A/N: For the Houses Competition. House: Slytherin, year 4, Word Count 1738, Standard, Prompt: Arranged marriage
Kiza was, point blank, another dimension. After the end of the war, the unspeakables at the ministry of magic grew bored, and in their boredom they began experimenting with interdimensional travel. Of course, Severus being who he was, somehow got wrapped up in the middle of it without even trying. Not only that, somehow he had found himself volunteered to be the first wizard deranged enough to use the unstable (to put it nicely) form of travel in an attempt to 'see what was on the other side'. At the time, he hadn't imagined it would lead to his incarceration in Kiza, but it didn't surprise him one bit that it did.
He had been staring at the ceiling of his tiny prison for four days, having been arrested for stealing. How was he supposed to have known picking vegetation from the forest and taking it back to his own realm would be considered a capital offense? Severus peered out the window of his cell again, studying his surroundings, or at least as much as he could see of them. The streets and homes were all made out of the same grey stone. All he could see of the people who passed by his window were their feet and the wheels of carts being pulled, so he knew his cell was partially underground. Beyond the stone dwellings was a stone wall and a forest of silver trees taller than he'd ever seen them. That was where he'd arrived on his first trip to Kiza. A corner of his mouth tugged up in a smirk as he thought back to that first visit. He'd been given the task of collecting samples of soil and vegetation to take back to the Department of Mysteries for further testing, if he had managed to survive the trip in the first place. He had found more than that though. That was the day he had met Kalyssa.
While others who lived here seemed to shy away from him, Kalyssa had taken a liking to him from his first appearance, or at the very least was curious enough to interact with him. She ignored his crabby demeanor and had quickly decided to be his friend, whether he wanted one or not. Until she'd made the decision for him, Severus hadn't realized how much he did. Friends who were hard headed enough to put up with his antics were few and far between...and she was beautiful. Now that he was on the Kiza version of death row, he regretted never saying it outright. It was often implied, but never spoken.
Kalyssa had taken him on a tour of the village during one of his earlier visits. If he remembered correctly, he was just east of the gate that would take him back to the forest. He could lose them there, if he could make it that far, but they had confiscated his wand upon arrest and the cell, as crude as it was, appeared to be magic resistant. He felt it like a heavy weight hanging over him. Besides, even if he did make it back to that rift between their worlds, he wasn't certain he could convince himself to stay away from Kiza...from Kalyssa.
One of the guards, a shorter man who had a balding head and a face that looked as though an elephant had stomped on it once or twice, banged a black baton on the bars of the prison cell. "Oy! Hands up where I can see 'em!" He ordered.
Severus calmly turned to face him, despite the threat in the other man's voice, and complied with the order. He'd been through this twice already, so he knew what was expected of him when they needed to escort him somewhere. Severus tensed as the man opened the cell door and approached him. Severus eyed it. Part of him wanted to shove the guard to the side and make a run for it, but down here, where his magic seemed to be stifled, he wouldn't get very far.
"Try it if you must," The guard smiled as though he wanted Severus to do it.
Severus folded his wrists behind his back and turned to let the man shackle him. He knew from experience that when someone took that much pleasure in the thought of Severus rebelling, it wasn't the time to rebel.
"Where are we going?" Severus asks softly, making himself sound less threatening that what he felt at the moment.
The guard shackled his wrists together and shoved him towards the door without a word. Severus didn't miss a single step as they made their way out of the dungeon. The weight he felt in his cell fell away from him as he reached the first floor, but there were more guards here, and he didn't trust himself to be able to apparate without splinching himself, with the way the guards had his wrists chained. The guard led him into the same courtroom he had been led to when he had first been accused of stealing and Severus swallowed hard. The forest was sacred to the people who lived here. They had told him the sentence for violating it was death. He froze at the door, tensing up against his shackles. The guard grabbed Severus' arm to shove him forward, but Severus jerked away from him. He tilted his chin and looked down his nose at the guard before starting forward on his own.
In the center of the far wall was his judge, the Shaman of Kiza. In three rows of benches on either side of him were his jury. They had all come to see him die.
The guard led Severus to stand before the shaman and the jury.
"Severus Snape, you have been accused of stealing from the Great Forest, for which, under normal circumstances, the punishment is death. However, after a long debate, it has been decided that an exception should be made, because you are not from our realm and are not familiar with our ways. Arrangements have been made. Congratulations, today is your wedding day."
Severus' eyebrows shot up, "And just whom am I expected to marry?"
"Me," Severus knew without looking that Kalyssa had come into the room behind them. His breath caught in his chest, but he kept his expression strictly neutral as he gazed up at her. Her mess of violet waves fell down her back and around her face, framing bright blue eyes that peered at him but quickly looked away.
"Surely you won't have me marry a man with shackles on his wrists," Kalyssa wrinkled her nose at the shaman and there were murmurs through the crowds on either side of him.
The shaman simply motioned to the guard with the smushed face. Severus flexed his wrists and smirked at the guard before turning back to the shaman. "Let me get this straight. If I agree to marry Kalyssa, you will spare my life?"
"As my husband, I accept your consequences as my own." Kalyssa explains, pointedly staring a the shaman and avoiding his gaze.
"No," Severus snaps, clenching his hands into fists.
"Under the arrangement, you will be pardoned your first offense, so long as Kalyssa remains with you to teach you our laws. After today, Kalyssa will suffer as much you for every law you break."
"Why?" Severus demands, "Why not simply banish me?"
"Because I've refused to marry until now, and according to their sexist traditions, females are inferior to males. They hate that I have no male to answer to." Kalyssa explains. "I've bartered with them to save your life. You're welcome."
"It is an arranged marriage or death, outsider." The shaman says firmly.
"He'll do it." Kalyssa confidently answered for him.
Severus' face was white as stone. It was one thing to have to face the consequences for his action, but something else entirely to let her go down with him. That was the final straw. He would marry her, alright. He would marry her and then sneak off back to the wizarding world and never return. If he wasn't here to break their laws, they would have no excuse to punish Kalyssa simply for being kind to him. "I'll do it." He finally agrees.
The wedding was simple and to the point. A couple of promises, his hand tied to her for symbolism, and then all was done. Afterwards, Kalyssa lead him out of the courtroom and away from what could have been his end.
"My home is this way," Kalyssa says, starting off towards the west.
"I'm not going to your home." Severus answers, stopping her in her tracks.
"Where are you going?" Kalyssa asks, slowly turning back to him,
"To mine, before I get you into any more trouble." He answers.
"You won't get me into any more trouble. You'll learn the laws here and do wonderfully." Kalyssa objects.
"I'm going home." Severus says firmly.
Kalyssa hesitated, but then said, "Fine. We're going home."
"Excuse me?"
With a huff Kalyssa stated more firmly. "I'm your wife. My home is your home."
All he could he could do, as undignified as it was, was to gape at her.
"Plus as this sexist world dictates my place is beside you and if you want to go to your home., I will follow." She added after a beat when he still had not said anything the confidence and the conviction in her tone not hindered in the slightest by the softness of her voice.
Severus for all his salt could not believe he was not going to fight her on this. As she handed him his wand, he couldn't deny how natural it felt to have her by his side.
"And that is how I swindled your father into marrying me." Kalyssa says, brushing the black hair back from her daughter's daughter's dark eyes.
Zia looked up at Severus with wide eyes, "You didn't want to marry, mom?"
"Sometimes, we want something so much, that it becomes difficult to admit that we want it." Severus explains, even as he glared daggers at the Shaman of Kiza, the girl's grandfather.
Zia grinned and looked back at her mother. The Shaman shrugged with a smile on his face. "What can I say. She's the daughter of a thief and a swindler. Little Zia has a lot to live up to."