Title: Diverging Reality
Fandom: Harry Potter
Characters: Harry, Lucius, Blaise, Severus, Hermione
Chapter: 2
Word Count: 1753
Warnings: language

Edited by: eiliagh
AN: Yes, this is late. I am sorry, I've been setting up for the upcoming Camp and Tourney of Tales on twitch (I stream under SunnyL you all). I'm still not done but taking two minutes to post this and tomorrow's chapter of Lost In Her Mind (ao3 exclusive).

So please enjoy!

It took Lucius just over ten minutes to gather everything that he thought he would need to deal with an arranged marriage for the Heir of the Black and Potter families, and his contract for him, and go through the floo. It took him another ten minutes to gather his part-time apprentice from the library.

Blaise Zabini huffeding as he set up at a small desk, the two starting to go over the copies of the contracts with Hermione, a self-inking Dicto-Quill taking down their conversation once they sat.

As they started to look over the contracts, Harry sent Dobby and Winky to the Potter and Black family vaults to get the full copies of the family charters from therein. He also had them pick up the books that he would have to give to Ginevra during their first date.

He had Kreature, who had become better after the Goblins had cleared out Grimmauld Place, head to the Black Family libraries to pick up any other copies of the charters and family rule books that he could find. He was intent on fixing the charters so that they fit for their modern world while holding onto the family magics before he gave the rule books over to give Ginny her copies.

Harry sat back and stared at Severus, getting a raised eyebrow while the three muttered. "How is Lord Slytherin doing?" he asked finally.

Severus frowned thoughtfully, unsurprised that the other male knew about Lord Slytherin. The teen knew more than what he let on. "He is much saner. Ever since the locket had been returned and he was able to absorb the power, saner. He found that the so-called 'feeling true remorse' part of the clause is rather moot once you get past a certain point in things," he admitted. "He had one of his Blacks head to their vault and gather another item."

Harry made a considering sound. "I'm kind of glad that he's learning this now. What is he planning in the long term?" he asked, gazing at the professor.

"His plans include resting and figuring out what happened and why he went so off the rails. Apparently he had been much saner and more Gray then Black," Lucius answered, walking over to them with the contracts and notes in his hand. He eyed Hermione, who raised an eyebrow back at him.

Before she had been claimed by Harry as his sister, she had been reading into the charter books and knew that if she had thoughts, at least for now, that she was to wait until it was just her and Harry alone. No matter how close they were, her ideas and thoughts were to wait unless asked for.

Lucius smirked when she gave him a perfect bored "Lady dealing with dull Lords" look and swallowed the last of her whiskey, the book of Potter charters open on her lap.

He turned back to Harry. "He does wish to, to be blunt, clean out his ranks. Find out who can be of use, and who would be best to keep hidden as his personal hit squad," Lucius explained. "Or who to quietly deal with."

Harry frowned before nodding, agreeing silently to wait. "What can you tell me about the contract as it is?" he asked.

"As your sister has probably figured, the Betrothal Contract is a rather standard fare for both of your houses, so there is nothing you should worry about. I will go over a few of the details with you, such as how much time you wish to spend with her, along with the minimum amount of time that you must spend time with her, and her allowance. Both before and after the marriage," Lucius said. "The marriage contract would break several of the charter rules that I know of for the Black family alone. Seeing as it is only the start of the school year, we do have time to discuss what we wish to allow to stay in the final contract and what we do not wish to allow in it. And to research just what can be used to make the contract work in your favor," he continued, sitting down.

Harry frowned as Blaise came over, handing him a copy of the notes as is, and took a seat. "What would have been broken?" he asked.

Blaise looked down at his notes and tapped his paper with a finger. "From what Hermione found so far, and that we can figure out: unlimited access to the Black and Potter vaults, homes, and items therein. She would have ended up dead by a lot of the items on the Black side because she doesn't have enough of a connection to the Black family blood. At least not one that wasn't disowned officially. There's also the right to wear the Lady Rings of Black and Potter. Since the marriage is coming before you take up the Lord of Black and Potter, only you can say if she becomes Lady Black-Potter or not," he said.

Harry snorted at that as he flipped the pages. "She'll be Mrs. Potter and that's it," he stated.

Blaise smirked at him. "We thought as such. She also wanted to wait ten years to have children, and to make sure that you were not able to cheat on her while she would be allowed to find as many lovers as she wanted," he continued. "And any children she did have, even if they were not your blood, would have to be your heirs."

Hermione snorted as she picked up her pen and notebook. "I think not," she muttered, writing in parselscript about that the part of the charters that would need to be clarified. She was still rather pleased with the fact that the knowledge and ability to speak parseltongue and write parselscript came from the Perverall family side instead of just Slytherin.

They had both worked on the written part learning how to write it with the help of Salazar's hidden portrait, learning quite a bit from the very young version of the man when he had found that particular portrait. They knew that his older portrait was held elsewhere, in a Slytherin vault and asleep until the current Lord, one Tom Marvolo Riddle, could get in to claim his ring and the properties.

"Indeed," Severus frowned as he looked at the notes. "Both Weasley and Harry would have ended up suffering the consequences of such clauses. Seeing as Harry would have to sign the contract willingly and with full knowledge of what was in it, forced as he is, he would have gotten a lesser punishment from magic. But still, he would have been punished," he mused.

Hermione grunted. Kreature popped into the room with a bow to the siblings, placing three very large tomes down and a smaller book for the new family member, all of them copies from the Black Libraries. The originals still sat in a hidden room on special pedestals and only made copies when they were needed but did not move because of the preservation charms. Even the large tomes that held information on all contracts used by the family and would create copies of each contract in the back as long as there was parchment placed into it.

He huffed at the lack of tea service laid out and disappeared, a full tea service quickly appearing, cups for everyone appearing next to them. Hermione absently sipped at her sweetened tea before continuing to write down her thoughts as she picked up the rule book for the Blacks.

"Any other contract points that will have to be changed that we know of now?" Harry asked, rubbing at his face.

"The fact that should you so much as look at a male with anything like appreciation, you're the one who has to pay her a fine of four hundred galleons? Each time that you do it? And the one where you are to sleep with her every night, for as long as she wants it? Even if you have to take potions to be able to do so?" Lucius snorted. He shook his head. "No. We'll have to rewrite the contract to make sure that it works with both Potter and Black charters. Due to the date again, you don't need to worry about any other lines that you may need to worry about. She will not need to read this until the day of the wedding, too, seeing as it's on the husband to write it in."

Harry smirked, picking up his tea cup. "Good. I want to keep her off-balance as much as we can. I do not want her to even think of her trying to gain control of the situation." He paused with a frown. "We need to find out about any clauses for my death in the contract. I want it so air-tight that should I die, I am to be examined, top to bottom, inside and out, to make sure that it was of natural causes. Or because I died from someone who wasn't my family, friend, or my so-called wife's family or friend."

Lucius smirked as Blaise wrote that down on his notes. "Of course, Heir Potter," he drawled as he crossed his legs. "I'm sure that we can come up with an airtight contract. For her mind you. We'll make sure that you have quite the intimate knowledge of the contract and how things are going to work, including any loopholes that you can use to your advantage," he promised.

Harry and Hermione smiled at one another. "I'll need to create a new will I think. One that can't be touched by Dumbledore or by the Ministry in any way, shape, or form," he mused. "Even if they end up tossing me into Azkaban for some trumped-up charge," he continued.

Lucius looked to Blaise, tapping a finger as he made sure that his apprentice was taking notes. "A Will Orb that is filed with Gringotts and the Unspeakables," he stated. "Let's figure out the Betrothal contract and fill in the spots that need to be filled in. Then I'll have the official copies for both families placed into your vaults," he promised.

Harry smiled at him, nodding, bending over the contract with Lucius and going over the information, missing the wistful look in Blaise's eyes. Hermione just gave him a small, sad smile and turned to Dobby when he appeared with five large tomes and two smaller books.