All characters except Aunt Sarah belong to J. K. Rowling. Charge of the Light Brigade belongs to Lord Alfred Tennyson. It's actually a very good poem but sad if you really think about.
I am beginning to think that no one reads these but if you do I am still looking for a beta reader.
Tell the parents
"So Hermione, you were unusually ambiguous up there. Want to tell me what's up?" Ginny asked. She and Hermione had become close friends after Ginny's second year. They spent most of the summer and most of the time Hermione didn't spend studying alone or with Harry and Ron together. It wasn't a lot of time but it was still a close friendship.
"I wish I could Gin, but there are too many people about. Put shortly, that new law requires me to marry within the next thirty days. I need to meet with my prospective husband now, and then we're going to yell at my parents. I'll come get you when I come back and I'll tell you the details."
"That's why you met with Dumbledore?" Ginny asked.
Hermione nodded.
"Then how did my name come up. I know you. You always tell the truth, even if it is not obvious."
"My prospective husband mentioned you. He saw you looking for me today."
"You don't get to wait till the end of the school year… The article said all witches of childbearing age, I would assume they meant to include those who have already finished school… and engaged and betrothed. You're not engaged so I would assume your betrothed. Why didn't you tell me? And why weren't you more upset at breakfast? You didn't seem any more upset then the rest of us."
Ginny was completely matter-of-fact. After her experience with Riddle, it took a lot to get her to show emotion. Most of her displays were exactly that, Ginny was a better actor then Hermione herself.
"I didn't know. Apparently my dad got drunk and arranged my engagement 20 years before I was conceived. I found out an hour ago."
"Most wizarding families who arrange their child's marriage are really old. Not all purebloods but definitely complete wizarding blood for at least eight generation. Most of them, meaning no offence, wouldn't touch your family with a ten foot pole. If your family was completely muggle no one would ever presume that you would be born a witch. A wizarding family arranged a marriage between a presumably muggle child and their ninth generation wizarding child about twenty years before either of you are born. That's odd. More information please Hermione."
Hermione stopped walking. She was two minutes from the front doors and by now Blaise would be waiting. Ginny noticed that Hermione had stopped walking and turned back to face her.
"I'll tell you about it tonight. You have two minutes to work out who I may be marrying before you see him. Think fast."
Hermione started walking again. Ginny waited a second and followed, thinking aloud.
"He told you I was looking for you so he was at the meeting but still around before that and I saw him then. I would have spoken to him if he knew I was looking for you. In your year but not a Gryffindor. Not Malfoy, Crabbe or Goyle. Maybe Zabini. Not Goldstien, Michael, Boot, McDougal or Entwhistle. Possibly Cornfoot. Not Hopkins or Macmillion but possible Finch-Fletchley. Blaise, Stephen or Justin. Didn't see Justin and didn't talk to Stephen. How on Earth did your family meet the Zabini's?"
They rounded a corner and saw Blaise waiting.
"I'm glad I didn't bet money. Thanks for providing a distraction Ginny, I'll talk to you later tonight. Thanks for waiting Blaise."
"First name basis already, very interesting." Ginny whispered. "See you later Hermione, Zabini."
"She knows?" Blaise asked.
"I told her about my upcoming nuptials, she guessed your involvement based on a very few, very small clues."
"Smart girl. So where are we going?"
"Into the forest, particularly a small clearing. It isn't due to rain for a few hours and between us we can handle any unruly animals."
"Why?"
"Their's is not to reason why…"
Blaise interrupted. "I don't want to do and die. I don't particularly appreciate the whole Valley of Death implication either."
"You know the poem?"
"I went to Horizon, accelerated program. They're big on their war poetry and 'Charge of the Light Brigade' was my personal favorite, despite Tennyson."
"I went to The British School, started when I was two, probably why I was so eager my first year here. Thought's of witchcraft were mocked unless it was part of a literary deconstruction."
"Could be why you are so good at the essays as well. Most of the kids here don't have a clue about formal writing."
"Can't really blame them, most schools don't address the topic in the junior years. It was the last thing I learnt in English."
"Same with me, in terms of curriculum but I got the basics early. I read a lot of non fiction books."
"I prefer the fantasy section myself, particularly the myths and legends of other cultures. I have a fascination with learning how other people live and their myths form an integral part of their development. Well we're here. Could you transfigure a table and chairs for me please?"
"Fie, but I really want to know why we are here." Blaise complained as he did what she requested.
"Just be patient." Hermione replied then cast a shield charm and anti-humidity charms around themselves and the table.
Once they were protected she brought out the laptop, battery and webcam. She replaced the battery in the computer, turned it on and connected the camera.
"You can get the internet here?" Blaise asked astounded.
"I can hack into the satellites. What time is it?"
"Quarter to six. We were walking rather slowly."
"Great. I owled my parents before getting the camera and they should be online by six. I want some answers about this." Hermione finally let some annoyance in her voice. At this point she didn't care if she hurt Blaise's feelings. Blaise called her up on it.
"I'm not exactly esthetic about this myself you know. I'm not the one who made this law, I didn't support it, and if not for an agreement made twenty years before either of us were conceived I wouldn't be subjected to it. I sympathise with you and all the other women who are subjected to it, but as long as I am not even remotely the cause of your problem, or theirs, I would appreciate it if I wasn't blamed. Even if we weren't betrothed you would still be in this predicament, it would just be delayed a few months."
"Your right Blaise, I'm sorry. I'm just freaking out at the moment. I never in my worst nightmares imagined I would be married while at school. I never imagined myself married at all, certainly not to someone I barely know. I never imagined becoming pregnant by 21. How could my dad have encouraged my ambition when he knew I could well have a child by 25 even if things went as he originally planned and this law never happened?"
"Having a child doesn't mean you can't work. Your parents are medical professionals and they still had you and raised you well."
"My parents had me when they were in their forties. I was their last chance for a child, my mother went through menopause when I was two. That was when they started sending me to The British School. My parents didn't really raise me, my nanny and the school did. I can't afford to do that for my child and I don't really want to either. I want to stay home and actually bond with my child and I can't do that and work."
"Well now is your chance to find out what is happening. It's two past six."
Hermione set everything up and a minute later there was a jerkily moving picture of Hermione's parents on the screen. As he was sitting right next to Hermione, Blaise could see them clearly and presumed that they could see them.
"Hermione sweeting, you sounded somewhat frantic in your note, is something wrong? And who is the young man next to you? You've never brought your friends with you when you talked to us before."
"This is Blaise Zabini, apparently my fiancé. Dad you have a lot of explaining to do."
"So Zechariah's son is at Hogwarts. I wondered when you never mentioned him."
"You arranged my marriage dad! I was engaged 20 years before I was born! I'm going to be married at 18 and in school. I'm magically bound to try to conceive a baby before I'm 21. I'm to try and have a baby before I can legally drink in some countries. I'm planning a marriage to a guy I only started talking to today. How could you do this to me?"
"Are you done sweet thing?" Robert Granger asked.
"I guess you need a chance to explain." Hermione conceded grumpily.
"I do need to explain but I have a few questions first so humor me please. First off, why are you getting married this year? You weren't meant to be worry about it for another 3 years."
"The Ministry of Magic went insane. They passed a law which is forcing every witch who is of childbearing age and of marriageable age to get married. Most current students get to finish their education first but those who are betrothed get to embrace matrimony sooner rather then later. If I don't marry someone within the month I get to be auctioned of to the highest bidder in June. Why did you do this dad?"
"Honey, I'm going to try and arrange a meeting with Professor Dumbledore. I'll come back in a few minutes Hermione." Mrs Granger excused herself.
"Calm down Hermione and listen. You should here this too Blaise. I went to The British School like you did Hermione, you knew that already and you know I did rather well. Even then I wanted to become a dentist but they didn't have student loans then, I had to pay upfront and I wanted to pay myself. Never a borrower or a lender be. I told my family that when they all offered to chip in and lend me the money. Your Great Aunt Sarah talked with her friend Professor Dumbledore and arranged a job for me. Your father, Blaise, wanted to go to a normal university and I was hired to tutor him so he would have the qualifications to get in."
"We know dad, you became friends, stayed friends and finished Uni together. Get to why you decided to arrange my marriage."
"Zechariah and I were very close, much like you and your two friends. Zechariah never really talked about his family but he loved mine. I would invite him to every family gathering we had over those five years, he charmed everyone, particularly Aunt Sarah. He told me that his family was nothing that, that it was obvious that everyone in my family loved each other but in his no one showed love. His parents were particularly bad, they had an arranged marriage as did their parents back through the generations. Zechariah himself had an arranged marriage but he had met his betrothed and he at least liked her. He didn't want that for his children but knew his parents would try to arrange a marriage for their grandchild if he didn't do so himself."
Robert smiled at Blaise wistfully.
"He was really worried about you Blaise and the future you would have. I worried too, Zechariah told me about the unrest in the wizarding world. There was a lot of prejudice in your social class and he knew you were likely to be immersed in it. He knew that any family your grandparents chose to ally you with would be in the thick of it. Zechariah was always thankful that his betrothal was a monetary merging and not political."
"Even then I would never have thought about arranging a marriage between our families but for Aunt Sarah. She broached the subject with me after meeting Zechariah and would remind me every gathering. She stressed that, as she was a witch, it was possible that my child could be as well. A muggle born child would face great prejudice and adversity, the Zabini's were powerful and a marriage would shield the entire family from much of it. It kept echoing in my mind and I broached the subject to Zechariah the night we had graduated."
"I tried to be fair Hermione, I could never have known this was coming. And even know you still have a choice, you need not marry Blaise if you don't want to. I am sure Harry or Ron would marry you, or even the other Weasley's. They would not expect you to leave school nor have children immediately. But please consider Blaise, Zechariah was a great man and he would have raised Blaise right. He came with you to speak to us and he didn't have to, both of you have to be willing or the marriage won't work, the rings will fail." Mr. Granger sounded almost desperate. He loved his daughter and wanted her to be happy.
"The rings will fail?" Blaise asked. Speaking up for the first time.
"Even after the betrothal we remained friends. I was best man at his wedding and he for mine. We intended to remain close for the rest of our lives, our children would be raised together and if the conditions were fulfilled the children would be friends already. I hoped that friendship would already protect you somewhat. But then the war with Voldemort first began. Zechariah had never made his loyalty clear, he was a fair wizard but he felt that he could help muggles if Voldemort won if he had pretended to sympathise with Voldemort. I believe he was somewhat like a spy, like your Professor Snape but he was not an active follower of Voldemort. He passed information from his gatherings onto Professor Dumbledore. When he knew for certain that Voldemort was gathering followers he felt it was to dangerous for our families to remain close."
"I argued but he was adamant. He knew that Voldemorts followers might be dropping in occasionly, trying to get him to chose a side. If they noticed him gone too often they might decide to follow him here, they might decide he was working for Dumbledore and kill him. It left the problem of how to know if we had to fulfill the contract, birth announcement might be lost and if either of us moved the owls may have trouble finding us. We didn't have an owl then anyway, it would be too odd when the neighbors visited. Zechariah's wife came up with the idea. She enchanted a couple of roses."
"Do you remember the glass rosebud we gave you for your fifth birthday Hermione? You swore the petals were opening until we took it away when you were nine. You said it gave you bad dreams?"
"I remember, I kept asking for it back but when you gave it back the next year it seemed different."
Robert Granger nodded. "It was a different one. The real one kept blooming, it is almost fully open now. When Carrabelle enchanted the roses their petals fell off, she gather the petals together and told us to keep them safe. We put them into a small porcelain box and hid it away. When you were born we took out the box and looked inside, we found that the petals were gone and a tiny rose was there inside. The rose matched your rate of growth but by five it was at almost it's full height and the blossoming was very gradual. We were sure that you would not notice until after you started Hogwarts."
"The rings dad."
"Carrabelle said that if you truly wanted to marry each other the roses would become your rings. She said that they were made with love and respond to it in kind. If you do not care for each other the roses will not change, if you care enough to help each other and accept that help the roses will disappear and become your wedding rings."
"Anything else you may need to tell me dad?"
"Aunt Sarah called this morning. She said to tell you to trust your heart and that darkness is merely the absence of you. She also said to remind you that you carry the light inside yourself and bring forth that light through others."
"Aunt Sarah was always cryptic. I just remembered another question dad. Why did you make it so no one could tell us about the contract? You set it up so you couldn't warn me early."
"I wanted you to have choice sweetings. I wanted you to have a chance to find love first, if I told you about the betrothal early you might have been resigned to it. You might not have dated, you might have rebelled and found someone wholly unsuitable to get back at me. It was designed so you and Blaise would know each other first, we weren't prophets Hermione, we didn't know about Voldemort or this damn law."
"I love you dad."
"I love you too Hermione. Let me grab your mother so you can say bye. She's probably hiding so the three of us can talk."
Mr. Granger disappeared and Hermione covered the microphone and turned to Blaise.
"So what do you think about my father?"
"Even if he sent you away he obviously still loves you. It may be why he sent you away."
"Thank you for coming with me Blaise. My father was right, you didn't have to. You were right, you don't have to marry me and you shouldn't be subject to this stupid law."
"I wanted to come with you and I need to make up my mind. Your parents are back."
Hermione turned back to the screen and took her hand away.
"Sorry about that mum, dad. I just needed to ask Blaise something."
"It's fine honey. Sorry about this mess, I must say that government of yours must be severely messed up if a law like this is passed. Let me know what happens." Mrs. Granger said soothingly.
"I can mail the rose if you like. Perhaps it will help you decide." Mr. Granger offered.
"Thanks dad. I'll email you later this week. And sorry for yelling at you, this day has been stressful."
"Not a problem. Remember, all things work for good for those that trust in Me."
A sign popped on screen stating that the Grangers had signed off.
"I guess that just leaves you and me Blaise."
"We should begin deciding what to do. We have enough information to at least begin."
"Let me bring up what I noticed about the law."
"I don't think you will need to refer to it but go ahead."
Hermione took a moment to revise it then turned to Blaise.
"Do you want to marry me?"
"I don't know. It has only been an option for a few hours and I've not had much time to consider it. Like you I never considered marrying, the only girl I felt to was my cousin and I obviously can't marry her. Wouldn't want to anyway, she feels like a sister."
"I can't marry Harry or any of the Weasley's, they're like family to me. I don't know any other guys all that well and most of them are so immature. I can't risk the auction block, too many former Voldemort sympathisers are out there and accidents happen."
"Is it just me or do you use a lot of clichés and pop culture references?"
"Probably just you. Do you have any idea's that might help me?"
"You need someone still at school or who will allow you to stay at school. At school would be best, the ministry may be notified of your marriage and might contest it if you aren't living with your husband."
"You should think short term." Blaise continued. "The law should be appealed by five years. It isn't designed for the long term and after the baby boom that should result there is no use for it anymore. Most of the Wizengamot will allow it to be appealed, especially if Fudge if sacked which he most likely will be."
"Finally you need someone you like but can still ask for a divorce if you want one. You want someone you can be happy with but they will likely be happy with you and you may hurt their feelings if you want a divorce. If you aren't completely happy and can see the marriage failing you need to be able to divorce even if your husband isn't happy with the idea."
Hermione thought about it. Blaise made sense; she was thinking long term and the problem seemed to be more short term. The law would be appealed but not quickly enough. Blaises estimation of five years was pessimistic; it was more likely to be three. In three years she could get a divorce and get her life back on track.
"I'm sure by now you've made a list of candidates to observe. You should make a list of what you need in your husband and rank it by importance. Once you're certain that you know what you need and how badly you need it, compare each candidate to the list. If he has everything and still doesn't seem right disregard him, if he has nothing but it seems right keep him. Just remember it is for the next few years, not for life."
Blaise came up to Hermione and gave her a quick hug.
"You'll work it out and we can meet tomorrow after breakfast finishes to decide what to tell Professor Dumbledore. You still have some time, take the night to think about it."
"Will you marry me if I decide you're the best candidate?" Hermione asked softly.
Blaise sighed. "I'm not sure Hermione. I need the night to think about it myself. You shouldn't consider if the guy will accept because you can't know for sure. Decide on facts and your own feelings, act like any guy you ask will definitely say yes. We should be getting back, it's dark and I believe you said you would be meeting Miss Weasley when you got back."
"You're right again. I'll just pack all this back up and we can go."
