Chapter 172

With the call now terminated she said, "You play for keeps in the Noble and Most Ancient Houses."

"Yes," he agreed.

"Do you think she'll find out?" she hesitantly asked.

"I plan on her doing so," he replied.

"You don't think you'll get in trouble for it?"

"I will, to some degree," he replied. "However, as this is business of the Potter-Longbottom Alliance, no one but the other alliance members are going to do much of anything about it. Even then, only the Longbottom matriarch can do anything.

"They may wail and gnash their teeth about it; but, in the end, they can't do a thing to stop me - even her. The charter of the alliance has me permitted to do this.

"Besides, if I'm right... and I'm pretty sure I am... it's going to neuter her power on the spot."

"And Neville's going to think you're the next coming of Merlin," she added.

"Not at first, no," he said. "But, he'll forgive me later... I hope."

_‗_

―==(oIo)==―

ˇ

Back in her office yet again, Marchbanks carefully made her way to her desk and sat behind it. She popped her cane into the little bracket she'd already permanently transfigured from a broken quill and affixed to the edge of her desk that was made to hold it in place.

Pulling the half-crumpled sheet of parchment she'd picked up off the floor in Dumbledore's office, she laid it on the desk and cast a charm on it that removed all wrinkles and fold marks. It even removed its 'rolled-up state' memory.

With it perfectly flat she carefully read it. And, as she read, she began to, at first, chuckle. Then she began to lightly laugh. Finally, she was cackling away.

'The young Lord Potter is proving to be both a font of information and a very amiable young man. But, his humour is just delicious.'

He certainly made her day interesting.

_‗_

―==(oIo)==―

ˇ

It took making the mirror call to Sirius for Harry to fully accept the idea that he and Hermione were betrothed. Before then, it had been just a concept to him - a mind exercise. Now, it had become more real.

He turned to her and asked, "How well have you gone over the copy of the Agreement Ted left for you?"

"I've read it through a couple of times, now," she replied. "I've also taken notes. However, I'm not ready to discuss it through, yet."

"That's fine," he shrugged. "We don't have to go over it at all, if you don't want to."

Yeah... umm... listen," she stammered a little. "That clause about us, you know, progressing a sexual relationship..."

"Yes?" he asked.

"I know what I said right after the meeting, just after Sirius and Ted left," she replied. "But, at some stage, I would consider the idea of progressing. Just... not to the point I'll become pregnant, alright?"

"That's fine," he replied, blushing away. "We already kiss. Each stage will come as it comes."

Before things could get uncomfortable again, even though he appreciated the way she got them through the previous day's uncomfortableness, he changed the subject.

"I promised I'd also teach you more about the matters relating to the alliance," he said. "For this, you need to understand that this can never be discussed where anyone can overhear it."

When she gave a nod back he called Dobby.

"Yes, Master Harry?"

"Can you go and collect my folio of the documents relating to the Potter-Longbottom Alliance, please?"

"Yes, Master Harry; right away."

Before either teen could say anything, the little elf popped the folio onto the tabletop in front of him. It was a little thick, measuring about an inch deep as it lay flat on the table. It was also about fourteen inches tall and eleven wide

The folio appeared made of hardened leather tied with a red ribbon and had the words Potter-Longbottom Alliance in gold embossed lettering where you'd expect it to be for it to be a title.

Undoing the bow that held the ribbon knotted closed, Harry stripped it away before opening the 'cover'.

When Hermione pulled parchment and quill over to take notes he firmly said, "No, Hermione. I'm sorry, but you can't take notes about any of this. If you did, those notes would have to be included in this folio when I tied it shut again. Therefore, it's kinda pointless."

She gave a grimace back, but nodded.

"Now, you're getting to see this because of the betrothal," he explained. "But, it has an odd sort of spell involved on it that is a powerful privacy charm related to the House of Potter. Magic, as does the House of Potter magic, currently sees you as the Lady Presumptive of the Noble and Most Ancient House of Potter. That's why you can currently see what's written here," he indicated.

Hermione looked at the top sheet and could, indeed, read it, "Potter-Longbottom Alliance Charter," she muttered.

He smiled back and said, "Exactly. Now, you were concerned about how I could get in trouble for what I've asked Sirius to do some research on..."

He flicked through the document until he hit on the section he wanted. A quick peruse through it and he found what he was looking for.

He slid it across so she could properly read it and said, "Read that. Not out loud, please."

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