The Guise of Loyalty

by berkeleyjake

[Sequel to The Guise of Family] - Following the death of the King, Harry returns to Hogwarts as the new Guardian still sleeps below. While shadows of the past stalk Harry and his sister; they will delve into the secrets of warding, dark creatures, and ritual magic. New teachers arrive at Hogwarts in preparation for a gathering of epic proportions.

15. Love is a Battleground

Love is a Battleground

---

The party went well into the night. When Harry and Lyra were tired, an elf directed them to a secret staircase that led them up into the main house. Whispers was already in their bedroom, completely zonked out, so they both cuddled into bed with him and went to sleep.

The three of them were woken up together in the morning by the sound of rain on the window. A bit of sun was coming through the clouds but the water was still heavy enough to be loud on the glass. As it was still early, Harry pulled out their copy of the new Lockhart book and opened it to start reading together.

---

Gilderoy Lockhart: Vampires of the Mind

Introduction

This book is intended to be one of my last published works and if you are reading it, that means I am dead. I assume I went out in a blaze of glory, spanking a nundu or dancing with a hydra. I will never know. I wanted to leave all my readers with a book that wasn't a story as most of my collective work has been, and instead, make it a warning to look closely at the things right in front of you and watch where you step.

This book is not about vampires, despite the title. It is about a range of beings that most of us know and sees in our lives and how they feed on our thoughts and emotions. To make sure everyone reads the book and doesn't just skip to the last chapters, I have asked my publisher to enchant the pages so that you may not see any new pages until you have read the ones before.

Nothing was written below that, so Harry and Lyra stopped for a moment to skim through the next few pages, only to find all that remained completely blank. They turned back to where they had been before to watch more writing fill in at the bottom of the page.

Pretty neat, right? It's based on a 'Burn after reading' enchantment, but it just fills in more pages as you go.

I make no claims to being a sociologist, demihumanologist, or magizoologist; not even an honorary member of the Newt Scamander Junior Adventure Club. I have, however, traveled the world and encountered many strange things and people. Everything in this book is conjecture that is only backed up by my own theories and some experiences, though I am very sure they are correct. Now, I'm going to break the promise I made just a minute ago for you and talk about vampires.

There are many types of bloodsuckers around the world; some that can transform into fireflies and hunt children, another that has no teeth but drinks blood by impaling victims with its fingernails, or even one that preys on the unborn through the belly button of the mother. However, I will be focusing on the most common, organized, and sociable kind; originating from Eastern Europe. Most people know the basic details of them as their legends have bled through the Statue of Secrecy over into muggle fairytales and pop culture. These vampires feed on human blood through retractable fangs for sustenance; the blood gives them inhuman strength, and drinking magical blood allows them to perform magic while the blood is fresh in their system.

Feeding on a single person multiple times over long stretches turns them, muggle or magical, into a completely submissive thrall. They will have free will in matters that don't pertain to their master but will be undyingly loyal to them as well. During my time when I wrote Voyages with Vampires, I spoke with many of these thralls and began to understand them on a personal level.

Before meeting their masters, all of them had been very independent and self-reliant. Both men and women who would be self-starters and successful individuals in society are now reduced to playthings and food sources. Not only that, they were completely content with their current situation.

None of these thralls started as submissive individuals; they were turned into this by their vampire masters. This made me wonder how vampires picked their prey. I am relatively sure that they get more than just sustenance from feeding on blood. The real treat for a vampire comes from systematically stripping away the independent nature of the men and women they feed on, then devouring their loneliness after they are totally reliant on their master for everything in their new lives.

However, there are some who are too strong in their independence for the vampire to take it away from them. I believe this is how new vampires are selected, and when they encounter a wizard with such potential, they will seek to turn them into another vampire or kill them. None of the ones I met were willing to disclose how such a conversion took place, but all of the vampires I met confirmed that when they were human, they were very independent and valued their solitude while achieving high levels of success in life.

Muggles have created many incredible and terrible things in this world, though one of the most evil of them is something called a 'Pyramid Scheme.' It seeks to trap someone in a business that funnels money to their supervisors by forcing those beneath them to work for them and trick those beneath them into becoming just as evil as them by recruiting more. Vampires maintain a connection to all those they turn and to those who turned them. I feel that if a vampire is unable to break through the independence of their victims, they will seek to turn them so that they feed on them through their victims instead. Maybe the Pyramid Scheme isn't a muggle creation and was just a muggle-savvy vampire instead.

Again, this is just my conjecture and I have no proof that it is the truth. It is also the least relevant of vampiric creatures as they already feed on their victims' blood, so any emotional drainage is secondary. There are plenty of other creatures that feed on your mind, and you may keep reading to hear all my theories.

---

Well, that was an interesting start… though they couldn't read anymore for now. After getting dressed, they made their way downstairs to find themselves on the main floor instead of the ballroom that had been there before. Brandt was eating breakfast when they arrived.

Their day was going to be full. With Alessandra Zabini's wedding the next day, they had to pick up her gift, get fitted for their own clothes, and pay a visit to Ricki's day spa to see how his new business was doing. They ate a full breakfast and ventured out into the alley.

With the rain coming down hard, Brandt passed out umbrellas but told them to practice their levitation charms by holding them in the air as they walked. As a result, their progress slowed and they arrived at the Knitter Critter wet, though Whispers had been playing in the rain, so that had been his choice. A tap of Lyra's staff and they were warm again, with steam coming off their clothes and hair.

Madison was not in the shop, but her assistant delivered to them a triangular box as tall as Whispers. It was made of black leather with gold markings and a sturdy handle on the top. They were warned sternly not to shrink the box or cast any magic to alter it in any way. Opal was called to take the box and the warnings were repeated to her before she left.

Brandt made sure to have Harry and Lyra pay for the dress so they could see how much something like this would cost them. They both needed to empty the gold they had with them to make sure that one of them didn't completely run out. Even with their discount, the dress they were purchasing for the present was obscenely expensive. Not yeti-fur expensive but more expensive than all their school material combined, and one of the largest purchases they had made.

Their next stop was another clothing store called Twilfitt and Tattings. While the Knitter Critter primarily made clothing from an extensive range of animals, this boutique worked with just a few of the most luxurious fabrics and made custom garments for the upper class of magical society. Brandt instructed the two children to look for styles they liked as well as a new hat for Whispers. If they didn't have something in an hour, he'd pick something for them. While the three of them ran off, he chatted with the clerk.

Harry brought back a one-piece robe of black with the chest area covered in golden embroidery to make it look like a piece of armor that had a golden sash around the waist. Whispers came back next with a stovepipe hat with an asymmetrical top. Lyra was last with a maroon dress that had a slight ruffle near the fringes and a velvet sheen to it.

Brandt had been speaking to the saleswoman the whole time as they came back, whispering about how the outfits needed to be modified, then she called out assistants to help. Whispers was the easiest to do as they simply changed the color to a royal blue and made his hat slightly taller. When they tried changing Harry's robe from black to blue, he tried to stop them.

"Your invitations said to wear blue," Brandt told him.

"But Blaise told us not to," Harry countered.

"Is this for the Strauss wedding?" one of the assistants asked. "Everyone there is going to be wearing blue. I feel like I've done so many color-changing charms in the last month that my magic is going to run out of that color. I've done every possible shade of blue you can imagine."

"Can you keep it as close as possible to black?" Harry asked hopefully.

She waved her wand and turned the robe bright blue. From there, it got darker and darker until it appeared black but had a hint of a lighter color when the fabric moved in the right way. They made alterations in the size so it fit properly, though Harry made them make it looser because he wanted to fit other clothes underneath and make sure it would not tear if he needed to run or fight.

When it was Lyra's turn, she stood in front of the dress and firmly said, "Mine stays red."

"It would be rude not to do as the invitation asked," Brandt told her with disapproval.

"I'm wearing the red," she said again firmly.

Brandt just shrugged, "If that's what you want. Let's try to make it a bit nicer, though."

The final result took away some of the velvet shine and added a splatter of red sequins on top of the maroon fabric that sparkled gold when the light hit them. She also got black boots and agreed to a charm that would have them leave deep purple footprints that would vanish after two seconds. Since Brandt initially proposed blue footprints, he figured that purple was the closest he would get to her agreeing.

Whispers was told to hide as they continued to their next destination outside of Diagon Alley. It wasn't too far away but it was in a muggle area, so a large silver monkey would be a bit out of place, and he had to stick close to keep underneath the umbrellas and avoid bumping into muggles. As the light of the day started to fade from the gray clouds, they arrived at a small alley with colored lights strung up above the boutique shops that lined the street. Most of them were related to muggle fashion but there were also a few art galleries and gift stores. Along the way, Brandt tried to explain to Harry and Lyra how much money they had spent that day. It was about five months of work for Tonks or twenty years of sales for Lyra's tea potion.

In the middle of the alley was a brightly colored salon. The front of the store had molding around the entrance and windows to make it look like a fancy French castle with "The Chateau" written over the entrance. There were a large number of women inside, either being given treatments or waiting in a large seating area, many drinking bubbly liquids from tall glasses.

Brandt stopped both of them before they approached the entrance, "That's for the muggles. Tell me if you can find the entrance for wizards."

They both scanned the area of the store until Lyra spotted a sparkling arrow near a small gap between the shop and the next building. Harry grabbed the hand of an invisible Whispers and led the group towards the narrow street. Harry felt a tingle as they walked single file between the buildings until they reached a door that appeared out of a solid brick wall and opened on its own to give them access.

The room they entered looked the same as the one in front, except it was obviously magical. While patrons were waiting their turn, they sat next to two colored fountains where they saw one person refill a tall glass with the contents. The woman working the front desk was slightly taller than Lyra and had butterflies flying around next to her head. There was a tall, dark man with an impossibly shiny bald head, adding curls to the hair of an elderly woman with brown hair. Blue sparks were emitted every time he finished a strand. Many other magical occurrences were going on with the other patrons while they watched.

Brandt approached the woman at the desk and informed her they had an appointment with Ricki. She seemed to recognize Brandt and led them down a long hallway to an office where Ricki sat, consumed by a mountain of paperwork. He perked up as they entered and rounded the desk towards Brandt with an urgent look on his face as the woman who brought them closed the door behind them.

"Did you do something to my father?" Ricki demanded.

Brandt looked confused, "Ummm. What?"

Ricki walked over to a filing cabinet and pulled out a stack of parchment. Pulling one out, he explained, "Ever since I opened, he's been sending me threats. Congratulations on your new experiment, I will enjoy watching it fail." He threw one parchment behind him. "I wouldn't be surprised if the building burnt to the ground with all the flamers you have working for you." He read off five others with increasing amounts of bigotry before tossing them on the floor. "Then I get this one: You are dead to me, consider this my last letter. You and Mr. Black may do as you see fit."

He started at Brandt and then asked, "What did you do? Memory charm? Imperius curse?"

"When did you get the last one?" Brandt asked with a thoughtful look.

"Tuesday, why?"

Brandt nodded and smiled, "I think I know why. We were both at a meeting over the weekend. You know the Rowle family?"

"I was friends with one of them before I came out."

"Lord Rowle insulted me in front of nearly a hundred others so I dueled him for my honor. When I was done with him, I had cooked him inside and out with dark magic so much that there was smoke coming off his skin, and I forced an apology from him while threatening his life. I figure your father doesn't want to have something similar happen to him."

"I could kiss you right now," Ricki said with a look of awe on his face. "I know you're taken but as soon as I find out who it is, I'll ask her for permission." Turning to the kids, "Good to see both of you again, where's Whispers?"

"Reading the papers on your desk," Lyra replied. She whistled and he reappeared and hopped over to say hello.

"I'll be able to get started on Lyra immediately, but I need Brandt to get Tonks out of my mudroom," Ricki told them. "She's been in there all mopey for the last three hours because her boyfriend dumped her."

"Because she was with Madeleine, the Veela?" Harry asked, remembering Tristan's breakup.

"She shagged a Veela?" Ricki looked surprised. "I'll need to bug her about that later. No, something else. Just please get her to go home. If it was my home, she could spend the night, but this is a business and I can't let anyone else in the room with a grumpy auror."

Ricki took Lyra and Whispers and headed back to the main room, and directed Harry and Brandt to another room down the hall from the office. When they arrived, Brandt knocked quickly and opened the door to reveal a dark room with small tubs built into the floor and a few candles burning around the one where Tonks was submerged in mud up to her neck. She had stringy and curly black hair that fell down her face. She was crying quietly.

"Go away, Ricki!" she called out. Then after a moment of silence, added, "Unless you're bringing more ice cream."

"No such luck, Miss Tonks," Brandt replied. "It's Harry and me. Ricki sent us to collect you."

"Go away, this is partially your fault!" she yelled back.

"As one of the owners of this establishment, you need to clear the room for other patrons," Brandt said with authority.

That was the wrong thing to say, as he didn't even get his wand out before a pink spell hit him in the face. Harry watched in horror as Brandt's lips started to swell, followed by his eyes, cheeks, and forehead. He fumbled for his wand only to find his fingers had grown too thick to grab anything with. He tried to speak, but his tongue was too big for words. Not having any recourse, he fled the room, leaving Harry alone in the dark room with an angry woman.

"Asshole," she muttered as the door closed.

"I'm still here," Harry spoke up.

"You got something smart to say too? I can guarantee you that you would rather go fight another basilisk."

Harry turned invisible and crept along the side of the room before jumping into the empty tub, sunken into the floor next to Tonks.

"Do you want to talk? Ricki didn't even know about Madeline, so I have no idea what's wrong."

Tonks groaned, "You told him about the Veela? I am never going to live that down. Remmy dumped me because of those wolves on the island. His whole family used to hunt werewolves until it became illegal. Now they just work in the ministry and try to get them all out of this country. However, I occasionally hear rumors that the older members of the family take contracts around the world to kill them. I didn't think Remmy was into that kind of thing."

"So he is mad that you didn't kill Ivan and Lennix?" Harry asked.

"Just I was social with them at all. He would probably have been ok if I had fought him to just submit to me or to tell him to sit and stay like a good dog. He told me that it was because I had a friendly duel with him that was the problem."

Harry peeked up over the edge of the tub he was in to look at Tonks, "I had thought he liked you because Brandt told me you beat him up." She let out a strained chuckle at his comment. "Though Tristan told me that people in relationships like to be the only ones for each other. Like an oath between both people."

"But he didn't care that I shagged that Veela. I told him about it and he shrugged it off."

"I think he wanted to be the only person you had friendly fights with," Harry said with the sage wisdom of a child who had no idea what he was talking about. "Not only that, you had a friendly fight with someone his whole family hates."

Tonks sniffled a little and turned her head to look at Harry peeking over the edge of his tub, "I think that's close enough to what happened. What sage advice would you give me for the future?"

Harry thought about it, and said, "Don't make an oath to anyone when you aren't completely sure of what their terms are." After a moment's thought added, "Make sure they know what your terms are too."

"That sounds lonely," she replied.

"Why? Not swearing an oath doesn't mean you can't be around others without one."

"Oh, you mean no strings?" Tonks asked.

"Maybe?" Harry wasn't sure what that meant. "I guess?"

"That sounds like the best thing to do right now," Tonks sounded less sad. "Now duck down into your tub so I can get out and shower off."

Harry obeyed as he heard wet footsteps on the floor and a shower run for half a minute. When it went off, she told him he could come out. In the candlelight, he could see Tonks in a white robe with her hair still dangling in curls around her face.

"I like your hair like that," Harry commented.

Like a flinch, the hair immediately retracted to a pixie cut and turned green, "You're the only one in the country who thinks so. I look like an evil bitch."

Without elaborating, she headed out the door, leaving Harry to run after. Tonks ducked into a locker room and came out minutes later in her Auror uniform. From there, they walked back to the main salon where the man with the shiny head was attempting to get rid of the curse she had hit Brandt with while he lay on a padded bed.

His arms and legs were swollen so much they wouldn't bend and only the left side of his face had the curse removed. He looked up at Tonks and groaned in pain. She just stood there and stared at him with slight satisfaction.

When she was done letting him suffer, she asked, "Are you done telling me what to do?" He groaned and nodded. "Consider this a lesson, just because I don't want your stupid name, that doesn't mean I can't dish it out like a Black."

With that said, she gave an elaborate-sounding whistle and hit him with a dark green spell, which caused the swelling to start to go down. Ricki turned away from where he was working on Lyra but before he could say anything, she was already out the door.

"What did you end up telling her, Mr. Potter?" he ended up asking Harry.

"I'm not sure… I told her what Tristan had told me about his breakup. Relationships are complicated."

There were chuckles from around the room from the others listening in. Harry went back to sit with Brandt while he recovered from the curse and to wait for his sister to be finished. Whispers joined him after leaving a group of women who had been scratching his back after giving him one of the bubbly drinks from the fountain.

Nearly thirty minutes later, Ricki finished up and brought Lyra over. Her hair had been done in a double dragon tail braid going down both sides of her shoulders. Her eyes looked like they had red and yellow feathers blossoming around them and leading back to her temples. They looked a lot like the plumage of the hoohoos back home. Except for a small streak of teal under her lower eyelid on both sides.

Harry gave her a glowing review, then asked Ricki, "What can you do for me?"

He gave a glance towards Brandt for approval before asking what Harry was wearing. Just adding a bit of color, Ricki gave him some gold eyeliner and tried to style his hair. After changing his hair failed, he placed an enchantment on it that made it sparkle with gold when he moved. After looking in a mirror, Harry thought it looked amazing, even if nothing could ever change how his hair behaved.

Before leaving, Ricki retrieved his Polaroid and a magical camera and took a few shots of the makeup on the two children in various poses before handing the Polaroids to them.

Since the wedding was the next day, extra spells were layered on top of the work on both children so it would last through the following evening. They were also given small muggle shampoo bottles containing a potion that would wash everything away when they were done. Since Harry's hair had an active magical effect, Brandt conjured a hat for him to wear on their way back through muggle London, towing Whispers while he was invisible.

---

They arrived at Gorman Strauss's estate in the early afternoon the following day. Brandt ended up wearing what looked like a military uniform. The overall color was a solid blue with gold accents and insignia that didn't seem to signify anything specific. One shoulder was covered by the reflective dragon scale that they had found in the poacher's chest on the island. When Lyra asked about it, Brandt informed her he still had no idea what kind it was, and no one on the dragon reserve had been able to tell him. He was planning on wearing it as a fashion accessory to this event in hopes that one of the random people at the event would see it and tell him. If it was as rare as he thought, anyone who recognized it would certainly have something to say about it.

The estate was massive. There was a large manor situated in the middle, and many gardens filled the rest of it, all immaculately cared for. As they walked through the grounds, which smelled fresh from the previous day's rain, Harry spotted a large paddock where a number of horses ran around. Several of them were the ones he had seen before with manes and hooves of blue fire that were pulling the carriage on Valentine's Day.

The ceremony was taking place in a large open field with seats packed inside a large circle, divided into quarters, and facing a stage in the middle. Two long aisles came from either side of the stage with white carpet lining the path. Guests scattered around, finding their seats. The kids recognized many people from school and waved but couldn't go socialize yet.

Brandt quickly taught both of them a modified version of the compass spell, which worked with a focus, and told them to use it with their wands on top of the invitations. Placing their wands on the invitations on an open palm, they cast the spell, which caused their foci to spin in place before pointing to the same location in the mass of chairs. When they arrived at the spots, they sat down in what were plain white chairs only for them to shift into having soft seats and high backs, which would probably block the people behind them. As others sat down, there was a similar effect on their seats.

They waved to more and more people they knew as the whole area filled up. Most were other students from Hogwarts, but there were quite a few they had met in other places through a few random occurrences. A few of the Aurors who had been in their detail when they had first arrived at the Leaky Cauldron, owners of some of the fancier stores in Diagon Alley, people they had met at the Abbots' winter party, and the Harpies quidditch match. Both of their expressions soured a bit as they spotted Yaxley, MacNair, and a few other surly-looking attendees heading to their seats on the other side of the field. Harry felt slightly better as Walden MacNair scratched at his arm that had been burned by his magic, now covered by a thick, black glove.

When it seemed like everyone was seated, a small pillar rose from the center stage, and water started to come out of it, trickling upwards into the sky. As it leaked upwards, it formed a giant ball of water. When it was nearly twenty feet in diameter, singing could be heard and as people looked around, two pegasi flew in from different sides of the area, each with two women riding on them. The ones holding the reins had silver hair and we're certainly Veela, singing beautiful harmonized vocals. The women riding behind them both leaped from the flying horses simultaneously straight into the ball of water.

As soon as they entered, their legs transformed into the tails of Merfolk, and they began to sing as well, adding a new and amazing level of music to the singing of the Veela, still circling the liquid orb on the pegasi. As they reached the peak of the song, the women all gestured to one side of the entrance, opposite where Harry was sitting, to where the white carpet came from.

From an explosion of blue fire, Gorman Strauss emerged. He wore a suit of bright blue, two long tails coming down from his coat as he walked purposefully towards the stage. The singing grew more dramatic as he walked. Each row of seating he passed rose slightly from the ground, creating an amphitheater on the side he had entered from. When he arrived at the stage, the music became softer as the singers gestured to the side where Harry was sitting. Looking back to the end of the aisle, blue flower petals swarmed in the air like a hurricane falling to reveal Alessandra Zabini.

Her dress was more conservative than the last times they had seen her, covering up to her neck and all the way down her arms. It appeared to be made up of blue leaves, arranged in a gradient of color from dark at the top to white at the hems. The seats on her side also rose in a dramatic fashion as she passed by. As they were near the front, the four of them were only slightly higher than the main stage.

When she arrived, the singing stopped and the Mermaids leaped out of the bubble, their tails turning into the same sparkly dresses they had been wearing before with their feet sticking out from underneath. They were caught by the Veela and put back on the rear saddles of the pegasi. As they flew off in opposite directions, the large sphere of water exploded into a million tiny bubbles that floated down onto the crowd.

With everyone looking up at the singers, Harry missed how a wizard in black robes appeared next to the couple on the stage. With the singing stopped, there was already quiet, but he raised his arms to ask for it anyway.

"We are gathered here today…"

---

The ceremony wrapped up quickly and ended with the couple embracing in a deep kiss and thousands of bluebirds being released into the air around them. The raised seating slowly lowered back to the ground level and ushers began to guide all the guests back to the manor house. Like at the Abbots party, the inside had been magically expanded to allow for a huge influx of guests. Harry noticed a few doors to the side that had been hidden as they were much smaller than they should be to take the place of the expansion. Again, their invitations guided them to their seats, where they found mostly empty spots, but also an elderly woman sitting with Neville Longbottom.

"Hey there, guys," he said sheepishly.

"You're ok!" Harry exclaimed as Lyra ran around the table to greet him.

Whispers didn't bother going around and bounded over the table to greet him, knocking him over and the sticking charm kept his blue hat barely on his head. Harry and Lyra helped him back to his feet while Whispers poked him and chirped repeatedly.

"When did you get out of the hospital?" Harry asked.

"Last week," his grandmother spoke for him. "Your tutor here provided the healers with a number of very old texts on mind magic that helped discover what has happened to him as well as how to treat it."

"It was with Lord Black's approval," Brandt corrected. "I had read about a similar situation and thought to share it as Mr. Longbottom had aided Harry in the rescue of his sister. No debts among comrades in arms."

"They found something else, though," Neville spoke up. "I was obliviated as a baby. It was probably when my parents were attacked…" he trailed off.

"Probably some cast-happy obliviator from the ministry," his grandmother added. "Probably thought that he shouldn't remember the attack but ignored that you aren't supposed to use memory charms on children under six."

"Is that why you were always so spacey?" Lyra asked.

He nodded, "I'm still adjusting. Sometimes I realize I've been talking for ten minutes, and my brain hasn't stopped like it used to. Looking back, most of my memories seem a bit sluggish. I remember everything, it just feels like moving through mud."

"Did you get a new wand?" Harry asked.

He smiled but gave a fearful look in his grandmother's direction, who was talking with Brandt and looking over some large papers at the other end of the table. Then he pulled out a wand from his pocket that twisted and bent before the straight tip. It had small leaves carved into the wood.

"We went all the way up to the Orkney Islands for it. Seven inches, made from the root of a willow tree, core of a kelpie mane. The wandmaker said it was one of Nessie's!"

He then went on to explain everything he knew about the Loch Ness Kelpie. Harry and Lyra let him go, smiling as he spoke with passion about the subject. Harry also thought he sounded a bit like Hermione. When he got done with the recital, he took a deep breath and plopped down in his seat.

They were joined by Greg and his father, who immediately split up for the adults to talk, and Greg was updated on Neville's recovery. There were four more seats at the table that didn't seem like they were going to be filled, though as the room started to settle down, they saw Tonks approaching with a man shorter than her in a blue robe.

She was wearing a black and white dress with floral patterns that flared out at her knees with a high slit. The dress had an open and high collar as well as a cape on the back that started at the waist and could be described as "fluffy."

"Are these seats taken?" she asked as the eyes of the man she was with widened towards Harry.

Brandt approached cautiously, and said with an equal amount of caution, "I wasn't aware that you had an invitation to the event, Miss Tonks."

The man she was with stepped forward and extended his hand to Brandt, "Steven McCullough, I'm a friend of the groom."

"Brandt Black, Lyra Black, Harry Potter," he gestured to the kids, "friends of the bride. How do you know Miss Tonks?"

"Complete coincidence," Tonks jumped in. "After I removed that curse on you, I went out for a drink. Steven was there and had just gone through a breakup of his own and mentioned he'd be coming to the wedding solo. After a night on the town, he asked me to accompany him."

"Quite a coincidence," Brandt mused and looked Tonks over. "That's a very nice dress. It looks to be made of Lace of the Endless Steppe, am I right?"

Steven stared at Tonks with wide eyes, "Is it really? That is quite exquisite and rare."

Tonks looked slightly uncomfortable, then said, "I recently came into some money and needed a nice outfit for the wedding."

"You mean from your potion sales?" Harry asked, unaware that she was trying to avoid the topic subtly.

Steven got an explanation from Harry on the time adjustment potion and complemented Tonks on her invention, then asked if they could sit with them at the table. Tonks looked like she wanted to get away but after a request from Lyra, they all started to sit down.

They were almost seated when someone called out, "Mr. Black!"

Heads turned to see a woman walking towards them. She had long, shiny black hair done up in a stylish bun on her head. She was wearing a long, forest-green dress that clung to her figure, yet still seemed to have strategically placed wrinkles. When she moved, it seemed to shine gold. She wiggled her fingers to show off a sparkling ring as she approached.

Brandt looked stunned for a moment but started to smile as, without hesitating, she reached up to him and pulled him into a deep and long kiss. Steven whistled a bit before they broke apart.

Before anyone could say anything, Tonks blurted out, "I know you! You're Brandt's betrothed? You work at Ann Summers…" Then added in a whisper, "I thought you were a muggle!"

The woman gave a fake frown, "Aww, you just ruined Brandt's surprise. This is just her face." She pulled out a silver flask and jiggled it before putting it away.

Brandt perked up a bit, then said, "That is a nice surprise. Everyone, this is my betrothed, though she doesn't look like herself now. What name are you going by tonight?"

She gave a hesitant smile, and said, "How about Brooke Divine?" Brandt looked a bit annoyed for half a second before he smiled and nodded.

"Brooke" was introduced to everyone at the table. Harry tried to rack his brain for any time he had met someone similar to her but came up with a big fat nothing. Steven seemed to be getting isolated as Tonks went into full interrogation mode to find out more about her.

"How do you even deal with this idiot?" was probably not the best first question, but she said it anyway.

She threw back her head and laughed, "What's not to love? Handsome, smart, powerful, dedicated to family, frightening when he needs to defend himself or others, he looks out for everyone around him with more than just violence, and is also forgiving when someone curses him in the face."

Tonks looked a bit embarrassed at the last quip but pushed on.

"So what do you do? You must be well known if you have to use polyjuice in public."

"Not all of us can just become whoever we want, though maybe some of that Black blood will give my children a little bit in that department. Most of the family does have a bit, even if it isn't as amazing as your gift." She pulled a strand of the long silky black hair from the bun on her head and played with it for a second before letting it fall, "Though I like being who I am in public. I enjoy the attention that I get from the people who know me, though I can't have people know I'm betrothed or it loses the appeal for my admirers. I like my private life to stay private"

"So… some kind of model or celebrity that men desire."

"And women," Brooke said with a shrug. "Maybe a Playwizard centerfold? The one last month riding on the unicorn, possibly?" Tonks seemed to think for a moment before blushing as Brooke smirked, "I see you know the one I mean."

"Hey! I'm supposed to be interrogating you!"

Brandt playfully pulled Brooke closer to him and said, "You won't get anywhere if you have nowhere to start, Miss Tonks."

Further conversation was halted as the bride and groom were announced. They had a long first dance and then others were invited to join them as small bits of food appeared on the tables. Brandt and 'Brooke' got up to dance and told the children to explore and have fun, and that there should be other kids they knew around the area.

There were probably close to a thousand people at the wedding, so Harry and Lyra just stared at all of them for a while before deciding to go in opposite directions. They quickly played Rock, Paper, Scissors for who would take Whispers, which Harry lost, and watched the two of them disappear into the crowd. While Neville wasn't as spacey as he used to be, he was in a long, one-sided conversation with Greg, so Harry set off on his own.

He was stopped numerous times as he walked around for people to shake his hand. He tried to file the names and faces away, then get away so he could find someone he knew. After some wandering, he saw a bunch of slightly older boys gathered around a table and decided to investigate. Some of them were shoving each other back and forth, which gave Harry the opportunity to squeeze through. Sitting on the other side of them was Blaise's cousin, Gisella Daza.

She was wearing a strapless crystal blue dress and looked bored, lounging in her chair and humming to herself, as the group of boys tried to get her attention. She had been part of a large bounce duel to blow off some steam at the Abbots' winter party. As he had slipped to the front of the group, one boy tried to push him to the side to gain his spot at the front of the group vying for her attention, though he deftly sidestepped the shove and the boy fell onto an empty chair. Giselle perked up at the fallen boy as he turned around and started to draw his wand, though he froze as he found a knife on his neck, held by Harry.

"Hello again, Mr. Potter," Gisella smiled in a predatory way. The other boy reassessed his situation and sheathed his wand, and Harry lowered his knife, sticking it back in his pouch. "Come and sit with me," she patted the seat next to her.

He shivered a little bit, feeling a bit odd being a little too quick to violence. The knife was in his hand before he realized it as soon as the other boy reached for his wand. Wanting the situation to be over, he sat next to Gisella as the crowd of older boys dispersed.

"How's France?" Harry asked, remembering she went to school there.

"Warmer than here," she replied sadly. "It looks like you've been somewhere warm, too, with that nice tan. Where do you spend your summers?"

"My home is an…" Harry began absentmindedly, then stopped. No. His home was a secret.

"Don't be afraid, you can tell me," she pressed.

What was the harm in telling people? People in the ministry knew the Usurper was from the Philippines. He could just tell her the country and that would be fine. He was just about to respond when an older woman approached and slapped Gisella on the back of her head.

"Stop it," she ordered the girl. "Alessandra says he's off limits."

"But mom!" the girl pouted as Harry wondered what was going on.

The woman was as gorgeous as Alessandra, though with a slightly lighter skin tone. She looked down at Harry and he got a shiver as she stared at him. He thought he saw her lick her lips slightly before she extended a hand to him, "It's good to meet you, Mr. Potter. I am Nikoleta Daza, Gisella's mother."

That name rang an alarm bell for Harry. Quickly connecting the dots in his brain, he remembered that she was one of the names, along with Gisella, that Blaise's mother had mentioned when interrogating Lockhart shortly before his death. Somehow this woman, and her daughter, by extension, were dangerous. He shook her hand and made a hasty retreat.

He snaked his way through the dance floor and found Brandt dancing with Brooke on the far side. They looked like they were having fun, whispering and laughing here and there. He didn't see Brandt laughing very often. After watching them for nearly a minute, he made his approach, Brooke noticed him first and stopped their dance.

"I need to tell you something," Harry addressed his tutor with a glance behind him to see if anyone was listening.

The happy look on both adults' faces vanished immediately. Harry stared at them for a moment and then followed as Brandt led him away. They found a small corner, and Brandt protected it with a number of privacy wards, the last of which seemed to hum.

"Were you actually having fun?" Harry asked. "Your happy faces vanished like it was an occlumency exercise."

Brandt gave him an appraising look and nodded, "We were having a serious conversation, though we certainly were having fun, just needed others not to investigate us for not looking like we were just dancing. Good eye to see that, I'll have to practice a more gradual fade for my emotional shields. Now… what do you need to tell me?"

Harry looked around the large room, then said, "Mrs. Zabini's family is here. They are all dangerous."

Brandt showed genuine caution on his face, "Dangerous, how?"

"At the winter party, Blaise introduced me to his cousin, Gisella. I met her here, a lot of boys were around her, and they almost got into a fight. One of them tried to push me and I had a knife to his throat without realizing it. Then she started asking me about where I live and I would have told her everything if her mother hadn't come over and slapped her and then told her that Blaise's mom said I was 'off limits.'"

Brandt seemed to be calculating something, and said, "Did she feel like a Veela? Like being around Madeline?"

"What? Madeline is nice. What's wrong with Veela?"

"You didn't feel a floaty sensation? Like a desire to appease her?"

Harry shook his head, "No, it felt more like I didn't have to worry about what I was doing. Like there weren't consequences for my actions…" he paused for a moment. "There's another thing. I knew her mother's name before she introduced herself. Lyra and I heard it when Mrs. Zabini was talking to Lockhart one night."

Brandt's eyes made the connection, "That's what you said to him before the incident with Neville in the Chamber. We can't spend too much time talking about this here, we will go over it in more detail later. Stay away from those women, go find Lyra and keep her out of trouble, she can have a more explosive personality than you."

Harry nodded and went off to find Lyra. If being around these women caused violence, then an unrestrained Lyra would be a disaster. He made a large loop of the room and eventually found a small lounge to the side where a number of teenagers were congregating. Whispers was standing on a chair to the side where a line of boys was trying to heat him in Rock, Paper, Scissors. Behind them were Lyra, Daphne, Tracey, the Patil twins, and a few other girls he didn't recognize lounging and watching the line of boys.

As Harry ran over to them, one of the boys in the line reached out and grabbed Harry by the arm, "Oi! Can't you see there's a line?"

Harry felt the urge to punch the boy in the face. Quickly, he focused on his occlumency and found that the emotion seemed to start in his temples and work its way to his fists. Shutting it down immediately with thoughts of the hot springs, he turned to face the boy.

"That's my sister over there, and the demiguise is family." He wrenched his arm away and went over to see them.

After a quick hello to the others, he concentrated on the magic in the owl feather around his neck and, when the silencing field was up, asked, "What's going on here?"

"It's kind of fun," Lyra said with a smirk. "I was chatting with the other girls when a few of the boys came in asking us to dance. None of us wanted to but they were annoyingly persistent, and then Tracey thought up the idea that anyone that could beat Whispers could get their pick of us to dance with. Of course, no one can beat Whispers. More boys keep coming in and the line gets longer."

"Something isn't right here," he told her gravely. "It feels like there are no consequences for my actions. Do you feel it?" she shook her head. He looked at all the boys standing in line to challenge Whispers in an impossible game, "Does that seem right to you? Some of them are too old to be this gullible. Try telling them to do something else."

Lyra thought about it for a moment and then called out to a boy in the line, "You, no, you with the white shoes. If you can do a handstand for ten minutes, I'll dance with you."

Without skipping a beat, he jumped out of line and tried to do a handstand. He lasted three seconds but jumped up and tried again… and again… and again…

"Stop!" Lyra told him, then paused. "Go to the back of the line."

The boy sulked away as a few others started to do handstands without being told. Padma Patil approached them and stared at the odd display.

"Ok, this is weird. At first, it was funny, now it seems like they are bewitched," she said humorously.

Harry looked around the room a bit before spotting a woman on the couch sitting with three girls all between seven to ten years old. The woman was swaying back and forth like she was humming a song.

"Wait here," Harry told his friends and started to walk over to her.

As he got closer, the feeling in his temples got stronger and he pushed all his thoughts of the calm hot springs forward to block the powerful emotions of being completely carefree and unafraid of himself or his actions.

Remembering the one other name that Alessandra had said when confronting Lockhart, he asked, "Are you Fabianne?"

Her eyes showed a bit of shock, "I am, I didn't think that the famous Harry Potter would know someone like me."

"I know you're doing something here. Stop it," he commanded.

"I don't know what you're referring to," she said sweetly but even as she spoke, the strange feeling on his occlumency shields started to fade.

The boys behind him started to walk away as well. Harry watched them look around and giggle nervously before walking away. Harry refocused on Fabienne.

"Sure you don't," he told her and then flared his magic.

He funneled into the magic the hate he felt for the poachers who killed the demiguises on the boat and anyone who would hurt his family. A few of the boys behind him tripped and fell while Fabianne looked totally unaffected. However, when the youngest of the little girls started to cry, he stopped immediately. She scooped up the crying girl in her arms and left the room with the other two following quickly. Harry turned back to Whispers and the group of girls.

"What just happened?' Daphne asked.

Lyra told her that the woman was somehow bewitching the boys to act like idiots. Parvati and a couple of the girls that Harry didn't know objected to him stopping the show. That had Tracey yell at those girls and explain to them what might have happened if the situation was reversed and asked them what boys would have done if they could have been in control.

"Wait…" Padma spoke up, "Why wasn't Harry affected?"

"Blaise's cousin did it to me earlier, I almost killed someone." That silenced the girls who had thought it was fun. "It's hard, but occlumency helps ignore the feelings."

One of the other girls stood up and walked over to Harry, "Well, now that all the boys are gone, I want to dance. I've got dibs on Harry Potter."

Harry was a bit shocked but stared back, saying, "I don't know you."

Most of the other girls laughed and the one who asked him fled the room in embarrassment.

"That was harsh," Daphne told him seriously.

"What? I didn't know her," Harry explained. "She didn't introduce herself."

That caused another round of laughter, and Tracey took Harry by the hand, "I'll take Harry. Someone should explain to Shannon that it wasn't personal, she should have just introduced herself first."

Harry followed Tracey out. Harry whispered to her along the way, "I don't know how to dance."

"I don't like dancing either," she told him with a smirk. "It just seemed like the others would have pounced on you with introductions if I didn't. Let's just get some food."

On the way back to the table, Harry saw Brandt from across the room. Feeling a light puff of air on his face, he knew that the Steward wanted an update, so he pushed a thought of Fabianne to the front of his mind and gave a small nod, which Brandt returned. At the table, they both filled their plates with salads and dug in. In the middle of eating, Blaise showed up. He was wearing a nearly identical copy of the suit Gorman Strauss was in, made for a child. He did not look happy wearing it.

He tilted his head back and forth, then said, "Looks like you got stuck with a little blue after all. Lyra looks great in the red."

"I tried to get out of it," Harry told him. "Brandt wouldn't let me."

"You look just like the son Gorman never had," Tracey teased him.

"And never will," Blaise said darkly. "So, I heard Harry met some of my family. They're like gremlins, causing chaos everywhere. They wanted to apologize for their actions."

"I almost killed someone," Harry said sternly.

"I hadn't heard that part," he looked concerned. "Probably Gisella, right? Yeah, I thought so. Well, it won't happen again. Though if you're looking to do some more flexing, your sister is dancing with a boy from Durmstrang."

Tracey and Harry looked at the dancefloor to see Lyra dancing energetically with a boy wearing what looked like a blue dragonhide vest and black pants. Harry just shrugged.

"She wouldn't be with someone unless she knew she could beat him in a fight." He smiled, "I bet she even threatened him before they went dancing."

"He does look a little nervous," Tracey commented with a smile.

"Well, if she's fine, come with me," Blaise told them. "Have you been to the memory donation yet?"

After replying no, he took them to a room with a short line running out the door. He pushed past them and brought them into a room where there was a man in black robes standing next to one of the guests, sitting in a chair, with his wand to the man's temple. After a moment, he pulled a long silvery strand from the guest's head and placed it in a vial. With another wand flourish, inscribed what was probably the man's name on the side, then placed it in a large chest where a hundred or more were already resting. Blaise took them to the side as the next person in line took a seat.

"Gorman is creating a memory vault for the wedding. Everyone is encouraged to donate a memory of one or both of them so they may see happy memories of their friends and family in the years to come," Blaise explained.

"Isn't that dangerous?" Tracey asked suspiciously.

"When it's your turn, ask to see his contract," he replied. "There is an active magical contract that compels the guy taking the memories to only pull out the ones that the guest supplies, on pain of death."

"I have just a few memories of your mom," Harry replied. "Only one of the two of them together."

"Valentine's day?" Blaise asked and got a nod. "Sure, give that."

"Your mom taught me and Daphne that frostbite curse," Daphne chuckled. "I'm giving that, along with her commentary on when and where to use it on handsy boys."

Harry wasn't sure what she meant but Blaise flinched a bit at her comment. When the next guest got up, they cut in front of the other guests and took their turn. Harry did ask to see the contract and the man produced a document with silver runes around the outside that shined in the low light of the room. When he tapped it with his wand, a dozen daggers made of ice appeared in the air around his head for a moment before fading away.

The next stop on their journey Blaise them down a small set of stairs to a room with a dueling arena. A small group of teenagers and young adults were standing around the circular platform as two wizards around Tristan's age exchanged spells.

"Does every party have fights?" Tracey asked.

"When you can heal in an instant, fighting for fun is more common," Blaise said with a shrug.

"Lyra will want to be here," Harry announced and pulled a vial out of his pocket containing a crimson liquid.

"Is that blood?" Blaise asked suspiciously as Harry scratched it with a nail and produced a squeaky noise. After getting a squeaky response from the vial, he went back to watching the fight.

Over the summer, Lyra had experimented with the blood bowls they created for long-distance communication that used the ritual sacrifice of a two-headed snake. She found that when using the tracking vials that Brandt always gave them for emergencies, they could send squeaky messages to each other and then follow the pulsing vials to each other. When the vials were capped, they couldn't speak to each other but right now, they didn't need to.

By the time the current fight ended, Lyra had shown up, bringing the Durmstrang boy she had been dancing with and Whispers tagging along while invisible. She brought him over to where the three of them were watching the fight.

"This is Sven," she introduced. "Sven, this is Blaise, Tracey, and my brother Harry."

The boy had the usual reaction to Harry, asking if the kids' books were authentic, then about the basilisk, and a hushed question about Voldemort. When the current duel was over, Lyra jumped up and said she would be fighting against Sven.

He looked towards Harry and asked, "Any advice?"

He smiled and replied, "Fight seriously or it will hurt more when you lose."

He looked nervously at the blonde girl dancing while she waited for her opponent. Steeling himself, he stepped up to face her. Harry looked around the room as they squared off and noticed a few old men exchanging money with each other and whispering and pointing subtly toward Harry.

When the match began, Sven immediately shot two stunners at Lyra which she dodged while casting a tickling jinx back. He continued casting spells that Harry didn't recognize as they were based in a different language as his sister dodged and returned fire with tickling and stinging jinxes.

"Why is she not using fire?" Tracey asked. "That's like her whole thing."

Blaise replied with a questioning tone, "I think she's testing him." After a nod from Harry, "She's trying to see if she even needs to use fire to win."

After she landed a few stinging jinxes on Sven, he started to get angry and shot a purple spell that seemed to be made of liquid and changed shape as it flew. It was also dodged but when it hit the ground, it started to eat away at the floor. Lyra looked a little disturbed at the sight and cast the flame tongue spell she had learned from Tuuk on the dragon reserve.

The flame twisted and snaked across the arena turning back and forth in accordance with Lyra's will. Sven tried to anticipate when it would strike and put up a shield as made a final line toward him. Unfortunately, the shield was too weak and the fire tongue punched right through it and knocked him off the platform while singing his coat.

The room cheered, though Sven looked angry.

"I demand a rematch!" he declared as he repaired the burn damage on his clothes.

Lyra shrugged while Harry cheered and yelled, "Don't go easy on him this time!"

As Sven got back on the platform, Lyra smiled and put away her wand, reaching her hand out to Harry. Her dress didn't have a convenient spot for her pouch, so Harry was carrying her staff in his. He fished it out and tossed it up to her. Sven looked like he was doubting his desire for another fight but couldn't back down now.

Before the fight started, black smoke began pouring out of Lyra's dress where she must have had some Sigbin leather stashed. Above the arena, a small blue orb hovered near the ceiling. Harry looked around and saw Brandt standing with 'Brooke' as he conducted the recording orb with his wand.

As soon as the fight began, Lyra muttered, "Dubtia," and her form blurred.

Sven began to furiously cast spells at the girl he could barely see with black smoke pooling at her feet. The effect was terrifying as she started to advance toward the boy. As no one could track her movements, it looked like small puffs of black smoke were appearing across the arena with a blurry blonde girl inside them. None of Sven's spells were landing and it looked like he might run away as he backed up toward the edge. Finally, Lyra stepped right in front of him and just shoved him off the side.

Harry got to Lyra just as she got to Sven, telling him, "Can we go dance more now?"

He looked at her like she was crazy, nearly shouting, "You humiliated me. Why would I want to dance with you?"

"Because you lost," Harry said firmly. "Winner dictates the terms."

Now Sven looked even more conflicted, though Brandt stepped up trying to diffuse the tension, "Great duel Lyra! Are you going to introduce me to your friend?"

Lyra mumbled, "Not sure he's a friend…" then introduced Sven to Brandt.

The boy's eyes widened dramatically, "You're Brandt… the… the… the…"

"Ulvedreperen," Brandt finished his sentence with a sinister smile. "I am." Sven fled the room. Facing the rest of them, he shrugged, "Nickname and reputation I picked up in school. I guess your generation of students at Durmstrang still know it."

No one had started another duel yet, so Harry took the opportunity to ask, "Can I have a duel with Brooke?"

She gave a questioning glare towards Brandt and held eye contact with him for several moments before facing Harry.

"Three fights," she told Harry. "Quickdraw, Conjured animals, and a standard duel."

After being explained that a quick draw duel was first hit, wins, and started with holstered wands; Harry nodded in agreement. Brooke pulled out her wand and a silver flask, after taking a long drink, she passed it to Brandt and then transfigured her green dress into long green pants that flared slightly at the ankles. Harry simply took off his large robe revealing his snakeskin vest and slacks. Tracey and Blaise, who had been silently watching the exchange with Sven, ran over to where the old men were watching and started to speak with them. Whispers also took that opportunity to turn visible and try to ask for some food from Lyra.

When they were both on the platform, the announcer yelled "Draw!"

Harry didn't even get his wand in his hand before Brooke had drawn hers from a wrist holster and tagged him with a paint spell. Glittering gold paint splattered across his upper chest as he caught his own wand in his left hand and stood there in awe of her speed. There were gasps from the crowd at the swift conclusion of the first duel.

When Harry had regained his wits, he reappraised the woman in front of him. He hadn't thought she was weak, by any means, but she hadn't felt like she would be this formidable. Though Brandt did want to marry her and he didn't think his tutor would want to be with someone who wasn't powerful.

The second duel started and Brooke conjured six abnormally large mongooses, each the size of a German shepherd. She had to know he only knew how to conjure snakes… and beetles… so she had chosen the natural enemy of the stronger one. Though it wouldn't matter as he had been practicing his snake conjuring all summer to fight with Flare's children.

Brandishing his wand, he switched to Parseltongue and incanted four times,

§Serpensortia§ producing four magically perfect constructs that would obey his will.

There was a collective gasp from the audience, hearing magical snake language but even more so at what he created. The first snake was a ten-foot-long cobra, gold and brown in color. The second was a miniature version of the Usurper, only four feet long, but with the same large fangs and red crest. The third was just a touch shorter with the white color of the albino child of Flare and the hidden horn in its tail. The final one was a viper, nearly eight feet long, and had two heads.

This fight was also very quick as Harry's snakes made quick work of the weasels he was fighting. Brooke needed to conduct her conjurations with her wand, while Harry's mind was tied to his and they performed to perfection with a small whisper or a gesture with his hand. With one mongoose left, he paused to let her summon more. She just raised her wand in surrender. He finished it with the white cobra stabbing her tail through the neck of the weasel with her sharp tail, shocking everyone.

"Well that was interesting," Blaise spoke up, jumping onto the platform. "I'll officiate the last duel."

The regular announcer stepped down and Harry dismissed his snakes. Whispers ran up to him on the platform and passed him some jerky which he greedily bit into. However, when he looked across the platform, Brooke was eating some as well.

"I really like the cherry flavor," she smirked at him.

When they were ready to go again, Harry took a quick look around the room. Brandt was exchanging some gold with the old men in the corner, and there was nearly triple the number of spectators as there had been before. The other girls Lyra had been with before were seated on a large conjured couch along with Hannah Abbot and Daphne's little sister, Astoria who was cuddled up to Whispers. Further looks found many of their parents and other classmates. He needed to make a good showing, even though he would almost certainly lose to the woman Brandt had chosen to be his mate and partner in life.

As Blaise raised his hand, Harry slipped his hand into his pouch and scratched the Lamassu fang on his staff, drawing out the strength in its magic. As Blaise dropped his hand, Harry both dodged and brought up a shield immediately, strengthening the regular white magic with the incantation, "Protego!"

His decision to start on the defensive was proven correct as the spot he had been standing a moment before and half of his shield was peppered with small spells, instantly dissolving or reflecting into the wards. He had no time to respond as she continued the barrage while he ran and dodged the onslaught. In a half-second pause in her attack, Harry cast the smoke spell, obscuring his position, and turned invisible.

A gust of wind from Brooke blew the smoke away revealing nothing. In her moment of confusion, Harry began casting his own volleys of magical pulses at her position, being rewarded with two hits before she brought up a shield.

Someone in the audience yelled out, "That's impossible!" as he continued his attack. Unlike regular disillusionment, the invisibility that he and Lyra used would not be broken by casting other magic.

As Brooke stumbled, he paused for a moment to build up a larger magical pulse. Unfortunately, that must have been a bluff as she pointed her wand straight up and bellowed, "Revalio!" sending a pulse outwards around the arena, washing over Harry and turning him visible. While lowering her wand, she drew a large golden circle in the air with it, and two dozen golden orbs appeared in the air along the path of her wand tip.

As soon as the circle was complete, all the golden orbs rushed toward Harry. Focusing all his magic in front of him, he pulled up a shield only for the swarm to stop right in front of it, split in two directions, and pelt him from both sides of his shield. It felt like a barrage of tiny punches with small electric shocks to each one. He dropped to one knee and by the time he looked back up, another swarm was being drawn in the golden circle by Brooke.

Knowing that he wasn't going to be able to play much defense against her attacks, he reached into his pouch and pulled out his staff to aid him.

As some people started yelling about a rule violation, Blaise yelled out to Brooke, "Do you care?" She responded by conjuring another dozen orbs.

His staff gave him a full bubble to protect himself on all sides, though he kept it small to save his energy as the orbs swarmed down and around it. He tried valiantly to shoot small punches of magic at her with his wand but she either dodged them or intercepted them with her own spells. After nearly a minute of continuous attacks, Harry's shield broke and he was hit by countless attacks until he dropped his wand and staff and called out a surrender.

Immediately the attack stopped and the remaining golden spheres danced lazily around the arena before winking out of existence. Harry groaned as someone he didn't recognize came to his side along with Blaise and began casting healing spells on his body where the spells had hit him. Brooke, Brandt, and the rest of his friends came to him as well to make sure he was alright.

"That looked like it hurt," Brooke commented, though she was smiling as well. "Are you ok?"

Harry groaned a bit, but replied, "That was awesome! What was that spell?"

"My own invention. Most wizards will have something special they keep to themselves." She turned to Brandt, "I saw you betting on the fight, who did you put your money on?"

"It was split," he replied with confidence. "You for the first fight, Harry for the second, and you for the third, though I did place a side bet that Harry would land the first hit in the last fight. All winners."

As the pain faded, Blaise told Harry, "Those were some incredible snakes you conjured. You'll certainly be able to beat everyone under the fourth year in the snake pit this year."

"Not the older ones?" Lyra asked.

"The older students get very creative with their conjurations. Last year's winner had a ten-headed hydra that could spit corrosive venom."

Brandt looked pensive, then asked, "And all the students in your house participate?"

"Most of them. Why?"

"Nothing, just keep them training," he replied suspiciously. "Let's get back to the main floor, nearly half the guests were watching your duel and it's not polite to take attention away from the bride and groom."

---

Back at the table, Harry and Lyra met up with Greg and Neville who told them in hushed conversation about sneaking into a betting circle where a group of men and women were wagering on how Groman Strauss was going to die, assuming he would be as short-lived as the rest of Alessandra Zabini's husbands.

Unfortunately, Greg's father heard the conversation. Though after giving them all an intimidating stare, he passed five gold coins to his son with a folded piece of paper and sent him and Neville back to the group betting on Gorman's demise. Whispers looked interested in what the two boys he liked to catch spiders with were doing and tagged along with them.

When the plates for the main course of dinner were cleared, the orchestra playing for the wedding started to pack up their gear. As they left the small stage, a piano appeared in their place. As everyone watched, Alessandra walked up to the stage and faced the crowd.

She put her wand to her throat and spoke with an amplified voice, "Thank you, everyone, who has come to celebrate my wedding to Gorman. Tonight has been absolutely wonderful and like something every little girl would dream of. I will not be playing for you tonight, though I might sing a little later. Right now, I would like to welcome to the stage, Count Balik Alistane who will be performing for the remainder of the evening."

That produced a wide range of reactions. Some people applauded and were genuinely excited, but there were also some who were frighteningly whispering to each other and Harry heard quite a few people mutter, "Vampire."

Just to further terrify people, it seemed, a mass of writhing shadows appeared on the stage which coalesced into a human form and then produced two huge wings, like a thestral, before they vanished to leave a man standing before them. He was wearing all black and was impossibly pale. He had fingers nearly twice as long as an ordinary adult, though the nails had a very clean manicure. The vampire was bald and his eyes glowed softly red.

Alessandra spoke firmly, "Balik is a guest in our home, he has recently fed and is no threat to any of you. I do not wish to do harm to any of you tonight for bringing violence against him."

That seemed to settle down the muttering, though Harry could see in the eyes of many that their feelings hadn't vanished. After reading the introduction to Lockhart's new book, he couldn't blame them either. Most of the guests tensed as he approached the front of the stage and pulled out a knotted white wand, holding it to his throat.

"Thank you, Madam, no one needs to fear anything from me. I am not hungry now."

From what had been written in Lockhart's book, he was performing magic now because he had recently fed on a wizard. It was both settling to know that he would not be seeking another meal and disturbing for the same reason.

The Vampire continued, "I will be playing a variety of pieces tonight, many from when I was a young child and a few more recent. I hope to see many of you come out and dance."

He settled down on the bench and raised his hands dramatically before beginning to play. His long fingers certainly helped, though they also moved with supernatural speed and sounded like at least two other people were playing with him. Blaise's mother and her husband joined hands and began to dance to the music. Others followed, either to also enjoy the wondrous pianist or out of courtesy to the newlyweds.

Tonks had been getting introductions to many of her date's friends and family all evening. Most of them related in some way to Gorman Strauss. She was making no secret of her Auror status and friends of the potentially condemned groom seemed to appreciate her presence. He saw her now being led to the dance floor by Steven McCullough who seemed very confident and proud to be walking with her. They finally found an open spot on the dance floor and joined in with the other couples.

As the Vampire played, Harry couldn't help feeling like he was being watched, though when he would look towards the dark creature at the piano, he would have just turned his head away. It got so unnerving, that he just excused himself and went to find Whispers, Greg, and Neville.

He had seen the general direction they went in, which led to a long hallway. From there he saw a few sticky demiguise handprints next to a discarded piece of cake. Each of the rooms he passed by was empty or locked, though he came upon one that felt strange. Each room he passed by had sounds of the party echoing through it, this one however had none, which meant a silencing charm.

Hesitantly he opened the door and saw a large group of adults standing around a large writing board. Whispers were standing on a stool next to it, reading one of the notes aloud. Though the whole room hushed and turned to him, as he entered.

"It's ok!" Neville called out, "It's just Harry."

"I don't think anyone has ever said, 'It's just Harry Potter' before," a random man said.

"What's Whispers doing?" Harry asked the room.

No one seemed to respond until Greg spoke up, "They're seeing if he can pick how Gorman Strauss is going to kick the bucket."

Harry looked over the list, among many gruesome options, were:

Eaten by a dragon
Muggle skydiving accident
Flesh-eating slugs
Losing a fight against the color red
Trampled to death by his own horses
Snu snu
Dementor's kiss
Fall down an elevator shaft onto a dozen knives
Food poisoning
Suicide by Auror

These were the options that Whispers seemed to be standing near, so those casting bets seemed to be putting them as the most probable outcomes since having a monkey that can see moments into the future was their best option of predicting something that may or may not ever happen.

"There is a Vampire out there playing the piano," Harry supplied. "Maybe that's how he will go?"

An older woman spoke up, "I doubt it, Balik is part of the story of how the two of them met."

Regardless, 'Vampire attack' was added to the list and Harry sat down on the corner and watched for a moment as Whispers continued to enjoy the attention he was getting before he pulled a random book out of his pouch to read. The book he pulled was one of the two he had taken after the trek into the depths of the library that was leather bound with an engraving of a sitting man with deer antlers.

Cernunnos, from the Celtic language, meaning The Horned One, was once worshiped as the 'Lord of Wild Things.'

Harry read the first page. The man reminded him a bit of the curse that Tonks had given the man at The Harpies Quidditch match with a set of antlers on his head. Another thing that interested him was the serpent that seemed to accompany him in many of the sketches. It looked normal except for two horns like a ram or goat that grew out of its head. There wasn't a lot of information about this mythological figure, mostly just sketches of him and things associated with him.

Regardless, Harry looked through each sketch and every description the book contained for what was at least an hour before he was broken out of his deep thoughts by a loud exclamation.

"What the hell are all of you doing?"

Standing in the doorway was Blaise, looking furious.

"You are making bets on how my new father is going to die? I am trying to find all our guests to make sure you are back in the main hall for the final dance, and I find you doing this?"

He looked around the room at many embarrassed faces, looking down at their shoes. He approached the board and looked at everything, then fished a scrap of paper from his pocket and scribbled onto it, then pressed a galleon to it, dropping it in the wooden box by the table.

"The muggle skydiving thing is interesting. Now get back to the main hall," he said simply then left.

Harry whistled to Whispers who followed him out with Greg and Neville as the other adults started betting more based on what had just transpired.

---

Harry was back for nearly a minute before the last piece by the Vampire stopped and he stood up to face the audience.

"In just a moment, I will perform the last piece of the evening. Spend the next few moments finding someone you trust to share the last dance with while my assistant sets up to play while I sing for you."

Alessandra Zabini and Gorman Strauss waited patiently together on the floor as blue lighting and fog lit up the floor. Harry looked around as he felt a shiver through his body. He felt like someone or something was hunting him.

Harry looked over towards Brandt, who was just about to take Brooke to the dance floor, "Something is wrong," he told them nervously.

Brandt immediately went on alert, covertly drawing his wand, though after a moment, Brooke whispered in his ear and he relaxed with a smile. After another whisper in his ear, he sat back down.

Brooke smiled at Harry, in a way that made him shiver even more, "You are being hunted. By the most ruthless and conniving creature in both muggle and magical worlds. I am of course referring to the teenage girl."

Now, knowing what to look for, Harry looked around him to see various girls around his age coming towards their table. Each gave fierce glances toward the others in an attempt to scare the others off. Harry could tell that none of them wanted to charge as that would cause the rest of them to do the same.

"I don't want to dance," he told Brooke nervously.

"You don't have a choice," she told him sadly while shaking her head. "Though I will save you, Harry Potter. I will dance with you."

Harry was a bit relieved, but still concerned, "I don't know how to dance."

"Do you remember your occlumency?" Harry nodded. "Just look into my eyes. You'll feel a small compulsion to move your feet in different directions. Don't fight it, pay attention to it and move with it, like a river current."

Harry swallowed and stood up, taking Brooke's offered hand. As he did, he felt the focus of the predators around him ease up, but not vanish completely. She led him out to the dance floor where she spotted Lyra with another boy who looked just as afraid of her as the last one. Only the boy partnered with Daphne looked fully assured of himself. If all girls are as dangerous as his sister, he would need to be on guard.

Whispers had found Astoria Greengrass again and was going to try dancing with her.

A slender woman with auburn hair in a blue dress took to the stage and sat at the piano. She looked a bit pale and had a blue ribbon tied around her neck. Balik held his wand to his throat again as the wings of shadows appeared on his shoulders like a mantle, then wrapped around him like a cloak.

Brooke instructed Harry where to put his hand on her hip and took his other in hers. She was nearly as tall as Brandt so he had to look up quite a bit. As he looked into her eyes, he felt a cold wind blow in his face. Taking a deep breath, he let her enter his mind. The feeling of cold moved down his chest, stretching out into his arms and legs, and he felt the desire to wiggle his toes. Hesitantly he let himself do it. He felt small other compulsions to move his shoulders and clench Brooke's hand, so he let himself perform those actions.

The blue light and fog started to move more rapidly as the woman at the piano began to play. The piece was much slower than what the Vampire had been doing but just as beautiful. Harry let himself be pulled into the dance by Brooke's instructions in his mind. Then the Vampire began to sing.

Am I blue?

Am I blue?

Ain't these tears

In these eyes tellin' you?

Am I blue?

You'll be too

If your schemes like your dreams

Done fell through

Was a time

I was her only one

Now I am

The sad and lonely one, oh yes I am

Was I gay?

Till today

Now she's gone and we're through

Am I blue?

Was a time

I was her only one

Now I am

The sad and lonely one

I'm such a lonely one

Was I gay?

Till today

Now she's gone and we're through

Am I blue?

While the Vampire was singing, Harry looked around at the other dancers. Only a few of the other children dancing seemed to be as graceful as Brooke was making him be. Lyra certainly wasn't, though she was having fun. Whispers certainly wasn't either, though, he was probably the finest dancer of any Hidden, anywhere in the world. Seconds after he broke eye contact, he stumbled a bit and quickly looked back at Brooke.

As the song ended, there was applause from everyone in the room. As Harry broke eye contact, he felt the tingle in his limbs vanish, and he clapped along with the rest of the room.

"Horrible song for a wedding," Brooke commented. "Beautifully done, though no idea why they would choose it as a last dance."

"Probably just because it contains the word blue," Harry shrugged. "I feel like my eyes will be tinted that color for weeks."

She started leading them back to the table and gave a kiss to Brandt. As she broke away, she pulled out her flask and drained the last swig, then let the last few drops fall into her mouth.

"Looks like it's time for me to go. I'm about to turn back into a pumpkin," she told them.

"I'd like to think you're more of a summer squash," Brandt smiled.

They both laughed at what must be a private joke before telling Harry and Lyra to say goodbye to everyone and make the bride and groom your last ones. They split up and made their way around the room. Finally, they arrived back at the table where Blaise, his mother, and Gorman Strauss were sitting.

Before they could say anything, Alessandra spoke, "I hope both of you had fun, though I would like to apologize again on behalf of my cousins."

Giselle was sitting at the table and when Harry looked at her, she did look a bit ashamed. Her mother and Fabianne with her daughters were nowhere to be seen. Her apology sounded sincere, though it could be just occlumency to make her appear that way. Harry shared a look with Lyra who still looked a bit confused at what had happened before.

"No apology needed," Harry replied, knowing it would be rude not to accept her apology at her wedding. "Please also pass my apology to Fabianne, as I think I made her daughter cry."

As she nodded, Gorman stood up, "Well, I know from experience how passionate my wife and her family can be. This is the best day of my life and I wish for no one to be unhappy tonight. If there's ever anything I can do for Harry Potter and his sister, please do not hesitate to ask."

They thanked him as well and found that Brandt and Brooke were standing a few people back in the queue to say farewell to the couple. They waited to the side as they also said goodbye. Gorman was even more exuberant with his farewell to Brandt.

"It's a shame we couldn't see Arcturus tonight, though it was good that the Blacks were represented. Maybe next time, your lovely lady will come without the disguise?"

She smiled, "I think by the summer solstice we might be making things public."

That comment drew quite a few whispers and mutterings from the people around listening in.

"That is excellent to hear," Alessandra smiled. "I don't need to be a seer to see that Arcturus is making sure the Blacks make a resurgence in the next generation."

Brandt and Brooke just nodded at his statement and then took Harry and Lyra toward the entrance. Whispers was there with the Greengrass family and trying to separate the Hidden from their youngest daughter who didn't want to let him go.

"You'll get to see him in a couple of weeks at Hogwarts," Daphne tried to remind her.

"But I'll be in Slytherin," she said sadly. "I won't get to see him."

"Do you want to be in my house or Whisper's?"

The younger girl looked conflicted but hugged Whispers tighter. The silver sibling of Harry and Lyra was starting to look uncomfortable at the clingy girl.

Lyra tried to get her to let go, "Whispers needs to leave too, just let them know in the sorting how much you want to be with him."

She reluctantly let him go and he scampered away. Daphne took hold of her sister and looked toward Harry.

"You really were about to be mobbed at the end there before she took you to dance," nodding at Brooke. "Though she probably made things worse for you in the future. Now people know you can dance too."

"That wasn't me!" Harry declared. Then whispered, "She put compulsions on me."

Brandt and Brooke laughed. Leaning down to Harry, his tutor told him and Lyra, "Let this be a lesson for both of you. Sometimes it is easy to avoid your problems though they will often come back to you even worse. It's often better to face them and fail rather than put them off or cheat to win."

They took his sage wisdom to heart and left the manor to take their portkey back to Elmswood, where Brooke disappeared almost immediately. Harry could see her kick off her shoes, as she ran off down a hallway, he could see her getting shorter and her hair getting lighter before ducking into another room.