Chapter Text
“Alright class, listen up! I have an announcement for you sixth years,” McGonagall shouted over the chattering. “This year is very special for those of you with pureblood traditions.”
Murmurs filled the room. The half of the room where Slytherin sat was full of smiles, while the Gryffindors are mostly confused.
“If you are not a pure blood than you may be excused, however, you may stick around if you please.”
Harry rolled his eyes as one of the Slytherins said something derogatory. Harry was about to stand, ready to flee to the common room when he heard McGonagall speak to him.
“Mr. Potter, I suggest you stay. You are a pure blood after all.”
Harry had nearly forgotten. He was so used to the aspect of being part muggle. He had only realized that he was a pure blood thanks to Sirius. As it turned out he was also the distant heir of Salazar Slytherin.
Harry dropped his bag and turned back to the front. Hermione had already fled, not wanting anything to do with pureblood related thing. Ron begrudgingly stayed behind.
“Now, this year will be the year you all get to participate in the courting rituals at Hogwarts. Based off of your family lines, we will tell you whom is the best candidate for you. You must know though, it’s not required to follow through with who you are paired with.”
Harry was ready to start zoning everything out when one of the Slytherin girls raised their hand.
“Yes,” McGonagall called on her.
“I was just wondering if there were any rules against same sex pairings,” the girl stammered.
Harry was quite intrigued about the schools' views on it given how muggles approached the subject. He himself had been called a fag by his cousin countless times. Harry did have to admit that he hadn’t been far off. Harry had recently discovered that he was bisexual.
“While you won’t be matched with anyone of the same sex due to the chances of producing an heir, there are no rules against it. Some witches and wizards use this as an opportunity to find someone to have a child with, allowing for an heir, but settling with their preferred partner later.”
“So, this is mainly about producing a child then?”
“Unofficially, yes.”
Harry was glad that at least he wouldn’t be forced to stay with someone because of a stupid ritual.
-
On Friday, the purebloods were gathered to assess their best matches. Harry was there against his will. Hermione had given him and Ron a speech about how they needed to at least go and see who their matches were.
“Harry Potter,” someone called.
Harry snapped out of his thoughts and made his way to the woman who had spoken. She was a tall woman with brown skin and dark eyes. Harry thought she kind of looked like him.
“Hello, I’m Lyra. I’ll be the one testing you today.”
Harry just nodded and followed her into the room. The test was simple and quick. Soon harry had three matches lined up. Harry read off the names Carina Gale, Aranea Blythe, and Vela Orion.
“You get to choose who you court from here. If you do want an introduction though, that can be arranged.”
Harry nodded, preparing himself to leave. It was all just a little much for him. He stood, wordlessly departing from the room. He would definitely need one of Hermione’s pep talks after that.
-
“So, you’ll at least introduce yourself to them, right,” Hermione asked.
“Sure,” Harry sighed.
He’d given up after the annoyingly persuasive lecture she given him. Hermione is definitely going to be the bane of his existence for next month of this.
“I’ll plan it if I must but at least get them each a gift for the first meeting. Flowers should suffice, but make sure you get ones with good meanings behind them,” she paused seeing the confusion run over Harry’s face. “I’ll pick the type then.”
Hermione sighed as she realized she would be basically dating them herself.
-
Harry walks down the hall, flowers in hand when he trips suddenly. He barely manages to catch himself, dropping the flowers in the process. A single flower manages to fall just at the feet of another student.
Harry rights himself quickly, picking the bouquet up and looking towards the remaining flower. It was now in the grasp of pale hands. Harry looked up to see none other than draco Malfoy.
“Here you dropped this,” Draco offered him.
His voice was surprisingly void of any malice. He was even more startled to realize that Draco had a nice voice. Harry needs to flee because if he didn’t, he may just have a full-on crisis.
“Keep it,” Harry told him before rushing down the hall.
-
Carina Gale was waiting just outside the great hall for him. He gave her a half assed smile before handing the semi-rumpled flowers. She offered him her own forced smile as they walked into the hall.
Harry sat across from her at the end of the Hufflepuff table. That was her house. He decided he should start their conversation after enduring a few minutes of the awkward silence.
“So, do you have many hobbies?”
“I like to read.”
“Oh, I can’t say I can relate much to that. The only book I really like are about old magic. I found them in my godfather’s study.”
“Mh, I much prefer fictional books myself.”
Harry wanted to bang his head on the table with how awkward things were. Already they were finding reasons to pass on each other.
Eventually she spoke on her distaste for the date, saying, “Look, I believe you dislike being here just as much as I, so maybe we should just move past this.”
Harry was relieved to say the least. They offered each other a friendly goodbye before Harry headed off to make his report to Hermione.