Chapter 1
Hermione Granger sat in her office at the Ministry contemplating the Prophet. Yet another article had taken the front page concerning the population count in the magical world. The Battle of Hogwarts had taken place 6 months ago. Only in the last few months had it become public how high the death toll was in Britain's wizarding world. She knew that with the amount of emphasis the ministry was placing on these numbers that something would have to be done. What, she didn't know. None of her friends or coworkers seemed to share her concern. They believed the problem would work itself out in time.
She went back to her work. Since the head of the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures had retired last month, Hermione had been doing whatever she could to make her name known. She wanted that position. She had some great ideas that she thought would really bring the world wide magical communities together. Her goals were to promote equality among all magical beings. If all the magical communities banded together and helped one another, then the threat of a dark wizard taking over Britain, or any country, would be significantly minimized, as no one would feel ostracized, and therefore feel the need to band together with wizards like Lord Voldemort. She sighed and continued her current project.
The next morning was Tuesday, the November the 10th, Anna was pouring over some documents at her desk when a paper airplane zoomed toward her, landing on her paperwork. She noticed it was an official document from another department in the ministry.
Ms. Granger
As you have undoubtedly heard from numerous communications from the Ministry to the public, the British magical population is at great risk. Our numbers suffered a huge loss at the culmination of the second wizarding war. In an effort to prevent the extinction of magical lines throughout Britain, the ministry will be enforcing a new marriage law. Every unmarried woman, age 35 and under, and unmarried man, age 45 and under, shall be matched with partner. These couples will be expected to marry and produce one child within the first 3 years of marriage, the only exception to this being documentation of infertility. Any couples currently in a committed relationship or engagement may choose to remain so, provided they reply within 24 hours notifying us.
We know this may come as a surprise, but we hope that you will be willing to acquiesce for the good of our community. Failure to do so could result in a 3-year Azkaban sentence. You will receive another letter within the week informing you of who the best partner for you would be. Once received, you will have a period of 30 days in which to perform the ceremony. The ministry has been working diligently to create a method of selecting which individuals are most suited to each other in order to yield the best results for happiness and reproduction. We thank you in advance for your cooperation.
Sincerely,
Roselyn Tully
Department of Magical Law Enforcement
Hermione stared at the letter. This was much more than she had expected. She didn't know what she had expected, to be honest, but it wasn't this. Forcing people to marry? She took notice of how quiet it suddenly was. For a few moments, there was nothing, then the murmuring started. She realized that everyone, at least those that were currently unmarried, must have received the letter as well. She got up and walked out of her cubicle, still clutching the letter. She was not alone. Everyone seemed to be coming out, wanting confirmation that this was, in fact, serious.
"Hermione! You got one too? I can't believe this." Hermione turned to face one her partners in her department, Cassidy Bobbin.
"Wait, Cas, why did you get one? You have already been married."
"Yes, but my husband was killed wasn't he? So technically I'm unmarried. They must be desperate to be going after the widows too." Hermione couldn't help but agree as she walked back to her desk, one thing on her mind. Not only was she being forced to marry, but they were going to pick her husband as well. And if she didn't like it, the alternative was a three year sentence to Azkaban. She couldn't stop herself from thinking that it couldn't get much worse. She was wrong.
Over the next few days, people through the building were receiving their letters. Hermione couldn't help think how lucky Harry was that he had Ginny. They had agreed that this, though sooner than expected, would have been where they were headed anyway. She and Ron had split shortly after the battle of Hogwarts. After finally being able to be in a relationship, and not on the run or with anything else standing in the way, they determined they would be better as friends. She loved Ron, but realized it was more like the way she felt about Harry. Before he left them last winter, Hermione had felt the chemistry, the spark. But when he walked away from her and Harry, something changed. She was so happy when he came back, but no longer felt the flutter in her stomach, or the quickening in her heart. She was just now starting to trust him again, and that was a large part of why they didn't work in the beginning. She sighed. There was nothing she could do at this point but await her own letter.
By the time lunch came around that following Monday, 6 days after receiving her first letter, Hermione was the only person in her department left who had not been matched. She was headed to see the minister, Kingsley Shacklebolt. He had sent her a memo requesting she meet with him over her lunch break. She didn't know why he wanted to see her, but was hoping to bring forward some of her ideas on werewolf equality. On the lifts, she ran right into Harry and Ron, who were headed toward the Aurors department.
"Hermione!" Ron exclaimed. "How are you? It feels like forever since we saw you." He said with a smile. Hermione just rolled her eyes.
"You saw me last night you prat. How are you and Ginny, Harry? I missed you guys last night at dinner." Hermione had gone over to the Weasley's for Sunday dinner. She tried to go and help Mrs. Weasley as much as possible since the battle. Fred's death had really gotten to her. She seemed last night to be finally mending, at least a little. She laughed a bit more, but it was hard.
"Oh, we are great. Since last week, though, Ginny has been in a frenzy of wedding planning. And don't get me started on Mrs. Weasley. You would swear she has been waiting for this day since Ginny was born. It's exhausting." He said, but the little smile he had told her that he wasn't nearly as bothered as he made it seem.
"Lavendar is the same. I have seen more flowers and lace in the last 4 days than I ever want to see again." Ron had been matched with Lavendar Brown, something Hermione and Harry took great pleasure in teasing him about, last Thursday. Lavendar still bore the scars from her attack by Greyback, but had seemed to really mature since 6th year. Ron had been hesitant about meeting her again, but had been pleasantly surprised. They seemed to be getting along well.
"Oh, you two. This may only happen once. Don't give them a hard time." She smiled. The lift stopped, and Harry and Ron made to get off.
"Are we still on for dinner tonight, 'Mione?" Harry asked. The three of them and Ginny were set to hang out this evening.
"Wouldn't miss it." She said. They each said their goodbyes, and the two men walked off, as Hermione continued on the lift.
When she reached the correct floor, she got off and headed down to Kingsley office, lightly knocking on the door.
"Come in," called the deep, calming voice of Kingsley Shacklebolt. He was seated at his desk, looking through a stack of papers, as he silently gestured to one of the two chairs in front of his desk. After a minute, he found what he was looking for, and put everything away, before turning to face her.
"Miss Granger. I am glad you had time to meet with me."
"Of course, Minister, though I must admit that I am not sure why I am here."
He sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose.
"I don't know where to start," he looked up noting her worried expression, "No, nothing has happened," he hurried to say. "There is just a circumstance that has occurred which may be…unpleasant to comprehend, at first." He took another deep breath. "I know you have been awaiting your own letter regarding your match with this new marriage." She nodded, confused as to why he would bring that up. "You will be getting that letter later this afternoon. However, I felt the need to prepare you before seeing it, as I know this will cause you no small amount of shock."
"I'm afraid I don't understand. I know full well what is expected of me, and that I could be paired with anyone."
"Hermione," He said, dismissing formalities for the moment, making her even more uneasy as she considered his serious demeanor, "I wanted to speak with you personally about this matter, because you have a bit of history with the man in question."
Her confusion grew. History? She thought everyone she knew had already been paired off. She racked her brain trying to think of who was left, but came up empty.
"Hermione, the man you have been paired with is…" Just then the door to Kingsley's office opened and in walked Lucius Malfoy.
"Lucius, the time I gave you isn't for 15 minutes."
"I see Miss Granger is already here, so surely we can move this along." Hermione looked back and forth between Mr. Malfoy and Kingsley. Kingsley looked worried before slowly turning his gaze back to her. There was silence for several seconds.
"Hermione, Mr. Malfoy is here at my request, though he is earlier than expected." Suddenly, Hermione felt all the color drain from her face, and her hearted started to race. Surely not. There would only be one reason why Lucius Malfoy would be allowed to stay for her conversation regarding who she was matched with. Hermione felt the horror wash over her. In a quiet, calm voice, like steel, she said,
"You cannot be serious, Kingsley. This is more than history."
"I assure you I am quite serious. This is who you were matched with."
"How is he even eligible? He has already been married and produced an heir of his own."
"Mr. Malfoy is within the age specifications, and tragic as the incident was, Narcissa Malfoy perished a week after the battle. She was attacked by death eaters who were on the run, and attacked her or betraying Voldemort. So he is an eligible, unmarried man."
"Eligible or no, I was tortured in his house. He did nothing to stop it from happening, and you expect me to marry him?" She couldn't bring herself to look at Malfoy. "What kind of test would have ever paired us together?"
"I'm sorry, Miss Granger. This is why I called you in here, rather than you just find out through a letter. I expected this would be hard to take in." She couldn't believe what she was hearing. After everything she, Harry, and Ron had done, they would do this to her. The war was finally over. She should be able to finally relax and recover after everything she had been through. There were so many other people. She couldn't bring herself to say anything more. If they were going to do something about this situation, then they already would have. After a few minutes of intense silence, Kingsley spoke again.
"I know you each know what is expected. You must marry within 30 days, and are expected to produce heirs. If you do not agree to this, you would be charged with breaking the law and sentenced to three years in Azkaban. I hope you can see past your current feelings, and do what is expected, no matter how difficult it may seem now." Hermione could feel herself start to panic, so she controlled her facial features, stood, took last, long look at Kingsley and left the office. Kingsley sighed and turned to look at Lucius Malfoy, who hadn't said a word since arriving.
