Title: Marriage Law, Schmarriage Law
Author: Corrupted Desires aka ji
Disclaimer: I don't own it. If I did, I certainly wouldn't be posting this here!
Rating: PG for text violence
Pairing: I can't tell you that! It's a secret!
Summary: Hermione receives a letter telling her that she's subject to a marriage law...
A/N: I was reading yet another fic based off some marriage law challenge or another and decided to give my own twist on the subject. Ha!
No matter how many times Hermione read the letter, it still said the same thing. As she read the piece of parchment over and over, she felt a subtle rage building within. Her anger fueled her magic and the porcelain teacups from the serving set she had been placing on the table when the mail arrived exploded; shards flying around the room and falling to the ground at her feet. Slamming the parchment down hard enough to crack the wooden tabletop, she stormed from kitchen.
Taking a few choice items such as her wand, Hermione stormed out of the Number 12 Grimmauld Place in such a fury that the angry aura drew the attention of the other residents. Order members peeked into the hall just in time to see the front door slam open and watch as Hermione, who was literally crackling with electricity in her fury, vanished with a loud crack just outside the wards surrounding the place.
"Somebody's in trouble..." Ron's smug singsong voice came from one of the doorways...
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Apparating directly to the Ministry of Magic building, Hermione marched furiously to the front desk. Not bothering to wait in line, she placed fisted hands upon her hips and asked rather rudely, "Hermione Granger to see the Minister, now!"
The receptionist squeaked softly and bustled about admitting Hermione in the right direction. It was one of the few times Hermione drew upon her influence as one of the Trio responsibly for the death of Voldemort in her final year of Hogwarts. Normally she wouldn't have done such a thing, but this was a special circumstance.
Minutes later found Hermione barging past the stunned secretary and standing in front of the desk of one Percy Ignatius Weasley, Minister of Magic.
"Just who the HELL do you think you are?"
At hearing the enraged feminine voice, Percy's head shot up from his paperwork and he stared disbelievingly at the furious form of Hermione Jane Granger. His mouth suddenly felt dry and he wondered for a moment if it was because of the sheer power rolling from her crackling form or if it had something to do with the various scenes from his past flashing through his mind.
Percy cleared his throat. "Good afternoon to you as well, Hermione. Is there anything I can help you with" He momentarily wondered if he should call for security, but before the thought had even finished forming in his mind, his office door slammed closed with a wave of wandless magic and glowed black with a powerful locking spell. He slowly stood from his chair, really starting to feel nervous now.
Hermione crossed the distance from the door to Percy's desk with a speed that would have made seasoned Aurors and Professional Quidditch Seekers burn with jealousy.
SLAM!
Finding himself rather painfully slammed against the wall behind his desk, Percy's bewildered expression matched his words. "Hermione! What on earth is the matter?" He found it rather disconcerting that the petite woman seemed to be holding him a foot above the ground! It wasn't until she backed up and he remained against the wall that he realized she was still using wandless magic.
"Percy Ignatius Weasley, if you think for one instant that you'll get away with this, then you are sadly mistaken." Hermione's voice, unlike the roar when she first arrived, was now soft and deadly. "I will have you know that Muggle-borns and Half-bloods outnumber Pure-bloods by more than three to one and if you think for one instant that allowing this... this... MARRIAGE LAW!" Her voice rose in volume quite a bit at that, nearly shattering Percy's eardrums.
Her voice dropped to deadly tones once more."If you think for one instant that you can force anyone to marry against their will and not start another war after the one we just had, you are even more of a sad, pathetic man than I ever thought you were..." Taking a deep breath, Hermione locked eyes with Percy, the fury in her molten chocolate gaze literally enough to send a painful course of electricity through his veins.
"If you know what's good for you, Percy... You'll make certain that the Evening Prophet has a public apology from the Ministry to all those that received such letters tonight! And if I find out that anyone, and I do mean anyone was actually forced into a marriage thanks to this temporary insanity of the Ministry's... I will make certain that you are the one that takes responsibility."
Releasing her magic's hold, Hermione allowed Percy to fall to the floor. She started to turn toward the door. "Oh, and Percy... Just so you don't forget..."
WHAM!
Percy was left gasping for breath, doubled over and clutching his stomach as Hermione stormed from his office in much the same manner in which she had arrived. Dimly he could hear his secretary asking if he was okay and wheezed as he told her to bring the emergency news falcon to his office...
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At Number 12 Grimmauld Place that night, Hermione smiled smugly to herself as she closed the Evening Prophet's front page alert about the filing mistake that resulted in the passing of the marriage law. The Ministry was almost literally on its knees begging the public's forgiveness over the incident.
Across the room, Ron and Harry joined Fred and George in laughing over the tale that Hermione had revealed upon her return. The twins couldn't get over the way she described Percy's look at his near death experience and were currently acting out variations of her report of the incident.
Hermione giggled softy at the reenactment and snuggled against the warm body next to her even as the strong arm attached to the body tightened it's grip on her before the owner of both the body and arm murmured quietly into her ear. "You know, dear... While I understand wanting to stand up for everyone's rights, it seems to me that you took it a bit personally. While I love that passion in you, I don't really understand. You were already planning on marrying a Pure-blood anyway!"
Twisting in the embrace, Hermione smiled brightly at her fiance. "I know I'm already marrying a Pure-blood, dear. But I'm not marrying you for your blood. I'm marrying you because I love you and I want to be married to you! Not because some stupid law tells me I have to be married."
Grinning at her, Charlie's only response was a passionate kiss to his beautiful bride-to-be.
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Meanwhile, back at the Ministry of Magic, Percy Weasley stood in front of his fireplace. His empty gaze stared blindly at the flicker of flames visible behind the parchments held in his hand. All he could see was the glitter of gold on the ring finger of her left hand just before it had slammed forcefully into his stomach.
Unaware of how long he had been standing there, Percy finally allowed his the parchments to slip from his grasp, the papers catching fire as they fell into the flickering blaze. He turned, grabbing his cloak and walking from his office to head back to his empty apartment for yet another empty night.
Back in his office, the parchments burned merrily, the words upon it smoldering away into nothing...
I, Percy Ignatius Weasley, do hereby petition for the hand of Miss Hermione Jane Granger in accordance with the Marriage Law of...
-:End:-
A/N: This little fic was a direct result of reading one too many stupid Marriage Law fics where Hermione meekly submitted to a form of lawful slavery that I posted on the LJ Community Books & Freckles a week ortwo ago. Seriously, there are hundreds of Marriage Law fics and it seems that in 90 of them she ends up forced to marry a Death Eater or someone old enough to be her father, or both! Then there are the 9.9 where a Weasley steps in and rescues her. Those are a bit better, though not the best because it's still forced. And I found one fic where she suicided rather than being forced to marry and another where she starved herself to death after the marriage. Those options don't seem Hermione-ish to me, she's definitely a fighter. Anyway, one too many of those results in this fic. I hope you all enjoyed it... By the way, I totally blame my recent string of Charlie/Hermione ficlets on the awesome author Inell.