Harry sighed. "Yeah. You two can come if you want. Depending on how the twins take it I may need backup anyway." Neville and Hermione nodded and stood to follow Harry as he walked over to Ginny, Fred and George. "Hey, guys, can we talk for a few minutes?"
Ginny nodded fast enough to flip her hair and started to walk off before Harry called out, "No, Ginny, you too." The girl stopped mid-step, blushed hard enough to turn her face red, but hurried back to the small group. "Fred, George, do you guys know any strong privacy spells?"
The twins turned to each other frowning before looking back at Harry. "A few…how private do you want this to be?"
"As private as possible," Harry said with a grimace.
Fred nodded and pulled out his wand. "George, I've got the Notice-Me-Not and quieting ones. You get the silencing, aversion and deafening charms."
"That's a NEWT level spell!" Hermione exclaimed staring at Fred as he cast the Notice-Me-Not.
"I told you they were smart," Harry said casting a smug grin at Hermione.
"Done," George turned to the small group and sat down on the chair nearby waving his twin and sister into the others. "What's going on, Harry? It's a little early in the year for the annual Harry's Fun Day."
"I – " Harry stopped abruptly as he processed what George had said. His face burned as he replied, "What do you mean, Harry's Fun Day?"
"Well it seems a little insensitive to call it Attempt To Kill Harry Day."
"Or Defense Professor Fly Off The Handle Day," Fred tossed in.
"Or Harry Fights To Not Die Day." George nodded at Fred.
"Or – "
"Okay, okay!" Harry muttered. "I get the point, guys. And no this is not about that."
"To be fair, you did almost get your soul eaten by an overeager Dementor a few hours ago," Neville said with a shrug. Ginny's face drained of all color and her hands gripped the stool under her hard enough to turn white.
"Thanks for that, Nev." Harry sighed. "Can we please focus everyone? This going to be awkward enough as it is."
Fred and George turned to each other again before dropping the smirks and adopting serious expressions. Fred twisted back to Harry and nodded at him. "Why don't you just tell us what's got you worried, Harry."
Harry picked at his shirt and ran a hand through his hair. He sighed and then started talking, "Okay, I went to Gringotts over the summer with my new guardian. They told me a few things I had been unaware of. One of the chief issues was a…marriage contract."
Neville's eyebrows rose while Fred and George scowled along with Hermione. Ginny just looked a bit confused. "Hermione already knows this," Harry said waving to his female friend. "I figured I should give her a heads up because…well…"
"I tend to overreact sometimes," Hermione said still scowling. "And he was right to. I ranted for nearly an hour about the unfairness and backwards 'traditions' involved in some aspects of the magical community."
"Marriage contracts are barely ever used these days," Neville said frowning. "They're considered old fashioned and most families don't want to risk alienating their kids."
Fred took a deep breath and said, "Should we be getting Percy or Dad here?"
"No," Harry said shaking his head. "I don't completely trust Percy and there wasn't really a good excuse to contact your father yet. I would've told Bill or Charlie to be honest but they're hard to sit down with since both are out of the country."
"Wait, wait," George said holding up a hand. "I get Bill, you two seemed friendly when he was around the other summer but why Charlie and not Percy?"
"Because Percy worships rules and authority," Harry said shrugging. "Charlie worships dragons. He broke up with my guardian over them and he helped us get Norbert out of the country. I trust Charlie because he is more interested in his dragons over anything else in the world."
"That's…very odd reasoning…" George said frowning.
Hermione huffed and rolled her eyes. "You get used to it. Harry's mind works in strange ways sometimes."
"Anyway," Harry said glaring at her, "I'm sure you've guessed who the named parties are in this contract."
Fred nodded. "You and Ginny."
"WHAT?!" Ginny nearly fell out of her chair as she screeched. She jumped up and turned to her brother with fire in her eyes and her wand out. "What the bloody hell!? Why would I have a marriage contract? I'm twelve!" She twisted to Harry with horror written all over her face. "Not that I mind the idea of getting married to you, Harry! I mean, one day, sure! But not right now! This is not my idea, I swear I didn't know about this!"
Hermione's eyes narrowed next to Harry and she shifted forward in her seat slightly covering Harry with her body. "We know it wasn't your idea, Ginny. All the same the point is currently moot. There will not be a wedding imminent."
Ginny worked her mouth for a moment before slowly sitting back down and putting away her wand. "What do you mean?"
Harry sighed. "The contract only had one signature not two. Dumbledore left his section unsigned thank god. Your part however, was filled in. It was signed by Molly Prewett. Would I be correct is guessing that Prewett is your mother's maiden name?"
"Yeah," Fred shook his head. "That's Mum alright. Merlin's balls. When did she sign the thing? Please tell me this was somewhat recent at least."
"No," Harry shook his head, "it was signed November 5th, 1981."
"I was barely 3 months old!" Ginny yelled out horrified. The twins groaned and leaned back in their chairs covering the faces.
"Yeah and my parents were dead for 5 days, Ginny, so trust me I understand."
"November 5th?" Neville asked. He grimaced and sadly shook his head. "My parents were attacked the day before."
Hermione frowned. "Really? November 4th?" Neville nodded frowning at Hermione. She shook her head. "Never mind, we'll talk later. Continue, Harry."
"Umm…okay…" Harry stared at Hermione who simply mouthed "later" at him. "Alright, well anyway, your Mum signed the contract but Dumbledore apparently had left his part blank. When we found out about it we put it into my family vault. No one except me is allowed in there and I can't take anything out until I'm of age."
Fred and George both whistled. "Impressive bit of pranking there, Harrykins." Fred nodded appreciatively at him. "You've effectively prevented both that contract and any others from being enacted either for yourself or Ginny. Well done."
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