Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters you may recognize from the wonderful world of Harry Potter, they all belong to the revered JK Rowling, I just like to play with them a little.
CHAPTER FIVE
MOLLY
Arthur sought Molly out, and brought her to the front room of the Burrow. Casting a silencing charm over the room to ensure the family's privacy, given that Lucius was speaking with Draco in the kitchen, he sat her down in a chair next to where Bill and Charlie had placed their sister.
Taking a calming breath, Molly looked to her husband; "What has been decided?"
"He will marry her," Arthur stated emotionlessly.
"I see," Molly murmured, above the exclamations of disapproval from her sons.
"Dad, you can't be serious?" Ron beseeched.
"Yes, I can be! He has soiled your sister; therefore he gets to keep her."
"But… but… he's Malfoy," Ron stuttered.
"Yes, and if I'm not mistaken, your sister will be well cared for given their financial status."
"She can't marry him… he's… he's a bloody ferret," Ron's face had surpassed red, and was now turning purple with rage.
"Enough, Ronald," Molly interjected.
"Mum, she can't…"
"Everyone out, I want to speak to my daughter. Alone," Molly ordered in a tone that brooked no opposition.
She waited with thinly veiled patience, as the family members made their way up the staircase. Once the last of the footfalls could be heard on the first landing, she turned to regard her only daughter.
Still covered only with the blanket from her bed, Ginny was crying silently. Molly steeled herself against the urge to gather her in her arms and sooth away the humiliation she must be feeling.
"Well this is a fine mess, what do you have to say for yourself, Ginevra?"
"I'm sorry Mum, I didn't mean for all of this to happen."
"I'm sure you didn't. How long have you and that boy been… indecent with each other?"
Ginny seriously considered telling her mother that it was the first time, but one glance at her hardened features encouraged her to tell the truth.
"Umm… since early last year."
"What?" Molly sounded scandalized.
"I… I love him," Ginny mumbled.
"Love? How in the name of Merlin do you know what love is? You are just a child - you have no idea what it means to be in love."
"I'm not a child."
"Oh is that so? That would be the reason that you're sneaking around behind our backs, sleeping with that boy? How many more have there been, Ginevra? How many more boys have you let… touch you?"
"None - only Draco."
"Liar."
"I swear, Mum, only Draco and no one else."
"Not that it matters now," she huffed. "You heard your father; you are to be married to that boy."
"I… I…"
"Not ready to be married, Ginevra?"
"I don't know, I mean I love Draco, but marriage; it's forever."
"Yes well, you should have thought of that before you welcomed him into your bed."
"What if I don't marry him?"
Molly snorted. "He will be killed by your brothers."
"Wh… what?" Ginny stammered. Had she really just heard that correctly? As for her mother's tone - it was almost as if she wanted it to happen.
"They will get to kill him in any manner they see fit."
"I… I'll marry him then."
"I thought you might," Molly sighed and then added under her breath, "foolish girl."
"When?" Ginny was having trouble organizing her thoughts into coherent sentences, and so stuck to monosyllabic answers.
"I assume it will be sometime in the next day or so."
"Can I see Draco?"
"No, not until the wedding."
"Why?"
"That's the way it's done."
"Oh."
"We have plans to make… the robes first; we'll have to transfigure my old ones."
Ginny merely grunted in response.
"Come along, upstairs with you - we need to sort these robes out immediately."
Ginny rose slowly, and followed her mother upstairs. Molly shooed the rest of the family back to the front room, so she and Ginny could have some privacy.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
The Weasley men, with Harry and Hermione, once again took up residence in the front room of the Burrow.
"Dad, surely you're not going to force Ginny to marry Malfoy?" Ron had not given up petitioning Arthur for his sister's reprieve.
"Ron, they will be married, and there is nothing any one of us can do about it."
"But you can, it was your idea - you can just tell them that you changed your mind, and you don't want her to marry him," Fred joined the fight for his sister's freedom.
Arthur sighed heavily. "I don't want her to get married, she's too young, but I honestly didn't think that Lucius Malfoy would accept the offer."
"What choice did he have?" Percy scoffed.
"Well, I did think that he would bargain for his heir's life a little harder," Arthur admitted.
"What were the choices?" George asked seriously.
"Marry Ginny or death by our hands," Arthur responded quietly.
"Now that sounds like a lot more fun than a wedding," Ron announced loudly.
"I'd like to get my hands around his scrawny neck," Charlie growled, demonstrating in the air how he would throttle Draco.
"Dad we have to stop this," Ron said urgently.
"We can't."
"We'll just tell them that we've changed our minds, kill the ferret and Ginny will be all right," Ron explained.
"Ron - enough. That is not an option, they have to accept her into their family." Arthur's voice was rising with frustration. "Only if they refuse, … do we get to kill the bastard."
"Shhh… I think mum's coming," Bill warned everyone.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Going to the very back of her wardrobe, Molly brought out the large box containing her wedding robes.
"Here, put this on," Molly instructed passing it to Ginny with her lips tightly pressed together.
Ginny dropped the blanket that had been covering her and slipped the wedding robes over her head. They were meant to reach the floor however with Ginny's height they hung above her ankles.
"Oh dear, I don't know if this is going to be possible," Molly muttered as she circled her daughter inspecting the robes for fit.
"But what will I wear?"
"I'll be right back."
Molly went directly back to the front room, where the rest of the Weasley clan was having a heated discussion over the merits of allowing the only witch in the family, for generations, to marry a Malfoy. An eerie quiet filled the room as she entered.
"Arthur?"
"Yes, Molly."
"Ginevra will need robes."
"Your old ones will do."
"No, they're too short, and no charm is going to change that."
"Well, she can bloody well get married in that blanket she's been parading around in all morning, for all I care."
"Arthur," Molly reproved.
"No, Molly, I will not spend another Knut on that girl."
Molly did not bother to argue her daughter's case any further, once Arthur had made his mind up on a matter of this much importance, it was impossible to convince him to change it. She turned and made her way back upstairs to Ginny.
"Your father has refused to buy you new robes for the ceremony."
"But I can't wear these," she moaned. "Please, Mum, won't he change his mind?"
"I'm afraid not."
"Oh gods, this is such a mess," Ginny wailed as she sat heavily on the side of her parent's bed.
"There, there, we'll sort something out," Molly tried to soothe her.
"No, it's hopeless, Mum - I can't get married in these, and there is no way I can buy more," Ginny said as she started to cry in earnest.
Molly was across the room in a flash, gathering her daughter into her arms and rocking her gently in an effort to quell her tears.
"It's hopeless," Ginny sobbed.
"No… no it's not, we'll sort something out," Molly tried to keep her voice even, as her own tears threatened to spill over.
"How? We have no money, Mum."
"Shhh…" Molly's fight against her own emotions broke, and tears spilled down her face, dropping onto the flaming red hair of her daughter. "We'll work something out. Just because it's a forced marriage, doesn't mean it can't be beautiful."
Mother and daughter sat for a long while crying in each other's arms, before Molly partially extracted herself.
Holding Ginny by the shoulders, she looked her in the eye. "I promise your wedding will be as beautiful as we can possibly make it. Your father is angry at the moment, but he'll calm down soon, and then we'll discuss what we have to do."
"Thanks, Mum."
"No need to thank me," Molly replied as she wiped away some of Ginny's tears. "I just wish it wasn't happening like this, for your sake."
"I'm really sorry, Mum."
"I know, Ginny."
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
AUTHORS NOTES
I'd like to thank my livejournal friends for their encouragement to finish this fic and their hilarious suggestions that enabled me to do so.
Special thanks to vequihellin and rainpuddle13 for their fantastic beta skills *hugs*
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