Disclaimer; No, I still don't own this.
/This means the same thing it always has. /
Harry took a pepper up potion and examined his clothing. Thanks to the Ladies of the First Circle, he now had a proper wardrobe of well made clothes that fit. The Ladies had good taste, and knew all the good tailors. Some of the styles were a bit old fashioned for muggle England, but almost all of them would be acceptable in the wizarding world. There was one outfit in the lot that Daemon helped him assemble, tight in all the right places and loose in the rest, made of the finest silk. His chest of gems was useful in the end. He was able to sell them for quite a bit of local currency. He eventually picked a few outfits and added a simple black cloak. His best dress robes were cleaned and pressed, and ready for the wedding.
He tucked the clothes away into his "craft book bag" as he liked to think of it. He would definitely need to think of what to call it later. He added a couple hangover potions (he knew he was going to need them), and the assorted wedding gifts before going in search of Jaenelle.
"Hello Harry, what can I do for you?"
"Well I am about to head back home for a bit and wanted to ask a favor."
"Sure, what do you need?"
"Well tonight we're going to have a bit of a celebration, actually more than a bit. Not only are we celebrating my coming of age, but one of my good friends is getting married in a few days as you know. So we're going to give him a bachelor party too. I was hoping I could finagle a couple bottles of your special brew for the guys."
"Tell you what, bring me a big box of those truth telling chocolates and I will even give you the recipe. Now that you're an adult I won't feel bad teaching you how to make it."
"Sure, I'm going to see the twins anyway and we may even have a couple new things to show you when I come back"
"Are you taking Lucy with you now or coming back for her later?"
"If you don't mind her maybe seeing a couple of drunks I could take her with me today. I'm sure she'd love all the hustle and bustle that is the Weasley family, and it would honestly be easier than coming back later. We'll try to keep things in check, she should be fine."
"I trust you Harry. In spite of everything, you are a good person and I know you will look out for her."
"Alright, she can come with me."
"Hey Rascal, are you ready to go meet the Weasleys?"
"Now? I thought the wedding was in a couple days?"
"Well I am going to celebrate with them today and it is easier to bring you with me now than to come back later. I'll take you out and show you around tomorrow and maybe show you the school. The wedding is the day after."
"Ok, sounds like fun. What should I bring?"
"Bring at least one set of nice clothes, your wand, and any books you might want in case you get bored."
Since he was feeling polite, Harry and Lucy left the winds elsewhere in Ottery St. Catchpole and walked to the Burrow. He didn't particularly feel like the usual duel that resulted from his unannounced visits. The Weasley brothers had taken it as a personal challenge to hex or curse Harry whenever he showed up. They said that if he were just going to ignore the wards, they would ignore the fact he was their friend. It was a game and both parties knew it, but one Harry didn't feel like playing in his tired state.
"Mrs. Weasley, good to see you, I hope you've got a pot of tea?"
"Of course Harry. My you look peaky! Are you alright?"
"Just fine Mrs. Weasley, I was up all night so I'm a little tired. This is Lucy by the way, my new sister. Is it alright if she stays here until the wedding? We can go elsewhere if that's a problem."
"Nonsense, of course she is welcome. We can put her with Hermione, Ginny, and Gabrielle. The house is just full up these days. I'm so pleased to meet you Lucy. Why don't you both come inside for tea and biscuits?"
"Nice to meet you Mrs. Weasley," Lucy sounded a bit shy.
"Are Fred and George around, I've got a few things I want to talk to them about. And of course I've got to introduce Lucy around."
"They're upstairs in Ron's room last I heard. They're in with you two while Bill, Charlie, and Percy are the Twins' room. Fleur and her maid of honor are in Percy's room. It's so nice to have a full house again."
"Gabrielle, it is so good to see you again! My word you've grown, you're how old now?"
"Harry! They told me you would come! I can't believe the famous Harry Potter is coming to my sister's wedding."
"Of course I'd come. It's not everyday you get invited to the wedding of a Tri-wizard Champion. Besides, it means I get an excuse to kiss a lovely part Vela lady."
"Everybody wants to kiss my sister. All the boys my age still think girls are gross."
"Who said I was talking about your sister?" He leaned over and gave her a peck on each cheek Gabrielle looked flushed. "Alright! That's one more of my life goals accomplished! I can make a Vela blush."
"When did you learn to speak such good French? My sister was always complaining that no one over here can speak it properly."
"That's a secret. I'll give you a hint, my teacher grew up in the same town you did, and no it's not Fleur."
"Yes, your accent is perfect. Are you always this full of secrets?"
"No, usually I am worse. Unless I am being obnoxiously moody."
"So any more surprises before you run away from me?"
"Actually I was just stopping by to say hello before trying to find some of my friends. I would like to introduce you to my sister though. This is Lucille Angelline SaDiablo. Her mother is the Queen of Ebon Askavi and I am serving as her bodyguard while she is here."
"Wait a minute, she's your sister, the daughter of a Queen, and you are serving her? But you're Harry Potter."
"Really? Wow, I can't believe I forgot my own name. She and her father adopted me. Her mother and I get along really well, but she didn't adopt me. Just because everyone thinks I am supposed to be a hero doesn't mean I can't be a servant too. There is nothing wrong with helping others. Mostly though, I teach odd bits of magic to Lucy and Jaenelle. I'm trying to train Lucy for quidditch, she was born to fly."
"I never thought of that. I heard the story of you growing up, and some of the stories of what you did in school. When you saved me in the lake that day, you just sort of became my personal hero. I guess I didn't realize you were just a normal person. You'll always be special to me Harry. It must be cool to be taught magic by you though."
"Thanks Gabrielle, but I'd much rather be normal and have everyone say 'Oh that's just Harry' when they see me. Being a hero is hard work. I'm going to go find some of the others now. Have you seen Ginny?"
"I think she's outside with the others, probably playing quidditch. That is such an unladylike sport."
"Thanks, I'll see you later Gabrielle."
"Hey guys, how's life?"
"Harry, good to see you mate! It's about time you got here."
"Sorry Ron, between your mother stuffing us with biscuits and Gabrielle finally getting to meet her hero, the great Harry Potter, we got a little tied up."
"Ah, she can be a bit excitable. Too bad she's not a bit older. And her English is horrid, worse than Fleur's used to be."
"Hermione might not be too happy to hear you say that. There's an easy way around her problem with English. Speak French, girls love French."
"Easy for you to say."
"This is Lucy by the way. If Ginny ever comes down she will learn that there is no reason to be jealous."
"Harry, they're playing quidditch aren't they? Can I borrow your broom, please?"
"Gah! What have I told you about looking at me that what?"
"That I am irresistible and you always give in?"
"Not quite. Alright, you can borrow my broom, so long as you can remember the first rule of flying?"
"If I am going to be calling myself your sister I have to fly better than everyone else?"
"That's the one. It looks like they've already got two seekers. Play chaser then." Harry handed over his precious Firebolt to the overexcited girl.
"Ok, red ball goes through the hoops, don't get hit. I can do that."
"Harry you're going to let a little girl borrow your Firebolt? Are you barmy?"
"Well ever since her mother broke my spare I guess I have to loan her mine. Don't worry; she's a natural in the air. I am trying to train her for reserve seeker. Gryffindor is going to need a new seeker soon."
"Yeah I suppose. Still, it's a Firebolt."
"Do you have any idea how much money Sirius left me? If I thought you would accept them I would buy you and your sister one. I'm not joking. The fact that I have a sister now and she is happy when she is flying is much more important than how much gold the broom would cost if she somehow broke it, which would never happen. She's a natural."
"Blimey, did you see what she just did? I've never seen anyone do that. She did a tailspin barrel roll then flew the other direction upside down!"
"I told you she was good. Do you think she could have pulled that off on a school broom?"
Lucy put the quaffle past a shocked Oliver Wood, who quickly called for a time out and motioned everybody to the ground.
"Harry, do you know anything about this? I thought I recognized your broom." Oliver looked excited.
"Yeah, that's my kid sister who just shut you out. I'm hoping she'll be a Gryffindor so we've got a chance after I leave. You should see her play Seeker. I've been working with her for most of the summer. Everyone meet Lucy, the next great Hogwarts Legend."
Lucy blushed under the praise.
"Lucy, Oliver Wood here is the man who taught me how to play quidditch when I was your age. He now gets paid to play for Puddle mere United."
"How long have you been flying Lucy?" Oliver was looking forward to talking with her it was clear.
"Well I've been flying since I was five, but Harry only started letting me use his brooms six weeks ago. I'd never heard of quidditch before then."
"Really? That's remarkable. Harry, make sure she's on a good training schedule. She could take England to the Cup when she graduates if she flies like that all the time."
"Sorry Oliver, she's not from England and her territory doesn't participate in the World Cup."
Lucy was introduced to everyone and her move was promptly christened the "SaDiablo Spiral" by Lee Jordan. The talk focused on sports and the chances for Gryffindor getting the cup this coming year. Harry snagged one of the twins and dragged him off to the side for a private conversation.
"What's up Harry?"
"Business Fred. Firstly I need to ask you about your Verita-mints. How's your stock?"
"We've got plenty, the ministry still won't give us permission to sell them yet. They haven't passed all the safety inspections. Why?"
"Ah, well the Queen wants to order a case, plus anything new and interesting you've come up with lately. You won't have a problem selling them to a foreign government will you? As a duly authorized representative for that government, we like them."
"Wow, that's really cool. It may not be a huge order, but just the prestige of supplying a real queen. That says something."
"Yeah, by the way, we got Saetan and Daemon with your Babbling Broth. They were bawling like babies until it wore off. I even got Jaenelle with your Canary Creams. She loved them."
"You pranked the Queen?"
"Of course. Oh, by the way I got a very interesting message last time I was back here. It seems that there are some students picking up the marauder tradition. Moony and I authorized them and they asked my help with acquiring supplies. We are going to place a standing order for your entire line, and multiples of the expendable items."
"New Marauders? And they're official? Including the animagus bit? Wow Harry that is great news. Seeing real professionals at work will inspire people and boost sales. And with that kind of order, we'll even give them a slight discount. Who's paying?"
"Yep, real marauders, I've seen two owls and a cat so far, the fourth has yet to show any talent with the animagus transformation but we're confident about that one too. Padfoot is footing the bill on this one. We decided it was what he would have wanted, and it would annoy the rest of his relatives."
"Wow, just wow. Of course we'll help."
"Great, now that the business is done, on to better topics. You two are in charge of the party tonight right?"
"Yeah, happy birthday by the way."
"Thanks, I've got something to contribute to the party. You guys will love this stuff. The drink is called a gravedigger, and it's the best thing you will ever try."
"Why do they call it a gravedigger?"
"Because you don't know you're drunk until they're already digging your grave. Hey, wake me for dinner would you? I need to catch a few winks if I am going to enjoy our party tonight."
"Sure thing Harry."
"And look after Lucy…"
"Harry wake up, we need to talk!" Uh oh, it sounded like Hermione was anxious about something.
Harry opened his eyes to see his three best friends standing at the foot of his bed.
"Ok, what did I do this time?"
"We need to talk about what kind of people you seem to be associating with."
Harry decided it was time to make sure he couldn't be overheard. He didn't know exactly where this was going, but he knew there were a lot of ways it could go that he didn't want to let people know about. He cast several privacy charms with his wand, then added sound and psychic shields to the room just in case.
"Ok, now we're alone, what is wrong?"
"Your sister was practicing Dark Magic with Gabrielle when we came up from lunch. She said her mother taught her."
"Whoa, back up a bit here. What was she trying to do and how do you know it was dark magic? I didn't teach her any and I know her mother wouldn't either."
"She said she was going to do a charm and asked for our blood to make it work. Gabrielle indicated that she had already done whatever it was at least once. Blood Magic is illegal and classified as dark magic by the ministry."
"Ok, I'll have a talk with her. No more blood magic where people can see it."
"What do you mean 'where people can see it'? She shouldn't be doing it at all, its evil."
"I see the problem now. Hermione, why don't you ever think logically? Her blood magic isn't evil. In fact no magic is inherently evil. There is no such thing as "dark" magic, it is all a myth."
"Of course dark magic exists, how can you of all people say that? You know how evil dark magic is."
"Ok, again logic evades you. I've asked before, but I will ask again. Do you three trust me with your lives?"
Hesitant nods greeted his look of longsuffering patience.
In a flash, Harry placed a full body bind on Ron and Hermione and took their wands.
"Why did you do that?"
"They need it proved to them; fortunately I know just how to do it. Please sit down on the bed." She did. Harry summoned up his love and desire to make her feel good and pointed his wand at her. "Crucio."
Ginny moaned and flopped on the bed for five seconds before Harry lifted the curse.
"Oh God… Harry, please… Oh my god…"
He quickly scooped her up in his arms and gave her a passionate kiss while using the barest caress down her spine. She shivered and collapsed in his arms, limp as a wet noodle and red as a beet. He sat her up on the bed so she could at least watch the conversation.
He looked at the other two. Hatred and betrayal was clear in Ron's eyes. Hermione's were tearful as she tried to figure out what happened to her best friend who wouldn't hurt a fly.
"Magic, all types of magic, is neutral. There are three things needed for any spell of any variety to work. They are; willpower, intent, and ability. You have to desire the spell to work. You have to think about how you want the spell to work. Finally you have to have the power to cast the spell. Intent is the most important of the three and the true way to determine if a spell is dark. The person determines the intent of the spell. The person makes a spell dark or light. Now Hermione, I am going to remove the body bind and ask you a simple question. When you learn what I am telling you I will listen to you read me every rule in the book and if you want to summon Aurors I will wait right here. I will ask you a question; answer it to the best of your knowledge."
"What does the Cruciartus Curse do? What are its effects?" He released her.
"Harry, how could you?"
"Answer my question and I will answer yours."
"The Cruciartus Curse overloads every never in a person's body causing unimaginable pain."
"Wrong, try again. You were close."
"But that is what it does! It overloads your nerves, which is why it can cause brain damage."
"Much better. Look at the difference between your answers. The Cruciartus Curse does overload the sense receptors in the body. What this does to the recipient is based entirely on the driving emotions and intent of the spell. When a death eater casts this spell, he uses hate and intends to harm you in the most painful way possible. That is why it is one of the unforgivable curses. Ginny, was what I did to you unforgivable?"
"Only if you never do it again." Ginny blushed and smiled.
"If the curse was as evil as you and the ministry say, why is she smiling? And much more interesting, why is she blushing?"
"You said when a death eater casts it he uses hate and intend pain… What did you use?"
"Think about it for a minute, consider what you have seen."
"It looked almost like she was… Oh my god!" Hermione blushed and hid her face when she finally realized what she had witnessed. "You… Her… Oh my god! I didn't know that was possible!"
"So tell me Hermione, is the Cruciartus Curse inherently evil? Is magic inherently evil?"
"Wow, I guess not. You just managed to completely destroy and rebuild my concepts of how magic works."
"Want a turn now that you know I am not evil?"
"What?"
"Oh no you don't buster! The only one you are allowed to curse like that is me!" Ginny decided to defend her territory before she got any ideas.
Harry leaned close and whispered in Hermione's ear, "That's ok I have other spells just as fun…"
Hermione went right back to blushing and hiding her face.
Harry looked over at Ron to see if he understood yet. Evidently not.
"Ginny, your brother is really thick. I know its embarrassing but please, for both of our sakes, tell him exactly what I did to you."
"When he hit me with the curse, every nerve in my body lit up, but they were excited with pleasure instead of pain. I was being held, cuddled, kissed, licked, tickled, squeezed, and fondled. It was the most exquisite feeling in the world, but it never slacked off, my nerves never calmed. It was torture of an entirely different and more pleasant variety. Then when he kissed me and held me, everything just broke all at once and I was in heaven. I think I need to change my knickers."
"Alright, now I am going to release you, but you don't get your wand back until I am sure you won't use it."
Harry released Ron from the spell. Ron instantly charged and laid a hard right hook across Harry's jaw.
"That was my sister! It's almost worse that it feels that way! That's my sister you just… you know, in front of me. I don't need to see those things. Merlin knows I don't want to know what my sisters face looks like when she… you know."
"Alright, now that we got that out of our system, did we learn anything? Lucy is not practicing dark magic. Magic is not evil. Do we need to call any Aurors? Am I going to get more familiar with the dementors? No? Thank you. Now I'll go talk to Lucy before I go back to sleep. I didn't sleep at all last night and I really need some. Ginny, you're free to stay if you want."
"I'll need to change first, I wasn't kidding."
"Later I will have to show you what else I've learned." His whisper reached her ears only.
The party got underway after dinner with fireworks and drinks outside. All ladies were promptly banished, forbidden from witnessing the sacred rite of the bachelor party.
They drank all manner of beverages, told dirty stories and off color jokes, all the usual things men bond over. Things got more interesting when the twins introduced the Verita-mints and started asking questions.
They went around the fire asking about their most embarrassing moments and greatest achievements.
"My greatest achievement? That is an easy one, it happened just this morning. I made a Vela blush. I didn't even know they could, but sure enough they can." Harry opened it up.
"Wait, Vela can blush? I'm marrying one soon and I've never seen her blush. You, my friend, are a god. Teach me." Bill fell to his knees and began bowing to Harry. No one would have believed it except for the chocolates.
"My most embarrassing memory is also pretty easy. I assume everyone here remembers when they got 'The Talk'? It is pretty memorable. Anyway, my adopted father decides the day after he adopts me, that its time for 'The Talk.' What I never realized was that he was a pleasure slave for all of his life before he met Lucy's mother. And he is positively ancient. This man has forgotten more about pleasing witches than any of us will ever know. So every night after dinner, we spend two hours in his study having 'The Talk'. He's done it every night this summer if I was there, and he hasn't repeated himself yet. And what's worse, he's even including men in his lessons."
"A six week long Talk? You're having us on! There isn't that much to know." Charlie laughed out loud, clearly disbelieving.
Harry just sighed and snapped his fingers. Phantom hands ran through Charlie's hair, and massaged his scalp, finger nails traced patterns on his back while four separate tongues circled his nipples and another ran up his chest.
"Eeep! Oh God, get them off! You're creeping me out Harry, I believe you." The phantoms ceased.
Angry Ron was back. "That's my brother! You're sick Harry absolutely sick! First…"
"Obliviate! You remember nothing about Charlie. Harry's most embarrassing memory involves a baby hippo four gallons of neon green paint and an irate zookeeper. You remember nothing of when you came to see me this afternoon. You and I had a discussion between the two of us. You decided I was not evil and left."
"Harry, why did you just memory charm my son? And what happened this afternoon?"
"Trust me he is much happier without those. Earlier today he accused Lucy of practicing dark magic. I had to correct his misconceptions and the manner I used to explain it was very embarrassing because it involved emotions, love, and assorted other un-manly things. It was made worse by the fact that Hermione and Ginny were present when we had to talk about this. You know he can't handle emotions well."
"Oh. I better not find out you're lying."
"Trust me, you can bet you shirt it was what he was going to say was embarrassing if he ate one of those chocolates. Ask Hermione if you don't believe me. She won't be able to tell you exactly what happened, but she will agree he didn't want that memory."
Sometime around midnight, they finally opened the first bottle of Gravediggers. They turned out to be a big hit with everyone present and the party really got interesting.
Under the influence of much alcohol, everyone was showing off all the neat bits of magic they knew and cool tricks they had learned.
"Hey, you guys want to see my phoenix impression?" Harry slurred, more than a little drunk.
"Sure, why not man…"
"Ok, watch carefully now."
Harry shifted down to his owl form and drunkenly stumbled to the center of the circle. The others cracked up at the sight of a drunken owl. Once he managed to stay still for a moment, he lit a ring of witch-fire at his feet and let it turn into a pillar of flame around him. He tried to sing a couple notes, but failed utterly. He wrapped himself in a sight shield and flew to a nearby branch. Dropping the shield, Harry flew back to the circle, tried to sing again, and fell over when he bowed to his audience.
He only hoped they wouldn't remember this in the morning.
Lucy forced a hangover potion down his throat the next morning and told him breakfast was ready. Harry made it his job to visit all his fallen comrades and bring them sweet release.
After breakfast Mr. Weasley approached Harry.
"Harry, me and the others have been comparing notes about last night and there are a couple things we don't quite remember. There was something about a memory charm we know. After that it gets confusing for a while, and then we have another thing we remember. Apparently there was something about a phoenix impression, and lighting a drunk owl on fire? Do you know about either of these?"
"No, I don't remember the memory charm. And I'd prefer it if the rest of you forgot about the phoenix thing. Don't worry, Hedwig is fine. Let's not ask too many questions we don't want to know the answer to." Harry lied through his teeth and hoped they wouldn't notice.
"If you don't remember the memory charm, it may have been against you. Ron doesn't remember either. We remember talking about embarrassing stories. Charlie thinks he found a new one but won't tell us what."
"Do you think one of you cast a memory charm to make us forget one of the stories? What could be that bad?" That's right Harry; make them think you are the victim not the villain. You'd make a good Slytherin."
"I don't know, and that worries me a little."
The Twins grabbed Harry not long after, and dragged him into a room before sealing the door and throwing up privacy charms.
"Harry, we want to talk about last night."
"What about it, do you remember anything more?"
"Oh yes, we remember a lot more, and we know you do too."
"What?"
"First rule of hosting a party, don't indulge in the booze. Someone needs to stay sober to prevent the rest of you nut jobs in line."
"Oh…"
"Indeed. So care to tell us why you memory charmed him?"
"Like I said, he accused Lucy of using dark magic. I explained to him that there is no such thing as dark magic, only dark wizards. Intent is everything. To demonstrate, I cast a certain dark curse. Most people who cast it think strong feelings of hate and the desire to see the other in pain. That emotion and intent makes the curse painful. I cast the curse using love and a desire to make others feel good. Ron got very upset with me because your sister liked it. She even told me I should do it again some time."
"And you memory charmed him why again?"
"Look at it from his point of view. First I pleasured his sister in front of him, and then I almost do the same to his brother. That's not quite how it happened of course, and they were very different spells, but Ron over reacts sometimes."
The both cracked their knuckles together.
"Tell us Harry, what do you mean you pleasured our sister?"
"I won't say how exactly, but the curse ended with her moaning, panting, and begging me to help 'finish her off.'"
"We think we can see why you liberated this from his mind, but be warned, if Ginny shows up with a memory charm, you are a dead man."
"I never will, I swear."
"Good. Now, about the pheonix impression. It was quite good, very educational if you ignore the drunk owl. Hey, didn't you say that two of the new Marauders you were sponsoring were owls? You don't suppose that maybe one of them was there last night?"
"Alright, you caught me. Yes I am an owl animagus. Yes I am a marauder. No I will not reveal the others. No I cannot tell you in advance of any new pranks. Sorry guys, best I can do is promise to come to you if I need help. I will tell you right now that we are planning a massive prank of truly epic proportions for sometime this year. We will prank the whole school, and several generations of students past present and future simultaneously. I will let you know what's going on when it happens."
"I suppose thats the best we can ask for."