Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter or any of the characters and I am not making any money from this story.
Pairing(s): Theo/Harry, Oliver/Harry, Roger/Harry, Cedric/Harry
Rating: R
~HP~
Evan stayed outside while Harry went into the cottage for a drink. Their friends were arriving in a couple of hours to celebrate their birthday.
"I won't allow it." His mother's harsh whisper stopped Harry in his tracks.
Being the curious child he was, he snuck to the room his parents were in to listen in and find out what had his mother so upset.
A man in fancy robes sat across from his parents. The man looked quite scary with his stern expression and hard eyes, his face impassive. "There is nothing to do about it. The Notts' discovered the long forgotten marriage contract. They would prefer to have Evan Potter be their son's betrothed, considering his status, but they realize they can't dictate which son is chosen."
"We will not sign away either of our sons to marry into a dark family. Even if they weren't dark, we believe in our sons marrying for love." Harry gasped softly, while the adults remained unaware of him.
The man's eyes were challenging. "According to a stipulation in this particular contract, if you do not choose a son yourself, the guardians of the Nott heir may choose whichever son they want. Either way, one of your children will be bound by the contract."
His mum burst into tears. Harry turned away as his father held his mum close to his chest, head swirling with the information. He hadn't understood every single word, but he knew the essentials of them. A contract would force one of them to marry the Nott heir. If his parents didn't choose a son and implicate him in the contract, the family would choose Evan to marry the heir.
Whatever happened, Harry knew he would never let anyone do that to his brother.
The party came and went. Harry's thoughts distracted him, but he tried to not let anyone notice. Evan did ask him a couple of times, but Harry's reassurance allowed him to go back to having fun. As Harry lay in bed that night, a plan formed.
Harry knew his dad always kept the important papers, such as Ministry paperwork, in his office. The contract was sure to be there.
He thought more on it and wasn't sure about the idea he had, but if Evan would be safe, it would be worth it. Harry's tired mind and body finally slipped into an uneasy sleep.
It was a week before Harry implemented his plan. His parents still hadn't talked to him or Evan about the contract. They were probably still trying to find a loophole out of it, but Harry was sure they weren't going to.
His family was outside. They didn't think it was odd for him to want to stay inside to read, as it was something he often did. Although he loved to fly and play games with Evan and the others, he loved to read like his mother. Sometimes he would read outside while his family ran around, but they knew most of the time, he couldn't concentrate due to the noise, so staying inside was nothing new to them.
Instead of reading though, he was in his dad's study, snooping around. He wasn't sure what the contract looked like, but he remembered the family's name was Nott, so that was the key word he was searching for.
Harry went through the drawers of the desk with nothing interesting being found. He looked around the room, trying to find something out of place. On the highest shelf of the bookcase, Harry noticed some papers sticking out. He knew his dad didn't normally put anything on that shelf, so that by itself was odd. His dad would have only done so to keep him or his brother from finding it.
Harry took the chair from behind the desk and placed it in front of the bookcase. He carefully stood on it, hoping that magic was reinforcing the chair so it didn't crack under his weight. He stretched with all his might, his fingers barely brushing the tips of the pages. He stood on his toes, holding on to the bookcase for balance. He caught the tip and pulled. Along with it, came a stack of paper that must have been kept together with magic. When he could, Harry gripped it in a firm hand.
He quickly jumped down from the chair, not bothering to move it back to its original place. His parents would find out soon enough. Harry scanned the top pages, not recognizing most of the words. Finally at the bottom of the page, he saw the word 'Nott' and was pretty sure the right papers were found.
Harry took it to his dad's desk and picked up an inked quill. He flipped through until he saw the line that was labelled signature. He hesitated, knowing he was probably about to ruin his life, but Evan's smiling face came to mind. His reservations went away as he signed his name. The contract glowed golden and he felt something shift inside of himself before the feeling went away.
As he pondered over the already made decision, the door to the study flew open. Both his parents were there, breathing erratically. Their eyes swept the room before landing on him and the quill that he was still holding.
His dad gripped him by the shoulder after making his way across the room in two long strides. "Do you know what you have done? Do you?" He yelled and shook Harry so hard that the eleven year old thought he heard something rattle in his head.
"James, stop it." His mother's voice was firm. "Harry, what were you thinking?"
Harry's eyes held tears, but he refused to allow them to fall. "I was thinking that I was saving my brother."
"How did you even hear about it?" His dad's voice was stern, but there was also a softer quality now.
"You should have used a Silencing Spell on my birthday."
His mother's eyes widened a fraction before she knelt down in front of her son. "It wasn't your job to save Evan."
"He's my brother."
His dad's hand came down on his shoulder. "Yes, but we're the parents. We protect you."
"I don't care! I'd do anything for Evan."
"You may not feel that way when you are forced to marry this Nott boy."
"I don't care, Dad. You'll never make me feel like I did the wrong thing."
"Oh, sweetie." His Mum pulled him into a fierce hug, and Harry allowed himself to bury into the embrace.
"Mum, Dad, Harry? What's going on?" Evan's voice made all of them look up towards the doorway.
Their dad sighed. "Evan, go sit in the living room. We're going to need to talk to you. We'll be there in a few minutes."
"Okay, Dad."
Harry looked up at his dad when Evan was gone. "Do you hate me?"
"I could never hate you, Prongslet One." His dad patted his head before he continued, "Your heart was in the right place, and for that reason, I feel pride. I just wish you had left it up to your mother and me."
"What if you hadn't found a way out of the contract? Whose name would you have written on the contract?"
His dad sucked in a deep breath. "I have no idea. Truthfully, your mother and I probably would have not been able to make up our minds, time would have run out, and Evan would have been picked by the Notts."
Harry nodded, partially afraid that they would have picked Evan's happiness over his and hoping they were telling the truth about not being able to pick. He would just have to take his dad's word for it. "I won't say I'm sorry then."
~HP~
Evan took it remarkably well, but he was out of the danger zone now after all. He realized what a sacrifice his brother had made, but couldn't help but be relieved that it was Harry and not him. Harry sensed this and felt a bit angry at his brother, but he still wouldn't have changed his mind about the contract.
The day they were to leave for Hogwarts, the Notts came to see them. His father and mother both glared at them, especially at Theodore Nott, the heir that really had no control over it. Harry felt like pointing that out, but wisely chose to keep silent. Harry could tell that Nott Sr. was not happy with the outcome of the contract, hoping for the Boy Who Lived to be tied to his family. Harry felt satisfaction at that.
As the adults talked, Harry and Evan stared at Theo and vice versa before the Nott heir cleared his throat and turned his complete attention to Harry. The unwavering scrutiny unnerved Harry a bit before his family Gryffindor bravery came forth. "What do we do, Nott? We will eventually marry."
Nott nodded. "I understand, and I know there's no use for me to wish you end up in Slytherin? Your whole family is Gryffindor."
"That's right, and although there is a slight chance I'll be in Ravenclaw, I want to be in Gryffindor with my twin."
"That means house rivalries will separate us."
Harry shrugged. "We have to marry whether I like it or not. Who cares about the rivalries?"
"Wouldn't you rather be friends?"
Harry's eyes widened. He hadn't thought it was possible because of the forced marriage, but maybe he should think about it.
~HP~
The Hogwarts Express pulled away as Harry and Evan made themselves comfortable in a compartment, playing Exploding Snap. The door opened and they looked up and saw red hair and freckles.
Harry saw his brother mouth 'Weasley', and he agreed with Evan's assessment. Although they knew of the Weasleys, their families weren't really friends so they had never interacted. This Weasley kept looking from Harry to Evan before understanding dawned in his eyes. "You're twin first years, right?"
"Yeah," Harry cautiously answered.
"That means one of you is the Boy Who Lived. Which one is it?"
Evan's frown was instant. They both knew that this boy would not be their friend. Harry stood up in front of Evan. "Get lost."
"You can't talk to me like that!" Weasley's face was already red.
"Yes, I can because we already don't like you, so leave before I make you sorry."
Weasley tried to look at Evan while Harry shielded his twin, probably hoping to be rescued from big, bad Harry, but Evan resolutely stayed silent, hating people who only wanted his friendship because of what he had done and couldn't even remember. Weasley left with a huff, and Harry relaxed his stance.
"Thanks." Evan's voice was quiet.
While Evan was usually the louder and the leader of the two of them, there were times when Harry took control, especially when he felt like he had to protect his twin. "No problem."
Along the way, they met two other Weasleys, Fred and George. These two were much more agreeable then their brother, who they found out, was named Ron. Fred and George were already joking about moulding them into the perfect pranksters, so Harry and Evan could take over when the two of them graduated. Evan laughed. "With you two, Prongs, Padfoot, and Moony, there's no doubt we'll be awesome pranksters."
Fred's and George's eyes had widened. "You know the Marauders?"
Harry nodded. "Yeah, but we didn't realize anyone else knew that name anymore."
Fred's smile was wild. "You named three of them. Who's Wormtail?"
"Don't ever speak that name to us again." Evan's voice was so serious along with Harry's facial expression, the Weasley twins were convinced to not bring it up again.
They found out about the Marauder's Map the Weasley twins had stolen from Filch. After an unspoken conversation between the two of them, it was decided that Evan and Harry should be the rightful owners of it. They were meant to have it. They eventually said their goodbyes.
It wasn't long before they arrived at Hogwarts and were waiting to be sorted. They listened with half an ear before a certain name was spoken by Professor McGonagall.
"Nott, Theodore."
Harry and Evan watched closely. The Sorting Hat barely touched before it shouted out "Slytherin!" The twins looked at each other before shrugging. They had expected that outcome.
Their names came quickly after that.
"Potter, Evan."
There were whispers among everyone, and Harry couldn't stop glaring at the whole room. The hat took a while, and it seemed as if Evan was arguing with it. It eventually shouted out "Gryffindor," which got uproarious applauds, especially from the Weasley twins.
"Potter, Harry."
Harry took a deep breath as he walked to the stool. Although there were whispers, they weren't nearly as loud as they had been with his brother. The hat wanted to put him in Ravenclaw, but Harry argued with it. It then tried to put him in Slytherin. According to the hat, it would allow him to form a good relationship with his betrothed. Again, Harry argued. He knew he had been on the stool the longest of any student as of yet. Eventually, the hat shouted out "Gryffindor!" There was loud applause again. Harry walked to where his brother was sitting. He stopped short when Theodore Nott stood up at the Slytherin table clapping, ignoring his housemates' glares.
Harry smiled at him, thinking maybe the friendship thing would work after all. Theo took Harry's smile as a sign that he could sit down, and Harry joined his brother, excited about the year that was to come.