Chapter 31
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Draco outwardly showed every sign of well controlled grief when he heard of the passing of his father, as was appropriate for a wizard in his situation. Nobody would have suspected that inwardly he wasn't grieving at all, he was furious. He was furious with the Aurors that delivered the news, but didn't have details to give him about what had happened other than the fact his father had been killed wearing Death Eater robes and in the company of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named who was also killed. He was even more furious at the person who'd killed his father and at his father himself for getting himself killed. The one person he wasn't furious with, whom perhaps he should have been was the Dark Lord himself. No he was far too busy being relieved that he was dead and not around to punish Draco for Lucius's failure.
He watched as all outward expressions of grief shown by his mother disappeared as soon as the Aurors were confirmed to have left the wards, and determination replaced them.
"Things need to change, around here Draco. I know you are your father's heir but I am currently Regent of the House of Malfoy and your emancipation and early acceptance as Head of House will be my decision. I will not allow the House of Malfoy to sink any further," she declared.
Narcissa went to the ward stone and took control of the manor's wards before Draco even thought to do so. She altered the wards set to allow all those bearing the Dark Mark to enter, reversing it so that it would refuse entry to them, not caring that it would also prevent her son from leaving and returning to his home. She then took the portkey to the vacation home in the south of France and the apartment in Paris and did the same, she left the London townhouse wards alone, not wanting to face the public embarrassment of having made her own son homeless.
She ordered the elves to clear out all the dark and illegal objects in Lucius's office and hidden space under the drawing room. Destroying those that had no value or were evil magic and selling the rest, and to return all Black family items that had been in Lucius' possession to her personal vault. Then she sent a request to the ministry for her husband's body to be returned to them and began arrangements for a private funeral.
During the funeral she had the elves move all of Draco's possessions and her own personal things to the town house which was ready for occupancy.
Draco threw a huge tantrum when she apparated them to the townhouse and told him that she'd closed the manor for the time being and they'd be staying there until he had finished his NEWTs.
"I'll be seventeen and can claim my titles next week, then we'll see about this," he hissed at her.
"No you cannot. The Malfoy title can only be claimed by a wizard who's marriage has been accepted by his Head of House or current Regent. It was one of the ways the patriach's controlled their heirs, now I have taken the opportunity of your father's death to dissolve the contract between you and your father's choice. You can choose your own wife as long as none of her immediate family are Death Eaters," Narcissa told him firmly.
"What about the Black lordship. Does it come with any stupid conditions too?" Draco demanded.
"No, but the House of Black is Most Ancient and Noble," Narcissa began.
"I know that!" Draco interrupted rudely. "So it means I have to marry a pureblood, so what!"
"It means that if you claim Lordship over the House of Black and are accepted, before you're eligible for the Lordship of the house of Malfoy while the head of house Malfoy sits empty, you will fold the Malfoy title and properties into the Black title, or it's possible that the fact you aren't able to claim your father's House may make the Black Head of House ring reject you," Narcissa said pointedly.
"Pansy's going to be furious," Draco commented.
"What are you talking about?" Narcissa asked.
"You ended my betrothal to Pansy, she's going to be extremely upset about it," Draco said sighing.
"You were never betrothed to Pansy Parkinson. I ended your betrothal to Florence Rosier. I'm not sure if she's even remember meeting you, she turned eleven a few months ago and will be one of this years new students," Narcissa clarified. "If you're in a serious relationship with Pansy you are now free to pursue her, she should be delighted."
"Her father and brother are both Death Eaters," Draco pointed out.
"Yes, you'd be giving up the Malfoy Lordship but I'm sure Pansy would be willing to become Lady Black, if you love her enough to make that sacrifice," Narcissa agreed.
Draco frowned. "Love her, I don't even like her half the time, I was putting up with her because I she claimed we were betrothed," he said bluntly.
"Then what are you complaining about? Being able to make a more appropriate choice for yourself should be no hardship," Narcissa asked.
-o0o-
Unlike Molly, Bill was relieved, at least his mother wasn't somehow in breach of a contract. But the most common contract offers that weren't either accepted or denied soon after their creation were betrothal offers, and from her actions this wasn't an offer she was undecided on accepting but rather one she'd been waiting for the other party to accept. Surely, she hadn't tried to betroth one of them without telling them or their father.
Then Bill remembered what happened when 'The Prophet' arrived announcing the death of 'He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named' at the hands of Susan Bones, a few days ago. Everyone else had been extremely surprised but relieved it was all over, but Ginny had taken personal offence at the whole story refusing to believe it until Arthur came home and confirmed it.
His parents had just laughed about it but Bill was concerned with Ginny's weird anger towards Susan Bones for stealing Harry's thunder when everyone knew Harry was supposed to kill You-Know-Who, as if someone else saving them from another war was a personal insult to Harry and to Ginny for some reason. Added to that her proprietary attitude as if Harry Potter belonged to her and her insistence that she was going date Harry next year now that Voldemort was dead even though he'd apparently turned her down when she'd approached him this year.
Ron had scoffed at his sister telling her she was delusional if she thought that was the only reason he hadn't been interested in dating her this year and the twins had pranked the hell out of her for waiting until Voldemort had been defeated before deciding to date Harry, which Bill had also told her was shallow and selfish, until she'd explained that it was Harry himself that had refused to date while he had such a huge target on his back, not wanting to give the Death Eaters someone to use against him. Then they'd backed off claiming it was sensible of Harry not to want to put a target on someone's back, but the twins also believed that Ron might have a point. If it wasn't safe to date, then Harry wouldn't have even hinted who he fancied. It could be anyone.
Bill went to talk to his brother.
"Hey Bill," Ron said.
"What do you think about Susan Bones killing four of the worst Death Eaters and Voldemort?" Bill asked partly just to start the conversation and partly out of curiosity since she was a year mate of Ron's he might know her in spite of being in different houses.
"I didn't believe it at first. She's a nice girl and above average in magical power but nothing really special magic wise. Harry is so much stronger and he couldn't kill Voldemort last time they met, it didn't make sense until I remembered the day we found out about Malfoy, I mean Draco, the Malfoy in our year level, being a marked Death Eater. Harry was obsessed with him being behind the attacks on Katie Bell and the poisoned mead that Slughorn had bought. Hermione and I were telling Harry that he had to be wrong and to let it go, but Harry set up with Susan and Neville to help the three of us to get the jump on him and find out what he was doing. At the time we were surprised she was there instead of Luna but Susan said Harry had asked her to help him because her guardian was the head of the DMLE and it would be better for her to have seen the evidence to help convince her aunt which made sense I guess. But Susan believed Harry from the start, and he took her advice, when he'd been ignoring ours all year. I didn't think about it at the time but now I think she might have been his secret girlfriend. He sat with her and her friends for a little while on the train on the way home after he left the carriage he was sitting in with Ginny, Neville and Luna to avoid Ginny flirting with him too. Which means he might have been there that night and killed You-Know-Who and they're just keeping it quiet for some reason," Ron rambled.
"I don't think that the head of the DMLE would allow her niece to be put in danger like that to protect Potter. There'd be no real reason for it, half of Britain expected Potter to kill You-Know-Who and end the war anyway," Bill said mildly.
"I suppose not," Ron agreed. "But that leads back to Susan having killed him and I don't know how she could've. Though maybe she'd been training with Harry this year, there were a lot of nights he spent training and Hermione and I only joined him a couple of times a week."
"You said that you thought Susan Bones was Harry's secret girlfriend. Ginny thinks he's been waiting for it to be safe to ask her out," Bill said.
"He wasn't. Don't get mad at Harry about that. He hasn't been leading Ginny on, she's just delusional. He told her he wasn't interested, that he didn't see her that way. He only mentioned the danger after she kept pushing at him to go on a date anyway, trying to use his sense of fair play to try to manipulate him to give it a try. The danger thing and not wanting to give the Death Eaters another target was real, but I know he wasn't just talking about Ginny. There was someone else, some girl he seriously liked and protecting her was the most important thing to him. He wouldn't even tell me or Hermione who it was. I'm only guessing that it could be Susan and I don't even know for sure that it was a real secret relationship and not just Harry crushing on someone that he hadn't even told her because of the danger, but there was someone he really wanted a chance to date safely but the self-sacrificing git felt that he couldn't, and he told us it wasn't Ginny. He got really annoyed with Hermione when she kept trying to push him into asking Ginny out."
"Well you're probably right it wasn't Ginny or she'd have heard from him by now," Bill agreed.
"If he's even been told that Voldemort was killed," Ron said jumping up to go and write to Harry.
"How could he not have been told?" Bill asked confused.
"Harry doesn't get 'The Daily Prophet', he got sick of reading lies about himself, and he doesn't have a Wizarding wireless so he doesn't find stuff out unless someone tells him and his guards have been ordered not to talk to him. I haven't written to him since last week, I think Hermione is on holiday somewhere in Europe so she probably hasn't heard either. So unless his girlfriend or Neville has written he might not know. Unless he was there," Ron explained.
-o0o-
Meanwhile, in the kitchen Molly had decided that the whole thing with the drawer was no doubt a prank by the twins. They'd obviously broken into her drawer and removed the betrothal offers then left something inside the drawer that they could set off to flash when Ginny and Bill were in the kitchen. Bill so he'd be able to tell Ginny that the colour signified the disillusionment of a conditional contract like a betrothal offer and Ginny because they thought she knew about the betrothal that she and Albus had written for her and Harry.
It was a shame that Albus hadn't been able to accept the betrothal on Harry's behalf but the conditions of the Potter title were very clear and well known. Lord Potter or the future Lord Potter needed to accept the betrothal himself if his wife was to become Lady Potter. She knew that Ginny's wouldn't be the only betrothal offer he received, in fact she wouldn't be surprised if he received hundreds, which should actually help Ginny because she was at least familiar and safe amongst the overwhelming deluge of betrothal offers from dark families and complete strangers. All she could do now was hope that he made the right choice. She had worked hard to make sure that he felt a part of their family and that they presented themselves in the best light possible. She knew that Harry wanted a family of his own and by marrying Ginny he would have a family he already loved, and Ginny would have the boy of her dreams. It was perfect.
-o0o-
Hedwig arrived at the Burrow during dinner that night and Ginny eagerly reached for the letter only to be angrily attacked by the beautiful white owl.
Seeing his own name on the letter Ron offered Harry's beloved pet a piece of steak in return for being allowed to retrieve his letter.
Ginny frowned. "What does he say. Did you invite him to come stay with us?"
"I offered for him to stay, I guessed he'd be allowed to leave the Dursleys now that Voldemort and the worst of the Death Eaters are dead," Ron replied reading.
"That's up to Headmaster Dumbledore," Molly said sternly.
"He's already agreed to go stay with Neville, but thanks us for the invitation," He added a moment later, folding up the letter and putting it in his pocket before Ginny could demand to read it.
"Why would he go to Neville's instead of coming here?" Ginny asked angrily.
"I would guess because the Longbottoms invited him first," Arthur said placidly.
"Oh but he should come here to his family if he's allowed to leave the Dursleys early. I'll check with the Headmaster. I'm sure this Neville will understand," Molly said. "At least he should come here for his birthday,"
"I'm not going to invite him. Harry wouldn't insult Neville like that by turning down his invitation once he'd already accepted it. Neville and Harry are close, they have a lot in common and Neville's birthday is the day before Harry's," Ron replied, resolving to write to Harry to warn him that Molly was trying to interfere with his plans.
-o0o-
After dinner Bill joined his father out in his shed for a chat.
"There was a red flash coming from the drawer Mum keeps paperwork in. It looked like a contract offer being dismissed, is everything okay?" He asked.
Arthur frowned. "I don't know of any contracts she keeps in the drawer. You think we might have defaulted on one without knowing?"
"Mum looked through the drawer and didn't find anything and thankfully Ginny said the colour was more the hue of a conditional contract or contract offer being destroyed because the conditions can no longer be met, than the breach of a binding contract," Bill replied.
"You think Molly had a betrothal offer in there? Without telling me or any of you?" Arthur asked.
"That's the most common form of conditional contracts but it could've been something else. I'm concerned that you don't know about her making an offer to someone though," Bill replied.
"I'll talk to Molly about it," Arthur said sighing. "Uncle Ross would have no reason to go around me like that and I'd like to be able to say that neither she nor Uncle Ross would have arranged a betrothal for one of you without telling me. Did you see the flash yourself?"
"No Ginny told me it happened just before we came in, but I am reliably able to make both contract breech colours with my wand and she identified the colour of a copy of a conditional contract being destroyed when the original or other copy has been voided," Bill said.
-o0o-
Neville received a letter from Harry that had clearly been sent before Harry received his letter.
Dear Neville,
Solemnly Swear
Hi Nev
Voldemort is dead, Bellatrix Lestrange, both the Lestrange brothers Lucius Malfoy and four or five other Death Eaters I didn't recognise with their masks on are also dead. The war should be all but over and your parents have been avenged.
They attacked Susan and her Aunt in their home two nights ago and I felt Susan panic and was able to call for backup for them and then join my mind and magic to hers to strengthen her spells and speed up her reactions. Susan and I are okay, she wasn't injured but she gave it her all (and mine too) and we were both magically exhausted. We are recovering. I'm not at the Dursleys', the healer removed me from there in fear that the wards would drain the last of my magic causing permanent damage and I'm not going back there ever again.
We killed most of them with the Sectumsempra curse. If we are right that Snape invented it then he's apparently in big trouble because there were some people killed by it in Death Eater raids during the last war and Amelia said that's enough to get him hauled in and questioned in spite of his pardon for being a Death Eater and Dumbledore's protection. Apparently, he isn't a pureblood so that helps the Aurors question him, which I think is stupidly unfair.
Susan and I talked it over and since Voldemort is dead it's as safe as it will ever be for us to be together, so we're going public with our relationship. We decided to roll the reciprocal betrothal offers she found in her vault together and are now betrothed. I love Susan and she loves me too. I have never been so happy. It is such a relief to be able to say that without fear and knowing that my parents would have approved of the girl I want to marry is just the icing on the cake. Don't say anything to anyone, we're openly dating if we can get out to go anywhere but we're not going to announce our betrothal officially until after my birthday. Susan and Amelia have already started talking about wedding planning for August next year but they promised me that it won't be a big hoo-hah. Regardless I want you to be there.
Sincere Regards
Harry Potter
Dear Hermione,
Use the Marauders' password.
Voldemort is dead, or at least he is dead for the time being and the research you were doing for me into artefacts owned by the founders should help me to keep him dead this time.
Regardless of whether his death is permanent or not, Susan and I have decided that it's safe enough to announce that we're dating, well we're more than dating we are in love, but we won't formally announce our betrothal until after my birthday. I'm so lucky, I actually fell in love with the girl my parents chose for me without knowing it! She's perfect for me, and it feels like I have Mum and Dad's approval.
I have left the Dursleys, no need to stay there when Old Voldie is dead along with the worst of the Death Eaters and the DMLE is finally getting off it's arse and is rounding up the rest of the Death Eaters. Madam Bones and Kingsley are keeping Fudge out of the loop so he can't interfere and have arrested as many as they can. I can't say where I'm staying at the moment but I promise you that I am safe and I will be at Neville's in a week or so until our birthdays.
Your friend
Harry
-o0o-
"Molly I need you to tell me about the contract in your drawer that was negated today, and I want to know why you were signing contracts without talking to me about them beforehand," Arthur said sternly. He didn't often pull rank in his relationship but he was the head of the family even if he wasn't the head or even tertiary heir of House Weasley and he expected to be told about any legal matters his family was involved in.
"It couldn't have been negated, those wretched pranksters have hidden it," Molly said crossly.
"Even more reason that you need to tell me about it, if there is still a contract the family could be bound to," Arthur said refusing to be sidetracked into a discussion whether the contract had been negated or if the twins had managed to trick Bill and Ginny into thinking so and why they would do that.
Molly frowned and tried to force Arthur to speak with the twins.
"No I will not speak with anyone about this until I know exactly what the missing contract is about Molly," Arthur demanded.
"It's a betrothal offer for Ginny, you know that we cannot refuse one until she becomes engaged to someone else without offending the other family," Molly said, misleadingly insinuating that it was a betrothal offer instigated by the other family.
"Who sent Ginevra a betrothal offer, and why didn't you tell me about it? Why do you even have it instead of Uncle Ross? Why did you hide it from me instead of us sitting down with Ginny and discussing it as a family?" Arthur demanded angrily. "I'm glad that it has been negated, I've always wanted my children to make their own choices about who they married. Why are you upset about it?" The Weasleys were a light sided family and few of them practiced the tradition of childhood betrothals these days, and the family was too poor to attract offers from the older more traditional purebloods.
"It is what Ginny wants," Molly said.
"Harry's parents didn't offer us a betrothal contract for Ginny," Arthur said knowing that the young couple had spoken to several members of the order to set up reciprocal contracts to protect their children but they wouldn't have done so with their daughter without speaking to him as well as Molly. In fact, for some reason both the Potters and the Longbottoms had shied away from offering a betrothal offer for Ginny when Molly brought it up.
"No Dumbledore drew up the betrothal offer after he became Harry's magical guardian," Molly replied. "It's not binding on either side so I didn't see any harm in having it."
"Thank Merlin for that! Well, it's been negated now so I suppose there wasn't any harm in the contract but you still should have told me Molly," Arthur said disappointed in his wife.
Unfortunately, Molly took that disappointment as being that the contract had been negated which she was sure it hadn't been. "I'm sure it was just a prank by the twins. Harry isn't seventeen yet he cannot have accepted another contract."
"But one of the other families his parents made offers to could have accepted their offer," Arthur reminded his wife.
"Speak to the twins," Molly urged him stubbornly.
Sighing Arthur got up, he'd speak with the twins and possibly with Ron to see if he could establish the truth but the twins pranking was designed to be amusing and this situation didn't amuse anyone, making people believe a betrothal offer had been destroyed was cruel, the twins wouldn't have wanted to hurt their sister that way. He was sure it wasn't a prank and the offer had destroyed itself but Molly wouldn't listen to his arguments until he'd spoken to the twins.
"We had nothing to do with it Dad," Fred and George said in unison after he'd explained the situation.
"I know it looks bad that we came into the kitchen just after the flash of light but we honestly know better than to muck about with Mum's drawer," George said.
"We wouldn't interfere with a betrothal offer like that in case we accidently accepted or rejected the wrong one," Fred said.
"Okay boys, I will try to convince Ginny and your mother," Arthur replied, believing them.
-o0o-
"I didn't know anything about a betrothal contract between Ginny and Harry, but I think that I'm glad it was destroyed. It would be great to have Harry as my brother-in-law if he wanted to be, but he didn't even want to date Ginny let alone be forced to marry her," Ron said.
"The contract would only be negated like that if he destroyed his copy which is in the vault he cannot access until after his birthday or if he became betrothed to someone else," Arthur told his son seriously. "His parents set up several reciprocal agreements to protect him and their friends' daughters. Harry still might have been trapped in a betrothal with someone he doesn't want to marry. He's going to need our support."
He was relieved when instead of looking worried, his son smiled. "It's okay Dad, it was his choice. He told me in his letter that he and his girlfriend were betrothed to be married next summer. He's been dating Susan Bones in secret for nearly a year, they were only waiting for Voldemort to be killed for it to be safe for her to accept the offer his parents made."
"And you couldn't tell your sister he was involved with someone?" Arthur asked sternly. "Her letters are full of how she and Harry are almost dating but can't officially. I can't believe that you let your friend lead on your sister that way!"
"No it wasn't like that. He wasn't leading her on at all. In fact, the twins almost pranked him for turning her down so abruptly in public when she kissed him without warning and tried to ask him out the day after she broke up with Dean," Ron disputed.
"Ginny's been dropping hints about her developing relationship with Harry in her letters all year," Arthur said frowning.
"I don't know whether Ginny's deliberately lying to you or if she's convinced herself that her daydreams are real but that's not true Dad. She dated Dean for nearly half the year and then Harry told her straight out that he only saw her as a friend and my little sister. I couldn't tell her who he was interested in because Harry was so desperate to protect Susan that he wouldn't even tell me or Hermione who she was before today, but I tried to tell her not to wait for him because he wasn't going to ask her out after the war. It's not my fault she refused to believe me, Hermione tried to tell her too but Ginny still wouldn't believe that Harry wasn't interested in her. Ginny is more persuasive than Hermione and every month or two she kept talking Hermione into believing it was a possibility and then she and Harry would fight when he insisted that he never wanted to date Ginny so I knew he never changed his mind," Ron said.
"I've seen the way you and the twins have been trying to warn Ginny that Harry wouldn't ask her out," Arthur conceded sighing.
"Not that it's done any good. Ginny's only getting worse with Mum supporting her all the time," Ron complained.
"May I have the letter to show Molly, or are there other secrets in it that you don't want to share?" Arthur asked.
"No, it hints at other secrets he didn't want to put in a letter, but I don't think it actually says anything Harry would mind me sharing with you, Mum or Ginny," Ron said handing the letter over after reading through it again to be sure.
A/N: Thank you to all those who reviewed followed or favourited this story for your support.
