Chapter 30
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or any of JK Rowling's fabulous characters. I do however own this story, I wrote it and I do NOT give permission for anyone to post it anywhere else. If you want to share it post a link.
Though he still felt exhausted when he woke up Harry's magic levels were much improved by the following morning and he was relieved to feel the connection with Susan had fully returned. He didn't think that it was stronger than before but his magic wasn't fully recovered yet so he wasn't sure if the connection would get stronger as it did. He wasn't worried.
They managed to contact each other without it affecting their recovery and they spent much of the next day talking through their connection but it was actually the day after tomorrow before Susan could go to the bank and visit Harry at Andromeda's again.
Andromeda had decreed that Harry was staying with them until the end of the week and wasn't to exert himself in anyway. Susan found him sitting outside in the garden.
"Hi Harry, you look a lot better," Susan said greeting him with a quick kiss on the lips.
"So do you, how are you feeling?" Harry asked.
"Physically back to normal, and emotionally I still feel okay about killing those Death Eaters. Auntie helped a lot by showing me some of the names and pictures of people they've murdered over the years," Susan said.
"You did the right thing but sometimes doing the right thing and living with the knowledge that you were justified in such a horrible thing is difficult. Nobody expects you to just brush it off and be fine 100% of the time," Harry said gently.
"I will be fine with it. But I'm glad you understand. Hannah came over yesterday and I couldn't even talk to her about it. She was all horrified one minute and celebrating their deaths the next," Susan said.
"Ron was like that. He didn't understand at all why I felt bad about killing Quirrell, thought that he deserved it and that should be all there was to it. Hermione accuses him of having the emotional depth of a teaspoon but honestly she's not always a lot better, insisting that I talk about things before I'm ready to talk, and assuming that the way she feels about something is always the right way to feel," Harry replied understandingly.
Susan chuckled. "Hannah is a good friend but yesterday she seemed like we were barely even speaking the same language."
Harry wrapped his arms around her. "Yeah I get it. The problem is that the only way she will truly understand what it was like will be to survive a battle where she has to make a similar decision to kill or risk losing her family or being killed and you can't want that to happen to her. You'll get over it or both stop thinking about it and start speaking the same language again soon," he said. "Do you still want to join the offers to make a betrothal contract, or was it just a reaction to the battle?"
"I still want to. I've known since the day I read through them all in Gringotts that yours was the contract I wanted to accept. Even if our connection disappeared now that it's fulfilled what it needed to do, I would want to be your girlfriend and see if we could build a life together. I've only been waiting until you were comfortable calling me your girlfriend or betrothed," Susan said.
"I feel the same. While the taste thing and your reaction to me flying is a pain, I wouldn't want to lose our connection to each other either," Harry said.
"I'm glad, but are you sure you don't want to wait until your birthday, so you can see the other contracts your parents made for you? Just out of curiosity. Because if we do this now, they'll all be destroyed and you'll never know," Susan asked. She was aware of the irony of being the one to have come up with a reason to wait when that was exactly what she was afraid Harry was trying to do but when she'd collected the contracts she realized that if they did this then Harry had so little of his parents it might be important to him to know what steps they'd taken to keep him safe in the future.
"Part of me is curious who my parents might have trusted enough to make a contact with, though I already know that it's your betrothal that I want to accept. But there's no place in our relationship for what ifs. We both know that we want to marry each other and every day that we wait we risk someone else with a set of reciprocal contracts rolling them together to accept a betrothal between me and whoever it is. I don't know how many of them my parents made but if Dad was anything like me he would have wanted to protect all his friends' daughters and he'd never have imagined that I'd become this famous icon for the light. I'd rather not wait, whoever else has a reciprocal contract offer with me will also know that I'll be seventeen in a few weeks and will then be able to accept someone else's contract or even just to destroy the reciprocal offers to prevent someone trapping me in a betrothal. It's too big a risk, being able to look at the other offers my parents made isn't as important to me as knowing our future together will be secure," Harry replied. "Besides, given how the stupid bigots of the world would rather believe a baby killed Voldemort rather than my muggleborn mother and the over the top celebrations that occurred at the time. It's possible that half the families in Britain with an unbetrothed daughter at that time might have sent me an offer, who knows how many there will be."
Susan laughed again. "You're right. I received four courtship offers this morning."
"Anyone interesting?" Harry asked, unconcerned. Susan had said that she wanted to marry him and brought the contracts so they could join them. He knew she wouldn't have said so if she was interested in any of the other offers or hoping for one from someone else.
"The only one from someone that I knew was from Draco Malfoy," Susan said.
"Wow! He didn't waste any time. I guess with his father dead he's now head of the family and can cancel his existing betrothal but that doesn't explain why he'd want to court someone from a light family. You'd certainly make an enemy of Pansy, if you accepted him," Harry said.
"My account manager told me that he and Parkinson never were betrothed," Susan said.
"Has anyone ever told Pansy that? I think that she intends to marry him anyway," Harry said.
"Yeah! She's always seemed more into him than he was into her but I did think they were a couple. He could be trying to improve his family's image by joining to a light family and he knows I wouldn't accept a betrothal contract from him but might be flattered or tempted by the romance of a courting offer," Susan said thoughtfully.
"Would you prefer for me to court you?" Harry asked.
"I kind of like the idea of being courted but a courting agreement wouldn't stop someone with a reciprocal set of offers from rolling them together and you'd look like a complete asshole if you suddenly became betrothed to someone else while publicly courting me. Even if you tried to explain the situation you'd look like an arsehole for announcing to the entire world that you didn't want to marry the witch who did it," Susan warned him. She knew that it would also be considered extremely rude for a witch to use a reciprocal contact to force a betrothal with a wizard who was actively courting another, but with Harry being so famous she didn't trust it not to happen particularly if the Weasleys had a reciprocal contract. The red haired witch was fairly insistent to anyone she spoke to that Harry was hers though she'd stopped short of declaring that they were betrothed she'd certainly dropped enough hints that some people believed it.
"We could always accept the betrothal now and still go through the steps of courting if the news of our betrothal isn't leaked, I'd have to get a book about it," Harry offered.
"You don't have to go to all that expense and effort," Susan said.
"I don't want you to miss out on anything because of our connection," Harry said.
"I never expected to be courted Harry. I pretty much grew up expecting that I'd find a betrothal contract in my vault when I turned seventeen. I was glad that I wasn't already betrothed and I got to choose who I married. Even then I wanted to marry someone just like you. I've never regretted anything as much as I regretted hurting you by saying that we weren't in a relationship. You were right, we were so much more than just friends and I ruined it," Susan replied.
"Let's do this."
She handed him his parents offer for her and held out her parents offer for him and together they rolled them into one. There was a flash of golden light and the pieces of parchment merged into a single one announcing their betrothal agreement as having been signed just after Harry was born. Susan and Harry smiled in satisfaction.
"What happens now?" Harry asked.
Susan leaned in and kissed him. Harry pulled her closer and they kissed for a while. "That was lovely but it's not what I meant," Harry finally said breathlessly.
Susan laughed.
"A copy of the contract will be filed at the ministry. It ought to be automatic and completely confidential until we want to make an announcement but with you being the boy who lived and the fact that they announced on the front page of 'The Daily Prophet' this morning that I killed Voldemort. I wouldn't bet money on it not leaking. I should tell my Auntie before she has a chance to read it in the papers but I can do that tonight, I doubt she'll be surprised after the last few days," Susan replied.
"Yes, but is there anything that I'm supposed to do? Should I be the one to tell your guardian?" Harry asked, firmly tamping down his anxiety at telling Amelia Bones that he was going to marry her niece.
"No if she was my head of house you should have asked her permission even though we didn't need it with the reciprocal contracts from our parents, but I'm the Head of House Bones. So all you need to do is take me to Hogsmeade, sit with me in the library, hold my hand, just general boyfriend stuff. Auntie will want to get to know you and we might want to think about what sort of wedding we want but that doesn't have to happen today," Susan said.
"That sounds easy," Harry replied. "In the muggle world a man buys the girl a diamond ring when they get engaged, do wizards do that?"
"Not a diamond ring, but when they're ready to announce their betrothal to the world the wizard will often give the witch a piece of jewellery with his family crest on it. It can be a ring or a bracelet or necklace depending on the family. But you'll need to wait until you're seventeen to look in your vault for the Potter betrothal jewellery," Susan said.
"Shouldn't I give you the Black family betrothal jewellery too?" Harry asked.
"Yes you should if you're the head of House, I'd forgotten about that," Susan replied. "That's going to draw attention, I'm sure Draco will be even more annoyed at me turning him down for the real Head of House Black."
"Draco would've been furious that you turned him down for me anyway but couldn't you tell him that you're already betrothed? Isn't that what the reciprocal contract was for?" Harry asked.
"Good idea I'll do that with all of the offers," Susan said.
"Didn't they disappear when we became betrothed?" Harry asked.
"No because they're not betrothal contracts," Susan explained. "Intention to court notices have to be dealt with straight away. It would be rude not to reply immediately. I should have replied this morning but they won't take offence from a few hours delay"
"What if you weren't betrothed? Would it be rude to turn them down?" Harry asked.
Susan sighed. "It would be considered rude to turn them all down but often a witch in this situation will ask a friend to make a courting overture so they could accept that and turn down the others. Or accept all of them without the offer of exclusivity and bring a chaperone to all her dates," Susan replied.
"The more time I spend in the Wizarding World the less sense some of its traditions make," Harry grumbled.
"It doesn't make much sense to me either. But the real difference is that betrothal agreements are made and accepted by your Head of House which doesn't make much difference to us because I am the head of house Bones and you will be the Head of House Potter and House Black when you turn seventeen and there hasn't been another Head of House Potter or Bones since we were babies or House Black since you were about four and I don't think he even knew that you were Sirius' heir otherwise he would have taken you in and raised you. But the Weasleys head of house is one of Arthur Weasley's uncles and Ernie Macmillan's Head of House is his great grandfather so it would be easy for them to make a decision that they thought was in the best interests of the family as a whole rather than what Ron, Ginny or Ernie might want. Courting announcements are sent from a wizard to the witch herself and only she has the power to accept or refuse them, though a wizard would be very unlikely to make an offer their parents didn't approve of and the witch's parents might put pressure on them to influence their decisions. The rest is just manners. If you refuse a courting offer without a reason it's like declaring that you don't trust that wizard or find him dishonourable," Susan tried to explain.
"So witches are still being pressured to accepting courting agreements from wizards they don't want to date," Harry said frowning.
"Well no, if they get an offer from someone they really don't want to let court them they could accept one of their betrothal offers or a courting agreement from someone else, most witches from the sort of family that would pressure them to accept a particular courting agreement would already be betrothed," Susan reminded him.
-o0o-
"Hello Susan, you're looking better. How's Mr Potter, did you have a nice visit?" Amelia asked.
"I feel better, and Harry is better too, Andromeda says that he'll be well enough to leave tomorrow. He's planning on visiting Neville for a week or two and then I was hoping that he could come and stay with us for part of the summer," Susan said.
"That's not a good idea, I'm afraid that having a boy over to stay would give completely the wrong impression," Amelia replied.
"It wouldn't be the wrong impression. Harry and I rolled our reciprocal betrothal offers together this afternoon. We plan on getting married next August," Susan said almost casually.
"That was a bit hasty. I hope you don't come to regret it," Amelia said frowning.
"It wasn't hasty at all. We've known for months that with our connection it would be impossible for either of us to marry or even have a serious relationship with anybody else," Susan replied too calmly.
"I have nothing against Mr Potter but are you sure that this isn't a reaction to the other night?" Amelia asked carefully.
"No, we discussed it before Christmas. The only reason we waited this long before becoming officially betrothed is because Harry was afraid that the information would be leaked and it would make me a target for Voldemort and the Death Eaters. We both know that it's highly likely that some of last year's seventh years were marked and I know at least one of our class was just as more of our class would have been marked this summer. But now that that bloody newspaper has told everyone that I killed Voldemort, I couldn't be a bigger target no matter what we did, so there was no reason to wait any longer and it will protect me from all the courting offers that are really just an attempt to get control of me or get me alone with my guard down," Susan said.
"How well do you actually know Mr Potter?" Amelia asked, surprised.
"I've been hanging out in his mind for the best part of nine months now. I'd say I know him better than anybody else on the planet," Susan said in a take no prisoners tone of voice and Amelia knew she was going to hear details she'd rather not ever hear if she pressed her niece any further.
"Besides it's just as well that I'm betrothed. It gave me a reason to turn down Draco Malfoy's courting overture without causing a family feud," Susan said casually.
Amelia gasped in shock. "You're not serious?" she asked.
"I received it this morning, though I've no idea why he would've wanted to court me, even before I killed his father the other night, but now I would almost assume he offered to get me alone even though a courting contract would prevent him from being able to harm me," Susan replied.
"Young Malfoy doesn't have the connections that his father had and the offer had to have been written before he read 'The Prophet' this morning. I doubt he knows that you were the one to kill Lucius Malfoy though he may have put two and two together and assumed he was killed in the raid on the Manor. Which might actually be worse if he finds out sometime in the future. Any protection the courting contract gave you would only last until you were married," Amelia warned her.
"Yes that was my thought too," Susan agreed.
"It could also have been genuine. Malfoys are addicted to power, you are now one of the most magically powerful witches I know and when it comes out that you killed Voldemort you will have plenty of social and political power as well," Amelia said. "Your hand in marriage will be highly sought after for that reason alone, and marrying you would rehabilitate the Malfoy family's reputation."
"Or perhaps he thinks you would hesitate to arrest your niece's betrothed, for fear of the embarrassment," Susan suggested.
"What do you mean. I cannot arrest him for what happened in the bathroom, he's already been issued a probationary notice for that," Amelia reminded her niece softly.
"Draco Malfoy is a marked Death Eater, his name will eventually come out from one of the Death Eater's you've questioned," Susan replied.
"I know you've said so, but none of the Death Eaters we've questioned so far have listed him as a marked follower, and I cannot believe that Dumbledore would've protected him the way he did if he was already marked," Amelia said.
"Yeah. Myself, Harry, Hermione Granger, Ron Weasley and Neville Longbottom all saw the mark on his arm," Susan replied.
"Well at least you have a legitimate reason for refusing that courting offer, but the other two are both from light families, and you can expect more once it becomes known you're accepting courting offers. I would think that most light families will seek a connection with you now," Amelia said.
"Would have sought after, I am unbreakably betrothed to Harry," Susan corrected her Aunt.
"Which you haven't yet made public," Amelia reminded her dryly.
"I'm still able to use my betrothal to refuse courting offers even if I'm not announcing who I'm betrothed to. I've already replied to them," Susan said.
"I'd still rather he didn't stay the night since you're not getting married until next summer but he's welcome to visit as often as you like during the day," Amelia attempted to compromise.
"That's fine so long as he has a safe alternative place to stay. But I'm not going to let him go back to those horrible relatives, and he's talking about trying to live on his own in the muggle world," Susan said determinedly.
"When are you planning to make your betrothal public?" Amelia asked.
"We want to tell our close friends in case the record clerk leaks it to the "Daily Prophet' but other than that we want to wait until after Harry's birthday at the end of July, when he can go to his vaults and get the betrothal jewellery for his Houses," Susan replied.
Amelia nodded. "That makes sense, though telling your friends increases the likelihood of gossip leaking out. Your betrothal may not make you more of a target for the Death Eaters but every other unattached girl at Hogwarts is going to be heartbroken to hear that Potter is unattainable. You'll need to be ready to deal with some resistance," she warned.
"I just took out Bellatrix LeStrange, I think I can deal with some jealous schoolgirls," Susan replied dryly.
"Yes perhaps, but please remember you cannot kill or maim your classmates," Amelia said groaning.
Susan just laughed. "I promise I won't permanently damage them the first time but if they keep coming after me then I will not hesitate to put the silly cows down hard even if I have to declare a family feud to do so."
"Just the thought of a feud will stop all but the most stupid. There aren't many families that would risk being in a feud with the Bones and the Potters," Amelia agreed.
-o0o-
Dear Harry
I heard today that Susan killed the three LeStranges, Lucius Malfoy and Voldemort. I know you stopped getting the Prophet and that Ron and Hermione are frequently poor correspondents, so you might not have heard. I wanted you to know that it's now safe to leave your relatives as soon as I could tell you. {I know that you probably already know this due to your connection but I also know how cut off you've been in the muggle world over the summer in the past and might appreciate an explainable reason for knowing this information. Don't do it until you've read the whole letter carefully because you won't be able to bring them back but if you use the password to close the map the confidential parts of this letter will disappear and it will appear totally innert to all tests.}
I've written to Susan as well hoping that she is okay. The Auror that told us about it, one of my Dad's teammates didn't say. Even if she wasn't hurt, I would expect that she's emotionally shook up about it all. {Hopefully having you to talk to at any time she needs someone will help.}
I spoke to Gran, before all this happened actually and she's finally given me permission to invite you to visit for a fortnight. You're welcome at any time of course but it would be great if we could spend our birthdays together. But don't wait to come I'm sure that I can talk Gran into letting you stay longer or you could always visit someone else and then come back once I turn seventeen the Hall belongs to me and you can stay as long as you like.
I can't tell you how relieved Gran is that the people who attacked my Mum and Dad are now all dead. She hasn't rested easy since we found out that they escaped Azkaban so it's a real weight off her shoulders.
I know she wants to send Susan a formal thank you but I've tried to dissuade her for now until I know Susan will be okay with it. I don't want Gran to upset her but I don't think I can put her off for long. {so maybe you better warn Susan to prepare her for the letter so she doesn't open it on her own if she's still upset about it happening. Maybe get her to get you or her aunt to read it and just tell her the salient points so she can write the reply.}
Yours Sincerely
Neville Francis Longbottom
Scion of House Longbottom
Harry grinned and called through the bond to warn her about the threatened letter from Lady Longbottom. Susan just laughed and told him that she'd frame it to keep in her office if she ever became head Auror.
-o0o-
Ginny was sitting alone in the kitchen reluctantly pitting cherries for cherry pie. She loved cherry pie but she hated being the one stuck helping with the cooking when her brothers never had to, it seemed particularly unfair when they all ate more than she did. If anyone, her Mum should be teaching Ron to cook, though she supposed that he'd end up eating more of the ingredients than made it to the table.
Today though she hadn't complained, she was hoping that if she pitted enough cherries she could convince her mother to make extra pies and send one to Harry, and her mother was out doing the weekly shopping so she wasn't here nagging her about how she was doing things. Unfortunately, she wasn't getting too far with the cherries, she kept being distracted by daydreams of Harry asking her out now that it was safe for him to do so, begging her forgiveness for the embarrassment he'd caused by turning her down in front of the whole common room a few months ago. She would forgive him and agree to date him of course but she was going to enjoy seeing him grovel for her approval.
Her dorm mates had teased her mercilessly since that night, pretending to believe Harry had spoken truthfully when he said that she was only Ron's little sister to him. Even Hermione who had been so supportive at first had encouraged her to think of other wizards after a week or so. She'd been glad to get away from them at the end of the year but Ron and the twins had been nearly as bad since Ron told them about what had happened. Only her Mum had been supportive, urging her not to give up, to write to him as a friend and let him know she was thinking about him. But even her Mum annoyed her, calling Harry's decision to avoid dating until after he'd defeated He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named to avoid putting anyone in danger noble and self-sacrificing instead of selfish and cowardly. She just knew that having her standing beside him or knowing his girlfriend was home waiting to reward him for saving them all would help motivate him to get rid of that monster and finish the war quicker. She had a feeling her mother only approved because she wanted to keep Ginny safe, as if being a Weasley was safe in this war.
Ginny was startled out of her daydreams by a bright dark red flash coming from the drawer her mother kept precious things and important papers in.
She jumped up and tried to open it to see where it came from but the drawer was locked as always.
"What the hell have you done to Mum's drawer?" Ginny yelled at the twins as they walked into the kitchen, half a moment later.
"We haven't done anything to it," Fred replied confused.
"We can't even open it," George pointed out.
"It's warded against us," Fred said.
"She warded it against us," George said with a sad look on his face.
"Her own flesh and blood," Fred added sadly.
"Doesn't trust us with the family secrets," George said in a tone of voice that practically screamed disappointment at his mother's very justified attitude.
"So if course we haven't touched the drawer," Fred's tone agreed with his twin.
"Why would you accuse us of such a thing?" George asked sounding overly innocent in a way that normally meant he was up to something, or wanted his target audience to think he was.
"We know the things in that drawer are too important to be messed with," Fred said.
"Even if we're not allowed to know what they are," George agreed.
"Why do you think that the twins pranked Mum's drawer?" Bill said as he entered, carrying in the shopping for his mother, having met her at the market.
"Something in the drawer gave a flash of red light, right before they walked into the kitchen," Ginny explained.
"Pure coincidence," Fred tried to assure them.
Bill glanced at his mother who looked angry and upset and he suddenly looked alert.
"This red, or more like this?" He asked casting two different red lights from his wand the first the colour the destruction of a partial or conditional contract like a betrothal offer would cause and the other, that would be seen when an actual contract was broken, probably with penalties for the breaker.
"Um like the first one I think, what difference does it make?" Ginny said uncertainly.
"Mum, what contract offers are in your drawer?" Bill asked as Molly started bustling around the kitchen putting away groceries as quickly as possible.
"What, there are no offers I the drawer. The twins must be pulling a prank to make Ginny think she saw a flash where there wasn't one," Molly replied dismissively.
"A flash the same colour of a declined or no longer valid contract offer destroying all the copies? How would the twins know the exact colour to make it? I doubt they'd have seen it before," Bill asked sceptically, resolving to talk to his father.
"You don't know it was exactly that colour," Ginny protested as Molly ignored Bill's question and shoo'd them all out of the house claiming she needed some peace and quiet to get dinner ready. Glancing in the kitchen window a few moments later Bill saw her madly scrabbling through the drawer looking for something she didn't appear to find.
A/N: Thank you to all those who reviewed followed or favourited this story for your support.
