Title: Contracts
Summary: "You see, I can't sign any marriage contracts, forged or otherwise, unless my own contract of agreement is signed." Dumbledore wants Snape and Harry to marry whether they want to or not.
A/N: Just my attempt at a little Snarry aspect. I've read so many stories where Harry and Snape are usually forced to marry each other, Snape is usually told that Harry's secretly in love with him or some sort, Harry's told it's some ploy by Voldemort and has to marry Snape for his own protection. Bottom line, they're usually wed by coercion in one form or another, but in the end, they get the upper hand on Dumbledore and pull a fast one on him without him realizing it. I'm going to try and follow along these lines (as I love reading about Dumbledore being bamboozled), and try not to involve my OC's too much. Fair warning, Kokiri will very likely make an appearance under his common business name: The Blue Fox. Chug will only be mentioned under one of his business names: The Coon Kid.
~*~End of Author's Note~*~
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Time-line: 1997 Harry's 18/Voldemort's still alive, only two horcruxes survive at this point.
Chapter One
Severus Snape was glaring at Harry Potter, wondering what the boy was so smug about. He and the boy had been called up to the Headmaster's office, and upon arrival found the Headmaster, Molly, Arthur, Ron and Ginny Weasley, Hermione Granger, Sirius Black and Remus Lupin waiting for them. The Weasleys, except for Arthur, were looking like they'd eaten a whole bowl of lemons and limes, while Sirius had a look of full-on hatred at Snape, Hermione looked conflicted about something (or constipated) and Remus, . . . . well, he was there. Why, they didn't know, and they didn't really care.
As for why he was glaring at the Potter boy, they'd just learned that they had to get married, on the pretenses of the boy's protection. Snape would be titled as the Head of the Family, but it was so Potter could siphon off his magic to increase his own in order to kill the Dark Lord. At least, that's how Dumbledore put it. But he didn't want to get bonded in matrimony to the little spoiled brat! Not when he was just now becoming tolerable.
All Snape was thinking about was how to get out of the situation, he hated it when the old codger would pull out stunts like this without any warning while said old codger was explaining his "reasoning".
"So you must understand why this marriage must go through, Severus. Harry needs the extra power in order to destroy your former master." Dumbledore said in a grim voice, looking as regrettable as possible.
"Not if your life depended on it, old man. And whatever contracts you have on you ain't gonna work." Harry stated calmly, placing one leg over the other and started tapping to an invisible beat.
"Harry!" Hermione exclaimed, incredulous. "You can't disrespect the Headmaster like that!"
Harry completely ignored her and continued on. "You see, I can't sign any marriage contracts, forged or otherwise, unless my own contract of agreement is signed. And, in case you're wondering, I didn't write it up, my accountant did." Harry took great pleasure in watching Dumbledore lose a little nerve at that.
No sooner than the words were out of his mouth, a flying Capuchin monkey flew in and landed on Dumbledore's desk and handed him a rolled up parchment from its little mail bag before flying out to the others, handing them their own mail, then settled on the shelf with the silver doo-hickey-things the Headmaster collected.
"Please, don't break anything." Dumbledore smiled cheerfully at the animal, despite his shaking nerves, before unrolling his parchment.
Lord Harry James Aloysius Potter-Black has agreed to willingly bond in matrimony to Severus Tobias Snape if the following conditions pertaining to the following people are met:
Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore, Eldest Son of Kendra and Percival Dumbledore of the Minor House Dumbledore
Molly Ginerva Weasley (nee Prewitt), Seventh daughter out of seven siblings of Miriam and Lord Prewitt of the Minor House Prewitt
Ronald Bilius Weasley, Sixth son out of seven siblings of Molly and Arthur Weasley of House Weasley
Ginerva Molly Weasley, First daughter out of seven siblings of Molly and Arthur Weasley of House Weasley
Sirius Orion Black, Eldest son of Walpurga and Orion Black of the Ancient and Most Noble House of Black
Remus John Lupin, son of Rose and John Lupin of the Minor House Lupin
Hermione Jean Granger, daughter of Jean and George Granger
Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore, Eldest Son of Kendra and Percival Dumbledore, First Born of the Minor House Dumbledore and his listed Order of the Phoenix members must willingly agree to the following conditions for his/her own Greater Good in the name of his/her Honor, Life, Titles and Magic:
Shall not and Will not officiate the ceremony.
Shall not and Will not participate in the ceremony.
Shall not and Will not participate in the setting up preparations of the ceremony.
Shall not and Will not participate in the after affairs of the ceremony.
Shall not and Will not attend as witness/guest/under false pretenses.
Shall not and Will not attend as ring bearer/best man.
Shall not and Will not attend as flower girl/Maid of Honor/brides maid.
Shall not and Will not attend as a friend, acquaintance, colleague, mentor, parental-figure.
Shall not and Will not attend as (god)father of the bride or groom.
Shall not and Will not attend as councilors to the bonding parties.
Shall not and Will not attend to give bride or groom away.
Shall not and Will not attend as bystander/crasher.
Shall not and Will not attend as anyone's date/plus-one.
Shall not and Will not sit amongst the crowd/audience/staff/planners.
Shall not and Will not have any slightest hint of his/her presence at the ceremony, be it physically, magically, a whisper in the wind or crowd, gossip, or through any other means.
Shall not and Will not attempt/actively cause harm of any means to the ceremony or its parties.
Must be 20 miles away from ceremonial grounds.
Failure to comply, Lord Harrison James Aloysius Potter-Black has agreed to forfeit any and all Titles, Monies, Properties, Materials and Legacy to The Coon Kid.
Failure to comply, Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore, Eldest Son of Kendra and Percival Dumbledore of the Minor House Dumbledore has agreed to yield and forfeit his Honor, Life, Titles and Magic to The Blue Fox.
Willfully challenging, contesting or refusing of this contract by a listed party member Shall and Will be declared as an automatic forfeit of the listed party member to The Blue Fox.
At the bottom of the contract were three official sealing stamps, one of which was the Gringotts seal. After the main contract was read by all, Ginny was handed another rolled up parchment by the winged-monkey.
Ginerva Molly Weasley must willingly agree to the following conditions for her own Greater Good in the name of her Honor, Life and Magic:
Shall not and Will not claim, declare or announce publicly or privately, that Lord Harrison James Aloysius Potter-Black as the Father of her child(ren).
If Lord Harrison James Aloysius Potter-Black is indeed the Father but has no memory of sexual intercourse with Ginerva Molly Weasley, has not actively sought sexual intercourse with Ginerva Molly Weasley, the would-be mother Shall and Will agree to forfeit all rights of the child and/or future children of Lord Harrison James Aloysius Potter-Black to The Coon Kid.
If a child of Lord Harrison James Aloysius Potter-Black is produced through any other necessities by the listed party, the child will immediately be placed in the custody of The Coon Kid.
If this is not done or signed, Lord Harrison James Aloysius Potter-Black has agreed to call upon Lady Magic to judge the Life Debt owed to him to dole out punishment on the guilty party as Lady Magic pleases, and Ginerva Molly Weasley shall forfeit her Honor, Life and Magic to The Blue Fox.
Once she finished reading her own contract, Ginny screamed and threw a fit. There went her dreams of becoming Lady Potter-Black. Plus, with her name listed on the main contract, she was effectively stopped from "convincing" Harry that they were meant to be together, or at least have his child, or someone else's and claim it was Harry's. She wouldn't be able to dose him with love potions either, as that would count as 'any other necessity'. She couldn't even have anyone else dose him with potions since that would go against the main contract! And if she didn't sign her own contract and obey it, her Life Debt to Harry would be judged by Lady Magic to dish out whatever punishment the Lady wanted.
"Ginny! Ginny, what's the matter, dear?" Molly asked in concern.
Ginny thrust her additional contract to her mother, who read the contents and proceeded to screech at the unfairness of it.
"WHO ARE THESE PEOPLE?! THE BLUE FOX?! THE COON KID?! WHAT RIGHT HAVE THEY TO INTERFERE WITH MY GINNY'S LOVE LIFE?! MY GRANDCHILDREN?! GINNY MUST MARRY HARRY! I WON'T ALLOW IT!" Molly screeched at the top of her lungs before she suddenly stiffened up and screamed in pain as her magic swirled out her body into a ball of light and soared out of the opened window.
"Molly?"
"Are you all right, my dear?"
"Mum?"
"Are you all right?"
"Are you hurt?"
"What happened?"
A clanging sound rang through the room, startling everyone and Molly looked at her arms to find blue obsidian gauntlets rimmed with gold on them. Her clothes were reduced to smoke and reformed to give her the barest of covers, and she was left barefoot.
"What happened, Molly?" Arthur asked.
Molly tried to answer but nothing was coming out of her mouth.
"She refused the contract." Harry stated calmly, getting everyone's attention.
"What do you mean she refused?" Arthur asked worriedly.
"She didn't even sign it. How can an un-signed contract be effective?" Hermione questioned, before being given the same treatment that Molly went through. She was now mostly naked and had blue obsidian, gold rimmed wrist-bands. She went to cry out in protest but found that she couldn't make a sound either.
"You openly challenged and contested it." Harry smirked. "Read the part about willfully challenging, contesting and refusing the contract. You'll find your answers." he answered lazily and closed his eyes in contentment.
Dumbledore read the part out loud and paled. If he signed the contract and broke it, he'd lose everything. If he didn't sign, he was willfully refusing, which meant he'd lose everything. Talk about having no choice.
"I told the Brothers that you often liked to say we have no choice in your schemes. Now you have no choice." Harry said with a smug grin.
"Well done, Mr. Potter." Snape said without his usual sneer, before he was given a folded parchment. Curious, he opened it, read the contents, smirked and immediately signed it with a punctual jab.
"What did it say, Severus?" Dumbledore asked.
"Just another contract, made for me." Snape answered with a shrug.
"What did yours say, Snivellus?" Sirius sneered, before he also lost his magic, was bound and left with only a loin cloth to cover him.
"Hey! That wasn't fair! He didn't object to the contract!" Remus objected.
"You slimy, rotten, filthy snake!" Ron snarled, his eyes full of utter hatred before he was also bound, magic-less, practically naked and silenced.
Dumbledore read through the contract several times in a panic to find what happened for Ron to lose his magic and be bound. A squawk from the winged-Capuchin got his attention. The monkey tapped the listed names and he looked to find the reasons why his people were losing their magic.
Molly Weasley nee Prewitt-willfully refusing the contract
Hermione Granger-openly challenged and contested the contract
Sirius Black-caused emotional harm to a ceremonial party member (Severus T. Snape)
Ronald Weasley-attempted emotional harm to ceremonial parties (Harry J. Potter, Severus T. Snape)
He read through the contract again and found the clause that stated 'shall not and will not attempt/actively cause harm of any means to the ceremony or its parties'. He knew there were all kinds of ways to cause harm with just words, as he's been doing it himself for years; and since he wanted Harry and Snape to marry each other, they counted as ceremonial party members.
This was quite a strict contract. He looked at the list again to find three eligible members to sign off: Remus, Ginny and himself. The winged-monkey chirped, presenting him with a gleaming white, stiff feather quill with a silver and gold extra-fine nib. He closed his eyes, took a deep breath and signed.
"Remus, Miss Weasley, if you two could come over and sign, please." he said in a grave tone, handing the proffered quill over to them.
Remus signed without hesitation, while Ginny furiously scribbled her name down and stabbing the parchment in anger before signing her other contract. The contracts duplicated in into seven, six of them disappearing in a flash while the seventh remained on Dumbledore's desk.
Dumbledore leaned back in his chair and cleared his throat. "Now, my-" His magic began to glow in warning. Severus had always hated being called his boy. He cleared his throat again. "Now, Severus, out of . . . pure . . . curiosity, what did your contract say?" he asked politely. He really had to watch what he said around the man from now on.
Snape thought about how he should answer that. He glanced over at Potter to see him relaxing with his eyes closed. If it wasn't for his foot tapping to some unheard beat, he would have thought the boy to be sleeping.
He leaned back in his chair, making a show of how to answer, which was clearly unnerving Dumbledore.
"I'll have to get back to you on that one." he decided and quickly left the room, taking Potter with him, all the way down in the dungeons to his quarters.
He tossed Potter in and put up the strongest privacy wards he could pull, while Harry silently asked for the same.
"Alright Potter, how did you know they were going to pull out a marriage contract between us?" Snape asked.
"When I went to make my Will in fourth year." Harry answered in a soft, innocent tone and sat down on a chair.
Snape didn't chastise him about it, since he wanted to know how the brat pulled a fast one on the old man.
"What do you mean, went to make a Will? For the tournament?" he asked.
"Yep. I mean, after all, I was forced into it with others who were not only older than me in age, but in magical prowess as well. They've had more magical experience than a dim-witted, naive fourteen year old who didn't even know the summoning charm until it was necessary. And the tournament itself has had a history of having its participants being killed in the process." Harry calmly answered in a slightly smug but polite tone.
"That's where I met the The Coon Kid and The Blue Fox; they're brothers. Brothers who, after inquiring about my presence, asked why a little fourteen year old boy was making a Will. So, I told them. Then they asked about my school life, then about why the DADA professors wanted to kill me so much, why you hated me, and why the Headmaster has never done anything about such a severe case of neglect and power abuse. So, I told them about the Headmaster, which led to questions about my home life, which led to questions on why the Headmaster was always so insistent to keep me in such an abusive home. So I told them." he said.
"Abusive? Please, your family dotes on you, cater to your every whim. They worship the very ground you walk on." Snape sneered.
"Oh really? And who told you that?" Harry asked.
"Albus, of course." Snape replied.
Harry let out a surprised chuckle, asking, "And you believed him?"
Snape refused to answer.
"Very well, to my story." Harry said with a shrug. "Then the Coon Kid asked about why a minor was entering into a tournament that was declared to be for those of-age only. I told him that I didn't enter, that someone entered my name but I didn't know who. Then he asked about its history, which my account manager answered. Then the Coon Kid asked why my best friend would suddenly turn his back on me, refusing to accept my sincerity that I didn't enter of my own will, or supported me in my endeavors to clear my name. I answered, and told him that Ron wasn't like that on the train, in fact he was very excited to see his older brother, and I told them what Charlie did for a living.
"The Blue Fox spoke up at that. He said if the tournament's first task was in dealing with animals and a dragon trainer was arriving at my school, then the first task had to be about dragons. And if dragons were indeed going to be part of the tournament's tasks, then preparations had to go into it. The handlers had to be warned ahead of time about said tournament so that they could select and prepare the animals for transport. And if one of the handlers is a relative of my supposed best friend, combined with my history of er, 'adventures' at the school, then four dragons had to be prepared, which they concluded that my entrance into the tournament was pre-meditated by a governing party of the tournament.
"After all the staggering questions, they suggested that I take an All-Out test before I make my Will, and that's when I found those marriage contracts. I had several marriage contracts, really, but only two were from Dumbledore: one for Ginny, the other for you." Harry stated. "Incidentally, my tests showed that you're my Steward for all my titles, which the brothers explained that you're actually my guardian; among other things." He mumbled in a bored tone. "They're asking that you take an All-Out test as well, plus a few more additional contracts for you to sign, if you want to sign them, that is." he added.
"All stuff and nonsense. Gringotts doesn't have such a test." Snape retorted.
Harry handed over a rolled up scroll, called for Dobby and asked for McDonald's chicken nuggets, medium fries and sprite, and something for himself.
"Yes, sir." Dobby bowed slightly and popped off.
Snape noticed that Dobby was wearing 'butler' clothes and had the Potter crest on his suit.
"Dobby's the Head Elf of the Potter House, and Kreacher's the Head Elf for the Black House." Harry stated.
"I didn't ask." Snape sneered and un-rolled the scroll.
All-Out Test Results For Harry James Aloysius Potter-Black
Name
Harry James Aloysius Potter-Black-Peverell-Gryffindor-Slytherin-Emrys-Le Fay
Father
James Michael Potter
Mother
Lily Anne Potter (nee Evans)
Titles
Potter
Black
Peverell
Gryffindor
Slytherin
Evans
Emrys
Le Fay
(see additional folders)
Properties
Potter Manor
Potter Villa (Italy)
Potter Cottage
Black Manor
Black Lodge
Black Chateau (France)
Black Cottage
Peverell Manor
Gryffindor Castle
Slytherin Castle
#4 Privet Drive House
Godric's Hollow
Salazar's Garden
Vaults
(see folders)
Heirlooms
(see folders)
Magical Core Affinity/Strength
Light Grey/ 50% (50% training lock-The Blue Fox)
Magical Specialties
Invisibility (dormant) Inherited-Peverell line) accidental incident at age 11)
Metamorphmagi (Inherited-Black Line) 5% awakened, hair)
Parselmagic (Inherited-Peverell line)
Parseltongue (Inherited-Slytherin line)
Wandless/Non-verbal magic (Untrained) Inherited-Emrys/Le Fay)
Flying (training status-broom) Inherited-Potter/Slytherin/Emrys lines)
Cloud Apparition (dormant) Inherited-Emrys)
Fairy Charming (dormant) Inherited-Le Fay line)
Elemental Specialties
Air (Inherited)
Water (Inherited)
Darkness (Acquired)
Magical Influences
Core Block 75% (Albus Dumbledore, 1 November 1980, 12:05 AM) replaced with Training Block-The Blue Fox)
Cognitive Locks on Learning (Albus Dumbledore) removed-The Blue Fox)
Submissive Ward (Albus Dumbledore) keyed to Harry Potter-placed on #4 Privet Drive) trigger device-mailbox) dismantled-Gringotts Bank-paid by The Blue Fox)
Perimeter Ward (Albus Dumbledore) keyed to Harry Potter) trigger device-mailbox) distance-1 sq. mi.) dismantled-Gringotts Bank-paid by The Blue Fox)
Obedience Charm (keyed to Albus Dumbledore, key words: For the Greater Good) removed-The Blue Fox)
Compulsion Charm to Obey Albus Dumbledore (key words spoken by Albus Dumbledore: parents, relatives, love) removed-The Blue Fox)
Compulsion Charm to Hate Severus Snape (key words spoken by Severus Snape: father, fame, detention) removed-The Blue Fox)
Compulsion Charm to Obey Hermione Granger (key words spoken by Hermione Granger: study, books, Headmaster) removed-The Blue Fox)
Compulsion Charm to Obey Ronald Weasley (key words spoken by Ronald Weasley: chess, Quidditch, blimey) removed-The Blue Fox)
Loyalty Charm (keyed to Albus Dumbledore, key words: love, lemon drop, my boy) removed-The Blue Fox)
Tracking Charm (Albus Dumbledore-placed on Holly wand, Invisibility Cloak, shoes, glasses, school trunk) removed-The Blue Fox)
Tracking Items: silver globe, silver house, silver baby booties
Magical Leech (from Core Bind to Albus Dumbledore) removed-The Blue Fox)
Redirect Mail Ward (from Albus Dumbledore to Albus Dumbledore) relocated to Goblin King Jareth-Gringotts Bank-free of charge)
Snape paled a little when he read the part about the Compulsion Charm to hate him, and the key words spoken by him to Potter. If Potter had a compulsion to hate him, then maybe he had something similar. After all, he'd decided long ago, just before the boy was to appear at Hogwarts, he decided to make peace with the boy's father. Hate just wasted precious energy, and left him with a maddening headache that was almost on the same level as a hangover. At the first Potions class, he intended to just read past the boy's name and think nothing more of it, but then he suddenly felt himself filling with rage at the sight of the name and he wound up doing what he did.
Maybe he should go to Gringotts and get a test done, and to see what those contracts said.
"Alright, Potter, I'll head to the bank tomorrow. You may go back to your dormitory." Snape said.
"Oh, I forgot to mention, I don't live in the dormitories anymore." Harry said, not getting up. "Being a descendant of two Founders, and conquered another Founder's heir, I can go to either the Towers or the dungeons as I please." he smiled. "Oh, that reminds me, would you like to harvest some basilisk parts before I sell it to Gringotts?" he asked.
"Basilisk parts?" Snape repeated.
.
Dumbledore was pacing his office, trying to find a way to get around the clauses of that contract of agreement, and wondering what Severus's contract stated that made him sign it so willingly. He thought that maybe his people could get in in their animagus form, but that would go under the 'any other means' clause, and only he had an animagus form. Remus was a werewolf, but that didn't count; Ron didn't have the magical prowess to do so, and Ginny was too focused on getting money, fame and glory (as was he, but they didn't have to know that) to concentrate on getting her form. He couldn't get in with a stolen invitation as that would be under false pretenses, even if he did add his magical signature to it as that would go against the magical aspect contract. He couldn't officiate, which he wanted; he couldn't attend as a decorator, or a caterer, or walk either one down the aisle!
He couldn't get Molly in and lace their cups with potions, or to decorate the Hall to his tastes; he couldn't get Sirius in in his animagus form; Ron was out of the question, never mind that Granger girl.
There was no way that he could think of to get into the wedding ceremony. He couldn't even attend the after party and celebrate. And thanks to that blasted contract of agreement, he had to be very careful around his two duckies, or risk losing everything. His plans, the money, his titles, his magic-every single damn thing that made him THE most important figure in all of magical Britain-would be gone if he broke the contract.
He read through the contract's clauses again, hoping against hope to find at least ONE little loophole that could get him in.
'Must be 20 miles from ceremonial grounds.' he thought and snarled. He threw a brick-a-brack from his desk and listened to it shatter to pieces and looked at the bonding contract he wanted Severus and Harry to sign. Once they got married he'd be able to control the boy through Severus and then have them killed. The clause that upon their deaths, stated that he would gain everything they held. And if Harry managed to survive, then he could marry him off to Ginny and have her 'control' everything. The girl wouldn't dare go against him, even if she was listed to be Head of House in the contract. He was more powerful than she was, he could easily overpower her and take everything.
But no! Everything was at risk because of this cursed contract! Who were these people? The Blue Fox and The Coon Kid? Well, whoever they were, he would make sure they wouldn't be able to set foot on Hogwarts' grounds, not so long as he was the Headmaster.
A-ha! He could offer Hogwarts as the ceremonial grounds! And if they accepted, they had to let him join, seeing as he was the proprietor of the grounds.
He felt giddy and smug that he'd found a loophole at long last and popped a lemon drop in his mouth when a Ministry brown owl swooped in and dropped a letter and swooped out.
Back in good spirits, he opened it and read the contents. His eyes bulged and he nearly choked on his lemon drop.
Dear Albus,
It has come to our attention that you have broken Book Law by taking on Political Titles and an Academic Title and are hereby requested that you come in to determine which titles you wish to keep. If you wish to keep your political titles, your title as Headmaster will be revoked. If you wish to keep your Academic Title of Headmaster, your titles of Chief Warlock, Supreme Mugwump, Grand Sorcerer, and your membership of the International Confederation of Wizards will be revoked and any laws you have passed during your time in politics will be subject to review.
Cornelius Fudge
Minister for Magic
Albus found himself having a hard time to breathe all of a sudden.
.
.
A/N: For reviews, I would like to know if there are any loopholes in my contracts; aside from the usual grammar and sentence structure. I will reply.