The Tree

Padma led Harry into the library.

Harry looked around, and relaxed.

Interesting.

"Are you alright now?" said Padma.

"I had no idea what to expect," said Harry, "that you need to 'notify me about a thing' connected to my library, is in character. Also, this is a lot less objectionable looking a House Library than some I've seen."

"Oh," said Padma.

"I like the windows and the tree mural," said Harry.

Padma glanced in that direction and froze.

"When Luna and I left, all we'd done was the colour change charms. I don't know how the rest got that way."

"I think space expansion mostly," said Harry, "A little extra space expansion coating the wall will seem to push it away from the centre of the room, even without actually moving the wall."

"And several more layers, smaller each time will make the gently sweeping curves of roots below and branches above."

"Yes," said Harry, "and that … might imply that Margaid did it."

"Ugh," said Padma, "What else did she do?" she ran to the edge of the tree and changed to Singer, she jumped straight up, and climbed the protruding fake branches and over the railing. Which was only two feet tall, and from the inside looked like a mass of branches and a net of morning glory vines. The three feet of floor bordering all sides of the room were solid wood, suitable for supporting any piece of furniture, but the centre of the floor was enchanted with a permanent cushioning charm, and covered over with quilts, pillows, chair cushions, throw blankets, clibbert furs, and other such creature comforts.

If I brought a beanbag chair and my study pillow from home

The walls that hadn't been removed were painted a believable bark-ish grey-brown and also covered in an illusory mass of morning glories and other flowering vines.

Padma turned in a circle to make sure she'd caught the important changes then turned back to the edge and crouched against the railing.

"Alright Harry," she said, "you can come up?"

He goggled at her.

"I'm officially inviting you to visit me in Ravenclaw tower … err nest," she said, "Come on."

He goggled wider, "do you … care how I get there?"

"No," she said, "and I'm not going to help, in fact, I'm going to tell you that whenever you know more than three easy ways, I'd like to hear a proposal for blocking one of them."

He narrowed his eyes, "alright, I guess I understand what kind of invitation that is, but … really? No help at all."

"No help at all," said Padma, "and anyway, if you can find a way up here anyway, you can definitely manage to get past the door to Ravenclaw tower to visit Luna and me there."

"Oh," said Harry, "that kind of puzzle game."

He looked around, "And Luna already suggested brooms, so that solution is already taken."

Padma felt her jaw drop.

He was intentionally making it difficult for himself?

He looked around estimating some angles, then shot a sticking charm at the ceiling, then followed it by conjuring a rope.

Except it wasn't a rope, it was a huge already-stretched piece of elastic. He caught it and was drawn off his feet most of the way up to second-story height before it went slack. But Harry still had the momentum to rise another meter, before arching a meter and a half closer and was just beginning to fall before he crashed into the railing. He quickly grabbed it and climbed over. When he was safely on solid ground, he made a couple of coughing grunts, before getting a full breath. Then he panted several times.

"You alright?" said Padma.

"Knocked my wind out," he said, "I'll have bruises tomorrow," he shrugged, "that officially doesn't count as an easy way, until I have quidditch pads handy."

Padma laughed.

He rolled over so he could grin up at her.

"So I'm up here," he said, "mentally I'm ready to jump up and look around, but my chest and diaphragm are rebelling at the moment, so I'm going to lie here for a minute or two."

"I understand," said Padma and scooted closer. She realised that they were both sitting on the hard part of the floor.

She got up and drew her wand.

He raised a sceptical eyebrow as he stared up at her.

"Do you trust me?" she said.

A grin and a frown warred for control of his features.

"Not entirely," he said, "But I also won't fight you."

"Won't or 'can't currently?' "

"Won't," he said, "not even by reflexive magic if I can help it." He waved his hand and her Sher-mark burned bright and happy.

She groaned and caught her breath again. She swished and flicked. He recognised the spell but not before she had him levitated six inches up, and over the pile of fluffies.

She put him down and circled him to settle in the other corner of the pile.

"Now we're here," she said.

"I stand corrected," he said.

He dragged a quilt out from between them and threw it behind his shoulder, then added two more cushions and leaned back.

"Now what?" said Harry.

"Now, you talk," said Padma.

"I was under the impression this was supposed to be not a talking place," he said.

"Not exactly," said Padma, "it is supposed to be a safe place to think, some of us do that quietly and alone, and some of us do that on parchment with a journal, and some of us do that out loud with a therapist."

"Oh, god," said Harry.

"And you asked if I could be your mirror, to help you see yourself," said Padma, "it's not what I like to do with my time, but if it is what you need, I can listen. It's um, one of the things taught in the Ravenclaw prefect's manual. I can't say I've mastered any of it, but I have read the instructions."

"Oh, god," said Harry.

"No, not a god," said Padma, "Padma means lotus, an aquatic flower, that gods and goddesses have a tendency to sit in while having their sculpture taken."

Harry giggled wetly and rolled over flat onto his front, and his face away from her.

"Harry?"

"How long do we have?" he said.

"Until Ginny calls us for tea," she said.

"I … probably need until mid-summer," he said.

She sighed, "that … shouldn't surprise me as much as it does."

"You think … thought I'm better than that?" he moaned.

"I know there's no such thing," she said, "and I know that examining your life doesn't make any of your faults more or less curable, only helps you have a better inventory of your strengths and weaknesses. Of your limits."

Harry sighed.

"For example, Hermione suggested that you used to despise your relatives, yet to survive you had no choice but to identify with them. That is common both for children and for slaves, the difference is in how much hate is deserved, not in how much identification with the authority is necessary to keep things peaceful. She says you claim that they've gotten better, but she was uncomfortable believing that was true, rather than some idea that you'd gotten better at reading them and identifying with them. Probably due to practice during lessons from Malfoy or something."

"What!" said Harry.

"It is … somewhat healthy to hate that which you are forced to identify with but which doesn't comfortably match your identity. Not in the sense that hate is healthy, but in the sense of being honest about what is and is not comfortable to allow to be part of your identity."

"You're saying … if I hate them it's healthier to say so than to say that I don't?"

"Yes."

"But I don't hate them," said Harry, "I hate how they used to act. And I hate the circumstances that … conspired to encourage them towards those actions, I'm not exonerating them, just choosing not to press charges."

"That's fine," said Padma, "But I'm not Bellatrix or Margaid or Nagini, I'm not going to go torture anyone for the fun of it, or by accident, for the fun of letting rage overtake me. I'm Padma, and I want you to practice being honest with yourself."

"Fine," said Harry.

"So … Do you mean by 'exonerate' what I mean by 'exonerate'?"

"I think it means, hold your opponent ... err someone you are expected to accuse, innocent of something they are charged with. They hurt me physically and emotionally, and I do not condone it, but I also … I have other options now, (see: this house) I don't need them anymore, and therefore I don't need to invest the time and emotional effort trying to convince them to stop. Or whatever."

"Sure, so … we can come back to them any time you want or need, do you have more pressing things to talk about?"

Harry sighed, "I … want you to … tell me whatever you wanted to tell me about this place, back before I had my stupid panic about how big my manor and my estate are, and apparently, scared the crap out of everyone."

"What?"

"You said a thing, and I noticed that my normal impulse was to keep it all in, and wait for further developments, and maybe watch for a way to manipulate my relatives into giving me what I wanted (here meaning you), (here meaning that you wouldn't just disappear up here never to be seen or hugged again. Etc.)

"And also that … I'd already been heading that way with Ginny and authority over kitchen space, and I don't want to become that person here in my own house the same way I was with the Dursleys, the same way I am at school. So, I spoke my mind, partly only as practice in not hiding my self anymore, though as I was figuring out how to even explain my emotions, you … I also figured out that your request … I figured out that it was a relatively silly example to start on. But I started somewhere, and I'm still proud of myself about that."

"I'm proud of you also," said Padma.

"And you heard me out, which I am thankful for," said Harry, "But I wanted to do you the honour of hearing you out. And I'm not sure you have said everything."

Padma sighed, "Libraries are safe spaces for me because I am allowed to be alone with my thoughts, or at least everyone around has to be quiet. No fighting or even loud talking."

"Right," said Harry.

"I wanted something like that but even more so, I didn't really want a bedroom here. I was just being honest that the room I was asking for had the aspect of a servant's quarters, it's probably actually for housing guest scholars who are being allowed access to the library and nothing else.

"Fair enough," said Harry.

"Then you had your panic, which felt some weird mix of insulting and … I'm not sure the right word. I'd … really like to offer some counterarguments about a lot of it, but I'm not sure it would help anything."

"Go ahead," said Harry.

"Are you sure?" said Padma.

Harry sighed, "No idea," he said, "if you promise to stay honest, and I promise that I agree that it's your turn to talk? Does that help?"

"Maybe," said Padma.

"Then go ahead," said Harry.

"Traditionally," said Padma, "this would be where I'd lay down and you'd sit up, if we were doing the therapy thing, or we'd both sit up if we were doing the court argument thing."

"We emphatically are not doing the court argument thing," said Harry, "Lay down, I promise not to go to sleep while you're talking."

"Really?" she said.

"I'd tell you to snuggle up if you want, but … not sure that would be a productive precedent to set for future therapy time. Neither of us is short on outlets for our sexuality, whereas I won't deny that I need more one-on-one talk time about things other than magical theory, political theory, and fashion."

Padma sighed and lay down.

Harry turned his head around but didn't roll over.

She repositioned herself to be able to see him, then looked straight across at his hip instead of down into his eyes.

Iconic that they were trying to have an argument about balance while physically imitating a yin-yang symbol.

"Alright," said Padma, "To start with, you don't own me."

He flinched, "Of course not," he protested.

"Let me talk," said Padma.

"Sorry," he said.

"I like you a lot," said Padma, "and if I wanted a husband, I definitely would have mentioned that desire when you came up. Or mentioned you when the discussion of marrying came up."

"Hmm," said Harry.

"I don't want a husband, and I don't think I could be happy having one. The contract I wanted is the contract I have. No husband, but options on enough sexuality that no one can believably complain that I might never reproduce."

"Do you plan to reproduce?"

"No idea," said Padma, "I want it to be a thing that I want, and I want to succeed at it someday, and want to someday have been the sort to have succeeded at it in the past. But I don't want it to be this year."

"Understood," said Harry, "Would you be just as happy having lots of nieces and nephews running around the rest of the manor, and staying away from you and your libraries and labs until they were old enough for you to teach them to read and who knows what all?"

Padma shrugged, "Maybe for a while."

"Alright," said Harry.

"I notice that my parents were about a decade older than your parents by the time I came along, maybe my instincts will wake up just as strong as everyone else's, just a bit later than average."

"Ah, fair," said Harry.

"Why, what do you want?" Padma said, "regarding children?"

"To teach kindergarten," said Harry, "I don't really have experience with kids younger than that, so I have no idea what I want about that or how to want it."

Padma sat up and stared at him, "Most people talk about wanting babies, it's refreshingly honest that you're willing to say you want a five-year-old."

"I didn't say I wanted a five-year-old," said Harry.

"Then what did you say?"

"I want a bunch of five-year-olds," said Harry.

Padma blinked, "Right, got it, you did say that."

She lay back down, "Do you really want me to go through my contract section by section and point out all the ways you don't get to tell me where to sleep or eat, or who I do or don't flirt with, only that you get to demand ward upgrades if I don't take proper caution for myself. And of course, other similar rights that a Head of House has over his or her client Families."

"No," said Harry, "But contracts are for minimum requirements, and things that we're willing to punish each other for doing or not doing, other kinds of mission statements, bill preambles, legal abstracts, and things are for synchronising more general goals that aren't directly enforceable."

"Fine," said Padma, "and what is the mission statement you want us to live by?"

"Leaving aside, the legal meaning of House and Family, I want a big family, and I want you to be part of it."

"And is there a place for me in it, even if I never help make any of those five-year-olds?"

"Yes!" said Harry, "I mean…"

"You mean what?"

"I mean, I thought that we already agreed that was acceptable, or your contract would have looked different."

"Different how?"

"Traditional formula might have been a marriage contract with a minimum number of heirs specified."

"That's ugly," said Padma.

"Agreed," said Harry, "that's why neither I nor Sirius nor your father ever suggested such a thing, or at least, he never suggested such a thing to me. Even with a breed contract like yours, he … or family inheritance policies could have forced it to be added."

"Does the House of Black have any policies like that?"

"They say I, as the heir, must only marry someone who is willing and 'according to current medical knowledge is deemed capable of reproducing with me, using only legal techniques,' (so reproducing via blood alchemy is out, most centuries) or that I have to choose an heir from among my siblings, nibblings, and cousins, or any heir from farther away than that I have to legally adopt and have a hand in raising. There aren't specific requirements on the contents of my contract with Parvati."

"That's … kind of more flexible than I expected."

Harry propped himself up on an elbow, "Sirius says that it's an old House and its policies reflect a more ancient perspective on fertility and acceptable member behaviours."

"Meaning what?"

"Do you remember that list of spring and early summer holidays you gave me to research?"

"Yeah?"

"Do you have any idea what selection of them have a large fraction of rituals or merely 'traditional celebration activities' that might end in pregnancy?"

"Well yeah," said Padma, "they're spring festivals, a lot of people's libido is waking up from hibernation about this time of year."

Harry nodded, "and for most of those where the ritual goes farther than just 'flirting is not just condoned but an expected part of this gathering or these activities' into the territory of 'this seasonal magic ritual involves outright sex,' for some of those rituals all contraceptive practices are banned as either antithetical to the meaning of the ritual, perhaps likely to cause the ritual to backfire? Or I caught rumours in one case, several of the most common contraceptive practices are known to backfire, actually somehow increase the chance of fertility by the same factor of thousands or millions that they normally decrease the chance of fertility."

"Oof, Fair enough," said Padma, "Are we making a mistake using contraceptive charms today, or engaging in activities that don't have a chance of resulting in pregnancy?"

"Hmm, I don't think so," said Harry, "I've been celebrating surviving a battle, and having a Manor, and making it safe for use, and for protecting those I love, and those I have a duty or desire to protect. I haven't been 'celebrating spring' or praying the gods and powers to look kindly on my farms and vineyards and livestock, and aid their fertility, etc."

"Understood," said Padma, "I guess, I'll hope that's enough."

Harry sighed, "So yeah, House of Black doesn't 'require' marriage contracts to contain clauses about numbers of heirs, because it expects children to come along naturally every other to every four years regardless, because good little purebloods keeping the feasts will just naturally be fertile. And on the occasion the rulership passes to a homosexual or asexual or victim of infertility, they'll just pass the office laterally to someone who isn't so encumbered. Why did this come up again?"

"Wondered if you and Sirius broke tradition by offering Parvati the contract that you did?"

"No," said Harry, "Not House of Black tradition, House of Potter is almost old enough to have been started when policies like that were common, but no, it doesn't either. It, unfortunately, does expect male rulership though, never understood why."

Padma snorted, "Probably because it is a 'light' House here meaning proud of keeping its traditions from Roman culture, rather than 'any of these local barbarian tribes.' many of whom have traditions of female rulership and intermittently female soldiers."

"What?"

"You hadn't figured out that's what 'Light' means, at least half the time?"

"No, light magic has next to nothing to do with Rome."

"Colour alignment theory has very little to do with Wizengamot political parties."

"I know, but that's ... ugh, the Romans were even more bigoted than any— no that's probably also an over-generalisation somewhere, never mind."

"And especially about gender? Yes. But unusually humble and willing to adopt techniques from other cultures when it comes to new tactics that can win battles? Also Yes."

"Yeah, sounds right," said Harry, "never mind."

"So ... Could Lord Black have picked any of his female cousins to inherit?"

"Yes," said Harry, "I figured he'd pick Andromeda actually until I realised that Tonks would instantly marry into another house to block the responsibility from ever devolving to her, and no one wants to force her to marry any earlier than necessary, because for her to find someone as compatible to her as she can be to anyone else … is somewhat unlikely, and otherwise it … wouldn't be the fair thing."

"Huh," said Padma, "You like her?"

"I love her," said Harry, "As the cousin she is, and as the older stepsister and stepbrother she tried to be for me when Sirius dropped me on Andromeda's doorstep with only a bit more of a 'by-your-leave' than Dumbledore gave my Aunt Petunia. I don't trust her. I'm not sure how much of that is my inability to accept how flexible she really is, and how much of that is I just haven't spent enough time around her to know what her core beliefs are, regardless of the wide range of behaviours that she can and does present to the world, just to prove that she can."

"And you've had sex with her."

"At a time when I didn't have Nim and believed I'd never get her back, I asked her for sex tutoring about a position I was concerned I'd soon need to know about. And I offered myself as a tutor or experiment partner or whatever in return. She … wasn't Hermione and sort of refused to take that offer, apparently formal sex tutoring is always a one-way street never a mutual conversation. (Or some bullshit)."

"Humph," grunted Padma, "That was probably deemed necessary to block normal dating relationships from being smuggled in under other names."

Harry snickered, "I suppose that's possible."

He wiggled around.

Padma rolled to look at him more clearly.

"I suppose," said Harry, "the places where we disagreed most strongly, or she defied my expectations most violently, could be interpreted as … she thought we were dating."

"And what did you think?"

"Cousin Draco, except less mercenary, and raised in a home emphatically designed to exist on both sides of the statute. Choosing to introduce me to all her favourite parts of both worlds, and the important nuances of keeping things sufficiently statute safe for when the muggle half of the family visited."

"Oh," said Padma, "Yeah, I can see how that could be interpreted either as dating activities or good step-sibling giving tours activities."

"I invited her over," said Harry, "told her to invite her parents over, we should probably decide 'our intentions towards their daughter' so we can give a straight answer if it ever comes up."

"You don't have a strait answer to give already?"

"No," said Harry, "I don't know what her long-term goals are, other than everyone not using her first name."

"So … would it be just as appropriate for Parvati or Ginny to walk into her office, during posted hours, crossing their arms, and saying, Miss Tonks, 'what are your intentions towards my husband?'"

"That might be hilarious," said Harry, "and just so you know, Margaid loaned her a book for Christmas, and addressed it, David Tonks."

"Not gave, loaned?"

"Yes, it was surreal and awkward," said Harry.

"There's no accounting for Margaid," said Padma.

"No bet," said Harry, "I mean … Not arguing."

"But why?"

"I think it was a muggle commentary on period French fashion and manners and intrigue, and the terms of the loan were predicated on the duration that 'David Tonks' was helping 'Regent Potter' with the care of 'Leona Potter,'."

"Oh, good grief."

"At any rate, she hasn't used it to tutor me about any of those things, so … whatever," said Harry, "on the other hand I don't remember her ever applying 'David' to herself in my presence, so I'm not going to assume she likes it or anything."

"So mostly it was a symbolic gesture?" said Padma.

"Yeah," said Harry.

"Of about ten different things?"

"Yeah."

"That gave her permission to be male, to be tutoring you in any of those things, and what?"

Harry shrugged, "and that such tutoring wasn't an un-traditional thing for teens in my family to be interested in, or provided with."

Padma nodded.

"Also, It felt like a very ravenclaw status game to lend someone a book from my library either to tutor me with or in payment for having already been tutoring me."

"Humph, maybe," said Padma.

Harry wiggled again and moved another cushion out from under his hip.

"Harry?" said Padma.

"Yeah?"

"Was it a bully or taunt?"

"Definitely."

"How did it make you feel?"

"Like I was helpless," said Harry.

"Did it … contribute to … yesterday?"

"Hmm," said Harry, "Probably."

"I was kind of surprised that you killed so many people until I started echoing your calculations."

"Yeah," said Harry, "I'd rather not have responsibility for giving death sentences, I'm glad I normally am only allowed to share that with ministry judges or the Wizengamot."

"When is it one, and when the other?"

"The ministry is the final authority for unhoused individuals, the Wizengamot for housed, though a Head of House may also cede jurisdiction to the Ministry instead, usually because they know their house member is truly innocent or truly guilty and wants it to be extra clear that it wasn't a politically motivated hung-jury type acquittal, which is what 80% of Wizengamot trials appear to turn into."

"So if I'm in a House, I am above the law?"

"Above ministry law," said Harry, "still subject to mine."

"Circe!" said Padma.

"And I've got the vague idea a lot of family heads place a lot of value in visiting the Wizengamot to laugh at everyone else's drama, and never to deal with their own House's drama being aired about. And just because they don't manage to convict you of anything worth punishment, or reduce your fine to the point of it being barely a token gesture, the amount of 'shame you brought on the family,' and whatnot might be punished by sufficient shunning as to make many housed individuals avoid conflict and controversy like the plague, rather than merely avoiding breaking the law, like sensible people."

"Oh, ugh, is that how that effect is achieved?"

Harry shrugged, "That reminds me," said Harry, "Hermione is now in another house, I should register a different Second. Do you want that role?"

"Um?"

"Given that you were seen helping with the executions without anyone hearing my verbal go-ahead, some people might already assume that you already are my judicial second."

"Hmm, that might be an important consideration."

Harry shrugged.

"Am I going to be on the hook for murder if I say, 'no'?"

"No," said Harry, "I had the right to execute trespassers, Draco helped me follow the forms to deputise you all with that right for the duration of the fighting, last night was chaotic enough, probably no one could prove that you didn't get permission first, you have my permission after the fact, given the pattern Wotcher showed me, probably just asking him to show me that evaluation would have had the same long term effect as killing them yourself."

Padma nodded, "but you didn't take over as soon as you saw what I was doing?"

"There were plenty more to evaluate by the patterns I was working from," said Harry, "I needed you to know I approved, I didn't get the feeling you needed me to either approve or take over."

"Hmm," said Padma, "probably accurate at the time. Now, I'm not as confident."

Harry shrugged.

"If I'd only shown you the calculations, What are the chances that you'd have left them alive, just made them promise additional things before releasing them?"

Harry shrugged, "I have no idea, but I'm glad they're dead."

Padma shivered, "I'm glad too, but I'm … not sure if I really am happy to have them on my conscience."

"Would you have been happier to have, 'letting them go,' on your conscience?"

"No!" said Padma.

"Good," said Harry, "then you did the right thing."

Padma sighed, "Or not without asking about extenuating circumstances."

Harry shrugged, "not everything can have sufficiently extenuating circumstances."

"Exactly," said Padma.

"Do we need to talk about it?" said Harry, "or shall we summarise it to: 'you also are happy to normally not be responsible for death sentences,'? and get back to, I think it was, 'did Margaid manipulate me into doing what I did yesterday?' "

"Sure, let us so summarise. Why would Margaid have done all that?"

"Her new political career was more to her liking, and she wanted to retire her old political career and persona?"

"And having you kill all those people let her make a clean break?"

Harry shrugged, "maybe."

"What do you really think?"

"I think that her old persona had been playing corrupt ancient purebloods against corrupt modern purebloods because both sides were too entrenched for her to see her way clear of either of them. Then one day she woke up and realised either that it had mostly worked, or that it was a new generation, and a prime time for new tactics, and some of those tactics were much more suited to some of her desired reforms, and she just changed tack to take advantage of the prevailing wind."

"Circe!"

"And then she found herself in a position to stack the Wizengamot for her new reforms, by what order she sent her old persona's minions on which raids or what kind of suicide missions, etc."

"Sounds familiar."

Harry nodded.

"And after she'd done that for several months, She manipulated me into providing the excuse for her minions to kill the remaining political prisoners, and for me to kill as many of her minions as I could get my hands on and find a sufficient excuse to … vent my err anger?"

"Harry?"

"Yeah?"

"Were you angry last night?"

"Not really," said Harry, "Not until the battle was over, and I figured out that … not only had they been using prisoners for entertainment, (which … sadly has been normal soldier behaviour since forever), but also using each other for entertainment."

"Gwyn?"

"Yeah," said Harry, "She … might have had … she might … I'm afraid if I ask if she'd been forced or if it had been voluntary, she'll give me whichever answer she thinks I want, or whatever answer she'd been conditioned to believe, rather than the truth. Her sister also, but … she had the luck and unluck eventually to come by a curse that allowed her to threaten violence and status reduction. I'm not clear how long she's had that advantage, so I can't guess whether she's had time to overcome conditioning from one hierarchy, while probably also picking up the conditioning of a different hierarchy."

"Ugh," said Padma, "I'm probably not equipped to offer them any therapy."

"I haven't asked you to," said Harry, "All I've promised them is tuition for their NEWT year, and a safe place to sleep until then."

"Hmm," said Padma.

"I should find out what Ginny offered them. I'm hoping it didn't get confused by my offer that they could switch to better bedrooms."

"Merlin," said Padma, "Yes, you definitely should."

"Oh, and the other time I got really angry was when Goyle told me that Ernie had died, and no one had mentioned that to me earlier."

"What would it have changed?"

Harry shrugged, "maybe nothing, but it felt like an important part of mopping up intelligence that I should have been made aware of sooner. I could easily have walked in and said, good work Draco and Theo, coming up with a plan to keep us all alive, good job everyone for successfully implementing it."

"Yeah," said Padma, "I can see how that would have been horrible, but I can also see how, as their first time fighting under you, they needed you to be on the top of your game, and didn't have enough experience fighting under you to guess whether you could continue to function while knowing that piece of information."

Harry moaned.

"Hmm?"

"I don't know how to say this," said Harry, "I want to be the kind of person that would have fallen apart, and I'm glad that I'm … mostly not? Am I making sense?"

"Yes, you're making sense," said Padma, "and yes that is a valid way to describe the issue. The technique of being fully capable of both reactions, but also being able to choose the correct one to do first, based on the current circumstances, is: 'compartmentalisation'."

"Occlumency?"

"One of many exercises that should help you gain the skill, yes."

"Am I going to be just walking down the corridor one day, and my shields will drop for an instant, and then it will hit me and I'll fall apart?"

"Possibly," said Padma, "or possibly, you might find a mostly correct moment, and realise what time it is, and take down the shields around the grief, and put up the shields around the battlefield stoicism, and have a good cry."

Harry sighed, "I'm kind of feeling guilty about … not having done that already."

"Yeah," said Padma, "I'm sort of expecting it not to happen until I've slept another time or two, or not until I'm back at Hogwarts for a few nights, Or maybe not until OWLs are over and I'm back here again."

"Those all … refer to types of stress and types of forethought?"

"Sure."

"Yeah, ok," said Harry, "I'm kind of feeling like … well right now I don't feel like I'm sheltering in this house, I feel like I'm skiving off school camping out in a just-happens-to-be-safe-enough spot out of bounds."

"Umm?"

"Also, working on shoring it up to make sure it stays safe for later."

"Certainly."

"I feel like after school when I come back for summer hols, that's when I will be 'taking advantage of this thing my ancestors left me, which happens to be a house,' and 'which I won fair and square in battle' (not counting whether or not my opponent was fighting fair or using and abusing her resources and mine) and to 'take advantage,' of that windfall … is some sort of offence against Ernie."

"Some kind of survivor's guilt, except themed more materialist?"

"I don't know for sure what those mean."

"Never mind, I think you've got to concentrate on the fact that you did not conscript, you did not force anyone to be here, you encouraged everyone to consider the danger before we came. We all came to protect our future, or more specifically that of our families and our nation. I'm not saying he died on purpose, I'm saying that he knew the dangers and still chose to help you get your house back, he helped shut down the death eaters, because he wanted to help change the world, and he did. You can't just not use the house because it took sacrifice to get. The sacrifice has already been made, to not use it now would be to waste the sacrifice."

"Ugh," said Harry, "I wasn't proposing not using it. But … I guess feeling guilty about doing so."

"So physically you were going to be pragmatic, but emotionally?"

"Hmm," said Harry, "So instead of working myself up to feel guilt later, in the summer, I should be working myself up to feel something else?"

"Thankfulness probably," said Padma.

"Um, yeah, alright. I guess I'll try for that."

Harry sighed.

.

"We got bogged down on your counter-arguments for my panic, did we ever get to what you actually meant before I had my panic?"

"Most of what I meant, you simplified to 'singer needs a loft/tree-house,' all the way back at halfway through your 'panic' which is exactly true, but also so simplified that I doubt you understood it. But paired with Ginny's assessment of you needing flying time sometimes, I'm not sure I am capable of differentiating by your words whether either of us has finally heard the other."

"That's disheartening," said Harry, "Well, barring unforeseen developments, you definitely have my permission to continue turning this into whatever kind of space you want. Also, I feel like, umm, no idea how to ask this tactfully. Do you want me to tell Luna and Margaid to stop helping?"

"Ugh," said Padma, "I'm kind of OK with collective art projects… No, I mean, I kind of want to be the sort of person who is OK with collective art projects, but I am also somewhat offended by the help I've been given, not by the help itself, but that," Padma sighed, "some of it was given without first being verbally offered so that I had the option to refuse."

"Certainly," said Harry.

"Also, I wasn't planning on this being a collective art project," said Padma, "though I'm getting a feeling that, some people might be helping with the collective art project as token gestures of permission that it exists. That I …"

"That you need it, and therefore ought to have access to what you need."

"Sure."

"Good," said Harry, "I'm taking that as … also, they may be lobbying before the fact, (voting in advance?) for all their needs they are afraid will be ignored or mocked because those needs are just a little bit farther from normally condoned. Or merely, you asked first."

"Ugh," said Padma, "So I'm the mine canary? If you let them take care of me, they'll feel safe that you'll let someone take care of them?"

"Basically," said Harry, "So, I guess, if there's more help you need or want from me than just the permission and encouragement that I've already given, tell me, maybe even publicly, so that I can umm, hopefully, undo some of the frightening that I did by … umm protecting myself first, before either thinking or listening to you."

Parvati sighed and wondered if that apology would have worked better if he understood the term 'chilling effect' or whatever.

"And what if for example, Margaid says she needs to do dark magic rituals to survive?"

"Ugh, no idea," said Harry, "Probably depends on how convincing she manages to be."

"Really?" said Padma, "Is that all?"

Harry shrugged, which looked odd with him laying down.

"What do you mean by that?"

"People call Parseltongue a kind of dark magic, but so far as I can tell it is a leftover effect of some witchcraft a long time ago."

"Sure …"

"And I'm not even sure that it was dark witchcraft. I think giving your descendants the ability to talk to snakes isn't dark, and if they don't like it and choose never to use it, so what? But cursing a fraction of them to turn into snakes regularly, doesn't seem polite to my way of thinking. That counts as dark, I think two ways, (but I'm feeling too lazy to start the arithmancy to prove that it's not three ways.)"

"OK, sure."

"Maybe she's already done something to herself that requires, I don't know, for her to take a potion regularly. Some ingredients have no ethical ways to source, ergo, I'd have a problem with those. Others used to be unethical to source, but now may be perfectly fine, even if perhaps the laws haven't been updated since."

"Like what?"

"I have no idea, the green pigment for Slytherin Green Ancient, comes to mind, our sources were cut off for a while due to a war, I don't remember which one, so we switched pigment and haven't switched back, I don't think it matters much for a pigment, but it might for a potion ingredient."

"Oh, I see."

Harry yawned.

"So your answer is: if Margaid asked for permission to practice dark magic, is: tell her to convince you that it's not dark?"

Harry blinked, "No, for her to convince you and Hermione that it's not evil, and Susan that it's either not illegal, or shouldn't be illegal and I should be working to get it changed."

"But for me to get permission to start a 'collective art project' I have to convince you that … what?"

"That my manor isn't in danger of becoming … less homelike than … where I grew up." Harry said.

"That seems an insultingly low barrier," said Padma sitting up to glare at him. But his eyes were closed and he didn't take any notice of her moving around.

"Think the library is a better place for kindergarteners," sighed Harry, "with a tree mural in the library wall balcony thingy."

"Oh," said Padma, "Are you asleep?"

"Mmm?" said Harry.

On second thought, it had been a very short night, a nap sounded delightful. And he started it.

"You promised not to fall asleep until I was done."

"M'not," said Harry.

"Well, maybe I am done," Padma sulked, "But I didn't say I was done yet."

"Hmp," Harry stretched very very gently. As if trying to get comfortable, but he was afraid of waking himself up.

"Or are you … still awake but dreaming already?"

"Only my eyes and one hand are dreaming," said Harry, and moved his hand against a clibbert fur. "Oh, maybe just my eyes?"

"What are you dreaming about?" said Padma.

"Monkeys," said Harry, "§-and snakes.-§"

Harry's breathing was very long, she poked his shoulder. He fell over onto his back and moved his arm out of the way like he thought someone wanted to use him for a pillow. Oh, yeah, Luna and Parvati regularly did that to him in his sleep.

Humph.

She envisioned scooting closer and nestling in without joggling him too much. Very very tempting. Too tempting, she cast the time-telling charm.

"We have just less than forty minutes before we absolutely have to go meet the others."

He smiled, but it took him a long time to get around to saying, "Ah, ohkhai."

She put her wand away and nestled into his side.

"Hmm," he said and slid tight against her, "snuggle monkeys."

"Likewise, I'm sure," said Padma and closed her eyes.

"Monkey snuggle monkeys," he sighed, "No … umm? §-snuggle-monkey snuggles-§"

May my dreams be as gentle also.

...-...

The Suite

There was some discussion of using the 9-bedroom apartment, which would give all but one of them a bedroom and a work room, and the other one would only get one of those, or necessarily have one of them be a common room. They could give the Granger clan the 6-bedroom apartment, and a runic door to Hermione's suite at home. (And since when did Hermione have a multi-bedroom suite at home?)

But no one wanted to allow a security breach that big. Maybe to and from the old cottage, not to all the way outside their wards.

In the end, they took the 6-bedroom suite. They discussed various arrangements, most with Harry in one middle bedroom, with House of Potter on one side: Ginny next door, followed by Luna, and on the other side, Parvati followed by Padma.

There was a question about whether to leave the extra bedroom in the middle with as big a bed as possible for the regular co-sleeping snuggle pile. Or on either end for storage of any of several types.

Padma again insisted that she didn't want a bedroom. But she did want a 'clothes and belongings' room, and for that to be near enough to everyone else that collaborating on clothing choices and dress codes and whatnot would be easy, however often there would be Events where that mattered.

Luna seemed to agree with Padma about wanting to share snuggles a lot of the time, but instead of acting like a bedroom was an alien thing to want, she seemed … ready to move all her things from Ravenclaw and Lion's-Keep and the Rookery, if Harry would give permission. Padma looked irritated and resigned by it all.

Luna didn't feel the need for a bedroom, so much as she wanted her own personal vault.

Harry didn't quite give Luna permission, but he held her very tight for a long time. And told her she could start bringing her precious things that she didn't want to be at Hogwarts and therefore in danger of theft or defilement.

He suggested that any of them could grab password plaques from the ward room, and make their doors password protected.

There was some discussion about that, but in the end, they decided 'no,' but they wanted the password on the suite door to be the next level more secure, and an agreement among them not to invite anyone in.

They agreed maybe Susan could be invited, someday. But eventually, they agreed Hermione wasn't. Not because they didn't trust what she would do inside, but because they didn't yet trust that she would follow their security requirements against telling the password to members of her house.

There was no question that she was still welcome to visit their manor and to bring her house around for a day or an evening or the whole summer. They were allowed to read in the library and tour the muggle areas, to learn muggle blending and muggle culture. But … it had been annoying enough to unexpectedly start sharing the bathroom with them, and while that wasn't necessary here. And unlike Susan, there wasn't any implication of long-term breeding to accommodate. And even if something like that came up, there was no reason to assume things might not work out just as well with Harry visiting with Hermione in some other room.

Lacking any better method, they each 'claimed' their room by leaving their new armour there and sticking conjured name plaques on their doors.

Which was about when they started to take seriously Nim's request to be in the empty room at the end, passed Luna. She also didn't want a bedroom alone but did want a clothes storage room. Harry was reluctant, but Parvati wasn't sure if that was only because everyone else was.

When it had been 'Harry that famous orphan' holding an enemy soldier in thrall for a bodyguard and advisor,' that had been a beautiful irony. Now when it was 'My husband Harry letting that same enemy soldier have a bedroom in our family suite,' it seemed an uncomfortable precedent. Especially since there were now eight thralls whose marks he'd converted, and one of them currently lived just across the hall. And two more downstairs whose marks Ginny had converted.

Parvati had the feeling that Nim would keep the room full of boots, knives, and armour instead of full of notebooks and clothes, but whatever.

"Are you planning on breeding with her?" said Padma.

"I don't have plans for such. Bellatrix?"

"Not until you can predictably leave me in Human form for nine months at a time, (or Nim shaped for three months at a time.)"

Harry sighed.

"I wish you'd add me back to your rotation though," said Bellatrix.

Padma clenched her teeth.

Parvati sighed. "We all know you were Harry's sex tutor first," said Parvati, "from comparing rumours of average to the reality of Harry, I guess we're grateful about that."

Bellatrix looked up.

"I think what we're most concerned about is: what about Voldemort?"

"Her suite is across the hall," said Harry, "and I let her know that if any of you told her to move out of the family wing, I backed you up and expected her to comply by the end of term."

"But are you planning on breeding with her?"

Harry rolled his eyes, "I don't like her, she's just useful. I feel like … I'd need Grandma's permission to off her."

"No," said Ginny, "once you gave her a thrall mark, it is your responsibility to protect her."

"Damn," said Harry, "she played me like a fiddle didn't she."

Ginny shrugged, "She does that. The thing is, to maintain that protection she's got to obey you. And like you said, she's positioned herself to be useful the same way you wanted Padma and Susan and Hermione to help you with Wizengamot things."

"True," sighed Harry.

"You do realise," said Bellatrix, "that she made herself into a maledicti, and genetically an identical twin of Nagini."

"Plausible," said Harry, "What's your point?"

"Any children you had by her: the boys would be parselmouths or the girls maledicti," said Bellatrix, "any children you have by the rest of us, only the girls will be parselmouths."

"You think she already hoped to breed," said Harry, "when she picked whose twin to be?"

Bellatrix nodded, "I think she wants to give a snake soldier to protect each of your girls. Not about to guess what she's going to do with her boys."

"Ugh," said Harry, "and if she has the same opinion of my magic as Aunt Amelia does, she probably expects them to be stuck in snake form from very early. Almost the equivalent of snake-kin."

Padma nodded, "except that much more predictable. And given how powerful she and grandma are, it's probably a good prediction."

Harry nodded, "and while I might not agree, I can see how she might think sending all her lord's children to Hogwarts with a venomous snake familiar would be proper minion protocol, the same way it seems like several of the Families in House Malfoy synchronised their children to be born the same year as Draco."

"Maybe not for all our children," said Padma, "maybe only the parselmouths, but still."

Harry nodded, "So, … mark it down as optional weird traditions that we could import from the House of Gaunt if we wanted. Not something I really need to worry about until we're graduated, settled, and ready to breed."

Parvati rubbed her head.

"Fair enough," said Padma.

Ginny swore under her breath.

"If it's just the same to everyone else, I'd rather he make baby snake pets from Grandmother, not from Margaid," said Luna.

Ginny nodded.

Padma shook her head.

"Ugh," said Harry, "I know I told the quidditch team they had to run offers for either casual sex or breed contracts by a committee of the Heads of Families in my Houses, and they should not harbour much hope for the casual sex, but … that was somewhat rhetorical. I kind of want more veto than that."

"You'd rather breed with Margaid," suggested Ginny, "but only if Nagini and Parvati will raise the young?"

Harry blinked hard, "I hadn't considered that option. That sounds mildly less disturbing, yes." He sighed.

Parvati decided she didn't know her own mind well enough to respond to that. And I don't want to be on record for any response before I have time to think that over.

"More to the point," said Padma, "Grandmother tried to set up a breed contract for Cousin Wedna, not for herself. I don't know what Margaid wants, but from the moves Grandmother has made, it seems that she's not in a hurry to give us more aunts and uncles."

"This is the first I'm hearing about this," said Ginny.

"Harry all but turned her down, and sent her to me to get it ratified."

"No," said Harry, "I told her I couldn't promise her a safe place to live because I didn't have one yet. That was enough of an answer for her to take back to Grandmother that it took the pressure off and let her turn her attention back to her revising. Next time she asks, I will of course have to say that that objection has been removed and her next move is to interview with each of you for a position in the harem or not."

"Of course she's welcome," said Parvati, then looked around, "as long as she doesn't get umm, bossy?"

Everyone stared at her. Harry shrugged, "She's welcome to visit as a cousin, she's welcome to try to date each of us until she, or we, decide she's not a good fit, or until we unanimously agree that she is."

"What does she want?" said Luna.

"It's evident what she wants," said Padma, "she has better things to be doing, She'll continue coming by often enough to satisfy Grandma that she's trying to make it work with us, but she wants a career, not a family."

Ginny shrugged, "Or she wants to get the career settled first and then worry about a family, instead of what we're doing, get the family settled first, and then worry about the career."

"Hmm, perhaps," said Padma, "I guess she'll let us know when she understands that her first excuse has expired."

"Anyway," Harry turned around, "are we going to give this suite a ceremonial claiming, or is that something that would take so long to do properly that we want to put it off for another day?"

Everyone shrugged.

Harry glanced at each of them, "I'm thinking Luna is the most interested party by one metric, with Ginny or Parvati, as the most interested by a different metric."

Padma crossed her arms. And walked to stand near Harry, she surveyed the suite from his vantage point also.

Then she whispered something into his ear.

He frowned, then shrugged.

She whispered something else.

He bit his lip.

"You're right," he said.

"What's the plan?" said Ginny.

Harry sighed, "When we were planning to be one house, and most of our activities outside of revising, were protecting ourselves and each other from Hogwarts bullies on one side and Hogwarts rules on the other. We pulled tight together. Now we have formalised contracts, and a manor worth sharing," he looked around, "There's been a bit of loosening and spreading out, which is good in the sense of it's proof that we're not hemmed in on all sides. But it might lead some of us to subconsciously feel pushed away. Especially because this is Potter Manor, legally it will belong to Ginny and my heir by her. I believe there's a Black Manor somewhere, but that won't matter until 'Sirius and co' find it and make it liveable again, which I'm under the impression he's not in any hurry to do."

"Ugh, really?" said Ginny.

"I can't imagine not wanting my wives and consorts to be welcome in my manor for as long as I live here," said Harry, "But…" he looked straight at Ginny, "would you like to formalise that as the highest legal status female in the House of Potter, welcoming even the lowest legal status female among my consorts from the House of Black."

Ginny straightened and glared at him, "Signifying all that by welcoming her into my room, and even into my bed?"

Harry nodded.

Ginny swallowed, "do you mean Padma … or Bellatrix?"

"I meant Padma," said Harry, "Bellatrix is already Potter property."

Ginny nodded and turned to Padma.

Ginny went to Padma and started whispering to her. The only words Parvati could make out were, 'sister-in-law' and 'my bed' and 'home' but Padma grew steadily pinker.

It might have been hilarious to watch, except … it probably was the medicine that Padma needed and had asked for, but Ginny was doing her best to make it lots more significant than it would have been without the extra words.

But Parvati's own duty had been implied earlier. She didn't mind it, but … Parvati knew very little about Luna from the girl directly. But she'd heard a lot from Padma and Hermione and Ginny. And she'd made her own observations when visiting her rook-shaped house. She'd had bully problems at Hogwarts, sadly that was a given. She was a ravenclaw and near the top of her classes (even for a ravenclaw), she was cute as hell and a good kisser, also a fast learner and … had a male animagus form. And who knew if that mattered.

She wanted a bedroom that was exclusively her own, probably so that she could decorate it how she wanted, and be safe from bullies, and … also … so that it would really mean something when she invited a friend inside.

When the topic had been 'asking Harry for workrooms,' she hadn't asked for 'workrooms' for herself, she'd offered to 'take responsibility,' for the rooms and uses of those rooms that she felt were important to her and to others.

Parvati went to her and held out a hand.

Luna took it, then flinched and turned to Harry, "What are you going to do, Harry?"

"I'm going to claim a room for Nim," he said, "Because she can't do that for herself."

Bellatrix turned cat and scampered to the door to her room, then sat patiently looking up at the door handle.

Harry stalked after her.

"Huh?" said Parvati.

"He's going to rape her," whispered Luna, "And she's going to beg her Lord Potter to actually mean it this time."

"Really?" said Parvati.

Luna shrugged.

Harry let her into her room and followed her.

"Incarcerous," he said, "colloportus."

Luna shivered.

"Why?" said Parvati.

"If you don't already understand," said Luna, "I hope you never do."

"Is this one of those things that he does because she needs it, not because he wants it?"

Luna nodded and bit her lip.

Parvati sighed, and pulled her gently away, "come on, come to my room."

Luna followed.

They conjured a sheet over the exposed mattress and snuggled up together.

"I've already had a lot of sex in the last two days," said Parvati, "my cravings are satisfied, but …"

Luna opened her eyes, "I had more last night than you."

Parvati nodded, "True."

"But what?" said Luna.

"But I didn't touch you, have never touched you except kissing. I want … for us to agree whether you're evenly part of the whole group, or mostly just a sex friend of Harry and Ginny.

"I wouldn't have … kept kissing you if I didn't want you," said Luna.

"That was a compliment," said Parvati, "but not an answer."

"You don't owe me protection the way Harry does," said Luna, "The way Padma and Ginny have agreed to help Harry with."

"So it's taken me longest to get you alone to myself," said Parvati, "But that also doesn't answer my question."

"It means you could rape me as often as you want," whispered Luna, "as long as you can keep Harry and Ginny from noticing."

"Humph," said Parvati.

"I don't tattle," said Luna.

"That's not …" said Parvati.

"I asked you to mark me," said Luna, "I told you I meant I wanted to be more naked to you than taking my clothes off seems to communicate."

But I am a war horse, I help my General to protect. I do not attack the innocent.

"If you want naked sex or naked snuggles, I can do that," said Parvati.

Luna rolled away and stood up.

Parvati sat up and stared after her.

"What do you want me to take off?" she said.

Somehow Parvati had forgotten she was nude.

Parvati got up too and took off her own underthing, and laid it across the centre of the bed, the better to catch any messes.

Luna stayed just far enough back to be out of the way.

Parvati turned around and looked at her.

"I took off my armour and sword," said Parvati, "I let Padma wrap up my kelpie harness until I can practice staying safe with it."

Luna nodded.

For the first time in months, Parvati unlaced her wand holster for a reason other than getting in the shower.

Luna's eyes went wide, and then she copied.

Parvati left her wand and holster on her dresser. (It was rather a rudimentary chest of drawers, she'd have to upgrade drastically, or find something more appropriate elsewhere in the manor to trade out with.)

They climbed back into bed.

"I didn't ask you to be naked," said Luna laying her head on Parvati's shoulder.

"But I needed to be," said Parvati, "to be able to ask you to fall asleep without your wand."

Luna trembled.

Then she reached for Luna's Sher-mark and turned it off the last fraction.

Luna tensed and whimpered.

"Now," said Parvati, "you are naked."

"Yes," said Luna, "I … wanted to be naked to you, not naked by you."

"What do you want?" said Parvati.

"Put your wand back on and lock the door."

"How about I lock the door," said Parvati, "and leave my wand on my dresser."

Luna shook her head.

"Are you sure?"

Luna nodded.

Parvati got up and did that.

When she returned to bed Luna was a lot more relaxed.

"I think I understand now," said Parvati, "You want to trade … helplessness to me, for protection from me?"

"Yeah."

"Same deal you've been offering Harry and Padma."

"And Ginny and Susan," said Luna, "Except Susan doesn't understand that helplessness can buy that," said Luna, "and Ginny doesn't understand that protection can be bought or paid for."

"That figures," sighed Parvati.

Luna snuggled closer, "are you going to rape me?"

"I wasn't planning on it," said Parvati, "Is … is marking a form of rape?"

"Sort of yes," said Luna, "Sort of it cannot be, I have to welcome the magic."

"Ah, right," said Parvati.

Luna sighed.

"I'm not going to rape you today," said Parvati, "Not even a little bit. Right now, what's supposed to be happening is that I told you to make yourself at home in my room and my bed. And you …"

"I have to accept that and maybe even claim that I deserve it?" murmured Luna.

"Yes," murmured Parvati.

Luna rolled on top of Parvati and propped herself up on her elbows to look down into Parvati's face.

"I said, 'you can have me for a bed slave,' and you said, 'no, you can have me for a bed slave'?"

Parvati smirked, "not quite, you're the naked one. I'm the one with a wand now. I was the one with the sword earlier when you called for help."

Luna nodded.

"I think, bed guard is closer to the idea you're looking for."

"Bed warden," said Luna, "You're not promising to keep me safe, the way Harry and Padma do, you're promising that your bed is a safe place for me to be?"

"Very definitely," said Parvati.

Luna sighed, then lay down again.

Except now she was laying on Parvati.

"Luna?"

Luna stayed in place, "What?"

"Unless you're planning to check how much sexual teasing it takes to get me to snap and rape you in spite of what I just promised…"

"I wasn't … I mean … well I could try that."

"Would you mind not laying on my stomach?"

"Um, OK," said Luna. She climbed off and stayed kneeling beside her, "But … what do you want?"

"If we're going to prove trust and safety by falling asleep," said Parvati, "I want back to back, with me facing the door. If we're going to just kiss, let's lay on our sides facing each other, and I'll conjure a pillow for us. If we're going to shag … do you want to change into Hider for me?"

Luna's eyes went huge, "Would you want that?"

"A little," said Parvati.

Luna smirked a little.

"More than a little," amended Parvati.

"Alright," said Luna, and vanished from sight while also becoming significantly lighter.

She patted away and then reappeared. Luna-shaped again, but at the foot of the bed.

"Spread your legs and put your knees up."

Parvati did. Luna inched closer and helped by pushing her ankles even farther.

Luna nodded, "lubricate and conjure about two hands tall of pillows to be under your back and bottom."

"Alright," said Parvati.

"Or give me permission to get my wand."

"Do you want permission?" said Parvati.

"I crave orders not to," said Luna, "so … maybe you should order me the opposite."

Parvati sat up and stared at Luna, "Harry told me once that sometimes games in bed are alright because they stand in specific contrast to normal life."

"What?"

"The two examples he gave were nakedness, we're naked in bed to prove that we don't believe the status games that we have to play-make-believe in front of the rest of the world."

Luna nodded.

"The other one was, when I ask him to let Sher's instincts drive, or he asks me to let Lightfeet's instincts drive. To prove that we aren't stuck being mere animals the rest of the time."

"We are animals all the time," said Luna, "Humans are a kind of animal."

Parvati shrugged, "But I cannot reason quite as far ahead, and not quite as many ways as a horse."

Luna shrugged, "But better in other ways?"

Parvati nodded, "Mamma horses have different instincts."

"Like what?" said Luna.

"Being a good citizen of a reasonably sized herd, instead of only of a small family or a big state."

Luna smiled.

Parvati shrugged, "And maybe you need me to not let you have your wand so that you can practice asking for help that you wouldn't need if you had your wand, so that tomorrow when you have your wand, you'll still feel safe asking for other kinds of help that don't have anything to do with your wand."

Luna nodded, "And that I kind of want rape sometimes?"

"Do you?" said Parvati, "or do you just want to have a turn choosing which friend to be in charge of you, because at school, the professors are in charge, whether we like it or not, and whether we like that professor or not."

Luna nodded, "That's what you like doing with Harry and Ginny?"

Parvati nodded.

"But that's not what Nim wants."

"No," said Parvati, "I think that's something else."

"Do you know what it is?"

"Not entirely," said Parvati, "but I think … the stronger we become, the more scared we can get, that we're doing things wrong, and there's no one else to help us or be in charge when we run out of things and places where we know what to do."

Luna nodded.

"I think Bellatrix is more powerful than everyone in the house, except Harry and Grandma," she shrugged, "and 'Margaid'. But she's already tried letting Margaid be in charge of her, and that went badly. So she's been giving Harry a turn."

Luna nodded, "But … Harry wasn't always more powerful than Bellatrix."

Parvati shivered. Probably still isn't, if you measured capability rather than raw power.

But Luna didn't need to hear that right now.

"There are other kinds of power than just raw magic reserves," said Parvati, "Harry also has social and legal power."

Luna nodded, "and the power, when he's confused, to slow down and ask for advice. Instead of stopping completely, or getting angry and scared that it has stopped being easy, or taking a guess then pretending as hard as he can that he's right."

"True," said Parvati, "which makes him one of the safest for us to put in charge."

"Exactly," said Luna, "even if he wasn't powerful in the other ways, that is an important thing to have, for us to want him either in charge or helping be in charge."

"True," said Parvati.

"But what if I was more powerful than Margaid and Harry put together," whispered Luna, "and I was scared I'd hurt everyone? Would you … work together with Harry, to help me become tame?"

That had to be hyperbole, Parvati patted her on the shoulder, "I know you wouldn't hurt anyone on purpose," said Parvati.

Luna swallowed, "there are different kinds of hurting, or letting people hurt themselves."

"Is this about you locking your trunk with a shaving charm?" said Parvati

Luna giggled.

A complete lack of remorse. Which either meant Luna didn't have the social graces to understand people's attachment to their body image. Or it meant, so far no one had been caught in the trap, except those who Luna knew deserved at least that much harm.

Maybe Luna wasn't crazy. Or rather, maybe she knew exactly what kind of crazy she was, and had been begging for help with that, rather than with bullies. Who really cared about a few school bullies in the grand scheme of things, if you were more powerful than Voldemort, and had more survival-relevant things to learn than social graces?

"How many more kinds of 'tame' do you want to be?" said Parvati.

"How many more kinds do you think I need?" said Luna.

"I think," said Parvati, "we're going to start with you asking for help more often, and me listening, you asked me to lubricate and adjust my height to something more comfortable for you."

Luna nodded.

Parvati did those things.

"What else would you like me to do?" said Parvati.

"I can pull against your thighs," said Luna, "or against your hands. Hands would be friendlier."

Parvati smiled, "I'd like that, anything else?"

Luna move mostly into position and they held hands.

Luna shrugged, "I can't talk while I'm male."

Parvati nodded, "I know, I'll try to listen to your motions instead of just to your words."

Luna nodded, "and … I … Hider needs a new name, but I don't know what it should be."

"Alright," said Parvati, "I'll think about that too."

Luna changed into monkey form, this time she stayed visible.

They fit together.

Luna wasn't as big inside as Harry or as heavy outside as Harry or Ginny or Susan. But she was at least as strong as either one.

Parvati thought about a better name than Hider because Luna wanted to be done hiding.

The opposite of hiding was finding. But 'Finder' sounded too much like 'Seeker,' and it might confuse rather than enlighten.

'Lurker' seemed similar enough to Hider, and had already been rejected for being aggressive in the wrong ways. But there were also trappers and hunters and snipers

'Sniper' was probably out, Snipers hunted people. And maybe only muggle-borns and muggle-aware half-bloods would understand, and be perhaps too concerned by it. But if she wanted to stop hiding, an obscure name wasn't what she wanted.

She had successfully trapped the one time. But that didn't make her a trapper.

Hunter was straightforward enough.

"How many, people know about, your animagus form?" panted Parvati.

Luna shrugged, then turned human.

Parvati bit back a whimper at the cessation of stimulation.

"Most of the animagus class, if they paid attention."

Parvati nodded, "and how many of them are sure that you hide by any other method than just that?"

Luna shrugged, "Maybe just the Weasleys."

"I'm thinking you try to let everyone else think there's only one explanation, rather than two. Show off your animagus form sometimes, if you can stand to be visible in it."

"Often I can," said Luna.

Parvati nodded, "How about 'Hunter'?"

Luna put her eyebrows up, "why?"

"Sort of the opposite of hiding is finding. Hunting is a kind of finding. People can assume it means hunting for food, but it can also mean hunting for books, or knowledge, or interesting creatures to observe."

"Or news stories," Luna nodded.

"True."

"Artemis is a hunter," said Luna.

"True," said Parvati, "But not just a huntress, but the goddess of huntresses."

Luna shrugged.

"Bellatrix mentioned earlier that she's lower status than you."

"Yeah," said Luna sadly.

"Have you ever tried telling her what to do?"

"She'll obey me right away if I ask her to do a normal aunt-for-niece sort of thing," said Luna.

Parvati nodded, "Try ordering her around for other things."

"Why?"

"I think her name means Hunter too," said Parvati.

"No," said Luna, "'Warrior woman,' but it's a star in Orion, the hunter."

"Even better," said Parvati.

"Oh," said Luna, "May I get back inside you?"

"Please," smiled Parvati.

.

Luna climaxed and returned to human form, panting hard. Parvati gave her a thankful smile. Luna smiled back.

"May I have a turn on top?" said Parvati.

Luna nodded. Her eyes and smile widened.

They pushed the pillows to the side and Luna lay down. Parvati arranged herself across Luna's hip.

"Lean closer," said Luna, "do kisses and chests too."

Parvati grinned, "Sounds good."

So they kissed.

Luna was still a good kisser, Not that Parvati could give her technique as thorough an exploration while they were also rubbing hips.

After they'd each had a climax Parvati offered to let Luna be on top, or for them both to curl up and sleep.

Luna stared, "I'll sleep with you tonight, … if the hostess offer applies to gryffindor as well as Potter Manor."

"It does apply, to the extent we can convince Hermione not to report us," said Parvati, "I can definitely come to Lion's-Keep for night snuggles there if you want."

Luna nodded, "alright, so … what I want next is a bedroom game where … I threaten to go help Harry rape Bellatrix. And you …"

Parvati tensed, "and I what?"

Luna shrugged, "either order me to do so from you also or order me not to and hold on to me to keep me from doing so or …" Luna shrugged.

One of those would be both condoning and taking ethical responsibility for Luna's future actions. The other would be rejecting that particular activity and taking responsibility for helping Luna keep herself tame.

Luna frowned, "Or maybe I should go and ask Harry for lessons on what kind of bedroom game they're actually playing and find out if it's one I can actually help with."

Parvati checked the wards, Bellatrix was not in bed with Harry, she was crammed in the far corner of the closet, and Harry was not that far behind her.

It wasn't clear if they were moving or staying still.

Never mind that.

"Luna," said Parvati, "Can you even get up when I'm on top of you like this?"

Luna frowned, "Sounds like a Susan challenge," she shrank into invisible monkey form and tried to wiggle free.

Parvati caught her by an arm and a knee.

Right, I should have prepared against that tactic.

Luna kicked the inside of Parvati's upper arm, causing her arm to spasm with tingles.

It wasn't a proper kick because that foot had fingers instead of toes, but still.

Luna righted herself onto the floor and started pealing at Parvati's remaining fingers.

Parvati reached out for the other arm but caught her neck instead. Luna redoubled her efforts.

Parvati squeezed, just a little.

Luna froze.

"Come back to bed Hunter," Parvati commanded, "I'm not done with you yet."

Hunter came and climbed back into bed. Parvati sat up and pulled him close. Wrapping her arms around him, feeling the panting and shivers redouble, and then gradually subside.

"Good," said Parvati, "good girl."

Hunter froze, then changed to Luna.

"Um," said Luna, "kind of … Hunter is a boy, you know."

"Do you want me calling you 'good boy,' when you're obedient?"

Luna's eyes flashed, then drooped. "I have no idea," she wiggled around a little, so she could move her head the four inches to bring their lips together.

"Good boy?" said Parvati.

Luna flinched, "No," said Luna, "That's wrong the opposite way."

"And is it just as wrong," said Parvati, "or is it worse?"

Luna frowned.

"Both mean the other me is real and the one I'm being is not real," said Luna, "They both hurt like being chopped in half."

"Oh," said Parvati, "Yeah, I see."

"Neither shape is the only me," said Luna, "it's ok to name them differently so that you can talk about one at a time. It's not as ok to … ask me to call one of them not-me."

"Right," said Parvati, "I wasn't trying to hurt you. I was trying to …"

"Ask permission how much ownership you have of me?" said Luna, "It's not fine, but you're forgiven, but it is not OK. It is not a kind of rape I'm going to ask you for."

Rape was about not permitting someone the agency to control their body and experiences. Attacking their identity in other ways, if it could reach deep enough could also count as rape. Alright.

"I'm sorry," said Parvati, "and you're allowed to wait for me to finish apologising before you forgive me."

Luna snickered.

"Anyway," said Parvati, "Harry said he managed to reject gender as part of his identity, and only a property that each of his bodies had. I wondered … if you'd found the same thing."

"No," said Luna, "I found more of my identity when I found Hunter, not less."

"Ah," said Parvati.

Luna repositioned her knees on both sides of Parvati. Then picked up each of Parvati's hands and patted them gently into position around her neck.

"You're not a snake," said Luna, "But there are snakes in your family."

"True," said Parvati, "What's your point."

"Don't squeeze my breath or my blood, but you can hold onto me here for gentle kissing."

"Oh," said Parvati and pulled her close again.

"Padma's mark," said Luna when they paused for breath, "makes her be Harry's consort when she wants."

"I guess," said Parvati.

"Her contract makes him be her consort when she wants."

"Good point," said Parvati.

I hadn't realised just how one-sided all of that was, mostly because Padma is an introvert, and won't ask for much. Maybe Harry hadn't realised either, or not until Mum had told him I wouldn't ask until I was a lot more experienced.

"Hunter is a pet, though he can get invisible when he doesn't feel like trying to be good."

"Hmm?" said Parvati.

"Luna is a pet too," whispered Luna, "and she can get invisible when she is tired of being seen."

"Mostly true," said Parvati, and stopped the magic flowing to Luna's Sher-mark.

Luna tensed and met Parvati's eyes.

"Luna is Harry's pet," said Luna, "But he gave you my leash."

Parvati swallowed.

Luna shrugged, "one of my leashes."

Parvati let go of Luna's Sher-mark, letting it resume its normal flow.

Luna panted for a second then met her eyes again.

"You can call me 'pet' instead of 'girl' or 'boy'."

"Oh," said Parvati, "is that where you were going with that?"

"It was Padma's idea."

"Ah," said Parvati, "I guess it is a good idea."

Luna kept staring.

"What?"

"Now may I go help Harry rape Bellatrix?"

"No," said Parvati, "or not directly."

Luna's eyes widened.

Parvati kissed her one more time, "You can and should go ask Harry if he wants to teach you how to help him with 'holding Bellatrix's leash.' "

Luna's eyes widened, "the same thing but with his permission?"

Parvati nodded, "and enough time for Bellatrix to complain that she doesn't want Harry to share 'holding her leash,' with you."

"I don't think she'll say that," said Luna.

"Maybe not," said Parvati, "But it's polite to offer people the time to make up their own minds."

Luna nodded.

Luna was still.

"Luna?"

"Can you say it as orders to your pet Hunter, instead of training philosophy advice to Luna?"

"Hmm," said Parvati.

Luna turned to Hunter.

Her … his neck was very small.

He turned back to Luna.

"Hunter," said Parvati.

Luna nodded attentively and did not change back.

"Be a good pet and go ask Harry if he wants any help."

"Yes, my sword helper, Lady Black," whispered Luna. She got up and pulled away until Parvati let go.

Parvati smiled after her.

When Luna's hand twisted the door handle and nothing happened she froze.

Right, locked door, Parvati reached for her wand but felt her magic shift before she even touched it.

There was a rounded triangle of magic fading into view on the back of Luna's neck, even as she stood still and shivered.

"Sorry I was unclear," said Parvati, "I meant, my good pet." She pushed more magic that way, forcing the mark all the way to black.

Luna panted and nodded.

"Alohomora," muttered Parvati, and pushed the magic out, not through her grasp on her wand, which wasn't in her right hand right now, but through her grasp of Luna's throat which wasn't in her left hand right now, but still felt like it.

Luna screamed like Susan having a Leona orgasm. But the door did unlock.

Parvati couldn't hold back a giggle.

Luna stretched out her spine and left arm, "My sword helper should screw me like that as often as excusably practical."

"Yes, sometimes, I will," agreed Parvati.

Luna went out. Parvati got up and put on her underthing. Now then … the rest of my clothes should be … on the floor in the unfurnished third-floor sitting room where all the unwanted loot had been crated.

Drat, I knew I'd been forgetting something.

She got up and went out.

Padma and Ginny were standing near Ginny's room. Ginny was leaning against her door frame. Padma … was looking relaxed.

Good, finally.

Ginny glanced at her, "You shouldn't agree to anything you don't want to agree to," said Ginny.

I wonder what the topic is.

"I haven't," said Padma, "but … I have agreed to things he doesn't understand and he seems to have taken them as other agreements either that he wants, or could imagine wanting in my place."

Ginny nodded, "So either explain or tell him to wait until he's had the experiences that will let him understand."

Padma shrugged, "I know that. But I also know that sometimes the best time to explain something is when someone is ready to listen, and sometimes the best time is as soon as possible, and maybe he'll hear me, or maybe he'll only hear that I have an opinion that he doesn't have time to understand, and next time the topic does come up, and he is ready to listen, he'll ask for a re-explanation. I just don't want yet another round of him thinking he heard me when he hasn't." Ginny shrugged.

Padma looked up, "Good grief, Parv, what did you do?"

"Huh?"

"You look like that time you found your lunch box in your room and realised that you'd stolen someone else's lunch by mistake, and their lunch box."

Parvati flinched, "I'd forgotten about that." Super embarrassing to figure out that manufactured lunch boxes, even the rare-ish 'popples' one she'd picked out for herself had identical twins out there, and must be further personalised if you wanted it to be identifiable.

Padma shrugged, "What did you do?"

"I let Luna have the mark she wanted."

"Oh," said Padma, "What's her conditional?"

Parvati shrugged, "until she doesn't need any more advice, I think."

Padma's eyes went huge, "does anyone ever stop needing advice?"

Parvati shrugged and shook her head, "No, but there are lots of ways she could eventually stop needing my advice."

"Oh, sure," said Padma.

Harry exited Bellatrix's room and came to them, "Alright," he said, "What's next?"

"We're just past halfway through the afternoon," said Padma, "how much do we have left we must accomplish before next time?"

"I want to set at least one hallway door to a password to let you all get in without help from a parselmouth."

"Yes, please," said Padma.

"And I'd like those of you whose marks I hadn't seen before this morning, to copy your mark onto the door of the wardroom."

"Where's that?" said Padma.

"Beside/behind the infirmary," said Harry, "Oh, and while you're doing that, you might want to copy the unpronounceable password from it, in case you want to use it elsewhere."

Padma shrugged, "Luna and I already agreed that we … alright, yeah we'll do something like that until we can trade out for the kind of door lock we do want."

Harry yawned, "what else is on the list?"

"Tea, and Hogwarts," said Ginny, "I have a horrible feeling we didn't synchronise our stories well enough before we sent the others away."

Harry shrugged, "yeah, we … may have some explaining to do."

"I have no explanations to give," said Padma, "I was following the directions of my Head of House."

"Ah," said Harry, "conveniently all of you can give that explanation if you like. I think I know what I need to say, but …" he shrugged, "Worst case, I guess if they expel me I'll take my OWLs at the ministry and apply to the City of London for next term. Keep Melantha company."

"Don't even say that," said Ginny.

Harry shrugged, "I'm not saying I want it, I'm saying it wouldn't be a worse crisis than what we faced last night, and we can deal."

Ginny shrugged, "what about Luna?" said Ginny, "Do you think she'd be better off with fewer of us around?"

"No," said Harry, "But she might be better off not in Ravenclaw." He looked at Padma, "No offence to any of you and everything that you've done to help her."

Padma frowned and nodded, "yeah, I understand, but … we've worked hard for things besides her safety. We've also done our best to manage our reputations to further your career and each others'. Quitting and rebuilding that somewhere else, rather than seeing it through at the more prestigious place," Padma shrugged, "Less than ideal."

"Good point," said Harry, "let's finish up here and get back … while we're still awake."

Padma nodded, "Exactly, let's go set that password."

.

Harry opened the wooden plaque with a hiss that meant 'open' and gave them a tour of the inside of the box, two pieces of slate, two places for passwords, and two groups of seven spaces for identity runes.

Harry added his rune to one space.

Ginny added hers.

Parvati stepped up and was about halfway done adding hers when the password caught her eye.

It was a series of snakes, biting each other's tails, but … if she held her eyes just right they seemed to writhe, and, one cluster actually meant 'open.' "Gah," she turned away clutching at the sudden pain high on the right side of her head.

"What?" said Harry.

"The Parselscript," said Parvati, "Isn't the same way Grandma writes it. I could understand it."

"Circe's potions!" said Padma.

"And it hurts," said Parvati.

"How bad?" said Harry.

"Like too much ice cream, except way off centre to the back and right."

"Let me see," said Padma.

"Humph," said Parvati.

"Stop holding it for a second, and just point."

Parvati obeyed.

"Exact mirror image of language centre," said Padma, "well the reading part of the language centre. How about farther forward and down toward your ear, here."

"That part is just sore, and maybe hot, not the icy burn of the other."

"Humph," said Padma.

Ginny gibbered something concerned in the background.

"Do you think you could write down what you saw?" said Padma.

"Mayb—gah, ouch." Parvati barely had time to contemplate that before the pain intensified and started throbbing, "I'd probably throw up if I tried."

"Interesting," said Padma.

She wiggled past where Parvati crouched.

"Oof," she grunted, "ugh … hmm."

"What are you doing?" said Harry.

"Learning how to speak," said Padma.

"What?" said Harry.

Parvati looked up. Yes, Padma was staring at the slate. She looked away.

"Pad, you're crazy," said Parvati.

"But I don't sound as crazy as you do," said Padma, "I'm going to take a full dose and mostly get control over it like Mum and Harry have."

"What?"

"She means you're speaking Parseltongue," said Ginny, "mostly."

Drat?

"And you think staring at more Parselscript will help?"

"Maybe," said Padma. She turned around and patted Parvati's back. "I want lemonade," said Padma, "Shall I get you some?"

"What?"

"When you feel up to it," said Padma, "take a look at the other password too, see if it makes sense also, or rather on which meta level it does make sense. I'm going to go ask Grandma if she can understand me now."

Parvati sighed.

Padma left.

Ginny said, "Is there any reason the first password for this wing wouldn't be 'Lion's-Keep and friends', or 'Lion's-Keep and allies?' "

"Works for me," said Harry.

"And something protection related for the box lock."

"Administrative password," said Harry, then he shrugged, "box lock works too."

"Good," said Ginny, "I'm going with her."

"Alright," said Harry.

Once she was gone Harry crouched closer and held Parvati's shoulders.

"I'm supposed to be the gryffindor one," said Parvati.

"You were caught by surprise," said Harry, "and she was prepared, and wanted the knowledge more than she wanted to avoid the pain."

"Yeah, well," said Parvati, "Help me up?"

"Sure," he stood up and helped her up.

Together they stared at the passwords. Yes, one meant 'open' in the imperative form. The other didn't mean a meaning, just sounds, but it was easy to choose to say them.

Parvati pronounced them. The sounds had familiar pieces in them, and she could imagine a sound she'd heard, to put in front, to turn the whole thing into 'let me through' and a different thing to put in front to make it 'let us through' and something different to make it 'let them through' and yet more things to mean 'let these mammals through,' or 'let these snakes through,' It couldn't quite be 'let a mammal through' or 'let a snake through' Which meant … the noun came first, and the part written felt like nonsense because it started at a suffix for nouns. An unusual suffix for nouns, but the one used for most pronouns. 'Let' was in the imperative form, 'through' was of the form that had a connotation of 'between vertical obstacles' as in 'between blades of grass' or 'between trees', rather than between horizontal obstacles, or diving through water or a hole.

Most of her headache had subsided to a profound itch. She could see why Padma wanted to go practice a little more, but differently.

"It's alright," said Parvati, "you can erase it now."

"Are you sure?" said Harry.

"Yes."

.

In the kitchen, Ginny held out a glass of lemonade.

"Thanks," said Parvati.

Ginny raised an eyebrow.

"Was that English?" tried Parvati, even as she felt her newly-not-invisible grammar slotting together and knew she'd spoken Parseltongue again.

Ginny isn't a snake or a speaker, use regular grammar at her.

"Is this better?"

"Hindi," smiled Ginny, "I can't understand it but I can recognise it from you and Padma speaking it in your sleep."

I want to talk so Ginny can understand.

"How about this?"

Ginny blinked, then grinned, "That was Horse."

"Oh dear," sighed Parvati.

"Still horse," said Ginny, "but I was expecting it and understood it better."

Parvati growled and looked away.

She took another sip of lemonade.

She wrapped her hands around it and gave a pleading expression, before saying, "Thanks," again.

"Greek," said Ginny, "αυτό είναι εντάξει, είμαι εντάξει με την ελληνική."

Parvati sighed.

"Also, είστε ευπρόσδεκτοι."

"Thank Merlin!" said Parvati.

Ginny burst out laughing, "There's your English."

Parvati groaned and took another sip of lemonade.

"Does it feel like progress?" said Ginny.

"Not yet," said Parvati, "but … like … maybe like … someone smacked my arm so hard that all of it is numb, and after a little while, it will stop being so clumsy, except it wasn't my arm, it was my languages."

"Not all of those words were human," said Ginny, "But I got 'numb' and 'stop being clumsy,' so I think I understand."

Parvati sighed.

"Are you going out to the greenhouses with Padma?"

Parvati shrugged, "It's such a long way through."

Ginny blinked several times, "go outside and then around, it's shorter."

"What?"

"The path from the greenhouses to the kitchen door is short. Not as short as from the greenhouses to the old detached kitchen, but I think that's just a root cellar access now."

"Ah, alright," said Parvati.

She turned and went outside.

The sun was nice.

She turned in the direction of the greenhouses.

.

...-...

{End Chapter 35}

A/N: Popples were an stuffed animal novelty item from starting in the late '80s. (Apparently with their own television show and other merchandise.) They have two forms, animal, and furry ball.