74) Discussions - 1

"Can't we just divorce after wedding each other?" Francesca pointed out to her father.

Francesco looked at his daughter with a tired sigh. He had thought upon that option. However the contract was strict in its clauses.

"No annulment allowed." He replied with a tired voice. He had processed those situations and plans perfectly. Yet the Lord Prince had been sly. He had used and thought about every possible situation. There was nothing they could do other than to follow the contract.

Francesca cursed the old Lord Prince. The man had just proceeded on to make the contract a living hell for the Zabini family.

The contract was the bane of her existence. She had talked with Eileen Prince. The Lady Prince had been kind to her. She had asked her to talk with Severus, as it was the two of them which were going to suffer due to the contract.

Francesca had chickened out. She knew Severus was already in a relationship with Alice. This contract was going to make things tense between him and Alice. He didn't want his anger directed towards her.

"I am going to work. Madam Prince had called me to meet with her regarding the contract. I also want to clarify some things regarding it with Andromeda." Francesa said with a calm face.

Her father nodded as he bid her goodbye for her work.

He couldn't watch her retreating. He was always reminded of his failure to protect her.

"Perhaps she can find genuine happiness. We have yet to see things." He heard a soft voice besides him.

He looked to the green eyes of his wife. Ellara was looking pensively at her.

"And what if she can't?" Francesco asked with a sigh. The question was mainly to himself. Would he be able to digest the guilt caused by it?

"You have been a great father till now Francesco. Don't sell yourself short at a moment like this!" Ellara said with barely contained anger. She didn't want to see him brooding over his helplessness again. The last week had already been full of it. She couldn't take it anymore.

"We too married for our families. Yet we found love in our marriage. She will too." Ellara said closing her eyes for a moment.

"I hope she does." Francesco replied with a sigh.

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Hermione and Lily were the first to sense something different in Alice. The quiet girl was looking more sullen.

Alice had never been the greatest of speakers. However they both had never seen her acting like this.

She acted dreadful and melancholic. Her eyes glazed over suddenly during conversations, she was sleeping less. And there were fewer times when they both felt her in some sort of trance for long.

They weren't alone in it.

Alice's secret admirer had noticed it too. Frank Longbottom was the fastest to caught the sudden changes.

At first he didn't know how to know the matter. The Marauders were his friends, but they weren't the best ones to keep a secret. Or handle a matter discreetly.

His last resort remained Lily and Hermione, both of whom he had seen worrying over her.

It was hard to talk to both of them with so many people in the Common Hall. Plus talking about her will reveal his crush on Alice.

Thankfully he had decided the most sensible way. He had went to the most levelheaded person of their year.

Harry had been a great help for him. Once he saw the changes in Alice, he was instantly on board to learn more about her worries.

With Harry came Ronald, his best friend. Frank didn't know much about Ronald, but if Harry trusted him. Then he trusted him too. Besides Ronald knew about his crush on Alice too somehow.

So here they were. He, Lily, Hermione, Harry and Ronald, huffled together in one of the abandoned classrooms. Having a meeting about the one girl in question.

"I don't know Frank. She's acting strange." Lily spoke up slowly.

"She was a little more ongoing during the start of the year. But she seems withdrawn from this last few days." Lily continued on with a light frown on her face.

"Something's bothering her. She has even dark circles nowadays. She isn't getting enough sleep nowadays." Hermione spoke next.

Frank nodded. Everything they told matched his observations.

"Why don't you take her out in a Hogsmeade meeting? You can ask about her worries there." Ron offered casually. He had seen that it had worked with Seamus and Parvati.

"That's not a bad idea. We could have a Gryffindor girls outing this weekend." Lily said pleased. Ron was right. Perhaps Alice would feel free to discuss her worries there.

"We can meet you there." Harry spoke softly. He had accepted that their appearance in the past will cause changes for the future. The future - they have been part of, will no longer exist anymore. However a part of him wanted to make some of the things same like the canon.

He wanted to see the future faces of his friends. Of Neville, Luna, Cho, Seamus, Dean, Parvati, Padma and even Cedric.

They all agreed on the proposal and left for their classes.

Harry proceeded on towards library. He had promised Mary to help her in some DADA work.

Entering under the ever watchful gaze of Madam Pince, he slowly walked towards the empty table in a corner. He took out a book on advanced spells and started reading it.

Ron was going to work on potions along with Hermione. The former had been struggling in one of his essays given by Slughorn. Since their topics were different, he had proceeded to ask Hermione about it.

He was on the third page when he felt someone sitting infront of him. He could recognise the person. He didn't need to see her face to guess her identity. Her perfume was more than a giveaway.

Smelling fresh grass and roses, he put the book down to meet the eyes of Mary MacDonald.

Gazing into her bright sea green eyes, he gave a shy and nervous smile to her.

"Hello Harry." Mary greeted cheerfully with a smile. She looked at the boy infront of her with a cheery face. He looked so painfully shy. It was adorable.

"Hello Mary." Harry said composing himself.

Gazing at her, he was momentarily lost in myriad of thoughts. His mind was supplying him with some weird compliments about her.

Her pale lipgloss looked beautiful on her. That pair of full lips took his breath away. Her eyes were mesmerizing and begging to be explored.

Those thoughts confused Harry.

He had only felt this things while being with Ginny. It was going to be two months since he started Hogwarts here. He couldn't feel so strongly for Mary just in this short period of time.

It wasn't rational by any standards.

"What do you want help with?" He asked suddenly. He didn't know how to start a conversation with her. So he proceeded to the main task for which they had gathered here.

Mary nodded and started to open her bag. She pulled out parchments and started to show her the topics.

Harry took a read of that. He understood her doubts and slowly started to explain her in a soft and low voice.

An hour later, both of them were walking towards the Gryffindor Common Room.

The classes had ended and everyone was free for today. Harry walked with Mary accompanying her to the Common Room.

Harry and Mary were walking through one of the empty hallways, when the latter suddenly spoke breaking the silence.

"Are you free this weekend?" Mary asked gently.

Harry was caught off guard by the question. Thinking about it, he realised that the weekend was a Hogsmeade outing.

"I am." He replied after a moment. Sure they had to meet with Alice and other girls. But he was free till then. He and Ron will probably spend it with the Marauders.

Mary nodded. It was a minute later that she spoke up again.

"Will you join me then? I can show you around Hogsmeade." Mary spoke softly in an unsure voice. Her voice wavered slightly as she spoke up

Harry was completely floored by the question. His mind went into overdrive as he thought about his options. He finally gave a smile and nodded.

"It sounds fun." Harry said with the same smile. The smile mixed with nervousness and unsureity.

Mary's face beamed with joy. She wanted to shout in happiness but composed himself with great determination.

Yes, it was going to be fun.

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