Dumbledore was sitting in his office, going over his preparations for Snape's Trial. He had no idea what questions Snape would be asked, and Albus was trying to decide which information was in the greatest need of sanitisation under a Fidelius when his fireplace erupted into green flame, and a rather stern looking face speared.
"Albus. We need to talk."
Dumbledore sighed. He'd been expecting this. He was honestly surprised it had taken the man this long. Raising his wand, he unlocked the fireplace, and gave a brief nod. Moments later, Xenophilius Lovegood stepped out, brushing himself down.
"Greetings Xenophilius."
The younger man glared at him. "Albus, just exactly what the hell has been happening to my daughter? Can you tell me exactly how and why she was stripped naked in the middle of a packed dance floor? And WHY I had to find out about it in the pages of my professional competitor!?"
Dumbledore showed now outward reaction to the snarl of rage, but on the inside, he was already sighing. This was not going to be pleasant.
-=-=-=-
Later that evening, after dinner, Harry entered the Defence classroom, nervously awaiting the arrival of his Defence Professor and his first lesson of training since Draco's arrest.
The door creaked open and Moody limped in. Once he'd reached his desk, he looked around, his magical eye looking in all directions, it was still creepy to look at.
"Alright, Potter, holidays are over, so it's back to the grindstone." He growled. "I'll be teaching you the two blasting curses Confringo and Incendio."
He then raised his wand and flicked it a few times. Several training dummies, each on wheels and holding a wand, rolled into the room from a cupboard, and several spheres, each the size of a Bludger with a wand attached to them, flew into the room and started circling.
"Alright, you handled yourself decently well against Draco and his lot, and that dragon, but Draco and his friends are gone now, and you likely won't be facin' anymore dragons while you're at school. From now on, its just you an' yer opponents in the next two tasks. Diggory might go easy on ye, but do ya think Krum or Delacour will?"
He then raised his wand again and gestured to the various objects he'd summoned.
"We'll start with basic stuff first to ease you in. Shield and basic spell work, then we'll move on to the heavier stuff. Defend yourself!"
Harry raised a shield round himself just in time to block the various spells being thrown at him. Because they were non-verbal, he had trouble at first figuring out what they were. Then he stumbled as he felt an impact against his shield from behind. He turned to see one of the floating balls slam into his shield again. The spells being fired at him were relatively mild, nothing he couldn't handle, but they were all coming at him at once, from all directions, and it was already starting to strain his concentration.
He started moving, dodging shots and sending out spells of his own. Banishing charms sent several dummies flying, a disarming charm neutralised another, until he noticed the wand flying back into the dummy's hand. Cutting spells sliced several of the dummies in half and slammed several of the floating balls into the walls with enough force to damage them.
Once they were all down, Moody grunted and nodded with approval. "Alright, not bad, now we'll see how you do when we turn things up a bit. Here's the wand movements for Confringo and Incendio. Aim at that dummy over there."
Moody demonstrated the blasting curse, blowing one of the dummies apart, then quickly repaired it and nodded to him.
Harry cantered himself, raised his wand and pointed it at the dummy.
"Confringo! Incendio!"
His wand heated up so much he almost dropped it, but he kept hold of it as the blast left his wand, the recoil almost knocking him back as the three foot wide fireball hit the dummy and blasted it to splinters, and even left a sizeable mark on the wall behind it.
His Incendio hit another dummy and engulfed it in fire, he then changed his aim, sending the spray of fire over two more dummies, reducing them to piles of ash.
"Hm…Impressive. Looks like that power boost you're gettin' from your ladies isn't anything to sneeze at. Alright, lets try this again. This time, the dummies and spheres will also be throwing these spells at you among others. Defend yourself."
Harry cast another shield just in time to block a blasting curse fired by one of the dummies. It didn't feel nearly as strong as the one he'd fired, but he knew if all of them started firing that curse at him and he didn't move to avoid them, his shield wouldn't last long, so he started moving, answering a second blast from one of the spheres with one of his own, but his shot missed, gouging a dark divot in the far wall. Then an idea struck him, and he turned and aimed his wand at one of the other dummies.
"Accio! Wingardium Leviosa!"
The dummy flew across the room and hovered just outside his shield, then he moved it to block a shot from one of the spheres, which blew the dummy's wand-arm off.
"Incendio! Dipulso!"
Fire enveloped the dummy as it was sent flying, Moody ducked as it sailed over his head, colliding with a desk and setting it on fire.
Harry ignored it as he continued to move, flipping over another desk and getting behind it to block a hit from one of the spheres. As it floated over his head, he aimed his wand and fired another blasting hex, blowing it to pieces, he then set off again, stumbling as a tripping jinx he hadn't expected caught him. Out of the corner of his eye, he thought he saw Moody grinning rather oddly as he lowered his wand, but he couldn't think on it too much as two more spells came his way and his shield failed with the first hit, absorbing the elastic curse, but not the banishing charm that threw him against the far wall with a grunt of pain.
'Harry, are you okay?' came Susan's voice. Harry shook his head, clearing his thoughts then rolled, dodging another spell.
'Yeah, yeah, just training with Moody, don't worry. Hopefully I'll be done soon.'
It didn't take him long to deal with the remaining dummies. A quick Arresto Momentum slowed the spheres enough for him to deal with them.
Harry panted, slightly winded, but otherwise unharmed. He turned to Moody just in time to see a flash of light, and he quickly ducked and rolled, throwing up another shield.
"What are you doing?" Harry asked as he grunted under the hits his shield took, then was forced to roll out of the way as it failed, before he stood and threw a Dipulso back at Moody.
"Seeing how you fare against a living opponent. A surprised opponent, is a weak opponent. I'm not your friend Potter, I'm your instructor." The man grinned.
'Fine then.' Harry thought, as he got back to his feet and raised his wand.
"Levioso! Accio!" Crouch's poly-juiced expression was almost comical as he sailed towards Harry, his wand coming up to cast a quick Finite, but he never got the chance as one of Harry's shoes collided with his groin, and he doubled over with cry of pain as he flew, only for his face to come into contact with Harry's fist, before a quick Dipulso sent him flying in the opposite direction.
Crouch was impressed, not that he'd ever admit it, especially to Potter, but the boy had a bit of a violent streak in him, something that the altercation with Draco seemed to have awoken, and he began to re-evaluate Potter as he realised something he never would have expected from the Gryffindor Golden Boy.
Harry liked to fight dirty.
'Well done Potter. Won't be underestimating you again.' He thought as he groan in pain after colliding with the far wall. He staggered to his feet and waved his wand at the burning table, freezing the flames, before extinguishing them, then cast repairing charms on what was left of the dummies and the spheres, before putting them all back where they belonged, then he turned to Harry, who was still panting, but looked a little apologetic.
"Nicely done lad, you're getting better, keep it up. Alright, that's enough for tonight, rest up, you've got a busy weekend coming up. We'll be foregoing our two sessions next Monday and Thursday, on account of the trials next weekend. By the way, figured out your egg yet?"
"Uh, no, I haven't, been kind of, um…busy." Harry replied, blushing. His Defence teacher snorted with a twisted smirk that looked very unnerving. 'I really hope he doesn't use that magical eye to spine on people having sex.'
"Well you've only got a month left to figure it out, they'll probably tell you on the day of the task, but by then that intel will be useless."
"So you're not gonna tell me?" Harry asked half-jokingly. Moody gave him a stern look.
"Can't. You know that."
"Not even a hint?"
"No, now clear off." And with that, the scarred ex-Auror waved his wand at the door, which opened. Harry took the hint and left, slightly limping, a smile adorning his face as Hermione told him there was a nice warm bath — and two very naked masseuses — waiting for him. Daphne regretfully announced she had some homework to finish and couldn't join in, though Harry suspected the recon reason was more personal, and once again, he wished a thousand painful deaths upon the ferret. He focused on Daphne, and sent her all the feelings of comfort and support he could muster. The feeling of gratitude he sensed in response, dulled his aches a little.
-=-=-=-
Friday January 6th
Neville tried to focus on Binns as he droned on about the Goblin Rebellion of some-such-year or other, but he honestly didn't put much effort in, especially considering the disillusioned blonde head that gently bobbed in his lap as he tried hard not to moan.
After the Yule Ball Orgy, at least that was what he privately called it, he and Hannah had started spending most nights together in the Room of Requirement, it was certainly a very easy way for him to show her what his room at home looked like, the two of them sleeping in a bed that wasn't a Hogwarts four-poster.
He'd also got the opportunity to see her room at her home, and he'd commented on how nice and homely it was.
He wasn't sure what had possessed his girlfriend to be so brazen as to disillusion herself, unzip his trousers, pull out his shaft and immediately start working it to hardness right there in front of Binns — and all the other students around them — but he wasn't going to complain. Especially since Binns was completely oblivious, and most of the students in the class were snoring, and those that weren't were either too focused on Binns to notice what Hannah was doing, or in the case of Harry, Susan, Daphne and Hermione, they were doing the same thing, or something close to that.
Neville wished he could return the favour, but he was pretty sure even Binns would notice if two of his students suddenly climbed onto a desk and started licking one another. Given the position Hannah was in, he couldn't even use his hand to pleasure her without making it look obvious to anyone who cared to look.
He would just have to do something quickly for her during break he decided as he felt her give his tip an extra strong suck, then moaned as she tasted his pre on her tongue, before letting gravity pull her down.
He could feel his climax building, and he didn't want to finish too soon, so he tried to distract himself with thoughts of their up-coming potions class with their new instructor, who according to his gran, was an ex-Auror. Hopefully he'd be a better teacher than Snape.
He also remembered that he was running out of time to look up the Abbott family crest, he really wanted to get that tattoo as a Valentines present for her. He grunted, thinking about that made him think about the tattoo she wore, the one that was now permanently either over her womb, her heart, or her vulva.
Too late he realised his mistake, as picturing that tattoo, and where she liked to put it in his mind, was enough to push him to his peak. Hannah's decadent purr was almost enough to make him climax a second time as she hungrily gulped down his release, taking a few moments between gulps to savour each one and lavish his over-sensitive head with more loving attention, knowing full well it drove him crazy.
It still surprised him just how much his girlfriend seemed to love the taste of his cum.
Apparently, according to her at least, some girls just naturally loved the taste, regardless of the boys' diet, and it seemed Neville had struck it rich, and gotten lucky enough to find one of those girls.
As the warm rush of his climax started to fade, Hannah kept up her efforts to draw out every last drop she could. He turned and looked over towards Harry, who Neville noticed with a smirk, had both of his hands hidden under a skirt on either side of him. Susan and Hermione were both red-faced as they tried to focus on what Binns was talking about, or at least make it look like they were, considering one of Susan's hands was also evidently between the legs of the blushing blonde sat to her left, with Harry on her right.
Neville shook his head at his friend's brazenness, which was almost as impressive as his own lover's, who still had her head in his lap, gently suckling at his spent shaft, nursing it as it slowly calmed down. Only in History of Magic could they get away with this. He looked down and whispered,
"Han, I don't think you're gonna get any more out of me, I'm all tapped out." He laid a hand on her head and gently tried to pry her up, but she made a a grunt of protest and sucked even harder on his shaft, even pushing her head down further. Neville smiled and decided to leave her alone. She'd stop when the bell rang, surely, which wouldn't be for another…
Forty-five minutes.
Okay then. 'Why stop her?' he thought, as she started to try and work him back to full mast.
Oh well, it looked like History of Magic was going to become his favourite class for the rest of this year, and maybe the next too.
-=-=-=-
Harry steeled himself as they entered the Potions classroom.
He honestly had no idea what to expect, but Sharp had to be better than Snape.
The door was open and everyone filed in, taking their seats. Then the door opened and their new Professor walked in, with a noticeable limp to his gait. When he reached the blackboard, he turned to survey his new fourth year students.
"Welcome back to Potions. I know this is a rather sudden change for you all, hopefully one for the better. I've been made aware of my predecessor's penchant for fostering animosity among his Gryffindor and Slytherin students in particular. This will not happen in my class. Nor will favouritism. I will not tolerate any inter-house rivalries in this room. As far as I'm concerned, your house allegiances end at the door. Is that clear?"
The assembled students all looked at one-another then all mumbled or spoke their ascent. Sharp nodded, before he turned to the board and raised his wand.
"Good. Now, for this class, we'll be brewing an Edurus potion. Can anyone tell me the usage cases for that potion?"
Unsurprisingly, at least to Harry, most of the class looked at Hermione expectantly, as she was the only one who raise her hand. A few other students still rolled their eyes though, though whether that was noticed by Sharp, Harry wasn't sure.
"Yes, Miss Granger is it?"
"Yes Sir, the Edurus potion is one that temporarily transfigures the drinker's skin into a hard, scale or rock-like substance, allowing the individual to withstand physical blows that would otherwise leave bruises or broken bones, it also makes the drinker's muscles and bones temporarily denser, making them stronger."
"Indeed. Could you give a potential usage scenario? Why someone would use this potion when they could simply rely on a shield? Or perhaps, an explanation as to why this and other combative potions aren't really used these days."
Hermione blinked, clearly not expecting this level of engagement, something Sharp seemed to pick up on, and he frowned.
"Well, I can try sir. A potential usage case would be if a wizard's or witch's shield was broken or bypassed. And wail the Edurus does make the drinker more durable, it doesn't make them invulnerable. You can still be hurt even if you've drunk the potion."
"And the reason why it's not really used anymore?" Sharp asked.
"Well…its effects are temporary, and while it would make you more durable, as I just said, it probably won't stop a blasting hex from taking off a limb. To say nothing of what other curses could still do to you. Plus its effects are temporary, and in most combat situations, too temporary."
"Excellent. 5 points to Gryffindor. And yes, while the usage of the potion, and other potions like it, has fallen out of favour, it is always nice to have a surprise hidden in your pocket in a tricky situation. Still, we will be brewing it this lesson just so you're all familiar with it. Open your books to page 205, you'll find the ingredients list and instructions there. There should be enough ingredients on the shelves for all of you." And with that, the class got to work.
Harry had to admit, he was very impressed. Sharp hadn't made a single snide or condescending remark once, and had actually engaged with his students. As the lesson went on, Sharp limped around the room, gently correcting students who were making mistakes, and helping others. Neville, who had been very nervous, was starting to relax under Sharp's instruction. Even Ron was managing to brew a somewhat passable potion. He at least didn't end up with a cauldron full of sludge.
Eventually, Harry managed to brew his potion, bottled it, and passed it to Sharp, who gave it a close inspection then nodded.
"Well done Mister Potter, I believe that is an Edurus potion."
Harry was surprised to receive an E, Ron only just scraped by an A, but Sharp did advise him to focus more on his own work in the future instead of relying on others to do the heavy lifting for him. That earned Sharp a heated glare into his back as he moved on. Neville also received an E, something Harry was very proud of for his friend. It was clear to him and his friends that Sharp was a vast improvement over Snape.
Hermione, Susan and Daphne all naturally received an O, as did Lavender and surprisingly, Seamus and Dean, as did several of the Slytherin students.
When the class let out, Harry and his friends immediately started talk amongst themselves as they made their way to dinner.
"He's a lot better than Snape." Susan commented as they headed up to Central Hall, passing the fountain in the centre. Harry nodded.
"Definitely. Hopefully they keep him on." Neville said.
"Who the bloody 'ell does he think he is?! 'Relying on others to do the heavy work for me'? What does he mean by that?" Ron complained.
"Well, you do have a habit of making others do your work for you, especially your homework." Susan pointed out. Ron's ears turned red as he glared at her.
"Oh? How would you know?" the girls rolled their eyes, as did Harry. The rest of their company just shook their heads, Dean and Seamus especially looked particularly irate for some reason.
"Come on Weasley, we know you twisted Hermione's arm last year to do all your homework for you." Daphne said. Before Ron could respond with something that would either get him hexed, cursed or punched, Seamus moved in and pulled him away.
"Come on Ron, lets go eat."
Daphne shook her head as they left, and Harry had a momentary pang of disappointment as he reflected on the fact that his friendship with Ron had never really recovered following their last altercation. He silently wondered if the bridge between them would ever be repaired. A comforting arm slid around him and he turned to see Hermione smiling at him, and through their link, he heard her own thoughts on the matter, sensed her own feelings. She too was mourning the loss of Ron's friendship, but his continued antagonism towards Daphne was beginning to piss her off. There was also another factor that all of them could make a fairly educated guess on.
Ron was jealous.
Specifically, jealous of the female attention Harry and likely Neville were now getting. It wasn't helped by the fact that Angelina and Alicia had casually mentioned that they had finalised their own Bonding with Fred and George after the Yule Ball, a comment that Ron had overheard, and from the momentary look of fury on his face, he was jealous of his brothers too.
Though apparently, the two Chasers were now doing their own form of twin-speak when talking to Fred and George, randomly finishing each others' sentences, it was already starting to drive Katie Bell crazy.
'Maybe if he wasn't such a selfish arsehole, he'd find a girl willing to give him the attention he so clearly wants.' Harry thought. The girls exchanged a look, before Susan responded.
'You're right Harry, sadly, unless something drastic happens to change his attitude soon, I don't see that changing.'
Then they entered the Great Hall, and made for their seats. Harry drew up short as he noticed something rather odd at the Ravenclaw table, specifically with Fleur. She seemed to be…glowing? Odd, he'd never noticed that before, then again, he'd never really paid that much attention to the french girl, as the female company he now kept kept he suitably distracted, even when she'd sat in their private quarters and given them a history lesson on Veela.
It was odd, the glow seemed to flow off of her almost like smoke, coiling and wrapping around students that were either near her or passing by, only for it to be suddenly pulled back into her body.
'Can you guys see that? That strange wispy glow around Fleur?' he asked. The girls paused as they were about to take their seats, as they all looked at the older blonde.
'Yeah…that's…weird…how long has that been a thing? Has she ever glowed like that before?' Susan asked. Hermione shrugged as she sat down.
'We'll have to ask her some time.' Susan said as she too sat down to eat.
-=-=-=-
Saturday January 7th,
Harry stirred, opening his eyes to find it was early in the morning, the sun not quite risen over the mountains, if the dark blue of the window was any indication. A quick look at the clock, once he got his glasses on, showed it was 7:30am.
Right, the Solicitor was coming to do the interviews today. And tomorrow.
Harry thought it rather odd that it was being done this close to the trial, which was set for the following Saturday. Hermione had told him during the week that, in the muggle world, standard practice was to have the depositions of witnesses, defendants and plaintiffs, those bringing the charges for a trial no later than at least two weeks before, though a month was usually standard.
Susan figured that the Ministry just wanted to get it out of the way, so they greased the gears a bit.
Speaking of Susan, she was currently sat on the edge of the bed she and Daphne shared, brushing her hair, which was still damp from the shower she and Daphne had just shared.
Their eyes met and the shared a smile.
"Morning, stud."
"Mm…morning Sue." Harry stretched, causing the mop of brown hair on his chest to moan as it too woke up.
"Too early." The mop grumbled irritably.
"You're usually first up." Susan said as she stood, moved to her dresser and started getting dressed, though she made a bit of a show of it.
"Getting one's arse wonderfully shagged tends to take it out of one." Hermione countered.
Susan snorted. "Last night was our first time doing that since the Yule Ball, honestly I'm surprised you wanted to try it again so soon."
"We need the practice. The more we get, the easier it'll be when it's for real." Hermione replied as she too sat up, stretching, letting Harry see, as much as he could without his glasses, her natural glory.
"It felt rather good." Susan said, grinning as she wiggled her own bum towards the room's only male. "I think by the time I'm ready, Luna might be too. Daphne…I'm not sure."
That brought down the mood a little as their thoughts turned to the blonde currently taking a shower in the bathroom.
Since the revelations of what had been done to her, Daphne had been pretty much unable to touch Harry's cock without recoiling as if it had burned her, and she flinched whenever Harry touched her.
Hermione had quickly surmised that her friend was suffering from a form of PTSD, and because of what had been done to her, she now associated anything sexual to do with Harry, as negatively as what Draco had done to her.
Daphne had apologised, but the others had been very quick to tell her she had nothing to apologise for, and that they would all help her through the healing process, no matter how long it took, and that there was no hurry for her to Bond with Harry. She could even Bond with Susan if she preferred.
Daphne had shown some thought to that offer, but had ultimately said that she had to Bond with Harry in order to have the curse lifted. A look of alarm had also crossed her face briefly, when Susan had said that she could wait years to Bond with Harry, or even be intimate with him, as there was no real benefit to rushing things and that it could even be detrimental to her recovering if they did. It passed quickly however, Hermione and Susan got the impression that something else was bothering Daphne, but she hadn't been very forthcoming, and the others had decided not to look into her mind and pry.
Harry had then said that he would respect any decision she made, and that he and the others, and their housemates, would help her however they could.
Then, over the next few days, Harry had suggested that he could try spending time with each of them, including at night, even if nothing happened, just to give each of them some one-on-one attention. The night before had been Hermione's turn, while Susan and Daphne had arranged for a double bed for themselves. That night, it would be Susan's, then the one after, Daphne's, if she was comfortable enough.
It felt odd to him, only having one body cuddled up to him again, but the others agreed it was a good idea.
"Give her time." Hermione replied, "There's no rush. Remember, Fleur said that Bonding while the curse is in effect will guarantee that you'll get each one of us pregnant, so we also need to prepare for that. We're all too young to be parents."
Harry nodded, "Yeah, and I have no idea how to be a father. So I'm perfectly happy if Daphne needs to wait another 10 years or so. Same goes for the rest of you. Just because you might feel ready to Bond, doesn't mean you should."
"True." Susan said, buttoning up her shirt over her bare breasts, Harry felt a slight pang of sorrow as they were covered. Susan's gaze flicked to him and she smirked. "But, we could always take a potion for the pregnancy the morning after, then just carry on as normal after Bonding, I mean, as long as we're careful and stick to contraceptive draughts and charms, that shouldn't be a worry. We'll be able to suck and shag you to our hearts content."
"What about Harry though?" Daphne said as she emerged from the bathroom, already dressed. Another thing they had discovered, much to her own annoyance, was that Daphne now felt uncomfortable even being naked around Harry. She'd apologised to him again, he'd assured her it was fine, that her comfort, their comfort, was more important.
"The cure won't work on him, so even after we've Bonded, he'll still have to feed from us every day for the rest of his life, and I'm pretty sure once we've Bonded, we'll all stop lactating, then what will he do when our monthlies all hit at once?"
"We'll cross that bridge when we come to it." Harry said as he sat up, then stood, Hermione tiredly joining him a second later. "Besides, I honestly don't mind the idea of staying cursed for the rest of my life anymore. I actually enjoy eating you out, believe it or not. And if it hadn't been for this curse, I likely never would have even got the nerve up to ask Hermione out, let along got down on my knees and worshipped her the way she and both of you deserve to be. Of all the life-long curses I could have been afflicted by, there are far worse out there."
"Does this mean you've finally stopped thinking of yourself as a parasite?" Hermione asked as she started to drag him towards the bathroom. Harry nodded. "Finally. Now come on, I'm hungry, my boobs are full and so are your balls. We've got a busy day today."
-=-=-=-
Harry followed McGonagall through the corridors, eventually reaching the Gargoyle that guarded the entrance to Dumbledore's office. To one side stood a neatly dressed woman with a kind face and dark brown hair that went in a ponytail down her back waiting for them.
"Greetings. I am Violet Sweeting, I'll be your solicitor for the upcoming trial. I'm here to interview for the witnesses and affected parties, and record their statements and any questions you have. Normally this would be carried out a month before the trial, but the Minister decided that the process needed to be accelerated, I'm still not sure why."
"One guess. Money." Harry snorted.
"I hate to say it, but you're probably right. Now, these depositions may take some time, but I'll do my best to make this as easy and as quick as I can. Professor Dumbledore has kindly allowed me the use of his office for the interviews while he tends to other matters."
With a nod from McGonagall, they headed inside, where Harry saw Dumbledore's desk had been cleared, and on it sat several rolls of parchment, a white quill, and what looked like a crystal ball, that looked similar to the one he'd seen in Trelawney's class.
Once they were both seated, McGonagall took a seat behind Harry.
Violet tapped the crystal with her wand, and it glowed, letting out a chime, before she started speaking in a clear voice, at the same time, a white quill rose into the air and started writing on a piece of parchment sitting on the desk.
"Stated for the Record. This is the testimonial Interview of Harry James Potter, recorded at 9 am, 7th of January, nineteen ninety five. Violet Sweeting, Solicitor for the Prosecution on behalf of Bloomsbury Legal, representing the Plaintiffs in the Criminal case against Draco Malfoy, Millicent Bulstrode, Gregory Goyle, Vincent Crabbe, Pansy Parkinson, Theodore Nott, and Severus Snape. Deputy Headmistress Professor Minerva McGonagall supervising."
Once the quill had stopped, Violet turned to look at him.
"Please state your name, date of birth and occupation for the Record."
Harry took a breath, shifted a little, noticing McGonagall's reassuring smile in the corner of his eye.
"Harry James Potter, date of birth, July 31st, nineteen-eighty. Hogwarts Student, fourth year." He briefly considered adding 'Boy-Who-Lived' or 'Unwilling Triwizard Competitor' but something told him that probably wouldn't go down well, considering this was likely to end up being read out in court, so he had to be careful with what he said.
"We will start with Draco Malfoy. Could you please describe your first encounter with him?" Violet asked.
"Madame Malkin's Robe shop, Diagon Alley, August 1st, ninety-one. He was getting fitted for his Hogwarts Robes. He mentioned how he thought about bullying his father into getting him a racing broom and smuggling it in somehow."
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw McGonagall scowl and shake her head, muttering something that sounded like 'typical'.
"Then he asked me about my parents, I told him they were dead, and he said 'but they were our kind, right?' then he went on a diatribe about Muggle-borns, and how they shouldn't be allowed into Hogwarts, though I didn't know that's who he was talking about at the time. He also asked me what house I thought I'd get sorted into, he said he expected to be Slytherin, it was only later from Hagrid, then on the train that I found out the Dark Lord also went into Slytherin, which clinched it for me. That was the last house I wanted to be in."
Violet also didn't look impressed, but she pressed on regardless, her tone cool and professional.
"And how was your next interaction with him?"
"About as what you could expect. I wasn't impressed at all. He made some rather unpleasant remarks towards Hermione and Ron, whom I'd just met on the train. That was also my first time meeting Vincent Crabbe and Gregory Goyle. I don't like bullies, I've been on the receiving end of treatment like that for years thanks to my own cousin and his friends." Out of the corner of his eye, he saw McGonagall's scowl fade and be replaced by a look of surprise, then anger, he continued. "That was also the first day I met Neville."
"And what about the other defendants?" Violet asked.
"I didn't meet any of them until my first classes." Harry replied.
"Alright, lets move on to Severus Snape. How was your first encounter with him? What were your first impressions?"
Harry snorted. "Belligerent? Adversarial? Arrogant? Incompetent? The man might be a decent Potions brewer but he's an utterly lousy instructor. He just wrote the ingredients list and instructions on the blackboard and told us to get on with it, didn't go into the theory or teach us anything. Though he did ask us all questions, questions that I'm sure most who were raised in the magical world would know, but me in particular, he asked questions that I had no hope of answering, and I suspect he knew that. There is no way he didn't know I wasn't raised magically, so would have no idea what a Bezoar even was or where to get one. From the stomach of a goat, apparently." Harry said with a roll of his eyes.
That was pretty much how the first half of Harry's Saturday went, questions after questions covering every interaction between him, Draco and his friends, and Snape, going over each year. Somehow he managed to completely avoid mentioning anything to do with the Philosopher's Stone, and Quirrell, which Harry felt was slightly odd, as he and his friends had been thoroughly convinced Snape was the one after the stone. Harry paused as he started to think more on the events surrounding the stone, the confrontation with Quirrell and…he blinked. He couldn't remember what happened. He remembered Quirrell being there, he remembered getting the stone, but everything else was seemingly out of reach. He knew the memories were there, or should be there, but for some odd reason, he just couldn't pick them out.
Though when he had gotten to him and his friends being stood up by Draco, which led to them first meeting Fluffy the Cerberus, that got a horrified look from Violet, which turned into a weathering glare directed at McGonagall.
After a few moments of silently pondering, he gave up and continued on to recounting details of his second year.
Though he didn't focus on Snape nearly as much during the events of second year, though he did chuckle when he spoke of Snape utterly destroying Lockheart in a deuling match, though he didn't mention that he'd ended that lesson talking to a snake. His own experience after that day had been enough of an incentive to keep that particular nugget of information to himself, especially if this was going to be read out in a courtroom, and subsequently end up in the papers.
When he had come to the petrification of students, Violet had gotten noticeably alarmed. She clarified that she'd heard nothing on the subject from her own daughter. That led to an explanation of how they'd found out what had been attacking the students, though Violet had guessed right away it was a basilisk. At Harry's curious look, she elaborated.
"When your married to someone who works for the Dept for Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures, you pick up a few things. I trust the staff were able to deal with the situation? Though I can't understand why Dumbledore didn't contact the Ministry."
"Uh, actually, no, it was me and Ron that took care of it, well, me mostly. It turned out that Ron's sister was possessed by something, for the entirety of her first year, and it made her go down into Slytherin's Chamber and release the snake. Ron and I went down there with Lockheart after we caught him packing up his things and preparing to run. That's when we found out he's a fraud and he tried to wipe our minds with Ron's damaged wand, but it backfired on him. There was a cave-in that separated me from them, so I had to take out the basilisk on my own, well, Fawkes helped."
That had led to their third year, and how Draco had been more of an annoyance than an outright threat that year, the biggest issue had been dealing with the Dementors, and rescuing Buckbeak with the help of Hermione's Time-Turner, something that got a very disapproving look from McGonagall. Though he avoided mentioning anything regarding Sirius or Pettigrew. While part of him wanted to mention both, he didn't want to get side-tracked. Maybe he'd talk to her about that once they'd cleared everything else.
Then, after taking a little break to collect himself, they moved on to the events of the last two months.
It once again struck Harry as utterly absurd that so much had happened in his life, and yet, it had only been just over 7 weeks since everything kicked off, a week after the Selection. Not even a full two months and he already had three girlfriends, with a fourth looking very likely in his future. He scowled as he found himself wondering why it had taken 7 weeks for Draco to get removed from the castle, Snape also, now knowing what he knew. Dumbledore was surely aware of what had been going on for far longer, and did nothing.
"Alright, lets start with the Selection Ceremony. You did not enter your name, correct?" Violet asked. Harry scowled. He was getting tired of repeating this.
"No, I did not enter my name, nor did I ask someone else to do it. I guess everyone believes that now, it just took me facing a dragon for them to figure that out."
"I see." Violet said, her quill scribbling on her parchment. "So neither you nor Miss Granger did anything to provoke him that day? We've already established your relationship with him is very antagonistic."
"No, we didn't. We were just walking together when he came up to us, yelled at us, insulted Hermione, which was nothing new, then he fired off the curse at her, I stepped in the way."
"I see. And when did either of you work out the curse was sex magic?" she asked. Harry sighed, running a hand through his hair. He was surprised with himself, that he didn't feel as embarrassed as he thought he should discussing this with a complete stranger and in front of his Head of House.
"The following Sunday I think? Hermione figured it out first. Our friends found a couple of research materials and also figured it out. But Hermione figured it out first and then…er…helped me."
Violet gave him a kind, reassuring smile before nodding.
"Could you describe the symptoms for me?"
Harry ticked them off on his fingers. "An inability to absorb nutriments from food or drink, constant arousal that won't go away no matter what we try. And a ever increasing sense of hunger and tiredness that gets worse the longer we go without uh…feeding. Apparently if we wait too long, the effects turn fatal. I think teats what Malfoy was hoping for, that either we wouldn't figure it out in time, or if we did, we'd goth be too embarrassed to do anything until it was too late."
Violet nodded as she continued to make notes. "Unfortunately, in court, that would be considered simply speculation, without any solid proof that was what he was actually hoping for, otherwise, its at least two counts of premeditated murder. How often do you 'take care of things' shall we say?"
"Well, as often as we can, though we've worked out that the bare minimum to be safe and remain upright without the tiredness getting noticeable is about once every twelve hours. Though we try to get in as many chances as we can, which was admittedly easier when it was just me and Hermione, but with Susan and Daphne involved now…"
"Are they not in separate houses? My daughter Poppy has mentioned Susan a few times over the years."
"I arranged to have them both transferred to Gryffindor following the altercation that saw Draco and his associates arrested." McGonagall spoke up.
Violet nodded before continuing. "Is it just these three that you can feed from? Have you tried anyone else? Has anyone offered to help?"
Harry blushed a little, scratching the back of his head, "Uh, yeah, a couple of my classmates have offered, but I realised that I don't get anything from them, so it doesn't work unless its Hermione, Susan and Daphne." He cast a sideways glance at McGonagall, who nodded in understanding, and if he was correct, a brief moment of relief.
"Interesting. And the sense of fatigue and hunger is abated after each feeding?" she asked. He nodded, then said yes.
"Curious. It would seem that your condition is very similar to how a Succubus or Incubus would behave or feed. Have you covered them yet in Defence?" Violet asked, then she seemed to catch herself "No, you wouldn't have, they're a NEWT Year syllabus."
"I know Succubi are related to Veela, and they're apparently even more sexual than Veela." Harry replied. Violet nodded.
"They are indeed. In fact, Succubi and Incubi, their male equivalent, feed almost exclusively on the sexual desires, emotions and energies of humans, often to the physical and mental detriment of those humans, sometimes fatally. They need to eat very little food or drink, if any at all."
"You've met one." Harry said. Violet nodded.
"I prosecuted a case against one several years ago."
"Fleur told us just before Christmas, about the history of the veela, and how they were cursed by the goddess Persephone, and that curse gave them their non-human forms, but trapped them in those forms, leading to them creating this curse to help them break that curse, it mostly succeeded, but not entirely. She also mentioned that one of the groups of veela who were cursed became the first succubi. A cure was apparently discovered, but it apparently only works on women, and it involves Bonding. So even after I Bond with Hermione, Susan and Daphne, they won't need to feed anymore, but I still will."
"Interesting. I think I might have a theory on what that cure might do, and why it won't work on you. This Fleur, she is a veela then?" Violet asked.
"Yes, she's the Beauxbatons Champion." McGonagall replied.
"Alright, back to Draco and Snape." Violet said. The conversation then steered back to the events following the casting of the curse on him and Hermione, including them decking Draco outside of Potions.
Then he came to the first assault on Daphne that he had been aware of, as well as the events following it, leading up to the altercation.
"I imagine a lot of the interviews I have to do will cover this event, so lets start with how you found out what was going on." Violet said.
-=-=-=-
Harry stretched as he exited Dumbledore's office. The interview took nearly 4 hours, and he had eventually mentioned Sirius, and Pettigrew, and how Snape had lied to the Minister when he, Hermione and Ron had tried to convince him Sirius was innocent. At that point, Mrs Sweeting had stopped the recording device she'd been using to transcribe his words. The revelation that Sirius had never received a trial had surprised both older witches, and Violet had promised she would look into it, but there wasn't much she could do with the preparations she had to do for the upcoming trials. She had also informed them that they would be introduced to their legal representative inside the courtroom, their Barrister, in the coming week.
With that, he had been allowed to leave with instructions to talk to Professor McGonagall should he remember anything they'd missed.
As he left, he ran into Hermione, who was being escorted by Hooch. The two exchanged smiled as she went in.
-=-=-=-
On Sunday the 8th, Harry was walking along the side of the lake, taking in the fresh cool air, looking out to see if he could see the giant squid, when his gaze was drawn to the black hulk of the Durmstrang ship, just in time to see a figure dive off the side into the water.
The freezing cold in January water.
When the head reappeared, he noticed it was Viktor.
"What the hell's he doing? That water's gotta be freezing." Harry muttered as he waved to get the older boy's attention. "Viktor!"
The older boy turned and waved back, smiling, before he started swimming towards the shore and soon stood, showing that he wore nothing but a pair of crude flippers and a pair of tight swimming trunks that hid very little, if anything at all.
A fact that seemed to go over rather well with the girls sat a moderate distance away who started whistling and catcalling at him, with one of the girls, Harry couldn't tell who, yelling "Strip! Take 'em off!" While another yelled "Show us your Firebolt!"
That at least got a swoon and peals of laughter from the other girls, and shouts of encouragement. Harry cringed and shot Viktor an apologetic look. The other boy shrugged.
"You get used to it." He said awkwardly. "Hav you learned clue yet?"
"No, haven't been trying honestly. I tried to open it once, it shrieked, I've never tried since." Harry replied. Viktor nodded, unclipping the wand he'd kept fastened in a wrist harness, he started to dry himself off.
"Put in vater. Open it. Listen."
"So I need to take it swimming?" Harry asked dubiously. Viktor nodded.
"Or in bath. Put head under water and listen to song."
"A song?" Harry asked.
'It could be a Mermish song. Their language can only be properly understood under water. The next task must involve them somehow. Maybe you guys will have to go swimming in the lake.' Susan said over their link. Harry shivered, which Viktor mistook for him being cold.
'But the task is in February, there's no way in hell I'm going swimming in that lake in February.'
'You might not have a choice Harry. We'll have to take that egg into the bath and listen to the clue.' Hermione said.
"Have you told Cedric or Fleur yet?" Harry asked. Viktor shook his head.
"No. Can never get time alone." Viktor replied, sending an exasperated look at the still giggling girls in the distance. Harry nodded, he could relate, and started to tell Viktor about his early days after entering the Wizarding world, and how everyone reacted when they met him. Krum smiled sympathetically, patting him on the shoulder.
"Seriously, don't they have homework to do?" Harry muttered.
-=-=-=-