Disclaimer: My house belongs to the bank, my work belongs to my boss and my money is always confiscated by my wife. And Harry Potter belongs to JK Rowling... Damn...
To choose the lesser evil
By DerLaCroix
Chapter 7 - Treading softly
"Good morning," she spoke softly from where she was tucked under his arm.
"Definitely is, though less good than the last time you woke me," he replied in jest, a wide grin plastered all over his face.
"I remember you complaining about me doing that, so no more tongue-twister wake up calls for you, Mister," she replied cheekily from his side, nestling into it a bit more.
"Is that so? And I get no say in this?" he joked back, acting affronted. He got startled when she suddenly rolled away and sat up.
"Sorry. Of course. I'll get right to it," she said, her voice sounding small and timid, as she began to fold back the blanket he was still burrowed into, and finally made motions to crawl under it.
It took a moment for Harry to realise what had happened and clamp his hands down on the blanket to keep her out. "Oh bollocks! Stop. Marietta, Stop! No! No! I was just teasing back. Sorry. No, you do not have to do that now," he rattled at a fast pace to keep her from diving under and get to work.
"Gosh! We are going to have these issues, time and time again, won't we?" he lamented, starting to run his hands through his hair after she ceased her attempt to crawl under, starting to stress out a bit about what just happened..
"I... I... I'm sorry," was all Marietta could reply, looking close to tears as she sat there, cringing and looking as if she was waiting for a hole to open up and swallow her.
"Oh, come here," Harry sighed, opening his arms, and pulled her back onto his shoulder, where she rested for a moment, trying to calm herself.
"I can wake you that way if you want to - it's fine, really!" She offered, her voice still slightly shaky.
"No, I don't. I'm fine, too. Really. " He tried to console her.
"It's ok, I did it last evening, I can do it in the morning, too."
"Last evening was different. And wonderful. Because we both agreed that it would happen. I'm not letting it become a chore," Harry whispered softly, stroking her back.
Marietta sniffled a bit, stifling a sob, before answering. "I… just want to make sure you are…"
Harry swallowed his frustration, sensing that scolding her right now might be counter-productive. "Hush. Relax," he whispered softly. "Nothing is going to happen. I'm not going to do anything to you. Remember, I gave you these orders, didn't I?
"And you can change them anytime," she responded, barely above a whisper. "I'm still afraid that you will get bored, and, and... You know..."
"How many times do I have to say it? I'm fine. Last night was amazing. You were amazing. It's fine," Harry responded, putting a kiss on her head as he tried hugging her tighter in what he hoped was a supportive way. "Don't think any guy would ever complain that all he gets from his girl is having his pecker sucked any time he asks," he teased, laughing when he could hear a muffled derogatory remark about men and pigs.
"Oink!" he mimicked, accepting the comparison with a grin. "Honestly, I don't think there is any chance I ever get bored of this. That's a job you're not getting rid of, Ree, anytime soon. You're just too good at it," he joked. "A true natural!"
"Stop it," she hissed, burying her face into him to hide her embarrassment.
"That thing you did with the popping sound," he brought up, grinning cheekily, enjoying how she cringed even deeper into his shoulder in embarrassment. "Your cousin was right, it does feel amazing. Do you think I should send her a gift basket for telling you that trick, or would a card be more appropriate?"
By the time he finished, Marietta was sitting up and slapping his shoulder for what he just said. "Don't you dare!" she huffed, while he just grinned at her, blatantly ogling her chest, making her cringe as the bond did its thing.
"Not again!" she lamented. "You guys are really something! Last night, you were all worked up to the point where I could barely think straight, and the moment you finished - bam! All gone! Silence. Such blessed silence. We cuddled, you fell asleep, and I had my peace. And now, just ten minutes into the day, your balls are already bouncing around in my head, again!"
"Your boobs are bouncing around in my head, just the same," Harry quipped, staring even harder, making her cover herself up with her arms crossed over her chest and a glare firmly aimed at him.
"Are we good?" he asked after a moment, trying to test the water. He had successfully stopped her crying. He now hoped he didn't make her too angry with his attempts at distracting her.
She huffed and slipped herself back under the linens again, lying on her back and staring at the ceiling. "Yes. Sorry."
"None of that, please," Harry grumbled. " Let's start again - Good morning, I had a great night, how are you? Did you sleep well?"
"Actually yes. Them Muggles know how to build a comfy bed, for sure. Slept like a stone. Maybe too well."
Harry was trying to snuggle back into his covers, enjoying the comfy bed as much as possible after an equally good night. But noticing a slight hitch in her voice at the end of that statement made him worry. For a brief moment he was tempted to just ignore it, but he figured she was his to take care of and she had nobody else left. So he made a soft prayer for things not to go amazingly wrong for the mere reason that he was trying to help, and turned his head to look at her. "What do you mean with 'Too well'?"
"I mean, last night, the attack, my parents," she mused, and promptly started crying. "I am the worst, ain't I? I didn't even have nightmares," she sobbed.
Harry again found himself holding on to a crying girl. Thankfully, or maybe not, he had some experience in what she was going through, and an inkling of what she might want to hear at this moment. "Shhhh," he cooed. "You're not. Trust me, the nightmares will come, soon enough. I can promise you that. For me, it takes a couple of days before everything sets in. Right now, you're still too strung up to really process everything - you had one thing after the other hit you without any break. First the attack, then your escape, finding me, my relatives, the goblins, the trouble at the shop, the doctor, the bonding, and on top of all, the constant fear of what I'll do to you at night because of me saying the wrong things at every possible point. You never had the chance to wind down and think about things, at all. In hindsight, it is no wonder you didn't dream or anything, you barely had a two hour and some change nap of total sleep in two days of chaos, back in my room. Anyone would just drop dead the moment their head hit the pillow in that situation."
"You know about this Muggle theory of stages of grief?" he asked, getting a weak nod from her through her sobs and sniffles. The concept was well known in Ravenclaw, too. "I don't exactly remember them at the moment," Harry admitted, "but I'm pretty sure you are stuck in one of them right now, and need to get everything sorted out before you can allow yourself to grieve properly. And that's not even trying to figure out what this bond thing might be doing to your ability to think straight," he mused, and Marietta had to agree. It was the most distracting thing on her mind, and she had no clue how much it was actually controlling her emotions. Didn't Pikeshaft say something about that? She couldn't really remember, and settled for just continuing to softly cry into his shoulder and let him keep on talking. Somehow, his voice, or at least the underlying attempt to soothe her, actually helped.
"Frankly, it might be doing you a favour keeping you occupied and not dwelling too much on it. I, for one, am someone who definitely does not grieve in a healthy way - I keep obsessing over it until I completely fall apart. Mostly because I always end up alone with myself right after it," Harry had kept on talking, realising his own unhealthy coping mechanism as he went on about it, and that he really needed to change that.
"I mean, I just want you to know that I'm going to be there for you. You just need to tell me what you need. A hug, a shoulder to cry, space, distraction, or anything in between. I'm going to try, but I'm pants at this social stuff. Probably won't figure out what you need on my own, or do the exact opposite, but I'm willing to do whatever you ask for, ok? Don't know if I am making any sense," he babbled on, until she crushed him with her hug and burrowed herself deeper into his shoulder. Hoping that he was ahead, Harry chose to quit and just held on, slowly drifting off into a nap, again.
Some time later, both of them woke for the second time today, both having drifted off, again.
"Gonna get up a'n shower – heard we're gon' shoppin' again, t'day, we already wasted too much time," she spoke with a jawn and scratching her head as she sat up and tried to get her bearings. She immediately had to pull the cover up higher, as Harry's bleary eyes snapped right back onto the targets. They weren't as sharp in focus as he hoped to, being just barely awake and without glasses, but he could work with that, until the jank on the linnen jostled his targeting.
"Still too early," Harry protested, scrambling to get wrapped back up, trying to conserve as much warmth as possible from the now contested covers.
"No such thing when it comes to shopping," she quipped back, briefly contemplating what to do, and finally just slipping out from the covers and padding off to the bathroom, his eyes following her backside until the door fell shut.
Tossing around and burrowing deeper into the cover, Harry luxuriated in the warmth, smells and memories of a bed that they had romped around just a few hours before, letting his randy mind daydream about it and play with possible variations and improvements. There was room for that, indeed - it hadn't been some epic romp fest, by any means. The kissing had been sloppy, and bad – both were new to it, and while she was doing a good job at pretending, or at least being horny enough to make it feel like, he could feel that she didn't really mean it. It felt raw and needy, a bit like Cho, but lacked that tiny bit of heat that Cho's kiss had. Maybe Cho really had been a little bit into him, he mused, briefly.
Still, it was great, he finally found out what she had done to him yesterday. Once that was done - much quicker than he'd liked to, they had cuddled and true to her prediction, he had fallen asleep by the time his breathing had gone down to normal speeds. Just thinking about it was almost as nice as it was yesterday evening. Or was going to be the next evening. A shopping trip was a small price to play for this. He luxuriated a bit longer in the feeling that reminiscing about these events gave him, stroking himself absentmindedly, until he felt he really should get going when his bladder protested about his prolonged morning wood.
Reluctantly, he vacated his cave of warmth and joy, and rolled out of bed to deal with his morning ablutions, as well. "And then tea, and breakfast. Definitely tea," he thought, padding groggily into the bathroom, and freezing at the spot at the sight inside.
ooOOOoo
"That was the hottest thing I've ever seen," he blurted out once she had stopped squirming and flopping around.
"Thanks, I guess – I don't know what you did out there, but - oh boy! Did you have a wank or what? You blokes...Really... Your kind of horny really hits harder than ours. This isn't at all like heat waves or butterflies, this is just raw, distilled randiness. Before I knew, I was already at it, and this shower head, I tell you. Quality! Nice solid stream, I love it!" she complained from her spot at the floor of the showers, still riding the quivers of her release. "Crap, I can feel you pulsing, again. Don't you ever stop?"
"What do you expect? Pretty sure I have a new happy memory for my Patronus charm, right now. Although I'm just as sure it'd start humping any Dementor it could get hold of ," Harry defended himself.
"Do you need help getting up?" he asked, walking over, kneeling and extending a hand.
"You definitely do not," she mumbled, shaking her head in mirth as she still felt the full body flush of his arousal cursing through her own body. "You guys really do have a one-track mind," she rambled absent-mindedly as she reached for it, and waited for him to pull her up.
Which he didn't do.
"What are you staring at?" she giggled when she realised him being frozen solid.
"Sorry!" Harry blurted out, averting his gaze and blushing madly, which amused her to no end.
"Don't be silly. Look all you like, it's yours, I guess," she giggled, enjoying herself at his expense, feeling far too relaxed to be bothered right now. And with her current full body glow, blushing wasn't possible, either.
"You don't mind?"
"Yes, it's ok to look. I really don't mind. I mean I do, sort of, but I think it's sweet. Kind off."
"Sort of kind of?" he mocked her, slowly turning back, still blushing, but now sporting a grin.
"Bite me," she spoke softly, tongue in cheek. "You speak fluent troll after you finish, so you don't get to judge. And yes, I may not be 'quite there' yet with our situation, but you being all flustered by a peek at my fanny when you could make me do, like, unspeakable things and make me thank you for it, is, I don't know, kind of sweet, I guess."
"You look beautiful," Harry blurted out.
"And he knows how to flatter, too. Well, if that's how you feel, look all you like," she responded, only to moan and clamp her legs shut once he had taken liberty to use that permission.
"Crap. Now I'm ready to go again, as well," she moaned. "You know what - I'm not going to deal with this all day long. We're not going to get anything done when your balls are going to keep ringing inside both of our heads," she complained, looking just as healthily flushed as he was.
"And?" Harry inquired.
"How about we're both going to deal with our problems, right now. And especially you are going to do so until you can't, or better - don't want to, anymore," she responded. "Might buy us some hours of peace if we get you emptied out, properly. Probably going to end up doing this every morning, one way or another, at least until you, or I, get used to it," she mused, analyzing the problem in Ravenclaw fashion while she was tucking her wet hair behind her ears and out of her face, before looking back up at his stunned expression.
"Huh? What's the matter, Harry"
Harry was still processing what he just heard. "You mean I should, here - with you - while you..."
"Is that going to be a problem?"
"Oh no! Hell no! Not at all, but... I mean, with us, here, in this stall, I mean, how, where?" he rambled, again not being able to think clearly once his secondary brain started to overrule the other one.
"You'll figure it out, Harry," she laughed. "Me? I'm going to stay right here, with this fantastic shower head. And you do you. Aim for me, if you want," she joked, laughing out loud when his eyes bulged. "I'm serious. Aim for the letters," she told him. "Fitting punishment for the crimes I have to atone for."
"You're crazy - that's gonna make it worse, won't it?" Harry protested, even though he could not prevent his horny gauge from showing a significant spike at the thought. He briefly noticed, now that she had removed her wet hair out of her face, that she wasn't wearing the patches at the moment, and the letters were barely visible. She still had some redness to the area and some spots, but it was miles from how it had been.
"Don't be silly - we're in the shower! It'll wash right off. Even if it wouldn't - Ravenclaw dormitory lore has it that it's actually good for the skin. Who knows. Just be a sport and warn me, ok? That pink eye burned really bad. I'll help you once I'm done with mine, ok? Might bite yours off if the next one hits as hard as this last one did," she giggled, feeling quite silly about the situation.
"Yeah, that'd put a dampener on the mood," Harry spoke up through gritted teeth, making her giggle even harder. "But I have one condition," he added, making her perk up, suddenly wary at what horrors he might have in mind to unleash on her.
"You'll have to teach me how to do… that…" he blurted out, straight to the point, but in a way that she could not process, right now.
"What? Showering?"
"If that's what you call it in the tower... But yes, that, and all the other things you do when you are not in a shower. In due time, of course, once you are fine with me touching… you know, YOU..." he said, giving her an adorable lopsided grin.
"Things to do... Oh! Okaaaaay... Why?" she blurted once she figured out what he was stammering about.
Harry was scratching the back of his head, sheepishly, before responding with an embarrassed expression on his face.
"Call me a stupid git if you want to, but I only just now realised that you girls also like to... Get off? Or how you call it," he floundered into an explanation of his new found insight. "Don't know how that works with the bond and you feeling what I feel, but I don't think you are getting much, if anything out of slobbering on my pecker, don't you? Feels kinda wrong that you are doing all the work and getting nothing out of it," he tried to make his thoughts known, gesticulating awkwardly while doing so, not sure what to do with his hands.
Marietta was too surprised to do anything but stare back at him, dumbstruck, as she tried to process his epiphany. She hadn't factored her own sexual satisfaction into her decision about this arrangement, either. There were other priorities at that time. Generally, this was not something that was deemed important in pureblood marriages. The couple not hating each other was more or less already deemed an acceptable base for a relationship. Copulation was more of a necessity for children, a man's vice, and a wife's duty, at best. The financial aspects of the future couple were much more important.
"That would be... nice... I think... But, that's my job, ain't it? I am YOUR sex slave, after all." She tried to voice her own conflicted feelings.
"True. Doesn't mean you shouldn't get something out of this. And to be frank, I think it would be fun to do that. Just watching you getting off like that was amazing! I want to know how to make that happen. If I am going to have an actual sex slave to exploit as I wish, I should at least use that to learn how to be good at sex, shouldn't I? What good is having a sports car if you only drive it to the mall and back, you see? Gotta put her through the paces, you know?" Harry quipped with an exaggerated leer and waggle of his eyebrows.
"Prat!" She chided with a giggle, directing the stream of water at him for a brief moment, causing him to try dodging, but failing. Shaking her head at him, she redirected the water to where it was going to do more good. Sooo much, much, more good...
"Well then, get in here, lessons are starting now," she panted, giggling at his joyful expression.
ooOOoo
"Feels weird to be about like this - hunted, and still strolling around Muggle London to shop," Marietta mused as they were making their way towards the underground station, the area around the hotel not having merchandise that catered to teenager tastes. Ignoring the outrageous prices, most of the stuff displayed would make them feel stuffy and silly to wear it anywhere but at a fancy party. Harry had mentioned maybe having a look at it later for one or two outfits if they wanted to go somewhere fancy, though. Marietta agreed to the principle of the idea, secretly hoping he would forget. She still didn't feel comfortable with him spending serious money on her. And those outfits were seriously serious money, if she did the math right.
"I have been thinking," Harry said once they exited at yesterday's well-explored hunting grounds. The shops here were much more to both of their liking.
"Should I duck, hide, or just run for cover?" She teased.
"Har-har. Is that you flirting, being snarky, or am I getting you all wound up and angry about it, again, already?" Harry protested equally boisterously, feeling far too relaxed from his officially best morning, ever.
"While your sexual needs are constantly the centre of my universe and existence, I am currently blessed by their absence. You might be surprised given our history, but you are getting a glimpse at the real me, right now."
Harry shook his head, mirthfully. "Ah! So you were the funny one of the group!"
"The funny one?" Marietta asked, her voice and her left eyebrow, both, raised slightly.
"You know, like… for us guys, everyone has a role in a group. The leader, the smart one, the funny one, the excited one, the grumpy, the voice of reason, you know. Don't you girls have that, too?" Harry chatted on, looking around and being oblivious of the dangerous waters he was entering.
"I'll let you off with a warning, for now," Marietta responded, grumbling slightly. "But for future reference, you should never refer to a girl as the 'funny one' or something like that. Unless you add some compliment about her looks to that honorific, alright?"
Harry was giving her a weird eye until her piercing glare back broke through his dense brain armour.
"Oh! No, not like that! I didn't think I had to add that you are gorgeous! Frankly, we boys never think about looks in groups. Especially since we all aren't anything to look at, anyway, except for the one being the 'pretty one', but most groups don't even have one of those," Harry stammered, trying to avert the angry stare.
"That's why I'm letting the first offence slide," Marietta responded, schooling her face to suppress her mirth at his response. "That, and the fact that you proposed the shopping trip, already," she added, nose held high and all snooty.
"You are beyond merciful, your magnificence," Harry quipped back.
They had a good giggle over that and walked on.
A minute later, Harry pulled her into a brief side hug. "Thanks, though," he mumbled.
"For being yourself around me, Ree. It killed me when you acted terrified of me," he explained when she gave him a puzzled look.
"You're welcome, Harry. And thank you for making it easy for me," she responded, briefly leaning into him and touching his cheek with the side of her head, but snapping back upright almost immediately, her eyes narrowing dangerously.
"Enough of this sappy nonsense - I NEED to get in this shop!" She exclaimed, dragging a laughing Harry after her, and into a shoe store.
A few hours later, Harry was less amused, but still well entertained. And tired. Soooo tired…
They had started off with shoes for both of them. Well, mostly for her, but he got himself two pairs, one of plain trainers to wear right now and a pair of outdoor-style trekking trainers he liked. After leaving the plundered husk of the shoe store behind, they raided a couple of clothing stores. After an - felt - eternity of that, they stopped for lunch at a nice cosy little pub to unwind for an hour, and more importantly, rest their feet.
They spent the rest of the day shopping throughout London, at some point briefly ending up at Brixton after getting tipped off by overhearing some girls loudly comparing their usual hunting grounds while waiting for a change booth to free up. Before they finally got sucked into the black hole of shopping that was Covent Garden and surroundings. Or 'HEAVEN', as Marietta called it. She vowed to get back there as soon as possible. To her confusion, Harry vowed to find out if there was a Muffin shop at Drury Lane after seeing it on a map of the area. He did explain later that evening when she asked again.
Marietta truly had a 'best day' kind of day out there with Harry. She had been afraid that she'd have to drag Harry from store to store, but found he was a willing participant. Ducking into an alcove or toilet to call for Dobby to pop things home and only carrying 'alibi' bags removed the one true limitation on their shopping capabilities, his card negating all others. Buying his own stuff was something he was quite willing to do, as he never had the chance to do so, and only needed minor prodding to buy more than the bare minimum number of each item, as men are usually wont to do. While she was doing her own shopping, he was just as eager to participate with giving opinions and doing 'wrong size' errands, just being happy to participate.
Still, just to be sure, she tried to reward him - and keep him extra involved and interested - by occasionally modelling something more risky, even if she had no intention to buy it, or calling him in to help her with zipping and buttoning.
Of course, that led to things getting a bit more handsy and heated as the day went on. But that meant that Marietta figured out why broom closets were that popular a choice at Hogwarts - she never thought that 'maybe getting caught' could be such a thrill.
They only parted once, when they found a store that specialises in female underwear in a mall. Both being aware that they'd most likely get thrown out of the mall, or even arrested if she were to shop unmentionables with him, Harry opted to go to an electronics shop across the hallway while she indulged.
He occupied himself as much as possible by looking at phones and computers and tvs running soaps, making a mental list of stuff he'd like to have in Grimmauld place, and wondering if this store's location was an accident or planned. Still, he was conscious of the fact that Marietta would be wearing a nonstop flush to her face because of his busy mind. He wasn't aware that with the much more fancy stuff Muggle women were considering 'shopping center acceptable' underwear, she'd be looking like a tomato most of the time, anyway.
ooOOoo
"You know what? While the Order is definitely still staking out the Alley, I think they aren't really expecting us two to walk up in broad daylight. And with the caps, we might try slipping into Ollivanders, get you a wand, too, while we're at it? I mean, it's just on the way home, just getting out at the proper exit," Harry mused when Marietta and him were once again waiting for a booth to become available.
Marietta was baffled. "I … I do get a wand?" She whispered back once she made sure there were no people close to overhear.
"Uhm? Yeah? You lost your old one in the attack didn't you? You need a new one."
"But.. I…"
"If you start going on about not being a real witch anymore and stuff, I'm going to have to spank you later, just out of principle, you know?" Harry grumbled. "I did send a message to Gringotts via Dobby while we had the loo break, just to be sure, and they confirmed. There is nothing legally preventing you from using one. Technically it is my wand, as you can't own anything, but if I let you have one you can use it all you like. And I'm not going to let you run around help- and defenseless, just because I want to feel superior and 'safe'. Bollocks to that - you couldn't even use it to attack me, if I get the way the bond works right. All just a bunch of tosh reasoning for being cruel. "
"Well, I can't attack you directly, but I could theoretically burn the house down at night," Marietta argued, earning herself an amused look and a snort of mirth from the boy next to her.
"Well if someone treats a girl the way that makes her want to die in a fire just to take them with her, then I say it's well earned and fine with me. Do you feel that way about me?"
"No, I just meant," Marietta started to explain herself, but got cut off quite rudely.
"If you don't want a wand, then say so. Or just say thanks and let it go, Ree!"
Marietta was taxing him for a second, and huffed out her frustration. "It's just… I mean... We already shopped for the fanciest clothing I ever owned, had a really nice day out, and everything… And you keep doing all this for me. I mean, you are not even doing all this to get into my pants, because all you need for that is to just tell me to drop them! It's just such a weird concept to have a boy just caring that much for you," she lamented, trying to convey her fear about the other shoe being about to drop, without explicitly saying so, and had deteriorated into rambling as she went along. At that point, she noticed his face developing an annoyed frown.
"I mean, thanks, Harry," she quickly blurted out, shutting up. Then, on a whim, she leaned forwards on her tiptoes and gave him a kiss on the cheek.
ooOOoo
"It feels weird that Ollivander was closed. It's literally not Diagon Alley without him," Marietta lamented as they had dinner in the Grimmauld Place dining room. They had briefly stopped by to check on the progress after they were done with shopping, and Winky and Dobby were keen on not missing out on any chance to do their duty they could find, even though their masters were not residing in the house, right now.
"Yeah. And I keep on wondering if he did a runner for some reason or if he got snatched up. If he just went to travel, he'd have posted a return date on the door, so customers would know, wouldn't he?" Harry mused back, between devouring his Shepherd's pie. He really needed that kind of food after a long day out, a nicely stuffed belly of comfort.
"Is there any other wandmaker anywhere, or a secondhand shop that has wands? I didn't know of any, and the shop we got our cloaks from didn't have any," Harry inquired. They had banked on having time to let their caps recharge while Marietta shopped for a wand, and had needed to duck into a 'general store' - like shop before the caps gave out. Needing to spend some time led to them fetching a few trinkets and robes, each, and cloaks with mild notice me not charms on them. The shop had an assortment of 'affordable' wares of all kinds, from candles to silverware, clothes and everything a household might need, but no wands.
"Actually… I think there might be another option, Harry," Marietta exclaimed thoughtfully. "Would you mind me calling for the elves?"
No sooner than that, the two in question were standing next to them, having anticipated the incoming call.
"Hello, guys. I would need a wand, and the shop is closed. I was wondering - are there, perhaps, some old wands stored in the house, or a vault, somewhere?"
"There be a handful, Mar-Etti", Winky replied. "There be a box with a few of them, Winky be putting them away in storage cupboard. Winky be sure there be more in vaults, but elves would need go searching for them."
"You're the best, Winky," the girl gushed as she almost jumped with joy at the news. After deciding together to test them out in the drawing room, Harry gave some instructions to have the box and some refreshments brought there. The elves vanished to get the purchases cleaned and put away, and by the time Harry and Marietta arrived in said room, a tea service and a small mahogany chest was waiting for them.
"May I?" Marietta asked, timidly.
"Go ahead!"
"Are you sure?"
"We checked with Pikeshaft. He said that you having a wand is perfectly legal. You are not a free person anymore, but you are still a human witch, and you have sat your OWLS, so you are allowed to have a wand," Harry replied.
Carefully, Marietta opened the small chest and looked inside, and started worrying her lip. "I know it was my idea, but now that I see them, it feels wrong. To take a wand that was bonded to another person for such a long time. Almost feels as if I was robbing a grave," she lamented.
"I don't know, they were all Blacks, so I doubt they'd have any qualms with that kind of endeavour," Harry chuckled as he came up and took a peek of his own into the chest. There were about a dozen wands inside, each in a black velvet sheath.
"Still feels weird - wands of ancestors are mementos. Nobody really uses them."
"The Weasleys all had hand-me-downs. Makes for a worse fit as far as I know, but it works for them. Mostly. Don't you all get to try some spells at one time or another with your parent's wands?"
"The Weasleys are considered dirt poor for doing that, Harry. It is simply not done. Wands are personal. To use someone's wand is like sleeping with their spouse."
"If it helps, you're not taking them forever, you just borrow them until we can get a new one," Harry said softly, stepping behind her and putting a hand around her back to lend some comfort.
Marietta was not done being morose, though. "Even borrowing a wand is something very intimate. Most people would never let anyone but a lover touch, let alone use their wand."
When Harry suddenly made a tiny snorting sound, she looked up. "What?"
"Nothing." Harry mumbled. After her unrelenting look, he indulged her. "I just remembered Fred started teasing me a lot more once I gave you my wand without a second thought."
"That was embarrassing to ask - wouldn't have been able to ask if I hadn't been so dead tired. I really had given up, didn't care much for anything at that time," she mumbled, and then pulled herself together and shot him a brief smile. "Thanks again."
Not waiting for his response, she retrieved the first wand, and unsheathed it. Flicking it for the spark spell, she got a rather acceptable result. Still, Marietta laid it down at the table, a frown maring her face. "Feels like a beater's bat," she commented.
Curious why she disliked the wand with such an amount of sparks produced, Harry tried it as well, immediately understanding her complaint. The wand felt really rigid, not as supple as his holly wand. The wood was quite dark and felt heavier, even though it was shaped just as elegant as any other wand, so he assumed it was oak or something. Even the way his magic was channelling through felt like you were beating someone over the head with it. He guessed someone built like Goyle would have loved the feeling of this wand, but he agreed that it felt icky. His frown made Marietta nod in mutual understanding.
With the dam broken, they started trying the wands one by one. For each of them, the results varied for some of the wands, but in the end, she had a clear pair of favourites that surprisingly seemed to suit both of them rather well. Marietta chose a reddish, and in Harry's opinion rather whippy one with a spiral pattern that she claimed to smell nice and sweet. Harry didn't notice any particular scent, but she insisted that it did.
"Congratulations. Do you want some time to familiarize yourself with it before we head back? You know, since the warders are going to start tomorrow, this is the last time we got this place to ourselves for a few days. I don't think there will be any issue with using magic in the hotel if we would need to, but I don't see the need to draw too much attention to magicals living there, and we are pretty much completely hidden in here," Harry proposed.
"Not the worst idea," Marietta repelied, waving the wand and cycling through the Lumos and Nox spells. She was looking somewhat in thought, and was in fact trying to figure out what to make of it. "It does feel different to my old one. It doesn't feel bad but different enough to feel weird - like a new pair of shoes or a new quill."
"I think I am going to join you with this one," Harry agreed, reaching out for the other wand left from the final two. It was a knotty, slightly wavy bent wand made of a wood with deep furrows, looking more like a debarked branch than a worked piece of wood. On second glance it was exactly that - the wood had merely been debarked and cleaned up, but other than the worked ends and the tiniest bit of seam if you looked hard enough, it could just as well have been a piece of deadwood picked up on a stroll. The wood was light in color, but with darker streaks along in an irregular pattern looking much like some weathering had occurred through the bark.
"It feels responsive enough, and I have been playing with the idea of a second wand forever since I got caught out at the graveyard."
"To the attic? Safest place to break stuff and most open space in here," he proposed, and smiled back as Marietta's face seemed to light up at the thought of doing some magic. In response she pushed back her chair and stood, smiling back eagerly.
When they made moves to leave the room, Winky popped in with a plate in her hands. "This be arriving while Masters be looking at wands. Winky be waiting to not be disturbing," she said, her voice tiny and timid.
Harry took one look at the envelopes and an explosive expletive flew off his lips. In just a blink of an eye, his wand was out and he was casting the owl suppression charm on himself and Marietta, who flinched at his actions. "I forgot to renew the owl charm this morning! It must have worn off during the day!" He scolded himself. Turning back to the elf, he saw that Winky had her eyes firmly closed, and her jaw set, bracing for impact.
"Winky? What is wrong?" he asked, puzzled at her behavior.
Slowly, the elf opened one eye, blinked a few times, and relaxed her posture, slightly. "Winky not be punished?" she asked, carefully.
"No, you did nothing wrong, I forgot to renew the owl ward, Winky."
"But Winky did not bring letter right away? This be alright?" Winky asked, unsure if she didn't actually do something that warranted punishment.
"No, that was alright. You couldn't have known that we are trying to hide from owls right now. You did well, Winky, thank you," Harry tried to calm her down. "Let's see what you have here," he asked, reaching out for the plate, but pulled his hand back at the last second. "Wait, is there any magic on the envelope? Can you check for such things?" he asked Winky.
Winky took a moment to look at the letters, and shook her head. "There be no spell on it."
Satisfied with that, Harry picked the letter up. Winky popped away the very moment he had them. Shaking his head, Harry took a look at the letter and immediately gave a soft chuckle.
"What's so funny?" Marietta inquired.
"Remember the easier times? When your OWLs were the scariest thing you were looking forward to?" he mused.
"Yes? And?"
Harry handed one of the envelopes to her. "My results have arrived."
"Oh. Good for you. I had forgotten you had your OWLs last year. How did you score?"
"Only one way to find out," Harry responded, flipping the envelope around and groping for a clean knife on the table. "How did you score, yourself?
"Mostly O's , but only an E in Herbology and Care. Never been that good in the practicals for those. Same for DADA, I missed the O because of my spell accuracy and speed. I noticed that I was much slower than. Classic 'Eagle spread'," Marietta commented, watching patiently as Harry sedately opened his own envelope.
Harry paused at her explanation, looking puzzled. "What is an Eagle spread?" He asked as he pulled his own letter free, placing his envelope down on the table as he kept his attention on Marietta in front of him.
"Standard grade distribution for Ravenclaws - your top grades are in the more theory based classes, and usually one grade lower in everything that is weighted toward practical application. We score high on theory on those as well, but the practical portion usually pulls us down enough to just miss the higher grade by a few points or so. Charms and transfiguration is more about precise and methodical casting, so we do well enough there, more often than not. DADA, on the other hand, is mostly about hitting a target, which may be moving, or even resisting, and that is something you would need to physically train for, which would mean spending time away from books - which is why most Ravenclaws drop DADA as soon as we can," she explained with a grin. Her smart-aleck mien at her final statement had Harry guffaw.
"Oh come on," he wheezed. "That was a good one, though."
Marietta accepted the compliment with a nod. "Hits close to home, though. You know, our quidditch team is pretty much the only group activity that does something that does not primarily consist of reading. And they are considered weirdos for it, but since they do study it hard and their points count heavily towards the house cup, they are tolerated. But even their training consists mostly of sessions revising tactics - the time spent on the pitch is only half of their training time."
"That explains why you were always the ones to beat," Harry mused after giving a long, low whistle. The Ravenclaw team spends as much time on the pitch as Gryffindor, and if they had tactic sessions on top of that, it meant that Ollie was only one of the most Quidditch-obsessed people in the castle, instead of the unmatched king. Thinking along the thread, he voiced his opinion of the other teams, as well.
"Hufflepuff is kind of a mess, dunno why. Half the time they are a menace, and some other time, they just can't get into the game. Slytherin is no issue if your team is older. They don't really play the game, they just use the biggest people they can field to beat up the other team until they can run the field unopposed."
"Indeed. People wonder why they get away with it, but their strategy is sound. They usually lag behind in the beginning due to penalties, but once they have the others bruised and flinching, they can run up the score. It also means they can use the bludgers to solely hunt down the seeker, as their chasers do their own bludgeoning. Usually, their head of house would have to reign them in, but with Snape being Snape…"
"Yeah, and with Dumbledore backing him, and McGee doing whatever the Headmaster tells her," Harry sighed. That argument was as old as… as Snape's ascension to Head of House, to be honest. Bill had once told them that this cheating was still something new when he had started Hogwarts, and caused uproars in school. By the time he left, it was accepted as the new standard.
"Just how did we get from your OWL results to talking Quidditch," Marietta suddenly complained. "Are you procrastinating? How bad can it be?"
Feeling a blush creep up his cheeks, Harry proceeded to unfold his letter, scanning the content. "Mostly E's, and an O on DADA. I scored an A on 'Nomy, and I Pee'd Div, which is no wonder, all I learned in that class was that I was going to die any day now, for any possible reason. I Dee'd history, but that was me getting attacked and fainting during the exam. I was offered a retest, but I think I am going to give that a pass. I got all the OWLs I need to qualify, and since we're not going back to Hogwarts, it's a moot point, isn't it? I just have to wait until my 17th, and I'll be fully qualified."
"Yeah. Bugger," Marietta gumbled, scrunching up her face as she tried to avoid crying. "You know, come November, I'd have been a fully qualified witch, already. Pretty sure I'd have done well on my NEWTs, too."
Harry felt a pang of compassion when he heard her complain. "What were your plans? Anything specific you were studying for?"
"Always wanted to go into research, or maybe warding. Arithmancy was always my favourite, along with runes. This year, we'd have started basic enchanting and warding in Runes. I would have loved to give that a try."
Harry had to admit that going along for 'easy' OWLs did not turn out too well for him. "That sounds awesome. Maybe I should have tried those, instead. Divination was a nightmare. Come to think of it, so was Care. I love Hagrid to pieces, but his choices in creatures was… yeah."
"You can say that!" Marietta emphatically agreed. "I still remember those screwt things he brought up during my OWL year. Almost all year we did nothing but try to care for those monstrosities. The entire year graded lower in Care because of this - we all had to study from notes of last year to prepare," she huffed. Harry tried to suppress a grin. To a Ravenclaw, substandard teaching was the worst of sins.
"Yeah, he can get carried away, at times," Harry agreed. He got way to close and personal with one of those horrors in the third task, so he'd back her opinion of them all the way. They were an abomination.
"Maybe we can get some private tutors going once we settle down somewhere? The twins told me that you can take the NEWTs at a later time, if you want to. Homeschoolers and people who switch professions do that all the time," Harry offered.
"It came up when they told me that they were leaving in style rather than getting kicked out, and their plans with their freedom," he explained when Marietta's face voiced doubts about his sources. "One of their cousins did that in his 30s when he got fed up being an accountant or something like that."
Marietta was confused about the offer, though. "I guess they're right. Not everyone goes to Hogwarts. You'd let me do that?"
"Why not? We don't need to work, but if it is your passion, you should try, don't you think? I might try myself at Runes and Arithmancy, myself, it sounds really interesting. Just lounging around at home all day would be pretty boring wouldn't it?"
Pondering the offer for a moment, Marietta shook her head. "Harry. You being noble and all is great, but you are forgetting my legal state. I can't hold a job, legally. Only people can have one. And even if there was some sort of arrangement, I don't know," she responded, fidgeting about. "You see, even with being under the nominal protection of Goblin law, I'd rather not be alone with other people when my rights are pretty much nil. All they need to do is a confundus or obliviation, and … "
"Let's get moving, I want to try this wand out," she suddenly changed topic, putting up a bright face and chipper voice. Harry knew very well that it was but a facade, but the conversation had started becoming a bit too morose for his taste, and he was kind of glad to let it be and get on with things, so he just followed her upstairs.
"You know what?" Harry spoke up as they were making their way upstairs. Although a bit tired, he now had food in his belly, and had spent an hour off his feet, so he wasn't fighting acute exhaustion, anymore.
"We both need a bit of a pick me up, and I kind of feel like celebrating a bit after getting my OWLs done. How about we take another tour through the city before heading back? I'm not quite up for dancing and partying after all the shopping we did, but we might find a cinema and watch a movie, maybe have some pizza and a fizzy beforehand? Or a nice pub or something to pass some time if there's nothing on? Play some darts or pool, maybe bowling? I've heard that it's great fun."
"I'd rather make a night out of it and have some fun out there before we get back to our room, what say you?" he proposed, feeling a bit flushed at the idea of taking her out for a date. It is a cursed life being a teenager, he thought to himself. On one hand you were constantly thinking about dating, but on the other hand, you are sooo not yet smooth enough to actually pull it off without being awkward about it.
Marietta had to stop to avoid taking a misstep on the stairs. She turned and took a look at him, blinking owlishly as she tried to process the sudden turn of events. As she had been mentally preparing a list of spells to go through to get a better feel for her new wand, she was completely caught off guard by his proposal, and instinctively assumed the worst, again.
"You're doing it again," she huffed, a bit waspish. "First the shopping, then the wand, maybe tutors, and now a night out? Why are you spoiling me like that? Are you trying to guilt trip me into something? If that is the case, I'd rather you just tell me what position to assume."
The moment she had spoken these words, she realised what a monumental mistake she would have made if her assumption had been correct. Cringing at her own stupidity, she hastily started to apologize while Harry was reduced to sputtering at her remark. Embarrassed sputtering, at that. "No, I'd never!" he finally vocalized, spoken just seconds before a distraught Marietta glomped onto him in a close to tears of panic type hug, with rapid fire repeats of variations of "I'm sorry". Harry reverted to his tried and tested method of simply standing still and waiting it out. His experience with women was nothing to write home about, but he had so far realised that it was usually better to just wait it out whenever they got like that, for anything catching their attention was something they could project their ire onto. Just as well, it was all he could muster the mental capacity for, at the moment.
"I'm so sorry," she whined as she finally had somewhat calmed down. "It's just something that is drilled into us girls from a young age, to be wary of accepting gifts that may come at a price. I was still moping about my NEWTs and just reacted without thinking and forgot my place."
"Oh, don't be," Harry cooed, feeling just as awkward about the situation, himself. He knew that brothers like Ron were always hyper-protective of their sisters, but he never really thought about the actual need for it. Ginny definitely saw it more as a nuisance than a good thing, but that might be just her. For a moment, he wondered if that would explain why they always travelled in groups, as he realised when looking for a date for the Yule ball. "I guess this is once again one of these things where a guy is saying something he thinks is perfectly nice and charming and then gets slapped for it. Like, it would have never occurred to me that you would read the situation like this, but I can see where you are coming from, given our situation," he finally admitted.
Marietta was lifting her head off his chest and released him to be able to look at him. "You're not mad at me?" She asked in a tiny voice.
Harry barked a laugh of relief, having thought that HE would be the one in trouble for his accidental indecent proposal. He placed a soft smooch on her forehead. "We're good. I'm sorry I did my accidental cad impression again. I keep forgetting that you have this constant reminder of me being a horny teenage sleazebag in the back of your head," he chuckled, trying to make fun of the situation.
"To be frank, I liked that you forgot about everything and reacted just like any other girl would. I think it was great!"
"You liked thinking you were in trouble?" Marietta asked back, incredulous.
Harry again was chuckling at the situation, deciding to make fun of it. "Not, not that. Just made this dating thing we are doing so much more real when I suddenly thought I was in trouble. You see, that's something that we guys are used to. There is always something we get into trouble for. The way we speak, dress, something we did or didn't do, sometimes just for existing. General rule, the more fun we have, the more likely it becomes," he responded cheekily. Seeing her eyes narrow and her cheeks starting to puff, he grinned at her. "See - there it is, again!" He claimed.
Marietta's face immediately fell as he did. Chagrined, she again started to make apologies, but Harry waved her off. "Oh shut up. I, for one, am quite relieved that you can get angry with me."
"Why?"
"Because it means it worked. If you can still be angry at me and keep acting like you would have done normally, it means this is not some sort of Imperius curse or a magic puppet show. There is still the actual you in here."
Marietta felt relieved when she heard him state this theory. This was also one of her biggest fears. But she had to admit that he was, if not completely right, at least not absolutely wrong with his assessment. She could feel the bond, trying to enforce a pliable behavior at all times, it was just that certain situations triggered a larger response than the bond could suppress. Her immediate chagrin and apologetic behavior whenever she felt his mood shift was a side effect of this, just the same as her unnatural quick emotional attachment to the boy. She knew that while part of it was gratitude for his help and his - to be fair - stellar behavior towards her, given the circumstances, but a big part of it was a drive to please, trust, and obey him, courtesy of the loyalty enforcement of the bond.
While she was pondering this, they had continued up the stairs, with Harry showing a nervous habit to prattle on and joke around when feeling awkward. It culminated when he stumbled into an unintentionally crude statement about how they should spend the evening polishing their wands. Of course, the moment he said it, he immediately caught on to what he said, and as usual, both were aware of his predictable teenage reaction to such a classic pinnacle of wizard humor.
He was left behind laughing out loud when she just stormed up the stairs huffing about "boys". By the time he had caught up to her, she was smiling back, but with a huge roll of her eyes and a shake of her head directed at him.
They did spend an hour familiarizing themselves with their new wands, and then went off to their date. Just like before, Marietta was mesmerized by the new experiences. While Harry had been exposed to pizza and fizzies, though only at school - Vernon wouldn't ever allow any nancy foreign muck to be served at home - Marietta had never seen anything like this before. A plate sized baked sandwich? She'd never! And her reaction to her first fizzy - an Fanta Orange to start her off with some taste she was at least mostly familiar with - was hilarious. They both had quite a giggle at her facial contortions at each sip, which always forced her right eye shut, for some reason, but she loved the tickle. When Harry mentioned that you'd have a fizz in the cinema while watching the movie, she was sold. Movie selection was tough. Harry felt that.a romance movie would be inadvisable, due to Marrieta's situation. A bit too much 'in your face'. Same did apply to any movie with bloodshed, though, so action and crime movies were off the table, too. There was one movie, 'Down Periscope', that Harry figured would be an okay choice. A comedy, but in the military, so it was mixed with some action. Since Marietta had already gotten hypnotised by the popcorn counter roasting a new batch, he splurged on the biggest menu, and got a huge bucket, along with a pack of M , and their fizzies. He got them a Coke and the already approved Fanta Orange so they could share, but he was kind enough to warn Marietta about the caffeine in the Cola drink so she would pace herself with it, even though she loved the taste and fizzy 'bite' of it.
"That was amazing!" Marietta gushed as she almost skipped out of the theatre, riding a mixed sugar, caffeine, and post-movie high. Harry was just trying to keep up, grinning like a loon. It was a great movie. They quickly crossed the street to get away from the crowd, starting a lazy stroll up the road, heading towards their hotel. The night was nice, some people were out and about, and they both, unspoken, came to the agreement that they wanted to stretch their legs after sitting in a cinema for the better part of two hours.
Away from the crowd, Marietta felt safe to gush some more about the new experience. "That screen was enormous! Soo much better than the Teevee! It almost felt as if I was with them in that boat! And that sound!"
Harry chuckled heartily. "It was cute when you jumped at the THX intro," he teased.
"It gave me such a fright! It came from everywhere!" she giggled in response, but decided to tease right back. "You jumped, too!"
"Sure I did. Almost pulled my wand! That's one of the genius ideas they use to make you feel like you are right inside the movie, I think," Harry agreed.
"These people who make these movies are so creative. I mean, just imagine how hard it must be to come up with all these huge ships - and these diving boats, what a fantastic idea to come up with," Marietta gushed. Harry was about to respond to her when he had a mental gear shift moment and stopped to think about what she just said. Gradually, he came to a stop, causing her to stop as well and face him, wondering why he was slowing down.
"What do you mean? Come up with? Those were real," he told her, his face showing his confusion quite clearly.
"Yes, of course, just like these 'settings' or what you called them for the Bond movie! Of course! They had to build something like this, they can't just do magic to make them appear," Marietta replied. "Amazing! To think they actually built a full sized model of this boat - and without any magic," she continued to prattle on, getting stopped by Harry as he raised his hand to catch her attention and gave a slow shake of head. Harry had initially just put up Marietta's ignorance towards cars, trains and general Muggle cities to her pureblood roots and Hogwarts' legendary out of date Muggle Studies course. He only now realised that apart from some exceptions, most pureblood wizards have never set their foot out into the Muggle world. They only apparated or travelled by floo, so they never had to. And since there was no magic out there, most Wizards probably really thought that Muggles lived in the late middle ages, tilling the soil. After all, Wizard life was a very basic one without many luxuries, and those were thanks to magic. Cooking was done on a magical wood stove and the firewood was simply transfigured up as came out of taps, hot or cold, and things were cleaned by spellwork or an enchanted washtub. Taking magic out of the equation, they of course assumed that Muggles would have to do everything by hand.
While Marietta had readily accepted the size of a Muggle city and some of the luxuries that Muggles had come up with, she hadn't yet realised just how far Muggle life had advanced over the Magical world. The idea that Muggles would have ships that dwarved Hogwarts castle and possessing the firepower to flatten it at a whim if they wanted to was a radical shift to her worldview. Very careful, as if talking to a little child or a spooked animal, he tried to set her right, fearing her reaction.
"Ree, you will have to trust me on this, but this was not a fantasy movie like the Bond one with the fake space station and space ships. All those modern ships, and the very old submarine that was the main docs of the film - all those were actual warships. They are real. Muggle military has these things. Well, the ones in the movie were American, they have a ton of them, but Britain has a lot of them, too."
At the end of his brief explanation, Marietta's eyes were wide open and darting around in confusion. "You mean these monstrous, gigantic ships made of metal are real? You aren't joking? Things that can dive underwater and not get flooded? Without magic? Exist? This is not some prank you are pulling on me, right?"
"No, they are very real. A lot of people wish things like those would not exist, but they do."
Marietta was trying to absorb this information. What she was taught to be true screamed bloody murder railing against these new facts. It would be so much easier to outright refuse to believe them, but she had seen London. The cars, the buildings, the skyscrapers, the.. everything. She had seen things that made her want to smash her Muggle Studies book into her Professors face. Harry wouldn't lie to her about this. Why would he? He had no reason to make these things up. And she had seen them in the moo-vee. She realised that they just wouldn't have made these things up as models. She had been thinking like a witch - conjuring, transfiguring, a few illusions, some charms to move it. But they were Muggles. They would have to actually build a working model. And if she assumed they could build these as working models for a moo-vee play, then of course, the government could build actual working warships that size, easily. It was the logical conclusion.
"But these toe-pedo things that can swim a thousand feet and blow up like a bad batch of cauldrons? Those weren't real, right? They have to be made up?" Marietta asked in a tiny voice.
"Oh, they are, and they aren't even the worst thing out there," Harry responded. He felt terrible even thinking about what kind of things were out there, and probably even pointed at them at this moment.
"Like what?" Marietta demanded. "Two of those were shown to destroy something like a swimming castle. They would have taken out a whole house with an explosion that big ! Just how much worse than this can it get?" she argued. She had started out with simple disbelief in her voice, but when she saw the expression on Harry's face change during her inquiry, her last question was more of a frightened plea than a question.
"Lot's of things are worse than that. I am no expert, but there are cannons that can destroy a house from dozens of miles away in a single shot, bombs that are dropped from airplanes, and huge rockets that can hit targets halfway around the earth," Harry recounted, trying to keep within general terms. He didn't know a lot of things, but there wasn't a boy that didn't know at least a bit about what the military could do.
Marietta was currently having an epiphany of why the statute of secrecy existed. For a Magical, fighting meant that some people stood a dozen or two paces apart, throwing spells at each other. You could shield against those, or even simply step aside. Even if someone would like to destroy your house, they would need to defeat the wards first, and then would need to burn the house down. You could use explosive hexes, but those were extremely taxing and it would take a lot of them. Even the worst ones were nowhere near the destructive force those toe-pedos looked like. Because you would have to stand right next to the house, and be blown up along with it if you would cast something like that.
The fact that 'quaint' Muggles would be able to destroy a house from a broom ride away and in a blink of an eye was sobering. You could simply sit and read a book, and then cease to exist the very next second, none the wiser. And airplanes dropping stuff like that on you was a horrifying idea all of itself. These things were flying so much higher than any broom could reach, and she was sure that the bombs Harry was talking about were not tiny dungbombs, but more likely as large as these toe-pedos. And rockets? The twins did produce some pretty big explosions with their fireworks, but just how large could these get if you really wanted to? At this point, she realised that Harry had actually been avoiding her question. He had told her what things existed, but not how bad these could be. She was almost scared to know, but she felt like she had to.
"Harry? What is the worst? Just how much damage can the worst thing you know about do?"
"Cities," Harry replied after a short pause. "The worst things can erase a whole city with a single shot."
Marietta was just blinking. Her brain was refusing to give any other command to her body as it wallowed in animalistic existential dread and the need to deny the veracity of this claim. "That can't be right. How would they even do that?" In the end, her Ravenclaw need for information had won the fight.
"Sinistra once did a lecture on meteorites, and had pictures of the one at Tunguska. Of the impact site. Did she do the same one for you?" Harry asked, getting a nod from her. She remembered those pictures. Trees flattened for miles and miles, like grass that had been stepped on.
"Like that. But even worse. Don't ask me how it works, but they once explained it as a miniature sun going off."
"That's horrible! They really use something like that?"
"Hiroshima. Nagasaki. Everyone learns the names of the two cities these bombs were dropped on in school. The only ones. That was when only the Americans had those bombs, at the end of the… you would know it as the Grindelwald war. Two cities. Wiped off the earth with everything inside. Japan surrendered right after that," Harry recounted. "Now a lot of countries have those, so nobody dares using them anymore, because people could return the favor. These days, they are pretty much the Muggle version of the Unforgivables. If you dare to use them, everybody else will kill you right then, out of principle."
"That's one reason to get the hell out of Britain, in my opinion.," Harry mused. "If Voldemort takes over - and the way things are fucked up right now makes that quite likely, the Death Eaters are going to have a field day. Britain is going to become hell on earth. First they'll kill all Muggleborn, then all the Halfbloods. Later, there'll be Muggle slaughter for sport, death and destruction everywhere. And then they will try attacking other countries. You just know they will. Someone like Voldemort will never be content with what he has. He'd burn everything to ashes just to put his throne on the top of the mound. And at one point, someone will simply wipe Britain off the map, just to get rid of them."
"They can do that? The whole country? Are there enough of these bombs to do that?"
"Last time I heard someone talking about them on the telly, there were enough to kill everyone on the planet, at least twice over."
And with that, the mirthful walk back to the hotel turned into a thoughtful march. Until Marietta's sugar high kicked back in and she started reenacting the one scene with whale songs. With ample good scenes to reenact and laugh about, they soon were giggling again. They were young, invincible and full of sugar, so existential dread had no hold over them.
At least for tonight.
AN:
Sorry for the delay. I am not young, nor invincible anymore, and it has been a hard two months. I have been under a lot of stress at work and with my kid for the last 2 years or so, and I have fallen into a habit of grinding my teeth.
Until my jaw pretty much rotted from the pressure causing inflammation to almost all my roots. In February, I felt the first… twinge. About a week after the last update, it suddenly changed to a kick in the face. I've been at the dentist on a weekly schedule since.
3 pulled teeth, 2 root extractions, 2 implants, 6 crowns and a new car for my dentist later, I have given up the bad habit for good.
Watch out for yourselves. Stress can kill you in a multitude of ways.