vacation, but that was just his paranoia at work.

After all, what were the odds that such a randomly acquired girlfriend was a spy for someone?

Dumbledore let out a violent sneeze and used quick spell to get rid of the snot spray on his beard.

He looked back towards the copy of Witch Weekly he had in front of him and smiled slightly. The report about Sirius Black being seen in the company of Hestia Jones was a surprising bit of good fortune for the old wizard. He had long since marked Hestia as a candidate for the Order of the Phoenix and had kept in touch with her through various means. He would be able to glean a thing or two about Harry Potter through her.

His original plan of using Nymphadora Tonks for the purpose would have given better information, but was also much more risky. He didn't even think they were still together given Harry's interactions with Fleur Delacour. For all he knew, Harry had turned her against him.

He believed Harry when he said that he had no intention of becoming a Dark Lord, but one could never fully account for the twists of life. An eye had to be kept on the boy.

The news he'd received about Draco Malfoy's Hogwarts tuition being paid out of the Potter vault was very encouraging at least. Harry had all the power in the world to ruin both Draco and Narcissa but he seemed to be helping them. An evil man wouldn't do that. An evil man wouldn't take responsibility for taking away his schoolyard rival's father and provider.

Perhaps he was worrying needlessly. Harry clearly still had good in him even though he hid it under a prickly attitude.

Narcissa brushed her hair in preparation for bed. Harry was leaving Britain today, not to return until the end of summer.

She found herself feeling slightly upset about that. She had offered her body to him as a last resort, but it was turning out to be unexpectedly enjoyable. There was a little guilt involved since this was Lucius' killer after all, but Lucius was gone and she had to look after the living, meaning herself and Draco.

Draco… he was not handling this situation well. All of her attempts to calm him down were for naught. She hoped he wouldn't do anything foolish. She understood why he was so angry, any boy would be when seeing his father killed and having his mother go to that same killer for help, but he needed to realise that the world was what it was. Harry was being incredibly generous to them.

He still refused to loan them the gold to buy a house elf until he was utterly certain that it wouldn't be harmed, but he had agreed to allow his house elves to come over and help her once Draco was at Hogwarts. Narcissa intended to treat the elves respectfully, not because she actually respected them, but because she knew that they would report everything back to Harry. She was tired of leafing through that insultingly titled muggle cookbook and trying to figure out how to make things and doing laundry and cleaning the huge manor.

She put down the brush and crawled into her now empty marital bed. She no longer had nightmares about blond hair being consumed by fire, but more pleasant dreams of black hair over intense emerald eyes.

In a distant corner of Albania the shade of Lord Voldemort still hid.

He had little concept of time in his wraith form and his thoughts were not fully coherent either, but some things he did know. He knew that he desperately did not want to fade into nothing. And he knew that he could not afford to be discovered.

When he could possess an animal, some lucidity returned, but he shied away from approaching any witches or wizards. He had fallen into Dumbledore's trap with the Philosopher's Stone and unwittingly exposed himself to his old adversary. Now he 'lived' in a state of dire fear, knowing that his worst enemy was aware of his continued existence.

His followers had abandoned him and he was all but helpless. Only obscurity and his Horcruxes now protected him from destruction. If some hapless fool wandered too close and could be convinced to help him, then he could have made a play to return to physicallity, but he dared not seek anyone out.

The Magical Balkans made for a good place to hide because there was no magical government keeping too close an eye on things, but someone would inevitably come snooping around if he made too much noise.

It was galling that he was forced to hide, but he consoled himself with the thought that he was Lord Voldemort. He was immortal. One day he would return and then the world would tremble before his might.

Even if it took years or decades.