The Laws of Love

Chapter 8

Melanie quickly returned to her room as soon as classes were over. All in all it had not been as bad of a day as she had expected. She'd still received several sneers and glares from her Slytherin peers, but none had actually attempted to harm her. Plus, Genelle had stuck to her like glue, becoming her self-proclaimed bodyguard. Her well-meaning friend had been furious when she found out what had happened. After Charms, she had hexed a couple of students 'because they looked like they wanted to hurt Melanie'.

She was alone now, quickly stashing her books at her desk and heading for the bathroom. She had two hours before her parents would arrive and she needed to manage her time very carefully. She also had to make sure she had time to 'fix' Harry if he wasn't presentable.

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

"Thanks guys. I really needed that," Harry said, wiping the sweat from his brow.

"Anytime, mate," George said, cheerfully.

Harry, Fred, George, Ron, and Charlie had rounded up a few seventh year Gryffindors and hit the Quidditch pitch as soon as the last class was finished on Monday. George had suggested the idea at lunch in an effort to get Harry to relax. The green-eyed savior of the Wizarding World had worked himself into quite a nervous state at the prospect of meeting his future in-laws. Fred had suggested going out for drinks, but had quickly retracted the idea after receiving a look from Hermione.

The five teachers slowly made their way back to the castle while the students ran ahead.

Charlie shook his head as a game of tag broke out among them.

"So Harry, are you ready to 'meet the parents'?" he questioned.

Harry shuddered.

"Not really. I mean, maybe if Melanie hadn't been attacked..."

"Oh, so it's 'Melanie' now is it," Fred teased.

Harry blushed and Ron smacked Fred in the arm.

"They're going to be married soon, he can call her anything he wants," Ron defended.

Fred just shrugged and gave Harry a leering grin.

Ron began talking about his ideas for Quidditch teams, but Harry wasn't listening.

When had Miss Walsh become Melanie to him?

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

The late afternoon sun streaming through the window gave the infirmary an amber tint, softening its normal white harshness. Hermione was unable to appreciate the lighting display as her thoughts had come to an abrupt halt. She sat on a hospital bed, staring at the blank wall without seeing it.

Rachel blinked and gave Hermione a concerned look.

"Did you hear me? I said, you're pregnant," the young healer repeated slowly.

She received no response from her patient.

"The potion worked," she continued, uneasy at the silence.

Hermione just kept on staring without blinking.

Rachel ran a hand in front of her patient's eyes to no avail.

"Hermione?"

Nothing.

*Smack*

"Ow!" Hermione shrieked leaning away.

"Oh good, you're back!" the blond said cheerily.

Hermione rubbed a hand over her stinging cheek and glared at the healer.

"I never left, I'm just in shock," she protested.

"Oh!" Rachel exclaimed and quickly conjured a warm blanket that she immediately wrapped tightly around Hermione's shoulders.

"What are you doing?" Hermione asked, warily.

"Shock victims should be kept warm," she recited pleasantly.

Hermione shook her head.

"I'm not actually in shock, it's just an expression!" she shouted angrily.

Rachel's lip quivered and she began whimpering.

"Oh, I'm sorry Rachel. Please don't cry. I didn't mean to yell at you. I guess Severus is just rubbing off on me," Hermione squeezed her hand reassuringly.

Rachel took a deep breath and brushed the tears from her eyes.

"No, I'm sorry. I'm not usually so incompetent; it's just that Poppy left yesterday afternoon to go visit and old friend for the week. I've never had to work all by myself before. I would have been fine, but apparently there was some big fight in the Slytherin dorm last night and I must have had eight badly hexed students at once. And Snape was yelling at me while I tried my best to get everything sorted out. He said he'd tell Poppy what an imbecile I was and that she'd never hire me," she ended with a sniff.

Hermione felt awful!

"Rachel, don't worry about a thing! I'll talk to him; I promise he'll not say a word to Poppy, okay?"

Rachel looked skeptical but nodded.

"Maybe he'll be in a better mood when he finds out about the baby," she said with a smile.

Hermione blanched.

"Don't zone out on me again," Rachel commanded raising a hand as if to slap her again.

Hermione caught her by the wrist and shook her head.

"I'm okay; I'm just trying to wrap my head around this."

Rachel frowned.

"But, you've been trying to get pregnant. I don't understand why this is such a shock for you."

Hermione sighed.

"I thought I'd have more time," she admitted.

"Then you shouldn't have taken the potion," Rachel commented

"I didn't know that I'd want more time then."

Rachel looked extremely confused.

"What?"

"I'm afraid that if Severus knows that I'm pregnant he won't make love to me anymore," she whispered.

"And that would be a bad thing," Rachel asked sarcastically, before putting a hand over her mouth.

Hermione laughed.

"I know I'm probably the only woman in the world who'd think that, but I do. He is my husband after all."

"What are you going to do?"

"I don't know yet. Just promise me you won't tell anyone else that I'm pregnant, okay?"

"I promise."

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

Katie Bell nervously made her way toward Hogwarts castle. Her belly was clenched in knots and very sore from being unable to keep any food down for the last few days. Her mother had always said she had a nervous stomach.

As she the entrance loomed closer she wondered not for the first time how she had some to be in her current state.

Until a week and a half ago Katie had been... well, not exactly happy, but definitely content.

As a reserve chaser on a minor-league Quidditch team, she still got to play very often. A night job at a pub paid for the small London flat she'd called home since graduating. Katie also had a nice circle of friends at the pub, and even a potential boyfriend, who she was sure, would ask her out any day now.

She sighed remembering the moment when her world had started to fall apart.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Katie trudged up the steps to her flat late that Wednesday night, exhausted. The Chudley Cannons had actually won that day, and fans had come out of the woodwork to celebrate at her pub. Still, she had made several tips, enough to finally purchase those new robes at Gladrags she'd had her eye on for almost a month.

All thoughts of Quidditch and clothes flew from her mind when she saw him waiting for her at her door.

Marcus Flint's smile was just as crooked and evil as it had been when they were in school together.

"Well, well, well, if it isn't Katie Bell," he snickered at the rhyme, and she shivered as his eyes ran down her body.

"W-what do you want, Flint?" she tried to sound intimidating, but the stutter gave her away.

He grinned.

"I can't visit an old friend?" he asked in a mocking voice.

"We aren't friends," she said, and hurriedly stepped passed him trying to shove her key in the lock.

"We could be," he whispered, his lips brushing her ear.

She jerked away and stared at him in shock.

"What?"

He shrugged.

"Come have dinner with me."

"It's two AM," she said.

He smiled again.

"Fine, breakfast then."

"No."

Katie finally got the key in and unlocked the door, but it wouldn't open.

She looked up to see him holding it closed with his hand.

"Tonight then," he insisted, his smile strained.

"No, Flint. I don't want anything to do with you. Go away and leave me alone," she said firmly and shoved him away from the door.

Katie quickly opened the door but before she could pass the threshold, his fist crashed into her face.

She cried out as the force of his punch threw her across the hall. The back of her head connected with the wall and she lost consciousness.

When she awoke she was lying on her neighbor's sofa. Mrs. Peterson said that Flint had run off when she opened the door to see what the banging was about. Katie was thankful that he hadn't tried to harm her muggle neighbor.

Mrs. Peterson let her leave after promising to see a doctor the next day. Katie did no such thing and only cast a spell to see if she had a concussion. She didn't so she simply iced the bruises, and went to bed.

Katie spent the rest of the week in bed, scared to leave her apartment.

Marcus Flint had not given up. She was constantly bombarded with owls bearing apology notes and flowers.

It all stopped on Friday, and she even ventured out to work on Saturday. She'd even gotten Max, the pub's bouncer to walk her home.

But there was no sign of Flint.

Then on Tuesday morning, she received the ministry's owl. Marcus Flint had submitted a marriage contract on her.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Katie had owled everyone she could think of, desperate to get out of the contract, but the law was iron-clad and the ministry was less than sympathetic to her claims. Her own parents practically told her to grin and bear it.

Professor Dumbledore was her last hope.

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

Melanie studied her reflection in the mirror critically.

Designer robes, clean fingernails, hair in a French twist, minimal make-up. Her mother's checklist should be satisfied.

She heard the door to the sitting room she shared with Professor Potter open and hurried out to greet him.

Upon seeing him, she let out a strangled sound of distress, her mouth falling open in disbelief.

"What is it?" Harry demanded, looking around for the source of her distress.

"You! My parents will be here in twenty minutes, they can't see you looking like that!" she cried, pushing him toward his bedroom.

Harry chuckled, but stopped at the evil look she gave him.

"It's okay. It doesn't take me long at all to get ready," he tried to reassure her.

"Just get in the shower!" she yelled giving him a final shove.

Harry went into his bathroom and pulled off his sweat-soaked robes. The hot water was refreshing, and five minutes later he was exiting the bathroom with a towel wrapped around his waist.

He stopped at the door staring in shock at his bedroom.

Sets of robes had been thrown haphazardly to the floor from his closet. Clothes of all sorts were scattered everywhere as Melanie frantically searched for something he could wear. Her outer-robe had been tossed onto his bed, and she was kneeling in his closet rummaging through his shoes.

"What are you doing?" he bellowed.

She scowled at him and then blushed at seeing his bare chest.

"Don't you own any decent clothes? I mean, you supposedly have money, don't you ever spend it?" she demanded.

"Oh, like you have room to talk..." Harry began, but choked on his words as she stood up and turned to face him, hands on her hips.

And she did have hips. He'd only seen her in her uniform, and the over-sized sweater always hid even that. The burgundy set of robes that she was currently wearing hugged her small frame revealing that though she was very petite, she did have definite curves. Her long dark hair was piled on top of her head, showing off a long, elegant neck.

Melanie arched an eyebrow at him, feeling a small thrill at the way he was looking at her.

Harry blushed and shook his head. "You look nice," he mumbled.

She was startled at the unexpected compliment.

"Thank you."

The silence grew awkward.

"Well, Professor, my parents will be here soon, so..."

"Harry."

"Hmm?" she asked distractedly.

"We're going to be married soon, you might as well go ahead and call me Harry," he explained, blushing again.

"Okay. Harry, I'll just leave so you can get changed," she said, placing a pair of his shoes on the bed next to the outfit she'd picked out for him.

He nodded at her and she grabbed her outer robe and left the room.

Harry shook his head and studied the clothes she'd picked out. His most uncomfortable set of green dress robes, and a pair of black trousers that he hadn't been able to fit into properly for two years.

Sighing he moved to get dressed, and then let out an embarrassed groan.

She'd even picked out his underwear.

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

George Weasley finished packing then headed to Fred's room to say goodbye.

This week was George's turn to run the shop. He should have been there today, but they'd decided to close Mondays until summer. They did most of their business on the weekends anyway.

Since they'd started receiving a steady paycheck from Hogwarts the joke shop had become more of a hobby than a means for survival. Perhaps they should think about hiring someone to run the shop during the week?

He approached Fred's door and knocked. A moment later there was a small explosion followed by a string of expletives.

The door swung open and Ron and Fred came rushing out closely followed by a cloud of billowing green smoke.

"You said it was harmless!" Ron cried, his skin quickly turning a shade bright green.

Fred was doubled over coughing, his own skin changing color.

"I said it probably wasn't harmless," he retorted when he could catch his breath, "I couldn't possibly know for sure until I tested it could I?"

George just laughed as his two brothers glared at each other.

Fred turned to him, placing a bright green hand on George's arm.

"George, tell him about our theory..." he began, then gasped.

George looked down to see a bright green hand print on his arm. He glared at his twin.

"Oh great! Now we can't touch anything," Ron sulked.

"We'll just go to the infirmary, Poppy will set it right," Fred reassured.

"No, you can't. Remember what Charlie said?" George said in a singsong voice.

"Shit!"

George laughed again as he remembered Charlie's words after the Quidditch game.

Poppy was out of town, so Rachel was taking over the hospital wing and they were not to do anything that might disturb her or add stress. Apparently she'd had a rough night.

"Why don't you try Hermione?" George suggested.

Both of their faces lit up.

"Be sure to owl me with the remedy, I'm going to get going."

They left in search of Hermione, and George headed for the entrance hall.

He was humming softly under his breath as he pulled the heavy door open.

George headed outside and immediately collided with somebody. They rolled down the front steps and crashed onto the ground with George on top.

He pushed aside several locks of dirty blonde hair to reveal a familiar face.

"Katie? What are you doing here?"

Katie opened her mouth but all that came out was a groan.

George quickly got off of her and reached down a hand to help her up.

She placed her hand in his and he pulled her to her feet only to have her fall against him.

He frowned as he realized that she must be more hurt that he'd thought.

"Katie, what..." he broke off when he saw the ugly bruise on her right jaw.

"George, I need help," she gasped, then passed out sinking to the ground.

George frantically looked around for someone to help, but there wasn't a soul in sight.

Making up his mind, he scooped her up into his arms and carried her to the infirmary.

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

Harry and Melanie entered their sitting room and collapsed onto the sofa.

"Your parents are very..." Harry trailed off, unsure of how to finish.

"Yes, I know," she said with a grin.

It really hadn't gone bad at all. Patrick Walsh had looked Melanie over, decided that she was fine, and seemed to withdraw into himself. Only responding with simple 'yes dear, and no dear's when it was required of him. Teresa on the other hand, did not stop talking.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

She cooed all over Melanie, straightening her robes, and tightening the clip on her hair. The whole time talking non-stop about the latest gossip from their home town.

When Teresa noticed Harry her nose wrinkled in disgust.

"You let him dress like that?" she demanded to Melanie.

Harry began to reply, but Melanie's pleading look made him change his mind.

Patrick gave him a small smile and nodded in approval at Harry's silence.

"H-he had a meeting that ran late and was in a hurry to change," she lied, her eyes telling him to just go along with her.

"Well, Mr. Potter, you should keep something more fashionable close at hand. I mean really, that style of robe hasn't been in fashion for three years!"

"I-uh, yes ma'am," he said.

She smiled.

"He's so well-mannered. I think you picked a good one Patrick! Now, let's talk about the wedding..."

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

It had been nothing but wedding talk for the last hour of their visit, and both Melanie and Harry had been relieved when they finally left.

"Harry?"

Her voice broke him out of his thoughts.

"Yes?"

"Thank you, for tonight," she said, smiling.

Harry turned his head to look at his smiling fiancée.

Her hair had started to fall from its clip and lose tendrils trailed her face, one coming to rest on her lip.

He reached a hand out and moved it away, watching, as her large eyes seemed to grow larger. He ignored the voice in his head that was telling him to run, and then slowly, so that she'd have time to move away, lowered his lips to hers.

The kiss was chaste and rather quick, but it still left Melanie blushing profusely.

"I'd better go to sleep," she mumbled, and got to her feet.

Melanie paused at her bedroom door, and looked back at him.

"Goodnight, Harry."

"Goodnight, Melanie."

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

Rachel glanced up from her desk when she heard the infirmary door bang open. She quickly left Poppy's office to see what the trouble was.

George or possibly Fred was carrying an unconscious woman.

"Put her here," Rachel commanded, gesturing to a bed and pulling out her wand.

George gently laid her down on the bed, and glanced anxiously at Rachel.

"Is she okay?" he asked.

"What happened?" Rachel asked instead of answering, running her wand over the girl's body.

"I ran into her on the front steps and we fell down them. She was conscious for a minute after that, but then she passed out," George explained quickly.

Rachel looked up with a reassuring smile.

"She's fine. A little banged up, and it looks like she hasn't eaten in a while, but she'll be fine."

"Nervous stomach," George commented.

"I'm sorry?"

"I went to school with her. She was on the house Quidditch team with Fred and me. She could never eat anything the day before a match because she had a nervous stomach," he explained.

She nodded, and went back to her examination.

"I wonder what she was doing here," George mused aloud.

"She was coming to see me," a voice said from the door.

"Headmaster?" George questioned.

Dumbledore hurried into the room, and began filling George in on Katie's situation.

"I only received her owl about an hour ago saying that she was coming. Unfortunately it's been too long for someone else to submit a contract for her," Dumbledore commented, but didn't look at all upset.

George was very upset.

"Marcus Flint? She has to marry Marcus Flint?" he demanded, furiously.

Albus bit back a chuckle.

"Oh, it's worse than you think. You see that bruise on her jaw? He did that when she refused to have dinner with him," he explained.

George's entire being was flushed red with rage.

"It can't be too late, we have to stop this!" he cried.

"When did she receive the contract?" Rachel asked.

Albus made a spectacle of checking his pockets for Katie's letter.

"Ah, here it is! Let's see. She received it Tuesday morning, one week ago."

Rachel glanced down at her unconscious patient, suddenly feeling very protective. The poor girl would have to marry an abusive man if she didn't intervene.

She looked up at George who looked like he would burst in anger at any minute.

"You're serious about wanting to help her?" she asked.

"Yes, I'll do whatever I have to," he cried.

"Come with me," Rachel said with a smile, and led him into Poppy's office.

She flooed her brothers office and was glad to see that he still had his habit of working late.

"Tim! I need your help," she said, and proceeded to explain the situation.

"There isn't time for anyone to come here to give a blood sample Rachel, I'm sorry," he said when she finished.

Rachel frowned then gasped as she was shoved out of the way.

"George Weasley! You already have my blood sample because I submitted a contract to Hermione Granger," he cried.

Tim smiled at the name.

"Yes, that could work! I'll file it right now, it should be in time," he said, happily.

George practically fell to the floor in relief.

"When will we know?" he asked, breathlessly.

"Within two weeks."

George thanked him, and then helped Rachel up off the floor, kissing her cheek in gratitude.

At the show of affection from her future brother-in-law, any indignation Rachel felt vanished, and she patted his arm.

George went back out into the infirmary to see that Katie had awakened.

"George, what's going on?" she asked, weakly.

The full impact of what he'd done suddenly hit him and he did what was only natural for self-proclaimed bachelors in this sort of situation. He fainted.

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

Hermione walked into her chambers, still laughing about the green Fred and Ron. A quick look at the ingredients they'd been working on told her what had happened. They'd be back to normal by morning. She actually could have fixed them then, but decided they probably needed to learn a lesson.

Severus was at his desk marking parchments when she entered.

He looked up at her questioningly.

"It's late, we should get to bed," she said holding out a hand to him.

He looked at the hand warily, then back up at her face.

"Well?" he asked.

"I-I'm not pregnant," she lied dropping her hand.

He blinked, his eyes narrowing.

"Then I guess we'll have to try again," he said, slowly.

"I guess so," she said, holding out the hand again.

He allowed her to help him to his feet and pull him into the bedroom where she practically attacked him in her effort to remove his clothes.

"You don't seem that disappointed," he commented, helping her push off his robe.

"Well, we've got plenty of time," she said, kissing his neck.

He knew she was keeping something from him, but as her lips made their way up to his he decided he didn't really care. He'd get it out of her in the morning, whatever it was.

End Chapter 8