Hermione picked herself up off the floor and walked into the bathroom. After spending a year in the run, she found her bed much too soft. They had only been sleeping somewhere other than the tent for two days, but Hermione was sure that she would feel more comfortable sleeping inn a rock pile than in a bed.
She groaned at the sight of her hair. The year on the run hadn't done get hair any favours, but at least she didn't have to face it in the mirror every morning. Since they weren't running from anything, access to a mirror had occurred again and Hermione once again had to cope with the bushy mess she called her hair.
When she was ready, she headed down to the kitchen. She was staying at Grimmauld place with Harry. It wasn't the most comfortable place, but it was quiet. And she found that even though towards the end of everything she and Ron had grown closer, she still needed some time and space to sort things out in her mind.
She had breakfast cooked by the time Harry came down from his room. His hair was as much of a mess as ever, which wasn't a good indicator of how long he'd been up. The rumpled pajamas he was still wearing were a clue.
"Morning," Hermione said brightly.
Harry mumbled something that sounded like morning around his mug of tea.
Hermione sighed as softly as she could. Harry had become less of a morning person. Not that he'd ever been much of one. Too many exciting things had happened at night. And it was hard to relax, even though they both knew that no one was coming after them.
Two owls flew in as the odd pair was eating breakfast. Harry ignored them, still obviously half asleep. Hermione took the letters and paid the owls before they flew off again.
She handed one to Harry who glanced at it and then focused on his food again. She opened hers, carefully, and read through the first paragraph while she picked at her eggs. The second paragraph caused her to drop her fork.
"No." She gripped the parchment with both hands. "No."
"What does it say?" Harry asked.
"Everyone knows that divination is just a bunch of hoopla," Hermione reassured herself. "It will all be fine. You've just got to go talk to the Wizengamot."
Harry opened his letter. His mouth formed a frown as he read. "I don't think there's any getting out of this, 'Mione," he said. "This law's been around for centuries. I don't think that even the Wizengamot has much hope of pulling the country out of this mess."
Hermione glared at him. "There is always a way out. Didn't we learn that in the war? Didn't we learn that there's always hope."
"I thought we learnt that the government was hopeless at taking care of anything."
Hermione sighed and leant into her hands on the countertop. It was one thing to be the brains behind a secret war mission. It was another to be smart when she knew there was no way she could get herself out of the mess she was in.
"At least we're in this mess together," Harry said. "Maybe you and Ron will make things work after all."
Hermione scoffed. "It doesn't take divination to know that Ron and I probably won't make things work in the long haul. After he left us in the Forest of Dean, I don't know how to trust him again," she admitted.
Draco read the letter the ministry had sent him. According to it there was a law set up in 1805 that had couples set up through prophecy. Draco had heard about that provision, it was set up concerning a prophecy from 1603, but he had never expected it to come to fruition in his lifetime.
Of course, Draco had never put that much stock into divination. He'd heard that it was a sought-after skill. And most of the pureblooded girls were expected to at least take an O.W.L. in divination. But for the most part, Draco had found it to be a load of codswallop.
He shrugged. It would hopefully be someone better than whoever his parents had picked out. They had lost the war, but not their ideology. And until some penance had been done for their crimes, he doubted that his parents would change for the better. Even if he hoped otherwise.
He also hoped that in light of this new law he wouldn't need to go to Azkaban. Not that he didn't feel a need to pay for his crimes. But he also recognized that with a law requiring him to marry some poor woman, he would need to be around. At least for her sake.
A/N: So here we're introduced to some of our main characters. I hope that you guys like this chapter. I'm expecting a lot of uproar from more of the characters in the next chapter. And I don't know why Harry is so calm. I'm blaming it on stress and a lack of sleep. He's had really bad nightmares. Which was to be expected.
