my inheritance (g.w x o.c)

chapter fifty-one: records and cannons

I furrowed my brow before he brought a finger to my shoulder, tracing one of the spots where Albert had bit down. "Oh, God."

"What is that?" he asked, pulling me to sit up.

"I can explain."

"You better have one hell of an explanation." He sounded angry, but his face was full of hurt.

"No," I shook my head. "Oh, no, no, no, George it isn't like that, I swear." I brought my hands to his face, forcing him to meet my eyes. "No, please, I would never do that to you."

"Then who the hell is biting your neck?" he pressed, pushing my hands away. "Because it looks like you had a fun time today since that wasn't there last night."

"George, stop. It wasn't like that. Please, listen," I begged, getting up as he did. I grabbed his arm, and he quickly turned back to look at me. He scanned my eyes and nearly all anger left as he realized what I was saying.

"Who?"

"Just someone at the Min-"

"Who?" he repeated, grabbing my chin so I would look at him.

"George, it doesn't-"

"Darling," he whispered. "I'm not going to ask again."

I sighed, searching his face for a moment. "Albert Runcorn."

"Runcorn, isn't that..."

"The Head of the Muggle-born Registration Commission, yes."

"My father hates that guy."

"The feeling is mutual."

"I'll kill him."

"Don't tempt me."

"Has he done this before?" he asked. He looked like he wanted to hold me forever but also kill anyone who would hurt me.

I shook my head. "He's made sly comments and let a hand linger for too long, but every guy does that. They want to feel like they got a taste of me, and there's nothing I can really do about it."

"You could fire them."

"I wish," I sighed. "But You-Know-Who hires all of them. The most I can do is make their lives living hells. They know that. That's why most of the time it never goes past creepy glances or a low hand on a hug. I don't know what he was thinking."

"I don't either."

"But don't worry. Because the moment I got my hand on my wand, I had him petrified, and I left. I've had his office moved down to the bottom floor, and he'll be gaining a lot of awful jobs now." He nodded, running his hand to the back of my neck. "I'm sorry I didn't mean for you to think that anything had happened. I haven't even had a chance to look in a mirror since it happened. Or I would have done something. Where's your wand?" He grabbed it off the counter. I held it to my neck where he'd traced the bite. I recited a freezing charm in my head before feeling the cold sensation on my neck. "Luckily, I learned a spell or two to help with things like this because someone likes to brand me in places that aren't easily concealed."

"It's to keep things like this from happening," he mumbled, holding me against him. "If people see the marks, they know you're mine."

"How very animalistic of you." I set his wand down before wrapping my arms around his neck. I looked up at him for a moment. "You know something I've never done?"

"What?"

"Danced." I ran my hand softly against the back of his neck. "I mean, I danced a little at the Yule Ball, but I mean the swaying kind of dance, you know." He smiled.