Owned 2
A/N: Harry's up once again to get owned, but this time, it's by his own hand… I know it might seem a little stereotyped for , but Harry IS pretty ignorant about certain things. Rated M for a reason kids. Don't read, and if you do, don't gripe.
*88*
The war was ending. Too many had died already for the Light, following Dumbledore's vanity, his secure thoughts that given another chance, those from the Dark would repent their ways. But it truly was a war, and wars are won by killing, not salvation. The first thing that dies, every time, is innocence. But having infiltrators in the government, and in the fighting core of Aurors, brought England's civilized populace to their knees. In the typical, backward society that Dumbledore held on to, men were sent out to fight while all of the women were sent to hide in either ancestral homes or in Hogwarts. Small bands of Light side militia showed up to fight roaming Death Eater death squads only to be ambushed by a force 4 times larger. Officials were murdered at work, and the Auror core was so depleted of good people that only the traitors remained. The Wizengamot and Ministry folded as fast as Poland did in September of 1939.
Dumbledore initially was able to fight off the ambush squads by himself, but as the number of fighters to assist him, and other squads to be attacked dwindled, sheer numbers began to overwhelm him. 53 Death Eaters supported by their Dark Master assaulted him in force as he showed up at the remains of the Creevy home to try to save them. The curses swamped him, and the so called greatest magician retreated using an emergency portkey. He arrived at Hogwarts Entrance Hall wounded, and before he could make it to the middle of the room, Snape's Avada Kedavra dropped the man in his tracks. Snape could tell how the war was going to end, and so long as Dumbledore was healthy, he knew he could never win. But wounded and exhausted and without his guard up, Dumbledore died a murdered man. Snape never did to receive his reward for Dumbledore's death, because Harry Potter had already been moving out of the Great Hall to assist the Headmaster the instant his portkey arrived. And as his mentor fell, Harry subconsciously wished for a way to do justice upon the traitor, and Gryffindor's sword answered the call. Snape was taking a breath to announce his ascendance to head of the castle and his master's newest triumph via him when a very sharp sword was shoved through his back and out his chest.
With the death of Dumbledore, Harry was the go to man for salvation. And with news of Dumbledore's death spurning on Voldemort's side to greater heights of depravity, Harry gave one order. Recall. Organized parties of Light side fighters began returning to homes to get family members and return them to the castle. Harry knew the Dark Lord's mind and knew with the Headmaster dead, the castle would be the final target. It was symbolic, to take direct control over Dumbledore's seat of power as well as decimate the remaining forces hiding within the castle.
Harry couldn't imagine the damage it would create for the families. Most had already lost their sons. This summer break had begun with him being hospitalized in the castle after fighting in the fall of the Ministry, but what followed was the bloodiest summer in the history of Harry's schooling. The male teachers were mostly gone, and the older male student population was almost completely destroyed. Hagrid had disappeared into the forest to join the centaurs in fighting the Acromantula who had joined Voldemort after Aragog died and was presumed dead, but Flitwick had been pulled apart by Death Eaters who were "trying to make him taller."
From Gryffindor, Ron and Neville both had been killed when Ollivander's had been blown up. Seamus had fled back to Ireland. No one had seen Dean's family, only leaving a house devoid of people, without anything else out of place. The Weasley men with the exception of Ron had died during a raid into Knockturn Alley.
Terry Boot and all of his dorm mates were murdered by Zacharias Smith, as an initiation run into the Death Eaters, but he was promptly murdered to end the rest of the Hufflepuff line. Justin Finch-Fletchy was killed trying to get his family to leave England in time. Ernie MacMillan was pureblooded, and while he resolve to stay neutral, was murdered as Death Eaters stormed his family home, demanding he join them.
The boys and most of the girls in Slytherin had left the castle, most to join their fathers in the Dark Lord's ranks or their mothers in mansions. Almost all of the boys in Hogwarts castle over second year were dead, and only half of the others that were below second year were alive to be retrieved. Harry was the only male adult to survive the summer that actively fought on the Light side.
Harry gave orders that pulled everyone back into castle to better protect people and maybe gather some reinforcements. Hermione looked sadly over the families swarming into the castle, saying that it reminded her of Helm's Deep. Due to Dursley influence of keeping Harry ignorant of the realms of fantasy books she explained how the women and children of Rohan were sent to a fortress called Hornburg in Helm's Deep to escape an army five to ten times their size. She gave a brief explanation of the trilogy and how the Battle at Helm's Deep ended. Harry noted with surprise the similarity between the Horcrux Voldemort had made and the One Ring. Hermione gave a tired, yet mischievous smile and replied, "All myth has some basis in fact. Remember?" Harry couldn't help but laugh.
Later on though, Harry began to be bothered by the story Hermione had relayed to him. There was no Rohirrim to help rout the soon to be attackers, nor was there a Huorn forest to decimate their foes, even if they could be routed. Harry figured that the castle could withstand the Death Eater invaders for a while even if there were just under 700 of them, and if he had enough people to shoot from the walls, he could conceivably kill off the majority of the force before they could advance through the rest of the castle, and at that time, the Headmistress could turn on the interior defenses like the suits of armor and mop up the rest. The only factors to plan for would be if Voldemort got help from various Dark creatures, and how to hide the defenders who would be covering him in the battle.
Maybe… you know that might be an idea… Dobby had a good knack for finding things didn't he?
*88*
Three days later, an exhausted, older-looking Harry Potter was found by Hermione stumbling through the halls, trying to make it to a bed somewhere. She quickly moved to help him, worrying that he had been in a fight without back up, since he had said no more patrols were allowed. As she was walking him to the Hospital Wing and scolding him, he stopped her thoughts that he was fighting. And asked a most peculiar question. "Hermione, please can you wear this for me?" He stretched out his hand and dropped a ring into her palm.
Hermione was taken aback. Surely this wasn't… he wanted…
Harry saw her surprise and hesitation and quickly said, "Just… please? Do you trust me? I would… it will… just, trust me ok?"
Hermione did trust him, and if it made him happy, then she would marry him. They had been together forever after all; it wouldn't be hard to imagine spending her life with him. "Ok Harry."
*88*
The Greengrass sisters had stayed. Daphne knew with the victory of the Dark Lord, their fate as arm candy for a Death Eater was sealed, and their hiding in Hogwarts would at least give them a chance to die free of that fate. But Harry Potter approached her to cast spells upon Death Eaters that got by him, or that downed him gave her a chance to make her own fate against the chauvinistic behavior that she grew up in. But when he asked her to do so, he also dropped a metal band into her hands, asking her to wear it. Her sister Astoria's face dropped into the same shock as hers did and Harry quickly babbled out an answer, "Look, I know I'm going to trust you to watch my back, and despite you never doing anything to me, in these times… it takes a lot of trust to do that. Please don't tell anyone about this. I... if anyone finds out, it could get you killed."
Daphne had never expected this. Here he was trusting her to this degree, not only that, but was asking for her hand? Her mind quickly came to the conclusion that with his honorable nature and rumored riches that he wasn't after her as a prize, but as he didn't know her, he was asking more for an alliance than for a romantic marriage. Daphne knew how family politics went, and that if her family was still alive that they would definitely approve of wedding her into the Black and Potter families for the potential power her husband would have. If it was just up to her… well, there literally weren't any other choices, but even if there were, Potter was still a good catch. He was said to be naïve about women, politics, and was honorable to the end. Daphne smirked as she clasped her hand over the ring, well, even if he does know how to play the game, it will be an amazing ride nonetheless.
*88*
"Hey Tonks."
The metamorphmagus turned around to see Harry standing there.
*88*
Luna just stared at the ring and at Harry for a minute, before she kissed him on the lips and skipped away giggling like mad. Harry couldn't figure out for the life of him what was so funny, since even if she knew about the ring's purpose, it wasn't a laughing matter.
*88*
Susan Bones, Hannah Abbot, Ginny Weasley, and each of the Patil sisters, followed by Fleur Delacour, Su Li, Cho Chang, the Gryffindor chasers Alicia Spinnet, Angelina Johnson, and Katie Bell, Lisa Turpin, Penelope Clearwater, Morag MacDougal, and Lavender Brown were all gathered as the strongest casters left available. The female teachers actively were raising wards and preparing the inner defenses while most of the other older females were mothers and refused to leave their children in the dorms. Each girl received their ring privately and kept their peace about it from anyone else. No matter their misgivings, or their reasoning, they wore their rings hidden until they could be shown.
The day was upon them.
*88*
All of Harry's defenders thought the boy suicidal when he declared that he was going to stand in the center of the Entrance Hall and that they would support him from the balconies and terraces above, moving and hiding as they could. Ignoring their protests, Harry began to close doors and blast staircases off of the ground floor where he was, sealing off any advance Death Eaters could make into the castle, or his support could make to him. His female fire-team reluctantly took their places and prepared to drop potions and spell fire below.
Voldemort's forces didn't fail to make a bang as they came in. Threes and fives came through the door to run into massed spell power from Harry. He kept blasting them apart until a few began to make it into the hall. As the enemy began to overwhelm his barrage through sheer numbers, mindlessly taking dark hexes and curses and powering through them like they never touched him. To the amazement of the fighters on both sides, Harry sent explosive hexes, cutting curses, and piercing spells at his enemies with dramatic results as the enemies died before him. Hours went by, and it began to show that even Harry was tiring. Piles of bodies blocked the doors into the hall three times during the day before being blown apart by the invaders, which gave Harry enough time to down a nutrient potion before having to go back into the fray. In 3 hours, 650 people died by Harry Potter's hand, or his help. Needless to say, Voldemort decided that enough was enough and came to deal with the nuisance personally. Voldemort blew away a stack of bodies near him, turning them into morbid projectiles that showered over Harry. Wiping the blood and gore from his glasses, he turned to face the source of all of the problems in his life. Voldemort stood with the last 15 of his inner circle.
"Kill the rest, I've got him!" Voldemort and Harry both yelled the same thing at the same time in a moment of irony, both realizing that they needed to finish off the other's help or they would be on equal ground with each other. And since the only unfair thing in a fight is the advantage YOU don't have, both were willing to deal with the bigger threat until the extra wands could be eliminated. But Voldemort's soldiers were stuck in a kill box. Hogwarts's wards against flight or tunnels prevented them from entering another way, and death rained upon them from above, giving them little to no cover or line of sight. All were eliminated quickly, but Harry wasn't doing nearly as well.
He had been fighting, and taking hits for hours before now. He was magically exhausted, he was hurt, and he no matter how powerful he was, he was still 50 years younger than his adversary who had power and experience. It would have been a hell of a fight even if he had been at full power, but for now, Voldemort was flinging him around just to cause pain.
"You killed my entire army. You have ruined plan after plan… you always WERE the dangerous one, no matter what Severus told me about your abilities. You will tell me how you survived this long against my army and then I will kill you quickly. Refuse and I will kill all of these PESTS slowly and THEN I will kill you slowly as well!" Enraged to the point of losing it by his army's defeat and the subsequent fire rained down upon him by the girls above, he randomly began blasting supports and stone handrails in an attempt to find the girls. As he turned though, Harry summoned Gryffindor's sword and banished it through Voldemort's back. The sword itself would never have killed someone who had undergone rituals as vile as the Dark Lord, but the toxic venom absorbed from the basilisk could burn through nearly any substance, no matter what magic protected it. Voldemort fell to the ground in a heap, not even spared a final word as he died, or a second thought as Harry too hit the floor.
*88*
Harry spent a week and a half unconscious in the hospital, only to wake up with nineteen women glaring down at him.
"He's dead isn't he?"
Hermione tried to speak up, but Daphne growled out, "He's dead alright, but you will be too for this shit you tried to pull!"
"What on Earth are you talking about? I wore armor-"
"We KNOW that, and we aren't talking about that. You giving us these rings you idiot!"
"It was a good idea… at least I thought so at the time… I mean, all of you are here right, so that must mean you wore them and like the idea behind it right?"
Susan Bones caught Daphne mid-air to prevent her from attacking the boy, but Luna Lovegood spoke up with a grin and a question that silenced the room and calmed Daphne down again, if for no other reason so that she could hear the answer, "What exactly was the idea behind it, and why did you give them to us? I think I already know, but they will want to hear for sure."
Harry blinked, "You mean none of you checked them to know? They… all of the rings are imbued with power. They amplify natural talents and magical output, but so long as I wore the other ring, they… hid you. Dumbledore thought Voldemort had multiple horcruxes, but in reality he only had one. He not only made it, but he was the unknowing Master of a Hallow." Luna squealed in excitement before falling silent again to hear the rest of the tale, even as those raised in the magical world raised eyebrows or started to talk. Harry plowed right on through though. "Voldemort inherited the Resurrection Stone from his family in a ring. Once he took possession of the Stone, he placed a piece of his soul into the ring after the murder of his father. Not only did he have his soul jar, he became closer to Death than almost anyone else people. It is one of the reasons he was good with necromancy. But Dumbledore found it and destroyed the Horcrux. The curse on the ring prevented him from being the Stone's master. Death was claiming him already, no need to try again. Snape technically took possession of both the Stone, and the Elder Wand when he killed Dumbledore, since Dumbledore was the last wielder of the Wand. But when I killed Snape, I got both of them." Multiple eyes were getting very wide at this point, but Harry just kept talking. "Taking on the both of them would have killed anyone, especially since they curse their master, but fortunately Dad inherited the third Hallow, the Cloak, which was given to me my first year." At this Luna gave a shriek and jumped Harry, only to be caught by the other girls in the room and held down, much like Daphne, who wasn't even resisting by this point. "I was going to go out and hope for the best with you guys, but Hermione told me," many eyes flicked her direction, "about the Lord of the Rings, and how items could be enchanted to do things. So I had Dobby help me find information about smithing magical rings and how to enchant something and so he and I… imbued some of the magic of the Hallows into the rings."
By this point, the magical raised girls were holding their ringed fingers to their chests and holding on like they would vanish any second. But Hermione was tired of being left in the dark, and finally shouted, "What the hell are the Hallows and why are they important?"
Everyone was shocked into silence by her profanity except Luna who was short on breath from struggling, but managed to get out, "They are a legend. The 3 Peverell brothers defeated a trap set by Death, so he tried to trick them into taking items that would get them killed. They were a wand that could never be beaten in a duel, a stone that could bring back the souls of the dead, and a cloak that could hide the user from everything including Death himself. He possesses all of the items that are proof of the defeat of Death!"
Harry nodded and continued, "Since they were made by me, they are not a full transfer of the powers, but they share a bit of it. Making spells more powerful from the wand, the guardianship of the spirits of the dead, and a little bit of extra stealth for when you hid in the shadows or didn't move."
Fleur Delacour spoke up immediately, "But how did you enchant zem? Enchanting takes years to learn, and then you'd have to craft a specific spell to do it! C'est impossible!"
At this Harry got a little grin on his face and a sparkle in his eyes. "Oh, I just had to tweak an existing encantation and focus my will over the objects. After all there is always a basis for every myth in fact right? It goes like this:
Three rings for the pureblood queens in these halls of stone,
Seven rings for the fliers under the sky,
Nine for those of mixed blood to die before the Dark One's throne,
One for the Chosen One who didn't die.
The quarry who Death twas denied.
One ring to help them all, one ring to guide them,
One ring to shield them all, and from the Darkness hide them.
Like the Hallows of Death's design."
Now everyone was staring at him in complete shock, whether from awe of taming the Deathly Hallows, or from enchanting the Rings of Power and rather than use their rings to empower himself, using his ring to empower theirs.
Luna however had no such compunctions, and broke free of the girls holding her to jump into the hospital bed with Harry and begin snuggling up to him as close as possible. "We're going to have lots of fun practicing to make all of the babies I'm going to give you Harry."
Harry was, after the previous behavior of the witches around him, ready from spell or physical assault, but this one threw him for a loop. "Huh?"
Susan Bones started giggling in sudden realization. "He doesn't know does he?"
Luna started laughing outright. "Nope! Not a clue!"
Susan, having an Aunt in a political position learned law from an early age. "Giving a girl a ring isn't all that is required to become engaged to someone, but asking a woman to wear a ring specifically for the man IS considered a proposal in the eyes of magic. You proposed to all 19 of us!" And promptly broke down laughing with the rest of the room.
Harry could only blink in confusion, then shock as her statement made it's way into his brain. "Bu- but, you all don't want to marry me do you? I mean, is that even legal? Shouldn't you all like, be throwing those rings back or something?"
Suddenly the laughter stopped and more than one girl looked worried and once again held their hand to their chest protectively. Until Daphne started speaking with a butter wouldn't melt in my mouth look and in a sly tone, "Oh, it's legal alright, no worries there. So there is only whether or not we will accept. So let's see here, we have the hero of an entire nation, one who is good looking, Master of Death, a provider, kind, was willing to make mythical objects to protect us from harm…"
"Daphne you are going to run out of air before you finish with the good qualities." Hermione was back in business now that she had the back story. "Just go ahead and say it with me. Jackpot ladies."
Harry was growing very concerned about this turn of events, it seemed Hermione was joining a side that he wasn't on, and he didn't even know what sides there were. "Um, does this mean we're going to forget all this happened?"
Hermione looked his way and , seemingly in-sync with all the other women, smirked. "No Harry. We aren't. You are going to fufill your promise to all of us. Congratulations on our engagement dear."
Harry could only fall back on the bed in shock, which Luna took as permission to cuddle closer. Luna stage whispered, "Guess what Harry? You get to find out why I'm called Lovegood."
Harry realized that he just got owned, and he couldn't even go down with a stereotypical "Noo!"
Later on though, he went down with a "Yes!" several times.
*88*
A/N: Daphne Greengrass, Lavender Brown, and Morag MacDougal are all purebloods according to their wiki entries. Hermione, Tonks, Luna, Cho Chang, Alicia Spinnet, Angelina Johnson, Katie Bell have all flown more than once in canon, be it on beast or broom. And all the rest were put in the category "Mixed blood because I couldn't think of anything more creative.