I don't own Harry Potter or any of the characters. However, Charlotte Thompson is my OC.

CHAPTER 1

When Charlotte got down from the train after her sixth year, she only knew that her summer was only going to be worse. The fact that she only saw her mother on the platform confirmed her predictions.

"Mother, what is going on?" Charlotte questioned. She was wondering where the rest of her family was.

"There is no time for questions dear, just follow me." Jane Thompson told her daughter. She led Charlotte to the corner of the train station and suddenly apparated.

When Charlotte opened her eyes, she saw that she was in front of a house. Jane led her into the house. "Where are where?" she asked taking in her surroundings.

Jane answered her, "We are in a safe house, this used to be your Grandfather's before he died." It was smaller than her family home, but she found it nice and comfortable.

"Charlie! You are home!" she heard two voices behind her. Her two younger brothers were running towards her.

"I missed you two." She hugged David first then Luke. She studied them closely, both of them grew considerably since Christmas. David was eleven and he would be going Hogwarts next year while she was in her seventh year. Luke, who was the youngest, turned seven recently.

Her brothers helped her carry her trunk and to her temporary bedroom. She took a bath and came down for dinner. Her brothers asked her many questions about her year, including ones about Dumbledore's funeral. Charlotte noticed that something was troubling her mother.

After her mother tucked her brothers to bed, she joined Charlotte in her bedroom. Jane grabbed a brush from the dresser and began combing her daughter's hair. Jane absolutely loved Charlotte's golden blonde hair and begged Charlotte to keep it long. Currently it was waist length.

Tired of the silence between them, Charlotte sighed, "Mother, I can tell something is bothering you. What is wrong?"

Jane looked at her daughter's face and she gently started, "I'm afraid I have some terrible news for you. You are to be wedded soon."

"What?" Charlotte got up. What was her mother talking about?

Jane took Charlotte's hand, "Listen carefully. Many generations ago, the Notts and the Thompsons were good friends. At that time both Heads of the families made a blood pact that their son and daughter would be married to each other. However as both families only produced males, the pact was never initiated. Until…"

"I was born." Charlotte completed. Suddenly she was angry, "Have you known about this my whole life and you never told me?"

Jane calmed her daughter down, "Your grandparents and your father knew about this. I only found out on your father's deathbed." Charlotte softened remembering her dad's recent demise with the dragon pox. "He said that he never told you because, he wanted you to grow up without thinking about your betrothal. Your grandparents, on the other hand, wanted to tell you."

Charlotte remembered visits to her grandparents, her grandmother would make her learn about pureblood customs and practice dancing. She would hear, "You need to know this when you become a pureblood bride." Charlotte never thought that her grandma was actually being serious when she said that. However when she started Hogwarts the lessons became scarce and eventually her grandparents died.

"Lord Nott owled me few days ago, reminding me that he intends to keep the pact up." Jane said stroking her daughter's beautiful hair.

"So I have to marry Theodore Nott? Why does it have to be now? What happens if I don't marry him?" Charlotte enquired.

"Yes dear. The wedding has to happen when you turn of age and if the pact is not fulfilled both families will be cursed. Blood pacts are very dangerous business." Jane answered.

Charlotte thought about it, she was turning seventeen on July 9th, that was less than month away! She sighed, "Yes mother, I will marry him." She turned around and tried to go to sleep, but all she could think about was her impending future.

Over the next few weeks Charlotte spent time brushing up on the pureblood customs and rules. From what she heard from her mother, was very old fashioned. With the safe house previously belonging to her grandparents, she found many books on the pureblood marriages and customs.

Since their family was pureblood, her mother decided to go into hiding, to avoid being recruited for the Dark Lord. The Ministry was slowly starting to be overrun with You-Know-Who's followers.

On July 8th, the day before her birthday, she decided to tell David what was really happening. So far, both her mother and her were being vague about what was going on. Even though, David was young, he was quite intuitive. Definite Ravenclaw material, she thought.

Clearing her throat, she began, "David, I won't be at home for the rest of the summer."

"Does it have something to do with all the reading and secrecy with mum?" he asked back.

Damn her brother noticed her actions the last few weeks. "Yes. I'm getting married tomorrow."

"What?" he yelled out. David was normally a quiet kid, so the fact that he raised his voice meant he was truly upset.

Charlotte continued to explain the blood pact between the two families the Nott and Thompsons.

"There must be something you can do to avoid getting married?"

"You mean other than kill myself?" she asked dryly. She watched David wince at her harsh words.

"So, this Nott bloke, do you know him?" David asked.

"We're in the same year at school and he's a Slytherin. He's a bully and hangs out with Malfoy. Mr. Nott is a death eater, but I'm not sure about him. We never talked before, but we shared classes."

"Oh."

"Don't worry, I will still see you at Hogwarts." Suddenly she gulped, what if she was expected to drop out of school? Pushing that thought to the back of her mind, she continued to talk to her brother.

The next day she woke up feeling dread. Her mother made a special breakfast and her brothers wished her a happy birthday. After eating, she had to get dressed, Mr. Nott would be sending a house elf to collect at her noon.

She wore a simple royal blue dress robes, they were doing a simple wedding ceremony at the Ministry. Her mother came into the room, "I really wish there was something I could."

"I just wished I was told about this before." Charlotte admitted.

Jane looked at her daughter, "I've never told you this before, but your father and I had an arranged marriage." Charlotte looked at her mother in shock, her parents were really close and in love. "It was a little awkward at first, but every day that we spent together I learned something new. It took some time for us to open to each other, but marriage is not only about love. It is about compromise and respect. Eventually the romance develops over time."

Charlotte blanched, there was no way that she would love Nott. "I'm too young and I've had dreams after school. Now I'm not sure what will happen."

Jane sympathized, "Here, I wanted to give this to you." She handed Charlotte a silver hair ornament with roses. "I know I can't be at the wedding, but I wore this hair clip for my wedding." Charlotte pinned the ornament to her hair and looked in the mirror. She sighed and tried to keep the tears from falling.

After two hours, she stood outside her house with a trunk to take to the Nott house. She had a tearful goodbye with her mother and brothers. Poor little Luke had no idea what was going on, he was told that his sister was going to spend the rest of the summer at a friend's house.

On the dot at noon, an house elf appeared right next to her. "I'm Wheezy. Master Nott requests that I escort you." Charlotte nodded and Wheezy took her trunk from her. He held on to her robe with his other hand and apparated them.

She opened her eyes and found herself in a small room with a desk. "Ms. Thompson." She turned around and found that three men were looking at her. She recognized two of the men, Mr. Nott and Theodore Nott.

Mr. Nott, who looked almost as old as her grandfather, firmly asked, "Your mother explained everything, I suppose?"

"Yes, sir."

"Alright, let's not waste any time. This is Phineas, he will be officiating the wedding."

Phineas looked like he was bored out of his mind, "Will the groom and bride come forward?"

Theodore and Charlotte came and stood next to Phineas. "Mr. Nott please hold Ms. Thompson's hands." Theodore held both his hands out and Charlotte gently placed her hands in his. "We are here to make official this union between Theodore Cantankerus Nott and Charlotte Gwen Thompson." Charlotte grimaced, she hated her middle name. "Do you Theodore Cantankerus Nott take Charlotte Gwen Thompson as your wife?"

Charlotte looked up at Theodore as he replied, "I do."

"And do you Charlotte Gwen Thompson take Theodore Cantankerus Nott as your husband?"

"I do."

"May I have the rings?" Mr. Nott came forward and handed a box to Phineas. Giving the rings to both of them, "Please exchange the rings." Theodore took her left hand and slid the ring on to her finger. Charlotte did the same, but she could not stop her hand from trembling.

"I now declare you, Mr. Nott and Mrs. Nott, husband and wife." Charlotte looked in awe as a glowing grey light travelled from his ring to hers. "You may now kiss the bride." Charlotte looked up and saw Theodore leaning forward and closed her eyes. He placed a chaste kiss on her lips and moved away.

"Thank you Phineas. You will not tell anyone of the events in this room." Mr. Nott placed a small bag of galleons in officiator's hand. "Wheezy!" The house elf appeared. "Take us home!" Mr. Nott barked.

Theodore took his new wife's hand and pulled her towards his father. Wheezy apparated them out of the Ministry room. Charlotte opened her eyes to a huge dark room.

Mr. Nott turned to Charlotte, "Welcome to Nott Manor. Porky will give you a tour of the manor, Theodore go follow them. Tomorrow I expect you to start your duty as lady of the house." Charlotte nodded and Mr. Nott walked out of the room. Few seconds later another house elf appeared.

"Mistress Charlotte! I'm Porky. Welcome to Nott Manor!" the female elf squeaked. Charlotte followed the enthusiastic house elf, with Theodore trailing behind.

Theodore followed Charlotte and Porky. He had been dreading this day all summer. His father immediately told him about his impending wedding plans the moment he returned from Hogwarts. He didn't even know her well, he just knew that she was a Ravenclaw (at least she wasn't a Gryffindor or Hufflepuff, he shuddered at thought). He saw her hanging out with the other Patil twin and the other Ravenclaws. She wasn't bad to look at, he had to admit. Her long golden hair was pretty and he observed it swishing from side to side when she walked.

Charlotte was trying her best to pay attention to Porky, but felt Theodore's deep gaze on her. She noticed that the manor was quite spacious and there were many rooms. However only few of them were used. What a waste, she thought. Her spirits lifted when Porky showed her the library, there were many books and shelves. It almost rivaled the Hogwarts library in size.

Porky lead Charlotte to her room, which she learned was right next to Theodore's. "Dinner is at 7." Porky announced and left the two of the them standing outside their rooms.

"Hello." Charlotte said meekly, trying to make conversation.

He simply replied, "Hello." They both stood there awkwardly without saying anything.

"Well, I'm going to my room. I will see you at dinner." She escaped the weird silence and retreated to her room. When she closed the door, the reality of the situation finally sunk in. She was now a wife, the lady of Nott Manor. Charlotte looked around and saw that her things from the trunk were already unpacked.

She looked at the clock, it was two in the afternoon. Has it only been two hours since she left her house? It felt like an eternity. She wrote a letter to her mother and Daivd. She would figure out how to mail them later, since she didn't have an owl with her.

Charlotte was bored, so she crept out of her room and made her way down to the library. She immediately found a book and settled on the couch. Before she opened the book, she called Porky to come back to her when it was five. Charlotte had a bad habit of losing track of time when she read.

At five, Charlotte regretfully put the book down and went back to her room to dress for dinner. She took a bath and changed into appropriate dinner robes and headed to the dining room.

Mr. Nott and Theodore were already at the table waiting for her. "Good to see that you are punctual. However next time wear your hair properly."

"Yes, sir." She had forgotten that married ladies kept their hair up. Even though many of the pureblood rules were not commonly practiced modernly, Mr. Nott was old fashioned. Mr. Nott sat at the head of the table, Theodore to his left, and she sat next to Theodore.

The house elves came and served them food. Charlotte could feel Mr. Nott's gaze on her, so she made sure to remember her table manners. Suddenly Mr. Nott said, "You two realize that you both must consummate this marriage before midnight."

Theodore stilled and Charlotte chocked on a piece of chicken, "Pardon?" she coughed out.

Mr. Nott gave an amused look, "The rings on your hands are magic. If the marriage is not consummated by midnight, it will be annulled. We don't want the families to be cursed. So you both better make sure it is not annulled."

Charlotte already knew about wizard marriages. To be honest, she did a lot of reading beforehand. She was aware of the consummation thing, but had put it in the back of her mind. Now she was internally freaking out.

The rest of dinner was eaten in silence. Mr. Nott left the table then Theodore got up. Charlotte followed him to his room. He held out the door for her to enter. He went to sit on his bed and motioned for her to join him. She sat on the opposite corner.

"Look, I'm sorry about this." Theodore started, "Trust me, I don't want to be married at 17. Let's just act civil around each other."

"What do you mean?" she asked.

"I mean you don't need to act so formal around me, I don't care about that pureblood wife crap. We can just do just do our own thing during the day."

"Thank you." She said and she meant it.

He became flustered, "However, we still need to consummate this tonight."

Charlotte became red and started blushing. She nodded in agreement. He started to move towards her, but she stopped him. "Just one question. Did you know about marriage beforehand?" she asked. She would have been a little upset if he knew about it his whole life and didn't bother to mention it to her.

"No, I just found out this summer." She nodded for him to continue. He came close to her face and put his hands on her shoulders. "I promise to be gentle." He gently began to nip her neck and saw a tear rolling down her face. He put his hands in her hair and whispered, "You have such beautiful hair."

AN: So I'm a sucker for arranged marriage fan fiction, so I attempted to write one. I choose to do it for an OC, because it would give me more freedom with the character. I think I read somewhere that Mr. Nott's first name is Cantankerus, so I made it Theodore's middle name. Please review what you think so far. Next few chapters would be still in the summer.