Chapter 34

July 7th.

"So this is where you grew up?" Harry commented soon after they apparated in.

"Yep." Tonks confirmed, popping the 'p'.

"It looks… nice."

"You mean boring, don't you?"

"Nothing wrong with your hometown being a bit on the boring side."

"I always hated it here." She confessed. "I couldn't play with any of the other kids because I'd start shifting as soon as I relaxed and nothing ever happens here. I got myself an apartment in London as soon as I could."

"To each their own." He shrugged, privately thinking that he'd take this little village over London any day. Of course, that wasn't really saying much given his opinion on cities. "How's your magic coming along?"

"Great if I do say so myself." Tonks grinned proudly. "I think I've managed to get the hang of sensing magic without turning myself into a pickled brain. I can do it pretty much all the time now."

"Very nice." Harry said, impressed by the progress she'd made. "We'll put you through a few tests of course, but we can get you started on Will Manifestation as soon as it's clear that you've figured out Passive Magic Awareness. You should drop by the manor tomorrow and we'll get started."

"Joy." The metamorphmagus snarked, though she was obviously pleased by the praise. "How far ahead of me did Fleur and Luna get under your teachings, oh great Jedi?"

"Sarcasm is the path to the Dark Side, young Padawan, but to answer your question, I'll be moving them onto Spellweaving soon. I expect to have some trouble with it though, so you might well catch up to them."

"Why would you have any trouble?"

"With Fleur because she's a veela, and with Luna because she's… Luna." Harry said and at her quizzical look explained further. "Fleur came into this with an advantage because veela have an inborn magic awareness that they use to find mates. I only had to help her refine it a little bit and she was good to go. On the other hand, her magic leans heavily towards Light and fire, which makes it explosive and difficult to control. She can already throw fire around like it's nobody's business, but the more precise spells will be much harder for her to stabilise and I suspect she'll always have a predilection for sharp bursts of power and a disadvantage in sustained magics."

Tonks nodded thoughtfully, recalling how many feathers the beautiful veela had incinerated while learning Will Manifestation. "What about Luna?"

"Luna is…" Harry hunted for words to explain his quirky young girlfriend. "You know how most people have their thoughts categorised in boxes? They have separate boxes for work related things, relationships, hobbies, likes, dislikes and so on. That's how most peoples' minds work, they like order. Luna on the other hand doesn't even have a single box, all of her thoughts are just floating around randomly in her head with no discernable organisation. This isn't necessarily a bad thing mind you, it gave her a massive boost in learning Occlumency because navigating a mind that chaotic is difficult even when it's undefended and I was easily able to help her refine it so that anyone trying Legilimency on her would only get a headache for their troubles. It also occasionally gives her incredible insight into things that others might miss because she can make connections between thoughts and memories that others would have sorted into different mental boxes. This kind of scattered focus might get in the way of properly structuring more complex spells though and I'll have to find a way to work with it rather than against it if it does."

"She seemed to be doing fine with Will Manifestation." Tonks pointed out.

"She did and is," Harry conceded. "but that requires control of emotion rather than thought. Plus, I was able to use the Joining to guide her along as well."

Tonks grimaced slightly at the mention of the Joining. That ability still made her uneasy.

"Don't make that face now." Harry teased. "Once you get the hang of Will Manifestation, you'll be able to do the Joining yourself."

"I'd settle for just not being affected by it." Tonks huffed.

"You might already be there, depending on how advanced your Magic Awareness is." Harry shrugged.

"What?" The metamorphmagus spluttered in surprise, nearly tripping over her own feet. "But I thought…"

"That you need to be able to perform it?" Harry supplied. "Not quite, at least I don't think so. The Joining isn't really supposed to be a tool of subversion, that's just what happens when one of the participants is oblivious and gaining Passive Magic Awareness should take care of that, allowing you to sense outside magical influences. I've done some research on the subject and I think I've managed to track down the origins of the ability to India. The writing tended to be contradictory and full of British propaganda, but some of the more reliable-sounding texts I managed to get my hands on had a few mentions about the use of sex to achieve enlightenment or something. I'm not really sure since Hindu myths and practices can be confusing at best to an outsider, but Sex Magic doesn't seem to be terribly uncommon there, or at least it wasn't before European wizards started sticking their flaccid little wands into everything."

"Flaccid little wands, good one." Tonks snickered. "Wouldn't that make you a eunuch though?"

Harry considered it for a moment and shook his head in disagreement. "No, in this context a eunuch would be someone that had magic and then lost it, which isn't really possible without dying. I, on the other hand, would have a mighty wandless vagina."

"… This metaphor isn't really working anymore."

"Such is life." Harry shrugged philosophically. "But to get back on topic, I'm hoping I can find some better literature on the subject when we go there. If I'm really lucky, there's even remnant of the original Indian magical traditions left that Britain and the ICW hasn't managed to stamp out."

"Can't help you there." Tonks shrugged. "All I know about Indian wizards is that they keep bugging us to lift the ban on flying carpets."

"I'm with India on this one, that ban is retarded. One of the first things I'm doing when we get there is buying a flying carpet."

"You know you won't be able to bring it back to Britain, right?"

"No, I can't get caught with one in my possesion by the authorities. Big difference."

"Harry, I am the authorities."

"I'll let you fly it."

"Throw in a foot massage afterwards and you've got yourself a deal."

"You drive a hard bargain, Auror Tonks."

"Take it or leave."

"Of course I'll take it."

"Excellent. Pleasure doing business with you, Lord Potter-Black."

"Ye gods, that sounds pompous." Harry said, shaking his head. "And Narcissa tells me they'll be calling me that whenever I appear in the Wizengamot."

"I know what you mean, Bonesy always looks like she wants to strangle someone after one of their sessions. By the way, you really think you'll be able to push through that improved werewolf legislation of yours?"

"I should be able to. Fudge is an easily led idiot and he should be desperate for a popularity boost, he always is." Harry said and turned towards the metamorphmagus thoughtfully. "Since we're on the subject, could you pass on a meeting request from me to Bones? She seems like the type of woman that would have a power base among the less retarded Wizengamot members and it would be best if I could secure her support ahead of time."

"Sure." Tonks shrugged. "Look, there's my parents' house."

"Nice garden." Harry complimented, taking in the rather beautiful spread of flora.

"Mum has a serious green thumb, she even grows her own vegetables out in the back. I used to help her with it when I was younger."

"Sprout must have loved you." He commented with a grin.

"She did, for a while at least." Tonks grinned ruefully in remembrance. "I think I turned out a bit more wild than she would've liked."

"Nymphadora Tonks, the Wild Hufflepuff." Harry quipped.

"What are you then, the Dropout Ravenclaw?"

"Formalised education is for sheep. I do miss the library and the Astronomy Tower though."

"Not Professor Vector?" She asked archly.

"A bit, but our arrangement was very casual. She liked the excitement and the scandal and I liked having a submissive older witch at my disposal." Harry said thoughtfully, thinking of Septima. Maybe he could pay her a little visit…

"Is that why you fucked my aunt in the soul?"

Harry sighed in exasperation. "No, I told you already why I did that. I won't deny that I enjoyed it, but it's not the same thing. I made a choice with Narcissa and she's my responsibility now."

Tonks decided to drop it, despite her mixed feelings on the matter. Besides, they had arrived at her parents' house.

"Alright, let's do this." She said, mentally preparing herself. It felt like she was introducing her boyfriend to her parents for the first time, even though Harry wasn't her boyfriend anymore and her parents had no idea he had ever been one.

"I thought I was supposed to be the one who's nervous about being introduced to the parents." Harry teased.

"Shut it, Potter." She growled and barged in through the door. "Mum, Dad!"

"Nymphadora?" Andromeda Tonks answered, she and her husband coming to greet their daughter only to stop in surprise at the dark haired wizard with her.

"Mum, this is Harry Potter." Nymphadora introduced.

"A pleasure to meet you Mrs. Tonks." Harry and smiling with all the practiced charm that his foster mother had drilled him on relentlessly.

Andromeda blinked as the young wizard took her hand and pressed a kiss to her knuckles. It had been a long time since anyone had treated her like the daughter of an old House, but she did still remember how it went."Likewise, Lord Potter."

"Harry, please. Your lovely daughter is a close friend and my godfather your cousin, we're as good as family."

"Then I insist you call me Andromeda, or Andy if you prefer."

"Andy then."

Andromeda smiled at him. She hadn't been sure what to think of Harry Potter. Powerful beyond doubt, certainly dangerous given his spectacular execution of Lucius, but what was he like as a person? That he had apparently taken advantage of Narcissa's situation to take liberties with her usually wouldn't speak well for his character, but her baby sister was obviously happy with the arrangement and wouldn't have it any other way, which was unexpected to say the least. The whole thing was a bit strange from an outside perspective.

Still, her first impression of him so far was quite positive and Nymphadora obviously liked him if they were friends, so she was inclined to think well of him.

"My husband, Edward." She introduced, letting none of her thoughts show.

"Call me Ted." The man said affably as they shook hands.

"Then you should call me Harry."

Meanwhile, the youngest Tonks could only watch incredulously as Harry managed to make an overwhelmingly positive first impression on her parents. She knew that this sudden departure from his usual snark had to be an act, but damn if it wasn't a good act.

A few more meaningless pleasantries were exchanged before Andromeda turned to her daughter. "Nymphadora, could you please get Narcissa?"

The metamorphmagus briefly glowered at her mother for the use of the hated full name before she did as requested.

The Tonks residence was, while not exactly small, also not especially large and didn't have much in the way of extra rooms. For this reason, Narcissa had been given Nymphadora's old room.

As she still considered this to be her room despite moving out, Nymphadora didn't bother to knock and simply burst in.

"Nymphadora!" Narcissa gasped in a mild panic, quickly hiding something behind her back and turning to look at the unexpected arrival with a rapidly reddening face.

The metamorphmagus blinked. This scene was very familiar, though she had been on the other end of it a few years ago.

Slowly, a grin grew on her face as she let the blonde witch sweat for a few seconds before speaking. "Found my old stash of porno mags, did you?"

"That is… I mean…" Narcissa stammered, blushing even more. Then she tried to turn the situation around. "Why do you even have these?"

"Aside from the obvious uses, they're a great help for a budding metamorphmagus." She snickered. "Now come on, you perv, Harry's here."

"He is?" Narcissa asked anxiously, almost jumping to her feet.

"Yeah, he's waiting for you downstairs."

The two of them made their way back downstairs silently, both focused on their own thoughts. Narcissa was trying to forget that she'd been caught perusing muggle pornography by her niece while said niece was reflecting on how hilarious being the one to catch someone perusing pornography was.

They found that Harry and the Tonkses had sat down by then with a cup of tea.

"Since when do you drink tea?" Dora asked incredulously at the sight.

"After trying the swill that passes for tea in the United States, I just felt like it. Besides, Andy offered." Harry shrugged and turned towards Narcissa. "You alright, Cissy?"

Narcissa smiled and nodded, regaining much of her confidence at the show of concern from her lord. "I am."

"Come join us." Andromeda said, looking between her sister and their guest speculatively. "Harry here was just telling us about his trip to America."

That should give her some insight into what was going on.

Some time later, Harry and Narcissa left the Tonkses and were installing the blonde witch as a permanent guest in Potter Manor.

"You could have come here right away, you know." Harry said mildly. He hadn't wanted to say this while at the Tonkses because it could be construed as insulting, but it was just the two of them now.

"I didn't want to impose." Narcissa replied demurely. In truth, she hadn't wanted to incur his displeasure if she presumed to just move in, especially when he was abroad. Mistresses were generally not welcome in the same home as wives or steady girlfriends. It was unseemly.

"It's no problem." Harry shrugged. "I suppose it is sort of my fault that Draco kicked you out."

It was definitely his fault, though Draco carried an equal share of the blame for being an utter twat.

"I will always love my son, but he made his choice." Narcissa said, voice breaking only slightly. "I can only hope that he calms down with time and sees that Lucius brought his fate upon himself and that you did us a great kindness."

Harry doubted that was going to happen. From what he recalled, the only notable traits that Draco had ever shown was an ego completely disproportionate to his mediocre abilities and an inability to accept any facts that contradicted said ego. Still, he wouldn't crush Narcissa's hopes this day, even if they were empty hopes.

"You'll have a home here until he does, or until you decide to get your own place." He said instead.

"Thank you, my lord." She said gratefully.

Harry briefly considered telling her that she could call him by name, but decided against it. Removing too many walls could end up being problematic.

"You're welcome, Cissy." He said and turned to leave, only to stop as she caught his wrist, making him raise a questioning eyebrow at her.

"Will you… will you still visit me at night?" Narcissa asked nervously. She knew it was greedy, asking him to still frequent her bed now that she lived under the same roof as the veela and the Lovegood girl, but she had to know. It would drive her mad if she had to see him every day and hope he would every night, only to be disappointed. At least if he said he wouldn't, she would know where she stood now.

Harry simply smiled and leaned in to give her a brief kiss. "Don't wear anything to bed tonight."

He left then and Narcissa looked at his retreating back with a smile on her face and a happy feeling in her chest. Even if her son had rejected her, her lord still wanted her and she found that the latter was more important. Draco would come around eventually.

July 8th.

Tonks usually spent the mornings before her afternoon shifts sleeping or otherwise relaxing, but she had to admit to feeling some excitement as she walked up to the front door of Potter Manor.

She'd worked hard to master what Harry called the first step in really learning magic, that being Passive Magic Awareness; the ability to sense magic at all times by training up one's spiritual sense until it was second nature like sight or hearing. She was eager to show off the results of that hard work and move on to the second step, Will Manifestation. It was going to be so damned cool to do magic without a wand.

It was also nice to have her friends back, even if they did keep hinting that they'd like to be more than friends. Harry didn't, but she doubted he'd be opposed to it either, not when their split had nothing to do with a lack of attraction between them.

Tonks really wasn't sure what to think about that situation. Her life plans had never included being part of a foursome, but the thought was hardly off-putting. Mum would give me that knowing smirk of hers and Dad would get angry on my behalf. Ted Tonks never had the chance to integrate into British magical society thanks to being a muggleborn and had very conservative, muggle views on relationships as a result, nor had he ever really cottoned on to the fact that metamorphs were almost guaranteed to be bisexual. Though she had nobody to compare herself too, Tonks could easily recall the teenaged curiousity and subsequent shifting and experimenting all too clearly. Hell, she tended to grow a cock just to make it easier to take a piss. Her father might get indignant about his little girl being just one woman of three, but she'd be getting as much booty out of it as Harry, so it could hardly be called unfair.

Not that Tonks was seriously considering becoming part of a foursome. Even if Harry and Fleur are delicious and he did say that the Joining wouldn't affect me anymore… Luna was there too of course, but she had no particular feelings on the quirky blonde. She was easy to like for sure, but she'd been Harry's friend during their relationship and Tonks had always seen her as a kid. But she's older now than Harry was when we broke things off.

Another brief vision of what it would be like passed through her mind and turned up the temperature between her legs. I knew it was a bad idea to stop picking up one night stands, but most of them wouldn't know what to do with a girl's cooch if you gave them a manual anyway. Even the few girls I tried at that gay bar were shite at it. Not like Harry or Fleur…

Grumbling under her breath irritably, she marched up to the front door and went right in without knocking. She had a standing invitation to show up whenever.

Teeny popped in practically the moment she set foot inside the house, nearly vibrating with energy. "Missy Tonks! Master Harry is waiting for you in the drawing room."

"Thanks, Teeny." She said, almost laughing when the house elf made a little 'squee' sound and promised to make snacks as she popped away. Teeny had been bummed out in Harry's absence and was clearly still riding a high over his return.

Harry was indeed in the drawing room, though he was not alone and the activity going on made Tonks blink in baffled surprise.

Fleur was there as well, sitting across from a gloriously colorful winged snake that could only be the quetzalcoatl she'd heard so much about, but not seen yet.

While she was a bit awed by the mythical creature, her bafflement had more to do with the fact that it seemed to be playing chess against Fleur, with Harry hissing instructions at it.

"So, who's winning?" She asked in bemusement, taking in the bizarre tableu.

"I am." Fleur said assertively.

Etalpalli hissed something that Tonks was somehow certain was a rebuttal. To her ears, the hisses sounded almost like the sound of a flute overlaid by serpentine hissing. Rather pleasant to the ear actually.

"Etal disagrees." Harry laughed. "He says he's kicking your butt."

"Hmph, 'e does not even 'ave legs to kick with." Fleur retorted and moved a piece.

Another musical hiss from the quetzalcoatl had Harry biting his lip to keep from laughing, so whatever the flying snake said must have been pretty funny.

"Anyway, Dora, meet Etalpalli." He said instead of translating.

The quetzalcoatl slythered towards her through the air until it was right in her face, bright golden eyes scrutinising her closely and forked tongue flicking out to taste the air.

"Wotcher." She said, still a bit bemused at being introduced to a magical creature as if it was a human, but Harry had made it clear that he was a prideful snake and wouldn't tolerate disrespect.

Etal made a short hiss in reply and Tonks saw Fleur pantomiming a scratching motion on her own neck.

A bit wary, but willing to trust the veela's advice, she reached up towards the quetzalcoatl's mane of feathers and alternated between gently ruffling and smoothing them. To her amusement, he turned a bit to the side and wiggled in obvious pleasure.

"I think it's safe to say that he likes you." Harry commented dryly.

"He's really beautiful." She replied with a smile.

"'E knows it too." Fleur said, shaking her head.

Tonks was about to reply when she suddenly felt something. Brow furrowed, she reached out blindly with her hand and was only mildly surprised when it came into contact with the gossamer fabric of Harry's invisibility cloak.

"You found me!" Luna exclaimed happily once the cloak was pulled off.

"Why were you hiding?" Tonks asked, baffled once again.

"It was a test." Harry answered. "I wanted to see how much progress you've made, so we concoted this distraction while Luna hid under the cloak."

"Oh, so how did I do?"

"Not bad. Luna was almost on top of you before you sensed her, but my cloak does admittedly make it hard to sense people under it. Nevermind the range though, the important thing is that you didn't need to stop and focus to do it, you did it passively. Congratulations, Dora, you're ready to move on to Will Manifestation."

"Alright!" She cheered, pumping a fist into the air in celebration. "Let's do it."

"Things are going to be a little different from here on out." Harry began after they had settled into a room. "So far, we've worked on getting you to see past your physical senses so that you could develop the spiritual ones. Now you'll need to learn how to use your body rather than ignore it."

Tonks cocked her head sideways in puzzlement. "But you've always been saying that magic is all mental."

"The creation of spells is, but we won't be working with actual spells until we get to Spellweaving. What we'll be doing is basically controlled Accidental Magic and that requires the body."

"But Accidental Magic just happens when kids are distressed. How is the body involved in that?"

"It acts as a conduit through which your soul can influence physical reality. Think of your body as a giant wand if you will."

"As long as it isn't a flaccid one." Tonks leered.

"Well if it helps you, then by all means imagine yourself as a massive, erect… wand, shooting out great spurts of thick, pale magic." Harry grinned.

"Damn, now I'll never be able to look at a wand without laughing again." She said ruefully.

"I know how you feel. I've been seeing wands as a masturbation aid for years."

"Helping wizards and witches perform for two thousand years."

"You think that's bad, just imagine spelljism spraying everywhere with every spell cast."

"Gross." Tonks grimaced, having a sudden disgusting mental image of Hogwarts covered in a thousand years worth of ejaculation. " Really gross."

"Quite, now back on topic. We're going to be training you how to induce the appropriate mindset to spark a burst of magic. Fair warning; it's going to suck."

"What do you mean?" She asked warily.

"Will Manifestation is a brute force approach to magic, with simple and one-dimensional results; rudimentary telekinesis, blasts of force, stuff breaking and the like. Simple and generally unimpressive though the effects might be, the backlash can be serious because of the method used to achieve them."

"Backlash?"

"Magical exhaustion basically. Only that instead of a headache and an ever decreasing ability to concentrate, you can expect it to go further. A wand will prevent you from driving yourself past your limits simply because you will be unable to focus enough to keep casting no matter how much wands simplify things, but once you gain enough skill in Will Manifestation, you could theoretically keep going until you rupture the blood vessels in your brain."

Well that didn't sound good. "Theoretically?"

"I obviously don't have any research to point to, but it makes sense. The First Law of Thermodynamics states that energy in an enclosed system can be neither created nor destroyed, but magic violates this natural law constantly, if usually only temporarily. The values are so minor compared to the vastness of the Universe that you don't really notice the backlash most of the time, but keep at it long enough and you will. That's magical exhaustion. If you keep on pushing it, something has to give out eventually and the human brain is a lot less sturdy than the Universe."

"That sounds bad, let's avoid that. Actually, why do we even need to do this?"

"You've already learned how to sense magic, now you need to learn how to express it. Without Will Manifestation, Spellweaving is basically just really focused daydreaming. Therefore, expect frequent headaches."

"Lovely, is there anything else I should be aware of?"

Harry looked like he was about to answer, but then he frowned deeply and shook his head. "It's probably for the best if I don't tell you. The training will be more effective if you don't know about it."

Well that wasn't ominous at all.

July 10th.

"Welcome to the Ministry of Magic, please state your name and business." The cool female voice instructed.

"Harry Potter and Etalpalli, here to cause a scene." Harry replied politely.

"Thank you. Visitor, please take the badge and attach it to the front of your robes."

With a click and a rattle, the badge in question slid out of the metal chute. Harry Potter and Etalpalli, Causing a Scene it proclaimed proudly.

Harry had carefully considered the best approach to introducing Etalpalli to the sub-optimally intelligent wizards and witches of the British Isles. Hiding him indefinitely would never work and Etal was too proud for it anyway. In the end, he had decided that brazenly walking into the Ministry Atrium with the quetzalcoatl sitting on his shoulders at full size would be for the best. The shock and awe would deny the gossipmongers the opportunity to concoct too many idiotic stories.

" What a strange contraption. " Etalpalli hissed, looking around the cramped phone booth/lift curiously.

" Yes, the Ministry is rather fond of strange contraptions for some reason. " Harry hissed back, ignoring the drone of the automated voice as it went on with the usual drivel.

They were barely a few steps into the Atrium when the first gasps started up, rapidly spreading until everyone stood stock still to stare at the wizard and quetzalcoatl moving past them as if they didn't exist.

" They look so stupid. " Etal hissed out a laugh.

" They are stupid. " Harry replied, setting off another wave of gasps at the blatant use of Parseltongue. He could already hear whispers of ' Parseltongue', ' Dark ' and ' You-Know-Who '.

Idiotic as it was, Harry had actually kind of missed this. For all the time that he spent verbally shitting over the general intelligence of British magicals, it was at least familiar. America had been great in many ways, but he had been an outsider there, surrounded by foreign and unknown powers. It had left him wrongfooted several times and it felt good to be back in a place where he was the power.

Harry walked past the wand registration desk in open defiance of standard protocol and went directly for the lift.

There was a junior clerk or something already in it, a young witch that Harry vaguely recalled ogling in his second year while he was dealing with his rune-inflicted super puberty. Somewhat predictably, she stuffed herself into a corner and whimpered fearfully as Etal examined her with his bright golden eyes.

"Don't worry, he doesn't bite." Harry said reassuringly, grinning at the girl.

She looked at him for a moment, but said nothing and fled the tight confines at the first opportunity.

" What a nervous girl. " Etal commented idly.

" Most people are when confronted with new things. " Harry replied.

On several floors, people took one look at the two of them and suddenly realised that they didn't want to go on the lift after all and on others they were blatantly just there to gawk. The news of his arrival had clearly traveled through the Ministry at the speed of rumor.

His arrival in the Department of Magical Law Enforcement was a mirror to his arrival in the Atrium, though perhaps a touch more disciplined. It was also much better staffed than he remembered from his last visit. Nice to know that all that gold was doing something.

"Oi! Harry." A familiar voice called out, sounding mildly exasperated.

"Dora, how are you on this fine day?" He asked, smiling smarmily.

"As if you don't know." She huffed. "Do you have any idea what kind of scene you caused?!"

Harry silently gestured to his visitor's badge, making the metamorphmagus glare at him with twitching lips.

"Smartarse. You can't bring Etal to Bonesy's office with you though, them's the rules." She said, still trying not to smile.

"Ah, would you keep him with you for the duration then?" Harry asked and turned to Etal without waiting for her reply. " Looks like you'll need to stay with Dora while I talk to Bones. "

Etal did the quetzalcoatl version of a shrug and draped himself over the auror's shoulders.

"Harry, I'm at work." Dora protested.

"Make sure you give his neck feathers a good rub." He said and walked away.

Or tried to at least, since his path ended up being blocked by another auror.

"Can I help you?" Harry asked pointedly.

"Potter, you're under arrest." The man said, a tad self-importantly it had to be said.

"Dawlish, what the fuck are you playing at?" Dora demanded, glaring at her fellow auror.

"Stay out of this, Tonks." The now named Dawlish shot back tersely.

"Arrested, am I?" Harry challenged, making a quelling gesture at Dora. "On what grounds?"

"Use of Dark Magic." Dawlish seemed to swell with self-importance even further at the muttering going on around him.

Harry briefly wondered if this windbag had actually found out about some of his more dubious activities, but quickly dismissed it. The timing was wrong. No, he had a feeling this had to do with his entrance earlier.

"Did I? When?"

"Don't play coy, Potter. Half the Ministry saw you speaking Parseltongue in the Atrium."

"How is that Dark Magic?"

Dawlish seemed to be getting annoyed at being questioned. "Everyone knows it's Dark Magic! You-Know-Who was a parselmouth!"

"So the fact that Voldemort" Harry ignored the gasping at the utterance of the name. Damned pussies. "used it makes it Dark Magic?"

"Yes!"

"You're going to have a devil of a time arresting all the dark wizards in this country then, especially since you're one yourself."

"What?" Dawlish spluttered. "How dare you?!"

"You said that Parseltongue, a language, is Dark Magic because Voldemort used it. By that logic, English is Dark Magic too."

"That's different!"

"How?"

Dawlish sputtered as he tried to justify himself, sparking laughter and ridicule when he failed.

"Step off and stop making an arse of yourself, Dawlish." Dora jeered.

Seeing no support, Dawlish stalked off, face burning with humiliation.

"I hate that moron." Dora said with a shake of her head once the crowd of aurors had dispersed. "He's got his eye on the Head Auror position and keeps trying these stupid stunts to boost his profile."

"Ah, one of those." Harry nodded understandingly.

A couple of minutes after that altercation, Harry was ensconced in Director Bones' office, sitting in front of her desk while the formidable witch stared at him consideringly.

"Auror Tonks said that you wanted to talk to me about something." She finally said, apparently deciding not to mention his attention-grabbing entrance.

"I do, but we should wait a minute or two. If Fudge stays true to form, he should be blustering in here soon, terrified that you're plotting to usurp his position." Harry answered wryly.

Bones raised a eyebrow in sardonic amusement and nodded her agreement.

Fudge did indeed bluster in a minute later, though he seemed to be under the mistaken impression that Harry was being arrested for the use of Parseltongue or something and had come to protest. The Ministry rumor mill was just as bad as the one at Hogwarts.

"Cornelius." Harry cut through the man's blustering. "I appreciate you coming to my defense, but I'm not in any kind of legal trouble. I only came to speak to Madam Bones on an unrelated issue."

"Oh." Fudge said, nonplussed and not sure what to do with himself now. "Perhaps I should stay for your discussion? I am the Minister of Magic after all."

In other words, Fudge still hadn't shifted mental gears and was worried that the discussion would result in something that would make him look bad.

"We already have a meeting scheduled today to talk about the same issue, Cornelius." Harry reminded him. "It would be better done in private."

"Oh, yes, of course." Fudge backtracked. "I'll leave you to it then."

"You play him like a harp." Bones said, shaking her head.

"Fudge is a whore, the only thing separating him from one you'd find on the street is the service he provides and the means of payment." Harry replied sardonically, making the DMLE Director snort.

"Right. Now that our 'dear' Minister is gone, what did you want to talk about?"

"I'd like your support in pushing some legislation through the Wizengamot. I have a summary right here." Harry said bluntly, taking a roll of parchment that Narcissa had prepared from his pocket and placing it on the desk.

Bones did not look at it, merely gazed back at him stonefaced, though Harry could tell that she was a bit… disappointed.

"Is this why you funded my department then, to buy my support?"

"Not at all, I just happen to think that you would be in favor of this bit of legislation and wanted to talk to you about it ahead of time. Whether you agree to support me in this or not won't affect the flow of gold to your department."

Bones finally looked at the parchment and her eyebrows shot up in surprise as she read through it.

"The Wizengamot will never endorse this." She stated unequivocally. "For one, it would cost quite a bit of gold to set up, gold that they won't be willing to set aside for werewolves."

"I'll be talking to Fudge about funding once we're done here, see if I can't convince him to pull money away from some of the more useless departments. Plus, I'll be donating a substantial amount of my own money for it, so maybe there will be other volunteers." His reclaimed vineyard and the girls' clothing store were making a steady profit now, so he could afford to spend some cash. It would dip into his reserves of course, but not disastrously so.

"Werewolf legislation has become more restrictive than ever under the Fudge administration, he won't be happy to support anything that gives them more rights." Bones pointed out.

"Fudge will support anything that he thinks will make him look good and he's barely intelligent enough to put his clothes on every morning." Harry countered.

Bones was silent for a few moments before speaking again. "Alright, let's say that you can get Fudge to support this. Even with both him and me backing you, there's no guarantee that it will get passed into law. A legislation like this would make Britain very appealing for werewolves and nobody wants a mass of werewolf immigrants causing trouble in their country, that's why nobody wants to be the first to loosen the restrictions on them."

"I'm not saying we treat them as if they aren't dangerous." Harry shrugged. "By all means, keep an eye on them, but treating them like criminals because of their condition does nothing but turn them into criminals simply because they have no other choice. Hopefully I can make the Wizengamot see that."

"And if you can't?"

"Then nothing changes."

Except catching Fenrir Greyback's interest, hopefully.

After the talk with Bones, collecting Etal from Dora, bamboozling Fudge with talk of being known as the greatest Minister of Magic to have ever lived, the Minister to have figured out a solution to the werewolf problem, if he supported Harry's new werewolf legislation, Harry was more than ready to get back home.

Unfortunately, there was one more thing that had to be done. If people could be relied upon to do one thing, it was to gossip. He had no doubt that by now, the Atrium was choked with reporters looking to corner Harry Potter the Parselmouth and get a statement from him. It also helped that he had dropped Skeeter a tip that she should consider spending a little time in the Atrium today. As much as he would have liked to blow them off, he knew that he needed to give them that statement or they'd start making up stories.

Out of habit, he took a deep breath and drew on the Dark to freeze out his slight nervousness.

As soon as he did so, Etal hissed violently and tightened his coils around his neck.

The unexpected attack broke his focus and Harry grabbed at the green-scaled body, trying to pull it away from his neck.

" What are you doing? " He hissed urgently.

Etal loosened his coils and floated so that they were face to face. " There was Darkness. "

" Yes, I know. " Harry hissed irritably, rubbing at his sore neck. " I call upon it to calm myself sometimes. "

Etal was quiet for a long moment before speaking again.

" Do not call upon it again, it has no place within the living. "

" I can handle it. "

" You cannot. "

The uncompromising statement made Harry pause. He had a feeling that Etal would abandon him if he was ignored on this. Abruptly, he was reminded of Fawkes and of the phoenix's aversion to him during the pre-dawn hours when he waited to greet the Sun back in Hogwarts. He already knew that his connection to the Void made him colder and more prone to taking lives. It had been as dangerous as it was useful, but he had thought that he had an understanding of it. Now he wasn't sure anymore. This required some further thought.

" Is this why you hated Ophelia so much? " He asked.

" The cold one does not belong. "

The lift stopped then, having reached the Atrium and Harry had to deal with the crowd of reporters that had been waiting for him. He answered the most pertinent of their questions, but most of his mind was on what Etal had told him.

July 11th.

"Your paper, Master Harry." Kreacher said, handing the Daily Prophet to Harry during breakfast.

"Thank you, Kreacher." Harry said as the elf popped away. "Now let's see what those numbskulls said about my little stunt yesterday."

"This should be good." Sirius said with a chuckle, echoing everyone's thoughts.

"Harry Potter, a Parseltongue?" Harry read the title, snorting derisively. "I'm a parsel mouth, you nitwits. Parseltongue is the language."

"So the British are illiterate? What a surprise." Fleur mocked.

"I wish I could disagree with you, but the evidence is mounting. What else do we have here… Quezalcotatl? Wow, way to butcher the word. Grade A journalism right there."

" They dare?!" Etal hissed indignantly.

" It is less a question of daring than it is of stupidity. " Harry replied.

"What else did they get wrong?" Sirius promped, leaning forward eagerly.

"Mythical magical creature… they got that part right at least. Familiar… sign of great power… a load of baseless speculation, par the course for the Prophet . Some more speculation, this time on how I'm related to Salazar Slytherin, as if that's the only possible way to get Parseltongue, bunch of idiots."

"Well, it seems I managed to stop the press from making too many Voldemort comparisons at least." Harry said once he got to the end of the article. "Penny, is there anything on the schedule today?"

"Fred and George Weasley have invited you to take a look at their soon-to-be-opened joke shop in Diagon Alley."

"Ah, I almost forgot about that. Anyone want to come along?"

"I'm game." Sirius said immediately, eyes shining with the promise of mischief.

Diagon Alley was usually only crowded in the month leading up to September 1st, but Harry suspected that he, Sirius and Etal would have no shortage of personal space even if this was that time, not with the wide berth everyone was giving them.

"Damn, you'd think you threatened to kill their mothers or something." Sirius muttered.

Harry simply shrugged. He'd been getting this kind of treatment ever since he'd killed Lucius, though it was admittedly back to full strength now, whereas it had been fading before. Though he did get a kick out of the wide-eyed awe on the faces of the one or two pre-firsties that were doing their shopping early.

Weasleys' Wizarding Wheezes stood among the other buildings like bonfire, it's bright storefront searing to the eye.

"I like their style." Sirius said with a grin.

"You would." Harry muttered and knocked on the door.

There was a cluttering noise and then the door was opened by one of the Weasley twins.

"Well if it isn't our generous benefactor!" Fred, or possibly George, said. "Gred, Harrykins is here!"

"Well what are you waiting for then? Invite him in." The apparent Gred yelled back.

Harry and Sirius stepped into the shop and looked around. It still looked a bit chaotic, but well on its way to being ready for the grand opening.

"First-"

"- let us just say-"

"-how much we enjoyed-"

"-your prank on the Ministy-"

"-nay, the whole country-"

"-the other day." The twins said by way of greeting.

"I'm not sure if that counts as a prank." Harry said skeptically.

"Of course it does, anything that throws people counts as a prank." Sirius assured him.

"You should listen to your godfather, Harry."

"Indeed, my handsome brother, he speaks most wisely."

"Right, if you say so. How are things coming along?"

"Pretty good, we should be ready to open in a couple of weeks at the latest."

"Would have been sooner, but Mum insisted that we finish our NEWTs."

"We figured we might as well do that much for our mother since we intend to disappoint her hopes that we'll get 'a nice job in the Ministry like your father and Percy'."

Harry nodded in understanding even though he didn't actually understand. Had he been in Fred and George's shoes he would have probably refused to sit his NEWTs out of spite. A woman as overbearing and bossy as Molly Weasley seemed to be would have quickly exhausted his patience. Maybe it was one of those incomprehensible family dynamics that he'd never understood? Whatever.

"Man I wish we had some of this stuff back in our Marauder days." Sirius said nostalgically, looking at all the interesting looking doodads. "Zonko's is alright, but you boys have some real talent."

The twins had frozen into stillness as soon as Sirius had mentioned the Marauders, staring at him with wide eyes. "Are you saying… that you were a Marauder?"

"You've heard of us then?" Sirius asked, grinning widely at having his pranking genius recognised. "Padfoot, at your service."

This revelation was followed by a good five minutes of gushing on the part of the twins, with Sirius being more than happy to indulge his new fans. Eventually, the talk circled around to how the two of them found the Marauder's Map in Filch's office during their first year.

"We gave it to Ginny when we graduated." Fred said apologetically. "We would've given it to Ron, but we figured that he didn't need any distractions since he's going to be repeating fifth year alongside Ginny. Mum was not happy about that, let me tell you."

Harry snorted slightly. That sounded like Ron alright. He hadn't paid much attention to the youngest Weasley boy, especially in his last year in Hogwarts, but he'd seen and heard enough about his work ethic to know that he was a prime candidate for a repeat year.

"I'm sure Ginny would return it if we wrote her and explained the situation." George offered.

Sirius looked at his godson with a raised eyebrow. "What do you think, Harry? That map is essentially part of your inheritance."

Harry considered it for a moment and then shook his head. "Nah, let Ginny have it. I'm not that sentimental and it won't do me any good anymore."

"Are you sure? What about for your own kids when you have them?"

That made him pause. Harry hadn't really considered that angle. The idea of legacy didn't mean much to him personally. So what if the Houses of Potter and Black died with him? He'd be dead and not in a state to care anymore.

His girls probably would want kids eventually though.

He was in a rather odd situation as far as possible offspring went actually. Luna and Fleur were there to stay, that much was obvious, and if they had their way Dora would be shacking up with them too. Polygamous marriages weren't a terribly big deal among wizards, especially when two Houses converged like they had with him, but they weren't exactly common either. The muggleborn were poisoned against the notion by the prejudices of the mundane world and purebloods had such a limited population that there really wasn't enough people to go around for polygamy to be viable. That wasn't even mentioning that few wizards or witches had the power and force of personality required to keep such an arrangement from imploding into jealous power plays. It worked flawlessly with Fleur and Luna because one was a veela and the other was the most open minded person that Harry had ever heard of.

Alright, let's assume Dora is brought back into the fold and all three want kids.

Fleur wouldn't want her daughters going to Hogwarts with the rampant prejudice against anything that wasn't a pureblood and Harry couldn't blame her for it. He wouldn't fight if she wanted to send them to Beuxbatons instead. Hell, he might even choose to homeschool them. Luna and Dora probably wouldn't have any objections to sending their kids to Hogwarts, but would they want to be separated from their half-siblings?

Harry had never realised what a mess this could turn into.

"Let her keep it until she graduates, then have her give it to me." He finally said. When in doubt, take every advantage you can. Besides, that map was an interesting bit of enchanting.

"Thanks, Harry." Fred said in relief. "We weren't looking forward to telling Ginny that she has to give the map up after how happy she was when we gave it to her."

July 12th.

Septima Vector sighed to herself as the water in her tub started getting cold. She could have used magic to heat it back up of course, but she'd been lazing around like this for a couple of hours already and was getting a bit peckish.

So she got out of the tub, dried off and put on a fluffy bathrobe.

Any thoughts about what kind of snack she wanted to fix herself went out the window as she was grabbed from behind and a hand was placed over her mouth to muffle her screams.

After the initial panic subsided, Septima realised that this was a very familiar situation and a very familiar scarred hand over her mouth.

Fear made way for indignation as she twisted around in the unresisting embrace and started pounding her fist on the man's chest.

"Why. Do. You. Keep. Doing. This!" She ranted, punctuating every word with a hit while she hid her face in the home invader's chest.

"Because it's funny." Harry said, the smug bastard.

She hit him again. Then she pulled him down by the collar and kissed him.

"How did you find out where I live anyway?" She asked once that was done. With it being summer, she wasn't staying in Hogwarts at the moment, but at her little-used house.

"Oh, I have my ways." He replied mysteriously.

Septima felt an excited flutter in her lower abdomen at his smirk.

"Did you come to play?" She whispered, biting her lower lip rubbing her thighs together.

"Actually, I'm here with a business proposition for you."

"Oh." Septima tried not to sound too disappointed, but she was. "What kind of business proposition?"

"You remember our discussion about the communication mirrors?" He asked, working his fingers into the collar of her robe and trailing them over her shoulders and collar bone.

"Of course." She answered with her breath catching a little at the touches. Perhaps she'd be getting the fucking she'd been hoping for after all.

"Well I found the right materials and managed to make them work."

Septima was briefly distracted from her rising lust by that revelation. "That's amazing, Harry."

"So it is." He agreed smugly. "But now I find myself needing a lot of employees if I'm going to make a business out of this new discovery, employees that are reasonably good at both Arithmancy and Runes, or can at least be trained in short order."

Septima's breath caught as he pushed the robe off her right shoulder and stepped into her, his other hand wrapping gently around her neck.

"And?" She whispered thickly, already feeling herself moistening with arousal.

"And I thought, 'who better than my old Arithmancy professor to both find such people and to manage them?'."

"You want me to come work for you?" She asked in surprise.

"Of course." He purred, leaning forward so that his lips were at her ear. The hand tightened on her throat, and the sense of him having power over her only served to make her more wet.

"But Hogwarts…?" She protested feebly, her mind focused on more carnal matters than her professorship at the ancient school.

"I'll pay you more."

Septima gasped raggedly when she felt fingers trailing up her thigh and teeth nibbling on her exposed shoulder. "It's not about… the pay."

He backed off then and Septima's libido wailed in protest.

"You like it at Hogwarts that much then?" He asked neutrally.

Septima desperately wracked her brain for a truthful answer that would get her the results she wanted.

"It's where I've been for more than half my life now." She admitted fretfully, looking at the floor. She knew how sad that sounded, a witch over forty and she had barely done any living. During the school year she taught and during the holidays she mostly stayed at home and read a few books. Those few months spent being Harry's personal fucktoy were the most exciting in her life and wasn't that depressing?

Harry simply nodded, grabbed her wrist and started pulling her long.

"Where are we going?" Septima asked, but did not resist.

"To make an honest woman out of you." Harry said bluntly.

Septima blinked in shock. He couldn't seriously mean…?

"You're dragging me off to get married?" There was no hiding the incredulity and disbelief in her tone.

"Don't be ridiculous." He scoffed. "Marriage has nothing to do with honesty, stupid expression really. No, you've crawled back into your comfortable rut while I've been gone and I'm going to drag you out of it again. Before the night is over, you're going to stop hiding and give me an honest answer."

Septima felt the arousal return tenfold at his authoritative behavior and she followed along obediently, even eagerly.

He took her to her own bedroom, which only served to excite her more. She was nearly vibrating with anticipation when he turned to face her.

"Take the robe off." Harry ordered.

She was quick to obey, untying the middle, shucking it off her shoulders and then kicking it away

He stared at her nude body silently with his penetrating emerald eyes and Septima nervously covered her breasts and groin with her hands.

"I didn't say you could hide." He warned and she took her hands away as if scalded. Her crotch tingled with arousal.

The silent stare seemed to go on forever and Septima had to struggle not to fidget. Her thoughts raced all over the place, wondering what he was waiting for. Am I supposed to do something?

He shifted slightly and she saw the bulge in his pants.

She bit her lip, wanting to take care of that. A glance at his eyes showed that they were dark with desire and she decided to chance it.

His continued silence as she approached encouraged her. By the time that she had dropped to her knees in front of him and started undoing his belt, she was confident that this was what he wanted.

The familiar musky scent of his freed manhood set a fire between her legs and she indulged in a few deep breaths before taking it into her mouth.

The hand petting her hair encouraged her even more and she performed enthusiastically, suppresing the gag reflex just like he'd taught her and taking him in all the way to the base.

A few minutes of fellatio later, Septima recognised the telltale twitches that signaled his impending climax and redoubled her efforts. Just before he came, she backed up so that only his crown remained in her mouth and pumped his shaft vigourously. Usually, he would climax down her throat, but she wanted to feel his seed filling up her mouth and coating her tongue.

She groaned alongside him when it happened and swallowed the sticky, viscous, salty-sweet discarge one spurt at a time. It tasted even better than she remembered, so either she had missed it that much or Harry had made his diet even fruitier.

Septima made sure to clean off every last drop and looked up at him expectantly.

"I suppose you want a reward now?" Harry asked rhetorically.

Septima blushed and nodded basfully.

"You think you deserve one?"

Her eyes snapped back up to his.

"What?" She asked, confused.

"It's a simple question, Septima. Do you think you deserve a reward?"

Septima floundered for an answer. He had enjoyed the blowjob, that much was certainly obvious thanks to the leftover taste in her mouth, but did it merit a reward?

"Um, no?" She asked more than said, having no confidence in her answer and deciding to err on the side of caution as a result.

"Well if you don't think you deserve a reward then I won't give you one." Harry said and pulled her back on her feet.

"But-" She tried to protest, castigating herself for screwing herself out of a reward with her hesitation.

"No buts. If you think you haven't earned a reward, then it's clearly a punishment you deserve."

Despite wanting to know what the reward would have been, Septima perked up. Punishments could be just as good as rewards sometimes.

Her excitement increased as he commanded her to go to the bed and lay on her back and then increased further still as he bound her hands and feet in spread eagle position.

As he undressed and knelt between her legs, she wondered how exactly this was a punishment. As he places spells on her nipples so that they would feel an echo of what was happening further south, she wondered even more. By the time that he lowered his face to her crotch and started putting his hard-earned skills at cunnilingus to work, she had long since stopped wondering when the punishment was going to come.

Septima gasped for air as she felt her orgasm approaching and bucked her hips towards him in an instinctive desire for more.

And then he stopped, pulling back and leaving her hovering on the edge.

"Now, why don't you tell me what's so great about Hogwarts that you'd want to stay there?"

" Harry! " She whined.

"Answer the question, Septima." He ordered, giving her clitoris a little rub.

Septima made a noise of frustrated desperation and tried to think through her lust, hoping that he would give her the release she needed if she answered.

"Because… because…" She tried, having trouble finding the words.

"Yes?" he prompted, sending a sudden sharp burst of feeling into the little nub that nonetheless failed to bring her over the edge.

Septima squealed, any thoughts of Hogwarts or why she was staying there obliterated.

"Come on, Septima. I won't let you have any relief until I'm satisfied with your answers."

Three hours later .

Septima sobbed with relief as Harry finally entered her. She didn't even notice as her restraints were untied, merely clinging to him and crying into his chest while he thrust into her and allowed her the long denied orgasm. The feeling of his seed spilling into her was more glorious than anything she'd ever felt.

It had been maddening, being kept on the edge of orgasm for hours on end while he asked inane questions. What was her favorite part of Hogwarts? Were the other teachers close friends? Did she talk to the house elves or the ghosts? Did she like toast? What were her feelings about Dumbledore?

On and on it went until she thought she was going to die. She didn't even have the buttplug to clench around, having removed it before her bath.

She'd begged and pleaded for him to fuck her with every other breath, but Harry was unmoved and simply demanded answers while manipulating her nerves mercilessly.

After hours of this torture, Septima had finally admitted, to both Harry and herself, that she was just staying in Hogwarts out of habit, because it was safe and she was too scared to try anything new. She'd gone to work there during the war and felt safe because of Dumbledore. When the war was over she had no idea what to do with herself and simply stuck with it because it was safe, until she'd become more Professor Vector than Septima.

"See, now you're an honest woman." Harry said cheekily.

Septima sobbed out a laugh, still shaking from the force of her horribly delayed climax.

"So, will you come work for me?"

Septima nodded. Now that Harry had stripped away all the falsehoods with his unique approach, she could see the rut she'd been in and how soulcrushing it had been. This communication mirror project of his was very interesting and being in charge of a team of enchanters as they polished it up was very appealing.

"Excellent." Harry said, grinning. "I'll pick you up tomorrow and we'll hammer out an employment contract for you."

"I still need to tell the Headmaster that I'm resigning." She pointed out tiredly.

"Ah, the day after tomorrow then."

Septima nodded and looked him in the eye. "Do I get a reward now?"

"I don't know, you think you deserve one?" Harry asked with a smirk.

His cheek gave her a sudden idea. It might be the last time that she'd get a chance to act this way and didn't want to waste it. "Actually, I think you deserve a detention, Potter."

Harry's eyebrows shot upward at her sudden authoritative tone. Then he grinned. "And what will I be doing during my detention, Professor? Writing lines?"

Septima wiggled around and turned onto her stomach.

"Fucking my arse. Get to it, and don't you dare stop until I say you can stop."

She felt him cast a few quick spells, notably the familiar lubrication ones, and then his hard member was sliding into her favorite hole.

"You know, this is one of my old fantasies about you." He grunted once he was hilted all the way inside. "The naughty detention with the anally fixated professor. Too bad it's not a classroom though."

Septima sighed contently as he started thrusting. With the abuse he'd subjected her poor nerves to, it was unlikely that she'd be having another orgasm anytime soon, but she could still enjoy the feeling of his cock filling up her bum.

"Glad I could oblige." She murmured tiredly.

"Don't get used to being in charge though. You'll be working for me soon, to do with as I see fit."

Septima shivered. She couldn't wait.

July 13th.

"Come in, Septima." Albus called cheerfully as he sensed the techer's presence outside his door.

The Arithmancy professor entered and took the offered seat, refusing the offered lemon drop as usual. Everyone always refused his lemon drops.

"What can I do for you on this fine day?" Albus asked, trying to figure out what it was about the woman that was a bit different today. She seemed… more, somehow.

"I won't beat around the bush, Headmaster, I've received another job offer and I've decided to accept. I'm resigning my professorship at Hogwarts." Septima said.

Albus blinked in surprise. That was definitely not what he had expected from the normally demure Arithmancy professor.

"You understand that this puts me into something of a bind with regards to your post? Finding a suitable replacement before the start of term will be difficult." He said, hoping to persuade her to stay. She really was an excellent professor and he had enough trouble filling the DADA spot every year.

"I'm sure there are plenty of arithmancers that would be glad to take my place. I will even provide them my lesson plans to help them acclimate, but my resignation stands."

"I see." Albus frowned slightly. "May I inquire as to the nature of your prospective new employment?"

Albus didn't wait for her to answer and instead skimmed over her thoughts with Legilimency. Only long experience in scanning people like this prevented his eyes from bulging in shock.

He saw Harry offering her a job, and then the multitude of memories connected to the offer. Memories of the two of them engaging in sexual intercourse stretching back for more than a year, well into the time when such activity was illegal due to their teacher/student relationship.

Moreover, Septima's feelings were full of gleeful submission to the forceful young wizard as he took her in any way he pleased, happy to be used to satisfy whatever whim struck him. She was in fact using the toy he'd given her at this very moment, privately (or so she thought) relishing the idea that she had a steel buttplug massaging her rectum while talking to the most powerful wizard in the British Isles.

"I would rather keep that to myself for now, Headmaster." Septima said.

"Yes, of course." Albus said, his mask not cracking in the slightest. "I wish you the best of luck in your future endeavours."

She left then, leaving Albus alone with his thoughts. How had he missed this? And what was Harry up to?

July 30th.

Fleur looked over at her shapeshifting friend with wry exasperation.

"Are you going to frown the whole day?"

Tonks looked back at the veela with a slight scowl and then sighed. "No, it's just… gah! I just don't feel like throwing Harry a birthday party right now!"

"You know that 'e only provokes you because 'e must." Fleur soothed.

"Yeah, I figured as much when he told me to morph into my own mother and flash him. Well I figured it out after he forced me to sit down and meditate when all I wanted to do was kick his teeth in, but it still pisses me off. He knows how degrading it is for someone to ask me to do stuff like that."

"That is why 'e did it no doubt."

"Yeah, but still…"

"'E does feel bad about it if it makes you feel any better." Fleur said commiseratingly. "It takes me almost ten minutes to get 'im in the mood for sex after one of your sessions."

Tonks snorted in amusement in spite of herself. Trust a veela to measure how bad someone feels by how long it takes to get them randy.

"Did he teach you and Luna the same way?"

" Non, not quite. My problem is with control rather than with expression and Luna's emotions work a little differently. The Joining also helps."

Tonks was a bit startled by that. "He never said anything about that to me."

"Of course 'e didn't, after the way you two split up 'e did not want to make you think that he was pressuring you let 'im Join with you."

"That's kind of considerate of him I guess." Tonks grudgingly admitted. "I'm still mad at him though."

"We will insist that 'e drinks then and you can make fun of anything stupid 'e does." Fleur suggested with a smirk.

In truth, she was hoping that the combination of alcohol and certain full contact games would lead to a hot foursome. Nymphadora had been pacing around like a shy but clearly interested cat for long enough already and it was past time to force some progress. Plus, once the metamorphmagus was brought into the relationship, Harry could start using the Joining to aid in teaching her instead of doing everything the hard way.

"There's an idea." Tonks said with a grin. "It's probably the only way we'll ever get Harry drunk."

Fleur made a sound of derision before speaking." That much is certain, considering that we will 'ave to drag 'im out of the basement on 'is own birthday."

The two witches continued their shopping trip, picking up mostly booze and cooking chocolate. Fleur wanted chocolate liquor as well as a few other types of alcohol that didn't burn your mouth when drunk. They were doing their shopping in a mundane supermarket because wizards had the unfortunate habit of adding magic to nearly everything and mixing different types of enchantments was generally not a good idea if you didn't know the effects. Plus, the mundane world offered more variety.

The snacks would be left in the hands of Teeny and Kreacher, who would have been mortified at having their job usurped. Fortunately, the house elves were happy to play along even if Harry hadn't given them any orders to start preparing for a party. He hadn't given any orders forbidding it either after all.

The uneventful shopping trip was interrupted when they were waylaid.

Fleur had just spotted a bottle of Malibu brand rum that she'd never had but which looked interesting and tried to take it. Unfortunately, it was on the top shelf and a bit to the back, so it was just slightly out of reach. She had been just about to ask if Nymphadora could make herself a little taller and get it for her when someone reached over her, grabbed the bottle and handed it to her.

"Here you go." The helpful stranger said, standing just a bit too close to be merely helpful.

He was a tall young man that obviously made frequent visits to a gym. By most standards, he would have been considered quite handsome, but he had no magic and was therefore about as attractive to Fleur as a chair or a lamp.

" Merci ." She said with a polite smile.

"My pleasure." The guy said, smiling down at her and stepping back only barely enough to not be considered rude. "So, you two girls having a party?"

"Yep." Tonks said, amused. Both she and Fleur were wearing jean shorts and tank tops, so male attention was a given, but she also knew that this blatant attempt at a come-on was doomed to failure.

"Cool." He nodded, upping the wattage on his smile. "Listen, a few of us were thinking of throwing our own party, but we'd be glad to pitch in and join yours if that's okay. I'm Eric by the way."

"Well, Eric, I'm afraid you lack the necessary attributes to party with us. Isn't that right, Nymmie?" Fleur purred, getting an idea. These would-be casanovas that she sometimes had to deal with were usually a minor annoyance that was simply part of every veela's life, but this one presented a little opportunity.

"Sure is." The metamorphmagus confirmed with a grin, not commenting on the nickname. It was better than Nymphadora at least.

"I think you'll find I have plenty of attributes." Eric countered cockily. "Try me."

Fleur had been tacitly referring to magic, but she could hardly say that. Instead, she stuck her fingers into the waistband of Nymphadora's jean shorts and pulled her into a kiss.

Tonks made a muffled noise of surprise at being kissed out of nowhere, but found herself returning it anyway. Fleur was a damned good kisser. Very French, with lots of tongue.

They separated quickly and smirked at the stunned look on the guy's face.

"See, wrong attributes." Fleur said smugly.

Eric stared for a moment longer, briefly scowled at Tonks' pink hair and then turned away with a mutter. "Should've know you were bloody dykes."

Fleur narrowed her eyes at the retreating man's back, now quite irritated.

"Don't do it." Tonks said to her friend out of the corner of her mouth.

But Fleur did do it, carefully channeling her anger at the insult into a magical push, just like Harry had taught her.

Eric suddenly felt as if someone had shoved him to the side and he went stumbling into the shelves full of alcohol. With a loud crash, dozens of bottles shattered on the floor.

The two witches laughed as he held his head in horror while hundreds of pounds worth of booze was destroyed.

"You shouldn't have done that." Tonks said once they were away from the scene of the crime, sobering up quickly.

"'E deserved it." Fleur sniffed disdainfully.

"Maybe, but muggle baiting is illegal for a reason."

"You can spank me for it later," Fleur waved off blithely, pushing the shopping cart forward. "now come on, we still have a few things to buy."

Tonks gave into the urge to give a hard slap to the veela's arse, smirking at her surprised yelp.

"No crime goes unpunished when Auror Tonks is on the job." She said pompously.

July 31st.

Harry was in the basement of Potter Manor, working on one of his projects. Specifically, it was on the handgun he'd gotten from Ophelia.

Magically silencing it had been easy enough, as had binding it so that nobody except him could use it. There was also the usual Notice-Me-Not on it to keep from being noticed. Really, a gun required very little enchanting with how deadly it was to start with, thought it would be interesting to play around with. The only really critical issue was ammunition.

Ophelia had given him a few clips of standard ammo as well as a holster for it, but those bullets would be used up quickly and they were a lot harder to buy in Britain than in the US. True, he could apparate there, but Harry wanted a better solution.

To that end, he'd been trying to see if he could enchant the clips to automatically conjure new bullets.

The answer to that was a resounding no. A bullet was more than just a bit of lead, it was in fact considerably more complex than it looked. Conjuring it was out of the question, much less automatically.

Duplication had possibilities however. The Gemino Charm was basically Conjuration lite, and required far less focus since the caster already had something to use as a template, reducing the mental workload greatly. The duplicated items also lasted much longer.

If he could imbue a clip with a refined enough Gemino Charm, using a real bullet as a base, it should theoretically work.

Of course, if his spellwork wasn't good enough, the gun was liable to either not fire at all or explode in his hand, so he was not exactly eager to experiment. Even if he used magic to pull the trigger remotely, he'd still be short a gun if he screwed up.

And the only way he knew of to procure another, short of stealing it from somewhere, would be through Ophelia.

He did not want to go anywhere near the vampire right now, or perhaps ever again.

He had let his guard down around her. Like a bloody idiot, he had forgotten what she was for a little while and she had pounced on him like a lion on an antelope.

That strange sense of need, of dependency that he had felt in the wake of her bite… that had left him quickly enough, but his fury hadn't. Fury at her for trying it and fury at himself for being a damned fool. He'd carried on as if Ophelia was just another shady acquaintance - he seemed to be making quite a few of those - or maybe a glittering fairy. Fucking Stephenie Meyer, at this point he wouldn't even be surprised if someone told him that she worked for the vampires, spreading romanticised bullshit to make them look more approachable to angsty teens. Fucking Twilight, and fucking Hollywood too. And fucking Fifty Shades of Grey just for good measure, because it portrayed a completely fucked up version of a proper BDSM relationship. He'd skimmed through it in search of a few fun ideas and quickly concluded that it was a story about the emotional manipulation and breakdown of a naivé and inexperienced girl. He should know, having some experience in the field of emotional manipulation. The best part was that the author didn't seem to realise what she'd written. Fucking hilarious.

Speaking of BDSM relationships, Septima was doing a great job tracking down some of her old students and getting them to come work for him. A few were wary of coming to work for the Great and Dreaded Harry Potter, Speaker to Snakes and Burner of Malfoys, and some others already had other stuff going on or had left the country, but he'd be able to get things started soon enough at this rate.

Fleur and Luna had been hinting that they'd like to play with the former Arithmancy professor too. Well, Fleur had been hinting, Luna had just straight out said it, bless her blunt tongue. He wasn't sure how Septima felt about girls, but Fleur now had enough control to not use the Joining instinctively, so he could indulge them. Eventually. Worst case scenario, Septima would just use her assigned safeword for the first time ever. Harry was rather proud of himself for having such a good feeling for her limits that she'd never needed to. Even the recent 'torture' he'd put her through had not been anything she couldn't handle.

Dora's training was going well too, though it was also straining their friendship due to the methods he had to employ. Emotions were the key, the bridge between body, mind and soul. Proper control of them was crucial to a true mastery of magic. It was just unfortunate that dredging up emotions was generally an unpleasant process that people resented. Dora was more than smart enough to realise he was trying to help her, but she was not happy with him all the same.

Harry was upset about that, because he still cared for the perky metamorphmagus. He hoped the gift he had arranged for her would help soothe ruffled feathers. It wasn't really a bribe since he would have given it to her anyway and Luna and Fleur were getting their own, but she should still be pleased enough with it to forgive him for deliberately lancing at her sore spots. Hopefully.

He sighed to himself as he felt the alarm spell on the door go off. I guess it was too much to hope for that they'd let my birthday pass by without notice.

Holidays and birthdays seemed to get more annoying and pointless every year. To him at least, everyone else still liked them.

"'Arry?" Fleur called out.

"What's up?" He asked.

"Come with me, I 'ave something to show you." She said eagerly, grabbing his hand and dragging him away from his desk.

"I don't suppose it's something completely unconnected to the day I came into this world, covered in blood and screaming after ripping my mother open?" Harry asked blandly, letting himself be dragged.

"Must you be so morbid?" Fleur asked in exasperation. "It's your birthday!"

"I'm being extra morbid to counter the excessive forced cheer of everyone else."

"Well I won't 'ave it." The veela said snootily. "Today, you are going to enjoy yourself. You only turn sixteen once after all."

"Yes, you also only turn every other age only once, that's how linear time works."

Fleur turned to him with a look of utter exasperation. "'Arry, shut up, come along and smile."

Harry stretched his mouth into a horrid parody of a smile that looked more like the rictus grin of a bleached skull.

"Close enough." She said, rolling her eyes.