Chapter 39
"Harry, my boy, I am glad to see you again," one of the most powerful wizards of our time, Albus Dumbledore, welcomed me into his office cordially and almost cloyingly hospitably.
"Headmaster," I calmly nodded to the elderly wizard, demonstrating the bare minimum of reciprocal friendliness, but no more than that. "I didn't expect you to summon me back to this office so soon... Have I broken some school rules again, or do you still have questions for me regarding past incidents?"
"Not exactly, Harry, not exactly," the gray-haired old man shook his head, somewhat doomed but at the same time deliberately soothingly. "You haven't broken any school rules lately. And scolding you for past transgressions would be completely inappropriate right now... I called you in rather on a personal matter and... because of this parchment that Lord Greengrass sent me literally this morning."
"Oh, that must be regarding Daphne's and my betrothal?" I perked up a little, in reality still feeling quite... conflicted and awkward thinking about a relationship of this sort with a certain blonde Slytherin. "Have you not approved our pre-nuptial contract yet?"
"That is exactly what I wanted to talk to you about, my boy," the elderly Headmaster exhaled heavily, seemingly hoping for a different reaction from me until the very last moment.
"Is there something wrong with my betrothal? Are the documents drawn up incorrectly?" I clarified with slight concern, concentrating all my attention on Albus Dumbledore's face and movements. After all, the voiced question genuinely interested me... for a multitude of very different reasons all at once.
"No, Harry, everything is fine with the documents... Lord Greengrass, or as I rather suspect—his most beautiful wife, have drawn up a very competent and legally equal contract. Well, except for your future renunciation of your native surname, but... that, as I see, is not such a big problem for you, my boy," the old mage exhaled tiredly, calming my paranoia somewhat with just this one remark. "It's just that, Harry, are you absolutely sure that you even... need this betrothal? At your age, it must be quite difficult to independently determine the companion for your whole life. And besides... what will your other female friends think when they find out about your engagement to Daphne?"
"Ginny will most likely not be happy about such a turn of events, Luna won't care, and the rest of our acquaintances... will most likely joke about us and maybe be a little jealous," I calmly shrugged my shoulders, having already developed a certain strategy for communicating with this persistent old man after several previous meetings with the Headmaster.
"And... does that suit you, Harry?" Albus looked at me a little more intently, causing something inside me to twitch nervously and, just in case, fortify my own mental shields. I didn't feel any foreign mental interference right now, but... communicating with the Headmaster of Hogwarts in this regard was always quite the game of Russian roulette and a play on my nerves stretched to the limit.
"I... cannot say that I am completely confident in my decision, but... Daphne is a good girl and a reliable friend. An engagement to her is unlikely to be a big mistake on my part... well, and even if we fall in love with someone else in the future or simply have a falling out for some reason... I think it won't become such an unsolvable problem. The penalties and fines in the event of a voluntary dissolution of the betrothal are minimal on both sides," I reasoned somewhat uncertainly and awkwardly about my own thoughts on this matter, not fully understanding whether my words would affect anything at all in this case, but... If the old man refused to approve my betrothal, it could become a bit of a problem.
He is, after all, my temporary guardian and simply one of the most influential wizards in all of Britain. If Albus went into a categorical refusal regarding my betrothal to Daphne, we would hardly be able to officially conclude it in the next few years.
More accurately, we could have done something and come up with something, had I been an ordinary wizard and not this old spider's "chosen hero"... Usually, as far as the general public knows, Dumbledore is quite casual about his duties as a temporary guardian for all orphaned and Muggle-born wizards in his school. As the Headmaster of the best magic academy on the islands, he, of course, tries to protect his students in the legal sphere when necessary and simply warn them against unequivocal mistakes and externally imposed predatory contracts.
In this regard, the Headmaster of Hogwarts truly performed his duties properly, simultaneously maintaining the image of a respectable wizard and almost a spiritual mentor for the entire magical part of our society, but... In my case, everything is not so simple and straightforward. The fact that this mage had unsuccessfully tried to gain full magical guardianship over me back in the year of my parents' death spoke more than clearly of this old man's interest in my humble figure.
"You treat such a serious matter too frivolously, my boy," even now this mage was slowly beginning to get on my nerves, smoothly but inexorably leading up to the reasons for his likely refusal. "Your betrothal to Daphne will have to become a very powerful magical contract and a very weighty bureaucratic document, which could turn into huge problems in the event... if the dissolution of your betrothal is not entirely voluntary."
"You are exaggerating, Headmaster," I shook my head, digging my gaze straight into the old man's nose bridge with a certain innate stubbornness. I still didn't dare to look such an experienced mental mage right in the eyes, even knowing that he was unlikely to use such a dangerous power on a child. "There is hardly anything too dangerous specifically for me in the contract I know. You, after all, said yourself that the contract... is equal from a legal point of view. Daphne is under the exact same conditions as I am."
"That is true, but... I do not like such magic, I do not like it at all," the old mage exhaled heavily and stifledly, as if hoping that this dislike of his would force me to immediately abandon my already outlined plans.
"So, you are refusing to confirm my betrothal?" I frowned slightly and even looked at the gray-haired wizard with some coldness, not wanting to fully restrain my own displeasure at such a turn of events.
Dumbledore, as I noticed, very keenly catches almost all fluctuations in another's mood—I couldn't hide my true emotions from him anyway, but... presenting them at the right angle, while simultaneously maintaining the image of an albeit smart, but very sincere and even slightly hot-tempered boy, quick to verbal reprisal, did not hinder me. Especially since for now such a strategy made the old man... a little more accommodating than I could have expected of him.
"No, I am not refusing, but... I want to ask you not to rush into concluding a full-fledged contract," the Headmaster of Hogwarts softly tried to calm me down. "A betrothal is too serious a matter to conclude it so spontaneously and even hastily... Besides, as you probably already know, the review of your godfather's case is in full swing at the Wizengamot right now, and he has already expressed a desire at the very first opportunity not only to meet with you, but also to take you under his guardianship..."
"You mean... you want me to negotiate my betrothal with Sirius Black?" I frowned slightly, mentally recalculating several things at once and reshaping a multitude of my own plans. The information that Sirius could quite soon become my official guardian—and as my godfather he has every right to do so—came as a bit of a surprise to me. To be honest, I didn't think Dumbledore would so easily hand over the guardianship of his hero to a former criminal...
"Or am I still overestimating my own importance too much?" I hoped mentally, immediately realizing that I shouldn't count on such a thing anyway. The events of the last two years had shown me too unequivocally that this world almost completely corresponds to the story I once watched on TV. With its own nuances and amendments, naturally, but... there is still no reason to hope for the best for now.
"That would be correct in all respects," the gray-haired wizard meanwhile answered my previous question. "Sirius, it seems to me, better than anyone else will be able to explain to you all the cons and rare pros of concluding such an early betrothal... Well, and if even he cannot dissuade you in your decision to tie your life with the young Greengrass heiress—then from a legal point of view it will be better in any case if your betrothal is approved by a full-fledged guardian, and not by me, as a simple Headmaster of Hogwarts."
"That is quite... acceptable," forcing myself, I still had to nod to the old mage, perfectly understanding that it would be completely inconvenient for me to argue against such arguments. And even if somewhere in my heart I still wanted to continue this argument, and possibly even turn it into a full-fledged conflict... simply because I felt in my gut how Dumbledore was frankly being shady and clearly holding something back from me, but... I had never been spotted doing such blatant stupidity before. And therefore, I managed to restrain myself this time almost without problems.
Fortunately, the Headmaster, after indicating his decision regarding my betrothal, did not string me along for too long or detain me in his office, because of which I was able to return to my daily affairs very soon, simultaneously explaining the whole underlying situation to Daphne.
Which, of course, she was not happy about... The young Greengrass heiress was generally almost burning with impatience regarding everything connected with our betrothal, which is why the necessity of waiting until at least the summer holidays did not appeal to her at all, but... The girl was ready to put up with it, valuing the issue of the legitimacy of our betrothal quite highly.
In this regard, I managed to avoid a big storm, and even Daphne's parents didn't particularly resent the appearance of "technical delays" with the signing of all the necessary documents. The issue with my betrothal was put on pause and did not foretell new problems for me at least until the beginning of the summer holidays, by the start of which Sirius should already be completely exonerated before the law and... appointed my guardian? I wasn't sure how much time it would take the former prisoner to formalize full guardianship over me, but it was somewhat inconvenient for me to worry about this anyway.
I was going to spend my time with maximum efficiency, now not only engaging in my own training, but also sharing my own knowledge and developments in Charms and Transfiguration with the Greengrass sisters. After all, Daphne's parents ultimately took that idea with tutoring for their daughter more than seriously, wishing to add their younger princess to our arrangement as well...
In exchange, I received temporary access to some quite rare treatises on magic and, what is even more important, the personal notes and diaries of Mrs. Greengrass, who in her time was fond of practically everything related to household, cosmetic, illusion, sound, barrier, and stationary charms.
A huge well of information and a real treasure trove for an enthusiast like me! And even if the spheres of interest of my probable mother-in-law were somewhat specific and unusual, but... I was definitely not going to refuse the wealth that had fallen upon me—or rather, a part of it from among the very first notes of a far from weak witch—in any case. Especially since my named students became quite interested in their mother's favorite magic themselves, which is why I, as their tutor, was forced to figure all this out anyway.
Which was genuinely interesting and good! I sincerely and almost selflessly reveled in everything that was happening, ultimately finding my pluses and highly entertaining moments for me even in cosmetic charms, but... the idyll in my life simply couldn't last long.
And if with a jealous, and therefore much more active and persistent Ginny, as well as Luna, who had become very interested in the magic of illusions, I was still ready to morally put up with, stoically enduring Malfoy's malice-free sneers and other hardships of fate, then... I somehow did not expect the appearance of two more betrothal proposals in my morning mail...
I completely, damn it, didn't expect it, looking with an absolutely wild gaze at the embarrassedly joyful Ginny Weasley and the simply amused Luna Lovegood... Ahem, yes, I definitely didn't expect such a setup from the latter, at the same time knowing perfectly well that this flighty girl definitely didn't suffer from any infatuation, but... I still received a somewhat erratic and chaotic letter from her father with a betrothal proposal, getting completely lost in what was even happening in my life.
Is this all some kind of joke and prank on poor me, or what the hell is going on here!?