DISCLAIMER: I do not own the characters or ideas created that are used here that have been published and copyrighted, but in this story the ideas and any characters that are not cannon, and are not directly credited to another author, are my own and I make no money from this story.
A/N: I'm glad this story seems turned out to be fairly good so far in the reviews. A few people pointed out a mistake I made in the first chapter about the wands. I've gone back and fixed that oversight (aka deleted that line from the story,) so thanks to everyone who brought that to my attention.
This chapter is rated M for Sexual Situations and Language.
Recommended Story: "Into the Rabbit Hole: Story Ideas- It's Santa! Quick! Get His bag!" by Paladeus. A very humorous one-shot of Paladeus' own challenge, "Champions of Lilith," and quite a read! It's a H/Hr/L story and definitely one to make you laugh.
CHAPTER THREE: RETURNING
Location: Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry
Harry could feel a headache coming on fast as he continued to stare at his Professor. His eyebrow was twitching with every beat of his heart, and signaling the growing pressure that was throbbing in time with the twitch in his head. It didn't help matters any that as time seemed to creep by between the two, neither one of them were able to come up with any words.
The sound of students laughing outside the door snapped Harry back to reality, or at least kicked the gears in his head to start working in sync again. Turning around to face the door, his forced his right hand out, open palm, at the door as if he was doing a strike at it. Minerva was treated to a truly awe inspiring sight as five different color lights erupted from Harry's hand and raced to the door. They were red, black, green, white, and blue and once they all connected with the door at the same time she saw a barrier shimmer into existence on this side of the door as she heard a distinct squelching sound.
Just past the barrier, the colors that had struck the door formed into images. The black turned into a skull, the red a flame, the blue a water drop, the green a tree, and the white a sun. They had formed a pentagon shape and were rotating around slowly. She was so entranced watching the five shapes spin she missed the shimmering barrier expand from just around the door to encompass the entire room.
Harry noticed though, although he already knew that it would happen. This particular 'privacy' spell was meant for several things. It would first find the total area it was meant to encompass starting with where it was cast. Once the 'room' was found, as the spell would seal any and all possible entrances or exits (which Harry had found out later even meant the smallest of cracks in anything,) the privacy portion happened. It would dispel any tracking charms of any type, destroy any means of monitoring what was going on in the room (a funny thing that had been found while testing as George still had the Extendable Ear attached and the thing had caught fire, singing his face and ear slightly,) and arguably the best part (or so Harry thought,) was that if you weren't the caster, you couldn't force your way into someone's head in any way, shape, or form.
Harry had tried that once and still wasn't entirely sure what the hell had happened; he just woke up several hours later during the test with the world's worst migraine that no form of headache relief, muggle or magical, could fix. The pain level and time it lasted was always in proportion to how strong the caster was (something they had found out later,) and seeing as how it had been Neville that had cast it when he tried it the first time, he was in agony for close to two weeks after the first attempt.
But he had used this spell for the fact that unlike the Muffilato spell, which would make those not in it only hear a loud buzzing sound, this blocked absolutely all sound from inside but you could still hear what was going on outside. Thankfully the spell had been developed only amongst his family as it could have caused problems if it had been made and used by Death Eaters.
"So um…" Harry started once he felt the spell had sealed the entirety of the room. This also brought Minerva's attention directly to him.
He couldn't help but flinch slightly at her hard look. It was an expression he knew quite well, though usually it was on a much older face. Seeing it on a much younger looking Minerva was slightly terrifying, and it reminded Harry of the times when Hermione's anger overrode all of her inner reasoning. Well it either overrode or it, or both were in agreement, he never did figure out which but knew to also never ask lest he trigger the response and fall under the retribution it always brought.
That thought didn't make Harry feel any better though as the look was one that there would be hell to pay if he didn't explain things, and soon at that. Idly he wondered if the red that still adorned her face was a blush or from anger. He seriously hoped that at the very least it was a mix of the two, which would hopefully be the least painful. Minerva when she was angry was a bit over the top in her imagination on how to make someone pay, especially as a transfiguration master.
"Um, first let me say that I honestly had no idea this would happen," Harry started. The gaze seemed to harden a bit, making him gulp and loose his immediate train of thought.
How the hell was he supposed to explain that he truly had no idea that he would inherit her? When he had claimed his inheritance, he had thought he knew of everything he would already inherit. Granted, he really hadn't ever seen a will by his parents or his grandparents. Hell he hadn't even seen Sirius' when it had been read. He'd always been told what he had inherited and it wasn't like he had been able to go to the goblins to figure out the exact details. They never truly forgave him for destroying over half of the bank during the Horcrux hunt, but he understood why. His breaking and entering was only the second ever and had almost ruined their image of being the 'perfect bankers.'
An awkward silence fell between the two again making Harry fidget a little as the gaze never relented.
It was a few minutes later that the silence was starting to get to Harry, and he cleared his throat somewhat awkwardly. His shoulders slumped a bit as he summoned one of the desk benches, changing it into a plush tall backed chair, and sat down before asking, "Why don't you ask whatever questions you have and I'll answer them to the best of my abilities. I can even take an oath swearing to the truth of my answers if it would make you feel better as, uh, some may be a bit hard to believe."
That brought Minerva up short for a moment. She had been mortified when Harry had suddenly claimed what was his by right. She had no idea that he even knew how to claim his inheritance in the first place! Once she had felt the collar rematerialize around her neck, where it had been absent for over a decade, and saw the rings materialize onto Harry's hands she was certain he knew about her and thought he would look at her immediately with a leer as most teenagers would if they knew exactly what she was.
She had been surprised when he hadn't, and then intrigued as she watched the ritual she had tried to stop take place. A spare thought had wondered why she hadn't tried to stop it again, but she already knew the answer to that question as soon as it popped into her head. The magic of what she was wouldn't let her talk until she was 'given permission' as it were.
Her surprise and embarrassment returned a hundred fold when Harry had turned to look at her with his cheeky grin. She had already noted the changes the ritual had done to his body as they had occurred. His reaction though made her feelings go up yet again as she knew the second the look of shock and understanding and confusion became prominent on his face.
The students laughing had brought even further levels of mortification to her as she knew her appearance had changed as well, and she was in no position to change her appearance just yet, or explain her changes either. Harry's reaction left her further speechless as her brain shut down watching the magic.
She had no idea what it was, but she could feel that it was powerful. It was only brief words that brought back some semblance of her normal composure, and was partially proud she could at least make Harry flinch still. His declaration following more magic that he shouldn't be able to do almost put her back into brain dead mode as what he was doing was arguably impossible, even though she had the proof quite literally sitting in front of her.
Taking a page from Harry's book, she sat back down in her own chair with a bit of a huff as she contemplated her first question. She discarded the notion of him swearing an oath that his statements were the truth as there had to be some logic behind what had happened. Surely Hermione had instilled some of her formidable reasoning upon this young man?
She figured she'd start with an easy question, namely the one that she had before he had claimed his inheritance.
"What exactly did that ritual do to you outside of the obvious physical changes my lord?" she asked, and inwardly sighed at how she addressed him. She noted that Harry flinched at the 'my lord' bit.
"It's designed to remove any and all blocks on a person's magic, or rather their core specifically," Harry started and Minerva suddenly was rethinking her notion of Harry swear on the truth of his statement, "After removing all of those blocks, it's meant to restore the core back to where it should be at whatever age the person is and fix most of, if not all, the problems that developed from the persons magic being bound. The runes, the six colored ones, use the ambient magic of the area around where the ritual is performed and focus upon the seventh rune, which is always placed over, or rather near, what needs to be unbound. The physical changes are part of the 'restore' process as well since they are considered deficiencies that some form of magic could fix."
Harry really wanted to chuckle as Minerva's mouth dropped open at his description. He was pretty sure he knew where her thoughts had travelled upon that last bit as the ritual could arguably used to heal any injury, ever, in the magical world so long as there was a cure. Healers everywhere, especially Poppy Pomphrey, would kill to be able to use that ritual. He was very tempted to leave it at that for that ritual, but figured it would come back to bite him in the ass later.
"Unfortunately, the ritual will only work on the person performing it, meaning it can't be used on others."
Minerva's eyes got slightly wider at that, but her mouth snapped closed with an audible click. Her cheeks also returned to their full blush as Harry had countered exactly where her thoughts had been. His light chuckle after her closing her mouth didn't help matters. The cheeky bugger had paused to let her thoughts wander!
"And the spell you used on the door?" she asked when she felt her embarrassment had dropped a little bit farther.
"Um… I'm not really sure how to answer that one," Harry said, cringing inside. Outside of his loves, he didn't plan on letting anyone know anything past the downfall of Voldemort, and this spell ventured there as he couldn't describe what it did without revealing a lot of the reasons for why it was made.
Minerva didn't like that answer, but she really couldn't force it out of him. No matter how much she wanted to…
"Alright then, how did you know about your inheritance? I was assured by Albus that he had instructed you to take claim it after you were finished with Hogwarts and You-Know-Who defeated once and for all."
Minerva didn't know what had hit her after that statement. It wasn't anything physical or any spell. She just suddenly felt as if her entire being was smothered in some kind of tar that not only made it difficult to move, it felt like she was being squashed slowly beneath an unimaginable weight. In the back of her mind she wondered why she hadn't suddenly become a bloody smear on the stone beneath her because of the pressure.
"Albus bloody fucking Dumbledoor," Harry growled from his seat, "That old bastard has told me nothing of my inheritance. He has denied me my heritage all my life for his vaunted fucking 'Greater Good' as if I am just another piece to some great puzzle that only he can see. That walking hypocrite has destroyed so many lives because of he thinks he knows best. Well he isn't going to fuck with my life, or anyone I love's life anymore."
Minerva was positive if she hadn't been sitting before, she would have collapsed as Harry spoke. With every word the pressure seemed to increase. Her vision had started to blur when the pressure started as it was so sudden, but near the end of Harry's rant it had cleared enough to at least get a clear image.
What she saw terrified her more than she was willing to admit. Harry's eyes were glowing with a bright dark sickly green, and surrounding him like a living dancing flame was the same green glow. The aura he gave off screamed death and left her wondering for a moment if she was staring death itself in the face. The thought of facing Voldemort seemed highly pleasing at the moment instead of this very angry young man.
But as the glow around Harry grew, so did the pressure on her body. It quickly became too much and she soon cried out in pain, feeling as if her lungs were about to explode in her chest if the pressure didn't let up.
Her cry seemed to be enough as the glowing around Harry just blinked away and his dark expression quickly turned to concern and remorse. The quick change in pressure had her falling out of her chair gasping for breath. She had been trying to get up during the pressure and call for Harry to stop, so when the pressure had vanished instantly, her muscles were still trying to move, hence her current place on the floor.
"Professor McGonagall, are you alright?" Harry's voice asked, suddenly next to her. He was on one knee, his hand on her back making small circles.
Turning her head to look at him, she found his face not that far from hers, his brilliant emerald eyes showing a deep concern for her. Her breath caught again but not for the same reason as before. She had known his eyes always showed his emotions better than his body or words ever could. It was something she had only really noticed when he was distraught about something and couldn't figure out how to convey what he was feeling.
Well that was before he suddenly became this much more outspoken individual, but his eyes still held that depth to them that she had often tried to decipher over the past five years to try and help him when he needed it in some way. Only Hermione seemed to be able to decipher all of his problems though, and with a general ease that always made Minerva smile at the scene.
But right now, the level of concern he had in his eyes spoke of more depth and familiarity than she knew possible for Harry, at least associated with her anyways. It was a look one associated with a well loved family member. As far as she remembered, she had never seen or heard of Harry with this look pointed at anyone.
Well that wasn't entirely true; he had it once before when Hermione had been petrified. Poppy had positively gushed at the apparently adorable scene that played out day after day in her hospital wing with Harry always visiting his friend. It had prompted an ongoing bet amongst most of the staff and a fair bit of the students (courtesy of the Weasley twins once they had somehow caught wind of it,) that the two would end up together eventually.
It was only natural that being under such a, dare she even think it, loving gaze would make her short of breath and her heart to start pounding in her chest. She tried not to think of the other physical reactions such a look caused as well, as it was improper for a teacher to be having such thoughts about a student.
She could only nod in answer to his question as she tried to control the emotions that one look had ignited within her. The concern in his eyes softened at the nod, but the change of his facial expression to that sheepish yet slightly cheeky grin was definitely not helping her control her emotions one bit!
Harry held out the hand that wasn't rubbing circles into her back still, which she took after a moment, before standing up fully and helping her back to a standing position. Her legs were slightly shaky from the strain they had been under and made it hard for her to stand initially, but Harry had quickly moved his hand on her back to wrap around her waist and held her to him firmly. Not firm enough to put unwanted pressure anywhere, just enough to keep her standing.
After a few moments, Minerva moved her head back slightly, and Harry was soon looking into a confused yet somewhat pleased looking witch.
He chuckled softly at her expressions as they were ones he was familiar with on his loves, just not on the perpetually stern professor. The irony of the situation seemed to be sinking into him finally when he considered who his other loves were and how his 'normal' was finding himself in strange situations.
The chuckling caused the older witch to frown slightly, prompting a few more chuckles from Harry.
"I'm really sorry. I'm not laughing at you," he replied, guessing at where her thoughts had turned. Her slight flinch was his answer. "It's just this just reinforces how utterly random and unpredictable my life is. Harry Potter and 'normal' don't really fit together in a sentence or when trying to describe my life."
Minerva couldn't help but snort in mild disbelief and amusement. That had been a topic of discussion amongst the staff for quite some time, along with some rather amusing speculations for why it was that way.
The sound of some more students laughing as they ran past the door (followed quickly by Filch's loud grumbling) made the two look at the door again briefly. It seemed to bring the reality of the situation crashing down onto Minerva though as she started to shake slightly in Harry's grasp.
Harry could guess why. No matter which way he looked at it, he would have to bind her to him or do the alternative and that was 'transfer' her 'ownership' to another wizard.
Steeling himself and taking a deep breath, he reached up to her face and gently turned it to look at him.
"Minnie," he started softly, noting her at first her fearful expression which turned to shock at the name. Only two other people had ever called her that before, or rather got away with it. Both were no longer among the living, so how could Harry have known it?
"I know that I have to either bind you to me now, or to transfer you," Harry started, "But I'd rather you made the choice on which you would prefer."
McGonagall had turned fearful when Harry had mentioned the idea of transfer. There were never any good stories about a concubine being transferred. Harry giving her the choice negated those fears instantly.
"I-I'd like to stay with you my lord," she said with a very small voice. Inwardly she chuckled slightly at Harry's flinch at her using the 'my lord.' No matter what seemed to happen to him, Harry always seemed to remain humble to everything and hated being called anything but Harry.
The small smile on his face after her answer made her heart flutter.
"I guess we should get through this part then," Harry said softly before taking a small step back from her and looked directly into her eyes as he pulled out his wand from his pocket. "I promise I'll tell you more about what I'm sure you still want to know after this."
He waited a bit for her to nod in understanding before taking another deep breath.
"I, Harry James Potter, by right of inheritance from Charlus Edmond Potter, claim you, Minerva Grace McGonagall, as my Concubine in mind, body, soul, magic, and heart, to serve me and my house until death releases you."
Harry noted the slight glaze that appeared in the older woman's eyes as an almost non-existent flash of magic signaled the oath taking effect. Inwardly Harry couldn't help but sigh. "Hermione is going to kill me for this," he thought.
Stepping to be directly in front of her, Harry took the older witch in his arms and gave her a tender kiss, trying to convey whatever feelings of comfort he could to the older woman. This was more awkward and sudden for her than for him, and to be honest, he was slightly immune to this twist because of everything that had already happened to him. You kind of get used to random things like this once you've lived for over a millennium.
He smiled inwardly when he heard a soft moan come from the old witch as the kiss deepened. He felt her hands move up his back to return the embrace while they kissed. The glaze in McGonagall's eyes when he broke the kiss was much more pronounced, but that was included with her eyes half lidded and a very pleased smile on her face.
"Remove your clothes," he commanded. His voice soft but firm enough to fulfill the bond.
McGonagall's smile seemed to grow just a bit as she started to strip in front of Harry. He watched her as she removed each piece, letting them fall to the floor next to her as they were removed. It was rather alluring to see his teacher in such a light, especially once she had gotten down to just her bra and panties. He had never figured McGonagall was one of those witches that liked 'simple but sexy' oriented undergarments when they got older. White, almost see through lace really did look good on her.
Harry had also taken off his clothes during his observation. It was hard really considering Dudley's castoffs were always too damn big for him anyways.
But once they were both standing there naked, Harry was couldn't help admiring his professor. Her skin was surprising smooth. It was a little pale, not unhealthily so, but it contrasted well with her reddish brown hair.
Her breasts were probably somewhere between a B and C cup, but quite perky. Harry couldn't help but think briefly about whether that was due to whatever had caused her to become young again or if she was naturally that perky. McGonagall was also quite aroused by this point as her nipples were just as perky as her breasts, and her breathing was slightly shallow.
Gently he pulled her to him again to give her another kiss. Her arms immediately wrapped around his neck this time as the kiss deepened as his right was wrapped around her waist and his left at the same level as her breasts. Having a brief thought, he wandlessly summoned her desk back to where it was before he had done the earlier ritual which was just behind the otherwise occupied couple. Minerva never noticed when it took its place.
Harry then slowly backed her into the desk so that her ass was pressed gently against the edge. He never broke the kiss while doing this, and once he had backed her against the desk, he gently trailed his right hand across her back from where it was holding her to her hip.
McGonagall moaned in pleasure into his mouth shortly after as his gentle fingers moved from her hip, then to her stomach, and finally south to her sex. He found her clit instantly and rubbed the nub in lazy circles, eliciting more moans from the woman as her hips involuntarily started to move forward and counter to his circles. This lasted for only a minute before a single digit found its way inside her.
She had to break the kiss to gasp in pleasure, which made Harry then trail kisses down her neck to her collarbone. He started to rhythmically push and pull the finger in and out of her as he laid his trail of kisses. McGonagall's breaths were coming in shallower breaths a lot faster at this point, as were her moans of pleasure.
Inserting a second finger into her now quite wet and very aroused sex pushed her over the edge as her body stiffened briefly before it started to convulse with her inner muscles as the first orgasm in quite some time racked her.
Harry had stopped his rhythmic movements when he felt her have her orgasm, and when the convulsing stopped he pulled his fingers out of her slowly. The entire time he never stopped lavishing kisses on her collarbone, though it was more of light sucking and nibbling than kissing at this point.
He waited for several minutes for McGonagall's breathing to not be as shaky before he moved back to her face to give her a quick kiss on the lips then taking a step back.
He was quite aroused at this point. Well, he had been aroused earlier once she had stripped, but the throbbing in his loins was starting to get to him.
"Suck me off," he commanded.
Watching McGonagall slide to the floor and taking him into her mouth didn't help his arousal any, though the sight was quite enchanting regardless.
It was at this point however where he was quite physically reminded of some of the physical experiences he had yet to encounter in his younger body. Regardless of how mentally prepared he was and the fact that he had experienced sexual acts before, this body had never been under those types of ministrations before.
The sensation of her wet lips and hot tongue wrapped around his cock nearly made him cum the second she had taken him into her mouth. He wasn't entirely sure how he managed to not blow his load right then and there. McGonagall's stimulations didn't help matters further though and within a couple minutes he was groaning his release into her mouth. He was in a slight daze shortly after as his loins throbbed with the release, but was aware enough to realize McGonagall still sucking on his member, even as it started to soften.
Only when he had gone completely flaccid did she finally stop her bobbing and remove him from her mouth. Harry couldn't quite keep the goofy grin off his face as he gazed down at the older woman, but he really didn't care right at that point. Besides, he was in a body that was flooding with hormones so there was likely going to be a lot of things he couldn't control as well as before.
Gingerly he reached down and cupped Minnie's chin and lifted it to look up at him and summarily raising to her feet. She was breathing heavily from her brief fellatio experience. Her face was tinged from exertion, not to mention her previous orgasm and current arousal. Still with the grin on his face though, Harry kissed her again.
He wrapped his left hand around her mid back while his right went down to grab her ass. The moan in appreciation as he squeezed the flesh made him smile as he broke the kiss from her lips and started to suckle on her collarbone again. It was then he lifted her up so half her ass was on the edge of the desk, her legs spread with him standing in between them.
Another point to being a teenager again with raging hormones was his quick recovery time. It wasn't long before he was aroused again, though not with the aching throb he had before. He moved his left hand then to rest on the desk as McGonagall wrapped her arms around his neck and legs around his hips. It was clear she knew what was going to happen next, regardless of her glazed eyes.
He slid his cock up and down her slit a few times, lubricating it a bit before lining up and resting his hands on the desk to steady himself. Slowly he slid himself into the older woman, enthralled by the soft and hot velvet feel of her sex around him as he entered.
He had to control himself from going faster, as that's what his hormones wanted him to do, and took pleasure in the fact that Minerva moaned loudly as he bottomed out in her. Her sex was twitching from a mini orgasm already just from the single penetration. Harry was very thankful that his spell kept all sound from inside being heard outside as the moans she let out as he started to pull out and thrust back only got louder with each thrust.
It didn't take long after several long slow strokes for McGonagall's hips to start bucking, urging Harry faster. He was quite happy to comply and what moans she could get out in between her gasping for breath from the sensations his hard and fast thrusts were causing. Her grip on Harry tightened several minutes later as an orgasm racked her body, but Harry still hadn't released yet, nor had he slowed his thrusts. Her drawn out moan had heralded her release.
But with Harry still going at it, and with her bits now even more sensitive from an orgasm, she felt a second release building quickly. It took longer to reach the second one by several more minutes than her first, but Harry reached his release almost at the same time. It was her almost scream like moan and rapidly convulsing walls, along with her legs tightening around his hips, that brought Harry over the edge several seconds later, spilling his seed inside her.
When the pulsing from their mutual orgasms finally stopped several seconds later, Minerva collapsed backwards still gasping for breath and pulling Harry's upper body down with her. This brought Harry into a slightly uncomfortable bending position but also brought his face to be nestled between her breasts as Minerva clutched his head there tightly.
It was because of having his face hidden in the breasts that Harry missed the faint light green glow that surrounded Minerva in a flash before blinking out just as quickly.
They stayed that way for several minutes though, getting their breath back under control and letting their bodies cool down. It was also that long before Minerva let up on holding Harry's head to her chest.
When he could finally free himself from her breasts, he stood slowly, as well as removing him cock from her as well. That got a moan of pleasure and disappointment from the older witch. The tone made Harry chuckle softly as he reached out and grabbed one of her hands, pulling her into a sitting position.
Harry had to blink when he saw McGonagall's expression though. The glaze was already gone from her eyes, something he already knew would happen, and had been replaced by a fiery clarity that she hadn't had, even before the bonding. Yet her face had a very satisfied and slightly smug look to it. In all of his memories, he couldn't bring up any of this older witch that came with the expression smug.
"I think I understand now why the girls were so taken with you Harry," Minnie stated, the smugness from her expression bleeding into the tone of her voice.
Harry's goofy grin turned serious and confused in an instant which Minnie seemed to find hilarious as she started to giggle. That only served to make Harry more confused. He hadn't expected her to suddenly become this bubbly. Again, Minnie couldn't help but giggle at his expression.
She managed to stop those giggles a few moments later before she gently caressed his cheek and kissed him briefly.
"You said it earlier Harry, you and normal don't seem to work well together. I'm not sure how it happened, but you brought me back," Minnie started before taking a brief look around the room, "And you bound me in my own classroom. This should make an interesting story for your girls when you bring them back."
Harry's jaw hung freely as he gaped at the woman before him. This wasn't the same Minerva McGonagall that he had met upon arriving back in time. Somehow he had brought back the Minerva McGonagall from the future. But he had no idea how she could be here now. She wasn't part of the group he had seen at King's Cross, and he sure as hell didn't have all of her memories from the future stored within his own mindscape. Actually, thinking back on it, he was surprised he hadn't seen several other people at King's Cross. He would have loved to talk to those he considered family before coming back.
Thinking of family though brought his thoughts to a halt as he remembered the question he had earlier. He'd figure out how he had apparently done the impossible, again, later.
"Minnie, how come you never told me before that you were a concubine to my grandfather? I mean, even after claiming my inheritance and when you explained to me about the bonds between wizards and witches, you never said anything about being a concubine to begin with. It does explain how you know so much about my grandparents, but still…"
Her expression turned sorrowful the instant he asked that question.
"You can thank that pig Slughorn for that problem."
Harry's anger was palpable at the name of that man. He was number three on Harry's most hated list, and whatever this new information was would probably push him to number two, right ahead of Voldemort. Albus Dumbledore was in a league of his own holding first place.
Seeing Harry's angry but still confused expression made Minnie continue, "It was a couple months after the Battle of Hogwarts. Apparently the walrus had a small moment of chivalry before Voldemort blew us away with that power wave. I was already tired by then and the blast would have arguably killed me had Slughorn not moved to stand in front of me as a shield and dispersed most of the power from hitting me. That one act seemed to be enough for him to 'claim' me as it were since it was a valid life debt and you hadn't fully claimed your inheritance yet. I fell into a rare loophole with the bonds then apparently as he was able to bind me forcibly since I'd already been bound once before. I wasn't aware of it then, but that man had apparently been lusting after me for some time, which made that particular binding that much more terrible. His only decent order was for me to stay as Headmistress, which is what probably spared my life. After the… well when you rescued me, I just couldn't bring myself to tell you what I was and that your grandfather had left me to you. I wanted to so badly, but it didn't seem right, not after everything that had happened. I was pleased to see you recover some after I passed on when Ms. Lovegood managed to beat some sense into you."
Harry couldn't help but chuckle at that memory and at the happy smile on Minnie's face, even if there were some tears in her eyes from her story.
"Yea, she sure does have a way with getting me out of whatever funk I'm in," Harry said wistfully at the memory, "I just wish I had managed to find out how to actually use the Hallows like we had guessed before everyone else passed on. I can actually thank your namesake for that."
At her confused expression, he remembered she hadn't been there at King's Cross with his loves. She already had all of her memories from her first life, and apparently she had watched over him in the afterlife as well, but was missing the things that had happened in limbo. So over the next ten minutes he gave her an abbreviated description of what had happened. There was a brief teasing point though when he mentioned the aspect of life's name being Minerva, which Minnie took in stride but had a smile on her face none the less.
A loud knock on the door brought all conversation to a stop, the two looking at the door.
"Oh shit," Harry said, realizing the state the two of them were in. The panic in his tone was mirrored on Minnie's face and the two, by unspoken agreement started to get dressed quickly. As they did, Harry took a few moments in between pulling up his trousers and putting on his shirt and robe to restore the room to how it had been before he started the ritual. Once fully dressed he cast a few air freshening spells to clear out the scent of sex that was permeating throughout the room.
It was then he took a quick glance at Minnie, seeing her fully dressed and a glamour charm on now to make her look as she had before. Well almost exactly like before as she left the button that held up the collar on her blouse undone. This left a small view of her neck visible where he could clearly see the 'P' on the black ribbon around her neck.
At his raised eyebrow, Minnie just gave him a cheeky grin and wink before returning to her stern expression and nodding at the door. That was his signal to dispel the spell around the room which he quickly did, especially as a second, louder, and more insistent knock happened.
"Enter," Minnie said, her voice as stern as it ever was, though there was unmistakable annoyance as well. Harry figured it was because she wanted to talk more with him, especially as she had had several confused expressions during his brief telling of what had happened after she had died. One of those was when he had said it had taken a long time after Luna had died to finally find a way back.
"Sorry to interrupt Professor McGonagall but I had something import…" the interrupter said as they entered and closed the door quickly. Harry and Minnie didn't recognize the person at first as they had entered fast and turned to close the door while talking, but when they turned around they knew who it was instantly. It was a much broader and taller Neville Longbottom than either Harry or Minnie remembered him being at this age.
The young man had stopped upon seeing Minnies face, as it was usually never a good thing to be under an annoyed McGonagall's gaze.
"Yes Mr. Longbottom?"
The question snapped Neville out of his momentary daze as he lifted his left hand to scratch behind his head while having a sheepish grin on his face.
"Er, like I said, sorry for interrupting, but I had something to discuss with you that I forgot to mention during my own meeting."
His stance was still confident if restrained a little from being scrutinized by McGonagall. It was as his hand dropped that Harry caught sight of something that made Neville's new appearance click with Harry.
The small glint of gold that reflected off his left pointer finger could only be a signet ring, and his hand moved a hell of a lot slower than a snitch did, hence how Harry saw it. Glancing at Minnie, he saw that she had at least seen it as well as the annoyance in her expression had disappeared and a slightly devious look had appeared in her eyes.
"And what pray tell is so important, Lord Longbottom, that you felt the need to interrupt my discussion with Lord Potter?"
Harry couldn't help but grin at how Minnie had addressed Neville. It was more or less a blatant point out to what had changed on him, as well as Harry. The funniest part though was Neville's face gaping in shock as it bounced back and forth between Harry and Minnie. He even did a double take the first time when he saw Harry with his toothy grin and waving at him with his right hand while he displayed the two rings on his left. Neville apparently recognized the second ring as well which only added to his shock.
His gapping lasted about a minute before he started to chuckle briefly.
"Okay, so what I had to say apparently isn't as important as other things are which apparently are already in play. When did you two come back?"
"I came back as the toad was storming out," Harry started, "Uh, Minnie came back a little later."
He wasn't really sure if he should reveal what she was to Neville. It wasn't like he'd think differently about her like most others would. Looking at Minnie, who had a slight blush but a smile, he got a small nod from her letting him know she didn't mind letting Neville know. There had been very few secrets between all the people Harry had saved after all. Then a thought popped into his head.
"But, how did you come back? As far as we all knew, only I would be able to come back using the Hallows."
Neville had a look of mild confusion on his face as he replied, "You know I'm not really sure exactly how I came back. I was with my family and loves in well, I guess heaven would be the closest thing to say where I was. Then I was suddenly at Kings Cross with only my loves and a woman who was dressed in the strangest armor I've ever seen."
He paused briefly at Harry's snort, but continued when Harry motioned for him to continue, "She told me that I would be following someone back in time, and as one of her knights, I would need to help him. My loves asked her if they would be going back as well and she told them I could only take their memories back with me. After getting their memories stored in my own mindscape, I found myself back here in Hogwarts. It took me a while to figure out when I was though, and to find an empty classroom to claim my inheritance in. After that I came straight here."
"That woman you saw is apparently a goddess. She represents the aspect of life, and ironically enough, her name is Minerva," Harry said once Neville was done. He ignored the slight glare Minnie sent him for the small barb.
Neville chuckled at the slight by play before asking, "So how did you meet her then? Does it have something to do with the Hallows?"
"Uh, I met her a long time after you died. She and apparently Death himself hunted me down to do what I wasn't able to figure out, and that was to actually cause me to die so that my soul could be separated from my body. I'm still not really sure exactly what the hell it is she did, but I went straight to limbo. I got to meet my loves there, and thrash the old bastard a bit, before coming back here with all of their memories. Well, my loves minus the old goats."
Neville's head cocked to the side as he looked over at Minnie then. "Then how did you come back Professor?"
As far as Neville remembered, McGonagall wasn't one of the people Harry considered his loves as he called them, which made him confused as to how she could be back. Well not fully confused considering that there was apparently god-like beings involved. The blush that erupted on the older witches face only added to the sandy haired young man's confusion though.
"Um, to be frank, I'm not really sure," Harry started, looking at Minnie again to see if she wanted him to continue. The small nod was his signal to do so, "Apparently when I claimed my inheritance, she was part of it. Her memories came back after I, uh, bound her."
It was Neville's turn this time to have his jaw unhinged and hang open in shock. He looked back and forth between the two several times, doing a wonderful fish imitation as he tried to form words. He could figure out quite well what Harry had meant the second he said it, but his brain was having problems processing the fact that one of the Professors he respected the most was apparently a concubine, bound to the previous Lord Potter, and was now bound to Harry. It wasn't like he looked down on her for being a concubine it was just shocking to learn that fact. Finally his mouth snapped shut as his expression deadpanned as he turned his expression to Harry.
"Seriously, this could only happen to you," Neville drawled out in a dull tone. It made both Harry and Minnie blush and laugh since it was close enough to what they had said about Harry's unique brand of karma. Neville joined them shortly after at the sheer irony of it all.
It was a short time later when they managed to restrain their laughing down to wide grins.
"Well, seeing as how we have gotten a bit sidetracked, what was the other reason for your visit Neville?" Minnie asked.
"Uh, I wanted to change my classes around a bit. I wanted to drop Divination entirely instead of just not taking the OWLs, and I wanted to possibly pick up Ancient Runes and Arithmancy."
Minnie chuckled slightly at the request before responding, "You and Harry seem to be of the same mind in that regard. Granted you two are quite capable in those subjects, I'll still have to get a hold of Professor Vector and Professor Babbling to get those assessment tests. With all my memories back now, I can get them ready for you two in the next day or two."
Neville's and Harry's grins only got wider at that. They both had been more than irritated with their performances in school when they learned how messed up their lives were.
"Great! All that's left for me now is to figure out how to get my ladies their memories back and get my real wand again so I don't break my fathers," Neville commented, his mood incredibly bubbly.
"You don't know how to transfer their memories to them?" Harry couldn't help but ask as he blinked at his friend.
"I know how to if they trusted me or knew at least a bit of Legillimancy but both of those ways are kind of shot right now. I was only really friendly with you, Hermione, and Luna and didn't really talk to anyone else unless they started a conversation first, remember? That leaves me with having to find a way to give them back, and I've been drawing a blank since I started thinking about it."
Harry wanted to groan at that. It was something he would have to deal work around as well with several of his loves, especially considering the situation two of them were in currently. He hadn't thought of that fact initially but it was a problem he'd have to figure out how to deal with later. What he did have, though, was a way to transfer the memories they had stored in their heads.
It was something he had picked up a couple centuries after the world had been destroyed and before he forced himself into exile. The planet he had been on at the time had been an odd mix of primitive, technological, and magical civilization. They lived in huts and tents mostly with a few buildings scattered about each village/town, but there were most definitely technology rampant about the planet as well. It was like a mixture of being around during the dark ages while at the same time being about another couple centuries of advancement in technology for healing and travel. Their magical parts were scarily similar to Earth's, but it was also deeply embedded into all aspects of the civilizations as well so their magic users had no fear of something like the Witch Hunt that had occurred.
That integration had led Harry to something that could only be described as a memory sphere. The device was a small sphere made up of a type of matter that conducted a vast amount of magic inside. Around the sphere, or rather what held the sphere in place was a small disc like base that worked as a stand and control device. The sphere and the base interfaced together to make what Harry could best describe as a mix of a pensive, video camera, and holographic display in that it could record and display similar to a video camera and a holographic display, but it could also record and play memories as well. This was done by a person thinking of the memory while placing their hand over the sphere and using the base to control the magic to 'record' the memory.
Harry had figured, and experimented on until he got it right, that the sphere could be used as a standalone construct without the base, but instead of displaying the recorded memory, it would integrate those memories into whoever was 'recovering' them. The problem with this device as opposed to the one he based his off of was that it could only be used once and the matter and magic used to create and hold those memories was a onetime deal. It wasn't like he really cared at the time considering he wasn't planning on selling this new device like the other one was. He had used the memories of his times with Ginny during his experiments and was quite pleased that when he was done, he stored all those memories and promptly sent them off into space. Intellectually he knew he had been with her intimately, but he was quite glad that even with returning- plus with the experimenting of the spheres- that those memories were gone for good.
It didn't take Harry long to explain his idea of using his invention to restore the memories of some of the harder ladies to get in contact with. Neville was quite pleased at the idea and a bit sheepish at having Harry make the spheres he needed. He was sure that he would be able to make them on his own after a bit of practice, but Harry already knew how and they both wanted the memories to be restored as soon as possible.
Neville and Minnie both stared in awe at the row of spheres on Minnie's desk after Harry had made them. Harry himself was breathing heavily after creating the spheres. There were a total of twelve spheres, six for each of them. Each was the size of a golf ball and where almost translucent if it wasn't for the white foggy substance that seemed to swirl inside.
"Okay, I know you described these things, but that's damn impressive Harry," Neville said. He had picked up one of the spheres and was looking at it closely. He could feel the magic inside the small ball and it was a little unnerving considering it was humming with power. Taking a look at Harry, who was still breathing heavily, he couldn't help but ask, "How much power does it take to even make one of these?"
"Individually, not that much power is needed to make a sphere. Granted it has enough power in it that if you focused a Reducto with the same amount on a moderate size building, you'd vaporize it. Making twelve all at once is a bit much in comparison, even if I was using a good deal of the ambient magic around the school to help," Harry said while taking shuddering breaths of air. It normally wouldn't take this much of a toll on him to make the spheres, even all at once, but he didn't have as much control on his magic like he had before. It would take a while to get it back to the fine tuned ways he was used to using.
"Incredible," Minnie said examining one like Neville was. As a transfiguration master, conjuration was a rather incredible feat. It took a fair bit of imagination and incredible knowledge of how the thing you were conjuring worked and was made. "What are these spheres made of?"
Harry took a little bit to answer as his breathing was starting to get better after a few minutes.
"I'm not entirely sure of the exact make up of what that stuff is. It's similar to quartz in feel, diamond in toughness, and is probably the second best conductor for magic in existence. The planet I was on called it Materia, which for us means matter in Latin, and they didn't have an exact break down of its molecular structure as one of the components is a type of a void, which I'm betting is probably anti-matter."
At the mention of that particular theory Minnie's hand dropped the sphere back to the table and drew her hands back as if it had burned her. Harry just chuckled at her as he picked up the dropped sphere once it reached his feet.
"Don't be so shocked Minnie. While anti-matter is dangerous, in this thing it would be complete safe considering everything else around it. And like I said, I'm not entirely sure it actually is anti-matter in the first place."
Minnie blushed at Harry's slight rebuke as he put the sphere back in its place on the line. Harry just smiled at the blush while shaking his head slightly.
"So what do we do now?" Neville asked while still looking at the sphere in his hand.
"Just do the same to get your memories out like you would a pensive but focus your magic into the strand and the ball at the same time. When you have the strand on your wand, bring the sphere to the strand and the rest will happen automatically," Harry said as he stepped up to the desk and brought six of the sphere's in front of him. Neville just nodded before closing his eyes and bringing his father's wand to his temple, following exactly the steps Harry had mentioned.
Harry was soon following Neville as he too brought forth the memories. Well, he had to enter his mindscape first to bring them forth which took a lot of concentration considering all the natural protections his subconscious had developed. When he got to where he had stored all the memories though he noticed a small change when he arrived.
The animals had changed, or rather there were four new animals added to the mix of the larger cluster. A German Sheppard was with the golden retriever, Hedwig, and the chameleon. With the kestrel, panther, and Minnie's form, there was now a brilliant white stork that had the bottom portion of its wings and tail feathers black. Sitting with to the bald eagle, anaconda, and coyote was a raven. Then with the Bengal tiger, panda, and red tail hawk there was a jaguar. He stared at them for several moments wonder what they could mean.
Granted it wasn't like he could make sense of what the other animals meant. Well not entirely. He had an inclination that most of them were animagus transformations since Minnie's and his forms were amongst the cluster. But with Hedwig's image there he wasn't sure since she was his familiar.
Shaking the mental image of his head to get back on track he spent the next several minutes pulling copies of the memories the girls had sent back with him into the spheres. Well, the harder to approach girls anyway. Daphne and Tracey were more or less ice cold to anyone at this point in their lives, especially any male that approached them. Tonks was an Auror and out of school, so was even harder to reach. Padma at this current time was incredibly reserved and spoke little with anyone outside of her sister, especially after the DA had been found out. Cho was in a slightly similar state but it was because of what Umbridge had done with her and her friend Marietta in finding the DA.
Narcissa was the penultimate worst to get in contact with though. She was currently married to one of the… things… that had caused so many problems, on top of being the mother to the other one. On top of all that, she was at Malfoy Manor which held a good portion of the Death Eaters residing in it if they weren't at wherever Riddle was.
When he was done transferring the memories into the spheres, he conjured a small container to hold to spheres in. It wasn't hard to tell them apart as he could feel who each of the memories belonged to. He couldn't help but sigh as his thoughts travelled to how he would get these spheres to his ladies. It would be something that nagged at him until he had an answer.
A hand on his shoulder brought him back to focus on the other two people in the room. It was Neville who had his hand on his left shoulder and both he and Minnie had small smiles on their faces. Both also had concern in their eyes.
"We'll bring them back Harry," Neville said in a comforting tone, though his voice was a little strained. He was likely having the same thoughts Harry was himself.
Harry took a deep, rattling breath and let it out before nodding to the two. His thoughts and emotions where still out of whack for him and he really needed to actually sit down and just go through everything in his head to get better control of everything.
At a growling sound echoing through the room, Harry couldn't help but blush as Neville's and Minnie's small smiles turned in to amused grins. A second growling sound made his blush lessen some as his own grin appeared while Neville looked a little sheepish. The third growling sound that eclipsed the first two, and Minnie's epic blush made Harry and Neville start to chuckle. Minnie just stuck her tongue out at both of them, even if she still had an amused expression.
"Guess we can all use something to eat after everything that's happened," Minnie said, her brogue blending through in her amusement.
"Yea, guess so," Harry chuckled.
"To the Great Hall!" Neville exclaimed and pumped his arm in a manner that was more similar to Marauders and the twins.
Harry and Minnie couldn't stop the chuckle that escaped at his actions. It was something that had been missing after the Witch Hunt.
Quickly the trio decided that it wouldn't do for Harry and Neville to leave with the Minnie. Harry had seemed a bit down at that but the older woman just chuckled, forcibly turned him to face the door, and slapped him on his ass none too gently. His indignant squawk and then mild grumbling, even though he had a cheeky grin on his face, made the older woman just chuckle more. Neville just blushed crimson at the scene though laughed at Harry all the same.
Once Neville and Harry disappeared around the corner heading for the Great Hall, Minnie let out a sad sigh. She reached up to her neck and traced the ornate 'P' on her collar and had a wistful smile.
"Things will be different this time. No matter what," she swore to herself silently as she waited several minutes to head down to the hall as well.
Location: Hogwart School of Witchcraft and Wizardry; Great Hall
Neville and Harry entered the hall grinning like cats that ate the canary and chuckling. They had walked at a fairly brisk pace and spent some of that time reminiscing about the castle as they looked at everything that passed. It was a little unnerving considering they had seen the castle destroyed twice, but they could feel everything around the castle like they hadn't been able to before.
It was awe inspiring to be able to feel something that hadn't become as desolate and full of sorrow like it had in the future. They couldn't help themselves even as they passed a particular broom closet and felt two people having some… fun… inside. Harry had just gained a small evil little smile and not even taking a chance to stop as they passed, just twitched his hand and the door vanished. They were both out of site when it happened but the shriek and squawk of embarrassment echoed loudly in the hall.
Upon entering the hall though, Harry realized time must have gone by a lot longer than he had thought. There were a lot of people in the Hall already and even as they walked in, some of the seventh years from Ravenclaw were already leaving. No doubt to go study more since NEWTs would be in a couple of weeks. The best part was that no one really paid them any mind as they entered.
Okay that wasn't true, Umbridge was starring holes in Harry's head but he really didn't care. She couldn't really do anything to him and if she tried, well, one less toad to deal with. Besides, it wasn't like he hadn't entered into the hall like this before, though Neville grinning just like him was a rarer of an instance.
But as they walked farther along the Gryffindor table to where they normally sat, Harry's eyes were drawn to the one person he wanted to see most. Sitting there quietly while reading a book and eating just as quietly was Hermione. God he had forgotten how stunning she was when researching and studying. She developed a type of tunnel vision that rivaled and surpassed his own when playing Seeker and it was always something he had admired about her because it was an integrated part of her life. She just wasn't Hermione without that focus.
Directly across from her though was the red headed prat that ruined her future. He ruthlessly had to squash the inferno that erupted in his chest and wanted him to rip the foul creature apart. He hadn't been entirely successful as the entire hall's light flickered briefly as the enchanted ceiling and candles went pitch black for a moment drawing everyone's attention. Well not everyone's. Hermione was still reading, Harry was still starring and Neville was poking Harry in the ribs.
A particularly hard jab snapped Harry out of his thoughts of torture and he caught Neville's amused but hard gazed.
"We'll figure out how to deal with that particular blemish later," Neville all but ordered. The silence between the two stayed for a few seconds before Harry couldn't help but chuckle. He shook his head ruefully and sat next to Hermione as Neville, standing behind Ron for a moment, made a big motion of sighing before sitting next to him.
Harry was the only one who paid attention to the gesture and had to stifle his laugh. It wouldn't do to give Neville's new attitude away just yet. He turned to his female best friend and had to fight down the ear splitting grin that wanted to erupt on his face. He settled for a small smile as he lay a hand gently in the middle of her back.
"Hey there Hermione," he said softly, mentally doing a jig as he watched her shiver slightly at his touch and tone. Her eyes and face turned to him with a brilliant smile that made his heart beat a little faster and ache at the same time. He couldn't describe how wonderful it was to see her chocolate brown eyes sparkling in delight and her smile radiating her happiness. It did wonders to sooth a lot of the rough edges of his spirit and calmed him more than he thought it would.
"Hey Harry. What took you so long with Professor McGonagall?" Hermione asked.
Harry had to bite back the response that first came to him. Right now, Hermione still didn't have her memories and would likely flip if she knew he had had sex with her favorite professor, regardless of the reasons for why. Hell, she will probably still flip out on him once she learns of the reason why after she had her memories back. It took him a couple seconds after biting back that comment though that he had an idea.
"We were interrupted by Cardigan Monster going off in the middle of the meeting. After that, it was setting up some other meetings for a project I've been working on for a while with Neville," Harry said motioning his head over to Neville.
Neville had been listening and knew what Harry was talking about already, but he just gave a shy smile and nodded when a confused looking Hermione looked his way.
"But you've never told me about any project. And ever since the DA was caught, I haven't seen you or Neville working on anything other your homework," Hermione stated in a slightly annoyed and depressed tone.
Harry had never really kept anything from her before, so why would he have been keeping something from her now? It hurt a little bit thinking that he didn't trust her enough to talk to her about it, and it clearly showed because Harry had a frown on his face while looking at her.
"I know, and I'm sorry for keeping this from you. It just wouldn't do to have some people know what we were working on," Harry said with his eyes darting to Ron briefly as he put his emphasis on 'some.'
Hermione was if anything more confused at that. Harry and Ron had been pretty good friends, so why would he want to keep something from Ron? Granted she knew things about Harry that Ron had no clue about, but still, this was a little disconcerting.
As the confusion grew on her face, and she started to bite down on her lower lip slightly as she thought about what it was Harry was talking about, Harry couldn't help but sigh. Restoring her memories was probably going to be harder than he thought, and he was suddenly annoyed he had only made six of those spheres for himself initially. It would probably be better to just make one for each of them, including Hermione regardless of how much he knew she trusted him.
But as he was thinking about the spheres, another idea came to him, especially at the mention of the DA. It would be the perfect reason to get in touch with almost all of the girls he and Neville needed to. And he could do it now! He couldn't keep the grin off his face as he thought of the perfect place to do what he needed to do too.
"Tell you what Hermione, Neville and I will let you in on our project," Harry said making a discrete motion for Neville to go along with what he was saying. His sandy haired friend was obviously confused but agreed to go along by nodding.
"Okay, but this project better not get us into any more trouble than we've already gotten into. And you do not need to get another detention again," Hermione said passionately while absently taking hold of his left hand in both of hers. Her soft fingers gently traced the words that had already been carved into the skin from the copious amounts of times he had to write 'I must not tell lies' with a blood quill. The motion sent a slight shiver up Harry's spine from the intimate touch. Using his peripheral vision, he discretely checked on Ron, who hadn't noticed a thing and was still stuffing his face.
"Good, he won't know what hits him when it comes," Harry thought viciously about the red head.
"Don't worry Hermione, it's perfectly safe. Although, we could do with some extra help," Harry said then looked directly at Neville for confirmation that he understood what he meant. Neville was a bit confused at first, but figured out what he meant after a bit of thought. Turning back to Hermione Harry continued, "It will probably help to have a couple of the DA people there as well since that galleon you created helped trigger the idea. Especially that other set you created after the first batch."
Hermione stiffened at the emphasis on 'other' during Harry's talking while looking at him.
"W-What do you mean other set? I only made the one," she whispered harshly, almost coming out as a hiss. She even looked to Ron briefly, her face somewhat scared that he had heard Harry.
Harry's deep but soft chuckle brought back an intense and questioning glare from Hermione.
"I'm not as unobservant as you thought Hermione. I know quite well about your own… 'trio' as it were, that came to be during Arithmancy in third year when I was being an ass," Harry said softly but with a slight mischievous look in his eyes.
Hermione couldn't help her eyes growing large at his statement, or her mouth opening slightly in shock. She had no idea Harry had paid that much attention to something, especially with how angry and angst ridden he had been for most of the year. This was on top of whatever this project he was working on and had kept from her.
"I… I didn't think anyone else knew about that study group," she said softly once her brain caught up a bit.
Harry couldn't help the snort that came out at that. "Please don't take me for an idiot Hermione," he started firmly, making Hermione flinch at his tone, "The only reason no one else has said anything is because they don't want to deal with how someone would react if they knew exactly who was in that study group."
At that he inclined his head to Ron, who was still oblivious to anything else but the food he was stuffing his face with.
"I know you have other friends outside of us," Harry continued a lot softer with a small smile on his face, "And to be honest I think it's great that you found some that share your passion for learning. Besides, we could use their different opinion, especially if they brought their other close friends as well. Outside views are always welcome."
Hermione gave him a long look at that declaration. It was completely honest from what she could tell and she felt as if a burden she hadn't known she was carrying suddenly lifted from her shoulders at his acceptance of her other friends. She hadn't meant to keep them a secret from him, but she was slightly fearful of his reaction to at least one of her friends. Well, more so Ron's as he seemed to influence Harry's emotions more than her, something that confused her to no end, and if he found out who one of her friends was, he would go off like a volcano on her. That Harry already knew and accepted them made her feel much better, especially as he knew how Ron would react as well and hadn't said anything.
"Tell you what," Harry said suddenly, bringing her out of her brief thoughts, "Neville and I will meet you in the library in about an hour as him and I still need to eat and talk to the other people we had planned on getting help from. That should give you enough time to get that message to the others, and let them know to bring their best friends as well. Does that sound like a plan to you?"
Hermione looked briefly at Neville then back to Harry seeing them both looking at her intently. She sighed slightly but nodded.
"I'll go head up there now and send the message," Hermione said before excusing herself and leaving. Harry and Neville both gave her smiles and waves at her departure, Ron just kept eating and didn't even notice her leaving till she was already gone. He had stuffed himself pretty much full by that point and it was as he was taking a drink of Pumpkin Juice that he noticed Hermione gone and Neville and Harry eating quietly.
"Hey mate, when did you get here? And where'd Hermione go?" Ron asked as he looked around the hall perplexed. If he hadn't been looking around he would have noticed Harry's finger's whiten as they gripped his fork, and Neville giving Harry a hard stare and a slight kick under the table.
"Just got back from meeting with McGonagall," Harry said quietly, forcing all of the rage that was building in his chest again down to a minor irritation. Hopefully it came off as the meeting not going well, though knowing Ron, he'd just assuming Harry was being angst ridden again. "Hermione left a little bit ago and is headed to the library later. Neville and I are going to meet up with her to get some studying done for OWLs. You can join us if you like."
Watching Ron's face scrunch up in disgust was mildly amusing, as was watching it pale slightly at the notion of studying for something that was several weeks away.
"Uh, no thanks, I'd rather not be around Hermione and one of her studying moods again. I think I'll just go back to the Common Room and see if I can get Dean or Seamus to play a game of chess," Ron said. Harry wondered if it was the studying or the mention of Hermione that made Ron's tone come off as disgusted.
"Suite yourself then," Harry said and went back to eating. He deliberately ignored the odd look Ron gave him before he stood up and left the hall.
"You know, I never really figured out how the hell he was so bloody dense and so easily swayed away from anything related to work," Neville stated once Ron was gone with some amusement.
"A mix of an inferiority complex mixed with healthy doses of Napoleon Syndrome, procrastination, jealousy, and thinking the world owes you something. Well that, or he fell out of the idiot tree and hit every branch on the way down," Harry said with a smug look. The two couldn't help but chuckle at that as it did describe Ron.
They both seemed to sober up though as they ate quietly again for several minutes.
"So how are we going to get the others to meet with us? Umbridge and her little toadies would rat us out meeting in a heartbeat, especially after the DA was discovered. Not to mention we can't use the normal method to get in touch as it would bring everyone to the library," Neville asked.
"We can just get up and talk to them briefly while they are still in the hall. If the toad monster finds out we are meeting, we can just tell her or her squad what we told Ron, we'll be in the library studying for OWLs. It does have some truth to it after all," Harry said with a bit of a grin. Neville was silent for a few moments before chuckling.
"Good point. So who contacts who then?" Neville said while looking around the hall.
Harry did the same thing to see who was still in the Great Hall. Of the staff, he saw only Professors Sprout and Flitwick who were talking quietly with Minnie. She caught his eye briefly during her conversation and nodded to him slightly without taking her attention from her conversation. It gave him a bit of an idea as well to help cover their tracks.
Looking around further he saw Lavender and Parvati further down the table talking and giggle every now and then. Not far from them he saw Katie sitting with Angelina and Alicia, the latter two looking slightly down and it looked like Katie was trying to cheer them up. At the Ravenclaw table he saw Luna sitting by herself, as was a bit normal for her lately, but her dreamy expression was gone. That caught him a bit off guard as it looked like she was focusing intently on her food and thinking hard. It worried him a little bit as she was almost completely unflappable. He was a little glad to note that Padma was sitting close to her, but was sending her curious glances every now and then at her odd behavior. When Padma wasn't looking at Luna, she was talking with her fellow female fifth year housemates, more than likely about what to prepare for their future tests. At the Hufflepuff table he saw Susan and Hannah sitting and talking amongst themselves like Parvati and Lavender were, just minus a fair amount of the giggling. With the Slytherins, Daphne and Tracey were just eating quietly by themselves. They did however notice Harry and Neville when they looked directly at them and their faces had questioning looks briefly before becoming the emotionless masks that were customary for them to bear.
Of all the girls that had been a part of those Neville and he had saved, only Cho, Su Li, Astoria, and Pansy weren't there. Those were the harder people to contact in school right now as it was anyways.
"Well with the exception of Pansy, Cho, Astoria, and Su Li, it shouldn't be hard to talk to the girls to get them to come along. Katie, Lavender, and Parvati are close enough together that we can talk to them all at once. We can probably get Parvati to relay a message to Padma, and through her Luna as well. That would leave Hermione's message to get to Susan, Hannah, Daphne, and Tracey," Harry said when he returned to face Neville.
Neville sat back and thought about that for a minute or two before focusing on Harry again and nodding.
"And how soon should we tell them? I mean, you did tell Hermione in an hour," Neville stated.
"Once we finish eating a bit more, well at least once I finish a bit more. I need to get to the library and make more of those spheres before the other girls get there."
"Why's that?"
"Remember I have those wonderful remedial lessons with the greasy bat. Thinking on it now, only Hermione would be the only person who trusts me enough to bring her into my head, but with how those lessons went and how I was reacting to them, she would freak out the second she felt the draw in and fight it while trying to figure out who I was. This way we can just pass of the spheres as a project for Ancient Runes and Arithmancy."
"And when they don't believe us considering we aren't in those classes?" Neville deadpanned at Harry.
"That's why we asked them to check our 'work' to find any flaws. Besides, I really do have something that I was working around the same time as I was figuring out these spheres. Once their memories are back, I actually would like some of their insight on what I made considering I was basing it off of a method of communication that was made for a video game. Well sort of anyways, it's a mix of the galleons we used for the DA and the concept that was in that game. I'll tell you more about it when the girls are back because it's damn useful."
Neville just raised an eyebrow at that before shaking his head in amusement. There were a few quirks he knew too look for in Harry after the Witch Hunt, but it seemed he had developed a few more. Granted, he couldn't say much as he had developed his own quirks while in the afterlife.
They stayed quiet for about another ten minutes with Harry eating a fair bit more food than normal. Thankfully no one really noticed considering he didn't make a mess at all unlike how Ron always did. Once he was done, he set his silverware down and wiped his face before taking a long drink of juice and sighing in contentment.
"Finished?" Neville asked with an amused tone.
"Yes, I forgot how good it was to have someone else cook your food. Any who, ready to start the chain?" Harry asked, looking around the hall again to make sure Umbridge wasn't there. Thankfully she wasn't, and neither was Snape. Turning briefly back to Neville he got a nod and the two stood before making their way towards where Katie, Angelina, Alicia, Lavender, and Parvati were sitting.
Neville stayed quiet but by Harry's side when they got there.
Harry though walked up between Katie and Angelina as they were sitting on the same side of the table across from Alicia. Lavender and Parvati were on the same side as Alicia but two seats away, though still within hearing distance.
"Hey, are you ladies alright?" Harry asked in a concerned tone as he set a hand gently on Katie's and Angelina's shoulders to get their attention. Well Katie's at least, Angelina was still moping slightly as was Alicia. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Lavender and Parvati lower the volume they were talking at but start to pay attention to Harry and the Gryffindor chasers. They were all members of the DA after all and had developed at least a bit of friendship amongst each other.
"Hey Harry," Katie greeted with a bit of a grin, "I'm fine but these two moping cases are still upset over the twins leaving. They didn't even leave a proper 'good bye' or anything!"
Harry chuckled a bit at that remembering the Fred and George's parting shots at Umbridge. It was one of the best things they had ever done. Thinking back on that actually, it wasn't that long ago if he remembered correctly.
"Don't worry Angelina, Alicia. I'm sure they'll get in touch with you two sooner or later. If not, you can always hunt them down and hex them something fierce for leaving two stunning women behind," Harry said with boyish grin, trying to cheer them up. It seemed to work well enough since the two people in question both stared at him with an eyebrow raised but small smiles on their faces.
"Oh, trying to be suave there Harry. Should George and Fred be concerned?" Katie teased seeing her fellow teammate's looks.
"Not at all," Harry said with a grin, "After all, Angelina and Alicia are like the older sisters I wish I had. If Fred or George hurt them in anyway, especially if they don't get in contact with them, I'll have to hunt them down and hex them myself!"
The eyebrows went down at that but their smiles got bigger as their eyes got a little misty at that. It was one thing their former captain and teammate Oliver Wood had hammered into all of his players when he was still there. Your team was like your family, especially since they had all been together for such a long time. Before now though, Harry hadn't really brought up anything in resemblance of family considering his past, and saying that they were like the sisters to him made their hearts clench a bit, especially as they didn't have any siblings of their own.
"Well then little bro, we'll be sure to tell you if they make us sad again," Angelina said softly and reached up to wrap an arm around his waist in a brief one arm hug. She idly noted that Harry seemed a lot taller than he had been a couple days ago. Alicia just nodded at Angelina's words as she was a bit more choked up from Harry calling her a sister.
Harry chuckled softly at the two. What he had said was the truth, as they, along with Fleur, had been like the older sisters he had dreamt of having. Briefly looking at Katie though he saw her frowning slightly, but she changed it quickly into a small grin once she saw him looking her way. He had an inkling to what her thoughts where as he had left her out from that comment. She was likely trying to figure out what she meant to him then.
"I should probably get to the reason why I'm here then outside of cheering Angelina and Alicia up a bit," Harry thought before saying, "Well, outside of cheering up my new big sisters, I actually did have a reason for coming over here. Katie, Neville and I have a project we've been working on, especially since our group was found out. We were hoping you could help on it a bit as it deals with some work that's a little above our level."
Katie's brow furrowed in confusion at that before she asked, "What about Hermione? With how much she studies she should be able to help you better than I can since she's in your year. I mean it's not like I don't want to help you, but it seems like she'd be better equipped so to speak."
"She's actually going to meet us in the library in about 45 minutes and we are actually looking for a few other people's points of view on our project. Most of them are from the DA, but a couple of them won't be so we can get some more outside view points," Neville said for Harry, shocking the three chasers and Parvati and Lavender who had been listening to the conversation. None of them had heard Neville talk without sounding like he had no self confidence what so ever.
He had gotten better during the DA, but he had regressed some when it had been found out. Hearing him talk with a self assuredness that hadn't been there before was a bit more than they were prepared for. Especially as Neville then turned to Parvati and Lavender specifically and looked directly at them before continuing, "Lavender, Parvati, we'd like you two to meet up with us as well. Our project could use a bit of style to it that quite frankly, Harry and I are miserable at."
Harry nodded along with what Neville had said though inwardly he was laughing. The dumbfounded looks on the five girls faces was great, but Lavender's and Parvati's looks after being singled out by 'the shyest boy in the school' and having him admit that he would like some assistance with something related to style was priceless. Not to mention Neville had unknowingly asked for their assistance in something Harry would have asked for them with the second idea he had once the girls' memories were back. After all, what Neville had said about their sense of style was true, they absolutely sucked at it.
"Would you like our help too?" Alicia asked after a bit of the five girls doing imitations of fishes.
Harry had expect that question already and answered, "Normally I'd say absolutely, but we aren't sure how long this is going to take tonight and we don't want to drag you two away from NEWT level studies down to something that's around OWL level. If it proves harder than what we already have though we'll be sure to come to you two first."
Angelina and Alicia looked a little put out at that but nodded all the same. It made a lot of sense since this was their final year here and NEWTs were brutal.
After getting their nods though, Harry turned to Parvati and said, "Neville and I actually have to get things set up in the library here pretty soon so we hopefully won't be there until the library closes. However, can you talk to Padma and get her and Luna to come with you as well? We'd like them to be part of the focus group for our project."
"Um, that shouldn't be a problem Harry. Lavender and I will go talk to them now. Should they or we bring anything with us?" Parvati asked.
"Not really. A lot of what we'll need is already in the library," Harry said, hoping to avoid them asking what the 'project' was.
Lavender and Parvati just looked at him curiously before getting up and heading the Ravenclaw table.
"And you Katie?" Harry asked when he turned back to face her. She still had that slightly confused expression on her face but nodded slowly.
"Sure, I'll meet you there. I just have to let Leanne know where I'll be," Katie said then stood and headed out of the hall to find her friend.
Turning back to Angelina and Alicia, Harry did an exaggerated bow to the two and said, "Well fair ladies, we bid you adieu."
He had that boyish smile on his face again as he stood back up, and noticed them both chuckling at his antics. Both were clearly out of their gloomy moods now, and would hopefully be that way for a while.
Before he and Neville turned to leave the hall as well, Harry glanced over again at the staff table to Minnie. They were close enough to the table for her to have heard what he was saying, and as it was, Professor Sprout was engaged in some conversation with Professor Flitwick off to her side, so she was focused on them directly. She nodded slightly at him again when he looked directly at her. She would likely be there as well now all things considered, and it would probably help smooth over whatever edges there were about him and Neville having this 'project.'
From there he and Neville left the hall and once out of the main doors, Neville watched as Harry made another of the spheres in his hand instantly followed by retrieving the memories and putting them in the sphere. It was a little unnerving as he did the entire action while still walking and was doing it smoothly.
In no time, another six spheres were completed and placed in the container he had made, which now resided in his pocket.
"You know, that was a little freaky watching you do that while walking. Especially since you don't seem as winded like you were when you made the other ones," Neville said as they made their way to the library.
"Oh, sorry about that, I get a bit of tunnel vision when focusing on something too much. I blame playing as a seeker for that. As for not being winded, I'm told you earlier they don't take much power individually, it's the making of them in bulk that's the problem," Harry said as they came up to the library and entered.
"And doing all of that while walking and not paying attention to anyone who could see what you were doing?" Neville asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Um, oops?" Harry said sheepishly while scratching the back of his head, "I wasn't really thinking about that."
"Smooth," Neville drawled, "Just be glad nobody was actually walking anywhere near us, and the path you lead us down had all of the portraits asleep already."
"Yea, that would have been hard to explain. Now, where to sit with enough space for the others," Harry said while looking around at the tables in the main area. Neville was doing the same and tapped Harry on the shoulder to get his attention before pointing the table he had seen out to him.
When Harry saw where Neville was pointing, he couldn't keep from laughing slightly. Ironically, the only table that had enough seats for them and the girls already had an occupant at it, but that occupant was someone they would be looking for later anyways. That person, was none other than Astoria and they quietly made their way over to the table where she was.
"Hello there," Neville greeted quietly to not draw attention from Madam Prince.
Astoria's head jerked up from being startled out of her reading to see Harry and Neville standing on the other side of the table where she was at. Her shock from being interrupted in her studies turned into a cold expression quickly as she obviously already knew who they were.
"Potter, Longbottom, can I help you two Gryffindors with something?" Astoria all but hissed at them.
Harry and Neville blinked at her question while they looked at each other briefly before looking back at her with raised eyebrows.
"Actually you can. We have a bit of a study group coming soon that's a fair bit of people and this is the only table with enough space to seat everyone. We were wondering if we could perhaps share the table," Harry said quietly but never took his eyes of Astoria.
His comment got an eyebrow raised in return.
"And why would two Gryffindors be willing to share a table with a Slytherin? Especially you two considering how much of a… problem… you two seem to have with my house," Astoria demanded.
"Not your house, just Malfoy, his butt buddy book ends, and well, most of the other death eater spawn. They don't really seem to get the whole house of cunning and ambitious part of your house," Neville drawled in response drawing a look of shock from Astoria directed at him.
Harry chuckled at the scene. He hadn't known Astoria at all during his Hogwarts years but damn she was as feisty now as she was later in life. Well before the Hogwarts Massacre. That thought brought his chuckling to a stop as he had to force down the urge to find Draco, again, and dole out the punishment he had when he had found him last time. It had been a macabre scene, even for him.
He shook his head to get his thoughts away from that darker place. That future wasn't going to happen this time around.
"I… guess we can share then. Just try not to disturb me as I'm trying to finish up my homework," Astoria said firmly.
"Well we have a little bit of time before our group gets here, we might be able to help you a bit?" Neville offered as he took a seat across from the young girl. She gave him another raised eyebrow at that and asked, "And how would you help? Last I heard from my sister neither of you were taking Arithmancy."
"We were doing independent studies for Arithmancy along with Ancient Runes," Harry answered for Neville who had looked towards Harry. His face had been neutral but he had a slight pleading look in his eye.
Neville had been pretty good with the subjects once he had started studying them after the Witch Hunt. A lot of what he had learned though came from the older Astoria, and he wasn't sure how to 'help' her with something that she had taught him without giving that he knew how her mind worked in those fields when he obviously shouldn't.
"Oh really," she drawled while turning that eyebrow on Harry now. He had to force the urge to chuckle down as the young girl was truly trying to not show her curiosity that he and Neville were apparently smarter than they let on. The eyebrow and her expression just made her look cute in Harry's opinion. "So would you be able to describe why the numbers 3, 7, and 13 are the most magically powerful numbers in numerology?"
This time Harry couldn't stop the laugh that came up at her question, which promptly earned him a scowl.
Seeing that he calmed down a bit and answered, "Sorry, I wasn't laughing at your question, it's just that the witch that discovered why those numbers were significant got their power structures completely and utterly wrong. That's not to say she wasn't on to something, but she never really took her research farther than what she found."
"And what makes you think you know better than a master in the field?" Astoria asked with both curiosity and coldness in her voice. She was obviously trying to act older and more mature, but it was obvious she couldn't control every aspect of her youth just yet.
"I wouldn't say better at the field, just better informed. Specifically when it comes to the tools used," Harry started while taking out his wand, "To start with, let's look at the number three. If memory serves, the generally accepted reason that 3 is such a powerful number was because of a shape, a triangle to be precise. This triangle has three equal sides of equal length, and the three angles generated from connecting the three points in a line are all of the same degree."
While Harry was talking he was using his wand to draw an image in the air before him as he described what he was talking about. The three points were black, and the lines connecting them were red.
"Now here is where the research could have gone farther. While the shape and reasoning is sound, the shape itself has an inherent flaw. The three sides that make up the triangle all require that magic be flowing through them to make up the points. If you remove one point though, you lose two sides and the amount of power is reduced by two thirds. Now though, let's remove one of the sides, leaving the three points but two sides, and instead of leaving them with angles, move them so that they are in a single line. Here you are left with two individual points that are connected with a central one that connects to the two separate ones. Can you tell me why this structure is better suited to describe the power in the number 3?"
Again as Harry had been talking, he had moved the shape in the air with his wand to follow his descriptions. Both Neville and Astoria were paying rapt attention to what Harry was describing as well as the rather brilliant visual display to accompany the description. None of the three noticed that some of the other students around them were suddenly paying attention as well.
Astoria thought hard for a little while before answering, "Well if you go by the same idea of removing a point, say one of the individual ones, your power is cut in half instead of two thirds. If you remove the central point though you lose all the power as the other two aren't directly connected."
"Correct on the first part, but wrong on the second, at least in part. If all three points where generating power on their own you would be correct. This particular model though is different, can you figure out how?" Harry questioned.
It was Neville that answered this time, and rather quickly at that, "The two individual points are the ones that are generating the power, directing it to the central point where all the power is absorbed to be used. If you remove the central point there is no longer a direct focus for the power that's generated from the individual points. Instead it's being looped between the two individual ones. The power they are generating and dispersing doesn't change at all."
"Very good, but then why would you need the third point if the power could still be generated with the two individual ones?" Harry asked, though it was more for Astoria's benefit. Neville knew this concept pretty well considering the ritual they had used early was based off of it.
"With only the two points having power flow in a loop, the power isn't being condensed, just recycled. Without being condensed there's a bleed effect and a good portion of the power is lost when used from the two individual points," Neville responded with a slight smile. He briefly looked at Astoria who had her mouth open in shock. He wasn't surprised really as he figured she'd get the concept as they described it. It had taken him a while to understand it when Harry had described the ritual to him and how it worked, but once he finally under stood it, it made the most sense out of everything to him.
Harry was laughing inwardly again at the look on Astoria's face. She was a lot like her older sister in mannerisms, and he briefly wondered how many people had seen either of them do an impression of a fish.
"Correct. And starting here is the best because it brings in the concept of a focus point. That focus point becomes the center piece for why certain numbers are more numerically powerful than others. The biggest reason though is that it forces symmetry and balance between the individual points. That means they each generate the exact same amount of power on their own and bring that similarly generated power into the exact same spot at the exact same time. This removes pretty much all even numbers as at they can generally be broken down by 2, meaning they leave themselves in that feedback loop from earlier."
"From here though, we'll look at the next number seven. Starting with the same model, we need to add four points to the three that are already laid out, but keep in mind we need to keep the symmetry as well. Do you have an idea as to where to place them with those boundaries in mind?" Harry asked while looking directly at Astoria. Again he already knew that Neville knew this particular bit.
Astoria was quiet for a while thinking. She opened her mouth several times before closing it abruptly as she was trying to come up with a suitable answer. After a while though she blushed slightly, something else that most would probably never see, and said, "I can't think of anything that doesn't seem to have be missing something. The closest I can come up with is a formation like an 'X' with the center point being the same focus point. Yet the problem there is that the image is no longer completely symmetrical in that the line going through horizontally doesn't have a corresponding set of points to make a line that if the image was shifted ninety degrees to the left or right, the horizontal line would now be vertical and there would be no more horizontal line. If you added two more points you could do it, but then the model would be similar to a square in how you could connect the points. It would still be fairly strong, especially for the number 9, but would lack the focus that you are trying to get at since the number you want is 7 not 9."
"Damn, she got that fast," Harry though impressed. She was only thirteen currently and at least understood a flaw in something that probably would stump a fair few mathematicians. He wondered idly if she had looked up some mundane math subjects in relation to Arithmancy already considering that's where all this theory he was talking about now came from anyways.
"Very, very, very good. I'm impressed that you caught the flaw that quickly. You saw a very specific problem for why something won't work. There is a way using your 'X' method though to get the desired results," Harry started and while he still had the line with the three points floating in the air, he made an X right next to it, making the lines red again, and the points at each end of the line and where they connected together black. This left the 'X' with five black dots and four red lines and the single 'line' with 3 black dots and two red lines. From there he slid the x over the single line so that the center point of the intersection on the x was lined up with the center point of the line.
"Here we can see what you were talking about. But, to make things stay symmetrical, and maintain that balance let's shift the model a bit. From here, let's move the single line from horizontal to vertical. Now from there, instead of keeping the X still staying with the line, let's rotate the 'X' by itself so that it lies perpendicular to the now vertical line. Now, if you are looking at this from straight on, it looks like you are looking at a plus sign, something that has four individual points with one central focus. But if I tilt the entire model a little bit, you can see how the X provides the necessary two additional points in that they are both in front of and behind those other five points. This means you can draw power from 6 distinct but similar points and combine them into the focus point in the center," Harry said while adjusting the image as he talked.
He watched in amusement as Astoria's face scrunched up in confusion at first, especially at how the image looked until he adjust the angle so that she could see all seven points. When that happened, it was like a light switch came on she stared in amazement at the floating image before her. It seemed so simple and yet so complex at the same time.
"Is there a reason you feel the need to put on a show for my sister Potter?" a voice asked with some distain to Harry and Neville's right, and Astoria's left. Harry and Neville knew the voice quite well, as did Astoria and all three of them turned to the owner.
When they turned, they saw Daphne Greengrass and Tracey Davis standing side by side at the end of the table. Daphne had her arms crossed across her chest and had a look on her face that demanded he answer her. Well normally it would have anyways as Harry was drawn briefly away from her scowl to look around at some of the other people in the library. A couple of the other third year students were staring at his floating image in awe, and a couple older students looked intrigued but went back to their own work when they realized Harry was looking at them.
When he brought his attention back to Daphne, her expression had gotten a bit frostier. He sighed mentally at her look. He knew that until her memories were restored that she would live up to her 'Ice Queen of Slytherin' persona quite well.
"Do I feel the need to 'put on a show' as you put it? No, I do not. Neville and I were asked a question and we were answering it. Well, I was answering it mostly, as I was also creating the demonstration," Harry said calmly, motioning to the still floating image.
"And the reason you are doing this for my sister?" Daphne demanded, her expression getting colder.
Harry winced a bit at the tone as he was very aware of how protective Daphne was of Astoria at her current age. He was treated to a nice surprise though as Astoria came to his rescue.
"They told me they had a study group coming here Daphne and asked if they could share the table. I told them they could if they didn't disturb me with their group. They then asked if I needed help while they waited for their group to show up, and the result was Potter and Longbottom describing why 3, 7, and 13 are so powerful in numerology. That image actually helped with the description," Astoria said in a somewhat condescending tone.
Both Daphne and Tracey had a brief look of shock on their faces at Astoria standing up for Harry and Neville. The looks of surprise turned to furrowed brows quickly though after the two looked to each other then to Harry and Neville.
"We were informed you two had a project you needed help on, not a study group," Tracey drawled out in mildly confused tone.
"It's more of a mix of the two I guess you could say. Our project is in an area of study that we've been working on for independent study instead of going to a normal class. The study group is like a focus group to help make sure we haven't messed anything up. Not to mention that because of our project we figured some other people might come up with ideas of their own to either add or make our project more efficient," Harry said.
It wasn't entirely false as he did have an idea for a project and needed some feedback on. It just wouldn't come until the girls that would be joining them got their memories back.
"If it makes you feel any better about being here, we can tell you exactly what we told Astoria here," Neville started, waving his hand at the younger girl, "We don't really care that any of you are Slytherins. You aren't Malfoy or any of the other useless wastes of the gene pool that prance around Slytherin and have no idea how to be cunning or ambitious."
He blatantly ignored the slightly puzzled look he got from Astoria. It was well known who Neville and Harry were, especially their last names. But she had never introduced herself, and it was unlikely they knew who she was as she wasn't in their house or in their year. On top of that, it was unlikely they knew her name, or at least her family name until Daphne came along and mentioned her as her sister. That would have clued them in that she was a Greengrass, but unless Daphne had told them he name before, a high improbability, they shouldn't really know her name.
Tracey was the one who broke any rising tension as she chuckled at Neville's words. It drew the raised eyebrow look from both Daphne and Astoria, which made her chuckle turn into a bit of a laugh.
"I don't think I've heard a more apt description of most of the members of Slytherin house," Tracey said while trying to contain her mirth and failing spectacularly.
"Tracey!" Daphne huffed at her friend in annoyance.
"What? They were pretty damn close to how those actually bastards are. Can you think of something else that defines how they act?" Tracey demanded as became angry instantly and her face became stormy.
Harry knew the reason for her switch in mood, and this really wasn't the place for her and Daphne to have their argument.
"Ladies," Harry interrupted before Daphne could open her mouth to say anything. The two girls instantly snapped their gazes to Harry at his addressing them, only to cower back slightly at the look in his eyes. He wasn't channeling any of his power, but it still held a great deal of intenseness to it, especially with how serious he sounded.
"This is not the place to air one's dirty laundry as it were, especially concerning the members of your house. While I agree that a majority of your house lacks a modicum of decent intelligence, they seem to have a knack for finding secrets someone spouted off without being aware of their surroundings. So I'm fairly certain you do not want to get into the argument you were about to have," Harry stated sternly.
It was like a Professor was scolding them. The two girls and Astoria, who had been listening intently as well when she had looked at him as her sister and her friend had, nodded their heads absently.
"Good," Harry said, his tone changing to be gentler one, "Now I believe the two of you are here because Hermione got her message out already?"
The look of surprise on both of their faces nearly made him chuckle, but he held back as he was trying to be serious. Neville seemed to have no such problems though as he chuckled under his breath.
"I'll take your expressions as a yes," Harry drawled, "So why don't you two take a seat and wait with us for the others. They should be here any minute now anyways. Not to mention Astoria might like join in with and contribute some points seeing as how she got where I was going with my theory."
The two Slytherin girls just nodded absently again before taking seats next to Astoria. It would be another ten minutes as the other girls started showing up, and five minutes past that before they were all there minus Hermione. The rest of the girls greeted each other and Harry and Neville, but eyed Astoria, Daphne, and Tracey a little warily until Harry assured them they were here for the same reason. They calmed down a bit more when Susan greeted Daphne by hugging her, and shaking hands with Tracey and Astoria.
Thankfully Lavender and Parvati arrived after that scene as they probably would have made a small scene. As it was, they were the second to last to arrive and all that was missing was Hermione. She showed up a few minutes later, but not alone as Minnie came in along with her.
"Sorry I'm late," Hermione greeted as she sat down next to Harry, the only available seat. "I kind of ran into Professor McGonagall quite literally coming out of the common room."
Everyone but Hermione turned and looked at the Professor at that.
"Ms. Granger explained to me why she was in a hurry, although vaguely, and considering that most of you here had a recent… entanglement… with our High Inquisitor, I felt best if I was here to listen in as it were to make sure things don't get out of hand," Minnie explained in her stern voice. Only Harry caught the slight twitch of her lips.
"That's fine professor. We can always use a professionals input," Harry said. He was trying very hard not to laugh considering she knew what was likely going to happen.
Minnie just nodded at him at that point as she conjured a chair for herself and sat at the head of the table to listen.
"Okay first off, the project that Neville and I have been working on is something that is a mix of charms, Arithmancy, and Runes. It's a type of communication device that works a bit like a walkie-talkie but with some distinct differences. Neville and I have some of what we've made with us, and we'll hand out what we have so far. The problems we are having right now are keying specific people in to each of the spheres so that only they can use them. We tried to key in people we knew and drew names from a hat for our, uh, focus group. Neville, why don't we hand out the spheres now," Harry stated as he pulled out his container from his pocket and started handing out the right memory sphere to his loves.
First was Hermione, then Luna, Katie, Padma, Susan, Daphne, and finally Tracey while Neville handed his to Hannah, Lavender, Parvati, and then finally Astoria who he had deliberately left for last, as had Harry with Daphne and Tracey. To go with the ruse Neville handed one of the spheres to Minnie after asking her if she would like to be part of the test group as well.
"You said you tried to key these into people specifically? How did you try to key these into Tracey, my sister and I then?" Daphne asked with a bit of coldness in her voice.
"The ones you three have are keyed to anyone. They have everything else the others do though," Harry said. He got a nod as Daphne stared at the sphere in her hands. All of the girls were doing that with their own spheres wondering why they felt as if a part of them were in them.
"Okay for to make these work, all you need to do is focus some of your magic into the sphere to activate it. For the ones keyed to individuals, this should set the sphere to you permanently," Harry instructed after watching the girls stare at their spheres with a mixture of emotions.
"Harry, you said these were a mixture of Arithmancy, Runes, and Charms. How did you even make these as neither of you are in either of those classes?" Hermione asked after Harry had spoken. All eyes turned to him and Neville.
"Independent study Hermione. After hearing how much you enjoyed the classes in third year, I was curious and started to learn the subjects on my own. Neville started in with me after the second task last year. I never said anything to you before now because Ron would have thrown a fit and I didn't want him ruining something I find almost as fun as flying. So we kept it to ourselves what were learning until this year. This project was something we are hoping allows us to convince the Professor Babling and Professor Vector that we can take the OWLs with t he rest of you. It's getting a little hard in certain areas now and we'd like to have a teacher to help than just reading in a book."
"Oh," Hermione responded a bit shyly as she looked back at her sphere.
"Um, Harry. How are we supposed to focus our magic into the sphere?" Parvati asked. Looking around he saw all the girls looking at him a little confused. He wanted to hit his head on the table for forgetting that this wasn't something taught at all. Well, the way he did it anyways. This almost ruined his idea if it wasn't for the fact there was at least another way to focus ones magic. It was taught in seventh year runes specifically and very few people made it that far or followed through with runes that far.
Thankfully it was Minnie who answered the question for Harry, taking away him fumbling for an answer. Neville seemed to be in a similar state as he was used to focusing magic the same way Harry did.
"There is a few ways to focus your magic Ms. Patil. The simplest way, as it seems Lord Potter and Lord Longbottom are having a lapse in memory, is to use your wand. You must feel the magic in yourself and how it flows into your wand and then out the tip as you cast a spell. Normally, the idea of focusing one's magic is taught only in seventh year runes, but I'm assuming for this purpose you don't need nearly the focus or power. A simple tap of your wand, which will be drawing on your magic naturally anyways should be enough, right Lord Potter?" Minnie stated. At the end she was looking at Harry directly. Both of them, and Neville for that matter, ignored the several gasps at how she addressed them.
The only people to likely know what it meant anyways were Daphne, Tracey, Astoria, and Susan. Out of the corner of his hey he saw Hermione look at him questioningly, then to Minnie, then back to him. She likely filed away the incident to talk to him later. It wouldn't really matter though as she'd know what it meant here in a minute anyways.
"Yes, that's correct. Just make sure that you are actually holding the sphere in the hand that isn't holding the wand," Harry mentioned and watched as one by one the girls drew their wands and held the spheres in their opposite hands.
It was almost as if it was choreographed as almost all at once the girls touched the tips of their wands to the spheres. The second the wand tip touched, the spheres started glowing a soft emerald green before the soft glow quickly span to encompass the entirety of the girl holding their sphere.
Harry frowned at seeing that as he was positive there wasn't even a glow when he had finally finished the first correct memory sphere. As he frowned though he felt the ring on his right middle finger heat up and pulse with magic. When he glanced at it, he saw the stone was glowing. It was the exact same color that surrounded the girls too.
But before he could think on it farther, there was a slight pulse of magic and the glows stopped. He looked briefly to Neville and Minnie, as they looked to him after noticing his frown.
"Was that supposed to happen?" Neville asked with concern in his voice.
"I'm not sure. When I perfected this, I never glowed," Harry responded while looking over the girls. They had all sat back heavily in their seats and their eyes were closed.
Susan, Hannah, and Katie were the first to start recovering as they sat forward and brought their hands to the head and started to rub their temples. They groaned slightly in pain as the other girls started to come too and do the same thing. None of them had opened their eyes yet though, and Harry and Neville were too nervous to say anything. Both of them really hoped that something hadn't gone wrong and they weren't really sure if they could handle if something had gone wrong.
It would be a tense several minutes before any of the girls opened their eyes. They each had to blink away the haze that had settled on their vision and looked around briefly to get their bearings. As they did that though, individual gazes each landed on either Harry or Neville.
As their brains started to catch up with everything, slowly but surely smiles started to form on all the girls faces as they realized that their plan to send their memories had worked out better than they had thought.
"Welcome back ladies," Harry and Neville said at the same time, both a little chocked up at having most of their loves back.
"Harry/ Neville!" the girls cried out as they all stood and rushed to form a group hug one of the boys.
For Neville, Astoria reached him first, followed by Hannah, then Lavender and Parvati. For Harry, it had been a tie between Hermione and Luna first, followed by Daphne, Katie and Tracey, then Susan and Padma. There were tears in all of the girl's eyes as they hug their boys for all they were worth.
Minnie sat quietly in her chair watching the touching scene with a few tears in her own eyes. She had erected a small notice-me-not ward around their area once the girls had started glowing and was quiet glad she had as it wouldn't do for the other students to see what was happening. Briefly she caught Harry's eye, even if it was misty, and he jerked his head, telling her to join them. She smiled at that and got and joined the group hug on him, surprising a few of the girls by her added hug.
It was several minutes before anyone lightened up on the hugs. It was like a signal for the others and soon each of the girls had let go of Harry and Neville.
"So," Hermione began for the group with a slight smirk, "This was some project of yours."
"Yes," Tracey practically purred, "That was quite Slytherine of you Harry."
"A plan worthy of any Ravenclaw as well," Padma added with a smile.
Harry couldn't help chuckle at their points.
"Well it worked didn't it? And you all have your memories back now," Harry said happily. It was weird feeling this giddy again, but quite frankly he didn't care.
Having been able to see these women in limbo had soothed a pain in his chest he hadn't been aware of for quite some time. But now, seeing them now with their memories back and in the real world was filling gaps in his heart that had been ripped away as each of them had died.
Especially seeing Hermione alive and absolutely glowing with emotion again. It was a sight he would never let anyone take from him ever again.
"I'm glad to see all of you ladies are back now," Minnie said for the first time drawing attention o her from everyone, as well as drawing attention from Harry's girls to Neville's and vice versa.
"Wait, your back too Minnie?" Katie asked as it finally struck her that Minnie was actually with them and not trying to figure out what had happened.
"Arguably I am the third person to come back to this time line after Harry and Neville."
"But then… how did you come back? And how did Neville and you other ladies come back as well? Oh pooh that came out badly," Luna asked although she had a confused look at first but a pout replaced that when she realized how coarse it sounded.
The other girls chuckled at her expression briefly, even if they got her sticking her tongue out at them in return.
"It's okay Luna, we know what you meant," Neville said before he went on to explain how he had come back and how he had come back with his loves memories.
"Then how did you come back Minnie? I mean, you weren't with either of our groups, so how and when did you come back?" asked Hannah.
"I honestly have no idea how my memories came back. As for when, um…" Minnie trailed off as a blush erupted on her face as she looked to Harry for help, only to see the same blush on his face. All the girls saw the looks between the two.
"Okay, spill. What happened?" Susan demanded, even though she had a grin on her face.
"Uh, when I came back I claimed my inheritance pretty much right off the bat. Well, once toad monster left. It uh… seems I was mistaken on what exactly my total inheritance was," Harry said sheepishly his blush getting deeper.
He had no idea how to proceed from there though. It wasn't his fault and like he had thought earlier that day, Hermione was likely going to kill him. Well not kill him, but definitely hurt him.
His deepening blush made all the girls focus onto Minnie at that point, which made her blush deepen even more. None of them turned to Neville who's shoulders were shaking slightly as he held back his laughter.
After a minute or so of silence Minnie finally cracked and sighed, even as her blush was still in place. She brought her wand out of her sleeve in her robe and taped the top of her head with the tip, dispelling her glamour. She let out a weak laugh as each and every girl's eyes widened and their mouths hung open in shock as they watched the old professor become young again.
Even Neville's mouth hung open at this point. He already knew Minnie was bound to Harry, but he didn't she had a glamour up of all things.
"Holy shit Min! You're hot!" Lavender spouted instantly but clamped her hands over her mouth as her eyes seemed to widen further as she realized what she had said.
Minnie just gave her a crooked grin as she said, "Why thank you Lavender."
"But… how?" Hermione was still confused even while being stunned.
"Wait, Harry mentioned he got more than he was prepared for when he claimed his inheritance. With the way him and Min were blushing and the way she looks now… would… mean…" Daphne started to say as realization dawned on her exactly what Minnie was. "You came back after he bound you?"
"Very astute Daphne," Minnie said with that same smile, although her blush seemed to reach new heights. The other girls looked to Daphne for more explanation but slowly what Daphne had said started to register in their brains and they were all looking at Minnie in more shock now than they were before. Well all except for Hermione who was getting a little annoyed.
"Would someone please explain to me what I'm missing here?" she asked in a huff.
"Um, Hermione," Harry called, drawing the confused and slightly tearing eyes of Hermione.
"I guess some of the natural hormones at this age are affecting her like they are me," he thought as noticed her about to cry in frustration.
"What the other girls are somewhat shocked into silence about is that, um, apparently in the will of my Grandfather, when I claimed my inheritance, Minnie was apparently a part of that inheritance," Harry said softly, and prayed that he wouldn't end up in a world of hurt.
Hermione's brow furrowed together as she thought about what Harry had said. She was working over all the inheritance laws from when she had worked in the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, especially those concerning humans. She knew the wizarding world was behind the times, but there were a great deal of laws against slavery of another human as if they were property. The only humans that were 'slaves' per say were…
Her eyes snapped open as she finally got what the others had figured out sooner. She turned to Minnie and stuttered, "Y-you're a-a…"
"… a concubine? Yes Hermione I was and am one," Minnie said with a small smile.
"Oh," was all Hermione got out before her eyes rolled into the back of her head and she fainted in shock. Harry caught her easily enough and even picked her up in a bridal carry.
"You know, I never figured Hermione would faint from something like that," Parvati commented much to the amusement of the others. They all chuckled, even Neville and Harry.
Minnie just shook her head briefly during her chuckling before reapplying her glamour.
"Well I think we should call it a night at this point. We could all use the sleep to help get all of our memories in order and we can discuss more in a few days, especially on the weekend," Minnie stated, bringing all the attention back to her with her glamour back up and fully in place. "Until we can figure more out however, especially concerning the other ladies, we need to keep up our appearances. All of you ladies must act as you once did until that time."
Everyone nodded as they all understood what she meant. Soon after that, Minnie dispersed the notice-me-not ward, though only after Harry and Neville had said goodnight to the ladies that wouldn't be in Gryffindor tower with them that night. Well, to some extent anyways. Neville kissed and hugged Parvati and Lavender goodnight as they had to leave to keep up their 'Gosip Queen' look for now.
The only people left in a group were Minnie, Katie, Neville, and Harry as Harry carried Hermione with them. Minnie was there to accompany them incase Umbridge or one of her Inquisitorial Squad showed up and harassed the group. It didn't take them long to reach the common room from the Library and thankfully they didn't run into anyone.
After Minnie gave the password she stepped aside as first Neville then Katie stepped through then followed by Harry carrying Hermione. She followed them in noted that thankfully there wasn't anyone down in the room besides Lavender and Parvati who were waiting for Harry to bring Hermione so they could take her up to the girl's dorm room. Katie ended up helping them with the passed out Hermione up the stairs after Harry kissed the two of them goodnight. Once the girls were up the stairs and out of sight, Neville and Harry turned to Minnie who gave offered her own good night to the two of them, though she only kissed Harry, and gave Neville a verbal goodnight before she went to her own living quarters.
Once she had left Neville and Harry made their way slowly to their own dorm.
"You know, I'm not looking forward to being anywhere near the same room with the sleeping buzz saw," Neville said as they got closer to their dorm. They could already hear Ron's snores even through the closed door and twenty feet away.
"No kidding," Harry grumbled as he pushed open the door to their room and cringed as Ron had a brief moment of being even louder than normal. Oh how he would love to just smother the prat and rid the world of this blight on humanity.
A sharp poke in his ribs from behind jerked him away from his darkening thoughts as he squawked in indignation while rounding on Neville.
"Like I said earlier, we'll deal with him later. For now, let's just get some sleep," Neville said with a hard under tone. His look died though as he cringed from another of Ron's obscenely loud snorting snores.
"And don't forget the silencing charms," Neville finished while shaking his head and going to his bed before climbing in and closing the curtains. Harry went to his own bed as well and did the same, applying the silencing charms to the inside of his curtains to block the snores. Divesting himself of his clothes after that and climbing under the covers of a bed he hadn't slept in a very long time brought a smile to his face. It was still as comfortable as he remembered and he fell asleep shortly after with the same grin on his lips as he dreamt of the loves of his life.
A/N: Well, there's the new chapter. I had some issues figuring this one out as I had a huge amount of different ideas, especially on how to bring the girls back. Almost all of them came up as a pain to do and would have been far more lengthy and redundant, especially as it would have spanned over several chapters. While it would have been good plot material, I'm not sure doing the same thing over and over again, even if they are different would end up well.
I'll try and get the next chapter out relatively soon, but it may take a little while considering this one turned into a bit of a beast in length. Hope you enjoyed it though as always!
