𝐃𝐄𝐒𝐈𝐑𝐄 ➤ ɢᴇᴏʀɢᴇ ᴡᴇᴀꜱʟᴇʏ

𝐳𝐞𝐫𝐨

July, 1996

I've never found freedom before; my father controls every element of my life, from the second I wake up, to the second my head rests on my pillow - an endless circle of inescapable control and restraint. My mother stands and watches from afar, she might conjure dreams of liberty and indulgence, as I do, but we both know that our desires are little more than the reality we face.

I am to marry Draco Malfoy in a long-awaited union, of two of the most powerful wizarding families that exist to this day. The Malfoys, and the Notts. The wedding is in just a few days, and once the time ticks around, I'll be a Malfoy, left as a defenceless, under-educated witch, in the direct firing line of Lord Voldemort himself; a sympathiser, as the rumours will speculate.

It's not that Draco is so greatly deplorable, I would be quite content with him if it weren't for his connections to the Dark Lord. Everybody knows that he is a beneficiary to the Death Eaters, even if he won't admit it himself. My cousin, Theo, tells me he's been particularly weary recently, as if on edge at all times, waiting, expecting, something deleterious to occur. I know better, I don't want to be getting involved with a family like that; my father, of course, only cares for power and riches. The Dark Lord could slaughter me in broad daylight, and my father would show no such signs of mourning, for it would be seen as an honour that his daughter was sacrificed for the greater good of the wizarding world.

My mother understands, but there's nothing she can do to help me, and she of all people would know how it feels to be married off to the cruel patriarchy in exchange for notoriety and prestige; her family permitted the same to her when she was my age, a mere senility of sixteen.

If I had not found comfort in his friendship, if I had not found content in his warm heart, that made mine glow with happiness and pride, I mightn't have survived as far as to the wedding itself. I can simply be grateful for what he gave me in my last few months as a Nott, but I can only imagine how different my life would be, if only my name could be wed as a Weasley.