Chapter 4
Tuesday, 12 September 1995
Hogwarts Castle, Scotland
It was seven thirty in the evening, and Katie, Ron, Hermione, Neville, and Leanne were in the fifth-year boys' dorm standing before Harry's new trunk. Harry popped his head out.
"I've added you all to the permissions list," Harry announced. "It's done. Let's go exploring." He disappeared again.
"Ladies first," Neville said, gesturing the girls to the trunk. Ron, who had been going to step into the trunk, paused and stepped back so Katie could go. Leanne and Hermione followed, then Ron and Neville. Soon all the teens were standing in the corridor before the posh door at the end. Harry was grasping a key in his hand.
"Here goes," Harry said, placing the key in the lock and turning. The door opened into a type of foyer, decorated much like the corridor with dark hardwood panelling on the walls, and hardwood parquet floors. The ceiling was about twenty feet high and decorated with paintings of scenes from mythology and several gold chandeliers hung down, encrusted in crystal. The room was large and empty. Harry estimated the room was thirty feet wide by forty feet long. A large and decorative double door opposite attracted everyone's attention. Harry proceeded over and turned the handle. It opened easily.
Harry walked into another hall. This one was the same size and decorated almost identically to the one they'd just left, except the ceilings soared three stories above, fifty or sixty feet. What was clearly the front door was opposite the door Harry had just come through, and tall windows lined the wall. A red rug was laid on the floor over the hardwood, and twin staircases ran up the side walls to a balcony over where Harry was standing taking it all in.
"Wicked!" Ron shouted, walking into the room and turning around to take it all in.
Harry walked to the front door, opening it. Outside, he saw the house was atop a low hill, other rolling hills spread out around, covered in fields and forests. From his vantage point, he could see a few miles, the setting sun illuminating the landscape, the sky ablaze in orange and purple. The sun was behind them, meaning the front faced what Harry would call east. He could hear birds chirping, and the wind rustling the leaves. It was tranquil.
"That's breath-taking," Katie said next to him.
"It is that," Harry agreed quietly, stepping onto the portico. The exterior was Georgian, done in a beautiful yellow-grey stone. The house was comfortably weathered and looked like it'd been there forever.
"How..." Katie tried, but failed to find the words.
"According to the manual, all I had to do was set the environment," Harry described. "Then I simply thought about the house I wanted. Once I'd done that, I push a button, and there's a one-time rune-based time compression charge that compresses one hundred years into an hour. All these trees grew from seeds in an hour."
"Damn," Katie swore.
"Yeah," Harry agreed.
"Are you coming, Harry?" Ron called from halfway up the stairs. Harry and Katie turned back into the house.
"Starting at the top?" Harry asked as he went to the stairs, admiring the richly carved wood newel post and banister. The teens climbed the stairs to the balcony. Behind the balcony, corridors stretched out to the left and right, and in the middle another magnificent stairway rose to the second floor. Ron again led the way. On the second floor, the stairs led to another open room with railings around the stairs. Directly behind the top of the stairs was a large floor to ceiling window looking out over the back of the property. Harry spotted a magnificent circular fountain with a sculpture spouting water. Beyond, in the fading light, Harry could see a vast French garden. Harry spared Neville a glance. He was practically salivating.
The second floor mirrored the first floor, with a balcony and corridors above the ones on the first floor. The only difference was that there were two stairs just behind the corridors off the second-floor landing, rising away from the centre of the house to a third floor. Harry took the stairs on the left and went up. These were clearly supposed to be servant's quarters.
Harry had read about great houses in one of the books in the control room and learned about the various rooms. He was adamant that Dobby and Winky would live in at least modest comfort and had made certain that quarters would be available for them.
At the top of the stair was a small landing with access to the third-floor corridor, which was directly above the second-floor corridor. The floor was plain hardwood, nicely polished, and the walls and ceiling were clean white plaster. The corridor was studded with doors all the way down.
Harry went to a door and opened it. It was short, only five feet tall, and the knob was only two feet off the ground, just right for elves. Harry ducked as he entered. The room he entered was set up as a sitting room, about fifteen feet deep by ten feet wide with white plaster walls and ceilings and dark hardwood floors, complete with elf-sized living room furniture. Beyond was another door, which Harry opened. Beyond was a short corridor with a closet and bathroom off the side. At the far end was the bedroom, with a dormered window and more elf-sized furniture.
"Harry, I can't believe you," Hermione said.
"What?" Harry asked. "I wasn't about to have my elves living in squalor. I talked to Dobby the other day, and he was telling me what life at the Malfoy's was like. He lived in a nest in a closet. My elves won't live that way, Hermione! They'll have proper rooms, with proper furniture, appropriately sized. I will not be inconsiderate for members of my family, whether human or elf." Hermione looked properly chastened.
"Are all the rooms like this?" Neville asked, looking around.
"They should be," Harry said. "When I thought about my ideal house, this whole level should be servants' quarters."
"There's nowhere to eat!" Hermione complained.
"There should be a dining room downstairs," Harry said. "My master suite shouldn't have a kitchen either."
"Hermione, he's treating the elves like family," Katie said.
"It's far better than even the Longbottoms treat our elves," Neville told her. "Frankly, I'm ashamed we haven't done something like this." The teens exited the suite. Harry proceeded down the corridor to the end. It teed off into another corridor that ran perpendicular, along the centreline of the south wing.
"The house is shaped like a capital 'H'," Harry told them. "Each side should be identical to the other on the upper floors." Harry looked down the wing corridor, seeing a floor-to-ceiling window at each end. Satisfied, he led the teens back to the second floor.
Harry went south again, looking into the first room. It was another suite, fancier than the ones for the elves, with white plaster walls with hardwood trim and floors. Dressed walnut beams, polished to a high shine, criss-crossed the white plaster ceiling. The sitting room was decorated with plush red and walnut furniture and had no windows, but the dressing room behind it did: large floor-to-ceiling windows trimmed with cheery red curtains. The bedroom was next to the dressing room with a massive four poster bed that sat opposite a wood-trimmed stone fireplace, and a thick red rug was centred on the floor. The bathroom off the bedroom was opulent, and more classical than Georgian, with marble and gold fixtures. It had both a shower and a bath. There was also a walk-in closet next to the bathroom.
"Is this a jacuzzi bath?" Hermione asked, inspecting the tub.
"Yeah," Harry nodded. "I thought my guests would appreciate it."
"This is a guest room?" Ron asked, stunned.
"Yeah, everything on this corridor should be," Harry nodded again. "Let's go find the master suite." He led the teens out into the corridor, and again turned toward the south wing. Where the corridor teed off, he turned right toward the back of the house. The corridor was much shorter than it had been on the third floor, and ended in a door, instead of a window. Harry opened the door.
He walked into another sitting room. It wasn't decorated any differently than the guest suite had been except the colour scheme was blue instead of red, but it looked vastly different. For one it was huge. The sitting room the teens walked into ran the entire width of the wing, perhaps ninety feet. It was thirty feet deep. The south wall was pierced with floor to ceiling windows with a fireplace in the middle. A large projection screen took up about half of the north wall. There were two sets of living room furniture, creating two separate sitting areas, one on each side of the room. The east and west walls were lined with bookshelves to chest height and decorated with paintings above that. A single door occupied the west wall opposite the one Harry had led the teens through.
"What is that?" Ron asked.
"It looks like a cinema screen," Katie observed.
"It should be," Harry said. He pointed to a coffee table with a projector on it. "That should be a magically operated film projector. All I have to do is get films and that should play them."
"Neat!" Katie said with a smile.
"What's a film?" Ron asked.
"Think of it like a wizard photograph with sound, where the loop lasts two hours instead of a minute, and it tells a story," Harry described, earning a nod from Hermione.
"How'd you get it to work without electricity?" Hermione wanted to know.
"Magic? I dunno. If it works like I imagined, magic creates the light and processes and projects the sound," Harry told her.
When Ron seemed to accept that, Harry went through the far door, and entered a dressing room. The room was offset to the north, and the floor to ceiling windows look out onto the fountain behind the house. Opposite the door Harry had entered was another door. Harry went through it.
The master bedroom was ninety feet by thirty feet, had lots of floor to ceiling windows, and twin fireplaces, one on each side of the door Harry had entered through. The centrepiece of the room was a truly massive fourposter canopy bed draped in blue and gold. A thick blue rug covered the floor that felt incredibly soft under Harry's feet. There were wardrobes on the walls, but there was only one other door, just south of the south fireplace.
Harry went over and opened the door, behind which he found his bathroom. He smiled broadly as he entered. Behind him, he heard Katie whistle, impressed. The room, thirty by forty, had classical accents and was almost entirely marble. There was a double sink with a huge gilded mirror behind it on the north wall. Floor to ceiling windows were obscured by white gauze on the south wall. On the east wall was a shower big enough for two, with four showerheads and a bench seat. Beside it was a jacuzzi tub also big enough for two. Two toilets sat in their own small rooms on the far side of the bath.
"Wicked!" Ron gasped as he entered and started to admire the fixtures.
"Look at this tub!" Katie gushed.
"Look at this shower," Leanne added, winking at Katie, who glared at her, but it didn't dim her smile for long.
Harry ignored the implications of Leanne's statement, and left. He plopped down on the comfortable couch in his sitting room and waited for everyone to be done inspecting his rooms.
"Dobby! Winky!" he called out. The elves popped in and stood in front of Harry. Winky looked much better. She was smiling and sober, and dressed, like Dobby, in what appeared to be Edwardian servant's clothes. Hers consisted of a simple black dress with white collar and cuffs, the same crest on her left breast that Dobby sported.
"Dobby is here," the elf said brightly. Winky nodded too.
"This is fantastic, you lot," Harry said happily. "Great job. You've exceeded my expectations. On the third floor there are quarters designed especially for elves. I want you each to pick one out. No more living in nests. You're to have beds and rooms like proper sentient beings."
"Harry is beings too kind," Winky said, blushing.
"How many of these were left at the store?" Harry asked.
"Several," Winky replied.
"The manual said the trunks can be linked to make a larger space," Harry informed them. "I want you to buy up all the trunks that store has and bring them to me." Winky nodded. Harry looked at Dobby. "You said we can farm here?" Dobby nodded. "We have a hundred square miles," Harry observed. "How many elves would that take?"
"One elf can farm sixteen hectares easily," Dobby replied. "Two elves can farm forty-eight hectares, sixty-four with difficulty. We can tend a square mile of pastureland and the animals, though that varies depending on what type of animal."
"How many hectares per square mile?" Harry asked blankly.
"Almost two hundred sixty," Hermione replied as she entered.
"What's two hundred sixty divided by forty-eight times two?" Harry posited.
"Eleven," Hermione said, doing the math mentally.
"I'm gonna need a lot more elves," Harry observed. "Can you find me elves?" he asked Dobby.
"Dobby can," the little elf nodded, popping away with Winky.
"You're going to treat them right," Hermione ordered, threateningly. The rest of the teens came in at that point.
"Hermione, you saw upstairs," Harry reminded her. "You can see how I plan to take care of my elves. That won't change if I have one or one thousand."
"Hermione, you need to lay off Harry about the elves," Katie chided. "Neville and Dobby both told you how it was."
"I know, but I worry," Hermione said.
"That's fair, but Harry's a good person," Neville said. "It's time to drop it. Can we see the first floor?"
"Sure," Harry said, and led the teens out of the room.
The central corridor of the first floor was more guest rooms, but the wings were a surprise. When the teens walked through the door at the end of the corridor into the south wing Hermione gasped. The entire wing was given over to a library on the ground and first floors. They were standing on a balcony, pressed up against a cast iron railing overlooking hundreds if not thousands of empty shelves occasionally broken by floor-to-ceiling windows on both levels. Soaring above were coffered ceilings done in dark wood. Rolling ladders on rails lined the walls providing access to shelves too high to reach. In the middle of the ground floor were couches and lounge chairs, along with a large globe. Big tables with wooden chairs occupied the rest of the open space.
"Dobby!" Harry called out again. Dobby popped in. "I want you to go to the vaults and my other properties and bring all the books you can find here to put on the shelves. If there's more room, fill the shelves with books from Flourish and Blotts and other magical and muggle bookstores."
"Dobby will," the little elf said enthusiastically before popping away.
When the elf left, Harry looked over and saw Hermione practically cross-eyed with anticipation. The room was ninety feet wide and two hundred feet long. Harry wondered how much money he'd just ordered his elf to spend and cringed inwardly.
Quitting the library, Harry went to the north wing. Ron had to practically drag Hermione out of the room to proceed with the tour.
The door to the north wing revealed a narrower corridor with doors on the far wall. Harry opened one of the doors and stepped into a small box with four plush opera chairs. Over the velvet-topped balcony rail Harry could see into a small theatre. Private boxes ringed the first floor of the theatre, while the ground floor was traditional rows of seats. The stage was on the west side. Harry could see a small orchestra pit in front of the stage. The stage itself was bare, and he could make out some of the backstage spaces.
The theatre was brilliantly decorated with wood and plaster decorations painted white and gilded. The curtains on either side of the stage were red, and there were gold and crystal chandeliers providing light. Above the boxes on the east wall, Harry could make out a small technical area where elves could work spotlights and sound equipment. He could also make out what looked like another projector. If he'd done it right, there should be a projection screen that could be dropped in front of the stage so he could show films as well as stage plays, operas, ballets, and other performances.
"This place is amazing," Ron said in awe. Harry, however, was more interested in Neville's opinion. Harry suspected that he lived in a manor house of some kind and wondered if he'd be impressed.
"Shall we see the ground floor?" Harry asked, turning away. Descending one of the grand staircases, Harry led the teens back into the entry hall. He then headed to the double doors on the north side of the room. Opening them, he entered the main parlour. It, like the entry hall, was elegantly appointed with wood panelling, oak floors, painted coffered ceilings, and gold and crystal chandeliers. It was perhaps forty feet wide and thirty feet long, and furnished with forest green upholstered dark wood furniture, with curtains in the same forest green colour.
The next room on was a drawing room. Harry hadn't known what a drawing room was before, but the book had said that it was a vital part of a manor house for ladies' socialization. Where the parlour had been done in green, the drawing room was done in yellow. It was a very bright room, even though night had fallen outside.
Beyond the drawing room was the music room. This room had a grand piano, a full-sized harp, and several other instruments strewn about seemingly at random, but the effect was nice. There were also chairs to sit in to listen to the music. The music room was upholstered in light blue.
At that point, Harry had to lead the teens back into the central corridor. They looked into the ground floor of the theatre, then started looking at the back of the house. Harry found a game room with a billiards table, a fancy chess set that had Ron salivating, a dart board, and several other games. Next was a smoking room, that was really the men's lounge. It had a small bar that caused Harry to get a very disapproving look from Hermione. The last two rooms Harry didn't need to be a genius to figure out. One had the word 'Gentlemen' on it, the other 'Ladies'. Harry poked his head into the men's room and saw a bank of stalls, a bank of urinals, and a row of sinks. He assumed that the girls' room was similar. The last door on the west wall wasn't a room at all. When Harry opened the door, he saw stairs leading down. Harry closed the door, leaving the cellar for later.
The corridor wrapped around behind the trunk foyer and there was a glass and wood double door opening onto a patio where the fountain was located. From there, wide stairs led down to the formal gardens. Harry looked out to the fountain, which was illuminated in the dark. Antique gas streetlamps were paired on either side of the main path in the garden at even intervals.
Continuing onto the far side, the corridor returned to the centre of the house. There were only two sets of doors, both in the middle of the corridor. The doors on the east side of the hall led to the dining room. It was elegant, and mirrored the sitting room in decor, if not form or function. The room was forty feet wide by ninety feet long. A glistening polished oak dining table was positioned in the centre of the room with places set for thirty-two. Between the windows at the front were marble-topped sideboards with silver and crystal services. The south wall had a large fireplace with a marble mantle.
Harry turned around, opening the doors on the west side of the corridor, and walked into an equally large ballroom. The ballroom was light, with windows on the west wall, and mirrors on the east. Other surfaces had light wood panelling, and the floors were also a light wood. Like the rest of the house, trim was classically inspired. The ceiling was white, with more of the gold and crystal chandeliers that were found in the rest of the house. There was a small loft on the south wall about five feet up for a quartet or other small musical ensemble.
While the rest of the teens inspected the dining room and ballroom, Harry opened the double door at the end of the corridor, finding, as expected, the ground floor of the library. Some books had already arrived, and as Harry watched, Dobby popped in with another armload of books. Harry smiled and closed the door.
"Anyone want to tour the cellar with me?" Harry asked. Unsurprisingly, everyone did. Harry returned to the cellar stairs and descended. The tour of the cellar took perhaps the most time of anything. Beneath the entry hall Harry found two racquetball courts. Beneath the dining room was the kitchen which was outfitted with the latest equipment both elf and human sized, and beneath the ballroom were storerooms for food and drink. Beneath the parlour and drawing room were duelling pistes for spell practice along with practice dummies. Beneath the game room and smoking room was a potions lab with racks for ingredients, tables with seats, and shelves for potions books. Beneath the library was a large, but empty garage, complete with mechanic's workstation. The best surprise though, was beneath the theatre.
At the north end of the cellar corridor, there were three doors. The one on the east wall had a sign reading 'Gentlemen'. The one on the west wall had a sign reading 'Ladies'. The one on the north wall was a double door made of wood with large glass panes. Through the door, Harry could see an Olympic-sized swimming pool. Opening the door, Harry stepped into a Roman's paradise. The ceiling was a low groin vault running from east to west. The walls and ceiling were covered in mosaic tile. It was pure art. There were scenes from Roman baths, fantasy tales, and other art covering the walls. At the west end of the pool, Harry saw a hot tub sunk into the floor. Beside it were raised stone slabs covered in towels that looked like they should be used for massage. The east end of the pool had three diving boards at various heights. Along the south wall were two doors mirroring the ones in the corridor for men and women. Harry went to the men's side, and peeked in. Around a corner was a shower room, beyond which were toilets and sinks, and beyond those a small changing area with lockers. Harry returned to the pool to find Katie and Leanne examining the hot tub and massage tables. Hermione was peeking into the ladies changing room. Ron and Neville were discussing swimming next to the pool.
"I think that's about it," Harry said to Ron and Neville.
"This house is..." Ron gushed. "I mean… there are no words to describe how cool your house is."
"I don't think I've ever seen a manor with the accommodations your home has," Neville agreed. "Every bedroom appears to be a suite. You have all manner of entertainment. I don't think there's a single pureblood who has a swimming pool."
"Don't beat around the bush, Nev," Harry smiled. "I saw you eyeing the garden out back."
"It looks amazing!" Neville gushed. "I can't wait to explore it in the daylight."
"That might have to wait until the weekend," Harry pointed out. "Though I guess you could take a quick look after classes tomorrow."
"That would be great," Neville said. "I think I saw a greenhouse off in the distance."
"You should've," Harry said. "I think there are two, actually. According to the control room, the main house is just shy of three hundred thousand square feet, which is less than a third of the construction I'm allowed without having to build it myself after the fact. The greenhouses are supposed to be fifty thousand square feet apiece and tall enough for tropical trees." Harry glanced at Ron. "There's also a regulation sized quidditch pitch in the northeast corner of the property, complete with changing rooms and stands." Ron looked ready to explode at that pronouncement. "And I've got some tennis courts on the north side of the house."
"You have tennis courts?" Katie asked excitedly as she came over.
"Three," Harry informed her.
"Yay!" Katie cried. "Did you do that for me?"
"Of course I did," Harry nodded. "Anything to convince my girlfriend to come here to spend time."
"That's so sweet," Katie said, before leaning in to kiss him. It was a quick kiss, but it was the first time she'd kissed him in front of his friends. Katie had been his girlfriend for four days. Aside from the first kiss, they'd managed to spend time together a little each day, but kissing had been quick and reserved for empty halls, usually in the evening. He didn't feel right taking her to a broom cupboard. Neither did he want to use an empty classroom or kiss her like he wanted in front of his friends. He hated when people in the common room snogged in a corner. It wasn't very thoughtful of them. Harry, of course, realized that he was being slightly hypocritical, seeing as he didn't really care about the twins and chasers in the quidditch showers, but Harry figured that was more private, and membership was restricted to the seven of them, so it was different.
Still, Harry wasn't about to deny his girlfriend the prerogative to kiss him wherever she wanted, and was happy to oblige her now, in his own house, despite the presence of his friends. It was all over in an instant, anyway, and Katie was back, bouncing on her feet with excitement about what Harry's new house represented.
"Now that you've finished showing us your magnificently posh new house," Hermione prefaced, "we should probably go. We've been here over an hour, and I still want to do some revision tonight."
"That's fine," Harry said, leading them back to the trunk entrance. "You're always welcome to come back. I know that Dobby's already started to stock the library. If it ever gets too raucous in the common room, you're welcome to study here. Heck, I think if it gets too loud in your dorm, you'd be welcome to stay here. I've enough rooms for the lot of you and then some."
"Thanks, Harry," Hermione grinned. "I'll take you up on that. The studying bit, I mean." One by one, the teens climbed out of the trunk.
Back in the common room, Harry found Tonks just returned from the detention with Umbridge.
"That woman's a bloody menace," Tonks griped as she massaged her hand as Harry, Ron, Neville, Katie, and Leanne joined her on the couch. Hermione had gone up to her room to get her bookbag.
"You're gonna be OK?" Harry asked.
"Eventually," Tonks said, using her metamorph powers to heal the words in the back of her hand. "Still hurts like a bitch, though."
"Did you learn anything new?" Harry asked, curious.
"After she let me go, I hid in the corridor until she left," Tonks leaned in and whispered. "Then, I snuck back into the room and searched her desk. Found a couple more quills, and some unlabelled potions. I got some samples of the potions, but I'm quite sure one of them's veritasserum. Another one might be a compulsion potion of some kind."
"You'll turn them over to Madam Bones?" Harry pressed. Tonks nodded. Harry relaxed. The investigation was proceeding. "How long after Saturday do you think that it'll take for Madam Bones to act?"
"Dunno," Tonks shrugged. "Depends."
"Depends on what?" Ron asked. "This is a pretty serious case, isn't it?"
"Depends on how sure Bonesy is that she can get a conviction," Tonks replied. "It wouldn't do much good if she arrests the bitch and nothing happens."
"Is that likely?" Harry asked.
"I figure it could go either way at this point," Tonks guessed. "I mean, right now the Ministry's getting pretty heavy handed, but only here, and you're the only one targeted so far. You've been the subject of a quite effective negative propaganda campaign all summer, so you don't carry much weight, even if your position as an emancipated head of an ancient and noble house does. Now, if the bitch starts restricting the rights of other ancient or noble houses, or purebloods, that's a different story. Probably all the greys would vote to kick Fudge and Umbridge out if that were the case. That would be enough, if only barely, to win."
"The question then," Neville observed, joining the conversation, "is who would get elected Minister in Fudge's stead. Watch for the dark faction to pick someone worse, and the propaganda against the Headmaster will almost ensure that the dark faction gets their man elected."
"Malfoy?" Ron guessed.
"Nah," Tonks replied. "They wouldn't be that obvious. Besides, Malfoy's too valuable to Voldemort as the money man. My bet's on Avery or Selwyn. They're cultured enough, and noble enough to appeal to enough of the greys to swing their votes."
"Is there anything we can do?" Harry asked.
"Well, sure," Tonks laughed. "If we could get Sirius off the hook, he could take up his seats and the dark faction would lose seventeen votes. That would practically destroy them."
"Have you asked Madam Bones to open an investigation?" Harry asked. "We know he's innocent."
"Right now, Bones is being watched closely by Fudge," Tonks said. "I've brought it up, but without proof, or even evidence, Bones can't act."
"So, if I could get her evidence, she'd open an investigation?" Harry wanted to know.
"Probably," Tonks nodded.
"I can get her memories of Ron, Hermione, and I meeting with Sirius, Remus, Peter Pettigrew, and Snape in the Shrieking Shack two years ago," Harry said. "Pettigrew admitted he was the secret keeper."
"I can testify that Pettigrew was my pet rat Scabbers for years," Ron added.
"That's great, but I'm all out of evidence vials," Tonks told them. "I'll let Bones know you've got some evidence on Saturday. I'm sure she'll be interested."
"It's a pity she never came round Hogwarts when Fudge and Malfoy were here two years ago," Harry said. "I could've told her all this then, instead of Fudge telling me I was making it up."
"Unfortunately, I think everything will have to get worse before it gets better," Tonks said dejectedly.
"There is some good news," Harry said, changing tack. "My house elves came through and I've got a new place to stay over the summer."
"How's that now?" Tonks wondered.
"Winky bought me a manor trunk," Harry revealed. "I take it to my relatives' house, and stuff it in my room, and I live in it, and I don't have to see them at all except at the beginning of the summer and the end. I'll add you to the wards. What's your full name."
"You know my name," Tonks growled. "And you'd better not say it!"
"I know your first and last names," Harry said. "I don't know your middle name. I need them all."
"Marie," Tonks supplied, checking to see who was listening. No one was.
"How come you never went by Dora or Marie? Why'd you go with Tonks?" Harry asked as he wrote her name down.
"Dunno," Tonks shrugged. "I'm not really a girly girl, and Marie seems pretty girly to me. I dunno why I never went by Dora. I suppose it's cause it's not far enough off from the name-that-shall-not-be-spoken." Harry nodded, though he didn't really understand what the problem with Dora was. It seemed a perfectly fine name to him.
"I'll add you tonight, and you can come check it out tomorrow," Harry said, yawning. He looked at his watch, it was nearly ten. Time for bed.
-oooo-
The next day right after classes, Harry and Neville found themselves at loose ends. Harry offered to let Neville explore the greenhouses for a bit, which he quickly agreed to. Harry had no idea how large his gardens were, but it took them about twelve minutes walking to reach the greenhouses from the fountain, and the greenhouses were near the back of the garden, tucked away in some trees. Along the way Neville pointed out all sorts of flowers and fruit-bearing plants.
Harry and Neville entered the first of the soaring glass structures and quickly got their bearings. This was the tropical greenhouse, with plants at home in a rainforest or an island in the south Pacific.
"I bet the other one's the temperate greenhouse," Neville said as he walked further into the metal and glass structure. The front of the greenhouse seemed to be flowers of many different varieties. Farther along, Harry could see larger plants, and trees beyond them.
As Harry walked around, he started thinking on what Tonks had said the day before, about how it was going to get worse before it got better. He started to drift off, following Neville as though on autopilot. Eventually, Neville noticed.
"Everything alright, Harry?" the other boy asked. Harry nodded.
"Yeah," he said. "Just thinking about what Tonks said last night. Madam Bones and Tonks are a good start, but Fudge is an obstacle and a pain, and Umbridge is a menace. I figure the Aurors'll need backup."
"What you need are allies," Neville said. "Allies can help you do work. I'll write to Gran to see what she can do. She can probably apply pressure in the Wizengamot and the Ministry, at least until you can take up your seat next month."
"Good idea, Nev," Harry said as he ducked under a hanging vine. "That gives us two different ways to pressure and distract them."
"One more would be better," Neville said. "Gran always says if your opponent is too busy dancing to your tune, they won't have time to think for themselves."
"It's too bad we can't write an anonymous piece for the Prophet," Harry said wistfully.
"No," Neville agreed, "but there is another paper in Britain."
"Witch Weekly?" Harry asked, confused.
"That's a magazine," Neville laughed. "No, I mean the Quibbler. Remember, Ginny's friend Luna Lovegood's father is the publisher. I'm sure he'd be happy to print a story about the Ministry doing something bad."
"I'll talk to her right after dinner," Harry said after a moment's thought.
"You're still doing detentions, right?" Neville asked.
"Rest of the week," Harry confirmed.
"Sorry," Neville commiserated. "I can write my Gran while you're in detention."
-oooo-
"Luna!" Harry called out to the small blonde Ravenclaw. He and Katie were lurking in the entry hall, having finished dinner a few minutes earlier. Luna smiled and approached. "Can I have a word?"
"Which word do you want?" Luna asked airily.
"Quibbler," Harry said, playing along.
"Oh," Luna said brightly. "You want a subscription? Daddy will be so pleased."
"Well, I suppose that wouldn't be a bad idea," Harry allowed. "I need to keep abreast of what's going on now, after all. But I was hoping he'd be willing to write an expose for me about what's happening at Hogwarts."
"As his representative here, I'd be conducting the investigation and writing the story," Luna informed him. "Would that be acceptable, Harry?"
"Sure," Harry agreed. "I have detention soon. Do you want to interview me after that?"
"I think I need to know what you want the expose about before I'd determine whether to interview you or not," Luna pointed out sensibly. "There's no sense in interviewing you if you want me writing about what Professor Vector said after Professor Umbridge inspected her class."
"True, but why would I want you to write about that?" Harry asked, confused.
"I don't imagine you would want me to write about that," Luna said simply.
"I want you to write about Umbridge, and how she's treating students," Harry told the girl.
"Anything specifically?" Luna wondered, pulling a small piece of parchment and a pencil stub out of her robes.
"She's been having me use a blood quill in detention," Harry supplied. "I've been informed that that's illegal. I want you to find out if any other students have been made to use a blood quill in detention with her, and if she's done anything else that might be illegal. I also know she's got a supply of veritasserum and some kind of compulsion potion in her desk."
"That does sound disturbing," Luna said, frowning.
"She's disturbing," Katie chimed in.
"Daddy said she's instrumental in the Rotfang Conspiracy," Luna said absentmindedly. She scribbled a bit on her parchment, then thought a moment. "It appears I'll need to interview you for this story after all, Harry. What time does your detention end?"
"Usually nine o'clock," Harry said.
"That's rather late," Luna observed. "Can I interview you tomorrow? I want to use tonight to check some other sources."
"Sure," Harry agreed. "I'll find you at lunch." He sighed as he watched her walk away, then checked his watch again. It was almost time for his detention with Umbridge. He figured he might as well get it over with, perhaps she'd let him leave a little early. Then he snorted when he realized that that was a pipe dream.
-oooo-
"How'd it go?" Ron asked when Harry eased himself through the portrait hole ten minutes after nine.
"The usual," Harry said, holding a rag to his hand. He'd taken to carrying small scraps of cloth in his bag for just these occasions. It was a worthy use for some of his rattier and ill-fitting hand-me-downs from Dudley. "'I shall not tell lies.' What a bloody hypocrite."
Hermione looked up from her spot on the couch between Ron and Neville.
"I can get you some essence of Murtlap tentacles," she said.
"No," Harry countered. "That's alright. Maybe if it doesn't heal, it'll take less to make it bleed more next time. The more I bleed, the more the pink toad thinks I've learned my lesson."
"That's a pretty dark view you've got there," Katie observed from her spot on the opposite couch next to Leanne. Then she smiled and popped up. She turned to Leanne quickly and handed her her bookbag. "Can you look after this for a bit?" Leanne agreed, and Katie bounced over to where Harry was. "You don't have any pressing revision, do you?" Harry shook his head. He'd done most of it during the day. "Good. C'mon." She reached out for Harry's undamaged hand and pulled him towards the boys' dorm.
"Where are we going?" Harry asked.
"Your trunk, of course," Katie told him, as though it were obvious.
"Oh," Harry said lamely as he followed her up the stairs. A minute later, his bookbag was on his bed and Harry was following Katie into the trunk. She made a beeline for the basement.
"Can I call Dobby, or do you have to?" she asked.
"I'm not sure," Harry said after a moment's thought. "You could give it a try."
"Dobby," she called. Dobby popped in.
"Yes, Miss Katie?" Dobby asked.
"Can you bring me some skin lotion?" she asked. Dobby nodded and popped away. Katie pushed the door open to the pool and led Harry toward the far end. Before they got there, Dobby reappeared clutching a bottle of lotion which he passed to her. "Thank you, Dobby. That will be all." Without a word, Dobby popped away. Katie stopped in front of one of the raised stone slabs. "Strip."
"What?"
"You heard me," Katie prodded. "Take off your clothes and lay on the slab." Harry looked at her and then the stone slab draped with a large fluffy towel. "Come on," she urged. "We don't have all night."
"But..." Harry hesitated.
"If it'll make you feel more comfortable..." Katie trailed off, then she started undoing her robe, letting it slide to the ground. Then she pulled her jumper over her head.
"What are you doing?" Harry asked, looking around.
"I'm getting starkers," Katie explained. "C'mon, Harry, there's no one around. We've seen each other naked a hundred times. What's the big deal?"
Harry thought that was obvious: there weren't any other people around, unlike every other time they'd been nude together. He wasn't about to point that out, though. Instead, he followed Katie's lead, and dropped his robe before stripping out of the rest of his things. Harry didn't get much time to ogle her, though.
"Now lay face down on the table," Katie instructed almost immediately. Harry did, and Katie spurted some lotion onto his back and began rubbing. Her hands felt excellent. She kneaded the muscles in his back and buttocks, relieving tension he didn't know he had. He closed his eyes and listened to the sliding of her hands across his skin. In the background he heard the bubbling of the hot tub next to them, otherwise the room was completely silent.
When she'd done his back, arse, legs, arms, and neck, she slapped his rear. "You're done," she said, rubbing her own hands to get out the kinks. "Now it's time for a dip in the tub." Harry looked up and watched her slide into the hot tub. "God, this is nice," she moaned as she slipped under the bubbles and sat on one of the submerged seats. She leaned back, resting her head momentarily on the edge of the tub. Then she looked over. "Are you coming?" When he didn't move, she grinned. "C'mon Harry, you've got a willing nude girl in a hot tub. What's wrong with you?"
That did it. Harry sprang up and ran the three steps to the tub before easing himself into the water next to her. The water was hot. Harry could feel it working his already tenderized muscles. It felt like heaven. Then Katie snuggled up against him, leaning her head on his shoulder. Under the water, her hand came to rest on his thigh.
"This is nice," she sighed, closing her eyes. Harry looked over at her. She looked so peaceful and content.
"Yeah," Harry agreed. "We'll definitely have to do this again. But next time, I'll rub you. It's the least I can do."
"Such a thoughtful boyfriend," Katie said with a smile. Then she leaned up and kissed him on the cheek. Not such a bad day, after all.