Here's the newest chapter for the "Harry Potter: the Serpent Lord", enjoy!

* Review response:
Akuma-Heika, god of all, Zarosian Chaos, DoctorWho41, AlsoKnownAsMatt, Nanashi113, JPElles, fragglemaster, thank you for your reviews, folks!
Master Procrastinator, Key to Chaos, The Sinful, Blood Brandy, Evil-Overlord, Follower38, Zeetthegreat, Shinku Ryuuga, Korraganitar the NightShadow, Befread, heh, guys, I know, the 'improper' version's only fault was it's un-realisticness, but the problem with it was that I didn't really like the chapter myself. Not that the original edition of the 'proper' version was much better... Anyway, after some thinking I decided that the lemon from the 'improper' version can be reused. If anybody still has it somewhere (browser cash?), can you, please, send it back to me? It should fit into 8k characters of the PM. I'll be very grateful.
Shadow's Blades, Penseln, I wouldn't say that Katie was too harsh in the 'proper' version. Yes, she was holding grudge for quite some time, but she wasn't going out of her way to make his life hell. Angelina and Alicia... yeah, I went a bit overboard with the violence coming form them. But that is kinda fixed now.
Hoffindor, sorry, not a citrus season out there. =) There might be one in about 3-5 chapters, though.
random fanfic reader, I'm not even sure what to say here... Thanks for the review? Same goes to N Flamel.
inuboy86, it will happen indirectly anyway. But we all should stop being hormonal teenagers and remember that polygamy is not really accepted in the world.
OverPowered (not sure what goes on over here, but the built-in editor eats up first half of your correct penname. Sorry, man), correction: 20 in right arm alone. Other broken bones are only indirectly implied. But, yeah, that is sure as hell is painful.

Author's Note: Do note that I made another revision of the 42nd chapter. Now the violence in it is tuned to the acceptable levels.

* Disclaimer: I DO NOT own "Harry Potter" and its characters in any shape or form.

"human speech"
"wraith speech"
'human thoughts'
"powered speech / true prophecies by the seer"
"spells / parseltongue"

This chapter is not beta-read yet.

chapter 43: Grimm meeting

Harry Potter wasn't the only one who was feeling bad about that hour of intimacy he spent with Draconica. The blond witch herself, once she had heard what had happened to the object of her affection because of that, began regretting giving in to her urges... Of course, being a Slytherin she just couldn't show this weakness of hers to others, so only those really close to her knew that she was feeling awful about what she had done: after all, she might have as well destroyed his (and not only his, actually) life.

And she just couldn't find it in herself to approach the young Potter to tell him that for whatever it was worth, she was sorry... Instead, she actually became distant from him once again, which only made it worse for him. Yet, from what Draconica could observe, while Harry was very angry with her, it wasn't all over between them because of what had happened, even if it was entirely her fault. And this was making the blond witch feel a little better, yet so much worse as she felt that she didn't deserve him, not anymore...

Eventually, though, her friends – Daphne, Tracey and even Astoria – made it clear to her that, even if it meant that she'll have to overcome herself, she really should show it to the young lord Potter that she cared about what had happened to him if she wanted to save whatever was left from their 'relationship'.

It still took Draconica a couple of days after that to finally approach Harry, which happened on Friday afternoon, several hours before their Astronomy lesson. At this time the green-eyed wizard was doing some research in the library, and the Malfoy heiress used this to her advantage as her talk with him absolutely most definitely must be a private one.

"Harry?" She said as she 'cornered' the young Potter in a path between two huge bookshelves. He, of course, looked up from the back of the tome he had in his hands and frowned when he saw that it was her. The blond witch could see that she wasn't exactly welcomed by him at the moment, but she didn't let it stop her.

"What?" Harry asked, while looking pointedly at the girl, trying to make it clear to her that he was pretty angry with her at the moment. And while he could see that she got the message, she didn't leave.

"Harry... I know that the things didn't turn out as well as I have hoped, and you were hurt so much by my impulsiveness and inability to completely control my own urges, but... For all that it is worth, I'm sorry." The blond witch said quietly. "Please, don't hate me." She pleaded, making the young Potter sigh deeply.

"Listen, Draconica.. You're right there, and that night had cost me greatly, and, to be honest, I'm not sure if it will ever be the same between us... And as much as I want to hate you so much for what you've caused and blame you for what had happened, I can't: I myself is at fault there as much as you are... But, still, for now, I'm really very angry with you." He said, while looking into her eyes... His words, though, had an effect that he didn't expect:

"Thank you!" Instead of backing away and leaving, the Malfoy girl tried to hug him. He didn't let her do that, stopping her with his outstretched hand, causing the blond witch to cock her head to the side and pout at him cutely.

"No, don't. Not now, you've lost your right for things like this for now." Draconica sighed, stepping away from him, suddenly appearing so small and defenseless. A moment later, though, she her her usual cold and slightly aloof mask back on.

"Still, I thank you for your kindness, Harry." Were her words, before she walked away, leaving the green-eyed wizard in question alone with the books he was browsing for whatever information he needed...

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Sunday that week was the second Hogsmeade weekend of this school year. And also it was the day when the trio of Gryffindor vixens planned to make Harry sponsor their shopping as the payment for his misdeeds – something that the young Potter had agreed to in hopes to salvage at least some of their friendship...

Like always, he woke up early that day, and like always, once he had finished with his morning rituals, he went down to the common room to do some morning reading. He really hoped that this tome on the Ancient Runes might contain some information, even if just as references, that will help him deal with Voldemort, when the dark wizards finally regains his body – the young wizard had no doubts about this happening eventually, and he wanted to be ready for this, when it happens: no matter what Dumbledore was saying about Ronald being the chosen one, Harry knew that he would be near the very top of Voldemort's to-kill list... The darker thoughts aside, the tome he had picked proved to be quite an interesting reading: not only it contained information about some dialects of the runic languages they were taught in the class, but some interesting techniques for rune-carving were also presented there...

At about half past nine in morning, when Harry himself was about to head to the Great hall for some breakfast, the youngest of the Weasley sons decided that it was time for him to wake up and go eat. What had attracted the green-eyed wizard's attention, though, was Scabbers, Ron's rat. Normally the lazy rodent spent its days up there in the dorm, but today its owner decided that it should go to Hogsmeade with him – something the rat didn't appear to like very much, as it was trying to do its best to escape Ron and run back to the dorms.

Chuckling at the antics of the rat, the young Potter went upstairs himself to put the tome he was reading before now into his trunk, before heading down to Great hall – it really was time for him to have some breakfast if he didn't want to anger the vixens by making them wait for him.

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As it turned out, Harry had greatly underestimated the enthusiasm of the Gryffindor chasers when it came to shopping. Especially when they weren't the ones who were paying. The young Potter was actually beginning to have second thoughts about letting the girls spend his (in this case, actually hard-earned in the battle with the basilisk) galleons, even if it meant that he'll have to go through another round of being the target their vengeance.

Thankfully, the vixens' shopping spree was interrupted by the clock on the local prefecture tower striking one: the girls decided that it was time for them go and grab some lunch. Harry, of course, was paying for the expenses. So, chaser the trio proceeded to drag the young lord Potter (who was very thankful to inventor of the shrinking charm, as, otherwise, he would be looking like a mule with all of the girls' packages he had to carry) to the 'Three broomsticks'...

Just as the quartet settled down at one of the tables in the pub – it was actually quite surprising that they managed to get it, considering how busy the pub was during the 'Hogsmeade weekends' of the Hogwarts students – when a brown-haired witch in official robes, approached Harry.

"Mr. Potter? Can I have a minute of your time?" Ignoring the glares all three of the girls were giving him, Harry nodded.

"Of course, Ms. Summers. I take it Ms. Bridget has something really important for me? So far she was just sending me owls with the reports on her progress." Ms. Summers nodded, but, despite the invitation to seat at an empty chair at the table, remained standing.

"Who's this?" Angelina asked Harry, while alternatively glaring at him and at the older witch. The other two vixens were doing the same, but neither the young Potter, nor Ms. Summers didn't seem to be affected by this.

"This is miss Summers, my barrister's assistant." The only wizard at the table replied, before turning his attention back to the older witch. "So, what does Ms. Bridget have for me? If it's nothing too personal, you can talk it out aloud." The witch nodded and detached some documents from her clipboard (apparently, the entire firm and not just Violet were using this muggle invention).

"Very well." She said. "First of all, Ms. Bridget has finished compiling the documents for Regulus' case and, if nothing extraordinary happens during Wizengamot's next session, it will be presented there by Herr Schmidt this next Tuesday. Ms. Bridget is quite sure that your proposal about awarding Regulus Arcturus Black an order of Merlin postmortem will be approved." Harry nodded as he took the copy of the document. While it took Violet quite some time to compile it, he had no doubt that it was done as good as it was possible.

"And what about Sirius Black? It has been more than four months since I asked for his trial record. Violet has owled me that she had troubles finding it, but that was at the end of October." The young lord Potter asked.

"Apparently, Mr. Black either wasn't given a trial at all, or this particular record wasn't filed into the archives, as Ms. Bridget could not find it in there. She has forwarded this to madam Bones, to see if she as the head of the DMLE can do something about this." The green-eyed wizard nodded: knowing firsthand how corrupt the Ministry was, he wouldn't be too surprised if they decided to throw someone into Azkaban without a trial if this suited them.

"Very well. And, finally, is there some progress with collecting information about my greatest target?" Harry asked cryptically, not wanting the vixens to know that he and his barrister were working on compiling a case against Dumbledore. And while the Gryffindor chasers didn't really get what he was asking, Ms. Summers did – Violet must have had briefed her about what she was doing for him.

"Yes, there is something new." Ms. Summers said, before handing Harry a rather thick pile of documents. "This is what she has at the moment." The young Potter nodded.

"Thank you. Are the rates still the same?" He asked and, upon the older witch's nod, he handed her ten galleons.

"Thank you, Mr. Potter." She said, accepting the money. "Have a nice day." And, after giving him a light bow, she walked away – it was actually considered a bad tone to apparate either to or from inside the house, unless it was the Ministry building or Gringotts bank or a similar public place.

"Harry, you're hiring 'Carter, Bridget & Ashford' as your barristers?" Katie asked, a bit surprised: she had heard some hearsay about this firm and knew that they weren't cheap. The green-eyed wizard just shrugged.

"Yeah, and they're doing their job well." He said in a tone that made it rather clear to the girls that he was not up to the talks about law or politics at the moment... Plus they all were hungry at the moment and there were delicious lunches in front of them, so the talks (about anything) could wait for now.

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It was an early afternoon, and Sirius Black, in his animagus form of course, was walking around the Hogsmeade village, looking for his target. He really hoped that the rat would be here today for him to capture it. Outing the traitor was the most important thing to the Azkaban escapee as not only this will give him a chance to regain his freedom, but it will also protect his godson from the disguised Death Eater.

Speaking of his godson... Sirius had seen Harry being dragged around the village's shops by three witches, who appeared to have him wrapped around their fingers. Not that Sirius felt bad for him about this: he himself wouldn't mind being in the company of three young nubile and sexy as hell beauties...

But cheering for his godson for living his dream could wait, as he had more important things to do at the moment: namely, he had to find that Weasley kid – Ronald, he though, was his name – to get the rat from him. And that would not be an easy task. Especially with the crap that Dumbledore had pulled out of his old wrinkly arse this summer. Honestly, was the wizarding world going more crazy with each year?

No, sure, Sirius knew he was not very sane, especially after all those years he had spent in the company of dementors, but it seemed to him that Dumbledore was completely off his beam: what was it with him suddenly announcing the Weasley kid as the second coming of Merlin? Even if he was right about his, why was he telling everyone this now and not when the darker elements were dealt with? Anyway, Dumbledore's stupidity was not what he should be concentrating on either, so Sirius continued walking around the village, trying to catch the reek of that traitorous rat that Peter Pettigrew was.

Thankfully, even his little vacation at the island of Azkaban hadn't taken away the natural gifts of his animagus form, so it didn't take Sirius too much time to finally sniff his target's trail. Finding the appropriate time and place for the attack was much harder: he just couldn't attack the rat when there were too many people around – he might not be able to leave that place alive in this case... And he still had so many things to do before dying. Preferably from sex overdose while being surrounded by a horde of lovely veela...

Anyway, soon his patience was rewarded, and Ronald Weasley, along with two boy of about his age, whom Sirius didn't know, went to see Mooney's old hiding place, which also happened to be the infamous Shrieking Shack.

"Why is everyone afraid of this old building?" Ron asked no one in particular. "I'm sure that the ghosts that inhabit it are just little pussies that I'll have no troubles in scarring off." Suddenly he felt Scabbers in his chest-pocket trying to wring his way to freedom, which was a very unusual behavior for the normally extremely lazy rat. "What's wrong, Scabbers?" The youngest Weasley male asked his pet. Which, of course, didn't answer.

The answer, though, came a minute later in the form of a bear-sized black dog with slightly glowing yellow eyes. And this dog was attacking him... Before Ron could even think about trying to reach for his wand, the Grimm-like dog jumped on him, sending him onto the ground. Then this dog opened its mouth, filled with sharp teeth and tried to bite his heart off (at least Ron thought it to be like that, as he had fainted a moment later). The dog, though, went specifically after the contents of his chest pocket – namely, after Scabbers – but the rat managed to escape his pocket before the dog's maw closed around him.

Spitting out the awfully-tasting piece of cloth, the dog ran after the escaping rat with loud barking, while completely losing all of its interest in the young teens... Seeing that the danger has passed for the moment, Ron's two friends picked him up and hurried back to the castle and the hospital wing there (even if the worst that the Weasley kid got was a scare and a couple of bruises from being thrown onto the hard ground).

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While this Hogsmeade visit cost him quite a lot – the girls sure weren't going easy on his wallet – Harry still thought that it was worse the money he has spent: after all it now looked like his relationship with the vixen was more or less repaired. Hopefully, to the level it was at when he had just joined the Gryffindor quidditch team.

His train thoughts was interrupted interrupted, though, when the incredibly great chosen one of the wizarding Britain began telling his version of his encounter with the big wild dog. Something that Harry knew was not true as he (and the vixens with whom he was) had seen the whole thing from afar. And he was sure as hell that there was no heroic fight in which Ron managed to scare off a great beast...

But after a moment of thinking he decided that butting in would not be worth it, so he just tuned the 'story' off and returned to his light reading and thinking about the ways to further repair his friendship with the Gryffindor chasers... Though, this reminded him that he was yet to look through the documents the Violet had sent him. But, on the second thought... It was too late tonight for something this serious and he just didn't feel like it at the moment, so he decided to postpone dealing with those till tomorrow...

That's all, folks!
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