"Gloria Elouise Nott" Fred spat when he had finished reading the letter aloud.
"She's the sister of Theodore Nott isn't she? He was in my year at school." Hermione pointed out when the silence became stifling, hoping to combat their fears with facts.
"No, she's his half sister. She was in my year at school, Slytherin." Fred provided, staring so hard at the letter that Arthur thought it might go up in flames any second.
"Her mother was a muggle and when Nott senior's fellow death eaters found that out he waited for her to give birth and then killed her, married a very young pureblood witch straight out of school despite the fact he was already far older than we are even now, it was quite the scandal, and raised the baby girl with the new wife and had Theodore." Molly explained, her face contorting in anger and disgust as she recalled the information "The daughter apparently took after her father far better than Theodore ever did and joined the ranks early, learning from Bellatrix but was never marked."
"So I'll be marrying a death eater?" Fred asked quietly.
"Well she won't have the mark" Arthur began until Fred finally looked up from the letter straight into his father's eyes and he sighed "but yes son. It does seem that way."
"No. You can't, we'll find a way around this. Another option." Hermione declared squeezing his hand firmly.
"No. There is no 'we', this is my problem and either I will find a way around it or I'll marry her if I have to." Fred snarled as he snatched his hand from her grasp and stormed off to the apparition point leaving a shell shocked trio in the kitchen.
…
Dear Frederick,
I understand that we are soon to be married and it would be beneficial to get to know each other a little first. Meet me at the White Wyvern in Knockturn Alley, next to the tattooists, on Saturday evening at eight o'clock.
Yours,
Gloria
'Well her note seems polite enough and her request is more than reasonable' Fred thought as he, yet again, reread the note he had received on Thursday while he got ready for meeting his ministry allocated spouse on the Saturday evening 'even if she did choose somewhere in Knockturn Alley.'
He threw on a set of brand new, dark navy summer robes, he was brave but not stupid and going down Knockturn Alley in his usual muggle clothing would be a death wish even now, more than a year after the war had ended. The robes also gave him space to hide certain useful gadgets and protective gear that he hadn't had to use since the war had ended too.
He checked his watch and it read quarter to eight so he gave his pockets one last check through, his hair one last comb, for he did want to give a good first impression to the woman who he would most likely spend the rest of his life with, and strode out through the closed shop and down Knockturn Alley. With an air of confidence naturally instilled in all male purebloods he waltzed into the White Wyvern and straight up to the bar to order a double of Ogden's fire whiskey.
"Frederick?" A husky, feminine voice enquired as he paid for his drink and turned to greet the owner of the voice.
A short young woman stood before him who he recognised instantly as Gloria Nott since she had barely changed physically since school. Her frame was petite with delicate curves enhanced by her cleverly tailored summer robes. She had short, naturally platinum blond hair that fell down poker straight to skim the top of her shoulders and a full fringe framing her slim but strikingly beautiful face.
"Hello Gloria, may I buy you a drink?" He replied politely, impressively containing any revulsion or sneer so that both his face and tone of voice were the epitome of cordiality.
At the shake of her head which caused her hair to swish perfectly, 'but it is nothing like the unruly curls of…' Fred broke off mid thought and internally chastised himself, he lead them over to an empty table and pulled out a chair for her. Even though the Wealseys hadn't been raised with pureblood prejudices they had been raised with pureblood etiquette and Gloria beamed as she spotted the small mannerisms that hinted at her soon to be husband's blood status.
"So, how was your day Gloria?" He asked, attempting to put all prejudices and thoughts of brunette curls out of his mind and to instead focus on his first date with his future wife with an open mind.
…
He hated her.
Fred had spent hours at that pub listening to her whittle on and on, watching her every action in scrutinizing detail and had come to the conclusion that she was a bigoted, narrow minded, evil little cow. She was clearly delighted at the prospect of snagging herself a pureblooded man to produce heirs with and purify her own bloodline this way. She despised her deceased mother and was eternally grateful to her pureblood father for ridding her of 'that stain' on her upbringing to ensure thst she had the best opportunities available to her as the pureblooded part of her heritage should allow.
He had found out that she considered her main goal in life to be birthing as many heirs for Fred as possible to increase the magical population, and that she would be bringing a substantial financial dowry from her father's estate to help fund all these children plus a house elf to teach them all they needed to know, so she had no need to work or have career aspirations herself. Fred balked internally at the idea of his children being raised and brainwashed by a pureblood supremacist minded house elf, he adored children and dreamt of taking care of his own kids himself one day, however those daydream children were always sporting brown curly hair not the straight blond of Gloria's genetics. They recited poetry not propaganda. They were free and open minded, loving books and learning just as much as pranks and flying.
He despised everything he had found out so far about Gloria but she was infatuated with the idea of him. She was genuinely thrilled to be marrying a pureblood, and really didn't care about much other than his blood status but the fact that he was now one of the wealthiest entrepreneurs in wizarding Britain thanks to the success of his shop, and would soon bypass even her father in terms of finances, made her even happier. The rest of it, like his beliefs and family, she could deal with and change as time went by, all she needed now was to get the wedding ceremony done and for him to get her pregnant 'which' she thought 'judging by how extremely handsome he is, shouldn't be a problem at all.'
…
Hermione flopped onto her velvety sofa after work on Wednesday lunchtime, a week after finding out who Fred would have to marry, with an enormous stack of new research books by her side. She was a medical researcher for St Mungo's, after what should have been her seventh year she worked out that she wanted to do something meaningful with her career and work life but did not want to deal with anymore death first hand. So, when offered the position, she had enthusiastically taken an apprenticeship in St Mungo's medical research labs and completed the three year programme in a record nine months meaning that she was now a fully qualified medical researcher, one of the youngest ever.
Her current project was on the effectiveness of muggle antibiotics to treat bacterial infections and how they could be adapted to treat magical ailments. That was why she had spent the entire morning apparating from muggle bookshop to muggle bookshop in search of the most up to date releases of the specialist tomes she had identified the week before at a muggle university library.
Now, however, she was in desperate need of more shelves. Stacks of books littered her apartment and with this new heap she really did need another bookshelf.
"Hi Molly!" She called as she tumbled out of the floo into the burrow's lounge and made her way out into the garden to find her surrogate mother. She had brought her own parents home almost a year ago now and visited them every week but still came to the Weasleys for most every day requests for help or advice, it was much quicker and easier to get to and it would take Arthur a fraction of the time to build a new set of bookshelves with magic than it would her own father without.
"Hermione, dear!" Molly bustled up to her brightly and hugged her hello "How lovely of you to drop by. How are you?"
The pair nattered away over lunch, Hermione asked if Arthur wouldn't mind making her another set of shelves for her books and Molly subtly checked that Hermione was feeling better after Fred's harsh attitude towards her the week before as Fred had, once again, skipped out on family Sunday dinner.
"So you've not spoken at all since then?" She asked the brunette in concern.
"No, we've not had any reason to talk and if he wants to marry her then fine I just want him to be happy." Hermione sighed, finishing off her fruit tea and thanking Molly for lunch.
"Well, with regards to your shelves dear I'm afraid Arthur won't be able to do them for quite some time. I'm ever so sorry dear, but Fred is an excellent carpenter, even better than his dad, but don't tell either of them I said that." Molly said conspiratorially, earning a small giggle from the younger witch "Go and ask Fred to do it, I am sure he will say yes. It's his day off and he loves making things with his hands."
Reluctantly Hermione agreed, she really did need some shelves and soon, before she drowned in books.
With a heavy feeling of nervousness she flooed to Flourish and Blotts and set off striding down Diagon Alley with her head held high.
...
Author's note:
Thank you all for your patience! I'm not abandoning any of my stories, I've just been without decent internet for a couple of months while trying to move house. I'll update as often as I can though!
Love you all and wishing you well,
Wishin' Girl x x x
