Still not mine.
After the war had ended, Katie's two best friends had quickly married the Weasley twins. Frankly, Katie didn't know how they could stand them. She loved the twins, but they drove her crazy.
The twins had been quite successful in their joke shop business, and shortly after the wedding, had built a house for their new brides that had two separate wings. They would live together, but each family would have their own space, too. It worked well for them.
Both of her friends had been pregnant within a year, thanks to the way the law was structured, but it was thanks to Hermione that they hadn't gotten pregnant again.
The Ministry was quite archaic and didn't think much of Muggles. So the tests for birth control measures didn't detect Muggle forms. It was as if the Ministry thought Muggles still lived in the Dark Ages and didn't know how to prevent pregnancy.
But no one was complaining about that, or mentioning it to people that couldn't be trusted. Still, the information was slowly being leaked to Muggle-born witches. And it was in those witches' best interests that no one, not even their new husbands, ever find out.
For a while, Katie had dated Oliver, thinking that he might petition for her. But she had been abused of that notion when she came home from work early one day and found him in bed with some Quidditch groupie. That had been the end of it for her. She felt a little guilty that it had also meant the end of his friendships with the rest of the old Gryffindor team but overall felt pretty justified in her feelings of pleasure at her friends' loyalty. She rationalized her response by saying that it wasn't her fault they didn't want to be friends with him anymore, since she wasn't responsible for his wandering ways. And the old team hadn't appreciated his lack of respect for their friend…
She had moved out of his apartment and in with the Weasleys, and when the twins and their brides moved into the new house, she had stayed at the Burrow with Harry and Hermione.
Both she and Hermione had lost their families in the Second War with Voldemort. They had briefly talked about getting a flat together, but, well, Molly and Arthur had insisted they stay. She had become included in the Golden Trio of old along with, and now the four of them were more or less inseparable. Ginny was a member of their close-knit group as well when she was around. She took on the role of big sister for the girls, her own younger siblings having been killed along with her parents.
Neither she nor Hermione had been prepared the night the Death Eaters attacked their families. It had, in fact, been the same night. She had not been home that night; rather she had been spending it with Ali and Angie. They had been cutting loose after the end of their internships with the Ministry and had gone out with the twins and Lee for a night on the town. She had come home the next morning to find both of her parents along with her 2 younger sisters dead with not a mark on them. She had flooed the Weasley's in the moments before she had become completely hysterical, and they had contacted the Muggle authorities for her. The Muggle authorities were passing the deaths off as carbon monoxide poisoning. The Weasley's had taken her home with them that night, and she had not returned to the Muggle world until she began working with Arthur.
Hermione had been asleep in her room when a squad of Death Eaters, led by Lucius Malfoy, and broken through the wards on her family's home. She had heard her mother scream and bolted from her room only to see a flash of green light from under the door. By the time she was there, it was too late. Both of her parents lay fallen on the floor in heaps with masked, black robed Death Eaters standing above them. A fringe of platinum hair had given away Malfoy, his wand still pointed at her mother, and Hermione had let rip a slicing hex that had severed his head. Seeing her fury, the rest of the Death Eaters had Disapparated quickly, leaving her in the middle of the room with her dead parents and a decapitated Lucius.
She had summoned the Order, who had dealt with the mess and notified the Muggle authorities.
Ginny had graduated from Hogwarts and was no interning at St. Mungo's, and she had put in a petition for Harry. Even though Harry was technically a pure-blood since both of his parents had been Hogwarts graduates, they were petitioning to count him as a half-blood since he had been raised in ignorance of the wizarding world. The Weasley's had quite a bit of clout at the Ministry these days, and so it was likely the petition would be granted. Ron was getting ready to marry Lavender next month. The boys were quite wrapped up in their careers as Aurors and in the fiancées, and as a result Katie and Hermione had become closer and closer.
Katie was working for Arthur in the Misuse of Muggle Artifacts office, taking over more and more of the work and acting as a liaison with Muggle Authorities since he was being groomed to take over as Minister.
Hermione was an Unspeakable. It fit her well, and she loved it. Whatever it was she did.
And so today, like most other days, found Katie, Hermione, and Molly sitting around the table at the Burrow over bowls of porridge, waiting for Arthur, Harry, and Ron.
Arthur was down a few minutes after the girls appeared in the kitched, and settled into the head of the table with his bowl awaiting the delivery of the Daily Prophet.
Harry and Ron could be heard careening down the stairs at the same time Molly looked up to a tapping on the window. She got up to let the owl in, thinking it to be Arthur's paper, only to have the Prophet owl followed into the kitchen by two other large and official looking birds.
Those two owls flew directly to Katie and Hermione, holding out their legs. Attached to them were large envelopes carrying the seal of the Family Council for the Ministry of Magic. Both girls, knowing full well what kind of letters young Muggle-born witches received from the Family Council, went quite pale at this, and shaken removed their letters.
Arthur and Molly, also aware of what was likely in those letters, were at a loss as to what to do for their "adopted" daughters.
"Well?" Ron asked when the paleness and the silence had stretched too far, "What do they say?"
Hermione shot Ron a hard look. "Mine says that a petition has been submitted for my hand in marriage and I am to report to the Family Council at 9 am. I assume Katie's is the same. It does not say who has done the petitioning." Hermione turned questioning eyes to Katie.
"Same here," Katie murmured, looking at the letter again, followed by looking at her bowl of porridge, which she pushed away. She was no longer hunger.
"They don't tell you who? They don't give you any warning?" Harry asked. He looked shocked, appalled, even though he had been on the receiving end of the Ministry's callousness before.
"No, Harry, they only give you a summons. We go and find out whom we are to marry and work through any details in the contract not covered by the law. Issues such as whether we will still work after children are born and such…Gods, I'm not ready for this…" Hermione was shaking again.
"Hermione, Katie, if I may make a suggestion," Molly paused, waiting for the two witches to look at her and give her their attention. Seeing she had it, she continued, "I believe you should both go change out of the robes you usually wear for work and put on something more formal. Dress up a bit. There is armor in fine clothing, and you will feel less vulnerable if you feel confident."
Both girls looked thoughtful at this, and nodding, went back upstairs to change their robes.
"Really, Mum, clothing? At a time like this?" Ron asked, skeptically.
"Yes, Ronald. Especially at a time like this. We have no idea who will be waiting for them on the other side of the door. But who ever petitioned knows exactly who to expect. They have the advantage. Their best clothing is a small advantage, but looking their best will give them confidence. And right now, that is what they need the most."
Ron still looked skeptical, but Harry nodded his understanding and agreement. After all, he was quite familiar with how much better a person feels when they look their best, having worn Dudley's too big clothing for his formative years. "Ron, think about how you felt in your first set of dress-robes…clothing is important."
Ron blushed at the reminder of his maroon dress-robes from fourth year. He didn't think this was quite the same, since his dress-robes had been hideous and the girls looked fine in their normal daily attire, but he wasn't going to argue.
Ron and Harry left for the Ministry at their normal time, along with Arthur. Arthur was going to let the Department of Mysteries know that Hermione had been petitioned for and wouldn't be in right away, if at all. Since Katie worked for him, he didn't have to notify anyone for her.
At 8:30, the girls came back downstairs. They were groomed immaculately, but business-like.
Molly gave them a silent hug. "Girls, I want you to know that we will always be here for you. We are your family now. Arthur will step in if needed to make sure the contracts are fair."
Hermione raised her chin, a look of defiance on her features. "Molly, you and Arthur have been great to us. Katie and I will make the best of this, things will be OK. And if they're not, then heaven help the men who petitioned for us, because we will make them sorry."
"We are Gryffindors, Molly. We won't break, no matter what. We'll do our House and you proud," Katie said. Her cheeks were flushed, but her back was strait. She looked at Hermione, and grinned, although the grin seemed to contain elements of a grimace. "Our motto should be Never Surrender, Especially to Pureblooded Snobs." If the three Gryffindor Alumni's laughter seemed a bit forced and hysterical, they didn't mention it, perhaps feeling it was justified.
Looking at the two young women that she had come to think of as daughters over the years, Molly ached for them, but she was proud. She only hoped that whoever had submitted the petitions for them would value them, treating them the way they should be treated.
"Off you go, then. Don't be late. And remember, you are loved. Make sure whoever petitioned you knows that the Weasley's think of you as family, which means you have six brothers that will hurt them if they don't treat you well…"
At this, both girls smiled and, with a pop, Apparated to the Ministry to meet their futures.
A/N: The Never Surrender as House Gryffindor motto was inspired by Shiv5468's Severus/Hermione fic A Law Unto Herself, posted at Ashwinder. I assume he got it from that Tim Allen movie that was a knock off of Star Trek, which title is escaping me now…
There are a number of great Marriage Law fics, most of which focus around Hermione/Severus. They are based on a challenge from WIKTT. While I enjoy a lot of them, I have always wondered what the other characters would do. As a fan of M/K, I decided to write this. If you are enjoying it, please review.