Chapter 24
It was a very confused Harry Potter that portkeyed home the next evening.
"Mummmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm" he yelled out as soon as he landed in his bedroom.
"What? Harry? Is that you?" yelled back Petunia from somewhere in the house.
Harry rushed downstairs to find Petunia in the kitchen in the middle of preparing dinner.
"I - I think I need a woman's perspective on things" muttered Harry.
"Really?" said Petunia. "Why, what's happened?"
"I - I - I'm not really sure exactly..." said Harry as he sat down at the dinner table. Perhaps he should talk to Sirius instead. Sirius would know what to do. Wouldn't he? On the other hand... Listening to Sirius was part of the reason he was in this mess to begin with. No, he should get his Mum's advice first, this time.
"Why don't you start at the beginning" said Petunia gently. "Did something happen at school?"
"Yes-Yes and I have no idea what to do..." wailed Harry.
"Well, why don't you start by telling me what happened" said Petunia.
"I told you about the ball, right?"
"Yes, you said you were going to ask Hermione or Luna. What happened did they both turn you down?" asked Petunia.
"No, they-they both agreed to go with me" said Harry.
"WHAT? Harry Dursley! How could you? You mean to tell me you're two timing those sweet girls" shouted a flabbergasted Petunia.
"No-No Mum, it's not like that. I swear. I just asked them both out at the same time and then they both said yes so we're all going to go together" said Harry.
"Oh, I'm sorry Harry. I shouldn't have jumped to conclusions like that. But... What's the problem then? If they're both going with you then obviously they want to go as friends. Yes, I'm sure it is a bit disappointing. I'm disappointed as well. They're both such sweet girls and I was hoping that you would start dating one of them but I'm sure that that will happen..." said Petunia.
"That's what I thought at first. I figured they didn't understand that I was asking them out on a date. I figured only one of them would say yes... Then they both said yes...so I thought..." Harry trailed off, not quite sure how he was going to explain his reasons for asking them both out.
"So what happened then?" asked Petunia.
"Then this morning, they both insisted that I had to start carrying their books for them. Luna said it was traditional. I have no idea what she meant by that. They even got me an bag charmed to be lighter and bigger on the inside so I could carry everything. Then in the library they both sat on either side of me and insisted that I had to hold both their hands - at the same time. And Luna said I had to write her poetry and Hermione said she wanted me to get a haircut...They even said they want me to take them to Madam Puddifoots for tea. And and and... I have no idea what they're up to, they're acting like they both want to be my girlfriends at the same time but that can't be right. Can it? And it's too embarrassing to just come out and ask them" said Harry.
"Madam Puddifoots? Isn't that the lovely little tea shop we stopped at when your father and I came to Hogwarts last month for the Parent Teacher meetings?" asked Petunia. Thanks to Professor Quirrell and the efforts of Harry and Sirius, non-magical parents had finally been allowed to visit Hogwarts, and Petunia and Vernon had been travelling there for Parent Teacher meetings and Quidditch games for quite some time.
"Yes, but Mum you're not getting it, Madam Puddifoots is where the students go when they want to go to someplace ... you know ... romantic" said Harry filling the word with all the scorn and dread that a fourteen year old boy had for the concept.
"Oh. Oh dear" said Petunia, trying her level best to stifle the giggles that were threatening to burst forth from her. Who would have thought that her usually so self assured son would have been driven to such a state of panic. At least it was caused by Hermione and Luna. She knew the two girls very well and was absolutely certain that neither of them would ever be unkind to Harry. On the other hand, she would never have imagined that both of them would decide to date him at the same time. She couldn't even really blame Harry for this ... this rather unconventional relationship. Really, what was he thinking though ... asking both of them out at the same time? Oh dear, what if Dudley got the same idea? She suddenly wished that she had had two girls instead. Girls would never get into this kind of trouble. Would they?
~o00o~
It was the night of the Yule Ball and Harry was checking out his reflection in the mirror. Just then there was a knock on his bedroom door and Vernon and Petunia walked in.
"You all set there Harry?" asked Vernon.
"Oh, my baby is looking so grown up and handsome" cooed Petunia as her eyes teared up a little. "I can't believe he's already going to his first formal dance."
"You got everything you need Harry?" asked Vernon.
"Yes, Dad" answered Harry.
"Didn't forget to spray on some cologne?" asked Vernon.
"Nope" answered Harry.
"Don't forget the corsages for Hermione and Luna" said Petunia.
"Got them right here" said Harry.
"Okay, then what else do you need? Got the portkeys to the Granger and Lovegood houses?" asked Vernon.
"Yep, going to take one to Hermione's house first, then we'll take the one to Luna's and from there we'll just use our usual school portkeys to head to Hogwarts" said Harry.
"Good good" said Vernon. "Now don't forget to tell them that they look nice when you see them. Make sure you treat them well. Open doors and pull chairs and all that stuff. Understand?"
"Yes, Dad" said Harry.
"If you're all ready can you hurry up and come down, I want to take some pictures" said Petunia.
"Mummmmmmmmmm" whined Harry.
"Go on down and set up the camera Pet. I just want to have one last word with Harry before he leaves" said Vernon. He waited until Petunia left the room then turned to Harry again. He was shaking his head rather ruefully.
"Harry, I've been thinking about some of the advice I've given you about girls and quite frankly I don't think any of it applies to your current situation" said Vernon.
Harry was confused. "What exactly are you talking about Dad?"
"Well, it's this whole going with two girls things. Remember when I told you - you should try to get your date alone and give her a kiss. How will you do that when you're with two girls? You definitely can't try and get only one of them alone, because if you do then the other one is going to feel left out. Her feelings will get hurt if you do that and I didn't bring you up to be callous when it comes to others feelings" said Vernon.
"No, No you didn't. You're absolutely right about that. I don't want to hurt either of them" said Harry.
"Good, so since I really have no idea how you should approach this ball, don't follow any of my previous advice and for that matter forget everything that Sirius ever told you as well. Try playing it by ear. Make sure you give both of them an equal amount of attention.I think that's probably the most important bit" said Vernon.
"Okay Dad" said Harry. Crap, all his plans for the night had to be shelved. What was he supposed to do now? Just winging it sounded much much too dangerous for something as important as this.
"Come on then, your Mums going to want to take a lot of photos before you leave. Best to get it over with" said Vernon.
After Petunia had taken what seemed like a hundred photos and Harry had endured Dudley's good-natured ribbing on his dress robes, Harry was finally able to head out. The first stop was Hermione's house, a rather lovely suburban home, where he and Hermione, who was looking exceptionally lovely that night, both had to once again endure another photo session. They then headed to Luna's house, a strange building that looked like someone had cast an engorgement charm on a rook from a chess set. Unfortunately for Harry, his cognitive abilities, which had already taken a severe hit after he saw Hermione in all her finery, took another deadly blow at the sight of Luna. At that point he was barely able to make any kind of small talk at all with Luna's parents. Luckily for him, it wasn't the first time he was meeting them or they would most likely have thought him to be an extremely dim-witted boy. Luna's parents had their camera out as well, and by the time the three of them managed to activate their portkeys to Hogwarts, Harry was certain that he never wanted to see another camera again for as long as he lived. He was still seeing the spots caused by the camera flashes as his portkey deposited him within his dorm at Hogwarts. The portkeys were set to take each student directly to their dorm rooms so the girls would be deposited in theirs and would have to meet him in the common room.
Harry landed lightly on his feet. Taking a portkey back and forth every other day had long gotten him over the problems he had initially had with them. These days they didn't even make him dizzy any more. A few seconds after he landed, Neville materialised near his bed as well.
"Hey Nevvie, all set for the ball?" asked Harry.
Neville gave a huge grin at Harry. "Yep, time to see whether all those dancing lessons are going to pay off."
"Did you pick up Hannah at her house? Or are you meeting her straight here?" asked Harry.
"She told me to just meet her here in the common room. Said something about it being easier that way" said Neville.
"Smart girl. I'm still seeing spots from all the photos that everyone insisted on taking" said Harry.
"Hah, well serves you right for taking two girls at the same time. Just think, if you had only asked one of them out then that would have been one less..."
"Yeah, yeah, yeah" interrupted Harry.
"He he, you should have seen Ron's face when he heard you were taking two girls to the ball. Went on and on about how you always get everything. Didn't help that he couldn't get a date at all" laughed Neville.
"Hey, it's not like the git's ever even spoken more than two words to either Luna or Hermione. Not like he had any chance with them, even if I wasn't taking them. Not after the way he made a fool of himself over Fleur" said Harry.
"Yeah, what was he thinking?" asked Neville. "I need a date. What's the best way of getting one. I know, I'll run up to the incredibly hot, not to mention, older girl, yell at her and then run away. He he. The poor bugger really managed to turn himself into a laughing stock. Not like any girl would want to go out with the school clown" chuckled Neville.
"So shall we head down?" asked Harry as he started walking out of the dorm. Neville followed him a half second later.
"So, you prepared for the game against Durmstrang?" asked Neville.
"As prepared as I can be. By the way, let's not talk about Quidditch in front of the girls. They're both still pissed off that they're only reserves" said Harry.
"They bloody should be pissed off" growled Neville. "We won the quidditch cup last year. They should have just let us field our team as is. Hermione's an awesome chaser and Luna's a way better seeker than Diggory."
"I know that, you know that, hell even the coaches know that. I think they're just terrified at the thought of sending a thirteen year old girl up against Krum. Same with Hermione really, I think they're expecting the Durmstrang team to play really rough" said Harry.
"Oh come on, that no excuse and you know it" said Neville.
"Of course I do" said Harry, "but short of arranging for Diggory to break his leg just before the match there's really nothing I can do."
"Hey, that's an idea" exclaimed Neville. "Shouldn't be that hard to arrange either."
"Yeah, why don't you get right on that. Don't blame me when all the girls that moon over him decide to turn you into a punching bag. Come on Neville, Diggory's a...well...you know how he is. He's like the quintessential Hufflepuff. If we still had Hufflepuffs that is. You couldn't find a nicer guy in the entire school" said Harry.
By now the two boys had reached the common room where they sat down on the couch to wait for their dates. There were quite a few others also there waiting for their dates and Harry had to spend a few minutes greeting them.
"Okay, so maybe that's not the best idea" conceded Neville. "Where are the girls anyway?"
"They should be down any minute" said Harry, hoping that the girls wouldn't take too long in their dorms. Luckily for him he didn't have to wait long as the girls soon entered the room in a swirl of perfume and silk. Neville's mouth dropped open at the sight of Hannah in her ball gown and Harry got to smirk at the sight of his friend as he blushed and stammered out greetings to her. "I hope I didn't look that stupid when I saw Hermione and Luna" thought Harry before sighing - "Oh dear, I did, didn't I."
~o00o~
Harry, Hermione and Luna exited the Great Hall giggling and laughing. The three of them had had a wonderful time at the ball. The girls had not let Harry sit out a single dance and they had stayed until the band packed up for the night. They were among the last to leave and there were hardly any other people around as they made their way to the Hogwarts doors.
"We'll have to walk outside the Hogwarts wards. The portkeys I got to your homes won't work from inside Hogwarts" said Harry.
"We could just take our usual school portkeys home from here Harry. You don't have to drop us all the way home" said Hermione.
"Uh okay, if you think that's a better idea" said Harry.
"Yes, that would be fine but first, we do have one last thing to do" said Luna as she looked around the deserted hallway. There was no one else around at the time. This was a perfect time to do it she thought.
"What did you want to do ... umphhhhh" cried Harry as he was interrupted by Luna launching herself at him, wrapping her arms around his head and pulling his lips down into a kiss. She proceeded to thoroughly snog Harry for the next few minutes. Moments that were over far too soon for the messy haired teen.
"Oooh" Luna moaned,"that was nice, really really nice. Okay Hermione, your turn" she said as she stepped back and pushed Hermione towards Harry.
Harry had barely recovered from his first kiss with Luna when he found himself being thoroughly kissed by his other best friend.
"Damn" he thought, "so that's what they mean when they talk about toe curling kisses. This is...is..."
Hermione finished kissing Harry and smirked at the sight of him. He looked utterly utterly gobsmacked. "Hmm, looks like I managed to scramble his brains quite nicely" she thought happily. "Luna was absolutely right about every single thing. I'm never going to doubt her again" she thought. "That kiss was absolutely wonderful. An incredibly perfect first kiss."
"Uhhh, what was that? I mean...you...and Luna and you...both of you...what just happened?" mumbled Harry.
Both girls pinked up a bit. "We can talk about that later" said Luna. "Thank you for the dance Harry, I had a wonderful time."
"Uhh sure. Not a prob... I mean I had a great time as well. Thanks for coming with me" said Harry.
"Goodnight Harry" chorused the girls as they activated their portkeys home and vanished in the blink of an eye.
An utterly befuddled yet incredibly happy Harry triggered his own portkey. Seconds later he was collapsing on his bed with the widest goofiest grin upon his face. He would figure out the girls later. For now he was just going to go with the flow and do whatever they wanted. Especially if they wanted to kiss him again. Yep, that was an excellent idea. If they both wanted to kiss him he was going to kiss them right back. No point in worrying about it at all. Just enjoy the kisses and hope that they planned on doing it again. Soon. And often. He should call them tomorrow morning and take them out somewhere. Maybe for a movie or maybe something in Diagon Alley. Yes, that sounded like a great plan.
~o00o~
An ecstatic Ludo Bagman stood surrounded by cheering Hogwarts students as he watched Hermione Granger get presented with the Triwizard Cup. He happily fingered the betting slips in his pocket. His mostly sentimental decision to bet upon his old alma mater had paid off very well indeed. This win would totally offset his losses during the last World Cup. Finally he would be able to get the goblins off his back. Life was very good indeed.
"Mr. Bagman? Xenophilius Lovegood from The Quibbler. Could I get a statement from you?" asked Luna's father who had agreed to cover the tournament mostly to keep his only daughter happy.
"Of course, of course Mr. Lovegood, I'm a big fan of the Quibbler by the way, absolutely love your gardening column" beamed Bagman. "Let me see, first off let me say that this was an incredibly close contest and I think that each school can be very proud of their competing students. We've been privileged to see some incredible displays of skill in all the contests so far. Cedric Diggory and Fred and George Weasley of Hogwarts displayed a wonderful proficiency with potions when they won the Potions event. Miss Delacour of Beauxbatons who won the Charms event showed an incomparable mastery of charms and Victor Krum's self transfiguration into a shark very clearly showed that he absolutely deserved to win the Transfiguration event. The Quidditch matches were incredibly close even though Durmstrang won both its matches, mostly thanks to the indisputable talents of Mr. Krum as a seeker. Hogwarts and Beauxbatons can still be very proud of how well their players acquitted themselves. Players like Harry Potter and Neville Longbottom racked up quite the number of goals making sure that even though Durmstrang won they did not do so by too wide a margin. The Hogwarts and Beauxbatons teams must be commended as it is not easy to compete against a player of Mr. Krum's calibre. Thanks to him Durmstrang was leading on points when we came to the final event, that is of course the Academic Quiz. I must say the quiz event was most surprising. Who could have expected Miss Granger and Miss Lovegood, two fourth-year students to so be so very knowledgeable? Not only did they win the Quiz event but they managed to do so with a wide enough point margin that they have won the Triwizard Cup for Hogwarts."
Bagman looked at the stage where a beaming Luna and Hermione were lifting the cup high into the air together before being lifted up into the air themselves on the shoulders of cheering Hogwarts students..
"Those two girls truly deserve to be called Triwizard champions. An absolutely brilliant performance from both of them" said Bagman as the judges called the other teams onto the stage to get their prizes. It had been decided that the winning team for each event would get a thousand galleons and Cedric Diggory, Fred and George Weasley were even now being presented with bags of gold by Nicholas Flamel. Victor Krum would be making the most as not only was he getting a thousand galleons for the Transfiguration event but he would also be getting a share of the thousand galleons awarded to the Durmstrang Quidditch team. He was currently accepting his prize from the judges along with a beaming Ivana Humparoff, who had succeeded Igor Karkaroff as Headmistress after his tragic disappearance two years ago.
"Finally I would like to say that with the success and popularity of this tournament, I fully expect that the Triwizard Tournament is back for good. I believe that we shall most definitely be scheduling another Tournament in four years time" announced Bagman.
Chapter 25.
~oo00oo~
The early morning sun was shining brightly upon a sleepy castle in Scotland. It was the end of the school year and most of the castle's inhabitants were still asleep. Not one of the seventh year students were awake, as they had all been up most of the night celebrating the end of their NEWT's. In the hospital wing Madam Pomfrey was busy checking on her stores of Hangover potions. She expected that a veritable flood of students would be turning up in a few hours with aching heads. It was the same every year, she thought. No matter that it was against the rules, every single seventh year class still managed to sneak vast amounts of alcohol into the school for their graduation parties. Oh well, she thought, as she quietly snickered to herself, at least she had managed to procure the one hangover potion that was guaranteed to be as foul tasting as possible. There were several other potions available that tasted far better, but then the little hooligans would never learn their lesson that way. Not to mention that seeing their horrified faces as they struggled to swallow their medicine was excellent entertainment.
High in one of the towers the sun rays shone through a window and illuminated a bed. This bed was not in one of the usual student dorms. No, this bed was in the suite that was given to the school's head boy, one of the many privileges of his position. Currently not much could be seen of the beds occupant as there were several blankets completely covering what seemed to be a rather large oddly shaped mound. Just then a paper air-plane swooped in rather gracefully through an air vent, circled the bed briefly before starting to dive bomb the blankets near the head of the bed. A beautiful snowy owl that was sitting on a perch near the window glared balefully at the paper air plane. It did not approve at all of her human getting any sort of communication that was not sent through her. She briefly considered shredding the offending object but then reconsidered. Her human had not been very happy the last time she did that and it was rather early to be going to all that effort in any case. She would just have to have her human make it up to her later, she thought as she settled back down to sleep.
The plane had bounced off the blankets several times before an arm snaked out from underneath them and snagged it out of the air. With an annoyed grunt a head with a rather astonishing case of bed hair popped out of the blankets and proceeded to unfold the plane and read the short note it contained. The messy haired boy fell back onto his pillows with a irritated expression upon his face before carefully extricating himself from under his blankets. He seemed to be making a effort to move very carefully and quietly as he hopped out of bed and padded on bare feet into his bathroom. A quick shave and shower later he moved silently back into his bedroom and proceeded to put on his clothes. Just as he had finished tying his shoelaces, a voice spoke up from behind him.
"What are you doing out of bed? You were all nice and warm and snuggly and now I'm getting cold."
The boy turned around and smiled at the sight of the girl peeking out from under the covers. He bent down and planted a kiss on her.
"Sorry Love, I did try not to wake you. I just got a message from the headmaster. He said that something's come up and needs to see me. Guess you'll just have to make do and snuggle up to Hermione till I get back" said Harry.
"Humphhh… She's not as warm as you. Why don't you get back in bed for an hour or two and see the Headmaster later?" complained Luna.
"He did say it was urgent" explained Harry. He wasn't happy about getting out of bed either; he had planned on having a leisurely lie in for most of the morning.
"Unnhhhh, why is everyone awake?" grumbled another voice. "Keep it down will you... And get me some coffee."
"I'll tell Dobby to bring up a pot" said Harry, wondering whether he should just get back into bed again. Surely nothing that the headmaster wanted could trump cuddling with his two girlfriends.
"Yeah, tell him to get two pots" mumbled Hermione as she fell asleep again.
Harry left his bedroom and entered his sitting room. He grinned at the sight of the room which was currently in a state of total disarray. While the private after-party in his bedroom had been utterly… utterly… incredibly fantastic, the party before that had been one for the books as well. He smiled as he remembered the events of the night before. Who would ever have guessed that Pansy Parkinson would be such a fun drunk? He would never forget the sight of her dancing on the tables as she belched out the alphabet. Then of course Daphne Greengrass had decided to one up her and belched out nearly the complete set of Ancient Futharc runes. He grinned as he saw Neville was still passed out on his couch with a drooling Hannah Abbott curled up on top of him. Yep, that had been one hell of a party. He called Dobby to him and asked him to get coffee for the girls. He also told him to keep some ready for Neville when he woke up. Dobby of course, looked absolutely ecstatic when he saw the state of the rooms. The little elf loved to clean and a big mess seemed to excite him like nothing else.
~oo00oo~
He was nearly skipping as he made his way to the Headmaster's office. He was finding it extremely hard to stop grinning from ear to ear. Oddly enough he wasn't even slightly hung over. Instead, he felt extraordinarily well and extremely happy to boot. He walked past the gargoyle, up the staircase and into the Headmaster's office where he found two men waiting for him.
"Uncle Frank" exclaimed Harry happily as he gave Neville's father a hug.
"Hey Harry" said Frank Longbottom. "How have you been? We've hardly seen you at all this year, your Aunt is quite cross about that."
"Sorry about that Uncle Frank, but you know how it is with the NEWT's. I've just been very busy."
"Yes, yes I know, but now that NEWT's are over you must come and stay with us for a bit. It's been much too long since you came over. Oh, and before I forget, congratulations on winning the Quidditch Cup."
"Thank, couldn't have done it without Neville of course. He's been absolutely awesome as a Keeper" said Harry.
"Well, he is a Longbottom" grinned Frank Longbottom. "I also heard from Griselda that your NEWT project was absolutely amazing."
"She told me that the only reason she's not handing him his mastery right away was that she wanted to see what he comes up for a Masters Project" said Professor Quirrell who had been quietly sitting behind his desk the entire time.
"So, what was it? She just told me that I had to see it for myself" said Frank.
"Have you ever used a communication mirror Uncle Frank?" asked Harry.
"Of course" said Frank Longbottom. "Don't have much use for one though; they're a pain to carry around."
"Yeah, that's one of the reason's they're not to popular. As you know, they're quite expensive as they have to be enchanted by hand. Plus you can't make them too small as you need to draw 256 runes on the back of the mirror in order to enchant them and if you use a shrinking charm the picture isn't as clear and it also reduces the life of the mirror. Then there's the fact that they only work in pairs, so if you have five people you need to keep in touch with, then you need to carry five mirrors, which is totally impractical. So for my NEWT project, I wanted to create a method of making them more convenient to use. I wanted something like a cell phone, you know" said Harry.
"I take it, you figured out how to do it then" said Frank Longbottom.
"Yep, the first step was to figure out how to make them able to connect to more than mirror. That was easy. Instead of calling directly from one mirror to another, we use four mirrors. Two of the mirrors will be in one location. Then, say I need to call you - instead of calling you directly. I call the twin of my mirror, then if you move that mirror in front of the twin of your mirror which then calls you, then we can still talk to each other even though we don't have the actual pairs of each others mirrors. Do you see?" asked Harry.
"I think I get it, so that means you'll be able to call anyone who keeps their paired mirror in the same place. So if Professor Quirrell also has a mirror there then you can call both of us. That's very clever" said Frank Longbottom.
"Yes, but then after a while you run into the space problem. There are only so many mirrors you can keep close enough that they can connect to each other. So I had to figure out a way to make smaller mirrors. The main problem there of course is that when you're etching runes by hand you can only make them so small. Even an exceptionally talented wizard can't draw the runes small enough for what we need" said Harry.
"And shrinking charms don't work you said" frowned Frank Longbottom.
"Nope, so I looked to the non-magical world. They have loads of equipment and methods for manufacturing really tiny things. They have these things called Integrated Circuits which are basically these tiny chips on which circuits are etched. Dad managed to track down some equipment that was about to junked, so we got it for free, and I managed to figure out how to get it to etch runes instead of circuits. Using that I managed to fit the runes into ... well they fit into an area that's smaller than a pin head" said Harry.
"Really? That small?" said a surprised Frank Longbottom.
"Yeah, so now not only can I create really small mirrors. I can also churn them out in the thousands at a fraction of the cost. We can fit thousands of mirrors into a space that's no bigger than a school trunk and all these mirrors can connect to each other and through them to their twins - which will be bigger of course. All you need is a few spells to make them connect to the mirror that's a twin of the mirror belonging to the person you need to speak to and there you go. Sirius and I have already set up a company to market these. We're going to start selling them next autumn."
"The examiners were most impressed" said Professor Quirrell. "While the final scores are not in yet, I feel confident that Harry scored the highest from all the students this year. Well, Miss Granger is likely to come close and of course your son's project which dealt with the uses of the Mimbulus Mimbletonia was also very highly received."
"That's good to hear. Well, I guess we should get to the reason I'm here today" said an uncomfortable looking Frank Longbottom.
"Oh, I'd hoped that this was just a social call" said Harry.
"No... I had some news to give you. I'm not quite sure how to tell you this. I did ask Sirius to come but he said he's knee deep in nappies..."
"Yep, the twins do keep him hopping" said Harry with a big grin, thinking of the two adorable twin girls that Sirius was the father of, and he was the godfather to.
"Anyway, he said that you'd be able to handle it. I thought of calling your Dad, but the Ministry would never approve me discussing this with someone who's not a wizard, even if he is your guardian, so..." rambled Mr. Longbottom.
"Why don't you start at the beginning Mr. Longbottom" said Professor Quirrell rather gently.
"Yes, yes you're right. This all started a few days ago Harry, Dumbledore was moved to the Azkaban infirmary. I don't know if you know this but due to his attempted escape during his trial he's been in the ultra high security wing at Azkaban. As such, he's never been allowed visitors at all. Even his meals are delivered by dementors so he's been unable to talk to anyone since he was sent there. Anyway, the monitors on his cell showed that he was ill. Nothing too serious - Just a mild case of pneumonia, so he was moved to the infirmary for treatment."
"Don't tell me he escaped" asked a panicked Harry.
"No, no he's still safely locked up. No, what happened is - he managed to convince the healer to carry a message from him to the Ministry. That message has put the ministry in a bit of an uproar and the Minister has asked me to head up a task force looking into Dumbledore's allegations."
"Let me guess. They involve me in some way?" asked Harry.
"Yes, now we've discussed the prophecy that Trelawney made before you were born, so you know what I'm talking about" said Frank Longbottom.
"That old piece of drivel. I thought we agreed that it was all rubbish" said Harry.
"Yes, well those of us who knew about the prophecy assumed that it was fulfilled the night that Voldemort attacked your house at Godric's Hollow and was killed. However Dumbledore claims that Voldemort is not dead, something about him being a malevolent spirit of some sort, and that the prophecy still has to come to pass. According to him, any day now Voldemort is bound to resurrect himself. Obviously given the source of the news, we are not just going to believe it but the ministry has to investigate if there is the slightest chance that he is correct" explained Frank Longbottom.
"Huh... So why does he believe that the prophecy has not already been fulfilled. After all, it's been what? Sixteen years and change since that night. You'd think that someone would have noticed Voldemort's ghost wandering about" asked Quirrell.
"He claims that according to the prophecy, Voldemort had to mark you as his equal first and that vanquishing him would have to be a separate event. According to him, even though Voldemort was killed that night, he wasn't completely vanquished, and that was only the incident where you were marked" said Frank.
""Let me guess. He claimed that my scar is the mark in question?" said Harry.
"Yes, yes he did" said Frank.
"Okay, first of all that's a very literal interpretation of the prophecy. If you think about it, the line says he would mark me as his equal. There's nothing about the mark being a physical scar. How does a scar mark one as an equal anyway? I think that the minute he decided that I was the threat, and not Neville, that was the moment he marked me as his equal. After all, I couldn't be a threat to him if I wasn't at least equal in power to him right?" asked Harry.
"Yes, I believe that makes a certain amount of sense" interjected Quirrell. "However, what about the line about the power you will have that the Dark Lord knows not. At the time of the incident you were barely a year old. You would not have any power at that time."
"You know what I've always believed Professor. I believe I've mentioned it to you as well Uncle Frank that I don't really think I had anything to do with Voldemort's defeat. I've always thought that my parents had done something. Some sort of protection spell or ritual that saved me from Voldemort" said Harry.
"How does that qualify as a power the Dark Lord knows not?" asked Frank Longbottom.
"From what little I've learned of Voldemort's history, I know that he never knew his parents at all. His mother died shortly after he was born and he grew up in an orphanage. Right?" said Harry. He looked at Quirrell with a sympathetic eye. He hoped that the Professor was not saddened at the reminder of his parents.
"Yes... Do you mean to say that your parents..." asked Frank Longbottom.
"They were, I believe, the power that Voldemort never knew. Even though I don't really remember them, I was more than a year old when they passed away. I think that qualifies as knowing them much more than Voldemort ever knew either of his parents" said Harry.
"Yes. It would. I think I should be able to sell that to the Ministry" said Frank Longbottom. "That would certainly mean that we no longer have to worry about the prophecy."
"You know, it occurs to me... Dumbledore might simply be trying to resurrect his rabid lion" mused Harry.
"Rabid Lion?" asked a puzzled Frank Longbottom.
"Oh, haven't I mentioned this theory to you before?" asked Harry. "It's based on something I read once, in a fiction book. One of the characters was explaining how he would get people to start following him. He said that the best way is to loose a rabid lion in the streets. And once everyone is absolutely terrified and panicking you simply announce that you will deal with it. Then you kill it and order them to hang the carcass up where everyone can see it. Before they have time to think you give them another order and it will be obeyed. If you continue to give orders, they will continue to obey, for you will be the one who saved them, and who would be better to lead? Do you see where I'm going with this?" *
"I'm not quite sure" said a bemused Frank Longbottom.
"Dumbledore was once the most highly respected and revered wizard in all of Britain. Why? Because he defeated Grindlewald. The problem is that Albus Dumbledore and Gellert Grindlewald were once the best of friends. Rita Skeeter's biography of Dumbledore laid out all the evidence about the relationship between the two of them. How do we know that Dumbledore was not the one to manipulate Grindlewald into being a Dark Lord? Especially if you add in the fact that Dumbledore was also the teacher from Hogwarts that was sent to Tom Riddle to let him know that he was a wizard. Think about it, Voldemort was brought into our world by none other than Dumbledore. Wouldn't that have made Tom Riddle look up to him? The two most feared Dark Wizards of the last century, and both of them were close to Dumbledore at one point. Coincidence? I think not" explained Harry.
"I don't know Harry. That seems a bit far fetched. But in any case, Fudge already thinks that Dumbledore is just trying to come up with an excuse for the ministry to commute his sentence. Since there has been absolutely no evidence of any Death Eater activity after the Hogwarts attack in '91, I don't think Dumbledore is going to get very far anyway. I think we can safely wrap up this investigation. I'll let everyone know that the prophecy was definitely fulfilled back when you were a year old" said Frank Longbottom.
"Okay Uncle Frank. That's good to hear" said Harry.
After a few more minutes of small talk - Frank had some news about Draco Malfory. It seemed that Draco had been accepted into Auror training. There had been some reservations about accepting the son of a Death Eater, so they had carried out a veritaserum interrogation as part of the interview process. The aurors interviewing Draco had been quite surprised to hear that Draco absolutely detested Death Eaters. It seemed he blamed them for his father's death and wanted nothing more than to become an Auror and spend his life catching dark wizards - Frank Longbottom flooed back to the Ministry and Harry was left alone with Quirrell.
"Okay then Professor, I guess I'll be off as well" said Harry, he was impatient to get back to the girls. With a bit of luck he might still be able to get in some cuddling time.
"Wait a minute Harry, I'd like to talk about a few things with you" said Quirrell.
Harry sat back down. He hoped that whatever the Professor wanted to talk about would not take too long.
"What is it? Are you worried about Dumbledore?" asked Harry.
"Hardly" said Quirrell. "He's safely out of the way. No, I just wanted to talk to you about your future plans. Are you still going to be enrolling in a Non-magical university?"
"Yes, Hermione, Luna and I have all gotten into the same university. So we're all going to be together."
"That's nice" said Quirrell in a distracted tone. "I must say, adding those Non-Magical subjects to the curriculum certainly paid off. Did you know that over sixty percent of our graduates have been accepted into Universities? That's the highest number ever. Previously, before we started the extra classes, only a few first gens used to bother with going to University after Hogwarts. It is good to see more of our students seeking higher education."
"All part of the plan to drag the wizarding world into the modern age. And I believe this year also has the highest number of first gens being offered positions in the Ministry as well.
"Yes," said Quirrell. "However, it is vitally important that you continue to have a strong presence in the magical world as well."
"I did accept the position as a reserve chaser with Puddlemere" said Harry. "They said they'd be willing to work around my classes. They offered spots to Hermione and Luna as well but Hermione wanted to concentrate on University and Luna said that she's played enough Quidditch and wants to find another hobby."
"Yes, that is perfect for keeping you in the public eye" said Quirrell.
"Why would it be so important that I stay in the public eye?" asked Harry.
Quirrell smirked at Harry. "It's all part of the plan, my dear Harry. All part of the plan."
"No, No it isn't. The plan was to slowly make changes in the wizarding world. Make it more modern and less estranged from the main stream. Nothing in it requires me to remain in the public eye."
"Doesn't it?" asked Quirrell. "While these slow changes are all well and good - At some point we will need to make a major overhaul of the Government. Most wizards live a very long time indeed. That means the current bunch of politicians is likely to be in power for a very long time. Slow change is good, but at some point we will need more power in the Government. That's where you come in."
"Hey, hey, hey. Hold on just a second. I never agreed to entering politics" complained Harry.
"Come now. It is inevitable. You once told me that you thought I could be elected Minister of Magic. Since I am never going to enter politics and Black is also never going to make a good candidate..."
"Sirius could do it. He'd make one hell of a Minister" interrupted Harry.
"Too many skeletons in his family closets, I'm afraid. There will always be people hesitant to vote for him simply because his last name is Black. No, I'm afraid you are the only option we have" smirked Quirrell.
"But I don't want to work at the Ministry" whined Harry. "It's boring."
"Now, Now. It's not like I'm asking you to start working there tomorrow. No, for now your current plans will continue. Go to University, play Quidditch. Just make sure you keep your nose clean. I will not have you doing anything to jeopardise your future career. So, no acting like Ron Weasley for example."
"Ron? What does Ron have to do with anything?"
"He's just an example of how you do not want to behave" said Quirrell, waving his arms dismissively. "He's been arrested five times for public drunkenness ever since he left Hogwarts after his OWL's. Anyway, his mother has finally put her foot down and refused to support him any longer unless he comes back and gets some NEWT's. He should be rejoining next year's Sixth year class, but forget about him. I was simply using him as an example of the kind of reputation you do not need. So while parties like the one you had last night can be excused as you blowing of some steam after your NEWT's, you cannot make them a regular affair."
"Course not" said Harry, a bit insulted that anyone could assume that he would act anything like Ron.
"So, there is only one small change to your immediate plans. You may have this summer off. You have just finished your NEWT's after all. Next summer however, you will be interning at our embassy in France. Sirius and I will be arranging several intern-ships like this over the next few years. By the time you are... hmmm... Say around the time you're thirty - thirty-five or so, you should be ready by then. That would be a good time for you to run for election for Minister of Magic."
"But ... But ..." sputtered Harry.
"Harry, you promised me that we would change the Magical World. I fully plan on holding you to that promise" said Quirrell in a steely voice.
Harry sat and thought furiously for a few minutes. Perhaps Quirrell was right. Sirius had also been joking for years about how he would one day be minister. He should have realised that it wasn't really a joke. Perhaps, they were both right. Perhaps he should give it a try. Perhaps being Minister, might actually be fun.
"You're right" he said. "I did promise that. And you're right; nothing in this plan really changes things for now. I can still go to University. I can still start my cell phone business. I can still play Quidditch. All of that will only help in the long run."
"Exactly" said Quirrell. "I'm glad we could agree."
"Would be nice if Luna and Hermione could also come to France though" said Harry.
"I will make sure that we arrange internships for them as well. I will leave it up to you to convince them to accept the offers" said Quirrell.
"Okay" said Harry. "If that's all, I think I'll head back to my room now."
"Of course, Mr. Potter. Do give my regards to your lovely friends" said Quirrell. Harry's rather unconventional relationship was an endless source of amusement for Quirrell.
Harry rushed back to his room. He hoped that the girls were still there. Nothing like a little cuddling to take your mind of the fact that a former dark lord seemed hell bent on making you Minister of Magic one day.
~oo00oo~
Albus Dumbledore waited patiently in his cell. As prison cells went, it wasn't too bad. You could even say it was reasonably comfortable. His occulumency kept the worst affects of the Dementors at bay and he had finally managed to get word out to the ministry. Soon they would be removing him from this place. Soon he would be back where he belonged. He smirked to himself. It would take him time to get back his previous position but he was absolutely certain that he would eventually recover everything that had been taken from him. Then he would make them pay. He would make them all pay. He chuckled darkly to himself as he imagined the tortures he would inflict upon all those involved in his trial and sentencing. He would not do anything himself of course, no matter how satisfying it would be. No, he had always worked through cat's paws and he would not change his methods. All he had to do was wait for Voldemort to make his inevitable return. Then he would use him to wreak his revenge. Yes, yes he would. He would get free of this place, then he would let Voldemort torture and kill those who had sent him here. Then he would manipulate Harry Potter into facing Voldemort. He could see it now, it would be an epic battle. Harry would face Voldemort and die. Voldemort would surely be weakened after that and he, Albus Dumbledore should be able to easily defeat him. After that it would be easy to take his rightful position as the ruler of the Magical World. He smiled to himself as he lost himself in fantasies of his inevitable triumph.
Unfortunately for him, the Ministry had already chosen to disregard his message. He would wait a long time but the Dark Lord Voldemort would never be seen again.
The End.
Chapter 26 :Epilogue
A/N: I did think I was finished with this story, but then I got the urge to write just a little bit more.
Epilogue: Whatever happened to Snape?
~oo00oo~
Twelve Years Later
A manacled and chained Severus Snape was led into the brightly lit room. The years in Azkaban had not been kind to the former Professor. His once jet black hair was now completely white and his face was haggard and drawn. He blinked slowly around the room while his eyes adjusted to the sudden brightness. The room was empty except for a single desk behind which sat a woman. She seemed to be talking into a small device she held in her hand but Snape could not hear a word. He assumed she had some sort of silencing charm up. The woman gestured to the guards who had brought him in, pointing first to him and then at the chair placed before her desk. The two guards who had brought him into the cell rather unceremoniously dumped him into it before leaving the room.
Snape stared at the woman in front of him who was even now continuing to talk into her small hand held device. He wondered what it could be. After a few minutes the woman seemed to finish her conversation and she seemed to bend the device in half.
"Sorry about keeping you waiting Mr. Snape" she said in an apologetic tone.
Snape started. She had not used a wand to dispel her silencing charm and yet he could hear her. Was she capable of wandless magic? He asked her as much.
"Wandless magic?" she exclaimed in surprise. "Oh, you wouldn't know about a PComm, would you? I guess they came out after you were incarcerated. No, that's just one of the features of the PComm. It automatically sets up a silencing charm if you have privacy mode enabled."
"Oh" said a confused Snape. What on earth was a P... whatever she said. Oh well, he thought, it probably wasn't very important.
"Yes, Well. Anyway, let me just introduce myself. My name is Marietta Edgecombe and I have been appointed to be your vocational counsellor."
"Vocational counsellor?" asked a surprised Severus Snape.
"Yes, as you will soon be completing your sentence here at Azkaban, the Ministry of Magic wishes to help you to once again become a productive member of our society. As per the Bones Act of 1997, all convicts are to be appointed a vocational and guidance counsellor and provided any necessary training prior to their release. So, like I said earlier, I am your counsellor. It is my job to help you get a job once you have completed your sentence and fully discharged your debt to society."
"I see" said Snape.
"Now, I know that you used to be a professor at Hogwarts. Unfortunately, as someone with a prison record, you cannot be hired at any job which involves children. This means that we must explore other careers for you" explained Marietta.
"I am also a Potions Master madam. As such I can easily support myself by brewing and selling potions" said Snape with a hint of a sneer in his voice.
"Oh no, that would be quite impossible Mr. Snape. You see, the DFP has made it quite illegal to sell home-brewed potions. It's been that way for quite a few years now."
"Illegal! To sell potions..." sputtered Snape. "Why? Why would they do such a thing? And who or what is the DFP?"
"That would be the Department of Food and Potions. They're a department of the Ministry that are responsible for the licensing and sale of all Potions within Great Britain" said Marietta.
"But... Why would they make it illegal to sell Potions? What about medicinal potions? How do the healers heal people without Potions?" asked Snape.
"Oh no, Mr. Snape. It is not illegal to sell Potions. It is only illegal to sell Home-brewed Potions" said Marietta, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.
"I'm afraid, I don't understand. I am a Potions Master, as such I have always been able to sell the Potions I create" said Snape.
"Hmm, you have been quite out of touch, haven't you? I guess I'll have to explain. It's a bit of a long story, so bear with me."
"Very well" said Snape.
"I guess it started quite a few years ago. We had a major crisis on our hands. There was suddenly a severe shortage of Potions Masters. This meant of course that there was a severe shortage of Potions. People tried to fill in the gaps of course. But this meant that the market was suddenly flooded with potions of a very dubious quality. So the Ministry created the DFP to regulate the sale of all potions" said Marietta.
"Why was there a shortage of Potions Masters?" asked Snape.
"Hmmm, well I don't know quite how to say this, seeing as you were at Hogwarts at the time in question" said Marietta. She looked at the man in front of her for a long moment before continuing. "The Ministry started an enquiry into the matter of course. They eventually concluded that the quality of Potions instruction at Hogwarts during the period from 1981 to 1991 was severely lacking. They found that there was a clear statistical link between the people educated during that time and the drop in the number of people pursuing masteries in potions. Of course no one really noticed it at the time, since these things are never obvious while they are happening. No, but go forward a few years and you find that the older Potions Masters would retire and there was no one to replace them. Hence by the time that anyone noticed, there was nothing really that they could do. I mean, yes, after 1991, education in Potions vastly improved, but it was only the students who were in First, Second, and Third Year at the time that would eventually start replenishing the ranks of Potions Masters. Most of the older students seemed to be only interested in Potions for getting their NEWTs and not enough to pursue it for a career."
Snape looked at the woman in utter and complete disbelief. He hadn't been that bad of a teacher surely. I mean, yes he had hated teaching, and the dunderheads he would get in his classes would drive him apoplectic with rage at times. But... But...
"Anyway, a company called PPP was created. They completely automated and industrialised the creation of Potions. They proved that they could manufacture and sell potions, not only at a fraction of a cost of home-brewed ones, but also of a much higher quality. After a while, the Ministry realised that PPP always provided potions of a consistently excellent quality. Oh, people were still selling their home-brewed potions, but the quality of those could fluctuate wildly. After all, you as a Potions Master, must know that even a single extra stir, or changing the direction of a stir from clockwise to anticlockwise can change the eventual quality of a Potion. Plus, home-brews could never match PPP on price so people tried cutting corners. Going for cheaper ingredients. Obviously this drove the quality of those potions even further down. Eventually there were a few cases where people got ill after being given home-brewed potions. After that - well, what was the ministry to do? They simply outlawed the selling of all home-brewed potions as the safest solution" said Marietta.
"But then? What do Potions Masters do now?" asked Snape.
"Most of the good ones work for PPP in some capacity or the other. Some in research, some in production etcetera."
"I see. Then, why don't you get me a job with them, this PPP?" asked Snape.
Marietta grimaced. "Oh dear. I think that would be quite impossible Mr. Snape. No, quite impossible I'm afraid" she said, shaking her head.
"Why? Before my incarceration I was considered one of the top Potions Masters in the country. Any company should be happy to hire me."
"You were also convicted as an accessory in the deaths of James and Lily Potter. And since PPP stands for Potter's Perfect Potions, I don't really think there would be much point in you applying for a job there" explained Marietta.
"Potter... Potter's Perfect Potions..." mumbled a shocked Snape.
"So, since it would be quite impossible for you to work as a Potions Master, we must look for an alternative career for you" said Marietta brightly.
"Potter..." mumbled Snape, his eye starting to twitch rather violently.
"Have you ever considered being a cook?" she asked. "It utilises many of the same skills required in potions after all."
"POTTER" screamed Snape as he leapt out of chair and jumped towards Marietta with his manacled hands outstretched in front of him as if he meant to throttle her. He barely had time to have a glimpse of her startled expression before he was bouncing off a shield that automatically snapped across the entire room, neatly separating him from her. Seconds later the guards rushed into the room and he was being dragged back to his cell.
It took quite a while and several cups of tea for Marietta to calm down. She knew that she had never been in any danger, the safety precautions were very thorough after all, but she had still been quite shocked by the sudden attack. She flipped open her PComm.
"Record Memo" she said. "Inmate Severus Snape does not seem to be in his right mind. As such it is my recommendation that further Vocational guidance is useless at this time. He will need to be treated at St. Mungo's Mental Health Centre before we can explore any career options for him. As this can only be done after his release from Azkaban, we will need to postpone any further sessions until after he is treated and completely cured."
She frowned at the sight of the stylised 'P' logo embossed into her PComm, "Note that he seems to have been triggered into an act of violence by the word - Potter. Since the Potter brand is visible everywhere in the magical world, impossible to escape really, what with PPP, Potter Communicators, the fact that Witch Weekly seems to have Harry Potter and his two girlfriends on the cover every other week, it would be quite impossible to release him without treatment for this condition."
She sighed - cases like this always depressed her. Especially as she remembered him from her early years at Hogwarts. He had seemed so competent then, so skilled at potions - even though he couldn't teach them at all. It was quite sad to see him reduced to this state. "Oh well" she thought. Perhaps the next case would be better.
~oo00oo~
The End.