05

The next morning, Harry was waiting at the doors to the Great Hall, until Lyra and Pansy arrived for breakfast together.

"Lyra, Pansy. Good morning," Harry said, stepping forward. He grabbed Pansy's hand first, kissed it, then moved to Lyra. However, he didn't kiss her hand. Instead, he went for her cheek, making her blush brilliantly. "Why don't the both of you join me for breakfast?"

He grabbed Lyra's hand, pulling her along gently. The moment they entered the Hall, it seemed all conversation fell silent.

Lyra gave Harry a sideways look. "You're… enjoying this, aren't you?"

Harry laughed. "You bet I am. How about you, my Lady?"

"I'm still trying to figure out how Harry Potter grabbing my hand like it's the most normal thing in the world felt so natural that it took me ten seconds to realize it."

Harry chuckled as he directed her to a seat at the Gryffindor table. "Perhaps because it's the most normal thing in the world?" he said, eyes shining with mirth. "You want to sit on my other side, Lady Slytherin?"

"If you insist, Lord… am I supposed to remember all that?"

"What?" Harry asked innocently. "You mean Lord Potter-Gryffindor-Peverell-Slytherin-Gaunt? Sure, it's not that hard, right?"

She whacked him on the shoulder.

"Domestic abuse," Harry muttered as he put some food on his plate.

By now, it seemed the Great Hall had started to recover from their collective shock, and somehow the many hushed conversations seemed to make more noise than the normal volume conversations that otherwise took place. Harry loved it.

It appeared Professor Snape had also noticed the seating position of his Slytherins, and was now sweeping over.

"Miss Malfoy," he said in a slightly pinched voice. "Please tell me you are not betrothed to Potter."

Harry briefly considered pointing out that Snape was asking Lyra to lie to him, but figured that doing so would likely cost him points for cheek. Instead, he went with a more acceptable answer. "I am afraid we'll have to disappoint you then, professor, because Lyra and I are indeed betrothed."

Snape took a very deep breath. "And Miss Parkinson is as well, I take it?"

"Yes," Harry confirmed. "Though it would be Miss Slytherin now."

Snape pinched his nose. He seemed to be contemplating what to say, but then just turned around and stalked out of the Great Hall.

Once he was gone, Harry started laughing. "I think he just… gave up. This is too good." He frowned. "Wait, do you two know if being Lord Slytherin gives me the power to appoint someone else as your Head of House?"

"Harry," Lyra said slowly, "I'm not sure if it's a good idea to antagonize Professor Snape like that."

"Oh, I'm not saying I'd do it, I'm just wondering if I could."

"You'd… leave him be if you had power over him?" Pansy asked.

Harry nodded.

"I know you've had an entire summer," Lyra said, "and I get that you've been busy, but you know, I find it hard to believe you've changed this much in two months, Harry. Last year's Harry Potter would never have been able to put his opinion of me aside this easily, and he definitely wouldn't pass up an opportunity to one-up Professor Snape if he could. I remember you spent pretty much the entire last day ranting about him because he leaked that Professor Lupin was a werewolf."

Oh, right. Harry had forgotten all about that. He brought his hand down to grab Lyra's, giving a slight squeeze.

"I'm working at it very hard," Harry said. "And yes, there is something more, that I haven't told you yet." He grimaced. "I suppose that's also the proof that I'm not completely over it yet." A mischievous twinkle appeared in his eyes. "And it's easier to trust a beautiful girl than the boy that got on my nerves for years."

Harry had set the threshold for himself that he would tell Lyra about his time travel shenanigans once she first showed him a clear sign of romantic affection – as that was obvious confirmation that she cared about him and wouldn't rat him out – but he wasn't expecting it to happen as early as now. However, he was wrong, as Lyra brought her lips forward and very briefly kissed him.

"I best keep this going then," she told him, mirroring the mischief in Harry's eyes.

Harry grinned. "Weren't you the one talking about how it was strange to be even just holding my hand?"

She blushed, and Harry placed another quick peck on her lips. "You're growing on me, Lyra. After breakfast, I want you to come with me to the Room of Requirement."

Her eyebrows shut up to her hairline. "Are you saying—"

"Oh, no, not that," Harry interrupted her immediately. "Sorry, I didn't think about how that could be interpreted. I have no intention to move faster than you're comfortable with."

"In that case, can Pansy come along as well?"

Harry glanced at the girl on his other side. "No, this is something between the two of us, for now."

"Still with the secrets, Lord Too-Many-Names?" Pansy asked, waggling her eyebrows.

"Forgive me for not immediately trusting you with everything just because we're betrothed, after you grew up among Voldemort's minions," he said jokingly, before turning serious. "I want to trust you, Pansy, I really do, but this isn't something I can just tell anyone. I hope that I will be able to trust you enough for it soon, and I'll also ask Lyra her opinion on telling you, as well."

She nodded solemnly. "I get what you mean. We shouldn't hurry this."

"I'm a time traveler," Harry said, as he said down on a loveseat in front of a fire together with Lyra.

"A… what? You mean, as in, you traveled through years of time? Not just a time turner?"

Harry nodded. "The first time around, I was 23 when I discovered the contract between us, and already married with a vow that didn't allow a second wife. Hermione's already scolded me for doing this – in both timelines – but it was the only way to not lose my magic. All the things that I now know about etiquette and such, I learned them mostly after the war."

"The war?" Lyra asked with a frown.

"Voldemort is currently trying to regain a body," Harry said. "As part of that plan, I will be entered into the Triwizard Tournament as a fourth contender by his mole in the castle. The mole will aid me in getting through the Tournament so that I win it, at which point I am portkeyed to the place where Voldemort is resurrected, because he wants to use my blood in the ritual. I already have a plan in place to capture him before he can even obtain a wand."

"You really trust me enough to tell me this?" Lyra asked, surprised.

Harry put his arms around her and kissed her again for good measure. "I can tell you've come to like me, Lyra. You already said a while back that you were starting to think you got the better end of the deal, and I would assume you feel that way even more, now that you know I have a plan in place to kill Voldemort in less than a year's time – I have a big advantage, and you're enough of a Slytherin to not take the losing side. On top of that, no matter how unavoidable our marriage contract was, I dare say your father will be quite angry you did not try to get more out of it.

"Of course, I know that was because you almost felt liberated by the contract, but your father won't see it that way. But you know what, Lyra?" He looked straight in her eyes, their noses inches from each other. "You are mine now, and that means I will not let anything happen to you. From my previous future, I already knew that there was more to you than you had shown me the first three years here, but in these last few weeks, you went far beyond that."

"I feel… different," Lyra confessed. "Recently. It's like a weight has been lifted from my shoulders ever since you told me about the contract and the potion you had."

"Then perhaps that made a difference, too," Harry said. "It must not have been easy to know that you will never be able to marry someone you love, or love someone you marry."

Lyra leaned forward into him, embracing him while resting her head on his shoulder. "This isn't how I imagined to find someone I at least can love, but this new you, this… time traveler you, Harry, I like you. I really do."

Harry placed a few kisses on her scalp. "Then I will do my very best to not disappoint you."

A little later, Lyra pulled back from the embrace. "So, what happens now?"

"Now, you know all my big secrets. As for what happens… I propose we just continue getting to know each other better. Your cousin won't arrive until next month, with the rest of the Durmstrang delegation for the Tournament, and I don't know yet who I want to approach for Lady Potter and Lady Gaunt. About that, perhaps you have any ideas?"

"Not off the top of my head," Lyra replied. "But I could ask around, see if anyone is available and interested in a contract."

"I'd appreciate that," Harry said. "Preferably someone around our age. I'll ask Ginny to keep an eye out as well, she has a lot more contacts than I do, and a lot more time as well. And do you think I should tell Pansy about the time travel? I'm not sure if she might not inform her father, and he showed himself a Death Eater in the second war."

"I think you'll be fine, actually," Lyra said. "And she also respects my opinion. I should be able to convince her to not leak anything."

"In that case, as I do not officially know where the Slytherin common room is, could you fetch her and return here, Lyra?"

"Officially?" Lyra asked, narrowing her eyes.

"I most certainly did not sneak into the Slytherin common room together with Ron, polyjuiced as Crabbe and Goyle, to try and find out whether you were the Heir of Slytherin in second year."

"Forget sneaking into the Slytherin common room, where the hell did you get polyjuice?"

"Hermione brewed it."

"You're telling me that a second year student brewed polyjuice?"

"Yeah?"

"I am really glad I am on your side now, Harry."

Harry laughed. "Well, go get Pansy so we can make sure she's also completely on our side."

Harry plopped down next to Luna for lunch, Ginny sitting down on his other side.

"Hello, Harry Potter. Hello, Ginny Gryffindor."

"Hi, Luna," Harry said, enjoying Ginny's grin at her still relatively new surname. "How are you doing?"

"Well I lost a sock this morning, but otherwise I'm fine. What about you?"

"You lost a sock?" Harry asked, remembering Luna had been bullied during her time at school.

"Oh yeah," Luna said absently, "it'll turn up again."

"Luna, you know I'm considering the option of signing a marriage contract with you if you want that, right?"

"Oh, I know," she replied. "Do you want to sign it now? Daddy sent one with the mail." She went to grab it out of her bag.

"Luna, wait," Harry said. "If you're…" he paused. He'd have to tread carefully. The older Luna had told him about how her younger self would clam up if someone tried to ask about her treatment by others.

"Yes, Harry?"

"Does someone ever help you find things that go missing? A prefect maybe?"

"Oh, yeah," Luna replied. "The fifth year prefect, Cho Chang, helps a lot."

"And what about others? Are there people who don't like to help?"

"Some of my year mates," Luna said. "And two in the year above me. And I think Marietta only helps because Cho tells her to."

"Remember, Luna, if you want to, you can always talk to me about it. And as for the marriage contract, I want to make sure that everyone I'm betrothed to is happy. And that includes you."

"So you want to sign it."

Oh. He'd misspoken there. "If you want to, Luna. But I'll have to sign it with your father."

"That's not a problem," Luna said. "He gave me permission to sign for him." She produced said permission.

"Oh, that's nice. Come along with me after dinner this evening, then we can take a look at it."

With that part of the discussion closed, they moved on to other topics.

"Miss Chang!" Harry called out. He felt he was lucky to catch her that same afternoon already. She turned to him.

"Mister Potter, hello."

"Hi," Harry said, glancing at the girls next to Cho. "Uh, I'd like to talk about something, but I'd rather do so in private, is that okay?"

"Of course. Marietta, Lisa, I'll see you in a few, right?"

The girls left.

"So what did you want to talk about?"

"Luna," Harry said, straight up. "I read between the lines that she gets bullied sometimes, and she said you often help her find her stuff and such."

"I can't get the names out of her," Cho replied. "If I try, she just freezes up. And I haven't been able to catch them in the act yet."

Harry nodded. "I don't think I could get the names either, but I do want to help as much as possible. And… perhaps it might help if the people in your House know that she and I will be signing a marriage contract? I'd like to think I haven't completely squandered the influence my name brings during my first three years here, while being ignorant of wizarding culture."

Cho snorted. "But you know better now. I think you're on your way to regaining some influence, Mr Potter."

Harry thought for a moment. "And if needed, remind them that, not only is Luna about to be betrothed to Harry Potter, Harry Potter is also betrothed to Heiress Malfoy. If my name isn't enough to impress on them that they should back off, the Malfoy name should help out. And if that turns out not to be enough either, well, I suppose I could come and scare a few of them? I've picked up a good number of combat spells over the last few years."

Cho nodded. "It'll help to have some additional weight behind me, thanks Mr Potter."

"Call me Harry."

"Then call me Cho."

"Thank you for helping out, Cho. I know Luna doesn't have a lot of people she can rely on, and her past isn't the best either."

"No problem. See you around, Harry."

"Bye."

That evening, Harry collected Lyra and Pansy from the Slytherin table before leading them, Ginny and Luna up to the Room of Requirement. It truly was inconvenient that there was no good place where students from different Houses could mingle, other than perhaps the library. Maybe he'd have to petition the Board, they could get some unused classrooms refurbished or something. And if they were stingy about money, Harry had enough lying around.

"Before we get to the marriage contract, there is one thing I want to tell you, Luna, that the other three girls here know already."

"Really?" Luna asked, curiosity shining through. "What is it?"

"I'm a time traveler."

Harry waited for a reaction.

There was none.

"Luna?"

She seemed to shake out of something. "Oh yeah, that's nice."

Harry was about to ask her if she'd understood him correctly when she spoke again.

"What's the future like? Did daddy and me find crumple-horned snorkacks?"

"Not… that I know of," Harry said. He'd known Luna for almost a decade, and she still regularly surprised him like that.

"I just… thought you should know," he continued, still a little off-balance. "I mostly had to go back because I only discovered the contract with Lyra after I'd already married with a vow that wouldn't allow for a second wife, but I also went back to try and save people who had died in the second Blood War, that would start at the end of this year if it weren't for my… precautions. And because I felt I should not tread on the traditions of the wizarding world like I did the first time around, where I only married once despite my titles."

"Did you know you were supposed to marry more than once?" Luna asked.

"No, I only learned about it when people were angry at me for my vow."

"They shouldn't be," Luna said, disappointment in the people of the future shining through. "How can they be angry at you for breaking a rule you didn't know?"

Harry snorted. If only everyone was like Luna, the world would be a better place. Stranger, sure, but better.

"Well, with that out of the way," – and rather anticlimactically, at that – "why don't we move on to the marriage contract."

"Ah yes, of course," Luna said, pulling it out of her school bag and handing it to Harry. "Here it is."

Both Lyra and Pansy leaned over Harry's shoulder to read along. It didn't take long for Harry to have a remark.

"Luna, I really don't need a requirement that you will give me at least two male children to continue the Lovegood and Peverell lines. We can just make your first boy – or first child, if it's just girls – a Lovegood and give the Peverell title to a later one if you have any. Worst case, I can always give the Peverell title to another of my children."

"But Peverell is a noble House, Harry, so they're more important, right?"

"And what about your family, Luna? Don't the Lovegoods deserve to continue to exist? You're an only child."

It went unsaid that Luna would remain an only child, with her mother dead and her father not wanting to remarry. In fact, Harry was somewhat surprised Xenophilius was willing to marry his daughter to a title at all, rather than find her a marriage where the boy could take her name. And it wasn't because he didn't want her to have a marriage contract at all either, obviously. And Luna herself didn't seem much more inclined to keep her options for the future open than him.

Lovegoods. Oh, what he'd do to understand them.

Actually, he'd probably have to sell his soul to the devil or something. Probably not worth the cost.

"I just thought we should do it right," Luna said.

"Come over here," Harry said, patting the empty space next to him, where Luna said down. He put an arm around her. "Luna, I don't want you to have to give up your life just because you think you should be with me for the Peverell-Lovegood alliance. You don't have to marry me, it's only if you want to."

"But I do want to," Luna said, gazing up at him with those large silver eyes of hers. "I know you'll make me happy, Harry. And if I marry you, I'm also almost married to Ginny."

Harry caressed her cheek. "I'm glad to hear that, Luna. But even then, you don't have to risk your family dying out because of it."

He hesitated for a moment, then moved forward for a gentle peck on her lips. Almost immediately, she melted into him, and he put his arms around her. "There, Luna," he said, soothing her. "I'm here for you, my little moon. I have everything I could wish for coming my way, I don't want to take things from you that I don't have to."

Harry looked over the girl's shoulder to Pansy. "Could you remove the clause requiring heirs?"

While Pansy did so, Harry pulled Luna onto his lap, keeping his arms around her. He placed a kiss on her cheek, then focused his attention back on the contract.

There were a few minor discussion points, but nothing big until they reached the dowry.

"Luna…" Harry said slowly, "can you and your dad even pay this?"

She nodded, but Harry wasn't convinced. Sure, the dowry wasn't that big, but then again the Lovegoods didn't have old money. This would definitely have the potential to put them in financial trouble.

"How did you arrive at this price?" he asked.

"Daddy calculated how much we could miss. We tried to get enough for a dowry of the size that would be expected for a non-noble girl marrying into a Noble and Most Ancient House, but we can't match that."

"Luna, I can't accept this. You and your father are far too considerate, you'd ruin yourselves just to give me something I don't even need. I'll propose something better. Instead of a monetary dowry, the dowry will be 49% ownership of the Quibbler. How's that?"

They needed a few minutes, but eventually Luna was persuaded. The rest of the contract didn't spark any more discussion, and soon after that Harry signed his fourth marriage contract – still with Luna on his lap.

After Luna put down her signature, Harry placed a few kisses in her neck. "I already see it coming. I'm going to end up spoiling you rotten, Luna."

She mewled softly at his ministrations. "With pudding?"

"As much as you want