"Please, my Lord, I did all that I could, I even killed my cousin for you."

"Nonsense, I care not for your idiot ramblings. Crucio!"

The pain ripped through her body as she twisted and turned on the ground trying to get away from the curse, but at the same time not daring to move more than a few inches. She knew that her master would punish her more if she tried to throw it off or even to evade it. She had to take the punishment for her failure in the Department of Mysteries. Indeed the whole of the Ministry of Magic seemed to be crumbling down around them.

"Bellatrix, you have failed your lord for the last time." The hissing voice came from above her. "Avada.." But the Killing Curse was never completed for the golden head of a house elf flew off the ground and smashed hard into the side of his body knocking him sideways.

The woman on the ground, released from the excruciating pain of the curse stared up in disbelief. Harry Potter, eyes blazing, was striding through the destruction of the Ministry lobby; glass shards pelting behind him and balls of flame shooting within inches of his body. If she could describe it at all she would have said that he looked like the angel of death himself. Opening her mouth she wanted to scream as she saw his wand swing around and pointed at her chest.

"NOOOOOOO" She screamed in agony as she rolled around in bed. She rolled off the bed and landed on the carpeted floor in a heap of blankets exposing a little of her naked flesh.

Sitting up quickly and pulling the sheet up to hide herself a little more she stared around at her surroundings. It was her bedroom all right, the black draping over the bed and the mahogany wood paneling on the wall was certain of that. She remembered that she was staying with her sister for the moment while her husband was out on duty for her lord. It was this last thought that brought the nightmare back to her. Voldemort had tried to kill her for her failure, but ended up bringing her back to his base of operations; he had sent her to Malfoy Manor to hideout in shame, but only after he had tortured her senseless.

Shivering she remembered the dream and the torture afterwards; she wasn't sure what scared her more now, the look on Harry's face or the fact that she had nearly died from her master's own wand. Wiping the sweat from her forehead with her left hand she noticed something missing. Her wedding band lay scattered on the floor in several pieces, staring at it in shock she realized something else. When had she thought of Harry Potter in friendly terms?

XoXoXo

Draco Malfoy was having a fairly all right day just up until his mother shook him awake and ordered him to put on his best robes for the reading of her cousin's will. He had been having a rather good dream involving a pug-nosed girl and a bottle of whipped cream. However, now, only an hour after that dream, he didn't feel much like whipped cream of any kind. Clutching at his mother's unconscious form he stared at his arch rival and only true enemy at school.

"What have you done, Potter?" He screamed at the black haired boy down the conference room table.

"I nullified your mother's marriage, interestingly enough it was illegal. I only signed it after you were given the Head of Family so that you were not cheated out of your inheritance." Harry leaned forward and smiled gently towards the other young man. His candor seemed to take everyone by surprise and indeed it took a moment for anyone to recover.

"You saved her for last so that he would be emancipated as well and gain more power?" Hermione seemed to be in disbelief, but she wouldn't meet her former friend's eyes, knowing what they would hold.

"Quite right, Ms. Granger. If he had not, Mr. Malfoy would have had to answer to him as Head of the House of Malfoy and he would not have received a knut of his inheritance." The goblin seemed very pleased with him, he dipped his head to speak to Harry in a whispered tone, at a nod from Harry the goblin stood and moved towards the door. "Mr. Malfoy, if you will come with me we can conclude our business. Everyone, but Mr. Potter may leave as this concludes the will reading."

The goblin had been holding the door open waiting for Draco to move, but he did not. It was not until Andromeda came and made her sister lean against her that Draco felt comfortable enough to move. He caught Harry's eye and nodded in appreciation before disappearing with the goblin down the hall. When the door closed behind them the room erupted into chaos again.

Questions were flung at him from all directions, mostly from the Weasley's and Hermione that seemed outraged at what had just happened. Tonks was livid that Harry would do that for an enemy and Remus seemed surprised as well. It was Andromeda once again that broke the chaos with her soft and hard voice.

"Everything that Harry has done today has been for all of us. Tell me, Harry, you have another contract sitting in front of you. What does it do?" Indeed most everyone had forgotten the fourth contract that he had copied and slid aside for another time. At the question he smiled and tapped it, making it float down towards her.

"Read it, but don't say it out loud, I have a sneaking suspicion that there is more here than meets the eye." Andromeda nodded and began reading while Harry turned to the others. "I believe that you are able to leave now. I only want to speak with Tonks, her mother, Remus and Professor Dumbledore." He sat back and stared hard at Ron, Hermione, and Ginny, all of whom looked defeated. Only Hermione had a sad almost sympathetic look, but stood anyway. She was near the door before she turned.

"Remus, uhm….can I still have those books? I know that you own the house now." She stared down at the floor and felt like a child asking to play with a toy. Harry nodded at him to continue and then spoke himself.

"Fine, you can have them, I'm sure that there are others in the many Black property libraries. It says here that I own over forty-six thousand books." He tapped the sheet of paper in front of him as he watched his former friend's eyes go wide and then well with tears. He wasn't sure if it was the tone that he used or the loss of that knowledge that hurt her the most, but either way she left with the others. Ginny snarled a little as she passed Harry, but he only smiled.

Once the door clicked as the last person left he felt lots of questions would be asked. As it was he held up a hand for silence and looked around as the others seemed to move into a more comfortable position. Andromeda had finished reading the contract and smiled as she helped a nearly conscious Narcissa into a closer chair to her and her daughter.

"First, I think you all know why I want you here, except maybe Remus. For that I give you this to read." He passed Remus the letter that he had received from the other of his so called friends, but he didn't wait for him to read it. "I think it's safe for Mrs. Tonks here to share the information in that final contract."

"Harry, call me Andromeda, or Andy. After everything you've done for us you deserve to be on friendly terms with me; considering I nearly snogged you senseless." He blushed a little at this. "This contract is a void of another marriage, one of Bellatrix Black to Rudolphus Lestrange." Dumbledore had gotten up and moved to where the pieces of the wedding ring now lay. Poking at it with his wand he nodded and levitated them down onto the table in front of the small group.

"Why would you do that, Harry? Seems kind of like revenge on old Aunt Bella." Tonks smiled and received a glare from her mother.

"Actually, I think Ms. Black might have a few answers for us." At the confused looks Harry pointed to a recovering Narcissa; whom up until that moment had been holding her head in her hands, but shot up to stare at him with soft grey eyes.

"It's odd really, I feel like waking up from a long dream." She groaned and put a hand to her head again. "I remember everything, but the last clear memory I have is when I was seventeen, just out of Hogwarts. Mother said that she had arranged for my marriage to Lucius, after that I felt a little hazy."

"I believe that the young Ms. Black was subjected to a powerful and dark curse." Dumbledore spoke slowly poking the pieces of the ring with his wand. "This ring was forged in a way to never break, and imbued with magic to force her to stay loyal to her husband. Along with a monthly potion she would be a relative slave to him and his ideals."

"You knew about this Harry?" Remus sat forward and stared at the young man.

"To tell you the truth I had no idea about her, I figured it would piss off Malfoy." Harry smiled at the astonished looks around the room. "I did think that there was something up with Bellatrix though. At the Department of Mysteries she wasn't trying to kill Sirius, and I even saw a flash of pain on her face after he fell through the veil, but it was soon replaced by glee and her usual manic laughter."

"She wasn't always like that, I remember a time when we were all very close." Andy seemed on the verge of tears again, and only stopped with a hug from her sister. Harry nodded and smiled gently.

"I figured as much with both of them; however I had no proof or any way to make sure that it was true. When I was named Head of House I asked the goblin if it was possible and he drew up the papers."

"Consequently, their marriages were illegal to begin with because of inheritance laws." The goblin had returned with a stack of papers and slowly sat back down. "Am I free to continue, Mr. Potter?"

"Yes, of course, these people need to hear about the rest." Harry nodded and settled back into the seat as the goblin opened the thick folder.

"Without going into extreme depth as Head of the Black Household, while not an actual Black or related to any of the members you are required to pay out seven thousand galleons to the Patil family for breech of contract, you receive ten thousand from the Parkinson family, and inherit two arraigned marriages. This is where the illegality of the Malfoy and Lestrange marriages comes in."

"Perhaps you should give us the long version on the arraigned marriage contracts." Groaning Harry rubbed the bridge of his nose as he removed his glasses. The goblin grinned at him as he shifted the papers around.

"In 1197 the Black family was brought into an alliance with several other families, at the time it made the most amount of sense that they should protect one another. Over time the alliance crumbled either through nefarious dealings or the other families falling out of favor with the others. In 1345 it was decided that to keep the families together the Blacks decided that two women of their line should marry one or two of another depending on the availability."

"Surely that's not still in existence though; they would have done those centuries ago." Remus leaned forward in his chair appalled at the contracts being so long.

"Normally, yes, however the stipulation was when there were three daughters to a family that the eldest two would be married. Because of this the Black family kept their numbers low so as not to have to fulfill this contract. Consequently the next set of girls that this would apply to is the present Narcissa Black and her eldest sister, Bellatrix." At this declaration Narcissa seemed to pale even more in comparison to what she looked like first. "Because they violated the contract their marriages were illegal anyway, however since the Head of Family never contested this it was allowed to continue."

"Until Hero Harry here did the noble thing and set the girls free. Go Harry!" Tonks pumped her fist into the air and caused him to blush a little and receive scandalous looks from her aunt and a smack to the arm from her mother. Dumbledore and Remus chuckled a little at this and shook their heads.

"I hate to ask, but does that mean that I have to marry them?" Harry nearly whispered to not let the others hear, but they still did; the goblin chuckled looked up at him.

"As Head of the Black family, of course not; however as head of the Potter family you are obligated to do something, yes." Harry groaned as the goblin opened up another file. "As Head of the Potter family you are entitled to either the Black sisters as slaves, wives, or for you to be compensated in a fair and just manner." Harry looked up at Narcissa and sighed.

"I don't suppose you really want to marry me, do you?" She made a show of thinking it over, but it was a smack to the arm from her sister that got her talking.

"Fine, fine, but if I change my mind you'll be the first to know." Harry blush a little as the goblin stamped a contract and handed it over to Harry to read and sign. Doing so took some money from the Black vault and put it into the Potter vault, an odd compensation since he was the head of both families now.

"Now then, for the Potter inheritance; you will receive four thousand galleons from the Pettigrew family; pay two thousand to the Prewitt family, a breach of contract resulting in a slave, and a proposed marriage contract dowry already paid." The goblin looked up to see the pale face of Harry staring down at him.

"Ok, Ok, maybe we should start with the marriage thing and then move on to the slave." Harry braced himself for the worst and indeed it was what he had feared.

"There are numerous dowries that a few families have attempted to offer your family over the years, however the only known dowry to be taken care of is one that set up a marriage contract. Because you were underage at the time the contract would have been matured in full at your 17th birthday, at which time it would have been impossible to revoke. However, because you are coming of age sooner than that, you now have the option of declining the contract."

"I think I already know the answer, but who is the contract for and who enacted the marriage contract." Harry pinched the bridge of his nose and closed his eyes preparing for the onslaught of voice and anger. The goblin shifted around the papers some and came up with the contract in hand.

"One Ginevra Molly Weasley, enacted by her parents Arthur and Molly Weasley." The reaction was as Harry had expected, a complete uproar from Remus cursing their names to Tonks promising to arrest the entire family for fraud. Holding up his hand, Dumbledore was the one solid voice in the rest of the room.

"Sir goblin, you mentioned that Harry had to pay the Prewitt family, an ancestor of the Weasley's two thousand galleons, may he rescind that and keep the money for payment of the dowry on the young Weasley as well as to return the money already paid." The goblin shifted around the papers some and muttered to him as he picked up a few pieces of paper.

"Her life isn't worth that much to us goblins, however if he chooses Lord Potter may do just that." Setting the new contract in front of Harry he numbly signed it and watched it disappear. "You are still a bachelor, Lord Potter." Harry heaved a great sigh as he heard a commotion in the hallway just outside of the conference room.

Remus moved through the room and quickly stuck his head out of the door. He pulled it back into the room as a red stunner was flung down the hallway. Muttering a few of the locking charms on the door he moved back towards the conference room table. Several more lights of different spells flew past the door and struck the marble walls at the end of it.

"I think it's time for us to go." Remus breathed as everyone could feel the building shake slightly from the impact of another curse hitting the outer wall. "Doesn't seem like the Death Eaters and the Ministry quite like the fact that Sirius is being honored in this way."

The aging goblin had slid the papers across the table and into Harry's hands before he went to the door and looked outside quickly. Ducking back inside he straightened his waistcoat and faced the assembled group of people.

"If Mr. Dumbledore would be kind enough to get all of you out of here, we goblins can take care of the aurors and death eaters." He smiled a sharp toothed smile before taking a deep breath and disappearing into the hallway. The others could hear a savage war cry taken up around the building by the other goblins.