The Marriage Decree

Chapter 14: Molly Dearest

"Narcissa, you have a wonderful library." She compliments her Mother-in-law but her smile soon falls at the expression of pure anger on her face.

Narcissa keeps walking towards her until she stood a few inches away.

"You little bitch. You think just because The Minister forced my son to marry you that you can come into our home like you own the place." She huffs out a laugh in disbelief. "My sister should never have tortured you." Narcissa yanks her wrist up with her scar still on the show.

Hermione's eyes widen as she tries to pull her arm out of Narcissa's grip.

"She should have killed you and saved us all this grief." She spits on her scared wrist before dropping it like she'll catch an incurable disease if she held on to it much longer.

Hermione wipes the dripping saliva on her dress as she takes a few steps away. She slowly reaches into her bag for her wand.

"Draco will be back soon." She warns her but Narcissa just laughs.

"What do you expect my son to do? Protect you, defend you. He's my son. He'll never love you. How could he? You're a filthy little Mudblood who doesn't deserve him. You're going to taint our bloodline and I'll personally make sure that my son has nothing more to do with you or your half-blooded spawn." She growls at her.

Suddenly, Hermione's back hits the bookshelf behind her. She spots Narcissa's wand in her hand, hidden up the sleeve of her robes. She doesn't know what she's capable of doing but she's not going to wait around to find out.

Without a second thought, Hermione whips her wand out of her bag, wordlessly casting the expelliarmus charm as she points it at Narcissa, who doesn't have the chance to retaliate as her wand flies across the room. Hermione takes the opportunity to run. She throws the door open just as Draco reaches for the door handle. They both jump in surprise but Hermione doesn't stay still for long enough to find out if what Narcissa said was true. She runs towards the back door, which is closer than the front door, past the kitchens where Mitty calls after her.

She hears Draco call after her as well but she just keeps on running, unsure of where she's actually running to. As soon as she's out of the gate she disapparates to the one place she knows Draco won't be able to enter if he tried to follow her. The Burrow.

She runs down the Weasley's garden path, wand still grasped in her hand. Throwing the kitchen door open, she runs straight into a surprised Molly Weasley's arms before bursting into tears.

"Hermione dear, what's wrong?" Molly asks, gently stroking the hair.

"I'm sorry Molly. I didn't know where else to go." She cries into her shoulder.

"You're always welcome here." She mutters, hugging her tighter. "Did that boy do something to you?" She asks nervously.

Hermione shakes her head, trying to calm down. Once she's managed to stop the tears, she pulls away, drying her eyes with her cardigan sleeve. Molly produces a tissue from her apron then leads her to the dining table.

"You sit down and I'll make us some tea." She orders her down onto the bench as she goes about making them a pot of tea.

Once she's done, she sits down opposite Hermione, pours them both a cup of tea waits for her to start talking.

Hermione stares down at her cup of tea. "We were supposed to have lunch at the manor today." She mentions before taking a sip from her tea. "Narcissa had been polite and civil at The Partner Ceremony. I thought maybe she would accept me as her daughter-in-law but... but..." Hermione shakes her head not wanting to finish.