FicWad

The Heritage - Chapter 45
________________________________________
A/N: Beta reader for this chapter is Dave
A/N: Scene from the last chapter.

But looking in the foyer, she saw a group of young people, only girls, who were very upset. From listening to them before she was announced, she understood that they had a reason to be upset. It seemed that this young Lord-Baron was sleeping with the girls, and she understood from her son that he was married with two wives! The rest of the women were his slaves and fiancées. Slaves, who could think that she would see slaves ... and that in this modern times ... slaves, it was disgusting and unacceptable!

She was planning to have some words with this young Lord.

The young girl, who she recognized as a Hermione Ann Granger from her file was looking very pale and the queen smiled inwardly.

She turned to the Lord-Baron and she lifted an eyebrow up.

"Forgive my manners," said Harry, standing up immediately. He walked to the Queen and bowed.

"Your Royal Majesty," Harry said. "Welcome to Gryffindor castle."

At least his manners improve, the Queen thought. She was very curious what would happen next.

________________________________________


"Master, you have a visitor," said Gidi.

The Queen raised an eyebrow, but said nothing.

"Who is it, Gidi?" asked Harry.

"A certain Minerva McGonagall, Master."

Harry's eyes narrowed. Poor Professor McGonagall, he thought.

"Let her in, please," Harry said absentminded.

The Queen could see most of the girls from the position where she was sitting. The girls were quiet, because they were visibly impressed by her presence ... that she understood. The Lord-Baron in front of her was sitting relaxed, like he had no worries what so ever, and that was strange. Suddenly she realized what was going on in his head. The boy had not realized that he would be father of fifty two babies. With a little luck she would be here to see his reaction when it at last would reach his brain.

After the exhausting introductions between the Queen, her Husband and son, they sat at last. Her feet were killing her, because of her new shoes, and she was impatiently waiting to hear all the details. It is not every day that a person becomes father of so many children. Let's see what he is going to say. Maybe the knowledge of the number of children he is going to get will make him realize what is going to happen with him. The Queen almost laughed in anticipation, she was making an effort to keep her face as it was; neutral.

"Lord-Baron," she started to say. Her tone was as cold as ice and she saw that it had the effect she wanted to see. The eyes went wide and the boy looked like he was caught doing something bad, like stealing cookies from a jar.

"Are you aware that you have impregnated fourteen women," the Queen said. She let her head lean forward like she wanted to hear his answer and looked straight into his eyes as waiting for his answer, but internally she had fun. Oh, the reaction of this young man, it's so funny.

"Your Majesty," began Harry. He realized that he had no idea how many of his girls were pregnant, because he did not count them and his brain went blank after ... after ... yes, who? Was it Narcissa Black? Or maybe Luna? Who was more? Oh, Su was screaming at him, maybe she too? What ... how should he answer?

"Well ... uhm ... I'm not sure, Your Majesty," Harry stuttered.

"I tell you what you have done, Lord-Baron. You have impregnated exactly fourteen women, Lord-Baron," the queen articulated slowly and calmly.

Harry winced and swallowed.

"Not only that," continued the Queen with the drama she was performing. "Almost none of those women who are pregnant are adult."

"No, Your Majesty," Harry murmured, looking at the floor, his mind pleasantly blank.

Prince Philip felt sorry for the boy, but he did not react, neither looked to his wife. He knew that his wife had a particular feeling of humor and this was her way of having fun, but sometimes he wondered if his wife did not go too far.

Prince Charles was almost smiling at the view of the Lord-Baron. He liked the boy, and he thought that he had his heart on the right place and he was something of an opportunity that the Royal House must use in order to get at least influence in the Magical world, and when lucky their magical help. Can you imagine getting the truth serum and other potions what they for sure would have?

"ARE YOU AWARE," started the Queen again, and she saw the boy wincing, "that you have fathered forty nine children?"

Harry's eyes went wide open. "How many?" he asked shocked, forgetting who was standing in front of him. Some girls snorted behind him.

"You fathered forty nine children, seven boys and forty two girls," answered the Queen in an even and emotionless voice, "Lord-Baron."

Harry became paler then he already was and his mouth dropped open ... he had trouble with breathing and the Queen saw that he was going pale because of the shock.

Aha, now it comes, and the fun starts, she thought.

And Harry fainted.

Minerva McGonagall slipped in the Foyer and walked quickly and silently to Hermione, who gave the order women a chair to sit on.

"Welcome, Professor McGonagall," said Hermione. "Sit and enjoy the show," she said warmly.

"I am not your professor anymore, Hermione," Minerva McGonagall answered.

"Maybe not at the moment ..." Hermione whispered. "We will talk later."

The Queen, the Colonel and his soldiers were smirking; Prince Philip and Prince Charles felt very sorry for the boy, there had been many times that they were in the shoes of the Lord-Baron.

Harry woke up and looked around him. He sat in a chair and ... and ... oh no!

"Oh Merlin, what did we do!" he exclaimed.

"He is awake and realized at last what happened," Su said. "Poor soul."

"Poor soul? Poor soul? That boy had fun and we are sitting with the problems," shrieked Pansy.

"But you liked it," replied Su.

"Su?" asked Harry. "Tell me this is a nightmare."

"No Harry, it is not," said Su calmly.

Harry sighed deeply, and then again. "I'm not feeling so good," he breathed, looking green.

He became extremely pale ... pale green, his eyes went wider then they already were and he stared blankly at the far wall of the foyer.

"He is in shock," said Pansy tense.

Su laughed. "I can imagine. Men as a bit slow, don't you think?"

"You can say that," Pansy smirked. "What shall we do now?"

"We give him chocolate, that works always," answered Su.

Pansy searched in her robe pockets and found a bar of chocolate; she removed the paper around the chocolate, broke it in small pieces and fed them to Harry's.

Slowly a blush appeared on Harry's cheeks and he started to relax.

"Maybe a glass of water, Harry?" asked Su, but not sounding worried.

"What did we do?" cried Harry.

"Who did WHAT?" said Pansy. "You did the shooting!" she said with a smirk.

Harry looked dirty at Pansy. "You have something to say," he said. "It was exactly what you wanted."

Pansy nodded. "There are only two girls here who used their head, me and Su. Me, as a real Slytherin which I am, I used a potion to get as fast as possible pregnant and only boys. Su was also smart, because the way how she is raised ... she took the same potion," Pansy said smirking.

Harry nodded sadly. "Is it true? How many children?"

"Forty nine children," answered Su calmly.

"Shite!" exclaimed Harry, and tried to swallow.

"Quiet now, because the Queen is in the room," whispered Pansy.

"Queen? Where?" asked Harry afraid, looking bewildered around him ... and he saw the Queen talking with Hermione, Susan, Hannah and Laura, but he saw her looking at him.

Harry swallowed nervously. Then he swallowed some more, because he saw the Queen walking slowly towards him. He never had parents, but it was his first time that he was being scolded for something what he did ... well ... except Hermione of course. The Dursley's did not count, that was not scolded, but terrorizing. Funny that he was thinking about his parents at the moment, while his doom was approaching in the form of the richest and most powerful woman in the world.

The Queen ... Harry swallowed.

The Queen was approaching Harry slowly, all the time greeting the girls left and right from her when she was passing them, she was followed by her husband Philip and her son Charles.

Harry watched the Queen approaching him ... behind her he saw Prince Philip and the Queen's son Prince Charles. When he looked at Prince Philip, he suddenly saw him winking. Winking? Why should the Prince winking ... was he winking at him? Harry turned and looked if there was somebody behind him, but no, he was almost sitting at the wall.

"Lord-Baron," said the Queen slowly.

Harry stood up quickly. "Yes, Your Majesty?"

"Can I sit down, please?" asked the Queen.

"Of course, Your Majesty," said Harry, while he hasted himself to the Queen and held out the chair for her.

"Aha!" exclaimed the Queen. "A Gentleman at last," she said approvingly and sat down.

Harry grimaced and looked briefly at Prince Philip, who was grinning behind the back of the Queen.

"Take that grin from your face, Philip," said the Queen suddenly.

The grin on Prince Philip's face disappeared immediately and he made a face towards the Queen, who could not see him, because her back was to the two men.

"And please behave like an adult, as you suppose to," the Queen drawled.

The Prince smiled at Harry and gestured him towards the Queen.

Harry moved back to his chair and waited for the Prince to sit down as well, which he did immediately, while looking pointedly at Harry.

Charles did not sit down; he stood behind the Queen and he laid his hands on her shoulder.

"I see that you understand now," the Queen said.

Harry nodded somberly.

"I am sorry to do that to you, Lord-Baron. You are so young, and I saw that you did not understand what a grave situation you are in at the moment. D o I m a k e m y s e l f c l e a r ?" she said.

"Yes, Your Majesty," Harry said.

"Good," said the Queen satisfied.

"Now tell me why those girls are here without proper supervision, why you are Head of Family of so many families and what you are going to do with the slaves?" she said determinedly.

"Yes, Majesty," said Harry, a little nervous. "I hope you have an open mind to accept what I am going to say," he said.

The Queen looked at him fixedly, but she nodded.

Most of the girls approached and were taking chairs to sit around the Queen and Harry and listened to what Harry had to say.

"To understand slavery, Your Majesty, you need to understand that WE are living in the magical world, while you are living in the not-magical world. In the magical world there is a certain thing, which is called magic, and magic is something, which is ruling the lives from magical beings."

Harry smiled sadly. "Without magic, there are of course no magical beings. Magic is something wonderful, and at the same time ... something awkward."

"I give you an example of a person, which is declared as a slave. When a person is doing something bad or breaking a law, the authorities in the magical world might convict that person or his family to become a slave. From that moment, the person becomes indeed a slave without personal rights and becomes a property of an owner. It is the magic, which receives the notification of the changed status of a person or persons, the magic will execute the verdict and binds the person, and the magic will also take care for executing punishment in case the person tries to do something, which is not allowed to do for a slave."

"What do you mean?" asked the Queen disturbed.

Harry pointed to Ginny.

"This is Ginny Potter, and she is the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Weasley, a family I know very well. Her father broke the magical law, and he must pay the penalty for breaking the law. The penalty was that he was forced to pay me with his most precious thing he had, and that was his daughter. The magic took care that she lost her status as human being, and that she only belongs to me, even that she never did anything against me; she didn't even know that her father broke the law, neither did I. So what happened was that the institute, which was in charge of implementing the verdict, had collected Ginny from her parents and delivered her to me in person. That institute is Gringotts, the wizarding bank populated by the Goblins."

Harry relaxed in his chair and waited for the Queen to say something.

"What did her father do?" asked the Queen.

Harry looked miserably. "In her first year at school, she became victim of an evil wizard with the name Voldemort. She was taken by force to a secret room by Voldemort, and I rescued her from him and a large snake. According the magic, that created a special debt ... a so called life debt. The life debt was registered at Gringotts and the Ministry of Magic and this life debt supposed to be paid back within a year by the parents of Ginny. When the life debt was not paid back within the year, the parents must be punished. In this case, the punishment was transferring the most precious thing the parents owned, and that was Ginny herself."

"That is absurd!" exclaimed the Queen, looking shocked at Harry.

"I agree with you, Your Majesty, but there is nothing I can do about it," said Harry.

"Can't you set her free, Lord-baron?" asked Prince Philip.

"No, Your Highness, it is not possible to set a slave free," answered Harry. "According the magical law, I am allowed to do anything I want with the slave, except to allow the slave to become free."

The Queen and the Prince frowned.

"That is not true, Your Majesty," said Ginny. "Please forgive me for interrupting, but I need to tell the side, what Harry did not mention before."

The Queen nodded to Ginny.

"The law about Slavery was being created a long time ago by the Ministry of Magic. Harry is a member of the Wizengamot, and with his political power, he was able to change that law in a way, that it is possible to change the status of a slave," she said.

The Queen focused on Harry, and then she switched back at Ginny.

"And why did the Lord-Baron not change your status, Ms. Weasley?" the Queen asked icily.

"It is Ms. Potter, Your Majesty ... Ginny Potter. I, as a slave carry the family name of my Master. The only way to change my status of a slave is that I get married to a free man. At the moment I am married, I am a free person again."

"Only married," muttered Pansy in the background. Some girls laughed, and the Queen looked confused.

Hermione stood up from her chair.

"That was the only way possible to change the law of slavery in the Wizengamot, the wizard equivalent of the Parliament, Your Majesty. A different change would not succeed to be passed and approved. In the case of Harry and his slaves, he promised to marry his slaves, and in this way he could give them freedom. He gave his slaves the choice to stay as a slave or to marry a person. If they could not find such person, he was willingly to marry them," said Hermione and she sat down.

The Queen looked thoughtfully at Harry for a moment and turned to the girls.

"Who is a slave?" she asked the girls.

Twenty hands went up, and the eyebrows of the Queen went wide in surprise.

"Twenty slaves?" she said incredible.

"Yes, Your Majesty," said Harry.

"How in gods name do you collect twenty slaves?" asked the Queen dismayed.

"Because of Gringotts, Your Majesty," answered Harry bitterly.

"Please tell me," said the Queen.

"At twelve o'clock, the thirty first of July early morning, I was magically transported from my place of living to the wizarding bank Gringotts. When I arrived at Gringotts, I was told that I had received a heritage. My God-father had died recently. Before he died, my Godfather decided to adopt me. That made me his son, and when he died, I inherited everything what he owned. My Godfather was the last living male of his line, and with his death I was the last remaining male of the family Black.

But there was a difference. My Godfather was never initiated as the Head of the Family Black, but when I sat there at the bank to receive the inheritance of the Black's, I was initiated, and that made me officially the Head of the Family Black."

"But that does not explain why you have slaves, Lord-Baron?" asked the Queen.

"Well, as Head of the Family Black, I was forced to accept arranged marriages and family binding contracts. I assume that you understand what an arranged marriage is, but a family binding contract is something different. A family binding contract is something which has to do with a breach of an agreement. For example, a family did something wrong to the family Black and payment must be made. As Head of the Family Black it was my duty by magical law to receive reimbursement ... and in some cases I was forced as Head of the Family to pay to another family, depending on the individual family binding contract. When a family did something wrong to the family Black ... sometimes hundreds of years ago, the head of the Family Black will receive proper payment from that family. Some of those family binding contracts resulted in receiving slaves as payment, Your Majesty."

The queen looked at the girls again.

"And your fiancées are from arranged marriages, Lord-Baron?" asked the Queen.

"Yes, Your Majesty," answered Harry.

"And all of your fiancées and slaves are coming from the family Black?" asked the Queen unbelievable.

"No, Your Majesty. After the account manager from the bank was finished with the inheritance of the family Black, I became adult according the wizarding law. And I received my inheritance of my own family, the Potter's. That brought me more wives and slaves. From the inheritance of the Potter's, I became Head of Family from seven other families as well, and each family had its own set of properties, slaves and wives," ended Harry.

"How many families are you talking about, Lord-baron?" asked Prince Philip.

"My official title in the wizarding world is Lord-Baron Harry James Potter-Gryffindor-Slytherin-Ravenclaw-Black-Bones-Zabini-Evans-Malfoy, Your Highness."

"Couldn't you refuse the inheritance, Lord-Baron," asked the Queen.

"No, Your Majesty. I could not refuse any of the inheritance, according to Gringotts," Harry answered unhappily. Harry was thinking about the Black inheritance, but that would make him a Malfoy, and he would never survive one hour in that household; he decided not to say anything about that to the Queen.

"I want to summarize, Lord-Baron," said the Queen. "You received multiple inheritances against your will; you changed the law about slavery, which will force you to marry your slaves. Before you married them, you made them pregnant. Have I covered everything?" asked the Queen dryly.

"Yes, Your Majesty, that is an accurate summary," said Harry, looking to the floor.

"It does not sound so bad," drawled Prince Charles behind the Queen. "Except that the numbers are staggering, Lord-Baron."

"Yes, Your Highness," said Harry.

"Let me see if I get the facts correctly," said the Queen. How many fiancées do you have, Lord-baron."

"I have fourteen fiancées, two wives and I have twenty slaves," answered Harry in an even voice.

"And how many are pregnant exactly?" asked Prince Philip.

Harry looked at Hermione.

"He has fourteen girls confirmed pregnant, with a total of fifty two babies, forty five girls and seven boys, Your Highness" answered Hermione.

Everyone was quiet for a moment.

"And how is it possible that his fiancées are in the castle without any proper supervision," asked the Queen.

"We are here with the permission of our parents, Your Majesty," answered Susan.

"And how do you determine that a woman is pregnant as fast, Ms. Granger?" asked Prince Charles.

"It is magic, Your Highness. With magic, it is possible that you can determine if someone is pregnant only minutes after the ... eh ... deed," answered Hermione, blushing.

"And how do you explain that all of the fourteen pregnant girls are pregnant with multiple fetuses?" asked the Queen.

"We don't know, Your Majesty," said Harry.

"And why so many girls and so less boys?" asked Prince Philip.

"We don't know, Your Majesty," said Harry again.

"Is it normal for a magical person too get pregnant so fast?" asked the Queen.

"No, Your Majesty, that is not normal," answered Hermione. "The matter of fact, most of us took care that we could not be pregnant by taking anti-pregnancy potions and using magic. Normally this would help, except in Harry's case nothing helped."

"How is that?" asked Prince Philip.

"Well, that has to do with magic, Your Highness. I was cursed some days ago by a strange and very powerful being. The curse makes a woman pregnant when ... uhm you know ... I make love, stuttered Harry blushing.

"That means, Lord-Baron, that when you finished marrying all your fiancées and slaves, you will have thirty four wives, and with an average of three and half children per wife, this would result in ... in hundred nineteen children," said the Queen unbelievable.

"Yes, Your Majesty," said Harry miserable.

Prince Philip started to pace, "Let's see. Uhm, ten years are hundred twenty months, divided by nine months ... that is thirteen pregnancies per wife, you have thirty four wives, that means five hundred eighty five pregnancies with an average of three and half babies per pregnancy, that makes it two thousand forty seven children, " Prince Philip said.

"I'm afraid that you have some practical issues about education, Lord-Baron. Not to mention to name all those children and the care it will demand," continued Prince Philip. "You will need to build a lot of extra Primary schools, Lord-Baron," he said finally.

The Prince looked at the horrorstricken face of Harry, and he felt sorry for the poor chap.

"What is the average life cycle for a magical person, Ms. Granger?" asked the Queen.

"Well, an average magical person lives up to hundred eighty years, Your Majesty," answered Hermione. "They are able to have children up to hundred sixty years."

"More then thirty thousand children!" everyone heard Pansy saying in the background. "Oh Merlin."

The Queen raised her eyebrows.

"Lord-baron, do you know what a monk is?" asked Prince Charles.

"Yes, Your Highness," answered Harry.

"I would suggest living like a monk, Lord-Baron," Prince Charles said.

Everyone was quiet after that statement.

"If you don't do that, Lord-Baron, you will be overwhelmed with everything, not to mention the magical society and then automatically our society," he said.

"Your Majesty," said Hermione. "The magical world does not have primary schools," she said to Prince Philip.

"No primary schools?" asked Prince Philip surprised.

"No, Your Highness. They are all home schooled," answered Hermione.

"How many magical people are there exactly in England, Ms. Granger?" asked the Queen.

"Around thirty thousand magical people, Your Majesty," answered Hermione immediately.

"That means ..." began Prince Philip.

"That Lord-Baron here will double the magical population all by himself," finished Prince Charles smirking.

"That also means a giant problem with the gene pool," commented Prince Philip.

"Yes, and also practical problems," laughed Prince Charles. "Half of the population will be a Potter."

"Why did you send us your note, Lord-Baron," asked the Queen with a firm voice.

Harry looked straight into the eyes of the Queen. "Because the Goblins tried to control me, Your Majesty, and when we found out, the Goblins threatened me with slavery and to choose another person who would do their work, whatever that is."

"Threatened you, Lord-Baron?" asked the Queen.

"Yes, Your Majesty. Quite clearly they threatened me. They stated that they were the ones who brought me all these heritages, and they would also be able to bring me down ... in the same way how they supplied me with all these ... blessings," Harry said bitterly. Harry spit out the last word.

"So, to save your hide, you threatened them with destruction?" the Queen asked frostily.

"Yes, Your Majesty," answered Harry.

"With using us as your personal weapon," asked the Queen coldly.

"Yes, Your Majesty," answered Harry again.

"What would you do if we refuse our help?" asked the Queen. The Queen was curious. All of the facts, which were supplied by the boy, were confirming only the things she already knew and suspected, but this was the moment of the truth. She knew that the Granger girl was wrong about the number of magical people. She knew that there were twenty five thousand magical people, and that they were declining rapidly.

"In that case I would leave the magical world, and hide myself somewhere, where I can't be found," said Harry slowly, looking straight at the Queen. It is about time that I give the Queen the same as I gave the Goblins.

The eyebrows of the Queen went up.

Harry smirked and stood up.

"Let me demonstrate something," smirked Harry.

He was irritated, and felt that he had enough of all the shit, wives, slaves, pregnancies, children and the whole lot. Like it was his fault, and he definitely did not feel like living like a monk. Let's see how they would react to the following.

Harry concentrated quickly and he turned into a Hybrid ... the soldiers brought their weapons up ... ready to shoot, and Harry moved almost instantly to the other side of the room. He plucked the weapon from the first soldier out of his hands, and he continued to the next soldier. Within two seconds he had the soldiers disarmed and hasten himself back to the location he was before he changed ... and he changed back to himself, dropping the weapons to the floor.

The noise of falling soldiers was very noticeable.

"I am not without power myself," Harry dragged. "I would hide somewhere, where nobody could find me ... ever, and I leave the world, magical and muggle, to Voldemort and his Death Eaters."

Everyone was silent, and the mouth of Prince Charles was still open, while the Queen was sitting on her chair not moving ... the only visible change was the narrowed eyes of the Queen.

"No, Your Majesty, you can't kill me," Harry said with a laugh. "When one of your soldiers would shoot me, I am still alive," said Harry. "And so is Voldemort, the one with the many Death Eaters. It is impossible to kill that creature, even when you would use atomic weapons, he would still be alive. The only person who can kill Voldemort ... is me."

"That is impossible!" exclaimed Prince Charles.

"No, Your Highness, it is magic," said Harry confidently. "With magic, everything is possible."

"But ..." began Prince Charles, but he was rudely interrupted by Harry.

"When I leave, Voldemort will again gain power, and start attacking the muggle world, and take over the magical world. You don't have any chance to survive. Nobody in this world, except me can stop Voldemort, even when that person is many times more powerful then Voldemort and me together, he can't be killed."

"Can Voldemort kill you, Lord-Baron?" asked the Queen.

"Yes, Your Majesty. I can't be killed as well, except by Voldemort himself," answered Harry the question of the Queen.

"When you are so powerful, why do you need us then?" asked Prince Philip.

"I'm not that powerful myself, Your Highness," said Harry. "I can defeat easily your solders here present and outside the castle, but I can't defeat the Goblins. What I can do is limited, but fatal for the world as we know."

"Why don't you kill Voldemort, Lord-Baron? Or do you want to use him to push your demands?" asked the Queen.

"No, Your Majesty, I don't want that. I am not powerful enough to defeat and eventually kill Voldemort, but Voldemort is powerful enough to kill me. The only thing I can do is hiding myself from him," said Harry.

"Why is it that only you both can kill each other and not others?" asked Prince Charles.

"That is because of a Prophecy, Your Highness," answered Harry.

"Prophecy?" asked Prince Charles unbelievingly.

"Magical Prophecy are very true, Your Highness," commented Harry. "Here is the Prophecy," said Harry.

"The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches... Born to those who have thrice defied him, born as the seventh month dies... and the Dark Lord will mark him as his equal, but he will have power the Dark Lord knows not... and either must die at the hand of the other for neither can live while the other survives"

Harry smirked.

"And before you start to discuss the details, I don't want a discussion. All the facts are being researched over and over again by the greatest minds of the Magical world, and they came with this conclusion that the only persons who could kill Voldemort or me are Voldemort or me," said Harry.

Before anyone could say something else, Harry continued.

"The issue here is not if you are so friendly to help me out, but the real issue is if I can help you out. If you do not assist me, then I must fly and hide and let you all try to manage the approaching terror, which is impossible to stop. I am afraid that the only hope for you and the rest of the world is me, the Chosen one by the Prophecy."

________________________________________

A/N: Beta reader for this chapter is Dave