Dumbledore's Apprentice

Chapter 3

Ripfang smiled and handed Harry another stack of papers. "A marriage contract, Lord Potter Black..."

Harry was speechless. "A marriage contract? What is that?" he asked. He looked over at Dumbledore, who had a look of surprise on his face. After a moment, he recovered and glanced at Harry.

"A marriage contract is when two families write an agreement to bind together a member of each family in marriage," answered Professor Dumbledore. "It is a very antiquated custom. I do not think any marriage contracts have been written in the last century."

"You are correct, Chief Warlock," said Griphook, who was still in the room. "Gringotts has not recorded a new marriage contract in over a hundred years. However, it appears that the marriage contract involving Lord Potter Black was written centuries ago by the Black family."

"Who is the contract with?" asked Harry, already dreading the answer.

Ripfang spoke up. "The contract was signed by the Black family and the Greengrass family in 1683. However, I believe the contract now applies to a Ms. Daphne Alexis Greengrass."

Daphne Greengrass... The name was familiar to him. He thought of his classmates at Hogwarts and immediately remembered where he had heard the name.

"Daphne Greengrass, she's a Slytherin in my year, isn't she?" he asked, looking at Dumbledore for confirmation.

"Indeed she is," replied Dumbledore with a curious look on his face. "What a fascinating turn of events!"

"What does this mean for me?" Harry asked as he began to panic.

"It means that you must marry Ms. Greengrass by your 18th birthday," said Ripfang succinctly.

"And what if I don't?" asked Harry defiantly.

"Then you will lose your magic, become a Squib, and quite possibly die a painful death," answered Griphook with a smirk on his face.

"How did this happen to me? I didn't sign any contract!" Harry protested.

"The contract was signed by the then Lord Black, who made it binding on all members of the family. By becoming Lord Black just now, you became an official member of the family and accepted all duties, responsibilities, contracts, and liabilities that might come with it," explained Ripfang. "The Black family magic has made it binding upon you."

At this point, Harry was in full blown panic mode. He didn't know Daphne Greengrass well, but he did not want to be forced into a contract against his wishes.

"How can I get out of the contract? Is there a buy out or something?" pleaded Harry, hoping for a miracle.

"Unfortunately, no, there are no buyouts and no escape clauses. You may peruse the contract and see for yourself, but it seems to be an ironclad contract," summarized Ripfang.

To Harry, it seemed like the whole world seemed to be crashing down.

"Why now? Why did no one fulfil this contract during the last 300 years?" asked Harry angrily.

"It was never fulfilled because the conditions of the contract were never met," explained Ripfang. "It seems that this contract acted as an emergency fallback in case the future of the Black and Greengrass families was ever threatened. In order for the contract to be activated, one of the families has to have no male heirs, and the family without a male heir has to have a daughter born within a year of a male of the other family. The Greengrass family only has two daughters, while you are the only surviving male in the Black family. In addition, you and Ms. Greengrass were born 9 months apart, fulfilling the stipulations of the contract. Over the past centuries, many pureblood families, including the Black and Greengrass families, have grown smaller and smaller in number, until they have become what they are today."