"So, let me get this straight. You, Harry James Potter, the boy-who-lived, are the heir of Most Noble and Most Ancient houses of Potter and Black." Daphne said.
"Yes."
"That gives you 14 votes on the Wizengamot and makes you perhaps the richest man in whole of Magical Britain, perhaps Europe due to the combined fortunes of them." Susan added thoughtfully.
"Obviously."
"You also realize that you have to marry two ladies to keep the lines separate, as dictated by the law?"
He sighted. Daphne, Susan and himself were meeting for their usual dueling session on Friday in their classroom. The topic had strayed to the trial of Sirius and Harry had mentioned that he was now Heir Potter-Black. It was a big deal. Never had a single person held heirships of two Most Noble and Most Ancient houses.
There were instances where power of two seats were held by a couple due to marriage. In such a case they had to produce two heirs. If they only produce a single heir and pass on both heirships to him (or her), the heir had to marry two people to separate the lines. The law was adamant that two lines MUST NOT merge in the long run and had to be kept separate.
Harry fell into the latter category and would have to marry two wives. The other option was giving up a seat to the next closest relative, which was something Harry was not going to do. Marrying two witches seemed a much better prospect to him than handing over the Black estate to Draco Malfoy, or worse Bellatrix Lestrange, where it will surely be used to fund Death Eater activities.
"Yes, unfortunately, I will marry two witches. It is better to handle two girls than hand the Black estate to Malfoy, or worse Bellatrix Lestrange."
"What makes you think that you are unfortunate or that you can handle it either?" Daphne snarked.
"I handle you two, don't I? It is a tough task but I manage."
"..."
"..."
Harry then had to dodge several hexes shot at him by the blondes.
"Oh sheesh! I was kidding. No need to get violent."
"Good, but if you say that again, you will get hexed." Daphne said twirling her wand in hand.
"Bloody violent girls." He mumbled.
"What was that?" Susan asked sickly sweet tone.
"I said I won't say some thing like that again." Harry hastily answered
"Good. Now what else happened?" Susan asked.
"Let's see, I told you about the Veritaserum part, me insulting that toad undersecretary, me meeting Daphne's Father, Neville's Grandmother, producing Patronus in court... Oh yeah! Susan, your aunt rejected my marriage proposal for her and asked me to date you instead." He casually added.
"You proposed The Head of DMLE?" Daphne asked incredulously.
"My aunt gave you permission to date me!?" Susan blurted at the same time.
"I just said that." Harry added dryly.
"Why?" Susan asked.
"She thought that you were more suited for me. She thinks herself as old and that she won't be able to keep up with me. I disagreed but respected her wishes."
"No, I meant that why did you propose auntie?"
"She is hot, like a complete MILF. On top of that she is an intelligent and powerful witch. Who wouldn't want her?" Harry replied with a grin.
"HARRY!" Susan said scandalized.
"What? You asked. And she wished to learn a spell from the Potter Family Grimoire which I used to capture Sirius and Pettigrew in the shack. The only way for that was for her to become a Potter. I jumped at the chance." Harry replied with mock innocence. He was enjoying Susan's expressions of shock. Even Daphne, who usually was stoic around most people, was snickering.
Susan groaned. "Lets talk about something else please."
"Ok. We will talk about something else."
"Thank you."
"Your aunt told me that I should date you. So... Will you go out with me on the next Hogsmeade weekend on a date?" Harry changed the topic.
"You know Potter, you should work on your proposing skills. They could do with some work." Daphne said as Susan just stared at him with wide eyes.
Harry turned to Daphne. He went forward and bent on one knee conjuring a bunch of Roses. "Daphne Roxanne Greengrass, Whenever I see you my heart starts beating faster. Your beauty, wit and intelligence leaves me speechless. I like you very much. So will you do me the honor of going out on a date with me, my lady?"
"Yes. I will." Daphne replied with a smirk, throwing Harry off his game.
"Wait, what about me?" Susan blurted out.
"Harry is taking you out on a date to Hogsmeade. Mine's and his will be private. I don't want to be caught in house politics between Gryffindors and Slytherins. So mine will be private and you both will go out in public." Daphne replied.
The two girls shared a look.
"That works." Susan said after a moment, nodding her head.
"Wait! I was just joking! You can't be serious." Harry exclaimed still in shock.
"Potter, you should have thought before joking. Now you are struck with both of us."
"But- But that would be cheating on you both." Harry sputtered.
Susan petted his arm. "I am giving you permission to date Daph and me. It is not cheating."
"Yes Harry, it is not cheating. And after all you said that you can handle us both, didn't you?" Daphne replied with a smug look.
"So now, you are going to date us both." Susan said.
"We will see how well you are able to handle us. Let us go, Sue. Harry has two dates to plan." And they left quickly, leaving a gaping Harry in their wake.
"THE FUCK." Harry yelled again to an empty room, feeling a sense of Deja vu.
Damn girls and their antics. He was regretting his decision to joke with them now. But who would have guessed that the girls would make him date them both? He would never be able to understand girls. Now, he had two dates to plan
Harry stood near a pile of Barrels. It was the entrance to the Hufflepuff common room. It was the second Saturday of March and a Hogsmeade day. His foot was tapping nervously on the floor. He was going to go on his first date today. He had decided to take Susan and Daphne on dates on consecutive days, to get the matter out of his hair.
On one hand, he considered himself a lucky bloke to be taking two of the most beautiful girls in their year to a date, and that too with their approval. On the other hand, he was wary. Two girls had agreed to go on separate dates with him. He was pretty sure that it was unprecedented that a guy got to date two knock-out gorgeous girls simultaneously with their consent. He was unsure if how the relationship would work. He had decided to go with the flow for the time being.
'It is probably good practice for the future when I would need two wives. Perhaps we can go on a three way date in the future. Also the three of us in bed would be so aweso... Bad Harry! Don't think that. No thoughts on threesomes.' Harry thought to himself breaking out of the teenage hormonal thoughts his mind was having.
The Barrels slid open. Cedric stepped out.
"Waiting for Susan?"
"Yes. If you can, will you inform Susan that I am waiting for her?"
"Don't worry. She is coming. All the best." Cedric said.
"Do you have a date yourself?" Harry asked.
"Yes. I am going out with Cho."
"Cho Chang, the Ravenclaw seeker?"
"Yes."
"Well then, good luck to you too."
"It is my third date with her. It is your first. Just a bit of advise, don't go to Madam Puddifoot's. Go to any other place you want except that if you want to maintain your sanity."
"Thank you. I will keep that in mind." Harry nodded.
That was when the barrels slid open again and Susan came out. She was not gorgeously dressed or anything. She wore normal everyday clothes that a girl would choose while going on a shopping trip, but Harry could see that she had done something to her strawberry blonde hair. What it was, he could not say for sure, but her hair looked different than it usually was. She also had worn light makeup.
"My lady, you look gorgeous." Harry said giving her a charming smile. "For you." He added handing Susan a rose.
She blushed. "Thank you."
"You are most welcome. Let us enjoy a day out, shall we Susan?" Harry said offering his arm.
He was trying his level best not to sound too cheesy. He had taken tips from the founders on what to do. Salazar had been unhelpful but Helga had told him to do it naturally. Just compliment her a bit, give her a rose or a bouquet then spend the day around Hogsmeade like a normal person. He also had to pay for her purchases if it was not overly expensive. And buy lunch. Easy.
"Yes, Harry. You also look quiet nice yourself. You sure clean up nicely." Susan said taking the proffered arm.
They both walked to the carriages in silence as neither knew what to do.
"So, what is the plan for today?" Susan asked breaking the ice.
"Well, I am not sure myself. I just planned to pick you up from the Hufflepuff common room, go to the village, roam about for a bit, you know like visit shops as we please and then stop for lunch at three broomsticks. Have a fun day, in short."
"That is a good plan, even though vague. We are going with it." Susan said. Harry nodded knowing that Susan would most likely approve.
They reached Hogsmeade. The weather was thankfully clear and sunny.
"Where to first?"
"Hmmm... I need to go to the Scriven-shaft's to get quills and ink. I ran out of them. Then perhaps Honeyduke's and Zonko's."
"That works."
In the evening, Harry and Susan found themselves walking to the castle. They had a fun day all in all. Harry had a nagging suspicion that they were being stalked by Ron, Hermione and Hannah Abbott. He had seen them several times. It couldn't be a coincidence if he had seen them in 7 out of 10 shops they had been visiting, could it?
"It was fun." Susan said.
"Yes it was."
"I would like to go on another date with you."
"Me too. But I hope you remember that I am going on a date with Daphne tomorrow. I am not sure but most girls don't like that the boy that they are going out on dates with is simultaneously dating another girl."
"Obviously, I remember. I gave you permission too. I am not most girls after all. Maybe the three of us could go on a date together. It would be fun."
Harry just hummed. Homosexual relationships in the wizarding world were not common, but they weren't rare either. The magical world was open to different types of relationships much more than what the muggle world was. Also Homosexual couples could bear a child, magically if needed. It involved a shitload of potions and medication, but it was possible nonetheless.
"Well your wish then. I certainly won't say no to two beautiful girls."
Susan rolled her eyes but gave a short laugh. "Of course you won't."
They fell into companionable silence as they walked hand in hand towards the Hufflepuff common room.
Helga had told him to pick up and drop Susan to her home in a sense. It was gentleman behavior to get your date home if possible.
"Here we are." Harry said as they arrived at the pile of barrels.
"Thank you Harry for the wonderful day." Susan said looking into his eyes.
"I also liked it." Harry gave her a soft smiled.
Susan leaned in. Harry leaned in too, realizing what was about to happen.
Their lips met in a soft kiss. Susan came closer and threaded her fingers through his hair. Harry put a hand around her waist.
A few seconds later they broke the kiss and rested their foreheads against each other. Susan broke the embrace and walked to the barrels and tapped them. Once they slid open, She turned around and gave him a grin. "Bye Harry."
"Bye." The Barrels slid close.
Harry walked back to the Gryffindor tower with a smile on his face.
Harry was pacing outside the seventh floor corridor wall, waiting for Daphne. He had decided that it would be the best to introduce the girls to this secret room. He obviously wasn't going to show them the training chamber feature. He would tell Daphne that he found this wonderful room while looking for a place to take her for a date courtesy of the house elves. Many people had stumbled upon this room after all, including Tom Riddle, as told to him by Salazar. This was the place he practiced his spells during his Hogwarts years.
It was near dinner time and Harry was dressed in the robes he had worn to the Trial. Dobby was acting as a waiter for Harry and Daphne's dinner date. Harry had convinced some elves to make some French cuisines to eat.
Daphne arrived, wearing robes befitting an heiress. They were having a formal dinner date instead of a fun day like he had spent with Susan the previous day
"Harry. You look nice." Daphne said eyeing his attire.
"You look beautiful too, Daphne. Here's something for you." He said handing her a crystal rose which he had enchanted himself. It would change colours according to the days of the week. It was initially something Helga had told him to make to hone his enchanting skills before Harry decided to gift it to Daphne.
"It's beautiful." She whispered.
"I enchanted it myself. It will change colours according to the days of the week."
"Impressive. But where are you going to take me on a date? We are in the middle of a corridor, opposite to a horrible painting."
"Nowhere far my dear Miss Greengrass, just Paris, on top of the Eiffel Tower. " He replied.
Daphne blinked twice before she snorted. "Yeah, crack another one."
Harry raised a unamused eyebrow.
"Wait. Are you serious."
"Obviously. Now, are you coming or not?"
She nodded skeptically.
Harry completed the final pace and the door appeared. He stepped in, offering a hand to Daphne.
"Welcome to the city of love, Daphne."
The room was absolutely gorgeous. One could see the view of the nightlife in Paris. The buildings, the streets, the lighting etc. which was an illusion. There was a table in the middle with two chairs. The table was set for a date. Harry willed the door to disappear behind them.
Daphne looked at the scenery with her mouth agape.
"Wha- What? How? We- we were at Hogwarts and now we are in PARIS! That is not possible."
"Magic. Well not mine but the room's. It can convert into anything the user wants and give you anything within the boundaries of the room except somethings like food. It is a pinnacle of illusionary magic."
"Wow. What is it called?"
"Well, the elves call it the come and go room. It also goes by the name of The Room of Requirement."
"Nice." Daphne said peering over the edge.
"Now shall we, my Lady? We have a date."
"Of course."
He lead her to the table and pulled a chair for her. Gentleman like behavior, you know. She took the seat and nodded at him. Harry took his own seat.
They made small talk before their food arrived. For starter they had a classic tarte aux pommes. Followed by French chateaubriand with red wine and finally chocolate Mousse for dessert.
During dinner they talked about a plethora of things. Daphne told him about her home life and her parents. He learnt that Astoria was a prankster and loved pulling pranks and annoying Daphne, who would have guessed?. Her father was an ex-auror and now managed the family estate while her mother was a potions mistress and made potions to be sold to St. Mungo's Hospital. Harry already knew that but Daphne didn't need to know that.
Harry did not talk about his home life a lot instead chose to talk about the events in the last two school years. He told her about Norbet the dragon which sent the witch into giggles.
"So, would you like anything else?"
"No. I am full. It was a wonderful dinner Harry. I certainly loved it." Harry grinned at the compliment.
"Also, your elf is one of a kind." She said pointing at Dobby who was dressed in a black suit looking like a classic waiter.
"He is just like that. I am glad you enjoyed it." He replied as they got up.
"You set up a high standard for yourself. Taking me to Paris for the first date. I wonder where you would take me next." Daphne said, indirectly saying that she expected another date with him.
"That is for me to know and you to find out."
"I will look forward to it, Harry." Daphne replied before leaning forward and placing a kiss on Harry's lips.
The kiss was not as long as he had with Susan but it certainly wasn't a peck.
"Bye Harry."
"Bye Daphne."
"Harry, do not catch the snitch before we are 50 points up. If you do so we will loose the cup despite winning the match." Oliver Wood told him.
"I know Oliver." Harry said through gritted teeth. His captain had said this point some 500 times since Hufflepuff had spectacularly lost to Slytherin, putting them in lead. Gryffindor needed 200 points to win the cup. 190 and it would be a tie. Any lower would result them in loosing the cup despite winning the match. They could not loose to Slytherin.
The rivalry between the houses was on an all time high. Several fights had taken place in the corridors between the members of the two houses.
A small group of 4 Slytherins had tried to ambush Harry alone and attacked him. Needless to say that the four people went to the Hospital wing with the wand arm of their leader in pieces and the other cronies sprouting antlers, using hands as feet and vice versa and one babbling nonsense respectively.
It was thankfully McGonagall who had arrived and not Snape. She had heard the incident and promptly put the four Slytherins in a month long detention. Snape had arrived and tried to have Harry expelled for attacking his precious Slytherins. They had ended up in the Headmaster's office again where Harry had promptly offered his memories.
FLASHBACK
"What happened?"
"This brat..."
"Quite Severus. First Harry as he was the one who was there. I don't want to hear your assumptions." Dumbledore had said in a firm voice. Snape tried to find a reason to expel Harry every other week and it was clear that even the Headmaster's near infinite patience on the topic had ran out.
"I was walking down the corridor, going to the Gryffindor Tower. That was when four Slytherin's jumped out and tried to hex me. I defended myself and now they are in the Hospital wing."
"The brat is clearly lying. Potter has..." Snape began his usual prattle.
"I can offer my memories of the event. I do not need to lie or fool others to prove my innocence unlike a certain death eater." Harry had cut in.
"Why you..."
"Yes. That would be appropriate."
The headmaster and Snivellus had went into the pensive to see the memory of the event emerging a few minutes later.
"That was impressive dueling. I would see to it that the Slytherin's are punished for attacking you."
"Headmaster. Memories can be faked. I am sure that Potter did it! Why would they attack him for no apparent reason?"
"Oh! I don't know. Perhaps to take me out of the Match between Slytherin and Gryffindor. Or perhaps... You ordered them to kidnap me so that you could torture me to death to avenge your late master." Harry innocently suggested.
Snape went for his wand. Seeing Snape's reaction so did Harry. Before a spell could be fired they both found themselves disarmed.
"ENOUGH" Dumbledore roared, magic rolling off him in waves. "Both of you. ENOUGH! Harry, you were out of line. You can not put up baseless accusations. I ignored your first jab at professor Snape. Anymore won't be tolerated."
"It was merely a theory. If I was sure than we wouldn't be having a conversation. Your pet death eater would have been in jail right where he belongs." Harry said calmly acting unfazed by Dumbledore's outburst.
After the Shrieking Shack incident, Snape had been ten times worse to him actively trying to belittle him for the smallest of things. Harry had put extensive occlumency to use and ignored the potions professor. His work was perfect as usual so Snape had given him detention for breathing too loudly. Harry had went to McGonagall and she had overturned the decision and the point loss. Harry had even sent a letter to the Board of Governors but Dumbledore had managed to get his potions master on probation instead of getting fired.
Dumbledore took a few calming breaths and sighted. "Harry, I have already told you, time and again, that Severus has my complete trust."
"Then I advise you to be careful, professor. Sometimes we tend to put our trust in wrong people and it tends to cost us horribly. See what happened to my parents they were betrayed by their best friend, who turned out to be a death eater. It lead them to their deaths." He wanted to add that Snape already was a death eater and probably had plans to spy on Dumbledore and the resistance against Voldemort once he returned but did not push it.
Dumbledore sighted tiredly knowing there was no convincing Harry. "Thank you Harry for your concern. You may leave. There won't be any punishment. Severus and I need to have a talk."
Harry nodded and took his wand back before turning around promptly and walking towards the door.
"And Headmaster, I would request you to keep your pet death eater on a leash. I do not know of your reasons to trust him and I won't ask. But if he tries to attack me once again in any way, I will make sure he is atleast fired or hauled to Azkaban, where he belongs at the best. He is already on probation as I have heard." Harry smirked at the last jab.
Snape was frothing like a mad dog but did not say anything thanks to Dumbledore's powerful glare. Harry knew that between him and Snivellus, Dumbledore would choose him. Why? Harry was Heir Potter-Black, a national hero, a figure of hope and magically and politically powerful. Snape on the other hand was an ex-death eater who was hated by 80% of the students who had studied under him in the past 13 years who was saved from life with dementors due to Dumbledore's words. Snape when compared to Harry, Politically or magically was nothing.
FLASHBACK ENDS
Snape had actively ignored him since then. Dumbledore had apparently been able to get in his thick-empty head that Harry would love to destroy him when given a chance.
Also since the incident had happened Wood had asked Gryffindors to escort Harry to classes and in corridors for his safety. Last two weeks he was followed everywhere by a dozen people atleast. It was worse than the time Sirius had broken in the tower.
"Okay team. Listen up. This is it. The final match. The moment we all have been waiting for. This is my last chance to win the cup. last five years we have not won the cup once. Today, we can reclaim the cup. We have three superb chasers, two unbeatable beaters and a seeker wo has never failed to catch the snitch."
"Aww.. Oliver-"
"We thank you for-"
"-the compliments. And-"
"-would like to say-"
"-that you are a pretty good keeper-"
"-yourself" The twins said in their typical twin speak.
Oliver nodded and they flew out of the Locker room in a V-formation. Harry discreetly waved his wands as cheers started. Sparks shot up and a red-gold roaring Lion formed in the Sky.
The crowd went wild.
"GO GRYFFINDOR! GO GRYFFINDOR!" Chants could be heard.
"And here are the Gryffindors!" yelled Lee Jordan, who was acting as commentator as usual. "Potter, Bell, Johnson, Spinnet, Weasley, Weasley, and Wood. Widely acknowledged as the best team Hogwarts has seen in a good few years —"
"And here come the Slytherin team, led by Captain Flint. He's made some changes in the lineup and seems to be going for size rather than skill —"
The commentary was drowned by boo's from the Slytherin section.
After the customary Hand-crushing... err- Handshake by the captains the match started. Alicia took possession immediately.
Warrington intercepted a pass and took the Quaffle but had to drop it due to a Bludger sent at him by Fred or George, he couldn't tell which.
Angelina scored. 10-nil to Gryffindor. 40 points more and Harry could catch the snitch.
"OUCH!" Angelina exclaimed as she was nearly unseated by Flint slamming into her.
'Time to give him a taste of his own medicine.' Harry thought and veered his firebolt and shot towards Flint at full speed. What was so scary was the fact that it could go from zero to the acceleration of 150 miles an hour speed in 10 seconds. It would look like a comet hurling towards you.
Flint's eyes widened and he tried to go out of the way. But Harry was much more skilled. He purposefully missed by a hair's breadth but it was enough not to warrant a foul and unseating Flint who tried to jump out of the way. Flint dangled on his broom having lost the Quaffle, which Katie took and scored. There were cheers from the crowd.
20-nil to Gryffindor. 30 points more.
Malfoy was following him closely. Well, fuck him.
Harry pulled a Wronski feint causing Malfoy to crash onto the ground.
"THAT WAS DELIBERATE." he heard Lee shout. He say Lee pointing at Katie who was trying to sit back.
The whistle blew. "Penalty to Gryffindor"
Katie took the penalty, scoring one more goal.
"THIRTY-ZERO! TAKE THAT, YOU DIRTY, CHEATING —"
"Jordan, if you can't commentate in an unbiased way —"
"I'm telling it like it is, Professor!"
Harry decided to play with the interfering seeker. He kicked the Quaffle in mid-air as the Keeper passed to Warrington putting it straight into the goal. The field went silent. Even Harry hadn't expected that.
"Goal to Gryffindor" Hooch said.
The crowd went wild. Flint called a timeout and tried to protest but there was no rule saying that a seeker could not score a goal.
After the timeout, the game got dirtier. Slytherin defended their goal posts.
Katie was sporting a nasty bruise. The Slytherins had tried a couple of shots on the goals but Oliver had proved to be an exceptional keeper.
"50-0 TO GRYFFINDOR!" Lee roared as Angelina finally got a goal in. Time to find the snitch.
Harry soon spotted the Snitch hoovering near the Gryffindor goal posts. He sped towards it. Malfoy, who had managed to come back after the time out tried to shove him, but Harry had been exercising for more than a year. He pushed back and Malfoy fell off the broom, dangling on his broom by his fingertips.
Harry dodged the Bludger sent at him. Flint tried to slam in him midway and was successful. Well partly anyway. As they slammed, Flint may be heavier but Harry had an insane speed and arm strength. He pushed Flint off completely. Flint fell down a couple of Dozen feet. But the Snitch was lost
"60-0 to Gryffindor. Penalty to Gryffindor." Hooch said.
Alicia had shot a goal during the confusion. Smart girl.
Angelina took the penalty but missed.
Flint was meanwhile moaning in pain and trying to get up. Fred shot a bludger, injuring Flint even more. The play continued. Harry soon spotted it again, flying near the stands. Harry shot towards it and caught it with ease.
"HARRY POTTER HAS DONE IT! GRYFFINDOR WINS 230-0!"
Wood had tears in his eyes. McGonagall was bouncing up and down like a mad woman. People rushed towards Harry including the whole team.
They had triumphed.