On the first day of the new year, a group of very tired first years was waiting for Hermione, Su, Tracy, Lilith, and their newest member Padma. A few asked Harry and Susan about their new rings. Harry had finally got his Potter heir ring which was enchanted to give him a jolt if it detected potions near it. Potions give off a magical signature due to the ingredients. Rings weren't big enough to enchant to be able to tell what type of potion it was, try to put that much power through it would melt the ring. The other ring was their betrothal rings. The rings had the banner of each other's houses on them and were linked by a spell so that if one of them felt distressed the other's ring would glow. The heir ring was gold plated while the betrothal ring was platinum plated.

The group had all stayed at Bones Manor for the night including their guardians and Astoria. The next to arrive were Lilith, Tracy, and others from the Moon Orphanage. Harry guessed there were over 30 of them spread out through the years, with the majority being upper years. Lilith also introduced the to her older brother who was a 7th year Ravenclaw prefect named Alias.

Su arrived while the introductions were being made and joined in.

Padma arrived soon after and stunned her twin sister when she approached one of the most famous groups at Hogwarts. Padma was shy at first but Susan and Hannah quickly began to help her come out of her shell.

Once they saw Hermione coming over with a thunderous expression and clutching a newspaper. She looked at Harry with a venomous expression. Harry was very confused. She stormed right up to him and slammed the newspaper into his chest which Harry caught. "Explain! Now!" She growled at him.

Harry unfolded the paper and was greeted by the bold title "Harry Potter's Harem?" Harry rolled his eyes and refolded the paper. "Looks like I've got my first Skeeter article." With an annoyed expression.

"You might as well read it, Harry. It's better to know what people are saying about you than not. And if you're lucky she'll have made a mistake." Amelia advised.

Harry nodded before he looked at Hermione. "Let me read what I'm being accused of."

Hermione reluctantly nodded and Su spoke up. "Let find a compartment already!" Su wasn't one for patients.

Once they had found a compartment and Harry had expanded it, they all sat down and Harry began to read the article. Under the title was a collage of photos of the various girls Harry had danced with last night.

Last night at the annual ministry new years ball we got our first glimpse Harry Potter, also known as The-Boy-Who-Lived, with his betrothed Susan Bones, after the contract was handed in earlier that day by Amelia Bones. The newly engaged couple looked perfect for their future roles as Lord and Lady Potter-Bones.

But what did come as a surprise was when after dancing with his bride to be, he immediately moved to dance with Heiress Daphne Greengrass! Followed by Hannah Abbott, Astoria Greengrass, Heiress Pansy Parkinson, and Padma Patil.

Why would he be dancing with these witches if he is already Betrothed? Is he looking to revive the houses that merged with his line? A future Lady Black? Perhaps a consort or two? Maybe even some concubines?

As the one who defeated You-Know-Who, any children sired by The-Boy-Who-Lived are bound to be extremely powerful. There is no doubt plenty of families would happily join their daughters to him.

Only time will tell how many witches Harry Potter will take to bed.

*For more information on Harry Potter turn to page 2.*

*For more information on House Bones turn to page 4.*

*For more information on House Greengrass turn to page 6.*

*For more information on House Abbott turn to page 8.*

*For more information on House Parkinson turn to page 10.*

*For more information on House Patil turn to page 12.*

*For more information on Betrothal contracts turn to page 13.*

"Well that was something," Harry commented. He noticed Susan reading over his shoulder and handed her the paper. He looked up to be faced with Hermione's expecting look. "Okay, yes me and Susan are betrothed. But we're not planning on going through with it at the moment. The contract has a clause that will allow us to break it off when we both become of age. The whole point of the insurance contract is to gain guardianship over the other member of the contract if they aren't being looked after properly."

"Couldn't someone use that against you?" Hermione asked.

Susan shook her head as she passed the article to Hannah. "They would have to know about the contract first and be able to get ahold of it second. My entire family knew of it and the contract was kept in our family vault." She answered.

"My parents ordered one of our house elves to hide the contract and only retrieve it for some he trusted," Harry mentioned.

"House-elves?" Hermione repeated.

"Read up on them." Su cut in, wanting to talk about something else. "Why did you dance with Parkinson?"

"Oh, that was just to annoy Malfoy. He brought her along as his date but never actually asked her to dance as he kept trying to go for Daphne and her little sister Astoria. So I thought it would be funny to see the look on his face. Then I noticed Padma dancing with Nott, who I've seen glancing at her and I wanted to talk to Padma so we swapped." Harry answered.

Su nodded before she looked to Padma. "It's nice to not be the only raven she." Mentioned.

"I thought there'd be more boys in the group," Padma commented.

"Well, every other boy in mine and Neville's houses are twats. So are Justin, Ernie, and Zacharias. Wayne, Terry, and Anthony afraid of me. Michael's alright from what I can tell, but we don't really hangout." Harry answered.

"So why was I allowed to join you?" Padma questioned.

"You asked and Su likes you." Harry shrugged.

With that the talking seemed to stop. The train was on its way to Hogwarts as Hermione's copy of The Daily Prophet was passed around.

Harry pulled a notebook out of his pocket ad enlarged to its full size. It was a photo album of his parents and some baby photos of him were in there as well. Sirius had given it to him as a Christmas present after getting ahold of the contents of the house in Godric's Hollow.

Hannah, Susan, Neville, Daphne, Tracy, and Lillian started talking to one another. Hermione, Padma, and Su started reading. The compartment became relaxed as some passes by would wonder how they had expanded it so much, but didn't bother them.

But Malfoy did. "Potter!" Draco roared. as he slammed the door open.

"Yeah?" Harry responded, only looking at the Malfoy Heir out of the corner of his eye.

"You embarrassed me at the ball last night! I demand an apology!" Draco was fuming as he stormed into the compartment. Harry was sat next to the window at the opposite side of the compartment so Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle marched over to him.

Harry closed the album and looked at Draco. "It's not my fault I paid more attention to your date that you did. Maybe you should apologize, Miss Parkinson, instead of demanding one of me."

Draco drew his wand on Harry and with a flick of his wrist Harry was holding his. Harry was now stood facing Draco and noticed that his bodyguards were also armed. "I'm warning you, Potter." He growled.

Harry raised his brow in response. "You're warning me?" He questioned. "Look around you Malfoy, you're outnumbered and outmatched by me alone." Malfoy sneered at the unpleasant memory of how Harry had used him as a shield. But looking around, Draco was forced to admit the odds were not in his favor. "Take your boyfriends and go. Before I get spell happy." Harry growled.

No one said a word. Hermione and Hannah were pale. Padma's hand was shaking. The trio of intruders were cracking worse. Daphne was wearing her 'Ice Queen' mask. Harry, Su, and Sussan wanted a fight.

"Let's go," Draco muttered. Wands were lowered, but not put away.

Once Su slammed the door closed behind the three, causing the trio to jump. "Does anyone know any locking spells?" She asked.

"I've read up on one, but I've not really practiced it and it's not very strong," Padma admitted with a shy demeanor.

"Anything would be appreciated," Daphne responded, with the others nodding their agreement.

Padma cast the charm and they spent the rest of the ride undisturbed.

Later.

The group arrived at the great hall and began to find a place to sit for the feast. Harry walked over to Fred and George and offered them each an envelope. On the front stood a werewolf followed by a stag and then a dog, they were all stood and what looked like a flat patch of grass. "From Padfoot and Moony," Harry told them.

The twin looked to each other in awe before tearing open the letters like it was the second coming of Christmas. Harry knew that they were a business proposition to the twins. While the Marauders were masters at enchanting, their potions grades were sub-par, while the twins were quite the opposite, so Sirius decided to ask them to join the fold.

"Pass me your replies tomorrow and I'll send them," Harry instructed. They nodded back enthusiastically, causing a few nearby Griffs to chuckle.

Ron called out to him as he walked towards the Slytherin table. "What did you give my brothers?"

"Nunya." Harry calmly responded

"Huh?"

"None ya facking business!" Harry answered with a grin. Students nearby laughed and jeered and Ron flushed with embarrassment.

Harry took his seat with a smile on his face.

"What was that about?" Tracey asked.

Harry grinned. "Wait for it." He answered.

"What was that about Potter?" Malfoy called.

Harry couldn't keep the grin off of his face as he responded. "Nunya."

Later that night in the Slytherin common room.

Harry waited outside the entrance to the girls' dormitory while wearing his invisibility cloak over his light blue and white striped pajamas. Dumbledore had 'anonymously' gave the cloak to him for Christmas. "He's got a weird sense of humor." Sirius had commented, before telling Harry that it had once belonged to James and that he had let Dumbledore borrow it without ever finding out why he needed it. That's not suspicious at all. Neither were the tracking charm and listening charm found on the cloak.

Harry saw Daphne approach in a dressing gown covering her nightdress. During the feast, she had asked him to sneak her to the restricted section of the library. Harry pulled the hood down, revealing his head. Harry smiled at Daphne and she smiled back. Harry opened up the cloak enough for Daphne to slip inside and they left the common room.

"Never knew you liked pink so much Daphne." Harry teased.

"Shut up," Daphne answered coldly.

Harry grinned as they quietly slip past professors and prefects alike as they carve their way through the shadows to the library.

Once they arrived at the entrance to the restricted section. Daphne took out her wand of her dressing gowns pocket and cast a spell that caused a silver sparkling mist to emit from the tip of her wand. The mist seemed to hit an invisible barrier. The barrier began to glow orange. Harry squinted and saw that it was made of ever-changing numbers with a few symbols also appearing.

"What is that?" Harry whispered to his companion.

"A ward. A detection ward I think." Daphne answered. "It'll probably go off once we walk through but hopefully the cloak will trick them," Daphne mentioned as she put her wand away.

"Okay. I'm ready when you are." Harry announced.

"Let's go."

The pair walked through the ward and Harry looked back at it so see nothing has changed. "Was it supposed to stay the same?" He asked.

Daphne, who had to stop with him, also turned around in surprise. "No. from little I know, a ward turns red when activated."

"How do you know all this stuff anyway?" Harry questioned as he looked to the Slytherin witch.

"I found the spell in a book about detecting magic. There was a bit of information on the spell in the book. I'm hoping to find one that might help me with Astoria's blood curse." Daphne answers her tone grew more and more somber as she answered.

Harry noticed that Daphne was now looking at the ground. He shifted his arm so it was wrapped around her shoulders and gently pulled her to him. As Daphne leaned into his shoulder, she looked to him. She saw he was giving her a gentle smile while rubbing her shoulder. Daphne slowly began to smile back at him. "Thank you, Harry."

"Anytime. So what books are you looking for?" Harry questioned as he took the cloak off both of them.

"Oh, rituals," Daphne answered.

"Aren't a lot of rituals dangerous?" Harry questioned.

"Rituals are basically the transference of a certain power to a certain thing. Getting the balance wrong is very dangerous and fresh sacrifice is common in a lot of dark rituals. But if you don't have time to brew a potion, you can use a ritual to properties of you know what you are doing. And allows for the use of substances that don't traditionally react well together." Daphne answered as she began to browse the shelves for a book on creating a ritual.

Harry began searching the shelves for something to read when he came across a book called "The power of the soul" He picked the book from the shelf and began to read.

The book was mostly theory but had some good evidence that it wasn't just the useless babbling. It explained that certain spells were classified as soul spells, due to it being said that your very soul has to be in it to cast the spells correctly and went into detail about each of them. This included; the unforgivables, Fiendfyre, the Patronus charm, and the Fidelis charm. There was more to read, including apart on Animagi, but Harry felt himself grow weary as it became more of a battle to keep his eyes open. He placed the book back on the shelf and went to find Daphne.

Harry found her sat with her legs crossed and reading a large tome resting on top of them. "Daphne." He called. "We need to get going."

"Why?" Daphne asked without looking up.

"Because It's really late and I'm really tired," Harry answered. To prove his point he yawned and ran his left eye under his glasses.

"You go ahead. I want to finish this chapter." Daphne responded as she turned the page.

"Daphne, If I go I'm taking the cloak with me and if I leave you here, you're probably going to end up spending the night here," Harry argued. "There's no way you'll get out of it."

Daphne let out a reluctant sigh. "Fine." Came her cold reply. She walked up to Harry wearing her "Ice Queen" mask.

Once Harry wrapped the invisibility cloak around them, he spoke up. "I know you want to cure Astoria, but you need to take care of yourself as well," Harry mentioned calmly.

Daphne sighed, letting her mask drop. "I need to save her Harry. No matter what." Daphne's tone was a mixture of sorrow and conviction. It was perfectly clear to him why she was in Slytherin.

"You can't expect yourself to come up with a cure overnight. And for what it's worth, I'll do what I can to help you." Harry responded.

Daphne caused the pair to stop as she gave Harry a hug. "Thank you, Harry. It means a lot to me." She murmured into his ear.

"Anytime Daphne. Anytime."

Later that day.

The group was in the great hall for breakfast, with Daphne and Harry unsurprisingly been the last to arrive.

"So which broom closet did you two sneak off to last night?" Tracy teased them with a grin.

Both of them blushed at the suggestion. "We didn't go into a broom closet," Harry answered.

"Oh? Then where did you go to snog?" Tracy was still grinning.

"We didn't snog anywhere," Daphne responded through her clenched teeth.

"Then where did you go?" Asked Lilith as she looked up from her breakfast.

"The restricted section of the library," Harry answered quietly.

"What were you doing there?" Tracy questioned.

"Looking for Dumbledore's Chocolate Frog Card Collection." Daphne deadpanned. "What do you think we were doing?"

A few days later.

The group was outside in a snowball fight that was an absolute free-for-all. Some would team up, but moe would gather to fight against them. Even Flitwick and Hagrid were involved. Then some of them drew their wand so manipulate the snow and the real fun began.

All ten members were huddled behind a snow-wall that Harry was maintaining using the levitation charm.

"Excellent work Mr. Potter, but this might make things easier," Flitwick spoke from behind them before placing runes into the wall to help it hold on its own.

"Isn't that cheating Professor?" Hermione questioned.

"I saw no rules, Miss Granger. As long as no one gets hurt, anything goes." Flitwick answered. Flitwick saw a barrage of snowballs coming over the wand and turn them into hummingbirds made of snow. The flew around frantically, before hitting a random student. Well, it wasn't that random. Each one hit someone he didn't like teaching.

Qurillie watched on from the entrance. Harry and Su were trying to hit incoming snowballs with banishing charms while the rest returned fire. Voldemort as pleased with the potential for his army once he returned. Soon. Soon it will all be his. He chuckled when a bludgeoning hex punched through the wall and sent Harry sliding across the frozen ground. But the boy quickly got back up and his group returned fire harshly with some other clusters joining in on the retribution.

I ran this chapter through Grammarly, so it shouldn't be as bad as the others.