The Anger.

First to visit was the Davis family. Harry was finally introduced to the full brood but was almost immediately dragged off by Tracey.

She seemed to be expecting something, and wasn't being half-obvious about it.

Harry grinned and led her into the parlour. Searching through the last few presents that remained under the tree, he fished out his gift to her.

With a grin Tracey ripped off the wrapping paper and held in her hands her own auror style wrist wand holster. When she read the instructions with it Harry watched her eyebrows rise in surprise.

"Harry, we're not supposed to have these," she said. "These are only supposed to be for aurors and Unspeakables."

"It's amazing how well gold talks," said Harry with a shrug.

"Or, when your name is Harry Potter," said Daphne just a touch mock-snidely.

He just grinned at her. His gift from Tracey was a portable wizarding radio.

Tracey was remaining for the rest of the day, but the rest of the Davis clan had to depart. Not too long later Neville visited.

"Neville!" said Harry happily giving his only male mate a manly hug. "Merry Christmas, mate."

"Merry Christmas, Harry," replied the other boy with a grin of his own.

Neville then withdrew from his robes a couple of gifts. He handed one each to Harry and Daphne. Apparently he'd owl delivered Tracey's to her earlier not knowing she was going to be there.

The boy also showed Harry the wand holster already affixed to his wand arm. He give it a light flick and his wand popped into his hand. Another light flick and it disappeared back up and into the holster. The holster faded away almost immediately afterwards. "Uncle Algie said to tell you you're a naughty boy for purchasing and gifting these," said Neville with a grin. "But he also heartily approves considering what we know. He's who taught me how to properly use it."

Nodding, Harry said, "So, officially I'm in trouble; and unofficially I've done a good thing?"

Grinning, Neville replied, "That's about the heart of it, yes."

Tracey stayed for dinner, and a bit later afterwards. But, Neville had to return home as Gran said he had to be home before she had to leave to attend the Yule Ball. The same Yule Ball Cygnus, Isabel and Sirius had to attend.

Early the next morning Harry had to be out of bed early again because the Grangers were coming. All three adults went to the Grangers' house south of London and brought them back via side-along apparition.

As they arrived, a house elf turned up to ensure none of them was going to be sick. It was a first for all three.

Harry, Daphne and Astoria were waiting for them in the parlour.

After the exchange of pleasantries, a few gifts were exchanged. The Granger elders were embarrassed that they had only brought a small gift for both Greengrasses. To which it was simply waved off as being of no consequence.

Harry also helped Hermione fit her wand holster and told her how it would keep her wand invisible for muggles not cleared under the Statute of Secrecy. It pleased Hermione greatly as her grandmother wasn't cleared yet and allowed the young witch to carry her wand on her person at all times.

Immediately after Harry sat down again, Cygnus turned to the Grangers and asked, "Wendell, Monica, what has Hermione told you about her protectee status from the Noble and Most Ancient House of Potter?"

"She said Harry did it to protect her, and that it meant the chance of her being attacked in future was greatly diminished as a result," he said, before turning to Harry and saying, "And, thank you for doing that, by the way."

Harry just nodded in response.

"Good," said Cygnus. "That much is correct. But there's more to it than that."

He then went into detail about Hermione's protectee status and what it meant for both her and Harry. And he covered what it meant for Hermione, social status-wise. He also covered what it meant for making purchases in Diagon Alley and Hogsmeade.

Then he came to his next point; magical guardianship of Hermione.

He spoke about how all muggleborn unemancipated minors were assigned a magical guardian when they entered Hogwarts, and that the guardian was supposed to be their Head of House. In Hermione's case, that should be Professor McGonagall.

"But, how can this be?" asked Monica. "We only met her the once, and that was only for about half an hour when she brought Hermione's acceptance letter. She never told us about this magical guardian business."

"I believe it's because she probably thought it would make you reconsider sending Hermione into our world for her schooling," he replied.

"Damned right!" huffed Wendell.

Cygnus also pointed out how Professor McGonagall didn't say a word to either Harry or Hermione when the protectee symbol of the House Crest of the protector appeared on her robes. If she was behaving as a magical guardian should, then she should have investigated immediately.

"What I want to do for you is two things," he said. "First, I would like to know if you'd be interested in formally assigning Hermione's magical guardianship to me. And, second, I would like to know if you'd be interested in being Protectees under the Noble and Most Ancient House of Greengrass. Or either.

"I do not expect you to make a decision about either matter right now. However, I do hope you will give it serious consideration."

"But, why would you want to?" asked Monica.

With a wide smile, Cygnus said, "An excellent question. Firstly, because your daughter has become close friends with mydaughter and her betrothed. I see it as an excellent way to protect them both.

"Secondly, you have become friends with my Isabel and it would make her very happy to know you were protected. And, what makes her happy makes my life easier.

"Thirdly, there is a - belief - out in wizarding Britain that the Greengrass family is a dark family who espouses the bigoted pureblood beliefs. Placing muggles, such as yourself, under our protection sends out a very clear message that we are not what they believe us to be.

"And, fourth, it is a way for House Greengrass and House Potter to further show a strong alliance betwixt our Houses; with Hermione under the protection of House Potter and you under the protection of House Greengrass."

Nodding, Wendell said, "Hermione mentioned something in her letters about sheep and land. I couldn't really make sense of it, but it sounds important."

Harry burst into laughter. "Sorry," he chortled. "I'm not laughing at you; more at the situation."

Chuckling himself, Cygnus replied, "As a protectee Hermione is required to allow Harry to graze his sheep on her land if he asked it of her. As Hermione doesn't own any land Harry can't well ask her. However, since Harry doesn't own any sheep, it doesn't matter anyway.

"You'll also be pleased to know I don't own any sheep. either. And I have no intention of purchasing any."

That earned Cygnus a few surprised blinks of eyes. "That sounds rather - antiquated," said Monica.

"It reflects how old the law surrounding this actually is," replied Cygnus. "Other requirements are: you may not raise arms against me without, first, publicly stating you have chosen to forgo my protection; if I go to war, you must provide suitable strapping men of fighting age to aide me, if they're available, which means those over the age of fifteen and under the age of thirty five; and you may not accept protection status of another House without first ending it with mine."

"So you're really doing this just to protect us?" asked Monica. "There's nothing else to it?"

"It may be more accurate to say we're doing this to protect the family of Hermione Granger," said Cygnus. "And - because my wife wants to reward those who have assisted her."

"But it was such a small thing for us to do," said Wendell. "It's a big thing you're offering in return."

Smiling Cygnus replied, "And we feel the opposite. What you felt was a small thing to do is a big thing for my wife. And what you feel is a big thing I'm offering is really only a small thing in return. It's a matter of perception.

"Now, we also promised you an explanation of betrothal contracts," said Cygnus, leaning forward. "I'll stick to generalities as the conditions of Harry's and Daphne's betrothal are a private matter between our two Houses.

"I'll first cover how marriage is recognised in the muggle - your - world, and then how it is in the magical world. This will give you a basis of understanding why betrothal contracts exist in the magical world. Agreed?"

Both Wendell and Monica nodded, as did Hermione.

"Excellent! Because I did a great deal of homework into muggle customs to prepare for this conversation; and I'd hate to see all that work go to waste," he smiled. "First, marriage contracts still exist in the muggle world. They are often used in nations such as India, Africa and Persian Gulf nations; and in cultures such as Judaism and Arabian. Further, they are still occasionally seen in monarchic cultures of the upper echelons of society including here in muggle Great Britain.

"You're now also starting to see a return to similar contracts in general western culture with what is known as a prenuptial agreement - or, prenup - and premarital agreements. A written agreement, of course, is simply another name for a contract without it having the scary connotations.

"Now, the reason they went out of favour, in the first place, is because the law changed to allow what was believed to be a fair dissolution of property between separating spouses. And that came about because property brought in to the marriage, or gained during the marriage, legally became what is known as community property. That is, the property is jointly and equally owned by both husband and wife. With me, so far?"

All the adults and even some of the children nodded.

"Good. However, in the magical world, society still follows what came before community property. For muggle society, this only happened less than a century ago - and it's known as 'Coverture'. That is, all that is brought into a marriage by the wife is considered the property of the husband. And the wife only has property that is allowed her by the husband. The wife becomes feme covert – A covered woman.

"Now that might sound barbaric but, I remind you, it was still the law in the muggle world until very recently. And, is still the law in other parts of the world.

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For some other reason this novel will only be published 3 times a week.

[Advanced chapters on my ko-fi page]

https://ko-fi.com/fictiontopia