Draco's POV

Draco was sitting in the family room at Malfoy Manor, drinking a glass of fire whiskey, when he saw his mother,Narcissa Malfoy,entering as gracefully as always and smiling warmly at him before sitting down."Hello, Draco", she said in a motherly sort of voice.

Narcissa had changed a lot since the end of the Second Wizarding Malfoy had been killed by a group of Aurors during the battle, so she was free to live her life the way she wanted, without being scared of her family getting hurt by Lord Voldemort.

"Hello, are you on this fine afternoon?", replied immediately realised that her son was in a very good mood and she started to feel even guiltier for having to be the one to ruin it by the news she was going to give him. "I'm fine Draco, what about you? You seem to be in a really jolly mood. Something happened?"

Draco smiled at that. His mother knew him like no other and he was happy for this. Before the war ended, Draco couldn't really have the mother and son relationship the other kids had. His father was as cold as ice and didn't accept any loving relationships in his family. He wanted discipline, and so, he often hit Draco even for the most useless things. So once the war ended, Draco and Narcissa tried to make up for the years they lost and their relationship was now stronger than ever.

"Yes, great has happened. Remember Astoria Greengrass? She's Daphne Greengrass' younger sister and she was in Slytherin."At his mother's nod, Draco continued. "Well, I've been trying to win her over for the last 3 months. I mean, she's perfect! She's pureblood and she comes from a very noble, magical family. She's very good-looking and she's only about two years younger than me! And today she finally accepted to be my girlfriend! Isn't this great news, mother?"

During Draco's whole speech, Narcissa had been unusually quiet and Draco didn't fail to notice. "Everything alright, Mother?" he asked her. "Draco, there's something important I need to tell you", began nodded at this, to show her he was listening, so she continued. "You know about some of our connections with the Ministry?" she asked. "Yes, of course I do, mother", he replied. "Well, word just came to me a couple of minutes ago, from one of these connections, about a new law the Ministry just passed. Nearly no one knows about it yet, except some Ministry workers, because they're going to make it official tomorrow. I decided to tell you before so you will be prepared", she explained very seriously.

"Mother, what is it? You're scaring me a little now. What law is this?" asked Draco, worried by his mother's tone of voice. "Draco, the Ministry has found it wise to pass a Marriage Law", said Narcissa. "Well, that isn't that bad…I mean, me and Astoria will just have to get married earlier. I don't see any problems with that." Draco couldn't see why this news was worrying his mother so much. "Draco, you don't understand the gravity of the situation. Let me explain better", Narcissa said. At this Draco nodded. "Have you ever heard of The Soul mate Love Spell?" she asked. Draco paled visibly at this but nodded nonetheless. "The Ministry are going to use this spell to find everyone's 'll have a year's time to marry each other. After the year is over, and all witches and wizards between the age of 16 and 30 are married, every married couple will be expected to conceive a child in another years time", finished Narcissa.

While Narcissa was speaking, Draco had stood up and started pacing up and down. "THEY CAN'T DO THAT!" he finally shouted. "I'm afraid they can, dear", replied see, Draco, the Ministry noticed that the Wizarding Community has drastically diminished after the War. So, the Ministry thinks that it's about time that people started getting married and having children, to restore it."

"That's insane…." Draco started muttering to himself. He suddenly straightened up and turned to his mother with a very serious expression on his face. "Mother, who exactly is my soul mate?" he asked. "Sadly, I don't know that Draco…no one knows, except the people performing the spell. Tomorrow they're publishing an article about it in the Morning Daily Prophet to warn all the others who don't know about it. Then, in the evening, you're going to be receiving a letter, explaining why they're doing this and some other details, plus, the name of the girl you're going to be marrying", explained Narcissa.

A question suddenly came to Draco's mind. "What if I refuse?" he asked his sighed. She knew he would ask that sooner or later. "I suggest you don't do that. Anyone who refuses to marry his soul mate after a year, will have their wand broken and be sent to live in the Muggle Community. I know you don't hate muggles that much anymore, but I don't think you'd want to go live as one", finished Narcissa.

Draco sighed in defeat. He had no other choice. He was going to have to marry someone he didn't like. It could even be someone he didn't even know! And life had been going so well for him!

Narcissa, feeling pity for her son, got up and went over next to him, putting a reassuring hand on his shoulder. "Everything will be alright, Draco. You'll see. Now you'll better go and get some sleep. Tomorrow is going to be a long day!", and with that she saw her now gloomy son, stand up and walking slowly up to his room. "Why does life have to be so cruel?" thought Narcissa.

Hermione's POV

The day after came too quickly for Hermione's liking. She woke up, wondering why she was feeling like the world had suddenly ended, when she remembered of the new law Ron had talked to them about. It's not that she was currently seeing anybody, but she found it completely unfair of the Ministry to just meddle into their life.

She knew that after she and her friends received the letters this evening, their lives were going to change forever. She suddenly felt as if a rock had settled itself in her stomach. She was going to have to get married at 18 years of age and become a mother at 19! Marriage had never been in her mind before and neither had nursing a child. She, of course, wanted to get married later in life and possibly even have kids, but only after having become a fully educational Healer at 's and done something with her life. This was way too early for her and since this was way to much for her to handle, she ran to the bathroom and threw up everything she could have had in her stomach, five minutes after waking up.

She went downstairs to make a cup of coffee while waiting for the Morning Daily Prophet to arrive so she could read about the law in a little more detail. After five minutes of quietly sipping her coffee, she heard an insisting tapping on her window. When she looked up she saw a little Eagle owl carrying the Morning Daily Prophet. Hermione opened the window for it, put the money she owed in the pouch attached to her leg and took the Daily Prophet.

The article about the new Ministry law was published on the front page and kept going on page 3, 5 and started reading in attempt to find some interesting bit that she didn't know yet. Unfortunately, she had no such luck since Ron had already mentioned everything that was written down:

The Ministry of Magic's New, Drastic Law

This morning, the whole Wizarding Community received one hell of a Shacklebot, the Minister of Magic, gave the news of a Marriage Law, today at eight in the morning. "Sadly, many people lost their lives during the Second Wizarding War, resulting in the diminish of the Wizarding Community. Thus, we came up with a law that requires all witches and wizards between the ages of 16 and 30 to get married within a year", started the speech, Minister himself told everyone not to worry about who to marry. "There will be no need to worry about who to marry since I've hired five Expert Ministry Officials to find you the perfect spouse. These Ministry Officials will be using a spell to determine your soul mate, thus making these marriages easier." Many wizards and witches are appalled by the extreme measures the Minister is willing to take to revive the Wizarding Community. So, how exactly are these marriages going to help in restoring the Wizarding Community? Easy…this new law also states that after every witch and wizard is married, every couple will be expected to conceive a child within the next year. Couples who will be having problems in conceiving the child will be more than welcome to take all the time they need, until successful. The Minister refused to give any more information about this law until everyone receives their letter this evening at approximately six o'clock. The name of everyone's soul mate will also be enclosed in this letter. For news about the letters, stay tuned for the Evening Daily Prophet. Could this idea possibly work? Maybe it is after all, for the best…

Ruby Prewett

"For the best?" Hermione thought, appalled. "How can people think having the Ministry meddle with their lives be 'for the best'?" continued thinking to herself Hermione. She sighed and put the paper down. She would just have to wait until six o'clock then, to find out who she's going to be spending the rest of her life with.

She knew that she wouldn't be able to do anything useful until she received the letter. So instead, she decided to spend the day with Ginny, at her cottage. Perhaps the others could meet them there to open the letters together…With that thought in mind, Hermione grabbed some floo powder and left to go to Ginny's cottage.

Draco's POV

"I can't believe how bloody stupid, the Minister is acting!" raged Draco. He had been shouting for nearly fifteen minutes now and he could see that his two best friends were getting irritated with him. The day after he had received the news, he flooed his two friends and told them to come to his manor so they could discuss the law. "Draco, mate…you have got to calm down! Raging about it isn't going to change a thing! What's done is done…there's nothing we can do about it now", Blaise Zabini said, trying to talk some sense in his friends head.

"Draco", started Pansy, trying to console Draco. "We all know that the thing you're mad about most is that you had just managed to get Astoria to be your girlfriend. I, for one, completely understand your situation being in it myself. I have to break it off with Theodore Nott because of this new law", she finished. Pansy and Draco were off worst, since they were currently in a relationship, so they had to break it didn't care so much since he was a player and had no long relationships.

"Can you believe what that reporter wrote?" asked Draco. Both his friends shook their heads. They honestly couldn't see how this law could be 'for the best'. No one was enjoying marrying someone he didn't want. "At what time did the reporter say we're going to receive the letters?" asked Blaise after a while of everyone staying quiet. "At approximately six o'clock", replied Pansy. "What are we going to do until six o'clock? There's no bloody way we're doing work…I'm too nervous to work. Don't want to end up selling our company by mistake!" she continued seriously.

"Tell you what", started Draco, "We could play Quidditch for a little while and then go to Diagon Alley for a coffee. We could wait for the letters there. So, what do you guys say?" They both nodded. There was nothing else they could do. So with that the group of friends grabbed their brooms and started what was going to be a very long day.

Ginny's POV

It was ten minutes to six and the group of four were waiting anxiously for the letters to arrive. "God, time seems to pass really slowly today", thought Ginny. Even though she was supposed to be anxious like all the others, she was also a little excited to see who she'll be matched to.

Suddenly, the clock chimed. It was six o'clock. Everyone tensed…everyone knew what was coming. Harry stood up and began pacing up and down, Hermione started biting her nails and Ron started to sweat like a pig. "Ron, do you need a tissue…or a towel?" asked Ginny seeing her sweating brother.

"Do you think this is the time to be funny?" snapped Ron. Ginny was taken aback by the harshness of his tone and suddenly realised her brother was scared. "I'm sorry, Ron", she said trying to reassure him a little by putting one of her hands on his. He relaxed a little at this. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to snap at you like that…it's just that…what if I get paired with someone I hate? My life would be a disaster!" he suddenly yelled. They all kept quiet at this. Everyone had thought about it and found it better to just forget it…at least until they found out who their spouse was.

They had all started to relax when a tapping was heard on the window. The tension built up again and Ginny stood up to let the owls in. There were four of them, for each one of her friends. She watched as everyone took their respective owl and took the letter. With shaking fingers, due to nervousness and excitement, she took her letter. She barely noticed all the owls fly away as she looked at her friends.

They all seemed as nervous as her, if not more. "So…do we open them all together or not?" she asked wanting to get it over with. Ron was the first to reply saying, "I think we'd better open them all together, then tell each other who we have." Everyone nodded at this suggestion, so Ginny opened her letter. She didn't pay a glance to the information about the new law, instead reading the bold sentence. Her heart sank when she saw who her spouse was and she didn't even notice the others' faces turning white as she sank to the ground, hoping it was all a nightmare. The letter dropped to the floor and the bold sentence written on it was clear:

Ginevra Weasley, your soul mate is Blaise Zabini.

Harry's POV

Harry noticed Ginny sinking to the ground, her face pale and her eyes closed. He momentarily wondered who her spouse could be to turn Ginny Weasley like that. "It won't be long until I find out", he suddenly remembered that he still had to find out who he was marrying, so he looked down at his letter and opened it.

He didn't think anything important would be written in the letter that he didn't already know, so he just skipped ahead to the bold sentence at the bottom. He could swear that his heart stopped beating as he saw what was written. He kept staring blankly at the horrible sentence:

Harry Potter, your soul mate is Pansy Parkinson.

Ron's POV

"Why is everyone looking like that?" he thought as he saw Harry's blank look and Ginny's sick one. "I don't think they liked their soul mates…" he kept thinking. He got even more scared to open his letter. He plucked up some courage and opened his letter. He decided to read the rest of the letter after he found out who his soul mate was.

He found the bold sentence and started to feel as if he was going to faint. "Not that lunatic!" he thought frantically. "Well, I guess it could have been worse. It's not that I don't like her…we're good friends…but to marry her was another thing. He kept re-reading the sentence getting more worried by the minute.

Ronald Weasley, your soul mate is Luna Lovegood.

Hermione's POV

"Their looks really aren't helping", thought Hermione worriedly. She was the only one left to open her letter. Now she wished she had been the first to open it so that she wouldn't have to look at her friends' faces. Ginny had sank to the ground with her eyes closed as if she was trying to forget something horrible, Harry was staring blankly at his letter as if he couldn't believe what was happening and Ron was reading the same thing over and over again looking worried.

"No use fighting over it", she started to think. "I'll have to open it sooner or later." With that thought in mind she quickly torn open the letter before she could change her mind. She noticed that there was some information written before the name of her soul mate. Being the know it all that she was, she decided to read it.

Dear ,

As you've probably already heard, the Ministry has passed a new law. This law involves marriage. You'll have a year to marry the man listed at the bottom of the letter. After the year is over and you are safely married to him, you and your spouse will be expected to conceive a child within another year. Do not worry if you have problems doing so. You'll have all the time you need, until successful. We'll have you know that refusal to follow this rule, which after all is for the better good of the Wizarding Community, will get you nothing good. You'll have your wand taken and you'll be sent to the Muggle Community with no chances of being admitted amongst us again. We, by no means, are telling you this to scare you. We simply want everyone to be warned beforehand. In the next couple of days you are to expect a booklet to be sent to you with the name: Marriage Law: GIRLS. This booklet will have all the information needed to guide you through your relationship before and after the marriage takes place. Do not worry about happiness in your future marriage. We assure that that's exactly what you will get considering the fact that you will be married to your soul mate.

Hoping that you are well,

Mathilda Stewart.

Hermione Granger, your soul mate is Draco Malfoy.