"All my life, since I've been old enough to understand, I've known I would be the subject of a Line Continuation Clause in a Betrothal Contract, or concubinage.
"I didn't even know what concubinage was for the next couple of years, until Mum explained it to me. I already knew, by then, what was meant by a Line Continuation Clause."
Harry sat quietly as she explained her history relating to such agreements until less than a year earlier.
"That's when things really changed," she said. "Daddy was getting really worried and kept giving me looks of pain. It wasn't hard to figure out he was really worried about me.
"Last summer I finally managed to get him to come clean with what was going on. I learned of how much pressure was being brought to bear on him from... certain families... about, effectively, handing me and the Greengrass Estate over in what I saw as nothing less than a... than a... sex slave contract. One where I would be bound by magic to... service my 'master' any way and whenever he wanted.
"I've known of those from others. There are others who have been subjected to those in the recent past alone. They get... they have to... provide those same services to whomever and whenever they are ordered to by their master. They have... I would have... no choice in the matter.
"Dad had been able to fend them all off by making outrageous demands back. He'd instantly dismiss anyone who stated he was to also hand over control of the Greengrass estates and demand back the same. He'd claim me to be highly sought after and others were making similar demands for me. He'd claim he was the one with the... commodity, and he, therefore, would set the price.
"He'd been able to do that by practically setting three others to have to attempt to outbid one another. It created a sort of détente... a situation where no one would move and everyone was waiting for the others to make a mistake.
"Then came you suddenly stepping up and reactivating the Alliance. In doing that you also saw Malfoy suddenly on the outs, which put Parkinson and Nott making moves to take the leadership of the dark. From what I understand, a deal was made between them.
"And then the combined pressure against my Dad increased from now only two working together, with the third also increasing their own pressure. A schism in their ranks had occurred and I seemed to be the... prize; or, one of them, at least.
"Dad went to Lord Longbottom and Lord Longbottom immediately pointed to you. According to Dad, Lord Longbottom told him young Lord Potter will not be as against this as he may have believed. That he was to talk to the boy; you.
"He checked with others in the Alliance and they all said the same. That led to him telling me, as a peer of you, to talk to you about it. He thought you would be more willing to listen if it was me asking, rather than him."
"He's right," he replied. "I was. But, that does not mean I would not have talked to him. It just coming from you meant you were more invested. I needed to know this is something you wanted. As I've explained before, I would not accept you if you were being forced into it. To me, that's slavery. That's something I would not have put up with."
She then looked at him with a curious expression.
"I'd been approached by members, who urged me to act," he continued. "As soon as I learned of the pressure and hearing direct from you, that's exactly what I did. If I'd known of the pressure before then, I would have acted sooner.
"By me taking you under concubinage, you are lawfully unapproachable. That is, your father is lawfully unapproachable about you.
"Secondly, it now means your sister will not require a Line Continuation Clause in any Betrothal Agreement she's entered into. That should make it a great deal easier for your father to organise a much better deal for your sister. And faster."
She seemed to think about that for a while before she again looked him in the eye. "You're right," she said. "That's exactly what it means for Astoria."
"And, our agreement," he said. "Has sufficient escape clauses for you that, if you meet someone you want to be with instead of me, you can withdraw from it and enter a new one.
"Once things settle down and we know the pressure on your father has eased, even if you don't meet anyone else you can still withdraw from ours.
"I want you to know this well, know this in your heart, I will not be offended."
"I know," she softly said and smiled. "Hermione made me very aware of that. Hearing it direct from you, though, is still a relief."
"Good," he said and smiled.
"There's just one problem," she smiled in return, but Harry could also see she was a little afraid of saying it. "I do not think I'll ever want to withdraw."
He thought about that for a few moments before he said, "I'm... you need to know this... umm... I... Hermione and I haven't... you know."
As he felt his face heat, he thought, 'Damned blush!'
Trying to continue, he said, "I don't... ummm... You also need to know I solemnly promise I will never require you to... ummm... as you put it, provide service. Understand?
"That, too, is not in the agreement or the contract part. The only part in there about... that... is what happens if we do... that... and you fall pregnant from it. Not that we have to do that."
"You mean have sex," she replied with a smile.
"Errr... yeah," he blushed even harder.
"And what if I want to?" she blatantly asked.
"Ummm... I'm not ready?"
"That's alright," she returned. "Neither am I."
"When I am ready, though," he said. "I want my first time to be with Hermione. Therefore, she has to be ready, too. And, she then also has to be fully accepting of me... doing that with you."
"You don't need to worry about that, Harry," she said. "That's something between Hermione and me to sort out."
He nodded, trying to get his blush back under control.
As he sat there, she rose, made her way across to him, bent forward and kissed him on the cheek. "Good night, Harry," she said. Then turned and headed for her room.
Harry made his way to his own room a few minutes later. He soooo wanted to stare at her bum as she walked away. But, thought that would be cheating on Hermione.
_‗_
―==(oIo)==―
ˇ
The next morning no mention was made of the previous night's chat. He knew Hermione knew they had it. He'd not missed her pointed looks at Daphne to stay behind while she went to bed. Nor did he miss similar pointed looks, with a following smile between them, the next morning.
This time they crossed the Lords' Quarters hallway and knocked on the door of the Longbottoms.
And, only five minutes later, were heading down to the Great Hall.
Susan explained the reason for the delay was due to Hannah misplacing her watch. That led to a ten minute search, which only culminated seconds before Harry knocked on their door when it was found tucked down between the cushions of one of the sofas.
Again, all six walked in together into the Great Hall and Tracey, who had until then been sitting at the Slytherin table, immediately rose and walk over to join them.
This time the Longbottoms sat with their backs to the wall, while the Potters and Tracey sat facing it. When Neville had offered to always sit the other way, Harry immediately countered with the constant switching about.
"Sitting at the same place every time opens you up to a pre-prepared attack," he said. "Some, knowing where we'd each be sitting later, could slip something onto our 'place' at the table before anyone else arrived. Then have it trigger when they knew that person would be there."
There were no interruptions for breakfast; not even a pointed sneer in their direction from other Gryffindors. If anything, the other Gryffindors were very purposefully avoiding even looking in their direction.
When the mail arrived with a flurry of many mail owl wings, Harry looked up in time to see Hedwig stoop down on to the table before him.
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