A Fated Marriage

A/N: First of all may I say thank you to everyone who hates Dorian. There’s nothing that makes me happier than reaction to what I write. “Update soon.” is always fun to hear because I know you like the story, but when you say “I hate that guy! May I kill him?” It just make my happy meter shoot up ten points. ^ ^ But you have all waited long enough for this chapter so why don’t you go and read it.

Explanation


Tension between girl and agent was so thick you could cut it with a knife. Hermione was clutching her napkin so hard her knuckles were white. Dorian was looking calmly at her while sipping his wine it was impossible to tell what was going though his head. The young witch knew she should calm down before she said something rash, but right now her anger was getting the best of her. “You have no right making the comments you did. My appearance is none of your business.” She bit out. “I hate wearing a lot of jewelry because I think it looks gaudy. Thin natural looking makeup is better for the skin and keeps me from looking like a clown or a whore. I’d rather be curvy than look like a walking skeleton. Short can be cute.” Hermione took a deep breath, “And the only ones who can make comments about my hair are my mother and sister.”

“Well I’m glad you think that, but as of yesterday your opinion stopped mattering. You are going to be Viktor Krum’s wife in three months. Do you even know what that means? You have to keep up appearances for the sake of his career.” The man said casually.

“His career depends on his skills as a Seeker not the appearance of his wife!” Hermione was breathing hard now. She’d rather be in Potions class right now paired up with Malfoy than talking to Dorian.

“My dear you really must learn to control your temper. You face is becoming blotchy. Not a pretty picture.”

“Trust me, if I was out of control you wouldn’t be sitting there in one piece.”

“Ahh, yes. I forgot you are the Great Hermione Granger: War hero, most intelligent witch of the age, and friend to Harry Potter. You are going to have to give those titles up darling. They are much too brutish for your image. Viktor’s wife need to be delicate and refined. I signed you up for some housewife classes. Viktor mailed me earlier about medical training, but I am afraid you simply cannot take part in that. What Viktor needs is a nice, obedient, pretty little housewife. You…” Dorian’s little speech was cut short when water was poured over his head.

“I am Hermione. I am a person with dreams and goals in life. I know who I am and what I want in the future.” Hermione was standing up empty pitcher in hand. She was visibly shaking with anger. “There is nobody in the world who can change any of that! I’ve worked hard in this world to earn respect, and I expect that if I give it than I will receive it in return.”

Dorian once again stared at her than nodded slowly. “So you have spirit, and a backbone to match.” He smiled up at her slowly. “Very good.” The expression on his face was suddenly very different from just a moment ago; it was soft and thoughtful very much like the expression the Weasley brothers or Harry gave her. “You can sit back down now. We still need to talk.” He said kindly motioning to her seat. Hermione sat back down eyeing the man carefully. He in turn muttered a quick spell to dry off and smiled at her.

“I am sorry if I was rude earlier, but I did have my reasons.” He said taking a sip of wine. Hermione just raised an eyebrow as is if saying ‘And those reasons would be?’
“You see my dear the life of a celebrity wife is not an easy one, especially in the Quidditch world. I wanted to test you to see how you would hold up to criticism. I must say that although you did not respond in the way I would have liked you did defend yourself and that is a very good thing.”

Hermione looked at Dorian in total and utter confusion. “Testing me? I don’t understand.” The bewildered young woman said quietly.

Dorian once again looked at her thoughtfully, “Hermione you are already famous in the Wizarding world. You are one of the Great Heroes of the second war, but when you get married to Viktor that status is immediately going to come second to being his wife. For the rest your life you will be ‘Viktor Krum’s wife’ first and ‘Hermione the Hero’ second.”

“I still don’t understand.”

“Quidditch wives can be just as famous as their husbands. When the husband is a star he will appear at charity balls, interviews, photo shoots, and other events. If it’s not on the field than ninety percent of the time the player’s wife will be at his side. You heard of Silvia Lindsey right?” Hermione nodded. The woman was one of the most famous in all the Wizarding World. She set the fashion trends for witches everywhere. “Twenty years ago she was a nobody until she married Evan Lindsey. He became a Quidditch Hall of Famer and now he is a World Cup coach.” Hermione had no idea who he was talking about. The extent of her Quidditch knowledge consisted of the Hogwarts teams and the Chuddley Cannons.

“All the time people were taking his photo his wife was right there with him. The media started noticing her amazing sense of style and fashion and asked where she got her clothes. Almost instantly she became a fashion icon. Witches from all around hang on her every word.” He paused to make sure she was following. Hermione still looked slightly confused, but it seemed the light was finally starting to flicker on in her mind. “The only reason she got to where she is today is because she started out as ‘Evan Lindsey’s wife’ had she married anyone else she would still be a nobody.”

“But I don’t want that kind of fame. I want people to respect me for my own accomplishments. And I don’t want to use Viktor’s fame for anything.” The young woman said softly in almost a sad tone.

“Oh I know you don’t. I knew the moment I read the letter Viktor sent me about you wanting to continue your education. You see the thing is you may not want to use Viktor’s fame for you own gain, but there are plenty of others will think that you do. Other player’s wives, fans, other celebrities, even some of his own family.”

“So…”

“So they will do the only thing they know how to do. They will try to drive you away.”

“Huh?”

“Oh innocent, darling, sweet, naïve Hermione you still are not understanding, are you? These people will insult you, bully you, and do whatever possible to keep you away from Viktor and the public eye. Some of them will do it because in their minds they are somehow protecting Viktor. Other will do it because they will get jealous of all the attention you two will be getting. And trust me you will be getting a lot of attention.”

The realization hit Hermione like a ton of bricks. Now she knew what he was saying, “How…how will they try and do this?”

Dorian sighed and took a bite of cake in front of him before pushing the rest of the plate to her. “I have seen it done in many different ways. It really depends on the witch or wizard. Women have a tendency to attack you in private. Saying things very much like the things I said earlier this evening. They will make comments and remarks about everything from your looks to your education to your choice in friends. Viktor had a girlfriend for a short time. Once he took her to a game and at first everything was good. However by the end of the game the poor thing was in tears even though Bulgaria won the game. The other wives tore her to shreds in a matter of hours. Shortly after that she broke up with Viktor.” Dorian looked at her gravely. “They will try and do the same thing to you only you will not have the luxury of breaking up with him.”

Hermione had paled ever so slightly. She knew that being in the spotlight with Viktor would be hard, but she had no idea what she was in for. Or maybe she did. She remembered all the comments and letters she received in her forth yeart just because people thought she was dating him. If that’s how people reacted when she was simply dating him what kind of reaction would marrying him get? “What…what should I do?” She asked poking at the cake.

“Well…and I know this is going to sound impossible…but you are going to have to endure it. You have to let them make the comments and pull their petty pranks. That is probably the only way you can really protect yourself from them.” He said with a sympathetic smile.

“I have to just to live with it? I can’t do that. I refuse to let anyone treat me like that!” Hermione exclaimed with a mixture of anger and helplessness clearly written on her face. “I don’t take things lying down.”

“You have no other choice Hermione. If you fight back as you did with me than you will make more enemies than friends. People will see you as hostile and the press will have a field day writing about how wild you act. Silence will show those who wish to hurt you that you are here to stay. People will see how you are being treated and start to befriend you. Than after you have established yourself than you can fight back, but as a new wife you cannot show weakness or they will rip you apart.”

Hermione bit her bottom lip, but nodded a little. Dorian smiled a bit, “You will be fine. If can you fight Death Eaters than you can face those old Quidditch hags strong and proud.” Hermione managed to smile just a little bit, and nodded. What were Quidditch wives compared to Death Eaters? Or even Malfoy for that matter.

“Now that you understand I need to know when your next available day is.” He said leaning back in his seat with a smile. “I think you hair is quiet lovely, however it should be trimmed a little. And we need to go shopping. There are quiet a few events coming up that you are going to need dresses and dress robes for. In less than a month you will be fully prepared to face the world as a Quidditch wife or soon to be wife I guess you could say.”

“Wait…when you say other wives…does that mean there are a lot of married men on Viktor’s team.” Hermione asked.

Dorian looked at the girl sort of shocked, “Hermione…Viktor was the only single man left on the team. The last wedding of a Bulgarian Quidditch player was nearly three years ago.” He shook his head, “We really to get you studied up on teams and their players.” He muttered to himself.

“Well I’m sorry I don’t know everything about Qudditch.” Hermione said pouting a little. “I have better thing to do than watch a bunch of people fly around on brooms and get beat up.”

“Please never say that in public or you may have a mob chase you with torches and pitchforks.” Dorian laughed, “But off record…” He leaned in closer, “I think it’s a dumb game. If it not for the handsome hunks flying around on the brooms I would never waste a second though on the sport.”

Hermione’s mouth hung open not sure what to say. “Right. Well that’s nice…I guess.” She looked down at the almost finished cake letting the awkwardness seep into her skin. “So…umm…what exactly is going on in a month?” She asked trying to change to subject. “It sounds like a pretty big deal.”

“Opening Week of course! It’s the week before the regular Qudditch season starts. Throughout the week there are team parties, balls, banquets, interviews, photo shoots, and so much more! It’s the first time the public gets to see the teams together since the last season. This year is especially important because last year the Quidditch season was almost non-existent due to the war.”

“Let me guess. Since this year will be even bigger than normal and being the new girl in town will be even harder for me to do. I have to out glam everyone if I want even the slightest hope of surviving the world of the Qudditch wife. After all from what you’ve told me it seems that people only care what’s on the outside not what’s one the inside of a person.”

“They do. Well not all do, but there are enough of them you have to keep on top of the fashion world.” Just as he finished his sentence Viktor came back to the table. He had a glass of water in hand and looked so bored it was almost funny.

“I can not keep still and vatching. Things looked calmer over here so I thought it vould be a good idea to come back.”

Dorian smiled, “Everything went just as planned. I have to admit she is everything you told me she would be and more. Oh, and you would not believe the things I have planned for her. On Opening Week you will have the prettiest witch on you arm.” The agent rubbed his hands together in a very mad scientist sort of way. “Now, Hermione back to my question: when can we go shopping?”

Hermione thought about it carefully what she was about to say because it could spell out her doom. “On Saturday my mom, sister, and future mother in-law want to take me out so we can get some ideas for the wedding. How about you join us?”

“Of that would be wonderful! I can not wait to meet you family!” He said with a small squeal. The young witch swallowed a little wondering what she just got herself into. The rest of the meal went nicely. Everyone was comfortable with each other and Hermione ordered a second dessert without any nasty comments attached to it. However the night came to a quick end and the couple had to say good-bye to Dorian. Before he saw them off the older man offered his apologies once again for his earlier comments. Since everything had been explained to her Hermione was more than happy to forgive.

On their way out Dorian overheard a bit of their conversation, “Why didn’t you apologize you me?” Hermione scolded.

“Vhy do I have to apologize?” Viktor asked.

“Because you didn’t defend me. AT ALL!”

“But I knew he vas going to say that stuff. I could not interfere.”

“What if it was another guy saying those things? Than would you have stayed silent.”

“Of course not!”

“Sure…”

“I promise.”

Dorian smiled to himself and shook his head, “Not engaged for a week and they already sound married.” He said quietly and went back to his place with a great deal on his mind.


A/N: Alright everyone that’s it for now! I’m sorry Viktor didn’t show up much in this chapter, but don’t worry you will see much more in the future. But be glad my wonderful readers for I have now started summer vacation therefore I have MUCH more time to write. Chapter thirteen is well under way. The girls are going shopping! ^ ^ Tell me what you think and I will you next time.