Chapter 54
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Hadrian, Tim and Hermione chatted about books and new spells they'd come across in the last few years. Of course, Hadrian had a lot more spells to talk about, the spells that weren't exactly new but also those that had been banned in Britain for rear of abuse and those invented and included in new books by witches or wizards widely known muggleborn or espousing radical ideas of equality that the British wizarding world had dismissed. Britain actually imported very few books from anywhere but Europe so Hadrian had several to loan to Hermione that she'd never even heard of or seen referenced. Ron was starting to calm down though he was also angry about being ignored for so long now too, when Rose woke form her morning nap.
With his daughter in the room Ron made more of an effort to calm himself and tapped the table. Hadrian lifted the silencing charm but left the other spells in place.
Tim picked up the paper and decided this was a fine time to skip down a couple of vows and read out the one about his temper. "I vow never to deliberately hurt my children through my actions or my words no matter how angry I am."
Ron's face turned red but none of them were sure if it was in shame or anger that Hermione thought she needed a vow like that. He didn't say anything and after a moment Tim went on. "I vow not to let my pride be more important to me than you and our children."
Again, Ron didn't reply.
"I'm taking your silence as an agreement to these vows being included" Hadrian stated.
"I vow to always let my children know how much I love them" Tim read.
"I don't need a vow to do that" Ron protested.
"Maybe not, but in that case it won't matter if you make it" Hadrian said writing the vow on the agreed on list, rewording it into the first person format required for the ritual.
"I vow to try to understand the effects my orders have on you and to feel the emotional pain they cause" Tim read.
"That one is not negotiable" Hadrian said before Ron could reply. "You never could have used Hermione's vow to obey you to abuse her like you have if you tried to understand what you were doing."
"I never abused my wife" Ron argued.
"You forced Hermione to give up a job she loved and stay home alone, she has a child she didn't feel ready to have and you live in relative poverty because you refused to allow her to return to work outside the home. You tell her who she can talk to, how she's allowed to spend her time and even sometimes what she's allowed to think. Hermione spends all day brewing potions for the twins to afford to put food on the table and you come home and expect her to do all the cooking and cleaning. Have you ever changed even one nappy, or given Rose a bath or put her to bed or cleaned the kitchen so she could put her feet up and have a rest when she's clearly exhausted? Then at the end of the day when she's too tired after looking after you and your pride all day to want to do anything but fall asleep you demand sex and get upset with her for not being as into it as you are" Hadrian listed all the ways he felt Hermione was being abused in her marriage. "Hermione is far more a slave to you than any of my house elves are to me. I honestly wouldn't have a problem making any of those vows, but then none of them would change my life or the way I treat my family."
He was lying a little, he would demand the vow about fidelity be reworded to eliminate consequences he didn't think either of them had considered but he wouldn't have trouble making a vow that fulfilled Hermione's intention.
"Okay I'll do it but I want Hermione to make some more vows too" Ron said furiously.
"I will not!" Hermione yelled furiously. "The vows I already made trap me more than enough Ronald Weasley!"
"You'll have to for the ritual to work" Hadrian said. "But the four of us will discuss what you and Ron want and try to foresee all the possible consequences just as we're doing for Ron's new vows."
Hermione glared at him. "You didn't tell me that!" She exclaimed.
"I thought you'd read through the ritual. For it to work you both have to make promises to each other. I think it is more powerful if both people make the same vows to each other like I did with my marriage but it should still work. I'm not going to force you to go through the ritual if you change your mind. I'm just trying to help you" Hadrian said slowly.
"We can come back tomorrow if you want time to think it over" Tim offered.
"That's a good idea. We'll see you at ten o'clock. And Ron, remember that Hermione as well as the two of us will have final approval on the vows she has to make, so try to be reasonable. You've already put her in a terrible situation and I'm not going to risk making it worse" Hadrian said getting up. "Hermione, you might want to come up with some suggestions for vows for yourself and Tim and I will think about some suggestions as well."
"Do we need to make the same number of vows?" Hermione asked.
"The ritual doesn't say but I think it will be best, unless you can find more information about it" Hadrian replied. "I can't believe you didn't even read the ritual and look at all the possible consequences! That's what got you into this mess in the first place."
"I still have access to the ministry library and I could ask Professor McGonagall if I can search the Hogwarts library. I've never seem this ritual before but I never really researched bonding rituals" Hermione started to plan.
"I doubt you'd find any mention of it in the Hogwarts library" Hadrian said. "Not even in the restricted section."
"It's that dark?" Ron asked furiously.
"It's not dark at all" Hadrian replied. "But can you imagine what a mess it could make if students were aware of the ritual. Especially among the purebloods who fall in love with someone other than their betrothed."
"Giggly silly girls like Romilda Vane would think it incredibly romantic to marry their boyfriend" Hermione realised.
"Or Fred and George could have used it as a prank" Ron suggested.
"I think your brothers would have had more sense" Hermione argued.
"They may have experimented to try and alter the ritual though" Hadrian replied.
Hermione shuddered. "There might be something in the headmaster's private library" she suggested. "And Professor McGonagall should be made aware of the ritual so she can ward against it somehow or know to look for those particular rune circles."
Tim laughed. "How are you and Hadrian such good friends? When he found this ritual one of his first thoughts was to send it to the students to cause chaos with and your first thought about that was to prevent it."
Ron laughed too.
"You didn't!" Hermione exclaimed in horror.
"I didn't actually send it. I'm not that irresponsible, not to mention I couldn't work out who to send it too. Though Colin and Dennis Creevey's little brother is a seventh year isn't he?" Hadrian asked laughing.
"I hardly think he'd trust anything you sent him" Hermione replied sternly.
Hadrian sobered immediately. "They blame me for their older brother's death" He explained quietly to Tim. "He was too young to be in the battle but when we evacuated the students he somehow stayed behind to fight. He had this huge fan crush on me. That's why he stayed."
"That's not the only reason Harry. When all was said and done, he was a muggleborn. If you hadn't won he'd be dead anyway, if it were me I'd have preferred to die fighting for freedom than to spend months running and hiding and probably being hunted down and executed" Hermione said gently.
-o0o-
"I still think that Ron is getting off easily" Tim commented when he and Hadrian were alone. He hadn't said much when Ron and Hermione were present as Ron automatically argued with every suggestion he made.
"No Hermione managed to hide quite a sting in those vows, it will definitely come back to bite him" Hadrian said smirking.
"Oh?" Tim asked.
"I vow to be faithful to my wife Hermione Jane in thought and in word and in deed" Hadrian recited, chuckling.
"Yeah so he won't be able to cheat on her, that just evens things up, Hermione vowed to love him forsaking all others" Tim said missing the point.
"Yeah and we could have had Ron vow to forsake all others too, but instead Hermione wants him to vow to be faithful in thoughts and words as well as deeds. He not only won't be able to cheat, he won't be able to even think or fantasise about anyone but Hermione, he won't be able to flirt or idly chat up a girl or talk about other women with his mates, hell he won't even be able to masturbate without picturing Hermione in his mind, it's even possible magic will decide that he won't be able to get an erection unless Hermione is with him and he's concentrating on her."
Tim laughed. "Add that to the vow to learn how to give her an orgasm every time his sexual habits are going to be completely altered."
"He deserves it. I doubt he makes the effort to make sure she orgasms after him if he doesn't try to get her off first. No wonder he's having to order her to have sex with him" Hadrian said disgustedly.
"So, what you're saying is that he won't be able to get it up without her and then when he's with her he won't be able to finish unless she does and he has no idea how to get her off. He's going to be homicidal after a week of that" Tim said giggling.
"Hopefully he'll remember to ask Hermione for help" Hadrian replied chuckling.
"We could send him some literature to help" Tim suggested snidely.
"Yeah, I certainly never saw anything like that in the wizarding world. Even 'play wizard' is pretty ordinary" Hadrian agreed.
"I'm surprised they have a magazine like that at all from some of the things you've said" Tim replied.
"Yeah well I guarantee 90% of the witches in it are muggleborns who are struggling to earn a living because of the prejudice against them and/or trying to earn enough money to go back to school and get their GED so they can get a decent job in the nonmagical world" Hadrian said. "Problem is they're just proving the blood purists right, that they are less respectable than other witches."
"Can you do anything about it?" Tim asked.
Hadrian shrugged, "I offered to pay for Hermione and another muggleborn friend to go to university but they both turned me down. I couldn't really help too many witches when I lived here because most of them were too suspicious of what benefits I might ask in return. 'The Daily Prophet' didn't help by insinuating I was trying to start my own harem. I'd happily try to do something anonymously; the problem is contacting them without insulting them or making them feel I'm supporting the pureblood agenda by paying them to leave the British Wizarding World."
"You could ask Hermione to help if she proves trustworthy after the ritual stops her from having to do and think whatever Ron says" Tim suggested, also subtly reminding Hadrian not to get his hopes of getting his friend back up too high. They might simply not get along even without Ron magically influencing her.
"Yeah but though the Weasleys are pretty much broke, they're still a prominent pureblood family. She might have trouble being taken seriously. I'd ask Dean except for the fact he was under Ginny's thrall last time I saw him and he wouldn't trust me."
"You nearly need one of the teachers at the school to pass on information about it" Tim suggested.
"I'll approach a couple of them but I doubt they will. In fact, it would be better if they have the information about the discrimination they'll face as adults to the fifth years once you've passed your OWLS in fifth year you're allowed to keep your wand if you leave but the school needs the tuition money the muggleborns bring in" Hadrian said.
"They should tell the parents before they even make the decision to send them to magical school" Tim replied. "I don't approve of the choice Mom and Dad made for me but at eleven the kids would be old enough to get a say in it."
"Unfortunately, it doesn't work that way. In Britain, parents who refuse to send their muggleborn children to Hogwarts are spelled to change their minds" Hadrian said. "They don't have a choice."
"The parents would resent that. Does anyone check that they're not taking it out on the children?" Tim asked.
"It was one of the things I've asked Kingsley to organise to start doing as standard practice as soon as children show signs of accidental magic" Hadrian replied.
"Is that what happens in America? I remember meeting a wizard FBI agent on that missing child case just after Rosie was born" Tim said.
"Yeah especially in areas where there's a lot of strict religious followers who might think magic is a sigh of possession by the devil. You wouldn't believe some of the stories coming out of those communities. Of course, the way some of them bring up children almost qualifies as abuse too."
"What happens then?" Tim asked.
"The family are encouraged to send their child away for a cure, in actual fact they're taken and adopted into a magical family. If they can prove all the children are being abused they might stage a disaster like a house fire and tell the parents the children were killed and the children that the parents were killed. A little magical mind healing and the children can be relocated and adopted" Hadrian said.
"You mean put into the foster system?" Tim said concerned.
"No, the wizarding world values children more than that. Most of them are adopted outright immediately. Blood adopted even if they want" Hadrian replied.
"Kingsley's trying to set up a similar program here but it looks like he might have to have the kids sent to Australia or America because the only witches and wizards who want to adopt a muggleborn are muggleborn themselves and the wizard adoption agency is being obstructive to muggleborns."
"Could Kingsley or Neville find someone to help find the muggleborns that need help to leave?" Tim suggested. "Or could we just ask Hannah to gossip about it and spread the word that way?"
Hadrian laughed, "That would work and the goblins might be willing to run the financial end. I'll make plans in the morning."
"Why are you doing all this for Hermione?" Tim asked curiously. "I know she'd your friend but she hasn't exactly been a very good friend for years now."
"Yeah I know she hasn't, but I don't know how much of that was her marriage vows" Hadrian said thoughtfully. "And I feel guilty for abandoning her to the Weasley family."
"Would she have come with you when you left if you'd asked her to?" Tim asked.
"No and she wouldn't have kept it a secret from Ron if she did. She loved her job too much and she loved Ron. Even after we found the potion in the cupboard keyed to make her like him as a teenager she thought she was safe with him. She did agree to have herself tested and the healers told her she hadn't been potioned since the end of the war and even before that it was an attraction potion, 'it would only give her a bit of a crush'" Hadrian finished pulling a face of disgust at the healer's acceptance of his friend being given even an attraction draught.
"Was she a good friend right up until her marriage?" Tim asked.
Hadrian thought for a minute. "She was a great friend right up until I left England and I was encouraged not to come back until things settled down with the Weasleys so I only went to visit Teddy and didn't see her again until the wedding."
Tim nodded, "do you want to take Teddy out sightseeing?" he asked drawing Tim in to kiss him passionately.
"Maybe to the zoo. He's a bit young to appreciate the castle or changing of the guard, the kind of sightseeing you'd like to do" Hadrian replied.
"The zoo is fine" Tim laughed. They packed up a bag of snacks and the shrunken stroller and headed for the London Zoo for an afternoon. Teddy loved it and his wholesome delight was exactly what Hadrian and Tim needed after a morning negotiating with his former best friends. As the sun set they carried an exhausted little boy and his sleeping baby sister back to the hotel and handed them over to Tollie, ordering room service and enjoying some adult time alone.
-o0o-
Tim and Hadrian could hear arguing from Ron and Hermione's flat as they approached the next morning. Tim grimaced at the idea of walking in on that but Hadrian cast an eavesdropping charm and was relieved to hear them arguing about the vows Hermione wanted to add to the ones Ron had agreed to the day before. He banged on the door and Hermione opened it looking weary.
"Would you like us to come back after lunch?" Tim asked politely.
"No come in and let's get this over with. If you give him more time, then Ron is just going to continue to yell the same arguments over and over as if repetition and volume will make him right. Tea?"
"No thanks Hermione" Hadrian declined.
"No thank you" Tim declined as well. They came in and sat at the kitchen table.
"Before we start Ron, I want you to order Hermione to tell us honestly what she is thinking and feeling about these vows no matter what you've told her in the past" Hadrian ordered.
"I thought you didn't like me ordering her to do stuff? Isn't that what this is all about?" Ron asked confused. "Unless you're just jealous because she's my wife" he accused.
"Ron, I love Hermione like a sister, there's never been anything between us" Hadrian replied.
"What are you doing making him give me orders!" Hermione demanded.
"I just need him to do this so I know you can actually speak freely because this order will counteract any orders he may have given you before we arrived" Hadrian explained. "Think about it Hermione, you want to be able to make clearheaded decisions and there is nothing in this order that you don't want to do."
"He didn't" Hermione protested.
"And you'd have to say that if he told you to" Tim said gently. "Hades and I have no way to know that truth other than Ron making this order, unless you'd both like to take a truth serum."
Ron scowled but gave the order and the other two could see Hermione relax.
"So what vows did you come up with?" Hadrian asked.
"Well you said it would be best to make some of the same vows so these are the one's Ron agreed to yesterday that I would be happy to make" Hermione said reading them out. "I vow to listen to Ronald Bilius and respect his opinions. I vow to always let my children know how much I love them. I vow not to let my pride be more important to me than you and our children. I vow never to deliberately hurt my children through my actions or my words no matter how angry I am."
"That's a good start. Did you think of anything you want Hermione to vow Ron?" Hadrian asked his former best mate.
"I vow to act in the best interests of our family, particularly Rose Hermione and any other children we may have in the future" Ron read out.
"Yes that would also be a good vow for both of you" Hadrian said writing it down. Ron frowned but couldn't protest since the vow was his idea.
"I vow to cook better meals" Ron read.
Tim laughed, "That's not necessarily possible, maybe Hermione could vow to try to learn to cook better, but at the moment she really doesn't have the time to take a class or plan and cook elaborate meals."
"She doesn't even try" Ron said.
"I vow not to deliberately cook badly or destroy the food" Hermione recited as she wrote, does that make you happy.
Harry laughed. "Have you been?" he asked.
"Sometimes when I'm really furious with him, but most of the time I'm just too busy trying to cook dinner, look after Rose and hurrying to finish off the last of that day's potions before Fred or George come to collect them. Dinner gets overcooked while I'm distracted."
"I vow to take the best care that I possibly can of my children" Ron read.
"I have no trouble with vowing that, but I do take the best care I can with the time I have. Brewing potions puts food on the table for all of us" Hermione said seriously.
"I vow to stop calling Ronald Billius, Ronald and to call him by the name he prefers" Ron read.
Hadrian grinned, "Petty but functional" he said writing it down. "That would be an easy vow to have you mirror Hermione, what do you say do you want to force him to atop calling you 'Mione and Herms?"
"Yes please" Hermione replied quickly and Hadrian wrote that down. "I vow to stop calling Hermione Jane, Mione or Herms or any other ridiculous shortening of her name, and to call her by the name she prefers."
"Is that all?" Hadrian asked.
"Isn't it enough?" Hermione asked affronted.
"That's all the ones she didn't refuse to vow" Ron said sulkily.
"No Hermione the ritual would work better with an even number of vows and Ron currently has fifteen and you only have nine" Tim replied. "So we need another six, you could repeat the vows you've already made vowing to love honour and obey and to forsake all others. That could be reworded to four vows but we still need two more or you could remove two vows from Ron's list."
"You could remove the vow not to give any orders you find humiliating since it's pretty much covered in the vow only to give you orders that are in your best interests" Hadrian suggested.
"If she vowed to find Ron sexually attractive, would that increase her sex drive?" Tim asked.
"I don't know, but it might help" Hadrian said.
"Or strain my magic if I couldn't do it" Hermione snapped.
"You could vow to try harder to find him sexually attractive" Tim suggested. "It would help your marriage if you did."
"Or you could use one of the vows you crossed out" Ron said shoving the list at Hadrian. He read through it quickly wincing at some of the suggestions.
"Ron I'm trying to Get Hermione out of the prison she's trapped in and make things better between you so you can have a happy marriage, not give you weapons to use against Hermione" Harry said frustrated. "I can't ask her to make any of these vows."
"We'll think of another vow Harry, don't worry about it" Hermione said. "Hopefully two because I really want to keep the vow stopping him from humiliating me. We don't need your help."
"Are you sure, because that didn't sound like friendly conversation when we arrived" Hadrian replied.
Hermione glared at him. "Set up the ritual space and let us worry about finalising the vows."
"Okay but I am going to check that you're acting on your own free will before the ritual" Hadrian replied already planning how to do that. Making Ron order her to think and act for herself wouldn't work again because Ron could order her to ignore all orders given in Hadrian's presence. Though he wasn't entirely sure Ron would think of that, he didn't want to take the risk.
"The vows need to be worded into the first person, you and Ron and making these vows directly to each other not to me or anyone else" Hadrian said, more than a little concerned that Hermione didn't already know that. She obviously still hadn't read through the information he'd given her on the ritual properly which was most unlike the Hermione he knew. Especially since she'd got into this mess by not researching magical weddings in the first place. He began to wonder if there was something stopping her from researching it.
-o0o-
They could hear the argument start up again as they walked away from the flat.
"I'm glad to be away from that" Tim said.
"They argued like that all the time in school too. It got better for a while after they got together. Everyone thought it was their way of flirting but it's bloody annoying to be in the middle of their fights all the time" Hadrian said.
"It sounds like they are just incompatible" Tim commented.
"Yeah but with the vows the only way Hermione can leave him is to disappear well enough that he can't find her, even with owl post so he can't order her back to him. She'd also have to leave her Rose behind because there're ways to track blood family. Even then she can't be with anyone else while he's alive and she can't kill him or arrange someone else to do it."
"So these new vows really are her only hope of a successful relationship" Tim said resignedly. "I hope she's grateful."
"I doubt she is at the moment but hopefully she will be if it works" Hadrian replied.
"You think it might not?" Tim asked.
"The vows will put limits on what orders Ron can give her but she'll still resent him being able to give her any orders and things like in her best interest are open to Ron's interpretation. If he's smart enough to realise that and cunning enough to convince himself that doing what Ron wants is in Hermione's and/or Rose's best interests, then that vow wont limit him anywhere near as much as Hermione hopes it will" Hadrian replied. Hermione is right to want to leave in the vow stopping him from ordering her to humiliate herself."
A/N: Thank you to Kourtney Uzu Yato, Locket1, DS2010, Rori Potter, xDarklightx, Fandommember, madnessdownunder2, lilly-flower15, acherongoddess, Kaorilamb, charm13insomnia, julschristine975, jayswing96, buterflypuss, ElysiumPhoenix, serenityselena, Firehedgehog, dobbys-stinger, .9, lia (Guest), Reader Ethiriel, gabrieljuarezl, , , DarkRavie, FirePheonixStar, Village-Mystic, Aaaa (Guest), Silvermane1, Maben00, Fallow53 (Guest), Serpent91, Lientjuhh, TheBloodWolfe, SpiritBlackPaw, hellkiss, staar (Guest), Shiovaun, darkpercy5, VierasXx, Muraenidae, Kaddy 16, Sogra, MeowChan88, winfield56, Stardancer0829, BelleSalvatoreWhitlock, Wind Wolf 1701, Dehaanii, Lexie-chan94, Freya le Noir, The-Black-and-White-Cat11, , kathdo, Death's Silent Approach, Ophelia-CoffeeLover, NyxDragonBorne, DragonRoseWendy, LovelyPrincess22, , Mssr Shadow, ChelseaLynn1990, Shelleykids, Diabloca76, hellkiss, Ters, Korhedron, reamane21, Lovekitty3, mishap, hlewin, yami4yugi and blazesoccergirl713 for your support.
