023

The Hufflepuffs weren't exactly used to Harry Potter visiting their table, even though he'd become commonplace at the other three. However, they wouldn't be Hufflepuffs if they didn't welcome him immediately.

"Good afternoon," he said, sitting down next to Hannah for lunch.

"Oh, hi Harry, what are you doing here?" she asked. Well, first-name basis it was, then.

"Just reaching out to other people a bit."

Susan snorted from Hannah's other side. "Those, what is it, ten girls aren't keeping you busy enough?"

"Eleven, actually," Harry said. "And good afternoon to you as well, Susan." He gave her a smile. "They're keeping me quite busy, actually, but I've gotten to know them better by now, and I realized I don't actually have any friends in Hufflepuff. So I figured I'd go and see if there was something to be done about it."

"You make it sound like you're collecting people," Hannah said lightly.

"They do say that Hufflepuffs make for the best friends," Harry said. "Besides, you might bring out those Hufflepuff qualities in me a bit more. I'm not always as hardworking as I should be."

"You?" Susan asked with raised eyebrows. "You ace every practical!"

"And I never do anything but the bare minimum on essays," Harry said. "Practicals just come easy to me. There's a reason I'm good at Defense and crap at History."

"Yeah, Binns," Hannah said.

"Good point. But Quirrell and Lockhart weren't exactly stellar teachers either."

"So you're just here for homework aid?" Hannah teased.

Harry smirked. "If I needed homework aid I'd ask Hermione or Millicent."

"I have to say it's weird to see you without any of them," Susan said. "A lonely Harry Potter has become a rare sight."

Harry glanced around, trying to find all his girls at the different tables. "I'm sure they're having a good time."

As they continued talking throughout lunch, Harry figured this was a good start to broach the topic of a contract in the near future.

It did take another week before he did so, however. But on Saturday he approached Hannah – and Susan, they sat next to one another as always – during the relaxed weekend breakfast. With the meal being spread out over almost three hours, it was far quieter in the Great Hall than during other meals, and it was much easier to discuss something without everyone overhearing.

"Good morning," he greeted.

"Good morning," Hannah chirped. "Should your girlfriends get worried about you cheating yet?"

Harry snorted. They might as well get straight to it, then. "Is it cheating if I have yet another title that I need to find a wife for?"

"What do you mean?" Susan asked. Both she and Hannah turned serious.

"A little over a week back, Dumbledore decided to name me his heir," Harry explained. "As marriage contracts have already been written for Roanne, Cho, Gabrielle and Hermione, I can't give any of them the title. That means I have to look for someone else."

"And that's one of us?" Hannah asked.

Harry nodded. "I wanted to ask if you were willing to enter negotiations. Susan, I have nothing against you, but with you already being Lady Bones I wouldn't actually be able to give you the Dumbledore title."

The two girls exchanged a glance.

"We uhh… we kind of made a deal," Hannah said uncertainly. However, she carried on. "Susan was worried that she'd be a secondary wife because she had to keep her title and surname, and perhaps be treated worse, so we agreed that we'd make sure to marry the same person, to make sure we'd always at least have each other."

"Oh," Harry said, trying to parse the information. "So I guess you're not as available as you appear, then."

"I don't know," Susan said slowly. "I mean, we were planning on sharing already. And I'm thinking I could do worse than you."

Harry snorted. "I sure hope so. Wouldn't be very good news if I was the worst boy at the school."

Hannah laughed. "I agree with Susan. You're a nice bloke, Harry. Though, how much time do you actually have for your girls?"

"Well, so far the jokes about creating a schedule are just jokes, so make of that what you want. And Delphini is a metamorph, so she sometimes changes into me to help out with that, too."

"So that rumor about Gryffindor being seen with two of you is true?" Susan asked.

"Yes," Harry said. "The eternal draw of a threesome with twins… you know what it is. Probably."

Hannah eyed him up. "Yes, I think I can see what Gryffindor was thinking about. So, no Patil twins?"

"That would be just one of them," Harry said. He smirked. "Besides, Delphini can also turn into other girls."

Susan giggled. "Is this part of your sales talk? To get us to agree to a contract?"

Harry smirked. "Perhaps."

Hannah turned to Susan. "Well, I think we should at least consider it."

Susan nodded. "Definitely."

"I can wait for that," Harry said. "No need to hurry."

It was still a little strange that Roanne no longer slept in the boys' dorm, even though Harry had already gotten used to her new and rather attractive figure. However, it did mean he was waiting by himself at the bottom of the girls' stairs, until Roanne and Ginny together descended them. Roanne still looked somewhat awkward in a skirt – Lyra had definitely adapted more quickly – but she was clearly trying. Unlike Ginny, she wasn't wearing heels though.

Harry gave them both a kiss and they interlaced their hands in his. "How is it you always end up on these three-way dates, Ginny?" he asked as they left the common room.

She giggled. "I'm just irresistible."

"Ah yes, that must be it."

"I was the first to come up with the idea of going with you and Delph," she said. "Which is basically just what you're doing."

Harry looked between the sisters. "Yeah, can't really deny that."

Ginny faked a pout. "He only likes us because we happen to be sisters, Roanne."

Harry laughed at Roanne's forlorn look, but placed a kiss on her lips. "You're adorable."

She frowned. "Why?"

"Because you're awkward about romantic teasing in such a cute way." Harry slipped his hand down and squeezed her ass. That was the kind of teasing Roanne reacted to far better as she gave a quick yelp, and then let things go.

They arrived at the room quickly enough, and Harry configured it to be about as quidditch-crazy as he could manage without any visual quidditch broadcasts – those probably wouldn't be invented until he started steering the wizarding world towards integration of muggle concepts.

It was definitely to Roanne and Ginny's liking though. There was even a snitch flying around occasionally, and the walls were filled with quidditch posters of many teams, though dominantly the Holyhead Harpies and Chudley Cannons.

"What's your favorite quidditch team, actually?" Ginny asked. She frowned. "I just realized that I don't know, despite us having talked quite a bit of quidditch."

"Holyhead Harpies," Harry said. "Sorry Roanne. But that's the team my wife played for in the previous timeline."

Harry set both girls down at the table, opposite of his seat, and called Dobby to bring the meals up. Roanne had been rather quiet so far, which Harry suspected could be attributed to her being less familiar with the teasing ways he had with someone like Ginny. His relationship with Roanne was basically the same as it had been before she had taken the potion, except they were now friends with benefits rather than just friends.

Perhaps he shouldn't even be taking her on these kinds of dates.

On the other hand, doing so might dial up the romantic aspect of their relationship, which Harry would personally prefer.

Roanne also straight up wasn't cut out for romance in the first place, but perhaps it'd help to go on more solo dates with her.

Quidditch made for a perfect discussion topic throughout dinner, however, and Harry quickly forgot his worries. They continued talking for some time after the plates were empty, until in a brief silence, Ginny asked whether they were going to do another movie next.

Harry chuckled. "If we keep doing that, you've seen every single movie long before the others at some point. I got something else. Come."

He showed them into the adjacent room, where three chairs stood around a table with a rather unusual playing board.

"Ever played three-way chess?"

Harry had come up with the idea while thinking of what Roanne might like, however he figured Ginny would also appreciate it. Because of the novelty, if nothing else. The board was basically three half boards stuck together, with the squares distorted to not leave a gap in the middle. That meant that the left four pawns would go in the direction of one player, while the other four would go into the direction of the other.

It was also a little confusing with knights or bishops around the center, but if you did your counting properly it worked out.

Roanne, of course, was immediately excited and seemed to be working through the various possibilities in her head already.

"We might have to work together if we want to win," Harry remarked to Ginny. "But let's try without alliances first, shall we?"

Ginny eagerly sat down.

"Also," Harry added before they started, "if you get bored of this too early, I have a few other muggle boardgames to discover."

Working together was badly needed, it turned out. Roanne almost immediately figured out how to use the board to her advantage, and still managed to win most of the games they played. But it was still a lot of fun – if a little quieter than a movie or some other games.

After about an hour and a half, Ginny got bored and decided to move to Harry's lap instead of her chair, making him chuckle as he placed a few kisses in her neck before turning his chair into a couch and inviting Roanne next to them.

Harry gave her a good kiss. "Enjoying yourself?"

"Yeah," she replied. "I like that three-way chess. It's very different, but still the same game."

Harry put his arm around her waist to pull her closer. "And the company?"

She put her head on Harry's shoulder and hummed in contentment. Harry refocused his attention on Ginny, kissing her neck and jawline while slipping one hand under her blouse to rub her bare back. He didn't know what it was about bare skin, but even if it was far removed from any erotic area, it just felt good to touch.

Eventually, he ushered Ginny off his lap and refocused his attention on Roanne, initiating some snogging. Ginny, unsurprisingly, saw that as a reason to press herself and her breasts into his back and start kissing his neck.

Harry sneakily started unbuttoning Roanne's blouse, and the girl broke their kiss in surprise when he started pulling it off. However, she quickly turned her attention back to Harry, who now started feeling up her curves like she'd been feeling up Ginny's back before.

Harry made sure to divide his attention between the two properly – even if they ironically acted a lot less in sync than Ginny did with Pansy – and as the evening progressed they discarded more and more clothes until Roanne enthusiastically dragged Harry to the bed that appeared at his command, with Ginny trailing behind.

By the end of the night, Harry could cross off yet another girl from the list – just Millicent and Luna to go. And Hannah and Susan, if it indeed went that way.

It went that way.

It had taken a week, also because both girls had to correspond with their guardians or parents, but on Saturday, during lunch, Susan and Hannah approached Harry at the Gryffindor table.

"We've decided to accept your proposal," Hannah said. "My father can invite you as early as tomorrow to write the contract if you have the time."

Harry smiled. "Glad to hear that. Please, come sit down." Ginny and Luna – who had been sitting on either side of Harry – made way for the new girls.

"I know you probably don't know everyone very well, so let me introduce my other girlfriends." What followed was several minutes worth of introduction, but eventually Harry could turn his attention to the new girls.

"We have a special place to meet on the seventh floor, which is where we normally spend our time. After lunch, I want to take you there to talk through a few things that I want to get out of the way, but do require privacy."

"Sure enough," Susan said.

"And maybe a first kiss?" Hannah asked from his other side.

Harry turned around and pecked her lips. "No need to wait for that," he said as he watched her blush rise. He turned to Susan and repeated the action.

Lunch went by quickly, and afterwards Harry led the Hufflepuffs to the Room of Requirement as he explained how it worked.

"For the moment, it's just going to be the three of us inside, but normally we also make our homework together here, and just hang out a lot. I also use it for most individual dates."

The girls nodded at the explanation and sat down on the couch with Harry in between them.

"So what was this private thing?" Susan asked.

"You know how I've started working on my Lordships more since last summer and everything?" Harry asked.

Susan nodded. "The change was rather obvious."

"Yeah," Harry agreed. It was. "That's because I've time traveled back into the past fix things that went wrong."

"You… you mean you actually traveled through time?" Susan exclaimed. "And not like, with a time turner?"

"Time turner?" Hannah asked, confused.

"A highly regulated device that can send you into the past a few hours, but can't change anything," Harry said. "Which also makes it different from what I did, because I can change things. The most obvious change is that I actually know about my duties and right as a Lord, which is of course why I approached you in the first place, but I'm also working to vanquish Voldemort before he can ever rise again as he did the last time."

To their credit, neither girl jumped at the name.

"You traveled back in time to defeat You-Know-Who?" Susan asked.

"Not quite," Harry admitted. "You know the story behind the contract I have with Lyra? About how we'd lose our magic if we wouldn't marry?"

Susan nodded.

"I discovered it less than two years before the final date, and while I was already married. That was what gave me the idea to attempt to travel through time, though I then quickly realized I could use my future knowledge to stop Voldemort's second rise."

"So… he had a second rise?" Hannah asked. "I thought he was dead."

"He found a way to cheat death," Harry said. "I'd go into detail, but I've already pretty much taken care of it, so it's not very important anymore. He arranged for me to be entered into the Tournament so he could abduct me after the third task, as he wants to use my blood in his resurrection. That also gives me a predictable moment where I know where he is, which allows me to capture him, take him back, and then show everyone that he is dead for good."

Harry spent some more time assuaging their worries. It felt almost weird to tell them about the time travel. By now, he'd been in the past for so long that he felt like he belonged here. Eventually, they moved on to lighter topics, though they spent the entire afternoon with just the three of them talking.

The next day after lunch, Harry and Hannah made their way to Professor Sprout's office – as it was closer to the Great Hall than McGonagall's office – to floo over to the Abbott Manor. Upon arrival, they were greeted immediately by Hannah's father.

"Heir Dumbledore, pleased to meet you. I am Lord Jacob Abbott of the Noble House of Abbot."

"Pleased to meet you, Lord Abbott," Harry replied, shaking his hand. "I am Heir Harry Dumbledore of the Noble House of Dumbledore. Though, please do call me 'Mr Potter' instead, it still sounds strange to have the Dumbledore name."

Lord Abbott nodded. "As you wish, Mr Potter. Please call me Mr Abbott as well."

"Of course, Mr Abbott."

Harry stepped aside to allow Mr Abbott and Hannah to greet each other, and then they followed him to a sitting room. From what Harry could tell, this manor was more modestly sized, just like Bulstrode Manor had been.

He took an available seat next to Hannah and waited for Mr Abbott to speak.

"Mr Potter, you wish to pursue a marriage contract with my daughter, correct?"

"Yes," Harry replied. "We have been getting along very well, and Hannah is not the heiress to your House, which means she is actually available as a wife, contrary to the other options I had."

"Would you have preferred any of those other options, had they been available?" Mr Abbott asked.

"No," Harry said. "Hannah is a very sweet girl, and I'd be delighted to call her my girlfriend and, in the future, wife."

"Very well then." He got out some parchment. "This contract would be for the future title of Lady Dumbledore, correct?"

"Yes."

Mr Abbott wrote that down. "Do you have any specific demands for the contract? I do not want Hannah to be tied down."

"And I have no intention of tying her down," Harry said.

"I won't mind," Hannah said, before slamming her hand to her mouth. "Ups." Harry and Mr Abbott turned to her in surprise, and she blushed bright red as she tried to disappear behind herself.

"Let's just ignore that bit," Harry proposed. "I don't want any clauses requiring heirs or anything like that, and I also don't want any demands about sex. In fact, I would prefer to keep the contract as vanilla as possible. That way we can give our relationship whatever direction we think fits best, and whatever inequality the contract has can be balanced by either a dowry or a bride price."

Harry really had enough of writing marriage contracts, he realized as they started going through the usual clauses. Hopefully – though he didn't know how much faith he had left – the one with Susan next week would be the last he'd ever have to do.

Though… he would have a lot of children. Then again, that was going to be at least two decades off from now. Preferably three. And he might just start a crusade against marriage contracts.

At least the contract felt relatively easy to write, though that might just be because the last four contracts Harry had written were life debt contracts where he was trying his very best to not make the subjects his sex slaves while at the same time trying to not offend the wider magical world.

He'd perhaps been a little too careful about that with this contract, as he ended up having to talk down the dowry Mr Abbott wanted to put on it. But in the end, everything was agreed upon and signed, and the contract sent to Gringotts. After some refreshments, Harry and Hannah made their way back to Hogwarts.

"So," Harry asked with a smirk once they were outside Sprout's office, "what was that about tying you down?"

Hannah grew beet red once again. "I… I… I think it's kinda… you know, hot."

Harry pushed her up against the wall, physically pinning her against it and placing a gentle kiss on her lips. "I'll see what I can do for you