The Goblet of Marriage

Chapter 1: First Additions

It was for the best, Harry reminded himself for perhaps the 100th time. It was necessary. The wizarding world in Britain could not survive without it.

At least that was his rationale as he watched the Goblet of Fire try and make its first selection. The first time he had watched this cup make a selection had been over 4 years ago in his 4th year, seemingly a lifetime ago. A lot had happened since then.

The war, the war with Voldemort that had claimed countless lives. The magical population had been so reduced in fact that they simply couldn't survive without dying out...not unless they went along with what they were going through now.

It had taken months of deliberation but ultimately there really was no other choice, if there had been some other option...no there wasn't, he reminded himself, it had to be done which was the only reason he was going through with this. He tried to tell himself that he didn't actually want this like other wizards probably at least secretly did...or was he just fooling himself?

The reason for worrying about when his name came out of the Goblet of Fire was not to see if he would end up Triwizard Champion again, nor would he be surprised this time if his name came out of it, it was only a matter of time.

He was however relieved when the first two names spit out of the goblet and were read and neither of them were his.

"Ferdinand Mirkwood to be wed to Olivia Creswell," Minister Shacklebolt read.

There was some surprise among the audience, particularly between the two people whose names had just been read, but it seemed both of them were actually rather pleased with the decision. From what little Harry knew of the two of them, having both attended Hogwarts a couple years ahead of them, they had already been good friends with each other to begin with and had even dated a little, so the realization that they were soon to be married was not a totally unwelcome one. It appeared that at least so far that the goblet was doing its job well

The job that the goblet had been assigned was one no person would have been willing to touch as choosing who should marry who would be a simply impossible task for anyone as they could never be impartial enough...but the goblet, crafted long ago to make difficult decisions including this one somehow knew. It had been ages since it had been used for this purpose, not since before the time of the Founders of Hogwarts but it would take into account many different factors: wealth of the individual, magical power, compatibility between the people involved, somehow it figured all of it out.

The reason for them doing this was however out of necessity: with the magical population so drastically reduced in Britain, if they were to survive longer than a few generations they needed to intermarry with whoever was left.

As yet another couple of names popped out of the goblet he was reminded that it was likely he would have to go through this more than once, many times in fact. Voldemort in his paranoia and fear had forced every male wizard he captured capable of wielding a wand, that is 11 or older to take the Dark Mark or be killed. As a safety precaution to keep anyone from trying to overthrow him, he'd made it so that upon his death, every person that had taken the mark died also.

That caused huge amount of extra deaths and left a lot more women than men still alive. Of course many witches had suffered too at the hands of death eaters, taking as many "liberties" as they wanted with them.

It was a sickening thing, something he hadn't been aware of until after the war was over as he had been in hiding for the last year, but the reality was that left a lot of widows and unmarried women to be taken care of.

With things the way they were, the Ministry was forced to not only enact a marriage law that forced people to marry, but also allow for wizards, particularly those with extra means in property and monetary wealth to support others, to marry more than one witch.

Upon the end of the war, Harry found himself somehow richer than ever, richer than anyone else in Britain in fact as numerous people who had been killed had left him their fortunes, hoping that it would help him in his efforts to finally kill Voldemort and bring peace back to the land.

He'd be giving most of it away of course no one needed that much money , having already donated vast sums to the poor and needy, but for now it meant he was more likely than anyone to have more than one wife, many wives in fact...and just who exactly he couldn't say or how his wives would manage to get along.

It might have been many a guy's dream to have more than one wife, but he also couldn't help but fear how he would ever manage to take care of one wife, let alone more than one.

Then there was more than one mother-in-law of course.

Well he supposed he would just have to see. He was however grateful that the Goblet was making these decisions. Had it been up to him he'd never have been able to choose. As the savior of the Wizarding world pretty much every available witch in Britain seemed to be after him, but letting a impartial third party that everybody could get mad at for not being selected to marry him sounded like a good idea. There was also the fact that if his wives didn't get along with someone the Goblet selected he could blame the Goblet for that too.

Still leaving his future up to a mere magical item seemed pretty scary regardless. What if he ended up with some mean, old hag or something somehow?

Or what if because he was so rich and powerful he ended up with like 30 wives all at once?

Very unlikely, but possible. The Ministry wanted to do 200 marriages selected from the Goblet a month, but with only 150 wizards left in all of Britain that meant that some were at least guaranteed to get more than one each time and once again considering his wealth, magical power, desirability among witches, yeah he was likely going to be getting more than one each month, he just hoped it wouldn't be too many.

After several more names were read, with the individuals mostly looking pleased and relieved, but also with some expected fear and reservations as to how this would all work, Harry found himself getting more and more nervous himself.

His name had been written down many times taking into account his vast wealth, magical power, etc so he'd have to go through this a lot but who would he marry first?

Then…he finally got his answer.

Two names popped out of the goblet and Minister Shacklebolt read them aloud:

"Harry Potter to be wed to Ginny Weasley."

Immediately a rush of a mix of feelings hit him, fear, worry, but also excitement, relief, and joy as he learned who he would first be marrying.

If he had chosen himself, Ginny would have actually been his first choice as well, they had dated only briefly over a few weeks a year or two ago, but he'd certainly really, really liked her.

He decided to brave looking at her and noticed that she was looking back at him. To his relief she was smiling, clearly pleased at this result.

She really was beautiful, he thought with her very long kneelength red hair, pretty face, curvy figure and deep brown eyes that were looking at him with deep satisfaction.

They both made their way over to each other to talk.

"So I suppose we'll be getting married then," He said, stating the obvious, now feeling completely awkward and unable to meet her eyes now, "are you okay with that?"

"Not exactly how I planned it, but yes I'm more than okay with that," Ginny said as she braved putting her hand over his, causing him to finally look at her as she was still smiling, "I missed you Harry."

He smiled and said, "I missed you too, I'm glad it's you I'll be marrying"

They looked closely into each other's eyes and for a moment it was like old times back when they were dating. He just felt so at peace, so capable of handling everything else so long as he could have moments like this with her.

Then he had a twinge of regret as he remembered that he'd broken up with her, for her own safety.

"Ginny I'm so sorry, I-" He began to say.

She however put a finger over his lips and said, "none of that matters now."

He still then fumbled with what to say, still feeling incredibly guilty. He broken up with her to protect her but ultimately she'd only ended suffering a great deal anyway...and he hadn't been there to help her through it.

"I don't know what to say to make things all better," He admitted.

"We're still getting married aren't we?" Ginny pointed out with a smile, "I'd say you're off to a good start."

He smiled a little but still felt guilty.

"I don't, I can't," He tried again to say something.

Again she put a finger over his mouth and said firmly, "later, for now just shut up and kiss me."

That really caused him to smile and he didn't need to be told twice, he ignored the audience of people still around them, ignored his guilt and everything that had happened and chose to kiss the girl he loved.

Wait, loved?

Before he could really process it though, his lips were on hers and all his fears melted away. Oh he'd missed this, missed kissing Ginny as he hungrily sought out her lips again and again, mashing his body into hers, his desire for her finally after so long being allowed to be acted upon.

Finally they broke apart, both of them with huge grins on their faces.

There were also a few wolf whistles from the audience still around them, but they ignored them and just smiled back at each other. For him it felt like there was only him and Ginny.

However that moment of it just being the two of them was very short lived as the next couple names popped out of the goblet.

Minister Shacklebolt again read the two names aloud:

"Harry Potter to be wed to Hermione Granger."

His heart stopped at that. He'd only just gotten over finding out he would be married to Ginny, who he already had a romantic history with, but now his best friend?

His best friend, he realized, at least he was marrying his best friend...that should have relieved him but it also caused him to be even more worried. How would Hermione react to having to not only marry him but share him with another girl?

Turning to look at Hermione, he was a lot more worried about her reaction than Ginny's, but she seemed to also be smiling even if she also seemed understandably concerned as well.

He managed to smile back at her to reassure her that it was okay and moved with Ginny over to her.

As he did so, he couldn't help but look Hermione over. While they had been best friends for years, he supposed having been so close to her all that time had caused him not to notice just how beautiful Hermione had gotten over those years. Back when he had first met her 8 years ago, she had had impossibly bushy hair that went past her shoulders, big buck teeth, and a little girl's body. Over the years her hair had gradually straightened itself out and in order to fit in better with the other witches who typically grew their hair very long, had grown her hair to her knees, a shimmering beautiful brown waterfall of hair. She sometimes complained that it took forever to brush out and maintain and was rather excessive, but he could also tell she really did like it.

Her buck teeth had been straightened out years ago, and she was most definitely a woman now. While she usually tended to hide her figure in her loose witches robes, in certain special occasions like today where she was wearing a nice red dress she showed off just how much she had. Her breasts indeed were very large, definitely bigger than Ginny's who wasn't really lacking there either, and while of course he couldn't really see it right now, he knew she had a nice big bum too.

Really Hermione was quite a catch now and he thought he ought to feel very grateful for now having 2 beautiful wives to be.

As they pushed through the crowd to finally get to Hermione however, he felt once again very nervous how this was all going to play out.

"Are you okay?" He asked Hermione warily.

Hermione nodded and said, "well logically I suppose it makes sense given the fact that we are such good friends and what we've already gone through together."

"We have gone through a lot," He confirmed, "I just never thought that I would actually be marrying you."

He noticed Hermione look very disappointed by that statement for a moment, but immediately it seemed to disappear and she smiled back at him as she said, "well it could certainly be worse, you would have been my first choice, Harry."

"Harry would have been mine too," Ginny admitted happily as she took his hand and gave it a little squeeze.

There was then an awkward moment of silence as the two girls, soon to be both married to him as co-wives seemed to have a silent conversation as they looked each other over.

This could get ugly real fast he realized, Ginny and Hermione were already good friends and both of them seemed okay with marrying him, but having to share him as a husband was certainly something neither of them really wanted, even though that was the position they now found themselves in.

It was Hermione who spoke first as she said, "I'm pleased that it will be you that will be my co-wife."

Hermione held out a hand for Ginny to shake but Ginny said with a smile, "oh come on Hermione, we're close enough not to need handshakes, besides we're going to be family now."

Ginny pulled Hermione in for a hug and the two girls hugged it out for awhile, whispering a few things to each other that he couldn't hear, but he felt sure they were talking about him.

At least it seemed Hermione and Ginny stood a good chance of getting along...mostly, they were off to a good start at least.

Still he felt sure that this wasn't over though, there were still plenty of witches out there left to be picked and not enough wizards to go around, yet who would be crazy enough to want to marry a man who already had 2 wives-to-be?

He got his answer 5 minutes later, which by then most of the men had already gotten at least one wife to be married to, with several including himself getting two.

That should have reassured him that he wouldn't get anymore wives at least for today but as with it seemed everything in his life, he should just expect the unexpected.

Two more names popped out of the goblet and Shacklebolt now likely tired of reading names, read them aloud:

"Harry Potter to be wed to Luna Lovegood."

There was a squeal of delight from a certain blonde haired girl who immediately ran over to him and practically jumped on top of him to give him a huge hug.

"Yes I won!" Luna declared happily.

"What did you win?" Ginny asked.

"Why Harry of course," Luna answered easily as she continued to hug him tightly, "isn't he the sexiest, handsome, brave, smart, kind man you've ever seen?"

Ginny smiled and said, "well I'm not going to disagree with you there."

Surprisingly Hermione admitted, "I can see that too."

"Well you're pretty great yourself Luna," Harry told her, trying to come up with a decent reply.

While he simply adored Luna for her happy and positive attitude despite her rather rough life, he had to admit she was quite beautiful too. Her figure wasn't as curvy as say Hermione or even Ginny's but she still had a nice body and her gorgeous beautiful very long blonde hair went all the way to the floor.

"Oooh thanks Harry," Luna said, pleased by his compliment, "I can't wait to have sex with you and have your babies."

He just about choked at that, even though Luna was right in exactly the whole reason they were even doing this marriage thing, the ministry was trying to encourage as many children born as possible, going so far as to ban the use of the contraceptive charm or any other forms of birth control, require the use of fertility potions for women and vitality potions for men, and give greater tax breaks for those with more children.

However he was unable to reflect too much on this because the next thing he knew and Luna was on top of him again, kissing him for all she was worth.

He found himself eagerly responding, he'd never really thought about kissing Luna, but now that he was he was certainly enjoying it. Luna really was funny and cute and he was definitely okay with marrying her if she had this kind of response to him.

However he eventually pulled away from her and Luna reluctantly stopped kissing him.

He looked over at Ginny though, now worried about her reaction.

Ginny seemed surprised but managed to say, "well I suppose I'd better get used to you kissing other girls then.

"It will take some getting used to," Hermione also admitted, now looking worried.

"You should kiss him too Hermione," Luna suggested, "Harry is a great kisser and it's lots of fun."

Hermione now looked very nervous as she looked both at him and Ginny.

"Go on," Ginny urged, looking a little pained at having to do this, but realizing that she probably should, "you'll have to do a lot more than kiss him soon enough."

Still nervous Hermione went over to him and he pulled her in closer to him in an embrace. It should have felt weird holding Hermione like this, but somehow it just felt so right, like a part of him had wanted to see Hermione in this way but hadn't had the opportunity to discover it yet.

He looked directly into her eyes. She really was beautiful he realized, no less beautiful than Ginny or Luna.

Tenderly yet slowly allowing her time to pull away if she wanted to, he pulled her in for a kiss. She was the third girl that he had kissed that day, but it was no less magical, no less amazing and wonderful and so incapable of describing with words, yet it immediately changed how he felt about Hermione. She was still his best friend, but he realized she would be something so much more than that...she was...going to be his wife.

His wife, he was going to be marrying Hermione, his beautiful best friend that had stood by him for so long and through so much.

He felt Hermione begin to cry and so he pulled away.

"Are you okay?" He asked her now worried, "I'm sorry if we went to fast or-"

"No, it's not that," Hermione admitted wiping tears away, "it's just I never thought this would happen and yet it is and I never thought you would feel this way about me but it seems now you do and-"

He didn't know what to say, evidently Hermione had already harbored feelings for him, she just had never acted on them, which made things easier since they were going to be married, but how was he to express how he really felt about her...so instead of respond he just pulled her in for another hug, reassuring both himself and her that everything was going to be okay.

To his surprise, Ginny and Luna also joined in the hug.

"Group hug!" Luna said as she hugged part of his back.

"We'll figure this all out," Ginny added.

"Yes we will," Harry agreed, trying to reassure both him and the girls. It would take time and effort but they would.