An Unwanted Marriage, But An Unexpected Love

An Unwanted Marriage, But An Unexpected Love


When they left Fudge’s office, Sara-Jane asked Sirius if he would like to meet her mother. Sirius sighed, and figured he might as well meet the mother in law to be, it was only polite he supposed.

When Sara-Jane led them over to her mother, Barty and Sirius realised they knew who Sara-Jane’s mother was, Stephanie Delaney, formally known as Ashworth when she attended Hogwarts with them.

She was an older replica of Sara-Jane, only with hazel eyes instead green, which they presumed Sara-Jane must have gotten from her father.

Stephanie’s eyes widened “Barty, Sirius? What on earth are you two doing here? It has been a long while since we last saw each other.”

Sirius refused to meet her eyes, while Barty grimaced. Stephanie knew what that meant, from spending the last two years of school hanging out with the two of them.

Sirius felt ill, Stephanie would surely hex his ass into oblivion. He was horrified, beyond horrified. Sara-Jane was the daughter of one of his old school friends. This was not good, not bloody good at all.

Barty grimaced. He felt bad for Sirius. Oh boy was Stephanie going to bust his balls and hex him to death. Yes, he really did pity Sirius at that moment. ‘Poor bastard, Padfoot’ was his current thought.

Stephanie asked “Alright what have the two of you gone and done this time? I’ve just seen the two of you again after almost seventeen year’s, and after less then five minutes the two of you have already gone and done something you shouldn’t have.”

She sounded exasperated, as she rolled her eyes at them. Sirius winced and said “Don’t bust my balls over this, but if you insist there is always Fudge’s. This is entirely his fault after all. He is the one who came up with a stupid discriminative law.”

He added cringing as hazel eyes narrowed. “Because you married a muggle, and mostly because Fudge is a prick in the truest sense, he is forcing Sara-Jane to marry me in two weeks time.”

Before she could hex him into next month, he held up his hands and quickly explained “It is not my fault it’s fudge’s. Plus you’re the one who married a bloody muggle, so don’t bloody blame this shit on me.”

He added “Because Sara-Jane refused the four suitors provided, Fudge insisted he was now within every right to choose for her. And I’m it; I’m what he has chosen.”

He finished “If she does not marry me, your daughter will be stripped of her magic, her wand destroyed and disposed of. Then finally she would be exiled from the wizarding world indefinitely, with no option of ever returning.

He added “Is that what you would like too happen Stephanie? Because it bloody well will if she doesn’t marry me?” Barty added quickly what he saw Stephanie was fuming, and looked to be on the verge of reaching for her wand and hexing Sirius to death.

“He is not the only one. And your daughter is not the only one this law applies to. It applies to thousands of other young witches, even pureblood wizards, who over the age of twenty five, and are not married, which means me and Sirius.”

He gestured to Hermione “For example she is one of those unfortunate individuals. She is a muggle born. And she has also agreed to marry me." Hermione spoke up when she saw Barty was now also subjected to Stephanie’s glare. “Mrs. Delaney. Neither Barty or Sirius are to blame for this whole unfortunate mess.”

She added gently, but also firmly and a hint of steel in her voice. “If you must blame someone, then I highly recommend you go to the main source, that being Cornelius Fudge. He is the one whom decided to play god with other people’s lives. He is the one who fancies him self as cupid, a very pompous and disdainful re-addition of cupid that is.”

Hermione added “Besides, your daughter could do so much worse. If you put aside the fact he is old enough to be her father, then you have a very good looking man, with a heart of gold.”

She smiled “And I suppose with older men, they would know how to treat us with respect, unlike those hormonally charged teenage boys. Boy’s who would rather lead us too their beds, and then dump us, dump us as if we are yesterday’s news and garbage, as soon as they’ve taken what they wanted from us.”

Sara-Jane smirked “Yeah and I wonder if it’s true what they say about older men. Better stamina and more experience in interesting and unexplored areas, if you get my meaning.” She waggled her eyes brows suggestively at Hermione, who laughed.

“Sara-Jane Lily Delaney” her mother yelped scandalised. Barty and Sirius on the other hand smirked, and shook their heads in amusement. Sara-Jane asked innocently “What? I’m only telling the truth. Whether you like it or not mum, I am going to lose certain and innocent qualities sooner or later.”

She added “I would rather know that I am going to be respected and treated right when the time comes for me to give my self to my husband. Unlike a teenage boy, who would probably shoot his load no sooner then he had gotten it up.”She added “Besides I have no intentions of losing my virginity in a smelly cob web infested broom cupboard, due to the worthless fumbling of a hormonally and lustfully charged idiot, whose best friends are his zits and his left hand.”

It was now Barty and Sirius’s turn to laugh. Stephanie could not help but smile slightly. She knew her daughter was right, as much as she hated to admit it. She remembered the days when a teenage boy could not look her in the eye, but at her breasts instead. Or how said teenage boys would take you for a fumble in a smelly and dusty broom cupboard.

Sirius commented between chuckles “Ah, now they were the days, when you could get one of the Hufflepuffs or Ravenclaws in the nearest broom cupboard after hours, and get them to put out for you.” He added smirking “And the risk of getting caught was more likely to happen. It adds to the thrill.”

Barty laughed knowingly. Remembering how Sirius would take great pleasure in boasting. He on the other hand was only with one girl, and only once. It had been Stephanie. He and she had lost their virginity to each other. Wanting it to be with someone who respected them, but at the same time wasn’t likely to fall in love with the other. It had only made him and her much closer and better friends, instead of making things awkward between them.

Hermione grimaced and wrinkled her nose in disgust “Something’s just don’t change. I knew I had to draw the line when Seamus Finnegan tried to get me to enter a broom cupboard with him.” She grinned evilly “I think it took several hours for Madam Pomfrey to remove all of those boils and hexed scorched marks, serves him bloody right to.”

Sara-Jane returned the grin. “And I hexed Malfoy junior so bad, that he got an erection every time he looked at a teacher. That little ferret never crossed me again, or called me a filthy half blood.”

Hermione laughed “Oh god, I’ll never forget Snape’s face when Malfoy got all hard in front of him. I thought he was going to have an aneurism. It will stay with me till the day I die.”

Sara-Jane cackled “Then there was professor McGonagall. She gave him a detention for a week with the care taker, washing the bed pans in the hospital wing without magic. She also took fifty points from Slytherin.”

Hermione finished “And told him to use his mentality to cool off, that she was old enough to be his grandmother, and that he should be deeply ashamed of himself.”

Barty, Sirius and Stephanie burst out laughing. They had to leave the ministry before someone complained about their loud up roar of laughter.

Outside the ministry Sirius commented “Looks listen, Steph. I’m not going to hurt or disrespect your daughter. I don’t approve of this law anymore then you do. But the fact of the matter is I need a wife to continue on the Black bloodline.”

He added “I want my name to stand for something worth while, not because it is associated with Voldemort.” He concluded “Also, if I don’t marry, I’ll be made to suffer the same fate as Sara-Jane. It is not just witches whose magic and birth right is under attack here.”

Barty added “As for me, I need a wife too, and for the same reasons as Sirius. Plus I am the only one left who can continue on the family Crouch bloodline. My father is hardly able, as both he and my mother are dead. And Benjamin, well, he’s hardly any use, when you consider he is rotting away in a prison cell in Azkaban, without his soul.”

He concluded “I will not disrespect Hermione. I’m not going to marry her, only to turn her into one of those mindless trophy wives, whose only purpose is to caterer to her husbands every need. And to stand or sit there looking pretty and nothing more.”

Stephanie looked down at her hands ashamed. She knew both Sirius and Barty better then that. She should have never doubted them in the first place. They were just as much a victim as Hermione and Sara-Jane.

She apologised for accusing them of doing those, or thinking them capable of such things. They accepted her apology, and the subject was dropped, as they were all starting to feel more then a little bit pissed off.