QUICK FIC: Everyone Wants Harry Part 19: A Brand-New Game

“It would be my pleasure,” Harry said. “Just let me know when you feel like jumping in. I’d be happy to wash your backside for you.” He’d basically lined her up for a flirty quip of her own, but Katie didn’t respond. She also didn’t take any more sips of her water right away, even though she’d surely worked up quite a thirst during her ride. Katie had finished checking the quidditch news in the sports section, but she now seemed engrossed in whatever was on the front page of that morning's Daily Prophet because she ignored all else around her. He watched her eyes move back and forth across the page, and finally, she looked back up at him.

“Something interesting in there?” he asked.

“Yes, I’d say so,” Katie said, “though it sounds like it won’t be new information for you.” That made him even more curious, so when she tossed the paper over to him, he caught it with his free hand and took a look.

It only took him a few seconds to realize what had her so interested because his picture was right there on the front page. That wasn't at all uncommon, but it was the headline right under his picture that brought things into focus.

Man-Who-Won To Inherit Two Wizengamot Seats; Will Need Two Wives!

Harry's eyes skimmed the article quickly to determine why this information had come out so quickly and how it had gotten out. The answer, as it turned out, was simple. There had been a Wizengamot session held the previous night, and as Harry was not yet part of the Wizengamot, he had not been informed of it. One of the orders of business had been the discussion of what to do with vacant seats in the aftermath of the war, and over the course of that procedure, the acting Chief Warlock announced that Harry Potter was poised to claim not just the House Potter seat upon completing his education at Hogwarts, but also that of House Black, per the will of Sirius Black naming him as his heir.

Of course, as both the Wizengamot and the cover article in the Daily Prophet noted, he would only be able to claim those seats if he was betrothed by the time he finished at Hogwarts, or else he would forfeit those seats. Harry had until the end of this school year to get engaged to two women, one for both House Potter and House Black, or he could forget about controlling those two seats. He'd had several months to get used to that idea and had still been trying to work out how he was going to reveal the information to anyone beyond Ginny and Hermione. But the decision had been made for him. He put the paper down, knowing that the secret was out now. Everyone in this castle—everyone in the wizarding world—was now going to know that it wasn't just one seat he could claim with a betrothal by the end of his 8th year at Hogwarts, but two.

“So, two wives, eh?” Katie asked him once he was looking at her again. She laughed and shook her head. “Only you, Harry. Nothing can ever be normal with you, can it?”

“Doesn’t seem like it,” he said, shrugging. “I always wanted to be normal, but I’m starting to think normal might be overrated.” That got a second laugh out of Katie.

“Are you planning on trying to hold both those seats?” she asked.

“I’m thinking so, yeah,” he said. “I saw firsthand how screwed up the Wizengamot, and our whole bloody government, can get. Controlling two seats, I’d have even more of a chance to try and make it better.” It had taken some time for him to get used to the idea of taking two wives, and he would have given up on it right away if Ginny had wanted him to. But she’d gone her way, chosen to focus not on settling down but on pursuing her dreams of a pro quidditch career, and encouraged him to follow his own path.

“Right,” Katie said, nodding. “Well, this changes things, doesn’t it?”

“Suppose so,” Harry said slowly. “But does it change them in a good way, or a bad way?”

“I guess that all depends on whether or not I manage to find an appealing option to join up with,” Katie said. At Harry’s blank look, she laughed. “You realize what’s going to happen now, don’t you?” Harry just shook his head. “All of the women who are interested in you, me included, now know that you have two seats to fill, not just one. The quest to woo you isn’t a competition that one woman will win by herself anymore. It’s a team game now, and we’re all going to be racing to find the best partners we can.” She put her cup of water down on her bedside table. “I’ll have to put some serious thought into this on my end. But first, I’d like to enjoy the rest of the afternoon with you, and remind you of how great you and I are one-on-one.”

Were witches actually going to start coming after him in pairs now? Harry had sort of figured he was going to see how things played out this year, pick out the two girls he hit it off with best, and hope that they’d be willing to agree when he told them he was hoping to get engaged to two women so he could claim both seats. But the Wizengamot making his unique situation public had changed that, and he was going to have to see if Katie was right about how the women around the castle would respond.

First, though, he sat up, took Katie into his arms as she crawled back onto the bed, and rolled her onto her back. The fallout of the article could wait. Right now, he had a gorgeous naked witch beneath him, and he was intent on spending the rest of the afternoon enjoying going one-on-one with her.