HPWW621-630
Chapter 621
Harry was quick to shake his head and said, "Not your
fault, Ma'am. You have to do it, otherwise it smacks -
and rightly so - of favouritism.
"I take it we'll likely see the first of them, at least,
moving in immediately after the Christmas break?"
"Indeed," she replied.
When no one raised anything further on that subject
Davis gave a nod and said, "Next; the issue of inviting
the new Noble Houses of Spinnet and Diggory."
The House of Spinnet wanted to accept membership,
but decided not to attend this session to allow the
existing membership of the Alliance to discuss their
acceptance.
Again, no one disagreed. If anything, they all seemed
eager to accept them.
The new noble House of Diggory, however, did not not
accept immediate membership; Amos wanted to delay
until he had a chance to discuss it with the wider
family and his friends before accepting. The
admittance of the Noble and Ancient House of Diggory
was then deferred until the February session, to give
Amos that time. However, since then, he's let us know
they'll be accepting, but not until after Yule.
"I think that then brings us to the issue of another two
vacancies for ennobling," said Heathcliff. "Are there
now any nay-sayers to the House of Hilliard, our
original back-up?"
Again, no one.
"Then, who's next?" he asked.
Harry immediately said, "I again put forward the
House of Lovegood for consideration. My reasons
have not changed from our previous discussions."
This time it was approved. The two Houses put forth
by the Alliance when the subject came up before the
Wizengamot would be Hilliard and Lovegood.
"Members are starting to grow concerned at the size
of the Grand Alliance and the number of Seat Holders
representing the Alliance on the 'Mot," said Frank.
"We may need to consider arguments to counter that."
That led to a healthy discussion of the subject. It
didn't amount to much, other than to make everyone
aware of the 'problem', but the only argument that
held any water was the size of the Alliance should
hold no part in any discussion as to which Houses
should be worthy of ennoblement; it was a separate
issue.
It was Jean-Paul who made a decent suggestion.
"Per'aps," he said, "Anozzer, who ees not of zee
Allionce, could be... convinced... to put forwaird zee
'Ouses we recommend, no?"
That surprised a few, including Harry.
"Interesting," mused Ogden. "That... is quite the
clever idea."
"Indeed," said old Augustus MacMillan.
"Recommendations?"
"I believe I know who," said Ogden. "Leave it with
me?"
No one opposed the idea.
"Excellent," said Davis. "Moving on?"
There was little else that was an important or urgent
issue and the meeting closed not too long later.
That led to a 'Yule' dinner for the Alliance, laid on by
the Davises and amply supported by their elves.
_‗_
―==(oIo)==―
ˇ
In the early evening, the Green Fields floo quickly
disgorged seven witches and wizards in quick
succession - Samuel, Adeline, Astoria and Daphne led
the way, immediately followed by Harry, Hermione and
Fleur.
Harry was happy to learn that, now that things had all
settled down, he was no longer being tailed by aurors.
Bones had clarified that for him during the meeting.
"Actually, they've not followed you since we learned
of the death of young Mister Weasley," she'd
explained. "However, there's still a small contingent
now permanently stationed at Hogwarts. That's an
agreement reached between myself and Griselda."
A little relieved, Harry had said, "Thank you."
Now at Green Fields, Adeline was quick to call on their
house elves to escort the Potters to their 'apartment'
within the manor and upon the second floor.
"Just follow Bucky," she explained, indicating the elf.
"He'll show you where you need to go."
Following the elf they, as expected, were taken to the
second floor and into one wing. As they'd been there
before, none of them were there for the first time.
And, as with the last time they'd spent time at Green
Fields, they were in the same rooms. This time,
though, a bedroom had been converted to a 'common'
room for them with doors leading off into bedrooms.
Adeline had been clever and made the guest room at
the end of the corridor a common room and managed
to organise things so a temporary wall with a door in it
blocked off the last five rooms. Two bedrooms each
side of the corridor after the new wall and before the
new common room became their bedrooms.
"'Ow clever!" declared Fleur. "I shall 'ave to inform
Maman of this idea, at once! Zee same can be done at
Delacour Manoir."
"And Sirius for his place," murmured Hermione.
_‗_
―==(oIo)==―
ˇ
After the remainder of the weekend, with a quiet
Sunday following the Alliance meeting of the previous
day, the manorhold all flooed to the Leaky Cauldron
for a day of Christmas shopping on the Monday
morning.
Thankfully, this year gave them five days before
Christmas, but the manorhold wanted it out of the way
before the crowds of 'last minute' shoppers made it
even busier than it had already become.
Stepping through the magical archway behind the
Leaky, Harry was somewhat relieved to see there had
been an increase in the auror and Law Enforcement
Officer ('LEO') presence. Even more, these aurors
didn't stand in pairs, ignore everyone and chat to one
another. These aurors and LEOs were constantly on
the move in singles, always watching.
'Much better,' he thought, seeing the ones at the
Leaky Cauldron end of the Alley. 'I just hope they're
the same below Gringotts. Someone's obviously fired
a rocket up their arses, recently.'
Using Florean's as their rally point, the seven broke
into three groups of two/two/three to begin their
shopping, returning to Florean's twice to switch out
groups. And finally had it all done before early
afternoon.
_‗_
―==(oIo)==―
ˇ
That morning and within the bowels of the Ministry,
immediately after the Monday morning Unspeakable
fireside, Unspeakable Klein, a mind-healer, met with
Croaker in his office.
"What have you got for me?" he immediately asked.
"As suspected," she replied, "It is not his so-called
mother's protection that protects the White Knight's
mind."
"What is it, then?" he demanded.
"I'm not sure, yet," she calmly replied. "However, his
mind is... definitely different. It's that difference that is
the protection."
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
---------------
Chapter 622
"My Legilimency attempts upon him are not so much
repelled, as... redirected," she added. "I believe I'll be
studying more muggle literature on the subject before
I have a more direct understanding of what's going
on."
"That's all you've got?" he asked.
"For now, yes," she replied.
"Keep at it," he ordered. "When's your next session
with him?"
"This afternoon at the Dog's place in inner London,"
she replied. "I only needed to mention that this would
help his 'pup' and he had no problems with keying me
into the wards."
"Good," he firmly returned.
As he then cast his attention to the documents on his
desk, 'Klein', also known under the pseudonym of
Healer Iolanthe Bincutty, rose and left.
_‗_
―==(oIo)==―
ˇ
After a late lunch back at Green Fields, Harry asked
his two present ladies, "What say we take a trip to
Harrods the day after tomorrow?"
Daphne asked, "That's that big muggle shopping
building, yes?"
"Yes," replied Hermione. "And, I'd love to go."
"Yes," replied Daphne. "Me too."
So, plans were made to floo back to the Leaky and
take a taxi to the block-sized shopping complex in two
days time, morning. The Wizengamot session was the
morrow and Harry didn't want to 'cheat' the ladies out
of a day at Harrods.
When asked if they'd like to go, both adult
Greengrasses begged off, but Astoria was both
excited to be invited and excited to actually go. Her
parents gave their permission, 'So long as you stay
with Harry, Hermione and Daphne and promise not to
run off!' her mother firmly admonished.
"Yes, mother," replied Astoria. "I so promise."
_‗_
―==(oIo)==―
ˇ
That afternoon, at about the time he would be
finishing his seventh period class at Hogwarts, Harry
flooed to the Black Townhouse to meet with his mindhealer.
She arrived, as expected, exactly on time. Harry then
met with her in Sirius's office.
Before she arrived, though, Harry asked his godfather,
"Where's CeeCee?"
"She went back to Perth this morning," he replied.
"With the three change-overs, she should have arrived
there at about 7.00pm this evening, their time. Ted
took her." He then muttered, "Damn, that can get a
little confusing."
Harry grinned, "Yeah, we're... eight hours behind, I
think."
Sirius nodded and said, "Yeah, about that."
"When does she return?" he asked.
"Friday, the seventh," replied Sirius. "At... 8.00am our
time? I'll have to check."
Harry gave a nod and said, "She'll need a couple
hours sleep to re-sync her body clock."
"Already prepared," nodded Sirius. "Time Zone
potions. She also took one with her for her arrival in
Perth today."
After his session with the mind-healer, Harry chatted
with his godfather for a short while before he returned
to Green Fields. He talked about how Adeline
Greengrass solved the problem of the Potter
foursome having individual privacy without reentering the 'public' parts of the manor. He even laid
down a quick sketch of it.
"Clever," muttered Sirius.
"That's what we said," he smiled back.
"I don't know if there's a way to remodel the Potter
floor I've created here," said Sirius. "But, I'll see if I
can use the same idea, just in a different way."
"Just saying you're going to think about it is enough,
Sirius," he said. "Thank you."
_‗_
―==(oIo)==―
ˇ
When the Wizengamot sat on the Tuesday morning,
Harry expected immediate moves by the dark, yet
again, to get two dark Houses elevated. First,
however, were the induction of new members. First up
were the Heirs of those who were 'lost' at Nott Manor.
And, finally, up stepped Amos Diggory, Caden
Spinnet, Eugene Abbott and Heathcliff Davis.
Harry was feeling quite chuffed that the last two men
were now counted among the Lords of their land.
For the two new motions for elevation however, this
time it was a supposed grey House who put forward
the name of Flint for elevation. And this time it was
only the one.
'They're beginning to think', thought Harry. 'Damn
them.'
To counter it, Sirius then put forward the names of
Hilliard and Lovegood.
It turned out that they got Hilliard through, but the
dark also got Flint through. When House Williams put
forward only the name of Flint for consideration, Harry
realised it would be an uphill battle to get Lovegood
through. That didn't stop them trying, though.
Now that the Ancient House of Lovegood had been
put forward once, it created precedent; which is why
they still put it forward as their secondary.
'Next time,' he thought. 'Sorry, Luna.'
He also knew, though, Luna would not be
disappointed by the loss. It wasn't in her nature.
_‗_
―==(oIo)==―
ˇ
The next morning and Astoria was so excited to be
allowed the chance to 'go muggle' that she practically
dragged Harry out of his chair to go get ready for 'a
day with the muggles'.
Harry smirked and said, "Before we go, though,
Hermione needs to take you to her room for you to
change into more appropriate dress."
"Oh, of course," sighed Hermione, disappointed she
hadn't thought of it herself. "Come along, Astoria,
Daphne. Let's get you properly outfitted."
Disappointed they weren't leaving immediately, but
curious as to how Hermione would dress her, Astoria
allowed herself to be taken to Hermione's room.
Daphne, of course, readily joined her.
After changing himself into slacks, button up,
cardigan and coat, Harry was ready in plenty of time
for the girls to come back down.
As the clothes didn't quite fit either of the Greengrass
girls, both went to their mother to have resizing
charms applied before they were ready.
While that was going on, Hermione came over and
quietly asked, "Any problems with me getting a
decent muggle wardrobe for those two?"
"Not at all," he smiled. "You just saved me the effort of
asking you to do it."
With a smile of her own, she leaned in and kissed him
on the cheek.
Once ready, the four of them used the floo to go to the
Leaky and immediately exited through the front door
of the wizarding pub and onto Charing Cross Road.
Harry only had to hold his hand out for a few moments
before a London cab pulled in; and he held open the
door for the three young ladies.
As he settled in, the cabbie asked, "Where to, Guv?"
"Harrods," Harry immediately replied.
The cabbie just gave a nod, turned back to driving
and, a moment later, pulled back out into traffic.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
---------------
Chapter 623
When the four returned to Green Fields late that
afternoon, Harry was basically ready to collapse. The
three girls, however, were still full of excitement;
especially Astoria.
"That... was... a-maz-ing!" the youngest of the four of
them half-squealed half-giggled.
Harry just groaned and said, "I'm going for a lie-down
before dinner. You three nearly killed me."
Surprising even Harry, Astoria blew a raspberry at him
and giggled again.
The girls had spent quite a bit of money on the trip.
Harry didn't begrudge them, but he was very glad he
was able to call Dobby no less than three times to
come and take all their bags from them. He'd have
been swamped under if he wasn't.
Then again, maybe they'd not have bought as much.
All Harry knew was that a great deal of what was
purchased was in the ladies' unmentionables section,
as it made up almost a full quarter, bags-wise, of what
they'd bought for the day.
He'd returned to his room to check with both Dobby
and Betsy that all the bags had been brought back -
and told all the clothes had been unboxed or
unpackaged, washed, pressed and put into drawers -
before he collapsed onto his bed.
However, he'd only been there a few minutes when
both Hermione and Daphne came, got him and
dragged him into their small ex-bedroom sitting room.
When he'd asked why, he was firmly told, "Time for
your fashion parade, Harry."
When he looked confused she said, "Daphne, Fleur
and I think this is something we'd like to do for you,
each time we go out and significantly increase our
wardrobes."
"As I said last time," he tried to explain, "You don't
need to do this. I'm sure I'll get a chance to see
everything you've bought, sooner or later."
However, all Hermione did was smile, tell him to stay
sitting on the couch he was on and walked back out
the door.
He'd be getting his fashion parade, after all. And this
time it would be of ladies' muggle fashion.
_‗_
―==(oIo)==―
ˇ
Christmas morning was, in a single word, brilliant.
Knowing they'd be moving to France that very
afternoon, the Potter four were all packed and ready to
go the previous evening. They didn't want any part of
the day disturbed by having to pack.
Harry was up early and, due to the amount of nervous
energy he was experiencing, went for a morning
around the grounds of Green Fields. He was back
inside and heading up to his room before just about
everyone else was up, except Astoria.
Coming down the stairs as he went up, she gave him a
slight frown before she asked, "You've been out?"
"I went for a run," he smiled.
She gave a mock-shudder and said, "Not for me,
thank you."
He was just about to turn away and continue his climb
up the stairs when she said, "I can trust you to wake
Daphne and the other two?"
"Of course," he smiled.
He didn't need to as, as soon as he walked in through
the door in the temporary wall in their wing, he saw all
three of his ladies were already up.
He didn't even get a chance to say anything when
Daphne, clearly a little excited, said, "Come on, Harry.
Get showered and dressed. It's Christmas!"
Giving a small snort of amusement, Harry was quickly
into his room, stripped off and into his shower.
_‗_
―==(oIo)==―
ˇ
The Christmas was as wonderful as the last, though
this time they were at the Greengrasses and there
were two more Harry considered 'his' than the
previous year.
Even though they'd be returning from France to be
with the Grangers, Harry still knew the right thing to
do was to at least visit them before they left. So, about
an hour after the gift unwrapping portion of the
morning, The Potter four flooed to the Doghouse and
spent a couple hours, plus lunch, with them before
needing to return to Green Fields.
The Grangers left at the same time they did, as they
were visiting family and staying with them for the next
couple of days. They'd only delayed their trip to spend
that couple of hours with Hermione, Harry, Daphne
and Fleur.
Almost as soon as they were back at Green Fields,
they had to leave again. This time, to the Ministry to
internationally portkey across to France.
_‗_
―==(oIo)==―
ˇ
Thought they'd spent the morning unwrapping gifts
around the Yule Log at Green Fields, very soon after
arriving in France they were unwrapping even more
gifts from under the Christmas Tree at Delacour
Manoir.
As for accommodation, Fleur had obviously been in
close contact with her mother about their
accommodations in Green Fields. Appoline had not
been able to get something similar in place yet, but
promised it would be done by Summer.
In the mean time, a temporary illusion wall had been
erected at 'their' end of the second floor of the manor
with all four bedrooms behind it; no living or common
room, though. Even for that effort, Appoline still found
her cheeks bussed by the Potters in thanks.
_‗_
―==(oIo)==―
ˇ
Winter or not, Bordeaux in France was still warm. At
least, it was warmer than the weather would be in
Britain for two thirds of the year. Only summer and,
possibly, a couple weeks either side would be warmer.
Though he did not detest snow, Harry thought it was
still pleasant not to have to deal with it when he was
outside and about. On one of their trips into muggle
Bordeaux, a French city not far from Delacour Manoir,
Harry was surprised to learn that the Garonne River,
even that far inland, still had ocean-going shipping
reaching the city.
When he saw the huge concrete buildings in a 'locked'
basin just north of the city, a local informed him they
were submarine pens from back during the Second
War. Now, they were being converted into an
exhibition centre, of sorts.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
---------------
Chapter 624
What interested him more, though, was the sight of a
huge private motor yacht berthed within the locked
area nearby. He'd once heard his Uncle refer to a boat,
let alone a motor yacht, as an acronym for 'Bring Out
Another Thousand', referring to the cost of just having
such a vessel. He thought a motor yacht of the size he
saw would probably be about twenty times that
amount.
However, he had the money and, once things settled
down after their schooling was complete, gave himself
a mental note to investigate the ownership of one
similar.
However, Bordeaux was more famous for its close-by
vineyards. And a day was spent 'wine tasting' the
region's wines, even if it was a little chilly. He even
bought a couple of bottles of what he was assured
were 'starter' wines, just for those new to drinking
wine.
Before they even realised the time was upon them, it
was New Years Eve and a shift back to London.
_‗_
―==(oIo)==―
ˇ
They arrived in London at 1.00pm local and were
picked up by Sirius. Then, ten minutes later, they were
out the floo in the Doghouse.
Dobby and Betsy, already waiting for them, had their
trunks and other effects up in their rooms, licketysplit.
As they were welcomed by the adult Grangers, Monica
explained where each would find their rooms, though
Harry had figured that out some time ago from his
memories of the house.
"Harry; you're in your old room," she explained. "And
Daphne and Fleur are in the two guest rooms on the
top floor with Hermione."
Turning to the two, she said, "I'm sorry, but you two
will be sharing a semi-ensuite bathroom on that floor."
"That's quite alright, Missus Granger," said Fleur. "It
will not be a 'ardship. We are just thankful you are so
welcoming of both of us."
Daphne nodded, showing her agreement.
As Harry was about to head up the stairs, Monica
latched onto his elbow to hold him back.
When he stopped to look back, curious, she quietly
said, "Mind having a quick word with me before you
head upstairs?"
"Not at all, Mum," he replied, "You know that."
She immediately grinned at him for his 'Mum'
comment, but didn't say anything further, just led him
through to the parlour.
Once he and her were sitting kitty-corner to one
another - he on a lounge and her in an armchair - she
looked firmly to him and said, "I need a
straightforward and honest answer from you, Harry."
He gave a nod back, curious as to what she needed to
know.
"'Dell and I know you need to sleep regularly with
Fleur because of that life debt that exists between
you," she began. "However, are you also now sleeping
with Hermione and Daphne... or either?"
He immediately blushed, which pretty much confirmed
it for her, and he simply replied, "Yes."
"Yes?" she pressed. "Yes, to both?"
"Yes," he nodded. However, he remained looking her
directly in the eyes, as he felt he had nothing to
apologise for and did not feel ashamed for it.
"I thought so," she replied. "And, thank you for the
honest answer."
He just gave a slight shrug in response.
"Can you do me a favour?" she asked.
"Of course," he replied.
"Can you... not... while you're staying here for the next
few days?" she almost begged.
"If you'd like," he replied. "We had not planned to,
anyway."
"Thank you," she sighed. Explaining, she said, "This
is one of those situations where everyone knows
what's going on and everyone knows that everyone
else knows, but no one talks about it and acts like no
one else knows. Do you understand?"
He frowned slightly in confusion before he said, "You
want us to act as if we don't to give the illusion we
don't, when you know we do."
"Yes," she replied.
"Alright," he slowly said. "I'll let the others know."
"Thank you," she said again, starting to stand.
Knowing the conversation was over, Harry gave her a
nod before joining the ladies upstairs.
He didn't know why Monica wanted them to act that
way, but he hoped his ladies would know.
They explained it to him.
Hermione said, "Though he pretty much knows it's not
true, Daddy wants to hold onto the belief that his little
princess is still a virgin. By pretending we aren't
having sex, he gets to keep his belief I'm not.
However, that belief is shattered if we let him know by
word or action that we sleep together. Understand?"
"Yeah, I can see that," he replied. "But, I don't see the
point."
"It's a father thing, Harry," said Daphne. "You'll
probably understand once you become a father of a
little girl."
He nodded and said, "In that case, I'll wait until then."
Thankfully, they were only at the Grangers for three
nights.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
---------------
Chapter 625
When they arrived at The Kennel on the Monday
morning, Sirius was waiting for them.
"Come on," he said, turning to make his way to the
stairs. "I've managed to rearrange things for you."
Before any of them had a chance to ask what he
meant, they were on the 'Potter' floor and looking at
the same temporary wall set up as at Green Fields.
"What the...?" muttered Harry.
Sirius hadn't even paused before opening the door
and showing them the modified hallway. "Voila!" he
gestured.
The hallway past the door was only about six feet
long, but four doors - two either side - came off it.
Indicating each, he said, "Hermione and Harry on the
left; Daphne and Fleur on the right."
When Harry opened his door it was to see everything
as it was the previous summer. However, it was in a
different room, this time. Thinking back, he realised
Hermione was now in his old room and he was in
Daphne's old room. Hermione's old room was now
outside the cut off section.
The two rooms opposite were where Daphne's room
had been moved to and Fleur now had her own. There
was no room off the end of the hallway, as beyond
that wall was the ensuites for Harry's and Daphne's
new rooms.
"Wow!" said Harry, checking the last of the rooms,
Fleur's. "Just... wow!"
Sirius nodded with a smirk and and said, "I believe the
idea was Daphne's?"
"Yes," she replied. "However, I only made the
suggestion to my mother. I did not expect..."
"We do talk to one another, you know," Sirius wryly
said.
Daphne gave a very slight blush and said, "I
apologise. I'm just surprised to see an off-the-wandtip comment of mine being both so readily accepted
and proven to work."
"Brilliant ideas tend to get around, Daphne," he said,
his voice a lot more relaxed. "Just look at Harry's idea
of using house elves to send urgent messages, for
one."
She nodded back.
"Now, said Sirius, "I have someone for you all to meet.
Let's go to the parlour."
Surprised, Sirius was reticent about whoever this
'someone' was, Harry asked, "This isn't the long-lost
Heir of Merlin, or something, is it? After tracking down
CeeCee―"
Sirius barked his laugh and replied, "No; no one like
that."
_‗_
―==(oIo)==―
ˇ
When they entered the parlour it was to see a woman
stand from one of the armchairs near the fire and turn
towards them. To Harry, she looked a little worried.
As they walked in, Sirius immediately went to her; an
approach, Harry could see, was very welcomed by her.
The body language of both immediately gave Harry an
inkling of 'what' she was, but not 'who'.
As soon as Sirius moved to stand by her side and
wrapped an arm around her waist; to Harry, it
confirmed his belief.
With a proud smile on his face, Sirius said, "Harry...
Hermione... Daphne... Fleur; this lovely young lady is
Jacinta Sykes, who prefers to be called 'Jace'."
Turning to Sykes he went on, "Jace; these are, in
order, my godson, Harrison Potter; my magical - but
not physical - ward and his betrothed, Hermione
Granger; his first concubined, Daphne Greengrass;
and his second concubined, Fleur Delacour."
Turning back to Harry he said, "Harry... ladies... as of a
week and a half ago, Jacinta here is my betrothed."
And grinned.
While the three girls hurried forward to wrap the now
slightly blushing and older witch in hugs of
congratulations, Harry gave a snort of amusement,
moved to the side a little apart as his godfather joined
him. He asked, "Any relation to Jocunda Sykes; the
first to ever ride a broom from one side to the other of
the Atlantic?"
"Her grandmother," he smiled with a confirming nod.
"On an old Oakshaft 79, if I remember correctly. Jace
is Heir Secondary to her grandmother's broom
company, Starsweeper, in MaCUSA. That's the broom
company she started over there, because there were
already too many over here."
Harry gave a surprised glance to his godfather before
he quietly asked, "And there's no common ancestor
within the past five generations?"
Sirius happily grinned and just as quietly replied, "No.
We had it confirmed just before Yule."
Harry grinned back and said, "I'm happy for you."
Appearing almost relieved at Harry's comment, he
gave a nod to Sykes and said, "Come and meet her."
And led the short distance to her. His ladies gave
them room.
Harry was surprised when Sykes had a decidedly
American accent. He put it as probably western US,
but also knew he wasn't one to be accurate with
regards to 'regional' accents to anywhere but Britain.
On direct introduction, when Sykes referred to him as
'Lord Potter', he immediately said, "Call me Harry,
please. From the look on Sirius's face, you're here to
stay."
She smiled back and, blushing a little, firmly said,
"And call me 'Jace', please. I think only my
grandmother still calls me Jacinta."
"If I may ask," said Hermione. "How did you meet?"
While the question was a little forward, it was
somewhat excused due to her being a magical ward of
Sirius.
"Grandmother still seeks to get a foothold into
magical Britain for Starsweeper," she replied. "I was
sent to make contact with persons of importance in
magical Britain to see if they could aid her in that.
"One of my first contacts was Siri... I mean, Lord
Black. We... found we hit it off, right from the start."
"Turned the charm on, did he?" asked Harry.
"It wasn't like that," said Sirius, quick to cut in. "At
least, it wasn't like that at the start."
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
---------------
Chapter 626
"No," said Jace, shaking her head in agreement. "He
heard me out, said he didn't know if he could help and
then offered to take me to dinner to see if he could
help some other way."
Sirius added, "While I don't think Starsweeper would
get any legs in Britain, broom sales wise, that's not to
say any other product they produce wouldn't."
"And we think he's right," said Jace. "There's no
Quodpot distributor in magical Britain; nor
broomracing. I've already advised grandmother that
being the distributor of products for those two sports
will be our main avenue in gaining a foothold."
"An area in which I'm happy to help," smiled Sirius.
"And that first dinner led to more dinners and... here
you are," said Hermione.
"Yep," smiled Sirius. "We've been dating, now, for
about three months. However, we've found we
simply... clicked. I think I knew she was 'the one' on
about our sixth date."
"I knew by our third," Jace almost smugly returned
with a wide grin.
"He's a boy," said Hermione. "It can take them a
while."
While all four ladies snickered, Sirius mock-whined,
"Hey!" Then grinned.
_‗_
―==(oIo)==―
ˇ
While the Potters weren't there on the day, Sirius felt it
would benefit both Harry and Hermione if the next
evening they could hold a 'mock' wizarding New Years
Eve evening. Harry had no idea a tradition of the
wizarding world was very similar to the no-mag
Hallowe'en of the USA.
They enjoyed a dinner before congregating in the
parlour for drinks, nibblies and for each to give a
testimony of how they believed the previous year went
and what they hoped for the coming year.
Harry and his three learned more about Jace during
that time. She had attended Ilvermorny and was a
student in Thunderbird House, the supposed House of
those with an adventuring spirit. However, she'd also
been chosen during the 'gordion knot' ceremony for
Horned Serpent, the house of the scholar. In
Ilvermorny when two or more of the spirits of the
Houses choose to accept a student, it is the student
who makes the final decision between the Houses that
chose him or her.
They also learned that Jace had always had a bit of
wandering spirit and readily offered to be her
grandmother's agent in attempting to secure a
business base in magical Britain.
"She was not prepared to do so while Albus
Dumbledore was still, more or less, running things
here," she explained. "She never trusted him. He'd
tried to recruit her, once, for something to do with an
Order he headed and left in a huff when she basically
laughed at him."
"The Order of the Phoenix," said Hermione. "I have to
wonder, though, why he tried to recruit in MaCUSA.
The Order was supposed to have been founded with
the idea of opposing Tom Riddle."
"Grandmother believes he was just using that as an
excuse to take the Order international," she replied.
"He refused to tell her why, though."
Harry thought he knew, 'Because he was trying to take
over the world in secret.'
At least now they knew why Jace was over 'now' and
not 'before'. They were waiting for Dumbledore to be
publicly knocked off his self-created pedestal or
simply died.
In a quiet brought on by the end of one topic, Harry
asked Sirius, "By the way; I take it cousin Cissy has
returned to Black Manor?"
"She has," he nodded. "I believe it might also be
because she wants to make sure she has the name
'Malfoy' firmly stripped from the place. While she was
still here after you lot returned to school, with
CeeCee's permission she called in the interior
decorators to completely strip it of the Malfoy
influence and turn it into a home CeeCee would love."
Harry smirked and asked, "And what of the Malfoy
portraits?"
Sirius barked with laughter and simply replied,
"Burned!"
"Well, then," Harry snickered. "She'll have plenty of
room for portraits of those more worthy to hang upon
the walls."
"Actually, for almost all of them she's hanging
landscapes. However, she does seem a little insistent I
hurry up and get a portrait done. And, because she is,
you'll be getting one done next summer, too."
When Harry turned a pained look back, Sirius just
laughed again.
_‗_
―==(oIo)==―
ˇ
For most of their time at the Black Townhouse, Harry
and his spent time doing their own things. However,
the four still did things together, on occasion.
Harry took Neville flying, once. But, that was because
he bought the other boy a a quality broom - a
Cleansweep 7 - and said he'd be offended if Neville
didn't learn how to properly ride it and make use of it.
And Neville's return was that, since Harry gifted him
with it, he'd have to help him learn how to master it.
The girls agreed, so Harry now had a new project. At
least this one was an 'outside' project.
He'd already spent a couple of afternoons at
Longbottom Hall teaching the other young man.
Oh, Neville would never be at Harry's level. But,
Neville developed skills in spite of his innate antitalent, as opposed to Harry's innate pro-talent. Harry
was actually proud of his friend.
He could now fly with both feet up and with a
confidence, though lacking assuredness, and hold his
own in the air. However, he had to be kept well away
from quaffles, and bludgers were utterly banned to fly
within a kilometre of him. Neville had nearly fallen off
when a starling swooped by him just the once.
His other major task was to go through both the
January monthly statement plus the added End of
Year Financial Report statements from Gringotts. The
monthly statement only took him an hour or two, but
the EOY report took a significant chunk of his week to
wade through.
For his girls, a surprise came when Harry and
Hermione were having an intimate moment - engaging
in full on sex, missionary-style - when Fleur walked in,
stripped off and laid beside Hermione.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
---------------
Chapter 627
Hermione was so shocked that, while she 'getting
pounded', she turned her head to the side and stared
at her 'co-wife', stunned silent. Harry hadn't even
paused in his stroking.
It was a good fifteen seconds before Hermione finally
found her voice. "Fle-urrr! Why-yyy... are... you... in...
heee-errrre?"
"You've been 'ogging 'im, cherie," replied Fleur. "I
want a turn."
When Hermione, still getting pounded, tried through
her sexually-charged hormone-muddled mind to
figure that one out, Fleur rolled to her side and
towards them, reached between them and almost
casually diddled Hermione's 'button' for all of about a
second and a half.
Hermione suddenly stiffened, arched up and let out a
screech that would have been heard on the street
outside, let alone the rest of the Townhouse, if not for
the strong silencing charms on the room. Her orgasm
was that strong.
A long moment later she bonelessly flopped back
onto the bed in a dead faint.
That had Harry stop. "Awww?"
Fleur grinned, rolled back onto her back and spread
her legs. "My turn!" she happily declared.
Harry took one look at a passed out Hermione,
disconnected, crab-walked sideways, docked and kept
going with what had, for him, been interrupted.
"Yeehhhsss!" declared Fleur.
Later, a very pissed-off Hermione had both other
'wives' in her room and read them both the sexual
version of the 'riot' act, especially about boundaries.
"What did I do?" asked a very confused Daphne.
Fleur calmly told her what she, Fleur, had done;
causing Daphne to immediately pink. "Y-you didn't!"
she gasped.
"'Arry was not going to stop until 'Ermione reached
apogée," replied a calm Fleur. "I just... 'elped."
"You touched that which you were not invited to!"
exclaimed Hermione.
"Then, I apologise," said Fleur. "'Owever, your body...
welcomed it."
"That does not make it right!" snapped Hermione.
"Again, I apologise," said Fleur. "For Veela, this is not
a big thing. And certainly not unwelcome when it
'appens."
"Well..." said frustrated Hermione. "Just... don't do it
again!"
"I will not," said Fleur.
With a sigh, Hermione thought a moment before she
said, "While I might not be averse to sharing Harry, I
am averse to sharing myself."
Fleur simply nodded, but did look down in remorse.
It was only then that Hermione thought she had gotten
through to the other woman.
Harry didn't learn of that little talk for quite some time
- years, even. None of the three mentioned it to him.
Unsaid by the three, even among themselves, it was
believed this was something Harry need not know
about at this time.
_‗_
―==(oIo)==―
ˇ
Another subject that was often on the lips of the
ladies of the Townhouse was the handfasting of Sirius
and Jacinta. It was scheduled to be held on Sunday,
21st of July, that year; only six and a half months
away.
Harry thought it was a bit 'quick' until he realised
Sirius was not a man in his early twenties still finding
his way; he was thirty six years old. Yes, twelve of
those years were spent in Azkaban, but he was still
not one to make snap erroneous decisions. Snap
decisions, yes; erroneous decisions, those too; but
not snap erroneous decisions.
He'd no grounds to speak with his godfather about
the... alacrity... of his decision; so, he wouldn't. If
Sirius wanted to speak about it later, he'd be there for
him. And, if not him, then Remus.
However, that fore-shortened week at Black
Townhouse often saw his ladies hunkered down with
Jacinta and discussing the handfasting ceremony. He,
quite frankly, wanted no part of it. He knew his sense
of fashion was more or less limited to 'you do not
wear shorts to a formal occasion'. He relied on his
ladies to keep him on the straight and narrow when it
came to those sort of things.
Of course, now back in magical Britain, Harry returned
to his thrice-weekly sessions with Bincutty. However,
he did ask how she thought his progress was going.
He was honest with himself that he had no idea about
that sort of thing.
"It is a work in progress, Lord Potter," she replied.
"There are no hard and fast rules about this sort of
thing. Progress that occurs too quickly is as bad as
progress that occurs too slowly. It will come as it
comes."
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
---------------
Chapter 628
However, what she kept from him was that she was
coming to a better understanding of what made Harry,
to use a muggle phrase, 'tick'.
At the completion of the Friday session she returned,
as always, to the ninth floor of the Ministry to give her
report to Croaker.
"I think I now know what the pathology of Lord
Potter's mental evaluation is going to show," she
explianed. "He's partially autistic and partially
suffering from a mental affliction known in the muggle
world as Asperger's Syndrome."
Croaker frowned and asked, "He's brain damaged?"
"No," she was quick to reply. "The closest analogy I
can come to is that he has a birth defect relating to the
mind. It has a very minimal impact on his ability to live
and is more akin to someone...say... born with their
index fingers being longer than their middle fingers.
It's noticeable but not really an issue.
"I've not completed my research yet into muggle
studies in this area; however, I believe it is this...
syndrome of which he suff... no... lives with that will
lead us to understanding why obliviations and other
mind magics do not work on him. To use a muggle
phrase, his brain is simply wired differently; or,
differently enough that such magics won't work upon
him."
"Can it be replicated?" he asked.
"If you're thinking of using the same concept to make
folks immune in a similar way; then, no, I do not think
so," she replied. "That would be brain damage.
"However, if my research shows me which specific
parts of the brain, from a physical sense, causes this
syndrome, then we may be able to develop a potion,
charm or similar which will replicate it without
harming the mind of the so-protected."
"That's what I wanted to hear," muttered Croaker.
"Such a development would be invaluable."
She gave a firm nod and said, "Hence why I will work
diligently in studying muggle knowledge of this field
of mental health. I, too, see the possible benefits."
Croaker gave a nod, said "Thank you," and returned to
what he was doing.
Bincutty/Klein rose and left the office without a further
word.
_‗_
―==(oIo)==―
ˇ
After their three week (extended) Yule/Christmas
break, the Potters et al departed for Kings Cross
station for the return trip to Hogwarts.
Harry and his ladies plus CeeCee - escorted by Sirius,
Jace and Narcissa - arrived early enough Harry was
able to quickly secure two compartments, side-byside, and start loading trunks. Again, Sirius boarded
and quickly configured a temporary door between the
two compartments for the Heirs to inter-mingle
between the two without having to do so via the main
corridor.
Again, though she did not need to, Fleur would be
joining them on the trip. And this meant there were
eleven of the Heirs across those two compartments.
At a squeeze, that meant they had room for fourteen
to all sit. But their eleven was still enough of a
squeeze for such a long trip.
CeeCee had arrived the previous morning but, due to
the time change of eight extra hours for her day,
meant she was in bed quite early. Disappointing Harry,
she didn't even have dinner that night. He'd cooked
special for her.
The next morning he was able to cook her her eggwhite omelette she preferred for breakfast when she
had a day out of the house ahead of her, though.
'Note to self,' he thought. 'Make my special meal for
her to be the midday meal the day she arrives.
Something that won't sit heavy in the stomach when
she anticipates going to bed late afternoon.'
That brought them to this morning.
After CeeCee was almost unmercilessly questioned by
Hermione the previous day, which only ended when
CeeCee fell asleep in the armchair across from her in
the Townhouse library - Narcissa carried her upstairs
and put her to bed - someone had obviously talked to
the older girl and told her to stop. Harry suspected
Narcissa, as Sirius wasn't as firm with her.
Now Hermione was almost reticent to speak with the
girl.
It was Daphne who then took her aside that morning
and explained why Narcissa was upset with her. And
Hermione ended up apologising to the Malfoy
dowager before the train left the platform.
_‗_
―==(oIo)==―
ˇ
Once back at the castle, with Fleur again sitting at the
head table as a 'guest' of the staff, the Heirs were
sitting and talking during the first dinner of the year.
Not surprising Harry, CeeCee did not sit with them this
time; she was sitting down the length a bit with Natalie
and her other friends, with all five of them happily
chatting away about their Christmas breaks. Of course
that did not stop Harry, Hermione or Neville from
keeping an eye on her.
As with the previous year, there were again family
house elves watching over all the Heirs, hidden from
normal eyesight. Even Harry was surprised when, the
previous day, Narcissa informed him CeeCee also had
one of the Malfoy elves following her about and had
been keeping an eye on her since the day after Pucey
had attacked her.
He suspected there were even more than he had
known of, but thought it was prudent not to ask. There
weren't, though.
_‗_
―==(oIo)==―
ˇ
After dinner, the Heirs - less MacMillan - gathered at
the bottom end of the Great Hall before starting to
make their way up to the Lords' Quarters. Because
there would be two 'singles' and a 'double' joining
them in the Lords' Quarters - with, to the best of their
knowledge, at least three of them being of Voldemortsupporter dark families - it was decided they'd
definitely head up to the fifth floor as one succinct
and unified body; just to be safe for at least the first
night.
It sent a message, even if that message was
unnecessary.
Walking into the private Lords' Quarters main corridor,
they almost immediately bumped into Cassius
Warrington and Marcus Belby. Belby and Warrington
were standing in front of one of the doors, Apartment
'1'; and being shown by Professor Sinistra, Mistress
of Astronomy, how to key the doors of the apartments
to themselves. Belby would be in Apartment '2'.
About thirty feet further along was Professor Vector
(of Arithmancy) showing David Urquhart and his
betrothed, Pamela Alton, how to do the same for
Apartment '4'. Gibberd and Whitehead must have
arrived earlier as the Heirs hadn't passed by them and
they didn't see them in the Hallway before they would
have entered Apartment '3'.
The Heirs all sent each other knowing looks between
the 'families' and simply walked into their own
Quarters at the other end of the Hall.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
---------------
Chapter 629
The next morning Harry was, as usual, up early to
cook a breakfast for Fleur before she had to floo into
Gringotts for work, so was up and in the 'public' areas
of the apartment when his other two rose.
Hermione came out of her room, still trying to fit one
of her ear studs into her right ear as Daphne almost
trotted from his bedroom door to her own. While she
had a change of clothes in his room, she still had to
go to her own room to don her makeup and jewellery.
It was something all three of his ladies now did when
sleeping in his bed.
"Sleep well, Harry?" she asked.
"Yes, actually," he nodded, picking up his satchel,
turning about to sit on the couch and checking to
ensure Dobby had put the right texts and the like
within - as if he wouldn't. "I forgot about the comfort
of the bed in my room. It's the same, but different, to
the comfort of the beds at your parents' place and The
Kennel."
She came over and, now 'installing' the other ear stud,
leaned over and kissed him on the cheek. "Me too,"
she said, taking a seat alongside him. Her satchel was
already on her hip.
For Harry, today would be a double of History of Magic
with the 'Puffs, a double of Potions with the 'Claws, a
single of Runes and a double of DADA with the 'Puffs
again.
When Daphne came out she was already fully
dressed. And Harry and Hermione rose to greet her.
"Ready," she said.
_‗_
―==(oIo)==―
ˇ
After their usual trick of knocking on the doors of the
two other apartments of their group, the now nine of
them - with Ernie still in the 'Badgers' Cete' and Fleur
at work - headed down to the Great Hall for breakfast.
As the Christmas break was only a mid-year break
there was no need to wait for new class schedules.
So, with Ernie joining them as they walked in, the now
ten were able to use that time to talk more about what
they had been up to over the previous three weeks.
The 'elephant in room', Ernie's now deceased father
and why he was at Nott manor, was not mentioned.
However, Ernie did speak about his Christmas spent
at his grandfather's.
Almost sadly, the boy said, "For almost the entire
time, grandfather spoke to me of just how dangerous
dark lord's and their ilk are like to everyone. Do you
know how many of our important Houses we've lost
due to the last two, at least?"
"Even one was one too many, Ernie," said Susan.
"But, yes, I know."
"Twenty seven," said the boy with a flat finality.
"Twenty seven Houses ranging from Noble and
Ancients all the way down to Elder. And that doesn't
include the Minor or Magical.
"Grandfather estimated there were another thirty of
them at least. After going through what he knew of the
ones down to Elder, he didn't want to go any further.
He said it was too depressing."
"There was more than that, Ernie," said Harry. "Your
grandfather didn't include Houses such as Lestrange,
Rookwood, Scabior or Dolohov to name a few. And he
didn't include them because there are members of
those Houses still alive. However, he should have
included them as there are no living members of those
Houses who are not currently serving life sentences in
Azkaban. As such, there will be no Heir born of them
to continue the Houses. And they're in Azkaban
because of their involvement with Riddle, which
means they're of Houses which will go extinct
because of Riddle."
"Shhhhyte!" muttered the other boy.
_‗_
―==(oIo)==―
ˇ
During lunch Harry finally got a good chance to look
around the four House tables and the head table. And,
from that, could see that all of those who were
students and who'd lost family in the 'Tragedy of Nott
Manor', as the Prophet called it, had all returned. For
the most, while a few were still a little withdrawn, they
had recovered.
He was also using the opportunity to carefully watch,
especially, Belby in Ravenclaw and Warrington and
Urquhart in Slytherin. All three were now Lords and he
wanted to know how all three, now that they'd been
elevated to their Lordships, would act within the
school.
Of the three Belby and Warrington seemed to be
getting filled with their own senses of self-importance,
while Urquhart appeared to be trying to 'downplay' the
Lordship. All three were now starting to be
surrounded by their own developing posses of
lickspittles.
'As long as they don't try anything with me or mine...
or my friends... they can ponce about to their hearts
content,' he thought. 'It's no skin off my nose.'
As well as the three new Lords, he was also keeping
an eye on the others in Slytherin House. It was
interesting watching the body language of them all, as
they were all trying to find their own ways within the
new House paradigm.
"What are you focussing on, Harry?" asked Hannah,
from the other side of the table.
"I'm watching how the effects of what happened at
Nott Manor are impacting the social framework of
Slytherin," he replied. He then shrugged, smiled and
added, "It's interesting to watch."
Daphne turned to him, cocked an eyebrow and said,
"It is, isn't it? It's also happening around Belby in
Ravenclaw."
He nodded and said, "Warrington, like Belby, is acting
like a peacock. I'm more interested in how Urquhart
deals with this. He seems to be taking a more subtle
path."
"Or he's in denial," she suggested.
Harry looked back to Urquhart and thought about it for
a moment, just watching the young man. "Hmm!" he
huffed. "You may be right. It is not something I
considered."
_‗_
―==(oIo)==―
ˇ
At his appointment with Bincutty that afternoon, Harry
raised the point about watching the Slytherins at
lunch and what he and Daphne could determine from
their body language.
She asked, "Is that how you get your clues as to the
emotional state of who you interact with? Their... as
you put it... body language?"
"That; plus their tone when speaking, their facial
expressions, whether they're abnormally flushed or
pale, that sort of thing," he replied.
She jotted it down and immediately asked, "How are
you feeling about returning to Hogwarts?"
"Good!" he firmly replied. "I'm looking forward to
getting past my OWLs so I can then get on with
earning my NEWTs."
"You're not looking forward to your OWLs?" she
pressed.
"No," he replied. "That is, I'm looking forward to them
as the next step on my way to earning my NEWTs.
But, since earning my NEWTs marks the end of my
Hogwarts education, the OWLs are only a step; not a
culmination. So, in that vein, I'm looking forward to
my OWLs as the completion of the next step."
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
---------------
Chapter 630
More notes.
Finally, his hour was up and Harry was free to return
to the Potter Apartment. However, as had occurred
before the break, both Daphne and Hermione walked
in just as the hour was up to walk with him.
As they walked out, Daphne flicked an amused glance
at him and asked, "Getting through your supposed
issues, Potter?"
"Oh, I don't have issues, Daphne," he smirked back. "I
have entire editions!"
Bincutty, who had heard from where she was
beginning to rise as the three left the Infirmary, gave a
quiet and muffled snort of amusement. Then she sank
back into her chair, quickly retrieved her flip pad and
wrote the 'one-liner' down. She thought it was actually
quite clever.
Some of the things she had him do that day, while
talking, was set himself up to draw a picture for her -
she'd provided about fifty coloured pencils and actual
paper - organise a small child's set of blocks - again,
provided by her - plus a few other things. It was the
sort of thing she did that she wanted him to do while
also answering questions for her.
Harry thought it was so he couldn't focus on his
answer and would, therefore, be more likely to offer an
honest one. However, she actually wanted to know
what he would do with the items she provided while
he was distracted with answering her questions.
The coloured pencils were her second test in that
series. Harry had sorted them by colour spectrum,
excluding the black and greys which he's sorted by
tone. He'd started the colours with the darkest of
indigo at one end and the deepest of reds at the other.
It was a rainbow in coloured pencil form. He hadn't
even begun to draw anything when she told him to
stop and he never questioned it.
For his final test he'd also organised the blocks but,
this time, sorted them by size, rather than colour, as if
sorting by colour now bored him.
And all the time he talked either in response to a
question or asking the occasional question of his
own.
What he'd done had confirmed her hypothesis
Harrison James Potter had at least a touch of Autism
and or Aspergers Syndrome. He preferred order over
chaos, even somewhat fearing chaos. When
confronted with chaos, he worked at sorting it into
order. He made lists, even if those lists were only in
his mind. He thought through problems in a step-bystep logical fashion and saw challenges as simply
unsolved problems.
Base emotions, by their very nature, to him were
mostly illogical - mostly. He saw the 'biological
imperative' that fuels lust. But greed, jealousy, vanity,
and others were illogical. Even anger, to him, could be
used as a channel to funnel focus upon a problem, or
shape the actions of others towards other actions he
preferred. However, he also saw it as leading one to
rash action, if not controlled. Ron Weasley was, as
with most of the others, a good example of that.
She had also learned quite early that Harry felt no loss
when it came to one Ron Weasley. As he had said, he
knew the boy was not a friend almost from the
morning of the first of September back in 1991. As
such and as he knew the boy was not a friend, he
experienced more of a relief the young man would no
longer play a part in his life; could no longer be a
threat.
As for the young Mister Nott, he saw his killing of him
as a simple matter of self-defence. "It was him or me,"
he'd stated with a slight shrug. "I can see no choice I
could have made that would have resulted in anything
but either my or his death. I chose the path that saw to
my survival with the greatest chance of success." It
was quite the mature response, which showed young
Mister Potter had already reasoned out the death and
would suffer no psychological damage from it; not
now or later.
By rights, that was the last of his need to see a mindhealer about it. However, it was not the end of her
need to know how it is that he was able to shrug off
most mind magics. The further confirmation of her
belief he had, at least, a mild form of Aspergers gave
her a solid ground on which to engage in further
research.
She would now be approaching the management of
the Unspeakables for permission to engage in
secondary controlled research into the issue. That
meant testing her hypothesis on others who 'suffered'
from Aspergers.
_‗_
―==(oIo)==―
ˇ
Back in their apartment, Daphne asked, "If you don't
mind answering, has Madam Bincutty given you any
clue as to how much longer your sessions will last?"
Harry grinned and said, "You want to know if she's
told me what she thinks is wrong with me, if
anything."
When she gave a slight shrug and nodded, clearly
unembarrassed he'd figured that out, he gave his own
half-shrug and replied, "I think she's probably already
figured it out, but doesn't want to come right out and
tell me. Her expressions when she watched me
fiddling with coloured pencils, different shapes of
parchment and blocks tells me that. It was like... she
had that 'Ah ha!' moment; you know?"
Without waiting for a response he continued, "I could
see it written all over her face. Now I think she's trying
to figure out something else, or if there's also
something else."
Hermione seemed deep in thought and then asked,
"Do you remember what you were doing when she
had those moments? I ask, because maybe we can
also figure out what it is she's figured out."
So, Harry went on to describe what he was doing at
the time.
Hermione wrote it down and said, "Thank you, Harry. I
think that's going to be a great help."
She thought, 'Now, I just need to get Mum to send me
more books on child and adolescent mental health
issues.'
She pulled a clean sheet of parchment onto her lap
table, mimicking the need to start a new assignment;
and quickly wrote her letter to her mother to send with
Hedwig. At least with this one she wouldn't need to
ask the owl to wait for her mother to send a response.
One of Harry's gifts to her parents for Christmas was
their own owl, which had Hermione groan and begin
thumping her forehead off the arm of the armchair in
which she was sitting at the time. "Stupid... stupid...
stupid..." she'd concurrently muttered with each
thump.
Now, her parents no longer needed to ask Sirius to
deliver any letter they had for Hermione to her. With
their own owl, a common barn owl, they could send
mail direct.
At the time she was banging her head on the arm
because it was such a simple idea she couldn't
believe she was that stupid not to have thought of it
herself back in first year. She couldn't even bear to
look directly at Harry because she knew what his
expression directed back to her would be. It would be
that somewhat smug amusement he showed when he
knew someone had figured out - after gentle coaxing
from him or others, of course - they'd been a daft
moron.
Her letter to her mother went off that afternoon.