Monday: Not the introduction anyone would have wished for

And of course, little Potter being a damn nerd, he stayed behind to ask the potions master some damn irrelevant trivia about powdered Moldavite and took forever to even understand what Professor Snape was telling him, (That it was in fact too irrelevant for Professor Snape to have bothered to remember).

By the time Potter finally left the potions classroom, it felt like lunch was a quarter over. Wedna tackled him anyway and pinned him against the wall and put her wand in his face.

He kept his head from bouncing off the stone, then paused before his wand had even cleared leather. That said interesting things about both his reflexes and his control over them.

"§-Just who the hell do you think you are-§ Potter?" hissed Wedna.

"Umm?" he said, "§-Context? Because I don't know who you are either.-§"

"Wedna Bryce," said Wedna.

Not the vaguest hint of recognition.

That meant he was also an innocent party here.

What the hell!

What the ever-loving hell!

He seemed to recognise something, and very slowly re-holstered his wand, "I've got the sinking feeling I'm going to miss lunch while you tell me who it is I need to help you hunt down, or to notify the Weasley twins has become fair game."

"Seems that way," sighed Wedna, "Come on."

"Can it be somewhere with umm light?"

Right, the boy has glasses because he needs them.

She didn't let go of his collar, nor put her wand away, just led him upstairs where the unused classrooms would have windows.

He followed along … mostly docile actually, though from his occasional grunts on the stairs, she wondered how irritated she was making him.

Good, it was a relief to not be the only one feeling irritated right now.

The thought made her feel guilty, but not guilty enough to actually reprimand herself for thinking it. Or slow down. Or let go of him.

When they were seated at a newly dusted-off desk she pulled out her latest bit of mail and plopped it before him.

"Read it," she said, "If you move your hand for a quill, I will remove your hand."

He raised an eyebrow but unrolled the parchment.

By the second paragraph, his lips were compressed, and by the fourth or fifth, the jaw muscles at his ears and temples were bulging.

Wedna looked away from him long enough to conjure a fire dish and some Merrinmoyre's comfy peatless peat flame.

"What are our instructions regarding this?" he said rhetorically, only half glancing up, "Put delete marks on all the bad paragraphs and count the remainder for the password to something?"

Wedna tried to decide if he expected an answer to that.

"Right, don't go for a quill." He shivered.

He made it farther than she had before he started growling. "Who are the intended … slaves?" he said.

"You and me," said Wedna.

"Hrmh," he said and unrolled it to the end, "There aren't places for us to sign, there are places for … I guess, our Heads of House to sign. I take it that both of our houses are small enough that these … descriptions of the err participants are … uniquely identifying?"

"I think so."

"And of course, it already has one signature." Potter sighed and returned to where he'd been scanning, earlier.

He got to the end and looked up, "What instructions did you receive regarding this?"

"Convince you to sign it, or else."

He narrowed his eyes, "and given that the instruction you actually gave me was, 'don't dare go for a quill,' I think we are vaguely in agreement on how terrible it is."

"Seems likely."

He frowned then glanced away into the fire for a moment, §-Pretty snakes, in your fire dish design.-§

§-Thanks,-§

He stuck his hand in the flame, contemplated for a moment, then pulled it out, §-This fire warms the room, not itself?-§

§-Yes-§

§-Ingenious-§

§-Yes-§

Potter sighed and returned his gaze to Wedna's face "Alright," he said, "First of all, to clarify something, I have enough fiancees and consorts, who I like and love, that I have no desire for additional sex slaves who's names and faces I didn't even know before today. Second, the only remotely ethical things I can think to do with this … document … are burning it, or tearing the signature block in half and turning it over to the DMLE in hopes that there is in fact something prosecutable about it, not that I could find it. Or suggest you locking transfigure it into something small and easy to keep handy, like a toe ring."

"Why?"

"I don't want to … accuse your relatives of anything, especially since I don't know anything about your relatives or what would make any of them think that this was an acceptable use of your life."

"Not all my life," said Wedna, "Just as many years as it would take to carry at least two pregnancies to term."

Potter rolled his eyes, "whatever. My point was: if they think that this is acceptable, their next attempt might be significantly worse, perhaps better to keep this one for backup."

"I had no idea how much I didn't need your help being paranoid," said Wedna.

Potter shrugged, "Sorry. Mostly I mean, in lieu of you signing it, I'm promising to not sign it unless you specifically ask me to sign, preferably while we're both in one of those rooms at the bank that is warded to either stop or at least detect mind-altering magic, as well as glamours and transfigurations."

He's saying that … because it should not be allowed to come into effect without my consent, and his signature is the only one remaining, he has to take the responsibility of awaiting that consent himself … "Makes sense," said Wedna. That was kind of a polite way to circumvent that problem, but the rest of it

"Anyway, At the other end of the spectrum, maybe your Head of House is just really really out of touch with modern society and doesn't realise how many centuries it's been since this was even vaguely acceptable, in which case perhaps you and I could merely take this document as a parental blessing to court, and should we find each other acceptable companions, figure out how to put a separate contract in place about how we personally intend to meet the demands of this other contract between our houses, and both contracts taken together might actually manage to combine to make something acceptable." He shrugged, "I'm not saying it's the most desirable outcome, I'm saying it's an option, possibly worth considering, before destroying this … cursed thing."

"Ok …" said Wedna. He was cute, trying to give everyone the benefit of the doubt.

More to the point he seemed to think that there might still be hope. Maybe a lot of hope.

"What do you imagine is the most desirable option?" said Wedna.

"Were you given a deadline?" said Potter.

"Uhh, grandma isn't known for her sense of timing, she didn't give a deadline, but I'd guess within a month after I go home for summer hols she'll ask about it and expect it to already be done and quiz me about implementation details."

"Damn," said Potter, "That's long enough to design a good contract, barely, but only if you've got a near and interested relative or three on your side and they happen to be lawyers." He sighed twice, then said, "Most ideal situation would— … uhh next question, before this came along were you already seeing anyone with serious intentions on either side?"

"No," said Wenda, "as a half-blood in slytherin, with no political capital to speak of, I could find bed companions if I wanted, for blowing off steam or whatever, but no one in slytherin will court me because half-blood, no one outside will court me because slytherin."

"Gah," growled Potter at the ceiling with hands half clawed into pseudo-fists.

Wedna shrugged, "I've caught a weird vibe that has been changing the last year and a half, but I'm studying for my NEWTs now and don't have time." Actually, a chance to blow off steam would probably help a lot. It did during OWL revising, but the last time I tried it

"Certainly," Potter interrupted her thoughts, "No wisdom to offer you on that front. So three months to find someone at school, and/or to write you and them (or you and us) a reasonable breed contract so you can move in with them or to Potter Estates and never see the author of that thing until it's time to surrender the children it demands, (or ever) if you … Are you over seventeen?"

"Yes?"

"Then, just to be clear, you may have the option to just disown your family and walk away. Best to get it done on paper so they can't bring you back by writing another one of these and offering it to someone more amenable than I."

"I don't want to walk away from my family, I don't really want to walk away from my house, I just don't want anyone dictating that sort of behaviour for me."

Potter shrugged.

"In fact, I might be the heir? After Dad," said Wedna, "I might not actually have the right to go blood traitor. Oh…"

"What?"

"I probably could have said that two years ago and had plenty of offers. They might all have been second sons, willing to give up their last names, but I would have had offers."

Potter nodded, "I mean, it stands to reason that anyone contemplating moving between houses will be looking for an upgrade, whether they are looking for an upgrade in earning potential or social status or a clan culture that is emotionally more comfortable for their specific personality." Potter shrugged, "different people, different ambitions."

"True," said Wedna.

"Anyway," said Potter, "so you don't currently have a steady relationship, do you have a type that you're shopping for?"

"Yes? No? Some vague amalgamation of my elder brother, and my muggle cousin."

"Could you be more specific on specifications and less specific on where you've managed to find examples so far?"

"Mage, Ravenclaw, neither minds nor fetishes that I'm a parselmouth, preferably is a parselmouth themselves, Blond, maybe … female? Potions and Care of Magical Creatures, NOT Herbology. Not blood supremacist, also not blood traitor. Interested in marriage. Enough bigger than me or smaller than me that hugging works properly. Within five years of my age, preferably within three."

He'd stopped making a sequence of more and more surprised and confused expressions, and seemed resigned to the recitation of all the ways that people had been rude to her in the past.

"Should I stop?"

"Stop if you want, or go on if you want," sighed Potter, "I get the idea, the only female parselmouths I know of are your grandmother and your aunt, and both of them are neither blond nor in your preferred age range. (I'm passing Herbology, but it's not a favourite topic to blather about. Likewise, I have a title that I refuse to abdicate, but don't take it as a personal affront that some individuals or families just don't see much point of formalising their friendships into family and house alliances, etc.)"

"Right," said Wedna, "My dad tried to do some compulsion or something to get rid of the blond requirement. I think he did fix something so I'm less resistant to the idea that …"

Wedna sighed.

"What?" said Potter.

"If I did find my perfect significant other, and married her, I think I could go to my Dad and get him to write a reasonable breed contract involving my partner and I taking turns going to our current favourite male parselmouth for sperm. With or without intercourse."

Potter took off his glasses and pinched his temples, "In the ideal world, yes that would open up a lot of options. In this world that means me and/or Voldemort."

"Or my dad," said Wedna, "I hope you can guess who my favourite is?"

Potter blinked, "Is your dad blond?"

"No."

"Then based on age, I'm going to guess me?"

"Yeah."

Potter nodded, "You think your dad's been manipulating your mind to encourage you to breed."

"I'm willing to breed," said Wedna, "I want kids, I just want…" she shuddered and looked away. "Even more impossible things than I have words for. I don't think he managed to change anything, I'm not certain if he tried, or if he just went in and looked closely. But based on what he was looking at, I think … he wants me to breed with a parselmouth, or he just wants me not to have an impossible list of demands."

Potter nodded, "Does Grandmother Nagini know that he may or may not have tried to muck around in your mind?"

Wedna shrugged, "Probably, she tends to know everything."

"Did she write this in a misguided attempt to get you outside of his control before summer hols?"

"Ugh?" said Wedna, "maybe?"

"The more I know, the more I think we should take this as her blessing to see each other, or as orders to court as fast as possible," said Potter, "For sure let's not sign it until at least … two nights before the Express, but … let's get to know each other, and contemplate whether there is some ideal that could make your entire family happy, without making you unhappy. And without breaking any of my existing contracts."

"And without making you unhappy?" suggested Wedna.

"That would also be ideal," agreed Potter, "In my mind, we either want you to go home with a contract you want, or with the absolute certainty that you find me absolutely unacceptable and would rather tell your entire family that if they want a parselmouth heir that badly they should match-make for your grandmother instead and leave you out of it."

That startled a snort out of Wedna.

"Or," said Potter, "for you to go home with the excuse that the problem lay with my pre-existing contracts not with you, though I have a bad feeling that would be asking for assassination attempts aimed at me and mine."

Wedna smirked, "but you're used to that, right?"

"Sadly, yes, sort of," said Potter, "Though it turns out, the more people I have to live for, the fewer chances to risk my neck I calculate as worth it." He yawned, "Alright, to continue the first courtship introduction questions, etc. Let me make my family situation as clear as I can."

Wedna nodded.

"I'm betrothed to Ginny Weasley the future Lady Potter and to Parvati Patil the future Lady Black, I have a breed contract with Padma Patil the future head of the Patil Family within the house of Black. Both women of the ruling family of the House of Bones share a breed contract with me. They're somewhat light-haired. Luna Lovegood and Bellatrix Lestrange wear my thrall marks. All of the above and myself (save for a few loopholes around Bellatrix), consider ourselves a sex commune and have promised each other that we will not willingly snog or shag anyone else without the unanimous consent of the rest of the commune. And to as much as possible not feel jealous of each other. Therefore: If you want into my bed, with or without a breed contract, you should perhaps be prepared for going on a first date or so with each of them before we vote about whether sex is on the table. If you pass," Potter shrugged, "maybe all of them will feel obligated to invite you to bed once or twice. If you establish a preference of 'just the blonds' after that or whatever. That wouldn't hurt my feelings."

"Oh, good grief, that's a lot of people."

Potter nodded, "Nominally each member has the right to invite any other member and to accept or reject such invitations. In practice, some of us rarely issue invitations, and some of us have low enough appetites as to rarely accept them."

"Not surprising."

"And some of us have a very high appetite for kisses or snuggles but only an intermittent appetite for sex."

"I imagine that's a monthly issue?"

Potter opened his mouth then closed it and shrugged, "I'm not sure if those are the same or parallel issues, but yes. Anyway, I don't want slaves. And if I did, I have Bellatrix. If you join …" Potter shrugged.

"If I join I should consider myself to have sovereign consent, but be diplomatic about it."

"I'm not sure I've heard it said like that," said Potter, "so … probably? Maybe?"

"And you're dangling two blonds and a parselmouth in front of me," said Wedna.

"Three blonds, if you also count Luna, and three parselmouths if you include that the Patils can understand it."

"Humph," said Wedna, "If everyone in your group is ok with the Patils being there, being that?"

"Yes."

"That makes me more sure that … I could be comfortable hanging around. But also more sure I could not … I … I'm … there are things about me that I … could reveal to a complete stranger but never to Padma."

Potter blinked, "because she's well on her way to knowing everything about everyone like her grandmother?"

"Never mind!" said Wedna.

Potter shrugged, "Anyway, Another thing is that we all can wear transfiguration disguise that looks like this," Potter got up and frowned, "Never mind, that's a secret, anyway it's female and mostly blond, and it would be available for you to learn or to invite us to put on before visiting your bed."

"Including you?" said Wedna.

Potter nodded.

"Alright," said Wedna, "I'm mildly sold that I wouldn't be miserable there, or at least that once there, everyone could probably entice me back out of my shell if I were to sink into one of my depressions."

Potter looked concerned.

"Not the medical meaning of the word depression," said Wedna, "actually I don't know that. I just … go hermit for awhile sometimes, usually it starts with a good excuse for intensive study and then gets out of control."

"Are other people calling it out of control, or are you?"

"I am, I'm not sure I stand out from the family average far enough for anyone to notice. I just lose my appetite for food, sleep, and company, and sink into this haze where I'm not sleeping enough to get anything done while I'm awake and not getting enough done while I'm awake to feel that I deserve to sleep and etc."

Potter sighed, "If I deputised you to watch Padma for the same thing?" he frowned.

"A strict class schedule keeps me from falling too far, but … someone who graduated last year had a way of flirting with me enough that I'd snap out of it and go to meals. I don't even think she was doing it on purpose or knew that I liked her, she was just," Wedna shrugged, "The right kind of pretty, made me want to go out and make something of myself."

"Sure!" said Potter.

"I don't even like her like her, I just … like her looks."

"Beauty can be inspirational," agreed Potter, "without thereby also needing to be possessed."

Wedna shrugged, "Am I pretty enough for you?"

Potter frowned, "You strike like a snake," said Potter.

"What?"

"You entered combat range and had me pinned against the wall before I could react. You could have cursed me instead."

Wedna shook her head, "You reacted three different ways, it's just that I wasn't attacking you, I was demanding your attention. If I'd shot off a spell instead, would you have just raised a shield without (or before) pulling your wand?"

Potter nodded, "I've done that before, yes. It's why several of my left elbows have a big hole in them."

"I figured," said Wedna, "why is 'you strike like a snake' the answer to 'am I pretty enough?'?"

"I have this vague ethic that I try to live by," said Potter, "Where I try to love people, not the bodies they wear."

Then he looked at her, finally, "Or rather the people first, the bodies they wear second, given that the two are inseparable by commonly legal magic."

"That's really cute rhetoric," said Wedna, "But I don't believe it."

"Why not?"

"You didn't list any men in your group."

Potter's mouth hung open for several seconds, then he shrugged, "I'm not against that, but … perhaps I have a double standard about how deadly and how virtuous they'd need to be to catch my attention."

"Give me an example?"

"All examples so far are or were hufflepuff prefects," said Potter.

"Cedric Diggory?"

Potter licked his lips.

Wedna smirked.

Potter looked away.

"Anyway," said Potter, "I have not yet had a reason to hang out for long periods of time in my female disguise, therefore I have not come to most of their attentions. And anyway, I entered into the … shall we call it the 'harem oath,'? since then, and I am no longer free to accept whatever spur-of-the-moment invitations manage to entice me."

"Yes, well," said Wedna.

Potter smiled.

"Do you miss your freedom?" said Wedna.

Potter smiled wider, "Somewhat, sometimes, but not nearly so much as to risk alienating any one of my current partners, let alone all of them."

Fair enough.

"I happen to think your 'harem oath' is entirely reasonable given the social context, but … if you forgive me for saying so, it seems more restrictive than this contract."

"How so?"

"This just demands who is available to who, it doesn't say I won't meet and date people more to my liking on other days."

He gave her a bemused look and unrolled the parchment again.

"What are you looking for?" said Wedna, "you don't believe me?"

"I'm entirely capable of missing a nuance like that," said Potter, "I'm concerned that this was signed after Grandma Nagini already knew about my harem and should have also known about our oaths, if she'd cared to check. I was sure she had, actually."

Wedna leaned over the table and found the relevant paragraphs and pointed them out.

They both read them.

"Still awful," said Potter.

"Imagine they were originally in Parseltongue," said Wedna.

"And translated amateurishly?" said Potter, "Or in a great hurry to mail off to rescue someone?"

"Something like that," said Wedna.

"Hmm," said Potter.

"Imagine if this word:" she pointed to 'available', "didn't mean sexually available, as in sex as slave labour, but 'available' the way you were using it, the current right to make or accept invitations to bed."

"Significantly less awful," said Potter, "What else would change if we were interpreting this not as a standalone breed contract but as a blessing for you to join my group."

"This word 'family'" said Wedna, "if it didn't mean either Potter or Black, but your harem?"

"Why would it mean that?"

"Not ten minutes ago you said, 'let me tell you about my family situation' and then told me about your commune and its oath, not about the extended Potter or Black families or houses."

"Bloody omniscient snakes," said Potter, "Do you want to read the whole thing in Parseltongue? Or shall I try?"

"I'd rather not," said Wedna, "I don't think it changes much else. This paragraph though doesn't use 'available' nor directly refer to sex, it just says neither of us will use contraceptives and is … oh."

Potter bent over the parchment again, "Oh, what?"

"Imagine … no don't … look at this hyphen."

"Seems out of place in English."

"Right. 'Or-when, on' is terrible English but what if instead of meaning '§-Or-§ §-when-§, §-on-§' it meant the paragraph break is the transition to the next §-or when-§ clause of a several clause bit of contextual instruction juxtapositions."

"English doesn't have those. Or not like that."

"No, but runes do," said Wedna.

"Very much so," agreed Potter, "In which case it doesn't mean 'you get to rape her without contraceptives' it means … that night of the month, as opposed to all other nights of the month, please go out of your way to let any sex that happens be fertile."

"Yeah," said Wedna, "or conversely, same juxtaposition but from the other angle, on non-maximum-fertility nights, I have Grandma's blessing to be lesbian with the entire rest of the harem."

"Certainly," said Potter, "I mean, technically it doesn't say 'be lesbian,' it says to be 'as active as you want,' within the family I've assigned you to. Which only in the context of your preferences effectively means: be as lesbian as you want."

"Do you have a problem with that?"

"No," said Potter, "and if we agree that is the interpretation that she meant and that we wish to live by, I'm like 99% more willing to sign, I'd still rather translate it into proper legal English, but that's a secondary issue to whether we properly understand her blessing or instruction or whatever we're taking this as."

Wedna snorted and sat down.

Potter returned to reading, "Most of the rest of this doesn't change, you still are to gain the right to hospitality within my estates, and … I think, the right to draft childcare help when you take your heirs back to Grandma for performance review."

Wedna snorted again, but leaned forward, "Where?"

Potter pointed.

"Performance review indeed … that section means Bryce family Yule is a command performance," Interpreted Wedna, "and juxtaposed to it is … all other holidays I can pick and choose whether to celebrate with you instead or any of our other harem member's families, etc."

"But it's only a command performance for you, and … those who you invite, not for all of us."

"Yeah."

"Interpreted further…" said Potter.

"Yeah?"

"Feel free to keep looking for your perfect spouse, they just … you're going to have to convince them to join the harem also, or to wait for you to finish your breed obligations."

"Hmm," said Wedna, "Let's look at the fulfilment clauses," she unrolled the parchment another foot and they checked.

"Seems like fulfilling your grandmother's breed requirements doesn't quite terminate the whole contract."

"True, but what does it leave?"

It took about ten minutes to pin down that the things remaining were about half the hospitality arrangements and about half the yule festival arrangements.

"What do you think?" said Potter.

"I think she's leaving me in the harem until I choose to leave."

Potter nodded, "And leaves you and me in control over the children that she doesn't claim."

"More like, it leaves you and me in control of the decision whether you get them or I do, should I choose to leave the harem."

Potter narrowed his eyes, and re-read the four different paragraphs associated with that.

"No, she gets the first refusal, you get the second and fourth refusal, I get third, and am required to provide for everyone that you leave behind."

"Do you have a problem with that?"

"On the assumption that she's going to take the first parselmouth boy, and the first maledicti girl, and that you never bear twins," said Potter, "That's probably five or fewer pregnancies to earn your freedom, though random chance is random chance. Even if you leave me all three that your grandmother doesn't find 'acceptable,' it wouldn't really hurt my feelings. I would love to be able to support that many."

"I hear a 'but'?"

Potter sighed, "my House has the money, the House of Black I think has the money. But my access to my land and especially my ancestral Manor is … rather restricted."

"How so?"

"Your great uncle is occupying it, either as a war prize or as my usurping regent."

Wedna raised an eyebrow, "My great uncle, I don't think I'm aware of this person. Does Grandma have a brother? Or does her late husband?"

"Your Grandmother's younger twin. Intermittently he goes by the name Voldemort."

Wedna said several words she'd once promised her mother not to say.

Potter stared at her, not as if he disapproved of her language, but as if he thought she still had not comprehended the situation fully.

"Alright," said Wedna, "What does that mean in practice?"

He wrinkled his nose and one cheek like she was daft.

"I don't mean for your … lifestyle, and the whole war effort and whatever, I mean for our discussion about this contract."

"It means not only can I not sign it until the harem ratifies your membership, it means I can not sign it until I can actually fulfil the hospitality requirements."

Wedna re-read the requirements, "Then there's not much for us to talk about is there?"

Potter shrugged, "If you want to move forward on dating your way through that membership list, I can check on the state of my finances and whether or not I can afford to buy additional property before seventeen. But yeah, the timetable does not look hopeful."

Wedna nodded, "First of all, thank you for being honest about that. Second of all, I'm planning on getting a job as soon as possible anyway, 'the right to hospitality' doesn't need to mean the intention of capitalising on it all the time."

Potter nodded, "Conversely," he said, "If we're this … confident interpreting that Grandma Nagini meant well and is fully aware of my situation, I can't imagine she's going to be terribly annoyed with you, if you say, Yeah, Harry was amenable to the contract, but he did not feel like he could honourably sign it before he could actually fulfil the requirements. Etc."

"You want me using your first name to her?"

Potter shrugged, then smiled, "You're already my future cousin-in-law, and may use my first name among the House of Gaunt for that reason alone. It feels silly for you to be using only my last name in Lion's-Keep. Though whether you choose to switch right now, or after you've collected a good amount of votes, and/or a good amount of us have gained your favour, etc."

Wedna nodded, "fine, you may call me Wedna for the duration of our engagement, and we can re-negotiate when we finish the contract, or should I and your Harem fail to find favour with the other."

"Certainly, Wedna," said Potter.

"Or call me Wednesday," said Wedna, "Most of my muggle friends do."

Potter's eyes went huge, and he smiled, "Oh, that's the aesthetic you are mixing in with your uniform. I knew it was familiar."

Wedna grinned, "What specifically did you notice?"

"The neon green yarn bows really draw the eye to your pigtail braids," he said, "And I'm not sure what you do to your gait to make them swing, but I want to learn."

"What?"

"I wear my hair up at school and going into battle," he said, "But at home, and going to muggle dances, I wear my braids down with weighted beads to make them sway and click."

"Oh!" Wedna smiled, "I'd like to see that."

Harry smiled, "I'd like to show you, but now is not the time." He glanced towards the door, then back, "I have a vague idea that everything might run smoothest if your next date was with Padma, getting this translated into Parseltongue and back." He stood up.

"I'll take that under advisement," said Wedna, "Umm, by the way, umm…"

"What?"

"This is a rather fraught topic in my extended family."

"What is?" he said. And after a searching look he sat down again.

"Did you say whether Padma and Parvati are lesbian?"

"Are you asking do they prefer it, or are you asking whether they are going to judge you about it, or are you asking if they occasionally indulge in such acts, or are you asking something else?"

"Do they ever, with each other?" said Wedna, "Because … if not … I'm not sure I really should be pursuing any of this."

"Ah!" he said, "Yes, They occasionally indulge in such acts with each other, but Padma prefers sex with me, actually perhaps prefers not sex." He frowned and stared into space.

"And Parvati?"

"Prioritises sex with me, but her preference is towards … I don't know, perhaps 'relationship clarity'."

"I don't know what that means."

"She might welcome you into Lion's-Keep, but never invite you into bed until there is a signed contract."

"Oh."

"On the other hand, she might be the one with the most traditional sense … or appreciation for … romance? She and Ginny play off of each other very, very well."

"How so?"

"Parvati likes to be beautiful, Ginny appreciates that. Ginny likes to turn any time into a particular kind of quality time. Which Parvati appreciates in return. Basically, they decided that they were going to marry each other in addition to marrying me before they finished deciding which of the meanings of 'marry' they intended to do to me."

"So they're lesbian with you along for the babies."

"No," said Harry, "I think they're both straight, they're just in love with each other. And like being in love with each other."

"What does that mean?"

"It means … their sex drive informs them of the benefits of having a man around, and their other instincts push them towards making sure their family is very well protected and cared for. And they notice each other being good allies about that. And that also leads to sex. Or else I'm just projecting."

Wedna shrugged.

"The one who seems to be Lesbian with me along for the babies is Susan Bones."

"Susan Bones is cute," said Wedna.

"Cute, Dangerous, Gentle, and Rough," said Harry and wiggled his eyebrows, "I cannot imagine the woman who tackled me coming out of potions class wouldn't find her at least as addictive as I do."

Wedna realised she was making a not nice smile and tried to stop.

"One last bit of nomenclature," said Harry, "the commune slash harem slash room-we've-rigged-invisible-for-breaking-curfew-in goes by the name 'Lion's-Keep' I'd rather the majority of school think I've claimed a classroom off the Runes corridor like a normal person, and sometimes let some of my study groups meet there, rather than that the boy-who-lived is starting a sex commune and an entire new dorm under everyone's nose."

"I'd gathered half of that from context, but thanks for spelling it out."

Harry nodded.

He rolled up the parchment and held it out to her, "How much do you want me to tell the others, or do you want to flirt with them all on your own terms first?"

Wedna rolled her eyes.

"I'm serious," said Harry, "If you haven't come out to Padma yet, do you want to tackle that first, or last, or…"

"Or put it off until you have a plan on how to meet the hospitality requirements?"

Harry shrugged, "I have three plans, I just don't know how doable they are."

Wedna gave him the stink eye, but he seemed immune.

"I can tell her that you're lesbian, sometime after tea, give her several hours to process before she has a chance to bump into you again. But I still don't think she'd be rude about it."

Wedna frowned, and shook her head, "The thing is, I'm not lesbian."

"But you said…"

Wedna leaned forward, "I said I mildly prefer females. I didn't say for sex."

"Oh," said Harry, "But the topic was sex… Never mind, what do you prefer?"

"I told you what I prefer," said Wedna.

"We are evidently talking past each other," said Harry, "Which usually means I need to shut up long enough for you to start over and tell me what you are actually talking about."

Wedna frowned, He had not been in a listening mood, he'd been in a problem-solving mood, (exactly what she didn't like in adults, and heroes, and men). Gah! But he claims he is trying now. But is he really?

Can I help him / force him into an actually listening mood?

"They said you didn't respond to veelas."

"Oh," said Harry, and nodded.

"I don't respond to humans … not the way people are supposed to respond. I still respond to … dateable friends the way I suspect is normal."

"Oh! Yeah, sure."

"The terminology I've heard is, 'primary sexual attraction' for the first, and 'secondary sexual attraction' or 'romantic attraction' for the other."

Harry nodded.

"If you experience neither, that's called asexual, if you experience only the second that's called demi-sexual."

"And if you experience only the first?"

"Aromantic."

"Got it," said Harry, "and you and I am demi-sexual?"

"Yeah, you get it," said Wedna.

Harry stared at her, "And you already knew that about me?"

Wedna shrugged, "About a third of why I didn't just kill you when I got this in the mail. I figured there was a large chance that you didn't have anything to do with this," she shrugged, "and I was right."

Harry nodded, "Oh…kay? But how?"

"You weren't the only one mostly immune to veela, just the most famous in your year, it only took a little observation to figure out who else was immune, and by how much they were immune, and how they dated instead."

"Oh," said Harry, "ok, that makes sense."

"So are you demi-sexual also?"

"No, I am not," said Wedna, "but the sorts of people that my primary sexual attraction points me at are even more impossible than my vague list of non-essential, but it would be nice, things I'd like in romantic friends."

"Give me a hint?"

"NO!" said Wedna, "You're way too good a guesser, and so is Padma. Just trust me that it's an as useless means of selection for me as it is for you, and move on, help as much or as little as you'd like with romantic attraction, don't worry about my not-functioning sexual attraction."

Harry stared, "Yeah, ok, that makes sense."

"Thank you."

"It's even more socially unacceptable than lesbianism?"

"I said don't worry about it!"

He glared for most of a minute then shrugged, and looked away, "Are you a virgin?"

Wedna sighed, "No, I've been with two people."

"Were you attracted to either of them?"

"Emotionally, yes. Primary sexual attraction, no. Or … not by the time of our encounters."

Harry nodded, "I think that sufficiently answers the question of whether your will is strong enough to ignore …" he shrugged.

"Whatever nonsense my broken lust-circuit sometimes throws at me? Yes, I am, you don't need to worry about it, about me."

Harry nodded, "And you're also mildly an introvert."

"Obviously! And not just 'mildly'."

"I propose that you can usually say, 'I need to go hide and be alone for a while,' or whatever, without specifying whether it's too many people in general or too many lust-ible people around in specific."

Wedna smiled, "And your friend group can respect that?"

Harry shrugged, "I'm not promising they'll respect it as quickly as you might want. But … you would not be the first introvert in our group."

They already have Padma and Harry, Wedna shrugged, "Yeah, alright."

"Is this the only thing I'm not telling Padma?" said Harry.

"It's one of the biggest," said Wedna, "I'd rather you didn't …" she sighed and told a small lie, "One of the two people I've been with is my big brother, it wasn't shagging, it was snogging, but if Parvati and Padma do that too, then I guess they won't care."

Harry blinked, then wrinkled his nose, "Knowing them, they'll care for about fifteen minutes, and then they'll probably forget about it."

So maybe he didn't detect the lie, or maybe he wouldn't have reacted to the truth either. "And you?"

Harry shrugged, "I don't have any blood siblings, only Lion's-Keep members. Some of them have been members long before it was a sex commune. I remember what my reactions were to them when they were old enough to lust but not old enough for me to feel ok being lusted after. But … from the reactions I see to incest in other people, I take it that that taboo is much stronger."

Wedna shrugged, "I wouldn't know either, my lust circuits are scrambled, remember? I just know how weird most people look at us when they find out."

Harry nodded, "Fair enough."

Harry tilted his head to the side, "How old were you?"

"I was in my fifth year, he was in seventh, we both needed to de-stress."

Harry swallowed and looked away, "That makes way too much sense."

Wedna shrugged.

"And now I'm in my fifth year, and you're in your seventh," said Harry, "and Grandma Nagini is annoyed to realise that Padma's breed contract, while it does get her access to my genes, moves her and all those lovely parselmouth babies out of the House of Gaunt?"

Wedna stared, "What are you saying?" Because it sounded like half an apology for this being your and Padma's fault.

"That she's either trying to take care of you, and trying to dictate to us that you have an avenue to de-stress, or she's trying to take advantage of that need, to get the babies she wants."

Wedna shrugged, "three birds with one contract, rudely worded as it is."

"Yeah," said Harry.

"Too bad we can't use it."

"You could still attempt to join my harem without that contract," said Harry, "I just refuse to give you any babies on purpose until there's a sufficient contract in place. It doesn't have to be that one."

"Oh," said Wedna. And bit her lip, "And would … how many enemies would I make if I left on graduation and never see any of you again, except I suppose at Gaunt Yule parties?"

Harry shrugged, "You wouldn't be our first known-to-be temporary member, but it would probably be a somewhat more difficult sell."

Wedna nodded, "I … can see why that would be."

She sighed, and then tried again and made it a proper yawn.

Harry cast the time-telling charm. "I guess I'd better get to class." He stood up.

"We both had," Wedna agreed, and also stood and put out her fire, "Thank you for your time."

Harry nodded, "Thank you for the vocabulary lesson. Demi-sexual."

Wedna rolled her eyes and followed him from the room.

...-...

The Final Battle Part 1: Commencing early?

Content warning: Children playing soldier

On the first of June, at Lunch, the bird that landed by Harry's plate was not an owl but a small ill-tempered hawk of some sort.

The message it carried was not what Harry would have expected.

.

"Heir Potter,

"We have enough information. We're moving tonight. Try to stop me if it suits you. Tomorrow one of us will rise. I'll be at the ministry one hour after it closes. I hope you bring enough wands.

"What am I saying? You haven't got enough allies to stand up to me, let alone the weaker half of my followers. Play it smart."

.

Instead of a signature, there was a dark mark inside a sher mark.

Harry had barely finished reading the message when it burst into flames.

Harry blinked the smoke from his eyes and snuffed the remainder of the note out under his plate.

"What was that?" said Ginny, "And why did it arrive by a red kite?"

"I think I'd better not say right here," said Harry, "How soon do you think we could gather Lion's-Keep?"

Ginny shrugged, "Parvati, you're best at manipulating everyone's sher marks, I'll get Susan?"

Parvati nodded and closed her eyes.

.

Susan stared at him incredulously for three seconds, "And it definitely was intended to mean tonight?"

Harry nodded.

"And it was meant to not arrive until lunch," said Ginny, "Because it didn't come by owl, it came by red kite."

Susan shuddered. Then shrugged and grabbed a piece of parchment from her desk, "May I borrow Hedwig? No, she'd arrive too late. May I borrow your page badge?"

"Sure," said Harry, "Whichever you'd rather."

She finished her note and folded it up.

"Page badge will let me get this to Aunty faster," she said.

Harry nodded and handed it over. She darted for the door.

"Now what?" said Harry.

Padma shrugged, "What do you want? What does he want? What does he intend? What does he expect you to do in response to what he intends? And what do you want to do in response to what he wants you to do?"

"If I could … hold all of that in my mind, I'd be an actual slytherin," said Harry.

Padma nodded.

"Never mind that," said Parvati, "We all know you're not going to stay out of it, so … other than alerting Susan, what are you planning to do?"

Harry shrugged.

"And if you think we're going to let you go without help," said Ginny, "You're an idiot."

Parvati nodded vigorously, "and I would never marry an idiot."

"Hmm," said Harry. That could be taken several different ways. Actually, both of those statements could be taken several different ways.

"I wouldn't want to go without your help," said Harry, "But there are lots of kinds of help, Hermione taught me that. It'd be smart to make sure we're thinking of as many of them as we can, and choosing which things are best suited to each of us."

"So you're going to involve the AHDT?" said Padma.

Harry blinked. "That is a logical next step," said Harry, "though I don't quite trust some of them not to warn their parents that we're aware of you-know-who's plans."

"Who cares," said Padma, "you-know-who already knows you're aware of his plans, he told you about them himself."

Harry nodded, "to taunt me into inaction. Not to taunt me into bringing an army vaguely the same size as his, not as experienced, but probably much more used to teamwork."

Parvati cackled, she might have been hanging out with Nim too much.

"I think it doesn't matter," said Ginny, "Carmichael says, the only thing more damaging than being surprised, is being surprised when you thought you were the one with the advantage of surprise. We should assume we don't have the advantage of surprise. And then do the best we can anyway."

"Sounds right," said Padma, "You want me to go round up Carmichael? You can tell Susan when she gets back?"

"Sure," said Harry.

"And I'll get Tonks," said Parvati.

Harry blinked at her. And then understood, "Very good, Mrs. Black."

Parvati scampered off.

"What?" said Ginny.

"A Lady Black can send her cousin-in-law to go into battle," said Luna, "A merely future Lady Black, can at least invite her family members when there's a battle available."

Ginny thought for a moment, "So … there's a reason behind the taboo not to invite her to teach AHDT on house duel nights?"

"Exactly," said Harry, "wouldn't be fair."

Ginny smirked, "and tonight we're not worried about fair."

Harry nodded, "or not at all the same way."

"Are you going to tell the spider queen?" said Luna.

Harry flinched, "I … have no idea, what do you think?"

"I think you should," said Luna, "or offer the opportunity to Draco."

Harry frowned, "what do you want me to tell her?"

"Maybe not tell her," said Luna, "Maybe only ask her if she wants to be told."

Harry raised an eyebrow, then took off his necklace and passed it to Luna.

"Spider queen, spider queen," she said.

There were several clicking sounds, and then chimes that wobbled like they were being struck underwater."

"Yes?" said Narcissa's voice, though it was distorted and echoey.

"The moonlight says to the spider, is your sunlight in the water?"

"In which water?" said Narcissa.

"Has he swum in too deep to get out and stay dry tonight, begging a House of Black family emergency?"

"Tonight?" she said, "I don't know, shall I try?"

"It might be better," said Luna.

"And if he has swum too deep?" said Narcissa, "is there any advice about that?"

"Not really," said Luna, "but … maybe he'll want some dry clothes for later?"

"Very plausible," said Narcissa, "but he's so damn picky about what clothes he wears."

"Yes," said Luna, "we had noticed that. My pets can be like that also, sometimes. Though their tastes are somewhat different."

"I'm sure," said Narcissa, "Will there be … heliopaths?"

"We're planning to invite one, but we don't know if she'll come. We'll try not to let her alert the others if you'd rather."

"No preference," said Narcissa.

"Alright, that was all, spider queen. Good feasting."

"Thank you, Moonlight, good hunting."

"Thank you," said Luna, "Finite."

Padma was staring at Luna.

"What?" said Ginny.

"Luna's thing is hereditary?" said Padma.

Luna laughed. "It's taken me ever so long to learn to speak slytherin, I had to learn gobbledegook and centaur first, just like Da suggested."

Padma blinked, "None of the slytherins I know speaks like that."

"To you," shrugged Luna.

.

.

.

"Alright," said Harry, "Listen up, you all joined this group to learn how to protect yourselves, and your families, and perhaps your House and your House's allies, perhaps even our way of life here in The British Isles. You've all learned a lot over the last few months, some more than others, but each of you has made progress, most in proficiency both in defence and in teamwork. I'm proud of you all.

"Tonight there will be an opportunity to do exactly that. You-know-who is planning on attacking the ministry tonight. I'm going to stop him, as many of you as want to help, are welcome to join me.

"If we lose, those of you who stay here will have to face living in a nation where death eaters have taken control of the ministry. That will probably also involve situations that will require the skills we've shared here. I wish you the best of luck with that, but that's not the world I prefer to live in. If we win, we protect our families and our way of life.

"Who's with me?"

There were shouts of acclamation (and a few scattered boos).

"Alright," said Harry, "No hard feelings against those who choose to sit this one out. The rest of you, let's pack combat essentials and get to the ministry!"

Susan stood forward and cleared her throat, "No! You're not going to the ministry."

"What?" said Harry, "I thought you were on my side, our side."

"I am on your side," said Susan, "And I want to fight death eaters with you. But entering the ministry with wands drawn and violence in mind is highly illegal, and you asked me to warn you before you do anything stupid."

Harry crossed his arms and ground his teeth, "Do you see any alternative?"

She grinned, "First of all, yes, I already warned the DMLE that there will probably be an attack tonight.

She grinned wider, "Second, How would you feel to be a death eater, and successfully take the ministry, or for that matter lose to the professionals of the DMLE, then head back to your safe-house to lick your wounds and regroup, only to find that your safe-house and headquarters has been repossessed by its rightful owner."

Harry blinked several times, "Merlin!" said Harry, "Yeah, that's … an even better surprise."

He turned to the milling crowd that had started to inch forward to better hear Susan's reprimand and alternative plan.

"Alright, people! Change of plans, Instead of merely defending the ministry for one battle, our goal is now to win the war. We're going to be invading the death eater's base of operations and stealing it out from under them while they're out on mission. If we succeed fast enough, we're going to stage an ambush to capture them as they return.

"Who's with me now?" Harry shouted.

More cheers. Some with jumping.

Two seventh-year slytherins stood forward from their group, "That sounds a lot more legal, what do you know about their base," "and how?"

"I know about their base of operations," said Harry, "Because you-know-who stole my Manor for his fortress, he locked me out of parts of the wards, but didn't block me from seeing what he and his people were doing. I assume he meant to taunt me, goad me into storming in armed with only righteous fury but otherwise alone. Instead, it means we have fairly good intelligence about their activities."

Cassius Warrington smirked, "and I presume we can get your permission to go there and attack your unwanted house guests?"

"Definitely!" said Harry.

"Alright."

"Even lethal force?"

"Yes, but within reason," said Harry.

Cassius' eyes twinkled and he stepped back.

"I'd rather my Manor was still standing afterwards, but if it's a choice between repairing a hole in a wall, or bringing anyone back to Madam Pomfrey with a hole in them, I'd rather you put holes in my house, and of course, the death eaters. Conversely, I'd also rather not need to write home to any of your parents that you lost your wand hand to the over-enthusiastic spells of your fellow classmates."

"We've heard that before from Tonks," called someone from the crowd.

His friend nodded too, then said, "alright, let's see that intelligence."

Harry nodded, "House of Granger?"

"Draco and Theo, you're up," said Hermione.

"Before we start," said Draco, "I want you all to recognise that what we're planning is entirely within our power, no matter how many of you help, it will just take longer if there are fewer of us. Second, it is entirely legal, according to article 33 of the Wizengamot Treaty: Houses that are able, are allowed to and are encouraged to, enforce property rights for themselves and any of their families, against armed invaders by force of arms, or by inviting their allies, or by hiring mercenaries.

"If you don't plan to participate tonight, get out. If you do want to participate, any of you that aren't able to speak for your house to the extent of calling yourselves 'Allies of the House of Potter' or have not been instructed by house or family to consider your house such, raise your hands."

About 2 dozen left, mostly slytherins and ravenclaws.

Everyone else except the Houses of Potter, Black, Longbottom, Bones, Granger, and Wolpert raised their hands.

"Those of you with your hands raised need to collect a Knut from Harry, as a token advance on your mercenary pay, don't you know? Before you set foot on his property with your wands raised. Any questions?"

Several asked how much pay that would end up being.

Draco named 150 galleons as the market price per month and then divided it by thirty for one night's work. Several more people left.

For a moment Harry baulked at the idea that the number could be so low, and then remembered that a sickle an hour counted as minimum wage.

Harry looked around. Theo with assistance from Katherine was holding Susan's drastically expanded map. "First and second years," said Harry, "No offence, but you're out, except Katherine. I'm not taking first or second years into battle, or at least not this kind of battle. Katherine, if you want, you may stay, but only for the battle planning. The rest of you clear out."

That dropped their count by 8 more. Because two of the second years were escorted out by their older siblings. And who knew whether they'd be back.

"Now then," said Harry, "I don't have enough knuts on hand, so I'm going to be giving sickles for down-payments."

Draco shrugged, "go ahead."

While he did that, Draco and Theo stuck the map to the wall, so that the floor plan of the manor was easy to see.

And then Theo explained his master plan.

It was fairly good, Ron only had two improvements.

.

"Alright, people," said Hermione, "We've missed Tea, but Luna assures me that she's spoken with the Elves, and they're ready to receive us in the kitchens for an early supper. While we eat we can continue forming ourselves into action teams."

.

"Ok, but why Italian?"

"Because I wanted sausage and garlic pizza, and Parmesan-butter bread," said Luna.

"I'm more used to the Parmesan on the pizza and the garlic on the bread."

Luna shrugged, "no one ever puts on enough garlic. I thought this way there might be a fighting chance."

"Well, it seems you were right. Roasted garlic might be better than roasted onions, who knew."

"Right?" said Luna.

.

The first part of the plan went well. They split into two teams, half broke into the Governor's hall and floo'd to the old cottage, (password 'lion's pride.') The other group gathered in the page program room in groups of 6 to be portkeyed by Harry or Ginny. (The other members of Lion's-Keep weren't comfortable revealing that they had portkeys. Also, expecting people to grab their anklets would have been needlessly awkward.)

.

That was the point at which things started to fall apart. Many people wandered in the direction of the manor almost as quickly as they arrived.

Luckily the wards made them easy to track, and it seemed like most of them had grouped with their favourite fighting partners already.

Unluckily they'd prepared no way to communicate between groups.

"Wotcher," sighed Harry, "Label everyone who just arrived by the Old Cottage Floo, or was carried in by Portkey in the root cellar, as Associated Hogwarts Defence Team, and keep me informed where they are. Especially if and when they seem to need help. Be ready to show the same information to whatever Lion's-Keep members want to know."

[Pattern set, rule set, permission set.]

"Can you differentiate the Death Eaters for us by how malicious their fighting style is on average?"

[That is not a kind of record I usually keep long-term.]

Padma glared down and to the left. So she was continuing the conversation silently.

Harry went back to make sure they'd gotten everyone.

...-...

Interlude: Hogwarts

"Megan? Megan, what's wrong?"

Megan grimaced, and murmured, "My sister has gone off to fight death eaters and I don't know if I'll ever see her again."

Katherine stared at her friend for several seconds, then nodded, "They left the map up on the wall, do you want to come to watch it with me? It will be more boring than watching Nummer_28 reruns on mute, but better than nothing."

"What?"

"It shows where people are standing. I don't think it will tell us if anyone is hurt or how bad, but it will be easy to see if they're still moving."

Megan stared at her for fifteen seconds before she relaxed, then she nodded, "Yes, please."

...-...

The Final Battle Part 2: Animagus infiltration

Content warning: War, enemy death, child soldiers, and children playing soldier.

When everyone was in position, (and everyone had been kept from crossing the hedge that marked the ward line,) Luna and Susan turned to Hider and Holder and started forward, and used the hidden dog door (Thanks, young-Sirius) to infiltrate the house by way of the pantry.

[My lord, Padma has informed me that all of the mages with you just outside the Manor's hedge are mercenaries authorised to be here at your request, and no alarms should be raised about them for the duration of the night.]

Most of them are here for friendship rather than for money, but yes. No alarms should be raised about them being here or in the Manor, and everything they do should be reported to only me and my friends, not to everyone in the Manor, even if this stops additional alarm rules from being executed.

[Rule understood, I do not have control over any Manor alarm wards.]

Do the Manor alarm wards defer to you about intruder identifications?

[To some extent, yes.]

Then whenever possible reassure them that my people belong here, and are allowed.

[As guests? Or as Tenants? Or—]

As guests.

[Rule understood.]

Will that protection … stop working if they engage in offensive magic?

[Of course,]

Right. Is there a classification of guests that would allow them to cast offensive magic?

[Defence tutors.]

That's better.

[Are you sure you don't want to call them bodyguards?]

That's probably even better.

[Rule modified.]

I might have to kill tonight, I'm not happy about that, please pause notification of law enforcement about deaths caused by my people tonight.

[I don't notify them about killing, I notify law enforcement about gunshot victims]

Then that won't be a problem.

You may also give information to Hermione, Draco, Theo, and Ron about how the battle goes, if and when they request it.

[Recognised, understood. All your people seem to know an awful lot about the floor plan of the Manor.]

They do. Anyone else of my bodyguards that you notice being in charge of a group, and seems to be requesting information, and seems mentally strong enough to deal with the information, you may request my permission to give them access.

[Understood, building search.]

.

At Draco's first signal, Holder dashed through the hedge for the side stairs of the veranda with Hider clinging to her back.

Meanwhile Harry, Ginny, Parvati, and Padma turned into Richard, Mantis, Lightfeet, and Singer. Hermione silenced their feet. Singer climbed onto Lightfeet's back and they waited for Draco's second signal before starting towards the kitchen door.

Draco's timing was perfect, Hider opened the kitchen door just as they crossed the back veranda.

Lightfeet and Singer cantered through the house for the front door, while behind them Hider propped the kitchen door, then climbed onto Mantis's back and they cantered silently through the house to the parlour doors.

Harry's group was the first to run into trouble.

In his surprise to find a lion and a horse approaching him at speed and silent, the man dropped both his jaw and his wand, by the time he'd recovered his wits enough to draw breath to shout a warning, Richard had gotten close enough to rear back the tiniest bit and snap his jaws shut on the man's windpipe.

The taste of blood. An echo of panic and despair. The man went limp.

Richard paused. At the first hint of motion, Richard gave into instinct and twisted his head, things gave way and the body gave a strange lurch, as if it had stopped being an animal and started being a broken wind-up toy.

Oh, that twist would have put most of the man's weight on his neck, quickly snapping his spine, and the belated twitch and tensing was paralysis setting in.

Richard lowered him gently to the floor and stepped over him.

Singer was looking over her shoulder back at him.

That might not have been the best way to handle that. On the other hand, it was fast and mostly silent, which was all that we'd hoped. It was the reason we had a fighter accompany each pair of runners and hands.

I probably should have taken you hunting something bigger than squirrels long before this, thought Nim, in case you needed to have an existential crisis, you could get it over with somewhere other than on a battlefield.

Nim, I've killed Hogwarts professors and basilisks before. Tried to kill a troll, even if Ron cast the final spell.

Death is different when it's at knife range or teeth range.

No argument.

They reached the front door and Singer swung down to get it open. Richard helped her push. And held it open while she dragged a veranda chair over to prop it.

That was more noise than they'd hoped for, but hopefully, it wasn't by itself a noise that might imply wrongness to the current residents.

Richard looked up.

Draco gave the signal and Susan's and Hermione's groups of animagi started forward. Each aiming for a different door.

Now it's time to start the housecleaning in earnest.

Singer hopped across Richard's rump to regain her seat on Lightfeet's shoulders. And they turned again and reentered the manor. Moving sunwise they circled the building, making sure every exterior room was empty. And taking down whatever opposition they could find. Meanwhile, Hermione's group would be moving parallel behind them doing the same for the interior rooms.

Richard's group only found one more death eater, inventorying a supply closet.

Singer jumped on him and held a hand over his mouth before he could say anything. And Lightfeet reached over her and tapped him hard on the head with a front hoof. He collapsed. Perfect.

Against a shelf and knocked some things off.

All of the packages hit the floor with thuds, none with crashes, so hopefully that was fine.

They moved on.

.

At the servant's stairs, they met another group coming the other way. They examined the steps.

Only Singer, a gibbon, and Hermione's otter form, had much hope of navigating them safely and without causing a racket. And they wouldn't be much for confronting the dangers they might find.

Which was as expected.

The Greyhound and the leopard were left in charge of guarding the stairway, against anyone going up or coming down. The rest left by the Kitchen door and retreated outside the ward line.

.

...-...

{End Chapter 29}

A/N: I have no idea whether to apologise for the cliffie, or to be smug that I managed one. Mostly I split it here because it needed to be split.