NSFW Bear's Beauties - Existential Crisis (Waifu Catalog Based)(Comm

by ThrowAway675

Not Mine support og author Meribson on Questionable Questing

2. Chapter 2

Rhonda Weasley

At breakfast, Mione and I made sure to keep Harry between us, and noticed the small flinches whenever any of the men walked by. I know there were laws about cursing Muggles, but I'm sure Mione could find some that wouldn't get us caught. If not, she could make some.

"Heya sweetie!" one of the women that arrived with Harry yesterday greeted as she sat down across from us.

"I'm sorry, I don't think we got your name?" Hermione asked, one hand on one of the bracelets we'd made last year to serve as focuses for our coven magic.

"Doctah Quinzel, registah'd psychiatrist. Call me Harley. Hermione Grangah, right?"

It was a few seconds before I'd realized that Mione hadn't answered, so I peeked over Harry's head to see a rather rare expression on Mione's face. We'd been friends for years, so I'd seen her gobsmacked once or twice, but on those occasions (typically in response to Harry or I doing something stupid) there was an undercurrent of exasperation. This time there was an undercurrent of fear.

Our visitor seemed to recognize it and wilted, looking like Luna when Mittens had died, "I see ya recognize mah name. Don' worry, Ah left Him ovah a year ago."

I had no idea who 'Him' was, but the sheer amount of hate and vitriol in the word told me it was a bit worse than just a past ex. Hermione's gaze hardened as she stared across the table, "We'll see. If I see anything that suggests you're like what I suspect, I will turn you into a newt."

"Will I get better?" Harley asked with a bad accent and a cheeky grin, clearly referencing something muggle from the way Harry snorted and Mione started fighting a grin.

"Let me guess, it'll be but a scratch?" Professor Lupin asked as he walked by to sit further down.

I just stared in confusion as Harry, Mione, and Harley all burst out laughing, "Am I missing something?"

"Just a reference to a muggle movie, don't worry about it," Harry answered.

"O…kay?"

"We'll show ya latah," Harley offered.

"Thanks. But, why exactly did your name freak out Mione?"

"Cause Ah'm from a different Earth, and somebahdy got an inklin' o' it and made a bit ' entahtainment outa it. Ah made some really bad choices a few years back."

"Working for a murderous psychopath with no interest in anything but causing chaos is a bit worse than a 'bad choice' I think," Mione responded, making both Harry and I stare at Harley in surprise. She didn't look anything like what Mione was describing, but from the way Harley was looking away in shame…

"Enough of that," another of the women that showed up last night said, while the man put a hand on Harley's shoulder.

"Being in an abusive relationship is a lot different than what you've seen in the cartoon," he said. Mione just raised an eyebrow, skeptical, until he said one word that made the three of us all wince. "Dobby."

We were quiet for a bit, before Harry cleared her throat and asked the tall, black haired woman, "So are you all from a different Earth too?"

"Most of us are, Lana and I aren't. We were part of an interstellar Empire, Lana was born on the capital world of Dromund Kaas, I was born on the old capital world of Ziost," she said.

"And… is your world part of muggle media too?"

"Of a sort, from what Bear's told us," she nodded to the man. Bear was certainly an appropriate name. "At this point the majority of any media you would have seen is over three and a half thousand years after Lana and I were born."

"Meaning comparing Lana and Nikhol to the eventual inheritors of their society's name would be like comparing people in the Dark Ages to the people of the Enlightenment," Bear said.

"Okay, I can read between the lines," Mione groused. "What franchise, and which villains in said franchise?"

In response, the dark haired woman (Nikhol, I'm guessing) pulled out a metal cylinder from her belt. A moment later, a red beam of light shot out of the top of the cylinder and a humming noise filled the dining room.

"Oh bloody hell!"

Harry and I both turned to look at Mione in surprise, the brains of our coven leaned back in her chair, a look of surprise and terror on her face. There was a long moment of silence, before Harley turned to Sirius and asked, "Hey Dog-boy, ya got anything hardah than apple juice for the girl here?"

"No, I drank all of it after the earlier revelation," he responded, rubbing his head before muttering under his breath, "Bloody elf, putting a sobriety curse on the bottles."

I'd heard about those, from when the twins tried to filch some firewhiskey from one of their earlier Defense professors. They made it so that you don't experience getting drunk, but still got the hangover, or maybe enhanced the hangover, I don't remember for sure.

"Peace, Miss Granger. Keep in mind what I said. Besides, there is more to the Sith religion than Palpatine or Vader. Much as there's more to Christianity than, say, Cardinal Richelieu," Bear said as Nikhol put her deactivated cylinder back on her belt as she sat down with a plate of food.

Mione shook her head, before asking, "How's that even work? Shouldn't the amount of wards, charms, and other magic in the house prevent it from working?"

"I don't know for sure, but my personal theory is that magic generally doesn't actually interfere with electronics. Otherwise there'd be massive dead zones in the middle of London," Bear pointed out.

"But in Hogwarts, a History… although if it's a side effect of the wards to prevent lightning from hitting it…"

"And she's gone," I joked as Mione raced off to get some parchment and a quill.

Taylor Hebert

"If you don't mind my asking," I began as I sent a small swarm of bugs into the curtains, flushing out the blue imp-like things that had been living in them, "Why Harry? It's not even remotely close to Hyacinth."

The girl in question chuckled, "One of the few things I got from Dudley that never bothered me. He had trouble pronouncing my name when we were young, to be fair so did I for a while, so he just started calling me Harry. It stuck, and by the time I got to Hogwarts, the weirdest part of adjusting to the Wizarding World wasn't the magic, it was everyone calling me Hyacinth."

"By the way, at breakfast Nikhol said you were from a different Earth? How's that work?" Rhonda asked, flinching away from one of the imps as it flew past her, a spider the size of my hand on its back.

"I don't know the specifics behind how it works, but yes, I can assure you that this is not the Earth I was born on. We had parahumans, people with specific powers like my bug control, but we didn't have magic."

"Wizards and witches keep ourselves separate, I don't see why it'd be any different on other Earths."

This was going to be awkward, but… "I can say my home doesn't have magic because of the Endbringers. There are three of them: Behemoth, Leviathan, and the Simurgh. Every few months, they attack a city and, if we're lucky, are driven off before they cause much damage. More frequently the city's lost.

"The Simurgh is the worst. Behemoth has the highest kill count and Leviathan's sunk islands, but the Simurgh's known as the Hopekiller for a reason. If you spend too long in range of her scream… you're a puppet. Somehow, someway, some day, you'll do something that will cause untold death and destruction. The second city she attacked was London. The resulting chaos went on for years, but if there were wizards then their going crazy would have resulted in spill over."

As I had been expecting, everyone in earshot was staring at me. This was starting to get annoying. Yes the Endbringers were bad, but Earth-Bet wasn't that bad. It's still my home, I didn't like it being seen as a shithole by people.

"Bloody hell…" Rhonda muttered.

"Language," the bushy haired brunette responded, the tone suggesting it was from force of habit rather than anything else.

"Oh no, you don't get to say 'language' like that after this morning, Mione. That reminds me," Harry said before turning to look at me. "Where did Bear and Nikhol go? I saw them talking to Professor Dumbledore this morning, but haven't seen them since."

"I don't know for sure," I began, "but at a guess I'd say they're dealing with something related to, well…"

I drew a quick lightning bolt on my forehead, and a full body shudder went through her, "Bleg. I'm feeling sick just thinking about it."

"I know what you mean, I can't imagine what it would be like, having part of someone or something else stuck inside my head."

"Where's the rest of your group?" Hermione asked. A quick check through the house showed that Kara was the only one missing besides Bear and Nikhol.

"I think Kara went with Bear, Nikhol, and Dumbledore. Lisa's in the kitchen talking to your mother," I said with a nod towards Rhonda. "Harley's on the fourth floor chasing two redheads with her mallet, and Lana's talking to another redhead who… I think that's a gator fang earring?"

"Don't know what a 'gator' is, but that's Bill. He works at Gringotts, and it sounds like the twins managed to make Harley angry, probably a prank of some kind," Rhonda mused with a grin as we started picking up the bodies of the imps. "Kinda want to see what she does to them."

"You're about to get your chance," I muttered, shortly before the far door opened and the redheaded twins barreled through the room. They would have made it through the opposite door, were the twin in front not slipped over an imp body we hadn't yet picked up.

Crawling on their knees, one of them grabbed my leg and babbled, "Save us! It was an accident, we didn't mean to leave it out! It wasn't ready! She went crazy, it's just a short…"

Whatever it was would have to wait, because Harley came in, panting heavily with a furious look on her face (Rachel would probably want some pointers) and a white knuckled grip on a wooden mallet, "WHERE ARE DEY!"

Before Harley could wreak vengeance on the twins, Hermione stepped in front of Harley and asked, "Harley! What did they do?"

"Dey made me look lahk HIM!"

Hermione froze, before turning to glare at the twins, "Explain. Now."

"It was a test product we hadn't finished yet, it was supposed to be like the Canary Creams, but for swans," the one that wasn't clinging to my leg explained, hands held up in a gesture of surrender.

"We've been having trouble getting the feathers to form, all it does right now is turn the skin white and change the hair color. We think there's something wrong with our potion supplies, because for some reason it turns hair green," the other one continued.

Oh. Yeah, from what Harley and Bear had told us, that would do it. Glaring down at the twin holding onto my leg, I had a wasp of some kind land on his nose and said, "Let go."

He let go. Walking up to Harley, I pulled her into a hug. Slowly, the tension in her body left and she returned the hug. Behind us, I heard Hermione whispering, telling the twins about her abusive ex. Who had white skin and green… hair. Goddamn, no wonder Harley freaked.

"It's okay Harley," I whispered.

"Dey made me look lahk Him, Ah can't even look in a mirror anymore," she whispered back, fighting back a torrent of emotion.

"It's already worn off, see for yourself."

Harley leaned back from the hug, and hesitantly looked at her hands. Seeing her normal skin tone, she pulled some of her hair in front of her face, and nearly collapsed from the relief.

"Doctor Quinzel," one of the twins said, causing Harley and I to turn to face them. Both had ashamed and somber expressions on their faces. "We are truly sorry for what our being sloppy caused. We'll take any punishment you want."

Harley glared at them with narrowed eyes and a deep frown. Finally, as the twins started to shuffle and twitch nervously, she said, "Turn ahround, an' don' move."

Hesitantly, they did so as Harley broke the hug and walked over. "Ya clothes have magic, make's 'em fit bettah, righ'?"

"… yes," one twin whimpered.

"Good," Harley said with an evil grin as she reached down before grabbing the boxers of one and pulling up, the fabric stretching to the point that Harley was able to wrap the band around the twin's forehead. Then she reached over and did the same to the other twin.

"Keep 'em lahk that for a full hour, an' we're good," Harley declared before she skipped out of the room.

Using bugs to keep an eye on them, I followed Harley, just to make sure she was really okay. I found her in the room we'd been loaned, hugging her knees and shaking as she took shuddering breaths.

"It's okay Harley," I whispered as I hugged her again.

"Seein' tha' skin, tha' hair… I…"

"Shh…"

Molly Weasley

I admit, it had been ages since I'd seen any of my children with their underwear stretched around their foreheads, especially Fred and George. The fact that they weren't immediately pulling them off but were gingerly walking told me that something other than sibling bullying was going on.

"Fred, George. Care to explain?"

"We fucked up," George swore, no sign of their hallmark joking to be found.

"Come here boys, get your boxer off your head and I'll make some tea." If they were this serious, something major had to have happened.

"This is our punishment, we need to leave them like this for at least another hour forty five," Fred said, his voice as somber as George's.

Right, time to bring out the special brew. As the tea steeped, I turned to the twins, so much like my late brothers, and asked, "What happened?"

"We were working on different variations of the Canary Creams, trying to make some that were different birds. The one we've had the most success with were swans, but even then, it wasn't by a lot." Fred began.

George picked up, "We weren't thinking and put what we thought was a more successful variant on one of the pastry trays in the fourth floor library. Well, it wasn't. Doctor Quinzel ate it, her skin turned chalk white and her hair dark green, and she freaked."

"She chased us with a wooden mallet, until we ran into Harry, Rhonda, Hermione, and Taylor cleaning out doxies. Taylor calmed down Doctor Quinzel, while Hermione told us why she freaked out."

"She was more than justified to do so, so we told her we'd take whatever punishment she decided on. This was it."

Bear Sandosen

"… my dear friend Nicolas and his wife came to Hogwarts to personally thank her. Miss Potter asked if they could show her a bit of alchemy, and they agreed. However it seems my old alembics weren't as well maintained as I thought they were. Fortunately nothing dangerous was being worked on but the fumes had such an...intoxicating effect," Dumbledore paused to return the first Harry Potter book to me with a twinkle in his eyes, "that I can only describe it as 'Harry' Potter and the Philosophers got stoned."

I groaned at the joke as we made our way up the way to the Gaunt Shack. Nikhol stopped us a good thirty feet from the door that had the snake nailed to it, "Hold up."

"What's up?" Kara asked.

"Feels like some of the defenses of the tombs on Korriban."

"Oh? You should speak to young William, he spent years breaking curses in Egypt for Gringotts," Dumbledore said as he pulled out his wand and started casting diagnostic spells.

"Maybe later, if I'm sensing these right then none of you want to be victim to these."

Kara and I waited as Nikhol and Dumbledore systematically broke through the wards, curses, and other defenses. Once or twice, Nikhol made noises of reluctant admiration, but eventually we were at the door itself.

"How intact do we want this place?" Nikhol asked moments before Dumbledore reached for the door.

"Oh? Do you have something in mind?" Dumbledore asked as he took a step back.

"Nine times out of ten all of the particularly… creative curses and traps are bound to the walls and only set to go off once the victim is far enough in. With this thing being made of old, rotten wood there's a potential means of dealing with those that weren't available on Korriban."

"Well, color me intrigued. By all means, my dear."

Nikhol smirked, before holding a hand out, palm up, and slowly lifting it. The air was filled with the sounds of timbers snapping and groaning before the entire shack lifted into the air. The floor and the few bits of furniture inside were left alone, but the walls and door all rose ten feet into the air before Nikhol placed it off to the side.

"Impressive," Dumbledore muttered, before saying more loudly, "Most impressive."

Kara and I shared a look, but managed to avoid laughing as Nikhol waved him off, "That's nothing. I've seen Sith that specialized in telekinesis rip entire fleets apart."

"Kara, can you take a look?" I asked, getting everyone refocused.

Nodding, Kara took to the air, and despite the seriousness of what we were here to do, part of me couldn't help but admire the way the jeans she was wearing hugged her curves. I could just barely make out her narrowed eyes before she pointed to a spot, the old wood floor smoldering in a circle.

"Is the floor safe to step on?" Kara asked, floating down but her feet not touching the floorboards.

"Yes," Nikhol said as she walked over to the point that Kara had pointed out. "With rare exceptions, the floor is one of the safest places in a heavily warded tomb, crypt, sepulchre, or what have you. The builders and ones laying the traps need to be able to move in and out, if there are traps in the floor, they are typically simple ones that don't interact with the rest, making them the simplest to break."

Because the floor traps had to be placed as the builders were leaving, it made sense. With the four of us standing around the smoldering circle, Nikhol reached down and used telekinesis to physically rip the floorboards out, revealing a small dug out area with a cheap wooden box in it.

Dumbledore's wand flicked a few times before he declared, "Nothing on the box. Strange."

"Like I said," Nikhol began as she lifted the box out of the ground and opened it. "The most dangerous defenses are in the walls, not the objects themselves."

The ring was deceptively simple. A simple gold band with an onyx stone set into it. It looked like a piece of cheap costume jewelry, or something that'd be worn to make one look wealthy by having a lot of rings on their fingers. Appropriate, I suppose, that something so powerful be so simple looking.

"There's something on the ring, and this is definitely what we're after…" Nikhol began, looking at it with a confused expression.

"Something wrong?" Dumbledore asked.

"There's something on the stone… the last time I felt something similar was when Vitiate devoured Ziost."

There was a tension in Nikhol's shoulders as she worked, and I remembered her saying that she was raised on Ziost. I… didn't know what to say to that. So I just kept quiet as Dumbledore and Nikhol both started working on unraveling the magic on the ring. Once the curse was broken, Nikhol pulled out the soul fragment before prying the stone out of the ring.

After a few minutes of carefully examining the stone, Nikhol spoke up, "If I'm right, this stone is some sort of… holocron commlink? I'm not entirely sure. I can tell it involves communication and death somehow, but I'm not seeing the connection, or even how it's supposed to work."

"Resurrection Stone," I whispered, prompting Dumbledore to perk up.

"I believe I can explain, Miss Diomedes," he said, before explaining the tale of the three brothers. Kara and I listened impassively, me already knowing it and Kara having seen weirder shit on DC Earth, but Nikhol seemed particularly… curious, for want of a better word.

"If I may," Dumbledore began after he finished the story, "may I hold it for a moment?"

"Your sister?" I asked.

"I… yes. If you'll excuse me for a moment."

Dumbledore walked away, but remained in sight before a pale shade appeared in front of him. We let him have his moment, Nikhol moving the shack back in place while Kara and I kept watch for anyone who might have been drawn by the noise. Eventually, Dembledore returned, eyes shining with tears and a small, bittersweet smile on his face.

"Aay'han," Nikhol said as Dumbledore joined us, causing the rest of us to look at her in confusion. "It's a word from Mando'a, it references a perfect, bittersweet moment of mourning and remembrance. A moment of joyous memory and celebrating the lives of those we've lost."

"A wise concept," Dumbledore said, wiping away his tears. "Shall we move on to Hogwarts for the Diadem?"

Taylor Hebert

Harley's lips were soft, and the way her hands threaded through my hair…

Breaking the kiss, I looked into Harley's eyes, "Let me help you, Harley. That first morning, when you made sure Lisa and I weren't just watching, was the first time in years I felt comfortable in my own skin."

"Tay," Harley began, before I leaned in with a kiss, silencing her.

"You did more than that, you made me feel special and wonderful. Then, you made sure my first time making love was more than I'd ever dreamed it would be. Harley, despite what it may seem at times, I feel very strongly. I already deeply cared for Lisa; I'm falling for Bear; but you're special to me in a different way. I love you, Harley. Let me show you."

With that confession, I leaned in and kissed her again, gently pulling her clothes off as she did the same to me. Our tongues dueled as our fingers found each other's cores. I moaned into Harley's mouth as her talented fingers spread me open and drove them into my depths. Not wanting to make her do all the work, I focused my attention on her button, flicking and teasing in an attempt to figure out the best ways to make her go crazy.

As our fingers danced, part of me couldn't help but be painfully aware of her breasts against my chest. Not stopping my ministrations, I broke our lip lock and began to plant kisses along her jaw, down her neck, occasionally nipping or sucking on my way down to her pillowy chest.

"Tay…" Harley moaned as I took a nipple into my mouth. Some part of my brain considered whether or not the locals had a potion or spell that could induce lactation. I'd be surprised if they couldn't, but that would be for a later time. The thought of drinking from Harley's chest pushed me that much closer to cumming, but I wanted to make her cum first, so I redoubled my focus on treating her.

Soon, just barely before my own orgasm hit me, Harley tensed up. Her back curled, pushing her chest into my face as she let out a piercing scream, "YATZEEEEEEEEE!"

My own release was much quieter, but the way my whole body tightened before snapping… I collapsed into Harley's chest, using them as pillows as I panted and basked in the afterglow. After a few minutes, I moved my legs around, bringing our cores together.

"Ooh, didn' think ya knew 'bout tha'," Harley slurred, as one hand cupped my butt and the other threaded through my hair.

I let Harley pull my forehead to meet with hers, as I started to rub my pussy against hers. It wasn't as intense as when Bear made love to me, but it still felt really good. Seeing the pleasure and gratitude in Harley's eyes just made it better. I could feel a tightening coil in my core, but before it could release, Harley pulled back.

I opened my mouth to ask what I did wrong, but Harley leaned in and kissed me before I could ask. Breaking the kiss, Harley softly smiled and said, "Let's end this in styahl."

I was confused, until Harley lay back on the bed and pulled my hips so I was sitting over her head. My time since hitting puberty was hardly normal, but even I'd seen enough porn to figure out what she was thinking. Leaning down, feeling her breasts pressing against my stomach, I paused as I took in what she'd done with her pubes.

The heart shape she had it trimmed in wasn't what had surprised me, it was the fact that she went to the trouble of dying it. Red and blue, on opposite sides as the color in her pigtails. She even made sure there wasn't any color bleed, a hard line where one color stopped and the other began.

I was pulled from my surprise as Harley's tongue ran along my slit, reminding me what I was down here to do. Leaning the rest of the way, I reached out with my tongue and gave her puffy, glistening lips a lick. I'd heard from Lisa about the flavor of Bear's seed after she cleaned it out of me on that first night, so I was prepared for it to be the same. It wasn't. Harley tasted sweet, with a hint of the lavender soap she used when she showered.

With that knowledge in hand, I eagerly dove in, doing my best to listen to the sounds and physical movements Harley made to show what felt best for her. As I settled into a rhythm, Harley did something that… well, it made me squeak in surprise.

"Harley?!" I cried out as her finger slipped deeper into my butt.

"Jus' relax," Harley cooed as her finger pumped in and out.

It… I didn't have the words to describe the sensation. All I could do as Harley ate me out and fingered my ass was lay there as she played my body like a fiddle, moaning into her thigh. After what felt like hours, my orgasm crashed into me like a tsunami. Burying my face into Harley's core, it was all I could do to ride out the waves of pleasure coursing through me.

I'd only barely gotten my head on straight when Harley turned me around and softly kissed me. Locking her gaze with mine, she whispered, "Thanks fer tha', Taytay."

Nymphadora "Don't Call Me That" Tonks

I was heading downstairs after getting up (late night busts were brutal), when I heard a scream coming from one of the other bedrooms. Obviously, I opened the door to make sure that no one was hurt, or if they were to help them with whatever pest had been missed. What I saw looked more like what happened at some of the parties in the Hufflepuff dorms after a bit too much firewhiskey filched from The Hog's Head.

I was immediately glad I was a metamorphmagus, because otherwise I'd be blushing so hard I'd light up the entire room. I couldn't help but stare, I'd been working double shifts for over a month by this point, and even without that I hadn't had the opportunity for any 'relief' in nearly six months before that. That's the only reason I couldn't bring myself to shut the door and put up a silencing charm before continuing on. It had nothing to do with the fact that both participants were really hot, no sir.

As they moved to start scissoring, I shook my horny-haze off and quickly shut the door before laying half a dozen silencing charms on it. Forcing back the blush yet again that wanted to form and making a mental note to find a quiet place after breakfast, I straightened my Auror robes and made my way downstairs. Where I was treated to the surreal sight of the ginger twins with their boxers stretched over their heads.

I stared for several seconds before deciding I didn't want to know, especially with the utterly serious looks on their faces.

Nikhol Diomedes

The stone that was taken from the Fool's soul anchor was intriguing. I'd only seen something remotely similar, besides Vitiate devouring my birth world, in the Force Walk ritual, but that was very, very different. I'd lived through the havoc binding multiple ghosts to be intimately familiar with the intricacies of that particular technique.

'Quite the relic you have there,' a familiar voice spoke up, as the translucent form of a stately sith pureblood walked into my vision.

It had been a while since Horak-mul had bothered to do more than sit in the back of my soul, tormenting the only other ghost I currently had bound to me. The thought of that particular pain I'd had to deal with brought a smirk to my face.

"What can you tell me about this?" I asked Dumbledore, making the old man start as my voice pulled him from his thoughts.

"Ah, I can safely say that is the Resurrection Stone. One of the three Deathly Hallows, it is an old story, a fairy tale really. The story tells of three brothers who used their wits and magic to cross an extremely dangerous bridge, only to have Death appear before them. Death praised them for surviving what should have killed them, and offered each of them a boon.

"The oldest wanted a wand that would make him unbeatable in battle. So Death gave him such a wand, and later that night, after having bragged about how he was unbeatable, he was killed in his sleep and the wand taken. Thus, Death claimed the first brother.

"The middle brother asked for a way to speak with his deceased wife. So Death picked up a stone that could call the souls of the dead. Eventually, unable to move on, the middle brother took his life. Thus, Death had the second brother.

"The youngest, he knew what Death was doing. He requested a cloak that could hide him even from Death. So Death gave him part of his own cloak. For years, the youngest brother evaded Death, until, as an old man, he passed the cloak on to his son and greeted Death as an old friend.

"The story is meant to be a fable about the folly of pride, being obsessed with the past, and accepting death, but at some point, there was an addition to the story. Supposedly, any who can become the master, or mistress," Dumbledore nodded in my direction, "of all three Deathly Hallows will become the Master of Death. What that means is up to interpretation."

I chuckled, while an entertaining story, I couldn't help but be amused by the title, so similar to one of my own.

"I've read about a lot of Death Entities," Bear said. "Even the friendliest is unlikely to call anyone 'Master' no matter what magical artifacts they have."

"There are friendly death entities?" Kara asked incredulously. "In my experience they're all after more and more death."

"Well, there's Hades. While I wouldn't call him friendly per say, he's portrayed in most media I'm familiar with as both professional and something of a workaholic. But the one I was thinking about specifically is Death of the Endless."

"Who?"

"The Endless are the personifications of seven key forces, one of which is Death. She typically appears as a pale skinned woman dressed in black pants and tank top with an ankh necklace. She primarily acts as a psychopomp, guiding people to the beyond when it is their time. The way she describes her job, 'when the last thing dies, I'll put up the chairs, turn off the lights, and lock the door behind me.'"

"This Death of the Endless sounds a little like the way the Mandalorians viewed the concept of Death," I mused aloud, recalling a partially translated ancient text. "'And Death appeared before him in armor of blackest night and said, It is time. And the warrior smiled and said, What took you so long, brother?'"

"An interesting perspective," Dumbledore noted, clearly intrigued by what little he'd heard of the Mandalorians.

Any further conversation was put off as we reached the doors to a large stone castle. When one considered the available industrial capacity, it was quite an impressive structure, even if it paled in comparison to Kaas City or the Dark Temple.

"Welcome to Hogwarts," Dumbledore intoned, pride evident in his voice.

I gently reached out with the Force to get a feel for the aura of the structure, and my eyebrows rose as something pressed back. It wasn't sentient, but like certain structures or locations strong in the Force, it had an awareness of its own. A sense of purpose, to care and protect, as well as being filled with joy and a child-like innocence. It reminded me a little bit of Vette, though the twi'lek had more than her share of scars in her past that I wasn't sensing here.

"The diadem should be in the Room of Requirements, what the elves call the Come and Go Room," Bear said, pulling me from my thoughts.

"Elves?" Kara asked, surprised.

"Not Lord of the Rings elves, more like Santa's elves."

"Oh, phooey."

Dumbledore led us up several flights of stairs, before stopping outside a rather hideous tapestry of while looked like the spawn of a hutt and a wookie trying to perform a mon calamari dance. While Bear paced, I couldn't help but look at the tapestry. It was like a pair of ugnaughts fucking, it was disgusting but you couldn't look away.

"Bingo," Bear said as he looked through a door that wasn't there a minute ago. Tearing my gaze from the torture tool on proud display, I followed him into the room with… mounds and mounds of junk.

"Great, how are we supposed to find it in…" Kara began, only for Dumbledore to interrupt, holding up a…

'Interesting, that focus in his hand feels like the stone,' Horak-mul noted as a glittering headpiece flew through the air to come to a stop in front of us.

"… I take back what I said earlier," Kara said as I stepped up to the diadem and felt out the soul fragment within it.

It was there, smaller than the earlier ones, except for the one in Hyacinth's head. There were also nearly a dozen different traps and curses bound into the metal and gemstones on it. Three were redundancies, not full duplications, but there were only so many ways to make flesh necrotize at a swift pace. Plus the blood boiling one, much as I hate to give the Fool any credit, I might have to experiment to see if I could duplicate the effects, it would be devastating to the morale of enemy combatants.

Ah, that's why there were so many flesh rotting curses, clever. Tying them to the presence of the other curses so that removing them in the wrong order would trigger them. Finally, a challenge.

"Miss Diomedes, I would ask that you try to spare the diadem," Dumbledore said as I started focusing my power. "It is a personal relic of one of the founders of this school."

"That'll make this much harder," I stated, before grinning, "and like I said while training on Korriban: the more challenging, the better."

Hermione Granger

Without Taylor, cleaning went slower, but the various pests had been taken care of so it wasn't as dangerous as it was those first few days before Harry had shown up. I could hold back a shudder at some of the pests that had settled in the house, and was thankful that Mrs. Weasley provided potions that kept the domovoi from wanting to… well, Harry'd already avoided what they would have done to Rhonda and I.

Before I could let my thoughts head down that rabbit hole, there was the distinct sound of the fireplace letting people floo in. Glancing over at Harry and Rhonda, we set down the brushes and made our way to the stairs. It had been hours since Bear, Nikhol, and Kara left with Professor Dumbledore, and from what Taylor had told us there should only be a few more of Voldemort's soul fragments.

"Ah, Harry," Bear said with a small smile, "We were hoping to run into you."

Nikhol and Kara both stepped through the fireplace as Harry, Rhonda and I stepped into the main room, confusion on our faces. Bear held out a hand towards Nikhol, who dropped a pebble into it before walking off. Kara gave Harry a bittersweet smile, her eyes red from crying, before leaving as well.

"Is everything okay?" Harry asked as Bear walked over to us.

"We managed to eliminate two horcruxes, so there's just two left and Riddle will be mortal again. But the first one we eliminated on our trip… well, I know Rhonda's heard the story, but have you or Hermione ever heard of the Deathly Hallows?"

"Oh bloody hell, which one was it?" Rhonda asked, her face pale.

Gently, Bear took Harry's hand and placed the pebble in it, "This is the Resurrection Stone, I'd recommend using it only as a chance to say goodbye, and I believe that Sirius and Remus would like to be there to say their own goodbyes. Everyone dies, but we can't dwell in the past to the point that we forget about the future."

As Bear left, Harry and I turned to Rhonda, who started to explain to us what the pebble in Harry's hand was. As she did, I had a realization. Something about Harry's invisibility cloak had always bothered me, they were only supposed to last for a few decades, and after the first they started to lose their effectiveness. But Sirius had mentioned Harry's father having it in his early years at Hogwarts. A stone that could call the dead, an invisibility cloak that lasted for far longer than it should… was Harry's cloak a Deathly Hallow?

If it was, who had the wand?

Remus "Moony" Lupin

"What's up, Pup?" Padfoot asked as Hyacinth sat in front of us, fiddling with a small onyx stone.

She opened her mouth to answer, only to hesitate. I admit I was curious why she asked to meet us in private, but I was willing to wait for her to gather herself. Finally, she seemed to give up and said, "James and Lily Potter."

Before Sirius or I could say anything, two white, ephemeral forms floated out of the stone in her hand. The forms became clearer, revealing…

"Prongs? Lily?" I breathed, eyes wide.

The two spectres of our friends looked around for a moment, before James smiled and said, "Moony, you got old."

I snorted, tears coming to my eyes. That was exactly the kind of thing James would say. Hyacinth spoke up next, "Mum, Dad, there's so much I want to say… but now I don't know where to start."

"That makes two of us," Sirius said as he stared at James and Lily.

"Well for starters Padfoot," Lily said with a familiar glint in her eye as she walked up to him. Before slapping the back of his head, "You should have talked to quite literally anyone before going on your rat hunt! You were supposed to have gotten over your bullheaded impulsiveness!"

"Lily," James began.

"I want to be furious with you!" she shouted, before she sighed. "But after twelve years in Azkaban, I'd say you more than paid for your mistake."

That was indeed Lily. I blinked away the tears that were starting to form, and took a deep breath. "Lily, Prongs. I'm sorry I ever gave you reason to doubt me. I wish things were different, but I'm glad I get to say these things now."

"Remus, we're sorry for ever doubting you," James said, barely able to meet my gaze.

"I figured it out years ago, and forgave you at the same time."

"Mum, Dad…" Hyacinth began, swallowing a lump in her throat as she struggled to ask the question on her mind.

"Harry," James said, making Harry look at him, a soft, proud smile on his face. "Yes. Every minute of every day. We're just sorry we couldn't be there with you. We're sorry you ended up at Petunia's, that you had to deal with everything there."

"You have a good coven, sweetie," Lily said as she hugged her daughter, "trust in them, take care of them as they take care of you. Don't be afraid to take things with them a step further."

Sirius and I chuckled at the furious blush that lit up Hyacinth's face at Lily's suggestion, even as she continued, "You know, muggles were starting this thing with test tubes and kids when we died, so you don't ever have to touch anyone that you don't want to when you decide you want kids. That's without anything your new friends might have."

"Which reminds me, from everything we've seen on the other side, they're all on the up and up," James said, turning serious. "Even the women with the red spell-swords; the black haired one especially, has done more to stop that bastard that killed us than damn near anyone else."

"Speaking of her," Lily got a mischievous grin that had Sirius and I start looking for cover, nothing good ever happened when she had that grin. "If you want to do more than simply admire her bum and boobs, you should talk to her."

Hyacinth blushed and glanced aside, "Mum! I don't know what you're talking about."

"Oh? So you haven't been talking with your coven mates about certain dreams featuring her? I believe some of the dreams featured you burying your face into her butt as you ate her out, was I mistaken?"

"Please stop," Hyacinth asked as her blush reached past the collar of her shirt.

"Only if you promise to learn to brew the Wet Nurse potion to give to her friends as a Christmas gift." Wait, what? Oh. "Your father loved drinking from me after you were born."

"Does she really need to know that dear?" James asked in an exasperated voice.

"You were the deer, 'Prongs.'" Lily shot back with a grin.

"That was one time! I was drunk!"

"I promise! Please stop sharing embarrassing stories or dreams!"

Chuckling in amusement, James turned to face Sirius and I, "Moony, Padfoot. Do us a favor and get on Dumbledore's case about the quality of his Defense professors. He's got access to a bunch of Aurors, see if any of them will take the position."

"Agreed, let's move on and avoid talking about anyone's sex lives," Sirius easily agreed.

"You'd have to have one for us to talk about it anyway, Paddy," James quipped, before his and Lily's forms started to fade.

"Looks like we're out of time," Lily said sadly, before leaning in and giving Hyacinth a gentle kiss on her forehead. Smiling down at her, Lily managed a few final words before they faded completely, "We love you sweetie, remember us, but don't cling to us."

Bear Sandosen

I was in the study at Grimmauld Place, reading through some notes that Dumbledore had given me on his fellows at the ICW and making notes of my own. Voldemort was still the immediate threat, but afterwards we'd have to convince the different nations to aid us when the Anti-Monitor got going.

I'd just made some notes on the Russian representative, a man named Ivan "The Terrible Dresser" Pechkin who went to Durmstrang (and I have to note how odd it was for Dumbledore to criticise one's taste in clothing), when a pair of arms wrapped themselves around my neck and shoulders.

"Bear, what are you working on?" Lana asked, her lips right next to my ear.

Swallowing the lump that formed in my throat and ignoring the way her accent sent shivers down my spine, I answered, "I'm trying to get a feel for the people we'll need to convince to help us after this business with Voldemort's over."

"I see. If it wouldn't be too much trouble, I have a favor to ask. I was hoping you would be willing to aid me in some training."

I set the pen I'd been using down and turned to look Lana in the eye, "You do remember that I'm not exactly the best in a fight right? I'm not sure how much help I'd be."

"True, but you are the only one who has a blaster on this entire planet, and I wish to work on my blaster deflection while also using telekinesis."

So I'd primarily be there to serve as a distraction while she multitasked, that sounded more believable. I still suspected that she had something else in mind, but I had no objections. To my surprise, she didn't lead me to some unused basement, but instead to Hogwarts.

"I already checked with both Headmaster Dumbledore and Mr. Black," Lana explained as she led me through the empty corridors and hallways. "Grimmauld Place doesn't have the space suitable for what I have in mind and the Headmaster gave permission for a staff room from when Hogwarts boasted a larger population."

I nodded, it made sense after all, what with the population of Wizarding Britain being cut down by Voldemort's insane crusade. Soon enough, we arrived at the room that Lana had chosen, it was filled with old, dusty desks and a four poster bed off in the back. I was beginning to get the suspicion that Lana just might have more than training in mind.

Still, pulling my blaster from its holster, I tweaked the settings to low before aiming at Lana and pulling the trigger. Without even turning around, her lightsaber flew into her hand and with the iconic snap-hiss that still made my inner child jump with joy sent the blaster bolt flying away.

"Shooting at me while my back was turned? Not very sporting of you, Bear," Lana teased, putting an extra lilt to her voice. Turning to face me, Lana started to levitate a few of the desks while the door shut behind me.

"Our enemies, both here and in the future, won't fight fair," I pointed out. "Plus, you're a Sith, fighting dirty's practically part of the Sith Code."

Lana chuckled, and I snapped the blaster up again and sent off a barrage of bolts. Her lightsaber danced, moving fast enough through the air that it looked more like a red field than a single blade, parrying and deflecting the rapid fire yellow bolts as they came her way. All the while, she used the Force to move the old desks and chairs in the room, first four, then five, six, and so on.

I wasn't standing idly by, just shooting away, during this. I did my best to find new angles to attack her from, and she sent most of the bolts back in my direction. So I had to think on my feet, try to predict where the bolts would be coming from, where they'd hit, and try to not be there before they reached me.

I'm not too proud to admit that I sucked at it. I managed to dodge maybe one out of every twelve. In short order my shirt was a lost cause, and my pants were just barely a step above being shorts. All of this wasn't helped by the fact that Lana was using the Force to fondle me inside my pants. Then one of the reflected bolts hit my belt. Since I was in the midst of running to a new position, the loss of my belt making my pants drop resulted in me landing face first on the cold stone floor.

"Ow," I groaned as I rolled onto my back and locked eyes with the amused Lana.

"Well, well, what shall I do with you?" she asked, her voice low and seductive. Even if she hadn't been giving me a Force-based handjob, her tone and accent would have had me erect in an instant.

"Why do I have a hunch that you had this planned before you even came to me in Grimmauld Place?" I asked with an amused smirk as she stepped over me.

"Only a hunch? Perhaps you aren't as smart as I thought you were," Lana teased as she kneeled down, straddling my hips and met my lips in a soft kiss.

My hands went to her sides as we kissed, while one of hers went to the back of my head, pressing me deeper into our kiss, and her free hand tore my tattered shirt from my chest. A small part of my mind couldn't help but wonder what her plan was for me getting back to Grimmauld Place without flashing everyone, but most of me was focused on her lips, the way she was grinding her hips against mine, and her muscles that I could feel even through her clothes.

Finally, the need for air called and our extended kiss broke. As she leaned back and started to pull her clothes off, I could only stare into her vibrant yellow/orange eyes. Something that in the movies seemed so sinister and evil, on her they were… warm and exotic, full of playfulness and passion.

"Well," Lana said with a chuckle, breaking me from my trance. "This is the first time a man would say he was staring at my eyes and I'd believe him."

Her joke made me turn my gaze downwards, and while her pale, pert breasts were quite the appealing sight, it was something else that drew my gaze. My fingers traced the long line of almost web-like scar tissue along her ribcage, while I couldn't help but stare at the half-circle of smaller scars on her right bicep.

"Those? That one's from the first time I fought a Jedi, the one on my arm's from getting careless around an akk dog, but this one," Lana paused as she twisted her back, letting me see a massive scar that covered most of her back. "This one's from a Republic soldier, I never learned their name, but they were the head of one of the Republic's best military units."

"Havoc Squad?" I couldn't help but ask as she stood up to finish stripping.

"Perhaps, it was in the middle of a rather chaotic battle. But enough about that," she said, moments before her pants covered my face.

Pulling them off my face, and ignoring the fact that they were filled with her scent, I was treated to the sight of Lana looming over me in her naked glory. Her body was toned, showing the muscles underneath her skin, but in a way that seemed only to enhance her femininity. The only word that could even come close to describing her was Amazon.

"Beautiful," I whispered in awe, bringing an amused smile to Lana's face.

No more words were shared, instead she knelt back down, straddling my legs as she fished my rock hard cock from my boxers. Her warm hands gave my length a few strokes, before she moved up a bit and placed the head of my shaft at her entrance.

"Are you ready?" she asked, one hand holding me in place while the other supported her against my chest.

Without waiting for my answer, my tip slipped in. She was wet, tight, and so warm. Smoothly, she slid down, until our hips were flush against each other's. Her walls, like wet silk, squeezed down around my length, massaging and milking me.

"Lana… thank you," I groaned as she lifted herself up.

I wasn't going to last long. Lana was too beautiful, and the things she was doing with her tunnel… she was easily the most skilled woman I'd ever been with (not that it was a particularly long list, but considering it included Nikhol and Harley…).

"You've… done this before," I managed to get out, while mentally reciting sports figures in an attempt to stave off my rapidly impending orgasm.

"Of course… mmm… but only… yes, right there… dalliances. Nothing… serious," Lana answered, her reply broken up with moans and other pleasured noises as she picked up speed.

"Lana… I'm not going to…"

"It's alright… do it, cum for me…"

I groaned as I erupted inside of Lana, who for her part didn't stop. Even as I shot burst after burst of seed into her, she kept riding me. Finally, my cock sensitive from cumming, my orgasm stopped and I remained hard.

"Now that that's out of the way," Lana teased with a sultry grin. "Let's see if you can keep up with me."

Nymphadora "Call me that and die" Tonks

I did my best to avoid staring, but my gaze kept drifting to Taylor and Harley. I wasn't normally one to stare, but… well, both of them were beautiful women. Harley was what some of my coworkers would call "sex on legs" and Taylor, in addition to an ass that was to die for, had an aura about her that was indescribable. Anyone that either deigned to be with were incredibly lucky.

Lisa entering the dining room talking on what looked like a tiny brick or slate distracted me from my horny thoughts. I managed to catch her saying goodbye to someone named Cameron before she put her slate away. Turning to face the room, Lisa grinned and asked, "So a bit sudden, but since we need to go pick up Cameron anyway, who wants to see our ship?"

Hyacinth, Rhonda, and Hermione all immediately perked up, as did Professor Dumbledore and Arthur Weasley. Arthur asked, "A chance to see a muggle ship? How could I resist?"

"It's not precisely what you'd consider to be 'muggle'," Taylor said. "It's a lot more advanced than anything the nonmagical populations of your Earth has."

"Does it fall under that Clark fellow's rulings?"

Who? I wasn't the only one confused, as nearly everyone else gave him baffled looks, before Lisa chuckled, "Ah, Arthur C. Clark wasn't a politician, he was an author. He penned a few rules about writing for his particular genre, one of which said…"

"Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic," Hermione finished.

"Now that you mention it, considering that it is capable of tearing apart the very fabric of reality to travel to an entirely different universe, which has its own distinct laws of reality, I guess you could call it magic," Taylor mused aloud with an amused smile.

"I'm going," Arthur declared, practically vibrating in his seat.

In the end, it was myself, Arthur, Professor Dumbledore, Hyacinth, Rhonda, and Hermione that accepted the invitation. Taylor and Harley decided to stay behind, Lisa would be coming, Kara said she had a few things she wanted to pick up from her room on the ship, and Nikhol would be needed to get to the ship. I may not be the most in touch with my muggle heritage, but I still knew enough to know that there was no way it was on the ocean, not after everything that had happened during WWII and the Cold War.

So when the invite was given, a chance to be one of the first witches to go into space (even if it wasn't explicitly stated as such), there was no way I could refuse. I don't think Rhonda, Arthur, or the Professor knew just what they'd accepted, so the looks on their faces were sure to be a treat.

A quick Floo to Hogwarts where the shuttle was later, and we were off. Everyone except for Kara, Lisa, and Nikhol were pressed against the windows, watching as the Scottish Highlands grew smaller and smaller, then Scotland, then Great Britain, Europe, until the shuttle seemed to stop. There, handing in the black expanse Earth sat, an orb of blue, green, and white. There, there was the planet that gave birth to everything I'd ever known. An errant thought passed through my mind, if heaven was real, how could it compare to this?

"Consider again, that pale blue dot," someone said, but my brain couldn't place who it was. "That's here. That's home. That's us. On it everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out their lives. The aggregate of our joy and suffering, thousands of confident religions, ideologies, and economic doctrines, every hunter and forager, every hero and coward, every creator and destroyer of civilization, every king and peasant, every young couple in love, every mother and father, hopeful child, inventor and explorer, every teacher of morals, every corrupt politician, every 'superstar,' every 'supreme leader,' every saint and sinner in the history of our species lived there-on a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam.

"The Earth is a very small stage in a vast cosmic arena. Think of the rivers of blood spilled by all those generals and emperors so that, in glory and triumph, they could become the momentary masters of a fraction of a dot. Think of the endless cruelties visited by the inhabitants of one corner of this pixel on the scarcely distinguishable inhabitants of some other corner, how frequent their misunderstandings, how eager they are to kill one another, how fervent their hatreds."

Another voice picked up the speech, this one I think was Hermione, "Our posturings, our imagined self-importance, the delusion that we have some privileged position in the Universe, are challenged by this point of pale light. Our planet is a lonely speck in the great enveloping cosmic dark. In our obscurity, in all this vastness, there is no hint that help will come from elsewhere to save us from ourselves.

"The Earth is the only world known so far to harbor life. There is nowhere else, at least in the near future, to which our species could migrate. Visit, yes. Settle, not yet. Like it or not, for the moment the Earth is where we make our stand.

"It has been said that astronomy is a humbling and character-building experience. There is perhaps no better demonstration of the folly of human conceits than this distant image of our tiny world. To me, it underscores our responsibility to deal more kindly with one another, and to preserve and cherish the pale blue dot, the only home we've ever known."

In the end, there was only one word that even approached adequately describing both the view and speech, "Beautiful."

Arthur Weasley

At any other time, I'd be fascinated by the metal ship we were being toured through. I'd be asking about what each and every flickering light or button did, how they worked, and a myriad of countless other questions. But… the view from the shuttle of the Earth, at once so massive and yet for the first time realizing just how small it was, wouldn't leave my mind.

I don't know who it was that the speech came from, but whomever they were, they possessed more wisdom than I would have previously imagined muggles were capable of. It was only now, reflecting on something that I was amongst the first wizard to have ever seen, that I realized that for all my disdain for Malfoy and the Death Eaters, I had possessed just as much prejudice against muggles as them.

For all my curiosity into their workings, I only ever saw muggle technology as an interesting toy, a childish attempt at making do without the wonders of magic. Never in my wildest dreams had I ever imagined that they'd be able to surpass what wizardkind had done, so sure in the superiority of magic I was. But, while not from this Earth, it was technology, not magic, that brought us from the world that gave birth to us to the void beyond.

"Mr. Weasley?"

Shaking my head, I turned to look at Hyacinth, "Yes Harry?"

"We've reached the cafeteria."

Blinking, I looked up and realized she was right. My only saving grace was the fact that I wasn't the only one who needed to be pulled out of their own head. I followed Hyacinth towards where Kara was standing next to a short woman I hadn't met yet with a flat expression on her face.

"Ah, Mr. Weasley, this is Cameron," Kara introduced us.

"Pleasure," I greeted, shaking her hand.

Cameron gave a slight nod, before explaining how to get ourselves something to eat. There were over a dozen different technical words that flew over my head, but I soon was sitting at a table with a plate of steak and mixed vegetables. But, all I could do was poke at the food on my plate.

Idly, my mind went to Damien. I hadn't spoken to him in years, not since Rhonda was born. I… I hadn't even thought about him in nearly a decade. When we get back, I should see about getting in touch. Squib or not, he was family, and after the revelation I'd had today his lacking magic didn't seem to matter as much. The sound of plates hitting the table pulled me from my thoughts, looking up to see Professor Dumbledore and Tonks both sitting down at the same table.

"Professor Dumbledore?" I asked, worried by the haunted expression on his face. Turning to face me, he adopted his standard grandfatherly look, but for the first time it felt like I was looking at a person, rather than a figure larger than life.

"Yes Arthur?" he asked, and had I not seen the earlier vulnerability I would have believed he was unphased by where we were.

"Are you alright?" I asked, concerned.

"In time… the view earlier… well, it will take some time to comprehend."

"No kidding, I thought I knew what to expect, being raised in the muggle world and all, but there was no preparing for that," Tonks said, staring blankly at her bowl of some sort of soup.

The three of us sat quietly, lost in our thoughts about how much smaller the world seemed than it had this morning.

Taylor Hebert

Bear and Lana had returned from somewhere about two hours ago, and if it weren't for some of my new bugs picking up the scent of sex off them I wouldn't have realized what they'd been doing. I considered going up to them, getting hugs to breathe in the smell of them with my own nose. I didn't, I wasn't forward enough like Harley to do that. Regardless, I hoped next time they did it somewhere I could watch through my bugs.

I was pulled from my thoughts about myself, Lana, and Bear when the fireplace flared green and a blonde woman came out that I didn't recognize. I admit, I'm starting to think I have a thing for blondes. Harley, Lisa, Lana, and now this new woman…

"Taytay?" Harley's voice snapped me out of the daze the new woman had put me into.

"Sorry, a new person just came through the fireplace," I said, hoping I wasn't blushing too much.

"Musta been a hawtie," Harley said with an amused grin as she reached over and wiped at my lip.

Blushing up a storm, I hastily wiped away any drool there might have been and hit Harley in the face with an end pillow from the couch we'd been sitting on. Not that it stopped Harley's laughter. Eventually, I stormed out and made my way downstairs, where I could tell that Bear, the new woman, and Sirius were all situated around the main table.

"…ths, oh hello Taylor," Bear greeted me as I entered the main room.

"Hi Bear," I returned with a small smile, before turning to the gorgeous blonde. "Who're you?"

"Fleur Delacour," she said with a melodious voice as she stood and walked over. Before pulling me into a hug and kissing both my cheeks. If I wasn't already, I knew that I now looked like a tomato, and her next words didn't help, "I love your 'air."

"Th-thanks… it's my mother's."

My hand clapped over my mouth as soon as the words left it. Bear had the decency not to laugh, Sirius practically fell out of his chair, and Fleur just giggled. Please someone kill me now.

Bear, Scion bless him, drew the attention away from me, "We were talking about our plans for getting the second to last horcrux. Or maybe the last one, we don't know if he's turned Nagini into one yet. Anyway, it's in the bank of Gringotts. We're hoping that we'll be able to meet with someone and talk them into giving it up, but from the sounds of it that's not likely to happen."

"Why?" I asked. "They're a bank, won't they have to if the government orders it?"

"You're thinking Gringotts is a muggle bank. It's not, it's closer to a sovereign nation than a financial institution," Sirius explained. "The goblins don't answer to the Ministry, not after the last Goblin Rebellion. It's how they were able to secure themselves as the sole banking institution in the British Isles."

"Which means we can't go over their heads to make them give us the horcrux, and since we don't know how they feel about them we have no way of knowing how they'll react if we tell them there's one in a vault," Bear continued.

"Bear mentioned how it was obtained in the story he was familiar with, and that's not going to work. Sure, some goblins might want to be treated like wizards and witches or be grateful for someone remembering their name, but most goblins aren't like that. Despite what most muggleborns think, they aren't just short humans that look weird. That's something that a lot of muggle-raised have trouble grasping."

"What do you mean?" I asked as Sirius finished, and it was Fleur who answered.

"Even the most 'uman looking magical creatures aren't 'uman. Their thoughts and minds don't work the same way. Talking to my grandmothers on both sides of my family is very different. The same is true for goblins, they have an entirely different set of ethics and principles than any human. For them, it is highly unlikely that anything we can offer them would let us get the 'orcrux without stealing it.

"The only thing I could think of that would work would be," Fleur paused to think for a moment. "Perhaps a dozen goblin-forged items. Maybe."

"Of which I know the location of one," Bear finished. "We're still going to try, but this is mostly a brainstorming session to try to come up with a basic plan that we can flesh out once the others get back from their trip to the Yamato."

Thinking on it, they sounded vaguely familiar to something from Dad's old space shows, "Are they like the Ferengi?"

Bear blinked before pausing to think on it and chuckling, "I think that's an accurate summation. Anyway, care to join in on the brainstorming?"

Nodding, I joined them as Bear went over what they'd already come up with. The biggest hurdle seemed to be not knowing the layout of the tunnels under the bank, but that was something I could help with. Not right this moment, but given enough time to gather a swarm and direct it down into the tunnels and I'd have it mapped better than the goblins did. From the amused chuckling, I think I ended up saying that last part out loud.

Bear Sandosen

I stood in front of the desk of the highest official Dumbledore was able to arrange a meeting with, named Kragnus, with Dumbledore, Nikhol, and Cameron. Kragnus himself was seated behind the desk with the entirety of his attention on some paperwork. He was also in the room's only chair, the rest of us being forced to stand.

We'd been forewarned that sitting on the floor was an offense punishable by decapitation. Speaking before Kragnus was punishable by decapitation. Drawing a wand or other weapon was punishable by decapitation. Leaving before he declared the meeting over was, you guessed it, punishable by decapitation.

We'd been admitted into his office over fifteen minutes ago, and he still had yet to look up. I knew it was a power play, a blatantly obvious one meant to both show that we weren't worth his notice as well as make us tired and frustrated, and thus more prone to make mistakes. Taylor was wrong, they weren't like Ferengi. Ferengi wouldn't waste time that could be spent making money on gestures like this. Finally, Kragnus set his quill in its ink well and handed off the parchment he'd been writing on to an assistant before turning to face us.

"So why does a… politician along with three unknowns seek out an urgent meeting with me? Simply going through the proper channels to arrange a meeting with a lower ranked goblin would be enough to satisfy any business you have with Gringotts," Kragnus asked, his voice as smooth as a rockslide.

"May your coffers be ever full," Dumbledore greeted with a slight bow of his head. "A lower ranked goblin wouldn't be able to make the decisions we are hoping for. We have reason to believe that there is something of a rather…"

Kragnus interrupted Dumbledore, "Explain in simple terms, or I will have you escorted out. I am in no mood for your word games, wizard."

"We believe that there's a horcrux in one of your vaults," I stated plainly. That got the gaze of every goblin in the room on me. The hard stares of the guard-goblins as well as the nearly feral gaze of Kragnus.

"Repeat that. Carefully, lest your tongue decorate my wall."

"We believe that Tom Riddle, the self proclaimed 'Lord' Voldemort, tasked one of his followers to keep a relic in their vault. We believe this relic to be a horcrux. As the machinations and goals of Riddle pose a danger, not just to humans but goblins as well, we were hopeful that you would permit us limited access to the relic in question so that our expert could remove the soul fragment from it. We have no interest in taking the relic for ourselves, it need not even leave the vault in question. All we want is to ensure that Riddle becomes as mortal as the rest of us."

From talking with Bill Weasley, we determined that particular argument to be the most likely one to convince them. He warned us that it still wasn't likely, but out of every argument and reason we'd been able to think of, it had the least chance of us making an enemy of Gringotts.

Kragnus stared at me, and remembering what Bill told us, I kept my gaze locked on his chin. Amongst goblins eye contact was seen as a challenge, and while those that worked with humans were trained to ignore it, in a tense situation it was better not to push any more buttons than necessary.

"You are brave to come to Gringotts and ask us to open one of our vaults to those it does not belong to. Brave, but very, very stupid. Be grateful I am letting you leave with your lives. But for this insult, Dumbledore," Kragnus turned to face the only wizard in our group. "Consider half the contents of your vaults now the property of Gringotts. You will receive an updated accounting of your assets once the seizure is complete. Now all of you, get out. This meeting is over."

With defeated sighs, we exited the office and followed our goblin guide through the labyrinthine tunnels to the main lobby. The glowers from the guards encouraged us to exit the building, and as we stepped into the August daylight, Nikhol turned back to look at the poem warning away potential thieves.

"Kovothis amgavsi," she snarled before turning to face me. "Are you sure we can't kill them all?"

"That would cause more problems than it would solve," I pointed out as we made our way over to Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlor where Taylor and Kara sat, a stack of paper on the table between them as Taylor drew map after map after map.

"Fine, what about just that disgusting piece of hutt refuse?"

"Calm yourself, Miss Diomedes," Dumbledore tried to placate Nikhol, only for her to lock eyes with him and snarl.

"Don't tell me to calm down. I was reading his mind the whole time, the only reason he didn't have the lot of us executed was because of the trouble that you disappearing would cause. He was even wondering which of us would taste best and how he'd cook us."

Dumbledore leaned back in surprise before blinking in confusion and asking, "How were you able to pierce his Occlumency barriers? Kragnus has among the best barriers in Gringotts."

"Don't tell your pet bat, but whatever you're doing to keep magical probes out is the worst way to keep a Force adept out. For example, you're currently thinking about the Treaty of Wales in 1437 after the Third Goblin Rebellion which is when goblins were banned from consuming human flesh. But what do you think happens to those witches and wizards that default on their fees and won't be missed? Kragnus was wondering if Cameron's thighs would be as good as the ones from a witch he had two months ago."

"I gather from your discussion that Plan B is a go?" Taylor sarcastically asked as she continued to draw maps.

"Yes, we'll need to talk to Snuffles to make sure we get the number right, but Plan B is a go."

Lisa Wilborn

[Bear nervous]

Thank you power, I couldn't tell. Pushing aside my power's apparent need to state the obvious, I refocused on the maps that Taylor had made. Black had shared the vault number we wanted, while Bill Weasley had shared how Gringotts vaults were ordered. Meaning we knew which vault we needed to hit. The problem was…

"It's just past the range of what my bugs were able to map out," Taylor apologized.

"It's still better than what we had," Bear brushed her apology off, focused on the map along with the rest of us. "We're going to need a way in and a distraction. Ideas?"

"Ah've been told Ah can be a bit distractin'," Harley chimed in, arm thrust up into the air with a grin on her face.

[Is deliberately understating]

"What if some of us go in to 'open an account'?" I asked aloud, ignoring my power.

"That would get us into a cart, so it's probably our best bet for getting down to the vaults… It can't be myself, Cameron or Nikhol, as since we were in the meeting with Kragnus we'd be recognized," Bear said as he rubbed at his chin.

"Speaking of which, why isn't Kara here for this?" Taylor asked, a touch of concern in her voice.

"Because of the other goal for this endeavor," Nikhol said, her voice a mask of calm despite the vibrant yellow-orange glow coming from her eyes. "Killing that monster that calls itself a banker."

[Feels violated after having read Kragnus' mind]

[Kragnus compares unfavorably to former colleagues and hutt gangsters]

… I don't know what she saw that made her think the goblin ranked lower than Sith and hutts, and I don't think I want to know.

"We would be leaving some anonymous tips with the Ministry," Lana said, "but we can hardly afford the havoc that another Goblin War would cause."

"There's also the fact that, even if we did, it's highly unlikely that Fudge has the balls to do anything but sweep it under the rug," Bear quipped. "But, to give you an idea, Kragnus and those like him will be receiving the same punishment - by us - that the guards at Auschwitz received at the hands of the Allies after Nuremberg. Even if she knew what the goblins were capable of, Kara would probably feel morally obligated to stop us from executing them. That's a conflict we don't want to have with someone who might someday join the Family."

"If we may return to the matter at hand," Cameron interrupted, while also refocusing us.

"Hello! We recently obtained a lot of gold and we'd like to open a vault!" I said with a fake hyper energy as Lana and I stood in front of a teller.

"To open a vault requires a minimum deposit of twenty galleons, do you have the…" the teller's voice trailed off as Lana and I opened the chest we brought with us to show the entire inside completely filled with gold bars.

"Is this enough?"

"Pass one up here."

Lana reached down and picked up one of the bars and handed it to the teller, who carefully examined it both by putting it on a scale and looking through it with a jeweler's lens.

"Pure gold, how did you obtain it?"

"Does it matter?" Lana asked rhetorically.

The goblin stared down at us, before ringing the bell and calling out, "Snapfang!"

Another goblin came out and led us to a series of mining carts. As we climbed in, there was a commotion at the entrance, but before we could look our cart was moving.

"Lana and Lisa should go in to open a new vault, using gold I mined from the asteroid belt. Once they're heading down, Harley comes in and causes a distraction," Cameron suggested.

As the cart moved deeper into the depths, I turned to Lana and gave her a nod. Giving a nod herself, she turned and tapped the goblin on the shoulder.

"What is it huma…" the goblin snapped before his eyes went blank as Lana waved her hand in front of him.

"You will take us to Vault 937."

"I… will take you to Vault 937."

"You will forget that anything unusual happened."

"I will forget anything unusual happened."

"These are not the droids you're looking for," I said with my trademark grin, making Lana give me a flat stare. "What? I've always wanted to say that."

Lana just rolled her eyes before turning back to the goblin, "You will show us how to operate the cart ourselves."

"I will show you how to operate the cart yourselves. Grip here to adjust the speed…"

"Once in a cart on the way down, Lana uses the Force to make the goblin take them to the Lestrange vault. While this is happening, Nikhol uses the distraction caused by Harley to kill the cannibal and his guards."

"While I do know Force Stealth, I'm not particularly well practiced with it," Nikhol pointed out. "If I just go in lightsaber lit and shooting lightning, then it doesn't matter how much of a distraction Harley is, I won't get to him."

"Hyacinth, can I talk to you for a moment?"

"Oh, sure," she said while waving off Rhonda and Hermione. Following Nikhol, Hyacinth did her best not to let the fact that she was standing so close to a woman she was crushing on affect her, and instead simply asked, "Did you need something?"

"Yes," Nikhol said, her eyes half hooded as she looked down at Hyacinth and stepped up to the younger girl. "I heard you have a rather… fascinating cloak. Could I perhaps borrow it?"

Forcing back the blush that wanted to form and swallowing the lump in her throat, Hyacinth maintained a presence of mind to ask, "W… why? What d-do you want it for?"

"I just want to examine it, see if I can tease out its secrets. You'll get it back undamaged."

Hyacinth swallowed again, before managing to say in an almost steady voice, "Sure… it's fine."

Nikhol smiled, before reaching out and cupping her cheek, making Hyacinth lose the battle to control her blush and lean into the touch, her heart racing. Then she said, "Thank you, dear. You know, you'd be more than welcome to join our Family."

"R-really?" Hyacinth squeaked.

"Think about it. You'd have a large number of people at your side; see worlds beyond imagining; experience so much love and...passion," she whispered huskily, brushing her thumb across Hyacinth's lips and smiling as the teenage witch's eyes lidded and her tongue flicked out. "And besides your coven, who we'd gladly make room for, do you really have much holding you here?"

"Hyacinth's invisibility cloak is one of a kind, if she's willing to loan it to us we'd probably have no troubles. If not, the Order has some, but I wouldn't trust them as much."

Nikhol moved through the corridors of Gringotts, easily backtracking the intentionally confusing route that they'd been led on when brought up to meet Kragnus. It had nothing on some of the Rakatan ruins she'd navigated, let alone that time she'd found herself in the Works on Coruscant without a map.

Within five minutes, she was at the door to Kragnus's office. Smirking, she used the Force to open the door and stepped inside. The score of guards as well as Kragnus and his assistant all started and turned to face the door in surprise. But, with Hyacinth's cloak on, and her rudimentary Force Stealth activated, she was completely unnoticed by them.

"Check the runes," Kragnus ordered as Nikhol stepped into the room and shut the door.

"Don't go too far," she drawled as she dropped her Force technique and removed the cloak.

"You," Kragnus snarled. "You have some nerve, human. You shouldn't have come here, especially alone."

"You shouldn't have covered your guards in metal," Nikhol returned, making Kragnus blink in confusion.

Letting the Dark Side flow through her, Nikhol raised her arms and let loose with torrents of Force Lightning, letting the currents of energy flow to the most conductive items in the room: the metal clad goblin guards. She could have used enough power to turn them to ash in an instant, but it had been some time since she'd gotten to play. The assistant grabbed a battleaxe from the wall and threw it at her, only for it to stop a full foot from her head.

"You dropped this," Nikhol said with a chuckle as she turned the axe around and, with a flick of her eyes, sent it flying into the goblin's head, maintaining her lightning the entire time.

Feeling the last guard expiring, Nikhol let the Force Lightning die. Now alone in the room with the stupefied Kragnus, she stalked up to his desk and sat on it, scattering the papers that had been on it in the process.

"You've been a bad boy," she said, staring down Kragnus.

"You're no witch, you're something different," he said. "It doesn't matter. What you've done here will spark the next Goblin War."

"How can it? After all, you never ended the last one, you just changed the battlefield. I admit, it was a rather clever strategy. You couldn't handle the losses in population the previous wars had dealt, so you turned what would have been a pyrrhic victory into a disguised death blow. Though I wonder if your ancestors realized just how massive a victory this decision was."

"You mean the fact that the Wizards have barely changed in the last five hundred years?"

"Ah, you don't know. I suppose it doesn't matter. Much as I'd like to burn this entire establishment to the ground and find countless new and creative ways to execute your kind until I've driven you extinct, there are far more pressing matters that mean I will have to settle for just you. For now."

"Once Nikhol is on her way, Harley's distraction has served its primary purpose. Sooner or later, she'll be forced out. After that, we give Lana and Lisa fifteen minutes to get the Horcrux before the second distraction."

"Vault 937," the goblin said as we arrived.

[Is considering keeping both of you for breeding stock]

[Heard that higher ups consider human infants a delicacy]

"Thank you for your cooperation," Lana said, moments before her lightsaber flashed and the goblin's head fell over the edge of the cart.

"I've always been told to respect other cultures, but they eat people. Fuck their culture," I said as I shuddered. I'd been getting readings like that the entire trip down, and by now was glad it was over.

The two of us climbed off the cart, taking both the chest and the body with us, and made our way to the vault door. There was a low rumbling hiss as a pale reptilian head turned in our direction, but I lifted up a two-headed bell thing and started shaking it. As soon as it heard the clanging, it cringed back with a whimper.

[Pavlovian trigger: was tortured as infant whenever bells were rung]

Rachel would hate these guys, even if it were dragons instead of dogs. Pushing aside the thought, I dragged the goblin's corpse up to the vault door and pressed its hand against it as Lana fiddled with the chest. There were several loud clacks behind the vault doors, before with a pressurized hiss they slowly creaked open.

[Amount of gold within erroneous]

[Coins not solid gold]

[Gold colored lead]

"Well, looks like you don't get to use the Force to open the vault after all," I teased Lana as I filed that bit of information away.

Lana just rolled her eyes before finally getting the chest to open. Inside was a deep pit, and the sounds of someone climbing up a ladder. After a few moments, Cameron climbed out of the chest and strode into the open vault.

"The vault needs to be opened by a Gringotts employee. If not possible, Lana should be able to use the Force to rip the doors from the bedrock. Once the vault is open, open the chest borrowed from Auror Moody to allow me to enter the vault and retrieve the horcrux."

"Is he going to let us use his chest?" Bear asked.

"I already procured it with his permission."

Cameron walked through the vault, ignoring the vast piles of lead, torture implements, paintings, and other such items. Bear had provided a description of her target. Spotting it at the top of a large pile of lead coinage, Cameron calculated the optimum means of retrieving it. Her metal endoskeleton meant she'd be too heavy to climb up the pile, so instead she'd need to bring it down to her.

Her CPU scanned the mount of lead, and with a snap kick she destabilized the pile in such a way that the cup was sent rolling down to her hands. Holding it, she immediately ran a self-diagnostic test to determine if her grip had caused any curses to trigger. No problems found. Careful examination of both the cup and the rest of the vault found no signs of any other possible alternatives.

Setting aside the issue for later, Cameron turned around and exited the vault. Climbing down into the chest, she heard the beep of a communicator from the Yamato and the signal for the last phase of the plan.

"Taylor, love, would you mind showing them what the Egyptians went through in Exodus?"

"Why are you retrieving the horcrux? I'm more likely to sense any traps or curses on it," Lana pointed out.

"I am least likely to be harmed by any such curses. In any event, after retrieving the horcrux, Taylor provides the final distraction with a swarm in the Gringotts lobby. In the ensuing chaos, all four of us leave hidden in the crowd. We meet with our ally from the Order and return to Hogwarts."

It was complete pandemonium. People were screaming in fear, spells were flying through the air as household pest control charms were used, the goblin guards drew their swords to fend off any that came too close, and above it all, a veritable mass of insects and arachnids, swarming in a massive cloud of wings, silk, and chitin. Then, the cloud shifted. It took a shape, forming into what looked like a massive head with glowing eyes, staring down at the people within.

PEOPLE OF WIZARDING BRITAIN

Movement within the lobby stopped, as the crowd stared up at the terrible visage above them, as it spoke in a voice made by the buzzing of wings and chirps.

SOON, YOU WILL BE FREE FROM THE MONSTERS THAT FEAST ON YOUR LOST. THOSE THAT STOLE YOUR FUTURE FROM YOU WILL BE BROUGHT LOW. READY YOURSELVES FOR THE OPPORTUNITY WHEN IT COMES. SO SAYS SKITTER.

With that final declaration, the mass collapsed, a swarm of spiders, crickets, grasshoppers, flies, and other assorted bugs falling to the floor. It wouldn't be for some time that the goblins of Gringotts discovered the numerous dead elsewhere in the bank, but by then the culprits were long gone.

Bear Sandosen

The look of shock and reverence on Dumbledore's face as he beheld the cup was… honestly rather amusing. It was just so different from the dignified, grandfatherly air he usually had. Gingerly, Dumbledore pulled out the elder wand and tapped the cup, before blinking in confusion.

"Are… are you certain this is the right cup? Not a fake?" he asked, starting to grow frantic as he started to cast spell after spell on the cup.

"Well, seeing as I watched Nikhol pull a soul fragment out of it, as certain as I can be," I answered, doing my best to keep my amusement from my face.

"I see… but… it is said that Hufflepuff's cup possessed a great many magical abilities, yet I can detect nothing on it."

"I actually had a talk with the Gray Lady, the ghost of Ravenclaw's daughter about that when Nikhol couldn't sense anything after she removed the horcrux and the other curses on it. Her response to that question was to laugh, rather hysterically I might add. Turns out there were never any enchantments on it, it was just Hufflepuff's favorite cup. I think the tales of it possessing magic came after, once the Founders became seen in a more mythic light."

Dumbledore considered that for a minute, before sighing, "I suppose that is a reasonable conclusion. But I must admit I am disappointed."

I gave a nod, it was like when everyone eventually realized that the people they adored were flawed human beings. I made to get up, when Dumbledore spoke again, "There is something else I wished to discuss with you."

He then held up a copy of The Daily Prophet, with the front page headline showing a picture of Taylor's swarm face in Gringotts and reading NEW DARK LORD SKITTER ATTACKS GRINGOTTS.

Glancing back up at Dumbledore's blank face, I sighed and said, "She improvised. It was supposed to be a vague warning about the goblins having broken the treaty, but… being perfectly blunt, Taylor doesn't do small or subtle very well. Her response when dealing with those that she considers enemies is always to escalate. But don't tell her I said that."

"I find myself conflicted," Dubledore said as he set the newspaper down. "I understand that you needed the distraction to obtain Tom's horcrux, but I cannot condone scaring the populace like this."

Sighing, I ran my hand through my hair, "In moderation and properly directed, fear is a good thing. Fear is a warning system that something is dangerous and should be avoided. In the worlds Kara and Harley come from, there's an individual that has weaponized fear against the criminal element to protect the common person. Plus, this way, there's no way for Fudge to deny that there's someone that's a threat even if it isn't Voldemort."

Dumbledore continued to stare at me, and I met his gaze. I wasn't one of his students, nor a member of his Order. We were allied, but I wasn't under him. In the end, a chime over the door to Dumbledore's office broke our little staring contest.

"Come in Hagrid," Dumbledore called out, prompting the half-giant to burst into the office.

"Perfess'r Dumbledore! Thar's a girl headin' towards Aragog's part o' tha forest! I called out ta her, but she didn't seem ta hear me," Hagrid panted out, leaning on his knees as he gulped down big breaths of air.

"Take a deep breath Hagrid, tell us what she looked like."

"Black 'air, curly like 'ermione's but darker and curlier," he began and I had a sudden bad feeling about where he was going with it. "Tall too, but thin. I couldn't be sure, but I think she 'ad glasses."

My palm met with my forehead and I groaned, "Dammit Taylor, would it kill you to warn me?"

"Well Mr. Sandosen, I believe we'll have to continue this conversation at another time. Shall we go save Aragog from Miss Hebert?" Dumbledore asked with a hint of amusement.

"What?" was Hagrid's eloquent response as Dumbledore and I headed down the stairs to go retrieve Taylor.

Hermione Granger

'The most basic of the coven spells deal with the binding of two or more witches in united purpose. With such a bond, a group of witches are capable of performing feats far beyond what a single witch or wizard is capable of, in early civilizations it was not unheard of for a sufficiently large coven to utilize a ritual that would cause terrible storms or sink islands.'

That had been the introduction to one of the books I'd gotten in my first year for additional reading. To say the least, the potential it had described was fascinating, and I desperately hoped I'd be able to find some other girls my age with which to form a coven. For the first two months, I thought my hope had been in vain, the kids at Hogwarts seemed to be just like those at primary school.

Then the troll happened and a few weeks later, Rhonda, Hyacinth and I formed a coven. In retrospect, we weren't ready for it. The forced bonding of our magic at such a young age… according to the nurse, we were lucky to come out of it as unscathed as we did. The book on covens that I'd gotten the ritual from really should have included the warning about forming a coven bond before the age of fourteen in front of the ritual instead of after. After that, I made sure to check after a ritual to see if there were any extra warnings. There always were. Like this one I'd just found in the Black Library.

"So what's this new coven spell you've found?" Harry asked as she and Rhonda sat down at the table.

"If I'm right, it'll make us immune to the Unforgivables," I said bluntly, catching both of their interest.

"… go on," Rhonda said as she leaned forwards, lacing her fingers together in front of her mouth.

"It describes a ritual sacrifice of a coven member's virginity, and when properly channeled allows the participants full immunity to a single spell. The more virginities sacrificed, the more spells, and it applies to everyone in the coven who's participating. There's three of us, three Unforgivables, so we'd be able to ignore them."

"If this ritual is so good, why isn't it commonly used then?" Harry asked.

"Well, that's the tricky part. There needs to be two virginities offered per witch and the man needs to orgasm twice per, well, opening. Fortunately, it doesn't count anything we've done in the past so we can stick to oral for the second. On top of that, no potions or anything to enhance performance. Then the part that trips up most from what I can tell, the man can't have any magic."

"So a muggle, or something like a centaur or a goblin?"

I shook my head, "It has to be a muggle, the magic inherent within a wizard or magical creature would ruin the ritual. From the book I read, I'm not sure it's ever been done. But if we're able to pull it off…"

"Mione, I know you're brilliant, but the only muggles that we know that could possibly qualify are either your family or Harry's. There's no way I'd let any of Harry's family get anywhere close to her, and I rather doubt you have a fetish for incest after some of the rants about Malfoy you've given over the years," Rhonda pointed out, making me shake my head.

"We do know another muggle," I said, making both of my covenmates blink. "Bear's technically a muggle, remember?"

I didn't resist smirking in amusement at the blushes that prompted from my covenmates. I was probably blushing just as badly, but pressed onwards, "His world didn't have magic, so he should be even more of a muggle than a random muggle off the street but from what Nikhol's told us he's more than up to the task of 'performing' for the ritual. I honestly don't think we'll find someone who'd be a better fit."

"Plus the fact that he looks like he'd live up to his name in bed?" Rhonda mused aloud, her gaze half vacant.

Yeah… that too… big, broad hands holding me up in the air, my arms around his broad shoulders…

"Stop drooling, Hermione," Harry's voice pulled me from my daydream, and I hurriedly wiped at my mouth with the back of my hand. "There's something rather important you're forgetting: what about Luna?"

I couldn't help but wince. Yeah, that was a mistake on my part. After the fiasco with Voldemort's Diary that had been slipped into her school supplies her first year, we'd offered to let her join our coven when she turned fourteen.

"Her birthday's the seventh of October," Rhonda said in a considering tone. "We could admit her into the coven that weekend, then have the ritual with Bear on Halloween. That'd give it a boost, wouldn't it?"

I pulled out a piece of parchment to take notes. Halloween was always a potent day to do a ritual, but when to get the best effects depended on what time you started and how long it took.

"Wait…" Harry said, pulling my attention from calculating the best time to do the ritual. "You said no potions, does that include… well, our monthly potion?"

…

…

My head dropped to the table and I groaned. How had I not considered that?

"Yes it does. And since the ritual requires that he… well, shoot inside us, there's a chance we'll end up pregnant. Are both of you okay with that?" I asked, doing my best to ignore the nervous pit that had formed in my stomach.

"I… don't know," Rhonda admitted.

Harry, on the other hand, refused to look at either of us, and her cheeks…

"Harry? Would you be okay with the risk?" I prodded.

"I… wouldn't mind," she quietly admitted, making both Rhonda and I blink in surprise.

"I know you said you dreamed of having a big family with lots of children," Rhonda said, referencing the times we'd considered what we wanted to do out of Hogwarts. "But this soon?"

Harry glanced at me before taking a breath, "I know I've always been vague about what kind of job I'd get after Hogwarts, but to be honest I was never really interested in anything like that. I wanted to be a mother and I wanted to do work in researching how spells worked. Like Luna's mum did, only with more safety precautions. I didn't want to say it because…"

I got up and hugged Harry, letting her cry into my shoulder as all the bottled up emotions came out. I knew how I could get, especially on my rants about the injustice of Wizarding Society in encouraging witches to be trophy or housewives. But I never meant to make Harry think I'd care if that's what she wanted. I never meant to make her think she had to keep secrets.

"I'm sorry Harry," I whispered as I hugged her.

Taylor Hebert

"Say it," Bear said with the tone of a disappointed parent.

Letting out a frustrated sigh, I turned to the bushy bearded giant and said, "I'm sorry for taking control of your pet's children."

"And?"

"And I won't do it again… unless Voldemort attacks Hogwarts."

Bear rubbed at his face with a groan, and I barely heard him mutter something about a drink, before he turned to the giant, "I'm sorry about Taylor. I think she heard about the acromantula and since her thing is that she controls anything that can be described as a 'bug'…"

"It's alrigh', jus' don' go inta tha Forest like tha again, y'here?" he asked me, giving me a significant look.

"Alright," I agreed. Next time I'd bring someone from the Family with me. I think Nikhol would be interested in some of the things I saw there.

Nikhol "Darth Nox" Diomedes

It had been a good day and there was much to celebrate. A threat blunted; an enemy left worse than dead; and another piece of that fool's soul destroyed. I could feel the Dark Side dancing around me like a puppy eager to be let off the leash again after I'd indulged it in Kragnus' office. But this was the time to indulge my other, more sensual passions.

But who to indulge them with, I wondered as I slid one hand down my body to tease my core. My beloved Lana, a match and complement for me in all ways? Cameron, so much more than any droid could hope to be, whose cool, soothing presence in the Force was so unprecedented? Harleen, whose accent and joy in life make every day brighter? Taylor, the incestuous daughter figure I never knew I wanted? What an adorifying Sith she would make if only she had the Force. Lisa, sarcastic and observant, always ready to verbally stab someone in the eye?

Or Bear, around whom we all orbit? In my old life, I would not have imagined a man such as him to be the nucleus around which a polyamorous atom might form. Yet he is coming to love and crave us - the soft smile he has for each of us when he thinks we aren't looking is a clear and obvious sign - as we are coming to love and crave him. He accepts all of our advances with eagerness and passion while somehow remaining unconvinced enough of his own desirability that he makes no advances of our own. Yes, perhaps I will find him tonight and see about pushing him past that mental block. His passions unleashed will no doubt be strong enough to power any number of Sith rituals.

What to wear that would– My eyes landed on the folded, shimmering fabric on my bed. I hadn't returned that yet, had I? And the young witch had been so receptive to my touch when I'd asked to borrow it. There was a flare of interest as well when I'd mentioned a place for her among us. Completing the seduction of this world's Chosen One; drawing out her submissive nature and making her crave membership in the Family. A worthy mission for any Sith, but one only Lana or I could complete without utterly breaking her.

This would require a different mode of dress than one meant to "poke the Bear" as the saying went. Something alluring and mouth-watering while offering easy exposure and access. A moment's thought and a flicker of the Force opened my closet and floated three options in front of me. Ah, perfect. I sent two back into the closet and closed it. Forgoing underwear, I put on the blood-red dress. (As if there could be any sexier a color for a Sith to wear.)

Stretching out with the Force, I found the darling girl's presence in the house. She was alone in her room. Good. And...dear me, indulging in self-pleasure. How delightful! A touch of Force Influence to keep her from finishing before I arrived at her door and then I threw the Cloak over myself to insure that no unworthy eyes saw me as I went to her.

It was only a minute, though the anticipation made it seem ever so much longer, before I was knocking at her door.

"Hyacinth, darling," I said, pitching my voice for maximum sensuality while removing the Cloak, "it's Nikhol. I have your cloak. May I come in?"

"J-just a minute!" she called out. I could feel the intensity of her combined lust and embarrassment through the door as she made her way over and opened it. She shuddered when she saw me dressed in a manner that would make a Twi'lek dancer blush.

My Force senses caught the spike in her arousal as she stood transfixed by my cleavage, licking her lips. She was wearing a gold-colored camisole with too-thin straps barely holding it in place and a lacy pair of panties in the same color. The gusset was twisted out of place, exposing her pubes and lower lips. Rational thought was clearly abandoning the dear girl as she quivered with need. In her haste to see me, she had even — Oh, how lovely — forgotten to wipe clean the fingers she'd been touching herself with.

I levitated the Cloak into the room as I took her soaked hand in my own and lifted it to my lips, drawing her attention. Her moan as she realized what I was about to do was all the excuse I needed and I held her eyes, so similar in shade to my own, with mine as I softly kissed her knuckles. Projecting my own desires and mirth into the room with the Force plucked a shiver out of the pretty teenage witch. Using it to rub her exposed slit garnered an even more satisfying reaction.

"So eager to see me, Little One?" I teased, tossing her an affectionate smirk.

With a wink, I took the first of her fingers slowly into my mouth, swirling my tongue around it and committing the scent and taste of her juices to my memory. She shuddered and shook as I kept going. Having her fingers licked clean one by one while I tickled her cute cunny without actually touching her had her eyes rolling back in her head as a series of rolling little orgasms pulsed through her.

Her legs wobbled as she lost the ability to stand under her own power, so I held her close to me. The difference in our heights put her face right between my breasts, her lips pressed against the center of my bosom. Expanding the area of my Force touch to her ass and chest, I walked the two of us into the room, closing and locking the door behind us.

"Hello again, darling Hyacinth," I whispered as she came back to herself. "Do you mind me calling you that?" The physical heat of her blush against my skin and the feel of embarrassment/lust/craving projected from her mind were intoxicating.

"You...you can call me anything," she whispered back.

"I shan't abuse the privilege," I promised. "Would you like to sit down? I can walk us to the bed while you rest your lips right where they are."

"Ooooohhhh…"

"Perhaps you'd like an unobstructed view once we're on the bed. To slide your hands under my top and set them free. I've felt your eyes wander over me since we met," I purred. "Stealing glances when you think I'm too busy to notice. Looking away when I notice you anyway. When the Force serves you, Little One," I continued, stroking her hair, "you can tell when someone stares at you. As you stare at my ass. My breasts."

She wrenched her face and eyes up, forcing herself to search mine for any trace of mockery even as my use of the Force drew gasps and pants out of her. Licking her lips, she tried to speak, stopped, tried again and gave up the effort.

"I can feel your desire. Give in to it. Set it free. Say 'yes' and you can stare...touch...suckle to your heart's content."

"Y-yes. Please."

Leaning my head down, I pressed my lips to hers with all the softness I possessed. She threw her hands around the back of my neck and responded with eager passion. I stroked her lips with my tongue but didn't press for entry. Not now. Not yet. Making a decision, I slid my hands down, grabbed hold of her firm cheeks and picked her up. Her legs wrapped around my waist and her tongue poked out from between her lips, seeking entrance to my mouth. Just for a moment, I let it in as I carried her to the bed.

I couldn't help smirking at the way she moaned when I sucked on her tongue. And the way she ground her core against my abs was simply delightful. Coaxing her into leaving this unappreciative nation and joining our Family would only require a few more orgasms and some well-placed words. Providing her with both would be satisfying enough to no doubt trigger a few orgasms of my own.

Softly, oh so softly, I set her on the edge of the bed and pulled away from the kiss. "Easy, Little One. There's so much yet to show you." A feathery Force-touch on her clit sent her tumbling into yet another orgasm and her legs spread apart, allowing me to take one step back and stand before her.

"H-how are you doing that?"

"The Dark Side of the Force is a pathway to many abilities some might consider to be...utterly sexual."

I pulled down the right strap of my dress, extricating my arm and exposing my breast to her hungry gaze. Such passion in those eyes. Such craving and aching need. Such surrender, submission.

"Would you like to pull down the other strap?" I purred. "Or shall I?"

A trembling hand reached out towards the remaining strap.

"There's nothing to fear, darling Hyacinth. I won't deny you your lusts. Pull the strap down. Feast your eyes on what you've wanted since we met."

With a sigh and a grunt of exerted willpower, she stilled her hand and rested it on top of the cloth hiding the soft flesh she so clearly wanted to touch. Deep breaths, she took. In and out. In and out. One more act of Sith-like action and determination saw her pull the cloth down.

Watching her lick her lips at the sight before her, I kept my inner triumph from showing on my face. She was ours now. It was inevitable.

I sat on the bed next to her and ran my fingers through her long hair. "You were thinking of me before I knocked on your door," I stated, getting a shy nod in response. "In your fantasy, as you touched yourself, tell me what we were doing."

Her eyes closed as I coaxed the fantasy out of her. "I, I was, was on my hands and knees licking you from behind. B-Bear was in me, fu-fucking me so good. Every thrust sent me face-first into your perfect arse. Mama Harley was next to us on the bed, reaching under to flick my clitty. It...it was Heaven."

Mama Harley? I thought. Now this was interesting. Later. Seal the deal now. Ask questions later. I stroked her hair behind her ear and leaned in, giving a long, thorough lick along the outside before slipping my tongue in and whispering.

"We can make your fantasy happen. All your fantasies. Give yourself to us. You want Bear to take you from behind, sliding against that special spot inside you with every thrust?"

"I've never wanted a guy before," she whispered back, "but I want him. I want him to take me; make me melt into him. Fill me so much I leak for days.

"I've had to fight so often, for so many years. To be strong. I can't–I need a place I don't have to fight; don't have to be strong.

"I need to worship you. Your presence makes my heart race. Here, tonight...your kiss, your touch, your body–I've heard people talk about being drunk; being high. I never understood until now.

"I want Taylor to push me to my knees, grab me by the hair and jam my face between her legs.

"I want Lisa to press me against the wall and whisper every dirty secret I have until I cum so hard my legs collapse. For Cameron to bend me over a desk and finger me until I scream her name. To be passed back and forth between you and Miss Lana until my tongue is sore.

"I want Mama Harley to hold me in her arms like she did the night you found me and rock me to sleep while she makes me touch myself.

"Yes. Yes, I'll be yours. I'll join your Family."

"A bond like that you have with your coven is to be treasured," I assured her before slipping my tongue into her mouth tenderly for a moment. Picking her up, I set her astride my thigh and drew her head down to my breast, encouraging her without words to suckle. "We won't sunder it. They are all welcome to partake in the ceremony Lana, Lisa and I have designed. To join us when you do. For now, darling, drink from my breasts and ride my thigh. Then, when you have had your fill of my milk and your orgasms, you may kneel and worship me with your tongue for the first time. When you part the strips hiding my legs, you will see that there is nothing to separate my core and your...attentions."

Lana Beniko

"Lana? Can I talk to you in private please?" Lisa asked, pulling me from my conversation with Mr. Black.

Glancing at the man, he just gave a smile and a nod before walking away. I had a very strong suspicion what Lisa wished to discuss, but I'd honestly been expecting this conversation much sooner.

"What is it, Lisa?" I asked. We were alone in the library, Hyacinth and her friends having left not long ago.

"Why'd you do it? The plan was to have me kill the cart operator. But you did it before I could. Why?" Lisa's eyes bored into my own, burning with an intensity that was out of place on the normally calculating girl's face.

"Because it's not the role you are suited for," I answered, leading her over to a table with a pair of chairs.

Lisa took the offered chair, and waited for me to sit down before responding, "I was a Warlord, I can handle a bit of killing."

"How many people have you personally killed? I suspect the answer is very, very low. Lisa, in you I see something I saw when I was the head of Sith Intelligence: someone trying to be a lethal Cipher Agent but not suited to the role. Do you know what I did with those people?"

"Kill them for failing?"

"That would be a waste of resources. No, I put them in a different role. If we were in the Empire, you would be a poor Cipher. But I have no doubts that you would be one of the best Watcher agents in the entire galaxy, Empire or Republic. Letting you kill that goblin would have damaged you emotionally. It would have hurt your ability to focus, to do what you needed to do at a given time, and everyone would have suffered the consequences."

Lisa just stared at me, not saying anything. Her eyes roamed over my face, looking for some sign of… something. I could have looked into her mind to see what she was looking for, but I stayed out. For something like this, there was no reason to invade her privacy like that. Not for something so mundane.

"I…" Lisa began, before pausing. She swallowed, opened her mouth to try again, but no words came out. Her hands on the table were shaking lightly, so I took them in my own. I didn't speak, letting her have the time she needed to find the words to convey what she was feeling.

Finally, after nearly five minutes of trying to contain her emotions, Lisa took a shuddering breath to steel herself and spoke, "You know how we get powers from our world, right?"

"You go through some personalized, traumatic event, correct?" I asked, no one had said as much, but I'd managed to piece together that much from the clues that had been dropped over the last month.

"Yeah. For me, it was my brother committing suicide. Or rather, the fact that I didn't see the warning signs. I have the realization that if I'd just seen the fact that my brother wanted to die I could have helped him, then the next thing I know I start learning everything about people just by looking at them."

I could tell Lisa wasn't finished, but my heart went out to her. Even if this was the first time Lisa had ever mentioned her brother, I could still hear the pain from unhealed wounds.

"Oh but it gets even better. My parents… their reaction to their son having hanged himself and their daughter being so traumatized she gained powers was to immediately start looking for ways to exploit said daughter's powers. Then I was told I'd be working for a psychopath with a superiority and control complex or I'd have a lead lobotomy. I… I don't…"

Lisa took another shuddering breath and blinked away the tears that were starting for form, "I can handle pity and condescension. You didn't do it for either of those. You care. I don't know how to deal with that."

I didn't respond with words. I stood up from the chair and pulled the emotionally shaken girl into a hug. As the shorter girl buried her face into my shoulder and sobbed the emotions out, her long maintained barriers crumbling for a time, my mind was sent back to a time years ago. Before my love and I were brought into this Family. Before I was founding an Alliance that turned into an Empire. Before the death of Darth Marr and disappearance of Darth Nox. Before Ziost, back to a quiet tent of Yavin IV.

When Nikhol Diomedes, Darth Nox of the Dark Council, Mistress of the Dead, shared her history with me. When she told me about her time as a slave on Ziost. Of the conditions on the plantation she'd been raised on, the times she saw her fellow slaves fed to the beasts when her masters were in particularly foul moods. Of how for the first time she felt like someone accepted her past without disdain or sickening compassion. Just simple acceptance.

Just like that night, I stood there, offering to be strong so Lisa could for once allow herself a chance to be weak. An opportunity to let herself bend before she broke.

Bear Sandosen

"Oh, Bear, can we have a talk?" Kara's normally silky smooth voice was just the right sort of tone that every man knew. The one that all but screamed 'you fucked up royally, you stupid man!'

Turning around from going over resource reports with Cameron, my words caught in my throat as I took in Kara's expression. Her eyes were glowing red, she was floating three feet off the ground, and her face showed all the fury she'd kept out of her voice. Despite myself, my gaze immediately went to her fingers before I reminded myself that Atrocitus hadn't created the Red Lantern Battery, Kara wasn't going to be killing me with plasma blood/vomit.

"Is this about the endeavor to capture the final horcrux?" Cameron asked, drawing both my and Kara's focus.

"Of course that's what it's about!" Kara shouted, her eyes glowing brighter before she closed them and took a deep breath.

"I understand you're upset," I began, foolishly drawing the angry kryptonian's attention. "But what we'd learned on our initial scouting run meant that what would follow we didn't think you'd be able to let slide. If we let Kragnus live, it would become immediately apparent what was stolen and who was responsible. That's without touching on the fact that despite being from another planet, you have more in common with humans than goblins do."

"Genetic viability of human/kryptonian offspring is 87.4573% while genetic viability of human/goblin offspring is 11.6219%," Cameron so helpf… wait, what?

Turning to Cameron I asked, "What about Professor Flitwick? I thought he was half goblin."

"I inquired about his non-human heritage, and he informed me that his family has relied heavily on fertility enhancing potions and rituals in order to conceive. Without them his family are functionally sterile. He himself chose to become an instructor when he discovered that even with his family's fertility enhancers his sperm was incapable of fertilizing ovum except those of a direct family member or other human/goblin hybrids. To his knowledge, no such hybrids outside of himself are currently alive."

I blinked in surprise. So, Flitwick became a Professor because that was the closest he'd come to being a parent? That's… just, damn. Kara shook her head, before returning to glaring at me, but it wasn't as intense as before.

"No sidetracking, unintentional as it might have been. You're not getting off the hook that easily," she said, crossing her arms under her chest.

"Okay," I easily agreed, motioning to an empty chair. "Shall we go over precisely what's angering you the most and how we'll address it?"

Now it was Kara's turn to blink, before she floated over to the chair, "I'll be honest, I was expecting you to argue more."

"I've lived over fifty years, Kara," I pointed out because fuck chronology, this body was not in its fifties anymore. "I've seen a lot in that time and while none of it compares to losing everything, even my homeworld, it still results in some maturity."

Kara sat down, and as she did, I asked, "Is it that we killed some of the goblins or that we excluded you that's pissing you off the most?"

I already knew what the answer was, but I figured I'd ask anywa…

"It's being treated as an outsider."

For a second time in this conversation I was thrown off mental balance. I… okay, think, in the comics featuring Kara'd always emphasized no killing. But… oh. It dawned on me like being hit in the face with a Louisville slugger.

Sighing, I ran my hands through my hair, "First, let me apologize. I let myself fall into the trap of thinking in the context of the comics I grew up reading, not you as a real person. I'm sorry."

Kara continued to stare me down, before she glanced over at Cameron and spoke, "I get that there's certain things that I'm not going to be told, you have a number of different things you need to do to prepare and I do understand the concept of operational security. I get that there's certain 'jobs' that I'm not going to be suited for. What's 'pissing me off' is that even without that, you guys aren't including me.

"I've felt like an outsider ever since I got on Earth. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying I wanted to die when Krypton exploded, and Kal's been doing his best. But…" Kara trailed off, trying to find the right words to express what she was trying to say.

"You are Kryptonian in culture, not just physiology," Cameron stated, and I felt like hitting myself over the head for not realizing it sooner.

"Yes, I'm from Argo City, not Smallville. There were no local sports, no innocent barn dances, or religious festivals. We knew that we were living out an extended death sentence, no matter how hard our parents tried to hide it from the rest of us. In the end, I find out that a member of my family survived on a planet with a yellow star, but he and I are the only members of our species left. Even then, I'm the last to remember Krypton's culture so no matter where I go, I'll always be apart from everyone else."

"Alright, again, I apologize for excluding you. I swear it wasn't intentional, and I'll do my best to consciously stop doing so if it isn't for, like you said earlier, operational security. How about we start now?" I asked.

Kara raised an eyebrow, "What did you have in mind?"

"Well, no offense, but I don't think it's a good idea to dig out the Resurrection Stone so you can talk to your folks and lovers from Argo City again. Plus we'd have to pry it from Nikhol and I don't want her to go all Mad Scientist on me for interrupting her research in figuring out how it works… And now I can't get the image of her with a hunchbacked assistant named Igor out of my head."

Kara chuckled in amusement, "Isn't it pronounced 'Eye-gor'?"

I couldn't help the snort that escaped from me at that, before getting myself under control, "Anyway, I was actually thinking we could have another movie night. Not necessarily with everyone, but it would be a good opportunity to relax while we're waiting for things to reach a point where we can move forwards."

Kara thought for a moment, before giving a nod, "Got anything in particular in mind?"

"I have a few."

A few hours later Kara, Cameron, Harley, Tonks, and myself were on the Yamato taking advantage of the "home" theater set up for a comedy movie marathon. I'd suggested each of us picking a different movie, and though Kara passed on picking a movie herself the rest agreed. Having the remote on hand I immediately set up Clue as the first movie.

Tonks used magic to summon the remote to her moments before I was tackled by Harley. She queued Spaceballs and tossed the remote to Cameron just in time to receive a tackle from an excitable blonde missile herself. Cameron was kind enough to let Harley go third as I got the popcorn ready.

"I'm a touch concerned that the movie has 'zombie' in the title," Kara hesitantly said as I turned around just in time to see the logo for Zombieland.

"Don't worry, by the time that movie was released, the zombie genre had diversified enough to include comedies," I said as I carried some buckets of popcorn over and started handing them out.

Cameron picked Down Periscope as the final movie just as I sat down with my own bucket of popcorn. Settling down into my seat, I tossed a few kernels into my mouth as the lights dimmed and one of the funniest movies in history began.

Bear Sandosen

"… this tattoo I keep hearing about?"

"Well… it's kind of a long story. It was just after the Murmansk Brushing Incident, I'm sure you heard about it…"

As the credits rolled, I got up and collected the by now well empty popcorn bowls and stuck them in the sink where the ship's automated systems would take care of them. If nothing else, never needing to do dishes by hand again was well worth accepting Tara Q's offer.

"So, whaddya think o' th' movies, Hot Pants?" Harley asked from her place cuddled up next to Kara.

"They were a lot better than I was expecting, especially the third one. But if I had to pick, I'd say I probably enjoyed Spaceballs the most. It's not quite the same as Monty Python and the Holy Grail, but I admit I'm rather biased since that was the first movie I saw after arriving on Earth," Kara answered, and I couldn't help but chuckle.

"'Tis but a scratch!'" Tonks joked as Cameron stood up.

"Oh, right. Cameron called dibs, see ya in th' mornin' Fuzzy!" Harley said, making me blink before Cameron gently took my hand and kissed the inside of my wrist.

I… didn't exactly pay attention to anything else Harley said as Cameron dragged me away from the Rec Room. I was more than a little bit distracted by Cameron's big, doe brown eyes. I'd thought I was immune to the big eye approach to getting one's way, I was proven wrong as I was led back to my cabin.

Cameron gently pushed me into the leather-backed chair, before straddling my lap and leaning in to give me a soft kiss on my lips. Immediately pulling back, she leaned in to whisper in my ear, grinding her hips into mine as she did so, "There's something I want to show you. Wait right here."

With that, she stood up and sashayed into the closet, her hips with just enough sway to suggest it was deliberate while not so much it was obvious. That, combined with the brief grinding and the look she'd given me on our way up here, was more than enough to ensure that I wasn't going to be soft for a good long while.

I was curious what Cameron had planned, while part of my mind was trying to figure out how she was so light despite having metal bones. Dismissing it, I looked over to the closet as the opening notes to a familiar song began to play and a long leg stepped out from the closet door.

Black high heels, black pants that looked painted on, a top that was more sash than shirt and clearly showed that there was nothing underneath it… I had to swallow down the lump that formed in my throat as Cameron strutted towards me, like she was a model on a runway.

"What's the occasion?" I managed to ask.

"I told Harley I was unsure how to approach you, this was her suggestion," Cameron answered, her voice low and sensual as she came to a stop in front of me. Slowly, she put her arms on her stomach, before sliding them down her legs until they reached her feet, giving me a perfect view of her smooth, toned back.

But she didn't stop there, as the song continued, she bent her legs, bringing her hands to the floor as she transitioned to all fours. Putting one hand forwards, her knees slid out as she moved closer to me, before snapping back up. The other hand went in front, her backside dropped down before snapping up again.

Finally, she was kneeling between my legs, her hands on my thighs just behind my knees. Meeting my gaze for a moment, her head then went down, coming to a stop between my knees before she put her weight on her hands and lifted her legs up into the air. Bringing them around, so they were on either side of my head, Cameron hooked her legs together before lifting herself up at the waist. Despite having the entirety of her weight resting on my shoulders and around my neck, I didn't feel in danger.

It was only then, as her top half came up, that I realized her top had fallen off. Reaching down, Cameron grabbed my arms and then brought my hands up to her hips. As I marveled at the feel of her smooth skin under my fingers, the song changed and Cameron guided my hands up along her sides before bringing them forwards to cup her perky chest.

Keeping my hands where they were, Cameron unhooked her feet and let them slide through my arms until she was once again sitting in my lap. Her hips started gyrating, as she guided one hand up past her collarbone and sucked a finger into her mouth. Her eyes were half lidded as she looked down at me, the way her core was pressing against my shaft through my pants, the weight of her breast in my hand…

That was it, I couldn't hold back any more. I was surprised I'd held out this long as it was. A throaty chuckle echoed from her throat, before she leaned in against my chest and slid one leg off my lap. Standing with her back facing my legs, she leaned forwards, before reaching back and grabbing onto my hands. Pulling them to the front of her pants, she had me grip onto them before she turned back to look at me over her shoulder.

"Pull," she said, her voice husky.

Doing as the lady requested, I was pleasantly surprised to find that her pants were tear-aways, leaving her in black high heels and a purple g-string. If Tara Q's boosts hadn't killed my refractory period, that sight certainly would have. Turning her head slightly to stare at me, Cameron sat back into my lap, planting her butt on my thigh, before leaning back. Her back made a gorgeous arch, as the next song started, and she lifted her far leg up until it pointed straight into the air.

Intellectually, I knew that Cameron had been built to be more flexible than the average human. That did not mean I was prepared for her leg to reach around and hook my neck as she rolled over so her front was on my legs. Bringing her leg down to be level with the other, she reached back and delivered a loud slap to her ass, making the pale skin ripple.

Turning her head, to look at me from the corner of her still hooded eyes, Cameron slowly slid down my lap until she was back on all fours. Before turning and sliding along the inside of my legs until her chest was flush with my abdomen.

Still meeting my gaze, her dainty hands came up and easily undid my belt, before she slid those same hands under my boxers and pulled both down. I lifted myself up to make her job easier, and as my shaft popped free from it's cloth confines, she leaned in and rubbed her cheek against it, like a cat rubbing against someone's leg.

For a full minute, she continued in that vein, giving me attention without using her hands or her lips. It was the longest I'd had anyone do that, and it was far more arousing than I'd anticipated. Finally, after she dragged her cheek from my tip to my base, with one eye covered by my shaft, I felt her tongue slip out and cup one of my balls. Tenderly, she teased one, then the other, before moving up and dragging her tongue along the bottom of my length.

This entire time, her hands remained firmly on her knees, her gaze locked with mine. As she reached my head, her tongue swirled around, before she took it into her mouth and gave a sudden, sharp suck. The sudden pressure had me gritting my teeth as I stared down at her brown eyes and caved in cheeks, grabbing the bottom of the chair seat to resist the urge to reach out and grab the back of her head.

Slowly, torturously slowly, she slid down the length of my dick, continually sucking like it was an ice pop. I felt the head slip past the entrance to her throat, and from my angle could just barely make out her throat bulging as she went deeper and deeper, jet not once did she gag. As her lips ringed my base, and her tongue slipped out, her hands finally left their place on her knees. One cupped my balls, lifting them up so she could lick at them despite her mouth being full of my length. The other pried my hand from the bottom of the chair and pressed something into it. Something wet and with a lot of string… a glance past her hair towards her still pushed out ass confirmed my suspicion: at some point, she took off her g-string without getting up or stopping her treating me.

Despite having just cum, that did me in a second time. My head went back and I groaned as I resisted the urge to grab her head, only for her hand to find mine and drag it there herself. As I shot my second load, my fingers threaded through her hair as I pulled her down as far as I could, her tacit permission removing any of my usual hesitation in doing so. I lost track of how many times I shot my seed down her throat, before the last of my orgasm finished and I fell back into the chair.

Slowly, but still a lot faster than she'd gone the other way, Cameron slid off my length, keeping her lips sealed the entire way. When she pulled the last of my shaft out of her mouth, she gave a slightly exaggerated swallowing sound before opening her mouth to show not a single drop of cum. Despite softening, my dick gave a twitch.

"Damn, Cameron. That was amazing," I told her as I tried to catch my breath.

"Thank you, the majority of the outfit was chosen by Harley while Lisa picked the g-string," Cameron said as she stood up, letting me see her in all her glory.

"And the dance?" I asked as I noticed the wet reflection along her thighs.

"One of the files from Skynet. My model was intended for subversive infiltration, playing on the emotional vulnerabilities of the Resistance. Sex was seen as a potent weapon in such a role."

As much as it made sense, I couldn't help but remember an episode of a sitcom where two guys had argued about why Skynet, an emotionless AI, would make a sexy killer robot. I had the answer.

"If you're able, I'd like to continue," Cameron said, pulling me from my musings.

I was about to say something about a willing spirit and weak flesh, but paused. Normally by now I'd be feeling a rather significant amount of exhaustion, but I didn't. Now that I'd had a chance to catch my breath, I felt just as energized as always. That… even when I was in the best shape of my life, that didn't happen.

"I guess I can," I said aloud as I stood up and followed Cameron to the bed.

She took my hands in hers as she sat on the edge, before reaching over and pulling my shirt off over my head. After dropping my shirt to the floor, Cameron lay back, sliding further into the middle of the bed until she was happy with her position, before fluffing her hair and all but posing.

"Claim me," Cameron said, with a husky, needy undertone as she spread her legs apart.

Despite having cum twice, even before Tara Q improved my body I wouldn't have been able to resist. Climbing up onto the bed, I let my hands slide along her legs, enjoying the feel of her smooth skin. Starting at her feet, I slowly slid upwards, feeling the muscles under her skin, knowing the sheer strength held within each leg as I reached her knees. It was as my fingers found the back of her knees that Cameron suddenly started to giggle, surprising us both.

"Are you ticklish?" I asked in surprise at the sudden jerking out of her previous centerfold pose.

"I wasn't… it appears the modifications to my organic sheathe are more extensive than I realized," Cameron noted, staring down at where my hands still held her leg.

I couldn't help but chuckle at that, though I moved my hands away from the back of her knee all the same. I didn't have the durability to engage in the tickle torture of a terminator. So setting that aside to tell Kara and possibly Nikhol at a later point, I moved up to Cameron's glorious, perfectly smooth thighs. Leaning down, I brought my head down to her leaking core, the mound of her labia swollen with her arousal (a small part of my mind couldn't help but note the oddity of an AI experiencing arousal). As I was preparing to return the favor of Cameron's earlier going down on me, I felt her hands in my hair as she pulled my head up and away, her eyes looking down between the valley of her pert breasts.

"Bear, I appreciate the thought, but that isn't what I want. Claim me as yours, fill me with your seed," Cameron said, her voice filled with need and lust.

"If that's what you want, my sexy terminator," I said as I moved further up.

The rest of her skin was just as smooth as her legs, and despite not being visible to the eyes, I could feel the corded muscles of her abs as my hands moved up to cup her breasts. Small, perky, firm, and a perfect handful. Leaning down, I took one pebbly nipple into my mouth and gave it a suckle, before breaking away to capture her lips in a kiss.

One of her dainty hands found my shaft, her smooth, powerful legs wrapping around my waist as she guided my head to her entrance. Breaking our kiss, I gazed into her eyes and asked, "Are you ready?"

"Take me," she whispered, before reaching up and pulling my head down for another searing kiss.

Unable to resist even if I had wanted to, I met Cameron's passionate kiss as I slid deep into her pussy.