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Veronica “Ronnie” Weasley was in her fifth year when something happened in her life that changed the course of her following years. She was doing her homework at the library when suddenly she was distracted by the sound of a chair scraping in front of her.
Much to her shock, instead of a familiar Gryffindor face, she was greeted by the face of Draco Malfoy. The boy, as usual, was not smiling when their eyes met. However, unlike the usual sneers that he gives her way, his eyes look calculating as if appraising her and her value.
A part of Ronnie instantly flared up at that action. Because what the hell was this?
“Are you lost, Malfoy?” Ronnie hissed as Malfoy sat in front of her.
Ronnie watched as Draco tilted his head, still looking at her.
This time, Ronnie felt naked for some reason. She had never experienced this much scrutiny, even before she and Harry decided to go to the Yule ball together, and that included the Daily Prophet having a field day because she wore such an old dress.
In addition, unlike Ginny, Ronnie knew that she was not the cleanest of girls. Her auburn hair was curly and unruly most of the time, and her face was dabbed with an unfortunate number of freckles. The only good thing about her was her blue eyes, which Hermione told her to be as blue as the seas down the South of France.
A beat passed before Malfoy nodded.
“You will do.”
“Excuse me?” Ronnie asked.
Draco stared at Ronnie for a moment again before speaking up.
“You will know soon enough.” He said with finality. “The goblins had already reached out to my parents this morning, so I bet your parents will be contacted within the day as well.”
“What the heck are you talking about, Malfoy?”
Draco just stood up and shrugged once again. But much to Ronnie’s bewilderment, before he went and walked away, he reached out for Ronnie’s hand and kissed it.
Ronnie knew her face was red at this point. And at the same time, it seemed that she could not for the life of her develop a proper sentence because of that action. She must’ve been dreaming – there was no reason for this event to be real.
Instead of answering her, Draco just let out a smirk as she let go of her hand and walked smoothly out of the library.
“This is absolute bonkers,” Ronnie whispered.
Afterwards, she tried to focus on her work, but she was too distracted to do so. So, she then eventually decided to keep her work and move to the common room.
When she reached Gryffindor Tower, Ronnie instantly beelined to Hermione, who was knitting by the fire. Hermione was currently in the frenzy of making hats for house elves.
“Hermione,” Ronnie said as she sat down beside her. “Something strange has happened.”
Hermione looked up.
“What do you mean strange?”
Ronnie then proceeded to talk to her about what happened at the library and the whole thing about Draco Malfoy. To her worry, as she continued with her story, Hermione had started going paler and paler, as if blood had been sucked out of her face.
“What is it, Hermione?” Ronnie said after finishing the story.
Hermione just shook her head.
“I believe you just need to wait for your parents to contact you.” She said. “I believe this is not in my place to tell.”
Ronnie, who was now frustrated, could only let out a groan as she then grabbed Hermione’s knitting supply and started knitting as well. Hermione couldn’t say a word since Ronnie was fast enough, but Ronnie felt that Hermione just let her go because of a certain circumstance that she had already known.
“Where’s Harry?” Ronnie asked after a few minutes.
“Quidditch Practice,” Hermione replied. “Dumbledore just gave them permission to reorganize the team.”
“Huh,” Ronnie said. “I wonder how Umbridge felt about that.”
Hermione chuckled.
“She must’ve been furious.”
When dinner came, all Ronnie’s questions were answered when she was called towards the headmaster’s office with her siblings. Fred and George, as usual, teased her all the way, while Ginny, on the other hand, tried to reassure her that everything was alright.
Oh, Ginny was very wrong.
“What do you mean contracted to marry?!” Fred was the first one to scream as Ronnie could only look blankly at Draco Malfoy, who was looking at her. “You can’t be serious, Mum?! Dad?!”
Arthur and Molly, who were standing on the left side of the headmaster’s table, could only shake their heads sadly.
“It is out of our hands, son,” Arthur said weakly. “This contract has been tight and sealed a few centuries ago.”
“Indeed.” Lucius Malfoy huffed, who was standing at the right side of the table with his wife. “If I could destroy this contract, I would have done it as soon as possible.” He then let out a sigh. “But alas, it seemed that the next generation of Malfoys had no choice but to be associated with-“He then trailed his eyes over Ronnie in such an unimpressed manner that Ronnie winced. “Riffraff.”
Dumbledore then raised his hand to stop Fred and George, who had started screaming. Ronnie could only continue to stare at Draco, whose eyes were now twinkling as he gave her a smirk. Ronnie shuddered.
“This union has no choice but to go on.” He spoke. “As stated in the contract, the marriage should be done as soon as both are of age. Which, in the past, was deemed to be earlier, at fifteen.” Fred tried to open his mouth once more, to which Dumbledore raised his hand once more. “However, despite this contract being tightly sealed, we can still argue the idea of moving the union when both of them are seventeen, considering the circumstances of our current society.”
Ronnie tore her gaze from Malfoy and looked at the Headmaster.
“So, I don’t need to marry him now, professor?” When the Headmaster nodded. She continued. “But I still need to marry him later?” The headmaster nodded again.
Ronnie felt a huge ball settling in her stomach.
“Well,” Narcissa interjected. “Now that is all settled, I think it’s time for both of them to exchange gifts of engagement as per tradition.”
Ronnie could only look at her mother, who was now looking at her with tears. But Molly, like Narcissa proceeded to give her a wrapped gift to which Ronnie had given to Malfoy after she received her package from his. This tradition has been a pureblood one for centuries, symbolizing the partners of sharing family bloodlines.
Lucius Malfoy huffed once again. And with a few short words and a curt nod to Draco, his parents went out to the floo and called for their manor.
Molly and Arthur were much warmer with their reception, however, and had proceeded to hug Ronnie with apologies. Meanwhile, Fred and George, who were fuming, had gone out of the room, dragging Ginny with them, who had been brought to mute silence ever since Lucius had come to the picture.
Molly and Arthur could only sigh at the scene before saying their goodbyes to Ronnie, and, surprisingly, Draco, and went out to the same floo.
“Well, this is a surprising turn of events.” Ronnie could only say to the headmaster, who was the only adult left in the room.
“Indeed,” Dumbledore said. “However, some surprises are blessings in disguise. Most especially in this troubled time.”
He then ushered Draco and Ronnie out of the room and into the hallway, where they could only look at each other.
“This is madness,” Ronnie said again. “Also, I can’t believe you are not putting up a fight, Malfoy.”
Draco shrugged.
“Oh, I did.” He said. “However, when I knew that goblins were involved, there was no room for revolt on my end. My parents knew this, too, that’s why they are so calm.”
Ronnie sighed.
“What are we going to do then?” She asked. “I still hate you, you know. Despite this arrangement, I don’t think I can forgive you easily. Not with all the hurtful things you have said to me, my family, and my friends.”
“Well, at least we have all the time in the world then.” Draco just said before leaving Ronnie alone.