Legally Binding

Chapter 4


The next morning at the burrow was very odd indeed, Harry found himself facing a rather large pile of petitions. He had only turned seventeen not but three days ago. Hermione, Ron, and Harry all stared at the petitions. Hermione had received ten petitions herself to her utter horror, for she didn’t turn seventeen until in September.

“This isn’t right.” Hermione huffed. “How can I receive these?”

“Arthur said he’s going to check on that for you Hermione. He went in earlier and should be back while we are eating.” Molly told her. “Now, come eat your breakfast. You two can go through those petitions later.”

Ginny came down the stairs as everyone was settling down the table. “Merlin! Whose owl posts are those?” Ginny pointed to the lapilepile that was gathered by the door.

“Harry’s.” Ron told her.

Ginny looked at him, she felt bad that Harry was going through this. And also for Hermione too. But really this new law affected everyone; they were all prone to fall under this law. Some families would be more willing to have Muggleborns in their families than others.

“Want some help going through them Harry?” Ginny asked.

Harry looked at the daunting pile, “I think I’ll need it.”

They all started eating and talked about the law and what it meant. Almost when everyone Arthur came back to the burrow. His face was flushed and he looked very angry.

“Oh no! What is it?” Molly asked.

“Of all the nerve. I can’t believe these people.” Arthur handed over parchments to Hermione and Harry. “You both have to appear before court, for different reasons, and each of you need your guardians with you.”

Harry’s head shot up. He had just been allowed to leave the Durlseys, they were just as anxious as Harry to be gone from them. These were the last people he wanted to see. “Why?”

Arthur looked over to Harry, “Your guardian has to choose whom you’ll be betrothed too. I know last night you didn’t read the law, but surely you realize that your guardian will do the choosing.”

Harry kept shaking his head, “I’m not letting them choose. That would be a fate worse than death, even though death is looking better by the minute.” Harry was watching as new letters kept being added to the rather large pile.

Even Hermione noticed that she had several more sitting off to the side of Harry’s. She opened the parchment that Arthur Weasley had given her. Hermione sat appalled at what she was reading. They already considered her to be seventeen, even thought her birthday wasn’t due until next month. They stated the reason being, the time turner she used in her third year added to her actual age, it had added two-hundred days to her life a little over a half a year, so when she turned seventeen she would be seventeen and a half. That meant she would be married next March instead of having a whole year to be single. Hermione sat back horrified at what this was doing to her, the law never stated she would be able to stay in school; it stated that she would be wed two days after she turned eighteen; in this case two days after she turned eighteen with the way they were counting her actual life time thanks to the time-turner.

“Hermione?” Ginny asked.

Hermione looked up at her friend. “I’ll be married in March.”

“That’s impossible. You haven’t even turned seventeen yet.” Ron stated the obv.
.

“I have Ron. The time-turner, I used it my third year. They are taking those hours and added them to my age. So I’ve already turned seventeen.” Hermione sat back, she didn’t like this, didn’t like this at all. She had thought surely she had her last year at Hogwarts and worry about the other when it came, now even Hogwarts looked to be only a hope for her if she had the chance to finish.

Arthur kept shaking his head, he looked back over to Molly, “This changes things.”

Hermione looked at him, “Changes things how?”

“I went ahead and sent in a petition for you, for Ron. But now he won’t be of marring age when you will be, that puts him out. Each witch and wizard have to be of eighteen years of age and older when the betrothed reaches their eighteenth birthday. Ron will still be seventeen.” Arthur explained to her.

Ron looked crestfallen. He had loved Hermione since their second year at Hogwarts, he talked to his father last night about petitioning for Hermione and since his birthday fell before hers, he would be old enough, now he wouldn’t. Ron pushed away from the table and stomped out of the burrow. Ginny ran after him.

Hermione watched Ron run outside. She had a feeling that Ron liked her; with Arthur Weasley doing what he had done she was sure of it now. But that still didn’t solve her problem, and Ron was her friend, her best friend, just like Harry. She loved both of them, but she loved both of them like her brothers. She felt that way about the whole Weasley family.

Arthur looked over ollyolly. “Fred, George and Percy have already been in front of the court. They each will be allowed to get married to whom they are already betrothed too, only because all of them had made the announcement in the ‘Daily Prophet’ before the law was enacted.”

Hermione loved the Weasley family, but she didn’t want to pull someone away from whom they already were in love with. At least she was happy that they would be able to marry whom they wanted instead of having to be put through this. Bill and Charlie married last year, and Molly and Arthur were already expecting grandchildren from both of their eldest sons.

“Don’t worry about me. I’ll be fine.” Hermione said bravely, even though she felt like she wasn’t being brave at all.

Harry had felt bad, he knew Ron had been in love with Hermione; he had always thought those two might have been able to work things out betweach ach other but now he knew they had no chance. And as much as he loved the Weasley family he knew that he wouldn’t be able to be apart of it. Not with the other party in the betrothal having to be of the same age or older. He knew he wasn’t going back to the Dursleys; that was the last place he would ever go. His ribs still hurt, he hadn’t told anyone, but he was pretty sure he had a few broken ones. The one last parting gift his Uncle Vernon and Dudley decided he needed.

“Don’t worry Mr. Weasley. It’ll work out.” Harry s up up and headed over to his pile of letters and sighed at the sheer volume of what he was going to have to look through.

Hermione went over to her own small pile; it had grown while they had eaten. Even in the last few minutes, Harry look over to Hermione. “Trade you.”

Hermione slapped Harry playfully on the arm. “No way! How are you going to go through all of that?”

Harry shrugged. “One at a time I guess.”

Hermione groaned at his answer. “Harry that will take forever.” She crossed her arms and leaned up next to the desk that her pile was on. “First off, I have a feeling yours are world wide, not just from the local area. So do you want to stay here, or do you want to have to leave.”

“Hermione has a point Harry.” Molly stated as she was clearing the breakfast dishes off the table. “With this being a global law and your picture showing up on the paper, you’ll have the most petitions. I wouldn’t be surprised if Hermione doesn’t get some like that also, seeing has how she and Ron both were in the picture with you.”

Hermione looked at her own pile that kept growing, not at the fast rate Harry’s was, but it kept getting larger. Hermione took out her wand and said a spell that got rid of any petition that came from a different country other than the one she wanted to live in. Her pile shrunk to about half and when more appeared it started splitting them to the piles she made, one for the country she wanted the others to the scrap pile.

Harry followed her lead; both were amazed at just how many petitions they kept receiving. Harry being curious went ahead and opened a few of them and found out not only was he being petitioned by the head of a family, it could either be for a male or a female in that said family. Hermione found some of the same for her so they both had another factor that could be deleted from their said piles. Harry, if he had to choose wanted a witch, while he had nothing against wizards, he just didn\'t like that. Hermione chose a wizard. Slowly the piles started becoming smaller at least for the choosing piles, the trash piles kept growing larger and larger by the minute.

Pretty soon Harry started to get buried under the letters, they started flooding the burrow. Molly walked out of the kitchen when the swooshing noise started to disturb her morning cleaning.

“Merlin’s Beard! Good Lord!” Molly pulled her wand out and along with Hermione and between the both of them they were able to get Harry untrapped out of his ever-fast increasing pile of petitions. “Outside!” Molly shouted.

The last of the occupants of the house raced outside. They watched as the piles of letters came flooding out of the doors and windows. Arthur Apparated to the yard along with several other wizards from the Ministry they all watched as the house was taken over by the petitions.

“This is all my fault.” Harry groaned as he watched the house trying to expand to keep the contents inside.

“Hush! The house will make it. It isn’t your fault Harry.” Molly put an arm around his shoulder and pulled him into her embrace.

The wizards huddled with Arthur they were arguing over what to do with all the petitions; they knew they needed a solution to this ever-growing problem rather quickly. Ron and Ginny came running up to their friends and their mother.

“The house is going to blow.” Ron stated.

“No it isn’t.” Molly glared at Ron. “Don’t say something like that. That house has been a shelter in your life.”

Arthur and the other wizards conjured up some boxes they put labels on the boxes all of which had Harry’s name to them, as soon as they did so. Arthur pointed his wand to the house and said a spell that would redirect the flow from the burrow to the boxes themselves. Once the maximum space of expanding reached its limit it shut itself, and another box was conjured to take its place. Harry inspected one of the closed boxes with Hermione they found it to be one of the trash boxes, the petitions that he didn’t want to say yes too. So those boxes now had a no labeled on the side and the wizards from the Ministry redirected them to go to a room inside the Ministry of Magic until they could be dealt with theves.ves.

Harry found himself in between a rock and a hard place, he knew that he had to get rid of some more of those petitions, and he was going to have to start doing so quickly. For every box that left for the Ministry another was stacked by the burrow, even the ones that still needed to be gone through was growing.

Cornelius Fudge showed up then, Harry was glaring at him as he walked over to him. “The Ministry is going to help you. I’ve already met with the global wizarding community, we need to know your requirements of those that would be turned down as one of your choices that way we can stop this flood of petitions before it ever reaches you.”

“That would be helpful, another thing. I don’t want the Dursleys choosing whom I’ll marry, I want that choice left up to me.” Harry snarled at him.

“But it’s the law, Mr. Potter. It is done the old fashion way, but you do have some say in this. Just tell them who you don’t want to marry.” Fudge tried to reason with him.

Harry clenched his fists at his side. “You don’t understand, they hate me, they hate everything that I stand for, who I am, and what I am. If they choose, I’d rather kill myself.”

Fudge stepped back and appraised the young man. He did feel partially responsible for this, at least for Harry being on the front page of every wizarding paper globally. If the young wizard was going to do something that drastic with his life he felt maybe a compromise was in order, after all the young man was seventeen. “I see, I feel really bad about all of this Mr. Potter. But I think we could work something out, without the Dursleys. Come to the courts like requested and I think we can reach a compromise.”

“What sort of compromise?”

“I’m not making promises, but seeing as you are causing quite a stir with this new law, it may in your best interest if the court was to help oversee your choice and help you along with it. That way, you wouldn’t be so apt to do something drastic with your life.”

“But I still get to make this choice?”

“Within reason, yes.”

Harry wasn’t sure this was the best route, but if it left the Dursleys out of it, he would at least accept it. “Then I’ll see you at the courts.”

Fudge left back for the Ministry.

“Well that doesn’t appear to be so bad now.” Ron told him.

Harry turned to see Ron, Hermione and Ginny. “Maybe for once I actually get to make a choice. How are you two doing?”

Ron looked sideways at Hermione, “I’m okay now.”

Hermione gave him a weak smile. “We talked it over. Our friendship is the important thing, as long as we have each other we can live through anything.”

Harry crushed his two best friends into a hug. “I knew you two would work it work. I need some more help with my ever growing problem.”

“I’ll say,” Ginny laughed. “The house may decide to kick you out after this.”

Harry groaned.


**********


Two days later, something rather drastic happened, not only to Harry but also to Hermione, both of them had to put into protective custody. Death threats had been levied against them for the amount of declines they had given and the Ministry saw fit to now have a bodyguard staying with each one of them. They both were coming out of the courts when they were attacked more so Harry than Hermione, but the Ministry didn’t want to take any chances. And now both of them were hidden in the last place anyone would guehey hey would be at.

Hermione sat at the desk, the deep rich dark wood polished to a shine; she could almost see herself in it. She had been crying for the last hour, her parents wanted her to disown being a witch. Hermione had to make a choice and she chose what she was, so her parents disowned her in front of the courts. So not only did the courts now have Harry to look after, they also had Hermione to look after as well.

The knock on the bedroom door interrupted her and she turned to see who it was as she wiped her eyes.

“A Gryffindor crying. What happen to that bravery?”

Hermione took a deep breath and looked aofesofessor Snape, she couldn’t say much being as this was his manor that they were being hidden in. How they came to pick his manor was still something she didn’t understand. But now her and Harry had two full days to live with one of the most hated Professors of Hogwarts. Sarin happened to be one of the Aurors assigned to them, and being that the Snape name could throw some muscle around in the community they found themselves here.

“Is there something you need Professor Snape?” Hermione asked, her anger starting to build for showing weakness in front of him.

Severus studied the young lady, her brown hair wasn’t as bushy as it had been, and she had learned to tame it. She was of average height for a witch, not overly pretty. Severus admitted she wouldn’t be in the mess she was in if she hadn’t had tagged along after Potter. Pulling his wand out he said the spell that dropped the box of petitions near where she sat. She still had petitions trickling in, though now it was about one every couple of hours instead of every couple of minutes. Severus guessed her flow of petitions would stop by the end of the week. He had yet to see Harry’s reach a trickle yet.

“You still have more petitions to narrow down Miss Granger. The ministry wants to see a dent in that pile before morning.”

Hermione groaned.

Ses ars arched an eyebrow at her. “Get started Miss Granger. Dinner is at six do not be late.” Severus turned at walked out of the room.

Hermione picked up the hairbrush that was on the desk and hurled it after him. It did nothing more than bounce off the invisible ward that was at the doorway. She knew it wouldn’t hit him. She had already thrown things in the room at the door and found this out earlier; it was the only other thing she knew to do to relieve the pressure she was under. Thanks to the time-turner Hermione found that she would have to start the courting process early, she had to be ready by the end of the week, and that only left three days to look through all of the petitions and any ones that still came in. Not to mention they would be on the Hogwarts train in two days. She wasn’t even sure how she was going to narrow down that box just yet.