Advent '10 - December 14th
December 14th - 11 days to go
Harry awoke to annoyed squeaking.
Prying open his eyes he saw Ash was on his pillow once again, only this time Julian seemed to be with him.
Whenever Ash let out a trill Julian would copy it almost exactly and when Ash bounced to a different area of pillow Julian would follow.
Harry thought it was adorable. Julian was hero-worshipping Ash!
Ash didn't seem to find it funny at all though.
Stifling a snicker he reached up and picked up Julian before Ash could body pile him into the pillow. Julian purred in delight.
"Now Julian," Harry said sleepily, "don't be annoying Ash. Go annoy your mother instead."
He pushed himself up with his free hand and was about to drop him back with Aphrodite when his brain woke up and he noticed that Julian was already with his mother.
Harry stared at Julian and then back at the other yellow puffskein in his hand.
It wiggled its tongue at him.
Harry slowly turned back to face the disgruntled Ash who was sitting on his pillow.
"Ash," Harry asked with wide eyes, "did you knock up Hestia?"
Ash squeaked.
"Oh, okay." Harry turned back to the rest of his puffskeins who were nestled in his blankets. He glared at them sternly. "Right. Which one of you had a kid?"
They didn't move.
Harry rolled his eyes and waved the new addition in the air as it trilled in delight. "It's a bit late to be pretending that you haven't!"
Artemis let out a squeak.
"Arty?" Harry asked, shocked. "You're the mother?"
She squeaked again.
"That means…" Harry turned to glare at the two adult male puffskeins that he owned, Zeus and Apollo. "Okay. Which one of you knocked up Arty?"
Neither admitted anything so Harry turned back to Artemis. "Which one knocked you up?"
Arty squeaked and bounced over to Apollo.
"Apollo!" Harry made a face at the not-really incest. "Right, well, I'm going to ignore the fact that the gods I named you after are actually twins." He stared at him. "Did you knock up 'Dite too?"
Apollo trilled sadly.
Harry frowned. "You know that won't work on me Apollo. You've got kids by two different females now. You need to step up your game. How are you going to support them? Are you just going to leave them to fend for themselves?"
Apollo purred.
"You can't expect their mum's to do everything! Where's the emotional support?"
Apollo stuck out his tongue and waved it in the Puffskein equivalent of a shrug.
"You," Harry said strictly, "need to man up."
When he deemed Apollo suitably chastised for not taking responsibility for his actions he turned his attention back onto the baby puffskein in his hand.
"So, what are we going to call you?"
It wiggled his tongue and purred.
"You look like…a Strukerius." Harry nodded to himself as he said the name. "But that's a bit too long so I'm gonna call you Stryker for short. Good?"
Stryker purred at him and nuzzled his thumb. Harry grinned and shifted back until he was leaning against his pillows, Ash dodging out the way, his back having finally calmed down. "Aw! You're a lot more outgoing then some of the others aren't you?"
Stryker caught sight of Ash and started squeaking, bouncing up and down in his excitement.
Harry snorted at the sight. "And you've got a bit of hero-worship for Ash don't you."
Harry turned to Ash who was sulking near the edge of the bed. He went to pick him up but Ash dodged out the way.
"Ash, now don't be like that."
Ash dodged another of Harry's grabs.
"Well fine then, Harry said with a shrug. I guess if you don't want to sit on my head…"
He trailed off with a grin when Ash immediately bounced over. He picked him up and whispered to him so that Stryker couldn't here.
"Ash, you'll always be my lieutenant, but you can't be so hard on Stryker okay? He's a baby and he really likes you! He's looking to you to be his role model 'cos I don't think either Arty or Apollo are going to step up, as much as I love them.
"I know what you feel like, I had my very own blond hero-worshipper. His name was Colin." Harry's face fell. "He died. And I always regretted not being nicer to him when he was alive."
Ash squeaked and Harry mentally shook himself.
"So," he continued, "do you think you can do that?"
After a moment or two Ash let out a slightly less disgruntled squeak. Harry grinned as he placed Ash on his head. "Awesome."
He looked up to see Fred and George staring at him with wide eyes.
"That." Fred said after a moment, "Was one of the creepiest things I've ever seen. It's like they understand you!"
George shivered as a traumatised look came over his face. "They do, bro. They do."
As Savitar hadn't specified a time to head over to Sanctuary Harry decided that he'd go over the same time he did yesterday.
He had had a little bother when he tried to leave the hotel room, Ash had refused to be parted from him because of getting attacked yesterday. And because Ash refused to leave him that meant Stryker refused as well.
Harry had lost hair trying to rip the little puffballs from the top of his head.
Ten minutes later and a little balder they both came to a compromise.
Ash and Stryker could come with him but they had to stay in his pockets lest they be seen by the muggles. They agreed.
He was just heading across Jackson Square again when he was jumped on from behind by Selena who was looking at him worriedly.
"Honey, you alright?" She asked, checking him over for injuries.
Harry laughed her off, "Yeah, I'm fine. Don't worry about it."
She hummed at him disapprovingly. "You say that, but you have handprint bruises on your throat."
Harry's eyes widened and he lifted a hand to press his fingers against his neck. He was so used to bruises that he didn't even register the pain.
"Oh these," he laughed nervously, "well these are…um…a lot worse then they actually are."
"Don't try to lie to me Harry James Potter."
Harry opened his mouth to deny it before something occurred to him. "I never told you my middle name."
It was Selena's turn to widen her eyes. "Yes you did."
"No I didn't."
She laughed nervously, "Oh, well then…"
Harry stared at her. "Aren't you going to deny it anymore?"
"I can't come up with anything."
He grinned quickly before it fell from his face. "Okay, but really, how did you know?"
"Well…I may know some people…"
Harry took a step back. "Know some people how?"
"It's nothing bad, just, you know how I told you about my family?"
"Yeah?"
"Well it's all true. A couple of years ago one of my sister's was given a book about a boy named Harry Potter."
Harry groaned. "It wasn't 'The Life and Times of Harry Potter' by any chance, was it?"
Selena looked guilty. "At first I thought it was just fantasy, but then you came yesterday and you look like the boy in the picture - only grown up.
"I thought you might be the model just trying to get recognised, but then you disappeared into thin air! And I knew! I knew that you were actually the guy!"
Great.
"Word of warning," Harry said, pinching the bridge of his nose, "That book is complete and utter tripe."
Selena grinned, "Well then I guess we'll have to get together again and you can tell me what really happened."
Harry shrugged, "I would, but I'm leaving tomorrow."
Selena's face fell. "Really? You can't stay?"
Harry rubbed the back of his head. "Without going into much detail? I've had a hell of the last few days and I just need to centre myself with my family again, you know?"
"Yeah," Selena smiled, "family can really help sometimes. But you know, I had to pay for yesterday's lunch, so you better come back and treat me!"
"How about now?" Harry offered, "I'm heading over to Sanctuary again."
And no, he wasn't thinking about using Selena as a shield if Savitar had 'forgot' to mention to the were's that he was coming again. No, not at all.
Selena grimaced, "I've just eaten with my friend, Grace, otherwise I would take you up on that offer." She grinned. "But this definitely means that you have to come back now!"
He laughed and hugged her, "Yeah, sure thing."
The strange thing was that he could see himself coming back here after he'd been home.
Maybe their trip didn't have to be cancelled after all.
He smiled as he made his way over to Sanctuary. His smile fell when he realised it was shut.
That was odd. But then again, maybe it wasn't. If Savitar was going to call a meeting of some sort then they'd want to keep the muggles out.
He could only hope Savitar had warned the were's that he was coming. They seemed pretty angry the last time he saw them.
Carefully he tried to push open the door. It was locked.
Harry huffed in annoyance and pressed his ear against the wood. He could hear voices on the other side.
He leant back and rubbed his hand over his mouth. To apparate in or not apparate in, that was the question.
He guess the answer would depend on whether or not he thought Savitar had told them.
Ah well! He shrugged to himself. He wasn't a Gryffindor for nothing.
He apparated into the middle of the room, surrounded on all sides by were's. Harry felt the bloodlust in the air spike.
Savitar hadn't told them.
The bastard.
He ducked as one of them took a swing at his face only to have one of the blond men from yesterday grab him by the throat and lift him into the air.
What the hell was it with guys and his throat?
"Well, lookie what we got here!"
Harry choked and scrabbled at the wrist. Now this was a situation that felt familiar.
There was another loud crack and the were who was holding him was sent flying across the room.
Harry collapsed on the ground, trying to draw in breath. Great, now his throat hurt again. He stared up at his saviour only to find Savitar standing over him directing one of the most evillest grins he had ever seen anyone wear at the others in the room.
The men and women had backed up slightly, confusion taking over their anger.
Harry pulled himself up using Savitar as support. He looked at him innocently when Savitar stared at him, unimpressed.
When Savitar turned to address his were's Harry grinned. One point to him.
"I've gathered you all here today to tell you that you've failed."
The were's glanced at each other when Savitar didn't seem obliged to continue.
"Failed what?" An anonymous voice at the back asked.
"The test."
Again there was silence until Harry snorted in amusement. "You know," he said to Savitar, "you've got to give them more than that."
Savitar glared at him but Harry waved him off and stepped in front of him to address the gathered were's.
"Let me explain. Me and Savy have been working together." Harry ignored the hissed 'Savy?' from behind him and continued, "Savy thought that his little minions - that would be you - had become complacent.
"We made a bet," Harry grinned getting into the swing of it, "If I could successfully take you all by surprise then Savitar promised to do anything I want." He turned to the furious looking Savitar, "isn't that right, Savy?"
Savitar gritted his teeth but nodded.
"And I won!" Harry grinned. "You have become complacent."
"But you attacked us in the Laminas!"
Harry shrugged, "There are no neutral grounds in war."
"We didn't even know there was a war!" Another were protested.
"Of course not." Harry said slowly, "If you knew I was going to prank you then I wouldn't have won the bet.
"But now I have so all's good!" He turned back around and patted a twitching Savitar on the chest. "They're all yours."
Savitar closed his eyes and took a deep breath. When he opened them again he was feeling a lot more in control of his irritation.
"This was planned, so I don't want you bitching and moaning to me about how unfair life is anymore. Deal with it. I don't care.
"Now for the punishments."
The were's shivered and took a step away from them. Harry got bored and fished out Ash and Stryker from his pockets. Ash he placed on his head and Stryker he started stroking his fur into a mohican.
There was silence.
Harry looked up to see every single pair of eyes on him. He turned to see Savitar staring at him in part disbelief, part amusement.
"Oh, please, don't let me bother you." He said, waving them off.
Amusement won out and Savitar turned back to his were's.
"For those who had their Laminas destroyed; fix them yourself. I don't want to hear about how you're having problems - it was your fault in the first place." He paused. "Except for Rome. Buy a new building there, I don't think you're going to be able to save that one at all. Unless…"
He turned to Harry, "Can you remove the swamps?"
"Nope!" Harry said cheerfully, "That batch was faulty."
Savitar snorted in amusement.
"What about the smell?" One of the were's called out from the crowd.
"Well…" Harry mused, "The twins did say that they accidentally set off a swamp in one of their labs five years ago…"
"It takes five years for the smell to go away?" Another were asked, horrified.
"Oh no, the smell seems to get worse over time. They still can't go back in there."
Savitar grimaced, "You mean to tell me that it's just going to get worse?" He asked Harry quietly.
Harry shrugged at him.
"Can't be bothered to deal with that." Louder he spoke to the were's, "Thanks to actually being able to breathe I know that anyone who was in Rome isn't here. Let them know that they're all being shipped off to a remote island tomorrow so I don't have to deal with their bitching. They can leave when they don't smell anymore."
Harry sniggered under his breath then something occurred to him. "Wait! Is the person who makes the gumbo swampified?"
"Why do you need to know that?" Savitar asked him.
"It's a matter of urgency!"
Savitar sighed and turned back to his were's. "Well?"
"Um," the blond man who had been thrown across the room spoke up, "a human makes the gumbo here."
"Ah." Harry nodded, "Never mind then. Ship off your stinky brethren."
Savitar rolled his eyes and opened his mouth to once again address his minions when Harry latched onto his side and cut him off. "No wait!"
He looked down at the shorter man. "What is it now?"
"Make them give me the recipe!"
"For what?" Savitar asked in frustration.
"For the gumbo…" Harry said slowly, like he thought Savitar had been hit in the head too many times and had trouble understanding basic concepts.
Savitar pinched the bridge of him nose and tried to ignore the limpet still attached to him.
"Nicolette." He said shortly.
"Okay."
"There," he said down to Harry, "you happy now?"
"Not really," Harry pouted up at him, "you're too tall."
Savitar smirked, "Or maybe you're just short." He ignored Harry's protests and turned his attention back to the were's who were looking at him in shock. "What?"
They started mumbling and looked away.
"I thought so. Was there anything else?"
"The Laminas in Copenhagen is still anti-gravity." A voice called out from the right, "They're wondering if they could keep it that way?"
Savitar gritted his teeth. "Yeah, sure. Whatever. Was there anything else?"
No one spoke.
"Right," Savitar said, "So that's it. Deal with the rest of the mess yourselves and don't bother me anymore unless it's the apocalypse. Not even then."
He pried Harry off his side, which was a lot harder than it looked, and disappeared.
"That was so cool," Harry said staring at the spot Savitar had just stood in, "I want to be able to do that silently as well." He turned and grinned at the rest of the people who were, once again, staring at him. "See ya! I'll be back tomorrow to pick up that recipe!"
He left with a loud crack.