Like A Phoenix From The Ashes
Chapter 15
By Kinsfire
The group exited the meeting room and found Neville looking at his grandmother with ill-disguised anger. Finally, he exploded. "Well, Gran, if you hadn't insisted on believing the Prophet and helping those with an agenda against Harry, maybe the Board of Governors would still exist!" She opened her mouth, but he continued unchecked. "You've made me sit through your rants before, so now you'll sit through mine. I support Harry in his decision. The only one on the Board with the backbone to stand up to popular opinion was Susan's aunt. You helped the Malfoys hurt him, and from where I stand, you might as well have that tattoo on your arm!"
"I would be careful talking about your betters that way, child," Lucius Malfoy drawled as he walked closer to the 'conversation'.
"Why should it stop me? You talk down to everyone else in the world, and even a mosquito is your better." There was a sharp inhalation from everyone in the room. "Your son is hardly any better than you with his constantly reminding anyone in earshot that his daddy or the Dark Lord would deal with people who were against him. He seems to think that you and Voldemort are rather interchangeable."
Malfoy whipped the wand out of his cane but found that Neville's wand was already aimed at his chest. "If I even think that you're about to cast a spell, Death Eater, I'll blow a hole through you so big that Hagrid could climb through without getting messy. Now put your little wand away and leave this establishment before I am forced to do something that I probably wouldn't regret."
Malfoy turned to face Neville's grandmother, obviously dismissing the younger Longbottom. "How the mighty have fallen, Madam," he said in a pitying tone obviously meant to insult. He still had the wand drawn but lowered.
"The Longbottoms have been on the Registry for hundreds of years, Lucius," Neville drawled in a passable imitation of the blond man's preferred method of speaking. "At least we had a height to fall from. The Malfoys have never risen above the muck."
Anything further that Malfoy might have said was stopped when Harry and his wives burst into applause. "Nicely said, Neville!" Hermione exclaimed. The older man spun, wand rising, and his mouth opened as if to say a spell, a snarl on his face. That was as far as he got, because Harry thrust his hands out hard, looking for all the world as if he was pushing Malfoy away from everyone. The result was that Malfoy was blown straight through the wall of the Three Broomsticks.
"Nobody threatens the women I love," Harry growled as some of the pub's patrons ran to the brand new 'window' to look outside.
Malfoy was lying spreadeagle in the street. An elderly witch in a yellow cloak looked down at the unconscious man and said, "That had to hurt," before continuing down the street. One of the local dogs, a mutt that looked to be mostly beagle, apparently decided after a few moments of thought that the Malfoy patriarch was furniture and cocked its leg, loosing a stream at him. This was what was needed to wake him.
"Get away from me, cur!" yelled Malfoy, moving to strike the dog. However, it was then that he discovered that his passage through the wall had broken some things, such as his arm and one of his legs. His yell of pain did nothing to improve his public image, since it involved a few words that usually were not said within the hearing of impressionable children. This caused a pretty young woman with just such an impressionable five year old daughter to cast a spell on him, and soap bubbles began to flow from his mouth when he opened it.
"Obviously your parents never taught you properly," she huffed as she walked off.
Aurors stepped out of their hiding places at that point and approached Malfoy. "I guess it's time we get you to St. Mungo's," one of them said as she pulled her hood back. Shocking pink hair told Harry who it was immediately.
"I want Potter arrested for attacking me!" Malfoy gargled.
"We can file a report, but since I saw the incident in question, 'Uncle', I'd recommend that you not push that idea too far, lest you end up with problems from filing a false report with the Aurors."
"I can guarantee such a result," Amelia said. "I was also a witness to the altercation. It was fairly obvious that you were about to cast a spell at Hermione Granger, so Mr. Potter's actions were entirely legal."
Malfoy's snarl worsened and he growled, "You will pay for this, Potter." Anything more that he might have threatened was lost in his transport to St. Mungo's.
"Why is it that no one ever tells me, 'You will rue the day'?" Harry asked. "I long for the time when one of my opponents threatens with day rue-ing." This caused more than a little laughter through the establishment while Harry walked over to Madam Rosmerta.
"I'd like to apologise for the damage, ma'am, and will pay for the repairs to your wall," he said to her when she looked up at him.
"Nonsense!" she replied. "You were protecting your friend, and if I don't miss my guess, lady love. No harm to me, no foul, no payment necessary."
He smiled at her. "I fear that we are at an impasse then, dear lady, because I feel that it is my duty to pay for the damage to your wall."
"I rather fancy a window there, to be honest, and you saved me the trouble of having the minor demolitions work done to open a hole in the wall."
He mock-glared at her before he turned to look at the hole. After a moment of concentration, a window appeared to replace the hole, complete with glass and trim. "There you go, Madam Rosmerta. One new window, just for you." He grinned impudently at her, making her laugh. He then turned to the others and said, "Shall we enjoy the rest of the day and return later for a butterbeer or something before heading back to the castle? You're welcome to join us, Neville, Hannah."
When the group was outside, Harry turned to Neville, who had left the Three Broomsticks with Harry and his wives, completely ignoring his grandmother. "I want to apologise for doing something that led to you being screamed at by your Gran," he said.
"I know you," came Neville's response, "and if you and Susan abolished the Board of Governors, then you had a reason. She needs to get off her lazy arse and realise that sitting around and saying that you're fighting the Dark doesn't mean that you actually are fighting it. If anything, by doing nothing, you support the Dark by expecting everyone else to do your fighting." He grinned. "I think it really bothers her that I'm officially an adult now, so she can't exactly bounce me from the family rolls, or any of the other things she'd likely do to get me back in line. It also bothers her that I've developed too much of a spine for her liking."
"I just hope that you two can get things worked out," Harry said. "She's all the family that you have, and I know that I'd give just about anything to have relatives that actually cared about whether I live or die."
"That's what you have us for," Pansy said quite seriously. "Oh by the way, as a complete aside having nothing to do with the conversation at hand, did I tell you that my parents purchased a Muggle company that makes drills? I think they're called Grunnings. They fired everyone not up to their standards. Quite a few people went in the purge." She was grinning widely at him when she was finished.
Harry laughed. "Not related my arse," he said with a chuckle. "Revenge, while not necessarily sweet, is certainly fun at times. I would imagine it safe to assume that one Vernon Dursley was less than exemplary in their eyes."
"Why, I believe that you just might be right!" she said sweetly. He hugged her, and the group headed off to enjoy themselves.
—-
Another week went by, with the Potters and the Headmaster meeting occasionally to hash out how to deal with the loss of the Board of Governors. Harry's choice was to leave the running of the school in Dumbledore's hands for a while as they worked to rebuild the Board.
"We can never completely avoid the possibility of power-mad people taking over," Harry said, "but I'd like to make it as difficult as possible. Maybe a binding oath to work for the good of the school and its students and not only for your own good? That allows dissent - I don't want my ideas to be declared the only way that's good for Hogwarts - but they honestly have to believe that what they're doing is best for the school. While Malfoy might well have felt that getting rid of all but the pure-bloods is best for the wizarding world and Hogwarts, the rest of his decisions were always with his political self-interest in mind. He wasn't thinking of the school first. That's what I'd want the oath to assure."
"I'm sure that we can work something out," Dumbledore said. "Are you going to get Madam Bones involved with the new Board of Governors?"
"If she'll agree, yes," Harry replied. "Gives a sense of continuity as well." He paused. "You know, I think we need some parents of Muggle-borns on the Board. They have as much of a stake in how things are run here as anyone else, right?" He smiled wryly. "Wouldn't that cause a stink, allowing Muggles to have a say in how their magical children are taught?"
He was answered with a big kiss from Hermione. "I'll bet my parents would agree to serve if you asked, and if the oath were phrased properly, I'm sure that they'd agree to it in a heartbeat."
"We need to be careful about loading too many people that I know onto the Board, though," he replied.
"I'm not worried about that right now," she replied. "With the Headmaster in control, and the official requirement that all major changes have to be approved by a majority of the heirs of the Founders, we should be good for a time. We can take our time figuring out how the new Board should be designed."
"Hermione is right," Pansy said. "With the Headmaster in charge, we can do something like ask Amelia to set up a small group to figure out how best to run the school. I'd definitely recommend that the Grangers be part of that group at the very least."
"Not to sidetrack the Board of Governors conversation, but there is a bigger issue I think we need to worry about. We need to think about when and how we're going to kill off Riddle," Susan said. "There are two of us who are going to be giving birth in the last third of the year, and you've already said that our children will be born into a Voldemort-free world."
"I prefer to wait and conceive mine in a Riddle-free world, knowing quite well that my husband will still be around to do that," Pansy said with a smile.
"We still have to conceive little Hypatia," Hermione said with a deep chuckle. At Harry's confused look, she said, "Famous mathematician, philosopher and teacher at Alexandria. She’s sort of the unofficial patron saint of Librarians everywhere. "
Susan gave Hermione a wicked grin. "So if your first six children are boys, you'll keep going until you have a girl just so you can name her 'Hypatia'?"
Harry chuckled. "We'll deal with that shortly, Hermione," he said. "In the meantime, let's get down to dinner. I'm hungry, and I really don't think we can get any further on the Board conversation right now. It's got to be left in the hands of those reforming the Board. Susan and I will have some say in the matter, but I really think that the best we can do is give the student body's take on the Board."
"Agreed," the Headmaster said. "Shall we?" The six of them headed to the Great Hall for their meal.
"Harry," Luna said before they entered the castle, "I think something is going to happen tonight at dinner. I'm not sure what, but just be prepared." He nodded.
He found out quickly when he sat down in his usual place, after Dumbledore had taken his own seat. Ginny Weasley approached the Head table and handed her wand to the Headmaster, drawing an intrigued look from the man. She then turned and faced the small table with no little trepidation on her face. "I've come to apologise for my stupidity," she said clearly. "I do not ask forgiveness, because I don't deserve it, but I do take responsibility for what I did to you." She turned to the others. "That also goes for you four. I have been a horrible bitch to everyone connected to Har … Mr. Potter since August, and my attitude lost me a sister to go with the future husband that I threw away. I apologise to you four as well." She retrieved her wand and left the silent Great Hall.
"Well, that was interesting," he said, "although not unexpected, given that explosion the other day."
"I don't trust it," Pansy growled. "I don't trust her."
"I'm not giving her my trust either," Hermione growled, before blushing as she realised that she had mimicked her favourite female lover's tone.
"I'm not saying that you should - she hasn't earned that yet," Harry said. "But other than the twins, no Weasley has the ability to plan for the long term that I've ever seen. She certainly has never shown a tendency toward long term thinking before. So I'm taking her words at face value. She has taken responsibility." He looked at them all carefully. "If she follows through and actually changes, I will be considering possibly extending the hand of friendship to her."
Hermione looked affronted at this. "Harry, she -"
"Don't I know better than anyone else what she did, Hermione?"
"She hurt you!" Hermione exclaimed plaintively, a bit louder than she'd meant to speak.
"I know that," he replied. "And now we really get to the heart of this, don't we? You want to protect me, and maybe you even worry that I'll make up with her and be done with all of you." The four girls looked somewhat abashed at his statement, making it obvious that the last was indeed their worry. He smiled and pushed his feelings toward them. All of his feelings. He knew that none of them were used to the link that had been formed on their wedding day. All four girls gasped, both Susan and Hermione moaned and began to shudder slightly, Luna bit her lower lip and Pansy simply unfocused and smiled. "That's how I feel about the four of you." Harry explained. "All the love and arousal and everything else." He then pushed some sadness tinged with hope through the link at them. "That's how I feel about Ginny. The hope is that she can be redeemed; that she can turn her life around. I will never love her again, and she will never again share my bed under any circumstances I can imagine."
"That's an odd phrasing," Susan said.
"The universe likes to play with me. If I didn't add that little codicil, something would happen, I'm sure." He laughed after he said it. "Me, paranoid much?"
"CONSTANT VIGILANCE!" the five of them shouted in unison before bursting into laughter as food arrived on the tables.
—-
The five spent the next several weeks in planning. Harry's original plan to deal with Voldemort had been to blow himself up, but now he had a reason to keep living. One idea that was being worked on by both Hermione and Luna was seeing if a shield could be created that would protect from physical objects. No shield currently in use could do such a thing. Amelia Bones had already promised that the Aurors would pay the designer of such a spell top money for access to such magic.
Harry chuckled at how busy everyone who was in the know seemed. He was also amused by the ways that the rest of the school seemed to be trying to ingratiate themselves with him again. The Hufflepuffs had sent a delegation to give him a heartfelt apology and a promise to stay out of his way (if he so wished) as best they could for the remainder of the year. He relented, possibly because Hannah had been on the committee that had come to talk to him, and both Susan and Neville vouched for her.
One Tuesday afternoon headed into the library to see if there was anything new in the search. Looking around a bit, he found Hermione deep in the Restricted section, just putting a book on shields back on the shelf. He smiled and slid up behind her, sliding his hands up her front until he was cupping her breasts in his hands, enjoying the fact that she had apparently chosen to forego the bra. Pressed tightly against her, letting her feel his arousal, he whispered, "How are you, lover?" in her ear, making her shiver delightfully against him.
"No real luck yet on the spell," she moaned back. "Oh God, Harry, don't tease me like this."
"Okay," he said, letting go of her breasts. She made a little moue of disappointment, but gasped when she felt Harry's hands slide down her legs. He lifted her skirt until he was able to reach her knickers, then pulled them down gently to about knee level. "You know what I'm about to do, don't you?" he whispered to her. "I'm going to plant that baby inside you right here in the Library. You're going to want to scream out loud, but you're going to have to stay quiet, because if you don't, Madam Pince will never let you in here again." He undid his trousers slightly, lifted her skirt again and pressed his erection against her bare skin. "You have to remain as silent as humanly possible while I fulfil one of your fantasies by screwing you incoherent right here in the Library."
He felt a frisson of desire shoot through him as she moaned softly at his speech to her. "That turns you on more than anything else, doesn't it?" He nibbled her right ear as he whispered, "And think of how many people will be looking at you when you leave, the way your nipples are going to be straining against your blouse. You're going to be the wet dream of every boy you walk past today, after we make love."
He repositioned himself and placed the tip of his organ against her very wet opening and began to press forward, revelling in the insistent pulsing that he felt. What with the exercises and the position she was currently in, bent slightly forward with her legs close together, she was the tightest that Harry could ever remember her being. He slid slowly into her, letting his hands release the skirt to cover them again as his hands slid up and found her breasts again. He opened enough buttons to completely free her breasts and began to fondle them as he continued to drive her wild with his maddeningly slow lovemaking.
"How does that make you feel?" he whispered in her ear as he grazed his teeth along her ear lobe. "Knowing that we're making love just a few feet away from our fellow students; knowing that all it would take is one of them walking back here to catch us in the act? How does it feel knowing that I'm fucking you just mere feet from everyone?" He felt her clench once when he said 'fucking', but apparently the concept of just how easily they could be caught was too much for her. He felt her spasming against him, getting so tight that it became slightly painful. "Gods, woman, you're magnificent," he groaned as he felt her pulsing against him. He suddenly released her breasts and slipped his hands back under her skirt, gripping her hips as he felt his own orgasm boiling up and into his wife, who was panting quietly as she thrust herself against him.
As they both quietly recovered, him still occasionally twitching and releasing just a little more into her, she said as softly as she could, "I have never had an orgasm that powerful, my love. I thought that I was going to pass out from the pleasure." She looked down her body and giggled. "I'm really going to be giving them wet dreams if we leave too soon, Harry. My nipples are throbbing."
He finally pulled out and helped her with her clothing. "Well then, shall I make the boys hate me, by showing off my sexy wife?" He crooked an arm to her.
"I'll need it," she giggled again. "I don't think I'll be able to walk straight without help." They both chuckled as they saw several boys shift in their seats as she walked through the library.
One girl said in a snarky voice, "Looks like she just got laid back there."
Harry just couldn't resist. "Jealous?" he asked angelically. The girl's look, as if she wanted to slink off somewhere and gnaw on her own liver, answered the question for him.
The other girls were glassy-eyed when they made it back to the suite that they shared. "Great Morganna!" Susan exclaimed. "That orgasm you gave her made us come, Harry! I didn't even come that hard when you spanked me into the New Year!"
Hermione was blushing. "Well, remember that libraries get me horny anyway. Then to have Harry sneak up behind me and flat-out tell me that he was going to fulfil my fantasy of making love in one made it worse. And then he reminded me that I couldn't make a sound."
"Add to that that you're a screamer when you really let go," Pansy purred.
"Yeah," Hermione breathed happily. "Having to hold that in made it that much more intense." She stopped and scowled for a moment before her eyes shot wide, and she leapt to her feet. She ran to one of the ever-present notebooks she left around the suite and began to write furiously.
"I recognise that look," Pansy said. "I think you were fertile in more ways than one. She's had an idea and a real corker, too."
"I’ll have to test it, but I think that we have a method of blocking physical objects," Hermione said smugly, turning back to her husband and wives. "If I’m right, enough wizards could stop the physical effects of a nuclear device in the kiloton range." With a small smirk, she added, "Or just Harry could."
"I’m not that powerful," he said in mock annoyance.
"Depends on how you mean that," Luna said in a voice that dropped Harry’s IQ a few points and raised his blood pressure — locally, at least.
"It just came to me," Hermione said, eyes twinkling at the play on words. "The ‘holding it in’ comment was what made me think of it. Most protection spells build a shield that’s actually rather nebulous, even if they look solid. That silver shield that Voldemort and the Headmaster can both cast, the one that rings whenever a spell hits it? —As wonderful for absorbing or reflecting energy as it is, if you throw a pebble at it, it’ll go right through. But if we can compress the energy — harden it, or ‘hold it in’, if you will — we should be able to stop bullets and other physical objects. Since these shields already block energy, we should be able to stand in the middle of that carnage of yours and utterly annihilate Riddle."
"What is this 'we' you speak of?" he asked, a slight smile on his face.
"Don’t we have this conversation on a regular basis?" Susan asked in slight exasperation. "Do you really think that we’re going to let you do this on your own?"
"Do you know what it would do to me to know that I wasn't there to support my husband, when he needed me most?" Pansy asked softly.
"She's right, Harry," Luna agreed. "Hermione has come up with a spell that may well work, unless I miss my guess, but you'll need us there. I don't think that he'll just walk in and wait for you to press the button to cause such a violent exothermic reaction. You'll need people there to fight alongside you, and can you think of anyone who wants to keep you alive more than the four of us?"
He stopped and looked at them for a long moment. "It's just … I was … I was going to commit suicide by Voldemort back in December. From what I knew, the four of you were dead, and I was never going to see you again in this life. It was my decision then to speed things up and take out Voldemort quickly, so that I could see you sooner." He walked over and pulled Pansy into a tight hug. "I am so scared that the four of you will die at the last battle we'll ever have with Riddle, and that I'll survive without a scratch. I will have nothing to keep me here, but I won't be in a position to just make sure that I see you again quickly. I don't know what lies beyond, but I doubt that who or whatever it is rewards selfish suicide."
"Well then," Susan said, "we'll just have to work very hard at keeping ourselves alive during the battle. We are not about to let you walk into that alone, and that is our final word on this." She looked sharply at him. "Do not fight us on this, Harry. If you think we'd handle your death any better than you would handle ours, you are very much mistaken."
"Despite your best efforts back in October," Pansy added, "we've decided that you are worth knowing and loving, Harry. We married you, didn't we?"
He opened his mouth to speak, but Hermione said, "Don't you dare say 'temporary insanity'!" At his surprised look, she smirked. "I've known you for six and a half years, Harry. I think I can figure out some of what you were going to say."
He stared at them for a long moment before he finally said, "I don't really deserve any one of you, so how did I manage to have all four of you in love with me?" He pulled them all into a deep hug. "Two of you are carrying my children, and hopefully a third will be after today's escapades in the Library." He took a deep breath. "I spent so much time being hated by the Dursleys - Vernon enjoyed telling me to leave on my seventeenth birthday - that I couldn't help but internalise some of that. To know that four women who could crook their little finger and call any man they wanted to them simply because of how beautiful they are - well, it's humbling to someone like me. And I worry about losing you, especially to that coward, Riddle."
"You're somewhat biased, beloved," Luna said. "I know, quite honestly, that I am not classically beautiful. Not everyone looks at me and thinks that I'm attractive. I know this and accept it. But I also know how the rest of the world tends to look at me, so it humbles me to know that so honourable and loving a man was not only willing to look past that, but to accept me for who I am. Not every man could accept that I am in love with one woman, let alone three, yet you accept it willingly."
"It's who you are, and I fell in love with you. 'I love you, you’re perfect, now change'? I don't think so. Honestly speaking, if it were physically possible, I'd adore children that two of you created together. I'm betting that a Hermione/Pansy mix would be especially pretty, although I'd probably have to teach her at an early age to defend herself from cads. And you and Susan? Another adorable child, I'll bet."
"We're getting pretty far afield," Susan said. "Can we all agree that none of us want any of the others to die and agree that we'll do everything we can to stay alive?"
Harry smiled and nodded at that and put his hand out. The others rested theirs on top of his, and a gentle golden pulse enveloped them all for just a moment.
"Oh my, I keep forgetting about that," Susan said a little breathlessly. "It's one thing to say how much you love someone, but to feel it like that -"
Luna looked solemn. "I swear that I will do everything in my power to keep us all alive. I never want to lose this feeling."
"Good," Hermione said. "You can help me work on refining this spell. My quick notes might make for a useful spell, but one that would probably tire out the caster pretty quickly. I want to come up with maximum power for minimum energy."
Pansy got a look in her eyes and grabbed Harry by the arm. "Maybe make it a spell powered by sex and have Harry shag us all just before the last battle?" She grinned and said, "In fact, I think Harry and I should go practice right now." She dragged him into the bedroom, and the other girls quickly developed smiles as they felt the love and joy flowing through their link. Their smiles morphed into dreamy, glazed looks as Pansy's delighted orgasm exploded through the group connection.
Author Notes:
We're nearing the end, folks - not that many chapters left...