A/N: This is something I wrote a long time ago when I was bored. It was originally supposed to be the beginning of a multi-chapter, but looking at it now, I kind of like it as a one-shot. Yes, it would have been eventual SB/HG, but for now, it's only really friendship.

Some changes I've made that you should note: Sirius Black has come back from the veil, Remus and Nymphadora Lupin are both alive and did not die at the Battle of Hogwarts. It has been roughly two years since the Battle.

...

Hermione grimaced in pain as she sat down on the couch in a not-so-graceful manner.

"You okay?" Harry asked, noticing her discomfort. He sat to her right, and Ron to her left on the large couch in the center of the Burrow.

"Yeah, I'll be fine," Hermione waved off his concern. "I'm still a bit sore from the Jorgenson case, that's all."

Harry nodded, understanding what she was talking about.

Harry and Hermione were both Aurors working in the Ministry of Magic. If asked a year ago, Hermione never would have guessed that she'd be working alongside Harry as an Auror. She had worked at Flourish and Blotts for a few content months after graduating Hogwarts, but then Harry informed her of an opening in the Auror Department. His boss, a man she had come to know as Rickson, had asked Harry about his good friend, the semi-famous Hermione Granger. After a lot of negotiation, Hermione gave the job a try, and with minimal time in the training course, she was the wizarding world's newest Auror.

That was six months ago, and now she was a happy auror, rising in the ranks with Harry. Draco Malfoy was also an Auror now, and she occasionally worked on a case with him. That was what happened in the Jorgenson case. A wizard by the name of Geoff Jorgenson had been selling cursed items to unsuspecting witches and wizards. It had resulted in three deaths before Hermione and Malfoy were assigned to the case. Hermione had been reluctant to work with Malfoy, but over time, they had become somewhat friendly, and he didn't bother her all that much any more. After some tracking and undercover work, Hermione and Draco located the criminal and attempted to capture him. He was a skilled fighter, and Hermione had taken a nasty stunning spell, which had sent her flying back and resulted in a nasty bruise on her side. In the end, they had captured the man, but Hermione was still rather sore on this afternoon.

"Mum's gonna give me a haircut," Ron muttered absently after a moment of silence.

Hermione looked over to him, considering his unruly ginger hair. It had grown quite long. She looked at the young man sitting beside her. Ron always had a special place in her heart, but shortly after the war ended and Voldemort was defeated, she had realized that it wasn't in a romantic way. They broke up a month after the Battle of Hogwarts. Luckily, Ron had stuck around, he was even an Auror at one point, but quickly resigned when his brother, George requested another hand at the shop, Weasley's Wizard Wheezes. Even though things tended to get awkward between Ron and Hermione, they were still friends, and that she was glad for.

"Why?" Harry asked Ron, in response to his earlier statement.

"The weddings," Ron gave an almost automatic response, his voice sounding strangely devoid of emotion. He was looking at a copy of the Prophet, which sat on the coffee table in from of the trio. Hermione tried not to look at it again, she had already read it several times.

"Oh," Harry whispered. The mood was suddenly turning very dim.

It was common knowledge to most of the wizarding world that a Marriage Law was going into effect. It had only been released three days ago, and everyone was already in a panic. The Law stated that Wizarding Population was declining drastically, and there was a need for a marriage law. Due to the number of squibs, the law also stated that Purebloods must only marry Half-bloods or Muggle-borns, and that all witches and wizards who were currently in relationships had one month to get married before their spouse was chosen by the ministry. The release of this law had definitely caused a ruckus within the Order.

"What are we going to do?" Hermione asked, not really sure who she was talking to.

"It won't be that bad, Hermione," Harry put a comforting hand on her shoulder, "It's only a piece of paper. None of us are really getting married."

"I still don't understand why you have to marry him," Ron frowned, looking toward Hermione.

Hermione clenched her jaw, "Ronald, you know why, and besides, it wasn't like you were jumping up and down to marry me instead." She remembered that day, when Ron announced his plans to marry someone he'd been seeing. That Maria girl. Hermione could still feel the painful sting it caused her, knowing that he was choosing to marry this other girl instead of her. Even if they had been broken up for over a year...

"You heard what Kingsley said, and even my dad agrees," Ron took a defensive tone, "They think the Minister is under the imperious, Hermione! I have to make sure Maria doesn't get assigned to marry one of those Death Eaters that just got out of Azkaban! You're not the only Muggle-Born that needs protection."

"Why are you complaining about my Fiancé if you're the reason I've got to marry him then?" She said sharply.

"I'm not the reason! It's the bloody Order, for forcing you into a fake wedding!" Ron's face was growing red. He stood up and paced to the other side of the room and back again.

"Ron, calm down," Harry said, "None of us are happy with this, but you heard what Remus said, once they find out who's behind this, all the weddings will be overturned."

"But why him?" Ron whined.

"Because he can keep Hermione safe! He's the purest pureblood around, and he's a trained auror! They can't touch Hermione with him around!" Harry was now shouting as well.

Ron grimaced and stood there in silence. He kept looking from Hermione, to Harry, to the cover of the Prophet, which still sat on the table with Hermione's photo on the front cover. "Whatever," Ron mumbled under his breath, and walked briskly out of the room.

Harry turned to Hermione, who had her arms clasped tightly around her sides and stared at the newspaper with it's moving pictures.

He moved forward and took her into a tight hug, giving her a forced smile after pulling back. "I need to go talk with Ginny," Harry said, "I'll be around if you need me."

Hermione nodded and sat back down on the couch as Harry left the room. She could hear footsteps creaking around upstairs, and the gentle tapping of water from someone taking a shower.

New Marriage Law Brings Distress for the Golden Trio; an investigative report by Rita Skeeter

Hermione frowned at the cover of the Daily Prophet, then proceeded to pick it up and read it for what felt like the twentieth time that morning.

As the newly announced Marriage Law prepares to go into full effect, I did a special investigation on how this law has shaken up your favorite Gryffindor heroes: The Golden Trio. According to the Department of Marital Affairs, Harry Potter, Ronald Weasley, and Hermione Granger have all registered to marry, choosing to dodge the Ministry's attempts to pair compatible partners with eachother.

According to an inside source within the Ministry, Harry Potter has registered to marry Ginevra Weasley, his long-time girlfriend; Ronald Weasley has registered to marry a Mariana Trell, whom he has been spotted out and about with in Diagon Alley; and finally, Hermione Granger has registered to marry a Mr. Sirius Black, Azkaban escapee who has recently been cleared of all charges after returning from his supposed death.

These marriages are definitely suspicious to the Ministry, our inside source has told us that they will be keeping a special eye on these three marriages. Perhaps the most shocking of the bunch: Ms. Granger's engagement to the Black heir. Sirius Black was recently found alive after being proposed dead almost four years ago. He was cleared of several murder charges, and is now a free man, making him a center of attention to Wizarding Society. The popular magazine, Witch Weekly, recently listed Black as one of their most eligible bachelors. The pureblood has definitely made a transformation into a charming and successful man, with his inherited fortune, and his job as an Auror for the Ministry alongside Mr. Potter and Ms. Granger.

Even though these engagements have been approved by the Department of Marital Affairs, we still have our suspicions as to the validity of the couples in question. Some have expressed their concern that Ms. Granger is simply trying to gain more fame by marrying the wealthy Mr. Black.

According to the Law, for a marriage to qualify as valid, it must meet the following requirements:

The couple in question must be living together in a suitable home.

The marriage must be consummated at least once a month as monitored by the Ministry.

Within two years, the couple must produce a child with full magical abilities.

As we move forward with these changes in our society, we must wait and see if the Golden Trio's suspicious marriages hold up under the spotlight.

-Rita Skeeter, Senior Reporter for the Daily Prophet

Hermione finished the article and looked up to the top of the page, where a picture of her and Sirius was pasted across the newspaper. It had only been taken yesterday, when the group of them had ventured out to the Ministry in order to register their marriages. Hermione was holding hands with Sirius, a big smile on her face as she pretended to be madly in love with him. Next to her, Harry and Ginny didn't have to pretend too much, they were actually in love. Below that moving photo was one of Ron and his future wife, looking happy and in love as well.

The bushy haired witch slammed the article down on the coffee table, and the removed her wand from the waistband of her jeans to set the paper on fire. She angrily watched as the picture of her and Sirius bust into flames, leaving blackened ashes behind which Hermione quickly vanished.

"The article was bullshit anyways," A playful voice came from behind Hermione, making her jump. She turned around to see Sirius, stepping out of the fireplace. She hadn't even noticed him floo in.

"Complete bullshit," Hermione agreed, walking over to the kitchen, intent on pouring herself a calming cup of tea. As she walked, her fiancé playfully smirked at her anger. She just rolled her eyes and continued on to the kitchen.

Ever since Sirius had been rescued out of the veil, he was different. With the war over, and his name cleared, he was a free man. Hermione and the rest of the Wizarding World had quickly learned that freedom looked good on Sirius Black. He was physically the same age as the day he fell into the veil, and mentally, Hermione always considered him to be a eighteen year old boy. All in all, the man was happy, with some help from Harry, he got a job as an auror, and worked alongside his godson, then also Hermione.

Within the past couple of days, a similar thought had run through Hermione's mind several times. It was always along the lines of questioning whether she was taking away his happiness and freedom. She didn't want to tie him down, and she definitely didn't want to marry him, but this was completely necessary, and after all, he had been the one to offer to marry her.

"How are you holding up?" He questioned, following her into the kitchen.

"I'm fine," She lied. "Do you want some tea?"

"No thanks," he murmured, leaning up against a cabinet and watching her intently.

"What?" Hermione asked, noticing his scrutiny. She was quickly becoming irritated with him.

The man shook his head, "nothing."

"Can I help you with something, then? Or are you just here to follow me around?" She asked sharply, growing irritated.

Sirius raised an eyebrow, "I actually did have a reason for coming," he paused, "we haven't talked about where we'll be living."

Hermione set her tea down and looked at him, suddenly remembering the whole other dimension of their marriage that they had to sort out. She groaned and motioned for him to sit down at the kitchen table. They were lucky that most of the Weasleys were out today, or at least staying out of the way for now.

"Well, I can't live here," Hermione noted, "What about your house? Couldn't we just move in there?" She remembered Grimmauld Place sort of fondly, even though she hadn't visited in months. It seemed like all of her friends were staying in big old houses and couldn't find anywhere else to live. Sirius had expressed his desire to ditch Grimmauld for months, and she understood that, but she couldn't resist a small attachment to the idea of living there again. Hermione had been trying to find a flat recently, after being rather fed up with cramped life staying at the Burrow, but maybe she could settle down at Grimmauld for a while. It wouldn't be that bad... She always loved the antique Black library, and there were so many rooms in that house, she could surely avoid Sirius as much as she wanted.

Sirius was frowning at the thought of his childhood home, "Honestly, I'm just waiting for an excuse to get as far away from that place as I can."

Hermione nodded. The more she considered living there, the more flaws she saw in her plan. The house wasn't exactly in good shape, plus, there were new dangers in the world, and Grimmauld Place was now a known location to the Ministry. With Mr. Weasley's recent suspicion of the ministry, they couldn't risk living there.

"What if we just found a flat to live in? It would only be temporary." Hermione offered.

Sirius nodded, "I was thinking the same thing, love."

Hermione briefly considered living with Sirius. She sure hoped that they could manage a spacious flat, so she wouldn't have to be constantly bumping into him. Sirius could definitely be irritating sometimes, especially when got all cocky and immature. It would probably be hell living with him. Not to mention she had to sleep with him. But the Law only stated that it was once a month, and as far as she could tell, they didn't have to have sex on their wedding night, only within a month. Still, she blushed while considering sex with Sirius.

Hermione returned her eyes to the wizard before her and nodded curtly. "Anything else you need?"

"Yeah," he responded bitterly, "Do I have to meet your parents?"

Hermione's mouth went dry, "shit, I completely forgot about them."

Shortly after the war, Hermione did some research on memory recovery so she could make the journey to bring her parents back from Australia. She was successful, and they were back in her childhood home, with complete memory of their daughter. She was happy to have them around, but she was sure they would prove difficult when they were informed of the engagement.

He flashed a charming grin, "I'm good at meeting parents."

"Not my parents, not you, they'll see right through it," Hermione muttered, "I can't just expect them to believe all of this."

"Then tell them the truth," Sirius offered, "Tell them how we have to get married."

Hermione shook her head, "No, they'd probably take me back to Australia with them, and make me go into hiding rather than marry you... No offense."

"None taken."

Suddenly, Hermione was hit with their solution, "You won't meet them until the wedding," Hermione lit up with the idea, "I'll call my mum and tell her about it, she'll probably be angry, but her and my dad will get over it by the day of the wedding. Then you can prove how wonderful you are at meeting parents." She gave him a sweet smirk.

Sirius nodded his acceptance to the challenge and stood up, "Great, and we'll go flat shopping soon, alright?"

Hermione chewed her lower lip, "We've still got a whole month until the wedding..."

"A month isn't that long," Sirius said flatly.

"Fine," Hermione let out an exhausted sigh, "We'll go look for a flat soon."

Sirius grinned, "Well, I'm off. Goodbye, future Mrs. Black." He walked towards the fireplace.

"Don't call me that."

"Why not?"

"It's not my name."

"That's why I said future Mrs. Black."

"Goodbye, Sirius"

"Bye, love."

"Don't call me that either."

The man disappeared into green flames before he heard Hermione's last words. She was left wondering what the coming weeks would entail, and how her life would change after the upcoming wedding. She would soon be Hermione Black.

"Hermione Black," she whispered to herself. The name sounded so different on her tongue, but it wasn't all that bad, and as she began to repeatedly murmur the name, she grew more and more used to it.

...

A/N: So there you go. If you liked it, reviews are appreciated. As I said before, this was originally going to be a multi-chapter, but I decided to post it as a one-shot. Now, if a lot of people want to see this continued, you can let me know, and maybe I will...