Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or associated works. This work is not for profit.
Harry Potter sat facing the wall in his Grimmauld Place bedroom, pondering the events of the summer. The Daily Prophet was slandering him everywhere, referencing attention-seeking in the Triwizard Tournament and other "dangerous tendencies" when expounding upon the incompetency of other people, even in the day to day news. One short piece about dark magic even brought up his ability as a Parselmouth, though that very same skill had stopped Hogwarts from closing and had saved Ginny Weasley. Not to mention that it had helped him stop the young copy of Voldemort who no doubt would have wreaked havoc on the world if their confrontation had not taken place. Not that the public knew about that particular detail.
Harry frowned. Dumbledore seemed to keep a lot of secrets about what happened at Hogwarts. Why did the man have to? Perhaps if Dumbledore had told Fudge, or even the Department of Magical Law Enforcement about Voldemort's activities after his supposed death, with evidence, they might have believed that he had resurrected during the summer. If only Dumbledore had done this before the press began to vilify Harry during the Tournament. And even now the man seemed secretive, avoiding Harry's eyes and brushing past him with nary a word.
He returned to his original line of thought: the Ministry was out to get him. Dementors came after him yet the creatures were still guarding Azkaban under control of the government. He snorted. When the truth came out, assuming neither the ministry nor Voldemort had yet managed to off him, they would come running back and elevate him like the sheep they were. His musings were brought short by the sound of footsteps and the creak of the door as it opened.
"Harry!" exclaimed Sirius Black, escaped prisoner and a man he loved like his father. "I'm glad the Ministry sobered up and gave you a fair trial. Unlike for some...," he trailed off, muttering. "But more importantly, Dumbledore has some news for you. Something... interesting in your lineage has cropped up," he stated, handing Harry an official looking letter with a broken Gringotts seal.
"Why does Dumbledore have my mail?" asked Harry curiously, slightly suspicious due to his previous thoughts about some of Dumbledore's mistakes.
"He was appointed your guardian after the war. The darker families who had aligned themselves with Voldemort would have loved to get their hands on you. And with my situation and that of the Longbottoms..." Sirius once again trailed off. "I am technically your magically legitimate guardian, being your godfather, but in the eyes of the Ministry it is the Headmaster, and so all your mail goes to him. There is a lot he has to filter, you being the Boy-Who-Lived and all," he added, seeing Harry was about to ask more. "You should read what the letter has to say."
Harry took the letter out of its envelope and read.
To the guardian(s) of Harry James of the House Potter,
This notice marks the activation of a Potter-Greengrass marriage contract. As per regulations, Gringotts is required to notify the guardians of Mr. Potter of this occurrence. A meeting between the concerned parties should take place at Gringotts within a week of receiving this notice.
From the Gringotts Branch of Heritage and Succession
"What?!" exclaimed Harry. "I'm getting married? How is this even possible? My parents wouldn't have... would they have?"
"Of course not, Harry," reassured Sirius. "But back in the day, even in more progressive families like the Potters, purebloods would make agreements, usually selling their daughters off for political influence or gold. Every once in a while one hidden deep within the vaults of a family will activate for some reason hidden within subclauses and subclauses of the contract. How do you think Lucius Malfoy bagged my cousin? He didn't exactly have too many redeeming qualities, especially for a proud daughter of the Blacks. That doesn't excuse her from believing in Voldemort, of course."
"But... I wouldn't have thought... why now?" Asked Harry.
"Who knows, Harry, who knows. There are a couple of books in the library you could look at, though, about marriage contracts as well as goblin policies. You wouldn't want to get on the bad side of Gringotts," replied Sirius.
Harry sat up late in the library, surrounded by different editions of Marriage Contracts Through the Ages as well as Goblins: Dos and Don'ts. Hermione had passed through earlier in the day to criticize the barbaric traditions of the Wizarding World, provide moral support, and to try and find a way out of it. Even after looking through the entire copy of Contractual Magic she eventually conceded defeat. He found it ironic that now he was the one staying up to study. He supposed that being the sole person in the line of fire was a pretty good motivator for him to figure out all there was on the subject.
In seventeenth century, Lord Hadrian Black extorted the price of four daughters from the Peverells, having previously razed the family's holdings, causing a fire which swept through most of London during their infamous feud. Incidentally, Fiendfyre, as the cursed fire is now called, was the first use of magic other than the Unforgivable Curses to be officially banned by the Ministry of Magic, despite it being Black family magic. This is a perfect example of the most common uses of marriage contracts of the time: to make peace. The ban of certain family magics noted above was made possible because a mistake that Lord Black had made in not adding restrictive clauses about the dissemination and use of family magic, an essential component of all contracts afterwards. Lord Black is also distinguished as the wizard with the most wives ever, a total of nine due to previous contracts from...
Harry shut the book here and sighed. At least the book about the rules the goblins must follow as well as wizarding conduct within Gringotts was informative. There really was barely any pertinent material in the other book, half of it being random historical information about certain families. He suddenly sat upright. He could look at books on the history of the Potter family as well as ask Sirius, who must have some idea about his best friend's family, considering that Sirius had run away from home to the Potters for quite some time. If he could understand what the circumstances would have been under which a contract would trigger only now, he could... he wasn't really sure.
But it was better to be informed, considering that this marriage could easily shackle him for the rest of his life. After the Goblet of Fire incident he hated being bound by unknown magic. Of course, from what Hermione could glean from her book, he could give up his family and associated magics to get out if the contract, but that would leave his gold, and more importantly, the artifacts and possessions languishing in the Potter vault, the last remaining connection to his parents, to someone else. Nor could neither Dumbledore nor he access it until he turned 17, so he could not make off with his family's possessions before disowning himself.
Perhaps he could lose his magic, for there exist a myriad of ways to do so. But then what was the whole past year for, then? And that hinged on the assumption that the contract required him to be magical. Though squibs were often shunned, only recently did they actually leave society. Usually they would be paired to another squib or to a magical as a concubine, like in the case of the youngest Peverell daughter and Lord Hadrian Black, for squibs could bear magical children. And in that case he would end up being the inferior one in the relationship, having no magic. Hadrian Black had used such contracts to his advantage, while Harry, a Potter and apparently the heir to the Blacks as Sirius has mentioned to him, was floundering. Hadrian Black won while Harry Potter-Black lost. Although Potter-Black sounded like a terrible last name, honestly. He already had heard enough long hyphenated names and titles in the Wizarding World; why heap another on top of himself? He was rambling, trying to distract himself from the major problem before him.
On top of all this, he had no idea of the political leanings of the Greengrass family, nor did he know whether they would follow Voldemort or at least let the twisted man have his way and then take his money. At least wizards didn't have life insurance. Although they probably should, considering the accident rates of wands. Harry caught himself. He was digressing again. Speaking of the Greengrass family, he should probably find a book on their public history as well. A well-informed family like the Blacks was sure to have many books on pureblood politics throughout history.
Sirius found Harry curled up with a copy of Prominent Wizarding Families on his lap, opened to the Greengrass pages. He shook the boy slightly. "Harry, wake up!"
The last Potter jerked awake, knocking the book to the floor. "Hey, Sirius," he slurred groggily.
"It's time for breakfast. Come downstairs."
Sirius watched as Harry slowly rose from the chair he had fallen asleep in. "Don't you think you're overdoing this whole research thing?" he asked.
"No," replied Harry as they began to walk towards the stairs. "I do not want to be trapped again," he stated intensely, startling Sirius a little. As much as Harry reminded him of James, he also was very much like his mother often, perhaps out of circumstance. The emerald green eyes that reminded Sirius so much of Lily's when she became stubborn flicked to his and then glanced away. "I don't want to be a pawn anymore. Voldemort is back and doing Merlin knows what. I don't need another complication in my life."
"Dumbledore contacted Gringotts. You'll go Sunday with Tonks and Moody, although nobody is allowed to be present in the actual room except you and your magical guardian. I can't be present for obvious reasons." He smiled, trying to lighten the mood.
Harry shot down any hope of that rather quickly. "It doesn't make me any happier that you're trying to cheer me up by bringing up your status as a wanted man."
By then the two had reached the dining room and sat down to eat.
"Hi Ron, Hermione," greeted Harry. "Mrs. Weasley," he added as she came bustling out of the kitchen.
"You poor dear. I hope the Greengrasses don't hand you over to You-Know-Who the first moment they get. Are you sure you should meet them at Gringotts?" she fretted.
"Gringotts is neutral ground, Mrs. Weasley. I'll be fine. Besides, Professor Dumbledore approved of it, and I'll be going with guards," reassured Harry.
"Will you be able to handle yourself?" she continued, unwilling to be pacified.
"Yes," stated Harry, barely holding himself back from rolling his eyes. The Weasley matriarch could be quite overbearing at times. "Sirius will make sure I know how to deal with the goblins. And I did well at my trial, didn't I?"
"I know, Harry dear, but I can't help but be worried."
"I understand, Mrs. Weasley. Thank you." With this Harry finished his breakfast and rushed back upstairs to the library.
"Poor dear," remarked Mrs. Weasley to Sirius. "He must be under so much pressure right now, what with You-Know-Who back and now this."
"Trust me, Molly, I understand more than anyone else. I just hope he can make it through the year, now that yet a third new factor has been introduced."
Harry walked down the path of Diagon Alley with Tonks at his side. Moody was already stationed near the entrance to Knockturn Alley under an invisibility cloak, ready to protect Harry from potential threats like Death Eaters. Not that Harry considered it necessary, seeing how Voldemort so far was laying low. But an undefended Boy-Who-Lived might prove to be too tempting a target, so here they were.
Harry pushed his way through the crowd, brushing past the throngs of people haggling with street vendors and making their way into stores. He was glad nobody recognized him, due to the slight glamor Tonks had placed on him. She had, after all, mastered stealth and disguise for her Auror training. It would be dispelled as soon as he reached Gringotts.
As he entered he read once again the warning at the front of the bank: "For those who take, but do not earn,/Must pay most dearly in their turn." Although he agreed with the sentiment, the cynical side of him noted bitterly that while Voldemort had taken everything from him, the man - no, the monster, came back again and again seemingly without repercussion, while fate continually screwed him over. When would he be able to take control of his life, away from the shadow of Voldemort? The wizards only made everything worse with their stupidity, backwards ideas, and abuse of power. Who was the man who said that absolute power corrupts absolutely? Magic seemed to be practically limitless - immortality, transfiguration, conjuration. For that matter, why didn't they help the Muggles, even if behind the scenes? Wizards were quite selfish, actually. Much more than enough to justify the goblins' warning.
The massive doors swung open and they were treated to the impressive sight of Gringotts' entrance hall. They walked up to an open counter. "Harry Potter," stated Tonks. "Here to meet the-"
"Greengrasses, yes. You stay behind. Mr. Potter, follow me."
Harry followed the goblin towards the back of the hall, where passages branched off, presumably to the Gringotts offices. He hurried to catch up. "Where are we going, exactly?"
"Gringotts does not make it a habit of handing out free information to its potential thieves, Mr. Potter."
"But I'm not-"
"All wizards are potential thieves," the goblin interjected. Harry remained silent for the rest of the time, until they came across a room with an ornate wooden door. "This is where I leave you, Mr. Potter." The goblin turned around and briskly walked in the direction whence they came.
Bracing himself, Harry opened the door and entered the room in which the rest of his probably very short life would be decided.