Chapter 6 - First Sign
The sun began to set and as a light breeze blew through the trees, Hermione shivered in the water.
"Cold?" Ron asked, and she nodded.
His hands moved away from where they rested on her back.
"Let's go in," he said, separating from her and pushing off the bottom towards the lake's edge. Hermione followed him and they quickly reached for their towels, but not before Ron managed a brief glance at Hermione. He blinked several times and tried to concentrate on drying his hair as he slipped his feet into his shoes. But he couldn't stop the flashes of what he had just seen from flying through his mind... beads of water rolling down her neck and chest, her back stretching as she raised her arms to throw the towel around her half-naked body, pink and orange rays of the setting sun glowing off her wet stomach...
They walked silently back up to the Burrow, both a bit tired from swimming. Dinner was ready when they walked through the front door into the kitchen. Mrs. Weasley was just setting out plates. She jumped slightly when Ron and Hermione entered the room, but she smiled briefly at them to acknowledge their presence.
"Smells great," Ron said as he stared into the kitchen where his mother was moving large pots of potatoes and chicken onto the counter.
"Go on and change and come down. It's all ready," Mrs. Weasley said as she continued to move around the kitchen distractedly, not really looking at Ron or Hermione. Ron caught his father's eye where he sat at the end of the table, flipping through a Daily Prophet. His father shrugged and shook his head, signifying that Ron didn't need to be worried about his mother. He figured she was still getting used to the idea of her youngest son being married...
Ron and Hermione separated at Ginny's door on the second landing so they could both change out of their bathing suits and into dry clothes. Ron met her again in on the first landing.
"You okay?" he asked, though he had no reason to. She was smiling at him, her hair even more wild than usual from their swim.
"Yes, great," she said nodding. "You?" Ron grinned.
"Great," he echoed, then he took her hand and they walked down to the kitchen together.
The first half of dinner was fairly quiet. Hermione and Ron both looked a little pinker than normal as they kept noticing people around the table chancing glances their way. It was as if they were on display but no one wanted to make it obvious that they were.
"So," Mr. Weasley started, clearing his throat, clearly trying to save Ron and Hermione from any more embarrassment. "We've got school supplies to buy for everyone soon, haven't we, Molly?"
"Yes, dear," she said, nodding.
Hermione went very still next to Ron and he glanced over at her, wondering what she was thinking. He didn't have to wonder for long.
"Mr. Weasley," she began in a small voice, "do you think it would be possible for me to see my parents before we go back to school? I know they're worried. We didn't really tell them a thing about what was happening, and now I need to explain to them..."
Mr. Weasley nodded.
"Of course, don't know why I didn't think of that," he said. "I'm sorry, Hermione. Yes, we can go any time you like."
Fred glanced at Ron who was looking extra pale all of a sudden. The idea of going to Hermione's house and telling her parents that he was now married to her... he would probably rather jump out his bedroom window. But he knew that she'd want him there, wouldn't she? After all, this was going to be really hard for her. He should be there for her.
"Hermione," he said quietly. "Do you want me to go with you?"
Hermione shrugged as she continued to eat, her face turned down.
"Well, in that case, we should all probably buy tickets to Ron's funeral now before they sell out," said George. Fred snickered.
Ginny shot Fred a stern glare. Harry looked over at Ron.
Ron felt his face getting hotter, but when he noticed that Hermione was simply staring down at her plate silently, he knew that she must feel even worse than he did about this whole conversation. And of course George had to go and make a joke out of the whole thing, as if it wasn't hard enough for Hermione to imagine facing her parents with such shocking news... And of course Fred would laugh too...
Stupid gits... Ron thought.
As Hermione continued to stare down at her plate, her face turning redder by the second, Ron glared at George across the table. George looked as if he was coming up with another line. Shut up, Ron thought as his eyes narrowed and his fists clenched involuntarily under the table. Shut up!
"George!" Mrs. Weasley suddenly jumped to her feet and rushed to George's chair. It took a moment for Ron to realize what was happening. George's eyes bulged in his head and he rubbed his tightly shut mouth with his hand. "George! Move your hand!"
George moved his hand away from his mouth as all the other Weasleys stared, shocked, at George. His lips were tightly pressed together and looked almost glued shut. Clearly, he couldn't open his mouth. He made a rather desperate sound and he moved his jaw around as if hoping he could unstick his mouth by commanding it to do so. But he was having no luck.
Mrs. Weasley reached for her wand and aimed it at George's mouth. A flash and an instant later, his lips popped apart and he sat in shock for a second, his mouth hanging open.
"Blimey," said Fred, a hint of a repressed chuckle in his tone. And then George began to grin.
"Whatever that was, we must harness its power," George said, now fully recovered.
"Who did this?" Mrs. Weasley demanded, glancing around from one of her children to the next.
"Are you okay?" Ginny asked, still looking at George, concerned.
"Just dandy," George said, grinning slightly. "Come on, who's handy work was that?"
Ron stared, completely bewildered, as George looked around the table.
"Sorry," Ron said suddenly, "uh, going to the... loo," and he got up and left the table. But he didn't stop at the loo. He continued up to his room. His mind was racing. What had just happened? One minute he had been glaring at George, wishing that he'd just shut up... wishing it...
He shook his head furiously and began to pace his room the moment he entered it. He hadn't lost control like that before, not since before Hogwarts anyway. If he had done it... if it had been his fault...
"Ron?" Hermione appeared in Ron's doorway, quickly followed by Harry. "What happened?"
"I don't know!" Ron shouted, his forehead creased as he stopped pacing and turned to face Harry and Hermione. "I..."
"Did you do that to George, mate?" Harry asked curiously.
"No!" Ron paused, thinking. "Maybe... I don't know!"
"Ron, what are you-" Hermione started, but Ron shouted again...
"I don't know what happened! One minute he was making a joke and the next..." Ron ran his hand through his hair. He felt so frustrated and confused. What was going on?
Harry stared at Ron for a moment, thinking...
"He made that joke..."
"About Ron's funeral," Hermione finished, blushing a little.
"Yeah, and then..." Harry's eyes widened. "Did you have your wand in your hand, Ron?"
Ron shook his head.
"I just..." Ron sighed. "I wanted him to shut up. He was making Hermione feel really bad! I was thinking it, shut up, shut up... and then..." Ron looked helplessly from Harry to Hermione.
"Then it just happened," Hermione said. Ron nodded. "Ron," she continued after a moment of silent thought. "I think I might know what happened." Her eyes widened as she brushed past Ron to the bedside table where Ron had replaced the marriage documents after his father had returned them earlier.
Ron watched her as she sat on the edge of his bed and flipped through the documents. Harry and Ron exchanged a slightly confused glance, but then sudden it hit Ron what she was looking for.
"You don't think... that the blood thing we did has something to do with this?" he asked hesitantly.
Hermione didn't answer right away. She continued to flip through the document, her eyebrows furrowed.
"Do you know what it says? Can you read that?" Harry asked, staring down at the rune filled pages that Hermione was looking through.
"Some of it," she said, but then suddenly her eyes widened again. "Ron," she said, looking up at him now, "remember what Bill said about you being able to control me? Well, I think this is saying-" she gestured to the page that was open on her lap "-that there is a new magic created by the marriage so that you can stop other people from helping me. Say someone saw how you were treating me-"
Ron looked horrified and interrupted.
"How I'm treating you?! I'm not-"
"I know, Ron, this is just the theory," Hermione said reassuringly. Ron didn't look completely convinced though as she continued. "If someone sympathized with my situation, they might have tried to free me or help me to escape, or at least to stop whatever abuse they thought was going on."
Harry seemed to be catching on. He nodded at Hermione as she continued.
"But because I belong to you now, Ron-"
Ron flinched. Hermione ignored him and went on.
"-if you view someone as a potential threat to what you want for me, you can... stop them."
"So you think Ron involuntarily sealed George's mouth shut because he thought George was upsetting you?" Harry asked. Hermione nodded.
"Something like that, yeah."
"But that's not what it meant, is it? That document, it means that I would be able to stop someone from protecting you, not to stop them from hurting you," Ron said.
"That's true," Hermione agreed. "That's what was intended. But at the time, no one would agree to a marriage like this unless they were planning to harm the person that they took as their wife. The wizard only wanted to marry a Muggle-born witch so that he would be able to enslave her. I don't think that the curse required them to build it in such a way that it would prevent the husband from protecting his wife. That wouldn't fit with the whole idea of the law."
"Curse?" Ron repeated, a disgusted look on his face.
"Well, technically it is a curse, Ron," Hermione said calmly. "But we aren't using it how it was meant to be used."
"I think you're right, Hermione," Harry agreed, then he looked at Ron. "How else would you have been able to do something like that to George without a wand and without speaking out loud?"
"Yeah..." Ron said, sure that they were right, but not sure that he wanted to admit that he had just used this new magic that had been created by a document that he despised the sound of, no matter what his reasons had been.
"We should test it," Hermione said.
"Test it?" Ron asked, not sure how she planned to do that.
"Yes. Harry can do something threatening and we can see how you react to it," Hermione said. But Harry shook his head furiously.
"No bloody way I'm letting Ron stick my lips together," he said seriously.
"Yeah, that's not going to work," Ron agreed.
"But we can set it up however we like, plan what you'll do when it happens. We can force it to work, and you'll know it's not real. You won't be doing anything harmful to Harry." Ron and Harry still looked skeptical. "You'll have to use your imagination a bit, Ron," Hermione added, ignoring them.
"I dunno," Ron said, glancing at Harry. Silence filled the room for a moment before Harry spokeā¦
"We'll have to find a place to do this where no one will see what we're doing. I think you'll have a hard time explaining to Ron's family why we're testing blood marriage laws on each other," Harry said. Ron stared at him.
"You sure about this, Harry?" Ron asked, still looking uncertain.
"Not really," Harry admitted. "But I trust Hermione, don't you?"
Ron nodded and smiled down at Hermione.
"Okay, we can practice in the woods. We could use the shed but we might need to spread out," Hermione said.
"I really don't like the sound of this," Ron began, "but I trust you too, Hermione, so just make sure Harry isn't going to lose a finger, and I'll do whatever you say."
Harry shivered slightly.
"Remind me not to mention Viktor Krum then..."
Ron glared at Harry.
"Oh, hell, what am I thinking?" Harry groaned.
Hermione looked away from them, trying to hide her smile.
