Vignette 12: The Marriage Contract

AN: This one has been in my head for several weeks now and I finally just found the time to write it out.

This chapter is dedicated to ghosttown66, who has reviewed the last several chapters.

Harry stared at the parchment the beautiful Slytherin girl he was clandestinely meeting in the dungeons had just handed to him.

"What is this?" he asked blankly.

Since Dumbledore's death, and with the weight of the world on his too-young shoulders, Harry had sprung him into action. He had used his cloak to sneak into the late Headmaster's office and rifled through the collection of books the Headmaster had deemed too dark for even the Restricted Section and found a select few dedicated to soul magic.

What he found at first shocked and horrified him - the growing realization that a part of Voldemort was stuck in his forehead nearly made him catatonic - but then a vague reference in one of the books to another led to a hint in yet another that the Greengrass family magic was tied intricately to the soul and so, out of sheer desperation, Harry had screwed his courage to its sticking place and approached the Slytherin Ice Princess.

"You asked for help," said Greengrass. Her arms were crossed and her wand hung loosely from her right hand as she tapped her foot, biting her lip with anticipation. "This is help."

"This is a marriage contract," said Harry, confused. "Between the Potter and Greengrass families."

"An unsigned marriage contract," added Greengrass helpfully.

When Harry continued to stare at her blankly, she sighed and uncrossed her arms.

"You asked for help with your little soul problem, did you not?" Her eyes flicked to his forehead and when he nodded, she continued, "I approached Father about your request. He was at first very hesitant to throw his lot in with your side, especially with, you know, your side's great loss the other day. Eventually I wore him down, and he agreed with the condition that if we are to tie ourselves to you, it should be in the strongest way possible - by marriage. It's a huge risk, of course, but if you win the Greengrass family's influence will reach new heights. We will prosper, and as part of the family, so will you. And if you lose… well, your death would nullify the contract, wouldn't it?"

"When you said there would be a price, I thought you meant gold," said Harry, his fist clenching around the parchment. "Not my freedom to choose my wife."

Greengrass peered at him curiously.

"We have enough gold. It is a great price, but we would be doing you a great service, would we not? I can't imagine having to carry that... " she suppressed a shudder, looking at his scar again, "inside your head. Sign that contract and you'll be free of it. You'll actually have a chance, Potter."

Harry was quiet for a moment. A thousand emotions flitted through his head.

"No," he said finally and with authority, his voice carrying through the abandoned classroom. He thrust the contract back at her. "I can't… I'll figure out another way. I'm not going to sign away my life to Cyrus Greengrass."

Greengrass sighed. "You're too much of a Gryffindor, Potter," she said. "I guess I'll have to do this the Gryffindor way."

Her wand moved in a blur and before Harry could blink, a beam of golden light flew at him and he flew backwards. His head hit the wall behind him and the last thing he heard before he passed out was a horrible scream.

When he came to, all he could see was a blinding white light. The Hospital Wing, he surmised with a groan, trying to sit up. How had he ended up there this time? Someone helped him with his glasses and, when he saw who it was, his memories rushed back to him.

"You!" he gasped, pulling his sheets towards him.

Greengrass looked back at him, looking as unperturbed as ever. "Do me a favour, Potter - if Madam Pomfrey asks, you tripped and hit your head against the wall, all right?"

"What? Why?"

"I should've cast a Cushioning Charm on the wall first," she said, almost self-consciously. "In my defense, I didn't know if the spell would work. It's not everyday you run into people carrying someone else's soul on their foreheads you know."

"You hit me with a spell you didn't know would work?" he asked, rubbing his forehead. To his surprise, it didn't hurt. In fact, except for some tenderness where his head had hit the wall, he felt better than ever.

"In my defense," repeated Greengrass, "it worked."

She handed him a hand mirror, and when he looked at it, he gasped. The scar that had decorated his forehead for almost as long as he could remember was gone. He touched his forehead in wonder, hope blossoming in him in a way it hadn't since Dumbledore had fallen from the Astronomy Tower.

"But I didn't sign the contract," he said.

"You didn't," she agreed. "I figured that to deal with a Gryffindor, I should act like a Gryffindor. This is what you people do, right? You just do favours for each other without setting terms or anything?"

Harry nodded wordlessly.

"Well then," said Greengrass brightly, sticking her hand out to him. "We're friends then, right? At least Gryffindor friends?"

She sounded so optimistic that Harry couldn't do anything but shake her hand.

"Fine," he said. "Friends."

"Of course, that doesn't mean I don't expect you to do something nice for me in return. If you're not going to marry me, maybe you can at least treat me to a nice evening out."

"Oh?" he asked, raising his eyebrow. "What exactly did you have in mind for this evening?"

"Surprise me," she said, her eyes sparkling. "That's what you Gryffindors do, isn't it? No concrete terms, just vague agreements and feelings?"

Harry was silent for a moment.

"Greengrass," he said at last. "Have you just been trying to get me to take you out on a date?"

Greengrass looked like a deer caught in headlights. Realization dawned on Harry and he smacked his now-scarless forehead.

"That marriage contract was a fake, wasn't it?" he asked, jabbing his finger at her. "I've been in this world for six years. I would've heard about marriage contracts by now, if they were real. You were trying to trick me into going out with you!"

"Trick is such a nasty word," said Greengrass delicately.

"Did you even talk to your father?"

Greengrass waved her hand vaguely.

"He has more pressing concerns than something so trivial. But we digress. What do you think?" she asked. "You can say no if you want, if we're doing this the Gryffindor way. Though of course, that would be terribly dishonourable of you."

Harry thought about it. He supposed it wouldn't hurt, all things considered. If she was mad enough to want to go out with him when he had the biggest target in the country painted on his back, it was on her, wasn't it? And she was one of the prettiest girls in the school.

"Fine," he said. "But next time, just ask me out normally, okay?"

AN: Who doesn't love a good marriage contract story? I hope you liked my play on the trope anyway. :) Tell me if you have a favourite HP/DG marriage contract story! Mine is The Marriage Contracts Redux by Clell65619.