Written for week six of the GE Malfoy Manor Fic War.
Prompt word: Law
I do not own Harry Potter or any of its characters; J. K. Rowling does. In addition, I do not make any profit from this fanfiction.
Many thanks to quilter for her help with my fickle muse. Also, huge thank you to my beta lwalters5 for editing this story on such short notice and giving me a confidence boost when I need it.
The Skirmish at the Manor
Present
On a bright August morning, Anthony Goldstein strolled into the building of the Wizarding Wireless Network station where for about a year now, he had his own studio. "The Daily Talk with Anthony" was the most popular show on the network, and so naturally, it broadcast at primetime. Merchandisers fought mercilessly for those sixty second commercials during the show. Money streamed to the WWN and therefore, to Anthony as well.
This morning, he came to the studio early. He wanted to have a few extra minutes to prepare himself for today's guest - Hermione Granger. This particular witch occupied a special place in his heart. After all, the famous story of how she almost singlehandedly beat the Ministry and the Malfoys had once jump-started his whole career.
Eighteen Months Earlier
It all happened when the notorious Marriage Law was passed. Four years after the war, the Ministry suddenly and quite inanely decided that the best way to boost the birth rate and simultaneously replenish the government's vaults, was to mandate all witches older than eighteen years of age to marry.
At first, nothing predicted any problems. Wizards were enthusiastically bidding for their witches, and the Ministry was happily accepting their bids. There were even a few very high profile wedding celebrations brought about by the law. For instance, Harry Potter and Ron Weasley decided to finally tie the knot with their long time girlfriends - Ginny Weasley and Lavender Brown. Soon, however, the majority of already established couples were married and the sense of common joy wavered as the process moved further to the single witches who weren't interested in marriage just yet. That's where Anthony's favourite story began.
At that time, Anthony had just started to work for The Daily Prophet. He was a 'green', amateurish journalist then and, frankly, he was endlessly surprised that the Prophet hired him at all. Fortunately, the fact that Rita Skeeter retired that same year played to Anthony's advantage. The newspaper was in desperate need of someone who would write for the readers' beloved Gossip Column. And so they took him in and trusted the Column into his young hands, clearly hoping for the best.
Anthony's streak of luck didn't end there though. It so happened that on his fifth day of work, the Ministry announced that Draco Malfoy won the bid for Hermione Granger. The news caused a massive uproar in the Wizarding community. The press was ecstatic.
Nevertheless, when the initial shock had passed, Anthony actually understood the reason behind that an unanticipated move from that well known pure-blood family. Even though the Malfoys had managed to stay out of Azkaban after the war, and their vaults in Gringotts were still full of gold, the poor condition of their social status annoyed them immensely. Their family had been always influential, and they wanted that position back. Additionally, for the first time in centuries, Malfoy Manor was left witchless. Narcissa Malfoy nee Black had left Lucius right after the war. Apparently, she couldn't stand the blond wizard anymore. Nowadays, without a female soothing presence, the Manor had become a lonely and cold place.
And thus, the two Malfoys decided to kill two birds with one stone. They gathered that the marriage to the war heroine would bring them a desired social standing, and they would have a new Lady for the Manor. Actually, in theory, it was a brilliant idea. The only 'but' was that their chosen witch was Hermione Granger - a freedom-lover and equal rights fighter. Only Malfoys could ignorantly assume that she would surrender to their plan and the Ministry's law without a fight. They were dreadfully mistaken.
It was a scandal in the making, and Anthony could smell that. The malicious part of him was tremendously excited to watch the scheming Malfoys, along with the stupid law, go down. The first juicy detail that he had the pleasure to print in the Prophet, which undoubtedly turned all eyes on Hermione, was her very public and very negative reaction to the Ministry's mandate. "This law is absurd! There is no way on Merlin's green earth I am marrying that thing!"she yelled in the Ministry's hall to an enormous joy of the crowd and press and to a horror of the Ministry's officials.
And that was only a beginning. The Malfoys, who at that point still didn't grasp the level of danger they put themselves in, invited their so-called future Lady to the Manor. Hermione accepted their invitation and, naturally, that meeting ended rather lamentably for the blond wizards.
However, that same historically crucial meeting became a starting point in Anthony's Prophet career. He was pleasantly surprised when he discovered that Rita Skeeter, during her many years at the Prophet, had managed to spin an enormous web of contacts. The evening Hermione Granger had her first and only rendezvous with her prospective husband and father in-law; Anthony had received a Floo call from a freelancing elf who was working at the Manor at that moment. Thanks to that call and spicy details that the elf provided, he wrote his first, lengthy article in which he revealed to the readers precisely how Hermione's encounter with Malfoys ended. Though, he should have admitted that he did ever so slightly exaggerate and tweak the facts.
In the article called "The Skirmish at the Manor" were meticulously described the kind of injures that Malfoys received during their unsuccessful negotiation with the fiery witch. Anthony's readers were particularly happy to find out that Malfoy's family healer was forced to request the healer-proctologist's help due to the specific kind of damages the blond wizards obtained. Furthermore, a vintage canvas repair specialist was called in order to take care of a gigantic hole in the portrait of Abraxas Malfoy. Anthony himself could only guess what exactly the older Malfoy had done that put his portrait at the receiving end of the young witch's wand. Probably he had drawled something abhorrent at the hot and obviously, wrong moment. It was a miracle that the Manor was still intact after Hermione unleashed her fury.
It was highly amusing that Lucius and Draco chose not to press any charges. Most likely, they didn't really want to disclose the nature of their injuries to the law enforcement. The poor blonds just lay low for a while to nurse their wounds and repair their damaged dignity. To be honest, Anthony even felt a little sorry for them, though just a tiny bit.
With the Malfoys quite marvelously taken care of, Hermione began a campaign against the odious Marriage Law. The symbol of freedom, she had all her influential friends and acquaintances at her back and ready to help. With their help, she kicked the Ministry into submission in no time. The Ministry was forced to repeal the law embarrassingly quickly.
Needless to say the "The Skirmish at the Manor" was reprinted everywhere. The Prophet was once again on the top of popularity, and Anthony became a celebrity overnight. Oh, and the proctologist's office was never in need of advertising again.
Back to the Present
The light knock at the door interrupted Anthony's trip down the memory line. He exclaimed, "Come in," and the next second on his threshold appeared the smiling and gorgeous Hermione Granger. "I hope it's alright that I brought my fiancé with me, Anthony," chirped the witch happily.
"Oh, fiancé you say? Sure, sure, it's more than fine, it's fabulous," replied Anthony. His journalistic sense once again felt a sensation in the making, and his mind was already working on the title of the article. However, the next moment he almost fell off his chair. There, in his studio, with his arm tightly wound around Hermione's waist, stood habitually smirking Draco Malfoy.
"Hello Anthony," he drawled in his usual, slightly arrogant manner.
"Draco, what a surprise! Please, sit down," muttered the journalist, all the while thinking that he obviously underestimated the Malfoy men. If nothing else, they definitely deserved a credit for their persistence and persuasiveness.
Please review, my darlings.