Author's Note: I was reading through the old version of this and realized something, I realized that it sucked. So I am rewriting it.

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Onceupon a time the wizarding world was far different from what it is today. The spells were the same and the shops were the same, but they were dying out. The population was nearly half of what it was just thirty years ago, and witches and wizards were being killed off by the thousands.

The Minister of Magic at the time, Millicent Bagnold, decided to do something about it and the rise of Voldemort. She sat up very late one night coming up with the solution to her dying population.

She didn't know why she hadn't seen it earlier, it was so simple.

The Betrothal Act:

In order to save the wizarding race; once a witch has graduated from school her family will be sent a letter asking them to betroth their daughter to an eligible wizard. He will be sent a letter informing him of the family's choice and if he is a pureblood he may either accept or decline the betrothal. If the man is a half -blood or muggle-born he will be forced to accept. This will go on until the population has risen to a decent level. The couple must be married within one month of the proposal. The witch will be required to bear the wizard one child. The only way a divorce can happen is after one child is born to the couple. Once the proposal is accepted there is no backing out.

Minister Bagnold smiled to herself as she blew on the ink to make it dry faster. This would surely solve the problem. She yawned at turned off the lights in her office and headed home for the night. Tomorrow she would have no problem getting the Wizengamot to approve it.

Lily sat on her couch sobbing. It wasn't fair that a young, beautiful, and intelligent woman like herself should be tied down at the tender age of nineteen.. It just wasn't right.

The reason she was sobbing was because she had just received a letter from the Ministry of Magic telling her that a betrothal letter had been sent off to James Potter. A letter attached to that was from her sister.

Lily,

I was appalled to find a disgusting owl sitting on my kitchen table the other day. I couldn't believe that you would have to gall to allow people of you kind contact me. I must say, I was a bit surprised that your freak government had a law like this, and I must admit that I had quite a good laugh after I sent a reply back to that Ministry of yours. The only wizard that I had ever heard of from you was James Potter, and I remember quite well that you despise him.

Have a Nice Wedding,

Petunia

Lily had ripped up the letter after she read it. As she opened the window of her apartment to throw the tiny pieces outside into the rainy street an owl flew in, almost knocking Lily off of the balcony. She regained her balance and went to pick up the letter that it carried.

My Dearest Lily,

I was quite surprised to hear from your sister that you wish to marry me, and here I thought that all those years of me asking you out had been a waste. It must have been my irresistible hair.

I would like to let you know that I have accepted your proposal and have sent my reply off to the Ministry. I would love to see you sometime soon, so that we can plan for the wedding.

Love,

James (the egotistical prick in your words)

Lily smiled at the last bit. Maybe he wasn't so bad. Wait, this was James she was talking about, of course he was bad. He was more than bad. He was horrible, despicable, and arrogant. There was no way she could spend the rest of her life with him. There had to be some way out of it.

Just that second she heard a pop and a man appeared right in front of her.

"Hello, Lily," he said with a smile.

"Potter," she growled, attempting to wipe her tears away before he could see them.

"Is that how you treat your future husband?" he asked with a pout.

Lily nodded and sat back down on the couch. She could picture them like this for the rest of their lives, just arguing. She started to sob again.

"What's the matter Lily?" he asked sitting down next to her, his voice sounding concerned.

Lily didn't respond she just sobbed harder. James wrapped one of his arms around her and tried to pull her closer to him. She instantly pushed him away.

"What happened? Is this not a good time? Did someone die?" James asked with a look of confusion on his face.

"It will never be a good time, and yes someone died. A part of me died when I found out that I have to marry you," she replied spitting the last word out as if it were poison.

"If you hate me so much why did you and your family choose me?" James asked, his voice getting louder.

"My family, if you can call it that, consists of my evil and vindictive sister, Petunia. She'll do anything to ruin my life. I had no part in this at all, I didn't even know about the law until I received a letter today saying that a proposal was sent off to you," Lily said taking big deep breaths.

"Oh," James said sighing and sitting back down at the couch.

"Get out," Lily said getting up and opening the door.

James looked a little hurt but got up. "I just came over to give you this," he said throwing a small object down on the table in front of him then he stormed out of the small apartment, slamming the door shut behind him. The walls shook from the force of it. Lily could hear his footsteps on the stairs, they were very loud.

She went back over to the table to see what he had thrown there, it was a ring.

Lily's throat swelled up as she started to cry again. What had he ever done to her? Why did she have to go be horrible to him for no reason? There was no chance of them getting along now. She had ruined any chance of an amicable relationship with him. He didn't even care enough now to put the ring on her finger. She slid it on while examining it. It had a silver band, in the center was an emerald and a diamond intertwined, and littler diamonds were encircling it.

Lily sighed and fell back down onto her couch, fidgeting with her ring. What had she gotten herself into?