Harry and the Six Virgins

Chapter XVI

Several hours later, a slave nervously went up to the roof to summons her temporary master and mistress. She saw they were asleep, tangled up in the master's toga and laying in the shade on some sort of lurid purple mattress she had never seen before.

Even though they had entered the villa without proper ceremony (since it wasn't theirs), the slave understood they were just married. Therefore she wasn't surprised to see them nude, or that there were some splotches of blood on the master's toga. She was just happy it wasn't her job to try and get it clean.

The slave gently prodded the mistress. A slave in a long line of slaves, she knew that while mistresses could be more petty, they were also more used to petty inconveniences. Like being prodded by a nervous slave.

Luna opened an eye, and saw one of the slaves. "Yes?" she managed to mutter in Latin.

"Sorry to bother the young Master and Mistress, but the Master asked that you be notified that dinner will be served in an hour or so."

"Thank you," Luna said. The slave, taking that as a dismissel, bowed and left.

Luna closed her eyes, and smiled, loving the warmth she and Harry were sharing. Then, a slight movement reminded her of what had happened; what had happened several times in fact. They had done the very thing she had sworn she would NOT do, at least until she knew Harry much much better.

Harry woke up holding a sobbing Luna. It took some minutes to calm and comfort her. When Harry figured out why Luna had been crying, he shushed her, dressed her, and escorted her to their sleeping cubicle.

Then, he went looking for Casey.

"Ah! Publius Heren. . . ."

"Stuff it!" Harry snarled in English. "Why did you hurt Luna?"

Casey frowned nastily. "I have hurt no one. . . ."

"Bullshit! At the least, you lowered the girls' resistance and inhabitions -- at the most. . . . Just admit it!"

"Fine," Casey said with a grin, "I admit it. I didn't make anyone do anything they didn't want to do."

"Do you think Ginny WANTED to get gang-banged!" Harry yelled, "or that I wanted to help? Do you think Luna wanted to have sex with me just now? No; Ginny was carried away by her hormones because YOU knocked out the checks and balances. Ginny, Daphne, Susan, Hermione, and even Eloise to a degree, were willing to hump with me like rabbits, not so much because they really wanted to, but because YOU took away any brakes; so we could screw instead of thinking things through! Luna is in love with me, but she's been hurt by life nearly as much as I have. She didn't want to be used, and right now she's beating herself up, wondering if anything we might have will ever be real! Damn you! You're so powerful, why do you play with people like this!"

"It helped Hermione," Casey reminded Harry. "And you didn't seem to mind before."

Harry glowered. Magic crackled around his head. Sparks shot off around the room.

"Most impressive," Casey said, still calmly. He waved his hand, and the magic dissipated. "And again, you are keeping your temper, to a degree."

"If I thought I had any chance of beating you, I'd be beating the shit out of you right now," Harry snarled.

"You're right, of course," Casey said simply. "No ten wizards who have ever lived could even challenge me as a group. And you should never forget that in many ways you'll never be the wizard Albus Dumbledore is or Merlin was. That takes talent, study, and discipline as much as power. But in terms of raw power, you are a more powerful natural wizard than either of those two. I sent for you, in part, because that power was about to break loose, and it would have destroyed you, either before or after you destroyed Tom Riddle."

"Explain!" Harry demanded.

"Every once in a while, a freak of a wizard is born. It is nearly always a wizard. A wizard so powerful that they burn out and destroy themselves somewhere between the age of seventeen and twenty, when they come into their full power. Merlin and Dumbledore were well above nearly anyone else, but still under that limit. Tom Riddle is the only border-line case I have ever known, and that power helped derange him a bit."

"You mean Voldemort IS more powerful than Dumbledore?"

"Oh, yes," Casey said, "but not as thorough in his study as a general rule."

"So I am just a tool, created by fate or Higher Magic or whatever, to destroy Voldemort," Harry said softly, shocked.

"In some senses, you WERE," Casey told Harry. "This was not Dumbledore's choice. He has been searching for some way to save you, not just from Voldemort, but from your own powers once they peak."

"And you can save me?" Harry asked.

"I have saved you," Casey said a bit smugly. "I have distracted you with sex and affection while remolding and adjusting your body and your magic in the necessary ways so that it should not kill you, and training you to control the powers that you do have. I have done so in each of these bodies, and then transferred the positive results to the real you." Casey looked at the stunned Harry. "You have not really lost any power, Harry. You are still stronger than any natural wizard alive, including Tom Riddle. When you return, you will have your full power. And, barring injury, you should easily live to two hundred now, or longer, instead of being dead before you are twenty. That is the final secret Dumbledore kept from you."

Casey glanced over at the door. "I know you heard all that, Luna. Please, come in."

Luna came, hesitatingly, into the room. She was only wearing the long tunic, and her face was again tear-stained.

"I'm sorry you were hurt," Casey said, "but it was necessary to distract Harry -- I made the last adjustments while you were making love, because it is only during sex that Harry's defenses are lowered enough and he is distracted enough for me to accomplish them. I still need another month or so to finish his training. Your lovemaking fulfilled both of your desires while I made the final physical changes, but it seems it may have injured your feelings of self-worth. If so, I apologize."

"Do I have to stay?" Luna asked.

Harry walked over to Luna. "Please stay. I do want to know you better, Luna. The real you, including the checks and balances."

"I will not tamper with either of your feelings again, and I will explain some of the circumstances to the others, especially Ginny," Casey promised.

"Alright," Luna said in a slightly 'lost little girl voice,' "I'll stay."

"It's time to eat," Casey said. "This will seem a bit odd to you."

Harry was glad to see that aroused Luna's interest, although she still looked a bit lost.

It was the oddest meal Harry had ever had to that point in his life. The dining room had three wide mattresses, set as three sides of a square. Each had a low table in front of it.

"From the time of the mid-Republic until perhaps three generations ago, the ideal was to have no more than three men dining," Casey explained in English. "Women either ate separately, or sat on low chairs. That started to change a hundred years ago, and by sixty years ago, women also reclined. Proper dinners have no more than nine recliners, three on a couch."

They sat on the center couch, and the slaves knelt, took off their sandals, and washed their hands and feet, much to Harry and Luna's great embarrassment.

Casey explained the principles of Roman eating (soups and things that could be eaten with the hands, with at least five courses: eggs; soup; lightly cooked veggies; meat; and dessert, usually something with apples). Harry and Luna liked the food (although they stayed away from the sauce, garum, made from fermented fish guts), and submitted to having their hands washed between courses.

Luna went to bed early, sleeping in a separate cubical from Harry. She didn't sleep well, spending most of the night thinking.

Casey was a bit surprised the next morning to have Luna waiting for him when he came back from greeting the dawn. "Where is Harry?"

Luna looked like she hadn't slept very much. "He's still asleep, and I cast enough drowsy spells that he should stay asleep."

Casey smiled, then gestured at a bench in the peristyle. They walked over and sat. "What is on your mind?"

"When you took the life force from all those people, you also took their magic, correct?"

Casey nodded.

"You can still do both, can't you?"

Casey hesitated, but again nodded.

"Could you please take my magic?"

Casey was severely shocked and puzzled. "Why . . . why would you want to lose your magic?"

"Because then I want you to modify my memories of ever being magic, of ever knowing and loving Harry. Help me become some unknown Muggle girl in Australia or someplace!"

She said all this in a very distressed, agitated, pleading tone, which pulled a bit on Casey's heartstrings. "Why?" he asked simply.

"Look into my heart," Luna told him, her tone now fierce, "look and see what you've done to me!"

Casey rolled his eyes, and did what he was told. After a moment, his eyes went wide with shock. Then he sought out Harry. "I . . . I must admit, I have rarely seen such a powerful magical bonding." He frowned. "I am amazed it would work in these bodies." The love-making had bound Luna to Harry with nearly unbreakable magical bonds. Harry was bound to Luna, almost as strongly.

Luna said nothing.

"Harry's connection to you as strong as your's is to him, so it is very strong," Casey said. "From the beginning, he felt that if he chose anyone this summer, it would likely be you. Why are you giving up?"

"You don't understand Harry very well, do you?" Luna stated. "It would not matter if Harry was MORE bound to me, more in love with me, than I am with him. Hermione, one of his two closest friends, has been badly hurt. Not only has she been hurt, but she was hurt by Harry's other best and closest friend, over a long period of time, and Harry never had the slightest clue about it. It doesn't matter that no one else had any idea about the abuse until the very end, when I found out. What matters is that Harry cares for Hermione, and will feel that he MUST take care of her. Perhaps, if it hadn't been Ronald, he wouldn't feel as strongly, but it was Ronald."

"You may be correct, on the surface," Casey admitted. "But there are alternatives, assuming both Harry and Hermione still feel that way after Hermione has gone through therapy. He already knows that Hermione does NOT have to deal with this by herself. She will have the best help available. I also reminded him after you left us last night that Hermione might decide that resuming a relationship with him might tend her towards the same behaviors."

"Nonsense," Luna told him. "Harry is too honorable to ever treat Hermione with the same abuse as Ronald and Hermione knows that. Even if he . . . whatever it is she likes to her every day at her request, he would never go over whatever line she drew, and he would heal her so lovingly. . . ." Luna started to gently cry.

Casey comforted Luna, and again sought Harry's mind. Luna, when she realized what he was doing, stopped sniffling.

"You know, Hermione faced a similar problem, wanting both Harry and Ron. Harry wants you, Luna. Yet he also wants Hermione to a slightly lesser degree. Neither you nor Hermione seem to be very bisexually inclined, but perhaps. . . ."

"We could share Harry?" Luna asked, slightly scandalized.

Casey shrugged. "It's a possible solution, assuming Hermione even will want Harry after all this -- she is a very proud woman, after all. We would put it to Hermione as her one option to be with Harry, because of the magical bonding the two of you share. Even if she really has designs on Harry, and I think she may, she cares for him too much to be willing to hurt him by breaking your bonds. She may prefer to seek out someone else. Don't assume that the future is planned out. There are still a number of possibilities."

"I thought I understood Hermione, until two months ago," Luna said. "Still, I suppose she MIGHT go along."

"I think I should talk to Harry, after apologizing yet again, and then talk with Hermione, and then you again."

"Would it be possible to talk with Hermione first?"

Casey considered that. "Very well."

Luna felt Casey leave his body for an instant, and then return. "Hermione understands, and agrees. Unsurprisingly, she is clinging to Harry emotionally. . . ."

"Harry is loving, caring, and VERY safe," Luna said simply.

"But she does want Harry to be happy. Once she knew of your connections, she actually made the same request you did, and for the same reasons. I talked her out of leaving the magical world. You are both very wonderful, and magically talented, young women, living in a age when you can share Harry, or do without men, or just about anything else. Be brave and see this through to the end, Luna." He smiled. "Harry is a very lucky young man."

"Why?" Luna asked. "Oh, of course, you came from a polygamous culture; you probably think it's the way things should be." Casey didn't think even Hermione could have said that with more contempt, both for him and the idea.

"Perhaps that makes me more willing to entertain the idea," Casey admitted, "but Harry is lucky because the two of you know him so well, and love him all the more because of it. Most people fall in love, and then say, when they learn about aspects of their lover, 'I love him in spite of those things'. Well, yes, you two love Harry despite his occasional fits of temper. Even though you two girls are in many ways mirror images of each other, even though in some ways you arrived at your knowledge of Harry in two very different ways, you both know him almost as well as it is possible for some one your age to know anyone. And you both now know your true selves."

"You have known at least since Harry offered you kindness; Hermione learned over her years with Harry. And the more you know Harry, with all his faults, the more you both love him, in some part because of them." He smiled. "That came as a greater surprise to Hermione than it did to you. And she is willing to love Harry and for you to love Harry. It's up to Harry if he feels he can love the pair of you, or if he feels he has to choose between the woman he is totally, romantically in love with and the woman he shares a loving, symbiotic partnership with." He shrugged. "And remember, it is very possible that Hermione will cling to Harry emotionally, but not sexually."

"That I could live with . . . I think."

Casey shrugged again. "I will be happy to advise him, but I had best not interfere -- I have caused enough problems for Harry and the two of you."

"You will at least explain things to Harry, won't you?"

Casey smiled. "Don't worry. Harry has been listening in since we came out here. Your drowsy spells can't affect someone as powerful as Harry is now." He glanced towards a statue of Venus on a plinth. "Come over, Harry. I'll try to stay out of both of your heads." Casey stood and walked off.

Harry stood up and walked over to Luna, his face set. Luna sighed. "I overheard Hermione and Ronald in the Infirmary," Luna said worriedly. "I was . . . shocked. I didn't know what to do, or who to tell, or. . . ." She started to cry and shake, afraid Harry would blame her for not halting the abuse sooner.

Harry embraced Luna. "It's alright. It's not your fault." Harry turned to Casey. "Could you please leave us alone for a while?"

"I will be back tomorrow morning. I'll talk to the slaves; they should be alright unsupervised for a day." He left them alone.

Harry guided Luna to a bench. "Let's talk."

Luna smiled bravely.

Harry and Luna saw very little of Casey over the next forty days, although he was present every day to give the slaves their orders for the day. Each night, the pair fell asleep in each other's arms. Early each morning, they were portkeyed to their studies. Luna was studying with an ancient priestess of Etruscan and Gallic ancestry and training. Harry was being trained with a Chaldean Magi, who had also studied in India.

For several afternoons, they walked the streets of Rome. Both knew a little about Rome (Harry had studied it at the cabin), but the Rome of the 40s was the pre-fire Rome. It was the Rome after Nero that Harry and Luna were used to reading about. Most of the great buildings they knew the ruins of would be built or rebuilt after the fire of 64.

After eight days, they tired of seeing Rome, and spent the afternoon and evenings together in the peristyle of the small villa outside Rome. Harry and Luna both felt they had violated their trusts, in each other and in themselves. They wanted to rebuild that trust.

Harry told Luna stories of his time with the other girls (although not in erotic detail). In retrospect, he realized he should have had a better idea what Casey had been up to. He had, in part, been under Casey's influence, but not nearly to the degree as the girls. Instead, he had primarily been under the influence of his hormones. He felt he could probably not feel too guilty, unless one of the girls was really upset.

Luna had decided to forgive Harry his hormones, provided he understood that such behavior would NOT be acceptable once they returned to 1996. The subject of Hermione was shelved for the time being. This allowed the pair to be intimate, although they were not sexual after the first afternoon they had arrived.

For the last twenty days, Casey worked with Harry late each afternoon, teaching him the basis for apparation. Casey assured Harry that he could arrange for him to be granted his apparation licence early.

On their sixtieth day in the past, Casey approached them and brought them to the present.