A night of love

Aftermath

Parvati was listening attentively, trying to make head and tails of what she heard. She had a feeling this was a very cheesy piece of gossip, if only she could decipher it. Hermione had no problem with it. “Oh, you may be right. Don’t you know that the dark mark could be used to siphon magical power from the death eaters to their master? How else could he be so powerful? Now, if he felt weakened by what he sensed through the ‘pipe’, he may have tried to regain some power from his minions. Eventually, he took so much that they could no longer live.”

“Do you think he’s dead, then?”

“It’s possible, although I wouldn’t count on it.”

Dumbledore returned to the great hall, followed by two aurors. He directed them towards Harry and went to his place, evidently unwilling to cooperate more than strictly necessary.

“Lord Potter-Black, I understand that you have a problem to report,” the older auror addressed Harry.

“Yes, auror. The young man here insulted my wife and tried to use the killing curse on me. I’ve also discovered that he was using illegal love potions on me and my wife before we bonded. I believe you may find the potion vials in his pocket.”

Hermione glanced at the head table, noticing that Dumbledore was suddenly looking paler than usual. She noticed him holding his wand hidden and starting a spell, aimed at Ron. “Expeliarmus!” she whispered, aiming at Dumbledore. His wand was plucked from his hand and sailed into her hand. One of the aurors noticed.

“Why did you take the Headmaster’s wand, Lady Potter?”

“He was trying to use a spell on either Ron or one of us. I thought that might interfere with the investigation. I suggest you check his office and his quarters as well. You may find a loyalty potion there, also used against my husband.

The great hall was full of whispering. Everybody trying to understand what was happening. Dumbledore tried to retreat and leave while he still could. It was Padma who noticed him rising from his seat. “Going anywhere, Headmaster? Don’t you think you should stay here while this investigation takes place?”

“I have some urgent...” He knew it wouldn’t work. He had already attracted too much attention and the aurors were bound to find even more incriminating evidence than the Potters expected. He needed a way to leave fast. “Fawkes!” he called.

The magnificent phoenix, that had befriended Harry since second year, appeared with a flash of fire and landed on Harry’s shoulder, rubbing its head on his cheek and trilling happily. Dumbledore sat down, defeated.

The aurors had no problem finding the three vials in Ron’s pockets. They cuffed him with magic-suppressing manacles and then revived him. “Did you try to use the killing curse on Lord Potter?” one asked him.

“He stole my girl!” Ron said indignantly.

“I’ve never been your girl. You barely managed to keep me interested in you even with a love potion!” Hermione said.

“Did you use love potion on Lord and Lady Potter?”

“Sure! The Headmaster said it was for the Greater Good that I get Hermione while Ginny gets Harry.”

“Did you brew the potion?”

“No, I can’t. Mom’s an expert in love potions, having used them on Dad since they met, but the Headmaster gave me the loyalty potion for Harry, as he tried to be too independent. He said he might soon need to give some to Hermione as well.”

Harry looked at Ginny. She seemed shocked and ashamed, covering her face with her hands. He somehow felt relieved. Judging by her reaction, he was almost sure that she didn’t know about the potions. If so, they could still keep their previous friendship.

The doors of the great hall burst open again as an agitated professor McGonagall walked in, followed by the rest of the teachers, excluding Snape. “Albus, we can’t find Potter and the girls...”

“I’m here,” Harry said, standing up, “and so are my wives.”

“Oh, thank goodness you’re safe here,” Minerva sighed in relief, not paying attention to the rest of the sentence. She then noticed the aurors and Ron. “What’s going on here?” she asked.

The older auror answered, “Mr. Weasley here tried to use the killing curse on Lord Potter. He has also doped both Lord and Lady Potter with illegal potions for some time. Do you know anything about this?”

Minerva seemed shocked. “No! I would have never allowed it!”

“That’s what I thought,” the younger auror mumbled.

An hour later, the aurors departed, taking both Ron Weasley and Albus Dumbledore into custody. Minerva was named as the temporary headmistress and Snape was finally announced dead, as were the students who bore the dark mark.

Hermione had finally found time to read more than the headlines of her newspaper, sitting by the lake.

“During a reception at the Ministry, some of the prominent figures started feeling ill and soon collapsed, dying within a few minutes. Then, the Minister was informed of some deaths at Azkaban. As one of them was Lucius Malfoy, a former close friend of the minister and a major contributor in helping the ministry, Minister Fudge decided to personally bring the sad message to the widow. When he arrived at Malfoy Manor, accompanied by aurors, he found several more dead, some of whom are known criminals and fugitives from Azkaban, among them Bellatrix Lestrange, her husband and his brother. All seemed to have died in the same way. There was also one cadaver which was recognized as Peter Pettigrew, who was previously believed to have been murdered by Sirius Black some fifteen years ago. Evidently, he was not, which puts the whole story about Black in questionable light.

In the center of the group of dead death-eaters there was a set of empty robes, with just an old bone, a rotten hand and some blood, believed to be used in some kind of ritual the others were trying to conduct, as well as a broken locket and the remains of a cup. A dead serpent was found in a room nearby. The aurors spokesperson assured the public that this is not an epidemy and the investigating team will give a full report, once it reaches its conclusions.”

Hermione lifted her head and smiled at Padma. “I believe we did better than expected.”

Padma checked the article quickly and smiled back. “With this threat removed, Harry can spend more time with us. Don’t you like it?”

“I sure do.”

Because of all the events that happened, normal school activity was suspended for a day, letting the newly appointed headmistress step into her new job and handle the immediate tasks, namely – delivering the dead students to their families, most of which had also lost other members.

Narcissa Malfoy, after being interrogated under Veritaserum, also accepted Snape’s body, as he was Draco’s godfather and he had no living relatives. She said she would bury her husband, her son and his godfather in one ceremony, and then her sister Bellatrix. She wouldn’t take responsibility for any other burials, not even for Bellatrix’s husband. Narcissa said that she would then leave the country forever, as it held no good memories for her. Surprisingly, she was accompanied by her sister Andromeda Tonks, with whom she had broken all ties for many years, who supported her along the way.

Shortly before lunch, Harry and his wives were requested to meet McGonagall. She was still in her old office, as she had no time to clear Albus’s stuff from his former office and move hers there. Harry noticed that she looked extremely tired.

“You gave us a good fright, the three of you,” she said as they came in. “We were looking for you the whole night. Where have you been?”

“We’ve been in the castle,” Harry said, knowing this would not be enough of an answer.

The professor sighed. “Harry – I hope you allow me to call you Harry in private – I think that I deserve to know a bit more after losing my sleep while searching for you.”

Harry smiled at her. He was unsure what the girls were willing to tell, though. Padma sensed this and decided to talk. “You see, professor, I had a serious problem and I asked Harry to help me solve it.” She told the whole story, including Harry’s and Hermione’s soul bonding and her own marriage bond, as well as removing the binds on the two others. “...and then, after Harry said we were his wives, Weasley got angry. You already know what followed.”

Minerva sighed. “I can’t even count how many rules you’ve broken by what you’ve done, but it also looks like you’ve done a great service to the school, as Albus seems to have lost his way, and I suspect that the other events are somehow connected to your bonding as well, although I don’t yet know how.”

She now smiled. These three were her favorites, and she couldn’t really be angry with them, especially as they had done nothing really wrong. “Congratulation, Lord Potter-Black, Lady Potter, Lady Black, for your bonds and marriage. I’m sure, Harry, that Sirius would have congratulated you for marrying the smartest and most beautiful girls in school. He suspected you’d end up with Hermione from the start, although he hoped you’d ‘sample’ a bit more.”

Harry grimaced at that. He knew there would be no “sampling” in his future, yet with his two wives, both of whom seemed eager to give him much more than samples, he had no doubt he wouldn’t need, nor want, any.

Minerva sighed again. “Well, now I need to find some appropriate lodging for you...”

“It’s not urgent, really,” Harry said. “We can use that same room until you find something suitable. No need to hurry.”

She smiled with some relief. “You probably enjoyed it way too much, but you may use it until we find some better arrangement. Now, if you don’t mind, I have some other urgent matters to deal with.”

As it was already lunch time, the three made their way to the great hall. They sat at the Gryffindor table, and Neville soon joined them, as well as Parvati and Lavender. They barely had time to look around when Ginny approached them, looking very serious. As she came nearer, she bowed low before speaking. “Lord and Lady Potter, I came to apologize for my behavior. You both know that I had a crush on ’the boy who lived’ since I was a little girl. I managed to overcome it during my third year at school and I was quite content dating other boys. Yet every time we went home, Mom continued telling me I should be close to you and make you fall in love with me, although it was clear to me that you two were in love with each other, even if you were not aware of it. Since the skirmish at the Ministry, Mom’s nagging became even worse. She told me you will surely fall in love with me this year and I should keep any other girl away from you. I didn’t know of the potions until today and I’m very sorry you were subjected to them. I can only say that I knew nothing about them and would not have acted the way I did, had I known. I also ask you to forgive my family. As far as I know now it was only Mom and Ron who plotted this whole thing. I’m sure Dad would have not allowed it, even if Dumbledore said he should. Neither would Bill or the twins support such deeds.”

Hermione spoke for them both. “Ginny, we don’t blame you or your family for the deeds of Ron and Molly. If you didn’t really know, then there’s nothing to forgive you for. I hope we can stay friends, maybe even better friends than before.”

She opened her arms and let a teary Ginny walk into her hug. She then invited Ginny to sit with them, which happened to be at the place near Neville, who blushed furiously when the redhead sat at his side.