The Marriage Decree

Chapter 1: Don't be so dramatic - Hermione's POV

Author's Notes:

Here's Chapter 1 for you!

This is the ORIGINAL version of THE MARRIAGE DECREE that was first posted on 02/02/2016.

This version only remains for posterity purposes.

If you wish to read a new and improved version of the same story, check out my profile for

'The Marriage Decree: Book 1 - Beginnings'

Love, DW

P.S. Enjoy x

During her first few months of Hogwarts, Hermione would constantly dream of home. Taking long Sunday walks around the park with her parents and Bobby, their next door neighbour's dog. Or lounging in the armchair watching Disney films on VHS. Or being at one of their family's barbeques playing with her cousins. It helped her get through the loneliness that encapsulated her at school before she became friend with Harry and Ron. Although even then she would find herself dreaming about what her life would have been like had she not been a witch. If she had attended the local secondary school with her best friend, Derek, from primary school. It wasn't until her third year when she finally began to feel as though she was fitting in with the wizarding world that the dreams stopped.

Instead, whenever she was home for the holidays, her dreams would take her back to Hogwarts. Sitting in Hagrid's shack with Harry and Ron. Or reading books upon books in the library, eagerly trying to expand her knowledge of the wizarding world. Or eating dinner in the Great Hall with all her friends. It helped her through the blandness of being home in the muggle world.

There are only a few days left before the Hogwarts Express is due to transport everyone back home and as per usual, the Gryffindor common room is an absolute mess with people throwing things around trying to find lost socks or school books so they can finish packing their trunks. Hermione's thankful that she is a tidy, organised person and finished packing days ago.

She decides to take this opportunity to get some quiet reading done outside under an old oak tree. The skies are a clear blue, the grass are a luscious green and the sun is beating down strongly. Hermione finds her favourite spot overlooking the Great Lake, sits herself down and begins to read feeling content in herself.

She is so engrossed in her book that she doesn't hear it at first. But then something in her subconscious tells her that there's a noise that doesn't belong nearby. She pauses in her reading, listening out for whatever it is when it happens again.

The sound of tapping. Of course being outside, sat under a tree, you might expect to hear some tapping from maybe a bird, high in the branches of said tree. But this tapping is different. It's as if the bird is tapping on a glass surface. Confused, Hermione stands up, glancing around her surroundings, not exactly sure what she's expecting to find. There's no evidence to suggest that there's a pane of glass being tapped on nearby. Especially since she's sitting too far away from the school building to hear anything.

Then the tapping noise happens again. This time, it comes from behind her, followed by a hoot. 'An owl.' Hermione thinks, rolling over in her bed. 'I should probably get that.' She adds in her head but shuffles further under her quilt.

She decides to head back up to her common room to see if the boys are any closer finished to being packed when she hears a new sound.

The sound of knocking that one would expect to hear on a door. It's at that moment that Hermione blinks sending herself into darkness. At first, she thinks she hasn't reopened her eyes from the blink so she blinks again and realises that the darkness is surrounding her.