Disclaimer: It's said that gentlemen do not read each other's mail, it's never been said that Hermione is a man.

Alliance

Hermione walked into her dorm room with a frown on her face. It had taken months of thought, but she was sure she'd finally found a way to help Harry defeat or at the very least severely weaken the Dark Lord Voldemort.

"Parvati," Hermione said abruptly, "I need you to do something for me."

"What is it Hermione?"

"Give this note to your twin sister," Hermione ordered, "and tell her that I'd like her to follow the instructions."

"Why should I?" Parvati demanded. "And why should she?"

"Several reasons come to mind," Hermione replied. "You owe me for all the help I've given you over the years, I know several things that you'd rather not have spread around, it's important, and finally I'd like to think we're friends and friends help each other. Pick one."

"I'll go with the last," Parvati said cheerfully, "you really consider me your friend?"

"Of course," Hermione said quickly, "we have known each other since our first day haven't we?"

"Yes but . . . never mind," the witch said quickly, "I'm just glad to know that you consider me a friend . . . Lavender too?"

"She snores," Hermione said flatly, "and I haven't strangled her to death . . . not even before I learned to put silencing charms around her bed."

"Point taken," Parvati said with a nod, "anything else you need?"

"I . . . I may have an offer for you later," Hermione said slowly, "ask your sister if you'd both like to attend the meeting."

"Meeting?"

"Later," Hermione waved the other girl off, "it'd . . . I need to confirm some things first."

"Alright Hermione," Parvati agreed, "I'll take care of everything."

"Thank you Parvati, I'll be in the library if you need me."

Hermione was in the library with a large stack of books on proper pureblood customs and etiquette when she heard a set of familiar footsteps that indicated that she was no longer alone.

"Did they have a response?" Hermione asked without looking up from her book.

"They've agreed to a meeting Granger," the Indian girl said.

"Thanks Parvati," Hermione said, "are you and your sister thinking about attending?"

"How'd you know?" Parvati demanded. It was only then that Hermione looked up to see the Ravenclaw crest on the other girl's uniform.

"Sorry about that," Hermione said contritely, "I hope I didn't give things away." She quickly looked around to make sure that no one was paying attention to their conversation.

"Uh . . ."

"And I knew because we've known each other for several years," Hermione lectured, "and I may not be the most observant witch in the world but I'm also not an idiot."

"Does anyone else know?"

"Angelina and Katie," Hermione said, "least I'm fairly sure they know. It's not something we talk about."

"Thanks Hermione."

"Like I said, we're friends."

IIIIIIIIII

Hermione and the Patil twins were already waiting when their two Slytherin guests arrived for the meeting.

"What's this about Granger?" Daphne demanded.

"Draco has been ordered to keep an eye on you and kill you if you refuse an order that will be coming in three days," Hermione said in an unemotional tone, "the order is that your family will join Voldemort and you will be given to one of the older Death Eaters as a reward for a job well done."

"How'd you . . ."

"Draco has no intention of giving you a chance to agree," Hermione continued, "he plans to pass on that you've refused regardless of the answer. He and his two goons have already chosen an empty portion of dungeon, Draco plans to go first, followed by the two goons, and finally a long line of paying customers. Tracy," Hermione said as she turned to the other Slytherin in the room, "you're scheduled for two weeks from now but it's basically the same thing . . . only difference is that rather then a reward for one of the Death Eaters then you're a reward for several. Draco isn't planning on lying if you refuse since he's already been given permission to . . . start things out so to speak."

"How do you know these things?" Daphne demanded.

"I presume that you're willing to enter into a binding magically enforced contract agreeing not to reveal the source of my information?" Hermione asked with a raised eyebrow. "If so, then I can assure you that the consequences for breaking it will be quite dire."

"Agreed," Daphne said after a meaningful look shared with Tracy.

"I'm afraid that I'll have to ask the same from you and your sister Parvati," Hermione said apologetically.

"Of course Hermione," Parvati agreed, "if you think it's important."

"Could mean the difference between life and death," Hermione said simply.

"Let's see the contract," Daphne demanded. Her normal pale complexion became several shades whiter as she examined the document. "This is . . ."

"Quite unpleasant for you if you violate it," Hermione agreed, "I wouldn't worry though if I were you. It would all be over in about four hours on the outside."

Daphne pulled a small folding knife out of the folds in her robe and carefully made a small cut on the back of her hand.

"I presume you brought a quill?"

"I always have a quill with me," Hermione agreed. She handed the item to the other girl and watched as Daphne carefully signed the contract in her own blood. "Tracy?"

"Give me that knife Daph," Tracy sighed.

"Wait," Hermione said quickly. She hit the blade with a couple of quick cleaning charms and did the same to Daphne's hand. "It's not a good idea to mix blood or use a dirty blade."

"Why not?" Tracy asked as she calmly made a cut on the back of her own hand.

"Blood contains diseases that can be transmitted to other people," Hermione lectured, "and a cut that hasn't been cleaned can become infected."

"You think I have dirty blood?" Daphne asked with a frown.

"I don't know," Hermione replied, "I'd have done the same thing if I was making the cut on my own hand and giving the knife to you. It's just a good precaution to take."

"I see . . . thank you Granger," Daphne said after a moment, "I was unaware of all that."

"My parents are dentists," Hermione said as she carefully bandaged the other girl's cut, "better?"

"Can't you use a healing charm?"

"My parents are the health care professionals," Hermione replied flatly, "what I know about healing could fill a thimble."

"An area of knowledge that the Great Granger doesn't know about?" Tracy laughed, she carefully cleaned the blade and handed it to one of the Patil twins. "Will wonders never cease?"

"I know enough about most subjects to do well in classes," Hermione said calmly, "outside of classes my real interest lies in History . . . not healing. As we don't have a class in healing, I haven't done too much research."

"We're all finished," Padma said as she finished signing her name.

"Let me see that for a moment please," Hermione asked. She took a few seconds to examine the paper. "Fine."

"Well?" Daphne demanded.

"Voldemort is smart," Hermione began, "or has someone working for him with more then two brain cells to rub together."

"So?"

"So they aren't putting privacy charms on the messages that they're sending to Draco," Hermione said with a smile, "they're encoding them. The problem with a code is that . . ."

"It can be broken," Parvati said, "right?"

"Yes," Hermione agreed, "get a way to copy the messages without the other side knowing and you can sometimes get a lot of valuable intelligence . . . and quite a bit of useless drivel."

"Unless there's another code that you're missing," Daphne pointed out.

"Yes," Hermione agreed, "unless that."

"So what's your offer Granger?" Daphne demanded.

"The both of you swear a pact of everlasting friendship and support with House Granger," Hermione said calmly, "in the old forms."

"So the muggleborn wants to become a proper pureblood?" Daphne asked with a smirk.

"The muggleborn wants to help her friend Harry and this will allow me to do that," Hermione snapped, "the fact that I could use this as a path to political power and social acceptance disgusts me as does the whole sick pureblood society."

"Glad you got that off your chest then," Tracy offered, "what are the terms of your offer?"

"I have them written up here," Hermione said quickly.

"Nothing too arduous," Daphne said slowly, "though I am a bit leery of this clause that says we must service Potter every second Tuesday of every month . . ."

"I rather liked that one myself," Tracy said with a grin, "he may be scrawny but he seems like he'd be . . . ah . . enthusiastic."

"What?" Hermione squawked, she ripped the paper out of the other girl's hands and scanned through it for a couple minutes. "I don't see anything like that in here."

"That's because there isn't," Daphne replied, "I wanted to confirm that you were as trusting as the rumors stated you were."

"It's something we'll have to work on," Tracy agreed

"Laugh all you want," Hermione grumbled, "we still have the hard part."

"And what, pray tell, is the hard part?" Daphne asked mildly.

"Convincing Harry to help with all this," Hermione replied, "all he wants is to be left alone."

"Sounds like he'll absolutely hate all this then," Daphne offered.

"Good luck, Granger." Tracy added.

"What part do you want us to play in all this, Hermione?" Parvati asked.

"I was hoping that you'd be willing to join my . . . uh . . ."

"Coalition," Daphne suggested.

"Yes," Hermione agreed, "thank you."

IIIIIIIIII

Hermine caught Harry on his way back from Quidditch Practice and dragged him into the classroom they'd been using.

"What's this about?" Harry asked mildly.

"Granger needs your help to become a pureblood," Daphne replied.

"What?" Harry looked at his friend oddly. "Why would you want to do that?"

"It'll help with Voldemort," Hermione explained.

"What do I have to do?" Harry asked.

"Just sign this contract," Hermione said quickly, "it outlines the your rights and responsibilities to House Granger and outlines house Grangers responsibilities to you."

"Alright." Harry squinted at the document. "What language is this?"

"Latin," Tracy replied, "you don't speak it?"

"Not even a little," Harry said cheerfully.

"Let me see it," Daphne commanded. After a quick scan she picked up her wand. "I Daphne Greengrass swear on my magic that there is nothing in here that would harm Harry Potter in any way. Happy?"

"Relieved," Harry said, "where do I sign?"

"Right here," Hermione indicated the spot.

Harry signed his name with a flourish and turned to the two Slytherins.

"You said it outlined my rights and responsibilities," Harry began.

"Yes," Daphne agreed, "why?"

"What's that mean?" Harry asked in confusion.

"Greengrass and Davis are subordinate houses to the Granger family," Daphne explained, "though the terms are fairly reasonable. I think the most arduous thing we'd have to do is let her stay with us for as long as she wanted."

"Where does it say that?" Hermione asked.

"The perpetual shelter and sanctuary part of it," Tracy said. She scanned the contract until she found the relevant portion. "Here, see?"

"Oh," Hermione said dumbly.

"It gets complicated if Granger dies," Daphne continued, "especially if a member of either the Davis or Greengrass families had something to do with it."

"What happens then?" Harry asked.

"We become House Potter's chattel," Daphne said calmly, "if our families had something to do with it. Not so bad if we didn't."

"What," Hermione screamed, "I didn't put that in!"

"It's right here," Tracy sighed, "didn't you look at this contract?"

"I copied it out of a book," Hermione said defensively, "but I didn't think it meant any of that."

"It's fairly clear about what it says," Tracy said with a frown, "not even any obscuring language."

"Let me see that," Hermione demanded. She squinted at the document for a few minutes as she tried to puzzle out the words.

"Don't speak Latin?" Daphne asked with a grin.

"No," Hermione admitted. "Not well enough for this anyway. I stopped studying it so much after I realized how little it helped with our incantations."

"If you don't speak Latin, then why in the seven hells did you write out a contract in Latin?"

"The book said I had to," Hermione replied hotly.

"Let me see that book," Daphne commanded. She flipped through it. "You do realize that this book is over a hundred years old, right?"

"It was the newest one I could find in the library," Hermione said weakly.

"Well it's outdated," Daphne said, "and whoever wrote it didn't know Latin much better than you do. It's filled with mistranslations."

"So I didn't use the right contract?"

"The contract if fine," Tracy spoke up, "so long as you don't mind being subordinate to House Potter."

"You need a pureblood sponsor along with your two pureblood client houses for this one to work," Daphne added, "Tracy and I are your clients. Potter is your sponsor."

"Just like Crabbe and Goyle are clients to Malfoy," Tracy added, "forget who the sponsor was."

"What's that all mean?"

"Whatever Harry and you decide it means," Tracy said with a shrug, "standard is that he offers protection and you offer support."

"Oh."

"You're also going to have to stay with this whole outdated thing," Tracy added, "it was out of style when this book was written and it's unheard of now."

"But I thought . . . the book said . . ." Hermione stammered. "How was I supposed to do it then if not this way?"

"You call a solicitor and tell them what you want, they send you a bill."

"That's it?"

"Yup."

"So all the complex spell work . . ."

"You normally just get it notarized now a days."

"How is it enforced then?"

"You still use magic, just not this kind."

AN: Just an idea I had sitting around. Polish by dogbertcarroll.

Omake by fenriswolf001

"My parents are dentists," Hermione said as she carefully bandaged the other girl's cut, "better?"

"What's a 'dentist'?" Parvati asked with a frown, dental care having been taken care of in the magical world with simple charms for centuries.

"A dentist makes their living by pulling out people's teeth," Hermione answered absently as she finished scourgifying the knife.

"Oh, WOW," the other girls breathed, childhood tales of Evil Muggles and their torture devices recalled to memory. Hermione's status at having such dangerous parents went up several notches, especially with the Slytherins.