FicWad

A/N: Nope, I still don’t own Harry Potter.

A/N 2: Thanks for all the positive reviews and the ideas.

A/N 3: I think that you can now view Chapter 2 on Ficwad – it hadn’t worked for a while. Let me know if it is still faulty.

A/N 4: I got so many reviews that dealt solely with the choice of relationship that I have made a poll on FanFiction. Please vote in it, and be aware that it is not definitive.

Chapter 4: Deception

Harry looked into the stunned faces around him. Daphne’s and Tracey’s both had a look of concern in them, but Hilda’s, who had just entered the room, had a look of curiosity as well. He took a deep breath and explained everything he had heard. He told them about the phoenix and the war-blades, about Tonks, Dumbledore Sirius. The girl’s facial expression varied, from shock and horror at the extent of Dumbledore’s failings, to surprise and genuine happiness when Harry told them about Sirius.

By the time Harry had finished it was nearly two in the morning and he expected Tonks to arrive quite early the following morning.

He was just about to get into his bed when Hilda walked into his room.

“Hey!” Harry exclaimed, “Don’t you knock? I could’ve been naked and you just stroll right on into the room.”

“Well, you aren’t naked, so I don’t see the problem, do you?”

“I guess you’re right. Anyway, why did you come barging in here?”

“I had forgotten earlier with everything that you told us, but an owl turned up here earlier with a letter. It was addressed to you,” said Hilda as she handed the envelope to Harry.

He looked at the seal, but didn’t recognise it.

“Do you know who would have sent this letter to me?”

“Yeah, that’s the Gringotts seal on the back. I have a good idea about the content of that letter.”

Harry didn’t bother waiting any longer and tore open the envelope and pulling out the sheet of parchment. It read:

Dear Mr. H Potter

As main benefactor of the will of one Sirius Orion Black, your presence is required at the reading of his will at eleven am on Wednesday 11th August.

Director Ragnok

“Short and to the point,” commented Harry.

“Goblins don’t tend to mess about. They don’t like to waste anything, and that includes time and money.”

“That’s probably what makes them such good bankers.”

“How did you know what this was going to be anyway?”

“I got an invitation as well. I think most of the pureblood families did. I figured that if we got one, you definitely would.”

“You got an invite? And most pureblood families? I don’t really want to know what Sirius has planned, but I guess I have to go.”

“You don’t have any idea what this could be about?”

“Not a clue.”

“Right, we’ll find out tomorrow anyway.”

“Good night.”

“See you in the morning,” said Hilda as she walked out of Harry’s room, shutting the door behind her.

As she walked past the Tracey’s room she heard Daphne’s voice say, “It’s just so frustrating. He’s been here for a while, but he hasn’t shown any interest in me.”

“He’s not at all like the Slytherin boys. At least two, or maybe three, would have tried to grab you by now,” Hilda heard Tracey reply. It was obvious who they were talking about.

“I’m glad you’re here, I was going to end up jumping him if you hadn’t shown up.”

“I wouldn’t blame you. He’s handsome, funny, charming and smart. Well, smart enough, excluding potions.”

“I know, Cho was right, although she’ll never admit it now.”

“Be glad about that. He was attracted to her for a fair length of time.”

“Yeah, you’re right.”

“Aren’t I always?”

“No,” replied Daphne, laughing.

“Think you’re smart, then you won’t want my opinion . . . or the plan I have.”

“Okay, I take it back. What’s this plan of yours?”

“I think we should be a little more pro-active.”

“We? Pro-active?”

“Yes we. I was being serious about that sharing thing.”

“Mmmm, I don’t know.”

“Right,” said Tracey disappointedly.

“Hey, we’ve done everything together for the past five years. I reckon we could at least try to add another thing to the list.”

“So, you’re willing to give it a go?”

“Yeah, I’ll try it, but no promises.”

“That’s all I’m asking for. Anyway, about my plan, I think we should teach Harry how to swim…”

At that point Hilda walked away from the door, towards her own bedroom, wondering what Tracey’s plan was and feeling sorry for the young man whom they were talking about.

*

The next morning Harry rose early. He dressed quickly and was about to leave the room when he doubled back. He was just about to strap the war-blades on when Hilda walked into the room.

“Harry,” she said “Don’t do that it’s traditional to have a lady put your weapon on.”

“Right,” said Harry sceptically, but he did stop putting them on.

“Come on, we’ll go see if the girls are awake. I’m sure one of them will do it for you.”

“Okay,” said Harry, hoping the reluctance stayed out of his voice. He started to hope he didn’t place himself or the girl in an embarrassing situation by poking them in the face with his weapon.

They left Harry’s room and knocked on the door to both girls’ rooms. They heard a voice from Tracey’s room saying “It’s alright, we’re both up. You can come on in.”

Hilda cracked open the door and asked “Are you decent? Harry’s going to be coming in as well.”

“Yeah, we’re alright,” said Daphne as she smirked at Tracey and walked into the bathroom. “We won’t be showing the important bits.”

Hilda pushed the door open and both she and Harry strolled into the room. Harry realised that Tracey was in the bed and Daphne was nowhere to been seen.

Hilda voiced his thoughts by asking “Where’s Daphne?”

They heard someone shouting “I’m in here,” from the bathroom.

“Okay. Well, girls, you know the way Harry got those swords last night. How did they arrive here, by the way?”

“I don’t know, some kinda magic, I guess.”

“Probably, anyway, it’s traditional for a lady to strap it onto him the first time.”

“I’ll do it,” called both Tracey and Daphne.

“Well, you can do one each. Are you attaching them both by your waist Harry?”

“Naw, I was thinking of putting the right-hand one over my left shoulder.”

“Okay, Daphne can do the one over your shoulder and Tracey can do the other one. Well, what are you waiting for? You both volunteered, now you can both put them on him.”

Harry saw the bathroom door open and Daphne walked out. She was wearing only her knickers and a bra. Harry’s mouth opened for a second, before he realised he was staring and looked towards Tracey. She was getting up out of the bed, but she was only wearing a flimsy negligee that wasn’t quite transparent.

Harry thought “Are the trying to make me die of embarrassment? I only hope I can stop too much blood flowing down there.”

Hilda handed the war-blades to the girls, trying to hide a smile. She didn’t think that it was part of the girls’ plans for Harry, but it definitely would help them.

Harry stood still as Tracey kneeled down to put the sheath for the blade around his waist. He felt his groin start to twitch, but the embarrassment saved him as a little blood rushed to his face.

Tracey stood up when she was done and kissed Harry’s right cheek.

Then Daphne strutted over, blade in hand. She stood on her toes and pressed against Harry to strap the sheath on. He could feel her firm breasts and nipples pushing against his chest, but managed to control himself. After what seemed to be a very short length of time, she leaned back and kissed Harry’s left cheek.

Without saying a word Harry turned his back and hurried from the room.

Once Harry was gone, Daphne quickly closed the door before the three remaining occupants burst out laughing.

“Did you have to do that to the poor boy?” questioned Hilda.

“Err, yes,” replied Daphne.

“Did you see his face?” was Tracey’s reply.

“It wasn’t his face I was looking at.”

“Young lady, that is not the type of thing I want to hear from my teenage daughter.”

“Then leave the room.”

In response Hilda walked over to the door, turned round and said “Okay, but go easy on the boy. By the way, we got an invitation to the will reading of Sirius Black, so I expect you to be ready to leave for about half ten and don’t forget, that Tonks woman should be arriving fairly soon, so I want you to greet her when she gets here.”

“Okay,” said Daphne.

As Hilda left the room the discussion about Harry picked up where it had been left off.

“So, if you weren’t looking at his face where were you looking?” questioned Tracey, as she looked for something to change into.

Daphne walked towards the bathroom, where she had left her clothes in a pile just before Harry entered the room and said “Where do you think I was looking?”

“And?”

“Twitched a bit when you bent down, but he seemed to control himself after that.”

“Damn, I’m surprised. You did look pretty good.”

“You weren’t too bad either; I swear his mouth nearly hit the floor when you stood up.”

“That was nothing; you should have seen his face when you pushed your tits into his chest. It looked liked he had died and gone to heaven.”

The two girls laughed at that, and quickly got changed. They had very little privacy in the Slytherin dorms and were used to seeing each other getting dressed.

“I suppose we had better go downstairs and greet Tonks. I wonder what she’s like,” said Tracey.

“Well, from what Harry said, I think she’s nice. She’s obviously a powerful enough witch, and good with transfiguration.”

The girls walked out of the room, still talking about what they hoped Tonks would be like. As they reached the bottom of the stairs there was a bright flash of light. They shielded their eyes and when they looked back, a young twenty-something woman stood there. She had spiky pink hair and clear blue eyes. She was holding a white staff. Another flash of light, and this time when they looked, there was an old lady, with very long grey hair and dark, almost black eyes, holding the same white staff.

Both girls quickly drew their wands on the woman, who subsequently started to laugh.

“What’s so funny,” demanded Daphne. A musical trill sound drew their attention towards a pure white phoenix, hovering above the woman’s shoulder.

“Your faces, when I changed form,” spluttered out the old lady, who changed back to the young woman with pink hair. “Wotcher, I’m Tonks. Has Harry not told you I was coming?”

“Yeah, he mentioned it. He didn’t say anything about you being a metamorphmagus though,” replied Tracey, who had recovered slightly faster than Daphne. “I’m Tracey.”

“And I’m Daphne, welcome to Greengrass Manor, or Greengrass Hall. Either works, it just depends what mood you’re in.”

“Greengrass?”

“Yeah, why?” said Daphne defensively.

“I thought you were dark.”

“Well, we’re not. We were neutral during the last war, but we plan on joining Harry in this one.”

“Ah, sorry.”

“It’s okay, Harry’s reaction was pretty similar, except he nearly walked out of the house.”

Tonks just laughed.

Hilda came into view at that moment and said “I thought I heard a voice I didn’t recognise. You must be Nymphadora, I’m Hilda.”

“Because I don’t know you, I’ll just give you a warning. Call me Tonks. I hate Nymphadora,” said Tonks jokingly.

“Okay, Tonks it is then.”

“I think I recognise you. Did you have to call in the aurors within the last year or so?”

“Yeah,” said Hilda silently, “the bastard, V-Voldemort, he killed my husband, and made Daphne watch. He said it was a warning to those who didn’t join him. He was going to treat anybody neutral the same as if they were against him.”

“Oh, I’m sorry. I forgot.”

“It’s alright, that was over a year ago; and a lot of good things have happened since then.”

Harry chose that moment to walk down the stairs, still looking slightly embarrassed.

“Are we gonna get this over and done with now? Hi Tonks”

“Wotcher Harry, what are you getting over and done with? We have to go to the will reading.”

“And apparently so do most of the wizarding world.”

“What do you mean?”

“Apparently Padfoot invited nearly every pureblood family there is.”

“You know what that means don’t you?”

“Malfoy,” stated Harry.

“I expect you to control yourself, young man.”

“Don’t worry. Sirius named me as main benefactor so I control the reading. We can get the bit about the pureblood families out of the way and then we can kick them out.”

“Good thinking. How are we getting there anyway?”

“Well, I don’t really want Dumbles to know about our new positions so I would suggest leaving the staff, war-blades and phoenixes here, if that’s all right with you, and them.”

“I’m for it.”

Harry felt a warm consciousness wrap itself around his. “This is a favourable path to take. The other would lead to a confrontation you are still too weak to win. Give it time young one and you will be able to emerge victorious.” It was his phoenix.

“Err, I hope you don’t mind me asking, but what is your name?”

“I am Agemo, and my lighter half is known as Aphla. We were witnesses at the birth of magic and we shall observe its death, but that time has not yet come.”

“Okay, what does Aphla think about staying here?” Harry said to Tonks.

“She supports it.”

“Right, just one problem left. How are we going to get to the hearing?”

“By floo of course, what did you think?” said Hilda light-heartedly.

“He didn’t,” Daphne cut in.

“Oh, ha-ha, did I miss the notice or something? Is it lets-all-laugh-at-Harry-day?

“Pretty much, yeah. Someone must have forgotten to give you the note,” stated Tracey.

They heard Hilda shouting to them from the kitchen to hurry up. Harry turned and walked quickly from the room, hoping to avoid any further mocking, but his fears were groundless as Tonks hang back to talk to the girls.

“Why is he acting like that? What did you do to him?”

“Let’s just say there was an incident this morning involving us in very little clothes,” said Daphne.

“And some close contact with Harry,” added Tracey.

“What, both of you?”

“Yeah, both of us. He didn’t really respond though, which is kinda disappointing.”

“Well, just keep doing whatever you are doing and, sooner or later, he’ll come around.”

“Thanks,” said Daphne. She then grabbed a handful of floo powder, threw it onto the fire and said “Gringotts floo entrance.”

*

Daphne struggled out of the fireplace in Gringotts . . . straight into Harry’s arms.

“Thanks,” she said, without making any effort to move.

“It’s alright, I’m just glad to know that I’m not the only person who has trouble with those things.”

“Just wait until you see Tracey,” said Daphne, although her friend was quite good at keeping her balance while using the floo network.

As Tracey walked from the fireplace Daphne stuck out her leg and tripped her up, and she landed on top of Harry as well.

She picked herself up while saying “Thanks.”

As Tonks emerged from the fireplace the group turned and walked towards a large door.

Daphne hung back and muttered “You owe me. Did you feel those biceps?” to Tracey.

“Yeah I did, they’re fairly impressive.”

That was as far as the conversation got because as they approached the door it flew open and through it walked a very annoyed veela, who instantly started to talk to Harry.

“’Arry!” exclaimed Fleur Delacour.

“Fleur! Good to see you. How have you been?”

“Good, up until there now!”

“What do you mean? What’s wrong?” questioned Harry, hoping to avoid an angry veela.

“It is that Bill Weasley. I hope I never see him again. He has been pining after like a dog since I came to work here and he was starting to win me around, but I caught him . . . eating the face of another, as you English might say,” said Fleur in her beautiful French accent.

“Oh, I can see why that would get you annoyed.”

“Mais, oui, I am annoyed, but it is good. I never have to work with him again after the end of this month.”

“Why not?”

“I have got a job at Hogwarts. I will be helping a few professors with their classes.”

“That’s great. I’ll take it you’ll be staying at the school then?”

“Yes Harry, I will be returning to Hogwarts, although I hope the food has improved.”

“Where were you going there now?”

“I was going to Bill’s apartment to pack my bag. I refuse to stay there a moment longer.”

“Then where are you going to stay?”

“She can stay with us, if she likes,” interrupted Hilda.

“That is very kind of you, mais; I would like to return to my parents’ house in France. I will stay with you for a few days.”

“Great. If you floo to Greengrass Manor when you are packed. We will be back after we have finished with the will reading.”

“Is that the Black reading?”

“Yes.”

“It is in conference room number seven. The number of people was too big for most of the other rooms.”

“Okay thanks.”

They parted ways, with Harry leading the group towards conference room seven. As they approached the room they say a large ground, it parted to allow a group of four goblin warriors through, who proceeded to lead Harry to the door and ushering him inside.

Once Harry was inside the room the doors were sealed so that it was only Harry and a wizened old goblin in the room.

“Good morning Mr. Potter. I am Director Ragnok.”

“Please, call me Harry, Director.”

“Then you must call me Ragnok.”

“Okay.”

“So, Harry, how do you wish to carry out this reading?”

“I was hoping that we could get the part that needs all those pureblood families out of the way and then kick them out.”

“That sounds reasonable. I must warn you though, before we begin, not to trust those who you think are allies.”

“I know about Dumbledore’s deception.”

“That is good then. However, you must also beware of the red-haired women. Griphook overheard them speaking about you. It involves a plan of Dumbledore’s and a love potion was all Griphook heard.”

Harry sat still for a few seconds, absorbing this new piece of information. Then he collected himself and said “Well, let the games begin,” causing Ragnok to chuckle. It was not a very pleasant sound; it managed to sound happy and malicious at the same time.

The doors were thrown open and the people waiting outside rushed in, all trying to sit next to him.

The Weasley twins managed to work their way over to beside Harry and once they were seated the one on his right slipped him a note. It read:

Harry, don’t drink anything mum or Ginny give you. Come to our shop when you’re buying Hogwarts gear and we will explain.

Harry stared at the page, before crumpling it up and shoving it in his pocket. This obviously meant Ginny and Molly couldn’t be trusted, but maybe the twins could.

By the time everyone was in a seat, Ragnok was ready to start.

“We are here today to read the last will and testimony of Sirius Orion Black,” he began.

“As has been suggested by Mr. Potter, we will begin this ceremony with the details regarding the mass invitation of every British pureblood family. It is the will of Sirius Orion Black that any person or persons here who can say that they have never received the dark mark and have never helped Voldemort whilst under veritaserum shall be given the sum of one thousand galleons.”

Many people gasped as Ragnok continued, “Will everybody except Harry Potter, Remus Lupin, Andromeda Tonks, Nymphadora Tonks, Fred Weasley, George Weasley, Ron Weasley, Hermione Granger and Neville Longbottom please leave.

There was general discontent as people began to leave. Somebody Harry didn’t recognise though they would protest and got forcibly ejected from their seat by the cushion, which flung him halfway across the room. As the man struggled to his feet, Harry recognised him as none other than Cornelius Fudge, the Minister of Magic.

“That goes for you as well, Fudge,” said Ragnok, “Unless you would like to volunteer for a taste of goblin punishment.”

“You can’t do that,” spluttered Fudge.

“That was part of a contract one of your predecessors signed; any crime done on goblin property may be punished by goblins.”

Fudge looked like he was about to reply, but one of his advisors leaned over and whispered in his ear. They both left the room in a hurry.

“And now, we shall continue. To Neville Longbottom Lord Black left ten thousand galleons and a note which reads:

Your parents are good people, never stop believing.

To Ms. Granger and Mssrs. Weasley, Lord Black leaves fifteen thousand galleons each. To Mrs and Ms. Tonks he leaves fifteen thousand galleons also, and a note saying to ask the new head of house to be reinstated into the Black household. To Mr. Lupin he leaves one hundred thousand galleons, on the condition that at least a quarter of it is spent by the end of the upcoming school term, at which point another fifty thousand galleons will be made available to you. And finally, we come to Harry, to whom Mr Black leaves everything else – his title, his remaining monies and his property with another note saying to find a girl and live it up. His words – not mine.”

Harry quickly thanked Ragnok before leaving the conference room in a rush. There was a crowd of photographers outside, but he pushed past them as they asked him questions.

“Harry, where have you been staying?”

“What are you thoughts on the recent You-Know-Who sightings?”

“What did Lord Black leave you?”

“Why did Sirius Black, wanted criminal, leave you anything?”

Harry just walked straight past them, into the floo room. He grabbed a handful of powder, threw it on the fire and quietly said “Greengrass Manor” and stepping into the green flames.