Harry Potter and the voided Marriage Contract
Part Two.
Bastardry
HP AU ? HP and DG.
Harry got a letter from Sirius, proudly announcing that Sirius had a girlfriend. And that Harry might well have an adoptive-mother to go with Sirius this year.
Sirius seemed rather pleased.
Five days later, at breakfast, Hermione gagged on her toast and dropped the Daily Prophet.
"Harry" she croaked "Prophet. It's awful."
Harry felt a sudden flush of adrenaline, his heart sped up and his hands felt clammy. He reached over and looked at the page from the Prophet, slightly soggy on one corner from the porridge it had fallen into.
'Sirius Black attempts marriage to Half-Sister.' was the title of the story. Oh, thought Harry, at least it wasn't him. Harry read the article and… Sirius had tried to marry a witch called Olivia Sanders, who as fas as she knew, was a muggleborn. Ministry blood tests revealed that she was in fact Sirius's half-sister. The story went on to describe Orion Black, and had a picture inset of a reserved looking pureblood with black hair who looked… henpecked and not like the sort of bloke that… ran off and had a child with some muggle. Whoever wrote the story was feeling mean, Harry thought, as they included a picture of Sirius's parents wedding, and explained that they'd been first cousins.
It was, Harry thought, rather embarrassing and humiliating. And Sirius's poor chances to find a girlfriend looked even worse now. Though at least, thought Harry, he had another aunt now. Then it occurred to Harry that Sirius had probably… at least snogged his… half sister and probably… Harry felt ill. He shakily drank tea.
"What's that about" asked Ron "Harry's gone white as a sheet, and Hermione's looking ill."
Harry handed over Hermione's increasingly wet newspaper, and from the sound of the whispering and the great hall, and the pointing at Harry, he as once again the centre of attention. At least, he thought to himself, he hadn't snogged some girl that was his cousin, and didn't have a half sister.
The halls of Hogwarts had a few people jeering at Harry, but, oddly not Malfoy, who instead gave Harry a head-shake and left off. Pansy, of course harped on about it. Harry resisted hexing her.
The next potions class, Snape had everyone make a potion for checking blood-closeness. It was a fairly quick potion to make and ended up sickly green. Snape handed out parchment.
"Paint the potion onto the parchment" said Snape "And while it dries, we will do an exercise as a class. As you lot are now hormonal dunderheads, I have made a larger test parchment, so that you can avoid being as inbred as Sirius Black was attempting to be."
Harry glared at Snape, who was looking very happy. A movement to the right of the room caught his eye, and Draco Malfoy, of all people was looking irate. It took Harry a moment to realise that Malfoy's mum was Sirius's cousin. They were sort-of cousins by adoption.
Ron, of all people, put his hand on Harry's arm out of sight of Snape and said quietly "Don't let him get to you. He's just a prick."
Snape went to the storeroom and came back with a large jar of big pins "Come to the front as called, take a lancet, and place a drop of blood on the parchment next to your name. Your Name" Snape continued dryly "Is written on both the left side and top of the parchment. I will transfigure the drops of blood into a column and a row of droplets. The parchment, doped with potion will react where the blood in your veins is similar, and a colour will appear.
Snape waved his hand and a poster unrolled. It had coloured dots on the right and words on the left It started at Unrelate, and went through third cousin, second cousin, cousin, half-sibling and sibling.'
"Once Zabini is finished "said Snape, and Blaise's head jerked "We will have a complete reaction chart for this class. One that you hormonal chimpanzees would be well advised to consult and avoid trying to marry your own half-siblings. At that juncture, your parchment will be dry enough and selected reactions can be repeated. It goes without saying that you will be marked on your parchment's performance, and I will not need all of it. Should you perhaps keep some, you can avoid incestuous entanglements with other students."
Harry was impressed, this was both rather amazing magic, a cool potion, a neat class experiment, and a reminder that Sirius had … Harry tried not to think about that. Snape really had put a lot of effort into this.
"Potter!" snapped Professor Snape.
Harry composed himself "Yes, Sir?"
"Have you been blood adopted into the Black Family?" asked Snape wit ha faint smirk.
"Uh no" said Harry."Just legally."
"Pity" said Snape "Blood adoptions are interesting on the chart."
Harry listened and then something nagged at his mind. What was it. Oh… shit. Greengrass and Hermione. Oh bum.
Ron painted the parchment with their potion, and Hermione painted the one she and Neville had made. Seamus and Dean just had cinders in their cauldron, so that wasn't going to work.
Snape waited till everyone had finished painting then started calling out the class list, and Harry noticed Snape was actually sterilising the pins before after use, and still using a different one for everyone. He was, Harry thought, frustratingly good at potions.
Malfoy squeaked in pain as his finger was pricked, and for some reason Snape cast a healing spell on Malfoy's finger. He looked up at the class "As a Black by blood, Mister Malfoy has an adverse reaction to iron and steel. Get back to your seat."
Harry's name was called eventually and Snape was weirdly professional about it.
Once everyone, Blaise was the last, obviously, had put two drops on the large parchment on Snape's desk, Snape drew his wand and levitated the parchment to hang over a blackboard. Snape, without saying anything then quickly duplicated the blood dots, into long lines, and the parchment started to hiss with smoke.
"The Smoke" said Snape dryly "Is normal."
When the smoke, that smelt faintly of cut plants, dissipated, there was a whole grid of coloured dots.
Snape took a quick look, then waved his wand at the large parchment and turned back to the class.
"Now" said Snape "Bulstrode, what colour indicated siblings?"
"Red" said Millicent.
"Two points to Slytherin" said Snape.
"Are there any Red dots on the parchment?" asked Snape, and Harry knew full well there weren't.
Hermione, for some maniacal reason put her hand up. Snape ignored that, and asked "Davis?"
Davis, who was apparently brown haired and sat next to Greengrass, squeaked out "No sir."
"Four points to Slytherin miss Davis" said Snape. Harry fumed.
After doing the same rigmarole with half-siblings (pink) and awarding six more points to Slytherin, Harry concentrated on the parchment on the blackboard. He could'nt quite make out the names, but he was fairly sure he had some unexpected relatives in the room.
"Cousins" said Snape with a purr "Miss Moon, do we have any cousins in the room?"
"Yes sir" said Moon, who had really long black hair, thought Harry.
"Six points to Slytherin, Miss Moon" said Snape with pleasure.
"And now, second cousins. Technically legal for you foul little fiends to marry." said Snape "Denoted by what reaction colour, Miss Greengrass."
"Purple sir" said Greengrass, looking concerned.
"And now, a question for Gryffindor" said Snape "Miss Granger, why are you and Miss Greengrass second cousins?"
Hermione went pale.
"I asked a question Miss Granger" said Snape insistently "You love answering questions."
'I… I don't know sir" said Hermione, in a gasp.
"Now, there are a lot of second cousins in this room, mostly Slytherins, as they've got pedigrees" said Snape, and Harry thought that he detected a hint of… sarcasm in that. Harry had always assumed that Snape was a pureblood, but… maybe he wasn't.
"Third cousins are denoted by what colour, Miss Perks?"
"Blue Sir" said Perks, her eyes blinking owlishly behind her glasses.
"Two points to Slytherin" said Snape. "Miss Smith, As a percentage, how many would you estimate of the dots are blue?"
"About… thirty percent, sir" said Smith, who sat next to Perks.
Harry had never heard any of the Slytherin girls talk except Pansy and Greengrass.
"Mister Goyle" said Snape slowly "What colour is unrealted?"
Goyle looked very thoughtful then said, in a deep voice "Black"
"And isn't that ironic" said Snape.
"Can anyone tell me, who has the most black dots?" asked Snape.
Seamus answered "That's me Sir. Come and get it gurls."
"And all the purebloods on the chart can be recognised by not having black dots to the other purebloods" said Snape. "We will use the master chart to test your parchments. Divide the parchment into one piece per potions partner, write your name on it, and the name of the closest relation on the chart on as well. Begin!"
People started mucking around and Harry slid up the aisle to see the chart more clearly. He was, he discovered related somehow to Neville. And Ron and Malfoy were second cousins. But Hermione, was related to Greengrass by the blood adoption but also to Fay Dunbar and Sally Smith. Harry put his hand up.
The room stilled.
"Potter" snapped Professor Snape.
"Um sir, Hermione's a muggleborn, but she's related to Fay and Sally, sir?"
"And Greengrass, Potter, you must be colourblind" said Snape.
The classroom was still quiet, and Harry realised everyone was looking at Professor Snape.
"Muggleborns are the offspring of squib lines" said Snape "Granger is somehow related to Dunbar and Smith. And I would say to Greengrass, but that is anomalous. Can anyone tell me why.?"
"Because Davis isn't realated to Granger" said Blaise Zabini "And Davis and Greengrass are cousins. The only way she could be Granger second cousin is..."
"blood adoption" said Snape. Harry looked over and Daphne Greengrass had gone red in the face.
"Granger" snapped Snape "Why were your family blood-adopted by the Greengrasses?"
Hermione looked utterly confused and Daphne Greengrass seemed , to Harry to be nearly fainting from nerves.
"There is always one in every class" said Snape tiredly "Greengrass, nod if your family were somehow blood-adopted into Grangers."
Daphne nodded and stuttered out "My father. We had to escape a cursed contract."
At the words cursed contract, the room froze.
"This is an important lesson" said Snape "People rarely use blood adoption these days, like Potter, simple forms are adequate. Very traditional families use it to bind in heirs when none can be found. Greengrass's case is the most intelligent use of a blood adoption. To escape a blood-tied contract."
Davis was hugging Greengrass; her cousin Harry realised.
"Blood curses, Bloodline linked cursed contracts, normally unbreakable" said Snape "But one simple blood adoption, and even the vilest contract can often be overcome. Miss Greengrass, you may be excused."
Daphne Greengrass stood up, blew her nose and said "No thank you sir. My family was trapped in a cursed contract with the Blacks. We chose leaving the sacred-twenty-eight over having to marry Potter."
Harry felt his face heat up.
"A wise choice" said Snape "Many witches would choose death first."
Pansy, of all people went over and fussed over Daphne, hugging her and patting her back "Oh I didn't know, dear, you poor thing" gushed Pansy.
"Sir" said Dean Thomas "This chart says I'm related to Parkinson and Malfoy. My mums' a muggle."
Snape looked over at Dean, dismissively "And your father is a wizard, Thomas."
"Was, Sir. Died in the war" said Dean.
Snape, who'd been looking smug looked momentarily … almost sad. "Parkinson, Maldoy, you don't have a second cousin in common. Whom could Thomas's father be?"
"Nobody" said Malfoy "The only connection Pansy and I have yet, is the Shafiq's."
Harrry wondered what the hell Malfoy was on about.
Proffesor Snape, on the other hand looked thoughtful "Dark complexion, long nose, crinkly hair, sounds like a Shafiq to me. They mostly go to Beauxbatons these days, of course since Fidel was murdered in the war."
Dean Thomas went a nasty grey colour, and had to hold a bench to stay upright, a Seamus quickly held him up.
"Thomas, if you are ill, I will send you to Madam Pomfrey. Ingested potions residue perhaps?"
"My… my… my middle names's Fidel" said Dean "Mum said it was for Fidel Castro."
Snape laughed. The sound was so horribly alien, and did not belong coming out of Snapes' mouth.
"Fidel Shafiq was a pureblood, much in the mould of Draco Malfoy or Blaise Zabini" said Snape "Who would tell anyone who even barely asked that the Shafiq's came from Morocco via Portugal and have been living in England since before the Wizengamot. And apparently like Orion Black, liked a bit of muggle action. I blame sixties fashions. They invented the miniskirt." said Snape, looking like someone had given him a present.
"The Shafiq's re extinct right?" asked Dean.
"Oh no, they just go to Beauxbatons, Draco, when did you last see the Shafiqs?"
"At the minister's Yule ball sir" said Draco.
"Granger, take your parchment to Greengrass. Try not upset her further, though given not marrying a Potter, she should spend every day singing." said Snape.
Harry copied out the line from the chart for Harry Potter. Who was related to a lot of people. Not Hermione or Ron, but he was distantly related to Neville. And not to Greengrass either, but to Fay Dunbar of all people, and Millicent Bulstrode.
Ron wasn't happy to be related to Malfoy. "What was my family thinking?" he asked.
Harry cold vaguely recall Ron's gran was a Black. "Um Ron, your grandmother was a Black. "
"So we're related?" asked Ron "Cool."
"By adoption" said Harry "By blood to Malfoy."
At the end of the class Snape cast a spell and everyone, Harry thought that seemed agitated calmed down and left the potions dungeon strangely quiet.
Harry still felt like punching Snape in the face for outing Greengrass, but all the Slytherin girls seems quite relaxed.
Harry was walking to dinner when someone knockback-hexed him in the back, and he hit a stone wall face-first.
Ron took him to Madam Pomfrey, who tutted and fixed his face.
"Now, any idea who might have done this?" asked Madam Pomfrey.
"Well, it came out that Harry was in a cursed marriage contract with Daphne Greengrass, who resorted to blood adoption to get out of it" said Ron "Any Slytherin in our year, most pureblood nutters."
"And Miss Greengrass was unacceptable then?" asked Madam Pomfrey in a fairly critical tone.
"Her family didn't want it and neither did we… the blacks" said Harry "People should be allowed to marry who they like."
"Unless you're marrying your half-sister" said Madam Pomfrey.
"Well that" agreed Harry.
"Go on, got eat." said Madam Pomfrey. "If you'd been doing a civil contract and declared her unacceptable I'd have cursed you myself." she added.
"I'm cursed. My luck's all gone" said Harry.
Madam Pomfrey looked thoughtful at that, and conjured up a dice on one of the trolleys.
"Now Potter, if you roll one, I'll jab you with a quill" she said "Go on… roll the dice."
Harry rolled a one, and Madam Pomfrey jabbed him with the quill on the trolley.
"Ow"
"Roll again Potter" said Madam Pomfrey.
After the fifth jab with a quill, Harry rolling endless ones, Madam Pomfrey nodded "Potter you are indeed cursed. I'll owl Sirius Black, and he can see about getting a curse-breaker to take a look at you."
Harry rubbed his arm, where Madam Pomfrey had jabbed him.
"Are you going to heal my arm?" asked Harry.
"Why, you would have made a good match for Daphne Greengrass. Your families are hardly related at all." said Madam Pomfrey "And Potter-Greengrass-Black would be quite a dynasty."
Harry left the infirmary, convinced that Madam Pomfrey wasn't as nice as she'd seemd, and went to dinner, with Ron wathcing his back, he went back to the common room and wrote Sirius a letter.
'Dear Sirius,
I had a run-in with someone today and afterwards, Madam Pomfrey check some stuff,
and decided I'm cursed, my luck is now impossibly bad. Apparently you'll need to organise a cursebreaker.
Harry.
P.S. Sorry about the Prophet article.
P.P.S. It came out about Greengrass getting blood-adopted. Her little sister's a lot healthier these days. Though she lost Slytherin a hundred points flying up the grand staircase. Astoria, not Daphne.'
Hedwig took the letter and flew off.