My Father's Image
Chapter 5
By Kinsfire
The stories in this grouping have been abandoned by me, and will not be worked on again.
Chapter 5
Harry blinked for a moment before asking, "What happened to Gina?"
"Oh we were … I was busy, let's just leave it at that. Gina, Cissy, James, Harmonia Wildbanks … for reasons I never understood, I was 'The Girl Most Likely To', without the psychological problems that lead to such a thing normally. By the time I was sculpted, we were pretty sure it was a magical effect causing it, although no idea where it had come from." She shrugged. "You'll learn more about that in the journals, including some very detailed explanations of what I did with my various partners." A blush coloured her 'skin'. "I will always remember with extreme fondness, and more than a little arousal, the time I was so delightfully sandwiched between James and Remus here. I damn near passed out."
"You did pass out, Lil," Remus said softly. He looked at Harry, worry evident in his eyes.
Harry was utterly confused at that. "Remus? What's wrong? Is there something you aren't telling me about it? Are you actually my father or something?"
"Not unless the gestation was for more than a year," he said with a soft chuckle. "I just … well, I didn't want to ruin your image of your mother."
"Remus, my image of her is irrevocably changed from the moment I met her statue. A part of me can't help but remember that she's a sculpture of Mum, but let's just say that another part of me makes itself evident when I wake up spooned against her. And if she was like this when you were in school with her, then I understand it perfectly." He looked back to Hermione. "That's something else, Hermione. I'm attracted to you, but I'm reacting to my own mother as a woman and not as my Mum, and let's not forget Tonks in all this - she walked in on my shower a week ago, and the thought of her in clinging wet clothes …" He scowled. "I'm a fucking pervert is what I am! I can't decide on one woman, and I will not subject you to even more hurt by my actions."
She released him and stepped back. "Was Lily a pervert for having multiple lovers? It certainly sounds as if James Potter was a willing participant in the threesome she and Professor Lupin described. Were all three of them perverts? Am I a pervert for having made love to Ginny, and wanting to make love to Tonks and …" She blushed for a moment. "Am I a pervert for wanting to be the centre of attention at an orgy with Ginny and all three of you in attendance?" She blushed deeply as she looked at Remus. "Sorry, but you caused more cases of wet knickers in the girls dormitories than I think you'd ever realise. You're a sexy man."
Remus looked gobsmacked, to say the least. "But … but … you were thirteen!" he finally gasped out.
"Fourteen, at least for me," Hermione replied. "My hormones kicked in over that ponce Lockheart, unfortunately, but thirteen is about when most girls really start to notice that the male of the species has some interesting lines to them, and develop a strong desire to check every single one of them out." She shrugged. "I might not participate with all the gossip, what with being almost a year older than my classmates, but it's hard to avoid hearing Parvati talking about how she wanted to get a detention with you and show up wearing nothing under her robes and … well, you get the idea. I think we all thought about it. Just surprised neither she nor Lavender actually tried it." Hermione was blushing furiously. "Besides, you were the only teacher in the school worth thinking about. The Headmaster? Too old. Filch?" She shuddered. "Hagrid? Please," she scoffed at the last one. "The only other teacher of the right age group is Professor Snape."
Remus blinked for a moment as he thought. "Excuse me while I react to the thought of Snape as sexy." He performed an over-the-top full body shudder.
"Exactly," she replied with a smile before turning to Harry again. "I need to get back to something you said, though. Why aren't you going to survive the war, Harry?"
"A Prophecy and some intelligence. I was told, about a half hour after Sirius died, why I'd been tricked to the Ministry by Tom. `The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches… born to those who have thrice defied him, born as the seventh month dies … and the Dark Lord will mark him as his equal, but he will have power the Dark Lord knows not … and either must die at the hand of the other for neither can live while the other survives … the one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord will be born as the seventh month dies …' That's what was in that globe. Now, I have a chance to save this world, so I intend to give my best effort to taking Riddle with me. But I simply do not have the skill to survive that battle. So I have to plan on a mutual takeout. The solicitor is obvious, based on my life expectancy."
"Does Dumbledore know about this?" Hermione asked.
"Who do you think told me the Prophecy?" Harry asked quietly. "He's known since the moment that my parents died that I was the one. But he was being kind-hearted and making sure I grew up healthy and well-adjusted by putting me with a family that Lily says he knew hated magic." He sneered. "You must remember that he's older than most everyone else in the Order - Moody's a baby compared to him - so he's always right. People who might know the situation better simply don't see the big picture."
"But your mother's blood protections -" Remus said.
"Actually, I found out that it was Dumbledore who cast those blood wards. Mum really had nothing to do with it. People assume, because my touch destroyed Quirrell in my first year, that the wards are made of the same thing. I may well be safer in this place than I am at Number 4 Privet Drive." He scowled. "That reminds me - we did a really fast pack when I left there. I should go back and make sure that everything has been removed. Unless Dumbledore physically restrains me and drags me back there while I'm as unconscious as I'd have to be, I'm never returning there to live."
"Well, at least you're safe from that," Hermione said.
"Don't be too sure about that," Harry replied. "He's very good at packing bags for a guilt trip. He'll invoke my parents, and possibly Cedric and Sirius if he has to. He's also likely to invoke your safety, and I'll pay each of you a thousand Galleons if he doesn't take me to task for telling you the Prophecy."
Remus spoke up. "Harry, you'll want to know this. I was there when Sirius was most recently reworking his will with the goblin solicitor, and the properties are all going to you. Werewolves can't own property, or else I might have owned this place or somewhere else. He did put a requirement that you allow me to stay somewhere for something like a galleon a year, but I'll pay my way."
"And I'll be free to put that money right back into paying your salary. I'll need a business manager, and I'd rather it be someone that I trust. We'll deal with whatever fines may come from me thinking for myself, but I'm hiring you as my … well, I guess it's major-domo, or whatever they call that role. As for a place to stay? Choose one of the properties, be it here or another, since the way you talk, there are others."
"Harry, you know I won't take charity …"
"What charity?" Harry asked hotly. "I have more money than I know what to do with, since I was never trained to deal with that sort of thing, and no experience with the world. You've been about in both the wizard and Muggle worlds, working. You have enough of an idea about how to handle money that you've been able to live off the pittance that you can manage to make when you can get a job, which is far better than I know how to do. You'd be hired to handle those affairs, teach me the same things when I have the time, hire me tutors in things I need to know that Hogwarts can't or won’t teach me, and generally be a pain in my arse to get me to do the things that I don't want to, but that I need to do. You saw some of it, and you can ask Hermione what a sulky little prick I was last year at this time. You won't be afraid to kick me in the arse when I need it. If you think that's charity, then I don't want to work in what you consider a real job."
Remus blinked at the sudden outburst, but then smiled. "I'll take the job, if only to kick you in the arse when I think you need it."
Harry grinned and turned to Hermione. "Could I talk you into some research on what that sort of position pays, Hermione? I'm paying him fairly."
She smiled brightly and kissed his cheek. "I'd be glad to."
Remus laughed outright. "Outmanoeuvred me before I could do anything. Good move. Let me get in touch with a goblin solicitor for your will, and we'll talk about my salary at that time. In the meantime, you should show Hermione your journals."
Hermione bit her lower lip, and Harry could see her nipples press against the tank top again. "Other journals," Harry said. "Not Mum's. He's talking Rowena Ravenclaw's and Salazar Slytherin's journals."
Her eyes went wide, and his eyebrows rose as her nipples stiffened even more. Do libraries actually turn her on? he asked himself.
"May I see them?" she asked a little breathlessly.
Harry stroked his chin as if thinking about it. "Hmm, should I let a woman who knows more about researching things than I'm likely to be able to forget look at these journals? Should I ask the third person I wanted to research them to actually do what I was hoping?" He grinned. "I'll take you to them, and see to it that someone comes to give you dinner and make you go to bed."
She glared at him for a moment before her face mellowed. "I have to admit that you're right." She bit her lower lip. "I'm certain that I could be convinced to stop if a certain green eyed man offered me kisses," she said softly.
He blinked at her for a moment. "You'd stop reading for that?"
"Not just any kisses," she said, reading his thoughts correctly. "Harry Potter kisses. I said it before and I'll say it again, Harry - I love you. I. Love. You. What good is being the best read person in the world, if I'm lonely?" She flowed into his arms and kissed his lips softly for a moment. "I'll try to rein in my hormones," she whispered into his ear, "but you've been affecting me that way since we started fourth year. I want you to have my virginity, and I will admit to no end of naughty thoughts about ways and places." She blushed. "Quite few in the Hogwarts library. Me bending over a table reading while wearing a short skirt, and you being overcome with lust, of course."
"With your arse?" he interrupted softly. "Of course I would be."
She stopped and looked at him, her jaw dropping slightly as she realised that he really felt that way. "Oh my - looks like I need to shop for mini-skirts," she moaned into his ear as she hugged him again.
"Jesus, do you want me to fail all my classes?" he asked with a laugh. "If I know you're wearing a skirt that shows off your legs, then I won't give a damn about the classes."
He shook his head. "Actually, that makes me think. The four of us should leave the house and buy some Muggle clothes. Remus will need better ones for his job as major-domo, and I want to buy the both of you ladies some clothes. Lily has some already, but since I have the sneaking suspicion that she'd like to return to Hogwarts with me in the fall, she ought to have a full wardrobe. And if I actually have a girlfriend now …" he said, pausing to look fearfully at Hermione, who nodded happily. He continued with a grin. "Since I have a girlfriend, it's in the boyfriend contract that a boyfriend gets to spoil the girlfriend rotten if he so chooses. Guess what, he so chooses." She blushed prettily and started to open her mouth, but he cut her off. "I know I don't have to. I want to."
"Then I get to choose the fashions," she said softly. "When should we set up for the trip?"
"Well, let me head over to Gringott's today," Remus said, and set up an appointment. We can all go shopping tomorrow."
"Set yourself up as the employee of Lord Black," Harry said. "And have them begin paying you a fair wage immediately. I'll pay for the Muggle clothes on the credit card I have … well, debit card … and consider it business related. Promise me you'll not take the bare minimum for the position? I'll not cheat the last Marauder - Sirius wouldn't like it, and neither would my parents, I'll bet. Choose a mid-range salary."
"I would have fought you, but you play dirty," Remus laughed. "I'll go deal with that immediately. You three need to sit and talk for a bit, I'd think. You're just avoiding dealing with something, Harry. You've gone from terribly depressed about something to laughing in a single conversation, and that's not good. You're hiding from yourself. Talk to them, okay? Even if it's while perusing the journals."
They heard a crack in the hallway, followed immediately by a crash, and the screaming of the portrait of Sirius's mother. "Hey Tonks!" Harry shouted as he started to walk toward the foyer. He drew his wand as he got closer and looked at the painting. "You know, as Lord Black, I'm betting that I have a say in some of the things that happen in all the Black properties, whether or not I officially am the owner of record." He got a nod from Remus, and grinned.
After a quick stop by the tapestry, he stopped in front of the portrait. "Lydia Mugford Black, you are an abomination, and an example of all that is wrong with the wizarding world."
"HOW DARE YOU! YOU FILTHY HALF BLOODED -"
"SILENCE!" Harry bellowed at her. "As the duly accepted Lord of the Black Family, I have three things to say in your presence. First, I reverse the ruling concerning Andromeda Black Tonks - she is once again a member of the family. Second, Bellatrix Black Lestrange is hereby disinherited and cast from the family. Third and most important thing, I repudiate you. You are also cast from the family - you are no longer a member of the Black Family. I say these things with witnesses present - the last two of them with a member of the Black Family present. You are now Lydia Mugford, and have no rights within the Black Family."
"YOU HAVE NO RIGHT -"
"Wrong," said a soft voice from beside Harry. He turned to face someone who was quite obviously related to Sirius. "I am Nymphadora Tonks, daughter of Andromeda Black Tonks. The fact that I can now look like this shows that Harry James Potter Black is in fact Lord of the Black Family. I am Family Black. I have heard Lord Black's pronouncement and verify that he has the right. I accept him as head of my family. You are cast out, Lydia Mugford."
"I, Remus Lupin, am the second adult to hear and certify this announcement. Harry James Potter Black is Lord of the Black Family. You are officially cast from the Black Family, Lydia Mugford."
Harry felt an odd flare of magic in the house, and quirked an eyebrow. "Finite Incantatem." The painting fell from the wall with a loud clatter. Before anyone could say anything further, he Vanished her portrait. "Pity Sirius never thought of that," he murmured.
"Is it me, or is this house already feeling better?" Tonks asked with a quiet laugh. "Thank you, Harry." She leaned over and kissed his cheek.
"You're welcome, Miss Tonks. Feel free to call your mother at some point and let her know, if she hasn't already figured it out." He looked around the place. "Now I need to get someone in here to fix up the place. Would house elves be able to do some of that kid of work?"
"Harry …" Hermione began, but Harry cut her off quickly.
"I can think of at least one house elf who would probably work for me if I asked, and I can think of another who isn't happy at Hogwarts. I was thinking of perhaps bonding Winky to me until we can find out enough to see about freeing her. She'd be much happier with a family, and can you really see me treating her and Dobby as the Malfoys or the Crouches would?"
Hermione blushed. "I'm sorry. I just …"
"You have good ideas, but you need to figure out more information before you get too deeply into it. For all we know, freeing all the elves could make them go extinct. Maybe it's part of their magic that they need to be bound to a family or place, and elves like Dobby are mutations. I can easily agree to a campaign to get people to treat them more fairly. But before we go freeing them all, let's make sure that they'll be better for it, okay?"
She nodded. "Do you know that when you get passionate about something, you develop this sort of … well, aura is the only word for it." She flushed. "It's rather sexy, to be honest."
"Ain't it though?" Tonks asked with a grin. "Don't you just want to tie him down and have your way with him?" she asked with a lascivious grin. Hermione's answer was non-verbal, but definitely in the affirmative. I'm going to walk into walls if she doesn't wear a bra this summer.
"I think that's my cue to leave," Remus said with a laugh. "You three get comfortable and work out your problems, okay?"
"Problems?" Tonks asked after Remus left.
"Harry here wants the three of us," Lily said easily. "He'd like to get you into the shower, Hermione bent over a desk, and me probably in the bed some morning. He's in love with her, probably you, and he could probably fall for me if he let himself." She grinned at him. "Figured I'd cut through the crap."
Harry frowned for a moment. "I honestly don't know what to do. Isn't it wrong to feel this way for more than one girl? Isn't it just me being a typical teenager?"
Hermione spoke up again. "Is it wrong of me to want to get naked with Tonks in the shower the same as I want to be that way with you? Was your mother wrong to have both Remus and your father as lovers?"
"I don't know!" Harry answered in frustration. "I just … maybe the Dursleys taught me too well, or who knows what other explanation there might be, but …" He scowled deeply. "I'm afraid of losing any one of you if I take up with more than one of you. Hell, I'm afraid of losing you if I take up with you at all." He looked to Hermione and took her hands in his, surprising her. "Hermione, you have been everything to me as a friend. You have been my best friend ever since that interesting Halloween our first year. You just can't share fighting a mountain troll and not be friends afterward. You stood beside me even when Ron didn't. What scares me about beginning a romantic relationship with you is that if we don't work out, I'll have lost the one thing that stabilises my life. I would rather go through life having you as my friend than risk that by praying that having something more will work."
Hermione's jaw dropped, and Tonks and Lily were sniffling. Tonks finally stopped and said, "Harry, are you aware that you just told Hermione just how much you love her? The best loves came from those who were friends first, you know."
"But what do I do?" he asked in despair.
Tonks laughed. "I recommend we all head into the master bedroom and have an orgy. We'll figure things out from there. Hermione's legal, and will be an adult soon, if I remember correctly." Her eyes suddenly sparkled. "In fact, you're the underage one here. I guess you'll just have to watch us making love."
His eyes bugged for a moment as he imagined all three ladies nude. "You hate me, don't you," he asked. "Taunting me with an image like that when you know I'm a teenaged boy. You know what you did to me before."
She looked at him for a long moment. "I like joking with you, Harry, but if what I'm saying is hurting you, please tell me. I'm attracted to you - I'll admit that. I would like to follow through on that shower scene - I've been fantasising about you pinning me to the wall of that shower."
"Well, that makes two of us," he murmured.
Lily broke into the conversation. "Okay, let me see if I can put this in perspective, Harry. There are three women here who would like nothing more than singularly and as a group to screw your brains out as well as each others. You are afraid of letting this happen because you might lose their respect or friendship, and would rather love them from afar."
"What do I do with my life if I lose the people who make it worth living?" he asked.
"Do you think so little of us that you think we'd abandon you?" Hermione asked, pain evident in her voice and on her face. His eyes and mouth went wide, and he looked stricken. Without warning, he spun to face the wall and in that same move drove his hand into the wall with as much force as he could muster. A cracking noise was heard, and very little of it was the plaster from the wall, since he appeared to have located one of the wall studs. He pulled his hand back and cradled it, blood dripping from his knuckles where the broken bones were sticking out.
"I can't do anything right, can I? Even when I do the right thing, I insult and degrade the very people I'm trying to do right by. I try to treat Hermione properly, rather than listen to my hormones which were screaming to treat her like a piece of meat, but I do it so shoddily that she runs crying from the room. I work off my frustrations with a small fighting practice, and scare and horrify those who end up watching me. Now I insult the three of you by calling you faithless. Breaking my hand is worth it. If you ladies are smart, you will put as much space between yourselves and me as soon as you possibly can." He sneered and walked away from the group.
He didn't get far as Lily walked over to him and grabbed his shoulder. Being a statue, she was a great deal stronger than she looked, so Harry stopped moving. "Is this what the child who became Lily's son has come to? A whining child who looks for reasons to hate himself? Has it occurred to you that maybe people occasionally say things that don't come out the way that they intended? That perhaps Hermione had a valid point in saying what she did?" She let go of him and began to pace. "You may well be one of the most selfish people I have ever met! And you do it in the name of thinking of other people! You're even worse than Petunia!" She stalked away from Harry.
He looked at her for a moment. "Makes sense, when you think about it. For all intents and purposes, she's my mother, not you or your original. She's the one that raised me from a baby." He walked to the doorway and turned back around. "She's the one that made me into the worthless excuse for a human being that I apparently am - you even managed to bolster my case for me." He walked down the hallway, away from the three ladies.
Lily was clenching and unclenching her fists. "I want to hit him so badly, but I'd kill him. Is he always this infuriating?"
"He was an unholy terror last year," Hermione said, "but then again, no one gave him a chance to grieve for the death of Cedric, the Ministry called him insane and attention seeking because he said that Voldemort was back, Minister Fudge tried to have his wand broken for using magic in front of his cousin, saving him from Dementors, and then Sirius died just a few weeks ago. During the school year we had a teacher who made him write lines in the back of his own hand for telling the truth, and who was the one who sicced the Dementors on him in the first place, knowing that he'd cast the Patronus to get rid of them, thereby giving them the excuse to snap his wand. The entire year was horrible for him, and none of us made it any better. Now he's dealing with the grief of losing his godfather, discovering that he's the sole heir to that family, discovering that the headmaster has lied to him via the sin of omission by not telling him about the Potter legacy, and we're all expecting him to just sit back and be a normal sixteen year old boy. And we even know the prophecy hanging over his head, too!"
Lily looked horrified. "Oh, fuck," she moaned. "And I just hit somebody with two years of undealt—with grief with the exclamation that he's worse than the good for nothing bitch that is my sister. He needs to learn that other people think for themselves, but … damn it, I've never gotten my temper under control. How do we make it up to him? As much as walking in on him, healing his hands and then shagging him unconscious would be fun for all of us, I think it wouldn't really solve the problem."
"No, it wouldn't," Hermione answered. "I think we need to let him be for a little while, and then talk to him." A lone tear slid from her eye. "The pain he's been through, and to think that I'm actually helping add to it. Damn it."
Lily blinked. "And I need to apologise, and hope that he forgives me for the Petunia comment." She scowled. "Damn it to hell."
Don't worry - I'll be getting to the challenge that started this and named the story next chapter.