Harry stared down at the opened bit of parchment, his mind whirling with the information. It was a betrothal contract between Charles Potter and Mingard Flint. It was binding and Harry had no say. From what little he could understand Dorena Black had been betrothed to Mingard Flint when she had fallen in love with Charles, afraid to upset the Flint family she had pleaded for him to choose a different bride. He had agreed but with a stipulation. Their families would join, thus the betrothal contract.

"This can't be legal!" Hermione shouted after reading the contract.

"I…" Harry stated as Ginny snatched the parchment from his numb fingers, a look of rage on her heart shaped face.

"How dare he! That slimy little death eater!" Ginny hissed with fire in her brown eyes.

"Calm down, please." Harry stated with a tortured look on his face as the hall grew silent to watch the spectacle. He had always hated being the center of attention.

"Calm down? Don't you dare tell me to calm down Harry James Potter! How dare he think he can take you away from me!" She screeched and a frown furrowed Harry's eyebrow.

"Ginny." Ron stated, a serious look on his face as his sister turned her blazing brown eyes to him. "Shut up." His voice brooking no room for argument. He gently wrapped his hand around Harry's arm and led the stunned fifteen-year-old out of the hall, his sisters screeching ringing in their ears as her displeasure was made known to everyone in the Great Hall.

The moment they stepped out Ron was forcefully moved from Harry, a look of pure rage marred Marcus's face as he stepped between his bride to be and the other male. His wand was aimed at Ron's neck.

"Keep your hands off of what's mine." Harry bit his bottom lip as he placed one hand on Marcus's bulging arm, gaining the Slytherin's attention.

"Ron is my best friend, Flint." Harry stated with his eyes blazing in anger.

"It is inappropriate for an unmarried man to have his hands on you." Marcus snarled with narrowed eyes.

"Harry!" Hermione's voice called as she stepped from the great hall only to narrow her eyes at Marcus. For a moment it looked like she was going to give the taller, cruller boy a piece of her mind but thought better of it and opted to pretend he wasn't there.

"Come on, we have research to do, if the contract is legal, no matter how barbaric that might be, then we have to see what being married to Flint would mean for you and if there is a way out of it." She stated, and Harry knew a list of books that might be useful was swimming through her mind.

Harry allowed his slender had to fall from the older boy's arm as Hermione grabbed his hand and began to pull him away, her other hand grabbing Ron's who simply smirked and shook his head.

"There is no way out of it." Marcus's voice drifted behind them, and Harry knew that if he turned around the onyx eyes would be burning in furry.

Once they were in the Library Hermione turned to face Ron, her face serious as she went into 'research mode.' "Tell me everything you know about pure-blood tradition." She ordered as she pulled out a muggle notebook and a pin.

"Not much, my family doesn't really practice the pure-blood traditions; you know were not big on any of that." He reluctantly admitted with a grimace.

Hermione's shoulders slumped as she gave a nod of acceptance. "Tell me anything you do know." She stated and Ron nodded.

"Well, betrothal contracts are usually held between the upper-class families like the Malfoy's, Blacks, Potter's and such. There really isn't a legal way to break the contract." He stated after a moment, a thoughtful look on his face.

"Can you think of any way to get Harry out of it?" Hermione asked after a moment and Ron began to shake his head only to stop.

"If there was an older contract then Harry could put that forth and the contract to Flint would be null and void." Ron stated with a look of excitement when a voice interrupted them.

"That would normally work, but Potter has a supplementary contract, the only way out is to find two older supplementary contracts from both the Potter and Black lines to the same family since it was Dorena Black and Charles Potter who agreed that one of their descendants would marry into the Flint family, but I wish you luck with that."

"Why would we need luck Greengrass?" Harry asked as he looked at the Slytherin. Her blue eyes were alight with amusement.

"The Potters were a light family, the Blacks a dark family, usually dark families only married into dark families and light families married into light families. Any contract that was between a dark family and a light family was usually carried out immediately, it would be one in a million chance of finding a contract between the Potters and a dark family, much less a supplementary contract and Flint most likely did his homework before bringing the contract to light." She paused as she let the words sink in.

"If by chance you did find a supplementary contract in both families to the same family, you still have the issue of the house having a contract already that would supersede your contract. Not many families would willingly take a bride from the Flint's and would have no issue bringing in an older contract." She stated as she moved over and sat in one of the unoccupied chairs.

"Why are you telling us this?" Harry asked suspiciously.

"The Flints hold a lot of sway in our world, so when they ask you to teach their soon to be bride our traditions and educate them in our ways you don't say no." She stated after a moment.

"You're saying that trying to find a way out is hopeless." Hermione stated after a moment and the blond sighed as she looked at the three Gryffindor's.

"Not hopeless, but irrational. Think about it from a Slytherin perspective for a moment alright." She stated and the three friends shared a look before nodding, they would hear the girl out.

"Marcus Flint is the heir of the Flint family, are you with me so far?" She asked and the three nodded. "Very good, now before the Ministry was created the Flint family was considered royalty among both the elite and the commoners alike. They have hundreds of families that have sworn fealty to them. There are those who still see the Flints as the ruling family, and even the ministry will often bow to their wishes." She stated calmly and the three nodded to show they were following.

"Now you have a dark lord out there running amuck with some of those families that have sworn themselves to the Flint line, a newspaper who is slandering your name. Flint would never allow anyone to harm his bride; he can call in his ready-made army. The dark lord would lose most of his followers, all but the weakest. The newspaper would not dare mention your name and the ministry would listen to what you have to say without thinking of you as a child. You can be well on your way to destroying the Dark lord and wouldn't even have to move a muscle." She stated as she sat back with a satisfied smile.

She watched as Harry Hermione and Ron shared a look, but then she noticed something she had never seen before. The three didn't speak a single word but they were talking all the same. Harry lifted an eyebrow, Hermione shook her head and frowned as if to discredit something and Ron rolled his eyes before shrugging making Hermione turn and glare at him and Harry scratch the back of his head as if embarrassed by something.

"What we need is time." Hermione stated after a moment. "This is not something you just jump into; marriage is a permanent thing in our world, and I would feel better if we knew exactly what it would entail."

Daphne opened her mouth to speak when Harry interrupted her. "I agree, I'd feel better about this if we knew what was going on." He stated making the blond sigh.

"Flint is not going to like this, but I will tell him your decision." She stated as she stood up and made her way from the Library.