Marriage Law: Corrupt Politicians

by verdant quest

Purebloods have to marry purebloods to preserve noble bloodlines. If only someone had warned Hermione of that before she started school. AN: Same story, altered title.

Title: Corrupt Politicians Make the Best Matchmakers (1/?)
Author: verdant quest
Rating: R
Summary: Purebloods have to marry purebloods to preserve noble bloodlines. If only someone had warned Hermione of that before she started school.
Pairing: HG/? It will not be including RW/HG in this story, despite appearances.
Disclaimer: I own nothing. All belongs to the radiant goddess, J.K. Rowling.
Author's Note: I've turned the Marriage Law Challenge on its head. "Enemies of the Heir, beware! You'll be next, Mudbloods!" (CoS 139)

Part one: Discriminating Against the Majority

"Have you heard? The International Wizarding Congressional Summit has passed a new law! All purebloods must marry other purebloods to ensure the pureblood lineages are not extinguished!" The whispers continued through every corner of the Wizarding World the final day in May of 1998. In Great Britain only the most dedicated of Hogwarts 7th form educates studied for their NEWTs through the midst of the gossip and ignored the implications.

The International Wizarding Congressional Summit was the highest form of government anywhere in their world, and they had been discussing what it would take to preserve time honoured traditions for the past four months. Summit representatives had noted a recent increase in the number of marriages between purebloods and halfbloods, mixedbloods or muggleborns. These matches resulted in a dramatic increase in the number of mixedblood children and decreased the number of pureblood birthlines. News had reached the British Press only the morning after the establishment of the international law. Details of what this new policy would entail had been deliberated over endlessly in committees. The final results announced within the major publications of the world were these: All unmarried pureblood witches and wizards, who were of marriageable age, were to immediately register with their respective governments and await summons to the Marriage Council. The Marriage Council would decide who should marry whom based on compatibility in homelife needs, magical abilities, and reproductive capacities. Without exception all who are still virile or fertile will be thence married to the match selected by the Council and will be required to produce one child every five years or until such time as each pureblood couple has produced three wizarding children. No form of birth control shall be allowed, unless under the recommendation of a trained mediwitch or mediwizard due to health complications, until the couple has had all three offspring. Spells will ensure fidelity, companionship and physical attraction in ones spouse. At no time will these marriages be dissolved. The International Wizarding Congressional Summit believes that these marriages will be among the most successful matches in Wizarding history.

In Kent, England, an tan and brown mixed-breed owl swooped in through the dining room window of the Parrish Estate and dropped a rolled copy of the Daily Prophet on the exasperated head of one Dr. Eustace Percival Granger, before sticking out its left foot to collect the appropriate number of knuts into the moneybag tied there. When the muggle gentleman had retrieved the little bronze coins, and slipped them into the bag, the owl hooted once and flew out the way he had come. Unrolling the parchment, Dr. Granger perused the headlines and then stopped short, staring with horrified fascination at the front page article outlining the major points of note about what the Prophet called the new "Marriage Law". Swallowing hard, Dr. Granger turned to address the only other occupant of the dining hall of his wife's family home.

"Emmeline."

Dr. Emmeline Deirdre Parrish Granger calmly took a sip of her tea as she addressed her husband of eighteen years, "Yes, dear?"

"Emmeline. We must send for Hermione at once. She cannot learn about this from strangers; it would be too great a shock."

"Eustace, what are you on about?" Dr. Emmeline Granger asked irritably.

Sorrowfully Dr. Eustace Granger explained the dire situation in which they had found themselves. For sixteen years, eight months and five days they had falsely believed that they could take their secret to the grave. Magic and proper upraising should have ensured that their daughter would never be the least bit inquisitive on this particular subject. And now they were about to pay the price of their silence.

"Ahah!" Mr. Ronald Archibald Weasley cried out in triumph as he rounded a corner in the Hogwarts library stacks and encountered the object of his pursuit. The object glanced up disinterestedly from the ancient and quite dusty tome through which she was idly paging...fruitlessly searching for the source of an obscure footnote from yet another dusty old book that she had been using to research for her Charms NEWT.

"Oh, what is it, Ron? Come to drag the poor little prefect away from her studies and out onto the pollen-polluted air of the Quidditch field? Miss Hermione Dorothea Granger inquired tartly.

Ron Weasley pouted. "Hermione. That's not fair! Your supposed to be glad to see your best friend when you meet him, not chew him out for all the times he's attempted to enrich your overly-structured life."

Miss Granger did not appear to be duly impressed, but responded nonetheless. "Ron, I am always thrilled to have your company. Now, what do you want?"

"Have you had a chance to look at the Daily Prophet yet today?" Ron inquired nervously. The truth was that Ron had always rather anticipated that he would eventually work up the nerve to ask Hermione to marry him after graduation. He also had a niggling suspicion that she shared that anticipation, despite the fact that the two of them had never spoken on this plan of action, nor had they dated at anytime since they had met. Still, he doubted that Hermione was going to react well to the announcement that Ron would be married to another witch, another pureblood in fact, by the time the summer was past, if the Prophet's reporter had been accurate in the minutia of the Marriage Law article.

"No. I have been busy studying, Ron. Like anyone who was the least bit concerned about their future after Hogwarts should have been doing! I haven't the time to read that gossip rag right now. This exam is too important to botch up." Hermione's voice was acidic and brittle. She had been working herself down to the grain these past several months in preparation for the Nastily Exhausting Wizarding Tests that they were taking this next week. Ever the overachiever, Hermione was taking more exams than any other student graduating this year.

Ron nodded quickly to pacify the ruffled witch. "I know Hermione! It wasn't meant as a criticism. It's just that the International Wizarding Congressional Summit has finally come out with a series of new international laws, and one of them is really a major change in Wizarding society. I just thought that you should know about it, because it will affect a number of people you know...including me." He held up the copy of the Daily Prophet as a peace offering and then stepped back after she had taken it from him, to be free of her fist-swinging range after she'd gotten the bad news.

Hermione's eyes traveled incredulously over the words for well over a minute after she'd finished the article. When she looked up horror and disbelief were evident in her normally clear countenance. "How can they? How can they uphold such antiquated and prejudiced ideas as doctrine? I just can't fathom any other reason for this law, but to eliminate the concept of equality between those of mixed or muggle descent and those of pureblood. They may as well come out and openly support Lord Voldemort's genocides; this law will just add more fodder to his bonfire under all non-purebloods. This is disgusting!"

Even as the words left her lips though, her heart wrenched, recalling that she had even less place in this world than she had had before the Marriage Law had passed. The Weasleys and the Malfoys were the wave of the future, just as they had once been the predominant group in the not-so-distant past. All headway to create a non-blood based society had just been crushed through the elitist stupidity of a frightened minority of pureblood government officials. She might as well give up the war now. Perhaps her parents could help her apply to a college at a muggle university and then she could start over after graduation. After all, what was left for her here? Ron would be married off as soon as his NEWTs were over, and Harry still had the prophesy to fulfill and a Dark Lord to vanquish. The Ministry was unlikely to offer her a job under Fudge's current management, and this law would likely encourage other employers to discriminate against muggleborns like herself. A future without prestigious job offers or welcoming neighbors and with only other muggleborns as marital candidates (unless she found a willing half or mixedblood), she just couldn't see why she should continue on here.

Looking over at Ron, she felt a moment of pity for his unenviable situation and awkward about her sudden plans to abandon him to the British Ministry of Magic's Marriage Council wolves.

"I'm really sorry, Ron. This isn't fair to you. You should be able to choose your own bride, regardless of what her family background might be."

Ron's stomach dropped at her pitying gaze. How could she be so bloody calm about this? After her initial reaction to the law in general she had seemed to turn inward--not seeing him or anything else, but even when she had come back to the present, she hadn't expressed any sign of anger or regret over what might have been between them. Didn't she care about him that way at all? His own heart ached painfully in his chest. Maybe he had just imagined that she thought he was good enough for her. Maybe he really was just a friend.

"Hermione, is that all you have to say to me? I thought that you might be a little more upset." His tone was tentative, feeling her out, even when he felt like exploding.

"I don't have it in me to be mad right now, Ron. I'm afraid that I can't do much except accept the inevitable. You will be married after graduation. Harry will join the Order and fight Voldemort. And I...I guess I'll need to think about what I will do. All I know is that our lives shouldn't be dictated to the way they are being--and I'm sorry for it." Hermione folded the copy of the paper and handed it back to Ron, before turning and leaving the aisle, carrying the Charms text under one arm.

Dinner that night way awful. No one would stop talking about the law. Opinions ranged from outrage, to crying, to support of ideas behind the law even if the way it was being carried out was regrettable; predictably the latter response was largely from the pureblood Slytherins who had anticipated an arranged marriage from birth.

Mr. Henry James Potter was surprisingly unaffected by the latest Wizarding debacle, which might very well be a first in all of their history in his lifetime. His only concern was that the Weasley boys and his other friend, Neville Longbottom, would be married off to a deatheater or another sort of disagreeable individual. He was of course sympathetic when his friend, Ron Weasley complained about his other best friend's lack of response to the news that Ron was off the marriage market, but otherwise he felt little connection to the whole business. However, to keep the peace Harry sat between Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley at the supper table.

Half-way through the meal an unplanned postal office owl surged forward into the Great Hall and up to the Head table where it dropped a large envelope into the water goblet next to Professor Dumbledore's place setting. The Headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry moved swiftly to levitate the missive before it became to soggy to read. Upon opening the enclosed letter he turned to his right and requested that Professor Minerva McGonagall, Deputy Headmistress of Hogwarts and Transfiguration teacher go and collect Miss Granger and remove her to his office.

Rising without question Professor McGonagall did as she was asked and walked with the curious young woman to the stone gargoyle on the second floor of the castle. "Apple-peanut caramel squares" the long-suffering professor commanded and the gargoyle statue sprung aside to reveal a circular staircase to the Headmaster's office. "Go on up, Miss Granger. The Headmaster is waiting upstairs." Turning the older witch stalked back toward the dining hall.

Hermione climbed the staircase and rapped smartly on the walnut door at the top. "Come in. Ahh! Miss Granger. If you would be so good as to close the door behind you. Much better. Now. You must be curious as to what this is all about. Just now I received an owl from your parents. It seems that they have urgent family business and they want you home immediately. I have been informed that you will only be gone overnight, so don't worry about your studies. Now if you'll just step over here you can throw in this floo powder and be on your way home. Tomorrow morning just say "Hogwarts' Headmasters Office" and floo back again. Off you go."

"But Headmaster! Don't you know what this is all about? Did someone die? Why do I need to go home now? I'll be graduated by mid-June. A few weeks couldn't hurt anything, right?" Hermione felt quite anxious over this unexpected turn of events.

"I'm afraid I can't tell you Miss Granger. You'll know soon enough. Go on, then." His blue eyes twinkled cheerily behind half-moon spectacles and before she could ask another thing she was herded into the abnormally coloured flames before forcing herself to shout out her destination clearly.

Floo travel was uncomfortable and dirty, but it was much faster than muggle alternatives and apparition would have taken her beyond the safety of the Hogwarts grounds. In only minutes she nearly fell free from the fireplace in her mother's family estate's front room. "Hermione! Oh, honey, I'm so glad you're home. I've missed you so much." Her mother exclaimed emotionally.

Both Dr and Dr Granger had been waiting for their daughter's arrival for the last twenty minutes. Now that she was here they were a little uncertain of how to gently approach the topic at hand. Exchanging glances over the seventeen year-old witch's head nervously, they directed her into one of the chairs grouped for formal conversations and guests. "Hermione, did you read the Daily Prophet this morning? There was an article on the front page that has forced your mother and I to broach a subject that we have never discussed with you before." Eustace Granger began hesitantly.

Hermione sighed. "The Marriage Law." She stated flatly.

"Yes. You see this law will influence your future and would like to talk about the changes you will undoubtedly need to cope with." He continued.

"You mean you think I should come home after graduation and live as a muggle from now on, right? I was expecting that actually. It is the only rational way to handle the changes to take place in the Wizarding World. I will never have a life, if I stay there to be persecuted." Hermione was relieved that her parents were on the same page as she was. She had been a little worried that they wouldn't understand why she was coming back to something that she had rejected at age eleven.

"No. I'm afraid that will not be possible, luv. You see, you will be married to a wizard immediately following graduation. I don't think the Ministry of Magic will allow you to live in the Muggle World while you are having raising Wizarding children." Eustace explained bluntly. Emmeline reached over and pressed her husband's hand and nodded encouragingly.

Shocked beyond measure Hermione's gaze rocketed back and forth between her mother and her father uncertainly. What were they on about? "Mum, Dad, the Marriage Law is just for pureblooded witches and wizards. It doesn't affect muggleborns at all. You don't have to worry about me being caught in an arranged marriage. It isn't going to happen."

"I did read the article quite thoroughly, Hermione. Thank you, but I believe that I understand the situation a trifle better than you do. Kindly allow me to finish speaking, and stop insulting my intelligence!" Eustace's voice was hard and cutting. Only Emmeline's calm presence quelled the worst of the fire that rose to the fore at his daughter's rude assessment of his ability to read and comprehend.

Hermione blushed and stammered out an apology. She had seldom behaved so badly before her own parents. It really was idiotic to assume that her father was incapable of understanding the legal jargon in the Daily Prophet's version of the new law.

"What I am trying to tell you is that Emmeline and I are not your biological parents." His voice had softened and was a bit apologetic.

"You're not? Oh. Oh, my. You're not. Of course you aren't; how foolish of me. I should have realized before. You are not my birth parents and I am going to be married off to a pureblood wizard. Okay, didn't see that coming." Hermione could feel how tight her chest was. It was a little hard to get her mind around. Hermione Dorothea Granger wasn't a Granger and she wasn't going to have a future that she chose, but rather one that was decided for her by officials at the Marriage Council at the Ministry of Magic.

Her parents then assured her that they loved her, that they would always support her in all aspects of her new life and then ushered her to bed in her old room that was just childish enough to make it seem especially safe on this of all nights, when she needed to feel protected and loved.

The following morning she dressed in a spare set of clothes that she had kept at home, wrapped up yesterday's clothes and used the floo to rejoin her classmates in the day before the NEWTs emergency study crush. She pushed all thoughts about the future from her mind and focused on the task at hand. It would not be until the last of the exams had been completed that Miss Hermione Dorothea Brancacci Granger considered the consequences of being born into a Wizarding family and never being told what to expect for her future until now.

Harry Potter, Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger sat outside and basked in the balmy mid-afternoon sunshine one early June day as they awaited the results of their NEWTs and regular course finals. Hermione had been brooding all morning over her future and now after watching her frown in concentration hours and hours after any exam Harry gave in and asked her "Hermione what is the matter? Are you that worried out your test scores? I'm positive you did better than anyone else at Hogwarts. Relax, why don't you?"

Hermione groaned. "If only that was what I was thinking about. Life would be so uncomplicated then. No, Harry I haven't given my tests a second thought since I left the Transfiguration practical yesterday afternoon. I'm afraid that I had some revelations before the tests that are more of an immediate concern."

Ron and Harry both looked surprised. Ron was the first to break down, "What are you talking about, Mione? What revelations?"

"I'm not a muggleborn." Her stark assertion flabbergasted both men and Harry actually choked for a good thirty seconds.

"You're not muggleborn? Hermione we've met your parents. They seem pretty much like muggles to me." Harry's comment was puzzled, but not accusatory.

"I was adopted by Eustace and Emmeline Granger just after I was born. My birthparents were Italian purebloods. My mother died due to complications at my birth and my father was already dead, thanks to an experiment gone wrong. The Brancacci's didn't have any relatives who were interested in becoming parents at that time so I was given up for adoption. Of course, during those years, it wasn't very safe to raise children in the Wizarding World. They decided to leave me at a muggle orphanage until such time as it was safe to transfer me to a Wizarding home, but in the meantime the Grangers were contacted by the muggle adoption agency and managed to gain custody. I'm afraid the Brancacci's still regularly attempt to take me away from my adoptive parents and put me with a Wizarding family, but the muggles have a lot of legal red tape for them to get through and the Brancacci's don't have much pull with the British Ministry. Anyway, I am apparently subject to the Marriage Law." She paused for breath and saw the sympathy and awkwardness in her friends faces.

"I received the date for my appearance before the Marriage Council last night. I can't stop thinking about it. This time next week I may be married, and will certainly be betrothed by the end of the month. It leaves me quite unnerved. I guess we're in the same boat, Ron. Lucky us. Lucky, Harry; for once you're not the one left holding the bag." Hermione saw her bitter words register and instinctively leaned in to hug Harry and keep him from taking her anger seriously.

"Sorry, luv. I didn't mean that. I just hate being forced to do something against my will, and I took my frustration out on you. Honestly, it wasn't better before. I was going to leave the Wizarding World and live as a muggle after I read through the law, and realized what it meant for muggleborns. It isn't all that good for half-bloods either, but as a celebrity--Oh, don't look at me like that, I know you hate it! Still a celebrity half-blood still has social standing within the Wizarding community. A connectionless muggleborn wouldn't have had any. I suppose my current plight is slightly more desirable."

Ron stretched and smiled wryly, "Well at least now I've got a shot. Maybe I'll be the one you grow old with, Hermione. That wouldn't be so bad...would it?"

Hermione's head ached as she shook it slowly and said, "Of course it wouldn't, Ron, but who knows who we'll be marrying. The only thing I know for sure, is that I'll make every effort to stay close to both of you for the rest of my days. So how about it? Pact?"

Harry and Ron grinned, and shouted in unison, "Pact!"

End part one.