The Storeroom

The Storeroom

Jack Higgins was in his office at school and preparing for the next term in Charms when there was a knock on his door. His heart leaped. Could it be possible? No, it wasn't her knock. Harry Potter poked his head in.

"Can I talk to you?" asked Harry.

"Certainly," said Jack. "Have a seat. Pour yourself some tea. Are you thinking about teaching more courses the next term?"

Harry stared at the floor and then looked at Jack. "Yes, but this is about girls."

"My wife left me, Professor Malfoy isn't speaking to me, and you want to ask me about women?" asked Jack.

Harry nodded.

"On the other hand, if you want to lament about not understanding them, I'm your man," said Jack.

Harry visibly relaxed.

"I thought you were getting along well with the Patil sisters," said Jack.

"I am," blurted Harry. "But ... ."

'By the gods,' thought Jack, 'we're all lost when it comes to women. I don't have any good advice, but I can commiserate.'

Jack listened as Harry told him how kind-hearted the two sisters were, how attractive they were, how responsible they were, how supportive they were, how much fun they were, and finally, how he shouldn't feel that way about both of them. Not to mention he didn't know what to do with one girl, let alone two.

The only suggestion Jack could make was to give them a massage. Harry could pay attention to both of them, it was chaste, and it would relax them. Jack thought it was feeble advice, but Harry left feeling better after unburdening himself and getting a great idea.

Several days later, Harry was back and in a good mood. "Thanks, Jack," he said.

Harry had been hesitant to mention a massage, but the two sisters had been enthusiastic once they understood what he was offering. When the after-work massage had been established as part of the daily routine, they had become friendlier and more relaxed toward him. It was almost as though they appreciated his wanting to touch them and caress them and care for them.

'The three are in the midst of seduction,' thought Jack. 'Do they know it? The girls might.'

Harry admitted to Jack that he was still adjusting. The prolonged physicality of a massage was a bonding experience, and it reinforced the ridiculous idea that he could relate to both of them. The girls had bought some books and wanted Harry to include a foot massage...an intimacy for which Harry was not ready.

Jack was amused. 'I envied Harry when he was watching Mrs. Malfoy, not knowing he hated it. Now, I'm watching her and hating it. Next, I envy Harry because he has the two Patil sisters even though he's in a pickle. The next thing I know, I'll be in a pickle with the Black sisters. No, it'll be more than a pickle. I could lose some body parts with those two. Then I'll really envy Harry.'

Jack was more amused. 'The quickest way into a pickle is to offer to give them a massage. I'm surprised I didn't think of it before.'

* * *

"It doesn't make sense that Bellatrix has a wand and you don't," Jack told Narcissa.

In response, she took him down into the Manor's dungeons. Her counter-spells opened a door, and they stepped into a storeroom. Jack was attracted to a Winchester repeating rifle and a case of cartridges.

"They're in a stasis enchantment, and they should be as good as new," said Narcissa. "They belonged to Uncle Walter. He was an adventurer who spent some time in the American Old West, as you can see. He died when I was a year old, and I never had a chance to meet him. I do remember my aunt talking about him. He thought worrying too much about the mundanes was as foolish as not worrying about them at all."

She opened a drawer. "This was his wand: sixteen inches, yew, cockatrice feather."

Jack thought few could handle such a wand, but Narcissa waved it easily. A breeze blew her hair back, and she appeared formidable. But she wielded the wand, not it her. She struck a drum-majorette pose. "This will look smashing with my school robe," she announced.

Jack almost protested, but caught himself in time. She was smiling. It was a joke. He did say, "You could have had a wand anytime, but you walked around unarmed."

"I would never betray your trust, Jack," she said, stepping closer to him. "Thank you for the wand." She was very close. "Thank you for my sister."

He could only think that he had killed her husband and she would never forgive him and he loved her.

"Aren't you going to say anything, Jack?"

"I'm glad you like your wand."

"Is that the only thing you can say, you soulless bastard? I chased you all over school. I've been waiting for months for one kind word from you, for one feeble attempt to see me again. There was nothing from you, nothing. You're cold and cruel, and I wish I had never met you."

"I thought you would never forgive me."

"If I hadn't forgiven you, you would be dead, you dumb idiot."

She took a breath. "I couldn't hurt you. I hated you. I raged at you. But I couldn't hurt you."

In a move braver than anything he had done on the battlefield, he reached out and held her. He heard her sigh and felt her relax. Tension he didn't realize he had left him.

Narcissa hands went from his waist to his back, from resting on him to pulling him close. She was lost in the wonderment of holding him.

They heard someone outside the door. "I seem to have interrupted something," said Bellatrix.

'Does Bellatrix know I killed Narcissa's husband?' wondered Jack. 'Of course she does,' he concluded. 'Do they think I'm a killer?' he wondered. 'They might,' he concluded.

As they stepped apart, an incongruous thought came to Jack, and he said, "The Department of Mysteries has been asking if this one-wand-per-wizard rule is nonsense."

"It's a shame that we're so easily disarmed," agreed Bellatrix.

The two sisters looked at Jack. "Uncle Albert," they said.

'Lots of uncles,' he thought as they led him to a cabinet of memorabilia.

"Uncle Albert was in the tea and coffee business," they told him. "He used to go hunting with Uncle Walter. The two would go by themselves so they could stun the animal with their wands, take a picture of themselves with their trophy, and then let it go. There are photographs in the library."

The sisters opened a drawer. "Here's his wand: sixteen inches, rowan, unicorn horn."

They watched apprehensively as Jack picked up the wand. They celebrated as the wand hummed in his hand and he smiled.

The two-wand idea was catching on. "Aunt Elspeth," said the two sisters to each other. They turned to Jack. "She dedicated her life to teaching young pure-bloods. She was nearsighted, and she was constantly losing her glasses and wand, so she had two pairs of glasses and two wands." They raided another cabinet. "Fourteen inches, cherry, owl feather."

Jack looked around the storeroom. "I had no idea this was here," he told the two sisters. "What else is here?" He considered for a minute. "How old is this mansion?"

"Several hundred years," they replied.

"It's almost a castle," he said. "Castles have escape routes. Let's look."

For the next hour, the three of them explored the dungeon. They noticed nothing. Jack wanted to stroll through it again even though the two women thought it a waste of time. The second time through, Jack resolutely kept himself unfocused.

"There was a place I felt like avoiding," he said after the second tour.

"Then it's best to leave it alone," said Bellatrix.

"There's some nasty stuff down here," said Narcissa.

But Jack returned to the wall he had trouble looking at. He sat on the floor in front of it and dropped into a meditation level. After a while, he said, "There's an exit there."

It took half an hour before one of his spells worked. The wall shimmered and a barred door appeared.

"Let's try it," said Bellatrix.

"No, no, wait," said Jack. "We have to be more careful."

Narcissa and Bellatrix, however, were excited by the possibility of an escape route: they did not have to die trapped in the Manor. They dashed into the tunnel, and Jack reluctantly followed. When they were ten yards inside the tunnel, the door slammed shut, leaving them in total darkness. Jack heard Bellatrix snarl, turn, and flick her wand. The door flew open with a crash. The light streamed in.

'Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me,' thought Jack.

"We should search for information in the library and be more cautious," said Narcissa.

Full of hope and energy, the sisters dragged Jack to the library where Bellatrix examined the shelved volumes while Narcissa rummaged through the drawers. But locating and opening the tunnel door had exhausted Jack, and he collapsed in a chair. The energized witches felt abandoned.

"Can't you help us look, love?"

"It's a big library. We could use your locator spells."

He felt tired and irritated. 'Can't those two search the library? They've lived here and visited here, not me. What's the rush? The posse's not banging on the front door.' Nevertheless, he made an effort to keep the peace. "I'll be okay in a few minutes," he said, leaning back in the chair.

"He's asleep."

"He's tired. You pushed him too hard."

"I pushed him too hard? He located the tunnel for you, sweetie."

"It was his idea, and he did it for both of us. You wore him out looking for a wand, sister dear."

"That was his idea."

"I suppose your snogging him was his idea, too."

"I suppose your flopping on top of him on New Year's was his idea."

They stopped to catch their breath and whispered, "We're going to wake him up."

"It was my best night's sleep in ages," hissed Bellatrix.

"It was my best hug in ages, and I like my wands," hissed Narcissa.

They looked at the library, concluded it was best to let Jack help them search, and decided they needed a rest, too. They waved their wands to broaden the chair into a couch and curled up with Jack.

'Bella's right,' thought Narcissa. 'This is comfy.'

'Cissy's right,' thought Bellatrix. 'We need a hug.'

* * *

"Harry, I have some really heavy jugs of extract to move," said Parvati.

Harry stood by while she decanted several large jugs of extract into small bottles. His job was to make certain nothing slipped or spilled. When she finished, she set her wand on the table with a sigh of relief and gave him an appreciative smile.

"You have the nicest eyes," he said as she stepped toward him. He brushed her hair, damp from exertion, out of her face to behind her ears. Her forehead touched his. They breathed the same air. The aroma of a warm Parvati surrounded him. As he moved his hand from the small of her back up her spine to between her shoulder blades, she moaned and arched her back. He experienced that strange, female combination of both soft and firm. She sighed as he moved both his hands from between her shoulder blades down her back to her waist. Her arms were around him, and her lips were on his and caressing them. She nibbled her way to his neck where she laid her head on his shoulder.

He stroked her hair while he sorted out his new emotions. He had always thought of romance as being attracted to the most beautiful woman. At the moment, he knew other women who were more beautiful than Padma and Parvati, but he wasn't attracted to them. He had spent enough time with the two sisters to know they weren't always sweet. They raged when they botched a potion, lost their tempers when they miscounted inventory, and snapped at him and each other when customers annoyed them. They weren't the calm, self-assured women he once thought they were. He was still coming to terms with his wanting to be with them despite their imperfections.

Parvati was wondering why his holding her was so comforting. He was a bit clumsy and would occasionally spill things and ruin potions. He was too aloof with the customers. He was becoming an absent-minded professor, prone to misplacing items they really needed. He certainly wasn't tall, dark, and handsome. Most certainly, he had no idea what to do with girls.

So they thought as they held each other and felt content.

* * *

"Harry, can you help me get some packages of herbs from the first floor?" asked Padma.

Part way up the stairs to the first story, Padma stopped to rest.

"You're working too hard," said Harry.

"I'll be fine," said Padma.

He helped her up the rest of the stairs with her arm across his shoulder and his arm around her waist...up the rest of the stairs with her leg against his...moving together up the stairs. At the top of the stairs, he did not let go. His other arm went around her and pulled her close. She was that wondrous combination of firm and soft, and her lips were on his.

A warm feeling flowed through Padma. Harry was clumsily embracing her and inexpertly kissing her. It was wonderful. She was making incoherent noises, and she was moving sinuously. The only thing in the world was Harry.

Harry couldn't believe that Padma Patil was holding him and kissing him back. When he had reached the top of the stairs, the contact with her had driven all reason and caution out of his mind, and he had embraced her and kissed her regardless of the consequences. He couldn't not do it. Now, her awkward moves and fumbling efforts were taking him to a new plane. He had never felt anything like it.

They stopped to catch their breath.

Harry noticed Padma was flushed, disheveled, and quite lovely.

"We have to get the herbs," she said.

"Right," he said.

He gently leaned his forehead against hers. The tip of his nose touched hers. They enjoyed breathing the same air. Her lips were moving over his face. Her lips were gently caressing him, and she was pressed gently against him, but her arm around his waist and her hand on the back of his neck had him in a grip of steel. If he had been the least rational, he could have told her he wasn't going anywhere.

Padma was floating and floating and holding Harry. It slowly came back to her where she was. She gave him one last squeeze, and then the breathless, happy lady said, "We really have to get those herbs."

He was hardly aware of what he was doing as he carried the herbs to the ground floor and returned to help Padma down the stairs

'Can this be true?' she thought. 'Is it possible I won't have to spend my life alone? Can I have someone I like, who likes me?'

Once downstairs, Harry insisted that Padma rest. She could give him directions for shelving while she tended the cash register.

Parvati came to the front, carrying bottles of a freshly brewed potion. She looked at her sister, and then she looked again.

'That's not fair,' thought Parvati. 'He snogged her senseless, and I got a little peck.'

"Padma, I have to make another potion, and I need Harry to stir my cauldron."

* * *

'Isn't anyone worried except me,' thought Bellatrix.

She was by the Dark Lord's side as they approached the Opposition army. The Dark Lord and his other lieutenants thought they had all the information they needed from the Ministry clerks they had bribed. She had wanted to torture the clerks to make certain, but the Dark Lord and others had been afraid she would kill them.

'I'm not the reckless girl I was sixteen years ago,' she thought. She was sure she could have extracted all the information the clerks had and leave them their sanity and no permanent marks. Something about their manner had told her that the clerks were not telling them everything, but the Dark Lord and others had only inflicted minor pain.

She had endured much worse than the clerks received. Once, after being tortured for a failure, she had hung limp, chained to the wall by her wrists. The Dark Lord had administered the punishment personally to his favorite servant.

After some minimal torture, one clerk had confessed that the entire Department of Mysteries had joined the Opposition army. 'The Mystery Department? They're a right bunch of wienies,' Bellatrix had thought.

'Speaking of wienies, where's the rest of the Black family and the Malfoy family?' she thought, looking around the Dark Lord's army. 'Lucius is here because he has to be. Draco was dragged here, that little poofter. Narcissa is here because Lucius and Draco are. She's estranged from Lucius for putting her son in danger, but she's still here. The Blacks are either hiding or traitors to the family that gave them so much. They want to live the aristocratic life of leisure and fancy clothes but aren't willing to do the dangerous work that goes with it.'

They were approaching the Opposition army when fiery globes arched towards their ranks. The globes were easily repelled. 'Amateurs,' thought Bellatrix.

Bellatrix thought the giants and werewolves had attacked the wrong flank of the Opposition army, and she still thought the Dark Lord should be more cautious. She ran to the right flank of the Dark Lord's army to see what was happening: his most trusted servant would perform above and beyond her duty. She found the captain of the right flank ready to attack even though it was obvious the giants and werewolves had not mauled the left flank of the Opposition army. She tried to talk him into sending scouts forward first, but he replied that he didn't dare delay carrying out the Dark Lord's orders.

She watched the attack. They were advancing too fast. Something was wrong. 'It's a trap or ambush,' she thought. She decided she would warn the Dark Lord even if it meant punishment.

As she started back, the fiery globes appeared again, but this time Bellatrix did not think they were amateurish. She had a sense of foreboding and tried to run faster. Suddenly, there were a bunch of lights and yelling people headed straight for the Dark Lord. 'I deserted my post,' she thought. 'I'm not by his side to protect him.'

She ran into the attacking force. Hexes stung her. It was like running into a swarm of wasps. She was on the ground before she had made any rational decision that she should get there. She was beside a member of the Dark Lord's army, a whimpering witch. "It's no time to whimper, love," she said, rising and grabbing the witch. She tried to run forward while pushing the witch in front of her like a shield. A cone of light illuminated them. Hexes tore the whimpering witch apart, and Bellatrix went flying with the air knocked out of her.

When she recovered, she decided she should circle around to be by the Dark Lord's side. On her way, she heard general shouting that the Dark Lord was dead. The Opposition army was closing in on her. She ran towards the goblin flank to discover they were retreating in good order. "Cowardly, traitorous weasels," she railed. But she followed their example and their path. The Opposition army was not pressing the goblins, and Bellatrix was not the only one who escaped by staying close to them.

A week after the battle, Bellatrix appeared at Malfoy Manor. Her sister's lawyers plunked her in a mundane flat in Birmingham.

* * *

Bellatrix was coming out of a deep and dark hole. She was chained to a wall, barely aware she was sobbing and twitching as the Dark Lord finished with her. She was rolling down a gulley, her body stung and battered by the hexes of the Opposition army. She was clutching at everything, especially her sanity, and trying to escape...from the wall, from the gulley, from the pain, from the disaster.

She was waking, realizing she was twisting and grabbing and clawing and kicking. She was awake, clutching Jack and breathing deep, ragged breaths. She was in the library with Jack and Narcissa, and they were going to research the tunnel.

Jack held her gently. "I have bad dreams, too," he said.

'But nothing like hers if her dreams are like what she's done,' he thought.

She remembered her impetuosity had nearly got them trapped in the tunnel. She told Jack she was sorry.

"We were all a bit foolish," he said.

'Is that all?' she wondered. 'Perhaps punishment and forgiveness is for children. Adults accept the consequences and get on with their lives.' She returned to nestling against him.

Jack's arm and shoulder muscles were cramping, and he was overheated from the two, but he couldn't bring himself to disturb them.

'I've got to be careful,' thought Jack. 'I've been divorced less than three weeks, and they say divorced men go crazy the first three to six months. I don't feel crazy, but if I am crazy, I wouldn't, would I?' He shifted gears. 'What am I saying? I have one arm around Narcissa Malfoy and the other around Bellatrix Lestrange. And I like it. It doesn't get any crazier.' He tried to think things through. 'What am I doing? I'm not evil. I'm not domineering. These two were raised to rule the world. What am I going to offer them, their daily dose of warm fuzzies?' He sighed. 'That's me, Jack Higgins: career bureaucrat, part-time school teacher, and guardian of the rich and sadistic.' He shook his head. 'But I like them. I really like them. I do want to protect them and save them. What a mess. And yes, everyone's right, I am crazy.'

Bellatrix was nestled against her new liege lord, who, she was certain, would never torture her, who, she was certain, didn't want to hurt her feelings. 'This is strange,' she thought.

Even stranger was the urge to kiss his forehead. Bellatrix checked that her sister was asleep. 'Yes, my sister's asleep, and it's safe,' she thought. 'No,' she realized, 'it's not safe. What if he doesn't want me to?'

She realized her new liege lord could hurt her: he could hurt her by rejecting her. She had never had any doubts about the Dark Lord: he would certainly accept a Black sister into his service. Bellatrix now faced a new and unfamiliar brand of pain. But the desire to be closer to him was overwhelming, and he had been kind to her so far.

She lightly kissed his forehead. He responded by stroking her hair. Thus encouraged, her lips moved over his eyes, over his nose, and onto his lips. He returned her tentative affection. She looked into his eyes and gave him the warm smile of someone who has been accepted. Then she cuddled against him. Her ice core melted. She became warm and moist.