A/N: Here's the neter! Which also means the four chapters are up on my Patreon for early access as well as the ce to vote on the dire of the story!

  Apolline es and it goes about as well as be expected.

  -x-X-x-

  Lying to Fleur was incredibly tempting in this moment. Tellihat she’d worked out some sort of vague deal with Harry and she wasn’t allowed to join his even now, while keeping the fact that she’d joihe a secret… if she thought she could get away with it, Apolline probably would have.

  The very st thing Apolline Decour wao do was inform her daughter of the fact that she’d just joined Harry Potter’s . Especially right after she had been so explicit in telling Fleur she didn’t want the younger woman involving herself in the Wizard’s . A… well, as tempting as lying to Fleur was, Apolline wasn’t an idiot. That sort of thing was bound to e out one way or another. Better for it to e from her.

  “… I have joined Lord Potter’s Wizard’s .”

  Silence reigns for a moment before Fleur lets out a ugh.

  “Funny, mama. What really happened?”

  That was fair. Apolline wouldn’t have believed herself either at first. She opens her mouth to repeat her previous words before closing it and looking away, not sure she say it again. Only… her silence is as good a fession as any. Fleur’s mouth drops open as she realizes Apolline is serious, her eyes widening. Well, at least it was better than-

  “YOU WHAT?!”

  Apolline winces as her daughter’s voiormally melodid beautiful, rises to that of a pierg shriek in no time at all. Fleur’s hands to fists at her sides and she gnashes her teeth in a huff.

  “Mama! You… you must be joking! You just got doelling me how evil Harry must be for daring to create such a thing!”

  Her wince developing into a grimace, Apolline shakes her head.

  “I never said he was evil…”

  But even to her ears, her words are weak. And Fleur certainly isn’t having it.

  “You said he had me on the hook, mama! You said he was letting me reel myself in! You told me that even if he was a good man, joining a Wizard’s is a perma affair! And that good men could ge and bee different! That I might wind up stu a Hell of my own choosing if I let him bind my magic!”

  That was… all true, yes. Apolline had indeed said all those things, and not very long ago either. It wasn’t like she couldn’t see her daughter’s point of view. This whole situation, as far as Fleur saw it, had to seem insane. Apolline had gone from deg the practice of Wizard’s s to joining one in the course of one versation with the Wizard iion.

  “What… what did he tell you, mama? You said it had to be willing. What did Harry say to you to make you join his Wizard’s ?”

  Shit. Her eldest daughter is far too perceptive. Apolline would have holy preferred Fleur’s a a little longer before turning to curiosity and intrigue, because she hadly had very long to try and figure out how she was going to expin things to her daughter without spilling the beans oime travel and the apocalypse.

  Maybe she could-

  “It couldn’t have been for my sake.”

  Apolline flinches as Fleur says those words with such fidence.

  “Perhaps if it were just you and me, you might have given yourself up so I could remain free. But it’s not. There’s also Gabrielle to sider, as well as your es to the Vee grandmother came from. You would sooner cut me loose than sacrifice yourself and risk my sister and our extended family.”

  That was true, unfortunately. Which meant Apolline could no longer use that as an excuse. But then, perhaps there was no excuse she could e up with here. Perhaps she just o be ho.

  “… I ot tell you what Lord Potter and I discussed, Fleur. Suffice to say, he persuaded me. And that was that.”

  Fleur narrows her eyes and peers at Apolline for a long moment, really looking her over. Apollis the urge to gulp, but it doesn’t matter. Harry might have ed up nicely, but Fleur… well, her daughter is in fact very perceptive.

  “You! Mama, after I told you I hadn’t even gone all the way with him! You went all the way with him first?!”

  Fleur’s anger is on the rise again as Apolline sighs, hanging her head.

  “It was only for the ritual, my dear. To bind my magic to his…”

  Of course, reminding Fleur that she was now part of the very Wizard’s that Fleur had wao join didly make for the best de-escation of the situation.

  “And you won’t even tell me WHY you saw fit to bind yic to Harry’s in the first pce!”

  No. She wouldn’t. Not just because Harry hadn’t given her permission to, but also because Fleur would probably hurt less from the uainty and the mystery than she would hurt from knowing the truth. Hearing about the death of their magic, of their family… no, Fleur didn’t hat sort of knowledge weighing her dht now.

  “Well… I suppose I’ll find out soon enough, won’t I?”

  Apolline lifts her head at that, giving Fleur a sharp look. Suddenly, her daughter looks smug… she doesn’t know why, and she doesn’t like that she doesn’t know why.

  “After all, once I’ve joined Harry’s , he’ll tell me everything anyways. And since you’ve joined now, you ’t-!”

  “No! I still forbid you from joining his Wizard’s , Fleur!”

  Fleur’s eyes widened, her jaw dropping open at Apolline’s audacity. But Apolline doesn’t back down.

  “I’ve spoken with Lord Potter about that, in fact. He’s not going to bind you to him for the foreseeable future, so you shouldn’t even bother asking.”

  Fleur’s face is starting to get red again. Her anger and e are beginning to resurface. Apolliries desperately to head off another blow-up by tossing Fleur a bohe only bone she has.

  “That is not to say you ot join him in bed. I’ve given my sent in that regard. He will no loease you as he’s been doing. All you have to do is ask, and he will take you to bed and cim your virginity. But the Wizard’s … will remain outside of your reach.”

  ‘For now’, she leaves unsaid. Apolline is under no misceptions. If Fleur tio pursue this, Harry will eventually let her join. Maybe months or even years from now, but he’ll allow it. It would be better if Fleur thought that path closed to her. Better if she moved on.

  For a long moment, silence reigns again. And then finally, despite her red face, Fleur speaks in a low whisper rather than the high-pitched shrieks from before.

  “… I hate you.”

  Apolline flinches, but before she do more than reach for her daughter, Fleur spins on her heel as from the room, smming the door shut behind her as she goes. Apolline 't help but stare after her, pain filling every fiber of her being. Had she made the right call, joining Harry’s ?

  In the moment, it had felt necessary… even now, it felt necessary. But… even though she’d mao head off Fleur binding her magic to Harry’s, this whole situation might very well have cost Apolline her eldest daughter all the same.

  -x-X-x-

  The whole situation with Apolline was a bit of a wake-up call that Harry, for all his foreknowledge and all his power, was her omnist nor omnipotent. He was not a god, aill very much had his limits. The biggest limit of all… was time. He hadn’t just shoollihose memories of the future, he’d relived them as well. And it was a stark remihat while he still had time left… he didn’t have an endless amount of it.

  There were, in fact, many things he could do to prepare for the future in this moment. And in all fairness, he was already doing many of them. But… he could do more. So he would.

  Over the weeks proceeding the disastrous Sed Task, Harry had Rita going ham in the paper. After all, the Sed Task wasn’t a disaster for him… it was a disaster for everyone else. Rita was happy to go after everybody involved.

  Albus Dumbledore received a fair amount of criticism at the end of her poisonous pen for his failures and his ‘reliance’ on the mercy of the Merpeople in the Bck Lake. Igor Karkaroff didn’t escape unscathed either, though mostly because of his treatment of Harry when it came to giving points. Olympe Maxime received the least of Rita’s venomous wit, though even she did not emerge pletely unscathed.

  But the real damage was being doo Bagman and Crouch. The two Ministry Officials overseeing this whole debacle had been raked bad forth over the coals by Rita in article after article, day after day. She just wasn’t letting up.

  Fman, it was incredibly easy for Rita to go after him. To be fair, given what Harry khey could have had the man fleeing the try, more than likely. But a toady like Bagman could also be useful to have in your back pocket, so he hadn’t allowed Rita to spill the beans about Bagman’s gamblis. Especially sihe full story might make Harry look a little bad as well, just by association. It wasn’t like Harry had gone along with any of Bagman’s bullshit, but at the same time, he was still the one Bagman had put all of his remaining hopes and dreams in.

  For Crouch… well, that was a different story entirely. Crouch was both easier and harder to tear down than Bagman. On the one hand, Bartemius Crouch Senior was a washed up has-been in the eyes of a lot of people. He’d gooo far in his persecution of the Dark after the First Wizarding War, and promptly been pushed aside once all was said and done.

  He might have beinister of Magic if the Ministry of the time hadn’t let so mah Eaters get away with g to have been Imperiused. But ultimately, Crouch had been so busy throwing anyone who ut in front of him into the darkest depths of Azkaban that he hadn’t ever taken a sed to step bad look at the bigger picture.

  Oher hand however, Bartemius Crouch Senior ilr of the Ministry to plenty of other people. To those people, he was a man who had never wavered in his ideals, who didn’t py politics like most other Ministry Officials. This wasn’t true, of course. The truth was, Crouch Senior defiried to py politics… he’d just failed at it. Miserably.

  Now the man was nothing but a puppet for his son, who was currently masquerading as Mad-Eye Moody. Not that anyone khat.

  What they did know, however, was all of the things Rita was writing in the Daily Prophet, steadily and systematically tearing Crouch Sr. to shreds piece by piece. Thanks to his current Imperiused state, the man wasn’t even capable of defending himself. And it would seem his son wasn’t ined to let him either. The silence was damning.

  Funny, if Crouch Jr. hadn’t been so short-sighted, he might have seen what an opportunity Fudge’s resignation was. Sure, Crouch Sr. might have been passed over for the position of Minister once before, but that was a long time ago and people, especially wizards and witches, always seemed to have the memory of a goldfish.

  If they’d pivoted their pns, installing Crouch Senior into the position of Minister of Magic might have been a very real possibility for them. But no… someone like Barty Jr. wasn’t very good at thinking for themselves. And the Shade of Lord Voldemort was so focused oing his body back that he never would have thought about iing himself into the Wizarding World’s tumultuous politics.

  In the end, that left really only one viable didate for Minister of Magic. Oh sure, there were some that had thrown their hats in the ring, but without Lucius Malfoy to make a mess of things, the road to the Minister’s Office was clear and open… for the woman currently bobbing up and down on Harry’s cock.

  Smirking in amusement, Harry guides Amelia Bones along his shaft for a moment longer before letting out a grunt.

  “Here it es, pet.”

  When he finally tips over the edge, Amelia doesn’t hesitate to swallow his seed dowhroat vulses as she gulps and gulps until his balls have beeied. When the DMLE Director pulls off of his cock, there’s a satisfied look on her face, even as she gazes up at his shadowed form. That look sts right up until she hears the words out of his mouth.

  “Yoing to be the Minister of Magic, pet.”

  Far from looking pleased or even more satisfied by that statement, Amelia suddenly looks hesitant and uain. She swallows thickly and gnces down at her hands for a moment before responding.

  “I… I’m not sure I want it, sir.”

  Harry hums. He’s not surprised. He’s noticed her growing more and more uain and recalcitrant over the st several weeks as Rita’s offensive has effectively elevated Amelia to the position of frontrunner while the Head of the DMLE has done almost nothing except be ho and speak her mind oain policies when asked.

  Before he respond, Amelia suddenly gives him a knowing look.

  “Skeeter is w for you… isn’t she sir?”

  Oh? Well, he supposed he couldly be surprised when someone in Amelia’s position uncovered things like that. It was kind of her entire job.

  “She does.”

  Amelia doesn’t look surprised to have it firmed. Still, she fiddles with her hands some more.

  “What… what do you want from me, exactly? If I were to beinister of Magic, what would you require of me?”

  Ah, even now, having surreo her baser impulses, Amelia was still afraid of being used for nefarious purposes. That was fair. It was ohing to give herself up, to submit a him use her body as he desired. It was ahiirely to give up the entire try and allow him to have his way with all of Magical Britain. Amelia Bones was simply too good of a person to ighe btant risk and it seemed that Harry could no longer put off telling her SOMETHING.

  Hm, the only question then became… what to tell her exactly, and how much to really give away. While it was true that he’d just gohrough this song and dance a few weeks ago with Apollihe fact was that the Deatriarch had known a lot more than Amelia could ever hope to.

  -x-X-x- The Vote: [ ] Tell Amelia about the slow deagid how he wants to stop it and nothing else - 9%[ ] Tell Amelia about the slow deagid his true identity but not the time travel - 5%[ ] Tell Amelia about the slow deagid the time travel but not his true identity - 37%[X] Tell Amelia everything just like he did Apolline - 49%

  -x-X-x- If you'd like to read more of my work not seen on this website, check out Hentai-Foundry. and QuestionableQuesting. where I have over a thousand stories!

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