Chapter 6 The Conspiracy
Theodore Not was fuming.
He'd arrived promptly at the Bletchley home in Bath, only to find that Miles Bletchley and Angelina Johnson had gone off to attend a Quidditch game. Even worse, Draco Malfoy and Katie Bell had gone with them!
He tried to hold back his rage. He needed allies, yet the people he thought he could count on were not helping!
He finally tracked down Blaise, who listened politely, then declined to become involved in Theo's scheme.
"Why not?" Theo demanded. "You don't really want to marry some Gryffindor half-blood, do you?"
"I don't want to get on the wrong side of the law."
"You won't," Theo swore.
Blaise was unmoved. "Fine. Then I don't want to get on the wrong side of Potter."
"Potter's nobody! He won by sheer luck!"
"Maybe," Blaise agreed. "Point is, he did win. Just like he always wins, in the end. I intend to steer clear of him for the rest of my life, and I advise you to do the same."
Molly Weasley stared at the young couple seated at her kitchen table.
"What on earth is a croquembouche?"
"It's a kind of fancy French wedding cake," her youngest son explained, munching on one of Marietta's profiteroles. "Marietta decided to make it to go along with the other wedding cake."
"If that's okay?" Marietta asked anxiously. "Everyone always says what wonderful cakes you make, and since there's such a lot of us, I just thought…maybe…I'd like to contribute something too?"
"I don't see why not." Molly looked at the girl's eager face. "I'm not keen on these mass weddings, but it's all settled, so why not have a nice party to celebrate? Yes, this …crook…er, French cake should be just lovely!"
She smiled, Marietta beamed, and Ron helped himself to another profiterole.
Ginny Weasley walked into the Burrow and stopped short.
Every single pot and pan was out, and Molly was poring over a recipe.
"What's going on?"
"Oh, hello, dear," Molly looked up. "Marietta and I have decided to create a Viennese dessert table for the reception. Won't that be nice?"
"What reception?" Ginny frowned.
"Well, for everyone. There's you, George, Ron, and Harry. Maybe even Susan Bones and Neville Longbotton, since Susan has no family left and Augusta Longbottom hasn't fully recovered yet from the Battle. She probably won't be feeling up to it, so they may as well come here. The more the merrier."
"No! I don't want this! I'm not marrying Terry Boot!"
"But why? He seems like a nice boy," Molly protested.
"He's not Harry!" Ginny screamed, and ran from the room.
Molly sighed. Most of the others seemed to have accepted the law; only Ginny refused to contemplate it for an instant. Molly hoped her daughter would come to terms with it soon.
Theodore Nott paced the drawing room of Nott Manor in Norfolk, wracking his brain to find a solution.
He refused to give up, despite the lack of support from his former dorm mates.
He'd finally cornered Draco, only to be dismissed as abruptly as he had been by Blaise.
"I never really cared that much about blood status," Draco confided. "I mostly went along with it because I was afraid my family would be killed. When I think what it was like when Malfoy Manor was host to the Dark Lord, I can only be thankful Potter pulled it off!"
"By sheer dumb luck!"
"However he did it, he did it. So it's over now, and best not to make waves. Really Theo, Hannah Abbott's not so bad."
"I'm supposed to have Daphne Greengrass!" Theodore screamed.
"Not happening," Draco said cheerfully. "Besides, pureblood girls can be…what's the muggle term? High maintenance! Now Katie is much less demanding than Pansy ever was!"
Theodore was enraged, but Draco's comment had given him an idea.
Perhaps he'd been angling for the wrong allies? He paid a quick visit to the Ministry to discover who, if anyone, had filed the most objections to the law.
What he found had resulted in a meeting with his new co-conspirators: Pansy Parkinson, and Ginny Weasley.
"We need to find a way around this stupid law!" Pansy ranted. "Ever since I was five, I've planned to marry Draco, and I'm not settling for some half-blood instead!"
"I don't care about blood status," declared Ginny. "But Harry is mine, we're meant for each other! I can't believe that stupid Goblet chose Greengrass instead of me!"
"The Goblet of Fire is an unreliable artifact," Theodore insisted.
Ginny sighed. "A powerful one, though. We have to go along with it because it creates binding magical contracts. I don't want to die, or lose my magic."
"You won't," promised Theodore.
"Yes I will, if I don't keep to the contract." Ginny, the Tri-wizard Tournament fresh in her mind, had no doubt about that.
"She's right." Pansy slumped in her chair. "We're going to have to get married."
"But," Theo said slowly, "there's nothing to say we must stay married!"
"The law," Ginny began.
"Was instituted by the Minister of Magic," Theo interrupted. "Kingsley Shacklebolt."
"So?"
"So what if Shacklebolt was no longer Minister? If he was out of the picture, a new Minister could be appointed."
The two witches leaned forward, hanging on every word.
Theodore grinned. "I have a plan."