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• Harry Potter and the Marriage Contracts

  (#) Maxtaf 2008-06-21

  Well, unlike the majority of your reviewers, I really liked the chapter. You guys that are whining about the rapes, get over it! IT'S A FIC!! It's not like he arranged to have a real girl raped. And including that added a gritty bite of realism that too many fics lack.
  
  I like that Harry is confident about some things, but he doesn't really know girls yet, and I can easily see him not understanding that she wasn't the originator of the note. And Daphne has tried to escape, and made it clear that she would have preferred to be ejected from the family by doing so. but she was being held against her will, and effectively kidnapped, raped, and tortured. Logical or not, women that are raped very often feel guilty about it, and ashamed. Very believable.
  
  I'm guessing that the fact that Daph never gave the contract back to her father, and that Harry has it now, is going to be a key element. Maybe it's still active until it is given back to her father? Maybe he will have cause for an honor duel, as he was obviously considering the match?
  
  I'm really looking forward to seeing the next chapter. PLEASE don't take as long for this one as you did for the last one.
  
  Thanks for writing for us.
  Max

  Author's response

  - Thank you. I've been expecting the cops to show up to arrest me given the reaction in some reviews.
  
  - Harry doesn't understand women, and much like me, never will.
  
  - The Contract that Daphne kept as a keepsake will play a part, yes. Beyond that, I'm not saying...
  
  - The time between chapters depend upon the conflicts of RL and how well the words flow... No promises.

• Harry Potter and the Marriage Contracts

  (#) Vanir 2008-06-21

  Erm, i have a saw here that wants to talk to you about cliffies... That said, yes, you could have made it work without the clause 9, but you have definitely painted the older Greengrass as someone worthy of an almighty smack-down. I also believe that in a world where marriage proposals are customarily accompanied by a porn-shoot, sexual abuse has to be almost too common to be considered much more abusive than a regular dentist appointment. No one accused WizBrits of being civilised. Not in this world, anyway. Keep at it.
  
  Vanir

• Harry Potter and the Marriage Contracts

  (#) RLMSBPJPP 2008-06-21

  Youre evil evil meanie. LOL
  
  Things I hated about this chapter:
  1. Such a very long wait :(
  2. Evil Cliffhanger
  
  But overall I Loved the latest chapter it was awesome even if apparently a lot of readers dont like it.
  
  Just promise not to make us wait so long for the next chapter... especially after such a good (but evil) juicy cliffhanger...
  

• Harry Potter and the Marriage Contracts

  (#) canoncansodoff 2008-06-21

  I've posted the following review/comments on boards where the story is being discussed. Thought that I'd provide them here, as they can serve as a response to those reviewers who have objected to Daphne's treatment in this chapter...
  
  don dba ccso
  ++++++++++++
  
  The scenes
  involving Daphne and the Count were jarring and out-of-the-blue. But
  they were also thought-provoking...particularly within the context of
  the negative reaction to acts that are clearly
  definable as rape under current U.S. law, but legal within Clell's
  brutally patriarchal and misogynistic wizarding world.
  
  How can what happened to Daphne not be considered rape? Rape involves
  forced nonconsensual sex. The sick fact is, that under the Clause 9
  system of marriage contracts, the Count did have consent...it was
  obtained from Daphne's father, under the terms offered/negotiated
  within the arranged marriage. Daphne didn't have a choice. And it
  even appears that, while Daphne hated every moment and wished it
  wasn't happening to her, that she understood that the Count had
  the "right" to do what he was doing.
  
  The Count, while depicted as a fat hairy lout with bad breath and a
  tiny penis, isn't the "bad guy" here...it's the society that he lives
  in that's fucked up...he's just doing what is accepted (and even
  expected) within his society.
  
  How can I say that the Count has reason to believe that he's not
  doing anything wrong? Historical, real life precedent.
  
  Can a husband be charged with raping his wife? Today, in the U.S.,
  the answer is yes. But it wasn't that long ago that the answer was
  no...husbands could force themselves on their wives without asking
  for consent (and without fear of ignoring her protests)...a woman's
  marriage vows were considered to be implied consent. I'm sure that
  there are lots of places in the world today, in the muggle 21rst
  century, where that is still the case (maybe still in parts of the
  U.S., where individual states enforce rape laws). Extrapolate from
  there to the marriage contract adversely affecting Daphne...the
  principles are the same, it's just the pre-nuptial timing that is
  different.
  
  Now, just because it isn't legally rape within the legal and societal
  standards of clell's version of the wizarding world doesn't mean that
  I want to read about it in a story. Was it a cheap gratuitous way of
  building drama and angst within the story? Well, like Keith said on
  a different board, an author should show, not tell. And, I'd argue
  that that it has the potential to be integral to the entire plot (and
  central to the "moral of the story.")
  
  Here's one way that the story could end...
  
  Harry is extremely angry, not just that Daphne has been taken away
  from him, but that Daphne has no say in whom she is with. He wanted
  to storm the Greengrass Estate, rescue his girl, and slit her
  father's throat (the Count's for good measure). But Neville backed
  him down, and forced Harry to realize that he'd be charged with
  murder, because Daphne's father was right within current law.
  
  So what's Harry going to do? Use the law to his advantage. After
  getting Daphne's consent to try and stop the arranged marriage to the
  Count, Harry is going to use the same f'ed up system to get what he
  and Daphne want. I'm assuming that that the original contract that
  he returned to Daphne will be integral here...Harry signs it, then
  during the Wizengamot bahns/announcement objects to the Count's
  marriage to Daphne because his signed offer came first. Live by the
  sword, die by the sword, breach of contract, etc., etc. Happily ever
  after, right?
  
  Not quite yet. Of course, Harry will go on a crusade, and use his
  fame, money and power to try and end the horrid system of marriage
  contracts that treat women this way. But...and this is a very
  important but...he also realizes that he himself must share some of
  the blame, because he took advantage of the system himself, and acted
  in ways that victimized women. He needs to make amends.
  
  Harry returns to his Hogwarts dormitory, and removes from his walls
  all of the naked pictures that had been packaged along with the other
  marriage contracts. Seamus objects...why is he doing that? Because,
  Harry says, it was wrong to put them up there in the first place.
  Many of the witches who posed were forced to strip down naked and
  wiggle their arse for Harry's benefit by their fathers/patriarchs.
  If they didn't consent to Harry seeing the pictures, then they
  certainly didn't consent to Seamus pulling one or two of the pics off
  of the wall each night so that he could wank over them behind the
  privacy of his bed curtains. This lack of choice/consent was similar
  to the the inability for intent to be considered when Daphne suffered
  under her treatment from the Count.
  
  Harry says that it was wrong to post the girlie pics, even if it was
  right within the system. And, worse, he knew that it was wrong when
  he put the pictures up...if he hadn't, then he would have put up all
  of the pics, including those of the witches that he knew. Sure there
  was some respect for them involved, but he has to admit that part of
  the reason he didn't post them involved the embarrassment/shame that
  he would have felt if the Hogwarts witches involved found out what
  Harry had done.
  
  So how will he make things right? Harry begins the long and lengthy
  process of tracking down each of the witches whose pics hanged on the
  wall and returns them (just as he had done with Daphne and his
  friends)...he's got a lot of apologizing to do. Oh, and Daphne loves
  Harry all the more for the effort. The End.
  
  don dba ccso

• Harry Potter and the Marriage Contracts

  (#) morriganscrow 2008-06-21

  Whilst vile and ugly, the abuse Daphne suffered was logical, given how she'd been offered to Harry that way. Also, like many social climbing toadies, Greengrass wants to be more "Noble" and "pure" than the long standing representatives of both - so he takes the rules etc to the extreme.
  Excellent chapter with much to mull over.

• Harry Potter and the Marriage Contracts

  (#) BARON1941 2008-06-21

  Thank you for updating this was a hard chapter for me to read (as were a couple of chapters of acts of betrayal)however you are and excellent writer whose stories i enjoy very much so i will trust your judgement that this part was necessary for the story as a whole. write the story your way and do not let the negative reviews get you down
  Again excellent story please update as you can

• Harry Potter and the Marriage Contracts

  (#) DrT 2008-06-21

  If you want to have Harry break the law in the next chapter, fine, it's your universe. I see no reason, as it's set up, why Harry, who outranks Neville who outranks Greengrass (and, given the general views seen here and in canon, any English noble would outrank any foreign noble, out ranks the count) should be able to duel for the hand of a witch he had shown was still under his consideration, returned contract or not

  Author's response

  - A challenge duel for her? I never thought of that... Only one of the reasons your stories are better than mine Doc.

• Harry Potter and the Marriage Contracts

  (#) selenepotter 2008-06-21

  Great Chapter!
  I'm šurprižed that Daphanie didn't Ak herself while she was being abused . . . or her fiance . . . or her father!
  
  I hope Harry wups ass on her father!
  

• Harry Potter and the Marriage Contracts

  (#) Aelfwine 2008-06-21

  I was expecting something like this. Daphne's situation was a little worse than I thought, but it fits with Mr. Greengrass' previous behaviour.
  
  Can't blame you for putting it in at all--stuff like that happens, and it's hard to just turn a story about because you don't like what's going on. It demands being written, sometimes.
  
  I'm looking forward to what comes next.

  Author's response

  - I thought I was foreshadowing my plot away, but few seem to have seen it... (though over on the Caer Azkaban yahoo group, Canoncansodoff basically posted my outline AND my ending.

• Harry Potter and the Marriage Contracts

  (#) Terdwilicker 2008-06-21

  Hmm. I'm not happy with the rape scenes. I realize the wizards are barbaric callous animals in canon, and you're following through with JKR's assertions about their disgusting backwards behavior. Still, I question why it was necessary for Daphne to suffer this. If this were a more serious romantic tragedy, Daphne would suicide in shame and Harry would go dark, slaughtering the wizengamot and end up cursed by his people as a "dark wizard", canonically ignoring WHY he did. I suspect you won't play that as dark as I suggested. I'm glad you have lighter stories like Distaff Side to stay cheerful to.

  Author's response

  - Actually I with I'd thought of that. Of course for it to work, Hermione would have to had died, but cause she would never allow Harry to go dark... (at least not without unleashing a level 9 power nag.)

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