Friday. Night one of our Ministry Mandated Sex Education. At breakfast I received an owl from Mr Jones, informing me of this weekend's assignment. I nearly ran out of the hall as I read it's contents:
Ms Patil,
As it is important for you to make a positive introduction with your group mates, and ensure that they see you as a potential sexual partner rather than a mere school classmate, this weekend you will undertake a few, relatively simple yet exploratory icebreaker activities with at least three of the boys in your group. I say three, because I understand that you will have your preferences in terms of boys, and at no point during your lessons will you be required to interact with every single one of them. At exams, a minimum performance of a handjob will be required with all group members to ensure all have a chance to be evaluated on potential sexual compatibility. However, in lessons, you will always have the opportunity to exclude up to two partners from the group, and some lessons will only require one partner.
For this weekend's lesson, you will be required to spend Friday evening discussing your sexual history with all members of the group, and each of them is free to ask you questions, without limitation. You will choose one member to share a bed with and you will dress in typical sleepwear of your choosing.
On Saturday night, after dinner, you will report to your group's room and change into the outfit provided with this owl. It is an example of muggle swimwear and the boys in the group may be aroused to see you wear it for the evening. Your tasks for Saturday night are to wear the outfit all evening, make out with one boy while wearing it, and provide three of the boys the opportunity to masturbate to you while wearing it. You will tell two of them to ejaculate onto the swimsuit top, and one of them will ejaculate inside of the bottoms. You will wear the suit until you go to bed, at which time you will be permitted to remove it. However, you will not be allowed other pajamas for the night if you choose to remove it, and you must once again share a bed with a group member.
On Sunday, you will go on a date with one boy that you spent a night in bed with and perform any activities he requests before midnight.
To ensure you perform tasks to standard, a monitoring charm has been placed over your study room. They will alert the Ministry if you fail to perform required tasks each day.
Hoping you are well,
Mr. Jones
P.S.-Any boys you exclude from the activities for the weekend will get accommodations in the vacant room on the level below the common room, still in Gryffindor Tower.
Attached to the letter was a small parcel, which contained a muggle bikini that appeared to be quite small as I peaked into the envelope before hastily shutting it.
I passed the letter to Harry as I tried to process all the boundaries we were about to jump over this weekend. After Harry read it, I passed it to Dean and Seamus and then to Neville. Ron looked to Neville expectantly from down at the end of our group, but he handed it back to me instead. Ron looked put off.
"What, I don't get to know the lesson plan for the week but everyone else does?" Ron asks incredulously.
I lean forward and look down the table at him. "Ron, you won't be involved in a single thing we do this year. The only bit of Mr. Jones' letter you need to know is where he says I will always have the option to exclude up to 2 group members, and those excluded will stay in different accommodations. You will always be excluded." His is obviously furious.
I look back to the letter and reread it silently as if to confirm what i've just said. I can't do this. As I look from Harry to Neville to Dean to Seamus, I realize that for all the self talk I've given myself, for all the times the girls and I have told eachother it'll be okay and even with Harry's late night reassuring talk...heck maybe even because of his talk, I can't do this. I can't be Harry's wife and the mother of his children someday soon if all his roommates have masturbated on me...and more. No. I can't do it. I scribble out a note to Mr. Jones saying so and abruptly leave without saying anything else to anyone as his owl flies away.
Harry follows me into the loo and finds me crying in a stall, realizing it will be a choice between my magic or going through with this crazy ministry challenge that will turn me into a mother and a wife with a past that I don't want. There is no winning. So I cry.
Harry slowly pushes into the stall door that I forgot to lock and he wraps his arms around me. "Pavarti, for what it's worth, I'm on your side no matter what you choose", Harry says, guessing my internal struggle and saying the kindest, most sincere thing he can.
"Ms. Patil, you are needed outside" Professor McGonagall says from out in the corridor, breaking the calm silence that has fallen over our embrace, snapping me back to the reality of the situation.
As I take a deep breath and slowly make my way outside, I try to shield Harry from Professor McGonagall, hiding the fact that he was in the girl's lavatory with me. It doesn't work. She gives him an upturned eyebrow but seeing my distraught appearance, she decides not to comment further.
"Ms. Patil, I have been told to escort you to Professor Umbrige's office in regards to correspondence you've sent Mr. Jones. Professor Dumbledore will meet us there."
This is it, I'm being expelled. Harry follows us without being asked as I numbly walk to meet my fate, entering her overly pink office and taking the seat I'm guided into without really being fully aware of what is happening.
Professor Umbrige informs the room that I owled Mr. Jones, saying I can't do the educational program. She asks me if I'm sure I want this.
"No. No I don't want this! No, I don't want to have ny future decided by the ministry, but if I'm going to be Harry's wife and have his children, I don't want our kids growing up with a mom who's done all this shared stuff with all of his roommates!" I blurt out to no one in particular.
Umbrige smiles a wicked smile, taking in what I've just said. "So to put it plainly Ms Patil, you are prepared to marry and reproduce with Mr Potter, you simply don't want to perform with others in his friend group?"
"Yes, ma'am, as long as Harry still wants that as well"
Harry nods silently but confidently, more to me than to her
"Well this could work to everyone's benefit, Ms Patil. Mr Potter is obviously the most ideal candidate in your study group, and he is willing to marry you and reproduce with you now, that simply speeds along the ministry's program. You wouldn't hurt it, you would be the shining example of its success. We could have you married within the week and on your way to having those magical children we all need for our survival years before the program could have first hoped for"
Excuse me what? Married within the week and on my way to what did she say? I try to assess Harry's feelings on this revelation but he is as shocked as I am.
McGonagall and Dumbledore are equally stunned. Both try to speak but Umbrige cuts them both off.
"So what will it be, your magic, the education program, or a wedding and babies on the way?"
"A wedding" I whisper after hoping it's the right choice and looking to Harry confirmation.
"If Pavarti wants that, then I will support her" Harry says to Umbrige, but looking straight to me.
"Very well, you will continue your weekend as planned, except your Saturday night will only require Harry to participate. As the educational plan has been abandoned, you are free to conduct any of the non-group activities that you are assigned in a setting of your choosing. Group discussions will still be conducted for the benefit of the other boys. Your wedding will occur next Friday, and you will begin the process of producing heirs for House Potter shortly after." Umbrige says in a well rehearsed voice, as if the ministry had expected this eventuality.
Harry takes my hand and leads me out if the office, not waiting to see if we were dismissed. At this point, it didn't matter anyway, we were doing this, but we weren't sticking around to see Umbrige gloat.
Harry leads me down passage after passage until we're standing in front of a statue of a one-eyed witch and he says "do you trust me?"
"Yes Mr Potter, I think I just agreed to marry you" I reply and in a rush, he whips a shimmering cloak from out of his bag, throws it over us and guides me into a passage that wasn't there a moment ago. Magic.
Walking close to Harry through a narrow, dim passage, we reach a wooden ladder leading up to a hatch in the ceiling. Harry climbs up first, peaks around and then beckons me to follow, wrapping me up in the cloak again as I emerge into what appears to be a basement or a cellar.
As my eyes adjust to my surroundings, I see box after box labeled with the familiar Honeydukes logo. "Harry, are we in Hogsmede?"
"Yes, Ms Pail, in the Honeydukes cellar to be specific. You seemed like you needed some chocolate after all that, and walk on the outskirts of the village could do us both some good. You're invisible by the way, so you don't have to keep on a brave face if you don't want to. Let's just grab snacks and be on with it"
I suddenly realize the cloak covering us isn't some Harry idea of keeping us warm, it's hiding us completely as I look out and don't see us in a mirror in the corner. Now dosen't seem like the time to ask how he got it or how we got here or a million other questions now popping into my head as I snap out of the post morning post fog I found myself in. Instead I follow Harry up the stairs, grab some chocolate from under the cloak, drop some coins onto the counter while the clerk is with another customer, and slip our way out, down the high street, and into a rolling meadow lane before Harry finally removes the cloak and takes my hand as a warm autumn breeze flows over me, for a moment, washing away my fears.
"Harry, are you sure about this? You didn't have to take my side in all of this. I kind of put you on the spot with this whole thing this morning."
"Pav, you didn't know it would come to this. You just said you couldn't do what they were asking. I can do this"
"Do what?" I ask, looking for clarity. Deal with this? Deal with me and the situation?
"Love you" Harry says in reply, pausing our walk and kissing my cheek as I blush.
"I love you too"