22. A New Era
It took longer to reach the point where Harry felt uncomfortable, this time, and he had to stop. He started casting his Patronus repeatedly
Hermione, too, took longer to reach her uncomfortable feeling stage.
However, when Harry took his turn, he had only been doing it for a few minutes when it suddenly cut off. He looked at Hermione, "It stopped — and it didn't take as long as it did for Argus with Malfoy!"
Hermione shrugged. "Maybe he didn't pull it as fast as we did," she suggested. "Plus, he quit sooner each time than we did." She thought a moment and shrugged. "See if Goyle's father responds."
He did, and he did.
Goyle's flow stopped just as Hermione was getting that uncomfortable feeling. Had he had less to start with? Or were they getting more each time? On the other hand, based on Gregory's practical work in school, his father probably wasn't that great a Wizard to start with, so it was probably that he had less to give.
Crabbe, Senior, was next, for Harry. When his contribution stopped while Hermione was at it, she switched to Alecto Carrow and continued until it felt uncomfortable.
Then they broke for lunch. When Dobby finished bringing them something to eat, Harry said, "Can you find us a list of Death Eaters? The ones with the Dark Mark on them?"
Dobby tugged on one ear and shuffled awkwardly. "Grown-up Nott be one," he said. "Flint and Higgs," He added.
Hermione rolled her eyes. "We'll just go through the Slytherin names we know and see if we get any hits. They're supposed to be thick as thieves in that House."
Which they immediately started to do after eating and burning off as much magic as they could with their Patroni.
They managed to work their way through Flint, Higgs, Bletchley, and Bole's parents — their fathers, all — by the time Hermione needed to return home to be there when her parents got back from work. Harry managed to drain Nott's father before calling it quits late that night.
He would have suggested they bring Luna into their efforts at draining Death Eaters, but she and her father had left for their summer expedition to find the Snorkacks as soon as her father had picked her up at King's Cross Station.
Suzie had told them her parents had taken the week off from work for the family to go to Portugal. The three were having a family celebration over how many NEWTs she had taken, and that she had finally finished Hogwarts. So, she was unavailable, too.
Ron and Ginny were out as they wouldn't be able to explain to their parents where both were disappearing to for most of each day. Ginny couldn't use the excuse of visiting Luna because the Lovegoods were gone, and Ron didn't even have that thin excuse.
The other girls they didn't quite know well enough to trust with what they were doing.
The next morning, after breakfast, and welcoming Hermione to his house properly, they talked about the Death Eaters. "We don't know how much magic we're actually getting from each Death Eater," he said. "We don't know much magic is used to make the remaining magic compatible to us. For all we know, we're only getting ten-percent of the total! And that ten-percent is what's making us feel uncomfortable. If that's all we're getting, then expending it immediately and getting more the next time makes the amount we grow by a smaller percentage each time. That's probably why we were able to tap so many compared to how long it took Argus to do the same. Plus, he couldn't burn off the magic he had accumulated so he could get more the next time."
"So, you think we should go back trying to take it from all the Death Eaters?"
"Yeah, especially because we don't really know of any others, specifically. Trying to find out would take time, and we probably wouldn't get a large number. Most of them hid their activities quite well."
"You're probably right," he said.
She sighed. "Okay, we'll see how that goes, then." She looked around. "But we're not going to do that every day! I still have research to do on getting my A-levels via mail."
He couldn't help but laugh.
"I'm sure that there are plenty of places that allow that, and you have all summer to do it! With the Room available to us next term, you have as much time as you need to complete the assignments!"
She huffed.
Argus was more than happy to start the day with getting more magic while Harry and Hermione spent the time burning off theirs, and then getting back to work in the castle. The two students then spent their day draining magic from Death Eaters and promptly burning it off.
Unfortunately, they had no way of knowing what affect they were having on the Death Eaters. They could tell, however, that their own reserves were growing as it took longer and longer for them to feel tired, and the number of Patroni they could summon had nearly doubled.
If their experience the previous day was any indication, then they had probably drained the magical equivalent of eight people. Which, if Hermione was right and there were a hundred Marked Death Eaters, was only about eight percent.
The next day when Dobby brought Hermione over, she was tense, uncertain, and worried. "Look, look," she said, pointing at the morning's copy of The Daily Prophet that she had brought with her.
The headline was amazing. The Daily Prophet's headline was a total surprise, and vindication that they were on the right track.
FOUR PURE-BLOODS COLLAPSE!
Lost Their Magic!
New disease only affects Pure-bloods?
According to the article, starting Friday and over the weekend, the Wizards had suddenly collapsed and started screaming. When the pain dropped to a manageable level, they discovered they quickly became exhausted after just the simplest magics were cast, or their wands no longer worked for them at all!
Two had gone to St. Mungo's — they had had their spouses side-along apparate them — where it was discovered they were nearly completely magically exhausted. They were told bed-rest should restore their magic. Later in the day, they had another episode of extreme pain . . .. The next day they had no discernible magic and could not use their wands.
That was when the others had arrived. They had assumed their magic would return in the morning, and when it hadn't, they had sought out St. Mungo's.
After interviews with all the Pure-bloods afflicted, the only common factor, besides being Pure-bloods, was that they had all felt out of sorts on Friday. Nothing painful, just an odd feeling, almost like the feeling you get just before an upset stomach.
But then, they said, over the weekend it hadn't been an upset stomach feeling, it had been painful, and quickly increased. It was almost as bad as the Cruciatus Curse, they all agreed.
Harry noted that none of them were identified as "former" Death Eaters.
"Interesting that taking their magic causes pain," he said, after reading the article.
"Maybe it's a reflection of the fact that it is being forcefully removed? I suppose the amount of magic removed and the rate of the removal has an impact, too." She worried her lower lip with her upper teeth. He could tell she was having second thoughts.
"It's possible, no probable, that Tom made the process as painful as possible as revenge for how they all treated him, at first, in Hogwarts," he said. "But just consider that it isn't killing them, just removing their ability to use magic to torture and kill anyone who they think is inferior . . . Muggle-borns like you!"
She pressed her lips together tightly and frowned. Then she sighed.
"Shall we continue?" he said.
Hermione slowly nodded. "We don't know how we're affecting the Death Eaters, as a group, nor how long this will take. Maybe we should ask the twins if they know of any Death Eaters their dad might have mentioned?"
Sirius, unfortunately, hadn't made an appearance in a few days, and it really wasn't that much of an emergency that they needed to contact him. "We can ask Dobby to deliver a letter for us," Harry said.
It didn't take long to draft a letter. Predictably, Dobby was delighted to act as mail-service in delivering the missive and listening for the twins to announce they had a reply.
"It'll probably take a couple of days for them to get back to us, though."
Harry shrugged. "In the meantime, we can continue draining the entire group."
She sighed.
He just looked at her. "The sooner we finish this, the sooner we can get rid of Riddle, permanently. There's plenty of time to get the information about schools that will give you your A-levels by mail."
She reluctantly nodded her agreement.
Minutes later, they were again in the Chamber of Secrets with Argus. It was the same as yesterday, only it took longer for the older wizard to feel "full" and return to his regular duties. It took longer for the remaining two to feel "over-full", as they had started to call it.
As with all magic, the more you used a spell, the more proficient at it you became and the easier it was to cast.
At lunch time, Dobby startled them with a list from the twins. "Twinsies say these are in Wizardy prison," he said, handing over a parchment to Harry.
This list was just ten names: Antonin Dolohov, James Gibbon, Henry Jugson, Bellatrix Lestrange, Rabastan Lestrange, Rodolphus Lestrange, Thomas Mulciber, Augustus Rookwood, Thorfinn Rowle, and John Travers.
"They must have apparated to the Ministry and asked for a list," Hermione said. "Simple and quick." She sighed, "Tracking the others will be more difficult."
"Still, it's a start," Harry said.
Just to be sure, they started with the Lestranges, Rabastan, Rodolphus and Bellatrix.
Surprisingly, or maybe not considering what Remus had told them about Dementors draining a Wizard's powers, the magic from each of them gave out pretty quickly. Then they moved on to drain from the remaining seven names on the list.
And it wasn't even mid-afternoon when the last of them stopped responding!
They went back to pulling from all the Death Eaters until it was dinner time. Then they called it quits for the day and Dobby returned them to their respective homes.
Later that night, after her parents were asleep, Dobby brought Hermione to Harry's bedroom and they enjoyed a little personal time before falling asleep together. Dobby, of course, took her to her home bed when her parents started to wake up.
Thursday's Daily Prophet was just as satisfying to Harry, Argus, and Hermione.
MORE PURE-BLOODS LOSING MAGIC!
Seven More Pure-Bloods in St. Mungo's!
The three had scared some of the Death Eaters into running to the hospital in hopes they could be helped! This was excellent news. Today, they would see how many of the Wizards named, Simon Avery, Nigel Pyrites, Andrew Selwyn, Corban Yaxley, Trevor Pyrites, and Walden Macnair, they could drain before the day was out.
They would have liked to drain all six at the same time, but that didn't work they found. They had to have a clear idea of who they were connecting to. Simply thinking their names one after the other with an "and" wouldn't work. They could only do one at a time, or all the Death Eaters, there was no middle ground.
Argus started off while they were burning off their magic with patroni.
Harry and Hermione had apparently drained the group of Death Eaters more than they had thought. In the time it took them to do two on Tuesday, they did three in the morning with each of them doing all of one and apparently half of another! With an early lunch and burning through the magic as fast as possible, they managed the four others just before dinner time. Fortunately, Hermione's parents were delayed in traffic a bit and she just barely beat them home.
It must have frustrated the Healers in St. Mungo's something terrible to watch their patients scream in pain and be unable to do anything to stop it — or maybe they had given them a powerful sleeping draught. Then stood there casting diagnostic charms trying to understand what was happening and how they could stop it.
Harry spent some time after dinner draining magic from the whole group of still-living Death Eaters. He didn't want them to think that whatever had been happening had stopped that day and they were safe.
Friday's Prophet had no new names to add, but it did announce:
DARK MARK DOOMS PURE-BLOODS!
Former Death Eaters Losing Magic!
Is You-Know-Who coming back?
While satisfying to read, it added no new names for them to target. So, as they had before, they concentrated on draining magic from the entire group of Death Eaters.
Hermione figured they were close to removing all the magic from the remaining Death Eaters, based on how much magic the Wizards from the day before had seemed to have lost before the two had finished them off.
"If that loss holds true for the other Death Eaters," she said to Harry, "they might have less than two-thirds their magic left! With the others removed from consideration, it's possible that at the end of the day, the remaining Death Eaters could be down to less than a third of what they had before we started doing this! Maybe even as little as a quarter!"
So it was with renewed determination they returned to the Chamber of Secrets and resumed pulling magic through the Dark Mark. They weren't sure if it made a difference, but they concentrated on wanting as much possible.
That mindset seemed to help, as they had to stop more frequently. Plus, it took longer to expend the magic they received. Their patroni were solid appearing and they could keep up more than one at a time! They certainly had enough good memories to draw from, too!
At one point, Harry took a good look at his instead of immediately dismissing it and starting again. It startled him and Hermione. They just stopped and admired the stag. It looked solid — not a ghostly form, but one they could touch. He half-expected its hooves to make sounds as it trotted around on the stone floor.
Its mere presence made them indescribably happy, and delayed their next bout at Peter's tattoo as they took a "personal" break in Harry's trunk-bedroom.
Still, there hadn't seemed to be any change in the flow of magic by the time dinner came around and Hermione had to go home.
Harry stayed until ten, again, then Dobby took him home where he immediately fell asleep when he hit the bed.
Hermione would have to spend the weekend with her parents, so Harry wouldn't see her unless she called for Dobby after her parents went to bed.
Saturday, Harry slept in and wished that Hermione could have come over — or, actually, any of the girls. Still, after a hearty breakfast from Dobby, he went back to the Chamber. He would only get half-as much done without Hermione there to use the Dark Mark while he used up the magic he had drained from the Death Eaters.
Still, Filch had dramatically improved the time it took for him to reach the point of stopping.
Filch was stunned at Harry's Patronus, this time. Not only was it solid and almost blindingly bright, but he could see individual hairs moving on its coat and ears. It even appeared to be breathing — at least, he claimed he could feel air moving on his hand when he held it in front of its nose!
It was, to all appearances, a real deer, magnificent antlers and all, only silver in colour. It even felt like fur when Harry stroked it. He half-expected its hooves to make sounds as it moved around on the stone floor. They both spent a few minutes just admiring it.
Harry now had to cast the spell three-times as many times as when he had started in order to feel tired, and that didn't include the drastic improvement of the buck's appearance! He wasn't sure if that was his total familiarity with the spell making it easier, or if his capacity for casting the spell had increased that much. He shrugged. It was probably a combination of both.
Naturally, he didn't tell Filch any of that that.
He grinned wryly. He was probably the most powerful Wizard in Hogwarts, excepting Dumbledore. He might even be more powerful than him! It was a heady thought. He dismissed it as him being silly.
Filch had improved, too. For him to disperse his magic was more difficult, but his smaller starting amount made up for the difference. He also admitted he had been practicing the harder transfiguration spells to try to exhaust his magic as much as possible.
In addition, when he checked every morning with Madam Pomfrey before Dobby fetched him to the Chamber of Secrets, his magic seemed to be growing and maturing rapidly. That is, when she checked him the night before after he had practiced several difficult spells during the day, and then compared that to the following morning, his capacity always seemed larger. Overnight, not only had he regained the magic he had expended the day before, it was even higher, indicating he had grown his capacity the previous morning with Harry! In other words, to all appearances and measurements she could make, his wand-using abilities were permanent and growing!
Fortunately, it being a Saturday, none of those staying in the Castle over summer would notice that Argus wasn't in the Castle, today.
He was always ready when Harry had to stop.
Harry expected to be in the Chamber all day, and maybe some of the evening. Which was why he was so surprised when Filch told him that the drain dropped to a tickle and then stopped completely just an hour after they finished their lunch. It was barely past one!
They waited an hour, both casting as much magic as possible, then tried again to no avail. Except for Snape and Peter, there didn't appear to be any Death Eaters with magic! Or, at least, none with the Dark Mark on their arm.
He paced nervously while Filch continued to exhaust his magic. He thought about what to do next for another fifteen minutes, dithering, and then decided to go for it. He focused on Snape and his desire to drain his magic as fast as it was feasible for him to accept the magic — then put his wand on the Dark Mark and started the drain curse. *
He expected to have to take a break to burn off the magic he had collected, but, startlingly, he didn't. In fact, long before he expected it, the drain slowed to a trickle, then stopped.
Hitting the Dark Mark one more time, looking for magic from any Death Eater gave him zero results.
He took a deep breath and slowly let it out. Then he called Filch over. "Apparently, Peter is the only one left," he said slowly. "Do you want to do the honours?"
"Oh, yes," He grinned manically. "It'll be my revenge for some of the things the Marauders did!"
Harry watched as the man set his wand to the Dark Mark and directed it to pull the magic from the person it was on.
Despite the Draught of Living Death, Peter grimaced.
He expected Filch would have to stop and burn off some of the magic, but that didn't happen. The magic slowed to a trickle, then stopped.
Well, Sirius had said the man was a weaker Wizard than most of the others in their classes when they were in Hogwarts. Or did Filch now have more than average capacity?
He stared at the Squib on the table, for that's what he was, now. Just a Squib, not a Wizard. A man with no more magic than a Muggle, he couldn't use a wand to cast magic anymore. No accidental magic, either.
"Congratulations, Argus, you drained him completely. Considering that you've drained at least four Wizards dry, you probably are as powerful as any wizard, maybe more! Depending, of course, on how much magic was used to convert the incoming magic to yours." He grinned. "Based on how much my magic seems to have grown, I'd say you're definitely above average, now.
"If you study hard, you'll easily be able to best any Seventh-year in a couple of years!
Filch did a little happy dance at that, and smiled glowingly at his wand, and then Harry. "Thank you, Harry," he said, "you don't know what this means to me!"
Harry nodded. "You're right, I really don't know." He paused and grinned back. "But I'm happy to help you."
He glanced back at Peter. "It's good that I'm not talented enough to duplicate the spells in that Dark Mark," he lied. "This'll never happen again."
Harry looked around the Chamber. "Well, that's all, Argus." He smiled at the man . . . no, the Wizard. "There's nothing more we can do for you. Dobby can take you back, now . . . and I hope you have a wonderful day!"
Argus' grin was so bright he could have been mistaken for a totally different person!
Moments later, Harry was alone in the Chamber.
Harry sighed and walked over to where Riddle was disillusioned. A second later, Riddle had become visible.
Riddle didn't have the Dark Mark, and there was no way he wanted to take a chance that something might go wrong if Harry attempted to replicate magical draining-spell tattoo without any practice! Plus, Riddle might somehow be able to resist anyone taking his magic.
He made a hole through the magical protections on the coffin, shot a piercing charm through the forehead of the homunculus that held the spirit of Tom Marvolo Riddle, and then retreated to what he hoped was a safe distance.
Like the Horcruxes, a cloud of black smoke poured from the coffin a moment later. It formed a face that was furious with hatred that quickly changed to one of horror. It started screaming as it slowly shredded and evaporated into the air.
He checked Peter; his dark mark was completely gone.
Tom Marvolo Riddle, also known as Lord Voldemort, was no more.
His followers were no more either. Or, rather, his most rabid followers had been rendered into the very people they detested — Squibs. Unable to use magic, not recognized as a part of Wizarding Society by most Wizards and Witches. St Mungo's would only grudgingly help them if they needed assistance, and many Pure-blood businesses would refuse to acknowledge them if they came in to shop. They could not serve in any capacity in the Ministry or Wizengamot.
For those who were in the more conservative families, tradition demanded that they be obliviated and moved into Muggle society as amnesia victims who had survived a severe head injury. They could function, but would be woefully lacking in knowledge about the most basic things needed to survive on their own. Almost all would end up in long-term-care facilities being treated as children by Muggles.
Which meant that a good number of the conservative families in the Wizengamot would have to appoint a regent until the current underage child — if there was one — reached maturity, usually the mother. Most wives in conservative families had been kept in the dark regarding their family finances, businesses, and political dealings — that was the husband's duty!
Oh, the wives probably knew the broad parameters of the Conservative agenda, but they were political neophytes in the shark-infested waters of the Wizengamot. They were never expected to be in control of the family, and thus had never been taught anything about the intricacies of political infighting and the art of making deals that were politically advantageous for the family.
They didn't know who were scoundrels that they had blackmail on, nor who would try to blackmail them! Plus, most of the associates mentioned by their husbands were now Squibs, themselves!
The wives would have to be very cautious in all their decisions, or they would soon be paupers and living on the streets.
That didn't count those children who had lost both parents and had to depend on the Wizengamot to appoint regents for them!
When the Wizengamot, or the wives, appointed a regent to represent the child's, or their family's, in the Wizengamot, the appointee likewise would be very cautious in their decisions, and miserly in their bribery. Frequent consultations with the family would be required. The wives, for the most part, would have their hands full just dealing with the businesses that their husband used to handle, not to mention the estate. Going from being kept in the dark to being in charge would be a shock! Most conservative British Wizards insisted that they take care of business while their Witches' dealt with the house and bringing up the children!
Being in control had a very steep learning ramp. They would have to learn a lot in a very short time, or go bankrupt. They would find their naiveite would lead to them being cheated or taken advantage of by their husbands' surviving business associates, or even employees, at every turn. At least, those business associates, or employees who had merely supported the extreme conservative view without actually being Death Eaters.
The Conservative agenda had been dealt a mortal blow, and it would take years, or if not decades, for them to recover their former power.
Harry imagined the climate in Hogwarts would be much calmer, next year, as a result. The major players in Slytherin house no longer had the ability to throw around their families' political and economic weight, and thus dominate the others. Many of them would not take over from the regents or their mothers until several years after leaving Hogwarts, depending on how their family's inheritance rules dictated.
In addition, while many of the student Death Eater wannabees were vile examples of human beings, without the clout of their families' Death Eater reputations and connections, they were reduced to mere school-yard bullies. Students who would have done what they were told to avoid creating problems for their parents would now be more likely to resist or even ignore those who had once ruled the roost in Slytherin and, to a lesser degree, Ravenclaw.
The Slytherins would be too busy with their own attempts at dominating their House to bother with the other Houses.
It would come down to just how powerful the student was, in business, politics, and magic . . . and most students were not that powerful, especially in Slytherin. Sneaky and underhanded? Yes. Magically powerful? Not so much. Politically? Well, with neophytes learning the ropes in the Wizengamot, they couldn't wield that power very artfully, so, again, the answer was, not so much. The same was true for business. With neophytes just learning the business? Most wouldn't have anyone they truly trusted to teach them about the family business when they graduated. They might not even have that business to fall back on when they graduated!
Speaking of power, he couldn't help but wonder at his and Hermione's, now.
Filch had pulled magic from at least four or five Wizards, not counting the group drains he had helped with. He was now, apparently, a slightly above average wizard. If that meant anything, then it seemed as if the efficiency for taking another wizard's magic was anywhere from twenty to twenty-five percent, maybe more.
But that didn't matter, did it? Wasn't it the size of his pool that mattered? Not how often he filled it? After all, he had gone from having nothing that could hold magic to being an apparent slightly above average Wizard at this moment! Each time he had stopped because it "felt too-full" meant he had made his "pool" larger, didn't it?
Or was it that each time he took magic he increased his capacity to cast magic, as Ollivander had suggested? Just as someone at eleven couldn't cast as easily and efficiently as a fifteen-year-old? Was your magic ability like a river that grew larger after every flood season — each time it filled its banks, it grew a bit larger?
And that "refilling" overnight meant his magical pathways had adapted to the new, higher flow he was capable of using?
In which case, their draining magic out of the wizard through those pathways was somehow destroying them? Maybe that spell to change the magic to be compatible with the draining Wizard was actually happening in the target and that was tearing apart the pathways?
He moved over to the couch and sat, thinking.
Dobby had brought them a list of ten Death Eaters who were in Azakaban, which was in addition to the thirteen they had found by guesswork who had sons or daughters in Slytherin House. Seven more had been identified in The Daily Prophet.
That added up to thirty Death Eaters, which was probably a big undercount. Still, based on when they had run out of magic to steal, it was far fewer than the hundred Hermione had estimated.
Harry and Hermione had ignored Peter and Snape in their own efforts.
And that didn't count the magic they pulled from the entire group of Death Eaters for some of that time! Which had stopped far quicker than Hermione had anticipated.
So, at a conservative estimate, each of the two them had added a percentage of about eight to ten Wizards' worth of magic to their own if they actually had pools of magic! Exactly how much depended on how efficient the conversion process was of the Death Eaters' magic to their own.
Or, they had improved their magical pathways by the same amount.
If it was only twenty-percent efficient, then they still had tripled their capacities in either of the cases!
If the measurement was how often they pushed to near exhaustion using magic, then they had done that a couple of dozen times, or more. Even if they "stretched" by a mere ten percent each time, their capacity was nearly two-and-a-half times that of an adult wizard.
He leaned back in shock.
Perhaps he, no, both of them, were more powerful than Dumbledore!
He sat on the couch in a daze for several minutes.
Harry wondered if there was some kind of measure for how powerful one was.
Maybe they could have Dobby find the books they needed to check and bring them into the Chamber of Secrets? He made a mental note on it.
Then he realized he was being dumb. "Dobby?" he called out.
"Dobby be here!" came the quick answer.
Less than a minute later, he was inside the Room of Requirement and asking Professor Hogwarts if there was such a spell.
"There is," s/he said, "The only qualification is that it doesn't work on prepubescent children, and changes as the child gets older until about the age of twenty-one.** It is a Ranked-scale based on two, that is, rank-zero is a Muggle with a level of zero, rank-one is a Squib and has a level of one. A rank-two has a level of two and is the average student entering Hogwarts. A rank-three has a level of four, about what an OWL student has. Rank-four has a level of eight, and most NEWT students have that rank. Rank-five has a level of sixteen — most adults Wizards score between ranks-four-point-three and rank-five, levels nine-point-eight and sixteen. Mr Filch has a rank of four-point-seven, almost level thirteen. Rank-six has a level of thirty-two. Miss Granger has a rank of six-point-five, level forty-five. Headmaster Dumbledore is ranked six-point-seven with a level of almost fifty-two. Rank-seven is level sixty-four, which no one currently alive has reached — Merlin is estimated as being around that rank."
He paused. "You have a rank of six-point-eight — level fifty-five-point-seven."
Harry stared, stunned. He was already more powerful than Dumbledore! That meant he had more magic than ninety-nine-point nine-nine percent of all the adults in England!
"I believe that your phenomenal rank is based on your activities since you officially left Hogwarts on Sunday, last."
Harry stared at him/her.
"If your ability to cast magic increases in proportion with your fellow students as you get older, you can expect your rank to easily exceed Merlin's when you officially finish Seventh-year."
He could only shake his head in disbelief.
Then he got to thinking about the rumours he had heard in Gryffindor and things Professor Hogwarts had mentioned.
He had heard on the telly at the Dursley's that evolution, for women, was all about maximizing you and your children's survival. That was why women tried to make themselves more attractive and rarely disagreed with their partners. It also meant girls and women were genetically programmed to be attracted to boys and men who could provide and protect them and their children later in life.
Harry had understood, that applied to the Magicals, that the more powerful a Wizard was, the more attractive he was to Witches. That is, their magic reacted to the more-powerful Wizard's magic and made him seem a better partner than another, weaker Wizard.
At least, that was the theory. It was far more complicated than that simple explanation. But, in general, it was true. The initial attraction might be driven by their magic's response, but whether they acted on it was up to their opinions of what society expected from them, and their opinions of the individual male.
Maybe that was part of why Hermione was so willing for him to . . . entertain . . . other girls. The more Witches she could "control" with favours, the more "power" she had! Plus, it explained why the other girls were willing to do it despite knowing marriage was off the table . . . they might not marry him, but he probably would be more likely to help them if they needed help. Plus, he wouldn't just ignore any children they had.
He sighed.
If Hermione said it was okay, he saw no reason not to take advantage of the Dobby Express to visit Luna, Ginny, and the other girls. There was no reason to deprive himself, after all . . . especially if the Witches were always asking for more!
He wondered who would be the first to talk Hermione into letting him get her pregnant.
The mere thought gave him a bar-on.
That led to a thought about finances, a few minutes later.
They had pirated two relatively rich estates, the Lestrange and Dolohov.
They had, indeed, found the deeds to all four estates, as well as the parchments of ownership and shares in the companies that fed gold into the Lestrange and Dolohov Vaults.
For two of the families, Sirius had tracked down the businesses who hadn't been paying them their share of the partnerships' profits since the Death Eaters had been sent to Azkaban. He had demanded the back payments owed, where appropriate, promising the Black family's retribution if they refused. When they capitulated, he had rearranged the ownership of Harry and Hermione's share of the partnerships, and their payments. Sirius was running the profits through different Black dummy-companies to separate and hide who actually had them, now, and directing the galleons to Harry's and Hermione's Vaults as "consultation fees."
Sirius insisted he didn't need any of it, the Black family was rich enough already.
The Rookwood family had been one to spend the principle instead of the earnings and eventually sold their businesses and partnership-portions to pay debts made during and after the war. Jugson, as he remembered Sirius telling him, had sold off their business interests to pay fines.
The new ward-stones on the properties made them unplottable and, like most large estates, you couldn't disapparate onto the estate without first being allowed by the owner. Currently that was just the three of them.
While Lestrange was a bit large, coming in at nearly five-hundred-fifty-four acres, the Dolohov and Rookwood estates weren't as large, being one-hundred-sixty-eight and fourteen acres, respectively.
Now that he thought about it, it wouldn't be that difficult to subdivide the Lestrange estate into an all-wizarding village, like Hogsmeade, if they wanted. In fact, the Dolohov estate could be made to work like that, too. A planned community, like Little Whinging, but with Magicals instead of Muggles, with a playpark for the children and an inexpensive eatery nearby for the parents to lounge as they watched their children.
Then he could help provide for any of his children by the other Witches by at least giving them a welcoming environment. He could start the mothers with a nice nest-egg and home at the beginning, and a stipend for the children.
Yeah, that would be nice.
That is, if Hermione agreed to letting them have children by him! She might want to be the only one bearing his children . . . and he would certainly never object to that
He shook his head wryly. He wasn't even out of Hogwarts and he was planning for children! That was, he thought, definitely putting the cart before the horse, as he had heard it said.
Which reminded him, he needed to visit Gringotts and see what his Death Agent had meant by having more political pull than he thought.
He sighed. Before he did anything, though, he needed to send Hedwig to Hermione asking what she had planned for the summer, now that their other project was complete? He thought that she should consider telling Winky that the house-elf could bond with her, if she wanted. That way, they had a reasonable excuse for Harry being able to visit despite not knowing how to apparate nor having a floo attached to the Dursley fireplace.
Naturally, Winky would be assured of a wonderful life with the Grangers. None of them would dream of abusing the little elf!
Actually, now that he thought of it, an excellent project would be duplicating the spells that made the Room of Requirement work. It would certainly be easier than trying to sneak into Hogwarts during the hols! He frowned. Unfortunately, if they did have one of their own RoR's, they wouldn't have access to Professor Hogwarts, which made it . . . problematic.
Unless they could somehow link their room to the one in Hogwarts? Allow Professor Hogwarts access to theirs? And, conversely, them to Hogwarts?
Then he remembered that they had finally fixed the Vanishing Cabinet. Regrettably, they didn't yet know where the matching cabinet was. Perhaps The Professor knew of a solution? If he did, then they didn't really need their own Room, they could just use the cabinets!
That was a worthwhile project for the summer!
He would also suggest she tell her parents about the Room of Requirement, if she hadn't already. It would explain why she was meeting up with so many Muggle-borns in Diagon Alley in August.
He would be telling her all this tonight, after her parents went to sleep, anyway, but her parents would get very suspicious if she suddenly started talking about those things when she apparently had no way to talk to Harry.
Hence, Hedwig.
.o\O/o.
Author's Note:
*Remember, up until now, Harry has only seen Snape as the professor who unfairly judges him on everything Harry does and hates him for being the son of his father. He makes up excuses to take points and assign detentions, claiming the boy is an arrogant dunderhead who expects his fame to do his work for him. Snape constantly, and unfairly, belittles the boy, and others. He allows the Slytherins to get away with bullying and causing other students potions to fail. As far as Harry is concerned, the man has no good points. He is a Death Eater, despite any statements made by the Headmaster that he "has his complete confidence."
** Fun fact! "In Tanner Stage V (of breast development), the areola recedes, which eliminates the second mound. The breast contour is now smooth and round with only the nipple elevated above the breast. Doctors consider this to be a mature female breast. The average age for reaching Tanner Stage V is 15. However, breasts can continue (my emphasis) to fill out through the late teenage years and even early 20s." [www. healthgrades right-care/ womens-health/ breast-growth]. I knew several girls who told me that they each went up a full cup-size after graduating high school!