Hey y'all! I know it's been a while. I've been running like crazy chasing kids and working but I've been slowly editing what I had so far of this story. I'll post the first couple of chapters now and the rest as I finish it up. Since summer is coming up, I'm hoping to be able to slow down just a bit and be able to get some more writing done. Thank you all for being so patient with me! I really appreciate it!

Much love!

~Mia~

LETTERS AND QUESTIONS

Hermione looked up from the letter in utter disbelief. She had been at lunch with Ron, Harry, and Ginny like they did once a week when the ministry owl found them at The Leaky Cauldron. They all had identical letters from Kingsley to inform them of the situation before the announcement was made public.

She looked around the table, studying everyone else's faces as she waited for the realization to sink in to the rest of them what was actually happening. Harry and Ginny shared a similar look of complete horror. Ron stared at his letter, confusion written all over his face.

When Ron finally looked up from his letter, he looked at Hermione in a panic. "Guess now you don't have a choice but to finally say yes to me," he joked half-heartedly.

Ginny responded, "Don't be a git," smacking him in the back of his head. She turned to Harry with tears in her eyes and asked, "What if they don't pair us together?"

Hermione looked over at Ginny, picking at her seemingly forgotten chicken salad, and said "Gin, they'd be crazy not to pair you two together. Anyone in their right mind can see you are perfect for each other."

"That's what worries me 'Mione. Anyone in their right minds wouldn't allow this to happen." Ginny then got up from the table and all but ran from of the restaurant, questioning eyes following her until she reached the fireplace. She grabbed a pinch of floo powder and tossed it into the fire, green flames roaring to life as she stepped in and shouted, "The Burrow." With a whoosh, she disappeared.

"She's right, you know?" said Harry, returning his attention to his friends. "How could Kingsley ever allow this to happen?"

"I don't know, Harry," Hermione finally replied, her gaze returning to her half eaten lunch. "It doesn't make any sense."

After a few minutes, it was Ron who finally broke the silence. "I should probably go and check on Ginny. She's probably worked herself into a right state and Mum and Dad are visiting Charlie in Romania so they aren't home to calm her down."

"I should probably be getting back to work myself. I need something to take my mind off of this disaster for a while," said Hermione.

The three friends said their goodbyes as they all took turns with the floo powder, Hermione stepping into the green flames after watching Harry and Ron do the same just moments before. She shouted, "Ministry for Magic," and felt the all too familiar tug behind her navel.

She landed in the grand lobby of the Ministry moments later, turning on her heels, heading straight to the office of the Minister himself. She had no intentions of finishing her work that day and she had some questions that only Kingsley Shacklebolt could answer.

"Utter rubbish," Draco spat at the letter he had received from the Ministry earlier that afternoon. His ruckus drew the attention of his mother, who walked into the drawing room. Narcissa picked the letter up from the desk and read it over carefully, committing every word to memory. "Well dear, you may just get your wish after all."

Draco jumped at the sound of his mother's voice. He turned around, his eyes cold, and asked, "And just what wish would that be, Mother?"

Setting the letter back down on the desk, she took her seat in a chair next to her son. "I should have thought you would be overjoyed to learn you may not be required to marry Astoria anymore. I know you were never really fond of her."

Draco chuckled a bit at that and said, "I hadn't thought about that." He sat down in a fluffy armchair next to the fireplace and looked at his mother. "At least before, I was able to decide when I would be getting married. As of now, I don't even really have a choice in that either."

"Draco, you still have a year to ready yourself for the upcoming nuptials. Everything will be perfect." Narcissa was almost giddy at the thought of putting her skills to use planning her only son's wedding.

"Mother, they haven't even told me who I am matched with. I still have to go to the Ministry this afternoon so that they can perform a charm that is supposed to identify my soul mate." Draco looked worriedly at his mother. "What if I am matched with someone worse than Astoria?"

"I'm sure you will be matched with a lovely witch, Draco. You are an amazing wizard after all. And a Malfoy," Narcissa smiled at Draco sweetly and then stood to leave the room. "Any witch in all of Great Britain should be considered lucky to have been matched with such a fine young man."

As she silently walked out of the room, Draco muttered after her, "Thank you, Mother." He then headed up to his room to ready himself for his appointment with the newly created Office of Magical Repopulation Studies and Enforcement.

Kingsley Shacklebolt had refused to see Hermione until after the announcement of the Marriage Law had been made public. She was finally seated in front of him, full of questions, waiting for him to explain the reason for putting them all through something like this just three years after the war was over.

He looked at her with such sadness in his eyes that Hermione began to worry for her old friend. He looked as if he had been awake for weeks on end. He could probably use a decent meal too, she thought to herself.

"Hermione, please understand that if there had been any other choice, I would not have taken this action. I am just as upset by this situation as you are," Kingsley finally said, his voice solemn.

"Kings, I've known you long enough to know that much already. What are the reasons that made this the only course of action that could be taken?" Hermione looked at him expectantly.

He sat a little straighter in his chair as he started digging for some papers on his desk. When he found what he was looking for, he handed her a piece of parchment. Just by looking at it, Hermione could tell she was looking at the census information from the past three years. She could see that the numbers of witches and wizards with magical abilities was dwindling and that obviously something needed to be done to prevent the wizarding population in Great Britain from going extinct. Finally the pieces of the puzzle started coming together in her head.

"Who all is being affected by this Law?" she asked him curiously.

"Everyone between the ages of 17 and 35. We are also using a charm developed by our Office of Magical Repopulation Studies and Enforcement to determine the best candidate to match everyone with. We don't wish to make this any harder on anyone than it already has to be."

Hermione stood up, unable to hide the growing fury in her glare. "So you're saying that we could be forced to marry a complete stranger within the next year, regardless of how we feel about one another, and then we will be forced to have a family with this person? Two children for every couple, forced to live their lives with parents who either hate each other or who don't care about the rest of the family? You know it's bound to happen, Mr. Minister."

Kingsley stood then, almost cringing at her use of his title, and made to see her out of his office. "I am very sorry, Ms. Granger. Honestly, if there were any other option, I would have taken it in a heartbeat. I hope you enjoy the rest of your day." He closed the door behind her before she had a chance to apologize for what she said.

Hermione headed to her appointment with the Office of Magical Repopulation Studies and Enforcement early in hopes they would be ahead of schedule and could get this charm over with. She thought back to Ron, whom she hadn't spoken with since receiving news about the law from Kingsley. She hoped that all this nonsense didn't ruin her friendship with him. But she also secretly hoped she would not be matched with him.