"I'm sorry perhaps I didn't hear you correctly. Would you kindly repeat yourself?" Gin looked panicky and furious as we sat in the drawing room with the Dark Lord, her grandmother, and both sets of our parents. Audrey was off with Aunt Bellatrix and Uncle Rodolphus. Lucky them. The Dark Lord turned around and looked at her again with a wicked smile on his face.
"I believe you heard me correctly. Your parents and I have agreed that you will marry at the end of your schooling. And you shall wed Mr. Malfoy." Her face was alight with panic. And she was furious.
"Like hell I will! I'm not going to be some obedient wife to this asshole! You didn't even bother to ask if I even like him or if there might possibly be someone else!" She was pointing at me, tears in the corners of her eyes.
"Is there?" Her grandmother, who didn't look a day over twenty-five, looked at her sympathetically.
"That's not the bloody point! The point is I would sooner drop dead than marry Draco Malfoy." I winced, wishing she wasn't so harsh on me. There could be much worse.
"Well then how awful of me not to give you another option. Let me rectify that. You will marry Draco, or you will marry Vincent Crabbe. Take your pick, because you will marry one of those two. You do not have a choice. I assure you of that Virginia." The Dark Lord's face was twisted in anger and I could see the rising disobedient look upon her face.
"My Lord, may I have a word with her in the hall?" I felt my voice jumping all over the place, but he nodded and waved us away. As soon as we got in the hall she started crying and I froze up.
"H-how could they do this to me?"
"Look you have two options."
"I have no choices, no say! How the hell could they do this to me?" She screamed at me. I shoved my hand over her mouth and held it firmly there.
"You have plenty of choices. But only if you marry me instead of Crabbe. Listen and listen well Gin. If you marry me you can choose many things. You can sleep in a separate room, you can decorate whatever you want, you can wear anything you like, and you can refuse to have sex with me. You can have friends visit, you can have pets, you can listen to any kind of music, read any literature, choose whether you want a job or not. You can do anything but cheat on me. I would probably kill both of you. And let's face it Gin. Crabbe and I are both rich. But I'm rich and handsome. And sometimes, when I'm in the right mood I even show affection.I don't think you'll get that from Crabbe. And I'm certain he'd force himself on you, which I would never do." I removed my hand and she looked as though she finally understood there was no way out.
"You are the obvious choice Draco, you don't have to convince me. I don't want to be forced into marrying anyone. You're supposed to marry for love. But it looks like we aren't. I can't believe this bull-" I pushed her to the wall and crushed my lips on hers. She gasped and I plunged my tongue into her mouth. She slowly stopped attempting to push me off, sighing into my mouth. Her hands gripped my shoulders. I licked her bottom lip and she groaned and bit my lower lip which made me growl. My fingers laced through her hair as I tilted her head to acquire better access. I drew her tongue into my mouth and I couldn't help but shake. I gave one last kiss and pulled away, still holding her to the wall.
"What the bloody hell was that about?"
"I wanted to prove that I'm much better than the alternative. And show that this can work in at least one way." I smirked, but she was still unhappy.
"How long have you known?"
"They've been talking about it since we were six. But they told me a couple weeks ago." Try a couple months ago.
"And you hid it from me."
"I tried to tell you. I hinted."
"Last night you did. I should have known."
"We have to get back to them."
"Then let me go."
"No thanks." I pressed my forehead on hers. My eyes looked into hers and my gaze flicked down to her lips. I placed one last light kiss on her lips, lingering for a long time. As I pulled away she groaned. I smirked and she frowned. She pushed me and I backed away. We had to get back into that room. We both stood before them, defiance in her stare, in her countenance. Her chin was held high.
"What have you chosen?"
"I will marry Draco. But let me make myself clear. I will not be an obedient wife."
"That's exactly what we were expecting. Which is why we chose Draco. You will be married once you graduate. You may both leave us. We have plans for the both of you." She turned quickly on her toes and exited the room and I stumbled behind her. She was basically running, and even with my longer stride it was difficult. We got out to the backyard, near the garden and she whirled around.
"I HATE YOU!" She screamed, tears streaming down her face. She started hitting my chest and I let her.
"I hate your guts Malfoy!"
"I know."
"I hope you get the plague and die!"
"I know." She continued to hit me until she broke down into tears, barely striking me at all. I put my arms around her and held her.
"How could this happen to us?"
"It's not all bad. It could be worse."
"Yeah I could be marrying Crabbe. Joy to the world. I would rather marry a muggle that I was undoubtedly in love with."
"i know." She pulled away and started walking.
"Where are you going?"
"I don't have to answer to you yet Malfoy."
"I never in my life, thought that I would be coming to you for advice." She twirled her dark, messy hair. My aunt grinned at me with her nasty teeth, lounging in the chair.
"Well I didn't ever think you'd talk to me about anything personal."
"I feel like you're the only one who will understand."
"And why is that?"
"You were married against your will." She laughed, looking at me in a very unrevealing way.
"It is always interesting to see what outsiders think of me," she cackled, "So let's assume I was forced into marriage with someone I don't fancy. What is it you want to know?"
"Why would you be angry at said person who is also being forced into marriage with you?"
"Oh Virginia Snape. Fiery one just like her mother."
"Aunt."
"Oh right. Let's pretend for a brief moment. You were just told that you had to marry someone you didn't have any romantic feelings for. No choice whatsoever. Suddenly you know that you'll have to spend everyday of the rest of your life with them. You have to wake up in the same bed to their face everyday, and all their face makes you think of was an event you resented. You would have to have sex with them, pretend to be the perfect spouse at all times. How happy can she be to wake up to your mug, everyday, until one of you dies?"
"Wow you must be miserable."
"Most days." She snickered.
"What if he wants to do that to Audrey?" Her face became serious as the grave.
"That is the only thing I will never allow the Dark Lord to take from me. He'll take my baby over my cold dead hands. She can be a hermit for all I care. She will marry for love. I will not allow her to regret her life as I do mine." She got up, grinning again.
"Good luck with her. Let her know that if she wants to talk about loveless marriages, she can come see me." My deranged aunt sauntered out of the room.
I sat quietly waiting for her. We always played wizard chess, every night, even after the ball. It was sort of a tradition I suppose. I had the game out, the pieces lined up, ready to go. At around midnight, I heard the door open. She slipped in and closed the door. She stood, looking at the door for almost a minute. She turned around, pressing her back to the door.
"I'm very late. And I'm very sorry." Her eyes were red and swollen, not a trace of makeup on her face. Her nose sniffled, sounding very clogged. Her leg was twitching nervously.
"It's ok." She sat down in her seat, the pink chair I had ordered my parents to buy when I was eleven. The only colorful thing in the room. She was in a nightgown, much like the other one I had seen her in. But blue instead of pink. I was so busy looking at her the whole time that she actually won.
"You let me win again."
"No I was too distracted. You actually won."
"Too distracted by my cleavage no doubt. I suppose you'll be seeing a lot of it over our lifetime."
"I guess so. Good thing it's some pretty good cleavage." She looked at me like she might kill me. I started to chuckle. Then her face lightened and she started to giggle. Then we both broke into uncontrollable laughter. She started to grab her sides which made me laugh harder. We hadn't laughed so much in a long time. We slowly sobered. She was still smiling at me.
"So?"
"I haven't forgiven you yet if that's what you think."
"I didn't think so."
"I've decided we can still be friends though. You are the only one who truly understands how this feels. You are my only true companion in this hell we are about to embark on together."
"It won't be all hell. The sex will be great and our kids will be gorgeous." She laughed.
"I suppose maybe that will be a constellation prize."
"If you want to talk to a woman who understands how you feel, my aunt offered."
"See she's not all evil."
"You're right just 99.9999% percent of her. I feel bad for my poor uncle Rodolphus."
"She used to be hot. I wouldn't feel too bad for him." I smiled at her.
"And I might just go talk to her tomorrow if she's not too busy."
"Good luck. I'm surprised I talked to her at all."
"She's not that scary."
"You must be braver than anyone I've ever met."
"I just feel sympathy for her."
And as I walked her to her room, I had a difficult time not giving her a kiss goodnight. She got close to me, pushed up on her toes and kissed me on the cheek.
"Goodnight future husband of mine. I'll hate you in the morning."
"I wouldn't have it any other way.