Moody was the first to notice that Harry Potter was missing. He stumped up behind the headmaster and whispered in his ear. "Where is Potter, Albus?" Albus looked to the anteroom. He could see nothing. He activated his glasses and saw what had disturbed his old friend. Three champions were there. Two dates as well. And a flustered Professor McGonagall was trying to calm an increasingly irate veela. The doors to the Great Hall burst open, and an angry girl strode in before Albus could act. The girl was dressed in beautiful silver robes with glimmers of gold flashing as she marched forward. The robes were a perfect match for the silver hair that flowed around her head. Her eyes flashed in anger, and her hair whipped about as energy pooled around and poured off her. "Where is he, Katie?" Silence descended on the Hall as all eyes followed the strange procession. Fleur strode forward. She was followed by a another beautiful girl that a few recognized. Victor Krum followed closely behind the second girl. Cedric, Cho, and McGonagall brought up the rear. "Is this some stupid idea of his? Is he going to surprise me?"

Fleur marched over to Katie. Her eyes never moving from the other girl's. The various students flinched back from and cleared a path for the increasingly disturbed veela. Katie could see the girl's eyes though. Eyes that were glimmering with unshed tears. Katie rushed to meet the distraught girl and wrapped her arms around the poor thing. Katie wore gold robes flickered with silver highlights. The girls' robes swirled around each other, complementing each other perfectly as the girls embraced. Katie spoke softly in the veela girl's ear as Fleur instinctively returned her hug. "There is no plot or prank Fleur. I wouldn't do that to you. And Harry would never hurt either of us like that."

"No, he wouldn't." Fleur agreed as she calmed with Katie's support. "Look at you being the faithful one."

"I learned Fleur. I won't ever distrust Harry again."

"Non, you are correct of course. 'Arry would not treat us like this. Where is he then? Has something happened to him?"

The quiet crowd grew restless, and rumors flew on gossamer wings about the hall. Harry Potter was missing, and no one seemed to have a clue as to where he might be.

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Harry breathed deeply as the glow faded from him and his elves. He felt good. Really good. Better than he should with all he had recently gone through. He inspected his body to find his wounds had been healed. His muscles were no longer sore. Even the lingering pain of the cruciatus was gone. He spoke softly to himself as he continued his inspection. "Okay. I have two elves now. Voldemort is back. I need to catch fake Moody. I need to deal with the rat. I will have to talk to Sirius about him. I need to talk to Katie and Fleur. Dobby and Winky will need new clothes. …"

"Master?" Winky cried.

Harry paused his ruminations. He realized what he had just said. Winky was trembling and crying in front of him. Dobby was trembling as well. The elves' eyes were wide and full of fear. Harry knelt and gathered them both in his arms. He held them tight as he spoke. "Dobby, Winky. I'm sorry I spoke without really thinking. I am very happy and proud to have you both in my family, and I do not intend to let either of you go." He felt their bodies calm from their trembling and continued speaking, still holding them close. "I only meant that I no longer feel the need to hide who I am. And you two are part of that. I am proud that you are members of House Potter. I want everyone to know that you, and any other elves that join our family, are part of my house." He let go of the elves and drew back so he could look at their faces. "I want you both to wear good clothes that signify you are mine. I don't know how we will do it yet. We will come up with some way that my elves can wear clothes befitting a member of my house." The elves nodded eagerly, ears flapping. Harry chuckled at the sight.

"Now that we have that settled, for the moment at least." Harry continued before the elves could go crazy again. "We have more important things to deal with first." He looked down at the still unconscious Pettigrew. "We have to deal with him, and we have to catch whoever is masquerading as Moody. And probably free the real Moody."

"Winky knows." Winky said sadly, hanging her head.

"What do you know, Winky?" Harry asked gently.

"Bad Moody is old master's dead son."

"Umm, what?"

"Old master sent son to Azkaban for being bad. Old mistress was dying. Mistress begged master to save son. She stayed at Azkaban when master brought son home."

Harry spent a minute running through connections in his mind. "Ok, I think I get it." He said. "Dobby, will you get me the map?"

"Yes Harry Potter Sir." Dobby said and popped away.

Dobby returned with the map. Harry opened it and activated it. "Hmm," Harry spoke aloud as he pondered what the map showed. "Dumbledore, Snape, and Crouch are all together in Dumbledore's office. Moody is in the Defense professor's office. They're probably talking about me. They must have noticed I was missing. That's good. We have time to plan."

"First, I should deal with Pettigrew." Harry decided. He began to ask Winky if she could watch the betrayer, when a memory forced itself forward. Harry lay in pain on the quidditch pitch. His arm broken by a rogue bludger. The snitch freshly caught. Lockhart approached, cast a spell, and the bones in Harry's arm had vanished. Harry spent a couple moments reviewing Lockhart's 'spell' and turned to face Pettigrew. He smiled to himself as he moved his wand just so, intoned the incantation "Brackium Emendo", and watched with pleasure as the bones in one of Pettigrew's leg were vanished. He chuckled and did the other leg. 'Oh yes.' Harry thought. 'Lockhart was a much better teacher than ever I credited.' He did the same to Peter's arms. Harry snorted to himself. 'Peter won't be going anywhere now.'

"That takes care of Pettigrew. Winky, Dobby, can you get Fleur and Katie and bring them here without anyone else knowing?"

"We can pops to Hoggywarts, but we can't pop others out Harry Potter Sir." Dobby said, ears drooping.

"Hmm." Harry thought for a moment. "Ok, bring them to Myrtle's bathroom. Let me know when the girls are there, and I will come and get them."

The elves nodded their agreement and popped away. Harry leaned Peter against the wall and tied his arms and legs together. It was probably overkill, but Peter had proven too slippery in the past, and he didn't want to take any chances.

Harry took a moment to breathe, and realized he was quite hungry. "Can a Hogwart's elf hear me?" He called. He waited a bit, and felt slightly disappointed when nothing happened. He began considering what he might say to Katie and Fleur when an elf popped in in front of him.

"How can Libby help you Master Harry Potter Sir?" The elf chirped at him. Libby looked around and her eyes grew big. "Where are we Master Harry Potter Sir?"

Harry couldn't help grinning at the sight of an elf's eyes widening in surprise. "We are in the Chamber of Secrets, Libby. How did you know who I am?"

"Dobby is going on and on about the great Master Harry Potter Sir. All elves is knowing who Master Harry Potter Sir is. And now Master Harry Potter Sir has bonded to Winky also."

"How did you know that? It just happened."

"Master Harry Potter Sir is bonding his elves with the old magic." Libby explained with awe in her voice. "All the elves is feeling the magic. Dobby is right. Master Harry Potter Sir is a great wizard."

Harry paused and let the embarrassment fade. "Thank you Libby. Could you bring me some food? Oh, and bring enough for Katie and Fleur too?"

"Yes Master Harry Potter Sir." Libby said and popped away.

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Harry sat on a chair between two hospital beds. It was an unsettling to him to be a visitor and not the visitee. It was upsetting that it was through his actions that Katie and Fleur had been injured. The girls were sleeping off a dreamless sleep draught and would be fine. Harry hung his head wearily and held his girls' hands. Katie on his right and Fleur on his left. They would be fine yes, but not unmarked. Katie had a scar on her left cheek. A scar made with dark magic, so it would remain. Small, but there. Fleur had a similar, but larger scar across her stomach.

'His girls?' Harry wondered at that thought. He had come to care for Fleur as much as he did Katie, and how was that going to work out anyway? Would either of them still like him after he got them hurt.' They had gone to search for the real Moody in the defense professors office. Just as he had asked them to. The map showed Moody there alone. Harry had gone to Dumbledore's office to catch Barty Jr. Then he got lazy. He didn't keep the map open. He didn't see fake Moody leaving Dumbledore's office.

Harry, Fleur, and Katie had rounded a corner and were surprised to see fake Moody. Harry had reacted instantly, but the girls hesitated. Crouch was captured, but the girls were hurt. And now Harry sat and felt guilty.

Harry closed his eyes as he felt the now familiar lassitude that came when contacted by Leto. It was a little different this time. Harry and Leto usually just appeared next to each other in the host's reality. This time, Harry found himself on his field of long, ripening grasses. The crystal prison pulsed in the distance. A man walked toward him from a mist on the edge of the field. Harry recognized the man when he drew close. "Muad' Dib?" Harry asked in surprise.

"I always hated that title. How about you call me Paul, and I won't call you The-Boy-Who-Lived?"

Harry winced and immediately agreed. "So Paul,… why are you here? Not that I'm against talking to you, but I've only ever spoken to Leto before."

"Well Harry,…" Paul said in a very dry tone causing the both of them to chuckle. "Leto sees a lot of himself in you, but I think you are actually more like me than you are to Leto."

"What do you mean? Why would I be more like you than Leto?"

"Hmm," Paul began slowly. "It would be more accurate to say that my life mirrors yours more closely than does my son's. I was born on a paradise planet, even more hospitable to life than is Earth. I lost my parents a good deal later than you did yours. In many ways I had a perfectly idyllic childhood. But I had a destiny hanging over my head. A destiny that would see my father killed and my innocence lost. It wasn't a destiny I desired, but I had little choice in the manner. But at least I had a childhood. A sense of self. A knowledge of who I was as an individual. Your childhood, Harry, was not idyllic." Paul snorted when he realized what he had said. "Far from Idyllic, I should say. I have had friends with worse beginnings than you had, Harry. But I would not wish your life on any person I care for. However, you also were raised with a sense of yourself as an individual. I'm afraid I did not grant the same consideration to my children.

"I did a horrible thing to my children. Leto and Ghanima were awakened to the memories of their ancestors while still in the womb. My addiction to the spice. My weakness denied them the possibility of lives of their own. They were not the first children born with this affliction. The Bene Gesserit called such children abominations and killed them as soon as they were discovered. But I was the Emperor. My children would not be killed. They were forced to find some way to cope with the memories. They saw firsthand why they were called abomination when their Aunt, my sister Alia, succumbed to the pressures I forced upon her and was possessed by the memory of a monster. Our grandfather, the Baron Vladimir Harkonnen, overcame her and made her do horrible things. Leto and Ghanima had to protect themselves and the empire from my sister because I was weak." Paul paused for a moment and locked eyes with Harry. "I know all about guilt. I know all about weakness.

"When I was a boy on my home world of Caladan I would have dreams. Dreams of the future. But they made no sense. Caladan was a paradise planet. Temperate, water filled, no dangerous predators. I was the son of the Duke. I had anything and everything I desired. But it was not to last. My dreams showed me living on a desert planet, scrabbling for my next drink. Beset by enemies on all sides. It was nightmarish, and I very much wished to avoid the future I saw in my dreams. I did not have the power to change my future. Not really surprising. But my father did not have the power to change my future either. That did surprise me. Before then, I had always thought my father to be somewhat omnipotent. There was one redeeming aspect to my dreams. Though I dreaded the move to Arrakis. Though I feared to see the devastation of my family and friends that the move would cause, I did long to meet my beloved Chani. I dreamed of her too. Even in the midst of war and loss, finding her, meeting her in life and not just in dreams, was one of the happiest experiences of my life.

"The visions that led me to Chani also showed me losing her. This is where I was weak. I would not allow that loss. My visions were incomplete. I was sure if I could just see the whole future, I could find a path to save my Chani. I took a poison. A drug that unlocked the future. I could now see all the possibilities and choose the one that I wanted. ….

"The human mind is not designed for such knowledge. I was not the first to have unlocked that potential. Most who tried, died in the attempt. The few who succeeded destroyed themselves when faced with all the consequences of their decisions.

"I recoiled from that knowledge. I could not handle the burden of guilt, so I closed my mind to the infinite possibilities and chose a path that would allow me to share the most time possible with my love. In the end, that choice cost the lives of my first born son and my sister. Only Leto's sacrifice saved my daughter Ghanima.

"Part of the reason Leto could make the sacrifice I could not was because he was never allowed to be his own person. He was a conglomeration of his ancestors. He had all the experiences and memories of countless lives. He could see the consequences of his choices far more clearly than any of us. He truly is Abomination, and the Bene Gesserit were right to fear his coming. But he was necessary. He is necessary. I recognized that when I met him in the desert and agreed to support his Vision.

"You Harry are normal. You are your own person. You acted on instinct. You got arrogant with your new found knowledge, and people you care for were hurt as a result. You see. You are like me. Like the youth I was. And you face a similar dilemma. Will you face the future with incomplete knowledge? Or will you try to acquire a sure vision? If you succeed in opening your mind, will you have the courage to face the consequences I could not? Who will you be, failure, or savior?

"I hesitate to say this to you. I know that by telling you this, I all but make your decision for you. But as I said, I am weak. And so I will do what I can for my son, though it damage my soul to do so. If you fight your war blindly, as you have done so far, you will win. But you will lose loved ones along the way. And you will be unable to help my son. On the other hand, if you take the poison. If you unlock your potential, you will vanquish your monster. You will save those for whom you care. And you will have the power to save my son. But to do so, you will sacrifice you."

Harry sat still. His hands gripped tightly to Katie and Fleur. He pondered the words of Paul-Muad'Dib. Would he sacrifice himself? His life? His love? His aspirations? What if Paul was mistaken? What if he failed? What if he succeeded? In the end, he knew that Paul was accurate. He would make the sacrifice for his girls, his friends, and even for Leto. And the time to act was now. Dumbledore was busy with the fallout caused by the capture of fake Moody and the recovery of real Moody. Harry's friends were recovering. He could vanish for a time without adding too much to the ongoing chaos.

Libby was cleaning the Chamber when Harry entered. "Hi Libby."

The startled elf looked at him with wide eyes. "Master Harry Potter Sir, Libby is just cleaning."

"It's ok Libby. You can clean anytime you want." He smiled at the young elf's pleased expression. "Dobby." He called.

"Yes Harry Potter Sir." Dobby said, not bothering to appear fully before speaking.

"I need a basilisk fang. Be careful not to hurt yourself while retrieving one."

Dobby popped out and back a moment later. He was holding a fang in some ridiculously oversized dragonhide gloves. "The fang, Harry Potter Sir."

"Thank you Dobby." Harry carefully took possession of the glove holding the fang. "Winky." He called.

"Yes Harry Potter Sir." Winky said a moment later.

"Dobby, Winky, Libby," Harry said, giving a wink to the elf hiding in the corner. "This is an order. You are not to allow anyone to disturb me. I am going to be unresponsive for a little while. It is imperative that no one does anything to me. You must protect me while I am unable to protect myself."

"Yes Master Harry Potter Sir!" The three elves called out in unison. Libby nodding her head just as fervently as the other two.

Harry smiled at them, then jabbed the fang into his arm.

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There was pain. Every nerve in his body was burning. Tremors racked his body. He burned. He froze. He screamed. But it was pain he had felt before. And in that familiarity, he found reason. Time slowed. His perception of reality skewed, and he found himself viewing his own blood as it slowly coursed through his body. There was something foreign in his blood. Something that didn't belong. And it was causing him pain.

Memory intruded. He was twelve and had just been bitten. The pain was there, then the phoenix cried in his wound, and the pain ceased. Harry examined the interaction between tears and venom with his new perception. The tears entered his blood and sought out the venom. When a tear found a bit of venom, it enveloped the venom. He slowed time even further and watched the reaction closely. There. The tear shifted a protein molecule just so, and the venom was shaped into something new.

Memory faded. Pain intruded. And there was the venom. Flowing through his body. He reached out and nudged a part of the venom. The pain receded as the venom was converted. And his perception shifted yet again.

It was like being on the ocean. Or at least what Harry thought being on the ocean might be like. When he would rise to the crest of a wave he could see so many things. So many possibilities. What would happen if he behaved a certain way. Then he would sink in a trough and see only the immediate. Then he would ascend again, and the universe would reveal itself. Even then, though, he began to note that he could not see what hid in those distant troughs. Or what hid beneath the water. The future, it seemed, was a murky business. And yet, he could see more than he ever had before. He could see what Paul wanted from him. He could see Leto's Golden Path. It appeared as no more than a faint glow on the distant horizon. But it was there.

As Harry grew accustomed to the motion, to the flickering scenes, the details became more apparent. He saw futures where Voldemort was defeated. He saw futures where Voldemort won. He saw students he had trained go out and kill death eaters. He saw families mourning. He saw the Weasleys bereft of father, of mother, of favorite and not so favorite sons. He was caught in a future life with Katie. He caressed her body, and revelled as she caressed his. He gave himself to her. They married. Had children. He didn't think he could be any happier. But he looked around at all the dead that accompanied that happy vision. How many would die if he followed that path. A similar life with Fleur. And a similar number of dead. A life with Katie and Fleur. And still more death. He screamed his frustration and the ocean froze.

Harry stood on a broad raft sitting on the crest of an immense wave. He looked at future after future. Desperately searching for happiness.

"Knowledge of the future is not as helpful as one would think." Paul said dryly. He stood next to Harry on the raft on top of a frozen ocean.

"Still meddling, father." Leto asserted, standing on Harry's other side.

"It all feels so hopeless." Harry responded to the pair. His vision locked on the view of the frozen future. "Why isn't there a path with no death?" He shook though. He wanted to deny it, but there was a path. The path with the least amount of death. Did he have the strength to follow that path?

Leto placed a hand on Harry's shoulder. "Despite what you see, Harry, the future is not set. Follow your heart and let the future take care of itself. Do not fall into the trap my father did. Do not try to become the master of destiny."

Harry looked from Leto to Paul. But Paul did not defend himself. "My son is right. Do not make the mistakes I made. I always thought it was better to informed rather than ignorant. But the only way to have a perfect knowledge is to lock yourself, and everyone you know, into a world of monotony. To be alive. To love. To have a life of color, you must accept risk. Risk to yourself is easy enough. But you must accept risk to those for whom you care. That is not so easy." He placed a hand on Harry's other shoulder. "You have seen the future, Harry." Paul and Leto pushed Harry's shoulders gently and turned him around. "Now it is time to see the past."

As Harry spun in place the ocean disappeared. The sky went with it, and Harry was left in darkness. His raft was gone. Paul was gone. Leto was gone. Harry floated alone in the dark. Then there were lights. Little pinpricks of light. Little pinpricks that grew brighter and moved closer. Harry was just deciding whether he should try and avoid the lights, when one leapt forward and landed on his forehead. Another joined it. And Harry heard his mother once again. "Not Harry, please..." Then he heard his father. "It's him. Take Harry and run. I'll try to hold him off. …" Harry tensed, but the voices didn't end there. .."Wake up honey. It's Halloween." His mother was happy this time. She was excited. And Harry almost wept. ...

Harry tried to settle his dress robes. They felt uncomfortably hot. He tried to ignore Padfoot's snark. Padfoot didn't seem uncomfortable in his robes. Moony stood next to Padfoot. He twitched in a way that said he couldn't decide whether it would make things better or worse to give Padfoot a clout upside the head. Wormtail stood last in line and did a poor job of hiding his guffaws. Then Lily appeared. She floated down the aisle to meet him. A goddess in a dress of unimaginable beauty, and nothing else mattered. …

Harry stormed into the head's quarters. He had worked his arse off for the last seven years. He had helped the younger years, even those from other houses, even the occasional Slytherin. He had done everything the right way and earned the position of Head Girl. And then he was betrayed. They gave that arrogant jackass the position of Head Boy and made a mockery of everything. He was waiting there when Harry stomped in and slammed the door behind him. "Hi Lily." The insipid git had to gall to greet him with a stupid grin on that stupid face. He didn't bother to respond. He stormed up to his room slamming another door in the process.

James was waiting for him the next morning. At least the stupid grin was gone. "I'm sorry Lily. I'll resign. You won't have to put up with me."

Harry stared at him for a long time. James fidgeted under his glare. Harry finally relented. "No. You won't. You will do your job. This is your once chance. Prove to me that you're more than a worthless, arrogant, lazy waste of air." …

Harry rushed upstairs to his sister's room. His cheeks were flushed with excitement, and he was a little out of breath. "Oh Tuney, you'll never believe what Sevvie showed me. .." He stopped at the sight of his sister sitting on the edge of the bed, clutching a letter to her chest, and sobbing inconsolably.

"He said I can't go. He said he was sorry, but I can't go with you."

"Oh Tuney, I'm so sorry. I'm going to miss you so much. But I'll write every day …" Harry was again stopped by the expression on Petunia's face. This time it was more angry than sad.

"You'll miss me?!" She said, her voice dripping with venom. "You said we'd always be together. You said you wouldn't let your being a witch come between us. Now your going to leave me behind."

"I'll write every day Tuney." He begged. "We'll get through it. It will be hard, but we can still be together in a way."

"So, you're choosing them over me."

"No, it's not like that."

"Get out."

Petunia glared daggers at him. She refused to accept any of his entreaties or reassurances. Eventually, he gave up and went to his own room to cry out his loss. …

"He's beautiful, Dorrie. Just like his mother." Harry looked down at the woman he loved. She was wan, a bit pale, and covered in dried and not so dry sweat. She held a baby boy to her chest as she softly hummed. "I'm so proud of you."

"Would you like to hold your son?" She offered him the small boy even before she finished asking.

Harry took the boy in his arms, careful to support the small head. "Welcome to the family James." …

"You're going to have a little sister, Petunia." Harry gently took the little girl's hand and placed it on his swollen stomach. "See, you can feel her kicking."

Harry winced at a particularly vicious kick, but Petunia's eyes almost glowed. "I'm going to have a sister." She breathed and a grin split her face wide open. "How soon, mum? How soon?" …

It had started as a trickle. Harry felt a sense of happiness he had not felt before when he started seeing his parents' lives. Then the trickle widened and his grandparents' lives began to play before him. Then the trickle became a deluge as great grandparents, great great grandparents, and on, and on, and on.

It was confusing. It was overwhelming. It was too much. 'I am Harry Potter!' Harry exclaimed with authority, and he was back on his raft. An ocean of past lives on one side, an ocean of possibilities on the other. Leto and Paul stood next to him still. He inhaled and exhaled deeply as he attempted to calm himself and assimilate what had just happened.

"Imagine," Paul said after a few minutes of silence, "going through that while still in your mother's womb."

Harry shook his head, and he was suddenly alone again. The oceans had disappeared, and he once again found himself in a green field of grass. The grass grew tall and healthy, and there was a lot more of it than there was before. The crystal prison pulsed in the distance. Stars filled the night sky. And he could hear the rumble of waves crashing on a beach in the distance. The sound intrigued him, and in a thought he found himself standing on a pristine white sand beach. He studied the ocean for a long time. He ignored the stars that tried to come closer. A few of the stars fell on the grassy field behind him, and trees grew up where they landed.

O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O

"Harry?!"

"'Arry?!"

"Uhhhh..." Harry groaned and rubbed his eyes. Or he tried to rub his eyes. His arms didn't seem to want to cooperate, and he wasn't sure about his hands either.

"Shh, Harry. Relax." The voice was quieter this time. He felt a wet cloth against his face. Someone gently began to clean his face. Someone took one of his hands with theirs. Then the cloth was taken away and a glass was softly pressed against his lips. The cool water soothed his dry throat.

"How Long?" The weakness of his body worried him. But at least he could now open his eyes and see his girls tending to him.

"How long have you been an idiot?" Katie snapped, but her hands continued rubbing him gently. "How long have you made us worry? How long did it take us to find out?"

"It has been almost a week, 'Arry. Classes will begin again soon."

"I'm sorry I worried you Katie. But it was necessary after my arrogance. Thank you Fleur."

"Necessary?" Katie's voice was dangerous, and Fleur's eyes narrowed at his explanation.

Harry winced. "Err... Yes? … Yes. It was necessary. I didn't know I would be out of it for that long, but it was very necessary."

"Why?"

"I was... It started... You were..." Harry stopped babbling and closed his eyes. "It's a long story, and I'm feeling quite sleepy. Can we talk later?" Harry's breathing deepened. Fleur and Katie looked at each other over the boy sleeping between them.

"Sleeping. Hmmmph. You sleep Mr Potter, but you'd better be prepared to talk when you wake up."

"Yes, sleep 'Arry. We will be waiting."

xxxxXXXXxxxx

Hwi Noree brushed her hair. It was a nightly ritual. Something for her body to do while her mind was occupied sorting the events of the day. Despite following her ritual faithfully, she still hadn't quite sorted everything that had happened since meeting Lord Harry on the way to Onn. The rest of the journey had proceeded in the normal fashion of a Royal Peregrination. Their arrival in Onn had signaled the start of the Fish Speaker festival. The celebrations had lasted a week, and now, finally, tomorrow would see the commencement of the ritual obeisance of the various factions of the empire to their God Emperor.

Hwi's days had been full. Leto wanted to talk to her whenever he had a free moment. Duncan Idaho seemed fascinated by her as well. And that was the crux of her turmoil. She had been trained to appeal to the Lord Leto. She did not have direct knowledge of it, but she suspected she had been designed to do so. She had been bred by the Ixians using Tleilaxu technology. And she had been raised and trained from birth for a purpose. Given these facts, the attraction she felt to Lord Leto was perfectly understandable. If she was to attract His attention, she would need to be sincerely attracted to Him as well. She was confused about her attraction to Duncan Idaho. Was it part of her conditioning? Was it part of the design of her Ixian masters? Or was it a foreign element to their plots? Caused by an event they had not foreseen? It was dangerous to have divided loyalties when she spent so much time with the God Emperor. The sad part was, it was not so dangerous to her. Not with the affection Leto obviously held for her. No, it was dangerous to her companions and others should she test Leto's composure. Moneo and Susannah had spent several hours with her this very evening, trying to discourage her affections for Idaho. They had made it clear that she was causing disruptions in the Royal household. And yet, she could not deny her feelings.

Hwi sighed and set her brush aside. Her ritual just wasn't working. She could not relax until she had made a decision one way or the other.

"It's difficult, isn't it?"

The question made Hwi jump in surprise. She whirled to face the voice, toppling her chair and sending her hairbrush clattering to the floor. The young man with the unruly black hair and the mesmerizing green eyes sitting on her bed caused a pleased smile to form on the young woman's face. "Lord Harry. It is so nice to see you."

"It's just Harry." He returned Hwi's smile. "It's good to see you, too. I have been hearing some gossip about your relationship troubles."

"Are you here to scold me, too?" The smile disappeared, and sadness entered her eyes.

"Merlin, no." He leaned toward her, then stopped and returned to sitting upright on her bed. "I wish I could give you a hug. I didn't mean to make you sad. I just hoped to commiserate a little."

"Commiserate?" She said playfully. Her heart lightened and the smile returned to her lips. "Is Lord Harry having 'relationship problems'?"

"Yeah. But in a good way, I suppose." Harry swung his legs up on the bed and leaned back against the headboard. "I met Katie my first year at Hogwarts. I was eleven, and she was a year older. We joined the quidditch team at the same time."

"Hogwarts? Quidditch?" Hwi mouthed.

Harry ignored her and continued. "The whole team was young, but Katie and I were the youngest, and the others had been on the team the year before. It was the perfect set up for us to become great friends, but I was painfully shy, and she was a girl, before I thought being with a girl was a good thing. But still, we were teammates. And there was something there underneath it all. Then, just this year, we finally woke up and admitted we liked each other."

"Then came the Tournament, and with it came the foreign students. And one of them was a beautiful seventeen year old girl. And somehow, she started to like me too. Circumstances forced us to interact, and I find myself liking her too. But Katie and I are still together. And now Katie and Fleur are friends, and I have absolutely no idea what's going on." Harry finished with a great sigh and fluttered his eyelashes at Hwi. "Help, please."

Hwi couldn't help herself. She giggled. Then she let go and laughed. Harry scowled at her, but that just made her laugh more. "Oh, Harry. What have you gotten yourself into?" She went over and sat next to him on the bed. She reached for his hand, but her hand passed through his and settled on the bed beneath him.

"Sorry." Harry said. "It takes a lot of energy to make contact. We just have to settle for conversation."

"That's fine. So,… two girls." She said waggling her eyebrows at him.

"Yeah." He sighed. "How do I choose one without hurting the other one?"

"I'm sorry, Harry. I don't think you can. You're young though. Why not just have fun while it lasts? You might not end up with either of them."

Harry smiled at her answer. "You're right. No need to get in a hurry. Now, tell me more about Hwi. I've wanted to get to know you better since we met."

They chatted for an hour or so about each other, life, and nothing important. "I'm sorry, Hwi. My time here is running short. It was very nice getting to know you, though."

"I enjoyed it too, Harry. I hope to see you again soon."

Harry smirked at her, leaned forward, and kissed her. She sat in stunned shock for a moment before she joined in the kiss. "I thought we couldn't touch?" She asked a little breathlessly when they broke apart.

"I said it takes a lot of energy." Harry said with a satisfied smirk, his form turning translucent. "But our time is up, and I wanted to steal a kiss from a pretty lady before she has to choose."

"Scamp." … "Choose?"

"I'm not the only one with two lovers Hwi. You can't choose them both. You can't make everyone happy." His smirk turned to a fond smile and his final words faded even as he disappeared. "But whoever you choose, remember that I will always be your friend."

Hwi sat on her bed and touched her fingers to her lips. He was right. She would have to choose. Leto or Duncan. But somehow the choice didn't seem so difficult now. She would hurt one of them. But she wouldn't feel so guilty about it now. "I will always be your friend too, Harry." She said to the empty room.