FFOmega

Part I: Bitter-Sweet Dreams

Chapter 5

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The man in the gray duster stood at a crossroads. His hands held handguns, and on his back, there was a white and black sawed-off shotgun. His hair blew in the wind, flapping around his ears in all its pale brown and gray glory. It was not gray from age, but from some unknown reasons altogether. Down one road was a bright path, with figures down the way seeming to float in the very air. And down the other path there was darkness. And red silhouetted figures seemed to labor to stand, as if the very world was trying to crush them.

And cocking each guns, he fired a single shot down each path. And each shot struck a figure in the distance. And like a stampede, they all charged down the paths toward him, the red figures that seemed to be being dragged down, and the floating figures that seemed yanked toward the skies, both fighting to stay simply standing on the ground.

And with a sick grin and a shimmering of the pale sunglasses he wore, He leapt into the air. And the very time around him seemed to slow, as he fired gunshots down each path, hitting the charging enemies. Then, with a twirl of his body and a flutter of the duster, he landed facing away from the charging paths. With a backwards somersault, arms still out, he fired some more, taking out the legs of some of the charging enemies. And righting himself in one fluid motion from the roll, he did a side flip in the air and landed directly in front of the bright path, and fired with both guns down the path, the cruel grin still on his face as blood and body parts and white and gray feathers fluttered through the air, stained crimson.

As the bright path was finally cut down, the darker path's creatures had near reached the crossroads, and the fastest of them had made it around the bend toward him. Leaping in the air, he spun around and laid a bone-shattering back spin kick to the first dark creature. Its jaw shattered, and continuing the momentum, the gray figure spun and leg-swept the dark figure. However, before the figure could fall, he was met with an uppercut to where his jaw was. Being that it was shattered, the full hit was met to its upper jaw area, and the resulting impact crushed his brain.

Turning and leveling the guns, his gray duster fluttering in the seemingly non-existent wind, rounds were fired faster and faster into the faces of the coming figures. The guns seemed incapable of running out of ammunition, and they fired on and on, removing body parts and exposing innards to air relentlessly. And as it seemed like they were all finally gone, a large lumbering form came down the dark path, its body giving off a deep silver glow instead of the normal red one. Firing still, the bullets seemed to do little to deter the creature, even when horns and digits, even the left arm was removed, it still moved forward. And as it made it to the splattering of light, and it's deformed, bullet-ridden face came into view, orange eyes with putrid, puke green irises and shining silver pupils, and rows upon rows of jagged, rotten teeth, some green in color, it huffed a puff of steam in anger and seemed to find the strength the charge forward now that it could see its assailant.

Slipping the handguns into the holsters wordlessly, he flipped the sawed-off from over his shoulder and leveled it. The entire handle area was pure golden, while one barrel was pure white, while the other was pure, deep black. The sawed off seemed to warp the world before the barrels for a moment, before a white orb fired from the black barrel and a black orb from the white one.

They twisted in the air as they fired, tearing up the earth beneath them as they flew through the air, leaving a helix-like shape on the earth before they seemed to fly way out and then come straight together, hitting at the same time as they hit the target. And with a bending of the very world around the creature, the world warping and then a solid rip in the fabric of time, light sucking in and blowing out from the rip, the creature seemed to twist and bend until it simply "popped" and seemed to explode only to implode moments later, and then the contents were sucked into the tear.

And then there was nothing.

And reaching into the duster, and pulling out two bulbous cylinders that looks almost like cloves of garlic, he yanked out the pins sticking from the top and launched them down the paths before turning and walked away, his duster blowing in the wind it seemed only he was affected by, and his hair brushing around him as he slid the sawed-off back into its back holster and then jamming his hands into his pockets.

Seconds later, two simultaneous explosions rocked the separate paths, causing the earth to tumble around and the broken and shattered body parts from the gunshots as well as the iron and golden gates of the two different paths the collapse in on themselves.

And walked away from the scene, gray duster blowing behind him, the figure narrowed his lips and began whistling, "Oh What a Beautiful Morning." As he walked away, blood and gore still raining down on the battle scene many minutes and even hours later.

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Elsewhere, a certain white haired man was wandering down the street, humming to himself while he kicked a can down the road. Suddenly, as he kicked the can a bit harder to clear the steep curb before him, the can caught air and nailed a man in the face. The man turns angrily, the red mark on his forehead still glowing in the fading daylight. He is surrounded by a group of men dressed as bikers and punks, with chains and spiked gloves amongst them. A normal person would have avoided them at all costs, but Kyoto just kept walking, retrieving his can and walking right through the group, oblivious, still humming and kicking.

"Hey, buddy. What the fuck is your problem?" The man who was hit with the can, obviously the leader by his dress, shouted.

Kyoto stopped humming. And that would spell a very bad sign for all in the general vicinity of the city street he had been walking down. Turning, his white hair fluttering around his shoulders and back like a cape of some sort, he looked at them from behind his dark sunglasses. "Uh…what?"

"I said," and the man walked forward, flanked by his group like a bunch of dogs following the alpha male blindly. Blindly to their deaths. The lead man pushed Kyoto, surprised that the man didn't even move as the push came, just stood like a strong tree in the breeze. Unnerved but not done, he continued talking, "I said, what. The. Hell. Is. Your. Problem?" He punctuated each of these words by a push to the chest. Kyoto continues standing and unmoving, not even seeming to pay attention to the people around him.

"Well…until just a bit ago, my problem was, I had to pee. So I was looking for a bathroom. Then, I lost my place in my song because you all talked to me. Now, however, my biggest problem…" And withdrawing his hands from his pockets and cracking his knuckles, he finished, "Is you."

"Look punk," he pushed Kyoto again. However, his tirade was cut off by Kyoto's cold as steel voice, which had, moments before, been jolly and light-hearted.

"Touch me again."

The man looked taken aback by the athletic albeit fairly thin man's barely veiled threat. There were easily 20 men in his crew, each capable of holding his own against one or sometimes 3 men on his own, and this thin, tall man with the long, stark white hair and the black sunglasses on was threatening him.

"What. You. Gonna. Do. About. It." He punctuated each of these with a push of his finger to the center of Kyoto's chest. After stepping back to watch the man, the leader of the group smirked as the figure did nothing.

Reaching up calmly, almost agonizingly slowly, Kyoto pulled off his sunglasses, his eyes closed serenely. He raised his head to face the group before him, before, dramatically, he opened his eyes.

"Shit, Harv, look at his eyes!" a man in the back shouted to the leader in reference to the pit-like black holes of light that were the man before them's eyes.

"Just contacts, the freak is just wearing contacts." Harv said, even as he tried to reassure himself of this fact. He didn't know any contacts that did that. That could suck in light. and make his very soul feel cold.

"Hey, I warned you. And like a dumbass, you didn't listen. So, enjoy the view, guys, because I guarantee, these are the last eyes any of you will ever see." And then bending slightly at the knees, he leapt high into the air, disappearing from all of their lines of vision.

Looking up into the street lamp that was directly above them, Harv watched as the white haired figure grasped the pole of the street lamp and twirled around it before coming down legs-first. Fast. Too fast. Too fast to move. And he landed right on the head of the man next to Harv. And shattered every bone in the man's body.

Beneath the steel-toed boots, the man he had landed on, Lenny, was reduced to a bloody mush on the ground. Turning and kicking out, another man felt his breastbone collapse with the one kick, and cave into his lungs. He sank to the floor before Kyoto leapt again, disappearing from sight once more. Again with the street lamp, only this time he landed in a low crouch on top of the light. And then kicking the glowing bulb, the light died. And in the waning light, their eyes seemed to try and adjust, but couldn't.

Not as well as his could.

It wasn't human. It couldn't' have been, Harv reasoned as the figure did a gainer, a forward moving back flip, off of the street lamp to land as if he had leapt only a few inches from the ground, before kicking out to the face of one man, then hooking his foot behind the man's neck and swinging his leg, propelling the man's body through the group like a bullet, effectively head-butting several of his other comrades into unconsciousness as his neck cracked under the pressure and his collarbone turned to dust.

Doing a back flip, using the shoulders of another man behind him as a springboard, he did a drop-kick while still holding the man's shoulders and back straight, cracking his vertebrate in half. Then, rolling with the kick, he threw the man over his shoulder and then jumping off of him like a trampoline to leap and catch himself sitting on one man's shoulders. Pulling back and slamming his fists into the man's head repeatedly, he then flexed his fingers, revealing shining black claw-like fingernails, and then slammed his hand into the man's head, puncturing 5 holes into the man's brain.

"Hey, I bet I know what you're thinking!" he said as he pulled a piece of the man's brain out from his head. He then tossed it to another man before rolling off the dead man's shoulders and then side-kicking the man he had thrown the gore at, sending him into the glass window behind him, and furthermore, through it. And thus was a display that would damn them all.

It was a baseball display in a sports supply window. And with a dark smile, he jumped in the display. The baseballs on the display spilled on the floor, and with some footwork, he flipped one into the air to spin and kicked it at the men, speeds of well over 90p MPHs heading for them with wicked intent. And when he ran out of baseballs, thus came the big finish. His clawed hand wrapped around the handle of a smooth, cold aluminum baseball bat. And walking out of the display to the men, he smiled.

"Batter up?" And he slapped the bat to his feet before getting into batting stance. A man ran up, swinging a chain and shouting in a war cry. However, as he made to attack, expecting a hit from the bat, he didn't expect what he got.

A kick to the balls.

And from there, he fell to his knees just to get a baseball at hit to the side of the head. He flew like a tetherball, head-first, through the crowd and went head first into the steel street lamp post. Slamming the bat down on one man's ankle, shattering the joint on contact, the man fell on contact only to get an axe-like hit to the top of his head. His eardrums blew out and his eyes bugged before filling with blood and turning red as he sank to the floor.

And he went through them like a demon possessed.

One man fell to the crack of a kick to the back of his neck, only to go forehead first into the side of the curb, and then have the back of his neck stomped on again, dislodging his upper head from the line of his vertebrate. Then, with another stomp for good measure, Kyoto leapt from the curb into the air and turned in the air, his heel catching the temples of several standing figures as he spun in a circle before he dropped down to leg sweep as well. However, as he spun and knocked them all over, her put his hands down and started something akin to a break-dance. Soon it dissolved into pure dancing as all enemies were all downed. Somehow turning to spin on his hands and stopping, posing in a one-handed handstand, he looked to the last man standing.

It was Harv.

He had been unable to run, as his reputation was on the line should any of his men stop the man, and him missing. So he stood there until the last man was felled. And he was sure his friend was gone as the thin form contorted in the air and landed, crushing the bones in his thighs before he was grabbed by the back of the shirt and forced to put his weight on his legs, the figure behind him treating him much like a puppet.

And as the man cried out, Kyoto cracked both of his elbows backward and then simply shoved him forward, and as his legs collapsed under him, he fell and crushed his nose on the pavement. His nose bled profusely, and unable to move himself, he drowned in his own blood.

Turning to Harv, Kyoto grinned darkly as he walked toward him. Harv was literally shaking, looking to his fallen comrades, few left alive, and the few left wouldn't be for long. He was scared. And the demon coming at him, cracking his finger joints before cleaning the blood from under his claw-like nails with the other hand's nails, narrowed it black eyes on him.

"De…De…Demon!" Harv shouted, finally locking eyes with the figure.

"Still think they are contacts? I assure you, they are mine. And like I said, these would be the last eyes you will ever see. But, someone needs to learn from this whole debacle. So, it will be you, since all the others seem…incapacitated." Here he looked around the area at all of the blood and the broken bodies.

"So, get used to your last sight." And with that and a narrowing of his empty eyes, Harv looked to the man before him. And then, quick as lightning, the claws launched forward, and the man's eyes were popped out. And with a howling scream he went unconscious from pain, as Kyoto wiped his fingers off on the man's shirt and then replaced his sunglasses before he jammed his hands in his pockets, kicked a man's fallen body up to find the can he had been kicking, and he proceeded kicking it down the road, humming to himself all the while, even as the sirens sounded in the distance, heading toward the scene.

"So, Kyoto, you have just killed 20 men by yourself, and will have the police after you, what are you gonna do?" he intoned to himself in a very reporter-like voice. Then, in a bright, bubbly voice, he replied to his own question, "I'm going to motherfucking Disney Land!"

And he did.

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Harry awoke the next morning still being wrapped in Blaise's body. Both were fully clothed, while the bed and the big fluffy white comforter had since swallowed them both, creating a sort of nest away from the world for them, a little alcove. His arms held her to him as he laid deep in the bed, while she was nestled on top of him. His arms had slipped down to rest on the cleft of her behind, while hers were around his neck, her hair splayed in his line of vision. He opened his eyes to find her deep mahogany eyes staring right back at him. Her freckles were on full display so close, and Harry was tempted to try and count them, but the way she was licking her lips was distracting all coherent thought.

"And what are you awake so early for?"

"I could ask you the same thing…"

"But I asked first, so that means I win, oh Lady, Her Majesty of Snakes."

"Yes, but as is the Gryffindor Courage of My Lord Gryffindor states, he should have the balls to go first." The beginning of the statement was said in the prissy voice Harry had began, but the end just went back to Blaise speaking as usual.

"…Uh…Blaise…babe…what the hell?"

"Get over it. I am awake and have been for the last hour or so for no real reason. I woke up, and I decided to just lay here. Besides, I kind of liked the hand positioning and didn't want to disturb you since you have made it this far."

Harry became self-conscious of his hands on her behind, before thinking that that was what she wanted, and, mustering that Gryffindor courage, he squeezed her behind for a moment before shifting her, pulling her closer to him.

"Oh! My little bird is growing wings." And with that she began kissing him along the neck, and then catching her lips with his, he slipped one hand up her lower back and then around and along her front. His hand slipped just along the outside of her breast and up to cup her jaw ever so softly. And then he stopped. And he tried to push her away.

And smirking, she began to grind her lower body along him, keeping eye contact with him the whole time. "It's perfectly natural for guys in the morning from what I understand. And truth be told, if it hadn't happened soon, I would have been offended. I have been waiting for this since yesterday. Nice to know I have the power." And then she kissed him before moving up so that she was in a more…comfortable position for Harry, and then the continued kissing for a while, before she pushed him back and slid her hand through his hair, starting in the front and ending in the back. And then her eyes locked with him.

"Tell me."

"Tell you what?" He asked, running his hand along her mostly bare thigh.

"Everything. Everything about you, and the truth. Not just the story, the feelings. I want to know."

"What do you want to know?" He asked, his hand slowly falling limp and away from her thigh, the other falling to rest, equally dead, at his side. His head seemed to lower as he averted his eyes from hers.

Reaching down, she grasped both of his hands in one of hers before taking the other hand and lifted his face up so they were looking at each other again. And when he was looking at her, she put her other hand on top of their pile of hands, her hands holding his. "I want to know everything. Everything about you. I want to know you and not who everyone thinks you are. I want to be the girlfriend that knows the man she cares about, that can be a part of his life. Not some stupid airhead who wanders around after her boyfriend like a post puppy. I refuse to be like Parkinson." She spit the name like a curse.

And with a sigh, he began for the second time in the recent time period, going over everything he had done, going over his life. Only this time he put in what he felt, how it felt to him to be there. Blaise cried many a time and looked furious at others. She hit him when he went over how he head dueled the newly resurrected Dark Lord, and then cried more when he went over Sirius' death, and the subsequent issues with Bellatrix that resulted.

Leaning over as he finished, she pressed her lips to his and then smiled weakly at him. And then he smiled at her as well before returning his hands to caressing her thighs, his hands testing the waters beneath the line where the fabric of the cotton flannel-patterned boxers ended, and sliding just a bit past. And as he sat up, feeling bolder with this new lack of rejection, he sat up and jerked her to him, before folding her back in the nest that they had made in the center of the fluffy bed, and pulling the tank over her head as he yanked at the shirt he wore, near tearing it off before launching it away, to land where it would.

Only moments later would he realize where it landed. And how sorry he was for ever taking it off. There was a clearing of a throat before them, and both looked up, Blaise looking up from her back while Harry looked up to see a sight he never wanted to see. His Head of House stood there, holding his shirt incredulously, while peering at them both.

"Mr. Potter, I would kindly ask that you climb off of my niece this instant."

Harry was frozen in shock, unable to move at all, even as his arms cried out in protest from the extended weight on them. And then he felt Blaise's arms go around his waist and pull him down on her as she rolled to the side, slipping on top of him again. "Oh shove it Aunt Minnie. Mom's in the study." And with that she reached down and grabbed one of Harry's trainers from the floor and launched it at the door by the woman's head before going back to Harry, pulling the still stunned boy back to the confines of her lips. And when he looked up again, the woman was gone, and the door was closed.

-----

Coming down for breakfast hand in hand, Harry and Blaise were in an argument that seemed to have been going on for some time. "You can't just…kick her out like that!"

"Yes I can. I have been since I was a small girl. This house may be free and open about things, but that makes it so that there is all the more respect for privacy among us. Because openness is so enforced, so is privacy, because here, it's either private or open knowledge, there is no middle ground really. So, privacy is an honored and "inalienable" right, as it were."

Harry nodded at the girl's logic, before grinning as he saw her face as she spoke it, seeing it said as if rehearsed and in such a way to show clear distaste for the wording she was speaking. "It doesn't take a lot of thought, Potter. Good thing you weren't a Ravenclaw, I'm afraid you'd shame the house."

"Oh get over yourself Blaise…" However his words trailed off as a voice spoke over him.

"Introducing Sir and Madam Harry Potter." And there was the sound of a weak trumpet blowing, and then the house elf disappeared, and Harry and Blaise were shown their seats at the table. Harry is still being held by her hand, and he looks at her and both roll their eyes in annoyance, but blanch to see Dumbledore, McGonagall, Lupin, Mrs. Zabini and even Snape, all sitting there at the table.

"Aww..."

"…Shit."

"Look, already finishing each other's sentences. I do think we may have stumbled on yet another Lily and James!" Lupin stated proudly.

"For that to happen, Potter would have had to get his head out of his arse long enough to realize that the world does not revolve around him, and the mud…Evans would have had to formed a coherent thought between her mutterings and boring rants to start a sentence that Potter could know anything about it." Snape muttered darkly. Harry clicked the ground with the toe of his boot, drawing Snape's eyes. The man's eyes darkened as he saw the recognizable boots, before Harry smirked.

"Kyoto says hi." Snape growled, but Dumbledore cut him off at the pass.

"Harry, we have come to talk to you. About many things, and one of them is Ms. Zabini, so if you would please disengage your hand from hers, and come and sit on this side of the table, then this could commence."

Harry looked to Blaise and didn't release her hand, before walking on the opposite side of the table as where he was instructed, where there was only one chair, and took a seat, before pulling Blaise down onto his lap, adjusting her so that his hands were resting somewhere hidden between the hem of her shirt and the waist of her pants. It was as much to irk them as to find a place to put his hands, and Snape almost exploded from his seat then and there.

"I refuse to allow this. Jamie, break this up so that matters can be discussed civilly." Snape spoke, not as a request, but almost an order.

"You will not order me around, Severus, and my name is James. Or Ms. Zabini. Do not dare attempt such intimate terms with me when you shout at my daughter. And the child I consider to become one of my own soon. They are not in any way acting uncivilized, she is simply sitting on his lap, enjoying the closeness. Nothing more."

"But when I walked in on them this morning, there was more than 'enjoying closeness' there. Jamie, you have got to get a reign on what they are doing."

"Minerva, you may have been my hus…ex-husband's aunt, and a respected figure in all of our lives, but you will not treat me like a small child incapable of making my own decisions, and do not disrespect Blaise enough to assume she is that kind of girl. And after the experiences Harry has had to go through, based on his, as of now untampered with Ministry folder, I would be thankful if he did shag her here and now. Because then that would prove to everyone that he was still with us, and that all of you weren't such prats and numbskulls as to damn our world to hell through this child!" She was like an angry, cornered wolf and a mother bear all at once. It was beautiful. And weird.

"Hey, she said here and now…" Harry said and winked as he moved to place Blaise on the table, and, seeing the appalled look on all of their faces, he smirked and then pulled her back down and kissed her cheek as they grinned, before turning and looking to them all.

"So, what is this all about?"

"Everything, Harry. Everything and nothing."

-----

"Harry, first of all we must evaluate the relationship between you and Ms. Zabini here. We like the notion of inter-house relations, however, we must be concerned about both of you and your safety."

"Where? Here or during school?" Harry asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Both Harry, but mostly during school."

"I don't know if its me, but if the most 'Powerful Light Wizard in the World' and the 'Only one He-Who-Must-Be-Hyphenated Fears' can't keep a pair of teenagers safe, especially one that is your so called 'savior,' then perhaps I, well, we both, should look into a transfer. I hear France is nice this time of year. Nicer than here I reckon." Blaise said boldly, while Harry dragged his hands along the sides of her waist.

"Regardless, it will be an issue, Mr. Potter dating a Slytherin. The epitome of Gryffindor, its 'King' if you will, and the, as they call her, 'Queen' of Slytherin making a match is one that will not bode well with the school." Snape spoke calmly, with anger just below the surface.

"Now all we need are a jack, and a jack-ass…I mean joker. Snape, up for the last job." Harry muttered to Blaise's ear, and she laughed despite herself, and by the looks of it, it was not something appropriate, yet every stayed silent.

"I was meant for Slytherin, so how does that stand with you, Snape?" Harry spoke aloud.

"Professor Harry."

"Whatever. Truth be told, I don't care about the school's reactions to all of this. I am more concerned about my friends. Them, I will talk to. But as of right now, screw everything else. For the rest of my time here, I want to be able to relax, and forget about the world being on my shoulders. Just for a bit. Hang out with my girlfriend, be a normal teenager, not some bloody Boy-Who-Won't-Die. Not a stupid prophesied 'Golden Boy' who has to be the savior, the goody-goody, the student, the athlete and his father, all at once for all of your individual benefits." At the mention of his father, Harry glared at Snape.

And Harry was kissed by Blaise, before they turned to the group, Dumbledore for once showing some signs of age. "Well Harry, we apologize, and I see that this meeting will not go very well. Mrs. Zabini, might I speak with you, Mr. Lupin and Professor McGonagall in private?" Mrs. Zabini nodded and stood, leading them into another room off to the side.

Leaving Harry, Blaise, and Snape.

Looking to his Potions professor, Harry regarded the man before lifting Blaise off of him. He walked across the table and grabbed a sting of grapes from a platter before sitting down again, popping on into his mouth. Blaise smiled at him and winked before changing seating styles and straddling his waist. Harry placed another grape in his mouth only to have it taken before he could even chew it by the girl, who then set about placing a grape on her lips for him to take.

Harry slid his hands down to her waist before back some, so they rested on the curve of her hips, his fingers brushing the top of her behind. And then his hands slid up under the girl's shirt, making it lift up some in the process. The girl's smooth back was displayed to her teacher, as well as two thin straps that barely showed, but disappeared back into the back of her jeans as they sat on the curve of her hips just so.

Watching the man with a smile, Harry hooked his thumb in one, pulling on it some, before releasing it, the elastic slapping back and snapping the girl, causing her to jump in his arms, before grabbing him and pushing him into a hard kiss.

Snape was stunned into silence as this went on for a while, missing the giggling and chuckling from the two, who were talking the whole time between grapes, laughing as Harry relayed the man's facial expressions to her. Blaise was a great student of the Art of Potion Making, the best in her year, and by far, some teasing as her head of house went was allowed. She was the only girl it seemed who had reached puberty in the Slytherin house that the man had not caught in some sort of snogging activity at some point, others like Pansy caught doing much worse by the man. So Blaise figured it was time to play some catch-up with her housemates.

And when the 4 adults returned, they were back to her sitting on his lap, his hands back in their previous place, and the stem from the grapes sitting lonely and bare on the plate before them both. As the teachers made to come back, Blaise caught eyes with her teacher, and popped the whole grape to between her lips from within her mouth, proudly displaying it, and then she chewed on it, grinning all the while at the man's face, stuck between outrage, shock, embarrassment, and some sort of blush.

"I think he might have a seizure." Blaise whispered to Harry, both still watching the man.

"Possible. He might also just blow up." Harry replied. After a moment of the man only getting redder in the face, they looked at each other and smiled deviously.

"He might do both." They said at the same time.

Dumbledore looked at Harry after the two stopped chuckling and said, "Well, Harry, I think that we have done all we can here today. We have made arrangements with Mrs. Zabini to have several of your close friends come over to this residence to see you as soon as we can round them all up, to spend a day. You have not been able to have much contact with them so far, and I apologize that Hedwig was not able to be brought here along with your things, which we have brought with us today, as she appeared to have been out hunting.

"Besides, we feel that some things are better left said in person. It's safer that way."

"Yeah, it can't get intercepted so I don't get Blaise, hurt, you mean. I understand perfectly clear, Professor. Now if that is all?" Dumbledore nodded, and Harry lifted Blaise, who stood to her feet before Harry started to head up the stairs. "I need to go upstairs and teach this girl here the finer points of a relationship, she's a bit rough around the edges." He made to take her hand, before she shook it off. He walked and suddenly she leapt on his back, with a growl. Not expecting it, she fell to the ground, and she was straddling him. She rolled him over before making like she was beating the hell out of him, slamming his head lightly on the ground. And brushing her hair behind her ear, locking eyes with him, she leaned down and kissed him.

"Headmaster…?" Snape muttered, and McGonagall was watching them with a hawk-like eyes.

"Severus, I know hoe much you do not like this, but I fear that, watching them together as we are now, to break them up could mean that we lose all hope of winning this war. Do you see him with her, Severus? Do you see that look? When was the last time you saw it on his face? I can't remember a time myself. And how much do you know about Ms. Zabini yourself?

"You might find, that the more you know, the more likely it will be that not only will you see why it is that they seem to have been drawn together, but also that they have a mutually beneficial relationship. And you can't claim to care for your students and want to do this to her. Look at her. She hasn't known him long, but I bet you that she knows more about him than anyone else in this room."

Snape looked to Lupin to see if the man would refute that statement, but he was looking almost reminiscent at the two, as Blaise kept getting close to kiss him, just to pull back. His hands were pinned down by her, and she rubbed her nose to his before pecking him, and then smirking before jumping up and trying to run from the room, but he rolled up and grabbed her arms and the lifted her up, fireman's carry.

She protested, screaming and kicking, and there was a slap as he slapped her rump, but she returned it, so he adjusted her, carrying her like a small child in his arms, and she kissed him as he carried her up the stairs, he hair out of place, as she stuck her bottom lip out while rubbing her behind, pouting some. But she smiled and wrapped her arms around his shoulders as he carried her out of the adult's view.

"You know, that was sweet and cute to the point that I have lost my appetite." Snape stated, and then looked to Dumbledore, and smiled a weak smile, "But I see what you mean."

Mrs. Zabini smiled at them and then turned to Dumbledore. "Well sir, I guess you should be going. I figure, his friends should find out sooner than later about all of this, so hopefully everything can be back to normal with Harry and his friends by the time school starts."

"Jamie, I think you underestimate the loyalty of Harry's friends." McGonagall protested.

"No, Minerva, I think you underestimate the devotion of my daughter. And the Pure Slytherin hiding in Harry." Mrs. Zabini responded, popping a grape in her mouth and sitting back, a calm smile on her face as she thought about the laughter she could hear even from her place at the table from her daughter and Harry.

-----

The laughter continued for some time. Blaise had shown Harry the magically created muggle stereo system that her "Aunt Minnie" as she called her, or Professor McGonagall, Blaise's great aunt, had given her for her birthday a few years before. She had then proceeded to put on some more wordless music, the beat a lot more loud, with electrical guitars, as Dudley had called them, in the forefront of the beat. Dudley was in a rock phase at Privet, and Harry heard music like that often.

However, as she watched Harry, Blaise smirked. "Harry, I'm going to put a song on for you. Its by a muggle band, the lead singer committed suicide some time ago, coming up on 2 years, and I just want you to move. There is really no right way to do this, but there is a way to do it so you don't get hurt." And she placed a song on, and Harry watched Blaise. She was jumping up and down on her bed, her hair everywhere, and soon Harry lost himself. The music was just so angry, but not, and it made him feel better, just to be able to lose it. Soon he was jumping around, his head nodding powerfully of its own accord, as he jumped around too. Soon the song was off, and Blaise went up to change it, as Harry pulled off his polo shirt, the room getting a bit warm for him with all the action. And he took a moment to reflect..

For once it wasn't something ironic, or anything like that, no words that changed anything for him, it was all about the feeling. It made him feel good having been able to get that out, and it showed him something about Blaise. It showed him more about her, and that made him just as happy as being able to be free, for just a little bit. But that all changed when a low thumping came, this one different but similar to the one from the day before, and Blaise walked over to him sexily, and pushed him back on the bed, before climbing up on the wooden baseboard so she was standing before him, as he lay back on the bed, watching her. Walking over to one of the posts on the four-poster, she held on and stretched her leg out, showing just how long it was, and flicked the light off with her foot. The faint light through the curtains colored the room a kind of deep violet color, casting a weird glint on everything.

Blaise had been wearing a simple white short-sleeved button-up and some fairly tight on the hips khakis, that seemed to just loosen as they came off of her hips. And moving with the beat, dipping her body with perfect balance, she began to unbutton the shirt, from bottom up, slowly her waistline of the pants came into view, and then with each button, more of her smooth, lightly tanned skin appeared before his eyes, the deep purple shadow of the room caressing it lightly as it came into view.

Harry longed to reach up, but did not want to distract her, and the look in her eyes was holding him still. And as her hands moved so slowly, button by agonizing button, more of her skin showed. And soon, the slight flash of pale blue was soon followed by the steady increase as more and more of her pale, powder blue bra came into view, the lacy showing nicely, and covering what was held just enough to let anyone who saw her as she was then long for more, but still barely be able to handle what they saw then.

"I think I might have a coronary." Harry thought to himself as he watched her, and soon the buttons were all undone. And pulling the shirt around her, her hips never having stopped their sensual movement to the beat, she pulled the shirt open and almost off with one motion. And he looked at her in all her glory, her hair spilling over her shoulders, all unkempt and out of place, yet looking so perfect as such, and her eyes met his.

And a coy, sly grin slid across her face as she dipped her hips, dropping to a near crouch while still balanced on the bottom end of the bed, and locked eyes with him, licking her lips out as she trailed them over him, and then she grabbed the post and slid along it into a standing position, gripping it before twirling once around it, landing back where she leapt from, and, still holding the post in one hand, she dipped once more, sliding up into a standing position along it again, the post held tightly in her hands and held between her breast as well.

And wrapping a leg around the pole, she used the other one to bend some, sliding down before back up again. The entire rising and dropping motions were driving Harry insane, as she almost never lost direct eye contact with him, even with her head down, she was watching him behind thick lashes.

And with an all-too innocent look, she took one finger and slid it behind her ear, sticking her hair behind one ear, leaving half of her face covered by her hair, the other half clear now, and her eyes locked on Harry.

And then walking back to the center of the end of the bed, she did a dip, dropping down into a crouch, but this time she placed on hand on the bed before sliding back into a standing position, her legs first, her hand still on the bed even as her legs were straight, and then slowly sliding her front up as well, Harry watching her eyes, but taking a moment to soak in the look of her rising upper-body, and the thin bits of fabric that was causing him so much pain.

"I am seriously starting to not like blue anymore…" He muttered to himself. And Blaise heard.

"Then maybe I should just…get rid of it then." She said with a coy smile. And turning from him, she slid her hands behind her back, and toyed with the clasps, still looking back over her shoulder at Harry, but smiling and shaking her head and then a single finger at him, she turned back around and took the sides of the front of her pants in her hand, undoing the button there, and then slowly the zipper slid down, revealing the same sky blue color to his eyes, and she hooked her thumbs on the sides of the pants, turning and sinking down again, this time he could see the straps of her undergarments, and then she stood and turned, shifting her weight to one side, her hips tilted, before she slowly started to pull the khakis down.

And like all good things, it came to an end. An end in the form of a lanky, freckled body with red hair slamming into the door and pushing it open, shouting, "Harry!" loudly. And with the slam, Blaise jumped, lost her footing and fell. And that was how Ron found them, Blaise half naked, straddling Harry's body, her hands on his chest, as she had used them to break her fall, but with him still slightly sweaty and her half naked, her hands on his bare chest and neither looking particularly well put-together at the moment, Ron was halted completely.

And running into his back, was another redhead, this one shorter, her longer hair splashing into her face as he bumped into her halted brother, berating him immediately. "Can't you see this is the wrong room, Ron! I mean, she told us before she left, down the hall and to the left, we should have turned…" And she stopped as she looked around him and saw Blaise and Harry sitting there. Harry sighed an exasperated sigh before just slamming his head on his forehead, and slamming his head back as well, his eyes closed, muttering to himself.

Blaise for her part laughed loudly at something Harry said, falling forward, sliding her hands up over his shoulders, her head on its side and her eyes closed, both of them chuckling, and Blaise muttered something, and it turned into a full blown laugh from Harry, as he finally lifted her up, placing a kiss on her forehead before moving her and then getting off of the bed, walking over to Ron. "Hello, mate. Never heard of knocking?" He said, a smirk on his face, and then he looked over his shoulder at Blaise, who had her back to them and was buttoning her pant, but looked at him at that moment over her shoulder and gave him a big smile before looking on the floor and grabbing his shirt and yanking it over her head before pulling her hair from the collar.

When she looked up, brushing her hair back from her face and behind her ears, she peered up at the intruders with her slightly narrowed eyes. "May I help you both with something, seeing as how you all burst into my room and all. Or can I assume that you are looking for Harry?" And it would be just his luck that Harry's Polo shirt for that day happened to be green and white. And in those colors, even with Ron's frozen up perception, he caught on quickly.

"Your…a…that…whore…Slytherin! A Slytherin. Gin, go get Hermione, she has Harry under Imperius!"

Harry stared open-mouthed at his friend. He had not only just called him, as of then girlfriend a whore, but accused her of an Unforgivable. He looked to Blaise out of the corner of his eyes and saw her struggling to stay quiet, her hands clenched into fists. Reaching out and taking her hand, Harry turned to Ron. "I think we should all go down to the living room, there is much to talk about, Ronald." Harry wasn't as angry as the sentence implied, but he liked the draining of color from Ron's face as he nodded and turned, bumping into a still unmoving Ginny, before taking her with him as they rushed down the stairs.

Blaise looked at Harry when the two were out of sight and whispered, "What the hell are they doing here? My mother is gone, and it's just us here. Why the hell are they here, they ruined my whole day already…idiot Gryffin…oh Merlin, not you, them."

"Its ok, I understood. They kinda ruined the whole thing for me too. Nice moves there, too." He said as he let her hand go as they got off of the last step, and she made to pout before he slid behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist and they walked together, her standing on his feet, which made her feel like a little kid again, walking like that with her mother through the park, only with Harry she felt different.

"If feels safer. Life no matter what these idiot friends of his say to me, he's not letting me go." She thought her herself, and wrapped her arms around his on her front, squeezing his hands as she closed her eyes, taking it all in. When they got into the Living Room area, Harry took a seat on the loveseat they had been in the day before and resumed the same positioning.

"Harry, the couch is open, there is room here for you to sit." Ginny said, patting the seat that was between her and Ron, Hermione sitting across from them, knitting something in an obnoxious orange color and looking at Harry, attempting to be discreet. "I'm sure she can sit on her own…" Ginny spoke this with venom in her voice.

"No, I'm perfectly comfortable on my own, and Blaise can come and go as she pleases, so if she would like to sit there, I will not stop her." The girl shook her head, and then looked to his friends. "Is there a reason we are all down here, form what I understand there has to be a talk." Ginny was the first to start talking.

"Yes, Harry. We want to know what has been happening to you. We don't hear from you over the summer, and then all of a sudden, we hear something about Bellatrix Lestrange, and then we get word that you have been moved, not to the Burrow, or even to Grim…uh…Headquarters…but somewhere else. We get rounded up, told to have items for a night's stay, and then Professor Dumbledore gives us a portkey here. And when we go to find you, you are up there with…with her! What is up, Harry. And tell us, who and she and what is she to you?"

Harry had been watching all three of them as Ginny had spoken, and Ron was looking between Harry and Blaise, looking fairly lasciviously at the girl in question as well, but still with a speculating look about him. Hermione had speeded her knitting, but had been watching Harry, as was evident by her missing quite a few stitches here and there. And Blaise…Blaise, for all her part, was looking bored with the rant. She had stared at the ceiling in clear boredom before leaning over to the side and grabbing a magazine off of the coffee table and opening it. Holding it so Harry could see in it, she made a hand-signal of her hand talking, and then a quick face at Harry, and Harry sighed.

He wanted them all to be friends, and Blaise was not making an effort. Taking the magazine from her and closing it, he continued to look at Ginny. The girl grinned at this even as she spoke, but stopped when Harry slid his hand in Blaise's even as he watched her speak.

"Yeah, mate, what's been happening. We want to know, I mean, you disappear and then end up here with her, in…that position…and…we gotta know, mate, we gotta know."

"Know what? What do you need to know, Ron? If Harry is having sex? If he is shagging a girl in her own room with her mother's knowledge? Is that what you need to know, Ron? Maybe you want to know all the details. If that's what you 'gotta know' then please, keep that to yourself. Whatever Harry's love life entails does not, nor will it ever concern you unless Harry decides to date you, God forbid, so I do not see what she has to do with anything." Hermione stated, knitting at a fierce pace at this point.

"Go Granger." Blaise thought, watching the girl go on. It was truly a sight to behold, and Ron sat there, in what looked like shock. And then stopping her knitting and placing whatever it was down on the table alone with the needles, Hermione looked up to Harry, her hair brushed over one side of her face in what was to look accidental but was clear to another girl was on purpose. "How have you been, Harry?" She asked in a voice so calm it might as well have been a different person from the last words spoken from her mouth.

Looking to Hermione, Harry sighed. "It's been how it's been, Hermione. You know how I am, and you know how, when I don't go looking for trouble for an extended period of time, it comes to my door, rings the bell to ask if something is wrong and if I can come out and play. This time, it found me, in the form of a group of Death Eaters posing as local kids from the neighborhood. Bellatrix was one of them. And as of this moment, the only one, I hear, left alive."

Ron's eyes bugged, and Ginny gasped, but Hermione, for her part kept a calm face through the whole thing, and a level head. "And who killed them, Harry?"

Here Harry laughed. "Would you believe me if I told you a skinny guy with pure black eyes, pure white hair, and the ability to jump near over Gryffindor Tower with one jump, and some guy with a gray duster on and two handguns, both of whom also beat the hell out of Snape in some way, shape or form?" Harry looked around and the looks told him what he wanted to know. Ron was having a hard time believing it, and Ginny was flat out confused. However, Hermione, for her part, looked just as usual. Calculating Hermione. He couldn't read anything from there.

"Harry, what happened with Bellatrix. I have heard some things but…I don't know what's true and what isn't." Hermione asked.

"Yeah, we heard she raped you." Ron damn near exploded these words from her mouth. Blaise visibly winced at the lack of tact, as did Hermione, and Ginny reached over and slapped him in the back of the head. However, Harry's eyes closed and he laid his head back.

"Yeah, she did. Funny, huh? That I can say my first time was with a woman twice my age that I hate to high hell, in a dirty alleyway, and she had to tie me down to do it. I mean, how many guys can say that? Not many, I reckon." Blaise hit him in the head, as she could feel the depressed feelings radiating off of him. "Not with some girl I care about, fumbling around in the dark trying to figure out what goes where, and it being bad for both, but in a fucking alleyway." Blaise ran her hand through his hair as his eyes were squeezed shut, and she could see the glistening of moisture on his eyelashes, being just held in.

"And the kicker? That's that, not only did she make sure that she's pregnant form it, but that I have to marry her now. Yes indeed, I am now officially engaged to a Death Eater, who is carrying my child by her, carrying the child right to Voldemort I bet."

Ron had gone into a paralyzed shock, and Ginny had her knees to her chest and her head down, and was rocking, with the sound of hiccupping coming from her. Hermione had her hand to her mouth, and had gotten up to sit on the coffee table across from him, rubbing his leg in a companionable manner. She locked eyes with Blaise for one moment, before grabbing the tissue box and holding it, handing the girl tissues with which to wipe her own tears, dab at Harry's eyes, and then using some of the tissue for herself.

Opening his eyes to look at Hermione, Harry smiled weakly. "Hermione, you were right about that 'saving-people-thing' that I have. Even that vile, disgusting woman. I saved her. Dumbledore was going to abort the baby, and it could have killed her, and I saved her." And putting his head back harshly, he gripped the arms of the sofa powerfully, and then let them go and just kind of fell limply back. He sat his head up slowly, to have Blaise hug him tightly, before he pushed her back gently. Looking to Hermione, the only one really looking at him at the moment, he smiled. "Hermione, this is Blaise, Blaisey, this is Hermione."

Blaise, still crying, was hugged by the other girl, crying as well, in a hug much like old friends. Then, looking to Harry, who was smiling at them. Ginny jumped up and ran to him, and, brushing Blaise off, hugged Harry, her head resting on his chest.

And it was then that it became painfully aware to all in the room that Harry was, as of then, still without a shirt. Prying Ginny from him, Harry smiled to them all, Ron having snapped out of it all after all the crying was done, Harry spoke. "So…awkward moment, eh?" And with that he stood and stretched, before looking at them all. "Well…so…what were we going to do today, because personally, I feel the need to retreat back to my 'Nest' and take a nap. The whole 'emotional' thing kinda makes me tired."

Hermione looked at him and mouthed "Nest" and he smiled. "It's my bed. Its where B…where I go to sleep and to be calm. And if anyone finds the need to come mess with me, knock on the damned door first!" and with that and an inconspicuous glance at Blaise, he went up the stairs.

Blaise stayed around for a while, before inching toward the exit. Ron and Ginny had started talk on Quidditch, while Hermione had picked back up the knitting. So, she slid along the wall until she was right by the exit, and then made a break for the stairs.

Hermione looked up from her knitting, intending to engage the girl in conversation, to see the girl had made a break, running, for the stairs. As she headed to them, she was struggling to get Harry's shirt off, and it was up over her head when she made it to the stairs, and being unable to see, she tripped and landed on the stairs. "Shit!" she shouted, before she pulled the shirt off and looked around, a blush on her face to see Ron and Ginny about to look over from the sound, so she bolted up the stairs, slamming into Harry's door to find it not all the way closed, before she closed it, and locked it this time, and then threw his shirt to the side and almost leapt into the bed, the little "Nest" as it was called created, the pillows and blanket arranged to make an alcove, a true nest area on the inside. And entering it, she snuggled up to Harry, getting on top of him in the position Ron and Ginny had found them in. And listening to his heartbeat, she began to drift off.

"Ah, My Heron, what have you gotten yourself into…look at you, and look at me. After only 2 days, and you have already stolen my heart. Goddamned thief, you are, Potter. Bloody…Right…Thief…" And she drifted off, him following as he drifted to the sound of her voice.

-----

"It has certainly been a while Mr. Potter."

"Hello, Karma." And the woman swept across the space and drew him to her, hugging him.

"Harry, I know it has been a while, and I know you might be confused. But let me tell you, things are going as they should. All things will fall in to place, I just wanted you to know that. And remember, love has its own place in war, and it has its own power, one that it would do well for you to harness, as it is a power that the other side does not wield."

And with that, she hugged him one last time, wishing him luck, before turning and walking off into the darkness.

-----

As he slept, Harry unconsciously pulled a blanket around he and Blaise as she shivered on him, and then both drifted deeper into the land of dreams.

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