General Note: Thanks Necrolord for beta'ing. I'm looking for a second for those still interested, but he's doing a great job at making me look better than I am.

BabyRuth: Hot damned girl, don't get your panties in a bunch, that is if you wear them. Truthfully I think 'wow' covers it. I really don't know what to say. Really. However, I'd like to see a picture of your friend though and maybe some real information about her, send it to my email. As for poetry, well sometimes I like it, sometimes I don't, depends on the poem I guess. Yours was definitely interesting. Now, go on and read the story and give me one of those oh-so-wonderful reviews you love to write for me.

Chapter 10
• Sass •

Harry awoke to Blaise's angry voice. He yawned, stretched, and opened his eyes to look at her. She didn't look happy at all.

"What the hell are you doing, taking liberties with two girls while I'm gone? That's not why I brought you down here."

Christine was still asleep, thankfully, and Harry ran his arm along her before sitting up. He looked along the curtain to see that the darkening spell was still in place. He tried to remember where he'd learned it, but though he could remember the spell, it seemed to have just appeared there.

"I don't know," he said quietly, trying to clear his mind of the fuzz of sleep. "I remember I got pretty worked up and Verdana helped me out. She brought someone else to, I don't remember her name." In truth, he was pretty sure he hadn't asked the girls name, which was embarrassing, since she had been one of his first.

For some reason he'd done a lot of things he wouldn't normally do, like asking Veranda to help him in the first place. It had been presumptuous, forward, ridiculous... and enlightening. He'd never have thought she'd just simply do anything he asked. And, to top it all off, she'd liked it. Not a little, she'd been eager to do it. He had expected Christine to be like that, and he hadn't planned on asking it, and yet, some small part of him was already regretting not using her already. The feeling of a warm body next to him was nice, but it was nothing compared to the ecstasy of sex.

"What was wrong with it, anyway?" he asked, finding the need to defend himself. "I didn't do it in your bed. If you're jealous, I'm sure Verdana would—"

"Potter!" Blaise growled sharply. "If you ever, ever say something like that again I'll make you pay for it. Now, take down that charm before it calls more attention than needed."

Harry had to think hard to remember the counter-curse to it, even though the curse was on the top of his head. It was there, just buried, and it seemed as if it had been fading away.

Once he'd turned off the field he felt some emotion running harder in the room. He could see a few girls were sitting, chatting near one of the first beds, as if they'd all bunched up together to get away from the darkness. Harry wondered why they weren't looking now, to see what Blaise was hiding. He stared at them as they spoke in hushed tones, occasionally laughing, and suddenly had a whole new perspective on them, as if sex had opened his eyes completely.

"Potter, look at me," Blaise commanded. Harry turned to her and noticed that she was thinking about something again. She was always thinking, just like Hermione. The though was like rubbing salt in his wound and he shut it out forcefully, trying to keep from thinking about the people who were now his former best friends. One thing he did know was that both of them were hardheaded, and if they were going to forgive him for whatever it was they thought he did, it wasn't going to be anytime soon.

"Did you understand what you were doing when you and Verdana relations? Was it your first time, or did you know the charms and everything?"

Harry hadn't thought about it, and now, thinking about it, he was suddenly afraid. "No," he replied weakly. "I was a virgin before, and I didn't use any spells on either of them. Should I have?"

Blaise looked a little perturbed. "You know, you're not very good at this Potter," she said, motioning around, "being a Slytherin I mean, you should think things through a little better. Maybe you wouldn't have been suited for this house anyway. I thought maybe you were supposed to be a Slytherin, I've seen your work, and you're a little too forward, but you'd generally make a good Slytherin. Now, well, like I said, maybe I had thought wrong."

Harry grinned. "I'm not going to tell you what house it wanted to put me in, so don't try and get me to."

Disgruntled, Blaise just shrugged and continued on. "Verdana probably has charms already in place, knowing her. Genevieve may not, she was quite stunning, but she was also very picky and not a single has ever made a claim to have had her. Was she a virgin?" Blaise asked.

Blushing crimson, Harry tried to remember anything that might have led him to that conclusion. "I don't know," he said finally. "She seemed to be pretty experienced, but I don't know if that means she was or wasn't a virgin."

There was more laughing down the dorm, and Harry turned to look at the girls again. One of them had fallen over and was having a difficult time getting back onto the bed. It looked as if she was trying to crawl up for some reason, and even then she couldn't keep her balance.

"Drunk," Blaise commented. "With the emotional damper that blackness was putting on this room there wasn't much else to keep them lively enough. Krystal had some of Ogden's Vicious Vodka, and they've been passing it around for a while, talking about this and that. Mostly girl talk, but they listened to you and your little harem going at it for a little while. They know that you're here, though, but they don't know who you are yet."

"Harem?" Harry asked, eyes wide.

"Yes Potter, Harem. Concubines, servants, humbly doing any perverse sexual act for their master."

"But Veranda's not my..." Harry responded quickly. He hadn't marked her, and he'd seen her naked, he knew she wasn't marked anywhere, her skin had been quite untouched except for the dark mark on her arm.

"Slave? No, I somehow doubt she's dropped that far that fast, but whatever it was you did with her only reaffirmed your status as her 'Lord'. She's already out, guarding the door as if it were her duty in life to protect you. Then there's Genevieve, who's still sleeping it off. Hell Potter, I figured you for any other boy seeing as you're not all that much different, but a Casanova of your first go? You've really got something going for you."

"I thought you liked woman," Harry snapped, not liking the way the conversation was leading. Blaise was offending him in her own way, and based on the smirk on her face, she was doing it on purpose.

"I do rather like woman," she said, reaching forward and stroking Christine. "They are so much more vigorous than men, and they don't fail in bed, not like men do."

Harry blinked and he watched her run her hands through Christine's hair. It was arousing to say the least, seeing how Blaise was looking at her. "I thought Ginny was your girlfriend," he said, trying to keep himself from thinking thoughts about Blaise that might lead him to something like he'd done earlier.

Blaise leaned down, and gently kissed Christine's lips. It was as if she breathed life into Christine, her body trembled and Harry could see Christine's eyes open in shock. Blaise pulled back quickly, surprised that Christine had awoken, and looking a little embarrassed. Christine immediately moved to Harry, looking up to him as if she should have done something else.

Immediately he shook his head to comfort her, telling her she'd done the right thing. As he'd watched the kiss it had felt like he was losing control, like he was going to do something else he might regret when it was over. Ginny was his friend, and there was no reason to betray her, especially if all it was for was a girl.

"You never answered, what's wrong with it, and why do you care?" he finally said, wanting to just end the argument. "If I get some girl pregnant it has nothing to do with you."

"Fine," Blaise shrugged, forcefully composing herself. "You can do any girl you want, but I don't want you doing it while you're in my bed unless I've said it's alright. Got it?"

Harry nodded and Blaise stalked away, saying something about bringing back some food. The time read almost nightfall, and Harry seemed surprised that he'd slept most of the day. Christine watched her go and then turned to Harry. "She was kissing me when I awoke?" she said, making it a question instead of a statement.

"Yes," Harry replied, watching the door close behind her, "she was. She was trying to make a point I think."

Christine moved her hand down Harry's chest. "You've changed," she said quietly. "You changed me as well," she said, noting the difference in clothing. Tonks had transfigured her some things to wear under her robes the previous night, but they hadn't been anything so luxurious.

"I thought you should have something that suited you more. They look a little indecent now that I think about it—"

"They're perfect," Christine said happily, standing, and twirling on Blaise's bed. "I love them." She reached out and touched his chest again. "Shall I take them off?"

Harry's breath caught in his throat. He had seen her naked before, once in the hospital, and he could remember it perfectly in his mind, all the beautiful curves of her body. It was a difficult decision, but Blaise had just left him and asked that he not have sex in her bed, now that he remembered it, the decision was much easier. "No, not yet," he said quietly, watching as she tensed up. "It's not you," he assured her, "it's not my bed, and I can't just have sex with you right here."

"I understand Master, but taking my clothing off does not mean that we'll have sex."

"You would strip just so that I could look at you?" Harry asked, surprised.

Christine nodded vigorously. "I am you property, you should want to admire me."

"And what about all the other women that are in the room?" Harry asked again, glancing towards the drunken Slytherin girls.

"They may admire my master's property as much as they like if my master wishes it."

"You would do things with them, wouldn't you, things you thought I might want you to do? That's why you kissed Tonks yesterday, wasn't it?"

Christine bowed her head. "Master wanted to do it himself, I could feel it. I felt that I might help you decide if I did it as well, I did not wish to offend you."

"No, it's alright," Harry said right away. It wasn't that he hadn't liked the show; rather that he had liked it. Tonks was his bodyguard though, not someone he could just put into his bed. If he was going to ever do something like that he was going to have to be very careful about it, that way he didn't have to worry about the repercussions that might come up.

"You would have me do it again?" she asked when she saw Harry's face furrow with concentration. She already knew him well and knew he was conflicted on the matter; it might be best if she just solved it for him. However, he was her master and she wanted to do everything appropriately, as he asked. If he had no opinion, or it was something that she did not ask about, then it might be simpler. She glanced towards the girls he was looking at and wondered if perhaps one of them might pleasure him with her.

"Not right now," he said, noticing her glance. "I was able to get relief earlier," he admitted. "Veranda helped."

Christine was sad to hear that, she'd been hoping that he might be able to do it herself. She'd toyed with him in the closet the previous day in order to give him a taste of what she could give him. She had hoped that by now he would have broken down and asked for it. But, she was patient, and it had only been a day, she could go for much longer than that. She was a little disappointed that her master had used a woman that wasn't even his own slave, and not someone that he had liked very much; she had felt that when the woman first appeared.

Would you ask anything of me then?" Christine asked finally, hoping that he would need something she could do to help him

"No," Harry replied straightaway. 'We're stuck on this bed anyway, there isn't much that we can do."

Harry looked around, and wondered exactly what it was he could do, with the girls outside the room there wasn't anything he could do at all, Blaise didn't think it was a good idea if they sway him. Even though they knew he was there they still didn't know who he was.

Genevieve woke, he watched as she sat up with a surprised look on her face, and then to the girls who were yelling rambunctiously about something on of them had said. She glanced towards Blaise's bed, smiled, and then pulled the blanket back over her body, a content smile on her face.

Harry could feel a spark of jealousy well up inside Christine.

"It's alright," he assured her, "You're mine, she's just another girl who was around earlier."

The door opened a few minutes later and Blaise walked in, followed by a house-elf with a gigantic plate of food. Harry couldn't see the elf, but he had a pretty good idea of who it was. Blaise stopped at the first bed, and unloaded some of the food for the girls, then continued down until she opened her own curtain. The food was placed at the edge of the table, and then with a pop, the elf disappeared. Harry was surprised, Dobby rarely left without saying hello.

"Who was that," Harry said, trying to see if there was any sign of the elf.

"You mean the elf?" Blaise asked curiously. "They have names?"

"Yes," Harry snapped back, angry that Blaise felt so odd about calling a house-elf by a name, it seemed so wrong, so inhumane, even though elves were not human, they were close enough.

"Probably something stupid like Spot, or Rover, knowing a house-elf..."

"I happen to know a few of them," Harry said sharply. "Some of them are great friends, even if they're a bit on the strange side. One of them went so far as to save my life more than once."

"Slaves and elves," Blaise muttered shaking her head. "You know, I thought you were strange Potter, but you really astound the mind sometimes."

Harry stared at her. He didn't understand what was so wrong with having friends of elves. "You must have heard of Hermione's house-elf liberation club," he pointed out.

"S.P.E.W.?" she asked, laughing. "I had thought that was a joke, you're serious, she has a club named SPEW for freeing house-elves?"

Harry nodded. The idea did sound stupid, he'd always thought that, and now that Hermione was angry with him it sounded even stupider. But, there was a point to it, some end of the tunnel. Freed house-elves. What use were free house-elves though? They certainly wouldn't do well alone, without some family to care for them, or a place to live. Most of them enjoyed their jobs, and even hated the idea of being free. Dobby was a strange elf, and most of the other elves seemed to be more along the lines of Winky. If they were freed, who knew what would happen? A thousand little elves wandering the countryside, drunk on butterbeer, it would be a mess. A mess that Hermione was going to create.

Maybe he was wrong about things; he'd always listened to Hermione, always listened to Ron. What if they had had views that were just as skewed as Draco's? What if he'd been wrong to listen to them for so long? After all, it was because he didn't cheat that Cedric was killed fourth year. If he'd ignored them and gone after Sirius before Sirius showed up in third year everything might have been different, even now Sirius might have been alive. Then there was second year, if he'd told the headmaster he was hearing voices in the wall, the all-knowing-old-wind-bag might have figured things out a little earlier. Harry wouldn't have had to slay a basilisk to stay alive. Then there was always first year, when he'd ended up down the hole to stop Snape — who it seemed wasn't the real culprit — from stealing the Philosophers Stone, something that would have happened whether or not Harry was there. Dumbledore had of course shown up just in time to save the stone, he'd probably had the whole thing under some sort of spell to inform him the room had been compromised.

"Yeah, sometimes I do things a little different,' he admitted. "But look at where it's gotten me. I've got a slave that'll willingly do anything I want her to do. A house-elf that would probably serve me if I even thought about it. I'm sleeping in the bed of a beautiful Slytherin girl; I've got a personal bodyguard. The world thinks I'm some sort of golden-boy and I could get anything from them if I wanted to, I'd definitely do great in politics. There's a girl outside that'll do damn near anything to keep me safe, or satisfy me and I've never even met her before today. Someone's decided that I have some sort of value, because they're sending me gifts with no return address. And I got laid for the first time today, not by one, but by two women. My life is getting better and better everyday."

He paused, and then laughed. "Hell, I've even got an army behind me that's fully trained and ready to take my orders. Not a big one, just a small group of witches and wizards, but they're better trained than most, and I've trained them all personally."

"The DA of course," Blaise commented. "I have heard they're going to separate them out for the N.E.W.T.s this year and see how well they do on more advanced spellwork."

The new information made Harry happy, but it surprised him that Blaise knew and he didn't. If she'd told Ginny it surely would have made it to him sooner or later. "Where did you hear that?" he asked.

Blaise smirked. "My parents are host to several formal parties during the winter season, and the N.E.W.T instructors are naturally invited, it's protocol when worrying about the future of your child. It seems some of them struck up a conversation in the back that my mother just happened to overhear."

"Yes, odd coincidence, isn't it?" Harry asked, smiling. He was glad he'd heard this now, he was going to have to bring it up, or at least teach them some spells more advanced than standard N.E.W.T material. Now he was going to have to look it up without Hermione's help, but after being drilled about bookwork for years, he knew there were some things that he could do on his own. Hermione had been good for something, even if she was a major annoyance.

The thought off Hermione as an annoyance made Harry cringe. She had been sometimes, but not all the time, and it was usually for his, or someone else's safety, it wasn't something she could help either, it just seemed to come naturally.

Hermione was, or at least had been, his friend, and he'd never had these sort of thoughts about her when they'd been in fights before. He thought about it, and realized that they'd never been in a fight before. Hermione had been disappointed with him, sometimes sad and left out, but never had they been at each other's throats like they were now. Ron had only been in a fight with Harry once, at least a real fight, they'd had small arguments before, but they were always immediately resolved too.

"Harry?" Blaise asked, waving a hand in front of his face. "Are you there? You looked as if you'd gotten lost in thought somewhere, and I really don't want to sit here staring at you while you just think things through."

"Not all that much to stare at, huh?" Harry asked quietly, not feeling happy about what was happening. It was as though his self-esteem had suddenly been shot, like he was stuck in a closet again with his aunt berating him from outside the door.

"Dammit Potter," Blaise said, grabbing him. "I'm going to give you some pepperup potion and see if that won't help I don't know what the hell is happening to you, but you need some serious medical help if this continues to happen. You're worse than a woman sometimes."

Christine reached up along Harry's side and pulled him a little closer, kissing his lips lightly. Harry opened his eyes to see Blaise staring, her mouth forming a little "o". She seemed very interested, but then, he'd already done that today and even though he could feel he was up to the task again, he really didn't feel like doing it.

"Christine," he said quietly once she'd pulled away, "not right now."

She looked a little putout, but she recovered just fine. Harry finally took one of the sandwiches that had been offered, and worked on eating it to keep the mood quiet while he thought.

• Edited 2004.12.26 •