"Is everything alright Mrs. Weasley? Do you still want to continue with the ceremony?" Bogrod could see the determination in her eyes and knew it was pointless to ask the question but waited for a reply anyway.
"If its not too much trouble could I ask you to please call me Hermione?" after the goblin nodded Hermione continued "Thank-you, and sorry, I think I just confirmed that Ron did in fact do something to mess with my mind. He never uses pet names and for him to get angry after putting such emphasis on the word 'sweetheart' made me sick to my stomach. That must be a key word to whatever I was dosed with." A low growl coming from Bogrod shocked Hermione just a bit as the goblin was normally quite in control of his façade. "Hermione, if you wish for it, I would be more than happy to add that question to the list under the addendum that the original question proved to be true." Taking a deep breath Bogrod explained his lack of control he had prior "I am sorry if I scared you, it's just I find anything to do with mind alteration to be abhorrent, for someone who claims to love you, for him to still place you under such a thing is appalling. You see goblins mate for life, I would never dare put my mate under a potion to force her to be with me, using one within our nation is a one-way ticket to a dragon's mouth."
Hermione could see the anger boiling just below the surface of Bogrod's face, and she understood, she too was appalled that he had used such means to get her to marry him, and he was supposed to be her best friend! She wished Harry was here, she could really use his calmness. Taking a deep breath Hermione agreed to add the addendum and signed the piece of parchment that he pulled out of thin air. Walking back to the table Hermione could see that Ron was now very angry, that famous Weasley temper was never far from exploding when he was that shade of pink. Zokt started the proceedings by telling everyone what to expect, silencing charms were put in place as Hermione signed the paperwork after Ron to start the ceremony.
To say the least Ron was furious. This whole thing now seemed highly suspicious. Could she know? Why is Harry's goblin helping her? Why the hell am I here? All these questions popping through his brain at the same time the biggest one had yet to hit him. Am I in trouble?
Ron's question was put forth first after they gave the truth potion five mins to settle in and answering some generalized questions to make sure it was working properly. Somehow though his question of 'What is your favorite kind of flower?' seemed extraordinarily minuscule when compared to Hermione's 'Did you use a spell or curse to force me into marrying you?'. It was almost laughable the look on his face when everything clicked into place. Hermione thought the silencing charms were going to be put to the test when he figured out his scheme was found out.
Ron was starting to worry, the first question he had answered by her was good information he thought, I would have never guessed that orchids where her favorite flower… I would have thought roses. The worry set in when he was unsilenced to answer her question. Thankfully he thought, he could honestly answer 'no', as it was a potion not a spell or a curse. But if that was her lead in question, he could only hope that the rest of them would allow him to skirt around the edges in the same way. He didn't want to imagine Hermione's ire if she found out he tricked her into marriage.
Bogrod wanted to make sure that they didn't show the true reason the bonding ceremony was in place right away as Hermione had warned him of the so called 'Weasley Temper'. He would wait and bide his time to answer the biggest question last; besides he wanted to know what other kind of lame questions this young urchin wanted to know the answers to. Honestly who doesn't know their mates favorite flower?
Meanwhile in the high security level Harry Potter was being shown to his vault by Graplock in a very déjà vu kind of moment. Harry loving the speed that came with riding the carts was a little disappointed when all the had to do was cross a bridge to get to his vault, he supposed Bogrod was his account manager and it would make sense to have his office close by. Nothing prepared him though for when Graplock opened the door.
The very front of the vault looked the same as the past few times he's been there; the neat rows of golden galleons, silver sickles and bronze knuts all stacked high. It amazed him that no matter how much he took out the pile never looked any smaller, he now knew why this was. Beyond his normal pile of gold was a vast cavern made up of stacks upon stacks of galleons, rubies and other precious gemstones. Trunks galore filled with clothing, artifacts and books. To be honest it looked like a scene straight from Aladdin.
To say Harry was shocked would be an understatement. Harry stood frozen to his spot in the doorway transfixed by the size of the space alone. He never thought in all the world that he would have this many possessions. Turning he looked over to Graplock and asked, "Is this really all mine?" Graplock laughed remembering his father's description of Harry's face the first time he set eyes upon his trust vault, he no doubt could say this was the exact same face. "Yes, this is in fact all yours, what did you think all that paperwork was for this morning?" the goblins squeaky voice became even squeakier if possible, at his next declaration. "Do you see that vault door just there?" Harry followed Graplock's pointed finger to set his eyes upon another vault door and nodded. "Thru that door you can access the Black Vaults, their vault is not only larger but also has multiple dark items that you may wish to request inspections of before you access it." Harry agreed whole heartedly to that and decided that he would take care of that bit of paperwork after Hermione got back, as she most likely would want to know what the vault contained was of a darker nature. Now that the shock was over Harry started walking around his newly acquired vault in hopes of finding something interesting as he was sure Hermione's meeting would be taking quite a bit of time.
Back in the board room Bogrod was almost fuming at some of the answers Mr. Weasley was giving, how could one feel the need to 'acquire', as the scum put it, a wife before Harry Potter? Steeling himself for the final question Bogrod took a deep breath and removed the silencing charm from Mr. Weasley. Hermione only had five questions to ask, the biggest one was yet to be presented to him, however out of the four that he had already answered only the first one hinted at her knowing anything about the suspected potion.
Thinking that he was scot free, yes, Hermione would be angry for quite some time about the answers given here today, but he had a plan. He would just request some more potion from Roger tonight, as obviously it had worn off at some point between yesterday and today. Ron just wanted today to end and get back home to the burrow. With Bogrods next words Ron knew he was up shit creek with out a broom to ride away on.
"Mr. Weasley, have you ever given Hermione a potion, that in turn would alter her responses or attitude pertaining to the wedding or any other event that she would unwillingly submit to?" Ron froze, fear evident on his face as Bogrod finished the question. Shite! Bloody hell how in Merlin's name did she find out? "An answer Mr. Weasley, and please remember that the potion you took before questioning will last until the counter potion is administered." Bogrod said with a sneer.
"Yes, I gave a potion to Hermione several weeks back. I was tired of her pushing the date out farther and farther. I wanted to get married before she could change her mind, I knew she was wavering, that's why I planned the proposal in front of so many people, she never likes to disappoint anyone." Hermione, shocked that Ron admitted much more than the question required, didn't require the silencing charm placed on her as she was speechless. I can't believe that I was right. Everything he has ever done pertaining to this marriage has been to get one over on Harry. Pinching the bridge of her nose she waited as Bogrod asked the added portion of this question. "Well then Mr. Weasley, in an addendum added to this question Hermione had asked us to question how you chose when to have her 'change' her mind? Was a potion given each time or was it keyed to a specific word?" Ron took a big gulp, damn damn damn has she figured everything out? Did she find a way to override the potion? Sighing Ron answered the question truthfully, it's not like she can get out of the marriage anyway, forever is a rather long time after all. "No, the potion only had to be administered once, I placed it in her tea a couple weeks back, Roger said it would last until a counter potion was administered but I guess that was a lie." Hermione's complexion went from beet red to white in an instant. Roger? Roger Davies? What the hell!? Ron not noticing Hermione's complexion change at all continued as his eyes bored a hole into the table.
"Before the potion was administered I was asked to key it to a word or phrase, it had to be something that didn't come out at random, I chose 'Sweetheart' as I have never been one for pet names since the whole 'Wron Wron' incident back in school." Hermione wanted to scream, she wanted to punch him in the face so hard that it would make what she did to Malfoy in third year look like a play slap. She wanted to get up and leave so baddly, but that wouldn't accomplish what she wanted here today. Slowly she met Bogrods eyes and gave one solid nod of her head.
"Mr. Weasley, it seems that you have, for a lack of a better word, screwed up. As Ms. Granger has become married basically against her will, she asked that a ritual be performed if the given responses from the questions she asked met a certain criterion. We here at Gringotts can perform an annulment ritual that will let magic decide if you two are compatible enough for marriage or if either of you have a greater act of fate. Now normally this is to be requested by a head of house, however in this case Ms. Granger, coming from a muggle background has the right to request this herself as she has officially done just now." Ron blanched at Bogrods words "You may of course have a trusted adviser present as the ceremony takes place. Do you wish us to contact anyone?" Ron had to think on his feet, does he want anyone to know about this? What if the annulment goes thru, everyone will know anyway? Who is he going to ask for? Taking a shaky breath Ron asked that his brother Bill be contacted as he would be the most familiar with rituals being a curse breaker.
Hermione had to bite her lip to hold back her smile. One of Ron's fewer endearing qualities was his need to spin a tale to make him come out in the best light possible, having Bill here would guarantee everyone knew the proper story. I wonder if he thought this thru? Hermione didn't have long to ponder that question as Bill was working today anyway so locating him was rather easy.
Entering the room Bill looked at his ashen faced brother and his newly gained sister in law. Something wasn't right, it was at this time he noticed the runes on the floor, SHITE what has the dunderhead done now?
"Good evening Mr. Weasley, thank-you for joining us so quickly. I will bring you up to pace as to why your presence is required here today, however I do believe that the rune is a dead give away for a curse breaker of your caliber." Bill nodded and took a seat next to Ron as Bogrod proceeded to show him a transcript of today's ceremony. Bills eyebrows kept raising higher and higher as he was reading the transcript, they disappeared altogether at the answer given to the last question. Bill raised his eyes to meet the girl who he considered a sister long before she married his youngest brother, he couldn't believe all the shit Ron had put her through. Sadness filled his eyes and he saw the fear in hers, fear he knew at the possibility of losing so much family because of his brainless baby brother. Bill hoped he conveyed that she will still, at the very least, have his support after this was all said and done; and he would make sure the rest of the family knew of the facts and not any tale that Ron would spin in his favor. Taking a minute to gather his thoughts Bill consented to being Ron's adviser and asked to speak with him privately before the ritual.
"How the HELL did you expect your idiotic plan to work? How the hell are you even a Weasley?" Ron was glad Bill put a barrier in between them by touching that triangle like the goblin did when he was speaking with Hermione. Maybe it wasn't such a good idea to choose Bill? "Look I just wanted to be married before we head back for our final year, knowing my luck someone else would catch her fancy and I would be shoved off to the wayside." Ron said with a pout, hoping beyond all hope that his lies would seem legitimate now that he had taken the counter potion of the truth one he took earlier. "Oh don't give me that crap Ronald, the only person you were concerned about was yourself being better than Harry Potter, or did you forget that I was given a transcript of todays events already?" Bill said still shouting while waving the transcripts in Ron's face. "By the way how did you not know Hermione's favorite flower? EVERYONE knows that, why do you think her bouquet at the wedding was made up of orchids?" Bill honestly couldn't believe the stupidity of his brother sometimes, apparently the twins got the last of male brains in the family. "Now, do you have any idea what this ritual does? Did they explain it to you?" Ron's eyes were glued to the floor as he answered. "Yeah, they said magic would decide if we are compatible enough to remain married. They also said something about a higher act of fate what ever that means." Bill felt his control slip on his Weasley temper, it seemed to him that Ron was not taking this seriously. "It means Ronald that you better hope magic decides that you two are non-compatible because if Hermione has to stay married to you she will throw you off a cliff, that is if I don't feed you to the dragons here first."
Having that image in his head Ron turned pale, today was most definitely not going to plan.
Harry was having the time of his life, he was only a quarter of the way thru his vault and he had already found several books that Hermione would love, one of which was a very interesting book on the Animagus transformation, and his parent's journals. He was just turning the corner past a cabinet full of fancy-dress robes when a voice he had never physically heard but knew instantly called out to him. "Harry? Is that really you? Oh my word you have grown up to be a handsome young man, haven't you? And my God you look just like your father!" the lady in the painting said with a hand over her mouth. "You say that like it's a bad thing my love, besides look at those eyes, he obviously has your beautiful emerald eyes, there for he does not look 'just' like me, he is ten times better looking with those show stoppers. Hello son, I have been looking forward to this day for quite some time." The tall raven-haired older version of himself said. Once more Harry found himself frozen in place as his eyes locked onto a portrait of the two people he wanted to talk to more than anything else in the world. "Mum?.. Dad?" Tears forming in his eyes as he watched both his parents nod. Reaching out to touch the picture, his Mom placed her painted hand where his lay, close but not close enough. "I know sweetheart, we realized quite a bit ago that we either survived the war and were not needed to be hung up or something had happened where we were left to be forgotten until a new heir to this vault be found." Lily said solemnly. "I was dreading someone like Lucius Malfoy would find a way to claim our vault and destroy everything we had built." James stated with a serious expression on his face. Harry was in awe, here he was standing in a vault he had no knowledge of, talking with his parents! Did anyone know this portrait existed? Did Dumbledore know? Why was it in the main vault instead of my trust fund vault? Deciding to get some answers Harry asked some of the few people who would know. "I'm so happy to see you both, you don't know how much this means to me. I had no idea this portrait even existed! Did anyone else know about it or was it kept secret for a reason?" hoping beyond all hope that no one knew of the portrait, Harry didn't think he could handle Dumbledore keeping something this big away from him. Painting or not it still held the memories of his parents, he could have at least learned who they were!
"Sadly no one knew about this son" his father said "we meant to tell Padfoot but everything happened so suddenly, we didn't even deliver this portrait to the vault ourselves we had a Potter elf do it for us, Gringotts must have placed us in the main vault for security reasons. Where is old Padfoot anyway? I hope he at minimum taught you how to properly fly a broom!"
Harry deflated at his fathers' question, of course they didn't know that Sirius was imprisoned and later died protecting Harry from his crazy cousin Bellatrix. "I wasn't raised by Padfoot" Harry mumbled. "I was sent to live with the Dursleys after Sirius got arrested. He was wrongly accused of killing Peter Pettigrew and a dozen muggles after giving your location up to Voldemort. The rat was the death eater not Sirius, Peter had killed those dozen muggles with a bombarda spell and blew off his finger just before transforming into a rat and slinking away down a drainpipe." No matter how many time Harry told the story, it still left a bad taste in his mouth. "THAT'S PREPOSTEROUS!" James yelled. "Padfoot could never be a death eater! Didn't they know anything about his childhood?! Merlin how could anyone think that of him? And Wormtail, dear Godric I didn't expect him to have enough of a backbone to be a death eater, I could however see him selling us out." James was muttering in such a low octave Harry didn't think even his Mum could hear him, meanwhile Lily was also scathing. "PETUNIA?! That whiskered wankered old coot put you with her?! Did he not read our will? What did we spend hours putting together multiple options for if nothing was followed?" listening to his Mum Harry was torn between laughing at her calling Dumbledore a whiskered wanker and angry that once more he would have to tell his parents something they wouldn't like to hear.
"Dumbledore had your will sealed after your death, giving him rights as Chief Mugwump of the Wizengamot to place me with the nearest living blood relative, in my case that happened to be the Dursleys. Up until I was eleven, I was under the impression that you guys had died in a car crash." When Harry paused to catch his breath he stared up into the eyes of his parents, they weren't moving… did I just break the painting? His heart dropped to his stomach, Mum … Dad? Harry questioned. Breathing a huge sigh of relief as they blinked once and then looked at one another for a long minute. "Harry, I am so sorry my sweet boy. We never meant for you to live with those mongrels." His mothers voice was cracking as it almost sounded like she was about to cry. "I don't want to get into your childhood quite yet, now that you know of our existence, we will have plenty of time to talk and get to know more about my awful sister and that fat slob of a husband. I might even let the Marauder side of my husband out to play and we can seek a little revenge." The smile that graced his Mum's face made Harry take a mental note to never piss off his Mum.
Hermione held her breath as she sliced a thin line across her palm with the silver dagger Bogrod provided her with, held it still as she clenched her hand and waited for the blood to drip down into the center of a circle of tiny runes. The moment that her blood mixed with Ron's the goblins started chanting and Hermione could feel the cut heal up magically as the runes started to glow and magic pulsed around them. Sitting across from her Ron, still pale as a ghost, sat and watched his palm healed in a similar fashion to Hermione's. Soon the dull glowing of the runes turned from a pale white to a pretty sky blue that faded into a deep emerald green, almost the same color as Harry's eyes, Hermione thought just before the chanting ended abruptly. Suddenly both Ron and Hermione fell back, knocked out by the pulse of magic that ricochet out from the center of the runes so strongly that it rattled the walls.
"Looks like the judgement time has begun for Mr. Weasley and Ms. Granger, there is nothing more for us to do until Magic has made its decision." Bogrod said to the group as everyone continued to stare at the two prone figures on the ground.
Harry must have been sitting in the comfortable chair he found for quite a bit of time as he told them stories from his years at Hogwarts. "So my son, tell me, why haven't you taken your head of house status earlier? I would have figured you would take it when you turned fourteen instead of waiting till you were of age?" James asked out of interest. Harry sighed "I never knew I even had a house never mind the fact that I could be head of it." Harry sat rather stiffly thinking things over. "I'm sure Sirius would have made mention of it if he hadn't been so mentally tortured. I only recently found out that Sirius named me heir of the Black family vaults as well, but the goblin who led me here today advised rather smartly that I may want to have the contents of that vault checked by curse breakers first, given the nature of the Black family I thought that to be a wise decision." James nodded proudly at his son. "Wise choice my boy, yes old Paddy's family was a rather dark bunch, even darker than their name it seems. I'm actually quite surprised that he was even able to give you control of the vault, seeing as Walburga cast him out of the family during our school years." Harry knew all about Sirius coming to live with his grandparents during his school days and decided to fill his father in on what Sirius came to find out. "Actually it came as a surprise to Sirius as well, it seems that even though his parents disowned him they never finalized the paperwork to remove him as Heir to the Black family. A fact that Dumbledore used to his advantage by acquiring 12 Grimmauld Place as headquarters to the Order of the Phoenix and forced Sirius to remain within its walls as he was still a wanted criminal." James just stared at his son while he shook his head. "I see what you mean by tortured Harry."
Everyone sat quietly, no one really wanting to speak as they thought about Sirius. It was during this quiet time that the walls of the vault started to quake, the lights were flickering on and off, and Harry Potter fell to the ground knocked out by a shock-wave of magic striking him thru his chest.