Chapter 70: The Ramifications Of Shock and Awe
{A/N: Here's Another Update...)
My Thanks To My Readers and Reviewers...Enjoy-S.S.
12 Grimmauld Place, Muggle World...
Hermione Granger had been quite startled as Ronald Weasley burst into the sitting room with a horrified look filed across his usually food stuffed face. His blue eyes seemed to hold the very height of fear and worry as he ventured inside getting the attention of Harry Potter whom had been staring out the nearby window and his younger sister Ginny whom had been busy with her own pile of books she'd gone over in a bid to find something entertaining to do. Hermione had taken a few moments to save her page in a novel she'd taken to reading before the interruption and found that had gotten her attention. She'd been looking forward to spending more time with her husband and had been attempting to come up with a way to venture away from the group before the questions began. Harry had gone to greet Ron as the horror that spread across his face intensified.
"What's the matter Ron?" asked Harry confused by the strangeness of their current situation.
"Jenna Wilcox is married." said Ron as if crushed.
Harry arched a brow at this information.
"Jenna Wilcox?" he asked slightly familiar with the name.
"She's a Ravenclaw and every bloke worth his salt fancied her for a time." explained Ron. "She told me she liked me three weeks ago and now when I asked her out she turned me down stating that she'd been married."
Ginny looked over at Ron in shock.
"What do you mean?" she asked finding herself as confused as her brother had been. "Isn't she a bit young to be married?"
"Apparently not." replied Ron rather grimly. "She told me that there was something called a Marriage Law being passed and all students of age are arranged to be married to someone of magical blood in a bid to preserve the magical blood lines that the many wizarding wars had left nearly extinct."
Harry had not liked the sound of this one bit.
"What do you mean they are arranged to be married?" he asked.
"That's just it." replied Ron still in shock. "She told me that most of the time the marriages are arranged and binding...sometimes to people they don't even love."
"Eww." said Ginny understanding. "Can you imagine some poor bloke being married to an old hag or some girl being forced to marry on old hermit just because they arranged it via magical blood?"
"It's unseemly is what it is." said Ron finally allowing his outrage to take hold. "The Ministry Of Magic has no right to force this on us or any one else for that matter!"
As the outrage and panic began between them, Harry Potter had a thought.
"Of what age does this decree take effect?" he asked finding himself more worried than ever before.
"Well according to Jenna, anyone whom is of the age of sixteen or above qualify to be married." admitted Ron.
All at once the group turned their attention to Hermione whom had been silent this entire time. They found it strange that she had not been as outraged about the prospect of young girls being forced to marry men and boys in which they have no mutual love or respect for aside from the act of procreation in terms of repopulating the magical world. Truth be told, she had already endured the outrage aspect of learning of the decree and had been quite happily married for whatever it had been worth. It proved to be a difficult thing to revert back to contesting her fate as it were.
"Mione, you're of age." said Harry recalling her most recent birthday.
Another look of horror filed across Ron's face as he turned his attention to her.
Realizing that they were not going to let this go, Hermione sighed and attempted to put their minds at ease without betraying any confidences. There was no telling what Harry would do with the information that Severus Snape was her husband or if it would set him off in any aspect to do something brazenly stupid when they were in the middle of a wizarding war.
"This may come as a shock to you both but I'm already married." she said.
A few gasps filled the room as Harry's green eyes filled with worry.
"Who is it?" asked Ron angrily balling his fists. "Who's the bloke that..."
Ginny looked over at her brother noting how truly hurt he had been to find out that the girl he never had the courage to tell how much he'd fancied her was already taken.
"It's Viktor Krum." blurted Ginny before Hermione could reply.
Ron's eyes widened before he turned his attention to his sister. Viktor had fancied Hermione for quite some time it seemed to make sense that she'd end up with him. Hermione had little time to recover from the shock of what Ginny Weasley had blurted out and didn't know whither she felt grateful or annoyed about her young friend's continued assumptions. Wishing to preserve her relationship with Severus without the prying of her friends, Hermione allowed Ginny to run away with the fantastical tale.
"At least we know him." said Ginny attempting to appease Harry's worry and Ron's rage.
"Bloody arsehole." growled Ron seeing it best to take his leave before the tears that threatened to come from his eyes clouded his vision further.
Harry went after him knowing how much this had truly hurt him.
Ginny turned her attention back to Hermione.
"He'll be alright." she said. "He's just got to come to terms with how things are is all."
Hermione nodded in agreement before turning her attention back to the door swinging in the distance. She had no idea how much Ron fancied her but it was for the best that he accepted that they had no chance of being together. She had already been married to the man she loved and it wasn't Viktor Krum.