FicWad

Russ is not JK Rowling, thus he doesn't own any of this except for some of the plot bunnies and the ridicule.




Chapter 57: Dealing?


Sunday morning Harry awoke to a knock on his door and not wanting to disturb the two witches he was curled around he quickly got out of bed and answered the door, not even taking the time to find his glasses.

"Wha?" He asked blearily as he answered the door.

Pansy stood there silently for what felt like a full minute before answering. "Uh...I used my half-bath for necessities but I would like to take a shower if you don't mind?"

His brain was finally unfogging and he rather suddenly realized he was completely nude, and this realization combined with other morning functions caused his member to quite suddenly become erect. Despite what he had told her the night before he blushed very slightly in the dim room as he was embarrassed. "Right then...uh...be quiet please, the girls are still sleeping."

He backed away from the door and she quickly slipped past him and into the bathroom closing the door behind her. A still flushed Harry crawled back into the bed behind Ginny who had won the honor of being in the middle the night before. When he tried to spoon against her however she rolled to face him and wrapped her hand around his stiff pole. "Good morning to you too Harry." She said with a grin.

He leaned in and kissed her quickly but reached down and removed her hand, no matter how nice it felt. She looked at him slightly hurt but he answered the unasked question quickly, "Pansy is taking a shower, no matter what I said last night I don't plan on giving her a show when she comes out."

Ginny nodded but wrapped her hand around him again anyway. "Gin..." He growled but she just smiled back.

"What, just because I can't play with it right now doesn't mean I can't hold it."

"Right, we'll see how well that turns out." He replied. "Go back to sleep silly girl."

They snuggled back down and he was soon drifting halfway between awake and asleep when he heard the bathroom door open. "Enjoy yourself?" He asked quietly without opening his eyes. "You only took an hour."

She turned from where she was trying to sneak out of the bedroom door and put her hands on her hips. "Listen milord, some of us prefer to take our time to look our best. Besides I always have a luxury shower on Sunday's."

He nodded before remembering that she likely could not see him. He opened his eyes and saw her outline in the dim candlelight, blurry but most definitely half naked, and quickly closed his eyes again. "Well we will probably be up in an hour or so depending on showers and other things...uh..." He struggled to find a topic that would put the fuzzy nude outline from his mind. "Don't worry about missing breakfast hours; we usually eat at our own time with Gab..." He went silent.

Pansy caught the hint of what he was about to say before he silenced himself and decided not to make a snide remark for once. "Then we can eat in the common room in an hour."

"Yeah, that sounds like a plan." He whispered back.

She opened and closed the door leaving him alone with his thoughts. His routine for the past month and a half had revolved around Gabrielle and here only two days after her death he was completely lost. Before he could venture too far into the darkness he felt a hand snake its way down his chest to wrap around his semi-erect member.

"Glad she's gone, now I can wake up properly." Ginny said with a grin as her sparkling brown eyes opened slightly. "Then again, maybe you aren't glad she's gone?" She asked as she squeezed him and felt a jerk in response.

"It's just morning time Gin, you should know by now I can't control that. Pansy doesn't do it for me."

She was pumping him lightly bringing him toward fully erect. "Whatever you say Harry, if there was ever a candidate for girl who would shag with no strings I think it's her."

He smiled as she moved to reposition herself on top of him and sank him inside her. "For the record that was your idea not mine and I actually have to agree. No danger of Pansy Parkinson falling in love with Harry Potter."

She leaned down and kissed him as she began rocking herself toward her first orgasm of the day. The movement woke Hermione up who rolled over and smiled at the sight. She scooted closer so that when Ginny leaned down she could kiss either one of them and began running her fingers up and down the girls back. "Morning you two, I see you started without me?"

"Not...a contest though...is it love?" Ginny asked as her pace began to increase slightly.

"Not at all." She leaned up and captured Harry's lips in a kiss before pulling back. "Honestly Harry, what took you so long to just quit that stupid plan so we could be together full time?" She asked with a smile.

"Me?" He grunted out as his orgasm was approaching along with Ginny's. "You're...the one who kept telling...me no!"

Ginny increased her pace until she was riding him for all she was worth, she arched her back presenting her breasts to the couple laying down who each grasped one and began to play. In almost no time that pushed her over the edge and the contractions around his prick caused Harry to follow soon after. The redhead collapsed on top of him and kissed her girlfriend before closing her eyes.

"You need a shower love." Hermione said with a smile to the girl whose red hair was matted and sticking to her forehead.

"Don't wanna move..." She mock complained from atop Mount Harry.

"That will be awkward, walking to lunch with you still in this position, but I suppose..." Harry teased, she huffed as she rolled off of him and Hermione moved quickly to clean her out. Harry sat up and reached between the brunettes legs to play with her clearly aroused sex and brought her to a quick orgasm as well after which she fell on top of Ginny panting.

"Come on loves, shower time."

Hermione smiled up at him, "Don't wanna move."

He smacked her bottom a bit harder than playfully and she quickly got up out of the bed and headed for the bathroom. "Do you need the same motivation Gin?" He asked.

She actually thought about it for a moment before shaking her head and rolling out of bed herself. "Maybe later?" She asked playfully.

"My command is your wish milady. Now go make sure Mione gets nice and clean. I'm right behind you."

She mock saluted and frog marched toward the bathroom. He gave her a playful smack on the bum for good measure despite her wishes, just for being cheeky.

$$$$

They entered the common room fully clothed half an hour later and sat down on the couches. "So Harry, what exactly are you going to do with the Slytherin Princess?"

"I don't know, I honestly thought Daphne was going to be the first one that needed protection...I haven't given any thought at all to Pansy."

Of course just as he said this Pansy entered the room, "Nice to know you took our agreement seriously, my clan has held up their end of the bargain now I expect you to hold to yours."

"I have every intention of putting you under my protection Miss Parkinson; but you will have to forgive me for being surprised. I thought you were with Draco all the way."

"Please." She said as she sat down on the love seat. "Draco and I have had some fun together its true, but that was last year before he went all dark and moody."

"Dark and moody?" Ginny asked quietly.

She nodded but did not look at the girl, keeping her eyes firmly locked to Harry. "Apparently it started with threatening not only his life but that of his parents. No matter what he says to the contrary he is at least somewhat thankful to you for keeping Narcissa safe. In fact I think he might even kill you quickly if he had the chance rather than torture you."

"How nice of him. Narcissa?" He asked at the use of a first name.

"Narcissa Malfoy is one of the best known women in social circles, half of the influence that Lucius thinks...thought he wielded was as a result of her connections. I have been tutoring with her for as long as I can remember to take her place some day, of course at the time I am sure she was grooming me as a daughter-in-law. In any case, when I turned thirteen she insisted I begin calling her Narcissa instead of Mrs. Malfoy."

"So you are some kind of social secretary now?" Hermione asked.

She sneered at the comment. "Please, I am far more than that. I have been introduced to all of her contacts as her protege, I have access to the back channels of power within Wizarding Britain and even a bit of Muggle Aristocracy."

"Muggles?" Harry asked incredulously.

"They have their uses." Was all she would reply.

Harry nodded for lack of anything to say before his stomach growled. "Dobby?"

The elf popped in and counted the people in the room quickly. "You's will be standing please miss?" He asked Pansy who looked as if she were about to lay into the little guy before she caught Harry's look and stood slowly. Dobby then clapped his hands and set up the desks in the middle of the room before popping away.

"You let your elves speak to your guests like that?" She asked Harry in confusion.

Harry stood and went to sit at one of the desks with the girls following quickly, however Pansy made sure to grab the chair on his side of the table so as not to sit with one of the others. "Dobby and Winky are not slaves Miss Parkinson. They are in my employ in addition to being my friends."

"Are you really that naive?" She asked him. "No elf can survive without being bonded to a family after they reach maturity. At least none on record."

"What are you talking about?" Hermione asked heatedly. "I never found any records about the relationship between Wizards and Elves."

Pansy still did not look at the girl. "You don't have access to the records of Pureblood families."

Harry reached his limit. "Listen, when you are in polite company you will address those who have spoken to you or you will be limited to your room unless escorted by me. I won't have you being rude to my girlfriends."

Ginny was beaming at him but Hermione was lost in thought as Pansy turned and looked at her. "Elves need to be bound to Family Magic or they go crazy and die. In extreme cases elves even suffer along with their masters over great distances. No matter what they are telling you it's a lie, he is bonded to you." She finished looking back at Harry.

Hermione turned her look on him and found no surprise on his face. "You knew! How could you Harry?"

He shot Pansy a look that said thank you very much before turning to the brunette. "Mione I didn't know until a few weeks ago. Dobby bound himself to me right after Malfoy freed him so he could protect me. You saw how bad Winky was doing last term; she would have died this term if I hadn't hired her. I didn't know they were binding themselves to me at the time."

The girl still looked slightly mutinous but only slightly as she nodded silently. Dobby popped back in with four covered trays setting them in front of the group before snapping his fingers and vanishing the lids to reveal bacon, eggs, toast. He then popped away, quickly returning to set drinks in front of each of them before disappearing again.

"Well, I must say if you had to have a rude little elf, he does seem to know his job." Pansy said as she inspected her food. "What's this?" She said taking a sip of the smoothie Dobby had provided.

Ginny giggled until Hermione elbowed her even though she had a small smile on her face. Harry brought his palm to his face and wiped away the expression that was threatening to show his embarrassment. "It is a combination of fruit juices that helps to sweeten certain bodily fluids alright? It happens to taste good as well so drink up."

Pansy looked confused for a few moments before a look of understanding crossed her face followed quickly by a look of horror as she pushed the glass away. Harry couldn't help but smile a bit as he toasted her silently before drinking more of his. Pansy was silent throughout the rest of the meal.

Dobby returned just as they finished up and Vanished all traces of leftovers and dishes. "Will Harry Potter be requiring me to put the desks back now?" He asked.

Harry thought for a quick moment before shaking his head. "No Dobby, we have research to do and this actually works well, thank you." The elf nodded and popped away once again.

"We aren't only doing research Harry; you still have two week's worth of overdue homework for Potions and DADA. Gin and I both have Runes and Arithmancy that is due tomorrow or Tuesday."

He sighed, "Honestly, don't you think taking out the Dork Lord is more important than homework Mione?" She looked absolutely appalled and Pansy couldn't help but laugh.

"What? Homework is important as well! We need an education for after Voldemort is gone!"

Pansy continued to laugh as she walked into her room and grabbed her books as well. They all sat down to study for the next couple of hours. There was a tension in the air he couldn't quite place but he knew it centered on the Slytherin being there. No matter how he, or his girls for that matter might play it off she made them uncomfortable. Harry was the first one to put down his quill and begin shaking the writer's cramp out of his hand. Pansy looked up in confusion.

"You can't be done with two week's backlog of homework for two subjects!"

"Why not?" He asked in confusion.

She just looked at him for a moment, "I only have two papers to do and I am only halfway through the second one!"

He shrugged before standing and walking over to the new bookshelf and picking out a book at random he hadn't gone over yet. He walked over to the couch and got comfortable before cracking it open. Pansy huffed before going back to her paper and writing at a noticeably increased speed, only pausing to read something from the text. She was dismayed once again when Hermione and Ginny both got up and grabbed books before joining Harry on the couch.

"This is ridiculous! How can you three be done already?" Pansy nearly shouted at them.

Hermione looked to Harry who shook his head slightly; he didn't want her to know about the side benefit of an organized mind, even if he was above the usual standard. "I guess blood purity isn't everything Pansy." She remarked a bit snidely.

Pansy pointed at Ginny, "She is a Pureblood!"

"I resemble that remark!" Ginny said playfully.

Pansy stood and picked up her things before walking toward her room. "Fine, if you want to be that way I will just study on my own! I don't want to hang out with Gryffindor Losers any more than I have to in any case. It might be catching." She slammed the door behind her.

"That wasn't very nice of us Harry; would it really have been that hard to tell her?" Hermione asked him.

He raised an eyebrow, a trick he had mastered in the mirror after getting that look from his witches once too often. "At best she is neutral for the time being, at worst she is spying on us even if I did get a magical oath from her. Besides, didn't you enjoy that just the teeniest bit?"

She blushed but was quick to comment, "That's completely beside the point..."

"Come on Mione, you know you liked seeing her put in her place after all those blood purity comments."

Hermione didn't answer; she simply harrumphed before going back to her book. They spent the next hour researching before Harry closed his book. "Nothing useful in there?" Ginny asked.

"Not really, but that isn't why I closed it. I'm done with this one." He said with a shrug.

Hermione turned on him, "Stop it right now, this is totally unfair. Not only do you only need to read a book once but now you can read five-hundred-plus pages in under an hour? Go away before I hex you!"

He took that literally and got up off the couch, replacing the book. "I was halfway kidding Harry; you don't have to go anywhere." She apologized from the couch.

He shook his head, "It's nearly lunchtime anyway. Why don't you find a stopping point?"

She sighed and went back to her tome, Ginny following her example. Harry walked over and knocked lightly on Pansy's door. "What?" She called in annoyance.

He opened the door a bit, "Lunchtime, we are going to head down to the Great Hall and I don't want you walking by yourself. Your father wouldn't forgive me if something happened to you on your way to a meal."

She stood and crossed the room pulling the door all the way open. "Honestly, I am thinking of taking my chances in the Slytherin Dungeons. You expect me to hang out with you and your misfits?"

He was getting a bit tired of her attitude; "Listen Miss Parkinson, you have placed yourself under my protection and I intend to see you protected. Yes, that means you are going to stick by my side or with a couple of people I trust."

"What about my social life? This is going to ruin me!" She whined, annoying him a bit like Lavender did.

"Your choice, Life or Social Death? Marriage to Malfoy and a shiny new tattoo?"

"This is so not fair!" She cried as she closed the door in his face.

"Ten minutes Miss Parkinson!"

"Whatever!" She called back through the door.

He groaned as he plopped down on the loveseat and looked to his two lady loves as they placed book marks and closed the tomes they were currently reading. "Anything useful?" He asked hopefully.

Hermione shook her head but Ginny nodded, "I found some stuff about trapping a soul but it looks like it relates to Dementors. Some of it is written in very old Latin and some of it in Runes I haven't studied yet."

He thought for a moment, "Well you and Mione can get together later to get a better translation. For now it's lunch time."

They all got up and walked over to the portrait hole, after a minute Harry called out. "Any day now Miss Parkinson!"

Her door opened and she stomped out and performed a little curtsy for him. "As you command My Lord." She said rather sarcastically.

Moving quickly he pushed her up against the wall and pinned her with a hand lightly on her neck before speaking in hushed tones so only she could hear. "I am as unhappy with this arrangement as you are but let's get something straight. You have been placed under the protection of House Black, without your family to back you up I am currently your Lord. For all intents and purposes you might as well be Pansy Black for the time being. I am taking this seriously and I expect you to do so as well. Are we clear?"

The shock in her face turned to submission before his eyes, rather surprising them. He let her away from the wall and she went to her knees in front of him. "As my Lord commands."

He couldn't tell if she was being serious or playing an elaborate joke so he didn't comment. "Good then lets head for lunch. I expect you to remain with someone I designate for your protection."

"Yes Milord." She said with her eyes still downturned even as she stood and followed the other girls out of the room.

Not knowing what else to do for the moment Harry followed along as well.

$$$$

When they got the Great Hall he asked the girls to wait a moment, we went in alone and looked down the Slytherin table until he caught the eye of Blaise Zabini. With a jerk of his head he motioned for a meeting in the hall and got a small nod. He then returned to the girls to wait.

"Can I help you Black?"

"Blaise, how are you and Daphne doing? I hear there are changes, and not favorable ones."

The dark skinned boy nodded before looking around, "Daphne and I are safe for the time being, but we may end up asking you to take Astoria into your protection."

"Astoria?"

Ginny piped up, "She's in my year Harry, Daphne's little sister."

He nodded, "That makes sense, look I don't expect that Pansy eating at the Gryffindor Table would go over very well. I need you to keep an eye out for her."

Blaise looked over Harry's shoulder and was a bit surprised to find Pansy looking meek. "Alright I'll look out for her, but just in case things go south in a hurry you may want to speak to the Headmaster about expanding your accommodations."

"I'll do that, and Blaise?"

He half turned back toward Harry, "Thanks."

Blaise simply nodded and walked back in, Harry turned to his girls. "You understand Miss Black?" He hissed at her, once again stressing to her that for the time being she was a member of his family.

She nodded and quickly followed the other boy to the Slytherin table. Harry and the girls made their way to the Gryffindor Table and sat in their usual spots, one on each side of him. Padma got up from her place further down at the Ravenclaw table and sat down across from them. "Harry have you heard what Lav is saying?"

He nodded, "I got it out of Ron, just before he kicked me off the Quidditch team."

"Is any of it true?" She asked, she appeared to be pleading with her eyes.

He leaned across the table. "I did not take her virginity; she was intact when she left me. I never told her I loved her, only that I was finally warming to the idea that I might be able to. She is the one who said those three little words less than three days into it. Honestly? I don't care if she tells everyone though. The ones who would listen to her don't matter to me."

She frowned, "What about my sister?"

He shook his head, "It doesn't matter anyway, you know that the Plan is done with anyway. There is no list any longer. I am not dating anyone else."

She looked at Hermione who gave the slightest nod of her head. "I already talked to Hermione...I want to help with whatever it is you have been working on. I know you are forming some plan to defeat You-Kn..." He stopped her with a look.

"Voldemort..." She whispered, "I want to help...and well, I don't expect anything to happen but I would not be opposed to see what happens between us."

He thought about it for a moment before sighing. "I thought I made it clear though, if you are studying or playing with us there are no strings attached, and I just lost Gabrielle..." For a moment he completely lost focus as he closed his eyes and took a deep breath through his nose.

"You also said you weren't opposed to more if it developed naturally." Padma answered him trying to move away from that subject.

He turned to Hermione, "Did you send out a newsletter or something?" She blushed as she looked away.

He rolled his eyes and kissed her on her temple. "Of course you did. That's why I love you."

She blushed deeper without looking back at him as she went back to her food. He turned back to Padma, "Listen, I am in no shape to have another relationship at the moment despite outward appearances... " He said shaking his head. "But after the DA this evening we are going to do more research and we can fill you in on the situation, as much as you need to know in any case."

She nodded and went back to her spot at the Ravenclaw table. I wonder if she tastes spicy...

"What?" He asked in surprise turning to Ginny.

"What, what?" Ginny asked in response.

"Huh?" He asked in confusion.

"Are you okay Harry?" Ginny asked in concern immediately feeling his forehead as her upbringing by Molly shone through.

"Fine, never mind." He said still thoroughly confused but not wanting to bring attention to the fact that he was hearing voices.

"Are you sure?" Hermione asked, having regained her composure.

"I'm fine...actually I need to work on some stuff in the Room of Requirement. Can you two escort Pansy back to our Suite? I'll be back before Dinner."

They both nodded as he stood though both looked concerned, he looked toward the Slytherin table and waited to catch Pansy's eye. Right on time she looked up and found him, he turned from her and looked at the girls then back and jerked his head toward them. She nodded and lowered her eyes once more.

Harry headed for the seventh floor.

$$$$

"Gabrielle?" Harry called as he sat in his training room ala the Room of Requirement. She still eluded him for some reason, the ring most definitely still worked as shown by Cedric's appearance yet he could not find his lost love. Each time he tried he reopened his memories of her, along with the love and heartache that drove him nearly mad. Each time it felt like another little piece of him died.

He used that disappointment along with the anger it spurred in him to call the Force Lightning. He began his exercise by staring at his fist, slowly opening his hand enough to get the power crackling almost to the point of escaping before quickly shutting it down again. After repeating this exercise and brooding on his emotions for a few minutes he stood and began hurling bolts of purple electricity at training dummies set up around the room. He had asked the room for lifelike reactions from the creations and as he hit each one with the power it fell screaming to the ground. If he had to put words to it, this is what the Cruciatus was meant to be but paled in comparison when cast by a wand. He held the lightning, pouring his rage and hatred into it until the lifelike mannequin stopped screaming and simply twitched on the floor even as it began to smolder.

Although he could not see his appearance his eyes were completely blacked out once again. He turned his attention to the next and worked his way through six of them before his concentration began to slip. He fell to his knees trembling as the power left him shaken. It felt extremely good in a way to have an outlet for all of the dark emotions he kept bottled up from day to day, and after a while he found that he had expended his stash of dark memories leaving it easier to sort through them with Occlumency, the power was addicting however. He understood now how easy it was to fall to the Dark,

As soon as the trembling stopped he stood and decided that useless or not he should balance out his practice by working with his Positive emotions. These were harder to come by, in his attempts he had found that it was much easier to fall into the darkness than to strive toward the light. Luckily he still had his stash of memories to work off of; closing his eyes he concentrated on his 'honeymoon' with Gabrielle and how amazing he felt once he realized she was his wife. A small smile spread across his face as he worked his way into the mood needed and began feeding everything into his magic. Opening his eyes he slowly opened his hand to find the miniature Prongs looking at him expectantly. Even though he knew it was not exactly real the euphoria he got while riding these positive emotions was almost as much of a High as the rush of power he got from the darker ones.

He sent Prongs around the room and tried to conjure another Patronus to play with him, however the magic just wasn't cooperating. He closed his eyes once more and concentrated on the form of his wife in his mind. He pulled the pendant from his shirt and wrapped his other hand around it while staring into her eyes. He opened his fist quickly followed by his eyes and found a Doe to his Stag resting in the palm of his hand. It was so perfect that he began crying before sending her out to dance with her mate.

They are beautiful, non?

Both Patroni disappeared as he stood quickly; turning he began searching the room franticly. "Gabrielle?" He called only to be met with silence.

He concentrated on her and turned the ring, Come on Pet, I know you're here He looked around. "Pet? Where are you?"

Still nothing, he was beginning to think he might be losing it but before he could think much further on the subject a gong sounded throughout the room telling him his time was up. He sighed as he searched the room one more time, one of the training dummies was beginning to stand back up as he walked toward the door and he quickly turned on it and sent a jolt of lightning straight through its chest sending it to the floor once more. He walked out of the room with a smirk on his face. Crazy maybe, crazy like a fox? He thought to himself as the door faded back into the wall behind him.

$$$$

Poppy pulled him aside as his group reached the bottom of the staircase on their way to dinner that evening. He motioned for the others to go ahead without him and waited until they were alone to speak.

"What did you need Poppy?"

She looked at him sadly, "I'm worried about you Harry, I know how you bottle your emotions up and I have yet to see any indication that you are dealing with... with your loss."

He sighed having known someone was going to confront him sooner or later. "Honestly Poppy, I found an outlet for my darker emotions and I am slowly working through the pain. I still mi...miss her but at the same time I almost feel like she is still here."

The woman nodded, "I know you had time to adjust to the idea...and I understand that you may have found a constructive way to deal with your loss. But please do not bottle this up Harry, you are a powerful young man and we cannot know the consequences of you having a breakdown."

Harry took a few deep breaths to keep from getting angry, he understood that she was only doing her job, and was only concerned for him. However he was getting tired of feeling guilty for not feeling depressed, he wasn't certain if it was too fresh to be real or if he had indeed prepared himself for this eventuality or if he was simply repressing the emotions subconsciously. The last was a very real possibility.

"Thank you Poppy, for the time being it is getting a little easier every day to deal with. I promise I won't let it get too bad before I talk to someone alright?"

Realizing she really had no choice she simply nodded and headed toward the great hall, Harry followed not long after.

$$$$

Dinner went as usual with the addition of Pansy being escorted to the Slytherin table by Blaise. Once the meal was finished and the younger years had filed out Harry rearranged the hall and stood on the "stage" at the front of the room. "Alright everyone listen up!"

They looked as one to the figure on top of the table and waited patiently. "We are going to be mixing things up from now on," he began pacing, "Rather than separate you by class year you will be moved into groups based on skill level. Please do not take this as an offense if you are moved into a lower bracket or placed with younger students. It is simply more effective to teach those of you with the same skill set so that we can bring everyone up to the same level or close to it. If you improve you will be moved up, if for some reason you can't keep up you will drop a rank temporarily until you can show that you have mastered whatever it is that got you demoted."

There were murmurs but nobody spoke against him, he began calling out the new groups starting with the lowest group which still consisted mainly of fourth years. There were two fifth years that belonged in this group including, he noted, Astoria Greengrass. He informed them that their group leader would point out what they needed to improve specifically to advance.

The next group consisted mainly of fifth years with three promising younger students joining them. Ron's spell work had been getting increasingly worse for some reason and Harry left it to Ginny to explain exactly what the problem was. He was not too happy but was a little less loud about it when Lavender was made to join him. However one of the fourth years that had advanced to his group was Romilda Vane which made for interesting looks thrown between the two girls.

In the third group was nearly everyone else, a few of the Seventh Years were left behind in a small group who Harry approached separately as the rest of them got to work on the days lesson.

"Alright you six, you have shown remarkable skill in the last few weeks and I would like you to consider joining a new or rather, an old group. The Old Guard from last year will begin meeting during the week, you will still be required to attend these meetings but you will become proctors for lack of a better term. Helping out the group leaders as you see people struggling."

This group consisted of Blaise, Daphne, and Pansy from Slytherin; Su Li, one of the Seventh Years, and Mandy Brocklehurst from Ravenclaw; Jimmy Stebbins and Scott Summerby the other Seventh Year from Hufflepuff. All of them nodded and were quietly stunned at their inclusion in the legendary Old Guard. Mandy however stepped up close to him and spoke quietly.

"Are you sure I'm supposed to be here?" She asked.

He smiled at her and nodded, "Definitely, what you lack in raw power you make up for in creativity and talent. This group was never based on who is the most powerful or most popular."

She nodded but looked like she wanted to say something else; taking a guess Harry spoke again. "Look, I know you were on the list but I just couldn't do it anymore. I can't use women like that and it wasn't working the way it was intended. That doesn't mean you aren't attractive to me."

She looked up into his eyes, "How did you..."

"Just a guess, in any case I'm sorry we didn't know each other better before but my heart..." He had to catch himself as his chest tightened at the thought of Gabrielle. "My heart already belongs to others. I hope we can still be friends though."

She seemed to debate with herself for a moment before nodding, "I'd like that Harry." She managed to stumble out before walking away.

He got their attention once more. "Alright, for today just walk through the rest of the club and help out where you can, if you need help just find the section leader."

As everyone began working he found Tonks walking the perimeter and quickly made his way over to her. "Hey you."

She grinned at him but looked a bit nervous as well. "Wotcher Harry, long time no...uh...see." She said with a smile as her eyes drifted below his waist and back up to his face.

"So I noticed you and Moony were a bit friendlier at the funeral..."

"You saw that huh..."

He nodded, "So..."

She sighed, "I don't know Harry... He told me he could see now that you were the leader you claimed to be and that Dumbledore is not infallible. He apologized for all the things he said in anger when we fought... I don't know Harry; it was what I asked for but it might be too late..."

"I know you still love him." Harry said catching her by surprise.

"But I... Harry I lo..."

"Don't say it Nym, not unless you know it's the truth. If Gabrielle passing taught me one thing it is that you should not waste time with the one you truly love. If its Remus you should give it another try."

"You really mean that? I mean we..."

"We have barely seen each other for days at a time and played together even less than that. It was fun, and I'm not necessarily opposed to more eventually. But if you want to take another shot with Moony don't let me stand in the way."

She jumped and wrapped her arms around him before quickly regaining a bit of decorum and blushing, Harry added to his tally with a smile. "Now get back to work, I'm your boss after all."

She winked at him before walking away saucily shaking her hips at him. He went back to his table and began watching everyone work once more. Snape had decided to forgo the meetings after Beauxbatons for which Harry was thankful. He still hadn't decided how much blame to lay on the greasy git; it was Dumbledore who received the reports and decided that it was too risky to warn anybody but Snape should have at least shown some remorse at this fact.

Sighing he looked around the room and watched as the new members of the Old Guard helped some of the other students. He was glad for this change of pace because his mind was not really on the task at hand. He kept thinking back to the training room and Gabrielle's voice; he knew that was what he had heard but there hadn't been anybody in the room with him. He kept running through the entire scene in his head and couldn't figure out what had happened or changed to bring her to him. Before he knew it time had gotten away from him and he called a halt.

"Good work everyone; I hope you can all see that you're working at the same level as your group now and that there will be no animosity. If however you wish to challenge me I would welcome a little dueling practice. If you win you can join the Old Guard and forgo the ranking system altogether."

When nobody spoke up to challenge him he dismissed them, Blaise and Daphne nodded on their way out, he noticed they were hand-in-hand. Pansy came to stand with the impromptu group. "So are we going to start researching now?" Padma asked.

He nodded, "You don't have to join us Padma but I have to warn you, I'm gonna need an oath from you once we get to my rooms before I can fill you in on part of the research plan."

She nodded but spoke up with another question, "What about the rest of the plan?"

Hermione couldn't help but smile before she answered the question. "You can't know all the details until you have become at least proficient in Occlumency if not mastered it."

Harry could see where this was going and growled at his bushy haired girlfriend. "Mione..."

She turned, "What? It isn't like the reason you fell in love with me is because of the intimacy from Occlumency lessons and it didn't work at all for Lavender. I am not trying to force anything on you but you really are a great teacher and if she wants to know the truth she has to be able to protect the secret."

He sighed and ran a hand over his face, "Fine...whatever...How did it go with Ron?" He asked turning to Ginny.

She shrugged, "He isn't too happy about it but there is something off about his magic. I think I could probably take him down without much of a struggle and that's without my bat-bogey."

"Well he isn't keeping to his oath and these are the warning signs..."

"Wait oath? What did you do Luna?" Hermione asked turning on the girl.

Luna sighed as she slowly brought herself under control before turning piercing silvery-blue eyes on Hermione. "That is why he suddenly stopped being such a silly billy this summer. I got him to give me an oath that he would support Harry no matter who he was dating."

"Luna that's cruel!" Ginny cried.

"Actually that makes sense to me." All eyes turned on Pansy. "What?" She asked incredulously.

"What do you know about the situation that could possibly lead you to that conclusion?" Hermione fumed.

Pansy shrugged, "Weasley's, present company included, have always been hot headed. With a Prewitt for a mother I imagine he would find your whole Harem to be immoral, not to mention that whether he was in love with Granger or not he thought of her as his. The only way to shut him up would be to get an oath from him."

Ginny wanted to hex the girl but had to admit that she was at least partly correct, as evidenced by her need to hex. "My mother is a sweet woman with more heart than all of Slytherin put together."

"Now now Red, don't get your knickers in a twist. I wasn't saying it was a bad thing necessarily, just that the Prewitt's have always been a very prudish bunch. They were known for being equally generous and compassionate but they had a very strict moral compass bred into them. Looks like the Weasley genes overrode the Prewitt in you though."

Ginny's wand was unsheathed and in her hand in an instant and stuck directly up the girls nostril, "And what do you know about the Weasley genes?"

Pansy held her hands up in supplication even as she stared down the length of the girl's wand. "Weasleys have always been about large families and many generations ago my clan would have welcomed them with open arms. They are rumored to be quite the lovers when properly motivated."

"You can say that again." Mione and Harry both said quietly, they locked eyes over the petite girls head and couldn't help but laugh. Ginny removed her wand from the Slytherin's nose and turned on her boyfriend.

"Oh you think this is funny do you?"

Harry began backing up with his hand held out to the sides, "Now Gin... She wasn't trying to be mean as far as I could tell..."

"But funny right?"

He shook his head quickly even as he continued to backpedal. "No, we were laughing because both Mione and I said the same thing... you really are something else in bed..." Ginny stopped and thought about it for a moment before her wand disappeared and she quickly surprised him with a kiss.

"This isn't over by a long shot Potter..." She said with a grin that promised either pain or pleasure...or both later on. She turned and walked back to the group and got back on topic. "Now Luna, how on earth did you convince my Prat of a brother to promise something like that?"

The blonde shrugged as her eyes returned to normal, "Oh just a little encouragement, the point is he was doing well until I joined you officially the first week. I may have led him to believe that I would be dating him but I never expressly told him so, I even made sure that he included me in the list of girls he would be happy to see you date. I'm sorry if I've upset you."

Harry shook his head and sighed, "No Lu, I'm not really upset with you, I'm more worried about Ron. Lavender has his head full of tripe about me using her and if he keeps this up I don't want to know what could happen."

"I'll talk to him Harry...I might have to let him out of his oath though if he can't see reason."

Harry sighed again, "That's fine Luna, I don't want him forced into being my friend. If he can't handle my life choices then he should have the free will to stay away from me."

Luna nodded and drifted off out the door ostensibly to find Ron and release him from his oath.

$$$$

Once back in his rooms Gin and Hermione went and picked up the books they were working with and headed for the couch. Pansy went and stood by her bedroom door with her head down and Padma was simply smiling as she looked around the room, especially when she recognized the age of the books in his collection.

"So what do you need from me?" Padma asked pulling her wand out.

"You're certain you want to help us?" Harry had to clarify. She nodded so he thought for a moment, "You know what we are researching already, I would like an oath that you won't reveal anything about it unless you have the permission of myself, Hermione, or Ginny. It will not be spoken of outside this room unless I am present even to the Headmaster."

"Harry?" Hermione asked from the couch.

He turned to her, "Look Mione, we have gone a long way to resolving our differences, and I honestly do care for him like a grandfather, but the minute he gets wind of a plan I can just see him twisting it somehow for the greater good. Dumbledore is only to know what I let him know."

She nodded hesitantly before she went back to the book with Ginny; turning back to Padma he found her deep in thought. "I swear on my life and magic to reveal nothing of the research done with Harry Potter or pertaining to the downfall of..." She took a deep breath, "...Voldemort. I will not speak to anyone without permission of Harry Potter, Hermione Granger, or Ginevra Weasley not outside of these rooms without one of them present. So mote it be."

Harry was a bit stunned at the length and the specificity of the oath but found that it covered everything he has asked for. "So mote it be." The magic flared and the contract was sealed. "So how are you with Runes?" He asked with a smile.

Ginny was holding her face in her hand hiding a blush, "Does everyone know my full name?"

He left it to the girls to explain what was going on to Padma before he turned his attention to the silent girl by the guestroom door. He walked over to her and she raised her head enough for him to know she had noticed his presence. "Yes My Lord?"

"Pansy, what is going on?"

"My Lord reminded me of my place and I am simply awaiting instruction... Does this displease you?"

Harry was more confused every second. "Pansy I did not mean you had to become some sort of slave I just wanted you to respect the situation and me for taking responsibility for your safety. Feel free to be yourself just keeping that in mind..."

She finally met his eyes and studied him for a moment... "Of course milord..." Her sneer returned, "Did you enjoy yourself? Having that kind of power over somebody? Did you enjoy my little performance?"

He was once again confused, "Performance?"

"Yeah right, like you actually held any power over me... Milord..." He didn't know what to make of her at the moment so completely disregarded the events from earlier.

"Whatever Miss Black, would you please join the other girls in researching?"

Pansy nodded and headed to the bookshelf to grab a random book from the top shelf, they had begun moving tomes they already searched to the bottom and rotating the rest up to make sure they weren't repeating each other's work, at least until they made it through the first round of research. The other girls got up off the couch and joined her at the work area where Pansy surprisingly didn't sneer or make a single Mudblood, Blood Traitor, or Wop remark. Harry was sitting on the couch simply reading through the latest in the long line of books he was committing to memory.

His memory had already come in handy during a quick discussion at dinner, the girls had been arguing over some point or another and he was able to recite the passage in question word-for-word. He got thanks from the girls as well as incredulous looks at having a walking library for a boyfriend. Overall he knew he was not the greatest at research so this was one of the best ways he could be a help. By knowing as much as possible from the books he could at least contribute, the main point being that in the end it would have to be him that delivered the killing blow.

Padma excused herself from the group and came to sit down beside him. He watched from the corner of his eye as she stood and removed her robes before draping them over her chair, being the weekend none of the students were required to wear robes but most did simply do to habit which was not discouraged by the teaching staff. Underneath however she was wearing a pair of blue jeans that must have been painted on to her very shapely legs and a sleeveless pink shirt with beading around a deep V-neck which placed her cleavage on display, as well as the fact that she was not wearing a bra.

Despite himself Harry was stunned by her beauty just as he had been at his birthday party, thoughts of his birthday party reminded him of the best few months of his life and he was in a very good mood by the time she sat down on the couch next to him. "What's that smile for?" She asked him.

He turned to her but kept the smile in place, "I was just remembering this summer; you know this had to have been the best summer of my life?"

She nodded and did not mention the fall they were currently enjoying. "It's nice to see you in a good mood; we were all so worried about you the last few months."

"Even Parvati?" He asked.

"Even my sister, she still doesn't know what to think but is siding with Lavender for now, that doesn't mean she wasn't worried for your wellbeing. Just because the rest of the school are not your best friends does not mean we don't worry for you."

He was beginning to relax a little more at a time around her as he put his book down, "Really, even when half the school thought I was nutters for claiming Voldemort was back? Even when I was entered against my will into the Triwizard and most of the school was wearing Potter Stinks badges?"

"Well most of us believed you no matter what the Prophet or the Ministry said; and I didn't wear one of those badges even though Malfoy didn't tell anybody they were anything but Cedric Diggory badges until after they had them on."

"Wait what?" He asked in surprise.

"That's right Harry, they wore the Cedric badges and after an hour they activated. Many people didn't even notice; those who did couldn't remove them for another two hours due to a sticking charm. The school as a whole has never been against you."

His surprise was clearly evident on his face, "But I thought..."

"Parv and I were surprised to be asked to the ball because you always stayed in your bubble. It was the Golden Trio versus everyone, including the school and Voldemort. You couldn't have known the truth because you are always on a mission of some sort and not paying attention to the rest of us, except for Malfoy. It's no wonder you felt alone."

The revelations were too much for Harry so he shook his head trying to clear it even as he felt a bubble of pride and happiness building in his throat and threatening to make him cry. Everyone loves my Master, you should kiss her.

Harry suddenly jumped from the couch as if electrocuted and had both wands drawn as he scanned the room. "Harry?" Padma called in shock getting the attention of the others.

Hermione and Ginny were immediately by his side with wands drawn looking for trouble. "What is it Harry?" Ginny asked quietly even as she scanned the room.

He blushed very deeply as his wands disappeared but he continued to scan the room. "I...I thought I heard something, sorry to scare you."

They both looked at him strangely but he didn't elucidate, instead he simply returned to the couch looking a bit paranoid but turning concerned eyes on Padma. "Sorry, honestly I'm just a bit jumpy is all."

Ginny and Hermione returned to their studies but both were casting glances in his direction from time to time; Pansy had taken the whole thing in stride so it was left to Harry to help Padma out. "Uh... so where were we?"

She stared at him for a moment, "I think you were about to cry."

"Was not!" He argued.

"Were too, nothing wrong with that either. You are loveable Lord Potter-Black, ever since your first year."

He shook his head and smiled, "In any case... why don't we get down to business?" She nodded so he continued. "Alright, you probably deduced by now just what we are looking for."

"Somewhat, it appears you are trying to find a way to either bind a soul somehow, or somehow destroy one that is in pieces... What is a Horcrux?" She looked at him expectantly.

Over the next hour or so he explained as much as he could about Tom Riddles past and how he had made himself nearly immortal. Padma listened in awe until he was done. He then asked her about her family life and specifically what life was like having a twin. They chatted amicably for another hour until someone cleared their throat catching his attention. Hermione was smiling down at them. "Padma, you are a prefect but I assume you do not wish to be caught out after curfew?"

Padma started as she realized how late it was getting and without thinking she leaned in and kissed Harry on the cheek before getting up. "Same time tomorrow then?" She asked as she put her robes back on.

"I suppose that is as good a plan as any for now..." Harry said trying to think of anything else to say to the girl. After a long silence she shrugged and waved before walking out of the portrait hole.

Ginny and Hermione plopped down on either side of him as Pansy was putting the books back on the shelf. "You two seemed cozy." The redhead commented.

"Just getting reacquainted a bit is all, if she wants to know my secrets I would rather know her better before even thinking about teaching her Occlumency."

"Occlumency?" Pansy asked as she sat down on the love seat. "Is that how you got your homework done so quickly? You don't even need notes do you?"

Harry was not happy about being caught out but decided there really wasn't anything to be gained by lying to her; she was under an oath already. "It is." Was his only answer.

"Do I get to know this big bad secret?" She asked with a smirk.

He shook his head, "Only my friends and those I trust will get to know that. Plus you need to be able to protect my secrets."

"I'm already under a secrecy oath..."

He nodded, "But I would like you to be able to protect the information anyway, even a secrecy oath wouldn't keep you from revealing something under torture, it would just kill you to do it. Trust me when I say that is an option you would consider while under one of Voldemort's curses."

"Harry!" Hermione cried as she brought her hands to her mouth. He turned and pulled her into him and whispered that he was okay and it was just a distant memory, continuing for a few more seconds until she had calmed down. Turning back to Pansy he saw a bit of respect mixed with a bit of fear in her eyes.

"And you can teach Occlumency?"

He groaned inwardly and tried very hard not to roll his eyes. Getting up off the couch he went and grabbed the Occlumency text from the book shelf and brought it back to her. "I taught myself, I want you to advance as far as you can, and read the entire text before I help you."

Pansy nodded and took the book from him as she got off the couch. "If you could teach yourself I doubt I will have any problem with it."

As he watched her close the door to her room behind her Harry was still disconcerted by her sudden change in demeanor. "What did you do to her Harry?"

He turned to Ginny who had asked the question and shrugged in response. "This morning we had a little discussion about her attitude. I told her that since her family is missing in action and I am responsible for her being under my protection. That she might as well consider herself a Black and me her Lord." Both Ginny and Hermione gasped and stared at him.

He did not like it when they did that, this time he did groan audibly and rolled his eyes. "What did I do now?"

Ginny seemed to be suppressing a giggle but Hermione looked genuinely upset, hoping that whatever Ginny had to say would help calm Hermione down he turned to her first. "Gin?"

After Ginny realized her girlfriend's reaction she calmed herself and grasped Hermione's hand before addressing him. "Pansy Parkinson is a Pureblood through and through Harry, granted, so are the Weasley's but that is mostly luck rather than breeding. That doesn't mean I don't understand what it means to be female and pure blooded."

He made a circular motion with his hand nonverbally asking her to continue. She took a deep breath, "If you said that exactly the way you told us, you basically just adopted her Harry; and being that you are currently unmarried it could be taken as a marriage proposal."

"What!" He screamed before quickly lowering his volume so as not to alert the girl in the other room. "What?" He asked more calmly.

Hermione was ready to speak by now, "You proposed marriage to her Harry... That wouldn't have been the case except that her father specifically asked you to place her under your protection..."

Harry was shaking his head, "You don't think he planned this do you?"

Both girls shook their heads, "I'm sure he knew the possibility existed, and I don't doubt that he would like to officially bring you into the clan... but I doubt this is part of some master plan." Hermione answered him.

"How do I get out of this?" Was his only question.

Ginny shook her head, "Unless you want to kill your relationship with the Parkinson's and by extension the Greengrass and Zabini families you don't... but maybe we can speak to her?"

Harry sat down hard on the love seat, "Please?" He begged.

They got up off the couch and kissed him on the cheek he barely noticed them knocking on Pansy's door and entering her room. He understood on a logical level that it would make sense to marry into the clan rather than simply announcing that he had joined them. But on a base level he could not imagine being married to Pansy bloody Parkinson. She was annoying and snotty and bigoted even while on her best behavior, or she was virtually a robot, more so than Gabrielle had ever been to him.

As usual thoughts of Gabrielle brought echoes of pain from the place inside where she was supposed to be. He took a few moments and let the pain wash over him a little at a time just to feel closer to her. Reaching into his shirt he wrapped his hand around her pendant and wished she would come visit him in a dream again, just so he could talk to her one more time. He could almost hear her voice whispering in his head. Telling him that she loved him, that she would always be with him, that she already was with him.

Sighing he removed his hand from the bauble and opened his eyes to find Gin and Hermione sitting on either side of him just watching him. "Are you okay Harry?" Ginny whispered as she saw his eyes open.

"Fine... why?" He asked.

Hermione reached up and wiped his cheeks before showing him the wetness on her fingers. "Because you're crying Harry, this isn't bad it was just a shock. We can leave you alone if you need to...well if you need some time to yourself."

He shook his head and indicated that they should continue. "Pansy understands that it was not meant as a marriage proposal, especially after you rebuked her this evening."

He sighed as that one less worry melted away. "I was just thinking about Gabrielle, sorry."

Hermione shook her head and pulled him into a hug. "Don't be sorry Harry, you are allowed to be sad that she's gone, angry that she was taken. If you need to let it out a little at a time to make it easier then do it. Neither of us will think less of you for it." He hugged her back before turning and pulling Ginny into a similar embrace noticing that she was crying as well.

For the first time in two days Harry let himself cry, just a bit, just enough to take the edge off. Not nearly enough to remove the buildup of emotions he was suppressing but enough that he felt better, at least temporarily. He was completely drained before too long and decided it was time to call it a night and they quickly headed off to bed.





A/N:

I know this chapter is a little later than expected (but its still friday!) but I had to tweak and retweak it. I have been waffling a bit between completely erasing the last few chapters and keeping the story much lighter overall rather than making it more "real" for lack of a better term.

My motivations for letting Gabrielle die have been called into question and ask me any five minutes at a time and I will give you a different answer how I feel about the rest of the story currently.

THe main thing is: Now that I have given you her death and her funeral I feel like its too late. Like I would be cheating to remove those chapters and revamp this to keep it light and fluffy. This fic does not have to be the one I use to get messages and plot bunnies across.

Which would be more enjoyable for you? I have a plan for the rest of the story from this point on that is definitely still a fun journey. But I can also see it staying as mostly PWP rather than any deep meaning.

I am putting a poll up and leaving it up (longer than half an hour this time) on http://groups.yahoo.com/group/gml_fanfic and please feel free to give me your REAL opinion. I know most of you trust that I can pull this off and still be enjoyable, but I find myself more and more wanting to revert and let Gabby live...

But I don't like being a cheater.