I narrowed my eyes at her a bit, but kept my tone casual. "Starting to feel like there's a lot you're telling me not to worry about, Lilja."
She huffed out a tiny laugh at that. "Yes, well. I suppose there is."
I blew out a breath and decided not to press. "So," I said instead, shifting slightly on the bench and leaning my forearms on my knees. "You came out here at this ungodly hour to look for me, or was I just a happy coincidence?"
Lilja shook her head. "I wasn't expecting to find you here," she admitted. "I usually like walking early in the morning when the castle is quiet. I didn't mean to interrupt your-whatever THAT was with that girl..."
"A walk? Or a mini date?" I shrugged at Lilja, not really knowing which it was. But Jasmine did kiss me so I leaned closer towards the latter.
Two familiar presences pricked at the edge of my demonic senses before the sound even reached us.
"She's here for us," two voices announced in near-perfect unison.
I turned my head toward the nearest archway. Rias and Sona walked into the courtyard.
Rias's long crimson hair tumbled over her shoulders, catching the early morning light and glinting like silk. Her Hufflepuff robes were technically standard uniform, but on her they might as well have been tailored formalwear. She had that little smug smile on her face, the one that said she already knew she was about to cause trouble and was going to enjoy every second of it.
Sona was her opposite in appearance-dark hair cut in its sharp, neat bob, pristine Ravenclaw robes pressed and straight, tie perfectly centered. Her expression was composed and serious, but the faint flush dusting her cheeks blew her cool act just enough for me to catch it.
"...What's this about?" I asked, raising an eyebrow. I didn't move from the bench, but I shifted slightly so I was more squarely facing them. My tone was somewhere between curious and wary. Experience told me when those two teamed up, something was about to happen and I was rarely fully in control of it.
Rias giggled, lifting her hand to cover her mouth in that cutesy "ara ara" way Akeno usually did. "We're here for an interrogation," she announced cheerfully. "A very serious and threatening interrogation of the Norse spy." She said it like she was quoting something. "I've always wanted to do this," she added, eyes sparkling. "Just like in some of my favorite yakuza anime. Walk in, corner the informant, lean in close and say, 'You came to the wrong turf, sweetheart!'"
Sona groaned softly under her breath and pinched the bridge of her nose behind her glasses. "Rias," she muttered, "we are not yakuza."
"Not with that attitude, we aren't!" Rias shot back immediately.
Lilja just rolled her eyes at both of them, crossing her arms under her chest. The pose was defensive, but also did absolutely criminal things to the view. "You two really don't need to 'threaten and interrogate' me," she said dryly. "You could have just asked for a conversation."
"You're a Valkyrie from Asgard who enrolled in Hogwarts under a flimsy Muggle-born transfer cover and just so happened to attach yourself to Harry," Sona said in her calm, Council-President voice as she walked closer, heels clicking on the stone. "There will be questions."
I stood up from the bench to avoid making Lilja feel like she was cornered while sitting. I moved so I was between her and the archway, but not blocking her escape outright. I knew damn well Sona and Rias were not actually going to hurt her, but Lilja didn't know that yet.
"You two don't have to do that," I said, giving both of them a look. "Seriously. She just helped me fight off a bunch of centaurs. She's not hostile."
"And I appreciated that," Sona said, eyes flicking briefly to me, softening just a fraction before they went sharp again. "But that doesn't explain who she's reporting to. Or why she's here. Or how she personally knows names like 'James Potter' and 'Marlene McKinnon.'"
....
I was not pouting as I walked back through the halls of Hogwarts.
...Okay, maybe I was pouting a little.
"You're too emotionally compromised, Harry," Sona had said with that calm, authoritative tone that always made me want to argue just for the sake of it.
"Translation," Rias had added, grinning, "you're way too weak to sexy redheads to be present for this interrogation."
I'd tried to protest. They'd both just stared at me. Matching expressions. Matching crossed arms. Matching "we love you but no" energy. And, annoyingly, they were right.
I was emotionally compromised when it came to Lilja. I liked her. A lot. Too much, too fast. If they pressed her and she looked even slightly hurt or upset, I'd probably step in on reflex. Which would ruin the entire point of them trying to figure out who she really was and what she wanted.
Didn't mean I had to enjoy being sidelined. So I walked. Step by step, through the cool stone corridors, doing that thing where you stare too hard at tapestries you've already seen a hundred times just so you don't think too much.
By the time I made it back up to the Gryffindor common room, the castle was finally starting to wake up.
A few early risers were already shuffling around the room in that half-dead way people moved before breakfast. Someone yawned so loudly it cracked halfway into a dying-animal noise. A couple of third-years were sitting at a table with their heads literally on top of their books, pretending they were "reviewing" when they were clearly trying not to fall back asleep.
Right in the middle of that sleepy chaos stood my twin maids like they owned the place.
Lyra and Lyna were already dressed in their usual slutty maid uniforms-tight black bodices, low necklines that made their identical big tits look like they were seconds away from bursting out, and short skirts with frilly white hems that barely covered their asses when they bent over. They looked completely awake, completely put together, and completely smug.
Morning people...
They had somehow acquired a teapot and a full tea set, probably charmed it out of the kitchens or bullied some poor house-elf into lending it to them. Lyra was pouring with this graceful, practiced motion like she'd been born doing it. Lyna was moving between couches and chairs, handing steaming cups to anyone they liked and pretending not to see the way half the room couldn't stop staring at their boobs.
I spotted Hermione too. She was curled up on one of the bigger couches by the fire, one leg tucked under her, the other dangling. She had a blanket draped over her lap and a thick book propped open in one hand, already halfway through a chapter.
Lyna came up behind her and handed a cup of tea over the back of the couch with a cheerful, "Here you go, Lady Hermione. Extra strong, just like you like it."
Hermione took the cup automatically with her free hand and murmured, "Thank you, Lyna," without looking away from her page. Total reflex. You'd think adorable devil maids in scandalous uniforms delivering tea at dawn was completely normal for her now.
I walked over to them, and both twins lit up when they saw me.
"Good morning, Young Master!" Lyra chirped. Her tits bounced dangerously when she turned toward me with the pot. She tilted it in my direction with a knowing smile. "Tea?"
"Yes, please," I said. I wasn't stupid. Never say no to maids with tea. I held my cup out and Lyra poured, steady and precise, not spilling a drop. "Thanks," I told her, then moved around the sofa and dropped down onto the empty cushion right beside Hermione.
I didn't say anything. I just sat there, set my tea down on the little table next to me, and leaned sideways until my head rested on Hermione's shoulder. She just paused for half a second, smiled this tiny little smile I only ever saw when she was genuinely happy, shifted her shoulder just a bit to make it more comfortable for me, and then kept reading like nothing unusual had happened.
That was the thing about Hermione. She didn't need big gestures. Just being there was enough.
The room slowly filled up around us as more and more Gryffindors dragged themselves out of bed and down the stairs. Someone tripped coming off the last step and blamed the stairs. A few people were loudly debating whether breakfast was worth getting up for when you could technically just go back to sleep and skip Transfiguration "this one time."
The peaceful morning scene lasted all of five minutes. My door at the back of the common room clicked open and Tonks walked out.
Well-"walked" was generous. She stumbled out, one hand on the doorframe, the other braced on the wall as she pulled it shut behind her. She was freshly showered. Her face was flushed in that very specific "I got absolutely railed all night" way-pink cheeks, slightly swollen lips, the kind of glow makeup couldn't fake. She was wearing her assistant-teacher outfit. Fitted black trousers, boots, and a white button-up shirt under her robes. Except the shirt wasn't buttoned quite right. The top button was undone, maybe the second, maybe the third-it was hard to tell-but either way, there was enough of a gap that every wizard in the room instantly clocked she wasn't wearing a bra.
Her legs did that little "catching myself from wobbling" move twice before she made it to the middle of the room.
You could literally feel the rumors start forming.
"Wait, isn't that Professor Black's assistant?"
"Was she in Harry Sitri's room?"
"Was she in there all night?"
I heard one whisper clearly from somewhere behind me. "Didn't she used to be an Auror? Did she quit her job just to be with him?"
Another voice answered immediately, half awed, half jealous, "If he was fucking me like that, I'd quit my job too!"
I wanted to complain that everyone just assumed everything was about sex with me.
...Then I remembered Tonks barely being able to stand and decided they weren't exactly wrong.
Fred and George appeared like they'd been summoned by gossip. They materialized from opposite sides of the room and ended up flanking Tonks as she made her way toward the fire.
Fred put an arm dramatically around her shoulders, grinning like he'd just found the gossip of the year. "Nymphadora Tonks," he said loudly enough for anyone pretending not to eavesdrop, "you are looking absolutely radiant this morning."
George nodded, clasping his hands together in mock reverence. "Yes, there's a certain... glow about you. Almost as if," he added thoughtfully, "you were kept up all night by a particularly vigorous young man that can never stop generating scandalous rumors when it comes to our house!"
Tonks just rolled her eyes, shoved Fred's arm off her shoulders with more force than her shaky legs suggested she should have, and snorted. "Instead of spreading more rumors, maybe you two should practise so you can make your girlfriend limp like I do one day..."
"...Burn..." Someone whispered.
Fred and George actually looked completely silent and stumped for once. At least until their girlfriend Angelina came down from the woman's side of the dorms and dragged them out for an early breakfast.
"Yeah! You two do need to get better! I would love to be limping like that every morning-" Angelina whined at her boyfriends before the fat lady's portrait shut behind them...
Tonks just chuckled before her eyes landed on me and she pouted. "Aw, you weren't next to me when I woke up a second time this morning!" she said loudly, on purpose no doubt.
"Whoa! He really is shagging an assistant teacher!"
"Did you see how she's walking?"
"Merlin, Sitri doesn't miss!"
"Oi," someone muttered, "leave some women for the rest of us."
Tonks ignored all of it, completely and intentionally. She shuffled her way over to Lyra and Lyna with stubborn determination. "Please," she groaned dramatically, slumping into the nearest armchair they were hovering by. "For the love of all that is magical, tell me you two sweet, beautiful creatures have tea left. I need ALL THE CAFFEINE!"
Lyra straightened up proudly, lifting the teapot like it was a valuable demonic artifact. "Of course we do, Tonks-sensei," she said with a bright smile.
Tonks squinted one eye at her. "Sensei?" she repeated.
Lyna giggled. "You're a teacher now~" she sing-songed, leaning forward so far her breasts almost fully bounced out of her neckline as she reached for an extra cup.
"Hehe-Tonk's-sensei! I like it!"
I couldn't help but find myself grinning. My peerage was all around me-mostly. Sure, Narcissa wasn't here with us-if she came strolling out of my bedroom in the morning too, that really would start some unmanageable rumors...
Still, this was very nice.
....
The following week at Hogwarts was surprisingly normal-well, at least what passed for normal in my crazy life now. Classes were still classes, and I went dutifully, though most of the time was spent half-listening while I covertly flirted or outright teased one of my girls under the desks. I made sure to keep my grades up though, mostly by studying late into the evenings in my private room or grabbing a helpful tutoring session from Hermione, who always looked simultaneously annoyed and thrilled whenever I needed her tutoring.
Outside of class, I devoted myself fully to my ever-growing personal life. Dates were abundant. My public, blatantly affectionate strolls through Hogwarts grounds or trips to Hogsmeade with my official fiance Rias drew constant whispers, stares, and giggles. Rias loved the attention, linking her arm through mine proudly as she waved cheerfully at our audience like a visiting princess.
Then there were the secret rendezvous with Sona. Those dates were subtler, hidden away of course to avoid more human rumors.
Jasmine and Ginny got some of my time too-usually spent lounging together lazily in the Gryffindor common room, chatting about magic or our lives. Ginny, my newly contracted witch, was still adjusting to her bond with me and the increase in her magical power. Jasmine, meanwhile, grew bolder and more openly affectionate each day, kissing my cheek publicly, leaning comfortably against me, and shooting smug, victorious looks at any other witch who stared too long.
I did also try to spend some time with Daphne and Tracy, but for some reason I also wasn't yet aware of, those two girls had gone from wanting to do everything they could to join my clique-to suddenly completely avoiding me outside of class...
Then there was Lilja. And I was glad that Rias and Sona didn't kick her out of the castle. Not that they actually had the power to do that-since Hogwarts wasn't devil territory-but still!
Whatever she'd revealed to Rias and Sona during their intense interrogation had done the trick-and more. Every time I was seen with Lilja, I caught Rias and Sona giving us these incredulous, slightly awed stares like they couldn't quite believe what they were seeing. Whatever it was, it was still something that I wasn't aware of yet. I was very curious but wouldn't pry if Lilja didn't want to tell me and obviously my beautiful aunt and gorgeous fiance had agreed to keep her secret.
