The Third Time is a Charm

Posted: 11 January 2010

Chapter 64: Many Are Called

The next day Fabian and Gideon met with the headmaster and great leader of the light. They were to report on what they found out about the company called Prince Conglomerate. Actually they now had more questions for the headmaster than they had answers to give him.

They made their way past the gargoyle and up the stairs, and then knocked on the Headmaster’s door. At the summons to enter, they greeted the old man behind the desk with a smile. Getting right to the point he started his interrogation.

“What have you found out for me gentlemen?” The old man asked while sitting in his chair with his eyes twinkling. If they had looked closer they would have seen this twinkle for the maniacal gleam it really was, but they remained ignorant to the cause of his famous signature sparkle.

It was Fabian who spoke first, “We didn’t find out much at all. The owner is from Germany; he married someone from Australia; the sister is about seven months pregnant and they run a very successful business.”

Then Gideon picked up the conversation. “Judging from the contract they have with our sister and her husband, they are fair and excellent business people. They have Molly monitoring the success of different types of floo powder, so she is paid to keep a journal of length of calls and quality.”

“They are also helping her write a housekeeping and cook book. They are very generous in their payment of the work Molly and Arthur do for them but not excessively so. Molly and Arthur have only met them once or twice and deal mostly with other executive employees.”

“We got the impression that they are staying out of everything for now in order to protect the pregnant mother, but once the baby is born we may be seeing them more in the wizarding society.”

Dumbledore had watched the conversation as the two of them took turns adding to the information they received from yesterday’s visit. “Is that all you gentlemen can tell me? How about their political affiliations? What side of the war are they on? Who are they exactly? Where in Australia did they come from? How were they raised? Why are they really here? These are the questions we need to know in order to make decisions on what to do.”

“I am sorry Professor; I don’t understand why we need to know that.” Gideon stated in confusion. “I have read the book they wrote and although it is very useful information, mostly for our side, I don’t believe these people want to be involved.”

“We get the impression that they follow the idea of ‘the pen is mightier than the sword’. They do not fight, there have been no attacks from them in any sector that we know of from our sources and they are growing a business.” Fabian added. “Many business owners are staying neutral to try to keep what they have. It’s not a crime and it doesn’t imply any hidden agenda on their part.”

Dumbledore frowned at what he was hearing. He wanted these men to do what he said, not think for themselves. But that was obviously not going to happen. He would have to see if Sirius could get information from his friend Remus Lupin. Maybe it was a mistake, not getting the werewolf to join the order on a permanent basis.

“Well thank you gentlemen for gathering that information for me. Perhaps I could just send then another invitation after their child is born. You said the girl was seven months pregnant? So if I request a meeting in August that should be a more convenient time to their schedule. If you hear anything else about these people, please let me know.”

As the twin redheads left the castle and were walking to the apparition point, Gideon placed a silencing bubble around them. “I don’t know what else he expects us to find out about these people. Why is he so concerned about them?”

“I think the old man is losing it. Really, Gideon, think about this. He is spending way too many resources trying to find out where these people live and who they are and what they do. I am beginning to wonder if he doesn’t have some hidden agenda of his own.”

“We will just have to wait and watch brother.” And with that parting statement they popped back home before reporting for work.

Back at Prince Stronghold Manor…

Becca and Tonks were in the pool room looking around. The decorations that Harry and the elves had put up were sagging a bit and needed sprucing up.

“You know Tonks, I really like these. I think we should leave the decorations like this all the time. Before it was decorated with sandy beaches and palms trees painted on the walls. This is so much more colorful.”

“I still can’t believe you have all this underneath the ground. When Remus realized where we were located he laughed so hard I thought he would never get his breath back. I have to admit that I was not impressed with the muggles either. When the advanced guard had to go and get Harry for his fifth year after the dementor attack, I thought they were too clean and it just wasn’t natural. I mean, it wasn’t like they had house elves to pick up after them all the time. But then, I guess that’s what Harry was for.”

“Did you see the journal of pranks we want to use on Petunia and Vernon? We have to wait as I don’t want them to move before Dumbledore places little Harry with them. But then afterwards we get to prank and have all the fun we want.”

“You want them to move after Little Harry gets here? Why? Won’t Dumbledore then try to reclaim the baby?” Tonks asked; she had never understood that part of the plan.

“Dumbledore never checked on Harry in any of the other time lines. He just dumped him here and forgot about him. His blood wards would have alerted him to any type of trouble so he didn’t bother. We can get them to move without changing his wards as they are going to be under our own. You can’t get better blood protection than another you and a direct family member. Remember, the child I carry is Harry and Severus’ son. I am looking forward to it.”

“Since that is a ways off, let’s get back to the wedding decorations.” Tonks said as she finally understood exactly what Becca had been planning. She got a bit of a gleam in her eye at the fun they would have pranking the muggles later on.

The woman worked with a few elves for a couple of hours until the decorations were perfect. Then they started on the food and seating. They needed to get a guest list from the grooms, but started to put one together from the party list as well. That way the men could go down the list and just scratch out those they didn’t want to invite.

Back in the Prince family quarters…

Salazar was in the sitting room with Harry and Severus going over the old pureblood bonding ritual for soulmates. It was slightly different than the others as it was even beyond death. They spoke about the colors that would be used for the bonding and what rings they wanted to have.

There were many details that Harry would never have dreamed of. So much meaning behind everything and Salazar and Severus explained it all to him. It took a few hours to go over all the details and Harry’s head was spinning with the knowledge.

“We should write a book with this stuff in it. What if Sal hadn’t been here to explain everything to us?” Harry suggested.

“There is a book Harry, it just needs to be updated and published. There are many books in this house that are waiting for the five of us to go over and rewrite before we publish them. It’s how we are going to get the books completed in just a few months instead of taking a few years. Some of the books are old and need to be rewritten with a more modern day language and some of the are from the future and need to be checked for references of things that haven’t happened yet.” Severus explained to him.

“I thought we were going to have to do it in the time displacement room to get it done.”

“We can’t spend all our time in there; we need to be seen in the real world. Some of the books are ones our family wrote in Becca’s time line, so they are still ours.”

“Well if you gentlemen are finished with the wedding plans, I think I will go see what Becca and Tonks have come up with. I need the altar and podium to be set up with precise details.

“Before you leave, Sal, I wanted to ask you about something.” Harry said softly as if he wasn’t sure about what he was going to ask next.

“I will answer you if I can, what is the question?” Sal had noticed Harry’s hesitation but wanted to encourage the young man.

“You said I was the chosen one, and I wondered if you could explain why?”

“Aah, I was wondering if you were going to ask that.” Sal sat back down in the chair and tried to think of an answer Harry and Severus would understand. “The muggles have an expression that goes something like this… ‘many are called but few are chosen’. Do you understand what that means?”

Harry shook his head no and looked up in confusion at the nobleman. “No Sir.”

“It means, Harry that many were given the opportunity to take up the task. This war is not about you and never has been. This war is about good and evil. It is a conflict that has been around since the beginning of time.” Salazar looked at Harry’s perplexed expression and tried another tactic.

“Look at it this way, Grindewald was a great wizard, but so was Dumbledore. Grindewald was the dark and Dumbledore was the light. This means they got their power from polar opposites at the core of the very existence of magic. Grindewald let his power corrupt at a young age, but Dumbledore was not corrupted until later, thus making it necessary for fate to bring in another warrior for good. One that was not corrupt. Are you with me so far?”

Harry nodded and looked like he was thinking about this.

“There will always be one Light wizard of great power and one dark. The two must even themselves out for a balance of power. Always the power must move on to the next uncorrupt person that will take up the challenge.”

“So who is the great dark wizard if it’s not Voldemort? He was corrupted, right? He was born with the power and he misused it. Is that what you are trying to say?”

Sal smiled and nodded his head. “Exactly, he was corrupted at an early age and now has to be replaced because he has caused too much evil and good must prevail. You can’t eliminate evil but just as with dark and light there must be a balance.”

“So who is the dark wizard of good now?”

“Severus, you’re intended of course. He is the one called and the one who fought for protection of you.”

Severus looked at Salazar completely dumbfounded. How could he say he was the power of dark magic? True a spell was good or evil according to the wishes of the caster, and he did have much more power since he and Harry had bonded, but he never thought of himself as being in this role.

“You must be mistaken; I can’t be the power of the dark. It must be you. You have traveled almost a thousand years and would be more powerful than me.” Severus said his disbelief showing in his face.

“Severus, I have more knowledge and it is true that in my time I was the power for dark magic, but my time has gone and you are the one to take up the mantel. You have also been chosen.”

“But… why?”

“Because, like Harry, you took up the task and didn’t let outside influences change your direction. And like Harry you took up the challenge to get as educated as possible in the ways of your craft.” Salazar replied, and then directed his attention to Harry.

“Harry, what happened when you ‘friend’ Ron was challenged? Did he study or did he ‘skive’ off, to use one of your current phrases. Did he work at his spells or did he want to play and talk about Quidditch instead. He too may have been called, but like so many others before him, he ignored the call and did his own thing.”

“But I was doing that too. I still don’t get it.”

“Let’s put it another way. When your uncle beat you, did you want to kill him? Did you want to get away? What were your feelings?

“Sometimes I wanted him to drop dead, but mostly I just wanted to run away.”

“And yet you didn’t because you had been told you needed to stay there. Were you jealous of your friends and wish to swap places or were you happy your friends had a loving family and just wish for one of your own?”

“One of my own.” Harry answered as he pulled Severus’ hand into his giving it a little squeeze.

“All of these things make you who you are Harry. You want the best for others and yourself, yet you are not looking to have what you want by taking it from others. There is no greed inside you and therefore no corruption. Let’s look at another of your friends, a real friend this time. Neville Longbottom was also called, in fact he was born the same time you were and could have been chosen according to prophecy. However, he allowed his low self-esteem to hold him back. He did not want to take up the mantel even in other time lines. So he was not chosen.”

“So I was chosen for who I am and not just randomly.” Harry was starting to understand much more than he thought he would.

“Exactly. That doesn’t mean you should not profit, but not with stealing and with jealously. Your company reflects that today. You profit, but only in helping others and not in geed and selfishness. You chose to take up the call just as Severus has done and so you are chosen. I do not believe it is an accident that you are soulmates either. It was chosen for you by your very nature to want to protect your heritage.”

“I am not sure Sev would agree with you.” Harry said with a smirk as his lover smacked him on his arm.

“Hey, that wasn’t nice.”

“Severus was headed down the wrong path for a brief moment in time. We all make mistakes and are not perfect. But if we recognize those mistakes and take steps to correct them then we place ourselves on the correct path once again. It is through trial and error we learn the most.” Salazar explained.

“You know, your portrait said something like that. It said I was chosen because I didn’t want it but would do what needed to be done. That because I didn’t really want the power but accepted it anyway, that it wouldn’t corrupt me.” Harry remembered. “I just didn’t understand what he meant at the time.”

“That’s right Harry. I will caution you though. You are young and I beg you to make sure you do not become corrupt in later years. I do know that you will work for the good of our world for many years, but you must always stay true to the cause. It will serve you well.”

Harry nodded at the man’s words. He already saw what corruption did to other people and he would never be like that.

“Now, if you gentlemen have no further questions for me, I think I will go freshen up before dinner.” So Sal left the room leaving Harry and Severus there alone sitting on the sofa.

“Here that Sev, you are chosen too.”

“I most certainly am. Come here brat.” Severus pulled on Harry’s arm and flipped him right into his lap. “I have been chosen as the one to ravish your body throughout eternity.” He smirked as he grabbed Harry’s head in both of his hands and started to ravish the younger man’s mouth full force.

When he stopped for air, he said, “I have wanted to do that all day. With all this talk about the wedding and happily ever after, it only makes me want you more.”

Harry smiled at him and moaned as he was pressed against Severus. “So what are you going to do about it?”

“I am going to kiss you again until you beg for mercy.” Severus said as he grinned evilly and pushed his lips against Harry’s mouth again.

About a half hour later Tonks and Becca came into the room with little Teddy in tow. “Oi, guys not in front of the kid!” They heard Tonks shout with a laugh. Her hands were over poor Teddy’s eyes and he was struggling to see what was going on.

Suddenly there was a bucket of cold water dumping on their heads as Becca and Tonks started laughing.

“Arrgghh.” Were the cries from the two men as they pulled apart, dripping wet. “Hey that was cold.” Harry said.

“Yes, in more ways than one.” Severus added.

“Which one of you did that? This could mean war, you know.” The scowl on the older man’s face was priceless.

“We’re not telling.” Becca said in a little sing song voice. “You two need to learn to use privacy charms, and I know you have your own room for this kind of thing. You could have scarred the little one with all that snogging.”

“I am sorry Tonks; we apologize for our lack of decorum in our activities.” Severus said. “Come, Harry, lets get cleaned up for dinner.”

“You’ve only got fifteen minutes!” Becca was heard to say as they left the room.

“Tonks, I need you to dry off the sofa. We don’t want to get a wet seat next time we sit down.” Tonks, reminded of Becca’s power problem, quickly flicked her wand and the room was restored to order.

“Think they will figure it out?” She asked her new friend.

“Nope. They know I can do some things but tire easily. If you don’t tell I won’t tell.”

That evening at dinner, Becca and Sal were sitting at the table waiting for the two men to come so they could start eating. The Lupin family had decided to eat in their own quarters for a one on one family time as Teddy needed some undivided attention. Personally, Becca thought Tonks wanted to avoid the guys after the water incident so she wouldn’t get fussed at, even though it wasn’t her that had conjured the bucket.

After they had been waiting fifteen minutes, Becca called Kreacher to ask if he would go get the guys. The elf came back saying that the Masters were busy and they should eat without them. Becca laughed as Sal gave her a quizzical expression, wondering what was going on.

“Those guys are hopeless. Earlier Tonks and I interrupted a major snog session, so they took it somewhere else. I guess it’s you and me for dinner this evening. I don’t even think Regulus is coming, he said something about dinner with his mother. I am glad he is starting to socialize more, but he needs to be careful. Voldemort will do anything to re-acquire him.”

“This will be the first time since I arrived that we have been unchaperoned. I do not believe this is a good idea. I know that these rules don’t necessarily apply to this time, but I am not from this time and it makes me uncomfortable. Call the elf and have your Great Grandfathers brought in here.” Salazar said in all seriousness.

“I don’t know that you are going to get them out of their room. All this talk of weddings has… inspired them. How about we call an elf and let it stay in the room? We can also call Seventh Born if it would make you feel better.”

“An elf was not a suitable chaperone in my day, but perhaps it will do. Certainly a snake is not any kind of deterrent from improper activities.”

“It is if it’s a basilisk that can kill you.” Becca quipped. “Kreacher!” Becca called

“Yes, Mistress, Kreacher is here to serve.” The little elf bowed slightly and waited for further instructions.”

“Lord Slytherin and I wish to be chaperoned and Harry and Severus are busy. We request that you stay in the room and be our chaperone for the evening until they are otherwise unoccupied.” Becca stated

Kreacher’s eyes grew wide, but then he said, “It has been my duty to serve and protect the Black family for generations. I would be honored to chaperone for you.” He then went to stand off to the side and watched the two while they ate and conversed for the rest of the evening. Never once did he take his eyes off his young Mistress and the Slytherin Lord.

In another room of the house, two men were reacquainting themselves with each other. They had so much going on lately that they had fallen asleep the last few nights as soon as they were in the bed.

Severus had joined Harry in the shower to clean up and get warm after the water incident and they had decided that a nice warm bath was a better option. After filling the tub with water and adding some silky musk scent and climbing into it, Severus had soon arranged Harry so that he was straddled onto his lap.

Right now he was paying close attention to the younger man’s neck as he pressed their groins together, allowing the silky bath lotion to slick them up and create a very pleasant slide. Harry was somewhat incoherent.

“Sev,” he panted “missed you…please… don’t stop…” Severus could tell the young man was excited and close to finishing before they even got started if he didn’t do something fast.

“Shhhh, Harry, take a deep breath and slow down, you are way ahead of me here and I want to enjoy this.” Severus watched as Harry took a few deep breaths as he tried to slow down his reactions.

“Now, love, look at me and slow down a little.” He then took Harry’s mouth in a very slow exploratory kiss, swirling his tongue in the cavern made by the open mouth. He tasted so good, like the strawberries and cream flavored treacle tart they had earlier and… power. He could taste the power emanating from the younger man. He got caught up in it and soon he was stretching his lover to accept him. Both of them had magic swirling around them and they got caught in the serge of power and magic running through their veins and all around them.

Severus couldn’t wait any longer; he settled Harry down on his lap and pierced him as the young man screamed in passion. “Severus!” the younger lover said as he started to move back and forth, “more please more.”

Severus swiftly turned them around and settled Harry on the step in the small wading pool that served as their bathtub. He thrust into his lover hard as the water splashed around them and over them, causing a maelstrom of storms around them with the magic swirling and the water with it. Thrusting harder and harder to reach the pinnacle of their ardor, they waited for the explosion of their passions coming together.

Finally their lovemaking came to a completion like a small explosion contained in the bathroom. As they started to settle and were able to speak again, Harry asked Severus, “What just happened?”

“I’m not sure Harry, but I think we just had a power surge. Like an increase in power from somewhere. I have never experienced anything like that before, nor have I ever heard of something like that ever happening before. Maybe we should talk to Sal later about it. For now, I don’t even know if I can get up.”

“Yeah, let’s just rest here for awhile and we can talk to him tomorrow.” Harry agreed, still breathless and panting. They slowly finished their bath and made their way to the bed where they collapsed almost before they could pull the bed covers over them.