Ron, who had been sitting surprisingly quietly for him, spoke up then, "What are the consequences if Harry doesn't pick wives? If he does nothing?"
"By the time he turns seventeen, he is to be engaged to marry three witches." Dumbledore replied, "Should he not be, the Fidelius guarding the initial law, the Line and Lineage Conquering Act, will be broken and the Wizengamot will be put in charge of selecting witches for any unfilled titles. And, regrettably, they are likely to pick the daughters of members of Voldemort's supporters."
"So if he does nothing, it's checkmate." Ron said thoughtfully.
"Ronald! Harry is being strong-armed into marrying three witches!" Hermione lambasted him, "Aren't you the least bit angry about this?"
"No." Ron replied simply, "I've known that some laws are the will of magic itself since I was young. Harry didn't know about them, but he is still subject to them, as are you Hermione, at least those that don't specify any lower limits of blood purity."
"Quite right Mr Weasley." Dumbledore broke in, "For example, the Merlin Amendment states that someone has to be at least one-sixteenth of a blood descendent to be a head of house. Harry, as an exact Half-blood, is far more than qualified to be the Head of any Noble House, at least by those rules."
"But…but…this is wrong!" Hermione protested.
"We are aware of that Miss Granger, but beating our heads against a brick wall will not change the facts before us." Dumbledore told her solemnly, "Harry has trusted you both with this knowledge despite the fact he knows that you in particular Miss Granger are likely to disapprove of this. What he needs from you both is your support, not constant repetitions of 'this is wrong'."
The venerable Headmaster stood and walked around his desk and towards the door. "I shall loan you my office for a private conversation between yourselves for the next…five minute or so, while I fetch a snack from the kitchens." he continued, "I trust you will sort things out between yourselves in that timeframe."
With that, Dumbledore opened the door and walked out with a jaunty step. As the wooden door closed with a light click, the silence in the office began to become deafening until Harry snorted in amusement.
"That has to be the moist tactful 'make up now or else' command I have ever heard." he observed.
"Mum would have whacked us over the head with a spoon and stood over us while we said everything." Ron mused, "Then serve up a meal fit to feed all of Gryffindor, Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff."
"It's all very well to tell us to 'sort things out between us', but this can't be sorted out!" Hermione said sourly, "My one of my best friends is being forced to marry three women at the same time! This law is sexist and demeaning towards women!"
"Hermione, didn't you listen to Dumbledore?" Ron asked slowly, "The only thing that can remove the law has been lost for hundreds of years. No wizard or witch who has tried to alter the Sovereignty Magic without Merlin's Keystone has survived the experience. The magic was too powerful for them and drained their magic until they died."
"I refuse to believe that there is nothing that can be done!" Hermione insisted stubbornly.
"Oi!" Harry yelled, getting the two out of their usual pattern of bickering for once, "Look, there are three things I can do here. First, do nothing. The result of which will be the likes of Lucius Malfoy choosing who I marry, from people like Millicent Bulstrode and Pansy Parkinson."
Hermione scowled at the mention of the two bullying girls who pandered and fawned over Malfoy like he was the Second Coming, while Ron looked green at the thought.
"Second, I can off myself, because that is literally the only way I am getting out of this, from everything that I have read and what my Goblin Account Manager has told me."
"Yeah, not happening." Ron said firmly, Hermione nodding frantically along with him.
"That only leaves me with the least desirable option: Find and marry three witches before I am twenty-one, getting engaged before I am seventeen." Harry shrugged helplessly, "I don't like it and wish I didn't have to go through with it, but given my choices, it is the only reasonable choice to make."
Hermione 'harrumphed' lightly but nodded reluctantly. "I hate to admit it, but you have a point." she sighed.
"Any clue who you're going to ask?" Ron asked shrewdly.
"Not a one." Harry replied, "Two of my…wives…have to be Purebloods, House Peverell and Slytherin. Peverell also stipulates that she be magically powerful and not have any 'unsightly blemishes on her countenance'."
"Eh?" Ron asked.
"She can't have boils or acne on her face." Hermione dumbed it down for him.
"Oh. Well, at least that rules out Eloise Midgeon." Ron remarked.
Harry frowned. "The girl with pretty bad acne?" he clarified.
"That's her." Ron nodded.
"OK then. Anyway, the only other stipulation from House Peverell is that she come from a family who is at least an Ancient House, like the Weasley Family." Harry moved on.
"Blimey. What about Slytherin?" Ron asked.
"Just…just that she be a Pureblood and that she remains a v…v…v-virgin until her wedding night." Harry flushed red at having to say this kind of thing in front of Hermione, who was also a bit red.
"And…House Potter?" Ron asked, oblivious to their discomfort, evidently still being at the girls-are-weird level of mental male maturity.
"I have to love her. That's it." Harry replied with a small smile.
"Right then." Hermione said getting her steely analytical look on her face, "So we know the criteria of each family requirements for marriage, plus the deadline, your seventeenth birthday. We have just over four years to find three girls that would be willing to share you with each other and aren't likely to betray you for You-Know-Who's agenda."
"That sums it up quite nicely." Harry noted.
"Well any of the Slytherins are out!" Ron stated.
"Dumbledore said that I shouldn't let my dislike of Malfoy tar all of Slytherin with the same brush." Harry countered, "He even mentioned one…Greengrass, I think her surname was?"
"Daphne? In our year?" Hermione checked. When Harry confirmed that, Hermione nodded in apparent agreement.