Harry Potter: A Different Tale

Chapter 14: Contract Conundrum



At breakfast the next day, Harry sat with Daphne and Tracy as he usually did. The three looked around and saw a huge number of people gossiping, and talking with each other along with the occasional glance at the teachers table.

"Do I even want to know?" Harry asked

"Yes" Tracy nodded

"Fine, why is everyone gossiping?"

"Well" Tracy replied "apparently Quirrell was attacked yesterday"

"By who?" Daphne asked

"Probably his own shadow" Harry sighed "or maybe an overly enthusiastic fly, I swear I don't know what Dumbledore is thinking, hiring him as a teacher"

"Well" Tracy continued "from what I've heard it was a person, who apparently hurt the professor then escaped Dumbledore, McGonagall and Flitwick."

"How the bloody hell do you know all this?" Harry raised an eyebrow

"I have my ways" Tracy smiled as she continued eating

"So I'm guessing this means that we miss defence" Daphne spoke

"Unless they get a replacement" Harry pointed out

"True" Daphne nodded "but who would be the replacement?"

"Might be Dumbledore" Tracy suggested

"I hope not" Harry sighed "I can't listen to a word that man says"

"Why not?" Daphne asked

"Too distracted by his horrible dress sense" Harry gestured to the teachers table where Dumbledore was wearing a purple dress, as that was what Harry was willing to describe it as.

"That's mean" Tracy said

"To my eyes" Harry replied

"Weren't we talking about Quirrell?" Daphne pointed out

"Fine" Harry sighed "so let's say Quirrell was attacked, big deal. How does it affect us?"

"So you really don't care what happens to Quirrell?" Tracy asked with a disappointed look

"Hey, it's not like he died" Harry defended himself "besides, like I said, not much we can do about it."

"True" Daphne agreed "let the adults handle it"

"Yeah" Harry nodded "we have more important things to think about, like quidditch or how long it will take Daphne to profess her love for me"

"I don't love you" Daphne glared at him

"No, you don't love me yet" Harry smiled playfully

"I would never say I love you"

"My mum said the same thing to my dad" Harry pointed out "and their married. By the way Daph, summer wedding or winter?" Tracy giggled and eventually Daphne lightened up.

"You're not funny Harry" She smiled "besides, knowing me I'll probably get forced into a marriage contract by some pure-blooded arse"

"I am being forced into a contract" Harry casually spoke

"WHAT?!" Daphne and Tracy screamed

"Could you say that a bit louder? I don't think the America has heard you yet" Harry put up some privacy wards so they wouldn't attract attention.

"You're in a marriage contract?!" Tracy exclaimed, Daphne looked visibly upset, even though she tried to hide it.

"I am for now" Harry replied, Daphne perked up at this

"For now?" She asked

"Yeah, I went to Gringotts a while back and found out that some old relative of mine had made a marriage contract between me and another family. I couldn't find out which family as I could only learn if my parents told me or if I was of age."

"So you have to get married into some random family?" Tracy asked

"No" Harry shook his head "by the age of fourteen, I can claim head of house if my parents haven't woken up yet"

"What?" Tracy was confused

"If the head of house can't perform their duties then it gets passed to the next eldest member" Harry explained "as mum and dad can't perform their duties, it passes to me and the earliest I can claim the position is at fourteen. Until then I either put a proxy in place or don't do anything, the proxy isn't allowed to make any big changes like the contract.

I do however have a person who I've been sending letters to act as my proxy, he'll deal with all the financial and legal stuff until I'm of age. But once I have become fourteen I can take the position and cancel the contract."

"Wow" Daphne breathed

"I know, sad part is Dumbledore knows as well"

"Why is that bad?" Daphne asked

"Because he'll want me to give the position to his golden boy or assign himself as proxy" Harry answered "either way, he'd have total control. I expect he'll come and talk to me about it soon."

"Why?" Daphne raised an eyebrow

"Probably because the goblins are taking money from his vault to compensate for the money he took from the Potters vault without permission" Harry shrugged, and the girls went wide eyed "in fact, I think that's the letter that would inform him"

At this point a Gringotts owl had flown into the hall and delivered the letter, it then flew off before Dumbledore could even open it. Dumbledore opened his letter, and he went a little red at reading it. He stood up and walked out, as calmly as he could.

"Told you" Harry smirked

"His been taking money from your accounts?!" Daphne couldn't believe it

"Believe it" Harry replied "I don't know if my less than handsome twin knows about it but I was very unimpressed when I found out that the old man had been digging his fingers into the hard earned gold of my ancestors."

"That's illegal!" Tracy hissed "You could take him to court!"

"A court full of Dumbledore supporters? No thanks, if I wanted to waste my time I'd teach the boy-who-eats and his redheaded friend about table manners"

 ....

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