Birthday

Susan drew a few eyes when she pressed the elevator button for level one. The uppermost level of the ministry was reserved for the minster himself and support staff. Susan certainly seemed a little young to be working at such a level, but her name-tag did indeed indicate she was there for a meeting with the minister and she certainly acted like she knew what she was doing, so the few who noticed shrugged and moved on.

Of course, if they were aware of the other, hidden occupant of the elevator, they certainly would have gotten more attention. Not only would that have made Harry even more uncomfortable than he already was, it was dangerous, so invisibility cloak it was. The others filtered out as the elevator rose, until there was only one other person remaining- a plain, brunette woman who purposefully stepped to Susan's side, forcing Harry to hastily jig out of the way. "Ha!" She crowed, hearing his movement and snatching the cloak away from him.

"Gah!" Harry stumbled to the floor, reaching for his wand and warily eying the woman. Susan had drawn her own wand in a fluid motion.

Then, the woman's hair flashed brilliantly pink. "Wotcher." Apparently, they'd had a bodyguard.

"Tonks!" Harry's indignation was met with laughter. "You scared the shite out of me!"

"For shame, Harry. Clearly, you need to be a little more… vigilant. A few lessons with Moody- the real one, would do the trick." Tonks clucked. "Oh, and happy birthday."

The elevator dinged, and waiting for them on the other side was a young woman Harry vaguely recognized from Hogwarts. Harry brushed himself off, a little embarrassed to be caught at such a disadvantage.

"Mr. Potter, Ms. Bones." The woman greeted "The Minister is expecting you."

"Thank you, Ms. Wright." Susan returned.

"Just call me Olivia." She turned to Tonks "Err…"

Tonks wordlessly flashed her auror badge "Can't leave this one running off unsupervised." Harry grumbled good naturedly, he didn't go looking for trouble, it wasn't his fault trouble always found him.

Yeah, you just accidentally stumbled around all those protections to the Philosopher's Stone, didn't you? Ginny ribbed. And just happened to find yourself fighting a basilisk and saving me, eh?

Harry refrained from rolling his eyes, knowing that it would look odd to any observers. Olivia led them to a room, seemed rather unassuming, simply marked as 'Public relations office'. "Thank you, for, er, helping us." He said to her as she knocked on the door.

"You're very welcome, Mr. Potter." She returned, briefly distracted, before she remembered herself and opened the door. "Minister, Harry Potter is here."

Harry was ushered into the room, while Susan stepped to the side. In the center was a long, rounded desk, something Harry had seen on occasion in the Daily Prophet- usually a picture of the Minister shaking someone's hand. Harry assumed he would soon be featuring in one such picture because ringed around the desk was a modest number of reporters. Thankfully, Rita Skeeter was absent. In the center of it all was Rufus Scrimgeour, looking wholly unaffected by the attention, but perking up with interest at Harry's entrance. "Mr. Potter." He greeted "I'm glad that you could join us today."

Harry nodded and responded politely. Susan hadn't given him too much in the way of instruction, instead just offering a few guidelines, she seemed to think words that were genuinely his would do better than canned phrases. He sat himself on the seat beside the Minster, noting the stack of papers that seemed to be entirely for show at his place. It didn't seem very functional. You're just mistaken about its function, Harry. Luna chimed in. I think it's serving its exact purpose. Flashbulbs went off as she said this, driving her point home.

Harry and the minister clasped hands and shook firmly, provoking another round of flashbulbs. Susan was purposefully hanging back, not wanting her presence to draw the reporters attention and questions. "Now, as I'm sure today is a busy day for Mr. Potter, I'd like to keep this brief." The minister told the room "Suffice it to say, the Ministry is eager to work with Harry on combatting the threat He-who-must-not-be-named and his death eaters pose. Now more than ever, we need to work together, regardless of…" Harry internally rolled his eyes as the minister descended into a political speech, but concentrated on nodding along with an attentive expression.

When the Scrimgeour finished, there was a beat of silence, and Harry realized he was expected to say something. "Well, now that I'm of age, you can expect me to be taking a much more active role in the war effort." Harry said "As the minister said, In these times we can't be picky about who we work with. I look forward to working alongside the ministry and taking the fight to Voldemort" A few cringes and flinches abounded in the room, though Scrimgeour himself remained stoic "and his followers."

His statement much shorter and more concise than the minister's, but it worked just as well. It was followed by a round of questions, most of which Scrimgeour answered in a manner that was simultaneously firm, yet answered very little. Harry, got a few direct questions of his own, however. "Mr. Potter." A younger wizard asked him "Did you have any concerns about working with the Ministry, given how you were treated by the previous administration."

"Minister Scrimgeour has never given me a reason to mistrust him." Harry answered, giving nothing away "I'm committed to working with the Ministry to end this war." He subconsciously rubbed the scar Umbridge's blood quill left on his hand- a nervous tick.

The whole ordeal couldn't have lasted much longer than twenty minutes, and soon Harry and the Minister were off to his personal office, with Susan falling into step beside them. Harry had held up his side of the bargain, this was the important part.

This wasn't his first time meeting Scrimgeour. He'd visited the Burrow over Christmas holiday, though Harry had rather firmly brushed him off, not wanting to put himself in the position of being a puppet of the Ministry, not when he knew he couldn't trust them. Still, with Dumbledore's fall to the dark, they didn't have many other options to turn to.

"Thank you. A lot of people will rest easy because of this." The Minister opened. Harry bristled, he wasn't hear to make people more complacent. "Of course, your safety is a top priority for us, I can have a team ward the Bones property this week, if you like."

"That would be ideal, Minister." Susan answered. Scrimgeour, seemingly satisfied, nodded. "We should also discuss the nature of this cooperation."

That tripped him up. "You haven't even finished your schooling, let alone had proper auror training, what do you expect to do?" Harry had wondered just how much of that speech had been for show- apparently quite a bit, typical. He cut in at this point "I don't expect to be included in any auror raids, don't worry. I know exactly what I need to do."

"And what exactly is that?"

Harry held firm "I can't tell you that."

"I'm the Minister of Magic, Mr. Potter. I have resources at my disposal that you don't." Ah he thought now he wants to cooperate.

"As soon as we have information we can act on and need those resources, you will be the first to know, Minister." Susan took over "You have to understand, this intelligence is incredibly sensitive. Any sort of leak could destroy the war effort."

Scrimgeour sat back in his chair "Does this… have to do with the prophecy?"

Harry blinked, surprised at the question. "The Unspeakables informed me that such a prophecy existed, but was destroyed in the battle at the Ministry."

Something clicked in Hermione's mind, and she shared her suspicion with Harry "Wait, were you the one that leaked that to the press?"

"The country needed the morale boost." He didn't appear particularly apologetic.

"So they can pin all their hopes on me, instead of preparing." Harry shook his head "Whatever. For the record, I'm not letting you know what it says. Voldemort doesn't even know the whole thing, I can't risk it getting out."

The minister wasn't happy, but Susan was quick to redirect. "There is something we can give you, Minister." Scrimgeour's eyebrows rose in interest. Harry looked to her, himself not sure where she was going with this.

"It's about Dumbledore. We believe he's being influenced by dark magic." Harry had to admire her. Scrimgeour was already suspicious of Dumbledore, throwing him that particular bone wouldn't just satisfy him, there was an outside chance he might actually be able to act on it.

"Merlin." The minister muttered, his stern featured wavering for just a moment. "How certain are you of this?"

"Pretty sure." Susan answered. Hermione's aura sight at least told them he was under the influence of something.

"No one can know about this." The minister said decisively. "If it got out that Albus Dumbledore has fallen to dark magic, there'd be panic. Taking him out has its own risks, though."

Harry could see the logic. He'd seen Dumbledore fight in the ministry. He could probably take on the whole auror force if need be, and if they tried and failed to take him in, they'd be unlikely to get another chance. "I agree." Harry said "We only get one shot at this. We need to get him at a point where he's vulnerable, in a poor position or not expecting it."

There was some discussion of how to engineer such a situation, but none of them came up with a firm solution. Dumbledore had become completely unresponsive to the Minister's requests, and Harry didn't see how he could set something up with him without it being obviously a trap. The minister's previous attempts at so much as monitoring the Headmaster had been easily thwarted. It was troubling, for all three of them, but for the moment the best play was to keep an eye out for opportunities and to be prepared to act quickly.

-----

The ensuing party at the Burrow was much more pleasant. More than pleasant, it was brilliant- the first proper birthday party he'd ever had. The girls, much of the Weasley clan, and the sympathetic Order members made for great company. Oh, and Pansy was there as well, making a show about how she wished she could have given him something if only she'd been let off the property.

Harry and the girls had collectively decided to make a deliberate effort to get everyone used to their relationship status. They weren't exactly shoving it in people's faces or snogging in public, but they weren't shy about simple acts of affection that made it clear what they were to each other. News of their unorthodox relationship had spread to the others, so they had generally had time to get used to the idea. The twins found the situation downright hilarious and ribbed Katie mercilessly for being a 'kept woman'.

Pansy, having been at Hogwarts, knew as well, but there was a difference between hearing about it and internalizing it. Harry wasn't comfortable with her gawking at him like some zoo animal whenever he showed any affection to his girlfriends, but he soldiered through- they'd have let Pansy get much closer to them starting soon, so they might as well get her used to it now. Through all the commotion, Mrs. Weasley had taken Gabrielle aside. The young girl seemed to thrive under the attention, and had been happy to help cook dinner. She had heard from Fleur that their family situation was… less than ideal.

And Harry? He let himself soak in the experience. They'd gotten the meeting with Minister out of the way early, and while there was plenty of things to dwell on if he wanted, he wasn't going to let it weigh on his mind today. He enjoyed the company- laughing at the twins' jokes, agreeing to get destroyed by Ron in a game of chess, and accepting a dozen 'happy birthdays'. Dinner was delicious- nothing quite compared the Mrs. Weasley's cooking, and she'd included all of his favorites, including mmm treacle tart.

Then came the presents. Ron had just shrugged as if to say 'what did you expect?' when Harry found that he'd gotten him candy. Fred and George had given him samples of all their upcoming and experimental merchandize, which Harry had wisely decided not to try out right that moment. Also in the category of 'to try later' were a collection of custom made potions from Hermione.

Much of what he'd gotten was quite practical- defensively enchanted battle robes from Remus and Tonks, flying gear from Katie, wand holsters for the lot of them from Hestia Jones, and a collection of spellbooks from Mr. and Mrs. Weasley. Susan had given him a trunkful of clothes, including shorts, pants, boxers, shirts, robes- everything from the casual to the elegant.

Then there was the hand-woven necklace that Luna had made for him- despite both their efforts to keep that a surprise it was hard not to realize what she was giving him with how much effort she'd put into it. Gabrielle had blushed crimson as Harry carefully opened his present from her- a bracelet woven from enchanted and hardened Veela hair, which she explained would provide some amount of fire resistance.

Next he opened what appeared to be a card from Demelza. His eyes scanned over what she had written and he immediately blushed. His attempts to brush off any questions about what her present was just incited further teasing from the twins. Moving onto Fleur's present did him no favors- when he opened the envelope a few sheets of paper fell out and when Harry examined them, he nearly choked and hastily summoned them to store away. He glanced at Fleur with wide eyes, shocked, yet touched, that she would offer him this, something that seemed so out of step with her nature.

He'd saved Ginny's present for last. He could tell that she was proud of her choice, and he wasn't disappointed. When he opened the small box, his eyes caught a glint of gold. Operating on instinct, his hand reach out to snatch the snitch from the air. "Cool." He breathed, examining the golden ball fluttering in his hand and said sincerely "Thank you."

-----

"Hey, Fleur. I wanted to talk with you." Ginny had been trying to have this conversation with Fleur for days now, but it had never seemed like the right time. She was a little nervous about the conversation she wanted to have, despite Harry's assurances. It was only after they'd returned to Susan's for the 'after-party' that Ginny find herself alone with Fleur. Now or never. She told herself

"Of course." Fleur agreed easily "Is there… something wrong?"

"No, well… I don't know." Ginny knew she was being cagey, and not really her style.

"Is it about… the other night?" Fleur helped her along. It was both a relief that she knew where conversation was headed, and a bit embarrassing. Had she been that obvious? "You've been acting differently around me since then."

"Er, how?"

"More closed off." Fleur said simply. "I'm... sorry, if I misread the situation and hurt you."

Screw it, Ginny thought. She'd never gotten anywhere before by being shy and nervous, that wasn't about to change now. "I'm just going to be blunt, I guess. I really enjoyed it. I liked seeing, feeling you and Harry together, I enjoyed what you said about me, even though it was humiliating… because it was humiliating. But… did you mean it?"

Fleur blinked, processing what she said. "Of course not!" Ginny nodded, but somehow, she wasn't quite satisfied. "I mean it, Ginny. You… you're probably the best friend I've ever had."

"What?" What!?

"I never had any friends at school, everyone was too jealous, or threatened by me."

"Like I was." Ginny added, a touch guilty.

"Yes, but you saw past that. You helped me become a better person. You let me into your life." Fleur smiled warmly. "No one bothered to even try, before you and Harry."

"Then... what led you to say those things, act like that?"

"I got the sense that you enjoyed it. I wasn't wrong, was I?"

"No." Ginny admitted "You were bloody right."

"To be honest, I don't think I could have done that with anyone else. You're the first woman I'd be comfortable… letting loose like that with." She shrugged "I'm so used to women being insecure about my abilities. But with you, I knew… or thought that I wouldn't have to worry. I thought that you'd be okay. I'm sorry that I was wrong about that."

Ginny hadn't thought about it that way. She knew that Fleur interacted with her differently than with other women but hadn't considered why. That she was the only woman that Fleur was comfortable showing that side of hadn't even occurred to her. "I'm not insecure." Ginny received a raised eyebrow in response "Okay, at least not about your allure. I guess, I needed to know that I could trust you. But I'm totally okay with… this, I promise. As long as you don't think less of me for it."

"That would be… that would be amazing... thank you, for trusting me." Fleur answered heavily. On an impulse, Ginny hugged her.

Fleur had spent so long closed off from any form of physical affection, that something as simple as a hug didn't come naturally to her. Sex was easy, thanks to the Veela drive, but everything else came much more slowly. Fleur's response to the hug, how her arms unsurely wrapped around her body, reminded Ginny much of Harry's first halting attempts at physical affection with her.

Similarly to those early days with Harry, Ginny's had to stop her mind from making what should be a touching moment into something sexual. Harry was long since accustomed to her sexualizing everything he did, it was just how their relationship was. "I like it, you know." Fleur told Ginny, drawing her from her attempts to not notice Fleur's boobs pressing against her own chest "How easy it is to distract you. You don't have to fight it." Fleur pulled back, sporting a lascivious smirk, and Ginny realized that in that aspect she and Fleur were evenly matched.

Thinking on it a moment, Ginny decided that instead of tying herself in knots trying to deny it, she just… wouldn't. She let her eyes roam down and then back up Fleur's figure, before meeting her sparkling eyes. "Your present, it was an interesting choice." She commented. To be honest, the concept of the present wasn't that impressive. Sex coupons for a man who had all the sex he could want? However, Fleur seemed to recognize this and made sure the coupons were special, things that they never did together normally. "I saw what you're promising him. 'Tie me up' 'I must obey you' 'Deny me'… I didn't think you had it in you."

"Well, it looks like you underestimated me." Fleur's mouth curled into a smile "It isn't really my nature, but I think it makes it more special. A treat."

"He's been thinking about it." Ginny said breathily. He'd been very appreciative of every present he'd gotten, a relic of growing up with no presents whatsoever, but Demelza and Fleur's more salacious gifts had lodged themselves in his head for obvious reasons. "How he's going to use your body."

Just as Ginny had intended, Fleur's libido flickered to life in response to her words, and with it- her allure. Ginny's breath hitched as it washed over her. "You'd like that, wouldn't you?" Fleur whispered in her ear as Ginny's eyes drifted right down to her cleavage.

"Uhh, yeah." Ginny answered distractedly.

"Good." Fleur pressed her lips to Ginny's cheek, and the redhead felt her face heat up. "I wonder if he'll use any of them tonight?"

"I don't know. He's going to have his hands full."

They both giggled, that certainly was true.

-----

The entire day, Harry had some idea about what the girls had planned for him tonight. It had taken a lot of focus, including the use of some rudimentary occlumency exercises, for him to shove his sexual desires into the background, and the anticipation for what he knew was waiting for him made it all the more difficult. He was happy that he'd remained completely focused during the meeting with the minister and had only stumbled a few times (mainly when he received Demelza and Fleur's 'presents') during the party.

Not long after they'd gotten back home, Katie had enigmatically told him to come down to the sitting room in fifteen minutes. It ended up being a very long fifteen minutes, and Harry had found himself completely incapable of distracting himself. He'd maintained an iron-willed control over himself all day, he was ready, eager to let loose.

Despite their playful chiding that it was a surprise, he couldn't resist peeking into the minds of some of his bondmates as he made his way down. He was perhaps a few minutes early, but he'd accept the ribbing for his eagerness. He didn't look for long, but what he did see only heightened his anticipation. Because waiting for him in that room were seven naked women, all of whom intended to do nothing less than please him completely and fulfill his every desire.