"'Arry." Fleur said directly, also sitting down on the bed. "Why 'as 'e been avoiding me?"
"Oh, I expect that he probably doesn't know what to do about you now that he's single and having sex with women other than Nymphadora again."
That was easy.
"Zey 'ave broken up zen?" She asked just to be sure.
"Oh yes, it was terribly sad." Luna replied. "Nymphadora can't bring herself to relax now that she knows about the Joining and Harry isn't putting up a fight because he feels responsible. Both of them are being dummies about it."
While Fleur was glad for Luna's refreshingly unconcerned attitude towards the Joining, she knew that this Nymphadora's response was positively tame compared to how most people would react in a similar situation.
"But why didn't 'e..." Fleur trailed off, realizing how pathetic it would sound to finish that sentence.
"Why didn't he come to you?" Luna finished it for her anyway, getting a stiff nod from the veela. "I don't know. You'd have to ask him that."
"I would if only 'e would stop avoiding me." Fleur groused.
"You can wait for him here." Luna offered. "He should've been back already, but I guess he ended up having sex with Bryanna and Tiana."
"...'Oo?" Fleur asked blankly, wondering if there were yet more women to compete against.
"Two business partners with nice boobies. Harry used to play with them at least once a week last year."
Fleur really wasn't sure what to say to that, but at least it sounded as if this was just casual sex and not a relationship. "I will wait for 'im 'ere zen. Merci."
"You're welcome."
There were a few moments of silence...well not really silence because Luna was humming something, but there was no talking. Then it was broken.
"Oh, I just had an idea!" Luna exclaimed. "Do you want to paint each other's toenails? I heard that girlfriends do that for each other and I'm sure it applies to harem buddies too."
"But we are not in a 'arem togezzer." Fleur felt compelled to point out.
"But you want us to be and I want us to be, which only leaves Harry and he's much too sensitive about his masculinity to get his toenails painted." Luna counter argued.
The warped logic was strangely persuasive even if the moon brained girl hadn't gotten it 100% correct. Fleur did not, strictly speaking, want Luna in a harem with her, but she was quite sure that attempting to separate her from Harry could only end in tears(and possibly blood considering the events of the second task), probably her own, so she had accepted that Luna was there to stay.
The fact that she genuinely liked her and hadn't had a proper girlfriend for years also played some small part in shaping Fleur's answer.
"Let me just 'op over to the Beauxbatons carriages, you British don't know 'ow to make proper nail polish."
XXXXX
After extricating himself from the clutches of two lusty females and making use of their shower, Harry had decided to fly to London in his raven form and spend some time in an internet café catching up to stuff that he had missed in the normal world over the past couple of months. Magic was great and he wouldn't trade it for anything, but he did miss technology sometimes. Not being especially politically inclined, he ended up spending most of his time reading about the recently video games that he was probably never going to get around to playing. It was hard to get excited about the newest fantasy game when you could throw your own fireballs. Or if the bloated cancerous mass known as Electronic Arts had reached out from the Pit of Inescapable Mediocrity with its slimy tentacles and used them to repeatedly violate any good idea that wandered into reach until said good idea was left more abused and ruined than a top of the line sex doll shared between fifteen people.
By the time that he got back to Hogwarts, the sun was already setting and he was eager to see if Luna had been able to repeat the feat of wandless summoning that they had done together yesterday.
The sight that greeted him upon opening the door to his room had him staring in pure bemusement.
"Hello, Harry."
"Bonjour."
Luna and Fleur were sitting together on the bed, apparently having been deep in conversation before his arrival.
"Did I miss something?" He asked, still quite baffled.
"Fleur and I are having a girls day." Luna volunteered happily. "We painted each others nails. Look!"
She extended her legs to present her toenails to Harry, which were now a pale pink that went well with her blonde hair and complexion.
"Nice?" Harry guessed, knowing nothing about nail painting.
"Show him yours, Fleur." Luna urged.
The veela looked reluctant to Harry's gaze, but she did it anyway. He had to bite his lip when he saw what Luna had done to the poor veela's toenails. They looked like something that you might see while on a psychedelic acid trip.
"Fabulous." He said, still trying not to laugh.
Fleur ignored his obvious amusement by adopting a dignified air of low level snobbery.
"That's what I told her, but Fleur keeps insisting that less is more, which really makes no sense." Luna said with a nod.
"We can't all be as wise as you, Luna." Harry said agreeably. This day was turning out to be friggin' amazing.
"Hmmm, you'll have to explain what wisdom has to do with toenails later, Harry. I'll go play with myself in the Room of Requirement while you and Fleur talk." And with that she put on her shoes and left.
Harry wasn't sure if Luna's words were meant to be as dirty as they sounded and figured that he probably never would. She had such a mastery of ambiguous statements that you couldn't even tell if she was doing it on purpose or not.
He sat down on the bed next to the veela and prompted her when she didn't speak up right away. "You wanted to talk?"
Fleur had been trying to get Harry into a situation with a bed involved for months, had flirted constantly and waited patiently for him to become available. Now that it had happened though, she wasn't sure how to proceed. Indignantly demanding why he had spurned her attention didn't seem like a good idea.
She settled on simplicity. "I did."
"About?" Harry prompted again.
"You 'ave been avoiding me." Fleur stated neutrally. "Why?"
Harry sighed and got off the bed again, beginning to pace. "What exactly is it you want from me, Fleur?"
The veela was somewhat taken aback by the directness of the question and answered with a question of her own. "Eez eet not obvious?"
"Heh, I suppose it is." Harry chuckled humorlessly. "Your signals have been pretty clear and I doubt you would've kept at it this long if you were looking to just fuck and forget, if you'll pardon my French."
She briefly glared at him for the dig at her country and language but decided that there were more important things to talk about. "Am I not good enough for you?"
"Please refrain from pulling that passive-aggressive bullshit on me." Harry said mildly. His foster parents were masters of the art and he'd had to put up with it for years. He was rather looking forward to telling them that their association was finished for good once the summer began. He certainly wasn't going to put up with it from his friends. "And no, it has nothing to do with you not being good enough."
Fleur's lips had become a thin, irritated line at his rebuke but she didn't say anything back. She hadn't meant for that to come out like it did. Veela were somewhat naturally predisposed towards passive-aggression as it almost always got males falling over themselves to please them. There was nothing magical about it, just a pure feminine power trip.
It was unfortunate that the habits learned over years of being an object of worship for most men worked against her here.
Not wanting to feel like a scolded child in front of an annoyed parent, she got up from the bed as well and stepped in front of him. "Why did you ignore me zen?"
"I just got out of a relationship, Fleur." Harry explained. "I'm not looking to jump back into one."
That was a possibility she had taken into account, but she was sure she could convince him to change his mind. Resistant to the Allure or not, she had never heard of a man sharing a veela's bed and not wanting to come back.
"I understand, 'Arry." Fleur said softly, stepping so far into his personal space that she was practically breathing against his lips. "But could you 'elp me take care of my needs at least?"
"I would love to..." Harry said back equally softly, their lips almost touching. Then he took a step back. "Unfortunately, I've spent the whole day goofing off and I need to get some training done."
"What?" Fleur asked, numb with disbelief.
"I have people out to kill me, I can't afford to skimp out on training." He explained. It was one of the main reasons that he still hadn't fucked any of the bolder fangirls, it would wreck his schedule. The other reason was that teenaged girls were prone to thinking that sex equaled a relationship. That was one bit of drama he simply did not need, not when he had a young middle aged woman bored with her life to vent his lust on.
"But..." Fleur still could not believe that she had just been so casually rejected. That simply did not happen.
Harry saw that her state of mind was poised to shift towards anger at any moment and thought it best to cut her off before she could build any steam. To that end he placed his hands on her shoulders and spoke earnestly. "Look, Fleur. You are a beautiful, vibrant and interesting woman. A mite quick to have your pride wounded and with far too high an opinion of anything French, but I would have been all over you since day one if the situation had been different. But things are not different. It's barely been over a week since I stopped moping about the relationship I stupidly ruined, a relationship with a woman that I liked a lot. Normally that wouldn't stop me from shagging you into next week if you made an offer like that, but I actually count you as a friend, one of very few that I have. It's for that reason that I'm asking you to think carefully before making the same offer again. Next time, I will accept it, but it won't be the relationship you're obviously hoping for. And don't think that your veela charms will work either, I'm pretty sure they won't. Now, I'm going to get some training done with Luna. You are welcome to join us if you want."
Fleur stood there like a stump as he collected a few items and left the room, her mind chewing over what he'd just said and not at all sure how to feel about it. She was still stung from the rejection, but also touched to be openly called a friend, not having many herself. Annoyed at his presumption that the offer would come again, but also challenged by his claim that her veela charms wouldn't work. About the only thing she wasn't conflicted about was the offer of joining in on his training, so she quickly put her shoes on and followed him.
XXXXX
Harry was surprised at how little time it took before Penny told him that Bryanna had contacted her to say that they were done with the request he'd given them. He'd expected a couple of weeks at least, but they were finished in days.
They were happy to explain why it was done so quickly though.
"Turning a robe into a muggle looking coat really isn't that hard. All you have to do is open it at the front and make the sleeves smaller. The problem is rooted almost entirely in two things, fashion and tradition. The British fashion for robes are colorful fabrics and decorations, while the muggle one is simple, usually dark colors. The tradition of wearing only underwear beneath robes is the other issue. We'd be hard pressed to convince tradition minded wizards and witches that they should start treating their robes as the outermost layer of clothing rather than the only layer."
Harry nodded thoughtfully. He could definitely see that. Dumbledore in a baby blue 'coat' with yellow starts shooting across it and nothing under it except for a piece of baggy underwear from two hundred years ago was an image that didn't bear consideration.
"What you asked for is easy in comparison. The basilisk hide is a dark enough color that it wouldn't noticeably stand out from a muggle long coat and you're obviously comfortable wearing muggle clothes. The only problem you might have is some over enthusiastic animal rights activist thinking that it's made from snake or crocodile skin."
"But it will be made from snake skin." Harry pointed out humorously.
"I doubt even the most die hard activist would fight for the rights of what is essentially a magical weapon of mass destruction." Bryanna said dryly.
"I wouldn't be so sure." Harry muttered to himself cynically. "What about closing it when I need it to act as armor?"
"Well like you said, buttons wouldn't work since a lucky spell could blast them off even if it wouldn't do a thing to the hide itself and Sticking Charms are out of the question because of the magic resistance. That's when we got the idea to line the inside with acromantula silk."
Harry could see that they were excited about that, but he was just confused. "I'm sorry, but I don't follow. How would that help?"
Tiana seemed to have been waiting for that, as she slapped a rectangular piece of fabric that looked quite magical to his eyes on the table immediately after he was done speaking. "Cut it."
Curious, he dragged a finger over the fabric, holding a small magical edge at the point of the digit. The silk parted easily and he turned to look at them, eyebrow raised questioningly.
The girls stared at him with jaws hanging in shock. Oh right, they hadn't known he could do wandless magic.
"You can do wandless magic?" Bryanna stuttered on cue.
"Yes. Keep that to yourselves for now, will you? I'm planning to make a big spectacle of that ability sometime in the near future." All the better to frighten people into not getting any stupid ideas. "Now what's so special about this silk?"
The familiar territory snapped them out of their shock and they got their focus back. Tiana grabbed the two pieces and held them closely together. "Observe."
Harry observed and his eyebrows climbed upwards when he saw the two pieces of silk slowly merging back into one.
"Tailor it properly, and you can have an inner lining of acromantula silk that will knit itself together and seamlessly close the coat on demand. Getting it to open again would be a bit trickier, but we know that it can be done. Acromantula silk is very expensive though, otherwise we would've tried working with it ourselves."
"Good thing I'm rich." He said sardonically. "Can this stuff be enchanted with space expansion charms?"
"Sure, what did you have in mind?"
"Well you can never go wrong with pockets, but I was thinking of having a hood sewed in to protect my head too."
"No problem."
"Okay, great. That takes care of my upper body, but what about my legs? I don't want to lose too much mobility."
"Two ways. Either you get a basilisk hide strap that can be tied at the waist, which will make sure your legs are covered by the coat most of the time, or you get a pair of pants made of basilisk hide too."
Harry looked between the smiling women suspiciously. Something about that last part didn't sound right... "Are you two trying to get me to squeeze my arse into a pair of tight leather pants?"
"Well it is a nice arse. You've been taking good care of it and you shouldn't be afraid to show it off."
"Yeah, how about no. I'll stick to the first option."
"Aw."
"And since we're on the topic of arses, could you girls provide me with a dozen or so thongs, with matching bras if possible?" Septima really needed some new undergarments. Or to be more accurate, she would need them after he Vanished all of her frumpy granny panties.
"Harry, we had no idea you were into that kind of thing." Tiana purred sexily.
"What can I say? I like a breeze across my cheeks." He retorted sarcastically.
"We could give you what you want of course, but I'm afraid you'll have to pay for it." Bryanna chimed in officiously.
Harry got the distinct impression that they weren't asking for gold. "This situation seems kind of familiar."
"Turnabout is fair play."
XXXXX
Fred and George Weasley had been dithering over a decision for several months now. Namely the decision of whether or not they should take the offer that Harry had presented them with.
The joke shop idea was their baby and they really didn't want to share ownership, but the simple fact of the matter was that they needed a large infusion of money if they were ever going to progress past owl order sales.
Their winnings from the bet they made with Bagman at the World Cup would have sufficed to make a start of it, but they had learned the hard way why it was a bad idea to make bets with people you didn't know. Being paid to pull pranks on Draco Malfoy had seen them recover their savings and then some, but it wasn't nearly enough for what they wanted.
The Tri-Wizard Tournament had offered another possibility of getting their hands on some quick money, but it had picked Harry.
Their younger brother frequently grumbled jealously whenever Harry Potter was mentioned in his presence and cast aspersions on his character, but anyone with a brain could see that the youngest male Weasley was simply jealous of the fact that Harry was apparently able to do whatever he wanted with impunity. Fred and George were a little jealous themselves to tell the truth, but unlike Ron were able to see that Harry wasn't just a gloryhound taking advantage of his fame.
Much of their time since then had been spent in debate on the topic of allowing Harry one third ownership of their business in exchange for even having a proper business. April 1st had come and gone already, marking the day that the twins were considered adults in magical society and thus able to legally make such agreements without parental input.
So it was that they opened their most prized possession, the Marauder's Map, and sought out Harry Potter.
"They're at it again." Fred sighed.
"Think they'll be done soon?" George asked.
"Probably, it's Wednesday so they can't have a lot of time." Fred replied.
The Marauder's Map may not be able to tell you what a person on the map was doing, but it did show the position of a person's feet. Fred and George didn't think that Harry Potter could be studying Arithmancy with Septima Vector's feet on either side of him while up against a wall.
They didn't really mean to stick their noses into what Harry was doing with the Arithmancy professor in her quarters, but well...they were teenagers and nosy about sex by default, no matter how desperately their mother tried to keep them from growing up. It was hardly the first time the map had shown them someone having sex at any rate, although it was admittedly the first time it was a student with a teacher, if Harry could even be called a student anymore with his awe-inspiring and ongoing show of disrespect towards authority this year.
"Looks like they're finishing up." George noted, seeing the two pairs of footsteps separating.
"Let's go then, to battle!" Fred declared and the twins moved stealthily into a position near the door to Harry's room on the sixth floor.
Harry reached their position a few minutes later, once again flaunting the school dress code with his muggle clothes as had been the norm for him for the past few months. Truly, Fred and George envied his immunity to the rules. The things they could do if they were too famous to be expelled. That was possibly the only thing that Ron had gotten right about him.
"Harry, old boy."
"Old buddy."
"Old friend."
"Old chum."
"Fred. George." Harry greeted with an amused smile, correctly identifying each twin. It had taken quite a while to pin down which was which, but he'd never mistake them again now that he had. The auras did not lie. "What can I do you for?"
That was perhaps an unfortunate choice of words given who the twins knew he had been doing mere minutes ago, but they powered through it gamely. "We need to have a private word with you about a certain thing we talked about back in October."
Harry's eyes narrowed minutely. There was something a bit...off about the twins' behavior, but he couldn't tell what. They had the air of being slightly uncomfortable. Well no matter, the fact that they had finally decided to get back to him about the offer he'd made them was more important. "Good, I was starting to think you two had forgotten about that. We can talk in my room." Luna was still in Transfiguration right now, so they'd have it all to themselves.
He opened the door and let the twins in, plopping himself into an armchair after waving them to take a seat.
"So, you've made a decision?"
"We have." They confirmed. "We'd like to take you up on it, but first we want to know the specifics."
"It's all very simple really. I loan you a sum of money with no interest attached to it, maintaining majority ownership until you pay me back. Once that happens, my share of the business decreases to a third with a proportional amount of your profit going to my vault. You should contact Penny for further details."
"That sounds reasonable." Fred and George admitted. They were well aware that Harry was being exceedingly generous by not charging any interest for his loan. "How much gold would you be willing to give us?"
"How much do you need?" Harry countered. "And feel free to quote me a number higher than what you actually think you'll need. It won't cost you any more in the long run.
The twins exchanged glances. "A thousand galleons should do for a start. There's only so much work that the two of us can do in a given timeframe after all. We may need more by the end of next year though."
"Alright then, so we have a deal?" Harry asked, getting up and extending his hand.
"We have a deal." The twin grinned widely, extending a hand each.
Seeing the dilemma, Harry used his left hand to shake with the other twin.
XXXXX
After that series of events life settled into a routine where nothing of real note happened for a little while. Harry continued to train with Luna every day and was becoming steadily more confident in his combat ability, as well as advancing his own magical abilities. Luna herself did not make as much progress as Harry had hoped in the subject of wandless magic. She simply hadn't managed that breakthrough that would allow her to get a feel for her own magic, but he was hoping it would happen eventually.
Fleur joined them frequently and provided some welcome variety to their skill sets. She hadn't made any more offers like the one he had rejected that day and Harry suspected that she was giving whatever plans she'd made a careful rethink before she made any decisions. That was good. Fleur had her flaws, the foremost of which being that she was too used to getting what she wanted, but Harry had come to like the prickly veela all the same. She had a drive that was sorely lacking in most magicals which was something that he would always respect. He was not however, going to be a prized wizard she could claim and take home with her like some conquest from the old days. He hoped she understood that if she decided to invite him to her bed again, or else it was liable to spark the drama that he'd been so meticulously(but not always successfully) avoiding ever since his first year in Hogwarts.
About a month and a half passed since the second task when Harry heard from Penny that the Prophet had finally published the sentencing of Royston Welch to Azkaban, but there was no mention of who had hired him. In fact, the entire article was the written version of indistinct mumbling, as if the article had been written only because the whole thing couldn't be ignored. The damned Ministry was dicking around again.
He had waited patiently for the DMLE to finish investigating, understanding that these things take time, plus the fact that their prisoner had been badly injured and he had no idea how long it would take to fix him even with magic. The length of the investigation coupled with the dearth of information in an article that was already buried somewhere in the depths of the newspaper made the whole thing stink of a cover up.
That was why Harry grabbed Sirius and dragged him over to the Ministry, intent on talking to Amelia Bones and getting the truth out of her. He could've gone by himself, but he was still technically a minor and he needed whatever credibility his godfather could provide, little as that was for people who knew him.
Of course it wasn't quite as simple as striding into the woman's office and demanding answers...
"I'm sorry, but Madam Bones is in a meeting right now and can't be disturbed." Amelia's secretary informed him.
"How long until she's finished?" Harry asked, not wanting to look like an idiot that came over for no reason.
"I don't know, but she really doesn't have any time to squeeze you into her schedule." The secretary insisted.
"It won't take us more than a minute." Harry promised.
"I guess that would be alright..." The secretary said reluctantly and Harry got the distinct impression that only the fact that he was Harry Potter had gotten him that concession. He also got the impression that Amelia Bones did not lightly tolerate lordlings coming to bother her with their shit, but then he'd gotten that impression during their first meeting as well.
"Now what?" Sirius asked.
Harry glanced in the direction of the Auror Office, wondering if Dora was sitting at her desk right now.
"Go ahead, Harry." Sirius said, somewhere between a sigh and a laugh. "I'll call you on the mirror when Bones is done with her meeting."
"Go where?" Harry asked innocently.
"Don't even try it, I was doing the innocent look before you were a gleam in James' eye while he stared at Lily during Christmas dinner in our sixth year." The older wizard chided.
"That was oddly specific." Harry commented dryly.
Sirius ignored him and ploughed on. "I know you want to go see if Tonks is here. Normally I'd tell you to keep at least one continent between yourself and an ex if at all possible, but this is a special situation."
Harry gave him another look and then strode off.
Sirius simply shook his head once his godson was gone. "This is why you don't date your cousins. It makes family gatherings damned awkward." Oh sure, Harry and Tonks were like five times removed on the family tree and quite possibly not even truly related if one of those was through an in-law, but they were still bound to run into each other if they ever had a family gathering.
XXXXX
"Working hard I see." The amused voice took Tonks' attention away from the report about some idiot enchanting a car tire to fly off after a certain time period. Fucking Willy Widdershins. The bastard should have been in Azkaban for reckless endangerment already, but he got off with a warning because it happened on an empty stretch of road instead of the freeway.
"Harry!" Tonks exclaimed in surprise, almost jumping off her chair. "What are you doing here?"
"It's good to see you too, Dora." Harry replied, still amused.
Tonks' hair went a bright pink and her rebellious body tweaked itself in several minor ways to be more attractive. Perkier breasts, firmer butt, tighter waistline...it was pretty much unnoticeable under her robes, but it had happened. Despite everything, she'd missed him. "Of course it's good to see you, but still, what are you doing here?"
"I came to nag Madam Bones for information about that double assassination attempt on me." Harry sighed. "It's become obvious that the Ministry is hoping very hard that I'll just forget about it."
Tonks grimaced. She'd gotten that feeling too. She technically wasn't supposed to talk about the case, but..."I wasn't part of that investigation. Bonesy and Scrimgeour didn't assign anyone to it as far as I can tell, but we were told to keep an eye out for Dolores Umbridge, who went on a vacation to parts unknown shortly after you hauled that Death Eater out of the lake."
Deep inside him, shackled by runes bound to the Sun and Stars, Harry felt the distant stirring of a hunger that was old, vast and ravenous beyond human understanding. Or maybe he had just been hoping for an excuse to send that toad to the Void. "You think it's related?"
"I can't say, but I can say that if Umbridge was trapped in a burning building and Bonesy was the only one who could save her that she would have probably misplaced her wand." That was a common sentiment actually and hardly unique to the head of the DMLE.
"I see." Harry said thoughtfully. If Amelia Bones hated Umbridge as much as that implied, then she wouldn't have passed up an opportunity to bury her. He still didn't know for sure that Umbridge was involved in one of those assassination attempts, but it was looking likely and there was only one person in the Ministry who could overrule the head of the DMLE. The Minister for Hire, Fudge the Oblivious. Maybe he didn't need to speak to Bones after all. He could just go up to Fudge's office and bully the useless idiot into letting her do her job.
"So how've you been?" Tonks asked, switching the subject.
"Can't complain." Harry said with a shrug. "Things have been a bit routine lately, but that's not necessarily a bad thing." It was amazing how even boning your teacher could become a routine, though he made sure to keep Septima on her toes.
"Speak for yourself." Tonks groused, waving her hand at a pile of reports.
"That's what you get for working for the Evil Empire." He smirked.
"At least I get to torture smug little shits sometimes." She sniffed. "Did you sleep with that veela yet? Fleur I think her name was?"
"She offered, but I told her to think about it some more." Harry shrugged again.
"Really?" Tonks asked in disbelief. She knew what kind of sexual appetite Harry had and had expected him to jump into bed with his fellow Triwizard champion within a week of their break up. More to the point, who turns down a veela? Barring a few experiments with kissing her dorm mates during her Hogwarts days, Tonks was pretty straight, but she might have said yes if it was a veela coming on to her.
"She wants a relationship and that's just not something I'm willing to give her right now." He explained. He figured that Fleur would eventually repeat her offer and he would accept it as he said that he would. He had been sorely tempted the last time, but had not wanted the drama of a veela who felt entitled to him. If she offered again, she would have to do it with the understanding that she'd only be getting sex out of it. Considering the nature of veela, he was actually kind of surprised that it hadn't happened yet.
That made Tonks feel kind of sad. She had been the one who couldn't relax despite Harry's assurances that he'd never perform the Joining on her again, he shouldn't be clinging to the memory of what they had.
"So the insatiable Harry Potter is on a dry spell?" She tried to joke.
"I didn't say that..." He replied slyly.
"Ah, now the plot thickens. How many broom closets need a thorough cleaning?"
"None. Well...none because of me."
"What, did you bring her or them to your room?" She pressed with a raised eyebrow. She knew that Luna lived with him, so how would that work?
"Nope." He answered smugly.
Now Tonks was just plain baffled. If not in a broom closet and not in his room, then where? He couldn't have gone into the girl's room because of the charms that prevented men from going there and three of the four houses used dorms anyway.
"Who is the lucky girl or girls anyway?" She asked with narrowed eyes, almost stepping into his personal space as her hair turned a darker shade. Auror Tonks was going to get to the bottom of this mystery.
"It's a secret." He teased.
Perhaps unfairly, Harry and secrets was linked with 'illegal' in Tonks' mind. Unfair or not though, it led her to the right conclusion.
"You're sleeping with a teacher?!" She hissed in surprise.
The way that his face slackened in shock confirmed it for her.
"Please don't tell me it's Sprout or McGonagall? I don't think I could live with the mental scarring." She begged.
"The fuck? NO! The hell is wrong with you, woman?" Harry demanded in a hiss of his own, snapped out of his shock at her guess by the horrible imagery she'd invoked. He might appreciate an older woman, but not that old.
"Thank Merlin." Tonks breathed in relief. "Who is it then?"
Harry hesitated before his shoulders slumped in defeat. Too late to cover his ass now. "It's Vector."
"Vector?" She repeated with a blink. "I guess I can see that..."
"She's a very bored woman in her early forties that hasn't done anything exciting in her entire life. She was begging me with her eyes to help her." Not entirely true. She had been begging him with her eyes to do it again the second time, the first time she'd been prodded into revealing her attraction by his 'fuck me' aura.
"And you, being the hero that you are, couldn't resist." Tonks was very amused.
"It's the duty of a hero to help those in need." He agreed. The main character always got all the pussy, it was an ironclad rule of RPGs.
"You're so noble, I think I'm going to swoon." She punctuated this airy statement by resting the back of her hand on her forehead as if about to faint.
Harry chuckled and trailed off with a sigh. He'd missed Dora's sense of humor. "You'll keep this to yourself? I don't want to get her sacked."
"Of course I will, a little hanky-panky is hardly worth causing a fuss over." Tonks scoffed.
"Thanks." He said with a smile. "So what about you? Anything interesting happen?"
"Not really." Tonks shrugged. "We can't all be Harry Potter."
Harry bit his lip in thought. He was about to do something that he was 100% sure Sirius would call him an idiot for, but screw it. "Listen, we're going to Black Island for a while over the summer. Do you want to join us?"
"I don't know, I don't get a lot of time off..." Tonks said uncertainly.
"You can join us for as long as you can or want to. For all I know, I might get bored there and cut it short after three days myself."
Tonks wavered. A vacation in the tropics really did sound lovely... "Who all is going?"
"Luna, Sirius, Penny, Penny's parents, Bryanna, Tiana, Jade, Isabel, anyone that Sirius might bring and an off chance that I'll invite someone else." Harry listed.
A couple of friends, a couple of strangers and two women that Harry would be fucking while there then. It was a good thing that Tonks wasn't so immature as to resent him sleeping with other women after breaking things off between them.
"Alright, I'll take some leave." She agreed. "When are we going?"
"Somewhere towards the end of July, but it's flexible."
"Cool, I'll see how much time off I can arrange."
Harry felt his mirror vibrate at that point signaling a call from his godfather. "Excuse me for a second."
"Harry, it's no good." Sirius said in defeat as soon as his face appeared. "Bones says she doesn't have time to meet us and to make an appointment. Even the famous Padfoot charm wouldn't convince her."
"Turning into a dog and humping a woman's leg isn't charm, Sirius." Harry informed him.
"Fuck you, Harry."
"Fuck you twice."
"You want to head home now?" Sirius asked once the obligatory insults were done with.
"No, I'm going to go pay Fudge a visit and squeeze the spineless fat fuck like a wet tissue."
"That's an idea." Sirius admitted. "Did you meet Nymphie?"
"You'll pay for that, Sirius." Tonks growled, snatching the mirror from Harry.
"Sorry, can't hear you. Connection is breaking up. Khhhhh." The mirror became just a mirror.
"Radio interference on a magical connection. Good one, Sirius." Harry said, shaking his head.
"As a Ministry auror, I'm supposed to treat any threats to our esteemed Minister with due seriousness, but I couldn't quite hear your conversation over all that radio interference." Tonks said sternly.
"I'll be sure to report anyone that looks to be threatening the good Minister."
"Good. Carry on, citizen."
XXXXX
Fudge perked up when the door opened to admit the pretty witch he'd employed as his secretary. She mostly just read the various notes and letters sent to him and relayed the important ones, but she'd mainly been hired because she was nice to look at. Being Minister of Magic was a stressful job and having a bit of eye candy made the burden easier to bear. His wife certainly wasn't up to the task anymore.
"Sir, Harry Potter is here to see you." She said and instantly eliminated any thoughts of pretty witches from Fudge's mind.
"Send him in, send him in." Fudge said quickly, trembling with anticipation. He hoped this would be a good visit.
The young wizard stepped into the office, thanking the secretary as she passed him by. That got a brighter smile out of her than he had ever managed.
"Harry, so good to see you!" He exclaimed as he rushed to shake his visitor's hand. He was dressed like a muggle for some reason, so Fudge assumed he'd just been in that world. The short sleeved shirt he was wearing displayed a physique rather more impressive than he recalled. His burned arm was also exposed, as if he didn't care about the disfigurement. Fudge tried not to stare at it or to let on how much it had unnerved him to touch the scar tissue.
"Cornelius." Harry greeted back. The tone was pleasant enough, but there was something offputting under it. There was a strange look in his eye...
"What can I do for you?" Fudge asked nervously. Had Harry always been this tall? No, he was certain that he'd been shorter during the World Cup. Kids sure do grow up fast these days. And why wasn't he blinking?
"I was wondering how much progress had been made on finding the instigators of the assassination attempts on me." Harry said. His tone was still pleasant, but Fudge felt cold sweat bead on his neck anyway.
He tried to play it off. "Come now, Harry, assassination attempts? Who would conspire to kill the to kill the Boy-Who-Lived?"
"I could think of quite a few people." Harry's tone was colder now. Dangerous. The normally large office suddenly seemed small and stifling. He still hadn't blinked. Was it getting a mite chilly in here?
Fudge tried to find his voice, but Harry continued speaking before he could. "It could even be someone from the Ministry, you can never tell with these things."
The cold sweat now broke out everywhere and in greater quantities. This was a disaster! He couldn't allow the Ministry to be implicated in a plot to kill the Boy-Who-Lived! It would be the end of him. Even an accusation would see his public esteem drop like a stone.
"I know that my good friend Cornelius would never have anything to do with it of course." Harry was still talking. "But you can't be expected to keep an eye on everyone under you. Every government has individuals with their own agendas, wouldn't you agree?"
Fudge didn't hesitate to grab the lifeline. "Of course, it's a constant struggle to fight corruption in the government."
"It's a good thing that you have a woman as driven and competent as Madam Bones on the job. She's sure to keep people in line."
Oh yes, Fudge knew that Bones would indeed keep people in line. The woman was like a bulldog, but had no understanding of how politics worked. She'd dismiss or imprison half the Ministry and the Wizengamot if she had her way.
It was unfortunate that she would apparently be getting her way this time. Fudge didn't really think that Dolores had anything to do with the incident during the second task, but that wouldn't matter if Amelia got the chance to go after her. He couldn't protect his Senior Undersecretary this time. He hoped Dolores would understand that it was just politics. "I'll talk to Amelia about putting some more effort into the investigation."
"I'll look forward to thanking the Ministry for their efforts in uncovering the mystery of this plot on my life then."
The powerful young wizard left after that and Fudge was able to sit down and take a breather. That had been unpleasant. He didn't remember Harry being that intimidating the last time they'd spoken. He might have just served Dolores up to the sharks, but at least Harry had said that he would endorse the Ministry. As far as consolation prizes went, that one was pretty good.
XXXXX
In the lift back outside, Harry let out a deep breath and released the Dark he'd been pulling into himself from Arhain. It was much harder during the day, but it could be done. He immediately felt his insides warm up and twisted his neck to the side, producing a series of loud cracks. Made him feel as stiff as a corpse afterwards though.
But he'd gotten what he wanted. Fucking Fudge had wasted all this time fidgeting in terror at the thought of bad publicity and gave Umbridge a huge head start. No wonder Malfoy spent so much time at the Ministry, someone had to hold the idiot's leash to keep him for cutting his own damn neck off with a bloody papercut.
"You okay?" Sirius asked in concern.
"Peachy." Harry grunted and twisted his neck to the other side, producing another cacophony of cracking vertebrae.