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A/N: I do not own Harry Potter. But you knew that.





Harry Potter and The Acts of Betrayal



Chapter Ten - Conflict of Interest





"Sorry we're late Head Master." Potter said in aconversational tone that carried throughout the Great Hall. "My wives and Iwere unavoidably delayed."



"Wives Mr. Potter?" the old man could not believe this was happening. Twenty years of planning, gone. The Great Hall exploded in aflurry of conversations that died away as soon as Harry continued to speak.



"Why yes Headmaster. You of course know Hermione Granger, The Lady Potter, and Daphne Black nee Greengrass, the Lady Black."



This could not stand, separated he could break their wills individually. "You understand of course Mr. Potter that there are no quarters for married students here at Hogwarts."



"Ah Headmaster, another of you little jokes, anyone who has read /Hogwarts: A History/ knows that there are indeed married student quarters, that have simply fallen out of common use given the increasing rarity of marriage before leaving school. In fact, Headmaster I am positive that you were aware of our status, having consulted a seer on the topic because more than a month before Hermione and I married, you withdrew 7000 galleons from my vault designating it as 'tuition'. Since the normal tuition is only 1400 galleons, the additional must have been the tuition for my wives and the extra for the married quarters... Otherwise, what possible reason would you have for such a massive withdrawal from my vault?"



Minerva McGonagall fixed the Headmaster with a look of surprise. Dumbledore ignored her and tried another tack.



"You and your ladies never registered Mr. Potter."



"Still with the jokes Headmaster? What Possible reason would you have to process tuition for students who are not registered for class?"



Harry felt a presence in his mind, and pushed it away, it returned with a sledgehammer blow. Harry's magic instinctively took hold of the legimens probe and twisted it. Snape gasped and slumped in his chair obviously in agony, but incapable of making any sound.



~ Harry? ~ Hermione spoke in his head



~ Who attacked you? ~ Daphne asked.



The two women surged to his side, their concern radiating. Dumbledore was taken aback by the amount of emotion the two women had for Potter.



"You would do well to curb you pet Death Eater before I have to neuter him Headmaster. I don't think either of us would want that."



"What have you done to Professor Snape?" Dumbledore demanded.



"He entered my mind uninvited, so I pushed him out, he then smashed his way back in, so I figured, if he wanted in that badly, I'd hold on and keep him... Who knew rudeness could turn out to be so painful?"



"Release him at once!"



"Certainly Headmaster." Concentrating Harry released his attacker. "That was your free shot Professor, next time I'll really hurt you." Harry returned his attention to the Headmaster.



"You attacked a Professor Harry?"



"You're on a roll tonight Headmaster, the Professor attacked me, in front of all these witnesses" Harry gestured toward the staff table and the students. "Why do you suppose he felt he could get away with attempting mind rape like that?" Harry's eye contact with the ancient wizard never faltered, almost daring him to attempt his mind magic. "Well Headmaster, it's been a long day, my Ladies and I are awfully hungry... Would you mind terribly if we joined the Hufflepuffs for dinner? We all feel the need for a little loyalty, having had enough 'bravery' without honor and 'ambition' without thought..." without waiting for permission Harry put an arm around each of his wives and turned toward the 'puff's table, before stopping. "Oh Headmaster? I would really appreciate it if you were to monitor the kitchens for potion contamination. I had a little trouble last year, but I'm over it now, and I'm not feeling nearly as blocked as I used to be..."



Dumbledore's eyes widened when he realized what he had just been told.





...---===ooo000ooo===---...





"Mind if we join you?" Hermione asked Susan Bones.



"By all means!" the 7th year 'puffs made room for the married trio.



"What the hell did you do to Snape?"



"Taught him not to mess with me anymore Justin. Anyone think there much of a chance he's learned his lesson?"



The food appeared on the tables and everyone filled their plates. The conversation divided its self along gender lines.



"So," Hannah Abbott asked the question everyone wanted to know, "When did this happen? None of you were together at the end of last year..."



"Remember Harry and I were starting to date at the beginning of last year?" There was a general agreement of the young women speaking with her. "The Weasleys dosed us with a Love-control potion"



"Love potions!" the women hissed, starting to send death glares toward the Gryffindor table.



"And you Daphne?"



"Harry and I are contractually married Susan. Well, not Harry and I specifically. Lord Black and the house of Greengrass."



Contract marriages were far from rare, though in recent memory the contracts had not been executed until leaving school.



"With his upbringing, I never would have thought that Harry would take part in a contract marriage." Megan Jones cast an appraising look at the raven-haired man deep in conversation with Justin and Ernie.



"In as much as Harry married Hermione first, all three of us had our concerns, but we've worked through them for the most part. I for one am extremely happy with my new husband and the sister I always wanted."



"But Hermione wouldn't have had a say in the matter would she?"



"I'm sorry Megan, this is Hermione Granger. Have you met?"



The girls started giggling.



...---===ooo000ooo===---...





"Oh, that can't be good for you Mate."



"In my vast married experience, laughing wives are happy wives. Happy wives mean life isn't all that bad."



Justin smiled "Just how 'vast' is this experience?"



"Ah, ten days"



The 'puffs laughed.



"That's ten days more than any of you clowns have."



"Gotta give you that Harry. Ernie and I spotted the three of you at a club Monday night... If we had any idea that you had married them, we would have abused you then."



"No we wouldn't have Justin. The girls we were with were alot more fun than abusing Harry could ever be."



"True enough." Justin got an evil grin on his face. "So, two wives eh? Together or individually?"



Harry turned to his wives "Ladies, Justin has some questions about our sex lives..."



"Oh really?" asked Hermione coldly.



"Are you sure you want to know Justin?" Daphne purred dangerously.



"Harry!"



"You dug your own grave Mate, all I did was point you out to the undertakers."



The table erupted into laughter.





...---===ooo000ooo===---...



At the Gryffindor table confusion reined, the topic of conversation was of course why Harry and Hermione had abandoned them. Knowing the answer, Neville was keeping his own counsel. The Weasleys also knew the reason, but were dealing with it in two different ways.



Ginny was utterly shocked. Harry was married. Twice. Granger looked pleased with herself. Greengrass was just hanging off Harry. This was not going to stand. She was supposed to marry Harry, not those two sluts. Dumbledore would fix this. He had to. He made promises.



Ron on the other hand was in a dark burning fury. It was not bad enough Harry had taken Hermione from him; the greedy attention-seeking bastard had another woman as well. Images of Hermione on her knees in front of Harry, using the mouth he had trained to make that miserable halfblood happy. Dumbledore would fix this, or someone was going to die.



...---===ooo000ooo===---...



The conversations at the Slytherin table dealt with the same topic. Only instead of focusing on Potter and Granger, the snakes focused on Daphne Greengrass.



It was relatively common knowledge among the Slytherins that the contract between the House of Greengrass and the House of Black existed. There had been multiple attempts at executing that contract over the last century. Draco Malfoy had expected to receive the head of the House of Greengrass after he had become Lord Black. He was the closest to the title by blood. When he had approached the Goblins the day he turned 17 he had expected to be shown to his new vaults. He had been ejected from the bank by two security goblins when he had reacted badly to being told that he was not and would never be Lord Black.



Now Potter is Lord Black. Now Potter has Greengrass. If anything happened to Potter, she would inherit the head of house status unless his will specifically sent it elsewhere. Fucking Scar Head.



Tracy Davis was also watching Daphne. Daphne had actually done it. Some how Daphne had managed to bend Potter to her will; he had not used any of the various outs that the contract provided him. At least that was her first thoughts, the more she watched the more she wondered just who was bent to whose will. Daphne was clinging to him and hanging on his every word. What magic was in that contract? On the other hand, had her best friend actually fallen in love?



...---===ooo000ooo===---...



At the Ravenclaw table, the 'claws were demonstrating just how above the rest of the school there were by pointedly not discussing the married trio. Luna was making absurd observations about truly meaningless things to those sitting around her, and to no one. Harry and Hermione had married. Wonderful, entire realities had fallen away from the decision tree; there had been high odds against Daphne joining them. In the vast majority of realities where the contract existed, one or the other of them had rejected the possibility out of hand, of the few that had them together the majority of those realities promised happiness for them, and usually Hermione as well.



This cusp was pleasing to Luna as well, of the remaining possible realities, she now had a ninety percent chance of survival, and a better than even chance for love. She stole a glance at the head table. Dumbledore and Snape were furious at Harry and his wives, for very different reasons. The remainder of the staff found its self divided between those like Hagrid and Pomfrey who had no idea what was going on, and McGonagall and Flitwick who were shocked at the exposure of Dumbledore's dealings with Harry's money.



...---===ooo000ooo===---...



The meal done; everyone had eaten his or her fill. Dumbledore had made his usual beginning of year pronouncements about the forbidden forest being forbidden and Filches' ever-expanding list of forbidden objects. The students were excused to their dormitories.



The 'puffs stood to leave with Hermione and Daphne starting to join them.



"Just a second."



The pair settled "What is it Harry?"



"Either Dumbledore or McGonagall will be here in a second to tell us he wants to see me in his office. He does this quite a bit Daphne."



"Very perceptive Mr. Potter."



"Good evening Professor." Harry turned to the Transfiguration instructor. "Did you have a good summer?"



"Apparently not as interesting a holiday as you had Mr. Potter, the Headmaster would indeed like to see you in his office."



"Well then, we shouldn't keep him waiting." He stood offering his hands to his wives. "Ladies?"



"The Headmaster specifically said for you to go alone Mr. Potter. I am to escort Miss Granger and Miss Greengrass to your quarters."



"Black."



"Excuse me Miss Greengrass?"



"I am Mrs. Black, or Lady Black. I am no longer Daphne Greengrass."



"And I believe we will accompany our husband to see the Headmaster Professor. We wouldn't want anything to suddenly separate us like what happened to Harry and myself last Year."



"I see. I believe I would like to schedule some time to speak with the three of you before classes start. Will you be available tomorrow at say 10 am?"



"I believe that is doable on our part Professor. Of course that would depend on what the Headmaster has to say."



"Of course. The Password to the Headmaster's office is'Dove Bar'"





...---===ooo000ooo===---...



"Ready?"



"Let's do this." Daphne said, Hermione nodded in agreement.



The gargoyle slide out of the way at the password, the stairs took them to the closed door. Harry knocked.



"Come in."



The trio entered.



"I believe I only asked for you Harry."



"Ah, possibly a miscommunication Headmaster, but we're all here now. How can I help you?"



"I would like you to explain why you chose to marry this summer."



"No."



"Excuse me?"



"My relationship with my wives has nothing to do with education. Since our relationship is that of Headmaster and student, my personal life is none of your business." Harry looked about the office. "I see you redecorated since I was here last... Was there anything in this office you did own?"



"Mr. Potter I'm afraid I'm going to have to require you to explain yourself, in full, or you will find yourself expelled."



"Really Headmaster? I would be interested in seeing the school regulation that allows you to make that threat. Of course, since I have a standing offer from the Salem Academy for a full scholarship for my ladies and myself it wouldn't bother me all that much. In fact, it might free up the time to investigate the odd transactions from my vaults for the last 16 years or so... The Goblins are fairly insistent that I look into it so that if there was any malfeasance it could be punished..."the empty perch caught his eye. "Where's your phoenix Headmaster?"



Dumbledore ignored the jibe. Granger, she always respected authority. Potter would not talk, fine, the mudblood would.



"Miss Granger, perhaps you could explain?"



"No."



"Miss Granger, I insist."



"Insist all you like Headmaster, after what you did to my sister-wife I tried to talk them into vendetta."



"Miss Greengrass, I must ask you..."



"There is no 'Miss Greengrass'here Headmaster. I am Mrs. Black, unless you want to be formal, then I am Lady Black." Her magic flared into a visible aura. "There will be no repeat of your machinations from last year. We test each other's food and drink. Anyone attempting to give any of us a potion is likely to die."



"The same goes for Obliviators Headmaster." Hermione joined the conversation. "Further if you value the two youngest Weasleys or Nymphadora Tonks you will keep your whores away from us."



"And of course there are the copies of memories stored at various places around the world; detailing what was done to us and scheduled for publication should we fail to report in very specific ways tied to those memories. That might be sad for some people."



"Harry's right. There aren't alot of lemon drops in Azkaban."



"Mr. Potter, your feelings aside, the old families of the light are not going to tolerated you mixing the Potter with ..."



"A 'Mudblood' Headmaster?" asked Hermione helpfully.



"If you are correct, then they aren't terribly light are they? I will destroy them just as I will destroy Tom. Problem solved." He stood.



"If there is nothing else Headmaster. Ladies?" Harry offered them his arms. At the door, Harry turned back, "Oh Headmaster, I was serious about Snape having had his one free shot. The next time he attempts to enter my mind uninvited, I will destroy his mind, and a generation of potions students will cheer. He will not be able to resist, so you should start lining up another Potions Master. The gloves, or rather, the bindings are off."



Dumbledore sat watching the door long after it had closed. The instrumentation in his office showed that Harry was not bluffing. The boy had access to the all the magic in his core, and his core was still growing.



...---===ooo000ooo===---...



Safely in their married quarters (the second quarters offered, the first had only two bedchambers, Harry insisted on three.) the girls sat in the common room while Harry checked the various portraits for surveillance charms. There was a knocking at the entrance.



Hermione opened the door to find the Patils, Lavender Brown, and Tracey Davis.



"Let us in. We need to talk." Lavender had an uncharacteristic focused look.



The five young women entered and found seats in the common area, Daphne pulling Tracey into her bedchamber. Harry finished his security sweep of the rooms and spotted the women starting to talk, he decided that he wanted no part of this, and retreated to his room.



"The 'puffs are saying that the Weasley's dosed you and Harry with love potions last year." Pavarti was furious that anyone would do such a thing.



"Yes, they did. The Headmaster supplied them with the Mancipiumdiligo potion."



Padma gasped. "That requires the victim to be sexually active in order for the potion to maintain its hold." Her eyes widened. "Ron didn't? Not to you?"



"Yes he did. In every way. I remember every second of it; I remember how he made me beg him to do it to me." Hermione looked a little ashamed. "I liked it. I know that the potion made me like it, but I still feel the shame. I can't believe Harry is willing to touch me..." Parvarti pulled her into an embrace.



"My god. I went to the ball with him..." Padma shuttered abit. "And Ginny did that to Harry?"



"No, Molly wouldn't stand for her princess risking her virginity. Dumbledore had Nymphadora Tonks go to Harry at night wearing Ginny's face. Harry honestly thought she was a wet dream. When I realized what they were doing to me, I ran. When I got home, they had my parents under the Imperius curse. Then I ran for Harry, and got him away from his minders." She noted that all of her friends were paying rapt attention. "We went to ground as muggles, getting my parents and we went to the United States. There Harry found out about the Black family contract with the Greengrass family. Harry did not want to make his marriage a contract affair, he wanted to marry for love, and he asked me and we married ten days ago. Daphne and he executed the contract last Monday, and we did a bonding ritual with the three of us Tuesday. Now we're here, that's the story."



"But you're happy?"



"Yes, I am and we are Pavarti. At first I was horribly jealous, but once we bonded..."



"Bonding rituals are permanent Hermione; the three of you will be bound together for life."



"We know that Lavender, it's what we wanted anyway, why not take it to the ultimate expression?"



...---===ooo000ooo===---...



"So, you got what you wanted?"



"Yes, everything I wanted and more Tracy. You wouldn't believe his magic, or how it makes me feel."



"You're ok with sharing with Granger?" The shorter girl was concerned for her friend.



"Hermione and I are fine with each other Tracy. At first we were both incredible jealous of each other, all the plans otherwise aside. We ended up needing a bonding ritual. That was amazing, it's like we all fused at some level."



"Wait, you were jealous?"



Daphne blushed. "Yes. It didn't make any sense to me either, but when I saw him with her, I just wanted to... well lets just say we're getting along fine now."



"But you still separate to speak to your friends?"



"I pulled you in here more for you, and so we could discuss the plan, most of those girls would be horrified at the idea of the plan. That being said, I share Hermione's feelings for her friends, she shares mine for you."



Tracy nodded. "Alright then, now the important question. How was Potter? Is he father material?"



"Tracy, you have no idea. We spoke about the compulsion embedded in the marriage contract. As soon as we finished the initial agreements, his magic started affecting me. It was always there, surrounding me, calming me, arousing me. I started dreaming about him. His magic started out powerful and grew every single minute. It's still there, even now. Hermione found out his magic had been bound."



"Bound? But that's not possible; he easily had one of the top three power levels at school since 4th year."



"He was bound, believe me. Evidently, when we started the contract, it was not just his magic affecting me, but mine affected him. My magic disrupted his bindings, unleashing his full potential. That potential almost consumed me."



"How so?"



"After we signed the final contracts, Harry, Hermione, and Iwent out to eat dinner in a Muggle restaurant. Then we went dancing. My last memory was the first time we danced like Muggles, he was holding me and I just melted into him, then I can't remember anything until we were all back in our suite and Hermione was telling me to think about what I wanted, what I wanted to remember about the night."



"Are you sure you weren't dosed with a potion."



"If you knew what Harry thinks about love potions you wouldn't ask." She blushed a bit. "It was wonderful, we were both under the compulsion, but he was gentle. We made love for over 6 hours."



"6 hours? Sweet Morgana." Tracy Davis was NOT a virgin, she felt a bit of envy for her friend. "Are you still following the plan, or have you fallen in love?"



"The two are not mutually exclusive Tracy."



"I guess I can see that. Do you have any regrets Daphne?"



"Only that it's Hermione's turn with him tonight."



...---===ooo000ooo===---...



October 31, 1942



Tom Riddle was in the arms of the woman he loved more than his own life. Deputy Headmaster Dumbledore had introduced him to Candice Sweets the year before, and they had been meeting ever few days ever sense. Dumbledore had even facilitated his leaving Hogwarts following the Halloween feast, something not normally allowed.



Candice (Tom steadfastly refused to call her 'Candi') was everything he had ever wanted in a companion. She challenged his intellect, and loved him for himself, not for what he could do. She did not care that he grew up alone and abused in a Muggle orphanage. She did not care that he was winning awards, she only cared that he was Tom, he was hers, and their lovemaking was so much the better for it. The fact that she was 6 years his senior did not matter to him at all. All his life he had wanted love, in Candice he had finally found it. He owed Dumbledore for this. He swore to himself that he would repay the man for finding the answer to his dream.



Their bodies sated, she slept, still holding him inside her. Tom drifted right on the edge of consciousness. Part of his mind dreaming of Candice's strawberry kisses, part dwelling on his earlier conversation with Dumbledore.



"Grendelwald is still a threat Tom. His adventures in Europe have only wetted his appetite. He has killed millions. It won't be long before he comes for us here."



"The Muggles are fighting his sponsors Professor. Last summer I saw some of their newsreels on the war, surely the horrific bombing going on will prevent him from being all that much of a threat."



"Would those Muggle weapons be any good against you Tom?"



Riddle admitted to himself that he could probably develop a defense against the Muggle weapons if he put his mind to it.



"No, Tom, only a wizard could stand against him. Only you. My time is past; you must defeat him to save the British Wizarding Culture."



"There are others Professor, I've got more power than normal, but I'm not all that unusual. Moody is as powerful as I am."



"Alistair has his moments, but you have the potential to be so much more Tom, so much more than you could possibly know."





...---===ooo000ooo===---...