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Chapter 78: Hermione

His week with Susan had been fun, and it was great having her back in his life in a real way, but her renewed relationship with Hannah had taken up a good bit of time leaving Harry with almost as much time on his hands as when he was with Luna. On the one hand he was happy for his girlfriend but on the other he was surprisingly a bit jealous of her spending time with the other girl.

He reasoned with himself that it was his new found overprotective nature asserting itself, though even the beast in his chest secretly enjoyed seeing how far the two girls would go to push him. Hannah seemed to delight in trying to get Harry to see her naughty bits or accidentally cop a feel. It was almost as if she enjoyed his 'punishments' when he would send her back to Neville with instructions on how to apologize.

Neville for his part seemed happy enough to dole out the punishment as needed and had actually thanked Harry privately for keeping his hands to himself and his girlfriend honest. Harry was at first surprised at that conversation but apparently Astoria was being rather forward and keeping the other boy occupied enough for him to see the humor in the situation. The younger Greengrass girl had confessed to Harry that the entire game was rather fun, especially with Neville being oblivious to it all. Harry questioned just how oblivious Neville actually was.

All in all though, he was happy for his friend and secretly glad he hadn't been beaten to a bloody pulp yet. Harry would have let the other boy at him too, feeling guilty for enabling the problem even if he really didn't have much say so if he wanted to keep Susan happy.

So with everything going on in that strange love pentagon he had found the time to spend with the rest of the girls in small doses, much to their delight. Ginny having spent the least amount of time with him was especially happy to help keep him busy and the twins had enjoyed fooling around a bit with him, though they knew they would have him to themselves in another week or so thanks to that contract and took it easy in their 'play' sessions.

No Harry was a happy man with one exception, Hermione had remained a bit distant even when opportunities presented themselves for her to take advantage of him. She was head down in books that had nothing to do with schoolwork most of the time and was quite the taskmaster with the other girls, dragging them off to the Room of Requirement for 'training' sessions at every opportunity.

With his secret access stairway Nym was able to spy on Draco to see if he was in the room. She refused to let them do it since she was considering this part of her security duties (which she admitted had been rather lax lately). She spent a good deal of her off time under Harry's invisibility cloak watching what her cousin was doing in the room and making regular reports as well as letting the girls know when the room was free. Harry had tried to follow them at one point but was shot down as Hermione told him they needed to concentrate and their wasn't anything for him to do yet that wouldn't be a distraction to the other girls.

It was frustrating. Apparently Draco spent a good deal of time playing with runes on the outside of some large mahogany cabinet and cursing to himself. He would put fresh fruit into it and close the door, then open it to find the fruit had shriveled up as if it aged a few weeks in the minute or so it had been inside. Nym had done charcoal rubbings of the rune sets for the girls to study in the time they couldn't access the room.

Harry knew what the girls were up to thanks to his conversation with Susan, but he couldn't help but feel a bit useless that they had this whole plan with no part for him to do except keep the Dark Tosser distracted long enough for it to take place. Hermione had been appalled the one time he mentioned his frustration; making certain to get it through his thick skull that 'fighting that evil man to a standstill and keeping him distracted is FAR more useful than standing back and performing some silly ritual!'.

Harry had to admit she was right but he didn't have to like it, as it was he took that time to play with his Fiendfyre friends and practice creating wandless Patroni using various happy emotions. The upside to that was Luna being more than willing to be a test subject, after more than one of them caused her to collapse in blissful seizures the other girls were willing to take a few 'hits' off the stag as well.

At night, as with every night while he slept, he and Gabrielle had long conversations and mind blowing sex, and mind blowing sex while having long conversations. It was still not as nice as having the living girl to hold in his arms, but he had long ago dealt with the loss and simply enjoyed his time with her. Of course having Luna somehow join them for a session the night before had been a rather strange event.

Luna had walked him through the why's and how's that she could be in his head from inside Ravenclaw tower which didn't help him at all. Gabrielle for her part simply giggled the entire time and told Harry how nice it was to spend time with someone besides her master or his pet Death Eater.

At one point Harry had gone to sort his thoughts with Occlumency only to find Gabrielle sitting in his chair in the little study behind the candy shop. She had gotten bored one day and began doing it for him, laughingly told him he should go check out his library and shooed him out to the street.

Upon entering the Library he was suddenly rather amazed at the now fully stocked shelves. Most of what was there were the books he had read for school which would be public knowledge along with all the children's books he had ever read (after nicking them from Dudley). The more surprising part however was his 'Luna' section which was now fully stocked with books on strange sounding creatures and odd sounding holidays and events. Apparently his girlfriends had been busy in his head without his knowledge.

For a moment he wondered how the hell he could not know they had been messing around, but the explanations by Luna and Gabrielle from earlier threatened to give him another headache and he simply accepted that they were happy and that made him happy. The only part of the explanation that mattered was that he trusted Gabrielle and he trusted Luna, and therefore Gabby was able to let the girl into his mindscape. The rest hurt too much to think about.

***SFTP******SFTP******SFTP***

"Hey you!" Harry called impatiently as he entered his common room to find Hermione surrounded by books on runes and intently studying the charcoal rubbing of Draco's cabinet.

The girl in question looked up and then around to see who he had called out for, only to find the room empty. "I'm sorry?" She asked as she turned back to him.

"You do know what today is?" He asked.

She paused in thought for a bit and he watched her eyes roll back and forth as if she were processing the question carefully and observing it from all angles. "Saturday?"

He nodded as he walked behind her and lightly began massaging her shoulders, "And what happens on Saturday Mione?"

She sighed just a bit at the contact, "Well you get a new designated girlfriend..."

"And?" he asked as he twirled his finger through the air, silently asking her to continue even as the other hand continued petting her.

"And...Oh!" She said in surprise.

He walked around in front of her and pulled her up out of her chair as she struggled to mark her place in a book and tried to finish writing whatever note she was working on.

"But..."

He silenced her with a kiss and waited the few seconds it took for her mind to go blank and her body to take over, at the point where she was just leaning in to deepen the kiss he pulled back and smiled at her. "Oh indeed."

Her eyes fluttered open slowly, "I'm sorry Harry...I'm just so close to figuring out what's wrong with that cabinet..."

"I understand, but I haven't had you to myself in weeks Mione. The other girls were getting worried about you as well and have all made plans to be elsewhere for the rest of the day."

Her eyes strayed back toward the desk, "But..."

"No buts! I want my girlfriend back damn it!"

She rolled her eyes and looked up at him a bit defiantly. "As if you could get rid of me Harry. I just have one thing to do and then I..." She was cut off once again by a kiss which she melted into just a bit quicker this time.

He stared down at her as her eye's opened slowly once again. "Hey you." He whispered.

She couldn't help the smile that crept onto her face. "Hey yourself mister."

"So must I throw you over my shoulder or will you be a good girl?"

She pondered the question for a moment before smiling playfully up at him. "Can't we do both?"

Almost before she finished the sentence he had picked her up and spun around toward his room getting an indignant shriek from her for his trouble. "HARRY!"

***SFTP******SFTP******SFTP***

A very satisfied Harry and a Hermione lay tangled up in the sheets on his bed. She with her head on his shoulder and he with his arm wrapped around her as they alternated looking up at the ceiling and looking into each others eyes.

Hermione broke the silence, "Why am I nervous despite being disgustingly satisfied?"

He shrugged making her giggle just a bit as she enjoyed the ride, "I am too...the same thing happened with Gin though. We decided it was because it was always the three of us, we never really got any alone time... we haven't ever been a couple so much as a threesome..or trio?"

"Trio is probably the correct term though I don't know what you call seven of us with you..."

"Pansy and the Twins seem to like Harem."

"I will not be a part of a Harem, it isn't dignified..."

"Even though they all consider you the primary wife?"

"That's right, even though...what?!?" She asked suddenly with wide eyes.

He chuckled, "I have had it pointed out to me by each of them in turn that I have been in love with you for years...and I agree with them."

She sat up suddenly looking at him with love tinged by concern. "But I wasn't first...I mean Gabrielle..."

"I realized I was in love with Gabrielle first yes, but only because there was a bit of magic that actually let me identify what I was feeling by taste and smell..."

"And Ginny was your first girlfriend..."

"Actually my first girlfriend was Cho if you remember and that should tell you that it can't be any indicator. Gin recognizes that she wouldn't have had a shot if you had gone for me first and she is only with me because you let her."

"That isn't entirely true I mean I..."

"Besides, even Cho recognized that you came first. That is what happened to break us up if you remember. I left her to see you on our date!"

Hermione in her panic took a moment to change tactics, "Right but Pansy is so much better at the politics and can be such a bitch..."

"And just like all the rest she realizes she wouldn't be anywhere near me if you didn't accept her."

"But I don't like being in charge...I like to be told what to do..." She said quietly as she blushed.

"And Gin and Pansy love that side of you but do you honestly like being helpless or do you like giving up your control for a while?"

He had neatly stepped around every argument she could come up with and she couldn't find fault with any of what he said. "I..."

"I love you Mione...I always have I think."

She smiled at him even though her mind was still racing, "I love you too Harry...always it was you..."

"I really wish you would have said something though...then I wouldn't have had to deal with Ron touching you..."

She groaned and buried her blush in his chest. "I'm sorry I was such an idiot...I just..." She took a deep breath. "I don't have many male friends and I'm not exactly a supermodel..."

"You have always been beautiful, and you only get more beautiful every time I look at you." he interrupted.

She couldn't help but smile up at him from her place on his chest, "Well I didn't see myself as beautiful, I saw myself as a buck-toothed know-it-all annoying bookworm who was lucky to have you as a friend...and I decided not to tell you how I felt about you because I didn't want to lose you..."

"You would never have lost me Mione..." he whispered softly into her hair.

"I know that now...but after I made that decision I gave up on you...and my only other option was Ron..."

"I'm sure that will give him a huge ego boost." Harry said with a slight smirk.

She slapped his chest lightly, "Prat...I wanted it to work with Ron, I thought maybe all our bickering was just sexual tension like in the bad romance novels or on the telly. I thought I could change myself and convince myself that I loved the way he enjoyed his food and how he could be counted on to be the last one to understand any given situation..."

"You convinced yourself you could love him for being a slob and being dense?" he asked in complete disbelief.

"I...well I convinced myself that I had convinced myself...self delusion really isn't all that hard if you don't actively try to analyze yourself..." She sighed. "He didn't get to touch me very much...it was mostly us arguing and me coming back up to you... You were so sweet and caring and comforting... I was such a horrible person to him..."

Harry sighed and shook his head, not disagreeing with her but to clear his thoughts, "In any case I know you saved yourself for me...I would still love you if you had given yourself to him first but...a primal part of me is inordinately proud to have stolen that from him... does that make me a git?"

"Yes it does..." She snickered at his shocked face, "But your my git so its okay."

"It would have been okay, just you and I, you know that right?"

"But the prophecy and..." he shushed her before she could begin to argue.

"I'm not saying that I'm not rather pleased at the way things have turned out, but sometimes I just want to be alone with you and pretend none of the others exist... I know I'm a git for that..."

She smiled even as she felt extremely guilty at his admission, "But Gin..."

"I don't know, I think Gin and I would have ended up dating for a while...might have even been happy together and raised a bunch of sprogs of our own... but I'm afraid that if it ended up being one big happy Weasley family with me and Gin, and you and Ron... I think down the road I would have realized I was in love with you and done something awful..."

She didn't realize she was nodding along with his thoughts until she spoke, "I think you're probably right...I don't think I could have hidden my feelings forever and there might have been children involved...and Molly, oh gosh can you imagine the fallout of us having an affair?"

"Which is why I'm glad it worked out the way it did. I may have fantasies of you and I alone together in this thing, but it might not have happened that way otherwise and I wouldn't change it a bit. I do think though that just loving you is enough for me to live through this."

She leaned up and caught his lips in a short but passionate kiss. "I do love you Harry... but I wouldn't give up what I have with Gin either..."

"I'm not asking you to do that, I just wanted to tell you; and to make sure you paid attention to me during our week instead of all those stuffy books. I mean it just isn't right for a man to be jealous of a bunch of parchment and ink!"

She smacked his stomach again as she called him a prat but was secretly pleased at his jealousy. "So I'm the primary wife then?"

He nodded, "By right and by unanimous decision."

"So do I get to be Mrs. Potter or Mrs. Black?"

He pondered for a moment, "Well...Pansy is betrothed to me already as the Lord Black...but the Twins are contracted to Potter...Do you have a preference?"

She gasped as she sat up again and looked at him, "Are you actually asking me to marry you?"

He seemed surprised by her surprise. "I love you Mione...I just finished telling you how much I love you. I would have thought it obvious but if you need a moment to lock away in time..." he rolled off the bed and opened the drawer on the night stand to pull out a little velvet box. Hermione gasped as he grinned up at her from his knee. "Hermione Jane Granger, will you do the honor of being my wife?"

"I..." She gasped out, "I mean...did you have this planned out like this?"

His eyebrows furrowed at her answering his question with a question. "I had Dobby get the ring from the Black Vault...I have them for the other girls as well but I haven't actually presented them to anyone...though I did ask Pansy properly when I gave her a pendant..." He still had the ring presented to her and was still on his knee but his expression was a bit dark.

Hermione suddenly seemed to realize that this was an actual proposal and what she had done. She squealed and jumped off the bed into his arms as she kissed him. "Of course I'll marry you, you idiot!"

She held out her hand and he couldn't stop the grin as he placed the ring on her left ring finger. "Was that so hard?" he asked her with a smile. "You sure know how to make a guy sweat."

She stood up and pulled him back to the bed with her, eyes glancing from time to time back to the sparkling two carrot diamond on her finger. "Sorry... we had talked about it in the abstract and I just sort of...I guess I thought I would just be a mistress or something...you completely caught me off guard."

"Good, though I didn't expect you to question my method before you gave me an answer...I thought I was going to have an aneurism or a heart attack or something...."

She kissed him three times quickly before kissing him once much more slowly; deepening the kiss as she tried to fight her lips from the smile she was wearing. She finally pulled back and he was panting at her with eyes full of lust. "I'm sorry...it was a surprise and I almost ruined it...but I can't think of a better way for it to have gone." She paused in thought for a moment. "I think I would like to be a Potter, since I fell in love with a Potter."

He grinned and suddenly rolled her onto her back and himself between her legs. "Well then Lady Potter, what say we celebrate?"

***SFTP******SFTP******SFTP***

Much later found the couple on the couch in the common room being lazy and enjoying their alone time. Harry was wearing a pair of sleeping pants and Hermione the matching shirt and nothing else. Dobby had brought the Wireless from Grimmauld Place and they sat talking idly and laughing at what Wizards considered music.

She sighed happily as he passed his right hand through her hair and his left, which was wrapped around her waist rubbed her tummy, making little unidentifiable patterns that left goosebumps in their wake. "I love it when you pet me." She said lightly.

He grinned and dipped his left hand between her legs quickly, enjoying the fact that every single time he did this she was already wet and ready for him. Her eyes rolled back into her head as he quickly brought her off before licking his fingers and going back to tracing his patterns.

"I love petting you..." he said quietly before kissing her temple and relaxing back into the couch once more.

"Why aren't you like this more often then?"

"I don't know...we don't get all that much chance to just be together... But I think I could definitely make a habit of this. After all good girls get treats right pet?"

She gasped at the nickname and stiffened a little. "Harry?"

He smiled into her hair, "It's okay Mione, Gabby keeps telling me I need to treat you better and wholeheartedly approves."

It only took her a moment to relax again grinning like a cheshire cat. "So does that make you my master?"

That part of him that had been so attracted to Gabrielle woke up again and he couldn't help the bit of lust in his voice. "Yes," She stiffened again but he knew it was in anticipation. "In private you and I will both know that you belong to me, mind body and soul. I can make you do anything I want to...I could tell you to shag every other bloke in the school if I wanted to and you would do it just to please me, isn't that right Pet?"

Her breathing was coming in small pants now as she nodded, "I don't want any other blokes though Master..."

"Doesn't matter does it." he said a bit forcefully and she shook her head even as she felt herself getting wetter at letting herself be used just to please him.

"N-no..." She admitted in a scared voice...afraid he would actually ask her to do it even though she knew he never would...the fact that she had just admitted to herself how far she was willing to go to please him both scared her and kicked her libido into overdrive.

"I won't do that though, because you belong to me...This," he dipped his left hand between her legs again and she shuddered when he touched her, afraid she would be punished for getting randy at the idea of sleeping with another man.

"Harry?"

"Well now...aren't you a little slut." Her back arched of its own accord trying to push herself further into his hand which stopped moving. She quit breathing even as she felt her heart hammering in her chest as she nodded timidly.

"Good...your my slut though, and I promise I will never abuse my power to make you do something like that." His hands started up again and she quickly fell over the edge once more, flooding his hand with her juices.

"Thank God!" She finally breathed out as she rolled off the couch onto the floor and took his stiff member into her mouth.

He chuckled at this turn of events...the sense of Power over the woman he loved...and her absolute trust in him not to abuse her had a rather heady feel. "I love you Pet, I promise never to abuse you but that doesn't mean I might not make you service the other girls.

She moaned around his cock as her hand went between her legs. She hadn't been with all of them yet, even with him present and she was quite suddenly looking forward to it. He stopped her motions and pulled her up and onto his lap where she sank gratefully down onto his pole and laid her head on his shoulder.

He hugged her to him and began whispering to her again, "So in private you are my good little Pet. But in public, and around the other girls I need you to be your own person, the Mione I fell in love with and that all the others respect as head wife. But we both know you belong to me."

She began rocking slightly, amazed at just how randy the whole thing made her. She knew she was submissive, Gin and to an extent Pansy had proved that more than once...what she didn't know was just how submissive until Harry had taken control. She knew now no other man would ever be able to take a place in her heart.

She picked up the pace as he continued to whisper to her, panting slightly himself as he went on. "When we're in public and you do something to please me I'll make sure you know it. Maybe with a dose of Prongs..maybe with The Look...or maybe I'll just whisper in your ear...Good Girl and you'll wet yourself in anticipation. Because we both know that good girls get treats.

Her pace increased and she leaned back as her shirt fell open, presenting her breasts to him which he quickly took advantage of. It wasn't long before she once again came drenching his lap even as he followed her soon after, before collapsing back against him and doing that strange almost-purring thing that Gabby used to do.

"Hmmmm..." she sighed out loud.

He reached beneath her hair and grasped the chain of her necklace before pulling it up high and tight around her throat. She looked at him with somewhat scared eyes, not willing to shop him if he was going to choke her with it be he smiled gently as he transfigured it into a choker like Gabrielle had worn.

Her hand went to her throat and the lightning bolt hanging there before tears came to her eyes and she smiled brightly at him.

"I will never willingly hurt you like that love, we both know you wouldn't stop me if I wanted to, but you just have to trust me when I say I won't."

She got comfortable on his shoulder, nodding as he began petting her once again.

"Good girl..." he panted softly into her hair. "That's my good girl..."


***SFTP******SFTP******SFTP***

Ginny had been surprised but overjoyed when she noticed the collar in place the next morning but Hermione wouldn't answer any of her questions for the time being. Instead she was her normal bossy self getting everyone off to classes. Later she was found again barking orders for the girls to get ready for training when Harry walked up behind her, observing he controlled chaos of six girls getting the needed books and supplies together. He gently set his hands on her shoulders before closing them around her neck to the point that his thumbs and fingers were touching each other forming a collar. Hermione melted just a bit at this reminder that she belonged to him in the way she hadn't really known she wanted to until the night before.

He leaned close and whispered in her ear so as not to distract the others. "So how is the plan coming then?"

She tried to control the shiver that ran through her from his breath on her ear, her eyelids fluttered closed as she whispered back, "Quite well actually, I think we are almost able to perform it from memory now."

He nodded as his hands dropped to her sides and wrapped her fingers through his before setting his head on her shoulder. She leaned back into the embrace and smiled contentedly.

"So you think you're ready to do this in battle any time soon then?"

She shook her head, tickling his cheek with the few hairs that had escaped from her bun. "Not nearly...I'd say we need at least two weeks before that would be a possibility, and even then we would still need to plan out how to get everyone into position and protected in the middle of a fire fight. We're working on it though."

"That's my good girl." He whispered with a smile. "Don't take too long upstairs, you have treats to get back to later.

***SFTP******SFTP******SFTP***

He sighed as the door closed behind the girls and flopped down onto the loveseat. He was extremely surprised with his actions in regard to Hermione and had a feeling a certain Veela had been subtly nudging his actions in that direction. Never would he have made Hermione do any of that on his own...right?

Making a mental note to talk to Gabby about it later that night he summoned Dobby. "Yes Mr. Harry sir?"

"Can you bring me a few of the darker tomes from the Black Library please, I'm bored and I really don't feel like playing with fire at the moment."

The elf nodded, "Dobby can do that Harry sir...is there anything else?"

Harry paused for a moment in thought...as great as it was having Gabrielle in his dreams, all of the role playing he and Hermione had done really made him physically miss is wife. "Actually yes...Dobby is there anything of Gabby's left at Grimmauld Place? I just... I need..."

Dobby nodded and popped away, it was a bit longer than his normal instant popping of the needed item but soon Harry found two books, a blouse and a hairbrush sitting on the couch beside him. Disregarding the books for the moment he picked up the blouse and inhaled deeply...eyes tearing up as her scent still lingered on the garment, he draped the item over his shoulder so he could surround himself in her scent, and then picked up the brush.

There were multiple silken hairs stuck in the combs, with a bit of pulling he had a small lock of her hair hanging off enough for him to brush his fingers over it and felt that old spark in his hands run up into his chest causing him to smile wider even as his eyes filled slightly with tears.

Closing his eyes he set the item gently on the side table with a sigh and leaned back into the loveseat, getting comfortable before picking up the first book. "Grimoir de Noir" Volume 4.

Inside he found handwritten spells and rituals that had been created by the Black family over the years. Many of them were necromanitc in nature though by his standards (after reading darker material) pretty pedestrian really.

He quickly finished that one and moved on to the next one, no longer really reading as much as absorbing information on blood rituals, exorcism and forced possession. That is until his eyes landed on a very familiar ritual..."Bone of the Father, Flesh of the Servant..."

"Shit!" he mumbled to the empty room. The ritual described was incomplete but the basics and notes were here. It looked as though Sirius family was partially responsible for Voldemort's resurrection! Probably thanks to Regulas, Sirius' wayward Death Eater brother!

Now in quite a foul mood he closed the book, idly noticing it was the 3rd volume in what was apparently a series. He couldn't really take any more such revelations at this point and banished the books to the bookshelf of other dark materials. Wrapping the blouse tighter around his head and picking the hairbrush back up and holding the strands of silken hair to his cheek he got more comfortable and dipped into his Occlumency.

Maybe later wasn't soon enough to talk to Gabby about her actions toward Hermione. If nothing else she could help ease his mind or right out make him forget for awhile what he had just read.

***SFTP******SFTP******SFTP***

"Ello master." She greeted him as he opened his eyes in a bedroom much like Grimmauld Place, though with more windows which overlooked the meadow he had shared with Lavender.

"Don't you 'ello master' me Miss Thing! You've been messing with my head haven't you?" He asked playfully but with seriously enough that she looked down in submission.

"Maybe..."

"Why would you do that to Hermione!?"

"Eet is what she wanted master...I only helped you to realize zis."

He sat down on the bed and looked at her, still remembering her scent in the real world and unable to stay mad at her. "Come here..." he said opening his arms, to which she quickly dashed and wrapped herself up in him.

"I am sorry master...I should have just told you, but ze opportunity presents itself and was too much fun to pass up!"

He didn't say anything for a moment, simply relishing in the contact. "I don't like not being in control of my actions...after Tom messed with my head before..."

She began to cry and he hugged her tighter, "I tell you and Ginevra before that she is la docile like me."

"But she isn't like you...not completely anyway. She's assertive and bossy and stubborn most of the time."

Gabby laughed a bid at that, "And you did not find me assertive zis summer?"

He smiled at that, "Okay so you were quite assertive...and stubborn..."

"And I run your household for you when you are unavailable, ze elves are working for me to make you happy and comfortable. We are not so different master."

Sighing he had to concede the point, "Fine...but you should still consult with me rather than nudge me mentally like that...not that we didn't both enjoy the results but I don't like being manipulated."

She nodded submissively though when he looked he could see that she was smiling at him. "Master is becoming more assertive and possessive, as he is meant to be. Eet is good to be so loving and giving so much of yourself to ze girls, but you are ze alpha male and they are all subservient to you."

"I don't want servants! I don't even want a bloody Harem, I just want to be left alone to love as I see fit!"

She nodded again, gaining confidence in her actions, "Death Eaters serve out of fear and greed, ze girls, they serve out of love and devotion. The very fact zat you weesh them to assert themselves and contradict you when you are wrong eez even more reason to love and serve you. You are a good master." She leaned up and kissed him softly, which quickly became a bit more impassioned.

They both sat back with a light sigh and looked into the others eyes, "I love you." He said quietly.

"I will always love you my master."

"No more manipulating me though, tell me your thoughts and let me make the decisions for myself. Is that understood?"

"Yes Master."

"Good. Then come Lady Potter...I've missed you..."

She smiled beautifully at him, "I always miss you husband..."

***SFTP******SFTP******SFTP***

When he came back to the waking world he found Hermione snuggled up against his side and quickly cast a 'tempus' spell, noticing that over three hours had passed. He must have actually fallen asleep rather than his normal meditation, and apparently the girls were done with their practice session.

He smiled into the hair of the girl who caused his lack of sleep, "Mione..." he whispered into her hair.

"hmmm..."

"I need to use the restroom, and the bed would be a lot more comfortable than the love seat."

"Don' wanna..."

He grinned just a bit before barking quietly. "Pet wake up now!"

Instantly she sat up and looked around before her gaze landed on his smirking face and she dropped her chin to her chest. "Sorry master..."

He shook his head and, after adjusting himself a bit, lifted her chin with a finger. "That's another thing...we took this a little far the other night and you know I don't like being called Master, even by Gabrielle or the eleves."

She smirked just a bit, "So should I call you Mister Harry Sir! then?"

"Oh gods no woman! I only let Dobby get away with it because I'm afraid he would have a brain hemorrhage trying to call me anything else. Why don't you just call me Harry like you always have until we think of something better?"

Smiling, she nodded. "Okay Harry...so did you have a good nap?"

He sat up and scooted over a bit so they could both sit facing each other. "Yeah..." he said, suddenly having the urge to stretch his arms. "I meant to talk to Gabrielle for a second but guess I was more tired than I thought."

She nodded, only just now seeing the brush and blouse which had been balled up as a make shift pillow at some point before she had come back to the room. "What's that?" She indicated the items with a nod of her head.

"Oh...um...."

"Harry...you know you don't have to have any secrets from me. Absolute truth will never make me love you any less."

Smiling he nodded again, "The same here, so if you have any more deep dark dirty little secrets you are afraid you'll be rejected for feel free to let me know. I promise nothing can make me love you less...and who knows, Pansy says Muggleborn are so much more creative than Purebloods..."

She blushed clear down to her chest, "I-...can't think of anything at the moment...but the second I do you'll be the first to know. So why do you have women clothes in here? Did you go snooping through our things while we were gone? Because I would think a pair of knickers would be more fun.."

Now he was the one blushing, though he was smiling at the thought. "Pervert..." She said lightly as she rolled her eyes.

"Absolutely! But you love me for it..."

She mounted his lap and kissed him before speaking again, "So then?"

"Gabrielle's..."

A sharp intake of breath from her, "Oh..."

"Yeah...I sent Dobby to bring me something to read...and well...I was feeling guilty and confused about how I had been treating you the last couple of days..."

"But Mister Harry..."

He continued without listening to her, "I just suddenly missed her so much...even though I see her every night...just...something tangible you know?"

"Harry I l-"

"So I asked Dobby if there was anything of hers left at Grimmauld Place, not really expecting there to be anything... and then he brings back her blouse...it still smells like her Mione... and her brush still has her hair in it...its just like I'm running my fingers over her hair again..." he was tearing up now, but smiling.

She put her hands on both sides of his face, "Harry I like it! I didn't know I would have liked it so much...but I love you, and I trust you...and honestly being used by you is so kinky I get off just thinking about it! I could barely concentrate upstairs because of you promising me treats before I left and then I come back down stairs and find you looking so cute and asleep..."

"Sorry.." She put a finger on his lips.

"Don't be sorry, I'm assuming you talked to Gabrielle because you thought she might have been influencing your actions?" he nodded, "Good... thank her for me... or actually..." She leaned into his ear, "Thank you Gabby."

He smiled when he actually heard Gabby in his head, "She says you are very welcome but she expects to see you tonight."

Hermione got a puzzled look on her face, "But..the ring doesn't work for her how..."

It was now his turn to put a finger on her lips before replacing it with his lips. Meanwhile he pulled prongs up in his right hand and brought it to her back where it was absorbed with a sharp intake of breath through her nose, as he hadn't let her lips go yet. When he finally pulled away she was the one crying now.

"Is that really the way you feel about me?" He nodded, "Oh Harry... I wish I could show you the same thing!"

"There is a way, Luna basically called me an idiot for not asking before...but can you show me your Occlumency construct? When we're in there you can show me exactly how you feel about me."

She nodded and locked her eyes with him, inviting him in but he shook his head. "Not here, we might as well get comfortable in bed."

With that he stood up, taking her with him still wrapped around his waist, and walked into the bedroom.

***SFTP******SFTP******SFTP***

He entered her mindscape and fell toward a shield that welcomed him through, and onward towards a copy of the Kings College Library which was surrounded by a variety of museums including a copy of the Louvre. Once on the steps he met Hermione who clasped his hand and led him toward said pyramid. Inside she took him to a display of magical objects like wands and brooms. "This is the section of my life that represents everything I've done, seen, and felt since I joined the magical world."

At the center of the display was a magical painting of him in Quidditch robes sitting on his broom with a snitch flying about his head too rapidly for most people to see, except for Harry and apparently his painting which reached out and grabbed it effortlessly from time to time before releasing it. She took his hand and placed it against the painting and instantly he was flooded with all her memories of him. From the train to the Troll, the hug in the Great Hall after she had been given the mandrake draught, riding on Buckbeak as they saved Sirius, another hug before the first task of the Tri-Wizard Tournament, him talking about kissing Cho... Scene after scene flashed before his eyes and all the emotion she felt during each ending with the first time he had called her "Pet" and her joy at the simple word.

"Wow!" he said quietly.

She stood nervously before him waiting for him to continue..."You really have loved me that long?"

She nodded, "I didn't really know what it was in first year...but by the first task I knew it...and it scared me..."

"Yeah, I got that... Oh Pet..." he pulled her into him and hugged her fiercely. "Why didn't you say anything. Gods I've loved you so long...we were both so stupid..."

"I couldn't lose you Harry... The thought of telling you and possibly being rejected terrified me! So I decided I would just be your friend, and be happy for you with whoever you ended up with..."

"And I was stupid enough to think the same thing...even happy to see you finally get with Ron... We were pretty daft weren't we?"

She nodded, smiling now that he knew the full truth... "I wish..."

"Me too..."

She was surprised at that, "But Harry! You never would have been with Gabrielle or Ginny or..." he silenced her with a kiss.

"Are you really so sure of that?" he could see in her eyes that she wasn't, even as she licked her lips. "You would probably have not liked it at first but I bet you would have accepted Gabby once you realized she was bound to me... and you've always been close to Gin."

"I doubt I would have ever fallen in love with Ginny like this if we were already together though... I'll give you Gabrielle though... She was so beautiful, and devoted to you..."

"Thank you Mine." The girl in question whispered from behind her causing her to jump out of Harry's arms and spin around with wide eyes.

"Gabby?" She looked back and forth between the girl and Harry who both smiled at her.

"Another perk of being a natural Occlumens and of her possessing me, Luna is in my head all the time now...can't tell you how disconcerting that is..."

"I can imagine... Is it really you?" She said approaching the Veela cautiously before the girl wrapped her up in a hug.

"In ze flesh so to speak. "

"But how?" The brunette exclaimed, having absolutely no basis for believing this.

"Magic!" Both Gabby and Harry said suddenly, and both started laughing at the same time.

"OH Honestly!" The girl said stomping her foot.

Harry came up behind her and joined the hug, making a Hermione sandwich. "I haven't really figured it out either, you can either believe this is really Gabrielle Potter ne Delacour. Or you can accept that I'm so delusional that I have accepted that this is her. But either way, she's here."

Hermione simply looked the other girl in the eyes for a moment as she tried to process what was happening, interrupted when the girl suddenly leaned forward and caught her lips in a passionate kiss, drawing her into it without thinking.

"Wow!" Hermione said quietly again.

He just smiled at them, "Indeed."

"So is Mine spending the night Master?"

"I think that can be arranged don't you Pet?" It took the brunette a second to realize he was addressing her before she nodded getting another smile from both of them.

Then lets get into somewhere and something a little more comfortable.

***SFTP******SFTP******SFTP***

Wednesday brought the usual meeting of the Black Guard very briefly before which, he had a startling realization. Valentines day was this weekend!

His speech that day was about the possibility of another Hogsmeade weekend (which he promised to talk to the Headmaster about), and defense duties of such. He would have to remember to brief the DA as well since after their last performance he was fairly certain that was the only way another such trip off the school grounds would be allowed.

And so they had worked on capture the flag scenarios on the hillside by Hagrid's cabin, with the defenders being uphill as would probably happen in a real battle. He noted again that there were some observers from the upper years of the four houses and smiled at the thought that he had created another sport to fuel inter-house rivalry. He needed to talk to Dumbledore about that as well. Quidditch was great and all, but it was likely one of the single biggest divisive things in a school that had been warned to come together or risk great injury in the upcoming battles. Instead it would be his recommendation to have teams require at least one member be from another house in the hopes of bringing people together, even if in small doses.

Once they were done and cleaning up or reversing transfigurations on the hillside he brought his girls together with a question.

"So ladies, what are your plans for this weekend?"

They looked at him for a moment wondering at the question before as one it seemed to hit them starting with Hermione. "Oh dear lord how could we have forgotten?"

"Well if someone wasn't being a ruddy slave driver we might have remembered. As it is I barely know the day of the week!" Pansy seethed.

"Hey in case you didn't notice it's working, we are getting a lot better and if we don't do this Harry could die!" Ginny bit back.

"Don't you think I know that!" Pansy cried. "Just saying a little more downtime wouldn't hurt, then maybe we bloody well wouldn't have forgotten Valentines day!"

"LADIES!" Harry said authoritatively, rather surprising most of the group.

Susan had seen this aspect only in jest and only at her prompting, the twins had only seen this that first night when he had to take control of them or risk being torn in half, Pansy nearly wet her panties at his tone and wanted nothing more than to be dragged into the other room and shagged rotten... Actually that was on most of their minds at the moment. Hermione stood quietly in supplication in front of him while Ginny and Luna stood off the side smiling as if they had seen this coming for a long time.

"Now do I have your attention?" They all nodded and looked down at the floor. "Good, I'm not upset with any of you for not remembering as it only occurred to me just before the meeting. Yes we have all been working too hard but it is worth it to get all of us through this war together. Hermione is not to blame, Voldemort is. Understood?"

"Yes Harry." They said quietly without looking at him though he thought he had heard 'master' in there too and decided to punish Hermione a bit later for breaking character. They were all now quite subdued and he needed to correct that.

"Now..." he continued in a gentler tone, "I love all of you but I have no idea how to go on a proper date with, or take care of all of you and I don't want any hard feelings between you."

"It's Mione's week, she should get you..." Ginny said quietly.

"She probably planned it out this way..." Pansy mumbled.

"WHAT?!" Ginny said indignantly.

"Gin." That one word diffused the situation as she turned back to him with apology in her eyes, Pansy did likewise. "I doubt she did it on purpose, and I doubt she wants to steal it for herself anyway." She was shaking her head vigorously though still looking down at the ground.

He pulled her to him and raised her chin before kissing her and moving her to his side. "Now, what would you like to do for Valentines day?"

The girls exchanged looks and seemed to elect Pansy as their spokeswoman. "Can we get back to you on that Harry?"

"You only have today and tomorrow but as I don't really care as long as you are all happy that's fine with me. I just don't want any hard feelings or sad harem girls."

"Oh so now we're a harem?" Pansy asked with her trademark sneer. He could see amusement in her eyes though.

"I didn't want one, but I have one...or something like one that I can't find any other name for so yes. Do you have a problem with that Black?"

Instantly Pansy became the Pureblood wife she was trained to be and looked down at the ground shaking her head. She was secretly pleased to see him finally taking control of the group. Honestly he had allowed them to push him around for too long, especially Hermione.

"Alright then, talk amongst yourselves, but Hermione and I have business to discuss, don't we Pet?" She looked up sharply and took a quick breath knowing she was in trouble.

She nodded quickly and took his arm as he lead her back up to the castle, hoping the whole way that she might be due for a spanking.

A/N: My muse Nikki took a loooong vacation and since I was re-reading my story hoping for inspiration, and to make certain I didn't lose the proper tone, I posted on a few other sites. I got some more reviews, none that were too far off of what I already had here, but it Still wasn't helping.

So as I posted the latest chapter before this I begged them for challenges and invited them to my group http://groups.yahoo.com/group/gml_fanfic to give me more direct feedback or to view those challenges.

Slowly Nikki came back, She still gave me the finger when I asked her to come help me write anything to do with SFTP but she did help me with a few other challenges. I'm only really proud of one of them Phoenix' Choice which might become a whole other story eventually.

After being a bit crackish and cliche in challenges Nikki came to me with a few new ideas for SFTP. The problem seems to have been my original ending, she didn't like it. So I'm changing it a bit to make her happy and so I can actually finish this story, hopefully before August, maybe sooner. I have other projects I am raring to work on, but I still need challenges and am willing to write some things if you want to give them to me.

Drop them in a review or join my yahoo group, either way I'm glad to be back and as always I promise this will be completed without hiatus. I love you guys and I try not to beg for reviews, but they are the coin of the realm and Nikki has to be paid somehow. She rejected my offer of sex.