Emerald Coven

by Hallows Seeker

Harry, still coming to terms with the reality of his destiny, and only just beginning to understand his greatest foe finds himself the unintended recipient of a magical bond between himself and one Gabrielle Delacour. An epic AU story beginning in the middle of sixth year, follows harry as one dramatic event leads him down a spiral path of debauchery and discovery.

14. The Path of Failure

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HARRY POTTER AND THE EMERALD COVEN

PART TWO: THE VOICE OF REASON

Chapter 14: The Path of Failure

I once read a book that said the difference between logic and reason had not always been a discrete one. Douglas Hofstadter wrote that logic is done inside a system, while reason is done outside the system.

After several month of research it had become clear to me, that every single Witch and Wizard currently publishing and creating new magic used solely reason to deride their results.

In fact I had spent so much time researching existing magics in the five and a half years I've known about the Magical world that I never really put any time at all into the methods of discover and creation of said magic. After all, the tests usually only required you to know who invented the spell and why, occasionally with a mention of spells being modified from pre-existing ones. All in all, I usually spent my free time keeping up to date with natural history, science, and mathematics, otherwise I would never be able to enter university after Hogwarts.

Once I became interested however, I was quite disappointed to find that there weren't very many books on the creation of new magic. It turned out there was a very competitive Master/Apprentice system in place for the so called "deep" magics like wand lore and enchanting. Something with knowledges only being passed down through familiar lines. Yet another way being pure-blooded was favorable, damn bigots.

Transfiguration Today turned out to be pure rot. I had ordered a number of back copies from the latest issue. It was a quarterly (or nearly, sometimes there were three for a year or five, in 1847 there had been eleven under the Editorship of Lawson Mealbe who was famous for being fired at the end of his first year as Editor for obvious reasons) so there weren't that many, and all the most famous articles were reprinted in collected books. I read Dumbledore's two lauded and oft quoted pieces first, but they turned out to be mostly philosophical, and a bit cautionary, warning not to delve too deeply into so called "small" transfiguration; which I knew as chemistry, and I'm sure the only reason it was mysterious and dangerous was because Magicals didn't have microscopes and didn't understand chemical bonding.

Potions comes closer, but it's ever so simplified. Potions theory was fifty percent rote memorization of thousands of reaction-al ingredients (runespore shavings combined with pickled newt creates a sense of euphoria, pickled newt combined with grumlock droppings eases aggression, runespore shaving and pickled newt have no reaction allowing them to be used in the same potion with out affecting it, and pickled newt is affected by temperature while the other ingredients are not so you can affect the strength of potion by heat, increased heat adding to the potency of pickled newt, while three left stirs has an Arithmantic lessening of the poisonous element of grumlock droppings and viola! You have a calming drought. Though I am loath to include anything from Harry's thrice damned Potions textbook, the tip that runespore shavings are more effective if shaved from tip to base is actually quite effective.) The other half of Potions is mostly Herbology, knowing how to gain the most effective parts of Magical flora and fauna. Honestly, anyone who can memorize all forty-seven thousand two hundred eighty six combinations, fourteen thousand three hundred and six stirring responses, and twelve hundred heat variables could conceivably make a potion for anything ever. For my part I'm only about ten percent through the memorization, but I have time, I'm only seventeen and don't expect to even begin my attempt at a Potion's Master until I'm in my late twenties.

I'm getting off track.

The latest issue of Transfiguration Today had a ridiculous article. Melinda Views had written a "thesis" (and I use the term lightly) about wand movement alterations for the standard colour changing spell, allowing for people who were blind to correctly use the spell, no longer requiring the caster to focus on the colour they wanted.

In not one sentence of the article did Views mention research, experimentation, or even what gave her the leap to her conclusion. At first I thought VIews was just a terrible researcher, but it turned out her methods were actually par for the course, and if they weren't, then no one was telling anyone else, and that was just plain frustrating.

I mean, what is the point of knowledge if you're just going to hoard it?

I'm currently distracting myself however, this is something I've been working through for months, and I've used my allotted research time for today, and I've done all my homework, and unless I want to take my hour of free-time to have some fun now, I need to deal with the two letters I received today.

One from Harry, and the other from Gabrielle, the problem being that I don't thing Harry knows Gabrielle is writing to me, which very much goes against the impression I had of how their bond works.

Harry's letter was his usual brief missive, more or less a list of facts. I had tried to inspire him with my own letters in the past, filled with observations and personal thoughts, but he either didn't care, or wasn't aware of the differences between our letter writing abilities.

Still, there was a lot of good to be said for Harry Potter.

A lot of good indeed.

I was again temped to skip straight to free time, but really, work before pleasure and all that.

Gabrielle's letter was troubling, but not in an overt way, she clearly wasn't dangerous or anything like that, and I could tell she would rather die than ever hurt Harry, but still, something niggled at the back of my thoughts while reading it.

I'm still not sure why my alert was being hit, Gabrielle had after all made a real attempt to be friends with me, whether for her own sake or Harry's I'm not sure, but either way we had bonded with mutual tutoring. I helped her with Defense Agains the Dark Arts, Herbology, and Transfiguration, and she tutored me in French and even showed me a thing or two about Charms, and some VERY advanced Arithmancy.

I re-read the letter and resisted the urge to correct her English with my wand.

Dear Hermione

How are you doing how is your winter break progressing so far? I hope you are having fun and are not too lonly without Harry! I know how adictive he can be and how much fun you two have together. Really I just like knowing how much joy he brings you. It is a wonderful thing no? To know youre mate brings such joy to the world. )

That is why I am writing to you see? You are importent to Harry and Harry is importent to me so that means you are importent to me as well. The included book is one I thought you would like. I know you apreciate learning something knew and that book is one you will not find in any bookstore or library in England. It is from my Grandmothers private library and yes I asked permmission to lend it to a friend.

I remember Harry telling me you too had discussed older out of use magic and wanting to know more about Veela magic as well. Well this books is about both! The books is about Veela based ritual magic and I also know ritual magic was once practiced in England as well.

Part of sending you this is slightly selfish thought there is magic in there I want to use for Harrys Birthday present next July specifically the two person stuff (I think you will probably benefit as well) and I think it will take some time to figure out how the stuff in the book works. Because of that please dont tell Harry anything I want it to be a surprise.

Love, Gabrielle

P.S. You should reply in French to practice!

I smiled, and made a mental note to find my English to French dictionary which was still in the unordered though neatly stacked expanded book trunk, which fit inside my normal trunk. Of course this would mean I couldn't reply right away, at least not in the time I had allotted myself, so instead I would take care of the book. Gabrielle had in fact sent it shrunk so it would be light enough for an owl, and I couldn't un-shrink it here. If I had been at Grimmauld Place or the Burrow I could have probably gotten away with it, but no. Stupid trace, it always made summer homework so much more difficult.

It would mean a trip to Diagon Alley, where my magic would be lost in the crowd, and I could always pick up some potions ingredients I was running low on. Professor Snape's homework didn't require actual brewing to complete, but it made it easier, and the heat regulator on the stove worked just as well as a variable heat charm.

Mum and Dad worked all day at their practice so they weren't home, and it was a simple matter of flagging down the Knight Bus (a few low powered and unobtrusive charms were legal according to the Reasonable Use act for Underage Magicals including Lumos and Point Me with out being in direct danger).

The Knight Bus was its usual bumpy uncoordinated ride, and surprising myself by not vomiting I exited outside the Leaky Cauldron. If Fred and George's shop was open I'd ask them about using the other half of a Puking Pastil to settle my stomach, and I wondered briefly if they'd ever thought of the medicinal potential for some of their candies. Would a Nosebleed Nougat fix a regular old nosebleed?

Thinking ahead I had changed some of my gold for Pounds for use over Christmas but not all, so I was able to skip Gringott's and head straight to the Apothecary.

There still weren't very many people out, and most had that same air of worry present when Harry, the Weasley's and I had gone shopping for start of term, and I was glad I had brought my plain black Hogwarts cloak to wear over my so called Muggle-clothes. I resented it, but in times like these it was not wise to stand out needlessly, especially alone. WIth the hood up I was as anonymous as anyone else.

Once at Wheezes I found that, while busier than any other store in the Alley, was still empty enough to allow Fred and George to fixate on me immediately.

"Hermione dear! What beings you to our neck of the woods?" said one.

"Rather thought you'd be at the Burrow," said the other.

I hummed, "yes well, me and your brother aren't really getting on at the moment."

"Or getting off much to Ron's chagrin I'm sure," said Fred. I was sure it was Fred, he was always slightly more blunt that George with his jokes.

I blushed slightly much to my dismay, though I also found my new Harry inspired confidence allowed me to reply with, "oh, Ron's been getting off plenty, I mean you must have heard of Lavender and dear Won-Won?" I finished with what I thought was a wicked smile.

The twins grinned like Christmas might as well have been tonight, "She calls him Won-Won?" George asked with glee.

"Oh yes, and I'm sure Ginny can give you more dirt than I can. I usually leave the room when they're trying to suck one another's face off. Rather disgusting actually," then added in a speculative tone, "sort of like two hyenas tried to eat each other."

After laughing uproariously (and lets be honest it always feels good to make Fred and George laugh) Fred looked me inquisitively, "how come you're so calm about this?"

"I beg your pardon?"

"Look," said George, "we all know you and Ron drive each other up a wall, and I for one always thought it was sexual tension."

I managed not to blush.

"Hell," Fred said taking up after George, "we even had money riding on it."

This time I did blush, "you bet on us!"

They laughed, of course they had, they'd bet on anything.

George spoke, "Of course we did, bet on everybody actually. We called Ginny breaking it off with Dean, we lost when Ron hooked up with Lavender of course, and there's still the bet riding on Harry and Ginny-"

"You bet on your own sister!?"?"

Fred answered, "oh yeah, mind you that was more based on how obstinate Ginny is. Rather takes after us," he wiped a fake tear from his eye, "sweet girl, we bet Lee twenty galleons she'd get her claws into him by the end of seventh. Long term bet that one, but we still say she has a shot."

"Yeah," said George, "no one holds a grudge longer than little GIn-Gin, so we can only assume the same for everything else."

I made a noncommittal hum, I wasn't about to betray Ginny's trust in me by giving anything away to the two most likely to blackmail her. "How much did you bet on me and Ron?"

"Ten Galleons, and don't change the subject," Fred shot in.

George finished, "you were in a right state for weeks after the yule-ball, and a little birdie told us you cursed our brother dearest few weeks ago."

"I suppose Lavender blabbed about that then?"

"Don't change the subject, you're way more cheery than we expected, hell we weren't expecting to see you at all?"

"Oh! That reminds me, does Puking Pastils and Nosebleed Nougat work on regular old nosebleeds and upset stomachs?"

George got a shrewd look, "never tried it to be honest, why?"

"I rode the Knight Bus here, and my constitution doesn't really agree with it. Same with Gringotts's carts, though I didn't have to stop there today thank god."

Fred looked excited, "well have to test that out then! Merlin George, we're already selling to the Ministry, why not Mungo's too or put together a first aid kit or something, shrinking, unsummonable, the works."

"Like a field medic kit, I bet the Auror's would love that!"

"Oh, and Hermione, don't think you distracted us at all, we were carefully and subtly leading to asking you who you're shacking up with?"

I spluttered and George talked over me, "Right, see, we figured you'd be all subdued and sad over Ron, but instead you're annoyed and slightly vindictive, a state of mind we're very, very familiar with I assure you-"

"And let's just say you walk like a woman now."

"I beg your pardon!?"

Fred put his arm around George, "We Weasley's... we're salt of the earth you see-"

"And no one like girls more than us-"

"and girls rarely like others more than us-"

"and few are better than us."

"Stop that, you're giving me a headache," I asked, they didn't.

"Let's just say we've gotten very good at scoping out girls."

"Who will and who wont-"

"and especially which Muggle girls will go mad for a few amazing magic tricks," they grinned wolfishly.

I wondered if they practiced their double speak, "and?"

"And, women who've had their brains shagged out walk a certain way."

My face flamed in embarrassment, and of course they would see that as admittance, so I turned in a huff and started walking to the entrance. They jogged in front of me.

"Sorry Hermione, it's just you've spent so much time at the Burrow we think of you as family, and we tease family."

"Forgive us?" Fred added with over-wide eyes and a trembling lip.

"We'd 'ave said the same thing to Ginny."

"Well, I'm an only child so I'm not so used to it, and thank you for the family comment," I replied in a bit of a huff, my face was still flaming and I wanted out.

"So now that Hermione is calmed down, we can think of who's in charge of getting rid of her stress"

"Hmmm yes brother-of-mine, and you know what? I can only think of one person?"

"Reeeeeeeally? I can only think of one person as well."

"Harry of course," they said together.

I managed not to react, a first, I was getting better at this, and decided to deflect their guess with perceived insult, "oh and what's that supposed to mean, only one person?"

They both lost their smiles, good.

"We didn't mean it like that, I'm sure there's plenty of guys out there wanting a crack at that ar-"

"What we really meant Fred, was that Harry would be the only one good enough for you."

Good answer, I thought, they probably were very good with girls. Pity they were two years older and out of school, they had the same well-built farm-boy charm as Ron. Of course, they were entirely to un-serious to really contemplate anything. "Well, I think I'll leave you two to your blind assumptions. Goodbye."

"Later Hermione and here," George tossed me a wrapped sweet, "Puking Pastil, purple end is the one you want. Let us know if it helps."

I smiled in thanks and left the shop. They were a lot of fun in short durations, but I had quite enough of their surprising insightfulness, and reminded myself not to judge them based on my experiences with Ron. Ginny after all was rarely as thick-headed as Ron, and only when she was really, really angry.

It was then I remembered the book was still shrunk, and realized that one of the twins could easily dispel it so I wouldn't have to break the law.

When I asked George he tapped it while it rested in my palm and quickly grew to size. I took one glance at the title: Sensual Magicks before slapping it to my chest to hide it from George.

He looked askance and asked me what book it was.

"Never mind that, I'll see you later," I said hurriedly, already stuffing the book into my bag and leaving the store at a brisk pace. Gabrielle surely hadn't sent me that kind of book? Oh, well, I suppose she probably would have, she was hardly inhibited. Either way I would wait until I was quite alone for another look at it. Maybe there would be diagrams, and I allowed myself a sly smile at the thought.

The Pastil helped too much. It rather felt like my stomach had disappeared, and the faint hunger pangs I had been having disappeared. After a few minutes I became very nauseous and vowed never to be a test subject for the Twins ever again.

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After a quiet dinner with Mum and Dad (Mum had removed two impacted molars today) they retired to bed and I stayed awake intending to go over the book Gabrielle had sent me in the privacy of my room.

Sensual Magicks, there was no author, and a quick look at the index showed it was simply a list of spells, all requiring two or more people up to twelve. There were only twenty two total spells for two people, and most of them were sexual.

And there were pictures... goody.

It actually had a bit in common with the Kama Sutra which was available at my public library. I had never checked it out, too embarrassed, but I had looked at it way back in the stacks where I'd be secluded and hear a librarian coming to hide it.

I looked back at the index, there was a bell curve it seems, something to do with the Arithmantic properties of the spells I'm sure, but the number of spells that could be achieved with more people worked on a bell curve. With three people there were thirty spells, with four there were thirty two. Six and seven people were the largest with forty two apiece, and twelve people, down at the bottom again with twelve total spells. Interesting that, I'd have to work out the Arithmancy of these spells at some point if they weren't too complicated.

Gabrielle had mentioned the two person spells for Harry so I looked at the first one. It was a spell to briefly merge two people's magic during coitus. It forged an emotional bond between the two subjects, and allowed for various things, like wand compatibility and a merging of skills. It also resulted in an hour long shared orgasm, a side effect of what was basically a spell forcing your the magic inside of you to have an orgasm. There was a lovingly detailed moving ink and pastels portrait of a Witch and Wizard entwined around each other writhing in ecstasy. It managed to be both tasteful and also rather hot.

Bloody hell magic was fantastic.

The pleasure aside, I wondered briefly if I could learn Parsel from Harry if we did this, and like that it was going on my list, after Gabrielle of course if it was one of the spells she wanted to use for Harry's birthday. I couldn't actually add it now, because the list was wiped blank when I wasn't using it, and I'd left it blank for over holiday. It wouldn't be good to have my Mum stumble over it. They trusted me and mostly left me to my own devices, but would definitely have something to say about a list with things like oral giving and oral receiving marked off, and a slew of other things far outside my parents comfortable sheltered view of the world.

I turned to spell number two. It was called the Purification ritual. Oh, sixty-nine-ing, lovely. Harry and I had only taken turns so far, but that did look like fun, and with the ritual it would cycle our magic or something, through each other (i'd have to investigate that, I'd never heard of anything approaching direct manipulation of a person's magic before). The benefits were a little vague, something about purifying one's magic, though no mention of what impurities may exist, this also warrants further investigation.

I flipped towards the back, the Purification Ritual referenced a twelve person version, and I just wanted to look at the diagram. I gasped, like all magical illustrations it moved. Lying in a circle were eleven men and women with their mouths glued to the adjacent persons sex, twitching around on the floor, and in the middle a woman lay on her back, clearly writhing in pleasure. The description said:

While eleven casters cycle their magic through one another in a great chain, the cleansing pleasure of all bonded flow into the subject acting as the focus of the spell, purifying their magic and cleansing most ailments.

So what, the person in the middle feels eleven acts of oral sex all at once? And gets healed? This was almost too good to be true. I immediately wondered if it would work on Lyncanthropy, and then realized the reality of actually performing this spell with Professor Lupin.

A little green I closed the book. Remus wasn't bad looking, for being old, but still, bit too much kindly uncle to think that way, and it's not like I can even name ten other people I'd be willing to have sex with. That list was only one person long at the moment.

Still, worthy of investigation. If I could establish a rule or spell property independent of the ritual itself, it could lead to alternative ways to activate the same effect.

I paged back to the two person spells. The third spell for two people had the Witch and Wizard in the lotus position, with the WItch sitting astride the Wizards legs and wrapped around his waist. They were both upright with their arms wrapped around each other gazing into the other's eyes and breathing, deep and slow, in unison, while chanting. I took a moment to watch the way the Witch's breasts swelled exaggeratedly pressed as they were against the Wizard's chest before reading the effects of the spell.

This one would allow the subjects to enter a kind of trance or limbo where they would exist inside their own shared mind-space, where minutes could seem like days, in a kind of shared dream. I sighed at the implications and closed my eyes to briefly imagine myself and Harry in a place like that.

I really was smitten with the boy, but, I always was really. It was interesting how having sex fell into the same ball of warmth I held for Harry in my heart. He was in every way my best friend, and it just seemed so natural to be with out barriers. There was no stress involved, just fun, fun with my best friend.

And boy could he kiss...

I closed the book suddenly, thoroughly worked up I decided to start free time early. I padded silently to the door and opened it as quietly as I could and stuck my head out into the dark hall. The faint rumbling of my Dad snoring greeted me, and knew that my parents must both be asleep, as my Mum would always prod my Dad when he snored if she was still up.

Closing the door just as silently and walking back over to my desk I grabbed two pillows and stuffed one under the door and the other on top of the modem connected to my computer.

I worried a bit at the sound of the fan starting but I'd done this before and my own nervousness made everything seem louder, especially the harsh tones of the modem dialing beneath the pillow I used to muffle it.

My parents had been using a computer down at their practice for a number of years now, there had been no reason to have one in the house until last year. Last summer I had been introduced for the first time to the World Wide Web. It was absolutely fascinating, there were hundreds of thousands of web sites from all around the world from major corporations and banks to simple flashy fan pages created by one person.

There were also lots of pictures of cats which had distracted me for over an hour before I realized that I had been staring at pictures of other people's cats for over an hour.

Though I still made my way to the public library at least once a week (I happen to like libraries) I no longer had to make the trip daily to do as much research as I wanted while at home. It was dreadfully easy to keep up to date on all things Muggle with a computer and my parents had been ever so kind to buy me one last summer as part of my reward for getting so many O.W.L.s.

However I think I'm underselling just how educational the internet was.

It was in fact very educational about many other things. Like all things I like to research and being a fourteen year old girl lends itself to some very different kinds of research than my school studies.

I had seen a copy of Playwizard once, and it was actually rather tame, more glamour shots than anything. There was occasional nudity, but not much and there wasn't even an equivalent for women in the Wizarding world. Honestly, how sexist is that? In many ways magic was a great equalizer among the sexes, there had been after all women Headmaster's of Hogwarts and women as Minister for Magic, but there was still a surprising amount of sexism present. True, it was mostly among pure-blood idealists, but still.

Muggles on the other hand...

There were few inhibitions on the internet I found. People seemed to take the anonymity seriously and took it to extremes. There was a lot of ugly behavior in chat rooms and forums, but there was also a lot of honesty, though not a comforting honesty.

There was also a disconcertingly large volume of pornography, mostly for men, or at least most of which did nothing for me. I did manage to find a lot of naked pictures of men, not doing anything, just standing there nude. I found it fascinating comparing body shape, and trying to find what I did and did not find attractive.

There was of course the penises. They all seemed rather... large and it had in fact been quite a relief to find Harry wasn't so similarly endowed. He was by no means small, and it certainly felt large when it was inside of me, but he was not even close to the apparently selected for the size of their penis models that existed on the internet.

I had also found a rather surprising fascination with rope bondage, which was where I headed to now, to a favorite site of mine. It was nothing more than a directory of pictures in a column of text. Each link would show a picture of someone tied up somehow. Men and Women were trussed up in all manner of rope and cuffs and chains, and they all looked so beautiful to me.

Particularly the men, the way their muscles swelled against rope, or stretched if pulled taut. It was gloriously easy to transpose Harry's in their place. I definitely had to get him to let me tie him up after break. I wanted to experiment on him, at my leisure, and find all the places on his body that made himcrazy. Our last time together had been overwhelming, and truth be told he did overwhelm me in the moment, many moments in fact. Every time I told myself before hand that I would keep a cool head, that I was going to focus on him this time, and then he'd be kissing me, and his hands would be everywhere and and it's like my mind would vanish, replaced with a body that just wanted more, a cunt wanting to be filled, a mouth wanting to be kissed, and a body wanting to be held and fondled, joyous in my partner's obvious exuberance at my simple aesthetic charms.

I wanted to tie him up and have my way with him, at my own pace, and see how loud I could get him to scream, he had given me sly looks ever since our first time in the boy's locker room after practice and I wanted to balance the scales so to speak. I also wanted to keep my head through an entire encounter. I didn't like losing control like that as much as I may have enjoyed it in the moment. Truth be told I wanted to be above all else a confident lover. A seductress. Not a slag mind you, I'm not loose, but I wanted to feel sexy and powerful. All my heroes were strong confident women, who achieved great things and allowed no one to look down on them. I always liked to imagine them then taking their lovers in hand with a look that said I know all the things you'll enjoy most and I'm going to spend the night doing them, enjoy the ride of your life, and the look I'd get in return.

I clicked through the next few pictures with one hand while the other played with my nipples. They were aching hard now and I stopped to stare a bit at a picture of a woman on her knees, eyes closed and a cock in her mouth. Her hands were bound behind her back and she wore a collar around her neck and I immediately thought of Gabrielle. When I had kissed her I really had just been doing it to kick Harry a bit of a kick in the trousers, but I had gotten lost in it. There was something so deeply sexual about her. She knew exactly what she wanted and encouraged Harry extensively, and I envied her surety. I opened my mouth biting back a squeak when I pinched my nipple and a jolt went straight through my stomach to clit. It seemed to swell in response to my pinch and a shifted, pressing my thighs together relishing the slickness I know felt as I used my legs to shift the lips of my pussy against each other.

I like to prolong this as much as possible, no sense rushing through, the build was often as much fun as the climax itself if done right.

I used both hands to squeeze my breasts after clicking to the next picture; a man lay face up on a bed arms and legs together and bound, very tightly, to the head and foot of the bed. He was stretched taught and the muscles of his chest and stomach were frankly glorious.

A woman lay between his legs with her head mere inches from his cock, all hard and red. Her tongue was extended and the tip just touched the tip of his cock. The photographer had managed to capture an image of the man mid climax, so there was a shock white strand of semen shooting up in an arc from him, the man's face was a rictus of pleasure or pain, it was hard to tell. I wondered if she had done nothing but tickle that tiny spot Harry had told me was the most sensitive. I wondered how long it would take for Harry to come if I did that, and how torturously slow it would be, and what kind of noises he would make, trapped between pleasure and need. The woman's face enraptured me, and I saw in it that perfect blend of confidence and sensuality, this was her man and she knew exactly what to do to him.

I squeezed my breasts again and relished the sensation. It really was quite delightful, like an ache I didn't know I had was being soothed. The attention Harry paid my breasts frankly amused me. There were times he became completely fixated and I had to tap him on the shoulder to get his attention. Yes I had been topless at the time, but still.

That being said when he used his mouth and hands on them it was electric, and I was more than happy to let him play as long as wanted, the things he did with his lips and tongue often left me weak in the knees, even if I was lying down.

The fourth picture was of the same couple, this time the woman had her breasts wrapped around the man's cock. His head was stretched up to watch and he looked mesmerized. I smiled as I realized my breasts were a bit bigger than the woman in the picture. I imagined doing this to Harry, sure he would appreciate it, but not thinking I'd get much out of it. Maybe I'd do it as a treat every once in a while.

Deciding to stay on this image for a while I reached down beneath my pajama pants and finally touched myself. With a content sigh I let the fingers of my right hand trail lightly around the very edge of my fanny, just teasing the opening and spreading the wetness I was producing around a little. My clit was throbbing now, begging for attention but I skipped it, this picture was hot but not exactly what I was looking for.

The next picture however, was. Or rather, I should say pictures. It was the same couple (I was quickly becoming a fan of them) but this was animated. Just six pictures in a loop (and it took forever to load), but she was riding the man now, her hands splayed on his chest, her head back in a silent scream while the man shook and struggled against his bonds.

My breath caught when it first loaded and I transported myself, imagining it was me riding Harry while he was bound to a bed, unable to reach up and fondle those breasts he was so fond of. I imagined him staring in want at them as they bounced wildly with my shagging, my head thrown back so he couldn't even look at my face, just my breasts taunting him with his confinement. I slipped my first two fingers inside and stroked them in and out, exploring the sensitive walls of my pussy, finding the spots that sent shivers down my spine and made my whole backside clench up and focusing on them. I like to explore every inch thoroughly and make mental notes about the different sensations I was eliciting. My other hand left the almost frantic fondling my chest to focus on my clit, now on fire, an almost painful throbbing, it felt enormous and seemed to draw focus from everything else. First contact with it sent a spasm through me, forcing my back to arch and I was unable to completely silence my whimper, trembling at the waves of pleasure roiling up through my body from my center, up to my nipples and across my throat, flushed and sweaty with effort.

My eyes closed involuntarily and I imagined taunting Harry, I'd moan and shriek and cry out, not stifle myself as I had to now, and I'd beg and whine about how hard my nipples were and how much I wanted them squeezed and licked and sucked, and it would drive Harry mad with longing. I stroked in and out of myself at a furious pace, as fast as I could go with out the soft wet sucking noises I was making getting too loud, while my left hand circled my clit over and over, and delicious friction that I stopped when I got to close to coming and started when I plateaued back to where my right hand left me, a soaking throbbing mess with a bubble in my pelvis that ached to be popped, but I held back knowing the longer I let it build the stronger it would be at the end.

Harry always stopped moving when he came, saying it was too sensitive to move, and while there was always some involuntary jerking and thrusting that made him groan and gasp he would usually pull me to him tight limiting my movement. I imagined him finally coming as I rode him, unable to stop my movements as I fucked him straight through his orgasm. How hard would he buck I wondered? How loud would he scream out. I remembered our first time, and the way he simply wouldn't stop when I came over and over. It was overwhelming and all I could do was clench and scream and I wanted to see if I could do that to him.

With this little fantasy I knew this would be the end, I didn't stop this time and rode to the edge fast, arching in my seat and sucking on the two fingers which had been buried in my pussy to silence my moans and whimpers while I stroked my clit hurriedly through my come.

When the waves of sensation ebbed and I settled back in my chair with a very satisfied sigh I opened my eyes back to the eternally screwing couple. After wiping myself off with a couple of tissues I went back to the main directory and noted the name of the pictures I had been viewing.

I mulled over that, and decided to see if I could find them. I used a search engine and after looking up the combination of John, Jessica, and BDSM I found them. It was their own personal site, and they sold videos of themselves having sex, but had a number of pictures up for free. The real treat were the stories. The man, John, was a writer, and he liked to write out descriptions of him and his wife's sessions. I glanced at one and liked what I saw and knew I would return to this site later, I'm a big fan of some well written smut. Most of it is utter rubbish, but some really light my wand up.

For now I was done and satisfied, and saw that I had only spent forty minutes of my free time. I thought about returning to my homework, but a wave of lethargy overwhelmed me, and confident that I was well ahead for the winter break work, decided to wander aimlessly about the internet for a bit.

Nothing sexy for now, but I liked to wander forums and chat rooms, and read random articles about science and technology. I felt it kept me connected to my roots by reading up on the Muggle world and interacting with other muggles, even if it wasn't face to face. There were a number of science and philosophy forums I like to post and debate on, and there was even a chess forum with some very nice and helpful members who advised me on my game; I still held out hope of beating Ron one day.

Now however, I didn't want anything so cerebral. I had a rather guilty pleasure among the things I researched (all this related to sex not withstanding) I liked to investigate what Muggle's thought about magic. There was actually a great fascination with it, Muggle literature and myth was rife with it, and they had just as many stories about Merlin and fairies and elves as the Magical World did. Rather more actually, it is my theory that the reality of the Magical World is already to bizarre and fantastical there just isn't that great a call for fiction. There is some of course, but much of it is children's stories that hold no interest to me, or plays (Hogwarts actually used to have student perform plays, but they stopped due to a father sordid and accident prone performance during the earlier years of Dumbledore's Headmastership, full details of this can of course be found in Hogwarts a History).

There is also the occasional radio drama, but for the most part there's little fiction. I honestly think that's a little sad, some of my favorite books are novels. In any case, there were plenty of Muggle's who not only believed in magic, but pretended to practice it. Self professed Witches making potions out of pine brambles and peat moss and casting spells with candles and chalk on the floor. It was all in all quite funny, and I loved reading all the ridiculous things Muggle's came up with and called magic.

I amused myself reading about a spell to make someone fall in love with you. It involved burning crow's feathers and incense, with candles arrayed around a pentagram at precise points, and a poorly written chant in latin. All quite un-magical and absurd. I laughed quietly to myself at the thought of people actually trying this, knowing someone must have, and how disappointed they'd be the next day when their crush failed to act any differently.

It was easy to imagine lonely shy girls trying this, I mean really, when actually presented with real magic many I knew personally had thought about using a love potion at one time or another like such a thing were casual, terrifying if you ask me. I know Harry was scared.

I remember one time back before fifth year at the World Cup, Ginny had made some off-hand comment about a love potion and I had shot her down immediately. She claimed her mother told her a story of using a love potion on her father, but I had pressed and mentioned venomously, "what if Malfoy used one on you," she had turned white and vowed never to even think about it again, and while I had left the matter settled, it still made me squirm a bit at how casual Magicals were about what was little more than rape.

Yes, there was a lot of things wrong with the Magical World.

Things that, of course would have to change, and change they would, after Voldemort was done away with and Harry's burden was over. House Elf rights would have to wait until after my best friend was safe.

Trying to lift my sudden melancholy, I discovered something rather startling. Hogwarts had a website. It was a plain white page with black text, and simply listed Hogwarts as a boarding school for exceptional children, no address, but there was a phone number with a Scotland area code. Hogwarts was also listed in the national directory and even came up in a couple of hits on forums.

Intrigued I clicked the first link, but it turned out to be nothing more than someone complaining about their best friend being away for school and mentioning the name in passing, and later posts didn't even mention it except to make a joke about the name.

I wondered who the friend could be and went back to the search page to click the next link.

This one was more of the same, except that reply post had a link outside of the forum with the message 'you mean this Hogwarts?'. Knowing there was no way I could not click that link I did so hurriedly, and felt my jaw go slack when the page finally loaded. Right at the top and center there was a photograph of Hogwarts, but it looked dilapidated and crumbling, and there was even a sign on the gates declaring the castle condemned and a danger for falling rocks.

I realized this must be what Muggles saw when they looked at Hogwarts, and wondered that there was enough information to connect the actual site of Hogwarts to the name, so much so that some random Muggle had photographed it and made a website about it. Below the picture there was a block of text I read excitedly.

-
For most the name Hogwarts means nothing, though a very small amount of people know it as a very exclusive boarding school for exceptional children. There is a website and a telephone number which I have called, though there is no live operator, only a recording and an answering machine inviting people to leave an address to receive a brochure. I utilized this service with a public address (you will understand my caution later) and received said brochure. It was as plain as their website, and held no detail, only a slightly longer description of the school with vague and unspecific facts about positive learning environments, and an accelerated specialized curriculum. It stated in no uncertain terms that admission to Hogwarts was never by request, that you were either offered a place at their school or not, applications would not be accepted.

While this may seem extreme, it is by no means unique, though most schools have an open admission process, some elite schools operate this way, however other schools can be visited...

As it turns out, while a number is listed there is not one address listed for Hogwarts in any district in Scotland. Not one. Believe me I tried finding one for months and could not. The above picture is based on many clues I have come across over the years, and is I believe the supposed site of the school begging the question, where is the real school located?

I know for a fact that this place exists. Nearly twenty years ago, I was a young father, with a beautiful ten year old boy who was very excited to start secondary school with his best friend and neighbor, the child of the couple living two doors down. Imagine the dismay when he finds out his best friend will not be attending school with him, but will instead be attending a boarding school in northern Scotland for nearly ten months out of the year and only be home for summers.

With promises of always being friends my son's best friend left and returned changed. He was more energetic and fun than I ever remember and I wondered about the school and wondered if I could perhaps get my son invited. I could of course not do so, though why will become clear later.

Over the years my son's friend grew more and more distant, and lost all interest in television and films, didn't care about any of the sports he and my son used to be fans off. They hung out less and less over the summers and near the end I swear he had an almost permanent grimace, and seemed quite paranoid most of the time. He also took to carrying around a short stick everywhere he went, and I once caught him pointing it at the neighborhood cat for a good minute late at night from my bedroom window.

His posture was tense, and he didn't relax until the cat stalked away. At the time I paid it no mind, then my son died.

I gasped, nearly twenty years ago would have put this story firmly during the worst point of Voldemort's first rise to power, just before Harry defeated him for the first time. I kept reading, sweeping across the page as fast as I could.

-
I remember waking up hearing shouting, looking out my window and having my attention brought to something bright green in the sky, and then nothing. I don't remember going back to bed but I woke up in it in the morning and stepped out to get the morning paper to see police surrounding my son's friend's house, where he had been staying the night. I ran in my slippers dropping my paper in my haste and leapt the tape barrier only to be grabbed by two constables, I don't remember screaming, but I was told I kept shouting "my son was in that house" over and over until I was led away by an elderly officer, clearly in charge and he took me by the shoulders and asked me what my son looked like.

I watched his face fall as I described him, and i barely heard his sorrowful declaration that everyone in the house was dead. My son, his friend, his friend's parents, his sister even. It wasn't until a week later the official report was released. There wasn't a mark on any of them, they all seemed to have up and died, time of death was within twenty minutes of one another. The only explanations anyone could come up with was simultaneous brain aneurisms by an unknown cause.

A year passed and interest died down for everyone not directly affected. It wasn't until the one year anniversary to be exact, I was standing outside the house where it happened, no one had bought it and it was currently in escrow (guess no one wants to buy a house where five people mysteriously died). I was just standing there staring at the house where my son had died when a young man wearing a bright red cloak stepped up to me.

I have written the conversation down as best I can remember:

"Did you know the NAME REDACTED?"

"Their Son was friends with my Son, he was staying over that night."

"I'm so sorry. I was good friends with NAME REDACTED at school."

"Hogwarts?"

He looked a little surprised, "that's right"

"It was so close to the end you know? Days even, two days later and it was over."

"What was over?"

"Oh, but you wouldn't know would you? Don't worry about it, it's nonsense."

The conversation died after that, neither of us had much to say, and it was clear he was there for the same reason I was, to honor someone's memory and I didn't really know how to respond to the last thing he said. Before he left he pulled out a pocket watch with too many hands on it and then walked away with a sad smile and a short wave. I waved back, but now I was curious.

He had made no mention of the odd clothes he was wearing, in fact he didn't seem to be aware of how much he stood out, and when I glanced over to see where he had gone after a moment he was simply gone. Yes, there was something up with this school, and from what the young man had said he knew some detail about the circumstances of the family and my sons death. I recognized something else in his sadness, there was no despair there, no unbearable sense of why, no mystery. That was a man grieving in a different way, a way I recognized, the same way my father grieved for his friends after World War Two.

I will not bore you with the details of my journey, but I eventually found myself to the supposed location of Hogwarts. I was, compelled not to stay. I do not know why or how, but I was only there long enough to snap a single picture, before I had to use the bathroom rather desperately. The second time I approached I suddenly remember I had not phoned my Mother in quite some time. The third time I had to call my accountant. I did not try a fourth time. I am hesitant to list any of my theories as to why this happens, I do not want you to think I am crazy. I do not believe in mind control rays or hypnotism or anything of the like, but I am at a loss to explain why I could not approach this castle, with other mundane things seemingly sprouting from nothing and demanding my attention. If I had not been so scared of my uncontrollable reaction to approaching the castle, I would have started marking the path up to it to see if it was at a specific distance I suddenly had to go do something else.

As it was I decided to play the safe route and investigate from afar. My first break was getting my hands on the Ministry of Education's student registry. I'm afraid I may have done this illegally, hence the anonymity of this website. In any case, I found that every student's file for the last forty years lists schools and basic marks for every stage of education. After several months of tedious work I managed to make a database of Hogwarts attendees.

I discovered a lot from this, but the most important discovery was that Hogwarts lasted seven years making it easy to cross reference census data. As it turns out, every single Hogwarts graduate drops of the face of the earth. I have yet to find a single Hogwarts graduate paying rent somewhere, with an active motorist license, with a wedding registry, or any official documentation beyond a birth certificate and in some cases a death certificate. None of them had even paid any taxes and didn't appear on any lists for municipal databases.

I did manage to find one person who had attended Hogwarts for five years before dropping out. I told them I was a reporter doing a story comparing boarding schools and had my questions happily answered. The student's answers were distressingly vague, and he even expressed some distress at not being able to remember fine details, just vague recollections. He did remember the people, he had many friends that he had not spoken to in many years, but details, and coursework- nothing.

I started to have nightmares about memory erasers, undistinguished men in black suits with lights that made you forget things.

This is where I hit a wall, I tried talking to relatives of current and former students but got nothing, and a few even seemed hostile. I am done, I am not over my son's death, and never will be, but I no longer have the energy to investigate this, it is beyond me, and something far larger and more significant. Too many things are smoothed over, and there are too many inconstancies being ignored to assume anything less than some sort of conspiracy or hidden group. Whatever it is I leave my thoughts and information at your disposal, and I'll even answer any questions you have at the email listed below.

Since I have posted this I have been contacted by others who have investigated Hogwarts or other schools in other countries with the same oddities, and have included links to those other pages, hopefully someone smarter and more capable than I can figure all this out.

The bottom of the page was a series of links to the other sites the writer mentioned. I was hooked, and looked at them all while my heart ached at the what the writer had gone through. I and any other magical would know of course, that they were probably killed with the Avada Kedavra curse, and the green light in the sky was probably a Dark Mark. I grumbled internally, his son was a muggle and was likely killed as an afterthought, with no significance, the boy who had attended Hogwarts the real target.

One site stood out in particular, it was a group dedicated to investigating what they believed was a vast conspiracy, a secret society trying to run the world in the background recruiting through various fake schools like Hogwarts and to my amazement Durmstrang, Beauxbatons, Salem, New Haven of Buenos Ares, and even Isis School of Magic and Sorcery in Egypt were mentioned as other so called "shadow schools".

I sat back stunned, parts of the theories on this site were far off, but some were surprisingly accurate. Just the fact that a semi-accurate list of the premier magical schools was impressive and a bit scary. I wondered if the various magical governments were even aware of the internet, let alone aware of some Muggles interest in the magical world, though they seemed to believe it was some sort of global conspiracy; though I suppose in some ways it was, albeit far from malicious as the people on this forum seemed to believe.

For the most part the Magical world separated itself from the rest of society out of fear. Muggles outnumbered Magicals hundreds of thousands to one plus or minus several thousand depending on the region. While the world used to be far less populated the ratio of Magical to Muggle has remained somewhat constant over the years barring Muggle or Magical exclusive wars or baby booms.

When Magicals and Muggles were aware of one another, not only were there less Magicals about, but they were often very reclusive individuals and often required trials or tasks of valor or honor or whatever quality the Magical in question valued to allow petitions to help from Muggles. This was mostly in an attempt to stave of the droves of Muggles wanting quick fixes to their problems, as Magicals were hounded thorough their entire lives, and as Muggles grew better and better at killing each other Magicals got scared and they left, never to reveal themselves to the Muggle populous again.

I've often thought about a future where Magical and Muggle society works together, but it seems far off and truthfully many of the reasons Magicals decided to hide are good ones. I'm honestly not sure if it could ever successfully happen, but I'm hopeful.

Deciding I needed to investigate this further I saved the addresses of the collection of sites discussing the "shadow school" conspiracy for later and turned off my computer. I had spent quite enough time and wanted to get an early start tomorrow so I could have breakfast with my parents before they left for work.

I settled down to bed on my side clutching a pillow to my chest. I quite enjoyed cuddling with someone to sleep. Having Harry hold me while we had slept had been brilliant and I vowed to do it more. Perhaps next near I'd be Head Girl and have a big old room all to myself, and nice big bed I'd enlarge and invite Harry and Gabrielle to join me in every once in a while. If I was really lucky Harry would make Head Boy, despite never being a prefect (this had happened two hundred and seven times in the history of Hogwarts, Harry's own father an example) and we'd both have private rooms so his absence wouldn't be noted, though he did have that link to Gabrielle's room, it would be quite aggravating to transport down to the third floor and then all the way back up to Gryffindor tower just to sneak up the girls staircase and get to to my room.

Of course, no one would notice if I wasn't sleeping in my dorm...

I clutched my pillow tighter and buried my face where my imagined cuddle partner's neck was. I remember sleeping quite innocently with Ginny at the world cup. It had been cold that night so we bundled up under both our blankets. Ginny had been shorter than me then, so she had pressed up against my back and I held her like giant teddy bear. Sweet really. I'm sure Harry would have made more a deal out of it, or any other boy for that matter, but boys are weird like that. No matter how cold they were there's no way I'd ever catch Harry and Ron cuddling, I mean I don't think I've ever even seen them hug, not like normal people, just one handed back slapping stupidity, like they have to make a hug halfway into a fight so they don't seem un-manly.

Honestly...

As I lay in bed begging my mind to turn off so I could fall asleep I mulled lazily about what I'd work on tomorrow. My potions work could honestly be finished tomorrow if I worked hard and long enough at it.

It was at this moment I had an epiphany.

The style of discovery used for Potions was as close as the Magical world got to scientific method. It was still woefully simplified, but the similarities were there. The reason for this I realized was that Potions was an extension of Alchemy as was Chemistry. Alchemy was one of the original magics along with elemental and ritual, and for Muggles Alchemy eventually turned into modern Chemistry.

So that meant they were parallel.

So if Chemistry and Potions were related perhaps the other physical sciences ran in parallel as well, and I could potentially use that similarity to achieve something new.

What were the parallels then? Charms was probably Physics, though most charms broke the rules of Physics quite soundly. Never the less, Charms were used to change physical properties like weight and mass and size, color and shape. Charms made things fly or stay put.

What was Transfiguration then. Perhaps genetics, something Muggles were only now starting to advance in, but no, inanimate objects could be transfigured, so perhaps Molecular Science, something I had never studied before.

Herbology was Horticulture and Arithmancy was Mathematics. So far I had failed to pair anything in Arithmancy with anything in Muggle math, but something told me I needed to read up on imaginary numbers before trying again.

The obvious choice on where to start was Charms. Of all the sciences my best subjects was Chemistry and Physics, so Charms was first as Potions was almost as far along as I thought I could merge the two at the moment. Charm though, I needed to run experiments, but how could I while I was at home.

Of course! The legal exception spells, I'd start performing experiments on them tomorrow, and I busied myself with reciting what those spells were. Reciting usually set me to sleep unless there was a test the next day.

Lumos
Nox
Point Me
Sparks
Ember
Lumos
Nox
Point Me
Sparks
Ember
Lumos...
Nox...yawn
Point...

.:~:._.:~:._.:~:._.:~:._.:~:._.:~:._.:~:._.:~:..:~:._.:~:._.:~:._.:~:._.:~:._.:~:._.:~:._.:~:.

"So Hermione dear, what did you learn in, oh what's the name I can never remember, Transmogrification?"

"No, Mum, it's Tranfiguration, and it's the magic of switch one thing to another, from one material to another like wood into glass, or from something inanimate into an animal, or the other way around."

"Oh yes," my Father suddenly interjected from behind his morning paper, "started with matches to needles wasn't it? And your Professor, the one who visited to explain things the first time, McGonagall, turned her desk into a pig didn't you say?"

I gushed, I loved McGonagall, exactly the kind of person I'd want to take after if I ever decided to teach, "Oh yes, she's brilliant, of course we didn't even start Transfiguring mammals until third year, and I'm only myself up to large rodents, but she's done some amazing work. She even Transfigured an entire giant chess set to be alive and thinking once, and it took the best chess player in Hogwarts to defeat it."

"I always like her," my Mother added, you know I've even had tea with her a few times when I, erm... Owled her about what books I should buy to provide the most support to a Muggle born Witch.

I liked that my Mum and I shared our love of books, truth be told I probably wouldn't be the bookworm I am today if I hadn't heard my Mum say "I'll go check a book" several times per day for my entire childhood. The house was filled with books, most belonging to my parents, but of course I had free license to use them. Most were read many times, but my Mum could never bare to throw out a book.

I was also silently amused at the way she tripped over anything Magical. She honestly tried very hard, but she was a bit bewildered still by Magic. She was quietly religious, no church every sunday, more a Christmas Easter follower, but I think her faith was important to her, and I think she felt Magic would drive that out.

It wasn't much of an issue as my Father was a consummate scientist, though of course Medicine was his focus. He was able to take my being a Witch in stride immediately after McGonagall proved magic was real to him by turning his favorite chair into a table and back and his reasoning remained staunchly, "I'm sure Magic has a perfectly reasonable scientific explanation, we just haven't figured it out yet."

Silently I agreed, but on the surface I objected, Magic seemed to spit in the face of even the most basic tenants of science, which led to a series of long enjoyable debates with my Father. My Mum on the other hand didn't like to participate. She had a very strong 'things are the way they are so why worry about it' mentality, that combined well with my Father's logic and practicality, but did not lead the kind of stimulating conversation I shared with my Father.

"Large rodents," Father said putting the paper down, "is that advanced?"

"Well, Transfiguration is divided into tiers of difficulty, it stars at one end with dead materials like metal and wood and glass, then moves up to more complicated shapes and decorations like a pin cushion into a teacup, then invertebrates, then small vertebrate mammals and amphibians and reptiles, then marine life, then large vertebrates, then finally Human Transfiguration."

"So you're right at the top then, just Humans to go?"

"That's right."

"Does that mean you could turn into a cat like McGonagall can?" my Mother asked.

"No, that's completely different though related. Human to animal Transfiguration turnes a Human into an Animal, one wouldn't remember being Human, and animal characteristics would take hold, the act of turning into an animal and keeping your Human brain is called being an Animagus or Animagical Magic. Once learned a Witch or Wizard no longer needs a wand to perform the transformation and can do so at will with no trouble at all, no pain, or discomfort aided in the fact that a Witch or Wizard can only be an Animagus of one animal, which is said to be the animal that most closely resembles the Animagus, in both looks and character. This is different than a Patronus which is also thought to be a visual extension of the character of the caster, but is affected by the memories used to conjure the Patronus, so for example, while Harry might have characteristics indicative of a Stag I'm sure the memories he's using are tied to his Father in some way, as his Father was an Animagus who turned into a stag, and Harry sees a connection to him through his Patronus, so he wouldn't necessarily become a stag as an Animagus."

My Mum smiled at me and sighed, confused I looked to my Father and saw a similar wistful smile, "what?"

"It just occurs to me," my Mum replied slowly, "that while you've changed a great deal, you've really not changed all that much. I've seen this same scene a hundred times when you were younger, chatting about your school studied. The only thing that's changed is the details, and that makes me very happy."

I laid my hand on my Mum's, "I love you Mum."

"I love you two dear, now you mentioned Harry's patronus, what was yours again?"

"An otter."

"Ha," my father barked, "of course."

"What of course?" My Mum looked curious.

"One of the few animals as at home on land as on the sea, very fitting don't you think?" he winked at me.

I blushed a bit, "yes well, you know I want to stay relevant in both worlds, there's a lot that can be done."

"We know dear," my Mum added, "I have no doubt you'll go on to great things after school.

I did not add the big 'if' I was thinking about. If I made it past the end of school.

"The other boy you never stop talking about, Ron right?" my Dad added cheekily with a calculating smile, "what's his patronus?"

"A jack russel terrier."

My Father harumphed, "so what, he's loyal and tends to drool?"

"Well, truthfully..." I thought back to how often he would start to drool a bit when presented with his favorite foods and managed not to laugh.

My last comment got a laugh from my Father and my Mum swatted him and told him to stop teasing, "seriously though Hermione," she asked, "how are the two boys in your life?"

My Dad grumbled at her turn of phrase but I ignored it, "Ron and I are in fight at the moment actually, see... I um... invited him to a Christmas part just before term ended."

My Dad was about to say something but my Mum interjected, "Oh Honey, at least they're the same age, it's not like Ron's three years older and inviting her to stay in another country for a week," my Mum finished with a stern look at me. As far as I was concerned this was ancient history, and despite the fact that I'd never actually intended to visit Victor that summer my parents had acted for a while as if I'd been asking permission.

"A few weeks before the party Ron started going out with this real trollop Lavender Brown."

"Hermione, language!"

"Sorry Mum, but really, she's awful, I've lived in the same dorm with her for the last five and a half years, all she cares about it boys and makeup and music and parties."

"Oh, reminds me of my first roommate at university," my Mum added, "And Harry? How's he doing?" Mum asked.

My face utterly betrayed me, and god had I wanted it not too, I had even practiced in a mirror knowing that eventually they'd ask after Harry, as one of the few people I actually wrote home about. They knew we were best friends, there were entire letters dedicated to Harry did this and Harry did that and how I had to help him yet again.

My Mum must have recognized the look immediately, but my Father was back to his newspaper, she got a shrewd look at then visibly let it go, no doubt to corner me later when my Father wasn't in earshot. I mumbled through my response, each word narrowing my Mum's eyes even further, "yes well, Harry is as well as can be with a madman after him. He's got a girlfriend now as well!" I added quickly.

"Oh, who?" My mum asked a little reserved, obviously wondering if I was about to say 'me', "A French girl named Gabrielle. You remember the Tri-Wizard tournament yes? Remember the contestant from Beauxbatons, the girl, Fleur Delacour?"

My Mum nodded and my Dad dropped his paper, "The Veela?" he asked.

My Mum shot a glare at him, "oh of course you remember that dear."

"Now now, she's a lovely young lady, hard to forget, have I told you I love you today?"

"She's was seventeen honey."

"Honeybee..." my Dad simpered, he only used Honeybee when he was in trouble, "you remember Hermione explaining, it's magical, it's not my fault."

Mum rolled her eyes and looked a bit put out so I forced past, "Fleur and Harry became friends during the tournament and more so when she got engaged to Ron's older brother Bill. Gabrielle is her little sister and she and Harry are together now."

"That sounds lovely dear," Mum added, a little confusion creeping in, probably wondering about her suspicions about my blush. Perhaps she would believe I was simply crushing on Harry, yes hopefully she wouldn't see past that when she inevitably confronted me later.

It turned out later was immediately after Dad left for work. As the general practitioner at their practice my Dad had to work more regular hours. As the on site surgeon Mum only had to be at work when she had to perform surgery. This was never the less usually every day, but allowed her to leave a bit later than Dad from time to time, though rarely early, as even if she finished she would keep her husband company until it was time go home. They had after all been able to trust me on my own since I was thirteen.

Almost as if on cue, after the sound of Dad driving to work faded away down the street, Mum confronted me, "alright Hermione, what's going on between you and Harry?"

I choked on the tea I was sipping after breakfast and nearly spilled it down my front, "what do you mean?"

"Hermione, I saw your face when I asked about Harry, goodness knows you're lucky your father didn't see, you turned red as a tomato."

I groaned and buried my face in my hands, and spoke through them, the lie I had thinking about attempting was far to flimsy to work, how did she just know? Honestly, mothers...

"We've," I started and had to clear my throat, "we've gotten... a lot closer recently."

"And what does closer mean?"

I squirmed, it was like being told I failed a class, even if it was Phys Ed, I hated feeling like this, the world out of my control, "we've um... expressed our friendship... physically."

I've never understood how my Mum could sound like she was yelling while not actually yelling, "Hermione you look me in the eye right now and tell me what you've been doing with Harry."

I looked up reflexively and swallowed thickly, "we've had sex Mum."

She looked away, embarrassed now, and it took her several false starts before she was able to say, "Hermione, I know we've never really talked much about this, I gave you that book when you turned twelve for just that very reason, I'm not very comfortable talking about these things, but if you need or want to talk about... sex... you can of course always come to me. I wouldn't ask your father though, you're still three years old to him."

"Thanks Mu-"

She talked over me, "I am however, a little concerned with the fact that from what you've said it sounds like Harry is cheating on Gabrielle with you."

"Oh no! It's not like that at all, Gabrielle knows and is completely fine with it!"

This got a horrified look from my Mum, "you mean, Harry really is dating Gabrielle while you and he- you mean that wasn't just a lie? It's not like those... I mean I saw a report on the news once about a bunch of married couples living together, but that was in London! I mean..."

"No, no, no of course not, it's far more complicated, I really should just explain, you see Harry and Gabrielle aren't exactly dating, they've been affected by a magical bond Gabrielle was able to create due to being part Veela. They're bound to each other, they share emotions and sensations. Apparently it's part of the nature of the bond that Harry wouldn't be bound by fidelity, and in fact Gabrielle encourages Harry not to be. I think..." I stopped, unsure if I wanted to admit this next bit, my Mum was quite straight laced, and this was the first time we'd ever even discussed sex outside of the one conversation the day after my twelfth birthday to hand me a book called "Becoming a Woman". In the end I decided that it was all or nothing, Mum seemed genuine in pushing past her discomfort, "well, I think Gabrielle likes boys and girls though I'm not sure if it's just Harry projecting through her, though on the other hand Harry hasn't started becoming attracted to boys at all, but Gabrielle is well... sweet on me I think, and because of the nature of the bond, she's well... in some respect she's had sex with me vicariously through her bond with Harry."

Mum actually blushed now, "have you... been doing things with Gabrielle as well?" she asked timidly.

I blushed again and her jaw dropped, I spoke quickly to allay her obviously wandering imagination, "we've kissed, once, and Harry wasn't there."

"But... it sounds like she wants to... and do you? Do you like girls to? I'm sorry, this all just sounds so sordid."

"Well, I suppose it is kind of."

"Are you at least being safe?"

"Oh Mum, there's no one I'm safer with than Harry. He's perfectly respectful, and yes while it would have been terribly romantic to wait until my wedding night as you and Dad no doubt wish, but lets be realistic, how many first relationships last, and I'm curious, and who better than with someone I know, beyond a shadow of a doubt only has my best interests at heart, and who loves me, and who I love. We are deeply good friends Mum, this is just an extension of that, and well... you and Dad have always encouraged me to experiment, and I can't think of a safer way to do so than Harry."

"We encouraged you to experiment for school, we never meant this."

"I know Mum, but I'm curious about everything, I can't help it. And yes, this is a bit sordid, but Harry won't kiss and tell, he's not like that. You don't need to worry about my reputation."

"Don't say that, things like this have a way of getting out, and didn't you say Harry is something of a celebrity in the Magical World?"

"Yes, he is, but he's also the most protected person the Magical World besides Voldemort I suppose, and he takes his privacy seriously. Also," I allowed myself a sly smile, "we've rarely been separated for the last five years so it's not like anyone thinks it odd that we spend so much time together. I'm sure there are already rumors abound, there was even an article written in the Prophet about me and Harry during the Tri-Wizard tournament. Of course nothing was happening then, and I was with Victor at the time and Harry was sweet on Cho, but rumors about me and Harry are old hat at Hogwarts."

"Hmmm, so you and Gabrielle have kissed have you, are you planning on experimenting with her as well? Or both of them?"

I blushed fiercely again, "Honestly, yes. I hope you don't think less of me-"

"Of course not Hermione, you know I only want what's best for you, and yes a part of me just wants to see you get married and have lots of babies, you me and you Father always wanted more children, it just wasn't meant to be, and I fully expect some grandchildren someday, after you've become queen of the world of course," she smiled and patted my hand, "just be discreet, and don't let Harry or Gabrielle talk you into anything you're not comfortable with,"

"They would never-"

"I know you trust them, just remember if someone tries to pressure you into anything, they're not worth worrying about, it just means they're selfish. I'm... I'm really not sure what else to say here, I'm not truthfully comfortable about talking with this, but I can deal with it because you're my daughter, but forgive me if I don't really want details. I just want to know you're safe and happy."

I hugged my Mum tightly, "I am Mum, I'm the happiest I've been in ages, and Harry is honestly the happiest I've ever seen him, though I can't be sure if that's me or Gabrielle-"

She actually snorted, "I imagine it's both of you, honestly, two girls, what that boy's ego must be like now."

I pulled away and shook my head, "no Mum don't you see, that's part of what makes Harry so special, he's the same as ever, and spends most of his time worrying about whether all this is alright or not. He's so put upon by everyone, and still even when life throws something so inexplicably wonderful, a girl literally being dropped in his lap, and he worries about the ethical implications almost to the point of annoyance, I honestly don't know how Gabrielle puts up with him, other than the fact that they'll feel each other's emotions for life."

"Well, that actually makes me feel better, you've never had a bad thing to say about Harry to me, and he sound like an honorable young man. If he makes you happy he makes you happy, and well... if Gabrielle helps with some of that then you are who you are, just don't expect me to go bragging to my garden party gals about my daughter's new lesbian relationship."

"Mum, I am not a lesbian, if anything I'm mildly bisexual."

Mum stood up quickly, "Ok, I think that's where I'm going to end this unless you have anything else to say?"

"No, you really think I shouldn't tell dad?" I asked though I already knew the answer.

"Oh, heavens no! He'd have a heart attack."

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After Mum had left for work I tried to come up with some experiments to perform using the allowed spells: Lumos, Nox, Point Me, Spark, and Ember, but failed. It was far too limiting a spell list, and they were all so basic, that I couldn't conceive of a way to learn anything more about them than I already knew.

So I practiced casting all of them silently and mulled over what I did know about them.

Arithmatically all spells are combinations of runes in an equation. The more complicated the spell the more sets of equations. All five allowed spells were single equation spells, and were represented with a single rune. Lumos was the actual name of the rune for light, so when spoken with the right intent, the end of a wand lit up. Nox is "dark", Point Me is "where", Spark is just that, though has no incantation, it's more a surge of magical energy shooting through the wand than directed magic and is both a sigh of a compatable want and an easy way to practice "flowing" ones magic through a wand more effectively; ember was the rune for heat, and made the tip of a wand white hot, used for starting fires from kindling.

The problem was, every single spell that only used one rune was already a well known spell, and took little to no skill to perform. The real discoveries in spell work was in the combinations of runes in new and interesting ways. Anything like that would end up on the Ministry's Trace, and was therefore unusable while at home.

So of course, the method of discovery for all those single rune spells was knowing the rune language, the proto-language of magic which used to be the only spoken language of the world, which eventually mutated into latin by way of the Muggles and then was largely forgotten, though some Muggles studied latin for it's historical significance.

I imagined the real breakthrough was learning that when magic was cast through a focus like a wand all those simple runes were suddenly spells. The words themselves were largely unnecessary evidenced by silent magic, which was not simply saying the word in your head, but remembering and learning to mimc the unique feel of a spell being cast and being able to call up that memory and visualize the spell happening to cast it.

Saying the word in your head could work of course, but it was essentially accomplishing the same thing as saying the incantation out loud Arithmantically, it didn't matter that you were using the word with out saying it, you were still using the word, and in the case of dueling an opponent who utilizes Legillimancy, all the advantage of casting silently was lost.

Alright, time for a logic exercise, of the five spells on my list, which is different, what stands out. Often times it was easier to find a difference between things than figure out the similarities, and many times figuring out the reason why something was different was the key to a breakthrough, and all at once it hit me. Point Me was the only spell on the list that required more than simple intent and a word or feeling. Point Me required the caster to also think of what they were looking for, but not in a way that affected the casting of the spell. For all Transfiguration each different switch was a combination of two spells, each one essentially constructed from the Arithmantic description of the base thing and the thing you want to turn the subject into on either side of the rune for change, Muta. For example: Arithmantically a desk is Coditio, and a pig is Porcus, so the spell for transforming a desk into a pig as McGonagall so excitingly demonstrated was Comutaporcus when all three Arithmantic calculations were multiplied by one another.

So the real question was, how was the magic being utilizing my concentration on what I was trying to find. I started small, I used Point Me to find various pieces of furniture, a spare set of keys I didn't know where they were starting out, and food inside the cooler while the door was shut.

It worked with out fail, but why? It was the simplest of spells, the magical equivalent of shout "Where!' and then being told where something, anything was as long as it wasn't magically concealed. What was driving the spells' ability to access an unknown location for something I was thinking about, and why didn't it require a different version of the spell for different objects?

I imagined that one could modify the spell to find non-specific objects. I had to concentrate on "spare keys" to find them, but if the spell was modified to find any spare keys, I could probably find all of them, of course it would need some range so I didn't have my wand spinning to find every spare key in the world all at once, which would of course require another Arithmantic expression being added into the equation for the spell making this very complex to calculate for something not terribly useful. One could after all focus on "spare key for this house" in any house and it would find the appropriate key, not any spare key in range.

But why? Why didn't that make the spell more complicated? Other spells requiring a specific focus like that, for example, the Patronus Charm, were immensely complicated Arithmantically, which is what made it so difficult to cast the spell, the challenge of finding the right memory not-withstanding.

What power was being accessed?

What knew where the object being searched for was?

The spell was essentially a question, what was answering?

Was magic itself capable of knowing things and answering questions?

That's it! The definitive difference: Lumos, Nox, Ember, and Spark were all commands, but Point Me was a question, and magic provided an answer. Somehow Point Me was using more magic than the others with out being more complicated on a structural level. If I was to think of Magic as a resource, however seemingly unlimited a resource it is, Point Me must be doing something more complicated than the other four. Accessing something, some knowledge.

But what exactly?

Thinking about this made my head hurt so I took a break to work on my Potions homework.

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Hours later I found myself lingering in the shower, fixing the damage done to my hair from all the Potions fumes. It's no wonder Professor Snape's hair and skin always looked so terribly, bending over cauldrons all day, the man would have to take ten showers a day to fix spending all day in a dungeons with dozens of boiling potions.

Despite my general lack of interest in make-up and "looking pretty" I still took care of myself. Shampoo and good old Muggle moisturizer rid myself of the harm from the Potions I had brewed to better perfect my homework. Normally I didn't allow myself free time until the evening, but I had finished my work early and decided to treat myself. The water was the perfect level of scalding hot, and as it beat down on my back I relished the silky smoothness of my just moisturized skin.

My hands wandered inevitably and searched out my breasts almost immediately. I made little slow circles on the skin of my not tight aching nipples, teasing them to their hardest and occasionally squeezing both breasts tightly enjoying my solitude to its fullest emitting moans and groans with out a care, pretending Harry was there to wash me, his hands washing my breasts far more than was necessary, enjoying all the pleasure filled sounds I was making. He had told me many times that one of his favorite things was the noises Gabrielle and I made when he touched us, and I understood completely. It sent shivers down my spine when I made Harry moan and groan. The sounds were electric, and I remembered vividly the almost whining sound he makes when I take him in my mouth.

I didn't need any spit as I was in the shower, but I sucked my fingers anyways, pretending it was Harry's fingers, teasing him, and showing him what I'd be doing with my tongue later. I'd stare deep into his eyes and send a mental message of, "just wait until you feel this on your cock", and he'd give me that look, like he wanted to devour me whole, even though I was going to be the one doing the devouring.

I my other hand and rubbed it all over my body in random waves, closing my eyes and picturing Harry doing the same. Sometimes he just seemed not to be able to decide what to touch, so he'd just let his hands wander, feeling everything, my bum, my thigh, up my side, along my back and across my chest. He liked to run his hands up my neck and into my hair, pressing my head to his in a bruising passionate kiss.

Thoroughly switched on I delved and found my g-spot and rubbed it frantically, I was in the shower so I could be loud and I wouldn't make a mess. Rubbing my g-spot as I did made me obscenely wet, and while Harry was a fan of it I was still a little shy about it, and Harry frankly looked a little silly with it all over his face and running down his neck to his chest.

He once uttered an inspired bit of filth that both embarrassed and made me hot, "I want to be bathed in your juices, I love making you come all over me." I wondered at that, and imagined Harry coming all over me. Would that be something he'd enjoy, would I? It would have to go on the list.

I could feel my climax build and I released the fingers I had been sucking to rub and stroke my clit, the combination leading to a raucous orgasm that had me slumped against the wall of the shower, my arousal running down my legs.

With a quick once over under the water, washing away all evidence of my fun time, I exited and dried while trying to decide what to do with myself for the rest of the day. It was still hours before my parents came home, and my homework was done early, so I was at a loss. I could start on my Charms work, but that was going to be easy and I had weeks before term started.

What to do today...

Bookstore? No, I still had several books I'd yet to read.

I could look a bit more into the book Gabrielle sent me, but I rather thought I should do that right before bed. I didn't want to go straight from having one off in the shower to having one off in my room with a naughty book. Twice in one day would already be excessive for me, but the one in the shower was a wash and I liked to masturbate right before I went to bed to make me more sleepy.

What to do, what to do?

I decided to head into the square and do a bit of window shopping. I had still not purchased Christmas gifts for a few people and now would be a good time to possibly take care of that. I realized that I had mostly bought people books, and thought I'd branch out a bit this year.

It's never good to remain predictable after all.

Though I was already seventeen I was still technically engaged at school even if it was a break. If I had turned of age sometime during the last school year, or even at summer I'd have been legally allowed to use magic. As it was, for some reason turning seventeen during the school year made the Reasonable Restriction for Underage Magic act still apply. I didn't fully understand why, and it was something I intended to find out, and I wondered once again why Hogwarts didn't have a law class.

As it was, I couldn't use my usual glamour charm on my chest, so I got many lecherous glances and leers, even bundled up against the cold. I bought a coffee and the boy working there never even made eye contact. I mean really, they're just breasts. Yes they're a bit big, but to drive so many people to distraction seemed a bit ridiculous. Of course I no one made any obscene comments, or anything aggressive, Twyford was much too polite a town to have any of that. It was a suburb of London so it wasn't exactly a small town, with numerous people commuting to London for their jobs, but it was still far more safe than London. I wasn't scared at all, just a bit put off. It's not like I didn't want attention from boys, but the way they often stared made me feel quite objectified, and usually put me in a foul mood.

I even earned glared from girls sometimes as well, insecure bints; If you really think a big pair of tits is going to lead your boyfriend astray it's probably not a very good relationship in the first place.

Sipping my coffee, enjoying the warmth in my mittened hands far more than the bitter drink (really tea was far superior) I passed by a small private owned dress boutique. I had made it a goal to buy everyone Muggle gifts this year, and make sure they were things they'd appreciate. Stopping in front of the boutique I decided that Ginny should definitely get a Muggle dress, and her Mum definitely shouldn't see it.

Browsing for a bit I finally settled on a little red number almost the exact shade of her hair, and I imagined her with elbow length gloves of the same color and shiny black heels. She'd look like a nineteen twenties starlet, especially if she found her way to some jewelry with rubies in them. I knew her dress size and I figured that while this wouldn't show a great deal of cleavage it would be very tight on her.

I pictured Harry and her standing side by side. If Harry wore all black they'd match quite well, all that pale skin and black, with pale skin and red. I'd always thought they'd make a good looking couple, their colours seemed to just sit well together.

I walked up to the counter and laid the dress down. A kindly woman, Matlin Heatburk, who I knew made many of the dresses herself looked at the tag and said with a smile, "two things dearie, first," she turned the tag towards me and pointed out a red sticker, "any dresses marked are part of our buy one get one free Christmas sale, so feel free to pick out any other dress in the store with a red sticker on it and it's free of charge. Second, I don't mean to judge but this looks a little small for you, I rather think you'd mind spilling out of your dress," she finished in a polite whisper.

"Oh, it's not for me, it's a gift for a friend, I was actually going to ask if you gift wrap?"

"Of course we do, and of course I should have realized. Now, I should think the second dress should be for you, it's always good to treat yourself for Christmas as well as loved ones."

"Oh I don't know, I have a hard time finding dresses that flatter me, and I didn't want to spend all day here. My friend Ginny is rather slender and makes most things look amazing, so it's easy to shop for her. I'm mostly buying for boys though, and I wanted to finish before dark."

"Oh, wont take any time at all dearie, that's what I'm here for, I'd say it's almost magical the way I can pick out the right dress for a girl. Now tell me, do you have the main six?"

"I'm sorry? The main six what?"

"The main six dresses you need for any occasion of course, the evening gown for formal parties and opera, the somber dress for official functions and funerals, the night out on the town dress, the little black dress, the london club dress, and of course the dress you don't actually intend to go outside in," she finished with a knowing smile. "Tell me which ones you have and what colour they are, and I'll have the perfect dress for you in a trice."

I smiled at her enthusiasm, she was a Muggle version of Madam Malkin really, "I have a gown, it's blue but I should really bring it in and have you take out the chest a bit, last time I wore it I was two years ago. I have the night out dress, it's red, and I also have the little black dress. That's it I'm afraid, everything else is pants, a few skirts, jumpers, t-shirts, and my school uniform."

"Well," Matlin started with a smirk, "tell me, is there a young man in your life, ah! you're even blushing, good on him and good on you, of course you have a young lad in your life pretty young woman like yourself, tell you what, Christmas is a happy occasion so let's skip the somber dress, and I don't sell clubbing wear so let's find you the dress you don't plan on wearing out."

I blushed furiously, but nodded anyway, sharing a small secretive smile. Matlin started to walk away with a quick 'I'll be right back' when I gently touched her shoulder and whispered, "I want to rock his world."

She patted me on the cheek and smiled warmly, "of course you do dearie, lucky man you've got, I know just the dress."

I wandered off to look at gloves and found an inexpensive silk pair that I could easily put a permanent colour changing charm on to match them to Ginny's gift.

Matlin came back with a white box and handed it to me, "go try this on in the dressing room and tell me it's not perfect."

With a quick thanks I made my way to the back of the store and entered the spacious mirrored changing room. There were mirrors everywhere and I'd be able to see every side of my body all at once. The naughty part of me really wanted to have sex with Harry in a room like this, I wanted to see what we looked like together.

After double checking that the door was locked I stripped off my clothes and couldn't help but take a moment to examine my naked body. I sighed and stroked my hips I thought were a bit to big, and put my hands over the slight paunch of my belly. I was far from perfect, but I was definitely sexy. Womanly even. My breasts hung enormous but didn't seem too outrageous for my slightly to thick frame. I'd probably look ridiculous with a thin stick body and huge tits.

I lamented my hair and how much product it required to look anything but a huge bushy triangle. I usually just pulled it back into a tail to get it out of the way, but sometimes like the yule ball or a Christmas party I'd spend the hour or more it took to manage.

I bent over a bit and reached back to spread my bum apart and my sex with it. I imagined standing in front of Harry giving him this naughty view. I never realized before Harry how much I enjoyed being naughty. I rather thought it had to do with my penchant for following the rules, that it was freeing to break some imaginary ones to give my lover a thrill. It thrilled me too to be dirty with Harry. I felt safe knowing he wouldn't judge me, or think I was weird. I felt like I could share anything with Harry, and even though I felt that way before I couldn't suppress the giggle at the things we share now including my privates.

It really was odd the way the world worked sometimes.

Lovely and odd.

I opened the box and pulled the dress out holding it to my front. I immediately knew what Matlin meant by a dress you wouldn't actually wear out. This was practically lingerie. The dress was a deep dark brown, that looked like swirling chocolate, and somehow married the brown of my hair to the brown of my eyes while accentuating both. It was also both very low cut and very short and strapless. I estimated that it would hardly fall past my bum, and would only cover my nipples by virtue of the built in support stitched onto the inside.

I pulled the dress up from my feet and slid it home over my chest. My breasts filled the front like the dress was made for me, and it clung impossibly to my hips and sides. I tried to pull the dress down a bit but I almost let my breast fall out. It was dangerously short, walking would come close to exposing me as the tightness ended just past my hips letting the bottom edge of the dress flit about as it pleased, and the tightness of the dress did not lend itself to knickers of any kind.

I adjusted a bit and then struck a pose. I pulled the top down just a smidgen and I was right, the edge of my nipple was just beyond the bounds of the dress. I was gloriously revealed and yet not, and I saw if I arched forward a bit I could even make out the impression of the mound of my sex pressed against the taught-ness of the dress.

I was bloody sexy in this dress.

I took the dress off very gently and folded it neatly back into the box. I dressed and walked back up to the counter and bought them and the gloves with a quick shy, "it's perfect, thank you."

"Merry Christmas, and send my regards to the lucky boy."

I waved still a little embarrassed and left the boutique one dress richer, and one present more accounted for. I already had my gifts for Harry sorted out as well as my Mum and Dad, and Ron was getting another homework planner. I still didn't buy the "I accidentally dropped it in the fire" excuse, and I was still a bit cross.

This left Fred and George, Mr. and Mrs. Weasley, my dorm mates (it usually ended up being chocolate for and from everyone), Luna, and Neville. I decided to see what Lavender, Parvati, Terri, and Samantha thought of Muggle chocolate. For Parvati who I had always gotten along and liked nuts I got a variety pack in a box shaped like Father Christmas. Terri and Samantha who I wasn't very close with each got an assortment of truffles, and for Lavender I got a small chocolate orange.

I got Mrs. Weasley a book on Muggle gardening, mostly design and arrangement, and for Mr. Weasley a plastic model plane that needed to be glued together and painted.

Fred and George were more tricky, especially as they already seemed to posses a fondness for Muggle stuff, especially magic tricks. I'd buy them some of those but I imagined with all the gold they were making they probably raided Muggle magic shops and toy stores fairly regularly and getting them something they didn't already have would be an exercise in futility. I decided to break my attempt at not buying books when I saw One Thousand and One Practical Jokes and Pranks at the small bookstore I could't help but at least browse in.

Neville was fairly easy to shop for, I bought him a bunch of seeds from a florist, an assortment of rare and unusually coloured flowers thinking perhaps he would like to decorate around his oft mentioned green house at his home.

Luna was a struggle, and I finally settled on another book about Alien Conspiracies, Big Foot, The Lockness Monster, and other unexplained Muggle mysteries. If I was lucky she would see it for what it was and not start believing in those things, but I was rarely lucky when it came to Luna.

The flower shop had been my last stop and upon exiting I found the sun starting to set so I made my way home. Both my parents were going to be late, so dinner was all on my own. Since I can't cook at all I decided on take out on the way back. My arms were well laden with packages, but the take out Chinese fit well in the large plastic bag with Mr. Weasley's model airplane.

As I ate I watched the telly a bit, but very little interested me. Serials were of no interest as I was gone most of the year and couldn't keep up with any of them. I rarely found sit-coms funny and the rest was rubbish so I settled on the evening news while munching on my beef and broccoli over rice.

After dinner found me bundled up in bed, wrapped in blankets to keep out the cold and reading Gabrielle's book. I had the book resting on my lap while I sat up against the headboard. One hand turning pages, the other toying with my sex, running my fingers up and down gently, giving myself a slow burn. There was a rather interesting eight person spell. One person lay on their back in the middle, while seven other feasted on them. The picture was one Witch being attended by seven men. One was kissing her lips passionately, two at her breasts, one at her sex, one (I blushed furiously) tonguing her anus, and the last two holding her hands and kissing and sucking on her fingers and palms. The spell was some sort of protective magic. The subject in the middle received some kind of magical protection from the gift of magic from the seven other lovers. The number seven was of course significant, and no other amount of people generated the same effect, even with a similar arrangement. I immediately thought of Harry and wondered if we could find four more girls to participate. There was already me and Gabrielle, and I don't think it wold be hard to convince Ginny to participate.

Then I realized that I was contemplating arranging a gang-bang for Harry and put it from my mind.

I also stopped abusing myself, for I had begun to really frig myself at the thought, and ooh, the picture in the book. I don't think I'd ever actually be comfortable taking on seven guys at once, that really was excessive, but it was fun to think about.

Done with teasing I closed the book and tossed it to the edge of the bed and lay down on my side. I reached down and pawed at my pussy with both hands, I was no longer in the mood for slow and steady, I just wanted to come hard and quick and be done with it.

Parent still at work (held there for an emergency filling) I paid no mind to the gooshy sounds I was making, playing the skin of my sex too and fro, even slapping it lightly a few times, earning quick lightening like jolts of pleasure. I let my left hand drift below my pussy to lightly ring my anus. It was definitely sensitive, but I think the delicious dirty thrill was more potent than the actual physical sensations. I was still on the fence about trying anal sex with Harry, the one time I had tried to actually insert a finger had really hurt, but if I was very relaxed, and Harry was very slow and gentle it might work.

I just wanted to know if I liked it or not. If I didn't I'd never have to try it again, but I couldn't stand not knowing. I wondered if Harry had shagged Gabrielle in the arse.

I let the thought of Harry pounding into the diminutive little Veela's arse carry me through my climax. She's all submissive, so I bet Harry would hold her by the wrists face down on the bed and just plow into her. Owning her arse with his cock, and then the feel of it throbbing and pouring his come into so naughty a place would make her scream and come, and I'd come from watching them at the side of the bed touching myself to their love play.

With a deeply satisfied moan I relaxed my hands and led myself down from the peak, soothing my passions and settling in for bed when I realized I had been quite stupid before.

I grabbed the book and flipped back open to the index. The bell curve of the number of spells based on number of participants was not perfect. Two people had a total of twenty two spells and was at the bottom of the left end of the curve, but twelve people at the right bottom of the curve only had twelve total spells. Eleven people in fact, had twenty two spells, which meant there should be a section for rituals including only one person, and there should be twelve total spells for that.

Realizing this was an important revelation, but not yet knowing why I closed the book again vowing to investigate this further later on, when I wasn't so tired. I fell asleep counting the days until I would see Harry again.