Harry looked around the classroom in confusion as everyone's attention was focused solely on her.

"Why didn't you ever tell me you were a parselmouth?" Hermione said in a much too loud of a voice in the otherwise silent classroom.

"I'm a what now?" Harry stared at her best friend in disbelief. "The Minister was talking English just now. I'd have noticed if he'd been talking snake."

Minister Riddle chuckled, which was a surprisingly rich sound. He leaned back in his seat, clearly over the previous shock that had come over him. "Parseltongue often sounds like English for a parselmouth when they're just discovering their powers."

"But I'm not a parselmouth," Harry said helplessly, staring at Minister Riddle with wide eyes. "I'd have noticed by now, don't you think?"

"Have you ever met a snake before?" Minister Riddle asked with a curious tilt of his head.

Harry frowned as she thought back to her childhood at Potter Mansion. They had extensive grounds she'd loved exploring with her siblings. They'd seen all sorts of wildlife, of course. Lots of birds and squirrels and rabbits. Occasionally a deer or badger or fox in the distance. But never a snake, now that she thought about it. Snakes were rather shy and preferred to hide away from humans, didn't they?

Minister Riddle gave her a knowing smile when Harry came to the quiet conclusion that no, she had in fact never met a snake in person before in her entire life. "What is your name?" he asked, never looking away from her for even a second.

"Harry Potter. I mean, Harriet Potter, but most people call me Harry." Harry couldn't stop her cheeks from heating up a bit.

Minister Riddle's eyes widened briefly. "Ah yes, you're James Potter's eldest daughter. Lily Evans is your mother, correct? She's an extraordinary Healer." Minister Riddle fell quiet for a moment as he seemed to think deeply, his brows furrowing. "I am not familiar with either of their lines to know if they once had a connection to Salazar Slytherin. I shall visit the Department of Genealogy immediately following this meeting to do some digging."

Harry nodded and could barely refrain herself from shrugging. Only her grandmother Euphemia's many admonitions that shrugging was unbecoming for a young lady stopped her. If only Euphemia was there to see her efforts had eventually paid off, no matter how often Harry had proclaimed she'd rather not be a proper lady at all if that meant she wasn't allowed to do all the things her brothers could.

Minister Riddle got up from his chair and looked around the classroom before he gave them all a smile that made his already handsome face somehow even more attractive. "I've come here today to talk to you young women about the Coven System. Since I am its architect I always like to meet the latest Hogwarts students on the cusp of womanhood so I can personally explain why the Coven System is necessary."

For the next ten minutes Minister Riddle gave them a well-rehearsed speech about the Coven System. How it worked, why it had been implemented and how successful it turned out to be. Harry barely heard a word, her mind entirely occupied that apparently she was a parselmouth but had never known that until now.

How was that possible? No one else in her family was a parselmouth, that she knew of. The Potters could trace their lineage back for dozens of generations, all the way back to before Hogwarts was even founded. And Lily Evans was a muggleborn. Or was she? Was there something hiding in her ancestors that no one knew of?

Harry startled out of her thoughts when the other girls started applauding. Without knowing what was going on, Harry joined them.

"Thank you." Minister Riddle gave a short bow. "Does anyone have any questions?"

Hermione's hand shot up and before Riddle could say a word she produced a three foot scroll seemingly out of nowhere.

Minister Riddle shook his head, but his smile made it clear he was amused by the whole situation. "There is always one. Usually a Ravenclaw, but it's nice to see a bit of variation from time to time."

"Minister," Hermione started, sitting on the edge of her seat. "Why was the Coven System invented when wizards could have simply married muggle women?"

"Excellent question," Riddle said with a knowing nod. "You're not the first one by far to offer muggles as a solution to our problems. But a wizard procreating with a muggle does not guarantee a magical child. And what we desperately needed was to ensure that enough magical children were born to keep the wizarding world viable for many generations to come."

"Thank you." Hermione glanced at her parchment. "Since the curse only affects the greater part of Europe, why weren't witches from outside of Europe asked to come here?"

"They were," Riddle said, his voice flat as he gave Hermione an even look. "As it turns out, the vast majority of witches weren't looking forward to moving to a continent with a very dark and powerful curse on it that would harm them and their children."

Hermione remained unaffected by Riddle's slightly rebuking tone. "And what is being done to actually break the curse?"

Riddle blinked, as though he was surprised someone had asked him that question so directly. "At the moment? Nothing." Hermione looked like she wanted to interrupt him, but Riddle cut her off with a sharp gesture of his hand. "For decades the brightest minds of our community have tried to break the curse. I have tried many times, alone and with the help of some of the most powerful wizards and witches that have ever lived. Even the Flamels have personally helped me to try to break the curse, but to no avail. New curse-breakers are always welcome to try. Who knows? Perhaps a fresh, young mind can some day do what we could not."

Hermione's eyes narrowed in a way that made it clear to Harry that her best friend had found a new cause to fight for. Last year it had been house-elves, and now it was apparently making sure Grindelwald's curse would be broken as soon as possible. Harry sighed. She loved her friend dearly, but Hermione could be a bit exhausting whenever she fixated on something new.

"Thank you all for your attention," Riddle said before Hermione could ask more questions from her enormous list. "But I'm afraid I have other appointments this morning that cannot keep. Ms Potter, might I have a word in private with you?"

Harry swallowed as she slowly got up from her seat. What on earth did Riddle want with her? Was it to talk about the parseltongue thing? Because Harry had no clue about any of that and it must have been clear from her reactions that she didn't.

Minister Riddle held open the door and gestured at Harry to follow him out into the hallway. The snake slithered out after them, surprisingly quick for something of its giant size.

"Are you going to mate with this girl since she speaks our tongue?" the snake asked as it caught up with them.

Harry stopped so abruptly that the snake actually bumped into her legs from behind.

Riddle sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. "You must forgive Nagini. She's known for speaking her mind, which usually isn't a problem." Riddle stared down at Harry with a warm smile. "Until now that I have found you."

"No problem," Harry mumbled, very confused about what was going on. Why on earth would that blasted snake even say such a thing? Perhaps it was simply a very stupid snake, barely able to understand the words it was saying.

"Harriet Potter." Riddle reached inside his black robes, burying his fingers underneath his black shirt, and he pulled out a golden chain. He raised it over his head, revealing a golden locket dangling from it with a serpentine S on the front, inlaid with small, green stones. With a small smile, he held the locket out to her. "Will you accept this token of my affection for you?"

Harry gaped up at him with her mouth opened in shock. Those were the traditional words a man said to ask a woman to officially court her. "Have you gone mad?" Harry asked before she could bite her tongue.

Thankfully, Riddle didn't take that as an insult. His eyes crinkled with clear amusement while he chuckled. "I understand that this must look utterly insane from your point of view." His expression suddenly became serious. "But you must understand that I have been looking for a fellow parselmouth to marry for a very long time. Please, accept this token."

Harry was completely at a loss of what to do. She didn't think she'd ever felt so out of sorts before in her entire life. Nor had she ever been this uncomfortable.

This was the Minister for Magic, asking to court her. The man was old enough to be her grandfather. And Harry knew nothing about him, aside from the usual political gossip she heard at her family's dining table during their meals together.

Harry should turn him down. She was allowed to do so, without fearing any repercussions.

Then again, Harry wasn't stupid. This was Minister Riddle, the man who had ruled their world for over thirty years. Her father, Sirius and Peter all worked for the Ministry. If Riddle wanted to lash out in retaliation for Harry's rejection, he could very easily make her family's lives very difficult. And while Riddle had a pristine reputation, Harry had also picked up over the years that he was a man one shouldn't cross. That angering Minister Riddle was a very bad idea.

So Harry swallowed away any objections she might have and held out her hand while she gave Riddle her best smile. "I would be honoured to accept this token and I look forward to our next meeting." There, she'd managed to get the traditional reply out without any hesitation.

Riddle's smile was breath-taking as he placed the chain and locket in her hand. It was still warm from his body. "I cannot tell you how long I have waited for this moment," Riddle whispered, stepping a little closer to her. "Allow me." Before Harriet even had the chance to examine the locket, Riddle took it from her hand again and scooted behind her. Before she knew it, the locket was secured around her neck and dangled against her chest. "It once belonged to Salazar Slytherin, who gifted it to his beloved wife. It has remained in my family ever since."

That was a very generous gift, even Harry could see that. She managed a smile that hopefully conveyed that she understood what a great honour he'd just bestowed upon her. "Thank you," she said, unsure what else to say.

Never, ever in a million years had she thought she'd ever be courted by the bloody Minister for Magic himself.

Riddle took a few steps away from her, though he looked like he regretted having to do so a great deal. "It has been an enormous pleasure to meet you, Miss Potter. I truly have appointments I cannot miss and you have classes to attend. I shall write to you to set up a future meeting."

"That's fine, yes," Harry said because what else could she say. "Have a good day, Minister."

"And you, Miss Potter." And with that, Minister Riddle turned away with a sweep of his black robes, his snake following him at once. Harry watched him go, her hand absentmindedly fingering the locket around her throat. It felt heavy and far too big, but Harry didn't dare remove it so soon after having accepted it.

No, the best thing she could do now was to go along with Riddle's courtship, at least for a few meetings. That way she could say she'd legitimately given the Minister a chance and that she'd concluded they had nothing in common. Which was to be expected, since she was fifteen and he was in his bloody sixties. And then she'd be able to let him down gently and focus on the courtships of more age-appropriate candidates while hopefully keeping the fallout for her family at a minimum.

"Harry?" Hermione came up behind her. "What did the Minister want with you?"

Harry turned towards her and lifted the locket to show it to Hermione. "He gave me a locket that once belonged to Salazar Slytherin and asked to court me."

"WHAT?" Hermione looked as though she was seeing her beloved library burn before her eyes. "That man is old enough to be your grandfather!"

"I know!" Harry all but snarled, though she immediately gave Hermione an apologetic smile. She didn't want to take her confusion and anger out on her best friend. "I've got no clue what's going on, to be honest. I mean, he said he'd been waiting to marry a parselmouth, but even so, it's a ludicrous idea."

"But you didn't turn him down." Hermione gestured at the locket around Harry's neck and immediately got a rather scheming expression on her face. "This is a golden opportunity, Harry. You can question him on the curse and learn everything you can from him personally."

Of course Hermione would immediately bring any situation right back to her latest fixation. Harry sighed. "I'm just going to meet him a few times and let him down gently. I'm expecting plenty of courtship offers from boys much better suited for me, Hermione."

"Yes, yes, of course." Hermione fell into step at once when Harry started walking towards Charms, where they were expected to join the rest of their class. "But in the meantime you can absolutely bleed him dry for information. Think about what an amazing opportunity this is, Harry!"

Harry wasn't sure how she got through the rest of the day because her mind kept spinning around and around with confusion and discomfort and about a million questions about the whole damned mess she suddenly found herself in.

After classes were finished, when Harry made her way to the Great Hall for a much needed cup of tea, Draco walked up to her and handed her a brand-new Firebolt. Harry had a Nimbus 2000, which was a great broom that she loved dearly, but she'd be lying if she said she hadn't been drooling over the Firebolt ever since it came out. Her parents had refused to buy it for her, of course, saying it was much too expensive and that she already had a good broom that would last her for the rest of her Hogwarts years.

"Will you please accept this token of my affection?" Draco drawled, sounding utterly bored.

"Draco," Harry sighed, giving him a tired look.

"Mother insisted," Draco said with a shrug. "Say yes, go on a few dates with me and then let me down gently. You'll get to keep the broom and Mother will have to stop whining about me not putting enough effort into courting you."

Harry looked at the amazing broom in her hands. She knew she should be the bigger person and tell Draco no from the start, since she had no intention of ever marrying him, but this was a fucking Firebolt. Harry was not that strong or good of a person to turn a Firebolt down. "Yeah, all right. We can go out a few times. But I am turning you down eventually."

"Yes, thank you." Draco beamed at her and strolled along, hands in his pockets.

"Did Malfoy just give you a new broom?" Hermione asked as she appeared from the nearby bathroom.

"Not just a new broom, a bloody Firebolt. Sorry, Hermione, but I'm going to try it out right away!" Harry ran past her friend and rushed out of the castle. She jumped on the Firebolt the moment she was through the doors and shot up into the sky.

Holy crap, this was the greatest broom she'd ever been on!

News of Draco's courting gift for Harry spread like a wildfire, naturally, and before long Harry had a whole slew of admirers, all there to check out her broom instead of her. Harry herself had to wait for after dinner that evening before another admirer for her showed up.

"I saw that Draco beat me to it," Blaise Zabini said with a short bow and a polite smile as he appeared the moment Harry made to leave the Great Hall. He handed Harry a velvet jewellery box. "Please accept this token as a sign of my affection."

Harry was so overwhelmed by everything that had already happened that day that she wasn't able to be as happy with Blaise's courtship offer as she might otherwise have been. Still, Harry gave him a genuine smile as she accepted the box and opened it. Inside were two earrings, made from platinum with little diamonds on them. They were shaped like Snitches and Harry loved them at once. "Thank you. I would be honoured to accept this token and I look forward to our next meeting."

Blaise gave her a blinding smile in return before narrowing his eyes and nodding at the locket around Harry's throat. "Did you accept another courtship, aside from Draco's?"

"Yeah," Harry said, stomach sinking. She felt utterly mortified she'd accepted the courtship of an old man she barely knew. "He's…er…out of Hogwarts already." Understatement of the year.

Blaise kept staring at the locket for a good, long while. "It looks rather old. An heirloom?"

"Might very well be," Harry mumbled before taking a few steps away from Blaise. "I'm really happy you're courting me, Blaise. See you soon."

"You can bet on that, Harriet." Blaise also stepped back and they parted ways. Hermione had been watching from a distance and gave Harry an encouraging smile.

That evening in the common rooms, Fred and George Weasley had news to share. They stood in front of the fireplace with Lee Jordan and Angelina Johnson by their side. "Listen, everyone!" George yelled while Fred set off some sparks in the air with his wand. "This past summer the beautiful Angelina here has agreed to marry myself, Fred and Lee once we finish Hogwarts!"

A string of loud cheers went up all around the common room. It was always something worth celebrating, when a successful new coven was formed. Immediately bottles of butterbeer were passed around for everyone while the older years indulged in some clandestine firewhisky.

Harry's next courtship offer came the next morning by owl. Oliver Wood, her old Quidditch Captain and the subject of Harry's first ever serious crush, sent her a beautiful golden Snitch inscribed with her initials. Harry sent him an owl back at once, saying that she gladly accepted his courtship.

Finally, Cedric made his move, as Harry had hoped he would. Cedric approached her outside of the greenhouses that afternoon and gave her a first edition copy of Quidditch Through the Ages. Harry also was eager to accept his courtship.

Over the following days, many more boys approached Harry with all manner of gifts, but she turned them all down. She wasn't as attracted to them as she was to Blaise, Cedric and Oliver, so their courtships seemed more than enough for her. All she had to do was break off the courtship with Draco and Minister Riddle in due time and she'd have herself a really nice coven.

Of course, the courtships of Blaise, Cedric and Oliver might still fall through, from either side. If Harry or any of the boys decided they didn't want to go through with things, they were always free to break things off.

A day later, just after dinner, a shimmering owl floated through the air towards Harry. It was Regulus' Patronus, asking her to meet him in his quarters.

Harry went to her uncle's rooms at once, wondering what Regulus wanted with her. It was barely even a week into the new year, so Harry doubted it had to do with her classwork. Besides, she loved Runes and was good at them, so Regulus probably didn't want to discuss his classes with her. And she was also really good at Defence, so she was sure Severus wouldn't have anything to report to her either when it came to his classes.

Regulus waved her inside the moment he opened the door. Severus had a steaming tea set waiting and poured them all cups of tea.

"So Riddle's courting you," Reggie said while he sat back in his chair, giving Harry a curious look.

Harry couldn't stop the blush from heating up her cheeks. "I wanted to turn him down at once but I didn't want to risk any retaliation against my family. So I figured I'd go along with him for a few months and then let him down gently."

"A wise choice," Severus said as he sipped his cup. "Riddle may put on a mask of geniality but he is a true Slytherin to the core. He would not accept a rejection lightly."

"Yeah, that's what I was afraid of," Harry muttered.

"He's been to your family's home and he's had all the small children tested for parseltongue, including Hyacinth," Regulus said, ignoring Harry's startled gasp. "They all came back negative. Then he had me test Rigel and Dennis just this afternoon. Also negative."

"So I'm the only parselmouth in the whole family?" Harry asked, looking between the two men with wide, disbelieving eyes. "How is that possible?"

Severus shrugged. "Magical traits such as parseltongue are still poorly understood. There is a genetic component, since it's usually passed down from parents to children. But it's entirely possible that somewhere in either James or Lily's ancestors was a parselmouth once upon a time. The trait might have gone dormant for generations and now decided to pop up again."

"Ugh." Harry rubbed a hand across her face and finally swept her wild curls back. "All this nonsense because I can talk parseltongue. Honestly, Riddle is much too old for me. What is that man thinking?"

"He's utterly serious about this, Harriet," Reggie said as he sat forward in his chair, grey eyes narrowing as he looked at Harry. "He's called in a favour with me that my late father owed him."

"What did he want?" Harry asked, chest filling with sour regret that her extended family was being dragged into this horrible mess.

Regulus' smile was rueful. "He's ordered me to report to him which boys are courting you."

Harry sat up at once, almost dropping her cup. "He would not dare mess with my courtships!"

"He's a Slytherin," Severus drawled with a roll of his eyes. "He's the Slytherin. Of course he's going to mess with your courtships. Frankly, your other suitors don't stand a chance."

"I don't think you understand just how powerful Riddle truly is," Regulus said, his voice quiet. "Once he desires something, nothing will stop him from acquiring it."

"Yeah, we'll see about that." Harry was not going to let some old, cheating Slytherin mess up her courtships. If Riddle thought he could control her life like that, he had another thing coming.

Severus seemed to read her intentions on her face. "Remember, Harriet, that ultimately you hold all the power in this courtship. You can turn him down at any moment. Use that when negotiating with him."

Harry had a lot to think about for the next few weeks. Nothing much happened, aside from Riddle sending her a letter written in perfect penmanship, asking her for a meeting during her next Hogsmeade weekend. Harry sent him a short but polite note in return, agreeing to meeting him in the Three Broomsticks at one in the afternoon. She was already meeting Oliver in the morning that Saturday.

Other than that, Harry went flying with Draco once, to keep up appearances. She also spent a Sunday afternoon walking around the lake with Blaise, chatting and getting to know him better. Blaise had a wicked sense of humour, which Harry really appreciated. Other than that, he seemed quite down to earth with little patience for unnecessary dramatics, also both things that appealed to Harry.

Finally, Cedric took her on a lunch date to the kitchens, where the house-elves were more than happy to serve them hot chocolate and delicious pork pies while they chatted about Quidditch for a good two hours. Harry was truly regretful to see that date come to an end. Talking with Cedric was just so easy and so much fun.

Then Fabian Prewett announced that the fifth years all had to come to his office, one after another, for career advice.

"Any idea what you want to do, other than start a coven?" Prewett smiled in a way that reminded Harry strongly of Fred and George.

"Yeah. I'm thinking about playing Quidditch for a few years, at least." Harry had wanted to be a professional Quidditch player since the very first time she'd sat on a children's broom and chased a snitch across the grounds.

"You're certainly talented enough." Prewett nodded at the Quidditch Cup that sat on a nearby shelf and that Harry had helped put there for a number of years now. "But witches generally wait with playing Quidditch until after they're done having children."

Harry's stomach tied up in a knot. She wanted to do her duty to the wizarding world, of course, but she also wanted to play Quidditch really, really badly. "I figured I'd play Quidditch for a few years before having children and then do something else after that, when I'm ready to start a family."

"Hm." Prewett gave Harry a thoughtful look. "What were you planning on doing? Perhaps a Healer like your mother?"

"No, an Auror like my father." Harry always had been really good at Defence and she loved listening to the stories from her Dad and Sirius about working as an Auror.

Prewett's face darkened a bit as he gave Harry an almost disappointed look. "That's not a good idea, Harriet. The Auror department doesn't let witches in before they've had children. Too much risk of them getting injured before they've done their duty."

It took Harry everything she had to not blow up in Prewett's face. It wasn't his fault that the Coven System existed, after all. But Harry knew exactly who was going to take the brunt of her anger just about a week from now. What an utterly ridiculous mindset. All her life Harry had heard that she had to do her duty, but that it wouldn't interfere with her professional life. Except now that she made it clear what she wanted to do with her life, it was suddenly impossible because of her duty to have lots of kids.

Oh yeah, Harry was fuming but she kept her face blank while she stared at Prewett.

"Being a Healer would be a great option instead of the Auror department," Prewett rattled on while he looked at some sheets of paper on his desk. "And you've certainly got the grades for it. Frankly, Harriet, you've got the grades to do many things, so you can still change your mind all the way to sitting your NEWTs."

"Thank you, Professor," Harry said stiffly as she pushed herself up. "Will that be all?"

"Certainly."

Harry paced her dormitory, waiting for Hermione to show up after her Arithmancy class. Harry took Runes and Care of Magical Creatures as electives. Hermione had those, too, as well as Arithmancy.

"How did it go?" Hermione asked the moment she entered the dormitory.

"Splendid," Harry snarled, kicking against her trunk. "I can't do either of the things I want to do, according to Prewett, because I should be popping out babies instead."

Hermione threw her bookbag to the ground, a clear indication she, too, was thoroughly pissed off. "It was the same during my meeting. I told him I wanted to become a curse-breaker and I got a whole speech about having children first because it was dangerous."

Harry stopped pacing and stared at Hermione with wide eyes. "Since when did you want to become a curse-breaker? I thought you wanted to work at the Ministry?" Last year, during Hermione's house-elf crusade, she'd made it clear more than once that she was going into politics to help the helpless.

"And I still want to," Hermione said, voice turning just a bit shrilly. "After I break Grindelwald's curse."

Harry sat down on the edge of her bed, still staring at Hermione in disbelief.

Hermione briefly closed her eyes. "I understand why the Coven System was put in place, but that doesn't mean I agree with it."

"But we have to do our duty to make sure the wizarding world doesn't die out," Harry said in a firm voice, because she utterly believed that.

"Yes, I know," Hermione said with a deep sigh. "But if that blasted curse got broken then the whole Coven System would be obsolete." The look Hermione gave Harry was full of sympathy. "You've got to understand, Harry, that I wasn't raised in this system. I only ever had one mum and one dad. And that's what I want for my future as well. Just one husband and eventually two or so kids. That's it."

Harry chewed on her lip. She could understand Hermione's dilemma. She certainly wasn't the first muggleborn to find it hard to adjust to the Coven System.

"So I'm going to break the curse," Hermione said with absolute conviction. "And you're going to help me by gathering information."

Harry rolled her eyes and stood up, running both hands through her long hair. "I've got lots of other stuff to talk to Riddle about, so don't expect too much. But I'll ask him a couple of questions about the curse, I promise."

"Thanks, Harry." Hermione's smile was utterly grateful.

Over the next couple of days leading up to the Hogsmeade weekend, Harry kept repeating bits of conversation she wanted to have with Riddle to herself when she was alone. Peter had always explained that it was good to practice before having difficult conversations at work or at home, and Harry was taking his advice to heart. She had lots of grievances with Riddle and she wanted to be sure she wouldn't forget a single one.

Friday afternoon, Blaise approached her, a blank look on his face. "Harriet, can I talk to you in private for a moment?"

Harry stepped away from Hermione and Ron in the Entrance Hall and followed Blaise to a quiet corridor.

"I'm truly sorry, Harriet, but I have to call our courtship off," Blaise said, a real note of regret in his voice. "Please keep the earrings. They suit you very well."

Harry stared at Blaise in complete disbelief. They'd been getting on so well. Why would he call it off so early in their courtship?

And then something dawned on Harry and she narrowed her eyes as she glared at Blaise. "Tell me honestly, did Minister Riddle have anything to do with this decision?"

Blaise looked away at once, which was answer enough, really, but Harry pressed on. "Please, Blaise, all I ask is that you're honest. I really enjoyed our courtship and I hate to see it end."

Sighing, Blaise stared down at his shoes. "Look, I want to become an Unspeakable and it's really hard to even get an interview at the Department of Mysteries, let alone an actual job."

And Harry could see very clearly how Riddle was going to ruin every single one of her courtships. He was simply going to give every one of her suitors exactly what they wanted in exchange for letting her go. "Riddle promised you a job," Harry whispered, a brief, chilling feeling of defeat rushing through her. When Blaise nodded, still not meeting her eyes, that feeling was quickly replaced by a raging hot fire ready to burn Riddle to the ground.