I do not own Harry Potter or any associated characters. I own the plot and only barely. If you like what I've written please let me know. Thank you.

August 1993

By in large, Mankind's problem with change is that they have no control over it, and therefore it is scary. Properly working toasters don't spontaneously burn the house down, Elm tree's can't sprout legs and walk off, you can't go to sleep and overnight and have Latvia become the most powerful nation in the world, and you can't go to sleep a committed bachelor and wake up married with two kids and a mortgage.

Changes' problem with mankind, is that, by in large, they just don't get the joke. Toasters, like all things break down over time, and just because yesterday the toast was a bit dark, doesn't mean that today your house is safe from fire. As for the Elm tree, how do you know that the eighty year old tree that used to be in the backyard; but is currently taking up your favorite seat on the living room sofa didn't just trip? Latvia will have it's day, just wait for it. And ask people coming home from Las Vegas, some crazy things can happen overnight.

Now Harry Potter didn't usually have any problems with change. When you live with a family as stuck in their ways as the Dursley's, change is often quite refreshing. Weather it was Tuesday's dinner being fish and chips instead of spaghetti, or whenever Uncle Vernon got a new car, or even the days when Dudley swaps his dirty shirt for a clean one, change was usually a good thing. Heck, even the change of Aunt Marge coming to stay for a week was good, even though she was rude and crass while staying, in the end, Harry was happily staying the remainder of his summer vacation in a room overlooking Diagon Alley instead of a room overlooking a side yard.

I say he didn't usually have a problem with change, because today he had a problem. A rather big, life altering problem. Fortescue's was out of real whipped cream, and did he want some of the fake stuff on his sundae or not? The answer was yes, yes he did. Now, some of you might be asking, how exactly is an ice cream topping a life altering problem. Besides the fact that real whipped cream is infinitely better than the fake stuff, in all honesty it isn't. What makes this issue life altering is that the ten seconds it took Harry to decide allowed the witch that would become his future wife to walk in the store.

Now, this isn't one of those romantic comedies where a spot light from the heavens shines down, illuminating her face, nor did he feel a spark or an itch or even a pair of eyes watching the back of his head. In fact, Harry didn't even realize who had just entered the store, but he had to squeeze past them to get to his favorite chair in the outdoor section. If any of you doubt weather or not this couple was fated to be together or not, take this as a sign. Harry's first words to his wife, even though he didn't realize it at the time were:

"Excuse me."

Hasn't even been on one date and he's already apologizing. That's true love.

Anyway, as Harry was sitting down and enjoying his treat, the same girl he had squeezed past on his way out, left with a double scoop waffle cone of Double Chocolate chip and a take out pint of Peanut Butter and Chocolate chip. Seeing this cause three revelations to pop into his head. One; that was Daphne Greengrass, two; she was carrying what, at least to Harry, was 'I'm feeling sorry for myself food'. Three; Peanut Butter and Chocolate chip sounded really good.

What Harry didn't know about, didn't care about, and in fact would remain blissfully ignorant of (for at least a while longer) was that Daphne saw him. Not in the ice cream parlor, but just from the corner of her eye as she swept out the door and on to her next destination.

'Hey, isn't that Potter?' Flashed through her brain at the speed of thought and just as quickly she had moved on to her next topic of thought, how much she hated whipped cream. You see, Daphne had a lot on her mind that particular day, and that would be the catalyst for events to come. In magic, an unfocused mind often creates more problems than one with the intention to cause mischief.

Still August, still 1993

Early morning was Harry's favorite. He could eat breakfast and go into the Alley before it became too crowded. Today he had woken up with plans on finishing his history homework, which came with the added benefit of Fortescue's great ice cream, and then maybe he'd hang around Quality Quidditch supplies or just wander for the remainder of the day. When Tom handed Harry a note bearing the seal from Gringotts, Harry thanked the kind old bar keeper and opened the envelope eagerly. He expected this to be an account balance that he had asked for yesterday, but was surprised to find it a request for a meeting later on today.

After a productive day of writing and eating, Harry entered the hallowed halls of Gringotts and was politely escorted to a private meeting room. Inside were two people, one of which he didn't know at all, but if pressed, would say that it was Mr. Greengrass. This was mainly because Daphne was the second person in the room, but also because upon closer inspection he had a name tag that clearly said, Hi! My name is Paul G. Neither looked like they wanted to be here at all, with the elder almost radiating anger while Daphne had her head down and seemed to be embarrassed about something.

Compared to what Harry knew about wizarding culture, neither appeared how he expected, both in terms of their emotions, they didn't seem to be haughty and superior, but neither were they dressed in fancy silk robes or had on ridiculously expensive clothing. Their shoes were just that, shoes, and didn't seem to be made of dragon hide or even cow hide. That's not to say that they weren't dressed nicely, but it was more like when muggles dressed nicely. Mr. Greengrass was wearing black robes over a white button up dress shirt, with a black tie and black pants. If the robes were a a jacket, he wouldn't be out of place at a wedding, or maybe one of those fancy award ceremonies for film or music. He was a physically fit man with black or dark brown hair that was kept short and he didn't appear to be older than forty, but with the longevity of wizards, he might be older. His brown eyes were locked on Harry as the boy entered, before they dropped to glare at the back of his daughter's head.

Daphne was wearing a red t-shirt with "Stonehenge Rocks" on the front. Either she had done something to her normally blond hair, or the red in her shirt was causing a bit of red to appear as highlights in her hair. She wore faded blue jeans and seemed infinitely fascinated with the fraying lace on her white trainers. She wasn't wearing robes, which Harry had noticed seemed to be a trend among the younger witches and wizards. Adults seemed to wear them everywhere, but to kids, robes were akin to dress jackets and were left in the closet at every opportunity. He knew she had these bright blue eyes, but since she was staring a hole in her sneakers, he couldn't currently see them.

The goblin that had escorted Harry to the meeting motioned towards a chair that was opposite the two Greengrasses. A very impressive, very large table was situated between the two, which suddenly felt like a good thing, due to the intensity in the room. There was a deathly silence in the room as no one spoke for a minute, each side just staring at each other, or their shoes.

"Mr. Potter, Mr. Greengrass has asked that this meeting be strictly between the three of you, and since it is against Gringott's rules to leave armed wizards alone, we must ask you to temporarily surrender your wand for the duration of this meeting. They have already done so, and I'm afraid I cannot leave until you have either agreed to their terms or declined to continue this meeting." The goblin spoke. He motioned to a square box sitting in the middle of the great table, made of either wrought iron or very tarnished brass, which rotated 180 degrees to show harry that two wands were already inside.

Though he was now curious as to what kind of meeting could require the relinquishing of a wand, Harry placed his wand in the box. The goblin raised his hand the box floated over to the edge of the table, where it was locked magically and then carried out. The three were now alone and the discussion on whatever this was could begin.

"Mr. Potter, I'm sorry for meeting under these circumstances, but-"

"This is your fault!" Daphne yelled, the first words she had ever spoken to him.. Her hands were balled into fists and only her father's hand on her left shoulder was preventing her from reaching over the table and attempting to pummel Potter into pieces.

"Sorry, but how is this my fault, I don't know why we're here?" Harry asked, a bit louder than was necessary, but honestly having no idea why he was here, he didn't take getting yelled at well. Now, everyone knows there are things you shouldn't say to a woman, even if you aren't married to said woman just yet. 'Yes it does.' is at the top of that list, followed closely by any remark that contains the words 'your sister' and 'hot.' Only slightly lower is the question, "How is this my fault."

Daphne's eyes shone cold and her mouth opened to respond, but her father must have squeezed her shoulder because instead of whatever retort she had planned, she simply shut her mouth, crossed her arms and turned her head away.

"Nothing is your fault, Mr. Potter. Daphne is just upset, we all are actually, but none of it is any fault of your own." Mr. Greengrass spoke while keeping his eye on Daphne, but directing all his attention to Harry. "These past few days have been pretty hard on our family and while you're not at fault for any of it, this does involve you."

"I don't see how...er, sir." Harry replied. "I don't believe I've said more than two words to you or your daughter before today, and I can't remember ever having met you before today either."

"You are not mistaken." Paul replied. "But I think Daphne needs to explain how this involves the two of you."

At first the girl didn't speak, instead she turned her head further away from the table, and snorted in indignation. "Daphne..." Her father warned.

"It was accidental all right! Accidental magic." She yelled, still not daring to look Harry in the eyes. The soon to be third year Gryffindor though he heard her mutter "It's still your fault." under her breath, and judging by the darting glare her father sent her, he heard it too.

"I'm afraid I don't see what Daphne doing magic has to do with me." Harry stated, finding the interplay between the two sitting opposite him quite funny. Daphne didn't offer any answer, but Paul Greengrass reached into his robe pocket and pulled out a piece of parchment that he had folded into three. He pushed the yellowed paper to Harry and silently gave him permission to open this parcel. It was a standard form letter, almost identical to the one he received the year previous for that pudding incident. The only difference he noticed, besides the obvious fact that it wasn't addressed to him, was that instead of a spell being listed, all the letter said was Bonding. He read through the letter twice, just to be certain that he hadn't missed something, before raising his eyes. He opened his mouth to once more ask how he was involved in this, but Paul cut him off.

"I know that didn't answer your question, but you needed to see that before I could explain." Harry nodded, feeling that this was a gigantic waste of time the more he spent around these two.

"Earlier in the week Daphne spent the day at a friends house. Not having been there, I don't know what went on, and all Daphne would tell me was that they were talking about boys when she performed her bout of accidental magic, which not having been a teenage girl, I have no idea what that means and my wife just laughed at me when I asked her. But that's not important; anyway, we received this notice shortly there after and were just as perplexed as you to read what she had done. I was going to contact the Ministry for clarification, but it turns out that they didn't know what bonding meant any more than I did and asked for Daphne to appear and submit to some simple tests and we obliged."

Harry suddenly had a sense of foreboding, just like if this were a cheesy movie. Tests were never a good sign. Since they had already done the tests, this only left a few options. 1, the earlier tests were only able to signal him out and they needed to do more, or 2, the tests explained how bonding could require a meeting between a Slytherin, a Gryffindor and the Slytherin's father.

"The tests were only able to tell us a few things. First off, it it was determined that you were the target of my daughter's magic. Almost all the other findings seemed to be random and contradictory. I was given a list of things that had changed by Daphne's spell, but it wasn't until I showed it to a good friend of my who is a barrister that we were able to get our heads around what had happened."

Now, perhaps it was because he was only thirteen, or because he was a teenage boy and you know how well they think things through. Or perhaps Harry was just naive, maybe it was just his lack of understanding of the magical world. Whatever the reason, at this point, he was expecting something along the lines of 'if you ever touch my daughter you two will become glued together forever'. Or something similarly stupid Instead, Paul ruined his day by saying this.

"Are you familiar with Common-law marriages?"

Though his mouth was dry, Harry managed to choke on his own spit.

"What!"

"The process where by two people who have lived together for an extended period of time are given the same rights as married couples despite never having performed an official ceremony or filing for a marriage certificate. You are unaware what that is?" Mr. Greengrass asked, as it wasn't something that was likely to have come up in conversation in most households.

"No, I know what a common law marriage is...are you saying we're married?" Harry asked, gesturing wildly towards himself and Daphne who choked a bit herself at the idea.

"Well, not exactly." Harry blinked. You either were married or you weren't, there wasn't a somewhat married. You couldn't be married every other weekend and holidays, you couldn't even be partially married to as many different people as it took to create a whole marriage.

"I don't understand. If we aren't married, then why did you ask me if I knew what a common-law marriage was?"

"I apologize if I mislead you, the reason that I asked was that Common Law marriage was the closest thing that exists to your current relationship with my daughter."

"How so?"

"Well, according to the laws of England and the United Kingdom, you can only be common law spouses if both parties are of age to be wed, you can't already be married and it must be a consensual marriage. Since neither of you are old enough to be wed, even with parental agreement, you aren't married. But somehow you both have the same rights as a married couple.

"So we're what? Engaged? Bound together like soul mates? Betrothed to each other? What?" Harry asked, relieved that he wasn't married at thirteen.

"No. Not exactly. A betrothal contract would require the signature of your parents or legal guardians, which not only don't we have, we won't be seeking; same goes for engaged at your ages. You can't be engaged without parental agreement, and there isn't a legal definition of soul mates, so you're good there. Right know, we don't really know what this means, neither of you seem to be supernaturally attracted to each other, so there is no emotional attraction that has been created. Daphne hasn't told me about any new abilities or powers, as you can see, she hasn't suddenly sprouted two heads, which is always a good thing. Honestly, we don't know what this bond means or what will happen. This meeting was to inform you of this...connection that you now have."

"Let me see if I got this right." Harry felt the need to double check his understanding of the situation, and come on, someone you've never met before requests a meeting, drops words like Common-law marriage and you think you can keep all the facts straight through that? Good luck. "She," he pointed at Daphne, "did some accidental magic and somehow we're now 'bonded'. We're not married, not engaged, not even required to attend counseling sessions but she has all the rights of my wife?" Harry's anger was rising with each word he spoke. If he couldn't calm down he would end up saying something he would regret. 'If I'm lucky.' He though remembering how he had inflated his 'Aunt' earlier this month.

"Yes. No one we could find has been able to explain what happened between the two of you, what it means or what will, could or might happen in the future." Paul explained calmly. When the meeting had begun he had been angry, but not at Harry. Daphne had balked at even attending this meeting, thinking it would be best to just ignore this bond and let come what may. Paul was a fair, law abiding man and felt it at sporting, if not morally required, that he inform this young man of what his daughter had done. As the conversation went on, and Harry Potter's rage and anger became more and more pronounced, Paul felt his own emotions leveling off. Someone would have to at least try and keep the peace, and if it wasn't going to be Potter, then it fell to him to be the voice of reason, as Daphne surely wouldn't keep her tongue if pressed.

"Just where in the hell do you get to be angry over any of this!" Harry exploded. At first he had been intrigued by the meeting, but as more and more new information was piled onto him, the more calm Mr. Greengrass became, almost as if this was something he did regularly. Telling orphaned wizards that some girl they had never given the time of day to was now legally his...something.

"Mr. Potter -"

"No! I've listened to you for the past half an hour, so the least you owe me is to listen to me for the time being!" Mr. Greengrass closed his mouth and allowed Harry to continue. "I can understand that she wouldn't want to be associated with a Gryffindor like me, but I fail to see where you get off judging me just because I'm in a different house than your daughter!" He accused angrily. He was quite sure that the anger he had seen earlier had been was because of who he was, not the circumstances that lead up to the meeting.

"Mr. Potter,...Harry, I don't assume to speak for my daughter, but I must correct you. I don't care what house you were sorted into and if Daphne does than that is her opinion, although I had hoped to instill a belief that house lines don't matter, she is her own person." Paul's voice was strong and authoritative and Harry was instantly chastised.

"I do not deny that when you walked in I was in a foul mood, but it had nothing to do with you. Daphne and I had an argument prior to your arrival as to weather this meeting should even be happening. I am sorry that you feel I am adding too much to your life, I truly am. No child should be saddled with such knowledge at such an age, but I would rather the both of you know than remain ignorant until something happens down the road and we are unable to help or protect the two of you."

There was another bout of awkward silence as Harry allowed himself to feel guilty for jumping to a conclusion like that. Daphne was trying her hardest not to feel responsible for this situation, and Paul was trying to formulate the best way to tell Potter that his daughter may have access to his vaults. Another 'perk' of this new situation they found themselves in.

"You said you were given a list of things that changed?" Harry asked after a moment. "Of what rights we have in regards to each other, right?"

Paul nodded and reached into his robes a second time, for second piece of parchment, once more folded into thirds. It wasn't a long list, there were only a few items on it and honestly, not too many of them were very important. While they weren't married or engaged, they did have a bit of a relationship now. Since there was nothing preventing either one from marrying someone else of their choosing, the other 'bond mate' had a kind of veto, where they could try and force the bond to be recognized, something that Paul barrister friend had noted was (a spotty argument at best). If successful, they would be recognized as common-law husband and wife. Both had the right to visit the other in the hospital and had the right to see copies of bank statements, taxes, and holdings, though they couldn't sign forms for the other. It wasn't until Harry reached the bottom of the short list that something caught his eye.

"It says here 'bank accounts shared?' You actually have access to my accounts?" Harry asked shocked. The vault he had was, to his knowledge, all he had to live off of while out of school, and he wasn't even sure if he had to pay for tuition or room and board each year.

"Well, we're not sure." Paul answered. "One of the reasons I picked Gringotts as a meeting place was the regulation on wands. This is an emotional issue and accidental magic has already cost us all enough. Secondly, the goblins don't have any stake in this turn of events and thirdly, we wanted to ask for clarification on that issue ourselves." Harry nodded. He wanted answers as well. And then he wanted dinner and a good long nap, but first thing first.

Mr. Greengrass walked to the door and pulled it open. The goblin that had escorted Harry in was waiting patiently outside.

"We have a question about the policies of the bank, are you able to help us?" He asked politely.

"I will assist as best I am able, but I may not be able to answer you." The goblin replied.

"Please come in." Paul invited and held the door open for the goblin who quickly stepped in and allowed the door to slam shut behind him. Paul returned to his seat and sat down, while the goblin stood at the head of the table.

"Recently, some accidental magic has bound Mr. Potter and my daughter together and, while we don't know what that means exactly, the ministry has provided a list of rights that reflect the current relationship between the two." Paul motioned towards Harry and the list he still held in his hands. Harry realized that this was his cue, passed the list onto the goblin who removed a pair of spectacles from his shirt pocket and scanned through the list.

"Judging by the question mark on this last item you are unsure as to how these two are affected financially, am I correct?" He received nods from all in the room. " Allow me to check our records to see if either Mr. Potter or Ms. Greengrass' names appear on any accounts other than their own." He quickly walked out the door, leaving the list sitting on the edge of the table. A couple of minutes later he returned with another goblin and three sealed envelopes. Passing one envelope to Harry and the other two to Daphne and her father he gave them a moment to study them.

"As you can see, since the Ministry is not recognizing this as a marriage, neither are we. All accounts are registered to only the people they were originally set up for and the permissions for those accounts have remained unchanged as well." Everyone let out a small sigh of relief at this news. "I take it from your reactions that this is good news?"

"Yes." Everyone chorused.

"Given that this is new territory to both you and Gringotts, I have brought the head of our legal department Strongclaw to give you our standing in all this."

Strongclaw was a much older goblin, with wrinkly skin and graying hair. He thanked his younger coworker and cleared his throat before addressing the humans.

"As my colleague stated, this is a new area for all of us. While currently we would deny Mr. Potter access to Ms. Greengrass' vault, I cannot say for certain that in the future that would not change. What I recommend would be to have these two sign contracts that would explicitly deny access to the other's vaults. This can always be reversed if situations change, but for now it seems to be the most sensible thing to do."

Harry looked at Mr. Greengrass, whose eyes clearly showed that he agreed with the suggestion, and Daphne, to Harry's surprise, was looking up instead of at her shoes, agreed with him. Fifteen minutes and a small service fee (that the Mr. Greengrass insisted on paying, despite Harry's protests) the three were able to retrieve their wands and exit Gringotts. Before he could return to the Leaky Cauldron for dinner and that nap, Harry was stopped by Daphne grabbing his shoulder and spinning him around to face her.

"Look, I don't like this any more than you do-" Harry snorted in agreement, earning him a cold glare. "We might be 'bonded' and while we don't know what that means, I can assure you that I will be ignoring it for as long as possible. We might have more rights and privileges towards each other, but I won't exercise any of them if you don't. Deal?"

Harry thought about it for a moment. While most of what existed between the two of them was on paper only, he couldn't help but feel that this might be important down the road. But he hadn't arrived to that destination just yet.

"Deal. None of this happened, agreed?"

"Agreed!"

The two went their separate ways and true to his word, Harry didn't speak of this to anyone. Which is how one year later, Harry would get into a major fight with his best friend, but again, that was down the road and he wasn't there yet. The remainder of summer came and went, Harry spent his days exploring the shopping center of magical London and Daphne spent her summer...doing whatever it was that she did. They didn't care about what happened to the other and instead enjoyed themselves while there was still what felt like England between them. In reality the Greengrass' lived in Wales, so there wasn't really that much between them, but it felt an entire country.

November 3, 1994

Ron Weasley wasn't the biggest fan of change. About the most change he could handle was if the Chudley Cannons were a bit better, but since they had been pretty much horrible his entire life, he wasn't sure about that. There was something reassuring about knowing that the Cannons would loose every match they played. It took a lot of guessing out of life, and that was what Ron liked about them.

Yes, to Ron same = safe. But not much had been staying the same lately. First there was the Triwizard tournament happening at the school, where one student from each of the three biggest magic schools in Europe competed for fame, glory and a thousand galleons. All in all, that was okay with Ron, while it shook his world up a little, the excitement made up for it and getting to be within a hundred feet of Viktor Krum would make his year. At least it had, until three nights ago when Harry had been selected as a fourth champion. Ignoring the fact that Quadwizard tournament sounded ridiculous, Harry was once more thrust squarely into the spotlight. That was normal for Harry, always getting the attention, always the one that everyone wanted to be around. For once Ron was looking forward to being out of the spotlight and having Harry there to accompany him. But no!

Now, it was likely a mistake that he had lost his temper and blown up at Harry right after he had been returned to the common rooms, but Ron was once more left out of the glory that was Harry's spot light. Ron felt guilty about it almost immediately, but delayed apologizing until today because he had other things on his mind. He was going to make a quiet apology just before Potions. His plan was good, Harry was usually so distracted before potions, worrying about how mean Snape would be that he often didn't pay attention to much and would agree to anything. This was a sound plan, but as the saying goes, even the best of plans don't survive first contact with the enemy. And Ron Weasley was about to come into contact with the enemy.

The first flaw in his plan was that he ran late. By the time he got to potions he didn't have time to apologize to Harry before hand, and would have to do it later. Still he thought it no problem and would simply delay his return to good graces. Had he been more astute, Ron would have noticed that Harry was more distracted than usual, but not due to Snape. Something was going on with the Slytherins, but not their normal something. On any other day, the bulk of their time would be spent heckling Harry, especially since the events of Halloween. Today they were quiet...too quiet. It didn't sit well with Harry but since he was expecting to be the focus of their attacks, it was a complete shock when he noticed Draco Malfoy almost every other Slytherin behaving like angels for the duration of class. Since it was their last class before lunch, everyone filed out quickly trying to make it out of the cold dungeons and into the relative warm of the Great Hall. Harry got stuck behind cleaning up his supplies and as such was the last Gryffindor to leave. Ron waited patiently outside and was going over his words in his head when Harry came out, just as Draco and his usual posse re-appeared from the direction of the Slytherin common room, smiling and generally seeming pleased. Two things that should cause even the most brave hearted of Gryffindors pause in worry.

Draco caught Harry's eyes as the Gryffindor exited the classroom and the smirk that appeared on the blond ferret's face sent a shiver down Harry's spine. He saw Ron waiting for him and was going to ignore him, but Ron seemed to be nervous, which Harry knew that whatever he was going to say would be difficult for the red head, hopefully an apology. Just as Ron started to speak Harry noticed Daphne and another Slytherin in their year, Tracey Davis storming out of the depths of the castle. Daphne was moving quickly while Tracey seemed to be trying to pull the girl back towards the dungeons. They were halfway up the stairway when Daphne turned around and said something to Tracey that Harry couldn't hear, but when she turned around she was facing him and he could see her face. She had a bruise forming on her left cheek and her left eye was beginning to blacken and swell up. She had a cut and fattened lip and though these injuries looked fresh, she didn't have any tears flowing from her eyes, just a steely look that showed how determined she was not to show any hurt.

She only faced Harry for a second and then she was gone up the stairs, leaving Tracey alone on the stairs. Ron hadn't noticed, he had just continued talking, not realizing that Harry wasn't paying him a lick of attention. Behind him, Tracey turned around and finally seemed to notice Harry and Ron. She had tears in her eyes, either because of what happened to Daphne or because of what the blond had said to her. They weren't falling, it seemed to be a Slytherin trait that you didn't show emotion in the presence of others. But when she saw Harry something clicked in her and her brown eyes sharpened. Even thought the plan that had just leaped into her head was beyond risky, she felt it was her friends only hope. Tucking a lock of her caramel brown hair behind her right ear, she inhaled deeply and marched down the steps, coming to a stop behind Weasley (who still hadn't realized that Harry wasn't paying any attention to him) and waited. After a few seconds of Ron talking things just became too awkward and Harry decided to cut him off.

"Ron, I think we need to continue this conversation later, I've got someone I need to speak to."

"Who?" Ron asked rather dumbly, never noticing the presence of the Slytherin behind him.

"That would be me Weasley, now if you'll excuse us..." She let the sentence fall into silence as Ron jumped at her voice before turning back to Harry and noticing the resolve in his eyes agreed that his apology could wait. But he wasn't leaving.

"Fine, but I'm not leaving Harry alone with a snake." Ron was practically growling, daring Tracey, who was a good three inches shorter than Harry, which made her almost eight inches shorter than Ron, to make a move. Tracey wouldn't be suckered in by Ron's attempt at a taunt, and if Potter wanted to have some backup then whatever.

"I need to ask you a favor." She began, eyes never loosing contact with the shorter of her two conversation mates. "Well, it's for Daphne actually, but if she knew I was asking you to do this she'd kill me."

"What'd you do?" Ron asked. "Borrow her favorite top and get pudding on it?" Poor, poor Ron. Trying so hard to be funny and just not even coming close.

"Potter, you need to talk with Dumbledore and get him to help her. Draco turned most of the House against her and they attacked her just now!" She started out strong but her voice turned pleading at the end. Daphne was her friend and though she might not be able to directly help her, if Tracey could convince Potter, than she would have to settle for that.

"Why would Malfoy attack someone in his own house?" Harry asked, inadvertently cutting off another Weasley ill-timed joke.

"I don't know how, but somehow he found out about that thing from last summer." Tracey replied, ignoring the lost look that Ron had on his face.

"What thing?" The red head asked. While he didn't get it, it only took Harry a second to realize what Tracey was tip toeing around and realized that Tracey must have been the friend that Daphne was meeting with when the accidental magic occurred.

"What do you want me to go to Dumbledore for? Surely Snape can help you."

"No, Professor Snape is too busy with inter-house issues and the tournament to deal with this, you need to go to Dumbledore and get him to help. This is the worst it's gotten, but Draco's been trying to get a rise out of Daphne since Halloween. He's convinced Pansy and Millicent to break into her things and he's got the rest of the house against her."

"Again, why don't you go to Dumbledore. What can I do that you can't?" Harry asked. He really hoped that there wasn't any thing different, because either his saving people thing was kicking in, or he was actually feeling sorry for Daphne, and he tended to help people when he felt sorry for them.

Tracey fidgeted with her hands and ducked her head. Ron was staring between the two like they were speaking Japanese. Harry was speaking civilly to a Slytherin. Harry! A Slytherin! The two didn't mix, shouldn't mix! Harry was the Slytherin killer, both figuratively and literally! Basilisk, dead, Voldemort, dead-ish! Slytherin quidditch team, beaten every year he'd played them! He wasn't supposed to get along with them, he was supposed to make them cry in pity and shame! He was going to ask what the hell was going on when Tracey found her nerve and cut him off at the knees.

"You can get her into the married quarters!" She spoke so quickly that Ron had trouble hearing properly, because he though she said married quarters.

"NO!" Harry yelped, surprised at her request. This wasn't what Ron was expecting. He was thinking more along the lines of a what, or a huh? Maybe a saaay whaaat? But not a no. No was far too understanding for what Davis had said. No meant Harry knew what he was being asked of him. "I mean," Gryffindor's golden boy continued, flustered. "don't get me wrong, I want to help, if only to piss off Malfoy, but we both agreed that we'd ignore it and that is the exact opposite of ignoring it! Married quarters, no! I mean, I'll help you prank Malfoy, I'll turn him into a fly and squash him, but married quarters-they have those?"

Harry continued to ramble on, every other sentence ending with either the words 'married quarters' or some outlandish plot to embarrass Draco. Tracey felt that his constant use of the word meant that he wasn't totally unresponsive to the idea, and so she grabbed his arm and proceeded to drag him towards the Great Hall, Ron Weasley in tow, his mouth open and brain still back with the differences between no and what.

Harry's brain wasn't entirely there, but his feet kept on churning to keep up with Tracey as she continued to drag him towards what would at least be a very embarrassing experience and at worst would end with his marriage or death. Before he realized it, they had arrived at the great hall and he paused, eyes scanning the hall looking for any sign of Dumbledore or Daphne. The former he found at the head table exchanging conversation with Professor McGonagall. The later he couldn't find, although Draco's annoyingly bright hair was standing out like a sore thumb from the Slytherin table.

As Tracey continued to drag him forward, he could hear Ron catch up with them, and Hermione ran over from where she had been sitting at the Gryffindor table, and not so quietly demanded to know what was going on. Before she could get her answer, Tracey and Harry arrived at the head table and before every student, every teacher in the Great Hall, Tracey began her appeal.

"Professor Dumbledore, I need you to help my friend. She's in the Hospital wing because she was attacked in the common room by Draco, well, most of the house!" Her relative calm she had when she was asking Harry to do this in the dungeons was gone, and she began to talk faster and faster, until Harry was certain that only every fourth word was actually a word.

"Ms. Davis, please calm down and speak slowly." The Transfiguration professor pleaded, her head was dizzy trying to understand the fourth year girl. Tracey followed those instructions and after a deep breath to gather her courage, just came out and dropped the bomb.

"Please, move Daphne and Harry into the married quarter! She's not safe in the Slytherin dorms!" McGonagall was dumbstruck, while Dumbledore actually seemed to be caught off guard. He wasn't aware that Harry and Ms. Greengrass were married or engaged. Professor McGonagall recovered first.

"Ms. Davis, you can't just request that your friend be moved into married quarters against, Mr. Potter and Ms. Greengrass would both have to agree to that, and that's if they were married. To my knowledge Mr. Potter and Ms. Greengrass haven't ever spoken to each other, so I fail to see how they can be married."

"We're not!" Harry quickly interjected. But in a smaller voice added "But we are bonded and we have the same rights as married people."

McGonagall was shocked, Harry was fourteen, he couldn't be married, or engaged or whatever they were, he just couldn't be! Hermione was lost, seeing as Ron hadn't been able to complete a sentence, let alone fill her in on why Harry was being dragged in front of the Headmaster by Tracey Davis. Ron, well, after all he had witnessed today, his brain was about as useful as oatmeal. Less so, because oatmeal is good for you, but that's beside the point. Before Professor McGonagall could come up with something to say, Dumbledore took charge of the situation.

"Ms. Davis, I will go to the Infirmary to check on Ms. Greengrass and if what you say is true, then something will be done to rectify this situation. Mr. Potter, if what you say is true than I would very much like you to accompany me and we can discuss your options. It would help your claims if you had some kind of proof." The old wizard stood up and walked out of the Great Hall with Tracey quickly following after him. Harry, Hermione and Ron just remained standing there, along with McGonagall, no one was entirely sure of what had just transpired. Hermione kept on looking between Harry and the professor, hoping someone would have an answer to her still unanswered question. Ron...oatmeal, still, and Harry was arguing with himself. He could still back out of this, recant what he said, or just decide that he didn't want to move to the married quarter, he still couldn't believe they had those, he though Tracey might be pulling his chain, but the way Dumbledore didn't start laughing at the idea, they might be real.

Realizing that the Headmaster had wanted him to join him in the Hospital wing, he turned to head that way when he recalled what the Headmaster had said about proof. The list of rights as well as Harry's copy of the vault contracts were still in his trunk by his bead. They were stuffed in the bottom, but they were there. Deciding he would grab those, he made a quick detour before heading to the infirmary. Tracey was waiting, rather impatiently if her pacing was any indication, just outside the door and she nodded her head appreciatively as Harry passed her. Inside, Harry saw Dumbledore speaking with Madame Pomfrey, while Daphne lay (ironically) in the bed that Harry usually occupied by the end of the year. Dumbledore must have mentioned something because when she saw him enter the room she tried to stare a hole through his head with as much venom as she could muster.

Harry quickly realized he didn't want to be on the receiving end of that glare any time soon and thought maybe he was being a bit rash in his decision. He was glad to see that Daphne appeared to be all healed up though.

"Harry, I thank you for coming." Dumbledore came over and said. "Ms. Greengrass has, rather grudgingly, confirmed your story about the bond, and her father has been sent for and should be coming soon. I want to be sure that you know what you're doing, according to Ms. Greengrass, you two are not married right now, but to move into the married quarter, you must obviously become so. This isn't something that should be entered into lightly."

Harry bowed his head and thought. The Headmaster was right, this was major, he was basically trading his own freedom to protect a girl he had no history with. Yes she was pretty, beautiful even, and yes there was this bond and maybe this was part of that, but since he had seen her on the steps, Harry had felt very protective of Daphne. Could he give up his freedom for her safety? Would she even be willing? From what little interaction they had, he knew she was stubborn. Was Malfoy bad enough that she would even agree to this? Sure he was a ponce, and liked to throw his father's weight around, and only seemed to have power because of his money, but was he bad enough that Daphne would give up freedom, give up her free will to choose her husband, just to stay safe? Malfoy was just a bully right? He wasn't bad enough that she would agree to this preposterous idea, would she?

But then, in the midst of all these questions, Harry had a revelation. It didn't matter weather she accepted or not. Weather they got married or engaged or bonded or not. Could he, in good conscious, allow Draco Malfoy to injure someone and not try and stop it? Not try and make things better? He raised his head.

"Sir, I know this is a major event, and I don't believe that if she accepts this offer it's because she loves me. But I have to give her the choice, she is more than free to tell me to shove it, and a large part of me hopes she does, but I would rather offer and be shot down than not offer and return her to a situation where she isn't wanted."

Dumbledore gazed into Harry's face. His jaw was set, his eyes determined and focused. This wasn't what either child wanted, but everything he knew about Harry said that the boy would damn himself a thousand times over before he allowed others to suffer when he could prevent it. He sighed deeply in regret. Harry was being forced to grow up far, far too quickly.

"Very well. We will wait for her father to arrive before we ask her. I have some questions for him and perhaps there is another option."

With that, the aged wizard returned to speak with Madame Pomfrey while everyone awaited the arrival of Mr. Greengrass. When the man did arrive, he first went to his daughter's bed and began a quiet conversation. The Headmaster joined them after a moment and judging by the sudden stiffness that Mr. Greengrass displayed, he had dropped the bomb. Harry Potter was willing to marry his daughter.

After some more hushed conversation, which Harry wasn't involved in other than he could kind of see around the hospital dividers, Mr. Greengrass came out and approached him.

"Mr. Potter, I had honestly hoped never to see you again."

Well that's a great way to start a conversation.

"Daphne and the Headmaster have told me what you have offered to do, and while I'm sure Tracey had the best intentions in mind when she told you that, it's okay if you don't want to go through with this."

"Thank you, sir, but even though I don't have to do this, I would feel better if I at least offered. I've never liked Malfoy and if he's picking on Daphne, hurting her, because of me, then I can't not offer to alleviate that."

"Well, at least you have that in common. Daphne hasn't liked Malfoy since she met him either. You'll have that in common, which is good, because for whatever reason, she's agreed to this." Paul stopped and pinched the bridge of his nose and choked back a sob. "Sorry, but someday when you have kids of your own, one day one of them will get engaged and I can only hope that it's not at this age. Realizing that you can't protect your little girl and she's not even a legal adult...it's...not a pleasant thought."

Harry didn't know what to say. His hope that Daphne would laugh in his face and tell him how dumb he was to worry about her. To tell him that Malfoy was just a worthless pile of dung and that she could handle herself...it just made Harry's protectiveness even more fierce. Whatever Malfoy had done, whatever he had said, or his cronies had said it was enough to frighten her into this. To pick forced marriage over a bully...could that even be considered a bully?

"I don't know what to say, sir." Harry said. "I've only ever dreamed of the day when I would get married and have a family but here I am. I can't promise that this will work out, but I can promise that I'll make sure that whatever happened to cause this situation...it will never happen again!" He sounded a lot more confident than he felt.

"Harry, call me a selfish man, but I just want my little girl to be happy. Obviously she doesn't feel safe or happy where she is, so I hope this will rectify that. I can't promise that one day the two of you will fall madly in love, though I hope that you will spend the time to talk and get to know each other, but until then, even if all I can do if offer you advice when you ask for it, that's the role I will fill."

Later that afternoon, Daphne was released from the infirmary and she and Harry were lead to their new quarters. It was almost equidistant from both the Slytherin and Gryffindor houses. Harry had spent the remainder of the day talking with Mr. Greengrass and the Headmaster about these arrangements while Daphne had mostly remained silent. Through a bit of legal maneuvering it was determined that Harry and Daphne could occupy the married quarters while only engaged, but that was only a temporary fix. At the end of the year, Daphne and her family would look at transferring to another school if Daphne was still being threatened in school. Then Harry could break the engagement without any penalty and both would be free again. But if Daphne wanted to return or if the two actually developed feelings for each other, they would be married in the second week of Summer holiday.

Their rooms were hidden behind a landscape portrait of the Black Lake and were shocked by the size of their quarters. They each had their own rooms, at least until they were actually married, along with a common sitting room complete with fireplace as well as their own bathroom to share. There was even a little kitchen area where they could do some limited cooking if they so wished. Dumbledore had told them that the house elves (who had moved their possessions in during the day) would be more than happy to provide them with food if they asked and the Great Hall was always available to them.

Harry was not looking forward to the questions that would inevitably come in the morning from his friends and house mates but he was too tired to think about it today. The newly engaged duo stopped in the middle of their new living room and paused. Neither knew what to say. What could one say? 'Sorry for getting engaged to you?'

"I'm going to sleep Potter. I guess I'll be seeing you in the morning." Daphne said in a tired tone of voice. Now Harry could have simply said something along the lines of 'good night' and gotten away with it. But he felt there was something he just had to get off his chest.

"Listen, Gr- ...Daphne, this...I know you probably wouldn't have chosen this if you felt you had another choice. I want you to know that I didn't do this out of pity, I did this because I couldn't stand by and see you hurt because Malfoy hates me. Whatever he did to you, it's not going to happen again and-" Daphne cut him off.

"Look, Potter...Harry. I'm not in the mood for this right now. For now, let's come to an understanding. Right now, we don't know each other, we don't like each other." She licked her pink lips and closed her blue eyes in exhaustion. "Let's make another deal. That we'll both put our all into...whatever this is between us. We do that and at the end what happens, happens. I owe you a thank you for doing this, but neither of us are ready for the lovey-dovey-feely crap. Not now, definitely not tonight."

"No, your right." Harry paused. "Not tonight."

Daphne nodded and turned to go to her room.

"But one night, one day I hope you can confide in me. Maybe never as a fiancée, never as a husband, but at least as a friend."

She stopped and listened. She didn't turn around, couldn't. She just stood there and listened to Harry's speech.

"Whenever you are ready to talk, or want to talk. I'll be here and you can believe that I will do whatever I can to help you."

Now it was Harry's turn to turn and go into his room. He was inside and closing the door when he heard Daphne's hushed reply. She hadn't moved from the spot in the living room.

"Thanks. Harry."

When she got into her room she finally broke down. The events of the day were finally allowed to be purged from her being. Draco was an ass, she didn't know how, but he knew about the bond. She could live with that. So he and his followers had attacked her today, making fun of the fact that she was connected with the schools second champion. That 'Harry Bloody Potter' antithesis of everything they believed in, enemy in all they did, was the man she was connected to most closely.

Daphne wasn't afraid of Malfoy. He was all puff and no substance. What worried her was some of the older students. She could defend herself well enough against students her own age, but some of the older students were death eaters in all but name, and for a Slytherin to be associated with Potter...they were dangerous and unpredictable. Professor Snape would help when he could, but with all the trouble Slytherins got into with other houses, he had no time for fights within his own house, so long as no one was seriously injured or killed.

But it was Potter, Harry now, that was why she was crying. Typical Gryffindor, he had thrown himself between her and her problems and had offered her a way out of the strife that was brewing in her house. Not only was he selfless, he was brave and just the exact opposite of the boys she had known in Slytherin. Not having a brother, her father was her only male role model, and she loved her father. While Astoria took after their mother, Daphne was her Father's daughter and Harry was the first male to treat her half as well as her own father. She would fall asleep still in her robes but on a comfortable bed and without the worry of reprisal overnight for the first time since Halloween.

In his own room Harry Potter wondered what he was getting himself into, but finding himself more intrigued by the challenge than scared by the unknown. The future held so much that he didn't know and couldn't conceive of, but he would face them just as he had faced the events of today.