The Marriage Decree

Chapter 43: I Didn't Have A Choice

Hermione disapparates straight from the gates of the estate to the gates of the grounds of The Holyhead Harpies stadium. Although Ginny had begged her many times to attend games with her, she always found a reason to excuse herself and had never actually visited the stadium before.

At the gate, there's a woman sat in a small booth, guarding the gate. Hermione knocks on the door, making the guard, who's reading a magazine, to jump. She quickly hides the magazine underneath a pile of parchment before opening the door.

"Hello, welc- Miss Granger?" The woman gasps, shaking her hand enthusiastically. "Welcome to The Holyhead Harpies Stadium. I'm Dana Jordan. If you don't mind me asking, what are you doing here?" She asks with a slight western American accent that Hermione can't pinpoint.

"I was hoping I could come in for a visit." Hermione states with a polite smile.

Dana laughs out loud. "Really? But you hate Quidditch."

Hermione doesn't ever publically stating that she hated Quidditch or ever reading anything in the Daily Prophet about her hatred of the sport. She doesn't even hate it that much, just has a strong disliking of it. The Quidditch World Cup was fun, up until the Death Eaters attacked.

"Sorry, my cousin, Lee, told me you would always read a book during Hogwarts games if you turned up at all." She explains.

"Lee Jordan?" Hermione asks for clarification.

"Yeah, my mom and his dad are siblings. My dad's American and works in MACUSA so we live over there. My mom and I came to England for holidays though." She nods. "So you really want a visit the stadium?"

"Actually, it's my friend, Ginny Potter's, birthday in a couple of months and she's a big fan of the Holyhead Harpies, I was hoping to get her a special tour of the stadium and grounds and maybe she could meet some of the players. She's a massive fan of Gwenog." Hermione lies, faking excitement.

"That so sweet. I think you'll need to speak with the manager of the club though. I'll give you a visitor's pass and let you through the gate. Someone will meet you at the clubhouse, just follow the sidewalk." She hands her a visitor's pass then takes her wand out of her pocket. With the flick of her wand and the mutter of a few chosen words, the gate opens wide enough for Hermione to pass through.

Hermione takes a few steps down the path before stopping in awe. She glances around at how green everything is behind the wall. There are small trees planted around the entirety of the wall with nettle bushes weaving their way between the trunks. Strangely, growing in between branches of the bushes are thousands of daffodils creating rather a beautiful picture of the welsh countryside. All that's missing are rolling welsh hills, although she assumes hills aren't the best for Quidditch.

"It's beautiful, isn't it?" Dana calls through the gates. "I wish I could see them from my little booth." She sighs. "Anyway, I just called up to the club house and got Gwenog to meet you at the door. You can run your idea by her before you speak with the manager."

"Thank you, Dana," Hermione calls back as she sets off walking down the path.

Hermione slows her walk to a stroll once she's half way towards the manor that must be the clubhouse. She hadn't thought much further than getting into the grounds of the stadium. She doesn't know what she's going to say once she comes face to face with Gwen. Does Gwenog know who Hermione is in relation to David and Sophie? Hermione never did meet Gwenog, although she can attribute that to being too busy with the Heir of Slytherin that academic year. She stopped sending letters home after she accidentally transformed herself partially into a cat, due to embarrassment. Then she was too preoccupied with trying to figure out how people were getting petrified and her school work to send any more than one letter a month home. She didn't even know she had a baby cousin until she got home for the summer and even then she didn't get to see Sophie until after they got back from a two week holiday to France. By that time, her mother was no longer around and her parents told her not to ask questions about it.