Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or anything related to them.
Cho Chang sat at lunch confused at what she was feeling. Yesterday, evidently, Harry Potter-Slytherin, her future husband, had defeated the troll that had gotten into the castle, if rumor was to be believed. His status, and thus her status, had risen within the ranks of those who were important. She could use that to cement her position as a leader within Ravenclaw. Taunting the Li concubine with it would be a bonus, since concubines didn't share in the family glory.
So why did she feel uneasy?
A four foot long ball python slithered onto the Ravenclaw table opposite of where Cho sat. The other students scooted away, whispering frantically at the serpent's appearance. Cho saw the letter attached to its neck and had a feeling it was from Harry. A snake to deliver a message from the Head of Slytherin. She carefully retrieved the letter and the snake slithered away, disappearing under the table. She heard some of her housemates look for it unsuccessfully, and wondered if it had been conjured or not.
Harry was summoning her to meet him in an hour time on the seventh floor.
She was careful to control her anger at his presumption. She was Cho Chang of the Chang family. She would be Lady Slytherin. While they did have a contract, it was yet to be fulfilled, and thus Harry had no right to summon her. She was tempted to ignore it, but thought better of it. Better to confront him and stamp out his insolence once and for all.
Cho left the Great Hall in a huff, heading back to her room to prepare for the meeting. Fifty nine minutes and forty five seconds later, she stood before an imposing marble door on the seventh floor, right across from a horrid painting of a wizard with dancing trolls. She entered.
It was dark except for eight torches surrounding Harry Potter-Slytherin seated in the middle of the room. The shadows danced on the walls and the columns supporting the ceiling, potentially hiding any number of other eavesdropping people. She could not assume this was a private conversation.
Harry sat upon what could only be described as a raised throne adorned with snakes and various magical serpents. She was sure the back was made up of a looming basilisk. His clothes were colored green and silver and extremely expensive. She was a little bit impressed and intimidated at his haughty noble appearance, but she didn't let it show. He wasn't in control, she was. She strode forward with as much nobility as she possessed.
"You have no right summoning me like a servant," Cho reprimanded.
"I have every right," Harry countered quickly. "You have abused your position and brought shame to me and to House Slytherin."
"I have done no such thing," Cho argued.
"In the name of Slytherin, you insulted and verbally abused a friend and ally of House Slytherin, Hermione Granger."
"That little upstart only wanted . . .," Cho argued before being interrupted by a now furious Harry.
"Be quiet you silly fool," Harry commanded. "You will cease your antagonistic ways against Hermione, Su, and anyone else associated with me, and you will cease doing anything in the name of Slytherin unless I explicitly command it."
Cho started to rip into the presumptive little boy, but found that she could say nothing. Panicked, she touched her throat and tried speaking again, with no success. She began to panic. She hadn't been hit with a spell, so what happened?
Harry's demeanor changed immediately. No longer did he appear and act like a powerful and noble lord, but more like a firstie who had got caught by Filch tracking mud through the hallways. She filed that away to contemplate once her current panic subsided.
"No, no, no, no, no," Harry whimpered quietly, walking down to where she was standing. "Cho, jump up and down while flailing your arms."
The panic tripled when she found herself jumping up and down while flailing her arms.
"Stop doing that, go over to the wall and sit quietly, doing nothing," Harry ordered. "Daphne, Hermione, we have a problem."
It was the worst news possible. Cho could think of only one thing that would force her to follow Harry's commands. Their contract had activated. They had already paid a large number of galleons to hush up the discovery of hundreds of fertile basilisk eggs in Madagascar, but her father's scheme required the renegotiation of terms before the contract activated. Her father needed to finish the negotiations first, or else their family would be ruined. Or maybe not. Knowing the contract was active would give him the advantage in negotiations.
"Defeating the troll made you a man," Daphne observed as she appeared from behind one of the columns wearing a black cloak. "Mazel tov."
"You are forcing her to sit in the corner, Harry," Hermione angrily bit out. "Stop it. She is not your slave."
"This is bad," Harry muttered before turning to the girls in the room he didn't have activated marriage contracts with. "I'm sorry Hermione, but it is much more complicated now. I didn't know the contract activated, but now that it has, I have to contact Sirius. I'm sorry about Cho, but I don't trust her or her father, and as things are her family may be able to steal all of my property, wealth, and even my ability to make any choices about any of my other contracts. This is really bad for me, my family, and anyone contracted to me."
"That doesn't give you the right to command her about," Hermione shouted. "That's barbaric."
"Cho, go about your regular day, but do not write your father, or contact your father, or anyone of your family. Don't tell any of them about the contract being fulfilled, or tell anyone at school. Or write to them, nothing about it. You can talk, but stay away from me and my friends, which includes Su, unless I call for you."
Cho found that she could now move, and took the opportunity to flee the presence of Harry. Intellectually, she knew what a bound contract meant, even seen it in action before. Being on the receiving end, however, was something else entirely.
Luckily, Harry was right about his assessment of the negotiations. If her father knew about the contract triggering, he'd be able to get everything from Potter, the land, vaults, contracts, titles, businesses, Wizengamut seats, everything. And once that happened, Harry would be a dutiful husband and give her heirs, and then he would fulfill his purpose and be disposable. But for that to happen, her father needed to finish negotiations within the month.
Even more luckily, Harry, in his haste, had left a loophole in his instructions. She could not tell anyone in the school or her family about magic recognizing Harry as a man. She could, however, write to a family ally. Once her father knew, he would get everything Potter had.
She headed to the owlery.
"Harry, that was unacceptable," Hermione scolded after Cho left the room. "I thought you would be better than that."
"Relax, Hermione," Daphne reassured. "Everything went according to plan."
"Relax? Relax!?" Hermione snarled in a very un-Hermione way. "Harry made her jump like a marionette doll."
"He could have made her strip naked," Daphne countered.
"That wasn't in the plan you told me this morning," Hermione snapped.
"You're right," Harry said. "It wasn't part of the plan we shared. The plan we told you about was what we would have done if the contract hadn't triggered. When I talked with my godfather last night, he brought up the chance that my actions saving you would qualify to make me magically a man, but we had to be sure. Daphne and I came up with this contingency plan in case that was the case."
"And you didn't tell me?" Hermione pouted angrily.
"You are a horrible liar and actress. Harry and I are not," Daphne bluntly said. "Now Harry is going to take us to the Chamber of Secrets again and let you read the Chang-Slytherin contract for yourself, and tell you everything he's heard and experienced with the Chang family, and explain the harebrained yet functional scheme he and his godfather came up with last night. Then, you and I will proceed to take their half-baked plan and refine it into something that has a chance of doing what they want it to, because Harry here is horrible at getting the details right."
"I'm not that bad," Harry argued.
"Yes, you really are," Daphne countered, and Harry realized she was absolutely right. "Now, Hermione, are you willing to hear him out or would you like to sever your friendship now without all the facts?"
Three Weeks Later
"Lord Black, I wasn't expecting Head Slytherin to join our negotiations," Lord Chang smirked. The letter his daughter had gotten to him through a third party had allowed him to make all the preparations he needed. Three counteroffers lay in his bag. He did have some sympathy for the boy, so he would start out with the most generous one, if only to give his daughter a chance at a happy marriage. If they refused, he would bring out the others. "Is it even legal for one so young to frequent a location such as this?"
"Well, the other negotiations I was working on have concluded, so I think we can finish our business today with a signed agreement," Sirius waved away the concern. "I wanted Harry here to help him understand how the end of this process works. Part of his Lordship training, you see. This location is discrete enough here not to contact the aurors over something as inconsequential as Head Slytherin's presence."
"Lord Chang, I greet you," Harry formally spoke, before sitting back down in the brothel booth. He couldn't keep his eyes off of the scantily clad women wandering around the brothel, which made Lord Chang smile internally. His daughter would have no problem controlling this one, even in a bound contract. If she couldn't, he knew several permanent solutions that would leave his daughter wealthy and powerful and Potter irrelevant.
"I believe you will find this new offer satisfactory," Lord Black said, sliding a folder across the booth's small table. Lord Chang took it and opened it, genuinely intrigued with what Lord Black would offer knowing if he didn't agree, Potter had one week to produce a basilisk corpse or lose his life and magic. He had triple checked with Madagascar. Their secret had not been breached and even if the world found out tomorrow there was scores of basilisk eggs, it took at least a week to hatch one. Time Harry did not have.
"Three acromantula farms," Lord Chang nodded appreciatively, noting the main carrot Lord Black had added to their previous offer.
There was some other triffles, galleons, property, business ownership, all designed to let Potter end up with as much as possible while dangling those three tantalizing farms in front of him. Seven nine-tailed foxes. It was more generous that Lord Chang expected, and if he didn't know the position Harry found himself in, he would have accepted it as a good deal. But he did know.
"More than fair," Lord Black said coolly.
"Perhaps," Lord Chang countered, and Lord Black's face fell microscopically. "I have a counteroffer."
He took out the first, and most generous, offer, sliding it across the table in a mirror action Lord Black took moments ago. He took the offer, opened it, and eyes furrowed in worry.
"You cannot be serious. A million galleons, all of his businesses, his property. Did you even leave him his clothes?"
"It is not as bad as that," Lord Chang reassured, though it convinced no one. "I am leaving you with five of your prime properties, and you will have ten thousand galleons a month income to be spent on Lady Slytherin, and another fifty thousand galleons a year for the rest of your harem to be used as you determine best. I'm sure you have some vaults squirreled away for a rainy day you can use too."
"You know," Lord Black muttered, crestfallen.
"That Head Slytherin here is a man?" Lord Chang smirked. "I am aware. You defeated a troll, something an adult wizard would find difficult. Congratulations."
"Please, don't do this. Have compassion," Harry begged. "Our offer is fair, everyone wins, no one loses. Please accept it, for your daughter's sake."
"Very well, I rescind my offer."
Lord Chang took his offer back from Lord Black. Both Head Slytherin and Lord Black sighed in relief, until he pulled out the second folder from his bag and tossed it over. It was much shorter and simpler.
"I will take all your property, businesses, and vaults," Lord Chang gloated. "If you do not accept this one, know that I have a third offer, one that will not let you keep your titles, contracts, and, how did you put it? The clothes on your back."
"You are a monster," Harry whispered.
"Perhaps, but you have no choice."
"Don't do this," Lord Black asked.
"Do you wish for me to bring out the final offer?"
"Very well," Lord Black conceded. "But know that you brought this on yourself. When your wife and daughter ask you what happened here today, you were given a chance to do what was right. We gave you a chance."
"Lord Chang, here is our payment," Head Slytherin stated formally before placing a schoolbag on the table. It smelled foul and the bag leaked liquid.
"What is this?" Lord Chang demanded, not liking the confidence the other two displayed.
"This is fulfilling the original bride price payment," Head Slytherin stated. "One freshly killed basilisk corpse. I killed it in solo combat three days ago."
Lord Chang couldn't help himself. He opened the bag. A three foot long basilisk with dead milky eyes stared back at him. He froze as if petrified. The serpent's throat had been sliced nearly in half, expertly missing the immature venom sacs. It was a perfect kill to allow for a maximum harvest profit.
"We offered a fair deal. You declined," Head Slytherin snarled. "We begged you to reconsider. You refused. A third time we asked. You rejected. Now, your greed has bankrupted your family. You have brought shame on the family of Chang. With this bride price paid, the dowry of all of the Chang family lethifold farms are now property of the Slytherin family, effective immediately. We expect the delivery of a dozen nine-tailed foxes within the week."
"You cannot do this," Lord Chang sputtered.
"You will find that we can," Lord Black shrugged. "By my accounts, it takes a few days to purchase and ship foxes, plus Ministry customs can take a few days, weeks even if golden grease isn't applied. You best hurry, your magic and life is on the line."
In a flash, Lord Chang shot to his feet, drew his wand, and pointed it at Lord Black. His normally reserved demeanor was overwhelmed with panic. This targets froze. He ignored the scuffling behind him.
"Sign my offer, or I will make you sign," Lord Chang demanded.
"I think not," Lord Black smiled, nodding his head to something behind Lord Chang.
A quick glance behind him showed every worker, employee, and patron pointing their wands at Lord Chang.
"A dozen nine-tailed foxes, I'll owl you where you can deliver them," Head Slytherin dismissed.
Lord Chang hesitated.
Lord Black smirked.
Head Slytherin stared.
Lord Chang fled.
"I wish he had taken the offer," Harry lamented as the employees, workers, and customers lowered their wands and cleared the main room. "But my conscious is clear."
"As is mine," Sirius agreed, rubbing his hand along Harry's back to comfort him. "His greed outweighed his honor and compassion. Cho will be especially out of sorts, so perhaps a few words of reassurance to your Slytherin wife wouldn't be inappropriate."
"She has been horrible to Su and Hermione," Harry grumbled.
"And her whole family's future and wealth has fractured. This might be the chance she needs to become a better person."
"I guess I better get back to Hogwarts," Harry lamented. "I can't believe I own a brothel."
"In name only," Sirius grinned. "We had to pay a high rate to rent it out for an hour for our little charade. And by we, I mean you. At least Amelia was willing to let us hire off duty aurors to play the part of customers to fool Lord Chang so we could have extra backup for his tantrum. I wasn't sure if he would back down once he inevitably pulled his wand."
"At least that part went well," Harry grumbled. "Thanks for helping me through this whole thing. If I had to do it myself, I wouldn't have come out of it with anything in my vault."
"It's what godfathers are for," Sirius smiled. "You did well. Your parents would be proud. You are doing the best you can in an unexpected situation."
"Thanks," Harry sighed contently. It was good to hear Sirius say that. He'd only talked with his ghost parents a few times, and he'd like to think they were proud of him, but a small part of him always questioned whether they really would be proud.
"Let's head out before your employees call the aurors on an underage deviant hanging around."
It was the week before the winter holidays, and Cho didn't know what to do. She couldn't stay in the castle, and she couldn't go home. She'd never spent a Christmas at Hogwarts, so to do so would be a poignant reminder of her family's failure and shame. Heading home, on the other hand, she would be faced with that failure and shame every waking moment. Assuming they hadn't already sold their home to pay their debts. House Slytherin had taken the farms, but not the debts associated with them.
She hadn't heard from her mother or father since Harry Potter-Slytherin, now officially her husband, visited Lord Chang. She wasn't sure if he hadn't killed himself to satisfy the debt of dishonor. Harry told her all about the meeting he had with her father, showing her both what he offered and what her father had offered. He had be open, honest, and extremely gracious, telling her that though he bankrupted her family and taken their means of survival, she would not be treated as a pariah by him.
Though he didn't say it explicitly, she assumed he would pay her tuition fees for her to finish her OWLs, since her family no longer could. She didn't want to beg him to let her finish her schooling, but she was prepared.
"Lady Slytherin," Su Li interrupted her ruminations. It was the very last person she wanted to see right now. At least they were alone, with no witnesses.
"Concubine Slytherin," Cho Slytherin nee Chang answered just as formally. "To what do I owe the visit?"
"A matter of enlightenment," Su tilted her head, her face not revealing a single clue. "I heard about how Head Slytherin outmaneuvered your father."
"Come to gloat, then?"
"Why?" Su asked as she straightened her head and stared deep into Cho's eyes. "You are Lady Slytherin. I am Concubine Slytherin. Any achievement the Head Slytherin achieves is an achievement for us. You are no longer of House Chang, Lady Slytherin. It might benefit you to embrace your new role with dignity."
"Easy for you to say, the Li family has been in disgrace for generations. The Chang family has been respectable."
"And yet here you are, moping about because your former family, who was content with leaving you penniless as Lady Slytherin, are the ones who are now penniless while your husband controls your family's former empire, plus more. Your past is just that, the past. Best you look to the future."
"Would you?" Cho shot back.
"Would I what?" Su responded.
"Would you forget your heritage and history to join yourself to an orphan boy whose noble training has been by a well-known knave?"
"No, but Harry is not that," Su smirked. "I'll let you in on a little secret. My contract with Harry is written in Draconic, the true language of the World Serpents. He can read it, and so can I. In order for him to qualify for our bond, he must be trained and prepared by the very pillars of the world. He is marked to be one of the great mages in the line like Merlin or Imhotep or Elsa, and his path will reform the world in his wake. Dumbledore and You-Know-Who will be as squibs compared to Harry. Nothing less would have allowed one of the Li line to become his concubine. The Great Dragons have decreed it so."
Cho contemplated that as Su walked away. Maybe she was right. Maybe she should forsake her former family completely. It wasn't like she had any choice, but if Harry was going to be as powerful as Su said he was, she would need to start making amends right away to win back favor and influence with him.
"Just kidding," Su taunted from down the hall. "Harry has no special training or preparation, no marks of a great mage and no grand destiny. Your father was outwitted by an impotent scoundrel and an ignorant boy, and your family will fade into obscurity because of it."
Cho slumped.
