I do not own Harry Potter or gain anything from writing this other than the opportunity of expanding on an already brilliant universe for my own entertainment, and hopefully yours.

CHAPTER 6 - BURNING SAVIOUR

Harry met with Tracey two more times that week. Every time he arrived at the Room of Requirement after his classes she would already be there with Daphne, working on some homework or other. Harry would join the two with his own work for a while until Daphne graciously left, usually red faced from a comment from one of the other two. They repeated what they'd done the first night for the most part though the amount of clothing reduced slightly with each night.

It was the second night where Tracey let his hand slip under her panties and bring her to her first orgasm from a boy.

'Soon, I think,' Tracey moaned out when she had finished. She glanced down at the bulge in Harry's pants and let out a low groan. 'Definitely soon.'

Harry was content to let her take all the time she needed. He would have even if he hadn't also been enjoying the company of a certain dirty blonde fifth year at least once a week. If there was one thing Harry had learned about Luna after they began their sexual adventures is that she was very curious about the unknown. She was often interested in experimenting in the bedroom. This varied from different positions, to using toys, to making each other climax in new and creative ways.

Two things became clear fairly quickly, Luna enjoyed anal play very much, and Harry did not. At least not when it involved his arse.

Regardless, the added bonus of her curiosity was that Harry got experience in a wide variety of different sexual methods. Experience that he was able to apply to others, like Tracey and Katie.

Katie and he in the change rooms after Quidditch practice became a bit of a tradition between them. The adrenaline from flying high and working hard after practice always translated perfectly into sexual energy. Whether it happened in the showers or on the benches in the girl's locker room or the one time in Harry's dorm, they hadn't missed a post-practice shag yet.

'I feel like we should do something special after we wipe the floor with Slytherin,' Harry commented after one particularly steamy session in the shower.

They were spending a moment together cuddling on the benches before getting on with their day.

'I do like your confidence, Harry,' Katie said in a kittenish voice. 'Have something in mind?'

'Maybe,' Harry said, a grin blooming on his face, 'I'll just have to sweep you off your feet properly, won't I?'

Katie groaned and punched him rather hard in the shoulder, Harry still cackling at his own terrible joke.

'You enjoyed that far too much,' Katie said, rolling her eyes. 'Speaking of enjoying things too much, did you catch who was watching us?'

'What?' Harry asked, immediately concerned. 'When?'

'From some point until just after my third orgasm,' she said, smirking. 'Didn't see who, but I caught them running off.'

'Demelza or Ginny, you suppose?' Harry mused, brow furrowed.

'Probably,' she said thoughtfully. 'Could be one of the boys too though. Unless someone broke into the Gryffindor change room.'

'Well if they're spying,' Harry said, wrapping his arms around her protectively, 'maybe we can catch them in the act next time. I know a few silent alarm charms that would do nicely.'

Katie just nodded in agreement, content to snuggle back into him.

Unfortunately, Katie Bell would not be able to attend the next practice. The following day was the first Hogsmeade weekend and disaster struck. Katie had been Imperiused by someone in the Three Broomsticks and was forced to deliver a cursed necklace to someone in the school. Worse luck still, Katie had touched a piece of the necklace in the process and had been cursed. Harry could only vaguely remember Hagrid taking the unconscious girl out of his arms before sprinting her up to the castle to be healed. Harry bolted after them but couldn't manage to keep up with Hagrid's long gait.

He wasn't allowed to visit her when he got back because of her condition, then she was quickly transferred to St Mungos to get the care she needed. Harry was convinced of the person who was responsible for the series of events. The person in the school who had seen that same necklace at Borgin and Burkes and was now a Death Eater, Draco Malfoy.

In another shitty turn of events, when Harry raised his concerns to the Headmaster during their next meeting he was thoroughly dismissed. No promise of action or investigation into Harry's theory, just pure dismissal. It was all Harry could manage to resist repeating his actions of smashing the Headmaster's possessions as he did at the end of last term. He only resisted because of the knowledge that it would come to nothing but a waste of time. He did let the Headmaster know what he thought of the blatant dismissal of the safety of one of his closest friends however.

To further raise Harry's ire, Ron and Hermione were so tired of Harry's "Malfoy is a Death Eater" theory that they dismissed this thought as quickly as Dumbledore. It was getting rather frustrating that no one was willing to put in any effort to find out why a student's life was nearly ended.

Harry redoubled his efforts to keep an eye on Malfoy but all he learned was that he was spending a lot of time in the Room of Requirement with a disguised Crabe and Goyle standing guard outside. He tried getting into the room while Malfoy was in there but he could not, obviously the Slytherin knew how the Room worked well enough to prevent anyone entering.

Harry made sure to write to Katie as often as he could and eventually got a return letter that she was recovering, albeit slowly. She'd also asked that he keeps writing as it was the favourite part of her day. Suffice to say, Hedwig became rather busy after that.

On a positive note, the ritual front was going well. Things were getting progressively more heated between him and Tracey and even Daphne was opening up a bit more with him, the latter starting to respond a bit more positively to Harry's flirting and apparently genuinely entertaining the idea of accepting Tracey's invitations to join their escapades. The thought of which had the immediate effect of his body sending blood south.

Hermione on the other hand had gone cold. Even though she had all but promised she would be there for him, he'd never been sure if she was just forcing herself. He had continued flirting with her when Ron wasn't around but soon put that to a full stop. Hermione had asked Ron if he wanted to come with her to Slughorn's upcoming Christmas party, which he accepted, albeit awkwardly. Harry had no desire to get in between his two best friends, but he couldn't help the twinge of jealousy at the situation. A twinge he thoroughly stomped down and mentally berated himself for his selfishness.

So instead he decided to shift his Earth focus to Hannah Abbot. This wasn't inconvenient as he'd already been making an effort to become closer to her and Susan. The three would often get together after lunch - when they had a free period - to do homework and just chat about things. The conversations often got pretty deep as they all had something very emotional in common with each other. They'd all lost someone close to them very recently.

He'd told them pretty early on about his godfather, who he was, that he was innocent, that Harry had seen him die at the hands of Bellatrix Lestrange last May.

Susan lost her aunt to Voldemort in July; Amelia Bones was her primary caregiver as her parents were killed in the last war.

Hannah had lost her mother to the Death Eaters in September, and the loss was wearing on her severely.

'It's weird,' Hannah said sadly. 'I went to her funeral. I know she's gone, but I keep getting these thoughts that I'll go home for Christmas or at the end of the year and she'll be there waiting for me at platform nine and three-quarters. I just feel so separated from it here.'

The three of them were sitting in an abandoned classroom on the third floor. They had a three hour break before they all had to make their way to Herbology afterward, so they were content to spend the remainder of their free time together.

'I know what you mean,' Harry sighed. 'I found this enchanted mirror after he died, Sirius had given it to me to talk to him. For one mad moment I thought he would answer. Then I thought he'd come back as a ghost for some reason. I was in such a funk after that.'

'How'd you get out of it?' Susan asked him quietly.

'Honestly?' Harry said, smiling at the memory. 'Luna helped me.'

'Lovegood?' Hannah questioned curiously.

'Yeah,' Harry said, smiling fondly. 'She's honestly one of the most brilliant people I know. I didn't want to be around anyone, didn't want to talk about what happened. I was mean to her, wanted her to go away, but she just ignored me and talked to me anyway.

'She told me about her mum - she died when Luna was nine - about how she knew she'd see her again someday … It was comforting,' he shrugged. 'Made me believe in her a little more, you know?'

Both girls nodded, giving Harry identical smiles.

'It's how I feel when I talk to you about this stuff,' Hannah said honestly. 'I didn't want to talk to anyone, not even Susan, but talking to you about it has made things easier.'

'Even if you're just trying to shag us,' Susan joked, causing her friend to laugh.

'Has my reputation become so piss poor,' Harry groaned, rubbing a hand over his face.

'Quite the opposite, I think,' Susan pointed out. 'We assumed that's what you were after when you started talking to us more, but we didn't exactly brush you off, did we?'

'And you have become a terrible flirt these days,' Hannah pointed out, smiling.

'Life's too short not to notice pretty girls,' he said, smirking.

Susan stood up suddenly and removed her robes. She stood in front of him with her hands grasped behind her back and pushing her ample chest out toward him.

'You think we're pretty?' Susan asked innocently.

With a great amount of effort and an ironclad will, Harry pulled his eyes off of Susan's chest and looked at her mischievous eyes. It only took a few seconds … or thirty.

'Oh yes, Susan,' he spoke in a fake, deep voice, 'I certainly do.'

Both girls burst out laughing, Harry joining in moments later.

'Maybe you're right, Harry,' Susan chuckled while whipping a tear from her eye. 'Maybe life is too short not to flirt with cute guys.'

Harry grasped his heart in dramatic surprise. 'Susan Bones just called me cute,' he intoned, and fell back onto the bench he was sitting with an exaggerated swoon. 'I can die happy now.'

'Oh there'll be no dying for you,' Hannah chided. 'Not sure I could handle that to be honest.'

Harry sat up with a suddenly serious and sad expression. Staring at his hands and shaking his head slowly.

'Don't see how I'm getting through this alive,' he said, his voice a little shaky. 'Too many powerful people want me dead.'

'And none have succeeded,' Hannah said, suddenly angry, 'and none will succeed. Right?'

Harry sighed and looked up into Hannah's eyes with even greater effort than it took to look at Susan's.

'I hope so, Hannah,' he said quietly. 'I don't want to die. I want to live and grow up and … fall in love. I want to live when I don't have to watch my back all the time. Where people I care about aren't dying constantly or else losing people they care about,' his voice turned fierce then, slamming a fist down on the desk in front of him. 'But that's exactly why I'll fight him. Prophecy be damned, I would fight him anyway. And I will kill him, even if I die in the process I will end him!'

He fell back on the bench in frustration, taking a moment to look at his throbbing hand. It was good to let go of his anger every once in a while, better still to have good friends who wouldn't judge him for it. He was happier than he let on that he found the two Hufflepuff girls to be such good friends.

They were right, of course, he thought bitterly. I did start talking to them more because I wanted to shag them.

He hated how shallow and selfish that sounded. It was what he had to do though, to end things, for them and for everyone.

'Prophecy?' Susan asked in a scared voice.

Harry sat up quickly and looked at the girl in horror.

'Shite,' he whispered. 'I - I didn't mean -'

'Yes you did,' Hannah cut him off. 'There really is a prophecy? You really are the - the Chosen One?'

Harry winced and looked away from the girls. A long silence stretched out but he knew they wouldn't let it go without an answer.

'Maybe,' he finally mumbled.

That the silence persisted gave Harry enough pause to look back at the two girls. They were both staring at him wide eyed, Susan's hands over her mouth and tears leaking from her eyes.

'It's supposed to be a secret though,' Harry said quickly. 'You can't tell anyone. Voldemort knows it exists but he doesn't know the full thing. That's why he killed my parents and tried to kill me when I was a kid. If he knew I could kill him somehow he would put everything he had into stopping me before I got the chance.'

As their silence persisted Harry stood up and looked at them both. He had a feeling he knew what was about to happen, they would run away from him. Afraid of being connected to someone so dangerous.

Harry's mind was whirling with what he should do. Should he stun them? Tell Dumbledore how he had slipped so he could wipe it from their memories?

No, he thought. I can trust them to keep it a secret at least.

As Harry opened his mouth to tell them he'd leave them alone from now on, Susan spoke up.

'Is there anything we can do to help?' she asked in a shaky voice.

Harry blinked at her stupidly.

'What?' he asked, surprised.

'It sounds like you already have a plan,' Susan explained. 'We want to help you anyway we can. Right, Hannah?'

'Definitely,' Hannah said fiercely.

Harry just stared at them for a moment in slight disbelief before he shook himself. These were two individuals who had lost people they care about to this war, lost people to him. Why should he be surprised that they wanted to help? Why had he hesitated to trust them? They were his allies already, and they could become even greater allies still.

'You're sure you want to know?' Harry asked eventually, gaging both their reactions.

Their resolute nods and intense looks were enough to make him give in. He let out a sigh and hoped he wasn't making a big mistake.

'To help me I need something from both of you,' Harry said seriously, they hung on his every word. 'I need to shag you.'

Their expressions immediately turned to disgust and disbelief.

'OK … wait, that was a terrible way to start,' Harry said, back peddling and pulling out his wand. 'Let me start at the beginning.' He cast the soul seeing spell on both of their eyes. 'Tell me, what do you know about souls?'

'I can't believe you were being serious,' Susan said in disbelief, inspecting the names on his naked chest.

Hannah was still on the floor laughing at Harry's expense. Apparently once it became obvious that he meant what he said but just worded it in a very inappropriate way, it was rather hilarious.

Susan looked from Harry, to his scar, to Hannah, to herself.

'So I'm a Fire soul, Hannah's Earth, and you're Light,' she said before turning back to his chest. 'Light, Wind, Nature.' She tapped each tattoo as she listed them. 'You know who your Water and Dark ones will be?'

Harry nodded. 'Water is … well … practically in the bag as it were.' He shrugged at his own cockiness. 'I'm less certain of Dark to be honest, but I'm making headway at least.'

Susan nodded and Hannah finally made it back to her feet, though she was still chuckling weakly.

'So …' Susan said nervously, brushing a strand of Auburn hair with her fingers, 'should we just get to it then?'

At Harry's raised eyebrows Susan blushed fiercely and turned away.

'Well there's no rush,' Harry started. 'I mean … to be completely honest there are plenty of Fire and Earth options. If neither of you want to go through with it I completely understand. I might ask you for some help to find someone else who might be interested though.'

'And if I do want to do it?' Susan asked quietly.

Harry cocked his head sideways and looked Susan over more closely. She was shifting on her feet nervously and on closer inspection she seemed to be rubbing her thighs together. Her hands were twiddling in front of her, her arms having the unintended effect of squeezing her large breasts together. When she glanced nervously his way it was through lidded eyes. The red face and bit lip completed the package nicely.

'Then there's still no rush … but …' Harry stepped forward and wrapped an arm around her waist, pulling her slightly into him. She stopped her swaying instantly and her hands came to rest on his muscular chest almost hesitantly. He leaned in and locked his eyes onto hers. 'When you feel you're ready for it, I'll be sure to make it special.'

Susan nodded quickly and Harry reluctantly moved away from her. He looked over to Hannah, she was watching him with a frown on her face and a furrowed brow.

'I get the impression you're not as interested,' Harry said with an understanding smile.

'It's not that I'm not,' she said thoughtfully, 'I'm just not sure I could handle it.'

'The sex, you mean?' Harry tried.

'No not that,' Hannah said, waving the thought away, 'fairly sure I'd enjoy that. I just feel like I'd be too jealous to share you with other girls.'

Harry nodded in understanding.

'Well of course I get that,' he said, running a hand through his hair. 'To be honest I'm surprised no one's had any complaints on that front so far. I suppose it's helped being upfront and honest and all that but still.'

'I have one question about that actually,' Susan piped up, still a little flustered. 'Will it be a one-time thing or can we keep doing it?'

Harry smirked at her which made her go as red as her hair, but she didn't turn away.

'For the ritual only once is necessary,' Harry shrugged, 'but if you enjoy yourself and are up for it I'd love to do it more.'

Susan nodded curtly, a ghost of a smile flitting across her lips.

'OK, so we could just do it once and I wouldn't have to get emotionally attached,' Hannah exhaled loudly. 'That should be fine.'

'Hannah,' Harry said gently, 'you don't have to do it at all if you think it's going to be too difficult for you or for any reason. There are other people I can go to. The last thing I want is for you to force yourself into this.'

'It's just that,' Hannah bounced on the spot, struggling to find the words, 'I do fancy you already, Harry, but even seeing you so close to Susan bothered me … a lot. If I shag you and, I don't know … fall in love with you, that's going to be really hard, you know? I don't know if I could handle that.'

She squeezed her heart tight and Harry was reminded of the feeling of jealousy he got when Hermione asked Ron to go to Slughorn's party. That tight feeling in your chest that was almost unbearable and completely overwhelming. He could only imagine how much stronger that feeling already was for Hannah.

'It's alright, Hannah, we'll find another Earth soul.'

Hannah nodded gratefully.

'If we can't find anyone else, I'll do it, OK?' Hannah said resolutely.

'OK,' Harry smiled. 'There is one other person who I know would do it if she had to though.'

'Who's that?' Susan asked curiously.

'Hermione Granger,' Harry explained, the other two looked more curious at that.

'I figured she would have been one of the names you already have,' queried Susan.

'No,' Harry said, 'she said she'd do it, and I know she would, but I wasn't sure if she was forcing herself. Since then, she and Ron are starting a relationship, I think. I don't want to get between them.'

'Right,' Hannah said slowly with a befuddled expression on her face. 'Do you know any other Earth souls that might work?'

'Not specifically,' Harry said, pulling a piece of parchment out of his robes that were hanging off a chair, 'but the thing with soul types is they correspond with the houses somewhat. Gryffindor has mostly Fire, Ravenclaw a lot of Wind, Slytherin mostly Dark and a few Light and Hufflepuff is full of Earth souls.'

'So you want us to do some scouting for you?' Susan asked hopefully.

'Definitely,' Harry agreed. 'Wouldn't hurt if you could do some probing of who might be interested in … well … in me.'

'Don't think that'll be too hard,' Hannah said dryly.

Harry shrugged awkwardly and Susan laughed out loud.

'Where ever are we going to find a Puff who fancies Harry Potter?' Susan giggled.

'Indeed,' he drawled, 'I'll teach you the spell then,' then he suddenly perked up before grimacing. 'Also … er, there's another spell I should teach you.'

At their questioning looks, Harry elaborated.

'It's also important that the witch involved be a … virgin. This spell will let you see who is.'

The two girls went wide eyed, looking at each other, their cheeks a deep crimson.

Harry just grimaced again and hoped they wouldn't be too angry at the invasion of privacy.