Blessings ; George Weasley

Twenty-nine

As the group of us walked back towards the mansion, George and I held hands.

The kids all walked in front, chatting and laughing about things.

I could feel George's eyes on me as everyone made conversation about the ceremony.

Cocktail hour was now and in half an hour, guests would arrive for the reception.

I looked down at my hand being held by George's, then looked up at him and smiled when our eyes met.

We were married.

Finally.

We walked slow, and our friends and children who were all very excited and chatty, ended up walking a good amount in front of us.

I leaned closer to George for a second, smiling from ear to ear before I looked around at the area, eyes eventually landing in Malcolm on one side of the mansion.

I slowed down, frowning slightly as he was leaned against the wall, watching us.

"I need to go see something." I told George. "But I'll be right in."

He looked at me and cocked an eyebrow while I slowly let go of his hand.

"Only five minutes." I assured him.

"Okay." He wrapped an arm around my waist and pulled me close to kiss me before he followed our friends and kids inside.

When I could no longer see him, I made my way towards Malcolm, my heels slowly sinking into the grass as I walked, but I managed to make my over, letting out a breath.

Malcolm's eyes stayed on me.

He had been crying and he had also obviously been drinking, which caused me to sigh.

He had been sober for years.

He was wearing the same sweatpants and hoodie that he always wore whenever he entered a depressive episode.

"What are you doing here?"

He shrugged.

"You actually married him."

"You knew we were planning the wedding. You knew—"

"I didn't actually think you'd go through with it." He let out a chuckle and turned to lean back against the wall, closing his eyes. "I guess I still had some sort of hope that we could work."

"Hope? Malcolm... I've been with George for three and a half years."

He ran his hands over his face, letting out a shaky breath, and I placed my hand on his arm.

"I've been trying my best to get better." He continued to explain, letting his hands drop. "I fell in love with you when we were young and—"

"You didn't." I cut him off. "None of that was love. I was thirteen when you first approached me as a sixteen-year-old. That wasn't right."

He looked at me.

"I was almost eighteen when you got me pregnant. You had just turned twenty."

"Dahlia—"

"It wasn't love. You wanted someone to control and you targeted a child."

He laughed.

"You don't get it." He laughed, turning towards me as he raised his voice. "You aren't the only victim here, Dahlia! You're right, I was sixteen but I was forced to approach you. Our fathers had planned it all out and even though your father was in Azkaban, he sold you. My dad paid him and your mother money to have me marry you. My dad was going to kill me if I didn't get a way to get a hold of you. I needed to ensure that you'd be my wife, or he'd murder me, literally. I'm sorry, okay?... but I did fall in love with you and I know you fell in love with me too."

I gulped. Everything he said, didn't come as a surprise as I'd heard some of it before, but I tried to push it down.

Today was my wedding day. He wasn't going to ruin it.

"You've been drinking." I stated. "You've been sober for so long."

"Who fucking cares?!" He yelled. "Dahlia, I— I've done so much therapy and I've done everything I can to get better so that you could see that I can be exactly what you need."

I sighed.

"I don't love you anymore, Malcolm." I said. "Not like that. I love George, and you have no business showing up at our wedding uninvited."

He looked at me, eyes full of tears and for a second, I felt bad for him.

"Plus, I'm pregnant." I told him, hoping it would get him to finally realise that George was it for me. "George and I are having twins."

Malcolm stared at me, blinking a few times before he ran a hand over his face.

"Oh fuck." He cursed as he started to cry, turning away from me to hide it.

"You'll find someone else." I said. "What we had wasn't great, Malcolm. Maybe it was for you but for me it caused a whole lot of trauma. Why can't you just let go of me?"

"Because I love you!" He yelled, looking at me again, eyeing me up and down. "And it isn't helping that you look so beautiful right now."

I took a step back.

"I should get back inside."

"He's going to kill me, you know." He said. "For the past three years, I've been stalling, trying to convince my father that I can get you back and when he finds out you married someone else, he'll have my head."

I frowned.

"He's not in Azkaban?"

Malcolm shook his head.

"He got out the same time as your father." He said before pushing himself off the wall. "Congratulations on the wedding. I hope you two live a happy and wonderful life together."

He turned to walk again and I stood there, watching him do so.

After standing there for a moment, I turned around and slowly made my way inside, my mind drowning with thoughts of what just happened.

My dad had sold me to the Baddock family when I was just thirteen.

My family received money that someone paid for me to marry one of their sons.

I walked inside and as I found George, I automatically started smiling, pushing the thoughts away so that I could enjoy today.

"Are you okay?" He asked, kissing me.

I nodded.

"I am." I told him as Lee approached, carrying two cocktails and handed me one of them. "Oh, I—"

"Don't worry." He winked at me before taking a sip of his. "It's virgin."

He knows...

I looked to George who chuckled and shrugged, taking a sip of his own, and when I looked at Lee again, he smiled widely.

"Oh c'mon. It's obvious. You're glowing." Lee told me. "It doesn't take a mathematician to put two and two together."

"Lee Jordan." I breathed, taking the cocktail that he handed me. "Tell anyone and I'll break your neck."

He wiggled his eyebrows at me in response.

"A lot of people already know, though." George said. "We haven't been good at keeping it a secret."