Disclaimer: The Harry Potter universe belongs to the proverbial Duchess of Magic, JK Rowling, Scholastic, Bloomsbury, Warner Bros and some other high falutin' companies. No matter how much I whine about not owning anything related to the HP universe, other than a few fanfic plots, I do not profess to own - and would never dream of making any money off - JKR's wonderful world... Damn it!
Chapter Fifty One - Luna's Protectors
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―==(oIo)==―
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The rest of the day was uneventful. Harry kept expecting trouble from the other students because of Daphne, or to Daphne. It never happened.
He had no idea that, any trouble that had almost instantly begun to develop, was immediately snuffed out again by Ron's actions and the result of that.
A lot of the students had either forgotten that Harry had warned them he was not the meek and mild child they thought him to be and would, therefore, be a push over; or thought him lying. That incident brought it all home again and proved he wasn't.
When the Weasley boy found out he was supposedly in mortal peril at that point, one look at Harry's face confirmed for them the truth of that belief. No one doubted he was prepared to kill even his supposed ex-friend in protecting those he thought were his.
After the last class for the day, DADA for Harry and Hermione and Charms for Daphne, the three returned to their apartment to drop off school bags and satchels and prepare for assignments.
As they re-congregated in the living room, Harry asked Daphne, "Come sit on the sofa for a minute, please."
When her expression suddenly snapped closed with Occlumency shields going up, Harry chose to ignore it. He knew he had her trust, but also knew that trust wasn't unlimited yet. She still had her moments and wished he could have saved her from those that caused her to react like this.
Sitting at one end he sat half-twisted so Daphne could sit counter to him at the other end, looking back. She did.
After she sat and made herself comfortable, he said, "Thank you. Now, I want you to know... in your heart... that you are not a prisoner here. I want you to know you can come and go as you please. All I ask is that, since I'm now responsible for your care and safety, you let either Hermione or myself know where you're supposed to be going and when you're supposed to be back.
"So, if you... for instance... decide right now you want to go and visit Tracey down in the Slytherin dorms? You just need to say something along the lines of, 'Harry, I'm going down to Slytherin to talk to Tracey. I should be back by dinner.' Alright?"
As Harry explained Daphne's eyes widened a little at a time until it was clear she was quite surprised. Instead of replying she simply nodded. He didn't know, but suspected, it was because she was trying to hold back breaking down again.
"Good," he firmly said. "I just needed to know you knew that. Thank you for hearing me out.
"Now," he said, rising, "I've got assignments to do."
As he rose, so did Daphne. He was about to turn away to go make a start on his assignments when Daphne took the two steps to him, grabbed him and kissed him. "Thank you," she quietly said.
Then she quickly hurried away.
Surprised at what just happened, he turned to Hermione to see her smiling back at him.
"Don't seem so surprised, Harry," she said. "Daphne has... had... all these ideas of how she'd be treated under a CBA and it was far, far worse than how you're treating her."
With a slight scowl he said, "That would be wrong."
"Yes, it would," she agreed. "However, I'm led to believe her belief is often not far from the reality."
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―==(oIo)==―
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Daphne didn't choose to go to the Slytherin dorms, after all. Instead, she told both, "I need to give it at least a few days for all the idiots to figure out my concubinage is not a joke or a scam. It's real.
"I think I should give it until the weekend. And Tracey agrees."
"In that case, you should think about inviting her up here," said Hermione.
Harry nodded and said, "Concubinage with me does not mean you have to say goodbye to your friends or family."
"That's a good point," said Hermione. "You should also think of inviting Astoria up here, so she can see for herself you're alright."
"You're... alright with that?" Daphne softly asked Harry.
"Of course," he said. "I'm sorry I didn't think to mention it to you before. I just thought it was a 'given'.
Seeing her surprise he added, "I'll say it again, Daphne; you are not a slave. You are a witch, free to do what she wants. I just need to be informed, for safety issues, not asked permission of.
"Read the agreement again, if you need. There is nothing in it that requires you to obey me or be subservient to me. Even me saying I need to be informed of your movements is only a firm request."
As they were sitting around the coffee table doing assignments, Daphne had set her quill down to stare back for a few moments before she said, "Again, thank you. It never occurred to me about Stori. You're right that I should talk to her. She'll be worried."
"Then talk to her, dear girl," he firmly said.
She firmed up and replied, "I will. I'll invite her for after dinner."
"Good," he returned.
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―==(oIo)==―
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Daphne had sent her sister a note via Betsy. And, as expected, the younger girl joined them as they headed back to the apartment from dinner.
Harry was amused that she kept looking at him with expression changing between, awe, fear, anger and a few others. He knew why. He just smiled back.
In reverse order, he thought Astoria to be angry with him he had 'taken' her sister from her, afraid he'd do her harm and probably surprised he wasn't doing it already.
When they entered the apartment, Daphne immediately dragged her into her room for about twenty minutes before they both returned to the living room.
Astoria then marched up to Harry, dragged him to his feet and hugged him. "Thank you for looking after my sister," she firmly said.
"You're welcome," he smiled back.
When she pulled away and joined her sister on one of the other sofas he told her about what he promised her father concerning her.
"I know," she replied. "Father told me."
"You're not upset with that?" he asked.
"No," she smiled. "I was worried that, with Daphne no longer in the dorms, I might have been at greater risk. I made sure the word has now been spread I'm under your personal protection. That should keep me safe."
He firmly told her, "If anyone bothers you... that way... you are to immediately let me know, alright?"
"I will," she smiled.
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―==(oIo)==―
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Astoria returned to the Slytherin dorms in plenty of time to make sure she wasn't caught out after curfew. He even again had Dobby tail her while invisible, just to make sure she didn't come to harm.
When Daphne had overheard part of the orders whispered to Dobby, she smiled at him in gratitude.
When Hermione went to bed early, he caught the end of a quick silent conversation between her and Daphne. Hermione seemed to be firm about something and gave Daphne a single nod before she walked to her room, walked in and closed the door.
Harry just took his time packing things away.
Once done, he set it aside, turned to Daphne, smiled and said, "Well, I'm for bed."
She hesitated only a moment before she quietly asked, "Can we talk for a bit, please?"
As he was starting to stand up, he immediately aborted that and sat back down, turning his whole attention to her. "Of course," he said, as if it was obvious. Then waited for her to get her thoughts together.
It was a few moments before she began. She was also looking down when she did.
"All my life, since I've been old enough to understand, I've known I would be the subject of a Line Continuation Clause in a Betrothal Contract, or concubinage.
"I didn't even know what concubinage was for the next couple of years, until Mum explained it to me. I already knew, by then, what was meant by a Line Continuation Clause."
Harry sat quietly as she explained her history relating to such agreements until less than a year earlier.
"That's when things really changed," she said. "Daddy was getting really worried and kept giving me looks of pain. It wasn't hard to figure out he was really worried about me.
"Last summer I finally managed to get him to come clean with what was going on. I learned of how much pressure was being brought to bear on him from... certain families... about, effectively, handing me and the Greengrass Estate over in what I saw as nothing less than a... than a... sex slave contract. One where I would be bound by magic to... service my 'master' any way and whenever he wanted.
"I've known of those from others. There are others who have been subjected to those in the recent past alone. They get... they have to... provide those same services to whomever and whenever they are ordered to by their master. They have... I would have... no choice in the matter.
"Dad had been able to fend them all off by making outrageous demands back. He'd instantly dismiss anyone who stated he was to also hand over control of the Greengrass estates and demand back the same. He'd claim me to be highly sought after and others were making similar demands for me. He'd claim he was the one with the... commodity, and he, therefore, would set the price.
"He'd been able to do that by practically setting three others to have to attempt to outbid one another. It created a sort of détente... a situation where no one would move and everyone was waiting for the others to make a mistake.
"Then came you suddenly stepping up and reactivating the Alliance. In doing that you also saw Malfoy suddenly on the outs, which put Parkinson and Nott making moves to take the leadership of the dark. From what I understand, a deal was made between them.
"And then the combined pressure against my Dad increased from now only two working together, with the third also increasing their own pressure. A schism in their ranks had occurred and I seemed to be the... prize; or, one of them, at least.
"Dad went to Lord Longbottom and Lord Longbottom immediately pointed to you. According to Dad, Lord Longbottom told him young Lord Potter will not be as against this as he may have believed. That he was to talk to the boy; you.
"He checked with others in the Alliance and they all said the same. That led to him telling me, as a peer of you, to talk to you about it. He thought you would be more willing to listen if it was me asking, rather than him."
"He's right," he replied. "I was. But, that does not mean I would not have talked to him. It just coming from you meant you were more invested. I needed to know this is something you wanted. As I've explained before, I would not accept you if you were being forced into it. To me, that's slavery. That's something I would not have put up with."
She then looked at him with a curious expression.
"I'd been approached by members, who urged me to act," he continued. "As soon as I learned of the pressure and hearing direct from you, that's exactly what I did. If I'd known of the pressure before then, I would have acted sooner.
"By me taking you under concubinage, you are lawfully unapproachable. That is, your father is lawfully unapproachable about you.
"Secondly, it now means your sister will not require a Line Continuation Clause in any Betrothal Agreement she's entered into. That should make it a great deal easier for your father to organise a much better deal for your sister. And faster."
She seemed to think about that for a while before she again looked him in the eye. "You're right," she said. "That's exactly what it means for Astoria."
"And, our agreement," he said. "Has sufficient escape clauses for you that, if you meet someone you want to be with instead of me, you can withdraw from it and enter a new one.
"Once things settle down and we know the pressure on your father has eased, even if you don't meet anyone else you can still withdraw from ours.
"I want you to know this well, know this in your heart, I will not be offended."
"I know," she softly said and smiled. "Hermione made me very aware of that. Hearing it direct from you, though, is still a relief."
"Good," he said and smiled.
"There's just one problem," she smiled in return, but Harry could also see she was a little afraid of saying it. "I do not think I'll ever want to withdraw."
He thought about that for a few moments before he said, "I'm... you need to know this... umm... I... Hermione and I haven't... you know."
As he felt his face heat, he thought, 'Damned blush!'
Trying to continue, he said, "I don't... ummm... You also need to know I solemnly promise I will never require you to... ummm... as you put it, provide service. Understand?
"That, too, is not in the agreement or the contract part. The only part in there about... that... is what happens if we do... that... and you fall pregnant from it. Not that we have to do that."
"You mean have sex," she replied with a smile.
"Errr... yeah," he blushed even harder.
"And what if I want to?" she blatantly asked.
"Ummm... I'm not ready?"
"That's alright," she returned. "Neither am I."
"When I am ready, though," he said. "I want my first time to be with Hermione. Therefore, she has to be ready, too. And, she then also has to be fully accepting of me... doing that with you."
"You don't need to worry about that, Harry," she said. "That's something between Hermione and me to sort out."
He nodded, trying to get his blush back under control.
As he sat there, she rose, made her way across to him, bent forward and kissed him on the cheek. "Good night, Harry," she said. Then turned and headed for her room.
Harry made his way to his own room a few minutes later. He soooo wanted to stare at her bum as she walked away. But, thought that would be cheating on Hermione.
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―==(oIo)==―
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The next morning no mention was made of the previous night's chat. He knew Hermione knew they had it. He'd not missed her pointed looks at Daphne to stay behind while she went to bed. Nor did he miss similar pointed looks, with a following smile between them, the next morning.
This time they crossed the Lords' Quarters hallway and knocked on the door of the Longbottoms.
And, only five minutes later, were heading down to the Great Hall.
Susan explained the reason for the delay was due to Hannah misplacing her watch. That led to a ten minute search, which only culminated seconds before Harry knocked on their door when it was found tucked down between the cushions of one of the sofas.
Again, all six walked in together into the Great Hall and Tracey, who had until then been sitting at the Slytherin table, immediately rose and walk over to join them.
This time the Longbottoms sat with their backs to the wall, while the Potters and Tracey sat facing it. When Neville had offered to always sit the other way, Harry immediately countered with the constant switching about.
"Sitting at the same place every time opens you up to a pre-prepared attack," he said. "Some, knowing where we'd each be sitting later, could slip something onto our 'place' at the table before anyone else arrived. Then have it trigger when they knew that person would be there."
There were no interruptions for breakfast; not even a pointed sneer in their direction from other Gryffindors. If anything, the other Gryffindors were very purposefully avoiding even looking in their direction.
When the mail arrived with a flurry of many mail owl wings, Harry looked up in time to see Hedwig stoop down on to the table before him.
Moments later, other owls began to descend onto the table, all trying to land in front of Daphne and have their loads freed.
Daphne, already warned the previous morning, did not move to touch any of them except those she knew. Neville immediately stood, drew his wand, glared furiously at all the owls and stunned the lot. Yet again he did it with one massive cast.
Those owls still trying to find a spare spot on the table among the earliest owls, cutlery, crockery, serving platters, condiments and the like dropped onto the table as if they were marionettes whose strings had just been cut.
"Mister Longbottom," called Professor Babbling.
"Yes, Professor?" he called back, staring at everything before him for an owl to suddenly start moving again.
"Why did you just stun all those owls?" she called.
"Because the last time this happened, Professor," he replied. "Lord Potter was attacked by booby-trapped mail!"
Before she could say another word, there was a sudden rustling of material from behind and just off to one side of Neville, an auror removing an invisibility cloak. A catch of movement in the corner of his eye saw another auror, further down the table, also remove such a cloak.
The first one firmly declared, "Aurors! We'll take it from here."
That had many of the students gasp in shock. They had no idea aurors were within the school and invisible until that moment.
Headmistress Lady Marchbanks, not missing a beat, firmly called, "Aurors, the crime scene, if it is a crime scene, is yours."
The auror didn't say a word back and, as his partner - at least, the second auror Harry had spotted - walked up to join him, he said, "Lord Potter, Heir Longbottom and friends, please stand up and step away from the table."
The seven were happy to comply, as were the next four along, where owls had also dropped onto the table after being stunned.
The first auror was already casting detection charms over the whole table before they'd all finished getting to their feet, stepping back over the benches and moving out of the way.
"Yep!" he declared, as even Harry saw at least three of the loads on owls glow for a moment. "Definitely tainted mail."
Looking to the Headmistress he said, "It's now official, Ma'am. Under my authority as senior auror on site, I now deem this part of this table... and ten feet of it either side of me... to be a crime scene.
He then turned to the students and said, "Go find somewhere else to sit and finish your breakfasts."
Susan immediately said, "The Hufflepuff table will welcome us." And led the way.
The four non-group Gryffindors that sat nearby all moved further down the table and found gaps to sit there.
As Susan and Hannah, leading the other five, approached the Hufflepuff table, the 'Puffs all slid down to give them enough room at the end.
While he'd followed, Harry was ropeable. Someone had dared to attack one of his. Some ones had dared to attack one of his.
He was just in the process of sitting down between Hermione and Daphne when he stopped. "No!" he snarled.
Stepping back over the bench he spun and stormed back to the Gryffindor table.
One of the aurors, seeing him approach, said, "Lord Potter, this is a crime scene. Please go and sit down."
"No!" he barked back, coming closer. "Not just no; but, Hell No!
"This," he snapped, jabbing a finger at all the still stunned owls, "Was an attack upon the Noble and Most Ancient House of Potter. By my authority as One of the Seven, I demand to be informed of the identity of all those who dared... DARED!... to send one of mine tainted mail."
"Errr..." stuttered the auror. "Madam Bones has been contacted and I expect her presence, shortly."
"Right," he snarled. "No moves are to be made to free or awaken any of the owls until each and every sender of such mail is identified. Understand me, Senior Auror?"
"Y-yes, sir!" he snapped back.
There were very few times anyone outside of the auror chain of command could give an order to an auror. One of the Seven, doing so to protect their House, was one such. The auror knew that. All aurors knew that. It was one of the first things they learned at the Auror Academy.
They also learned it was a very bad thing for them and theirs if they did not immediately obey.
Harry was standing still in his rage, staring at the still stunned owls. Everyone was silent. And it was because the young man standing in front of the aisle not far from the head of the Gryffindor table, almost in front of the head of the Ravenclaw table next to it, was radiating magic in a near palpable aura.
"Lord Potter?" called Headmistress Lady Marchbanks.
Harry appeared not to have heard her for a moment before he turned his cold expression upon her.
"Your intent?" she asked. She need not ask more and she knew it.
"To deal with the perpetrators... personally," he quietly replied. However, with the power of magic he was effusing, his words were heard clear down to the bottom of the Hall.
She hesitated a moment before she asked, "Do you not feel that might be a little... extreme?"
"If one of those items was designed to cause harm?" he asked. "No."
Just then Madam Bones rushed in with a half dozen aurors hurrying to keep up with her.
Seeing Harry standing there and effusing magic, she hesitated a moment before she hurried over to the head end of the Gryffindor table. "Johnson," she snapped. "Report."
With a glance to Harry, who was now coldly staring back, the auror, Senior Auror Johnson apparently, immediately and quickly gave his report, indicating the three Harry had seen glow green earlier.
"And, Ma'am," he added, "Lord Potter wants the identity of those who sent the tainted mail."
Bones spun around to stare at Harry. "Why?" she demanded.
Harry just stared back for a moment before he firmly replied, "You're not a daft moron, Madam Bones. Please don't pretend to be one."
She stared back for a long moment before she said, "My aurors can handle this, Lord Potter."
"Really?" he sneered. "How many of those who sent tainted mail to me after the first task did you discover?"
When she didn't answer he said, "Someone with a lick of sense will apply tracking charms to each and every bloody owl to find out who naffing sent them!"
Bones winced as if in pain. They'd not thought to do that. And it was patently obvious.
She turned to quickly look at the ankles of all the owls she could quickly see, to see if any of them had the blue ankle band that showed them to have come from the Owl Post Office; none of them did. That meant they were all personal owls; or, at least, family owls.
Turning back, she said, "Then trust me when I tell you we will be doing precisely that."
"And, when you discover the identity of the senders?" he demanded.
She quickly replied, "They will be prosecuted to the full extent of the law."
"Each of those was an attack upon someone under my personal protection, Madam Bones," he said. "Each of those was an attack on someone under a relationship agreement to me, personally. Each of those was an attack on the bonded of a Lord of a Noble and Most Ancient House.
"When you say they will be prosecuted to the full extent of the law, you know what that means, don't you?"
Again, she winced. "Yes, Lord Potter. The Veil."
That had quite a few students suddenly give gasps of shock.
"All those who sent those," he said, again giving a flick of his fingers towards the owls, would only have found out about the relationship agreement of Heiress Presumptive Daphne Greengrass of the Noble and Ancient House of Greengrass to me, had to have read of it in yesterday's Daily Prophet.
"If you had read the article, you would have also seen the warning given in the article about the consequences of attacking either myself or Heiress Greengrass. Therefore, they do not have the excuse of not knowing what would happen if they attempted such harm.
"If they do not confess and willingly accept full punishment, I will have their names and I will face them on the duelling piste!"
She gave a firm nod back and said, "Yes, Lord Potter. I understand. I shall have a report back to you of whom were involved and how they pleaded while interrogated."
"And also please make sure Lord Samuel Greengrass also receives a copy of that report."
Again the single nod back, "Yes, Lord Potter."
Harry just stared back for a moment before he spun away and stalked back to the Hufflepuff table.
As he did so, he heard Bones say with a sigh of relief, "Right. Analyse the entirety of that. Just like last time, direct to a linked auto-quill. Then we're going to put trackers on each and every owl, if we don't already know the identity of the sender, and send them on their way without their loads. Let's be about it, peoples."
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―==(oIo)==―
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For the rest of the day, students gave Harry and, through him, the others of the next generation of the Alliance quite the wide berth. If anything, it was even worse that when the school thought him to be the Heir of Slytherin. However, this time that wide berth was justifiably earned.
Charms had the five Gryff's and 'Puffs of their group sit together again. And, after a quick word to Hermione, had her make sure Justin Finch-Fletchley joined them again. He was wary, but the boy did join them.
At morning tea he received mail, all the mail collected that morning that was for him was returned by the aurors. There was only one, from Ted. Since it wasn't marked urgent he decided to hang onto it until he could read it in private.
After morning tea he was off with Hermione to Ancient Runes, where he joined up with Daphne again. As his now bonded it was no surprise she sat on his right, while Hermione sat on his left at their table of three.
The next period was a 'freebie', where they returned to the apartment and worked on the two assignments of the day. It was also when he pulled out the letter from Ted to read.
A quick read through - it wasn't long - and he was handing it off to Hermione with a smile. Daphne was in class.
After she read it she looked back to him with a smile he knew meant she was happy for him. When she then slid across and sat on his lap to give him a hug and a short snog; he knew she was really happy for him
"So, Potter Cottage has been fully restored," she sighed.
"Yup," he happily agreed. "And all it's furnishings."
Curious, she asked, "Why did that take the longest? I thought the building, itself, would have taken more time than the interior."
"The magical items in the cottage," he replied. "The building wasn't enchanted, other than to have a minor expansion charm on it. But, many of the interior fittings and such had some pretty powerful enchantments on them. That was what took them time to complete."
"And what are you going to do with it?" she asked.
"After taking a good long wander through it... possibly, even a few good long wanders through it... I'm going to have the furnishing stripped out and put in the vault and put it back into stasis. It'll make a lovely wedding present for our first born."
The grin she gave him back could power the strongest of Patronuses
At lunch, Harry was still stared at with a little fear of those outside their group. But it at least meant they all were finally beginning to understand what it meant to be in a school with One of the Seven; and not just the few purebloods of high enough standing and knowledge to know.
After lunch it was the double of DADA, shared with the 'Claws. With no 'Claws in their group it meant Harry, Hermione and Neville sat together, as always.
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―==(oIo)==―
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When class finished Neville scuttled off to ensure 'his two' were safe and would also be escorting Daphne back up the apartment for Harry.
When they arrived, the other boy didn't even stick his head in the door to say what he done. It was left up to Daphne to explain it.
"He feels he owes you a debt he could never repay, no matter how hard or for how long he tries," she explained.
"I know," he sighed. "But, he really doesn't. I helped his parents because it was the right thing to do; not because it got me the gratitude of the House."
She said, "Many would have done it just to have a house of One of the Seven beholden to them. That you did not do it for that purpose, rather because you thought it the right thing do, shows the strength of your character, Harry."
"Hmm," he mutter-grunted. It was the sort of verbal nod he gave when he was acknowledging what he was told, but didn't didn't really want to be told in the first place.
Now knowing he was uncomfortable discussing it, Daphne dropped it. Instead, she asked, "Assignments?"
_‗_
―==(oIo)==―
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Over in Ravenclaw, Luna's Hogwarts life had definitely changed for the better in the past week and a half she'd been back at the school. Her confrontation with Fawcett had quickly been spread through the girls' dorms and almost as quickly through the boys' dorms.
It was only the day after the initial confrontation, plus after classes, that the new Seventh Year Girls' Prefect had walked into the room, just on curfew, and said, "Listen up!"
When she had the attention of all five she glanced at Luna, clearly considering something, before continuing. "Just before the School Board gave us the option of going home for the extended break, you learned Professor Flitwick had lost his position as our Head of House. You also learned it was, in part, because he failed to act to protect Miss Lovegood from harm from her fellow Housemates. That would be you.
"Professor Sinistra has made sure all new Prefects she installed after Professor Flitwick fired all the previous ones were made aware she will not be losing her Head of House status for Ravenclaw because she failed to act in a similar situation. Therefore, all Ravenclaw Prefects... us new ones... have as one of our primary responsibilities the command from her to ensure no student, especially Miss Lovegood, is treated anything but with respect by all for their entire time at Hogwarts.
"I now like being a Prefect. I intend to be a Prefect right through to graduation. Therefore, I will be very determined to ensure Professor Sinistra does not look upon me with disfavour.
"As such, if I even hear a rumour someone has decided to once again target Miss Lovegood, I will be coming for you with the full weight of both my authority and magical power. By the time I am finished with you, you will be begging to be expelled just to get away from me.
"Have I made myself perfectly clear to you all?"
There were a couple of uncomfortable shifts but only Luna replied, "Perfectly."
The Prefect gave her an almost negligent nod of acknowledgement to Luna before her expression towards the other four and darkened.
She barked, "I asked you lot a bloody question and you will answer me!"
All other four instantly blurted back, "Yes!" Some added the girl's name, Maxine. They all looked back in fear.
She glared around the room for a long moment before her eyes softened as they turned back to Luna. "I want your promise, Miss Lovegood; that, if anyone gives you a hard time in future, you will immediately come to me or one of the other Prefects and directly inform me or us."
"I will," Luna firmly replied.
The Prefect gave a slight nod back and said, "Thank you, Miss Lovegood."
Then she again glared at the other four before she turned about and walked out the door.
Looking to the four, who now stared at her a little afraid, she smirked and held up both hands, palm out. Nodding to her left, she gave it a jiggle and said, "Your ability and chance to remain in Hogwarts." Then looked to her right and gave it a jiggle. "The palm of my hand." Then gestured as if to dump the imaginary contents of her left hand into her right, before looking back at them as she closed the fingers of that hand and made a fist. "Understood?"
All four fearfully nodded back.
With a nod of satisfaction to them, she turned and made herself ready for bed.
Now a week and a half later, she had been aware of attempts by a couple of housemates to treat her as if she didn't even exist. They attempted to outright shun her.
However, within hours, those individuals had been almost rudely dragged from the common room by seniors; especially Prefects. When they returned, those first dragged away were shaking and casting furtive looks of fear towards Luna.
The third to have been done so was also the last. The message had finally been imparted and learned.
Knowing she was now the most protected student in Ravenclaw, if not for 'Lord Potter' the most protected student in the school, meant Luna did not have to act as if expecting some form of attack at any moment. Her Hogwarts experience was now turning into the pleasurable experience her late mother told her it could be.
She had a lot to tell her new mind-healer friend when she next spoke with her on Saturday morning in the office next to her new Head of House's office.
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―==(oIo)==―
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In Gryffindor tower Ginevra 'Ginny' Weasley was talking and chatting with her dorm-mates in the Gryffindor girls' dorms. A great change had come over her since she started talking with the mind-Healer that still unknown rich pureblood witch had allowed her.
Her father had tried to find out who it was, but the mind-Healer was under oath not to divulge what she knew.
"Besides," the Healer had said, "I don't know who it is, either."
Since she had begun talking to the lady, Ginny learned her attraction to 'Harry Potter' was only that of infatuation with a myth. The 'Harry Potter' she thought she knew all about didn't exist. The healer had stepped her through how he was definitely not the 'Harry Potter' who, until recently, she thought to be the close friend of her brother, Ron.
Part of her talks were a comparison of the Harry Potter in the books with the truth all of wizarding Britain, since those trials, knew of the real Harrison 'Harry' Potter. And showed her how they couldn't possibly be the same person.
That took a lot for her to accept. But, after hours of talking it through, she had no choice but to accept the truth.
With that out of the way, they now talked about Ginny's future from there; getting a boyfriend, setting limits with him, opening herself up to friendship with other girls and... yes... even sex.
Though they had now returned to school, those talks would continue. She would be meeting with the lady again this Saturday morning, just as she met with her last Saturday morning, in the vacant office next to her Head of House's office.
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Both girls had no proof, but suspected, the other of also regularly meeting with the mind-Healer.
Of the two, Ginny's were the most intense, but that had little to do with what the two spoke about; and more to do with Molly Weasley, Ginny's mother.
No matter how many times Arthur had told her to stay out of it. Each time the woman had come to their home, Molly kept trying to find excuses to enter Ginny's bedroom, where she and the mind-Healer would meet. She would come up to ask if they needed anything, then hang back to ask what they were talking about, she would come in stating she needed to clean up, or she would enter and try to surreptitiously re-establish listening charms and the like, for instance, which the mind-Healer had only minutes earlier stripped away."
After only two weeks of this, the mind-Healer established a procedure where she and Ginny would enter the room, she would immediately erect silencing and privacy charms, wizard lock and silence the door with such a strong locking charm Molly couldn't budge it and made sure both of them and the room were clear of any other privacy-invasion charms.
After the first week of that, as soon as they both stepped out of the room, Molly railed against her for locking her out.
The mind-Healer had stood there, calmly heard her out, then simply said, "With me!" and walked out the door.
Ginny did not know what they then talked about, but when her mother re-entered the house she was white and shaking.
She asked the next week and learned that the Healer had threatened to give her professional opinion as a Master mind-Healer to the DMLE that her mother was engaging in abusive behaviour towards her daughter and her daughter's guests; and that the DMLE should give careful consideration to investigating her mother for causing psychological abuse of her children.
Now being at the school, her mother could not even approach the school without first making an appointment with whom she needed to speak to in advance. And was not permitted to deviate from that time or place within the school the Headmistress allowed.
For Luna, almost the exact opposite was the case. Her father, after first ensuring the woman meant no harm to his daughter, flatly refused to get involved unless his daughter specifically asked him to. Which only happened once, to date.
He would greet the woman at the door, direct her to Luna's room or where Luna would otherwise be at the time, and then purposefully make himself scarce.
Where Ginny was being over-mothered, Luna was being under-fathered.
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―==(oIo)==―
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For all the drama of the morning of the previous day, Friday morning was quite tame.
It was as the six were about to leave their apartments to head down to the Great Hall that a breathless Tracey came up to them first.
As the Potter apartment door was wide open at the time, she was able to almost stagger in through the door.
Harry, first to see her, was by her side almost immediately to guide her to a seat on one of the sofas.
Hermione immediately started, "Tracey? Why are you here? Is something wrong? Did something happen to someone? What is―"
Harry instantly barked, "Hermione!" When she instantly shut up and appeared shocked Harry had practically yelled at her. He firmly said, "Enough! Give the girl a chance to regain her breath before you attempt to interrogate her without her even being able to get a word in edgewise."
That had Hermione immediately blush and look down in contrition. "Sorry!" she quickly but quietly exclaimed.
Still a little exasperated with his betrothed, Harry gave a huff and turned back to their Slytherin friend.
"When you're ready, Tracey," he quietly said.
It took her about another thirty seconds to regain her breath but, when she did, she was almost frantic to tell them why she'd run the whole way there.
"It's Nott," she said. "He's... he's really angry at Harry. He thinks Harry's stolen Daphne from him." Looking to Harry she said, "He's going to try to ambush you, somewhere. He's going to curse you in the back and try to frame someone else for it. I think that someone else is Malfoy."
Harry gave a second huff of annoyance and firmly said, "It won't work. The frame job, that is. The new wards will instantly detect it and there's both a book and a map in the Headmistress's office that will record what actually happened; including who actually cast such a curse."
"But it won't stop you being cursed in the first place," said Hermione.
"No," he replied. "For that I must rely on the fact we now always, with the exception of Tracey, travel in groups. I trust you, all, to have my back."
He could see that sink into their minds and be welcomed.
"Secondly, I must rely on my reaction speed. I do not believe Nott to be capable of silent or wandless casting. And, though I will not discount the concept he may be capable of either, I also cannot allow for a situation where he can get at me fester until he does find such a time. Therefore, I believe we, together, will have to lay a trap for him or those he manipulates into initiating an attack at a time and place of our choosing. That way, we will have some measure of control when he finally makes good on his threat."
Though the others were frowning back they could not see another avenue available to them.
"I don't like it," said Neville, frustration evident in his voice and posture. "But, I can't think of a better idea."
"Harry, no!" said Hermione, horrified Harry was going to offer himself as bait. "We can go to a Professor. We can talk to Madam Bones."
"About what, Hermione?" he asked back. "It is not illegal or even worth a single night's detention to voice a desire to hurt someone. All it will do is alert them that someone squealed. That will put Tracey at risk. Do you want to do that?"
Again, Hermione felt a little ashamed. But her slight thrust of defiance in her chin also showed she wasn't willing to go along with this.
"Hermione!" he said. "You will not speak of this outside this group. I forbid it."
When she looked at him in shock, he said, "This is not like last year, where you took your concerns to Professor McGonagall about my Firebolt and think it might have been sent to harm me. If you speak of this outside of this group you place Tracey at even more risk than I would be under.
"Tracey has taken a great risk to come and alert us to this. She has placed trust in us all we will not disclose this information outside our group.
"Do you understand?"
"But..." she tried, "Surely a professor will not speak of this with anyone―"
He just cocked an eyebrow at her and slightly smirked. The message was clear, 'Oh, really?'
She slumped with a sigh. ""Alright, alright. I see your point. I still don't like it, though."
Daphne, almost coldly and not a little threateningly, said, "What an amazing utopian world you live in, Miss Granger."
Hermione sadly shook her head. "Live in? No," she replied. "Want to live in."
Before things got out of hand, Harry said, "Hermione, Daphne; this is not to be spoken about outside of this group until such time as Mister Nott makes good on his threat. I order it."
Neville, not daft, immediately said, "As do I."
"And that puts paid to that," said Susan. "That just leaves us with coming up with a plan to deal with Nott, or who it is he connives to do it for him."
"Already working on it," said Daphne. "This is what I think we can do..."
And they discussed it for the next five minutes, before they believed they needed to make their move down to breakfast.
Thankfully, Nott did not make his move at that time; as they truly were not ready yet.
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―==(oIo)==―
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After breakfast Harry kept looking at Nott down to the very occasional glance. Though, as the owls streamed in, he did pay a bit of closer attention to the other boy, as he knew the boy would be looking to the owls to see if he could spot his own family owl in among them.
Surprising Harry, not only did Hedwig come down and drop off his copy of the Daily Prophet as expected; but a second owl, this one wearing the red anklet band of a Ministry owl dropped off a small package.
He was quick to deal with Hedwig and her load first, lest he earn her ire. Then turned his attention to the Ministry owl.
Freeing it of it's load and offering it a strip of bacon - accepted - he scanned the package, finding it free of anything but a slight impervious weather repelling charm and the shrinking charm.
Unshrinking it and snapping open the Ministry seal with his wand tip, he allowed the contents to slide out on the tabletop. Another couple of detection charms and he felt safe enough to handle them with his hands.
He was surprised to discover it had a list of all those who owned one of those owls that had sent mail to Daphne. They had seventeen of nineteen names. For each it also included what the mail contained.
Of the nineteen letters/packages sent, fourteen were sent to Daphne - five were of congratulatory messages from important families, seven were anything from reproachful to abusive, but two were booby-trapped. One of those was yet another of bubotuber pus linked to a mild explosive hex. And one of the abusive ones was of an owl belonging to someone who swore an oath they had no idea how their owl was 'used to do something so disgusting as abuse one of the ladies of that wonderful young man'.
Of those, aurors had already been to speak with all those who sent abusive mail with the two who sent the booby-trapped mail arrested on the spot and 'dragged' to her holding cells. She would be questioning them throughout the day and, 'It is highly likely both will be charged and front the Wizengamot at the February session for their crimes.'
The other for whom they had no idea of ownership actually was a Ministry owl and also one of the abusive ones. And, until then, who used the owls was not recorded. Madam Bones could only posit that someone sent it 'from work within the Ministry'. It was one sent to Harry.
She would be working towards having permanent charms set on all the Ministry owl anklets that tracked who sent them from within the Ministry. Harry had no idea how she'd accomplish that, but mentally wished her luck.
The third booby-trapped mail item was sent to Harry. Madam Bones had moved to personally arrest that person; a minor Heir of one of the dark families, who was using the opportunity that he knew would be a confusing time when all the owls arrived, to attempt to curse Harry with a compulsion potion that could be absorbed through the skin.
That person, as soon as they realised they'd been 'busted', fought back and was killed by one of the aurors while resisting arrest. An auror witch had been hurt, but Madam Bones was quick to assure him she was recovering well in St Mungo's with no expected long-lasting effects.
The other mail to Harry was also either outright scathing of his decision to accept a relationship agreement with Greengrass, or questioning him and begging him to see a healer to discover what potions or other illicit compulsions he was under.
She then went on to beg him to allow the DMLE to handle the entire matter as per the laws that applied to all; and not go after 'anyone' as One of the Seven - even though she knew he could and she could do nothing about it if he did. She promised she would not be asking for a reduced sentence or similar and would be asking for the full penalty to be applied in each case.
She also informed him that his concept of applying tracking charms to the owls was so successful it would be entered into the DMLE procedure rulebook for aurors and be taught at the Academy. Harry thought it was a clear 'bribe' on her part for him not to go after the main culprits.
Harry thought he'd let her have this one, but also warned her that 'next time' the gloves will be off and 'people will die by my wand or hand'.
Yes; it was blatant threat. But, not to her. He wanted her to be able to tell all and sundry he'd told her that.
Once he finished going through it, he handed it off to Daphne.
And, once she went through it with a frown of anger on her face, she looked up and said, "Do I ask Dobby to see to pressing your duelling robes?"
"Actually, I don't have any," he replied. "Something for me to see about soon. And something I'll be very public about doing when I do, I think."
She smiled back in slight amusement and said, "Very Slytherin."
"And, don't worry," he said. "I will be discussing with your Lord what to do about these people before I act. I believe he has a right to voice his opinion, first."
She gave a slight nod back and said, "Thank you. I believe he'll appreciate that."
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―==(oIo)==―
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