Everything is Relative
by Teddylonglong
All recognizable Harry Potter characters belong to J. K. Rowling, and I am not earning anything by writing this story. I am merely borrowing the characters to play with them.
I am not a native speaker of English. Please excuse my mistakes.
Warnings: Completely AU, partly OOC.
'Dudley is going to Hogsmeade with Hannah and Neville with Tracey. I should invite someone, too,' Harry thought. 'But if I invited Susan, Hermione would be devastated, and if I invited her, Susan would be disappointed. So, I'm probably better off to not invite anyone. I'll just help in the shop,' he decided. 'At one stage, I'll have to go into town to buy some Christmas presents, but I can do some shopping just by myself anyway.'
"Harry?" Petunia stuck her head into his room. "May I come in?"
"Of course," Harry replied, smiling, as he patted the spot next to him on the edge of his bed, somehow feeling happy, when his aunt took the offered seat. 'She almost behaves as if she was my mum now,' he thought in amazement. It was as if his long-time dream had become true a year ago – having his own, real family.
"Harry, are you not going to Hogsmeade today?" Petunia enquired, sounding concerned.
"Of course, I'll assist in the shop," Harry replied in surprise. "I always do, don't I?"
"Ah well, yes, I know, and we really appreciate your help," Petunia replied, sighing. "What I meant was if you don't go into the village with your friends?"
Harry shrugged. "Dudley is taking Hannah und Neville Tracey, one of our Slytherin classmates, so if I went with Susan, Hermione would be all by herself and vice versa, so..." He slowly trailed off.
"Sirius told me that you can't decide between the two of them?" Petunia asked, tentatively.
Harry nodded, not sure how to reply to the question. "Am I strange?" he then asked in a soft voice. "Everyone else has just one girlfriend, but I just can't decide."
Petunia smiled. "No Harry, you're not strange. On the contrary, you're extremely lucky to have two girls who seem to appreciate you enough to become your girlfriends."
"Err, I haven't asked either of them," Harry warned her. "Perhaps neither of them would become my girlfriend if I asked."
Petunia shook her head. "No dear, I've been watching them for fifteen months now, and they would both readily accept. I think, however, that perhaps you should inform them about your problem. I can imagine that they're both wondering why you don't ask them and if you perhaps prefer the other."
"Really?" Harry looked up in shock. 'I didn't even consider that,' he had to admit to himself.
"Really," Petunia confirmed. "Why don't you take Susan to the playground or somewhere, where you're alone, and talk to her in private? Then later on, you can do the same for Hermione. If they understand, they will wait until you're ready to make a decision. If they don't understand how considerate and gentle you are to not make important decisions easily, it probably won't be difficult to choose the right girl."
"That's true," Harry agreed, thoughtfully, thinking, 'I hope they'll both understand.'
HP
After breakfast, the six friends walked down to the village, including Tracey in their group. Lucy was running around them in apparent pleasure. When Dudley, Hannah, Neville and Tracey separated from them in front of Whizkidz, Harry addressed Susan and Hermione.
"Sometime later today, I'd like to talk to each of you in private if you don't mind," he said in a soft voice.
The girls exchanged a glance, before they replied, simultaneously. "Of course, Harry."
"Are you going to help in the shop right away?" Hermione enquired and, seeing him nod, asked, "Do you want us to assist? Otherwise, perhaps we could go together to get a head start at buying Christmas presents and then assist later on?"
"Feel free to help when you want and only if you want," Harry replied, smiling.
"All right, then, let's go. Buying Christmas presents first is a good idea," Susan replied to Hermione, smiling, even if Harry had the impression that the smile did not really reach her eyes.
HP
"Draco!"
"Yeah? Pansy?" Draco replied, feeling thoroughly annoyed to be disturbed on what he had expected to be a quiet day, when the whole school was away in Hogsmeade.
"Why don't you want to go to Hogsmeade with me?" the girl shrieked.
The thought 'like a banshee' crossed his mind. "Because I have other things to do," he replied in a firm voice.
"Are you going to go with someone else?" Pansy enquired, teary-eyed.
"Nope. I won't go at all," Draco said, matter-of-factly. "I have an errand to run for the Dark Lord."
Now finally quietening down, the girl left the common room in a huff.
'Thank Merlin,' Draco thought, as he readied himself to head to the Room of Requirement to proceed with his project. Deep in thoughts and fortunately unseen by any of his curious housemates, he reached the seventh floor, where he paced the spot in front of the room three times thinking of the room with the cabinet that he was working on. However, to his utter shock, the door did not appear as usual. He tried a second and third time, before he closely checked his surroundings, making sure that he was in the correct corridor. 'How strange,' he thought, as he continued pacing the corridor in growing anxiousness. 'What if I can't get back to it?' he thought, horrified. 'It was such a brilliant plan, and I was so far already.'
For almost two hours, he tried to get into the Room of Requirement in vein, before he decided to head to the Great Hall for lunch before trying again. 'Perhaps I can ask the two monkeys to make a room and see if it works at all,' he resolved.
Fortunately, Crabbe and Goyle were used to not ask questions, and his two minions tried to make rooms, before they finally had to give up.
"I wonder what happened," Draco thought aloud. "So far, it always worked."
"Can't you use any other room for the time being?" Crabbe suggested.
"Yeah, everyone else must have gone to Hogsmeade anyway," Goyle added. "I'm going to go as well. I need to visit Honeydukes."
"I'm in," Crabbe replied with apparent eagerness. "I want to buy some chocolate frogs. Draco, are you coming?"
"I don't think so," Draco replied, absentmindedly. 'I need to write a letter to Father.'
HP
Bellatrix Lestrange had spent the last three weeks under Polyjuice potion – just to be sure – and an invisibility spell roaming the Ministry of Magic. The purpose was to find out a weak point of Albus Dumbledore, the Minister of Magic. 'Oh well, he still seems to love his lemon drops,' she realised. She already knew that he loved them in the past from her time as a student at Hogwarts. 'The question is if he still goes to Honeydukes to buy them,' she thought. 'He could buy them at Diagon Alley or even send his phoenix to the shop.'
Even if Bella seemed to be crazy to many witches and wizards, in fact, she was a highly intelligent witch. While in the ministry, she had registered Dumbledore's magical signature and with her husband's assistance developed a Portkey, which was specifically designed for the minister.
On this Saturday, Hogsmeade was full with students from Hogwarts, and Bella knew that it would be the best time to unobtrusively proceed with her project. 'I just hope the students won't buy the whole batch of lemon drops, before he has the chance to get some,' she thought, as she invisibly walked along the main street between the more than annoying groups of teenagers.
Entering the sweets shop among a large group of what seemed to be seventh-year boys, she swiftly set to work. Casting her wand at the huge bowl filled with small packages of lemon drops, she quickly turned them into Portkeys matching Dumbledore's signature. If anyone else would buy or eat the lemon drops, nothing was going to happen to them; however, if Dumbledore did as much as touch one of the packages, the Portkey would activate and take him to the cellar of Lestrange Manor right away – with his signature working as the activation code. Lestrange Manor was heavily warded – she had even added spells and charms that would as much as keep a phoenix out. 'If he takes the Portkey, he's going to be mine,' she thought, silently giggling in anticipation.
As soon as she managed to get out of the extremely crowded sweets shop, she made her way to the ministry, taking another dose of Polyjuice potion as she went. 'Who knows what can happen to make my invisibility spell fail,' she thought, as she crept through the ministry, which was fortunately fairly empty on this Saturday shortly before Christmas. 'I just hope that the minister is in his office,' she thought, only to realise that the day had to be her lucky day.
Pulling a piece of parchment out of her robe pocket, which she had diligently prepared beforehand, she made it appear right on the minister's desk, before she retreated to a shadowy corner between the office and the main hall, where the elevators were situated. 'If he leaves the office, he must pass this corridor,' she thought, as she set to wait. 'Just a few minutes, before I'll give up and return home,' she told herself.
HP
Albus looked up upon finishing his letter, only to notice an advertisement from Honeydukes on his desk. 'Where did that come from?' he wondered, curiously reaching out for the parchment.
'Today, on the occasion of the last Hogsmeade visit for students before Christmas, we have special – extra sour – lemon drops on offer. Come and buy a package for your loved ones'
'Extra sour lemon drops. That sounds good,' Albus thought and resolved, 'I'll pay Honeydukes a visit later on. I need to finish some more work, before I can leave the office though. The students won't buy all the lemon drops anyway. They're more after Berty Bott's Beans or chocolate frogs.'
HP
Both sides of Whizkidz were cramped from the morning onwards, Sirius' and Remus' half of the shop as well as Petunia's Wizardnet café. When Harry first entered the shop, he was surprised to see an old wizard nursing a huge cup of Latte Macchiato, before the man said, "Watcher Harry," causing him to let out a deep breath in understanding.
"Hi Tonks," he whispered back, grinning. "It's good to see you."
"Hermione and Susan have gone girl shopping?" Tonks quipped, making him roll his eyes at the old wizard.
"I suppose so," he replied, somehow feeling relieved that the two girls were spending some time together.
"You know, Harry, you're the head of three houses, so you can have more than one girlfriend," Tonks informed him in a small voice, just when a group of students entered the shop interrupting their conversation.
'Why does everyone want to talk to me about girls?' Harry wondered, feeling thoroughly annoyed by the recurring topic. 'Sirius and Amelia only married in the summer, and Remus and Tonks are still only fiancés. I'm more than ten years younger, so why is it so urgent that everyone feels they have to put me under pressure?' he mused, only to have to admit to himself that it would indeed be nice to have a girlfriend. 'Would having two girlfriends be an option?' he wondered. It was already at least the third time that someone had told him he could have one wife for each house. 'That would be three though, the Potter family, the Gryffindor-Ravenclaw family and the Slytherin-Hufflepuff family,' he thought, when Petunia brought him back to reality by pressing a tablet with five cups into his hands.
Two hours later, Susan and Hermione returned to the shop, chuckling and apparently in a good mood, and Hermione suggested, "Harry, why don't you and Susan go out for a while? I'll take over here."
"Are you sure?" Harry asked, knowing that he had been very busy during the last two hours.
"Of course," Hermione replied, smiling, and Petunia gave him a reassuring nod.
HP
Harry led Susan to the playground, which Sirius had once shown him, Dudley and Lucy, when they had been roaming the village in their canine forms. They sat next to each other on a bench under a tree, which fortunately kept the cold winter wind from them at least somewhat.
Gently caressing Lucy's ears, Harry spoke up. "I'm sorry, Susan."
"What for?" the girl enquired, looking at him, wide-eyed.
Harry let out a deep sigh. "I'm sorry for what I have to say and that I don't know how to best articulate it. I'm not a master of speech. Anyway, I would love to ask you to become my girlfriend," he told her straight away, "however, I can't decide if I like you or Hermione more. I like both of you very much. I don't know if it's love, because I don't have any experience with this, but I couldn't imagine being anyone else's boyfriend. But if I have to choose one of you, then I can't. At least right now, I can't," he repeated, letting out another deep sigh.
"I know, Harry," Susan said in a soft voice, causing him to look up in surprise. "Hermione knows as well," she added, smiling. "We've talked about this, earlier, before we even went to buy our Christmas gifts, when the Three Broomsticks was still empty. "Are you aware of the fact that as the heir of three families you can choose up to three wives?" she enquired.
Harry nodded. "Sirius, Dudley and Tonks told me that, but…" He slowly trailed off, before he summoned his courage and asked, "Would you be all right sharing me with Hermione?"
Susan smiled. "I don't mind, Harry. We get on very well, too. Hermione is a different matter though. As you know, she's muggleborn."
Harry nodded in understanding, when Susan continued, "She promised me to think about it and to perhaps speak with her parents about the matter. They're going to join us at Hogwarts Manor over Christmas anyway, aren't they?"
"Yes," Harry confirmed. "Thanks Susan. For understanding. And for talking to Hermione. It means a lot to me, especially as I'm not good at this."
Susan smiled. "Harry, you're good at many other things. Don't worry, and I'm sure that Hermione will get around. She loves you too much to simply ignore the traditions of the magical world because of her muggle background."
"I hope so," Harry replied, giving Susan a hesitant smile. "Should I still speak with her today?"
Susan nodded. "Please do so," she said, reassuringly.
HP
When Susan and Harry returned to Whizkidz, Hermione was nowhere to be seen. However, while Dudley was assisting Sirius and Remus, Hannah was helping Petunia.
"Dudley asked me to become his girlfriend," she told them, seemingly happy, and Susan immediately began to fawn over her best friend's new ring.
"Where's Hermione?" Harry asked with a strange feeling of foreboding and worry.
Petunia let out a deep sigh. "She told me about her conversation with Susan, and when I suggested for her to go to Hogwarts Manor and invite her parents over, she gladly agreed. So, she's at home talking with her parents right now. I don't know if she'll come back here later on. Don't worry though. She'll probably come around," she added, probably noticing Harry's expression of pure shock.
"Harry, don't you have to do Christmas shopping?" Susan asked in a soft voice.
"Yeah, I'll do that then," Harry agreed, feeling slightly consoled, when the girl accompanied him after receiving reassuring nods from Petunia and Hannah.
'Thank Merlin I already have Susan's present,' Harry thought in relief, as they visited Flourish & Blotts, Zonko's and Honeydukes.
"Now I only need something for Severus," he breathed, once they left the completely crowded sweets shop. "Perhaps I should take a look at the apothecary?"
Susan shook her head. "I don't think so, Harry. You have much better choices. You could either look through Salazar's recipes to possibly find something interesting that is lost in our time, or you could simply ask Salazar for something that might be of interest for Severus."
Harry stared at the girl in awe. "Susan, you're just brilliant," he breathed. "That's it. I'll ask Salazar later on, and if he doesn't have any suggestion, I'll just look through his recipe books. Thanks a lot for the idea."
Susan smiled. "You're welcome," she replied in a soft voice. "Shall we head back to Whizkidz then?"
"Yes," Harry agreed and, with his purchases shrunken in his robe pockets, followed the girl into the Wizardnet café.
HP
Seeing Harry ready himself to assist Petunia, Hannah asked, "Petunia, Harry, would you mind Susan and me leaving for another hour? I'd love to roam the shops together with her for a bit."
"Of course, dear, thank you so much for your help," Petunia replied, pressing a small envelope into the girl's hand. "Go and buy something nice," she added, smiling.
"Have fun," Harry added, grinning upon seeing that Susan gave him a questioning look.
HP
Harry almost expected the girls to return to the shop, when two elder women came in. To his surprise, one of them was Arabella Figg.
"Mrs. Figg," he addressed her in surprise, causing Petunia to come over and greet the Squib, sounding equally astonished.
"Hello Petunia, Harry," Mrs. Figg replied. "This is my good friend Regina Lestrange. She's a Squib like myself, but since we heard that you now have your own business here and that your coffeeshop has a fantastic reputation, we just had to come and take a look if you don't mind."
"Of course not. We're happy to have you," Petunia replied, smiling. "Harry, will you please help Mrs. Figg and Mrs. Lestrange with the Wizardnet? What kind of coffee would you like?" she then asked.
"What would you recommend for two old ladies who don't know much about the magical world?" Mrs. Figg returned the question.
"Perhaps a cappuccino?" Petunia suggested, and the two ladies immediately agreed.
While they were waiting for their coffees to arrive, Harry showed them how to use the Wizardnet, feeling surprised, when the two Squibs managed to properly surf through the pages.
'I thought it afforded magic to surf like that,' he thought in surprise, when he left the ladies' table to serve another drink for a young witch, who had replaced the old wizard that had been Tonks, seeing from the corners of his eyes that Hermione entered the shop through the back door. Shortly afterwards, Susan and Hannah returned as well. 'Ah, good timing,' he thought, as he excused himself from his aunt and accompanied Hermione out into the street.
HP
Harry led Hermione onto the playground, where he had spoken with Susan earlier. Two young women were there with their toddlers playing in the sand; however, the students did not mind them, as the playground was large enough for them to have some privacy.
"I heard about your conversation with Susan," Harry hesitantly began to speak.
"I'm sorry for running off to talk to my parents," Hermione blurted out, giving him a shy smile.
"That's fine and nothing to be sorry about," Harry replied, gently. "Do you feel better now that you've spoken with them?"
"Yes," Hermione replied, smiling. "They told me that they were ready to accept whatever I decide and that the only thing I have to think about is if I'd be willing to share my boyfriend with another girl," she added in a soft voice. "Will you please give me some time to think about it?"
"Of course," Harry promised. "You have as much time as you need." 'Thank Merlin, I don't even have to explain anything,' he thought, feeling extremely relieved.
They spent another hour talking on the playground, until it was time to head back to Hogwarts on time for dinner.
By the time they passed in front of Honeydukes, having decided to walk up to Hogwarts instead of taking the shortcut through the shop, they saw none other than Albus Dumbledore enter the sweets shop.
"He really has a sweet tooth," Hermione commented, causing them both to chuckle.
They had almost reached the castle, when a soft voice addressed Harry from behind. "I don't mind becoming your third wife if you need one, Harry Potter."
tbc...
Thank you so very much for the kind reviews for the previous chapter. Please let me know what you think of this chapter and what you expect from this story. Any ideas or opinions are welcome. My muse really appreicates the feedback.
Next chapter: "Trouble".