The Marriage Law

Letters of Doom

The rays of sun fell upon Wilhelmina's face, lightning it up. Her eyes that once held joy and mischief, now looked empty and hollow. She looked sickly and pale, her face looked swollen. The entire night she was awake, fear and pain clawing her heart. She stood up from her bed, wiping her tears, and getting ready to go down to the breakfast. She had to be strong, she couldn't afford to appear weak; for she had made a decision and to go through it, will require strength.

She slowly walked downstairs, with her legs trembling and hands shaking. For a moment she was tempted to run back to her room and lock herself forever, but she quickly shook the absurd thought out of her head.

Everyone looked at the new presence and to say that they were shocked would be an understatement. The earth can stop rotating, the sun can stop emitting heat, the non-living objects can start growing, humans can start photosynthesizing, but Wilhelmina can never wake up early in the morning and never without someone else waking her up. They continued staring at Wilhelmina with dropped jaws meanwhile Wilhelmina felt vulnerable under the intense glaze.

Harry sensed her discomfort and cleared his throat and started speaking and successfully managed to take the attention away from her, "Good Morning Wil, come let's have breakfast"
Wilhelmina looked at her best friend with a grateful look and went to occupy the chair beside him, muttering a small good morning on the way. Everyone shared worried and confused looks, they could tell that something was wrong with the Grangers.

As soon as the food was served, everyone forgot about the Grangers and started devouring the food; everyone except Harry and Ron. Harry kept glancing at Wilhelmina, worry and concern swimming in his eyes; ever since they met, Harry and Wilhelmina had a strong bond of friendship. Same bond was shared between Ron and Hermione. Harry had once yelled at fellow students when they began questioning his feelings for Wilhelmina  "Neither is my girlfriend, nor is she my crush; but in the list of priorities, she will always remain first."

Even Ron had declared "If need comes to be, then I can die for Hermione and I can kill for her. She is my best friend, I love her in a completely plutonic manner, get this through those thick skulls or we are gonna have problems". He was eating food with a look of pure ecstasy on his face. As he reached for another piece of bacon , a small owl flew in through the window and perched on the table.

Wilhelmina glared at it with narrow eyes for it was the same owl that had brought the letter from ministry yesterday and she knew that today it was carrying the letters of doom. She secretly named it 'messenger of satan' . A look of worry crossed Hermione's face and her eyes darted towards Wilhelmina, who was still glaring at the poor owl.

Everyone noticed the air of tension, Fred spoke first, breaking the silence. "Look birdie has" started Fred, "brought a letter" finished George. Once the letter was untied and the bird flew away. George was about to open it the letter that was addressed to Wilhelmina. Before he could, she suddenly sprang from her chair and snatched away the letter.

"What is wrong sweetie?, please tell the truth" asked Molly. Wilhelmina gulped and looked at Hermione who gave her a nod and got up to stand beside her twin. Now was the time to tell everybody.

Hermione started speaking, her hands were shaking tremulously. "Yesterday like you all know, Wilhelmina and I went to the ministry. There we were told that due to the huge loses of life, during the war, a new law has been made; it will also ensure that no squibs are born. All the pairs of muggleborn twins who are 17 and up, are required to marry a pure blood or a half blood." she stopped speaking, indicating Wilhelmina to continue.

"The Goblet of Fire chose 2 names of wizards or witches for every muggleborn. We are to select one of them. These letters will give us the names." Wilhelmina finished, her eyes were closed and head hung low. After a few deep breaths when she looked up, all hell broke loose. Everyone started speaking in a collective, hurried and aggressive manner. All the voices and words were jumbled.

"HUSH" yelled Wilhelmina. Pin drop silence spread through the room.
"What is this nonsense, they can't do this, we will speak with the ministry" said Molly,
Harry started in aggressive tone "Wil and Hermione you guys are not marrying anyone like this". Ron spoke in a similar tone "Yes, this is absurd, I don't care what I have to do but no one can force you like this". "We will do everything that it takes to stop this, I will march to the ministry and hex all the workers and minister, don't worry" Ginny spoke in a stern tone that was dripping with rage. "We will prank them all of bad -" started George, "-their ancestors and future generations will feel the effects" finished Fred in lighter tones.

Amongst everyone, Arthur, Sirius and Remus were the only ones who hadn't said anything. Maybe because they knew that nothing could be done.
Tears brimmed in Wilhelmina's eyes, her heart was filled with raw emotion when she saw how much they all cared for her and her twin. This was going to be hard to tell everyone, but at least now she knew that her twin would not be alone.

"There is no way out of this" muttered Hermione, "I thought about everything, our fates are sealed." she said.
Arthur spoke in a comforting and warm tone "Open the letters girls, don't worry we are always there for you."

Just as the letters were about to be opened, Wilhelmina asked them to stop.
"Wait I have something to tell you all"
"You are not pregnant now, are you ?" Ron asked, intending to lighten the atmosphere, but he looked down quickly when Molly, Ginny, Hermione and Wilhelmina glared at him.
"No Ronald I am not pregnant, now please allow me to speak" Wilhelmina spoke in the most sarcastic tone ever known.
"I am not going forward with this law, I am not marrying" she told them with a firm tone.

Everyone except Hermione looked confused. Hermione looked horrified and had a look of disbelief on her face, she looked at her twin's face and searched for any signs of humour. Having found none she then shrieked "NO Wil, no, you can't do this, please say that you are lying"
"No Hermione I am not, I can't do this, I can't let them control my life, you know what I want from my life and this is not it." Wil spoke with a deep pain evident in her voice. Harry took hold of her hand and squeezed it gently to offer her some comfort.
Hermione looked hurt "You mean you are ready to bare the consequences, you are ready to give up on everything and everyone. You are ready to leave me" Hermione's voice trembled, Ron's hand around her waist was the only thing hoisting her up.

Wilhelmina shook her head " You don't understand Mione, I can give up on my magic but I can't give up on my freedom. The same freedom, for which we fought so hard" everyone looked alarmed and started demanding answers.

"The one who refuses to go through this law will be punished. Their wand will be taken and they will be kicked out from the wizarding world. They will never be allowed to have any contact with their friends or family. Wilhelmina is ready for this, she wants her freedom more than her magic, more than her family and more than her friends. If she does this then we will never be able to see her or speak with her again " Hermione explained with a raging tone, her eyes held accusations.

Everyone looked stunned at this revelation, Hermione's reaction made sense to them. Harry felt terror gripping his heart, the thought of his best friend leaving him forever shook the living daylights out of him. Everyone sided with Hermione and made it clear that they thought Wilhelmina was wrong. Wilhelmina felt alone but stood her ground. After an hour of everyone trying to convince Wilhelmina, when she still remain firm on her decision. Hermione lost her cool.

"Go away Wilhelmina, go run away. Just like you always do. You are a coward, who wants to give up on everything. You are selfish Wil, we were supposed to have each other's back; yet here you are leaving me when I need you the most. You don't care about your friends, you don't care about me, the only one you care about is yourself. You are the most calculative, manipulative, self obsessed and selfish person I have ever met. I hate you" Hermione yelled at the top of her voice, now slightly panting from lack of air.

Everyone froze, no one had ever seen Hermione like this,  and she never spoke like this to Wil. Everyone knew that Hermione adored her twin, they were each other's strength. Wilhelmina felt like someone had stabbed her with hundreds of knives. She never felt so much pain in her life. She looked at everyone, hoping that someone would speak for her. But everyone looked at her like she had betrayed them in the worst possible way, finally her gaze landed on her best friend. Her heart finally broke into a million pieces when he gave her the same look and said "You are wrong" while rubbing Hermione's arm to soothe her.

Wilhelmina couldn't take it anymore, she darted out from the house and before anyone could follow her; she vanished into thin air.