"Come along you brats, we are leaving this God forsaken island and…"
"Excuse me," A voice called out, halting Jean Delacour in his stride towards their carriage, and the eventual voyage home, "Where are you taking them?"
The man turned, putting on his best 'courteous' expression before he could snap angrily at the boy-who-lived. "My daughters and I are returning home with their mother."
Emerald-eyes narrowed in what appeared to be child-like annoyance, "That wasn't what we agreed upon. Fleur and Gabrielle were to stay in England after the tournament."
By now several other adults and students had stopped to see what the commotion was all about.
Straightening his back slightly, the Frenchman held back the snarl that threatened to form on his lips, "And I recall that the contract stated they would return to France and pick up their belongings. Besides that, I have not received your end of the contract either."
The boy's head tiled slightly, and those closest knew what was coming next. Harry was about to make the man look like a liar or a fool.
Perhaps both.
"But we have. The contract stated that in return for what you so nicely wrote down as 'ownership' all I had to provide was a place for them to sleep, you just wanted to get rid of them as soon as possible."
Sneers and anger whispers from the crowd currently gathering were now being directed onto the man, who knew he had to somehow reclaim the momentum in this little 'war' they were waging, "Then perhaps we should use the official contract hm? That should settle things once and for all." A gesture from the older man had his wife leaving to retrieve the parchment.
Minutes later she returned with the object in question, which was promptly snatched from her hands by her husband.
"You see? It says right here that…" he froze as his eyes went from skimming over the contract to reading it in its entirety. It was not what he had signed, the wording, the loopholes… they had been changed .
"Is there a problem Monsieur Delacour?"
"This… this isn't what I signed! You… you did something didn't you! You cheated you little…"
The man's hand went to his side, only to freeze when a frosty voice interrupted, "Surely you are not making threats against a student… especially my student." The sea of bodies parted as Severus Snape strolled forward, eyes hard and emotionless as he stared the man down, his own Wand already in hand.
"He… he did something…"
"Did he now? You are contesting the contract?"
Jean Delacour straightened once more, before giving a sharp nod. "I am."
The Potion Master extended his hand and took the parchment before looking it over. "I see no problems… did you use a security Charm so that it could not be altered after a signature was applied?"
"I… I did…"
"Then you are claiming this is not your Magical signature?"
The air shifted, along with the man's stance, "It… it is but…"
"Is this your signature Mr. Potter?"
Harry nodded, "It is sir."
"Then I see no legal issues. I am curious on why you would sign such a thing though Mr. Potter."
The boy seemed to flinch, eyes immediately becoming downcast in his schoolboy persona, "I… I just wanted to protect them sir. I hate slavery, but Fleur told me that her father would do worse to her and her sister this coming summer. I am going to try and free them as soon as I can I just… no one should be treated as an object."
Snape gave a curt nod in acknowledgement, "Well the good news is that there are more than a few loopholes that Mister Delacour seems to have overlooked in his haste. There is no transfer of identity which means both girls are still legally Delacours and thus heiresses. Transfer of liability is also not stated and while this does not matter for the eldest, her younger sister can very easily claim negligence in a court of law that her father disposed of her. Such a thing can often result in the transfer of properties and wealth to said child from the offending parent."
Jean paled considerably, he knew he had included both things in the original paper, so how had it changed? He had double checked everything before signing it and yet…
"As I said, you aren't taking them anywhere. I expect to see them both back here after they have retrieved whatever personal items they have from your carriage. My godfathers will be sending solicitors to your home in the next few days for anything they still might want."
Fleur's eyes teared up as she pulled her younger sister in closer to her. In the end he had come through. Harry had saved her, first from a dragon, then from her own pride. After that he had rescued her sister and protected her from a Dark Lord.
And now? Now he had rescued them both from the greatest monster of all, their own father.
"Fleur?" Gabbie whispered, earning her older sister's attention, "does… does this mean everything is going to be okay?"
The older girl could only nod, "Yes Gabbie, everything is going to be wonderful."
....
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