Harry stumbles out of the fireplace, barely managing to keep his balance, until he crashes into Fred and sends them both crashing to the floor. Everyone else laughed as they were met by Daphne. "Still can't keep your balance?" she says smirking.

"Hey, I would have if George hadn't gotten on the way." Harry pouts.

"I'm Fred, not George. And you'd have fallen anyway. Neville was plotting to trip you." Fred smirks.

Harry turned to Neville, "They're lying, right?" he asks, trying to sound worried.

Neville looks all around, trying to find someplace to hide before saying, "As the muggles would say, I plead the fifth." and running out the conveniently open back door, Harry in hot pursuit.

Outside tables are set up, covered in food. Drink coolers were at the end of each (though Amelia had charmed the fire whiskey to be unable to be taken by people under age). Sirius spots Harry and bows, "Welcome, Lord Potter, and a fabulous performance."

Harry bows back, "My thanks Lord Black, it would not have been possible without your efforts." Harry fires of a spark from his wand to gather everyone's attention, "We have another cause to celebrate. Allow me to introduce Lords Aurum, Draconis, and Locus!" There was applause as the four walked out, Fred and George milking it for all it's worth, making speeches and kissing babies.

Finally, the party resumes, made even more fun by the starting of a prank war. It started out so peacefully, when Fred (or George, can't really be sure) offered Sirius a custard cream. Sirius takes two and throws one to Remus. The two friends eat and enjoy, until a couple of seconds later, both growing yellow feathers all over there body. Everyone laughed as the twins took a bow. Until a few seconds later, after the feathers had molted, Sirius said rather loudly, "Hey, Moony! These guys think they've got what it takes to tangle with us!" the twin audibly gulped. The gauntlet was thrown.

Moony threw the next punch, casting a quick charm on the twin's butterbeers. Immediately after taking their next sips, they were transfigured into a pair of chimps. After a minute of jumping around, they turned back as George was checking Fred for bugs. The crowd went wild.

George countered by slipping laxatives into Sirius' cake. You could hear his curses from the back of the yard. The two sides went back and forth, getting creative with each prank. Harry talked to the Greengrasses, who agreed to let Neville stay at least until the start of school, which Neville was truly grateful for. The group of friends laugh and talk, all the while taking bets on the result of the prank war.

Finally, at the end of the day, the twins had the marauders beat by one prank, and stopped trusting everyone at the party after Sirius hired Susan to slip George a potion that made him tap dance for half an hour. As they twins were about to be crowned the prank kings, an old house elf spilled some punch on their robes. They went inside and changes. When they came out, everyone lost it. Remus and Sirius had charmed the spare set of robes to turn into woman underwear after they came back out. The twins looked at each other, gasped, then began bowing and proclaiming the marauders as prank gods. "You kids are good, but you're twenty years too young to take on us." Sirius said as they reversed the charm on the robes.

Harry went to sleep, mentally cursing himself for not interrogating Morgan, and promising to do it first thing tomorrow.

-

Albus Dumbledore was not happy. 'I was blind sighted by an eleven year old boy! And what about Greengrass and Black? They were supposed to be dying in St. Mungo's! Now I have almost no money, and by tomorrow I won't be chief warlock, and likely not headmaster either. The only thing I have going for me is that the marriage contract is in effect. And as an added bonus, the old witch's heart couldn't handle the strain of the imperious curse. As long as Frank Longbottom stays dead to the world for another three years, it will be too late to stop. When that happens, everything will fall back into place.' he thought as he drafted his resignation from the wizengmot. Better to look like you're giving it up to make amends, after all.

-

For the first time in his entire life, Ron Weasley didn't feel like sleeping. Yesterday, he thought that he would have everything. Money, status, and the chance to truly make his mark on the world. Now, not only was his family poorer than it has ever been, but he and his mother had been disgraced by potter. 'Harry bloody Potter. Think he rules the world, does he? Just wait, tomorrow, I'm going to have mom teach me some real dark curses. You'll pay potter, mark my words.' he thought as he lay awake, plotting his revenge.

-

Cyrus lay awake, afraid. Not of the pain, he's gotten used to it after a month, not of dying either; he did that with James and Lily for years. No, what scared him was the thought of his family, and how they must be feeling. 'I can't believe that one of my closest friends was working against me all these years. They'll undoubtedly push back the visit, but with him in prime position to take over, it'll simply make it easy for them.' he thought as he tried for the hundred times to find some weakness in the wards. But to no avail.

-

As he got settled into his new office, he couldn't help but smile at the opportunity he'd been given. He would be able to find those most suitable to join his ranks, and begin training them easily. His lesson plans are already in order, but he decides to make a proposal that he's sure will be approved. "Drei, have you been to see our dear friend today?" he asked as the door opened.

"Hell no, I've just been scouting a few place where Zane said that rat is going to be coming through." she said slamming the door. "I'm taking tomorrow off, so don't bug me."

"Very well, be sure you enjoy yourself." Scythe master said as he turned his attention back to the proposal in his hand, titled, 'the Dueling club.'

-

Harry woke up the next morning fully intending to ask Morgan what his patents will was talking about, but all thought of that left his mind when he saw the front page of the daily prophet.

Dumbledore disgraced!

Yesterday, during the most solemn will reading of the late Lord and Lady Potter, the goblin in charge of the Potter accounts, announced that two bequest were withheld. First was to the Weasley family, which is accused of stealing a mind-blowing seven million galleons from the potter vault. Yet even still Lord Potter showed mercy, allowing them to retain ownership of the home and paying for the Weasley's two children to attend Hogwarts out of his own pocket.

The other bequest was shockingly to Lord Albus Dumbledore. Dumbledore admitted to not only knowingly forging the previous Potter will, but also stealing a large sum of money from the potter vault. He claims that this money was to be used to fund a group hunting down and arresting death eaters after the last war. Lord Dumbledore has already repaid all money he owed and issued a public apology to Lord Potter. His last act before resigning as chief warlock this morning was to completely emancipate Lord Potter as he promised. The International confederation of wizards has already removed him from his post as Supreme Mugwump. Hogwarts board of governors is expected to vote on whether to remove him as headmaster later on today.

Harry chuckled as he read the article. Finally, he can enjoy reading Rita Skeeter like a normal person. "Quite the article, isn't it?" Morgan asked from the kitchen. "She makes you out to be the merciful lord, while everyone else is evil incarnate."

" I swear that woman could make anyone as the second coming of Merlin or Voldemort reborn if she sees the need." Harry answers still chuckling that his plan worked so well. "I'm a little surprised I was actually able to get emancipated. I figured he'd resist and try something."

"He probably thought that if he looked like he was making amends, then he'd be able to keep his jobs." Morgan said, passing Harry a plate of bacon.

"I'm just wondering why she didn't write anything about him covering up an attempted murder. She's passing up a perfect chance to hang him for good." Harry says, folding the new papers. The food, as always, is better than any at Hogwarts.

Morgan shrugs, "Chances are that Dumbledore is going to rebound somehow. Now she has some leverage. Many people believe he can do no wrong. They might shun him for a while, but no one will honestly doubt him for long."

"That doesn't matter. One way or another, even of the board doesn't get rid of him; I'm chucking both of them by the end of the year." Harry says as he eats breakfast. Behind him, several pairs of footsteps are heard coming down the stairs.

Susan is the first in the room, taking a seat next to Harry, "Are we training again?" she asks as she dishes up her food.

"Severus will be here in about an hour. He's taking Daphne to see Nicolas Flamel. Sirius should be around to train Harry, so hopefully you'll be able to get some practice in, Susan." Morgan says as everyone walks in.

"Thanks for the vote of confidence..." Harry pouted as everyone laughed.

-

By noon, training was fully underway. Snape had arrived after breakfast, and after grabbing a small box out of Cyrus' office, he and Daphne left the house. Harry started his morning run after they'd gone. Mad-eye had told him that the greatest asset in a duel was stamina, so he and Tori, still aiming for the house team, went for a jog around the house. As it is a rather large house, it took the better part or an hour.

They decided to take a break and help Morgan with lunch. When Toro ran to get some food from the cellar, Harry took the opportunity to ask Morgan what he'd been meaning to all day. "What was my mum talking about? In the will, I mean."

Morgan stiffens slightly. "Now isn't the best time. We'll talk tonight, after the girls to bed." Before Harry could say another word, Tori came back, dragging Susan and a large bag of flour.

Harry would have thought that they had it planned. As soon as they sat down for lunch, Sirius walks I'm the room and grabs a plate, "So, what's the plan, Mor?" he says, biting into his roost beef sandwich.

"Well, Amelia has her hands full with the American diplomat, and the entire auror force is trying to get everything ready in time for his visit. Naturally, that means that we don't have anyone to beat up on Harry so Susan can fix him up! We were hoping you'd be able to help with that?"

"Hey!" Harry yells, as Morgan laughs.

Ignoring Harry outburst, Sirius barks out a laugh, "Well, James wouldn't let me rest if someone didn't beat up his son a little, so I guess I can handle it."

After lunch, the four go out to the back field. (Tori decided to start reading from Susan's extensive library of magical arts, looking for something for next summer.) "Right, now, today your focus will be on using your considerable power. You know the knockback jinx, correct?" Sirius says as he clears about a fifty foot circle around him. Harry nods and pulls out his wand. "Good. Today, we're going to duel, but you are only allowed to use the knockback jinx. Your goal should be making for spell strong enough to break my shields, without wasting more energy then you have to."

And so the training began. Harry had expected it to be a relatively easy lesson, but it proved far more difficult than any of the other training he'd done. His spells were repelled like they were nothing, and the only times he was able to break it, he over shot it so much he could barely move after words. That, combined with Sirius tossing curses around like they were nothing, meant that Susan got plenty of work. After the first day, Harry was left sore all over, and was forced to endure endless torment from Sirius and the twins, who stopped by after sorting out there new house.

"Yeah, laugh it up! Just you wait until I master this and you're going to get it!" Harry said at dinner, making the twins stop, but not the worst of all.

"That's the spirit!" Sirius said as he roared with laughter. "Maybe next time you'll actually hit me! Get ready, because until Amelia finishes with her work, this is going to be your training." He added smirking.

Neville was deep in conversation with Tori, who apparently showed him around the house. They were talking about the greenhouse, which Neville had spent the better part of the afternoon looking through. Harry was surprised to learn that, along with be an aspiring Quidditch player, Tori was also quite knowledgeable about plants, having started the greenhouse when she was eight.

That night, Harry lay awake, waiting, for about forty-five minutes, and then got off of bed. Making as little noise as possible, he crept downstairs, and found Morgan and Sirius talking. "Good, let's go." she said, getting up when she saw him walk into the room, Sirius followed suit.

"Where are we going?" Harry asked, as the three left the house.

"We need someplace that we can talk privately. Sirius was kind enough to lend us his house for the evening. And since he is well aware of it, he'll be joining us." she answers as she opens the back gate.

"Grab my arm, Harry." Sirius said as they reached the outside of the wards. Harry complied, and seconds later, felt the uncomfortable sensation of being sucked through a tube.

An instant later, they were standing on the side walk in front of the house Sirius had taken him to, only a month before. "Let's go. Might as well check on how that shriveled old elf is doing." Sirius sighed as he opened the doors. They were pleasantly surprised at what they saw.

The room was spotless, all the furniture replaced. The walls had been repainted a lighter green than before, and trim shined silver. The broken windows were replaced with stained glass, depicting Salazar Slytherin standing in front of Hogwarts. The cabinets, which had been filled with all manner of dark objects, were now filled with only those that showed prestige and power. Looking through them, Harry was drawn to a locket, large and green, with a silver snake shaped like an 'S' even through the glass, Harry could feel the magic radiating from it. As he reached for it, he drew his hand back in surprise, as a loud CRACK echoed through the room.

Harry had his wand drawn and pointed behind him in less than a second. "Wait! Is Kreacher!" said a frightened voice in the darkness.

From the second floor, a loud wailing echoed through the house. Harry ran towards the sound and found, at the top of the stairs, a large terrifyingly lifelike picture of a woman, screaming. It stopped as soon as she saw him. "Who are you, boy!?" she demands.

"Harry Potter. Why are you screaming?" Harry replies.

"The halls of my forefathers have been tainted by that traitorous son of mine. Despite my insistence, Orion wouldn't disown him, and now we are ruined." she answers, tears flowing from her eyes.

"Forgive me, Master Harry." Kreacher says as he catches his breath at the top of the stairs. "My mistress put a permanent sticking charm on the back of the canvas. I could find no way to remove it."

Sirius had come running up the stairs, wand drawn, "Harry, what happened?!" he said as he looked around, eyes falling on the portrait, and two voices say at the same time, "YOU!"

"Calm down!" Harry yells, stopping the argument and most likely saving them from having to deal with her constant screeching. "You know her, Sirius?"

"My dear old mom." he says bitterly, never once moving the wand from the portrait.

"Let's try and remain civil, Ms. Black. As you can tell, the house is under new management. I would rather not destroy your picture of I can avoid it, but if this house is going to become presentable again, I can't let it stay here. Tell us the spell to move it, or I'll destroy it." Harry says threateningly.

"You can't destroy me! The spells on this canvas make it indestructible!" she laughs.

"My uncle used to say, "There isn't a problem that can be fixed by fire or a chainsaw..." harry said, stopping her laughing.

"You would resort to Muggle means?" she asks, barely a whisper.

"Happily. Now if you tell us the spell, I'll move you to the study. Do we have a deal?" Harry says, conjuring fire from the tip of his wand.

"D-deal." she says, shaking in her frame. After about twenty minutes of struggle, they manage to get the portrait into the study and attached to the wall. As Sirius and Harry start to leave, she says, "Make this a house to be proud of, Harry Potter. Regain the respect we lost when the dark lord came and stole our son."

"Merlin, that was fantastic! Never seen anyone talk to my mother like that and live! Come on, Morgan's making some dessert." Sirius laughs as they walk down the stairs.

"What took so long?" Morgan asked as they walked into the kitchen.

"My mom had a picture made that keep yelling and screaming, so Harry threatened her with a chainsaw, and we moved her to the study." Sirius said, grabbing a slice of pie.

"Well, now that we're ready, let's talk." she sighs as she sits across from him. "First of all, you need to understand something. A long time ago, in pureblooded culture, they believe, as many do now, that purity of blood was more important than anything else. In order to ensure that blood remained pure, families would form magically binding Marriage contracts."

She paused for a second, and after confirming that he understood, continued. "Over a thousand years ago, both the Greengrass and Potter families were like that. The then Lords agreed to Marriage contracts between Lord Greengrass' daughter Penelope and Lord Potter's oldest son, William. By a cruel twist of fate, Penelope was killed two years before the contract was fulfilled."

Again she paused, and after getting the affirmative from a very nervous Harry, continued, "The terms of the contract state that the oldest Potter son must marry and oldest Greengrass daughter by the time both reach the age of eighteen. Throughout the years, that contract has come close to being completed on four separate occasions, but it remains active to this day."

"W-wait, you mean me and-" Harry stutters, unable to compete the sentence.

Morgan nods grimly. "Ever since they found the contract, James and Cyrus tried to find some way to terminate it. But they were unsuccessful."

"So what now? Does Daphne know?" Harry asks, still trying to wrap his head around the fact that he was engaged.

"No, we had hoped that we could find some way to end it before now. After Voldemort vanished, everything got hectic and we completely forgot about it until Daphne mentioned that she'd met you. Cyrus and I intended to tell you both this summer, but that didn't work out so well. I'm going to talk to Daphne tomorrow."

Sirius placed a supportive hand on his shoulder, "You'll be alright. Just remember that she's in the same boat ad you are. I had one of those contracts when I was your age, but it was voided when I went to Azkaban. Might still be-" he started before turning to Morgan. "I just thought of something I need to do tomorrow. How about we call off training for a day? Give the kids a chance to catch their breath."

"A good idea. Besides, Harry and Daphne are going to need some time to think things over. Let's get back to the house." Morgan said as she and Sirius left, followed closely by Harry, who was still having trouble believing he was engaged to one of his best friends.

-

The next morning seemed unusually slow. Harry wasn't even able to look Daphne in the eyes at breakfast. "Harry, are you alright?" she asked when she noticed.

"Yeah, just didn't sleep too well..." Harry said a little too quickly.

This continued for the rest of the morning. Daphne and Tori went flying, while Susan and Harry helped Morgan with lunch. As they sat down, Daphne started staring at Harry, "What's the deal? Why won't you look at me?"

"Daphne, we're going out after lunch." Morgan says, interrupting Daphne from saying something else. "Harry, go get some rest after lunch. We'll talk when we get home." Harry nods and climbs back up the stairs.

Despite what Morgan asked, Harry couldn't fall asleep. After an hour of trying, he picked up one of the book on combat magic moody had given him. Skipping to the chapter on harnessing magical energy, Harry started reading, hoping to get the advantage on Sirius next time.

After nearly an hour of trying to understand what he needed to do, he was able to increase the power of lumos without a noticeable drain on his remaining energy. Now he only needs to apply the same principle to Flipendo.

"Hey, Harry!" said a voice in the doorway. Turning, he sees Tori in the door. "Mom and Daph are waiting for you in the study. If you need me, mom wants me to show Susan and Neville what plants can be used for medicine, so I'll be in the greenhouse!" she says happily, before almost running down the stairs.

Harry sighs, and makes a note of the page he was on before beginning the inevitable walk to the study.

Harry opens the door, and inside is a nervous Daphne sitting across from Morgan with three shots of fire whiskey in front of her. "I thought you two might need this." she says, holding the bottle. "Now, time to talk."

When neither of them seemed ready to talk, she sighs, drinks her shot, and asks, "Alright, if you don't want to talk to each other, what do you want to do? Do you want to tell everyone else, or keep it a secret?"

"Tell them." Daphne says weakly, and Harry just nods.

"Alright, how about at dinner? I should warn you that even if they keep it a secret, these things have a way of getting out in the open." she says handing them both a shot.

Harry gulps his down, and he says through burning sensation, "Figured as much. That's why I'd rather tell them now, then have them learn from others later." Daphne just nods, smoking coming from her nostrils.

"That's the way to go." Morgan says getting up and walking to the door. "Now then, I'm going to go start dinner. I'm locking you in here until then. Enjoy the whiskey and talk to each other!" she says chuckling, and before either of them can say anything, the door closes, and a locking charm could be heard from the other side.

For about ten minutes there was silence, the only sounds were the pouring and glass hitting the desk. Finally, Harry couldn't take the awkward silence and said, "This isn't the way either of us wanted it to go, but ignoring each other isn't helping us at all."

Daphne takes another shot, and sighs, "I know, it's just- this isn't how I thought any of this would go. I didn't think I'd be getting engaged until I was out of school. Now I suddenly find out that I've been engaged since I was born. It's just a lot to take in..."

Harry can't help but chuckle, "Don't I know it. I woke up this morning thinking that it was all some crazy dream. I could be worse though. Imagine if we hated each other."

Now it was Daphne's turn to chuckle, "Or if you were engaged to that Weasley girl."

Harry shudders, "Did you see the way she was looking at me yesterday? I swear she just a Boy-Who-Lived fan girl. That would be as bad as you marrying Malfoy."

"Did not need that image." Daphne said, trying to get up, only to stumble and trip over her feet. Harry tries to help her, but suddenly feels like he's flying without a broom. He can't seem to keep his balance and the next thing he knows, he on the ground. Both of them start laughing at each other.

"Morgan said that you'd be drinking, but damn, you two are wasted." said a voice at the door.

Turning his head, Harry saw about a half dozen Neville's floating around. "Shut up and give us a hand." Harry says irritably.

Neville chuckles, "Well, I suppose that I should help my brother." and he walks over and helps Harry back into his seat, then helps Daphne. "I'll be right back." he says as he walks out of the room. Harry hears him yell down the stairs, "Susan! She was right, their wasted!"

A few seconds later, Susan and Neville came back, and together, they managed to somehow get both of them down the stairs.

After the were set down at the table, Morgan came out of the kitchen with two goblets full of light blue potion. "This should help." she says as she hands one to each of them. Harry murmurs a thank you and drinks it. It doesn't have a taste, but feels like ice going down. Almost immediately, Harry feels his sense of balance returning.

"Sobering Potion. Always good to have for first time drinkers." she says as she sets the table. "You're still going to be hung-over in the morning, but we'll deal with that then. So, did you two talk or drink?"

"Both." they said at the same time, much to the amusement of Morgan.

Once everyone was sitting at the table, Morgan starts, "Well, I have a happy announcement. While it might not have been the way that either of them would have liked, Harry and Daphne are officially engaged."

There was quiet muttering, followed by applause. When it had finally quieted down, Neville asked, "So how exactly did that happened?"

"Marriage Contract. Very old. Just our bad luck that it happened." Daphne says as she takes a bite of steak.

"Ouch, that sucks. But it could be worse. Imagine if it was Malfoy." Susan says, tossing them each a butterbeer.

"Harry said the exact same thing. And like I told him, I didn't need that image." Daphne said as the others laughed.

Harry opened his butterbeer and took a sip. He decided that he much preferred it to firewhiskey.

"So, when's the wedding?" Tori jokes.

"I thought after the O. at the earliest. And no grand babies until after school!" Morgan said threateningly, as the table erupts into laughs.