Potter/Patil Classroom, immediately after last scene
"OK girls, you mentioned some 'complications' on your part back in the Chamber that prevents you from marrying under different names, assuming that I have them of course." Asked Harry.
"Now Harry, in Magical India it's normal for a spell to be cast on female babies shortly after birth to protect their virginity until their wedding night, when it was cast on me first as I was first born, both of us glowed blue, signalling that the spell had been properly cast on both of us. The best that the wise men that father consulted could figure out was that we would need to marry the same man and lose our virginity to him together. We don't find the thought of such an act disgusting, which lends credence to the theory." Padma informed Harry.
"Now, remember how we mentioned that female twins often end up married to the same man in India?" Asked Parvati. To this Harry nodded his head. "Well when father heard that we would most likely need to marry the same man he got the entire family out of India as soon as he could, he didn't want to end up selling us to some 60 year old man as sex slaves but rather some man of OUR choosing, preferably our own age. Daddy however mucked up, how many men can have two wives, Harry?"
"Well, if I am the next Lord Black, I can have two can't I." Answered Harry.
"Really, Harry?" Responded Parvati. "I see Lord Potter having one wife and Lord Black having another and while they might be the same person, it's not one man having multiple wives, given that something really bad could happen to us if we muck this up we aren't keen on testing it like that."
"Thankfully we have another option, that of concubines. A concubine is a girl or woman who has been sold via Magical Contract as if she where goods, these days it's normally used as a form of marriage or a way for a woman to bear a man a child as if she were his wife." Padma informed Harry.
"NO" cried Harry, "that's wrong, people shouldn't be treated like that." He suddenly found himself in uncomfortable proximity to the twins again.
"Harry, calm down." Commanded Padma. "It's not like that. As time has progressed so has to institution of concubinage, in Roman times a concubine was seen as a woman who was not quite a man's wife. When muggle religions, which never really caught on in the magical world, started spreading the idea of marriage being between one man and one woman, the wizarding world at the time still clung to Greek and Roman ideas of relationships, and the formal ceremonies to seal it and their consequences marriage fell out of favour to concubinage."
This last had caused Harry to clam down a bit and start talking normally. "It did, why?"
"Several reasons." Answered Padma. "Marriage became part of the religion, which wizards didn't prescribe to. The Vows taken during wedding ceremonies become Oaths that bind any magical taking them, so a woman's vow to 'love, honour and obey' her husband becomes binding on her for the rest of her life. It wasn't until the development of anti-Oath wards that wizards started using these ceremonies, which led to the terms magical and non-magical weddings, the former don't have the wards applied and divorce isn't possible. Now this also applies to why religion never gained much ground in the wizarding world but the religions normally came of with a moral code or set of ethics that they expected believers to follow, including those married by priests of the religion, these normally included the one man and one woman concept I mentioned before."
Parvati chose this moment to speak up. "Pad, that's very interesting, but it's not making Harry feel any better, maybe you should explain it to him in detail later. Now, Harry, yes the whole thing does sound rather bad but consider this: Our father, Ajeet, in addition to our mother, Chandrani, has a concubine, Nalini, who he loves just as much as our mother, and who in the eyes of the law is also his wife in addition to being his concubine."
Upon hearing this Harry calmed down a lot, but not completely and said this: "He does? How does your mother feel about it? How do you feel about it?"
"Yes he does. Mother thinks it the most wonderful thing he's ever done for her, carrying us was very hard on her, she almost died in childbirth and her post-natal depression was near suicidal, they both wanted more children but father wasn't prepared to put her through something like that again, this way they get the children they want without her having to pretend that someone else’s children are hers, if she has problems she can talk to someone about it. As for us? Nalini is like a second mother, we even call her hosma, a term Padma found in a book that means undefined parent. Plus this way it should be easier to convince girls to marry you." Parvati told him.
"More wives?" Asked Harry having calmed down completely at this point. "How many do you want to have?"
"Well, Harry," said Parvati "while we will be having sex with both you and each other at least once..."
"At least once?" Inquired Harry, it didn't make sense to him, they said they weren't interested in having sex with each other.
"Well, there wouldn't be much point to the whole exercise if you weren't interested in having sex with both of us, so it might happen again." Answered Parvati. "So anyway, while we will both have sex with you together at some point, that's not going to be the normal state of affairs. Now as only one of us will be sleeping you normally that means the other will be somewhere else and we would rather be in bed with someone than sleep alone and after being with our sister another girl will be easy, so we want to be a part of a set of 5 wives for 6 people altogether, 3 pairs"
"Now we probably don't need to become your concubines, Harry, but better safe than sorry." Said Padma, picking up where Parvati left off. "But it does have some advantages, even for the magical world it can be done young; it doesn't attract big crowds, not that they would be welcome given some of the traditions surrounding the practice, because it's a business deal, although you can have a big non-magical wedding after. Now the final advantage of us becoming your concubines is more for us; ease in persuading other girls to join us. Remember how I mentioned 5 wives?" Padma asked and Harry nodded his head in response. "It should be easier for one of your concubines to convince a girl to become your concubine then for you wife to do the convincing, the whole thing sort of comes out differently. Plus the pool of available wives is bigger than the one for concubines, I can't see, say Hermione, accepting the concubine position."
"Now, Harry, here's the important thing: Do you think you could do this? Could you take us as your concubines? Love us and any other girls you marry for the rest of your life?" Asked Parvati.
"I don't know, girls, I've never had a family before, not a real one. And I don't know what love is, I've never known it my whole life, are you sure you want me to do this?" Responded Harry.
"Yes, Harry, we do. You saving Hermione and Ginny shows that you do care. As for not having a family or knowing love? We can teach you those things, it may even be better that way, the love we will hopefully share and the family we will have someday would be very different to what most boys would know. Your uncertainty proves that you are a good choice, you want to so this to help us, not because you're some teenage boy wanting to enjoy having a pair of twins as his girlfriends. Heading into this relationship with an open mind and being prepared to learn is better than deciding what it's going to be like before you start and mucking things up when it isn’t like you thought it would be." Said Parvati.
"OK, Parvati, you make a very convincing argument, it’s clear that the two of you want this and who am I to refuse a girl or girls in need. What do I have to do to make this work?" He asked, admitting defeat.
"Pretty simple really." Answered Padma. "At some point you will meet with our father in Gringotts and sign a contract detailing him selling us to you, when the contract is signed one of several specially charmed chokers will appear around our necks to show that we are your concubines, they’re a bit like Wedding Rings. Normally you would negotiate with father for some time over things like how much you pay him and the terms of the Contract, like are we allowed lovers. The real question is when the signing should happen."
"Harry's next birthday." Came the reply from Parvati. "Daddy shouldn’t die until after then and lots of girls will scream when they find out Harry bought us as birthday presents." This last caused both the girls to start smirking.
However it didn’t do much for Harry. "Girls, I’m not liking the sound of some of this, the way you two are talking it sounds like if we go through with this you two will become things that I own." Said Harry.
"That’s very close to the truth, Harry. The modern practice of keeping concubines is a based on an older practice were the girls and women were property and the magic can only be modified so far and still work. But, Harry, in the magical world it’s normal for the bride's family to receive a sum money called the bride price when or before she gets married, so it’s not like it’s that different from getting married in the magical world." Answered Padma.
"Harry," said Parvati. "The difference between you marrying us magically and taking us as your concubines isn’t that great, if we were to marry you magically we would swear Oaths, binding on us for the rest of our lives, to ‘Love, honour and obey’ you, which would come very close to us becoming your slaves and if things didn’t work out between all of us personally we would be stuck with each-other for life. As your concubines we would be not-quite-property but if things don’t work out you could sell us to Neville say. In some places it’s illegal to marry magically as it viewed as a violation of human rights, and even if not illegal it is very rare."
"Alright, I’m convinced already, what do we do next?" Asked Harry who knew that he wouldn’t be able talk them out of this and from what they were saying he really didn’t like the other options.
"Well first you give both of us kisses, and it’s getting close to lunch so we should all go down to the Great Hall and have lunch, but separately, then when we get back Padma starts writing up that contract while you write that letter to Gringotts and I do my homework, I haven’t got anything to put in those dream journals for Trelawney. If you mean long term we start dating in secret and get to know each other." Answered Parvati.
"You mean haven’t you picked up the trick to doing those Journals?" Asked Harry. "It’s simple really, make stuff up, I’ve found that the nastier it is the better." Parvati just looked at him in shock.
Padma couldn’t seem to resist the chance to show her sister how bad a teacher Trelawney was. "He’s right you know, how often do you actually dream, the sort of dream’s Trelawney is interested in and remember them?" Padma said with a smug look on her face.
"OK, you two win, but there’s going to be a few dreams involving one or both of you. Harry, why don’t you go on ahead to lunch, I want to have a few words with my sister." Said Parvati.
-/-/-/-/-
Approximately one hour later, same place
"OK, so who am I addressing this letter to and what should it contain?" Asked Harry once they had all gotten back to their private classroom.
"The who is Gangrene, Officer in Charge of Animal Processing, Gringotts Special Financial Services Department, as to what it should contain just that you have slain a Basilisk and wish to arrange for the processing of it’s remains and wanted details on how Gringotts can help, be polite, formal and brisk, the goblins don’t like it when people waste their time with pointless pleasantry." Was Padma’s answer.
Fifteen minutes and many corrections later
"There, I think I’m done, come have a look girls." Harry called out.
Once the girls walked over he showed them the letter
To: Gangrene, Officer in Charge of Animal Processing, Gringotts Special Financial Services Department
Noble Goblin, having only recently been informed of the existence of your office I am writing so as to inquire what it would cost for your office to arrange for the processing of a Basilisk I have slain in single combat. The Basilisk in question is believed to have been Salazar Slytherin’s and as such is thought to be one thousand years old, physically the carcass measures approximately one hundred and twenty feet long and five feet across and apart from the damage inflicted upon it to slay the beast (a stab wound through the roof of the mouth and into the brain and ruptured eyes) it is in perfect condition despite being dead for approximately six months. In addition to the carcass ten skins shed by the beast over it’s life have been found, the smallest of which is twenty feet long.
Awaiting your reply, Harry Potter
"Very good work, Harry. Polite but not excessive, saying everything it needs to but not any more, just the way the Goblins like it. Fold it up and send it off later." Said Padma
"Why later? What’s wrong with now?" Asked Harry.
"Because you have two girlfriends now, Harry, and you need to spend as mush time as possible with us." Answered Parvati. "Now, I want to hear about the rest of your adventures, after you told us of the Basilisk yesterday we sort of stopped and went down to dinner and now is the time to tell me the rest."
"OK, but there’s no that much more to tell." Responded Harry before he picked up from where he left off yesterday when he was interrupted by Padma.
Sometime Later
"Damn it." Called out Harry. "I just remembered that I promised Hermione that I would help her prepare for Buckbeak’s trial and I’ve forgotten all about it."
"Trial? What’s Buckbeak being put on trial for, Harry?" Asked Parvati.
"Attacking Draco. Draco doesn’t like Hagrid, so after Buckbeak took a swipe at him for being rude and not listening to Hagrid he got daddy to pay to have Buckbeak killed for being dangerous and has been milking that arm of his for months, between the way he was acting, and if Madam Pomfrey can regrow all the bones in my arm in a night, there’s no way his arm was really hurt for that long." Answered Harry.
"That’s horrible." Said Parvati. "Draco’s so mean, Pad, we should do something."
"We will be, Parv, we will be. The problem with Hermione’s decision try to research and try to effect the court case is that if Lucius has brought the outcome it’s not going to do any good, so we’ll have do something better. Harry, you’re going to be writing another letter and when you’re done you will take it straight down to the Owlery so that it gets to the Daily Prophet before tomorrow’s edition is sent out, if Draco reacts the way I think he will to what appears in the Prophet and the way people respond things are going to get very interesting for him one day and it will all be his own fault." Responded Padma.
"While you’re gone, Harry, have a few words with Madam Pomfrey as well, we might be able to cause problems for Malfoy when he comes back from holiday as well." She added.
"That’s great." Said Harry, who then leaned over and hugged Padma.
Thanks to Tommy King for his beta'ing, meteoricshipyards, Jonas, Scott Smith and loretta_boshell for help with typos and wording and all the folks at the Caer Azkaban and Seel'vor fan fiction Yahoo groups for all the help I can't keep track of