CHAPTER SIXTY-THREE: TRANSITIONS
SUNDAY, AUGUST 11th, 1996 – Martha's Restaurant, Potter's Vineyard, Charenwell.
Tatiana was concerned about this whole arrangement. She loved her Consort-husband dearly as she knew he loved her. He had been there for her all through their adventure with the dragons, both convinced they were on that next night's dragon menu. She knew he loved her dearly and would do anything for her, even die if necessary. She didn't want that, of course, but knowing she meant everything to him was amazing. But this new wrinkle was a strange twist. He and she had willingly accepted the notion of allowing nine unknown women to bond with him.
She had spent some time with his brothers' wives and Harry's as well. Not much, for it had only been a couple of days, but some. She knew Charlie's brothers' Consorts had also maybe grudgingly agreed to their new "sister" wives. She knew Hermione had as well. She also now understood this strange notion of family was not about the husband's ego, but about the wives' wellbeing. This new arrangement, when and if it happened was not about her or Charlie. They would always have what they had. It was or would be about the other "girls" and seeing to it that others had a life as well. Still, it was not totally easy to accept. But a short conversation with Hermione told her it could work. Hermione was a Muggle Born after all and as such brought up in a society that would consider a 'harem,' even if it was a coven, anathema at best, and yet the young woman seemed quite okay with the idea although Hermione had confessed it did bother her at first. And that scared her still, for tomorrow her parents would arrive and she was going to have to explain all of this to them. But the girl was convinced this was the right thing for the "ladies" in her new family and the inconveniences to her were minor compared to the opportunities this life could offer the others. Fleur said much the same thing and her younger sister was now betrothed into one of these families.
These were not Harems, both Fleur and Hermione told her … and Charlie's sister Ginny for that matter. The Consorts might be "first" but they were first among equals. There were no submissive slave girls here. Each was a woman in her own right and was or soon would be expected to stand out on her own and be a contributing part of her "family" and society as a whole. Tatiana could see the pride and determination in many of the young women she had met, be they Blacks, Potters, Weasleys or even the Longbottoms she had met. This was not about male libidos, but about family. She thought that was odd, but the more she saw, the more she realized that was probably truly the case.
She and Charlie were now guests of House Potter for the time being. They had quite literally arrived in Charenwell and on Harry's front lawn by dragon the very day House Longbottom was moving from their Third Floor rooms in Potter Manor to their new home in Longbottom House next door. Frank and Alice and their ladies moved as well. Originally, Frank and Alice were supposed to move into their own Manor on the lake to the north. That had changed. Neville had his Manor redesigned to fit all of them as he wanted his parents close. Frank, Alice and their ladies would live on the third floor of Longbottom House in large, private apartments while Neville and his ladies would occupy the First and Second Floors. The Ground Floor would be their common, publich rooms. For Tatiana and Charlie, however, they had moved into the new Guest Rooms of Black House, as had Arthur and Poppy, although Tatiana was fairly certain those two were in separate rooms, unlike her and Charlie.
As guests, they were invited to join House Potter for the "traditional" Sunday, which seemed odd as this tradition was barely weeks old. Still, there they were with Arthur and Madam Pomfrey as well waiting out in front of Potter Manor with all of Harry's girls there, as well as Apolline Delacour, as a large Motor Couch (Bus, in North America) pulled around past were a dragon lay snoozing on the lawn and the two hippogriffs by the main entrance to the Manor. The door opened revealing an elf at the wheel and the group began to board. Tatiana overheard Poppy ask someone…
"Surely we could floo there?"
"But you can't see anything that way!" the young blonde protested. Tatiana remembered her being introduces as Astoria. "It's too lazy a morning and too pretty a country not to see it like this, although it was more cozy when we all could fit in a single motor car and let Harry drive us."
It was a lovely drive although Tatiana felt as if it was a tour of some sort. They turned left just before a couple of houses and she was told that just weeks before this road had been nothing but a horse trail. They were soon driving by very new looking houses, all designed to look as if they were part of an old village, she was told. The houses were all close to the street but were said to have deep gardens in back. Some looked like they already had residents and she learned that families of the 'Families' who were already here in Charenwell were already moving in. The rest of the town would come later.
They reached the town center and saw shops and offices and the like, many still vacant but some were already open. There was already a functioning grocery and another couple of stores for house wares and such, both magical and not. They passed around a small park surrounded by future shops and public buildings including the primary school, and then began to circle a lake. There was a huge building there. Tatiana was told it was a resort hotel for guests of the families and their families and such. It was already open, although that was a recent development as in within the last week. They drove around the lake and the "Manors" were pointed out. Tatiana's new bothers-in-law's Manors were almost done. They would begin moving in within the next week or so. Two others were clearly under construction for others "Families;" namely one which had originally had been for Frank and Alice Longbottom and the other for Lord Mayor Remus Lupin. None were as large or impressive as Potter Manor or Black or Longbottom House which were practically done, but these were impressive in their own right. When she was told that because she and her husband had agreed to "extend" their family they were going to have a house like these others built for them she was stunned almost literally.
They were also showed the lots on the lake where the new Manors could be built. It was a nice place to raise a family, Tatiana thought. If she was destined to be the head wife of a harem, this was a nice place to do that. There were woods and fields for the children to play in and the lake for swimming and boating one day and she had already been told about the beaches and mountains and such. They were twenty miles from Pottersport, the capitol of the Duchy and a place which she had heard was excellent from shopping and also about twenty miles from the new city of Jamestown which, it was said, would also be a place to do that. Add to it two colonies of dragons to study and in her mind it was becoming perfect.
Martha's was an experience. After the drive from The Manors through the countryside to Potter's Vineyard, she and the others alighted from the coach and immediately she knew this was a different place. First of all, a man named Richards chided Harry about his hair and suggested he needed a trim. Harry agreed and made an appointment for later that week. Then they ascended the stairs to this Martha's place and were met by the woman herself who seemed to know all of them except the newcomers, to whom she was introduced and welcomed all of them profusely. Harry's family came here every week and his friends were always welcome. Tatiana learned that Martha knew most of the new arrivals in all the families, at least the ones who had already been here, and most had.
"We're opening a new place soon," Martha said to Harry.
"Oh? But we like this place."
Martha laughed. "We're not closing this one, Harry. But this place is proving popular and we have enough money to expand it a bit. Come winter, dinning outside will become a problem. But with your Jamestown, we figure another place there will work as well. Our son will be running it and he's already hired a couple of the repatriated Charenwell girls from House Weasley to do my job for him as Hostesses. It'll be similar in many respects, including our fair weather deck for dining, but it will overlook the beach and ocean instead of the Vineyard and such."
"It sounds lovely, Martha," Minerva said.
"Much like this place, it'll be homegrown and handmade."
"May have to try it," Harry said. "But if you think we'd stop coming here for Sunday Brunch … that's not going to happen. Maybe dinner with my wives?"
"We all hoped that's what you'd think," Martha said. "This way. Your table is ready outside."
Tatiana expected something fancy, or at least fancier than what the other patrons expected. What she saw was a large, long and very plain table with long benches on either side, simply a longer version of the kinds of tables the other patrons enjoyed. There was no chair at either the head or the food of the table. Harry and the others merely took seats on the benches wherever they chose. It seemed very common for one who was said to be the Duke and regent or ruler of this country, but Harry seemed not to mind at all. Tatiana sat next to her Consort and Husband and across from them sat her new father-in-law and sister-in-law. To her right were several witches, all she could tell were speaking in French. Tatiana had some understanding of French. It was not much. It was not nearly as good as her Russian, Romanian or English. She was born Ukrainian and spoke that language or dialect her entire life. Russian was different, but not terribly so. English and Romanian were very different, but she managed to pick them up. After all, she worked in Romania and her Husband, while he had learned Romanian as well over the years, was English. She had merely studied French in school. But it did not seem to matter as the girl next to her named Connie translated to English when needed.
The very young girl was sitting with her mother who, to Tatiana's surprise, was also the wife of the French Minister for Magic, Charlie's older brother Bill's Mother-in-Law and now also the mother of the young girl betrothed to the Duke. With one other exception, that being Poppy Pomfrey, all the rest of the women at the table were the wives of this Duke and he was also betrothed to a girl who was not even ten? Having learned that much, Tatiana expected a depraved old man, a lecher, a pervert or something. But the Duke struck her as anything but that and it was clear his ladies were not what she expected. They were all - at least the ones she had met - quite outspoken and seemed quite content with their lives.
Connie tried to explain what she and the others thought was happening. She said that at some point, Harry and the others had become a Coven. They knew this was true for that was how it was possible for Cissy to join them, but no one knew for sure what that truly meant aside from the fact that it did mean they were no longer true concubines. Harry's case was not unique, but his was the first case were all the witches had moved beyond the basic Concubine Bond at least in the West in the last few cebturies. But one thing was certain, once the Wizard allowed enough of his ladies to allow their bonds to fully mature, this tended to trigger a Coven. It was true that some of Harry's girls bonds would not reach full maturity for some time, but his promise that they would seemed to be binding. It was that promise of no exceptions and, possibly, a certain number who had moved beyond the basic Concubine Bond that created a Coven. Once this bond began to form, new additions could not resist it even if they had wanted to. But unlike the basic Concubine Bond, they retained who they were not just in private but in total. The Bond showed them what love could be and it was a hard promise to resist for anyone since it would happen if and when they let it.
She stated they really did not know much about Covens. There were no works on it available in Britain or the West for that matter. Western magicals considered Covens to be dark or at least dangerous. Covens were feared by non-magicals and may have been the reason why the non-magical persecution of magic fell almost entirely upon witches. Covens were, however, still common in the East and they were hoping there were some learned works on that subject available from Eastern sources. What works they did have on Covens were from the personal journals of Harry's ancestors and his ancestors concubine wives.
Covens were exceeding rare because they were exceedingly difficult to create. House Potter tended to try to form covens, at least through the end of the seventeenth century, but in the fifty-six generations since the first recorded Potter Coven which had been the coven headed by Dirgard Potter who died in 715, including that coven and Harry's there had only been twelve. The last before Harry had been that of Duke James III who died in 1670. And with the exceptions of the prior three generations of Potters, no Potter had fewer than four women bound to him by love either as Consort or Love Bound Concubine in the mature form of that bond. Likewise, it seemed that where the Lord had a Wife at Law as opposed to a Consort, there had been no coven regardless of how many love bound concubines he had.
Connie explained that Covens required a certain number of magical love bonds to form. They did not know for certain how many, although it seemed that seven witches bound to their husband and in a way to each other certainly was sufficient. It was highly unlikely if not practically impossible for a wizard even in eastern cultures to find himself with seven true Consorts, although this would probably trigger a coven. It was far easier, assuming it happened, for a coven to form with seven witches initially bound as Concubines. But those witches had to be beyond the submissive, slave-like state of the initial bond. As a Concubine, their bond to their wizard had to be all but indistinguishable from that of a Consort. This meant they needed to choose the next stage - the Love Bond - both of their own free will and because they did in fact love their Binder to some degree. Furthermore, they all had to be free to bear their "husband's" children. While it did not seem necessary that all needed to become pregnant for the Coven to form, and in fact that had not been the case, there could be no real restrictions on any "wife" in that regard. One might argue there were some. Astoria and the younger girls would not be allowed permission until they were a little older, but once they achieved such age, they only had to ask. At that time, Harry could neither stop them from having his child nor make them do so. The rule in Harry's family was that no woman would be treated differently than any other and only their extreme youth would be used as a basis to deny them permission to become pregnant and therefore complete the bond. As this restriction was not absolute, it meant that there were no true distinctions between the bonds which was apparently a key component of forming a Coven. In Harry's family, the original "bar" to permission had been attaining ones OWLs. When Luna had bound as a Consort, the bar changed to being at least fifteen years of age. When Ginny received permissions, it had lowered again to age fourteen years and eleven months. This applied to everyone, although it was agreed that being of Bonding Age was also necessary as Gabrielle was Veela and she might not be of bonding age by that time. In her case, it was the latter of her calendar age or attaining bonding age and after that, all bets were off for she could, if she wanted, get pregnant immediately thereafter but that was still years away. The other houses had their own age restrictions. Remus and Frank had set theirs at age sixteen but as all of their girls were at least that old, it was no restriction at all. Fred, George and Bill had set theirs at age fifteen, although so far none under the age of sixteen had asked so far as Connie knew. Neville's was age sixteen or completion of their OWLs, whichever came first, although thus far that restriction only applied to Pattie Abbott and Natalie McDonald. What was also apparently critical was that while the wizard could withhold permission to bear a child to the young witch, once she achieved the set age, permission would not be withheld. This meant that insofar as having children were concerned, there was in fact little or no distinction between the Consorts and Concubines. The only real difference was the initial bond, not the final one.
There were some differences, although those were legal ones and not magical ones. The Consorts in House Potter were by law the Duchess and Countess and should they bear a son, that son would be heir to those titles. But in all houses, should the Consort fail to bear a son, the oldest son by any of the other wives would be heir in both magic and law. Again, this meant there was little difference between the wives. It was the nature of these very similar bonds and their number that triggered a Coven apparently and once that status was obtained, all other witches bound to the wizard would be drawn in and would bring their bonds to full fruition sooner rather than later. This meant that once a Coven was achieved a new Concubine would Love Bond in short order and probably have a child within a year of being so bound or achieving her child bearing age. It also meant that it was no longer an absolute necessity for a new witch to be either a Consort of Concubine to become a member of the Coven and wife of the wizard. She still would have to choose to become a part of the group and would have to accept the life, to include the intimacy and childbearing, but so long as all the members of the Coven agreed to her inclusion - including the wizard - that and "getting busy" with her new wizard and husband was all that was necessary. That was how Cissy had joined "Harry's Harem" and it would also be the way that Gabrielle would when she was older. They were neither Consorts nor Concubines, but in the eyes of magic they would be equal to their sisters in all things magical.
A Coven, Connie said, was a magical collective. The wizard was the initial focal point of the magical bonds and all of the witches initially bonded to him. Once a Coven was achieved, the bonds would extend to and between all members of the Coven. The practical effect of this bond seemed to be an increase in everyone's magical abilities over time. In essence, if any member of the bond knew or learned some kind of expressive magic, all the others would learn it very quickly. With Harry and the other Covens this was how they tested for Coven formation. One member knew a difficult spell that few if any of the others knew and the other members were asked to try the spell. In the case of Harry, this was the Patronus Charm. They were all merely told how to cast one and because Harry had been casting a very powerful one since he was thirteen, that was all that had been necessary. Every witch bonded to Harry regardless of age was able to cast that difficult spell on her first try. They also believed this would work for Animagus transformation, as Minerva had mastered that and might work for certain magical languages such as Harry's ability to talk to dragons and in time Gabrielle's ability to communicate with hippogriffs. They also knew from the journals that the magic became a collective magic. This meant that any member of the Coven could draw upon the magical reserves of all the other members if needed, and with twenty-five witches, this meant that it was unlikely any one of them could realistically cast spell to exhaustion, among other things. Covens tended to live longer than average and usually had healthy and magically powerful children.
Tatiana asked then why were they frowned upon. Connie said that while the real benefits far outweighed and potential drawbacks, in the male oriented and Pureblood societies in Europe, because the bond did not distinguish between wizard or witch or blood status, it was deemed "unhealthy." She explained that within the Coven the wizard was one of many, not a true domineering head of the Coven. Moreover, since most Concubines were Muggle Born and you could not pick a consort based upon blood status, this meant there was no way a Coven could truly be considered Pureblood. Consorts formed by love and with compatible magics, not by blood status. And once a Coven formed, the wizard's ability to have intimate relations with a woman became restricted to his bond mates. He could not function in that regard outside of the bond. There was also the fact that Covens tended to have large families an not just because of the number of wives. Most magical families were small, few had more than three children and the average was less than two. In all probability, Harry would average somewhere between three and four children per wife, maybe even more. Only his two oldest might have fewer than four when all was said and done. The bond drove the bonded to procreate in a manner of speaking. This created issues regarding inheritances. However, given Harry's estate, he could support a hundred children or more and provide for them and their children without breaking his bank.
Then, of course, there was the issues of intimacy. Both the magical and muggle cultures might take issue with this aspect of the bond. The bond all but compelled the wizard to be intimate with all his wives as often as possible but not to such an extent that he could not do anything else with his life. This aspect of the bond could be dealt with through scheduling and other means such that each wife could expect her husband to be with her at least a few times every week. But even with as few as seven wives, being with each every day might not be feasible. Connie said that once the bond formed, and it formed in Harry's case before she was bonded two him, the bond forms between all. This meant that the witches no longer distinguished between intimacy with their wizard or their other bondmates. As soon as she Love Bonded to Harry and even though she had not been into Girl Sex before, if Harry was unavailable, she would be intimate with any of her sister wives and that meant that if she was not sleeping with Harry, she was sleeping with one of his other girls. This seemed to be unrelated to the fact that she was a magically adolescent witch. Three of Harry's witches were magically mature and from that standpoint did not need sexual release to help stabilize their magic. All three had never been intimate with another witch before in their lives and one had already had a child which was also believed to curb that need, and yet every witch now was intimate with anyone else in the bond. They were drawn to each other that way and, for the new witches, this meant they would have sex with all their sisters within their first few days after their bonding. After that, she said each of the witches was probably intimate in that way at least two or three times a day, even if they were also with Harry on that day assuming their schedules allowed them that. The odd thing was, the bond alone seemed to go a long way towards stabilizing their magic, but it also drew them together that way anyway. While the bond seemed to prefer sex with their wizard, meaning none of them were truly playing for the other team, it also seemed to draw the witches together with each other as well. In the course of a month, and assuming the schedules allowed - after all they were all very busy without regard to sex - she could expect to sleep with Harry four times, have sex with him at least fifteen other times, sleep with all the other witches in the Coven at least once and have sex with all of them several times as well and they could expect the same as well. Many might find this disturbing and, truth be told, she would have as well before this. But the benefits - and this meant far more than the sex - made it all worth it in her opinion and Connie was certain the other members of her Coven would agree. In fact, the situation was similar in all of the five active Covens that were here.
"So," Tatiana said, "should my Charlie bond with those other witches it will be the same for me?"
"Not until and unless you become a Coven. Until that bond forms, you will not feel any new attraction to his other bondmates or desire to be with them as well. Once that bond forms, you will find you don't really distinguish between being intimate with your wizard or one of your Bond Sisters. It all becomes almost one and the same. True, we'd all rather be with our wizard all the time, but we can't and we think this is a way the bond compensates for that and strengthens our relationships with all of the Coven. Don't get me wrong. Aside from that, we are who we were. We still can get upset with each other and into arguments, but the bond allows us to get over it and helps us all work for and contribute to the collective needs of our new family. The bond helps us get along in a situation that without the bond could easily be fraught with petty arguments, jealousy and goodness knows what else. As odd as this is, this might well be a healthier relationship scenario than most, which we think is the point."
"So, social prejudices aside it's just a question of the right number of witches?" Tatiana asked after a moment of thought.
"If it was that simple there might well be several Covens out there but there are not," Connie said. "People can be selfish and women can be catty with each other. Coven's are about subordinating yourself to the family. That's not to say we can't aspire to greater things. We can have careers and that, but our ambitions cannot spill over into the family. By the nature of the bonds, I can aspire to be anything except the Duchess or Countess and my children, while they would be in the lines of succession, cannot truly dream of one day becoming the Duke or Count. Harry's heirs will be either the oldest sons of his Consorts or, should they only bear daughters, the first born son of the affiliated Concubine. In my case, that means my son, should I have one, might be the next Lord Black and Count of Darby, but that assumes that Luna has no sons and my son is born first. Given that Mallory is expecting a boy and due in late March and I'm not even pregnant yet, it's fair to say I have to accept that if I have a boy, he won't be the next Count. The bond keeps me from trying to change things in favor of my children and at the expense of Harry's other children. The biggest problem with conventional Harems is the intrigue as the wives jockey for position for themselves and their children. That does not exist in a Coven. But, until the Coven forms, selfishness can still exist and it can prevent the Coven from forming."
"Oh?"
"I'll begin with the Consorts. In almost every case we are aware of, the Coven has a Consort. Whether she was the first to bon with the wizard or not is not relevant. First thing is this: fewer than one in four marriages in the magical world are by Consort Bond. So the first hurdle to clear is this rare bond. Without it there cannot be a Coven regardless of any other factors. With it - well until the bond forms, a Consort has a large degree of control over things. Her husband cannot acquire more witches or Love Bond with them without the Consort's consent. And one might say most witches are not truly disposed to sharing their wizards at all. So you need a witch whose magic can bind naturally to a wizard such that the Consort Bond takes hold and that witch must be inclined to allow other witches to join the family as near equals. Arguably, this is far easier said than done.
"Next there are the Concubines themselves. Six need to Love Bond with their wizard and accept their roles in the Coven to be of their own free will. Arguably, witches are not likely to do this. With very few exceptions, if you are to become a Concubine, you become one before you're seventeen. Muggle Borns like me are never told this fate is even possible. Those magically raised girls who are fear it and hope it will not come to pass. For all of us, whether we knew this could happen or not, it can easily be seen as rape. We are taken from our homes and lives without warning and forced by the forming bond to do what our wizard commands and the bonding - as you are aware - is sexual. It is similar to the bonding rite for a Consort except we don't choose it, it's forced upon us. Most of us wind up as little more than slaves and sex slaves at that. While the initial bond keeps us from running away or defying our wizard, deep inside we are still who we were and often come to loath the wizard who did this to us. Even if the wizard bound us with the intention of allowing us one day to Love Bond with him and be his wife in all but law, it can take us years to reach the point where we will take that chance and develop the feelings for him necessary to move beyond that initial bond. 'Used' Concubines tend to be more willing to take that leap of faith but even then they tend to be reticent to do so given their experiences."
"And yet it seems to be common here," Tatiana said.
Connie shrugged. "It was arguably easier for me. I knew Harry from before even if I had been obliviated for it and by the time I arrived, I was joining an existing Coven. Years ago, Harry and I were close friends. That and the existing Coven bond makes the transition easy. The first six in each House was something else. Well, it depended upon the family. My family had three 'used' Concubines who readily accepted the bond and two new ones who knew right off that they had been lucky. House Longbottom became a Coven by virtue of the fact that all of the first six Concubines were not first timers. Fred and George Weasley each had two Concubines before they had their Consorts and four of the next five Concubines had prior - er - experience. The hardest lot was Bill Weasley as only four of his had been priors. Still, it seemed to fall together quickly. From almost the beginning, all of us were 'indoctrinated' as in told what was going on and why and encouraged to accept this and not fight it. We all spent hours talking with our soon to be sisters about all this before we even had to bond. It made it much easier in the end as we knew what could have happened to us and how this fate was and could be far better than we could possibly imagine and - so far - we've not found any reason to doubt that at all!
"Then there was the use of bonding places…"
"Bonding places?" Tatiana asked.
Connie nodded. "Ideally, you use the same place for all of the bondings. It's not always practical. In my case and the case of all my Bond Sisters, it was a bench in the library of Potter Manor. It's where Harry and Hermione bonded and where all of us later bonded to Harry and, as we only recently learned, it was the place where over forty witches bonded to House Potter including Harry's parents and then some. You, of course, did not bond with your husband here. Neither did many of the others. But they all found a place that reminded them of their first bonding place and rebounded there and then consummated all their subsequent bondings there. It gives one like me a sense of connection to the whole. Moreover, the bondings seem to leave a magical trace in time. You can feel how special the place is in that way and it makes it easier. True, many of the 'families' did not begin bonding here. But they all found their own special place. Most often it's a bed or couch or some such and the Consort and her husband make love there to start off and then he bonds with his new witches there seemingly imbuing that bed or couch with powerful magic that helps us accept the bonds. House Longbottom chose a large oak tree by a lake not far from here which reminded Lord Longbottom of a similar place at the Longbottom Estate in Britain where now ten generations of Longbottoms bound to their Consorts and Concubines. A bonding place is powerful magic and arguably is as important as anything else in helping that family to become a Coven…"
It would turn out that Charlie and Tatiana would find their own bonding place and it would be remarked that it was so them. They would find it the next morning, searching for a place like where they had bonded back in Romania - a small clearing in the woods. They found it and decided to "consecrate" it by making love on the ground as they had when they first bonded. As they did, a dragon landed. She was a juvenile female Hungarian Horntail and this was her place. But she tolerated the humans as they were not trying to take over and when the humans were done mating, she shuffled over and placed a wing over them as a blanket or tent, depending upon one's point of view, and protected them. Charlie and Tatiana would call her Dolly in part because it seemed right and later, as Charlie and Tatiana accepted more witches into their family over the next two weeks, they would return to that clearing for the bondings and Dolly would be there to protect them from whatever.
In many ways, Dolly was the reason why Charlie and Tatiana were in Charenwell. Charlie had returned to Romania just after the First Task of the Tri-Wizard Tournament with one very pissed off Horntail Queen in tow. She had decided then and there to take her clan away and destroy the humans who had done that to her. Dolly was her granddaughter and was then but a hatchling. She stayed from her mother's nest and got lost. She was found by Charlie and Tatiana and they did not behave like the other humans. The others would have put her out of her misery as it were to harvest her. Charlie and Tatiana nursed her back to health, as Dolly was half starved when they found her, and then searched for her mother and clutch so as to return her. Dolly was reunited with her mother and family and it was this act that arguably saved Charlie and Tatiana's lives when the Horntails revolted. Later, Charlie and Tatiana would learn that Dragons honored life debts even more so than wizards. When they arrived in Charenwell, Dolly was assigned to them by the Horntail Queen and clan. She would live close to them and be their protector and guardian and, in time, a part of their family as well.
SUNDAY, AUGUST 11th, 1996 – Angelo's Seafood Café, Pottersport, Carenwell.
There were, in fact, two Harry Potters out and about this day. The first version was the one who took his ladies and guests to Martha's. That version was the one who gave the last of his ladies their jewels and applauded as they put their black collars on and was snogged senseless when he placed their "engagement" and "wedding" rings on their left ring fingers. That first version was also the one who had to explain to Gabrielle why she did not get her collar and why her necklaces were different from the others. Gabrielle was only nine, although she would say she was almost ten. Gabrielle's mother had made it clear. While she had chosen Harry as her life mate and Harry had accepted, she was still not fully bound to him as a wife and even though she would live with Harry and his family, until she was bound to Harry permanently, she was still Appoline's daughter and would mind her mother and Harry and the others would do so as well. She received nice things, but they were age appropriate, aside from the last thing Harry gave her which was her "engagement" ring and it was just like the others. This mollified here as she had been upset about the different necklaces and the fact she received no earrings at all. Her mother made it clear she was too young for pierced ears. The first Harry told her that once she was old enough, she would get her "family" neckaces and all of that. Until then, she had to accept the solitaire diamond necklace for formal occasions and the gold necklace with her initials for other occasions. The ring placated her. It was first Harry who had also agreed that Gabrielle return to France for a few days to sort through her things and decide what she would bring with her to Charenwell and to spend days in the Magical shops of Paris with her mother to help furnish her future apartment, expand her wardrobe and buy her first wand. She would return the following weekend, although she seemed like she didn't really want to go.
First Harry was also the one who attended Ginny's Birthday Party which began not long after they returned from Martha's. All his wives were there as were all the Weasleys and Neville and his family as well. Ginny was showered with gifts, although most were for her new apartment which she would move into in about a month. As she was just turning fifteen, Harry could not buy her a car, but he did buy her a Firebolt racing broom and some more jewelry which really made her ecstatic. First Harry took Ginny out for a romantic, candle lit dinner and dancing and then took her into his bed. It was her first time being with just him and she clearly enjoyed it. She told him the only way her birthday could be more perfect was if she learned she was pregnant the next morning.
Second Harry sat at the table in Pottersport. He was meeting several people for lunch and knew he would spend his second Sunday night with two of his witches, but that was for later. Second Harry was responding to a call from Dudley about something important and something about "family." It couldn't be about Dudley's engagement to Clara as that had already occurred. So as he sat looking over the harbor, he could not help but wonder what this was about.
"Hey Harry," a voice began. Harry looked up and saw his younger sister Clarice.
"Clarice?" he asked. "Um - well don't take this wrong but why…?"
"I'd ask you the same thing," Clarice said. "Isn't today one of your - erm - wives birthdays? You might not be much of a brother but you should at least try and be a husband!"
"I'm there," Harry said. "As we speak, I'm there and later tonight we will have a wonderful Birthday date. She debated about that, wanted an … well something else. But she hasn't had an alone date with me so…"
"How can you be here and there?"
Harry then explained his Time Turner.
"Well that explains a lot," Clarice said. "Read the papers and you seem to be all over the place and it made no sense until now."
Harry shrugged. "It became necessary on many levels," he said.
"I'm sure it did," Clarice replied. "And yet I never see you…"
"Clarice," Harry began, "I didn't want to … you have a nice family and all and I didn't want to take over or something."
"Well it's not like I'm queuing up to be a part of your - erm - harem or whatever it is. Not about to do that 'cause you're my brother even if we didn't know until recently," she chuckled.
"I agree that's a bit off," Harry said. "Still…"
"I appreciate that you're not trying to do the 'Big Brother' thing on me and all, but we are brother and sister even if we only learned that recently. You are my brother and, had things been different, we would have grown up together…"
"And probably gotten on each other's nerves," Harry added.
Clarice chuckled. "Probably. But we are still family. I admit, I haven't met our Aunt and Uncle yet, but I've met Dudley and he seems nice enough."
"He's changed," Harry said. "He used to be the biggest berk in existence…"
"Not talking 'bout me, are you?" a voice said. Harry looked up and saw Dudley, Clara and his Aunt Petunia except his Aunt looked different in a way. It seemed her usual expression when seeing Harry had been replaced. The woman looked sad in a way he had never seen before. The three new arrivals sat at the table.
"Sorry, Dud, but…" Harry began.
"Trying to corrupt your sister and my Cousin into thinking ill of me?" Dudley began to tease. "Then again, you did use the past tense and in that way you're right about me. I was one."
"Clara," Harry said, "it's good to see you again. Did I congratulate you two on your engagement? If I didn't, I meant to."
"You did last time we met, thank you," Clara said.
"I kinda wished I was there when Dudley proposed, seeing as he did it in front of a whole restaurant…"
"He proposed to me at the restaurant," Clara said, "but that was pretty private … until I said yes then he announced it to the world as it were," she added with a blush. "It was quite sweet."
"S-sister?" Petunia stuttered somewhat out of the blue.
"Mum, let me introduce Clarice here," Dudley said indicating Clarice. "She's Harry's younger sister."
"Younger sister?"
"Clarice?" Dudley continued. "This is my Mum, Petunia. She was your Mum's older sister and is your Aunt I suppose."
"Pleasure to meet you," Clarice said. "I'll admit I knew none of this before this summer. I knew I was adopted and all, but nothing about my real family. Then Harry shows up and later Dudley and…"
"I never knew!" Petunia said crying. "I never knew!"
"Okay…" Harry began slowly, "what's going on and why are we here?"
"Dad had a heart attack the other day," Dudley said. "He's in the hospital. I admit all things considered that's hardly a surprise. What was is what we found out after."
"And what was that?" Harry asked.
"Mum and Dad were suffering from the long term effects of potions abuse and memory charms," Dudley said.
"WHAT?"
"It was the reason why a lot of things have happened," Petunia said. "Most of your life, Harry, has been a lie - a potions induced lie!"
"I - I don't understand!"
"Growing up, your mother was my best friend. I was her big sister and we both found each other annoying at times, but that's to be expected I suppose. I always knew she was special and wonderful and smart and probably prettier than I was and that didn't bother me too much, so long as she was my sister and friend. There weren't a lot of kids nearby where we lived our own age and most of them were either boys or really annoying. We had cousins, but they were all way older than us, so for a long time it was just the two of us. True, when we went off to school we had our own friends there, although Lily not so much for some reason, but none were as important to us as each other.
"I was around six when I realized your mother was magical. Of course, I had no idea that's what was really happening, but I knew she was different in and extraordinary way and it was a wonderful kind of different. Deep down, though, I was afraid for her. I was afraid if anyone outside our family found out about her special talents they'd take her away from us forever. I had nightmares about that.
"When Lily was nine and I was eleven, Lily met a boy her own age near where we lived. He had a funny name. His first name was after a particularly nasty Roman Emperor Septimius Severus, although he only used the last name as is first name. He had another last name…"
"Snape?"
"You know him?"
Harry nodded. "Apparently. Severus Snape was my Potions professor at Hogwarts, a real nasty git."
"He was nasty then too, at least when it came to me and my family. The boy wore the worst sort of cloths and looked not unlike a street person, but he was an arrogant ass. His father was a Muggle and it was clear he had no use for Muggles. I didn't like him at all, but Lily was another matter. For her, it was her first real friend aside from me and he was the one who told her what her gift was, although in his mind this made her superior to others and me inferior.
"When Lily was eleven, she got her Hogwarts letter. We were all proud of her as by then we knew she was a witch and Hogwarts was considered the best magical school in Britain. But for me it was also my nightmare come true. They found out about my Lily's gift and were taking her away from me!" Petunia sobbed. "She was going away and I couldn't be with her! Oh I tried! I wrote to that school of yours begging to come with her. I had to! She was my friend and I was her big sister and I had to look out for her, but that Dumbledore chap told me it was impossible. I was crushed when she left. But she kept her promise. I got at least one letter a week from her and usually more for a time.
"As the years passed, her letters became fewer and farther between. When she came home at first, she was all excited about her school and what she was learning. I don't think that truly changed, but as time went on she was less and less willing to say things. She never told us much about the war in your world at the time or about how it affected her and all of that. But as time went along, she seemed to drift further and further away and that hurt! My parents told me it was a part of growing up, that finding out who you could be could do this. Didn't make it any easier for me.
"I finished school in '76. I had gotten into the scene at the time and it had affected my marks. I didn't have the A Levels to move on to University and was looking for a job. That was the year where Lily took her exams, what would have been her O Levels at the time - they're called something else now. She did really well and … well she threw it in my face. We had a nasty argument and I most certainly said some hurtful things to her, things I didn't really mean… After that summer, I never saw her again. I invited her to my wedding and she never came. She did not invite me to hers. I only knew about it later when my parents told me and they had been there. Everything I knew about her from then on was from my parents. I learned about your birth from them. Lily never sent me a thing. We were both headstrong and could be very stubborn. But I did want to reconnect with her and apologize and maybe, one day, get my sister back.
"It never happened, of course. I knew about your birth from my parents, but they never saw you as Lily was then off into some kind of hiding. She wrote to them but not to me. My parents died when you were about six months old. It was a car crash that took them. Lily was not at the funeral.
"Then you showed up at our door. Who would do such a thing? It was November 2nd! That wizard just left you on the step like rubbish! You could have died that night and he did not seem to care. Fortunately, the weather was both dry and unseasonably warm for that time of year, but still! Who would do that to a child? The note simply said you were Lily's boy and she and her husband were dead. It said nothing about a sister or anything else. You were all I had left of my sister and I swore to myself I'd do right by you for her! Vernon had no issues with you. All he wanted is for you to be raised right so that you would not break my heart like Lily did and abandon your family for the magical world.
"We took you in without question. For a time, you and Dudley shared a room and got on famously. Course, the two of you were little hellions. I swear you two were plotting mischief before either of you could truly walk or talk. It was frustrating at times, but you two were so brilliant together we found it hard to stay mad at you mostly. Vernon and I decided to hold off having another child for about a year. I wanted you two out of nappies and somewhat controllable before I brought another child into the house. But that was reasonable, wasn't it?"
"So I wasn't sleeping in the Cupboard?"
"No, Harry. First off that's so wrong. Secondly, you and Dudley threw fits if we separated you two for too long."
"Then what happened?" Harry hissed.
"Dumbledore happened, Harry," Petunia said. "It was about a year and a half after you came to us when he showed up. You and Dudley were best of friends and finally out of your nappies and I was pregnant. He showed up and saw how happy and well adjusted you were and … and saw to it we ruined your life," Petunia sobbed. "He cast spells on Vernon and me and forced us to take potions! Every month a new box would arrive with two more vials with a letter that told me to cut your hair, place a strand in each vial and then for Vernon and me to take it that night. It made us hate you. It made us see your magic as a threat but also prevented us from getting rid of you. Before then we didn't hate you, Harry. You were just a little boy and none of this was your fault. Vernon was not comfortable with the magical world - can't blame his as neither was I - but that had nothing to do with you, just the patronizing, condescending bastards we had met who were a part of it.
"He never asked us what we thought. He never told us why he did that to us. He never told us why he ruined all of our lives - and he did! You went through who knows how many years not knowing love or affection. That would not have happened! Dudley became a spoiled brat and damn near ruined his life…"
"I wasn't potioned up," Dudley said. "I was too young to know better and Mum and Dad encouraged me to be a berk. Would still be one had it not been for the dementors last summer."
"What you saw of Vernon and me, what you remember was not us - or at least not how we were meant to be. The potion exaggerated all of our less desirable traits and turned us into what you remember. Vernon was always big, but never a bully. That was his older sister Marge who before the potions neither he nor I could stand. I was smart and ambitious for myself and wanted to try for a degree. Our best traits were suppressed and our worst were all you could see. And worse…" she sobbed, "… those potions took away my baby! I was pregnant and lost our baby and … and we couldn't have another one! Why did he do that to us, Harry? Why did he ruin all of our lives? Why did he always threaten to kill us if it looked like we were breaking free of his plans?"
"Kill you?"
"That howler thingie last year when Vernon and I were going to kick you out for what happened to Dudley with the Dementors?"
Harry nodded remembering.
"The one thing we were allowed to remember from that day when he ruined our lives was his threat: if we ever betrayed him or ever let you our from our control to anyone other than him, he'd see to it we and Dudley died."
"From what I've been learning over the last couple of months that sounds just like him. Won't do the dirty work himself, but he's more than willing to see it done when he deems it necessary," Harry growled. "The bugger's a coward! All about mercy and redemption so long as merciful are on his orders and the redeemed are devoted to him. Otherwise, he won't lift a finger to do what's necessary, will he? I had to kill when I was only eleven! I found myself in life or death struggles against vicious murders, Dark Wizards and foul beasts every year since I came into this world! But he's more than willing to let people die if it's for his Greater Good. He's more than willing to allow a threat to be eliminated so long as his hands are clean! I'm not a fan of killing people. I've seen far too much death and lost friends in this war. But war is about killing and if your not willing to do it yourself, you have no business allowing it to be done!
"Dumbledore is a Magical Elitist from a long line of them going back centuries. Oh sure, they have no problem with Muggle Borns like my Mum. They have no problem with marrying them from time to time or selling them off as slaves. They talk about equality and tolerance in all the right places and with all the right words, but do they mean it? Dumbledore wants to rule or, if he can't, control the ones who do and see to it his world view becomes the only world view. But he's a political animal and not a revolutionary so he moves as a politician might and not a subversive. He moves in back rooms and with intrigue, guile and manipulations. A subversive - like Voldemort - moves with bombs and such. They both, however, believe that the ends justify their means.
"My family - the Potters - have been the bane of Dumbledore's family for at least a thousand years. We were land wealthy - and still are - and they land poor. We were nobles, Peers of the Realm - and still are - and they were and are commoners. We've supported the Crown and they tried to subvert it and they had always lost when they pushed too hard!
"The devil has been in the details, but that man's plan has always been to destroy House Potter! I can't say for certain what those details were or are, only guess. But Mum and Dad would have been far safer here than in Britain back then and yet he somehow convinced them to stay there. We think he allowed the attack to occur and I think he hoped I'd snuff it. We're certain he did not know about Clarice, otherwise she'd been a target as well…"
"Why didn't he kill us after?" Clarice asked.
"He doesn't work that way. After I was famous just for surviving and you were at least a rumor. He couldn't kill us then - not directly at least. But he could make sure we'd never learn about who we really are and where we really came from. He made sure by sending me to Petunia here hoping she so hated magic as to keep me down and ignorant. He made sure with you by setting you up for adoption only to sell you as a Concubine later when it suited his purposes. Had he done that, you'd be stripped of any rights as a Potter. In my case, it seems he wanted me pliable, which could not happen if I came to Hogwarts with self-esteem and a backbone. He wanted to be my father figure so I would look up to him and follow him blindly, probably to my ultimate death and to the end of our House. If that was his only goal - ending House Potter - he should've snuffed us. I think he wanted more. I think he wanted control of House Potter, to mold it into a new House Dumbledore to carry on his view of the world as a new dynasty. If I didn't fit the bill, he's turn me into his little attack dog and, it seems, once I sired a son by what he deemed as a trustworthy family, he'd have turned me loose on Voldemort, without training or real hope of success. That son would be raised as ignorant of his true heritage and responsibility as I was, but also raised to believe in Dumbledore's Greater Good and therefore to advance that agenda. I don't think it was until later that he knew about Charenwell, but we're fairly certain he learned about my connection to this Country before I went off to Hogwarts."
"How?" Petunia asked.
"My grandfather the last Duke and later the Lord Mayor were making demands for my repatriation practically from the start. Dumbledore claimed that as I was not born here and as I was born in Magical Britain, I was their subject and therefore under their authority. As he had practical control of their courts and legislature and as he had indirect control over the Ministry, Charenwell hit a brick wall as it were. Legally, it seems, the bastard had a point. That he had sealed my parents' Will such that their wishes could not become part of the picture proves his plot against me. But with the Will sealed, there was no way to prove it.
"My grandfather and grandmother died eight years ago or so, but the Lord Mayor's Office continued to demand my repatriation. The demands were more insistent when I entered Hogwarts in 1991. Until then, they had no idea where I was. But again, they were ignored. There were many attempts to get me and bring me back. The problem was that what few wards Dumbledore placed on Privet Drive, they were enough that no one but him or those he truly trusted could find it. Those wards covered me for days even if I was somewhere else. When I entered Hogwarts - well, I was inaccessible there as well and when I went to the Weasleys and such, I entered under another set of Dumbledore wards and, more importantly, under the eyes of one of his most loyal followers. It wasn't until this summer that the Old Man bollixed it. This summer, he set a watch on Privet Drive and selected people who knew about Charenwell and my situation and could get me out. My Godfather, who died before I came back from school, recommended the watch and even the watch standers and Dumbledore took that advice. I was brought here in the middle of that first night and a ruse was then in place to keep him out of the picture as long as possible. Course it helped he was out of the country…"
"Bloody hell," Dudley began, "it all sounds like James Bond shit!"
"Dudley!" Petunia and Clara protested.
"Sorry," he replied sheepishly.
"Dud's got a point," Harry said.
Petunia then said what had been bothering her for minutes or more. "Y-you killed someone?"
Harry nodded. "At least four people personally. One was in self defense. He would have killed me if I hadn't killed him and truthfully, I really don't remember his death at all. I passed out before he died. The other three were last week. One had planned their failed invasion and double-cross and the other two were marked Death Eaters. Shot the two in the back of the head and emptied the rest on the planner."
"Harry!" Petunia started.
"Mum?" Dudley interjected, "it might not be declared yet and we might not be ready, but we are at war. I didn't sign up for the Army here to sit in barracks and march around a field. Charenwell is at war."
Petunia looked at Harry and he nodded. "Aside from limited things, we're not ready to fight yet," he said. "But we are at war with Magical Britain. We're beginning the evacuation of those most at risk from their civil war - the Muggle Borns and their families. Her Majesty's government has asked us to prepare to intervene and we are doing that. The British Magicals have attacked us and insulted us in manners which justify forceful action and we are preparing to show them they picked on the wrong people! When we are ready, they will learn their lesson and if we are ready, that lesson will be permanent!"
"I never wanted this for you," Petunia began.
"Who would?" Harry replied. "By history and all rights I should be in my sixties or older before I have to deal with this. I'm the youngest Duke and Lord in history. The next youngest was almost twice my age and I had to become Duke at this time! The country does not need a new Duke and a teenaged one at that! It needs experience and all that, but here we are."
"I'm sorry, Harry," Petunia said.
Harry shrugged.
"No! I mean it! I'm sorry for all of this. I never wished this for you…"
"What sane person would?"
"Forgive me?"
Harry looked at Petunia. "Intellectually, given what I've learned, I can. I can forgive you and even Uncle Vernon. Emotionally? I'm not there yet. It may take a long time."
Petunia hung her head. "I hoped for better. Truthfully, I expected less."
They would spend the rest of the afternoon on less weighty subjects; particularly the subject of Harry's new family.