Categories > Books > Harry Potter > Harry Potter and the Dark Lady
Chapter 16
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 16
Royal Academy
Sports Ground
13 Oct 1996
09:00
Harry sat in the Ducal box minus his gruntle. Everything had gone so well for a week now. The Goblins were building in Chita like beavers on speed. He’d had his first real Ministry Staff meeting. What a joy that had been; the heads of departments had gone at each other like rats on a cheese over the budget but it had worked out in the end. The fact that they all acted like they were best friends now was what reinforced Harry’s belief that they were seriously deranged—fun, though.
Two attacks on vassals’ homes had resulted in the wards at the Burrow and The Ossuary having that odd “attacker stuck in them” thing going on. Emmeline and the Unspeakables were trying to figure out how to get the attackers away from the wards. Molly had almost been successful, but the idiot tried to attack her after she ordered the wards to release him. The stones snatched him back off his feet and went about pulling the Chinese wizard apart until Molly told them to stop, but this time they wouldn’t release the wizard. Arthur said Molly argued with the wards for an hour or so every day. Harry had offered to come over to the Burrow, but Arthur said no. He thought Molly enjoyed having someone to talk to while the kids were gone. Harry felt this was just another indicator that wizarding folks were barking. No, it wasn’t the same as him talking to things like stones, vaults, staffs and castles—not the same at all. “Beatrice, quit laughing.”
The Squibs were being tested to see what classes they could best benefit from. This projected increase kept the available Battalion (Goblin) working at finishing or opening up the next inner ring of the pentagons in the Pentaflake. Minerva and Chu were busy hiring more Professors, so far about two a day, after they both used their Legilimency to probe them.
The older Squibs (eighteen years old at least, if you please, young sir or madam) were volunteering for Regimental service at a frightening rate . Dan was pulling in retired officers and NCOs from the 22nd Regiment (SAS) to be a training cadre for non-magical skills. Janet had talked to a couple of her old sergeants and they had put her in touch with retired war Mages to supplement this cadre for magical training of the bound wizards and witches. Harry still couldn’t believe that they had 2700 volunteers in training and more coming every day, apparently. The language spell/potion combination that Hermione and the research group had found was amazingly helpful. It had been slightly comical to watch crusty old senior non-commissioned officers doing pantomime all day. The sergeants had somehow not been amused.
That plus the 1083 bound men that Harry had put the Regiment at 3783 sworn or bound men and women and 653 bonded as officers. With 135 men or women (troops as a generic term) and five officers (bonded) per company, three platoon leaders, one Executive Officer and one commander, four companies per battalion, and the battalion HQ consisting of ten officers and 120 troops, there were a total of thirty officers and 660 troops per battalion for five battalions and a 483-troop and thirty-officer special battalion for the new weapons coming from the technomancers and experimental tactics coming from the command trainers. Two hundred twenty bonded in the air squadron left 253 bonded to be liaisons to the Mage, Veela, and Goblin units and run the hospital and the Regimental and Divisional staff. They were rotating the most pregnant mates into the staff. It made the RTOC (Regimental Tactical Operations Center) and DTOC (Division Tactical Operations Center) places where non-mates did not waste a lot of time.
Of course a lot of the bonded were new and coming up to speed, and the troops were mostly green as grass, but the Guards Magical Infantry Regiment was now a serious threat to any and all comers—magic or Mundane. Throw in the 1st Mage Battalion (+) (US) really a Regiment minus, The First Goblin Regiment (+), and the 1st Veela Regiment (+) and Harry had 16,692 officers and men under 1st Division (Magical) command. It took a little getting used to. General Ham poked fun at Harry constantly, his verbal humor skills being on a par with the Weasley twins’ pranking ability. If you listened, though, you found yourself having a blast while learning a lot; dangerous man, General Ham. His NCOs and officers were as bad or worse, SFC Lyles and SFC Jones being the worst of the worst of them. Some twisted comment or slapstick routine was always coming from one or both of them.
Parvati and a few of the other more fashion-conscious mates were busily working the Potter tartan onto every piece of kit possible usually in some tasteful way. The issue of tartan tangas for every female in the Division had been a little much, though, Harry thought. He had been shouted down. Sergeant Lyles and Sergeant Jones showing up to observe that briefing, wearing the tangas outside their BDU trousers and standing at the back of the theater with bright, attentive faces and their little notebooks and ink pens in hand like nothing was out of order, had certainly been too much.
The deep, dark-red magically tanned fireball-hide fauld, cuisse, greaves, sabattons, vambraces, and mitten gauntlets with the Potter tartan stripe on them, to go with the Basilisk hide cuirass for the mates that Parvati and crew designed with the technomancer armorers, were outstanding. Topped with a technomancer enhanced American Advanced Combat Helmet with monocular and communications system and magically lightened, this uniform looked the business. Ladies from Hell indeed, as Phillip said.
The Regiment and Division received the same type kit but it was kevlar, magically plated in mithril, charmed and enchanted and then painted to match the officers’. The plated kevlar was almost as good as the Basilisk and Dragon armor. Harry had insisted, vigorously, several times.
The issue of the marriage contracts had come up again and it had taken two days to settle Ginny. Thankfully Fleur had intent-bonded to Bill, so the “Fleur gets a breeding from Harry to satisfy the Veela contract” part of the issue would be delayed a few years. Maybe by then Ginny would allow a modification to the contract. Harry really didn’t want to be mated to Fleur and Bill’s daughters or any of the other Weasley boys’ daughters just because someone had left one word (“unbonded”, in this case) out of a vassal marriage contract 1300 years ago.
“Grrrrrr, no, Harry!”
“In a few years we’ll talk about it again, Ginny.”
“Hmmmph!”
Harry rolled his eyes and got a light pinch on the neck from behind for his trouble.
The letters to the editor in the papers were another matter, though. People were violently upset about Dumbledore being left alive. His full list of crimes was being held by the Queen, and to the people that meant that it was horrible in the extreme. After all, hadn’t they already seen people tried and executed for every kind and manner of crime? Elizabeth refused to respond to these letters. Harry’s request that she list them in the paper was met with an outright refusal. Elizabeth would not publish something that could potentially lead to hundreds of rape victims being publicly identified. Dumbledore’s complicity in Snape’s rapes and Obliviations of the Slytherin seventh years since 1981 could do that.
Pansy stopped that line of inquiry from Harry with a pout and a very distracting series of exercises involving a pole and a room with a raised stage-type area, a low ceiling, and sound system she and several mates had created off the maze into Frieda’s nest. Hermione had been incensed when she found Harry and Pansy writhing nude onstage in the loud, bass-saturated, music-filled darkness until Judy, Harmony, and Nautica took her in hand and taught her how useful the pole and easily removable underwear could be in getting a serious bellyfull of Harry. Of course, ending up in a sensual wrestling match with several of her mates had nothing to do with it. And what was it about four-inch clear lexan platform stilettos with six-inch heels that made Harry absolutely insatiable? Of course Pansy could apparently do without hers as she spent most of her time sitting in Harry’s lap facing the stage, giving tips as to what he really seemed to like while the others danced. She said it was her right as the Dragon’s Den was her idea.
Amelia Fastida proved to be a major enhancement when she found the den. She was busy teaching the mates a very sensuous, serpentine kind of writhing that drove Harry completely mad. Hermione had been the first to show it to him and had ended up unconscious with a dreamy little smile and under Jennifer’s care for the whole next day as she recovered from being completely dominated again. Rosmerta had taken one look at what they were now calling the Dragon’s Den, called in several Shield Maidens, and Bob’s your uncle, it had a bar. The Dragon’s Den being in the warded maze was apparently not enough and it was warded against all males but Harry, and Andrew for some odd reason. They found this out when Eugenie found herself trapped in the wards and Emmeline ran a scan of them. She and Hestia had then spent a day tuning the wards to distinguish between wards and bonded rather than all non-Harry males and females under a certain age.
The Prime Ministers (Actual and Shadow) and Lord President of the Privy Council had come to Harry with the idea of forming a government for the magical Realm based on representation. They had essentially proposed the British two-party, two-House parliamentary system. Bellatrix had taken the lead on looking at their proposal and discussing it with them and the Wizengamot. She was in heaven, as were the mates in her group. Bella and they were not as interested in money like Narcissa and her group, but politics—now there was something she and they could manage for Harry, themselves too. This would be fun.
Harry had rolled his eyes and given her a pat on the rump and her group a mental cuddle and sent them into the fray. John Major, Tony Blair, and Tony Newton found them all, but especially Bellatrix, to be a politically astute, aggressively perceptive advocates for Harry’s rights. Obviously the magical Realm would be slightly different politically. Bellatrix vigorously defended Harry’s absolute right to rule with a series of checks on the elected government and magical peerage ending in an American concept, the veto, that could only be overcome by a unanimous vote of both Houses—a physical impossibility since several mates were peers. To their chagrin, Elizabeth approved Bellatrix’s plans without reservation. Of course they knew Harry would approve; she was, after all, his slave and could not act in other than his interest, aside from the fact that she gave every appearance of being completely in love and he was constantly in her mind and she in his. The Mundane politicians were having a grand time maneuvering with her and her group. It was a pleasure jousting with beautiful, vibrant, erudite, completely Machiavellian opponents as opposed to the sometimes crusty, ancient, ham-handed, mostly male MPs they were used to. This was politics as art.
Na Wen still seemed fine; Xi Shi was apparently attempting to gain influence in the political side of China. This could only be trouble, but Bellatrix and Amelia Fastida along with the rest of the Slytherin and vampire mates had developed some kind of network based on Li Chan and Chang Hu’s contacts, and they were having a blast countering her moves.
Of course the merchants of Diagon were up in arms, sending that letter from their association to Harry as their landlord after they saw the plans for the rebuilt magical city and mall in Chita Oblast. It was destined to be attached to the Imperial Palaces and Royal Academy Chita campus by magical tube as well as transport Arms, which meant Harry was going to have to spend some money upgrading Diagon; but it was time. There wasn’t a square or true building in Diagon or its feeder alleys, Knockturn and the Fidelius-charmed Dragon Alley, the magical Chinatown of London. Chang Hu and Ollivander were running that with Susan as the Primary mate and Clarissa doing the heavy lifting with a group of bonded. Dragon Alley had appeared to the bonded through their tie to Cho, and the Division knew about it after Grindaknívur, Rowena, and Roxanne modified the existing Fidelius charms to not exclude the Divisional troops when they put the Fidelius on Riddles’ last location. One of Susan’s goals was to get the Fidelius lifted or shifted to the residential portions of the buildings in Dragon Alley, which ran nearly to Finsbury. Unraveling and reweaving the hiding charms of twenty-eight acres in the middle of Greater London was going to be a problem, though, especially given that Harry and the Queen both felt Obliviation should only be used in extremis.
The merchants didn’t know it, but Narcissa licensing them to have stalls at the sports ground on Wednesday, Saturday, and Sunday were paying for the refurbishing and expansions they were requesting. Narcissa was very pleased with her group for dreaming that up, and Billhook wanted to make them all honorary Goblins until Roxanne pointed out they were already Goblin Goddesses. That had been a bright spot for Harry, watching Billhook’s fish impersonation.
Who knew Cho would have that fit over the former Hogwarts Express? The train had been disused since the transport Arms and warded apparition points came online, but Cho did have a point about tradition. As soon as she, the ’Claws, Hermione, and Emmeline could get the details worked out, the train would start running to all the schools, Platform Nine and Three-Quarters, and the other magical shopping districts of the Realm on a continuous loop. They would add a section of track and station to each school and each shopping district that didn’t have one already. The new schools would get their section and station as a part of the standard construction plans.
Apparently the plan was to have the train run up to speed on a section of track and then hit a set of transport Arms. It would then brake its way into the next station after being transported to its attached set of tracks, with the energy being absorbed as magic by a charging stone with a braking charm which would pass the energy to the charms that made the train go at a minimal loss. The whole thing made Harry’s head ache, but the Technomancy, Arithmancy, Runes, and Charms departments were wetting themselves over the whole thing and points were showering down on students of all the Houses like manna from heaven.
The train would cost from one to fifteen Knuts, depending on how far you rode; return at a discount of five percent.
Not to be left out, the Potions, Transfiguration, and Alchemy departments appeared to be closing on the cures for lycanthropy and vampirism. Along the way potions and alchemical concoctions, as well as new Transfiguration, Conjuration, and Animagus processes, were flying out of the Masters classes with the work being done by the whole departments.
Pomona, not to be left out, had the Herbologists raising plants not seen in a thousand years with the seeds from the Hufflepuff vault. Some of them were absolute hazards now that they were maturing and fruiting. The ecstatic little greenies were constantly running around in Level Four self-contained armored hazmat suits.
“Hey!”
“What, Hannah?”
“Ecstatic little greenies, Harry?”
“Errrh...large happy herbologist?”
“Grrrr!”
“You’d better leave out the large or small, Harry.”
“Okay, Anna.”
“Grrrrr!”
“Yes, yes, Hannah. Go back to what you were doing, Harry.”
“Yes, Anna.”
All in all a good week, so Harry was sitting waiting for the other shoe to drop.
Nym abandoned all propriety and crawled into his lap and snuggled in. She was soon humming, with her head lying on Harry’s chest. Play in the Ravenclaw-on-Ravenclaw match actually slowed and halted as everyone watched this unheard-of public display of affection for a moment.
Xiomara Hooch, umpire for this game, finally called time and gave everyone a moment. Play restarted but Nym stayed right where she was. The crowd and players eventually got used to it.
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Vilnius, Poland
Aušros Vartai Street
13 Oct 1996
11:40
August IV, born Augustus Wettin, the last Jagiellonowie and son of the last Wettin to rule the commonwealth of Lithuania and Poland and nearest thing Poland had left to a King looked out over the hall at the assembled magical nobles of Central Europe. Nobles from Lithuania, Belarusia, Poland, Ukraine, Latvia, and Estonia shouted at each other in the hall of what once had been a grand palace but was now a run-down hovel chopped into tiny apartments by the Communists. It was pointless, really—well, at least for him. The Realm had chosen its ruler and he could feel it. On top of that, Duke Potter had taken Amelia Fastida to wife and the Holy Father had blessed him and Amelia Fastida. That had been a bit of a shock, but that letter could be interpreted no other way.
“Duke Potter and his bonded, including Amelia Fastida and the other vampire and werewolf bonded, have the blessing of the Holy Roman Church and their union shall not be parted by any save our Lord. Signed His Holiness John Paul II blah blah blah.”
These idiots shouting about it would not stop the Duke from taking over their countries. It remained to be seen whether the Duke would reinstall the Congress Kingdom under this granddaughter of MikoĊaj II who was rumored to have appeared in Russia, or appoint some other ruler, or simply rule himself. Time to turn the argument to useful things like getting these idiots ready to swear fealty—he was getting too old for this at 186. Admittedly his was a long-lived line, but the Communist era and years of war, both Mundane and magical, could take it out of a fellow. Oh well, time to go to work.
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China/Russia border
North of Manzhouli
13 Oct 1996
18:50
Hong, if you could translate her Dragon name, looked around at the burnt and twisted metal thing that stank of sulfur and death. Dragons had died here, two-legs too. All that was left now was the smell. So the two-legs had taken the Dragon bodies as they normally did. The Dragon death-smell was coming to her from the west. She would keep going. The idiot males had let themselves be led by the promises of the female two-legs; they had not returned. The result for her and her females was the same: she would need to find another male worthy of her. Feh, not that the last had been, but he was better than nothing and the best of those in the area.
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Chita, Russia
Siberian Military District HQ
Operations Center
13 Oct 1996
19:00
Pitior Romanovskaya, Duke Romanovskaya, had been watching the screens as the Russian ADA net, to which they were still connected, painted the large target coming from China on a searching course. He had a sinking feeling he knew what it was as he watched it followed the course the Dragons had from the border. Pitior had had the fourth—oops, Tsarina’s first tank army out scouring the Oblast finding Dragon bodies and recovering casualties from the fight and rendering aid, so he knew that course. The Tsarina’s elves had been mining the Dragon carcasses they and the tank army found for her and removing the parts. The Goblins were working on the facilities and the palace still, along with the Tsarina’s school, but they helped where they could.
Well, better get an infantry battalion out there in case he had to fight this thing off.
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The Royal Academy
Sports Ground
13 Oct 1996
10:00
“Merlin’s flaming penis!”
Nym nodded at Harry’s outburst as she sat up. “The wards at Chita?”
Harry nodded. “You know, just one day off! This is a good game.”
Cho smiled. “We can have them wait, Harry.”
“No, Cho, this will only take a minute, I hope. It’s only the one Dragon.”
Nym nodded. “Well, let’s go then, Harry.”
“What do you mean ‘let’s’, Nym? I’ve got it.”
“You’re kidding, right, Harry? Even when I’m with you, you run around touching things.”
“That’s not fair, Nym. It’s worked out so far.”
“Only because—”
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Chita, Russia
13 Oct 1996
19:02
“—you’ve been lucky, Harry. Hey!”
Anastasia smirked at her Alphas. “You can argue here as well as there, Nym. I’ll go find Pitior.”
Pitior trotted up and bowed. “Tsarina, we were not expecting you.”
“Pitior, you know there’s a Dragon on the way here?”
“Yes, Tsarina. I have a battalion getting ready.”
Anastasia looked at him. “We, or rather Duke Potter, will handle the Dragon, Pitior.”
Pitior looked at Harry. “All respect, Tsarina, but he is one man—and yours. Too important to risk. We have hundreds of soldiers here eating cabbage and borscht and getting fat.”
“Who would only get killed, Pitior. The Duke will handle the Dragon when it gets here.”
“Will he be through arguing with the other Tsarina by then, Tsarina?”
Anastasia looked around to see Harry and Nym wandering over the enormous construction site that was Chita in a very animated discussion of what building was going where. Harry was waving his arms in huge, expansive gestures while Nym was studying Harry and poking fun. She smiled. “They’re not arguing, Pitior, they’re discussing. Vigorously.”
“Yes, Tsarina.”
Pitior stoically turned and trotted off to bring the infantry battalion into guard positions.
Anastasia caught up with Harry and Nym as the rest of the bonded faded into Chita.
“Ah-ah-ah, don’t touch, Harry.”
“Nym, it’s a trowel. One of the Goblin masons must have forgotten it.”
“It’s covered in Goblin runes, Harry. Leave it alone.”
“These are the mason runes, Nym. It’s completely magically inert away from its mason—like a wand, really.”
Grindaknívur, who had joined them, rolled her eyes. “Nym, it’s fine. Harry, I’ll return it to Private—erm—Poleyn. Knee Armor? Who names a goblet Knee Armor? Must be one of Tuningfork’s—probably the size of a troll.” She took the trowel and tucked it in her harness.
Narcissa winced. Maul would probably kill the private for losing a tool. “Nym, what’s wrong with you? Why are you so moody?”
Nym huffed. “Pregnant.”
Narcissa grimaced. “It’s too early for that, Nym. Marcia?”
Marcia faded to the group and scanned Nym. “Elevated hormones. It’s too early for this. Jennifer?”
Harry backed away as Nym became the focus of the mates. He wandered over to Pitior and tried out his Russian. “Pitior, how long?”
Pitior looked up, surprised at the Grand Duke addressing him in Russian. “Ten minutes or so, sir.”
“Anyone giving you trouble, Pitior?”
“No, sir—well, nothing me and the other Praporshchik can’t handle.”
“Let me know if you need help, Pitior. Well—I’d better change.”
Pitior was suddenly looking at the giant black Dragon with the green eyes, and it finally dawned on him that the Duke was Anastasia’s Dragon Duke. He rolled on the ground laughing. Harry looked offended. Pitior finally managed. “It’s not you, sir—it just never occurred to me you were the Tsarina’s pet Dragon.”
Harry managed to look offended and sheepish at the same time, all as a Dragon. Pitior took off in gales of laughter again.
Anastasia and the other mates approached the commotion. “Duke Romanovskya, have your troopers hold their fire, please.”
“Tsarina,” he managed and then laughed some more.
“Oh, go on, Pitior. It isn’t that funny.”
Harry bunched and leapt into the air. The mates followed him with their eyes.
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Hong had followed the scent and soon saw a two-leg nest, or what remained of one. A few of the two-legs were moving around. She started an orbit and watched.
Suddenly an awesome Emperor Dragon appeared among the two-legs, and a moment later he leapt skyward. Hong knew what had happened to the males now. If they had entered the Emperor’s territory, and the smell said they had, then they were dead.
Hmm, look at him, gorgeous—and Pan Gu, the power! You could taste it from here. Hong lined up on the Emperor and accelerated. She had no fear; the worst he would do to her was exactly what she wanted. An Alpha couldn’t do better than this one.
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“She’s seen him, Nym.”
“I know, Frieda.”
“Errrh, Nym—ah, if she gets close they’ll fight, which will lead to Harry covering her.”
“I know, Frieda. Sarah and I will dominate her after Harry covers her. I wonder what she’ll look like as a human?”
Frieda looked at the huge female fireball.“Better sit down. She’s probably as old as me—this will be a lot to take in.”
The mates nodded and sat. Frieda was right. They watched the midair collision and then felt Harry’s surprise at the fireball being a female. He struggled with her in the air, instinctively trying not to hurt her while she bit or clawed at every spot she knew would excite him. Harry fled higher and the fireball gleefully pursued.
Frieda chuckled. “She has him now; he’ll cover her soon.”
“Nym! I can’t—”
“Harry, pay attention to the fireball. You killed all her males; the least you can do is cover her.”
“!*@&#^$%”
“Harry, that didn’t even come out in my head. Stop grumbling and get on with it. We’re missing the game.”
The mates chuckled and felt Harry as he fled to the upper reaches of the atmosphere and then gave in and covered the fireball. Ooooh, Hong, good name for her. Oh, again, mmmm...and now we can feel her side. Uh-oh, we’re in a mood—that’s three, four, five...damn, Harry...six. Oh my...seven!
Nym tensed. “Harry, ground.”
“Hehehe!”
“Harry!” Nym was mad now.
Harry lowered Hong gently to the ground in his talons and covered her one last time. He passed out and the mates were left with a gigantic tangle of unconscious Dragons.
“Morgana, Harry!”
“hehehe”
“Ashley, Sarah, and Samantha Crawfield, go clear the front of the box, please.”
“Yes, Nym.”
“Sarah, Hestia, Hermione, Daphne, Susan, Ginny, Beatrice, and Eugenie, help me with Duke Dunderhead. We’ll fade him and Hong to the front of the box.”
“Hey!”
“Hush, Harry!”
“Anastasia, give our apologies to Pitior.”
“Of course, Nym.”
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The Royal Academy
Sports Ground
13 Oct 1996
10:40
“Percival Gribbs reporting from the Royal Academy sports ground for those of you just joining us after the break. A cracking game this, ladies and gentlemen. Ninety all after an hour of play, and the Gryffindors seem to be a perfectly even match. The Royal Keeper and Captain Ron Weasley having a professional-caliber afternoon—listen to that crowd singing Weasley is our King! I’ll bet his Cannons will be lining up for him with the rest of the league after today, while Alicia Spinnet, Chaser and Captain of the Hogwarts Gryffindors, has led her team to stay even with truly inspired play. Those nine goals that got through would have been impossible for anyone to stop. Impossible shots from improbable passes at unlikely angles. If the Royal Chasers were near Ms Spinnet’s Chasers’ level, this game would have been a runaway win for the Royal Gryffs. As it is now, it looks to come down to the Seekers, and the Snitch has been devilish hard to find today with the overcast.
“The Duke and Duchesses Potter are still not returned to their box from wherever they all left to a little over forty minutes ago. Oh, wait—here are three of the younger bonded returning to the Ducal box and clearing out the bottom third of it. Oh, the vassals don’t seemed pleased with having to move higher in the box. Saints and martyrs, ladies and gentlemen—the Duchesses Nymphadora and Sarah have just arrived with several other Duchesses standing on what appear to be two—yes, two enormous Dragons. The Dragons appear to be unconscious. Stay tuned, ladies and gentlemen. It looks to be another grand day of sport and court here on WWN Sports. I’m Percival Gribbs. And now a word from our sponsors for today’s broadcast.”
Percival cut his eyes toward the movement he saw and gaped at the sight of Bruce Titterhorn doing a little jig in the corner of the technical booth.
“Tired of Madam Malkin’s tired styles? Want to look like a Duchess? Come shop where they shop—Glad Rags of Hogsmeade. We have the styles and fits for the modern young witch to catch a Duke’s eye. Proudly serving the modern witch.”
“And now our other sponsor for this afternoon’s sport and court broadcast.”
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While the commercials were running, Percy was watching several interesting developments. The Dragons, the Duchesses returning of course, but more importantly, Glenda was in the back of the booth pouring the “charm” all over Bruce now that he had stopped his little jig. Where had she come from? If she showed him any more cleavage she’d have to shave it first. Apparently she had decided the sport and court show could use a color commentator and she was determined to be it. How she thought that look down her top was going to help her with Titterhorn, Percy had no idea. Meanwhile it looked like Madam Malkin was heading for a duel with Natalie MacDonald, owner of Glad Rags. Sundays were so much fun any more that they made the rest of the week worthwhile.
In the Ducal box Nym flopped into a seat and her mates gathered around her. She waved absently and disappeared suddenly from the view of those outside the box, under a silvery dome. From the inside the view was barely obscured at all. Tulip and the other nanny elves brought in the children.
Elizabeth and Andromeda sighed at the same time. Molly and Esmeralda chuckled and waited. Nym obliged. “What, Mother?”
“Ooooh, moody much, Nymphadora?”
“Grrrrr.”
“Stop that, Nymphadora, and explain why Harry is lying down there in his Dragon and who exactly is that Chinese fireball you brought with him, and where is Anastas—” Anastasia faded in. “Never mind about Anastasia,” Andromeda amended.
Nym rolled her eyes and mocked her mother silently for a second.
“Nymphadora!”
Sarah shook her head. “Something is wrong with her, Andromeda. Her hormones are all out of whack.”
“That will be normal with two magical pregnancies close together. Poor Arthur, I think he developed his interest in those Muggle things and that shed during Percy.”
Every woman in the crowded box turned their head to Molly; she shrugged. “S’true.”
Elizabeth sighed. “Perhaps a little more information, Molly, while His Grace is napping.”
Phillip led the male exodus to the dueling arena; this discussion on top of the breast feeding was too much for the male vassals. Elizabeth frowned as she watched the rout: complete cowards, all of them. “Before we get there, Sarah, who is the fireball?”
Nym sat up and answered. “I’m sorry, Elizabeth, Mother. The fireball is the Alpha Chinese Fireball. Her name translates to Hong in Chinese; it would be Red, literally translated to English, but there are a lot of connotations lost in the translation. Harry is asleep and she’s unconscious because he covered her eight times. Apparently my—errrh—mood, errrh...rubbed off on him.”
Molly nodded and opened her mouth, but Elizabeth interrupted. “I’m sorry, Molly, but Nym, dear, is it—ahh—well, will Hong be all right when she wakes up?”
“Oh yes, Elizabeth, she’s in the bond rampaging around right now.”
Dana, who had been down looking at Harry and Hong since about a minute after they faded in, nodded. “She’s physically apparently fine, ma’am—exhausted apparently, but fine. Harry too.”
“Thank you, dears. Now Molly, what can you tell us?”
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The Royal Academy
Sports Ground
13 Oct 1996
11:00
“What about that Dragon, Andrew?”
“Sarah says she’s fine, Dad.”
Charlie was looking a little unconvinced. “Not to be a wet blanket, Andrew, but that’s a massive fireball. If she wakes up she’s going to hurt somebody.”
“Oh, I say—good catch, Hogwarts.”
The males all looked up at Phillip’s outcry in time to see Hogwarts’ Gryffindor Seeker display the Snitch for a 250 to 100 win.
Andrew just looked at Charlie, who soon blushed deeply, drawing chuckles. Andrew nodded. “That’s right. It won’t be much of a problem as she won’t hurt her mates.”
For the rest of the day kids joined the crowd of females crowding the bottom of the booth and looking in whenever the shield was transparent. The kids were thrilled; they were literally inches from two enormous Dragons. Of course the older females were put out because the Dragons were blocking the view of the babies. The first Warg girls on the scene figured out it was a female Dragon and things soon became much more interesting as the word spread. Giggles and blushes abounded. Harry’s gentle, contented sounding snoring and the smoke gently wafting from his nostrils added to the giggles, and Hong’s very definite “cat who got the canary” face and the forepaw resting on Harry’s cheek drew the blushes. Who would have thought two large, deadly creatures could look so cute—like one of those cheesy kneazle kitten photographs, really.
Imelda got dozenss of pictures before an exasperated Joseph came and collected her.
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The Royal Academy
Sports Ground
13 Oct 1996
20:30
After the matches all finished, Percival nodded to Daniel and got a nod back. He flipped on his microphone. “Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. Percival Gribbs, WWN Sports 1 and—”
“—Daniel Boxlighter for WWN Sports 2.”
Percival smiled and continued. “It’s 8:30 p.m. and time for Court. A great day of sport we’ve had, and we’ll be doing a roundup after the potentially short Court session scheduled for tonight before we turn you over to Glenda Chittock for the Sunday night serenade.
“Today for Court we have two young men from northern Europe accused of accosting a Duchess in the execution of her duties and two young men from Eastern Europe accused of assaulting a Duchess in the execution of her duties. And here we go, ladies and gentlemen. Duchess Hestia has stepped onto the pitch. Let’s listen in.”
Hestia stepped out onto the pitch and opened Court. She waved the prisoners forth and they were interrogated one at a time.
As she did this, Nym was waking Harry up.
Percival was watching. “A little different tonight, ladies and gentlemen. The Duke seems to be refusing to shift back to his human form. He has awakened, though. Oh my, what a tongue. Duchess Nymphadora just got a huge lick from our Dragon Duke and she is not pleased. The Duke is receiving a serious upbraiding for that lick. Oh my—apparently unphased, he’s sneaked in another one.”
Daniel couldn’t resist. “Amazingly dextrous use of the tongue there, though, Percival. I believe he got her front and back at the same time.”
Percival stared at Daniel in shock. Daniel smirked and continued. “Duchess Nymphadora isn’t taking that lying down and has chivvied the Duke onto the pitch using some heavy stinging hexes. Duke Harry is staying in his Dragon. Bad news for these young men and they know it, let me tell you.”
Percival regained his wits. “Yes, they do, Daniel.” Daniel got a dirty look and several hand and arm signals. “The interrogations have wound down and I believe we’re ready for a judgment from the Duke.”
Daniel jumped back in. “Yes, it appears so, Percival. The Duke doesn’t look happy, especially if that twelve-foot flame out the nostrils is any indication. Looks to be a hot time for these young ruffians tonight, but not the hot they were expecting, I’d wager.”
Percival was waiting for Daniel to take this breath. “I think you’d win that bet, Daniel. Well, the Duke has apparently decided and all the young men have landed on the pitch. The Duke, still in his Dragon form, has joined them. This looks to be over soon, Daniel. Better get your summary of today’s action ready.”
“It’s ready to go Percival—just like the Duke, apparently. More magic from the Duke, and the young toughs are armed but it looks hopeless for them. Here we go, ladies and gentlemen—an apparently unrestricted four-on-Dragon duel to the death. And one young tough opened with an AK. The Duke appears to be laughing. Several blasting hexes now, and they didn’t even ruffle his scales. The Duke is playing with these men literally between his front paws, like a kneazle with a puffskein. Oh, there’s one young tough gone—the Duke flamed him to ash. That was one of the ones charged with assault—and there goes his partner.”
Percival jumped back in. “The other two have apparently surrendered and the Duke, changed back to human now, has Marked them. Moral of the story for those who haven’t figured it out is apparently ‘never touch a Duchess’.”
“I’d say so, Percival. Duchess Hestia is winding up Court and the two new bound men are being escorted away.”
Nym stood on the pitch shaking her head. “Harry, you didn’t ask the Wizengamot.”
“Wouldn’t have mattered, Nym. You don’t touch one of my wives, children, chattel, or vassals with intent and live.”
Nym looked at Harry. She didn’t know whether to kiss him or kick him; she settled for taking his arm. “Take me home, Harry. I’m tired.”
“Certainly, my lady. Hey, where’s Hong?”
“Frieda took her back to the apartment, Harry. Hong wants to change when she wakes up in the morning, so Frieda is going to work on it with her.”
Harry nodded and the bonded faded away.
Elizabeth shook her head and smiled. “Phillip, let’s go to the Castle.”
“Certainly, ma’am.” Phillip held out his arm and led Elizabeth to the transport Arms at the top of the box.
Chapter 16
Royal Academy
Sports Ground
13 Oct 1996
09:00
Harry sat in the Ducal box minus his gruntle. Everything had gone so well for a week now. The Goblins were building in Chita like beavers on speed. He’d had his first real Ministry Staff meeting. What a joy that had been; the heads of departments had gone at each other like rats on a cheese over the budget but it had worked out in the end. The fact that they all acted like they were best friends now was what reinforced Harry’s belief that they were seriously deranged—fun, though.
Two attacks on vassals’ homes had resulted in the wards at the Burrow and The Ossuary having that odd “attacker stuck in them” thing going on. Emmeline and the Unspeakables were trying to figure out how to get the attackers away from the wards. Molly had almost been successful, but the idiot tried to attack her after she ordered the wards to release him. The stones snatched him back off his feet and went about pulling the Chinese wizard apart until Molly told them to stop, but this time they wouldn’t release the wizard. Arthur said Molly argued with the wards for an hour or so every day. Harry had offered to come over to the Burrow, but Arthur said no. He thought Molly enjoyed having someone to talk to while the kids were gone. Harry felt this was just another indicator that wizarding folks were barking. No, it wasn’t the same as him talking to things like stones, vaults, staffs and castles—not the same at all. “Beatrice, quit laughing.”
The Squibs were being tested to see what classes they could best benefit from. This projected increase kept the available Battalion (Goblin) working at finishing or opening up the next inner ring of the pentagons in the Pentaflake. Minerva and Chu were busy hiring more Professors, so far about two a day, after they both used their Legilimency to probe them.
The older Squibs (eighteen years old at least, if you please, young sir or madam) were volunteering for Regimental service at a frightening rate . Dan was pulling in retired officers and NCOs from the 22nd Regiment (SAS) to be a training cadre for non-magical skills. Janet had talked to a couple of her old sergeants and they had put her in touch with retired war Mages to supplement this cadre for magical training of the bound wizards and witches. Harry still couldn’t believe that they had 2700 volunteers in training and more coming every day, apparently. The language spell/potion combination that Hermione and the research group had found was amazingly helpful. It had been slightly comical to watch crusty old senior non-commissioned officers doing pantomime all day. The sergeants had somehow not been amused.
That plus the 1083 bound men that Harry had put the Regiment at 3783 sworn or bound men and women and 653 bonded as officers. With 135 men or women (troops as a generic term) and five officers (bonded) per company, three platoon leaders, one Executive Officer and one commander, four companies per battalion, and the battalion HQ consisting of ten officers and 120 troops, there were a total of thirty officers and 660 troops per battalion for five battalions and a 483-troop and thirty-officer special battalion for the new weapons coming from the technomancers and experimental tactics coming from the command trainers. Two hundred twenty bonded in the air squadron left 253 bonded to be liaisons to the Mage, Veela, and Goblin units and run the hospital and the Regimental and Divisional staff. They were rotating the most pregnant mates into the staff. It made the RTOC (Regimental Tactical Operations Center) and DTOC (Division Tactical Operations Center) places where non-mates did not waste a lot of time.
Of course a lot of the bonded were new and coming up to speed, and the troops were mostly green as grass, but the Guards Magical Infantry Regiment was now a serious threat to any and all comers—magic or Mundane. Throw in the 1st Mage Battalion (+) (US) really a Regiment minus, The First Goblin Regiment (+), and the 1st Veela Regiment (+) and Harry had 16,692 officers and men under 1st Division (Magical) command. It took a little getting used to. General Ham poked fun at Harry constantly, his verbal humor skills being on a par with the Weasley twins’ pranking ability. If you listened, though, you found yourself having a blast while learning a lot; dangerous man, General Ham. His NCOs and officers were as bad or worse, SFC Lyles and SFC Jones being the worst of the worst of them. Some twisted comment or slapstick routine was always coming from one or both of them.
Parvati and a few of the other more fashion-conscious mates were busily working the Potter tartan onto every piece of kit possible usually in some tasteful way. The issue of tartan tangas for every female in the Division had been a little much, though, Harry thought. He had been shouted down. Sergeant Lyles and Sergeant Jones showing up to observe that briefing, wearing the tangas outside their BDU trousers and standing at the back of the theater with bright, attentive faces and their little notebooks and ink pens in hand like nothing was out of order, had certainly been too much.
The deep, dark-red magically tanned fireball-hide fauld, cuisse, greaves, sabattons, vambraces, and mitten gauntlets with the Potter tartan stripe on them, to go with the Basilisk hide cuirass for the mates that Parvati and crew designed with the technomancer armorers, were outstanding. Topped with a technomancer enhanced American Advanced Combat Helmet with monocular and communications system and magically lightened, this uniform looked the business. Ladies from Hell indeed, as Phillip said.
The Regiment and Division received the same type kit but it was kevlar, magically plated in mithril, charmed and enchanted and then painted to match the officers’. The plated kevlar was almost as good as the Basilisk and Dragon armor. Harry had insisted, vigorously, several times.
The issue of the marriage contracts had come up again and it had taken two days to settle Ginny. Thankfully Fleur had intent-bonded to Bill, so the “Fleur gets a breeding from Harry to satisfy the Veela contract” part of the issue would be delayed a few years. Maybe by then Ginny would allow a modification to the contract. Harry really didn’t want to be mated to Fleur and Bill’s daughters or any of the other Weasley boys’ daughters just because someone had left one word (“unbonded”, in this case) out of a vassal marriage contract 1300 years ago.
“Grrrrrr, no, Harry!”
“In a few years we’ll talk about it again, Ginny.”
“Hmmmph!”
Harry rolled his eyes and got a light pinch on the neck from behind for his trouble.
The letters to the editor in the papers were another matter, though. People were violently upset about Dumbledore being left alive. His full list of crimes was being held by the Queen, and to the people that meant that it was horrible in the extreme. After all, hadn’t they already seen people tried and executed for every kind and manner of crime? Elizabeth refused to respond to these letters. Harry’s request that she list them in the paper was met with an outright refusal. Elizabeth would not publish something that could potentially lead to hundreds of rape victims being publicly identified. Dumbledore’s complicity in Snape’s rapes and Obliviations of the Slytherin seventh years since 1981 could do that.
Pansy stopped that line of inquiry from Harry with a pout and a very distracting series of exercises involving a pole and a room with a raised stage-type area, a low ceiling, and sound system she and several mates had created off the maze into Frieda’s nest. Hermione had been incensed when she found Harry and Pansy writhing nude onstage in the loud, bass-saturated, music-filled darkness until Judy, Harmony, and Nautica took her in hand and taught her how useful the pole and easily removable underwear could be in getting a serious bellyfull of Harry. Of course, ending up in a sensual wrestling match with several of her mates had nothing to do with it. And what was it about four-inch clear lexan platform stilettos with six-inch heels that made Harry absolutely insatiable? Of course Pansy could apparently do without hers as she spent most of her time sitting in Harry’s lap facing the stage, giving tips as to what he really seemed to like while the others danced. She said it was her right as the Dragon’s Den was her idea.
Amelia Fastida proved to be a major enhancement when she found the den. She was busy teaching the mates a very sensuous, serpentine kind of writhing that drove Harry completely mad. Hermione had been the first to show it to him and had ended up unconscious with a dreamy little smile and under Jennifer’s care for the whole next day as she recovered from being completely dominated again. Rosmerta had taken one look at what they were now calling the Dragon’s Den, called in several Shield Maidens, and Bob’s your uncle, it had a bar. The Dragon’s Den being in the warded maze was apparently not enough and it was warded against all males but Harry, and Andrew for some odd reason. They found this out when Eugenie found herself trapped in the wards and Emmeline ran a scan of them. She and Hestia had then spent a day tuning the wards to distinguish between wards and bonded rather than all non-Harry males and females under a certain age.
The Prime Ministers (Actual and Shadow) and Lord President of the Privy Council had come to Harry with the idea of forming a government for the magical Realm based on representation. They had essentially proposed the British two-party, two-House parliamentary system. Bellatrix had taken the lead on looking at their proposal and discussing it with them and the Wizengamot. She was in heaven, as were the mates in her group. Bella and they were not as interested in money like Narcissa and her group, but politics—now there was something she and they could manage for Harry, themselves too. This would be fun.
Harry had rolled his eyes and given her a pat on the rump and her group a mental cuddle and sent them into the fray. John Major, Tony Blair, and Tony Newton found them all, but especially Bellatrix, to be a politically astute, aggressively perceptive advocates for Harry’s rights. Obviously the magical Realm would be slightly different politically. Bellatrix vigorously defended Harry’s absolute right to rule with a series of checks on the elected government and magical peerage ending in an American concept, the veto, that could only be overcome by a unanimous vote of both Houses—a physical impossibility since several mates were peers. To their chagrin, Elizabeth approved Bellatrix’s plans without reservation. Of course they knew Harry would approve; she was, after all, his slave and could not act in other than his interest, aside from the fact that she gave every appearance of being completely in love and he was constantly in her mind and she in his. The Mundane politicians were having a grand time maneuvering with her and her group. It was a pleasure jousting with beautiful, vibrant, erudite, completely Machiavellian opponents as opposed to the sometimes crusty, ancient, ham-handed, mostly male MPs they were used to. This was politics as art.
Na Wen still seemed fine; Xi Shi was apparently attempting to gain influence in the political side of China. This could only be trouble, but Bellatrix and Amelia Fastida along with the rest of the Slytherin and vampire mates had developed some kind of network based on Li Chan and Chang Hu’s contacts, and they were having a blast countering her moves.
Of course the merchants of Diagon were up in arms, sending that letter from their association to Harry as their landlord after they saw the plans for the rebuilt magical city and mall in Chita Oblast. It was destined to be attached to the Imperial Palaces and Royal Academy Chita campus by magical tube as well as transport Arms, which meant Harry was going to have to spend some money upgrading Diagon; but it was time. There wasn’t a square or true building in Diagon or its feeder alleys, Knockturn and the Fidelius-charmed Dragon Alley, the magical Chinatown of London. Chang Hu and Ollivander were running that with Susan as the Primary mate and Clarissa doing the heavy lifting with a group of bonded. Dragon Alley had appeared to the bonded through their tie to Cho, and the Division knew about it after Grindaknívur, Rowena, and Roxanne modified the existing Fidelius charms to not exclude the Divisional troops when they put the Fidelius on Riddles’ last location. One of Susan’s goals was to get the Fidelius lifted or shifted to the residential portions of the buildings in Dragon Alley, which ran nearly to Finsbury. Unraveling and reweaving the hiding charms of twenty-eight acres in the middle of Greater London was going to be a problem, though, especially given that Harry and the Queen both felt Obliviation should only be used in extremis.
The merchants didn’t know it, but Narcissa licensing them to have stalls at the sports ground on Wednesday, Saturday, and Sunday were paying for the refurbishing and expansions they were requesting. Narcissa was very pleased with her group for dreaming that up, and Billhook wanted to make them all honorary Goblins until Roxanne pointed out they were already Goblin Goddesses. That had been a bright spot for Harry, watching Billhook’s fish impersonation.
Who knew Cho would have that fit over the former Hogwarts Express? The train had been disused since the transport Arms and warded apparition points came online, but Cho did have a point about tradition. As soon as she, the ’Claws, Hermione, and Emmeline could get the details worked out, the train would start running to all the schools, Platform Nine and Three-Quarters, and the other magical shopping districts of the Realm on a continuous loop. They would add a section of track and station to each school and each shopping district that didn’t have one already. The new schools would get their section and station as a part of the standard construction plans.
Apparently the plan was to have the train run up to speed on a section of track and then hit a set of transport Arms. It would then brake its way into the next station after being transported to its attached set of tracks, with the energy being absorbed as magic by a charging stone with a braking charm which would pass the energy to the charms that made the train go at a minimal loss. The whole thing made Harry’s head ache, but the Technomancy, Arithmancy, Runes, and Charms departments were wetting themselves over the whole thing and points were showering down on students of all the Houses like manna from heaven.
The train would cost from one to fifteen Knuts, depending on how far you rode; return at a discount of five percent.
Not to be left out, the Potions, Transfiguration, and Alchemy departments appeared to be closing on the cures for lycanthropy and vampirism. Along the way potions and alchemical concoctions, as well as new Transfiguration, Conjuration, and Animagus processes, were flying out of the Masters classes with the work being done by the whole departments.
Pomona, not to be left out, had the Herbologists raising plants not seen in a thousand years with the seeds from the Hufflepuff vault. Some of them were absolute hazards now that they were maturing and fruiting. The ecstatic little greenies were constantly running around in Level Four self-contained armored hazmat suits.
“Hey!”
“What, Hannah?”
“Ecstatic little greenies, Harry?”
“Errrh...large happy herbologist?”
“Grrrr!”
“You’d better leave out the large or small, Harry.”
“Okay, Anna.”
“Grrrrr!”
“Yes, yes, Hannah. Go back to what you were doing, Harry.”
“Yes, Anna.”
All in all a good week, so Harry was sitting waiting for the other shoe to drop.
Nym abandoned all propriety and crawled into his lap and snuggled in. She was soon humming, with her head lying on Harry’s chest. Play in the Ravenclaw-on-Ravenclaw match actually slowed and halted as everyone watched this unheard-of public display of affection for a moment.
Xiomara Hooch, umpire for this game, finally called time and gave everyone a moment. Play restarted but Nym stayed right where she was. The crowd and players eventually got used to it.
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Vilnius, Poland
Aušros Vartai Street
13 Oct 1996
11:40
August IV, born Augustus Wettin, the last Jagiellonowie and son of the last Wettin to rule the commonwealth of Lithuania and Poland and nearest thing Poland had left to a King looked out over the hall at the assembled magical nobles of Central Europe. Nobles from Lithuania, Belarusia, Poland, Ukraine, Latvia, and Estonia shouted at each other in the hall of what once had been a grand palace but was now a run-down hovel chopped into tiny apartments by the Communists. It was pointless, really—well, at least for him. The Realm had chosen its ruler and he could feel it. On top of that, Duke Potter had taken Amelia Fastida to wife and the Holy Father had blessed him and Amelia Fastida. That had been a bit of a shock, but that letter could be interpreted no other way.
“Duke Potter and his bonded, including Amelia Fastida and the other vampire and werewolf bonded, have the blessing of the Holy Roman Church and their union shall not be parted by any save our Lord. Signed His Holiness John Paul II blah blah blah.”
These idiots shouting about it would not stop the Duke from taking over their countries. It remained to be seen whether the Duke would reinstall the Congress Kingdom under this granddaughter of MikoĊaj II who was rumored to have appeared in Russia, or appoint some other ruler, or simply rule himself. Time to turn the argument to useful things like getting these idiots ready to swear fealty—he was getting too old for this at 186. Admittedly his was a long-lived line, but the Communist era and years of war, both Mundane and magical, could take it out of a fellow. Oh well, time to go to work.
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China/Russia border
North of Manzhouli
13 Oct 1996
18:50
Hong, if you could translate her Dragon name, looked around at the burnt and twisted metal thing that stank of sulfur and death. Dragons had died here, two-legs too. All that was left now was the smell. So the two-legs had taken the Dragon bodies as they normally did. The Dragon death-smell was coming to her from the west. She would keep going. The idiot males had let themselves be led by the promises of the female two-legs; they had not returned. The result for her and her females was the same: she would need to find another male worthy of her. Feh, not that the last had been, but he was better than nothing and the best of those in the area.
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Chita, Russia
Siberian Military District HQ
Operations Center
13 Oct 1996
19:00
Pitior Romanovskaya, Duke Romanovskaya, had been watching the screens as the Russian ADA net, to which they were still connected, painted the large target coming from China on a searching course. He had a sinking feeling he knew what it was as he watched it followed the course the Dragons had from the border. Pitior had had the fourth—oops, Tsarina’s first tank army out scouring the Oblast finding Dragon bodies and recovering casualties from the fight and rendering aid, so he knew that course. The Tsarina’s elves had been mining the Dragon carcasses they and the tank army found for her and removing the parts. The Goblins were working on the facilities and the palace still, along with the Tsarina’s school, but they helped where they could.
Well, better get an infantry battalion out there in case he had to fight this thing off.
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The Royal Academy
Sports Ground
13 Oct 1996
10:00
“Merlin’s flaming penis!”
Nym nodded at Harry’s outburst as she sat up. “The wards at Chita?”
Harry nodded. “You know, just one day off! This is a good game.”
Cho smiled. “We can have them wait, Harry.”
“No, Cho, this will only take a minute, I hope. It’s only the one Dragon.”
Nym nodded. “Well, let’s go then, Harry.”
“What do you mean ‘let’s’, Nym? I’ve got it.”
“You’re kidding, right, Harry? Even when I’m with you, you run around touching things.”
“That’s not fair, Nym. It’s worked out so far.”
“Only because—”
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Chita, Russia
13 Oct 1996
19:02
“—you’ve been lucky, Harry. Hey!”
Anastasia smirked at her Alphas. “You can argue here as well as there, Nym. I’ll go find Pitior.”
Pitior trotted up and bowed. “Tsarina, we were not expecting you.”
“Pitior, you know there’s a Dragon on the way here?”
“Yes, Tsarina. I have a battalion getting ready.”
Anastasia looked at him. “We, or rather Duke Potter, will handle the Dragon, Pitior.”
Pitior looked at Harry. “All respect, Tsarina, but he is one man—and yours. Too important to risk. We have hundreds of soldiers here eating cabbage and borscht and getting fat.”
“Who would only get killed, Pitior. The Duke will handle the Dragon when it gets here.”
“Will he be through arguing with the other Tsarina by then, Tsarina?”
Anastasia looked around to see Harry and Nym wandering over the enormous construction site that was Chita in a very animated discussion of what building was going where. Harry was waving his arms in huge, expansive gestures while Nym was studying Harry and poking fun. She smiled. “They’re not arguing, Pitior, they’re discussing. Vigorously.”
“Yes, Tsarina.”
Pitior stoically turned and trotted off to bring the infantry battalion into guard positions.
Anastasia caught up with Harry and Nym as the rest of the bonded faded into Chita.
“Ah-ah-ah, don’t touch, Harry.”
“Nym, it’s a trowel. One of the Goblin masons must have forgotten it.”
“It’s covered in Goblin runes, Harry. Leave it alone.”
“These are the mason runes, Nym. It’s completely magically inert away from its mason—like a wand, really.”
Grindaknívur, who had joined them, rolled her eyes. “Nym, it’s fine. Harry, I’ll return it to Private—erm—Poleyn. Knee Armor? Who names a goblet Knee Armor? Must be one of Tuningfork’s—probably the size of a troll.” She took the trowel and tucked it in her harness.
Narcissa winced. Maul would probably kill the private for losing a tool. “Nym, what’s wrong with you? Why are you so moody?”
Nym huffed. “Pregnant.”
Narcissa grimaced. “It’s too early for that, Nym. Marcia?”
Marcia faded to the group and scanned Nym. “Elevated hormones. It’s too early for this. Jennifer?”
Harry backed away as Nym became the focus of the mates. He wandered over to Pitior and tried out his Russian. “Pitior, how long?”
Pitior looked up, surprised at the Grand Duke addressing him in Russian. “Ten minutes or so, sir.”
“Anyone giving you trouble, Pitior?”
“No, sir—well, nothing me and the other Praporshchik can’t handle.”
“Let me know if you need help, Pitior. Well—I’d better change.”
Pitior was suddenly looking at the giant black Dragon with the green eyes, and it finally dawned on him that the Duke was Anastasia’s Dragon Duke. He rolled on the ground laughing. Harry looked offended. Pitior finally managed. “It’s not you, sir—it just never occurred to me you were the Tsarina’s pet Dragon.”
Harry managed to look offended and sheepish at the same time, all as a Dragon. Pitior took off in gales of laughter again.
Anastasia and the other mates approached the commotion. “Duke Romanovskya, have your troopers hold their fire, please.”
“Tsarina,” he managed and then laughed some more.
“Oh, go on, Pitior. It isn’t that funny.”
Harry bunched and leapt into the air. The mates followed him with their eyes.
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Hong had followed the scent and soon saw a two-leg nest, or what remained of one. A few of the two-legs were moving around. She started an orbit and watched.
Suddenly an awesome Emperor Dragon appeared among the two-legs, and a moment later he leapt skyward. Hong knew what had happened to the males now. If they had entered the Emperor’s territory, and the smell said they had, then they were dead.
Hmm, look at him, gorgeous—and Pan Gu, the power! You could taste it from here. Hong lined up on the Emperor and accelerated. She had no fear; the worst he would do to her was exactly what she wanted. An Alpha couldn’t do better than this one.
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“She’s seen him, Nym.”
“I know, Frieda.”
“Errrh, Nym—ah, if she gets close they’ll fight, which will lead to Harry covering her.”
“I know, Frieda. Sarah and I will dominate her after Harry covers her. I wonder what she’ll look like as a human?”
Frieda looked at the huge female fireball.“Better sit down. She’s probably as old as me—this will be a lot to take in.”
The mates nodded and sat. Frieda was right. They watched the midair collision and then felt Harry’s surprise at the fireball being a female. He struggled with her in the air, instinctively trying not to hurt her while she bit or clawed at every spot she knew would excite him. Harry fled higher and the fireball gleefully pursued.
Frieda chuckled. “She has him now; he’ll cover her soon.”
“Nym! I can’t—”
“Harry, pay attention to the fireball. You killed all her males; the least you can do is cover her.”
“!*@&#^$%”
“Harry, that didn’t even come out in my head. Stop grumbling and get on with it. We’re missing the game.”
The mates chuckled and felt Harry as he fled to the upper reaches of the atmosphere and then gave in and covered the fireball. Ooooh, Hong, good name for her. Oh, again, mmmm...and now we can feel her side. Uh-oh, we’re in a mood—that’s three, four, five...damn, Harry...six. Oh my...seven!
Nym tensed. “Harry, ground.”
“Hehehe!”
“Harry!” Nym was mad now.
Harry lowered Hong gently to the ground in his talons and covered her one last time. He passed out and the mates were left with a gigantic tangle of unconscious Dragons.
“Morgana, Harry!”
“hehehe”
“Ashley, Sarah, and Samantha Crawfield, go clear the front of the box, please.”
“Yes, Nym.”
“Sarah, Hestia, Hermione, Daphne, Susan, Ginny, Beatrice, and Eugenie, help me with Duke Dunderhead. We’ll fade him and Hong to the front of the box.”
“Hey!”
“Hush, Harry!”
“Anastasia, give our apologies to Pitior.”
“Of course, Nym.”
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The Royal Academy
Sports Ground
13 Oct 1996
10:40
“Percival Gribbs reporting from the Royal Academy sports ground for those of you just joining us after the break. A cracking game this, ladies and gentlemen. Ninety all after an hour of play, and the Gryffindors seem to be a perfectly even match. The Royal Keeper and Captain Ron Weasley having a professional-caliber afternoon—listen to that crowd singing Weasley is our King! I’ll bet his Cannons will be lining up for him with the rest of the league after today, while Alicia Spinnet, Chaser and Captain of the Hogwarts Gryffindors, has led her team to stay even with truly inspired play. Those nine goals that got through would have been impossible for anyone to stop. Impossible shots from improbable passes at unlikely angles. If the Royal Chasers were near Ms Spinnet’s Chasers’ level, this game would have been a runaway win for the Royal Gryffs. As it is now, it looks to come down to the Seekers, and the Snitch has been devilish hard to find today with the overcast.
“The Duke and Duchesses Potter are still not returned to their box from wherever they all left to a little over forty minutes ago. Oh, wait—here are three of the younger bonded returning to the Ducal box and clearing out the bottom third of it. Oh, the vassals don’t seemed pleased with having to move higher in the box. Saints and martyrs, ladies and gentlemen—the Duchesses Nymphadora and Sarah have just arrived with several other Duchesses standing on what appear to be two—yes, two enormous Dragons. The Dragons appear to be unconscious. Stay tuned, ladies and gentlemen. It looks to be another grand day of sport and court here on WWN Sports. I’m Percival Gribbs. And now a word from our sponsors for today’s broadcast.”
Percival cut his eyes toward the movement he saw and gaped at the sight of Bruce Titterhorn doing a little jig in the corner of the technical booth.
“Tired of Madam Malkin’s tired styles? Want to look like a Duchess? Come shop where they shop—Glad Rags of Hogsmeade. We have the styles and fits for the modern young witch to catch a Duke’s eye. Proudly serving the modern witch.”
“And now our other sponsor for this afternoon’s sport and court broadcast.”
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While the commercials were running, Percy was watching several interesting developments. The Dragons, the Duchesses returning of course, but more importantly, Glenda was in the back of the booth pouring the “charm” all over Bruce now that he had stopped his little jig. Where had she come from? If she showed him any more cleavage she’d have to shave it first. Apparently she had decided the sport and court show could use a color commentator and she was determined to be it. How she thought that look down her top was going to help her with Titterhorn, Percy had no idea. Meanwhile it looked like Madam Malkin was heading for a duel with Natalie MacDonald, owner of Glad Rags. Sundays were so much fun any more that they made the rest of the week worthwhile.
In the Ducal box Nym flopped into a seat and her mates gathered around her. She waved absently and disappeared suddenly from the view of those outside the box, under a silvery dome. From the inside the view was barely obscured at all. Tulip and the other nanny elves brought in the children.
Elizabeth and Andromeda sighed at the same time. Molly and Esmeralda chuckled and waited. Nym obliged. “What, Mother?”
“Ooooh, moody much, Nymphadora?”
“Grrrrr.”
“Stop that, Nymphadora, and explain why Harry is lying down there in his Dragon and who exactly is that Chinese fireball you brought with him, and where is Anastas—” Anastasia faded in. “Never mind about Anastasia,” Andromeda amended.
Nym rolled her eyes and mocked her mother silently for a second.
“Nymphadora!”
Sarah shook her head. “Something is wrong with her, Andromeda. Her hormones are all out of whack.”
“That will be normal with two magical pregnancies close together. Poor Arthur, I think he developed his interest in those Muggle things and that shed during Percy.”
Every woman in the crowded box turned their head to Molly; she shrugged. “S’true.”
Elizabeth sighed. “Perhaps a little more information, Molly, while His Grace is napping.”
Phillip led the male exodus to the dueling arena; this discussion on top of the breast feeding was too much for the male vassals. Elizabeth frowned as she watched the rout: complete cowards, all of them. “Before we get there, Sarah, who is the fireball?”
Nym sat up and answered. “I’m sorry, Elizabeth, Mother. The fireball is the Alpha Chinese Fireball. Her name translates to Hong in Chinese; it would be Red, literally translated to English, but there are a lot of connotations lost in the translation. Harry is asleep and she’s unconscious because he covered her eight times. Apparently my—errrh—mood, errrh...rubbed off on him.”
Molly nodded and opened her mouth, but Elizabeth interrupted. “I’m sorry, Molly, but Nym, dear, is it—ahh—well, will Hong be all right when she wakes up?”
“Oh yes, Elizabeth, she’s in the bond rampaging around right now.”
Dana, who had been down looking at Harry and Hong since about a minute after they faded in, nodded. “She’s physically apparently fine, ma’am—exhausted apparently, but fine. Harry too.”
“Thank you, dears. Now Molly, what can you tell us?”
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The Royal Academy
Sports Ground
13 Oct 1996
11:00
“What about that Dragon, Andrew?”
“Sarah says she’s fine, Dad.”
Charlie was looking a little unconvinced. “Not to be a wet blanket, Andrew, but that’s a massive fireball. If she wakes up she’s going to hurt somebody.”
“Oh, I say—good catch, Hogwarts.”
The males all looked up at Phillip’s outcry in time to see Hogwarts’ Gryffindor Seeker display the Snitch for a 250 to 100 win.
Andrew just looked at Charlie, who soon blushed deeply, drawing chuckles. Andrew nodded. “That’s right. It won’t be much of a problem as she won’t hurt her mates.”
For the rest of the day kids joined the crowd of females crowding the bottom of the booth and looking in whenever the shield was transparent. The kids were thrilled; they were literally inches from two enormous Dragons. Of course the older females were put out because the Dragons were blocking the view of the babies. The first Warg girls on the scene figured out it was a female Dragon and things soon became much more interesting as the word spread. Giggles and blushes abounded. Harry’s gentle, contented sounding snoring and the smoke gently wafting from his nostrils added to the giggles, and Hong’s very definite “cat who got the canary” face and the forepaw resting on Harry’s cheek drew the blushes. Who would have thought two large, deadly creatures could look so cute—like one of those cheesy kneazle kitten photographs, really.
Imelda got dozenss of pictures before an exasperated Joseph came and collected her.
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The Royal Academy
Sports Ground
13 Oct 1996
20:30
After the matches all finished, Percival nodded to Daniel and got a nod back. He flipped on his microphone. “Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. Percival Gribbs, WWN Sports 1 and—”
“—Daniel Boxlighter for WWN Sports 2.”
Percival smiled and continued. “It’s 8:30 p.m. and time for Court. A great day of sport we’ve had, and we’ll be doing a roundup after the potentially short Court session scheduled for tonight before we turn you over to Glenda Chittock for the Sunday night serenade.
“Today for Court we have two young men from northern Europe accused of accosting a Duchess in the execution of her duties and two young men from Eastern Europe accused of assaulting a Duchess in the execution of her duties. And here we go, ladies and gentlemen. Duchess Hestia has stepped onto the pitch. Let’s listen in.”
Hestia stepped out onto the pitch and opened Court. She waved the prisoners forth and they were interrogated one at a time.
As she did this, Nym was waking Harry up.
Percival was watching. “A little different tonight, ladies and gentlemen. The Duke seems to be refusing to shift back to his human form. He has awakened, though. Oh my, what a tongue. Duchess Nymphadora just got a huge lick from our Dragon Duke and she is not pleased. The Duke is receiving a serious upbraiding for that lick. Oh my—apparently unphased, he’s sneaked in another one.”
Daniel couldn’t resist. “Amazingly dextrous use of the tongue there, though, Percival. I believe he got her front and back at the same time.”
Percival stared at Daniel in shock. Daniel smirked and continued. “Duchess Nymphadora isn’t taking that lying down and has chivvied the Duke onto the pitch using some heavy stinging hexes. Duke Harry is staying in his Dragon. Bad news for these young men and they know it, let me tell you.”
Percival regained his wits. “Yes, they do, Daniel.” Daniel got a dirty look and several hand and arm signals. “The interrogations have wound down and I believe we’re ready for a judgment from the Duke.”
Daniel jumped back in. “Yes, it appears so, Percival. The Duke doesn’t look happy, especially if that twelve-foot flame out the nostrils is any indication. Looks to be a hot time for these young ruffians tonight, but not the hot they were expecting, I’d wager.”
Percival was waiting for Daniel to take this breath. “I think you’d win that bet, Daniel. Well, the Duke has apparently decided and all the young men have landed on the pitch. The Duke, still in his Dragon form, has joined them. This looks to be over soon, Daniel. Better get your summary of today’s action ready.”
“It’s ready to go Percival—just like the Duke, apparently. More magic from the Duke, and the young toughs are armed but it looks hopeless for them. Here we go, ladies and gentlemen—an apparently unrestricted four-on-Dragon duel to the death. And one young tough opened with an AK. The Duke appears to be laughing. Several blasting hexes now, and they didn’t even ruffle his scales. The Duke is playing with these men literally between his front paws, like a kneazle with a puffskein. Oh, there’s one young tough gone—the Duke flamed him to ash. That was one of the ones charged with assault—and there goes his partner.”
Percival jumped back in. “The other two have apparently surrendered and the Duke, changed back to human now, has Marked them. Moral of the story for those who haven’t figured it out is apparently ‘never touch a Duchess’.”
“I’d say so, Percival. Duchess Hestia is winding up Court and the two new bound men are being escorted away.”
Nym stood on the pitch shaking her head. “Harry, you didn’t ask the Wizengamot.”
“Wouldn’t have mattered, Nym. You don’t touch one of my wives, children, chattel, or vassals with intent and live.”
Nym looked at Harry. She didn’t know whether to kiss him or kick him; she settled for taking his arm. “Take me home, Harry. I’m tired.”
“Certainly, my lady. Hey, where’s Hong?”
“Frieda took her back to the apartment, Harry. Hong wants to change when she wakes up in the morning, so Frieda is going to work on it with her.”
Harry nodded and the bonded faded away.
Elizabeth shook her head and smiled. “Phillip, let’s go to the Castle.”
“Certainly, ma’am.” Phillip held out his arm and led Elizabeth to the transport Arms at the top of the box.
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