George continued, "And you didn't even have to destroy the contract so if you and Gin Gin do end up getting together then you can just sign it yourself later on."
Ginny sat there frowning before slowly looking up. "Harry? Does this stop me from dating at all?"
"No, Gin," Neville answered shaking his head. "It just stops your mum or anyone else from making a new contract for your hand until the current one is either dissolved or fulfilled. You can still date anyone you want; you just can't get married until Harry decides what to do with the contract later."
"Okay." She nodded. "I suppose I'm okay with that. Why would Mum do this?" She looked torn between hexing something and crying.
"Mum has always thought she knew best for all of us Gin." Fred sighed pulling his sister into a hug. "She's the reason Bill and Charlie left as soon as they graduated. She's the reason Percy is all set to move out the moment he finishes off this year. She's the reason George and I are planning to open shop once we're done here. Mum means well enough but…she's not exactly the best of role models nor does she always consider her actions."
"Dad probably didn't even know about this," George piped in. "If he had the name would be Molly Weasley not Prewett." He scowled. "This is going to be a fun conversation when we get home. I'm going to make sure Bill is there. He can be the one to tell Dad. We've pulled one too many pranks at home for him to take this as seriously as it requires."
"We haven't pulled pranks like this, brother," Fred said. "He'd believe us."
"Yes, brother, but do you really want to be the one bringing this to him when we have beloved older brothers to do it for us?" George raised his eyebrow at his twin.
Fred laughed. "Too true, George. Too true. Ginny, let's go draft a letter to Bill shall we?"
"Should we tell Ron?" She asked before they stood. The twins just raised their eyebrows at her. "Yeah, you're right, that's probably a bad idea." She looked over at Harry and smiled at him. "I'm really sorry about this, Harry. It's probably not a secret that I like you but I don't want you to be forced into anything. Can we talk about this in a few years and decide what to do about the stupid thing then?"
"Sure, Ginny. Thanks for not freaking out too bad. I just figured you should know," Harry said.
"And we appreciate the heads up, Harry." Fred nodded to him. "We'll take care of the family side over the holidays. You may get an invitation to speak to our dad afterwards. Have a nice night you three." The Weasleys walked out of the privacy barriers, but Hermione motioned for Harry and Neville to stay put for the moment.
"Hermione, what's up?" Neville asked. "Why was the date my parents were attacked important?"
"Neville, your family and Harry's were close correct?" He nodded in response to Hermione's question. "Do you know who your godparents were?"
Neville shrugged. "My godfather was an uncle. He was killed soon after I was born. My godmother was Harry's mum. Why?"
"Do you know if your mother was Harry's godmother?" Hermione continued.
"I think she was though I'd have to ask Gran to be sure."
"Where are you going with this, Hermione?" Harry asked.
"I'm not certain," she admitted. "It's just quite a bit seemed to happen within a few days of October 31st, 1981. Your parents were killed. Then you were left with the Dursleys the next night. Two days later Sirius Black, your godfather, was arrested and sent to Azkaban. The next night Neville's parents, your godmother, were attacked. A day later you were entered into a marriage contract, albeit an incomplete one."
Harry gaped at her and Neville's face was so red he looked ready to explode. "Look, Hermione," Harry said quietly, "you both know I am no fan of Dumbledore and I hate how he seems to have been manipulating my life but…you don't think he actually framed Sirius Black and then arranged for Neville's parents to be hurt do you? I don't like the old man but that seems like it's going a little too far."
"I'm just saying that this is an awful lot of coincidences, Harry. There's a famous quote, 'once is happenstance. Twice is coincidence. Three times is enemy action.' " Hermione sighed. "I think we need to look into the Sirius Black case ourselves. That might be a good lynchpin."
Neville took a few deep breaths and slowly got his color and temper back under control. "If the Headmaster had something to do with Mum and Dad…"
"Let's not accuse anyone of anything until we know more, Neville." Hermione said placing a calming hand on his arm.
Harry nodded agreement. "Yeah, remember we were wrong last year about Lockhart being the one to open the Chamber."
"The git still tried to kill us," Neville pointed out.
"True, but not because we were right about our guess. I'll admit this all looks bad but let's poke around a bit. I've been building a list of grievances against Dumbledore, and while there's a lot nearly all of it is technically legal even if it is an abuse of authority. The man may be manipulative but this sounds almost evil and I don't think he's evil."
"Just an arsehole," Hermione muttered. Harry and Neville both gaped at her, mouths hanging practically to the floor. Hermione looked up and glared at them both. "What?"
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