Disclaimer: I do not now, nor have I ever owned any part of the Harry Potter franchise.
AN: It'll be a bit slow going at first, but please let me know what you think!
While it certainly helped, Hermione's invention did not entirely quell the uproar caused by the Ministry's announcement. Pureblood families were upset that formal betrothals may need to be broken, while muggleborns were appalled by the idea of arranged marriages, no matter how compatible they may be. Since her involvement had been made public in the announcement, Hermione had a proverbial target on her back. She received hate mail from anyone who was displeased with the law, but it was about equal with what she got thanking her for finding a way to make the law more bearable. It was Friday now, and she would begin matching her first people on Monday morning. She therefore decided to spend her weekend over at the Burrow, hoping that the Weasleys weren't too angry with her.
It was with an underlying sense of trepidation that Hermione apparated to the Burrow on Saturday morning. She had barely appeared at the gate when she was tackled by a flying red head. "Hermione!" Ginny exclaimed, helping her back to her feet apologetically; "I'm so happy you're here," she continued, as she pulled her friend towards the house. "That machine of yours is genius, we can finally get Harry to settle down with me!" She prattled, going on and on about how he was just what she needed. Harry had steadfastly avoided commitment with Ginny, preferring a casual relationship. Hermione rather thought that Harry may actually be interested in someone else as distracted as he was.
"Ginny," Hermione began hesitantly, afraid of her friend's reaction. "I'm not really sure…" Her words were cut off abruptly however as they entered the chaos that was the Weasley household. Looking around, she saw Molly lecturing the twins, who judging by the soot covering them from head to toe, had probably made something explode again. Ron could be found over in the corner, trying to sneak extra food without his mother noticing. He happened to be in luck, because just then, Molly looked up from her rant and spotted Hermione and Ginny by the door.
"Hermione dear!" Molly said, bustling over to Hermione and giving her a hug. Holding her back out at arm's length, she lamented "You're getting so thin dear, you need to eat!" As Molly turned to cook something up for her despite Hermione's protests to the contrary, he caught sight of her youngest son, frozen in her glare with a full mouth and a guilty look upon his face. "Ronald Weasley! You've just had breakfast! We'll have no food left in this house for anyone else if you keep eating the way you do! That poor girl you get matched up with…"
Molly kept ranting, while the twins pulled the girls into a conversation. They headed into the living room, leaving Molly and Ron to their argument in the kitchen. "So Hermione, what's this we've heard about a marriage law?" Fred asked, standing in front of where Hermione was sitting on the loveseat. Fred decided to take the seat next to her, while George took the arm of the loveseat, so she was pressed in between the two of them. As one they put their arms around her, Fred's going around her waist while George's went around her shoulders. "Our true love eh?" Fred asked, a lascivious look upon his face. "Wouldn't be lucky enough to get you would we?" added George winking. "Guys, I don't know who anyone's matched with yet." Hermione laughed, elbowing them before she continued. "I doubt I could handle the both of you though!"
Just then, Molly entered the room, Ron trailing behind her sheepishly. "No one could handle those two dear." Molly replied, rolling her eyes at her twins fondly. "Thank goodness for this new law, I'm so excited that all my babies will be married and in love! We'll be there first thing Monday morning to get this all settled. I will have at least six weddings to plan after all!" Molly exclaimed, though not looking put out about it at all. Everyone knew that Molly wanted more grandchildren.
Not long later Harry arrived, and all the boys and Ginny went out to play Quidditch. Everyone was home except for Bill and Fleur, because they were already married. Charlie had even come home from Romania to find out who he'd be spending the rest of his life with. The weekend seemed to fly by, the only odd one out was Harry. While everyone else was at least curious about their match, if not exactly excited, Harry mainly looked nauseous. Hermione tried to speak to him about it, but he just insisted that he was fine.
Monday morning arrived, and with it came overwhelming crowds of people demanding to know who they had been matched to. Hermione was set up in a previously unoccupied office up on level one, since they couldn't just let people wander through the Department of Mysteries. When they arrived, it was a simple task to get them sorted. It was a relatively unknown fact that Ollivander provided the Ministry with a record of all the wands he'd ever sold, and to whom, as did all of the lesser known wandmakers. As the wand chooses the wizard, the machine would compute wand compatibility. You can tell a lot about a person from their wand, as none are ever made the same. This component, combined with complicated arithmantic formulas and the like, would tell a person who they were most perfectly suited to.
The morning was flowing rather quickly when Weasleys started coming in. First to walk through her door was Charlie who, though Hermione didn't see him often, was one of her favorites. He was just the kind of guy that everyone gets along with naturally. "Charlie, it's so good to see you!" Hermione said, going over to give him a hug. Charlie's hugs always made her feel like she was right at home.
"Hey Hermione, how are you? I know you're just hoping this thing will put us together, aren't you?" Charlie said with a roguish wink, making Hermione laugh.
"Oh yes Charlie, you know I just can't resist your charms!" she joked, getting him all set up. "Okay, so just a few turns of this…these here…and there!" The machine beeped and spit out a slip of paper with the name of Charlie's match on it. Hermione held it up with a flourish and said "And the ruggedly handsome Charlie Weasley is paired with… Nymphadora Tonks!" As soon as he heard the name slip from her lips, Charlie's eyes lit up. He had always kind of had a thing for the clumsy girl, and after Remus died in the war, he didn't think he'd get another shot. "I guess I'll just have to go find her then, won't I?" he said with a wink, as he strode out of the room.
Percy would normally have been next, but as he was already married to Penelope, he was exempt. Hermione looked at the door expecting either Fred or George, but she shouldn't have been surprised when they came in together. "We're here to find our lucky, lovely ladies!" They said together with playful smirks on their faces.
"I'll have to do you one at a time, so who's first?" Hermione asked, just knowing that this wasn't going to go as planned. After a series of distractions including a coin flip and oddly enough, a puking pastille, it was decided that Fred would go first.
"Alright Forge," George said, "you can go first so you can tell me how painful it is!"
"Right you are brother of mine, it is my turn to be the test subject!" Fred exclaimed, coming to sit down by the machine wile Hermione sighed exasperatedly. "It doesn't hurt!" she said, shaking her head at their antics. Eventually, she got them to sit still long enough to test them. They downright refused to find out their results before each other, so after they had both been tested, she sat them down t5o tell them who they'd been matched with. Fred had gotten paired with Angelina, there were no surprises there. What was interesting however was who George had gotten. Luna Lovegood.
Hermione looked up startled, while Fred looked like he was trying not to laugh. George looked slightly sheepish as he explained. "We've kind of been seeing each other for the past month or so…" He trailed off as Fred lost control of himself. He was laughing hysterically while Hermione looked at him reprovingly, though she couldn't stop her lips from twitching slightly.
"Hey, her creatures she comes up with give me ideas for pranks!" George defended, blushing slightly nonetheless. Everyone was just glad that George would be happy, though Hermione knew that Fred would never let him live it down.
The twin left and in came Ron, looking slightly nervous. His results came back fairly quickly, and he was pleasantly surprised when he was paired with Demelza Robbins, an old Gryffindor chaser who loved to talk quidditch as much as he did.
When it was Ginny's turn, she was practically bubbling over with excitement. "I just know I'll be with Harry, we're perfect for each other!" she gushed, bouncing on her toes expectantly. It wasn't destined to be however. When Hermione retrieved Ginny's slip, she was so nervous to tell Ginny who it was that instead of liking at it and telling her herself, she simply handed the paper over so that Ginny could read it herself. Hermione watched as Ginny's face fell and she slowly turned red, sputtering "What? But… not Harry? Not that he isn't incredibly handsome… I just thought…"
"Who is it Ginny?" Hermione asked, more than anxious to see who one of her closest friends had been coupled with. With growing astonishment, and a fair bit of appreciation, Ginny replied "Draco Malfoy!"
