On Spinning

"Alright," said Minerva shutting the roll and tucking it behind her lecture notes.

Right, the worst part of NEWT transfiguration starts today. She summoned up her sternest demeanour.

Professor McGonagall retired auror stood tall, "From today until Easter Hols, we will be covering exchange conjuration, also called 'spinning' in several Germanic languages, whereas in Celtic languages you'll often see technical phrases that pull together the aspects of conjuration entire, and the aspect of exchange, especially equivalent exchange. And if you've never seen such a phrase before you might think someone was trying to hide the fact that their technique required a business trip to a circus in fairyland."

She waited for the chuckling to die down and listed off the technical phrases used by the specific languages they'd see in the six nations of Great Britain, the four provinces of France, and three languages of Egypt.

Then she moved on to how it differed from classic transfiguration: instead of forcing one object to change into another, (and conjure or vanish any leftover material,) one must conjure the new object entirely while vanishing the old object, and linking both effects together into a single spell, and therefore a single reversion should the effect be cancelled.

"As you can imagine, mistakes with this technique have a very different character than mistakes with classic transfiguration, instead of being left with only a partial change, you end up with things like conjuring the new object in the same space as the old, ruining both, vanishing the old object without conjuring the new, getting both the effects to happen but in the wrong order so you're left with both objects vanished, getting both effects to happen but not linking them and never knowing it until you end the effect and your new object vanishes without bringing back the old, etc.

"I hope it doesn't need to be said, but we will practise on replaceable objects. I know I have animagi in the room, don't any of you attempt using this method to change into your animal until we finish this entire module, and you've had a couple of months to master it! A mistake creating some base materials for an enchanting project will at best only injure your vault and at worst will be something that Madam Pomfrey can patch you up from. A mistake like vanishing yourself entirely or conjuring your animal in a space you already occupy is not something she or I is likely to be able to help with. The only thing I can do to help is what I'm doing right now, I'm warning you not to try it until you're proficient with the rest of this, and have practised thoroughly with simpler exchanges, and made no mistakes for several months."

She looked around and met the eyes of all her registered animagi and waited for a serious nod from each.

Then she moved on, "Some of you are calculating in your head and rightly guessing that we put this method off until now because the channelling requirements are much higher than classic transfiguration, or because it is useless as a foundational skill for shaping or animation. Both reasons are true and equally sufficient on their own. Others of you are wondering why anyone would choose this style. Or more generally, when you'd ever find this style preferable. Hmm?"

Several nods.

"First of all, some people find the mental components easier to supply, and for those of you with sufficient channelling capacity, the lower mental effort might dominate the question. To be more specific: instead of the classic specifications of source and destination material, then source and destination shape. The old object must be specified well enough for the spell to find and vanish, just like the vanishing charm, and the new object must be specified well enough for the spell to conjure. (If I find you addressing the envelopes of your exchange conjurations 'to the object it touches first' I will be having you expelled, I don't care who you are. And I don't mean from my class, I mean from Hogwarts, and I'll be writing a sufficiently nasty letter to the Ministry Examination Board that you will not receive your Transfiguration NEWT certificate without travelling internationally for it. This is your only warning.) Any questions?"

The usual set of stunned expressions, they wanted to know the technique of doing whatever the opposite was, but none were brave enough to ask, that was fine, she'd cover that very soon.

"Second of all, the channelling requirements are not as high as you think, I suppose one of your fellow students from ritual magic can estimate by how much."

No one volunteered but Hanna and Parvati narrowed their eyes. Theodore merely smirked.

Parvati raised her hand, "Is it that the cost of conjuring is offset by the cost of what is to be vanished?"

"That is correct," said Professor McGonagall, "With some added costs for how distant the object is from you, which keeps growing as the distance increases, and how long you're willing for the exchange to last which eventually maxes out after about 12 years to a vague 'indefinitely'."

Parvati nodded.

Theo seemed to be doing arithmancy in his head to figure out which curves would drop down asymptotically to nothing at about 12 years.

Hanna and the others seemed to be contemplating the various ways that magic could value two objects, and impose a fee about them.

Someone asked the standard question about using this to sacrifice a valuable object to help recover from magical exhaustion.

So she went over how the channelling cost was not the cost of the conjured item less the cost of the vanished item, but instead the absolute difference between the two.

Ron objected that that didn't seem fair.

Theo pointed out how cancelling the conjuration got you the old object back, it hardly counted as a sacrifice.

Lavender seemed bored, was she ignoring the conversation or had she already read these chapters?

Hanna managed to voice her question. "Is it based on the mass of the object, or about economic or sentimental value?"

Professor McGonagall smiled.

"It is about the value to the caster," said Lavender, "Think of the merchant's daughter in Rumpelstiltskin, the merchant bragged to his friend that he was so rich that his daughter did not value gold more than straw. That she could 'spin' one to the other equivalently. And the muggle prince who heard of it was thinking of straw as a useless substitute for flax, and of the gold-spun linen thread used to weave tela aurea or cloth-of-gold.

"Of course either she couldn't spin yet, or she'd never really been able to exchange them equally, or the very fact that the prince cared enough about gold to kidnap her and tell her that her life was on the line about it broke whatever illusion she might have had that they were of equal value."

"How could they ever have been of equal value to her?"

"Maybe she had a pet horse and a pet dragon, and her only use for either was bedding for each?"

"Alright, that's enough literature for today. Yes, Lavender is correct, it is about value to the caster. And some mages have gotten themselves into or out of weird scrapes because their valuation of various things might change over time, or repeatedly with context.

"And now, let us practice: I have chosen for our first exercise some incomplete sets of gob-stones and incomplete decks of exploding snap for you to exchange for each other, I'm sure that you can find both of equally low value that none of you will risk over-channelling or exhaustion to practice converting them. Once you can all cast the spell reliably we will move on to items of more value and exchanges of greater disparity."

She demonstrated the spell and its reversion.

She levitated the first round of practice items out to each desk and watched for pockets of frustration to bubble up.

She wasn't surprised when Hermione and Harry were among the first to succeed along with Theo and Parvati.

She was pleasantly surprised that Lavender was close behind Susan and Hanna.

As usual, as soon as Hanna got the spell to work she became more deliberate about practising, sometimes going so far as closing her eyes. She wasn't interested in mastering the spell, she was intent to use the spell to inform her understanding of theory.

Daphne was struggling, Tracy had it now and was trying to help her.

Minerva moved in that direction, she had an idea that Daphne was not struggling with the magic but with the concepts of value and exchange. Rumpelstiltskin in deed. Some people did better without reminders that ritual magic existed.

"Is the magic the problem," said Minerva, "or the mental components, or the fact that they must be held in relation to each other?"

Daphne looked up and grimaced.

"Do not try to hold the value of them in your mind, the spell will find that of itself. Worry about specifying the objects you want, the source object need only be specified well enough that a vanishing charm will work if your aim is true and fail if your spell hits the desk or a fellow student instead. The destination object must be imagined clear enough to conjure."

"I am not the best at conjuring," said Daphne.

"I know, and the channelling requirements here will be lower if only slightly." Minerva gave her a wry smile as reassurance.

Daphne did not appear reassured. But she did go back to practising.

Minerva looked around.

Hanna's face was red, perhaps with frustration. But embarrassment should not be ruled out.

Minerva wandered over.

Hanna tried three more times and continued to achieve no results.

"How's it going?"

"I had the idea that if it was related to fairy magic," said Hanna, "Then it might be synonymous with finding the item's True Name in the Akashic records and overwriting it with something else."

Tingles of apprehension flew up McGonagall's spine. "It definitely has nothing to do with that."

"Ok," said Hanna, "But …"

"Finding and recovering a vanished object might normally require a foray that extensive. In this case, the vanishing is anchored to the conjured object, so such a search is never required."

Hanna shrugged.

"Hanna, I do not doubt that you possess the channelling capacity and focus to successfully scry the Akashic records for details about the objects right in front of you, I do not think you yet possess the wisdom or the channelling capacity to be writing to the Akashic records directly. Nor to be proficient enough in the mind arts to be hanging out where other practitioners of Akashic projection could find and prey upon you."

Hanna's lip made a pout but her eyes and shoulders still projected abstraction. She is in the Akashic records right now.

"Alright, but … I've forgotten how to even do this." Hanna again flicked her wand, her motion the image of perfection. Still no result.

Minerva sighed, "Can you forget your incorrect connection to fairy magic and review the lesson from the top? You learned it very rapidly when you had the correct concepts in mind."

Hanna stared uncomprehendingly.

The poor girl had not been taught to disengage from Akashic scrying without an answer in hand, or perhaps only after a sufficient time had passed for her to give up.

"Can you scry what you did, and what magic you used, last time it worked?"

She blinked, frowned, flourished her wand again, and succeeded.

"Well done," said Minerva.

She tried again and succeeded again.

Minerva waited through two more repetitions then returned to her patrolling.

Lavender Brown was discussing with her neighbour whether Akashic scrying was a topic that Trelawney or Firense would be covering.

Minerva rubbed her forehead then went to the front of the classroom, "Just to be clear for those who overheard my last conversation with Miss Abbot, I will not be teaching any transfiguration techniques in NEWT level transfiguration class, that requires post mastery level white arts or divination.

Everyone stared at her, then at Hanna Abbot.

"Please do not practice such in my class, I am not qualified to spot you. If you do have a research topic of that nature, please write it up and I can have the headmaster and the arithmancy professor review it. We have on rare occasions helped sixth- and seventh-year students attain their masteries straight out of Hogwarts, we do not mind helping you also, but please, show your work and request adequate supervision. To be clear, I am not qualified to supervise topics outside of transfiguration, defence, and law. But I know who on staff to direct you to, as do each of your heads of house."

Hopefully, that was enough to put Lavender and the other lazy students off the scent of ways to destroy the universe as we know it.

.

...-...

Golden Brown

"What's eating you?" said Parvati.

Lavender growled. But said very little. Nothing coherent.

Parvati glanced at Fey.

Fey shrugged and looked … overwhelmed. So this is real and has been going on for a while?

"If it's none of my business, that's fine," Parvati shrugged back, got out her parchments and started collating notes as to what topic could count as usefully addressing the very esoteric question asked by Professor Flitwick, probably she was misunderstanding something and it wasn't esoteric at all, which was odd because it seemed very, very esoteric, maybe it was just a very obvious riddle and she should read the textbook again before assuming she'd understood the topic of the question at all.

"We're coming up on a weekend when, not only do I have a manageable amount of homework for once," explained Lavender, "but I'm between potions projects, and it neither has the good sense to be a Hogsmeade weekend. Nor did I foresee how empty it would be long enough ago for me to schedule anything date-related."

Parvati looked at her cross-eyed, Lavender doesn't like to be bored, that was a given. But usually, she gets impatient, not angry. "So you're going to be catching up on your sleep and helping Fey with her potions projects."

Lavender nodded, "Of course."

"So … what's the problem, exactly."

Lavender sighed, "Romilda Vane has been snogging Ronald Weasley."

What? Romilda was hopelessly awkward and Ronald Weasley is indisputably an item with Millicent…

"Oh?" said Parvati, "Why do we care? Not that I believe … that."

Fey shrugged again.

Lavender grimaced, "Because I want a pureblood. And she doesn't deserve … Harrumph!"

Parvati snorted, So it was more dating-related. "Oof, Well, I can't advise you much about that. Umm, good luck, I guess?"

"Mostly," Fey whispered soto voice, "she's extra angry because when we confronted Romilda to ask if she'd really been spending the night in his bed, she neither denied it nor seemed at all embarrassed about it."

"And why do we believe that this is a thing that actually happened, rather than a rumour that she … thought was too impossible to bother reacting to?"

Lavender glared, "The rumour is too persistent, something must be happening."

Parvati shrugged, "Maybe. I know I haven't been around much, but I haven't seen anything that I'd associate with (what do they call it?) a 'walk of shame' or anything resembling … Umm … guilt or whatever?"

Fey frowned, "No, I'm fairly sure she really has spent several nights not in her bed, the question is, who with, and is she snogging (or even shagging with) whoever, or if it's just," Fey shrugged again.

"Oh, I see," said Parvati, "have we tracked down if she's sneaking out of the tower to bundle with her sister."

"Like you do?" said Fey.

Parvati nodded.

Lavender looked up, then back toward the corner where she continued to glare fiercely.

"If the brassy little munchkin can have Ron Weasley, I want Harry Potter."

Parvati put down her pen and glared.

"What?" sputtered Fey.

"I said, I want Harry Potter," said Lavender.

"No way," said Parvati.

Lavender glanced at her, then rolled her eyes, "Like you really think I can't get what I want?"

"No, more like, if you wanted him, you should have started trying to stake a claim more than a year and a half ago, Which when going after people with Harry's personality, means trying to catch his eye, or rather catch his respect, several months before that." Parvati shrugged, "Pureblood parents like to arrange things as early as they can nail down preferences and compatibilities, and hammer out contracts."

Fey stared, "But rumours about that sort of thing talk about having OWL test results in hand!" she paused for a second, "You're saying that … The half-bloods competing for the same market have to start even earlier?"

Lavender rolled her eyes, "That's just rumour-mongering, I mean, any time before we leave Hogwarts is still early compared to muggles, right?"

"Lav: True, but, betrothals are being arranged already, though many with annulment clauses built in until whenever they are intended to be fulfilled, which is traditionally any time from 17 to 28," said Parvati, "Fey: Partly that, and partly we have had access to each other's academic ranks on the grade posting boards since first year, it's only our parents that in theory have to wait for OWL scores to be publicly available. And unlike most generations, a high proportion of our pureblood and half-blood classmates are orphans, so they haven't been waiting to evaluate each other, also … academics is hardly the only thing to get evaluated on. Also, because of the orphan thing, and the atomisation of society because of it, this might be the easiest possible generation to marry into a pureblood family because the difference between dating and courting is a lot smaller if there are no parents to impress or get permission from first or whatever."

Lavender rolled her eyes, "atomisation? You know I've been sleeping through history since before I got here. Even Professor Marchbanks has given up on keeping me awake."

Parvati sighed.

Lavender narrowed her eyes, "More to the point, Who do we know that already has an arranged betrothal? And Pansy doesn't count given that it's old news that Draco will break that off as soon as he's of age and has a say in the matter."

Parvati sighed and looked down.

"Not rumours," said Lavender, "What do you actually know."

That wasn't the accusation Parvati had been frightened of and glared.

Lavender glared back.

"I was hoping you wouldn't make me say this before you found someone you wanted to stay with," sighed Parvati.

"What?" said Lavender.

"That I have something arranged," said Parvati, then shrugged, "Or my parents do, for me, whichever way you want to say that."

"Oh yeah?" said Lavender, "Umm, good or bad?"

"Good," said Parvati, then shrugged.

Lavender nodded, sceptical.

Fey nodded, interested.

"Not sure how to say this, there's 'the thrill of the hunt,' and there's 'the satisfaction of having a big question thoroughly settled.' Sometimes I get a tiny bit envious of everyone who's still enjoying the hunting, but I wouldn't trade my catch for more hunting. More like, I just derive a bit of vicarious joy from watching the others try to decide what they want."

"That sounds like something my aunt would say," said Fey.

Parvati raised an eyebrow.

"When did you get so old?" said Fey.

Parvati snorted and refrained from sticking her tongue out. She was Lady Black and wouldn't stoop so low. Yeah right. Just not for an insult that inept.

"When did they arrange it?" said Lavender.

"Winter solstice, a year ago," said Parvati.

"Why didn't you tell us?" said Fey.

"Yeah!" said Lavender.

"Look how envious of Romilda you're acting," said Parvati, "also I wasn't sure if you'd act envious and angry and chase me away, or start going crazy and start trying to convince me that arranged marriages were barbaric and I should give it up, merely because it's spelled out in a contract, instead of just a handshake and a ring and wait for whenever for a wedding and then only be covered by a government license, and centuries of contradictory precedent regarding what that license ought to mean."

Lavender shrugged, "Contracts can be lots better or lots worse than whatever laws are attached to the government license."

"Right," said Parvati, "You can accept that now, after how much research?"

Lavender rolled her eyes, "those three books you gave me last year."

Parvati nodded, "That's why I gave them to you. So that you wouldn't need to freak out so bad when I told you."

"Alright," said Lavender, "So I'm not freaking out, tell us who already."

"Sirius Black and Harry Potter visited my Dad the winter solstice before last, and paid him I don't know, like 2 million to make me marry Harry Potter and be the next Lady Black."

Lavender wrinkled her nose, "and you're not acting annoyed about it, so, you really meant it that you think it's 'good.' Despite using the words 'make you marry'?"

Parvati nodded, "I like him, and … well Mum has taught me business maths and some business law, and everything, but … well … Harry and Lord Black have also been teaching me clan law and clan maths, it's … rather different in some ways. I mean, accounting is accounting, but businesses are about making money, clans are about protecting people and … well they are somewhere across between shell corporations and trust funds right? You have all that money you're technically in control of, but none of it is yours, and there's not anything resembling cash flow. If you spend a tiny bit more than you should or invest it badly, everyone gets angry because it's not like there will be more coming in next month to replace it. It's like all the stress of being a banker but for no pay."

"Bob Cratchit?" said Fey.

Parvati rolled her eyes and nodded.

Lavender huffed, "So … it's a marriage that … comes with a job?"

"Comes with a part-time slavery," said Parvati, "Luckily the Potter half of the fortune is land heavy and has some greenhouses and potions labs, so I guess I'll be borrowing those to amuse myself with, for my other part-time."

Lavender stared for several seconds.

Parvati frowned, "wait, are you looking for a job or a snog, or a fortune?"

Lavender rolled her eyes, "All of the above, but I don't need them to all be found in the same place. I figured on making the fortune myself, I just … I'm well aware of the discrimination problems, and insist on having the full range of rights. Even if I have to acquire them a backhanded sort of way."

Parvati nodded, "Do we have a business plan sufficient for me to take to Lord Black or Lord Potter to get a clan sponsorship on our application for a business license? (Or however that really works?)"

Lavender rubbed her temple, "That's … that's a good idea, and we should edit our business plan to be ready for that. Though … do you think having one clan sponsoring our business could confuse our ability to pursue romantic interests in other clans?"

Fey yawned.

"I expect Harry wouldn't have a problem with that," said Parvati, "But that doesn't mean another clan wouldn't have issues, depending on how closely they are allied with Black or Potter, Or against them."

Lavender nodded, "Yeah, that's what I'm afraid of."

A pause.

"Some of the things that people want to put in marriage contracts are barbaric."

"Yeah," said Parvati, "or else that's just the persistent rumour, just to keep all of us from signing anything without reading it carefully first."

Lavender rolled her eyes, "What does yours say on the subject?"

Parvati shrugged, "I have to learn all the maths I talked about so that I can share management duties with Harry. And that whatever business interests I start with Family money are owned by the Family and those I start with House money are owned by the House, and those I start without help are owned by me, but I have to specify in my Will either who I'm giving or selling them to, or whether they are inherited by the House or by the Family." Parvati shrugged again, "Which is rather logical, once you really understand how Clan maths works. Mostly it just means, that whenever we get around to incorporating we should all track our time and pay ourselves in shares or bonds, even if there's not any income yet so we can't pay ourselves in money. So that someday, if there ever is money there's not … anything to argue about who's put in more time and how much that time ought to be worth or whatever."

Lavender blinked, "That's rather reasonable, actually."

Fey frowned for several seconds, then she also nodded, but she muttered about generating ridiculous amounts of paperwork that would have zero value until the business started turning a profit.

After several more seconds Lavender's face lit up, "So if the House of Black invests a thousand galleons and you and I invest a couple of thousand hours each when we get around to assigning stocks, we have proof why they don't own the whole thing."

"How much do we pay ourselves?" said Fey.

"If we're not making at least muggle minimum wage, there's no point," said Parvati.

"True," said Fey, "But that means we either need to be planning for automation eventually, or charging for the fact that hand-crafted products aren't the same as automated."

Parvati nodded.

Lavender sighed, "So … Houses are trust funds?"

"Some are trust funds, some are banks, some are tiny little states or tiny cities, and very quietly many are specialised magic libraries, like guilds only a lot smaller, so the camaraderie is more like extended family, and less like collective bargaining power, and you might be better off marrying into a family that isn't the head of the clan. Or just asking a clan if you can start the Family of Brown inside their house, and leave the question of marrying for later."

"How does that work?"

Parvati shrugged, "It's like a citizenship request, except …"

"Except you're not joining a nation, you're joining a tiny guild with a credit union attached?"

Parvati nodded.

Lavender tapped her fingers several times, then cocked her head to the side, "Lady Black, are you taking applications?"

Parvati shrugged, "I'd need to discuss it with Harry, err no, Lord Sirius Black, technically."

Lavender nodded, "of course. Umm, please do."

.

"Harry, can there be a Lion's-Keep or a House of Black meeting soon?"

"Sure, what about?"

"Lavender wants to apply to join my House as the Family of Brown."

"Whatever for?" said Padma.

Parvati shrugged, "She wants clan protection," she shrugged again, "and she wants to be able to say she snogged Harry, but that is a different issue."

Harry gave her a confused look, "She's never struck me as a fan."

Parvati shook her head, "She's not, she took someone else's success on the romantic front as a personal insult and wants to compensate with a higher-ranking pureblood, it has nothing to do with you."

Harry raised an eyebrow, "So she's now a fan of pureblood status? That fits. But if she wants me to play Ichabod Crane, to play off someone else's jealousy, she can go abuse someone else. Or … or pay me at professional actor's rates, should I also demand hazard pay?"

Parvati shook her head, "I don't think she has anyone specific that she's currently trying to make jealous. She just thinks that publicly managing to catch the attention of a clan head could improve her perceived value on the dating market. Or the courting market, not that I really have a firm grasp of how those differ, and if she comprehends the differences either."

Harry sniffed, "Yes, well."

"And I'm not clear if she's a fan of pureblood status, or if she just wants her eventual career to compete from the legal high ground of clan protection."

"That's valid," said Harry, "Sad that it's a necessary concern, and ending that is one of my political goals, but it's prudent of her to be looking for opportunities to avoid that sort of problem."

"Right. No, her main problem isn't …" Parvati sighed, "My perception of … why I don't want her around … is more like, …""Gossip?" said Luna.

Parvati nodded, "Not just that. As I said, she has two goals, and wanting to gain generic clan protection I don't have a problem with, as a potions partner, and to some extent as a corporate partner, I value her talents, even if I advise her to develop them differently than she seems to. But my … issue is this spite thing. She's interested in romance, I'm fine with that too. But the fact that Romilda (who I don't see why she even cares about) allegedly connecting with Ron has made her this jealous I don't understand, but … I do understand now why I never bothered to tell her that I'm engaged, or who too."

"You didn't?" said Harry, "But She … knew you were connected to the House of Black now?"

Parvati nodded, "And that's all she knew, and that it was a courting-related legal manoeuvre, not that the courting was successful or completed."

"Ah, I see," said Harry, "So do you want me to consider her for House membership because you want the potions assistant, or do you want me to veto this for you because if she cannot celebrate your triumphs with you, she's not a real friend."

Parvati nodded, and snorted, "She's my friend, she's just not … best friend material, not like the rest of you. I don't have any interest in her romantically, but …" Parvati looked around, most of them were here actually, Even Susan. "I'm willing to be overruled if everyone else is interested."

"Ah," said Harry, "That's an interesting distinction. What do you want?"

Parvati narrowed her eyes, and contemplated, "Suppose you interviewed her for both things, then allowed only the house membership, she'd … have to … reorganise her brain into … she'd have to face the fact that I am her head of house."

"And she's asked for all of this without facing that fact?" said Harry.

Parvati shrugged, "I don't know. She's used to leading her little clique, she leans on me for some critical thinking here and there, but she's the leader. If any of the rest of us want to do something different, that's fine. But by definition, if she's not interested, then it's a personal project, not a group project."

Harry nodded, "And you wouldn't mind taking her down a peg or two?"

Parvati rolled her eyes, "more like," Parvati shrugged, "I'd love to take her down a peg or two. But that might be a counter-indication. I'm fine with our friendship as it stands, I don't need to start bullying her just because my social class has changed, or I'd have told her about my social class changing a year ago."

Harry frowned, "Does she bully you?"

Parvati shook her head, "No, but … perhaps only because I don't let her."

"How do you mean?"

"Since … about third-year arithmancy, I don't need her anymore, I'm not saying that she holds me back, more that, (I mean, I never needed her as a friend, I had Padma before I even came to school, and I've made several others, and I can make more, she was just locally convenient while I still lived in the tower,) and academically she helps me more by being someone for me to tutor than by understanding things before me and helping me. I mean she used to, her potions and charms instincts are great, but with two and a bit years of arithmancy under my belt, I can usually derive where I want to go only slightly slower, but more accurately than she can intuit."

Harry nodded, "Alright, I think I've heard enough to understand why you're ambivalent about this, but also willing to do her the favour of offering to ask for her."

Parvati nodded.

Harry looked around, "I'm willing to veto this straight off because she's a gossip, and at least intermittently spiteful, but I'm also willing to actually interview her before we decide. Does anyone else want to vote on whether we give her the consideration of an interview?"

No one seemed ready to put forward an answer.

"Luna?" said Harry.

"I'm your press secretary," said Luna, "Nim's your spymaster, you don't need a gossip."

"Fair point," said Harry, "Susan?"

"I'm surprised that you wouldn't at least offer her an interview, Even if you are already prejudiced enough against her that your best-case scenario might be finishing off with a clear critique of everything wrong with her, or her mistaken attitudes towards house membership. And worst-case scenario was letting her down so gently barbed, that she'll wonder for the rest of her life how close she was to being allowed to join and what was the one thing she said wrong."

Harry stared.

"But then," said Susan, "sometimes, I can be a bully like that."

Nim sneezed.

"Your opinion, Ginny?" said Harry.

Ginny shrugged, "She's Parvati's friend, not mine. She's just … Parvati and you are welcome to induct anyone into the House of Black you want. I mean, recommending that to Sirius, but whatever, I only have a vote about House of Potter, and Lion's-Keep, and … she doesn't strike me as Lion's-Keep quality."

Harry nodded, "And you Padma?"

"Ditto all of that," said Padma, "but that doesn't stop you from offering her talk therapy or tutoring. Speaking of best case scenario possibly being constructive criticism."

"Fair enough," said Harry.

"Not done yet," said Padma, "Parvati, you said she's not a fan?"

"Of Harry, not really, not that I've ever noticed."

"But she's aware of his social status and hoped to trade off of that?"

Parvati shrugged, "Yes, social, economic, and political, she wants to have her cake and eat it too, or rather I think she fully expects to earn her own cake, but she wants a shortcut into the social class that is allowed to compete. She may not have visited enough different magical communities to understand that it's not a choice between Diagon and Hogsmeade, there's Trowbridge and Godric's Hollow and—

"Ottery St. Catchpole." finished Ginny, "Free villages as well as Clan villages, and trade hubs between."

"Exactly," said Parvati.

"So, she's a gold digger, but perhaps it's not Harry's gold she's after?"

Parvati shrugged. But Harry nodded.

Padma glanced around, "Well?"

"Not as if we are not also," said Parvati, "except we started with a saner idea of what responsibilities go with the social class?"

Padma smiled, on one half of her face it was gentle and meant for Parvati, on the other half it was malicious and meant for idiots everywhere.

"Alright," said Harry, "I'm willing to give her an interview."

Parvati went to relax, only to realise that now she was … perhaps even more tense.

"Parvati, do you want the primary purpose of this interview, to be time for her to make her case for membership, or primarily a time for us to educate her about what house membership means so that she has better hope of finding a House or Clan where she'll fit?"

Parvati shrugged, thought for several seconds, and then decided.

.

Lavender scrubbed her face and looked up.

Fey ignored her.

"I'm not getting anything done," said Lavender, "Distract me."

"I'm not your flying monkey," said Fey.

"Obviously you are," said Lavender.

Fey stuck out her tongue, "You're stressed out about the sponsorship interview Parvati got you?"

"Yeah," sighed Lavender and put away her class notes. "I need something pointless but interesting to concentrate on for … about twenty minutes."

"Ok," said Fey, "Hmm, Oh, I know. I've been meaning to report this for a week, but Parvati's been so busy I haven't had a chance."

"Hmm?" said Lavender.

"Do you remember how Hagrid was mentioning 'near gather' and 'far gather' and we couldn't figure out what it meant?"

"That was over a month ago."

Fey nodded, "Well, I figured it out."

"How?"

"Well, it has snowed a lot recently, right?"

"You could … say that, yes."

"I started noticing a lot of tracks leading into the forbidden forest, and no one seemed to get in trouble, so I checked detentions and point losses just to be sure, definitely no one getting in trouble for going out of bounds. Except for a second year going to Hogsmeade, but that's different. So I did some more checking and eventually found this:"

She pulled out a map and plopped it down in front of Lavender.

Lavender spread it out and oriented it. Here was the castle and the greenhouses.

Here was the lake. Here was Hagrid's hut and garden.

According to this map, the entire forest from Hagrid's garden to the shrieking shack was herb gardens, and another swath of forest adjacent to that was 'near gather range' And a similar size swath was 'far gather range.' And then there was a big patch of 'restricted forest' (See: gathering passes, requirements, expirations) and beyond that up towards the cliffs and raven's peak was 'various Centaur Treaty Concessions especially 397 (Bishop Ninian) - 1652 (see: Lady Cromwell) & 1831 (see: Hogwarts Express)'

And beyond the 'restricted forest' in the other direction was more forest labelled only 'forbidden'.

And of course, the boundaries of the Hogwarts land grants and Hogsmeade land grants were marked.

Lavender stared at it until she was sure that Firenze's wildlife observation hikes seemed optimised to spend the maximum amount of time in the area marked 'far gather range' without bumping into marsh or cliffs.

"Where did you get this?"

"I twinned it out of a reference book in the slytherin common room."

"Oh!" said Lavender, "That's … more difficulty than ought to be required to find out that our professors mean that part of the forest isn't forbidden without actually saying it."

"No doubt," said Fey, "So, of course, I also investigated gathering passes. And their requirements."

"Of course," said Lavender.

"You've got to fill out one of these forms. Then turn them over to your prefect or the professor for herbology, potions, or runes.

"So I thought: Herbology and Potions are witchcraft but Runes is wizardry, where does it connect? So I looked into it, but apparently going out into the forest to find rocks or wood to engrave was once an important part of the curriculum."

"Makes sense," said Lavender.

"So," said Fey, "according to this being in the 'near' gather area doesn't need a pass, but the 'far' gather area requires a standard pass or the supervision of someone with a 'restricted areas' gather pass. It looks like standard passes require a passing grade in Herbology, Defence, and Care of Magical Creatures, which I guess means at least 4th year. A 'Restricted' pass requires an OWL in all of those, a signature by your Head of House, a permission form from your parents, and the approval of a professor.

"And an 'Unrestricted' pass requires all that and an OWL that isn't taught anymore about inter-species treaties and the Internationaler Abendgerichtshof, which (Hermione says is a precursor of the ICW, but only covered the Holy Roman Empire, Sweden, and west. But not Ireland, Spain, or Portugal. and only covered international treaties.)"

Lavender shrugged.

"And she says they were useless because everyone was too likely to go to war rather than stick around and argue anything in court, or pay back whatever the court determined either."

"In other words," said Lavender, "the information is 400 years out of date, and doesn't matter."

"Only sort of," said Fey, "I think it mostly means visiting the centaurs requires passing an OWL about it, and no one has wanted an owl in that for 500 years. But yeah, anyway:"

She dropped a crystal medallion on the table, the black leather cord vanished in purple sparkles.

"What's this?"

"This is a standard gather permit, issued to me, Fey Dunbar, because I'm passing the required subjects, and I filled out the form and handed it to our seventh-year prefect."

Lavender stared at her.

Fey picked it up again and the leather strap reappeared and snaked around her wrist.

"According to the rules, it's supposed to be a 'will issue' permit, but the vibe I got when I asked for it, was that the unspoken requirement is being able to answer a quiz based on this map."

"Ah," said Lavender. And thought about that, "I imagine it's supposed to be more than a quiz, but if you're old enough they don't check up on you?"

"Huh?"

"I'd bet that if we'd asked as fourth years," said Parvati, "The requirement would have looked something more like, 'guide a tour through this 'far gather' area.' Something you would not be able to do without having been tagging along on prefect-led tours for a year or more. But we're sixth years by now, we should be able to handle more, should be able to find our way back on track if we get slightly lost, or whatever."

Fey rolled her eyes, "You're saying, this school has everything in place to be a significantly more sane place, but no one bothers."

Lavender shrugged, "I think some people do bother, but … yeah, not enough at any given moment."

Fey rolled her eyes and sighed, "I'm trying to decide whether it would be worth the trouble to get a restricted gather permit, which on the one hand has hints that it should also be a 'will issue' permit, but since it requires a parental signature, and the approval of both your head of house and the professor whose class you want to gather components for." She shrugged.

"May I hold your pass?" said Lavender.

Fey pulled it from around her wrist and held it out.

The moment Lavender touched it, the leather strap vanished again. She read the engraving and tried to do mage sight on the missing leather strap.

The back had instructions about tapping it twice with your wand to summon help in an emergency. And fine print about being irresponsible enough to get into a lot of emergencies could lead to a revocation of your permit.

She held it out to Fey again.

Fey had been packing up her books and stationery.

As soon as Fey was touching it, and Lavender was not, the strap reappeared and tried to snake around Fey's wrist.

"I take it, that it knows who it was issued to?"

"Seems like it," said Fey, "Keeps people from trying to share one with someone who hasn't got one of their own. I'm supposed to give it back when I graduate."

"So," said Lavender, "Do they have a tracking charm in them?"

"I think there are tracking charms in the wards," said Fey, "And these tell the wards to ignore you as long as you're in parts of the forest you're allowed in. Did you see the instructions on the back? I think they just turn it off and let the wards notify the professors that you're out of bounds after all."

"I wonder," said Lavender and stared away.

"Which I'm sure means that the Weasley twins made their own by copying someone else, rather than getting them issued properly."

Lavender grinned, "That does seem like their kind of challenge."

Parvati stalked up and stared at Lavender, but seemed at a loss for what to say.

"Anyway," said Fey, "Gob-stones club is starting soon, and I have idiots to support. See you nerds later."

"Are you alright?" said Parvati.

"Yeah," said Lavender.

"Do you still want to do this?"

"Yes," said Lavender, "maybe the correct decision will be 'no', but getting from here to there is almost guaranteed to be educational."

"Good point," said Parvati.

"What map was Fey showing off?"

"You can apply for two different levels of permission to spend time in various parts of the forest, and only a tiny fraction of the forest is 100% forbidden."

"Given that people have gotten detentions to do work out there, I guess that makes sense. But … really?"

"Yeah, have you ever heard of a 'will issue' permit?"

"Yeah, that's shorthand for, 'if you fulfil the requirements, you get the permit.' The opposite would be 'may issue,' like 'even if you fulfil the requirements, the examiner can still flunk you if they feel like it'."

"Like if they don't like your race."

"Or your accent," said Parvati, "Or your last name."

Lavender nodded. "Anyway, Fey got the first level of gather permit from a prefect, the next level requires parental consent and two professors to like you."

"Oof, well I guess that answers that question." (That means it's a 'may issue' permit regardless of what the rules might imply and at least three adults get veto.)

"Sounded like she thought the verbal quiz was answerable from studying her map, people who have been hiking around with Firenze for over a year shouldn't have any problem at all."

Parvati smiled crookedly.

"Except for the part where he's been teaching us to observe nature, not the borders of regions that only matter to how many points you'll lose for getting lost there."

Parvati nodded.

.

Lavender followed Parvati down a narrow but ornate staircase into a cosy little hallway she'd never have believed existed in this huge drafty castle.

Where the hell are we? Is this even Hogwarts?

And then they turned a corner and there were little alcoves and arched doors.

"Where are we?" said Lavender.

"Most of the Clan Suites and Family Suites are in the base of the astronomy tower," said Parvati.

"And that's not where we're going."

"No, it's not," said Parvati.

"Where are we going?"

Parvati pointed to the doors they were passing, "This used to be the wing for the Families of the Knights or something, Now it's just the guest quarters for the Board of Governors."

"Oh!" said Lavender, "I read about this, in Hogwarts a History."

Parvati nodded.

Something something, the most important and most trusted guards got to live in the same building as the cellars and kitchens. In case of sieges. Now that means administration offices and Hufflepuff, and apparently, Board of Governors guest quarters.

.

The corridor terminated in a huge room, half was filled with a table, like a conference room. The other half was filled with several mismatched sets of living room furniture facing the conference table. So you could have a club meeting or a business meeting, or kind of both. On the far side of the room was the most ornate door yet. Which is where Parvati was leading.

The most ornate door yet, but hung in its centre was a white muggle marker board except with an animated icon of a coiled snake, and it had a speech balloon of an open doll house.

It didn't fit the seriousness of the ancient and posh surroundings at all.

Parvati knocked.

After a few seconds, the door opened. Lavender recognised the air-pressure change noises well enough to know that the door had very, very thorough wards on it.

Parvati led the way inside.

Lavender found herself in a common room that was dominated by another round table (also ornately carved), though only Parvati's sister worked at it at the moment.

Along the far side of the room were several more doors, each of them also sporting whiteboards with animated snake icons with comic-book-style speech balloons.

Animated icons of snakes drawn in black marker were a very different motif from all the carved snakes all over the dungeons. No, the overwhelming motif of the woodwork here seemed to be swords and pomegranates and anvils and flames.

Except the pomegranates were mostly sword pommels, and half the swords were unicorn horns and …

Lavender shook her head to clear it from putting too much stock in the ancient decorations and looked at the modern decorations.

Most of the doors had a sword hung beside them. A map and a clock hung on the wall straight across from her. Most of the rest of the walls were a cold boring white, which explained why they were covered in hanging rugs and bold-coloured tapestries. To her left was … an ancient and decrepit cleansweep 4 that had been thoroughly soaked in an engorgement potion, until it was eight feet long, then hung UP from the baseboard and now supported a hammock in which a bald girl had been laying to read, though she'd just sat up to stare wide-eyed at Lavender. Much to the annoyance of the silver lizard clinging to her sunshine yellow undershirt. The Lizard turned a violent purple, which didn't camouflage it against the yellow at all.

From anklets of trailing silver bells and coat-of-arms medallions, to bottle cork earrings, The girl seemed exactly as eccentric as her lounge chair and her not-a-chameleon pet. Lavender looked away, Harry was in another corner, slumped back in … a beanbag couch? A beanbag couch heavily embroidered with geometric designs, which seemed to be trying to have a Middle Eastern flavour going, but was failing, mostly by being obviously beanbag. He met her gaze expectantly, then glanced at Parvati. And then at the redhead who lay next to him, using his thigh for a pillow while she read, possibly transfiguration. That was Ginny Weasley, which meant the big-eyed bald girl in not enough clothes must be Luna Lovegood.

I didn't know she had a pet lizard.

Ginny had a tiny silver snake wrapped around and through her gold bracelet, so … really, since when?

Lavender looked around again.

Harry sighed then petted Ginny's hair, "Lady Potter, Lady Black's guest is here."

Ginny smiled and focused on him, and a moment later, closed her book and sprang up, "Hello Lavender, err, Miss Brown."

What?

Not that we know each other well enough to call it first name basis, but … what?

"We're not in gryffindor at the moment," said Ginny, "Do sit down, would you like tea?"

"No, that's fine," said Lavender, "Thank you."

Before Lavender could overcome her daze and make her way to the table, Harry and Ginny had seated themselves at the table. Leaving one space open for Parvati to sit between Harry and Padma.

Luna circled long ways around the table and let her lizard out onto … the dock, where it went swimming.

Ok … The dock along the edge of the corridor also bordered their suite.

Then Luna circled a bit farther and took the seat by Ginny.

That seating arrangement at least was perfectly expectable. Fine. And she looked more comfortable with the skullcap on, even if it was a blue and red striped pattern that somehow managed to look like fire.

Lavender sat down.

"Miss Brown," said Harry, "welcome to the House of Black and House of Potter suite, please state your case."

Lavender shrugged and looked at Parvati.

"I told him both your petitions, but I think I already told you which one had a better chance of happening."

Lavender shrugged, and nodded, "So … I want to join the House …" Parvati was Lady Black. Ginny was Lady Potter. One of those was negotiated by the current Lord Black. They were legally separate things, even if there was some kind of overlap or alliance or whatever, and … Parvati—, "the House of Black."

Harry nodded.

"I think I'm supposed to say as the House I mean, as the 'Family of Brown,' but … I might be flexible about that."

"If I have a house member to betroth you to immediately?" Harry asked.

"No! … wait, do you?"

"Not that I'm aware of," said Harry, "But I can ask Sirius to make sure."

"That's fine," said Lavender, "I wasn't expecting that was an available option."

"But you were mentally preparing yourself for it to be a requirement?"

Lavender shook her head, "If marrying inside the House someday proves to be a desirable option, that's fine, but … I was more thinking messing with a family or house affiliation might by definition require a name change, and if it does, I was preparing myself for that. Not for getting engaged to someone I haven't met yet."

Harry nodded. So did the others.

"Do you understand that by joining the House of Black you'd be agreeing to give Lord Black, or eventually Lady Black and I, a certain amount of control over your business interests?"

"What?"

Harry shrugged, "In exchange for getting certain kinds of legal representation."

"And access to a certain amount of business advice, and possibly investment money," said Parvati.

"I'm vaguely aware that's a normal spectrum of things to be involved in house membership," said Lavender, "I wasn't sure how much control you actually would have reason or desire to exert."

Harry sniffed but glanced at Parvati.

Padma crossed her arms, "assume he owns it, even if he leaves you and Parvati to decide between yourselves who is CEO and who is Human Resources, and who is R & D."

Lavender raised an eyebrow. If what Parvati already told me, is right, Technically, the 'bank' which is, the House of Black will probably own it.

"Speaking of Human Resources," said Ginny, err Lady Potter, for this meeting, "Do all of you know that you could just do R & D and do distribution deals through Fleamont's? Which is still owned by the House of Potter."

Fleamont's? Bloody Hell!

It wasn't huge, but it did have national reach.

"Maybe," said Parvati, "but some of our products are tailored to individual needs, and wouldn't be marketable en-mass."

Ginny shrugged and seemed to lose interest in the conversation.

Harry was taking notes.

"Alright," said Harry, "You've spoken before about courting Purebloods, do you understand that allying with the House of Black might send strong signals about what political alignments you're willing to accept in that regard?"

Lavender shrugged.

"Or were you only wishing to court a pureblood because you were looking for clan membership?" said Parvati.

"I'm not sure I have a clear understanding about the ramifications of all of that."

"Would you be just as happy finding another muggle-born or freeborn half-blood and inviting them to join your family in the House of Black? As long as you knew your membership was secure?"

"Oh," said Lavender, that might be the best of both worlds, actually.

"Or do you want an actual 'pureblood'," said Ginny, "Or are you confusing purebloods with heirs of Families and Houses, which is an easier mistake to make at Hogwarts than in most other contexts?"

"I … huh?"

"In this room," said Harry, "Ginny and Luna are the purebloods, the rest of us are half-bloods."

Luna shook her head, "I'm one generation short of being pureblood, my children will be pureblood unless I marry a muggle-born or a less 'pure' half-blood than myself."

Harry shrugged, nodded, and took some more notes.

"Ok …" said Lavender, "Maybe I don't care about blood status at all and just want as you said, secure clan membership. But … "

Harry nodded, "And remember the option on the table is starting your own Family with you as the head, though if we find a good fit, technically we could induct you into an existing family." He searched her face for a second, then shook his head, "I'm only mentioning the possibility, not pushing for you to look for an adoption that you've displayed no signs of needing."

"Ah. No, I'm not asking for that," said Lavender. "Head of Family is fine." Which … would put me equal or greater rank with a bunch of the others I've been hesitant to ask …

"So … are you the eldest child?"

"Yes."

"Any brothers?"

"No? One half-brother, one half-sister, neither magical, … so far."

Harry nodded, "A lot of purebloods will assume, based on one, the other, or both those pieces of information that you will be unwilling to change your last name, which would artificially restrict your courting selection to non-oldest sons who might be willing to change their name to Brown to comply with your family obligations."

Oh, shit. "But?" I hadn't thought some of that through, I mean some of that was in those books, but I hadn't realised people would be assuming things about me, or that that is an obvious thing for them to assume.

Harry held up his hand, "If you don't have those sorts of family obligations, and if you are willing to change your name, it's a good thing to mention early in a courtship conversation."

Right, and I did mention it kind of early in this conversation.

Lavender acquiesced to that with a shrug.

"Next," said Harry, "there are a few women who prefer (and a few houses that choose to allow them) to be head of their own family, without any marriage." A suggestive raised eyebrow.

"Are you saying, that you will, or that you won't, or that it's an option and you're not making the choice for me?" said Lavender.

Harry shrugged.

"What exactly are we talking about?" said Luna.

Harry sighed.

"You're saying I'd be allowed to join, and you wouldn't immediately start trying to arrange my marriage back out again?"

Harry held up a finger, "Not just that if you join, I'm not going to arrange anything until or unless you either tell me who you want me to arrange something with, or provide me a shortlist that you'd appreciate help interviewing, and/or advice about."

"Oh," said Lavender, "That's fine."

"Oh, that's not what I thought you were discussing," said Luna.

"What were you thinking we were discussing?" said Lavender.

"What Padma has?" said Luna.

"What does Padma have?" said Lavender.

"Padma has a breed contract," said Harry, "Not only is she the Head of the Patil Family within the House of Black, but she also has breeding rights with someone else in the House of Black, who is not married to her."

"You're saying …" said Lavender, "That the House of Black … lets women have the rights and privileges of being married, without …" she wrinkled her nose, " 'submitting to' a 'husband'?"

Padma rolled her eyes. That was at least a partial 'no.'

"Yes," said Harry, "But they tend to earn it."

Padma smirked. Parvati's smile was more genuinely warm.

"What?" said Lavender.

"How are your defence scores?" said Harry.

"Passing, but not all that great," said Lavender.

Harry nodded with a raised eyebrow like he already knew that. "Transfiguration?"

"Not really all that great," said Lavender.

"Charms?"

"EE," said Lavender proudly. Usually a bit better than that, but not consistently enough that I'm willing to claim it, and it was fun to check who else bothered to check the information they were given.

"As are your Herbology and Potions." He didn't even bother to make it a question.

Lavender nodded even more proudly.

"Then there's no excuse for your defence scores to be low," said Harry, "Snape is a terrible teacher, so you must have learned by self-study. Therefore you could have done the same for defence."

Lavender rolled her eyes. With what spare time?

"House of Black women, have a reputation for 'O's in Defence," said Harry with a shrug, "if not directly in Dark Arts."

Oh, shit. He's talking about Bellatrix Lestrange and … that professional duellist another generation back. Or he's saying she's an outlier about being violent with dark magic, instead of just violent in general.

"It's just a reputation, and not everyone tests well," said Harry, "But you might not be a good fit … culturally."

"Oh," said Lavender. Had the conversation changed tone drastically just now? Oh, Because we switched from what position I want, to what he's looking for in House members.

Padma was smirking, it wasn't a nice smirk.

"Hence my question about transfiguration," said Harry, "the Houses of Potter and Black are both known for transfiguration. (Granted one for skill, one for talent.)"

Lavender shrugged.

"Do you know your animagus form?" said Harry.

Lavender wrinkled her nose, "Some kind of shaggy spotted retriever dog, maybe a Spaniel / Labrador mix."

Ginny looked very, very interested.

"Which colour Spaniel?"

"Yellow? Spotty?"

"Which colour Labrador?"

"White? Whitish yellow? I look like a calico cat, except the patches are yellow on white instead of black and white, or brown and tan."

"Like Nim?" said Harry.

Lavender blinked and looked around.

Nim was in a cat tree in the corner glaring elegantly down at them all.

"Those colours," said Lavender, "but blotches, not dainty little rosettes, and shaggy, not short hair."

"Do you just need someone to groom your coat?" said Parvati.

Lavender closed her eyes, and tried to imagine her dog form with sleek short hair instead of shaggy, and found she could barely remember any of it.

"I don't know, maybe?" said Lavender.

"You can't change yet, can you?" said Harry.

I didn't see the point, thought Lavender, I was ugly.

She looked around. All of them seem really interested. All of them except the bald one had French braids. Maybe any of them would give her dog a trim if she asked politely. If she made it through this membership interview.

"No," said Lavender, "I can't change yet."

Harry nodded, "I can lend you some books, and you can attend the seminar in October next year."

Parvati had said. 'The best houses are guild libraries.'

Does this mean I'm in already?

What happened to, 'I'm not sure you're a good fit, culturally.'

"I'm not sure I have time," said Lavender.

"How are you at untransfiguring?" said Padma.

"Dogs aren't big enough to metabolise—" Parvati started.

"That's not what I'm interested in," Padma interrupted, "If you had the time, would you learn?"

Lavender frowned, "Well, yeah probably, if I had enough time but …" I'd have to be very bored, or cooped up somewhere I couldn't brew. Or even read anything else.

"Do you understand how disguise can sometimes be a better and gentler defence than any other kind of magic," said Harry, "especially against muggles. Especially if your form is … unobtrusive."

Sometimes camouflage or invisibility is better than armour. It wasn't this year's defence professor's main motto, but it was attributed to him as one of his well-known favourites.

Camouflage: like a medium dog.

"What are your forms?" said Lavender.

"I'm a horse," said Parvati, "You've seen Ginny's form."

Lavender nodded, And do horses have a special thing for dogs?

"Padma and Luna are monkeys. Susan is a bulldog, Hanna is a pig, one of the smart kinds, not one of the stupid kinds."

Of course, Miss Bones is a bulldog. And both of their animals are known to sniff out trouble. And why are those relevant, Or are the House of Bones much closer allies to the House of Black than I realised?

And I'm just a hunting dog, a small hunting dog, not a fighting hunting dog, just a retriever.

"What are you Harry?" said Lavender.

"Lion," said Harry.

That's what he meant hinting about unobtrusive being a better disguise. Right. Lions weren't unobtrusive.

"Oh?" said Lavender.

"What?" said Harry.

"I thought, parselmouths were always snakes."

"Hmm," said Harry, "I might once have had an option to choose a snake, but I didn't." He shrugged.

The Patils looked confused.

"Alright, never mind," said Lavender, "Wait, you got to choose?"

Harry shrugged.

"Did any of the rest of you have an option?"

The Patils looked at each other.

The other two shook their heads.

"Alright," said Lavender.

"I'll be right back," said Harry, "Parvati, your meeting."

"Humph," said Parvati. She grabbed Harry's notes and began studying them.

Padma got bored watching her and turned back to Lavender, "If you didn't need to study, or if you'd already needed to study all of the shaping arithmancy for other reasons, would you already have your other form available?"

"Maybe," said Lavender.

Padma doesn't understand my complete disinterest in a shaggy spotty dog. Parvati probably does, but Padma doesn't.

"May I … check if your form has changed since you checked last?"

"Is forms changing a thing that can happen?" said Lavender.

"In theory," said Padma, "it's based on your personality, and personalities can change, but that takes work, and people tend to either ignore their personality completely or to spend their time embracing who they already are."

Ok? But has mine changed? Lavender shrugged.

Padma drew her wand and cast something wordless at Lavender, it felt like a diagnostic charm. And the way it pulled away into a graph of blue and turquoise gossamer sparks waiting to be read, looked like a diagnostic charm; except it didn't continue sorting itself out into a graph or some other indicator, or turn invisible to everyone except the caster. The sparks just hovered there and waited. Padma concentrated, not on the sparks but on Lavender, then cast a wordless transfiguration charm, that swept up the blue and turquoise in its wake, and splashed against Lavender and engulfed her.

Lavender noticed the charm intruding into her mind and waiting for a mental component. Which was both disorienting and … against standard theory, since it was Padma who cast the charm, so it ought to be Padma providing the mental component.

It was just a specialised transfiguration charm. Living-to-living, obviously.

Lavender caught it and held it still before it could do anything, or get confused about what it should be doing since she hadn't answered its interrogation yet.

It already knew what her dog looked like — was like, through and through. Interesting. It merely wanted to know 'What selection of reality is Lavender Brown?'

And here was how it would decide when to change her, and there was when to change her back and dissipate. Lavender fixed the 'and dissipate' clause to return it to its present state of 'ready and waiting,' then fixed it a bit more thoroughly to not break from waiting too long to be told, 'which fraction of the universe is Lavender Brown, (and therefore the proper target for the transfiguration).'

Padma looked very confused, "You … didn't block it?" said Padma, "Your magic just ate it?"

"Not exactly," said Lavender, "I just told it to wait for me to … decide about my clothes." She took her wand out and laid it on the table, then let it change her and her clothes into a shaggy yellow and cream puppy.

Well, not really a puppy anymore. There was a difference between a dog that is small because it is young, and a dog that is just small. And she was definitely the size she was intended to be. Not much of an adult, but definitely an adult.

Luna and Ginny cooed and dove out of their chairs to circle the table to her.

Lavender had to choose between freezing, running, and approaching. (This wasn't her turf.) She froze.

Luna crouched and hugged her.

Lavender could smell a streak down her shirt to her wrist where that swimming chameleon thing had walked. But chameleons were reptiles and that thing was an amphibian, and very magical. Her instincts said it could grow to be overwhelmingly large over half a century. But that was true of many things. Never mind.

The hug was nice.

Probably Luna was the sort to trust and hug everything, let potentially dangerous babies climb all over her, and convince them to be friendly and tame before they grew big enough to be dangerous.

So probably, like Hagrid there is plenty of reason to be suspicious of her taste in animal friends, but that was the opposite of a reason to distrust her about her own intentions towards Lavender.

Lavender relaxed.

Ginny merely hovered near enough to pet her head and chest when Luna wasn't in the way.

Parvati stayed very far away and stared.

Luna picked her up and carried her into the bathroom so she could see herself in the mirror.

Lavender didn't feel that being picked up was the correct way of things, for one thing, this was up too high to get a good view of which smells were coming from which things. On the other hand, she had wanted to see a mirror.

About what I expected, but … well … that did look fixable with the right grooming equipment. This is what Parvati and her wisdom were best kept around for.

From the sounds in the other room, Harry had returned and there were words exchanged.

Lavender tried to turn that way. Luna quickly obliged with a gentle trip back to the floor. It made Lavender wonder, just how much she'd irritated the dogs and cats (and rabbits) she'd chosen to hold a bit longer than they'd wanted to be held. And how generous Luna was to offer to pick her up. But also to pay enough attention to put her down again as soon as she had wanted.

They rushed back into the common room.

Lavender changed back.

Harry had been struggling to put something into words. But when he saw Lavender had returned he shut his mouth with a snap.

Parvati raised an eyebrow at him.

"Let's just say," said Harry, "Leona's animagus form is a common adder."

"Bloody Hell," said Padma.

Ginny snickered.

"So," said Harry, "what did I miss?"

"This," said Lavender.

They all looked at her.

She changed back into her dog form.

"Wow," said Harry, "That's … impressive, just how close were you already?"

How many more times do I need to change back and forth before I'm used to what my new ears can hear? And therefore start to understand things naturally again.

Lavender changed back, and shrugged, "I'm not sure how close or far away I was, it was Padma's charm that taught me how. I'm just … really good with charms."

"Like Susan," said Harry, "grand, now I'm going to be in trouble with McGonagall."

"What?" said Lavender.

Harry turned to Padma, "The charm you invented for my cousin?"

Padma nodded.

Harry nodded, "And she, what? Learned it while inside it?"

Padma shook her head. "She caught it before it could trigger and took it apart, then, somehow, let it trigger anyway."

Harry looked at her, eyes wide with interest.

"It was just a transfiguration charm," said Lavender, "and she'd preloaded it with my animagus form, it wanted me to choose how much of my clothes to include, I just changed it to let me trigger it whenever I wanted."

"How?" said Harry.

Lavender picked up her wand, circled the table and tapped him.

He went cross-eyed for several seconds, "That's no longer a charm, that's an enchantment, though it's a very polite and well-behaved one."

"Well yeah," said Lavender, "I wouldn't want an impolite enchantment on me."

Harry smiled.

"What did she do to it?" said Padma.

Harry went cross-eyed trying to rip it apart, then finally gave up and let it transfigure a small lock of hair into Lavender's dog form.

Which wasn't nearly enough to provide raw materials for the transfiguration, nor enough to anchor the enchantment, so it failed in a poof of gold fur that was once again black hair by the time it settled to the ground.

Harry reached across and tapped Padma with his wand.

And she was a large male lion. She looked around and sniffed twice, then was herself again.

"Well, that's amusing," she said and shivered, and a few moments later was a not-nearly-so-large female lion.

She looked around, sniffed three times, glared hard at Lavender, and was herself again.

"So?" said Harry.

"She has my vote," said Padma, "but only if she promises to get her arithmancy NEWT as soon as possible."

"Also gives up her gossip gig," said Luna.

Harry frowned and turned to Lavender.

"I don't gossip anymore," said Lavender.

His eyes popped wide open.

"I don't," insisted Lavender.

"Since when?" said Harry.

"Since our second year," said Lavender, "I … saw how unfair … I still keep up an intelligence network, but that's different."

"How is it different?" said Harry.

"Gossip is to feel good by … gambling about making other people feel bad," said Lavender, "an intelligence network is about finding out the truth, and not telling it to anyone unless they deserve to know."

Harry frowned.

"There was this —" ugly unkempt scrawny scraggly inconsiderate desperate, "tiny black haired kid with glasses," said Lavender, "Nobody loved him, but nobody hated him either, and then the rumours went stupid, despite his easy-to-check alibis, and the people went stupid. He didn't deserve that. And I gave up on listening to gossip that I couldn't prove, and gave up on spreading around what I knew, even when I was sure. Unless … unless someone deserved to be told on."

"Huh," said Harry.

"I apologised to Neville about our first year," said Lavender, "I guess I might never have apologised to you about my part in our second year. I'm sorry, I … didn't start anything, but I spread some things I shouldn't have, before I adjusted my ideas about what to believe and what to spread."

"Hmm," said Harry.

"I am sorry," said Lavender and she did mean it, but… "Did you really find the Chamber of Secrets to prove your innocence about the Heir of Slytherin thing?"

Ginny looked really angry. Like multiple-howlers-before-breakfast angry.

"No," said Harry, "I found the Chamber of Secrets because everyone was indirectly in danger, and I ventured into it myself because my best friend's little sister was already directly in danger."

Ginny relaxed and grabbed his hand.

He held on.

"Oh."

Her knight in shining armour.

A lion.

Of course, they got the king's suite. Or was this Merlin's suite? Or were those the same thing, depending on which decade, and whether you asked a muggle or a wizard? Hogwarts as a school hadn't taken over the entire castle until the castle had ceased to also be a seat of government.

.

Someone came out of one of the bedrooms and froze.

Lavender met her wide-staring eyes. A girl, frozen halfway from bedroom to bathroom. Ravenclaw tie and chest emblem, a different shoulder emblem, two flasks and a wine flute, … matching Ginny's shoulder emblem.

I don't know you. thought Lavender, But the blue glass earrings are familiar.

"Lavender Brown is a parselmouth?" said the girl.

"No?" said Lavender.

"Then, how did you get in here?" she said.

Harry sighed, "she was let in by someone," said Harry, "just like you were."

"Ah," The girl rolled her eyes, shrugged, and continued into the bathroom.

Harry sighed again.

"Are there lots more parselmouths at Hogwarts than is common knowledge?" said Lavender.

Padma snickered.

Lavender stared at her.

"To my knowledge," said Padma, "all the parselmouths at Hogwarts are in this room."

"Though whether you choose to interpret that statement as about parselmouths or about common knowledge, is your choice," said Parvati.

"Fair enough," said Lavender.

Harry was looking thoughtful again.

"I suppose after the reception that Harry got in our second year, it's not likely that most people would be willing to come forward about it," said Lavender with a sniff.

Harry nodded, "also, there are not all that many snakes around here to talk to by accident," said Harry, "Unless you commonly talk to engravings, in which case…" He shrugged.

"Right," said Lavender.

"So how do you feel about parselmouths in general?" said Harry.

Lavender shrugged.

"Do you think they're mostly evil and I'm an exception, or that they're mostly good and you-know-who was an exception, or something else?"

Lavender shrugged, "Probably somewhere in between, like maybe most of them are snake animagi, and that personality type has a failure mode that," Lavender shrugged, "seeks power differently than others."

Harry nodded, "Is that what you think?" he tapped his head, "or is that what you believe?" he tapped his chest, "or is that just a polite thing to say to someone you know is a parselmouth that you're trying to butter up to earn a favour from?"

Lavender frowned. That proved the previous question was a test, and she hadn't quite passed. Or at least, had neither passed nor failed, yet.

Parvati had said her grandfather kept a truth viper, a snake whose bites never stopped bleeding, and who could magically smell lies, though that sounded like something muggles could train a dog to do, just smelling the correct stress hormones. But …

"The truth is that I don't know," said Lavender, "and snakes freak me out."

Parvati was smirking, it wasn't entirely friendly, but it seemed … respectful, proud even. She knows I told the truth, she hadn't been sure if I would, or even could.

"You are perhaps even less well suited to the Family of Black than I might have hoped," said Harry.

The girl came back from the bathroom, "Should I be in here or not?"

"Your study group is done?" Harry asked.

"Mostly?" said the girl.

"You don't need to be here," said Harry, "we're getting close to the part where you need not to be here, though I have no idea how quickly that part will go. "

The girl shrugged, "I have a lot of reading of my own to do, now that I'm done tutoring."

Harry nodded.

"I'll come back later."

Harry nodded. The girl left. Harry sighed.

"Alright," said Harry, "You've asked to be part of the House of Black."

Lavender nodded.

"You've shown a minimum level of familiarity with some of the complications that might entail, but you haven't specified what you want out of such an arrangement. So perhaps if I offer you a multiple choice?"

"Please," said Lavender.

Harry nodded.

"Alright," said Harry, "This probably won't be an exhaustive list, but it will contain some of the common things that purebloods might assume if they see you starting to wear a House of Black crest on your shoulder: Number 1, that you have renounced your muggle family and have been adopted by the House of Black, nothing at all implied about your marriage prospects, only that, should they choose to pursue courtship, they know to address their inquiries to Lord Sirius Black. He's known to send back critiques of bad contracts and file away the good ones until you ask to look at them."

Lavender nodded, "makes sense."

"Number 2, that you are a genius, and we have blackmail and/or we've offered you protection. In exchange you're an R & D slave of some kind, you can do no wrong in our eyes, but only as long as you don't cost us more than whatever value we're extracting from you. If you're smart you'll figure out exactly what kinds of offences you're allowed and which you're not. So as to keep from costing us too much in money and reputation. You get to be even more offensive than muggle-borns, but only because we secretly know something about what you're capable of and it's worth something to us."

Lavender rolled her eyes, "deliciously dramatic, but … I don't think that's really an option you're offering me."

"It's not," agreed Harry, "But I want you to be aware of it, in case someone starts offering you offences, or offering to take offence about you. If you laugh in their face and smirk like you have no status whatever to lose, and would love to see us send several Bellatrix Lestrange types after them just because they thought they deserved to insult one of the prodigy slaves of the House of Black." Harry shrugged and smirked, "It might be a helpful mask to know about. Though hopefully you won't need it. And it's only as good as your ability to act like there's something odd about your magical talents."

"But there's nothing odd about my magical talents," said Lavender.

"Of course not," said Padma, "because we all either measure ourselves against others or measure others against ourselves. If you're perfectly average in every way, that means you're measuring others against yourself."

Lavender nodded, "Sure, but … Oh." She smirked, "Of course I'm perfectly average, is someone saying otherwise? That … turning interesting charms into enchantments isn't an everyday thing to do?"

Padma smiled, "It's a common task for master spell crofters to do on paper or in runes, it is very much not common to manage between when it is cast and when it takes effect. Speaking of which, I'm going to … go work on arithmancy for a while." She picked up her books and disappeared behind one of the wall rugs.

None of those looked like an arithmancy textbook.

Lavender stared at Parvati.

"She's going to try to write down the arithmancy for your enchantment while it's fresh so that she can study it later," said Parvati.

And look for obvious things to improve.

"Oh," said Lavender, and shrugged.

Harry nodded, "Option number 3, is similar to number 2, but is based less on how useful you already are, and more on how useful your talent seems like it might be when bred with other magical talents in the House of Black collection. I'm not going to go into that. Number 4, You are a perfectly normal adult, with perfectly normal responsibilities, you just don't like the idea of husbands, (well, or wives), and have gotten a contract with the House of Black, but you could have just as easily gotten it with many of the other houses. You've chosen to opt for the protection of a clan, instead of the protection of a family. Whenever you choose to breed, you can decide that for yourself, or perhaps you already have an arrangement with one or several other house members. You can see where this is going?"

Lavender shrugged, "I get to be an old maid, with no one being able to insult me about it."

"That's one destination you would gain the right to take this. Another place might be, do you prefer girls in your bed or boys?"

"Oh!" said Lavender.

Harry nodded, "Or perhaps you already have someone in mind?"

Lavender shrugged.

"Or perhaps you prefer girls for everyday comfort, but still hope to breed someday, an option 4 type contract is often the preferred method in those situations, no one gets to tell you what you're allowed to do in your own home, but you are highly recommended to have studding events arranged properly through your Head of House, at least the first couple of times, after which you'll probably know the contract topics well enough to negotiate it for yourself. The point is, to declare and protect your rights in the eyes of the law, to never have to turn your children over to their biological father or fathers whoever those might be. Or the opposite, have an ironclad contract that they'll pick them up at their second, third, or fifth birthday, whichever you and they negotiate between yourselves, and not leave them with you indefinitely. Speaking of, how many children do you want anyway?"

"I hadn't thought about that," said Lavender.

Harry shrugged, "That's fine, most people don't really want to breed before 25, nor have the career to support the additional expense, until about the same time."

Then why would I be arranging that now? Really?

Harry frowned, "Or maybe that's the average statistics for muggles, I'm not sure what they are for mages. And finding an exactly average individual is somewhat rare. Never mind." He shrugged, "I suppose you can interpolate from the obvious clauses to accomplish those four, what other combinations are easily possible."

Lavender nodded.

"And you can see how option 3 is kind of a mix of options 2 and 4. And also why a rumour of option 2 provides a foundation for options 1 and 4 being things that might happen to keep you happy and performing well. Even if only by rumoured reputation."

Lavender nodded. "So! … 2 and 3 aren't really on the table, but you kind of want me to act secretive enough that no one will be absolutely sure that option 2 isn't what's really happening?"

"It could help us protect you better," said Harry.

Lavender rolled her eyes, "I understand."

Harry stayed silent.

"Sometimes I want option 1 more, and sometimes I want option 4 more," said Lavender.

Harry blinked in confusion, "Wait, I think you asked me for something close to option 1 a while ago."

Lavender nodded, "I want to marry eventually, it seems reasonable that I ought to try to have Lord Black or someone reputable reading any contract with me and making sure it's not asking for something stupid."

Harry nodded, "Wise."

He's laughing at me, under that blank expression.

"But right now, today?" said Lavender, "I might prefer option 4."

"Why?" said Harry.

"For one thing, I don't want to give up seeing my parents?"

"Well obviously," said Harry.

Ginny rolled her eyes. As if Harry was commonly dense about parents.

"I like option 4's implication that I … can date whoever I want, it's only breeding I need to get permission about, and maybe not 'permission' even, just … help to negotiate contracts."

Harry nodded, "Oh, and a common sub-option of option 4, is a single indefinite breeding contract with only one member of the house or an ally house, instead of several one-off contracts as often as you want another child."

Lavender nodded, "Ok, but when or how is that preferable to a normal marriage?"

"Sometimes," said Parvati, "you don't want to be in that other House no matter how closely allied it might be to your own, no matter how much you happen to like that one guy in it, or no matter how much your parents like his genetics."

"Oh," said Lavender.

"And sometimes, you're lesbian," said Parvati.

"Obviously," said Lavender.

"And sometimes, the man you want is already married," said Parvati, "So you have to choose between having the kids you want, or having some other romance than the one you want."

Fair enough. Damn you both.

Lavender glared at Parvati.

Parvati smiled. But it wasn't the mocking smile that Lavender would have expected.

She's enjoying being the one on top, but … she's not … rubbing it in like she's trying to make me be the one on the bottom.

I should be happy for her, but I'm not, I'm envious.

If I was lesbian, she'd be enough to enrage me straight.

Or … no … that's … what I keep expecting from her … not what she is doing.

What is she doing?

Almost nothing.

Lavender sighed and looked away.

"Am I missing something obvious again?" said Harry.

"No," said Ginny, "I think we just need to be patient for her to find words to explain herself."

Luna snorted, "No, it is obvious, the Brown Floof is very straight, and currently a very horny bitch, may Hunter have her for taking care of."

"Luna!" said Parvati, "that's not—"

"Merlin!" said Harry, "Lavender Brown, may I ask you several questions, that aren't necessarily any of my business."

How did this suddenly turn even more serious than it had been?

I was right, he has been laughing at me this whole time.

"What?" said Lavender.

"May I?" said Harry.

"Ask," said Lavender with narrowed eyes, "Maybe I won't answer."

Harry nodded, "How many boys have you shagged? And/or how many girls?"

"None and none," said Lavender.

"How many have you snogged?"

"No … umm two?"

Harry nodded, "how many have you dated more than once in a row?"

Lavender shrugged, "None more than twice in a row anyway."

"And you are not currently dating any?"

"Correct," said Lavender.

Harry frowned, "I half find that impossible to believe, and half … notice that I don't remember ever noticing you on someone's arm in Hogsmeade."

"So what? So you believe me?" snapped Lavender. And I don't see how any of this is any of your business.

Harry nodded, "Why haven't you been on more dates? I know you're both pretty enough and are considered more than competent in presenting your beauty to good effect."

Lavender frowned, "And you're just asking that?" talk about insulting.

Harry rolled his eyes, "I haven't exactly paid attention to anyone's dating life outside my house and near ally houses, so I neither have preexisting theories about yours, nor a selection of theories about the range of things people get up to, and don't have any building blocks from which to quickly construct a theory about what you might want. So," he shrugged, "Tell me what you want, and why you haven't already gone and gotten it, which is to say, what do you not want?"

Lavender was about to roll her eyes but noticed the other three girls freeze and turn to stare at him.

"I have dated before, just like, not this year?" Lavender shrugged, "I'd like to date. And snog boys—"

Parvati smirked.

"But often I have projects that I want to work on, to fill up all my free time, and I rarely have a Hogsmeade weekend free and know I'm going to have it free early enough to get a pulse of the dating scene and decide who to ask."

Harry nodded rapidly, he still seemed to be in a great hurry about something, "You're the oldest child, and you expect to be doing the asking, even though you are also a muggle-born, and have heard that the boys should be doing the asking?"

Lavender grunted, "I suppose? What's your point?"

"I and my girls are all either only children or oldest children by at least one method of counting. We tend to be comfortable taking charge, and/or delegating. Two traits that are necessary for leadership."

"I beg your pardon!" said Ginny. She was looking thunderous.

"You might be the baby after your six siblings," said Harry, "But you are your Mother's eldest and only daughter. If it's a responsibility you could justify chasing your brothers away from, it's probably one you've had practice taking charge of."

"Hmm," said Ginny.

"And otherwise, if it's something you're sufficiently interested in, you've probably experimented with taking charge of it by another route, perhaps sneaking out at night to try your hand at it alone, without the benefit of tutoring. That's half of what I meant by 'take charge', being willing to try it alone, and without the benefit of tutoring."

"And the other half is being able to say, 'I've had enough tutoring already, get the hell out of my way'?" Ginny asked.

Harry nodded.

Ginny smirked.

"Oh, snog already," said Luna.

Ginny smirked and ducked in for a peck on the cheek. Harry turned his head even more in case she wanted to try again. But they just made noses and eyes at each other. Then Harry turned back to Lavender and shrugged. "And Parvati and her sister share between them a lot of the traits of being oldest and of being youngest, and of being able to take charge, and of being willing to delegate, but also of being willing to think critically about the orders and information they are receiving, because they're used to tutoring or taking tutoring from someone exactly their own age, instead of someone much older or much younger.

"Hmm," rumbled Parvati, "And you think, muggle culture has conflated oldest sibling leadership abilities with stereotypical male behaviour talents?"

Harry shrugged, "Perhaps."

"Which means," said Parvati, "that Lavender is either a good fit for around here or ought to go find a second child to go date."

"Oh," said Harry, "I guess that is the next logical step." He turned his attention back to Lavender.

"Or that she's also asking for lessons taking orders from a male," said Luna.

"I don't think that's what I want," said Lavender, "I mean, I mostly wanted … permission to really date, because my parents don't understand that mages really do already. Except dating seems really time-consuming compared to my schedule this year, and NEWTs are supposed to be a lot worse."

"That's valid," said Parvati and Harry.

"Do you want lessons giving orders to a male?" said Luna.

Lavender frowned and looked at Luna, "why did that sound like a threat instead of a question?"

Luna froze for a fraction of a second, then spun to face Harry.

"Hunter?" she said.

Harry sighed, "Lavender, just to be absolutely clear, you haven't been on dates this year because you lacked time and courage and timely information, and not because you are lesbian or transgender."

I am not touching the lack of courage question.

"What the hell is transgender?"

"Are you actually a boy inside?" said Harry. He tapped his temple.

"What the bloody hell?" said Lavender.

"Never mind," said Harry, "It's a rather rare issue, but it can lead to cases where you want to date but never do. Or do date, but never let yourself connect deeply to anyone because you know that it's going to all fall apart as soon as you have to get naked and they'll have incontrovertible physical proof, that you are a girl, when really you are a guy, just not on the surface. Or the other way around."

"Is this a real thing?"

"Yes," said Harry, "But it's very rare, maybe 1% of the population."

1%? So I should estimate 3 at Hogwarts with its current population?

"Alright," said Lavender, "Why are you bringing it up?"

"It's not uncommon for transgender mages to explore the animagus transformation earlier than others, not so much because of the 'they want to be closer to nature' stereotype, but because they don't find their own body very representative of their identity. There are many more ways that someone can find their own body non-representative of their identity, than just gender. But the fact that you hadn't yet latched onto animagus training as an optional way to explore your identity further had already suggested to me that it wasn't an issue for you, but I had to ask."

"Oh-kay?" said Lavender.

And all of these people were animagi.

Therefore all of them had identity issues, or … all of them had felt unsafe enough to find animal disguises.

Or some of each. Don't assume.

Got it!

But from the reverse angle, if this is the most animagi I've ever been in the same room with at Hogwarts, it has the highest chance of containing some of Hogwarts' current population of hypothetical transgenders, than any group I've ever been in, if the correlation he suggests is accurate.

Harry frowned, but his mouth was stuck on whatever his next word was.

And they think I'm still a gossip, instead of a detective. Right.

"Do I need to promise secrecy about whatever you say next?" said Lavender.

"Not about what I'm about to say next, but about the thing after that," said Harry.

Lavender shrugged, "Who's in on it, and who isn't?"

"The Houses of Black, Potter, and Bones."

"Got it," said Lavender, "Who am I not telling, everyone else?"

"Yes," said Parvati.

"What am I not telling?"

Harry leaned forward, "In addition to transgender, there's also non-binary, which means less that 'you feel like your identity contradicts the gender of the body you wear.' And more like 'your identity does not have a gender at all, or conversely does not have only a single gender, but perhaps it doesn't really bother you that your body has one, or conversely, perhaps it bothers you a lot.' Possibly it bothers you that the social prejudices about what and how people of your body's gender should act, contradict your identity, even if the social prejudices for the opposite gender also contradict your identity."

Lavender squeezed her eyes shut, "But your real identity's preferred behaviours are still within the human bell curve overall, just don't comfortably fit within either one of the male or female bell curves."

"Exactly," said Harry.

"Alright," said Lavender, "I won't spread around and I will try to not admit knowing that any House of Black or House of Potter members are what did you call it, non-gender?"

"Non-binary," said Harry.

Lavender nodded.

But he'd turned away to give Parvati a look. Parvati shrugged, "she's smart, just about different things than Padma. … or you."

"Apparently," said Harry. He turned back to Lavender.

"Luna and I are non-binary," said Harry.

Luna was eccentric enough that it might be surprising that she wasn't 'outside the bell curve of—' … wait, Harry also? Really?

Well, he did seem to prefer long braided hair. And Luna had none at all.

But surely having those preferences wasn't enough to feel annoyed at social gender norms, mages tended to interpret long hair as a sign of status and luxury even, while also admiring tight practical do's and arrangements as signs of pragmatism, competence, and creative do's as a sign of well, creativity.

So it didn't follow that that alone was proof, but perhaps it was still a symptom. Just like the choice to investigate becoming an animagus.

"So, what does that mean in practice?"

"It means," sighed Ginny dreamily, "Harry is excellent in bed as a boy, and as a girl, both on top and on the bottom."

Harry rolled his eyes.

"It means that some of Harry's partners are lesbian, without contradiction," said Parvati, "it also means: do you still want to pursue Harry, even if that means that turning out to like him or not like him might not directly mean anything about your actual preferences for men or women, in general?"

Oh, what the hell? And I thought he was already spoken for … but then they asked me if I was hoping to live alone but have a breed contract with someone who might happen to be married (as if that were a not-uncommon arrangement). So back to the question do I want to 'pursue' Harry?

Ah, because the dating tradition isn't just looking for a mate, it is also learning about yourself and what you look for in a mate.

"It also means," said Harry, "are you prepared to face a committee of my sexual partners, to request permission, to also be one of my sexual partners, when that will also open you up to the lesbian and non-binary selection of them also expecting that to be permission for them to proposition you."

Lavender blinked and stared at Parvati.

"I'm not lesbian," said Parvati.

Ginny smirked and rolled her eyes.

"Right?" said Lavender. Which is why Harry is your only male friend I've ever heard about. But then you didn't even admit about him either, so whatever.

Parvati rolled her eyes, "There are exceptions."

Lavender nodded, "Are … those exceptions all … inside this 'committee of Harry's sexual partners'?"

"Yes," said Parvati.

"Fine," said Lavender.

"And if you also join," said Parvati, "you don't get to snog or shag anyone outside the group without also convincing them to join, and us to accept them."

That was at least self-consistent.

"Any questions?" said Parvati.

"Go back to … I thought we were only negotiating House protection, not sexual partnership," said Lavender, "I thought that was … not an option on offer."

Harry shrugged, "It's not from me, yet, but you have earned enough of my respect to … possibly start including you for Hogsmeade weekends. And to permit and encourage Parvati to contemplate … or contemplate more seriously, how well your skills and business plans would fit within the larger House of Black business strategies. Actually taking me to bed might require a minimum of three Hogsmeade weekends, but …"

The four of them glanced among themselves.

(Three Hogsmeade weekends could be rounded off to four months. That was a long time. And I've never dated anyone who held my interest for more than two dates in a row, nor I theirs. Oof. Or was this a fib to let me down easy? Or was it … just honesty, I've won more of his interest than he expected, but not yet enough for him to promise anything before next year. Wow. Did his attention span last that long? Does mine? Does anyone's?)

The only thing that has held my attention longer than that is learning potions. (Well, and more generally learning magic.)

Maybe that's what making a family is like, in general, and I should have already been assuming … I don't have words for this. … that family should feel like long-term interests instead of like short-term, normal, interests.

And yet, I don't even know how to search for that, I'm not sure I even know how to recognise it … like it might be unsafe to jump into a marathon before training to run at all.

And Parvati's wisdom was that dating was also about knowing yourself.

Outside my nuclear family, Parvati is the person who has been in my life the longest. But since she's not lesbian and neither am I.

Not that sexual relationships are the only kind, which was perhaps the point of Houses actually, to have a way of allowing for and spelling out lots more kinds of relationships.

Harry sighed and turned back to Lavender.

"Luna has requested your membership because she desires your animagus form and hers to become good friends."

Lavender turned to stare at Luna.

Luna didn't blush, Just nodded and smiled … rather invitingly. But also … proud. Proudly independent?

The way Lavender wanted to feel to invite someone on a Hogsmeade weekend.

"Hunter is the same size as your Golden Floof," said Luna, "He's a demiguise."

Size match was convenient, not a dog probably meant a not-fertile cross without magical intervention. But the keyword in there might have been 'he.'

She gave into a shiver to counteract the goose flesh spreading across her back, "Alright," said Lavender, "I'm much less disinterested than I thought."

Luna smirked, "Let's go find Susan."

And she vanished. But Lavender could still hear the clothes … no the fur of something moving. A scrap of parchment in the middle of the table slid to the side, as the faint sound of patting paws and rustling fur came closer, and then too many hands touched her all at once, and then it was an embrace, and then it was only a silver monkey with a pink nose and hands and feet sitting in the crook of Lavender's elbow, and staring her in the face.

You really are the same size as my dog. You might weigh even less than my dog. Probably better at jumping and climbing though.

She's leaning in, maybe to sniff my breath or hair, maybe to hug, maybe to doggy kiss. No.

Lavender grabbed the monkey under its arms, held it away, and stared at Harry, "Susan as in Bones?"

Harry nodded.

"She's the member of that committee who isn't present?"

Harry shrugged, "Depending on how you count Padma, who is also a member but left already."

Lavender blinked, "Option 4, sub-option exclusively you?"

Harry nodded, "exclusively me for breeding, and all the rest for snogging, whichever of them you and they both agree on for shagging."

Lavender nodded, "I'm assuming the membership of this committee, and its existence is confidential?"

Harry nodded, "Ginny and Parvati are publicly acknowledged to be my fiancees, that a different group exists with no legal paperwork, but oaths to keep sexual hygiene within the group, is confidential."

Lavender nodded, "Got it, I won't spread that around. I'm not promising yet whether I'm joining, but…"

Parvati cleared her throat, "Joining isn't permanent, you're allowed to leave, you just have to promise to tell us that you've left before one of us kisses you again by accident."

"I understand … and you want me to accept that umm, letting this one kiss me will be my promise to Uh—umm, stay inside the group until I get a good enough offer to want to leave and that I'll tell you, all, that I'm leaving."

Harry nodded.

Parvati smiled.

Ginny looked … Lavender didn't know Ginny well enough to interpret that expression, it didn't quite match wistfulness, but … Lavender looked away, the little monkey, which had already taken hold of her wrists, took the attention as permission to climb out of her grasp and up her arms to sit on Lavender's shoulder. Where she held on by wrapping one leg around her neck, one leg down her side to her elbow, and both arms around her forehead.

Right. That seemed secure enough.

"So, where shall we look for Susan?"

The monkey let go of her forehead to point. Maybe toward one of the fancy doors.

Lavender followed the pointing until it led her not to a door but to the edge of several tapestries hanging three layers deep, one a rug-like piece of pieced velvet facing into the room, toasty warm. Another was merely woven, blanket-like, with geometric patterns in ugly colours. If Lavender didn't have to insult it out loud, her guess was that someone was just learning how to weave the geometric patterns, and was testing with the ugliest colours that no one wanted. Both of them together were rather heavy to squeeze behind. But the monkey was strong and apparently experienced at holding them away from the wall so that Lavender could concentrate on walking.

Deep behind those two, they came up on a piece of parchment tacked to the wall that was emitting an odd faint windy noise. That was most of what Lavender could register about it before she stuck a hand through it, trying to catch her balance, and instead of finding a solid wall, she caught her balance on an equally heavy hanging of tapestries on the other side, mirror image physics coming the other way.

The Monkey did the same thing.

Right. So it wasn't a true mirror image, because there wasn't a mirror-Lavender pushing out the other way, it was just a doorway that was also hidden behind heavy tapestries. And this was supposed to happen.

The threshold was a dangerously high trip hazard, but she managed.

So Lavender stepped through and continued to follow where the Monkey was guiding …

.

Out into a nice little study room where Padma was sitting at one desk, and Susan was sitting at another and both seemed to have been working studiously on whatever their revising was, but they'd both looked up. Padma didn't seem very surprised.

Susan gave a start, "What are you doing in here? In there? With Hunter?"

Lavender sighed, "I'm not clear on all the terminology, but … I think I'm supposed to say, 'Hunter has requested your permission to 'be friendly' with 'Golden Floof'.'"

Susan's mouth dropped open. After three seconds, she closed her mouth, "And you're Golden Floof?"

Lavender nodded.

"At least until there's sufficient consensus that a better name exists?"

Hopefully, Lavender nodded,

Susan nodded, "Do you have everyone else's permission?"

"Yes, except," Lavender looked at Padma, "Padma left early enough, I wasn't sure which of several things she gave permission for."

"Are you asking permission to be with Hunter or Harry?" said Padma.

"I asked for Harry, and was told that was a several-month process, but that I wasn't being sent away with a firm 'no' already." Which is … disappointing but understandable, given that no one else has ever made it through my couple-week-long process before…?

Susan's eyebrow popped up, "Alright, well … I guess the others have already asked this, but … How many people have you already been with?"

"Should I interpret 'been with' as 'dated' which I don't know how to answer, or as 'snogged or shagged' which I definitely know how to answer."

"Then answer the second," said Susan.

"Snogged two," said Lavender, "haven't shagged any."

"Have you had pepper-up since those two?"

Lavender nodded, "Yes, Why?"

"Never mind, if you join the rotation, how often do you expect/wish/desire shagging time with Harry, vs. Just in general."

"I have no idea how to answer that," said Lavender, "I … think I'm not lesbian, but … I do understand the whole thing about, there's more girls than boys on the committee at the moment."

"And neither you nor Golden Floof is helping that ratio," said Padma.

Lavender shrugged, "If I exclusively shag Harry and 'Golden Floof' exclusively shags 'Hunter' is that going to be a problem?"

Susan shrugged, "Each of those once a month, might be a lot different than once a week."

Padma snorted, "Nobody has time for once a week."

Susan rolled her eyes.

Lavender scratched her temple, "I'm hearing that … even if Harry eventually likes me enough to shag me, it's likely to be a once-in-a-quarter sort of event."

Susan smiled, "If you … count on about that much, you can be pleasantly surprised if intermittent offers also appear, rather than the opposite."

Right.

And I mostly just wanted the status of him holding my hand one day through Hogsmeade.

No, I didn't, I wanted someone of my own to shag.

Preferably someone I could be proud of being seen with in public.

So I should just give up on 'not lesbian,' and … try to fit into a hierarchy reasonably close to where my legal status might end up. And make up my mind to be content with being Lady Black's screw toy.

Both girls nodded.

Hunter squeezed her elbow and forehead.

Right and Hunter's. Wait did I say part of that out loud?

Lavender's skin was hot from her living headband to her navel, "How much of that did I say out loud?"

"Not lesbian," said Susan "but maybe Lady Black's, ahem, consort."

"Right," sighed Lavender.

"Most of the rest was mumbled and I couldn't make it out," said Susan, and hooked a thumb up over her shoulder towards the one obvious door in that direction.

Padma nodded.

Hunter leaned.

So I've struck out, thought Lavender with a sigh and followed the indicated directions.

Waiting for the monkey to hop down and abandon her, or to turn human to explain how, and how badly she'd messed up.

.

...-...

{End Chapter 17}

A/N: So, someday I might try (again) to abridge this chapter. But since it usually gets longer when I try that, I'm stopping here for now.