Chapter One

Hermione woke up late after a restless night of sleep. This was the day she had been dreading since they had passed that awful marriage law. Every witch and wizard in Britain had to get married before the end of the year and matches will be made for people who had not been already engaged or in a committed relationship for one year or more before the law was passed.

Harry and Ginny had proof that they were in a relationship since sixth grade so they were exempted. But in the Weasley family, they were the only ones. Harry and Ginny have to get married like the others but they don't have the added problem of not knowing their future spouse. Hermione had looked over the law over and over again. She had to acknowledge that it was well thought : couples had to provide at least two children, had the permission of changing the match if they have a different religion, or irreparable views on the most important areas of life. They had the opportunity of not marrying an eventual match with a former Deatheater, which was a relief for everyone. Only witches and wizard out of school or of age are concerned with the law and people over 45 were exempted. Also none of the people who have acknowledged their homosexuality had to get married. Since the purpose of the law was to make children, that made sense in Hermione's mind.

However, she was deeply worried of the selection method used to provide the newfound 'couples'. Every wizard in the country had to perform personality tests to allow the officials to find a match for them.

Hermione was scared. She didn't want to get married to a stranger. With her luck, she would get stuck with a 45 year-old government official looking for a housekeeper, or even worse, with Ron. They had ended their relationship over a year ago, by mutual consent. He spent that year shagging his way across Britain, and playing quiddich. She chose to spend her time taking care in her career as a member of the International Wizarding Community. Although it was difficult at first, they were in good speaking terms. He even offered to petition for her hand (as members of the Golden Trio, he had a good chance of obtaining the match) but she had refused. They knew already that they would drive each other crazy.

She was not the only one in waiting for what the Weasley Twins called 'the Death Sentence'. They were both single and known ladies' men in Wizarding London.

Fred had been dating Alicia Spinnet but she had died during the battle of Hogwards, saving a bunch of First years trapped under the stairs. She was not the only one who died during the battle. Hermione still could not forget the dead bodies of Tonks and Lupin laying in the Great Hall. Hell, even Fred had almost died, if a witch nobody knew before that had not thrown a protecting charm in his direction, he would have been hit by a killing curse.

The Twins, Ron, Charlie, Percy and herself all were waiting for the letters to arrive. Luna and Neville had eloped right after the Battle so they were not concerned by the law. Harry had managed to propose to Ginny and get their engagement approved by the Ministry. The Twins were not happy about the law, but soon saw the bright side of the situation : their mother will finally be off their backs for settling down and start their own family. Ron thought it would mean that he was getting someone to prepare his food and wash his clothes, Charlie was deeply worried that it would mean he would have to move back to England and leave the dragon reserve behind and Hermione was worried that her 'fiancee' would make her giving up on her career.

As for Percy, he quickly saw a different side of the law. As he was an official government member, he had to break down the news to some people after the law had passed. The reactions were not always good. One very unhappy girl had thrown her fist into his nose, breaking it quite efficiently, and a father who did not want his daughter married to a stranger had set his robes on fire. Those incidents were hilarious to the Weasley family, except Mrs Weasley and Percy himself, and the Twins had gotten the inspiration from it for their new best seller : The Robe FireCatcher.

Hermione decided to close her eyes and tried to have some sleep before the great announcement. However, she did not intend on sleeping until 11 in the morning. She woke up to the sound of Ginny screaming voice. 'The letters are here!'. Hermione jumped up off her bed, quickly put on some jeans and a t shirt and ran down the stairs. She arrived in the crowded living room. Every member of the Weasley family – included extended close family - were here to share the good, or bad news. Sitting down in the couch were Bill and his very pregnant wife, Fleur. Next to them was Charlie, who looked like he was going to be sick at any moment. Sitting down on the floor were Fred and George, who, for the first time in their life, looked deeply serious . Harry was sitting on one of the chairs with Ginny in his lap and Ron behind him walking nervously across the living room. Percy arrived in the kitchen carrying the letters, while Mr and Mrs Weasley stood in the door frame. Hermione noticed that Luna and Neville were there, along with the Twin's friend Lee. Lee was exempted from the law, coming out of the closet ages ago.

Percy handed the letters to each of the livid looking members of the family. Hermione's shaking hands almost dropped that letter. Ron ripped opened his letter and announced 'Lavander Brown. Oh, that is quite right'.

Percy opened his with something that resembled dignity and announced with a clear voice : 'Penelope Clearwater', which did not surprised anyone.

Hermione finally mustered the courage of opening her letter. She lay dumbstruck as she read the name on her letter. Frederick Weasley. Frederick. Weasley. Fred. Fred. She was getting married with Fred. She stared at the letter for a long time, and only snapped out of it when she heard George's voice yelling, 'Angelina Johnson ! Wicked !'. Hermione looked up to Fred. Who was currently staring at his letter, then his brother, then his letter again, until he finally looked up to her. She saw in his eyes the same surprise she was feeling with a little bit of amusement, and even challenge. Then, he beamed up at her. She found herself smiling too. 'It could have been much worse' she thought. However, she did not expect him to get up, throw his letter to his twin, walk up to her and lay the mother of all kisses on her. Like a real kiss, with passion, and happiness. Her surprise was soon covered by everyone screams of surprise. Mrs Weasley soon demanded to know what was going on. Fred put an end to the kiss, put his arm around her shoulders and announced clearly :

"Well, meet my fiancée, Hermione Jean Granger, soon to be Weasley."

That announcement caused so much noise in the living room it made Hermione's head spin. Mrs Weasley started to cry of happiness while yelling 'Finally, my daughter! Oh, I'm so happy, you'll make the sweetest babies!' which made Hermione cringe. Oh my God. She would have to have Fred babies. Trouble makers. If they had their parent's intelligence, combined with their father's taste for chaos and her ability of finding herself in the middle of disasters, she was in for a world of trouble. Ginny and Harry were jumping with joy around the room, while Ron looked as if he had been struck with a bolt of lightning. Hermione realized how weird it would be for him. Everyone in the room fell silent while waiting for Hermione's ex-boyfriend's reaction. Minutes seemed like hours until Ron finally snapped out of it and turned to his brother and his new fiancée.

"Well, I guess congratulations are in order."

Ron hugged his brother and gave Hermione a soft smile. Mrs Weasley seemed on the verge of tears as she watched her sons make the most of a difficult situation. Everybody cheered up and life seemed to get back on track, at least until they heard Charlie's voice from the other end of the living room.

"Who in Godric's name is Alice Tremont ?"

Everybody felt silent. Hermione was sure she had heard that name before but she couldn't replace it. Fleur spoke up "She was in Beauxbaton a few years below my year. She is a very brilliant witch, she was a member of the European Order. I never heard of her again after the war, I never thought much of it."

Most of the people in the room knew that the European Order had suffered many losses. One of the safe houses had been completely destroyed by Deatheaters and what was left of the Order fought during the battle of Hogwards. Nobody knew her but they had a newfound respect for her. At least everybody except Percy. He looked as if he was about to be sick and he kept touching his nose as he was thinking.

"She's the one who broke my nose."

With that sentence, half the room bursted out laughing. She had definitely earned the respect of the Twins, and Charlie seemed a bit relieved that his wife-to-be was not a sissy. Hermione could not picture the dragon keeper with a girly-girl like Lavander.

Mrs Weasley decided to bring a bit of order in the room and stated that everybody should owl their fiancées so that they could meet up to make arrangements. Percy had already apparated away to Penelope's house and Angelina had flooed in. Fleur and Mrs Weasley started to make plans for the oncoming weddings.

Fred came behind Hermione and spoke softly into her ear.

"Wanna get out of here ?"

She nodded and bid her goodbyes to Mrs Weasley. Fred told his mother that Hermione and himself would not attend the meal that day and were going to enjoy each other for a while. They got out of the garden and walked in silence to the apparition point of the Burrow. Fred smiled up at her and apparated them to his flat.

They stumbled in the middle of his living room. Fred steadied her and kept his hand on her shoulders. He smiled tenderly at her and gave her a very chaste kiss on the lips. The romantic side of Fred was very surprising to Hermione. Pleasantly so.

'Sooo, what do you want to do now', said Fred, wiggling his eyebrows.

Hermione laughed at his antics.

"Well, maybe we should get to know each other. Well, you know, we know each other but not in the dating kind of knowing each other. Maybe we should just…"

She was rambling. So he cut her off by kissing her again. This time it was less chaste. She found it very, very nice. He let her go and looked at her in the eyes

"Granger, you're rambling. Let me just say something and then you can go back to rambling about knowing each other and whatever you want to ramble about. I like you. I always did. I have always found you to be an attractive bird, but you were hypnotised by my baby brother, so I never acted on it. I'm not saying I'm desperately in love with you or something like that, I'm just saying, I'm very happy we got stuck together by that crazy stupid law. It could have been a disaster. We could be in very horrible first dates right now. We are friends. We can work together in this relationship together and build a family. Who am I kidding, my mother think you are family already, that is a big relief. I would pay money to see her reaction to Lavender. Anyway, I'm rambling now, so I'm going to let you ramble for a while."

He sat down on the couch and looked at her waiting for her to respond. She sat down with her legs under her and smiled.

"Whoah, Fred, I never took you for a sensible young man. You're right. We are lucky. I'm so glad we got together. I won't say I ever looked at you with that way before. I always thought you were brilliant and attractive, but I still don't know that much about you. Maybe we will find something on which we have different views…"

"I don't want to cut you there my dear, but I'm sure we will have different views about things. Do you really think couples never fight on tiny little details? Let's go the the most important points, so that we will know where to go from there. That seems acceptable for you, milady ?"

"Sure," she said with a smile for his new nickname.

"Okay, let's start with a big subject : kids ? You do want kids right ?"

Hermione looked uncomfortable at that question. Fred was deeply worried by the frown on her face.

"Well, I always wanted kids. Maybe not as much as your mother had, but still, one or two to start. But my mother had a lot of trouble with the conception of a child and she had a lot of miscarriages before having me. I'm an only child, but that was not my parent's initial plans. My father wanted a house full of kids, and he only got me. I want kids someday, but I am really scared that I will not be able to have one."

Fred could see that the subject was sore for her. He gently took her hand and kissed her palm.

"Hey, be merry, when the time comes, let's remember that I'm a Weasley and that we are superproductive when it comes to children. We'll see when the time is right. What happens happens, and if it doesn't happen, we could still adopt, or get George to make one for us."

Hermione laughed out loud at that proposition.

"I'd really like to see Angelina's reaction when you asked her for her womb to rent. But you're right; we'll see when the time comes. All right, another important subject : work !"

"What about it? I own a joke shop, I don't see what I'm… Wait, wait, you're not going to make me give up on the shop right? I don't think I would qualify as a Ministry employee; I wouldn't be welcome at Hogwards as the new potion master either…" Hermione looked puzzled at this. She never pictured him as anything else as he was doing.

"No, no! I meant my job. I really don't want to give up my position at the IWC."

"Ooooh, well, you do whatever makes you happy. The shops are going well so that if you want to stop working you can, I'll be able to support us, but that is your choice. I do realize you are going to work late sometimes, and while I'm not happy about it, I won't throw a fit because you're not there to cook me supper. I've got my mother for that."

Hermione was relieved. When she was dating Ron, he was blaming her for her lack of housekeeping skills. She shared that thought with Fred and he actually looked hurt by her comment.

"Listen, love, it is public knowledge that my brother has the emotional range of a tea spoon. I'm not Ron. I love him, but man, I think he is annoying. While he never learnt how to take care of himself, I'm a grown man who can take care of a house. I'm a decent cook, George is the one who is the champ of the cleaning spells. We'll be fine Hermione. I've got another thing to tell you. I'm a twin. I've lived all my life with George, and I don't know how to start living without him. We won't live with him and Angie, don't you worry about that, but don't be upset if I need to be with him sometimes, he's one of my priorities, you know, with the shop, you and the rest of the family. He's the other side of me, we need to go out and take a beer once in a while."

Hermione smiled. "Oh, I understand. I might have to fight the urge to go and check on Harry every hour sometimes. Don't be jealous of Harry please. He's my brother. I hope you can understand that."

"Of course love, I won't pull a Ron and get over jealous about him. I have to say that I am a jealous guy , but I will work on that. I promise. Pinky swear ?"

He looked at her expectantly with his little finger up in the air. She laughed and answered him with her own finger.

"I believe you. I know we are going to make this work. "They looked at each other with their fingers linked together until Hermione broke the silence and asked to see those marvellous cooking skill he was bragging about.

"Anything to please milady !"

Charlie had to get out of here. He could not stand his mother in the state of happiness she was in at that moment. He was mad. He was the only one who got a complete stranger as a match. Who the hell was this girl. She could be a horrible human being. The fact that she was a member of the Order did not mean she was gold. Damn. She went to Beaubatons with Fleur. A French girl. He liked his sister in law but he would kill himself if he got her doppelganger as a match. He was pacing in the orchard and he did not know what to do. He was tempted to flee the country and go live in the wilderness till the last of his days, but his mother would have a heart attack if he did that. He was thinking about jumping down a cliff when he received a letter on his head. A beautiful black owl was hovering next to his head. He slowly took the letter and read what it said

Dear Charles (or Charlie, or Chuck, whatever you like )

My name is Alice Tremont, I'm sure you have received the letter that binds you with me forever. I'm sorry I can't meet you in person right now, but I am out of the country this weekend. I hope we can meet Sunday night, at 9. I work in a muggle bar in London but we could see each other there in a non-hostile environment (I can't really picture you meeting my mother on the first date and if I remember correctly, you share the same family name as the official whose nose I have broken (still not sorry about that), perhaps a bar is the lesser of two evils.) I hope the match didn't disappoint you and that you were not expecting to see somebody else's name on the letter. Well, I guess you didn't expect to see my name either, but it must be horrible for people who are not sorted with their love. Anyway, I'm rambling. I can't wait to meet you in person. Bring some friends with you at the bar, I might not have a lot of time until 11. Perhaps we could meet at 8.30 at Green's Lantern, so that we can introduce ourselves.

Love,

Alice

Well. That gives him a few days to get ready. Oh god. She seemed nice. Caring. He had to admit that he was so deep into his misery that the thought of her being separated from a loved one didn't enter his mind. She had broken Percy's nose, something he had always dreamed to do. She worked at a muggle bar. That was unexpected. Fleur said she was a very bright witch, he didn't picture her to be a waitress. Anyway, he decided he could deal with that. He conjured a piece of parchment and confirmed his presence the next evening. He apparated to his sister's house to see if she would care for a run in a muggle bar to meet his fiancée. Ginny would know what to do.