jessara40k_lj

Not my usual fandom (or at least not one I normally write in) but here’s a scene inspired by my own challenge over on

thematic_hp’s time travel challenge.

“And who is this Mr. Potter?” The grey haired woman sounded disapproving as she looked at Yasmine, Harry wasn’t sure why.

“My pet. The letter did say students could bring one pet, and Yasmine is a cat. I’ve never heard of anyone having a toad as a pet - they wouldn’t be very attractive I’d think - and owls are incredibly rare. I’m not primary heir, so there’s no way my clan would get me one of those - not when we don’t breed them ourselves or have a blood bound alliance with any clan that does.” He shrugged and stroked the hair of the calico kneeling beside him. “Besides, Yasmine here’s been my attendant since I could first speak, I wasn’t going to leave her behind when I had the chance to take her with me. The Primary approved of my choice to bring her with me, and permitted me to challenge Griffith after he made some stupid comments about how I should choose a concubine to bring with me as my pet. Really, why would I want to bring something as brainless as concubines are trained to be when I could bring my intelligent, devoted attendant instead. I’m not old enough to keep my brains below my waist, and at the moment Griffith isn’t acting smart enough to be a Secondary...I just hope puberty doesn’t short-circuit my brains the way it has his.”

“It won’t Harry, I’m certain of that. You’ve worked too hard to let it, and you’re...the faithful type in a lot of ways. You’d have accepted the Lord’s offer to give you a new pet to take away with you if you weren’t. He didn’t specify the type after all, and there are attendants more appealing than I am.” It was when Griffith had heard about that offer that he’d made the suggestion that Harry ask for a concubine, which would be totally stupid, and so would asking for a new attendant.

“Why? A new attendant wouldn’t know me as well as you do, and could not serve me anything like as well.”

“A pet Mr Potter is an animal, a cat, a toad or an owl, not a person with the characteristics of those creatures.” She sounded almost angry now, as well as a little bit impatient, and Harry frowned at her in puzzlement. “And slavery is illegal here. I can’t believe you’re willing to do something like this, to support something so evil.”

“Professor...McGonagall wasn’t it?” Harry was angry now, but he’d been trained to revert to being punctiliously courteous when angry in any circumstances but battle. So he waited for the woman to give a small, tight nod before continuing to speak. “Where and when I come from slavery is a long established custom, but any slave who wishes to do so is perfectly capable of earning his or her freedom, provided he or she registers that desire.

“For instance the attendant who teaches me how to please my consorts will be free and have the option of taking a position as one of my consorts or as my head concubine once I consummate my marriage with my first consort. So Yasmine here will be free shortly after my fifteenth birthday when I am due to take one of my clan’s consort-heirs as my first consort to give me a blood tie to the clan as is our tradition with all adopted secondary heirs. If she chooses not to take that position I am of course obliged to give her what aid she needs in setting herself up in whatever vocation she chooses.

“As another example my slave concubines, as opposed to any freeborn who wishes to become my concubine, will be freed upon bearing a child for me if they are female. Again, if they choose not to remain in that position I must provide sufficient aid for them to start a new life.

“Besides which, my clan would never permit any Secondary to travel without some entourage; you should be thankful I am a skilled enough warrior that my Lord did not demand I bring a slave bodyguard as well.”

“Slave bodyguard!” The professor was sputtering in outrage, and Harry resisted the urge to grin.

“That’s a purely voluntary job, and a slave has to specifically request it before being assigned to anyone as a dedicated bodyguard. I’ve got two; a naga and a werewolf, I was very lucky to obtain them both, Silithis, my naga is technically spoils of battle, while my werewolf Freki, is freeborn and was condemned to slavery for participating in an attempted rebellion. He was part of the clan’s fee for dealing with the rebellion and he asked to be my bodyguard. While I’m away of course they’ll be assigned to guard those consort-heirs I have accepted as candidates for my first consort from those offered.” Griffith didn’t even have one dedicated bodyguard yet, and it was very useful to be able to be able to talk to Silithis without anyone else understanding.

“And how old are these potential consorts of yours?” Harry didn’t understand why she sounded almost disapproving, but he shrugged and answered her.

“Between one year younger than me and two years older than me. Or at least that’s the age range that was promised in the initial offer. Any who aren’t fertile when I’m fifteen will be eliminated from my options, as are any who are already promised specifically. I’ll also have the option of selecting any other consort-heirs who are fertile and unpromised if I wish to, but I like the selection available now. Of course I must select a female consort-heir this time, since the intent is to give me a blood link to the clan. And I have of course eliminated all those who are not intelligent, even if consort heirs lack a certain...capacity for independent thought.

“Yasmine, I think it will avoid trouble at Hogwarts if you generally wear your other form.”

“Yes Harry.” She obediently shifted to her feline form, and jumped up to his knee, butting her head against his chest for more petting.

“She’s an animagus then?”

“No, her great-grandmother was though, and she was bred to a kneazle as punishment...I don’t know what for, the records don’t show that. Yasmine’s very exceptional though, only about ten percent of pets three generations removed from an animagus ancestor inherit the talent on a semi-instinctive level. And ninety percent of those are...not particularly intelligent to put it mildly. Yasmine is highly intelligent, near genius level in fact, which is why she’s better qualified than most attendants.” All attendants had to be intelligent, but you didn’t often get the sort of initiative and creativity Yasmine had. “Won’t that bank of yours be open now?”

“Ah, yes, it will.”