AN: I often feel like many pairings in the Harry Potter universe go underappreciated. In addition, there's also some cool – or just strange – ideas that I want to do. Because of that, I've decided to start this series, which will feature a one-shot with an uncommon pairing for every entry. So note that these chapters are not connected, and do not need to all be read, or to all be read in order. You can pick and choose the ones you like.
AN: Also, general update: I've put A Noble Lord's Duty on hiatus for a while because I was a little burnt out on it, you might've seen that on Discord or Twitter already. I'll pick it up again sometime near the end of October. I've also made a start on a new fic, with Death Eater Lily and son-of-Voldemort Harry, which will go live after I finish A Noble Lord's Duty. Due to just how dark the hobbies of that entire family are, I might decide to only upload it to ao3 (which I have an account on now! Just haven't bothered uploading my fics there yet). We'll see when we get there.
AN: Lots more author note following, but that's all specific information regarding what this series may or may not feature, you can skip it if you're just here to read. It's mostly so that people don't start asking for pairings that I'm already planning on, or already know I won't do.
AN: There is already a very long list of pairings that I am planning to do one day (you can find it on my discord server), but there are some criteria that a pairing will have to meet in order to appear here:
-As a rule of thumb, if I know of at least one quality full-length fic that has a certain pairing, it won't appear here. The goal is to give the pairings that don't have one some love. That said, some girls pretty much only appear in multi fics (Susan Bones for example), so they might still get Harry all for themselves.
-Pairings will always include Harry, and will have one to four girls, as it's just not really possible to fit more than that in a one-shot. The ratio of single versus multi will be about one to one, but I don't specifically select the next pairing based on keeping that balance, so it might tilt a little. In very special cases a pairing may involve more than four girls.
-Some pairings will include genderbends, which can be applied to Harry and/or someone else. As a result, there will be a select number of femslash pairings, but not a lot.
-There will be no more than one male in any pairing unless it's a fem!Harry, and even then it's unlikely. As of me writing this, there's only two fem!Harry/two guys in the entire list of 64 planned pairings. Or, in other words, no slash, though fem!Harry might very occasionally get multiple guys.
-Incest is disqualified. This is not because I have a problem with incest fics (in fact I'd love to see a high quality Harry/twin sister that isn't depressing as fuck, looking at you Potters Against the World), but rather because I feel like an incest pairing can't be done right in a one-shot. It just needs more time. It should be mentioned that Harry/related girls (or fem!Harry/related guys) is excluded from this rule because it's basically Harry having a relationship with several people at once.
-Large age differences are disqualified unless time travel can resolve them somehow. This is because, again, it's hard to write it properly in a one-shot. In addition, if time travel is involved the one-shot has to take place in either Marauder era, canon era or maybe post-war era, as I want to have a framework of canon to write around.
-Characters that have neither canon nor fanon characterization (such as Fay Dunbar) are excluded unless I have a personal view of the character that I really like (in which case they're probably already in the list).
-As long as they meet above criteria (or you're not sure whether they do) all suggestions are welcome, but please do look up the already-planned list on my discord first to ensure it's not on there already. Also, note that pairings may be excluded if I have plans to write a longer fic with the pairing.
AN: Two last things. First, I only decide which pairing I will do next the moment I start writing the next entry. Position on the list of planned pairings won't matter, and neither will how long the pairing has been on there. Second, this probably goes without saying, but there are of course very big differences in characterization between different entries in this series.
Family First
Pairing: Harry/Bellatrix/Andromeda/Narcissa
Summary: As teenagers, the Black sisters performed a ritual that would allow them to return to their self at that time in mind, body and magic if two of them activated it together. When Lucius falls through the Veil at the Ministry, Narcissa is freed of her wedding vows and seeks out Andromeda to activate it.
Summer 1969
"Cissy, Andi, come see this."
"What is it, Bella?" Andromeda asked as the girls followed their older sister. It was the summer before Bellatrix's seventh year at Hogwarts. Andi was one year behind her, and Narcissa three years. With a heavy thump, she put the old book she'd found in the Black library on the table.
"This," she said, pointing. Her sisters stepped up to her side, reading over her shoulders. The text described a ritual that would mark the three siblings who performed it at that point in time. Then, at a later time two of the three would be able to call on the ritual, which would de-age the siblings to the point that they had marked originally, reverting any physical or magical changes they would have gone through in the intervening time. In return, their memories of those years would fade away, leaving them as their younger selves in every way.
Andi frowned. "You want to do this? Are you sure that's a good idea?"
"Why not?" Bellatrix replied. "What if something happens to one of us, something horrible? If we do this, the other two could undo that."
"What's the price?" Andi asked slowly, perusing the text. Every ritual came at a cost, often said to be proportional to it's power.
"Loss of memories," Bellatrix replied. "Even if we'd perform this a decade or so in the future, all three of us would become as we are now. And after a while, we wouldn't even remember the years in between."
Andi gasped as she understood what that could mean. "I… see. But I don't understand why we should do this."
"The preparation doesn't have a cost," Bellatrix replied. "We can just do the ritual, and then later on, if something does happen, the other two of us can decide if it's worth to call on the ritual."
"So… like a safety charm, only bigger," Cissy said.
"Exactly. We don't know what might happen in the future. Perhaps one of us ends up in a magical coma, or someone ends up in a situation we can't get out of."
Andi took some more convincing, but Bellatrix was nothing if not persuasive, and later that day the three sisters performed the ritual.
Summer 1996, shortly after the Battle of the Ministry
"I'll get it," Andromeda said, rising before Ted could. She made her way to the hall and opened the front door.
"What are you doing here?" she asked after a moment of shock, keeping her guard up.
"I'm sorry," was all her younger sister said. Andromeda hadn't seen Narcissa in almost two decades, leaving her unsure what to think.
"About what? Turning your back on me? What do you want?"
"Andi…"
"Don't 'Andi' me!"
"I'm sorry… Andromeda, please, hear me out."
Andromeda deliberated what to do. She did not particularly look forward to holding a long conversation standing in the doorway, but she also did not want to invite in someone who was loyal to Voldemort. However, with recent events…
"You know that Lucius died, right?" Narcissa asked. "Fell through the Veil in the Ministry while fighting the Order." Good riddance, Andromeda thought. She was glad no one from the Order had died - it had even been the catalyst that had ended up with her cousin Sirius being declared innocent just days later.
"Are you looking for pity?" she asked coldly. Narcissa should have never let herself be married off to the Malfoy family, but the girl had always been far too impressionable by her parents. Now, she was paying the price.
"No!" Narcissa almost shouted. "No, I don't mean that. To be honest, I do not regret that he died. We… didn't have a very good marriage."
"You want to make up?" Andromeda asked.
"Not just that." Narcissa hesitated. In a moment, she suddenly looked like a broken woman, and Andromeda felt herself forcefully reminded that this was her little sister. "I don't know what to do, Andi-Andromeda. I.. wanted to… but that's foolish, you'd never do that."
"Do what?"
Narcissa sighed. "I feel like I have nothing to lose. My wedding vows forced me to support Lucius, to serve the Dark Lord, but I didn't want to. Not after I saw what the Dark Lord was really like. And now, Draco will soon receive the Dark Mark. It's too late for me to save him. I… I wanted to start over. To use that ritual that Bella found all those years ago."
Narcissa's voice suddenly sounded very far away to Andromeda as she recalled the promise they had made to one another. After a few seconds, she was brought back to the present.
"You'd never agree, would you? I mean, you have a husband, a daughter, you have a happy life. You'd lose all that."
"Narcissa… Cissy…"
Suddenly, the blonde woman broke and threw herself into Andromeda's arms, crying. Andromeda whispered encouragement as she thought about the consequences of performing the ritual. Thought about losing Ted and Nymphadora – in every way that mattered, Andromeda the mother and wife would be dead. But it would also bring back Bellatrix. The older sister Andromeda had had back then would never have wanted to become the person she was now. The raving, violent lunatic. Oh, she could display a good deal of violence, but not without cause, not without reason. But she'd caught You-Know-Who's eye, and the bastard had charmed and seduced Bellatrix to his side, shaping her and changing her into what she was now.
"I'm sorry," Cissy said. "I shouldn't have come here. I'll… I'll leave. I'm sorry, Andi."
"No," Andromeda said, holding her. "I… we need to think about it. Talk about it. Me, Ted and Nymphadora. You are right that it is for something like this that Bella wanted to do the ritual." She sighed. "There's no easy choice, but I feel I have to at least consider it."
A shimmer of hope appeared in Cissy's eyes.
"Come in, Cissy. I doubt you want to be at Malfoy manor right now. Please let me do the talking though. Ted might be predisposed against things you bring up."
A wave of magic crashed through Bellatrix Lestrange's body. She immediately realized something was happening, and her body seemed to change where she stood. Suddenly, a day long ago came to the forefront of her mind, as if it were a memory of something she had done only seconds before, and she gasped. The ritual!
She found herself confused moments later. Why had her sisters called on it? She didn't need to be saved. Surely Narcissa at least knew that – she'd been at the meeting with the Dark Lord just a few days back.
But apparently, her sisters disagreed. She already found herself thinking differently. Her thoughts didn't go to what the Dark Lord would want, nor did she immediately decide to inform him. Instead, she wondered just why her sisters thought something was wrong with her. Did they believe her seventeen-year-old self wouldn't like her current self?
She wouldn't have thought she could easily imagine what her seventeen-year-old self would think – it was just too long ago – but yet she found it surprisingly easy. Her younger self wouldn't like how she had given all of her to the Dark Lord, how she'd given in to violence on so many occasions. How… callous she'd become.
In fact, even objectively she didn't much like it. Was that because her thought processes were already changing, to be more in line with her younger self? She wasn't sure, but she knew she'd have to find her sisters. She herself was at Malfoy manor, so she knew Cissy was not.
She knew where Andi lived, but it was behind more wards than she could easily get through – which was exactly as intended, of course. Still, she pocketed her wand and surreptitiously made her way out of the manor, out of the wards, and apparated away.
While she walked the short distance that was left, she appraised her body, realizing most of the damage Azkaban had caused had become undone – she looked much like her early twenties right now, she guessed. Momentarily, she pulled up her left sleeve to find the Dark Mark visibly fading.
With no small amount of surprise, she realized that didn't anger her. In fact, she felt a distant feeling of relief that she wasn't marked like a slave anymore. Because, she suddenly realized, that was what the Dark Mark was. It marked someone as owned by the Dark Lord. Something that she had long understood intellectually, she suddenly understood fully. The Dark Lord had no friends, no favorites, no people he cared about. No matter what he'd made her believe, she was just a puppet to him. No, had been a puppet. Her sisters had saved her.
She stopped on the walkway, standing just outside the hostile wards. Hesitantly, she lifted a hand and gently pressed it against the ward, which sent a pulse of magic inside. The door opened just seconds after, and no one other than Albus Dumbledore stepped outside first, his wand trained on her. Behind him, several other members of the Order of the Phoenix appeared.
Immediately, Bellatrix raised her hands above her head, palms open.
"Where is your wand, Bellatrix?" Dumbledore asked.
"Right pocket," she replied. Dumbledore motioned the pink-haired girl forward. Bellatrix's niece. Andromeda's daughter. A daughter, Bellatrix realized, that Andromeda wouldn't remember in just a few weeks from now. The girl took out Bellatrix's wand, then checked her for any possible back-up wands.
"Clean," she called.
A miniscule change in the wards alerted Bellatrix that she would now be allowed in, so she followed the girl towards the house.
Dumbledore had not lowered his wand. "I hope you understand our precautions."
"I do," Bellatrix replied. "Andi and Cissy were right to call on the ritual."
Under the watchful eye of the Order members, Bellatrix entered the house to find her sisters – looking so much younger already – sitting there.
"Bella?" Andi asked hesitantly.
Bellatrix looked for words. "I'm back, Andi," she eventually said.
Everything remained silent until Bellatrix spoke again.
"Andi… I'm sorry. I failed you, you and Cissy, and…" she glanced at Andi's daughter, "I forced you to give up your life just to save me. Please, forgive me."
Andi flung herself into Bellatrix's arms. "It's fine," she sobbed. "We-we talked about it. We decided this was for the best. Bella, you're back. Oh, you're back. I got my sisters back."
"And we'll stay together, Andi. No more going off on our own for any of us. I'm sorry."
After a few moments, Andi regained her composure and, giving Bella one last squeeze, made her way back to the couch. Behind Bellatrix, someone scraped his throat.
"We'd like to gather as much information as possible," Dumbledore said. "You likely know more of Voldemort's plans than anyone else, but we only have limited time before your memories fade away."
Bellatrix nodded. "I'll give you everything I know. Two bits of information are, I think, the most urgent. He plans to kill Amelia Bones, the head of the DMLE, tomorrow evening while she is home alone, and he has given me an artefact that I had to put in my vault. I think it's Hufflepuff's Cup. As it is my personal vault, my marriage bond breaking shouldn't deny me access."
"Before I drop you off at your godfather, Harry, there is one more thing we need to talk about. Why don't we sit down on the bench here?"
Harry did so, joined by his Headmaster.
"How much do you know about Sirius' cousins?"
Harry frowned. "Not much. I believe two of them were Bellatrix Lestrange and Malfoy's mother?"
Dumbledore nodded. "Bellatrix was the eldest of the three, in between was Andromeda, and Narcissa was the youngest."
"Is Andromeda a follower of Voldemort too?"
"No, she's never been sympathetic to Voldemort's cause. She was Nymphadora's mother, in fact."
"Was? Is she dead, then?"
Dumbledore shook his head. "It's not quite that simple. But let me tell you a few things about them first. As teenagers, they were very close to one another, and in fact did not care much for Voldemort's ideology. However, the Black family was very central to Voldemort's early rise, and he spent a lot of time trying to convert the Blacks to his side, as the older generations in particular agreed with his views.
"His… special project was Bellatrix, who had shown great promise at Hogwarts, and over the course of several years he slowly brought her to his side until she eventually became the person you've known her as. Narcissa herself was quite impressionable as a teenager and young adult, and when she developed feelings for Lucius Malfoy, she agreed to a very restrictive marriage contract. Only Andromeda, who had always been the most clear-headed of the three, managed to escape Voldemort's clutches and ran away to marry Ted Tonks."
"Why are you telling me this, sir?"
"Because before all this happened, back when they were still young and innocent teenagers and there was no war looming over Wizarding Britain, they performed an obscure Black family ritual."
"Aren't rituals dark?" Harry asked.
"Most are, but not all of them. However, I doubt you will be surprised to hear that in the Black family, not much thought was given to whether something might be dark magic. As you are of course aware, Lucius died several weeks back."
Harry nodded. He remembered how the blond man had fallen through the Veil after being hit by Moody's curse, a death both peaceful and disturbing at once.
"This released Narcissa from her wedding vows," Dumbledore continued. "Early on in her marriage with Lucius, she had already become disillusioned with Voldemort's machinations. Now, with her vows gone, she sought out Andromeda as soon as she could, and after weighing the different options they decided to call upon the ritual and activate it. Now, you have to understand that this was no small decision to make."
"What does the ritual do, sir?"
"If two of the three participants in the ritual would call upon it together, all three of them would change back to who they were when they first did the ritual. And not just their bodies, but also their thoughts, their memories, and their knowledge. They did this because they knew that Bellatrix as a teenager would never have wanted to become the person she was up until recently.
"The ritual was performed last week, with me and some other members of the Order there. Bellatrix – who is now Bellatrix Black, as the vows of her marriage to Rodolphus were also undone by the ritual – arrived less than thirty minutes after, confirming her sisters' suspicions that the younger Bellatrix indeed did not wish to remain with Voldemort. Over the last week, she has proven this by giving us some invaluable pieces of information before her memories fade away completely, which has saved the life of Amelia Bones among other things.
"The reason I am telling you this right now, is that all three are currently living in Grimmauld Place with Sirius, as he is the only living adult Black, which automatically makes him their guardian. In every way that matters, the three of them are teenagers who lived in 1969 but now suddenly find themselves in 1996 instead. You could see them as time travelers, of a sort."
"Sir…" Harry hesitated.
"Yes, Harry?"
"What about Malfoy? And Tonks and her father?"
"I do not feel it is my place to tell you why Narcissa made the decision she did, but in the case of Andromeda, she talked to Ted and Nymphadora, and they eventually agreed on this course of action. Even though Andromeda will lose her memory of them because of the ritual, she can get to know them again, though simply as a family member, rather than wife and mother. And before you ask, she will not forget the derivative knowledge who she was in a previous life – that is something that simply cannot be eradicated, even if the memories that prove it are gone. So even though she won't remember it, she will still know who she was.
"Now, I think we've sat here for long enough, it's time I hand you over to Sirius, and for you to meet the three teens we've talked about. Andromeda will be in your year, in fact, in Slytherin." Dumbledore stood, with Harry following him as they walked the last street to Grimmauld Place.
"She'll be at Hogwarts?" Harry asked. "Isn't that strange?"
"A little, yes," Dumbledore replied. "All three will be at Hogwarts. Bellatrix in her seventh year, Andromeda in her sixth, and Narcissa in her fourth."
"Sir… how could Bellatrix be at Hogwarts? She's still an Azkaban escapee, right?"
"As of now, she is," Dumbledore replied. "However, as I told you her information saved Amelia Bones' life, and together with Amelia, Sirius and the original text of the ritual they used, which we found in the Black library, we should be able to convince the Ministry to drop those charges because of the extraordinary situation."
They walked up the door, which opened for them after a tap from Dumbledore's wand.
Sirius was the first in the hall. "Harry!"
Instinctively, Harry flinched, but no Walburga started screaming. "Sirius," he said, a smile breaking through as he ran forward to hug his godfather. "What happened to your mother?"
He snorted. "Bella set her on fire. She just let the painting burn until the magic was gone. Why don't you come along to meet my cousins? Albus, do you want to join us?"
Dumbledore declined, however Harry followed Sirius into the sitting room, where three girls sat on the couches. Two looked very similar, with dark brown hair and a similar facial structure. They could almost pass for twins, though the younger was built a little curvier and had brown eyes to the older's violet. The third and youngest, however, had blonde hair and blue eyes. All three immediately stood when Harry and Sirius entered the room.
"Harry, these are Bella, Andi and Cissy. Girls, this is Harry."
"Hi," Harry said, feeling slightly awkward.
Narcissa immediately replied with a "hi" of her own, and Andromeda followed moments later with a "nice to meet you," but Bellatrix turned to Sirius instead.
"That's no way to introduce people!"
"We don't need all that posh in here, Bella," Sirius disagreed.
She spluttered. "Don't need… Sirius, does your godson even know the correct way to introduce himself?"
"What?" Harry asked, feeling and looking very confused.
"Are you kidding me?" Bellatrix exclaimed. "You're his guardian, Sirius! Isn't he going to take up his Lordship in just a year from now? Have you even taught him anything about that?"
"Bella, please, we're not in the eighteenth century anymore."
"Seriously?"
Before Bellatrix could continue, Andromeda placed a hand on her shoulder. "Shall I take it?"
Bellatrix looked at her sister, then nodded.
"Sirius," Andromeda said, "we get that you don't like the noble society, but that doesn't mean Harry, as Heir Potter and more importantly the famous Boy-Who-Lived, shouldn't at least know the rules."
"What the hell are you talking about?" Harry asked.
"THIS!" Bellatrix exclaimed. "That you don't know what we're talking about! Who has even raised you? I know it wasn't Sirius, he was in Azkaban."
"My uncle and aunt," Harry replied, still confused.
"Your… but you don't, wait…" she glanced at Sirius, uncertain. "Did James Potter have a younger sibling? I feel like I should still remember that."
"No," Sirius said, "Harry was raised by his mother's sister."
"A muggle?" Bellatrix exclaimed once again. "Who the hell placed him with muggles?"
"Hey now," Harry said angrily, "I'll admit my uncle and aunt aren't the nicest people, but there's no reason to be so disparaging about all muggles."
"That's not the point," Bellatrix argued. "The point is that you should have learned how our society works, how you are expected to hold yourself, and a muggle can't teach you that because they're not part of our society. Did you know that by next year, you have to sit on the Wizengamot, or alternatively appoint a proxy for your sake, to vote on laws?"
"I… what? Really?"
"Yes, really. You should have known this stuff before you even started Hogwarts. Why hasn't anyone told you?"
"I don't know," Harry said.
"That was a rhetorical question," Bellatrix huffed. "Who placed you with your aunt?"
"Dumbledore," Harry replied, still feeling off balance.
"Of course it's Dumbledore," Bellatrix sighed. "Well, I guess we're going to spend this summer teaching Potter what he should already know." On a softer tone: "idiots…"
"Uh… what now?" Harry asked.
"Now," Andromeda said with a hint of amusement, "Bellatrix is going to drag you aside and spend the entire summer teaching you noble etiquette, how to hold yourself, how the Wizengamot works, and so on. Don't worry, I'll be there to hold her back if she gets a little too… passionate."
"I'm… still not sure what you're talking about," Harry admitted.
"See it as learning a different culture," Andromeda said. "It's as if you were raised in, I don't know, China, then you move to England, except no one tells you the culture is different. That's what going from muggle to magical Britain is like." She turned to Sirius. "Are you going to help us teach him?"
"Harry, I don't think you need to know all this boring stuff."
"Yes he does!" Bellatrix immediately exclaimed. "I swear! You're even worse than you were as a kid, Sirius. He's going to be Lord Potter. And for the record, you are Lord Black. Do you even know your duties? Why don't we just get started immediately? Come, let's sit down, first lesson."
Hesitantly, Harry followed her and Andromeda – and Narcissa, but she seemed more of a hanger-on – into the room and sat down on a chair.
"First lesson," Bellatrix repeated. "You haven't done this wrong yet, but I bet you would if we don't tell you now. Until someone tells you to use their first name, you always use their last name. When I first address you, it's Heir Potter, then afterwards I just call you Potter. That lasts until you tell me I can call you by your first name, even if it takes years.
"Similarly, me, Andi and Cissy are, for you, Miss Black, and during conversation just Black. Also, we'll use shortened names between ourselves, but for you to do so would be a social misstep if you haven't been given permission. However, unlike with first names, you can ask for permission if you're already on a first-name basis."
"That sounds complicated," Harry said.
"And that's why I don't want to bother you with it," Sirius butted in.
"He needs to know, Sirius," Bellatrix once again bit out. "Next year, he's going to be Lord Potter, and he's the most famous person in the entire country, maybe behind Albus Dumbledore. If he's taught properly he can be one of the biggest political forces out there. But if he doesn't know anything, he's going to end up squandering all that before he reaches the age of 20."
"What's this Lord Potter business?" Harry asked.
Bellatrix sighed deeply.
Several weeks later
"They were right, Sirius," Harry said during lunch. "Yes, it's boring, but how much more effectively can we fight Voldemort if we also use the Wizengamot? I mean, I get that Dumbledore is there as Chief Warlock, but he holds far less power than you and me would."
"It's not your job to fight him, Harry," Sirius said.
"Are you kidding me?" Bellatrix asked incredulously. Incredulity from the oldest of the sisters was something Harry had become well acquainted to. She was… intense, as a person. However, she displayed none of the evil, mean-spirited nature of her Voldemort-corrupted older self. "Voldemort is literally coming after him all the time. It's not Harry's job to fight a war, but if the war is fighting him, he needs to be able to fight back. Please tell me Harry's at least received training?"
"Dumbledore said he's going to give me private lessons this year."
"But you haven't been taught anything extra before?" Bellatrix clarified.
Harry shook his head. "Only the Patronus lessons by Remus."
"I'm coming along to the first lesson. Andi and Cissy too if they want to. I don't trust Dumbledore to teach you anything useful if he hasn't done that so far."
"Okay," Harry said. By now, he'd learned to only oppose Bellatrix if he had a strong opinion about the matter, and in all honesty he did not care that she wanted to come along to the lessons. Dumbledore could deal with that if he didn't want her there.
Just then, an owl flew in, dropping a letter in front of Sirius. He opened and quickly read it, a smile forming on his face. "Congratulations Bella, you're officially pardoned for any crimes committed in between the two halves of the ritual. Which also means we can do school shopping for the four of you soon. We'll give the news a few days to get out first, in case anyone would recognize you."
"Don't expect it," Andromeda said. "Bella didn't exactly look good on those wanted posters."
She snorted. "That alone is enough to be thankful for the ritual. And I feel better than ever now that I can't remember Azkaban."
Sirius shivered. "Lucky you."
First week of September
Now that Harry was actually going to unexpectedly bring three girls along when visiting Dumbledore for a private lesson, he felt a lot less apathic about giving in to Bellatrix like that, as Dumbledore would most likely be looking at him. However, he marched on, gave the gargoyle the password and made his way up the stairs.
"Come in," Dumbledore said upon Harry's knock. His expression changed when he saw the Black sisters coming in behind Harry. "I believe I said this was a private lesson."
"Well, forgive me for wanting to see for myself that Harry is actually going to learn anything," Bellatrix said, her voice dripping with sarcasm. "Considering you haven't exactly been teaching him anything so far, despite him being your charge."
"I'm afraid I do not understand what you are talking about, Bellatrix."
"That would be Miss Black, as I cannot remember giving you permission to call me by my first name, Headmaster. Which also touches upon what I was talking about. You placed Harry with a muggle family, then never taught him anything about our society. Merlin, he didn't even know he stood to inherit a Lordship until I pointed it out to him, let alone two of them as Sirius made him his Heir."
"Harry has gone through quite enough without me burdening him with politics," Dumbledore said.
"Harry, have you ever given the Headmaster permission to use your first name?" Bellatrix asked.
Harry hesitantly shook his head.
"There we go again," she said. "Headmaster, please do not disrespect Harry like that. He by himself potentially holds the political influence needed to keep Voldemort from taking over the Ministry. All that's needed is that he knows how to use it – something me and Andi have been teaching him because you forgot to do your job as, effectively, his guardian. Or are you going to tell me his muggle aunt should have told him?"
"Miss Black, I do not remember inviting you here."
"Fine," Bellatrix said. "Tell me what you'll be teaching Harry and me and my sisters will be on our separate ways."
"These are private lessons, Miss Black."
"What, are you afraid we're going to tell Voldemort what you're teaching Harry? Seriously? We three should be the least likely people in the world to desert to Voldemort. Anything you tell us is going to remain safe."
"Miss Black, I will once again ask you to leave."
"What are you going to teach Harry?" she bit out. "Is it actually going to be useful, or are you once again going to tell him that 'the power of love' is supposed to defeat Voldemort like you did last year? I don't believe in prophecies, Headmaster, and Voldemort isn't going to defeat himself. However, I will admit that Voldemort does believe in prophecies, and will continue to hunt Harry until either of them is dead. Which means that Harry will be part of this war, no matter what bullshit you or Sirius or anyone else spouts about a war being no place for a child, which means Harry needs to know everything there is to know. So, simple question, and we'll be on our way. What will you teach Harry?"
Dumbledore sighed. "I intend to teach him about Voldemort's youth, and how he became the man he is now. On the way there, we will touch on several points that will be important to his defeat."
"Could you be any more vague? How is this going to help Harry defeat Voldemort? How is he going to beat him in a duel? Do you even know why Voldemort is immortal, and what to do about it? And what about the connection Harry has to Voldemort, do you know what that is?"
"You said you would leave, Miss Black. Please, stop testing my patience."
"Stop testing mine!" she growled out, her wand spitting several sparks – Harry only now realized she had it in her hand, though it wasn't pointed at Dumbledore. "You aren't teaching Harry about his Lordship, you aren't teaching him spells, you have until now not been teaching him about Voldemort, it's a miracle he's even alive to reach this point! I told you I'd leave, if you showed you were going to teach Harry something useful. You haven't shown that. How is knowing about Voldemort's childhood going to help in defeating him? What, does he have a dueling tic that's more apparent in his childhood that somehow makes him trivial to defeat?
"How is Voldemort immortal, and what are you going to do about it? What are you going to teach Harry to help him fight and hold his own against Voldemort, at least to the point where more experienced fighters like you or the aurors can come in and defeat him. And lastly, what the hell is going on with Harry's scar?"
"Sir," Harry interrupted, "I… kind of agree with Bellatrix. I don't need to know what Voldemort was like as a child. I know what he's like now, and that's what I need to know. And she's right that there's something off about my scar."
Dumbledore sighed deeply. "Very well, very well, sit down, all of you. I believed it prudent to go through this information more gradually, but we can move some pieces to the foreground. Miss Black, do you still remember the item that Voldemort stored in your vault?"
"I don't remember that," Bellatrix said, "but I do remember going there and getting it out. The cup with the badger on it."
Dumbledore nodded. "Hufflepuff's Cup. I don't know if Harry has told you about his experiences in the Chamber of Secrets?"
"He has," Bellatrix confirmed.
"The diary is important." Dumbledore brought his shriveled right arm forward, showing a ring. "And so is this ring. These three objects are – or rather, were – so-called horcruxes. A horcrux is the foulest magic in existence. By committing a murder, it is possible to split your soul. Then, by performing a horcrux ritual, you can tear away this part of your soul and store it in an object, called a horcrux. "
"Seriously?" Bellatrix exclaimed, aghast. "That's a thing?"
Dumbledore nodded gravely. "It is. Creating a horcrux in this manner grants immortality. If your body dies, then the horcrux anchors your soul to this plane of existence. I suspect Voldemort performed this ritual numerous times, however I have not been able to find out how many. The… memory I have that I suspect contains the information has been edited."
"See? That wasn't so hard to tell us," Bellatrix said. "It's got to be a powerful number," she reasoned. "He was so obsessed with magical numbers that I still remember it. So that makes three, seven or thirteen. I have a hard time believing a soul can be ripped into thirteen pieces without fading into nothing, so that's out. Also, making three horcruxes leaves you with a total of four soul pieces, so we can rule three parts out by what we've already found. Therefore, it must be seven. We've got three, there's his main soul, that means three to go. Any ideas what they are?"
"Good reasoning," Dumbledore said. "I suspect one of them is Slytherin's Locket, and another his snake. The last one, I am less sure of, however it may very well be another Founder's artifact."
"And where can we find them?"
"I've been looking for them," Dumbledore said. "I suspect he hid them in places of personal importance to him. The ring, for example, was placed in the shack where his mother lived, and the cup in Gringotts, no doubt a place that impressed him when he first saw it.
"I have looked through all of Hogwarts, but have not been able to find one here. I also suspect he may have left a horcrux in one or more places of importance in his childhood, which I am currently looking into."
"Have you looked in the Chamber of Secrets?"
Dumbledore nodded. "I haven't been able to find anything there, either."
Bellatrix glanced around at Harry and her sisters. "Any other secret rooms of the castle?"
"What about that room where you taught the DA last year?" Narcissa piped up.
Harry's eyes widened. "The Room of Requirement! That might be a good place to look. Have you looked there, Headmaster?"
"I am afraid I am not familiar with that room," Dumbledore replied. "Or perhaps I know it by a different name."
Harry described the position and abilities of the room.
Dumbledore nodded. "That does sound like a powerful candidate. We will go there the next time we meet."
"Not so fast," Bellatrix said. "You haven't told us anything about Harry's scar yet. What do you know?"
"Some things are—"
"Oh don't give me that bollocks! Harry at least deserves to know everything there is to know. And if you don't want us to know, well, I expect he'll tell us anyway once we're out of here."
Harry nodded. "I would, sir."
Dumbledore sighed, looking older than Harry had ever seen him. "The night that Voldemort came for you and your parents, I suspect he intended to do his last horcrux ritual, as I believe he saved them for murders he considered important – such as the one of the person prophesized to defeat him. When the killing curse on you reflected and bounced back, I believe it tore off the part of his soul he intended to use for the ritual, causing it to attach to you instead."
The world suddenly seemed very far away to Harry, a loud buzzing in his ears. He wasn't sure of anything that was happening, until cold water was suddenly sprayed in his face, causing him to splutter.
"Are you okay?" Andromeda asked him. Behind her, Bellatrix surreptitiously sheathed her wand.
"I-I'm a horcrux?" Harry asked shakily.
"I believe so," Dumbledore said, sadness in his eyes.
"So… so I have to die? I need to die for Voldemort to be defeated?"
Dumbledore didn't reply.
"Oh, that's bollocks!" Bellatrix exclaimed.
"I've been searching, but I haven't been able to find a way around it," Dumbledore stated.
Bellatrix turned on him. "And let me guess, you haven't even considered going through the Black library, the single biggest library on the dark arts in all of Great Britain. We're going to tell Sirius right this evening and he's going to look for a way to remove a horcrux from an object or person without causing damage to the old vessel."
"That's… possible?" Harry asked.
"Probably," Bellatrix replied. "At least, if you know where to look." She turned back to Dumbledore. "Please tell me you have ignored your duties towards Harry just because you're an idiot, and not because you expected him to die."
Dumbledore sighed. "I would never plan for someone's death, Miss Black."
"Well, that's something. Though it is worrisome – for you –that I even had to ask you the question."
"I propose we will wrap up this meeting, and I will inform Sirius of what we have discussed and what you want him to look for."
"Wait a second," Bellatrix said. "When is the next meeting going to be?"
"I'll send a note."
"No, no, no, that's not how this goes. Harry needs to be ready to fight as soon as possible. He's going to need teachers, and he needs them yesterday. Sirius and I have been teaching him what we could during summer, but that wasn't all that much."
"Very well," Dumbledore said, "we will meet next week to discuss who can help teach Harry."
Bellatrix nodded decisively. "Then good night, Headmaster."
"Good night, Misses Black, Mister Potter."
"Good night, Headmaster," Harry echoed.
Together, they left the office. As soon as they reached the Hogwarts corridors, Narcissa suddenly pulled Harry in a tight embrace.
"Narcissa?" Harry asked. "Cissy?"
"I don't want you to die," she whispered.
"I don't want to die, either," Harry replied, returning the hug. "You know, Cissy, I think it's a good thing I got you and your sisters."
Bellatrix snorted. "I bet Dumbledore would've taken like five months to tell you about horcruxes otherwise, and Merlin only knows how much longer until he told you about your own scar."
"Thanks, Bella," Harry said. "May I call you Bella?"
She nodded. "Good luck, Harry. I think you'll need it."
Narcissa freed herself from the embrace as Andromeda stepped up. "And you may call me Andi if you want to, Harry. After all, we're practically family."
"Thanks," Harry repeated. "All three of you."
"It's unbelievable," Andromeda said as they left their Defense Against the Dark Arts class.
"What is?" Harry asked.
"Snape. The way he treats you and Heir Longbottom is ridiculous. It's completely unprofessional."
"I know," Harry said. "But what can we do about it?"
"Have you talked to Dumbledore?"
"Plenty of times!" Harry replied. "He always goes on about how I need to respect Snape because he's a professor and everything, but it's Snape that's constantly picking on me, not the other way around. I mean, my father and his friends bullied Snape at school, I know that, but for some reason it's as if it's okay that Snape bullies me in reply."
"We'll figure something out," Andromeda said. "Maybe Bella has an idea. Let's talk to her, it's lunchtime anyway."
She walked to the Slytherin table with a determined pace.
"Uh, Andi…"
She turned around. "Yes?"
"I… don't think I'm welcome at the Slytherin table."
"Harry, anyone who tries to start something is going to get their privates hexed off by Bella, you'll be fine."
Hesitantly, he followed her to where Bellatrix and Narcissa already sat, ignoring the dirty looks most of Slytherin gave him as he sat down.
"Harry!" Narcissa immediately said. "What are you doing here?" She blushed. "Nice to see you, though."
"Andi had something she wanted to talk about," Harry said, gesturing to the middle sister.
"Yes," she said, turning to Bellatrix. "Silencing charm?"
Bellatrix threw one up around them, raising a questioning eyebrow.
"Snape is a ridiculously biased teacher, and it needs to stop," Andromeda said straight up. "How are we going to do that?"
"I like him," Narcissa said.
"Of course you do," Andromeda replied. "He treats us Slytherins with velvet gloves, but have you seen how he acts to the Gryffindors in particular? I swear, I have never seen someone so biased. He practically takes points for breathing if you're in Gryffindor."
"He actually did that once," Harry said.
"See! That's why we need to do something."
"We can't," Harry said again. "I've talked to Dumbledore about it many times!"
"Then we don't go to Dumbledore," Bellatrix said. "You're the Boy-Who-Lived, Harry. Why don't you send your complaints right to the Board of Governors? Add in some examples, me and Andi will sign off on it as Slytherins to prove we're not exaggerating. Andi's right, Snape really goes too far, and it gives all of Slytherin a bad name. I can hardly believe the distrust I see in the eyes of students from other houses, it's so much worse than it was when we went to school."
"So what do we mention?"
"Well, taking points for breathing is a good start. Any other incredibly unfair moments you remember?"
Harry thought for a few seconds. "There was that one time when we got into a fight with some Slytherins, Goyle and Hermione each got hit by a curse, then he sent Goyle to the Hospital Wing and with Hermione – who already had big front teeth and was hit by a teeth-growing curse – he said 'I see no difference'."
Bellatrix gaped at him. "Seriously?"
Harry nodded.
"Do you have a memory of that?"
"How does that work?"
"Hold your wand against your head, think of the memory, then will yourself to pull it out." She conjured a vial for Harry to deposit the memory in.
"Why did you want it?" Harry asked.
"Because if what you're saying is true, this could very well place Snape on probation at the very least. He insulted a student who was hit by a hex moments prior, in the same go downplaying said injury. That's… unbelievable, honestly. We're going to send this along with our complaint."
"Well, if it gets Snape out of Hogwarts, I'm not complaining," Harry said.
"Faster, Harry, faster," Bellatrix called out when Harry once again got hit by a stinging hex.
"I can't!"
"Voldemort casts much faster than I do, if you can't dodge my hexes, you don't stand a chance against his."
"Let's take a break," Harry begged.
"Okay then," Bellatrix relented. "A short one."
Panting, he made his way over to a bench on the side, where a cold glass of water was waiting for him. They were in the Room of Requirement – where they had, after some good searching, indeed found a horcrux. Bellatrix was training Harry several times per week now, mostly focusing on his dodging speed, as she had a fast casting speed.
At last weekend's meeting, they had decided that Remus, Sirius, Moody, professor Dumbledore and professor Flitwick would all teach Harry when they had the time. Remus would do exercises and transfigurations, Sirius did charms, Moody heavier spells – in Bellatrix's words, you can't win if your enemies don't stay down – professor Dumbledore would teach about Voldemort and various obscure tricks and such, and Flitwick would teach dueling.
"I'll try to join you as often as possible," Bellatrix said as she sat down next to him. "I'm not nearly as good as a dueler as I want to be – and as I know I can be, from what I've heard about the other me."
"That's nice," Harry said. "I'd love having someone else of my age there. Just me and some old men is going to get boring very quickly."
"You want to invite Andi and Cissy too?"
"Do you think they'd like it?"
"I think so, yeah," Bellatrix said. "Andi seems dead set on supporting you, and Cissy tends to want to do anything Andi and I are doing."
"I'll invite Ron and Hermione too," Harry said. "They've always been there with me, I doubt that's going to change any time soon."
"Would be nice to have a bit of a group. Have you told them about your scar yet?"
Harry's mood immediately darkened at the reminder. "No," he said. "I just… don't know how to."
"What do you say after this session I come along with you and we tell them together?"
"That'd be appreciated," Harry said. "Thanks, Bella."
"No problem, Harry."
It was several days later that Harry, Bellatrix and Andromeda were called to Dumbledore's office.
"Headmaster," Harry greeted with a nod of his head as he entered, followed by the girls. "What did you want to meet us for?"
"I am disappointed in you, Mister Potter," he said in a grave voice. "I have ensured you many times that professor Snape has my full trust, yet you still go behind my back to try and get him fired."
"Are you kidding me?" Bellatrix exclaimed. "Have you ever seen that man teach a class of Gryffindors, Headmaster? I don't care one whit if he has your full trust, he should not be allowed near any student that is not a Slytherin! Be glad that he – if your words are any indication – didn't actually get fired. I know I would've voted for that when confronted with the memory Harry sent along. A memory, to be clear. The Board had the ability to make their own judgement based on nothing but facts!"
"Miss Black, surely a single lapse of judgement—"
"Excuse me, Headmaster," Harry interrupted. "A single lapse of judgement? What about the time he vanished my potion because it was slightly off-color, meanwhile he didn't vanish Crabbe's potion that literally exploded the vial he tried to pour it into? What about the time he fed Neville's toad the brew Neville had made, where poor Trevor only survived because Hermione had been helping Neville out? And then Hermione lost points for that! I… I could keep going, Headmaster. This is not a single lapse of judgement, he does it – every – single – time! And I've told you, more than once!"
"Sir," Andromeda said, "Professor Snape is a horrible teacher. Shouldn't some alarm bells go off when you hear that a student has him as his boggart? Boggarts tend to be dead loved ones or dementors or phobias. Not teachers! He is… I honestly have no words. He's horrible. He's completely unfit for this job. All he does it belittle the Gryffindors and encourage the Slytherins to bully them. A Slytherin will get five points for correctly answering a question that he explained two sentences before, and a Gryffindor will lose ten for not having a spell down on first try. It's ridiculous.
"And, I swear to you, Headmaster, and you can take these words to him, if I see him take one step out of line, I will send my memory straight to the Board of Governors, see if he keeps his job then. He either acts like an adult, or gets fired because he's unable to."
Dumbledore sighed. "Why did you not come to me with your issues?"
"Because Harry already did!" Bellatrix exclaimed. "He's told you several times that Snape behaves unprofessional in his classroom, and you've ignored him every single time! This is exactly what the Board is for, to address issues that aren't being addressed properly otherwise."
"As a matter of fact, there is another issue I'm considering sending to the Board," Andromeda said. "Professor Snape is giving the Slytherins far too much freedom to do what they want. Half of them talk about hexing lower years for fun. And no one does anything about it. I can hardly believe half the stories I hear from Harry and other people from the other houses. This green and silver that I'm wearing? Half the first years run away when I turn the corner!"
"Now now, I'm sure you're exaggerating."
"I am not exaggerating!" Andromeda shrieked at the top of her lungs. "I want Slughorn back as head of house! He has his problems, but he is many times preferable over Snape, in particular if you want to save at least some of Slytherin's name and reputation."
"I will give that some thought," Dumbledore said. "You may go."
Still boiling with anger, but at least having had the opportunity to have their say, the trio left.
Two months later
A shout of help from the distance drew Harry's attention. He ran through the corridor and peeked around the corner to see three seventh year Slytherins cornering a smaller girl. Cissy.
Not wasting any time, Harry sent out an area bludgeoning curse followed by a stunner, as he dove into the corridor.
The bludgeoning curse hit two of the Slytherins, but it's area effect reduced the power, only making them stumble. However, that allowed the stunner to hit true. Harry followed the spells up by a second stunner, then a cutting hex aimed low. The stunner was blocked by a shield, but the cutting hex hit the student's leg.
Meanwhile, the third Slytherin had turned and shot a purple hex Harry did not recognize, but he dodged it and countered with a stunner-shieldbreaker-stunner combo, downing him. He threw up a shield to block the curse from the last student – the one with the injured leg – and downed him with another stunner.
Immediately, he ran over to the crying Cissy and pulled her in a hug. "What's going on?" he asked gently.
She gripped him closer, and he continued to soothe her. "You're safe, Cissy, no one's going to hurt you."
"They-they wanted to hex me," she told Harry. "They said I had abandoned Voldemort and that I should be put in the Hospital Wing for that."
Before she had time to explain more, a voice sounded. "Potter! Stay away from her!"
Harry turned and whipped out his wand just in time to shield from Malfoy's curse. "What's wrong with you?" he shouted back. Sure, he and Malfoy had gotten into fights regularly over the years, but immediately firing spells without even a word? That was new.
Malfoy did not reply, however, instead sending a leg-locking curse at Harry, that he sidestepped. Behind him, Cissy slipped away. Harry paid her no more attention and returned fire with a stunner and a piercing hex, but Malfoy dodged the first, shielded the second and sent a tripping jinx followed by a bludgeoning hex at Harry, who shielded both. Next came a second bludgeoning hex, and though Harry's shield held, it forced him back.
"Reducto!" he shouted, abandoning silent casting in favor of power. Indeed, though Malfoy got his shield up, he was now forced back. Two yellow spells flew in Harry's direction, and he weaved in between them, sending another bludgeoner and a cutting spell that actually nicked Malfoy's leg.
"Crucio!" Malfoy screamed. Harry, unprepared, was hit by the Unforgivable and his body exploded in pain as he screamed and fell to the ground.
Distantly, he heard someone shout "Incarcerous!" and moments later, the pain stopped. Shakily, he looked up to see Malfoy bound in chains. From behind the Slytherin, Bellatrix stalked up, a downright scary grin on her face.
"Now, now, nephew, was that such a good idea? Using an Unforgivable in full vision of several classmates? On the Boy-Who-Lived, no less?"
"Well, what are you going to do, huh?" Malfoy spat.
Bellatrix grinned. "Why, contact the DMLE, of course. You did, after all, commit a crime. Lifetime Azkaban, I believe it was?"
Malfoy glanced back and forth between Bellatrix and Narcissa – who, Harry surmised, had been fetching her older sister – but seemed to not know what to say.
"Expecto Patronum!" Bellatrix exclaimed, summoning her raven patronus. Moments later, it disappeared from view, no doubt on it's way to the Ministry.
Meanwhile, Cissy made her way to Harry. "Are you okay?" she asked, fussing over him.
"I'm… fine," Harry said. "A little shaky, after that cruciatus, but I've had worse."
Cissy hugged him briefly, then pulled him up from the ground. "Thanks, Harry. I was so scared with those three boys." She glanced at the trio, who were still lying there, stunned.
"What happened here?" Bellatrix asked. "Cissy didn't have time to explain everything."
"They wanted to attack Cissy," Harry said. "I believe they were trying to hurt her because she'd 'abandoned Voldemort' or some bullshit like that."
"They told you that?" she asked Cissy.
The girl nodded.
"Then let's give your memory of that to the DMLE as well. I'm sure openly sympathizing with Voldemort makes them guilty of some crime at least."
Footsteps announced three aurors – including Amelia Bones – as well as Dumbledore a few steps behind.
"What happened here?" Bones asked in a no-nonsense tone.
Before anyone could answer her, Dumbledore interrupted. "Amelia, there is no need for you to be here, it's just a small school scuffle. Surely you have better things to do."
"I was informed an Unforgivable had been used, Mr Dumbledore," she replied sharply. "That is a crime, therefore I am investigating."
"Surely you must be mistaken," Dumbledore said.
"She's not," Harry said. "Malfoy cast the cruciatus on me."
Bones's eyebrows rose to her hairline. "We will take him in for questioning. Could you perhaps provide a memory of the event?"
"Now wait a moment," Dumbledore said, "that's not needed."
"Albus Dumbledore! Usage of an Unforgivable is a crime, and not any crime, it is a crime that carries a life sentence in Azkaban. Such a claim needs to be thoroughly investigated. As you are not a witness to the events, please remain silent. Now, a memory?"
"Of course," Harry said, placing his wand against his temple, stabilizing his twitching arm before extracting the memory and depositing it in an offered vial.
"Madam Bones, we have a second memory for you," Bellatrix said.
"What about?" she asked.
"These three boys," Bellatrix gestured at them, "intended to attack my sister because she 'betrayed Voldemort'. Though Harry stopped them before they could do anything, I figured that supporting Voldemort is itself a crime."
She nodded. "There's a good chance that is the case. And no, Dumbledore, you do not get to say anything about that. Your jurisdiction as Headmaster includes only typical schoolyard issues. The moment crimes are committed, your authority ends and mine begins. Misses Black, the memory?"
Narcissa extracted the desired memory and handed it over.
"Thanks you, Misses Black, Mister Potter. You will be contacted if further testimony is required. And Mister Potter, I would advise you visit the Hospital Wing."
With that, Madam Bones and the aurors levitated the four Slytherins away, as Harry, Bella and Cissy went the other direction to visit Madam Pomphrey.
Several days after the incident with Malfoy, Harry found himself in a conundrum. To his confusion, he felt like he was falling for two girls at the same time. On one hand there was Cissy, sweet and innocent, always loving, and on the other hand there was Bellatrix, the fiery girl who had fallen into Harry's life and immediately charged forward to change it for the better. Thanks to her, this year was shaping up to be Harry's favorite so far. Finally, he was being treated like an adult – if only after Bellatrix's repeated rants – and he was coming to understand much more of the wizarding world. Best of all, he was receiving a lot of training so he could actually hold his own when Voldemort would next come after him.
The problem was that he had no idea how to handle the situation, and while Bellatrix was normally a lot of help in solving his problems, she wasn't able to help him out this time around. Ron and Hermione were both out of the question either - Ron would straight up have no idea how to help him, and Hermione would likely consult a book or something.
After some deliberation, Harry went to Andi instead.
"Can we talk somewhere in private?"
"Of course," the girl immediately replied. "Room of Requirement?"
Harry nodded. "Might be best."
In silence, they made their way up to the seventh floor.
"What did you want to talk about?" Andi asked after the door closed behind them.
Harry sat down on a couch conveniently provided by the Room.
"I… have a problem," he said lamely.
"With what?" Andi asked as she sat down next to him.
"I… I feel like… I don't know how to say it. This is going to sound crazy." He groaned.
Andi grasped his hand. "Just say it. I'll listen."
"I feel like I'm… like I'm developing feelings for both Bella and Cissy at the same time."
Her eyebrows raised. "Really? Should I feel disappointed at being left out?" she teased.
Despite himself, Harry blushed, thankful she didn't get mad at him. "I… I just don't know how to handle it," Harry admitted. "I was hoping you could help me out. Maybe… maybe you know if one of them likes me too, or... I don't know. Something."
She shuffled slightly closer to him. "Harry, I wouldn't be surprised if they both have feelings for you." She was still holding his hand, he realized as she squeezed it. "But more seriously, don't you like me too?" He realized her face was rather close to his by now, and her brown eyes were really quite beautiful.
"Andi…" he said, trying to figure out how to continue. "Please don't make this even more difficult."
She grinned. "But I'm not, Harry. You're also Heir Black, remember?" Harry nodded. "And Voldemort descends from Slytherin. You remember that we discussed Right of Conquest a while back? Once you're an adult, you could claim Lord Slytherin as well."
"I… don't get what you're going for." Harry was starting to truly feel very hot and bothered by now.
"It's not very common, and it would draw some eyes, but Harry, you could get away with marrying three times, once per title. And Bella, Cissy and I have always done things together…" Without giving Harry a chance to react, she placed her lips on his.
Immediately, all Harry's worries disappeared as he let himself melt into the kiss, those tasty lips on his, the curvy girl now in his arms, which he had put around her without realizing it.
However, when the kiss ended Harry's worries returned again. "There's no way they'll agree to that, right?"
Andi smirked. "I think you'd be surprised. Why don't we go and ask them what they think?"
Harry felt fear boil up inside him. "I'm not sure if…"
Andi had already stood and was pulling him off the couch. "Come on, let's just get it done, hm? Are you a Gryffindor or not?"
Without much of a choice, Harry was pulled through all of Hogwarts until they found themselves in the dungeons, next to the Slytherin common room.
"Wait here, will you?" Andi said before slipping in.
During the minute Harry was standing there on his own, he seriously considered making a run for it, however he managed to drag up enough of the Gryffindor courage Andi had mentioned to hold his ground until the trio of girls he was falling for stepped outside.
"Harry!" Cissy exclaimed on seeing him outside, immediately grabbing him in a hug that he awkwardly returned. Harry wasn't sure whether or not it was his imagination that she took slightly longer to let go of him than normal – her chest definitely seemed to have pushed into him for a very long time.
"So what's going on?" Bella asked.
"Harry came to talk to me," Andi said, "because he realized he was developing feelings for us. As you might remember, he can claim three titles once he reaches adulthood."
"And you figured we could share him," Bella concluded.
Cissy, who was looking between her sisters, turned to Harry. "Share Harry? As boyfriend?"
"Yes," Andi said.
Immediately, Cissy flew into Harry's arms again, enthusiastically – but without a lot of experience – pressing her lips on his. When she let Harry go, he found Bella standing quite nearby. Worrying despite himself – who knew what was going on in Bellatrix's mind? – Harry turned to face her.
She looked him up and down, then grabbed his chin and placed a quick but decisive kiss on his mouth. "You'll do."
Harry couldn't resist reacting to that. "That's the most enthusiasm you can give me?" he grinned, all nerves now gone.
Seconds later, he found himself pinned against the wall as he received a thorough snogging. When she released him, they were both breathing heavily.
"Is that better?" she asked.
"I'm not going to get out of this alive, am I?"
"Nope!" Bella cheerily told him.
About a week after their relationship became official, Harry, his now-girlfriends, Ron and Hermione were all summoned to the Headmaster's Office.
After giving the password, Harry led the group up the stairs and inside the office, where they found a smiling Dumbledore and a clearly very elated Sirius.
"What's going on?" Harry asked, looking back and forth between the two.
"Good news," Dumbledore said. "Sirius has indeed discovered a ritual in the Black family library that allows for the extraction of a horcrux from it's vessel."
Harry couldn't help himself, he cheered. As it happened, he wasn't the only one. Two seconds later, he found himself thoroughly snogged by Cissy, and the moment she let go of him she was replaced by Andi, then Bella. None of them seemed to want to be very far away from him even as Ron stepped forward to give him his heartfelt congratulations, followed by Hermione giving him one of her patented hugs.
"So, what do we need to do?" Harry asked.
"Not even that much," Sirius said. "The price of the ritual is rather low – a few legally available animal parts, some plants, and that's about it."
"Well, what are we waiting for?" Bella said.
"A more convenient time," Dumbledore replied. "There is a very good chance Voldemort will realize something is going on when his connection to Harry disappears, and he may realize that Harry was a horcrux. As a result, he would realize we're looking for those horcruxes, and he might displace the ones we haven't yet found – supposedly Slytherin's Locket, and Nagini."
Sirius nodded in agreement. "We thought the best time to remove the horcrux from Harry would be when it actually becomes important that it's gone. So as long as we haven't located all the horcruxes yet, we're going to leave it in. Most likely once we got the Locket, we'll remove it, because after that we might have an opportunity to strike at Nagini and Voldemort at once."
"Sounds fair," Bella said. "Besides, that means Harry has a free Voldemort-detector until then."
"It's not exactly pleasant," Harry pointed out.
"Neither is having Voldemort sneak up on you."
Harry grumbled, not wanting to admit she was right.
"Now that we got the unimportant stuff out of the way, Harry," Sirius said, "my congratulations on getting yourself three girlfriends."
Harry blushed. "It was Andi's idea."
Sirius smirked. "She always was the smartest one."
That statement was not thought through properly, as became clear when both Bella and Cissy hexed him.
"Should've said responsible," Harry said. "After all, Bella doesn't like being called responsible and Cissy doesn't want to be responsible."
Bella nodded decisively. "And don't you forget it, mutt."
"Considering we are on the topic anyway," Dumbledore spoke, "I find myself rather curious how you will try to justify this to the wider wizarding world."
"Andi came up with that as well," Harry said. "I'll be both Lord Potter and Lord Black, and by Right of Conquest I can claim the title of Lord Slytherin from Voldemort, as I killed him as a child – after all, someone who is only around because of horcruxes isn't truly alive."
Sirius grinned. "Blacks are scary. As long as they're on your side, Harry, I dare say you can achieve anything you want."
"That's how we know Sirius isn't a Black," Bella said. "He's not scary."
Sirius placed his hand over his heart. "You wound me."
"That's exactly what she meant, Sirius," Harry said. "A true Black would've hexed her for that."
Bella turned to give Harry a brief kiss. "You're learning quickly, Harry."
"It's a life-long habit. I've always had to learn quickly."
That got Dumbledore some glares from the Black siblings, even if Harry hadn't intended it that heavy-handed.
"Why don't we take the celebration to the Room of Requirement?" Andi suggested.
Harry, Bella and Cissy quickly agreed with that, while Ron and Hermione decided they should probably not join said celebration.
Several months later; February 1997
Things had quieted down quite a lot these last few months, and to Harry's surprise he'd actually had time to devote to 'his' girls and their relationship – not that he actually had any say in events, if he were being honest. Of course, he was still training with his various private teachers and the girls – mostly Bellatrix, who joined in for absolutely every session – but there were no crazy adventures, no huge mysteries, and no homicidal teachers. Even Snape seemed to actually have reformed with the threat of being fired hanging above his head.
Then, in half February, Harry was called to Dumbledore's office once again.
"I've found a horcrux," the Headmaster announced.
"Really?" Harry asked. "Where?"
"In the cave near the sea. Remember the story we were told in the memory?"
Harry nodded.
Events unfolded quite quickly. Dumbledore invited Harry along, but no one else, as taking too many people might cause them to run into issues. They made their way to Hogsmeade first, then apparated to the coast. From there, they found the cave, entered it – avoiding or responding to traps all the way – made their way over the lake, had Dumbledore drink the potion, found the locket, warded off the inferi with fire, made their way back, and… had no way to get back to Hogwarts, as Dumbledore was in no state to apparate and Harry hadn't started his lessons yet.
However, Harry sent a patronus messenger to Bellatrix, with instructions on how to find him. Several minutes later, she apparated in, first took Dumbledore back, then returned, took Harry back, and from Hogsmeade they together flew back to Hogwarts – Bellatrix having borrowed Harry's Firebolt to get there in the first place.
With the others already mobilized, they made their way to the Headmaster's Office. Sirius was already waiting when Harry, Ron, Hermione, the Black sisters and Dumbledore entered.
It was to everyone's great disappointment that they opened the Locket to find it fake. Harry read the note out loud for everyone to hear.
"R.A.B.…" Sirius mused. "Regulus!"
"Your brother?" Hermione asked.
"Regulus Arcturus Black," Sirius said. "It's got to have been him."
"So then where is the Locket now?" Cissy asked.
"Grimmauld Place?" Bella offered. "Kreacher!"
With a pop, the house-elf appeared.
"Did Regulus have a locket?" Bella questioned.
Kreacher started wailing. Slowly, they managed to drag the story of Regulus's death and Kreacher's inability to destroy the locket out of him.
"We want to destroy the locket as well," Bella soothed, "and we know how to do it. Do you still have it?"
Kreacher nodded, explaining he had taken it back when people had tried to throw it away.
"Fetch it for us," Bella ordered.
With two pops in quick succession, Kreacher brought them the locket.
"We'll have to open it first," Dumbledore said after some careful inspection. "I suspect we need Parseltongue for that. Harry?"
Harry nodded and stepped forward, but stopped at Dumbledore's held up hand. The Headmaster stepped over to the display case and took out Gryffindor's sword.
"Be ready, the horcrux might try something."
Harry accepted the sword before turning to the locket. "§Open§," he hissed. The locket clicked open, and dark smoke started billowing from it, moving back and forth as if trying to taste the people around it. For a moment, Harry was entranced but then Bellatrix shook him out of it.
"Strike it."
Harry brought down the sword, and with a clang, it landed on the horcrux. The smoke shrieked before dissipating within moments, and the now ordinary locket, damaged by the sword's strike, was all that remained.
"Five down, two to go," Bella said. "Do we remove Harry's horcrux now?"
"Yes," Dumbledore said. "Sirius, do you have everything ready?"
Sirius nodded. "I figured it should be available at any time."
"Well, it is a late evening already," Dumbledore said, "but this is important enough that we shouldn't delay it. Harry, you can come with us. If you wish, Bellatrix and Andromeda can come along to support you, but no more than that."
Everyone accepted that decision, and just fifteen minutes later Harry found himself in the middle of a ritual circle in Grimmauld Place 12, curated by Sirius, Dumbledore and a little bit by Bella.
When the circle activated, a searing pain shot through Harry's head, like Voldemort was closer than ever before. However, after several seconds the pain started to lessen, and it was as if the pain was physically being pulled out of his head. Finally, after a minute, all pressure had disappeared.
"Is it… gone?" Harry asked. He opened his eyes, after having had them closed for the ritual. In front of him lay an ordinary teacup.
"Yes," Dumbledore said. "We could see the horcrux move from your head to the cup." He once again presented the Sword. "You may do the honors."
Without preamble, Harry struck the cup, and with a shriek, the horcrux died.
With a wide smile, Bella stepped forward and gave Harry a good snog. "We're almost there! Just the snake and Voldy himself."
Harry smiled as well. "It feels like we're truly getting somewhere."
Close to Easter break
Harry, Ron, Hermione and the Black sisters had become privy to quite a bit of information with all the contact they had with Order members, so they had heard that Voldemort was restless and seemed to be planning an attack. Upon hearing everything they knew, Ron had come up with a very convincing theory of what Voldemort was up to.
That was part of the reason why Harry was going 'home' for Easter for his first time – though home would actually be Grimmauld Place, as no one would ever convince him to go to the Dursleys any more than needed, and in fact no one seemed particularly inclined to try considering his three girlfriends were on his side.
Bella was of course plenty scary by herself, but in this case she was also backed up by the more reasonable Andi, and Cissy could be as scary as she was cute if Harry's happiness was on the line.
It was a tense group that sat in the Hogwarts Express, Harry on one side of the cabin with Bella and Andi next to him and Ron and Hermione on the other side. Cissy spent part of her time on his lap, however he refused to let her sit there the entire ride considering how hot it got with three girls trying to have physical contact with him, so Cissy also sat on the opposing couch or – like right now – on the floor against Harry's legs.
The shockwave immediately alerted them all that Ron had been right. With an immediate flick of the wand, Bella shot off her messenger patronus to Sirius, who was their contact for the Order. As the train was grinding to a halt, Harry shot out of the door, standing face to face with Tonks – disguised as a seventh year Hufflepuff – who had already been on guard. She would have sent a patronus to Madam Bones.
"You know what's happening yet?" he asked.
"No," she replied. "But clearly Ron was right that the Death Eaters would attack us. We should probably get out of the train as soon as it has stopped."
Harry followed her along, the rest of their cabin right behind him. "Cissy," he said as they moved, "stay close to Bella. I don't want anything to happen to you."
"I can handle myself!"
"You're fifteen, Cissy, and going up against adults that throw around killing curses. Just be careful, will you?"
Just as the train came to a standstill, they arrived at the nearby door. Tonks blasted it open and they quickly jumped out, crouching close to the ground. "You see anything?" Harry whispered.
"Not yet," Tonks said.
"There!" Bella exclaimed quietly. Harry followed her gaze and saw four black-robed people.
"Move quietly," Tonks said. "And remember, we need to stall, the Order and aurors will arrive as soon as they can."
"And kill the snake," Bella reminded everyone.
"If she's even there," Tonks said.
Slowly, they crept closer to the Death Eaters they saw, however before they got there, the four entered the train. On Tonks's orders, they took up strategic positions near the compartment, and after a minute or so, the four appeared again in a doorway.
On Tonks's silent signal, they pelted the Death Eaters with spells, two of them going down immediately. The other two returned fire, but were no match for the group of seven, one a trained auror and two more coming fresh off of months of auror-level training.
Apparition pops sounded around them, showing more Death Eaters.
"He knows," Ron hissed. "He's sending in all his forces now that he knows there's opposition."
"Let's hope reinforcements arrive quickly then," Harry said.
Several groups of Death Eaters now made their way through the high grass around the train, scanning for dangers.
A new series of apparitions sounded, and in the distance Harry saw the bright red auror robes flash.
"Aurors!" Andi said. "Good. Now we just need—"
Just then, the Order arrived.
Within seconds, spells were being fired all across the field, and Harry's group left their hiding spots to engage in combat where possible. Harry soon found himself ducking and diving around stunners, killing curses, bludgeoners and other nasty curses, but giving as good as he got.
"Duck!" Bella suddenly screamed.
Harry fell to the ground even as he turned to see the danger she had seen, and a killing curse flew inches above his head, narrowly missing their group.
Voldemort had arrived.
"The snake's there," Tonks hissed. "Bella, Cissy, with me."
The three of them left off to try and break through the shield that kept Nagini safe, while Harry, together with Ron, Hermione and Andi - and hopefully members from the Order - would engage Voldemort.
Harry wasted no time as he righted himself, immediately sending a bludgeoning curse followed by a borderline dark cutting curse at Voldemort. He'd learned some tricks since their last encounter, and he was going to show it.
Voldemort reacted with two bludgeoning curses that were easily absorbed by Harry's shield, then he changed tactics and released a fire whip. Only Harry's quick reactions saved his life as he ducked under it, and his next stunner forced Voldemort to release his whip and bring up a shield instead.
Ron, Hermione and Andi had now distanced themselves from Harry and joined the fight, attacking Voldemort from multiple angles.
However, having to fight four opponents at the same time made Voldemort realize he could not play around, and his casting speed was nothing short of frightening to see, even as Harry fired what spells he could. To his astonishment, Voldemort could straight up match the four of them.
"NO!" Voldemort suddenly screamed, and Harry noticed for one moment that the combined assault from Tonks, Bella and Cissy had broken through the unprepared shell that protected Nagini, sending pieces of snake flying through the air.
Voldemort turned in the tell-tale movement of apparition, however he remained where he was. Anti-apparition wards were in place, then. Tonks, Bella and Cissy now joined the fight, and seven against one Voldemort was clearly outmatched, and he was quickly forced on the defense, shielding against their combined assault.
The battle went on like that for what felt like an eternity but was probably closer to only half a minute, until the very last thing Harry had expected happened. A green curse shot out of Bella's wand, almost exactly on Harry's other side, and hit a completely surprised Voldemort in the back.
He instantly dropped dead.
Stunned – figuratively – Harry lowered his wand, stepping forward. Around them, the last Death Eaters were being rounded up by the aurors and the Order together – it appeared as if they had completely fallen for the bait, and the trap had sprung exactly as intended.
"Is he – dead?" Harry asked.
"I think so," Tonks said, looking at her aunt. "Was that a killing curse?"
Bella nodded. "We couldn't get through his shields without one."
"Well, I'm not complaining," Harry said, stepping up to her and giving her a deep kiss. "Merlin, we actually did it. We actually did it! Voldemort is dead!"
Moments later, Cissy crashed into Harry, hugging both him and Bella tightly and kissing Harry several times. She was then replaced by Andi, who was just as intent on giving Harry his victory kisses.
Just then, Dumbledore and Madam Bones arrived.
"He's dead," Tonks confirmed from where she was inspecting the body.
"What happened?" Madam Bones asked.
"Harry, Ron, Hermione and Andromeda engaged in battle with You-Know-Who while I, Bellatrix and Narcissa snuck around him to kill his snake," Tonks explained. Madam Bones had been informed of the importance of the snake by Dumbledore. "After we did so, we joined the fight. With the seven of us, we forced You-Know-Who on the defensive, and after some fighting Bellatrix managed to find a lucky shot."
"How?" Madam Bones asked.
"Uh, madam," Tonks hesitated, glancing at Bella, "if you have no reason to assume someone committed a crime, then there's no reason to investigate them, right?"
Understanding dawned in Bones' eyes. "No more questions, then. It is time for a well-deserved celebration, do you not agree, Albus?"
Dumbledore nodded. "It is, indeed. Congratulations, Harry, Bellatrix, all of you. I would also like to thank the three of you again, Bellatrix, Andromeda, Narcissa, for your contributions this past year. I believe you have truly made the difference."
Bellatrix nodded curtly – she still hadn't forgiven Dumbledore for not teaching Harry about his position in society. "Perhaps we should meet up with Sirius, then make our way to Grimmauld Place for the party."
"That sounds like a good idea," Dumbledore said.
Harry still couldn't believe it as they walked away. Voldemort was dead. He was free to live his life. It was over.
Eight years later
After yet another busy day at the Wizengamot – ending institutional discrimination based on blood status was a tough task – Harry apparated to Potter Manor. Dobby – whom he'd bonded as soon as Bella had finished school and went to live in the manor – immediately opened the door for him and took off his coat. It was only seconds later that the door opened and a young girl ran up to him and hugged his legs.
Harry broke out in a wide smile at his daughters antics, even as he pulled her up in his arms. "Hello, Cassiopeia. Have you had a nice day?"
She nodded enthusiastically and started telling all about what she'd done with her mother – Bellatrix – today in that typical excited-two-year-old fashion. Bella herself, who was now Lady Black because Sirius had already abdicated his position, entered the corridor a few seconds later, and Harry gave his eldest wife – now pregnant with a second child – a kiss before turning his attention back to Cassie.
He carried her around for a little, but soon enough she wanted to run around again, so he lowered her to the floor and smiled as she ran off. On a more sedate pace he followed her into the sitting room, where Andi and Cissy were currently talking. Andromeda had taken the title of Lady Potter, and was in fact nursing the Potter heir, little James who had been born just two months ago.
Narcissa, Lady Slytherin, was currently also expecting, which seemed to be the topic the two were talking about. Harry gave them both a kiss and gently stroked little James's head even as the boy continued to suckle. It was, in Harry's opinion, the single most beautiful sight in the world, in particular when it was his own child.
As he sat down, he thought back to that turbulent sixth year that had marked the start of his new life, and what was surprisingly a relatively bloodless end to the war.
And all was well.
Next entry: fem!Harry/fem!Draco
AN: Check out my Twitter (handle: Leyrann) or Discord (/WzYpyPT) for the latest updates on my writing. Also check out the site-that-shall-not-be-named (creator: Leyrann) if you wish to support me. Benefits include teasers of future chapters, sneak peeks into my outlining and more. Also, the teasers will be made publicly available on Discord two days before a new chapter is posted.
