A night of love

The Morning After

As they were drying themselves, Padma had another thought bothering her. “Harry, do you mind if I check you for binds on your magic? If someone wants to control you with potions, he might as well bind your magic to prevent you from being too powerful.”

“What do you need to do this?”

“It’s just a simple spell Parvati and I use every time we return to school, fearing that somebody may have bound our magic to make us ‘easier to control’. We did find binds twice, when we were younger.”

Hermione frowned but stayed silent.

“Can you do it now?” Harry asked.

“Sure, just stand still for a moment, and no ogling!”

Harry smiled at that. Despite having shagged each of the girls three times, he could still look at their naked bodies for hours and not tire of the view, as Padma seemed to notice.

Padma moved her wand in a tight circle, mumbling a spell in what Harry believed to be Hindi. He was soon engulfed in what seemed to be a series of thin circles of light, making Padma frown deeply. “Your magic is severely bound. You are probably able to use less then a tenth of your potential.”

“Can you unbind me?”

“Yes, but with your power and the amount of binding we found, it may be too dangerous to do here. Let’s check Hermione now, before deciding what to do.”

She cast the same spell on Hermione, engulfing her in what looked like a series of cylinders, separated by some blank circles. “Your magic is also bound, as I suspected, but not as much as Harry’s. You shall both be formidably powerful once unbound.”

“What do you need to unbind us safely?” Harry asked.

“We can either find some deserted place, where the backlash of magic will not harm anything of value or we may create a shielded bubble, like what is used around dueling platforms, to maintain and absorb the released magic with no harm to anyone.”

“I believe the shield may be more practical in our condition and I think the room may supply one,” Hermione said. She closed her eyes in concentration and another door appeared. They all went through it, finding an empty room, with one corner clearly marked for the caster. Harry tried casting “Reducto” at the walls, noting how they absorbed the spells with no damage.

Padma and Hermione moved to the marked corner. Solid shields appeared in front of them as soon as both stood still. Harry left his wand outside, closed the door and moved to the center of the room.

“I’ll cast the revealing spell first, and then try to remove each binding separately, to minimize the risk,” Padma explained.

She cast a different spell now, one that showed each bind as a separate blue or violet ring. “I’ll try to remove the outermost first,” she said. Hermione watched and listened attentively as Padma removed the outer binding. This caused a momentary flash that was so bright, they all needed several minutes to be able to see again. “I’ll close my eyes when casting the next spells, as the flashes are going to be even brighter,” Padma noted. Harry decided to do the same.

After removing two more binds, Hermione cast the next few spells, each time producing a stronger and longer flash. She concentrated a bit and the next casting made the shield stop the extra light as well.

The girls cast the spells alternately, until all the binds were removed. “It’s over, Harry. You may open your eyes now,” Hermione told him.

Harry opened his eyes and drank her beauty. For him, she was the most beautiful and most desirable woman in the world. “I love you,” he said.

“I love you too,” she smiled back. “Now, stand still and let Padma check you again for binds.”

Padma cast that spell again, resulting in a long luminous cylinder engulfing Harry. No dark band could be discerned. “I think we’ve managed,” she said. “Now, try to cast Lumos.”

“I don’t have my wand,” he protested.

“Use your finger as a wand,” Padma replied.

He tried, not knowing what to expect. Holding his hand forward he said “Lumos!” The tip of his index finger suddenly lighted, illuminating that whole room as if it was tropical sunshine. Harry squinted, unable to see clearly for excess of light. “Nox!” he mumbled and waited for his eyes to adjust.

Both girls kissed him. “You’re now as powerful as you should have been all along, probably more powerful than Dumbledore and Voldemort put together.”

Hermione stepped to the middle of the room. “My turn now!” she declared.

Harry retrieved his wand and joined Padma at the corner, still marveling at the exotic beauty of her darker body. Padma didn’t pay attention to him ogling her. She repeated the casting she had previously done, teaching Harry how to do it. After a while he did the rest, until there were no more binds to remove.

Hermione tried to cast “Lumos” like Harry. Her finger lighted nicely, but not as brightly as Harry’s. It was still a very nice achievement, as she had never done it before.

“Can you cast this way?” she asked Padma.

“I can, but I’m not nearly as powerful as you are, even before removing those binds, see?” She lifted her hand and cast “Lumos”. Her finger shone like a small lamp.

“Can everybody cast this way?”

“You probably need a certain minimum of power for this to work, and very good concentration. Many lack either or both. Parvati is much more powerful than me, but she lacks concentration, so she can’t do wandless magic.”

The room provided some clothes now, as none of the girls had any. When finally putting their robes over their other clothes, Harry found that his robes now showed the two house crests under his left shoulder, while Hermione’s showed the Potter crest only and Padma’s showed the Black one.

Now, properly clothed, they left the Room of Requirements for breakfast.

They heard the noise from the great hall long before they saw the doors, wondering what caused the students to be so noisy. It then stopped suddenly. They then heard Dumbledore’s voice. “As many of you already know, this has been a very eventful night. Some students were found dead in their beds or just collapsed in their common rooms, and three students are still unaccounted for. We continue searching for them. You are to stay here until further notice.”

The noise reached a new high level. Harry pushed the doors open and stepped in with the girls at his sides. All eyes turned at him and the noise stopped as if cut by a knife.

Only the Headmaster’s voice was heard now. “Mr. Potter, Miss Granger, Miss Patil – care to tell us where you’ve been?”

“We’ve all been at the castle. We probably fell asleep and were oblivious to what happened elsewhere,” Hermione answered for them all.

“And it is Lord Potter-Black, Lady Potter and Lady Black, if you don’t mind,” Harry added, pointing at the girls and sounding very formal.

Dumbledore glanced at their robes and then noticed their rings. He knew what they meant. “Of course. My apologies, Lord Potter, Ladies, for addressing you incorrectly.”

The students started gossiping immediately, yet one voice was heard over all others. “What do you mean by ‘Lady Potter’? Hermione is mine!”

Harry looked at Ron, but Hermione responded first, “Says who?”

Ron was still oblivious. “Mom told me you’ll be mine and so did the Headmaster.”

“They’re obviously wrong,” she said sweetly, “as this ring I’m wearing testifies.”

Harry was watching closely both younger Weasley and the Headmaster. Ginny looked defeated, holding her head in her hands and lowering her eyes. Dumbledore seemed as if he’d like to take his wand and do something about the situation, but knew it to be impossible at the moment. Ron didn’t seem to have any hesitations. He drew his wand, pointed it at Harry and started, “Avra...”, before being hit by three stunners, as Harry and both his wives responded swiftly to the threat, none of them using a wand.

“I think we should let the Aurors handle him,” Harry said coldly as he stepped around his stunned ex-friend, going to the table. “Headmaster, please summon the aurors, as this was clearly an attack against a Lord of two houses.”

Dumbledore didn’t like it. “Please, Lord Potter, can’t we settle this without involving the aurors? We can handle it discreetly if you just come to my office.”

“No, headmaster. His attack was public and so should his punishment be. Please make sure the aurors arrive before breakfast ends.” Harry’s voice was formal and as cold as ice. Dumbledore sighed and left his chair, heading for his office.

Harry turned his attention to the food on the table. He checked everything for potions, finding none, before serving the two girls who sat at both his sides and taking some for himself. Neville came to sit with them a moment later. “I’m glad you’ve finally taken your lordship, Harry. I never understood why you didn’t do it earlier.”

“I didn’t know earlier. Dumbledore never told me, my relatives wouldn’t tell me even if they knew and it looks like others assumed I knew. It was only due to Lady Black that I could finally claim my lordship.”

Neville smiled. “Let me be the first to congratulate you for your marriages. You certainly opt for the best, as can be plainly seen. You’ve chosen the smartest and most beautiful girls to be yours.” His smile showed that he was really glad for Harry.

“Now, Ladies, let me congratulate you for marrying Lord Potter. He is a fine young man and I’m sure he’ll do anything for you, yet be aware that he sometimes is a magnet for troubles.”

Hermione laughed. “Thank you, Neville, or should I say Scion Longbottom? We are glad to be married to Harry and we’re glad that you’re his real friend, unlike somebody else.”

Padma only smiled shyly saying “Thank you.”

Parvati came to sit across from her sister. “Padma! You never told me you were dating Harry! And Hermione – I was sure you were with Ron. What happened?”

Padma smiled, a bit nervously. “I didn’t date Harry. I seldom even talked to him until this week. And no, I can’t tell you what happened. It is a House Secret.”

Parvati looked somewhat disappointed but turned her eyes to Hermione. Harry was fascinated again by how similar she looked to her sister, and yet how different they were.

Hermione didn’t hesitate to answer. “What happened? I found out he was using love potions on me and on Harry. Once we got rid of the potions, the rest went naturally. Now, what was it about students collapsing and dying that I heard before we came in?”

Parvati’s expression changed. “Oh, that’s awful! Two Slytherin perfects just collapsed for no discernible reason. One was on patrol and another was just talking with his friends in their common room when it happened. They then found Malfoy dead in his bed and a seventh-year Ravenclaw. All seemed to have died of magical exhaustion, but there was nothing near them to cause it. I’ve also heard that Snape is in the hospital wing.”

The morning mail arrived as she was talking. Hermione got her daily newspaper and another arrived for Padma. Hermione scanned the main titles. “It looks like some others also suffered sudden death. Interestingly – all come from dark families.”

Harry looked at the list she was pointing at, noticing many familiar names: Malfoy, Crabble, Goyle, Avery, Macnair, Nott ...

“Death Eaters,” he said quietly, “all of them.”

“What would cause their deaths?” Hermione wondered.

Padma thought she might help them. “Harry, I saw a dark cloud coming out of your scar when you... wedded Hermione. Is you ‘pipe’ still there?”

“No. It seemed to disappear during the second time.”

Padma’s face lighted. “Well, if so, then maybe... just maybe... he was destroyed by the love flowing through it. I hoped it would incapacitate him. I didn’t expect it to have this much stronger effect.”