CHAPTER SEVENTY-THREE: THAT'S WHAT YOU GET
(FOR MISSING STAFF MEETINGS)
FRIDAY, AUGUST 23rd, 1996 - Potter Manor, Charenwell.
The "interrogation" of Cyril Underhill - Sirius Black - had ended and Sirius was escorted from the Briefing Room by Cissy. He soon found himself in a Sitting Room in the original Potter Manor facing a young, teen-aged girl with dark hair and green eyes.
"I'm told you're my Godfather," the girl said. "I'm Clarice Jameson. I was born Clarice Potter, I'm told."
Sirius's eyes welled up. "So you're safe?"
She nodded. "I've lived in Pottersport my entire life, aside from school of course. These are the only parents I've ever known. I was told you were the one who saw to my being placed for adoption and I want to thank you. I have a wonderful family here - although you can imagine I was a bit miffed to learn that someone had put me up for sale…"
"We feared we might not have been able to stop that…," Sirius began.
"Harry managed to the day he was invested as our Duke. Until then, I had no idea I had another brother…"
"Another?"
Clarice nodded. "My parents here adopted me 'cause they thought they couldn't have children of their own. Turns out they were wrong. But I am a few years older than they are – my younger sisters and brother that is."
"Oh?"
"I'm almost fifteen," Clarice said. "My birthday is…"
"September 5th, as I recall," Sirius replied. When he saw the surprised look on Clarice's face he added, "I am your Godfather after all."
Clarice nodded. "Well, my brother Jason turns nine in October. My sister Megan is seven and my younger sister Erin is five. Personally, while I do love them, I find them quite annoying at times…"
"You are a lot older than they are. I guess that's to be expected for now," Sirius said.
Clarice nodded.
"And you and Harry?"
She shrugged. "Don't know him that well at all, really. I mean I know he's my older brother. But he both keeps his distance from me and is so busy and all. He doesn't want to interfere with my life or my family. We're friendly, though. And I have become friends with a few of his ladies. I really do appreciate him for that. I mean, from what I know of his life before he might well have wanted to intrude too much. I am who I am and he is who he is and we leave it at that. He's going slow with this and I'm grateful that he is 'cause I do like my family and all, even if the younger ones can be annoying and such…"
"Doesn't sound like much of an older brother…" Sirius began.
"We only first met less than two months ago and he is the Duke, you know," Clarice replied. "He's half the age of the youngest Duke or Lord of the Isle in our entire history and was thrown into it not knowing about any of that at all. Add to it all his bond mates, the war and all that and he's rather busy…"
"War? What war?"
"Why the one with Magical Britain! Her Majesty herself asked for help and we're doing our best to help her deal with that situation. Harry has banned all nonessential travel to Britain for us, which means no magical schools there. I was attending St. George's in London before and when that announcement was made it was too late in the summer to transfer somewhere else Outside. But he's seeing to it we'll have our own here by next year. We've already gotten into a tussle with them - the British magicals that is - and thumped them quite thoroughly. As far as I recall, we haven't actually declared war on them yet, nor they us, but we are at war. Since I'm almost fifteen and will be soon, my parents already agreed to sign me up for the Air Force. I begin training a couple of weeks or so after my birthday. We're gonna thump them but good for what they tried to do to us! They tried to sell us girls into slavery and managed to do so for some and when Harry took charge of things and objected, they seemed to think they had the right to do so! We thumped them but good for that and Harry wants to thump them but good period and we're all behind that! You should've seen the lines outside the recruiting office in Pottersport when it was announced! The news said it was the same in Port of Darby and other places as well!"
"And what about your schooling?"
"On hold obviously, although we will get some in the service. Once all's said and done we'll be able to complete our magical education here."
"Oh?"
"It was the first thing Harry said publically, practically," Clarice replied. "He said it in his speech at his Investiture. He said he was going to build magical schools here in Charenwell so that we do not have to travel abroad for our magical educations. His wife Lady Minerva's in charge of the group that's planning for it and they'll have a pilot program of sorts here at The Manors starting Monday. By next year he hopes to have several schools up and running throughout the country. Don't ask how many 'cause I don't know and they haven't decided yet but there'll certainly be one in Pottersport."
"It seems he's been doing far more than that," Sirius commented.
"He has, but that was the first of his projects to be announced to the country and it's very popular. It was a plan of his Grandfather's – our Grandfather's I guess – as you should know, but it didn't come to pass for whatever reason so Harry took it on at once. He also did it because of the Troubles in Britain and it's the Troubles that resulted in everything else that is happening although that didn't become apparent until after he met with the Queen which was two weeks after his Investiture when she made her State Visit. The Queen personally asked Harry for our help in dealing with the Troubles and restored House Potter to its role as her Magical Counselor…"
"He ousted Dumbledore?"
"Who?"
"Dumbledore! He's Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot, Supreme Mugwump of the International Confederation of Wizards, Headmaster of Hogwarts and he was the Magical Counselor to the Queen! You're saying Harry ousted him?"
"Um … I guess I forgot that you were dead or something this whole time," Clarice chuckled. "It may have only been two or three months or so, but the world – or at least the magical one – it a very different place. Can't say how much the average witch or wizard in Britain knows about what's been going on, but a lot of it's been in the papers and on the news here practically since Harry's Investiture. First off, that Dumble-whatsit's been kicked out of the ICW Assembly and magical Britain has been censured for things that came to light. The British Wizengamot doesn't really exist anymore as they cannot get enough votes for a quorum seeing as the votes of House Potter, Longbottom, Bones and Black are all here in Charenwell and not about to make a friendly appearance. It was the Queen who fired Dumbledore when she realized the man had been keeping the truth from her just as the Prime Minister no longer consults with or will even speak to anyone from the British Ministry of Magic. His magical counterpart is now our Lord Mayor. The British magical government hid, misstated, lied or denied the truth in violation of their treaty obligations to the Crown and the magical world as a whole and they are now paying for it.
"With the Queen's blessing, and as I understand based upon my brother's plans to bring his wives families here – he hates the idea or breaking up families – well, that expanded far beyond his wives and the British born wives of his friends and such to include all British Muggle Borns, their families whether magical or not and any other witches or wizards or magical families who pose no threat to him or us but who are at risk from the Troubles if they remain in Britain. In the next six months or so between twenty-five and fifty thousand people will move here from there. I think something like two or three hundred move here each day now."
"Bloody hell! Where will they live?"
"Well, for now most are moving to Jamestown on the South Coast east of Pottersport and a few thousand will be living in Magoran Bay to the northeast of Potterport on the coast. The news reported that a third city is to be built northwest of Port of Darby as well. Harry's both bringing in industries and allowing existing businesses to expand so the new arrivals can find jobs although many will probably be in the military at first…"
"Military…?"
Clarice rolled her eyes. "I told you the Queen asked Charenwell to help her deal with the magical problems in Britain. There's a right nasty Dark Wizard who's trying to take over and is killing non-magicals left and right – or at least his followers are and the Queen takes issue with that and rightfully so. Throw in a magical government that's supposed to keep Her Peace and is doing its best to ignore what's happening and she's for sacking the lot of them and would do so, but I doubt they'd listen so she needs to be able to suppress the insurrection and replace the government with one that does what it's supposed to do – or at least see ir replaced with one that will do its job. You and I both know that a direct attack by non-magicals would cause major problems. But a war by magicals against magicals – especially one that is supported by the ICW – is no problem at all, unless you're on the losing side of course.
"But, while the Duke is more than willing to answer the Queen's call to arms, as you probably know aside from some older gents who dress up and play soldier for special occasions, we have no fighting force to speak of. We have airplanes, but they're flown by enthusiasts not military pilots. It turns out we have a lot of planes, but most of them are in pieces in storage. People like my Granddad are now putting those together. We currently have something like thirty Tiger Moths in service which means there's something like eighteen being put together. Before Harry, we had twelve of those planes and a total of fifty-seven other planes. When all is said and done, we'll have forty-eight trainers and 177 other planes if you include our airline. That means we need a lot of pilots, aircrew and ground crew. And we can't win a war with just planes so we need an Army to get on the ground and hunt down the bad guys and right now, aside from a lot of British Army types who are setting up to train us and a handful of witches and wizards trained as Aurors and such, we have no soldiers although we have something like four or five thousand who've signed up for our future Army. So we're now training a real Air Force and will soon begin training a real Army and when we're ready or needed desperately – whichever comes first – we will be allowed in to Britain to deal with the situation although I'm pretty certain the Magical Brits will say we're invading."
"Hold on. British Army? And you're joining up? Aren't you a bit young?"
"I'll be fifteen on September 5th, I'll have you know which, as a girl, means I'm old enough to train to be a Pilot or Aircrew in our Air Force with my parent's permission and they gave permission. After all why not? I won't be going to school this year at all as there will be no magical school. We've been told we will be attending classes in the Service so hopefully I can at least get a start on my Fourth Year and finish up as I can or when the War is over. If I was a boy, I could sign up at sixteen without parental permission if I had taken my OWLs. As for why the British Army? It would take years to train purely magical warriors and we have a fair few non-magicals already who want to serve so while we are a magical military from a truly magical land, we'll be very non-magical in terms of weapons and a fair bit of our training. Besides, from what I've heard that makes sense in a way."
"Oh?"
"Statute of Secrecy! A few thousand soldiers moving about England won't raise much suspicion – especially if we look like we're British Army – while it would be a lot harder to move a few thousand wizards in robes and such."
"And your Air Force? Even I know most of those planes are relics in museums in the Muggle World!"
"But there are some that are flying," Clarice countered. "The cover story's gonna be something like they're making a war picture or something. That's what the papers are saying at least. I'm sure they have it more thought out than that or will when the time comes which won't be for a while. We won't be ready to do much for a year or more but then?"
"A lot can happen in a year or more," Sirius ventured.
"Do you really believe it will? Magical Britain has been told the terms to avoid it although not what will happen if they fail to comply. The Ministry must wipe out the Death Eaters and their supporters and swear fealty to the Crown in a way that no one can claim they do not know that the Queen is their Head of State and not any witch or wizard. There will probably be other conditions such as following the rest of the developed magical world on the issue of Concubines and granting equal rights to Muggle Borns, Squibs and magic affiliated non-magicals and repealing all laws in favor of Purebloods and so on. Do you really think they will do any of that except at the point of a wand or gun?"
"I suppose not," Sirius admitted. "But why Charenwell? This was always such a peaceful place…"
"Untouched directly by war," Clarice agreed. "But we have fought in support of the Crown before. Duke Charles Harry's and … and my blood Grandfather flew fighters in the RAF in World War II and loads of others served in His Majesty's Armed Forces in that war. We sent two whole regiments to France in World War I and fought against Napoleon in Spain and at Waterloo, not to mention in the Royal Navy. The history of my adoptive family has an ancestor with Nelson at the Nile and Trafalgar. Before that, we fought for England against the French on more than a few occasions, although we only sent an official Charenwell contingent abroad twice: once to help William conquer England and again against the French in the Hundred Years War. We've been untouched by war directly until recently when the magical Brits tried to invade. The only ones who made it here alive never wanted to be a part of it to begin with and now live here including the daughter of their Minister for Magic.
"Needless to say, between their Chief Warlock trying to sell our young women into slavery to line his pockets, their kidnapping of our young Duke and refusal to repatriate him and their recent attempt to invade us, I doubt you will find many if any true Charenwellian who doesn't want to knock the lot of them on the head. Did you know I was to be sold at auction as a sex slave this summer? Were it not for the brother I never knew I had, that would have happened! I can tell you this: if we already had an army and such and had not yet taken action, I doubt the Lord Mayor or High Council would remain in office for long. Same's true if this had happened and we did nothing. The people want magical Britain to pay for their crimes against us and it doesn't hurt that the people who are relocating here feel the same way."
"How do you feel about that? I mean if what you said is correct, in a year half or more of the people living here will be from Outside."
"Like you," Clarice said, "and me technically. Until two months ago I was from Outside. I knew nothing about my birth family and only that I was born in England…"
"Wales," Sirius interrupted.
"Excuse me?"
"You were born in a village called Godric's Hollow which is in eastern Wales, not England."
Clarice shrugged. "It's still Outside, isn't it? There are a fair few who were born outside. After all, we all had to go to school outside and there was no law or rule that said we had to marry a boy – or girl as the case may be – from Charenwell. Go back far enough and we're all from Outside, aren't we?
"Still, it's a lot. But for those of us who were here it's not that big a deal right now. Most all of the newcomers will be living and working in new towns and farming new lands. They won't be crowding our Farms or towns or cities or competing with us for housing, food or even jobs really. They'll even have their own schools by next year so for us old timers, they only really exist if we leave our old Farms and venture into the newly developed lands. 'Course, should there be a Royal visit or State Ball, it may be harder to get tickets, but those aren't terribly often, are they? I think we'll manage just fine in the end. Besides, that might not really matter for me, will it?"
"Oh?"
Clarice sighed. "Two months ago, I was just a normal Charenwell girl. Well, that's not totally true as I was born Outside and adopted so as far as I knew there were no former Lords or the Isle or Concubines in my family tree. But even though I was adopted, I was always treated like that was not really the case. I'm a Jameson far more than I'm a Potter. I'm far more the daughter of a Fisherman from a long line of Fishermen than I am the daughter of a Duke or his Heir Apparent and I was and am fine with that. Like my adoptive family, I've been on and around boats and the sea for as long as I can remember and I'm fine with that. But I now know I am the Granddaughter of a Duke and sister of another and we all learned about that stuff in Primary School. It means I will be a Countess when I turn seventeen. Fortunately, all that really and truly means is I'm expected to attend State Balls and such and I've been told there's an account for me that will allow me to buy nice dresses for those occasions and I can borrow Potter jewels for them if I want. But that's not how I was raised, so that bit will take some getting used to. I'm pretty certain that's another reason why Harry's been kind of holding back as he would know how weird it is from just being another teenager to being something like that."
The conversation continued for some time and as it progressed Sirius was left to wonder what had happened for everything he had learned since he arrived at Potter Manor was far from what he expected. After a time, a young lady whom Sirius guessed was one of his Godson's many "wives" entered and apologized telling Clarice that her family had arrived and it was time to move to the East Dining Room in Black House for the "Pre-wedding Dinner." Clarice briefly explained to a confused Sirius Black that the four families with grooms were hosting four large dinners around The Manors in honor of the weddings that would occur over the next several weekends. It had been decided that given everything else that was going on it would be easier to host one such dinner rather than one a week seeing as there would be two large wedding receptions per week through the beginning of October.
The young girl who introduced herself as "Cathy" escorted Sirius to the large dining room at the east end of the Ground Floor of Black House and there were already several people milling about. The young girl told him who she was (the last of Harry's 1996 Brides, as she put it) and that she was twelve but would be thirteen on September 7th. She also told him that including himself and Harry, there would be 181 at the dinner and that the other families: the Weasleys, the Longbottoms and Lord Mayor Lupin's would not be present as they were hosting their own dinner. "After all," she said, "if we combined all the dinners there would be over a thousand guests. We could accommodate that here, but not in any one dining room." Sirius was still too stunned by all that was happening to really comment on anything and followed the girl to a table set for six where he found a card at one of the places with his name on it. He walked around and looked at the other name cards and was almost certain he either was or was about to be pranked. He was to dine with Ted and Andromeda Tonks, their daughter "Dora" Black, "Cissy" Black and Harry. He did not have long to wait before they showed up, although he thought he was seeing things as there appeared to be at least three Harrys milling about the room.
When one of them arrived at his table Sirius could not help but ask a question. "Is it just me or are there three of you here?"
"That's one way to look at it," Harry replied with a mischievous smile. "The other way is that there is only one of me three times over."
"Huh?"
"Time turner. With all that's going on there's not enough hours in the day for only one of me so I find that three of me works pretty well. One day I'm the Duke, then I redo the day for military training and redo it again for education and stuff. That and it gives me more time to be with my ladies…"
"About that," Sirius began, "what's all that about?"
Harry merely smiled. "We'll get to that."
"But … I mean doesn't three of you create some kind of time problem?"
Harry laughed. "The more I think about it the more I'm convinced that's a load of dragon dung the Ministry spreads around to discourage Time Turners. You can't really mess with time. If you go through a day and turn time back, then the events leading to you turning time back are fixed and you can't bollix it up, not that I've tried. Likewise seeing myself isn't that big a deal since I know I'm out there. My one rule is my later self doesn't tell my earlier self about the near future – unless absolutely necessary which it hasn't been."
"So … um … which one are you?"
"Second time through," Harry replied. "First time through gets to do the speech. It went pretty well as I recall. He's the me sitting at the table with the Grangers and my Luna and Third me will be sitting with Mallory and Minerva and the rest of the Grant family."
It was not long before they were joined by the Tonks, Dora and Cissy and once the ladies were seated Harry and the other two men sat as well.
"Do you mind explaining all this?" Sirius asked.
"Didn't Clarice tell you anything?"
"She spoke about changes around the country, not about your harem."
"Harem is such an ugly word with rather disturbing connotations," Dora said.
"I prefer to see it as twenty-five couples who just happen to have the same man as a husband," Cissy added.
"And how did all of this happened?" Sirius replied. "I never intended for…"
"I think we can agree your demise and the aftermath – namely the contents of your Will – was a masterful prank," Andy Tonks replied. "But it also most certainly fell afoul of the rules of unintended consequences."
"Why don't we let Dora explain this," Cissy said with a conspiratorial grin. "After all, of all of us – Harry included – she's been involved the longest."
Dora looked at Harry who nodded. "I don't think the not quite so dead Mutt will accept my explanation of this," he said.
"Right you are, oh Grand and Glorious Leader, Vanquisher of Dark Lords, Heroic Knight for damsels distressed by Trolls, Basilisks, Merepeople and slavers, Confounder of Meddling Old Wizards, Friend of Dragons, Terror of the Ministy and slayer of the Evil Pink Toad Monster of Hogwarts, not to mentions that Duke thingy you have going…"
"That and he's really cute," Cissy added.
"And nice," Dora continued.
"And he knows how to use his wand, especially in the sack."
"I really don't need to hear this," Ted Tonks moaned.
"Fine," Cissy said, "but my niece didn't get pregnant by herself, you know."
"I am allowed to pretend that didn't happen," Ted complained, "at least until such time as the girl is born. And I ask that if you plan to tell Black everything, Dora, please refrain from everything. I don't want to hear about the naked bits – at least any involving you! And you can skip all the bits about how you got bound to him as we've already gone over it and I'm sure he knows about the process from personal experience."
"Of course, Daddy," Dora said although it was hard to tell how sincere she was.
"Before you begin," Harry interjected, "I just want to say that I was not the only one who shot the Evil Toad Monster. We both emptied our clips into her, Dora, and you had two bullets more than I did considering I had just killed two Death Eaters."
"Fine, but it was your idea."
"Agreed. Now get on with it or we'll be here all night."
Dora pouted. "But you can sleep in tomorrow."
"Ah, but from what I've heard you can't. It is your wedding day after all. For this version of me I'm getting up to wind up sitting over there," Harry said indicating the table where Mallory and Minerva were sitting.
"Right then," Dora chuckled. "I guess we should begin with the original plan, the one that most of us thought was the plan seeing as my dear cousin here decided on snuffing it without letting most of us know that or even why. I didn't tell you much of it, Harry, as it really became a moot point when Sirius supposedly copped it."
"I thought I made it clear that for all practical purposes I did cop it," Sirius complained.
Dora waived him off. "The original, original plan was first discussed not long after the Mutt here escaped from Hogwarts a little over two years ago and about a year after he released himself from the Ministry's Resort for Malcontent Magicians commonly known as Azkaban. It was really simple. A snatch and grab. We would snatch you from your relatives and bring you here and be done with it. Course, we couldn't do it right away seeing as Sirius here had gone from the most wanted man in Magical Britain to even more wanted and at that time you didn't know me at all."
"What do you mean?" Harry asked.
"Harry, if I had shown up at your place – in your room at your relatives' house – the day after you returned from Hogwarts a year ago, you probably would've freaked out. You probably would've thought I was a Death Eater or something and you certainly would not have reacted well to relocating to Charenwell at least until you saw Sirius. Moreover, I couldn't have done it 'cause I had no idea where you were and neither did Sirius or Remus for that matter. It wasn't until we came to bring you to Grimmauld Place that either of us learned that bit. I had only just joined Dumbledore's Order and Remus was conveniently out of the country – supposedly for Dumbledore although he really was here sending the old geezer bogus reports. He only joined the Harry Watch this summer. What happened this summer was only possible because Remus and I were tasked to guard you and you knew me by then."
"And I couldn't do anything yet 'cause Dumbledore all but imprisoned me in my parents' house," Sirius growled.
"So our plan was to bide our time and snatch you as soon as we could but we already figured it would be this summer at the earliest," Dora continued. "Sirius would create some kind of diversion that would both get him out of his personal prison and to Charenwell and get the Order and anyone else looking in the wrong direction until long after you were safely away. The original plan was just to get you home. We knew nothing about other plots against you, only that you as future Duke were being denied your birthright. So that plan did not include the threat to your sister and Hermione or any information about Dumbledore's schemes against you. That information came to light over the past year and we altered the plan to take such things into account. Still, all we were thinking of doing was getting the lot of you here and safe, not setting you up as Duke or any of this that is until we knew that you needed to become Head of the Ancient and Noble House of Potter to either place Clarice under House Protection – and Hermione maybe – or have the ability to buy them at auction if that became necessary."
"So I wouldn't have been Duke?"
"Not this soon," Dora said. "Had we stuck with the Sirius Doesn't Snuff It Potter Protection Plan, you would've become Head of House for magical matters, but not for money and votes and being the fully fledged Duke and such. In all other matters Sirius would remain your Guardian and as for your Duke thing, Remus would've remained Steward. You would've learned about Concubines because of the risk to Hermione and your sister, not because you had inherited any to our knowledge. You would've learned about Consorts as it was both the easiest and most foolproof way to protect Hermione and at the same time thwart Dumbledore's Alternative Potter Romance Plans. As for becoming Duke and attaining your full inheritance, that would not have happened until sometime between the ages of seventeen and twenty-one when you would have to become Duke."
"Why?"
"To give you time to get used to the idea and to learn about it," Sirius said.
"Why didn't it happen that way?"
"'Cause my dear cousin decided he needed to snuff it," Dora said. "He was right in a way. If you disappeared the way we planned, Dumbledore would have the excuse he needed to confiscate your holdings in Britain. Well, the magical ones anyway. Don't know if he could have claimed all the properties but he could have mired them so deep in red tape it might well take an army of solicitors decades to unwrap them. The only way that could be prevented was for you to be emancipated and as Sirius told you the only fool proof way for that to happen was for your guardian to emancipate you posthumously in his Will, meaning he had to snuff it if only long enough for his Will to be fully executed."
"The Old man threw me a bone as he chucked me in Grimmauld Prison," Sirius said. "He formally signed over your guardianship to me figuring I'd be a good, loyal doggie seeing as the whole wizarding world was out to get me and I knew it. But that doesn't explain any of this, Dora."
"I still don't see how had Sirius not gone through that Veil I would not be Duke now yet because he did I am," Harry protested.
"As your still live guardian, I could grant you limited forms of emancipation prior to your coming of age," Sirius said. "That limited grant would only become permanent if you reached age seventeen. If I died before then, you'd get a new guardian – Dumbledore under my fake will – and that guardian would have the right to revoke all but a total grant of emancipation. Basically, if I did not grant you full emancipation in my real Will, you would've had a new guardian who could've prevented you from becoming Head of House until you are seventeen and prevented you from buying any Concubines which would mean your sister and Hermione would've been sold and there would be nothing we could do."
"Sirius said he planned to snuff it to give you a full and unchallengeable grant of emancipation," Dora said. "He said he did that so you could protect your sister and your true friends and so that your estate would be untouchable by Mr. Greedy. Sirius added a little to it in hopes of protecting Mallory and me as well and a few gems to poke certain people in the eye or worse, but he seems to have failed to take into account the rule of unintended consequences. Everything that has happened here, dear not so dead cousin of mine, is a direct result of your real Will."
"Um, not to contradict my lovely, smart and talented Bride to Be," Harry said, "but the false Will of the Not So Dead Sirius Black played a roll, I think."
"Oh?" a few voices replied.
"Daphne and Astoria," Harry said.
"You're right, Harry," Dora said. "I'll add that to my tale of How Sirius's Demise Turned Our World On Its Head. Right then, June 22nd the living hero of our tale returned to his Hell On This Earth. I liberated him from his vile and unjustified sentence that night. It was surprisingly easy as his Judge, Jury and Prison Warden – the Old One of Many Titles – was out of the country but before leaving assigned little me as one of Harry's turnkeys. Shift into his room and wake him up and then we're here. Next morning after breakfast – and NO cousin, nothing happened the night before!"
"What?" Sirius tried to protest his innocence.
"You always had a filthy mind!"
"Did not!"
"Stuff it Siri," Cissy said. "You might've been an innocent babe when you were in nappies, but that didn't last long!"
"As I was saying," Dora said, "after breakfast I went and brought Hermione here which was actually easier than I thought it would be although it did take me a couple of hours to get the point of it all across to her and her parents. I then left to do some shopping 'cause the clothes our hero had were appalling. I did not tell them about Consort bonds. It seems it was unnecessary as when I returned that after noon they were bonding away like there was no tomorrow."
"Really?" Sirius asked.
"Hermione read something about it in a book and thought it sounded romantic," Harry shrugged. "Not that I minded."
"Anyway," Dora continued, "by accident she combined the final step of the Consort Bond with a purification ritual. It had rather unexpected results. It turns out – although we only verified this a couple of days ago – Voldemort created a few Horcruxes…"
"He what?" Sirius said in disbelief. "A few? Those things are vile!"
Dora shrugged. "ANYWAY, there was apparently a connection between Harry here and Voldemort and his horcruxes through the scar on Harry's forehead and when those two rituals combined … well it broke the connection, destroyed the horcruxes and put the Dark Menace into a coma for a few weeks."
"Bloody hell! So where does that leave us?"
"With a mortal immortal who we think is still clueless as to that little tidbit of information and a lot more to tell," Dora said. "Let's just say that Hermione and I noted the event even if neither of us understood its significance and Harry was knocked out for a bit which gave me an opening to talk about the bonds. That wasn't exactly the sequence we had in mind after you snuffed it. Remus, Mallory and I were banking that these two would not be so eager to get naked and busy so that Harry here would know he had inherited Mallory and me before he had a Consort who could keep him from bonding with us. Fortunately Hermione was not about to do that and practically told Harry to bond with us, although that was after they were shown your real Will and Harry received his Head of House rings and was told how to use them to summon his ladies. Turns out, there was a lady to summon on his House Potter ring."
"But James never…" Sirius began.
"But his Great-Grandfather did," Dora said, "and when he died, the Concubine in question passed to Harry's Grandfather and then to Harry once he was emancipated."
"You're not talking about Professor McGonagall, are you?"
"Right in one," Dora replied. "She was bonded to Charlus Potter back in '43 when she was fifteen."
"James never said anything about that!"
"He didn't know," Harry replied. "His pensieve self and that of my mother were stunned to say the least, probably more so than Hermione and I were…"
"You weren't stunned?"
"The shock effect was less. I had already learned about Mallory and Dora here so learning there was another when I got my House Potter ring was less surprising especially as I had already learned that most all of my Potter ancestors had Concubines and that my Great-grandfather and Grandfather might be considered odd ducks in that they only ever had one at any one time. Minerva was Granddad's only one and he inherited her in the end, although she was being seriously considered much earlier when my Grandmother was having troubles having a child. Had she not given birth to my father when she did, Minerva would've become the mother of the Potter line. In the end, she is kind of that anyway seeing as she's the … um … most experienced of all of my ladies and expecting a daughter in the Spring."
"How can that be?"
"Hermione has a theory that fits the facts. In essence from a child bearing standpoint she's a teenager. Mallory is only in her mid to late twenties as far as that goes meaning they are more than capable of becoming pregnant given permission."
"I wish I had known that," Sirius said, "not that it would have helped Mallory and me – or you for that matter, Dora – given my … um … condition."
"Condition?" Andy asked.
"He can't have children, remember?" Dora replied.
"Which helped with my decision to kind of off myself as I believed Harry would do the right thing by both of you," Sirius said. "I won't say I was absolutely certain of it considering I never mentioned it to him in any way. But I believed he would do what he did for you two once he was aware of the situation. But that doesn't explain the rest of it."
"One might say Hermione's to blame for the rest of it – at least in regards to the family situations," Dora said. "She all but insisted on his bonding with the three of us and it was during that time that Harry and she learned of the Concubine Auction and that many of their friends and acquaintances were on the block. She convinced him to buy them and eventually to buy all of them – fifty-one in all – at Auction although it was the two of them who convinced the Longbottoms, Weasleys and Remus to accept the ladies into their families. Hermione insisted we come into our bonds without the usual restrictions imposed by British conventions as in we came in as all Potter Concubines in the past – with the choice to complete the bond. The only restriction – if you can call it one – is that a young lady must be at least fifteen to request the final step in the bond."
"And that is?" Sirius asked.
"Step one is the basic bonding, as you well know," Dora said. "In that stage of the bond, the woman is little more than a slave. The woman is what her 'Master' allows her to be and no more. In that regard, Siri, you were far better than most British bastards. Step two is the Love Bond which makes the relationship more like a marriage but it does not free the woman from the bond should she outlive her wizard. Step three does. That witch can never be bonded to another again – at least against her will and even if she were to bond again, it would not be as a Concubine. That step is – well, we're not truly certain exactly when it happens – it's either when the Love Bonded Concubine becomes pregnant with her Bondmate's child or gives birth to it. We think it may be the former as there are a few Potter Journals where the wizard died before his Love Bound Concubine gave birth yet she never was bound again and never suffered a loss of magic or worse from being that way.
"It was largely through Hermione at first, but the law or custom here follows Potter custom. All Concubines are allowed to move beyond the first step whenever they so choose. As of this morning every one of the one hundred and thirty-one Concubines is Love Bonded."
"But you said he only bought fifty-one!" Sirius protested. "Even with you and Mallory and … I still can't believe McGonagall was one all this time, but her two … that's nowhere near that many."
Dora nodded. "No it's not. But Hermione set the tone, as it were. The day Mallory and Minerva bonded with Harry here – which was two days after he and Hermione bonded – I was back in England visiting my parents here and convincing them to move here as soon as possible. The Greengrasses stopped by because they believed either my mother or I might help them. I don't know if you recall, Siri, considering how much you loathed your parents, but the Greengrasses were long allied to House Black. They believed as most people did at the time that with your death Cissy demon spawn was to be the next Lord Black and they had just had a visit from the friendly neighborhood Death Eater Club which had forced them to sell their two oldest daughters as concubines to the next Lord Black. That was probably as a result of your invalid Will as we know that Snape passed that tidbit on to Lucius Malfoy before he got himself captured and chucked into Azkaban the night you supposedly died. Anyway, the brain dead brigade was so confident that Lucius's spawn was to be your heir that they made both oath and contract for the girls to the next Lord Black and not Draco Malfoy. That contract was therefore with Harry, although the terms for violating the contract and oath were still in favor of the Death Eaters as in the breaking of an Unbreakable Vow and the death of the rest of the Greengrass family. So Hermione convinced Harry to honor the contract to protect both the two oldest daughters as well as the entire Greengrass family who have since moved here."
"That's fifty-six," Sirius said.
"Neville Longbottom arrived here on July 1st following the Death Eater attack on House Bones and the Ministry six – a fiasco that was even worse for the Death Eaters than the eleven they lost to Azkaban the night you died. Sixteen of the bastards were killed including Bellatrix, twelve more were captured and three were seriously injured and escaped. They only managed to kill Amelia Bones, August Longbottom, Xenophilus Longbottom and three Aurors. But that's neither here nor there. Neville showed up with his Consort – Amelia's niece – and a concubine he inherited when he became Head of his House. He was emancipated upon his grandmother's death because she died before Neville killed Bellatrix which broke the curse she placed on his parents."
"I guess that explains Frank and Alice."
"It made far more sense than fourteen years in a near catatonic state from exposure to the Cruciatus Curse," Dora agreed.
"That's fifty-seven."
"Fred and George Weasley arrived here after the reading of your Will with their consorts and two Concubines apiece. Those girls apparently came with the shop they had acquired in Diagon Alley. Ginny also arrived here and Harry bonded her after revealing her mother's attempt at Line Theft."
"Sixty-Two."
"Three more arrived when the Malfoy estate was confiscated following the Will reading. One is Harry's Stacey and the other two are now bound to Bill Weasley and yes, Fleur allowed that to happen."
"Sixty-five."
"Gringotts went after over thirty families that had been living in Black estates but had not paid rents to House Black since before Harry was born. We picked up and additional thirty that way."
"How…?"
"They owed me a lot of money," Harry said. "Most could not possibly pay what they owed so in addition to being kicked out on the street, they lost everything they owned including their Concubines."
"How much?"
"Harry's made a bloody fortune," Dora said. "And we got another thirty-six a couple weeks ago. The Ministry tried to trick us and send an assault team into Charenwell which went quite badly for them and the twenty Death Eaters who were part of the raid. Most of the thirty-six were Charewell girls sold into slavery by Dumbledore after Duke Charles died. The rest were mostly random girls who we told the Ministry were Charenwell, including the daughter one of our Muggle British military advisors. As we had their contracts by then, it really didn't matter that they tricked us. We just had to summon them."
Sirius blinked for a moment. "A fortune?" he asked.
"Around a hundred million," Cissy added. "That does not include the small fortune Dumbledore had to cough up to avoid Goblin justice which was his surprise at your Will reading or the millions the Ministry has already had to pay in reparations for allowing Dumbledore to sell Charenwell girls in their Auction."
"Uh, the reparations went to the victims' families," Harry said.
"Oh, right."
"Bloody hell!"
"The Goblins really don't like thieves of any type," Harry chuckled. "Thus far they've been our most effective weapon. Well that and the fact that we have enough Wizengamot votes here in Charenwell that the Wizengamot cannot form a Quorum to legislate their way out of this mess. That was also the effect of your Will as by then House Potter, Bones and Longbottom were here and not in Britain. Gaining the House Black seat put us over the top as it were much to the um…"
"Consternation," Cissy supplied, "of the Wizengamot. They can get out of their difficulty…"
"But only if they allow more than two-hundred Muggle Borns into the legislature," Dora said.
"And they'll never do that," Harry said. "Even if they were to abandon their grip on things to try and defeat the lack of Quorum, in about six months they'll be lucky to find that many Muggle Borns outside of Ireland and the Irish are no longer interested in playing nice with the English Magicals."
"What do you mean by that?" Sirius asked.
"I'm not sure we should say," Cissy began.
"Cissy," Harry said, "you know that all travel out of Charenwell is now limited to official government business and Sirius here is not currently a government official. All unofficial communications with Britain aside that directly related with agricultural exports which has always been through Gringotts are also restricted, not that there was much before. And you know as well as I do that if Sirius had come here as a spy for Dumbledore or anyone over there he would have died crossing our wards just as all those Death Eaters and Ministry toadies did the other week."
Harry turned to Sirius. "Ireland is preparing to declare its independence from the rest of magical Britain. We have already pledged our support, although we're hoping they'll bide their time for several months at least until we can do more for them other than support them in the ICW and international press. They've asked and we've agreed to train at least one Irish Battalion for their defense and probably more than one. We're also now in communication with the non-magical government of the Irish Republic in a manner similar to the channels we have with Her Majesty's Government to coordinate that side of things. If Magical Ireland asks and we can, we will deploy troops to their defense."
"And the Muggles agree to this?"
Harry nodded. "It's in the strategic interests of Her Majesty's Government and the Irish Republic to confine the current Troubles to Britain. Not that dealing with it will be easy, but it's easier with the Emerald Isle out of the picture."
"And what about the Continent? The War was beginning to spread there when it ended the last time. Voldemort was recruiting there with at least some success."
"We've already concluded and alliance with Magical France," Harry said. "The full extent of that alliance is still being worked out as in I can't say if they'll send troops or something. But they are closing their borders to the English – and the Scots and Welsh as well, but that's a separate issue really – and should we choose to impose an embargo they will honor it. We are also beginning similar negotiations through our offices with the ICW with Magical Iberia, the Low Countries and Scandinavia which would effectively isolate Britain from support or, for that matter, escape. Won't do much good to hunt prey that can get away too easily."
Sirius looked at the young man for a long moment. "While I am sure I am Sirius Black, I can't say for certain whether you are my Godson."
"Oh? It's a bit too late to disown me," Harry replied.
"The Godson I remember was a moody little chit who hated being the center of any attention – save maybe Quidditch – hated being famous, hated having to deal with Dark Lord's and their ilk, hated it when people tried to help him lest they get in trouble, was more likely to do something foolish first and think about it later and was hardly a hit with the ladies – or at least refused to be one. You, on the other hand have more wives than fingers and toes combined, you seem to have taken to being Duke like a duck to water," he added with a chuckle although was clearly a little upset no one laughed with what he thought was a clever turn of a phrase, "you seem to think things through and I doubt much of this was entirely your idea. You've changed a lot."
"Well, not being Dumbledore's pet anymore helps. I trusted him. I trusted all the Weasleys. Mrs. Weasley, my supposed best mate and Dumbledore were literally banking on that trust. Betrayal tends to wake you up a bit. Finding you have the means to get even is even more of an eye opener."
"That sounds rather Slytherin," Sirius began.
"Which was where the Sorting Hat wanted to put me and if I hadn't met the biggest git in the world before the Sorting – who was promptly sorted into that House – I wouldn't have told the hat to put me somewhere else."
"The Hat almost put you in Slytherin?"
Harry shrugged before continuing as if the interruption had not occurred.
"I came here hoping to get away from Privet Drive and never have to worry about Dark Lords and back stabbers ever again. Next thing I know – not that I'm complaining for I had asked her to marry me and had asked her parents as well before Dora stopped by – I learn I'm actually married, then that I have Concubines, then about my true family history and then this Duke stuff. What frustrated the hell out of me before was no one told me anything and I felt like I had no control over anything and little or no help even when I asked for it, which seemed pointless as aside from a few true friends – and one traitor – no one bothered to really help. I come here and learn I can tell Dumbledore to stick it and there are people – a whole government in fact, and others – that are willing to do what is right and to help. This whole thing is still overwhelming, but I no longer feel like no one cares or is listening. Throw in my personal resources – which I knew nothing about, mind you – and I now have the means to … I don't know … show those useless gits how it's supposed to be done, I guess. It doesn't hurt that Her Majesty's government is in on this.
"I am, for better or worse, the Duke of Charenwell. I have that legacy to uphold and obligations to fulfill even if I'm still only just learning them. What's different is that here, while everyone knows who I am, it's not 'cause of what happened fifteen years ago. They don't gawk and stare at me when I'm about and certainly don't look for the scar. They treat me more as a neighbor and not as some kind of famous person. I don't have cameras shoved in my face wherever I go like I did back in magical Britain. Odd that, considering the same can't be said for the Royal Family back there. I don't even get fan mail here, although I think that might be because I'm married too many times over.
"I would have been Duke one day had I never heard of Hogwarts or Dumbledore or Voldemort. I would have been Duke one day had my parents raised me. True, that one day might well be seventy or more years from now so I'd have had a lot more time to get used to the idea. But this was not something that was done to me. The more I learn, the more I see it's a legacy to honor. My Ancestors were Dukes and Lords of the Isle. Only I was The-Boy-Who-Lived and I'd rather that never had been my fate.
"That and as for being a moody chit, as you put it, you really think I can get away with that angsty stuff with all these wives about? I am outnumbered twenty-six to one. Hermione alone was usually good at getting me out of a funk – or scaring me out of one – and that was before she became my wife. The only time I could get away with it was when she wasn't around or I was avoiding her. It's a lot harder to avoid all her helpers as well."
After a long silence, Sirius continued: "I do see a bit of the old Harry, the bit that was not moody and angry all the time. I just never saw this coming…"
"And I did?"
Dora laughed. "You should have seen his face when he learned he was to be the Duke! It was perhaps Moony's greatest prank!"
"Oh?" Sirius asked.
"It was one week after he came here," Dora said. "The day before he met Clarice's father and arranged to meet the family. Clarice's father told him they'd meet at Government House and Harry decided to make a day of it. Had he not, we would've suggested it. So he got out one of Duke Charles's fancy cars and drove the six of us at that time to Martha's for Brunch and then on to Government House…"
"Where there was obviously some kind of big to do getting set to begin," Harry said. "They told me to park the car by some tents and there was Moony all dressed up in his robes of office. The tents were changing rooms and it was then and there I was told that Moony was Lord Mayor and I was the Duke of Charenwell and that the day was my Investiture. Until then all he ever told me – and I had spent a fair amount of time with him going over accounts and such – was that my family was rather wealthy and owned a lot of land and stuff."
Sirius laughed. "Surprised you didn't run away screaming."
"The girls wouldn't let me. Then again, they did have very nice dresses to put on and lots of shiny things and my running for the hills would've ruined that girly bit. And yes, Moony did say that's why he never got around to telling me about the Duke bit. Basically, I hadn't bothered to figure that out despite more than enough clues and he figured I'd try and get out of it if I knew. It was a shock, truth be told."
"But you pulled it off brilliantly," Dora added. "The press said it was perhaps the most inspirational Investiture ever. The Darby paper said it was refreshing that the Duke was so young and not yet bored of it like the – I quote – old, grey haired men who have usually become Duke who seem either set in their ways or have lost sight of the possible because they are too aware and comfortable with the reality."
"And what did he do to get that kind of press?" Sirius asked.
"That was based upon his speech – off the cuff, mind you. I'm told most of his predecessors simply gave a short thank you for being here and I'm humbled by this and that. Harry launched into a plan to open magical schools here and suggesting that he'd pay for it all if no one else would. That was hugely popular and still is and is why the vast majority of the population are behind his other projects."
"It's easy to convince people of projects," Harry said. "But their support seems to be connected to their purse. If I said I'll build schools, or cities, or an army or this or that but would have to raise their taxes to do it, I'm pretty sure they would be less enthusiastic. As it is, most of what I'm doing is coming from free money – the millions I've taken out of Britain one way or another – and what's left is from an increase in tax payers both people and new companies and not an increase in taxes. My Finance Minister is convinced we'll still have an acceptable revenue surplus when all is said and done. Rather than raise taxes, which I can't do at all – that is solely the responsibility of the High Council, what I'm doing is raising the tax payers. The least unpopular way to double revenue is double the number of people who can be taxed and the one way to be sure even fewer complain I think is to import them rather than try and find them here. And it helps that there's a lot of unused land. I'm pretty sure that if I were to double the size of Pottersport or Port of Darby – even if there were no tax increases – people would be upset."
Sirius looked at Harry like he had two heads.
"I can tell you, Sirius," Cissy said, "I've been Harry's Executive Assistant since just before the Queen's State Visit. He takes his job very seriously and knows how to ask the right questions of the right people to get things moving."
Sirius blinked. "And how did that happen? You're one of his wives too, right?"
"You asked Harry to annul my marriage," Cissy said. "He let me decide and it was an easy decision to make. You promised you would when I asked you all those years ago and the years since only made me want it more. Then my Son, for lack of a better word, came back from school all full of himself as the next Lord Black and …"
"Raped her," Harry growled. "Then let his goons have their turn. Beat her pretty bad too."
"And the Goblins beat him pretty bad for his lack of decorum at the signing. I jumped at the chance for an annulment and once that was done, I was led to another room. I don't think Harry had any intention of bringing me here at all at the time, but I was in bad shape so he had me brought to the hospital in Pottersport for treatment and when released, I was offered his protection and a job. I did not become his wife until three weeks after the Will reading."
"But how could that happen? He already had his Consort and he had no grounds to bind you as a Concubine."
"Two Consorts," Dora said. "Luna became Lady Black on July 5th. She came here the same day as Neville Longbottom following the attack that killed her father and she asked to be bound to Harry one way or another and he and Hermione agreed. As Head of two Ancient and Noble Houses and, more importantly two ancient magical lines, the laws and magic allowed for two Consorts."
"Then how could Cissy…?"
"By the time Cissy joined us there were nineteen witches bound to either House Potter or House Black as either the Consorts or as Concubines and most all if not all the Concubines were at least Love Bonded by then. We now know that we had already formed a Coven which, it turns out, can sort of vote in new members. Cissy could be bound as a wife and member of the Coven because she wanted to be and Harry, his Consorts and all the Love Bound Concubines agreed she should be."
"I never knew that could happen."
"It's not the sort of thing Magical Britain condones," Cissy said. "But it's not uncommon in other cultures and the magic seems to be universal."
"And that betrothed girl?"
"She's Veela," Dora said. "Harry saved her life during the Second Task of the Tournament. That bound her to him. But when she's old enough, he will bind to her through the Coven Bond since that is what now exists."
"And some of you are pregnant?"
"As I told you, once a girl is Love Bonded and at least fifteen she get for permission. Prior to fifteen she can ask, but Harry can refuse. At fifteen, he probably will not and certainly will not if she has her OWLs."
"Since we can't know how quickly that will occur," Harry said, "the rule is fifteen. OWLs are merely a suggestion."
"How many?"
"How many what?" Harry asked.
"How many have you knocked up?"
"Such a gentleman," Dora chided. "Let's see… Both of the Consorts – Hermione and Luna – are expecting twins, one of each. In House Potter, Minerva expecting a girl, and Ginny, Stacey, Katie and Padma are expecting, but we don't know what yet and Rhonda has permission but has yet to have a positive test. In House Black, Mallory and Daphne are expecting boys, I'm expecting a boy, Karen and Parvati are expecting but we don't know what yet and Connie and Cissy are working on it."
"That's …," Sirius began counting on his fingers.
"Thirteen for certain, probably more considering the Patil family has a history of twins – that's Padma and Parvati and that's not counting the three who are trying."
"And the others?"
"Tabatha, Fiona, Laura – the older one, Sally-Anne, Kathryn and Erin are all old enough to ask but are waiting. They say they want to give Harry a bit of a break once the ones who are currently trying are all pregnant. Astoria turns fifteen in November. She says she'll wait 'til next spring but I tend to doubt it. The rest are too young and will be for some time."
Sirius shook his head. "You always wanted a family, but Merlin's Beard Harry…"
Harry shrugged. "I've got two lines to rebuild. Until very recently, this was the way House Potter ensured its continuation. Prior to my Great-grandfather, there were forty generations with at least three and usually five or more wives of one description or another, most of whom bore children. My Great-grandfather was the first not to have a child by a concubine which is odd considering his mother was one. One might say I am merely following what had been the family's practice."
"Except, Love," Dora said, "not one of them had nearly as many wives as you do."
"Not my fault! I was fine with just one."
"You can't blame this all on Hermione," Sirius said. "You could've said no."
"Says he who had a bound Concubine at thirteen," Cissy said.
"Um … well that was … I was thirteen!"
"And I could say I was fifteen when I agreed," Harry said. "But I was not raised in a Pureblood House where such things were accepted. Heck, were it not for the fact that my Aunt and Uncle had a kid, I would be hard pressed to believe either of them even knew about … well …"
"Sex?" Dora offered.
"Yeah. Had Hermione not pointed out that as odd as this was for us it was the right thing to do for them, this would never have happened. Don't get me wrong. For the most part I am glad that it did as they're all wonderful people and I've gotten quite used to the variety and by that I mean their personalities and all that as well. But I do wish I had more time for each of them."
"I can tell you from my perspective I have no complaints," Cissy said. "Despite all the others you are far more attentive a husband than Lu … the other one could ever hope to be. We would all like more time with you but we all understand that we can't have it that way and fortunately you do make what time we are with you more than worth it and I'm not talking about the physical stuff … entirely."
Dora nodded in agreement.
"Which I can blame on Hermione as well," Harry chuckled. "She's come up with a schedule and the rest of this lot keeps me to it."
Cissy snorted. "With everything you have going, you need one."
"One of these days, I'll need a Holiday of some sort," Harry sighed. "Probably a lot of them so each of you lot can have one too. After all, a holiday without a pretty girl seems a waste now and…"
"And no pretty girls unless it's one of us," Dora said.
"Rather face Voldemort than twenty-six irate witches," Harry agreed.
"And the Dursleys? I notice they are here," Sirius inquired.
"The plan was to bring them here. Part was for their own protection as they were in danger, but we could've sent them somewhere else. As I understand it – 'cause I wasn't told until after they were here and I ran into Dudley at the Queen's State Visit – someone thought it would be funny to bring the magic hating relations to a place where most everyone around was magical. Were you in on that prank?"
"Moony and I talked about it."
"Another one that didn't go as expected," Harry said. "My cousin Dudley, it seems, was already questioning their attitude at least to himself. His first day here he meets a nice young witch from Potterport and didn't run off screaming. They're engaged now. My Aunt and Uncle were a little put out but managed to behave themselves. Then my Uncle had a heart attack and while being treated at Mistress Agnes Hospital the Healers learned he and my Aunt were dosed up on several borderline dark potions designed to make them vicious, cruel, spiteful, petty and such all keyed into me. The potions worked. It altered them for the worse since at first they were not that way at all towards me, but it had all sorts of harmful side effects such as my Uncles health and removing both their desire and ability to have another kid. We have a lot to sort through, but they've changed for the better and I am willing to give them a chance."
"This is all a lot to take in," Sirius complained.
"Well it's not our fault you chose to be dead for a time," Cissy scolded. "Next time you don't want to miss anything, don't get dead!"
A/N: Some of you fear the endless Wedding scenes. Fear not. They happen but mostly "off screen." We know they're coming - why dwell on it? (Unless it pushes the story forward and if that's the case it won't be the wedding itself…)
RELATIONSHIP SCORECARD:
Not included since there are absolutely no changes since the last Chapter. See Chapter 69 for the last complete listing. The next complete listing will be in Chapter 75.