AN: The longest chapter to date by several hundred words! Enjoy it, because the next chapter will be the shortest one to date. I tried, but I just couldn't achieve a better split while still (trying to) focus on one girl every chapter.

Chapter 18: Culture Clash

With how the Second Task had been interrupted, points had instead been awarded based on the preparations taken by the contestants and how well they had performed before they had been sent back to the surface by the merfolk. Harry, unsurprisingly, had received the full fifty points. Not even Karkaroff had dared to give anything less than a perfect score to the hero of the day.

Harry was just happy he'd now managed to retreat into the Room of Requirement, though Gabrielle and Cho had joined him and his girls, Ron and Hermione.

It felt surprisingly strange to sit on a couch and not have a girl pressed against him on either side – plus maybe Luna on his lap – however today Harry had invited Gabrielle and Cho to sit with him instead so that he could get to know them better.

"I had no idea about half those things," Cho said when Harry finished retelling his adventures throughout his first three years at Hogwarts. "I mean, I knew about the Chamber of Secrets and the dementors, but not that you were involved in all that. And the Philosopher's Stone?"

"So what did you know?" Harry asked, diverting the topic away from his own achievements.

"From second year, only Dumbledore's announcement and that you got a lot of points at the end of the year," she replied. "And from third year only that some people were petrified, then at the end of the year Dumbledore told us everything had been resolved. Last year… well, it felt really gloomy with those dementors around, but until that story in the Prophet a few weeks back I had no idea you had almost been Kissed!"

Gabrielle grabbed Harry's hand and squeezed it. "I'm 'appy that didn't 'appen, or you couldn't 'ave saved me."

Harry smiled at her, feeling a mixture of gratitude and sadness at the realization he had. "If that had happened, Malfoy wouldn't have attacked you," he said. "I suspect he did it to get at me by killing Ron and Hermione, with you and Cho as nothing but collateral damage."

Gabrielle put her arms around Harry in a hug. "But you saved us."

Harry brushed a hand through her gorgeous blonde hair. "That seems to be what I do," he replied. "Saving people, saving the Stone… Hermione once said I have a 'saving people thing'."

Cho snorted. "Doing your best to live up to your fame, huh?"

Harry grimaced. "I don't want any fame. If I could become just another anonymous person, I'd do so immediately."

"Sorry," Cho said. "I shouldn't have said that. I just wanted to tease you a bit."

Harry gave her a smile. "That's fine. As long as I know you're just teasing me, it's no problem. I'm just… I guess I just want to make sure people don't see me as a symbol, in particular those close to me."

"Well," Cho said, "then I am very sorry to have to tell you that I see you as a hero who saved my life, and that's who you are so there's nothing you can do about it." She grinned at him.

"Fair enough," Harry conceded.

Cho put her head on his shoulder. "Thanks. Again."

Harry put a kiss on her head. "You're welcome."

Gabrielle wormed under his other arm, getting her face close to his and brazenly stealing a kiss on the lips from him, giggling as she retreated from his mouth.

Harry raised an eyebrow at her.

"I just wanted to say thanks as well," she said.

"You're going to be a handful, aren't you?" he replied.

"Yup," she said. Proudly.

"I'm doomed," Harry muttered as he pulled the French girl closer to him.

"Why's that?" she asked.

"Because I can't stop myself from caring about all of you," Harry said. "I have…" he stopped to count, "eleven future wives assuming you four all sign a contract with me, which seems likely."

"So you're okay with it?" Gabrielle immediately asked.

Harry snorted. "More like I think there's no use in resisting. And while your magic might not be able to affect me, you are still far too adorable too resist."

Somehow, the girl managed to make her eyes look even bigger – and more adorable – as she grinned at him from under his arm.

"One day," Harry said, "you are all going to be the death of me."

The next day, after dinner, Harry figured it had become absolutely clear that neither Cho nor Gabrielle was going anywhere but with him, so he took them to the Room of Requirement to tell them about the time travel, as he thought they should know before committing to anything.

"I'm a time traveler," he simply said as he sat down.

"What do you mean?" Gabrielle asked.

"Just what I said," Harry said. "I devised a method to travel about a decade back in time after... things went wrong. I returned to last summer."

"You did change a lot," Cho noted. "I remember you were all blushing when we had our Quidditch game last year, then when you approached me about Luna you were much more restrained." She herself blushed slightly. "I think that's when I started to like you, when I realized you had become more mature. So… what exactly went wrong? My father always believed Dumbledore that You-Know-Who is still out there. Was that what happened?"

"No," Harry said. "Well, yes, he did come back, but we managed to defeat him. You know how the marriage contract I have with Lyra works?"

"Yes," Cho said.

"No," Gabrielle said.

"Basically," Harry explained, "there was an old marriage contract, written like two hundred years ago, which stipulated that in a certain situation, the Malfoy or Potter family would have to provide a partner for the Lord of the other family by the age of 25, or both parties would lose their magic. It failed to specify that that wouldn't happen if the eligible people were both male or both female, so upon my turning 25, both me and Lyra - then Draco - would lose our magic.

"I only discovered the contract at the age of 23, and while I was already married with a vow that didn't leave room for a second marriage. That was another issue, because I had received a lot of criticism for marrying only once despite having multiple titles, a tradition I wasn't aware of until said criticism."

"So you found that contract, couldn't meet the requirements, and then traveled back in time?" Gabrielle asked.

"Yes," Harry said.

She started giggling. "And you're trying to convince us you aren't special."

"So what happened?" Cho asked. "In the years in between, I mean. Can you tell us?"

"Of course I can," Harry replied. "And most of it will happen differently, anyway. When the idea of going back in time took root, I realized I should also use it to take care of Voldemort without letting a second war happen, so that's something I've also been working on."

"What about us?" Cho asked. "Did you get to know us in the… other timeline as well?"

"Yes," Harry said. "I was entered into the Tournament the first time around as well, as you're probably not surprised to hear—"

"Do you know how that happened?" Cho interrupted him. "I mean, I don't think anyone still believes you entered yourself anyway, but what did happen?"

"It's part of Voldemort's plot to be resurrected," Harry said. "The goal is that I win the tournament, and then when I grab the Cup at the end of the third task, I'll be transported to the location where he'll be resurrected, using my blood because he wants to overcome the protection my mother granted me, the protection that reflected the Killing Curse when I was little."

"You're going to stop that?" Gabrielle asked.

"Sort of," Harry said. "To kill him fully, he first needs to have a body, so I need to capture him instead. I intend to bring him back to Hogwarts while captured so that I can prove to everyone that he was not only still around, but won't be so anymore. He's still vulnerable when resurrected, until he actually has his wand, so that's when I need to capture him."

"Wow," Gabrielle said.

Harry snorted. "Rule number one of Harry's Potter's life, girls: the weirdest things happen no matter how much I try to be normal. Anyway, Cho asked about the two of you. The last time around during the Second Task, there was no Malfoy trying to kill all of you, however I was at the time stupid enough to believe you were in real danger, so when Fleur didn't manage to get to the merfolk village I rescued Gabrielle as well. No life debt of course, as there was no actual danger and on top of that I hadn't put myself in danger anyway. Apart from that, I don't remember much about you even though we technically ended up as extended family."

"Really?" Gabrielle asked. " 'Ow did that 'appen?"

"I married Ginny," Harry said, "while Fleur married Bill, Ginny's oldest brother. So you were the sister-in-law of my brother-in-law."

"And what about me?" Cho asked.

Harry grimaced. "That wasn't all a good story. You got into a relationship with Cedric, just like happened this time around, except without you also fancying me - or at least not as much. Cedric and me arrived at the Cup together at the end of the tournament, and agreed to share the victory for Hogwarts. When the Cup transported us to the place of Voldemort's resurrection instead, he was killed. So you lost your boyfriend with that.

"And, well, the next year we kind of got into a relationship, but I didn't have a clue what I was doing, and you were struggling to deal with the loss of Cedric and to top it off I messed up several times, and it just didn't work out. It was terribly awkward all around."

"That… wow," Cho said. "I'm… not sure how to react to that."

"I get that," Harry replied. "You know, I considered asking you if you wanted to marry one of my titles earlier in the year, but I decided against it because I hoped you and Cedric might get together like I think would've happened the last time around if it hadn't been for him dying. But with what now happened, I guess it's time for me to move on from that idea."

Cho nodded. "I think I'd rather be with you. Even with what you told me – us."

Harry pulled her into a hug. "And I'm really glad to have you." He hesitated a moment, then placed a soft kiss on Cho's lips.

"How far did we get?" she asked. "When… you said we had a relationship, right?"

"Yes," Harry replied. "But we got no further than what we just did already. It's not as if I know what you look like under there or anything."

Cho blushed.

"You can know what I look like under 'ere," Gabrielle said from Harry's other side, causing him to turn to her in surprise.

"I… what?" he asked, bewildered, even as the girl smirked at him.

"We're going to marry anyway, right?" she said, pulling at her skirt slightly.

Harry put his hand on hers. "Yes," he said, "that does seem likely. But perhaps we should take it a little more slowly?"

Gabrielle pouted. "Why? 'Aven't you gone any further with the other girls yet? I thought you 'ad."

"None of them are thirteen – well, none with who I've gone all the way are – and they've known me for longer."

Gabrielle climbed on Harry's leg, presumably consciously rubbing her crotch against him for a bit. "But to you it's nothing new," she said.

Harry brushed his hand through her hair. "I don't want to go too quick for you, Gabby. I can call you that, right?"

"Of course," she replied, nodding. "And you really don't need to worry about me, you know. I'm a veela."

Ah, yes, that might explain why she was being so forward. Probably. It wasn't like Harry knew what the differences between veela and humans were, beyond the obvious.

"We're definitely not going under each other's clothes before a contract is signed," Harry said. "And I would like to know a little more on the differences between veela and humans. Can I trust you to be objective on that?"

With the sultry way she looked at him, Harry was of half a mind to ask Fleur for information instead, however he let it be.

"Well, you know about the allure already," she said. "We also stay beautiful longer, as you can see from my mother, we're also more open with sex, most veela 'ave several partners in life, both boys and girls."

"Well," Harry mused, "perhaps you could entice Ginny and Pansy into something."

"I knew it!" Cho exclaimed. "Those two were having too much of a good time at Yule."

Harry chuckled. "I remember that. Anything else, Gabby?"

"Well," she said, "you already know 'ow to deal with ze allure, so I don't need to teach you, we also all look a little similar, in particular the blonde 'air and blue eyes are omnipresent. Uh… the daughters of a veela and a wizard are always veela, while the sons are not. You know that we can transform?"

Harry nodded. "Some bird-like form, right? I have never seen it up close. Can you show it?"

Gabrielle hopped off the couch to stand in front of Harry and transformed in front of his eyes. Wings sprouted from her back, ripping her shirt, and most of her body came to be covered in very soft-looking feathers. She also gained a few inches as her shoes popped off her feet, which transformed into bird-like claws, and her fingernails grew into claws. Her face, last of all, gained some vaguely bird-like features, but little more than the same feathers that covered most of her body, still leaving her recognizable.

"I 'ope you don't mind this?" Gabrielle asked with a much rougher voice than the smooth one she normally had.

"No," Harry said, extending his hand, which she tentatively grasped. "If there's one thing I dislike about the wizarding world, it's the outdated beliefs that humans are better than other races. Even an idiot can see that you're just as smart, just as knowledgeable as any human."

The girl transformed back and hopped into Harry's lap, snogging him enthusiastically. "So you don't mind if I transform sometimes?"

"Not at all," Harry replied as he cast a reparo to fix the holes her wings had ripped in her clothes. "Say, when does it happen? Do you always control it?"

"Most of the time," she replied, "but sometimes when very emotional, or during sex, a partial or full transformation can 'appen by accident. Veela also tend to… get encouraged by other veela if they transform, so if one veela transforms, the others tend to follow."

They looked each other in the eye for a few seconds while Harry waited for her to formulate what she wanted to ask.

She looked away for a moment, and Harry pulled her chin up to place a kiss on her mouth. "Ask," he said.

"You… you won't get mad if I accidentally transform while having sex, right?"

"Of course not!" Harry said, hugging her. "I'd be a terrible husband if I couldn't accept you for who you are."

They sat there in silence for several seconds before Cho spoke up.

"So what about You-Know-Who? How is he still alive?"

"He created something called horcruxes," Harry replied. "Very dark magic that allowed him to store part of his soul into objects, and as long as those exist he cannot completely die. Over the winter holidays, when I was gone from Hogwarts, I've taken care of most of them. The only one that's still remaining is his snake, which will be there at his resurrection ritual. Also, you should perhaps know that Professor Moody is in fact an impersonator, though a really good one that acts pretty much exactly the same as the real Moody. He's the one who put my name in the Goblet. We can't expose him because he needs to change the Cup into a portkey, and if Voldemort's plan for his resurrection is spoiled, I don't know what he'll do instead, so I lose my big advantage over him."

From there, the girls started asking Harry questions about the war, which wasn't entirely unexpected – most of his girls had reacted that way. He told them as much as he could, while still leaving out the darker parts. As he had also told Lavender, there was no need to make them feel like they had lived through a war themselves.

Yet another two days later, Harry and Hermione, accompanied by McGonagall, made their way through the floo to the Leaky Cauldron, where Hermione's parents were already waiting for them.

"Harry," Hermione said, "this is my father, Daniel, and this is my mother, Emma. Mom, dad, this is Harry."

"Pleased to meet you," Harry said, shaking the hands of both. "As I believe Hermione has explained in her letter, I've arranged for you to accompany us to Hogwarts so that we can discuss a few matters that have come up."

Mr Granger nodded. "So Hermione wrote. But I thought muggle parents were not welcome at Hogwarts?" He shot a questioning glance at McGonagall.

"Sadly, they normally aren't," McGonagall said, "and it is something I would love to see changed. However, as it happens Mr Potter has enough political influence to force an exception to be made. We will use the floo to go to Hogwarts, just like you saw us arriving. All you have to do is throw floo powder into the hearth and step into the flames while saying 'Hogwarts'. The internal system in Hogwarts will divert you to the right hearth, namely the one in my office. Mr Potter, perhaps you can go first?"

Harry nodded, doing as McGonagall had explained the Grangers. Hermione followed after him, then her parents, then McGonagall last of all.

"So, what exactly needs to be discussed?" Mr Granger asked. "Hermione's letter was not very clear on the subject."

Harry raised an eyebrow at her, making her blush. "How am I supposed to explain it?" she asked.

"Perhaps we should sit down first?" Harry proposed. "Professor, could you conjure some seats?"

"Of course," McGonagall said, conjuring two couches – one for Harry and Hermione, another for the Grangers – and sitting down in the already present chair herself.

"Well," Harry said, "I think you should explain life debts at least, Hermione."

"Uh, okay," Hermione said, sounding like she was preparing to give an oral exam. "A life debt is a bond that can form between two magical people if four requirements are met. The first is that one of them needs to be in life-threatening danger, and that the other person saves them. The second is that the person saving them needs to do so on their own, without anyone else helping. The third is that the person saving them must put their own life in danger to save them, and the fourth is that the person saving them must not be expecting any personal gain from doing so."

"Let me see if I follow that," Mrs Granger said. "Someone needs to be saved from a life-threatening situation, and the savior needs to do so on their own, while putting themselves into life-threatening danger as well, and without expecting anything in return?"

"Correct," McGonagall said.

"And this is related to the 'something has happened' that you were talking about in your letter, Hermione?" Mr Granger asked.

"Yes," Hermione said. "I wrote about the Tournament, right?" Her parents nodded. "Last week was the Second Task, and in that task the Champions had to rescue a hostage from the bottom of the lake. Everything with safety measures in place, of course. I was the hostage for Viktor Krum, the Durmstrang champion."

"Perhaps I should take over here," Harry said. Everyone turned to him. "As you are probably aware, in the late seventies the Wizarding World went through a war. Though Voldemort was eventually defeated, some of his followers managed to bribe their way out of prison. One of them was Lucius Malfoy – though obviously never proven, I should add before word of this gets out and he accuses me of slander.

"There were some… complicated things going on this last summer. One of the more simple things is that Lucius Malfoy was sentenced to two months in jail for a different crime, temporarily making his daughter, Lyra, the Head of House Malfoy, meaning she could make decisions in his stead. Just around that same time, I discovered that my own house, House Potter, had a very convoluted contract with House Malfoy, that effectively meant I had to write a marriage contract with Lyra.

"I'm leaving out a few things here for simplicity, but long story short, Lyra asked much less in return for honoring the contract than Lucius liked because she had different priorities, which he of course didn't appreciate. In addition, as you probably know I am pretty much the face of Voldemort's opposition. With the marriage contract, Lyra and me started spending much more time together, and she started coming around to my views in a lot of things.

"Then, to add to that, once he was out of prison Lucius suffered several political defeats because information that he had kept secret became public because of me sharing it with the media.

"Throw all that together, and it appears he wanted to strike back at me. And it seems he wanted to do so by striking at my best friends – Ron and Hermione. Ron was my hostage in the second task, and as Hermione already said, she was Krum's hostage. Keep in mind that the official investigation is still underway, but it appears that Malfoy snuck into the lake himself and woke up the hostages with the intent to let them drown."

Both Grangers gasped and Mrs Granger moved over to grab Hermione in a tight hug as Harry continued his story. "Luckily, I reached them just when they woke up, and had a magical plant with me that allowed people to breathe underwater for some time if they ate it, so I gave some to all four of the hostages. However, that then put my life in danger because I had nothing left for myself, though I managed to get to the surface just barely in time.

"As you might have guessed already, the end result is that I now have a life debt on Hermione and the other hostages. And before you ask, Lucius Malfoy is in custody, and will likely receive a life sentence in Azkaban."

"What does this life debt mean?" Mr Granger asked. "So far you have only explained how it forms."

Harry nodded. "The life debt is the reason I wanted to invite you, because I don't think Hermione should make this decision on her own. When established, a life debt practically gives the saved life to the savior. They can ask literally anything they want in return, because they 'own' the life they saved. However, through magical contracts an agreement can be made on what can and cannot be asked in a life debt, which is why I want to sign one with Hermione – to set clear rules of what the life debt means in our case."

"You could ask anything you want?" Mr Granger asked for confirmation.

"Yes," Harry said. "All the way up to the things you as father probably don't want to think about. It's how the magic around life debts works, and believe me, no one wants to limit it more than me."

Mr Granger looked at his daughter. "What do you think about this?"

"I trust Harry," Hermione said. "And…" she blushed. "I… I kinda want to marry him."

"You're too young to be thinking about marriage," Mr Granger said resolutely.

"The magical world is different about that," Hermione defended herself. "Harry is already in a number of marriage contracts himself, and he isn't the only one at school who is!"

"A number of?" Mr Granger exclaimed. "And you… how does that work?"

"Professor?" Harry said. "Perhaps you could explain how I ended up in my situation? I suspect that would be better received."

"Of course," McGonagall said. "Mr Potter is the Lord of multiple Noble Houses, which means—"

She was interrupted. "What are Noble Houses?" Mrs Granger asked.

"Pretty much what their name implies," Harry said. "The wizarding world has an aristocratic upper class, with several dozen noble houses effectively in charge of the country. It's kind of like the House of Lords of muggle Britain, except that's also where most of the power lies."

She nodded. "Continue."

"As I said," McGonagall said, "Mr Potter is the Lord of multiple of these Houses, and it is by tradition expected, and practically demanded, that he will have a wife for each title he owns. Throughout this year, he has written several marriage contracts with girls in his year who were amenable to such contracts to divide those titles."

"And then there is of course the marriage contract with Lyra," Harry said, "which was triggered by a specific requirement in a contract two centuries old."

"That sounds extremely backwards," Mr Granger said.

"I agree," Harry replied. "But I'm not going to step on everyone's toes by ignoring it, and in Lyra's case, ignoring it simply wasn't an option regardless."

"Sooo…" Mr Granger drew out, looking to balance himself. "How many wives will you have?"

"I'm… not certain," Harry admitted. "For my titles, I needed to have six wives, plus Lyra as a seventh, but with the second task last week, all four hostages want the life debt resolved by marriage. Which is also why I invited you here – so that you could talk it through with Hermione before any contracts were signed, and without having to wait more than four months until summer to do so. Perhaps I should give you a moment of privacy with her?"

Mrs Granger nodded. "That might be a good idea."

Harry stood and turned to McGonagall. "Where shall I wait?"

She stood as well and guided him through a door in the back. "Count yourself lucky, Mr Potter, because few students ever get to see this."

They sat down in what seemed to be a little-used living room - Harry guessed it was part of McGonagall's personal quarters.

"Now that we have some time to waste anyway, Mr Potter," she said, "I must say I have been very impressed by your academic performances this year."

"Thank you, professor," Harry replied. "I've been putting a lot of effort into it."

She nodded. "In particular your practicals, while they have always been very good, they have improved even further this year. Does this have to do with the changes to your… social situation?"

"In part," Harry replied. "Mostly my increased awareness of the wizarding world, I would say. I realize how important it is for me to perform academically if I want to grow into the role that's expected of me as Lord of several Houses. And there is a lot to be achieved politically. I know both Lyra and Hermione will be very grateful to have my influence on their side."

"I am glad to hear that. And what is perhaps the most unexpected to me, is how much your relationship with the Slytherin girls in your year has changed."

Harry smiled. "Thank you, professor. As it turns out, talking through your issues with one another actually works." He chuckled. "And it doesn't hurt that Pansy and Ginny get along like a house on fire, and Hermione and Milly seem made for each other as homework partners."

She gave Harry a piercing look over the top of her glasses. "Anything I need to be worried about, if you use statements like 'getting along like a house on fire'?"

Harry laughed. "I could see them pull a Marauder-like stunt, but that should be about it."

They continued talking for a while longer, until finally a knock on the door invited them in again. As soon as Harry sat down, Mr Granger fired his first question at him.

"Do you want to marry Hermione?"

"I want her to be happy," Harry replied. "If she thinks she'll be happier as my friend, I'll have her as a friend, if she thinks she'll be happier as my wife, I'll marry her. And because I know you're thinking it, no, I am not looking for more wives or anything like that. I'd be quite fine with marrying only once. It's a combination of the expectations, you could almost say duties, of being a Lord and of obtaining life debts that are the reason I'll marry multiple times. I won't lie and say I don't like having multiple girlfriends, but I would never try to manipulate the circumstances to get more girlfriends and, in the future, wives. That's just wrong."

"Based on what Hermione has written about you in the past, I think we can take your word for that," Mr Granger said, nodding. "What about this contract? What would it do?"

"It would clarify how Hermione will repay the life debt," Harry answered. "Which sounds worse than it is – the point is that if you don't put the repayment for a life debt into a contract, then there are no limitations, and it's never officially repaid."

"And what will this… 'repayment' look like?"

"I imagine marriage before, say, Hermione's twenty-first birthday would be the most important clause," Harry replied. "The biggest issue, I think, is actually that we need to write the contract in a way that won't cause wizarding society to ridicule us. If the contract asks too little from Hermione, it might be considered an insult for her by implying she isn't worth much, or alternatively establish me as a gullible person. Yet at the same time, I have no intention of adding some of the more standard clauses for a life debt contract."

"What would those standard clauses be?" Mr Granger asked.

"One that I find particularly despicable is a clause that would give me unlimited access to Hermione's body whenever I feel like it, with her being magically and legally powerless to do anything against it," Harry replied. "I'll admit, it's been falling out of favor over the last century or so, but it's still used sometimes. Those clauses are also the main reason I wanted to invite you and your wife here before we signed the contract – so that an adult gets to look things over and look out for Hermione."

"You mean to say Hermione could sign a legally binding contract by herself?" Mrs Granger asked. "She's only fifteen!"

"Well… yes," Harry said, drawing his answer out a little as he thought the matter over. "The thing is, normally anyone under the age of seventeen cannot sign binding magical contracts. However, once someone doesn't have any living magical relatives, that breaks down. As far as magic is concerned, Hermione had the powers of an adult from the moment she was born – it quite simply doesn't recognize the existence of non-magical people.

"Of course there's laws to try and prevent abuse of that, but when someone's already fifteen years old, it's a bit of a grey area where the muggleborn might just be bound to the contract anyway."

"What about you then?" Mrs Granger asked. "You don't have any magical relatives either? I thought Hermione wrote that you had a godfather who was also related to you as a second cousin or something?"

"I'm a Lord," Harry replied. "That means I'm able to sign binding contracts independent of everything else. Do the both of you have any more questions, or are you okay with writing and signing the contract?"

Hermione's parents looked at each other, and after some non-verbal communication Mr Granger nodded. "Yes, let's have a look at that contract."

Harry pulled a blank piece of parchment out of his bag. "This is Gringotts parchment, which means that a person can only sign it if they understand everything they're signing. Of course, you can't confirm whether it's the real thing, so Professor McGonagall, could you do the honors?"

A short look at the parchment was enough. "It's real."

"And of course," Harry said, "Hermione will be signing, but if there's anything in there that we haven't discussed she can simply speak up."

He went into the contract with the Grangers, explaining how a typical document would work. Central to the agreement would be the stipulations of Harry and Hermione's marriage, making it something of a glorified marriage contract. In several places, they added in specific clauses that would make Harry look good to the purebloods, but did not actually matter in their situation. So Hermione would not be allowed any suitors, for example, and all Hermione's children would fall under the purview of House Potter – which they would anyway – yet keep the name of Granger.

"I don't like this clause," Mr Granger said with one of the last clauses they went through.

"It's going to be needed to satisfy people," Harry said. "And this won't be an issue, right, Hermione?"

"No," she replied, enthusiastically shaking her head.

Mr Granger sighed, and looked the clause over once again. As Harry waited on him, he went over the clause himself in his head. In essence, it said that Hermione was required to be available to Harry to provide children at least once a month unless given leave by Harry or unless at least three children had been born already.

The catch being, of course, that being available didn't mean they actually had to have sex – only if Harry demanded it.

"There will no doubt be a point where Hermione does some vague favor for me," Harry argued in addition to that. "I'm thinking along the lines of, like, helping me with homework for the last three years of school or something, except we put it in a contract unlike in the past. Then to repay that favor, we could agree to drop this clause."

"Helping with homework needs to be in a contract?" Mr Granger asked, surprised.

"You can't just make changes to a magical contract," Harry explained. "You need to exchange them with something else – like a second magical contract."

Shortly after that, they could finally wrap up the contract and leave Mr and Mrs Granger confident that nothing untoward was going to happen with their daughter. Harry, Hermione and Professor McGonagall escorted them back to the Leaky Cauldron, where they said their goodbyes, and made their way back to school to spend the rest of the day.

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