They were all laughing, Harry and Draco were making plans for a house with its own quidditch pitch, much to Hermione's chagrin, when a hand grabbed Draco's shoulder. The muffliato spelled had kept them from hearing him approach. They all looked up in horror. Lucius Malfoy was standing next to them. Hermione ended the spell, eyes wide.

"Draco, a word," said Lucius, ignoring the other two teens.

Draco took a deep breath, scowl in his face, and followed his father upstairs to a private parlor. Harry and Hermione looked at each other and without a word walked out, covered themselves with the invisibility cloak and went back in, running up the stairs. Harry pulled out an extendable ear and they soon found the correct door.

"Dolores is very disappointed in you. For a while, she thought you were a good ally for her, but now she thinks you are...weak."

Draco fumed "maybe you should learn to pick your battles and your allies better, father. Umbridge is a monster. She actually hates children. And yes, I have turned against her. I was going to gather more evidence, but since you barged here unannounced I will let you know that she literally tortures students. She has the most medieval punishment methods and she enjoys it. I have gathered a series of memories from kids as young as first years that had been physically punished by her. I was simply looking for a better ally than you to expose her. We thought about finding a way to release the memories to the Daily Prophet. And you should know better than to side with a ship that is about to sink.

Lucius went paler than usual. He was not expecting that. He thought Umbridge was simply after Dumbledore and once the old man was out he would play kingmaker and maybe make her Headmistress of Hogwarts. But this was inconceivable. He would be better off turning whistleblower and warning the school governors about her before the children went home for the holidays and told the horror stories to their parents. He composed his face and tried to regain his authority by changing the subject.

"I assume you are simply fucking the mudblood, of course," Lucius said coldly

"Don't use that word in my presence!" Draco shouted, startling his father.

"How dare you raise your voice to me," Lucius shouted back, pulling out his wand.

"Alohamora! Expelliarmus" Hermione and Harry rushed into the parlor and stood in front of Draco, wands pointed at the older wizard

'What is this?" asked Lucius, confused and frankly, a bit scared

"This is my future family," Draco said, walking around them to the front, "and you would not keep me from them."

"What do you mean family?" asked Lucius, sneering

"We are going to commit to each other. All three of us. And you may go ahead and disown me if you want. We don't need you. I don't need you. And your grandchildren won't need you either. I'm sure mother would come around, after all, love is more important to her than politics. So you have to make a choice. For once in your life, you can choose to love me. Really love me. For who I am, not for I can do for your prestige. Or you can go rot in a hole. Your choice."

Lucius growled a laugh

"You are a spoiled brat. You won't survive a week without my vaults."

"Actually, he would," interjected Harry. "Draco is brilliant and will have a career in his own right. And not that he needs a vault, but we are going to commit to each other, so he has my vaults to draw from. After all, I am the heir of House Potter, House Peverell, and House Black. Not to mention that Draco is also a Black."

Lucius was so taken aback that he couldn't retort something smart so he mumbled

"So you two will be carrying around her? Instead of choosing wives of proper status?"

The boys opened their mouths to protest but were silenced by Hermione's booming voice

"Not that is any of your business, Mr. Malfoy, but I am planning on becoming Minister of Magic. And when I do, your own political power would be none. Unless you get with the program.

Harry smirked, walking towards Lucius to return his wand, then the three of them stared him, holding hands. Lucius looked at them, nose up in the air, then he walked out of the parlor without another word. The three teens breathed and hugged. Draco kissed them desperately like they were the air he needed to breathe. They closed the door and took a seat on a couch, the two Gryffindors holding the Slytherin in the middle. This had to have been the toughest moment of his life. After a few minutes, Draco asked

"Are you really planning to run for Minister at some point?"

Hermione laughed

"After that confrontation, fuck yeah, I am."


Two weeks later, Draco got called to Snape's office out of the blue. Harry and Hermione followed him. They knew Snape wouldn't do anything to hurt his godson, but the older wizard seemed tense. He simply left Draco in his office and left. The Gryffindors sat on the floor outside, wondering what was going on. After about twenty minutes, the door opened and an elegant woman walked out.

"Mrs. Malfoy!" Harry and Hermione shrieked at the same time. The beautiful witch looked at them, impassive, gave them both a curt nod and then spoke directly to Hermione

"Miss Granger, may I have a word please."

"Mother! Don't you dare!" growled Draco, while Harry automatically held Hermione's hand

"Draco, manners. I am your mother. And I assure you, I will treat your girlfriend with the utmost respect. But she needs to hear what I have to say," then signaled for Hermione to follow her into the office. The two boys stood outside, nervous. Harry asked

"What was that about?"

Inside the office, Narcissa took a seat and gestured for Hermione to follow, then poured them some tea.

"Miss Granger, I understand that you have made a most unusual choice. You are considering joining yourself with not one, but two wizards. This is not unheard of, but I am assuming that as a Muggleborn you are not aware of your legal rights and responsibilities, should you proceed on this path."

Hermione blushed. She was very serious about her feelings for both boys, but as a Muggleborn, she was unequipped to discuss things like marriage at such a young age. But she lived in the wizarding world now, and she had to obey by its customs and laws.

"Enlighten me, please, Mrs. Malfoy."

Narcissa put down her teacup

"There are provisions under the law for a three-way legal marriage. They were more common in the past when people would die young and a widow or widower and their children would be taken in by a couple. And of course, that left legal room for people who simply wanted to enter a multiple people marriage by choice, as would be the case with you."

Hermione couldn't school her features. The wizarding world seemed so old fashioned that she thought they would be in all kinds of trouble because of their relationship. Turned out, this society was better equipped to handle it that Western Muggles. She gestured for Narcissa to proceed.

"But be aware, Miss Granger, it will not all be fun and games," Hermione blushed at her choice of words, "You will be the matron of not one or two, but four ancient and noble houses. And I want to know if you are up for the challenge."

Hermione squared her shoulders. "What does it imply?"

"You can hold your children's hereditary seats in the Wizengamot until they come of age. Mr. Potter should take at least one seat when he turns seventeen, most likely the one from House Potter. You may choose to hold the seat of House Peverell as his wife and mother of his heir. Draco won't have the Malfoy seat until Lucius has passed, but he could hold the Black seat. I have discussed your situation with Sirius, and he is, of course, supportive, and made a passing comment that between the three of you there should be a way for him to not have to attend the Wizengamot councils. He truly despises the ministry, and his presence causes a lot of raucous there; Lucius has told me that he tells a lot of harsh truths but doesn't follow up with solutions. He would like to see the ministry crumble, and he has a right to feel like that after twelve years in Azkaban, but that is not reasonable behavior. I'm sure he did not consider giving his seat to Draco before because he would be influenced by Lucius, but if you three do marry, Sirius would be assured that my son is acting with his own children's interests in mind.

Hermione felt her hands shake and tried to hide them but Narcissa held them in hers.

"I know this is a lot to process. But marriage is a very complex institution. And a little bird told me that you plan to become a politician and run for office, so your life would be quite the juggling act."

"Mr. Malfoy made fun of me, I suppose," said Hermione, regretting her choice of words immediately. Narcissa was unfazed

"Lucius is a shrewd man. I"m sure his first reaction may have been to snort at the idea of a Muggleborn Minister. But he knows who you are. We prepared Draco all his life to be the best student Hogwarts had seen in a century and yet you waltzed in and took it from him like stealing candy from a baby. By the time my husband got home, he had changed his version of the story, talking about how in a few years he would have four sits of the Wizengamot and a daughter as the minister."

Hermione gaped

"He is so...so,"

"So Lucius. And he will be your father in law. As will be Sirius. So you have your work cut out for you, dear girl. I supposed this is when being a courageous Gryffindor comes in handy."