A/N: Hey everyone and welcome to another short, this one is for Seventh Son!
For those of you interested in my other works, I currently have three stories in progress with the pairings of those being Harry/FemVoldemort, Harry/Delphini and Harry/OFC
As usual, a big thanks to my Beta's and Discord Staff - Alec, Alpple, Babo, CalamityXx, Champ, DorianGray, O'Neill, Seventh Son, SinisterFox and Xevier!
Feel free to join my Discord for updates, a chance to request your own short story and information; link on my profile. Without any more rambling from me, I hope you enjoy the story!
(Sorry if you don't like this!)
May 14, 1999
Friday
Harry stepped out of the floo and into the fine parlour room of a Purebloods manor, his instincts setting him on edge as soon as he'd caught his bearing — the last home of a notable Pureblood he'd been in had resulted in a horribly planned attempt on his life, with several of his fellow Aurors being killed in the process. It was why he, a newly promoted Senior Auror (even after being fairly new to the force himself), was being sent alone to a home.
Looking around, nobody was immediately present. This lack of hostility or human interaction caused his arm to tense for the moment he'd need to slide his wand from its holster on his forearm.
While most Aurors needn't use this precaution, him being Harry Potter; there were are too many who wished him dead for him to risk being caught off guard.
"Auror Potter."
"Thank you for coming."
Identical voices speaking in the same emotionless, unreadable tone greeted him from two women who looked very much the same upon taking them in. He hadn't missed them either, they'd been waiting around a corner, something that only added a red flag about their intentions.
"Miss Carrow, Miss Carrow," Harry greeted the twins, remembering their shared appearance — that of dark hair, pale skin, blue eyes on petite figures — and names only due to the multiple Slug Club parties they'd seen each other at, "What can I do for you this evening?"
One of them stepped to the right, the other to the left; both moved in the same calm motions along the outskirts of the room while maintaining their stares at his face.
Left twin spoke first, "We were clearing out the dungeon."
Right twin took over in the same bland tone, "We came across numerous dark artefacts from the time in which our aunt and uncle occupied the estate; our parents were quite sickly you see, so our wonderful Uncle seized the reigns out from under us"
Harry found it hard to follow the two — he hadn't even known their parents were still living considering how little he knew of them —, switching his attention as they walked ever closer with a confused expression on his face.
"Coul-"
Left twin and Right twin spoke at almost the same time, Left only going slightly beforehand so that there was barely a gap between their words.
"She's Hestia."
"She's Flora."
Harry shook his head — were they purposefully trying to confuse him? Perhaps planning to do something nefarious while he was caught off guard?
Stepping back from the floo access and in the direction of a couch, Harry managed to get a dozen or so steps closer to Right twin… Hestia maybe?
Seeing that he moved, both young women stopped in their tracks to look at one another; seeing the silent conversation taking place made Harry adjust his position after casting a silent 'Homenum Revelio', it revealed the three of them were all alone in the estate.
"You seem on edge, Auror Potter," Hestia, the closer twin spoke to him in such a way that betrayed nothing of how she felt.
Flora chided her sister, "Senior Auror, he was promoted with honours only weeks ago," she looked towards Harry, "From your bed in Saint Mungos, wasn't it, Senior Auror Potter?"
Harry shifted his eyes from between the two, deciding to answer the question and ask one of his own.
"Yes, it was — can you tell me about the dark artefacts you claimed to have found?" They'd managed to get him to come in right before the changing of shifts, the Head Auror's secretary had seen it fit to alert him personally. Normally he'd not complain about working a job that was so agreeable to him, but he knew Ginny would give him grief for it when he returned home to her considering the possessiveness she possessed.
Flora moved closer so that she was equidistance from him as her sister was.
"We had our house-elves collect them after discovering the first one."
Hestia made a shuffling sound from where she'd been standing, Harry's eyes immediately darted towards the fidgety girl to find she'd snuck her way a few feet closer.
Seeing where his eyes now were, that twin took over.
"If you'd follow us, we could take you directly to them," Hestia gestured towards the doorway directly across from the floo, the one in which they'd both entered from.
Flora concluded the sentence, "We made sure they were all put on the dining room table for your arrival."
Motioning for the two weird girls to go first… as any gentleman would, Harry thanked them for the report and followed after the two girls. They didn't bother saying anything more, nor did they look back at him even once, they'd only looked at one another with silent conversations until they showed him the room in question.
As promised, numerous objects were on the table and upon further examination, were proved darker than anything he'd seen in the last month.
Harry glanced at the two girls, both of them now standing together at the head of the table, making themselves indistinguishable. Rather than address them individually and risk looking stupid, he spoke to them together.
"Miss' Carrow, you've both done a great service to the Ministry this evening. We'll be sure to publish an article should you wish, or we could do something equally beneficial sh-"
One of them — Hestia maybe, if they kept the same positioning from walking in, though he doubted it based on their earlier shenanigans — spoke up, cutting him off from his usual Auror speech that the DMLE had enforced upon them.
"We'd like nothing public to be published, only you as the receiving Auror and your superiors need know about the artefacts you'd retrieved from our Manor this night…"
He hadn't the chance to ask them if they were sure or if there was anything else they would like before the other Carrow, continued for her sister.
"However, we would be most agreeable to handing these items, as well as any others we come across when clearing our many properties out, directly to you — nobody else."
Ah, there was the catch; publicity mattered little to those who went out as seldom as these two did.
Scratching his head in thought and realising it was very likely an attempt to ambush him at a future date, Harry made to tell them 'no', but they didn't allow him to.
Hestia as he'd guessed earlier, stepped slightly forward.
"Should you do this for us, I'm sure we could assist Granger in one of her upcoming reformist laws on the Wizengamot floor."
Harry should've rebuked them for attempting to bribe him, even if it were over something minor such as this, but he couldn't. It wasn't a lack of willpower or morals, nor was it him wanting to hog all the glory, it was something far more important to him.
If he had the chance to assist in helping Muggleborn and 'Half-breeds' — people like Remus or Hagrid — why should he miss it if the cost was more activity on his behalf? While there could be danger presented, he'd beaten numerous Dark Wizards since the fall of Voldemort at his hand, surely there were no bigger threats still present; especially from two teenage witches a year or so younger than him!
Nodding once, Harry agreed.
"I'll do it."
June 16, 1999
Wednesday
This was his fifth trip to the Carrows' homes since he'd agreed to be what amounted to their personal Auror, but that wasn't all. Since that agreement he'd made, half of all his time while on duty was spent cataloguing the items he'd received from them or doing the paperwork for those very same items.
While it had grown annoying to say the least for him, the Head Auror and Kingsley had been made incredibly happy from all the positive press at receiving 'anonymous' items from 'reformed dark' families.
"Tea, Harry?" Flora asked from beside him, the group of three already standing in the dining room where another dozen or so objects were neatly laid on the table.
"Please, that'd be wonderful," and needed, he added in his mind.
Hestia didn't miss a beat, moving close enough to Harry until their hands brushed, "I imagine you're famished considering you never take your lunch break — perhaps something to eat would go well with your tea?"
Once more, he smiled at the sister that offered something and dipped his head.
"That sounds great, thank you."
Their behaviour had certainly grown on him, as had the girls themselves. He supposed if one spent enough time with someone who wasn't rude or bigoted, a friendship could be made which allowed a level of familiarity while visiting. At the least, an acquaintanceship could form so as to avoid those very same introductions and formalities at every check-in.
Harry couldn't explain away the constant 'accidental' touching or staying for the occasional snack as easily as he could the usage of first names. Nor could he explain how he'd begun to be able to tell them apart based on a singular small freckle near their lips… he liked to think he'd not started looking at either of the attractive Carrow's until after Ginny and he had separated. But based on the stressed relationship they'd been in, he may have glanced at their subtle beauty before while swearing not to act on it... especially when considering the circumstances.
"Another home searched and deemed safe, I take it?" Harry asked the two twins who'd finished giving orders to the house-elves that'd been waiting at the edge of the doorframe.
"Yes, we've only another six to go," Hestia answered.
Flora looked past Harry and towards her sister, another flurry of thoughts passing that he wasn't able to decipher in the slightest.
Hestia made a correction once they'd broken eye contact and looked to Harry in sync with her sister.
"Potentially eight."
Harry side-eyed Flora, the girl looking at him with her polite smile and unreadable expression; he'd missed something, his Auror sense knew it, but the man it belonged to couldn't determine what.
"I see…" He cast a set of spells at an object projecting a particularly hostile feeling, "You wouldn't happen to know anything about this one, would you?"
Neither Carrow made any indication that they had, both shrugging and continuing their watching of him in silence until he'd finished. Once that time came to pass and the house-elves made themselves known with his promised refreshments, they escorted him back to the parlour room in which he'd seen during every visit on account of the floo being in it.
After casting subtle checks to ensure there was nothing present in his food and drink that could lead to him being poisoned with a love potion, literal poison, or anything in between; he ate. Unnervingly, Flora and Hestia watched him from their seats while sipping from their teacups until he'd finished.
Not a second passed from setting his fork down to the time he'd stood up.
"Thank you for the meal, Flora, Hestia — unless there's anything else, I'll be off to the DMLE with our most recent collection."
Flora stood up while Hestia watched from her seat, the former replied to him.
"Pardon my saying if it's interpreted inappropriately, Harry, but would you be interested in joining us for dinner one of these evenings?"
Scratching his head, Harry's first thought wasn't as reluctant as he'd have thought; the idea of spending time with the Carrow twins not unappealing, especially if it wasn't more of the excessive work they seemed to be giving to him alone. He'd still been cautious in their presence and would continue to be so, but joining them for a single dinner wouldn't be too likely to cause any problems. Maybe he could even take an evening, or half-day off leading up to it.
"That'd be fine with me."
Hestia rose from her seat, and after looking to her sister, they curtsied together with the former speaking for the pair.
"Perfect — have a good evening, Harry."
As he bowed in return and bid them a farewell, he could've sworn he saw the pair of them smirking as the floo's flames engulfed him.
August 10, 1999
Tuesday
"Three to go, yeah?" Harry asked as he levitated yet another sack of contraband items near the floo access.
"Yes, three properties remain," Flora answered.
Hestia added on without missing a beat in the same manner as they always would with one another, "Lest we buy another property or two, there's no lack of huge estates on the market considering the circumstances of our world."
"You don't think they'd withdraw those types of items beforehand?" While Harry suspected they knew about the items long before calling him over, they still did so; if they bought properties from other Pureblood houses and items were found within that were dark in nature? Well, whichever family had messed up to that level would most assuredly be getting a visit from the Aurors.
Neither sister deigned to answer him, Hestia did however grasp his hand gently — an action her sister mirrored — and led him towards a smaller, family-oriented dining room rather than the larger one he'd grown so used to. He'd seen the room before, though he could say for all but the ones that were undoubtedly hidden in the walls; they'd shown him around every property they owned (excluding the ones they'd yet to go to themselves) to show with certainty nothing else was hidden in those confines.
That'd happened shortly after his eighth visit and ended up taking him right up until his ninth visit to complete.
"We'll be enjoying dinner here this evening," Hestia told him, settling herself in the left chair of the side closer to them — each side having three chairs with a singular one at the shorter head.
"You enjoy treacle tart, correct?" Flora asked, sliding into the right chair on the same side as her sister.
"Yes, it's my favourite dessert." Harry followed their pointed gazes and took the centre seat, hiding his laughter when he noticed them edge slightly closer; they'd both been getting more touchy-feely the longer he'd gotten to know them, though neither would blush or show any other sign of romantic interest.
"Oh, we guessed right again, Hestia," Flora commented to her sister while keeping her unwavering gaze firmly on Harry.
Hestia nodded as his eyes switched between the two speakers, "How lucky for us."
Uhuh. Harry wasn't convinced in the slightest that it'd been a lucky guess, they'd done this a few times before where they'd accurately nail something he liked, leaving him surprised at their intuition. Every similar event only added to the mystery of who they'd been speaking with that was close enough to know more trivial matters of his life, unless they truly had the 'inner-eye' as Professor Trelawney had called it.
"Yeah," was what Harry said aloud when he'd realised the pause had been due to him.
He felt a foot from his right — Flora — brush against his calf. That action made him jerk his entire leg upwards and at the same time, the Carrow girls made eye contact with one another. Only seconds passed with all this happening, yet when he looked towards Flora to see any outward sign of emotion at her action, she'd disengaged before meeting his gaze.
His attention then shifted to Hestia when he saw Flora flicker her eyes past him, and as soon as he'd moved his attention to the other girl, Flora's foot was back to rubbing incessantly at his calf while Hestia spoke; her doing so effectively locking his attention unless he made an issue from the botherless action.
"Tell us, Harry, did you end up only taking the evening off as you'd mentioned previously or did you take a week as Minister Shacklebolt suggested for considering your new role?"
Harry knew that he'd fucked up when telling the Carrow Sisters about Kingsley's offer to create a new position for him as Deputy Head Auror. But his reasoning at the time and even now, was almost sound when he truly thought of it.
They'd not ambushed him, nor had they requested anything compromising of him; all they'd wanted was him and him alone when coming to their many manor's to collect the small fortune of items they'd give up. He almost wished they'd curse him or try to poison him already, the suspense of when they'd strike — if ever — was killing him.
Especially after he'd told them about Kingsley's offer while in a moment of weakness, one in which the Minister hadn't told any other person in the Ministry. He almost expected an article the day he woke up, but none came. Tomorrow, he told himself, tomorrow it'd happen for sure, but no article was published in relation to that specific piece of information.
Harry felt the foot get slightly higher on his calf while at the same time Hestia grasped his hand on the table and began stroking the back of it with her fingers; that prompted him to answer.
"I took a week off, I'm seriously considering the position, but…" he trailed off, questioning if he should confide in them.
"Go on," Hestia cooed, her touches getting lighter while her overall grasp stayed as sure as ever.
Harry smelled the sweet scent of the burning candle on the table, the combination of that smell, the warmth from the fire and gentle caresses making him practically melt in the chair as delicious-looking food began materialising on the table in front of them.
"But what, Harry?" Flora asked from behind him, her voice sounding far closer than it'd been before.
It finally clicked on him that something was wrong, his brain was screaming those very words as his body fought to let itself go to the two beauties in the room.
"What'd you do to me?" he got out from his chair, the anger in his voice lacking as he felt calm and confident.
Flora and Hestia made eye contact as they so usually did when wishing to communicate privately, but Harry waved his hand between them.
"Tell me," no firmness was in his voice, but his power as an Auror and boy-who-won didn't need infliction via tone.
"The candle…"
"It has special effects…"
"Ones that we needed for this evening if we wanted our ambitions realised."
Hestia had spoken first, Flora next, then they finished together while gesturing towards the ever-burning candle with slightly coloured smoke; those colours being a mixture of a bright pink and dark red.
"What's it do?" Harry reached for his wand, belatedly realising if now was the time they'd finally taken action, it was over for him unless he acted much faster.
Noticing his somewhat sluggish movements, Flora cocked her head while watching his wand appear in his hand.
"We'll go quietly if you intend to arrest us, Harry."
Hestia nodded, gripping her sister's hand tightly while looking down and speaking so low he struggled to hear her, "It was meant for us, not you…"
"Tell me what it does," his voice was still calm, though now it was a manual effort rather than the fog that'd ensnared his brain — while he felt more like himself mentally, his body was still more relaxed than it's ever been before, a sense of something else was hitting him too, but he wasn't sure what.
Flora took a half step in front of her sister while opening her mouth to speak, but Hestia moved to her side, taking her position directly to the right of her sister. As long as he'd known them, they always did their best to appear equal on every standard, he respected that even if it made them hard to tell apart.
"Courage and Relaxation."
Flora had opened her mouth a second time and said those three words.
"What?" Harry raised his wand — not at them — and cleared the room of the mind-altering smoke while simultaneously putting out the candle from which the smoke emitted.
Flora spoke again, "The candle."
Hestia took over after a sharp glance at her twin, "It was meant to provide us with courage and relaxation, we hadn't thought the effects to be so strong; we weren't careless either, the other we'd used hadn't been nearly as strong," a nudge from Flora caused Hestia to add, "We're sorry."
"Please believe us, Senior Auror Potter."
Flora finished off for the pair; herself and her sister both looking anywhere but at him while surrendering their wands that'd gotten to their hands far faster than he'd have liked.
As tempted as he was to take them, he asked the most important follow-up question he could think of, one that was incredibly simplistic and that would allow him to understand their reasonings.
"Why?"
Two pairs of the same eyes looked at him in response, but the emotions on almost identical faces were, for a change, incredibly different.
Flora furrowed her brows, clearly confused, and worried her lip. Hestia looked a mixture of annoyed and reluctant, her blushing which he noticed a second afterwards went completely at odds with the emotions shown.
"For you, isn't it obvious?" Flora asked him, her confusion making itself known by way of her question.
Hestia shook her head and pointed directly at Harry, "He hasn't the faintest guess, it would appear his obliviousness to the fairer sex wasn't fabrication as we'd suspected."
Flora looked from Harry to her sister and back again to Harry, "Obliviousness is better than reluctance or outright disapproval to what we'd like to ask him."
"It is," Hestia agreed, dropping her pointing finger and stepping towards him in sync with her sister, "You wish to know why we had a candle that caused those two feelings to overwhelm you?"
He nodded, his muscles not nearly as tense as they'd been prior to the back and forth from the girls, as he had a clue to where they'd planned on going; especially when they took their next move that was clearly meant to be reminiscent of their first private meeting.
Flora broke off left at the same time Hestia did so right — they'd done so when they were within a dozen or so steps of him, the distance having gotten further as he'd slowly shuffled backwards to create a level of distance between them when he'd feared for his safety earlier.
"We've liked you for some time, Harry."
"Since you'd introduced yourself to us at Professor Slughorn's meeting."
"You were ever so polite to us."
"Not many were on account of our personalities, you see."
Flora and Hestia were slowly approaching him in a slow, drawn-out manner; speaking as soon as the other finished as well as they always had.
Their admission of liking him mixed with their acting impossibly blank faces — the same they'd worn during his first visit via floo — during the approach made him lower his wand further still, the object in question hanging limply at his side when he realised that they'd missed by far the chance to strike at him while under the influence of the candle.
"So you see, we concocted a plan to inject ourselves in your life," Left twin, Flora, said.
Hestia nodded, "We could've cleared our properties in a week, but then our window would be wasted."
"It takes time to build a friendship, romance even more so," Flora and Hestia, the former having spoken those words, were now only a few feet from him; their tones shifted to breathy as he smelled the familiar smoke once more.
"Why d-" His question was interrupted by Hestia.
"We had the entirety of the house fitted with them for your visit."
Flora nodded, "Slytherin girls such as ourselves don't have much natural courage."
"You'll allow us their use, won't you, Senior Auror?" Hestia switched from his name back to his title as she all but whispered the words in his ear.
"If he doesn't, he'll have to lock us up, sister," Flora was equally as close on his other side, the twins pressing themselves up against him as the smoke once more began taking hold.
Harry fought off the fog, his mind sharpening itself as he asked two more questions.
"Do they act as a love potion would?"
He could only see one twin completely, but the one that he did, Flora, shook her head 'no'. Hestia verbally responded the same for his benefit.
His second question was then asked, "You… both, like me?"
As one voice, they responded.
"Yes."
Harry felt an inner conflict brewing.
How could he, as an Auror and a friend, take advantage of two girls? They'd met him in a position of authority and were so interested in him that they'd let him date them both? It wasn't right… but how could he pick one over the other?
"I, we," Harry stopped and swallowed, "It wouldn't work."
Flora stepped back from him while Hestia pushed herself closer into his side — another subtle difference in the otherwise identically looking and acting girls — the former had her brows furrowed as she had only a minute earlier.
"Says who?"
Harry knew enough about the way Magical Britain worked to respond with confidence.
"Everyone."
Flora looked away from him, still looking confused as she had when she'd asked the question, but now with a touch of annoyance, as her sister had. Speaking of Hestia, she replied after silence had hung over the group of them for not more than a handful of seconds.
"Who cares?"
He wanted to bite back that all three of them should, that it couldn't work, but he didn't.
Harry had known the girls long enough to learn that they were deeply connected, even more so than Fred and George had been, which was saying something. Flora and Hestia shared a wardrobe, a room, businesses, fortunes; it made sense in a weird way that they'd share crushes.
"Do you truly wish to try?"
Hestia, still blushing as she'd been earlier when he caught sight of her from the corner of his eye, nodded again with a small smile on her face.
Flora's confusion was gone, in its place was her deadpan expression with an uptick of her lips as the only sign of her happiness.
Again, they spoke as one.
"Yes."
What followed was a discussion regarding how they'd make it work… but that only lasted all of five minutes before more mature themes caught up to them, due in large part to the candles which granted the shy girls the confidence they needed to have their first snogging.
Harry would later recall this evening as one of the best of his life, but that feeling was lost to him in the moment when they'd told him how he was expected at a dinner with their parents. One they'd scheduled with the plan of already succeeding in their mind.
As he'd come to be told, even if they'd failed with the candles, they'd always had a second plan.
A/N;
I have no clue when the second part of this will come out.