The Protagonist System

92 Another Time Warp Ahead

My school's Schedule of Suck continued all week. None of my off classes matched anyone else that wasn't in my year and in Griffindor, so I couldn't meet up with anyone that wasn't in my year in Griffindor until the evenings and weekends. Which really sucked, because it cut my socializing down to the bare minimum.

Potions class ended up being the same as when Snape did it, only the man wasn't knowledgeable enough to stalk around the room to sneer at us for doing things wrong. It was only a small improvement, so no one complained about it. Except me. Minerva gave me a detention for it. She had been frustrated by the limited choices that Snape's bad teaching for 15 years had given her.

I did manage to sneak off and give Luna a few good snoggings during the week. We're still trying to break our half hour record, too. It made her giggle every time we failed, because she knew we would have to keep trying and me pretending to be upset about it really amused her.

Remus didn't try to talk to me privately all week and just gave me a sad look every time we had Defense class. I ignored him, of course. He had ignored me for 14 years and I thought it fitting that he was ignored in turn. I did send a letter to Andromeda about Remus suddenly showing up out of the blue and her returning howler had made me laugh. The one Remus received made him flee the Great Hall in embarrassment.

On the weekend, I taught Alicia, Angelina, Katie, and Hermione the hazy fog privacy spell. They all learned it fairly quickly and weren't disappointed that they couldn't make a large barrier with it like I could. Just learning a new spell that no one else knew had made them happy and they would eventually expand it with practice.

After settling in to my disappointing school routine, time seemed to pass quickly. Hermione's birthday was a nice blowout near the end of September and she loved having a large group of friends that actually liked her. October passed and Halloween didn't have anything happen for the second year in a row. Just like last year, my friends and I gathered in my suite to have a real meal after the feast.

I took care of the pesky basilisk in the Chamber of Secrets, too. It was in an enchanted sleep, I suspected was from the Draught of Living Death, so dispatching it was as easy as slicing its head off with my mythril sword. I mounted the preserved head in my trophy room and added charmed lenses over the eyes, just in case.

I harvested the meat from the body and sold it for a fortune to the goblins, since it was a delicacy for them to eat a strong monster like that. I also donated the skeleton with a transfigured snake skull to them and they hung it up above the main room of the bank. My idea to charm it to hiss at wizards when they were rude, made them laugh. They actually did it and scared the hell out of people, which was hilarious.

My prediction about Ron actually becoming likeable and getting friends after cleaning up his mealtime antics, proved to be true. He, Seamus, and Dean ended up becoming as thick as thieves, as the old saying goes. I was honestly happy for him and anonymously arranged for a bit more spending money to make its way to him.

Sirius Black was just as upset about Remus showing up out of the blue like Andromeda was. He had forgotten about the man in his grief and his time in prison wasn't as bad as it could have been. Even the guard had been upset about it and that was both funny and touching. We gave him an extra drumstick and cranberry sauce in his food containers during the next visit.

Christmas, or Yule as it was in the wizarding world, came and went. It was another busy time for Santa Harry and I didn't mind it at all. Making people smile and be extra happy during the holiday season was worth the effort. I stayed for two days with the Greegrasses again and Astoria had a great time egging on her sister Daphne to do more with me and Daphne rose to the challenge eagerly, blushing the whole time.

New Year's Eve was another trek across Britain, with added stops for Luna and Ginny, the redhead still passed out after getting a new year kiss, so that relationship was still a work in progress. She had boldly grabbed my butt, too. Yep, progress.

School resumed and Minerva McGonagall still hadn't changed things for Hermione, no matter how many times she complained that the odd class schedule ruined her 'study time', probably because Minerva knew what the 16 year old Hermione really meant.

I juggled my spare time with my girls and did my best to make sure they were happy and not be annoyed at me for not having as much time for them as they wanted. At least they didn't blame me for it, since they all knew my schedule sucked and I was quite vocal about it.

Not surprisingly, the rest of the year passed by without any incidents, except for Remus having his deepest and darkest secret getting out just after the exams. How that happened was a bit of a mystery, since I and my friends honestly didn't care. That was when I remembered not searching for and dispelling the curse on the Defense Against the Dark Arts professorship.

I mentioned it to my girls and they all laughed about me being absent-minded about things that didn't concern them. I couldn't deny that they were my priority and that made them all preen a little and look proud, because I wasn't lying and they knew it.

I prepared another fiction book, this one about the Chamber of Secrets at PiggyPimples, and it was another best seller. People seemed to love the adventures of Harry Potter, even if they were fake. The basilisk plushie quickly became a huge favorite, because you could squeeze it and it opened its mouth to hiss at you. Little boys all over the world had a great time chasing little girls with it.

The best part about it was that no one figured out that the hiss the toy made was the same one that Gringotts used to scare their rude customers. Every time they heard the hiss, no matter the source, the little blighters laughed.

The summer passed before I knew it, thanks to the visits with my girls. Astoria was excited for the school year to come, because she could finally attend school and get away from her oppressively caring parents for most of the year. I did not point out that she should be happy they cared so much, mostly because I didn't want her angry at me. She had been smart and followed Daphne's example and went into Ravenclaw, too.

Since I was 16 and only had a year left before my betrothal contract kicked in, my girls seemed a little desperate to spend as much time with me as possible. Thankfully, Minerva had taken the thousands of blatant hints that Hermione had thrown at her last year and changed our schedules. She let us drop History of Magic and Potions officially and both of them were afternoon classes this year.

Since we took Ancient Runes and Arithmancy as our electives, our mornings were still filled with classes. Hermione wasn't nervous about the new classes, because she knew I was well ahead of everyone, even the OWL and NEWT students. It was me that helped them each year to pass their exams, after all.

It was surprisingly easy to slip Astoria into my less restrictive social schedule. Not surprisingly, she almost always tried to rope Daphne into it at the same time. I had an inkling that Astoria enjoyed the competition as much as Daphne did, probably because she was setting the pace and liked seeing Daphne struggling to keep up with her.

Funnily enough, Luna seemed to be in the same position, only with Ginny as the competition and Luna had to urge the girl on to do more. That was hilarious, because Luna was a Ravenclaw and she was forcing a Griffindor to be brave and outgoing. I didn't mind being the object of their contests of bravery, either. It was adorable watching them compete and try to outdo each other.

*

Halloween, Christmas, and New Year's flew by without incident and a lot of work on my part. Again, I didn't mind, since everyone appreciated it and I would show up personally. Was I spoiling my girls? Yes, I was. Was I ruining them for any other man's expectations? Most definitely. Did I regret it? Not even a little bit. Until I was married, they were mine and I wasn't going to disappoint them.

*

No one questioned why Hermione and I were the top of our class for the third year in a row. It was expected and our friends were along for the ride and filled the top ten, like always. Luna and Ginny were the top of the year below us and Astoria was the top in her year, to her utter delight.

On the train ride home at the end of the year, Astoria hadn't glued herself to my side or stopped me from spending time with my other girls. She hadn't even asked them to return the Official Girlfriend ID cards I had given them. That was fairly mature of her and I thanked her for it, which made her giggle and tell me they would become rare collector's items after our marriage. I laughed, too.

*

I turned 17 on my birthday and the wedding was the biggest event in the wizarding world. It had been years in the making and her parents had been surprised that I had booked St. Paul's Cathedral for it. I didn't tell them I had booked it three years ago, just so they thought I did it on a whim and managed to snag the famous church on short notice.

The entire street was temporarily warded it to keep the muggles away and everyone had been invited. By everyone, I meant everyone. Almost 10,000 witches and wizards showed up to attend and witnessed the marriage of the savior of the wizarding world and his blushing bride. It was ornate, ostentatious, and exactly what everyone expected to see.

It took half an hour for the ceremony and the binder came to the final words. “Do you, Harry Potter, the best Harry Potter...”

A lot of laughs came from the audience from the joke and the man grinned at my own chuckle.

“...take this woman, Astoria Greengrass, as your lawfully wedded witch?”

“I do.” I said and slipped the wedding ring onto her hand. It clinked against the four carat diamond engagement ring that Astoria had been too nervous about wearing until today.

“Do you, Astoria Greengrass...” The man started to say.

“I DO!” Astoria blurted excitedly and then blushed, which made everyone laugh again.

The man chuckled and motioned to the ring.

Astoria almost fumbled it before she successfully slipped it onto my ring finger.

“I now pronounce you husband and wife. You may kiss to your heart's content.” The man said and stepped back, because he knew what was coming.

“YES!” Astoria squealed and threw her arms around my neck and kissed me passionately.

Cheers and claps came from everyone as we kissed for a full minute. Astoria broke the kiss and looked both embarrassed and proud. I took her hand and held it up, and everyone cheered. There were a lot of teary faces in the crowd, too. We walked down the aisle and the clapping continued, as did the tears.

I waved to everyone and said people's names when they hollered at us. It was almost like a test, because they looked surprised when I got their names right. I led Astoria out to the waiting limousine and the crowd gathered outside cheered and clapped. I waved again, played the name game a bit more, then ducked into the limo with my bride.

Astoria looked flushed and her breathing was a little heavy. “How can you handle that so well?”

I gave her a kiss. “Celebrity is as celebrity does, my beautiful bride.”

Astoria shook her head. “That's not really an answer.”

I grinned at her. “I dealt with a Nundu, dragons, and a basilisk. A crowd of people is nothing.”

Astoria caught her breath and looked at me with wide eyes. “I thought the basilisk was a story!”

“It was a story.” I said and she relaxed. “That doesn't mean I didn't deal with it in another way.”

Astoria opened and closed her mouth several times.

“The skeleton hanging in the bank is the actual basilisk. It's not a prop.” I said and chuckled. “Well, the skull is. I kept the real head myself.”

Astoria didn't say anything in response and just stared at me. I patted her thigh and told the driver to head out. I rolled the window down and waved to all my fans, which made them scream and cheer.

*

The reception was held in the largest park in London and an open buffet was provided for everyone that came to the wedding. The Hogwarts house elves had been delighted to have so much work to do during the summer and had gone all out to provide enough food for thousands of people, setting a record for the number of people fed during a single meal in the whole country.

Our families and friends had the central table, so we could be seen and I wasn't kept from the public. My house elves attended to us and we all enjoyed the meal, conversation, and discussing what was going to happen next... converting the whole park into an outdoor dance hall when the meal was done.

The whole crowd cheered when they were invited to stay and party.

*

“We survived!” Astoria exclaimed as I carried her over the threshold of Greengrass Estates. Because we were still in school, we had decided to hold off on buying a place to live together. We would split our time between her estate and my castle until we graduated, making both families happy.

I held in my laugh and carried her to her bedroom. Astoria's face flushed red as I closed the door with my foot. I knew she was nervous, so I stood her up beside her closet instead of tossing her onto the bed. She looked a little lost until I started undressing her.

“We need to keep your dress so our daughter can get married in style.” I whispered to her and her blush went to a deep red.

“H-H-Harry...” Astoria stammered.

“I know. No kids until you're ready.” I said and she relaxed. “That's not going to stop me from practising a lot.”

Astoria's eyes widened and I kissed her to distract her from the touchy subject. I kept stripping her and she didn't even notice she was naked until I dropped to my knees and licked her between the legs.

“OHHHHHH!” Astoria moaned and came hard. It had been the first time I had touched her down there and using my tongue right off the bat had completely undone her composure.

I carried her over to the bed and made sure she enjoyed us finally crossing that line. I eventually kissed my way up her body and ended with my lips on hers and had cast a pain numb spell on her privates. Astoria gasped when I slipped inside of her and then she moaned as I paused to let her body adjust. After a minute, she nodded, so I kissed her again and started to move.

I used all the things I learned over the years on her and Astoria had the best first time, or so she claimed the next morning when she woke up. She was exhausted and blissfully happy, because I was finally hers.

We stayed in bed until noon, just holding each other, and then dressed and went to the teleportation circle I installed in the spare bedroom. We had packed our bags the week before and I stored them and we teleported to Spain for our three week honeymoon. It would have been longer if we didn't have to return to get ready for school.

The Quidditch World Cup happened while we were gone and nothing of note happened, except that Bulgaria won when Victor Krum caught the snitch. Having a few extra years to train their team had made all the difference when they fought against Ireland. Since there were no death eaters left, no one had disrupted the after-game celebrations and everyone had a great time.

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