"This is absolutely ridiculous." Ginny said, barely suppressed anger lacing her voice as she slammed the sheet of paper down onto the bedside table. Hermione was spending summer at the Weasley house along with Harry.
Hermione looked up from the book she was reading and slammed it shut. "What's wrong?"
"Listen to this," Ginny moved to stand in front of where Hermione was perched on her bed. "Due to some post-war issues, the ministry has decided that it's best that they pair up and bind certain wizards together through marriage. We hope that it will repair relationships between these wizards, and for that reason we have selected your partner for you. You will receive the letter containing who you have been matched with within a few days.
Hoping you are well,
The Head of the Department of Marital Affairs."
"That's absurd! They simply can't do that, they just can't." Her book was forgotten as she sprung to her feet, her mind whirling at who she could be paired with.
Ron, she though hastily, they have to pair me with him, I mean who else could I get?
"Hang on, how long ago did you get that letter, Ginny?" Hermione asked.
"Must of been a few days ago, I just didn't bother to open it, why?" Ginny questioned, trying to catch onto Hermione's train of thought.
"The letter said that we'll find out who we've been paired with in a couple days, Ginny, you don't think—"
"You think we'll find out today?" She bolted to her bedroom door, and leaned over the railing and opened her mouth to call out to Ron but his voice interrupted her.
"Ginny, Hermione! The mail's here!"
Hermione exchanged a worried look with Ginny and they both sped down the staircase and flung themselves toward Ron who was holding the letters in his hand. Too startled to move out of the way, Ginny snatched the letters out of his hands and handed them out to the appropriate people. Silence fell upon the room as they all tore open the envelopes and pulled out their letters.
"Alright, who's going to announce their spouse first?" Ginny smiled, looking around.
"By the look on your face, I reckon you got someone good." Ron commented, and glanced over at Harry who was looking at his letter in some relief.
Hermione, on the other hand, had yet to look at her letter, she had it in a tightened fist, waiting to hear the others future spouses before finding out her own.
"I got Harry!" Ginny beamed as Harry walked over to her side and proudly curled an arm around her waist.
"Well, that's lucky. I got..." Ron's voice drowned out and he looked away. "Er, never mind."
"Come on, Ron, just say it." Hermione urged him, silently hoping that it was her.
"Pansy Parkinson."
"What?" Ginny exclaimed.
"You must've gotten the wrong letter." Harry shook his head in disbelief.
"No, it says 'To Ronald Bilius Weasley.'" Ron groaned.
"They can't pair you with a Slytherin, that's completely unacceptable." Hermione snapped, attempting to hold back the jealousy that would otherwise tinge her voice.
"I think that's exactly what they're doing, 'Mione. They're pairing unalike people together, Slytherins and Gryffindors, muggle-borns with purebloods."
"I'm sure it'll work out fine, er, somehow." Harry reassured him, but with little success.
Ginny nodded at her brother, knowing that it was a lie. Everyone knew that Pansy was a spoiled, unappreciative, rude, muggle-hating Slytherin who was often seen hanging around with the likes of Draco Malfoy. "Well, how about you Hermione? Who'd you get stuck with?"
With hesitant hands, Hermione opened her letter and scanned over the paragraph of writing before her eyes came to rest on a name. Eleven tiny letters that had etched themselves into her memory, she found herself looking past her friends in front of her eyes and at something that wasn't there, a mental image of all the times he had insulted her and her friends. And now she would have to marry him and-
"Hermione?" Harry's voice broke her out of her reverie.
Slowly, she shook her head. "There must be a mistake."
"Why? Who'd you get?" Ron tried to peak at the folded over paper, but she crumpled it up in her hand.
"It's not possible, it doesn't matter."
"C'mon, it can't be as bad as Pansy." Ginny chuckled but Hermione remained silent.
"Go on then, tell us!" Harry insisted.
"Well, if you must know...I...was paired with," Hermione let out a sigh. "Draco Malfoy."
"What?" roared Ron, his eyes widening, and Harry looked equally horrified. "We're going down to the Ministry to complain. That's bloody ridiculous, they owe us, we saved their lives—"
"Hello, everyone," A wistful voice interrupted, and all of their heads snapped toward the door to find none other than Luna Lovegood standing there. "I can tell this is a bad time. I just thought I'd stop by to see if you found out who you're paired with, but if you're busy I'll go."
"No, Luna, it's alright." Ron sighed, leaning back against the wall. "We were just finding out who we got paired with for the whole new marriage law."
"Well, I'm proud to announce that I've been paired up with Neville. Padma and Parvati got Dean and Seamus, and they're quite excited about that."
"Why is it that everyone's got good partners except Hermione and I?" Ron complained.
"Well, Lavender Brown got Blaise Zabini if it's any consolation." Luna told him and he shrugged.
"Look on the bright side, Hermione, Draco's attractive." Ginny smiled as she dropped a wink at Hermione who looked horrified.
"He's vile."
"Well, I hear that he's quite impressive, you know, his-"
"Yeah, okay, Gin, we get it." Ron said, cutting her off. "Doesn't change the fact that he's a git. Maybe we can trick our way out of these marriages." He added as a hopeful afterthought.
"The Ministry of Magic has also announced that if we do not go through with this they can take away our magic." Luna announced.
"That's horrid, they've really done it this time." Harry frowned.
"There goes your plan on confronting the ministry about this, Ron." Ginny said to her brother.
Hermione sank slowly into a kitchen chair and rested her head in her hands, she had to marry Draco Malfoy.
Draco was pacing back and forth anxiously, he had been spending a few nights over at Blaise's house when he heard the news that he would have to get married. Pansy had been ecstatic, convinced that she would be paired with Draco and quite honestly, it annoyed the hell out of him.
"Draco, the letters are here!" Blaise called for him from somewhere in the house. Following the sound of his voice, Draco found him and noticed the three envelopes in his hand. Blaise handed Draco and Pansy their papers and everyone tore them open with hasty fingers.
Skimming through her letter, Pansy let out a half-frustrated half-horrified cry. "There's no way in fuck I'm marrying Weasley. And you know how I feel about gingers..."
"You got a Gryffindor too? What the hell is wrong with the ministry? I mean seriously, I got Lavender Brown." Blaise groaned.
Draco was tuning both of his friends out by this point, re-reading the letter and checking to make sure that he was in fact the person that was meant to receive this letter. The name that was at the bottom of the letter had to be a mistake on the Ministry's end, right? It just wasn't possible.
"What about you, Draco?" Pansy asked, her lower lip jutted out in what Draco thought was a poor excuse for a pout.
"I got Granger." He hissed out between clenched teeth.
"Wait, as in Hermione Granger? The muggle-born?" Blaise questioned, shocked.
"Unfortunately yes, I got the mudblood." He snarled, tossing the parchment away from himself and storming out of the room. How could he, a pureblood Slytherin, be paired with a Gryffindor mudblood?
Sinking down onto the couch in Blaise's living room, he ran a hand through his ice-blonde hair and leaned back. There was no way he could marry her, for someone with blood as dirty as hers to taint the Malfoy name was a disgrace.
"Draco?"
He could hear Pansy calling him as she drew nearer to the room he was sitting in and he sank down lower on the couch. Fuck, she could be really annoying sometimes and he did not want to deal with her right now.
"Draco?" The whine in Pansy's voice was grating on his ears as she called out his name again. "There you are." She huffed as she sat next to him, looping an arm around his waist and resting her head on his shoulder, he had to suppress the urge to shove her away. "I cannot believe I have to marry Weasley and you have to marry Granger."
"At least you got a pureblood, even if he is a blood-traitor, I have a mudblood. If the Ministry thinks I'm going to have half-blood children—"
"It'll be okay, Draco, the Ministry of Magic can't keep this up for long." Pansy leaned over and pressed a kiss to Draco's mouth. He barely returned it, his lips just barely grazing hers and then he stood up and turned to leave the room.
"I hope you're right." He muttered to her before leaving the room.
A/N: I hope you enjoyed it, please review :) I know there are a lot of marriage law fics but I thought I'd try it. I changed it a bit from Deathly Hallows and resurrected a few characters such as Fred.