FicWad

Chapter four- dealing with a traitor.

It was one o’clock in the afternoon before Harry got out of bed, the previous nights events had taken a lot out of him it had taken him twenty minutes of constant scrubbing to get the smell of smoke from him. Harry thoughts wandered to the actions Bellatrix had shown towards him, it was understandable that she was angry after all he had inadvertently caused her masters downfall but it should have been obvious to her that he was just as, if not more so, loyal to the dark lord as her. Harry had found another robe laid out on the chair for him and hadn’t wasted anytime after he had had a shower putting it on, as he made his way to the kitchen, where upon entering he saw Narcissa sitting formally at the kitchen table where a ugly little house elf was running around doing chores. Narcissa was a women of great beauty, he honey blonde hair falling in curls down her shoulders, she was slim and when she wasn’t grimacing was exceedingly pretty.

“Good morning Harry” she greeted politely as she motioned for him to take a seat which he did. “I want to apologise for my sisters behaviour last night, I’m afraid she did not handle what is good news very well, she is not normally like that”

Harry offered a reassuring smile “I’m sure” in truth he blamed Azkaban, the effects of the dementors couldn’t have been pleasant and spending nearly fifteen years with them he would allow her some leeway. “is that the prophet?”

“yes” a smile graced her lips “your activities have been well documented” she paced the paper to him. The first thing Harry saw was the large bold headline and a picture of a mass of flames.

AZKABAN NO MORE!

Last night at a unknown hour the wizarding prison of Azkaban was burnt to the ground killing everybody inside. Thousands of convicted criminals where burnt to a crisp as the prison burnt to the ground, the ministry has told us that they have no leads as to who was behind this crime but we are told that investigations are on going and that the public should not be scared. Chief Auror Sirius Black had this to say to the Daily Prophet.

“We are looking into possible leads, but I urge the public not to panic we at the ministry are looking into every possible explanation” Black told our reporter.

We at the prophet estimate the total death toll at around two thousand, the majority of the inmates being death eaters is this just karma, repaying them for there crimes or, as we at the prophet believe a new dark lord looking for supporters and when the Deatheaters remained loyal to the now deceased he-who-must-not-be-named the up and coming dark lord torched the prison in a fit of rage.

Harry chuckled loudly as he finished reading the paper, this was the wizarding worlds most reliable source of information? They didn’t have a clue what had happened and this Sirius black man obviously didn’t have any idea what had happened it was like the blind leading the blind. The ministry where about as reliable as the quibbler when it came to important information after all many respectable members of the ministry where in the dark lords service.

“Amusing isn’t it Harry” Narcissa asked him. “they have no idea the dark lord has returned, if they where any more stupid they would be muggles”

“Quite. Where is everyone?” Harry asked curiously noticing that it seemed to be only him and Narcissa.

“The Dark Lord has gone to meet with Peter about something, my sister and her husband are still in bed as are the others you liberated from Azkaban” the pretty witch informed him “And Draco has gone over to the Edgecombes for the day”

“Edgecombes?” it wasn’t a family name that Harry had ever heard Voldemort use and was naturally curious as to why Lucius and Narcissa would allow there sun to go to a unknown family.

“It is Draco’s betrothed family” Narcissa told him “they are sympatric to our cause, Caroline Edgecombe is head of the floo department she turns a blind eye to one of us using a floo for some err…more questionable actions. Jacob Edgecombe is in the auror department which has proved valuable for our family in a few tricky situations”

“Ah I see” Harry nodded in understanding.

“Is that something you have thought about” Narcissa asked.

“Thought about what?” Harry asked flicking through the paper ideally seeing the reports of the recent quidditch matches as he skimmed through.

“A betrothal” Harry looked up from the paper, he had never really given it much thought, it wasn’t something that Voldemort had discussed with him they had been more intent of teaching and researching.

“I haven’t really thought about it, is it important?” Harry asked placing the paper down on the table and looking Narcissa.

“Oh yes, as you are now the dark lord apprentice it is important you up hold a pureblood standing!” she told him passionately “most respectable purebloods are either betrothed or looking. Why Draco is betrothed to Marietta Edgecombe, Vincent Crabbe is betrothed to Millicent Bullstude and Gregory Goyle is betrothed to Ebony Moon” Narcissa told him “the only reason I bring this up is I have had two family express interest in you”

“Really?” Harry asked a bit shocked he hadn’t really met anybody except Draco, so it came as a surprise to have two families inquire to his marital status. “who?”

“First there where the Parkinson’s” Harry nodded he had met Pansy once, she was a pretty and seemed nice enough “and the Greengrass’” he had met Queenie Greengrass, she had visited Narcissa before the raid on Azkaban but he hadn’t met there daughter.

“What do you think?” Harry asked keen on seeing what her advice was, if he had learnt anything about Narcissa in the short time that he had been staying at Malfoy manor was that she was a women of impeccable taste.

“Your agreeing?” Narcissa asked with a raised eyebrow to which Harry just shrugged honestly considering what she had proposed.

“I have only met Pansy once and I haven’t even seen the Greengrass’ daughter, and I do agree with you…it is important to keep families pure and up hold the traditions of our kind” Harry told Mrs.Malfoy.

“Quite right” she sniffed “if I where in your position…” she paused obviously thinking “I would choose the Parkinson’s’. Whilst Daphne is a nice girl the Greengrass’ would gain more from you than you would from them but the Parkinson’s are highly respected amongst our circle, they own several stores in knock turn alley and there daughter is among the top of her year and from noble stock which would provide you with a good match. Truthfully if my Draco hadn’t been Betrothed to Marietta since birth I would of tried to get a contract to get one with Pansy.”

“well I trust you will be able to speak with the Parkinson about our…arrangement?” Harry asked, trusting her judgement.

“I will and may I say that Pansy is the right choice for you my young lord” and with that Narcissa disappeared off into the vast manor.

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“Master Harry sir” Squeaked a timid looking house elf. Harry was sitting on the bed he had been given within Malfoy manor reading through a book about how to brew the hate potion, closing the book Harry looked over at the little house elf.

“yes” he replied lazily.

“H…he-who-must-not-be-named requests your presence” the house squeaked before disappearing. Harry marked his page and closed the book, he hadn’t realised that Voldemort had returned to Malfoy manor he had presumed that the Dark lord would be gone most of, if not all day but apparently he was back and wanted to see him. Harry walked down to living room in Malfoy manor to see that Voldemort was sat regally on one of the Malfoy’s sofas nobody else was in the room and Voldemort appeared to have a glass of wine in his hand as he watched the fire crackle.

“I always found a glass of wine helps me think” Voldemort told Harry without taking his eyes off the fireplace. Harry stood nervously to the side of the sofa that Voldemort was sat on waiting to see what the Dark lord wanted. “I have a job for you Harry” Voldemort paused and took another sip of his wine “Wormtail has found Karakoffs location I want him dead ” the Darklord snarled loosing the calm façade “make him suffer for his betrayal”

“I will” Harry confirmed quickly.

“Karakoff stays in a manor in the north of Bulgaria. He can be found in Vidin a remote area of the country” Voldemort informed Harry.

“shall I leave our Mark?” Harry asked curiously

Voldemort seemed to consider this as he tapped one long pale finger against his glass “no” Voldemort told Harry slowly “ we do not need the attention at this moment of time, kill him and make him regret his choice to ever disobey me!”

“yes milord” Harry replied “how will I get there?”

“Portkey. I have taken the liberty to make you a portkey” Voldemort took out a small silver chain and handed it to him, “Macnair will accompany you…he has expressed some desire to… make Karakoff regret his choice to help the ministry”

Harry nodded, Macnair was about as manic as one could become whilst still retaining his mind. From the little he new of Macnair Harry knew he had escaped Azkaban but only just and it probably cost him the majority of the gold in his vault. Voldemort seemed to have ended the conversation so Harry left the dimly lit room and headed toward the kitchen, unlike earlier when Harry had come down the kitchen was full of people there was Narcissa sat talking to both Bellatrix and one of the lestrange brother, which one Harry was unsure as both brothers looked remarkably similar, Dolohov wasn’t present and neither was Rookwood however Macnair was and was casually sitting on the kitchen counter with his axe resting across his legs. Harry entrance did not go unnoticed as both Bellatrix and the lestrange brother looked up at him and Harry could see the lack of trust behind there eyes, looking up Harry looked at Macnair who gave him a maniacal grin and tapped his axe.

“Harry!” Narcissa greeted happily, it seemed this women had taken a shine to him.

“Good afternoon Mrs.Malfoy” Harry said respectfully as he stepped into the room.

“is there anything I can do for you” Narcissa asked. Harry assumed that by I, she meant house elf.

“No thank you Mrs.Malfoy. My lord has given me a job to do” Harry replied and instantly eyebrows rose.

“Job?” Bellatrix asked instantly and looking slightly put out that she wasn’t the one that the Dark lord had turned to.

“yeah” grunted Macnair with a disturbing grin “gonna teach Karakoff a lesson!” Macnair turned to Harry “you got tha’ portkey?” Harry dangled the silver chain from his hand in indication that he did have the portkey “good, lets get going then” the axe wielding man hopped of the Malfoy’s kittening counter.

“Are we meeting Wormtail?” Harry grimaced, he hated Wormtail. Wormtail was a weak minded fool to put it politely, the man couldn’t find his head from his arse but he did have his uses Harry supposed and since he had discovered Harry to be remarkably more magically talented than he was Wormtail tended to treat Harry better than he done in the early years.

“aye” Macnair grunted “he’s showing us to Karakoffs house. We better get going the sooner that piece of shit is killed the better” he held out his hand and Harry handed him the chain to him whilst maintaining his own grip on it, Harry touched the tip of his wand on the chain and the two wizards disappeared in a burst of white light leaving behind those in the kitchen to wonder what Karakoffs last moments would be like.

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Deep in a forest in the heart of Bulgaria a small plump man with straw like hair waited anxiously among the trees and bushes, the man was wearing tattered robes and seemed to have a thick layer of dirt coating him. His dirty hands where clasped together nervously his beady watery blue eyes darting around like he expected something to jump out at him. When a flash of white light flooded through the forest the man almost sagged in relief before rushing forward to greet those that had just arrived.

“Wormtail” Harry greeted coolly as he stepped forward followed by Macnair, who didn’t bother greeting Wormtail.

“H…Harry” Wormtail stammered clearly surprised at the cold tone that he had been greeted with.

“where is Karakoff?” Macnair asked quickly. His hands gripping tightly to his axe, it had surprised Harry that this man preferred to use his axe than his wand.

“just over the hill” Wormtail pointed behind them to where the opening of the forest was. The sun was high in the sky above the forest canapé, the bird where singing and there was the occasional rustle in the bushes told him that animals where moving around them. Harry had to confess he felt slightly apprehensive about this mission he had been set, this was different from the attack on Azkaban that attack could be blamed on anybody with a reason to hurt the prisoners but this…this was quite obvious, anybody with half a brain would assume deatheaters that had escaped Azkaban would want to kill Karakoff they just had to wait for the right time and unlike the Azkaban reveal there would be evidence this time one mistake by either Harry or Macnair could lead to suspicion and that was the last thing anybody wanted.

“whats it like Wormtail?” Macnair asked not taking his eyes of the place the rat like man had pointed.

“I…I don’t understand” Wormtail asked with a confused look in his eyes.

“his house Wormtail! Are there wards? Any protection?” Macnair snapped angrily and Wormtail who visibly shrank.

“no protection that I could see” Wormtail whimpered “no wards either”

Macnair gave a ruckus laugh “Typical Karakoff!” the ministry exterminator sneered “puts to much faith in his abilities” Harry didn’t say anything he didn’t know much about Karakoff except he had betrayed Voldemort and was headmaster at Durmstrang. “You coming Wormtail?”

“n-no” Wormtail said with a shake of his head “I better stay here keep an eye out” Harry eyed Wormtail warily for a moment before looking over to Macnair who nodded and the two wizards left the covering of the forest and began there way to find Karakoff. Harry walked beside Macnair as they walked up the hill, neither man saying a word which was unusual because Macnair wasn’t one to stay quiet for long and was normally quite vocal with his thoughts. The weather in Bulgaria was hot as one would expect for the middle of July, they sky was cloudless and the sun beat down on the two wizards necks as they walked to the top of the hill. It wasn’t hard to spot Karakoffs place of residents as it was the only house in the area, it was built into the hill and was made out of logs it looked quite cosy and Harry mused that being a headmaster of Durmstrang must pay well. Both Harry and Macnair walked forward staring intently at the house, the dry grass almost crunching under there feet as they stepped silently towards the house.

“Alohomora” Harry whispered a light blue light pulsed from his wand and hit the door, the lock unlatched with a click leaving them free entrance. The house was warm and light it, the door lead into a single room that seemed to take up the whole of the bottom floor it was a mixture between a living room and kitchen. A spiralling wooden staircase stood in the far corner of the living room. Harry couldn’t help but think it was a unusual layout for a home but then again Karakoff didn’t spend much time here as for the majority of the year he was away at Durmstrang. Harry could see Macnair stalking around the room like a predator hunting it’s prey but it became obvious that Karakoff was not on the first floor so Harry silently motioned to the staircase and Macnair nodded in conformation.

It was strange because if Harry had betrayed somebody as deadly as his fellow deatheaters the first thing he would of done was put the most powerful wards around his home but it seemed that Macnair had been right and that Karkaroff seemed to think himself greater than he actually was and it was his own arrogance that would prove to be his downfall. Harry walked as quietly as he possibly could as he scaled the narrowing spiralling staircase, as Harry expected the upstairs was handsomely decorated; the walls where painted in a deep red, a bed was placed in the middle of the room and covered in a shiny blue drape a large trunk was placed to the side of the bed.

“where is he?” whispered Macnair looking around the room “if Wormtail was wrong I swear to Merlin I’ll ring his chubby little neck!”

“the dark lord wouldn’t send us if he wasn’t here” Harry counted in an equally low whisper.

“could he be downstairs?”

“no I doubt it Macnair…it was only one room we would of seen him” Harry replied.

“drop your wands” threatened a heavy accented voice from behind them, there was no mistaken the who the voice belonged to.

“Igor” Growled Macnair as he spun round quickly, his axe still gripped in his hands. The same maniacal smile that Harry had seen earlier that morning in the Malfoy’s home was adorned on his companions face displaying his horrible yellow teeth.

“M…Macnair” Karakoff greeted nervously clearly remembering the man “ for what do I owe this pleasure” Harry had turned round and let a grin spread across his face as he saw the shocked and panicked expression across the mans face. His hair was damp and hung limply his eyes slightly drawn and it looked like he had just gotten out of the shower.

“Don’t play dumb with me Karakoff” growled Macnair menacingly and taking a step forward to which Igor replied by raising his wand directly for the mans head.

“W…Walden” Karakoff started “let us put the past behind us” he said it in an almost pleading voice, a voice that Harry had heard Wormtail use when Voldemort had been particularly angry with him.

“The past has a funny way of catching up with you doesn’t it Igor?” Macnair sneered “you will pay for what you did!”

Karakoffs eyes where wide with fear Harry could almost hear his heartbeat increase as he looked at them both, Karakoffs wand which had been alternating between both men had now dropped and was pointing to the floor as the Durmstrang headmaster stood in shock.

“please…” Karakoff pleaded the rest of his sentence trailing off.

“Crucio!” shouted Macnair, who to Harry’s surprise was able to whip our his wand out of the holster on his forearm with alarming speed, Karakoff collapsed to the ground screaming in pain as Macnair relentlessly tortured him. After a few minutes Macnair released the spell with obvious reluctance leaving Karakoffs laying on the floor gasping for air.

“Please…I’ll do any…thing” the man gasped and Harry looked down on him with disgust evident in his eyes.

“you sealed your fate the day you gave names of our people to the ministry!” Spat Harry his wand trained on the deserter.

“did you think our lord wouldn’t return!” Barked Macnair “that the greatest wizard to ever live would be stopped by a baby!”

“he’s…he’s back” Whimpered Karkaroff and seeing Macnair nod he continued desperately “I’m loyal! I never left our cause”

“Loyal!” Sneered Harry “Loyal was going to Azkaban! Loyal was leaving the country in in bid to find him…you are not loyal” Harry jabbed his wand forward and screamed “Crucio!” the red spell struck Karkaroff and again he lapsed into a fit of screams as his body jerked uncontrollably after several minutes he released the spell, Karkaroff lay there with a slightly vacant look in his eye and shaking from the after effects of the spell.

“Avada Kedavra” hissed Macnair the green light engulfed the room and left the body of former deatheater and now former headmaster of Durmstrang lay motionless on the fur covered floor his eyes glazed over and his chest no longer moving.

“come on…Job done lets get back” Harry hissed under his breath, Macnair seemed to be basking in the aftermath of death. Harry walked away leaving Macnair in the room and began making his way to forest to find Wormtail. Harry wondered what Karakoffs last thoughts where before that fateful curse hit him…probably regretting telling the ministry the names of the Deatheaters.

“did you do it?” Wormtail asked eagerly as he walked into the forest. Wormtail had previously been sitting against a tree but was now stood in front of Harry almost begging for information.

“yeah” He grunted in confirmation.

“where’s Macnair?” Wormtail asked

“dunno…last I saw he was still in the house” Harry informed Wormtail.

They waited in silence for nearly ten minutes before Macnair came trudging through the undergrowth looking strangely happy, his axe swung carelessly over his shoulders.

“where the bloody hell have you been!” Harry growled as he saw Macnair approach. The man in question gave a shrug of his shoulders nobody would ever guess that he had just committed murder.

“I was just salvaging the moment” Macnair shrugged whilst Harry stared at him in mystification. “you have no idea how long I have waited for that moment”

“well you can fantasise about it later” Harry sneered “right now I want to go home” Harry snatched the chain that Wormtail was holding and held it out for the other two wizards to hold onto it, once they grabbed hold Harry tapped it once with his wand like he had an hour before and with a flash of light the three wizards disappeared.

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Within instants Harry, Macnair and Wormtail had arrived back in the kitchen of Malfoy manor, it seemed that nobody had moved from when Harry had left. There arrival had caused a house elf that was doing the washing to give out an a shriek before it almost jumped out of his skin knocking the plates he had been cleaning to floor shattering them. Harry cast a simple Reparo spell and walked briskly past the little ragged covered house elf and over to the kitchen table which seemed to have acquired a couple of more people that Harry recognised but only from the fleeting glances. Sitting next to Narcissa Malfoy was a short, skinny man with dark brown hair and slightly calculating look in his eyes that Harry knew as Christian Parkinson, what was odd about Christian was he was wearing a muggle suit…An expensive looking suit at that. Next to him sat a women who Harry assumed was his wife, she too had dark brown almost black hair that was fell just between her shoulder blades, her back was almost painfully straight and she had a indifferent look on her face and next to her was there daughter Pansy. Pansy was a pretty girl, she like her parents had dark hair almost as dark as his own her hair was cut to just below her shoulders that was, her nose was slightly turned up wards giving her quite a snotty look. Harry was beginning to thing Narcissa was a quick worker.

“Did everything go ok?” asked one of the Lestranges which one Harry didn’t know.

“He’s dead” Macnair replied gruffly “now I gotta go to tha’ ministry for work” he disappeared with a pop leaving the kitchen.

“Wormtail!” screeched Narcissa “what have you been doing! You look like you’ve lived with a Muggle” she exclaimed pointing to the dirty man who was caked in mud from the forest near Karkaroff‘s. “OUT!” she barked at the man who scuttled out of the room hopefully to clean himself up but after fifteen years of living with Wormtail he doubted it.

“Is the dark lord still here?” Harry asked the room not caring who answered.

“He has taken my brother and his wife to inspect the new headquarters” the lestrange brother spoke, Harry supposed this was Rabastan as it was Rodolphus who was married to Bellatrix. Rabastan seemed like the more reasonable of the two brothers but never the less still as deadly, he looked quite gaunt and Harry supposed all those years in Azkaban didn’t help. His hair was long reaching about shoulder length and a shiny brown with a tint of red.

“Right” Harry nodded, he placed his wand into his robe pocket “I think I’ll take a bath” it wasn’t often that Harry had the chance to take baths and as unlikely as it sounded it helped him unwind after a good days work.

“Harry!” exclaimed the voice of Narcissa, Harry turned round “I…do you remember what we spoke about earlier?”

Harry nodded, he had been right Narcissa was a quick worker she had taken what he had said this morning to mean sort it out as soon as possible. Harry’s eyes flickered towards the three Parkinson’s.

“Mr.Potter” the man who Harry knew was called Christian said, Harry saw him look briefly before continuing “May we have a word with you”

“Sure” Harry agreed, he looked at Narcissa who was smiling pleasantly “is there any where private we can talk?”

“Oh yes of course” Narcissa nodded in agreement “just go to the function room…it’s down the hall second door on the left” Harry nodded his thanks and led the Parkinson’s to the room that Mrs. Malfoy had told him to go to. Like everything in Malfoy manor the room was decorated to a high standard and screamed sophisticated, it was much like the living room with it’s big leather sofa and chairs all a dark green, a fireplace sitting empty in the wall and a small glass table with silver snakes encrusted to the legs of the table. Harry took seat in one of the single chairs whilst Pansy and Mrs. Parkinson sat down on the sofa and Christian sat on the other single chair across from Harry.

“So” Harry started not quite sure how to deal with this situation “what was it you wanted to talk about?” he asked knowing full well what it was that the Parkinson’s wanted to discuss.

“Mr.Potter-” Christian Parkinson began but Harry quickly cut across him.

“Please call me Harry no need to be so formal” Harry stated with a careless wave of his hand.

“Harry” the male Parkinson started again “for a great number of years I have searched for somebody I deemed worthy of my daughter” Harry nodded casting a sideways glance to Pansy who looked embarrassed at her father speaking this way about her.

“Understandable”

“well…sadly the more desirable suitors are already in contracts” Christian ruffled his hair slightly “and despite offers, I don’t want my daughter married to just anybody. And when the Dark Lord returned with you by his side…” Parkinson trailed off but Harry got the gist of it but decided to play dumb and drag it out of him.

“yes?”

“well…myself and Violet, my wife” he informed Harry for good measure and Harry received a smile from the women “we thought…you to be more than worthy for our daughter”

Silence filled the room, Harry had known what Christian had wanted but he hadn’t expected him to be so blunt about it. Pansy was now looking mortified at the way her father was going about how to organise her betrothal, her face had a faint pink flush of embarrassment, she looked like she wanted to be swallowed by the earth.

“what makes you think I would be worthy of your daughter?” Harry knew he was playing devils advocate but he was rather enjoying it.

“I…you…I mean…” the man was stuttering seemingly unable to come up with a reason as to why they deemed him worth there daughter and there family name. Harry saw him shoot his wife a glance clearly nervous, Pansy was looking at her feet with great interest and Harry was sat back comfortably in the overly large, plush chair.

“you are aware, I’m sure, that I am indeed a Half-blood” Harry told them, he didn’t see any reason why he should hide his heritage sure the majority of the Deatheaters would look down on him because of it but he new nobody would speak out about it because they knew he was Voldemort apprentice and if he was honest he knew that it scared them. “and if I’m not mistaken the Parkinson family motto is ‘purest of blood’ I’m not to sure that I fit into your family” Harry told the Parkinson family with raised eyebrows seeing what argument they could come up with against that.

“Your not really a half-blood though are you?” it was the first time Pansy had spoken, she had taken her eyes of the floor and was looking at him in a mixture of curiosity and awe. “I mean your Harry Potter. You’re the apprentice to the dark lord himself and we all now the dark lord wouldn’t take somebody as an apprentice unless he was special”

“Stop Pansy you’ll make me blush” Harry said with a smirk, he hadn’t much time to banter during his childhood everything was always about spells and training until he was at what Voldemort called a decent level so when he was around people of a similar age he loved a bit of playful banter. “but still me being trained by the dark lord or not I thought you family demanded all heirs to stay pure of blood”

“I think” the women, Violet Harry thought her name was, “that our ancestors would turn a blind eye to your blood, I think they would be more than willing to over look your…” she paused trying to find the right word “impure blood” Harry raised his eyebrows, this women had a lot of guts not many people would accuses one of the dark lords most trusted of being impure of blood even though they all knew he was.

“so…in other words you are willing to forget the fact that I am a half-blood because you think I would make a good match for your daughter?” Harry really was enjoying playing with them.

“yes” Christian nodded seemingly glad that Harry was understanding.

“ok” Harry replied “I just want to ask a few questions before I answer” all three Parkinson’s nodded in agreement so Harry continued “what magic level would you say Pansy is at”

It was the women-Violet that answered “Pansy has just completed her OWLS and we are awaiting her results”

“ok pansy, what subjects would you say are your best and what ones do you struggle with?” Harry asked curiously.

“is all of this really necessary” asked the head of the Parkinson family.

“yes” Harry replied shortly and with an edge to his voice “if Pansy is to be my wife then I must know how capable at magic she is…I dare say some time in the future I will find myself in need of her assistance and I can not have a weak link in the chain”

“Potions is my best subjects closely followed by Arithmancy” Pansy informed Harry “my worst is charms and care of magical creatures”

Harry was silent as he thought it over, Charms he could deal with as he himself was quite gifted with charms and if push came to shove he could help pansy with it and care of magical creatures whilst always good to know wasn’t the end of the world if you didn’t know it because you could easily find the information from a magical library.

“well…” Harry said breaking the silence “I would gladly except your daughters hand” Harry knew he was going to accept her hand anyway but he was having fun watching them squirm.

“you would?” Pansy asked again like she wasn’t sure what he had said her silvery eyes where wide with a look of disbelief.

“I would” Harry nodded “ what are your terms for the contract?” Lord Voldemort seemed to take great interest in wizarding culture and had deemed it a necessity for Harry to learn wizard culture and as a consequence Harry knew all about magical contracts.

“I don’t understand?” Mr.Parkinson said with a frown.

Harry resisted the urge to roll his eyes “ it is my understanding that most marriage contracts are accompanied with a payment to the Brides father…a show of good faith if you will”

“well yes that is normal custom” Christian agreed “but you don’t have to do that” he reassured him.
“I do not want favouritism” Harry told the Parkinson’s “I am just like the rest of you, and I will abide by traditions that have been set by our ancestors”
The Parkinson’s smiled, glad that he was showing a willing to abide by the traditions that had been in place for hundreds of years, Violet Parkinson looked at Harry with an appraising look.
“it is customary for the father of the groom to pay twenty thousand galleons to the family of bride” Christian informed Harry.
“well, in that case when we next go to Diagon alley we shall have to pay a visit to Gringotts” Harry said with a smile.
The Parkinson’s nodded in agreement before leaving the room but not before Pansy had chance to give him a soft kiss on the cheek.