Disclaimer: Harry Potter isn't mine.
Another story, I know. ;) I'm working on That Explains A Lot… though!
Chapter 1 A Hellish Arrangement
December1995
Lily Potter was a lot of things, but first and foremost, she was a mother. Lord Voldemort may have disregarded Katherine because of her sex, but she didn't. And Katherine didn't either.
Her baby was going out there, right alongside Neville to fight Voldemort. Sometimes she went out alone, searching for horcruxes, protecting the weak… Lily feared that one day she would never come back.
James thought she was being brave. Sirius called her revolutionary. She and Remus knew the girl was being reckless. That it was only a matter of time before…
"I am not making this decision lightly." Lily sipped her tea. She was one of the few female members of the Order of the Phoenix, but unlike Nymphadora, she chose the more traditional route and was a healer instead of a fighter. That meant she had to spend her time waiting during battles, waiting for some to come back in pieces and some not to come back at all.
"And you think I am?" Narcissa, who rarely left Malfoy Manor, was gracing her presence to a Muggleborn. Lily was expecting silence and for the woman to leak it to the paper. Then, James would either laugh it off or divorce her.
You see, Narcissa wasn't afraid of the Dark losing the war. She knew they were winning. But she was afraid of losing her son in the process. Part of Lily was surprised that she cared, that raising one of Lucius's rumored bastards as the heir would be a small price to pay for Voldemort's victory.
Narcissa's lips curled in disgust at the contract before her. "Lucius will not take the mudblood, no matter that she is your ward. Our reputation will be in shambles. Not to mention the war reparations. It is your heir, or nothing, Potter."
Muggleborns needed to be mentored by "proper" families if they wanted to attend Hogwarts. Lily adopted Hermione when the girl was ten. After Voldemort had her parents slaughtered like pigs.
And Hermione, perhaps out of gratitude, agreed to this. She was legally a Potter and would have a dowry that young girls only dreamed about. Hermione understood that they needed Narcissa's secrets and intellect to win this War. Katherine would laugh in her face and go back to risking her life on a daily basis.
Lily cast her eyes downward. The china tea cup, one of the only things she had left from her parents, shook in her hand. "James will not allow it."
"James was stupid enough to make you his equal in this marriage," Narcissa hissed. "Has given you rights that are not meant to be a woman's. Use them to your advantage or your daughter will be dead before the year is out."
Last week, Katherine nearly bled to death. Lily had to try to heal her while not looking at the green eye that was hanging out of its socket. By the weekend, her daughter was out fighting again. What would happen next, if things didn't change?
With a shuddery breath, Lily slammed down her tea cup and took out her wand. She waved it over the marriage contract and held back tears as she watched Hermione Potter change to Katherine Potter.
Her daughter would hate her forever, but she would be alive.
August 1997
Voldemort was dead, and the celebrations seemed endless. Even Hermione wore dress robes instead of her usual trousers that made people whisper and point. Kat, like Ginny and Tonks, only wore trousers during battles. Hermione was trying to make a statement that was years ahead of its time, Ginny claimed.
But now was not the time for statements or critiques on wizarding society. Now was the time for cake and cooing at Tonks and Remus's new baby, Teddy. There was no time for reality, not yet anyway.
"You're next, Kat!" Ginny teased as Kat snuggled with the baby by the fire. Hermione refused to marry until she could legally choose her husband. Ginny pretended that she would "one day" marry. Kat knew Dad would let her marry whoever she wanted, so she decided to leave the politics to her friends. She was done fighting.
"During NEWTs?" Kat mimicked Hermione's look of horror when anyone mentioned doing anything during NEWTs year besides preparing for the tests. "Like Neville would want Hermione reading at our wedding!"
Everyone knew that she and Neville were going to marry ever since they started working together to fight the prophecy. Sure, they only kissed a handful of times when they could get a moment alone, but they had been through hell and back together. They were meant to be.
"I'm sure James would love to discuss this during the feast," Remus said as he took his son back. Teddy cooed and started drooling as he reached for his father's hair. "He will not sign a contract until you're twenty, Katherine. You know that."
Kat put a hand over her head and pretended to faint. "You mean when my eggs are all dried up?"
Remus shook his head and smiled. "I think he hopes your head will be out of the clouds by then. Life isn't a fairy tale."
There was no bitterness in Remus's voice, but Kat thought there should be. The only reason he was Sirius's steward and not starving on the streets like the other werewolves was because of their friendship, and their rumored love affair. When the rumors started to seem become more clear to be true, Sirius arranged for Remus to marry Tonks. Legally, Kat was Sirius's heir, but she would only get the title and perhaps a second dowry. Everything else would go to Teddy. This fueled even wilder rumors even though Tonks and Sirius were cousins.
"Dream crusher!" Kat grinned when Remus rolled his eyes, and they all headed for the Great Hall of Potter Manor. "Sirius is going to sprout wings and become my fairy godmother any day now!"
"What?" Ginny was the only one who grew up without any Muggle heritage and absolutely hated being out of the loop. Unfortunately for her, they had reached the Great Hall.
Dad was angry. And he was never angry, not even when Hermione had snuck off to the Muggle world and came back with weird looking trousers called jeans. Even the house elves didn't know what to do and tittered around with dishes. Mum's eyes met Hermione's, and she started ushering everyone to eat outside. Everyone except Kat.
"What are they doing here?" Kat said slowly when her eyes fell on the Malfoys. Lucius looked as menacing as ever. Draco was pale, paler than he was when Snape killed Dumbledore. The woman, who must be Mrs. Malfoy, was cool, seemingly unaffected by being in a Light home. A home that turned its back onto the many traditions that defined her life.
Sirius, as usual, was standing at Dad's side. For once, he looked grim. "Lucius is proposing a contract."
Kat almost laughed until Mrs. Malfoy said, "Lucius is considering the contract that he has been presented with."
"What contract?" Kat glanced at Dad, who was red in the face with fury.
"I could ask the same thing," he said through clenched teeth. She only became more confused when his eyes fell on Mum, who was shaking like a leaf.
"Is it really appropriate for Ms. Potter to be present?" Lucius drawled, which only made Dad turn a shade redder.
"Get out of my house!" Dad barked. Dad never yelled. Only Mum and only when she was particularly worried.
Lucius rose from his seat with a satisfied smirk. "Feel free to write at any time, Lord Potter."
The three rose from their seats almost as one. The only one who stumbled as Draco. His Mother put her hand to his back as if to gently hurry him along. Kat watched them go with her mouth hanging open like an idiot. Sirius was the first to speak.
"Kat, let's go—"
"You made a contract for me?" Kat looked between her parents. Mum looked the most guilty. "Without telling me?"
"We will discuss this in the morning." Dad darkened, almost looking like a completely different person. "Leave." Kat just stood there. "Now, Katherine Lily."
Kat yelped when Sirius grabbed her arm and started leading her outside, outside to act like nothing was wrong.
"What were they doing here?" Ron asked in between chews. Mrs. Weasley halfheartedly swatted at him but knew it was no use.
Sirius didn't say anything, so Kat didn't either. Never in a million years would her parents match her up with Malfoy. They must be after her dowry since the war reparations left them dirt poor in exchange for no jail time.
"Who knows," Kat mumbled as Mrs. Weasley started piling up her plate with every dish she could reach. "Dad nearly chucked 'em out himself. So I suppose it was nothing that mattered."
Fred and George started doing that creepy, laughing in unison thing they did when they wanted to torture someone. Kat sunk in her seat and focused on her food.
"For a second there, Kitty Kat—"
"We thought—"
"That young Malfoy wanted to court you!"
They both threw back their heads and continued to laugh as Mrs. Weasley yelled at them, and Kat tried to force herself to laugh with them. Ginny and Hermione weren't laughing.
"HOW COULD YOU DO THIS?" James screamed. In their nearly twenty years of marriage, he had not once raised his voice to her. "I made you an equal partner in this marriage because that was what I wanted! A partner! Not someone who snuck behind my back and—"
"She was coming home in pieces!" Lily sobbed. "Pieces that you expected me to sow back together, only to send her back out to get hexed again! I had to end this—"
"You didn't even ask!" James shouted. "You conspired with Narcissa and Dumbledore, not giving a shit about what I thought. What our daughter thought! We swore we wouldn't force her to marry someone! We laughed at the idea on her natal day! And now you're forcing her to marry our enemy?"
Lily wrung her hands and placed them behind her back. She deserved this but damn it! She did the right thing! Dumbledore agreed. They had lost too many. The Finnigans, the Diggorys, the Clearwaters… Entire families wiped out. And the Potters were going to be next. She was sure of it!
And now, there was nothing else she could do. Lily swallowed at the lump in her throat. "I made an Unbreakable Vow. The only one who can break the contract this is Lucius."
"How could you do this?" James whispered, which to Lily, was a lot worse than the yelling. The devastation was much more clear. "To our baby? She is going to be miserable for the rest of her life."
"You don't know that," Lily forced herself to say, not believing her own words. "I couldn't let her die, let you die. Voldemort didn't suspect Narcissa because she is a woman and his whore's sister. She was the perfect spy. Please, James, you have to understand—"
"Go to the Lupin house," James said quietly. "Help Dora with the baby. I don't want to see you right now."
Kat wished that she couldn't sleep last night. She was plagued with dreams of being locked in the Malfoy dungeons, only receiving human contact when they wanted another heir. They were making the whole thing up. There was no contract. There couldn't be.
When sunlight peeked through her curtains, she squeezed her eyes shut as the house elves scurried about and set out her dress robes for the day. They better not pick green and silver. Well, she supposed it didn't matter. Either way she was going to hide under her covers all day.
"Up!" Never mind then. Hermione always broke the charms she used to lock her door. "Dad wants you downstairs." Kat didn't move. "The Malfoys are here again." Still nothing. "And so is Mum."
That made her open one eye. After dessert, Mum was nowhere to be found. "Mum?"
Hermione softened, making Kat feel like she was ten years older instead of less than a year. "She said she'd explain if Dad's plan doesn't work."
"Plan?" Kat sat up quickly and then cursed herself. Hermione always knew how to get her out of bed. At least it didn't involve a bucket of cold water this time.
Hermione put her hands on her hips. "You won't know until you get out of bed."
"I hate you…"
"You were their spy?" Lucius snarled the following morning when Narcissa finally came clean after Draco wouldn't stop asking question after question. Lily was lucky. It wasn't a daughter's place to know of such business. "You set up an illegal contract behind my back? I could divorce you for this, Cissa!"
"But you won't," Narcissa said coolly. The rumors weren't true. Lucius's so called by-blows were in fact Abraxas's. And Luna Lovegood wasn't one of them. Her dearly departed mother was. No, Lucius had been in love with her long before Cygnus had agreed to courtship. "Not now."
"We lost the war because of you!" Lucius roared. "We lost almost our entire fortune because of you! And now you want to taint our blood with Lily Potter's filth?"
She had done the right thing! Her mother agreed. They had lost too many. The Goyles, the Notts, the Bulstrodes… Entire families wiped out. And the Malfoys were going to be next. She was sure of it!
"I saved our son's life!" Narcissa hissed. "You let him go out and fight and expected me to wait—"
"He fought while you were feeding Dumbledore information!" Lucius yelled. "He could have died during battles because you made sure that the Light was well prepared for every one of them!"
"No harm was to come to Draco." Narcissa folded her arms over her chest and looked out the window. "Lily had more protection charms on him than even I knew existed."
Draco shuddered in revulsion. "You-you let a mudblood perform magic on me? Are you mad?"
Narcissa turned around and glared at him. "After the Department of Mysteries? The Dark Lord nearly killed you with his punishment! A punishment that was meant for Lucius! I was not going to sit around a watch you get torn apart again, Draco!"
"So you condemn me to a life with Potter?" Draco snapped. "I will not have this, Mother! Her blood—"
"We have no money," Lucius said flatly. "No respectable family will have you. Not even that harlot Weasley calls a daughter. It's Potter, or no one. Your mother made sure of it."
Narcissa clenched her jaw but said nothing. She had gotten what she wanted, and that was all that mattered.
"Here's what we're doing," Dad whispered as she rushed with him to the parlor. Mum and Sirius were trailing behind them. "I've set up a ridiculous contract that Malfoy will have to say no to. Then, they'll be out of our hair for good."
Why are they even in our hair? Kat wanted to ask, but before she could, they were face to face with the Malfoys. The house elves were serving them tea, but they hardly moved, resembling cold statues instead of people. Malfoy—Draco looked as sick as Kat felt.
Lucius rose from his seat, followed by Draco. "Shall we discuss this in your office, Lord Potter?"
"We all shall." Dad didn't budge until Narcissa rose from her seat, although for a brief moment, she seemed uncomfortable with the idea.
Kat had only been to Dad's office when she was in trouble, which honestly, was often as a child. In a way, she supposed she was in trouble now. There was no way she could spend the rest of her life with Malfoy.
Dad folded his hands and leaned back in his seat, inspecting every inch of Draco. With a snap of his fingers, a house elf brought him a scroll. "I have made a few additions to the contract."
There was already a contract? Maybe Malfoy had sent him one. It was considered rude, to say the least, and Lucius was in no position to do so. Kat would have to ask Hermione later if it was against the law or if there was some weird law saying Dad had to consider it. Hopefully she wouldn't get a lecture about how they could change the patriarchal laws. She only wanted to know what was happening to her, not every girl with a title in the country.
"First," Dad said as the house elves flattened out the parchment, "Ten percent of Katherine's dowry will remain in her vault along with the Muggle money Lily's parents left. She will keep her last name and her jewelry. She will be free to come and go about the Manor as she pleases. And…" Dad paused and smiled evilly. "The first son will take the name Potter."
Lucius thinned his lips as if trying to keep in a scream. However, he gave Draco an almost imperceptible nod. To Kat's horror, he grabbed a quill and signed it.
Another new story! I don't know about you guys, but I love starting new stories. I know the major pieces to this story, but I'd love to hear from you guys what little parts you want! Reviews mean a lot! Especially when I start a new story! Hint, hint! ;)
