The Final Battle Part 7: Silent Hearing
Content warning: War, child soldiers/children playing soldier. Not-quite-summary executions.
Harry made it outside, Along the far side of the road lay the bound and stunned prisoners. Someone was taking their masks off and Luna was taking notes. There seemed a lot of moonlight tonight. But then how often am I up at midnight on a full moon night?
Along the near side of the road lay the werewolves. And on the far side of the stunned and bound prisoners, huddled the ex-prisoners. And ranged around them all in clusters were his allies and mercenaries.
He didn't have the manpower or the parchment work or the energy to hold eighty pleadings. Nor the energy to do this all tonight. On the other hand, he didn't want to just kill them all, nor let them all go.
And he didn't personally know enough of them to research this, and he didn't trust the ministry to not take bribes.
"Alright people," he called, then thought the better of it and used Sonorous.
Under his feet, the dry crunch of the white gravel walk changed to a more subtle crunch of the cheap grey gravel of the road.
He stopped and looked around. Flower beds. Perfect.
"Alright people, we seem to be finished with the exciting part, now we only have the hard part. I have already been asked to Hear a Plea for Justice. And I think we can get better results, and faster if we work together on this."
He had everyone's attention, (not counting the unconscious.)
"Ex-prisoners, and werewolves, I especially want your help, anyone who knows anything about the death eaters and other individuals we captured here tonight, if you wish to participate, and if by participating you can and do promise on your honour and magic to act to the best of your knowledge for the cause of justice, not revenge, I want you to gather a handful of black stones from the garden, and white stones from the walk, and grey stones from the road. And I want each of you to place one stone on the chest or back of each death eater or suspected death eater: black, if you know of anything against them that you believe ought to deserve a death sentence; white, if you believe they are completely innocent, or that there were sufficient extenuating circumstances for each of their crimes, that you think they should be free to go home. Grey, if you are aware of sufficient guilt that they should not go free, but not sufficient for execution. If you don't know anything about a prisoner, place no rocks, it is entirely possible that some of these may be innocent and only has had the misfortune to choose tonight to be the guest of a death eater here. Or were prisoners and merely had been taken upstairs for questioning when we arrived."
There was a lot of surprised muttering.
"Any questions?"
"What will you do?" asked Hermione, "Are you going to kill them?"
"When everyone is done voting, I will examine each pile of rocks, and I will decide. It will be my decision as Lord of this Estate. Each of you is welcome to try to influence my decision, but only as I just outlined, place a black or grey stone for guilty, or white for not guilty. And none for no opinion, or none for if you do not believe that your opinion has enough solid evidence to back it up to be admitted in a court of law. The first stone you place is also a promise to vote the truth to the best of your ability. But the final decision will be mine."
"Any questions?"
There was a flurry of motion and spells amongst the ex-prisoners, and then another limp body was levitated out of the crowd and placed in line with the others.
"Hmm," said Harry, "Any more such accusations?"
A ruckus among the werewolves, and then Greyback was dragging one of the others out by the ruff of his neck until he was in line with the death eaters. They had a growling contest, until the smaller werewolf put his head down.
Greyback growled one more time, then trotted away, grabbed a white pebble from the gravel walk and carried it back to place a few inches in front of the nose of the other.
"Thank you, Greyback," said Harry.
That seemed to wake everyone up, and they started moving to collect pebbles.
There seemed to be a consensus to start from that end and work toward where Draco and Luna were still uncovering faces.
That made sense.
.
Someone broke from the regular pattern.
Harry turned to look. It was Neville. Bellatrix turned to stare at him. Pulling her back away from his hand.
A white stone stuck to her shirt where his hand had just been.
Oh.
"Thank you, Lord Longbottom," she curtsied.
"How do you know what colour I gave you?"
"I am my lord's eyes and ears," she said, "and he is mine."
"Oh," said Neville.
.
Another break from the regular pattern.
Harry looked.
Draco had stood up. And after several seconds, he raised his wand and summoned a grey pebble from the road. And placed it on the prisoner he stood over. After several seconds of tension, he moved on to the next body.
.
Harry looked around. Hermione and Padma were there at his elbow.
And Moody still hovered a few meters away.
"Is it time?" said Harry, "are Parvati and Ginny around?"
"On their way," said Padma.
"Time for what?" said Hermione.
"We found another parselmouth upstairs," said Harry, "we're trying to decide if she's a hostage to keep Nagini in line, or political prisoner, or an office work slave."
"Or a Leona," said Moody, "And if so, whose?"
"We know for sure that her hair's been harvested for polyjuice for a long time."
Parvati perked up, "Then it's easy, it's the source of the anomalous 'Aunt Margaid'."
"Right," said Harry, "Except … it still doesn't feel right."
"Why not?" said Hermione.
"Because why go through the trouble of having a polyjuice source for a shape he also had a Leona spell for?"
Padma picked up a finger, "It's on the tip of my brain," said Padma, "I know I had a problem that had a solution like that. Susan solved it another way but …"
"Where's Susan?" said Ginny, after a second of looking around put her fingers in her mouth and whistled, then waved her arms.
Susan ran over, "What's up?"
"Why," said Padma, "go through the trouble of keeping a polyjuice source for a shape that you also have a Leona spell?"
"Well more technically," said Susan, "why adjust a Leona spell to match a shape that you also have a polyjuice source for? Because you need two at once, or three at once. Or because you don't like the mental side effects of the spell or the strategic ramifications of the continual dosing, or that dogs and some people can smell the potion."
"Right," said Harry, "Because some of his death eaters would be too suspicious for him to sell the identity as separate if they never see both in the same room. And perhaps the Leona spell only became needed after she grew resistant to horcrux possession and liquid possession, and a more reliable alternative became necessary."
"What's liquid possession?" said Padma.
"The combined effects of two mostly illegal love potions," said Harry.
"One isn't technically a love potion," said Susan, "but yes, still illegal."
"Alright," said Harry, "I'm convinced."
"What's going on?"
"Proxy Margaid Gaunt," said Harry, "the pattern for her—"
"I thought Nagini was the pattern for her."
Harry nodded, "Nagini is one of the patterns for the Leona spell. But before that. I think he was grooming his niece to hold that position."
"Hermione, what happens when you key a dose of polyjuice with material from someone's animagus form?"
"Same as with their human hair, it keys to what their body looks like when you key it, not to what it looks like when you pluck the hair. That's why you need the body alive, or it will convert you into a dead body. If they're in animagus form when you key it to their human hair, or to their human form when you key it to their animagus hair, it still makes you look like how they look when you keyed it. Or it tries, for animal forms, it usually fails spectacularly, for non-mammals, it's sometimes lethal."
"So it would be pointless to keep Nagini's shed skin around because she's stuck in her animal form most of the month."
"Half right," said Parvati, "as long as you key a big enough batch while she's human, you can use it the rest of the month, or the dozen days that the shelf life of keyed polyjuice is good for, or whatever. But you'd need some other solution for the other two thirds of the month."
"Right," said Harry, "But it might make sense to keep the shed snake skin of some other maledicti, who is not yet so old as to be trapped most of the month?"
"Where did he get another maledicti?" said Parvati.
"Nagini calls her, 'baby' which to my knowledge snakes only use to refer to the insanity of mammals for their young."
Parvati frowned, "Say it in Parseltongue?"
Harry tried several times but could not.
"Cobras, mambas, and several pit vipers," said Parvati, "Not all snakes but a few do act that way. Nagini's a pit viper. And she is legendary protective." She glared at him, "also she is a mammal, like 8% of the time."
Harry shrugged, "Objection withdrawn. Anyway, she looks mildly like your Mom and Aunt Margaid, but she's vaguely Melantha's age. And is worse at English than Stormy."
Parvati stared at him. Padma was also.
"So she never brought her home to Grandpa? Has she been raising her alone? For how long?" said Padma, "Why wouldn't she bring him to grandpa?"
"Because she bred with someone else," said Parvati, "He had to have been a parselmouth anyway, for her to be a true maledicti."
Padma swore.
"Out of curiosity," said Susan, "What if she's a snake-kin? Is that possible?"
"It is for a normal snake animagus," said Hermione, "I have no idea about maledicti."
Padma huffed, "who the hell knows."
"Where is she?" said Parvati, "What's her name?"
"She goes by Pearl," said Harry, "She's upstairs."
"More evidence that Grandma has been raising her alone," said Padma.
.
Rebekah didn't move out of the way to let them enter. At first, she just stared at them for several seconds, then said, "Why did we dance together at the tournament ball?"
"Reputation management," said Harry.
She stepped aside.
Harry knocked on the door, even though it was still propped open.
"Who's there?" said Nagini.
"Bold, Fast, and Thoughtful, and some of our friends," replied Harry.
There was a silence long enough for two snakes to have a short conversation by only body language. Then Nagini said, "Come in."
Harry pushed the door open.
Harry and Susan went in far enough for the others to walk past them, but the Patils stopped short of that distance to assess the situation.
Hermione grunted and shouldered past them to have a good look for herself, then swore, and cast the unlocking charm on Pearl's manacle. The manacle did not come off her ankle, but it did separate from the cable.
"Where's your wand?" said Hermione.
"The wand Uncle lets me use is in the box by the door," she nodded.
Harry found it. There was a piece of slate on the back of the door, and a wooden box for slate pencils nailed up beside it. He picked up the wand. He could definitely use this. Probably a phoenix tail feather. He turned back.
"Pearl deserves 'Innocent'?" said Pearl, holding out her hand for the wand.
"No," said Harry, "Pearl deserves to come outside to help everyone else, with a chore." He put the wand in the extra holster on his right wrist. The one that held the wand Nim had found him to disguise his activities from the Trace.
Hermione growled.
Pearl looked disappointed for only a moment, but then she rallied, "Yes, help," she took a step forward, "I like outside, What chore?"
"Come on," said Harry.
On the way down he explained the procedure. She agreed that she understood.
.
When she stepped off the veranda she howled and staggered to a stop.
After a few seconds of that Stormy was wrapping around her, her front half going into fake-lethifold form, her rear half turning into a snake and scrabbling for an anchor point, then dragging her backwards onto the veranda.
She stopped screaming and they both lay still.
"What the hell," said Harry, "Are you alright?"
"No," said Pearl, "Moonlight is bad, why would you bring me outside at night."
Stormy pulled away and turned human, "She's a wolf, but not a wolf, what is she?"
"A snake," said Padma.
"And magically exhausted," said Moody, "I'm surprised you didn't notice."
"What have you been doing all day, Pearl?" said Harry.
"Chores," she said, "Desk chores for Uncle."
"What kind of desk chores leave you magically exhausted?" said Harry, "charging rune arrays?" He blinked, "parasitic wards?"
"Those impossible obelisks," said Susan, "Damn him."
"Now I really want him dead."
"He's currently, mostly dead again," said Harry.
"We'd better revive him then," said Susan, "I want to send him to Azkaban."
Neville chuckled and climbed the steps, "I particularly liked laying him out with the rest so we can all give him a black pebble, I think it was a nice touch."
"You're welcome," said Susan, "but that was Mrs. Nim's touch."
Neville nodded, "She's a clever cat."
He met Harry's eyes, "Who's this?"
"He was keeping her for potions ingredients when he wasn't possessing her and bringing her to death eater meetings for a foil."
Neville shuddered in disgust, "and you haven't put her out of her misery?"
Harry shrugged, "She claims to have developed a resistance to being possessed, I'm … intrigued."
"Department of mysteries then?"
"No," said Harry, "or only when she's old enough to choose that for herself."
Neville shrugged, and after several seconds' thought, he nodded, "fair enough."
Pearl rolled over onto her knees and looked at Harry, "are you talking about me?"
"Yes," said Harry.
"I'm not a baby," she said.
"No," said Harry, "But you're not an adult yet either."
"Humph," she said.
She climbed to her feet and glared down at him. All of half an inch down.
"Stop that, Pearl," snapped Nagini.
She backed away half a step and hunched. Padma and Parvati hunched too, though not by nearly as much.
Harry sighed, "Pearl, come here."
She came.
He hugged her.
She tensed for three seconds, then relaxed and let her head lean to touch his, then she recoiled with a cry.
He let go and stared. A faint trail of purple smoke hung between them, already dispersing, and his face and neck muscles ached.
"What was that?" he said.
"What did it feel like?" said Hermione.
"Casting a big patronus with my eyebrow," said Harry.
"Compatible magic, and she's exhausted," said Hermione.
Nim, get inside and figure out how to destroy those obelisks. Unless they've recharged too much to destroy right now, in which case, determine if they can just be shut down, temporarily, or permanently.
Right away boss.
She ran past them into the house.
Moody grunted.
"I'm intrigued that she's been around enough, that any of these people recognised her to give her a stone," said Moody.
"That was Neville," said Harry.
Moody stared, "Why?"
"He's been watching her for almost 3 years now," said Harry, "He knows exactly what she is."
Moody turned to stare at Neville instead.
"She's a tool," said Neville, "A tool of destruction, but a tool. You've got to keep her in the hands of the right kind of craftsman."
Arms wrapped hard around Harry from behind, He had to work hard not to react with battlefield instincts. And then his sense of the location of his marks told him who it was.
He gently worked his arms free and wrapped his hands around Ginny's hands. "You alright?" he said.
"I will be soon," she said, "and I'll keep trusting you between now and then."
"Thank you," Harry sighed.
"Harry?" said Stormy, "I can hold her human and keep the moon out of her, long enough for her to … she needs to give them stones also?"
"Yes, Stormy, that's right," said Harry.
"I can," said Stormy, "Do you want?"
"We can try?" said Pearl.
They did that.
.
Harry and some of the others looked on from the slight elevation of the veranda.
"I am not looking forward to Monday," said Harry, "and we still have exams."
"You do realise, you're not going to have a lie-in tomorrow either," said Ginny.
"I think a lie-in sounds like a perfect plan," said Harry.
"There's no way that's going to happen," said Ginny and stood on her tiptoes to whisper in his ear, "I think you're going to be shagging all your ladies, round robin until you've christened every room of your house. And for breaks in between we'll be doing spring cleaning, and purification rituals, I saw Parvati estimating how much salt there is in the pantry."
Harry froze for several seconds and tried to imagine how he'd feel as soon as the prisoners were dealt with. And Ginny had been feeling that way for a half-hour already, ever since they'd all been levitated out of her house.
"As usual," said Harry, "you see the future a little more clearly than I do."
Ginny chuckled, "In one area at least."
Job's done, boss. Why?
Not sure yet, part of an experiment.
Alright, I'm on my way down, You know you've still got people up here in the bedroom wing?
I'm not aware of that, who is it?
Theo and Tracy.
Scoping out which bedrooms to ask for over the summer?
Looks like they're looting.
… As long as they're looting death eaters' belongings, and not House of Potter Heirlooms, I might be able to overlook it.
Hmm, I don't think they're trying to differentiate, they're just summoning galleons and sickles, and moving to the next room.
Ah. I almost respect them for that.
Right? Should I stop them?
I think … no. I want to see how this plays out.
Alright. Coming down.
.
"What's that look?" said Padma, "Nim tell you something juicy?"
"Exactly," said Harry.
"What?" said Parvati.
"Not ready to spill," said Harry, "it's got to be just the right time."
Parvati grinned and turned back toward watching the ex-prisoners milling about. The werewolves were just about finished. They were slower because they had to make more trips. Pearl also was almost done. It would be time soon to go and inspect the results.
He'd much rather stay here and keep getting hugged by Ginny. Perhaps he shouldn't have let her start until everything was over.
But for her everything was over. She'd just been one of his lieutenants. He was the one who'd decided to also be judge.
.
Bellatrix left the house and moved to stand between Padma and Hermione. "Almost done, it looks like."
"Yeah," said Hermione.
"Lady Granger," said Harry, "Check my arithmancy."
She looked up, "Granger of Granger? Yes. Lady? Not technically."
Harry shrugged, then nodded toward the crowd, "Those with only black rocks, die. Those with no white rocks, and more black rocks than grey rocks, die. Those with only white rocks go free, or no rocks at all. Those with more grey rocks than anything else go to the ministry."
She shrugged, "Probably?"
"No," said Draco, "Those with no black rocks, but a mix of white and grey, pay a ransom of 500 galleons per grey."
Rebekah and Moody chuckled.
Draco shrugged, "and if they've got enough white rocks, that you're not going to kill them, you make them pay 2000 per black."
Harry sighed, "is this an ethical assessment, or a legal assessment."
Draco flinched, "Legal, you can't just dump them all on the ministry and expect them to do anything."
"Why not?" said Hermione.
"Because the only crime he has against them is trespassing," said Draco, "And he hinted that he's in enough of a hurry to not ask the jury to stand witness.
"Bellatrix," said Harry, "Go kill the ones with only black rocks."
"Do you care what spell I use?"
"Not the killing curse, nor your teeth. You may use your claws, or a sword if you prefer."
"Only black, or only black and grey?"
"Only blacks, and only blacks and greys, if the blacks outnumber the greys."
She nodded.
"'Only blacks' is a subset of 'more blacks than greys'," mused Luna.
"Hello, Luna," said Harry.
"Crabbe and Goyle put white stones on Goyle's dad and Theo's Dad. And Draco put a grey stone on Goyle's dad, and a black stone on Crabbe's dad."
"Oh," said Harry.
"Goyle didn't put anything on Crabbe's dad until he saw Crabbe put a white stone on his own dad, then he put a white stone on Crabbe's dad."
Harry took a deep breath, "Did any of them lose their magic?"
"I don't know," said Luna, "do you want me to check?"
Harry shrugged, "I'd … kind of rather I didn't know who put which stones in most cases. Unless I knew for sure that someone lost their magic for a particular placement."
Luna shrugged.
.
Harry walked to the end of the line that had become the starting end.
He walked along, counting the minimum numbers of each colour.
The Voldemort corpse had only black rocks, except two greys.
That seemed about right.
By the time he got to the end, he'd figured out at least one pattern.
Not counting Voldemort, there were at least four white stones on all of them, and eight black stones on all of them.
He'd expected a pattern similar to that, four people didn't want anyone extra to die, and had voted that way. And eight people had worked so hard and risked so much tonight, or seen enough of their friends hurt or killed or at least shot at that they wanted them all dead regardless of any knowledge about them. It was one of the kinds of sampling bias.
It wasn't that they were wrong, it wasn't that they hadn't done their best to vote to the best of their understanding. It just meant that they were diluting his information with their bias.
Bellatrix still stood at the end of the row and gave him a questioning look.
"The first four white and the first eight black are meaningless," said Harry, "start over and subtract those before assessing which of them I've already given you authority to execute."
Her eyes went wide, "Yes, boss."
She didn't start from the beginning, she started from right where she stood and worked backwards.
"May I help?" said Stormy, "What are we doing?"
Pearl moaned.
"I am judging, and Bellatrix is executing," said Harry, "and you're helping Pearl. Thank you, you seem to be doing a mostly good job."
She returned to pseudo-helmet / lethifold form around Pearl. And Pearl stopped flinching away from where the moonlight touched her.
The two of them made their way back toward the porch.
Harry sighed and turned back. He worked his way along the line. Of those that Bellatrix hadn't put a drilling hex through the forehead, most had only four or five greys, once the bias had been accounted for.
Harry came to one that had only the known bias, it was a face he recognised.
He enervated the man. He sat up coughing, then stared around.
"Hello Stan," said Harry.
"Hello," said the man.
"What are you doing here?" said Harry.
"I don't know, where am I?"
"You're on my property, without permission, in a death eater uniform," said Harry.
"That's funny," Stan chuckled, "we were going to raid the ministry, take out the floos, good for business, see?"
"Who's idea was that?" said Harry.
Stan gave him a blank look.
"Are you a death eater?" said Harry.
Stan gave him a dopey grin, "hard to believe they'd take a bloke like me, yeah? But they did, I'm a bone-a-fide death eater." He showed off his wrist. Awkwardly because ropes still bound his elbows to his sides. (Apparently, we should have practised restraining unconscious prisoners laying in a wider variety of weird angles. Bellatrix would already have escaped, even without her animagus form. Whatever, not the point right now.)
Harry stared at him, "are you drunk?"
"I don't think so," said Stan, and held up his collar and breathed into it, then sniffed, "I don't think so," he said again.
"Are you under the imperious curse?"
"What?" said Stan.
"Do you know what the imperious curse is?"
"What?" said Stan.
In the background, Bellatrix cast, "defodio," for at least the third time since Stan had woken up.
But this time he started and his eyes crossed for half a second before he shivered and looked around in confusion, "Where am I?"
"Potter estates," said Harry, "is there a reason you're dressed up as a death eater?"
"Not that I know of," said Stan.
He looked around, then fumbled at the ropes that still held his elbows to his sides.
"Help a bloke out, I seem to have lost my wand."
"Pull your sleeve down," said Harry, "there's a good chance they can take it off at St. Mungo's tomorrow."
Stan looked at his arm and went white.
"Shh," said Harry, "Pull your sleeve down, there's a good chance they can take it off at St. Mungo's tomorrow."
"Nuh hun, they don't come off."
"Real thrall marks don't come off," said Harry, "tattoos that pretend to be thrall marks are only skin deep." Not quite true, but close enough for the likes of Stan.
"Oh," said Stan, "but how did I get here?"
"Not really sure," said Harry, "I was trying to ask you about that, do you remember how you were feeling about ten minutes ago?"
"Huh?"
"Were you feeling confused, or were you feeling happy."
"Happy," grinned Stan.
Harry nodded, "Sounds like the imperious. Talk to a therapist if you can afford one, you might be able to learn to throw it off. That's what will help you get over the experience the fastest."
"Oh," said Stan.
"I'm going to let you go, I want you to get up and go stand with the other rescued prisoners, in about an hour you'll have a chance to floo home. I have no idea where your wand is, if we find it we'll … probably put an ad in the paper."
"Oh," said Stan.
Harry unlocked the ropes and dismissed the conjuration and helped him up.
"Oh, and Stan? A lot of the prisoners died, and a lot of the death eaters died, and I might still have to kill a few more of them, people all around are grieving, try to not talk too much."
Stan stared at him for several seconds, then nodded, "Yes, sir."
Harry moved on to the next one.
He let two more go, one was evidently a prisoner, who'd been under 'questioning' at the time of the attack.
He found the death eater that had been locked up at the time of the attack. Already dead. Lots of black stones. Too deranged for even Voldemort to let run wild.
Then the werewolf, ten black stones eight white, after controlling for known bias, that was two black stones four white, also one grey.
"Are you more loyal to Greyback or to Voldemort?" muttered Harry.
He shook his head.
"Or were they both necessary evils?"
He shook his head and stood up far enough to shake his middle also. Then lay down again.
"Voldemort is gone again for a few years more," said Harry, "how do you feel about that?"
He wagged his tail, and barked.
"Sounds about right," said Harry, "If you promise not to kill or bite any more humans, I can let you go."
He barked and nodded.
"Go to your real master."
He hopped up and spun around and stared in Fenrir's general direction for several seconds.
Then he turned around in a circle and stropped his side along Harry's knee, then spun the other way and did the other side.
For several seconds Harry was concerned he'd just inherited a werewolf. (While he might wish to visit the pack now and then as a lion and trade hunting techniques, he didn't really want to watch him all night every month.)
But then he turned away and ran off.
Not to Fenrir, to one of his lieutenants.
Good to know.
.
The next anomaly was a muggle mercenary sniper that You-know-who had blocked the wards from letting Harry know about. Apparently, he'd been tasked with keeping an eye on Harry, and his friends. Keeping them safe from muggles, and keeping Harry from stepping foot onto the decorative grounds.
Luckily for Harry, it had been his night off and whoever had replaced him trusted the wards a bit too much.
Harry offered him three choices. He chose to go with 'stick around and work security for one of Harry's wineries' rather than be obliviated.
.
Wotcher, can you tell me the general level of suffering caused by those that remain, compared to those that I just ordered Bellatrix to kill?
[Level of suffering caused total? or the amount of suffering caused per unit of opportunity to cause any?]
Maybe both, causing a lot of suffering but only to prisoners per unit of time, and mostly choosing not to interact with the prisoners, might be a different thing than the same level of suffering per unit of time, but interacting with the prisoners whenever possible.
Both levels were shown for each remaining death eater, then two more scores were shown.
What are these?
[Suffering caused to other death eaters.]
Interesting.
There were three living death eaters whose scores were better matched to the dead.
Harry went to each in turn, "defodio."
He found it wasn't a nice way to kill. He had to keep it active long enough for it to reach the back of the skull.
I'm going to use a sword next time.
There's one in the display case inside, shall I get it?
I'm not sure yet, let me think.
Ok.
He stood up and looked around again.
There was someone among the ex-prisoners for whom Wotcher had provided cruelty scores … therefore Wotcher recognised them as a death eater, the scores were median to low … or more like 2 standard deviations below average, compared to the other death eaters still living, but …
Wotcher, do you know what this one was locked up for?
[Wasn't locked up for punishment, was locked up because she was … entertainment slave. Same as the werewolf you let go.]
Shit.
Harry went through the crowd until he found her, where she sat on the ground. She seemed only a little older than Melantha. But then Melantha spent all her time outdoors and might look older than she was.
"Do you have anywhere to go?" said Harry.
She shook her head.
"Where's your mark?"
"Inside of my ankle."
"How much school did you finish?"
"Sixth year."
"How long ago was that?"
"Three years ago."
So already on the street before Voldemort found her. "Do you want to finish NEWTs?"
She picked up her head to stare at more of him than his knees.
"Yeah," she said, "if I could find the money."
"You wait over there by Sergeant Pasternak, when the others floo home, you may stay here if you'd rather."
"What are you going to do to me?" she said.
Harry raised an eyebrow.
"You've already killed my father."
Harry nodded, "Are you saying I shouldn't have?"
She looked away, "No."
"Are you saying that I owe you something?"
"No," she sighed, though her head nodded a little.
"How were you at Herbology?"
She shook her head, "A on my OWLs, dropped it when I could."
There goes the easiest way I could hire you, "What's your best subject?"
"Astronomy and Potions, average at Runes, and Care."
"I'm average at runes," said Harry, "But I have more fun than anyone else in class."
She looked up.
"It's best if I practice on parchment, not wood or metal, the shrapnel is less deadly that way."
She grinned. "I liked Care a lot," she said, "I just can't memorise all the animals."
Harry nodded.
"Wait, are you flirting with me?"
"Should I be?"
She bit her lip and looked away.
"I'm not asking you to like me," said Harry, "I'm asking you to remember that there are people in the world worth liking, and not to kill yourself."
"I won't," she said.
"Nor stop trying to live, which might amount to the same thing, just slower and more painful."
She looked up at him, "Yeah," she said, "alright."
She sighed, and climbed to her feet.
"Where?" she said.
Harry pointed.
She went.
He followed, though not quite in the same direction.
He saw her grab Sergeant Pasternak's hand. Pasternak turned to stare at her.
"You're elected to be my stepfather until I finish NEWT's, I think by being the right kind of hard-arse enough to help me un-drop-out."
He blinked and nodded, "I'm totally charging extra for this shit."
She shrugged.
Harry looked away, and saw the scores Wotcher had found for the werewolves.
Wotcher, are those suffering numbers just what the werewolves have caused within my territory?
[That is the only data I have access to. Yes.]
Fine. If Greyback ever tries to leave my estate under his own power. Portkey half of him to the bottom of that lake you told me about, and half to the top of a tree in the forest I gave him.
[Which half where? I can't do that.]
I don't care actually. Why not, do Portkeys not work that way?
[Portkeys can work that way, but that sort of technique requires a lot more control than I have been given. Usually, lethal wards are handled some other way than portkeys.]
Ah. Never mind then. He's not allowed to leave the estate, if he tries, without asking my permission first, portkey him back to the middle of his forest.
[Can't he apparate?]
Don't you already block that except from the gravel walks here and in front of the cottage?
[Yes.]
Hmm, remind me in at least a week, that I wanted to consider how to make sure he never leaves or hurts anyone else while he's here.
[Not counting tonight's battle, he hasn't attacked anyone for a while. Except for his werewolves and Stormy. And Stormy thinks it's just exercise.]
Good.
.
He looked over the few remaining death eaters.
Padma was just looking up from killing one, apparently with advice from Nagini, Bellatrix, and Stormy.
Harry went over. As he walked, Wotcher updated with two additional scores. Harry wasn't sure what the scores meant, but it made the pattern very obvious which were left for her to kill.
She raised her face to look at him. She was … a bit on the angry side.
Wotcher, what do those scores mean?
Wotcher told him.
Good, I want you to calculate that about all our muggles too.
Harry gave Padma a nod and started walking again.
She killed the last two. Then gave him a head tilt.
He gave her another nod, "Any more filter selections you want to do?"
She shrugged, "I might be done now."
Harry nodded, "I'm trying to decide whether to implement Draco's ransom strategy or my own 'turn over to the authorities' strategy. I'm ready to put them in the dungeon until I decide."
"How sure are you that none of them has control over the dungeon wards?"
"I'm not," said Harry, "Wotcher, how do I tell the Manor that I should be in control over the wards now?"
[Theoretically: Persuade your regent that you are of age. Historically: Wait for your regent to die, or kill them yourself. Why is this a question?]
"He's already dead, though not by my hand."
[No, she's not,]
"Wotcher, I'm sure—
"I'm not sure," said Padma.
"What?" said Harry.
"Why are you sure that Pearl isn't Margaid? The names mean the same thing."
Harry looked up at Pearl sitting on a chair on the veranda, hunched against the cold, but looking calm, perhaps pleased. And Moody standing nearby, using the advantage of height to have the best vantage point over the whole yard. Unlike the rest of them, Moody couldn't actually turn his back on anyone. Neither of them had scores for how much suffering they'd caused. Neither did most of everyone else in the decorative lawn— Right, because Wotcher was currently locked out of and blind to that portion of the wards.
He checked the scores on Voldemort's corpse. Seemed right, but that might just mean … whoever he chose to be his scapegoat was as terrible as himself.
"Hmm," said Harry, "I'll be right back."
He went to Rebekah, "You can see transfigurations on people?"
"Yeah," she said, "I didn't see that they were transfigurations, just that they were enchanted, and with something other than via runes."
"You took one off of Voldemort's corpse and one off of Pearl."
She nodded, "Yes."
"And did those two seem completely disenchanted after that?"
"Yeah," she said, "That one on Pearl surprised me though. I wasn't expecting her to be a squib underneath, I thought for a second I'd killed her."
"They suggest she's just suffering magical exhaustion."
Rebekah looked, "Not anymore, or … not as much. She looks like a nine-year-old witch now. Any idea how old she really is?"
"No," said Harry, "I'd thought about your age. Not that I entirely trust my guesses when she's had that rough a time. Maybe in a few weeks when her bruises have healed and her hair has started to come in."
Rebekah nodded.
"Thanks for your time."
Harry headed up onto the veranda.
"Hey Pearl," said Harry. My aunt, maybe also my enemy.
"Harry," she smiled, "I thought you were going to kill all of them."
Harry shrugged, "I seem to remember you asking me to save the cook and someone else."
She shrugged, "you didn't. Are you saving the rest for after Mother eats what you already killed for her? Mother says there are stasis charms for that sort of thing."
"Hmm," said Harry, "I'll have to think about it. Are you feeling better now?"
"Staying out of the moonlight," she nodded, "your magic wolf-friend is strange and helpful."
"Yes, she is," Harry agreed. "I meant about the magical exhaustion."
She shrugged and yawned.
He held out his hand.
She stared at it for a second, then nested her forehead against it.
The magic sparked and then flowed naturally. It didn't hurt as much.
She hummed and snuggled tighter.
My pet by conquest. My pet by family. My pet by surrender.
"Pain," she hissed as her eyes popped open and stared at him.
"How bad is it?" Harry said.
"Don't give me so much at once," she said, grabbing his wrist to push his hand away.
And then whimpered completely differently, and pulled it back. And took several deep breaths.
The wind pulled at the hair that had worked loose from his braid over the course of the evening, tickling his forehead. Harry pushed it back. His hand came away sticky with blood.
Hmm? It has been a long time since my scar bled.
"Thank you my lord for fixing my magic," she said.
"Hmm?" said Harry, "that's alright, pet. Try this?"
He held his right hand near her nose. She sniffed and stuck out her tongue to complete the sample.
Her tongue retracted and she stuck it out again for another taste. And then she screamed and collapsed onto the floor.
Harry stepped back and waited for the seizure to pass.
My mark is back, my lord.
Good.
What did you do?
Marked Pearl's forehead, I think.
Tens of meters behind him Bellatrix started cackling.
[The Manor says your regent abdicated in your favour, also apologises for not realising I was telling the truth about you being in charge.]
Good.
[I didn't tell it you were in charge, I just told it the things you told me to tell it.]
Do you realise that I am in charge?
[No.]
Ask the Manor how it knows that my regent has abdicated in my favour.
[…][…][You know I'm supposed to punish usurpers.]
Really?
[In all other situations than regents abdicating to the heirs they have charge of. Congratulations.][…][But your methods still seem much more violent than should have been necessary.]
Reprimand accepted. But I insist that was mostly required in response to her methods and attitudes. Some of which were causing damage far outside your ability to monitor.
[I believe you. There has been an excessive amount of misery around here lately.]
Can you tell the Manor wards to respond to me?
[They are waiting for your orders. But many of their capabilities are not compatible with my monitoring, and rule formats.]
Can you turn off all rules my regent made specifically about me?
[Rules paused.]
Can you also turn off the rules my regent made about the not yet ruling heir?
[Those rules already no longer apply to you. You are Master of the estate.]
Ah, right. Mark them as I need to review them later, probably over the summer.
[Done.]
Can you see who has or does not have the ability to open and close, lock and unlock cell doors in the dungeon?
[Physical access only. That is not an allowed ward function. I thought I told you that.]
Fine. Thank you.
.
Harry started a sonorous, "Alright people, the last of the prisoners can get moved into the dungeon until I can figure out what to do with them. Then the ex-prisoners are welcome to leave. Or I guess that could happen first."
The crowd grew visibly restless. My allies and mercenaries would probably follow orders (or at least sensible orders). I'm not convinced that those ex-prisoners aren't a mob waiting to happen.
"You know what," said Harry, "I think that would be better, if we let the ex-prisoners floo home first. Then we'll move the prisoners. Then Mercenaries and Allies can floo home also. Any questions?"
"Where are our wands?" asked someone.
"We don't know," said Harry, "We'll look for them over the course of the day tomorrow, if we find them we'll …"
"Deliver them to Ollivander," said Moody, "He never forgets a wand, he'll get them delivered to the correct owner for a small fee."
"That works," said Harry, "We'll ask Ollivander to owl them to you. If you don't have it back by 10 days from now, assume it won't be coming, maybe not until summer hols, maybe ever. I have no idea where the death eaters stashed things, or what they broke for the fun of it, or to prove a point."
A lot of grumbling, but the crowd started moving in sensible directions.
.
Harry looked down.
Pearl was sitting up again.
Her mark was black with purple edges. Most of it was across the top of her head actually. If she was lucky her hair would cover most of it.
She felt him looking and stood up.
She made her way stiffly to the railing and looked out over the lawn and the road, and the verge beyond, now almost empty of people.
"What do you see?" said Harry.
"Could have been more effective if you'd faced me at the other place," she said, "But I'm happy with how things went. Wish your heterochromiatic friend wasn't here. How much have you told him about me?"
"I think he knew before I figured it out."
"Bile!"
Harry glanced at her and realised they'd been speaking Parseltongue again.
"Is this retirement then?" said Harry.
"I'm not retiring," said Pearl, "I'm not the type."
"Then what is your goal?"
"This isn't the time or the place."
"I already got tired of hearing that from Nim."
"Alright, then, my next step is guiding you through all my research and planning for the best legal reforms, and optimal order and schedule for them."
"Sure," said Harry, "I want that too, though … the coming month I'll be madly revising for my OWLs."
"Good, in two weeks I'll brief you for the next Evening Meeting. Then in summer, I'll show you the whole plan."
"Sounds good."
She smiled and tried to stand straighter.
"You know I'm demoting you from Regent to Property Manager."
"I wouldn't expect anything else, my lord."
"Wise," said Harry and started to walk away.
"I'm a clever snake," said Pearl.
Harry paused and glanced back.
"Besides, it's the job I wanted anyway. But … Do you mind if I hire a promising hospitality major or two to help run your business resort/conference centre and home-away-from-home for your allies?" She nodded sideways at the manor.
"The idea has merit," said Harry, "But … you'd have to run them by Lady Potter. If she doesn't find them acceptable, or if they don't like answering to her, it would not work at all."
She nodded, "Good point. I'll see you in the morning."
She rolled under the railing, into the moonlight, then slithered away into the bushes. She was the same colouration as Nagini, but much smaller.
Harry checked. He could still see her with the wards. That was fine.
"Wotcher, add her snake form to the list with the werewolves as not allowed to hunt humans. But put her in the greenhouses with Nagini if she forgets."
[Rule understood, Accepted.]
.
Crabbe stopped on his way up the stairs, then sidestepped to be right in front of Harry.
"Hmm?"
Crabbe hugged him.
"Hey," said Harry, "Hey Vincent."
He trembled, "Thanks."
"Thanks for what?"
"Killing him," said Crabbe, "Thanks for doing it yourself, not sending someone else to do it."
"Who dealt the final blow was pure luck," said Harry, "but you're welcome."
Crabbe shrugged, then trembled for a moment before he managed to suppress that.
"You want … umm … help to get him home or whatever?"
Crabbe clenched his teeth, "No, I want there to be no grave marker."
Harry didn't know much but … That didn't seem like a normal sort of request.
"It will save me being capable of visiting regularly to piss on it."
Harry blinked.
"He killed Ernie you know," said Crabbe.
"Ernie Macmillan?" said Harry.
Crabbe nodded, "I'm pretty sure anyway, but please don't tell anyone. I have enough problems without a feud with the House of Bones."
"I didn't realise we'd lost anyone. Did we lose anyone else?" said Harry, "How many know?" Who didn't tell me?
"I don't think so. All of Susan's House, and most of Hermione's."
"I wonder when they were planning on telling me."
"Probably not until you were done judging tomorrow."
Harry sighed, "Yeah, perhaps."
Crabbe let go and took a step back, which also meant a step down, which meant their eyes were actually on level.
"Now what am I going to do?" said Harry.
"Try, the exact same as if it was anyone else."
Harry shrugged, "that part is easy, it's facing Susan that won't be easy."
"Try, the exact same as if it was anyone else."
Harry glared at him. Then shrugged, and nodded. If it was any of the mercenaries, he'd be paying a large bonus to the next of kin.
He looked around. Three of the five prisoners were already moved downstairs. So much for helping with that part.
Why am I thinking about giving them any heavier a sentence than I am planning on for Pearl?
He sighed, perhaps he ought to offer that also.
.
Stormy stood from among the werewolves and trotted over to him. "Fenrir says, we're hungry. Permission please to take wolves home for hunting games."
"Yes, Stormy, all of you may go hunt. Tell them thanks for the help."
She smiled, grinned, and looked back across her shoulder, slithering away, out of her human form. Before she was halfway back to Greyback she was a ten-legged snake-wolf again.
This time the various shapes and postures she'd been in confused the helmet for long enough that it shrunk away to almost nothing at a moment when it should have been growing, and it had to rush back the other way.
"Oh," said Moody, "That's how that was done."
Harry looked up, "what?"
"Occamy leather," said Moody, "the steel conjuration is inscribed on occamy leather, the occamy leather is stretched into shape by the steel."
"Oh," said Harry, "That's genius."
They watched in fascination as she communicated with the werewolves, who wandered away en-mass.
Stormy checked her trot mid-stride, then detoured to thread her way under all the saddlebag-basket contraptions, and turned back into the elephant-sized version of a snake-wolf.
About half the wolves danced in celebration and re-entered the baskets and the other half trotted along beside.
Or under.
"Hmm," said Moody, "I suppose it's inevitable that one of Poseidon's get, when following around a mage named after the wolf that eats the world at the end, should choose to portray some demented form of Aphrodite as she'd be imagined by a werewolf."
"Or Tiamat," said Rebekah.
"Huh?" said Harry.
"He means the excessive number of breasts," said Rebekah.
"Humph," said Harry,
The noise Vincent made wasn't nearly so indifferent.
"And I mean the snake-monster-ness," said Rebekah.
"I know who Tiamat is, and she conveniently is at the start of the universe, to compare to Fenrir at the end."
.
"That's the last prisoner," said Harry, "I think that's our cue."
He went inside. Vincent hovered really nearby.
"Alright!" Draco was calling over a sonorous from his place by the hearth, "Mercenaries, thank you for all your bravery and hard work, please line up and collect your pay. Tracy will be holding the floo open so you can go right to Hogwarts."
"How can we floo straight to Hogwarts?"
"My dad was on the Board of Governors," said Draco, "They haven't altered the password on the boardroom floo for decades."
"That's pathetic," muttered Moody.
"Right?" said Harry.
Draco flinched and looked guiltily at Harry, "you want to hold the bag?"
Harry narrowed his eyes, for a second, then stepped forward, and whispered, "as long as you're not paying them leprechaun gold in my name, why would I mind?"
"Of course, I wouldn't," whispered Draco, "it's from upstairs. Paying your mercenaries from your enemies' stockpiles is a time-honoured tradition."
"Very true," said Harry, "How much is there?"
Draco ended the sonorous, and whispered, "About … less than three thousand." A shrug.
Harry nodded, "Pay them double."
Draco smirked, "Sounds good. Why?"
"It's later than I was hoping. We're all going to be tired tomorrow."
Draco nodded, "it's just 'the standard bonus for night work,' then."
Harry chuckled and backed away.
.
In about 8 minutes all the mercenaries had accepted their money and left. Only a few asked about the double pay. Tracy let the floo close.
"Wotcher," said Harry, "anyone who enters my property by magical means, other than the mages in this room right now, portkey them to the shore of that neighbouring lake and let me know about them. If they try repeatedly, drop them in progressively deeper, up to neck deep. Remind me to update this rule in a month's time. Once I've reviewed all the relevant security rules."
[Rules understood. Accepted.]
"Alright everyone," said Harry, "It's just allies left. I want to thank you all, once again, for your help. You're all welcome to stay the night or go back to Hogwarts. I have no idea if the staff will be awake and want to debrief us or not. The game Dumbledore usually plays is restricting me to the hospital wing until he's figured out what all the political ramifications of my latest little rebellion might be, then he interviews me and tells me what the cover story is. Sometimes it's the spin that's best for me, and sometimes it's the spin that's best for Dumbledore, and sometimes it's the spin that's best for everyone. Or everyone except you-know-who."
"That sounds really familiar," said Susan, "But it's usually McGonagall that tells me how she's going to keep me from being expelled for stepping in where she should have already."
"Same here," said Neville.
Harry nodded, "I knew there was a reason we get along."
Susan smiled, but it was sad.
"Here," said Draco and handed the money pouch to Harry.
"Thanks," said Harry.
"Like I was saying," said Harry, "you're welcome to stay, but the place isn't as nice and tidy as I'd really wish it to be before inviting guests."
Theo raised his hand, "I need to go back, or Katherine won't sleep."
"What?" said Tracy.
"She promised to wait up for us," said Theo, "I couldn't quite tell her that wasn't necessary, we were facing death eaters after all."
"Oh," said Tracy.
"Then I think the House of Granger will return to Hogwarts now," said Hermione, "But thank you for the invitation to spend parts of the summer here."
"Of course," said Harry, "One last thing, How many did we lose? Was it just Ernie Macmillan?"
Silence.
"I think it was just Ernie," said Susan.
More silence.
Harry handed the bag to Susan.
"What's this?" she said.
"It's not blood money," said Harry, "Because it's not for you or your house, or not directly. Give it to his family," said Harry, "call it life insurance."
Susan took a deep breath, "How much is it?"
"No idea," said Harry, "About two thousand."
"Alright," she said, "I'll deliver it tonight." She muttered, "with his body."
Harry nodded, "Do you want or need help with that?"
She narrowed her eyes, then sighed and shook her head.
.
The Houses of Granger and Bones departed.
Harry looked around.
"I'll stay if you want, or go if you want," said Neville.
Harry nodded, and looked farther.
"Top floor east wing," said Fred.
"Normally," said George.
Fred nodded, "But tonight, I think we'll conjure our own cots in the dungeon. Wouldn't want anyone to get away."
Harry sighed, "I'd appreciate that."
"Ron?"
"I have someone waiting up for me also," said Ron, "But there's no way I'm leaving before all the talking is done."
"To my knowledge, it's almost done," said Harry, "Wives and sweethearts, are we sleeping in a new spot or in the normal spot?"
"Usual spot," yawned Ginny.
"I second that," said Padma.
Parvati thought for several seconds before saying, "Wotcher, warn us all if the current prisoners get out, or even if anyone seems intent on letting them out."
"Good idea," Harry agreed.
[Understood, accepted.]
They filed out, and then it was only Harry left to shake hands one more time with Neville and Tonks, before they flooed away also.
Harry sighed and turned around again, "Auror Moody?"
Moody dropped his disillusionment charm and stumped forward. "You're never quite what I expect," he said.
Harry shrugged, "Never is a rather strong word, don't you think?"
"Precisely my point," Moody nodded, "You're not Auror quality yet, but you're unpredictable enough that … well you've survived this far."
"Hmm," said Harry, "Maybe. What's your point?"
Moody stared at him for several seconds, then shrugged.
"Alright," said Harry, "from a different perspective … Are you wanting to spend the night?"
Moody gave him a disgusted look.
"Right," said Harry, "So what do you want?"
"Do you mind if I take that supposed dark lord corpse with me?"
Harry shivered, "depends. What are you planning on doing with it?"
"Sticking silver awls through it in several strategic locations and keeping it under observation for three days."
"Oh," said Harry, "This is like … the opposite of a wake?"
Moody nodded, "standard procedure for seemingly dead necromancers."
"Oh," said Harry, "then by all means …" though he frowned.
"What? You thought I was going to have the coroner go over it for clues for how you killed it while in a different room?"
Harry sighed, "I didn't kill him, though I'd have been within my rights to do so, I wasn't worried about that. I was more worried about …"
Harry shivered, "actually, … even if you were planning on turning it over to the department of mysteries for examination, or whatever rather than just taking appropriate precautions to make sure he stays dead. I'm not so worried about what they turn up, but more worried about … I'd just like to be kept in the loop if they find anything of strategic importance."
"Ah," said Moody, and nodded, "I'll keep that in mind."
Harry nodded.
"Speaking of making sure he stays dead …"
"Yeah, I know," said Harry, "I need to find that diadem and talk Pearl into cleansing it."
Moody nodded, "exactly."
.
...-...
The Treatment Luna requested, and what came of it.
Content warning: group sex
When they were back in the root cellar of the old cottage, Luna put her things down on the desk. And noticed what she'd been about to do. And everything else she'd wanted to do. And everything else she'd rather she wanted but didn't quite.
She turned to Harry.
"I heard a rumour that we're cleansing and blessing the Manor tomorrow."
"I heard the same rumour," said Harry.
She nodded, "Not to detract from that, but … do you think you could wear me out tonight? Otherwise, I'll be up all night editing with a competitive desire to scoop the Prophet."
"Both of those are valid desires," said Harry.
She nodded, "But one is a little more morbid and predatory than I like in myself."
"Ah," said Harry.
"Please fix me."
Harry smiled, then glanced around. No one objected.
"Stay here to do it," Parvati told him, pointing to the clibbert fur nest, "tonight isn't the right kind of night to retreat behind bed curtains."
"I'm alright with that," agreed Harry, then he looked at Luna.
Luna clenched her jaw. It was exactly the kind of thing she wished she wanted. Exactly the kind of thing she saw in her best dreams but could hardly believe when she was awake. No one had objected to the proposal.
More than that, none of them had ever really objected to Luna trying to live out her other dream either. They'd dropped hints that what she wanted wasn't socially condoned, but inside Lion's-Keep they'd never insisted that she wear clothes.
Maybe they'd let her be entirely herself. At least in the bedroom.
If things went well, maybe tomorrow she'd subtly push for no clothes in the manor too.
No, that was pushing them into where she wanted, instead of just demanding her way, only about herself.
Which was what Harry had always been hinting she should do.
She couldn't be as bold asking for that tomorrow, or even just … going skyclad and ignoring their questions if she didn't test the waters here first.
Luna smiled, "That probably is better, yes."
He suggested her take the first turn on top, the goal was to wear her out after all.
Before very long Ginny and Parvati were helping him pet the small of her back, and her breasts.
And Padma wasn't participating … but she also hadn't gone away and hidden behind bed curtains, so it was probably fine.
Luna double-checked.
Padma wasn't just 'not gone,' she was watching.
She gave Luna a friendly smile.
Padma was generally best at condescending smiles, this wasn't that.
Nice.
.
When Luna's world finished resetting and she could see and hear again, she found that Ginny was dragging her off. Luna didn't understand.
"I said, My turn next," Ginny was saying. When had Ginny undressed that far?
"But I didn't finish him, yet," murmured Luna.
"Don't worry," said Ginny, "No chance of him getting lonely."
Luna surrendered.
Ginny always won anyway.
She should have expected…
But there was no way she should have expected Padma to drag her an arm's length away, flip her over, and climb on top of her.
"Hey, Padma," said Luna.
"Hey, Luna," said Padma. Padma rolled a little to the side, and then back again, which left one of her thighs between Luna's thighs, and her breasts trailing along Luna's.
When had Padma gotten naked?
"How many more of us do you want?" offered Padma.
"All of you," whispered Luna.
Padma grinned and started sliding.
"As fast as you want," said Luna, "but I won't be helping much for about a minute."
Padma grinned wider … and maybe slowed down. But she picked up her knees and elbows or something. Increasing the pressure. All the lovely pressure. And she seemed good at keeping it where Luna liked more pressure and keeping most of it off the places where more pressure could be too much.
"Sometimes," said Luna.
Padma raised an eyebrow.
"Bigger on top is better."
Padma smiled.
"Sometimes," said Luna.
"Sometimes," agreed Padma.
.
Luna opened her eyes from another climax and saw Parvati kneeling over them.
She waited for Parvati to push her sister off and demand the next turn.
She didn't, she just pushed Padma's face to the side, so she could lean in and kiss Luna.
"You want a turn?" said Padma, starting to lift herself away.
Parvati shook her head, and dropped Luna's lips, "I've already got what I want," said Parvati.
Padma chuckled and lowered herself again, then picked herself up and moved sideways to rub against Luna's other hip. Making more room for Parvati's kisses. And for Padma's neck not to be at so awkward an angle.
Parvati hadn't taken off her underthing or wand holsters, just everything else. Maybe kissing was all she wanted.
Parvati had gotten to be an excellent endurance kisser, when she ran out of air she let go, but didn't pull away. Just let the air go in or out. Giving Luna a chance to breathe also, then settled that fraction more firmly right back into position.
It was a nice rhythm to get lost in.
Except then the rhythm went all wrong.
Luna opened her eyes wide enough to see more than just Parvati's face.
Harry's face was there, his lips around the back of Parvati's ear. And he was shaking her back and forth. Why?
Oh, he was giving Parvati a turn, without getting her to lay down first.
Then he stopped again, murmuring, "I figured there was a reason I found your bum in my face."
"It wasn't in your face," said Parvati, "but no, I don't mind at all. I just … Luna probably minds, I was in the middle of kissing her."
"No, you weren't," said Luna, "you'd barely gotten properly started."
Padma chuckled.
Parvati seemed too surprised to understand.
"Enjoy your Harry turn," said Luna, "You can finish kissing me later."
Parvati gave in to that.
The feel of her relaxing seemed to be all the signal Harry needed. He started moving again. Parvati arched her back, and he picked her up and pulled her away with him.
Luna had seen him shag Ginny and Susan sitting up before. But she'd never seen it with them facing the same direction instead of facing each other.
But … maybe she hadn't paid enough attention to what Parvati liked. And Parvati definitely seemed to like it. And liked it even more when he picked up his knees a little so she could have something to rub her breasts against.
Luna wasn't sure that was what she would like. Knees up ought to mean less of little Harry sticking out, less of little Harry to be inside her.
Whatever, Parvati was allowed to like something different.
Ginny plopped down on the other side and patted them each on the shoulder.
"Hmm?" said Padma.
"If I demanded a turn, who would take it with me?" said Ginny, "Or if it's not time for a turn switch, is there somewhere I should put my hands?"
Padma put her elbows down hard enough she could lift her face over Luna's, "You want to let her in?"
"Don't want to keep her out, but … " Luna frowned, she wasn't coming up with a good solution, "odd numbers seem sub-optimal."
Padma chuckled and her eyes flicked back and forth, "Ginny?" said Padma, "would you like to climb on top, so that you can … enjoy … whichever piece of my bum suits your fancy?"
"Hmm," said Ginny, "interesting."
She stood and circled and considered things from several angles.
And then the pressure increased. A lot.
Padma smiled. Then her eyes wiggled around until they'd found Luna again, "This is better for me," she said, "is it better for you also?"
Ginny was moving faster than Padma had been. Even with the extra weight, Padma wasn't letting there be too much pressure anywhere that it could hurt. Ginny was big, Luna hadn't realised Padma was this strong. Or was she? Her expression had gotten … a little tense.
"For right now, yes, it is."
"Excellent," said Padma.
But after a while, her expression went … distant, and the tingles on Luna's skin where Padma was touching her were suddenly too intense to enjoy.
"Umm?" said Luna.
"Muscles too tired to hold us up," whispered Padma, "channelling magic, into them."
Luna found she was amused at the idea of the experiment, but not a fan of the sensation of it happening so nearby.
On the other hand, … if she gave up on the idea of enjoying the experience, and just concentrated on supporting her friends and their pleasure and … or if she did the same.
Channel magic into her muscles … or just cast half-strength featherweights on both of them, or just on Padma.
Ah, better.
Padma's eyes went huge, then they rolled to the side, then her eyelids slammed closed as she smiled in contentment.
"Oh, thanks," she said, and then didn't say anything more for a while, just smiled serenely while her muscles alternated tensing and relaxing, to play against Ginny's search for pleasure, all her muscles much more relaxed now than when she was worried about holding herself up.
She made a better blanket this way.
.
...-...
Aftermaths: Part 1
"Lord Black?"
Auror Black looked up at the unexpected form of address.
"What did you say, Trainee Tonks?"
"You're off duty now, right?"
Sirius checked the clock, he was in fact. That meant the last report he'd just filed was enough for now. He glanced at his still cluttered desk, nothing else stood out as needing to be dealt with yesterday. Well, several things did, but not anything he couldn't use the defence of the ministry as a sufficient excuse to leave until after his day off. He looked up. She wasn't in her trainee robes, she was in street clothes and her Auror badge on her belt.
"Yes, Miss Tonks," Sirius said standing and leading her out of his section of the bullpen, "I am off duty. What can your Lord do for you?"
"Just wanted to keep you abreast of the latest doings of the House."
House gossip, a perfect way to start a day off.
"Shall we walk towards the floos or is the Wizengamot office more appropriate?"
"Floos, probably," said Tonks, "you look beat."
"As I should," sighed Sirius, "I don't mind reports, and I don't mind fighting, but boring paperwork before fighting is an easier progression than boring paperwork after fighting." Not that it made sense to put it off until the details were no longer fresh.
She chuckled. They turned a corner and summoned a lift.
"So it all started yesterday when I was summoned by the future Lady Black…
. . .
"And that's all?" said Sirius.
Tonks shrugged, "That's all of my part so far, Yes."
"Hmm," said Sirius, "And you waited 8 hours to tell me?"
"We knew you were here defending the ministry. Harry would have been here too if it had been legal, as it was, I think this way might have worked out better."
"Apparently!" said Sirius, "Damn. Time thrusts are basically impossible to pull off, but when they work they tend to end everything."
"The time thrust you're talking about currently is the fencing term, Right?"
"Yes, your opponent lunges but aims so badly that you don't need to parry before you attack. And instead of thrusting just enough to warn him away, you also lunge."
"Ah, I see how that could end a fight."
"So, now that you've reported the action, do you have recommendations?"
"You should go home and sleep, and then we visit and make sure how they're getting on. And are staying hydrated."
Sirius blinked and turned to stare at her.
She smirked and winked.
"Ah," he said.
"Because they're teens and just had an adrenalin overdose. And have exactly zero chaperonage."
"Define …"
"From what I hear, Bellatrix doesn't count."
"Yeah, she … didn't even before she became his thrall."
Tonks nodded.
"Wellp, there will either be heirs sooner, or there won't. At least Voldemort is 'dead'. Again."
Tonks nodded.
"And you said Moody was there?"
"Yeah, but only towards the end, I think he got there chasing as death eaters retreated from here into our ambush."
"Right," said Sirius, "of course he'd take that risk."
"Bet he had a portkey out, ready, and waiting," said Tonks, "Before he even went in."
"Right."
"Oh, and he said if I saw you before he did, to tell you, 'rumour is: two relics were expended in vain, perhaps 2 to 4 left."
"Well, that's good news also!" Sirius sighed, "On that note, maybe I can sleep for a reasonable period of time."
"Then my work here is done, I'd best get back to Hogwarts, I don't want any hypothetical unnecessary debriefings to take up my free time Monday also."
"Hmm," said Sirius.
.
"Susan?" said Aunt Amelia, "What the hell are you doing home?"
Susan looked up, "Writing a speech, maybe if I compose ten terrible ones, when I go to give a real one, I'll remember the phrases I want to use, even if I don't remember anything in particular, about what order to put things in."
Auntie picked up a crumpled-up ball of parchment, flattened it, and read it. And crumpled it up again.
"Oh, baby," said Amelia and circled the table to hug her. "You need to talk," said Amelia, "but when you go there, you're there to listen. So that they can talk. All you need to say is 'sorry', and 'thank you'."
"Can you go with me?" said Susan.
"Of course."
"I don't want to wait until morning," said Susan, "But … I don't want to wake them up now either."
"It's 7 am already," said Amelia, "it's not that much too early."
"Already? Oh, OK."
"Go wash your face and brush your hair. Don't bother with makeup, there's plenty of crying left to do, and makeup won't help."
"Alright," said Susan.
...-...
{End Chapter 31}
