A/N: Sorry for the delay posting this. Family emergency has had me away from a computer all week. Thankfully, I had this pre-written, although as of this moment I don't have any Sphinx Club backlog. I can probably get the next chapter ready in time for posting though, so MAYBE you won't notice any interruptions? If you do I'm sorry. Anyway, there's something super funny about this chapter, let's see if anyone can point it out in the reviews!

Harry idly twitched as he was led to a meeting room at Gringotts. This wasn't the first time he'd been here of course, but it still wasn't something he greatly enjoyed. The place was so… formal and sterile it felt odd. He really didn't feel like he belonged here, but he put up the act. Sirius and Andromeda had told him that he WAS the heir to an influential family, it was expected for him to at least look like he knew what he was doing when acting in that capacity. Sirius and Andromeda had also told him that no one ACTUALLY knew what they were doing at his age, or at most others. It was only after you'd done something a couple times that you really had any idea what you were doing at all.

Unfortunately for him, neither Sirius or Andromeda had ever dealt with marriage contracts. Sirius had been cast out of the house, even if not the family before he was old enough to start considering them, and Andy had been in love with Ted for long enough that she'd never paid any attention when contracts were brought up for her. She had vague memories of her insane sister Bellatrix's marriage contracts with the LeStrange family. A completely loveless affair that was by her recollection. That meant that Harry was going into this mostly blind.

The contract wasn't a big deal. Sirius knew generally what expected payments for a bride would be, and Padma herself had once said that she was really punching up in regards to securing a contract when she'd mentioned it before. Harry and Sirius had had a brief conversation about what offers they were willing to take without changes. Harry was convinced Padma was worth any price, but he also didn't want to buy her like some kind of commodity. Sirius had explained that a bride price, if one was needed, was usually done for families where the imbalance of power went the opposite way. If Harry refused to take money for Padma, it would be exceedingly unlikely for the Patils to demand a bride price at all.

Sitting down in the room, Harry sighed as he looked to the door. He was excited to see Padma, and there was a non-zero chance Parvati would be here as well. It'd be good to see them both, but the rest of this still made him nervous. He wasn't even 15 yet, and they were going to put ink onto a marriage contract. It wasn't that he didn't love Padma, no he did very much. He loved all of his girls and would happily give his life for them, he'd nearly done it for Susan. It was simply… well marriage was something very different for Harry. He'd heard about it from when he was little about how it was something to be done as the ultimate act of love for a partner. It was permanent and final, and while he was certain he'd never stop loving Padma, they were teenagers. They didn't have much real world experience, and he'd never dated anyone outside of the girls he was with now. He'd barely had a crush on someone else, and had only really gotten out of his 'girls are weird' phase a few months before he learned he was a wizard. Since then though he'd been surrounded by girls, specifically the ones that were now "his" girls and their friends, and had the fortune to somehow become someone they fell in love with. If that changed though? If they somehow stopped loving him? He'd let them go because their happiness meant so much more to him than his own. These contracts… they muddied that water a bit. A contract imposed penalties for breaking it. He'd have wanted there to simply be a knut penalty, a single insubstantial coin for if Padma, or any of the girls decided they didn't want to be with him anymore, but Sirius had informed him that such a penalty was a grievous insult.

Both parties received the same penalty if they were to break the contract, so for Harry to say that he'd only pay a knut for failing in his duty to marry their daughter was a GRAVE insult indeed. A message Harry did NOT want to send.

He was pulled from his thoughts when a beautiful Indian girl stormed into the room and crushed him in a hug, a scream of "HARRY!" on her lips as she crashed into him. It would have been very nice, there was simply one problem.

This wasn't HIS beautiful Indian girl.

"Hello Parvati, please separate from me so I can allow Padma to do this properly." Harry said, giving Parvati a hug, but pulling back from her.

"Oh come on! How did you manage? I didn't give you a single second to notice and I even purposefully styled myself to look like Padma today." Parvati whined, but relented as Padma took her place for a moment, sharing a sweet kiss with him.

"Aside from simply knowing the differences between my girlfriend and her sister? Padma wouldn't be satisfied with just a hug." Harry said, and Padma nodded in agreement.

"Mr. Potter, it seems you have caught the attention of both of my daughters." Mr. Patil said as he entered the meeting room, coming over to Harry to shake his hand. "It is good to see you again after these few years."

"Mr. Patil, it is good to see you again as well. You as well, Mrs. Patil." Harry said, giving Mr. Patil a firm handshake and shooting a smile to Mrs. Patil.

"Pleasure to meet you both for the first time." Sirius said, shaking Mr. Patil's hand. "Sirius Black, Godfather to Harry here."

"Yes, Padma and Parvati have informed us you would likely be here. This is a meeting with the head of the House of Potter though, I take it you are here in an advisory position?" Mr. Patil asked.

"Yes. Harry's still a bit green around the gills with the legal aspect. I'm still showing him the ropes, and making sure no one gives him too bad of a deal." Sirius said with a smile. Harry could tell what the intention was there. 'You're not pulling one over on my godson because you've got more experience than him.' Was probably what was running through Sirius's mind.

"Then perhaps we should get started, it is not as though we are unfamiliar with each other, and we know what we are here for." Mr. Patil said, gesturing for his wife and daughters to move with him to the other side of the table.

"Agreed, I don't imagine we help anyone by waiting too much." Sirius said, pulling Harry's seat out for them as Harry sat directly across from Mr. Patil.

Harry wished he could die.

"My daughter has requested that she be allowed to spend her summer here in England with Mr. Potter. As you can imagine, we are somewhat loathe to give up what little time with have with our daughter given we only get to see her during the summer, and the relative infrequency of communication with us due to the difficulties with sending letters between Britain and India." Mr. Patil started, his tone showing a genuine concern for the limited amount he gets to see his daughters. Had this been someone like Lucius Malfoy giving this speech, Harry wouldn't believe he'd believe he actually cared. Mr. Patil though, seemed to greatly. "We sent Padma and Parvati to Hogwarts because we wanted the best for them. Hogwarts is among the greatest magical institutions in the world, and we wished for our daughters to have every chance at living a good life. Their excellent grades, especially Padma's, come at no surprise to me, my daughters are exceptionally brilliant, but the sheer breadth and depth of their knowledge for upcoming fifth-year students is nothing short of astounding. When I ask, they say but one thing: It's the Sphinx Club, Harry brought us together and made us better."

Harry flushed at that. He really never thought he did much for the Sphinx Club. He was their go-to for Defense for certain, and was ahead of Padma in Charms practically if not in the theory side, although it was a slim margin on both. Surely they would have thought of this idea without him right? It's not THAT outlandish of an idea to ask the best students in each subject to work together to be better at them? A chill went down Harry's spine as he imagined a world where he'd simply been content to be mediocre, coasting through classes on natural ability instead of putting in the extra effort to succeed. He didn't like that world. A world like that would probably have him be in Gryffindor. A world like that may have had him be FRIENDS with Ron Weasley. Harry didn't like that thought at all.

"Padma has also made it no secret that she is completely in love with you. Had us send a marriage contract already, although knowing it wouldn't be signed, as a sign of her refusing to leave you. I don't know what you've done to have such fanatical devotion from my daughter Mr. Potter, but you've certainly got your hooks quite deep into her." Mr. Patil said, causing Padma to flush red and groan.

"I love Padma very deeply sir. I hold her in the highest of esteem. While I will admit I have some doubts about this marriage contract it is nothing to do with Padma that worries me about it. I… I'm 14 sir, and at this point four years ago, I was unaware magic was real and was living with my abusive aunt and uncle in the muggle world having never known anything different. I've been told I'm a competent Wizard now, but I still experience culture shock on a regular basis. Marriage contracts and arranged marriages are completely alien concepts to muggle Britain nowadays, left only in historical record and fiction, and marriage between people as young as Padma and I is exceptionally rare, it wouldn't surprise me if it's currently unlawful in the muggle world. I'm a child, ignorant of many things and being thrust into a world without time to prepare for it. I worry that Padma may realize my faults and be trapped in a marriage contract with me that she can't escape from. I would be happy to marry her, but I would rather her be happy with someone else than miserable with me." Harry said, his inner self-loathing manifesting itself again, the specter that looked suspiciously like Vernon Dursley taking its hold on his mind.

"An argument you would be surprised how many make, given the prevalence of marriage contracts." Mr. Patil said, looking at Harry. "I know how deeply you care for my daughter, and I know how deeply she cares for you. I highly doubt either of you will truly have cold feet, but… we can lessen the burden of backing out. Say a mutual agreement to end the contract having no penalty? If your words are true and you would rather have Padma be happy with someone else, then she would want to end it to be with that someone, and you would want to end it for her happiness. Such would be both parties agreeing."

"Wouldn't that require you to agree and not her, since as her guardian at this time, you are responsible for her?" Harry asked.

"It would, but if she wanted out I would happily agree with her, and once she is 17, the contract falls to her decision and not myself. That is rather standard." Mr. Patil explained.

"I'm in agreement with that then. I worry a lot about Padma, and all of the girls deciding to sign these and regretting it later." Harry said, his tone nervous but hopeful.

"As I imagine any man who truly loved his partners would be. I know I am still quite convinced my wife will leave me for a better man, and we've raised 4 children together!" Mr. Patil said with a chuckle. "You'll find I have no issues with you dating and eventually marrying my daughter Mr. Potter. I see how happy you make her, and while perhaps I am jealous she thinks more highly of you than she does of me, I know I was much the same in my youth. I'm quite happy for Padma to become Mrs. Potter I believe."

"About that, I believe Padma would be better fitting as Mrs. Black." Sirius said, speaking up.

"Mr. Black, surely you don't intend to swoop in and steal a marriage contract from your own godson?" Mr. Patil asked with a raised eyebrow. Padma had the decency to look very put out by the idea and slightly nauseous.

"Not at all. Harry has been made heir of the Black family, and the Black family requires it's heir to marry a pureblood. It is the only family with such a restriction that Harry needs to worry about, and in terms of nobility, if that was an issue, it is technically even more prestigious than House Potter." Sirius said.

"Sirius, I thought you said I was just interim heir until you had a kid? In case you never managed." Harry asked, remembering a conversation from roughly a year ago.

"About that pup… it's never going to happen." Sirius said with a sad expression.

"Look, just because you haven't found someone yet…" Harry started.

"Not that pup. Azkaban wasn't exactly kind to my body. Examinations show that my swimmers aren't valid. I'll never have a kid with my genetics." Sirius said. "That means I need a blood related Black heir. I've got two choices, you, or Draco Malfoy. So I'm picking you. Congrats." Sirius said with a smirk.

"Well… I suppose that doesn't change too much in the grand scheme of things. Padma, is that arrangement acceptable for you?" Mr. Patil asked.

"I'll admit I had hoped to be Padma Potter, but being married was the important part… although all that effort I put into making the signature has been wasted." Padma said with a faux pout.

"She's not joking about the signature. I've seen her diary. It's on every other page." Parvati said with a giggle, leading to a swift retaliation from her twin.

"Padma Black will be fine. I'm quite pleased, although I do wonder which one of us you intend to take the Potter name?" Padma asked, thinking about the other girls.

"Hermione and Fleur are the only two who could really. Susan, Daphne, and Luna all have their own family names to carry on." Harry said, sighing as he just had to accept how weird everything was.

"Wonderful, although I worry that the dowry might be too much for such a prestigious family." Mr. Patil said, obviously a little nervous.

"No dowry. I refuse. You aren't paying me to take Padma. I will take her happily as long as she wants me." Harry said, locking eyes with Mr. Patil.

"While I understand that Mr. Potter, there are ways this is handled. We are from a somewhat influential family in Magical India, but we're a branch family of the Patel family. She's marrying up quite a bit, it would be untoward for us not to offer something of value in exchange for the difference." Mr. Patil said, attempting to handle this delicately.

"Why would I want to take money from you? Or anything? Aside from the fact that monetarily I'm not convinced I'll have much to worry about for the rest of my life, even with supporting multiple wives and however many children we have." Harry said, admittedly trying not to think about the idea that it's entirely possible he wouldn't survive to make it to that point. "You also have Parvati to think about. While Parvati hasn't exactly dated anyone at Hogwarts, it's not for lack of interest in her. She's been using me as a scapegoat for guys she's not interested in."

"A scapegoat?" Mr. Patil asked, confused.

"Some… guys who I don't want to associate with have asked me out before. I always tell them I'm waiting for Harry to notice me. It gets them out of the way because they realize that Harry's kind of above competition. The only people who think they can match him really are Neville, who probably can, and Draco Malfoy, who only could in his dreams." Parvati explained. "He's been a good sport about it too."

"Are you trying to date both of my daughters?" Mr. Patil asked with a raised eyebrow.

"No sir. Parvati's always been a good friend since we started school, but there's never been romance between us. She and Padma both flirted with me relentlessly before Padma and I got together though." Harry said, embarrassed.

"Oh yeah! I remember when you talked to us about the study group we double-teamed you! You got SO red!" Parvati joked, smiling at him. "Gosh that's a memory."

"Back to the matter at hand… I understand that you may not desire anything, but we must provide something." Mr. Patil said, sighing. "It would be a matter of great embarrassment if we didn't."

"What about Padma's sitar?" Harry asked, looking to Mr. Patil.

"My Dadi's sitar? What would that do for you?" Mr. Patil asked.

"Oh, that makes it even better, I thought it was just Padma's. I know Padma loves to play, she told me herself on our first actual date, but she can't really do that here. That would be something 'valuable' but not monetarily, something important to the family that improves the deal. It's not like I'm going to do anything with it, but I'll 'take' ownership of it, when in actuality it'll be Padma's and then we'll pass it on to our kids. It'll be like a family heirloom." Harry said, smiling.

"Oh! Harry, that's a wonderful idea!" Padma said, looking at him with wide, happy eyes.

"I see… well I expected Padma to take it anyway, so I suppose there is certainly no harm. It will… be sad to see it leave the Patil family though." Mr. Patil said, smiling, though there was a certain sadness to it.

"Well… perhaps before it is fully given to me it receives some… scratches… perhaps ones that imply the history of the Patil family before it came into the possession of the Black family?" Harry said nonchalantly. "I've never seen it, so I can't be sure what kind of condition it is in anyway, and all heirlooms have things to tell their stories, don't they?"

Mr. Patil smiled. "It would be most unfortunately for it to be scratched. Do not worry Mr. Potter, we will take very good care of it." A knowing smile graced his lips. "Then in exchange for you taking our daughter's hand in marriage, we will provide you with the Patil family sitar."

"And I will happily accept both, and accept Padma as the newest Lady Black." Harry said with a smile.

Ink was put to paper, and with signatures attached, Harry Potter and Padma Patil were officially engaged.

"I promise Padma… I'll do everything I can to make you not regret doing this." Harry said, holding her in his arms as they waited for the ink to dry.

"I know you will, that's why I'm happy to have it signed." Padma said, leaning into his embrace. "So, father. I can spend my summer with Harry?"

"Yes, Padma. You can stay here with him. We'll send along your things shortly… as well as the sitar once we… make sure it doesn't get scratched." Mr. Patil said with a chuckle.

"I'll make sure to write plenty!" Padma said, smiling.

"You better! I'm gonna miss you sis!" Parvati said as she pulled Padma out of Harry's arms to hug her.

"I'll miss you too, Parvati." Padma said, embracing her sister.

Harry simply watched as the two sisters embraced. They'd see each other in less than two months, this wasn't going to be goodbye for a long time.