"Looking for someone?" A too sweet voice startled Harry from behind.
He was standing at the entrance to Hogwarts waiting for the person he was meeting. It hadn't been his idea to meet here, he knew he was being toyed with, to some degree, and yet he'd still agreed to the proposition.
"What would make you think that, Susan?" He casually asked back, still lazily leaning against the stone wall with his shoulder, both his arms and legs crossed, and the weight of his body being supported with his left leg and right shoulder.
"Oh, no reason." She giggled. "I'm sure it has nothing to do with taking a certain former snake out to Hogsmeade, no it certainly can't be that ." She singsonged.
"Why would that be of interest to us, Susie?" Hannah Abbott asked, also walking up from behind him.
The two shared a devious look. "I don't know why we'd ever be so interested in the girl who has refused to go on any kind of date through her whole Hogwarts career, even though she's been asked many, many, many times," her voice dipped at the last part and the Hufflepuff pair stopped just in front of him, getting a little closer than would be considered normal and comfortable.
"You do know she's our best friend." Hannah poked him on the unsupported shoulder, she poked hard enough it unbalanced his leaning against the wall and he had to uncross his loose leg to support himself before returning to that position.
"Auntie being the Director of the DMLE or not, we'll murder you if you hurt her." Susan said with a growl, here eyes ablaze.
Harry had a bit of a hard time not laughing. Here he was, getting the older brother routine from two of the sweetest Hufflepuffs. Loyalty was definitely a house trait.
"This wasn't my idea." He informed them. "I asked to speak with Daphne privately and she requested this, not me." He wasn't going to let the two girls push him around, he stood up tall.
"Oh we know." Susan said, her hands finding their way to her hips clenched in fists.
"We also know you've spent time alone with the Beauxbatons champion and Natalia Pavlov. We don't care if you string them along, they aren't our friend. But Daphne?" Hannah had taken the same posture as Susan, hands on hips and both were leaning forward a little now.
"Hurt her and die." They said in unison.
"No two-timing, no playing with her." Hannah added, her naturally pale facing rapidly gaining hue.
Harry put his hands up in mock surrender. "Seeing as I'm not going on a date with her, I don't see how that's going to be an issue."
Susan patted him on his cheek. "Oh you poor boy," was all she said before she turned around and began to walk away.
Harry looked at Hannah, his eyes full of confusion, his look implored her to help him understand and she responded with a smirk. "You'll figure it out soon enough," she let out a laugh that bit through the empty entry way and then turned her back to him, following Susan as they both left.
Harry was engrossed watching them walk away. He didn't understand what that last bit was about. Was it because she was dangerous, he wondered? Lost in his thoughts, he didn't notice Daphne making her way to him, suspiciously right from where Susan and Hannah had just walked out of his line of sight.
"Nice to see you again, Potter." She said with a devilish smirk. "I'm sorry I kept you waiting," she said insincerely. "Anything interesting happen while you were waiting for me?" She stood in front of him, Hogwarts robes no longer on.
If Harry didn't already have experience dealing with two older and incredibly gorgeous women she'd have sent a shiver down his spine. He wasn't worried about being alone with a beautiful girl anymore. This wasn't a date, no matter how much it felt like one, and he could handle dealing with a pretty girl his age, teasing pretty girls was now a favorite pastime, afterall.
"As it's not a Hogsmeade weekend, we must walk?" Harry asked, he had always walked to the gates but as it was Daphne's idea to do this get together and he didn't imagine she'd want to walk on a cold dreary wintery night.
She clucked her tongue at him. She looked herself up and down. "Does this look like I'm prepared to walk to the gates of Hogwarts at night?" She bit out sharply at him.
Harry just raised an eyebrow to her and stepped toward her. "And Susan and Hannah thought this was a date." He laughed, "If it is, it's got to be a terrible start to one." He grinned and pushed his neck forward with two raised eyebrows, a slight smirk on his face and wide eyes awaiting her next move.
She huffed out an annoyed breath of air and narrowed her eyes at him. She didn't bother retorting and simply commanded, "Follow me."
Harry grinned as she walked ahead of him, she was annoyed at him now and it made him smile. He knew she was smart, everyone knew her grades were impeccable, even if she kept to herself and never bragged or showed off her knowledge. It was her knowledge of him being the Black Regent that had worried him. It wasn't until he spoke with the portrait of Arcturus Black that he understood why. It was that which led him to meeting with her, though going out to Hogsmeade on a weeknight wasn't something he'd expected.
She led them to a floo and called out her destination, not sparing him a glance nor explanation of where they were going. "Three Broomsticks" she said and left through the fireplace.
Amused, Harry followed stating the same destination and dropping some floo powder into the fireplace. Thankfully he wasn't terrible at this anymore and didn't make an arse out of himself exiting the floo. It would have been the last thing he needed, an annoyed Daphne having him falling arse over tea kettle out of the floo into her.
Harry oriented himself and looked around for his companion for the evening. There she was, talking to Rosmerta. She finished her brief conversation with the woman just as Harry caught up to her.
"We're in a backroom, a private one." She stated simply and moved towards the back.
Harry followed sedately and was glad his thoughts were settled now. The recent conversations with Fleur and Natalia had weighed on him. It was nice to have his mind clear and calm for this. Occlumency was a great help but he'd found it wasn't a wholly suitable aid to a troubled mind. It wasn't meant for it, it was meant for memory recall and defense for intrusions into his mind.
He arrived at the room and sat at the small round table with four chairs, three of them unoccupied. He left a chair between them but did move it, pulling his towards the wall opposite the entrance, so he was closer to a forty-five degree angle to Daphne than one-eighty and was facing the door with full visual command of the room.
When he'd entered the door, he'd felt something, again. He was getting better at recognizing active magic whenever he passed through it. It was still not possible for him to know exactly what the feel of the magic was, down to the spell or affect it had. However, he was improving his ability to have a general idea. A sense of secrecy flitted across his body when he entered into the room and he'd assumed it was privacy wards to keep the information private.
He took his seat and snapped his wand into his hand. He caught Daphne's eyes and she nodded in understanding. Harry quickly put up the standard anti-eavesdropping spells he was aware of and slipped his wand back into the holster. Man did he ever love that holster, wand drawn and dispatched with nary more than a thought and nudge of his magic.
Daphne gracefully crossed her left leg over her right and sat perfectly prim and proper. Her face was impassive and her eyes sharp. She scooted forward in her chair, her back no longer touching the backing and waited for Harry.
"I gather you want me to start seeing as I asked for this? Well, not exactly this ." He gave her a smile that didn't reach his eyes.
The comment failed to elicit any humor from the new Hufflepuff. She dryly commented an explanation for why they were here instead. "Three Broomsticks is known for respecting privacy. Besides, any attention garnered by us meeting here will be put off as a potential date. That juicy bit of gossip will cover anything else of substance that we would actually wish to keep private."
Harry just rolled his eyes in response. "Thanks, I gathered that and I assume Susan and Hannah's performance was part of the deception?"
"You do have a brain, how quaint." The uptick on the corners of her mouth was the only indication she wasn't being a total arse to him.
Harry shifted in his seat, "I asked to meet with you because you are a Greengrass and as the Black Regent I was made aware your father was the steward when Arcturus Black was the Head of House Black."
Daphne huffed a little air out her flared nostrils. "And you found out about the potential betrothal contract that you now have and the mess the Black family holdings are now in? So the first thing you do is recall meeting me at the Hufflepuff table and ask to meet after I drop the ginormous clue that I know you are the Regent Black and the potential consequences that could have for me or my family." She drawled out and then promptly motored on.
"Did you want to claim me as completion for the contract? Did you want to meet my sister next? Draco loved lording that over us, his father over mine too. Plan to see if either of us will go along with your little harem plans, a Greengrass to add to your French Veela and Russian Ballerina? What are you going to add next, an American from the Colonies? Perhaps a little oriental cuisine?" She sneered at him with a viciousness to her tone.
"Going to ask to sample the goods like dear ol darling Draco?" She had her wand in her hand and the tip was glowing an angry red.
Harry's eyes were wide and his back pressed into the chair. He could have snapped out his wand, he was sure he could physically evade her spell, even at the short distance, but he decided not to. Subduing her would not alleviate the situation, it would probably only exacerbate it.
"A harem? Oriental cuisine?" Harry was finally processing the end of her anger fuelled speech and he couldn't help but laugh, deep and raucously.
Harry, through his laughter, was able to see Daphne getting irate. Her foot was tapping as if was trying to murder a never ending procession of insects under her feet. The loud thumping wasn't the only clue. Flared nostrils, narrowed eyes and thinned lips were pretty solid clues too.
He thought it best to get his laughter under control, preferably before Daphne achieved laser vision and gave him the lobotomy her glare was trying to give him. Harry raised his hands in mock surrender. Internally he frowned, that's the second time he'd done so to a girl his age tonight, not a great track record for the evening, though this was a self-proclaimed disaster of a date… Laughing sardonically at that wouldn't help here, he suppressed the urge too.
"Seems as I'm not officially dating anyone, and the fact that I'm fourteen, I'd hope nobody would think I was trying for anything like that. I've never even had one girlfriend let alone multiple at the same time." He shook his head and snorted at how ridiculous the accusations were. "That's not even getting into the fact I don't know anything about a betrothal contract with you."
Daphne's eyes widened and her jaw had lowered enough that her lips had parted slightly. Her upright posture had dropped, only a little, and Harry thought he saw a flash of uncertainty before she was able to keep her schooled countenance.
Not getting a response, Harry prodded further, "I was only able to confirm from the painting of Arcturus Black that I should seek out a Greengrass to begin learning of House Black's current position. His portrait was aware it held very little information. He told me that the role of steward should still be active as only a Regent or Head of House could void it."
"So you don't know about the marriage contract.." Daphne stated her realization and the conclusion it led to, "and you'd just wanted to talk or setup a meeting with father…." A little pink found its way into her cheeks. Sharpness returned to her eyes as she mentally worked through the situation she found herself in.
"Can you tell me about the contract?" Harry asked, he was brimming over with curiosity, his restless leg bouncing up and down.
She smirked at him. "Only if you tell me about your relationships with Fleur and Natalia."
Harry thought about that for a moment. Did he really want to get into girl troubles with another female, one that potentially has a marriage contract with House Black?
"I will," Harry saw the sense of victory wash over her during the pausin in his speech, "once you've informed me of the contract's details." The narrowing of her eyes, and scrunching of her lips was almost like a balm to him. Her frustration fueled his amusement.
"Fine" she huffed out, clearly not quite fine with the arrangement.
She straightened in her chair and brought her chin up ever so slightly. "House Greengrass took over the Stewardship of House Black in the early 1900s. My grandfather, Perseus, was the first in our family to take up the role. He worked closely with Arcturus Black. When his children, and their spouses, decided to support the Dark Lord he tasked my family to take on more political and financial dealings when Perseus passed the role onto my father, Cyrus Greengrass."
"To make a long story short, it was during this time that the role of Steward was diminished greatly. Father advised against using wealth and assets to support the Dark Lord and they obviously disagreed. He was stripped of many of his powers and responsibilities and left with nominal abilities as a Steward.
"It was Perseus and Arcturus who had agreed upon a contract for loyal service. A Greengrass female would marry the future Heir to the family. Our generation is the first possible timing of it and it has long been assumed Draco would take over headship at seventeen as he is the closest by blood with the fugitive Sirius Black being rendered ineligible for the role by Arcturus when he ran away from home."
A knock on the door interrupted anything further she was going to say. Harry's wand slipped into his hand and he removed the privacy charms he'd previously setup. The door opened and Rosmerta walked in with two butterbeers.
"Here you are my dears." She said warmly while setting the two glasses down on the table. "You know where to find me if you need anything else." She told them as she turned around and departed the room, firmly closing the door once outside it.
Harry had kept his wand out and reapplied the charms. It wasn't that he was worried about Rosmerta overhearing their conversation. It was a habit he was ensuring stayed a part of his routine. He was a target for gossip and he wanted to keep things private. Always being cautious to keep his conversations to those intended was a good habit. He may relax it at some point but not yet. A subtle detection spell on the two drinks showed them void of anything worrisome and he sipped at the drink, inadvertently copying Daphne.
"So, you told me that your dad's powers were pretty well stripped and that there was a marriage contract for the heir; but, I'm a regent and there are no eligible heirs." He opened with that statement wanting to get the conversation back rolling along.
Harry was seated in his chair, his wand back in the holster and his right hand a couple inches away from his mug, resting on the table. He was more slouched back and comfortable. His mind ready and active to discern what's going on.
"Draco is an eligible heir." She challenged back. "His mother is a trueborn Black." She said it so matter of factly that Harry knew that she knew he knew this and she didn't know why he would state that when it was so obviously a known fact.
"Regent's have quite a bit of power." He let his words linger. He'd dangled the knowledge but as she stayed silent doubt crept ever faster that she was aware of the full authority.
He put her out of her misery, "Draco is an eligible heir if no other's left within the Black family and the Wizengamot decided to name him the heir so the family did not go extinct. In that circumstance, and that one alone, he could be an eligible heir. Otherwise, my future progeny is the first in line to claim headship of the family. Following that is any progeny of Sirius Black and if neither of us have children then Nymphadora Tonks has been set as the future Regent and if she has a child, then they would be eligible."
"You removed his mother from the line of succession? How?" It went unsaid she didn't believe it possible.
Harry grinned, he felt like a shark in blood-infested waters. Removing Draco Malfoy from consideration had felt so good. Everytime he thought about it he couldn't help but grin. "Narcissa married Lucius Malfoy and the swine tried to murder me at the end of second year…"
Harry trailed off as he saw understanding blossom on Daphne's face. "And having attempted to kill his kin, he and his blood relatives could be cast out of the line of succession…" Daphne turned her down and to the right, her eyebrows knit together and she shifted in her chair, "But if magic accepted your claim why isn't he in Azkaban?"
Harry sighed and his shoulders dropped a little, he was similarly let down when he had this explained to him. "Magic accepted he intended to kill me when he began his spell. Dobby blasted him and cut off his attempt to cast the Killing Curse at me. So magic accepted it but he never actually fired a spell. Magically guilty, legally innocent." Harry's lip upturned and his nostrils flared. He dropped his head back against the chair.
"Ah, a shame." She agreed with his disappointment.
"Back to contract explanation?" He questioned.
Though her lips and cheeks shifted into a smile it was clearly not a genuine one. "Yes, back on topic. The assumption was Draco would be inheriting the headship of the family, or, at the very least, the regency. Narcissa and Lucius were aware of the contract and the option they had to enact it for either myself or my younger sister, Astoria, if he gained headship. They attempted to leverage that over our family. Not knowing if they held the guillotine over neck or not, we had to be prudent and accede to some of their demands."
She shook herself out of her far away look. Harry noticed her knuckles had whitened briefly before she relaxed her tenseness. "I thought it prudent to be in Slytherin with Draco but still kept him at length, we aren't close. But, there was always the chance he would hold the future of myself or my sister and they pressured father to use his limited powers to do things that would benefit the Malfoy family."
Harry rolled his eyes. She was giving him information but not what he was wanting to know. She was setting expectations and making excuses for something. He had yet to get a full accounting of the Black wealth and assets. The estate was wholly disorganized with papers missing and a mess of transactions that didn't make sense. Arcturus' painting was close to useless. The lead to the Greengrasses was the only useful thing he really helped with. It was clear to Harry the portrait was not imparted with much in the way of secrets of the family.
"And the contract?" He had to ask again.
Daphne had the mug of butterbeer halfway to her and she slowly drank some before carefully putting it back down in front of her, delaying her answer, again.
"The contract is for the next heir to marry, as I'd said. But, a Regent Black could renegotiate it as long as they was agreeance with the head of my family. Whether Draco was the Head of the family or the Regent of it, mattered little. They could remove father as Steward and any ties we had to the family and maintaining that contract to be used at their discretion at a later time." She looked at him with that same keen gaze she'd had when she seemed to know more than he'd felt comfortable with back at the Hufflepuff table.
Harry wasn't sure what to make of that, especially given Susan's comment earlier. Was she warning him Daphne was going to be another player in the sweepstakes dating him? It seemed like she was more in favor of enacting the contract now than letting it linger. He could understand that, get it over with instead of potentially having it affect your own children.
"Your comments indicate that the Malfoy's made life difficult unless your father was willing to cooperate? Did they demand things not of benefit to the Black family?" Harry carefully scrutinized Daphne to see if her body language was giving anything away,though he wasn't expecting it.
Daphne sat a little straighter, almost rigid, "Yes. Father has it all detailed in case something like this happened. But, finding out when a contract ends, what the rents are for a property, what land is vacant, what a supplier charges, and so on and so forth, provides business information that can be used to your advantage. With only the ability to renew existing contract, and not negotiate new ones, the Malfoy's were able to steal away business from the Black family." She was strained in her delivery, the news was not going to be received well, she knew it and still was sure to deliver it. "The Black revenues have dropped sharply and much of what was lost went to the Malfoy family, not in ways that would be considered illegal, amoral sure, but not criminal." She wasn't pulling any punches here, she was letting him know the bare facts.
Harry slumped back in his chair. He had a sour look on his face. This was going to be worse than he'd hoped for. He groaned and shook his head back and forth slowly.
Why couldn't life be simple for once?
Relationships, a deadly tournament, dark lords, politics, business, finance and legal issues! He was 14! He shouldn't be dealing with all this hippogriff shit!
Harry took slow deliberate breaths. Getting worked up or overwhelmed wouldn't help. The list was long, seemingly growing by the day, and all he could do is focus on one task at a time, slowly chip away at it as fast and strategically as possible.
He brought his right hand to his forehead and rubbed it back and forth. Withdrawing it again he sat up and focused back on the rooms other occupant. "What is your play or request then?" Realizing he needed to be more specific he clarified, "I'm asking about the contract and the stewardship."
Daphne had started to say something when Harry cut off any attempt with his clarification. She pressed her lips together and deliberately didn't respond right away, she waited until she knew exactly what she wanted to say before she spoke.
"The contract was originally intended for my father's generation. Had he had a sister it would already be complete. Unfortunately, the Greengrass line has only been able to have a single birth before the Lady is incapable of having further children." She looked pained to say such a thing.
"Incapable of having further children?" Harry questioned that, what did that even mean?
Daphne's face tightened and a hardness came to her eyes. "Yes, incapable." She almost grunted out.
Harry took that in impassively but he wasn't going to just accept that. "Look, ostensibly you are hinting that your family would like the contract completed with me and if so, I deserve to know what this incapability is." His voice carried a harder edge to it but he wasn't going to force the information out of her. If they wanted to possibly entertain the idea of him courting one of their daughters they'd tell him or he'd not consider it, that was their choice to make.
"Ostensibly? Really Harry? Are you reading a dictionary wherever you are hiding out and learning?" She mocked him with a smile on her face, obviously deflecting from what he'd just asked.
Harry decided to take it in jest and chuckled. "I'm growing up." He said, shrugging.
"So it would seem." She muttered low enough that Harry wondered if she'd meant for him to be able to hear, or even voice it at all.
Harry let the gap in conversation wane, he had an idea he wanted to put out there still. He'd let Daphne pick the next direction of the conversation, continue on the current topic or head toward something else. He picked up his mug and drank some more.
Daphne watched him drink and frowned, she was warring with herself on what to say. WIth her eyes downcast she decided to explain her earlier comment. "The Greengrass line fled here centuries ago, around five or so ago. We were almost wiped out due to a blood feud and we've worked to rebuild our families position since. There is one thing… one curse that still affects us from that time."
Harry was surprised at her tone, it sounded so despondent, and she wasn't even meeting his eyes. This was heavy, his inner voice still wondered if it was an act, he didn't know if she was a good actress or not but wouldn't discount the possibility.
Unaware of his thoughts, Daphne had continued speaking. "There was a curse placed on our family trying to ensure our line ended. It was supposed to stop future generations from being born but it didn't. Instead, it seems only one child can be born to each Lady Greengrass. My Grandfather was an only child, my father is an only child, and my mother only bore me."
Harry tilted his head in response and was disconcerted. Her words didn't make sense, and obviously so. "You have a sister." He retorted blandly, a statement of fact.
"Yes." She said, her eyes lifting up to reach the height of his gaze on her. "I was born to Cynthia Greengrass, the first wife of Cyrus Greengrass, Astoria is the daughter of Cyrus and Dorothy Greengrass." She informed him in a tone mostly void of emotion.
"Oh." Now Harry felt like a cad.
"Mother died giving birth to what would have been my younger brother. He was stillborn."
The words cut through the room leaving an uncomfortable silence.
"Is Dorothy a good stepmother?" Harry asked tentatively, after wracking his brain for something to ask to kill the awkwardness.
"She died in childbirth as well." She told him, her face cold and impassive.
Just when things couldn't have been more weird…. "Sorry for your losses" Harry told her trying to be polite and at the behest of his limited emotional intelligence for these situations.
"It's long in the past." She said simply, regaining more of her normal self.
Harry was really hesitant to ask the question that was yearning to escape his mouth. In for a knut in for a galleon he thought to himself, deciding to just go for it. "Will it affect you?"
Her eyes bored into him, cold, hard and intense. He could see she had not liked being asked that and it had raised her ire. "Yes." She said scathingly. "I'll only be able to bear one child, Astoria too."
"What was done to your family to cause such a thing? I've never heard of anything like that!"
Daphne gave a bitter smile to Harry. "A bloodline curse, they call it. A ritual done to our bloodline."
"A- a ritual?" Harry asked carefully, he was no expert but he was learning quite a lot about them. Anyone doing at least two rituals per week, forty-nine in total, couldn't help but learn about them. Salazar had copious notes on the rituals, their ingredients, the preparation and their effects. He'd not come across anything like this so far but it was possible the knowledge of how to do, and possibly undo, was within the Chamber of Secrets.
He wasn't about to blurt out the fact he was well acquainted with them and may possibly working within the walls housing invaluable insight into rituals. He'd be keeping that secret from everyone, Dobby, his bound elf, would be the only one to know.
Daphne ran her hand through her hair, "Yes, a dark ritual. They'd captured the Head of our House and did some form of bloodline curse through a ritual. It was a blood feud and they were trying to end our line."
"But it didn't work?"
She sighed, "No, and the only real idea we know about it is that the ritual was disrupted somehow, or failed to work as intended." It was something her family didn't speak openly but in pureblood circles it was kind of obvious to anyone that paid attention. Greengrass women, and women that carried their blood, within their womb, were only able to have one child. They didn't want to introduce that issue into their own lines. It left them with poor prospects of marriage. If Harry asked around, he'd eventually find this out.
Harry was trying to hide his curiosity in the issue. It fascinated him. He was using rituals to improve himself and the facet of using them to destroy your enemies wasn't something he'd even considered. He was being led like a bridled horse and hadn't considered anything beyond where he'd been led. Experimenting on himself was terrible idea but experimenting on enemies that needed to die, while not ethical, was a possible route. He shivered, the line of thought was not one he would've had before this school year had gone off the rails. It scared him that his mind brought it up and what was worse, the lack of horror at the idea. Was Salazar leading him down a dark, depraved path?
"What did that have to do with the Black family and marriage contract?" Harry asked, breaking out of his thoughts.
Daphne had returned to her more natural state, poised and collected, as she answered. "My grandfather, and father, sought ways to remove the curse and the Black family is known for having an extensive library. They'd found a way to weaken it but it didn't go as they had hoped. My generation is the first to have two Greengrass children since the curse but the cost paid for it was terrible. Still, they had limited success as there are now two of us." There was a tightening around her eyes as she proclaimed the success of what her forebears had done.
"But as a Steward much of the knowledge is hidden. Only those bearing the name Black can access the family portion of the library. It was our hope that a marriage contract would allow for us to have full access and to find a solution."
Harry was perplexed by that, things didn't quite make sense. "Hold on, that doesn't match what you'd just said. Why would the Black family agree to marry a woman in your family if it would introduce the curse to their offspring as well? If it was to marry the heir, that would pass the curse onto the main line of the family." He was incredulous as he explained it.
"Ah, muggle raised, I forgot you may not know." Daphne replied. Harry looked at her with obvious inquisitiveness.
"The contract wasn't for a daughter of our house to be the only bride of the heir, nor did it guarantee the offspring would ever be named heir." Daphne explained, obvious discontent with the possible situation.
"Not the only bride?"
"You heard correctly." She told him, no emotion leaking into her voice.
Harry blinked slow, long and deliberately. He squeezed his eyes shut and wondered if reality was still occuring around him. Two wives? What a mess that would be!
"Nope, I'm going to ignore that. Two girls sounds great to a guy's wet dreams but the reality of it? There's a reason you wake up and the idea is total bollocks." Harry wasn't even entertaining the idea. "It's hard enough to consider one girlfriend but two? Then marrying both? No favoritism, dealing with being married to two women at once? Having two families at the same time. Nope, nope, nope, nope, nope. Insanity." Harry motored off the first thoughts on marrying two women. There was no workable solution in his mind and he'd not even consider the ridiculous idea. The sexual side he could understand, there could be benefits but everything else? Nope, no way, never going to work.
Daphne laughed at his horrified response, it was so genuine and not what she'd experienced in the wizarding world, namely purebloods like Draco Malfoy. She laughed a long and richly.
"You've got to be the first male scared of marrying two women by the downsides of it than rejoicing at the upsides." She was wiping away the extra moisture that had pooled in the corner of her eyes as she commented.
Harry laughed a little himself but having a proper family was a deep desire for him. The Mirror of Erised had shown his want at eleven correctly. He wanted a family, desired it, and now that he'd noticed women are not males lacking dangling appendages between their legs, he suspected the mirror would now show him the desire for his past and future family living whole and healthy lives.
"You tell me then, how that would even work." He told her somewhat grumpily, he was a bit put out that she'd laughed so much at his response.
She smiled at him, they were getting more comfortable around each other, though no less guarded. "Easy, it's been done for centuries in the wizarding world. What you don't understand is how marriage is viewed. It's a political thing, not a casual 'date whomever you'd like' and divorce someone if things aren't working. There isn't a clause to break the contract and as they are magical contracts you don't have issues many Muggles would."
"Take divorce as an example. It's not possible, the magical contracts are binding. Only if there is a specific provision for it to be exercised would it be possible. But, in our culture marriage is a lifelong commitment. I can't name anyone who would have that clause in a contract. Then you have infidelity. Again, in a magical contract, it is a term and you won't be able to cheat on a spouse, it's that simple." She seemed to be enjoying giving Harry somewhat of a crash course on magical marriage. If her facial expressions were anything to go by, she was clearly amused.
"Okay," He started out drawing out the word as he put his thoughts together, there was an obvious thing his brain was putting together.
"Ah! What about Death Eaters? They were said to have raped and tortured. How would they be able to do that if they weren't able to cheat on their spouses?" He knew there must have been a number of married purebloods in their ranks and the two facts didn't align.
Daphne wrinkled her nose in disgust, "There are loopholes with every contract." She said with disdain. "Muggles aren't considered much more than beasts as they lack magic, the defining trait of a man or woman by wizarding standards. Thus, rape of a muggle woman wouldn't be against the terms of the contract."
"Oh." Harry said softly. His stomach was strained with the gut wrenching worldview she'd just informed him of. It was disgusting.
"And the witches who were raped?" He asked, he'd been told of what happened to some families and rape was evident and a form of warning other families to fall into step or risk the same happening to their wives and daughters, they'd done it so there were no questions as to whether it had happened or not.
Daphne's face tightened again and Harry wondered if it was possible her family had been threatened with such things. They were neutral, he'd already checked to the best of his abilities, and if they were aligned closely with the Blacks, they should have fallen into line with the majority who'd supported Voldemort.
"I can think of two possibilities. The rape could have been done only by unmarried individuals. Secondly, there are sometimes provisions for enemies to be considered chattel, or spoils of war, and such a status would render them into the non-human status like muggles. It's not unheard of in centuries past…" She let her voice trail out, it wasn't pleasant to think about.
"Kind of wish I hadn't asked." Harry muttered.
Daphne cleared her throat to regain his concentration. She took a quick sip of her drink before speaking. "That leads us back to the contract. Our family was nearly successful on the last attempt and the contract was agreed to as a way to reward us for our loyalty and as a cost for access to their library, a daughter would be married into the Black family, ensuring our allegiance for generations to come."
Harry looked at her skeptically, "And you'd be willing to go along with that? You'd want to be one of the wives I could take? Not the only wife I take?" He asked, not believing a woman would want to be in that position.
Daphne sat back in her chair but kept her posture upright and proper. "It's either me, my sister, or our children. If I pay the price and am successful in removing the curse, it would free our family and keep my sister out of it." She said impassively. Harry noted she'd cut off her emotions after freely showing them.
"It's not like you are Malfoy. You're not dangling potentially abusing my sister, or myself, over my head. You're not showing up with demands to extort our family. Given that you are a Potter and Regent Black you will need more than one child and I cannot give that to you."
Harry thought she looked like she'd like to say more but she'd closed her open mouth and not said anything further.
"Was this what Susan and Hannah were going on about? She commented 'you poor boy' and, now that I've talked to you, I guess that's why? They know about your predicament?"
Daphne nodded slowly, a hardness was easily seen in her eyes.
"You are right," Harry started out, he kept focus on her as he spoke now, he wanted the seriousness and sincerity to come across properly, "I am muggle raised. But I'm learning, learning as quick as I can." He ran through his messy hair and down his neck. "I'm trying to find my way through all this but it's a lot to learn. Now this." He dropped his head and shook it back and forth. "How in the blood hell am I to even consider having a secondary wife?" He threw his hands up in the air, palms up.
"I can just see it now, 'Hey want to date me? I should just let you know I'm engaged to another girl but I'm looking for a wife cause she can only give me one kid and I"ll need a bunch.' Quite the pick-up line, isn't it? Who the bloody hell would go for that, it's ridiculous." Harry bristled just at the thought of how well that would go, he pictured asking Hermione and how quickly he'd have a handprint on his cheek, if he was lucky enough to not have a broken nose. He didn't even want to consider asking her dad, he might be a dentist but what father wants his daughter to be married off to a guy who will be having a side family? Insanity.
Daphne seemed to get some perverse sort of merriment from this. "That's easy to answer, I'd say Natalia would welcome it and possibly even Fleur."
"What? No way!" There was no tempering that response, it was natural and blurted out loudly before his brain could consider doing anything else.
"Yes way!" She retorted giggling at the dubious look Harry was giving her. It reminded her a childish arguments she used to get into with Astoria adding to her already happy countenance.
"No way!" Harry riposted, lightly laughing at their childish bickering as well.
Daphne hummed, "mmmmmhmmmmmm" She drew it out and exaggerated it with overemphasized head bobs.
"Fine then, explain." Harry pouted back at her, crossing his arms, humor still finding ways to evidence itself by keeping his attempt to frown from succeeding.
She smirked at him and Harry still didn't understand why she was enjoying this. She was pretty much asking to change the contract to marry him and be a wife while needing another one! Women didn't make any sense!
"Of course. What is Natalia's favorite thing, Harry?"
Harry furrowed his eyebrows, that is an obvious answer… where was this leading? "Dancing, ballet specifically."
"And what kind of schedule does a professional ballerina keep?" Daphne asked immediately, building off of his comment.
"A busy one?"
Daphne a short hollow laugh hollowly at his naivety. "Busy? It's a lifestyle, an all encompassing focus. Eating correctly, physical conditioning, skill improvements and medical upkeep are just one facet. While learning they would rehearse eight hours a day six days a week, that's not including what I first stated nor the warmup and cooldown work. You can bet on 10 hour days, 6 days a week, anytime they are in rehearsal. And during performances? You wouldn't see her unless she's sleeping or performing. This would be her schedule for, at minimum, 45 weeks per year, and during the off weeks, she'd be working on keeping up or improving her physical conditioning and bettering her own skills." The rebuke was more informative than Harry would have guessed. He knew Natalia trained hard but hadn't realized just how dedicated the profession required.
"Oh." He lamely stated.
"Yeah, 'oh'. Did you never think of just why her family didn't want her to pursue ballet? And don't look at me like that's some kind of secret, everyone that is politically inclined is aware of that open secret." She glowered at him when he looked upset at her comment about her family not wanting her to do what she loved.
"How do you think she'd make for a wife? You're complaining about the possibility of a second wife but if you married Natalia you'd be her second husband! She's already married to her career. You'd get the scraps, what's left over of her time and energy. And kids? You think she wants to pop out loads of kids when each one will ruin a least a year of her career and destroy all the hard work put into perfecting her body for ballet?" The chastising remarks from her removed Harry's chary attitude to her words. She'd thought this out and he had not.
"So you think she'd be for it because another wife would alleviate her need to fulfill the duties of a wife, letting her focus on her career?" Harry asked, thinking he had her reasoning figured out.
Daphne softened her tone from the biting remarks she had been making. "I don't know for sure but I'd hazard a guess she wants her career more than anything, anyone. Her family would be appeased by a marriage to you and they'd have a clause about which heir she would bear, whether it's Potter of Black. Then they have found a good match for her and if you wish to allow her to fulfill her dreams, they wouldn't care, they'd have washed their hands of her. She'd married off well and to the benefit of her family, just as they'd always expected and wanted."
Harry had suppressed a wince when Daphne said Natalia would want her more career than 'anyone'. At this point, it was probably true.
"So where does that leave us?" Harry asked. He was tired of having all these ridiculous issues to sort out. Instead of just sorting out who he may want to date he may now need to consider who and how many .
Daphne sat up straight, on the edge of her seat, and daintily folded her hands into her lap, ensuring she looked the picture-perfect regal young lady. "I know father would like to open up the contract and allow for marriage to the Regent Black. It is a lesser position than the future Head of the family and to the Black family's benefit. We'd ask no recompense for it other than selecting myself as the bride and ensuring it is to you and not to someone else you'd be eligible to pass the role onto, like Sirius Black, the convict, or Draco Malfoy."
"About that…. You said the Steward could handle legal issues?" Harry asked, a sly plan coming to mind.
"Yes." She responded shortly.
"I've a proposition then." A grin formed on his face.
"A proposition?" she asked, equally intrigued and leery.
"Yes. Let's call it a gesture of good faith." Harry really liked this idea.
Daphne stared at him, refusing to respond until she knew more.
"I won't be accepting or rejecting the discussion on the contract. I'd like your dad to work with a contact of mine that wishes for a closer relation to me. I'd like him to fulfill his role as Steward and right a terrible wrong done to a Son of House Black." Harry was smiling and almost bouncing with energy now, he was excited about this.
"What wrong was done to a Son of House Black? Something to you?" Daphne's face showed concentration and her fingers were restless in her lap as she tried to figure out what he could be talking about.
"Me? No. I'm talking about the lack of trial and wrongful imprisonment of Sirius Black."
Daphne gasped. "No, that's not possible. Walburga and Arcturus were both alive, they'd have never allowed it."
"Really? The man that wrote Sirius out of the ability to inherit headship and the woman who was said to have publicly disowned him? You think they'd have lifted a finger to help him?" Harry asked harshly.
"Yes." Daphne responded emphatically. "Allowing someone to wrong your House and not responding is a grave weakness. Father should have known and there is no way Susan's Auntie would stand for that." She was vehement in her response.
"Amelia wouldn't, but what about Barty Crouch? He was the Director of the DMLE then. Regardless, I've met Sirius, multiple times and he's never done anything to hurt me, his godson." It was a risk to let Daphne know about that but if her family was beholden to the Black's, he wasn't without leverage of his own.
"What?" She demanded. "You've met him?"
"Not just him," Harry smirked, "I've met the man who actually sold out my parents, Peter Pettigrew. He ratted them out and then framed Sirius, faking his own death." Harry told her earnestly.
A wide eyed Daphne sat back and thought about everything she'd just been told. "You want to get him a trial. But what if he's not innocent?"
Harry shrugged, "I'm certain he is but if he indeed a murderer that should be in Azkaban, he'd be returned there." It probably sounded callous but he honestly couldn't fathom that possibility.
"Except he'd get the Kiss. He escaped once and they'd make sure he got the Kiss instead of returning and chancing another escape. Could you deal with your godfather being soulless?"
"It won't come to that." Harry really believe that. "I've seen Pettigrew, I've talked with Sirius many times and been with him in person. Pettigrew had the Dark Mark and Sirius doesn't. It's pretty obvious."
"If you're sure." It wouldn't matter to Daphne but she knew it had the capacity to really hurt Harry given how defensive he'd been about the man. "I can ask my father to look into it, though you may need to return some of his responsibilities so he is able to work on your family's behalf."
"That's fine. I can do that later this week. I'll ask my contact to get in touch. He should be helpful, if he's connected as he claims to be."
"Who would that be?" Daphne asked, intent on finding that out.
"Horace Slughorn." He wasn't a lawyer and couldn't help out directly on that himself. But, if he was as politically connected as he claimed, he could smooth this out and begin working behind the scenes to pave the way. Harry had his own possibilities, Director Bones, hiring his own legal council, and his favorite reporter. It would be quite the coup if she broke the news and Sirius turned out to be free. Perhaps an interview to be printed to get the public doubting his status as a convict.
"You're getting quite connected, Harry Potter. Pavlov, Delacour and now Slughorn himself. The man who curried favor with half the prominent graduates from Hogwarts in his own time and then followed it up with creating a club for people he could garner future support from, for over half a decade. The only men who could claim to be as connected would be Dumbledore and, perhaps, Malfoy. He'd be an amazing resource, though he was supposed to have retired from his job and politicking, he's been rather quiet since the early-mid 80s."
Harry shrugged again, "I had dinner with him the other night. He plans to put together a little get together soon and introduce me to some people, he's quite the potions teacher too." Harry couldn't help but add that last part, everyone knew how awful Snape was at teaching.
Daphne stood and nodded at him, "Susan was right, life won't be boring around you."
Harry chuckled, "You've no idea."
She raised her eyebrow at him but when no follow up was coming she put out her arm. "As my potential betrothed, aren't you going to escort me out?"
Harry rolled his eyes and moved around the table to take her arm. As they took a step towards the door Harry realized he'd not asked one thing. He stopped abruptly, keeping hold of Daphne's arm so she mirrored his action.
"What about Fleur? You told me why Natalia might be okay with sharing me but why would Fleur?" He was really curious to know now, he'd not realized the reality of what dating, or marrying, a ballerina would entail and wanted to know if there was something equally obvious he was missing with Fleur.
"You don't know? I thought you didn't ask because you already knew, it's obvious she likes you but I've not seen you reciprocate…" She'd quirked her head at him before she spoke.
"No, I don't know." Harry told her.
"Ah, well, interspecies marriages make it hard to conceive. That's why there are so few so called half-breeds, like Fleur, Flitwick, Hagrid and Madame Maxime."
"What?" He said turning towards her. That wasn't what he was anticipating to hear.
"Fleur has one sibling, a sister who is 9 years younger. That age gap isn't intentional. They tried for a son and may still be for all I know."
"How do you know that?" Harry was a little skeptical but so far she'd been honest, at least as far as he could tell, and so, he was not fully distrusting of her words. He wasn't sure that the Delacour's would let something like that be well known.
"Father researched the possibility of other races being able to be a loophole around the bloodline curse. From what he found, there were constant issues with it and a primary reason that there aren't little half-veela running around everywhere."
Harry's head dipped back and he narrowed his eyes at the last part.
"What, you don't think more men wouldn't have loved to marry veela and have lots of offspring with them? Part of their magic is their beauty and ability to influence men. By all rights, they should be marrying tons of family." Daphne said it like it was the most obvious thing in the world.
"I guess so." He was still a little hesitant to believe it fully.
"Look, I don't know for sure, but I believe my father. Fleur isn't a full veela, it might not be an issue but it may well be. If I were you and if I was considering dating her, I'd look into it." She smirked at him, and added one more thought, "The only way I wouldn't be concerned is if I was a Weasley, they don't have breeding problems."
Harry looked at Daphne oddly and once he'd gotten over his surprise at her playfully joking about the family, he smiled. He actually enjoyed their chat tonight. For dealing with a former Slytherin, it was pretty pleasant. Harry repositioned himself so he would be escorting Daphne out of the room properly but she was giggling too much to leave.
She opened her mouth, fighting back giggles and told him what was giving her the fit of giggles she was experiencing. "Can you imagine what their kids might look like? A red-headed freckle-faced part veela Weasley!"
The mental image was too much, he understood why she couldn't control herself and succumbed to laughter himself.