Witches Are. Witches Do.

Chapter 4

Harry wasn't sure what sort of reaction she was expecting of Riddle, but she was sure it wasn't the quiet, calm admiration she saw shining in his eyes. Harry held her breath as Riddle sat up a bit, still gazing at her without any visible anger or defeat, which was what Harry had been expecting to see.

"Petal," Riddle said and at once a house-elf wearing a deep-green towel popped into the room, gazing up at Riddle with luminous eyes. "Fetch me my stationary set, will you. And add some pre-charmed contract paper."

"What?" Harry gaped at Riddle as the house-elf reappeared with a thick leather binder in her hands which she handed to Riddle without a word.

Riddle blinked at Harry, his whole expression one of polite bewilderment at her reaction. "Surely you understand, dearest Harriet, that official offers are always written down in legally binding contracts."

Harry swallowed against a bit of bile that suddenly rose up. She'd expected Riddle to get angry with her and to then summarily dismiss her. After all, Riddle had admitted many times in the past that he wasn't able to break Grindelwald's curse, no matter how many times he'd tried. There was no chance he'd suddenly be able to accomplish that.

And yet Riddle started writing with an elegant, black quill as he summed up what exactly he was adding to the contract. "Your offer is that you will marry me when I break Grindelwald's curse, correct?" Riddle briefly glanced up at Harry with raised eyebrows, obviously waiting for her verbal agreement.

Several of the Slytherins Harry knew, Regulus, Severus and even Draco, were somehow screaming in her head that she was giving away far too much in exchange for far too little. "Er...yes, but that's not all."

"Oh?" Riddle tilted his head, lips drawn up in a small smile that said nothing at all. "Are you already retracting the promise you just made me?"

"Give me a break," Harry snapped as real anger rose up in her chest, ready to lash out with words or with magic. "You're a seasoned politician who has decades of experience negotiating anything and everything. And I'm a fifteen-year-old student. I daresay I'm allowed to need a couple of minutes to articulate myself properly. This is my bloody life we're talking about."

Riddle bowed his head and gave a quick, agreeable nod. "Of course, my dearest. State your terms." He held his quill at the ready to write down exactly what Harry would say.

Squeezing her eyes shut, Harry thought desperately about what exactly she wanted to accomplish with this offer. Ideally she wanted to get Riddle to back off entirely, but just in case he'd manage to actually break the curse, Harry had to be sure to get the best deal possible for herself and for everyone else.

"Just a reminder," Riddle said softly as Harry slowly blinked her eyes open again. "We're only writing up a contract for the terms of your agreement to marry me. The actually marriage contract will be negotiated at a later date and you'll have more than enough chances to speak up for yourself and to add your own wishes."

A shuddering breath left Harry's tense body before she could stop it. That was at least one positive thing about the whole damned mess. She wouldn't be expected to hammer out every single detail of their potential marriage that afternoon without any preparation. "All right," Harry sighed, willing her thoughts back to the rather important topic at hand. "I will marry you when you break Grindelwald's curse, as long as this happens before my twentieth birthday and as long as it leads to the abolishment of the Coven System."

The quill in Riddle's hand stopped writing at once as he raised his head to gaze at Harry with piercing eyes. "That is quite the price you're asking, my dearest."