A/N : Some of you waited for this. Enjoy!

Chapter 4

In which Severus Snape was torn between locking Harriet in the Ravenclaw Tower or drink himself to oblivion.

Severus Snape eyed the lines of children waiting to be sorted with mixed feelings. He remembered that afternoon, when Lucius Malfoy summoned him to a meeting room at Gringotts.

The normally haughty pureblood looked rather harassed, facing seemingly unending scrolls, which he glimpsed contained some names including his with some numbers beside it, a pile of drafts in front of him, and a bottle of fire whiskey in easy reach.

"Severus, you've been working as the Dark Lord's potion master for five years, and we have been remiss in paying your wages. My Lady had ordered all of the Dark Lord's debts to be straightened. So here's your five years due with interest." His friend said as he crossed his name while massaging his temple with his free hand.

Severus stared at the draft blankly. The amount was quite substantial and generous, after all. Never in a million years he thought he would get paid for his service for the Dark Lord. He's a Dark Lord after all, and compliance was to be expected unless you'd like a bout of cruciatus going your way.

"Who's the Lady? And why are you the one doing this menial job? "

The haughty pureblood Lord wasn't the type to do a Goblin's job.

"Harriet Potter. Apparently, there was a betrothal contract between the Dark Lord's Grandfather and our Lady's Great Grandfather. When the Dark Lord tried to kill her, the clause of the contract activated, changing the Betrothal Bond into a Marriage Bond." Lucius said as if they were discussing the weather.

Severus stared blankly, unsure if he had fallen asleep while brewing some potion and hallucinated going to Gringotts or if he really heard Lucius' words.

" I know, I know, it didn't sound like it was real, but the Little Tyrant appointed me as Steward of Houses Gaunt and Slytherin, that's why I'm doing this. I mean, I need to get away from the vaults for a bit. It was extremely dusty, and we had to catalogue everything inside. This is actually a break for me. Anyways, since I'm the Steward, the only one who can dispense the drafts was me. I've sent Crabbe and Goyle to get rid of the squatters from the properties, but still needed to find some contractors and warders for those properties. We're swamped with work here." The Malfoy Patriarch slouched, going totally against his normally upright posture.

"Harriet Potter is married to the Dark Lord?! " Severus finally gained his voice. "But… but… what about the prophecy?! "

Lucius waved his hand unconcernedly. "You know that divination isn't really that reliable. Oh, right. The Little Tyrant is very cross with her situation, so I'd advise to avoid antagonizing her. Who knows what she's going to do to the rest of us if you managed to get caught in her ire." He shuddered.

Severus frowned at the Dark Lord's righthand man. "Why would I be scared of a first year student who hasn't even had her first class yet?"

Lucius' face turned dreamy "oh, her raw magic is very powerful, Sev, she's terrifying when angry, but that kind of power…the Dark Lord would love it. Oh right, since they were married, they have a deadline to consummate the bond at her coming-of-age and have the first heir after 12 months. Since all of the other available Death Eaters will be busy for the foreseeable future, I appoint you to search for a way to make it happen. Otherwise, we'll all be conscripted to be Magical Creatures' keepers. I'm serious. The Account Manager of the vaults were tasked to do some research and contact the Scamanders. I heard Longclaw had already secured land bordering the sea for the establishment."

Thud!

Lucius looked up at the sound and shook his unconscious friend. "Sev? Severus! "

There's a succession of three knocks on the door and a Goblin entered without waiting for his call. He sighed with the most put upon expression.

"Another one? You wizards sure are weak." He sneered and snapped his fingers, magically moving Severus to a lounge chaise prepared after the third person fainted in their meetings with the Houses of Gaunt and Slytherin Steward.

"Mr. Corban Yaxley is here for his appointment" The Goblin said irritably.

Lucius smirked as he watched him open the door for the other man and closed it behind him. A man had to get his amusement somewhere, and this task he found himself in provided plenty at the expense of the goblins.

"Corban, you have been in the retinue of my Lord for seven years, and we have been remiss in paying your wage. my Lady had ordered all of the Dark Lord's debts to be straightened. So here's your seven years due with interest. Hey, you worked at DMLE, right? My Lady wanted us to pay reparation to the families the Dark Lord had rendered disabled or dead. You can help with that… "

Severus had woken up in the middle of a debate about the change of the Death Eater's activities to something akin to a company. The memory of Lucius telling him that Harriet was married to the Dark Lord had him eyeing the bottle of Ogden's finest in Lucius' desk with interest. A horrifying thought suddenly occurred to him.

"The Dark Lord is how old? 65 years old?" If he remembered correctly, there is one occasion that the Malfoys held a party for the Dark Lord's birthday.

It was a political gathering more accurately, but Abraxas Malfoy had cheerfully led the crowd to sing Happy Birthday to the Dark Lord's constipated look. It was the most solemn Happy Birthday song he ever heard in his life, something like a song someone played at a funeral.

"Huh, you're right. I've never seen him with a lady since I joined, or men if he swung that way. There's Phyritte, of course, but he was married to Selwyn's sister. " Yaxley mussed.

"My father said something about the Dark Lord being an orphan, and he despaired over the Dark Lord not being interested in the ladies he tried to introduce to him from their Hogwarts years until my father's death." Lucius said.

"No way! Do you think he ever had the Hippogriff and the Hornet talk?" Yaxley looked pale.

Lucius shook his head. "None of us are old enough to have that talk with him. It would be uncomfortable to talk about that to someone my father's age." Both of them looked at Severus.

Severus sweated as the metaphorical light bulbs went on at the same time above his two friends.

"Sev, do you think Dumbledore would give him the Hippogriff and the Hornet talk if we asked him nicely? Of course, we need to find the Dark Lord first, but can you ask just in case?"

Merlin's blessed toes, what is happening with his life? He thought absently as he watched children after children went up to be sorted and went back to their respective tables without paying any real attention beyond a polite clap for every new Slytherins.

"Potter, Harriet"

Minerva's voice pulled him back to the present time. The little girl who answered the call of her name was every inch the picture of a lady. His heart squeezed at the similarities he recognized from her mother, Lily Potter, his best friend, childhood crush and sister of his heart. The realization that he had condemned her for nothing was a heavy burden to bear. His eyes turned from the girl in the center of everyone's attention to the Headmaster watching the girl almost hungrily.

Severus was in a dilemma. The Headmaster was looking at him questioningly when he was rushing to the Great Hall after coming back from Gringotts and he'd thrown a hurried "later" At him in favor of straightening his robes and casting a freshening charm on his face and body before striding calmly and confidently (read: swooping like a great bat) into the room and to his seat beside the dunderhead Quirinus Quirell. All the way, he was dreading telling the Headmaster about the news from Lucius, or worse, relaying their request that he give the Dark Lord the wizarding version of 'The Talk'.

"Better be… RAVENCLAW!"

The room went silent as the girl primly handed the Sorting Hat back to a stunned Minerva and walked to the blue and bronze decorated table. The table promptly erupted to a loud cheer as the other three broke into polite claps. Was it his imagination or the Sorting Hat looked a bit more frayed when it was put into the head of the next student?

Oh well, Severus thought as Quirinus fidgeted with his turban, at least there's always locking her in the tower until she turned thirty. If he had his way, they'd never find the Dark Lord until then and everything will be just fine.

Constructive Criticism Appreciated. Cheers!