The Marriage Law
Chapter 1:
September 2, 1998
Marriage Law Announced by Iris Jane
As of two hours ago, the Minister of Magic, Kingsley Shacklebolt has announced to the reporters of the Daily Prophet that a new Marriage Law is being taken into account for the welfare of the Wizarding Population.
"The sudden decline in the number of magical populace due to the Second Wizarding War leaves the Ministry with no other option" said a hassled Minister this morning.
The Law states that every witch or wizard must marry a suitable man or woman by the end of the following year. The objective of this Law is to ensure that the married couples are to produce an heir within the time limit of a year.
The Ministry offers a time of one month for any witch or wizard to choose their counterpart after which time the Ministry will have to intervene to pair the remaining witches and wizards. This Law is subjective only to those magical beings who are not engaged or married.
The Law also covers any werewolves who are part witch or wizard. Veelas and their mates are to register themselves within the time of a month given by the Ministry. The regulations for this Law on part-magical creatures will further be announced by the head of the Marriage Law Department.
"To be more clear, this Law applies to all witches and wizards between 17 and 30 years of age. No exceptions will be made. I only hope that the witches and wizards of Wizarding Britain understand how crucial this is and that they follow this through" said Jessica Pangborn, Head of the Marriage Law Department.
It was a shocking news to all the witches and wizards around Britain. The interference of the Ministry into their personal lives was not something that most people appreciated.
Of course, there were also many couples like Harry Potter and Ginevra Weasley who were already deeply in love that they didn't mind getting married earlier than planned. But there were also those who had just gotten out of relationships and in no way intended to seal their break-up with marriage or find someone else within a month.
Hermione Granger was one such female, who had just gotten out of a committed relationship with a certain Ron Weasley. They had parted their separate ways with the promise of continuing to be friends.
The students of Hogwarts slowly filed into the Great Hall, not knowing that all those who were seventeen and above were now subjected to a marriage law to repopulate the Wizarding Britain.
Harry and Ron entered the Great Hall and went to sit beside their friends, Hermione and Ginny who had already begun eating their breakfasts. Hermione was eating and simultaneously going through the time table that she was to follow that year.
It came as a surprise to many that Hogwarts had invited the seventh years of last year again to study for their eighth year because many students hadn't even attempted the N.E.W.T.S. With the War brought to a close, there were actually many who were willing to return.
The chatter in the Great Hall was brought to an end, as Headmistress McGonagall stood up and walked to the podium. The aged woman looked even more worried than ever.
To the Great Hall she announced, "Early this morning, the Ministry of Magic has decided to enact a Marriage Law due to a decline in the population of magical people. This Law affects all witches and wizards between 17 and 30 years of age." At this gasps and shouts of horror were heard from all over the Hall, especially from those who were directly affected by it.
But the Headmistress, not paying heed to their shouts continued speaking, "Witches and Wizards who have been directly affected by this are to remain in the Great Hall once breakfast is over. Anyone who is turning 17 this month will also be subjected to the law and hence you will have to stay back."
The breakfast then turned into a silent affair, whispers ringing throughout the room now and then. The Professors at the Head Table looked concerned and were always looking over at the students over their breakfasts.
The younger students soon filtered out, not ceasing their chatter but the elder students were especially worried.
Harry and Ron could be heard talking with their friends, "How can the Ministry expect that anyone will follow this?"
The Headmistress stood up again and addressed the crowd, "Silence! I understand that this is an outrageous law that the Ministry has placed into effect but as citizens of Wizarding Britain, it is your responsibility to follow this law. I want you to listen to this carefully. The past few days, many people of the Ministry and the Wizengamot have met and debated over whether this was the right course of action. The Wizengamot is preceded by the older wizards who believe that this is what has to be done and they are in the majority. Therefore, I assure you there is no way you can get out of this.
"The Ministry has been generous enough to offer you all a month to register who you would like to be married too. So understand this, the Minister has tried to make this as much of your free will as possible. The ones remaining, who do not have anyone to wed at the end of the month will be paired off with your most likely counterpart by the Ministry. And since the objective of this law is to repopulate the Wizarding World, the females in the relationship will have to produce a child within a year and the second one within another three. So I emphasize again that you only have a month to choose who you want to marry. Any questions on this matter?"
Several hands went up, surprisingly Hermione's wasn't one of them. Ernie Macmillan asked the question they were all eager to ask,"What if we don't want to follow this Law?"
The Headmistress just looked up at them with sad eyes and said,"Then you will be stripped off your magic and sent to the Muggle World, sort of like a banishment. The Ministry obviously doesn't encourage you to do this but this Law has been put into effect for a particular and important reason and you will do well to abide by it."
No one else then seemed excited to ask any more questions and so Professor McGonagall continued, "If you have any more questions pertaining to this matter once it has sunk in, you can approach the Head of your House. You are now free to go, give this some time to sink in. Classes will resume as normal only after lunch."
Many groans were heard throughout the Hall and people slowly got back up. At the Gryffindor table, Hermione sat with her head in her hands, her bushy hair now tamed to few gentle curls, falling onto her face from all sides as she bent down. Ginny sat beside her, silently crying, about how it was unfair to force marriage upon them this early. But Ginny was glad all the same, because she knew that she and Harry loved each other enough to marry one another, even if early.
Harry on the other hand, was rubbing soothing circles on Ginny's back and repeatledly kept whispering that he loved her and that everthing would be alright as he comforted her. Ron though looked unaffected, thinking that under these circumstances, it was best if he and Hermione decided to marry one another. He, of course, did not know that Hermione didn't even think of him as one of her choices who she could marry. Her quick brain was already categorizing those people who were taken and those who she thought she had a chance with.
She looked up to see a havoc at the Slytherin table. Goyle looked just like she had moments ago. Blaise Zabini looked positively happy with a smiling Daphne sitting on his lap. Pansy Parkinson was looking at her goblet and twirling what was left of her pumpkin juice. But what was most surprising was that Theodore Nott and Draco Malfoy seemed to be in a fight, over what she did not know. She couldn't see past the crowd that had already gathered around them.
As the crowd slowly broke apart, she could see Theo with a bloody and cut lip and Malfoy with blood running down his nose. As she continued watching, Theo looked up and attempted to give her a reassuring smile.
It had been a surprising fact to many but a few months before the final War, Theodore Nott, Blaise Zabini, Pansy Parkinson and Draco Malfoy had chosen to switch sides and had given them information about the placing of different Death Eaters around Hogwarts. One may think that the group of four had decided to change sides once they saw who was going to win, though that was a contributing factor, they had changed sides because they couldn't bear to provide service to the Dark Lord anymore. Their information had helped the Light side in rounding up all the important and dangerous Death Eaters within no time, thus saving the Aurors a lot of time in the future.
Hermione smiled back uncertainly, still worried over the fight. During the War, Hermione, Blaise and Theo had come to become good friends because they were the only ones willing to talk to each other to communicate from the two sides. Though the elders had often talked to all, Harry and Ron hadn't wanted to communicate with ex- Death Eaters and had sent Hermione as spokesperson. Similarly, out of the four of them who had just joined them as Grimmauld Place, only Theo and Blaise occasionally talked to her.
At one point she may have entertained a romantic relationship between her and Theo since Blaise was taken by Daphne Greengrass but after a talk, neither of them entertained the possibility again. Harry shook her to clear her from her stupor and realizing that she was lost in the memories of her past, stood up. She continued to think about the Marriage Law. She was surprised there hadn't been more of an uproar, but she understood that most of the witches and wizards were already involved in relationships, and wouldn't mind getting married earlier than planned.
Lost in thought, she clashed into Malfoy who was heading to the door of the Great Hall just as her. He turned and steadied her from falling onto him again and bent down to whisper into her ear "Be careful, Granger. Don't want you running around injured." Then he silently turned around and left.
She was honestly very surprised because he had never been civil to her before, even while in Grimmauld Place. And so she didn't notice the glare that Theo sent Malfoy's way. She merely continued walking, alongside Ginny and soon she forgot all about the incident as she went on to chat with Ginny about her fate.
Harry came to talk to them, leaving Ron to chat with Neville and Dean. "So, 'Mione, what do you plan on doing about this Law? I mean, apart from me and Ginny and Neville and Luna, I doubt anyone is in any relationship. Do you think you will want to marry Ron?" said Harry.
"I don't know, Harry. I really thought this year would be better but a Marriage Law.. I have to think a lot about this. I will be in the library in case you need me." Hermione replied and hurried off. Harry just fell back into step with Ginny, instead of following Hermione and said, "Think she will agree to marry Ron?"
Ginny said, "I really don't think so. This is Hermione we are talking about. She just got out of a relationship with Ron, so I really doubt she would want to marry the same guy she broke up with three days ago. And Ron is not stupid enough to actually wait for her when he knows that they won't work. He must be thinking of other people that he could marry."
Meanwhile, in the Slytherin Common Room, Draco was scheming about how he could woo Hermione Granger. A seething Theodore Nott, sat beside him, telling him again and again not to choose Hermione Granger, but Draco was past caring. Draco stood up and fell onto the other couch closer to the fire. He folded his hands behind his head and closed his eyes, not worried about what was to come in the future.