Chapter 3 – Worry
Hermione Granger appeared to have the weight of the world on her shoulders. She was still trying to get over her abuse from Ron which she knew would take a lot of time. She still had the effects of the war to get over too but the healing process would take a long time. Hermione was having the odd nightmare about Voldemort and the war. Sometimes Bellatrix would appear in her nightmares, as would Ron. Sometimes they were working as a team, both trying to hurt her and torture her. Fred appeared in her dreams too, as her knight in shining armour, always there to save her life or protect her. Not that Hermione felt she needed protecting, she was more than capable of looking after herself. Although in her nightmares, she always struggled to defend herself or couldn't at all.
Now Hermione had the added worry about the new marriage law which the Ministry were introducing. She would be paired with someone and would be forced to not only marry but have kids with the person. She had no control over her future and she did not like this at all. Hermione always knew what she wanted in life, she had a plan. She'd finish school first then get settled in a good, decent paying job then she'd think about settling down and having kids. Obviously her main priority was wanting to find her parents and already they had been tracked down in Perth Australia. However there had been no new news from the Ministry regarding the search for her parents and her hope was slowly sliding.
Hermione had thought long and hard about her future and even thought about applying to attend a muggle University at one point but as she didn't have any muggle qualifications she was unable to apply. Ideally Hermione wanted to get married first and then have children but she did not want to get married before she turned 20 and she certainly did not want to get married to someone she did not like or know. Another thought struck her as she sat down by her favourite oak tree in the burrow garden, what if she was paired with Ron? She would be forced to marry someone who had abused her, physically and mentally abused her. The Ministry knew what Ron had did to her and had sent him to Azkaban because of it. Surely they wouldn't pair Hermione with Ron? Hermione could not marry Ron, she just couldn't. She felt sick at the thought of it. She'd sooner marry Malfoy over Ron and that was saying something.
Hermione picked a daisy out of the grass and began picking the petals off it one by one. She looked up when she heard footsteps. She should have known she wouldn't have been alone for long. Fred began walking towards her, his hands deep in his pockets. There was no sign of his trademark smile on his handsome face. This time it was painted with worry.
"I thought I'd find you out here." Fred spoke.
"I just needed to get out of the house. I felt kind of claustrophobic." Hermione answered.
"Mind if I join you?" Fred asked.
"Of course." Hermione answered.
She knew that Fred would not pester her or annoy her in any way so she did not mind being around Fred. Actually Hermione enjoyed being in Fred's company, especially after the events the previous week. Their shared kisses were still very much fresh on both their minds. Fred hadn't pushed Hermione to date him so they just enjoyed spending some time together, finding out more about one another.
"Are you alright?" Fred asked her.
"Not really, if I'm being honest." Hermione admitted.
"Marriage law?" Fred asked.
"Yes, like we need to worry about that on top of everything else." Hermione answered, throwing the daisy back onto the grass.
"We really don't need this at all, especially you. You'd think the Ministry would have more sense than to put all of us through this at this time. We've only just came out of a war for crying out loud." Fred ranted. "People need to recover properly, rebuild their lives, grieve for the people they lost and there's people like Lupin and Tonks who are still ill in hospital."
"You're completely right, Fred. It's not fair and the worst thing is, we're not in control of our future any more. We don't get the chance to fall in love, fall out of love, make mistakes and find the person we want to spend the rest of our lives with. That decision is being made for us." Hermione said. "Love is something that should happen naturally."
"I completely agree with that too, Mione." Fred answered. "And we're all too young too."
"I always imagined that I'd get married in my late 20's, early 30's and then have kids, not before I turn 20." Hermione said. "I'm not mature enough to be a mother."
"To be fair, you did look after Ron and Harry for about 7 years. If you can look after them, you're more than capable than looking after a kid." Fred said.
"What if I get paired with Ron?" Hermione blurted out.
"That thought had crossed my mind." Fred admitted. "But they do know what he did to you so they'd be pretty darn stupid to even allow him to marry."
"I can't marry him Fred. I just can't." Hermione cried. "But he'll have to be part of it though since he's pure blood."
Fred quickly wrapped a supportive arm around Hermione's shoulders, letting her cry into his shirt as he rubbed his hand up and down her arm in a bid to calm her down.
"We need to try and stay positive, Mione. I know it's going to be hard after everything that has happened but if we don't, we'll go mental." Fred stated.
"Fred, I can't marry someone I don't love and I don't want to even think about having to have kids with them." Hermione shrieked. "It's not good to bring a child into the world to parents who don't love each other."
"Will you appeal if you get someone you don't know?" Fred asked.
"Yes I will. I won't be sitting back and doing nothing about it. I know I said I didn't want to fight but this is the one part of my life, I want full control over. I want to decide for myself who I want to marry and when I want marry them, not when some Ministry fool decides for me." Hermione ranted.
"That's more like the Hermione I know." Fred grinned.
"I didn't think I had any fight left in me Fred, but now that I've thought about it, I will fight if I have too. We've all got to make a stand regarding this. There are going to be a lot of very unhappy people when this law comes out." Hermione replied.
"It'll all kick off again." Fred answered.
"I honestly thought Kingsley was better than this. I seriously thought he had all of our best interests at heart but maybe we we're wrong." Hermione said.
"I always had a lot of time and respect for Kingsley. Now I'm not so sure. This will lose him a lot of fans." Fred answered.
"We could start a petition and see how many signatures we get and give it to the Ministry." Hermione suggested.
"That could possibly work." Fred answered.
"We'd need a lot of signatures though but I'm sure we could get them." Hermione spoke. "Obviously we'll need to wait and see what the law entitles when it officially comes out."
"And see who we're all paired with. We might get paired with really cool people." Fred answered.
"Yes well that could happen and that would sort of be good but we all still want to choose who we fall in love with and marry at the end of the day." Hermione answered.
"What would you do if you were paired with me?" Fred asked.
Hermione was surprised at what Fred had just asked her. She did not know what to say to Fred. What did she say to him? Yes she liked Fred a lot and had already admitted to fancying him but this was marrying him, spending the rest of her life with him and even having children with him.
"I...I don't really know Fred, if I'm being honest." Hermione stuttered, trying to find the correct words.
"I'd be better than Ron, right?" Fred asked, nudging her playfully.
"Yes." Hermione replied. Then again she'd take Malfoy over Ron and that was saying something.
"Harry and Ginny are already discussing getting engaged so they can get out of being paired with other people. Mum doesn't think it'll work. I think it might because of who Harry is." Fred said.
"It could work. We're not supposed to know about the law yet so if they got engaged before we officially find out then they'll be fine." Hermione replied.
"Then we could get engaged. I know it sounds absolutely mental but at least we'd be both marrying someone we know and like." Fred stated as though a light bulb had appeared above his head.
"That is a mental idea Fred, crazy almost." Hermione replied but she didn't want to admit that the thought had actually crossed her mind.
"Hermione, look, you know how I feel about you. I'd hate it if you were paired with someone else, except maybe George. I don't want to be paired with some random woman." Fred stated.
"What are you trying to say, Fred?" Hermione asked.
"Marry me, Mione?" Fred asked.
"I can't Fred. The Ministry know that I haven't had any relations with any of you so they'll know we're lying. We could get into serious trouble for that." Hermione answered.
"I forgot about that." Fred said with a defeated sigh.
"As much as I'd like to say yes we can't. We can't risk getting into serious trouble." Hermione sniffed.
"I'm actually really worried Mione, really worried about this." Fred confessed.
"I am too Fred. I just want us all to have some normality for a while, get over the horrible things that has happened to us and live our lives to the full without some big drama." Hermione said.
"Me too, me too." Fred agreed then hugged Hermione tightly.
