Harry and the Six Virgins

Chapter XV

"Good afternoon, Luna."

"Hello," Luna answered absently.

"No questions? No statements?"

Luna smiled her small smile. "I believe I am destined to be with Harry. Perhaps I merely foresaw this two month excursion; perhaps it meant more. In any case, where Harry goes, I go. The same is true of Hermione and Ginny to a great degree. We love Harry. We are bound to Harry. Only one of us can spend our lives with him as a full partner; the others will be friends and supporters. So, I am taking this chance to be with him, and I'll have my answer."

Bemused, Casey apparated Luna's future self. She glanced at it. "Is that really me, or your concept of me?" 23 year old Luna was an inch taller, and still thin.

"That should roughly be you. Now I remind you, this is not totally real. You will have the memories, but your bodies will be just as they are now. You are a virgin. You will remain one, except in your memories, assuming you and Harry decide to make love. Do you want the adventure, or not?"

"You've said that to the others. Very rehearsed." Luna cocked her head to the right and looked at Casey. "I'm last, aren't I?"

"You are." Casey was impressed, knowing this was more than a guess.

Luna just smiled and looked at Casey. Then her smile faded. "Hermione told Harry about her secret life with Ron, didn't she?" She frowned. "This might change things."

Casey was floored. "How did you know?"

"About Ronald abusing Hermione? I didn't even guess until just after Christmas. I knew there was a dark side to Ronald, of course, but I didn't know it was directed against Hermione until I saw the way they looked at each other just after we returned from the Christmas holidays. It did cure me of my childhood infatuation with him, but I didn't think I could tell anyone. Then, while they were in the infirmary in June, I went to visit. I overheard Ronald tell Hermione . . . how he planned to torture her with hot wax, since they couldn't indulge in their usual 'games'."

"And you still told no one?"

Luna hung her head in shame. "I tried talking to Hermione about it, but she kept changing the subject. I should have tried harder, or told someone, but I wasn't sure how."

"Well, I have taken care of Mister Weasley. I had a certain scenario in mind, but now I believe I should change it."

"As you think best." Luna looked at Casey curiously.

"Question?"

"Do you enjoy your life?"

"Actually, I do."

"Good." Luna stood. "I'm ready."

"I shall summons you in a moment." Casey disappeared, and then a few seconds later, Luna felt herself leave her body.

Luna found herself in a very hot, very bright, very colorful garden. She squinted, and soon located Casey, standing wrapped in what could only be a toga.

"Roma?" Luna asked.

"A villa just north of Rome," Casey replied in Latin. "Here, I am calling myself Caius Cassius Carbo. Harry is Publius Herennius Glaucia. You are Luna Livia. Ah, here comes Glaucia."

Harry looked a little self-conscious in his toga. Since he was only wearing the blanket-like toga and sandals, Harry felt a bit exposed.

"Caius Cassius," Harry said.

"Publius Herennius," Casey nodded. "Today is the Ides of June, in the year Tiberius Claudius Caesar Augustus is consul for the third time, and Lucius Vitellius is the other consul for the second time, or as you would say, the Thirteenth of June in the year 43. The Emperor you would know as Claudius has been ruling for about two years, and the conquest of most of England is just being started."

"Wow," was all Harry could say.

"Isn't that a bit . . . drafty?" Luna asked Harry. A slight breeze stirred the hem of the toga. Luna giggled and Harry blushed a little.

"Now, this will be somewhat difficult for both of you at first," Casey told them, ignoring Luna and sticking to Latin. "There are two groups of slaves here. The larger staff, nine males and nine females, take care of the outdoors and the general cleaning and cooking. They do not know that we are magical. The smaller staff, three males and six females, do know, although you should perform as little magic in front of them as possible. Their tunics have blue around the collars, the others have plain cloth. Roman wizards to not use a wand as such. They use a staff or a baton; the subtle wand work you are both already well-trained in is beyond them."

"Now, Luna here has some remarkable talent with Second Sight, and some slight ability as a divine. There is a very talented Gallo-Etruscan seer who will be giving her lessons. Harry will be completing his training in psychic magic, Legilmency and associated magics. Any questions?"

"How are we here?" Luna asked. "I mean, is this real?"

"How I will not tell you. Your minds are here. Your bodies are over nineteen hundred and fifty years in the future. I can not send matter into the past. Harry only went about a hundred and fifteen years into the past at most before this. Therefore, it has been easy to preserve the odds and ends he and the girls asked to preserve. That will be much more difficult here."

"So," Harry said with a smile, "no photos."

"If you know how to build a camera, you may try," Casey replied, "but I cannot promise how well they will be preserved."

"How do we get into Rome itself?" Harry asked. "Isn't private transportation banned somehow around Rome?"

"We can get near to Rome by wagon or gig, but the only ways to travel inside the city during the day is by foot or by sedan chair. We will portkey into the city. No one will notice the activity, since portkeys haven't actually been invented yet. Even disapparation is in a fairly primitive stage of development, since there are no accurate maps."

"So it's only used for traveling to previously visited sites?" Luna asked.

"Exactly," Casey agreed, "plus line of sight."

"You haven't taught Harry to apparate?" Luna asked, a bit puzzled.

"No," Casey admitted. "It would be technically illegal for him to do so once we return, so I haven't bothered. I can teach, if you would like to learn," he said to Harry. "We will be portkeying to a small apartment with a private entrance, near what even in your day is a well-warded magical area. It is one of the few I do NOT own by your time."

"Don't I get to wear SOMETHING besides this blanket?" Harry complained.

"It's a toga, as you very well know," Casey corrected. "And yes, normally you get to wear a tunic. But no loincloth; they just don't work with togas. You will also notice you're not circumcised here. I'm actually surprised your parents had you done. It's not as common among British Muggles as it is with Americans, and very rare in most Pure-Blood circles."

Harry colored slightly. "Oh, don't worry," Casey teased, "you can have any of the slaves keep you clean and fresh." Harry really did blush now. Casey picked up a bronze handbell and rang it.

The twenty-seven slaves came quickly and quietly out into the large garden. Casey introduced the slaves, and assigned two of the young women to Luna and a young man and woman to Harry. Casey had the oldest slave, a man of perhaps thirty, and the youngest, a girl of perhaps thirteen. Turning to the remaining male slave with a blue collar, Casey instructed, "The others may go back to their duties. Bring some bread, cheese, and well-watered wine to us, as dinner will not be until the tenth hour." The steward merely bowed, and ushered the slaves away.

Casey turned to the body servants. "Show your master and mistress to their chambers. We are to be shaved, massaged, and oiled." He turned to Harry's female body servant. "Make certain your master is clean everywhere, but still well-able to do his duties tonight."

Harry remained blushing, while Luna, for once, blinked rapidly from surprise. Casey herded them into the villa, smiling evilly.

Casey collected Harry and Luna some ninety minutes later. Both seemed rather embarrassed by the ministrations of their slaves, especially Harry. Harry was very glad Hermione had not been sent to this period, and personally happy he was finally wearing slightly more than a toga.

The trio took a walk around the villa, starting from in front of the front door. The villa was on a circular gravel drive on the top of a slight incline, a paved Roman road some quarter of a mile away. The area between the villa and road was a well-regulated grove of various trees. They could see there were a number of other villas nearby. The pair noted there were no windows on the outside of the one storey building. Roman villas faced inward.

The entrance had a large bronze door, with a small spy slit for a slave to peer out when called upon. The entrance hall, or atrium, was the tallest part of the building, and opened to the sky. A small pool collected rain water for ritual purposes. To the left-side of the villa was the formal dining room and then a smaller, informal dining room. Running back from the informal dining room were the slave quarters, kitchens, storage areas, etc.

To the right was first a large library and a smaller study. Running back from the study were the small sleeping and dressing rooms the upper class Romans favored. A small colonnade ran around the inside of the square that made up the villa. Inside the area was a typical small peristyle garden, with flowers, vegetables, a reflecting pool, and several statues. The back of the villa had the latrines, small baths, furnaces and ovens. Other slaves ran a small farm attached to the villa, and located well behind it.

The furniture was expensive-looking, but there was very little of it. There were a few cabinets and statues, but all the all art were mosaics on the floors and frescos on the walls of the front rooms. It was a very different sense of style from what Luna was used to from the late twentieth-century wizarding world, or Harry used to from his experiences. It was simpler, and yet seemed to speak to Harry as more luxurious in many aspects.

When they had circled through the building, they climbed a hidden set of stairs behind the informal dining room. The trio surveyed the area from the top of the dining rooms. "I wish I had a pair of omnoculars," Luna said, staring off towards Rome , just a few miles in the distance.

Harry said nothing, but transfigured a pair of ceramic drinking goblets into a telescope. "That's the best I can do," Harry said.

"How did you learn that?" Luna asked.

"You will learn it just before Christmas," Harry said simply. Luna smiled her happiest smile, one that belong to a happy innocent child, rather than a teen-aged witch who had seen too much pain. Looking through the telescope, she wandered down over the roof of the slave quarters.

"I have to say, you brought along the most interesting set of witches I have ever encountered," Casey said softly.

"Really?"

"Really. Susan, Eloise, and Daphne aren't too different from the typical run of witches, but they are still a cut above. Each would have been outstanding in any previous group. Ginny is a delcious creature. She would have made a perfect Irish witch of this period. Right now, the me of this period is secretly moving the magical Druid community to western North America. . . ."

"British Columbia?"

"Eventually," Casey acknowledged. "The Irish druids were a wilder, more egalitarian group in this period, compared to what the Gallic had been before I drew away so much power. The British were rather in between, although once the most powerful. The Irish witches could not of course be druids, but they had their own solidity. It took me almost thirty years to convince them to help me with my plan, but once they decided, the rest had to go along or risk more than my wrath. Your Ginny would have been a brilliant member of that tribe."

"Hermione, well, Hermione has made some very unfortunate decision, and had some bad luck, with her relationship with Weasley -- in that, she is very similar to many of the witches who have made their way to me. Many have suffered physical, mental, emotional, and sexual abuse. They were willing to come, and perhaps sacrifice themselves, just as Hermione was willing to come for you."

"Dumbledore didn't say anything about them being 'sacrifices'," Harry protested.

"Really? He didn't say some never came back?"

Harry frowned. "He did, but he certainly walked around it!"

"Shame on him! But beyond that, she is one of the most brilliant people I have met for her age, when it comes to formal learning. She's passionate, about the most passionate woman I have ever seen. I only hope she does not again bury that aspect of her. If so, it will rebound on her in some terrible way again."

"You should get her some kind of professional help," Harry stated.

"Why me?"

"Who else is there that I can trust?" Harry asked.

Casey smiled. "It has already been arranged, Harry." He looked up. "This one is very special, too. There are depths here. Approach her with honor, my young friend."

"May I ask you something?"

"Certainly."

"Why can't you save Sirius?"

"Because he is dead, Harry. I might be able to go to that time and rescue the essential Sirius, just as I have moved you here. I do not know for certain, but it might be possible. However, where do I put him? These bodies I have created for us only last four months, and take a huge amount of power and life-force to create for very little return. Over time, his mind would degrade and fade, and he would die in about two years or less."

"You couldn't pull his body out, substitute one of these, and keep him safe until we return to your cave?"

"I see you have thought this through. From what I have seen of it in your mind, I do not believe it likely. I will see what I can do, however. If I can, I will do so."

"That is the most I can ask for," Harry said.

Casey materialized a pair of binoculars. "Here, you may as well join Luna. I shall have you called for dinner." He went down the stairs.

Harry smiled, and walked over to talk with Luna.

"Harry," Luna said in English, "we need to talk."

"Uh, sure," Harry said, coming over to stand next to her.

"Harry, did you have sex with the other five girls?" Luna asked bluntly.

"Well, yes; yes I did."

"And do you expect to have sex with me, Harry?"

"Well, I had at least hoped you'd be interested."

Luna almost smiled. "I like you, Harry. I like you a lot. Objectively, I would have admitted, if asked, that some day I would have relations with a man, a lover, a husband, and that I would probably like it very much. But until last December, I never even thought about actually kissing a particular male on the lips."

"I thought you had some sort of crush on Ron," Harry said.

"I did," Luna acknowledged, "but it was a very childish thing. I saw myself holding Ronald's hand, and getting kissed on the cheek or forehead. Then, as I started getting close to Ronald, I saw dark areas in his soul. I didn't know what they were, but I started losing interest in him. And then, there you were, handsome if nervous, under the mistletoe."

"No nargles?" Harry asked.

"No, no nargles," she admitted. "I care for you, Harry. But I cannot imagine having sex with you just because we can with no physical repercussions. I care for you, but I cannot bring myself to try to win you that way, or gamble on your falling in love with me."

"I see. . . ."

"I hope you do," Luna said seriously. "I want to use this time to get to really know you."

"Would you . . . would you mind terribly if I kissed you?" Harry asked.

"Would you mean it, or do you want to only because we're together?"

Harry leaned close to Luna. "I would mean it, Luna. Can't you See it in my heart?"

Luna trembled. It wasn't fear. She had felt all types of fear that horrible June before this adventure, and this was not the same. It was an awareness; awareness of her own body, and the warmth of Harry's body. Awareness of his aura, his power, his affection for her, his lust for her, her affection and lust for him.

Harry's lips had stopped less than a quarter of an inch away from hers. "I would like to kiss you, Luna. But I will never force myself on you. Please, may I kiss you?"

She not only heard the husky whisper, she could feel and smell the words. It took no thought on her part, and even less movement than she thought it would, for her to lean into the kiss.

Luna's world exploded around her, as Harry pulled her close and kissed her gently, yet deeply. She didn't know if they kissed for five minutes or an hour, and didn't care.

When they broke slightly apart, Luna could only say, "Wow!" before clutching Harry close, and going back for more. They would kiss for over an hour, moving on top of a purple sleeping bag Harry materialized. Then, they went further.

Casey smiled after their second kiss. 'That was a bit harder than I expected,' he said to himself, 'but they can't stop themselves now. And I can finish Harry off.'