FicWad

I didn't do it, nobody saw me do it, you can't prove anything...

Also:
Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.


Chapter 70: Sunday January 7, 1997

Harry and Pansy had grown somewhat closer after New Years but they still kept their relationship confined to his common room for the time being. The first weeks back at Hogwarts had not been anything special, just getting back into the school spirit as it were after a nice winter holiday. Dumbledore had once again begged off their training session on the first Sunday of the return and Harry had not called the DA for a meeting either citing a need to reestablish a comfortable schedule for everyone first.

Ravenclaw had beaten Hufflepuff in their Quidditch match just before the break by a wide margin putting them in second place for the Quidditch cup. Coming up at the end of February would be the Hufflepuff versus Slytherin match and Slytherin needed to win by over 200 points in order to make it into the final. If it had been Draco on the team Harry wouldn't have had any worries about who they would be facing in the final since without an all-star seeker Hufflepuff had no chance of recovery and Cho would no doubt trounce the ferret in that match. Unfortunately the new Slytherin Seeker was good enough to worry about come a rematch against Gryffindor. If Ron kept it up as keeper and Harry didn't end up in the hospital before the next two matches Gryffindor was a shoe-in for the Final.

Harry had just left Dumbledore's office after a quick review of Fiendfyre followed by an introduction to reading magic in your environment. For the first time in a long while Harry found himself truly interested in the subject, most of what Dumbledore tried to teach him was either useless or nearly so in battle. But he found the idea of reading wards, charms and jinxes that have been woven into objects or places fascinating.

In any event Harry headed down to Dinner where his entourage had taken over the far end of the Gryffindor Table. Pansy still sat at the Slytherin Table but his girls made sure to leave the space facing her open for him to sit down when he arrived. Hermione and Ginny sat with the space between them and Luna sat on Ginny's far side; across the table sat Neville, Hannah and Susan followed by Padma and Parvati. Sitting next to her was Lavender who was doing a poor job of pretending to ignore Harry's presence and her best friend's now public betrothal. Ron sat across from her separated from Harry by two girls but generally able to join in the conversation when Lavender wasn't throwing him evil looks.

Ron had confided in Harry that Lav was slowly losing her vehement aversion to him but her stubbornness was part of what he loved about her. Harry could relate as he found that trait endearing in both Hermione and Pansy, though his real relationship with the latter was too new to call love. So Harry tolerated the looks and comments for his friend's sake, and hoped that eventually she would warm enough that the three of them could move past the...unpleasantness that was Harry and Lavenders short relationship.

He glanced across the hall and found Daphne staring at him unabashedly and frowned. The girl had not given up on him even after he had thrown her out of his room. Pansy and he had talked a bit and she was dealing with the issue of sharing with the other girls, but with Daphne she considered it the right thing to do to honor her deal with the girl. When he asked her if his feelings mattered she had shrugged it off. That led to the usual fight with the slamming of doors in his face, followed the next morning by a rather intense snogging session, though he had not taken their relationship to that next level yet.

He met Pansy's eyes and gave her a jolt and enjoyed her genuine smile as her eyes rolled back slightly and she gripped the table, turning her knuckles white for the twenty seconds or so it took the pleasure to wash through her. When she opened her eyes she quickly glanced around to make sure nobody was watching before sending him her best sultry look. His heart skipped a beat before his blood pressure began to rise and he quickly had to look away, though when his eyes met Hermione's he found laughter behind them. She had watched the entire exchange in amusement.

Dinner concluded and the DA stuck around as Harry reconfigured the hall as usual. In Snape's absence Professor Flitwick had taken on the duty as Faculty Sponsor and was rather happy to assist with whatever lesson Harry was teaching for the week. He flicked his wand and opened the doors to let in the group and everyone took their places by group waiting to find out what the first lesson of the New Year would be.

"Alright is everyone here? Can everyone see me? Can everyone hear me?" He asked with a huge fake smile as he strutted down the table-cum-stage. There was nervous laughter as those who remembered Lockhart got the joke. "Right then, before we get started for the day I have a late Christmas present for each of you."

He levitated the carefully packed crate Slughorn had provided from the corner of the room onto the stage beside him and pulled a bottle from inside. There was a slight gasp as some of the older students recognized the potion in the glass pendant Harry was now holding up.

"Liquid Luck?" One of the Ravenclaw seventh years asked.

Harry nodded, "Right in one. You are all here to learn how to defend yourselves and others; I couldn't stand the thought of any of you getting hurt if I could help it. Each of these pendants contains one hour's worth of Felix Felicus, for those of you who don't know this is Liquid Luck. It will make you extremely lucky for the duration of its effects. It is outlawed in any sport in the Wizarding World but I trust everyone here to use it wisely. My purpose in giving you this is that next time there is battle, whether you are defending yourselves, your friends and loved ones, or this castle; that you will have that much better chance of survival. Remember however, that the first rule of engagement for most of you in this room is to escape with your life and to try to help others do the same. I don't expect heroics."

There was babbling of excited conversation as his section leaders came forward and got enough vials to distribute to each of their charges. With that done Harry began instruction for the lesson of the day before moving around between groups and assisting his section leaders. When he got to the higher sections he began having those split off into pairs or trio's to begin working in teams. One or two would cast shields and the other would cast offensive spells, he wanted them to get used to the idea of working together in other-than-duel type situations. The Black Guard would be starting something similar at Wednesday's meeting.

After an hour Harry called a halt and set the Great Hall back to rights before heading for his suite with entourage in tow. Bernie gave him a wink as they passed through the portrait hole and Harry rolled his eyes as he walked over to the couch and sat down. The rest settled in around him.

"Alright, so what have we got on the 'Project'? We haven't really talked about it since the Holidays and we need to get back on track. I don't want to meet Snake lips again without a plan in place." Harry said causing the group to somber quickly.

Hermione spoke up first even as she began emptying her bag onto the table, "We have what looks like our best option but I am waiting on a text I ordered from a less than reputable shop in Knockturn Alley before I can finish the translation. Until then we really don't have any other options unless you would like to assist the Headmaster as a plan B."

Harry nodded before leaning forward and placing his elbows on his knees and his chin onto his clasped hands in thought. "I suppose there is nothing for it then but to help him out. Honestly though I don't understand how he expects to find all of these objects. Susan?"

The girl perked up, "Yes?"

"I would like you and Luna to research what you can about identifying a Horcrux. You should be able to find everything you need on this bookshelf, if not let me know and I'll ask Dumbledore." The girls nodded and got up.

"Hermione, you and Padma should continue working on what you can of Plan A. Gin I know you found the first clue but you have to admit these two are scary when they go into research mode." The redhead nodded and waited for instructions. "If you and Parvati can start working on ways to destroy a Horcrux without cursing your limbs off that would be great. We know the Diary was destroyed by stabbing it with a Basilisk Fang." Ginny shrugged and she and Parvati headed for the book shelf as well leaving Harry and Pansy to find something else to do.

"What are we going to do?" Pansy asked with a sly smile.

"Pansy you are to take him in the other room and keep him out of our hair!" Hermione called from the other side of the common room.

"Hey! I'm right here you know!" Harry complained.

"Harry you already know what your job is, rather than sit out here and be bored," He made to interrupt but she shushed him with a finger. "You know you will just sit there and feel useless anyway, we haven’t had all of us working on this before and even then you basically supervised. Now you two go away and leave us alone!"

Smiling Pansy got up and pulled him along with her into his bedroom and closed the door. "I feel like we're being rude." Harry complained.

"She's right though, you aren’t really doing anything when they are researching except for feeling useless. You are the 'give me a sword and point me at the basilisk' guy. Not the 'give me a library and let me find an obscure reference' guy."

"What about you though, you could be out there helping!"

She shook her head, "I have my orders milord. When the head wife says jump you jump."

"Head wife? Please don't tell me you are going on about the Harem thing again. I swear I..."

"Yes milord, of course you don't want a Harem..."

"I don't!" He whined.

She just smiled at him, "Despite your protestations Miss Granger and Miss Weasley between them have conspired to get you one. Though I admit I was turned off by the idea at first it definitely has its merits..."

"Merits?" He asked as she pushed him down on the bed and stood before him.

"A noble of your standing should have a good number of concubines or mistresses, whichever you choose to call them. If I were your only wife I would expect you to take at least one mistress once I was gravid with your heir rather than annoy me with your need for sex and risk to the child."

He tried to argue but she had stepped closer to him and started removing his tie causing him to gulp. "Gravid?"

"Fat, heavy, far along in pregnancy..."

"Oh..."

She began undoing his buttons, "And that is just the proper thing for the wife of a noble or royal, then you take into account the clan my family belongs to and the way I grew up..."

He nodded and she stepped back from him and removed her blouse in one quick movement causing her breasts to bounce inside her bra. He gulped again, no matter that he had seen her without there was something about watching a woman undress that was much sexier than simply seeing her nude. "Uh...right..."

"So I don't really have a problem with another wife or two...I admit six others are a bit much..."

"I...uh..." He couldn't think straight as she removed her shoes and then her skirt leaving her in just her undergarments and stockings. He followed the stocking up her leg and toward...he caught himself and looked away.

She smiled, happy that she could still make him uncomfortable. "In any event, though many in our society will openly scoff at our situation and call you a polygamist as if it were a bad thing..."

Having looked away for a bit he found his voice, "Polyamore actually...to me Polygamy would mean I was in charge and all of you were beneath me somehow...that's not how I see it."

That surprised her but she tried to mask her surprise by pulling his shirt off and succeeded when he blushed and she could see the lust in his eyes. "That makes me feel better still, but not my point. Those same people who chided us for our relationship would be jealous of the fact that you have enough money to support so many and the audacity to acknowledge us all as your wives. It gives you credibility and power without even meaning to, and gives me much higher standing amongst the ladies circle."

"Why would you have a higher place among them when you have to share with so many?" He asked when he was able to breathe again.

"Because milord, I am not some wallflower nor decoration, though I do try to make myself presentable..."

"More than..." Harry said with a grin that made her legs weak.

"Indeed," She recovered; he was annoying her when she was supposed to be seducing him. "It shows that I am secure in my relationship with you and with the others. Many of those same fuddy-duddys and old bags would love to indulge in what they imagine we get up to together but were too afraid in their youth to admit to any sort of sexual feelings.

"Remember our society as a whole is about a century behind the Muggles and the older the person is the more they adhere to eighteenth or nineteenth century values. When they were young a woman was good only for making food and babies, if you were aristocracy they were good for babies and socializing with other women. Those sewing circles and what not became covens and some of those witches expressed their desire for sexual freedom such as the men had. They were declared Heretics and burned at the stake."

"That’s awful! Why doesn't Binns teach that?" He asked, momentarily forgetting that they were both now half naked.

She stood back and placed one dainty foot on the bed beside him slowly unrolling her stockings causing his eyes to bulge along with his boxers...apparently she had gotten him out of his trousers at some point. She smiled as her power over him returned, "Because he is male, and dead, and was of the old value system. Why would he teach about what he regarded as heresy? He wouldn't want to put ideas into our feeble female minds! In any case back to the point; the fact that I feel secure enough to allow it to happen will make all those witches jealous of my relationship and that gives me power."

She crawled into the bed with him, despite their newfound relationship it had only been a few weeks and though she would readily accept his advances he had yet to make any move beyond kissing her. She actually found it rather refreshing after the way most of her boyfriends pawed all over her.

"I don't understand though, if I had to guess I'd say they would look down on you for letting me walk all over you or something." He wrapped his arms around her as they got comfortable on the bed and she rolled to face him once more.

"If I were any other woman they might, but I have been following Cissy around for years and they know I wouldn't take any crap from you. My family may have strange notions about love and sex but the women in my clan are not carpets to be trod upon. Those women know I wouldn't allow anything of the sort." She leaned in and kissed him softly enjoying his body's reactions as he fought his desire. Power over a man was intoxicating even if she knew in the end he would own her.

"What about Hermione being Muggleborn, or the Patil twins being a different race and country of origin?"

She smiled, he was slowly picking up the lessons she had been giving him since she got over her jealousy of his little Harem. "Funny you should ask; the Patil's are a respected family even if they are looked down upon. And the fact that you are marrying both of them says much of your status."

"I am never going to understand all this stuff." He said in frustration.

She just smiled up at him, "That is why you need me around; I won't let you make a fool of yourself if I can help it."

"Well thanks for that, despite appearances to the contrary I am winging it with the political stuff. At this point I'm willing to give Malfoy a chance to keep his mouth shut rather than drag him before the Wizengamot..."

"You can't do that!" She chastised him. A nice side effect was her bouncing breasts, unfortunately that also caused his brain to fog up.

"Why not?"

She looked at him like he was an idiot completely destroying the sexy mood she had set up. "Because you dolt, the entire school has heard about your promise to drag him before the Wizengamot for slander! If you don't do so now you lose credibility!"

"Or I show them all that I'm forgiving and compassionate."

She nodded, "Exactly, a complete pushover."

He climbed out of the bed and pulled his boxers back on. "I am not a pushover; I would think you'd know that by now!" He half shouted.

"Of course milord, that’s why Ron Weasley is still around after betraying you so many times."

"Leave Ron out of this! I thought you two had come to some sort of agreement."

She didn't bother to get dressed as she stood up and stared him down. "Harry if you let people walk all over you then you will never achieve your goals. This is not some utopian society where everyone forgives and forgets! You're swimming with sharks now and Malfoy and Weasley are painting targets on you in blood!"

"You really know how to kill mood you know that!" He sniped.

"Please, it's not like you were going to make a move on me anyway. Why would you when you have a set of twins at your beck and call?" She shouted.

Out in the common room those closest to his door had been trying to listen in on the argument. The arguments between Harry and Pansy were somewhat of a favorite pastime for his girls, especially since they usually ended up snogging each other senseless afterward. It was everything that had been said about Hermione and Ron for years except Harry wasn't constantly trying to make himself sound smarter by belittling Pansy.

Everything suddenly went quiet as a silencing spell was placed on the doorway and wall. "That’s new." Ginny observed.

"Maybe they moved straight past the snogging to the hot freaky sex?" Padma suggested.

"I doubt it; more likely Harry didn't want to disturb our work." Ginny answered.

Harry lowered his wand, "Listen: for the last time the Twins and I are not intimate yet!"

Pansy sneered at him, "Fine, then let me name off any other source of pussy you could have. Why would you want me? You haven't even told me the fucking prophecy yet!"

Harry narrowed his eyes and Pansy blinked as her surface thoughts began to dance before her mind, in the next moment Harry was ejected from her head and she narrowed her stare at him. "What the hell was that? If you want to know how I feel about you just ask me!"

She turned and stalked out the door, forgetting or not caring that she was still all but nude. Harry stared after her for a moment as she slammed her door on the far side of the common room.

"Harry?" Hermione questioned from the desk.

He shook his head and followed her path to the other door and pounded his fist against it. She opened it up and he barely controlled his breathing as she was once again exposed to him. "WHAT?" She screamed at him.

He pushed her into her room and everyone heard the squelch and push of magic as a silencing ward went up again and the door was sealed behind him.

"I was testing your shields! If you would have given me a second I would have told you I think you're ready." He said trying to calm down.

That was when he noticed the tears of rejection in her eyes, "I don't care about the bloody prophecy anymore! It's just one more thing you shared with them that you haven't shared with me!"

"What do you want from me Pansy? Sex is not the only thing in a relationship you know!"

"But it is part of a healthy relationship! You get me all worked up every fucking day at meals, I think your attracted to me, then all you want to do is cuddle and talk when you get me alone! I don't know how to deal with this!"

"If you can't deal with it then I guess this isn't going to work is it?" He shouted at her, now panting as his blood pressure shot through the roof. He noted that she was breathing just as heavily. His heart beat was like a drum in his ears and he felt the adrenaline coursing through his veins.

"I..." She was crying again but she stood her ground forcefully gripping her wand. "I guess not..."

The defeated look that crossed her face broke him, before he knew what was happening he had her pressed up against the door and was snogging her for all he was worth. It took only a second before she was a more than willing participant, wrapping her arms around his neck and trying desperately to force him closer to her.

He picked her up and spun her around to lay her down on the bed never breaking the kiss. She ran her fingernails down his back causing a delicious pain and he knew he was probably bleeding, her finger reached his boxers but he was pinning her down to the sheets with his weight. "Off. Now." She breathed out.

He quickly complied kicking them to the far side of the room before resuming his kiss; she reached between their bodies and wrapped a hand around his throbbing member before groaning as she realized her panties were still in place. Desperate to get closer to her he hooked his fingers in one side and ripped the lacy things from her body getting a gasp not unlike the one she had elicited with her fingernails before lining up and plunging himself inside her.

He pounded into her extremely slick passage with abandon and she was soon howling beneath him. It took almost no time at all before his orgasm ripped through him and he buried himself as deeply into her as he could before spilling inside her.

They lay panting for a moment in the afterglow of their maddened love making before she lost all semblance of control and began sobbing beneath him. He pulled away just enough to see her face and he was horrified at his actions.

"Oh my God Pansy...I..." He made to move but she wrapped her legs around him so he couldn't disengage from her body.

"Don't you dare move you complete ass! I'm not crying because you hurt me!"

"But I..."

"So worth it! God I've wanted this..."

He was confused but she seemed happy not angry so the tears were a good thing. He smiled down at her, "Oh really?"

"I'm sorry Harry, I wasn't thinking that day... You and that look, and I knew Daphne had already done it..."

"You tried to shag me in the broom closet! You're the other closet girl?" He asked.

Her sobbing began anew as she nodded, "I didn't really believe you were married to her, I didn't know how hard you were taking it, I just wanted you...and then you couldn't..."

He kissed her tear stained cheeks and then her lips before rolling them both onto their sides on her bed and hugging her close. "It's in the past luv, don't worry about it."

"You're not angry?" She asked quietly.

"No. I'm more relieved to know who the last mystery girl is than anything... so you wanted me that long?" He asked with a smile.

She smacked him lightly on the shoulder but didn't pull away. "Git. I'm pretty sure I wanted you that day with my father but I would never stoop so low as to consort with a Gryffindor, let alone Harry Potter."

"Why?" He asked slightly confused.

"Partly the fame I suppose, but mostly because you never compromised your values and yet still somehow came out on top year after year... I don't know."

"So was it uh...was I..."

"It was brilliant Harry; just don't hold out on me anymore alright? I can't go back to being horny all the time with no outlet except that look of yours. It really doesn't make it any better despite cumming. There's nothing quite like an honest to gods shag."

He nodded and they drifted together in silence for a while, wandering hands caressing rather than exploring. Harry was almost asleep, still tangled up with his new lover when she spoke again. "Did you mean it?"

"Mean what?" he asked quietly.

"My shields, did you really mean you could tell me?"

He nodded and went through the lines of the prophecy as well as his interpretation of it. She listened quietly until he was done and the silence stretched out uncomfortably as her Slytherin side kicked in, looking for loopholes or hidden meanings.

"Not to interrupt, but your silence is a bit scary Pans. I mean, I understand if you can't be with me any longer..."

"Shut your damn mouth you stupid noble git. A Slytherin doesn't run at the first sign of trouble, especially if she is on the winning side."

"You think I can win then?"

She nodded, "First off, the prophecy was probably already fulfilled when you were a baby. He marked you as his equal, you had some power he didn't know about and you defeated him, for almost a decade he was out of commission. Unfortunately that last line 'Neither can live while the other survives' sounds like he has to die; but not that you are the only one that can kill him."

This was a completely different perspective to his prior thinking, enough to make him worry. "You mean I might not have some secret weapon anymore?"

"What do you think your secret weapon was before?" She asked.

"Dumbledore seems to think it is or was Love that saved me. My mother's love to be exact, his guess is that she invoked some old magik charm of some sort that infused her love into me to protect me at the cost of her own life."

Pansy nodded, "That explains the Harem then..."

"It's not a Harem!" He complained.

"Pot-AY-to, Pot-AH-to, the point is I'm guessing Miss Granger set the whole 'Plan' up so you would find love, and then figured the more the merrier?"

"Your scary brilliant you know that?"

"Right, well I agree with her. From everything else you have told me he can't handle your positive emotions so the more love you can find the better chance you have of defeating him. I don't know how you can use it as a weapon without him possessing you though..."

Harry nodded, "Me either, but possessing a weapon I don't know how to use is a lot better than not having any way to defend myself."

"Mmmm..." Pansy mumbled.

He smiled, "And as for Malfoy I think maybe I will add him to the Harem as well."

She nodded before snuggling more into his embrace. "Sounds good..."

He controlled his giggling as she looked too cute to wake up at the moment. "Good night Pans... I can definitely live with this." He admitted the last knowing she wouldn't remember.

"Love you too..." She said softly before succumbing completely. Unknowingly lifting his heart and missing the tear that ran down his cheek before he pulled her closer and drifted off as well.

-------------------------------------------------------------------SFTP-------------------------------------------------------------------

"I don't like this; it's been an hour since they went in there." Susan commented.

Out in the common room they had all gotten back to work when nothing more could be heard from Pansy's room but each of them kept tossing glances at the door, wondering what was going on in the room beyond.

"You think they finally gave up and shagged each other rotten?" Ginny asked with a grin.

Padma shrugged, "Or they killed each other and we have to wait for the magic to die before we can open that door and find out."

"Oh? It's like a Schroeder then?" Luna asked.

All eyes turned to the blond in confusion. Hermione drew a deep breath not really wanting to know but finding guilty pleasure in indulging the girl from time to time. After all, she had seen her lucid and knew Luna was at least as smart as Ginny. "What is a Shrouding Luna?"

The girl perked up at being able to talk about her creatures, "Well the Muggles actually discovered them but they are magical undead felines, I think they are related somehow to the Thestrals."

"Undead cats? Like zombies?" Susan asked.

"Not exactly. Schroeders exist in both dead and alive states until someone checks on them since there is no way to know if they are one or the other."

Hermione brought her hand to her face to stall the headache that was forming before taking a deep breath. "That’s Schroedinger Luna, he was a Muggle scientist who posed the question about placing a cat in a box to demonstrate quantum theory."

"I told you the Muggles got it wrong Hermione, are the Whizles messing with your hearing?"

"What's a Whi... Nevermind. Quantum Science holds that individual particles can exist in many states at once, and that testing to see what state they are in actually changes which state it was in, thus making it impossible to actually measure them, so it's all theory." Seeing that she was losing the purebloods in the room she quickly got back to the point. "Schroedingers cat is a play on that theory. If you place a cat inside a box the theory goes that you cannot know whether the cat is alive or dead without checking, thus it exists in both states at once."

"Why would you do that to a poor kitty?" Ginny asked.

"They didn't actually do it; it's just a word game."

"What if the cat was in the box for a month? Then you would know it was dead." Parvati asked.

"Again I ask why you would do that to a poor defenseless cat?" Ginny cried indignantly.

"Nobody is doing that dear, and to answer your question Parv you cannot know that the cat is dead without checking, you can only posit an informed guess."

Ginny huffed in annoyance. "People wonder why Purebloods don’t even try to understand Muggles, and then they come up with something like this?"

"It's the scientific method! You cannot know anything until you test and prove a hypothesis. It’s the basis for decision making even in the Magical world!"

Ginny huffed once again and Susan meandered over to talk to Luna as the couple began to argue. "So these Schroeders..."

Luna nodded, "We can only make informed guesses about what happened in that room until the door unlocks and we can look for ourselves. So right now they are both dead and alive or one is alive and the other dead, or vice versa."

"You really were talking about Schroedinger weren’t you?" Susan asked in surprise.

Luna smiled back. "It's fun to get her all worked up; I can see why Ginny and Ron are so fond of doing it."

"What do you mean..." She trailed off as she caught back up to the argument in the center of the room.

"I'm just saying! We can't know what happened and I'm worried now, we need to break down that door and check on them!" The redhead shouted.

-------------------------------------------------------------------SFTP-------------------------------------------------------------------

Harry awoke tangled up in Pansy's arms and sighed just a bit hoping that maybe it was all just sexual tension and they could hold regular conversations without risking him getting his nose broken. He shifted slightly and cast a quick Tempus spell to check the time, noting that it had been just under an hour since they fell asleep.

His movement woke the girl in his arms who blinked and looked up at him with a dopey smile. "Hey boyfriend."

He smiled back, "Hey yourself."

"What time is it?" She asked suddenly a bit alarmed.

"Don't worry it's only been an hour...crap..."

"Crap?" She asked in confusion.

"That means they are probably out there trying to decide if we killed each other or shagged senseless."

She nodded and snuggled back into his shoulder. "Yes please."

"The killing or the shagging?"

"Well I know we both died at least once back there... So are you ready to face the music?"

"Me? Why do I have to go out there?"

She smiled. "My room, my rules."

"This is totally not fair!"

"Who ever told you this was about fair?"

He sighed and got up, "Snake."

She nodded, "Proud of it."

"Minx!"

"No that’s later loverboy." She shooed him toward the door with a regal hand gesture.

"I'm gonna get you for this, you know that right?"

She nodded again, "I'm looking forward to it."

-------------------------------------------------------------------SFTP-------------------------------------------------------------------

"We need to allow them privacy to get to know each other and work through their issues! I highly doubt they are both dead!"

"You can't know that!" Ginny shouted back. "They both had wands with them...though I'm not entirely sure where they were keeping them..." Her eyes began to glaze over a bit but Hermione missed it in her anger.

"I'm certain that they both had the little death, Pansy possibly more than once!" Luna chimed in trying to be helpful.

"Even if Pansy pulled a wand on him do you really think Harry couldn't have taken her out easily?"

"No, you're completely right Harry does know how to use his wand."

Hermione made as if to retort to that but was momentarily caught up in the double entendre. "Right, so you admit you are just being silly?"

"You're right, I'm a bad girl. Do I need a spanking?"

"No I didn’t... I mean I... That isn't what this is about!" Hermione stumbled through the images.

Susan leaned in toward Luna once again. "Do you think Ginny was setting this up the entire time?"

Luna nodded, "Do you think Hermione realizes she was being egged on the entire time yet?"

"Your right! I definitely need a spanking! Unless you are the one that needs a spanking?"

"What? I...I mean... that’s neither here nor there..."

"You were yelling at me Mione; I think that makes you a bad girl... What do bad girls get Mione?" Ginny purred as she began to walk around the suddenly stiff girl standing at attention.

"Bad girls don't get fun time..." Hermione answered hanging her head.

"And what do good girls get?"

"Spankings?" Hermione asked a bit hopefully, surprising the others in the room. Thankfully she was saved by the sound of the spells being removed and Pansy's door opening to reveal Harry.

"Oh... so you're all still here then..."

Hermione ignored the others staring at her and turned to him. "Are you both alive in there?"

"Uh....yeah..." He said as he walked into the common room and back toward his own, "So...what's been going on out here then?"

"Don't change the subject Mister." Ginny quipped as she walked over to him and gave him a kiss, inhaling as she did so. "Someone's been naughty.." She singsonged.

His breathing got short and he began to panic. "It's not like that!"

Ginny was already worked up from teasing Hermione and the flood of images running through her head was pushing her to be more daring than usual; quite an accomplishment. "Tell me everything!" She whispered in his ear even as she ground against his erection through his boxers.

Harry however slammed on the brakes so suddenly that she didn't realize he had disentangled himself from her until she was sitting on the couch beside him. "Look Gin, I know we play that game but things are different with Pansy. She isn't just some girl I shagged in a broom closet and she isn't completely comfortable with the rest of you yet; I don't want to break her trust by telling you what we do together without her permission."

Then he kissed her and walked into his room, closing the door, Hermione quickly sat down and pulled Ginny into a hug. "He wasn't being mean Gin; you know that, he just has a lot to deal with right now."

She nodded even though there were tears in her eyes. "I know, I know Mione... I didn't really mean to pry like that... it's all your fault."

The brunette sat back at that. "My fault? What are you on about?"

Ginny grinned as her tears stopped and sent a rather sultry look at her girlfriend. "You got me all worked up in that argument, then offered to let me spank you before we were so rudely interrupted by Mr just-got-shagged there."

"I... I didn't... I mean... really?"

Ginny stood and pulled Hermione up with her. "You were right Mione, those two need more alone time to figure it all out, so why don't we all call it a night?"

The others all agreed readily though they all wanted to stick around and see if there would be a floorshow now that the preshow was done. Ginny pulled Hermione through the portrait hole by her tie after everyone else. "Come on, somebody was a good girl and I think she needs a treat."

"Only if I get to return the favor! You were awfully good back there too."

Ginny nodded with a grin as the portrait closed behind them.

-------------------------------------------------------------------SFTP-------------------------------------------------------------------

A head poked into the empty common room and smiled before strutting across and into the door opposite. She could hear the water in the shower running and quickly divested herself of the robe and fresh knickers she had thrown on before walking into the steamy bathroom and up to the glass of the shower door.

Harry heard a click as the door opened and didn't need to turn to see who his visitor was. Deciding to have a bit of fun he called quietly over his shoulder. "Is that you Draco? I thought you'd never get here!"

"DRACO!?" Came the indignant squawk from the girl behind him. He quickly turned around and wrapped his arms around her, pulling her under the showerhead with him and causing her to splutter a bit as the water got in her face.

"You're not Draco!" He exclaimed playfully. "Draco is much more girly."

"Let me go you great Prat!" She spluttered still being held under the water.

He did so with a chuckle as the normally rather stoic girl looked a bit like a drowned rat before him. Usually when she was in the shower she made certain to have the water run her hair back so that she would look sexy and still be able to see him. At the moment however her hair was down in her face.

He continued to laugh quietly as he brushed her hair back and grasped her cheeks just forcefully enough that she couldn't look away from him. It took her only a moment of looking into his eyes to completely lose her anger at him. "I know you aren't Draco, and I promise I am not a pouf."

"Good to know, six or so other women I can handle but if you ever try to bring that spoiled brat to our bed I will cut off your balls with a spoon!"

"Wouldn't a knife hurt more?" He asked casually.

"Nope, the spoon is dull so I'd have to dig more." She said with a smile.

Men in Tights had been on the movie list over the holiday and had been one of the only movies Pansy had asked to watch more than once. "So..." He said with a shrug.

"So how did it go after you bravely faced the rest of your Harem?"

"It's not a Harem and it didn't go so well..."

"What? What happened?"

He shrugged as he rinsed one more time and turned the water off, stepping out of the shower he smiled at the fact that two towels had been set out for them on the counter and handed her one before he began drying off.

"Gin has this thing about me and other girls..."

"I noticed."

"Yeah well she must have smelled you on me or something..."

"She is a little vixen isn't she?"

"And she wanted me to tell her all about it. She didn't take it well when I told her no; I think I might have made her cry. I don't like to see any of you hurt." He finished sadly.

She finished drying off and pulled him into the room and down onto the bed where they quickly rearranged themselves so that she lay on his shoulder looking up at him as he talked.

"You mean you were worried about my feelings enough to tell her no?" Pansy asked quietly. Once more Harry had surprised her.

"Yeah..." He pulled away a bit and lay on his side with his head propped up on his elbow so he could see her better. "I know you aren't exactly comfortable with the other girls yet and I didn't want to assume anything."

She leaned forward and kissed him lightly on the lips. "Thank you Harry."

He shrugged. "I think it will be okay, she just isn't used to it you know? She was the first one to tell me she loved me."

"Not your first though?"

"No that was Mione... the whole situation was screwed up. I was semi-dating Gin while Mione was with Ron, but he was being typical Ron and she ended up coming to me for comfort... I don't know when it happened really..."

"That's because you were and are still an idiot most of the time. A cute idiot; don't get me wrong."

"Oi!" He chided her playfully.

"You've been in love with Hermione for years dummy, just like she has been in love with you but you were both too stupid to make a move."

"Maybe..."

"And I take it you were naked when you were comforting her? Somehow I get the feeling that helped things along."

"Yeah..."

"So was Gin or Mione the first one you fell for?"

He smiled. "No that was Gabrielle; I don't know...she was so insistent on being my property or my pet... It was all about me for a change you know? I might have already loved Gin and Mione but I had no idea how to tell if it was love or not..."

"Your relatives..." She growled out.

"Yeah, anyway Veela have this quirk where they smell and uh...taste...like your favorite things when they bond to you. But when their master falls in love with them they stop smelling everything else and just smell them. It was easier to know that I was actually in love with her because there was some external sign to help you know?" She nodded. "After that it was easier to tell the others once I felt something similar."

"I'm sorry again, I really didn't know..."

He placed a finger on her lips and leaned in to kiss her causing her to smile against his lips. "I know and it's okay. That was a bad time for me but I'm alright now."

"How?" She asked wanting to cry. If he loved his late wife half as much as she knew she loved him she couldn't understand how he could be okay only a few months after losing her.

He smiled but his posture was tense and she knew he was hiding something and deciding whether to tell her or not. "You'll think I'm crazy."

She shrugged, "I know you're crazy milord. It's part of your charm."

He nodded and took a deep breath. "Gabrielle didn't exactly die..."

"What?"

He ignored her outburst and continued before he chickened out. "When she was in the hospital I told her she couldn't leave me and that she just had to get better. Well, she took that as an order and got better long enough to have one more night with me, and when her body died she stayed with me."

"You mean she's a ghost?" Pansy asked looking around the room. "I would really like to meet her."

"No not a ghost... it's almost like she is possessing me, which is kind of funny since she is technically my possession." He could swear he heard her laughing at him in his head and smiled. "Anyway as long as I don't let my dark emotions run me I meet her in my dreams. It was just another reason I thought I was going crazy right after she died, because when I let my depression get to me I couldn't see her but then I would have a good day and dream about her that night. But she knew things that I didn't which made me question whether she was just a dream. Finally over Christmas I flat out asked her if I was dreaming and she explained to me that she bound herself to my magic, using this necklace as a conduit." He said holding his own lightning bolt pendant up.

"So is she bound to the necklace or to you?" She didn't even question what he was telling her and could see the tension leave him when he realized she wasn't going to commit him to St. Mungo's.

"I don't really know. She said it was the necklace that helped her but I don't think..."

Non master

"What?" He asked the room.

"Harry?"

"I... I think I actually just heard her!" He sat up quickly and looked around. "That's really weird. I mean usually I get feelings from her, I might even hear her laugh in my head but I don't hear her saying anything unless I'm asleep."

He continued to look around for a minute before sighing. "So you can see why I think I'm going nuts sometimes..."

"You're already there milord, but like I said its part of your charm."

He nodded and settled back down onto the bed. "So..."

She could tell he wanted to change the subject. "Did you know the first Wizengamot session of the New Year is next Friday?"

"I don't really have anything to say or do now that we have a competent Minister and the Werewolves are being treated better..."

She just stared at him for a moment. "And?"

He cast around in his mind trying to figure out what she was talking about before it came to him. "Ah... Draco."

She nodded. "Draco needs to be put in his place milord. You cannot let him get away with what he has done to you, especially after you called him on it. Besides, you need to attend and vote at these things for a while so that those people get used to you being a player."

He nodded and sighed again as he flopped down on the bed. "I guess. Have I ever told you all I want is a normal life?"

She snorted at that, and was not self conscious enough to even notice. "You have never been and probably never will be normal. You have a prophecy hanging over your head and a madman trying to kill you. I say you take the good with the bad."

He nodded, "I know, my godfather told me once that I should embrace my fame since I can't get rid of it."

"He was apparently a very smart man. You also need a publicist."

"What? Why would I want to give them more information?"

"Because if you make yourself available to them you can control the information. When you shy away they will just make things up about you. Like it or not you are famous and people have a craving for news about you. So we give them a few lines every now and then about what you are doing and maybe the public will eventually see how boring you really are. Journalists abhor a vacuum"

"Ha! I wish my life was boring."

"I don't, you keep things interesting."

He nodded at that again and the room went quiet as they looked at each other trying to think of anything else to say. For him at least it was getting awkward being in bed naked with her after what happened earlier. He didn't know if he was allowed to make a move or if it was a fluke. "So..."

"You are quite the conversationalist you know that?" She asked playfully.

"Yeah..." He trailed off.

"So about this situation with Wea...Ginny."

He perked up at the mention of his favorite redhead. "Yeah?"

"You can tell her anything you want to, I might even be open to letting her join us sometime..."

"But?" He asked, sensing she had a stipulation.

"Well..." She hesitated, "First can you tell me about your first time with her and pretend it's me?"

He smiled now that he had a green light to move their relationship forward again.



A/N:
I was lost but I have begun to find my way again. This chapter has been written for over a week now but it just wasn't sitting right, then I lost half of it in some strange computer eating it type thing and had to rewrite. And then I had to write at least one more chapter (71 still doesn't feel right to me even though 72 is moving right along) in order to make sure I had my thoughts straight regarding plot and continuity.

In general I hate taking this long between posts but its apparent to me that 70 chapters might be my limit when writing. I can sense the end of this story and I am half afraid to end it and half excited to do so. Those waring forces are making it hard to write anything.

Half the time it feels forced, half the time it feels rushed but I finally sat down and decided that it was better to write it forced than to just write a summary/final battle type chapter and end it now.

So in the end I apologize if the chapters seem to wander a bit for the next few but I had some things I needed to do before the end so that it wouldn't feel rushed. Be warned though that at any time Volde might show up to ruin the fun. This is my first fic, and so this is my first time ending a fic that I and many others love/d, its really really hard to let go, and its hard to force myself to go forward toward the end.

I will try to update regularly again but I can only write what the muse allows without it sounding like crap. Then again, its also entirely possible that my writing is no different and I have just lost some of the interest for the story so it feels forced when it isn't.

Let me know, I love reviews. Also don't miss the group, I miss the lively conversation there. http://groups.yahoo.com/group/gml_fanfic