Chapter 2: The Promise
She closed the front door behind her, sighing as she hung her cloak up in the foyer. Gone were the days where they had to worry about the portrait of Sirius' long dead mother waking up and screaming at them as they came and went. However, no matter how much they all worked to make Grimmauld Place a home, it would never be warm and cozy. It always had an air of darkness hanging around that never seemed to lift, probably caused by dark magic that was infused into the foundation itself.
She walked past the drawing room on her way to the back stairs and paused when she saw all three of her roommates lounging in front of the fire. She entered, walking over to join them.
She dropped down on the sofa next to Sirius, resting her head on his shoulder. Remus and Ron sat in the wingback armchairs on either side of the fireplace, facing the sofa. All three men had tumblers in their hand, open bottle of firewhisky on the coffee table.
"You're late," Sirius said flatly, shifting to adjust his shoulder to be more comfortable for her.
She nodded, "Since I was late this morning, I stayed behind to get my work done today."
"We left a plate of dinner under a warming charm for you," Ron said. He leaned forward and poured a fresh tumbler, handing it across the table to her. She took it from him gratefully, thanking him, and taking a sip. She usually hated the burning feeling the drink gave, but right now, she relished the numbing sensation that accompanied it.
A somber silence fell over the group, before Remus asked, "So, it passed?"
None of the men worked at the Ministry. After a couple years as an Auror, Ron had left to work with the twins at their joke shop. Remus had finally found steady work at a family owned muggle bookshop, whose owners were flexible about his "recurring health condition." Sirius, much to everyone's surprise and amusement, had gotten a job as a muggle mechanic. He didn't need the money, and he said it was his right as a rich eccentric to do whatever he pleased. Plus, he loved working on motorcycles.
Hermione sighed again and sat up, nodding. "It was all over the Ministry. Passed with very little resistance, in fact. I don't think there will be any overturning this decision."
Ron groaned, leaning forward, elbows on knees and head in hands. Remus nodded, obviously already resigned to it. She both heard and felt Sirius growl next to her, and she braced herself for another outburst like this morning. But he did nothing else, simply continued to stare into the flames.
"What are we going to do?!" Ron suddenly burst out, lifting his head again. "This bloody law is going to ruin all our lives! We have to figure this out."
"What's there to figure out?" Sirius barked, "We all have to get married! It's a shit situation, but it isn't like any of us are incapable of going out and finding someone to marry us. Even if we don't want to."
Hermione snorted at his words, remember her self-deprecating thoughts this morning about her chances of finding a husband herself. Sirius swung his gray eyes toward her at the noise, brow furrowed. Perhaps he thought she was laughing at his claim he could find a wife? As if. He had been Witch Weekly's most eligible bachelor since he had been exonerated six years ago. He was rich and handsome, and she had no doubt that there would be witches knocking down their door to get a chance to marry him.
"I know we have to get married!" Ron exclaimed, "But to who?! Would you really be ok with marrying some random woman you barely know, Sirius?"
Sirius looked over to Ron and shrugged, "What else can we do? None of us are in relationships. We could look around our group of friends, the Order maybe, but almost everyone there is already married. We don't have any prospects that we already know."
"That's it!" Ron shouted, nearly doubling his already loud volume, "One of us should marry Hermione!"
"What?!" Hermione practically screeched into the silence that had descended onto the group, "Ron, that's a terrible idea!"
"Why?" He asked, "I, for one, would rather marry a friend than a total stranger. And if you married one of us, that would solve two of our problems!"
"That's actually not a bad idea," Remus said slowly, studying her. When Sirius turned curious eyes on her too, she became uncomfortable under the scrutiny.
She shook her head adamantly, "Absolutely not! I will not marry any of you!"
"Why, are we not good enough for you?!" Sirius questioned, seemingly annoyed.
"What?! No!" Hermione yelled. She took a deep breath to calm herself, then she continued more quietly, "You three are my closest friends, and I love you all dearly. But there have never been any romantic feelings between any of us. I'm not willing to potentially ruin one of our friendships by mucking it up with marriage, and I also don't want to condemn any of us to a lifetime in a loveless marriage!"
"Well, you'll have to get over that!" Ron said hotly, "None of us are going to be marrying for love! Not now, not with this law!"
"Yes, but don't you see? If I married one of you, I know I'll never fall in love! If I was going to fall in love with one of you, I would have already done so after all these years! I know all there is to know about you! But at least if I marry someone else, even if he is a stranger, there would be potential there. For feelings to develop, for love to grow."
Ron sat back, grumbling, but not offering any further argument. Remus looked contemplative, staring off into the distance. And Sirius' eyes remained steadily focused on her, making her squirm.
"How 'bout this?" Sirius said after a few moments. "If you're still available at the end of the six months, you promise to marry one of us, if we haven't found partners either. That way we can avoid the Ministry intervention, which I think we can all agree would be the best thing to do? No reason to grant them even more control over our lives by choosing spouses for us."
Hermione thought about the proposal. It did make sense to try to avoid the Ministry stepping in. Who knows who they would come with for her? But as she looked around the room, she knew it wouldn't matter. None of these men would still be unmatched by the end of six months, she was sure of it. So, would it hurt anything to promise?
"I guess I can promise that," Hermione finally said, nodding. "But I find it unlikely any of you will still be available in six months."
"But you think you will be?" Sirius asked, voice sounding incredulous. Hermione shrugged with one shoulder, cheeks burning in embarrassment. She didn't really want to display her own personal insecurities to the room.
All three men were suddenly looking angry, but no one said anything else. Finally, the silence got to Hermione, and she felt compelled to break it, "So we're all in agreement? We'll try to find partners, but if in six months, if one of you is still unattached and I still am, we'll marry?"
Remus, Sirius, and Ron all nodded. She nodded too, then settled back against Sirius' shoulder to finish nursing her drink. The only sound in the room was the crackling of the merrily dancing flames.
The next week passed in a blur. Hermione was struggling with how to even begin to find a potential husband. She supposed work would be the best place to start. The Ministry housed hundreds of employees, so someone must be good a match for her there, surely?
But just because she worked there didn't mean she had much interaction with anyone outside her Department. And her co-workers in her small Department were either married, too old, or women. So, no luck there.
Harry and Ginny had been over for a visit on the weekend, to commiserate and help think of ideas. Though Hermione didn't find it particularly helpful that both of them thought Hermione marrying one of the three men was brilliant, and neither could understand why she didn't just do it straight away instead of waiting until the six months were up.
She had been rather snappish with them, and they had backed off quickly, but knowing that they all were against her in this had made her annoyed and peevish for the rest of the day.
By Monday, an announcement was made, that after very severe backlash, some adjustments had been made to the law to avoid all out pandemonium; the major one being that no Hogwarts student would be subject to the law while still in school. Their six-month time frame would start when they graduated or left the school for any reason. Also, couples that had already registered with the Ministry for marriage licenses when the law was announced, but did not meet the law's requirements would be grandfathered in. Additionally, those who could medically prove infertility would be excused from the law without consequence.
By the following Thursday, one week after the passing of the law, the Ministry announced it would begin holding parties with the sole purpose of single people meeting and mingling and hopefully finding partners. They would be held every other Saturday beginning the upcoming weekend at the Ministry itself. It was quite clear they were determined to have as many people matched as possible to avoid the logistical nightmare of them having to step in.
Though all four of them hated the idea of the Ministry being involved in finding matches for them in any way, they agreed that it wouldn't hurt to check out the party, just this once at least. So they made plans to all go together and see what may be out there for them.
Hermione couldn't help but dread the party. She was not the type of person to feel comfortable in social situations, especially parties. But she knew if left to her own devices, she would probably end up sitting on her hands and never find anyone to marry.
When the evening of the party rolled around, Hermione stood in her bathroom, looking at herself in the mirror. She had decided to not get too fixed up. If she was to find a husband, she didn't want to do so under false pretenses. With Hermione, you get what you see, and she wanted to find a man who could potentially love her for herself.
She had chosen a fairly plain knee-length black dress with a tasteful v-neck that didn't show anything Hermione didn't want to show. She covered it with charcoal gray dress robes. She left her hair free down her back and didn't put any makeup on except for a few swipes of blush and some mascara.
As she walked down the stairs, her three roommates were already waiting for her at the bottom. She took a moment to study them before they noticed her.
Ron looked dashing in his black dress robes, and Hermione thought that, with the shock of messy red hair and quick smile, he was rather roguish, which made him quite good looking. He was tall and well-muscled, and he had an ease about him that tended to make people feel comfortable. She had a feeling that he would have a queue of interested witches trailing behind him tonight.
Remus had always been the more conservative of the three. She knew he was self-conscious about his condition and had always held women at arm's length, worried about how his lycanthropy would affect someone he was involved with romantically. However, he was very handsome, even though at only 42, he had aged beyond his years due to his condition. His hair was almost completely gray, with only some sandy blond threaded throughout. His face was more weathered than his age would normally suggest, and his scars made him feel uncomfortable. But though she thought he would not have a line up like Ron, he was warm, kindhearted, and intelligent, and she had no doubt that he would be able to find the right witch to look past his condition.
Sirius was her wild card. He really was rather gorgeous, there was definitely good reason for him to be considered the wizarding world's most eligible bachelor and have his picture printed in almost every issue of Witch Weekly. His wavy dark hair was pulled back tonight, and he had a dark gray waistcoat and black dress robes on. He had such an easy charm about him, she had no doubt he could make any woman fall in love with him should he want to. But to her, he was just Sirius. Not the playboy, sex god most women probably saw in him. He lived up the lifestyle and definitely had been around the block, but Hermione had a hard time seeing him married to anyone, especially one of the witches she was sure would be desperate to catch his eye.
Just then Remus noticed her and they all looked up. Ron wolf-whistled at her, and she blushed, but it made her smile just the same. When she reached the bottom of the stairs, Remus held his arm out to her in an offer to escort her, which she gladly accepted. They all stepped outside and apparated to the Ministry.
