AN: Written for "The Joys of Arranged Marriages" from Forever Siriusly Sirius. I do not own Harry Potter.
…
"Darling, come down here please!" Footsteps run up the wood stairs and then back down again without an answer. Inside a small bedroom, a book drops to the floor with a thud and the door opens, revealing a teenager with curly, red hair and freckles. "Coming!" the girl yells down the staircase, and flies down the steps two at a time. "Mum? Where are you?" she calls once her feet touch the landing.
"I'm in here Rose."
Rose follows the voice and finds both her parents in the parlor, her mother by the window and her father sitting in his armchair, tense. "How goes the packing, sweetheart? Is there anything you need before tomorrow?" her mother asks, with sweetness in her voice as her father looks at his daughter. She's noticed him more tired and tense in the last few months, maybe because the Ministry's been amuck for some time now.
"There's nothing I need. I'm done. I was just catching up on basic course information for the year," Rose replies, referring to the fact that her Sixth year at Hogwarts begins tomorrow. Her father smiles at her, reminded that his daughter is so much like her mother.
"So, what's up?"
Her father looks uneasy for a moment, while her mother crosses the room and rests a hand on the back of her father's chair.
"We need to discuss something important with you," her mother says and Rose begins to feel unsettled at her mother's words. Could it be about school? Did Hogwarts want to take back her Head Girl status?
"O-okay?"
"Rosie," her father says, sitting up slightly. "I-we-want you to know that no matter what, we will always love you, and we're sorry it had to come to this."
Rose is confused, her heartbeat pumping faster. "Come to what?"
"Rose…d-darling…you're…engaged."
"No! What? I don't understand." Her knees feel weak, and her stomach feels queasy.
"The Ministry's losing power, Rose and the only way they can get the upper hand is by doing this. Look, the old Pureblood families are starting to fall under the spell of Purebloods marrying Purebloods to preserve their faction, completely disregarding the rules put into place after the Second Wizarding War. They're taking over, casting out other statuses and separating. It's becoming a war. But the Ministry is fighting back, implementing a new law that all seventeen year olds have an arranged marriage with different blood statuses. If someone doesn't comply, they're labeled as being defiant with the law and have to suffer consequences. It's supposed to keep the Purebloods at bay, and maybe even solve the problem-unite everyone basically," Ron explains.
Rose still doesn't understand, doesn't want to understand. The Ministry's punishing everyone?
"We've tried to get the Ministry to lift the law, but they're not budging."
Her head was spinning and she placed a hand on the doorframe for support. "Who's my…"
Hermione says quickly, "You're engaged to Scorpius Malfoy. We're meeting his family tonight."
She's supposed to marry him? Although he's in her house, which had always been a shock to everyone, she's always thought of him as arrogant. But maybe it just comes with the name. Rose weighs this around in her head. But he's a Malfoy. The Malfoy's nearly killed her parents when they were younger. She couldn't be marrying in to that.
"I-I…tonight?" Rose feels tears well up in her eyes.
"Yes," Hermione answers in a small voice. "We're so sorry."
Rose feels herself backing way, before sprinting up the stairs and slamming her door shut. She collapses on her bed. Why was the Ministry taking over her life? What was happening? She begins to sob, crying for the loss of her freedom, before falling into slumber.
…
Rose finds herself three hours later Apparating at the Malfoy's foreboding manor that's been past down from generation to generation. A house-elf lets them in, and Rose thinks about her mother's work with S.P.E.W. Have things really gotten this bad? Have the Pureblood families truly begun their reversal?
The house-elf leads them into the foyer where the Malfoy's are waiting. "Hello," Astoria Malfoy greets, brown hair done up in a bun, extending out a hand to the Weasleys. Hermione is the first one to make a move out of her husband and daughter and gladly accepts, smiling. While the women are civil, it's different between the men, awkward and tense.
"Weasley," Draco says with a nod in his direction, "unfortunate circumstances, wouldn't you think?"
"You have no idea, Malfoy."
The men do no other sort of exchange other than that, and nearly retreat behind their wives.
"Say hello, darling," Hermione presses to Rose, when the air gets quiet. Rose focuses on the tall boy that looks almost exactly like his father.
"Nice to meet you, I'm Rose," she greets, extending out a hand, feeling slightly uncomfortable in her sleeveless blue dress.
"Scorpius," the boy replies back and shakes her hand lightly as if not to crush it. He turns to his mother.
"Now that we've done the formalities, don't you think we should get down to business?" Astoria asks.
Hermione agrees and the Malfoy's lead the Weasley's into the parlor, that's massive and expensive looking. Colorful flower arrangements and high quality furniture are decorated around the room, to make it look more inviting.
When the adults have taken a seat, leaving the teenagers to stand by their parents, Astoria suggests, "Scorpius, why don't you show Miss Weasley around while we talk?"
"But I want to-"
"This talk is not meant for your ears. Now go."
The boy holds his breath before beginning to walk out of the room. "C'mon," he says to Rose with an air of annoyance around him, "Let's go."
Rose looks at her parents for quick permission and while Ron shakes his head no, Hermione encourages yes. Hermione catches him, shoots Ron a glare and finalizes her decision to let Rose go.
Rose sighs inwardly, she was hoping she could catch a few words as to what the entire process was about and not be in the dark for once.
She follows her to-be-husband out of the parlor and down the dark hallway, hoping that he would stop so they could talk about their situation. Surely he doesn't like it? When, they've toured around the main floor at a brisk pace, Rose stops.
"What are you doing?" Scorpius demands, when he's realized he's gotten a few feet ahead of her.
"I want to talk," she answers, her red curls bouncing slightly as she crosses her arms. "Look, I've been thinking, I don't like the situation and probably neither do you, so I thought that maybe we could write a letter or something to the Ministry-I mean, if two potential candidates in their law are complaining than maybe-"
She nearly gasps as strong hands grip around her biceps and push her backwards against a wall, holding her there. Heartbeat racing faster, Rose stares fearfully at Scorpius' grey eyes.
"You don't get it. This isn't like one of your little petitions for "Mummy's work". This is serious. You can't make the Ministry change its mind. You can comply and make the best of it or you can be imprisoned and labeled a traitor. Surely, your family knows all about that." He lets her go, leaving her to almost crumple against the wall, anger coursing through her veins. He just called her family traitors. He would not get away with that.
Rose retaliates, marching up to him as he fixes the flipped up collar on his dress shirt. She raises a hand quickly before he can catch her and slaps him hard across the face, the blow ringing in the air. When she draws back, he glares at her with such intensity that she thinks he'll grab her again, but he doesn't. He just stares at her pretty face, a red spot forming on his pale cheek. He suddenly smirks, and Rose gets redder.
She yanks on his expensive tie, pulling him down to her height, and almost whispers with anger. "Now, here's something you don't understand. Don't you ever call my family traitors or I swear I will hex your arse so bad, that you'll be in St. Mungo's for a month."
Rose lets him go; rubbing the red marks on her arms where he grabbed her while Scorpius does the same with his cheek, the two both flustered and angry. A house-elf appears telling them that they can come back to the parlor.
"I can't believe you have a house-elf!" Rose accuses, still angry, as she and Scorpius head back towards the parlor. "It's cruel and shouldn't be allowed!"
"He's been in our family for years! He wants to!" Scorpius fires back.
"Oh please, no one wants to do anything."
Scorpius falls silent as they near the parlor, Rose following suit. All adult eyes look at them when they enter the room, and the two teenagers separate, glaring at each other when they stand back with their families.
Both fathers look at their children and notice their fading marks, silently demanding to know what happened. Rose ignores her father and looks away from his stare, as Scorpius pretends to feign interest in the darkness outside.
"We've decided on dates for everything," Astoria announces to the teenagers. "The wedding's a year from now, that way you can get to know each other and settle down completely after your studies. The bridal shower's going to be in December, I know it's a long way off from the actual date, but it's easier that way, with preparations and all. Any objections?"
When neither teen says anything, Astoria claps her hands together. "Perfect. Now I believe its time for something to eat, yes?"
…
The moment the Weasley family Apparates home, Rose ignores her mother's question of how it went and hops up the stares two at a time. She calls down, "I hate him!" before rushing into her room and slamming the door. She screams into her pillow and lies awake all night, thinking that her next-no her last, year at Hogwarts is to be spent with her fiancée.
…
AN: Please review.