Chapter 16: Birthday Surprises
Harry woke up to giggles and before he could fully open his eyes, he was hit with a 'fresh-breath' charm that Hermione and Luna had invented. Harry remembered the conversation he had with the duo congratulating them on their achievement. When asked what other charm they had invented, Hermione demonstrated a rather painful 'epilo' charm which did the same job as 'muggle waxing'. 'Women and their vanity, going through so much pain to look pretty', Harry had grumbled to which the two inventors burst out laughing. "Harry, have you forgotten that there is a numbing charm?" Harry had just glared at them.
However, this morning, all thoughts got erased when he suddenly felt someone kiss his lips. Deepening the kiss was an automatic reflex. This kiss was broken three times, and Harry did not realize that all four of his wives had kissed him. To him it was all a single long kiss. When he opened his eyes, the four witches were eyeing each other in a weird way. "What?" Harry asked utterly confused.
"HAPPY BIRTHDAY HARRY!!" The four witches chorused. Harry smiled and hugged each of them and thanked them. "That still does not explain the looks."
"When you kissing each of us, the other three felt it. It was Heaven!" Susan exclaimed and blushed.
Harry gaped at her. "What do you mean 'kissed each of us'? I thought it was one long kiss, broken three times for some air." All the witches broke out into laughter. "Imagine when Tracey and Daphne get together!" snickered Susan and Daphne blushed a Weasley red. "Merlin! Tell me I wont feel it too, that could be highly embarrassing for me walking around with a tent in my pants!" shouted Harry and the witches laughed louder.
"PRESENTS!" Susan and Hermione squealed as soon as they were done with their breakfast. They dragged Harry to the living room where there was a small pile of presents. Susan picked up a small box and gave it to Harry. "This is from Hermione."
Harry opened the box and found a gold watch very similar to the one his dad used to wear. His father's watch had stopped working after he had foolishly forgotten to take it off before he dived into the Black lake during the second task of the Tri-Wizard Tournament. Tears were threatening to overflow from his eyes. He hugged Hermione and thanked her. "Harry, you haven't seen everything yet. Hold on!" She pricked her finger with a needle and allowed a drop of her blood to fall on the dial. The watch glowed red for a second and then became normal. No evidence of any blood on the dial. As Harry looked closer, he found a small image of Hermione in the background of the dial. "Just think of me Harry and look at the dial. Do you see anything?"
Harry did as instructed and was surprised to find that the image of Hermione had become bigger obscuring the hands of the watch. Below the image was text that said, "Hermione Granger, Alive & Kicking, In The Den". "This is amazing, Hermione! But how did you manage it?" Harry enquired.
"I was looking at the patents for the Weasley Clock and did you know that it was the only clock made before the inventor was murdered by Grindelwald's forces? The inventor was a close friend of the Prewitt family and had presented the clock to them even before he opened his store. Mrs. Weasley received that clock as a wedding present from her family. I tracked that inventor's wife in the muggle world who had a squib son. The grandson is going to start first year this year at Hogwarts. I paid them 10,000 galleons for the patents and bought it. I see a lot of potential for its use in the future."
"That is awesome, Mia! What use would that be? I mean, those charms?" Harry enquired. While Hermione was answering Harry's questions, the other witches pricked their fingers and dropped a drop of their blood on the watch's dial.
"Harry, the charm is a very powerful and highly accurate blood-based tracking charm. Now imagine what you can do in with this in combination with a 'carto' charm." The Carto charm was the one that was primarily used to map Hogwarts on your Marauder's Map. Interestingly, even though technically Hogwarts was Unplottable to the external world, the Carto charm worked very well when applied within the Unplottable area. Harry had a proverbial light bulb glow in his head. "You can track anyone, anywhere. All we need is a drop of their blood."
"And whose blood does Riddle have flowing through his body?" Hermione asked with a grin on her face.
"Merlin! We can track him easily with my blood! Maybe we should steal a drop of blood from each of his death eaters and we can track everyone. I am going to modify one of the Potters wards that would steal a drop of blood every time someone crossed the ward. We could the ward set up in areas like Diagon Alley, Nocturn Alley and even the Ministry."
"That is an amazing idea Harry! You always take a simple idea and extrapolate it beautifully! I am going to create you a tracking mechanism for Riddle and all his Death Eaters." Hermione hugged him while the others grinned.
"Now, it is my turn!" Susan exclaimed excitedly. Harry laughed as he saw her jumping up and down and clapping her hands in excitement. She handed him a copy of The High Inquisitor except that the headlines and the articles were obscured.
"Harry, you know how I love researching laws? Well, you needed a method to get out of Dumbledore and Snape's influence and I have found a way. In fact what I found was so volatile that Augusta and I have already implemented it as we found the right opportunity yesterday." Susan pulled out her wand and cancelled the obscuration charm on the newspaper.
HOGWARTS FINANCIAL SCAMS EXPOSED!!
In the true spirit of journalism, we report to you that our researchers at The High Inquisitor have unearthed a scam of Earth shattering proportions. Various forces have been at work at Hogwarts trying to fill their own pockets with gold at the expense of our students' education.
Our researchers have unearthed the bylaws of the Hogwarts Board of Governers that clearly states the following: 1) All governers must undergo an annual screening by the sorting hat to ensure that they stay true to cause of betterment of children's education, 2) The post of a Governer is an honorary post and the Governers must not profit financially by virtue of holding that post, 3) The financial budget and expenditure reports are to be made public at the beginning of every year.
Interestingly, we have found that the annual screening process has been abandoned many years ago as an out-dated practice, violating the first clause. A staggering sum of 225,000 galleons out of the 640,400 galleons collected as tuition last year, has found its way into the vaults of four of our esteemed Governers. Mr. Malfoy profited 100,000 galleons; Mr. Ogden profited 75,000 galleons while Mr. Pierce and Mrs. Edgecombe profited 25,000 each. The financial budget and expenditure report was always available at Gringotts for anyone to peruse. All anyone had to do was ask for it.
The remaining 415,400 collected last year as tuition, was spent on salaries of the staff including that of the potions master and the mediwitch (210,000 galleons), kitchens and washing room supplies (135,000 galleons), Hospital Expenses (33,000 galleons), Potions Supplies (18,000 galleons), Library Services (12,000 galleons), and Quidditch Equipment (2,000 galleons). Here is where we found the rest of the discrepancies. Though we do not have proof to support our extrapolations, one has to wonder as how these monies were spent.
1) What Quidditch equipment was bought last year that cost the students 2,000 galleons of their tuition?
2) My reporter ordered all the new books that were published last year from Flourish and Botts and it cost my reporter 600 galleons. We wonder what books/publications the Hogwarts Library has ordered that cost the students 20 times the amount my reporter could spend.
3) Our Herbology greenhouses pride themselves in being self sufficient. They claim to supply all the ingredients required for potions in the infirmary. When the mediwitch's salary has been bracketed in the salaries, all potion supplies coming from the green houses, having a master brewer on payroll, where are the 33,000 galleons being spent?
4) All students are required to buy their own potions supplies, so what is the 18,000 galleons allocated for potions supplies really funding. Is it funding private research of the potions master? Or is it funding the healing potions that the potions master supplies the Dark Lord? We all know that at the end of the first war, Albus Dumbledore had vouched for the death eater, Severus Snape, as his spy and hence got him a get-out-of-Azkaban card.
What is the headmaster going to do now? If these monies were distributed in a more realistic way, an increase in salaries could got us a better quality of teachers. Why are teachers/potential candidates not screened by the sorting hat every year to ensure that person is fit to teach. If this screening practice were to be implemented now, (and we highly recommend that it be done), it would mean that the headmaster has about a month to find at least a potions teacher, history teacher, divination teacher, muggle-studies teacher and a DADA teacher this year. Candidates who wish to apply for these jobs, may as well contact Hogwarts as soon as you can.
Copies of proof of our claims have been submitted to the Head of the DMLE, Madam Amelia Bones. Minister Fudge might save some political face during this debacle by acting swiftly to curb this financial scams. Or is the Minister in on it too, for Mr. Malfoy was a close friend of the Minister till he got exposed as a death eater during the Department of Mysteries battle last month. New governors need to be chosen whose allegiance must lie with the students and not the light force, or the dark forces or even the Ministry. We all saw what the ministry did when it meddled with internal affairs at Hogwarts last year. Whatever you do Minister, make sure you call the press so that we can report the proceedings openly and truthfully.
The Truth Shall Set You Free!
"This is amazing Susan! I fully support that Augusta convinced you to publish this immediately! So how is this going to get me out of Dumbledore's grip?" Harry enquired.
"You haven't read it all Harry. Look on the other side!" Susan said with a little apprehension.
DISCRIMINATION AT HOGWARTS BASED ON BLOOD STATUS!!
Yes! You read it right. It is our sad duty to inform you that a blatant discrimination of students based on blood status has been going on for many years now. It of course has to do with how much tuition a student pays to get his/her education there. Last year there were 405 students at Hogwarts. The 83 pureblood students paid 1,200 galleons each as tuition, the 268 half-blood students paid 1600 galleons each as tuition, where as the 52 muggleborn students paid 2,000 galleons each as tuition.
What additional expenditure is being incurred by the halfblood and the muggleborn students that they have to be charged extra? Hogwarts does not even offer a wizarding etiquette or a wizarding world orientation class to the children who are raised as muggles. This discrimination in tuition is in direct violation of the Founders Laws of Governance which were adopted as the bylaws of the Board of Governors. This practice is also illegal as per some of our oldest Ministry laws. Somebody, get rid of those fools who call themselves Governors and get some sensible people on the board PLEASE!! Aaarrrrrghhhhh!!! (Yells in frustration)
Now for some even spicier news! Two students have been paying 4,000 galleons as tuition as part of a binding agreement between the students' parents and the headmaster of Hogwarts. These two children were to be trained as apprentices and not as students. Apprenticeships as some of you may recall, are more of a one-on-one training with a qualified master in the field. According to Hogwarts bylaws, apprentices are not sorted into houses. They are considered to belong to Hogwarts and not to a specific house.
So did these two children become apprentices despite a binding contract and paying the higher tuition? 'No!' Why not? 'Only the Headmaster can answer that'. Our guess is that he would use his mysterious comment, 'it was for the greater good!' Would someone please explain to me as to how not being trained is for their greater good? Who are these supposed apprentices? Neville Longbottom and Harry Potter! These both could easily sue the headmaster for breach of contract and/or request a transfer to another magical school. Merlin know, they both have suffered enough.
The Truth Shall Set You Free!
Harry was surprised! "What does this... this mean?" He stammered.
"Don't you get it Harry?" Hermione the ever enthusiastic one explained. "As an apprentice, you are mainly answerable only to your Mentor(s). You need not answer to the head of the house (as you wont be in any house), or the deputy headmistress or the headmaster. You are also exempt from curfew timings, coming in or going out of Hogwarts and other similar nussaince rules. Whatever you decide with your Mentor will be the law in regards to your education. You also decide what classes you want to take and they cannot dictate anything to you. You can also hire private tutors for subjects that are not taught at Hogwarts. If your mentor is not cooperative, then you can always switch to another, as soon as you find one willing to accept the mantle. You can also work with more than one mentor. Apprenticeships usually pave the way towards acquiring your mastery in a chosen field."
"So how does one get a mastery?" Harry enquired. He had never bothered to find any of this information before.
"A Mastery in Charms usually entails requiring you to have a basic knowledge of Post-NEWT charms, understanding Arithmancy behind spell creation and spell modification. You attain your mastery when you create one successful spell or modify an existing spell. A mastery in potions is similar except you create or modify an existing potion." Hermione explained.
"That means you and Luna can get 2 masteries in Charms and Daphne can get over 120 masteries in Potions?" Harry's eyes goggled. Daphne and Luna laughed at Harry's facial expressions. "You get only one mastery per subject Harry! It doesnt matter how much work you do!" Hermione replied exasperatedly.
"This sounds like a good idea. I can at least break their controls over me. Any ideas about getting Voldemort to stop attacking me, at least temporarily." Each took a moment to do a little brain storming of their own.
Daphne started talking hesitantly at first, but with more conviction as she expressed her idea into words. "Umm.. You know what Harry? You could play on Tom's ego and tell him that there is nothing great in attacking an underage, unqualified wizard who is a mere student. Maybe you could threaten to or even publish this conversation in the newspapers. You could maybe swear an oath on your wand never to attack him unless it is in defense of your life or that of your friends. This oath can be in effect until you turn 17 or until the day you qualify as a wizard."
"WOW! It might work!" Harry agreed. "What do you all say?"
"I don't know Harry! That would mean splitting from Dumbledore publicly," Hermione disagreed.
"You have the press on your side, so it might work", Luna encouraged.
"If you word the oath right, it might work to your advantage. You don't have to define who your friends are." Susan winked.
"Excellent! Let's work on that and hash a plan out!" Harry was excited.
"Now it is time for my present!" Daphne declared with a naughty gleam in her eyes. "You need to meet me in your meeting room, Harry. The rest of you, stay put here! I may need your help here." She said with a naughty smile.
Harry and Daphne went into the meditative trance and soon they were in Harry's meeting room. Daphne immediately jumped on him and snogged him senseless. "Was that my present?" Harry enquired naughtily.
"Of course not!" Daphne huffed. "Now, come over here to this orangish-white panel here." Harry walked up to where Daphne was now standing. "Place your hand on this panel and concentrate on drawing this magic into yourself. Wait! I will have to leave before you do that. Just will yourself to be consumed by the magic in this window."
After Daphne left, Harry took a deep breadth and willed himself to be washed over the magic in the window. Harry felt a little disorientation and pain as the magic started washing over him. He did not want to stop till the whole thing is done. After a minute of this pain, it subsided. Harry opened his eyes and felt as if the room and the witches had become giants. He wanted to point that out and realized that he now had wings. He tried to speak and it came out as trill. He looked at the witches and they all had their jaws hanging in awe.
I guess I have become a bird! Is that my Animagus form? He wondered. He jumped and flew onto Daphne and trilled. He bobbed her head with his beak. She shook herself off the shock and conjured a mirror. The witches burst out laughing as the bird-Harry fell backwards in surprise. Harry was a Phoenix Animagus. This was the best birthday present ever.
Harry concentrated on becoming a human again and soon he transformed back into his usual self. "That was amazing! Thank you! Thank you!" He hugged Daphne and kissed her. I knew I was forgetting exploring those panels. He decided to bring all the girls out of the shock by hugging them.
"We all thought you would be some soft of a bird. The Arithmantic values of your magic said so. But Harry! One can't become a magical Animagus. The Definitive Animagus Guide says so." Hermione protested.
"Apparently the author is wrong! I am a contradiction to that rule." Harry grinned. "Do you think that you all can imbibe my Phoenix Animagus magic and become phoenixes too? Can I imbibe your Animagus magics and become the animals you all become?" Harry asked with a wide smile on his face.
Hermione thought a little and said, "Theoretically, it is possible. But I think we should wait till we develop our own Animagus forms first. You know what? This further proves our Werewolves are rabid wolf Animagi and Veela are bird Animagi theories. We should ask Fleur to try and change into her bird form without the temper component. I bet she will be able to do that."
"Finally, my present!" Luna exclaimed. "Your third familiar!" Luna handed him a small egg. You need to hold it in your hand for at least 15 minutes everyday. As soon as Harry touched the egg, he knew what the egg was by the warmth he felt in his magic. His Animagus form readily approved the egg. He looked at Luna in awe and said, "Where did you get this? This is a phoenix egg."
"A phoenix visited me and gave me the egg to pass it on to you. This egg will hatch and become a phoenix very similar to your Animagus form. It will be mostly a white phoenix with an orange border. It is said that Fawkes was given to Merlin as an egg. You should talk to Fawkes. It would be rather interesting to hear about all the history he has lived through."
There were other presents in the pile. Ron had sent him a cannon's T-shirt and a book on seeker tactics. Hagrid had sent him a comb given to him by the Merpeople. "You do know that it means an invitation to the Black Lake, don't you?" Luna enquired. Harry nodded. Remus sent him his father's wand holster that had been charmed by his mother. Harry immediately slipped the holster onto this right forearm and inserted his wand into it. The witches gasped as the wand holster and the wand disappeared into nothingness. Harry smiled and imagined the wand in his hand and suddenly the wand was in his right hand. "This is awesome!"
There were other presents from other order members which included a lot of sweets and books and a cake from Mrs. Weasley. One of the packets of sweets and the cake had a faint aura around them and Harry was immediate suspicious and was even more convinced when he saw that the sweets were from Ginny. When he voiced his concerns, Hermione immediately cast all known poison/potion detection spells she knew and they all came out negative. Daphne took a sample of each for analysis in her potions lab.
The last present was a shrunken box and a letter attached to it. Harry opened the letter and was surprised by what he saw.
Dear Harry Potter,
You know me as the brother of your friend who asked him to stay away from you. Don't be too surprised. I worked very hard to have a convincing cover story and I trust you to not blow it. I write to you today as my real boss asked me to get in touch with you and be your liaison for our department. If you have not already guessed, your mother was my boss' favorite employee. She had asked us to send you this box on your 16th birthday. She said that you would know how to open it.
Happy Birthday.
Stickler
PS: My boss would like to meet you before Sept 1st
"Percy is an unspeakable!" Harry said in shock. "He had me fooled!" He handed the letter to Hermione who read the letter with her jaw dropped. "I would always sense his aura was a little off while he was at home. It was as if he was struggling with himself!" Luna declared in her dreamy voice. "Let us try opening this box!" Harry declared.
They spent the next 20 minutes trying all kinds of expanding charms and none of them worked. Harry even tried to use Parseltongue spells and when that failed, dropped a drop of blood on the box with no results. "Maybe it is password activated!" Hermione commented.
"I solemnly swear that I am up to no good!" Harry said with conviction and tapped it with his wand. When nothing happened, his shoulders slumped. "Harry, this is your mother's box and not your fathers!" Hermione commented.
In an act of inspiration, Harry intoned, "I solemnly swear that I am up to good!" and tapped the box with his wand. The box emitted a green glow and expanded to the size of a standard trunk but it was deeper inside. It was filled with books that looked like his mother's journals. There were also innumerable muggle files filled with papers and a few muggle fairy-tale graphic novels. Harry picked up a journal at random and started reading while Hermione and Luna picked up the files. The next 15 minutes was spent in silence.
"So That's how they got together! Why does no one tell me these things?" Harry suddenly exclaimed. Seeing the puzzled expression on the witches faces, Harry explained, "Apparently during the first month of their seventh year, Pettigrew came up with this brilliant idea to get mom and dad together. He claimed that he was sick of my dad mooning over my mom and my mom not reciprocating his feelings. So he took a leaf out of Molly Prewitt's life. The story has it that her twin brothers dosed her and Arthur Weasley with a mild love potion and even after the few weeks they were under the influence of the potion, they stayed together."
"So Peter with the consent of Sirius and reluctant consent of Remus dosed my mom with the love potion. Soon my mom was fawning all over my dad and he was suspicious of the circumstances. Instead of taking advantage of her, he took her to the hospital wing where she was admitted for a week and given potions to flush the love potion out of her. During that week, my dad took care of her. Apparently that is when she saw dad for who he is and not the arrogant prankster facade that he always wore. That was apparently the start of the falling out between Peter and the Marauders."
"No one really talks about my mom, you know! The only reference of her I heard in all these years was, 'She was a brilliant witch' and 'You have your mom's eyes'. Maybe I will get to know her better." Harry said in a dreamy expression reminiscent of Luna. "What did you guys find?"
"Harry! Your mom was really brilliant!" Luna said proudly. Harry thought that it was strange that he had never seen that expression on Luna's face. "These are your mom's notes on all the work she did at the Department of Mysteries!" Hermione exclaimed excitedly. "She worked on so many things! spell modification, spell creation, something about love and a locked room, the veil and the Dementors, the Avada Kedavra curse and body-soul dissociation, the Cruciatus curse and the mind-body dissociation. She is an absolute genius!"
"Do you think the protection she gave me is an offshoot of her research?" Harry enquired hesitantly. Before he could get a reply, Winky popped in and said, "Quick, Harry Potter Sir. Miss Tonksy is at the door!"
"Hello Tonks! How are you doing today?" Harry asked brightly. Tonks was taken aback by Harry's attitude. She had expected to see a sullen and depressed boy. Before she could answer, Harry asked, "That is provided you are Tonks! How do I know that you are the real you?" She observed that Harrys right hand was hovering around his waist area almost as if he was holding an invisible wand, though she did not find one.
She morphed herself to give herself a pigs snout. "That answer your question, little bro?"
"Who are you calling little?" Harry looked affronted, but he pulled her into a hug which surprised Tonks. He pulled her inside the house and they walked to his room in silence. As soon as they were inside, a wand suddenly appeared in Harry's hand and he cast a locking, silencing charm and the muffliato spell. Tonks was surprised at how fast he drew his wand. Though she was not surprised that he was doing magic as he had been emancipated, she sure was surprised that he knew about the muffliato spell.
"I quit the order yesterday! I have applied for a sabbatical from the Auror corps." She said as a matter of fact. "I am here to give you your birthday present", she said more brightly. "So how are you doing?"
"As good as can be expected I suppose. I miss Sirius, but have accepted that he is in a better place. Heaven must be cringing due to the presence of a genius and two pranksters." Harry laughed. "I did read today's newspaper and it gave me an idea to get out of the control of manipulative old men and greasy haired mind rapists. I am going to formally request the new board for an apprenticeship that was due to me." Harry declared.
"If you need any help, let me know. Sirius has left me some serious money and I plan to buy a house this week. If you wish to come and stay with me, you are welcome to do so. After all, we are cousins. Did you know that your grandmother and my grandfather were siblings?" Harry simply shook his head in amazement.
"I was planning on a long vacation next week and hopefully visit Charlie. You are welcome to join me. It will be fun and I bet you have not been on a vacation before." Harry smiled and asked "Why?"
"Because I love you Kiddo! I have seen you during your first and second years as a student and you looked so lost. I had my own personal issues and I did not approach you. Right now you are the only family I have left other than my parents." Tears started flowing freely from her eyes and Harry pulled her into a hug and patted her back to console her. "Thank you Nymmie!" Harry used a nickname based on her dreaded first name and was rightfully rewarded with a fist on his shoulder.
"Ouch! But then Tonksy, I asked 'Why you wanted to visit Charlie'. I already knew that you loved me!" Harry said cheekily. "Brat!" She said before she composed herself and pulled out of the hug.
"I have only had two wishes in my life. One was to meet another metamorphomagus in my life and another to fall in love. With my condition, it is impossible to find love. You never know if he loves me for my ability to change into his fantasy or the real me?" Tonks confessed.
"'With my condition, Tonksy?' Aren't you channeling a bit too much of Moony?" Harry laughed.
"Cheeky brat! Stop calling me nicknames!" Tonks mock glared at him which caused Harry to laugh harder and Tonks joined in the laughter.
Harry calmed down and said, "you know Tonks, we are similar in that way. I always wonder if the girl is interested in me because I am the boy-who-lived or because of the real me."
"You are right Harry! I never thought of it that way. As to 'Why Charlie?' There have only been two people who have never asked me to change into their dream girl. One is Charlie and another is you!" Tonks confessed.
"You know what Nimo? I am going to change that. I am going to take myself of that short list by asking you to change into another girl. I can't think of you like that! Ewww..." Harry made faces and laughed while Tonks glared at him. "Don't call me that! I am not a fish!" Then she decided to change her tactics and asked him flirtily, "So, who do you want me to change into?"
She expected Harry to blush, but Harry asked her with a smug face. "Dora, could I please have the honor of seeing the real you?"
Tonks was so shocked at the request that she complied without any complaints. "You are the first person to ask me that. Thank you little bro!" She hugged him hard and gave him a kiss on his cheek. "You are beautiful! You know that? Why are you never in this avtar?" Harry looked at her shocked. Tonks had changed from her punk look to a beautiful aristrocratic lady.
"Thank you Harry! It means a lot to me. Until last week, I was ashamed of my original form as I was born with a club foot. Thanks to Sirius and Dr. Patil, I took care of that and have been doing balance exercises." Tonks confessed. "Now, I don't trip over my legs!" Tonks grinned. "Anyway, now it is time for your birthday present." She pulled out a small box, expanded it and handed it over to him.
Harry opened the box to see a vial with 20 ml of a clear yellow colored liquid. "It is one of my mom's inventions. It is a potion that counters the effect of prolonged malnutrition. She does not plan to publish this as one of the ingredients of this potion is the elixir of life." Tonks explained.
"Elixir of Life? But the Philosopher's stone has been destroyed, hasn't it?" Harry asked confused.
"What are you talking about? And how do you know about Philosophers stone and Elixir of life?"
Harry rolled his eyes and explained about his adventures during his first year. "Dumbledore told me that the stone has been destroyed and the Flammels will die soon. Or at least I assumed that they are dead."
"Of course they are alive and will live longer than all of us. Do you think that Uncle Nick has only created one stone? Agreed the things he had to are barbaric and I don't think he will ever do those things again to create another stone."
"What things?" Harry was curious now.
Tonks sighed. "I guess you are mature enough to understand. The process requires blood collected from 7 virgins and a dead human fetus." Tonks shuddered.
Harry was too shocked and did not realize that he was vocalizing his thoughts. "Did he rape those virgins?"
"Heavens No! Uncle Nick would never do that. He contacted several nuns in an abbey and they voluntarily donated their blood. I don't know the details about how they collected the blood though. They convinced the nuns that they were creating this stone for the Elixir so that they could cure many patients. They also collected a still-born human fetus from a muggle hospital. Aunt Nelle cannot have children because she sacrificed that ability to create the stone. They really don't want any riches or fame. That is why they live in seclusion."
Tonks then snapped out of the funk and clapped her hands. "Anyway! please take this before you go to bed. You may feel some pain as the cells will try to heal themselves. You should be a changed man tomorrow morning. I may drop in later to take you clothes shopping, but it depends on if I can find a good home soon."
Harry laughed and thanked Tonks. "Dora, thank you and your mother for this wonderful gift. I cannot let you go empty handed. So how about I make one of your wishes true? But I will need a witches oath to never reveal my secrets to anyone without my permission."
Tonks whipped out her wand and gave him a witches oath and also a loyalty oath. Harry smiled at her and morphed into her original beautiful body. Tonks was so shocked that she fainted. Harry called Winky and asked her to transport Tonks into a guest bedroom in the Den and Harry followed them.
As soon as Harry entered the Den, he heard violent cursing from the potions lab. It took him a minute to realize that the person cursing was Daphne. He had never heard the prim and proper girl speak such profanities. Harry thought that it was amusing and laughed out loud. Daphne gave him a cold stare that had the same temperature effect as the Dementors.
"If you know what those harlots did, you wouldn't be laughing!" Daphne declared and Harry gulped at being at the receiving end of this girl's temper. "The mother and daughter sent you a combination of a mild compulsion and love potion." Harry raised an eyebrow at the revelation. "Actually it was a very clever trick. They put one component in the cake and another in the sweets. Separately they are undetectable by screening charms. But when ingested together within a few hours, the potion forms in the blood and kicks in. I am so glad that Luna's charms on your contact lenses worked even with the potion components. I think it is time for all of us to use the contacts Luna gave us every day."
Harry nodded and said, "Why am I not surprised at the Weasleys? Hermione thinks that a similar trick was tried on her. Thank Merlin that she has a strong will and could resist the potion. You know what? This calls for a retaliation. I am going to prank them." Harry grinned maliciously as he took a piece of parchment and a pen.
Hi Ron,
I hope you are having fun in Romania. Thank you for your presents. I leafed through the book and it is really cool. I appreciate the T-shirt even though I am not really a Cannons fan. The team is fortunate to have found such a die hard fan.
Please thank your mom for the wonderful cake. It was delicious and it was the first time I cut a cake in front of my aunt and cousin. Dudley was so impressed that he wolfed down all the sweets that Ginny had sent me. I guess he must have been sugar deprived for a long time. Please do thank Ginny on my behalf. I think my cousin is coming around the whole magic issue. He kept asking me about magic, Dumbledore and umm... your family.
The muggles have been treating me fairly well and I am glad to have stayed back this summer. I hope that the wards will be at its strongest to keep out the Death eaters until next summer. How was your vacation? Did you have fun?
Harry Potter
"How is that?" Harry grinned. "Pure genius!" Hermione who read the letter cackled an evil laugh. "Suits them right for what they did to us both. My only question is, Do we trust Ron? I am glad you hinted that Ron needs to think of the other person while choosing a present, but he is too thick headed to get the idea."
"On a different note, Dora has invited me for a vacation. I think we should all go. What do you all say?" Harry asked. All four witches squealed and nodded their heads. "Any suggestions as to where we go?"
"Paris", "Rome", "China", "Brazil", "India", "Disneyland, Florida"
Harry sighed. "The only city I have visited is London. I really wish we could take a whole year off and travel. I have never been to the water and we live on an island. Hermione, how long can we realistically take off? What else do we need to accomplish?"
"We can afford to take 3-4 days off." She whipped out her wand and conjured a parchment and a muggle pen. The pen then automatically started writing out a list. "Here is the list of things we need to do." Everyone looked at her in awe and gave her a standing ovation. "How did you do that? I mean, how did the pen write the list for you?"
Hermione had a smug expression on her face. "Well, I conjured the parchment and pen the normal way. Then I did a wandless and wordless spell that wrote down whatever I was thinking in my mind. It only works if you concentrate real hard or if you are an accomplished occlumens. As I already had a list of to-do things, all I had to tell the pen was to copy my mental list on the conjured parchment. Simple!"
"You know what this means Hermione? We write our essays mentally and use this spell to write it on paper. Do you know how much time it will save us?" Harry asked excitedly. "It is even better than a dicta-quill. You don't have to speak it out."
Harry scanned through the huge list. "I knew we had a lot of things to do, but never realized there were so many. But I still think we can take 3-4 days off. How about we mix business with pleasure and visit India? I need to create a portal for the centaurs in the forest there."
"I have never been so far east! I wonder if everyone in India speaks Sanskrit." Hermione commented.
"We could invite Padma and Parvati Patil with us. They could be our guides." Luna said dreamily.
"Well, that gives you an opportunity to apologize for the fiasco during the Yule ball, Harry", Daphne said coldly daring him to disagree with her. Harry gulped and nodded.
"I don't care who is coming! I want to go to a beach and get a muggle tan! I bet a couple of days in the tropical sun should be enough for a good tan. I want to have beautiful skin like the Patil twins." Susan giggled. "I wish the muggle bikinis didn't leave tan lines."
"You want to walk around a muggle beach almost naked?" Having primarily lived a sheltered, Victorian life in the wizarding world, Daphne had a difficult time understanding muggle culture and their fascination with tanning. Susan grinned and nodded. "It will be fun! You will see!"
"I guess I can invite them for lunch. How about we meet at this new muggle restaurant that my mom told me about. It is an Italian restaurant called 'The starry night'." Hermione the organizer asked. Harry nodded. "We could probably fund a boutique on Magic Alley if Lavender and Parvati are interested. They should be able to start their business by the 15th of August and we are not expecting the new muggleborn crowd to come in before that date anyway. Also, it would help us get rid of some of the Acromantula silk."
Before anyone could reply, they heard a voice. "Harry! What is going on here? Where am I?"
"Hi Dora! Don't freak out. We need to tell you a lot of things. It is a long story." Tonks eyed the four witches and made herself comfortable in the couch. "You better! Its a good thing that I like long stories." With that, Harry explained all the salient things in his past.
"WOW! Four wives huh? I pity you!" Tonks sniggered. "At last! Someone who understands what I have to put up with! Thank you Dora." Harry jumped into the seat next to her, hugged her and kissed her forehead. Tonks pushed him away and said, "Gerroff! Whoever said I don't support your wives little bro?" Tonks winked at the witches and introduced herself to them. After a few hours of Harry-teasing, the witches all settled down for lunch.
"Harry, what will be my role? What do you want me to do?" Tonks asked seriously. "I thought I was going to make a difference when I joined the Order, but I realized what a mistake it was. I see that you are on the right track and you need more people to help you manage everything. When you go to Hogwarts, someone else will have to take care of what needs to be done. So I suggest that you actively recruit your team. Think of it like a mission or a series of them with specific goals. You can't do things as the tide goes." Harry realized that Tonks must have done a 'strategic thinking' course during her Auror training.
"Dora, could you teach either Defense or Transfiguration at Hogwarts? I know that we will need more teachers this year onwards. I am hoping that you will convince Charlie to come and teach too. I could help arrange a multi-trip portkey to Romania for him, if he wishes to spend 2-3 days of a week there."
Tonks brightened on hearing the idea. "That's a lovely idea Harry. Do you mind if I invite my friend Aurora along on our trip to India? She would love to visit there. Every time she talks about India, she talks about the number zero."
Hermione perked up on hearing that. "Is she interested in Arithmancy? You do know that the concept of zero was invented by ancient Indians?"
Tonks laughed. "Of course she loves Arithmancy, Hermione! You know her as Ms. Septima Aurora Vector. Did you know that she wears glamours so she looks older? She is actually my classmate." Tonks winked.
"As long as she signs a secrecy oath, I am fine with her coming along." Harry said.