Chapter Seven: Identity Crisis
Sprawled across the sofa in the sitting room, Harry looked up from the telly when the floo flared to life. Seconds later, Neville stepped out brushing soot off his robes.
"Nice earrings Harry," Neville said in greeting, "just promise me you won't put me in anything resembling your muggle get up."
"Of course not, you're you. You're great as you are."
Neville grinned. "Thanks Harry."
The telly, which was playing Krull, an old movie he found in his parents VHS collection captured Neville's attention and Harry laughed as he saw the gob smacked expression on his friend's face.
"That's the telly, or television," he explained to the fascinated pureblood. "Best muggle invention ever. We're going to have to set up a sleepover so I can introduce you to muggle movies, but I'll need to update the telly's first. All I have are my parents old things and technology has improved by leaps and bounds since then."
"You know, I only understood every third word you said."
Harry laughed and jumped off the sofa wrapping an arm around Neville. "My poor little pureblood, I'll turn you into a muggle lover in no time. Today is only the first step in my evil plan to lure you over to the dark side. This is going to be an all muggle trip. Granted, it'll be a rich muggle day out, but muggle nonetheless. May?" May popped in. "Can you transfigure Neville's robes to posh, country casual?"
Two seconds later, Neville was wearing a light blue, collared polo shirt tucked into pressed khaki pants with a leather belt, and loafers. Neville breathed such a sigh of relief that Harry couldn't help but giggle.
"Told you to trust me, you look great. Ready?"
Neville took a deep breath as if to prepare himself. "Ready."
They made their way through the castle to the courtyard but when they got there, chaos met them. A beautiful, dark haired woman was causing a scene that drew every tourist in the area. She was screaming at Jouri who was in his Castle Potter uniform and donning his human persona. Jouri stood and let the woman vent with a blank expression on his face, not saying a word to put the idiot in her place. Harry balled his fists into his sides and marched over to stand next to Jouri glaring at the demented woman.
"Madame," he cut into her rant mid sentence, "since Castle Potter is such a low class establishment, I suggest you leave the premises and find somewhere else to host your event."
The woman stopped and gaped at him. "Little boy why are you interrupting me, do you know who I am?"
"No. Do you know who I am?"
"No," she said snidely.
"I am Lord Harrison Potter and this is my home." Gasps escaped from the other guests blatantly eavesdropping. "I don't disrespect my staff in my home and I don't allow anyone visiting my home to disrespect my staff. Leave now."
She straightened to her impressive height, which was six feet. "I am paying to have my wedding here."
Harry shrugged. "We will refund your money. One, I don't need it. Two, I'm sure there are others who would love to come and take your place and will not be as crass as to berate my staff. Have a nice day and thank you for considering Castle Potter for your private event. I hope I never see you again. Goodbye."
The woman gaped for several moments before turning and stomping away to a waiting limo. Harry's car, a vintage two-toned cream and coffee colored 1930's Rolls Royce Phantom pulled up as the other car drove off. Morinozuka-sensei appeared at his side and glanced down at May who had mysteriously appeared as well. Harry blinked at May's human persona of a young, voluptuous red head.
"He needs a PR person, someone who is versed in muggle and magical public relations ASAP. That'll be on the internet in an hour and will probably make the news."
"Really? Why? Do you think I was out of line? I don't care, she's a crazy bint."
Morinozuka, Jouri, and May exchanged amused looks. Harry pouted. He hated when people looked at him as if he were a cute, clueless amoeba.
"That woman was the most famous model in the world and she's engaged to marry one of England's top rugby players," Jouri told him.
"Oh, well she was annoying and treated you like dirt. I'd ban her from the place if I were you Jouri, but it's up to you, you run the show here. Ready Nev?"
Neville grinned and stepped forward. "Never a dull moment."
"Unfortunately."
Several hours later, he and Neville returned to the castle loaded down with bags filled with clothes, music, and jewelry. But, best of all was the appointment he set up with Loewe's. Their technicians were coming to the castle to update his media room and all the electronic equipment in his private apartments. He couldn't wait to join the 21st century. That was worth the trip in itself, well that and discovering he had put on enough weight that his shirts and pants went up a size already. Once they got back and floo'd back to Longbottom Manor, they were laughing and in high spirits, at least Harry was until he went down to dinner.
"Uh-oh, I think your etiquette lessons are about to begin," Neville said with a grin.
Harry walked into the dining room to find more dishes and silverware spread out on the table than he'd ever seen in his life, even with Aunt Petunia and her pretensions.
Madame Longbottom was waiting for them. Over the next three hours, during a delicious five-course meal, Madame Longbottom went over table manners and eating etiquette. She also told him to go out and buy three sets of formal wizarding robes to wear to dinner every night from here on out. Since he knew it was for his own good, Harry agreed without too much complaint.
"Well Nev, I'll have to drag you shopping again."
"No problem."
"We gotta do something you want to do too. I know I can be your herbology assistant. You can order me around your greenhouses. Who knows maybe with me being your slave a couple hours a day it'll help me with my test."
Neville beamed. "Sounds wicked."
After dinner, Harry followed Neville to his suite of rooms. Not surprisingly, Neville's suite was filled with plants and books. It was like stepping into an enchanted forest dwelling. Neville grabbed their first year potion text and plopped down on the bed. Harry collapsed on the settee at the foot of Neville's bed and pulled out the London Times he didn't get around to reading yet.
"Hey Nev," he asked after a couple minutes of companionable silence, "what would you usually do if I wasn't here?"
"Hang out in the greenhouse and try to ignore my relatives when they come by. I go swimming a lot. Not much else to do."
"Merlin. I'm definitely pushing the wizarding games division at Potter . . . Oh crap."
"What?"
"There's an article in the muggle paper about my relatives arrest and suspected home life. It's very detailed but at least they didn't release my name. Muggle law is strict about keeping the names of minors out the public, especially if they're victims of a crime." He handed the paper to Neville, stretched out on the settee, closing his eyes while Neville read the article.
"You're a strong person, Harry," Neville said after reading the article. "I don't know if I would've survived that."
"You're strong too Nev. We both survived the best way we could. I'm just a little more flamboyant about it than you are."
Neville chuckled. "That you are."
"Hey Nev . . ."
"Hmm."
"I'm not sure, but I think I might be gay."
"Okay," Neville said still curiously flipping through the muggle newspaper poking at the pictures that refused to move. After a moment, his head shot up and he looked uncomfortable. "You were just telling me right, not confessing your feel . . . I mean while I'm flattered . . ."
Harry couldn't help but burst out laughing and toss a pillow Neville's way. "Prat. No, I am not crushing on you that would feel like incest."
Neville let out a sigh of relief. "Thank Merlin. So, what's the big deal?"
Harry smiled fondly. "You wouldn't give a damn. I mean, I'm not even sure. I do notice that I don't pay attention to girls in that way, blokes either really." Harry frowned confused not noticing he began to ramble. "But when I do notice looks its guys not girls. I look at blokes and think he's handsome like he has a great body. I don't do that with girls, I barely notice them. But, with blokes, I notice them, but it's not like I want to snog them or anything. So maybe I'm not gay. Maybe I'm just slow at reaching puberty or asexual or something. It's more like he looks great, I wish I looked more like that. Like I'm jealous or something. But, what if I am gay? I can't be gay. I'm the last Lord Potter, if I am gay I could potentially ruin hundreds of years of history." He groaned. "Why does everything happen to me?"
Harry fell back on the couch and covered his face with a pillow.
"Are you done?" Neville asked dryly.
Harry lifted the pillow off his face and looked at Neville curiously. "Yes."
"Good. Harry, you are a wizard."
"So?"
Neville rolled his eyes. "So, if you are gay you do what every gay bonded couple does, get into contact with a surrogate, or a poor woman who got pregnant out of a bond then when the baby is born blood adopt the baby through Gringotts so the baby is yours and your bonded's biologically."
Harry sat up gaping. "So being gay is no big deal in the wizarding world?"
"No. Why would it be?" He asked confused.
"So, if being gay is acceptable, what are the social taboos?"
Neville paused thinking about it. "Umm, blood status obviously. Breaking a marriage bond, so be careful with whom you settle down with. Divorce is not taken lightly at all. Using potions to manipulate a marriage bond, which is why it's normal in contracts to test if anyone's under the influence before they marry. Umm, promiscuous women; most men want an untouched bride. It's kind of a known secret that most wizards 'practice' on muggles and muggleborns then marry a virgin pure-blood." Harry growled Neville shrugged. "Didn't say it was right, just how it is. A pureblood witch with a bad reputation is dead to society. Even Ginny with her known obsession with you, is frowned upon in most circles. She's just a little too vocal and obvious about her umm . . . fascination with you, which is why Malfoy always taunts you both about her crush. He's trying to start rumors and destroy her marriage prospects. If she doesn't grow out of her crush soon, the only hope she'll have of getting married will be to a muggleborn or maybe a powerful, rich half-blood raised by muggles like she always hoped." Harry snorted and Neville laughed before continuing. "Most pureblood girls know all these rules and know how far they can take things before they step foot on the platform to Hogwarts. Even Pavarti and Lavender with all their gossip and giggling never crossed the line like Ginny has. There is a reason why idiots like Malfoy call the Weasley's blood traitors. Underneath all his taunts, the fact is Mr. and Mrs. Weasley don't teach any of these rules to their kids and they go through Hogwarts making many social faux paus that aren't acceptable for someone of their lineage. It's obvious the older one's learned on their own and fixed their behavior, but the twins, Ron, and Ginny haven't, at least not yet. If they don't change, it will be hard for them to get certain jobs and make something of themselves once they leave Hogwarts. It might sound stupid, but it's all about how you carry yourself. You don't have to go to the extreme like Malfoy who's an idiot, but look at people like Blaise, Susan, Theo, and Daphne and see how they act. Daphne Greengrass perfected her 'ice queen' persona for a reason. She's beautiful, witches have been known to spread false rumors about a witch's reputation out of spite, and even rumors can destroy a witch's reputation and marriage prospects. A bad reputation can not only ruin the girl but to some extent the family as well."
Wow. Harry stared at Neville slack jawed. "Is there anything else?"
"Not that I can think off the top of my head."
"Nev, can I ask you a personal question?"
Neville cocked his head curiously in answer.
"Not that I'm complaining," Harry began hesitantly, "but you seem to be comfortable with yourself more confident. What's with the change?"
Neville laughed. "That's your fault of course."
"Me!"
"Yeah. I doubt if I'll ever be comfortable in large groups, but the rest is all you. Whatever happened during your meeting at Gringotts affected Gran dearly. We had a long talk when she got back and she apologized for pushing me to be something I wasn't and allowing the family to bully me into doing the same. She said my parents would be disgusted with her. She apologized again when I got the new wand and she saw how powerful my spells were by using a wand that wasn't my fathers. She gave me this."
Neville held out his hand and on his finger was the Heir ring of the House Longbottom.
"Wicked."
Neville snorted. "Yeah, right. When you're not around, she drills me in the financials of the family's potion ingredient business as well as testing me on the past two years at Hogwarts. I've also added math and business tutoring to my curriculum and she said it's going to continue by owl once I get back to Hogwarts. Her accepting me has severely cut into my greenhouse time."
Harry laughed. "Poor baby, though I'm glad you're feeling my pain with all that work."
Neville snorted and gave him back the paper and finished his potion's book.
The next morning, at the most ungodly hour possible, Harry jerked awake to the sound of a shrill whistle. Blinking the sleep from his eyes, he saw Morinozuka-sensei standing at the foot of his bed in tracksuit bottoms and a matching sleeveless t-shirt with a stopwatch around his neck. His long hair was parted down the middle and in plaits. Harry noticed a ruby ring in his right ear.
"Today," Harry growled flopping back down in the bed and pulling the sheets over his face. "We're starting today? You could've warned me. Why don't we do this tomorrow?"
The next thing Harry knew he was leaping out of bed as the whistle sounded directly in his ear, the sound had magnified tenfold. Morinozuka smirked and handed him a set of the workout clothes Harry brought the day before and pointed to the bathroom. Still muttering, Harry obliged and returned dressed a few minutes later. Morinozuka-sensei looked at him with an arched brow. Harry stared back confused until his hand went to his hair, which was now past his shoulders and had straight bangs in the front.
"Oh, Kingsley and Tonks thought I had some latent metamorphi ability and suggested I start small and try to make my hair grow when I meditate. Will it be in the way? I think I can focus enough to change it back, but I think it's kinda wicked. I'm going to try and put red streaks in it tonight."
Morinozuka waved his hand a thick elastic band appeared in it, which he handed to Harry who gaped at him before quickly putting his hair up in a high ponytail.
"You do wandless magic?" Harry asked awed.
"Yes, but that wasn't wandless magic." Morinozuka held out his hand and on his right ring finger was a thick, silver ring with runes engraved on it. "We call them focus ring. Japanese wizards find wands and the elaborate wand movements European's make cumbersome."
"Wicked. That looks so much better than a wand, can I get one?"
Morinozuka-sensei stared at Harry for several long moments before nodding.
"I'll arrange an international port key to Tokyo tomorrow."
He turned and walked out of the room, Harry had no choice but to follow. When they got to the grounds, Sensei led him through several stretches before showing him how to do a correct push up. Then he had Harry do as many as he could for two minutes, then had him do sit-ups, chin-ups, and a two-mile run. When Harry finally collapsed at the finish line, Sensei pulled him up, gave him water, and told him to walk it off. When he recovered a bit he returned to Sensei who sat cross-legged on the ground. He motioned for Harry to join him. Harry did, mirroring his pose and gratefully gulped down the pain-reliever potion Sensei thrust at him.
"Tell me what you read on meditation and how you've gone about it?"
Harry told him and once he done, Morinozuka-sensei spoke in a rich melodic voice about the best way to calm your mind so you could find and access your magical core. He then asked Harry to center himself, find his magical core, and highlight his hair red. Nodding Harry did as sensei asked, it took him awhile to get there but he finally began to see inside of himself. To Harry's amazement he was able to view the blood, veins, organs, vessels running through his body. Then he saw what Sensei had talked about. Above his heart was a glowing green stone that glittered, sparkled, and rotated as it shot out sparks throughout his body strengthening it. Harry had never seen anything like it. Then he remembered what Sensei had said about his hair. Harry thought about his hair, the individual follicles, he then thickened his hair and smoothed it out, making it a few inches longer than what he had done last night before turning various strands a deep, crimson red. Finally satisfied, he opened his eyes and saw the sun was shining brightly and Sensei was practicing sword movements with an elegantly carved sword while also doing what look like an aerobic dance. It was amazing. He hoped he would be learning that soon. Sensei stopped his workout when he noticed Harry had stopped meditating, Harry glanced up at the sun again.
"I didn't think I'd be this long. What time is it?"
"8:30."
Harry gaped. "Really."
Sensei nodded. "Your healer appointment is at ten, then lunch with Neville, robe shopping, then in the greenhouses with Neville. The Longbottoms have already finished breakfast and Neville is reviewing estate finances."
Harry sighed and rose to his feet. "Then I better get ready. I still hurt, even with that potion you gave me. You nearly killed me."
Sensei smirked. "It could've been worse. Meditation helps. You better go shower and dress so you're not late for your appointments."
Harry saluted sensei and walked back to the house, laughing happily when he looked at his face in the mirror and all the streaks in his hair. Stripping he took an extra-long shower before getting dressed, today's t-shirt that said 'I May be Crazy but at Least we Have Each Other.' He did a drying charm on his hair leaving it down and going back to the bedroom, where his breakfast was spread out on the table. Sitting down he started in on his breakfast and drank his potions, wondering if Madame Longbottom was upset that he missed his breakfast and a possibly an etiquette lesson, before he called for May. She arrived with her hands full. She handed him his schedule, mail, and daily papers.
"Good morning, anything interesting going on?"
May handed him the London Times and turned to the gossip page, Harry groaned when he saw a grainy picture of himself and the model in front of the castle. At least the article was nice and talked about why it didn't pay to be a bridezilla in front of the owner of the castle you were hoping to get married in. He chuckled.
"It's not as bad as what the wizarding papers would have said if they had gotten a hold of it."
"No, and you were right. We've already received several inquiries from brides asking if they could have her spot. Also the model, Maggie Hamming, sent you an apology letter and asked if she could keep her booking."
"What was her wedding package?"
May pulled it out of the stack of papers in her hand attached to the letter that Harry quickly looked over, from the looks of it; they could do two smaller weddings in the place of her one big extravagant one and come out ahead.
"There is a letter from your friend Mr. Ronald Weasley and one from your father's friend Remus Lupin."
"Anything else of note?" May shook her head and Harry handed her a piece of parchment with a list of names on it. "Guest list for the end of summer party. Can you add examples of casual, summer muggle dress to the invitations?"
May nodded and took the list. "I've set up an appointment with a press agent, Monday." She handed him a slim portfolio, opening it, he saw a calendar for the next three months with his appointments in it. "It's self-updating; if you add something it will update all the calendars. I and Morinozuka-senpai also have copies that can be modified."
Harry looked down and groaned when he saw he had physical training seven days a week, at five in the morning. He also saw that he was spending tomorrow morning in Tokyo. Sensei worked fast.
"Thanks May."
She smiled and popped away. Harry opened Ron's letter first.
Hey, Mate:
Wow. A lot has happened since you left. We had a family meeting after. Bill and Charlie were not happy with Mum and Dad. It was weird not being the one everyone was disappointed in. Bill said you're seeing a mind healer and were furious that Mum and Dad didn't think that Ginny should do the same after everything with the Chamber.
But, not all was bad. Charlie spent the day with me. Seriously, all day just him and me. We had a blast the best day I had in a long time. Charlie even brought me new robes and my schoolbooks for next year. I hope you're not mad but I wrote McGonagall and changed my electives. I'm dropping Divination and taking Arthimacy. Charlie said I'm such a genius at chess that I'll have no problem understanding the strategy behind Arthimacy. Maybe you can change your electives and join me? Charlie said you shouldn't have too much problem with Arthimacy since you went to muggle school before Hogwarts and had taken muggle math. Will you?
We won't be back until a couple days before the express leaves and will spend that time at the Leaky Cauldron before we go back to Hogwarts. Can you come and hang out with us while we're there? I'm going to write Hermione and ask her too!
See you soon.
Ron
Damn. He knew there was something he forgot. Ron didn't know he wasn't coming back to Hogwarts!
Harry sat down the letter feeling like a complete and total prat. He had to let Ron know what was going on with him and why he decided not to come back to school and hope that the change in their relationship meant he wouldn't lose Ron as a friend. Hermione deserved to know the truth as well, just because she was in France wasn't an excuse to keep her in the dark about such an important change in his life. Harry spent the rest of his time before his healer appointment writing very long letters to his two best friends on insanely expensive parchment that held the Potter Crest and his name stamped on it that he found along with a beautiful inlay writing desk in his rooms at Neville's. Of course, Hedwig was waiting for him the second he finished and it only cost him the rest of his bacon, his drink, and several compliments to get her to do what he wanted.
Harry had a long day, racked with worry about whether or not he was going to lose his two best friends. His long day culminated, with a long, tedious dinner dressed in one of his new robes while listening to Madame Longbottom criticize his table manners while she drilled him the who's who from the wizarding photos she had plastered around the room for him. Harry had to admit, despite her intimidating nature; Madame Longbottom was an amazing teacher. When he got to his bedroom he finished his mail from the morning, including writing a letter to Miss Supermodel informing her that even though she had acted like a fool on his property (in the actual letter, he put it in much nicer terms) he wasn't the one she needed to apologize to. Harry smirked viciously as he thought of the woman sucking up to Jouri as she attempted to convince him to let her keep her wedding plans. He made sure that Jouri knew what he had written her and that ultimately, it was his decision if he wanted to deal with the woman again.
Finally, the only letter he had left was from Remus Lupin. Harry held the parchment in his hand afraid to open it. On one hand, he longed to know someone who had such a deep connection to his parents. On the other hand, he was hurt that the man didn't try harder to look him up even with Dumbledore's antics. He knew if Hermione and Ron had kids and passed away, he would do whatever it took to make sure he was in their lives in some way or another. He knew he might be acting childish because Madame Longbottom had told him he had tried but once he'd like for someone to put him first before whatever Dumbledore's orders of the day regarding him was. Sighing, he opened the letter. It was a simple introduction letter, introducing himself, explaining his connection to his parents, and requesting a meeting where they could speak in depth. Harry wrote back suggesting they meet Sunday at six for dinner at the Patil's restaurant.
"May," He called softly and she popped up beside him. "Can you deliver this to Remus Lupin? I'm having dinner with him Sunday at the Patil's restaurant."
"Yes sir."
When she left, Harry turned down the lights, crawled in bed with his father's journal, and began reading. He finished through the summer of his third year before he set it down and began his meditation. He found his center faster than he had this morning and went about exploring the inner workings of his body as Sensei requested as well as giving himself a short spikey haircut with purple tips and violet eyes. Harry decided to see if he could fix his chewed up nails and focused on lengthening them a little and smoothing them out. Amazed that he was actually able to make the changes so easily, especially the nails, Harry fell asleep with a smile on his face.
*Hi ya. Me again. You guys are making me feel like a rock star. Thank you for all your support, reviews, and follows.
*You know the deal. I'm self-editing so all mistakes are my own so blame me.
*If I owned Harry Potter or Ouran High School Host Club, I most likely wouldn't be writing fanfiction about it!
*Happy Reading!
*Oh yeah. I have a question about the rating guide, what I'm about to ask is not overt but if you get easily offended or under the age of 16 ignore the following question . . . . . . .. . . .
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...sksiolldsfdjoedlfoeldleo
/.';./;'p[p[l'l''[p[p'l.'p[p'l'l[;'[][l'./;p[.'o'p [;'l
Question: If there is clothed frottage in a chapter can that still be considered a T rating. Need to know for later.
