Chapter Text
Snape stormed through the hallway with a dark scowl on his face. It was nearing four o'clock in the morning, a good two hours before he would usually be awake and only four hours since he had gotten to bed after his patrol of the corridors; yet he was being forced to attend to the Headmaster for something 'urgent'. Of course, he followed that up with "But please my boy, there is no need to panic or ask for Poppy" which implied that this was something medical and embarrassing. He has never wanted more than not to be a teacher than this early morning and he had yet to even see what the issue was!
"Butterscotch." He snapped at the gargoyle guarding Dumbledore's office. He strode up the stairs and without knocking, entered the Headmaster's office. The office was well lit with candles burning brightly, which caused several of the portraits on the wall to complain and yet there was no sign of the Headmaster that had summoned him.
"Albus?" He called out.
"In here, Severus." A strained voice reached his ears, coming from a side room that he knew to be a bathroom. He grimaced at the thought of what he was going to walk in on. Why the blasted man didn't just man up and call for Poppy he did not know. Medical emergencies of all kinds were what she was paid to deal with. Even the bathroom kinds. He took a deep breath before following his employer's voice. He half wondered if he should ask Potter for his Lawyer's number and see if he could get him out of his teaching contract...
"Ah, Severus, you're here." Dumbledore looked up at him from where he lay prone next to the toilet. He was thankfully fully clothed but was incredibly pale with purple spots. "I think I've eaten something that did not agree with me." Was all the old man managed to say before he lunged for the loo to empty his stomach.
"So I can see." Severus wrinkled his nose in disgust. This was clearly something that Poppy could easily deal with, so the devil did that old man call for him instead?! He waited for the man to finish throwing up before asking that exact question.
"Because." Dumbledore said rather breathlessly. "I think I was poisoned."
Or he could have been pranked by a pair of red headed devils that he saw head this way when his patrol ended at midnight, Severus thought to himself before pulling out his wand. "I shall run a diagnostic."
A few spells later, Severus was faintly impressed by what had shown up on the medical diagnostic. Those Weasley twins were getting smarter. If he didn't know any better, he would have thought that Dumbledore had managed to get a batch of incorrectly brewed calming draught. His system showed he had ingested, lavender, crocodile heart, peppermint oil which are the ingredients for a calming draught but additionally there were Doxy eggs and rose oil. The doxy eggs would explain the nausea, but he hadn't realised that rose oil could interact with the other ingredients and could cause purple spots, it was certainly something he would look into later. He would also like to know how those two menaces got a hold of doxy eggs and would have to corner them later to find out. If there were Doxies in the Castle they needed to be dealt with sooner rather than later as he did not want to spend all his free time brewing cures for the hospital wing when students inevitably got bitten by the venomous buggers.
"It would seem that you ran across an inferior batch of calming draught." He told Dumbledore, banishing the diagnostic parchment. "I've told you to be careful where you get your supply."
"You would say that it was inferior as it wasn't one of yours." Dumbledore replied. before groaning softly in discomfort. "I would have asked you for some but as you've told me, dear boy, you are not my personal apothecary."
"I would provide them if you gave me enough notice and actually paid me the market price instead of demanding that I make them for you as part of my contract." He pointed out. "We've had this conversation before and as always you seem to decide that paying me for my additional work isn't worth it and instead buy inferior goods from outside. And now look." He conjured a mirror "I'm not sure how your provider managed it but on top of being sick, you have purple spots." He showed the man his reflection. The old man gently touched his own face and watched as his reflection did the same, proving that it was him in the mirror.
"Is there a way to fix this?" He asked before turning to throw up again.
Severus pulled out a few vials from his potion pouch that he had grabbed before leaving his quarters and waited for the man to finish before replying. "Drink these and your nausea should stop."
"And the spots?" Dumbledore asked as he reached for the vials.
"I am unsure." He admitted. He had never seen this combination of ingredients before and did not realise that they could have this effect. "You need the antidote for uncommon poisons because it looks like a doxy got into the potion rooms of your provider but they had already messed up your calming draught by adding rose oil." He explained away the results of the scan in case the man did actually go to Poppy for a second opinion.
"If they made such a large mistake as that then perhaps, I should rethink my stance on purchasing them from you instead." Dumbledore admitted. It was the first time Severus had ever known the man to change his mind on something and was quietly pleased. Oh, don't get him wrong, he deeply dislikes this man for what he had done and was doing to Potter, but if he could squeeze every knut from the man he could get then all the better. He would provide the potions that he was paid for but if they happened to be watered down or not as fresh.... Well, that wouldn't hurt anyone, much.
"Take the antidote and the stomach soother I've given you and try to get some rest." Severus told him. "I'll look into getting rid of your spots; however, I can not guarantee that I will find anything." Not that he would look too hard. He was sure the spots would go away on their own and anyway the old man deserved to suffer at least a little bit for what he's done and who was he to stand in the way of some good old revenge?
"Thank you, Severus." Dumbledore gave him his patent grandfatherly look that looked rather silly on his spotted and pale face.
Taking that as a dismissal Severus left. Casting tempus once he was out of the man's office. That had taken just over half an hour. He wondered if there was any point in trying to get some more sleep once he returned to his quarters before deciding that he might as well use the extra hour and a half to look into how the Weasley twins had managed to change the calming draught enough to cause stomach discomfort and purple spots while seeming leaving the original effects of the potion in place. He seriously doubted that Dumbledore would have been so calm about throwing up for half the night and covered in spots otherwise. For all his gentle and grandfatherly facade, the man was capable of throwing a tantrum when truly pushed.
As Severus headed back to his quarters to do some research he made the mental note to surprise the Weasley's class with a test today. They deserved it after causing him to lose out on sleep. And if he made their test harder than the rest of the class to truly test their knowledge well that was his own business.
Harry walked into the Great Hall after the weekend with Ron and was darkly pleased to see that Dumbledore was not present at the Head Table that morning. He nudged Ron and gestured with his head making him look towards the teachers.
"Brilliant." Ron said quietly but said no more as not to give anything away to anyone that was paying them any attention.
They sat down and started to pile food on their plates when owls started to arrive with the usual Daily Prophet, letters and parcels. Hedwig arrived as Harry was paying the Daily Prophet owl and he barely had any time to give the owl the money before she hurried the poor thing away.
"Hedwig." Harry laughed. "You have to let me pay him for my paper." He told her while soothing her feathers. "I'll get in trouble if I don't pay."
She looked reluctant and turned her head away in a tiff, ignoring the other owl and Harry until said owl was gone, only then did she deem Harry worthy of having her attention. He made sure to give her extra bacon for being so patient before taking the letters she was carrying from her.
"Thanks girl." She cooed and like she had yesterday, gently rubbed her beak against his nose. It was an adorable new habit, and he was dying to know where she picked it up from, but he didn't ask because she was allowed to keep her secrets. Once she had enough bacon and fussed over Harry to her heart's content, she flew off leaving Harry to enjoy the rest of his breakfast and read his letters.
"Read them later, mate." Ron nudged his plate towards him. "We have Care first thing this morning, so you'll need to eat more so you'll have enough energy."
"True." Harry put his letters in his bag for later. Ron was right, Care was a pretty physically demanding class. Sure, things were going well because the Slytherins were behaving but it was still taught by Hagrid, and he still wasn't quite used to the fact that they were all much smaller and weaker than he was, meaning his classes, although interesting, were often exhausting. Today they were supposed to have a lesson on Cornish Pixies, which yes, they did meet them last year with Lockhart, but Hagrid had promised not to set them loose on them like he had after they had explained why most of the class recoiled at the very idea of them.
The Slytherins had checked the curriculum as well just in case and apart from the first lesson with the Hippogriffs, Hagrid was actually following the previous teacher's lesson plans. So they didn't have a leg to stand on if they wanted to complain.
As Harry and Ron made their way out onto the grounds for their lesson, the letters in Harry's pockets played heavily on his mind. One would likely be from Sirius with the news of whether Finn had agreed to the contract or not. The others would likely hold everyone else's thoughts and opinions on it. He wasn't sure if Trent and Fenrir would be upset, after all Fenrir had told him several times that while it was okay to have a crush on Finn, nothing would come of it which obviously Harry knew, and he wasn't actually expecting anything! He was thirteen! But would they see him jumping on a chance to have a contract with him as childish? He didn't want them to think badly of him! And one of the letters could be from Finn! Merlin, what did he think about the whole thing?! Maybe Harry shouldn't have suggested him at all? He had already embarrassed himself in from of the man enough, confessed that he was gay to him even! And now he had asked his newly found dad to get them a betrothal contract! Sure, it was being put in place to protect Harry and to prevent Dumbledore from having married to any old witch or wizard in order to control him but...ugh it suddenly seemed so embarrassing!
Ron must have picked up on the Harry's spiraling thoughts as he nudged him fairly roughly to get him out of his own head.
"What's wrong?"
"Just freaking out." Harry admitted readily. At this point they were out on the grounds and there were hardly any students around as they had left breakfast early so it was relatively safe to talk about things.
"You'll continue to freak out until you've read your letters." Ron gave him a knowing look. "We're earlier than I thought we would be so read one of them now."
"You're right." Harry pulled out the small stack of letters from his robe pocket. "But which do I read?" There were four letters. He could tell now that he was looking who three of them were from but the last looked more official and he didn't recognise the seal on the back, so it wasn't from Gringotts. He was curious on who it could be from but that was quickly overwhelmed by his anxiety for the contents of the other letters.
"Who are you the most anxious to hear from?"
"Finn." Harry admitted. He needed to hear what the older man thought. Needed to know whether he had rejected him directly and not through anyone else.
"Then read his letter first." Ron suggested. "But hurry, I don't know when anyone else will turn up, including Hagrid!"
Harry took a deep breath and after putting the other letter's away, opened the one from Finn.
Ildflue
Stop freaking out. I agreed to the contract.
It's cute that you have a crush on me, I won't pretend that I never noticed but honestly you're still a child. Despite this contract being in a place you have to know that nothing will happen between us until you are of age and probably a little further than that if I am being honest. I'm going to take a leaf out of Fenrir and Trent's page. I'll give you until you are twenty one to woo me. I won't break the contract with you until then unless you want it broken earlier.
So please stop freaking out, just act like your usual self. Everything will be fine.
Finn
Ron watched as his friend read the letter. He kept an eye on the surroundings just in case but mostly he was watching Harry, he wanted to be prepared for whatever it was that he read. He needed to know whether he would need to comfort him and come up with another plan to keep him safe from Dumbledore. And wasn't that a bloody surprise?! He had never thought that Dumbledore would be so, so, so...Terrible?! That he would be someone that they needed to protect against rather than someone that protected them. Sure, there were signs from as early as their first year what with the Philosopher's stone being kept in the castle full of students and him being conveniently absent when Quirrelmort (As Harry has been calling him) head went after it but what Harry discovered this summer really hammered things home. Dumbledore was not a good man, probably just as bad as You Know Who to be honest. He made a mental note to send a letter to Bill and maybe even Charlie about what he had discovered. He might need one of them to step in as Harry's betrothed if Harry's blacksmith crush turned him down...although judging by how red Harry's face was going that might not be necessary.
"Good news?" He asked after watching Harry reread the letter four more times.
"He said yes." Harry all but squeaked and carefully folded the letter and put it away as if it was something precious.
"What else did it say?" He knew his friend took care with every letter he received, it was heartbreaking that it was still a novelty for him for someone to care, but this time Harry seemed to be taking even more care with it.
"That he knew I had a crush." Harry explained while going bright red. He took a calming breath before continuing. "That nothing would happen until I was an adult, that I had until I was twenty one to 'woo' him before he would break the contract."
"Well, you have what? Eight years to woo him?" Ron looped his arm around his mate's shoulders. "That's plenty of time." And it was smart on the Blacksmith's side. It gave the two of them plenty of time to get to know each other and it gave Harry a chance to grow out of his crush or to fall deeper, Ron thought as he looked at Harry's rosy cheeks.
"Eh? Ron and 'Arry?" Hagrid's voice interrupted them and the letter's and everything to do with Harry's betrothal were put out of mind.
"Morning Hagrid!" They both greeted the friendly half giant.
"You're a bit early." He told them gruffly as he held up a cage. "But you can help me to set up if you like."
Pup,
Finn agreed and has signed the betrothal contract. We've tweaked it a little, but I and the goblins agree to the changes so as long as you agree as well all that is needed is for you to sign it. I'll be sneaking into your school with all the necessary things so that you can. Did I mention that I'm an Animagus? I'm a large black dog, often mistaken for a Grim, which let me tell you is a lot of fun, and I have in the past enjoyed giving people heart attacks when they spot me thinking that they're going to die because they have seen a Grim. In that form, I'm generally called Padfoot which was your dad's suggestion. Your dad, James was also an Animagus and could become a Stag, his nickname was Prongs. Your mum showed us the film not long after she found that James could become a stag. I have never cried so much over something that was fictional. She found out that she was pregnant with you not long after showing us that film and so we all called you Bambi before you were even born. After you were born, James and Lily tended to be the ones to call you Bambi, I called you pup because you became my little puppy after I blood adopted you. That's why I call you pup, but I'll probably slip a little and call you Bambi too. I hope you won't mind or find it too childish or babyish.
Anyway, what was I saying before I got sidetracked? Right, I'm coming to Hogwarts as Padfoot. I'll be nearby until you send me a reply. Let me know where on the grounds to meet you, I know a few secret passages to get in, but you'll want to bring your invisibility cloak to cover me until we can get to your secret hideout. Don't think I have forgotten that you and your friends hide out in the chamber of secrets after you battled a sixty-foot snake! The adult in me wants to ground you for life but the cooler side of me really, really wants to see the chamber so I'll compromise and ask that you show me the chamber and I'll ground you for a single weekend during the school hols.
No rush for the reply, I know you're busy with lessons. I am so proud of you.
See you soon,
Dad.
Harry didn't know whether to laugh or cry after reading that letter. He already knew that Finn had agreed to the contract so that wasn't a surprise. He was surprised to find that his dad, both his dads were/are Animagus. Hadn't McGonagall once said that it was a really hard skill to learn? He wondered if his dad would teach him to be one too, that would be really cool! He had also learnt more about his parents than anyone had told him before, and he wanted to cry but was also embarrassed that they used to call him Bambi! And he also tried to forget the sentence of his dad calling him his puppy, Merlin, which was even more embarrassing! He hoped that he never called him that out loud. He would allow pup but not puppy!
"Making some interesting facial expressions there, Harrykins." Fred threw himself into the space next to him at the table in the Great Hall. It was lunchtime and Harry was taking the break to read his letters in between eating.
"Don't forget to eat." George appeared on his other side, nudging Harry's dish closer to him and ignoring the annoyed 'Hey!' from Ron as he was pushed to the side to make room. "Lunch is only so long."
Harry quickly folded and put the letter from his dad away. The last thing he wanted was for the twins to catch wind of the nicknames listed in the letter. Harrykins was bad enough, but he didn't mind it so much because they called Ron 'Ronniekins', so it made him feel like he was their little brother too, but he did not need them calling him anything else!
"I'm eating." He promised and made a point of taking a large bite out of a ham and cheese sandwich.
"Very convincing." Fred commented.
"Almost had us fooled." George continued.
"But that was mine." Ron chimed in.
"So?" Harry said, barely covering his mouth as he spoke around the food in his mouth.
"Speaking with food in his mouth?" George clasped at his chest as if he had been shot. "Forge! He's practically a Weasley with those manners!"
"Oh, he's a Weasley alright." Fred smirked. "But it's usually only Ron that speaks with his mouth full. Looks like someone has been learning some bad habits." He ruffled Harry's hair.
"Get off." Harry shoved the hand away but couldn't stop the smile from pulling his lips up. He finished what was in his mouth. "I wouldn't talk with my mouth full if you didn't interrogate me while I was eating."
"Interrogate you? Who? Us?" George was still acting wounded. "Never!"
"Oh, pipe down and let the man eat." Ron took mercy on Harry. "He's skinny enough as it is and if you keep distracting him with your antics he'll just be bones by the time he has to go to his next class."
"Sounds like a nasty curse that." Fred seemed intrigued.
"Think we could-" George picked up on his thoughts immediately.
"It would need a time limit-"
"Couldn't use pixie wings-"
"Or nettles, that would make it-"
And the twins were off, interrupting each other in their shared sentences as they rose from the table just as suddenly as they had appeared. Harry and Ron were left slightly stunned by their hurricane appearance and disappearance. Neither noticed a dark shadow following the twins from the hall.
"That was weird right?" Harry asked Ron as they recovered.
"Nah, it usually happens if they get an idea that they're dying to test out." He reassured Harry and nudged a plate of apple slices towards him. "Come one, eat up. You have class again soon."
"First I need to reply to my dad." Harry shoved the letter at Ron, trusting him not to make too much fun of him about the nicknames. He pulled out a sheet of parchment and one of the self inking quills and wrote a quick note.
Dad,
Please never call me Bambi or Puppy again. Pup is okay but be sensible, please?
Meet near Hagrid's hut? We can smuggle you in from there. I should be finished with dinner by seven so I'll pick you up around then.
See you soon,
Harry.
"Blimey, Harry." Ron smirked at him.
"Hey, no using what was in that letter against me." Harry scowled and snatched it from him and shoved the one he had just written at him. "You can read this and then can you owl it for me while I'm in class?"
"Of course." Ron agreed but Harry knew that it was about the letter and not the nicknames. He was probably going to regret showing him the first letter! "Eat up, I'll send the letter and pass a note off to the others about the meeting."
"Thanks." Harry replied around a mouthful of food.
Harry got through the rest of his day feeling both excited and nervous. He was going to see his dad again and he was going to sign a betrothal contract with Finn! So many things were happening in such a short amount of time that he was starting to feel overwhelmed about it all. He just hoped things would calm down once he had signed the contract, then he would be safe from Dumbledore. He still struggled with the fact that man had betrayed him and so thoroughly too. To put blocks on his magic, to steal from him and now to try and completely control his future including who he would spend the rest of his life with?! It was awful and on top of that he was trying to forget about Hermione. One of his first friends. He just still couldn't understand why or how she had changed so suddenly and now she had been bitten by a werewolf and he would likely never see her again! He just hoped that she was getting the help she needed and would enjoy going to school in America like Madam Bones said she would have to attend now that she was barred from any in Britain. Do not even get him started on how unfair that is!
Harry sat quietly at the table in the great hall while his mind was spiralled from everything that had been happening in the past few months. It was just insane. Luckily he wasn't left to brood for too long.
"Harry, you finished yet?" Ron asked, looking at Harry's half eaten plate with concern. It was approaching seven and they were supposed to meet Harry's dad shortly.
"Yeah, I'm not that hungry." Harry admitted. His thoughts had put him off the food.
"Take a couple more mouthfuls and then we'll go, okay?" Ron bartered before lowering his voice and adding, "Come on, don't make me tell your dad that you didn't eat your dinner."
"That's blackmail." Harry frowned but stabbed his fork in a piece of chicken and took a bite.
"More like coercion."
"Now who looks like they've eaten a dictionary." Harry found his mood lift a little. He could always rely on Ron to make him feel better, to look out for him. "You'd be an awesome healer, you know." He pointed out.
"W-what?" Ron spluttered in surprise. "Where did that come from? Me a healer?"
"You're great at taking care of me and making sure I take my potions and everything." Harry, distracted with the conversation, took several more bites of his dinner much to Ron's satisfaction. He was always worried that Harry didn't eat enough even with taking his potions. They would only work if he ate enough for them to have something to work with. \
"I'll think about that later." Him? A healer? The more Ron thought about the less he objected to the idea. It was certainly different to his siblings, he would be the first healer in the family since his great grandfather...He would think on it more later and maybe ask Percy what he thought. Percy had a tendency not to mask what he truly thought and so he would be his best bet to get an honest opinion from. That he would know what Ron would need to study to be a healer. He just kind of hoped that he hadn't hexed himself in the foot with his current electives.
"Alright, let's go." Harry put down his fork.
The two of them left the hall like they usually would but instead of heading to the dorms or the chamber of secrets they headed out onto the grounds. Their wands lit with a lumos to light the way. It was getting rather dark early now that they were in the latter half of the year and there weren't any lamps or candles lighting the way outside. They were nowhere near Hagrid's hut when a dark blur approached them. Harry tensed his wand light flicked as he was wrestled with the urge to hex the shape heading at them and keeping his lumos active. Thankfully neither boy cursed the dark shape as when it was close enough they saw that it was a large black dog.
"Dad?" Harry tentatively greeted the dog that skidded to a stop in front of them.
The dog barked softly.
"Blimey when he said he looked like a Grim never thought he meant it literally." Ron muttered as he took in the large dog.
"Here, try and stay under the cloak and follow us closely." Harry pulled out the invisibility cloak from his pocket and draped it over his dad. The dog disappeared.
"It's always so weird to see things disappear under the cloak." Ron commented.
"I know but let's go." Harry looked around nervously and hoped that no one was watching. "Dad, maybe bite the bottom of my school cloak so I know you're following?" There was a muffled bark of agreement before he felt a tug on his robes. "Okay let's go."
It felt more nerve wracking than normal as they made their way to Moaning Myrtle's bathroom. They did however reach it without being questioned or exposing the dog that was tagging along. In the bathroom waiting for them were as usual Fred, George and Draco.
"Is he with you?" Draco asked as he eyed the lack of visible the adult he had been expecting.
"Yes, so let's hurry." Ron urged them to get a move on while checking the door.
"Open." Harry hissed at the sink. He ignored the surprised bark from under the cloak behind him and stepped back a bit as the sink sank into the floor and revealed the hole in the ground. "Stairs" He hissed. There was a grating sound but low and behold stairs started forming leading down beneath the school. Harry turned and pulled the cloak off his dad. "Come on," He encouraged his dad, making sure to speak in English and not in Parseltongue. He led the way down into the Chamber of Secrets. His dad followed close behind, his claws tapping loudly on the stone steps. The other's followed shortly after and surprisingly kept quiet about the dog. Maybe Ron had told them about being an animagus?
As they reached the main antechamber, Harry was suddenly very glad that he had already given the corpse of the Basilisk to the Goblins as he doubted that his dad would have reacted well to it.
"Bloody hell." His dad suddenly morphed from dog to a man giving Ron a mini heart attack.
"Shouldn't I be saying that?" Sirius rasped as he took in the chamber, his face pale Harry followed his line of sight and winced.
"It's not blood." He tried to calm his dad. No, it was just the venom and ink left over from where and when he stabbed Tom Riddle's diary to death...while he was dying.
"I-" His dad took a deep and shaky breath. "Never mind, you did tell me about this but hearing about it is rather different to seeing where it happened." He took a few more deep breaths and the teenagers around him let him collect himself. "Now, I'm assuming this isn't precisely where you guys hang out. It's a little damp."
"No, we found a secret room." Harry told him.
"It's really cool." Fred or George said, Harry wasn't looking so he couldn't tell who.
"A secret room in the chamber of secrets? Mark me down as surprised." His dad muttered but Harry thought he wasn't supposed to have been able to hear that.
After they had all settled into the secret room, his dad got down to business.
"You can give me a proper tour of the place in a bit. But first I need you to read and sign this." Sirius pulled out a roll of parchment. He flattened it out with a muttered spell and pulled out a dark and sinister looking quill. "After discussing it with Trent, Fenrir, Finn and the Goblins, we decided it would probably be best if you use a blood quill to sign this. I know I told you to avoid using one."
"But that was just with Dumbledore." Draco explained for him. "If Harry signs this contract, the one that he agrees to with a blood quill then it will be impossible for Dumbledore to get him to sign a contract that magic would accept seeing as he already agreed in word, magic and blood to another."
"Exactly." Sirius clicked and pointed at Malfoy and bloody hell it was still a little weird that his pup was friends with someone from that family. Then again who was he to talk? "So read it carefully. Like I said in my letter we’ve changed a few things since the last time I saw you so ask me if you don't understand anything."
"Okay." Harry pulled the parchment closer and started to read. His friends crowded around him to try and read over his shoulder.
"Here." Sirius tapped the contract and four more copies appeared. "Harry's is the original and the one that needs to be signed but you can read the copies. It'll be easier than trying to read over his shoulder.
"The infidelity clause." Harry bit his lip as he pointed it out.
"Ah, Finn pointed out that if Dumbledore gets desperate..." Bloody hell he didn't want to try and explain this but he knew he had to. "Look, Pup." He looked into his son's large green eyes and forced himself to speak. "Dumbledore has already proven that he's not a nice man. He's blocked your magic and stolen from you and now he wants to try and control who you will marry in the future. If or when he finds out about this contract he might try and use more extreme means to break it. He will assume that there are infidelity clauses that if broken...even if they are unwillingly broken then the contract will be void and you would be punished by magic. He could then swoop in and attempt to get you married to your attacker." He winced and really wished he hadn't just had to tell his thirteen year old kid that he could be raped because he didn't follow some old man's plan.
Harry turned pale.
"Of course we aren't going to let that happen. You have your ring from Finn that will warn you about potions and it acts as a shield if you're attacked by low level spells. I've dug out an old Black family heirloom that makes, " He cringed before saying the word. "Rape impossible." He held out a pure gold bracelet cuff. "If anyone touches you without your permission with any impure thoughts then this bracelet will protect you. It's a ward. Your attacker will get a shock first but if they continue to try and touch you then they will find out why exactly the Black family was so feared." His grin was feral and humourless. "I will do everything in my power to protect you, pup. The change in clause is merely part of that."
Harry accepted the bracelet wordlessly from his dad. He put it on his left wrist and watched as previously invisible runes flared a bright red before vanishing. The bracelet shrink to fit and sealed itself around his wrist in single band of metal. "Thank you."
"Come here," Sirius opened his arms and Harry dived into them. He held his son tightly soothing him as he came to terms with what he had been told. He hoped that the bracelet would never be needed but having him wear it settled some of his worries.
Harry held onto his dad, taking comfort from his hug. He didn't know what to say or to think. In the end he decided not to think about it all. The bracelet would protect him and so would the contract so he didn't need to think or worry about it any further. He enjoyed the embrace from his dad for a moment longer before pulling back. He still needed to read the rest of the contract.
"Why is there nothing in here about children?" Draco asked, taking the attention from Harry as he moved to go back to his seat.
"There's no need for that to be in a contract of betrothal only marriage." Sirius explained. "Basically, if Harry and Finn decided to get married, they would get a second contract drawn up and it would be included in that. This is merely to say that the both of them are inclined to get married when Harry is of age, not that they will for sure."
"It's a long engagement then?" Fred asked.
"Yes, I suppose that's the best way to explain it." Sirius agreed.
"And to think you got a ring before signing any contracts." George teased gently.
"In that case Finn's engaged to Hedwig as well." Harry retorted and stuck his tongue out at them both. His ring from Finn was a source of comfort for him on his right hand ring finger and he knew that it had been sent to protect him, not for an engagement as they hadn't even been discussing this when he sent it! His remark sent the both of them into giggles as they imagined a faceless blacksmith marrying an owl.
In the end Harry signed the contract.
He winced at the pain of using a blood quill. His name appeared briefly on the back of his hand as he wrote it on the parchment. The pain only lasted a moment and the cuts healed as soon as he stopped writing. The contract glowed a soft gold once he had finished signing. Finn had already signed it.
