Title: Thought Process

POV: Hermione

Disclaimer: Sadly, I don't own any of these characters. I'm just experimenting for a while

Author's Note: So this is after the war, about 3 weeks. Fred lives, with lots of help from Hermione. Rated M for sexual scenes, adult language and dark situations. Whew! That sounded way too formal. Anyhoo- No flames please. Constructive criticism is appreciated, as well as reviews!

*flashback*

The rocks tumbled and fell. The wall was collapsing. It seemed to happen in slow motion and suddenly the laughing man had disappeared. I felt a scream rip through her chest. A sound I didn't know she could make. Fred Weasley could not be dead, it must be a prank. It HAD to be. But as I ran to the heap of broken wall fragments, I knew. The still warm face of Fred Weasley was half buried by rock, etched with his last laugh. He was dead. Nothing could change that. Except… A spell I had read about while reading up on Horcruxes flashed through my mind. An extremely complicated spell that would cause me a great deal of pain, but save Fred. Essentially the spell would split my life force in two. Giving him half of me. All that was required for it to work was pain. The spell casters pain; my pain.

With nearly no hesitation, I began the tricky spell. Suddenly I felt the world was being torn apart. Pain flooded me. Pain overflowed my body and I could barely finish the spell. Everything hurt. I was on fire, I felt as if I was dying. This was worse than anything I had ever imagined. I screamed with agony and my scream carried out over the grounds. Then it was over as quickly as it had started. I collapsed to the floor, too weak to move. I felt a body stir beside me and a weak voice spoke softly.

"Hermione… Where am I? What happened to you?" Fred croaked out. I was too weak to answer. I decided against ever answering that question. It would tear Fred apart if he knew. I felt strong arms wrap around me and slowly the world numbed. All around me everything started to fade. I heard a shout and a flash of purple light. Then everything faded to black.

*end flashback*

My eyes flew open and I bolted upright. I was covered in a sheen of cold sweat. My sheets were wrapped tightly around my body in a death grip.

"Hermione? Are you okay?" Ginny called in a tentative voice. She looked at me strangely, "You were talking and whimpering. You kept saying 'Make it stop!'… Are you sure you're alright?"

"Yes, Ginny. I'm fine. It was just a bad dream… that's all", I croaked into the darkness. Then I rolled over, with my back to Ginny and tried to make myself fall asleep. After reciting several complicated potions in my head, I eventually dozed off into a restless sleep.

When I woke for the second time, I was no longer twisted in sheets. The sun was breaking through the curtains and I knew it would be a beautiful day. Even I was still in a rotten mood.

Breakfast brought the daily prophet and the prophet brought news. On the very front page was a picture of two people getting married and under that, in huge letters were the words "Marriage Law Activated". I hurriedly began to read the article.

Marriage Law Activated!

If you are between the ages of 16 and 50 and not married, you are subjected to a new marriage law. Due to the loss of so many witches and wizards during the war with Voldemort, the wizarding community needs more magical members. Hence the marriage law.

Your partner will be chosen for you and you will receive your letter by owl no later than August 1.

You must have at least one child within one year of marriage. If miscarriage happens, you will get an extension of one year.

You will have exactly 2 months to marry your partner

If failure to acknowledge this new law, you will be stripped of magic and put in Azkaban.

I hissed. Who did the minister think he was? I could be paired with a death eater, for Merlin's sake! The breakfast table was suddenly filled with cries of displeasure and horror. It seemed the rest of the Weasley family had read the paper.

"Tomorrow is August 1st! That means we should be getting our letters today or tomorrow", Fred spoke up. I looked at Ron. Did I want him for a husband? I was almost glad there was a slim chance I wouldn't have to marry him. I didn't love him. They fought too much to be happy and all he wanted to do was snog. Mrs. Weasley's cry broke me from her thoughts.

"Owls! OWLS! Enough for everyone. Get ready to find out your life partners!"

I rushed to the window and grabbed the scroll from the owl who landed by me. I opened it carefully.

Dear Ms. Hermione Jean Granger,

Your new life partner is: Frederick Weasley

No changes and/or exchanges are allowed to be made at this time. Your wedding date is on August 15. You will be expected to have at least two children.

The Ministry of Magic

No… There had to be some mistake. I couldn't marry Fred. That was too weird. Was there a possibility that the Ministry knew about how I saved him? They couldn't know. I had never told anyone. But it seemed too coincidental that I and the one man in the world I shared myself with, was going to be my husband. My scared eyes looked up at Fred and he looked up too. They locked eyes and I knew my life would never be the same.

"Harry! I got Harry!" Ginny's excited scream filled the air. She jumped on Harry and kissed him passionately. Harry responded with enthusiasm.

"Oi! Unless you want to be the Boy-Who-Lives-No-Longer then you better get your hands of her, Potter", George growled. Harry jumped backward and Fred laughed. Fred laughing…He looked so alive. This marriage law was so unfair. Thoughts overwhelmed me. I couldn't stand it and ran out of the room with tears running down my face.

I sat on the porch swing crying for a long time. I cried because of the overall unfairness of it all. Also because it was Fred. He was gorgeous and funny, I had to admit. But I never wanted to marry him!

"Are you okay?" I heard a scared voice ask. Fred. I whipped around to see him looking at me with a very nervous expression. I stifled a giggle. He looked as if he'd rather be battling Voldemort.

"Yes, Fred. I'm absolutely fine" My voice cracked on the word fine. Fred looked at me with sympathy.

"I know you don't love me. I know you don't even like me in that way. But we are going to make this work. I'll keep you safe. You don't even have to love me, we can just be friends if you want", Fred spoke softly. He walked over and sat down beside me. I laid a hand on his shoulder and we rocked the swing gently back and forth, just enjoying the company of each other. After several minutes, he spoke up.

"Might I have the honor of your presence tonight at 7:00, Ms. Granger?"' He said in a fake stuffy voice.

"You may, Mr. Weasley", I replied in an equally stuffy voice. Then I cracked a smile. He smiled in return and left briskly.

Did Fred just ask me out? I know we're going to be married in 2 weeks but still. He could never love me. He's probably just doing it because he's being forced to marry me. He couldn't feel attraction to me other than a friend. If he was just being nice though, why did I feel so nervous when I was around him?

'Well, I might as well go. We have to shag soon enough', I thought. I went upstairs to talk to Ginny and read up on boys before going on my "date".

….

Ron intercepted me on my way up the stairs. He looked angry, I didn't blame him. I gulped. I hadn't had time to talk to him since I left the room crying. I'm sure he expected us to be paired. I turned to talk to him.

"What the hell, Hermione? You're marrying my brother! I'm marrying Loony Lovegood. What the fuck happened? If you had just married me, then we could still be together. It's all you fault, as usual!" he yelled at me. I was close to tears.

"This isn't my fault, Ronald!" I screamed back at him, tears running down my face, "Maybe you should of actually asked me before this happened! Don't you dare try to blame all your problems on me!"

Ron's face contorted with anger and before I could react, he pushed me with all his might. I stumbled backwards and my wand flew out of my hands. Ron, realizing what he had done, reached out to pull me up. It was too late, however. And I fell backwards down the stairs. Stars flashed in front of my eyes as I hit my head on the edge of the stairs. I heard Mrs. Weasley yell out a cushioning charm, which I landed on. Then for the second time in a month, everything went black.

I awoke on a lumpy sofa to six worried faces peering down at me. Mrs. Weasley, Harry, Ginny, Ron, George and Fred.

"Hermione-I-am-so-sorry!" Ron said very quickly. He was a sickly green color that reminded me of pickle juice, "I never thought you would fall! I was just angry."

"Well, you're a right foul git", Fred shot at him. He grinned evilly at George.

"And to show-" George began to say.

"Our appreciation-" Fred continued.

"For pushing Granger-"

"My future wife-"

"And my future wife-in-law-"

"We permanently stuck the word: GIT-"

"On all of your clothes," George finished. I laughed and Ron gave the twins the bird.

"Ronald Weasley! I never want to see this behavior in my house ever again. Do you hear me?" Mrs. Weasley shouted angrily. Ron stormed out of the room in a huff.

"I didn't break anything, did I?" I asked randomly. Harry grimaced and shook his head.

"No, but you will have several large bruises that Mrs. Weasley won't be able to fix until later" Harry answered.

"We ran out of bruise cream and that works so much better then healing spells. Really heals it deep, you know?" Mrs. Weasley said apologetically.

"Oh… That's fine", I said with a faint smile, "I'll be fine." Fred looked at me with a grin slowly creeping up on his face.

"So are we still on for that date?"

I laughed and nodded.

Author's Note: Thanks for reading guys (: Please review! I want this story to be the best it can be. It only takes 5 seconds. Review please! Second chapter should be up by next week. I'm already working on it. And hopefully it will be longer and fluffy too.