"Rhiannon, would you please just listen to us?"
"There's nothing you two can say that I would want to hear," I bit back, refusing to look at my mother. I was still angry at what they had done to me. But more than that, I was hurt. How could they just give me up so easily? They didn't even fight for me, try to get the law repealed. They were powerful enough, they could have done something. Yet, they'd made sure I was one of the first victims of this vile law.
That didn't mean that I wanted to see my mother cry though. In fact, just hearing her sniffs and begging was breaking my heart. She seemed genuinely devastated, but she refused to back down in her decision.
"Sweetheart, please, it's for the best," she pleaded, shutting one of my trunks and grabbing my hand. She was trying so hard, and my resolve was weakening, but I knew that I wouldn't easily get over this betrayal.
"How is marrying a man that none of us have met for the best? Are you even listening to yourself?" I scoffed, flicking my wand to send my folded clothing into yet another trunk. Two days of this. Two full days, and nothing had changed. None of us had relented. I still refused to be happy about their decision, though I knew now that I had no choice. Not unless they would break the engagement… which they refused to do.
I felt a strong hand grab my shoulder, and spin me around forcefully. My father was livid, I could see that. He hated seeing his wife cry, and he would take out anyone that did it. Never before, however, had his own the daughter been the cause.
"You will stop speaking to your mother like that this instant," he growled, stepping away from me to calm himself before he continued to speak. "If you would stop throwing your temper tantrum and just listen to us, you'd understand why we came to our decision."
"If I would understand, why didn't you tell me before you did this?" I hissed, poking him in the chest. "Why did you do it behind my back?"
"Because we had no time to, Rhiannon!" he roared, forcing even me to take a step back. "The Ministry was ready to assign you a partner, and you know what that would have meant?" He took my silence as a negative and continued on his angry tirade. "They would have married you off to a dark wizard, Rhee. They would have used you as leverage to get our support. You would have been married to a cruel bigot, and there would have been nothing we could have done to stop it. I tried to find you a husband here, but they wouldn't allow it, so I did the only thing I could think of, I put you in with the British Ministry."
"How the hell does that help anything? I'm still being forced into marriage dad," I sniffed, feeling the stress of the past few days come crashing down on me. God this was awful. I wanted to hate them so badly, but they were my parents and they seemed as upset as I was.
"They don't know who you are sweetheart. They don't know who our family is, or our positions. You wouldn't be a pawn to them, not if I got you married fast. I was able to pick your husband, and check out the family," he explained with a helpless shrug as he slumped onto my childhood bed. "It's not ideal, but it was the best I could do. They're a good family, Rhee. Kind and honorable. They oppose the Death Eaters, they will treat you right."
I bit my lip and stared at the floor. I could understand his reasoning. It made sense, it would keep me safe. But marriage shouldn't be about safety, or the lesser of two evils. It should be about love. And now, I'd never get that. "But I don't want to do it," I whimpered, sitting down on my bed next to my dad and laying my head on his shoulder. My mom joined us seconds later, and I wrapped my arm around her, hugging her close to me.
"We know you don't baby," she sniffed, patting my leg in comfort. "But we couldn't see you bound to some cruel bigot. At least… At least this way, there's a chance you may grow to love your husband."
"The odds of that are nearly nonexistent," I chuckled. "I'll never be able to love someone that's forced on me. The best I'll be able to hope for is friendship."
"That's more than most marriages have," my dad offered. I scoffed and shoved his shoulder.
"You're not helping here."
There was a knock at my door, and Aunt Estelle poked her head in, a sad smile on her face. Despite her strict nature, she really was a very lovely woman. She was kind, and entertaining, and I loved her. I loved all my family, and now I'd be away from almost all of them.
"Cameron just finished packing her things," she announced. I nodded and sighed, pushing myself up off of my bed and smiling at her. "You're such a brave girl. You'll look after Cameron, won't you?" she asked with a watery smile. The family had come to the decision that Cameron would come with me. Since she was only nineteen, she still had the rest of the year to find a husband before the Ministry would step in. And even then, being overseas would slow them down. Even if I was being forced into this, I could at least help my cousin out.
"I'm almost finished," I told her, waving my wand and sending the rest of my clothing into its respective place. I took a long look at the room, not knowing when I would see it again, if I ever did. My childhood was over, all in the blink of an eye. Before, I'd thought I was such an adult, all grown up and on my own, despite that I still lived with my parents. I was fully prepared to start my own job soon, and I'd been out of school for a couple of years. Yet… I was still a child. I still looked to my parents for guidance; I was still able to make decisions based only on myself. But not anymore.
"This sucks," I grumbled, returning my parents' smiles. They were trying, I knew they were. And they were as upset about this as I was, but there was nothing to be done. They were right, this would be better than being forced into marriage with a dark wizard. I would not become a pawn in some ridiculous play for power. I refused.
Cameron groaned next to me, clutching her stomach and steadying herself on her feet. "I fucking hate traveling by portkey," she grumbled, catching a stern glare from my mother. "I said fudging Aunt Amara, fudging," she lied with an innocent smile. My mother, not believing her for a moment, simply rolled her eyes and continued walking. We were supposed to be meeting my fiancé's family, the Weasley's, at their home here… in whatever city or village this was.
A quiet bark from beside me grabbed my attention and I glanced down at the tiny dog that was trotting next to me. My grandma Yvonne had bought both Raychel and I dogs a few months ago, saying that all witches needed their own familiar, and cats simply did not suit us as dogs did. Personally, I think she chose the dogs as a joke. She'd given Raychel a pit bull, a dog that would grow to be quite large, and a Chihuahua, a very tiny breed, to me. It was most certainly a play on our heights.
The tiny dog blinked up at me expectantly, refusing to walk anymore. Poor thing was so small, she got worn out a lot faster than Tristan, Raychel's dog. I took pity on her and lifted her up, allowing her to climb onto my shoulder. I swear this dog thought she was a parrot.
"You'd think they would have at least had the damn thing take us somewhere closer," Cam scowled, glaring down at the heels she had chosen to wear. I felt her pain, I was wearing heels as well. No one had told us we'd be walking this far.
"The Weasley's live near muggles girls, we had to be cautious," my mother explained, raising a perfectly plucked eyebrow at the sight of my dog riding on my shoulder. "You spoil her."
"I know," I grinned, reaching up to pet the small creature. "So, why didn't we just have a portkey that sent us to their house?"
"They were afraid it would disrupt some of their shield charms on the house."
"Shield charms?" Cameron repeated, giving my father a curious look. He glanced back and nodded.
"The Death Eaters here aren't fans of them, to put it lightly," he explained. Cameron threw her hands up in the air in a huff.
"Great! We get sent to Britain, we walk for freaking ever through the middle of nowhere in good shoes, and we'll be sworn enemies of a bunch of asshole dark wizards. This is awesome!" If it hadn't been for the small glint in her eye, I would have thought she was actually complaining. I knew my cousin well though, and her adventurous streak ran just as deep as mine. If we looked at this situation as an adventure and challenge to overcome rather than… well… what it was, we would get through it, and maybe even have some fun.
"We're nearly there Cameron, you can stop complaining," my father teased, ruffling her hair in an affectionate manner. "Your temper seems to have gotten as short as you are."
The outraged look on her face actually made me laugh out loud. It was the same sort of thing that he would have said at home, and it reminded me of happier times.
"You're an asshole, Uncle Hank," she huffed, playfully kicking his shin. "Hey, is that their house?" she asked suddenly, looking a bit into the distance and pointing at a tall structure.
"I believe it is. They said it wasn't exactly a conventional house."
"Unconventional is one way to put it," my mother sighed. "I can't believe we're actually doing this."
"Pfft, you can't?" I scoffed, sending her a playful wink. "I'm the one you're trading for a few goats and a cow."
"Oh please Rhiannon, you know we're not getting any livestock out of this. Don't make it seem like we're getting that good of a deal," she teased. I narrowed my eyes and lightly shoved her. I was grateful that they were all trying to keep me laughing. If nothing else, it was preventing me from sulking.
As we neared the home, we saw a head of red hair poke out before running back into the house, yelling something that resembled "They're here." My stomach began to knot, and I realized that this was it. I was about to meet the man I would marry, and his family. My family was going to leave.
I was about to hyperventilate.
"Hey, it'll be okay," Cameron said quietly, standing next to me as we stood in the garden. I was too nervous to actually go outside, so hopefully they would come outside. To be honest, I was afraid I would vomit, and I really didn't want to do that in the house. Not that I wanted to do it at all…
"I'm telling you Fred, she's going to be ugly. Why else wouldn't anyone in America have wanted her?"
"George, you be quiet. I'm sure she's lovely."
"Oh come on Mum, the file said that she had a beautiful personality. That's practically code for she's chubby and has a giant mole on her face. Face it, Bill will have an ugly wife."
"And we'll have a new test subject."
"Don't you dare!" The womanly voice that I'm assuming was the mother spoke again, this time right behind the front door. This was it, I was going to meet them, and they were going to hate me. "You will be respectful, and keep your wizarding weasels-"
"Wheezes Mum, they're Wheezes, we've been over this," a tall red headed man laughed as he came strutting out of the front door. I had to do a double take when another one of him walked out. At first I thought that I was panicking so much that I was hallucinating, and then I realized that they were simply twins. A plump woman with curly red hair followed, glaring at the two young men.
"I don't care what they are, you keep them away from the poor girl. I don't want her running back to America just after getting here!" she scolded, and I found myself smiling. They definitely seemed like a normal family, one that Cam and I could get along with.
"Must you ruin our fun?" the twin on the left whined, just as Mary decided that she wanted to be included in the conversation. She leapt of my shoulder and tumbled to the ground before running over to the clan of red heads and barking threateningly. She didn't take kindly to people she didn't know being around me.
"Is that a bloody rat?" One of the twins yelled, jumping back from my dog and staring at her with a look that almost resembled fear.
"It's a dog actually," I replied, hurrying forward to grab the noisy little shit and picking her up. "My dog. She's not a fan of strangers, I apologize."
The woman smiled warmly at me, apparently realizing that I was her future daughter-in-law and beckoned me forward, while her two sons stared in shock. "Please tell me you're not Rhiannon, because I will feel like a git for making fun of Bill for telling him he'd be married to the ass end of a hippogriff all week," one spoke slowly, making Cameron laugh as she and my parents joined us.
"Sorry," I shrugged. Really? They'd thought I would be ugly? What the hell had my father put in my file?
"Oh it's fine," the man grinned, thrusting his hand at me. "I'm Fred, the handsome brother."
"So I can see," I chuckled, shaking his hand and trying to hide my nervousness.
"Bill, mate, can I have your wife?" He asked suddenly, peering into the door. There, standing half in shadows, was a man even taller than the twins. His hair was long, hanging to his shoulders, and even in the darkness I could see the scowl on his face. He didn't speak, simply grunted and turned right back around, heading into the house. As he turned, I caught a glimpse of three scars down one side of his face.
The other twin smiled after a minute, trying to crack the tension that had been created by my fiancé's less than friendly greeting. "That's Bill, our resident dragon. Just ignore him. Why don't you all come inside?"
Snapping back to the present, his mother grinned and lead us inside. "Yes, do come in. I'm terribly sorry for Bill. He's in a rough place right now, ever since the Death Eaters broke into Hogwarts, the poor dear," she rambled, leading us into a kitchen and motioning to the chairs.
"What happened?" I asked out of curiosity. She was about to speak, but seemed to decide it was better not to and smiled sadly at me.
"That's something he'll have to tell you himself, I'm afraid."
"Great," I huffed, throwing my head back in frustration. "Because he seemed incredibly eager to talk to me."
This may turn out to be even more difficult than I thought.