Everyone had gone right down to business when Hermione had arrived at Wright Manor. Two house elves had gone to Diagon Alley to buy Hermione a new set of clothes, while another one had gone to fetch Lady Wright. Many house elves had apparated and disapparated out of the living room and they scampered around, rushing to finish their duties. Hermione sat and watched guiltily as the house elves ran around to meet their masters' whims and needs.
Willa sat beside Hermione on the comfortable couch as Hermione looked at the entire parlor in admiration. The ceiling was high and dome shaped as if in a cathedral. The walls were a dusty blue and lined with portraits and various shelves that held flower vases and books and pictures. The couch was pale white with golden trimmings, and across from it there were two arm chairs of the same pattern. It was so simple, nothing like Hermione would have thought to be in such a large mansion. The mood of the house was quite dull, and an aura of gray had seemed to emanate from everything in it. But outside the birds chirped and fluttered around the wide windows, giving background music to Hermione's observations.
Willa and Hermione smelled Lady Wright before they saw her. The smell of decaying flesh had filled the room, wafting around the two. Hermione almost gagged had she not looked up and seen Lady Wright. Lady Wright had pale white skin with frown lines on her forehead, but smile lines around her mouth. She had dark brown eyes, ones that resembled coal, and a pointed nose. Her hair was golden brown and fell short to her shoulders in pin-straight locks. She looked about fifty, and she wore a casual long blue dress. "Hello, who might you be?" she said. Lady Wright spoke with a firm voice that showed that she was not in the mood for time wasting.
"I am Willa Shake," Willa said after taking a shaky breath. "I'm an auror from the Ministry and I've brought the marriage certificates for Sir Blake Wright."
"And you?" this time Lady Wright addressed Hermione.
"Hermione Granger," she responded tensely. This was her mother in-law.
Lady Wright eyed the two suspiciously before moving to one of the sofa chairs across from them. She felt for her wand to make sure it was tucked into her boot once she sat down before speaking, "Blake isn't here right now, but I'm sure it wouldn't be too much of a hassle for you to return another day. I think it would be easier to return with the wife, as well, to speed things up."
Willa chuckled and gestured to Hermione. "This is the wife. Hermione Granger Wright," she responded, adding the name for good measure.
Lady Wright's eyes widened slightly as she scrutinized Hermione for a few seconds before responding simply: "That cannot be my son's wife." Her nonchalant shrug that followed afterwards showed how much she believed herself.
Hermione glared at Lady Wright. "What is wrong with me?" she challenged. She was never arrogant but she wasn't as insecure as some people may think she was. She was Hermione Granger and she knew that even now her name wasn't very well known, but she knew she was worth something, and for this woman to think that she wasn't even good enough to marry her death eater son? She was offended!
"You're a mudblood traitor," she hissed, her shiny white teeth baring.
Hermione gaped at the sudden hostility from the beautiful older woman before her. She had expected no less from a death eater; but the way her face had contorted into something that was so inhuman that it shocked Hermione. Hermione's mind started reeling with thoughts. This woman was not a human! There was something else in her blood, something that was evil and stronger than any human.
"I'll have you know-" Hermione began, standing up from her seat and pointing a finger at Lady Wright.
Willa pulled Hermione down with her and cast a silencing charm on her before she would cause a fight. Willa smiled apologetically at Lady Wright and pulled out Hermione's file to show to her. "She is a, er, mudblood," she used the word testily, since she didn't like it either, "but look at her achievements, her education and talents. She has quite valuable characteristics that, if combined with Sir Blake's, would create a beautiful child that would prove most useful to the King." Willa wasn't fond of the way she was able to lie her way out of these types of things, but it came in handy sometimes.
"Who called for this marriage?" Lady Wright demanded, pulling the file from Willa's hands and flipping through the various pages.
"The King himself," Willa responded.
Lady Wright gave Hermione a hostile glare. "You don't deserve my son."
Willa removed the silencing spell from Hermione. Hermione narrowed her eyes at Lady Wright and said, "I do believe it's the other way around." She let her eyes roam Lady Wright's entire body, searching for the place where she could have put her wand, and her eyes closed in on the end of a long elm wand sticking out of her boot.
Willa coughed uncomfortably and Lady Wright directed her gaze to the auror. "How dare you bring this filth into my home!" she shrieked, whipping her wand out and pointing it at the two. Hermione and Willa had their wands pointed back at Lady Wright, and she wondered for the first time all day whether Willa and Hermione were on the same side.
"Mum?"
The three women snapped out of the angry haze and looked at the doorway. Lady Wright lowered her wand immediately and rushed to her son, hugging him tightly and kissing his hair. Hermione shied away towards Willa as she realized that this was her husband-to-be. He stared at the two women warily, poising his wand at them beside his mother. He had his mother's dark eyes, with golden brown hair that was pushed back with the sides of his head shaved. He was tall with slightly muscular arms. He wore an entirely black suit, complete with a tie and cuff links, and a brief case he placed on the floor. "Who are you and what business do you have here?" he demanded.
Hermione kept her wand poised as she looked at Willa nervously, expecting her to answer. "We're here to draw up the paperwork," Willa responded shakily.
"What paperwork?" his voice was firm.
"For your marriage."
Blake's surprised expression fell to a knowing smile. "Ah, yeah, the marriage, I almost forgot about that."
"You knew of this?" Lady Wright gasped.
"The King spoke to me about it one day at work," he said nonchalantly, strolling over to the tray of tea that was on the coffee table. "He told me that he found a wife for me to marry and that we're supposed to have a son for him. It was kinda weird, but, I figured I shouldn't question it."
"Are you really that comfortable with some man controlling your future like that?" Hermione demanded. As she watched Blake eat the tiny pastries that were on a plate and sip his tea, she was reminded too much of Ron and how he could eat anytime, anywhere. She didn't like how much he was beginning to remind him of her, and so soon after meeting him.
"How dare you speak of the King like that, you filthy mudblood!" Lady Wright howled, readying herself to shoot a curse at Hermione.
Blake walked over to his mother and placed a comforting hand on her lower back and used the other to lower her wand. "I would really like it if you didn't point your wand at my wife," he said, winking at Hermione. Now he was beginning to remind her of McLaggen, she noticed with disgust.
Lady Wright stared wide-eyed at her son as she tried to fathom why he would betray her and embarrass her like that in front of their subordinates. "She's a mudblood and a traitor. She was just released from Azkaban! She is a criminal!"
"As am I, Mother," Blake responded, laughing. He didn't enjoy watching his mother plead with him this way but he knew that it would be good for the family if he married her and it would please the King. No one could afford to be on the King's bad side these days. "You really have no say in this," he clarified, looking his mother dead in the eye. She stared back at him, noticing how much he looked like his father. She searched his mind to see if he was bluffing, did he have a secret plan? She lowered her eyes embarrassingly as she realized he didn't, he was serious. She had no say in this, her baby was a grown man now.
"Besides we can't let a pretty face like yours be put to waste in Azkaban, can we?" he said to Hermione. He took her hand and kissed it, and she awkwardly pulled it back to her side.
Hermione cleared her throat uncomfortably. She barely had a plan, all she knew was that she had to play along for the time being, and after a few days or even weeks if necessary she would figure out a way out. She had to bide her time and win their trust before she could have a chance at leaving.
She looked up at the farthest corner of the room and imagined seeing Ron and Harry standing there, smiling at her. She tried picturing them without the blood and bruises that they had during the war, but she couldn't. She tore her eyes away from two of the most beautiful boys that she's come to know, and placed her gaze on Blake. "I'm looking forward to becoming a part of your family," she said hoarsely, her voice just barely above a whisper.
"Excuse me, Sir Blake? Would you mind signing a few papers so that I can leave?" Willa asked. Blake averted his gaze from Hermione and nodded consent. He signed his signature besides Hermione's on the marriage certificate and asked for his mother to sign as a witness. Lady Wright turned her head away from her son in disgust and marched out of the living room before disapparating. Blake rolled his eyes before forging his mother's signature, with surprising easiness.
He insisted on showing Hermione to her bedroom and added that they would, in fact, be sharing a bedroom. "Since that's what married couples do," he added, giggling awkwardly at his joke. Hermione tried to hide her disgust as she looked at the large bed that they were doomed to share. She suddenly felt him too close behind her as he pressed himself into her. "Lovely things will happen here," he whispered in her ear, gesturing towards the bed. Hermione started to walk around the room, pretending to inspect it, but in reality she was just trying to get away from Blake. It had three wooden dressers and a woman's vanity with a mirror and stool; a spacious bathroom equipped with a large porcelain tub and toilet, and two sinks and countless fluffy towels; and the walls were a dark comforting blue with large circular windows that had no curtains.
"Where exactly is this manor?" Hermione asked, looking outside the window.
"We're on the south coast of England, in South Essex, just outside of town," Blake answered easily.
Blake came up closely behind Hermione once again and placed one hand against the window pane and another on her arm, keeping her between him and the window. She scowled out the window at the beautiful view that showed the sea as she felt his carnivorous breath on her neck. She held her breath to keep from cursing the wits out of this idiot, and instead retreated back to her thoughts.
Blake was a criminal, that much was for sure. He was good looking and he worked at the Ministry under the King, meaning he had quite an influence in the government. He was smart and clever, and he had some type of control over his Mother that was indescribable . . . Also, with the hungry way he had begun to touch and look at Hermione the second he first met her she knew that nights in bed with him would be almost unbearable. He was the typically glamorized, spoiled death eater - and also, she added begrudgingly, her husband.
'I hate it here already', she thought. Everything was too big and the portraits were all nasty towards her and sneered at her when she walked by them. The house elves worked too hard, there was too much food, too much pampering! They didn't have to work for anything in this world of their's and she couldn't help but feel enraged by this. Hermione was used to being able to use her drive of determination, and now, she was beginning to feel like she wouldn't even need it anymore.
This was not what marriage was supposed to be! Where was the lovely kitchen where she cooked, the kids' bedrooms, the bookshelves filled with lovely books, everything that she had ever dreamed of in her future? Where was it? Where did those dreams go? She couldn't achieve that here, there was no sunshine, and no happiness here for a real family to work.
But no, she could still accomplish those dreams. She could still live with a loving husband and kids if she really tried to get out of here. She had to accomplish this not only for herself but for everyone; she felt that she owed this much for them since they tried so hard. She felt the weight of their dead souls on her shoulders, and she was not going to let them down at the hand of a death eater.
