The Marriage Law

Insecurities

The next day in the afternoon, the house was all empty except for 3 people. Hermione, Remus and Molly. Wilhelmina was out for some important task given by Dumbledore, and everyone else was at work.
Remus was hiding away in the library, as usual, his eyes glanced over his favourite book, but was unable to read a single line. His mind was infiltered by thoughts about the wedding that was supposed to happen in 2 weeks. He hated this entire arrangement, he didn't want Hermione to be stuck with him. She is the brightest witch of her age, she didn't deserve to be forced into a marriage with a man 19 years older than her. He is a werewolf for god's sake, she didn't deserve to be tied to a man who turns into a savage beast, he knew wolfsbane helped, but yet it couldn't be assured that he won't forget to take it. He remembered with a shudder the time when she had seen him as a mindless creature. He had no job, no source of stable income, no money, no house, no sort of financial security, Sirius was the one who was supporting him financially. He owed Sirius a lot.

Before his mind could wander towards deeper and darker thoughts, he was interrupted by Molly and behind her was Hermione. His heart clenched at her sight, he hoped that his face didn't betray any emotions.
"Remus, good that I found you here, I wanted to speak to both of you" Molly spoke with a smile.

Soon Remus found himself being dragged alongside the young witch by Molly. They sat comfortably by the fireplace, each of them holding a mug of their preferred drinks.
"So Remus and Hermione, both of you are getting married in 2 weeks, have you both planned anything about the wedding," Molly asked with a warm smile.
Remus felt extremely uncomfortable, he had never given a thought to this subject, not to mention the fact that neither Hermione nor he spoke to each other at all, after the marriage arrangement. Hermione looked just as uncomfortable as Remus and kept staring at the carpet.
Taking the silence as a 'no', Molly continued.
"Oh dears this won't work, you both have to talk to each other. Now, I will give you some time, today both of you talk to each other and tomorrow we will address this subject once again." With that, she left, without waiting for a reply. She made sure to charm the door, so it wouldn't open unless they talk.

Both of them sat silently for what felt like hours.
"I wa.."
"I am.."
Both of them spoke at the same time, they almost looked panicked, both of their faces had a tinge of embarrassment.
"You speak first," Hermione said, avoiding his eyes. He nodded and took a deep breath.

"I am sorry" Hermione looked confused, so Remus explained.
"I am sorry that you have to marry me, a werewolf, a man 19 years older than you, a man with no financial security, you deserve to be with someone of your age, someone who can give you more." He spoke in a low voice, his eyes fixated on the blazing fire.
Hermione was shocked to hear all this, she didn't understand why would he apologise, and except for the age difference she hadn't even thought about any of the above-mentioned things. She was concerned about age because she was worried that because of age differences their thoughts, their interests, their views towards life and expectations from it would never match and it might create an unbreakable barrier.

She composed herself and began speaking.
"Remus, you have nothing to be sorry about, you are just as much the victim as I am. All the things that you mentioned, trust me, other than the age thing, the others didn't even cross my mind. To tell you the truth I hate this arrangement, but it has nothing to do with you. I don't hate it because you are supposed to be my partner, at least it's not the older Malfoy or McLaggen who Wilhelmina hates for some reason. I hate this because we are being forced to do something which should have been our decision. They are taking away our right to choose a life partner. It's unfair, it's disgusting. We are being trapped under Ministry's thumb. I have ambitions and plans, and marriage was not in it for the near future, you have gone through so much in life, now when the war is over, you are finally getting time and reason to be happy, your freedom is being snatched away. None of us deserves this. And about age, I am worried that because of our views and most things won't match. About financial security, Remus I am not the sort of person who wants to have wealth by marrying rich, I believe in earning it by my capability. The thing of you being a werewolf, it doesn't matter in the slightest, I am being completely honest. I don't care that you are a werewolf, as long as you are not a complete bullhead and a jerk, we should be fine." Hermione finished finally taking a deep breath.

Remus looked shocked and revealed at the same time, he didn't have anything more to say regarding this. So he decided to change the topic.
"So about the wedding, do you have anything in mind ?" He asked, finally raising his eyes to look at Hermione.
"No, I had never given it a thought." She answered truthfully, she was always so busy worrying about the future, her studies and trying to help her friends that she never found time for it.
"You ?" She asked.
"No" he replied, he never thought he would get married, he always believed that no one would ever want to marry him. Even now it was more out of compulsion that Hermione was marrying him.
"Okay, so we both are blank. But there's one thing I know that's written in stone; Wil is going to be the planner. When we were 6, we had decided that she will plan my wedding and I will plan hers. And she is gonna want to plan every single detail. You have to tell Molly that she won't get to plan this wedding." Hermione clarified, a tiny smiling playing at her lips as she remembered the time when the tiny girls made the promise.
"Sure, throw me under the bus, you know Molly is going to throw a fit." He spoke with a smile.
Hermione shrugged in return and soon went to look for Wilhelmina.

After she left, Remus thought about all the things that she said, he couldn't detect a speck of dishonesty in it. She saw beyond his 'problem', and for that, he felt grateful. He was not much used to kindness. James, Sirius and Lily were the first to show him what acceptance felt like, Dumbledore was the one who offered him a place at Hogwarts, first as a student and then as a teacher. Most of the Order was kind to him and received him with open arms, though some of them had doubted his intentions. Peter always tried to pretend that he was okay to be in Remus' company, but he never truly accepted him. Grief and anger filled his heart when he thought of Peter. He blocked that subject from his mind and slowly drifted into slumber, listening to the soothing sound of the crackling fire. His last thought was 'maybe, just maybe, this will turn out fine'.

Author's note - Hello!! So here's another chapter. I hope you like it. Please tell me what you think of this one. This is the first time when Remus and Hermione have had a proper conversation. I want to ask you all whether I should make the next one or two chapters about the wedding (as in bachelorette, honeymoon n fun things) or I should just skip that get directly on the missions n stuff).
Thank you!!