Who's your letter from?
Across from her an unfamiliar owl flew in and imperiously mimed for Harry to unburden it of the letter it carried.
Harry greeted it with a formal bow and obeyed.
"Who's your letter from?" said Ginny.
"It's Fleur's owl," said Hermione.
"It's from Gabrielle," said Harry, "She reports her grades, her …" Harry blinked hard, frowned and began reading in earnest.
"Is she in trouble?" said Ron.
"That doesn't seem to be it," said Harry, "and my French is not first-rate,"
"Do you want me to translate?" said Hermione.
"No?" shrugged Harry then spread out the letter anyway, "I just have to imagine her saying the words to understand what some of the phrases might mean."
"Oh," said Hermione, "Yeah, I'm not reading this aloud."
"What?"
"She reports on her … err sex life."
"She's not talking about her sex life," said Harry, "she's using experiences with her romantic partners to contrast and frame the question she's getting at, but … I'm not getting what she's getting at."
"Humph," said Hermione and read it again, "What does this mean?"
"Danse de coopération?" said Harry, "cooperation dance."
"But what does it mean?" said Hermione.
"It means teamwork," said Ginny.
Harry froze, his shoulders tense the way they only tensed when he anticipated needing to defend one Lion's-Keep member to another.
Hermione bent again to re-read the letter.
Harry turned to stare at Ginny.
"What?" said Ginny.
"Cooperation dance means teamwork, but does teamwork mean cooperation dance?"
Ginny raised an eyebrow, "What are you asking?"
"What does teamwork have to do with any of this social studies stuff?" said Hermione.
"Citizenship? Community?" said Harry.
Hermione narrowed her eyes, "I'm not sure if that's amazingly French, or just …" she wrinkled her nose.
"Clan as the intermediate level between Family and Nation?" said Harry.
"So?" said Hermione, "and didn't the French cancel clans?"
"Only sort of?" said Harry, "Which doesn't mean a nation or an empire isn't a cooperative effort."
"Corporations are the normal intermediate level between Family and Nation," said Parvati.
Lavender and Fey laughed.
"Corporations, Nations, and Empires often maintain cooperation by maintaining some level of propaganda and … exploitation," said Hermione.
"Maybe it doesn't have to be that way," said Harry.
"That's really idealistic," said Hermione, "and … that's me, an avowed idealist saying that."
Harry shrugged.
"And I'm under the impression that Houses and Families are also somewhat exploitative," said Parvati, "though there are in theory legal limits. In theory, limiting the exploitation to voluntary levels."
Harry nodded, "sounds familiar."
Hermione sighed and scanned the letter again, "her reasoning is horrible and inexact, but this feels like something Draco or I might write in a decade or so, after also suffering a stroke that cost him most of his vocabulary, or ability to connect syntax larger than 6 words long."
"Yeah," said Harry.
"You're not surprised?" said Hermione.
"She's a veela," said Harry, "she's boot-strapping citizenship from sex-partnership instincts rather than from family life."
Hermione gave him an odd look.
"At what age do humans start becoming territorial?" said Harry.
"2?" said Hermione, "maybe earlier, depending on what you mean."
"Exactly," Harry nodded, "add a little golden rule, and a little empathy, and a little pragmatism about how enforcement should even be possible, and you end up with property rights, maybe registration, add in some observation of differences of talents and preferences, you end up with trade and deal-making,"
"You don't have to quote Adam Smith at me," said Hermione, "I know what division of labour and balance of trade work."
"Who's Adam Smith?" said Harry, "anyway add in some other things and you end up with contracts, and then jobs, corporations, add in some defence and whatever and you end up with Clans and Nations. Add in some other things and you end up with marriage." Harry frowned, "Or maybe the reproductive instinct is where Humans bootstrap their notions of the eternal and therefore providing for the future and therefore …" he trailed off and shrugged.
"What is your point?" said Hermione.
"Veela on average don't get territorial until about the same time they settle down with their first mate."
Hermione frowned, "You're saying that she's trying to do 12 years' worth of growing up in a year."
Harry nodded, "Just because she's behind at the moment doesn't mean she's slow. If her sister or her parent's intelligence's are anything to go by. According to this," he pointed into the letter, "I infer that the other half veelas her age gave her up as a hopeless case years ago, just as she's about to give up on all the humans her age who are barely ready for sex, or for frank discussions about the true meaning of citizenship, never both."
Hermione smirked, "She sounds like an interesting person to watch develop."
Harry smiled, "I want to write her back, and not just because she seems under the impression that I am her last hope for an answer that she can understand," he sighed, "I just don't have an answer ready for her. I'm not even sure she hasn't progressed farther than I have."
Hermione scanned the letter again, "You want to tell her that humans call cooperation dance 'teamwork' and usually don't consider sex a team sport?"
Harry shrugged, "I mean, that couldn't hurt, but … actually, she's asking… well…" he frowned and looked up, "Where does everyone else go to get their fix of teamwork?"
"Besides harvesting, canning, and quidditch?" said Ginny.
"Ask a hufflepuff?" said Seamus, "and anyway, football."
"Band," said Dean.
"Band?" said Harry.
"Band," said Dean.
"Makes sense," said Parvati.
"It does?" said Harry, "Hmm."
"Always wanted to try Hurling," said Seamus, "But yeah, quidditch."
"Potions," said Lavender, "And shop class, back when I went somewhere that let girls take that."
"What's shop class?" said Fey, "and why wouldn't they let girls shop?"
For about twenty minutes that discussion was significantly more interesting than what Harry and Hermione were talking about.
It ended with Parvati reassuring Lavender that once they made their fortunes in potions, No one would be able to tell her 'no' about having her own place to tinker away to her heart's content. Lavender's eyes gleamed at the suggestion, but she claimed it was 'not that important.' (compared to potions)
Ginny imagined an alternate past in which she'd spent her time following her father around his shed, instead of her brothers around the quidditch pitch. A past, just as full of breaking and entering, just as full of midnight practice to hone her skills, just as full of talents perfected but never bragged about. She shivered. It was nice to be able to fly in public now. And Hogwarts didn't have a 'shop class' that would have eventually brought her carefully honed skills out into the open where they could shine. And even if it did, it would only be grades sent home to her parents, not something that she'd be able to show off to her brothers.
Then again, who knows if her father would have been as jealous about guarding his equipment and supplies as her brothers had been about guarding their brooms, maybe there never would have been any hiding.
"Well!" exclaimed Harry, "That throws a whole new light on the Malfoy / Bulstrode, vs. Zabini / Diggory stalemate about whether the Hogwarts curriculum should include a music elective."
But no, I'm fine with this life, with quidditch being my best-developed skill. But 'shop class' being a thing that Lavender had desired and had not been permitted, could probably provide useful insight into Lavender, also that she's switched to Potions now, as a way to team up with her friends to fulfil her tandem dance cooperation addiction…
Also … team potions? That sort of makes sense. Team tinkering though? What in the world would that look like?
Too bad they won't let me take potions with Harry. Thought Ginny, At least we get to take runes together every other year.
.
Six hours later, after classes and a little homework, she was helping Harry write a letter explaining to Gabrielle that she could probably have better luck looking for teamwork in teamwork sorts of places, instead of trying to start some kind of weird sex-and-politics club.
.
Once they'd delivered it to Hedwig and returned to Lion's-Keep to snog, it struck Ginny that Harry, Hermione, and Padma sort of counted as a sex and politics club. (Parvati too, but she watched school politics from up close and practical, and the others looked at national politics from very far away and idealised.) Which made Ginny consider for a moment whether Harry had interpreted Gabrielle's letter at all correctly, or if he'd merely projected himself into her ramblings. She hadn't tried to read the letter, it was in French, and from the bits that Harry had willingly translated, it seemed like it was more about 'none of these humans is as smart as you, (which sadly is to be expected when I am being a veela around them). But sadly they also are not as good at sex as you,' with a never outright stated '(and I wish you were here)' unless that was there, and Harry just never bothered to translate it.
"Hmm?" said Harry and pulled away, "What's wrong?"
"Reassure me that I didn't just help you write a love letter to my competition?"
Harry rolled his eyes, and snorted, "You helped me write a letter about, 'you're not my student anymore, but here's my advice where and what you want to study next, and what it's called so you can even find books and tutors about it.'" Said Harry, "and anyway, she never stood much in competition with you. I gave her sex tutoring because she needed it badly. You and I, give each other what we wish to give each other."
He leaned forward to offer his lips again.
She raised an eyebrow. 'What we wish to give each other?' That was a subtle distinction from, 'what each other needs' but perhaps it was sufficient for the moment: snogging, sex, homework help, help feeling warm and non-lonely away from her parents and the orchard and the river. Help with protecting Luna.
She leaned again to his lips and let the letter slip from her mind.
No, her competition here was Parvati and Susan. Not Gabrielle, and strangely … not Hermione.
.
...-...
Angelina makes a move and gets what she really wants
"Harry," said Angelina, "you're really out of it for a Tuesday morning. What did Ginny keep you awake doing?"
Harry shrugged, "Wasn't Ginny."
"Do you want to run down to the kitchens for a quick breakfast, and try again after?"
Harry shook his head, "Not sure I'm going to eat today."
"That's not a healthy attitude," said Angelina, "What's up, d'you need pepper-up?"
"No," said Harry, "My parents died today, fourteen years ago. I'd rather stay away from the great hall until tomorrow." He looked up, "I probably will just eat in the kitchens now that you suggest it as a solution."
She stared at him, "you know, a lot of my friends celebrate all souls day, tomorrow, or the day after, but I don't think any of us have it for an actual anniversary of a death this time of year."
Harry nodded, "I don't really want to talk about it."
She shrugged and pushed a quill at him, "that's fine, what can you do with the next spell analysis?"
Harry bent his head over the book and they continued.
.
"Harry," said Angelina, "you're slogging through the problem like … like it's a snowdrift, not like it's a learning exercise."
"What?"
"It's obvious you are not engaged enough to actually learn anything new today, do you want to do something else? Because if you want to keep going, I'm ready to recommend switching to a practice set instead of a learning set, I can find one and you'll be less frustrated finding your way to a solution that is where you know how to find it, rather than searching for a solution that's a meter away and several inches deeper than you're thinking to look for it."
Harry stared for over half a minute, with glances back toward his parchment before he blinked hard, and worked his lips like he wanted to yawn but didn't actually need to.
"What kind of 'Something else'?" said Harry.
"Snog?" she said, "Shag? Go for a walk around the lake? What do you want to do? Either to meditate on All Souls things or to take your mind completely off of it?"
He looked away, then back, "There's something I've been wanting. It's about as far from shagging as possible, and still involve as much care and nakedness as it does."
She raised both eyebrows, "What's that?"
"I want to make temperature regulated underthings for the quidditch team," said Harry, "It seems like it could mean a distinct play advantage."
She nodded, "I could see that, how much nakedness?"
Harry shrugged, "It doesn't have to include any, but the easiest way is for you to try on mine, and show me how well it fits and/or where you want it different. If it doesn't fit at all, we'll have to resort to measuring tapes and all that."
She nodded, "And do you have 'all that'?"
"Yes, in my satchel."
"Is there arithmancy involved?"
"A little arithmetic," said Harry, "not solving any complex formulas, except for the curves around breasts."
"Which you only barely worry about?"
Harry shrugged.
"Yeah, I'll let you see me naked," she said.
"Would seeing me naked bother you," he said, "I could go change in the loo and bring—"
She cleared her throat.
He stopped.
"I've been admiring you naked since you were twelve."
He stared.
"Oh don't give me those rabbit eyes," she said, "you must have always let the other boys take first turn in the showers because I don't remember you ever being finished before we came in for Wood's horrible speeches."
Harry mumbled and looked down.
"What was that?"
"I didn't like…"
"What?"
"I didn't know magic healed mundane scars so well until later," he said, "I didn't like being … visible. Made me reluctant to … stand in line for the showers."
"You don't like being looked at?" she said.
"I didn't mind being seen," said Harry, "I just couldn't stand the idea of another episode of 'where did you get these scars? Who is the bad man that hit you? I promise if you tell law enforcement everything you just told me, they will go to jail and you'll be safe forever,' and then completely forgetting about me. I presume there's an idiotic magical law that prescribes obliviating muggle law enforcement and witnesses rather than letting them move a magical child, and therefore needing to let yet another muggle family through the statute of secrecy."
"Oh, ugh," she said, "That's horrible."
He nodded, "So I learned to keep my scars hidden rather than lose friends or even acquaintances, then later I learned that my scars heal fast enough that it's only the injuries of the past week or three I have to worry about being on display, not my entire history. No questions, no hopes are raised or dashed. No budding friendships are destroyed by an overzealous memory charm, or a broken promise."
She frowned, "Just to clarify, You've been sufficiently kidnapped by Hermione, and you don't need me?"
He smirked, "Hermione among other people, last summer it was my Godfather and Professor Tonks, next summer, um, there's a line…"
She smirked, "I'd say put me down, but … I expect next summer I'll be scrambling for a job, but … if all other hope evaporates, feel free to owl me, maybe I can arrange something."
He nodded.
"It might not be as nice as other things you've been used to, but I don't hit."
"That's not what Fred says."
She smirked, "The twins are a special case."
She let her grin slip to merely concerned, "you sure you're alright with being naked?"
"I'm fi—" he stared at her, "do you mind locking the door?"
"No, I don't," she said, "are you sure you don't mind the door being locked?"
He shrugged, "what's your average defence score?"
"Mostly EE's, but some A's," she said, "Eventually I learned to get by on book study."
He nodded, "It's usually my O subject," he said, "I don't mean that as a challenge, I know you're two years ahead, but I merely mean that either of us could make the other's life miserable if things got impolite."
"I remember you killing that dragon," She nodded, "But you'd rather the door locked?"
"Yes," he said, "killing a dragon with weeks to prepare isn't at all the same as lashing out at accidental witnesses."
She grunted.
"I'm not saying it's logical," he said, "I'm saying I have baggage, and I'm dangerous, and I do my best to protect everyone from the combination."
She went to the door and made sure it was latched tight, then drew her wand and sealed it.
"But in the locker rooms," she said, "I thought you were over your shyness."
"In a context where we're all on the same team, and everyone is naked, or will be soon, or was recently," said Harry, "I don't stand out. And once I knew my scars were gone, I knew I don't stand out. Here with the door locked, again controlled environment, and we're on the same team."
"Without the door locked?"
"You don't want to see me startle in an uncontrolled environment, with a knife or engraving tool in my hand, or leather working charms being the spells uppermost in my mind."
She snorted, "I've seen you startle before," she said, "and I've seen Professor Moody last year."
"Exactly," said Harry.
She sealed the door two additional ways and turned back around, "You are permitted to work on your runes practice in place of arithmancy practice for the rest of our lesson time."
He nodded and stripped. She returned to her chair.
"Does this even fit you?" he asked.
She took it and held it up.
"Dubious," she said, but stripped anyway.
She slipped into it, barely.
"This a new one?" she said.
"Yeah," said Harry, "Old one is on indefinite lend to Luna."
"Is that how she gets all of her clothes?"
"Yes," said Harry, "It's also how she lost most of her own, so far her bullies are more polite when she can say it's a lend."
Her face darkened, "Which prefects are in charge of her year?"
Harry shrugged, "I don't know, I helped Padma get made prefect to help, but I don't know how much authority she has as the new prefect."
"Enough," smirked Angelina, "I'll make sure she knows she has support from my quarter."
"I think she'll appreciate that."
"Alright," she said, "What do you need to measure?"
Harry made his notes.
"How far down do you want it to come?"
"Can it be ankle length?" she said.
"Range of motion can be a problem," he said, "also visiting the loo."
"Right," she said, "I'd have to get in it from the top like a swimsuit."
He nodded.
"Do it," she said, "just make it loose-fitting enough, right?"
"Right," he said, "you can take it off now. Do you like that smell or would you prefer something else?"
She undressed and held it up to her nose, "What's this?"
"Heather and plum blossoms, my old one was catnip, sage, and lily."
"What's Ginny's?"
"Apple blossoms and cedar."
She nodded, "make mine plum blossoms and cedar."
Harry nodded, and took notes on that too.
Angelina passed him his template and redressed.
He shrugged.
"What?" she said.
"All your bluster about wanting to shag," said Harry, "and now keeping covered up in front of me…"
"Shagging is hot work," she said, "sitting around watching you in a room where the only fire is torches … you're adding from leather and notes without the least hint of doing any arithmetic."
"So far, yes," said Harry, "I'm going to have to piece the legs, are you sure you don't just want them as separate trousers?"
"Or separate leggings?"
"That's what Luna did on the pair she tried to make herself," said Harry, "we can do that too."
He picked his chemise up off the table and slipped it on.
She raised an eyebrow.
"Being cold is distracting," he said, "and I need to think, about the physics of leather folding."
"Have you ever seen a drop front union suit?"
"Yes," said Harry, "Not sexy at all … but it might make sense for quidditch in snow."
She nodded, "But it's a proven way around the visiting the loo problem."
Harry nodded, "I'm tempted to conduct a range of extensive tests with parchment instead of good cowhide," said Harry.
She shrugged, "makes sense."
"I'm also tempted to just make what I already know how to make and tell you to put warming charms on the rest of your clothes," said Harry, "But I don't really want …"
"More to the point," she said, "you're worried about having talked me into being naked for this little project, and it being for nothing."
Harry shrugged, "But if I make you something as close to what you described, as I can manage, but it turns out useless from my lack of skill and a pattern, OR, if I make you something useful that I know how to make, but isn't what you want, that's better but not particularly polite."
"Not arguing," she said.
"Wait a second," he said, "What you want is basically overalls?"
She looked at him oddly, "I'd settle for overalls, with the sides that come up to here, and chest support, or not getting in the way of my normal chest support, or my quidditch pads."
"Right," said Harry, "If we can find a pair of overalls in close to the right size, I can work with that."
She frowned, "I'll ask around, and check Gladrags."
He nodded, "That would be ideal."
"So …" she said, "that's all for today?"
"Yeah," he said and closed his notes and rolled up his leather scraps and stuffed them back in his satchel.
"You sure you don't want to snog until breakfast."
"If you want sex or a snog you've got to get it past a small committee of my girlfriends past and hopeful."
She raised an eyebrow.
"Not just Ginny?"
"Ginny is just the most possessive, the others might be more concerned about hygiene and who you've kissed before me."
"Just Oliver and Fred," said Angelina.
Harry goggled.
"You thought that list would be longer?"
"Much," said Harry.
"Because you'd like to?"
"You are pretty enough to be tempting," said Harry, "But I don't just look for beauty, or quidditch skill for that matter."
She smirked, "Arithmancy?"
He smirked, "Transfiguration?"
"That runs in the Potter and Black houses, what did you get from your Mom's side?"
"Potions," said Harry, "and defence charms from both sides."
She nodded, "I wouldn't mind tutoring in defence charms," she said.
"Show me that you use it for defence, and not bullying, and I might teach you."
She stepped around the table until she was less than a hand span away and looked down at him.
"What?" he said.
"Just checking on something," she said.
"What?"
"How long since you lost your fear of being hit?"
"Haven't lost it," he said, "merely can usually contain the response at the mental level."
She nodded, "alright."
"How long have you been associating me with the people who used to hit you?"
He stared at her, then took a step back, and turned away, "Since I stuck that pet door in my chemise and gave you the other half to wake me with."
"Why did you do that?" she said, "I usually just wake the girls on my way down to the common room and wake the boys on my way up the other side, seems to me that a seventh-year girl is the ideal candidate for quidditch captain."
"First of all, yes, but only on the standard gryffindor assumption, that quidditch practice should be before breakfast. Second, What percentage of the time do you think you'd be able to find me in my officially assigned bed?" said Harry.
She goggled, "Where else would you sleep?"
"Where else indeed," said Harry.
"Why?" she said.
He shrugged, "Girlfriends to satisfy, Luna to protect, Heads of Ally houses to trade favours with."
"You cannot convince me you have a way into the girls' side of the dorm," she said.
"I might," said Harry, "In fact I probably do, but I've never attempted using it for that."
She goggled again.
"Besides," said Harry, "What makes you think that there's a safe place for Luna to sleep in Ravenclaw?"
She frowned, "There's not?"
"Well, there's Padma's bed," said Harry, "But only on nights that Padma doesn't have other responsibilities."
"So one night in three, she sleeps with you?"
"One night in three she sleeps with either me or Ginny."
"Hence the shared custody jokes last Saturday."
Harry nodded.
"She's breaking curfew every night … well every third night, and specifically on nights that Padma is responsible for stopping her?"
"There are also Professors aware of her situation."
"And they've done nothing about it?"
"I'm under the impression that politics and established procedure get in the way of them fixing it, so they merely conspire to look the other way, and we do our best to never get caught. Which means leaving our dorms before curfew only when we plan to stay gone, and also stay out of the hallways the entire night."
"Where do you sleep?" she said.
"You don't need to know," said Harry, "you just need to be able to reach me or Ginny, and chances are one of us will be there, and know that a summons from you means 'return to the dorm' (because it's morning, or because there's an emergency lock-down coming)."
She nodded, then sighed, "so be it." She returned to her chair, "you know," she said, "you answered the tactical and strategic 'why' you gave me that blasted wake-up patch, you didn't answer why you put up with it if it bends your mind about what kind of person I am, or want to be."
Harry sighed, "I tried to get off the quidditch team, I wasn't allowed, not that I'm surprised, my duties to my House keep me out of my assigned bed at night, just as my duties to gryffindor require that I be available to early quidditch practice, that patch was the simplest solution available to me at the time."
"You could have just set an alarm like the rest of us," she said.
Harry frowned, "Yes, that could work, but that implies sleeping alone, or whoever I'm guarding also wanting to wake up early."
"There are other kinds of wake up charms," she said, "You could probably even set one with the sensation of a hand patting you on the back."
"Ah," said Harry, "I'd like to learn that."
She smiled, "I'll try to bring it on Thursday."
"Thanks," he said.
.
On Thursday, she did bring the book with waking charms, to teach him the charm, and then the arithmancy behind them.
"You picked this up quick," she said.
"It wasn't the first wand tap spell I learned this week," he said, "The arithmancy felt familiar."
"Hmm," she said, "alright, are we ready to go back to our regularly scheduled … pace through the book, or shall we take one more lesson off?"
He looked at her askance, "Professor Tonks?"
"Who, what?"
"Then who are you and how did you convince Angelina to part with a hair for polyjuice?" said Harry.
She stuck out her tongue, then reached into her satchel and pulled out a pair of overalls."
"Oh!" said Harry, "Sure, let's get that done. Do they fit well enough that you want an exact copy, or do you want to model them and show me where you want adjustments?"
"I'll model them," she said, and stood up and changed.
Harry made quicker work than he expected re-creating the pattern.
"Wait, before you cut," she said, "I didn't want to distract you while you did your chest curvature math, but there's one other thing I want to be changed."
"Alright?" he said.
She pulled out a medium length dress with an overall bib, "Can you do, halfhearted sleeves like this?"
"Sure," said Harry, "Are you sure you want them halfhearted, sleeve tops like that, and not all the way around?"
"Yes," she said, "mostly sure, why?"
"Because without them we can make the height adjustable by straps, with them, we either have to give that up, or we have to give up the idea that they'll stay at the top of the strap arch. Maybe you grow some more, or the legs shrink, and you adjust the straps longer to keep the fit you want down there, then the sleeve tops are mounted on what has become the back part of the straps, instead of the top part of the straps."
"Yes, I see," she said, "If I told you to plan on adding them, but I don't mind if you don't sew them on until after, would that change anything?"
"If it's cut into more pieces, the enchantment loses efficiency."
"Then by all means," she frowned, "cut it … but leave a huge rectangle attached to the straps, after we adjust it how I want it, trim everything that hangs down past where I want my halfhearted sleeve tops to end."
Harry contemplated that, and nodded, "That's even easier, actually."
She smiled, "And if that doesn't work, can't you just cut the rectangles off, make real sleeves out of them, but attach them to the rest with loops to thread the straps through. Then enchant them separately?"
"Yes, that could work," agreed Harry.
"Let's do that," she said.
He cut everything out, perforated it and laced it up, when he looked up she was working on her own revising.
"Alright," he said, "Try it on when you're ready."
She removed her uniform again and climbed into it. They worked together to pin it at the height she wanted, and determine how far down she wanted her sleeve tops.
As she took it off, she said, "It's not as easy to get in and out of as I'd hoped, could you slit the front a few inches and add buttons?"
"I've never done buttons," said Harry, "But laces wouldn't be hard."
She nodded.
"Also just for that, I'm not adding knife resistance until you've worn it for a couple of weeks and don't want additional alterations."
"That's fair," she said.
So he cut her sleeve tops to length, and from the scraps made laces and reinforcement for the laced vee neck that she wanted now. She tried it one more time, to approve everything, and then he turned it inside out and began copying on the enchantments.
.
"Perfect," she said when she put it on again, "luxury."
Harry grinned at her.
She snuggled it closer about her, "I don't think the perfume ward is working."
"Give it time," said Harry, "Did you see how it worked?"
"Didn't look that close."
"Spit on it," he said.
"What?"
"Sweat in it, and it transfigures that into the herbs, in small quantities they smell nice, in medium quantities, they become a light dusting of powder, at heavy sweat quantities, or if you wear it into the shower, you've got tons of the dried herbs crumbling off you and clogging the drain. But sweating that hard is really rare, because it also helps keep you cool."
"Alright," she said, "I guess I'll be testing this out tomorrow, and if it doesn't impair my play, I'll be wearing it in the game on Saturday."
Harry nodded.
"Now," she said, "how many more of these can you make?"
"Regular size, I have enough material for two more, that sized: only one more, but I can order more leather."
"And who pays for that?" she said.
Harry shrugged, "If Malfoy can buy the slytherin team brooms, it follows that someone might be willing to pay for leather."
"Not that we can advertise the advantage for psychological warfare," she said.
"I always did prefer the direct but subtle approach," said Harry, "if they are an advantage, we prove it by winning. If they're not, bragging about them is pointless."
She nodded, "How much are we talking anyway?"
He told her.
She nodded, "And how much are you willing to contribute?"
"I was going to give some to the rest of the Weasleys anyway," said Harry, "Quidditch might merely be a more practical excuse than Christmas."
She nodded, "That's four out of ten, with you and me makes six out of ten."
"Ginny and I are already outfitted," said Harry, "And I'll contribute labour for the rest of the chasers."
"And I'll contribute towards leather for the rest of the chasers.'
Harry nodded.
She nodded.
"That leaves out MacLaggen," said Harry.
She smirked, "I'll tell him if he can order some leather pad liner, I can get it enchanted up to team standard."
"Works for me," said Harry.
"Christmas presents seem like an excellent excuse, for this to go down, you have the Weasleys, I have the chasers."
"Sure," he said.
"I'll try to find a little extra towards labour for the chasers," she said.
"That would be nice," agreed Harry, "but not necessary."
"Alright, pack up, let's go to breakfast."
...-...
Is it still muggle baiting, when ...
"Dear Leona," started the letter,
"Did you leave one of your pet doors in my room on purpose? They were kicked under the corner of the bed. I've tried several experiments on them, did you know that gravity is not normal inside? Well mostly normal, but kind of … I guess it's what I should have expected, given that the field has to propagate to there from outside. There doesn't seem to be any natural gravity within the space, but enough leaks through from both ends that you can kind of tell how … it diffracts across the surface of the … whatever it's called. I don't know the jargon or the math, I've just played with it long enough to start to get a feel for how things act if you toss them through. Like really faint magnetism is sucking everything very gently out both ends.
"Don't worry, I've done more interesting things with it than that. I had a shirt get ripped. I was thinking about making it into a cut-off shirt, but who wants a cutoff flannel shirt? So I thought some more and made a Halloween costume out of it. Can you guess? I'm a zombie, and I'm carrying around my arm, trying to re-attach it, and it just … keeps twitching sometimes.
"(And yes, I made my costume so that it wouldn't be too obvious that I didn't just have my real arm tucked behind my back with a ridiculously realistic prosthetic to carry around.)
"(and Yes, I did double-check how fast I could take off my shirt and get my arm out of harm's way, should a bully get too eager and try to run off with my arm. After a couple of tries, I went with securing both halves to the inside of my sleeve with Velcro, which lets me stick and unstick both halves as rapidly as I could want.)
"Also the idea amuses me that a zombie could be smart enough to try to stick itself back together with Velcro and dumb enough to not realise that a lost limb might need more than that…
"Am I a troll? Yeah, probably.
"Your Pet,
"~Big D"
.
Harry wrote back:
.
"Big D,
"A: That is awesome, thanks for the idea.
"B: Teasing and especially hurting muggles with the impossible, using M, is called 'muggle baiting,' and it is even more illegal than just showing them M. Please be careful.
"C: I hope you're also using your intelligence and creativity for revising. Good luck with your midterms.
"Your favourite cousin,
"~Leona"
.
As he showered the morning after he sent off his reply. His basilisk scar caught his attention. Always before he'd thought of it in terms of 'I'm so lucky Fawkes had been there and helped, otherwise I'd have died,' this time he thought, the sensible thing would have been to slice my arm off above the wound before the venom could spread.
Of course, he'd already been out of breath, and his heart had been pounding with adrenalin. There hadn't really been enough time to think of something like that 'before the venom could spread,' but maybe next time, there might be. Perhaps he should learn which cutting charms were and were not recommended for that sort of rescue. To limit blood loss or allow the best prognosis for regrowing the limb. After all, if limbs can be regrown from being yanked off, could they be for being cut off? As long as it wasn't the sort of curse that was meant to interfere with that?
Then again, it seemed that no one had tried to prune mad-eye Moody's leg another inch shorter and make it regrow, so maybe it wasn't actually possible, even if it seemed like it should be.
...-...
Library
"What're you researching?" said Susan, and plopped down beside Harry in the library.
"Arithmancy for various shaving charms and hair specific colour change charms," said Harry, "if I could differentiate hair separately from skin, dirt, bacteria, and detached skin separately from live skin. I think I could make a slightly more thorough cleaning enchantment."
"Thorough in what way?" said Susan, "for our nightgowns?"
"Yes," said Harry, then shrugged, "or for washcloths."
"Where did this idea come from?" said Susan.
"Some of it from setting the air-mulling runes on clothing, and some—" Harry's glanced around to check if anyone was eavesdropping.
"Air mulling?" Susan stared, "Who called it that?" then she smiled, "I guess it is accurate. Since you're adding spice instead of sugar."
He nodded then shrugged, then whispered, "and some from petting Luna's back during sex."
She smiled a little, but mostly just raised an eyebrow.
"I wondered if certain people would prefer if I shaved my back," said Harry, "and I'm not sure how I'd even go about doing that."
"Ah," she said, "so shaving arithmancy."
"No, I'm thinking just hair differentiation arithmancy, I don't think I'm going to use any cutting, just transfigure into soap, and let the water rinse it away."
She nodded and sat back, to think that through, "That explains why you wouldn't want it part of your shirt, it would shave your head too if you forgot the imperturbable when you took it off."
"Exactly," said Harry.
"I approve this project," said Susan.
Harry looked up, "you're one who'd rather I shaved, aren't you."
She shook her head, "I'm one who shaves and would rather it were easier."
Harry nodded.
"Show me what you have so far?"
"This is arithmancy for identifying a touching molecule, this is same but finds just the organic molecules, this is same but if it is a mixed polar and oil, it searches for a pattern that means cell wall."
"Oh good grief."
"Finds that entire cell wall, or the entire soaped oil drop, they're rather similar arithmetically. The difference is a cell also has another patch of water inside."
"Sure," said Susan.
"This is supposed to sort living cells out from non-living cells and oil drops."
"Sure?"
"But as Hermione pointed out, I don't actually want to transfigure all the dead cells to soap, because several layers of dead cells is an important part of the barrier strategy skin uses to keep bad things out."
"Sure."
"So, this one instead should sort detached cells from attached cells."
"That will take live bacteria too."
"Mostly," said Harry, "I think depending on how or if they've chosen to attach. And these are six different ways to shave, none of which uses quite the arithmancy of anything directly compatible, three use geometry instead of chemistry, and I haven't figured out how two of them work."
"I think the hair straightening charm uses geometry also."
"Ah, hmm," said Harry. He shuffled through his reference books and started flipping through one of the larger.
"Let me get my books," said Susan, "I'll be back in ten."
.
"So what are you researching," said Harry.
"Animagus arithmancy feels very like switching to Leona wandlessly."
"Certainly," said Harry, "I interpolated that in order to figure out how to become Leona wandlessly."
She nodded, "fine, then. So can I be any other kind of dog I can picture well enough?"
Harry sat back, "What would you be instead?"
She smirked, "mostly just foxier ears and less white fur on my face and neck, to please Luna."
"Oh," said Harry, "would she really prefer that?"
"I don't know about 'prefer' but I think it would please her to see, now and then."
"Oh," said Harry, "perhaps."
...-...
vs. Slytherin
"Well Harry?" said Draco circling the pitch (and Harry) as they manoeuvred for ideal positions for both observing the field with minimal obstruction by the other players who habitually stayed near the height of the hoops as if the game wasn't really played in three dimensions, "any new strategies for the game today?"
"Maybe a little," said Harry, "perhaps just refinements on old strategies, you?"
Draco thought for only a moment, "Same really," he said with a sigh.
Harry nodded, "you still want me over for Christmas?"
Draco dropped enough speed that he seemed to hang in midair, Though they were still moving at a steady clip. Merely one that Cleansweeps could have kept up with. Seekers spent most of their time observing, and didn't really need the extra speed until the snitch was seen.
"I want you over for Christmas," said Draco, "but … Harry …"
"What?"
"I'm not exactly welcome home this Christmas, you definitely wouldn't be safe."
"Because you-know-who?" whispered Harry.
Draco nodded, "I haven't seen him yet, but Dad and Mum talk about it constantly and are moving their money overseas and into the muggle world. By interpretation, they expect a long and destructive war."
"I wish I had that much control over my parents' money already," said Harry.
Draco nodded, "yeah, that could be a problem."
"Is your dad joining up again?"
"I think he has to," said Draco, "Or he knows that someday he's going to visit the ministry and come home under the imperious again, it's rather unclear, and what Mum wants and what she says she wants aren't always the same thing."
"What does she say she wants?"
"A better world."
"Sure, but then, what does she actually want?"
"Her family safe, rich, and powerful, to enjoy any world at all."
"Yes, well," said Harry.
"So," said Draco, "If you cannot come with me, are you stuck here too? Or do you have somewhere safe to go for the holidays?"
Harry shrugged.
Draco swerved closer and breathed, "And more to the point, do you have room for one more?"
"Oh!" said Harry, "I'll have to send some owls and find out."
"Thanks!" said Draco and moved back into a more strategic position.
Harry took that as a hint that he needed to be watching for the snitch. Also, they'd flown a bit higher than was really necessary for good spotting conditions.
It sounded like gryffindor was up a few goals, but not by enough that anyone would forgive him for letting Draco be first to the snitch.
...-...
{End Chapter 16}
