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Sirius.

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He hadn't told a soul.

For the past twenty-four hours, not one word had tumbled from his lips concerning the letter he'd recieved. Though Harry, Ron, Mrs. Weasley, and even Kreacher had requested politely to review his letter, Sirius had emotionlessly rejected each one of them and took to quickly switching into discussion of a neutral topic, such as the weather and spoke with a sense of urgency, as if talking of the weather was a life or death situation. If someone inquired about the letter's contents, Sirius would suddenly become very interested in a spot on the wall and would become so absorbed in the fascinating specimen that he would mysteriously be baffled into muteness until the subject was changed. And who could blame him? He was beyond abashed and, besides, how was he to explain such a thing anyway? Oh, got a letter in the mail today from the Ministry. Turns out I'm being forced to marry and sleep with Hermione. It even sounded ridiculous in his head.

It had hardly been three months since the mystery of the Veil had been solved. It had taken tons of research, Unspeakables and even lives, but they had finally figured it out. It was charmed with Dark Magic to trap souls in a sort of purgatory, not devour them. It took the Wizarding world's strongest and most skilled members to break the curse. And once it was broken, every life it had held captive was liberated. Including Sirius's.

It just angered him so. He'd spent years in Azkaban, years in hiding and then years trapped inside of a veil. The least everyone could do was allow him at least one year to enjoy his freedom. But it seemed he wasn't even going to get half a year. Three months and he was already being given demands. And absurd demands at that.

Marry Hermione Granger, nineteen-year-old War hero? And impregnate her as well?

That was too much to ask of Sirius. Much too much.

He was forty-one. Twenty-two years older than her. Of course he could easily be sexually attracted to her. She was young, beautiful, intelligent, and he hadn't had a shag in over two decades. However, he knew for a fact that she wouldn't find him sexy in the slightest. He would be an old man to her. And family. He was family.

Or, at least, he may as well be.

He just couldn't be expected to do something so unbelievably ludicrous. And that is why he was now furiously snatching a palm-ful of floo powder and launching it into the fire as he practically shouted, "Ministry of Magic!"

When he arrived at his destination and made a move to step out of the fire, however, he was restrained by something. Two somethings. Lached onto him were two men, twice as large as he was, dragging him away from the fireplace.

"Shacklebolt isn't taking visitors," said one of the men.

Figured. He had probably been getting harrassed for the past week by angry witches and wizards. That didn't unnerve Sirius, though.

He set his jaw, tried to appear intimidating and snarled, "I need to speak with Kingsley."

However, it seemed his attempt at achieving intimidation had proved futile.

The man released Sirius and was half way through putting a full body bind curse on him when Sirius shouted: "Expelliarmus!" The wand shot out of the man's hand and, to Sirius's surprise, the man just rolled his eyes.

As he went to retrieve his wand, the man grumbled about having had to do this all morning and all day yesterday. His partner chimed in with a, "I think that Hermione Granger was the worst. She was so angry, left Shacklebolt's office in tears. Wonder who she got paired with."

Sirius snapped his head around to look at the man. His heart sank into his stomach.

Hermione hadn't even been able to alter Kingsley's mind?

Now he was unnerved.

If she couldn't do it, nobody could. After heaving a disappointed sigh, Sirius wrenched his arm from the man's grasp, threw him a glare and grumbled just before apparating, "She got paired with me."

And, once again, there he was pacing his living room.

What a quandary he was in. He hadn't even been given an ultimatum. There was nothing he could do. He had to marry her and he had to have sex with her.

Oh, how dispirited he was. He felt that the frown carved into his face had become permanent. He hadn't even cracked a grin in over a day.

A cold devestation was washing over him. He halted to a stop, collapsed into his sofa and leaned his head back. A groan of dissatisfaction slithered from his lips. Why me? He thought. Why is it always me?

He had closed his eyes and had strayed so far into his thoughts that he'd wandered to the brink of unconsciousness. He was so exhausted. The stress was taking a toll on his already fatigued mind. Now,it felt as though someone had doused his brain in oil, set it ablaze and left it to burn out. He was just slipping into a very light and much needed sleep when he was startled awake and into speech by a harsh yell.

"Sirius! Why didn't you tell us about the letter?!"

"Wha-?!"

Molly was standing before him, one hand on her hip and the other clutching an opened envelope. His opened envelope.

He practically sprung to his feet and snatched the letter forcefully from Mrs. Weasley's hand, energized by a burst of panic.

His adrenaline died down as soon as it was born, though. And, breathing heavily, he fixed Molly with a stare of combined fear and lethality.

"You didn't read this, did you?"

Molly looked as though she could have killed someone. "Yes, actually, I did. Hermione is just a girl, Sirius! You have to go talk to Kingsley about this! We haven't heard from Hermione in days. We've tried flooing her, apparating to her flat and even using a fellytone! She won't answer us and we're fairly positive it's because of the letter you both recieved. Harry, Ginny and Ron got theirs today, you know. Harry has to marry Luna Lovegood. Ron has to marry some girl named Pansy Parkinson. And Ginny has to marry some muggleborn she's never met before! This is ridiculous!"

Throughout Molly's rambling and ranting, Sirius had dropped back down onto the sofa and threw the envelope down onto the floor. He bowed his head into his hands. Good Merlin, this law was ruining everyone's lives. And causing an uproar to say in the least. And exhausted. He was so exhausted.

If not for his overall, general weariness, he would have snatched Molly by the collar of her shirt, flung her out of his front door and assured her that she was not welcome back.

But he was weary. Too weary to act on the anger swaying menacingly inside of him.

"I know it is. But there's nothing we can do. I went to the Ministry today. One of the guards said Hermione had been there and couldn't change Shacklebolt's mind. If she couldn't do it, nobody can."

A tense silence dawned between them. Sirius knew what Molly was thinking. His thoughts were in the same place really. What were they going to do? Did they really have any way out of this?

Sirius dipped down to grab his letter again and scan over it for what seemed like the millionth time. Look at the positives, he thought bitterly. At least they were permitted to divorce after they'd had three children together.

But they'd have to see each other before they could even start thinking about that. Dreading it as he was, it was inevitable.

"I'll go talk to her."

And with that, Sirius rose from the sofa and apparated on the spot to what would beome the most awkward talk he'd have had the displeasure to endure in his entire life.

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A/N: I hope you enjoyed this chapter! I apologize in advance for any grammatical errors and/or spelling errors. I type most of my chapters on mobile Google Docs.

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