It was pouring. The streets of London were overflowing with water and one or two people could be seen walking through the rain. A coated man crossed in a hurry to the Grimmauld Place between number 11 and 13 and suddenly he was no more.
To normal people this would seem impossible, but a select few know the truth, this were the wizards and man didn't vanished, he just passed the wards which were protecting an old English house, making it invisible to a non magical person.
The door was opened by a red haired woman who let him in as soon as she saw him standing in the rain.
"Doge come in. The meeting is about to start."
"Thank you Molly. I have brought information from the ministry regarding the new law they just set." he explained as he took his wet coat of and went towards the kitchen.
In the room there were several people, the most notably were an old man with long white beard, a dark haired man with clothes as dark as his hair, several red haired people and a man with an artificial eye. They were some of the members The Order Of The Phoenix, a group of wizards who were fighting against a dark lord.
"Doge what do you have for us?" asked the old man also know as Dumbledore, on of the strongest wizards after Merlin and the leader of The Order.
"Well... the law of marriage has been passed." He stumbled with his words. "Pure blood wizard can from now on force any single witch into The Old Blood Marriage."
Molly was the first one to react. She gasped and her hands made their way to her mouth. "No, it can't be... The Old Blood Marriage was forbidden by The Ministry of Magic long ago." she said in a week voice. She was right, The Old Blood Marriage was a ritual used by noble families which bound a wife to her husband, making her his possession, his slave, unable to go against her husband wishes. This ritual was forbidden when the society establish woman's rights and the ones who were found practicing this ritual were sentenced to five years in the Azkaban, so it was a surprise to all present that they would accept its usage.
"I has to be his plan." said one of the red haireds, Arthur Weasley. It was clear to everyone that this law was in the favor of the pure bloods who served Voldemort, the dark lord. It seemed like the perfect opportunity to gain hostage or more people to do their biding.
"Severus do you know something about this?" Dumbledore's question was addressed to The Order's master spy, Severus Snape.
"He didn't mention anything, but he had been having secret meetings with Lucius for some time. Lucius was probably the one who was able to get enough supporters to pass this law." They knew for sure that he had enough influence and money to manage that.
"What are we going to do?" asked Molly worried. "What about my sweet little Ginevra? What about Hermione? Oh, the poor girl without some to take care of her..." Her husband, Arthur was now next to her trying to calm her before she could burst out in tears.
"Well there can be a way. " said the always wise Dumbledore. "We could marry them into The Order, this way they could be protected."
His idea sparked different reaction and chaos took over the room.
Meanwhile upstairs, one of the said girls, Hermione, was pale as a sheet of paper. She didn't mean to overhear them, but she was curious about what they were talking. They never told her or her friends, Harry and Ron, any information except the strictly necessary and sometimes it get on her nerves when they ended up in situations they had no idea about. They were practically adults in wizarding world she couldn't stand being treated like a child, but now she wishes she had not tried listing to the meeting.
She couldn't even began to think about getting married to someone. She was to young for this plus if she did get married she would chose someone she loves. It was something she should decide for herself, it wasn't someone else's choice, but the truth was that The Old Blood Marriage scared her. She read in a book about the wife's life in those times and she could say it wasn't a good time to be born a woman. They were practically slaves for their husband and Hermione wasn't about to become like that.
Hermione was lost in her thoughts so she didn't realize when Harry got next to her. He was about to ask her to join him and Ron at a game of exploring snap, but he hesitate when he saw the look on her face.
"Hermione, are you alright? You don't look too good." When she didn't answer he began to worry. "Hermi-"
"I'm fine Harry. I just need to go for a walk." her voice seemed strange to her, like it wasn't her own. She didn't realize when she got down the stairs, her body was moving without herself.
Harry went after her and grabbed her hand before she could go outside. "You can't go alone, it's too dangerous, not to mention it's raining. Let me come with you." He couldn't let one of his friends outside alone when a dark lord was lurking around.
She smiled weakly, but that smile couldn't convince even the most naive person on the planet. "I'm fine, Harry. I just need some time to sort some things out. I need to be alone. Please Harry."
He didn't know what made him let her hand go. Was it the pleading in her eyes or the desperation in her voice? He might never knew, but watching her leave slowly in the rain made him feel like some of the strings that were holding him together just broke.
Author's note:
Truth to be told I really wanted to try to write a Harry Potter fanfiction for some time so I chose the overly used marriage law idea, because I can fail at it as much as I want.
This is a fanfic so obviously I do not own the Harry Potter series.
