After all, pureblood wizards didn't want their children staying indebted to other families of lesser stock and 'breeding,' especially rivals ones as the debt could be easily turned against them. A son or daughter with such a debt could be compelled to betray their own family's secrets if their 'saviour' demanded such action in paynt.
...
There were several other ways this debt could be used for less than honourable deeds as well, such as forcing one into permanent servitude as a bound slave.
If it had just been him the life debt was potentially owed to, it wouldn't have been a problem, since he could just ignore it for the most part. Penny then would have just been more loyal or trust worthy. But now, with a possible three way life debt in play, it was basically first co, first served. And only one of them could ultimately 'claim' the reward for their heroics.
So it was either him, Neville or Ron. Both of them were unknowns really and both were pureblood, they would probably at so point in the future hear about life debts, if they hadn't already. They would rember the troll incident and possibly call it in as was the standard practice for purebloods, and personally he couldn't see them forgetting about the troll.
As much as he hoped that they would be 'noble and honourable' like their fad house, he didn't put it past them not to use it for so malevolent end. He didn't like the idea of Penny being turned into a 'sex-toy' just because of their teen hormones in later years, or even her being turned against him, taking many of his secrets with her. She was his friend and ally, and he would protect his friends against any that would do them harm.
So he was faced with a difficult choice, act first and seal Penny's and possibly Hermione's loyalty to him? Or hope that the lion cubs would live up to their reputation for nobility. Lions were far from being clean cut though he reminded himself, his godfather had betrayed his parents and he was a lion.
Then there was the Headmaster to consider, his current magical guardian, and the possible mastermind responsible for robbing his vaults and his placent at Dursleys, proving that lions were not all the upstanding individuals the world believed. Therefore, logic dictated that he should act first before anything could happen and the choice be taken from him.
There were several ways to go about claiming the debt. One was marriage, which he rejected imdiately; since he felt he was far too young for that. He could magically bind her himself and effectively claim her as his. But he rejected that as well, after all, she was his friend. He had been treated like a slave himself for most of his childhood, he would never force it on another, especially soone who had never done anything to him to deserve it.
So the best and safest thing he could do, for both her and him, was to claim the debt for himself by demanding a lesser paynt. Penny could swear an 'Oath of a Companion' to him. This would effectively ensure that Penny would remain herself, but would be entirely loyal to him.
Effectively, she would be considered a vassal, and truthfully he considered himself a better person than both of the lions combined, plus as the saying goes, 'better than them.' So now he just had to talk to Penny and explain what he had learned about the possible life debt. That would certainly be a difficult conversation. Hopefully he could get this sorted out before they left for Christmas break, giving her a chance to co to terms with it over Christmas.
He expected she wouldn't take it too well, but hopefully she would agree to it willingly rather than risk other, less kind oaths possibly being forced upon her by the others involved.
Worst case scenario, he could just force the issue; it was a necessary evil and hopefully it would prevent a worse one from ever happening to his friend. For now, he would just make sure that he had all the facts and that they were correct and accurate, before he made such a life-changing decision. This would affect both his and Penny's life forever. If he went through with this there would be no turning back.
So that ant he would spend the rest of the week in the library, checking over everything he had learned about debts and oaths. He just hoped that he was above abusing the Oath and that that power didn't corrupt him.
After all, as the saying goes, 'the road to hell was paved with good intentions.' He couldn't help but wonder if 'road to heaven was paved with bad ones?' Why couldn't everything just be simple he thought, before shaking his head in frustration.
...
Another night in the library's legendary Restricted Section had given the sa answers; his facts were correct as least as far as they could be confird with his limited resources.
But this wasn't his only problem of late; Professor Snape had taken to regularly trying to probe his mind, resulting in his ring heating up at least once per lesson at random.
He couldn't help but wonder why the sudden interest in seeing into his mind, surly he knew the heir ring would warn him. After all the man was the Head of House famous for following traditions, and their practise, surely the head of house would know of the protective magics of the ring?
That ant one of two things. He either didn't know and thus thought he could get away with it, which he sincerely doubted was the case. Or, he was sohow protected against being prosecuted by the law, since using legilincy was illegal without a license and explicit authorization from the head of magical law enforcent.
Using it on underage wizards and witches was considered bad enough to land one in Azkaban for a rather long stay. And he doubted the head of magical law enforcent was interested enough in school gossip to risk her career authorizing it.
So by process of elimination that ant it was illegal usage of the ability and that Professor Snape believed he was protected from the consequences. And since it obviously wasn't the ministry involved, it ant that it was probably Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot Albus Dumbledore who was protecting the potions master from the law.
After the whole troll incident and how that entire event was kept quiet and out of the newspaper, it was made clear to him that it was probably better to bypass the staff all together in reporting this cri. Otherwise it would just be buried and subsequently forgotten about.
Fortunately for him, the Head of Magical Law Enforcent currently had a niece here at the school, and could be used as an interdiary to get in contact with her aunt. Hopefully he could then provide evidence to start an official investigation. He would also try to get the newspaper involved and thus get the public behind it, to prevent it from being kept quiet again.
He was now waiting outside the Puff common room for Susan Bones to appear so that she could hand-deliver his letter to her aunt. He didn't trust school owls to deliver the letter, since mail filtering wards were probably set up to intercept any mail sent directly to the DMLE at the ministry.
He didn't know how long he had been waiting outside their common room door, but it didn't matter as he had no other plans for today and this was important. So he was in no rush. Plus it allowed him to collect his thoughts and feelings while practicing mind magic. Eventually the red-headed girl appeared, being escorted by a handful of other puffs. Not really surprising considering the puffs generally travelled in packs, rather than risk being ambushed alone. After all, most houses considered the Puffs weaklings and therefore easy prey for bullies.
Ravens and Puffs were allies to a point; both respected each other for their own rits, such as ravens being knowledgeable and Puffs being hard working. But that didn't an that one house didn't try to take advantage of the other; it was a quiet alliance at the best of tis, as both houses walked between the lions' and snakes' long rivalry. All while trying not to get drawn into the crossfire.
Standing up from his sitting position against the wall he spoke, "Miss Bones, I hope I could ask you to deliver a letter to your aunt for ," he started, before observing her escort, only two of which he had ever had the pleasure of talking to before. One was Hannah and the other was Erin, neither of them were outright knowledgeable, but they weren't annoying or lazy either, so he had no issue working with them if need be in class.
"May I ask why you wish to give this letter to my aunt?" she replied with a bit of curiosity.
He went with his prepared response, "Well, I am in need of so advice about the law and as your aunt is the head of the DMLE, I'd wish for her guidance on a certain sensitive matter. The specific matter relies on the utmost discretion and secrecy," he replied cryptically.
"Why not just use an owl?" she shot back, watching him carefully.
"Well, I believe soone will attempt to intercept the owl... Frankly, I believe so staff mbers may be involved in a criminal activity. And since I can't leave the castle, my choices are limited. Hence, why I asked you for assistance," he answered back to the silent puffs.
Several minutes passed before Susan managed to compose herself, "Well, I think I can understand why you'd ask then. Are you certain this isn't so type of prank being played on you?" she asked seriously.
Shaking his head, "No, not to my knowledge. I just wish to get so answers. I don't want to cry wolf, by mistake, I am sure you understand what I an," he replied, wondering if she understood the reference to the muggle bedti story.
"Ok, give the letter and I'll pass it along, as long as it doesn't get into trouble," Susan answered carefully, before seeing a nod from her housemates.
Reaching into his robes he pulled out a sealed letter with the Potter family crest proudly displayed on it, and passed it to her, "I would make an oath if required," he replied seriously, hoping it would reassure her that he was being genuine.
"I don't believe that would be necessary" she replied, taking the offered letter.
"Thank you Miss Bones, I hope you have an enjoyable Christmas break," he replied.
"Call Susan, we're classmates," ca the reply.
"Only if you call Harry," he said with a smile, wondering if he could get an ally in Hufflepuff house out of this.
...
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