Ron woke with a throbbing head and a dead arm. Groaning, he tried to move, but there was something tangled in his arms, legs… No, no, not something: someone. Dark hair fanned over his chest, and her arm was thrown over his chest, her legs somehow clutched his. As he tried to figure out how on earth to extract himself, she began to wake.

"Oh, Merlin," she moaned, grabbing her head and rolling over away from him. "Tell me you've some hangover potion somewhere," she said.

"My head's as sore as yours, and none in sight. Hey, Parkinson… We didn't… you know, do anything last night did we?"

Her sense of humour seemed to be coming back, despite her hangover. "Think you can call me Pansy now we've slept together, Ron… And why are you so worried? Afraid you weren't up to par?" She wriggled closer to him, her grin overtaking her face.

Ron stared at her for a moment before realising that they were both still fully dressed. He shook his head, giving her a small smile in reply to her teasing. "Can we leave the playing til I'm not so sick?"

"That's permission, I take it?" she said, trailing teasing fingers down his arm. He gave her a bemused smile.

"Well, this is cosy…" Ginny said, walking up to the couch. "Here – thought you two might appreciate this," she handed over two vials of putrid purple liquid. "And I think you might want to clear out quickly; the Ministry elves have to clean this room and they're starting to look worried about this corner."

"This isn't mum's recipe, is it?" Ron asked, sitting up slowly.

Ginny shook her head. "No, I bought it on the way."

Pansy managed to gulp the potion down a full half-second before he did, but unfortunately that gave him no warning for the disgusting taste and brisk effect of the potion. "Gah!" Ron exhaled, "Liar!"

Ginny skipped back, out of arm's distance. "Well, you wouldn't have drunk it otherwise. You'd think you'd be glad I brought you some." She winked at the gagging Pansy – who gave her a death glare – then skipped away. "Take her out for breakfast, Ron; least you can do for taking advantage of her last night…" Then she was in the floo, spinning away.

"Who can eat after that?" Ron grumbled, feeling much better but not willing to concede defeat to his mischievous sister. Pansy, however, was sitting up, straightening her clothes and tidying her hair.

"Listen to your sister, Ron. Come on, I know a nice place…" Ron sighed and shook his head. They were ganging up on him, he was sure of it.

Sitting in the little shop, Ron poked at his food. "You know, P…" At her glare, he chose to call her by her first name, "Pansy, this is really odd."

She gave him a little smirk. "I know." She waved a fork. "So, when do we get married?"

Ron spluttered his coffee. "What?"

"Oh, come on," she said. "Don't start taking me seriously all of a sudden. Falling asleep on a couch with you and making you have breakfast with me isn't really the basis for a marriage. But that seems to be what your friend Granger's got her heart set on."

Ron frowned. "I'm sure Hermione's doing what she thinks is right."

"That was never in question." Pansy gave him a serious look. "But, really, this law is stupid. It's worse even than that society she started at school… what was that? SPEW? I mean, she was doing what she thought was right…"

Ron snickered. "Yeah, SPEW was pretty stupid." He gave the idea some thought. "You're right, though. Ginny was saying something about marriages being based on compatible beliefs, or some such, and how this was almost the exact opposite."

"Smart girl, that sister of yours," Pansy agreed. "So… When do we get married?"

Ron rolled his eyes at her. "Give over, Pansy. Marriage is a serious business in my family. And, as far as I know, you're just in it for the money."

Pansy giggled a little. "Alright, alright," she said. "Marriage was an ongoing joke amongst us purebloods at school – we knew that we'd really have no choice when it came down to it."

"Arranged marriage?" Ron stared.

"Yeah," Pansy waved it off. "But most of our parents died in the war or were put away afterwards…"

"How did you escape?" Ron asked, a dark note entering his voice. Fred had died, after all.

"I… Well, I was underage. And I didn't actually do anything unforgivable. Parental influence, the Wizengamot ruled, and capable of rehabilitation. So they handed me over to the Rehabilitation department for six months, and, voila." She deflated visibly, her shoulders slumping and her bright gaze dropping to her plate. "Can we please not talk about it? I was enjoying breakfast."

Ron felt guilt settle in his stomach. "Sorry," he said. "I just… I mean… Oh, I don't know what I mean. Sorry for bringing it up. Ah… what were you saying about marriage?"

Pansy gave him a half hearted smile. "Easy to see why you're not married already," she murmured, but before Ron could take offence, she kept going. "After the war, most of our parents were gone, and we no longer had to honour their wishes. It's been… what, three and a half years? And very few of us have married at all, frozen by decision it would seem."

"I still can't believe that your parents did the whole arranged marriage thing," Ron muttered. "And I know I'm not great at talking with girls, but be nice, ok?"

She waved off his glare. "How did Granger get away from you, anyway? I mean, she was all over you for years. I assume you finally noticed, because in all the papers after the war you two had that horrid lovey-dovey look… But, now you're stuck in with us over-650's?"

Ron grimaced. "I was enjoying my breakfast too, thanks. She just… got distant. Shrugged it off as overwork for a while, then she… She said it wasn't working anymore, and she was ending it. I've never made heads or tails of it. Obviously, being best friends for seven years wasn't a good enough foundation for a relationship either."

Pansy rubbed Ron's hand reassuringly across the table. "She's probably just swallowing her own tripe, going in for this marriage law business. After all, Draco is rather attractive."

Ron snorted. "Gin seems to think so, too. And if it came to a competition between them, Gin would win, hands down. She fights dirty."

"She's got older brothers," Pansy agreed. "And Draco's never been able to keep his hands off Potter's leftovers."

"Hey, that's my sister you're talking about," Ron glared. "She's not Harry's leavings. I'll have you know that she gave him the flick. After snogging him before we went horcrux hunting, I thought she'd be all over him when he came back… but she pretty much ignored him, went to work with George at the shop, and when Harry went begging after her a few months later, she told him where to stick it. I was pretty angry at the time, but…" Ron shrugged. He gave Pansy a panicked look. "Not that I want her to marry Malfoy, that is!"

She laughed. "Of course not. But watching anyone get the better of Draco is plenty of fun." She looked at the clock on the wall of the shop. "Oh, we'd better hurry. I've got to be at work in fifteen."

Ron groaned. "And I've got to be at training in half an hour… I'll have to face mum, when I go home to get my uniform, and who knows how long that'll take…"

Pansy gave Ron a strange look. "What do you think about meeting up for dinner some time next week?"

Ron blinked. "Are you asking me on a date?"

Pansy snickered. "Maybe. Actually, I was planning for any eventuality… I'm pretty sure that the Marriage law will end up with deadlines in it sometime, and I'd like to be prepared for it."

Ron was lost, but Pansy didn't explain. They stood, Ron gave her a cursory kiss on the cheek and he was surprised when she told the waiter to put the meal on her tab.

"See you sometime next week," she said, fluttering fingers at him from the floo, before stepping into the green flames.

Ron shook his head at the girl, then began to brace himself for one of his mum's tirades.

Surprisingly, Molly just smiled and said hello when he entered the kitchen. "Oh, Ginny already told me that you stayed at the Ministry, love. But, run along or you'll be late…"

Giddy with relief and somewhat suspicious about what Ginny would want in return, Ron jumped into his training uniform and sped out the 'floo again.