The next morning shortly after breakfast Harry met the twins in the room from yesterday.
"Harry, good to see you," called out Parvati for Harry could once again tell them apart by ties. "We've got permission to go home for a couple of days and will be leaving in an hour or so to head down to Hogsmeade."
"That's great girls." Harry replied.
"How are you going with the Arithmancy text?" Inquired Padma.
"Great. You were right, the first three chapters do only cover stuff I learnt in Muggle Primary School and what I've read has given me some great ideas for that paper you mentioned." Harry answered.
"Three chapters, Harry? That's excellent." Exclaimed Padma.
"Well I swapped the dust cover with one of my Quidditch books and then cast a notice-me-not on the book's content, not the book itself, that way I could read it without people noticing what I'm reading. And , well, it's not like there's much else to do." He replied.
"Impressive work, Harry, given what you did I'm sure you'll do well in Arithmancy and Ancient Runes. Now this is my Ancient Runes text.” Padma said, handing him a text book. “Now just to show you that me giving you these worksheets, the assignment details and Professor Vector's stationery instructions, I'm going to teach you the charm I use to duplicate them.” She continued, pulling out of her bag a pencil case from which she extracted an inkwell she immediately opened. This was followed by two folders, from the first she produced a sheaf of blank paper, the second held papers with writing on them, the top one looked it was the stationary instructions Padma had mentioned.
“Now,” Said Padma. “The charm I'm going to teach you is the Duplicatus Charm, and it's actually pretty simple, no wand movement, watch.” She then tapped her wand against the stack that was topped with the stationary instructions and presumably the assignment and the worksheets as well and said “Duplicatus ”, dipped her wand in the inkwell and then tapped it against the stack of blank paper, which was suddenly covered in ink, turning it into a duplicate of the stationary instruction.
Picking up the second stack of paper, the one she handed it to Harry, telling him “Here are your copies, Harry. Before you had the completed sheets in you can use them to practice the charm, you really should be making copies of every assignment you had in and every letter you send, just in case someone tries to use them against you somehow.”
"Thanks, Padma, but I will only need the worksheets and assignment sheet, you should keep a hold of the rest of your stuff and I'll give you your Arithmancy text back because I sent Hedwig off with the order forms last night so she should be back tonight. And I will take your advice about making copies of everything." He said.
"Don't be silly, Harry, I'm only staying overnight so I won't need my stuff and you will get more out of it. Now if you manage to get all your work done, and read the first two chapters of the Runes book before we get back, I'll see about you getting a reward." Padma said.
"That's one thing Hermione doesn't do, give out rewards for us getting our work done" Harry responded.
"That's Hermione for you, she automatically assumes that you should learn something even without telling you WHY you need to learn it, a bit like the teachers here, not telling you what the electives help you do." Padma informed Harry
"Now, I have to ask: stationary instructions?" Harry asked.
"Professor Vector prefers us to use certain colors for certain purposes and all calculations are to be done in grey-lead in case corrections are needed."
There was a short pause in the conversation until Harry said, "OK then, girls, I think that's it, so goodbye and I'll see you tomorrow."
"Bye, Harry" the twins said together, which was the first time Harry had ever seen them say something together and then they walked out of the room.
-/-/-/-/-
The Patil residence
As soon as the twins came in the door their mother called out. "Girls, I know you'll want to see your father now that the two of you are home, so as soon as you've put your bags away in your room go and see him in his study."
With this the twins rushed off to their room, deposited their bags on their bed before racing off to see their father.
Slowing down just before they reached the door to their father's study. Parvati knocked on the door and was rewarded with an "Enter" from within.
Opening the door and walking inside the twins saw their father sitting at his desk.
"Padma, Parvati, Welcome home. How long will you be staying?" Their father greeted them.
"Just overnight, father, we wanted a chance to see you at least once more and say goodbye in case anything happens to you while we are at school for the rest of the year. We may have had a breakthrough with our situation and don't want to be away from school too long." Responded Parvati.
"Ah, yes your situation, so who is this young man whose eyes have been caught by my darling girls?" He inquired.
"Harry Potter, father. The Potter Heir and rumored Black Heir, the so-called Boy-Who-Lived." Answered Parvati.
"The Potter Heir? Yes that would be good, if he is the Black Heir then he could have two wives, that would simplify things. I think if I do leave as soon as the Healer's think I will my biggest regret will be that I won't have had the chance to see the two of you married."
"Well, father, if everything goes as Padma and me are planning you will see us married." Stated Parvati.
"Girls, I don't want you two rushing into getting married just so that I can see it happen to you before I die."
"Father, while we are adjusted to fact that we most likely have to share a husband and our first time with him. We are not interested in each other and would like it if we were not his only wives so we will always have someone to be with without resorting to each other."
"Girls, what are you two planning?" Inquired their father, wondering where this was headed.
"Father, you, mother and Nalini have taught us that that a woman being a man's concubine doesn't make her any less of a person." Replied Parvati.
"Girls, why did I move the entire family from India to England?"
"To give us control over the man we married, so that we didn't become a trophy to some man older than you, so that we could have the minimal amount of sexual contact with each other as possible, Yes?" Said Parvati.
"Yes," their father admitted.
"Well like we said we don't want to be our husbands only wives and we feel we would have an easier time convincing other girls to join in as concubines if we were already such." Explained Parvati.
"Plus if our husband married us under different family names it might cause problems with our situation" Added Padma.
"Alright, girls, I understand. This is what you want and you may have a point, Padma." Said their father admitting defeat. "Do you want me to write up the contract for the two of you?"
"No, father, I'll write up the contract, I want to control its exact wording so that nothing can come back and cause problems later on." Replied Padma.
-/-/-/-/-
The following day, late afternoon, Patil/Potter Private classroom
When the door opened Harry looked up from the Ancient Runes text he was reading to see that the twins had returned.
"Hi, girls, welcome back" He called out.
"It's good to be back, Harry." Returned Parvati.
"How goes the work, Harry?" Inquired Padma.
"All done," Harry replied pointing to a stack of paper on the table next to him. “And I was just about to start reading chapter three of my new Runes book. Your copies of the Arithmancy and Runes books are over there, along with all the stationary you lent me.” Pointing to a pair of books and a pencil case some distance away.
“Good work, Harry. You have a quick re-read through of chapters one and two while I give these a once over. Once I've down that, you can try using the Duplicatus Charm.” Said Padma picking up the pile of paper.
A Short Time Later.
“That's ehwaz it means partnership.” Said Harry in response to the rune Padma had just drawn on the board.
“Well done, Harry. I give you an Exceeds Expectations.” Said Padma. “Now, about your reward.”
With this she looked at her sister who nodded her head. Both girls then shucked off their robes revealing that they weren't wearing their jumpers before sitting down in Harry's lap, one on each leg. One arm and leg each went behind Harry while the other went behind their sister's back. The sisters then leaned forward and pressed their bodies against Harry and started nuzzling the sides of his face. Harry was once again made aware of how thin the shirts girls wore were. At this point Harry's pants started feeling uncomfortable.
“Reach around behind us and get a good grip on our bottoms, Harry.” Said Parvati. “Yes, that's it.”
“You know, Harry, in India twins are considered a gift from the gods and as such female twins are normally married to a single man. Now we aren't attracted to one another but we are curious about what such a relationship is like.” Padma whispered into his ear.
“And it's such a shame that you don't get to go to Hogsmeade, Harry. Most students use it as a jumping off point to start dating but your missing out on that. So we thought it might be fun for us to start dating you.” Purred Parvati into Harry's ear.
“Harry, if possible we don't want anyone to know that the two of us are dating you, people may say some nasty things. If someone does find out something we'll try and pretend that you're only dating one of us and the other is acting as chaperone, OK? Now, I thing it's time that you had a cold shower and then went to see Professor McGonagall.” Padma, talking into his other ear.
And with that Harry fled the room pausing only to grab his bag and the stack of papers.
“So sis, did you cast the spell?” Asked Parvati.
“Yes I did.” Replied Padma walking over to her bag, pulling out two plastic muggle dildos and tapping them with her wand, which caused them to grow. “Here you go, your full scale model of Harry Potter's penis.” She said handing one of the now larger pieces of plastic to her sister.
“Merlin, he's huge, how am I going to fit that in my mouth, let alone anywhere else. I don't think I've ever hated that Virginity Protection Charm as much as I do right now. Practicing with this before being with Harry would be a good idea.” Ranted Parvati.
“I don't. This way we know there may be a problem and can take steps to deal with it, like ensuring Harry knows how to bed two women at once before he beds us.”
-/-/-/-/-
One Cold Shower Later, Professor McGonagall's Office
“Ah, Mr. Potter, what can I do for you?” Asked the Scots Transfiguration Mistress.
“A friend has convinced me that I should be doing different electives than those I have been doing and has been helping me get caught up in Arithmancy, I have completed all the work Professor Vector and have come to see you about getting my electives changed.” Answered Harry.
“I see, Mr. Potter. You do realise that one of the Arithmancy classes clash with your Care of Magical Creatures class?”
“Yes but I feel this may be important enough to my future, if possible I would like to resume Care next year.”
“Let me just talk to Professor Vector.” Said Professor McGonagall. And with that she walked over to the fireplace, grabbed a pinch of Floo Powder out of the dish on mantlepiece, through the powder onto the flames, called out “Septima Vector” and stuck her head into the fire.
A moment later she got back up and said to Harry “Mr. Potter, Professor Vector will be here in a moment to examine your work.” And with that the door opened revealing the Arithmancy Mistress.
“Ah, Mr. Potter, I always wondered why I never saw you in my class, with all the trouble you get into it might teach you something that you need someday.” She said by way of greeting.
“Well we weren't given ANY advice when picking subjects, so I picked the same ones as my friend Ron.” Harry explained.
At this point the newcomer started staring at the Head of Gryffindor House. “Well I know for a fact that both your parents took Arithmancy, it's why your father was so good at Transfiguration with how general most of the spells are, knowing how they WORK makes using them easier. Your mother was like Ms. Granger but less inclined to do silly things, such as try and take all subjects at once, she also took Ancient Runes as well I believe.”
Hearing about his parents had just made Harry's day.
“Now, Mr. Potter, I believe Professor McGonagall said that you had some work for me?”
“Yes, here it is.” He said and handed her the stack of papers.
“Very good, Mr. Potter this looks like all the work I have given my third year students so far this year, if you two will give me a couple of minutes I will grade all of this for you and let you know if you can transfer in.”
And with that she sat down on a chair next to Professor McGonagall's desk. The first thing she did was flick her wand at the stack of papers and mutter something and her breath before pulling out a pen and start grading through the sheets.
“Professor McGonagall, what spell did Professor Vector just cast on my work?” Asked Harry.
“An author identification charm, they're are used to see who really wrote something, it's why you are doing better than Mr. Weasley, we know that Ms. Granger is only correcting the mistakes you make where as Mr. Weasley often manages to get Ms. Granger to provide more substantial help.”
Several minutes later Professor Vector looked up from the papers she was grading and said “I would be happy to have Mr. Potter in my class, Minerva. Mr. Potter, there are a few things I wish to discuss with you, so if you would follow me.” And with that she walked out the door causing Harry to follow along behind her.
Once they were safely out of ear shot of any one Professor Vector started speaking “Mr. Potter, when I used that Author Identification Charm on your worksheets I noticed that one of the Miss Patil's Magical Signature was lingering on the worksheets, my guess is Padma, can you tell my what that is about?”
“It's pretty simple really, Professor, Padma's the one who made those copies for me.” Harry answered.
“She made them? Then they're conjurations? That's very impressive for a third year and it could be a problem, conjurations don't last and I'm going to need to hang onto these until at least the end of the year.” She responded.
“No, Padma used the Duplicatus Charm, she had blank pieces of paper, uncompleted worksheets and an ink well, she tapped the worksheets and said the incantation, dipped her wand in the ink and then tapped the blank sheets which then became new worksheets to teach me how to cast it, she even had me make copies of those before handing them in. She's advised my to make copies of all my assignments and letters in the future.” Harry replied.
“Ah yes, the Duplicatus Charm, I use it quite a bit myself, the fact hat it only makes monochrome copies is a downside from time to time, but it was designed for legal purposes so you can trace copies made rather easy, could be quite useful for you to know, and the advice to make copies of all your completed assignments and letters is good. Now a somewhat important question: Did Padma or anyone else for that matter provide you with any help with completing the worksheets?” Asked the Arithmancy Mistress.
“No,” answered Harry “Padma and Parvati weren't even in the castle at the time, they left to visit their dying father.”
“Good, that should make it hard for anyone to make any problems about your transfer. Now Professor McGonagall mentioned that you said a friend had convinced you to change subjects, would I be correct in guessing that Padma was that friend? And that Ms. Granger does not know that you are transferring?” Inquired Harry's newest teacher.
“Yes Padma was the friend that convinced me to change and no Hermione doesn't know yet.” He supplied.
“Good, now if you could avoid telling Ms. Granger before the next class that would be excellent, several staff member have noticed Ms. Granger's tendency to supply more than is needed when answering a question or writing a paper and we have have been looking for a chance to make our point to her, the fact that you are now doing better then her in a class may help make that point to her, so if you have any trouble keeping up come and see me.” With this latest statement Harry realized Professor Vector was a bit like Hermione and Padma, she could go off on somewhat long lectures.
“I've looked at the later material, Professor, and I don't think I'll have any trouble with it, about the only subject I am having trouble with is Potions.” Harry answered.
“Yes, as a Pureblood myself I find it most amusing that the one proponent of Pureblood supremacy on staff would be thrown out of a muggle school for his poor teaching methods, heck with his criminal record he would never have been hired to begin with. Now Hogwarts Rules say that I can't actually teach you potions myself, but I will give you a list of books that you should read to help you, they were recommended by the Potions Master before Snape and the Slytherin House Library still stocks them and an important pointer: making potions isn't covered by the Reasonable Decree for Underage Sorcery.
“If you ever want to discuss the Headmaster's other failings my door is always open, but I think you had better run along and tell Padma that you got into my class.”
-/-/-/-/-
5 minutes later, Patil/Potter Private classroom
“Girls,” Harry cried out opening the door. “Good news, I got in. Padma, Professor Vector spotted your spell work, so she knows you're involved and wants us to keep quiet about me changing subjects until class starts, I think she wants to shock Hermione.”
“That's great, Harry,” the twins exclaimed.
“Yeah, she also gave me a couple of pointers for potions, there's this list of books she going to give me and she said that potion making isn't covered by the Reasonable Decree for Underage Sorcery. She also said something about seeing her if I wanted to 'discuss the Headmaster's other failings' whatever that means.” Harry added.
“So when will she give you this list of books, Harry?” Asked Padma, as a Ravenclaw knowledge meant a lot to her.
“She didn't say, but I found out that the teachers know about Hermione's bad habits and she wants us to keep this from Hermione so I'm guessing first day of class to keep Hermione on her toes.” Harry answered.
“Enough talking about Hermione's problems you two, I want to hear all about Harry's adventures.” Interjected Parvati.
“Do you really want to hear about them?” Harry inquired in a very meek voice.
“Yes I do, Harry. I want to hear the sort of trouble my boyfriend gets into on a regular basis.” Retorted Parvati.
“Ok, it's just that I don't like talking about them, it makes me sound like Malfoy.” Harry responded in a rather timid tone.
“No it doesn't, Harry. These are things that you have actually done and therefore should be proud of, so quit stalling and start telling us”
Sometime later
“Harry, are you telling me that there is the whole carcass of a one thousand year old Basilisk that you personally slew beneath this castle?” Padma suddenly interjected.
“Yes, at least as far as I know, nobody else can open the chamber and if they did they would still have to get past the cave-in.” Harry replied
“Given the temperatures, magical nature and age of the beast it should not have started decaying yet. As far as I know nobody offers processing of Basilisk carcasses, but Gringotts does offer an intermediary service for arranging the processing unusual animal carcasses. You'll need to write to them and see if they are interested in acting on your behalf to find someone prepared to process the carcass and find out their fee for the search and likely negotiating on your behalf. Once you have an initial agreement with them, they will send you a harvesting portkey/tag, attach it to the corpse and then activate it, the Goblins will then assess it and send you a letter with expected sales proceeds, you then reply telling them how you want things handled, what parts you want sold and how much to be sold, and what vault you want the proceeds and unsold parts to be stored in. I would suggest opening a new vault instead of using your trust vault, that way you can access the funds without restrictions.
"But first we must go down to the Chamber of Secrets and examine the carcass to see if it is still worth something, it's getting kind of late now so we'll do it tomorrow morning."
With this latest lecture Harry realized that Padma's rants/lecture were different from Hermione's. Where as Hermione was trying to show you how smart she was and talked down to you like you were a small child, Padma's were more like a teacher, sticking mostly to things she thought you needed to know and aimed at informing you, Harry thought it was a nice change.
Thanks to Tommy King his beta'ing and all the folks at the Caer Azkaban and Seel'vor fan fiction Yahoo groups for all the help I can't keep track of