Chapter Twenty-Eight!

1st of November 1994:

As Harry and Minerva left Account Manager Tezom's office and got some money from Harry's Trust Vault the two left the bank to go to Diagon Alley. But as they left, they heard a man's voice called out, "Professor McGonagall, is that you?" As the two turned round, they saw a man looking to be in his thirties. He was well built, for a wizard at least, meaning he wasn't pudgy, with brown hair and eyes.

"Apollo Greengrass, nice to see you." Minerva said politely.

"Same to you Professor." Apollo returned, "It has been some years since we last met."

"You're right, and please call me Minerva. You're no longer a student." Minerva said, "I hope you're staying out trouble now that you're older. I remember you and James Potter having a Prank War against Slytherin and Gryffindor, some parts of the school have yet to be fixed because what you two groups did."

"Say what you will about James, he might not like Slytherin as a whole, but if as long we can take joke and play a good one back on him, he didn't mind us that much." Apollo Greengrass said with a bittersweet smile as he thought back to a more innocent time. "It's a shame what happened to him and his dear wife, she was one of the few Gryffindors who didn't care about what House the person was in, just the kind of person you were. As for calling you Minerva, no can do Professor, to me and many students who you taught you'll always be Professor to us. So Professor, what are you doing in Diagon Alley? I would have thought you would be at Hogwarts teaching, or at least busy with everything that's going on there this year."

"I have the afternoon off Apollo." She answered, "I was taking the new Lord Potter to settle his affairs at Gringotts."

"Lord Potter?" Apollo blurted in shock, now seeing the Boy-Who-Lived next to her. He had indeed heard the rumours of him having a new look from his daughters, but they were at the age where looks of attractive boys changed so much it meant very little, but now he knew better. Not only had his looks changed but the air around him as well. He was more powerful, deadly even, should someone get on the wrong side of him. Apollo thought that if he played this right, he might be able to get the new Lord on his side and hopefully make him and his family's life better - little did he know that Harry was after something similar. "Lord Potter, it's a pleasure to meet you; my daughters speak highly of you. From what they say about you, you remind me of your mother - didn't care about the House the person was in either, as I'm sure you heard."

"Thank you for saying so, Mr. Greengrass." Harry said with a bow his head and a smile. This was a first time that someone said he reminded someone of his mother, in a way that wasn't about her eyes, "And please call me Mr. Potter if you need to be formal. From what my friends have told me, unless someone pisses me off my titles should only be used for formal events and a few other times. I would prefer it if you called me Harry though, being called Mr. Potter makes me feel old and also it makes out that I've done something wrong and I'm being scolded."

Apollo laughed, the young lord reminded him a bit of himself, "Oh I know what you mean Harry, I feel the very same way. Likewise, I only prefer people call me Mister at formal events or unless I dislike them or they don't know me. Please, call me Apollo."

"Thank you Apollo." Harry agreed before an idea came to him. He could talk to Apollo now about what he and his girls talked about not long ago about his daughter Daphne teaching him etiquette and customs. "Apollo, if you have some time, would you mind if we have a drink at The Leaky Cauldron? I would like to ask you something."

o0OoO0o

Once they got to the Leaky Cauldron, the three of them secured a private booth and ordered themselves a drink. Apollo started things off, "So Harry, what is it that you wanted to talk about?"

"As you might have heard, I was raised within the Muggle World?" Harry begun to explain, getting a positive nod from the older man. "Well I recently found out before becoming Lord Potter that I was Heir Potter. When I talked to my friends about it in the last week before officially becoming Lord Potter I found out that I know very little about etiquette I would need nor the customs I'm required to know, or at least be familiar with, as Lord Potter. When I asked where I could learn them, they informed me that your wife," Harry was glad that Angelina informed him about this, "teaches those who don't know them. I was wondering if she would be willing to teach me and my friends about Etiquette and Wizarding Customs."

Apollo did some quick deductions in his head. This could be a way into getting Harry onto his side, but the problem that presented itself was Harry's location. "I'm sure she would certainly be willing, as teaching is a passion of hers, but I'm afraid you will likely have to wait until summer."

"Ah, I see..." Harry said slowly with a fake sigh of disappointment. He sprang his true plan after an appropriate amount of time had passed, "Would it possible for your oldest to teach us at Hogwarts? I'm sure she's familiar enough with the material to at least teach us the basics. I would be willing to pay half of what your wife's lessons would be."

Minerva wondered what her Alpha was up to, she suspected that he wanted to learn all of this, not just to know it, but for some other purpose. She would have to ask him about it later

With Apollo though, like Angelina thought he would react, the man was in full agreement of the idea, since it would move Daphne closer towards a possible Marriage Contract, if things went perfectly, or at the very least an Alliance agreement if they went positively, but Harry and his daughter didn't click. The Greengrass Imports would become the best in the business with the connections and property the Potter Family owned, so with that in mind Apollo answered, "I have no problems with that, I'll send an owl to Daphne later on to inform her of your desire to learn. If she's interested you can begin your lessons whenever you, your friends and my daughter are ready for them."

Harry stood up, "Thank you Apollo, and I'm sorry to rush things like this, but I've got a few things I need to do within Diagon Alley. I bid you good day, and I hope to meet you later on."

"The same to you Harry, I hope to see you again soon." Apollo said with his own friendly smile before he turned to Minerva, "I hope to see you again, Professor, when we have more time to chat and catch up." After this, the three of them parted ways. Apollo going home to send Daphne a latter telling her to agree to the classes with Harry and his friends.

Harry and Minerva, meanwhile, ventured back out into Diagon Alley, where they managed to get everything done that Harry had set planned, the most important errand being the removal of the Trace on his wand now that he was a Lord. The saddles drew some strange looks when he answered to the negative to owning horses, but most just assumed he meant Thestrals or some other equine creature. The journey back to the castle was uneventful, filled with idle talk of what the two had seen in the Alley.

o0OoO0o

Daphne and Astoria Greengrass' Dorm Room

Once again both Daphne and Astoria were walking about as if they were going to be attacked by the shadows, and with what happened to them the night before it wasn't a surprise. They didn't know when this Shadow character would return and mate with them again. Astoria was excited at the thought, she liked what happened the night before and wanted nothing more for it to happen again. Daphne, on the other hand, was more hesitant in her excitement, her mood swapping back and forth between desire and denial. She was frightened at how easily this Shadow character brought out her deepest darkest desires, things she wouldn't normally allow to show. But, in a way, that's also why she was so excited, the feeling of freedom to finally let these desires out in the open was... she wanted more. She wanted to experience it again, to writhe in ecstasy below the beast who fulfilled her darkest desires and not be judged for it.

Once again their friends had asked what was wrong, to which the Greengrass sisters once again replied with a short 'nothing'. Daphne had a hard time coming to terms what happened, but could easily pretend everything was normal until she could deal with it in private. Her younger sister didn't have this problem, and didn't feel a hint of shame, even knowing, and maybe even in spite of knowing, that others wouldn't accept it and would look down at her.

The two sisters were in their bedroom with their two best friends, Blaise Zabini and Tracey Davis, talking about the past day. "So what's really up with you two?" Tracey asked, "You two have been on edge since yesterday, it's not like you two."

"Trace is right," Their male friend supported, "you two are normally more confident, more control of yourselves. Since yesterday the two of you are acting like someone's after you, jumping at shadows." The two sisters shuddered almost imperceptibly at the thought, one from fear and that other from the thrill the idea brought, "So what's going on? If you tell us we might be able to help you."

"Blaise is right, we can help." Tracey agreed.

"You can't help us, no one can." Daphne shook her head.

"Come on Daph, talk to us." Tracey urged, "You look tired. Please, let us help."

"Let us help," said Blaise.

"Fine, I'll talk, but only if Blaise tells us what's wrong with him lately." Daphne countered, hoping that this would make a stop to this. They all knew how private Blaise was, and it was far more likely that he would decline than accept.

Daphne's cunning and not very well thought out plan failed to take into account that Blaise was legitimately worried about the Greengrass sisters, who made up two thirds of the people he could warmly call friends, "Fine, you have a deal." Blaise said, unhappy but willing to pay the price if it allowed him to help them.

Seeing no other option, the two girls sighed and started things off, Astoria going first. "As you two know both me and my sister are Animagi, right?" Their two friends nodded, they knew the sisters possessed the ability, but they didn't know their forms, "Well two nights ago while we were out in the Forbidden Forest..."

Astoria tried to remain factual, but her passion for the events that took place quickly grew apparent and by the time she went off on the third tangent, going into explicit detail about every little sensation she felt to an increasingly stunned Blaise and Tracey, this time about how erotic a wolf drooling on her mid-coitus was, Daphne had to take over. Daphne succeeded in remaining impartial, and managed to describe the rest of the two encounters accurately but distantly.

"...Well... I... Um..." Tracey stammered after the story had finally drawn to a close. "I, I guess if it makes you happy then I won't judge you for your... tastes?" Her words were honest, shockingly, and even supportive. She just never, ever wanted to hear Astoria talk about it ever again. She might not be into that sort of depravity, but Astoria describing it so vividly had put her in the state to need a fresh pair of panties. She never thought that hearing something like that would turn her on so much, but it did and she, reluctantly, wanted to hear more. She had a strong suspicion she and Astoria would be talking more about this in the near future.

"Thanks Trace," Daphne said with a warm smile, "but I don't know myself how to deal with this. On one hand I'm thrilled at the idea, on the other hand part of me is ashamed at what happened. Unlike my sister who isn't worried about what people think, I am a bit, mainly what my parents would think about it."

"You don't have to worry Daph," Blaise said with a supportive smile, "we'll be there for you and Toria, and I think once you explain it to your parents I think they will be too."

"I don't know about that but thanks for saying it." Daphne said with a sad smile, "At least we'll have you two on our side. Now you, Blaise, have some talking to do."

Blaise sighed, hoping they had forgotten about his end of the deal. It was something he didn't want to talk about as he wasn't sure what it meant himself, but deal was a deal and he wasn't going to back out of this one when his two best friends explained their darkest secret. "Okay, a deal is a deal. Before we start you should know I don't know what this means either, it's confusing to me as I think it'll be for you." Now the girls seemed more interested in this then what Daphne and Astoria told them, "Now you know that I've started to date a few girls this summer right."

"It's hard to miss how you keep bragging about it. It's adorable that you finally got your first kiss, but we really don't want to hear it in vivid detail every time you go past handholding." Tracey deadpanned.

"Well, yes, anyway, I fully plan to date several girls this year." Blaise announced with a smile. He was turning into a bit of a play boy, trying to date as many women at the same time if he could. As long as no one got hurt, they knew before hand and it wasn't serious, so he sure no harm came from it. "However…" Blaise stalled here, not knowing how to explain the next part.

"However...?" Astoria asked slowly.

It took a few moments before Blaise finally said, "Fine, if you need to know the problem is HARRY BLOODY POTTER! He's the problem, for some fucked up reason I'm beginning to have feelings for him, the same feelings that I have for women and I don't fucking know why." There, he said it, something he didn't want to admit but needed to, so that he could find out what the hell he was feeling this way, so he continued to say, "Ever since he started to become our friend, I've slowly began to develop feelings for him, and my body has began to crave contact. To my everlasting shame, I want him to fuck me, fuck me hard and I don't know why." Blaise began to cry, he didn't know what was going on with him, he knew that before Harry came along he only had feelings for women, but now he had feeling for a guy and only for Harry bloody Potter and it was utterly confusing. Even more baffling was that he wanted to be impregnated by Harry, even though he knew it was imposable even with magic. He had so many conflicting emotions and desires he almost thought it would be better if he was a girl.

As he let everything out his three females hugged him, not saying a word for several minute, just comforting him before Daphne said, "Blaise, I don't know what's going on, but I promise we'll work it out for you and if someone hexed you to like Harry, they'll soon find out what happens when they mass around with our friend, right girls?" Her declaration was met by firm replies of agreement.

And if this was something else, then they would deal with it accordingly. They'd stuck together for over four years at Hogwarts alone, not to mention their time before school, something like this wasn't going to tear them apart.

o0OoO0o

It was about late afternoon when Harry and Minerva returned to Hogwarts. As they made their way inside they instantly headed for the Chamber. Once there they saw that, like before, Sara and Remedy were seating in either side of the throne, Medusa, in her Basilisk form, was curled up behind it, coils wrapped high enough for her head to be visible over the top of the chair, as if keeping a watched, and deadly, eye out for possible threats while Hermione, lastly, was laying in front of the throne in her Cat-Girl form. Upon seeing her Master, Medusa transformed halfway, morphing into a Lamia before quickly slithering over to him and dragging him into a passionate kiss, "Were you able to sort everything out today Master?"

"I was, and I think I've found a place to start our own land." Harry admitted with a smile, "I have to read the file, but we might have what we need. I've also connected with the Greengrass' Father and worked out an arrangement with him. By the looks of things, everything is coming along nicely." By now Harry was sitting in the throne with, with Hermione and Minerva kneeling in front of him while Medusa chose to coil around the throne, ending up with her upper body sitting on the armrest.

"I've been meaning to ask about that." Minerva mentioned, "Why do you need land and what as Apollo Greengrass have to do with that?"

It was Hermione who answered, "Alpha believes that in time the Muggle and Wizarding World might destroy themselves, or each other, and he wants a safe land for people he picks out."

"Do you really think that will happen?" Minerva asked curiously, wondering if this was just precaution or something he truly believed.

Harry sighed, "If the Magical World refuses to change? Then I have full confidence they will destroy themselves sooner rather than later, and it's more than likely they will take the Muggle World down with them as our problems spill over into their world. Though it could happen the other way around, neither world is very stable at the moment," Harry admitted sadly. "it could be in our lifetime or it could happened hundreds of years from now. I'm hoping for the later. The island and people I'm trying to get is a start toward making a third option to keep the world going should the worse happen."

Minerva knew enough about the Muggle World to understand that side of things as well, so she nodded understandingly. "What place does Apollo have in your plan, and who will live on the island?"

"Aside from us, I don't have any candidates." Harry admitted, "Those interested in helping build up the island will certainly be welcome though. As for Apollo, I need his help to get the things I would need to start it all up, but he doesn't know it yet and I don't want him to until I know I can trust him, which is why I'm planning to use his daughters to get to him."

Minerva might not like the idea of using Apollo's daughter, but Harry was her Alpha and she understood he was doing what was needed for them to live, so she nodded and said, "I understand Alpha."

"So Hermione, what are you doing down here?" Harry asked, his tone suggesting he was hoping it was something naughty.

"Nothing like that, I was wondering if you wrote to Patrick about being in the Triwizard Tournament?" Hermione asked.

"Not yet, I was somewhat busy today, I was planning to do so tonight." Harry explained, casting a Tempus Charm, they saw it was time for dinner. Harry turned back to his pets and announced, "I'll see you three later. Sara, Remedy, I've got those gifts that you wanted. I'll give them to you when I return tonight." The mother and daughter smile and bid their Chieftain goodbye with a kiss, Medusa joining in as she was going with the two.

o0OoO0o

If Harry had thought that matters would improve once everyone got used to the idea of him being Champion the rest of the day did wonders to rub his face in how wrong he'd become. As he and Hermione arrived at Great Hall, Minerva going back to her office to grab something before dinner, it was clear that the rest of the school, just like Gryffindor, thought Harry had entered himself into the tournament. Unlike the Gryffindors, however, they did not seem impressed.

The Hufflepuffs, who were usually on excellent terms with the Gryffindors, had turned remarkably cold toward the whole lot of them. It was plain that the Hufflepuffs felt that Harry had stolen their Champion's glory; a feeling exacerbated, perhaps, by the fact that Hufflepuff House very rarely got any glory, and that Cedric was one of the few who had ever given them any, having beaten Gryffindor once at Quidditch. Harry thought even Professor Sprout seemed distant with him - but then, she was Head of Hufflepuff House.

"Ah, look, boys, it's the Champion." Draco said to Crabbe and Goyle the moment he got within earshot of Harry. "Got your autograph books? Better get a signature now, because I doubt he's going to be around much longer. Half the Triwizard Champions have died, how long d'you reckon you're going to last, Potter? Ten minutes into the First Task is my bet."

Crabbe and Goyle guffawed sycophantically, but Malfoy had to stop there though, as Minerva appeared behind them and moved them along. It wasn't a moment too soon, because Harry's inner dragon was roaring and clawing at the inside of his mind to rip and tear Draco to pieces for his insults. The Dragon demanded to be respected, feared even, but yet he wasn't.

Has Harry seat down to eat his dinner, with whispers all around him, Harry felt this was going to be a long dinner.

TO BE CONTINUED!