Chapter 26 – ...With a Shot of Humility

Submitted: Sunday 1 July 2012

This is a short chapter. I haven't had the normal time that I give myself to proof it. I will begin writing one to two chapters again as of this week and therefore I should have another chapter by next Monday. Thanks for your patience and I hope you enjoy.

She'd expected him to be someone else!

Harry felt weak in the stomach as he considered the ramifications.

A loud knock brought him back to the moment. Harry opened the door only to be shoved roughly, "Who do you think you are to be upsetting my regulars?"

The wizard that stood before him was unusually strong for his size. At best, the bloke stood at eye level with Harry. All the same, Harry was taken aback. Fists clenched, the wizard looked ready to pounce, "I'm not sure what you said to Eliza but she ran out of here with tears streaming down her cheeks. So help me, if you forced yourself on her..."

"...No, it wasn't anything like that," Harry insisted. "She thought I was someone else."

"Bollocks! Everyone here is someone else. She knows better than to assume." The bloke pulled out his wand, "What'd you do to her?"

"But..." Harry considered. He recognised the bloke. Black eyes. Just his height. Sharp nose but otherwise handsome. This was Sylvester Stallworth – the owner. Harry tried to turn the conversation with a question of his own, "What is this place?"

"You sodden fool. Don't think you can play dumb and get out of this. I brewed your potion myself." Mr. Stallworth now had his wand dangerously close to Harry's eye, "You know the rules. Each of you takes your potion and you play at what you play at but you always respect if the other wants to stop. Now what did you do?"

By now Harry had carefully pulled out his own wand so that the proprietor did not notice. Tired of the back and forth, he silently shot off a stunner that threw his opponent against the door. Harry picked up the bloke's wand and stuck it in his pocket. After binding him and making a few preparations Harry woke him with a simple spell.

"Innervate..."

The wizard blinked himself awake and immediate began to fight his bindings. Harry couldn't help but smile. They always fought the bindings at first...always for naught. Returning to the business at hand, he frowned, "I don't think we've been properly introduced. I am Harry Potter."

"But...how? No. I don't believe you. Harry would never have gotten in here." The wizard seemed pretty sure at first but began to lose faith when Harry only replied with a waiting gaze. "How did you get in here? And what are you doing harassing Eliza?"

"I came here because I was curious why a wizard would brew enough Polyjuice Potion to disguise an army of wizards."

The wizard began to speak but Harry cut him off, "Just shut up." He sighed, "It doesn't matter how I got in here. I did. I wanted to see with my own two eyes that you didn't have an army of Death Eaters hiding in here. Instead, I found Eliza pretending to be Ginny Weasley and trying to bed me because she thought that I was some bloke pretending to be Harry Potter. That got my attention." Harry gestured, "What is all of this?"

The wizard held out his wrists, "Would you at least unbind me first?"

With a whisk of his wand Harry unbound the proprietor. He then transfigured the bed and the chest into two comfortable chairs. Yet another spell Hermione had helped him refine.

Once they sat, the wizard began, "When the war ended I was forced to leave the Department of Mysteries. I didn't want to risk a trip to Azkaban if they lumped me in with the others. While I was not a direct supporter of He Who Must Not Be Named, I have been a supporter of blood purity for years. I am not as militant or angry as some but I have been rather vocal."

Harry was confused, "What does that have to do with all of this?"

"I'm a pretty fair Potions Master. Was top of my class at Hogwarts for my year. I was up for the position at Hogwarts the year Severus Snape took it. Yet, when I left the Ministry I was unemployable. All I had was a bit of gold and this house that my family left me. I knew it wouldn't last for long. Well, my mates were sitting around the fire with some Ogden's when one mentioned how brilliant it'd be if you could be with your wife but she was someone else. You can imagine how the conversation devolved from there but it planted a seed in my head."

"So you just began plucking hairs off famous people?" Harry asked in disgust.

"No! Erm, well, no...not exactly." The owner blushed, "At first it started out as a bunch of well-to-do married couples. I brewed up a few batches of potion and the husband and wife would bring a hair from another patron. I know it's poor taste. It makes me sick as well but I needed the money and you'd be shocked how quickly the groups grew. For the reputations of the couples I insisted that everyone swear on their magic to keep it a secret."

"That seems like a poor way to grow a business. How did you get new customers if you swore everyone to secrecy?" It didn't make sense.

"Just because they couldn't tell their friends what we were doing didn't mean they couldn't feel them out. When they arrived I explained what we were doing and most wanted to try. Others agreed to have their memories adjusted – mainly because they were so revolted at the thought."

"Don't you think there will be a few angry celebrities when they find out?" Harry was speaking from experience.

Sylvester pulled out a small jar of hairs from his robes. Harry couldn't see the name on the label, "I get most of these out of trade. Many celebrities have their own fantasies. For just one night with their dream witch or wizard they gladly provide me a lock of hair." The wizard frowned, "Other couples bring in their own 'samples.' I admit I've turned a blind eye to people using samples without the owners' permission. Most of the time they wait until they retire to their room to take the potion anyway. I wouldn't know whom they'd become if I'd wanted to."

"But you knew who Eliza was going to be with," Harry accused with fresh anger. "You didn't think I'd be a little upset if I found out?"

"Eliza is a family friend. Her father and I are close," Sylvester explained. "She had told me of her troubles with you so I helped her with her arrangements."

"Troubles?"

Reluctantly the wizard elaborated, "She said you were hell bent on waiting until marriage before the two of you consummated your relationship." The look on Harry's face made Sylvester wish he had his wand back, "Look, I'm not here to judge. I asked her why she wasn't just honest with you and she said it wouldn't matter. You must understand that she is a very sensual woman. She'd have been loyal to you to a fault. It saddened her to be unfaithful but she didn't want to push you. She would have left most blokes without a second thought if they'd refused."

"How long? How often?" Harry mumbled.

"Months now it seems. I'd say it was every opportunity she could get. She gets so tightly wound. I don't know what you do to her but she is like a thirsty traveller fresh out of the desert."

"How do you know?"

Now Sylvester really wished he had his wand. He knew the answer wouldn't go over well but something inside him compelled him to answer. For the first time he felt a strange feeling like no matter how much he didn't want to answer he must, "One evening her partner stood her up. It was a slow evening and she begged me. She said if she didn't she wouldn't be able to go back home to you. I wouldn't know why. Your body's nothing to write home about."

Harry blinked. Sylvester covered his mouth not believing what he'd just said. Seeing Harry tighten his grip around his wand he couldn't help but ask, "Where did you get that wand? Is it a twig? I've never seen anything like it."

One of the downsides to Veratuserum was that those drugged with it had no way to filter their thoughts. Harry was now ashamed he'd used it for something so trifling as this. He knew it was illegal to use except under certain circumstances but he'd brought it in case things had turned out much more grim. He couldn't help himself when he'd found out that Eliza and Ginny had been involved. He was beginning to regret what was obviously wrong.

"It was made in Europe," Harry said as he looked it over thoughtfully. He pulled Sylvester's wand out of his pocket and he handed it to him, "Thank you for answering my questions."

"Wait!" the proprietor pleaded, thinking Harry would walk out the door. "How did you get in here? I have anti-apparition wards and the door is secure. How did you get in?"

"What?" Harry asked with a grim smile, "I'm Harry Potter. You don't think I can apparate past a few little wards."

Before Sylvester could answer Harry was gone. He'd disappeared with a flash.

Despite the seriousness of all that had happened, Harry couldn't help but laugh at the look on Mr. Stallworth's face as he'd disappeared. He was sure the bloke would figure out that he had used a port key. It wouldn't take him long to figure out that Harry had sneaked in through the front once he'd spoken to the doorman. For now, though, he was sure the bloke believed he'd apparated in past the wards. The stories of what he had done had grown to such mythical proportions that even an off-hand sarcastic remark could be believed by those that didn't know him.

If he hadn't had so much to consider, Harry could have spent the entire evening amused at the absurdity of such things.

Harry soon sat thoughtfully in an overstuffed chair in his sitting room and considered his future. Amazingly, no-one interrupted him. He sat for what seemed like long silent hours before he'd come to a decision. Once he'd finally decided what to do, he trudged upstairs to where he was certain Eliza was.

He wasn't wrong. When he opened the door he heard a whimper. The covers were drawn tightly over a large bump on the bed that shook. Harry sat on the bed and pulled back the sheets to find the teary-eyed red-head he'd expected underneath, "Eliza?"

"I'm so sorry," Eliza hiccuped. "I..I...I didn't mean to hurt you."

Harry sat there thoughtfully. He knew what he wanted to say but he didn't know how to say it, "You lied to me."

The look of hurt that washed over her made him instantly regret his words. That wasn't what he wanted to say. He wanted to say that it was all right and that he almost understood.

She became defensive, "I never lied. I just didn't tell you where I'd been off to. I did it for you."

"You did it for me? You cheated on me for me?" Harry asked astonished. While he didn't shout his voice certainly rose, "I cannot wait to hear this. Please explain how you cheated for me."

Anger overtook him. He almost understood the whole thing...but for her to try to make it out as a favour to him? He could feel the room warm up around him. His hands were balled up so tightly into fists that that he could feel the pinch from his nails into his palms.

Her eyes sprung fresh tears, "You wanted to wait and I just couldn't. I tried but I'm not made like that. I told you that from the beginning. It got to the point where I couldn't function. You have no idea. Then one day I was told that I could be with you..." The look he shot her made her stop. She reconsidered her words, "Well, not with you...but yes...with you. It's complicated. But in my mind it was with you. I never wanted to be with anyone else but you made me do it."

"I made you?" That was certainly a shout. Harry made a conscious effort to quiet himself down, "I didn't make you do anything. You chose to do this. You could have waited. In a year I was going to ask you to marry me."

"In a year?" Her voice was shrill. Sitting up, her hair was tangled and twisted like that of a madwoman. She was no longer apologetic, "I don't know how you bottle it up! I swear that I've never met a bloke before you that could go more than a night without begging me...but no, not you! Not Harry Bleeding Potter! And, to top it off, you are such a hypocrite!"

Harry didn't say a word but his face invited her to elaborate, "I was with wizards that pretended to be you because I wanted so desperately to be with you! While it may not have been right it wasn't nearly as wrong as what you did!" She huffed desperately to regain her breath as she carefully considered her next question, "Tell me, Harry. If I hadn't transformed back into myself, would you have stopped yourself? You would have shagged me if I was Ginny, wouldn't you?"

Eliza was a mess. Her arms flailed and her gown had even torn as she'd thrown herself around angrily. Harry tried to think of something to say to calm her down, "I think we should end this." Erm, that wasn't it.

"What?" Now she was standing imperiously over him, "You'd rather break up with me rather than answer my question? You aren't just a hypocrite! You're a bloody coward!" With that, she slapped him so hard and so unexpectedly that he fell back onto the bed. Not quite knocked out cold, he lie there helpless as she gathered a few of her things. As he sat up and shook his head she opened the door to leave. Her last words were, "As Merlin is my witness, if I'm not your first then no-one will be!"