Chapter 36: 36 Some Basic Truths

Harry woke up in his four poster bed in the Ravenclaw dorm room and he felt like a huge weight had been lifted from his shoulders. He hadn't realized how much the Dursleys going without any punishment had been bothering him. They had hurt him a lot while he had lived with them and that wasn't right.

Before Harry had finished Gamer Mind and repaired the damage to his System, he had dismissed the whole thing as not important. In fact, even when that curse breaker and Amelia had found how damaging the blood wards had been, he had said it was fine and to leave them. Why did he do that? That was just stupid.

That was when he remembered all of the blocks and damage his mind had and that Gamer Mind had repaired. It had apparently done a lot more than he assumed it did, because he had started seeing things a little bit differently than he had before. He was more emotional, more proactive instead of reactive, and he definitely didn't take crap from anyone.

“G'mornin.” Padma mumbled into his ear. Her arm was clamped around his chest and her leg was draped over his thighs, as if he was a teddy bear.

“Morning.” Harry whispered back. “You need to sneak back to your dorm before anyone else wakes up.”

“Wan nother hour.” Padma mumbled and pulled herself closer and went right back to sleep.

Harry held in his laugh at her reaction and decided that he would humor her for today. She had been given a bit of a shock last night when Harry took Hermione's note out of his pocket and they read what it was together.

It was a bank draft for 500 galleons, to be cashed in when all three of them were old enough and ready to enact the clauses of the betrothal agreement.

It was a bit of a shock to Harry as well, because he thought Padma being okay with the whole betrothal thing was already a surprise, only to discover that Hermione had found out what it entailed and literally told them that she wanted his very first infidelity violation to be with her and then paid for it.

It had sparked a lengthy discussion and they hadn't fallen asleep until quite late into the night. They were both under the impression that they were fully committed to each other, so having solid proof that someone else (besides Padma's sister) wanted in on their relationship, was quite the eye opener. Harry had previously made a joke about having a bunch of girls after him, only to find out that it was true.

Harry laid there for quite some time and contemplated the whole situation and he eventually decided that both he and Padma would hand the bank draft back to Hermione. She was a nice girl and everything; but, Harry had already stretched things between him and Padma by letting her sister have a date. He had guessed rightly that Parvati would hate being treated like Padma, and she had, and that put an end to that whole scenario.

Now they had this to deal with. Being young like they were, it wasn't that much of an emotional upheaval. They also didn't see it as an insult, as it could so easily be. Hermione's opinion of the archaic practice of a betrothal contract was less than favorable and she had approached them under the contract's clauses. That earned her a lot of points in their minds and she deserved the same amount of respect back.

When it was time to get up for breakfast, Padma groaned and protested again. This time Harry actually did laugh and then he whispered that they had the rest of their lives to do this every morning, so she didn't have to try to get it all in a single morning. Padma gave him a happy smile and asked for a disillusionment spell to sneak out.

*

“I can't believe they still haven't found a new Potions teacher.” Padma said that afternoon.

“I think it's because Terry was right. It's no different than Snape's normal classes.” Harry said and sat Padma at the front of the class.

Hermione came into the classroom and walked right over to them. “I'm really glad you're not angry at me. I didn't mean to try and get between you or that it could be seen that way. I just thought...”

Both Padma and Harry put a hand on each of her arms. “We know. That's why we aren't angry.”

Hermione bit her bottom lip and nodded.

“Go ahead and sit with Padma. I have a class to teach.” Harry said.

Hermione nodded again and sat beside Padma.

Harry walked to the front of the classroom and made sure the lights were bright enough and looked at the potion recipe on the chalkboard. It was the Swelling Solution and it only had three ingredients. It also required fermentation, which meant a week of sitting in storage and not in stasis. He swiped his wand at the board and blanked it.

None of the students asked him what he was doing, then he used a piece of chalk and wrote out 'Wiggenweld Potion'.

“You're joking!” Anthony Goldstein gasped.

The Wiggenweld Potion was a healing potion with the power to cure injuries and was the antidote to the Sleeping Draught and the Draught of Living Death.

“I think you are all experienced enough to handle this.” Harry said and didn't have to see their faces to know they were all happy to hear that. He quickly wrote out the ingredients, their prep times, and then the recipe and the order to do the ingredients in.

“That doesn't match the recipe in the book at all.” Susan pointed out.

“I know. I broke it apart, fixed it, and now it can be done in barely half the normal time.” Harry said and everyone in the class stared at him. “Before you ask, yes, it's registered with the Potions Guild and the Ministry under Madam Pomfrey's sponsorship. It was also checked over by a Potions Master and approved.”

“You're going to be stinking rich!” Ernie Macmillan exclaimed and everyone laughed.

Harry looked right at Padma for a moment, then let his eyes roam over Susan, Hermione, and the rest of his friends. “I already am.”

All of the girls blushed.

“Before we get started, I'll walk you through some prepwork for some of the ingredients and after we start actually brewing, I'll come around to each of your tables to give you a hand if you need it.”

Everyone nodded and Harry proceeded to teach a great class.

*

“This dungeon... is a lot harder... at Level 3.” Padma said between panting breaths that evening.

“I warned you that it was too soon to level it.” Harry said and handed her a vial of Pepper-up Potion. “At least now you know that just being above the minimum required is not really the best time to tackle a higher level dungeon.”

“Thanks for... rubbing it in.” Padma said and drank the potion. Steam came out of her ears and she sighed before she handed the empty vial back. “I'm glad we decided to not increase it past this.”

Harry nodded. Even though he was at Level 65 now, he hadn't been allocating his free points and it kept him at a comparable level stat-wise to Padma, who had been boosting herself and was at Level 31. He had explained to her that it was easier to level her stats at lower levels and she should save some points for when she was struggling. She had agreed and only kept 20 points free and spent the rest.

“You need to teach me that barrier spell.” Padma said and readied her wand.

Just past the see-through solid barrier at the end of the hallway were 60 or so dog-sized rats that wanted to eat them.

“When you reach Level 40 and your MP regeneration can handle the strain.” Harry said.

“Your stats are so broken.” Padma said with a chuckle. “Okay, I'm ready.”

“We're doing a mass Diffindo on the first wand sweep and then Flagration on the second.” Harry reminded her and she nodded. “All right, on three. One, two, three!”

The barrier disappeared and the both of them swept their wands to the right and cast Diffindo. The first 20 rats were decapitated and the next ten lost limbs. This worked out perfectly, because they created a huge stumbling block for the rest of the rats behind them. As they scrambled over their fallen brethren, Harry and Padma swept their wands to the left and cast Flagration, which was the upgraded flame making spell called Incendio.

The entire hallway was filled with bright orange and yellow flames and the squeals and screeches went on and on as the rats burned. Several of them managed to break through and ran at them, or were trying to escape the flames. They were cut down by Kreacher's brand new Goblin-made short sword as he faded into view.

“Thanks, Kreacher.” Harry said and ended his spell and put up another barrier.

“Kreacher is having fun, Master.” Kreacher said and wiped the blood off of his blade with a Black Family cloth napkin. It disappeared and then the blade did, too.

“I'll loot... the bodies.” Padma said and lightly touched Kreacher's shoulder before she swiped her hand near the rats he had killed. They disappeared and left perfect pelts, high quality meat, a bag of potion ingredients (spleens and tails mostly), and several galleons.

“I think we either need to open our own potions ingredient shop or we need to sell them at a discount to the Apothecary.” Harry suggested. “Our inventories are getting overstocked with the stuff.”

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Padma chuckled and went to the mass of dead rats. “You're already making a fortune from every single student in the school using your Student Supplies Stall and you want to open another one?”

Harry smiled. “The teachers use it, too.”

Padma laughed and turned on her loot option. “Of course they do.”

“Eliza had to hire four helpers and she stays open during her off classes and after school.”

“I hope you're giving Professor Flitwick a percentage for allowing it next to his office.” Padma said and walked from side to side in the hallway to convert the bodies to loot and let her inventory suck it up.

“He wouldn't accept it, so I had to say it was a donation to Ravenclaw House that he could use however he wanted.”

Padma laughed. “And he fell for that?”

“He laughed and said he would buy new brooms for the school and any books he felt the Ravenclaw Library needed.”

“Everyone is going to know it was you.” Padma said with a knowing smile.

“Only the students.” Harry countered. “We should stop for now and eat.”

“Master needs his picnic table! Kreacher will be right back with your food.” Kreacher said and popped away.

Padma finished up and walked back over to Harry. “He's really eager to please.”

“I'm the last male alive with Black blood, so he's hoping one of our children will bring the family back to prominence.” Harry said.

Padma gave him an odd look. “How do you know you're the last male?”

Harry realized at that point that he just gave away another secret. He sighed and held a hand up to stop her from asking. Kreacher reappeared and set up the table, then added food and drinks. He bowed slightly and then faded away from sight.

“House elves are not supposed to do that.” Padma commented as Harry sat her down.

“He's using my family's invisibility cloak.” Harry said and sat down opposite her.

“Oh, that makes sense.” Padma said. “Why don't you use it?”

“I don't have to.” Harry said with a crooked smile.

Padma chuckled and they started eating. “So, about being the last male Black alive?”

Harry swallowed the bite of salad he had taken. “I've been taking care of the high profile criminals in the heavy security wing of Azkaban prison and working my way down to the minimum security wing.”

Padma stopped eating and stared at him. “You... aren't joking.”

“At the moment, there's only one prisoner left there and six on the floor below that.” Harry said. “All of them were sentenced to at least ten years and most for life.”

“And you... are removing them.” Padma whispered.

“Actually, their own actions are doing that.” Harry said and told her about the obscure Egyptian curse he had been using. So far, only twelve of the prisoners had survived their own crimes and only three of them were actually innocent and didn't suffer at all.

“You turned their investigations and evidence over to Madam Bones?” Padma asked, surprised.

“I've given her copies of everything I've found. Anonymously, of course. She can't know I can enter and leave the prison whenever I want.” Harry admitted. “I even gave her evidence of Sirius Black's lack of a trial and being in prison for a crime he didn't commit.”

“He was innocent?!?” Padma gasped.

“No, he just didn't kill Peter Pettegrew.” Harry said. “He did get my parents killed and then abandoned me with my relatives.”

Padma had tears form in her eyes as she stood up and walked around the table to sit beside Harry and hugged him. “I thought he was a death eater.”

“No, that was his brother, Regulus, who actually died a hero as he fought against Voldemort.”

Padma was crying hard now and hugged him tightly.

Harry felt Kreacher's hand on his arm and he nodded at the house elf. “My last visit to the prison let me deal with Lucius Malfoy and Draco by giving them the curse.” He paused for a moment. “It wasn't pretty.”

Padma nodded and kissed his cheek several times before she let him go to look into his eyes. “It's going to be all right, Harry.”

“I know.” Harry said and gave her lips a quick kiss. “I have you, a family that cares about me, and friends I need more than one hand to count.”

Padma blushed a little and then smiled. “According to Ernie, you're also stinking rich.”

“Yes, smelly rich is much better than normal rich.” Harry said pompously and they both laughed.

Padma pulled her plate and bowl over to Harry's side of the table and they stayed pressed against each other as they finished eating.

When they were done, Kreacher made everything disappear and then the trio turned towards the barrier at the end of the hallway. More rats were there and also bats. Both creatures were the size of dogs.

“You go high and we go low. Bludgeoning hexes this time.” Harry said and Padma nodded, because they were going to get through this together. They exchanged looks and smiled at each other. They were going to get through everything together.

*

The next morning, Amelia looked at the odd report of some kind of sickness that seemed to appear at Azkaban Prison. It was only one report from a single Auror guard that had quit over it when he wasn't transferred, so she shrugged and put it aside. It was just a lame excuse to get out of prison duty.

She opened the next folder and her eyes widened. Inside was a mix of evidence of both guilt and innocence for different inmates. She hadn't remembered ordering any investigations about that, not even when she saw a report on the notorious Sirius Black expiring and being buried on the grounds.

The papers claiming his innocence of killing Peter Pettegrew and not getting a trial were moot. Even if he could be declared innocent posthumously, despite being guilty of other crimes, it didn't matter. Both men were dead and there wasn't really anyone else alive that would care.

Amelia pushed those papers aside and kept reading. Whoever it was that kept delivering paperwork to her office, was giving her some interesting reading at least. She knew it was Harry, especially after the pensieve delivery; but, if she never said it out loud, she would never have to officially ask him how the sneaky little bastard was getting in and out of the highest security wards that the Ministry could buy.

She chuckled under her breath and reached for her cup of coffee, her first one of the day, and met a stack of homemade cookies instead. She gave them a stern look, shook her head at them, then popped one into her mouth.

Cheeky as well as sneaky. Amelia thought and kept reading.

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