Hi everybody. Here is chapter four of the new story. It goes a bit more into the developing interactions between Jasmine and Barty as well as Hermione and Endymion. I know that this story is a bit different than others, but you will see, it all has a reason when the story develops. I won't tell too much here yet, that would be boring after all :) Happy reading.

Couples?

Jasmine lay on her bed, thinking about Barty and what he had told her. She logically knew that she should rebel more, knowing that she had been captured to help with giving Voldemort a body back, but sadly she couldn't. Barty had been completely honest with her, even going as far as taking veritaserum to let her question him on why he supported Voldemort. As son of the former head of the DMLE he had a lot more insight in the state of the wizarding government in their country than most and it was even worse than she had already believed. The Ministry of Magic wasn't just a place where incompetent politicians made decisions, it was a swamp of corruption and the common people didn't matter to most people there.

It was the institution that systematically prevented progress in the country. To change things in any way, it needed to be brought down completely and a radical overhaul of laws and regulations needed to be initiated. Jazzy had experienced how justice didn't matter when the Ministry was involved. She remembered too well how Hagrid had been taken to Azkaban, just because Fudge wanted to be seen doing something during the Chamber of Secrets fiasco at Hogwarts. They didn't have any proof. No investigation was performed. They just had rumours from fifty years back, when there also hadn't been any investigation into the matter. Just the word of Tom Riddle, who turned out to have been behind the whole mess. Then the fate of her godfather, who hadn't even got a trial before being sent to Azkaban for life. The least anybody should have done was questioning him under veritaserum. Even if they believed him guilty, in their position, she would have wanted to get names from him to catch the other Death Eaters.

Barty had told her how people got positions at the Ministry. Basically, it was a system where those that had a position there got their families in. Good grades were not necessary. If somebody had graduated Hogwarts with somewhat decent grades in three NEWT level classes and had a relative working there, he or she got a position. Then they would have to work their way up, either by actually doing good work and catching the eye of their superiors, or by brownnosing or bribing their way up. The latter two were more common. Or their relative was in a high position and pulled certain strings to get them a better job when a position became free.

To get anything done, bribes were necessary, the DMLE was a toothless tiger and petty crime was ignored as long as the criminals could pay off the ones tasked to keep an eye on things. It was terrible. Voldemort had wanted to break up the system to choose positions by competence. He wouldn't have opened the Ministry for muggleborns outside of the lowest positions where he knew those from more important families didn't want to work in anyway, and then with no chance for promotion for the muggleborns, but halfbloods and purebloods would have chances to get those positions by proving competence and skill.

Money paid for bribes would automatically be registered by wards and directed to a fund to pay for things both at the Ministry and other important places like St. Mungo's and the attempted briber would get a warning that this practice wasn't tolerated anymore. And if anybody tried to take the money for himself, it would also be noticed and the one would lose his job, meaning, it would weed out corruption easily. Next to that, Voldemort had ambitious plans to overhaul the educational system, to bring their country back to the top, and stop that it was seen as a bad joke by other countries. Graduates from Hogwarts were regularly laughed out of job interviews in other countries because they were so bad. Schools like Beauxbatons in France and Rosenstein in Germany for example regularly trounced even the best graduates from Hogwarts in international comparison.

He also wanted to invest gold into medical research. Things had stagnated there, as healers had the strange idea that their knowledge was sufficient, even if many problems didn't have permanent remedies. Then the economy needed a major boost, as people were only pushing the same amount of money around the system. For the same kind of goods that was. Few innovative ideas were created and then the ones having them were rarely able to market them, as the hurdles by the Ministry were too high for them to take in most cases.

While Voldemort wasn't a saint by any means, he was mostly pragmatic and could manoeuvre events and people to get what he needed without resorting to violence. But the Ministry had started the violence when it became clear that the movement behind Voldemort was a valid threat to their power and money. That the leaders couldn't tolerate, and the war had become bloody. Barty was convinced that once Voldemort was back in his body, with his sanity fully restored, which this ritual could manage to do if it was given enough power, which was the reason why he had decided to have Hermione added next to her, he would manage to topple the corrupt Ministry and bring their country into a new glorious era. And with his sanity returned, he wouldn't resort to the violence of the last years of the war. He would use trickery, political plots, rousing speeches and demonstrations how he could give the common witch and wizard much better prospects for their future.

Being asked about the muggleborns, as Jazzy didn't want them to become lower citizens, Barty asked back how that would be different to the current status quo. It was a nasty question, as it was sadly true. And once Voldemort was established, Barty knew there were plans to integrate the muggleborns at a young age. The method wasn't to her liking, but it would be better than what currently happened. Barty could truthfully, still under the effect of the veritaserum, tell her that the main reason why the wizarding families disliked the muggleborns was that they posed a threat to their safety, as they lived among muggles, and could slip up in hiding magic. And contrary to what Jazzy had believed until now, few muggle families accepted the magical children.

Some like her grandparents were happy to have a magical child, many others considered them to be as influenced by the devil and unnatural, much like her Aunt Petunia, and hurt them, either trying to get rid of the magic, or to make them too weak to use it against them. Some went the other route and wanted the children to use their powers for their advantage, mostly while being threatened with something if they didn't do so. Over the years, when the children were taught at Hogwarts, the separation between the families grew. Often the muggleborns lost their connection to the muggle world. But it was a nasty awakening for them when they couldn't find proper jobs in the wizarding world. They nearly always fell into deep holes from which few managed to get out of. A main reason for this was also easily explained. The economy didn't grow, meaning there were no new jobs created. And as the existing jobs were taken for much longer than in the muggle world, as illness and age hit wizards a lot less than muggles, both due to potions dealing with normal illnesses and wizards simply living much longer than muggles, the problem was increased. Especially as there wasn't really a change in jobs for the people working in the wizarding world.

The job one started to learn after Hogwarts was in most cases the one the person did until he or she was too old to continue working and could afford to retire. Somebody unhappy with an employer was often out of luck, because there wasn't a working job market in their world. Sure, inside the Ministry people might rise to a higher position over time, if one opened up, next to the job description being levelled up, like an auror cadet becoming a rookie auror, then rising slowly through the ranks. That happened, but rarely would somebody start at the Transport department and end up in the DMLE.

If those children were taken from the muggles when they were young and grew up knowing the wizarding world, they would have a much easier time there and not even stand out among their peers. Nobody would know that they had muggle roots and they might be able to get better jobs afterwards. Integrated muggleborns like that would be treated the same as halfbloods. And that was basically the same as most purebloods. After all, Voldemort himself was a halfblood and wouldn't want to be a hypocrite in letting halfbloods be disadvantaged. He mainly used the purebloods that followed him for extreme opinions as easily deceived minions that had money. Barty was very aware of that. But honestly, if they wanted to keep their magic strong, it was necessary to not exclude the halfbloods, as that was the only way to bring fresh blood into their lines and keep their children strong.

Barty had told her about finding out that Hermione was a halfblood witch as well. Her father had slept with Hermione's mother, probably putting her under imperius, and Hermione was the result. He had died before she was born, thus nobody had known about it until they did the heritage test with a sample of her blood that they took while she was unconscious. They had done the same with her, and the result was surprising. Dumbledore had lied to her. She wasn't a parselmouth because Voldemort had transferred some of his powers to her. She was a parselmouth because her mother was born from squibs.

Voldemort's grandfather Marvolo Gaunt had had a sister that was born a squib. She was banished from the family and survived in the muggle world. She married and had children, who had children of their own, leading to Violet Evans. That line got back their magic in Lily Evans, as her father Mathew was descended from a Russian squib, who had served in the second World War. He had slept with an English nurse and the child was Mathew. While Petunia was unlucky and was a squib too, Lily had the right mix of genes and was a witch. Because too many generations without magic lay between her and a magical ancestor, she was still labelled a muggleborn, but it only proved that magic came from some source.

Jazzy had inherited enough of the Slytherin genes from her mother to have the active parseltongue trait. That was all there was to it. She was an heir to the Slytherin line, but not anywhere close to the main line. That would require for all other closer relatives to die first, and there were about five others in front of her from different families. The Gaunt line, which she and Tom Riddle descended from, was just one that had retained the parseltongue gift. Not that she wanted the Slytherin title. She had enough of her own. And it would be even more after the ritual. Because Barty had also explained that part to her. Once the ritual was finished, after he had taken her virginity to power the rebirth of Voldemort, she would be bound to him as his wife. Hermione would be bound to Endymion Lestrange as his wife as well.

She knew that Hermione wouldn't like that at all. But realistically there was nothing to do against it. She also disliked the idea of how Hermione's mother had been used by her father, but again, what should she do? Ranting wouldn't help at all and her father was dead already. He couldn't be brought to justice anymore. Not that she believed that the Ministry of Magic would give justice to a muggle when a pureblood wizard had basically raped a muggle woman. She knew how corrupt that institution was. Muggle rights were considered a joke, outside of not letting them know about magic existing.

Hermione would of course take it badly to have been conceived in that way, but Jazzy had long since held suspicions about the lack of warmth in the relationship between Hermione and her parents. Sure, she talked about vacations during the summer break, but Hermione was far too quick to agree to staying at Hogwarts to have a great relationship with them. And Jazzy doubted that she had developed her obsession with studying in a good way.

The idea of sleeping with Barty excited her. His touches were incredible, and sometimes she wanted him so much to go the whole way. When she had begged him to take her fully, he had apologised and told her it was too early, which led to him explaining the ritual and her part in it fully. Once they were married, which she was looking forward to, there would be a radical shift in powerful positions in their country, which would again help Voldemort with his goals. Jazzy hadn't known, but she stood to inherit many titles that held seats at the Wizengamot. As her husband, Barty would become Lord of many houses, among them Potter, Black, as Sirius was disinherited and Draco from a branch line while her great grandmother Dorea Potter had been born a Black from the mainline and thus she was closer to the headship than Draco, even if he was male, and, which Barty had been very excited about, Peverell. House Peverell had been thought to be extinct, but she was a descendant, and, in this case, the Potter line was the closest to the headship.

Barty himself had the Crouch seat that he would claim, as he was Barty Crouch senior's 'grandson'. Jazzy knew that Barty Crouch senior would die soon. Having heard what he had done, she didn't care too much about that. Having grown up like she did with the Dursleys, the main people she cared about and wanted to protect from dying were those she knew personally. At least now that her mind wasn't influenced by potions and spells anymore. She believed that she had been drugged since she came to Hogwarts, because otherwise her change in behaviour couldn't be explained. Though for her stature she could fully blame the Dursleys and their neglect / abuse of her. Crouch had played an essential role in the misery her childhood had been, as he had sent Sirius to Azkaban without a trial. It robbed her of her protector, leaving her wide open for being taken advantage of.

Next to the Crouch line, he got Rosier from his mother's side, as all others before him were dead by now. Most killed by aurors or by now dead at Azkaban. It would make Barty an extraordinarily powerful political player. As his wife, she would be the lady of all of those houses. And, which she had only found out from Barty, the wizarding houses that were classed as ancient, ancient and noble and most ancient and noble held the highest influence in the country. Her own main house, Potter, was an ancient and noble family. Peverell had most ancient and noble status. Crouch was another most ancient and noble house, and Rosier was like Potter ancient and noble. That was serious influence combined.

Barty had promised that once the ritual was done, he would see to it that her education in magic was continued. Even if he could have trusted her with her wand, it wouldn't do any good until the potions she was taking to fully heal the damage done to her body in the past were done with their work. They currently imbalanced her magic, which would be too risky to allow her to actively perform magic. Still, she was given some books to study and pass the time. Barty couldn't spend the whole day with her, and he jokingly told her that it would be too distracting for her anyway, when she wanted to concentrate on her studies. She blushed thinking of that. He was right in his claims. He was a huge distraction for her. But nobody could blame her. He was incredibly handsome, and his magic called to her.

So far, she had read two books about the history of the wars against Voldemort and Grindelwald, both of them printed outside of Great Britain. She felt that it would give her a better idea of the true events, as she knew that truthful reporting was lacking in her country, and while Hermione might not have noticed it, the selection of authors in the Hogwarts library was extremely limited. The books also mostly glossed over things. The book about the Grindelwald war had been written by an Italian author, with inbuilt translation function it was easy to read through it, and the one about the Voldemort war was written by a German author. It was enlightening. It only cemented her bad impression of Dumbledore.

Of course not all the books she had been given were about history. Barty had given her a wide selection of topic, to let her decide what she wanted to read. History and Ancient Runes were two she liked a lot. Magical Creatures and where to find then as well, as the book also had articles how rare creatures were protected in preserves and the work that went into their care.

If not for the fact that Voldemort had been the one that killed her parents, and Pettigrew had betrayed them, she might have been a bit more open to his goals and arguments.

At Hogwarts Dumbledore was out of ideas how to find the two kidnapped girls. It had taken much too long to even notice that they were gone. They didn't appear around the castle on Halloween but that wasn't too unusual. The day was free of classes, both because it was a Saturday and it would also have been made so otherwise, as he was too aware that the students would be far too distracted by the period which the ones wanting to participate in the Triwizard Tournament could use to enter their names. That part had worked like it was meant to be. And with Jasmine Potter's history with the day, it wasn't too farfetched to believe that she wanted to stay away from many students that didn't want to see how she would feel at the day.

But in the evening, when the ceremony of electing the three champions took place, both Jasmine and Hermione Granger were still absent. As he could hardly postpone the election ceremony for two missing fourth years, he simply told Minerva to look into the matter, as she was the girls' head of house. While he was busy with the three elected champions of their schools, Minerva had gone to Gryffindor Tower to find the girls and reprimand them for missing the feast. But she hadn't found them anywhere. After searching the castle for two hours afterwards, also including the ghosts in the search, she had told him the results, which made him look into the tracking charm that was placed on Jasmine's glasses. Those were found in a secret passage that led from the corridor on which the entrance to Gryffindor Tower was located down to the entrance hall.

It stood to reason that the girls had been on their way down when something had happened. A check of the wards told him that neither girl was still on the grounds of Hogwarts. That was alarming and he immediately called the teachers to tell them the news. But despite all attempts to find where the girls might be, it was futile. The next morning, he didn't have a choice but to inform the Ministry of Magic that two female fourth year students were missing, presumed kidnapped. While the DMLE sent some aurors, they weren't convinced that the girls hadn't run away until Poppy Pomfrey told them off for being stupid. She told them clearly that Jasmine Potter couldn't see much without her glasses and she didn't own a replacement pair.

Having the glasses found meant the girl was close to blind right now, meaning more or less helpless. And all teachers clearly stated that Hermione Granger would never willingly miss classes, as she was a model student. In the end, the aurors promised to perform an investigation but without any decent clues it would be difficult to find any of the girls. The scene of the crime had been unnoticed far too long and with the magic of Hogwarts, any magical signature that could determine the caster of possible spells used to overwhelm the girls was long gone.

And sadly, Rita Skeeter had found out about the kidnapping and the papers were filled with the story how Hogwarts had failed to protect the Girl-Who-Lived inside its walls. The weighing of the wands for the Tournament had been a side note in the issue of the paper. Their missing girl heroine was much better at selling papers. Not to mention that it caused other parents to demand better security precautions if it was this easy to kidnap students from the Hogwarts grounds. He had done that to placate them, but he was at a loss how they could have crossed the wards without him knowing. He had checked the ward ledger, which automatically noted when somebody crossed the wards, either to get in or out. It was always fullest at the beginning and end of a school year, followed by the Hogsmeade weekends.

But for Halloween, there weren't any names noted that he didn't expect and neither Jasmine Potter nor Hermione Granger were noted for crossing the wards to the outside. That shouldn't have been possible. He didn't have any explanation for it, and both Filius and Alastor had checked if somebody had tempered with either the wards or the book that noted the ones crossing the wards in either direction. Nothing was amiss. It was a mystery that he didn't like at all. He suspected that Voldemort could be behind this, even if he didn't understand why Hermione Granger had been kidnapped for that as well. And, which was one point that gave him hope, Jasmine was still alive.

He had a monitor set up which was connected to her blood, that oversaw the wards at Privet Drive. Had Jasmine been killed, the wards would have fallen as well. The girl was alive, but without knowing where she was, it didn't help too much. And the Ministry was more bothersome the longer the girl wasn't found. The one good part was that the first task of the Triwizard Tournament had drawn attention away from the unsuccessful investigation. Having the three champions face dragons tended to do that. And all three had performed amazingly. While none of them got away without injuries, Victor Krum got the worst one, as the dragon he had hit with the conjunctivitis curse had hit him with its tail when he had grabbed the egg, and he crashed into a wall of the stadium, they all succeeded in gaining the golden egg that was the target for the task.

The students and people outside of Hogwarts were more interested in gossiping about that and if Krum would still manage to play Quidditch like before due to his injury than thinking about news that were much older. Still, he needed the girl back, if only because the prophecy was clear that only she could defeat Voldemort.

Hermione sat inside her room. It was Wednesday and she knew that Endymion would only be back at the weekend. The last weekend before the ritual. Winter Solstice would be next Thursday. Last Sunday they had tried how she would react to his magic. To her surprise, as she hadn't really believed that a witch could simply submit to a wizard if she didn't want to, when he had stopped keeping his magic under strict control and touched her, she felt drawn to him. She felt as if she wanted to please him. Not in any way possible, but in major ones. She was among the ninety percent witches that were submissive to their partners. Even if she wasn't on the same level as Jasmine as it seemed. It had been a shock when Endymion had shown her the way to a salon where Jasmine was sitting together with a blond teenager who introduced himself as Bartholomew Crouch, grandson to the Mr Crouch who she had met during the Quidditch World Cup.

The grandson seemed to be more pleasant than the grandfather from what she could see. But it came as a severe shock to see her best friend. Not only had Jazzy changed amazingly from her looks, but she also seemed happy. Happier than before. Hermione wasn't blind and knew that Jazzy's family were scum. But she couldn't do anything, as after telling her parents about her concerns, they had only claimed that Jazzy had to be exaggerating. But then again, her parents were always too busy with their jobs. They had also claimed Hermione exaggerated about the bullying at her old school by the other children there. They were convinced that as long as she did well in classes, the others would be left behind. It just hurt that while this happened, nobody wanted to spend time with Hermione.

Only after meeting Jazzy, she had experienced how great it was to have a good friend. Ron, well, she mostly tolerated him, as she and Jazzy couldn't shake him off for some reason without Ron throwing a temper tantrum. Thankfully, the boy was allergic to schoolwork and the two girls could get some time without him by going to the library to get their homework done. And the wards on the stairs to the girls' dorms prevented that he could bother them there.

They had talked and even if asked about how she felt concerning the ritual which would see both of them being forced to have sex with the young men, Jazzy seemed unfazed. She didn't like the aspect that it would bring Voldemort back for obvious reasons, but she didn't mind sleeping with Barty and becoming his wife that way. She already adored the blond man and wanted to be with him. Hermione couldn't understand how Jazzy could be as smitten with her kidnapper, but it confirmed what Endymion had told her. Jazzy fully submitted to Barty. At least Barty seemed to be very fond of Jazzy as well. He treated her like a princess if Hermione wanted to make a comparison.

Jazzy had also actively participated in the discussion about the state of the wizarding world, something Hermione hadn't expected. Jazzy normally stayed in the background, as she disliked the attention she always got. But now, she voiced her opinion, discussed arguments pro and contra the existing system and possible changes to it, and even gave suggestions what she thought needed to be done to make things better for everybody. And Hermione had to agree with many of those suggestions. And Barty didn't force Jazzy to simply be silent, like she had seen other pureblood boys at Hogwarts do with their girlfriends. When asked about this, she was surprised by the answer.

Flashback

"You want to know why I let Jazzy speak her mind?" asked Barty amused.

"Yes. It seems much different to the behaviour I noticed among boys from influential pureblood families I watched at Hogwarts," admitted Hermione.

"The reason is quite simple. No witch of class would allow it. You have witnessed that Jazzy is submissive to me. That is simply how her magic reacts to mine. It is natural. But that doesn't mean she loses her free will and the way she sees things. Jazzy will become my wife on winter solstice. We will spend the rest of our lives together. I don't want that this relationship is built on fear or force. I want a partner. If she subconsciously resented me for oppressing her, while her magic would urge her to follow my lead, she would subconsciously rebel against my opinions and actions. And that could become problematic for me in the long run. I have seen too many relationships that turned sour, no matter the submissive – dominant traits, and where the partners actively avoided each other as much as possible," answered Barty, "not to mention, why would I want a mindless airhead? Those witches are boring and annoying. It is refreshing to have a witch by my side that has her own mind and can give well-reasoned arguments for her position. We can discuss things properly and quite possibly, many of her ideas would be things that would be profitable for me."

Jazzy kissed his cheek for that statement, smiling happily at him.

"It is true, Hermione. The ones you mainly observed, as they are the ones that like to draw attention to themselves to make themselves seem more important, are actually like dogs. They believe the louder they bark the more people will believe that they are right. That might work at Hogwarts, but out in the wider wizarding world, they are losers. At Hogwarts it mainly works because the teachers never control bad behaviour," added Endymion, "And the girls that go for those boys are mainly interested in marrying into money. That's all they have going for them. Even if those girls will get nasty surprises should they succeed."

"Why is that Endymion?" asked Hermione.

"Because the family heads won't let these couples have much of the family money. You have to remember that the old families that have the type of money that these gold diggers are after only have it because they can calculate properly. They know about investments and smart use of the money. And any heir of a family will only gain access to more than a basic stipend for his needs once he has successfully absolved the family training. And that starts after OWLs have been passed. The main part is done after NEWT results are known, as no family will allow a moron to have any say in financial matters," he answered.

"Okay, if that training only really commences after NEWTs, it makes some sense that they behave that stupid at Hogwarts, when they haven't passed it," acknowledged Hermione, still frowning.

"True. As you know, wizards live much longer than muggles," continued Barty, "That means, outside of severe sicknesses like dragon pox or vanishing sickness taking the lives of the patriarchs or in some cases matriarchs of the families before their time, these people will rule for decades. A prominent example for this is the Black family, even if they by now are greatly diminished. The last head of the family was Arcturus Black, and he took the position as head of the family when he was forty-six. The family head before him was his grandfather. His father had died in an accident; thus, he came into the headship fairly early in his life.

"Arcturus had two children, his son Orion and his daughter Lucretia. Orion married Walburga Black and her influence was too extreme to let Arcturus even consider passing on the position of head of the family to Orion while he was still alive. He hoped that one of his grandsons would prove better suited to succeed him as head of the family. Sadly, that didn't happen as Regulus died young and Sirius hated everything the Blacks stood for and was disinherited.

"But this was still not a great problem, even if he had to block any children of his daughter Lucretia, who married Ignatius Prewett. Their children, Fabian, Gideon and Molly were too close to Albus Dumbledore. He didn't disinherit Lucretia but put it into his will that no Prewett descendant of hers would ever be considered as inheritor of the Black title, except they were the only descendants left. I think he added that part after only Molly had children and he would never tolerate a Weasley to become head of the Black family. Arcturus could have lived long enough for another generation to prove suited for the position. I don't know if he regretted the full disinheriting of Sirius Black at some point, but it limited his options a lot.

"Now, thanks to Dorea Black being the only sibling of Arcturus that had any children, with his line being out of the running for the headship, as he died in 1991, and Jazzy being her great-granddaughter, the line of succession goes to her. But Arcturus could have also decided something else while he was still alive. His first cousin Pollux is the grandfather of Bellatrix Lestrange, nee Black, Narcissa Malfoy nee Black and Andromeda Tonks nee Black, even if the latter was disinherited for marrying a muggleborn wizard. This means, if Arcturus had wanted to prevent that the line of his sister moved into first spot for succession of the head of house position, he could have declared that Draco Malfoy was to become the head of the Blacks after he died."

"Even if he would never have done that, as he hated the Malfoys, thinking they weren't what proper purebloods should be. The Malfoys are another example of this practice of the family head waiting to pass on the headship coming to pass, even if not in the same dimensions. Abraxas Malfoy, the father of Lucius, waited until his son was thirty-eight to let him become family head. He had to prove that he was skilled at investing a set amount of money to further the family fortune and had mastered the political game. It isn't coincidence that many Malfoys were called Silvertongue. It is a trait that is trained into them after graduation," continued Endymion.

"I think I understand. People that boast about their families and their wealth wouldn't get to spend much of that money, as their elders would keep control over how much they got. It would probably still be a generous amount compared to middle class families, but by far not as much as these girls that want to marry rich hoped for," commented Hermione.

"True. And the family head has the last word about who the heirs get to marry. He could veto a match he deems as highly problematic for the family," confirmed Barty.

"Which would lead to being disinherited in the worst cases, which nearly nobody wants to risk," added Endymion.

"Wouldn't your family patriarchs object to your choices?" asked Hermione and Jazzy actually giggled.

"I doubt Barty's grandfather would be against him marrying me, outside of the fact what the ritual is meant to achieve. He would be ecstatic about me becoming part of the Crouch family," snickered Jazzy.

"And as my father and uncle are stuck at Azkaban and my grandfather has died during the war already, I don't have anybody that could voice a veto. Not to mention that the Rosenberg family is highly respected in magical society," pointed Endymion out, "Marrying a daughter of house Rosenberg in this ritual will even win my crazy aunt Bellatrix over."

"Even if I don't have any claim to family funds, as I wasn't conceived in wedlock?" asked Hermione, knowing that she would be considered a bastard child, as she was never acknowledged by her father.

"It's all a question of PR," declared Endymion grinning, "And my family needs to marry outside of established circles in Great Britain, which outweighs any taint anybody might bring up over your mother being a muggle, Hermione."

"If I know the Dark Lord, he will claim that he tasked your father with finding a suitable method of getting more powerful magical children before his death. You were a successful experiment and the only reason you were not raised in the wizarding world was his untimely death in 1979, about a month before you were born. He will spin it as if he wanted to see if his own power levels could be recreated to bring our country's population to a higher level magically. And using muggles as breeding instruments as long as the children weren't influenced by muggle culture when they grew up might be acceptable. Mainly because he saw the increasing number of weak children from magical families as a huge problem, for which no permanent solution had been found until then," pondered Barty.

"He would do that," confirmed Jazzy, knowing a little how Voldemort could manipulate facts to his liking, "If he doesn't go the route of saying that you were found by muggles, given to an orphanage as a baby and then raised by two muggles that couldn't have children. After all, who would doubt if he claimed a heritage test had proven something? The light side would be too scared, and the dark side believes him implicitly."

Hermione couldn't deny that analysis.

"Well, if the couples that are together because the girls want money and the boys want some girls that let them tell them what to do aren't that common, or at least don't get much influence, what about the rest?" asked Hermione.

"From what I observed, most of those keep their relationships outside of public view at Hogwarts. They meet in places where they are undisturbed," commented Jazzy.

"Correct. Many possible couples, those that the matchmakers testified that their magic is compatible, which normally takes place after the OWL results are out, use the last two years at school to figure out who among the pool of suitable candidates works for them as a permanent partner. Some fall in love, others just agree to a marriage with a decent partner that they can at least tolerate without arguing the whole time. It is the main reason why the NEWT level students are allowed to visit Hogsmeade any weekend they want to, as long as they have permission of their parents if they are still underage. Simply to give them opportunities to find suitable partners. Often the couples will only be friends, but that is already better than some arranged marriages of more extremist families," explained Endymion, "My problem was that among the girls I was told were compatible with my magic, none could hold a decent conversation. Even many of my fellow Ravenclaws could only recite books and never delved deeper into the material."

"I know too well how you feel there. While you are great as a study partner Jazzy, you don't enjoy figuring out the details about spells and potions. You are satisfied with learning the spells up to mastery, but you prefer working things out practically. I enjoy taking what is known and working out how it works from the base up. I would love to later work on modifying known spells, enchantments and potions," admitted Hermione.

Endymion kissed her cheek, which made her blush.

"And that is why you are leagues better than many pureblood girls I know, and I know we can make this marriage work Hermione," he told her.

"As long as you never think you can order me around, I think I can live with that," replied Hermione resigned to her fate.

Endymion nodded and pulled her against her for a proper kiss, which she had to say, felt incredible to her.

Flashback end

She had arranged herself with the fact that she wouldn't have a chance to prevent what was to come. She didn't have her wand, the whole property was hidden under a fidelius charm, and she didn't know who the secret keeper was, which meant nobody had a chance to find them before it was too late. At least she didn't fear sleeping with Endymion. He was a good person and had promised her that he wouldn't start killing people, even if he would be given the Dark Mark as a reward for his participation in the ritual. She just wondered how Voldemort planned to have her and Jazzy continue their magical education, as he probably wouldn't want them to return under the sphere of influence of Dumbledore. Whom she had lost a lot of respect for by now. Honestly, he had so much power and the only thing he used it for was supporting a corrupt system.

Until next chapter