Astoria finished filling out the final piece of parchment in front of her and then slammed it down into the out box with more force than was strictly necessary. "I shouldn't have agreed to this damned lunch," she muttered to herself, though not quietly enough to stop Harry from hearing her as he sat nearby and looked over the report on the latest auror raid. "I should have left it all to Daphne to explain everything. It was her bloody idea in the first place."
The lunch in question was where Daphne intended to fill her best friend Tracey in on virtually everything going on in their lives, aside from their mother's involvement and certain previous events, so that Tracey could come around Black Manor. Harry had no problem and fully supported Daphne's idea, and unbeknownst to Astoria and Narcissa had already had a conversation with Daphne where he stated his desire to make a public announcement about their relationship sooner rather than later.
He was thinking they would make an announcement sometime before the Greengrass Holliday Ball, which delighted Daphne. In her words, he had finally stopped acting like an idiot and pretending that delaying any longer would change how things played out. He'd chuckled and pointed out that her mother had said the same thing that evening that they'd gone to Greengrass Manor and told she and Edmund everything, which made Daphne playfully roll her eyes at him.
"Stop your whining," he said, looking up from his report to grin at Astoria. She glowered at him, not at all amused.
"I—no, we have been swamped for over a week," she complained. "Lunch breaks are the only times we get to have anything more than a quickie here in the office. And I didn't get to do anything this morning, on top of giving up lunch too!"
Harry laughed, unmoved by her complaints. "It's always busy here right before Christmas. I did warn you about that."
Astoria kept muttering to herself, and she had a genuine pout on her face as she got up and moved to grab her heavy winter cloak. Harry couldn't resist. He moved quickly and silently and grabbed her from behind, and she squeaked with surprise.
"You wore this tight, short and entirely inappropriate skirt just to try and tempt me, didn't you?" he murmured into her ear.
"Yes!" The vow would have forced her to answer but she already started gasping out her enthusiastic confirmation before magic could even take hold. "I hoped I could get you horny enough to shag me even if we were busy. But I figured even if that didn't work at least you'd still enjoy the view."
Harry growled and bit her earlobe, making her shiver. "Oh, I did. I'm behind on my work because I couldn't stop staring at that fucking arse and those perfect legs. And of course you just had to keep bending over to show them both off."
Astoria giggled, and then she purred excitedly as he started to hike her skirt up over her hips. Harry's eyes narrowed when he got the skirt up high enough to confirm what he had already all but known to be true.
"This skirt is far too short for you to be bare underneath it," he murmured. She had been expecting him to slide straight into her for a quickie then and there before they headed out for lunch, which would have delighted her and helped her take the edge off even if it wasn't ideal, but he surprised her by instead moving her back to her desk. "Bend over and grab the other side of the desk," he demanded while locking and silencing the door to his office.
"I've been good, sir," she whined while doing as ordered. Harry laughed, and he knew that her spreading her legs and gasping with excitement was directly related to hearing that sound.
"I know you have. I know just how hard my good girl has been working, and with very minimal complaint. That's why I'm going to reward you as best I can right now."
"Thank you, sir!" she screamed. Then his hissing tongue flicked over her clit and he heard her breath catch in her throat. Harry's tongue licked and his mouth sucked with the same focus as always, and Astoria was babbling mindlessly as he made her squirt after a mere two minutes of oral worship.
"Watching and hearing any of my girls cum for me is one of my favorite things in the whole world," he growled afterwards. Astoria wiggled her hips back at him like a witch who expected to be roughly plowed and late for lunch, and quite happy about it.
Harry wasn't done surprising her though. His fingers went inside of her pussy while his tongue pressed into her arse, and she let out an ear-piercing screech of pleasure when his tongue started hissing inside of her bum. His other arm pinned her down securely to the desk by her upper arse and lower back so he could finger her, rub her clit with his thumb and eat her arse until he felt she had been adequately rewarded. He made her explode once again a few short minutes later, and her legs trembled.
"Thank you," she said softly afterward. Harry just laughed while fixing her skirt and touching up her appearance so she wouldn't draw any attention at lunch. He wrapped her up in her cloak and pulled her into a passionate kiss. She moaned and returned it with as much energy as she could muster, and Harry continued to hold her while simultaneously giving her a chance to recover before she headed out.
"Okay, you have exactly one minute left to arrive on time to meet your sister and Narcissa, both of whom are usually very punctual, so it's time for you to get going," Harry said, patting her arse. "With how much effort they've both been putting into preparing your birthday, I'm sure my good girl won't spend too much time rubbing in all the fun she just had."
"I'll always be a good girl for you," she purred. "But it's hard not to be bad sometimes." She looked at him coyly. "Will you or Cissa spank me if I do rub it in a bit?"
"No," he aid, laughing. "You'll get the denial charm instead, you silly slut. Now get going before you get both of us in trouble. Oh, and being late will get you a denial too."
Spanking likely wouldn't have had any effect on her, but the threat of being denied her pleasure was enough to get Astoria moving, however reluctantly.
--
Astoria was still beaming widely enough from her time with Harry that Narcissa and Daphne were shooting her jealous looks as she arrived. She didn't bother trying to hide it. She was very pleased with her life even if work wasn't quite as much as usual right now because of how busy they were.
"Oh, stop looking so pleased with yourself," Daphne muttered. Astoria considered rubbing it in but decided against it, remembering Harry's warning. That didn't mean she went completely meek though.
"We can swap places if you like," she said. "You can do paperwork for eight hours or more every day, and get the benefits that come along with working with Harry whenever you can manage to squeeze them into the busy work day."
"A bit overdramatic, but I think you made your point very clearly," Narcissa said, laughing. Daphne smiled and nodded her head as well.
"You definitely did," Daphne agreed as the three of them started to walk to their table. "But you do always have the option to quit if it's so stressful for you." Astoria couldn't hold back the panic that crossed her face when she thought about not working side by side with Harry, and the other two witches laughed at her. "Clearly the paperwork isn't quite so difficult if the thought of giving it up causes you such distress. And I doubt the benefits are coming as infrequently as you're suggesting."
"So have you managed to figure out anything that Harry may want for Christmas?" Daphne asked Astoria after they'd taken their seats. Astoria could only shake her head, and Daphne groaned. "It's impossible to find anything for him, and it's even worse because we all know he'll find so much for all of us. And it'll all be thoughtful and useful too!"
Astoria giggled at her frustration, and Narcissa opened her mouth to speak. Daphne wasn't in the mood to hear it though. "If you repeat Harry's stupid line about how he just wants his family, future family and friends to be happy and safe you are getting the denial charm placed on you for a week."
"Well it's true," Narcissa teased, laughing.
"Maybe, but that doesn't change anything," Daphne grumbled. But even she had to crack a grin, and soon enough she joined Astoria and Narcissa in laughing. All three of them shared this frustration about trying to find the perfect gift for Harry, even if Daphne was the only one displaying it quite so openly as of now.
--
"I'm going to head back to work once I've left you with Edmund and Aella," Harry said to Narcissa as the two of them went to lunch after attending a meeting to deal with some Black family business. This actually wasn't true. Once he'd left her with the Greengrasses he was going to look into a fresh lead on Draco.
Throughout the lunch she was vibrant, speaking enthusiastically about how much the day's business would benefit the Black family, and Harry let her bask in her fresh victory. He looked at her warmly throughout, doing his utmost to keep her from noticing his distraction. She was a sharp woman, but between her excitement and his effort he was fairly certain he had succeeded.
He dropped her off with Edmund and Aella after they were done, and after saying his goodbyes he headed towards the floo. Once he was out of sight he doubled back around and headed down a shadowy alley, pulling his hood up and blending into the darkness as best he could without using his magic.
His training and general sense of magic allowed him to feel some very subtle and well-cast alert wards that the average wizard would never have noticed. After a moment of silent analysis he used a trick he learned from one of the books Dumbledore had bequeathed to him. He was able to trick the wards into recognizing him as someone who was already inside, allowing him to slip through them without either dismantling them or setting them off and thus avoiding any form of detection by the people he could detect further ahead.
As he made his deliberate approach he noticed that the still unidentifiable figures were moving some boxes carefully and yet also with great speed, suggesting they were in a hurry. Suddenly he felt the wards flare into action and whirled around on his heel only to discover that Narcissa had decided to follow him. He moved towards her at great speed, watching as she realized she'd set off the wards that he'd carefully tricked.
"What are you thinking following me?" he hissed at her. Knowing that there was no point in attempting a stealthy approach now, he waved his hand and concentrated on summoning some powerful wards commonly used by the aurors in these situations. Hopefully he would be able to restrict the people he was tracking from escaping with whatever it was they were trying to smuggle out.
--
Narcissa opened her mouth to reply to Harry, but a familiar voice spoke before she could. It was a voice she recognized, but she'd never heard it in this tone. It sounded darker than his father's ever had, and hearing it from him sent chills up her spine.
"Yes, mother," Draco said. "You should have obeyed your boyfriend." She stared at her son without flinching but failed to hide her momentary surprise, and Draco laughed callously at her while she mentally cursed herself for her momentary slip-up. "It was actually rather obvious that you were fucking Potter once I stopped and took a second to think about it." His eyes left Narcissa and went to Harry.
"Really I'm thankful to you, Potter, for taking on the burden of having two worthless sluts weighing you down," Draco said. "I didn't have the time or patience to deal with their neediness ay longer." Narcissa almost snapped at him; almost reminded him that he didn't interact with either of them for months anyway. But Harry spoke before she could.
"Are you going to skip the dramatics and get to the point?" Harry asked, sounding perfectly calm and collected. "Or are you going to keep trying to delay for your friends who are just starting to notice that the wards were breached?"
Draco laughed. "Very well. I've come to appreciate the value of time myself, Potter. There's just so much to do, don't you think? This was nothing really; just moving some goods. I'm glad you got my message and were able to arrive, and bringing my mother along was a wonderful bonus. Really, the only way you could have made this better for me is if you'd brought my slut of an ex-wife as well, or perhaps both of your pity projects."
Harry did not react to the provocation. He looked as calm as Narcissa could imagine anyone being in this situation, but she felt the opposite. Draco looked crazed. His formerly sleek and well-maintained blond hair was disheveled, and his gray eyes looked wild, unpredictable and unrecognizable. Rather than being calm Narcissa felt a crippling fear within her. This wasn't her son standing in front of her. This was truly a monster.
"I didn't think someone of your heritage would stoop so low," Harry replied, still calm. The moment he'd used the word heritage triggered the first moment of Draco's mask slipping and a furious look crossing his face, though it was so brief that Narcissa was barely able to notice it. Mask back in place, Draco laughed and shook his head.
"I suppose that I shouldn't expect someone with no more heritage than a mudblood to understand my actions," he said. "We should return to the topic at hand."
"Surely you don't think a trap would work on me," Harry said, chuckling.
"No," Draco said, and the smirk on his face terrified Narcissa. "I arranged all of this merely to give you a warning about the inevitable reckoning I will bring when I return. You may as well enjoy having your relationship with the two worthless sluts openly while you still can. After a month or two of hiding the fact that you've been fucking them, you should make the most of a few where you don't have to hide it.
Harry laughed, but it lacked the warmth characteristic of the Harry she was used to." If you think it's only been a month or two you are an even bigger idiot than I took you to be," Harry said. "I've been fucking Astoria ever since the day I caught her pawning off those artifacts for you. And she begged me never to stop that very same day, because she'd never even had an orgasm before. I guess that's just another reason why all those families with such wonderful heritages seem to be dying off."
"One day, those with the proper heritage will be rewarded by magic for their faith," Draco snapped, his anger returning with a vengeance. "You have no idea, but one day you will. I will end you on that day, and I will rejoice in doing so. But I'll only do so after you're forced to watch every single slut you've taken in die right in front of you."
Draco moved impossibly quickly, drawing his wand and firing a killing curse directly at Narcissa. She could only widen her eyes, rooted to the spot. At least a dozen other men appeared as if literally melting into reality from the shadows and sent dark curses of their own at both her and Harry. The green light grew as it headed towards her, and Narcissa knew with dreadful certainty that she was dead, murdered by the monster who was once her son.
Suddenly Harry was ahead of her, his body a blur, moving even faster than Draco who had seemed inhumanely fast to Narcissa's eye. Harry was so quick that if she hadn't known he was the only one beside her she wouldn't have been one hundred percent certain that it was actually him. She watched in awe as his Aura flared to life and he reminded her why he was regarded by many as the modern Merlin. Based on how quickly Draco and the other men used their portkeys, it was a reminder to them as well as to the strength of the man they'd tried to attack.
Harry raised walls from the ground, summoned objects and cast a golden shield that rang loud and hummed with more power than Narcissa had in her entire body. Harry didn't seem the least bit phased by the amount of magic he'd just used, and wandlessly at that. She knew how formidable a wizard he was, but she'd never seen that power displayed so overtly as this. It left her breathless and awed.
The killing curse Draco had fired, in additional to all of the dark spells cast by his allies, were either blocked by the shield or dissipated. Once he'd defended them against the volley Harry used his patronus to send a message and pressed down on his auror badge, presumably to summon the aurors to their location, and then he turned to her.
"Are you okay?" he asked.
"I am," she muttered. She shivered as his Aura washed over her again and he drew her into a desperate kiss. He'd been so strong and confident, not to mention decisive in the heat of the moment, but he kissed her as if terrified by the fact he'd almost lost her. She kissed him back with equal fervor before finally yanking herself back.
"We have to stop," she gasped out. "Otherwise your aurors will find us fucking right here." Harry laughed incredulously but she shivered, and it wasn't because of the temperature. "You know what your power does to me, and I've never seen it like that."
"Only the insane witches I've fallen in love with could ever be horny right after something like that," he said, rolling his eyes. Despite the stressful situation they'd just been through, they both burst into peals of laughter.
--
"So I assume that the goading you skipped over in your retelling was you trying to see if you could get that same angry reaction as before out of him," Edmund said. Narcissa smirked at Harry not going into details about how he'd taunted Draco with the truth of how long and how well he'd been fucking Astoria. As if it would have even made Edmund blink after everything that had happened!
"That was the goal, yeah," Harry said, nodding. "I needed to get more information out of him. Fortunately he took the bait, and he confirmed that whatever plans he has will have something to do with magical heritage. Not that this is any surprise, really. Still, it's good to be sure."
The group briefly discussed things, with Harry remaining mostly quiet until Fleur hit on something he wanted to respond to.
"No, I don't think that's it," he said. "Based on his interference with Daphne's mastery, and the general purpose of the research that company is doing as a whole, I think Draco is looking for some way to revive all of these pureblood families that are dying out. Something like—"
"Something like finding a way to claim the dead lordships," Edmund interjected, offering his conclusion. "That would allow heirs to be produced, but more importantly than even that, it would bring back the Wizengamot votes all of those old families held. Their faction would be bolstered significantly enough that they would be able to effectively control things legally, which would make it significantly harder for us to stop them from making the laws whatever they want them to be. And they could even come across as heroes to those who would suddenly have power they never would have expected to hold."
"Yes, that's my thought too," Harry said, nodding.
"I will start looking into it," Edmund said. "Aella, Fleur and I will be vacationing in France next week, and I'll take the opportunity to speak to some of my contacts there. They may have a better idea of what the climate is like outside of Britain.
"But France is where Draco portkeyed to," Aella said, biting her lip nervously. "We shouldn't go on vacation or business trips in general right now, but especially not there."
"I don't think you have anything to worry about, actually," Harry said. "France is just the easiest international portkey to get your hands on without filling out an application with the Ministry. Whatever we might think of him, Draco's not enough of a fool to stay in the first country he portkeys to, knowing full well we'd be able to trace where he went. And he definitely won't be staying in one of the few magical countries that would be happy to extradite him without any real need for negotiation."
"We can talk about this later," Daphne said, speaking up for the first time in several minutes. "But we've been going over it for hours, it's almost time for dinner and none of us even ended up having lunch."
The group nodded in agreement, and Astoria quickly pressed up against Harry's side as the talks ceased. He grinned and kissed her.
"Do you know how I see all of this?" she asked him. Harry raised his eyebrows, curious. "Draco's finally done something useful for once in his life." Now he'd gone from curious to confused, and it surely showed on his face. Astoria smirked at him. "Now there's no excuse for me and Narcissa to be kept hidden away. I expect to get a very exciting birthday present now that we can be open about our relationship."
Harry chuckled. "Going public was supposed to be an early Christmas present from me and Daphne even before today happened, but I guess it can come a week early." Astoria beamed at him.
"I was beginning to wonder if you were a bit slow," Narcissa said, drawing laughs from everyone else and a good-natured groan from Harry.
"I did try to tell you to just do it immediately back when you finally came to meet us," Aella pointed out. "I thought I was very convincing with my reasoning too." He glared at her and sighed. He saw the way Astoria and Narcissa were looking at him, and he mentally prepared himself for the inevitable tirade he was facing. Daphne, no help at all, just giggled.
--
Aella whimpered and squealed as Harry's large hand smacked down steadily on her already crimson arse. Somehow he was managing to find every sore spot with unerring precision each time his hand landed. This was her 'punishment' for having blabbed about telling him to just go public with everything when they first told she and Edmund the truth. Apparently he was going to be in the doghouse with her youngest for 'quite some time.' Aella strongly suspected that this would last all the way until the end of the night, if Astoria could even hold out for that long. The first hard shag that Harry gave her, the first time he made her feel submissive, and Astoria would go right back to her usual self.
In the meantime Astoria was acting very much like the frustrated and stubborn witch that most definitely still existed and came out more often than not for anyone other than Harry, Daphne or Narcissa. Even they still dealt with that side of her more often than most outsiders might think outside of sex, and Aella thought that her youngest might be even more stubborn and demanding now than she'd been when she was a Malfoy. Those traits just weren't expressed in the poor manner they had been for so long, and that made them traits that Aella was proud to see her daughter display. She was sure that Astoria's lovers felt the same way.
The others were right next door, literally in the kitchen together and waiting for dinner to be finished and served. They were listening to Harry spanking her and berating her throughout it, because he'd merely walked in and told her to follow. He may as well have dragged her off into the sitting room with him, and he hadn't bothered to lock or silence the door. It was without any shadow of a doubt the most humiliated she had ever been. It was the next step up in things as her situation became less fragmented, as she'd known it would have to at some point.
Harry had entered the room with Astoria, who had gone from very frustrated right at the end of the meeting to only fairly frustrated once she'd returned from their talk. That only lent credence to Aella's theory that she would not be able to make it to the end of the night with her anger. Once he was done with her youngest he'd turned to Aella, and in front of his three lovers, her husband and Fleur he had told her firmly to come with him. He'd told her they would be dealing with her behavior immediately since they wouldn't have time to do so later in the night or the next day.
Rather than protesting Edmund had laughed so hard he almost cried. The giggles and snickers from Astoria as well as the taunts from Narcissa and Daphne had been almost expected, but Fleur teasing her that if Harry needed to put her nose in the corner the veela would make sure that her husband wouldn't miss her had not been expected. Edmund laughing even harder and the others joining in had been bad enough. But Edmund then giving Fleur a passionate kiss and telling her to behave, in a very different tone than the disciplinarian one Harry had used with her, made her stomach sink with humiliation. She actually had streaks starting to drip down her legs from how aroused she was as Harry marched her through the door and shut it behind him, with everyone on the other side of it still laughing and making jokes about her impending discipline.
It had gotten infinitely worse just moments after she'd arrived in the room, and it was entirely her own foolish fault. Harry had laughed loudly when he turned around and saw what she had done, and he was just as loud when he talked about it.
"I don't remember telling you to strip down to just your short little skirt," he said, more than loudly enough for his voice to carry to everyone on the other side of the door. "But since you've already taken your blouse and bra off you can just go ahead and keep them off. After your spanking, while you have your nose in the corner in the other room and wait for dinner to be served, I'll think about whether or not I'm going to allow you to put them back on,"
"That would certainly be a sight to see!" Edmund said outside, and he sounded as amused as she could ever remember hearing him. "Maybe it would actually have a positive impact on her behavior." She knew her fate was sealed by that comment, and Edmund no doubt knew it as well. He also knew full well that being forced to come to dinner naked would tap into her sluttier fantasies, and she was sure that was exactly why he'd said it.
"If only you hadn't used our discussion out of context to get me in trouble with your daughter and had instead explained it properly, I wouldn't have had any problem with it," Harry said as he finished up with his hand. "But you just had to try and be cheeky. That's a habit I'll have to teach you not to take with me. Or if nothing else I need to show you the consequences that will come along with it if you do."
He rubbed her clit with his fingers, and she knew that he could see how hard she had to fight not to moan desperately. He laughed, low enough this time that it likely didn't carry beyond the room.
"Are you ready to scream in pleasure loud enough for all of them to hear?" he asked. "I'll only need to use my fingers to do it." She shook her head wildly, and he offered her his fingers which were dripping with her arousal. Aella eagerly licked his fingers clean. Next he conjured a hairbrush that looked similar to the one he usually used.
"It's not the real thing, but it'll have the same impact," he said, and then he started to spank her with it. After fifteen swats she did her best to plead for him to stop through her squeals and sobs.
"I'll be a good girl!" she promised, but that was met with three more swats. "Please, I'll do anything!" Harry gave her two more swats before casting a cushioning charm on the floor surrounding his feet. He yanked her up, spread his legs and eased back, smirking at her while continuing to hold the hairbrush in his hand. She knew what he wanted.
"I shouldn't," she muttered.
"You promised anything," he reminded her, matching her quiet tone. "But you know what, why don't you ask permission nice and clearly, just so I'm sure what you've decided? Or I can go back to swatting you if you'd prefer that."
She got down to her knees, giving him a pleading look as she did so. But after realizing that he wouldn't budge and this really was going to happen, that Harry had clearly realized how arousing she found it and also that Edmund had no problem with it, she gave in.
"May I please suck your cock in exchange for fewer spanks?" she asked. The laughter that made it through the door was louder than ever, confirming that no one was upset. She didn't think they were even surprised.
"Go on then," Harry said. "Make sure you do a good job of it too. I'm being rather generous here."
Her hands were so shaky that she struggled to get him free, but once she'd gotten his cock out she tried to do a good job as he'd encouraged. That fell by the wayside a few minutes in though, as Harry apparently decided he wanted more than she was giving him and took matters into his own hands. More literally he took his hair into her hands and slammed his cock into her throat. She retched and gurgled around his massive cock, and that brought still more laughter and remarks made at her expense outside the door.
Harry controlled the pace from there, putting her through a relentless, rough facefucking. That said it was not in the higher tier of what he'd given her in terms of roughness, to say nothing of what his three lovers had to endure. But it wasn't the physical distress of him holding her down on the bottom that really got to her. The worst part was the sounds she made, which this time seemed deafening to her. They filled her ears and had to be loud even to the ears of those who were making jokes about her on the outside. All she could hear were the sounds of herself gagging around his cock though, and Harry made sure those sounds continued by speeding up rather than backing off when her body forced her to make a retching-sounding sort of protest. The end result was that she sounded like the biggest whore one could find, at least to her ears.
She did wonder if, when she was finally allowed to check, the puddle between her legs would equal the size of the one from her mixed saliva and tears beneath her face and his cock. That it would be there was obvious from how she could feel her arousal trickling down her legs. The only question was how large it would be.
He tapped her face with his finger and she blushed, but she didn't break eye contact. He let her take control again, giving her an expectant look, and Aella went to work. Her tongue worked him wildly trying to finish him off, and he moaned as she gave it her all. Her tongue worked overtime until he was ready to explode, at which point she pulled his cock out of her mouth and finished him on her face.
"You did an acceptable enough job," he said as he cleaned himself up and vanished the hairbrush he'd conjured. "I think you've learned your lesson."
"Thank you for letting me earn your mercy," she said. He chuckled and shook his head.
"Mercy from the rest of the hairbrush, maybe," he said, "but you will be waiting until dinner is served to put your blouse back on." She opened her mouth to argue but he shook his head immediately. "No complaints. You're the one who took it off when I was only going to hike your skirt up so I could spank you, you silly thing. And for that matter you'll have to go without knickers too since you took those off as well, which was an even more shameless thing to do."
He firmly held her by the arm to lead her out of the room and into place for the next part of her punishment. Everyone was smirking at her but Harry paid them no mind. He behaved as if this was completely normal behavior, as if she wasn't topless, wasn't going without underwear and wasn't the wife of the other man in the room. She ducked her blushing face so she wouldn't have to see the smirks of the group.
She vaguely heard Narcissa compliment her for the show she was putting on, but Aella felt a bit dizzy and barely comprehended anything that she or anyone else was saying. She was soaked between her thighs and as humiliated as she could ever remember being as this young man who was not her husband, who had just spanked her until she vowed to be a good girl and begged to suck his cock while her husband listened and laughed, led her to her corner in front of everyone. He bent her over, exposing to everyone else just how excited she was, and how red her arse was.
"Keep your nose against the wall until you're told otherwise," he ordered. He flipped the skirt up as well to make the view even better for her audience, then hummed and made her hold her own knickers in place by just one of the tiny strings. "There. That'll make sure I know if you move away." This got howls of laughter so loud that her ears actually rang.
"It seems like she got warmed up for later," Fleur said, giggling. "We may need to make sure the floor doesn't stain." Aella could curl up and die at that, or spread her legs wider and rub herself to a near-instant orgasm. Perhaps both.
"Oh, she is very warmed up," Edmund said, laughing. "But you may want to be careful about making those sorts of comments about her when she just got spanked for playing with fire. That's a bit brazen, wouldn't you say?" Fleur whined, and that made Daphne, Astoria and Narcissa laugh. Before anyone else could say anything Harry spoke, though he was looking at Narcissa rather than Aella.
"Up," he said simply. Narcissa seemed to understand but that didn't stop her from whining. "I'm still irritated with you for following me. Saying that I'm irritated would be an understatement in fact, even if I'm also extremely relieved that you're safe. Now up."
"It seems like Narcissa's domineering attitude is just an act," Edmund said over Fleur's laughter. "She knows her place when it comes down to it."
"She talks a big game always," Daphne chuckled. "And she does often back it up, with certain people." Astoria giggled at that, and having been incorporated into their sex life to an extent Aella understood why. "But that's true of all of us with Harry." Astoria's giggles intensified at that.
"I'm not going to lecture you, since I know it would be pointless anyway," Aella heard Harry say to Narcissa after the door shut. Then she heard Narcissa squeal and shriek as her punishment began. They switched more to sobs at some point, and Aella thought she heard the swing of a belt.
Though she couldn't see them, Aella could almost feel the excitement from those in the room as Narcissa took her punishment. It was Fleur's experience seeing what discipline looked like from Harry, and Aella knew her husband would be ready to shag her rotten when she was done just like he always was when she came come with a crimson arse.
"It wouldn't be fair for me to put Aella's nose in a corner and not yours," Harry said. "It also wouldn't be fair to have one of you topless and the other clothed."
"I didn't remove my top on my own," Narcissa said weakly, like she knew it would be useless but had to try anyway.
"I don't remember you offering to 'earn' any mercy either," Harry said, which felt like another little taunt of Aella.
"I will," Narcissa said quickly. "I'll earn it."
"Oh no," he said, laughing. "It's too late now."
"Well fine then," Narcissa said. "I don't have any problem with how I look. It's up to you if you wish to display me like this."
"That was a weak attempt to turn it around on me," he said, laughing. "Go on then, since you're so happy to do so. And if you're feeling really confident you can even take those tiny knickers off too."
Narcissa's whimpers kept coming until the door opened, and Aella heard her husband mutter 'Merlin' right around the same time Fleur said 'mon dieu.'
"You really are looking good," Daphne said, and Narcissa's answering whine got louder to Aella's ears as Harry marched the blonde woman towards her. He deposited Narcissa in the corner closest to her, forcing her to bend over as well. It seemed she'd been allowed to leave her tiny knickers on though, unlike Aella who'd stripped down without even thinking.
"I figured out the perfect Christmas present for you to get me," Edmund said.
"Would you like one pair or two?" Fleur replied.
"Oh, definitely two," Edmund said. "Aella needs a pair of those. I'm surprised she hasn't asked for a pair already."
"If you're lucky, perhaps," Fleur said, giggling. "It is a rather bold request after dating for such a short period of time, don't you think?"
"What can I say? I've been feeling lucky recently," Edmund said. "And I think Aella would love it if the two of you matched." Daphne groaned and muttered something to Harry that Aella couldn't make out as Edmund and Fleur shared a kiss.
"Oh really?" Fleur asked.
"Fine, fine," Daphne muttered. "Just keep his clothes on at least, even if no one else seems able to." That got huge laughs, and even Aella had to giggle a bit.
The food eventually was served, but that didn't mean an end to the humiliation for Aella and Narcissa. The two blushing women came to the table, and Harry intercepted Narcissa before she could sit down.
"I didn't tell you to get dressed yet," he said. "Make sure Lord Greengrass gets a good look so he can make an informed decision." Narcissa's entire body was red with embarrassment, but she turned to Edmund and bent forward to stick her breasts and pierced nipples out for him to examine.
"You can get dressed now," Harry said, looking at Aella. "You've been punished enough." She bowed her head and got dressed as Harry took the empty seat at the table between her daughters, both of whom were giggling at the show. "You can do the same once Lord Greengrass gives you permission, Narcissa." Edmund drew the moment out, and Aella watched that with interest, pleased to see her husband take the opportunity to torment Narcissa. She was definitely the one who was most eager to push her buttons (and Aella loved every moment of it, of course.)
"What do you think, Fleur?" Edmund asked. "Do you like them?"
"Oh yes, very much," Fleur said, giggling nearly as loudly as Daphne and Astoria.
Edmund nodded slowly. "Thank you for the pleasant display, Lady Black," he said at last. Narcissa hurried to sit on Harry's lap and bury her face into his neck, as if he wasn't the one who had set all of this up to begin with.
"You're still topless, you know," Daphne pointed out after several moments. Narcissa quickly got dressed, blushing clearly, but she stayed in Harry's lap as she did so. She looked very much like a slightly older and bustier version of Astoria in that moment: submissive, embarrassed and incredibly aroused while clinging desperately to him just like Astoria so often did.
"You're the sexiest thing I've ever seen, you know," Edmund murmured into Aella's ear. "I'm going to ravage you all night long as soon as we're done eating."
"I've never been so excited in my life, I swear," Fleur added from her other side. Aella looked across the table and saw the way Daphne and Astoria were looking at Harry with Narcissa in his lap, and she was sure they were having a similar whispered conversation on that side of the table.
--
Daphne was tangled up in bed with Narcissa later that night after returning home from her parents' house. She was snogging and thoroughly dominating the older woman with even less effort than usual, as Narcissa had been incredibly submissive ever since Harry had put her on display earlier in the evening. Harry was taking a show with Astoria's help (and no doubt that help would keep him occupied for a while yet), so Daphne knew she'd have some time to herself with Narcissa.
"Agreeing to let you join me and Harry was the most bizarre choice I'd ever made up to that point," she said after pulling back from the kiss. It seemed like ages ago that all of this had started, but after today had gone it was natural to do some reflecting. "It was also the best I've ever made. It's led to all of this."
Narcissa grinned. "It wasn't meant to work to your sister's benefit at all, but it's worked out wonderfully for all of us, hasn't it?"
"It even led to these," Daphne said, chuckling and giving Narcissa's nipples a sudden forceful yank. She squealed and shrieked as she was forced to arch and push her breasts out as high as possible. "I think I'll keep you just like this for a moment. The view is absolutely stunning."
Narcissa's squeals eventually convinced Daphne to let her down, after which she took care of her now swollen nipples by licking and sucking on each of them in turn. By the end Narcissa's pain was forgotten and she was moaning loudly.
"I think I may need to get a pair for myself now," Daphne said. "If even Fleur gets some it wouldn't seem right if I didn't."
"That reminds me," Narcissa whined, "why did you have to tell Harry about that fantasy of mine?" Daphne just giggled and pinned Narcissa's hands above her head with one hand, then used the other to rub at her clit. Narcissa moaning and parting her legs so blatantly was all that really needed to be said, but Daphne spoke anyway.
"This is why, my love," she said. "Look at you. Have you been this drenched just from doing some rough petting before?" She started to rub and stroke around her clit, making Narcissa moan and mutter unintelligibly as she tried to speak.
"I've been a good girl!" she finally managed to get out.
"You sound like Astoria," Daphne said, giggling. "And like my mum with Harry." She used her wand to bind Narcissa's hands together above her head and then made her way down her body. "You have been a very good girl though."
"Oh fuck, Daphne, yesss!" Narcissa muttered as Daphne kissed her toned stomach. Daphne smiled at the reactions she was already drawing, and then Narcissa screamed her name the moment tongue met clit.
The first orgasm came in record time for Daphne, and it was quite possible that only Harry using his parseltongue tricks had ever beaten it. She lapped it up and then just kept going, much to Narcissa's vocal delight. She paused just before Narcissa was about to climax again, and the other woman's frantic wriggling had her chuckling.
"You're going to be much more careful when sneaking around in the future, aren't you?" Daphne asked. She gave her clit a rough pinch which was in stark contrast to the loving touches she'd been receiving thus far.
"I will, I will!" Narcissa screamed, genuinely in agony. Daphne stopped as abruptly as she'd started.
"Good. I believe you, love. You'll be a good girl for us." She started to finger and suck at Narcissa, which got a howl of love and pleasure from the witch as she exploded once again. Daphne pulled back and saw Harry and Astoria looking at them, both clearly very aroused.
"Let Astoria take over there," Harry said to her. She crawled up to give him a sloppy kiss while Astoria took her place, and Narcissa was soon moaning again. Daphne was confused when Harry stopped her. "No, we can do that in a bit. I want to watch the loves of my life with each other right now."
He lifted Daphne up like she weighed nothing and placed her above Narcissa's mouth, and she moaned loudly as she eagerly repaid her earlier affection to the best of her ability.
"You look beautiful," Harry said, petting her hair softly and kissing her. "Enjoy yourself. I'll be back to take care of you in a bit, because I can't help but get involved with what's going on down there."
He headed down to Astoria and gave her a hard spank on the arse, making Daphne giggle. She stared down at Narcissa and stroked her hair. Even without looking back she knew how Astoria's face would have looked once she heard that screaming moan of Harry's tongue slipping between her legs.
"Oh fuck, I love you," Daphne moaned. "I love you all!" Then it was her turn to scream mindlessly as Narcissa's mouth brought her over the edge.
--
Astoria gave Harry a desperate look from behind her tears. This was the first time she could remember in so very long that she'd had tears because of him and didn't enjoy them, or at the very least enjoyed the process that resulted in them or the fun that came afterwards.
"How can you fire me one day before my birthday and call it an early birthday present?" she asked, almost choking on the words. "It's not a present! It's horrible!" She legitimately got choked up before she could say any more.
"I'm not firing you," he interrupted, groaning softly. "I told you that you're resigning. I wish I could be selfish and keep you around; I really do. But there are so many reasons why I can't."
She went to speak but he kissed her softly. She resisted and pulled away from him, determined to speak her mind, but he cut her off.
"First, the moment you were finally free from Draco, every second you've spent in here was a second where you were wasting your talents," he said. She glared at him, and he laughed. "I'm serious. You're far too capable to spend your days working as a secretary, even if you're the best one I've ever had." He wiggled his eyebrows at her with a playful smile. "And I'm not even including your ability to go above and beyond to keep me stress-free and clear-headed." She gave a watery giggle.
"Secondly, you need to spend some time with your father if you're going to be taking over the Greengrass family one day," he continued. "We can't spend the mornings and evenings doing everything we enjoy doing and have you here in the office with me every other hour of the day." Astoria nodded, conceding that point.
"But the bigger issue is that as long as you're working here for me I can't send off this announcement of my courtship of both you and Narcissa." Her eyes widened as he waved around what looked to be a very official letter written on Potter-Black crested parchment. "Announcing I'm involved with my assistant would be against Ministry policy, and since I plan to act publicly as if dear Draco has given his blessing I'd rather not give anyone feeling petty a reason to spew negative things about you in the press."
"I'll just be bored most days anyway," she murmured. "If I'm not in here, that is." Harry laughed and shook his head, which confused her.
"No, I already said how impressive you are," he said. "You won't be wasting any time being bored or trying to sneak in here and hide out in my office fucking all day." She looked at him expectantly, catching on that he already had something in mind, but he just smirked. "I'll tell you after you pack your belongings up and we leave to discuss things with your father."
"You could at least tell me if it's an early birthday present," she groaned. Harry smacked her arse with a laugh.
"I could do that," he said. "Or we could hurry up and pack your things away so I can give you one last punishment for all the problems you used to cause me in this office."
That was all the motivation Astoria would ever need. She hurried to pack her things, and looked over her shoulder at him when she noticed he wasn't even doing anything to help.
"Stop being so slow and useless," she said. "I haven't left yet! You're only allowed to go back to being your usual disorganized self once I'm not here to keep you on track anymore."
He laughed loudly, but Astoria ignored him and packed her belongs in record time. She was pleased with herself, but she yelped out in surprise when there was a sudden yank on her hair.
"I have plenty of time to give you one final reminder of what you learned here," Harry said, using the darker, rougher tone he used when he was ready to push her hard. She nearly moaned. "I plan on making sure it has enough of a lasting impact on you that you never forget it."
Harry stripped her down and yanked her across his lap, and she squealed in pain as he clamped his leg over hers and started smacking her arse with his hand as hard as he ever had. He kept it up for an incredibly long time using only his hand, and by the end of it she was feeling like it was the harshest spanking she'd ever gotten that didn't have any tools to assist in the punishment. It wasn't just the swings from his hand either. Throughout the spanking he lectured her about all of the mistakes she'd made over the course of her time as his assistant. He berated her for everything from being a lazy worker, having a poor attitude towards him, speaking down to everyone and even being a pureblood bigot. Obviously most if not all of these complaints did not apply to Astoria currently and hadn't for quite some time now, but that they had been true at one time only added to the heat of the punishment for her. That wasn't the end though.
"This is for trying to blackmail and enslave Pansy for your own amusement," Harry said. Astoria flinched, feeling shamed when she remembered how she'd tried to use that old marriage contract to torment Pansy. Harry was going to make her pay for it anew now. He summoned the paddle and started striking her arse with it, and quickly had her screaming and sobbing.
The paddling was vicious, leaving her feeling an agony she hadn't felt in quite some time. Next she saw him summon the strap, and she actually felt a bit of fright for the first time in ages.
"Bend over and grab the other side of the desk," he told her. "I'm only doing this because I know you like it." Ten lashes followed, and they had her screaming and blubbering. Yet the moment he used it to teasingly rub between her legs she let out a very, very loud moan which made him chuckle.
He conjured a cane next, and she looked back over her shoulder at him and frantically pleaded with him not to do so. He moved around to kneel in front of her face, and she could see that her pleas had reached him. He tenderly brushed her tears off of her cheeks and gave her a sweet kiss on the lips.
"Do you really want to avoid it?" he asked openly. "Knowing you as I do I think you'll end up regretting it later if you don't take it, even with your arse bruised as bad as it is already. But if you really don't want it, just say it again and we'll stop here."
"I want it," she admitted through her tears. "I need it." The vow forced her to be truthful about it, but she was sure she would have caved regardless.
"That's what I thought," he said. "I'll tell you now that I'm not going to hold back, and you'll get six smacks with a treat while it's going on." That treat came in the form of him summoning a dildo she kept on hand in the office and which flew out of her box of belongings now. He made it vibrate, lifted her hips up and put the toy flat on the desk.
"Feel free to hump, but don't you dare cum before I've finished breaking you in the office one last time," he said.
The first swish of the can had her dizzy from the pain, and by the time she took the fifth she was limp and barely hanging onto the desk as well as to consciousness. The only reason she'd held onto the former was because her vow had forced her to do so and obey his command.
"Are you going to cum or pass out before the sixth strike?" Harry asked, laughing. It was only that question that made Astoria aware of how wildly her hips were moving even with the rest of her body being lifeless.
"So close, not sure," she somehow managed to choke out through her sobs. She screamed as the sixth hit landed, and then her world went white as Harry roughly shoved into her. One hand held the back of her hair while the other yanked one of her legs up straight and parallel to the ground, her ankle resting on the desk.
The man that she loved and soon to be ex-boss fucked her like a wild animal. He showed her that despite always trying to keep a healthy balance in their play even as she always pushed for more pain (and more pleasure along with it), he wanted to let go just as much as she did. He wanted to do everything she craved and everything she begged him to do, and even now when he was slamming into her, fucking her more aggressively than he ever had there was still another level he could reach if he wanted to.
She could only grunt, sob and moan while fighting desperately to cling to consciousness. Harry had finally given in to her most masochistic desires, and he'd done it without her having to try and goad, prompt or outright beg him for it beforehand. She wasn't about to let herself pass out and miss out on the incredible peaks of pleasure it was bringing her even despite the pain. Though to be fair the pain was such a large part of what made the pleasure feel so acute for her.
How many orgasms did she wind up having while he fucked her in this position? Astoria honestly had no idea, but it had to have been at least three before Harry filled her to the brim with his seed and set off another so that would make it a total of four at a minimum. She did manage to hold onto consciousness throughout, although she'd lost herself in the sensations instead rather than holding onto a firm grip of reality. At times it had felt more like one long, uninterrupted orgasm, which was what made separating each climax to count them independently both impossible and pointless.
Him cumming inside of her had not been the end; not even close. He sat back and pulled her into a full nelson, making her groan as he pushed her legs up. Even more was being demanded from her broken body in this position despite how much agony she was already in, and she loved that he was willing to do so. Usually this would have been the point where he hesitated, assuming he hadn't stopped altogether by now. She would have had to beg and plead with him, or try to goad him so he would break her even further both physically and mentally. Perhaps he was willing to keep it going beyond this point now because he knew how much it would mean to her and wanted this farewell to a major period of her life and their relationship to be special, and if so she loved him for it.
"Love it!" she said, her voice sounding raspy and barely recognizable to her own ears. "Break me!"
He did his best, and before long his cock pounding her brutally as he bent her into a full nelson brought her another beautiful orgasm. "You've had enough of a warm-up," he growled into her ear as he slid his cock out of her. He then began to toss her up and down with his cock in her arse instead, proving he was dead serious. Any chance she had of even letting loose with a single shriek or cry disappeared and she felt her lower legs, feet, arms and legs flop uselessly as he owned her. And he did own her. When they were done he was going to release her so she could become something better, but right now he was owning her as the slut of an assistant he had molded her into one last time in this chair in which he'd brought her so much pleasure and more than a little pain too.
Harry held her down and came inside of her arse, and she truly thought that was it. Even Astoria with all her submissive desires could not have complained if it had been. It was far more than usual, and maybe more than ever before. The damage done to her arse likely was the worst it had ever been. She'd managed to catch a glimpse of her bum and it was heavily bruised already. The six stripes of the cane looked horrible, or at least most people would think so. To her they looked amazing.
Since she thought he was finished with her she was surprised when he'd somehow lifted her limp body, flipped her over while still keeping her folded up like a pretzel and slammed her onto the desk hard enough to drive her breath from her lungs altogether. He shoved his cock back into her cunt as soon as she hit, and without any warning he was fucking her roughly again. He grabbed her throat as he fucked her like he was earnestly trying to reach all the way into her stomach.
"There's no point in me asking who owns you," he said as he shagged her rotten on his desk. "I'm just going to give you one last reminder of what it took to get to the point where you were nothing but a broken toy for me to repair later. I'll keep breaking and repairing you over and over again for the rest of our lives, just like I know you want."
Now he began to rain down slaps on her tits with his free hand while fucking her, and these were not gentle slaps. This was as hard as he'd ever slapped her tits, and whether because of that pain, the pleasure of her orgasms, a lack of air thanks to the hand on her throat or a combination of all three she almost blacked out several times. But any time he saw her getting close to that point he would grab a nipple piercing and tug and twist hard enough to make her scream while trying to take in air. He was intent on not giving her any sort of rest even while allowing her to have enough air to remain conscious.
Her last orgasm saw her so drained that her tongue lolled out of her mouth, a truly humiliating moment that she hadn't even thought was possible until it had actually happened. At that point he pulled out of her, dragged her up to her knees and held her up by the hair. Literally all of her body weight was held up by just that single hand in her hair while her knees brushed the floor, and his other hand slapped her hard across the face. She shrieked, and he used that moment to force his cock into her mouth and down her throat. He fucked her throat roughly to finish himself off, cumming so hard that whatever didn't make it down her throat and into her stomach shot out of her nose instead.
"Thank you," she said afterwards, or at least tried to. Her eyes were blurry and the exhaustion and lack of oxygen had her brain working very sluggishly. Harry laughed and tugged her up into his lap so he could apply the salve to her arse cheeks. While he gently tended to her she slumped face-first against his chest.
"Catch yourself," he said. "I'm not done yet." She whined deep in her throat.
"I've never felt like I didn't want you to keep on using me before," she said. She actually began to cry as she thought about how she didn't have the energy to take any more of that wild sex. She desperately wanted her body to find some energy to match the desire of her mind and heart to keep going, but she just didn't see how that was going to happen.
He cleaned her up with magic once the salve had been rubbed in, and his healing charms had her arse feeling like it was merely on fire instead of being in so much pain that it was as if she needed to go to St. Mungo's. That done, he picked her up and laid her down on the desk again, much more gently this time. She panicked, thinking he was about to fuck her again, and tried to speak up. He silenced her with a kiss.
"Now it's time to remind you of what all the good behavior you learned in your time here has brought you," he said.
She screamed out her love for him the moment his tongue made its way to her clit. She didn't have the energy left in her body to take on the demands of more brutal sex like he'd given her before, but she did have enough to just relax on the desk and allow him to worship her through more orgasms.
"I love you!" she screamed again. She kept screaming those three words over and over again, but it was quite possible the words had turned into a jumbled mess at some point. It would have made sense with how long he spent forcing the most amazing orgasms out of her with his mouth, stealing them from her body and ripping away whatever energy she had left. Towards the end she couldn't even manage those screams, and she almost choked on them instead when he switched to sticking his tongue inside of her arse and vibrating it. He added vigorous rubs of her clit and stuffed the vibrating dildo inside of her as well for good measure. Astoria, on the brink as it was, was assailed by sensory overload.
She wasn't sure at what point she passed out, but eventually the exhaustion of her body finally won out after another orgasm was forced out of her. All she knew was that when she came around it was with Harry gently caressing her cheek and speaking softly into her ear.
"It's time to get ready for your meeting," he said, sounding amused. She blinked slowly and opened her eyes, and after a few seconds realized that she was on their comfortable bed rather than the desk in his office. Her arse was somehow still stinging. As she looked at him and processed everything that had happened, she asked the first thing that came to her mind.
"How did you manage to know exactly what I wanted?" she asked, which made him grin. "Thank you. I know you're usually reluctant to go past your usual limits and really test mine, but I'm glad you did. It was a wonderful way to end it." Before actually answering her with words Harry gave her a deep, passionate kiss.
"I know what a kinky little thing you are," he said after finally pulling away. "I figured you'd want to have your final day in the office be the peak of your entire time there. But don't worry; it won't be the peak of your life. We'll all be making sure that we keep exploring that for the rest of our lives together."
"Are you sure we can't reschedule with my father so you can take me again now?" she whined. She rolled over onto her belly, shoved her face in the pillow, clasped her hands behind her back and stuck her arse up in the air. She was certain that this would get her at least a quick shag before they had to go. Despite the deep, throbbing ache between her legs screaming at her that she'd had enough for now she still wanted more, just like always. Harry growled and gave her a slap on the arse, confirming that it was pretty well healed already and would be good again soon.
"Don't tempt me again, slut," he warned. "Unless you don't want to meet with Ted Tonks."
That had her out of the bed and moving as quickly as she'd moved to pack her things in the office earlier. In fact she stood so quickly that she made herself dizzy, forcing Harry to laugh and catch her before she fell.
"I love you," he murmured into her as he held her. "And I'll make sure that when we get home you'll get to spend the rest of the night enjoying being used by all three of us."
"I love you too," Astoria cooed, feeling deliriously happy. "I love all of you." She straightened, remembering what awaited her. "Now hurry up. We can't dare be late for this."
She knew she was being silly to be so demanding moments after trying to entice him into fucking her, and Harry laughed at her for it. She didn't care. She had an important meeting to get dressed for, and she was excited.
--
Astoria settled into bed the evening before her birthday bursting with excitement. The day had started so disastrously but had ended on such a wonderful note.
The meeting with her father had gone great. She'd realized how interested she was in learning about running the Greengrass Family from a business perspective, but more exciting was when she'd had her meeting with Ted Tonks afterwards. He was the leading Master of Warding; it was how he'd stay alive on the run. None of Voldemort's Death Eaters had been able to locate him or stop him from moving freely even with the restrictive wards Voldemort himself had raised in many key locations.
He had also never taken an apprentice, always saying that all candidates who approached him lacked certain aspects needed to become true Masters that just couldn't be taught, but that they needed to have in order for them to understand what he could teach them. No one had ever been able to figure out exactly what he meant by that, or what those certain aspects were. While sitting with her, Harry and her father he'd explained with a grin that this was the entire point. Anyone could lie and act as if they had them once he specified what they were, but he could only be certain if they didn't know beforehand.
Ted had said it was actually his daughter Nymphadora (who of course would have been furious if she'd heard him call her that) who first mentioned Astoria's talents to him. That surprised Astoria. Tonks had warmed up to her and was actually quite nice and respectful of her abilities these days, but she hadn't suspected that Harry's boss thought quite this highly of her.
Harry seemed to have known all along though. He'd grinned and said it was no coincidence she'd kept getting assigned all the warding paperwork that passed through the department, even the ones that weren't his. Tonks had always been impressed with the thorough mark-ups that noted mistakes and potential improvements, and that was why she'd always wanted Astoria to handle that subject matter.
Harry also let her know that his only involvement in setting any of this up was to respond to an inquiry from Ted and confirm the things Tonks had told him about Astoria's ability. She knew what he was really saying even without him saying it in so many words with others around. This wasn't something he'd set up for her using his fame or political influence. It was something she'd earned on her own, through her own merits. It was a wonderful feeling.
Ted had taken her as his apprentice before they said goodbye, and she was still beaming at that as she crawled under the covers with her lovers. The happiness and pride she got from her accomplishment was easily strong enough to override the admittedly heavy disappointment of realizing that she would no longer have such easy access to Harry's cock throughout the day or that she wouldn't be able to be his stress relief whenever he needed it. She would definitely miss that, though she figured she'd still have lunch breaks as well as times when her father was away on business, and she would make up for as much of that as she could whenever she had the opportunity.
Things really were progressing though. It was hard to believe how different her life looked now as compared to on her last birthday. So much had changed, and all of it for the better as far as she was concerned. She had her family back, she had more love than she could ever have hoped for, and now she had a promising career opportunity that she'd earned through her own hard work and talent.
"Happy birthday to me," she said, giggling as she curled up into her favorite spot.