Chapter 38 - Winners and Losers
Arriving at what appeared to be a deserted stretch of misty moor, Harry instinctively attempted to enhance his sight to pierce the shroud but to little avail. The area was clear except for the pair of tired and grumpy wizards in front of them, one of them holding a large gold watch, the other a thick roll of parchment and quill. Some token effort had been made to fit in, but it was clear they had no understanding how to dress to walk around regular English people. The man with the pocket watch wore a tweed suit and thigh-length galoshes, while his companion had on a kilt and a poncho.
Auror Chapman who had brought them groaned and under his breath muttered, "Merlin, I don't know why I bother sometimes." He plastered on a professional expression and approached. "Harry Potter and guests."
Instinctively both wizards looked at Harry's forehead despite the newspaper photos over the years. Each photo had shown Harry without the distinctive scar Dumbledore inflicted on a baby but many in their small world still expected it to be there. When Harry glared at them for their rude behaviour, the one with the watch looked sheepish.
"Sorry, Mr Potter."
His companion consulted his list quickly, not willing to meet the boy's eyes, searching for the entry so he could get out of the situation soonest. "Ah, here we go, 'Potter and guests', that's the one. Over to the left about half a mile, just follow the path please and remember no magic use in front of the Muggles." That last was clearly an oft-repeated request given in the long-suffering tones of one who has had too much experience of people too foolish to remember the single most important law they had.
Taking the indicated path, the Auror led their party on a twenty minute walk to a modest brick cottage where a farmer was waiting. From his clothes and the way he was looking out over the sea of tents, it was obvious he was the owner and curious about his outlandish guests.
"Morning!" their escort called ahead politely.
"Morning." The farmer watched them casually.
"Would you be Mr Robards?"
"Aye I would, and who would you be?"
"Ah, I'm here with the Potter party. We booked a couple weeks ago."
"Aye. So you did, so you did. You've got a plot up by the wood down the back. Two nights, right?"
"Right," the Auror agreed.
"Awell, let's be seeing your money then." Mr Robards looked them over as he waited. Unlike the wizards at the Portkey site, Harry and his family and ladies were dressed in regular clothes. Fitting in wasn't a problem since that was what they wore normally. Each of his family and his Cranleigh ladies had kept hold of the hand of one of the magical members of their party, allowing them to bypass the anti-Muggle measures.
Now, Mr Robards was inclined to stare at the ladies among them, but only in the way that a man does when he sees a beautiful woman, rather than when seeing the Wizarding World in all its weirdness.
Hinata quickly passed the money for their stay to Mr Robards, receiving in exchange a single nod and a map of the campsite.
"Almost refreshing, it is, to have some normal guests again." Robards opined. "It's like there's some kind of rally of bleeding foreigners here. Some of them even tried to pay me with great gold coins the size of hubcaps, not ten minutes past. Ruddy weirdo's, the lot of them. There's this bloke walking around in a kilt and poncho, clear as day."
At that moment, a wizard in plus-fours Apparated in next to his front door. Before he could move, Naruto had Body Flickered forwards, stopping behind the man with a knife to his throat. "Put down the wand." Naruto growled in his ear. "Now." he added when the man failed to comply. The wizard dropped it in his haste and it was snatched up before it could hit the floor.
While Naruto dealt with the intruder, the Auror rolled his eyes at the farmer. "I know, but what can you do. At least we can count on some decent British food here."
With that, the farmer was mollified and the intruder had been taken around the back and out of sight. Once the party walked up to them, the Auror sighed. "Alright, you can let him go now, Mr Todd. I am sure he has learned his lesson about startling people. Haven't you, Auror Dawlish?"
The now-named wizard was pale and stepped away quickly once Naruto returned his knife to its hiding place. "How dare you-?" Dawlish was beginning to shout at Naruto.
"How dare he defend himself and his family from an unknown and presumably hostile wizard? Maybe you need another lesson, after all." Their escort walked right up to Dawlish, glaring. "You turned up completely without warning rather than coming in plain view as per standing orders. Orders drawn up with this type of thing in mind to save our lives. You jumped in to do what, exactly?"
"I Apparated in because of the necessity to protect the Statute of Secrecy!" Dawlish was getting louder again before Chapman again cut him off.
"So you performed magic twice in front of a Muggle to 'protect' the Statute," he summarised coldly and quieter than Dawlish, "and now you're shouting out that we have a Statute of Secrecy when for all you know, that same Muggle could hear you. While I am noting your own breaches of the law, do you have some explanation for your actions?"
"I was going to Obliviate him again so he didn't remember any of it, naturally, Chapman. I am not an idiot." Dawlish protested angrily.
Auror Chapman looked to Harry's party, then back at Dawlish. "Return to your post, Dawlish. I will come see you once I have escorted these people to their campsite. Go."
Dawlish looked about to refuse when he caught sight of just who Chapman had been escorting, including the Boy-Who-Lived. "As soon as I have my wand back."
Naruto shook his head. "I will not arm someone whom I do not trust who could harm my son. You're not welcome around us. Go."
While Dawlish clearly wanted to get his wand back, he knew that he couldn't force the issue in front of the other Auror. Angry but unable to think of a way to turn the situation around in his favour, Dawlish turned on the spot and disappeared with a Pop.
Chapman turned to his party. "I apologise for that display, Mr Todd, Mrs Todd's, Mr Potter and guests. I especially regret the way his behaviour may have harmed your trust in the Auror Corps." Auror Chapman was used to wizards having a number of different names. In a way, the way that Kitsune Clan were also known by Todd, Fox and Uzumaki made him more comfortable with these people. They were no stranger than the Black family.
Harry waved it away. "We understand it is not your fault, sir. We know you did your best. As for the farmer, he didn't see or hear a thing that you'll need to fix. We helped out on that front."
"You have my thanks, Mr Potter. Now, let's get you to your friends quickly, shall we?" Chapman gave an ironic smile.
The party made their way without further incident to the their designated place and quickly set up their tents. They had made the decision to buy a few wizarding tents both for their comfort and for the opportunity to study them afterwards. After Auror Chapman had checked in with the other Aurors on duty, he bade goodbye to Harry and his party, thanking them for the offer to come by later if he wanted.
The Auror Apparated into the field command post set up on orders of Madam Bones, looking to report to his boss about the incidents as she would be furious enough over the affair without making it look like he had tried to cover it up at all.
He found her getting an extra-large coffee, unsurprised since he knew that there was a lot of extra work thanks to the Cup.
"Madam Bones, I have just finished escorting Mr Potter and party to their friends as directed."
"Very good, how did it go?"
Chapman winced, unable to stop himself.
"Let me rephrase my question. What in Merlin's name went wrong with such a simple duty, Auror Chapman?" Bones demanded.
"Well, Ma'am, I met them on schedule and we took the Portkey without any problems. When we arrived, the two wizards on duty were tired and somewhat grumpy."
"To be expected. Some idiot scheduled them for an eighteen hour shift." Bones put in.
"Ah, anyway they heard Harry's name and looked for that stupid scar, which isn't the kind of impression I'd want to leave, and they completely failed to dress right. Any Muggle could take one look and know they weren't normal. Still, we got our directions easy enough, walked to Robards' place and the old farmer started talking about how there are a lot of us here and the wizards and witches have been behaving oddly. As per your instructions, I was able to divert his suspicions fairly simply, and the man seemed more concerned with making sure we paid than any odd behaviour as long as we were polite to him.
"The problem was that Auror Dawlish Apparated in with his wand drawn and pointed vaguely in our direction. Mr Todd didn't take kindly to that and moved behind Dawlish, putting a knife to his throat and demanding quietly that he put down his wand.
"After being taken around back by Mr Todd, I asked him to let Dawlish go, who proceeded to shout at him for his actions. He didn't understand that he had just violated standing orders thus precipitating the situation.
"On questioning, Dawlish was starting to shout out about the Statute of Secrecy, thus adding a third violation on top of Apparating near and then drawing a wand on a Muggle. His defence, such as it was, was that he intended to Obliviate the farmer which would have covered up everything. Since I had already taken care of the man's concerns and removed any need for the Obliviate Dawlish arrived to perform, I allowed Mr Todd to retain possession of Dawlish's wand until I could take the time to return it to him."
"Do you have his wand on you now?" Bones checked.
"Yes, Madam Bones. Here it is." He pulled it slowly from his robes and passed it over handle first.
"Alright. It looks like someone is in even deeper trouble than if he had come to me himself. I would rather not put an Auror on trial for breaking the Statute, you understand. I will make sure Dawlish understands that, too, as well as my deep displeasure."
Chapman nodded seriously, doing his best not to sigh in relief. He grabbed a cup of coffee himself, aware this was going to be another long day, and made himself scarce before Madam Bones found the soon-to-be pitied Dawlish.
Unfortunately for Dawlish, Madam Bones had to look around for him, allowing her to build up a bigger head of steam, and she put up some one-way silencing spells around them before ripping into him, concluding, "It's only because I don't want the Department to suffer for your idiocy that I am reluctant to put you through the full, public trial that your crimes have earned. Thankfully, in cases where the incident has already been fixed like this one, thanks to Auror Chapman, I have some leeway in how I handle the matter.
"If you agree to plead guilty, the matter can be handled by the Director of the DMLE without outside interference. Of course, that means you will be paying a five hundred Galleon fine, which can be taken out of your pay if your savings are insufficient, and be placed on probation for three months for good behaviour."
Thoroughly cowed by now, and aware of just how deep he was in, Dawlish nodded hastily.
"Good, if you had made even the slightest protest, it would have been five hundred for each of your three violations."
Dawlish paled and bowed. "Thank you, Madam Bones!"
Harry was able to put the matter out of his mind, getting into the spirit of the day and having fun with his friends. They looked at various stalls, spoke to new people from all over the world, and enjoyed the variety of foods, sights and people on offer.
One of the stranger sources of variety was in the tents people were using, including putting chimneys and weathervanes up, though the more outlandish ones made most people take a second look. There was one that looked like a miniature palace in striped silk with live peacocks tethered at the entrance, and just down the row was a tent with three floors and several turrets.
"And these people are in command of reality-warping magic." Meaghan muttered in disgust with the other Muggle-raised agreeing quietly.
Susan tried to cheer her up. "At least they aren't boring?"
"I'm just glad that our area is saner than that." Harry chuckled. "Some of these are fun to look at, but can you imagine how inconvenient they would be to use? I'd only do something like this for a prank."
The lunch was an extravagant affair as befitting the Boy-Who-Was-Hyphenated, with Harry confined to shaking hands and greeting people for nearly an hour before everyone was seated. Happily for his sanity, the duty was taken by a clone while the boy in question was in the kitchen, preparing the finishing touches for the meals for his ladies and thanking his parents that he could escape all that and do something he loved.
With Harry at the main table, and their friends and allies around them, they made quite a crowd. At Naruto's signal, Harry stood up and thanked them all for coming, expressed his hopes for a good game for them all to enjoy and wished them all a good time. He used a lot more words in his speech than that, but it was only a few minutes and then they got down to eating.
After lunch, Harry got to talk with a number of those allies as well as some of the workers at the Foundation, getting to hear their perspectives and working to maintain those relationships. While he was still only fourteen, his position as titular head of the company and alliance meant that he was also at the centre of a lot of politics.
Still, it wasn't all business and no pleasure. As the afternoon wore on, his ladies had managed to slip out from the grand marquee to a private area the Clan had set up for some peace and quiet. It wasn't the only one, either, and the party was breaking up into groups no larger than fifty. There, with his ladies, Harry could relax and he smiled as he cuddled with them.
By dusk, with the time running out before the match, excitement was mounting higher and higher for the crowd. Salesmen were taking advantage of their mood to shift merchandise that they could never sell at any saner moment. One item caught Harry's attention, though.
"Omnioculars!" the wizard called eagerly. "You can replay action, slow everything down, they flash up a play-by-play breakdown if you need it! A bargain at only ten Galleons each!"
A quick word to his parents and he was asking his friends if any of them were interested. He picked up a dozen pairs in the end, making the salesman happy, though not so happy as he would have been if he had known he had sold to the Boy-Who-Lived. Still, the single sale had put him into the black for the month, and he threw in an expanded bag to carry them all.
Hermione and Cho had gone to grab programs, while Parvati was looking at the posters near the Bulgarian section.
"Who is that scowling boy?" Luna asked her.
"That's Krum, he's the Seeker for the Bulgarian team. He's still in school, too, I hear, despite being on the national team." Padma supplied off-hand.
"Oh." Luna replied, turning away. "He's no Harry, though. Blinking and scowling seems to be the limit of his expression."
Parvati sighed, it was true enough. So many posters around and so little personality.
Just then a deep, booming gong sounded and lanterns came on lighting a path to the stadium. Its gold walls were large enough to impress even the most jaded wizard but Harry couldn't help scratching one wall with a kunai. "Thought so," he told the others who looked on, "just paint." A quick bit of work and the wall looked just as it did before.
They lined up and were directed to their seats on the halfway point between the goals. There had been some discussion on whether or not to get a private box for themselves. In the end, the advantages outweighed the cost in money and in the potential bad publicity. As expected, while his parents were in the box to their left, here and in a box to the right they had the room for Harry's ladies and all their friends who were coming. Interconnecting doors had been put in, as well as high quality wards to keep out the weather and most of the noise so they could talk to each other at less than a bellow while watching the game in crystal clarity.
The game was preceded by advertising, just like at the FA Cup, and then the team mascots were announced.
"And now, without further ado, allow me to introduce - the Bulgarian National Team Mascots!" thundered the amplified voice of Ludo Bagman, Head of Magical Sports and Games.
A hundred beautiful women glided out onto the field, their skin shining moon-bright, their white-gold hair fanning out behind them and the music started. Harry felt a tugging at his mental defences and instinctively slammed them on full, noticing that the women didn't seem so supernaturally beautiful any longer. Even without the magical assistance, they were all stunning, every one of them.
Harry noticed that he wasn't the only one to have been caught out. Looking around, he saw that his ladies were breathing harder and his Hufflegirls in particular were flushed and attentive to the beautiful women down below. His male friends were having a much harder time of it. Justin and Wayne were sitting on their hands, forcing themselves to stay in their seats, and Roger was staring in rapture at the women.
"So what are they supposed to be?" Harry's clear voice brought them out of their trance, some blushing at being caught out like that.
"They must be Veela, I think." Cho answered uncertainly. "At least, that's the best guess I can think of. They do something that makes wizards drawn to them, and they have that white-gold hair."
"Look, there's Ron, Dad's having to pull him back from jumping out of the box!" Ginny cried and pointed out the redhead who indeed was half over the edge of the front of the box. If he was lucky, Ron's girlfriend wouldn't hear about this. If he was really lucky, it wouldn't cost him too much to keep his family quiet, either.
When they looked back, the Veelas were performing a beautiful, intricate dance that drew in the eye. Now aware, Harry and his friends were able to resist the other effects.
The Irish Mascots were leprechauns who arrived in a large cloud resembling a green and gold comet. As they flew over the crowd, they dropped a rain of heavy gold coins, prompting a hostile glare from the Clan for their reckless behaviour. Not only were the coins liable to injure the crowd, they were already fighting over the money.
"Doesn't leprechaun gold vanish in the morning?" Hermione asked, remembering the myths.
"Oh, of course!" Ernest MacMillan chirped.
"So they're literally fighting over nothing." Lavender was disgusted, mostly with herself for forgetting that fact just like rest of the crowd.
The teams were called onto the field, the match begun at last, and they watched Quidditch at the highest level. The Irish Chasers lived up to their billing, throwing to one another with the smooth cooperation you only get from true professionals, and racing to an early lead. For the Seeker duel, Krum had clearly intimidated his opposite number, keeping the initiative and using it to force Lynch to follow him around.
Down on the ground, the Veelas and Leprechauns were having their own contest, but up in the air, the players from both teams were giving the crowd a sensational show. While the rest of the Bulgarian team failed to stop the Irish from racing ahead further, Krum and Lynch were giving a demonstration of high-speed manoeuvres and bravery, or insanity as Hermione called it. Krum twice managed to get Lynch to ram the ground following him, possibly aided by the Veela magic making the Irish Seeker more foolhardy.
It was not enough to secure the victory, however. The Irish Chasers racked up a commanding lead of two hundred before either Seeker spotted the Snitch. Krum beat his rival to the golden ball but Ireland took the Cup.
Harry and his friends didn't much care who won, though they would admit to a slight preference for Ireland since they were closer to being the home team, even if they were Irish.
Either way, it was the signal for the Irish supporters to start cheering loud enough to be heard miles away and their national anthem was played from all sides. The players descended to the ground and Harry noticed that Krum seemed much less coordinated on the ground. The Cup was presented to a triumphant Irish team who then performed a lap of honour around the stadium, and the crowd started to stream out of the stadium at last.
By the time that Harry's ladies and friends had made it out of the stadium from their seats up the top, the parties were already in full swing among the Irish contingent, including his yearmate Seamus Finnigan. For their part, the Clan were already back in their own smaller marquee with the parents of Harry's ladies. There they shared bottles of wine and brandy and beer and talked all about the game they had just watched as the alcohol flowed.
Daphne and Tracey had managed to convince the assembled adults that it was for the best if they didn't stay around while so much alcohol was on offer. Really, they should go celebrate elsewhere to avoid that temptation.
Their satisfied grins were all the indication the other girls needed to know that they had something else in mind. Their party, now down to just Harry and his ladies, headed to their own magical tent and started up the dance music. In the tent, Sophie closed the door behind them and pulled one of Harry's clones to her to start moving to the music.
Unknown to the girls, in their own tent the Clan and their guests had been drinking rather freely. While the Clan could make anyone sober up at any time, their guests had forgotten that option in their partying. Amelia Bones and Diana Wilkinson, both extremely drunk, stepped out for a breath of fresh air.
The warm, humid air did nothing to sober them up, however, and they wandered aimlessly for a couple of minutes. "You know, Diana, as the Head of the DMLE, it really is my duty to check in on them."
"On Harry?" Diana asked, thinking that it might be a good idea to see the fit young man again.
"Yes! On Harry. Oh, and his girls, I meant on them, before. It's my duty to make sure they are not going too far." Amelia was, as noted, drunk and her mind was wandering the same as Diana's.
As they made their slow way back to the right tent, weaving back and forth across the street, they heard the dance music and the strong rhythm called to them. Amelia opened the door and walked in with the exaggerated care that is common in certain drunk people who don't wish to be found out.
Diana was looking around the tent, bewildered. "I must be dreaming," she muttered, "though I don't remember including so many girls before."
Amelia couldn't take her eyes off what she was seeing, she kept watching speechless, even as one of Harry's clones closed the door behind her and guided her to take a seat. His hands worked her shoulders and Diana was guided to the seat next to her. Both of them watched with dry mouths, seeing the girls as the sexy young women they had become.
Amelia was shocked when someone started cheering them on, and even further shocked when she recognised that voice as her own. She automatically accepted the drink someone handed her, gulping down quickly whatever was handed to her, taste-buds nearly numbed to the alcohol. "Thanks, another please," she asked absently.
As she stared, she heard movement all around her. Now that it seemed clear they weren't in trouble, the other ladies started cuddling and kissing Harry again, the show starting to rekindle their own desires.
Mrs Wilkinson and Madam Bones just watched a little while before passing out at last, their drinking finally catching up to them. Daphne had a wicked smile on her face when she noticed that.
That was the last coherent thought any of the ladies had before they went to sleep themselves hours later. When they woke in the morning, Amelia and Diana were gone, returned by one of Harry's clones to their own tents and put to bed still wearing their party clothes and smelling of booze.
Breakfast that morning was a rather quiet affair for the adults, many nursing hangovers and glaring at the disgustingly cheerful Clan until Anko flat out asked them "Are you sure you don't want us to cure those?" She set off a rush of people taking the offers and some heartfelt thanks minutes later.
With that, however, it meant that Amelia and Diana were now free of the party's effects and had to decide what to do about the night before. Catching her eye, Amelia gathered up Diana and headed back to Harry's tent.
When they got there, the door was wide open to admit the cooler air and Harry and his ladies were sitting around a big breakfast table, no sign in sight of their activities the night before. The group were eating toast and drinking fruit juice when conversation stopped dead.
"Susan." Amelia stated, expecting her niece to follow her. The girl got up and headed to her room after her aunt to talk.
"Daphne." Diana followed up, inclining her own head to indicate she wanted the same.
Once in private, a series of spells cast to ensure it, Amelia sat down with Susan on her bed. Susan was already blushing and they hadn't even started talking.
"Now, Susan, we both know what you were doing last night." Amelia's voice was measured. "I have to say that while I didn't expect you two to start so soon, and never expected to watch him do that, over and over and over..." She shook herself out of her memories. "I only have two questions. Well, three. Firstly, are you using protection?"
Susan blushed further, "Yes, Aunt Amelia."
"I think you can call me Amelia after last night, Susan. Secondly, has he ever pushed you into anything?"
"Oh no, Amelia! He'd never-"
"I believe you. And lastly, was he really that good?"
Susan's jaw dropped and Amelia almost laughed. "Well, yes, he really is, I mean, he's always, I mean I've never failed to, errk!"
The pair talked more, Amelia teasing out details and dropping the barrier that had grown up between them, curious despite herself if Harry really did match up to the stories. It had been a long while for her since she last felt like a woman, but more important to her was getting to see Susan's true happiness shining through about Harry.
In their own room, Diana made a similar start to proceedings with privacy spells, before giving her niece a look.
Daphne rolled her eyes before she caught herself and blushed. "Yes, I know what you want to talk about. Yes, Harry has treated me like a princess. No, he has never hurt me. And no, I haven't told my parents. Obviously." She sighed.
"That's all very well, but there was one question you didn't answer."
"I'm sure there were several, Aunt Diana." Daphne returned.
"I suppose that is true. The one I had in mind was whether or not you have done anything with the other girls."
"What? Why that question?" Daphne was clearly surprised.
"You know what would happen if people found out what you did behind closed doors." Diana began, watching her.
"Yes, and that's why those doors are closed. Behind those doors, Harry and I will kiss and hug, and yes, make love to each other," her eyes glazed a little, remembering, "but he has never pushed or expected anything of me or the others that we did not offer. And while I know he loves to see two of his ladies kiss, the way it gets him hard is proof of that, he doesn't think any less of me that I haven't yet. And I love knowing he finds me sexy." Daphne cursed inside, why didn't she say 'won't' instead of 'haven't yet'?
Diana let her off the hook though. "Good, Daphne. You know I'm not going to tell any tales, not even to your parents, as long as I am confident that you are not in any danger. Besides, if I did tell anyone, I would have to confess to watching you without stopping you. And Merlin, watching that was hot!" This time it was Diana's turn to curse her slip of the tongue.
Daphne groaned and nodded. "It felt even better."
Diana smiled, "Ok, then, you're going to tell me everything. If I am going to have to keep it secret, it better be worthwhile."
Daphne gave an honest smile back. "He is. Just after Halloween, we heard from Hermione all the little details, how he paid attention to every inch of her body. We had already heard about his nine inch tongue, but she said his cock was even better! The way she was glowing with happiness at breakfast, I knew she was telling the truth, and I didn't want to wait any longer. Unfortunately, classes meant I had to wait..."
When there was no screaming, no angry recriminations or calls for help, Harry and his ladies relaxed a little. However, they let out a breath they didn't know they were holding half an hour later when Amelia and Diana returned with their missing members, all of them at ease and chatting together.
Amelia summed it up for them. "First of all, please don't get caught again. Second, we won't punish you because you didn't do anything wrong. Third, what's for breakfast?"
Over breakfast, Amelia and Diana overheard more details from last night that had become hazy from the alcohol, and they shared a look. 'Little' Harry Potter had truly become a man.
At another breakfast table in the collection of campgrounds used for the World Cup, a very different conversation was taking place.
Lucius Malfoy was explaining to his associates, again, why he had opposed making trouble. "You all know I have no love for the filth or those who shelter them. This year, there were over a thousand of the vermin at the Cup! As disgusting as they are, however, they still profit from the protection of Aurors.
"Madam Bones has made her position very clear, and even Fudge couldn't convince the foolish woman to step down security to the point that it would have been safe for an operation. With scores patrolling the edge of their infestation and so much filth on hand, there was no possible way for us to excise their canker on good society without it turning into a pitched battle.
"The training we have all undertaken to dust off our skills is still far from pleasing the Dark Lord. He would put us all under the Cruciatus if we had been so foolish as to weaken our strength and tip our hand so soon. And for what? Some trash we can clean up later without attacking a well-defended position? No. For all our sakes, we must be diligent and work to prepare for the day when we can cleanse all of Britain, not just a piece here and a piece there, of this infestation."
Looking out over nearly a hundred of his fellow wizards and witches, he saw his words were working, convincing most of the fence sitters, and praised again the enchanted silver bar under his tongue that had been handed down in the Malfoy family for generations from one Lord to the next. When activated, it cast a mild charm on anyone in earshot to find the speaker more convincing than they would otherwise. Lucius had often wondered if that old Muggle-lover had found another of the items, though he had never seen the telltale flash as Dumbledore was speaking.
"Malfoy's got a point." Yaxley put in reluctantly, playing his part perfectly. "The Dark Lord would never tolerate such insubordination. In the old days, you trained five hours a day on your spells or He would know it. A wizard would be lucky if he saw the green flash. The unlucky ones would survive to know his displeasure."
"I don't want to be the one he punishes for failure." Another called out, "I remember just how strong a Cruciatus he can cast. There isn't a one among you who would willingly face it twice."
Since it suited his plans, Malfoy and Yaxley nodded along, allowing the others to agree without losing face. Though it took a couple of hours, they sorted out a new schedule of meetings and training sessions.
While Lucius couldn't say he was pleased with the outcome, it wasn't as bad as it could have been.
After the Cup, there was still a lot of work to do to clean up the whole area. Some of it was contracted to the LPF in exchange for the title to more 'useless' land, while the Ministry first picked clean the camping area of valuables. As a result, Amelia Bones was still swamped with work a week later when it was nearly time to see her niece Susan off on the train back to Hogwarts for another year.
Since Susan, like Harry's other ladies, had now mastered the Shadow Clone and Amelia wouldn't have much time at home, Amelia had granted permission for Susan to stay with friends. She should have known that when she visited the Kitsune Compound the next night that she would find Susan there cuddled up to Harry before dinner.
It made her smile, seeing her little girl curled up in his arms, although seeing them together also reminded Amelia of another time she saw them together. She sighed, then reached down to wake up Susan. "Hello, dear. Fancy seeing you here."
"Well, you said I could stay with a friend, as long as I was invited, Auntie." Susan smiled and didn't make a move to get up, she was too comfortable.
"That is true," Amelia allowed, "I did, and it would be silly of me to criticise you for coming here when I did the same." Her eyes twinkled with mirth. "I did have some business to take care of, however, and I should get to it."
Amelia turned to the young man. "Harry, if you would be so kind as to show me somewhere private?"
"Of course, Amelia." Instantly, a clone arrived to lead her off. As soon as they were out of the room, Amelia stopped him.
"Actually, I was hoping for a massage. It has been a very long week."
"Of course, Amelia." He replied in a gentler tone and took her to the nearest massage table. Naruto's ladies being who they were, the home was well-stocked with such amenities in all sorts of places.
When they got there, Amelia removed her outer robe without even looking to make sure they were alone. She trusted her new sight, and Harry's habits, to take care of that.
Harry activated the privacy seals, incidentally blocking Amelia's new sight, and got the oil ready while she lay face down, eyes closed and already anticipating the bliss to come. She couldn't begrudge Harry's light laugh, not when he was the young man who knew just how badly she needed this, and had started to give it to her nice and deep. The first moan escaped, Amelia melting as Harry methodically worked at each and every one of the troublespots.
Later at the dinner table, it occurred to the woman that her moans sounded far too similar to the sounds of something else, but since Harry hadn't said anything, she was free to ignore the matter.
As their time away from school drew to a close, one of Harry's ladies was also remembering those moans, and the orgy that followed. Parvati was laying back in bed, her eyes closed and looking rather peaceful. Appearances were deceptive, she was teasing herself yet again.
"Damn it," she groaned, "this is the third time this morning. I can't deny it any longer. I want the real thing, and I am good and ready right now."
Grumbling to herself, Parvati got up and out of bed, heading out and knocking on her twin sister's door.
Half a minute later, Padma answered, looking flustered herself. "Yes, dear sister?" From the looks of it, Parvati had interrupted her, so she could forgive the sarcasm.
"Yes, it's time, sister. Would you ask Harry if he can visit me?" Parvati asked as nicely as she could. Merlin knew she didn't want to be interrupted, so it was best not to give her sister any nasty ideas.
Mollified, Padma nodded and returned to her bed, the door swinging to, and two seconds later, Parvati saw Harry in front of her, fully dressed and looking ready for anything.
"Oh sweet Morgana." She moaned and pulled him inside her room, locking the door behind her. Sure, her mind knew this was a clone, but it was still her Harry, and he was still the hottest guy she had ever seen.
She wrapped herself around him, kissing deeply and moaning, hands roaming and trying to get him out of those gorgeous clothes and into her bed. "You. Me. Now. Any questions? Didn't think so." She fell back onto her bed, pulling him on top and flinging his clothes away, then stopping cold when she moved to take off her own nightgown, blushing furiously.
Harry just smiled at her, kissing her cheek and helping her to relax before she resumed her movements, intent on making love to her man. She tensed up again once she was naked with him, and he guided her onto her front, kissing her shoulder and whispering "It's ok, Parvati."
He proceeded to give her a gentle massage, letting her get used to his hands on her skin, before she turned back over to look up at him, pulling him down onto her and kissing passionately. "Thank you!" and she kissed him again.
She needed to sleep after making love to Harry but made sure to thank him first. "I love you, Harry." She hummed, eyes already closed and sleep claiming her. Harry watched over her, supporting and holding her, until he nudged her awake nearly an hour later.
"What is it, Harry?" Parvati was still tired and sweaty and extremely comfortable.
"Lunchtime, Parvati. You'll need to put in an appearance and I believe you will want a shower first." Harry gave her a teasing smile, right hand gently running down her back, and she nodded sourly.
He carried her to the bathroom, helping to wash her before taking her back to her room and fixing up the bedroom while the girl got dressed, uncaring of her nudity now that they had made love.
"Thank you, Harry, for everything. You made it special, no, perfect for me." She hugged him tenderly and kissed his nose, giggling, then his lips again, reluctantly pulling away when she heard her father calling the twins for lunch. "Oh you made lunch, didn't you. That's how you knew it was lunchtime, of course."
At the table, Parvati gossipped with her twin, quietly enough that her parents couldn't hear, but both of them already knew what she had done with Harry. Since they had already had the "Can I trust you with my daughters" talk, there wasn't much left to say on the matter, and wouldn't be unless he somehow betrayed their trust in him.
While they wouldn't like to admit it, the Patils did allow their daughters more leeway because they approved of Harry and his power to protect their daughters. His wealth didn't hurt, either, as it meant his daughters would only work by choice, not by necessity, and could have a greater scope for happiness. That was their primary concern when it came to their daughters, to give them every advantage they could scrape up.
In the Kitsune Compound, another Gryffindor had come to a decision. "Gryffindors forward!" she told herself, then grinned impishly at her mirror. This one at least didn't talk back to her, unlike some magical ones, and that was good right now. The last thing she wanted was to hear what it might think of her choice.
She touched up her makeup with a quick jutsu, another thing to thank Harry for, then head out to lunch. She made sure to sit next to Hermione at the 'small' dining table, whispering to her her plan and receiving a quick nod and a giggle.
"You do realise I can hear every word you're saying, right, Sally-Anne?" Harry asked with a grin.
"Oh you'd never be so crass as to listen in to a lady's private conversation." She laughed back.
"Pity there are no ladies here." Hermione laughed too and winked at Harry.
"As it happens, I did choose not to listen, believing you were whispering for a reason, but it's a good habit to get into to expect that unless you're somewhere you know is private that anything you say can be overheard."
"Yes, Mr Ninja." Sally-Anne stuck out her tongue, then giggled. "If you're finished lunch, then maybe we shall enlighten you."
"Let's go." Harry stood up, both his ladies taking an arm as Hermione directed them to her bedroom. Harry gave each of them a kiss as they entered the room and then set up some privacy for them with a saucy grin.
Instead of kissing him when he was finished, Sally-Anne turned to Hermione and put her hands on each cheek, leaning in and kissing her, tentatively at first then passionately, melting against her as Hermione did the same. Coming up for air, she grinned at the bushy-haired girl "Wow! I should have done this ages ago."
Turning to their young man, Sally-Anne smiled. "Harry, would you help me get this sexy girl out of her clothes so we can ravish her?"
"I believe I can manage that." He carried his first lover to the bed.
Truly, life was good for Harry Potter. A return to Hogwarts was going to be unwelcome, but it couldn't be helped. A new school year awaited all of them.