So here's the first official chapter :) Hope you like it!
Disclaimer-I don't own Harry Potter or any of the characters
Chapter 1
"Can I have your attention please everyone?" I stopped talking to friend beside me, Ginny Potter, and turned to face the voice that had summoned me here. Hi. My name is Hermione Granger. I'm a witch. I work here, at the Ministry of Magic, under the Department for the Control and Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures where I am currently working to try and improve the living and work standards of House Elves. They deserve to be treated with equality too you know! I'm also a Muggle-Born, but no-one ever really bugs me about it anymore, ever since the war, people have realized how important it is to treat everybody equally, no matter what their heritage was. Well, everybody except a certain group. The Purebloods. Even after the war, they still think that they're better than everyone else. When will they learn?
"Thank you. Now, first and foremost. Welcome to the Ministry of Magic." the voice boomed. We still stayed silent.
"As Minister for Magic, I would like to say that I, Kingsley Shacklebolt, am very proud to be leading the wizarding community of this country." We all started to applaud, but I didn't understand why he had to introduce himself, we knew who he was, we voted for him didn't we. For God's sake, Ginny and I knew him personally!
"But, I'm afraid that I'm the bearer of bad news." All of a sudden, the crowd started to panic. People were screaming, gossiping and the beginnings of a riot were happening. I felt a ripple of fear shoot down my spine. What did he mean "bad news"? Surely not another war, we were still recovering from the last one! He of all people should now how hard that was.
"As you know, ever since the war, the wizarding population has severely dropped." A sudden silence fell over the hall once more, as people remembered their fallen loved ones. I looked over at Ginny and saw a tear fall from her face. She must've been thinking about her brother; Fred, who died in the Battle at Hogwarts, defending Harry Potter, her own husband. I knew that she loved him, but I guess that she felt some sort of guilt that she married the man that Fred died to protect. I turned away and felt my own tears drip down my face as I remembered my own fallen friends; Remus, Tonks, I even missed Colin a little bit. But the one that hurt me the most of all, was Ron. He didn't die at the battle, but a few months later, due to some injuries from the battle that never healed. I still remember his last words to me:
"'Mione. I love you." Then he closed his eyes for the last time, then he was gone. A part of me died when he did, like he took part of my soul with him. Most people think that I'm just being overly dramatic. But they don't understand. They don't know what I know, they haven't seen what I've seen and they hadn't felt what I felt for Ron. There hadn't been anybody else since Ron. And I planned on keeping it this way.
"I'm sad to say that the wizarding population is going to become extinct." the crowd started to panic again. Couples started kissing each other as if they would never see each other again, little children under the age of 5 were being carried by their mothers and held tightly to their chests without the faintest idea why. I started to panic too, I looked at Ginny again and she had her hands wrapped protectively over her stomach, she was 7 months pregnant. What was to become of her and her family? But, besides her, I wondered what was to happen to me? I still hadn't found my family in Australia, and I didn't know whether or not I would ever find them, it had been so long. The closest family I had were Harry and Ginny, but I had been spending less and less time with them because of work and they were always together. Not that I minded, I knew what it was like to be in a serious relationship, but sometimes I wished that we could just go out like we used too. Back when the world made sense, then again, I can't really think of a time when the world ever made sense.
"However, I have a solution." that got my attention. I snapped my head back up to look at the minister. All around me, I could feel my fellow witches and wizards turn their heads and the hall felt silence once more.
"I'm not an expert on this subject, so I'm going to bring a person who is." he stated, then he turned his head away from the crowd and made a motion to come forward into the darkness. Who was he bringing? The leader of the department of Department of Magical Law Enforcement? But how could he help bring the population back up to normal standards? Or would it be the Department of Magical Accidents and Catastrophes? I guess you could call it a catastrophe. But I was wrong on both accounts. It wasn't a man that walked out like I expected, but it was a woman. She had beautiful emerald green robes, a pointed hat and a very prim and solemn expression. She wore square spectacles and has beautiful silver hair tied up in a bun. I couldn't believe my eyes.
"This is Minerva McGonagall. The current headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. She was the person who developed this idea along with her mentor and friend, the late, great, Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore. She will explain exactly what this solution is." as Professor McGonagall took the stage, there was a quick round of applause. Ginny and I applauded as well; Professor McGonagall was a much respected witch in the wizarding community, and she was a great teacher. All the students at Hogwarts are very lucky to have here.
"Thank you Minister." Professor McGonagall nodded and turned back to face the crowd that stood before her.
"This idea to help repopulate the wizarding community should its population ever drop to epidemic numbers was founded by Albus Dumbledore himself. I just helped him develop the idea, just as Minister Shacklebolt just mentioned, and since his death, I have been the main person behind it, for security reasons, this plan was given a codename, in case it was ever mentioned in public and Voldemort's followers were listening." A few people shuddered at that name. I was used to it though, after travelling for months on end, hearing it multiple times a day, you sort of get used to it.
"Operation Rebirth, was designed by Dumbledore himself to protect the wizarding community from ever becoming extinct." Operation Rebirth. I liked the sound of that name. Professor McGonagall then waved her wand and a scroll came from the back of the hall to where she was standing. She made a flick with her wand, and the scroll unrolled itself.
"This is the final draft of Operation Rebirth." Professor McGonagall explained. She turned back to face the scroll and began to read.
"Operation Rebirth is a plan that initiates a new law, stating that all unmarried women starting from the age of 18-25 are required to get married and have at least one child." There was a moment of shock, where the entire crowd was silent. Then it hit, utter chaos ensued. Women and men were screaming, gasping, fainting and some even started to from a riot. I turned and saw Ginny sigh a sigh of relief and hug her stomach closer to her. She didn't have to worry. I turned away from her and looked down. It was with a horror that I realized what was to happen to me.
I was 25 years old. The final age for eligibility. Which meant one thing.
I had to get married.
I felt my body tremble. Get married? I was only 25 years old! I had planned on having a stable career first! It felt like I was going to have an arranged marriage! Then I realized, it was the same as having an arranged marriage. What was I going to do? I didn't feel anything for anyone. Not since Ron. I heard Professor McGonagall clap her hands which called the attention of the angry crowd.
"I realize that this comes a shock and is probably most horrific to most of you." The crowd started up again. I didn't join in with the screaming but I nodded. Of course it was horrifying to me! I had to get married for goodness sakes!
"But don't worry. Minister Shacklebolt and I have devised a system that will make sure that you are happy with your spouse." a few people started to nod. But then I realized, did that mean that we wouldn't choose our spouse? Thankfully, I wasn't the only person who thought of this problem.
"We don't get to choose our spouse?" came an outraged voice from the back of the crowd. I turned around to try and see who was it that shouted, but everybody else turned their heads at the same time, so I couldn't get a good look at the person. After a pause, the whole hall erupted into chaos. Some started swearing, some started casting spells into the ground and into the walls, which were automatically repaired by the repairing charm. Professor McGonagall clapped her hands once more and got the attention of the crowd.
"I'm sorry, but we need to start re-population right away. So we've come up with a fool-proof way of making sure you are happy with your spouse." repeated Professor McGonagall. I still didn't sound convinced, and by the sound of what the rest of the crowd was murmuring, they weren't either.
"Let me explain how this system works exactly. As you all know, when you stepped into the Ministry today, you had to give some blood." the crowd nodded. I looked down at my own arm that had a cotton bud with a piece of tape over it. What did that have to do with anything?
"Your blood was taken and it was placed into a device that stated who was the best possible choice to be your spouse." people started to nod their heads. I did too, at least there was some kind of explanation for why we had to have our blood taken.
"What if this device is wrong?" shouted another voice, this time, coming from the more frontal part of the crowd. People began to murmur again. I thought about it. How could some machine say whether or not love could be found between two people?
"This device has been tested within the Ministry for years. It has never been wrong." replied Professor McGonagall.
"Now, once I read out your names, please follow the guards toward the exit signs to your left, and they will direct to your adviser who will help you and your spouse prepare for your marriage." she motioned to the guards on her right, and drew another scroll from the darkness. She unfolded the scroll and started to read out our names.
"Abbott, Hannah and Goldstein, Anthony." she called out. Hannah and Anthony stepped forward. I was shocked! They looked so different from the last time I saw them. Hannah had grown her hair out. It looked so pretty! It was long and blonde and fell in waves around her ears. Anthony looked really different too! He had cropped his hair short and he had started to build up his muscles. But their reaction was the strangest thing. As soon as they saw each other, they ran into each other's arms and embraced each other as if they were each other's life line. They exchanged a few words and walked off to the guards, arm in arm. Professor McGonagall nodded and turned back to face us.
"As you can see, I'm sure that you will be very pleased with your results." she stated, then she turned back to the list and started reading off more names. Every couple she read, they looked as if they had found their soul mates. And as I started to see more and more couples, I started to believe it. I had just heard another happy couple when I heard my name called.
"Granger, Hermione" but she stopped there. I saw her re-read my name over and over again, but she never said another name. People started to look around and point and whisper. I began to feel nervous again, why didn't she read out any other name? What was wrong? Was there another name? Was I really not compatible with any other wizard in Britain? I looked up again and saw her turn back to Kingsley and exchange a few words. They spoke fast, but I cast a hearing improving charm in my mind to try and hear what they were saying. I only caught the ending of their conversation.
"This can't be right Kingsley." she exclaimed. Worry shot through me. What couldn't be right? Was the person dead? No, they only checked my blood against live wizards.
"The system has never been wrong Minerva. If the system says that he's the one. Then he's the one." he replied.
"But, they're just not compatible Kingsley! I taught them myself! They hate each other!" she hissed. I hated him? She had taught us both? Who was this person?
"Minerva, you have to say his name now. The people are getting edgy." he urged her. She sighed and turned back to face the audience. I quickly cast off the hearing charm and faced her again. She had such a look of disbelief on her face. Who was this person? Was it Terry Boot? That snotty, annoying Ravenclaw from years before? I really didn't like him, even when we did let him in the DA. But still, he fought against Voldemort. Anybody that didn't like Voldemort could be that bad could they? I ran through a list of names of people that I didn't like but we could still be compatible. All those people had either been read of the list or had died at the Battle of Hogwarts! But still, nothing could have prepared me for the name that she read out.
"Malfoy, Draco"
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