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CHAPTER 12

Her relatives said she was the most beautiful bride they had ever seen, some agreed she was even beautiful than her mother regardless of her eyes filled with sadness as she was about to cry. She looked at her reflection through the mirror, yes indeed; her friends and her stylist had done an excellent job. She was not beautiful; she was magnificent; it seemed like any man would look at her twice, but she knew one would never bother to pay attention to her. Unfortunately, that one was about to become her husband very, very soon. She felt like it was her funeral rather than her wedding, and her eyes started to glitter with tears.

"Don't cry. It will spoil your make-up."

She looked at her mother who was standing behind her and observed her carefully. Pansy was too occupied with her thoughts and never heard her arrival and now with whom she was alone in the room.

"I can't do this mother; he hates me." She sobbed.

Priscilla muttered few charms pointing her wand at her daughter's face before she spoiled her make-up. "Don't be ridiculous child, he doesn't hate you."

"Yes, he does." She replied stubbornly.

"No, he doesn't. I'm not telling you he likes you, or he thrills to have you as his wife, but he doesn't hate you.

"It seems like you are very sure about it."

"Yes, because... because, I-I spoke to him. Keep it to yourself child, your father doesn't know about it." Priscilla said very nervously.

Pansy raised her brows in surprise. "I never thought you have courage to do anything behind his back."

"Well, you are my only child, so regardless of anything I wanted to make sure you won't..." She bit her lips uncomfortably. "... you won't end up miserable like... like me..." She muttered.

"My life is already miserable; he ignores my existence and treats me like filth."

"He doesn't hate you, at least not after our little discussion but he doesn't like you either. At the moment, he is a little bit confused but he is willing to give you freedom to do anything you wished. That makes you luckier than most pure blood wives."

"Lucky? Freedom? Is that all you need from a marriage?"

"Pansy, although you had forced into a marriage just like me, you are in a position better than I." She gave her daughter a painful smile. "I was never allowed to complete my NEWT though I was a bright Ravenclaw and forced into marriage just one day after my seventeenth birthday to a notorious womaniser who was fifteen years older than I." She exhaled. "There is nothing to hide my dear; He never loves me but just lust over my body. You know, he is not a loving and caring husband but demanding and very strict. I was forced to bear a child, and I became a mother when I was barely eighteen. Not only that, I pretended, still pretending that I'm not aware of his infidelities..." She looked into her daughter's eyes. "You are lucky; you got freedom to do anything, and your husband won't be dishonest to you. At least be glad, you don't need anybody's permission to smile."

Pansy sighed. "But mother..."

"Shhhhhh, no. I'm not going to tell you it's going to be easy. He is disappointed. He is a war hero and a Quidditch star with very high expectations but now he is disappointed, disappointed to have you as his wife. He thinks you can never be a Weasley. You know, Weasleys are selfless people, and they are very close to their family members. He thinks you are stubborn, arrogant and never fitting into his family. Prove him he is wrong, show him you can be one of them."

"It's hard to change him."

"Now listen carefully, the man who is waiting for you out there doesn't like you or love you, but you can make him hate you or fall in love with you. It's solely depending on the way you are going to act. So accept the challenge and act accordingly, it's not going to be easy but it's not going to be impossible."

"I-I'll try my best..."Pansy mumbled.

"Good girl. He is not a bad man, you know. He is a true gentleman. I realised that on the day he brought you home. Just like most men in our society, he could have easily summon your elf or borrow one from his friend and asked it to take you to your room, but instead he carried you to your room and stayed with you till you fell asleep. You were holding his hand and babbling nonsense, and he didn't even take his hand away though he had the strength to do so. He is stubborn and hot-tempered, but he cares, Pansy."

"Maybe someone else had asked him to drop me at home safely." Pansy added, knowing about their friends.

"Maybe..." Priscilla shrugged. "But he didn't have to obey them plus nobody asked him to wait till you fell asleep."

"Child, are you not ready yet?"Hector Parkinson's impatient voice interrupted their conversation. "Your groom is waiting; we don't have the whole day." He added fretfully.

"I'm doing final touches Hector. Don't you think she is beautiful?" Priscilla covered her nervousness by a fake smile.

Hector grunt. "Of cause she is beautiful, she got your looks. But you need to hurry up, people are waiting."

"We are done!" Priscilla stepped away from her daughter. Pansy slowly walked to her father and placed her right hand on his left forearm.

Hector cleared his throat uneasily. "You do very beautiful child..." He said awkwardly.

"Thank you father" she replied mechanically.

Everybody was stunned by her beauty; people gasped, whooped and stared at her with wide opened mouth when she started to walk down the aisle with her father. People sincerely admired her beauty wishing her all the very best. Harry the best man, gave an encouraging smile, but her groom didn't even bother to turn around, he fixed his eyes somewhere far behind the officiant and pretended to be blind and deaf.

Ron reluctantly turned when father and daughter approached him, and Hector placed his daughters trembling hand in his. Pansy felt like she had zapped when she felt his touch. His hand was warm; warmer than she had expected though his heart was cold, colder than ice.

"Face each other. Mr. Weasley, please take your bride's hands. Tips of your wands connected, please." Officiant ordered.

Ron involuntarily secured her trembling hands in his and focused his eyes on a point far behind her petite body. She was just over five and quarter foots, and he was about six and half, so she fixed her eyes at her eye level on his broad masculine chest.

"Mr. Weasley, please repeat after me." Officiant requested. "I Ronald Bilius Weasley"

"I Ronald Bilius Weasley..." Ron muttered.

"Take Pansy Priscilla Parkinson to be my wife..."

"Take PansyPriscillaParkinson to be my wife."

"...to have and to hold from this day forward."

"...to h-have and..." he stopped and exhaled soundly. "... to hold from this day forward..."

"...for better or for worse..."

"...for better or for worse..."

"...for richer, for poorer..."

"...for richer, for poorer..."

"...in sickness and health..."

"...in sickness and health..."

"...to laugh with and cry with..."

"...to laugh with and cry with..."

"...to grow with in mind and spirit..."

"...to grow with in mind and spirit..."

"...to love and to cherish..."

Ron didn't open his mouth.

"Mr. Weasley..."

Ron pretended like he didn't hear anything.

"Mr. Weasley...?"

Harry nudged him.

"Huh...?" Ron looked at harry who pointed the officiant, and he unwillingly looked at him.

"Mr Weasley, please repeat after me... ...to love and to cherish..."

"...t-to..." He sighed. "...toloveandtocheris..." he mumbled.

"...and promise to be faithful to you..."

"...and promise to be faithful to you..."

"...as long as we shall live..."

"...as long as we shall live..."

"Now Miss Parkinson, please repeat after me."

Pansy repeated everything with a minute stutter and lack of confident. She felt Ron winced uncomfortably when she promised to love him. She knew, he thought she was not capable of loving, and she was determined to prove he was wrong.

"Now , please take the ring and repeat after me."

Ron took the ring and gently raised her hand letting her fingers rest on his.

"With this ring I thee wed: with my body I thee worship: and with all my worldly goods I thee endow..."

Just like a trained parrot, Ron repeated and put the ring on her shaky finger. Then it was Pansy's turn, and she muttered her ring-vows uncomfortably before placing the ring on her groom's ring finger. Making both of them terrified, officiant opened his mouth again.

"You may now kiss the bride..."

Nothing happened for sometime; then Pansy felt strong masculine hands cupped her delicate face. She closed her eyes when his lips slightly brushed over hers. It was not a proper kiss, but both of them extremely relieved as it ended without causing a major drama.

"Let me have the honour of presenting to all of you Mr. And Mrs. Ronald Weasley..."

Weasley! Pansy thought weakly. She was a Weasley now, the family she made fun of and contempt when she was at school. Her husband already refused to accept her as a Weasley, and she was definitely going to be rejected by his family soon. Feeling very weak and helpless, she held onto her husband's arm while they walked down.

But making her all assumptions wrong, Mrs. Molly Weasley, squeezed her with a tight embrace and warmly welcomed her to the family. The woman, whom she had despised, made fun of and criticised in her childhood, hugged her in a loving motherly way, making her even guiltier. Arthur Weasley and his sons followed Molly's steps and congratulated her. Weasley's first daughter-in-law, Beautiful French part Veela, greeted her after boys. Pansy could vaguely remember her as Tri-Wizard champion of Beauxbatons. Then there was the other foreign girl, whom she hadn't met previously. Undoubtedly, she was Adrianna the Romanian wife of the Weasley, who was working with Dragons. Audrey Weasley hugged her next who was a cheerful and very outgoing person; completely contrast to her husband Percy. Then she faced her friend, Millicent, who hugged her and gave her an encouraging smile. Finally, she was in front of Ginny Weasley, who well-come her to the family but lack of warmth than others. She clearly had doubts after been tormented by Pansy at school.

Pansy knew everybody accepted her, everybody including Hermione and Harry and also she knew, one person was never going to accept her or love her. Her husband didn't bother to say a single word to her or at least acknowledged her presence. She felt lonely, though she was surrounded by hundreds of people, she felt miserably lonely but she couldn't cry. Public meltdown had banned since she was a little girl, so she waited patiently till the departure of guests.

In the evening, after last person went home, after her mother retired to her chambers and her father and her husband went to his study with their drinks, she apparated to her new bedroom in the south wing. It was supposed to be newly wedded couple's chambers, but she knew her husband would never go to set his foot in there. With a heavy sigh, she summoned Poppy and asked it to fill the bath.

While, in the bath, Pansy cried until there were no tears left, but the heaviness of her heart didn't go away. Relaxation oils in her bath failed to achieve their targets as the tension never left, and she couldn't relax as expected. Couple of hours later she came out from her bathroom to her deserted bedroom. Knowing her husband would never go to visit her, she didn't wait for him and went to bed but sleep never came to her until way passed midnight. The big king size bed looked like mocking her, and she tossed herself countless times until she drifted off to sleep by both physical and mental weariness.

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Pansy woke up later than usual next morning but didn't get off from the bed as she was very confused and didn't know how to face the day. She was a married woman, but other than a heavy heart, a heavy finger and a husband who was avoiding her; she gained absolutely nothing from her marriage. To avoid more heartache and complications, she decided to stay away from her parents. Giving her a sudden shock, Poppy appeared in front of her.

"Good morning mistress." It greeted her.

"Ugh...g-good morning!" she replied in a hesitation.

"Poppy want to know if mistress want her breakfast in bed."

"Err... Breakfast." She muttered, turning on her side. "What about my...Err... my husband?"

"Master is up very early in the morning, well before the sun out and had his breakfast down in the kitchen before left to prac-practice. He told, he not coming for lunch."

Pansy sighed heavily. "I'll have my breakfast here."

Before Poppy left, another elf appeared in her room.

"Good morning, mistress Weasley."

Weasley! She thought bitterly. She was not young mistress Parkinson anymore; only by the cursed ring she was wearing she had become a Weasley.

"Good morning Dip, why are you here?" She questioned her parents' newest personal elf.

"Mistress and master inviting master and mistress Weasley for Dinner today."

"I don't know Dip..." She sighed anxiously. "Would you mind go and inform my husband and come back with an answer?"

"Dip is glad!" The elf squeaked happily before apparating.

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Ronald Weasley was in the locker room when unfamiliar elf appeared in front of him. He furrowed and wondered what was it doing there and whom it belonged to.

"Dip come for mistress Weasley's message." It squeaked.

"Mistress Weasley?" Ron raised his brows, thinking of Millicent as other sisters-in-law didn't own elves. He had completely forgotten he got a wife. "Isn't she at the shop?"

"No, Master. Mistress in the manor."

"Master?" He wondered how the heck he became the master of Millicent's elf.

"Yes, Master. Master and Mistress Parkinson invite Master and Mistress Weasley for dinner tonight and Mistress Weasley asked Dip to tell you."

"Oh! That mistress" He said, acidulously. "Call her 'young mistress Parkinson'. She doesn't like to be called a Weasley plus my sister-in-law's elves called her 'mistress Weasley' and I might mistake you for one of hers." He muttered a lame excuse.

"Sure Master..."

"What time they are expecting us?"

"My mistress told six thirty."

"Can you please ask young mistress Parkinson to meet me in my study at six thirty?" He asked the elf very politely.

"Dip can master..."

The elf had apparated, leaving extremely anguished sport star behind. Ron knew he couldn't avoid her always or denied her as his wife. He had been constantly followed by media more than Harry and Hermione due to his involvement in Quidditch. To avoid unnecessary scandals, he knew they had to act like a normal couple at least in front of others. He had an image to maintain, and he was not going to get it damage because he married to a foulmouthed Parkinson.

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Pansy was having her breakfast while going through 'The Daily Prophet', which was full of their wedding and hardly any other news. She was obviously stunning beautiful, and he was very handsome but there was something missing in every photograph. Lack of chemistry and coldness towards each other was well notable. She sighed heavily and tossed the paper away and tried to concentrate on something else, just before Dip apparated back with an answer.

"Master Weasley told young mistress Parkinson to meet him in his study at six thirty." It informed her.

"Young mistress Parkinson?" She rolled her eyes.

"Master Weasley asked Dip to call mistress, young mistress Parkinson because mistress don't like to be called as a Weasley and also master is not going to mistake Dip for one of his sisters -in-law's elves."

How ridiculous! Pansy burned in rage. Clearly he was trying to increase the relationship gap between them. Only thing she got from her marriage was his surname, and now he was trying to take it away from her. She turned bright red with anger and determined not to give up and insisted on fighting back. She knew he was not stupid, and he clearly knew his sisters-in-law's elves wouldn't call him master, but he gave a lame excuse not to address her in the rightful way. With a fury she summoned every elf working in the manor and their estate, even the ones who would never get a chance to meet Ron.

"For any reason, do not call me 'young mistress Parkinson'. Call me mistress Weasley. Do you all understand?" She said firmly.

"Yes Mistress." Elves replied together.

"Yes Mistress, who?" She furrowed.

"Yes, mistress Weasley,"

"...and when you mention me to my husband, refer me as 'Mistress Weasley, your wife'. In that way, he won't think you are coming from one of his sisters-in-law." She added with a victorious smile. She knew, in that way her husband was going to be reminded that he got a wife, and she was already a Weasley although he believed she was not worthy to become one of them.

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Around six thirty in the evening, Pansy apparated in front of her husband's study and softly knocked on the door. Well before she could place her hand on the door handle to open it, her husband walked out as if he was standing right behind the door, waiting for her. As usual, they avoided each other's eyes. Neither greeted the other nor tried to have a polite conversation. They both stood there as they had hit by the silencing charm. Finally, after a big sigh, Ron wrapped his strong arm around her tiny waist and apparated both of them to her parents' wing.

He hated the side-along- apparation with her. Her body was cold and rigid, and he felt like apparating with an emotionless porcelain statue. He hated the feeling but there was nothing could be done about it. She was his wife, and he had vowed to care her.

At the main wing, they were greeted by overly joyed Hector Parkinson and unreadable Priscilla Parkinson and ushered to a small family dining room. After taking their respective seats, Hector curtly nodded to his elf and fraction of a second food magically appeared on the table.

"Wedding was on every newspaper." Hector was jubilant. "It got more media attention than Granger-Malfoy wedding."

"That because neither of them are into sports." Ron replied apathetically. "Our wedding was covered mostly by sports magazines than newspapers."

"In that case, Potter-Greengrass wedding will not break your record." Hector added, hopefully.

Ron chuckled. "Well, I'm not in a competition with my friends but you never know, they might get more media attention than us as harry defeated the dark force twice in his life."

"Well, you never know." Hector shrugged. "Speaking of sports how's your training going on?"

"Not bad, we are determined to win the League cup this time." Ron replied in a sudden excitement. "But it was a quite a shock when Harpies qualified for quarter finals after beating Prides."

"Yes, even I didn't expect that, but I don't think they will able to qualify for semi-finals. Magpies, Bats, Cannons and Puddlemears are in stronger positions than them." Hector added. "Now tell me son, do you plan to go against your sister in quarter-finals?"

"No, sir. I don't. Miles Bletchley or Oliver Wood will substitute me. I'm going to sit with my family and cheer for her as this League cup is going to be her last one."

"Really? I never thought she would retire very early."

"Well, she is married and her priorities have been changed."

"Is she...is she with a baby?"

"No, not yet sir." Ron chuckled. "But soon she will be. I'm pretty sure she is giving up Quidditch to have a family of two or three kids."

"Two or three! If she will able to give more than one heir, Gregory Goyle is going to be one lucky man on earth."

"Well, she is from a big family and she always wanted to have a big family."

"Fair enough. It's very lucky that Weasleys happen to have an interesting number of off springs."

Pansy squirmed in her chair uncomfortably, and Ron realised it was the time to change the topic before Hector drag them to an embarrassing situation.

"So are you going to be present at every Cannons match?"

"Yes, of cause, I'll b e there to cheer my son-in-law..." He said enthusiastically then gave a stern look at his daughter who was slowly having her dinner. "Child, I think you should attend every game of your husband. It's your duty to support him."

Pansy looked at her mother helplessly.

"No, that's alright Hector." Ron said promptly. "She doesn't enjoy Quidditch, so there's no need to force her. She has freedom to do whatever she likes."

"Freedom? She is your wife and her duty is to follow your orders without a fuss."

"I do not wish to control her sir; I've given her freedom and hope she will use it wisely."

Hector shook his head in disbelief. "Child, I order you to attend your husband's matches. Now speak up and let me know what you intend to do."

"Father, I'll attend every game of my husband" She promised mechanically.

Ron sighed. Hereafter, he needed to learn to tolerate his wretched wife presence at his games, and he was positive that she would never bring any good luck. Hector noticed the sudden change in Ron, and he looked at his son-in-law with a mischievous grin.

"You might not wish to see your wife at your game. After all why do you want to see her when you have surrounded by your female fans whom willing to keep you occupied in a pleasurable way."

Ron nearly choked on his food and turned very red with embarrassment. "Errr... Hector, I don't take any advantages of my fans..." He muttered.

Hector Parkinson Chortled. "Come on son, men got needs that cannot be fulfilled by a single woman, so you are allow to get them satisfied by any females other than your wife."

Ron stared at his father-in-law in wide opened eyes. He couldn't believe his ears; his father-in-law was encouraging him to stray. He was asking Ron to be unfaithful to his own child, his only daughter. What kind of father was he? Ron looked at two females sitting in the table; neither of them appeared to be offended by the head of the family's words. Parkinson matriarch was concentrating on her dinner with a blank face and other than a slight lip quirk; the young witch didn't show any emotions at all. Ron was angry, very angry with his wife and his mother-in-law who didn't even bother to stand up for their rights. They were just sitting like two porcelain dolls lack of feelings and warmth. Ron missed his brown eyed angel badly, who was an opened book when it came to emotions. She was lively, livelier than his wife showing happiness, love, hope, surprise even anger, fear, sadness and frustration. When the Marriage law had passed, he secretly wished to be paired with her. Him being a pureblood and her being a muggle born, it didn't seem impossible at that time but when the ministry did an amendment and categorised him under blood traitors, his last hope vanished away leaving him with depression. She was his reason to be happy but was taken away from him and replaced with a cold hearted stick figure. His wife was like a dementor who siphoned out his happiness and left him in misery, but that didn't give him a licence to be strayed.

"I do not wish to be unfaithful to my wife, sir" He replied in annoyance.

"No harm is done by fulfilling your desire the way you want if you wife is incapable of..."

"Sir, we are humans not animals..."Ron didn't let him complete. "We got brains and we can distinguish right from wrong and regardless of anything we can control our feelings in order to do the right thing rather than get controlled by our feelings." He said firmly, leaving Hector Parkinson speechless. "Again sir, I have vowed to be faithful to my wife and I never intend to be dishonest to her." He added quickly before focusing on his plate, but Hector's startled look, Priscilla's twinkling eyes and his wife's grateful smile never went unnoticed to him.

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I need to write another chapter on Ron and Pansy, but there are reviews asking about Harry and Daphne. So I thought of writing HP/DG in the next chapter and going back to RW/PP later...

Thank you very much for reading. Please review... Thank you again...