Just in case anyone was wondering: I have no relation or connexion whatsoever to Ms Rowling, Bloomsbury, Scholastic, or Warner Brothers. Everything here is done merely for fun and never for profit.
Elisabeth curled up with the stack of cushions she had propped up against the headboard of the bed and breathed out happily. "It was so beautiful, Gwen. I don't ever remember seeing a wizard so in love before. I think he looked as if he had been handed heaven on a platter."
Gwen nodded seriously and replied, "Harry Potter is a very lucky wizard, Elisabeth. She loves him just as much as he does her. That doesn't often happen."
Elisabeth sighed again. "I thought it was the most romantic wedding I'd ever seen."
Gwen huddled herself against her legs, which she had pulled up to her chin. "Yes, well perhaps you will be that lucky, too, Elisabeth."
Elisabeth frowned. "Was I being insensitive, Gwen? I don't know what to say to you about your engagement and what your wedding would be like. You never want to talk about it. You are always so gloomy whenever I discuss love that you make me feel as if you have got engaged to a lethifold or something. Won't you even tell me about the wizard you decided to marry?"
Gwen pressed her cheek against her knees and looked away from Elisabeth at the mirrored front to Elisabeth's wardrobe. "He is an extremely powerful warlock, I think. I expect he is much more intelligent and talented than many people know."
Elisabeth seemed uncertain whether being an overly powerful warlock was a good quality in a husband, but she could gather that Gwen felt that it was a completely essential requirement. "What else? Is he handsome? How old is he? What is his name?"
"He isn't handsome really, no. He is 11 years older than I am, I think."
"What does he do?"
"He is working in the financial industry, which is all that I want to say about it."
"You won't even tell me his name?"
Gwen shook her head. "I don't want to talk about it at all, Elisabeth."
"Why do you have to keep it so secret? You can trust me to understand, Gwen. We've always trusted each other."
Gwen turned her eyes on Elisabeth and after a long pause answered, "His name is William. I cannot tell you about it, Elisabeth. Please don't push me to tell you."
"William? But that is an English name."
"Would you prefer to pronounce it in Brezhoneg?"
"No. I thought, oh for a moment I had a very odd thought."
Gwen closed her eyes and put her head back down onto her knees. "Did you?"
Elisabeth gasped. "Oh! Gwen, oh my goodness. You are going to marry Bill. That is why you are afraid of your mother coming! I didn't think that you even knew how he felt about you."
Gwen did not raise her head. "I'm not blind."
"But you never told me that you loved him. How could you have kept all this secret for so long?"
"There hasn't been anything to keep secret until recently. He didn't do anything. He just hung back and acted sad and did nothing whilst I anguished over how I was going to escape the situation with my family. He wouldn't have said anything either if I hadn't done something."
Elisabeth was staring with sad fascination at her friend. "You did?"
"Yes, I went out after you two had gone to sleep because I knew that he had gone for a walk and I made certain that he saw me."
"Oh, I thought you meant that you told him how you felt, since he had not done anything."
Gwen angrily bit out, "I would never do anything so bold. I would rather have married Maël Besnard even."
Elisabeth sighed and shook her head in disbelief. "I didn't think so. You think that showing your ankles is indecent. You know that Bill probably had no more idea that you were interested than I did."
Gwen's brows pulled together as she asked, "Well if he wasn't wizard enough to do something about what he wanted then why would I want him? He had to be the one to do it, Elisabeth. You do see that at least, don't you?"
Elisabeth wiped a stray hair from her face and said seriously, "I suppose that I do, since I've known you forever. But are you sure that he can live up to your standards, Gwen? You have quite a strict list of expectations and not many of them will come naturally to an English wizard. He may not have any idea what you want him to do."
Gwen shrugged her shoulders. "I know that he is ridiculously English. Also, he does not like the idea that I actually belong to him now, he told me so. He thinks it is wrong. It is very sweet, but he will just have to learn to accept it."
Elisabeth was startled into asking sharply, "What do you mean exactly that you belong to him?"
Gwen waved her hand as if in defeat. "I mean that an adult Breton witch is treated very much like a child according to our laws. Once she is married, her guardianship passes to her husband, Elisabeth."
Elisabeth almost choked as she gasped. "You already married him! You are married?"
"Yes."
"When? No wait. The day you collected the trollywollop eggs. That was why they were so clean." Elisabeth pointed an accusatory finger at Gwen and exclaimed, "You bought them!"
Gwen sighed. "I didn't think of that. I normally would have thought of that. Yes, I bought them."
Elisabeth shook her head and stared at her friend. "I don't know what to say, Gwen. I thought we were best friends. You could have trusted me not to tell."
Gwen groaned as she held her head in her hands and said, "I couldn't. I was already abusing your family's hospitality, since they had promised Mother that they would act as my chaperones whilst I stayed in Britain. Then I ran off and got married, almost the worst thing I could have done when I was under your mother's care. I couldn't make you a party to that. It wouldn't have been fair."
Elisabeth stared back at her friend. "You should have told me."
"No, I couldn't. Bill only told one person – his friend who acted as our witness. No one else knows, not even his family."
Elisabeth asked, "Why are you keeping it secret? You can't keep it quiet forever."
Gwen answered unhappily, "No, my mother has found out already. Somehow Bill arranged a meeting for tomorrow. We were so worried that Mother would come and ruin everything for Ginny by making a scene before the wedding was over. I cannot imagine what he did to convince them to wait, frankly."
Elisabeth looked sternly at her friend for several moments before she repeated, "You should have told me, Gwen."
Gwen's voice cracked slightly and her eyes began to tear as she responded, "I am sorry, Elisabeth. You don't know how much I wanted to tell you. It has been hellish worrying this all out alone, but I didn't have any choice. You do understand what I've done, Elisabeth, don't you? I've turned my back on my family and everything."
Elisabeth's expression softened and she reached out her arms to hug her friend. "Yes, you have, haven't you? I had no idea what you were going through all this time."
Gwen returned her friend's embrace and tried desperately to reign herself in before finally losing complete control. What began as a husky sob soon turned into a torrent of messy tears as Gwen clung to her best friend.
Elisabeth held on to Gwen and tried to sooth her. Yet since she had never before seen Gwen cry, she had no idea what to say. It was clear to Elisabeth that Gwen was scared that she had made a very foolish choice and Elisabeth, although she had always liked Bill Weasley, wondered if perhaps Gwen was right.
"Here is the response Uncle Astaric sent. I'll be honest with you, Bill. He thinks that you have made a very grave error. You've insulted the family, essentially, by disgracing their daughter."
Bill pushed his empty glass aside with an angry slap and picked up the tightly scrolled parchment from the pub table. "I haven't disgraced her; that is bollocks. One moment these people seem to realise that she is a very special witch that is worthy of the best possible wizard, but then they auction her off to the highest bidders. That is all the choice she has – from those or no one. It disgusting, especially all this rubbish about how she is essentially a possession and therefore has no ability to make her own decisions. That is unbelievable even for the French."
Anders nodded, "I agree with you and so would most French wizards, I think. But the Breton don't care a toss what any of us think, Bill, especially you since they probably think that you are exactly the sort of wizard from whom they are 'protecting' their innocent daughters from marrying with these laws."
Bill growled and shot back another glass of black aquavit. "What do they think happened? Do they imagine I dragged her off into the hills and seduced her with my wicked English ways until she would run off and marry me in that dingy Ministry office?"
"Yes, probably. They don't actually have any way of knowing what happened, Bill. They don't know you, but they will have done some intelligence work and sorted out that you are a warlock with an order of Merlin, first class, so you are capable of getting what you want by force. They will know that you were a curse breaker, which you have to admit is a profession with a slight bit of a reputation. They'll know about the attack, but won't have any idea how dangerous or werewolfish you actually may be. Admit that you are not precisely what they had in mind for her."
Bill ran his fingers roughly through his hair. "I'm nothing at all like what they wanted. I know that. But that doesn't make it any easier for me to be essentially called a kidnapper and a rapist. You should have read what that woman wrote to her daughter. It was the coldest thing I have ever seen."
Anders pressed his lips together and lifted his glass. Bill saw his friend's reluctance to speak and picked up the parchment from Anders' great-uncle. "Go ahead and say it, Anders."
"Probably better that I don't."
Bill shook his head and pushed himself back into the bench cushion. "Just tell me what it is you are thinking."
Anders drained his glass and set it next to another two empties. "It is easy to understand why she wanted to escape, especially when she had someone who was willing to do anything to get her. I hope that you knew what you were doing when you agreed to this, Bill."
Bill did not say anything for several moments as he turned his head and gazed over to where the serving witch was standing by the bar. "I did know that I was jumping feet first over a steep cliff without any idea what I was going to find below. At least I did know that the family problems would be severe."
Anders fingered his battered silver case, turning it over in his hand repeatedly until he said, "But you don't know about her."
"No."
"I was afraid that you had overlooked…"
Bill interrupted, still without looking away from the crowd at the bar, "No, I knew that she might just be running away to the only escape she could find."
"And if that turns out to be so?"
"Then I am merely one in a long history of men who love their wives a great deal more than their wives love them."
Anders looked away from Bill at the empty glasses in front of him. "I am sorry, mate."
Bill cleared his throat and turned back to the table and picked up the scroll again. "I knew what I was doing. Now I have to face the music, beginning with meeting her family tomorrow."
"My uncle didn't give much advice. I think he disapproved too strongly of what you did, but read it anyway and see if it helps somehow."
Bill perused the contents of the letter and then set it down on the table. "Not much help, no. I doubt that there is much that can be done. I think the only course of action is a show of force."
Anders frowned. "You think that a pissing contest between you and the uncle is going to help?"
Bill shrugged. "The way she talks about it, I have to act the part. They are looking to see if I come up to scratch, so I just have to, that's all."
The door was opened to him by the same disgruntled house elf that he had seen several months before. However this time, Badger did not bow. The elf waited for Bill to take his cloak off and snapped his fingers for the cloak to disappear. He then wordlessly led Bill down towards the sitting room where he had taken tea when he had last come to the house.
From the moment that he entered the room he knew that the situation had gone poorly for Gwen and that things were not looking good for him either. Catriona MacLeod was standing with her hands on her hips, clearly waiting for Bill to enter, and Leoben MacLeod had chosen not to stand.
In all the years that his sister had been friends with Elisabeth MacLeod, Bill had met her family numerous times and thought that they were very kind, friendly people. But the manner in which Catriona MacLeod addressed him as he walked over to where Gwen was sitting made it clear that he had disappointed them perhaps beyond repair.
"William, we have just been speaking to Gwenaëlle. She has told us that the two of you eloped via a Ministry marriage during the time that she was staying at your parents' home."
Bill clenched his fists briefly and spoke as evenly as possible. "Yes, that is right."
"Were you aware that Leoben and I were acting as her chaperones and guardians whilst her family was out of the country?"
"Yes, I am afraid that I was."
"Yet you did not think about the position that you and Gwen were putting us in, nor did you consider approaching us to inform us what you were going to do."
"No, I was not thinking about your position. I was concerned more about Gwenaëlle's, although I am aware that I have embarrassed you with her family. I am truly sorry for that, Mrs MacLeod."
Leoben MacLeod opened his mouth to speak and placed a hand on his wife's arm to silence her. "I am glad that you are aware of what you have done, William, since you are going to have to find a way to explain yourself to the girl's family. Our family has cared very much for Gwenaëlle over the years that she has been close to our daughter. However, although I sympathise with her distaste for her situation, William, legally it was her parent's right to make this choice for her. I cannot condone what you both have done."
Bill nodded and turned to Gwen, who had not moved since he had entered the room. She was seated so that she was facing him and was gripping the arm of her chair with both hands. Bill gave Gwen a small smile before answering, "I understand sir, but I am not sorry for it nonetheless. I think that it is best that we leave now, sir."
Leoben MacLeod stood from his chair and said more gently, "Yes, that would probably be best. Elisabeth has told the house elf to bring down Gwenaëlle's things, so you may tell him where to forward them when you leave."
Bill nodded shortly and then placed his hand over Gwen's clenched white one and said softly, "Come on, love. We need to go."
Gwen looked up at him with wide eyes and then stood resolutely to face her friend's parents. "Thank you for allowing me to stay with you Mr and Mrs MacLeod. I really am sorry to have caused you trouble."
Bill put his hand on Gwen's elbow and bowed slightly at the MacLeods before forcefully manoeuvring Gwen out of the room.
When they reached the entry hall, Elisabeth was standing beside a pile of luggage holding the cage for Gwen's cat. Elisabeth shoved the cage into Bill's hands with a look that clearly spoke her opinion of him and threw her arms around her best friend's neck. "It will be alright, Gwen. Your family will have to understand eventually. I'm sure your father won't let your mother disown you."
Gwen did not speak as she tightly hugged her friend. When she pulled back she said only, "I will owl you. I have told your parents that you didn't know anything."
Elisabeth kissed Gwen's cheek and asked Bill coldly, "Where do I tell Badger to send all of this?"
Bill transferred the cage with the howling cat to his non-wand hand and replied, "I will forward it." As soon as the pile of luggage had disappeared, Bill turned back to Gwen and said gently, "You need to put your cloak on, love."
Elisabeth held out Gwen's cloak and Gwen hastily fastened the small pewter buttons with a shaky hand. "I think I should take Alaric. He won't be quiet if you are holding him."
Bill tapped his wand on the cage, effecting a silencing charm, and answered seriously, "I can manage the cat. Are you ready to go, Gwenaëlle?"
"Are we going straight there?"
"Yes."
Gwen took a deep breath and pulled out her wand before saying with determination, "I am ready."
