Chap. 8: Odius, Daphne and Tracey, Hermione, and the signing of the contract.
The next day, on the 18th, Harry found himself sitting before his solicitor, Odius Thicknesse.
Odius read through the new contract's "Terms Addendum," which was allowed to be made, but the magic could not be revoked about binding the two youngest of either house in marriage, which was later defined in the original document as the youngest heir and heiress of the families. Only the terms of the contract, which were laid out later in the document, could be modified.
Harry watched as Odius read the addendum, where he would occasionally scowl, grimace, or mutter under his breath while writing something down. Finally, Odius finished, and he gently laid the document down upon his desk.
"Mr. Potter," Odius questioned, "you do realize that if either of you ended your marriage, and if it resulted in a divorce, she could obtain half your estate?"
"Yes," Harry said with a nod. "However, she wants to be, as she put it, 'married over the anvil in a permanent bond,' for life, which cannot be undone. We'll not be eloping to Gretna Green to do it, though, and it will be officiated over by a ministry official at Greenhill."
"What if she changes her mind, Mr. Potter," Odius asked, "which could be on the day that you wed? What then?"
"I don't believe that she will, Mr. Thicknesse," Harry replied, "and I want her to trust me."
Here, Odius sat back in his office chair and shook his head.
"Trust you, Mr. Potter? You could not mislead that girl and get away with it if you wanted to," Odius explained, "which I thought you already knew."
"What do you mean?" Harry asked as he sat forward in his chair with a scowl.
"Her family, Mr. Potter," Odius explained, "has a rare gift, which her mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother share. It could even go back farther than that! They were all born with the gift of natural Passive Legilimency. Didn't you ever notice her looking at you, or staring at you?"
"WHAT?"
"Mr. Potter," Odius explained, "though her mother is a Macmillan through her father, her mother's mother, young Daphne's grandmother, Eva, was a Kowalski. She came here during WWII from New York and married into the Macmillans. She helped with the war effort just out of Ilvermorny, along with her mother and father.
"Eva was the daughter of Jacob Kowalski and Queenie Goldstein, and she is from the same Goldstein family that also lives here. That is why they nicknamed Daphne, 'Queenie,' because she favors her great-grandmother, and has the same gift, though young Daphne is not as scatter-brained nor naive, luckily enough!"
So, that nickname, which some of her friends used, wasn't about the 'Ice Queen' after all, then, Harry thought, and that was why she had hexed Seamus in the bollocks because she could see his perverted thoughts!
"Queenie Goldstein is Porpentina Scamander's sister," Odius explained, "and that is the same 'Tina' that married Newton Scamander, who was the brother of our Head Auror during the start of WWII, Theseus Scamander! They were Dumbledore's puppets, or at least Newton was, who did most of the work, while Albus sat at the school, and there is a long story about that, I can tell you!
"Oh, I know that story in great detail," Harry replied, "Mr. Thicknesse; about the blood pact, the one-sided love that Grindelwald used to his advantage, and about Aberforth's illegitimate son. Grindelwald's aunt was oh-so-happy to inform me, but what about this Queenie Goldstein?"
"Damn, they actually don't teach you anything at Hogwarts, do they? Well, Albus probably wants it that way, what with all the skeletons in his closet!
"Queenie fell in love with Jacob Kowalski, who was a muggle that she met over Newt being in New York City, it was said, but there were also rumors of him being a squib. However, at that time, MACUSA banned magicals from associating with 'no-majes,' and she couldn't marry him.
"When Grindelwald started to rise, he made a lot of promises, and one was about quashing MACUSA's harsh laws and regulations. Of course, he was a liar, but Queenie fell for it, and joined him in Paris. She was selected by Grindelwald over her gift, and he filled her head with many lies. He was quite the confidence artist, Mr. Potter.
"However, she finally caught onto Grindelwald's deceit and came back to Jacob while they were in China. That was when they were trying to select a new Supreme Mugwump for the ICW, and Grindelwald was vying for that position, with the German's help. After that, she fought beside Jacob, along with her sister, who was an auror, and the Scamander brothers. Needless to say, they were here in Britain a lot."
That was when it hit Harry about the portrait that he had seen in the great hall at Greenhill.
"They have a portrait of the Scamanders at Greenhill!"
"Yes, they do," Odius remarked, "and there is one of Queenie Kowalski over the fireplace mantle in their library."
So that's who that was, Harry thought, who was completely gobsmacked while trying to wrap his mind around all of this. That portrait had kept smirking at him like she knew something that he didn't all day.
Well, there was one thing about it, Harry thought, he would never be able to lie to his wife, unless he actually learned occlumency, but, a plus side of it was, if Daphne looked like her great-grandmother at that age, then he would have a hot witch on his arm during his golden years, as Queenie looked good in that portrait, where she was probably in her sixties! Helen was no slouch, either, and she had two children.
Finally, it hit him why Ernie and Anthony were such good friends. They were practically family, and they were both against Voldemort like their relatives had been against Grindelwald. Plus, both were Daphne's family, and he never knew. On top of that, one of the Macmillans had married Arcturus, he remembered. That made him wonder about what else he didn't know over his lack of magical education.
Harry came out of his thoughts after a minute and glanced over the desk at Odius.
"These are the terms we both want, Mr. Thicknesse," Harry said as he sat back in his chair. "I take it that once we sign, she will be bound under the confidentiality clause?"
Here, Odius sighed but nodded his head. "Yes, Mr. Potter, she will be. She will not be able to reveal any of your house's secrets, nor you any of her personal secrets."
"Where do I sign, just so that I know? We're planning on finishing it this evening at seven."
"Come on, Daph," Tracey Davis said, "you have to tell me what he was like!"
Daphne was staring out of the window of her room on the first floor, which was at the far end away from her parents. Astoria's room and hers were separated by a smaller room, which used to be their playroom, but her room had a small bath, whereas Astoria had to use the one down the hall. That made Astoria's room larger than her's but Daphne also had the only room with a balcony on that floor, and it faced the fountain and the grand view.
Daphne sighed, caught up in thinking about Harry's eyes before she turned around toward her best friend.
"He's not like we thought him to be," Daphne explained.
"What do you mean," Tracey said while giving her a shrewd look.
"He showed up here, yesterday," Daphne replied, "dressed in a nice brown tweed suit and new Oxfords, and he actually had manners. He had mum and da' eating out of his hand, and Astoria actually behaved herself!"
"No!" Tracey remarked.
"Yes!" Daphne said, "and he and I had a good talk. He said that he wasn't out to change our customs, though he didn't believe in many of the horrid terms of that contract, either, which I agree with.
"After that, he and da' sat down, and they finished off the terms. Harry took those to his solicitor this morning, to look over, and da' will then take them to our solicitor for the same thing this afternoon, where I'll probably sign the contract along with Harry this evening, over supper."
"When did you start calling him Harry?"
Here, Daphne blushed. "Well, he will be my husband before a year is up!"
"And you have to give him three bloody heirs! What if," Tracey asked, "you have all girls like your mum?"
"Er, uh, I don't think that will be a problem," Daphne muttered and blushed.
"Why?" Tracey demanded.
"Because he showed us his Patronus before he left," Daphne said after turning to look back out the window to hide her increasing blush, "and it's a huge stag! Do you know what that symbolizes, about virility and, well, manliness?"
"It means that you're going to be well and truly fucked, literally!" Tracey said with a loud cackling laugh.
"So crude!" Daphne scoffed but then blushed again at the thought of being pounded into the mattress by Harry. Now, she was feeling all hot and tingly again, and she couldn't understand why!
"But yet, Daph," Tracey said after she finally quit laughing, "you'll need a Black, Greengrass, and Potter heir! How many rug rats are you and he planning on having?"
"Oh, shove it you!" Daphne exclaimed, and then threw a pillow off her settee at Tracey. Quickly, she changed the subject. "Let me tell you where he is taking me before long!"
"Where?" Tracey inquired.
"Harrods!"
"Squeeeeeeeeeee," Tracey squealed. "I'm so jealous!"
"I can't believe the gall of that man!" Hermione exclaimed as she slapped a letter down on the Weasley's kitchen table.
"Who?" Ron asked.
"HARRY!" Hermione shouted with a scowl.
"What's he done now?" Ron wondered.
"I asked him if he was keeping things from us in my last letter," Hermione growled out, "and do you know what HE SAID in his reply?"
"What?"
"HE SAID, YES," Hermione shouted loudly, again, with another scowl, and almost stomped her foot, "and, and, and, THEN, he had the GALL to say that he couldn't tell me because they were STATE SECRETS! Like THAT has EVER stopped him before!" Hermione's head was bobbing back and forth, now, like a vicar preaching a sermon, and she was also jabbing her finger in the air at the brother and sister duo.
Ginny snorted from the doorway, but then she took her seat, while Ron looked stunned. Ginny knew that Hermione was about to blow a gasket, as the glue had already become undone.
Could Hermione not stand being told no? Merlin's beard, Ginny thought, she had been reared hearing the word, "no," all of her life.
"Well, Mione," Ron finally said, "they could be for all we know. Da' said that the new minister has really cracked down on things like that, you know."
"But, but, but...," Hermione spluttered, "Harry's NEVER done this before!"
"Hermione," Ginny said as she made herself a nice ham sandwich, "did you ever hear the term: 'loose lips sink ships?'"
"I, I, I...," Hermione started spluttering, again, while trembling with her mouth rapidly working up and down, and she was rapidly turning red in the face.
"I think you've broken her, Gin," Ron said with a smirk.
"WHAAAAAA!" Hermione screamed as she fled out the back door like a rocket in a huff. Once across the threshold, she flung the same door shut behind her, with a loud bang, before she left the two redheads sniggering behind her in high dudgeon.
Finally, Ron and Ginny just stared at each other with gaping mouths, before both of them started to chortle.
"She really needs to sort out her priorities!" Ginny exclaimed, which made Ron laugh out loudly, again.
Wait, Ron thought, didn't he once say the same thing? That made him switch to great, loud, guffaws.
Everyone had just finished their supper at Greenhill Manor, which was a very fine three-course meal, with the main course being stuffed pheasant. They were waiting on the notary to arrive at 8:15 PM, so Cyrus decided to indulge his two daughters, and allow them a flute of Champagne. Harry, of course, being now of age, could drink all he wanted, but he was, Cyrus noted, regulating his intake.
They had another ten minutes before Mr. Baker would show up, so, here, Harry surprised everyone when he stood, walked over to Daphne, who was sitting on the sofa, and kneeled before her.
"Before I sign," Harry said while looking up at Daphne, "I will not do so until I place a ring on my fiancée's finger. She deserves that."
Here, Harry pulled a ring box from his jacket and opened it in his palm.
"Daphne Victoria Greengrass," Harry solemnly said, "will you be my wife?"
That left everyone gobsmacked, with gaping mouths, including their house-elf, Splodgey.
Daphne was frozen to her spot, but Harry lifted her left hand and slid the ring onto her finger, which had once been his grandmother, Euphemia's. It was 18 karats of white gold, and it had a one-karat oval cut diamond at the center, where it was surrounded by eighteen smaller diamonds while sitting in a split marquise-shaped design flowing into a diamond encrusted rope band.
Here, Harry started to explain: "It was my grandmother's, and it has several protective enchantments on it..."
However, Daphne was looking from the ring and back to Harry with wide eyes, and she did this several times, not hearing a word, before she launched herself off the sofa at Harry, and tackled him to the floor.
Harry looked up at her, and he was stunned as she gazed into his eyes. That was when she grabbed two handfuls of his black hair and began to snog him senseless.
"Daphne Victoria!" Helen hissed out.
"Daughter, get off him, now," Cyrus said. "That is so unseemly!"
Astoria, who had been sitting there, slack-jawed, did the only thing that she could think of, and that was to burst out into a fit of roaring laughter.
Daphne suddenly came to herself, and slowly crawled off Harry, while blushing a deep red to her roots. She had never been that embarrassed in her life!
As Daphne was adjusting her clothes, Harry raised himself up on two elbows, and he had a confunded sort of smile on his face, as if he was punch drunk, which made Astoria laugh harder. It even made Cyrus smirk in the end.
That was when they heard the wards chime, so Splodgey snapped his fingers and disapparated to the front entrance. It was near time to sign the contract, and things were going better for Harry than he thought they possibly could.
Daphne tossed and turned in her bed that night, and she could not doze off to save her life! All she could think about was kissing her fiancé, and she had this funny tingling sensation down in her nether regions, which she couldn't explain.
She knew that it wasn't that time of the month, as that didn't make her feel this way. Could this be what Tracey called, oh, what was it, "feeling randy?"
What else was it that her cousin had told her? Surely not! However, Daphne moved a shaky hand down her taught stomach, and she touched her panties between her legs with her index finger. Oh Merlin, she thought, she was wet, and down there! It wasn't blood, either!
She didn't think that she would ever experience this, what with all those useless and perverted toe rags hitting on her at school!
Daphne tossed, turned, and squirmed with her thighs rubbing tightly together for another hour before she faded off to sleep with a small smirk on her face. She would dream of her fiancé all night long, and those dreams would be scandalous.
A/N: I Hope you liked this, and thanks for the reviews!