Chapter 45 - Naughty and Nice
With Christmas morning upon them, there was excitement in the air again, or perhaps it hadn't really left after the Ball. Presents! That's what was on the minds of quite a few of the students. Some missed their families, as even having chosen to spend the extra time away homesickness could still strike.
For the Jewels and the rest of the Potter Alliance, it meant a special trip to the Shrieking Shack in Hogsmeade. From there, they made shadow clones and then returned to Hogwarts. This was Minerva's present to Harry and the others, a chance to spend Christmas with their family while she took temporary control of the perimeter wards. They had to get it done before the Headmaster awoke just in case he could also get alerted from all the activity, but with the students back safe and sound there would be nothing he could really say. Their cover story about having to send a present that couldn't be sent earlier was fairly weak but it had the virtue of being true.
For most of the students, the process was a simple one. Wait to be teleported via a Summoning Jutsu down to the Kitsune Compound where they would be checked over and given an extra present for their families. Afterwards, one of the Kitsunes or their clones would use a Flying Thunder God jutsu to teleport them to their homes so they could reach their families sooner.
This special service helped bind the various families together further, beyond their economic and political ties, they were bound by their children and bringing their children home for Christmas was about the best present they could give each other.
After a variety of Christmas traditions, the students finished their day happy with their families. They even got to hear how the plans to insert them into the regular British school system were going. Not all of them were sure they wanted to live without magic like that, but they would have their friends around, and even their own parents to come home to, if it all worked out.
Instead of having to return by car or train, the clones dispelled themselves at the finish of festivities, bringing warm holiday cheer to a cold Scottish castle.
For one special young man, that night brought with it also the last sleep before he was put to the test once more.
In Cranleigh on Boxing Day, Jennifer, Jessica, Nicole, Amanda and Lauren had all received an invitation to meet at Harry's place. Harry met them at their front doors, using the Body Flicker to transport them the short distance to his own place, then getting them inside before the cold could bite.
Once the girls were wrapped around hot chocolates, Harry's clones gave each girl a tentative smile. First, they talked about the gifts they exchanged, before Jennifer set her mug down on the table. "Harry, you invited us for a reason. Is it really so terrible that you're afraid to tell us?"
"I hope not, I really do." Taking a deep breath, the clone took her hand, smiling at the surprise on her face. "Jennifer Scott, would you do me the honour of becoming my girlfriend?"
Jennifer couldn't speak so pulled Harry close, giving a kiss as her answer.
Jessica and the other girls looked on surprised and turned to the nearest Harry, a smile and an unconscious nod had the girls out of their seats and hugging Harry before he could ask them the same question.
When they came up for air, Harry was glad none of their parents were around as Jennifer said "Best. Present. Ever!" He was pleased, proud and embarrassed all at once. Exchanging looks, the five each took a clone by the hand, heading toward the dayspa area to relax in style and comfort and hopefully celebrate their new relationship with lots of hugs and heartfelt talks and just a dozen or two kisses. Each.
They celebrated with a big dinner, to which their parents were invited and they remembered not to say or do anything too far while in their presence. The girls did find it difficult to hold back, wanting to spend every second cuddling up to Harry.
The next morning at Hogwarts, Harry noticed Pansy was unhappy after reading a letter from her family. It was surprisingly visible, really. The students in the green and silver became very good at keeping their emotions from being seen by others over the years, well, except for idiots like Malfoy. Pansy was usually better than this. Harry tossed up the decision to borrow the letter to read it, then decided against it. There wasn't any indication yet that the contents would be important for him.
Back in her dorm room, Pansy wrote a letter back to her parents. She had used some of her pocket money to pay one of the Seventh Year Prefects to sneak her a copy of Draco's exam results and sent it home to her parents. She was now using that to bolster her argument that the Malfoy scion, however wealthy his family might be, was not going to be a good enough marriage prospect.
No, Potter was the best prospect. Even with only a share of his family's money and a Mudblood's awareness of their world, he had moved into a position of commercial strength and a large political alliance. It was tempting to credit that to the adults, of course, but she had seen Harry knew what he was doing. And Merlin, after he used a single spell to take out a dragon?! No, from any perspective she could think of, she wanted Potter.
If only he wanted her.
With the Ball and then Christmas over, the Flying Foxes, as they were sometimes called, had gathered to assess the situation. Alicia Spinnet, Angelina Johnson and Katie Bell were the Chasers for the Gryffindor Quidditch team and generally acknowledged to be some of the best looking girls in the House. They had been friends for years, at least in part in mutual defence against the crazy antics of the Weasley twins and the insane training schedule the team captain, Oliver Wood, imposed.
"I think that could have gone better." Alicia said then snorted at her own understatement. "In fact, it could have gone a hell of a lot better. Just what were we thinking to agree to go with Fred and George Weasley, of all people?"
"I know what you mean," Angelina replied, "I know they gave that Oath that they wouldn't cause trouble or any of their usual antics. Unfortunately, that wording only inspired them to come up with unusual antics, and it certainly didn't stop them profiting from trouble caused by others."
"Too true," Katie mourned, "my head was still aching at lunchtime yesterday from whatever was put in the drinks. And now I'm wondering if they didn't spike your drinks to get you to agree to be their dates."
Alicia and Angelina looked revolted at that thought. "You know, I have heard a rumour that this was how their mother got their father's attention." Angelina replied.
"Same here," Katie nodded, "and the twins do love to use food and drink for pranks. I'm thinking we'll have to step up our efforts to keep them away from ours. Just in case."
The two older girls nodded seriously. "Now, who do you think is the best looking boy?" Angelina asked, giggling, and they talked of more pleasant matters.
Others were also thinking of recent events. Lucius, once again ensconced in his study, was going over the bills for his little function. "Merlin!" he groaned aloud, "three thousand Galleons! At least that last Muggle family had a nice assortment of wines, and Goyle and Crabbe didn't break them as they transported the loot. I would have had to take it out of their own cut if they had, of course."
Lucius smiled fondly as he remembered the family's screams as his minions tore down and packed up their every possession. Their awe and fear as the magic performed before their eyes ripped away their wealth, their pride, their pathetic scraps of dignity and finally their lives.
He sighed as he remembered that the ungrateful bastards didn't have much of that paper 'money' on them. It was all stored as some sort of Muggle spell. He didn't pretend to understand their explanation of it beyond that they had to go to some unnatural machine and perform some ritual to retrieve their wealth. He had forced the older male to do so, getting another couple of hundred Galleons, before a cutting curse took care of the filth.
Now, it seemed, he would need to go on more raids to restore the funds in his own vaults. That damned party had wiped out the proceeds from half a dozen outings. It had seemed such a good idea beforehand, too. Now, too late, he understood why Narcissa had been whining about inviting so many guests.
It meant he had to work more. There were always more filthy Muggles who needed to return the wealth to wizards like him who truly deserved it, after all. Lucius began drawing up plans to trace and hit the leads his latest victims had mentioned before their painful deaths.
As everything wound down at Hogwarts from the Yule Ball, Cedric remembered one of his odder post-Ball dreams. In it, he was walking on his hands as was everyone else, and he would shake the feet of people he met. There was a great pounding bass note that came from everywhere at once, something he figured was the hangover intruding on his dream, then a great splash! as a wave of warm water washed over his village. He saw the golden egg from the First Task bobbing along then sinking just as he reached it after swimming frantically.
As it sank, it opened up but instead of screeching, hissing or other cacophonous sounds, there was this odd music.
Cedric had mulled it over for a couple of days, then decided to try it. He didn't want to have to explain if he was wrong, though, so he decided to head to the Prefect's Bath after curfew that night. He didn't know where Harry's clones were or if the younger lad even had any out that night.
You never saw the sneaky bastard if he didn't want to be seen.
"Pine fresh!" he said to the guardian and stepped inside, his egg hidden in his black robes. Once he was safely inside, silencing spells cast on the door and windows, he filled up the swimming pool sized bath, stripped off and got in, just enjoying the luxury of it for a few minutes before opening his eyes and remembering why he came in the first place. Sighing to himself at the unfairness of the world, he got out and grabbed the damned egg, getting back in and putting it on the surface of the water.
It sank like a stone unlike in the dream and Cedric cursed to himself, retrieved it, then opened it up himself, feeling incredibly foolish and glad no one had seen his blunder. It was still creating the damn wail and then the strangest thing happened as it went under the water again. Instead of gurgled wails and screams, Cedric heard a gurgling song come out of the egg.
"Eureka!" he shouted, grinning in triumph. The grin fell a moment later when he realised he didn't understand a word of the song since it had been gurgling underwater. He closed the egg, then took a few deep breaths and ducked his head under the water.
There, in the watery environment, he opened the egg again and listened in horror to the song. In this case, ignorance was bliss. They were going to take something from him for their bloody Tournament! And if the song was to be believed, failure to do it in the allotted hour meant he would lose whatever it was.
Who did they think they were, stealing from students? Oh, that's right, they thought they were from the Ministry so they could just pass a law if they felt they needed to make their thieving legal. Still, he couldn't believe it would be that bad. They'd look petty in front of the world and they wouldn't want that. He might have to jump through some hoops at worst to get it back.
Cedric got up out of the bath, drying off and returning to his bed where he lay awake for a while before sleep claimed him.
The next morning, with only a couple of days left of the year, he sought out Harry. "Can I have a private word after breakfast, mate?"
"Sure, Cedric, where do you want to meet?"
"I think my dorm room for this one, Harry."
Harry nodded and they met up, where Cedric first cast a number of identification spells on Harry as well as others to neutralise any foreign magics. Harry raised an eyebrow approvingly at the caution.
"Ok, so what's up?"
"I finally have a way to start repaying you for some of the things you've done for me, and I didn't want to flub it." Cedric explained. "Last night, I took a bath."
"So?"
"So," Cedric smiled, "I took a bath with that golden egg, and opened it underwater. That was how to solve the clue. Or at least, part of it. Once the egg was underwater and opened, it started singing rather than the usual horrible noise. I didn't write down the lyrics, but they said they're going to take something of ours then give us an hour to retrieve it or lose it forever."
Harry's eyes flashed in anger.
"Yeah, that's about how I felt, Harry. Look, I don't think they'd go so far as to steal it, not really, but we might have trouble trying to get our stuff back from the Ministry and that can be a nightmare. I thought you would like to know what I discovered, mate."
Harry smiled, "You're right about that, Cedric, thanks."
"You're welcome, besides, you told me about the ruddy dragons. Just glad I could return the favour."
"No worries, Cedric. No favours between friends and all of that. I'm still going to listen to the song myself, though. We've got plenty of time before the task so it'd be silly not to find out. Who knows? There might be some more hints about what we're going to be facing. When I get back, we can bounce ideas off each other if you want."
"Sure, Harry, that would be great. Are you going to tell Fleur about it?"
"Of course," he smiled, "would you want to be the one to hold back secrets from a witch who can throw fireballs from her hands?"
Cedric laughed and Harry headed off to the Prefect's Bath. Thanks to both Cedric and Cho being Prefects, he already knew the password, not that he would have been locked out even without his friends. There were two dozen Prefects in the school and his explorations of the castle had located the place fairly easily. Since then, it only took a little effort for his clones to monitor the changes to the passwords over the years.
Harry got inside, filled the bath up enough to submerge the egg and his head, opening it up and committing the song to memory.
Come seek us where our voices sound,
We cannot sing above the ground,
And while you're searching ponder this:
We've taken what you'll sorely miss,
An hour long you'll have to look,
And to recover what we took,
But past an hour — the prospect's black,
Too late, it's gone, it won't come back.
He had a thoughtful frown on his face as he returned, deciding to make a detour to grab Fleur from the Library. She was happy to see him and had a naughty smile on her face until they went to a different dorm.
"'Arry?"
"We're here, Fleur. Cedric?" he called ahead.
"Come in, mate."
Harry opened the door, "I brought Fleur because I had a horrible suspicion on the way back here. Ah, Fleur, Cedric solved the puzzle of how to understand what was in the egg. It's a song, a riddle we have to solve, to know what we'll be doing for the Second Task."
Harry wrote out the lyrics for them to examine.
"As you can see, it says they'll take 'what you'll sorely miss', but there's no thing that I would really miss that much. Or at least, nothing that they'll be able to get without invading my home, and Madam Bones would never countenance such an operation. They know it, too, so it's not worth the hassle."
The others nodded, accepting his logic. "Unfortunately, there is something they can do which would force me to do my best to retrieve it in the time we'll have. Just switch 'what' to 'who' and you'll see what I mean."
Fleur gasped, putting her hand over her mouth. "Merde! Zose barbarians!"
"Don't forget Madame Maxime has gone along with this plan." Harry reminded her. "They are not just English idiots at work. This plan has international stupidity behind it."
"Well, that does make things sticky. I could ignore a trinket, even happily lose my broom rather than risk my life for it. I can't just abandon someone else though, especially if they want to take someone I'll 'sorely miss'!" Cedric complained.
Fleur felt like crying so she turned to cuddle into Harry instead, drawing comfort and strength from his arms. "Gabby!" she sobbed into his chest. She looked up guiltily into Harry's eyes.
"I understand, Fleur. Family is important. If mine were anyone else, I'd be worried about them taking one of my mums or dad. There is no way they would be strong enough to do that, though. No, what I have to worry about is my Jewels and my friends. Two of them are safe enough. You're right here. There's no way even wizards can be crazy enough to think that I'll have to rescue you two, is there?"
"No, Harry, and thanks, mate."
"You're welcome, Ced." Harry grinned.
"'Oo do you think they will take from you, Cedric?" Fleur asked.
"I have no idea. I don't have a girlfriend for them to take, thank Merlin. I have some good friends, but I can't think of any that are so much more special than the rest. Well, there's a very important one in Harry, of course. Mate, without your Foundation, I'd probably end up in the Ministry just to shut up my old man."
"Welcome, mate."
"So I don't know how they'll decide." Cedric finished.
"There is one easy way they could use," Harry mused, "and it's just the kind of thing someone lazy might do and it would explain why they insisted that the Champions had to have a date to the Ball they organised. Hell, by only giving us a little time to choose our partners, the pressure would tend to make us choose someone important to us."
"We'll see, 'Arry." Fleur replied. She wouldn't say it aloud but she hoped he was right. The thought of her little sister being kidnapped was horrible. And as much as she hated the idea, she would rather it were almost anyone else.
After one stressful conversation, Harry was looking forward to relaxing. Unfortunately, fate had other plans.
While Harry was off with the other Champions, the Jewels had been having a girls-only time. It was a perfect time to gossip and relax. During this time of couches, chats and very informal clothing, Hermione and Nym were chatting about the Yule ball. They talked over most of the highlights of that night, both the public side where the girls were dressed up and dancing and the private side that started with clone-only orgy. The real girls had a great time dancing with their Harry at the Ball then leaving to join in the fun with their clones. Nym was thinking about Sue's spanking when Hermione asked just what had happened with that red-haired form Nym had taken.
"Oh that? Well, I've been experimenting with using different faces and so on, to see what he likes best, what gets the biggest reaction."
"Go on." Hermione prompted.
"That red haired one was based on this old photo I found lying around one day. I don't know how close I got, but the photo was from Moony's school days."
"So you don't know who it was?"
"Not for certain, but since it was a picture with the Marauders, I'd guess it was Lily Potter. Well, Lily Evans since she was still single at the time."
"You turned into Harry's Mum?!" Hermione was shocked. She had been more than a little turned on by that redhead, how sexy the busty woman was. The fact that it turned out to be Lily Evans made her unsure of just what her feelings were.
"Well, yeah, I've done it with some of his other Mum's, you know, Naruto's wives. He never asked me to do it, Merlin, he only ever asked me to change form one night, and that was our first so he could shag the 'real' me, then my pinkette form I like." Nym was obviously remembering that night again.
"Hang on, Nymphadora." Hermione's use of the hated name got Nym's attention and she glared a little. "Don't you think it's important that Harry gets off on this?"
Nym shrugged. "Not really. He's not hurting anyone with it, and just between us. They are sexy women, right?"
"Right, but there's got to be more to it than that." Keeping her voice down, she went on, "I mean, it's incest, isn't it?"
"Is it? How?"
"They're his mothers!"
"Adopted, sure, but they're no relation to him. Besides, he's not even touching them, he's touching me."
"What about the bloodline sharing?"
"What about it?"
"Well, they've each got shared bloodlines with Naruto who shared his with Harry. That means they're more than just his adopted parents."
"They did the same thing to us, you know, and I didn't see it stop you riding Harry like a-"
"That's different! We didn't get as many genes transferred, besides, there's barely any real sharing going on, even if they gave us all those abilities... ah, you have been thinking about it after all."
"You bet, Hermione. To tell you the truth, when I asked those women about it, they encouraged me! I couldn't believe it, but they just grinned and said to enjoy myself."
"Ok, so they don't have an issue with it all. Well, that's one worry dealt with."
"D'you think I'm crazy enough to piss off so many assassins? Not on your life!" Nym grinned.
"I did wonder." Hermione replied, getting a raspberry in return. "So it doesn't worry you that Harry's having sex with someone that looks like his Mum?"
"He has sex with Padma and Parvati already, and you know your adorable little sister is just waiting for the day when she gets Harry as a boyfriend too. And Daphne's sis is getting less subtle by the day."
"Oh that's not true! By the month, maybe." Hermione giggled.
"So, are you going to stop Harry loving Athena?"
"To answer your question, no, I don't think I could bring myself to stop Harry from loving Athena back. It would hurt her too much."
Nym gave her a grateful smile. "Exactly. We both know Harry will be great for her. He'll never hurt her, if anything he'll pamper her-"
"-just like he pampers us." Hermione smiled, finishing her sentence. "And I can live with that."
"So, what are you going to do?" Nym asked.
"Me?"
"Well, you're the one who had the problem with it." Nym replied reasonably.
"I guess, I guess I'll have to talk to him about this."
She changed the topic after that, trying to find something to take her mind off the subject. Nym didn't make a fuss about it, allowing it to drop. It stayed on Hermione's mind, however, and when she saw Harry at lunch, she got flashes of the orgy again. She almost moaned aloud at some of them, before her talk with Nym came back to her.
She whispered to him over lunch, "Harry, can we talk? It's serious."
Harry held back a sigh. He had been hoping for a quiet day after the paranoid thoughts of the morning, and had been putting off discussing his revelations about the Second Task until the following day because of it.
After a quick, light lunch, the two excused themselves from from their dining companions before making a clone each that worked their way to an unused classroom. A few seals to prevent eavesdropping later found Harry and Hermione sitting in silence opposite one another.
The silence seemed to drag on to Harry, waiting for Hermione to begin their talk. Few things scared Harry anymore. Plenty would make him cautious or hesitant, but Hermione saying they "Needed to talk" truly frightened him.
As the tension built, Harry had to use every bit of his training to keep from showing his anxiety and mounting terror that the ensuing conversation would break him.
"Harry," Hermione finally broke the silence, still fiddling with the tips of her hair as she had been since leaving the Great Hall. "We need to talk."
Even though she was obviously nervous, hearing her reiterate that dreaded phrase sent Harry into a panic. Violently suppressing a reaction, he nodded for her to continue.
"On Christmas Eve," she started again, "when we were having sex, I noticed something."
Knowing how happy Hermione had been after the ball and orgy, especially when she absorbed her clone's memories, the knot in Harry's chest relaxed a bit. It was apparent that the conversation would be uncomfortable but probably not heartbreaking as he has first feared.
Hermione took a deep breath, collected herself, and then angrily unloaded. "I saw you having sex with this really sexy redhead that I realized was Nym morphed and when we were talking earlier she told me that it was supposed to be Lily Evans, your birth mother, and that you got off on it and that she had taken the forms of your other mums before and you enjoyed that, too, and all of that has me worried about you because you being aroused by your mothers implies an Oedipus Complex and, as hard as I saw you ploughing into Nym, I'm just really worried about you because I don't know what I would do if something happened and I couldn't be with you anymore because you wanted them, which they don't seem to mind based on what Nym told me, or you got locked up in a nuthouse because of it, and, and, and . . ." Her anger had shifted to where she was nearly a sobbing mess.
"And you have nothing to worry about, Love, and frankly I think I should be concerned about you because I've never known you to use such poor grammar," Harry teased with a smile. His heart had lightened greatly when it was revealed that she was just worried about him and being separated or unwanted. "I've talked it over with them. This isn't an unknown issue to my parents."
Hermione looked up in shock at that revelation. "First, you have to admit, my mums are damn sexy. In fact, they trained me, not physically but through illusions, about how to pleasure a woman. You have benefitted from those lessons."
"So they know you're hot for them and they don't care?"
"They know, and in fact are flattered by it. What better compliment to a woman than to know that you are so damned sexy even your own son is attracted to you?" Hermione was not quite sure what to make of that statement.
"Besides, I know they love my dad, and while they would never cheat on him, they like the attention being sexy gets them. I can't fault them for that. They are the strongest women I know - without exaggeration, possibly the strongest women in the world - but it still a bit of a rush for any woman to know that you can turn a few heads." Hermione could understand that sentiment better, as she enjoyed the attention she received even though her heart belonged to Harry.
"As for the other thing, well, I honestly didn't know that was supposed to be Lily-Mum."
"What? Why not?"
"Well, for a start, she didn't get the eyes right, the eyebrows were off, Lily-mum's cheekbones were higher, lips full but not as full as Nym used. But the most glaring differences were Nym's hair and breasts. Please don't look at me like that, Hermione. I was breast-fed and I've got full recall even from when I was a baby as I've told you a couple of times." She nodded a little. "Lily-mum's hair was more vibrant, more alive, and more silky, than what Nym had, and her breasts were a different shape and a lot firmer and fuller. The nipples were smaller, even when breast-feeding me." Harry laughed at himself. "Jeez, is it any wonder I am a bit strange at times when I can remember just about everything I've ever seen, heard or felt? Lily-mum was beautiful, and you are beautiful too, but I try to look below the surface to see who people are inside. And it's inside that every one of you ladies are the Jewels I named you."
"So I don't have to worry about it? This isn't going to make you want something that I can't give you?"
Harry moved forward and embraced the girl, "Hermione, the only 'thing' I want is the love of you Jewels and my family - two different kinds of love, mind you - and that will never change. I know that sex is never 'just sex' especially to those of us raised in this world. To my parents, they came from a world where sex was a tool or a weapon as much as an intimate act. I understand where they are coming from, but I will never treat it that way except under the most dire of circumstances."
"You could rule the women of the world if you were willing to use sex that way," Hermione snorted in response, feeling much more lighthearted now that the weighty part of the conversation was behind them.
Harry laughed, the sound music to her ears. "Why thank you for that compliment, Hermione. As for ruling all women like that...
"Maybe, but that doesn't interest me. What you want does. If you told me that it made you uncomfortable, I would tell Nym, 'no more,' and wouldn't have a second thought about it. If you wanted to watch it, I would do so with the biggest smile I could give you. If you told me to actually make love to them, I would find a way. I trust you, with my body, my heart, and my soul. You are my moral anchor, you make me want to be the best man I can, Hermione Granger, and I hope that never changes."
Warmth filled the brunette at his words. She clung to him, completely reassured in Harry's love for her. She started kissing his neck as she began to pull away, moving her kisses towards his lips.
"So you would do anything I told you?" she asked between kisses.
Harry paused just long enough to respond, "I know you would never lead me astray. So just about anything, so long as you thought it through, yes."
She started kissing his lips, "So if I told you that one of the Jewels needed to go?"
"Yes, but you'd better have a good reason for me to break their hearts," he replied as he began to unbutton her blouse.
"And if I told you to make love to a girl, you would?"
"You would never lead me astray. If you felt a girl should join you Jewels, you wouldn't tell me to do that lightly. Besides, I know you would have talked to the others anyway, Hermione." His smile was warm and loving, but most of all trusting.
The rush Hermione felt from such trust and devotion, the feeling of love and adoration it filled her with was intoxicating.
"You were asking a lot of questions, Love." Harry teased. "Did you have someone in mind?"
She heard his question but couldn't bring herself to give the response that had filled her mind since her conversation with Nym earlier. "Who did you have in mind, Love?" she heard. "Who, Love? Who do you have in mind?"
Hermione squeaked out an answer, that while Harry could hear, was far too quiet for his game. "Who was that?"
Barely above a whisper, she repeated herself, "Athena."
Harry smiled satisfied at his success.
"You want to watch me make love to little Athena, your baby sister? You want me to make her a Jewel?"
"Yes!" she burst out. "Yes! I want to watch you make love to my baby sister! I want you to make her love you as much as I do! I want you to be the only man that will ever touch her! I want you to make mum your lover!"
Hermione kept spewing out various wants but Harry was stuck on the last two. Athena was a wonderful little girl that was obviously infatuated with him and that infatuation could grow into love, a healthy one with the right guidance. Liz Granger on the other hand was a married woman. Moreover, she was married to a man that Harry both liked and respected. These would probably need long discussions to figure out if they were legitimate desires of his Hermione or if it was the endorphins talking.
Their lovemaking continued and Hermione remained vocal, but nothing so shocking as the talk about Athena and Liz came out of her mouth again. As the two teens cuddled in the afterglow, Harry knew they needed to talk, as uncomfortable as it may be.
"So did you mean it?" Harry started.
"Mean what?"
"Now that we're calm, did you mean what you said about Athena and your mum?"
Hermione froze for a moment before burrowing into Harry, hiding her face in embarrassment. "I won't think badly of you no matter your answer, but we need to talk about this," he continued.
Harry began rubbing her back, trying to coax her into talking. She remained quiet for a few long minutes, making Harry wonder if he would have to ask again, before starting. "Ever since my talk with Nym earlier, I started picturing you doing to my sister what you do to us Jewels, me in particular. During our lovemaking a bit ago, when you were teasing me about it, that image wouldn't go away.
"At some point, I started thinking it was mum's fault because even though Athena looks more like dad than I do, she and I inherited a lot from mum. Once I started thinking that, I started thinking about mum and somehow started picturing her in the same position. Seeing that in my head made me explode and I just started blurting everything out. I honestly tried to keep my comments to Athena but apparently at least one about mum slipped out."
Harry nodded in understanding, continuing to hold his Hermione and periodically kiss her temple or forehead. After letting her remain silent for a bit, he prompted her again.
"Still, the question remains. I meant it when I told you that if you asked it of me, I would do it. Do you want me to pursue Athena and your mum?"
She furiously shook her head. "Athena I don't mind so much, but I love my mum and dad and they are happily married. No matter how aroused the thought made me, I love them and don't want to do anything to break up their marriage. So, in regards to mum, no, I don't want you to bed her. Athena, though, yes, but can you wait a bit first?"
Pulling her tightly against him, Harry kissed her temple. "For my Hermione, I will wait however long you need."
The brunette let out a breath she was unaware she was holding. She should never have doubted her man. Changing the subject, Hermione added in a thoughtful voice, "I'm still sure it's a bad idea for you to fuck mother and daughter. If the mother or daughter's yours, I mean, well, that's-" trailing off. "Any babies from that have a bad risk of getting the wrong genes which could kill them. It's different if they aren't related to you..."
"I understand, Love." Harry ran his fingers through her wild hair, smiling as he gazed at her.
She kissed Harry to take her mind off such things, then slumped into his arms. The two remained cuddled together for another few hours, taking comfort from one another as they healed from the harsh reality they faced in their conversations.
Harry's day wasn't over yet.
He had to get a message to Susan's aunt in her persona of Director Bones, Head of the DMLE. He didn't know if this would count as a crime or not, what with all the other craziness in the Wizarding World he had encountered, but the egg had contained what was effectively a threat and ransom note.
The song mentioned talked about taking something from them and forcing them into near-freezing waters to recover it. They were getting warning of either theft or kidnapping, with a side order of abuse of power.
When Amelia got the message, she was furious but stymied. Since the First Task with the dragons had gone off without any deaths or lasting injuries, indeed they had heard how their Boy-Who-Lived had triumphed completely, it was incredibly popular. There was also the problem that it was an international competition and interrupting it would mean an international incident. Worst of all, though, even if she did try to intervene, she would only lose her job and the Tournament would go ahead anyway.
"Harry," she told his clone that night, "I would be quite prepared to lose my job if it would fix these problems. It won't, so there is no point to me getting involved. All I can do is record evidence to be used later against the criminals."
Harry agreed and offered her a massage to help relax, something he could see she needed. Their other contacts in the Ministry agreed with Madam Bones that their opposition, even united, wouldn't be more than a footnote in the history books.
That still left Harry and the others with the problem of what to do about the damned Task and the organisers. Complaining to anyone wouldn't do any good. They were only children to those involved, after all, despite the whole fuss made about being adults in order to enter. They were students, therefore they couldn't be right.
Other actions against the organisers, while very tempting, were generally a bad idea. It would only serve notice without stopping them, unless they went to the extreme of killing or crippling enough people to stop the kidnapping.
Harry was all for that. "They're sending their own students into a freezing cold lake where they can die, to rescue other people who are at risk of death. Even if the organisers think they'll be safe, they can't guarantee anything of the sort."
Unfortunately, or fortunately, cooler heads prevailed. Hermione was the first to tell him "No!" to killing them, even if it was her they took.
He was unhappy, to say the least, that that avenue was closed off, but he could see her point. He did want to keep guards on all of them, though.
Speaking for the Jewels, Sophie smiled at Harry. "We trust you to rescue us, Harry, if it comes to that."
Their confidence in him made him feel good, but- "I'd rather stop you needing the rescue."
That prompted wider smiles from his Jewels, and some thanks from Cedric and Mark. Neither of the older boys really wanted to see what would happen if Harry went on the warpath.
Harry had spoken to his mates after that. He wasn't feeling as tense but he still wanted to talk things over with the guys.
"...You mean, they're going to kidnap people for their task?" Wayne demanded angrily.
"That's exactly what I am afraid of."
"Those bloody bastards!" Ernie growled.
"The staff here are required to keep this a secret, too. Though I doubt Professor McGonagall knows. Oath or no, she would have found a way to tell us and then she would have had a 'difference of opinion' that you could hear in Hogsmeade!" Terry Boot told the group.
"While Professor Flitwick would have been a little more subtle about it, he would have done the same for his students." Oliver Rivers added, returning the loyalty Terry was showing to his Head of House.
"So what are we going to do about it?" Neville wondered aloud.
"One thing I am not going to do is kill the bloody organisers." Harry ground out. "No matter how much they deserve it for what they're doing, my Jewels have forbidden me from showing the judges exactly how I feel."
"So why don't we do it for you?" Ernie offered. "What are friends for?"
Harry sighed. "As much as I would love to see how creative you could be, especially as there's a chance any of you could be taken, I don't want any of you getting caught for that. Sirius Black says Azkaban is chilly at this time of year."
"It's chilly every time of year." Justin moaned and shivered.
"Just, just leave it to me. If something happens to any of our friends, however."
"Invite us along to the party, Harry. We'll be there." Ernie promised his best friend.
"Thanks, guys. You're all good friends."
Thankfully, New Year's Eve was around the corner and the students had another party planned, with Albus turning a blind eye to the amount of drinks being ordered in. Then again, he turned a blind eye to the other things too, various potions made or bought, and so on.
Other teachers were not so blithely assuming the students would be responsible, and had stepped in, talking to the ringleaders. With suitable consequences illustrated for them, they stepped back, keeping an eye on them and ready to intervene.
Professor McGonagall was the leader of that group, again proving that despite Albus' best intentions, he had selected a truly capable Deputy.
With the party in full swing in the Great Hall, and Dumbledore off at a Ministry function as Chief Warlock, Minerva had retired to an alcove with the other chaperones, using a variety of spells to monitor the children, especially any and all students that snuck away from the crowd.
Currently, it was Flitwick's turn to roust out the more amorous students from the nooks and crannies they found for their rendezvous. While the short Professor had caught more than a few from each House, including some of his own who had appallingly sloppy spellwork, he had yet to catch sight of young Mr Potter with any of his ladies.
That was disturbing in a way.
Oh, Filius didn't mind if they tried to hide their amorous encounters, and if they had done a decent job of it, he would even allow them the illusion that they had succeeded, so long as they were all consenting. No, it was the fact that Filius had never caught even one of Potter's ladies with him. The fact was that no student should be that good at concealing magics as to outwit a master who had been teaching the subject for decades. He didn't teach them that well!
Still, they were all consenting participants, that much was clear, and Filius was again amazed at the stamina of the teenaged wizard.
He was shaking his head as he returned to their alcove. "I still don't know how Mr Potter does it, Minerva," he confided in his longtime friend, "satisfying all those young ladies is feat enough, mind you, but to keep his activities actually a secret from me is humbling in a way. If I didn't know better, I'd suspect Dark Magic, but -
"- But Harry's always been opposed to the Dark?"
"Yes, Minerva. He wrote a very well thought out essay on the various forms of harm and dangers of using Memory Charms last year, and he's never been heard to be anything less than adamant that the Dark ideologies and supporters should be fought by everyone. Hardly a surprise when I remember his mother."
Minerva had to hide a smile. Poor Filius didn't know about Harry's secrets, after all. "Yes, the young man even had a falling out with Arthur and Molly Weasley for not being Light enough, I suppose you could say."
"You do know a lot about young Potter, Minerva." Flitwick replied in a mildly teasing tone.
"Just doing my job, Filius," Minerva smiled at her friend, "and catching up on what I missed because of the Headmaster," she added sadly.
Right then, Harry turned up in front of them as the music changed to another dancing tune. "Ah, speak of the devil." Minerva said. "What can we do for you, Mr Potter?"
"Professors," Harry greeted them, "I was thinking that this is a party, and parties are where people are supposed to dance and have a good time."
"I am having a good time, I assure you." Minerva replied in her standard professional tones, though Harry saw some amusement dancing in her eyes at the contrast between her words and manner.
"Ah, but you are not dancing, Professor McGonagall." Harry grinned back unrepentantly.
"You know very well that I am not, Mr Potter," she returned repressively.
"Then you simply must dance!" he replied in an overdone aristocratic voice. He eyed the two teachers and smiled.
"Mistress McGonagall, would you do me the honour of this dance?" Flitwick's voice surprised her.
"Yes, Master Flitwick, that would be delightful."
As the two went out into the area set aside for dancing, Harry gave her a triumphant look. Her glare promised that this would not be the end of it.
The following day, those prudent students woke up, hands searching blindly for the potions previously prepared, and downed them before going about their day. They were in a far too happy mood for the comfort of those who had failed to prepare. In the case of the Weasley twins, their preparations had been rendered futile by a trio of vengeful victims of their previous pranks. The identity of the ones who had switched their painkillers for pain amplifiers was the Flying Foxes, their Chaser teammates from the Gryffindor team.
Maybe that would teach them not to mess with other people's drinks. Then again, maybe not.
With classes starting back up, Minerva gave a sigh of relief. That 'wonderful' idea of Albus' had cost her a much-needed holiday away from the frozen highlands and away from all those headache-inducing students, especially the Weasley twins.
She had noticed they were hit hardest by the drinking the night before, despite a surprisingly moderate consumption, but there were far too many suspects for an investigation including the twins themselves.
She would have groaned, however, if she had known of the crazy resolutions Nym and Fleur had made, aided by a mischievous team of Sally-Anne, Tracey and Hermione, to outperform the other in terms of how much sex they can take with Harry.
Sue Li had already commented that the real winner was never in doubt, pointing to a grinning Harry Potter. The competitors had agreed to allowing the trio to adjudicate the competition, something that would allow the judges to get more sex themselves when they wished. The only one complaining was Lavender that she wasn't included. That only lasted until Daphne made a show of whispering in the girl's ear then smiling as the blonde flicked her hair and grinned at Harry behind her. She dropped to her knees before Daphne as Harry and the Jewels enjoyed the show for their private party in the Room of Requirement.