A/N: Here's the new Chapter! Which also means the next four chapters are up on my Patreon for early access as well as the chance to vote on the direction of the story!

Harry pulls a bit of a prank~

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Killing Rudolphus Lestrange would have been the easiest, simplest choice. Ripping the man’s magic from his body and tearing his soul to shreds in the process, leaving behind nothing but a dried out husk… well, given he was currently in Azkaban, there would have been no doubt in anyone’s mind that his death was a result of the Dementors getting a little too frisky. The perfect crime.

Harry very nearly goes with that… but then he has a different idea. A better idea. Leaving Rudolphus alive after taking his magic COULD come back to bite him in the ass later on, even if the man was turned into a defenseless squib and left surrounded by Dementors. He might have managed to warn someone before the Dementors finished him off.

… But what if Harry could use that to his advantage? What if he could turn such a discovery from a curse into a boon?

Focusing on his connection to Rudolphus Lestrange, even as he’s currently ball’s deep in the despicable wizard’s wife, Harry grins. Rudolphus can already feel that something is happening. Through the connection, Harry gets an impression of the man frantically writhing in his cell, hollering at the top of his lungs. With Bellatrix and Aurora’s magic to anchor him, it’s not that hard to reach out and… project a version of himself into the cell with Rudolphus.

Of course, it’s not really a version of HIMSELF at all. Instead it’s a shadowy presence with piercing red eyes that cause Rudolphus to go absolutely still as Harry mimics Voldemort’s sibilant tone to the imprisoned Death Eater.

“Rudolphus…”

Freezing in place, Bellatrix’s husband gapes at the projection.

“My… M-my Lord? Is that you?”

“Mm, yes Rudolphus. It is I, Lord Voldemort.”

An expression of pure, honest joy alights upon the Death Eater’s face at that. He looks… thrilled beyond belief. But then to be fair, he was always one of the true believers, just like Bellatrix had been. He’d gotten locked up in Azkaban all these years based off his zealous faith in the Dark Lord.

“I knew it… I knew you would come for me one day, my Lord. For us! Your Faithful are all here, in this prison! We’ve waited for you! The others… the others foreswore you! They lied and hid their loyalties! But not us!”

“Very good, Rudolphus. Very good. I knew you would stay true. I knew I could count on you. Just as I know I can count on you now.”

Eyes still wide and wild, the vile wizard nods his head rapidly.

“Y-Yes! Anything, my Lord! Whatever you need!”

Harry smiles. This entire time they’ve been ‘talking’, he’s been working. Still fucking a squealing, screaming Bellatrix in the Room of Requirement, he’s been slowly but steadily working his way through what binds Rudolphus’s magic to his soul. Untangling it carefully without just outright shredding the Death Eater isn’t easy… but if this works as he intends, it will be oh so rewarding.

“Very good, Rudolphus. Know that your sacrifice will not be in vain. Your magic… will be put to good use.”

Rudolphus Lestrange freezes at that, blinking rapidly as he parses the words of ‘Lord Voldemort’. Then, he finally realizes that the tugging on his magic hadn’t gone away, it had simply gotten a bit subtler. Instinctively resisting once more, Rudolphus doesn’t actually get anywhere with his defiance. Its too far along now… and to be fair, he never had a chance of fighting this in the first place.

“My… My Lord! Wait! Please!”

Harry lets a rich, sadistic laugh erupt from his shadowy red-eyed projection of the Dark Lord.

“What’s the matter, Rudolphus? You are mine. Everything you have belongs to me. If I am to ever return, I have need of your power. Do not fret. I shall leave you alive as a reward for your leal service to me.”

“N-No… NO! My Lord, I swear I a-am more useful to you free and able to act in your name! PLEASE! You needn’t do this! You needn’t-!”

But it’s already much too late. Harry doesn’t bind Rudolphus to him like he did Bella and Aurora. He takes from the other man wholesale. He untangles the Death Eater’s magic from his soul and leaves Rudolphus with nothing but his life. In an instant, the imprisoned wizard becomes an imprisoned muggle… a squib, if you wished to be particular about it.

As Harry consumes Rudolphus’s magic, purifying it of the other man’s touch and adding what’s left over to his own power, Harry feels the connection between the two of them starting to fray. So he finishes up, having the projection of Lord Voldemort in Rudolphus’s cell start to fade away.

“Farewell, Rudolphus Lestrange. Your sacrifice will be remembered. Your magic… will be put to good use in ensuring my return.”

His ‘words of comfort’ do not do much for the other man. Harry’s last view of Rudolphus Lestrange is to watch the other man wail in despair and reach for the bars, screaming for help, screaming that his magic is gone. If Harry were actually Voldemort, he’d probably kill Rudolphus in that moment. After all, the Dark Mark is still intact. Rudolphus might now be little more than a muggle, but his soul still belongs to the Dark Lord.

But Harry is not Voldemort. And if Rudolphus wants to tell anyone who will listen that Voldemort ‘stole’ his magic, Harry is happy to let him. With Voldemort currently little more than a misshapen homunculus, its not as though the Dark Lord is in any position to defend himself anyways. Of course, the Ministry won’t believe Rudolphus’s ravings for even a moment. Not anymore than they believed Harry when he told them Voldemort had returned back at the end of this year in the original timeline.

But that was fine. Because word of Rudolphus’s predicament would reach his fellow Death Eaters. The ones who had escaped justice back at the end of Voldemort’s first reign of terror. The ones who had slipped back into society with donations and slaps on the wrist. Lucius Malfoy in particular would probably be terrified when he heard what happened to Rudolphus.

Amused beyond belief, Harry finally pulls his spread out attention back together. He’s been fucking Bellatrix hard and fast all this time, of course. But now he’s actually able to focus on it and his pet’s body. Grabbing her by the tits, Harry’s emerald eyes glow with power and twinkle with delight as he chuckles throatily down at her.

“Your modifications worked perfectly, Bella.”

Her eyes light up at that, and the eldest of the Black Sisters wriggles and writhes beneath him.

“That’s wonderful, Master. Then it’s done? Rudolphus is no more?”

Harry tilts his head to the side at that and shakes his head.

“No… I left him alive to act as a trojan horse. With a little luck, his testimony will be enough to start turning Voldemort’s Death Eaters against him. Even the most loyal ones. And it’ll give us cover as well for any further… actions against your former peers.”

For a moment, Bella looks confused, but she’s also visibly pleased. Harry raises an eyebrow as he pinches her nipples between his fingers, making her moan in pleasure.

“What is it, Bellatrix?”

“A-Ah… sorry, Master. It’s just, I was surprised. I can’t feel my vows to my husband anymore. It would seem leaving him magicless has… dissolved our relationship.”

Oh? Harry checks on what she’s talking about and realizes Bellatrix is right. She’s no longer married to Rudolphus Lestrange, at least as far as magic is concerned. Harry hums as he considers this, before ultimately deciding that it makes sense. The magical vows that bound Bella and Rudolphus together in unholy matrimony required both sides of the fence to be magical.

It was one of the many reasons why Purebloods looked down on muggles and thus muggleborns and half-bloods. Because if a witch or wizard were to marry a muggle, they could never actually ‘marry’ a muggle. At least not in the eyes of the insular Wizarding World, who considered marriage to only be valid and legitimate if it was done with magical vows.

Marriage Vows weren’t unbreakable or anything, to be fair. Divorce was still very much a possibility in the Wizarding World. But it was still tradition to make your marriage vows under the gaze of magic itself. Something that a muggle could never do.

And since Rudolphus was no more than a muggle now… well, Bellatrix’s magical marriage to him had been dissolved. Chuckling at this realization, Harry wraps a hand in his pet’s hair and pulls her into a deep, tongue-filled kiss. Bella submits to him totally and utterly, until finally he pulls out of her at the last second and cums all over her face and her tits, coating her from her forehead all the way to her navel in his seed. A baptism, of sorts.

“Your marriage is null and void, Bella. Welcome back… Bellatrix Black.”

A shiver runs through Bella as she moans and arches her back, rubbing his seed into her body quite enthusiastically. Looking up at him with a wicked, cum-coated grin on her lips, his pet giggles.

“Thank you… Master~”

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It almost feels strange to just… go back to school life after that. But Harry has appearances to keep up all the same. He’d had the option to pull a runner and go on the lam back when he first came back in time and he’d chosen to stick around and stick it out. In the long run, he hoped that it would help. He needed the clout and the reputation that he might not be able to garner by going on the run and fleeing his required education.

As well, there were people he would be leaving behind that Harry had come to realize he simply wasn’t willing to discard. Case in point… Hermione Jane Granger.

“I know you said not to tell anyone about this Harry… and I haven’t, I promise. But… where do we even begin?”

Sitting in a far off corner of the Hogwarts Library, Harry smiles as he looks across the table at where Hermione has a dozen different tomes scattered around her. She pouts a bit at his smile, before blushing when he reaches out and places his hand atop hers.

“I have full faith in you, Hermione. What’s the first thing that comes to mind? We can start there.”

Blinking rapidly at his words, Hermione looks a little shocked for a moment before ducking her head as a shy smile spreads across her face.

“I… well… I suppose we need to… find a way to shield against it?”

Harry hums noncommittally, letting Hermione work it out in her head in real time.

“We could… develop a spell that blocks muggle transmissions?”

When Hermione glances at him to gauge his response, Harry just lifts an eyebrow.

“Oh?”

She immediately flushes and shakes her head.

“N-No… that wouldn’t work, would it? Because technically magic already does that, sort of. Except not really, because if it blocked muggle transmissions and technology fully, then there would be magical dead spots all over the world the size of our communities. And the Statute of Secrecy would be dead.”

Harry hums some more. She’s on the right track, sort of. To be fair, there are still plenty of places on Earth that are ‘dead zones’. Muggles don’t have complete coverage of the entire globe, not by a long shot. And they love to make up their own excuses for why they can’t use their technology in a given place. Still, she’s not wrong. Magical places don’t completely disrupt muggle transmissions. Internet signals, radio waves… it all still manages to get through, albeit at a reduced rate. That’s the problem. Muggle Technology is fighting a constant invisible war against Magic… and its steadily gaining ground.

But blocking it isn’t the solution, because to do so would block huge chunks of the Earth and draw more and more attention to the magical communities, even if they COULD get the international magical world to accept such a thing without a fight. No, blocking and shielding, while pretty good first steps, weren’t the solution.

Unfortunately, as Hermione sits there with her brow furrowed and her lips drawn into a thin line, it becomes increasingly obvious that she’s not going to figure out the solution. Not today anyways. Harry wants to give her time, really he does. But he’s just too impatient. In the end, he decides to push things along.

“What about integration, Hermione?”

The brunette blinks at him, her big brown eyes confused for a moment before they light up in realization.

“If you can’t beat them… join them!”

Harry grins and nods. To be fair, it’s not his idea. It’s hers. She just doesn’t know it. This was the solution the Hermione Granger of his original timeline came up with. Unfortunately, she came up with it after it was too late. After the war. After the nuclear fallout had already ensured magic would die in years rather than decades. Her hypothesis had been sound, but much, much too late.

He felt a little guilty for stealing the other Hermione’s thunder and he wished he had enough time to let this Hermione come to the same conclusion as her other self. But he refused to stay still when they could be moving forward. So he would guide Hermione onto the right path. He would steer her in the right direction.

“If we could find a way to wed magic and muggle technology… there have been attempts of course. People trying to adapt technology to magic. They’ve even had limited success. But… at their core, magic and technology don’t mix very well, do they?”

“They don’t… however, what if we attempted to adapt magic to the technology instead?”

Hermione nods her head enthusiastically at Harry’s suggestion. She gives him a bright grin, one that he happily returns. Then… she blushes all of the sudden, her big brown eyes glancing down to where he’s still holding his hand. Ah… whoops.

Harry considers Hermione and their hands for a moment. At the same time, he can feel one Viktor Krum wandering the Hogwarts Library, forever unable to find the bookish brunette that has attracted his eye. Thanks to Harry, no one is able to find their little secluded alcove. Not a single person has been able to listen in. And so long as he keeps it up, Krum is never going to get the chance to proposition Hermione and ask her to the Yule Ball.

That’s by design. Because ever since he decided against taking Fleur, he’s been considering who he SHOULD take instead. But who else, really? Who else besides the young woman right in front of him? Hermione is going to be crucial to his plans going forward. Building up her reputation right alongside his would go a long way to helping them save the world together. And it could start here, with her on his arm in front of everyone at the Yule Ball.

[ ] Don't ask Hermione to the Yule Ball - 12%

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