The Daily Prophet didn't mention Harry by name, but it did pretty much list everything else about her that made it easy for people to figure out who the article was talking about. They plainly said that Riddle was romancing a fifth year Gryffindor student whose parents were an Auror and a Healer.
Yeah, that didn't leave anything up to the imagination, now did it?
Harry ignored the many stares she got that day as best as she could and went about her day, glaring at everyone who so much as looked like they wanted to question her about the article.
The next day the Daily Prophet ran an interview they had with Riddle about his alleged romance. Riddle didn't make a big deal of any of it, but simply explained that he'd taken on an apprentice for a duelling Mastery. That apprentice turned out to be a parselmouth, which brought them closer together and led to Riddle proposing to her.
Riddle did a great job in making the whole sordid ordeal sound like a fairy tale romance. As it turned out, Riddle had a real talent for making up stories that weren't even remotely true.
"Would you rather people knew what had really happened?" Regulus asked that evening, when Harry was hiding out in her uncles' quarters to get away from all the curious looks she was getting from not only her fellow students, but also from most of the staff now that Riddle had officially confirmed they were engaged to be married.
"No." Harry buried her face in her hands and groaned. How was she supposed to deal with all of this?
"You'd best get used to seeing your name in the paper," Severus said without a shred of sympathy. "You're to be the Minister's wife. For the rest of your life the people of wizarding Britain will have an unhealthy fascination with anything and everything you do."
Harry groaned louder and leaned forward a little more, rubbing her face even harder. "I know," she finally whispered as she sat up again. "At least, I knew that in theory. Suddenly being at the centre of everyone's attention is a lot less pleasant in practice."
"Hold your head up high, Harriet," Regulus said with an encouraging smile. "Make it seem like all of this is exactly how you were planning to lead your life."
"Act as though you yourself planned the whole blasted relationship," Severus said in clear agreement with his husband. "Do not give anyone the knowledge that this wasn't your own choice. Don't expose your weaknesses like that."
A part of Harry, a small part perhaps, loathed the idea of having to spend the rest of her life living a lie. But a bigger part of her did understand the necessity to keep the real origins of her relationship with Riddle a secret. The last thing she wanted was for Riddle's enemies to use Harry's impulsiveness and poor judgement against herself and her future husband.
And would it be so bad, to pretend that she'd always wanted to marry Riddle?
At this point, Harry didn't hate the idea of marrying Riddle anymore, if she were perfectly honest with herself. She liked him as a person, though she was well aware he was far from perfect. She enjoyed spending time with him and she was definitely attracted to him.
It wasn't an epic romance, but then again, Harry had known her whole life that she probably wouldn't have an epic romance, given that she'd been meant to carefully choose at least three husbands to create her own coven with.
Nowadays her and Riddle did have a solid foundation for a marriage together, and the more time they spent together, the more they'd start to care for each other. Love would grow from that eventually, Harry was sure.
So yeah, the more Harry thought about it, the more she realized she could go along with the lie that she was over the moon with her upcoming marriage and that she'd planned the whole thing from the very start.
And thus from that moment on Harry held her head up high when she walked through Hogwarts' corridors, and she ignored the many whispers that followed her around. What was interesting was that a whole new subset of students started approaching her with thinly veiled excuses to get to know her better. They were the students that planned to go into politics themselves and they hoped that buttering up the Minister's future wife would earn them some important points with the Minister himself.
Harry saw right through them, though, and barely paid them any attention, aside from the bare minimum that was expected in polite society.
There was also a small but persistent subset of students that started giving her malicious looks wherever Harry went. These were the students who were driven by envy of all kinds. Those that wanted a wizard as powerful and influential as Minister Riddle for themselves, or at least didn't want Harriet Potter to get her claws in a man like that.
Harry ignored them as well and simply pretended they didn't exist.
Several journalists sent Harry letters, begging her for an all exclusive interview about her whirlwind romance with the country's most important wizard. Harry sent them short but polite letters back, reminding them that she was still a minor and had no intention of speaking to the press until some time after her wedding with the Minister. Until that time she requested they let her be. They did, but they also wrote about Harry's choice to remain silent, speculating wildly why a sixteen-year-old wouldn't want to talk to the press. They implied all sorts of outrageous reasons, from Harry being a bit feeble-minded all the way to Riddle having forbidden Harry to speak a word about him in public.
"It is simply something you'll have to learn to live with, I'm afraid," Riddle said during their weekly duelling lesson. "Being in the public eye does come with some less fortunate consequences. Being a person of interest to the press is one of them."
"Yeah, I know," Harry sighed as she stepped out of the way of a hex Riddle cast at her. She returned a skin eating curse which Riddle easily blocked. "I'm doing my best to pretend this was all my idea in the first place."
"That is indeed the best approach." Riddle slashed his wand down in a vicious strike, causing the stones beneath Harry's feet to move up and down in irregular patterns.
Harry flew up into the air a few feet to avoid falling on her arse, but she immediately realised her mistake when Riddle sent a hex flying in her direction and she couldn't block it in time. Whenever she used her magic for flying she couldn't really use it for anything else. That was a skill she'd yet to learn. The hex caused painful boils to erupt from her skin and Harry quickly touched down to the floor again.
"I want you to come spend some time with me in my holiday cottage around Yule," Riddle said as he cast the counter-hex at Harry, who sighed in relief as the boils disappeared at once. "Just the two of us."
It didn't take Harry very long to make a decision. She wasn't looking forward to spending Yule with her family anyway, what with her mum's divorce and James' continued hostility towards Harry's upcoming marriage. "Yeah, that's fine. What did you want to do for Yule?"
"A small ritual and a nice meal," Riddle said as he stepped closer to Harry, giving her the kind of smile that made his eyes fill with warmth. "I usually spend Yule with a few friends and partake in their family's rituals, but I believe it would be nice if it was just the two of us."
A surge of something hot and tantalizing shot through Harry's body as she stared up into Riddle's brown eyes. Yeah, it did sound nice to spend those festive days with Riddle in his cosy little cottage. "I'm looking forward to it," Harry whispered and then quickly looked down as she licked her lips. It was rather absurd, but it took Harry more and more effort to not simply kiss Riddle silly whenever they stood close together. She wasn't sure when that impulse had reared its unwelcome head, but it took Harry considerable effort those days not to snog Riddle at least once every time they met.
When Harry returned to the common room later that evening, she found Ron and Hermione snuggled together on the sofa in front of the blazing fireplace. It was prime territory for couples and as such it was often occupied by whichever couple could claim it first for the evening. It looked like Ron and Hermione had gotten lucky that night.
Harry sat down on the armrest and gave her friends a fond smile, though at the same time a pang of something sharp coursed through her chest. Was that envy? Was Harry truly jealous that her friends could snuggle together in the common room while Harry's intended was a grown ass man who couldn't yet snuggle with her because it would be inappropriate?
What a silly thing to think. Harry willed those ridiculous feelings away. It was less than a year now that she'd be married to Riddle and then they could snuggle and cuddle and snog as often as they wanted.
"How was your training?" Hermione asked as she looked up at Harry with hooded eyes, face slack with warm relaxation.
"Good." Harry shrugged and then grinned down at Hermione. "I'm still getting my arse kicked, but it happens a little less quickly every time, so I'm counting that as progress."
Out of nowhere, Leander Brown stepped up to the couch and parked himself in front of the fireplace, arms crossed tightly over his chest. "It's not fair," he said while glaring daggers at Ron and Hermione. "Why does he get to cosy up to you but the rest of us suddenly have to go without a girl, ever since the laws changed."
Hermione blinked in a way that showed she had trouble comprehending what Leander was even saying. Apparently spending time in Ron's arms had severely diminished Hermione's cognitive function.
"What a load of bollocks," Harry said while she narrowed her eyes at Leander. "Perhaps you haven't found girl because your entire personality is off-putting. Have you thought of that?"
Leander looked like he wanted to reach for his wand as he turned his attention to Harry. "And you!" He took a step closer to Harry, clenching his hands into fists beside his body. "You could be pleasuring at least three men your own age, but instead you give yourself to a man old enough to be your grandfather."
"Are you even listening to yourself?" Harry asked in complete disbelief. "We're not things you are in any way entitled to, mate. We are people, the same as you, who finally get to decide what our own lives should look like, whether you or any other bloke likes it or not!"
"It was a mistake, to do away with the Coven system," Cormac McLaggen said. He was a burly seventh year who also lost his fiancée when the Coven System was abolished and he had been openly moping about it ever since.
"No, it wasn't." Hermione had finally managed to extract herself from Ron's embrace and she gave Cormac a look full of outrage. "All it means is that you and every other man has to put in a bit of extra effort to find yourselves a girlfriend from now on. And it might take you a little longer to do so. But since the curse is lifted, plenty of witches from outside of Europe would probably be happy enough to move here from now on."
Cormac gave Hermione a look that could only be described as lewd. "Or we could simply take what we want right here. What's your little boyfriend going to do about it, Granger?"
Harry jumped down from the armrest, wand in hand. "It's not her boyfriend you should worry about, McLaggen. It's her best friend." And without waiting for a response, Harry shot off a string of hexes and curses at both Cormac and Leander. She was not going to stand by while they were making veiled threats about forcing women into relationships against their will again. Those days were over, plain and simple.
Neither Cormac or Leander were quick enough to block Harry's attack and they dropped to the floor, squirming and moaning as boils broke out across their skin. Their hair fell out, their scalps covered in crusty scabs, while they squeezed their eyes shut. But that didn't stop the tears of blood from spilling over and dripping down their cheeks.
"It would behoove you to remember that I'm the apprentice of a Duelling Master who has won the World Duelling Championship more times than anyone else," Harry said, casually tucking her wand away again. She looked around the common room, making sure that everyone there got that particular message. Some boys ducked their heads as Harry's gaze landed on them, and others actually shrank back.
"That was awesome!" Harry's half-brother Rigel obviously wasn't as easily intimidated. "You've got to teach me those spells, Harriet!"
Harry rolled her eyes and focused on Hermione, who looked as though she didn't know if she should be angry at Harry for cursing fellow students, or proud of her for taking down a potential threat with such efficiency and skill.
"Someone should probably take them to the infirmary," Harry said to no one in particular. A couple of friends of Cormac helped the two cursed boys up and led them away.
"Blimey." Ron appeared delighted more than anything else with Harry's little demonstration of her duelling prowess. "Riddle really has been teaching you how to duel, hasn't he?"
Harry gave Ron an incredulous look. "What the hell else did you think we've been doing, meeting in the Chamber of Secrets once a week for pretty much the last year?"
Ron gave a helpless shrug as he stared down at his shoes. "Well…, I figured you were meeting him for a bit of the old in out, you know?"
"Ron!" Hermione gasped at her boyfriend in shock.
"Oh, fuck off," Harry muttered and stomped away to her dormitory. She was done with boys and their ridiculous ideas for the evening.
December brought plenty of ice and snow to Scotland. Harry and Hermione took several long walks around the grounds to enjoy the wonderous landscape and their final Hogsmeade day made them feel as though they were walking through a fairy tale. All the small cottages in Hogsmeade looked like they'd popped right out of a storybook, with their snow-covered roofs and their burning lanterns hanging beside their doors while snow drifted down around the cobblestoned streets.
Riddle's cottage looked much the same way, Harry learned as he apparated them there the day before Yule. Harry's father had put up a token protest about his oldest daughter not spending Yule at home, but Harry had simply ignored his mutterings and had gone with Riddle anyway. It's not like James Potter could really do anything to stop Harry from spending time with her fiancé. Not unless he wanted to lose his job entirely, because Harry was certain that Riddle wouldn't be best pleased if James tried to interfere in his daughter's relationship at that point.
"It's amazing," Harry said when Riddle gave her an expectant look. The cottage sat in a field of pristine snow, with frost covering the windows and icicles hanging from the snow-covered roof. The sky was almost pink, indicating more snow on the way that had yet to fall. Inside the cottage the fireplace was blazing and the whole room had been decorated with evergreen branches around the windows and doorways, filling the air with a faint scent of pine and fir.
"Would you like to unpack first?" Riddle said, gesturing towards the narrow staircase. He looked uncharacteristically uncertain about what to do, which was such a rare thing for him. Riddle was the kind of man who was confident in pretty much everything he did, so to see him suddenly full of awkwardness was strangely adorable.
"I'll just put my bag upstairs, but I don't have more than a few clothes to unpack," Harry said, giving Riddle a reassuring smile.
"Please do so. I'll prepare us some hot chocolate." And with that Riddle disappeared into the kitchen while Harry climbed the stairs. It was really nice to spend this Yule with Riddle and it filled Harry with an enormous sense of comfort to know that they'd be spending every Yule together in this cosy wintery cottage for the rest of their lives. Perhaps they could make that a tradition, since Riddle seemed to have wanted to desperately spend this time of the year with a wife of his own.
Harry found the guest bedroom neatly prepared for her stay and she quickly unpacked some clothes and toiletries, but that took her no more than a few minutes. When she returned to the living room, Riddle was sitting on the couch and he gave her an eager smile as he gestured for her to join him. On the coffee table stood two large mugs of hot chocolate topped with whipped cream. There were also a few bowls full of small treats, from candied nuts to luxury chocolates.
They sat together and indulged themselves in all the treats while the fire crackled soothingly in the hearth. They talked about anything and everything and their conversation flowed easily.
And Harry knew with certainty that they would make their marriage work. That spending the rest of her life with this man would bring her plenty of happiness as long as they both put in the effort. Because that really was the secret to a happy relationship, wasn't it? That both parties put in the effort to make it work for themselves and for their partner.
Harry fell asleep that night with a smile on her face, tucked into the comfortable bed with Riddle sleeping just across the small hallway from her. It was a very reassuring kind of feeling, that he was so close by. They'd never actually spent the night together before, albeit in separate bedrooms.
The day of Yule started with an elaborate breakfast, which they enjoyed while both still wearing their pyjamas and dressing gowns. After they got dressed they enjoyed a long walk along the coastline, the wind chilling their faces until their cheeks were red and numb. Yet Harry loved the sight of the grey skies over the choppy waves that crashed on the rocky shores. By the time they returned to the cottage for lunch, snow started falling down.
"I've never actually partaken in the Yule ritual while it snowed," Harry confessed while she stared out the window as the time for the ritual drew closer. "Where we live, in the south of England, it rarely snows at all."
"It does add a lot of atmosphere to the ritual," Riddle agreed, standing beside her and ducking his head a little so he could look out the window as well. "Shall we start?"
The Yule ritual was rather simple, as far as rituals went. They set a Yule log alight in a ritual circle and chanted several spells while making offerings of evergreen branches and nuts and dried fruits. The magic always filled you with feelings of home and belonging, of warmth and promises of better things. This year, though, another feeling rose up in Harry she'd never felt before.
It was warm and overwhelming and made her stare at Riddle while furious desire burned through her body. It was the promise of a family of her own, Harry realized. Of a husband who would care for her for the rest of her life, who would worship her body and mind and make sure she never wanted for anything. It was an entirely overwhelming feeling that made Harry's heart ache with longing and her body throb with desire.
The falling snow covered Riddle's black hair with white flecks and Harry couldn't look away from it when Riddle approached her. "I think Yule is my favourite of all the holiday rituals," Riddle said with a soft smile on his face, his pale cheeks slightly red from the cold.
Harry wanted to agree with him, wanted to tell him that this particular Yule ritual had been the most amazing yet, but she couldn't speak. So instead she stood up on her tiptoes, placed her hands on Riddle's chest and pressed her cold lips against his in a heated kiss. Riddle gasped in surprise and Harry deepened the kiss at once, needing to show Riddle that she wanted him, that she wanted the life they could lead together as a married couple.
The magic of the ritual embraced them both as though they were wrapped in a warm cloak that held them together. Their kiss became more and more heated and Harry wanted nothing more than to drag Riddle with her inside the cottage and rip his clothes off and urge him to take her, to fuck her right on top of the rug in front of the fireplace.
Harry had never been that aroused in her life before and all she wanted was for Riddle to give her pleasure as she'd never felt before.
It cost Riddle visible effort to drag himself away from Harriet. "Dearest, be careful what you're thinking of when kissing me, or I might just make your wish come true and fuck you in front of the fireplace right now."
Harry stared up at Riddle for several long moments as her brain slowly regained its ability to think while the arousal in her body ebbed away. "Oh my god," Harry said, suddenly mortified. "Did I say that out loud?"
"No, dearest." Riddle's grin was sharp, yet full of amusement. "But I'm a natural Legilimens and you were thinking very loudly."
"You read my mind?" Harry's eyes widened as she realized in horrified fascination that Riddle might have been reading her mind for ages and ages.
"I try not to, but you were just about rubbing your fantasies in my face." Riddle chuckled and placed a comforting hand on Harry's shoulder. "Please know that I truly look forward to fucking you in front of the fireplace and every other conceivable spot in our home, but it really would be best to wait until our wedding."
"Yes," Harry managed to say before rubbing a hand over her face, her cheeks burning with embarrassment. "The ritual just… it made me realize that I really want this." Harry helplessly gestured at Riddle. "That I really want you as my husband and then I simply couldn't hold back."
Riddle blinked a few times as he stared down at Harry in obvious surprise. "You mean that? You would marry me now even if the contract was miraculously broken?"
"I…er…yes, I'd marry you even then." And Harry knew that was the truth, that whatever feelings she'd developed for Riddle over the past year were real and strong enough that she wanted to spend her life with him.
"Oh, Harriet." This time it was Riddle that instigated their kiss, but it was just as heated as before and Harry lost herself to the feeling of Riddle's lips moving across hers while their tongues danced together.
Riddle pulled away far too soon, but remained standing close to her, arms wrapped around Harry's waist while his breath ghosted across her face. "When I found you I had hoped we'd be able to come to some sort of mutual agreement on a relationship. I'd never imagined that we'd actually come to appreciate the other to the point of truly wanting each other."
"You'd marry me even if I wasn't a parselmouth?" Harry asked daringly, though part of her dreaded the answer.
"Yes," Riddle said without hesitation. "You make me happier than anyone has ever done before, my dearest."
Harry pressed her face against Riddle's wool cloak, her entire body trembling with all these overwhelming emotions that she was suddenly filled with. This was as close to a confession of love that Riddle was probably capable of, Harry realized. It was also as close as Harry could get to admitting out loud that somewhere along the line she'd fallen in love with Tom Riddle, a man far too old and far too powerful for her, but she truly desired him nonetheless.
They stood wrapped together for a while, the snow falling around them while the Yule log burned steadily in the ritual circle behind them. Eventually they walked back to the cottage hand in hand where Petal had an amazing Yule feast waiting for them. As they enjoyed the roast goose and the Brussel sprouts and mashed potatoes, Harry realized that something was different between them now. Before, there had always been a sense of caution between them, as though they were both unsure if they could trust the other. But now that uncertain feeling was gone completely, replaced by the warm assurance that they were soon going to be happily married together.
They spent the rest of the evening sitting snugly together on the sofa while they played a few wizarding games and indulged in more chocolates and other treats. It was by far the best Yule Harry had ever had because it had given her the peace of mind that her marriage was going to work.
The next morning the Daily Prophet ran a large article about the state of the wizarding world some ten months after Grindelwald's Curse had been broken. Harry and Riddle read it while sitting together on the sofa.
There were several interviews with Healers of St Mungo's, Lily among them, who all concluded that all the babies conceived after Grindelwald's Curse had been broken had a normal gender ratio. Meaning that roughly fifty percent were boys and fifty percent were girls, give or take a few percent.
"That is great news," Harry said as she read that. "That means that the Coven system really isn't needed anymore."
Riddle seemed a little less enthused as they continued reading the rest of the article, which pretty much confirmed that the Coven system was completely obsolete now. "So many of you younger generations don't seem to understand how close to extinction the wizarding world came."
"What do you mean?" Harry turned a bit to look at Riddle, her brows drawn down in a frown. "Once the curse was cast?"
Sighing, Riddle shook his head and folded the paper. He placed it on the coffee table and gave Harry a long, penetrating look. "Even before the curse was cast the wizarding world wasn't doing well in terms of its future generations. The war with Grindelwald had left many European families with just one remaining heir, while plenty of other families had been wiped out altogether. On top of that blood prejudice was still a very common belief held by the majority of purebloods. All of that was a recipe for an inbred disaster. And then Grindelwald's curse all but guaranteed that wizardkind would die out in Europe within a few generations."
Swallowing, Harry nodded her head. "So the Coven system was necessary for a while. But was it truly necessary for as long as it went on?"
"Yes," Riddle said at once, his tone firm. "Thanks to the Coven system blood prejudice is all but gone from out society. Old pureblood families have mixed their lines with half-bloods and muggleborns alike, giving new vigour to old magics. On top of that the number of magical people have quadrupled over the last few decades. What was once a society that was just a few generations away from ruination is now a society that's thriving, with more magical children born than ever before."
As Harry listened to Riddle's passionate speech, something began to dawn on her. She knew Riddle quite well at this point, probably better than most. And she knew his moods and his way of thinking. And right now, the way Riddle was talking made it clear that whatever he felt about Grindelwald's curse and the Coven system was personal for him. Not just because he was the initial architect of the Coven system. No, Harry realized, that Riddle had far more to do with this whole mess than he let on.
Harry slammed her mediocre Occlumency shields up as fast as she could, lest Riddle see those treacherous thoughts in her mind. Starting in her first year, Regulus and Severus had taught her some rudimentary Occlumency, and while Harry would never be a natural at it, she was capable of protecting her mind.
"Harry?" Riddle leaned a little closer, giving Harry a curious look. "What is on your mind, my dear?"
Fuck. Was Riddle still able to see her thoughts or was he simply that good at reading Harry's expression? Harry squeezed her eyes shut, suddenly overcome with indecisiveness. She didn't want to risk pissing Riddle off, but then again, this was her future husband and she should be able to talk to him about anything she wanted without him getting angry.
And Harry was a Gryffindor to the core. She refused to back down from something just because it tough. She cleared her throat and blinked her eyes open to give Riddle a questioning look. "When you talk about the curse and the Coven system, you sound like you had far more to do with it than you claim."
"Ah." Riddle didn't look at all surprised that Harry had come to that conclusion. His lips slowly tugged up into an amused little smile. "You do know me well by now, don't you, dearest?"
Harry shrugged, refusing to act as though she'd done something wrong by confronting Riddle with these conclusions. "I'm just saying it like I see it."
"Indeed." Riddle leaned back a little in the sofa while he reached for one of Harry's hands. "What is it that you want?" He pressed a soft kiss to the back of Harry's hand, letting his lips linger there while he stared at Harry with unreadable brown eyes.
"I want to know the truth," Harry said without a hint of fear. She was determined to learn what really had happened all those years ago, when Riddle had alerted the world to the existence of Grindelwald's curse. "I know the Flamels created the curse, since you swore on that. But you had far more to do with it, I'm sure of it."
Riddle pressed another kiss to the back of Harry's hand and then released it. "I'm so very proud of you for your excellent perception skills. But unfortunately I cannot yet tell you the truth." When Harry made to protest, Riddle quickly held up his hand to cut her off. "I will promise you that I'll tell you the truth after we're married."
"The secrecy clause," Harry said, suddenly understanding why Riddle had insisted that be added to their marriage contract. Riddle nodded in confirmation but said nothing else.
Harry licked her lips and looked away from Riddle. The fact that he wouldn't tell her the truth now, but insisted he wait until after his words were protected by a secrecy clause was a rather dead giveaway that he did have something to do with the curse and the Coven system, Harry realized while an anxious lump formed in her throat.