“What’s wrong with being an Auror?” Harry asked confused.
“Nothing,” George (Nicholas) replied. “Nothing at all if that was what you wanted to do and it was the best you could do and you didn’t have any higher obligations. But as we said earlier, killing Voldemort cured a symptom. The disease remained and as an Auror all you could do was continue to cure symptoms while the disease continued to destroy society. If Dumbledore hasn’t told you this yet, Harry, he will one day. It’s our choices in life that define us all in the end. We can choose to do what is easy or we can choose to do what is right.”
“Dumbledore’s great mistake was leaving you with the Dursleys,” Clara (Perenelle) said. “You’re entire time with them you strove for their acceptance at the very least. It’s not uncommon in such situations. It made you into a person that wanted acceptance more than anything else. It made you afraid to dream, afraid to stand out, afraid to take chances and do what most might consider unpopular. The one time in your life - in the future the messages are coming from - the one time when you consistently chose to do what was right regardless of whether you wanted to do that or the difficulty, was when you were dealing with Voldemort. Once he was gone, you chose to do what was easy.”
“It was easy for you to become and Auror,” George continued. “After all, you had just taken out the most feared dark wizard in history. You had far more skills even though you never finished school…”
“You never finished school?” Hermione gasped in shock.
“Hermione, this hasn’t happened yet,” Harry said.
“No, it has not,” George agreed. “But it could happen again and for Harry to choose the easy road at age seventeen as he did in that timeline would lead again to disaster. There would be other wars in the future, other Dark Lords vying to take over and thousands upon thousands died in those wars. The Dark Lords and their followers were contemporaries of yours and later their children. The last one was your own grandson, Harry.”
“How did that happen?” Harry asked in shock.
“The disease was never cured,” George said. “The society that gave rise to Voldemort and his Death Eaters remained as it was. The Wizengamot, a hereditary oligarchy slow to change remained the only voice of government. The society continued to view people’s worth based upon family bloodlines. Naturally, this allowed the prejudices and the discrimination against Muggle Borns and others with less venerable magical lines to continue and for those who believed they should get whatever they want simply because of their magical heritage - never mind their own abilities - to continue to rise up and take what they saw as their due. No one truly and effectively advocated for change following Voldemort’s demise. Oh there were reforms, but the underlying disease remained. The Muggle Borns never got a voice in their government or in any policy making. Since they had no voice, it was easier for those that had a voice to continue to look down on them and easier for those who thought ill of Muggles and Muggle Borns to continue to foment hatred and to rise up whenever it appeared the government might consider Muggle Borns as anything other than inferior or whenever they thought Muggle Borns might be getting a leg up.”
“What… what happened to me?” Hermione asked not thinking she would like the answer.
“You finished Hogwarts a year late due to the War. You probably would have been Head Girl but for that. Had you attended your proper Seventh Year, the Pure-blood Elites and Voldemort followers would have chucked you into a camp. Many Muggle Borns did not survive the camps. The camps executed so many a day you see. There was no reason for them to do so other than their victims were there. You avoided that, but it cost you any shot at Head Girl when you returned. You finished with the highest marks in history, not that it seemed to matter being a Muggle Born. As I said, the War may have been over, but its cause was not. Despite your marks you had little choice but to accept a job working in a shop in Diagon Alley.”
“Now George, that’s a little disingenuous,” Clara (Perenelle) said. “Had she not been betrothed to and later married to the Pure-blood who was part owner of that shop, she would have had some opportunities. The Department of Mysteries and Healer Training even today are unconcerned with blood status, just marks and potential. But you know the laws as well as I do. The law requires that a husband approve of his wife working and he has say as to where she works. True, while it is the law many wizards tend to ignore it. But if the husband does not and if the husband his of a higher caste than his wife, the wife must abide with her husband’s decisions in such matters.”
“That’s outrageous,” Rose said.
“Why would I ever agree to that?” Hermione added.
“Actually,” Clara said, “if you consider that the Wizarding World is at least a couple of hundred years behind the Muggle World in terms of its social mores, it’s probably not that inconsistent. Women were not allowed the vote in Britain until 1918 and even then it was restricted to women over the age of 30 who were considered the Head of a Household, married to a Head of Household or had a degree. Universal voting rights for women which were the same as men did not occur here until ten years later. While today it seems silly to think that women are not a part of the body politic throughout most of the Muggle World, that is a very recent development. And with the vote, many of the laws that placed restrictions on a woman’s civil liberties fell by the wayside over time.”
“How do you explain Millicent Bagnold then?” Hermione argued. “She was the Minister for Magic before Cornelius Fudge. And then there’s Amelia Bones! She’s a Muggle Born and is not only Head of the Department of Law Enforcement, but holds a seat on the Wizengamot!”
“Perhaps as exceptions that prove the rule?” Clara replied. “Millicent’s father held a hereditary seat on the Wizengamot and had no sons. She was, therefore, allowed to enter the Ministry right out of school and when he died, she assumed his seat. Amelia’s the wife of the Son of the Head of the Ancient and Noble House of Bones, which is a progressive family that prefers to exploit its talents. She holds the House Bones proxy since the death of her Husband and Brother-in-Law but could be asked to relinquish it once her niece is old enough to take the House Seat in her own right or once she marries. She rose to her position as head of DMLE because her husband’s family opened the door for her. Whether her career survives the majority of her niece is an open question. If her niece or niece’s husband insist on taking the Bones seat, Madam Bones might well find herself pensioned off.”
“Look, we could easily tell you all day what is wrong with this society as we speak,” George interrupted. “Is it a problem? Yes it is. It led to a society where Voldemort’s message of superiority and hatred had a sympathetic audience and, moreover, an audience that included many with either political power or economic or both. Without money and a sympathetic coalition in the government, Voldemort and his follower would not have lasted a week. Because there was such support, he gained followers while those who should have stopped him looked the other way. He damn near won it all.
“You stopped him, Harry. You may not remember the first time that you did, but you’ve stopped him two more times since. Whether you’re the one in the Prophecy as both Dumbledore and Voldemort believe is now irrelevant. You can stop him permanently, if you learn how. You did so in that other timeline. Stopping Voldemort was probably the easy part. Your mistake, Harry, was while you won the war, you took no part in truly trying to win the peace. And there was no one else with the right combination of things to do so.”
“What do you mean by win the peace?” Harry asked.
“Change things,” George said. “Probably most everything. Oh, there’s no way you could do it entirely on your own, but you could have led those who would. You could have taken control of your Hereditary Seat on the Wizengamot rather than leave it to a proxy who voted their own way. You could have led a movement both within the Wizengamot and without that wanted to fix the problems that gave rise to Voldemort in the first place. Instead, you listened to Dumbledore who subtly discouraged you from learning about your heritage for he feared your gaining access to such power would corrupt you into the next Dark Lord, something he had no true basis for believing. Instead, you listened to the Weasleys who convinced you to allow one of them to hold the Potter proxy, which by that time included the votes of another Ancient and Noble House as well. Rather than change things, the Weasleys followed Dumbledore’s example of minor reforms for the sake of reforming but leaving most everything untouched and unchallenged. Meanwhile, despite having enough political capital that you could easily have been the youngest Chief Warlock in history and could easily have implemented sweeping reforms, you decided to become a low level ministry employee. For many people, being an Auror is an honourable profession. But as Head of and Ancient and Noble House in a time of crisis, it was a waste for you to even consider it. Whatever else Dumbledore failed to teach you, he failed to teach you about duty. As Head of and Ancient and Noble House you have a duty not just to your family, but to the entire wizarding world. You never learned that and tens of thousands would die in wars which could have been avoided had someone stood up and demanded change.”
“But I don’t like fame or any of that!” Harry protested after a pause. “You’re asking me to exploit that!”
“Not at all,” George said. “If you were older that’s exactly what might be asked of you. One of the reasons you chose to send the message back to this summer was so that you would not have to suddenly change your spots as it were. You can’t take your House Seat for several years. You can’t even tell your proxy how to vote and expect him to follow your directions. You have time to learn about the system without truly being a part of it. Even if you should decide the entire system needs to be replaced, at least this way you’ll be making an informed and considered decision.
“As for not liking fame, do you think the Royal Family likes it? I can assure you they don’t, but it’s a curse they are born to, just as it was a curse you were born to and the events of October 1981 only changed the degree and the hype, not that you would never had been famous without it. As Heir to an Ancient and Noble House, being well known just by being is what you were born to. What you do with that fame you can’t avoid is another matter altogether.”
“So I’m stuck with this?” Harry moaned.
“That is one way to look at it,” Clara said. “The other way is to see it as a potential opportunity to do what is right rather than what is easy. It will be a few years before you can truly do much of anything with your fame and position. That means you have time to learn and to figure out what can and needs to be done. You want Voldemort to be the last of his kind, don’t you?”
Harry nodded.
“What this world needs is a true leader,” George said. “Dumbledore is not that man and never has been. He’s too mired in tradition and the notion of this is the way things have always been therefore they must be right. He’s too guarded with his information and does not truly believe anyone is smarter or wiser than he is on something. He is very smart and wise, but he seems to assume he is omnipotent, which is a fallacy. He is human, therefore he is flawed and on one thing or another there are people who are smarter and wiser than he is. But he’s never seen that so he is flawed as a leader. A leader is not an ideologue, one whose vision is the only vision. A leader is someone who can get people to be their best, to get them to use their talents towards the common good, to get them to act for the betterment of all. He is not, however, one who knows what that betterment is. He is open to ideas, he works with others and listens to them and he shares information with those who can best help use that information for the common purpose. The only true difference between Dumbledore and Voldemort is Dumbledore is striving for a common good while Voldemort is bent upon becoming and emperor or worse. Dumbledore’s common good is as he sees it. Any other version, however meritorious, cannot be right. He cannot be trusted with our future.”
“Why me? Why not the two of you?” Harry asked. “After all, you’re Nicholas and Perenelle Flamel and are almost 670 years old! You know and have seen and have done far more than anyone, right?”
“You are correct, Harry,” George (Nicholas) said. “We have seen and done more than anyone we are aware of. But Nicholas and Perenelle Flamel neither of us have a seat in any government nor any true influence. We’re Muggle Borns. Our age and lives does not truly change that fact at all. We are ancient, but not from any Ancient and Noble House either from Britain or from our original home in France. We cannot hope to change things through reform, however radical it might be. As a Muggle Born, all we can hope to do is lead a revolution, a violent overthrow of the government and society. And, as we’re old, who would follow us?”
“Revolution is and always has been the folly of the young,” Clara said, “even if their leaders were older. It is after all the young that have little to lose and everything to gain.”
“You want Harry to start a revolution?” Hermione asked in shock.
“No dear,” George replied. “We are merely messengers after all. Your older selves have also sent you messages and you will know them for what they are. Mistakes were made in their timeline. Mistakes which only the recipients of those messages can avoid. But, you are in no way being forced to do things. You will merely know what the wrong decision is when that time comes and you will know why it is the wrong one. Unless there are only two possible decisions however, you will not know what the right decision is for as we said earlier the future is not set. You are being asked to avoid decisions that cost thousands of lives and led to a bleak future. That’s all.”
“Doesn’t sound so bad,” Harry began.
“But we’re still being asked to change the future!” Hermione said.
“We’re being asked to avoid a bad future,” Harry replied.
“And if we decide differently, who’s to say that our other choices won’t be as bad and even worse?”
“I think we can avoid making things as bad or worse,” Luna said.
“What makes you think that?”
Luna shrugged. “I believe in Harry and you and myself. I believe we can make the right choices when we know what the wrong ones were. I have hope for the future, don’t you?”
A thought crossed Hermione’s mind. Earlier she had decided not to do something because it seemed selfish and she didn’t think it was right even though a part of her said it was. Now she had to know if that was a message. Again, her conscious self said it was wrong, especially in front of her mother, but that sense that it was right and even necessary was now overwhelming. Harry was seated next to her so it was easy for her. She turned to him and kissed him on the lips. The wonderful feeling of their first kiss returned and seemed amplified somehow. She also saw glimpses of that other life, the one the other her wanted her to avoid.
Rose almost said something when she saw her daughter kiss Harry. It seemed impulsive and out of place. But then the couple began to glow brightly, just as Harry and Luna had when Luna had kissed him. The glow expanded outward as it had before and this time as it enveloped Luna, she began glowing as well just has Hermione had earlier. Rose had no idea how long the two kissed each other. She had a feeling that she had before when Luna kissed Harry and this glow enveloped them and her daughter. That part of her mind which thought it was inappropriate shut down. She merely thought that she was watching something wonderful happen. It was several seconds after the kiss finally broke that the glowing stopped and Rose could think again. “What just happened?” she asked.
“Something wonderful,” Clara sighed.
“And one thing we won’t have to explain as much,” George added. “It is something our messages told us needed to happen but we were both at a loss as to how to see it done. You said you saw something like that when Luna kissed Harry?”
Rose nodded. “It seemed stronger this time.”
“Clara and I’ve been together now for what - 656 years? I think we’ve witnessed such an event five times before today. It’s incredibly rare and wonderful although, speaking from our own experience, the couple has no true idea what happened, just that it was wonderful as if it was meant to be.”
The three smiling young people nodded in agreement on that point.
“Here,” Clara said handing Rose what looked like an official document of some kind. Rose accepted the document and read it.
HERMIONE JANE GRANGER, born at 5:45 P.M., 19 September, 1979 at St. Bartholomew’s (Muggle) Hospital, London to Robert Edward Granger (Muggle) (born 22 March 1959) and Rose Elaine Granger nee Roberts (Muggle) (born 20 April 1959), has been detected as being magically compatible (potential Soulmate) with HARRY JAMES POTTER, born at 12:32 A.M., 31 July 1980 at St. Mungo’s Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries to James Charles Potter (Heir Apparent Head of Ancient and Noble House of Potter) (Hogwarts Class of 1978, Gryffindor) born 27 March 1960 and Lily Anne Potter nee Evans (Muggle Born) (Hogwarts Class of 1978, Gryffindor) born 30 January 1960.
Dated this 1 st Day of August 1980.
“I seem to think I’ve seen this before,” Rose said. “I don’t know when and I don’t clearly remember, but it was a long time ago. What does this mean?”
“Perhaps you should read this one too,” Clara said handing Rose another parchment and Rose read it as well.
HARRY JAMES POTTER, born at 12:32 A.M., 31 July 1980 at St. Mungo’s Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries to James Charles Potter (Heir Apparent Head of Ancient and Noble House of Potter) (Hogwarts Class of 1978, Gryffindor) born 27 March 1960 and Lily Anne Potter nee Evans (Muggle Born) (Hogwarts Class of 1978, Gryffindor) born 30 January 1960), has been detected as being magically compatible (potential Soulmate) with LUNA CELESTE LOVEGOOD, born at 8:47 A.M., 3 September 1980 at St. Mungo’s Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries to XENOPHILIUS ADRIAN LOVEGOOD (Pure-blood) (Hogwarts Class of 1973, RAVENCLAW) born 10 February 1955 and SELENE MICHELLE LOVEGOOD nee BLACK (Pure-blood) (Hogwarts Class of 1978, Ravenclaw) born 21 October 1959.
Dated this 4 th Day of September 1980.
“Well, this hardly clarifies things,” Rose began.
Clara held out another set of parchments for Rose to read which she did. She understood what the document could mean, but could not believe that she and Robert would have had anything to do with such things. She held back a vocal protest until the very end when she saw her signature on the parchment. Once she saw that, she began to remember things long forgotten. This was not a memory of a future but a lost memory of her past, one which had been taken away from her, from her husband and even from her daughter. The memories were removed with magic by an old wizard removed for…
“The Greater Good,” Rose said still looking at the document.
“What’s that Mum?” Hermione asked.
“It was the last thing Albus Dumbledore said before he erased our memories,” Rose replied. “Not even a by your leave from the bastard…”
“MUM?”
“Sorry, Little One,” Rose said. “He wiped out so much. Such a strange and yet happy life. I lost the memories of my truest friends with his wand waving and I’m sure you and your father did as well. This document, this signature of mine, it brought it all back. His Greater Good be damned! He cannot be trusted! Not with you, not with Harry, not with Luna, not with any of us, Dear.”
“Mum?” Hermione squeaked.
“It was late August, not quite a year after you were born, Little One. You know your Daddy and I were still at University then. We decided that we didn’t want you in some day care factory as your Daddy had quite a bit of money from an inheritance, so we hired a Day Nanny to take care of you when we were in classes. Our first Day Nanny was getting married so we had an advert out for a new one.
“She answered our advert. She was about our age - actually about a year younger. Your first Day Nanny was quite a bit older than us. She seemed perfect in a way. She had a newborn son of her own and it seemed she was a good mother so your Daddy and I agreed to take her on to care for you while we were away studying. Her name was Lily Potter.”
“My Mum!” Harry exclaimed.
Rose nodded. “The two of you got on so famously at the interview. How was I to say no? True, you Little One were almost a year old and Little Harry was a newborn, but you and he seemed to think the world of each other. When the interview ended and Harry had to go home, you both got quite upset and that was the day of Hermione’s first bout of accidental magic, although I did not know that at the time. I would have hired your mother right then and there but I needed to talk to Robert first. Still, I did hire her within days of the meeting. It seemed clear that our little Hermione already was missing her new friend.
“For a month, Lily and Harry were over just about every day while Robert and I were attending our labs and classes at the University. Then, the two of you were joined by a third little baby: Luna.”
“M-me?” Luna asked.
Rose nodded. “Your mother, Selene, was Lily’s best friend from school. I was told that she had a job as well. It didn’t matter to me, really, as it was clear that despite the age differences the three of you got on very well. After all, Hermione was thirteen months old and, while she wasn’t able to walk yet - she was trying and could if she held on to something - she was more active than the two of you. You two were still too young to even roll over on your own. It didn’t seem to matter to Hermione. When the two of you were asleep, and at that age it’s quite often the case, Hermione would sit there quietly or take a nap herself. When you two were awake, she would babble at you and show off her toys. It was very sweet to watch.
“Hermione’s first word was ‘no’, which is not uncommon. That was followed by Mama and Dada and then Hawy, Lulu and Lily. She seemed to know what time you two would be showing up in the morning and she didn’t like it when you two had to leave.
“When Luna was about six months old, I finally had the nerve to ask Lily about the strange occurrences that Robert and I had noticed whenever any of you three seemed upset about something, which was usually when you knew that it was time for you to go home and be apart. She didn’t answer right then and there, but set up a meeting with her husband, Selene, Robert and I for the next weekend.
“It was at that meeting with the three of you playing on the floor that Lily told us about magic. She told us it was real and that Hermione was a witch. Not just that, she also told us that she was one too, as was Selene and Luna and that her husband, Luna’s father and Harry were wizards. Naturally, Robert and I both though she was either mad or was trying to get us to join some kind of New Age religion or something. Then our guests began to put on a display of magic that pretty much put paid to the notion that magic was a fantasy. It was far more impressive than what Professor McGonagall did when she visited. It was capped of when Harry’s father turned into a stag that was so large it nearly filled the parlour in our little flat. Harry and Luna took it all in stride as if they had seen all this stuff before. Hermione’s eyes were big as saucers, but she wasn’t afraid. She cooed and said something like ‘Pretty Pony.’ James told his wife and Selene not to tell anyone about that, let me tell you. Seems he was afraid he’d be called that for the rest of his life.”
This got a chuckle from the group.
“Anyway, Lily also showed us these Certificates,” Rose continued holding up the first two pieces of parchment she had read. “When a magical child is born, the child’s magical signature is automatically recorded within the Hall of Records in the Department of Mysteries at the Ministry of Magic. Each magical child has a Certificate like this which states their name, date of birth, place of birth and their parents' names and ages and such. We were told that there’s a similar recording at Hogwarts. These Certificates, while a public record, are not available to anyone but the families concerned. Now, every once in a while two children - always a boy and a girl - are born with magical signatures that are said to be complimentary or compatible. I don’t clearly understand it. I’m not sure there’re many who do. But we were told that those children’s magic are something like two parts of a whole. They can function quite well without ever meeting each other, but their magic is strongest if it is allowed to bond with the magic of the other. This won’t happen automatically. It’s not even certain to happen if the two meet. But if the bonding does happen, they will be drawn together usually for life.”
“You… you mean like married?” Hermione asked.
“Magically speaking, yes. Once the bond truly begins to form the couple is magically bound to each other, magically married. Under Wizarding Law, we were told, once that happens the couple is deemed old enough to legally marry each other.”
“Is that what happened to us?”
Rose, George (Nicholas) and Clara (Perenelle) nodded.
“This Certificate,” Rose said, “was made the day after Harry was born. It says that Harry and Hermione have compatible magic and a Soul Bond could form between them. It was why Lily answered my advert for a Day Nanny. She knew of this and sought us out so our two children could grow up together and one day, hopefully, they would bond. This second Certificate says that Harry and Luna were also magically compatible which was why Luna was also spending much of her days with us. Lily didn’t need the work and Selene didn’t need to leave her daughter in some kind of daycare. This was about the potential bond from the start.
“This,” she continued holding up the thicker document, “is a Contract your father and I signed with Harry’s parents. It is a form of betrothal contract, although it by no means obligates us to see the two of you married off for no other reason. It states that we would raise the two of you together and that if you bonded with each other, we would accept that as a legally binding agreement to allow you two to be married. It also recognizes that a similar bond could form between Harry and Luna and we would not interfere with that bonding. If both bonds formed, we would accept both bonds as legally binding two marriages. We planned to raise you three together even though all of us wanted more children. We planned to see to it you attended Infants and Primary together regardless of where we lived - the school would be Robert’s and my choice. Finally, we promised to see to it you attended Hogwarts at the same time.”
“You married me off when I was a baby?” Hermione exclaimed.
“No. That’s not the way this works. This contract merely requires that we allow the bond to happen, if it happens. Just because you magic is compatible, it does not mean you would bond. But if that bond occurred, we would allow you to marry Harry even if in doing so it meant he would be married to Luna as well. If the bond occurred, we would allow it to fully form naturally.”
“Did it occur?” Harry asked.
“It did,” Clara replied. “Probably twice now. The glow that Rose witnessed when you kissed Luna was their bond beginning to form. The glow when you kissed Hermione was that bond as well.”
“And the Life Flashy thing?” Luna asked. “Hermione said it happened before when they first kissed a few days ago.”
“Harry was not yet of Bonding age,” George said. “Their magic clearly was recognizing their Bond Mate, but the bond itself could not form. Still, it’s a powerful magic and apparently powerful enough to momentarily uncap the message your future self sent you from that timeline.”
“Bonding age?” the three young people asked.
“A boy reaches bonding age upon his thirteenth summer solstice. A girl reaches hers upon that solstice as well provided she’s at least six months beyond menarche.”
“Menarche?” Harry asked.
“Her first period,” Hermione explained.
“Oh,” he said with a blush. He remembered the classes Madam Pomfrey had taught their first year about that sort of thing. It was, he remembered, embarrassing as hell although fortunately it was just the boys as the girls received their education about those things separately. Ron was either grossed out or giggling madly the whole time which made it difficult for Harry to concentrate. Fortunately, there were no exams or marks.
“S-so we’re married now?” Hermione asked causing Harry to blush even further as Hermione did as well. Luna simply looked on curiously.
“Magically,” George said.
“But how? Harry can’t have more than one wife! We’re too young! How?”
“Ordinarily, you are correct. Wizarding law generally does not allow young people to marry without parental consent before they are seventeen or sixteen with such consent unless the young woman is expecting a child or where they are subject to a magical bond or where the existence of such a bond is a contingency that can trigger a marriage agreement. As you are now magically bonding, you are free to marry your bond-mate at any time. Wizarding law does not have any absolute bar on what is called a Plural Marriage, that is where one husband has more than one wife at the same time. But again, there must be justifying circumstances for such a marriage. In your case, the fact that Harry is magically compatible with both of you and that the bonding has begun allows for him to marry both of you.”
Hermione looked at her mother.
“Your father and I were aware of this possibility, Hermione,” she said. “We accepted it because if the bond began it would be harmful to you and to Harry and Luna for that matter to interfere with its completion. This meant that once the bond began, we had to accept that it meant you were married and that Harry could become married to Luna as well. We hoped to prepare you for this possibility but…”
“But?”
“The day after Harry’s parents were killed neither he nor his mother nor Luna showed up as usual. You were distraught. You couldn’t understand why your friends were not there. Your father and I had no idea what had happened and no idea what to tell you. We knew there was a war going on in the Wizarding World, but we weren’t about to tell you that. You were too young to understand such things and besides we had no idea if that had anything to do with why your friends didn’t come over as always. Harry’s parents had a phone so we rung them up but got no answer and we had no idea how to contact Luna’s parents. They had a similar Contract with Harry’s parents.
“A few days later Dumbledore showed up. He told us Harry’s parents were dead but that Harry was fine and living with his relatives. We told him about the contract and how his parents wanted Harry to live with us if they were unable to care for him. We told him about the bond the three of you might share one day. He looked disappointed and told us what he had to do was for the best, for the Greater Good and… we woke up sometime later thinking we had taken a nap with no memory of Harry or Luna or even magic.”
“Memory Cap,” George said. “He stunned you and capped all of your memories about magic, Harry and Luna. It’s complex magic, much harder than obliviation which would have wiped your memories clean. Then again, obliviation would have wiped out all the memories, not just the ones about Harry, Luna and magic. No doubt you would have missed that. The cap doesn’t erase the memories, merely buries them behind a magical barrier. It’s very effective but the weakness is there can be a trigger that drops the barrier. Apparently, seeing that contract was the trigger.”
“Why don’t I remember any of this?” Hermione asked.
“You were probably too young. You were only a little over two years old at the time,” her mother replied.
“Why would he do that?” Hermione asked rhetorically.
“Unfortunately, we don’t know,” George replied. “Harry eventually discovered these Certificates and Contracts, but that was long after Dumbledore had died. It was even after your parents died. We could only speculate as to why your parents never told you about this, Hermione. We now know why, but can only guess at the reason. It’s possible that Dumbledore did not want these bonds to ever form. Knowingly interfering with such bonds is of questionable legality and morality. It’s more likely he wanted to make sure Harry remained at Privet Drive with his relatives as the Contracts make clear he should have gone to live with you and your parents or Luna and hers.”
“That’s almost as bad and maybe even worse,” Hermione grumbled.
“The wards,” Harry said. “I had Dobby check them. They’re very powerful but they are keyed into my Aunt and me. Something to do with my mother sacrificing her life for me that night. Apparently, the wards protect me from Voldemort and his followers…”
“Not at Hogwarts,” Hermione grumbled.
“No,” Harry agreed. “But no one’s tried to off me anywhere else. The problem is I still have to live there at least one month a year or the wards will fail.”
“That does pose a problem,” George said, “as does the fact that you’re in different Houses at Hogwarts and you’re as young as you are.”
“Oh?” the young people replied.
“While your bond is forming and you’re considered married in the eyes of magic, you’re not considered married in the eyes of the law. That bit can be remedied at Gringotts which would prevent others from trying to interfere with the bond at least legally. But until the bond is fully formed, Hogwarts is not required to see you as a married couple or in this case couples. That means you could be required to continue to room in your old dormitories and not in married student quarters. It’s an old rule that was designed to prevent preferential treatment. Only of age students or students married by virtue of a completed bond may have such quarters.”
“So what’s the problem?” Harry asked.
“Keeping the three of you apart like that will delay the completion of the bond,” George said. “You need to be together physically for the bond to strengthen as it should considering that you are too young to seal it the other way.”
“What other way?”
“Consummation.”
“What’s that?”
“Sex Harry,” Hermione said with a blush.
“And while we are young, we are old enough for that if necessary, right?” Luna added.
“Physically, yes you are,” George said. “But we’re talking about magical consummation which cannot take place until you’re near magical maturity. Depending upon the person, that’s fifteen to seventeen for girls and sixteen to eighteen for boys. Were you old enough to magically consummate, the bond would complete itself upon completion of the act. As you’re not old enough, the act isn’t any more significant than just having sex. And, considering the other way to complete the bond is physical contact over a long period of time, sex is no better than holding hands. If you fail to complete the bond, it could fail altogether and were you to marry, that marriage could be annulled due to your ages.”
“And failing to complete the bond will weaken your magic permanently,” Clara added. “It could even fail altogether.”
“How do we prevent that?” Hermione asked.
“Ideally, physical contact for up to six hours a day will, over a period of four to six months, complete the bond. Naturally, your normal living arrangements and school rules would interfere with that to such a degree that what little contact you could make, while it would keep the bond from failing, it would not allow the bond to complete itself. In the past, young couples like you would be encouraged to sleep together during the Holidays if that could not be done at school. But with Harry having to stay with his relatives…”
“Shouldn’t be a problem,” Harry said. “I mean assuming I’m allowed and have to sleep with Hermione and Luna that is. I have a trunk.”
“I hope you’re not bragging about your equipment, Harry,” Hermione growled. “If I don’t have to do that yet…”
“I meant a trunk, trunk,” Harry defended. “You know, one of those box things with hinges?”
“So what?”
“So, it’s a magical trunk…”
“Don’t brag,” Hermione began.
“Mind out of the gutter,” her mother chided. “What do you mean by that, Harry.”
“Well, I live in it now…”
“You’re relatives have you sleeping in a trunk?” Hermione practically shrieked. “I knew they were vile but…”
“No! It’s not that at all! True, they did make me sleep in a cupboard until I was eleven, but…”
“What?”
“That’s not the point! It’s a magical trunk you can live in! Dobby bought it for me when I told him I had to stay at my relatives but didn’t want to deal with them!”
“Sorry,” Hermione said sheepishly. “Still, how could we all fit in there?”
“It’s really quite big on the inside,” Harry said. “Much bigger than the inside of my relatives house. Much nicer too.”
“And how would we get there?” Hermione asked.
“Well, it came with several access trunks. I give each of you a trunk and key you into the wards and you can get to my trunk from just about anywhere. It’ll probably even work through the wards at Hogwarts as it involves portals. I was thinking of letting you have one anyway and maybe one for your parents as well. That way when we’re back at school you could see them or they could see you.”
“Um…”
“That seems to solve that problem,” George said.
“What about the other contracts?” Clara asked.
“What other contracts?” the others replied.
“As you were told, there was a contract between the Potters and the Grangers to encourage and support their bonding and, ultimately, their marriage,” Clara began. “There was also a similar contract between the Lovegoods and the Potters which, since Luna’s father signed over his magical guardianship to us - he couldn’t deal with it after Selene died - that means it’s between us and your parents to see that the same thing happens although we only learned about the contract due to the message from that other timeline. There are two additional contingent contracts that could have come into play. One was between the Potters and the Greengrass family for a contingent betrothal to their daughter Daphne…”
“She’s a Slytherin!” Harry protested.
“She’s not as nasty as the rest,” Hermione said.
“True but…”
“You shouldn’t dislike someone just because they’re in Slytherin. That’s like disliking someone just because they’re a Muggle Born.”
“You’re right I suppose. But can I dislike Malfoy just because he’s Malfoy?”
“He’s earned that.”
“So what’s this contract about?”
“Well,” Clara continued, “if certain conditions were met, it means you’re expected to take Daphne as an additional wife.”
“What conditions?”
“First of all, you had to begin bonding with Hermione and/or Luna and had to marry at least one of them. This triggers the Plural Marriage Laws. Second of all, your father had to die before he had any other children. This was a contract designed to help rebuild the Potter Line. There might be a quid pro quo of some kind, but it’s not spelled out in the Contract so you’d have to talk to them about it.
“The other contract was also conditional on your bonding with Hermione and Luna. It was without regard to your father having another child, but was conditional on the then Head of the Ancient and Noble House of Abbott not having a son before he died. He died a few months before your parents and had only one child living, his daughter Hannah. This Contract differs in that it’s a Line Continuation Contract. As Hannah is not your only wife, she can retain her name and control over her House titles, property and, most importantly, the Abbott seat on the Wizengamot. Those assets would pass to her children and not to you, any of your other wives or any children by those wives. Were she to marry without those safeguards, her seat would lose its Noble votes and her line would pass to her husband’s family.”
“I have to marry these girls too?” Harry groaned.
“Have to?” George asked. “No. You don’t have to…”
“Good!”
“But you should.”
“Why?”
“A few reasons. First of all since these were contingent upon things that may or may not have come to pass… after all it was only by some miracle Luna survived the explosion that claimed her mother’s life, and had she’d perished then these contracts could not be enforced. Likewise, it was only by a miracle you survived that night, Harry. Finally, you do know the Death Eaters were hunting and killing Muggle Borns and their families, don’t you?”
Harry shook his head.
“It was possible they would have found Hermione and her family before the war ended. In any of those cases, we wouldn’t be having this conversation. Likewise, these contracts required that you be the only Potter left which, while that was what happened, that was not the plan. Because of the war, House Potter was all but wiped out and whether you consider that important or not, to the rest of the Wizarding World it is. We talked about duty earlier. That’s a situation where you do something because you’re supposed to do it, not because you want to. You owe a duty to the generations of Potters before you to preserve and protect your line. It can also be said that since House Abbott has historically been allied with House Potter, you owe a duty to it as well to help them preserve that line. You should count your blessings as it were seeing as House Bones is another close Potter ally and is in the same straits as House Abbott but you’re not contracted to their only surviving heiress.
“Second, while you can break these contracts, it would look bad to the old families and what they think does matter. You could not be trusted to keep your word or the word of House Potter if you turned your back on these contracts.
“Finally, contracts like these have penalty clauses. If the condition for enforcement is met and there was no bride price or dowry named - and there isn’t - you stand to forfeit twenty percent of your family’s estate by law as you were bound to this by the then Head of your family.”
“Your parents wanted this, Harry,” Clara said. “They probably hoped all the conditions would not come to pass. They probably hoped it would just be you three. But they planned for the future of House Potter and its allies and hoped you would do your duty by them if the time came.”
“Fine,” Harry moped.
“And that’s the good news,” George began.
“The good news?” Harry asked in disbelief.
“There’s also this,” he said sliding another contract towards Harry.
Harry didn’t need to finish reading it to reach an opinion.
“I CAN’T BELIEVE HE DID THIS!”