When a rip in the fabric of the universe suddenly tore itself open in the middle of downtown London England and an intradimensional army of bipedal reptiles started spilling out into the streets, the Magical government of Britain immediately scrambled to relocate the seven million plus Muggles that lived throughout the city. Hundreds of thousands of powerful AOE style Obliviation spells were cast on the Mundane residents of London so that the newly memory wiped Muggles could be sent off on a wide variety of all expense paid "vacations" all around the world.
From that point forward, the streets of London became a warzone for the first time since the Second World War's Battle of Britain had bombs dropping all over the city on a regular basis
Of course this particular warzone was turning out to be radically different from anything that London had ever experienced in the past. This battlefield featured alien reptile creatures wearing medieval looking metallic armor and carrying weapons that were distinctly supernatural in nature. Bronze colored clubs that melted skin on impact and swords that were enchanted to release an immensely lethal poison were just two of the many different weapons that were being brought to bear by humanity's newfound enemies. Likewise, the alien army came complete with what appeared to be a magic wielding class among their ranks that worked in tandem with their more mundane soldier class.
What this meant for the English witches and wizards that attempted to curse the living hell out of the foreign army marching towards their homes was that they almost immediately found themselves the target of a bizarre variety of foreign attack magic in return... Within merely the first few hours of the alien invasion, the Magical British government commanded their civilian wizard population to fall back in order to keep casualties to a minimum even as they frantically organized some variety of counter-offensive.
Unfortunately for the British Magical government, the most efficient tactic that they could've used to fight back against their attackers had just been forcefully evacuated out of the country...
For the first time in a little over 1100 years, keeping the Muggle population ignorant to the existence of the supernatural was turning out to be against Magical Britain's best interests. One of the more interesting facts that was discovered in the hours leading up to the Muggle evacuation was that normal non-magical technology such as pistols, rifles and explosives actually did work against these alien creatures... What this most likely meant was that gunpowder didn't even exist in whatever dimension these lizardmen originated from, with the end result being that they'd never invented countermeasures against any variety of modern ballistic weapons…
Nobody in the magical community was willing to admit it but Muggle firearms weren't the only reason why it would've been nice to keep the Muggles involved in the defence of the city. The fact of the matter was that Muggle armies have the manpower and propensity for overt physical violence that the magical community currently lacked. One thing that was immediately obvious to every single warmage that was currently defending London's front lines was that the lion's share of the lizardmen were just as mundane as any human Muggle. The only two differences between these non-magical Reptilemen and the Muggle population was that the alien foot-soldiers were actually working together as a team with their more magical Reptile cohorts, and they were wearing powerful magic repelling armor that helped even the playing field.
If the magical armor that the Lizardmen were equipped with helped even the odds, it was the overwhelming number of foot-soldiers marching through the wormhole that was tipping the scales in the aliens' favor.
The population of witches and wizards comprising the magical world are, and always have been, very tiny in number when compared to the ever-expanding Muggle population. The foreign invasion that was currently swelling out of control in downtown London was a little larger than 200,000 fighters strong by the end of the first day, which was actually an immense fighting force within the supernatural world. On the other hand, when you compared this alien invasion to the various Muggle militaries defending their own little slices of the world… the Lizardmens' so-called 'army' suddenly seemed completely insignificant...
Long story short, the invasion of Magical Britain could've been completely eradicated within just a day or two if the magical population of Earth was willing to get off of their high horse and bring in some Muggle help... They didn't... Truth be told, the idea never even occurred to them.
Suffice it to say, it definitely wasn't a good time to be an English witch or wizard…
Of course the very first thing that the government of Magical Britain did think to do was start demanding that the ICW intervene on their behalf. They loudly and repeatedly declared that the Reptile invasion was a global threat rather than merely a domestic problem, and then they demanded unconditional support from every Magical government on the planet
After sending in a team of specially trained warmages to assess the situation for themselves, the ICW begrudgingly agreed that the Reptilian invasion did indeed appear to be targeting Earth as a whole rather than merely the British isles. In response to this assessment, the British government immediately appealed for the ICW to dispatch their most competent agent, their most pre-eminent and powerful problem solver…
Magical Britain demanded that Most Noble and Ancient Lord Harry James Potter/Black/Delacour be sent back to his homeland to help defend them in their hour of need…
And that was the moment when Harry refused to help them… sort of.
Well... to be more accurate, what Harry really did was point out the fact that the Reptileman invasion was actually a golden opportunity in disguise. He described the Reptile army as the perfect opportunity for the denizens of the Magical world to reveal themselves to the Muggles and come together as a united force to fight off a mutual enemy. He pointed out that this was the best possible timing for Earth's magical population to demonstrate the fact that they are A) human despite all of the magic that makes them different, and B) supporting the human race as a whole rather than merely their own best interests.
Of course, the reaction that Harry received from both the ICW and the various Magical governments of Earth was exactly as he'd expected it would be. He was called crazy. He was called a heretic. He was dismissed as nothing more than an anarchist. He was ignored. He was informed that his services would no longer be required...
And just like that, Harry found himself with plenty of free time for the first time in a while...
It was only a few weeks later, after the allied Warmages of the European union, Russia, America, Canada, Australia, and Germany spent an entire week trying to force the invaders back through their wormholes only to be thwarted every step of the way by virtue of the enemy's overwhelming numbers, that they started taking Harry's suggestion far more seriously… This new enemy was far too powerful, far too well-organised, far too similar in power and ability to modern witches and wizards, far too determined to destroy everything that they stood for, far too effective at taking and keeping land...
They Reptilemen needed to be stopped, they had to be driven out, they had to be destroyed… What's more, the magical governments of the world needed to finally figure out a way to defend themselves from an ever-increasing number of intradimensional threats without having to rely on the single Merlin caliber wizard that they had among their number...
The Muggles could provide the wizarding world exactly the fighting force they were looking for… but only if they didn't decide that the magical community much closer to home was also an enemy.
After much arguing and debating back and forth, it was eventually decided that a Muggle-raised witch or wizard would need to be the person to actually reveal the magical world to the Muggles, so that he or she could appeal to them in a fashion that they could easily understand. This wizard would need to be demonstrably powerful while appearing non-threatening, and he would need to be both confident and assertive without coming off as intolerant and condescending.
Long story short, whoever it was that finally broke the news to the Muggles would need to possess a level of charisma that very few people on the whole entire planet possessed.
The wizard in question would need to be Harry Potter...
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
The Potter Mars Estate, 4 Am, 6 Months After The Death Of Devinier, 1 Week After The Arrival Of The Reptilemen....
One of the problems that only a small number of very, very lucky men will ever get to experience is the fact that even the best of beds only has so much surface area and that the human body only has so many limbs to hold on to. As fun as an extremely busy bedroom tends to be... it's not all that helpful when it comes to actually getting some sleep...
Harry James Potter was one of these exceedingly rare, exceptionally lucky men… He was a once in a century talent when it came to seducing beautiful women, which is the reason why his ultra-massive bed contained a Runic enchantment that could decrease the gravity being applied to its surface to just one/sixtieth Earth normal.
As absurd as this particular enchantment sounded on paper, it really was completely necessary...
Most days of the week, Harry woke up to find Tonks hugging his left side, Fleur wrapped around his right, and Gabrielle cuddled up atop his stomach... This was the bare minimum number of women that Harry ever went to bed with... Oftentimes, he ended up sleeping with quite a few more women curled up against every square inch of his body. Of course, sleeping with this many women dogpiled all over him would normally be an extremely uncomfortable experience, if not for the fact that his bed's low gravity enchantment made them all as light as a feather. Instead, Harry had come to enjoy the smooth slide of soft skin against his own as he slept on a cloud...
Of course, even with some extremely clever enchantments making Harry's sleeping arrangement enviable in the extreme, the fact of the matter was that he rarely ever managed to sleep from sundown to sunup without being disturbed…
And tonight… or rather this morning... would be no exception...
When Harry's eyes suddenly snapped open to take in the dark reddish-grey tones of predawn Mars, it didn't take him all that long to recognize what had woken him up… Someone, and he hadn't bothered to investigate who it was just yet, was rubbing the head of his newly hard cock against a silky smooth set of enormously talented lips…
Harry didn't immediately recognize the pillowy soft mouth that was currently expanding around the flared out crown of his cock, which of course meant that it could only belong to a very specific variety of woman... Then Harry felt a very affectionate form of consciousness slipping gently into his own, and he knew exactly whose hands were currently milking the shaft of his dick.
Nymphadora "Tonks" Black, AKA Lady Black… Harry's first wife... and his third Soul Bond...
Just a little over six months earlier, when Harry triumphantly returned to Mars from Devon Devinier's pocket dimension to introduce Tonks to his two new Veela bond-mates, his soon to be wife's response ended up being perfectly in character...
She wanted in!
Showcasing a quite frankly astonishing amount of faith as well as an ingrained sense of optimism that was adorable in the extreme, Tonks immediately came to the conclusion that she was also going to get to soul bond with Harry. In fact, she was so damned certain that Harry would figure something out for her, she never even started to become jealous. Instead, she was legitimately relieved that Harry and Fleur had finally found a way to iron out all of the raw emotions and discord plaguing their relationship.
It was official… Nymphadora Black nee Tonks was pure unadulterated wifey perfection… and Charlie Weasley deserved to go down in history as one of the dumbest men to ever walk the face of the Earth...
As it turns out, Tonks was also correct. Harry really did figure out a way to bring his first wife's soul into the bond.
In the time that it took for Harry to return to Mars and reunite with Tonks, his core magic had been hard at work studying, cataloguing and reverse engineering how Veela Soul Bonds function and are created. Of course what this meant was that Harry already knew exactly how to bring Tonks into the Soul Bond, he just hadn't recognized any of that knowledge at a conscious level yet... This outcome is actually pretty typical for Harry, which is why he didn't even bat an eye when a tidal wave of brand new knowledge suddenly swept over him seemingly out of nowhere… Within the next half a day, Harry performed a very complicated feat of intensely powerful magic that managed to incorporate Tonks into his pre-existing Soul Bond with Fleur and Gabrielle.
For obvious reasons, being attached at the soul with three other people took quite a bit of getting used to for everyone involved. Needless to say, Fleur, Gabrielle and Tonks all ended up being pretty damned relieved that Harry's mind Occlusions were so powerful and versatile. His abilities allowed the four of them to remain four distinct individuals that could embrace each other at the spiritual level, rather than a soup of souls with various different bodies struggling to act independently. Harry's overwhelming mind meld with Su Li and Luna Lovegood immediately came to mind, and as fun as that experience had been, it definitely wouldn't have improved his golf game.
Hell, even with Harry's powerful Mind Occlusions functioning as a buffer between his mind and everyone else's, he still found their bond just a little bit distracting sometimes. For example, Tonks had spent four of the last six months providing Harry with his firstborn child, and staying true to her character, she grew bored with being pregnant almost immediately (Magical pregnancies progress twice as fast as they do for Muggles, and they rarely do any lasting damage to a witch's body). As a result of her rapidly escalating boredom, Harry's first wife had spent quite a bit of her pregnancy riding along in both his and Fleur's minds while they travelled around on their various adventures.
More recently, with Gabrielle's first pregnancy also reaching its full dramatic conclusion, the Veela was just as guilty of backseat adventuring as Tonks had been. The primary difference between Gabrielle and Tonks was that Gabrielle didn't offer up even a tenth the color-commentary.
Yes indeed… Harry Potter was very, very, very married nowadays, and he even had one and a half children to show for it. Two-month old Ted Black slept in a nearby nursery, along with Luna's son Phil Li Lovegood and Su Li's son Bruce Li Lovegood. All three babies were being watched over very carefully by a small fleet of enormously capable house elves, allowing their tired parents to (hypothetically) sleep through the night.
Back in the present, Harry silently cast a series of gravity
soundproof, scent-proof and anti-movement barrier spells to keep Tonks's current actions from waking up Fleur, Gabrielle, Daphne, Alicia, Su Li and Luna. He currently had a fully occupied bed, and he didn't want to wake everyone up at 4 Am in the morning just because Tonks was feeling frisky… Both Alicia and Daphne had arrived at the estate yesterday afternoon with every intention of getting fucked unconscious. Similarly, Su Li and Luna had drifted into his bedroom at around 8 Pm last night in a mood to get thoroughly dicked.
Well… No matter… By the time Tonks kissed her way up the length of Harry's abs, gently levitated Gabrielle's sleeping form off of his chest, and then spread her piping hot pussylips around the head of his cock, the soundproofing barrier spell that Harry just cast was forced to contain the loud moan that she released... A few seconds later, when Tonks suddenly bounced her thick and dramatic bubble butt down against his thighs to stuff her pussy full of his cock, the anti-movement anti-movement barriers in place around their bodies kept the bed from rocking. Of course, if anyone actually cracked open their eyes to look in Harry's direction, they'd immediately seen him reaching up to grab twin fistfulls of a Beyonce lookalike's massive milk-chocolate tits, but other than that, Harry and Tonks actually were being pretty discreet.
After dropping forward to drape her luscious pop idol curves along every inch of Harry's torso, Tonks pressed a soft and languid kiss onto his mouth before sliding down his body to hilt herself around his cock and grind her pussylips against the base of his shaft. She was stuffed to the brim with massive Potter dick. A bulbous, strawberry shaped cockhead was prying open her womb… "Gods above Harry," Tonks whimpered into the skin of her new husband's chest before peppering his collarbone with dozens of kisses. "I want to wait... I want to have my second baby a year from now when Fleur has her first, but… every single Godsdamned time I take you inside of me..."
Rather than say anything at all, Harry gently combed his fingers down his first wife's browny-blonde hair, smoothed his hands down the length of her back to her tiny little waist, cupped both of her large, flared out, fantastically round asscheeks, and then slowly pulled her pussy back back up the length of his dick. Whatever timeline Tonks chose to follow regarding all of the children she desired from him, he'd be perfectly happy to take part. On the other hand, his willingness to participate didn't mean he was willing to have an in depth conversation about it with the woman's soaking wet pussy rippling hungrily around his cock.
No… Now wasn't the time for such things…
"Hooohhhhhyour dick is always soooo gooood," Tonks whine/sighed as her entire body twitched and trembled and her talented pussy resisted his withdrawal with a series of rapidfire contractions. In the seconds that followed, the woman forgot to worry about whether or not they were currently breeding, so that she could just focus on the gigantic dick scrubbing every nerve ending that her pussy had to offer…
"If you'd waited until everyone else woke up, I could've given you the rough fucking that you prefer from me," Harry conveyed empathically as he nibbled on one of Tonks's perfectly formed, golden brown breasts.
"My preference is to have your cock in me now, as in right now, rather than any variety of later," Tonks countered as she massaged her dick filled pussy through the lining of her tummy. "If having you exactly when I want you means getting bent over in a pen full of unwashed Hippogriffs, then so be it... I won't even hesitate…"
"Actually, I was thinking of filling all of your sweet little holes in the middle of our living room so that our new maids can catch us in the act," Harry elaborated, causing Tonks's riding to grow faster, longer and increasingly frantic, and her fat fucking tits to bounce beautifully beautifully against his face. The mother of Harry's first-born son really liked his most recent idea, and that enthusiasm was reflected in the way that she started slam fucking his hips down against the bottom of their anti-movement barrier.
Not one to take a fucking lying down, Harry immediately started thrusting his hips right back up to meet Tonks's rapidly pumping pussy, began channeling a powerful surge of magic directly into her g-spot, clit, and nipples, and started slapping her wonderful double sized asscheeks back and forth exactly the way she loved it. Then, when the woman was reduced to whimpering and moaning between her every ragged inhale, he conjured an extra-lively variety of water charm to press into her asshole and relentlessly massage her g-spot.
And it worked. Nymphadora 'Tonks' Black was rapidly being reduced to a mindless fuck-doll fit for nothing but taking his dick…
But then that was the moment Harry was reminded just how badly he was underestimating his new Lady Black…
With lust glazed eyes and an unabashedly perverse smile on her face, Tonks began using her Metamorphmagery to make the lining of her soaking wet pussy ripple and squeeze around every single millimetre of Harry's deeply embedded cock, and then she started transforming her body through a series of popular body types to keep his senses guessing. The light brown Beyonce Knowles-esque body that she'd been wearing up until that moment quickly transitioned into a tall curvy Latina, into a shortstacked Asian, into a long lithe Nordic type with ultra-pale skin, into the ever popular black haired Fleur lookalike, and then back into a tall ebony skinned goddess with a gigantic ass and tits big enough to drown in. Over and over again, Tonks transformed her body into a full blown harem of different skin tones, hair colors, body shapes and sizes, and she rode Harry's cock like a madwoman the whole entire time.
Fwop, plap, squelch, fwop, plap, squelch, fwop, plap, squelch, fwop, plap, squelch, fwop, plap, squelch, fwop, plap, squelch, fwop, plap, squelch, fwop, plap, squelch, fwop, plap, squelch, fwop, plap, squelch, fwop, plap, squelch, fwop, plap, squelch….
As was always the case when Harry had sex with one of his soul bonded women, Harry and Tonks ended up fighting it out to be the first to send the other into climax (Tonks, Gabrielle and Fleur didn't let Harry cheat with his magic anymore). As per the norm, they both ended up dripping both precum and pussy juices from their impossibly optimized sexes, as they careened towards orgasm at exactly the same rate.
When a long groan of pleasure was driven from Harry's mouth, he marvelled at his wife's uncanny skill at milking his cock. At the same time, Tonks's sexy, bouncing body, started shaking like a leaf and spilling femcum all over his balls and inner thighs. They both clutched at and kissed each other with a frenzied intensity, and by unspoken agreement, neither of them tried to hold back the explosive climax that they could feel growing larger with every passing second.
"Love you Harry. Love you so much," Tonks whimpered as she began suction cupping her cervix around her husband's massive, flared out, cockhead. "Please, please give me what I need Harry. Please let me go to work today with a womb full to bursting with your big fat fucking load…" By this point, Tonks's hands were pawing desperately at every inch of Harry's body, the massive brown tits that she was currently adopting were bouncing hypnotically in front of his face, and her enormously sexy plus sized bubble-butt was slapping down against his thighs with every single downward pump of her skin-tight little pussy.
Tonks Black was officially in a rut. She was possessed by a single-minded desire to both cum her fucking brains out and completely drain her husband's balls, which is the reason why she didn't immediately notice a third person crawling into the barrier at their feet. It was only after a series of ultra-sloppy and tongue filled kisses started scrubbing Tonks's elastic tight pussylips that she actually noticed the new arrival. A moment later, the set of persistently kissing lips began trailing down between Harry's thighs to start sucking and kissing on both of his heavy, cum-laden balls, and the motive behind the new arrival's actions became somewhat obvious for everyone involved.
Daphne Greengrass was awake, she was alert, and she was looking to help drain Harry's balls.
And the gorgeous blonde Slytherin was just moments away from getting exactly what she wanted….
With a grunt and a moan of orgasmic release, Harry and Tonks finally finished fucking their way into an enormously powerful, body shaking climax that had one of Harry's goose-egg sized testicles bucking violently out of Daphne's eagerly sucking mouth and his first cumshot expanding Tonks's magically versatile womb around an absolutely enormous surge of piping hot seed.
When the sensation of having Harry's thick hyper-virile cum rapidly expanding her womb caused Tonks's orgasm to suddenly triple in intensity, she began keening like a boiling over tea kettle, her body shape returned to her ultra-sexy Black family features, and her legs wrapped tightly under Harry's waist so that she could frantically root her pussy balls-deep around his cock. Then the woman's pussy was tightening up like a skin-tight sucking sleeve, to the point that Harry couldn't pull his cockhead out of her womb even if he wanted to.
And he didn't. He really, really didn't.... He really, really didn't...
For the next thirty seconds, Harry spilled a tidal wave of seed balls deep into his cumslut wife's cunt, feeding her desperately hungry pussy until it couldn't possibly take any more, and Tonks wrapped her ultra-soft, unabashedly erotic curves around his entire body so that she could moan, whimper and squeak directly into his neck. Only after Harry's cum finally started squirting back out past the plug that was his continuously cumming cock, did he withdraw his dick from within Tonks's pussy, and aim his cockhead towards Daphne Greengrass's face.
But that was the moment when Daphne managed to surprise Harry, which really isn't such an easy thing to do.
Rather than drawing Harry's cock into her mouth like she'd implied was her intention, Daphne immediately draped her upper body atop of Tonks's thick and pillowy pillowy ass and then began forcing her newly spell-lubricated little pussy to take in Harry's far too cumbersome cock... Daphne was a normal witch, rather than a Veela or a Metamorph, which is why it was very unusual for her to simply slam her tight little pussy down around his dick. Every single time Harry fucked a normal witch, he always sent out hundreds of healing and regeneration spells both ahead of time and after the fact in order to ease the process along...
Well, this time Harry didn't get a chance to prepare the woman in advance, and the muscle relaxant and regeneration spells that Daphne cast upon her own pussy weren't going to be anywhere near as effective...
Sure enough, in the seconds that followed, Daphne Nott nee Greengrass squeaked and she warbled and she whimpered and she groaned as she stuffed Harry's persistently cum spilling dick, deeper and deeper into her completely overwhelmed little pussy. It was completely obvious that the Greengrass family heiress was taking far, far more cock than her pussy could easily handle, but the woman never once stopped humping and riding her desperately clenching cunt further down the length of his shaft until the cum that he was releasing started hosing down the walls of her womb. Then the woman started trembling from her head to her toes, spilling copious amounts of femcum all over Harry's balls and inner thighs, and releasing a very long, loud, and infinitely whorish moan that seemed to fill the entire entire barrier...
After catching sight of Daphne's glassy-eyed and feverish expression over Tonks's right shoulder, Harry immediately realized exactly what young Lady Nott was actually trying to achieve. The unhinged blonde beauty that was currently milking his cock womb-deep within her puffy little pussy, was trying her absolute best to get herself knocked the fuck up. Apparently, Daphne had run out of patience with how Harry continued to fill her with infertile sperm, which is why she was stealing herself a womb full of the cum that he'd cooked up for his wife.
Daphne Greengrass's tactic was sly, it was underhanded, it was shameless…
It wasn't going to work...
Even as Daphne shivered and shook with manic levels of excitement over the thick gluts of ultra-potent cum that were being pumped into her deepest most fertile depths, Harry cupped his hands around the woman's unbelievably tight, model caliber waist, released all of the healing and regen spells into her body that he usually did and then cast a powerful anti-conception spell directly into her womb. Of course, Daphne would've felt the birth-control spell that Harry just placed upon her eggs, but he seriously couldn't have cared less. Nuh uh… no way... Harry valued consent far too much to let Daphne pull a fast one like that and actually get away with it, and he didn't want to inadvertently take part in the pre-planned murder of her current husband…
Back when Harry made Daphne swear a magically binding oath not to do any variety of harm to him or any of his lovers, the terms that he'd given her in return were very, very clear. If Daphne managed to come to an agreement with her husband that permitted her to sire a Greengrass heir with another man, then Harry would be perfectly happy to take part. Conversely, if she was willing to divorce her husband and bear all of the ruinous social stigma involved, Harry would strengthen the Greengrass family power base until the stigma became essentially meaningless…
All things considered, it was a pretty sweet deal and it should've negated all of Daphne's biggest concerns.
It also wasn't working...
The one and only hangup with Harry's exceedingly generous proposal was Daphne Greengrass herself… The woman was an old-school, pure-blood, Noble Lord type, which of course meant that she wanted to take absolutely everything for herself by means of deception and dark-magic. By this point, Harry had lost count of the number of times Daphne monologged her intention to assassinate her husband so that she could become Lord Greengrass/Nott, and then sire his children as both of her heirs...
Of course, planning out the cold-blooded murder of your current husband should be nearly impossible for anyone with a fully-functioning conscience, but Daphne Greengrass definitely wasn't one of those people. The elegant, intelligent, charming, and stunningly beautiful blonde noblewoman, was actually a rare variety of barely-socialized psychopath, with almost all of her more deranged ambitions revolving around siring Harry's children… The fact of the matter was that Daphne's dangerous mental state was the primary reason why Harry ended up seducing the woman into a magically binding oath in the first place… On the other hand, her undeniably dark and twisted aspirations were also the reason why he had zero intention of actually knocking her up...
Well… One thing was for certain this time… Daphne Greengrass was waaaaay out of line, and she was in desperate need of a punishment.
Thankfully, the timing was juuust right for Harry to remind Daphne exactly who was in charge...
Even as she finally finished twitching and trembling in the tail end of her newest orgasm, Tonks snuggled her face further into her husband's shoulder and kissed his neck as she enjoyed the direction of his thoughts. She always got a kick out of watching Harry punish his more disobedient lovers...
POP, POP!!
All of the sudden, a pair of very loud cracking noises shattered the morning stillness, as two very attractive witches in office-attire instantly appeared standing at the foot of Harry's bed. The very loud and surprising noise immediately caused everyone in the room to wake up, sit up, cover themselves and regard the two new arrivals, even as they caught sight of Tonks and a dejected looking Daphne pulling themselves off of Harry's body.
"It's actually happening," ICW delegate Hannah Abbott announced without any preamble.
"The ICW is calling upon Most Noble and Ancient Lord Harry James Potter/Black to take responsibility for all of the 'radical ideas' that he so casually bandied about," Delegate Susan Bones expanded, with a pair of bunny fingers in full effect.
"The ICW is trying to make diplomatic relations between the soon to be revealed Magical community and the various Muggle governments of the world your responsibility," Hannah concluded with a small sigh of long suffering.
"They even want you to break the news to an amassed group of Muggle politicians and military Officers this afternoon in a way that'll demonstrate the Magical communities' ongoing goodwill… as well as our astonishing power," Susan concluded with just a hint of wry amusement in her expression. "The astonishing power part is the primary reason why the ICW wants Harry to be the one making the presentation…"
"I can't really say that I disagree with getting me involved… for once…" Harry allowed even as he accepted a pair of perfectly executed good morning kisses from Fleur and Gabrielle and then sidled his way down towards the foot of his bed.
"There's one more thing though," Hannah hedged in a newly timid little voice.
"And you're going to absolutely hate it," Susan immediately added.
"They want me to host this little get-together somewhere in Magical Britain where both the local government and the ICW can keep several dozen eyes on me," Harry guessed with a small sigh of long suffering.
"The Weasley Burrow," Susan revealed with a grimace already in place upon her face.
"The excuse that they're using to have the meeting happen there is that the Weasley property is a several Kilometers wide, largely flat, largely unused plot of magical land near London England that can be used as a staging area for a campaign," Hannah explained with a helpless look upon her face.
"I've cucked two of the Weasley family men and have actively rejected the persistent advances of the youngest daughter for well over half a decade," Harry immediately retorted in a long-suffering tone of voice. "What exactly is the British Minister of Magic trying to achieve by having me operate in such a hostile environment?"
"I don't think the choice of location is Minister Scrimgeour's idea at all," Susan replied with a significant look upon her face. "I think this is the work of Scrimgeour's undersecretary, the Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement… She's the government Official who deals with matters of National Security… as well as most other matters that happen behind the scenes…."
"Hermione Weasley…" Harry slowly sighed out, very real frustration leaking into his voice…
"Hermione Weasley," Susan immediately agreed. "For what it's worth, I don't think the woman is doing this under her own initiative. Doing so would require that she actually give a damn about something other than her career..."
With a small almost nonexistent shake of his head, Harry rose to his feet, conjured himself his usual black suit and tie combo, and then turned to regard his various women. "As important as today's meeting is going to be for the entire human race, I'm also fairly certain that I'm being ambushed by the Weasley family. Alicia, feel free to hang out here or make a trip to the hotel on Europa. Daphne, Susan, Hannah, I'll expect you three at the Burrow with me keeping the local riffraff at a distance while I'm focusing my attention on other things. Gabrielle, you're more than welcome to come and watch the show, but I want you to take it easy for the sake of the baby... Tonks, Fleur… Whether or not you two come to the Burrow today is entirely up to you."
By the time Alicia, Daphne, Susan, Hannah and Gabrielle finished nodding their understanding, Tonks looked highly amused because she couldn't wait for her neglectful ex-husband to see her hanging happily off of Harry Potter's arm.
Fleur, on the other hand, couldn't stop the look of discomfort that was growing across her face, because for the most part, she didn't actually hate her ex-husband… Bill Weasley had never been neglectful or cruel to her while they were married… In fact, the man had been the exact opposite. For the entire length of time that Fleur had been married to Bill Weasley, the man had always been extremely… attentive… obedient… servile… submissive…
Unfortunately for William Arthur Weasley... Veela … all Veela... are attracted to men… real, virile, powerful, sexually dominant, men…
And as it turns out… Fleur Delacour was no exception…
Of course, in the time since Fleur used her political influence to make her marriage with Bill cease to exist, the man had done absolutely everything in his power to bring her to justice. Paradoxically, this reaction wasn't the primary reason why Fleur wanted to avoid the man. The fact that Bill was trying (and failing) to overturn the dissolution of their marriage so that she'd be forced to actually divorce him and suffer all of the usual consequences was completely understandable. Equally justifiable was the fact that Bill was trying (and failing) to accuse Harry Potter of line theft. What wasn't understandable were all of the long, schmaltzy love letters that Bill continued to send in her direction the whole entire time, disregarding the fact that she was A) married to another man now, and B) irrevocably soul bound to her new husband.
Even if you forgot about how Fleur had become Harry's soul bonded mate, she couldn't even fathom why the eldest Weasley was so damned determined to win her back. She'd cheated on the man (like, a lot), before leaving him to elope with another man... In the very traditional marriage that the two of them had shared, none of those actions would've been considered the least bit forgivable... Nevertheless, Bill wasn't giving up on their marriage, he wasn't backing off, and the odds were pretty damned good that he was the reason why today's meeting was being held at the Burrow.
What exactly Bill Weasley had in mind for Fleur and her new husband during the time that they spent within his family's property, she had no idea… What she did know was that being within a few square Kilometers of her newly unstable ex-husband was going to be uncomfortable.
What a mess…
Well… Such is life… Fleur Delacour was soul bonded to the love of her life now, and that fact made absolutely everything else worth it… Even as she sat there at the edge of Harry's bed, she could feel her husband deep, deep inside of her, offering up a constant stream of both love and absolute acceptance. In the face of such a beautiful joining of minds, hearts and souls, even the very real guilt that Fleur still felt over betraying her first husband's trust… Well… Such a feeling was completely inconsequential in comparison.
Without a word, Harry curled a hand behind Fleur's lower back, so that he could draw her body close, kiss her softly on the temple, and then reeeaallyy let her have it in the bond. He loved Fleur. She knew that much. She could feel his love for her like a warm embrace soul-deep inside of her being. Nevertheless, having Harry, Gabrielle and Tonks all using the bond to swamp her with positive emotions all at the same time, was more than enough to finally cheer her up, and soon enough, she was squirming happily in Harry's arms.
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
2 Hours Later, Magical Britain, Ottery St Catchpole, The Burrow…
In the end, the Burrow wasn't going to be all that bad a location to gather all of the Muggle VIPs after all, but only because a massive amount of magic went towards Transfiguring the Burrow itself into a mansion for the next several weeks, and prettying up the landscape all around the property...
Another matter that came as some surprise was that an enormous white tent had been erected in the same location where Fleur and Bill got married...
"Non. Not just ze same location," Fleur sighed out along with a small, rueful shake of her head. "Eet's ze exact same tent…"
"So it's nothing but a shameless guilt trip then," Harry concluded with a low-toned growl of frustration. "Please don't stray too far from Tonks or your sister this afternoon. I know you can handle yourself just fine, but the guilt that you're feeling right now might open you up to taking some abuse. I refuse to allow that. If that's what's going to happen here today, then I'd rather we all just leave right this second..."
"Zis meeting will change ze entire world for ze better, and I want to take part," Fleur immediately countered in an impassioned tone of voice. "Truly, we 'ave far, far more eemportant zings to focus on right now zan ze spiteful antics of my ex-'usband's family."
Even as Fleur said those words, she was heating up the bond in a pretty big way because she was getting a massive kick out of Harry being over-protective of her...
"Fine, but don't allow yourself to be mistreated today, because I'll be keeping an eye out and I'm nowhere near as tolerant as you," Harry breathed out as they moved up to the massive pure white tent. Then they were walking up under the over-large canopy and finding themselves just twenty feet away from the exact group of people that they were looking to avoid...
Molly Weasley, Charlie Weasley, William Weasley, Percy Weasley, Ronald Weasley, Ginevra Weasley and Head of Magical Law Enforcement Hermione Weasley were standing in a semicircle about five meters away from entrance to the tent, where they promptly began staring daggers towards Harry and his entire entourage. Five meters beyond the Weasley family, the Minister of Magical Britain Rufus Scrimgeour was speaking quietly with a thirty plus strong gathering of high ranking magical leaders from all over the world...
Needless to say, today's little event was going to be a full house when it came to the Magical world's mega-elite. For example, standing within just a few meters of Rufus Scrimeour, Harry could see the Magical Presidents of America and Russia, as well as the Magical Chancellor of Germany and the Magical Prime Ministers of Australia and Canada. He could also recognize over fifty other Magical World leaders standing around in the background and they all had one thing in common.
They all looked extremely serious, nervous, or even afraid…
Harry could actually understand the anxiety that was pouring off of all of these government officials, because the Muggles, if handled poorly, represented a very real threat to the Magical Community as a whole. But wasn't that the reason why these politicians were having him, Harry James Potter, perform this little meet and greet in the first place? He already had quite the little presentation in mind, and he was actually looking forward to getting it done.
As if in open defiance of Harry's more hopeful expectations, Minister of Magic Scrimgeour's undersecretary, Head of Magical Law Enforcement Hermione Weasley chose that exact moment to begin marching briskly in Harry's direction, at which point he saw a thick stack of papers in her hands, and he realized exactly what nature of presentation Magical Britain truly desired from him...
Highly scripted. Tightly controlled. Professional. Cool. Stern to the very edge of civility.
No showmanship at all…. Not a chance.
"This is your script Mr. Potter," Hermione suddenly announced in an exceedingly clipped and cool tone of voice as she foisted a stack of papers towards Harry's chest.
After stopping both the documents and Hermione's outward thrusting hands in the air with a nonverbal telekinesis spell, Harry stepped back with the papers floating in the air just below his chest, flipped through all of the pages at an extremely rapid rate and then vaporized them all with a small outpouring of his magic.
"You... will... follow... the... script.." Hermione all but growled out as she quickly pulled out another bundle of pages from within the recesses of her purse. "A shameless reprobate such as yourself can't be trusted to say what needs to be said without making a mockery of the entire Magical Community."
"I've already memorized every single word written on that little script of yours," Harry calmly replied along with a few finger-taps to his temple. "You're no longer the only person in class making use of a well-Occluded and well-organized mind…"
For just the briefest moment in time, Hermione had the decency to look well and truly embarrassed, as they both knew that there was a reason why she'd had the best memory retention of any of the students back at Hogwarts, and yet she'd never shared the secret to her success with any of her friends... Then the moment suddenly came to an end, Hermione's mouth flattened out into a thin little line, and she posed herself to look as physically imposing as she possibly could... "Follow the script, Mr. Potter, or I'll make sure that your family line will be banished from Magical Britain forever…"
For about two or three seconds in a row, Harry merely stood there staring at Hermione's completely serious and no-nonsense expression... He didn't immediately have a response. Such was the level of surprise that Harry was feeling in that moment... Did Hermione Weasley truly believe that he was that stupid? Did she think that he was completely ignorant of the rights afforded him as a Noble Lord? Did Hermione Weasley really truly believe that this unbelievably idiotic and transparent little gambit of hers was actually going to amount to something?...
"Look… Mrs. Weasley… I strongly suggest that you don't make threats you can't possibly carry out," Harry slowly cautioned with noticeable levels of incredulity leaking into his every word. "Above and beyond the fact that I'm a Martian dignitary which affords me diplomatic immunity, I'm also the Lord of two Noble and Most Ancient houses, and I own more than fifteen percent of the businesses lining Diagon Alley... I'm not someone that an elected official such as yourself can so easily dispose of. Then again... Perhaps I'll just allow you to banish me... and then watch Magical Britain fend for itself…"
"You've become even more arrogant and conceited than Draco Malfoy," Hermione immediately accused, condescension oozing out of her every word.
"And you've become even more self-righteous, dogmatic and oppressive than Umbridge," Harry instantly countered. "Makes sense really... You've inherited the woman's position…"
"I'm doing a lot of good," Hermione growled out, clearly furious about the comparison that Harry was making.
"Half-blood wizard rights, equality for mixed magical species, and proper treatment of those people cursed with Lycanthropy used to be among your biggest concerns, and yet all of these issues remain completely unaddressed," Harry pointed out.
I don't have the political pull or authority to make any of those changes yet," Hermione immediately defended.
"And yet here you stand, acting like you have all of the authority required to permanently banish not just one, but two Ancient and Most Noble houses from the country," Harry concluded with a thoughtful nod of his head. "Congratulations Mrs. Weasley. You've become absolutely everything that I've learned to expect from Magical Britain's leadership..."
"At least I'm not world-famous for being a selfish, egotistical, home-wrecking, manwhore." Hermione finally exploded, her voice filling the entire area before being swallowed by the billowing tent material.
"Ah, well... you've got me there I suppose.. I'm most definitely all of those things," Harry admitted with a small, cavalier shrug of his shoulders. "But hey, at the very least... I never sacrificed both my happiness and my ideals for the sake of my ambitions…"
"You... are such... an asshole," Hermione bit out in little more than a whisper.
"Yes… We've already established that much." With a few quick nods of his head, Harry abruptly decided that enough was enough, so he turned around and started walking back towards his entourage.
"Are you at least going to get results," Hermione suddenly blurted out towards Harry's back.
"If it wasn't a well established fact that I pull off miracles, I wouldn't even have been invited here in the first place," Harry called back without ever turning back around. "Watch and learn Mrs. Weasley…"
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
When the time finally came for the various Muggle world leaders of Earth to be summoned to the Burrow, it was going to happen via a series of sneaky portkeys that had been implanted on their bodies by some of the ICW's more subtle agents. Getting these leaders to show up to Harry's presentation wasn't going to be an issue. The problem was going to arise immediately after they all arrived…
There really an efficient way of keeping tabs on exactly what all of the targeted political figures were up to, which is why Harry was going to have to do something about how a good number of them would be asleep, drunk, naked, in the bathroom or maybe even having sex when the portkeys affixed to their bodies activated. Harry was going to need to act quickly because more than a few of the nine-hundred plus VIPs being summoned were going to be arriving in various states of undress, or in a wide assortment of compromising situations.
For that reason, Harry was prepared to use a grand amount of magic within a very short period of time…
"Counting down from twenty, nineteen, eighteen, seventeen...," Hermione started calling out from behind a massive tapestry depicting the planet Earth that was erected like a wall at Harry's back.
All of the Magical leaders that were present today would be watching Harry work from beyond this decorative partition, as the material on the other side of the tapestry was spelled to be invisible… What this meant was that Harry was performing for an audience composed of Presidents, Prime Ministers, Kings, Queens and Tribal Leaders, and that was before any of the Muggle politicians even arrived at the venue. The meeting that was going to happen over the next few hours would end up dictating the entire relationship between the Magical and the Mundane communities of the world…
The pressure was immense… Failure was not an option...
Bring it on…
"Three, two one, now," Hermione yelled out, even as the air in front of Harry started waving and warping and then nearly a thousand Muggle politicians and military men, several dictators, and a few dozen religious leaders, popped into place and began falling to the floor.
With a vast outpouring of magic, Harry caught all of the falling Muggle leaders in a widespread levitation spell, cast a spell to obscure everyone's view of the people around them, hit everyone with a spell designed to decrease their rising fear and anxiety, hit everyone with a compulsion spell that would keep them from trying to talk or move around, hit them with a universal translation spell, cleaned those people that were covered in sweat, dirt or other, clothed those people that were naked, purified those people that were high, drunk or hungover, banished all of the contents of everyone's bladders and rectums so that no one would need to use the restroom, and then seated everyone in ten ascending rows full of very comfortable chairs.
Only when all of the visiting world leaders were made as comfortable as possible given the circumstances, did Harry take his place upon a wooden stage in front of them all with an exceedingly friendly and easygoing smile upon his face. For several seconds in a row, Harry did nothing at all. He just stood there staring up at everyone... Then the very silent moment that he'd created came to a very sudden end. With a series of unnecessarily artistic hand movements, Harry began releasing an astonishingly thick and powerful outpouring of elemental magic to fly around the massive tent near the ceiling like a shimmering kaleidoscope made up of pure supernatural power. Massive waves of fire chased deluges of water to pour out billowing clouds of steam while shimmering diamond dust was whipped around in a roiling series of strong but well behaved gusts of wind. The entire ceiling became a swirling conflagration of primal energy that the Muggle leaders could feel thrumming through every cell of their bodies…
Harry's demonstration of magical power was so big, so bright, so overwhelming, so impossible to doubt, deny or explain away, that almost all of the world leaders sitting in the rows were trembling even under the effects of a powerful calming spell.
Finally, with his primary message delivered (don't fuck with me), and his audience primed to listen very carefully to every word he said, Harry allowed the magic flowing around the room to ebb away until the white canvas material of the ceiling was once again visible above everyone's heads.
"Hello world leaders, and welcome… to the Magical World…," Harry slowly announced with intense waves of magical power lending weight and intensity to his voice. "My name is Harry James Potter… and I... am a wizard. I'm a very real, very powerful, magic channelling, potion brewing, item conjuring, physics defying, wizard… and I'm not alone... I'm only one of the hundreds of thousands of witches and wizards that've been living among the rest of society since before the dawn of recorded history."
At the end of his introduction, Harry suddenly allowed the Prime Minister of England the ability to speak his mind, but only because he already knew exactly what question the man was intending to ask.
"Are you the… force… the magic... that completely erased all of the worst diseases from existence," Prime minister Tony Blair asked, his voice businesslike because of the calming magic.
"Yes," Harry replied without even a second's hesitation. "When I was given the opportunity, I channeled a very, very powerful form of supernatural power to erase several dozen different varieties of viral and bacterial infection from the planet."
"Why?" At this point, Tony Blair was unable to speak again and it was United States President George W. Bush who asked the question…
"For most of human history, witches and wizards have kept themselves hidden from their non-magical brethren because we've faced persecution whenever we failed to do so," Harry began to explain in a carefully nonjudgmental tone of voice. "History is rife with examples where people with supernatural powers were hunted down and killed simply for possessing them... Well… Times have changed… Modern technology, modern communication methods, modern beliefs regarding tolerance and acceptance… These changes, these improvements, have led to an environment where we of the magical community believe that we can finally reveal ourselves and begin contributing to the betterment of the world… With that goal in mind, I took a risk, a leap of faith if you will... I erased those diseases from the face of the planet… I did so because my brethren and I wish to convey our goodwill..."
"And your goodwill nearly caused riots in the streets," German Chancellor Gerhard Schroder pointed out after Harry gave him the ability to speak. "How do we know that this magical community of yours isn't aiming to take over the world using your arcane powers?"
"The magical community lives among you and we always, always, have," Harry explained with a shrug. "We're your neighbours and coworkers, we're that bloke down at the pub, we're the elderly woman that feeds ducks at the park, we're humans who live on Earth just like all of you. Most witches and wizards have a social security number, a favorite sports team, a favorite tv show, and they take part in non-magical society just like anyone else. However… The primary reason why the magical community doesn't abuse its magic in a bid for personal power is because we have our own magical governments working parallel with yours, a set of laws that we must abide by, and quite a few different Police Services enforcing these laws."
"Why are you revealing all of this to us now," the Prime Minister of Canada Paul Martin asked with a look of mixed suspicion and excitement on his face. "It sounds to me like your community has never had a problem blending in until now… What's changed?"
"A recent trend that's been happening on Earth is the appearance and creation of wormholes, dimensional gates and portals that lead to other planes of existence," Harry listed off in a business casual voice. "These intra-dimensional portals are allowing the Magical Community to branch outwards geographically speaking, and it's all quite useful… On the other hand… We… the human race… we aren't alone in the multiverse… There are violent predator species out there on other planes of existence that are both animal and mineral, bipedal and otherwise, instinctual and sapient, corporeal and transient, alien and unknowable… Unlike the wizards of Earth, these alien species haven't developed the ability to pick and choose what variety of dimension they cross over to… What they do instead, is move in great numbers to wherever they're heading and make sure that they're ready for a fight when they get there..."
"So you want us, the so-called non-magical community, to begin fighting the monsters that you all-powerful witches and wizards can't handle by yourselves," President of Russia Vladimir Putin called out with a sly and incredulous tone to his voice. "The people of my country are not tools to be used at your disposal…"
"The magical community does not expect the non-magical community to take over the defense of planet Earth alone, no," Harry corrected with a calm but assertive shake of his head. "What we want to do instead, is work together."
With a moment of extreme concentration and a wave of his hand, Harry suddenly force Apparated two Reptilemen from among the invading army and floated them in the air to his right. The Reptile on the right was a soldier type wearing his magic resistant armor and holding a stave. The Reptile on the left was what amounted to a wizard, with his wand floating in the air just beyond his reach. Even as all of the VIPs in the stands gasped in surprise at the appearance of the Reptilemen, the alien warriors struggled to move, attempted to get away, and then howled in a tone that hurt the ears before they were magically silenced...
"These two creatures are among the leading edge of an alien invasion that is currently occupying London England," Harry explained with a meaningful look in Tony Blair's direction. "Yes sir Prime Minister sir. There is indeed a reason why every man, woman and child that lives in London is currently "on vacation" all around the world. We… the magical community, evacuated you all so that we could attempt to push back these invaders."
Along with his words, Harry suddenly superimposed an extremely complex scrying illusion all around the amassed VIPs that slowly panned through several blocks of downtown London. Over the next four to five minutes, Harry had all of the amassed politicians view the current state of the Reptileman army as it marched out of its massive wormhole and flooded into the city...
"Unlike us humans, the magical and non-magical castes of the Reptilemen army have no qualms about uniting together to form a cohesive team," Harry continued with a gesture at the two aliens floating in the air. This Reptile on the left here is like me, he's a wizard or whatever alien equivalent there is…. The soldier on the right is like you. He's a non-magical combatant, but he's carrying magical weapons and wearing magical armor that protects him from most of our offensive spells."
"Most offensive spells," President of China Hu Jintao called out while gesturing at the two reptilemen. "It doesn't appear that you have any trouble at all using magic on these creatures."
"Like I said, I'm a particularly powerful wizard," Harry immediately replied with a shrug. "And to answer your question, yes, I could probably hurt this invading army pretty badly all by myself, but answer me this… Do you really want to leave the fate of the entire planet to little old me, a man you know absolutely nothing about, or do you want the tools and the support required to protect yourselves? Do you really want to pass up this chance to become the masters of your own destiny, along with all of the benefits that access to magic can provide for you…"
At the mention of benefits, all of the world leaders suddenly became very, very attentive. Their next question was obvious. It didn't even have to be asked.
"If possible, I'd like you all to begin imagining the following possibilities with me," Harry began as he walked across the stage, flicked the struggling wizard Reptileman on the forehead, and then banished it and its counterpart right out of existence. "Imagine a world where the Earth as we know it becomes a port, a hub world, a nexus… Imagine a world where this planet is the gateway to hundreds of thousands of city sized earth-like dimensions overlapping our own, claimed in the name of various countries and used for a wide variety of different purposes… Imagine an all but infinite amount of newfound geography and natural resources making the modern fight for power, resources and real-estate completely unnecessary. Imagine a world where every single country has access to an endless series of pocket-dimensions containing every single climate and ecology imaginable, where they can grow every crop known to man, build machines, invent and develop as a society. Imagine a world where magic is assisting you with the fundamental problems that plague modern society. Pollution.. gone, famine.. gone, disease.. gone, cancer.. curable, clean energy production.. available, faster than light space travel to both near and impossibly far off locations.. conceivable… Truly, the possibilities are endless...
For the next hour and a half, Harry Potter shamelessly read his audience's minds in order to root out all of the VIPs' biggest objections, while Obliviating away any militant pride, religious intolerance, hatred, deceitful intentions and conflict of interests that they were feeling (the price of oil and many other natural resources was about to plummet worldwide and all world leaders invest in crude). When that was done, Harry spent the following hour drumming up a sense of excitement over the abundance of possibilities that were being presented.
By the time Harry was finished with his three hour long presentation, not one of the political figures sitting in front of him had a single problem with sending several companies of soldiers to take part in the obliteration of the Reptilemen.
It was done… He did it…
While it couldn't be denied that Harry was guilty of casting enough illegal Obliviation and Compulsion spells to warrant a five hundred year prison sentence, he didn't feel the least bit guilty over any of it... Greed, ambition, fear, hatred, jealousy, spite and cruelty… These emotions could not be allowed to get in the way of humanities' last, best hope.
Thankfully, none of the highly ranked witches or wizards that spent the last three hours watching Harry work had the slightest clue what magic he'd just performed. For the entire length of his presentation, Harry had maintained a magic obscuring spell over himself and his surroundings because he'd sensed Hermione trying to monitor his magic via an ongoing diagnostic spell. Presumably, the woman was trying to catch him in the act of using illegal magic in order to amass some variety of leverage over him...
What... a... bitch...
Briefly, Harry thought about getting some form of petty revenge on the very officious British official… Then he remembered that Hermione Granger actually married Ronald Bileous Weasley, and he realized that he couldn't possibly make her life any worse… It would be like piling shit on top of shit at that point, thus, it wasn't even worth the effort…