Pour Combattre Soif et Aime To Fight desire & love

Harry Potter was having a bad day. It had started out fine, like any other day. He'd gotten up, dressed and attempted and then failed to tame his unruly hair.

He had been about to head down to the Great Hall to eat breakfast when he received the letters. They were both in golden envelopes, a crest printed on each of them.

"Not the time for mail, is it." Ron stated, flipping through a book on quidditch techniques. Harry shook his head, a little bemused.

Hermione had just emerged from the girl's side of the dormitory and gasped a bit too loudly at the sight of the two ornately decorated envelopes.

"Harry, you're being courted? By who?"

"I-wait, what? Courted? Hermione, what are you talking about?" Hermione sighed in exasperation, marching over to the two boys and grabbing the letters from Harry.

"Honestly, if you two would just read Hogwarts: A History." When Ron and Harry just stared at her blankly, Hermione rolled her eyes and said, "These are courtship letters.

It's an old tradition in the wizarding world. Wizards of legal age can be courted formally. Go on, open them." Harry's mouth hung open slightly, unable to completely process such information. Courted? Harry didn't want to be courted! He nearly shuddered at the thought of several girls swooning over him and sending him candy and necklaces.

When Harry gave no coherent response Hermione ripped open the letters herself. Her eager expression quickly changed to one of disbelief as she read them.

When she said nothing, Harry asked, rather anxiously,

"Well, who are they from? Lavender Brown? Romilda Vane?" Hermione shook her head and said weakly,

"No…it's not a girl. Neither of them." At Hermione's words Ron developed a nasty cough behind Harry, which the other two ignored.

"Oh…er…" Harry never professed to being the most eloquent person.

"Do you like other men?" Hermione asked quite matter a factly. Harry flushed slightly.

"I…I never really gave it much thought…is it from that Ravenclaw who graduated last year?" Once again Hermione shook her head.

She handed the letters back to Harry, who quickly looked for the names. On one was Draco Malfoy and on the other Severus Snape. "Alright, very funny you guys. Now let's go to breakfast." When neither of them even smiled, Harry's eyes narrowed."Yeah, ha ha, chuckle chuckle. You can stop pretending now."

"Harry, Ron and I didn't do this. Forging a courtship letter is punishable by prison. These are real."

By this point Ron had seen the names and was now shaking his head in disgust and horror. Harry could literally feel the blood drain from his face at Hermione's words.

"But-why? Why would they want to…to court me?" Hermione shook her head slowly.

"Malfoy's such a puppet, Harry. This couldn't have possibly been his own idea." Harry nodded, he knew what Hermione was getting at.

"Voldemort. Of course…but Snape?" Hermione folded the letters up, looking grim.

"Harry, who knows why Snape does anything." And then the three went to breakfast, each a little paler than normal.

"But surely I can just say no!" This last outburst at the Griffindor table had caused several heads to turn and Harry flushed in embarrassment, leaning in closer to Hermione.

"You could…if you never wanted a career. This is rare Harry, very rare. It's a well respected custom because it takes so much legality.

Courting someone formally isn't cheap, and the person who loses the courtship usually takes years to regain the wealth they put into it.

If you turned both of them down, the wizarding world would never let you forget it." Harry thumped his head on the table a few times, ignoring the odd looks he was receiving from other people.

"So, I'm stuck with Snape? Oh god, my father is rolling in his grave right now…"