Title: Leopard's Choice
Disclaimer: J. K. Rowling and associates own these characters. I am writing this story for fun and not profit.
Pairings: Mentions of canon background pairings, otherwise gen
Content Notes: Angst, AU (Harry Sorted into Slytherin at the end of second year), violence, gore, torture, present tense
Rating: R (for violence)
Summary: Sequel to Wolf's Choice. Harry enters his fifth year with the Ministry demanding he retract his stories of Voldemort's return, his allies demanding sacrifices he may not want to make, and the world becoming sharper with every breath.
Author's Notes: This is the sequel to Other People's Choices and Wolf's Choice, and the third part of the Choices series. Seriously, don't try to read this without having read the other stories first. I anticipate this being 60 chapters, like the others in the series. Also, please take the violence warning seriously. Like OoTP, this fic will get considerably darker than the others.

Leopard's Choice

Chapter One—Web of Alliances

"Hello, Ms. Greengrass, Mr. Nott, Ms. Selwyn."

Harry has been on edge ever since Sirius told him who he would be meeting. He supposes it could be worse if this Ms. Greengrass was Astoria and Daphne's mother and this Mr. Nott was Theo's father, but "it could be worse" isn't comforting right now.

The three adult wizards are all staring at him. Mr. Nott has a thin face that doesn't look much like Theo's, but then, he's some kind of distant cousin. Adele Greengrass is Astoria and Daphne's aunt, and she has brilliant violet eyes that are narrow as hell. Hecuba Selwyn is the one who stands up and walks towards him. Harry blinked. On the chair behind the table, she looked taller than him, but she's about the same height.

"Yes, I've been this tall since I was sixteen." Selwyn studies him from up close. Harry unfocuses his eyes when she looks into them, and concentrates on her cheekbone. His mind is still so chaotic that it's hard for him to master Occlumency, but at least he knows how not to make it easy for people to read his mind.

Selwyn cackles and pats him on the shoulder. "That's a good start, young man." Harry bites his tongue against the urge to ask if she's read his mind. She's probably just guessing. Selwyn turns to Sirius, who's lounging against the doorframe from the dining room into the entrance hall. "He has so far met my expectations."

"But not mine," Greengrass says, standing. "I want to look at him. And I want you to tell me how you know my nieces, Mr. Potter. I got a distressed letter from their father saying that they aren't coming home for the summer."

"They didn't feel safe," Harry says, turning to Greengrass. She, unlike Selwyn, is a lot taller than him, and she has blonde hair that falls down her shoulders. He wonders if that's to make some kind of point. He doesn't know what it is, if so. "And they received a letter from their mother telling them not to come home at all if they don't do it in the next two weeks. So I kind of think they had reason."

"Their father is not their mother."

"Maybe he should speak up against his wife, then."

Greengrass freezes with wide eyes. Harry stares back. He didn't expect that. What in the world did she want him to say? Or why is what he said so startling?

Greengrass doesn't seem inclined to say more, so Nott clears his throat noisily. "And I want to know why he is helping my cousin Theo and not my cousin Tarquinius. Tarquinius is by far the more powerful ally."

"Theo is my friend," Harry says simply. "Tarquinius never gave any indication that he wanted to be."

"But you shouldn't rely on personal connections. You should rely on power and who can aid you, and whose aid won't cost you too much in favors."

"What a cold way of looking at it." Harry gets a frown from Nott for that, but he doesn't freeze like Greengrass, so Harry keeps talking. "But Theo is loyal, and that counts for me more than power. I can't trust Tarquinius at my back. If you want to join us, that's fine, but you're going to have to commit to our cause, and not undermine one of my best friends."

Nott sniffs, but says no more. Greengrass cuts in, though, apparently over her freezing fit. "And does the same thing apply to me? You would want me to support my nieces, and not my brother? Not my sister-in-law?"

"You don't have to act like their mother," Harry snaps. "You would have to make sure that you're not picking at them and telling them they're wrong all the time, sure."

"Harry," Sirius warns gently.

"It's only the truth," Harry says. "I won't expect them to act like my friends' parents, or my best friends. But if they undermine me, or they go around telling my friends that they're ungrateful or brats or weak, there's no reason to make them allies."

Selwyn cackles. "What do you say to me, young man, who has no relatives in your group of friends?"

"I'm sure that you have some. Some people have told me that all pure-bloods are intermarried."

"Say that I have none as close. And don't sound like you're trying to avoid my question."

Harry meets her eyes. Despite Greengrass's bluster and Nott's sharp tone, this is where the real danger lies, he's sure. Selwyn smiles, but she smiles like a dragon.

Harry breathes through the sharp pain in the center of his chest at the reminder of Chaos. He's going to have to live with it, burn it, transform it into fuel for his fight.

"I say that you're welcome as my ally on the same premise," he says. "If you fight beside me, if you're loyal to the cause, if you don't undermine my allies."

Selwyn considers him. "I might need more return than my loyalty."

Harry shrugs a little. "I don't know how many Galleons would make the difference to you."

There's a slight gasp off to the side, but Harry doesn't look away from Selwyn to see who made it. He thinks it's Greengrass, though. And the chuckle that doesn't bother to hide itself is definitely Sirius.

"Do you know that it's an insult to offer money to someone like me?"

"A pure-blood?" Harry asks. This isn't something he's heard, although admittedly, he hasn't made etiquette as much of a study as defensive spells. "Why?"

"No. Someone who prides herself on being human." Selwyn leans towards him, so close to his eye-level that it's unnerving. "Many people would say that being offered money is an insult because it compares them to goblins, who can be bought off."

Harry shrugs again. "I never heard that, and I didn't mean that. And if you're so proud about being human and different from goblins, what are you going to do if we ally with the goblins? With my godfather's friend, who's a werewolf? It doesn't sound like you really want to be here or you really want to be convinced to be my ally."

"Harry," Sirius begins, even though he told Harry when he entered the room that he would be on his own.

"You will not make allies of the goblins," Nott says, as if lecturing Harry on Astronomy. "They've been neutral for centuries."

"You are not making your alliance attractive," Selwyn murmurs.

Harry rubs his forehead. He has a headache. He doesn't want to be here trying to maneuver among these people who are going to criticize him no matter what he does and who think their parents make him special.

"It's a small alliance," he says quietly. "I know that most people aren't going to fight Voldemort no matter what. I don't think they'll join him," he adds, because Selwyn is opening her mouth as if to object to the characterization. "I think they'll cower in their houses the way they did during the first war, and wait for me to save them. I'm going to do it. But I'm not going to go out of my way to worry about whether I'm making my alliance attractive to people. I won't change the whole core of who I am and suppress my friends so you can feel that way. And I won't stop trying to make allies with people you disapprove of. That's why we're allies in the first place, and not friends. If you can't work with goblins or werewolves or my friends, go away."

There's a flat slapping sound behind him that's probably Sirius putting his hand over his face. Harry doesn't care. He holds Selwyn's gaze, and waits.

This is an alliance that has to be at least partially on his terms, or his godfather would just have made alliances with the adult wizards and left Harry out of it.

Selwyn finally gives a light chuckle. "I have to admit that you are at least intriguing. Yes, for now I will help." She gives him a look that reminds Harry of the one he got from a vampire in Diagon Alley last summer. "In a month, we will revisit this conversation and see if you can come up with some other reason I should work with you."

Harry supposes he should make some gracious speech, but he doesn't know how to. He nods to her, says, "Thanks," and then turns to face Greengrass and Nott.

Nott studies him and asks, "Why are you not allied with my cousin Tarquinius?"

"At least until recently, he wanted to kill my friend Theo."

Nott blinks. "I'm sure you're mistaken. No pure-blood would want to kill the only heir of his family."

"He thinks he's going to have more." Harry has to admit that he's not sure what's going on with Theo's stepmother and whether she's really pregnant or not, but that's something he'll talk to Theo about privately. No need to hash it out in front of these people who aren't even allies yet.

"I see." Nott taps his foot, in an expensive dragon-hide boot, on the floor. Harry forces himself to stare at the boot and not choke up the way he usually does when he's reminded of Chaos. She would want him to survive.

"Then I'm in for now," Nott says abruptly. "I request the ability to reevaluate the alliance in a month's time, the same way as Hecuba did."

"Fine," Harry mutters. Greengrass is the only one left, and from the way her arms are folded and she's standing a little way back, he thinks he knows what her decision will be.

But she surprises him. "I would not be one of those who cowers in their house when the Dark Lord draws near," she says, her face cool. "It is unfair to say so."

Harry holds back a laugh. He stung her pride, somehow. Maybe it's a family trait? He knows that Daphne gets very offended, sometimes, with the pride situation.

"And for that, you're going to join our alliance?" Sirius sounds skeptical. Maybe he thought Greengrass was about to back out, too.

"I would not have it said I was a coward." Greengrass nods and reaches into her pocket for her wand. Harry can't help tensing and watching it, but he doesn't reach for his own. If she really does curse him, he can retaliate with wandless magic. "And I will do better than those who make temporary one-month alliances. I will swear allegiance to you for the duration of one year."

Harry blinks, perplexed, especially because Greengrass wants to swear allegiance to him instead of the cause of defeating Voldemort or something. But then he sees the gleam in her eyes as she kneels down, and understands.

She thinks she can control him because he's so young and he should be grateful for her loyalty. Harry tightens his resolve and asks, "Do you want me to draw my wand, or do this with my wandless magic?"

Nott takes a step back. Selwyn has no outwards reaction, but Greengrass blinks. "You can cast a binding oath with that?"

Harry hides a wince, wondering if he should have mentioned it. Severus has been telling him to keep it to himself, that it's too great an advantage not to do so, but on the other hand, if he wants to impress people, he thinks he needs to tell them about it sooner or later.

So he meets Greengrass's eyes and nods. "Which one do you want me to make the oath with?"

"Your wandless magic." Greengrass's eyes are a little big. Harry's not sure if she's feeling fear or excitement, but he thinks either one might help the alliance.

Harry closes his eyes and concentrates, and the pearly glow that he imagines rising behind his eyelids when he uses his wandless magic is there in seconds, surrounding his hands and belly. He hears Greengrass give a shaky gasp.

When Harry opens his eyes, the glow is actually there. He hopes that he conceals his own jump. He's never tried to call pure wandless magic before, so that's probably why the difference. He always called it to use in a spell right away.

"That—will do," Greengrass says, and leans over until the tip of her wand touches his right ring finger. "I promise, Harry Potter, that I will be faithful to your alliance, your cause, your allies, and you until a year and a day passes."

That seems to be more than the year she promised the first time, but Harry isn't going to mention that. He clenches his magic down around the tip of her wand and says, "I promise, Adele Greengrass, that I will be faithful to you until a year and a day passes, should you keep your oath."

The glow reaches out and dances in long, lazy spirals around Greengrass's hands and wand. She holds her breath for a second, as though she thinks it's going to bite her. But then it settles so that it just surrounds her arms, and she lets her breath go with a whoosh.

"The oath is sealed," she says, and shudders a little as she stands up. "I haven't felt one that powerful in—many years."

Harry glances at Nott and Selwyn. They don't seem interested in swearing the same oath, though. Harry nods and turns to Sirius. "Is that all? I know I promised I'd come to your house right off the train, but Severus wants me at our house. And my friends are there, too." Theo and Blaise and Astoria and Daphne agreed to Floo to the house Harry and Severus share with Severus, but none of them were happy about it.

"Yes, Harry," Sirius says, and his face is soft and happy. Harry relaxes a little. What he did must not be perfect, but it must be good enough.

He nods to the pure-bloods and then goes to the fireplace. As he reaches for the Floo powder, the sensation of eyes on him seems to sear his skin, and he glances a little to the side.

Draco is standing in the doorway that leads into the entrance hall by the stairs.

Harry holds his eyes and doesn't look away until he has to step into the fire. He doesn't know what's in Draco's eyes and mind. Come to that, he's not sure Draco knows himself.

The room has always been dark and warm and welcoming for Dolores since she was a young child. Sometimes it was the only place where she could go to think, be by herself, and wrestle with the shame of being a half-blood.

But now, when she goes in and turns to face the far wall, she knows there will be something waiting for her. And there is.

A spark of light from her wand illuminates the far wall, and the huge shape looms up. Dolores bows her head and closes his eyes, but even so, she can see the haunches, the long neck, the head of a great cat in silhouette.

You promised me a powerful gift.

"You will have it," Dolores says promptly, and knows that the confident tone of her voice makes the creature pay more attention. When she cringes, it knows that she's afraid she can't provide for it. "I've managed to get myself appointed Defense Against the Dark Arts professor at Hogwarts. There's powerful children attending that school, including the one I told you about."

Harry Potter.

"Yes. He'll be in my classes, because he hasn't taken his OWLS yet and has no choice about taking it."

I care not for the reason why. The cat's tail twitches, and Dolores looks down again. What matters is that he will be within my reach.

"Yes."

You must lure him within my reach. I could not venture too far in the corridors of Hogwarts from whatever corner you make your own.

"That will be easy enough. He's spreading lies about the return of the so-called Dark Lord. I'll give him detention. And I'll have him use the Black Quill, so that he can—be more entertaining to you."

The cat stalks slowly back and forth on the wall. Dolores keeps her gaze lowered. When it's in this mood, it would eat anything, anyone, and not pay much attention to the reasons until later. It wouldn't mourn her if it devoured her corpse.

You must stretch it out. A meal seasoned by torment over weeks will make me stronger.

"You have my word," Dolores whispers, and keeps her head bowed until the cat leaps into the darkness beyond the light of her wand and is gone. Then she backs slowly from the room and locks the door behind her. She will need to recreate it at Hogwarts.

But she can do that, now. She has never been so confident in her ability to provide appropriate prey to the great cat, or in her ability to keep doing so over a long period of time rather than needing to make it quick.

And then she will have the power that the creature has promised her. All the power.