My parents had quickly fallen into conversation with Molly and Arthur, my future in-laws. They were both quite nice, and very welcoming. Molly had profusely apologized for Bill's behavior. While his actions were disheartening, it really had been silly of me to expect anything less. I was, after all, the one that had thrown a complete temper tantrum in front of a crowd. It would have been silly of me to expect him to fall in love with me on sight.
Though, a simple hello would have been nice.
The twins, Fred and George, were quite entertaining. They were having a grand time playing with Mary and Tristan, at one point commenting on how much more fun dogs were than rats. They were also excellent at diffusing tense situations. Cameron definitely seemed to like them as well. It made me a bit more confident to know that she and I would at least have friends here.
That was until they informed us that they actually did not live at The Burrow, the name given to the family home. They owned a joke shop in Diagon Alley, the popular wizarding area in London, and lived in an apartment above it.
"I just want to thank you again for this," I heard my father say, shaking hands with Arthur.
"It's not a problem at all. We're all stuck in a bind with this law, and like minded families should stick together," Arthur replied cordially. I hated the way they were talking about this. It was like it was a business arrangement. Marriage should not be business, it should be love. But, thinking back to my surly fiancé, business may be the only option here.
"Rhiannon, honey, why don't you go talk to Bill?" my mother spoke up suddenly, making me jump. I glanced at her with wide eyes and shook my head.
"That's okay, I'm content out here with Cam and the twins," I replied quickly. The idea of talking to Bill scared the hell out of me to be honest. I was nervous enough about this forced marriage as it was. Having a hateful husband only made it worse.
"Don't be silly Rhiannon Adair," she huffed, causing me to wince at the use of my middle name. "You're going to be married to him. Go get to know the man."
"But-"
"Oh that is a wonderful idea!" Molly cheered, standing up and walking to the stairway. "He can show you the garden. It's just lovely this time of year!"
"But-"
"BILL!" she yelled up the stairs with a volume that made both Cameron and I cringe. Fred and George seemed unaffected by it, but I have a feeling that they were on the receiving end of that loud voice quite often. "Bill! Come down here and show Rhiannon the garden!"
"I'd rather not!" Was the quick reply. I wasn't sure if I should be relieved or insulted. Sure, I didn't really want to speak to him, but it didn't exactly make me feel warm and fuzzy that he didn't want to speak to me either.
"WILLIAM WEASLEY!"
Even the twins jumped with that outburst. Good God Molly had a set of lungs on her. After a few seconds, heavy footsteps could be heard stomping down the stairs. Either Bill was very heavy footed, or he was very angry. I looked across the coffee table to meet Cam's face. She had a worried look and I knew right then, Bill wasn't heavy footed.
"Shit," I groaned, flopping my head back in frustration. The twin next to me, Fred I believe, since he was lacking the mole on his neck, patted my shoulder carefully.
"Don't worry, we won't let him kill you."
"Well that's comforting," I scoffed, standing up wearily and stretching my limbs. "Might as well get this over with."
"I think she could find the bloody garden on her own," he snapped as soon as his feet left the stairs. I winced at his derogatory tone. He really must think I'm some sort of idiot. Of course I knew where the damn garden was, there was flowers in it!
"But I want you to show it to her," Molly insisted with a very stern face that could only have been perfected from years of dealing with mischievous children. Bill glared back at his mother, a low growl emanating from his chest, just waiting for her to back down. Amazingly, however, she did not. She stood her ground and pointed directly to the front door, raising her eyebrows as if she was daring him to argue with her further.
With a sneer, Bill turned on his heel and headed for the front door, not even turning back to see if I was following. I stood in my place, watching as the door slammed shut right behind him, before looking at my parents.
"You're shitting me, right?" When all I received were blank stares, I figured that arguing would do no good. They'd just nag me till I wanted to rip my hair out. "For fuck's sake," I grumbled under my breath, walking out the door with a glance back at Cameron and the twins. Hopefully they'd keep their word about not letting him kill me.
"Are you always this pleasant, or are you just putting on a show for me?" I asked once I had shut the front door behind me. Bill was standing five yards from the house and facing away from me with a tense body. He was angry, extremely angry, and I found myself wondering how in the hell he could be so pissed about all of this. I was the one essentially sold to him. He had to agree and sign off on the contract along with our parents. I was the one that had no say in any of this, so why was he acting as if he was the one losing his freedom?
"You wanted to see the garden, here it is." His voice was low, and dangerous, as he completely ignored my comment. That would happen much, if I saw to it. I may be forced into this marriage, but I refused to be a silent, ignored wife. "Don't know why it would be so bloody hard to find."
"It isn't. And I didn't want to see the garden, it was our parents' idea. So you can pull this stick out of your ass and act like a civil human being," I barked, marching over to him and standing with my arms crossed. "If you want to be sulky and brooding, go right ahead, but don't you dare take this out on me. And you had better stop acting like I'm so beneath you."
He chuckled darkly and shook his head, turning to stare me down with a totally empty look. "I'm sorry, but you're talking like I care."
Fury swelled inside of me, and I was itching to grab my wand and hex his ass right off. He needed to be knocked down a few pegs. I couldn't believe that the rest of his family could be so kind and he was… like this.
"You have got to be the biggest prick I have ever met," I spat, shoving his chest and knocking him back a step or two. His blue eyes flashed yellow, just for a moment, and I was left to wonder just what those scars on his face were from. He almost didn't seem entirely human. "What the fuck is your problem?"
"You!" he roared, surprising me by shoving me back. I knew it wasn't as hard as he could have. I really only stumbled because of the heels I was wearing, but the action still surprised me. "You are my problem!"
"Me?" I screeched, staring at him with wide eyes. "You don't even know me you brute! How can I be your problem?"
"You're here!" he laughed humorlessly. "You're here, in my parents' house. And I'm supposed to marry you."
"I'm not exactly excited about marrying you either, buddy. In case you haven't noticed, you're not exactly Prince fucking Charming."
Once again, his eyes flashed yellow, but this time it stayed just a bit longer. "I'm sorry, princess. I apologize that my scars appall you."
"What?" I scoffed, throwing my hands up in the air. "I wasn't even talking about your damn scars! I don't give a damn about them! Actually, if you weren't such a fucking prick, they'd kind of be sexy. But no, you're acting like the whole world owes you, and everything that's going on is just a great big inconvenience. Why don't you just grow up?"
"Coming from a little girl," he sneered. "Do you even realize what we're expected to do? Or is that too complicated for your tiny mind-"
I slapped him, right across the face before he could even finish his sentence. He turned his face and refused to look at me for a moment, but I could tell by the way his shoulders flexed and his breathing became heavier that he was angry. Good, so was I. "Don't you ever insult my intelligence again," I snarled. "You may not like me, that's fine. But don't act like you're better than me, or smarter than me. I know exactly what the fucking Ministry expects us to do. And I can't do a damn thing about it. At least you got a damn choice in who you married. I just got shipped off to whoever my parents liked best."
"Trust me, princess, I don't have a choice in who I get to marry. If I did, she'd be here instead of you. But life doesn't work out that way."
"You're bitter over a girl?" I asked incredulously. Wasn't he a little old for that? "Seriously? You're taking your shit out on me because you can't have who you want? It's not my fault some chick left you-"
"SHUT UP!" He roared suddenly, so loud that I almost didn't hear the front door slam shut in a hurry. "Just shut the fuck up! You don't know what you're talking about. Just because you live here now doesn't mean that you can talk about things you know nothing about."
"I don't even want to be here!" I huffed. Fuck, I hadn't meant to set him off that bad. He must have had it bad for that girl.
"THEN GO HOME!" he screamed, jumping back when he saw a flame pop up right in front of him. With a growl, he turned and found Cameron, Fred, and George hiding behind a tree in the yard, guilty smiles on their faces. With a final glare at me, he turned on his heel and stomped right back into the house, slamming the door so hard that I was shocked it stayed on its hinges.
After taking a few seconds to calm myself, I turned to face Cam and the twins, finding them walking toward me a bit cautiously. Fred and George seemed afraid that I would continue to take out my rage, using them as targets. Cameron, on the other hand, could pick up how upset I had become. I knew that this marriage would be difficult, but I had no idea we would hate each other so much. How was this even going to work?
"Told you we wouldn't let him kill you," Fred grinned, finally deeming me safe and wrapping an arm around my shoulder. I groaned and leaned my head on his shoulder.
"You probably should've just let him kill me. Things would have gone smoother."
"Don't you dare talk like that!" Cameron scolded me, smacking me on the arm and glaring. "This will work. You will make it work. Just don't mention the girl that left him again. That really seemed to set him off."
"Erm… she didn't leave him though," George said awkwardly, rubbing the back of his neck and staring at the ground.
"But there was another woman?" I asked. I needed affirmation; I wanted to know my suspicions were right. Bill was being forced into a marriage with me, yet he was in love with another woman. That would explain the bitterness, though not why he was so cruel to me. Fred and George both nodded, a somber look taking over their typically gleeful faces. "He was in love with her?"
"Yeah, I suppose he was," Fred answered, looking to George for back up.
"Doted on her. It was almost sickening," he continued with a shrug.
"Then what happened?" Cameron asked. The twins both winced and turned their gazes away from her.
"That… we can't tell you. It's up to Bill," George explained, sending us both an apologetic look.
"Well, that's lovely. I think we've established how much Bill enjoys speaking to me," I piped sarcastically. This was wonderful, absolutely wonderful. He hated me, loved another witch, and wanted nothing more than out of our marriage.
"Don't worry Rhiannon, he'll warm up to you… eventually."
"I'm sorry, was that meant to be reassuring Fred? Because it wasn't," I laughed, shoving him away from me. "God. I'll be ancient by the time he warms up to me."
"And that'll just be because one of you is going to die soon," George added with a grin. I laughed, despite realizing that that was a very good possibility. Living in a loveless marriage would be miserable enough, but could I really manage to live in one where we hated each other?
No. I'd rather have to fight off a dark wizard before I'd let that happen.