Ginny and Luna vanish after class Friday afternoon, and neither they
nor Parkinson show up for dinner that night.

	The next morning.  Harry stares, entranced, as Ginny, seeming taller
and more muscular, more graceful, sweeps into the room, the imitation sunlight
gleaming off her mirror-polished boots, her t-shirt showing off her flat belly.

	Ron grumbles when Luna walks in, totally catching Ginny's attention.
Luna also moves with that half-familiar grace, her arms bulkier but not fat. 

	Harry just wonders if she's right about why Ginny's suddenly
fascinated with pink.
	
	` . . . Gowzer the Destroyer and bring about the end of the world as
you know it,' Ginny tells her brother with a straight face.

	Harry catches the Ghostbusters reference, not the first half of the
conversation, but breaks out laughing anyway.

	She and Hermione confuse her brothers a moment longer, then Harry's
attention follows Ginny's to where Pansy is stalking in the door.

	Harry blinks, wondering if she's cosplaying Saturn intentionally, and
almost misses the tiny twitch of her lips and blush she shares with Ginny.
Anger is sharpening her movements, but she moves more smoothly than before,
and a certain arrogant confidence she's been lacking has her broadening
shoulders back and her head high, well, as high as it will get.

	Harry smiles, and wonders what they're up to.  Her smile widens when
Pansy assaults Millicent.
				      *
	The Fencing Club meeting is crashed by Pansy, Luna, and Ginny, who
seem even more happily entangled than they did in the Great Hall at breakfast.
Harry agrees to bring them things to Vanish the next morning, and they
disappear until breakfast the next morning.
				      *
	After Sunday breakfast they bring the snails, the mice and monkey
already stashed for the day, and meet up with Luna, Pansy, and Ginny.  Once
out of the great hall they move with an easy, wary grace, Luna's Sailor Moon
hairdo somehow fitting with her Dark Jedi suit.  Pansy's half-cape over grey
t-shirt and black BDU bottoms is nearly as interesting, and flutters nicely.

	A few hours of practice with the snails, and a few hours of PT, and
suddenly exactly what they just volunteered for becomes apparent.  Harry turns
to Hermione, `So, we don't even get to be Darklings,' she sighs.

	`Nope,' Hermione shakes her head, `I guess we don't.  Being a Darky's
easier, some ways, though.'

	`True, and we don't have any --' Harry breaks off, points in the
direction Luna, Ginny, and Pansy vanished, `We've got three Darkies to look
after us, but,' she shakes her head, `I think they've got a mission to take
care of.'

	`What's a darkling, and a darky?' Ron asks.

	`A Darkling is a Dark Kingdom child.  A Darky is a Dark Kingdom
Citizen,' Hermione says.

	`Like in that Sailor Moon cartoon?'

	`Yep,' Harry takes over, `This is the Pyongyang Basic Training Center,
established in 1997, and where most of the later training sequences take
place.'
				      *
	Harry grins at Cho, who grins back, Myrtle's sudden reformation
tickling them pink, `Or pinkly tickling,' Harry murmors softly.

	Cho laughs, continuing to pet the exhausted ghost, who's drifting on
Harry's breast, `Whatever are you talking about?'

	`Yeah,' Myrtle mumbles, `You want your pretty pink girly parts
tickled?' she rubs her warm, firm, reflective face against Harry's nipple
through her shirt.

	Cho pulls Harry gently from her bed, telling the others, `We're taking
a shower.  Don't come watch.'

	`Have fun,' Luna calls.

	Harry blushes.

	Myrtle drifts up, and presses herself against her cheek, gushes in her
squeeky new voice, `You didn't blush this easily before,' and kisses her way
along Harry's cheekbone as Cho drags her from the room, `I like it.'

	`So do I,' Cho kisses Harry, then, gently, Myrtle, before dropping her
back against the shower wall and tugging Harry's dark red-brown PT shirt out
of her shorts.  Harry puts her arms up to help with the undressing, kicks her
shorts to one ankle once Cho pushes them down, and reaches back for them,
drops them on the bench next to her shirt.

	Cho shoves her shorts down, kicks them off as she pulls her shirt over
her head, and drops her PTs, suddenly embarrased, next to Harry's.

	`Pretty,' Myrtle says, cuddling close to Cho's neck, `Wanted to say so
earlier.'

	Cho looks up to see Harry just staring, her blush spread down to her
nipples, and smiles, `Never seen a girl before?'

	`Me, and Myrtle,' Harry suddenly smiles bashfully, makes a "see?" sort
of gesture down her body, `Myrtle's pretty, you're some sort of perfect.'

	Myrtle nods against Cho's neck, `Perfect.'

	Cho looks at Harry like she's nuts, but just shakes her head, grabs
the taller girl's hand, and draws her over to the showerheads.  It takes
several seconds to get the water temperature right, then she pulls herself up
to kiss Harry gently on the lips.
				      *
	Harry and Hermione blink as the three Darkies show up for PT the next
morning.

	Cho and Ron just look at them, `What?' Ron asks.

	`That's BAM, body armor metallic.  Thirty kilos just for the armor.'

	`What's that in pounds?'

	`Sixty something.  Luna's carrying an M10R, seven kilos empty, nigh on
forty fully loaded, and she's got enough TDRs on her armor to double that,'
Harry watches, astounded, as the others start their morning run, `I thought
you needed to be a Sailor to carry that much, or a youma.'

	`What?' Ron's still confused
				      *
	Ron blinks, blushes to his belly-button, and turns around to flee.

	`Get back here,' Luna says, `Unless you doubt your self that badly.
You can look, appropriate touches are appropriate, but no staring, and no
nosebleeds in the bath.'

	Pansy's voice is sardonic, `If you need to wank in order not to, make
sure you do it where we don't have to watch.'

	It takes most of Ron's Gryffindor courage to turn back around, flop
onto a stool by the showerheads, and soap himself down.

	Ginny doesn't help, leaning on the edge of the tub, `Ickle Ronnikins
seems so enthusiastic,' she chortles, `He'd better understand that these are
my girls, and he needs to find his own.'

	Ron whimpers, rinses, and doesn't look as he, grateful for the
rough-surface flooring, even though it is a pain to keep clean, climbs quickly
into the pool-sized tub.

	He's very relieved to notice that the water's agitated enough that he
can't see anything he'd have to worry about, and lets his head drape back
against the edge of the tub, `So Darkies always bathe like this?'

	`Yep,' Pansy sighs, `If you can't trust your fellow Darkies in the
bath, how can you trust them in combat?'

	Ron shakes his head, his eyes still closed.
				      *
	Harry blinks up at Cho when she breaks the kiss, and Myrtle takes the
opportunity to slip under Harry's BDU top, playing with Harry's nipples
through her t-shirt and uniform bra.

	`Why?' Harry asks softly, holding her arms up so Cho can strip her
blouse off.

	`Because we don't want to think about Umbridge and babies if we have
sex.'

	`No, that wouldn't be good,' Harry nods, looking around the deeping
golden light of evening, `But now it's going to be hard not to, so why are you
pulling my shirt off?'

	`'Cause I adore cuddling you?' Cho looks down, suddenly, `What, did
you think I was going to make you put out?'

	`Myrtle did about,' Harry looks at the slightly less gaunt little
ghost, `Five minutes after she found out I was a girl?'

	`Seven and a half, at least.  You were having a nice time, so I didn't
want to bother you.'

	`You're not a bother, Myrtle,' Cho says, carefully kissing the side of
Myrtle's face.

	`Never,' Harry kisses her other side, `It's just that it's been weeks,
and we've been . . . ' she trails off, `We've been so tentative, and been
going so slow, and now it's getting to the point where I kinda want to make it
perfect . . . '

	Cho breaks in as Harry trails off a bit, `But I don't want to make a
big deal out of it, since that'd just . . . ' she looks at Harry, trailing
off.

	`So, do we want some great big "First time" that--'

	`Or do we decide that on the grass right here, in the fading sunset
next to the teleport pad is nice enough?' Cho leans forward, and presses her
lips to Harry's.

	Harry grabs the bottom hem of her bra in her hands, and pulls it off
over her head, dropping it onto her BDU blouse and t-shirt, `If it wouldn't
disappoint you, how could it disappoint me?  My first time was in the last
stall of Myrtle's latrine,' a broad grin slips over her face, `And now I've
got a sunset, a pretty girl, and a perfect one.  I hardly see any way of
actually improving on that.'

	Cho looks into Harry's eyes from her place in Harry's lap, takes
Harry's hands, and places them on her hips, `Then take my top off, and kiss
me.'

	`As you command,' Harry replies, suddenly thinking this was a whole
lot easier when he was found with his pants around his ankles by Myrtle that
first time, and pulls the woodland camoflage fabric up over Cho's head.  Her
hair settles, crossed and disheveled, strands dripping into her face.  Harry
gulps, brushes them aside, and kisses the girl in her lap gently.

	Cho will have none of that, brushing her tongue gently over Harry's
lips, then more insistantly.  Harry moans into her mouth, eagerly meeting her
tongue with her own, her hands tugging up Cho's shirt almost on their own.

	Cho's hands are also busy, one hand playing with Harry's belt, the
other cupped gently around, she suddenly smiles, Harry's not so small as it
was breast.  Belt opened she leans forward, slipping her hand down the front
of Harry's BDU bottoms, and in the fly of her underwear.  She supposes that's
another reason to have them, even if she finds the thought, more than the
actuallity, of a FUD a bit squicky.

	Harry moans, cupping Cho's butt in her hands, as Cho's fingers slip
through her short, black pubic hair.
				      *
	`No babies,' Harry pants, breaking the kiss, and rolls them both,
pinning Cho onto the smooth-brushed concrete of the teleport pad.

	Cho growls, thinks a moment, they'd only gone over this today, one
foot between Harry's legs, one up on the outside, grab her wrist with the
opposite hand, same side hand around her bicep, pull, push, roll into a front
mount, hands firmly on Harry's waist.  One can not, it seems, pick some one up
by the waistband when they are naked.  Cho holds Harry down and contemplates
this a moment.

	Harry pulls her close, wraps her hands in Cho's hair, and
kisses her, `Good,' she says, then lets go and shoves her back again, `Now
I've got you.'

	Cho smiles back, walks through the sequence in her mind, knife-hand
down between one of Harry's knees and her own body, curl like a shrimp, twist
and shove, forcing Harry's legs from around her, side mount, then an arm bar.
She takes a breath, breaks the mount, and Harry rolls before Cho can manage
the side mount.  A moment's struggle and, she is not entirely sure how, she
has a rear-mount on Harry, one arm under Harry's, the other around her neck,
hands locked together.

	Harry, concentration on escape momentarily overriding the fact that
they're mostly playing, kicks out a leg, forces both of them over onto
Cho's back.  She shoves hard with her feet, lifting her legs and lower torso,
then tries an inelegant and, in normal circumstances, useless, move, throwing
herself forward like a situp, intending to drop back hard enough to make Cho
let go.

	Cho yelps and lets go before Harry's more than halfway up, and Harry
rolls awkwardly forward and to one side.

	`You're bleeding,' they both say at the same time.

	A quick check reveals that the blood on Cho's front came from Harry's
back, which, near as they can tell, is a little more scratched than Cho's.

	`Sorry 'bout whomping you like that,' Harry mutters, touching a red
spot on Cho's bum that will almost certainly darken into a bruise.

	`I hadn't thought I'd grabbed you that hard,' Cho says instead, lining
her hand up with the red mark on Harry's upper arm.

	`I hadn't either,' Harry looks, `Kiss it and make it better?'

	`Alright,' Cho kisses the forming bruise gently.

	Harry kisses the one on the side of Cho's hip.
				      *
	Cho giggles at the sight, and touch, of Myrtle happily licking her
fingers.  Harry smiles at them, then shifts, `Who's bright idea was it to move
to the teleport pad?' she asks, cuddling her girl and her ghost to her as she
lays naked and bleeding on the concrete.

	`Yours,' Cho says, `But I didn't complain,' she reaches down her own
back, and wipes at an abraided shoulder, looks at the handful of redness she
brought back, and smears it down Harry's face, `Mine,' she declares firmly,
then turns to Myrtle, and draws a line of red down the tiny, naked ghost's
front, `Mine, too.'

	Myrtle positively beams, and nods.

	Harry notices, and repeats the gesture, first with Myrtle, then with
Cho, `Mine, both of you,' she nods firmly.

	Cho nods back, and Myrtle kisses her.
				      *
	Hermione stares at the little welded steel ball in her hand, holding
it as the droid instructor said, thumb on the "spoon" fingers curled around
the ball of it, fuze, because she's right handed, up.  With mild trepidation
she flicks the safety clip off, then tucks her index finger through the ring,
and pulls the pin.

	She takes a deep breath, lets go of the spoon, and starts counting,
`Thousand one, thousand two, thousand three, thousand four,' throws the pin,
drops the grenade, and has time to pout and say `Oh, shit!' before the fuze
goes off.

	*BOOM* the blasting cap echos lightly, and Hermione picks up the
practice grenade, tosses it into the bin, and takes up another one.

	`You really need to stop doing that,' Ron says, smirking.

	`Second time,' Hermione growls, `And if we were using real grenades I
wouldn't have done it.'

	`Because you'da blown yourself up the first time,' Ron says, a little
worry creeping into his voice.

	`Ron!' Hermione arranges the practice grenade in her hand, clip, pin,
spoon, `Thousand one, thousand two, thousand three, thousand four,' and tosses
the grenade, which lands perfectly in the target box and blows up before it
rolls out.

	`Good,' the droid instructor says, `Twice more, and on to the next
station.'

	`Right,' Hermione tells her, picking up another grenade.
				      *
	`What's bio-medical research?' Cho asks, poking through the forms in
the personnel office.

	Harry looks at the form, then up at Cho, `Working with living things,'
she says, `We did want to get Umbridge a good pet.'

	`Didn't we decide that there weren't any?'

	`Yeah, but there were several that would almost work, so maybe we
could make something?'

	`Like a blast-ended skrewt?' Cho is dubious about the project.

	`Like a less dangerous Mogwai, I was thinking,' Harry says.

	`And how are we going to do that?'

	`Talk to the instructors?'

	So they do.
				      *
	Myrtle recovers a great deal by the time Harry, Cho, Ron, and Hermione
graduate from Basic.

	Pansy's medic studies have progressed to the point that she can, with
Myrtle's help, do minor tailoring for the half-sized ghost, so when Myrtle
asks, `Can you give me my spots back?  I kinda liked being spotty,' she
doesn't laugh out loud.

	The first attempt at freckles looks quite odd, and the second . . . is
best not mentioned.  The third attempt manages a few large liver-spots, but
nothing terribly useful, until Luna asks `Are you trying to make her look like
a Trill?'

	`What's a Trill?' Myrtle asks.

 	Luna looks her in the eye, her head cocking to one side.

	Myrtle looks around the tropical island she suddenly finds herself on,
and a monkey throws glowing goo, which spells out words, "Hello!  I've never
had a ghost in here before, so I don't know" a wave washes over Myrtles, feet,
and she jumps and squeeks at the cold.  A different monkey throws more goo on
the sands, "how well you'll take it.  There's a cave inland a bit, I'll show
you there"

	Myrtle follows the bright green lizard, suddenly noticing that she's
much less grey than normal, `That's kinda neat,' she says.

	A monkey throws something on the trail, which spreads into glowing
orange letters, "You're in my head, so"

	Myrtle nods, the letters in front of her already fading, and follows
the lizard to a cave.  One wall is fairly flat, and flickering shapes appear
on it as Myrtle curls up on a large stone.  She shifts uncomfortably at the
end of the showing, both amused and pleased by the way her leg tingles
uncomfortably, her ankle flopping as she tries to put weight on it.

	Luna's voice comes from the speakers, `I'm sure I've left important
bits of the various stories out, but that should give you a bit of an idea
what Trill are.'

	Myrtle bows, `Thank you,' she takes an awkward step, smiles around, `I
haven't had my foot go to sleep in,' she laughs, `A very long time.'

	Luna lets Myrtle walk down to the beach again before kicking her out
into the real world again.

	Myrtle smiles, suddenly, and turns to Pansy, `Trill spots?' she asks
hopefully, `All the way down?'

	`How far down is that?' Pansy asks her.

	`To my ankles.  I think that would be pretty.'

	Pansy gives her a crooked half-grin, `It might.'

	It only takes them a half-dozen more tries to get it right.
				      *
	Harry really is not expecting them to come looking for her as she
sits, testing Hexy's resistance.  The tissue cultures all demonstrate the
proper properties, or else she would not risk a full creature, but.  Hexy
turns blue eyes up at her, "Calm," she says, "No Danger."

	`But what if the light's wrong?  This light killed half of our tissue
samples,' Harry waves at the light "outside," `But it's not real sunlight.'

	Hexy looks outside, then back to Harry, "Then stay inside."

	`I worry.'

	"Because good parent, like Myrtle and Cho."

	Myrtle looks questioningly into Harry's eyes, drifting past her big
room to brush her surface thoughts, "You are a good parent, I think.  I'm not
so sure about me, but . . . stop flattering me.  OK, we can be insecure about
ourselves, but I don't think you need to be."

	`They're looking for you,' Cho greets them from the door.

	Myrtle turns just enough to catch her eye, and Cho gasps, "Oh.  Of
course Harry's a good mother.  Hexy's got her will, her determination.  She'll
be fine, even with Umbridge.  I hope so too," closes her eyes, complains,
`That's dangerous, particularly for you, Myrtle, since your mind is all you
really have left.'

	`It's just surface thoughts,' Myrtle says, shrugging.

	`I keep wanting to go deeper,' Cho says softly, `To wrap myself in the
love I feel from you until there's nothing else left.'

	`Oh,' Myrtle presses her face up under Cho's chin, gives the soft
flesh a tiny lick, `I'd be most displeased by that,' she suckles lightly, a
skill she's been working on, since she really does not have a mouth to suck
with, `Since I really like the fact that you are you, and not me.'

	`So long as we'd still be ourselves when we separated,' Harry shrugs,
`I think that would be very nice,' she gathers Cho into her arms, not even
shivering as Myrtle interpenetrates her torso, colder than icewater.
				      *
	Harry watches as Delores cuddles Hexy, pleased by the way she's taken
to the tiny creature.  Hexy eats just about anything, but Delores has the
house-elves bring her all sorts of things for her to try.  A faint smile
drifts onto Harry's face as Delores pampers the tiny creature, she's much
prettier when she smi--

	Sudden fear tightens her belly again, and she looks down at the table,
it would be, she looks up, and Makoto meets her gaze, "Be OK.  Calm.  Harry
baby pretty," and a smile tilts the little devil-platypus's eyes.

	"It'd be so much easier if she's not," Harry shrugs, the knot in her
belly loosening anyway.

	"Easy, yes.  Better?" Makoto makes a four-handed gesture of
possibility from Cho's shoulder.
				      *
	Poppy looks down into Pansy's serious brown eyes, `I can't make a
mediwizard out of you in a couple months, but I _can_ teach you enough to
patch your friends up in an emergency, if that's enough.'

	`That's all I'm asking right now,' Pansy nods, smiles up at the older
woman.
				      *
	Harry looks at the weapon in her hands, and the wheeled case open in
front of her.  The pistols on her shoulders are one thing, after over two
P.O.E.E. months, nearly half a year, she'd feel naked without them.  The M14D,
almost six kilos in its alloy stock, and seven thirty-round mags of 7.62x63AP
are a different matter.  Better to have, and not need, she sighs to herself,
packs it, fills the grenade wells, and tucks an extra four hundred boxed
rounds in at the bottom, before she closes the case, the persona-lock latching
by itself. 
	
	Hermione groans from across the aisle, so Harry leans out to look at
her, `I need four fucking white parachute flares,' she cusses, glaring at her
mostly packed case, the 40mm grenade launcher mounted under her M14D's barrel,
and the last four open grenade slots in her case.

	`Here,' Luna pulls them from her cargo pocket, the M10R slung across
her back. 

	Hermione takes them, `Thanks,' and tucks them away before closing her
case.

	`Is that thing combat-loaded yet,' Ron asks Luna.

	`Training-load still, here,' and she pulls it off casually, holds it
out by the sling.

	Ron takes it in both hands, and still staggers, `How the fuck does
someone carry this into combat?'

	`Combat load's barely twenty kilos or so,' Luna smiles up at him, `And
after running around at three hundred and fifty fucking pounds for most of a year
dropping down to two hundred's nice.'

	Ron nods, `I guess.  Do you want,' he stops, `How can we help?'

	`We'll be done in the morning by breakfast, so don't worry,' Luna
orders.

	`Right,' Ron says, then looks at Hermione and Harry, who nod.
				      *
	Cho leads the way back to Gryffindor tower, her case thumping up the
stairs behind her.

	`Why's she coming with us?' Ron asks.

	Harry pauses at the landing and gives him a "how dumb are you?" look.

	Ron blushes, `Oh.'

	`And we need to be by the Slytherin dungeons at three thirty or so,'
Hermione adds, `Set your alarms.'

	`Yes'm,' Myrtle salutes her.

	Hermione scowls, but returns the salute.
				      *
	Pansy strokes Luna's forearm, running her fingers around the seam,
nearly faded after several weeks, where she'd put it back on, `Don't you go
losing parts on me, OK?'

	`Don't shmush my nose,' Luna grins back, `It took Poppy three tries to
get the hook right.'

	Pansy blinks, and wraps her arms tightly about Luna, pressing her face
between the other girl's breasts, `Sorry 'bout that.'
				      *
	Harry leans back against the wall, watching the blank stone wall, Cho
watching up the corridor, nearly invisible in adaptive cloth over just the
helmet, BWD, breast plate and back plate of her BAM, the dark shape of her
M14D occluded by the shadow she's standing in.  Harry yawns, they arrived at
just after four, and, she checks her watch, it is now six thirty.  Makoto had
headed back up a few minutes ago to report to Ron and Hermione, who are
watching the seventh floor with the rest of the Hexies.

	Severus had stalked past them at about five, without, apparently,
noticing them, but nothing further had happened.  Makoto had run into Mrs.
Norris about six, but escaped without being noticed.

	Cho, across the hall, brings one nearly invisible hand up to her
mouth, hidden behind her mask, obviously yawning herself, then puts it back on
the foregrip of her weapon.

	A little more than half an hour later a tiny brown-haired girl in a
too-large black robe rucked up with a rope belt leads three shapes in adaptive
cloth out the sudden opening in the wall.

	Harry and Cho step in behind them, silent, worried by the gracelessly
careful way they walk, the girl nearly as tired, floating along on her bare
feet.
				      *
	`Will they be OK?' Ron asks, all four of them under the Invisible
Cloak, tucked into a convienient nook after the other four chased them out of
the BTC.

	`Maybe,' Harry says, hugging herself tightly to Cho's back, `We can't
condemn them for doing what needed to be done.'

	`What do you mean?'

	`Don't be a prat, their friend's probably kinda fragile right now, and
so, probably, are they,' Hermione says, `I expect I would be, if I just spent
most of a year with just you lot, training, and topped it off with a four-hour
running gun battle.'

	`Oh,' Ron nods, firmly, `Right.'
				      *
	Gram is showing her PT already, and Luna is a little more dreamy.  It
is nice to see.  All four of them startle easily, however, but that mutes a
little by the time Poppy joins them.
				      *
	`Poppy, could you teach me about bruises?' Pansy asks diffidently,
leaning back against the wall, hands clasped together over her belly.

	`Of course,' Poppy nods, `Why are you interested?'

	`Luna,' Pansy shakes her head, presses her left hand flat over her
right shoulder and upper chest, `Was bruised from her shoulder down nearly to
her navel, despite the armor, after that,' she doesn't specify which "that",
`She says she just didn't tuck it hard enough, but.'

	`You want to be able to heal her next time, if it happens again,'
Poppy smiles, `We can manage that.'
				      *
	Forty days pass before Poppy is consulted.

	`I don't remember how long before I was Vanished my last one was, but
I was fairly regular the last few months, and it's been forty days,' Gram
wiggles her hand side-to-side, `I don't seem to be too skinny, and there's no
symptoms yet, but sometimes people don't notice until they start to show, so.'

	Poppy nods, her heart clenching at the possibilty, quickly disproven
by a diagnostic charm, `Well, you're not pregnant,' she says, and starts a
different diagnostic.

	`Is she OK?' Pansy finally asks, watching Poppy work, her hand on
Ent's thigh.

	`Age locks vary in intensity,' Poppy answers after a moment, `It, to
simplify, keeps your body repeating the same period of time.  A looser lock
has a longer cycle time.  If one's lock has a cycle time of more than a month
or so one has a period, and can get pregnant if one wants to.  A harder lock
has a shorter cycle time, and I'll need to use a monitoring charm to find out
how long Gram's is.  No matter how short it is, however, it shouldn't last
more than three years or so,' Poppy looks into Gram's eyes.

	`That'll get me out of school at least,' Gram smiles, `And I don't
seem to be PMSing, so,' she shrugs, and tugs Pansy up into her lap, hugging
her tightly.

Genderfuck poor Harry, though . . .
Chapter Fourteen:
In Which There Is a Wedding.

	By the time, weeks later, they leave for Monday morning breakfast,
you'd almost think they were normal students, if not for the fluid grace Gram
is developing and her girls now let themselves show.

	Harry admits, if only to himself, that he finds their broad shoulders
and strong, callused hands very attractive.  She glances at her own hands and
smiles, then back up at her friends' stripped Class Three uniforms, Gram in
woodland camo, the other three in tactical red, Luna's light saber dangling
from her belt and dropping a little below the hem of her top.

	Myrtle has traded gaberdine for something shiny and smooth, which
amused Harry and bemused Cho.

	Ron is wearing the same Irish kilt outfit as at dinner Sunday, to
Poppy's amusement.  Hermione has given in to peer pressure, and is wearing a
Mugen Gakuen uniform, which looks really cute on her.

	Cho and Harry had bounced ideas off each other and Myrtle for a couple
days after they managed to get Hermione into the uniform, eventually settling
on matching black zoot suits, complete with shining platinum chains.

	With a glance at each other for timing and a flick of their wands Cho
and Harry fling open and hold the double doors leading into the great hall,
and Gram regally leads the procession into the Great Hall.  Once they are
seated around Mabel Lister at the Hufflepuff table, Ron walks in, his single
braid waist-length after half a year, and settles next to his brothers, who
whistle.  Hermione enters next, to more whistles, so she pauses and bows in
the doorway before taking a seat at the Gryffindor table.

	Poppy pauses in the doorway as well, bows just a little, her "hat"
looking around before setting eyes on Susan and Hexy, then goes back to
pretending.  She takes her normal seat at the high table.

	A glance between Harry and Cho is Myrtle's cue, and she floats down
the center of the hall, the other two moving to flank her, swinging their
platinum chains in their outside hands as they let the doors fall closed.
Myrtle placing a possesive hand on their inside shoulders as the doors shut
behind them.  Someone claps, and someone laughs, and all three girls blush
suddenly.  They settle at the Ravenclaw table, and try to bury the sudden
realization that they either just looked really cool, or really stupid.

	Harry looks up at Severus, and decides it must have been closer to
cool than stupid.
				      *
	Harry will forever blame Pentagram's wedding for warping her
perceptions of how one should go.  They tell her they are getting married
that night, ask her to help perform the ceremony, canonize her a Discordian
Saint, which takes far less time than she really wants to think about, and
tell her how to perform the ceremony.  After that, Harry just watches as about
half the school seems to run in circles one way as the other half runs around
the other way, and is quite confused by the kerfluffle.

	`So what are we going to wear?' Hermione asks, all aflutter.

	Cho nods, holding Harry's hand in both of hers.  Harry smiles at the
sight, quite distracted.

	`Dress robes?' Ron asks.

	`Class One?' Harry offers instead.

	`Ginny said "Pretty damned informal" when I asked her,' Hermione says,
`So that's either parade blacks or Class Four.'

	`Ron's not got anything nice but not too dressy,' Harry says.

	Ron makes a "Harumph" noise.

	`So that means stripped parade blacks, I guess,' Cho says, `Since I
think it would look good if we're in the same uniform.'

	`I think you're right,' Hermione nods, and it is decided.
				      *
	After the ceremony, and Monday night dinner, there is much confusion
and complaining about all sorts of, in Harry's opinion, stupid side-issues
like "sudden," from Ginny's mum, who somehow misses the fact that her daughter
is inches taller and a year older than she was last Friday, "too young," from
Pansy's parents, also missing that fact, "a little risky," from Ginny's dad,
"the success rate for these high school romances is very low."

	Luna's dad is much less calm, but more reasonable, actually bouncing
around the room, taking pictures of everything and everyone, getting quotes,
interviewing his daughter's new wives, and pausing every so often to hug his
daughter and say, again, `I'm so proud of you!  They're so pretty, and you can
tell that they'll keep you safe,' before bouncing off to interview someone
else.

	Luna just keeps touching her light saber, hugging and patting her
girls, and watching the room like a bomb's going to go off, getting tenser and
tenser until Pansy gathers them all up and annouces `We'll see you in the
morning,' she looks over at Poppy, `Hotaru?' she asks.

	Hotaru sits up, leans over to look down at Poppy's face, then back up
at Pansy, `Stay?' she asks.

	`If you want.'

	`Want.'

	`I'll see you in a bit, too, then.'

	No one finds them again that night, but no one else has a key to the
BTC either, so . . .
				      *

Genderfuck poor Harry, though . . .
Chapter Fifteen:
In Which Death Eaters Hide Like Rats.

	Tuesday classes resume.  Malfoy's still missing, but the new Potters
are in Hogwarts uniform.  They're all a little twitchy in crowds, but classes
seem OK.

	Wednesday morning's Prophet has a list of the dead, their crimes, and
where they died.  Luna takes one look at it, smiles at Harry, and says, `That
only leaves Lestrange, Dolohov, and Pettigrew,' she points to the list on the
sidebar, `Bellatrix is only down for concealment, apparently,' she smiles up
at Pansy, who's leaning over her shoulder, `It looks like three of listed
criminals were only identifiable by tissue comparison with the blood samples
taken when they were tossed into Azkaban.  Three more are still listed as
`death eater, identity unknown.'

	`Hopefully that takes care of the money end,' Hermione says from the
other side of the table, `A lot of those guys were very rich.'

	`Were, apparently, is the word.  Most of them have been hit with a
punitive inheritance tax on all non-real property,' Pansy smiles at the paper,
`That means money and portables, basicly, of up to ninety percent.'

	`Good,' Malfoy stops next to the table, drops into seiza, and bows,
pressing his head to the floor, `I cannot apologize for what my father did,
but I wish I could.'

	Pansy, Gram, and Ginny look at him in surprise.  Luna looks sad.

	`My life,' Malfoy continues, forehead still on the floor, `Like my
honor, is forever stained by my father's actions, and my own lack of
action.  If I can repay any part, in any way, tell me.'

	Luna looks at Gram, who turns to Malfoy, `Draco,' she pauses, `I hated
you for three years because I didn't,' she pauses again, `You are not your
father, and cannot pay for his crimes.  Don't repeat them,' another, longer
pause, and she looks around, noticing the way all eyes seem to be on them,
`Get up.'

	Draco does, and Gram looks him in the eye, `Learn what right looks
like, and do it.'

	Draco gulps at the hard look in the young woman's green-blue eyes,
nods, `I will.'

	`An it harm none, thy will be done,' Gram tells him, rocks him back
with a firm, bruising punch to his upper chest.

	`Thank you,' Draco says, and walks off.

---
log:
3169/Aftermath/55:	A week long field problem, in December in Korea,
			coupled with some long term idle fancies
			(Harry/Myrtle, mainly) and a bit of conversation with
			a friend about a lemon-fic they're working on, led to
			this springing into my head, with several scenes
			well-developed.
3169/Aftermath/56:	Written, to the header for Ch. 5 ^_^
3169/Aftermath/60:	Started Ch. 5.
3169/Aftermath/64:	Little bit more, some dialog taken from _OotP_.
3169/Aftermath/66:	Tiny edit
3170/Chaos/25:		Tiny edits.
3170/St. Tib's Day:	Tense changes, little bit more of Ch. 5.  
3170/Chaos/60:		Added a little more, finished Ch. 5.
3170/Chaos/70:		Started Ch. 6, first two scenes
3170/Bureaucracy/11:	Continued, started Ch. 7
3170/Bureaucracy/12:	Continued, finished Ch. 7 (which is very long, for
			this story), and Ch. 8 ^_^
3170/Bureaucracy/17:	Continued Ch. 9., started Ch. 10
3170/Bureaucracy/29:	Continued Ch. 10
3170/Aftermath/24:	Tiny edits
3171/Aftermath/16:	Bah!  It's been a year since I touched this one.  Gah.
3173/Confusion/40:	Tso, I re-read bits of OotP and realized Hagrid wasn't
			back yet . . . and continued.  Ch. 11, and the
			beginning of Ch. 12
3173/Confusion/41:	Ch. 12, and a bit of Ch. 13
3173/Confusion/43:	Moved some bits of Ch. 11-13 around, more of same.
3173/Confusion/44:	more of Ch. 13
3173/Confusion/45:	Spotty Myrtle ^_^
3173/Confusion/47:	More Ch. 13, and added a bit to the Cho/Harry scene
			Start of Ch. 14