Harry and the Moon Cell
Just a reminder, when it's from a person's POV they refer to Ferdiad/harry as the name they think of him as.
Chapter 8: dance! Dance! DEATH! Uh, what?
It had been three days since Ferdiad had returned, and things were looking up for him. The other champions were ignoring him, and he them.
That suited him just fine, as he had already gotten into a fist fight with one, and another had annoyed him greatly.
The last champion seemed to have decided that he had his own business to attend to, and hadn't really interacted with the Moon Cell champion.
This was, of course, helped along by the very not happy vibes Ferdiad had been giving off.
During this time Dumbledore had been trying to find a good way to approach the boy about the date he had set up and was now thinking of aborting with how close Harry was to the adult servants.
The decision was taken out of his hands when the Ice Queen of Slytherin decided to approach the boy.
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Daphne Greengrass walked towards the boy she expected to be her date for the Yule Ball. A date that Dumbledore had arranged for her, and that she had jumped on to get away from Draco. A date with a boy that had wealth and while not connections, his fame would open a lot of doors for her family. The fact that she would have to share with two other females wasn't lost on her though... unless she could convince him to drop them.
She would have to do so, her pride wouldn't let her share unless there wasn't any other choice or a last resort to prevent her from marrying Draco, as the boy's father was trying to arrange a mistress contract for her.
Her father was resisting pretty well despite the influence Malfoy Sr. has.
Walking up to the boy she said, "Ferdiad, meet me in ten minutes in the charms classroom with your outfit for the Yule Ball."
she then walked away leaving a confused and irritated boy behind.
Part of his confusion was that she demanded he meet her with that outfit.
The majority was that he had no idea that there was a Yule Ball.
He decided to ignore the girl, and track down his headmaster. If what the girl said about there being a ball, he knew who he would ask, and then have them flip a coin for the first dance.
He wouldn't go with a girl that thought she simply could demand he go with her though.
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An hour later, after he had gotten confirmation that, yes, there was a ball he was expected to open with a date, he was heading back to his room to burn off some frustration, and to talk with his very willing girls in privacy.
He initially tried to talk his headmaster out of forcing him to open the ball, but the man was too stubborn to relent, and so Ferdiad decided to give in. it wasn't like it was a hardship to dance with his girls, and he had attended similar functions in the past with parties his moms had organized.
It was just annoying for him to be the center of attention.
On the way to the building that served as the Japanese student dorms for the duration of the tournament, he encountered the girl that had demanded he meet her.
"Where were you?" she demanded.
Ferdiad simply raised an eyebrow and replied, "Learning about the ball. Why are you upset? I had no reason to meet you after all."
Sirius, who was coming to meet him so that he could pass along what the boy needed to know for such a formal event paused. He had a feeling his former godson was about to screw up.
Well by the manners. Something was wrong with the situation in his eyes. He had been in the Great Hall when she made her demand, and the demand made no sense to him, as he was reasonably certain Harry had never asked her out.
The girl started steaming as she spat out, "Why am I upset?! You are my date to the ball, and you were supposed to meet me to coordinate outfits!"
Ferdiad sighed and tried to remain calm as he replied, "Who told you I was going with you or did you decide on your own that I was going with you? Why would I go with a complete stranger, when I have to perfectly good dates available?"
The girl grits her teeth as she answered, "Dumbledore told me he was going to arrange it, and that you would agree."
Kiyohime, who was just arriving in response to her master's frustration, and had been intending to help him work it off was the one that responded, "And you took his word on that... without talking to master? That doesn't seem to be terribly intelligent."
"Kiyo-chan, please don't throw fuel on the fire," Ferdiad said tiredly. He was much more mellow since his vacation, and the fact that he had a way to work off frustrations. "and as for you, I haven't spoken to Dumbledore since I had returned. The man really should've asked me before trying to arrange such a thing. I already have two that I would ask, before asking anyone else. Actually, I have over half a dozen females that I would ask before I started looking at strangers. I am sorry that Dumbledore lied to you, but I am going to have to decline to take you to the ball."
With that Harry started walking back to his room with Kiyohime on his arm, and Serenity joining them a few minutes later, leaving a fuming young woman behind, one that was glaring at the boy that had walked away, while privately acknowledging that he had a point. She also decided that she needed to have... words with the headmaster for deceiving her.
Stalking back to the castle, she glanced back at the boy, who was walking away with beautiful women on his arms. And while she knew that she herself was ranked in the top five percent for beauty in the school, she also knew that she would have a near-impossible fight to supplement the two with herself.
She also knew that joining them would be nearly impossible.
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Sirius nodded, Harry had handled that admirably, although it would have been better to go with Greengrass. Simply because it would show that he wasn't snubbing the purebloods. On the other hand, he needed to talk to Dumbledore to prevent Harry's, as he considered the boy to still be his godson Harry, reputation from being tarnished too badly by the incident.
He also had to talk about how creepy it was for someone with virtually no connection to Harry to try and set him up on a date.
So thinking he decided to get in line to berate the headmaster.
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Three hours later, there was much cursing from Ferdiad's room. The three had concluded their lovemaking and then cleaned up, and now they were deciding on who would get the first date with their master. Alice had joined them afterwords and then called in Elizabeth to make the numbers even.
The reason for the cursing? The quartet of girls had decided to fight it out in a tournament, best out of ten for every ranking, of Servant Kombat. A spoof on Mortal Kombat that used servants as the characters.
Normally Ferdiad wouldn't let Alice play such a game, except that due to her nature as a servant she had already been 'blooded' in combat, so virtual violence was nothing for her to avoid.
Not to mention a distinct lack of fatality style moves.
The rules of the tournament were simple, the first to six wins against their opponent would advance, and they must use their own characters.
Alice had just trounced Serenity in a six-win streak, while Elizabeth had lost to Kiyohime five to six.
Alice was fighting for first dance because she wanted to spend the time with her brother.
She had been spending less time with him since he started adult fun with his other servants.
Although he definitely had been trying to do so, it's just that his stress levels needed to be kept low.
None of the three wanted him to return to his prevacation state where he was ready to rip the head off of anyone that annoyed him.
Kiyohime was soon cursing as well, as she had just been trounced as well by the child caster.
Harry smirked and invited Elizabeth to be fourth on his dance card that night.
With a smile she accepted and was looking forward to the dance, not realizing that her thoughts towards the young man were changing from brother, to something more.
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The time to the Yule Ball passed quickly, with only some dirty looks from the snubbed girl. She had taken his rejection not terribly gracefully, but she knew that it was mostly the headmaster's fault. The man had set things up without even mentioning it to the boy in question.
She also realized that she had to convince three, or more, females to let her get close to Ferdiad as more than friends.
That was especially hard since she really didn't like young children, and Alice looked no more than ten years old.
Scowling at the fact that she had to find a new date that Draco couldn't chase off, now that the school had found out that Ferdiad was taking four dates to the ball, and none of them her.
Looking around she saw one person that both needed a date, yet didn't have one. Marching over to the person she popped the question, much to the fury of a blonde boy.
Getting an affirmative answer, Daphne walked back to her place at the table, happy that she had dodged Draco and his grabby hands.
The fact that she normally wouldn't date another girl was the least of her concerns.
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Dumbledore was deep in thought. He had to make sure that his skin was still intact after the girl had gotten through with him, but he knew he had deserved it. He really should have talked to Harry about what he was doing before he attempted his plan. Even though he thought he was doing the boy a favor.
The fact that Sirius went after the girl and was both clean and sober was actually a relief. That meant that he was on the mend.
The old man realized he needed to plan. He needed a plan to create attachments between Harry and his country. Attachments so that even if he doesn't live there, he would be willing to defend the country from the Dark Lord when he returns.
The problem is that ninety percent of Harry's connections to people are in the Moon Cell, and most of the rest are in Japan.
He had five months to find an answer before Harry leaves the shores of Great Briton.
He had already thrown out a possible law as an idea, one that would strip any noble house of their title if their heir doesn't attend Hogwarts.
Perhaps the little girl who follows Harry around would be a good place to start building bridges. His carefully cultivated, but mostly natural grandfatherly manner works wonders with young children.
Too bad he doesn't know her true nature.
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It was the day of the dance, and Ferdiad was dressed in an expensive tuxedo, one that half his moms had put their foot down about it being appropriate formal wear. One thought a kimono would be better, another didn't have an opinion, and the last wanted a toga.
He had talked to his headmaster and gotten permission to have Elizabeth there as a guest.
He knew his first dance date would be wearing her normal outfit, as it was fancy enough to qualify. He realized his dance card would be rather full this evening. He had a pretty little sister caster, a beautiful assassin, a beautiful Berserker, and a cute big sister lancer, who has been acting very strange around him for the past year or so.
Shaking his head, he neatened his hair as much as possible and walked from his room to the Great Hall to await his date(s).
He didn't have to wait long, and he smiled as he saw the four approaching girls. Only half of them had to change her regular mode of dress for the ball, as kimonos are regarded as a formal dress in Japanese culture, and caster's dress was fancy enough to qualify.
Elizabeth was wearing what looked like a clubbing outfit, it was close to straddled the line between decency and indecency for her apparent age, but it looked good on her, and the coloration matched her hair perfectly.
Serenity, on the other hand, was wearing a full ball gown, of the type princesses usually are seen wearing and done in dark purples and blacks.
After giving Caster a kiss on the forehead, his fiancee's on the lips, and Elizabeth on the cheek, he offered his arm to the childlike caster that was his official date.
He was unaware that he left Elizabeth with a face matching her dress.
As he entered the Hall with his dates, most of the unattached males in the room looked at the boy jealously. Not about his official date, but at the three others entering with him.
Some of the girls were jealous as well, but most felt it wasn't worth the effort of chasing someone so obviously taken, as while multiple wives aren't illegal, or even looked down upon, but joining someone that has two, and looking like a possibility of a third, well it would mean less time for them.
After a plate of badly done sushi, as the elves have never made such a thing before, Harry entered the dance floor with his child caster.
Almost all of the adult females had expressions that clearly stated how cure they found Harry dancing with the little girl was and were happy to see the girl enjoying herself.
Though there were looks of disapproval at the two girls paired together among the champions dancing together, not that two girls dating was illegal, but because it simply offended some of their sensibilities.
Of course, there was a male pissed because he wanted her as his date.
Ferdiad's next dance had many males jealous, and other males derisive, as she was obviously less than a pure human. Most of the derisive males thought that she should be locked away and used by them for pleasure.
The rest of them thought she should be executed for 'seducing' the last of an ancient line, or even for existing.
Most of those that thought the second option was appropriate were purebloods of the Slytherin houses, both male and female, and females who wanted Ferdiad, and those that thought option one was appropriate was the males of Slytherin mainly, and a smattering from other houses.
Assassin, now that the rest of the students was dancing with a random male, and hilariously, Alice was dancing with Hagrid. Her feet were off the ground by at least three feet.
Harry completely understood them dancing with others, as having them stand along like bumps on a log while waiting for their turns made absolutely no sense.
Elizabeth was alone, as few wanted to be near the demonic looking dragon descendant, and before the dance, the other two servants thought she would be cute enough to have people lining up to dance with her.
The next dance had Alice pairing with Elizabeth, and Kiyohime dancing with Krum who was completely respectful of her, after all, he had a fiancee waiting at home, one that couldn't come.
He would've danced with the dragon girl the previous dance, but someone had snagged him before he could invite her. He had problems with Harry, mainly how he treated his fellow champion, but the girls have done nothing to deserve being isolated like that.
Serenity, like always, reveled in the closeness to her master, a closeness that she could never have in life. A closeness that she could enjoy without her special body spray that she used every day she was on Earth to prevent her touch from killing people casually.
Since everybody in the moon cell she interacted with on a daily basis took the potion Gilgamesh handed out she didn't have to worry that much there.
She was also the only one out of the usual quartet that had noticed the draconic lancer's change in attitude. It came from the fact that as an assassin she had to be aware of how others act so she could get close enough to put the knife in their back, or poison in their system.
Though, she was having a hard time figuring out the point where the physically younger girl has started to try and go from sister to... more.
"Master, have you noticed the change in the attitude of our present lancer?" she whispered during the slow dance they were doing.
"Huh?" Ferdiad responded.
"You need to talk to her and find out what she wants. If she even knows herself. Just remember, if she wants to actually join us... she needs to pass the approval of both us and your parents," she whispered into his ear.
A dazed teen simply nodded as he cuddled into the embrace of his taller dance partner. He had no idea that the 'young' woman who was like a sister was starting to think of him other than a brother.
He did wonder why Kiyohime seemed to be getting sick in the mornings the past week though. He had gotten sex ed before becoming active, but he didn't connect their mostly nightly activities with the Berserker's illness.
Soon, it was time for the fourth dance on Ferdiad's dance card, it was a blushing Lancer that danced with him in a highly energetic dance, one that left no room for conversation.
He was about to speak to her after the dance... when a scream of agony sounded. Elizabeth hid her relief that something distracted her dance partner.
Turning toward the source they saw a boy about Harry's age on the ground acting like all his muscles were contracting at once, and foaming at the mouth with a pissed assassin standing over him wiping her mouth... and then her hand with a special handkerchief that neutralizes her poison.
McGonagall rushed to her student's side, only to arrive as he breathed his last. Looking up at the 'young' woman that was standing there she asks, "Why, why did you kill him?"
"It was an accident," the brown-skinned woman said calmly. My body fluids are poison, and the boy kissed me without permission. He should have known better than to kiss any woman like that."
The Transfiguration Professor looked down at the dead boy and sighed. She couldn't really raise a fuss because it was both an accident, and the result of his own actions. She was still angry, but there was literally nothing she could do, because even the most biased court would point out that the poison women, who had gone years without a single incident, was obviously taking proper precautions, and the only reason why Cormac McLaggen died, was that he tried to steal a kiss.
The fact that she was engaged to the boy-who-lived, and he knew that and still performed the action was just icing on the cake.
The dance soured by the death of a student broke up after that, as few were in the mood to party.
Elizabeth took the distraction that the death provided to head back home, hoping to put off an extremely awkward conversation with Ferdiad.
Kiyohime also headed back up to the Moon because she had to find something out, and the doctors she trusted most were there. She was sick of being sick.
What she found out, would rock the group's foundations.
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End chapter.
I really wasn't expecting this to get this long -_-;.