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Wishes Three
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Harry Potter, Hermione Granger, Remus Lupin, Rubeus Hagrid, Nymphadora Tonks, and the entire Weasley family gaped at the figure before them. Standing over seven feet tall, and rippling with muscles on top of muscles, the entity's single most unique feature was its sky blue skin. Baggy white pants flowed from a sash around his waist to the cuffs at his ankle, and bright red slippers with pointy, upcurved toes adorned his comparatively small feet. A white turban that very briefly gave Harry flashbacks to his first year adorned his head, held in place by a gold broach.
The gold lamp fell nervelessly from Harry's fingers. He had invited the Weasleys, plus Tonks, Lupin, Hermione, and Hagrid, to help him pack up some of the things from the Black Family Vault, after Gringotts had notified him of their opening upon his coming of age. When he had picked up the Arabian style oil lamp, he had not expected his joke about rubbing the lamp to have any effect. Obviously, it did.
The figure scowled down at him. "Well, well, get on with it. You know, 'I must grant ye wishes three, then nothing more to do with ye' and all that rot."
The figure's upper crust British accent threw Harry again. "T-three wishes, eh?"
"Yes, yes, lad, three wishes. Now, chop chop, I haven't got all day, you know. The Padishah is expecting me for cricket in precisely three hours, and we mustn't keep him waiting," rumbled the Djinni.
Hermione spoke up - or rather, squeaked up. "Sir, just what are the limits of Harry's wishes?"
"Oh, right, sorry, lad." The Djin placed one fist to his mouth and politely coughed to clear his throat. "First, I cannot defy the Absolute Laws of magic - no bringing people back from the dead, or such. Second, I cannot go against Fate - so no, boy, you can't just wish this Voldy-whatsit away, there's a prophesy, don't you know. And finally, I cannot change a being's base nature, as the soul was removed from our purview a long time ago. That means no granting muggles magic, or removing a mage's powers, or wishing someone to fall truly in love with you. Also means you can't wish me free or whatnot, as I'm not really enslaved or anything. More like a Union contract, I do get compensations, you know."
Harry shook his head, trying to get mental images inflicted on him by memories of his cousin Dudley watching a certain Disney movie. He only thanked his stars that the Djinni didn't sound like a Canadian comic actor. "So... what happens after my third wish?"
The Djinni glanced at his watch. "After your third wish, you go on about your business, I go to my Cricket match, and the lamp goes inert for another thousand years. Plenty of time for me to catch up on some light reading."
Harry nodded, and thought. Finally, his eyes lit up. "I know my first wish!"
"Well, what is it?"
"I wish I was with my true family!"
"Done!" thundered the Djinni. Clouds and thunder filled the vault, and lightning crashed down, striking in front of Harry - who vanished, and reappeared to his left, perhaps a foot, right in the middle of the Weasleys and his friends.
"What have we kept telling you, my boy?" chuckled Arthur, who reached out and ruffled his hair.
This confused him slightly. "I thought it would take me somewhere I had blood relatives left who would actually care... I could then bring them back here to join you all."
The Djinni shook his head. "Sorry, boy, you said 'TRUE' family, not 'BLOOD' family. And, sorry to say, the only blood relatives less than ten generations removed that you have, besides the Royal Family of course, are those muggles you grew up with."
"Oh," said Harry, slightly stunned. "Well, I think I have my second wish, then," he said.
"Wait, what was that about the Royal Family?" interrupted Fred, or perhaps George.
"Yeah, what was that about?" added Ron.
"Later, guys. Okay," said Harry, "for my second wish. I wish I had the Power the Dark Lord Knows Not, right here!" He held out his hands, and waited.
"Done!" the Djinni roared again. More thunder and lightning, drawing approving murmurs from the Twins, and lightning suddenly struck in front of Ginny - who vanished, and suddenly reappeared in Harry's arms.
"Urk?" said the Boy Who Lived, suddenly aware of the eyes of every Weasley male on him. Ron seemed to be holding back a grin, since he had already known of Harry and Ginny's relationship back at Hogwarts, but the others looked more than a bit... protective... of their baby sister.
Ginny, meanwhile, wrapped her arms around his neck, and proceeded to lay a kiss on him that made his toes curl. "Told ya I was the one for you," she teased, before hopping down. She kept hold of one of his hands, however.
Molly sobbed, and swept both of them into a massive momma bear style hug. "I knew it!" she wailed. "Harry wil be my son for real, thanks to Ginevra!"
Seeing this, the Djinni paused. "I do believe I shall give you a moment to recover. I understand it can be difficult to make a wish when one is unable to breathe."
"Yeah, about that 'unable to breathe' part," growled Charlie, who started to crack his knuckles. Bill, Fred, and George did likewise.
"Don't even think about it," laughed Tonks. "You try anything, and you'll Ginny, Molly and me to deal with. Not to mention... one of the infamous Marauders!"
This brought the twins up short. "What? A Marauder? Who?" they asked in unison.
Lupin smiled, something he had been doing far more often since Tonks had broken through his shell, and bowed to them. "Mr Moony, at your service," he said. "And you will leave prongs Jr alone, correct?"
"Moony? Prongs Jr?" the twins repeated, looking back and forth between the red-faced Harry and the silently smirking Lupin. "Sorry, Charlie, Bill, you're on your own."
"How much longer is this going to take?" rumbled the Djinni. "The Padishah will be quite irritated if I'm late."
"Oh," said Molly, "sorry." She released the two youngsters, who wheezed for a few minutes until they got their breath back.
Harry sat there in thought, then grinned evily. He reached up, and whispered into the Djinni's ear. As the whisper continued, various emotions flashed on the magical being's face - confusion, understanding, a wince of pain, and then an evil smile.
"DONE!" shouted the Djinni.
"What, no special effects this time?" asked Hagrid.
"Sorry, ran over budget with this last wish. Well, cheerio!" With a whirl, the Djinni was suddenly wearing a cricket outfit, then vanished from whence he came.
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"CRUCI...o?"
Never before had the Dark Lord miscast one of the Unforgiveables, but his surprise at what just occurred caused him to trip over the incantation. None of the gathered Death Eaters even noticed, because they, too, were shocked.
After all, it's not every day that Draco Malfoy and Severus Snape suddenly turn into identical white ferrets.