Broken Shackles

Chapter 3

A King and his Mistress

"Aren't you going to sleep?"

Harry was pacing up and down the common room when Ginny's voice startled him.

"I'm not tired," he lied and instantly knew that she didn't believe him. She sighed and dragged him to the couch where they sat down.

"You know, brooding over his words wont help. The dragon only told you what old Gellert already told us."

Harry shook his head. "I know but... How can I be King? ME? A slave!" Running a hand through his hair he sank down into the cushions.

Shaking her head, Ginny flicked his nose lightly. "I already told you that you are Harry Potter, did I not?"

"You did. Still, how can I be king? How can they expect that from me?"

"Magic choose, not them. And I doubt magic would choose someone incapable of the job." Ginny said.

Harry raised an eyebrow. "It choose Gellert."

That shut Ginny up and left her to curse her choice of words.

"Sleep at least. How would you serve me if you are not clear in mind?" She knew she was playing dirty but that way Harry would sleep. He always obeyed her, no matter what. It was a little scary, really, and she wondered if there was any limit to his loyalty. Would he really do everything she ordered him to do? The thought of having him do her every bidding was strangely enticing.

Anyhow, Harry obeyed and moved up the stairs into the room that had suddenly appeared besides the dorm room Ginny stayed in. Hogwarts did, after all, accommodate her students and seemed to accept Harry as such. Or mistook him for a girl. Whatever the case may be, Harry was fine with the room and glad his mistress wasn't far off.

Of course Harry did not sleep well. Tossing and turning at the memory of the great black dragon that had declared him their master and ruler after summoning him out of the blue into a ancient city somewhere in the mountains of Nepal; sleep did not come by easy. Kalagar, so the dragon named himself, was the oldest of them all with approximately three thousand years of age. He was the voice to the many intents of magic. And it was him who had told Gellert to seek Harry out and hand him the spear that now stood in the corner of the room behind the door. The spear turned out to be a magical weapon, capable to tear through space, as Gellert demonstrated, and would act as his symbol of reign over the balance he was supposed to keep.

It was now his responsibility to dispose of any that sought to harm the living, the dead and the entity that was magic. Mind you, that was a lot. That included Tom Riddle. Apparently, the fool had greatly damaged the balance by taking lives that weren't meant to be taken and was trying to become immortal. That and the fact that he already avoided death with foul magic placed him at the top of the hit list that was now Harry's to work through. Ever since the hundreds of dragons had pledged their loyalty to him, he felt a great change in his magic. It may have been powerful before, but that couldn't be compared to what he was capable of now.

The lady Hogwarts herself had shuddered when he reentered the castle yesterday after his "coronation". She now seemed to obey his wishes. Not that he minded being closer to his m-, to Ginny, but the authority he now held was something he didn't want and yet, he gained it anyways. While he never said it out loud, Hogwarts had barred Gellert from entering the castle. Another thing he was grateful for. Now, Harry had to work out a lot of things. First and foremost: What the fuck to do?

Thankfully, Ginny could help him with that. After one of their training sessions he asked her just that.

"Well, Harry, what do you think a king is?" she asked.

"A person to take care of his subjects, rules his land and definitely not me."

Ginny sighed. "So... become a king then. You have been given the power to, eh, rule I guess."

Harry slumped down in a chair. "And how do I do that? Why should I do that? You, Ginny, are my Mistress. I can not be your king!"

"And why not?"

"What? What do you mean 'Why not'? I am-"

"No you are not a slave!" she interrupted him. "I told you bloody often enough by now! You are Harry Potter. And if Harry Potter is a king then so be it!" Ginny was highly annoyed and stormed of into her dorm room. How could he have so little self esteem? Harry looked after her. He wanted to run after her, to not be upset with him but his inner conflict kept him sitting on the ground. A king. A man of power, honor, respect. His word would be law, HE would be the master. The concept hurt the magic that he used to bind himself as slave. But it didn't hurt as much as it should. The spell was designed to bind his life and will to his mistress' command. He would live and die as needed. Then again, wasn't that what kings did? The good ones? Living for their subjects? The pain subsided, he seemed to be on the right track. But who were these subjects? The dragons? They governed themselves easy enough. The wizards and witches? They didn't even know he existed and probably never would. Magic? It's creations?

"You think too much about it."

Harry had his wand on the newcomers neck before he even looked at the new face. When green eyes met an icy white, Harry managed not to flinch. The same eyes had the dragon that introduced him to all the others.

"Kalagar," Harry said but did not withdraw his wand.

"Your majesty." The man inclined his head, raven hair falling into his face. "I wondered if that haunted mind of yours could make a decision. It seems I did right in coming here." Effortlessly, the elder dragon slipped from Harry's grasp and wordlessly conjured an armchair where he seated himself, waiting for his king to join him.

Harry did not ask how the dragon got in here, he simply conjured a chair of his own and seated himself.

"What am I to do? Who am I to rule over?" Harry asked after a period of silence. The twinge of pain from his magical bind returned.

"As much as you are king, your only subject is the balance of magic, it's health, if you will." Kalagar explained with no expression on his face. "You see, your majesty, those that came before you never had to directly intervene with those who dare to wield your subject. But that vile fool once called Tom Riddle has tainted magic. Like a disease, his actions fouls away at magic like a plague to the blood. Should you choose not to act, the plague will reach those who wield magic and those will wither. The final thing to happen is... unclear." Harry raised and eyebrow as he processed what he was told. The dragon continued. "Magic is the base of existence, of reality and illusion. Should it fall to this plague, it is possible for creation to cease existing."

Harry leaned back in his chair. "If I don't stop this Tom from doing what he's doing, don't stop him from disturbing the balance, people who have magic will die?"

Kalagar nodded. "Mistress Ginny would die?" Harry asked and sat straighter. Again, Kalagar nodded but said nothing. Harry rose from the chair and paced the room.

"So be it, I will do what I can to prevent that. If I have to keep the balance for that, fine." Without another glance back at the already empty chair where the great dragon had sat, he left the room.

HP

"We have a problem."

Ginny looked up from the book she was reading. Harry had summoned it from Merlin knows where. It described the theory behind silent casting and Ginny found it to be incredibly helpfull. Albus Dumbledore stood between the armchairs of the common room, a grave expression on his face.

"We have?" Ginny asked.

"Indeed. As you are aware, Miss Weasly, the students will soon return to the school. And as troublesome as it is, we can not, under no circumstances, let anyone find out that Mr. Potter is bound to you by slave magic. It is highly illegal and, in fact, punishable with the kiss for both parties." Albus shook his head and sunk into one of the armchairs.

"I... We need to think of a way to explain his presence. Revealing him as the Harry Potter would cause immense problems for him and his task."

Ginny frowned. "How would you know of his task?"

Albus returned a less severe frown. "And how would you?"

"Please," Ginny huffed. "As much as I don't like it, I am his mistress. It's save to assume that I know nearly everything about Harry."

Albus nodded. "So again," Ginny spoke, "How do you know of his task?"

When Harry returned from his trip to Gringotts, the wizarding bank, he seemed to have entered the common room at the wrong moment. Currently his m- Ginny was assaulting Albus Dumbledore with a multitude of curses, both verbal and magical. The headmaster in turn looked deeply sad behind his shield, taking the assault without retaliation.

"Ginny?" Harry called, momentarily stopping her rapid casting. "What is going on?"

Ginny met his eyes and he saw the sheer anger in them. One last time she snarled at the headmaster and fired what was obviously a non-verbal bat boogie hex at the old wizard before stalking over to his side. And as if she had to keep Harry from getting lost, she took his hand, standing besides him, glaring daggers at Dumbledore.

"Ah... headmaster? What happened?" he asked again, breaking the silence. Albus dropped his shield and sat down heavily in one of the armchairs, sighing loudly.

"Oh my dear boy, it is not what happened here that Miss Weasly is furious about, it is what happened all these years ago, not long before you were born."

Ginny dragged Harry over to the sofa where they sat down, Ginny still glaring at Albus. "What happened?" Harry asked again, with a slight edge in his voice.

"A prophecy. It was spoken to me by Sybil Trelawney. In essence, it stated that a boy would be born by the end of July to those who had thrive defied the dark lord, that would be the one to end Voldemort. Two would have fit for that. Neville Longbottom and... you. Preparations were made. Both families went into hiding but-"

"Didn't you forget a tiny detail? That you let a spy relay the first part of the prophecy to Tom?" Ginny interrupted, clenching Harry's hand.

"Yes, yes I let that happen." Dumbledore sighed. "I needed Tom to choose, to mark his equal, as the prophecy stated. And in the end, he choose you, Harry. You are the one that will end Tom. Once and for all."

"But that's not all, is it? Out with it you scheming bastard!" Ginny snarled, barely keeping herself from cursing the man again.

Albus shook his head. "No... You needed to be found. Both boys, so he would choose. I convinced your godfather, Sirius Black, to let Peter Pettigrew be the secret keeper for the fidelius charm because I knew Peter would betray them to Tom. I needn't intervene with the Longbottoms, they failed to fully cover their save house with the charm. I.. neglected to point that out."

Harry said not a single word, showed no reaction for the longest time. After what seemed an eternity, he spoke.

"So. It is your fault I have no family? Your fault I ended up as a slave? Your fault that I knew torture before my own name? Your fault that I was ordered to kill people; to bed, be the toy,of these women?" His voice betrayed no emotion and cut like a knife through the air in the room.

Albus looked into these green eyes and saw nothing. They were empty. Slowly, gravely, he nodded. "Yes."

For the longest time, Harry didn't move or react otherwise. Only Ginny was aware that he had tightened the hold on her hand. Finally, he blinked once, something he didn't do either, and stood up. With a questioning look he asked for Ginny to follow him. Without a word, Albus was left behind in the common room were he soaked in his guilt.

"I have decided," Harry whispered as they walked briskly down to the kitchens. Ginny barely heard him, even with her animagus now enhancing her senses.

"You have? So, who are you then?" Ginny didn't manage to draw upon her earlier anger, still, she managed to sound quite stern.

"I am me. And as it turns out, me is neither the Harry Potter nor the slave that came here. No, I'm Harry. A king, a weirdo or so you say, a dragon, a wolf animagus. I have black hair, green eyes that are really bad without contact lenses and... I have you."

Before Ginny had managed to ponder over his answer, Harry halted abruptly and turned around, causing her to crash into his chest. Looking up, she was captured by emerald eyes.

"It doesn't matter if I was or still am bound by the slave contract. I decided that you are whom I do what I do for. Be it making you breakfast or annihilating a dark lord. It is a strange feeling, but I like to do this for you. It's fulfilling. So please, let me be yours to command, not Harry Potter, the-boy-who-lived or the weird guy that kind off trapped you into a slave contract but me. Be my mistress and I shall be your king."

Ginny smiled up at him. "I can agree to that." Becoming aware of their closeness, Ginny slowly moved away from him and looked the way they had been coming from.

"We need to find out what we will do when the other students return." She looked at Harry. "As much as I hat to admit it, Dumbledore was right. We can't let everybody know that the-boy-who-lived has returned. That would cause a massive uproar."

Harry nodded. "They can't possibly know how I look, right? So I could just change my name. Stick with Harry, introduce me as Harold... Ehm... Evans, yes, Evans, my mother's maiden name."

Ginny grinned. "Well then, Mr. Evans, shall we saunter to the kitchens to dine?"

"Of course, milady. Lead the way," he told her with an elaborate bow. Ginny huffed in mock annoyance and strode down the hallway.

Dobby was pleased when mistress Ginny arrived in the kitchens. He was less pleased to see her slave. As a house elf, he could see the magic that bound them together. The wizard that miss Weazy kept calling 'Harry' seemed to be allowed to serve her while Dobby was refused a contract. It wasn't fair! Ginny had freed him from the bad wizards! He wanted to serve her! As it was custom by now, he engage in a glaring contest with Harry. Harry glared because he was annoyed and Dobby glared because Harry had his job. It was a rather comical sight, really. Dobby came up to Harry's knee so the house elf always conjured a high stool to stand on that brought him up to Harry's chest.

"Dobby," Harry said with a cool voice.

"Miss Weazy," the elf squeaked straight trough Harry where Ginny stood. Harry knew he had lost that one. Growling ever so slightly, he backed away to get some food.

Harry moved so fast, his features blurred to Ginny and before she had even properly seated herself, a meal stood before her. Her favorite, she noted. Harry looked incredibly smug, while Dobby looked utterly defeated. Again, they glared at each other.

"Will you two learn to get along one of these days?" Ginny muttered as she dug into her meal.

"If M-" Ginny threw a slice of carrot at Harry, "-Ginny wishes, I shall. I am certainly capable of it, but I doubt the elf is."

"If's Miss Weazy wishes's, I's shall obey!" Dobby practically sang and hopped of his stool to conjure a drink for Ginny but once again Harry was faster and they again glared at each other. Ginny sighed and continued her meal, her thought more and more drifting to the impending confrontation with her brother and with him, all of her family.

Oh boy, what a bright looking fifth year.

A/N: Okay, sorry for they wait and the basically non-advancement of the story. Still, you can expect this story to end in two or three chapters. Next will be a confrontation with Ginny's brothers and her mother, you shall find out why Harry would be in Gringotts, and if there are Horcruxes. But please, don't expect it anytime soon. I have a hard time bringing up a good chapter for Blind Light as it is.