Summary: We've all read at least one WIKTT marriage law fiction. What if, George petitions for Hermione's hand in marriage?
Disclaimer: Yes I own them all!!! All of them!!! Oh wait you were asking about the Harry Potter world? Oh never mind then, I thought were talking about pokemon. My bad. Anyway, I don't own this, any of it really, the characters are JK Rowling's and the plot is from a WIKTT challenge. So without further ado….
Fred sighed, another long and busy day at Weasley's Wizard Wheezes was over. He opened the cash register and pulled out the till. Waving his wand in a tired fashion, he brought up the 16 locking and warding spells that kept the store safe. Then he walked into the office in the back. Sitting down and pulling out his wand again he began to magically count the money. With everything counted and closed up, he headed upstairs to George's apartment.
The apartment was a small three bedroom one bathroom type that had once been his own as well as George's but, when he and Angelina had gotten married, Fred had left it all to George, Angelina had hated the décor anyway. When he reached the door he simply walked inside, knocking would be pointless, it was his twin, what was there to see that he hadn't seen? But then again, it had been George's day off so he wasn't sure what he'd find.
George was leaning back in a kitchen chair with his feet on the table, twirling the wand in his hand.
"What's wrong Gred?" Fred asked as he closed the door and sat down at the table across from his twin.
"They've passed it." George whispered as he handed the newspaper next to his legs, to his brother. "The marriage law has been passed, petitions can be sent starting today."
"What!? Oh my god George! This is fantastic. She's as good as Mrs. George Weasley, there is no way she'll be able to say no. It's the law!"
"Even if she did say yes, she'll never love me. She'll always resent me for taking away her freedom of choice. It'd be a paper marriage and besides, what makes you think for a moment she'd agree to marry me. I'm probably like a brother to her or something."
"Come on now, she's going to have to marry someone,. Why not you? You can't believe for a moment that no one else will petition for her. She's the smartest witch of the century and a looker too. Plus the whole war hero bit and best friend of Harry is going to draw in all kinds of creeps. Think of it this way, you'll be doing her a favor, if not for you she could end up with Malfoy or Zabini. She'll probably look at you as her hero."
George snorted, "Even if I was to petition for her, it's not as though I'd have half a shot at being excepted.
"Who else is there? Harry and Ginny are married, so Harry's a no, Ron is already engaged to that weirdo Lavender, in fact, all of us Weasleys have found a special someone except for you. She'll say yes."
"Not if I don't petition for her she won't."
"George don't you get it? This law is a godsend. This law is made to benefit purebloods who need wives. You are a pureblood, and you need a wife. This is your chance, take it or watch her end up in some hellhole with a deatheater's son. It's your choice. "
"She's going to kill me, "
"But the wedding night will be worth it."
"Yea, I suppose it will be."
"Thata boy. Now get the petition written up and ready to send. Granger won't know what hit her"
Hermione sat in her small muggle London apartment with a cup of tea in one hand and the newspaper in the other hand. Normally this was her favorite time of the day, the sun had risen approximately two hours ago, the air was crisp and clean and dew was still visible on the leaves of a small plant sitting on her balcony. It was a beautiful morning to be sure, but Hermione couldn't care less.
The Daily Prophet was never Hermione's favorite newspaper, but since it was the only magical London based paper she didn't have many options. Today's headline "Ordinance k102-34 is Passed", was printed in bold capital letters was all Hermione needed to ruin her morning. The accompanying article read;
"Minister of Magic Rufus Scrimgeour has officially announced that ordinance k102-34, commonly referred to as the 'marriage law', has been passed . For those who are not familiar with said ordinance, ordinance k102-34 states that any witch or wizard between the ages of 17 and 50 who can prove a completely magically inclined heritage of at least 10 generations back (pureblood), will be able to petition for any witch or wizard who does not meet the above requirements (half-blood, muggleborn). Any witch or wizard that receives one or more petitions will have one week's time to decide which petition to accept . If said petitioned witch or wizard refuses to accept a petition they will be automatically paired with any available pureblooded witch or wizard who has not been married after two years time. The law will officially come into effect today. When asked about any possibly negative affects the ordinance may bring, the minister commented, 'I don't believe that anyone will suffer from this law, it will bring about a much needed unity in this time of crisis.' The ordinance was originally propositioned to try to lower the amount of non-magical children born to magical parents (squibs). Although the affects of this law are yet to be seen… (Article continued on page 4A)
Hermione's hands were trembling so badly her tea spilt across the paper uncomfortably close to the smiling picture of Rita Skeeter. Rita's picture struggled to remain dry and silently screamed curses at Hermione as the hot tea began to smudge her article and creep toward her picture. Hermione was oblivious to Rita's plight as she set down her now nearly empty tea cup.
For a period of time Hermione could not determine, she did not move. Staring at nothing she sat silently at her table for what felt like days. Her world was over. No longer would she be independent Hermione Granger, in a few weeks she'd be some pureblood's housewife. A little woman to raise children, cook, and clean her life away for some husband who wouldn't even love her. Her apartment would be sold, at this thought she surveyed the room from her chair, all of this, her muggle tendencies and quirky taste would be taken from her, not even her muggle name would stay. She wanted to cry, but no tears fell. How did she become the odd one out? Why hadn't she stayed with Ron like everyone expected? 'Because he drove you insane!', a voice in her head reminded her. But I could've used earplugs and gotten over it had I only known this was the alternative. She thought to herself. But it would do her no good to dwell on her 'mistakes'.
She sighed loudly, she had a week left to live freely, and she was going to enjoy it. Walking over to her desk she sat down and pulled out a piece of parchment and dipped her quill in the navy ink bottle that she'd neglected to put away after her last letter. Touching the quill to a clean piece of parchment, she slowly wrote a letter to her part time employer, Flourish and Blotts. From the beginning her employment there had been temporary, it only made sense to let them know now that she wouldn't be returning. It was unlikely that her new husband would allow her to work anyway. Most pureblood families encouraged women to live as housewives. She wrote her letter slowly and deliberately so as not to show her distress. When she was finished she stood up and tied the letter to her owl Posie's leg. "Take this to Mr. Blott, Posie." She ran her hand absentmindedly over Posie's soft dark feathers. Posie nipped her hand affectionately before taking off and flying out through the open balcony door.
Hermione then pulled on her black traveling robe and closed the balcony door. After locking up her apartment with both muggle and magical locks she grabbed a small amount of floo powder and tossed it into the fireplace. "The Potters" She stepped inside the green flames and felt the familiar spinning sensation that came with travel by floo. As soon as it started the spinning slowed. Stepping out of the fireplace and into the living room of the Weasley home she was greeted by Ginny.
"Hermione, you're here earlier than I thought you would be." Ginny said as she looked toward the clock on the mantle.
"I know, I'm so sorry Gin, but I am just so out of it." Hermione replied looking around the cozy room.
"I suppose you saw the paper then?"
"Yes, I did. I nearly choked on my tea this morning."
"I'm sure it'll all work out, Mione, there are plenty of wonderful men out there and I'm sure they will all petition for you."
"That's just it Gin, I don't want a wonderful man, I don't want any man. I want to read my books and sleep in my own bed, in my muggle apartment, with my cat, and work where I want to and when I want to."
"Hermione, you're overreacting, I'm sure that very little will change for you."
"That's easy for you to say, as a pureblood married witch." As soon as Hermione said it, she regretted it. "Look Gin, I'm sorry, I really am. I just am so upset right now, I don't know what to do."
"Hermione, it's okay, it'll be alright. Everything will be fine. If need be, I'll force George to marry you." Ginny said as she wrapped an arm around Hermione and lead her toward the kitchen table.
"I couldn't do that to George, he deserves to pick his own bride." Hermione said as she sat down in a chair at the table.
"Who deserves to pick their own bride?" Molly asked as she walked out of the kitchen.
"Hermione doesn't want to inconvenience George by asking him to petition for her if she only gets freaks." Ginny replied nonchalantly as she sat down across from Hermione.
"Oh honey," Molly said as she sat down at the table as well. "don't you think that way for a moment. George will have to marry someone as well, if he is the best option then why not accept him? Hmmm? He's a good boy, he may be a bit of trouble when he wants to be but all the same he's a good man."
"Molly, Gin, I haven't even been petitioned for yet. And therefore it seems a little odd to me that we are discussing a petition from George when he hasn't even petitioned yet." Hermione said in a somewhat exasperated voice. As Hermione finished this there was a tap at the window.
Molly walked over to the window and opened it for the owl, as she was about to close the window after the owl she happened to look out into the sky. The sight in front of her made her falter. "Hermione dear, I think you've got mail." She said in a disbelieving voice. Flying toward the house were at least 75 owls.
So? Whatcha think? I don't have a beta so this probably isn't perfect, but I did try to reread it a couple of times to get it ready. I already have the next chapter written and all so this should be updated shortly. Review if you like. I'll keep writing either way.