Categories > Books > Harry Potter > Harry Potter and the Dark Lady
Chapter 13
Sequel to Harry Potter and the Witches' Secret. Harry thought it was all over. His desire to settle in with his wives will not get fulfilled. Go to http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Rotaryfile
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Harry Potter and the Dark Lady
Chapter 13
Potter Castle
Roof Garden
Sunday
29 Sept 1996
22:41
Harry looked around from his position leaning against the tree and shifted his arm slightly. Nym sat up a little, bumping his chin with her head.
The Clan had withdrawn and fled to the roof garden after Andrew had closed Court. The Royals had shown up moments later followed by the mothers-in-law and then the fathers. The vassals and courtiers had gone to the sitting room.
Nobody had spoken; there was nothing to be said. For the last thirty minutes they had all sat in quiet contemplation.
“Mu’am—errrh, ma’am—I’m sorry. I didn’t know he would push you so far. I thought he would respond to someone older and wiser than me.”
“Harry, if you want to it’s fine if you call me Mum. I’m honored. Not in public, though. I would have thought so too, but the Realm judged him and found him wanting; so something has gone on over and above his dementia.”
“Yeah, he’s an arrogant prick who thinks shooting someone in the back of the head after sneaking up on him in a hole in the ground while the Russians and the residents of Berlin mauled each other makes him somebody other than a coward.”
“PHILLIP!”
Phillip shook his head. “Not this time, missy. You all need to get over this. Remember the deaths he caused through his failure to stop Riddle the first time. He knew something was wrong with the boy Riddle, yet he tried the exact same tactics to make Harry like Riddle; and Dumbledore intended to remain in control of Harry and use him as the weapon to eliminate the same Riddle, intending then to just cast him aside. Prophecy my ass. Trelawney has given three true prophecies in her life and knows she’s mostly a fraud. And you can’t tell me Dumbledore’s dementia began fifty-one years ago when he killed Grindlewald. If so, it should have been dealt with then. Sure, he was a personable if eccentric fellow on the outside, but that was part and parcel of his front to gain and maintain control and advance a pureblood agenda of his own. Mourn the great wizard lost fifty-one years ago, not the twisted shell we’ve had to rid ourselves of today.”
“Morgana, Elizabeth! I always wondered why you married this apparent great lump—now I know. Very nice.” Minerva waggled her eyebrows at Elizabeth.
“Minerva!”
“Pssshhht, I’ve known Albus since 1936. Phillip is right. The exceptional wizard and human Albus Dumbledore died in a fire with his bonded and child in 1944. Shame on us for not noticing his passing.”
Elizabeth sat quietly a moment. “Thank you, Phillip, for putting this in perspective; Minerva, thank you too.”
Phillip sighed with relief. “Well, a drink and then off to our rooms so you can beat on me some. Come on, up you get, old woman.” He moved to offer Elizabeth his hand.
Elizabeth scowled. “I wouldn’t push my luck if I were you, Phillip. After all, a broken clock is right twice a day. Old woman indeed—don’t think I need to be in our suite to punish you.”
“OUCH!”
“Oh, hell no, don’t be hiding behind me, Phillip,” Harry exclaimed while dodging desperately.
“And ‘missy’? Who do you think you are, bloody great dolt?”
“OUCH! Shut up, Harry! She won’t shoot you—OUCH! She loves you—OUCH—damnit, woman—OUCH!”
The extended Clan was rendered helpless with laughter by the Harry and Phillip fleeing the wrath of Elizabeth floor show.
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Potter Castle
Master
Monday
30 Sept 1996
03:56
Nym’s eyes snapped open at the ghost pain in her belly and she found herself sleeping next to a—a furry wall, really. Ouch—what was that? Nym sat up and looked across the Yeti she was sleeping with to see a panicked looking Linda Hopkins Potter sitting up. Oh Morgana, a vampire witch birth. This would be fun.
Marcia, Melinda, and Jennifer sat up and Jennifer calmly levitated Linda and they went into the bath. Nym nodded, satisfied, and snuggled into Yeti Harry.
Bath? What? Wait—why did they go into the bath and how did Harry panic in his sleep?
Nym groaned and got up. She padded to the bath and found the three medical mates floating Linda in the bath while gently massaging her neck, shoulders, and lower back.
Nym raised a brow. “This helps?”
“Morgana, yes, Nym.”
“Shhh, Linda, just relax, baby,” Jennifer said in a soothing voice as she continued gently massaging her mate.
“It’s a Russian birthing technique that was refined in France, Nym. It’s been tested in America. Linda is our test case; if she or the baby shows stress we’ll go to the traditional method.”
Nym was wearing a puzzled look now. “Okay, so what keeps the baby from drowning and why is Jennifer’s staff Arehedel standing in the corner of the tub glowing purple, Marcia?”
“Nym, you have to pay more attention. We discussed this in the bond at dinner four weeks ago. The baby doesn’t drown because it’s still taking its oxygen from the placenta until you take the baby out of the water and air hits its face. And the ’Claws were worried about cleanliness, so they came up with the ultraviolet light spell to sterilize the water.”
Nym looked put-upon. “Marcia, there are hundreds of conversations in the bond a day and we’ve been a little busy. If the staff is emitting ultraviolet light, isn’t it fighting Linda’s wardstone? And what are we going to do when Harry comes in here and—”
Marcia frowned. “What are we going to—”
Splash…shriek! “What the hell is that?” Jennifer was trying to hold her patient and get between her and the thing.
“Giant squid,” Nym replied as she dodged a tentacle.
“Harry, change, and let go of my legs. That’s gross.”
“No, Nym, let him stay and stay that way. That feels wonderful.”
They all looked at Linda being supported in the bath by a giant squid with tentacles writhing all over her. Looking in the bond, they could feel Harry the squid massaging every part of her and pouring energy into her.
Jennifer shook her head. “Well, if we’d known this is what it took to get him to settle down...”
Jennifer got three glares, and then Melissa laughed. “So how are we going to heat the lake for Frieda?”
Nym chuckled and rejoined, “And Hedwig is going to be so unhappy with wet feathers.”
The mates all trooped through after awakening and smiled as they watched Harry the wonder-squid-pregnant-mate-whisperer from the shower. Melissa, Jennifer, and Marcia withdrew and cast monitoring charms and Harry caught first the fiery-haired Boudicca and then Arminius in a tentacle and lifted them to their mother’s breast after Marcia clipped and cut the cords. He held all three securely until Linda was ready to rise and Marcia was through doing whatever it was she was doing, then transferred the babies and their mother to the waiting mates with long, strong tentacles. He rose from the bath as Harry, and Amelia Fastida and Bellatrix took him in the shower.
When Nym returned to the bedroom she watched as Linda lay smiling with her babies as they all slept.
Sarah turned to Nym. “Only Harry could do something so complicated and odd so well. Nym, you’re jealous!”
Nym blushed. “He didn’t hold me; he was too busy changing into things.”
Sarah collapsed laughing.
“It’s not funny.”
“Nym, he’ll hold you for the next two hundred, I’m sure.”
“You think? Wait—two hundred? Morgana!”
Sarah stopped laughing long enough to say, “Well, 188 maybe, or if Griselda is right with her bondeds-power-extends-life theory, four or five thousand.”
“Morgana, Nym, what’s with you and the fainting? You cow—you’re pregnant again, aren’t you? Wake up so I can verbally abuse you.”
“Hehehe.”
“Nym!”
“Oh, relax, Sarah. Yes, I think I am pregnant again. Now, shhhh.”
Jennifer read Sarah in the bond and skipped over. She ran Arehedel in wand form over Nym’s lower abdomen, leaving a pink and blue smear behind in the air. She and Sarah squeed and hugged the recovering Nym. They were all hugged by four or five tentacles of Harry’s new pregnant wife form. He seemed to grow arms as needed.
The newly alert Nym shuddered. “Eeewww, Harry, not in the bed—you’re slimy.”
“Sorry, Nym.”
Sarah sighed. “I hate to interrupt the show, but breakfast? We missed PT already.”
The bonded rose and dressed and minus Linda, her babies, and Jennifer appeared in the first form common, all smiles and happiness. Nym made the announcement and breakfast was served.
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Royal Academy
Primary School Pentagon
Monday
30 Sept 1996
09:38
The mates went about training their replacements as Harry contemplated changes to Heads of Houses. He finally decided to leave them the same. The mates would be around enough to see to those duties. Some alternates, though, and the Prefects would need to be on their jobs.
In his wanderings he came across a young first grader wandering the halls of the primary school pentagon “Hello, can I help you?”
“The mediwitch sent me home, Your Grace, but I don’t want to go back to the orphanage. I was going to find my Head of House to ask if I could stay.”
Harry’s heart sank; another thing he’d forgotten. Well, this one would be easy to fix. He had lots of properties, didn’t he? Now just a staff. Hmmm. Oh, better talk to the lad. “Is this a Mundane orphanage, errrh—”
“Charlie, Your Grace. Charlie Francis. Yes, run by nuns, but they’ve been real good about me going to school. It’s just that—well, only two of the other kids are magical, sir.”
“It’s okay, Charlie. I’ll try to fix this, but you might have to move.”
“That’s okay, sir. We don’t really fit in well with the Mundane kids any more since we’re going to school here, and the oaths keep us from talking about so much except with each other.”
“Okay, Charlie. What House are you in?”
“Gryffindor, sir.”
“Katie, I have Charlie Francis with me.”
“I saw, Harry. Where are you two going?”
“The Castle to pick him a room. Katie, the orphans are moving in with us. We have plenty of room and, what—a thousand elves now?”
“You know, Harry, that’s a good idea. Why haven’t we thought of this before?”
“Why, thank you, Narcissa.”
“Harry, there are eighty-six magical orphans below the age of sixteen.”
“And below eighteen, Rowena—hey, wait a minute, how did you know that?”
“Rowena?”
“I’m here, Harry. I just found out I’m what the book is tied to—and 103 below eighteen.”
The bond exploded with speculation and discussion.
“Ladies, please, let’s solve one problem at a time. Okay, Rowena, please tell the Heads of House who the orphans are. Ladies, please bring them home with you tonight. Minerva, Chu, notify the staff; and Amelia, please notify the orphanages where they are currently staying. Everybody remember we have the intelligence planning session tonight and I need at least the primary staff and Hedwig. If everyone else could help Geoffrey get the orphans settled we’ll bind them to the House tonight or tomorrow.”
The resulting “Yes, Harry” chorus went on for five seconds.
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Royal Academy
University Sophomore Common
Monday
30 Sept 1996
12:02
The whole Royal Academy was bursting with the news: the orphans were being adopted by the Duke. Harry shook his head in wonder. Things went around this place so fast it was impossible. You could tell one of your loves something in the foyer and by the time you faded to the staff room the non-bonded teachers already knew. Good thing the oaths apparently worked, from what Charlie told him.
Harry stood in the Uni sophomore common and pressed the button in front of his plate. The single gong sounded in all the commons and the Great Hall. “I don’t know why I bother, as it seems the whole population knows what I’m doing before I do; but in order to quell any odd rumors flying around, I am in fact taking the orphans into my House.”
Harry paused to let the cheers die out. “Yeah, well, let’s see if you feel that way when you have 250-plus mums, some of them younger than you, but all of them stronger than you.”
“Cor, who cares? They’re all smoking hot.”
POP.
Ginny shook her head. “Ron, will you never learn,? How many buttons today, Makhaira?”
“Predominance was riding on four, Your Grace. Ron’s been good lately; looks like the pot will keep the money today. “
“Sorry, Jimmy.”
“It’s all right, Your Grace. If the Duke can sucker one more comment like that out of him I’ll get to watch Kathleen and Matilda beat him up.”
Nym frowned. “Now, now, girls—if you’re going to beat on Ron, remember do it where nobody sees you.”
The synchronous “Yes, Nym” was almost lost in the laughter and Ron’s plaintive “Oy, Harry, that’s unfair.”
Harry sat back smiling and lunch resumed, a little more raucously but still in the bounds of good behavior—barely.
“Harry, you shouldn’t encourage them.”
“Oh come on, Minerva, they’re okay.”
“Thanks Chu. I’ll make it up to you after lunch Minerva.”
“Oh no I have work to do today you sex fiend, Harry stop, oh my, HARRY!”
The mates chuckled at Minerva’s iron willed white knuckled grip on her flatware as Harry first projected an image and then snuck in a quick mental caress.
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Royal Academy
Hogwarts Great Hall
Monday
30 Sept 1996
18:00
Dinner was another raucous affair after some more questions about the syllabus and school matters. Harry had been expecting questions about Dumbledore, but none came. He knew they would eventually. Rita and Luna had run an article today outlining his condition, but Harry expected someone to ask for a list of his crimes soon.
Aurora looked at her mate speculatively. Minerva was white-knuckling the flatware again and Harry was wearing a determined smirk. “Harry, if you can leave Minerva alone for a minute—oh, stop pouting—we think after dinner you can go look at the births register and duplicate it while touching the actual Rowena and Roxanne and it will cover all the area they, errrh, cover? Control? Whatever.”
“Whatever, Aurora? Why, I never would have thought you’d have gone to the whatever.” Harry gave her a little rub in the bond too.
Aurora blushed gently. “Hush, you. You know what I mean. Do that voodoo that you do so well.”
“Here in front of the students? Well, all right, but what will the parents say?”
“Harry! Grrrr. Nym, you can’t get pregnant any more, it makes Harry a blockhead.”
“Bollocks! Just drag him off in the anteroom and round off his corners, Aurora.”
“NYM!”
“What? You want a go, Xiomara?”
Xiomara Hooch’s blush stopped the entire population of both schools and then the cheering broke out.
Minerva gasped. “Nym, now she’ll never—she’s a witch’s witch, but she wants a child.”
“I didn’t know, Minerva. Morgana, what do we do now?”
Harry solved the crisis by reaching past Nym and grabbing Xiomara’s hand and pushing at her magic hard. Her magic responded and the students smiled and the cheering became deafening as she offered Nym her crossed wrists.
The bonded knew that this would be a mate-bond at best. Finally a mate-bond; they began laying out their experiments. Harry began to think about how to get Xiomara Hooch, witch’s witch, pregnant without touching her.
After the cheering died the students finished dinner and Harry, Nym, Minerva, Hermione, Susan, and Xiomara retreated to the Headmaster’s office.
Nym apologized. “Xiomara, I’m so sorry. I didn’t know.”
“It’s all right, Nym, really. Harry, how did you make me do that? I don’t feel the urge now.”
“Errrh...I intended you too? I don’t know how the magic does it. I’m still busy trying to figure out how to get you pregnant. Jennifer is talking about in vitro, whatever the hell that is; Hermione is talking about drugging you—eeeewwww, no, Hermione, that’s rape even if it is with her consent—and someone is yapping about a turkey baster. Eugenie, hush, and I’m telling Sarah you’re restricted from the Internet. No, it’s not for porn; stop singing that song.”
Xiomara actually laughed. “I like the girls. Seriously, Harry, don’t worry about it. When we get ready I’ll come find Nym and we’ll do it the normal way, then you can give Julie a baby too. We want at least two. Think of it as a mate-bond. Who knows—with you we may achieve one.”
Hermione nodded. “You’d better wait until after the first if you want only two, though. Harry knocks at least twins into everything he, errrh, touches that way, let’s say. Except for the Veela—that’s a little more hit and miss. The Goblins make up for it, though. Four at a time being normal—who knew?”
“Hermione!”
“What, Nym?”
“Knocks?”
“Errrh, somebody else thought it.”
Nym just looked at her.
A blushing Harry replied, “Don’t think I’m ignoring you, Xiomara, but could we please get to the books before my mates drive me batty?”
Xiomara laughed. “Sure, Harry, we’ll start coming round weekends, Julie and I.”
Harry nodded.
“Errrh, now that that’s settled, Harry, call the stones, please.”
“I’ll go get them, Nym. I don’t want to just snap my fingers at them.”
Hermione/Rowena and Susan/Roxanne smiled as Harry faded away. He was back moments later with both the giant ruby and the immense rough diamond. He gave Hermione the ruby and Susan the diamond and they held them in their laps.
Nym smiled at them. “Okay, Harry, shoes and socks off.” She dropped the magical births register on the floor.
“Beg pardon?”
“Harry, I want you to stand on the book and hold Rowena in one hand and Roxanne in the other. Feel of the book and the stones and make them all the same.”
“Oh. Errrh—what if I make Rowena the same as Roxanne and unhook her from the book, Nym?”
“Don’t, Harry.”
“Don’t, Nym?”
“Grrrrrr! Yes, Harry, don’t. Intend to create a new book for Russia tied to Roxanne. We’ll be watching in the bond.”
Harry stepped onto the book somewhat dubiously and held out his hands. Hermione handed him Rowena and Susan handed him Roxanne.
Harry submerged himself in the stones while feeling for the book. Hmmm. So that’s how they did it. Okay, let’s do it like this. Harry called the Realm and it responded joyfully. Harry released it and his magic as Rowena and Roxanne released theirs also.
Harry opened his eyes and looked down. He smiled and stepped off the two stacked books.
Nym and Minerva picked them up and looked at them. They smiled; the books now gave name, address, broad indications of power levels, and rudimentary health status of all the magical beings in the realm, including Asian Russia.
Minerva sighed. “Harry, did you intend to make Roxanne’s book write in Cyrillic script?”
“What’s Cyrillic? Oh, cool! Errrh, no, Minerva.”
Minerva resisted the urge to put her face in her hands or laugh.
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Potter Castle
Entry Hall
Monday
30 Sept 1996
20:00
Harry and Nym faded into the entry hall. The 103 orphans curtsied or bowed. Harry and Nym moved to one end of the line and moved down it, being formally introduced by the mates present and taking oaths from the orphans. Every time Harry touched one for the first time a faint glow leaked out around the edges of the contact.
Amelia and Amelia watched and smiled. Parental bonds...Harry was such a Hufflepuff.
“Hey!”
“In a good way, Anna.”
“Better. Are you two going to the meeting?”
“Yes, I have a professional interest.”
“And Master needs his baubles.”
“Hey, don’t do that, Amelia.”
“Can if I want to, Harry—mmmmMM.”
“That is so weird, mother,” Zsuzsa sighed at her teenaged (mentally at least) 1500-plus-year-old mother.
Nym grinned at them. “Very mature, Amelia. How do you stick your tongue out like that in the bond?”
Amelia Fastida smirked and threw up her Legilimency shields.
She got a glare and then a quick smile from Nym. Harry rolled his eyes and turned to the orphans. “Everyone got a room?”
A chorus of 103 voices answered, “Yes, sir.”
Harry was amazed. “Wow, this is weird. Some of them are older than I am.”
“Harry—you can call me Harry.”
“Yes, sir.” Another chorus.
Harry sighed. “Okay, then, if you need anything please call for Geoffrey or Winky. If you need help with any work feel free to call on any of the Duchesses. Now all of you boarding students need to go back to your dorms. All the primary school students will be staying here. The transport Arms work the same way as the ones at the school. Oh, and your mothers and I can feel your emotional states, so please don’t try to deceive us. If you have some kind of problem just tell us. Now Charlie, you need to be in bed. Jennifer will be up to see you soon. And unless you’re better tomorrow, you’re staying home from school tomorrow.”
“But Harry, I want to go to school!”
Harry smiled. “Good, Charlie, but there’s no sense getting the whole school sick. We’ll have your work sent to you. In fact Ann, Sophie, and Teanni can install a monitor and speakers linked to your classroom for you.”
Charlie beamed. “Thanks, Harry.”
“Okay, you’re welcome, Charlie. Now some of the bonded and I have a meeting, so please excuse us. Ann....”
“We got it, Harry. Go on.”
Harry nodded, and he and Nym left for the theater. Teanni and Sophie took Charlie to his room with Jennifer, and Ann took the rest of the primary school children on a tour.
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Potter Castle
Theater
Monday
30 Sept 1996
21:00
Harry and Nym made it to the theater and took their seats at front row center. Amelia, Bellatrix, and Allison were handed down into their kneeling positions and the other slaves took their places around them. The mates filled in behind as Beatrice, Eugenie, and Gabrielle worked their way through the crowd to their accustomed laps or shoulders.
Tim Spicer and Sir John Foley watched, smiling, and a new gentleman in a black suit, white shirt, and black tie watched, amazed but expressionless. “All settled then, Clan Potter?”
“Yes, Tim. Good evening, Sir John, who’s your friend?”
“Stop that, Harry. This is serious.” He threw up a hand to stop Sirius’s retort and the room chuckled.
“That is a very, very subtle probe, almost undetectable. Now that you know who and what I am, though, Your Grace, perhaps we could call me Mr Smith. Call it a sacrifice to vanity.”
Harry smiled. Remus, however, threw in, “Perhaps the rest of us, those not quite up to Harry’s level of Legilimency, might know what you do, Mr Smith?”
“Let’s call me a liaison to the American intelligence gathering apparatus.”
“Thank you,” Remus replied.
Tim Spicer nodded. “Now that the introductions have been made I think we need you to tell us your goals, Your Grace, and if everybody could just stay seated? We’d like this meeting to be as informal as possible.”
Harry nodded as he thought. “I’m still working on my original charges, Tim. Overcome the forces of Darkness threatening the Realm, which with the bonding of Roxanne extends to Asian Russia. Establish a fair educational system. And establish a fair employment system.
“As we have discovered, those three tasks seem to be interrelated. If we can educate everyone to the maximum of first their ability and then ours, we put the ensuing generations of magical beings on a more equal footing. If we then ensure those well-educated beings have gainful employment at a fair wage, we cut down on the number of evil gits running around with nothing better to do than commit evil acts, thereby reducing the number of evil gits I have to light on fire.
“We think that eventually we’ll be left with only the rare evil git taking us back to a Dark lord or lady every few hundred years instead of Dark lords or ladies constantly rising. This is of course based on the empirical recidivism data from western societies. That data is telling us that less than ten percent of the population commits ninety percent of the crime. The theory seems to hold up, as here in Great Britain we’ve dropped the crime rate in the magical world into single digits. Mundane Great Britain is also currently enjoying a reduction, but they don’t execute the evil bastards, they imprison them; so we’ll know in ten to twenty years. As we push farther east we’ll watch for paradigm shifts.
“We’ve taken on responsibility for magical Russia and will institute a program there similar to what we’re using in Great Britain. We’ll attempt to work with the Mundane government but if it doesn’t respond we will ignore it. The wardstone mines work on magical and Mundane and we’re preparing to mine Russia heavily. We anticipate a huge slug of prisoners in the first weeks and then a decreasing number as we’ve experienced here in Great Britain.
“Then there’s China. To tell the truth, I have no goals there other than the elimination of the Dark Lady one way or the other. I’ll bind her to the House or kill her. She is an active threat.
“I believe my best course of action to be to continue to consolidate the magical Realm, now including magical Asian Russia, and defend as passively as possible against Xi Shi and her forces by mining every public space in the magical and Mundane world.”
Tim was nodding. But ‘Mr Smith’ spoke. “And if her compulsion forces her to come to you?”
Harry grinned like a shark. “Yes, wouldn’t that be grand.”
“You’re very sure of your ability to deal with her,” Mr Smith persisted.
Amelia Fastida started laughing. “You do realize who I am, Mr Smith?”
“Certainly, Amelia Fastida but it was felt you ‘loved’ His Grace and had therefore submitted.”
The laughter became general. Smith pouted, the first expression he had shown.
Sir John looked at him. “I told you.”
“We could not confirm your report. This whole valley is a black hole or something; whatever happens here stays here, Sir John.”
“So that’s why you were so hot to come here, Leslie.” ‘Mr Smith’ scowled.
Amelia Fastida finished laughing at Mr Smith and smirked at him. She focused her compulsion and had him reciting bad romantic poetry to Sir John.
“Amelia, really—errrh, please?” Sir John asked as he squirmed away from Mr Smith.
Amelia chuckled and released Smith. “Should I have you tell all your secrets, Mr Smith?”
“No, Your Grace, the demonstration of the compulsion was good enough.”
“I do love my Master, Mr Smith, both in the way of vampires and in the way of women. I am, however, still an Alpha female vampire—I would dare say the Alpha female vampire. But neither of my Mistresses has made the change as yet. Xi Shi cannot prevail against even one of the baby vampires now that we have protection from the light; how will she manage hundreds and me, let alone the Master and Mistresses?”
Mr Smith frowned. “We believe she will be an Alpha, Your Grace.”
“I know, lucky bitch, but she’ll do the Master’s will or die. As long as it is my Master’s will, anything that happens to me is fine.” Amelia Fastida leaned back into Harry’s legs.
Harry shook his head. “We won’t go down that road, Mr. Smith. If Xi Shi cannot accept her place as third among equals, she will be executed.”
‘Smith’ knew he was pushing his luck, but he had to know the answer; it was why he was here. “And her past, Your Grace?”
Harry shot him a glare. “If we bond her we’ll pay what reparations are necessary and move on. An acceptable thing in her culture, I’m told.”
Li Chan and Chang Hu nodded; Hu, Cho Chang’s non-Anglicized father, spoke. “Exactly correct. Your Grace. One of the things making her a—erm—Dark Lady, as westerners refer to this type of powerful witch, is that she refuses to pay reparations. She considers all beings less powerful than herself hers to do with as she will. If they are already hers, why should she pay herself?”
Harry sat puzzling for a moment. “Like the vampires, then?”
Li Chan, Su Li’s non-Anglicized father, smiled. “Su has done well. You are very quick, Your Grace. Almost exactly like the vampires but with the addition of politics.”
Harry groaned. Bellatrix looked at Amelia Fastida. “This will be so much fun. We’ll tear her to pieces and give what’s left to the Master.” Narcissa, Emmeline, and the other Slytherin mates were nodding.
The entire population of the room blinked. Bellatrix Black and Amelia Fastida teaming up on someone portended a howling disaster for that person. Add in the Slytherin bonded and it could reach catastrophic proportions very swiftly.
Sir John almost growled. “Are you going to tell Him?”
Mr Smith shot Sir John a death glare.
Sarah leaned forward. “Tell him what?”
Sir John turned to Sarah at his companion’s stone-faced refusal. “We believe there may be another, errrh, Alpha and there is the possibility that Xi Shi is a, errrh, Primary.”
Sarah blinked. “Beg pardon?”
Mr Smith looked at Sarah’s reddening face and decided it was time to come clean. “We’ve developed and deployed a technomancer device that is capable of reading magical signatures. This device has consistently reported Xi Shi with a nearly identical reading to Harry’s, closer even than Duchess Nym or you, Duchess Sarah. Two days ago that reading went into a different part of the hold or palace Xi Shi was occupying at the time and we resolved two different readings. According to humint the reading we recorded as solely Xi Shi’s was then somewhere between Sarah and Hermione. Uh, Hermione is the closest Primary by signature, by the way. We believe the reading belongs to a fifteen-year-old body servant of Xi Shi’s named Ming Na Wen.”
The room exploded in Chinese, Mandarin first and then devolving into Cantonese. Those not involved watched like it was a tennis match. The bonded were getting Cho and Chu’s perspectives. Finally the argument wound down and Chang Hu shrugged. “Most probably the last remaining true Ming left. She was thought to be dead as her parents were killed by Xi Shi.”
Narcissa sought clarification. “Ming as in Ming Dynasty?”
“Yes, Ming—not southern Ming. In the direct line but the distaff side,” Li Chan replied.
Chang Hu shot Li Chan a look. “What my esteemed colleague is leaving out is that she is in that case the last legitimate claimant to the Imperial throne. The Qing and southern Ming are all gone.”
A thought occurred to Harry. “Hey, wait a minute. You know where her hold is. I can settle this right now. Show me.”
Mr Smith replied simply, “No.”
Smith never saw movement but was suddenly suspended in mid-air.
“It’s all right, Claire, let him down please.”
“Very impressive, Duchess. Your Grace, your operational tempo is too high as it is. I concur with your earlier plan and we won’t contribute to what could turn into a losing fight for what will be the Joint Multi-National Multi Species Magical Corps or JMNMSM-C as the planners like to call it. The various friendly national magical forces are currently fully engaged in operations in South America, the near east, and the Balkans, and you’re already committed to the campaign in Russia. It is our opinion that opening a front in China would simply overwhelm your already thinly stretched forces.”
Harry was nodding. “Hey, wait a minute—Corps?”
“Oops.”
Amanda exploded. “Oops? Bullcrap, ‘Smith’ you did that on purpose.”
Smith smiled at Amanda. “My daughter knows me too well. Yes, Your Grace, Corps. Tsarina Anastasia will soon be providing at least full-strength magical Russian Division and the U.S. will match it with a magical Division built around the First Mage Brigade. We believe you should build a full strength Goblin Division, Veela Division, a British and a European Human Division. Then of course there is the Regiment with its shape-shifting abilities and growing population. That will give you 100,000 or so magical troops and of course the Regiment, so several hundred Dragons of an intelligence and magical level never before encountered. Trust me, you’ll need the troops if anything goes wrong in Russia or if China, erm, takes steps, let’s say.”
Harry goggled at him. “That will take years.”
“Why yes, and should keep you making babies with my daughter for years, Your Grace. Military maneuvers are sooooo booooring.”
“DADDY!” a blushing Amanda shouted.
“Yes, dear?”
“Hush!”
Mr ‘Smith’, Leslie Sherman to those who had been keeping up, shook his head. “Don’t think so. I like this one and he makes good babies, which will keep your mother happy, so he needs something to do to make him think he’s useful. Corp’s command ought to give him that illusion nicely. Meanwhile I’ll keep an eye on Xi Shi and if she gets uppity, I’ll send in a wet boy or two or two hundred and—what’s that British saying? Oh: Bob’s your uncle. Hmmm, shouldn’t you be off making babies right now? I mean, you delivered Jimmy and Jeannie, what, end of July?”
“I’m right here,” Harry injected hotly.
“Yes, Harry, why don’t you take Amanda and a couple of these other girls to that lovely roof garden? I’ll stay here and scheme with the other old men. You know what they say. ‘You’re only young once’.”
Mr ‘Smith’s’ mouth kept moving but sound stopped coming out. Amanda sighed. “I’m sorry, Harry.”
The laughing Harry returned. “It’s fine. Take the Silencio off. Amanda. I got his point and he’s right. I have wives I love and kids to play with. Is he always so over the top when he has a point to make?”
“Oh, he wasn’t kidding about the babies thing, Harry. He told me he wants a hundred grandchildren from me—says it’s a nice round number. Mother is even worse.”
“You broke him, Amanda.” Nym was looking at Harry’s fish impersonation critically.
Elizabeth couldn’t stand the strain any more and broke up laughing. “Poor Harry, nothing ever goes the way he expects. He was expecting to fight either a protracted conflict or do it in a short in and out mission, and now he’s been offered enough combat power to conquer a significant portion of the world. I wonder what the Chinese have in store.”
Chu blushed, drawing more laughter. Elizabeth actually rolled her eyes. “Out with it, Chu.”
“I’ve been asked to convey the support of the Taiwanese Magical Government and the offer of a magical Division, ma’am.”
Harry finally stopped making the fish face, “Well, to summarize then: we’ll need intelligence to support:
1. Consolidation of the Realm
2. Extension of the Realm and consolidation to include Magical Asian Russia
3. Defense against moves by Xi Shi
4. Counter mobility warfare plan for both Russia and China.
“I’m going to follow my original plan and consolidate before moving on.”
As soon as Amanda finited the Silencio, Leslie immediately said, “See, Amanda, I told you I liked this one. He’s bright.”
“Daddy, hush.”
Harry looked to his seer. “Luna, anything?”
“Ming Na Wen needs a better blanket, Harry. Might as well put a stone on her while we’re there. Leaving her with Xi Shi and just defending against Xi Shi is the right thing for now. Oh, and you don’t have to take on all these troops, Harry, but we will keep the Mages.” Luna’s eyes turned white and then pale blue smoothly this time.
Harry nodded. “Geoffrey!”
Pop!
“It is done, sir.”
Pop!
“How does he do that? Gentlemen, now that you know what I want to do, do you have anything for me?” asked a smiling Harry.
Sir John spoke before Leslie Sherman, aka Mr Smith, could get his mouth in gear. “Give us a week, Harry, and we’ll have an overview and then start refining data from there. We’ll look for good sites for schools and include them in the general overview.”
Chan Li was curious. “Your Grace, how do you power the stones so far away from you?”
Harry looked distant a moment. “We changed the runeset slightly. I activate the charging rune and it draws off free, excess, raw—oh hell, whatever you want to call the background magic. It’s not as efficient, but we noticed that it keeps down the incidence of ‘causality induced error’ by lowering the background magic in a local area. We keep a couple in each room of the Royal Academy and several hundred around the Castle and Hogwarts for that reason.”
“Harry, you do listen.” Hermione was beaming at him.
“Errrh, of course I do, Hermione, how could I not?”
Li Chan was appalled. “Your Grace, the counter mobility plan could potentially consume millions of the stones.”
Harry shrugged. “They’re essentially free, Chan. We found a way to make just creek pebbles work and the runesets can be carved by the bound servants. I can activate them probably fifty thousand or more at a time. I see the real problem as getting them into place. That’s going to take a mate who can fade, or possibly we can scatter them on Dragon overflights of Russia.”
Leslie Sherman nodded. “If you can get me a standard for how big you need them, I can get our R&D folks working on an automatic dispenser a Dragon could carry. That way the Dragon could pay attention to flying.”
Harry looked at Nym. “Awful quiet, Nym.”
“Tired, Harry. Been a big day.”
“Gentlemen, ma’am, I believe we shall see you in the morning.”
Harry rose and began raising his mates. “Harry, I’ll stay here a few minutes.”
“Of course, Daphne.”
Chapter 13
Potter Castle
Roof Garden
Sunday
29 Sept 1996
22:41
Harry looked around from his position leaning against the tree and shifted his arm slightly. Nym sat up a little, bumping his chin with her head.
The Clan had withdrawn and fled to the roof garden after Andrew had closed Court. The Royals had shown up moments later followed by the mothers-in-law and then the fathers. The vassals and courtiers had gone to the sitting room.
Nobody had spoken; there was nothing to be said. For the last thirty minutes they had all sat in quiet contemplation.
“Mu’am—errrh, ma’am—I’m sorry. I didn’t know he would push you so far. I thought he would respond to someone older and wiser than me.”
“Harry, if you want to it’s fine if you call me Mum. I’m honored. Not in public, though. I would have thought so too, but the Realm judged him and found him wanting; so something has gone on over and above his dementia.”
“Yeah, he’s an arrogant prick who thinks shooting someone in the back of the head after sneaking up on him in a hole in the ground while the Russians and the residents of Berlin mauled each other makes him somebody other than a coward.”
“PHILLIP!”
Phillip shook his head. “Not this time, missy. You all need to get over this. Remember the deaths he caused through his failure to stop Riddle the first time. He knew something was wrong with the boy Riddle, yet he tried the exact same tactics to make Harry like Riddle; and Dumbledore intended to remain in control of Harry and use him as the weapon to eliminate the same Riddle, intending then to just cast him aside. Prophecy my ass. Trelawney has given three true prophecies in her life and knows she’s mostly a fraud. And you can’t tell me Dumbledore’s dementia began fifty-one years ago when he killed Grindlewald. If so, it should have been dealt with then. Sure, he was a personable if eccentric fellow on the outside, but that was part and parcel of his front to gain and maintain control and advance a pureblood agenda of his own. Mourn the great wizard lost fifty-one years ago, not the twisted shell we’ve had to rid ourselves of today.”
“Morgana, Elizabeth! I always wondered why you married this apparent great lump—now I know. Very nice.” Minerva waggled her eyebrows at Elizabeth.
“Minerva!”
“Pssshhht, I’ve known Albus since 1936. Phillip is right. The exceptional wizard and human Albus Dumbledore died in a fire with his bonded and child in 1944. Shame on us for not noticing his passing.”
Elizabeth sat quietly a moment. “Thank you, Phillip, for putting this in perspective; Minerva, thank you too.”
Phillip sighed with relief. “Well, a drink and then off to our rooms so you can beat on me some. Come on, up you get, old woman.” He moved to offer Elizabeth his hand.
Elizabeth scowled. “I wouldn’t push my luck if I were you, Phillip. After all, a broken clock is right twice a day. Old woman indeed—don’t think I need to be in our suite to punish you.”
“OUCH!”
“Oh, hell no, don’t be hiding behind me, Phillip,” Harry exclaimed while dodging desperately.
“And ‘missy’? Who do you think you are, bloody great dolt?”
“OUCH! Shut up, Harry! She won’t shoot you—OUCH! She loves you—OUCH—damnit, woman—OUCH!”
The extended Clan was rendered helpless with laughter by the Harry and Phillip fleeing the wrath of Elizabeth floor show.
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Potter Castle
Master
Monday
30 Sept 1996
03:56
Nym’s eyes snapped open at the ghost pain in her belly and she found herself sleeping next to a—a furry wall, really. Ouch—what was that? Nym sat up and looked across the Yeti she was sleeping with to see a panicked looking Linda Hopkins Potter sitting up. Oh Morgana, a vampire witch birth. This would be fun.
Marcia, Melinda, and Jennifer sat up and Jennifer calmly levitated Linda and they went into the bath. Nym nodded, satisfied, and snuggled into Yeti Harry.
Bath? What? Wait—why did they go into the bath and how did Harry panic in his sleep?
Nym groaned and got up. She padded to the bath and found the three medical mates floating Linda in the bath while gently massaging her neck, shoulders, and lower back.
Nym raised a brow. “This helps?”
“Morgana, yes, Nym.”
“Shhh, Linda, just relax, baby,” Jennifer said in a soothing voice as she continued gently massaging her mate.
“It’s a Russian birthing technique that was refined in France, Nym. It’s been tested in America. Linda is our test case; if she or the baby shows stress we’ll go to the traditional method.”
Nym was wearing a puzzled look now. “Okay, so what keeps the baby from drowning and why is Jennifer’s staff Arehedel standing in the corner of the tub glowing purple, Marcia?”
“Nym, you have to pay more attention. We discussed this in the bond at dinner four weeks ago. The baby doesn’t drown because it’s still taking its oxygen from the placenta until you take the baby out of the water and air hits its face. And the ’Claws were worried about cleanliness, so they came up with the ultraviolet light spell to sterilize the water.”
Nym looked put-upon. “Marcia, there are hundreds of conversations in the bond a day and we’ve been a little busy. If the staff is emitting ultraviolet light, isn’t it fighting Linda’s wardstone? And what are we going to do when Harry comes in here and—”
Marcia frowned. “What are we going to—”
Splash…shriek! “What the hell is that?” Jennifer was trying to hold her patient and get between her and the thing.
“Giant squid,” Nym replied as she dodged a tentacle.
“Harry, change, and let go of my legs. That’s gross.”
“No, Nym, let him stay and stay that way. That feels wonderful.”
They all looked at Linda being supported in the bath by a giant squid with tentacles writhing all over her. Looking in the bond, they could feel Harry the squid massaging every part of her and pouring energy into her.
Jennifer shook her head. “Well, if we’d known this is what it took to get him to settle down...”
Jennifer got three glares, and then Melissa laughed. “So how are we going to heat the lake for Frieda?”
Nym chuckled and rejoined, “And Hedwig is going to be so unhappy with wet feathers.”
The mates all trooped through after awakening and smiled as they watched Harry the wonder-squid-pregnant-mate-whisperer from the shower. Melissa, Jennifer, and Marcia withdrew and cast monitoring charms and Harry caught first the fiery-haired Boudicca and then Arminius in a tentacle and lifted them to their mother’s breast after Marcia clipped and cut the cords. He held all three securely until Linda was ready to rise and Marcia was through doing whatever it was she was doing, then transferred the babies and their mother to the waiting mates with long, strong tentacles. He rose from the bath as Harry, and Amelia Fastida and Bellatrix took him in the shower.
When Nym returned to the bedroom she watched as Linda lay smiling with her babies as they all slept.
Sarah turned to Nym. “Only Harry could do something so complicated and odd so well. Nym, you’re jealous!”
Nym blushed. “He didn’t hold me; he was too busy changing into things.”
Sarah collapsed laughing.
“It’s not funny.”
“Nym, he’ll hold you for the next two hundred, I’m sure.”
“You think? Wait—two hundred? Morgana!”
Sarah stopped laughing long enough to say, “Well, 188 maybe, or if Griselda is right with her bondeds-power-extends-life theory, four or five thousand.”
“Morgana, Nym, what’s with you and the fainting? You cow—you’re pregnant again, aren’t you? Wake up so I can verbally abuse you.”
“Hehehe.”
“Nym!”
“Oh, relax, Sarah. Yes, I think I am pregnant again. Now, shhhh.”
Jennifer read Sarah in the bond and skipped over. She ran Arehedel in wand form over Nym’s lower abdomen, leaving a pink and blue smear behind in the air. She and Sarah squeed and hugged the recovering Nym. They were all hugged by four or five tentacles of Harry’s new pregnant wife form. He seemed to grow arms as needed.
The newly alert Nym shuddered. “Eeewww, Harry, not in the bed—you’re slimy.”
“Sorry, Nym.”
Sarah sighed. “I hate to interrupt the show, but breakfast? We missed PT already.”
The bonded rose and dressed and minus Linda, her babies, and Jennifer appeared in the first form common, all smiles and happiness. Nym made the announcement and breakfast was served.
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Royal Academy
Primary School Pentagon
Monday
30 Sept 1996
09:38
The mates went about training their replacements as Harry contemplated changes to Heads of Houses. He finally decided to leave them the same. The mates would be around enough to see to those duties. Some alternates, though, and the Prefects would need to be on their jobs.
In his wanderings he came across a young first grader wandering the halls of the primary school pentagon “Hello, can I help you?”
“The mediwitch sent me home, Your Grace, but I don’t want to go back to the orphanage. I was going to find my Head of House to ask if I could stay.”
Harry’s heart sank; another thing he’d forgotten. Well, this one would be easy to fix. He had lots of properties, didn’t he? Now just a staff. Hmmm. Oh, better talk to the lad. “Is this a Mundane orphanage, errrh—”
“Charlie, Your Grace. Charlie Francis. Yes, run by nuns, but they’ve been real good about me going to school. It’s just that—well, only two of the other kids are magical, sir.”
“It’s okay, Charlie. I’ll try to fix this, but you might have to move.”
“That’s okay, sir. We don’t really fit in well with the Mundane kids any more since we’re going to school here, and the oaths keep us from talking about so much except with each other.”
“Okay, Charlie. What House are you in?”
“Gryffindor, sir.”
“Katie, I have Charlie Francis with me.”
“I saw, Harry. Where are you two going?”
“The Castle to pick him a room. Katie, the orphans are moving in with us. We have plenty of room and, what—a thousand elves now?”
“You know, Harry, that’s a good idea. Why haven’t we thought of this before?”
“Why, thank you, Narcissa.”
“Harry, there are eighty-six magical orphans below the age of sixteen.”
“And below eighteen, Rowena—hey, wait a minute, how did you know that?”
“Rowena?”
“I’m here, Harry. I just found out I’m what the book is tied to—and 103 below eighteen.”
The bond exploded with speculation and discussion.
“Ladies, please, let’s solve one problem at a time. Okay, Rowena, please tell the Heads of House who the orphans are. Ladies, please bring them home with you tonight. Minerva, Chu, notify the staff; and Amelia, please notify the orphanages where they are currently staying. Everybody remember we have the intelligence planning session tonight and I need at least the primary staff and Hedwig. If everyone else could help Geoffrey get the orphans settled we’ll bind them to the House tonight or tomorrow.”
The resulting “Yes, Harry” chorus went on for five seconds.
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Royal Academy
University Sophomore Common
Monday
30 Sept 1996
12:02
The whole Royal Academy was bursting with the news: the orphans were being adopted by the Duke. Harry shook his head in wonder. Things went around this place so fast it was impossible. You could tell one of your loves something in the foyer and by the time you faded to the staff room the non-bonded teachers already knew. Good thing the oaths apparently worked, from what Charlie told him.
Harry stood in the Uni sophomore common and pressed the button in front of his plate. The single gong sounded in all the commons and the Great Hall. “I don’t know why I bother, as it seems the whole population knows what I’m doing before I do; but in order to quell any odd rumors flying around, I am in fact taking the orphans into my House.”
Harry paused to let the cheers die out. “Yeah, well, let’s see if you feel that way when you have 250-plus mums, some of them younger than you, but all of them stronger than you.”
“Cor, who cares? They’re all smoking hot.”
POP.
Ginny shook her head. “Ron, will you never learn,? How many buttons today, Makhaira?”
“Predominance was riding on four, Your Grace. Ron’s been good lately; looks like the pot will keep the money today. “
“Sorry, Jimmy.”
“It’s all right, Your Grace. If the Duke can sucker one more comment like that out of him I’ll get to watch Kathleen and Matilda beat him up.”
Nym frowned. “Now, now, girls—if you’re going to beat on Ron, remember do it where nobody sees you.”
The synchronous “Yes, Nym” was almost lost in the laughter and Ron’s plaintive “Oy, Harry, that’s unfair.”
Harry sat back smiling and lunch resumed, a little more raucously but still in the bounds of good behavior—barely.
“Harry, you shouldn’t encourage them.”
“Oh come on, Minerva, they’re okay.”
“Thanks Chu. I’ll make it up to you after lunch Minerva.”
“Oh no I have work to do today you sex fiend, Harry stop, oh my, HARRY!”
The mates chuckled at Minerva’s iron willed white knuckled grip on her flatware as Harry first projected an image and then snuck in a quick mental caress.
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Royal Academy
Hogwarts Great Hall
Monday
30 Sept 1996
18:00
Dinner was another raucous affair after some more questions about the syllabus and school matters. Harry had been expecting questions about Dumbledore, but none came. He knew they would eventually. Rita and Luna had run an article today outlining his condition, but Harry expected someone to ask for a list of his crimes soon.
Aurora looked at her mate speculatively. Minerva was white-knuckling the flatware again and Harry was wearing a determined smirk. “Harry, if you can leave Minerva alone for a minute—oh, stop pouting—we think after dinner you can go look at the births register and duplicate it while touching the actual Rowena and Roxanne and it will cover all the area they, errrh, cover? Control? Whatever.”
“Whatever, Aurora? Why, I never would have thought you’d have gone to the whatever.” Harry gave her a little rub in the bond too.
Aurora blushed gently. “Hush, you. You know what I mean. Do that voodoo that you do so well.”
“Here in front of the students? Well, all right, but what will the parents say?”
“Harry! Grrrr. Nym, you can’t get pregnant any more, it makes Harry a blockhead.”
“Bollocks! Just drag him off in the anteroom and round off his corners, Aurora.”
“NYM!”
“What? You want a go, Xiomara?”
Xiomara Hooch’s blush stopped the entire population of both schools and then the cheering broke out.
Minerva gasped. “Nym, now she’ll never—she’s a witch’s witch, but she wants a child.”
“I didn’t know, Minerva. Morgana, what do we do now?”
Harry solved the crisis by reaching past Nym and grabbing Xiomara’s hand and pushing at her magic hard. Her magic responded and the students smiled and the cheering became deafening as she offered Nym her crossed wrists.
The bonded knew that this would be a mate-bond at best. Finally a mate-bond; they began laying out their experiments. Harry began to think about how to get Xiomara Hooch, witch’s witch, pregnant without touching her.
After the cheering died the students finished dinner and Harry, Nym, Minerva, Hermione, Susan, and Xiomara retreated to the Headmaster’s office.
Nym apologized. “Xiomara, I’m so sorry. I didn’t know.”
“It’s all right, Nym, really. Harry, how did you make me do that? I don’t feel the urge now.”
“Errrh...I intended you too? I don’t know how the magic does it. I’m still busy trying to figure out how to get you pregnant. Jennifer is talking about in vitro, whatever the hell that is; Hermione is talking about drugging you—eeeewwww, no, Hermione, that’s rape even if it is with her consent—and someone is yapping about a turkey baster. Eugenie, hush, and I’m telling Sarah you’re restricted from the Internet. No, it’s not for porn; stop singing that song.”
Xiomara actually laughed. “I like the girls. Seriously, Harry, don’t worry about it. When we get ready I’ll come find Nym and we’ll do it the normal way, then you can give Julie a baby too. We want at least two. Think of it as a mate-bond. Who knows—with you we may achieve one.”
Hermione nodded. “You’d better wait until after the first if you want only two, though. Harry knocks at least twins into everything he, errrh, touches that way, let’s say. Except for the Veela—that’s a little more hit and miss. The Goblins make up for it, though. Four at a time being normal—who knew?”
“Hermione!”
“What, Nym?”
“Knocks?”
“Errrh, somebody else thought it.”
Nym just looked at her.
A blushing Harry replied, “Don’t think I’m ignoring you, Xiomara, but could we please get to the books before my mates drive me batty?”
Xiomara laughed. “Sure, Harry, we’ll start coming round weekends, Julie and I.”
Harry nodded.
“Errrh, now that that’s settled, Harry, call the stones, please.”
“I’ll go get them, Nym. I don’t want to just snap my fingers at them.”
Hermione/Rowena and Susan/Roxanne smiled as Harry faded away. He was back moments later with both the giant ruby and the immense rough diamond. He gave Hermione the ruby and Susan the diamond and they held them in their laps.
Nym smiled at them. “Okay, Harry, shoes and socks off.” She dropped the magical births register on the floor.
“Beg pardon?”
“Harry, I want you to stand on the book and hold Rowena in one hand and Roxanne in the other. Feel of the book and the stones and make them all the same.”
“Oh. Errrh—what if I make Rowena the same as Roxanne and unhook her from the book, Nym?”
“Don’t, Harry.”
“Don’t, Nym?”
“Grrrrrr! Yes, Harry, don’t. Intend to create a new book for Russia tied to Roxanne. We’ll be watching in the bond.”
Harry stepped onto the book somewhat dubiously and held out his hands. Hermione handed him Rowena and Susan handed him Roxanne.
Harry submerged himself in the stones while feeling for the book. Hmmm. So that’s how they did it. Okay, let’s do it like this. Harry called the Realm and it responded joyfully. Harry released it and his magic as Rowena and Roxanne released theirs also.
Harry opened his eyes and looked down. He smiled and stepped off the two stacked books.
Nym and Minerva picked them up and looked at them. They smiled; the books now gave name, address, broad indications of power levels, and rudimentary health status of all the magical beings in the realm, including Asian Russia.
Minerva sighed. “Harry, did you intend to make Roxanne’s book write in Cyrillic script?”
“What’s Cyrillic? Oh, cool! Errrh, no, Minerva.”
Minerva resisted the urge to put her face in her hands or laugh.
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Potter Castle
Entry Hall
Monday
30 Sept 1996
20:00
Harry and Nym faded into the entry hall. The 103 orphans curtsied or bowed. Harry and Nym moved to one end of the line and moved down it, being formally introduced by the mates present and taking oaths from the orphans. Every time Harry touched one for the first time a faint glow leaked out around the edges of the contact.
Amelia and Amelia watched and smiled. Parental bonds...Harry was such a Hufflepuff.
“Hey!”
“In a good way, Anna.”
“Better. Are you two going to the meeting?”
“Yes, I have a professional interest.”
“And Master needs his baubles.”
“Hey, don’t do that, Amelia.”
“Can if I want to, Harry—mmmmMM.”
“That is so weird, mother,” Zsuzsa sighed at her teenaged (mentally at least) 1500-plus-year-old mother.
Nym grinned at them. “Very mature, Amelia. How do you stick your tongue out like that in the bond?”
Amelia Fastida smirked and threw up her Legilimency shields.
She got a glare and then a quick smile from Nym. Harry rolled his eyes and turned to the orphans. “Everyone got a room?”
A chorus of 103 voices answered, “Yes, sir.”
Harry was amazed. “Wow, this is weird. Some of them are older than I am.”
“Harry—you can call me Harry.”
“Yes, sir.” Another chorus.
Harry sighed. “Okay, then, if you need anything please call for Geoffrey or Winky. If you need help with any work feel free to call on any of the Duchesses. Now all of you boarding students need to go back to your dorms. All the primary school students will be staying here. The transport Arms work the same way as the ones at the school. Oh, and your mothers and I can feel your emotional states, so please don’t try to deceive us. If you have some kind of problem just tell us. Now Charlie, you need to be in bed. Jennifer will be up to see you soon. And unless you’re better tomorrow, you’re staying home from school tomorrow.”
“But Harry, I want to go to school!”
Harry smiled. “Good, Charlie, but there’s no sense getting the whole school sick. We’ll have your work sent to you. In fact Ann, Sophie, and Teanni can install a monitor and speakers linked to your classroom for you.”
Charlie beamed. “Thanks, Harry.”
“Okay, you’re welcome, Charlie. Now some of the bonded and I have a meeting, so please excuse us. Ann....”
“We got it, Harry. Go on.”
Harry nodded, and he and Nym left for the theater. Teanni and Sophie took Charlie to his room with Jennifer, and Ann took the rest of the primary school children on a tour.
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Potter Castle
Theater
Monday
30 Sept 1996
21:00
Harry and Nym made it to the theater and took their seats at front row center. Amelia, Bellatrix, and Allison were handed down into their kneeling positions and the other slaves took their places around them. The mates filled in behind as Beatrice, Eugenie, and Gabrielle worked their way through the crowd to their accustomed laps or shoulders.
Tim Spicer and Sir John Foley watched, smiling, and a new gentleman in a black suit, white shirt, and black tie watched, amazed but expressionless. “All settled then, Clan Potter?”
“Yes, Tim. Good evening, Sir John, who’s your friend?”
“Stop that, Harry. This is serious.” He threw up a hand to stop Sirius’s retort and the room chuckled.
“That is a very, very subtle probe, almost undetectable. Now that you know who and what I am, though, Your Grace, perhaps we could call me Mr Smith. Call it a sacrifice to vanity.”
Harry smiled. Remus, however, threw in, “Perhaps the rest of us, those not quite up to Harry’s level of Legilimency, might know what you do, Mr Smith?”
“Let’s call me a liaison to the American intelligence gathering apparatus.”
“Thank you,” Remus replied.
Tim Spicer nodded. “Now that the introductions have been made I think we need you to tell us your goals, Your Grace, and if everybody could just stay seated? We’d like this meeting to be as informal as possible.”
Harry nodded as he thought. “I’m still working on my original charges, Tim. Overcome the forces of Darkness threatening the Realm, which with the bonding of Roxanne extends to Asian Russia. Establish a fair educational system. And establish a fair employment system.
“As we have discovered, those three tasks seem to be interrelated. If we can educate everyone to the maximum of first their ability and then ours, we put the ensuing generations of magical beings on a more equal footing. If we then ensure those well-educated beings have gainful employment at a fair wage, we cut down on the number of evil gits running around with nothing better to do than commit evil acts, thereby reducing the number of evil gits I have to light on fire.
“We think that eventually we’ll be left with only the rare evil git taking us back to a Dark lord or lady every few hundred years instead of Dark lords or ladies constantly rising. This is of course based on the empirical recidivism data from western societies. That data is telling us that less than ten percent of the population commits ninety percent of the crime. The theory seems to hold up, as here in Great Britain we’ve dropped the crime rate in the magical world into single digits. Mundane Great Britain is also currently enjoying a reduction, but they don’t execute the evil bastards, they imprison them; so we’ll know in ten to twenty years. As we push farther east we’ll watch for paradigm shifts.
“We’ve taken on responsibility for magical Russia and will institute a program there similar to what we’re using in Great Britain. We’ll attempt to work with the Mundane government but if it doesn’t respond we will ignore it. The wardstone mines work on magical and Mundane and we’re preparing to mine Russia heavily. We anticipate a huge slug of prisoners in the first weeks and then a decreasing number as we’ve experienced here in Great Britain.
“Then there’s China. To tell the truth, I have no goals there other than the elimination of the Dark Lady one way or the other. I’ll bind her to the House or kill her. She is an active threat.
“I believe my best course of action to be to continue to consolidate the magical Realm, now including magical Asian Russia, and defend as passively as possible against Xi Shi and her forces by mining every public space in the magical and Mundane world.”
Tim was nodding. But ‘Mr Smith’ spoke. “And if her compulsion forces her to come to you?”
Harry grinned like a shark. “Yes, wouldn’t that be grand.”
“You’re very sure of your ability to deal with her,” Mr Smith persisted.
Amelia Fastida started laughing. “You do realize who I am, Mr Smith?”
“Certainly, Amelia Fastida but it was felt you ‘loved’ His Grace and had therefore submitted.”
The laughter became general. Smith pouted, the first expression he had shown.
Sir John looked at him. “I told you.”
“We could not confirm your report. This whole valley is a black hole or something; whatever happens here stays here, Sir John.”
“So that’s why you were so hot to come here, Leslie.” ‘Mr Smith’ scowled.
Amelia Fastida finished laughing at Mr Smith and smirked at him. She focused her compulsion and had him reciting bad romantic poetry to Sir John.
“Amelia, really—errrh, please?” Sir John asked as he squirmed away from Mr Smith.
Amelia chuckled and released Smith. “Should I have you tell all your secrets, Mr Smith?”
“No, Your Grace, the demonstration of the compulsion was good enough.”
“I do love my Master, Mr Smith, both in the way of vampires and in the way of women. I am, however, still an Alpha female vampire—I would dare say the Alpha female vampire. But neither of my Mistresses has made the change as yet. Xi Shi cannot prevail against even one of the baby vampires now that we have protection from the light; how will she manage hundreds and me, let alone the Master and Mistresses?”
Mr Smith frowned. “We believe she will be an Alpha, Your Grace.”
“I know, lucky bitch, but she’ll do the Master’s will or die. As long as it is my Master’s will, anything that happens to me is fine.” Amelia Fastida leaned back into Harry’s legs.
Harry shook his head. “We won’t go down that road, Mr. Smith. If Xi Shi cannot accept her place as third among equals, she will be executed.”
‘Smith’ knew he was pushing his luck, but he had to know the answer; it was why he was here. “And her past, Your Grace?”
Harry shot him a glare. “If we bond her we’ll pay what reparations are necessary and move on. An acceptable thing in her culture, I’m told.”
Li Chan and Chang Hu nodded; Hu, Cho Chang’s non-Anglicized father, spoke. “Exactly correct. Your Grace. One of the things making her a—erm—Dark Lady, as westerners refer to this type of powerful witch, is that she refuses to pay reparations. She considers all beings less powerful than herself hers to do with as she will. If they are already hers, why should she pay herself?”
Harry sat puzzling for a moment. “Like the vampires, then?”
Li Chan, Su Li’s non-Anglicized father, smiled. “Su has done well. You are very quick, Your Grace. Almost exactly like the vampires but with the addition of politics.”
Harry groaned. Bellatrix looked at Amelia Fastida. “This will be so much fun. We’ll tear her to pieces and give what’s left to the Master.” Narcissa, Emmeline, and the other Slytherin mates were nodding.
The entire population of the room blinked. Bellatrix Black and Amelia Fastida teaming up on someone portended a howling disaster for that person. Add in the Slytherin bonded and it could reach catastrophic proportions very swiftly.
Sir John almost growled. “Are you going to tell Him?”
Mr Smith shot Sir John a death glare.
Sarah leaned forward. “Tell him what?”
Sir John turned to Sarah at his companion’s stone-faced refusal. “We believe there may be another, errrh, Alpha and there is the possibility that Xi Shi is a, errrh, Primary.”
Sarah blinked. “Beg pardon?”
Mr Smith looked at Sarah’s reddening face and decided it was time to come clean. “We’ve developed and deployed a technomancer device that is capable of reading magical signatures. This device has consistently reported Xi Shi with a nearly identical reading to Harry’s, closer even than Duchess Nym or you, Duchess Sarah. Two days ago that reading went into a different part of the hold or palace Xi Shi was occupying at the time and we resolved two different readings. According to humint the reading we recorded as solely Xi Shi’s was then somewhere between Sarah and Hermione. Uh, Hermione is the closest Primary by signature, by the way. We believe the reading belongs to a fifteen-year-old body servant of Xi Shi’s named Ming Na Wen.”
The room exploded in Chinese, Mandarin first and then devolving into Cantonese. Those not involved watched like it was a tennis match. The bonded were getting Cho and Chu’s perspectives. Finally the argument wound down and Chang Hu shrugged. “Most probably the last remaining true Ming left. She was thought to be dead as her parents were killed by Xi Shi.”
Narcissa sought clarification. “Ming as in Ming Dynasty?”
“Yes, Ming—not southern Ming. In the direct line but the distaff side,” Li Chan replied.
Chang Hu shot Li Chan a look. “What my esteemed colleague is leaving out is that she is in that case the last legitimate claimant to the Imperial throne. The Qing and southern Ming are all gone.”
A thought occurred to Harry. “Hey, wait a minute. You know where her hold is. I can settle this right now. Show me.”
Mr Smith replied simply, “No.”
Smith never saw movement but was suddenly suspended in mid-air.
“It’s all right, Claire, let him down please.”
“Very impressive, Duchess. Your Grace, your operational tempo is too high as it is. I concur with your earlier plan and we won’t contribute to what could turn into a losing fight for what will be the Joint Multi-National Multi Species Magical Corps or JMNMSM-C as the planners like to call it. The various friendly national magical forces are currently fully engaged in operations in South America, the near east, and the Balkans, and you’re already committed to the campaign in Russia. It is our opinion that opening a front in China would simply overwhelm your already thinly stretched forces.”
Harry was nodding. “Hey, wait a minute—Corps?”
“Oops.”
Amanda exploded. “Oops? Bullcrap, ‘Smith’ you did that on purpose.”
Smith smiled at Amanda. “My daughter knows me too well. Yes, Your Grace, Corps. Tsarina Anastasia will soon be providing at least full-strength magical Russian Division and the U.S. will match it with a magical Division built around the First Mage Brigade. We believe you should build a full strength Goblin Division, Veela Division, a British and a European Human Division. Then of course there is the Regiment with its shape-shifting abilities and growing population. That will give you 100,000 or so magical troops and of course the Regiment, so several hundred Dragons of an intelligence and magical level never before encountered. Trust me, you’ll need the troops if anything goes wrong in Russia or if China, erm, takes steps, let’s say.”
Harry goggled at him. “That will take years.”
“Why yes, and should keep you making babies with my daughter for years, Your Grace. Military maneuvers are sooooo booooring.”
“DADDY!” a blushing Amanda shouted.
“Yes, dear?”
“Hush!”
Mr ‘Smith’, Leslie Sherman to those who had been keeping up, shook his head. “Don’t think so. I like this one and he makes good babies, which will keep your mother happy, so he needs something to do to make him think he’s useful. Corp’s command ought to give him that illusion nicely. Meanwhile I’ll keep an eye on Xi Shi and if she gets uppity, I’ll send in a wet boy or two or two hundred and—what’s that British saying? Oh: Bob’s your uncle. Hmmm, shouldn’t you be off making babies right now? I mean, you delivered Jimmy and Jeannie, what, end of July?”
“I’m right here,” Harry injected hotly.
“Yes, Harry, why don’t you take Amanda and a couple of these other girls to that lovely roof garden? I’ll stay here and scheme with the other old men. You know what they say. ‘You’re only young once’.”
Mr ‘Smith’s’ mouth kept moving but sound stopped coming out. Amanda sighed. “I’m sorry, Harry.”
The laughing Harry returned. “It’s fine. Take the Silencio off. Amanda. I got his point and he’s right. I have wives I love and kids to play with. Is he always so over the top when he has a point to make?”
“Oh, he wasn’t kidding about the babies thing, Harry. He told me he wants a hundred grandchildren from me—says it’s a nice round number. Mother is even worse.”
“You broke him, Amanda.” Nym was looking at Harry’s fish impersonation critically.
Elizabeth couldn’t stand the strain any more and broke up laughing. “Poor Harry, nothing ever goes the way he expects. He was expecting to fight either a protracted conflict or do it in a short in and out mission, and now he’s been offered enough combat power to conquer a significant portion of the world. I wonder what the Chinese have in store.”
Chu blushed, drawing more laughter. Elizabeth actually rolled her eyes. “Out with it, Chu.”
“I’ve been asked to convey the support of the Taiwanese Magical Government and the offer of a magical Division, ma’am.”
Harry finally stopped making the fish face, “Well, to summarize then: we’ll need intelligence to support:
1. Consolidation of the Realm
2. Extension of the Realm and consolidation to include Magical Asian Russia
3. Defense against moves by Xi Shi
4. Counter mobility warfare plan for both Russia and China.
“I’m going to follow my original plan and consolidate before moving on.”
As soon as Amanda finited the Silencio, Leslie immediately said, “See, Amanda, I told you I liked this one. He’s bright.”
“Daddy, hush.”
Harry looked to his seer. “Luna, anything?”
“Ming Na Wen needs a better blanket, Harry. Might as well put a stone on her while we’re there. Leaving her with Xi Shi and just defending against Xi Shi is the right thing for now. Oh, and you don’t have to take on all these troops, Harry, but we will keep the Mages.” Luna’s eyes turned white and then pale blue smoothly this time.
Harry nodded. “Geoffrey!”
Pop!
“It is done, sir.”
Pop!
“How does he do that? Gentlemen, now that you know what I want to do, do you have anything for me?” asked a smiling Harry.
Sir John spoke before Leslie Sherman, aka Mr Smith, could get his mouth in gear. “Give us a week, Harry, and we’ll have an overview and then start refining data from there. We’ll look for good sites for schools and include them in the general overview.”
Chan Li was curious. “Your Grace, how do you power the stones so far away from you?”
Harry looked distant a moment. “We changed the runeset slightly. I activate the charging rune and it draws off free, excess, raw—oh hell, whatever you want to call the background magic. It’s not as efficient, but we noticed that it keeps down the incidence of ‘causality induced error’ by lowering the background magic in a local area. We keep a couple in each room of the Royal Academy and several hundred around the Castle and Hogwarts for that reason.”
“Harry, you do listen.” Hermione was beaming at him.
“Errrh, of course I do, Hermione, how could I not?”
Li Chan was appalled. “Your Grace, the counter mobility plan could potentially consume millions of the stones.”
Harry shrugged. “They’re essentially free, Chan. We found a way to make just creek pebbles work and the runesets can be carved by the bound servants. I can activate them probably fifty thousand or more at a time. I see the real problem as getting them into place. That’s going to take a mate who can fade, or possibly we can scatter them on Dragon overflights of Russia.”
Leslie Sherman nodded. “If you can get me a standard for how big you need them, I can get our R&D folks working on an automatic dispenser a Dragon could carry. That way the Dragon could pay attention to flying.”
Harry looked at Nym. “Awful quiet, Nym.”
“Tired, Harry. Been a big day.”
“Gentlemen, ma’am, I believe we shall see you in the morning.”
Harry rose and began raising his mates. “Harry, I’ll stay here a few minutes.”
“Of course, Daphne.”
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