After the incident with Pansy's dad and Harry and Hermione hugging her, the strong willed Slytherin girl fell into a sobbing mess she had never cried that much in her life but the combination of her father's harsh words, his intent of hurting her and the humiliation she received because of that scene made her vulnerable.
That very same night Hermione, Harry, Daphne, Millie and Tracey didn't want to leave the Slytherin girl by herself, so they talked and accompanied her in the Slytherin Common Room, the group receive many strange looks particularly those who saw in shock that a Ravenclaw was inside the Common Room but with one icy stare from Daphne and a bat-like glare from Harry nobody dared to give them a hard time.
"Shhh it's alright Pansy, everything is alright" Hermione said as she gently stroke the other girl's hair, Pansy was holding Harry in a very tight hug and was crying on his chest.
"I don't get why are you so upset, your father is clearly a bastard, his words should be meaningless, besides for a bigot like him getting injured and getting his wand snapped by a simple muggle is punishment enough" Daphne said
"Though Daphne is right on her point" Hermione began to say to the sobbing girl "We're here for you Pansy, you're our friend" Hermione finished, Harry said nothing and simply stroke her back.
"You have proven that you're better person than him" Millie added, she was conflicted because the girl she was trying to cheer up was on the arms of the boy she had a crush on but she still wanted what was better for Pansy.
"Pansy you're a great friend don't let his stupid words affect you" Tracey said.
"Yes, don't be afraid, he will never hurt you or insult you ever again" Harry whispered into her ear and then gently placed a kiss on the top of her head.
"Thank you really" Pansy finally said, it had taken hours but she was finally calmed and had begun to clean her face from the dried tears.
"Tonight you can asleep in any of our beds, if that's what you want" Tracey offered
"That would be nice" Pansy said, how could she had gain such a wonderful group of friends
Harry took Hermione into the Ravenclaw tower, primarily to make sure that she arrived safely, not that there were any danger in the castle, except that Troll, but to avoid Mr. Filch and the Prefects like Percy Weasley who was so fond of following the rules that any student out of their common room even for a single second he would give them an report with their Head of House. And secondly because he wanted a perfect excuse to check on Basil and the Slytherin Chamber.
The pair walked together almost in silence since they wanted to be sure that they could be as sneaky as they could. After a few scares of almost being caught by Mr. Filch they encountered Penelope Clearwater, a Ravenclaw prefect, she was volunteered to escorted them to the Ravenclaw entrance.
"Well, see you tomorrow Harry" Hermione said kissing the boy in the cheek before passing through the door.
"See you tomorrow Hermione" Harry said
"Come on Wayne, I'll make sure you get to your common room without trouble" Penelope said with a smile, she was an older girl and her smile was kind enough for him to notice that she took her position seriously but not as tyrannical as Percy.
"So… Clearwater, is that an ancient house or are you a first generation like me?" Harry said trying to get a conversation with the girl, his plans of visiting the Chamber had been postponed.
"A what?" She asked
"A first generation, that's how the wizards in America, and I mean in the whole continent not only United States, referred to wizards or witches who are born from non-magical parents" Harry explained
"Ah that, well yes I'm a muggleborn myself, my parents are regular muggles who were astonished when Professor McGonagall appeared on our door and told them that I was a witch" Penelope said
"Do you miss them?" Harry asked
"Yes, but I can't have a cellphone here to call them, with all of that of "no muggle device work in the prescence of magic" Penelope said with a sigh
"That's not true, I use my cell all the time, it's part of the Wayne improvements my dad made when he learn I was magical" Harry explained showing that his cellphone had both network connection and was working
"How does it work?" Penelope asked
"That I don't know, he told me that it was a combination of runes carved with laser into the motherboard and some kind of miniature Faraday cages that allow all of my equipment to function properly" Harry explained
"Oh that would be so wonderful, imagine if you could put fluorescent lamps or computers or actual projectors, it could be revolutionary!" Penelope said as a Ravenclaw she thought of improving the education of the school
"Or we could show movies to everyone, I'm sure that the no-maj kids would like that and the magical kids could enjoy some form of entertainment besides Quidditch" Harry said, he just got an idea of how cheer Pansy up.
--
The next morning Harry went to his morning jog with Millie, they reached the lake and while Harry made push-ups Millie decided to talk of something it had been bothering her since yesterday.
"Do you like Pansy?" She asked, Harry stopped his push-ups to look at the girl in front of him.
"What?" He asked, he knew from his father's and mothers' advices that a woman's heart, especially one that was young was a sensitive matter, he should be careful with the words he was going to use.
"Do you like Pansy?" Millie repeated her question, by now Harry had sat on the ground
"Millie" Harry begun to say, he was still working on what exact words he could use "I have to be honest with you, before I came to Hogwarts I had never seen a girl and thought of my sentiments about her, I simply saw a good friend to care and protect" He began saying "Then when I asked you to do exercise with me I thought of simply help you, when you kissed me, not only was my first kiss but it was perfect so I developed a certain liking to you going past being friends, but almost immediately Pansy kissed me as well and I liked it too, so I'm not entirely sure if I like you like you, or I like Pansy, I'm just so confused, I never had any girl noticing me, or if they did I never noticed" Harry said letting an exasperated sigh
"So what?" She asked her arms folded in front of him.
"Just, I don't know" Harry said, seeing Millie's disappointed look he decided he needed help, he had to call someone who was wiser than him, if it was early morning here, in Gotham it would still night, most of his family were asleep, except someone…
--
Harvard University, Massachusetts…
Deep in the night in the student's dormitories everyone was asleep, everyone except the over worker sleep deprived adopted son of Bruce Wayne, Tim Drake, who was continuing his research for some school projects that had to be delivered by December, the young adult was on his fifth coffee cup and he had no signs of slowing down, that was until his cellphone rang.
"Yellow" Tim said picking up and placing the device on his right ear.
"Hey Tim, nice ear" Harry's voice sounded on the other side of the phone, that was when Tim realized it was a videocall instead of a regular one, he really needed to sleep something.
"Hey Harry, good morning, how is my little and less annoying brother doing?" Tim said, Harry could see his older brother having heavy bags under his eyes and his "crazy stare".
"I'm doing fine, but honestly I'm in a pickle and I thought you could help me with it" Harry said to Tim.
"Alright, tell your awesome and future CEO of Wayne Enterprises what's bothering you" Tim said, Harry laughed at that because Tim had a better ego when he was sleep deprived.
"Well it has to do with three girls that like me and I'm sure I like them back" Harry said looking at his side to where Millie was looking at the vastness of the lake.
"That's good, who are the fortunate ones?" Tim asked
"Hermione Granger, Pansy Parkinson and Millicent Bulstrode, she's actually here in the lake with me" Harry said
"Were you two on a date?" Tim asked teasingly
"No, we were exercising, we make a morning run every day, but yesterday a girl confessed that she had kissed me, and Millie had kissed me first, she asked me if I like her or the other girls, I don't know what to do because I don't want to hurt their feelings" Harry confessed.
"Then why don't you date the three of them?" Tim shrugged
"What? But that's not possible, couples are made of two people" Harry said
"Little Harry, I'm in a relationship with a man and woman, our older brother is in a relationship with two women, Cass is in a weird one with a clay monster" Tim said then his eyes went wide "FORGET THAT LAST ONE, IT WAS A JOKE!" He scream. "My point is Harry, the world is not normal, we have superheroes or wizards doing amazing stuff, who says that regular people have to love just one person, I'm just saying, you could propose that to the girls if you like them too, people might surprise you" Tim said as an advice.
"Thanks, I'll try to talk to them about it" Harry said
"You're welcome little brother, if you need another advice call me, but I won't tell you about the birds and bees" Tim said
"What birds and bees?" Harry asked confused
"NOTHING, BYE!" Tim said ending the call "Uff, dodged a bullet there" Tim said to himself.
--
Back at the Black Lake, Hogwarts…
Harry contemplated his brother's words for one he could follow his advice and present them the offer of all of them being in a relationship that could lead to two outcomes, one they accept and they live happily ever after or two they get offended and stop talking to him. Or he could tell them that he wasn't sure of his feelings which could lead to them still getting angry at him and stop talking to him, feelings were difficult, it was easier solving murderers and crime alongside Sherlock Holmes and John Watson in fiction than dealing with feelings in real life.
Harry let out a sigh and walked towards where Millie had sat, the dark haired girl had her eyes closed, he decided to gently place his right hand on her left shoulder.
"Millie… we have to talk" Harry said to the girl who looked at him in confusion.
--
Wayne Enterprises, London subsidiary…
Bruce Wayne was working with some of his stockholders regarding the implementation of new and more accessible way of clean transport for the Gotham City citizens as well as some other cities that are interested in investing in the transport. Cynthia's voice came from the communicator.
"Mr. Wayne, your 10am appointment is here, do you want me to send him in?" Cynthia asked
"Yes please Cynthia, thank you" Bruce said to his assistant.
"Ladies, gentleman, if you excuse me, I have a private meeting to attend to" Bruce said dismissing the stockholders.
"Have a nice day Mr. Wayne" One of them said as they left. Not long after from the entrance appeared Cyrus Greengrass walking towards the CEO.
"Mr. Wayne I suppose" Cyrus Greengrass said
"Mr. Greengrass, nice to finally meet you" Bruce said as he stood to shake the other man's hand.
"I have to be honest, I had never taken muggle transport but it was fun to ride in what did they call it, automobile?" Cyrus said
"Yes, I'm glad the driver found you, I didn't know if she would've found your manor." Bruce replied
"Well it's a new world Mr. Wayne and I want to be a part of it" Cyrus said.
"That's why you're here, so tell me, in what do you want to invest?" Bruce said.
"Can you show me the installations? I think I'll make a better decision if I know what I'm investing on" Cyrus said.
"Sure, follow me" Bruce said and the man followed. As both man boarded the lift Cyrus said
"By the way, I've heard that you cut Astrous Parkinson's hand off, is that true?" Cyrus asked with an amused smile on his face.
Bruce laughed "Of course not, I merely stabbed his right hand with a pen" Bruce replied "Then I broke his wand" That earned an impressed look from the other man.
"You just made a statement that muggles should not be trifled with" Cyrus said.
"I just did what was fair, he couldn't talk about my son nor treat his daughter that bad in my presence" Bruce said.
"All I'm saying is that if you're that passionate about protecting people then I wouldn't mind calling you family" Cyrus said with a smile but with a glint in his eyes.
"You really want to make the betrothal?" Bruce asked
"Not really, but my daughters are too precious to me and I refuse to negotiate with them like if they were property, but I'm hoping that whatever I find here can help me gain money to be able to reject Flint's proposal and not leaving my family in the ruin" Cyrus admitted.
"I don't want to get to that either, but Wayne Enterprises has many departments from metallurgy to applied sciences, actually the tour is going to cover all those departments." Bruce began saying.
Three hours later the duo had returned to the main office in which Cyrus was still amazed by everything he just saw, the metallurgy department had state of the art ways of making the components instead of having a blacksmith making everything from scratch, the transport department was simply incredible, Cyrus didn't know much of muggle transport but the machines made a car so fast but the department that blew his mind was Applied Science, he saw people testing gliding equipment, motors, vehicles so advanced that he couldn't comprehend the descriptions Mr. Wayne told him and the best was something called "laser" that helped them heat or cut through solid matter faster than a bombarda spell.
"Well Mr. Greengrass, where do you want to invest?" Bruce asked
"Applied science, it was a magnificent show" Cyrus said with a smile of that of a kid in a candy shop.
"Very well" Bruce took some papers out while standing up and going to a wood bar where there were several bottles of different alcoholic beverages. "It's custom to drink a toast when business is done, so pick your poison, Glenfiddich, Pierre Ferrand or José Cuervo?" Bruce said showing three very expensive bottles of whisky, brandy and tequila.
"I think that Glenfiddich is calling my name" Cyrus said
"Excellent" Bruce said pouring two glasses and giving one to the other man.
"For the business!" Cyrus raised his glass
"For the business!" Bruce replied and making the distinct sound of a clank when the glasses clashed. Both men drank the golden liquid.
"Merlin's beard that's good!" Cyrus said
"Only the best for my investors" Bruce said.
"I don't want to sound alcoholic but can I get another one?" Cyrus asked
"Of course Mr. Greengrass" Bruce said pouring another glass for the man and pouring himself another one as well.
"For our children!" Cyrus said in his toast.
"For our children!" Bruce replied once again clashing their glasses together.
--
Harry and Millie were standing in the Black Lake shore, their classes had been over for the day, they had told Hermione and Pansy to meet them there. The couple was waiting in the exact same spot they had had their discussion a few hours earlier. They saw the girl from Ravenclaw and the girl from Slytherin approached through the misty terrain of the lake shore.
"So here we're, what did you wanted to talk about?" Pansy asked, her mood had improved over the day and she was already being her regular self.
"Yes, you sounded so cryptic "Come to the Black Lake shore, only you, signed Harry and Millie" Hermione said remembering the words the note said.
"Well you see…" Harry began saying but was interrupted by Millie's hand on his shoulder.
"Let me handle this" She said stepping forward to the other girls. "I know that you both like Harry and that we three have kissed him" She began and the girls blushed at that "But I wanted to tell you that after a discussion him and me had today we come to the conclusion that we wanted to be boyfriend and girlfriend" Millie said to which the other two looked a little down. "BUT I thought that we are just eleven, twelve in Hermione and Pansy's cases, we have our whole lives ahead of us, so why don't we share him?" Millie proposed.
"What?" The girls said in unison.
"Yes, I mean I have to be honest, on the first night in the castle I wrote my parents about beginning negotiations for Harry's hand and I'm sure Daphne and Tracey did the same, so far I haven't heard of a contract to be made so Harry is single, I like him and I like you in some capacity, you're my friends and why not share him?" Millie said
"I don't see a problem with that" Pansy said with a smirk "I mean he killed a troll to protect me and his dad injured mine to protect me so I'm in" Pansy said going to immediately kiss the boy in question, he was surprised but still went along with it kissing the girl back.
"Hermione?" Millie asked, the bushy haired girl was looking at the floor.
"I… I don't… know" She said to Millie, in a sense it was a good thing both girls were willing to share the boy of her dreams with her, but on the other she didn't know what to do or what to think about being in a relationship with multiple people, what would her parents say?
"Well, well, well, what do we have here?!" A male hideous voice came from the mist, the group turned around to see the two figures appearing from the woods, Harry was still embracing Pansy as their kiss was interrupted.
"Pansy Parkinson, the fat cow, the mudblood with metal on her teeth and the mudblood who tainted our house" The second voice said, as they stepped closer they saw that the figures were Marcus Flint and his brother Sam, they had kept a low profile after their return to the castle but apparently bullies never learned.
"Have you seen that Marcus? Pansy was kissing the mudblood" Sam said with disgust on his face.
"So not only is she a blood traitor now, she's a house traitor as well" Marcus Flint
"And look at the cow, two months and now she looks more of a pig, I see someone has been losing weight, but once a fatty always a fatty" Sam taunted them making Millie cry for his harsh words.
"Leave us alone!" Harry said stepping to the front
"Why? Are you going to throw lightning at us? Uh we're so scared!" Marcus taunted, Harry's eyes began to glow as lightning formed on his hands.
"You want lightning here it is, eat this!" Harry said throwing lightning from his hands.
"No, you eat this! AVADA KEDAVRA!" Marcus said with pure hatred in his eyes as the green hue curse fired from his wand, his aim being completely focused on the mudblood from Slytherin, Pansy, Millie and Hermione were shocked and paralyzed to see one of the most evil of curses approaching their friend and the boy they liked…