Hermione and Ron found Harry where he sat cross legged on on the floor, leaning against the wall of the passageway, sometime later.

"Well?" Hermione demanded. When the twins had come in to Ron's room earlier to tell them what they'd heard the night before and give Harry a hard time, Ron had rolled his eyes but hadn't gotten particularly bothered. Hermione, on the other hand, had surprised all the boys by shouting at the twins not to talk stupid. She'd said no one civilized did that sort of thing anymore.

Harry felt the knot in his stomach begin to unclench, but not completely. "I think it's all right," he said softly.

"So the twins were just having you on? Right?" she asked slowly. She crouched to sit beside him. Ron slid down the wall to sit on the other side.

"Well, sort of." Harry sat on the floor in the passage because he hadn't wanted to go back up to Ron's room where the twins might be lurking. Bill had thrown a silencing spell on Snape's door earlier so they wouldn't bother him. "It's just...well, there really is a betrothal..."

"What?" demanded Hermione, looking outraged. She jumped back to her feet. Harry stood too, so he didn't feel like she was towering over him.

"That's...that's...You have to talk him out of it, Harry! I can't believe that Ron's parents would allow that!" Her face turned white and then red, then white again. Her voice rose in pitch and volume as she spoke. "My parents... they send all sorts of money to human rights agencies to put a stop to forced marriage in the Muggle world! This is Britain! Not... not...!" She seemed so angry that Harry thought she was going to blow up like Marge had. "You're thirteen! Ginny's twelve! That's... that's..." She seemed to lose the ability to speak.

The lone picture on the wall of the passage and the big mirror began to shake ominously. The redheaded wizard in the picture looked alarmed and then hastily exited the portrait.

Ron and Harry exchanged a startled look, "Hermione... what?" Ron began. Neither of them had seen Hermione so angry that she was losing control of her magic.

"It's horrible that you and Ginny should be married off like that! It's barbaric! It's like slavery!" She was nearly throwing off sparks. Harry felt his hair rise on his head and Ron's was standing straight up as though with static electricity. "And Ginny! What's she going to think? Like she hasn't been through enough. This could be enough to send her right over the edge again!"

She stopped, took a deep breath, and the magical energy in the hallway seemed to be sucked back into her. "I bet you can get out of it, Harry." Her voice was low now, conspiratorial. "He's not your blood family. I bet he doesn't have the authority. I bet if you spoke to one of the judges on the Wizengamot..."

The bedroom door opened. Snape stood there, leaning heavily on his cane.

It suddenly occurred to Harry that perhaps Snape had cancelled Bill's charm.

"Miss Granger, lower your voice," the man said softly, his inflection almost kind.

That had her going quiet with shock more than anything. Harry blinked; the caustic potions master was using that tone more and more often.

"No one is forcing Harry and Ginny to marry." Perhaps the man was too exhausted to shout; his voice sounded rough and hoarse.

"But... but he said... he said you...!" Hermione managed to sputter.

"I realize that Wizarding law is very strange to the Muggle-born," Snape interrupted. "You must understand," he turned to Harry, "this is a legal fiction. The very existence of the contract would bind the houses of Snape and Weasley. It need not change how you live your life."

Harry finally asked the question that had been floating around in his mind for the last hour. "So... so I can... see... other girls?"

Snape smiled. The sight was startling. If Harry didn't know better he'd say the expression was almost fond. "Girls... boys... Whomever you like. The important part is that the spell is appeased this way. Otherwise," Snape shuddered, "I am likely to find myself burdened with Miss Weasley's firstborn child."

Harry wasn't sure if he was serious or if it was that one of Snape's snarky jokes.

The man sobered in the next breath. "According to the goblins, unless something I am willing to give my soul for is offered by Miss Weasley or her family, her life is bound to mine. Should I become ill..." he stopped, sighed, "...more ill... Miss Weasley would share my illness or injury. It's possible that she is not recovering as quickly as she should because of it. I could even inadvertently suck magic from her in a parasitic way. Apparently the spell was in fact used for that several times in the last century. More than likely, if I were to become mortally injured or ill she would die at the same moment I do." He paused. "Not that I intend to die in the near future."

Snape closed his eyes, resting his head against the doorjamb. "You see, since we had no prior relationship, our magic is seeking to find a balance. Fortunately, this contract gives me something that I would trade my soul for." He seemed to be almost talking in his sleep and the children looked from one to another in astonishment.

"What's that?" whispered Hermione.

Snape eased himself down the wall. Harry recognised it as one of the man's sleep attacks. Instinctively, Harry helped the man sit down gently. He couldn't help but push his luck on this. "What would you trade your soul for?" he asked, his voice a little high pitched with his own temerity.

Snape opened deep black eyes to look into Harry's as the boy knelt beside him. "Your safety, you silly child." The man's eyes sagged shut.

Hermione's eyes went huge. "Harry..." she whispered. "When did this happen?"

"What happen?" asked Harry blankly, not seeing the significance.

"Never mind." She leaned down to shake the professor.

Harry caught her arm, "Don't," he cautioned, while wondering how they were supposed to get the man back to bed.

"What's he doing there?" Bill came up behind them. He shook his head, looking amused. "C'mon, Professor." He reached out and shook Snape's shoulder before Harry stopped him.

The Professor's wand snapped out and pointed squarely at Bill's nose. There was a flash and Bill froze, a victim of the same hex Snape had used on Harry before.

"Umm... Professor?" Harry couldn't tell whether Snape had fully woken yet, so he scooted a little way away.

Snape blinked owlishly at them. "What, Harry?"

"Er... I think you hexed Bill."

"Oh." He pointed his wand at Bill, who staggered upon being released.

"Come on, Professor," Bill said, shaking the last of the spell off. Harry helped Bill help Snape to his feet.

"I've got him, Harry." Bill was a lot more cheerful than someone who'd just been hexed usually was. "You lot go on, now. I'll look after him."

They walked back up to Ron's room.

Suddenly, Bill shouted from Snape's room, sounding furious. "Fred! George! Get your arses down here!"

Ron grinned as the twins came barreling down the stairs. "What'd we do this time?" they heard one of them say to the other.

When Ron's door was closed, Harry told Ron and Hermione what Snape had told him.

"See, Hermione," Ron said when Harry was finally finished. Hermione was sitting on his bed, and he sat on the floor next to her with his back up against the bed. "It's fine. Harry doesn't have to worry about being stuck with Ginny. He can see who he likes."

Hermione still had her arms across her chest and that frown. "Is that all you're worried about?" she hissed.

Something about what Ron said really bothered Harry, but he couldn't think what until Hermione said, in a very low, angry voice, "Snape didn't say anything about Ginny."

"Huh?" asked Ron, looking up. He'd already gone back to reading his comic books, which were his favored rainy day activity.

"Anyway," snapped Hermione, as if Ron hadn't spoken, "even if it is just a legality and can be broken off. Even they won't force Harry and Ginny to marry later on—it WILL affect their lives. You can't live with something like that hanging over you like... like the Sword of Damocles without it influencing your decisions. He's making decisions for Harry that he has no right to make." She turned to Harry, who was sitting cross-legged on the bed, too. "How do you think Ginny will feel, if you break it off? Do you think she won't be hurt? Knowing you, you'd end up marrying her just so she wouldn't feel rejected."

Harry tried to picture telling Ginny he didn't want to marry her, and realized he'd feel terrible.

"What's the Sword of Damocles?" Ron asked, curiously.

"Look it up," snapped Hermione, showing how upset she was by not even trying to explain the reference.

"But what can I do?" Harry asked dully. "Not as though Snape will listen to me. And won't that upset Ginny?"

"Listen," Hermione said in a calmer voice. "Didn't you hear what Snape just said? He'd sell his soul for you." She gave him the look she always gave him when she thought he was being particularly thick. She took a deep breath. When she spoke again, her voice was oddly gentle. "Harry, I don't know why or how it happened, but he clearly loves you. If you tell him how unhappy this makes you, from what you've told me, I think he's enough of a Muggle that he'll come to his senses. There has to be another way to handle it."

Harry's mouth hung open. "Don't be stupid," he said after a second. "Snape just… well he feels responsible is what it is. He's got a serious thing about his duty. Anyway, won't it upset Ginny? I don't want to hurt her feelings. Not after…" he trailed off, not liking to talk about what happened to her. It might lead to talking about what happened to him.

"I think Ginny would be relieved, honestly." Hermione leaned forward earnestly. "She's been writing to me a lot. SHE won't be ready for something like this. I'm sure she wouldn't want to do this."

Ron scoffed, "Oh, come on, Hermione. People do it all the time. Charlie was betrothed to some girl before he decided that it wasn't going to work for him. He saw lots of people, too. His betrothed was from some family that Dad worked with. Anyway, she wasn't really keen on him, either."

Hermione's eyes narrowed. "Thank you, Mr. Sensitivity," she sniffed. "Look, it's just not the same if you're Muggle-raised. All right? Harry, go tell him now, before this gets anymore tangled, please?"

"Hermione, he's just doing what he needs to," Harry said quietly. "He wants to take care of the spell. It's ok. I'll cope with it."

"Can you honestly say that you're happy with this?" she asked, exasperated.

"Well, no... But Ginny needs the spell appeased, doesn't she?"

"And that's your job, how?" she snapped. "If you can look at me and tell me you would honestly feel about it the way Ronald obviously does, I won't say another word."

"I..." Harry looked at Ron, who just shrugged and rolled his eyes. This whole thing was taking on the features of a nightmare. One of those where he was sliding down a hillside into a crevasse and he couldn't stop.

"Harry, really, go talk to Snape." Hermione always made things seem so bloody reasonable.

He sighed, knowing that she was right, but he honestly didn't believe it would do one iota of good.

"What's the worst Snape would do? I really think he would listen to you," she encouraged him.

Harry sighed and stood up. "I'll go talk to him, then."

Coming downstairs, Harry heard voices from the kitchen. It sounded like Mr. and Mrs. Weasley were home.

Snape was in there too. "I would suggest you think before you exercise your tongues in the future." He sounded as cold as he ever had in potions class.

"Yes, sir. Sorry, sir," muttered Fred and George's voices in unison.

"Bill?" 's voice sounded sharp. "Take these two to apologize to Harry and then they can get started on mucking out the chicken coop. With these."

Looking decidedly chastened, the twins walked out of the kitchen on either side of Bill. Oddly, they each held a toothbrush.

They stopped in front of Harry looking uncomfortable. "Erm. Sorry, Harry," one said, not meeting his eyes.

The other one nodded. "Yeah, we didn't mean to upset you. We just..."

"Were being stupid," finished Bill firmly.

"I... don't worry about it," muttered Harry, confused as to what they were even apologizing for. It was maybe the first time he'd been apologized to by someone for giving him a hard time. They hadn't even hexed him.

"Come on, you two," growled Bill. "That coop won't clean itself." They stomped out of the front door.

Harry took a deep breath and went into the kitchen. Mr. and Mrs. Weasley sat at the table with Ginny between them. Snape sat next to Mr. Weasley.

"Erm..." Harry nearly turned around and left. He wasn't going to be able to do this.

"Harry, dear," said Mrs. Weasley, "we were just explaining to Ginny about the betrothal contract." She summoned the teapot and another cup.

Ginny looked at Harry. Her lips were compressed as though to keep from crying.

"Erm... I... er... wanted to talk about that," he whispered, sitting down next to Snape. "I understand that you're trying to protect me and everything." He spoke in a rush because if he stopped, he wouldn't finish. "But, I just don't think this a good idea. I... I couldn't just not… and I don't think I could... I mean it's not that I'm not grateful or anything... but…" He stuttered to a stop, vividly remembering Petunia ranting about his lack of gratitude. Snape was going to have a fit.

The adults were silent; the ticking clock seemed very loud as he waited for the explosion.

"Harry, dear?" Mrs. Weasley encouraged him gently. "What are you trying to say?"

He felt himself start to tremble. With a supreme effort, he began again, talking to the tabletop. "I don't think I can do this. It's not that I don't like Ginny and I know you're trying to help. I just… I just..." Mortified, Harry realized his voice was shaking. He'd faced a basilisk, for Merlin's sake. Talking to these four people seemed to take all his nerve. He forced himself to continue after taking a few deep breaths. "I don't want to be betrothed... or anything. I mean, if there's any way around it. It's not right. And it's not fair to Ginny."

While he was speaking he didn't look up from studying the marks on the table. Now, he chanced a glance at Snape, who frowned harshly. Hastily, he looked back down.

"Is this really how you feel?" Snape asked sharply. He put his cup down on the table with more force than necessary.

Harry winced and shrank into his chair, knowing what was coming next. Snape would tell him to just get over it. He'd be told to stop his whinging and be grateful.

"I just feel like it would be hanging over me... us." he said helplessly. He wished he'd brought Hermione. He didn't know how to explain what he was feeling.

He looked at Mr. and Mrs. Weasley, who were staring at Professor Snape. He was glad they weren't looking at him. He felt miserable enough that he was scorning their help. They'd probably never speak to him again.

Ginny gave him a little smile. At least she wasn't angry with him; rather, she was looking as relieved as Hermione said she would.

Snape stared at Harry with narrowed eyes. He seemed to come to some kind of decision. "I'm sorry, Harry," he said at last.

Harry braced himself for Snape's next words.

"I suppose I've spent too long in the Wizarding world... I'd forgotten..." the man said softly. He turned to Mr. and Mrs. Weasley. "I will have to withdraw my consent from this contract."

"Of course, Severus," said Molly gently. "Harry, we never meant to make the two of you unhappy." She wrapped her arm around her daughter. "We'll work something out."

Ginny smiled brightly at Harry.

"Perhaps there is a retroactive healer's oath I could take to renounce my claim on Miss Weasley." He sighed and passed his hand over his eyes as though it were all too much to deal with.

"So, this means we don't have to be betrothed or whatever?" Harry checked, hardly able to believe it. For the first time in his life an adult had changed a decision for no other reason than Harry didn't like it.

Snape nodded. "That is precisely what it means, Harry. I had been congratulating myself for living in the twentieth century," he smiled rather ruefully. "However, apparently I am more a resident of the sixteenth than I thought."

Harry's stomach unclenched. He was trying not to do or say something stupid, but he had to wipe a few stray relieved tears away

Mr. Weasley fished a bit of parchment out of his robe. He looked at it, then spoke very slowly. "You know, Severus, I was just going to tell you... I did as you suggested and found Eileen's inquest report. I... ah... noticed that your family had no legal representation."

Snape shook his head sharply. "There was no money for that," he grunted. "What does it matter?"

"Well, I'm certain that this verdict must have been a source of a number of difficulties for you."

Snape snorted. "One could say that."

"Well, looking at the case...You see, Auntie Muriel has an excellent solicitor." Mr Weasley looked at Mrs. Weasley, as if for support. "I imagine if we told her what it was for, Muriel would help fund an appeal."

"You..." Snape seemed at a loss for words. He cleared his throat, swallowed. "You'd be willing to get involved in that?"

Mrs. Weasley took the bit of parchment from Mr. Weasley, which she read. When she looked up again, her eyes seemed very bright. "Oh, Severus, I am sorry." She put her hand across the table and patted his hand. "Of course we can help."

"Ginny, Harry," Mrs. Weasley said suddenly, "go and get cleaned up for tea, dears."

They both nodded. As Harry was leaving, Snape caught him by the elbow. "Thank you for telling me that, Harry," he said solemnly, his voice sounding a bit thick. "I know that was difficult."

Harry nodded, not sure how to respond. He headed out into the hallway.

Ginny was already halfway up the stairs. She stopped, turned to him. "Thanks, Harry," she said awkwardly. "Not that I'd hate the idea or anything… but…"

Harry smiled; he'd still been afraid she'd be mad. "Yeah," he agreed.

Hermione and Ron came barreling down the stairs as soon as they heard Ginny and Harry.

"Well?" demanded Hermione, much as she had an hour or so ago.

Ginny gave Hermione a relieved smile. "Harry got Snape to cancel it."

"Just like that?" Ron asked, stunned. "I didn't think he'd ever change his mind. He's so…"

Harry could see Ron trying to come up with something to describe him that wouldn't be insulting.

"Yeah," Harry agreed.

"Maybe the spell made him nicer?" suggested Hermione.

Ginny shook her head. She laughed a little, "I don't think so. He went spare at Fred and George because they were teasing Harry. They're out cleaning the chicken coop with toothbrushes.