Charlie Weasley was not one for vengeance. It was a good thing to, as he worked at a Romanian Dragon Reserve. He had a lot of talent with the creatures, so much that Hagrid, the groundskeeper, had said that he was 'good with animals'. His kind nature made him easy to approach. However, after he read the note his family sent him, he scowled. Crushing the note in his fist, he stalked over to his broomstick. "I'm going out for a bit to clear my head." Charlie called out to his fellow handlers. He kicked off the ground and flew the broomstick to his destination within a few hours-a seemingly empty cave. Dismounting, he strolled to the entrance of the cave and called in "Norberta? You there?" In the shadows of the cave, there was movement. "Come on you lazy dragoness get up." Charlie deadpanned. A 'Snort.' came from the cave. Charlie sighed heavily. "Norberta, I am going to count to three. After that, I swear I will go in your cave myself." Another 'Snort' came out. Charlie didn't understand Draconic, but he was sure Norberta had said something along the lines of 'You don't have the balls' with that snort. "One….Two...THREE!" He shouted at the end, before proving that he did, indeed, have the balls to enter a dragoness' cave without permission. Walking up to the flank of the 3 and a half year old dragoness-she had just reached adulthood (Ridgebacks matured a lot faster)-he poked her with his finger. A 'grunt' followed. Charlie sighed heavily. "Last chance, Norberta, or I swear I will destroy your 'support Potter' banner you got last year." THAT got the dragoness' attention. Immediately she perked up and roared at him, the power of her exhale literally blowing his hair back. He just stared at her, his whole body posture just screaming a deadpan 'really?'. "I swear to God you are one of the biggest Potter fangirls ever, and considering who my sister is that's saying something." Norberta, now eye level with him, snorted in a way that Charlie knew was a challenge. "We could argue about this all day, but that's not what I'm here for." When it came to Harry Potter, Norberta could-and would-go on for hours about how she had met him when she was a hatchling. She had asked questions to her nearest neighbor, a Hungarian Horntail who was known as 'Mama Dragon' to the handlers for her insatiable desire for children-adopted or otherwise. She had seen the boy, and had he been older she might've tried to mate with him instead of trying to get him to be her child. Norberta had mocked her for this when she came back from that Triwizard tournament. She was brought out of her thoughts when Charlie cleared his throat once more. "AHEM!" he practically shouted at the zoned out dragoness, startling her back into focus. "Aaaaannnyyywwaaaaayyyy…" charlie deadpanned before continuing, "Cornelius Fudge has forced a bill through the Wizengamot-a marriage law. The last male heirs are to be wed to a randomly selected female. The female's family will get compensation for her. Most of the Death Eaters have only single kids-many of them male. I think that you should enter. I can get the Unspeakables to get your name in. And hey, who knows? You might get Potter…"

August 28th, office of the Minister of Magic

Lucius Malfoy was walking towards his puppet's door. The Dark Lord wanted him to make sure that Potter was given to a child of one of his followers. Lucius wasn't about to deny that. After all, Potter was a thorn in his side. Maybe he could dump him on Bulstrode. He was brought out of his musings when he ran into someone. He was about to berate them when he caught sight of who it was and paled. The individual was wearing gray robes that covered all but his mouth. Right above where a human heart would be in the body was the number '2'. "Malfoy, you are not to try to control the sorting. Try it, and we WILL end not only your line, but 9 other lines of our choosing. You have been warned." Lucius paled and stormed off. His Lord would forgive him. After all, even the Dark Lord would not want to get in a fight with the Seven!

Department of Mysteries, Love Room, August 29th

The Unspeakables gathered around the marrige lot. One said to another "This is barbaric. We all know why our esteemed minister is doing this" saying 'esteemed' like it was a foul slime. "Yes, it is quite unfortunate." another said. "Any way we can alter this?" a third asked. "It is more than possible, it's easy." a fourth replied. It was common for unspeakables to converse in a circle. "So, should we match them up with intent to drive the stale lines to extinction?" a fifth asked. Smiles filled the room. "Yes, we should." a sixth replied. (The entire department was filled with as many muggle-borns as possible, for many reasons. One, it was, for some reason, significantly harder to put a muggle born under the Imperious. Another was that the Death Eaters would not have a spy in the Department.) "Who should Mr. Potter get?" the seventh asked. The first responded with logic. "He needs someone who is against the Death Eaters, would believe him, and would protect him from enemies." "Is Luna Lovegood in the running?" the 2nd asked. The third shook his head. "I have an idea!" the fourth replied. He hurriedly grabbed a certain piece of parchment. The fifth took a look at it and laughed. "Oh yes, this definitely fits the criteria." The sixth one smiled. "No Death Eater will get close to the boy now!" The seventh had fallen over laughing. "This is just too good!" The first one nodded. Then it's settled. Potter will get-"

Number 12, Grimmauld Place, August 30th.

Harry Potter was looking out the window to wait for his doom. Any minute now Hedwig would return with the name of his forced spouse. It was highly likely that it was some Death Eater spawn, as all females had to be half blood or higher-at Lucius Malfoy's instructions to the minister. He sighed. Apparently after his trial Fudge put the law forward in an attempt to distract his loss. The law passed by a slim majority-Harry was sure that several had only children- and the task of matchmaking fell to the Department of Mysteries. It was quite like the Goblet of fire in that standard. And with his luck, he'd end up with some child of a Death Eater. "Who's running the choosings?" he inquired to Tonks, an Auror. "From what I heard, The Council of Seven are." "The what?" "They are the seven heads of the Department of Mysteries. I've met one once. Creepy people, they are-but don't worry-they're firmly on your side. The one I talked to said so." "Could one of them be under the Imperius curse?" He asked Tonks. "Doubtful. From the rumors, they have VERY extensive training on how to throw it off. I think that they'd do better than you." she joked. She picked up the Daily Prophet. "Huh. Fudge said that it would be them who'd choose. Evidently Malfoy didn't get the chance to bribe the minister." As Tonks left, he thought about the facts. Apparently the sorting was done by some creepy people that ran the most secret of the Ministry departments.

Harry was brought out of his musings when he heard the very familiar 'preck' of Hedwig. Slowly, as if she was carrying an explosive device, he took the letter from her leg. "Thanks, girl." he murmured, softly stroking her feathers. Crooning, Hedwig took flight through the house, taking care to leave droppings on the picture of Sirius' mother. Chuckling, Harry carefully opened the letter. 'Dear Mr. Potter, you are the last male heir of your House. In this regards, the current Minister of Magic Cornelius Fudge has enacted the Emergency Family Preservation Act. You have been paired up with an ideal suitor who will be your wife to continue your bloodline. The candidates are matched to you as the best fit. Failure to do so will result in severe financial penalties. The new Mrs. Potter shall be-' "...What. The. Actual. Fuck." Harry deadpanned. Hermione scolded him, saying "Harry, don't use such language!"

Romania-same time.

Norberta had almost eaten the owl that sent the letter. Carefully unfurling the parchment so not to tear it, she began to read. (She had learned when she was 2) 'Dear Norberta, you have been matched to the best suitor to fit you under the Emergency Family Preservation Act, enacted by the current Minister of Magic Cornelius Fudge. Your family shall receive compensation directly related to blood purity, magical power and other criteria. The penalty for backing out is severe financial problems, (HA! If anyone 'backs out' it would be a husband) You are to be the new Mrs.-''

The dragon handlers of the reserve had their coffee break interrupted by a faint 'squee' of joy. "Was that Norberta?" Charlie asked to himself.

Number 12, Grimmauld Place:

Harry just stared at the name. "Is this a joke?" he asked to no one in particular.

September 1st, Hogwarts Express

Harry was saying goodbye to his friends. "Well, I'll see you at the Feast-assuming I live." "Oh Harry, don't be like that." Hermione cried, hugging him. "I got paired to a DRAGON. Hagrid's dragon at that. Apparently she was to go in place of the Horntail but was rejected for being 'to uncontrollable'. Please explain how the bloody hell I'm going to live through the next few hours." Hermione started to think. Coming up with nothing, she threw her arms around him, sobbing into his chest. Ron walked up to her, himself looking like he had been crying. "Mione, we have to go to the Prefect's car." Ron said, patting her on the shoulder. "And I have to go to the 'marriage car'" Harry sulked. "Don't be like that, mate. I'm sure you'll be fine." Ron said in an attempt to comfort his best friend. "Unless a miracle happens I won't. And with my luck it DEFINITELY won't." Ron sighed. "Well mate, I promise that no matter what happens I'll stand by your side. I won't make the same mistake that I did last year." Harry nodded. "Thank you Ron." He replied solemnly as he walked to the back of the Express, where the 'Marriage Car' was.

Somewhere in England, same time

Norberta was flying over the rail line as fast as she could, occasionally letting out the dragon equivalent of a purr. She got Harry! Yay! Charlie (her human caretaker) had arranged a portkey to the dragon reserve in Scotland the day before. She had slept all through the night-as hard as it was. She was now trying to get to London or wherever the train was at the time as soon as possible. Flicking her tail in impatience, she swooped higher to allow her to see farther.

Hogwarts Express

Groaning, Harry opened the door to the 'marriage car', the place where all of the 'couples' were. "Hey Potter! Where's your wife? To ugly to show herself?" Ignoring the fool who probably would not live to see the night, Harry looked around to see the other victims. Neville was there, paired with a Hufflepuff. She had a nametag on her. Harry spotted a table covered in white linen with little placards with nametags. Quickly he spotted the one bearing his name. He nonchalantly pinned it to his chest. Picking a brownie from a desert table, he quietly sat down in one of the compartments. He listened to the chatter. Of course Draco had chosen to stand next to his door. "I'm surprised that the blood traitors got a chance. After all, the Act was to ensure the noble houses." "Oh shut it Malfoy! I heard that the picks were to ensure that houses like yours don't have any non-squib heirs!" Susan Bones shouted back. "After all, the Seven did the pickings." Neville, spurned on by the girl by his side, nodded. "Well then, where's Potter's whore?" Pansy shrieked. "Probably hanging herself for being so ugly. Still that's against the rules. My father will hear about this!" Malfoy said, chin in the air. Harry turned out the chatter and leaned against the window.

Suddenly, after an undetermined amount of time, a loud THUMP shook the train. Harry started awake and slammed his face against the window, shocked and wondering what caused that. He didn't have to wait long. He soon came face to face with his 'wife', staring at him with her orange eye staring at him. Immediately he went stock still, hoping that the dragoness didn't see him as he had not moved. This seemed to do the trick as the eye receded. He let out a sigh of relief, before the face of the dragoness pressed itself against the window and kept staring right at him. The eye, blinked and he quickly moved. When the eye opened it turned to him. Draco was still going on and on, mocking him. "Potter's whore apparently hasn't shown up. Guess Potter did something bad to her. When my father hears about this he'll be sent to Azkaban!" He gloated. Harry normally would have retorted, but Norberta beat him to it. She shattered the glass and roared at Draco. The Slytherin Prefect spun around, saw the predator, and shrieked like a little girl. He then preceded to faint. She then turned her head towards Harry. 'This is it. I'm going to die right now.' HArry braced himself for the fire of her breath or the pain of being bitten in two. So, he was unprepared for the lick that was swept across his face, followed by a weight on his legs. He started and opened his eyes, and almost fainted. Norberta was resting her head on his legs, purring. "This is not what I expected." Harry mumbled to himself, absent-mindedly stroking her head. Norberta then perked up and lifted her head. Harry saw that one of the scales was gone and replaced with a gem with a note taped to it. He severed the note and began to read.

Harry, I know this seems weird, but you are 100% safe with Norberta. I originally got her in to kill a Death Eater Spawn, which she would love to do. You see, she's a Potter fangirl with a 1.1 on the Ginny scale, meaning she's 1.1 times as much as a fangirl as my little sister is. She was not allowed to go to the Triwizard Tournament as she'd likely kill anyone who wouldn't give you a 10, and she's sapient. Literally human-grade intelligent. She could tell if an egg was fake, especially since she's never laid before. Also she'd let you just walk up and take it. I'm rambling. Sorry. Anyways, the point of the gem is to shrink her down to a more manageable size-the size of Fang-Hagrid's dog. Her wings will be higher than that. Also, at that size, she'll be able to speak Parseltongue. Dragons speak Draconic, an offshoot of the language. I heard you can speak Parseltongue.

Best of luck!

Charlie Weasley

Putting the note down, HArry saw that Norberta had-indeed-shrunk to the size of Fang. She was currently taking up the other booth, laying down.