Summary: It is after the Final Battle which happened at the end of their sixth year. Everyone is moving on with their lives and the Hogwarts students are looking forward to a calm and studious year... Until a surprising announcement – all witches and wizards over the age of seventeen must marry!

x x x

The next morning, Hermione awoke to a golden sunshine creeping through the scarlet hangings of her four-poster bed. With a sigh she realised she would be moving from this dormitory come Friday night. She wondered briefly what the new couples' dormitories would look like.

Finally climbing out of bed, she saw Lavender and Parvati still sound asleep. Hermione combed her brown hair into a high ponytail before brushing her teeth and collecting her books. She only had one class this morning as the Compatiblility Test would be taking over her double-potions lesson. 'Harry and Ron will be happy,' Hermione thought as she examined her time table. Finally ready, Hermione went down to the common room to meet Harry and Ron.

"Hermione!" Called Harry from one of the chintz armchairs by the fire. He was sitting with Neville and Ron.

"Hi Hermione," said Neville as he put away one of his Herbology books,

"Can we go now?" Asked Ron as his stomach growled softly. Hermione rolled her eyes. Honestly, he had just eaten a mere eleven hours ago!

The four made their way out of the portrait hole and through the seventh floor corridor. Hermione smiled as they passed the Room of Requirement.

"Who do you think you'll be married to?" Neville asked Ron,

"No idea," he said, shiftily looking at Hermione.

"I can't believe you get to just marry Ginny," Hermione said, frowning at Harry. "I'd better not end up with some Slytherin.."

"Or worse," said Harry grinning, "Zacharias Smith!"

x x x

Hermione twirled one of her curls around her finger, barely touching her breakfast. She glared around at all of the couples at Hogwarts. She was not looking forward to a life-long relationship with one of her peers. There was nobody she could picture herself with. Sure, at one point she had had a small crush on Ron. But that was THREE years ago!

Hermione turned to look at Ron who was busy stuffing bacon rashes into his mouth. Hermione shuddered slightly and marvelled at the fact that he never seemed to gain any weight.

Seamus Finnigan and Dean Thomas both had worried expresions plastered on their faces as they converesed in murmurs. Hermione smiled as they looked up and grinned at her.

Wondering who she could possibly be partnered with, Hermione nibbled at a piece of toast and waited for the end of breakfast to come...

x x x

The seventh years were called out of the Great Hall into one of the chambers that lead off from it. Harry recognised it to be similar to the one he'd gone into when he found out he'd be part of the Triwizard Tournament.

Dumbledore stood infront of his students and spoke "You will go into the Great Hall and sit the test. You will have ninety-three minutes to complete it. This test is designed to get a feel of your personality and the expectations you have of your future spouse..."

Hermione tuned out and thought about what would be in the test. Suddenly, Hermione found herself being ushered into the hall. Instead of the four long house tables, there were small, separate desks – not unlike the ones you sit at during exams.

Seating was in alphabetical order. Hermione's seat was almost halfway back from the front row of desks near one of the tall windows. She looked out and saw a line of first years with Madam Hooch. They would be having their first flying lesson.

Hermione looked down at her desk and saw a blank piece of parchment and a quill and ink bottle.

"You may begin..." Said Dumbledore from the front of the hall.

Hermione looked down again and saw lines of questions upon the piece of parchment. Smiling, Hermione read question number one.

What is the most honourable quality a good husband/wife can have? Well that was easy, thought Hermione. Loyalty.

Question number two read: What is your favourite time of year and why? Not sure how that question could be useful, Hermione wrote down Christmas time – because she got to spend time with her family again.

The questions went on...

What do you aspire to be once you leave school? Hermione had to think about this one. She would like to be an auror maybe – afterall she had more life experience than most highly qualified aurors had!

Describe yourself in three words. Hermione wrote: Intelligent, Loyal, Kind.

What is the one material possession you could never live without? Books. Like she had to think about that one!

Summer or Winter? Winter, Hermione wrote. She loved the magic white snow and frost spread throughout the castle and over the grounds.

The questions went on in this nature for a while before becoming significantly more personal.

If you found out that your partner was having another relationship outside of your marriage, how would you go about confronting them? 'Hmmm,' Hermione thought before writing: I would ask them first and wait and see if they denied it. Then, I would tell them that I know about it, so they can stop pretending.

When do you plan on having a child? a) In a year or two. b) In around five years. c)In ten years time. d) In fifteen to twenty years or longer. Probably 'c'. I think i'll be ready in about ten years... 'Once I've got my career underway,' Hermione thought to herself. Children was something she hadn't really thought much about.

What kind of wedding do you picture? A garden wedding, Hermione wrote, On a cool sunny day.

Where would be your most ideal holiday? Hermione thought about this whilst looking around the Great Hall. She could see Harry a few rows back writing lazily next to Parvati. He looked up and caught Hermione's gaze before making a face. Clearly, he thought this to be a waste of time seeing as he was set to marry Ginny. In the last row sat Ron. He seemed to be having a little trouble with one of the questions...

Hermione smiled. Just before turning back around, she caught sight of Malfoy scribbling down on his parchment. 'Someone's taking this very seriosly...' thought Hermione. Wasn't Malfoy going to marry Pansy? Maybe the two weren't a couple...

Hermione decided on 'Australia' for the answer to her question. Afterall, her parents had said it was lovely down there and she had always wanted to see the Sydney Opera House...

x x x

Finally, the test was over. The students' papers flew from their desks into Professor Dumbledore's hands. He smiled at his students before reminding them that they would get their results on Friday - right before their first marriage class began.

"How did you two go?" Asked Harry as the trio exited the Great Hall – heading to Herbology.

"Terrible," moaned Ron, "I didn't even finish!"

"What did you write for your's Harry?" Hermione asked suspiciously. Harry had finished long before anyone else and she was curious to see what his answers were.

"Er..." Harry turned slightly red, "Ginny." He said simply,

"You mean you just wrote 'Ginny' for every question?" Hermione asked incredulously.

Harry nodded and Ron burst out into peels of laughter.

Hermione shook her head before entering one of the greenhouses...

x x x

When lunchtime finally came around, the four house tables were back in the Great Hall. Hermione sat next to Lavender, discussing the compatiblilty test.

"What did you put for number fifteen?" Asked Lavender worriedly,

"You mean the question about knowing how to cook without magic? I said 'yes'." Hermione answered. She had grown up as a muggle before finding out she was a witch, so she knew how to cook the muggle way.

"I said 'no'. I haven't learnt how to cook without my wand..." Lavender said.

"How was class?" Hermione asked Ginny who had just sat down,

"Ugh. So boring. I had History of Magic and Divination,"

Hermione smiled, remembering her last Divination class – back in third year...

"How did the test go?" Ginny asked as she bit into some potato.

"Pretty good, " Hermione said, feeling confident, "You should ask Harry what he wrote down though."

Harry looked up from his food and grinned at the two girls.

x x x

Later that day, Hermione thought it would be a good idea to go to the library. She had missed it so much over the Summer. And besides, she already had Transfiguration homework to start on.

The library was fairly vacant except for a few sixth and seventh year students. Hermione spotted Demelza Robbins and from Gryffindor and Ernie Macmillan and Hannah Abbot from Hufflepuff.

Hermione searched through the many bookshelves for nothing in particular. She felt right at home here.

Finally Hermione decided to sit down at one of the tables with her homework. She also brought over a couple of books she had found during her browsing. She decided to sit by the darkening window. If she looked out she could see Hagrid tending to his giant pumpkins. She hadn't been sitting for more than a few minutes when a dark shadow fell over her work. Looking up, Hermione came face to face with one of her least favourite people.

"Malfoy," she said in an emotionless voice.

"Granger," he said, looking down his nose, "You do know that you're in my seat?"

"I don't think so Malfoy. This is the LIBRARY'S seat and I got here first."

With that, Hermione turned back to her Transfiguration. Malfoy stood there glaring for a few moments before realising Hermione was as stubborn as he.

Draco, childish as he was, decided to take one of Hermione's books that she had found earlier. He grabbed the larger of the two and held it above his head.

"Malfoy," said Hermione slowly, "Give that back,"

"Make me Granger!" Draco took a couple steps back and Hermione pulled out her wand.

"Malfoy! Give me my book or you'll find yourself cursed so hard you won't even remember your name!" Hermione glared, "You know I mean it," she added.

By this time, Malfoy had pulled out his wand as well and the two stood facing each other. Hermione's Transfiguration homework was scattered on the floor.

Their trance was broken by a shriek from Madam Pince.

"WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING? THIS IS A LIBRARY! I WILL NOT HAVE THIS KIND OF BEHAVIOUR IN HERE! OUT!" Madam Pince looked utterly furious. It was enough to make Hermione scramble her books together and for Draco to slink away quietly from the scene.

Once out of the library, Hermione was fuming. It wasn't even her fault! "Stupid Malfoy," she mumbled to herself.

It took Hermione the ten minute jounrney up to Gryffindor Tower for her to realise Malfoy still had that book.

A.N – Hi guys. Sorry it's been so long! I just finished my exams!! I think I did fairly well in them (or at least I hope!). I hope this chapter was good! It took me a while to write and I'm hoping it wasn't bad. Please leave me a review. I'll update soon! Xxo