Disclaimer: All characters and things associated with Harry Potter belong to J.K. Rowling and Warner Brothers. This writing is for pure entertainment only.

Summary: Set at end of HBP. As the ministry falls further under Voldemorts control a new law is passed, forcing Hermione into a life she wasn't ready for. How will it affect the horcrux hunt and the fight against Voldemort?

CHAPTER 4

Two days had passed since Hermione and Ron's trip to the Ministry and Hermione had hardly had time to think about anything but her impending and almost immediate wedding, let alone the idea of being forced to sleep with Ron in order to conceive a child neither of them were ready for. She and Ron would be getting married in three days, and that was why she found herself in such a situation.

At the present moment, Hermione stood in front of a long mirror in the living room, while Mrs. Weasley, Fleur, and Ginny conjured up different wedding dresses for her to wear. So far they had no luck on finding a dress they could all agree on. Hermione thought the whole thing was really silly; after all, as everyone had said days earlier, it wasn't a real wedding.

"Mrs. Weasley, I really don't think this is necessary…" Hermione said, currently trying on her twelfth dress of that morning.

"Of course it is, Hermione." Mrs. Weasley said.

"But it's not even a real wedding…" Hermione reasoned.

"We still need to make it believable to the Ministry." Mrs. Weasley argued back.

"Plus, if you are going to do it, why not have a little fun with it?" Ginny added, knowing how much Hermione hated trying on all these dressed. This was not Hermione's idea of fun at all.

"It really doesn't matter to me what I wear…" Hermione said simply.

"If she doez not care. Vy are vee vesting our time?" Fleur asked, a bit of annoyance in her voice. Clearly, she did not like that Ron and Hermione's wedding was overtaking the planning of her and Bill's.

"Because we want her to look proper for this." Mrs. Weasley said simply.

"Who knows…maybe it will last. Then you will be happy you had on a nice dress…" Ginny teased.

Hermione tried her best to glare at Ginny but it was hard to hide her smile at the idea of being with Ron like that. She had to admit; when she thought about her future, she always saw Ron in it. She would like to believe that Ginny had made a good point, but she just wasn't certain. Ron was beyond difficult to read and she had given him many chances in the past few days to admit he had feelings for her. He had not done so.

Ron, Harry, Remus, and Tonks sat over tons of books on Magical Law and parchments decreeing recent laws as well as different court cases. They had been looking, for two days straight, for someway around the part of the law that said Hermione and Ron had to consummate their love and try to produce a child. So far, they had found nothing.

"This is bloody useless…" Ron rubbed his eyes, tried from reading.

"Are you throwing the towel in? Because if you are…well you know what that means…" Harry laughed to himself.

"Shut up, Harry." Ron snapped at his friend and then went back to the book he was reading. He knew there was a small chance they could figure out a way around the sex and baby part of the law, but he wouldn't give that easily.

"Relax, Ron…" Remus could tell the redheaded teen was stressed out and he understood why, but he didn't think Ron and Harry fighting would fix anything.

"Yeah. If there is something to find in this mess, we will find it…" Tonks agreed with her husband, shifting through all the papers in front of her.

"Well, lets be real…this is looking horrible. We've been at it for two days…" Ron said, rubbing his eyes again and trying to wrap his mind around what he and Hermione were going to have to do in two days if there was no way around this law. He couldn't help the way his body reacted to the thought of undressing Hermione, but at the same time he felt guilty for it. He knew it was wrong of him to want Hermione like that when she was clearly dreading what they were going to have to do. If she really did like him, this was not how he wanted her to remember her first time with him and this was not how he wanted to remember their first time together.

Mr. Weasley and Kingsley stood in the elevator together, speaking in hushed tones. To anyone on the outside, they were not supposed to be on friendly terms. Kingsley was supposed to be an auror under the guidance of the ministry, and Weasley was a known blood-traitor.

"We need to figure out some more about this law…" Mr. Weasley whispered.

"I know. Keep your ears opened in case you hear anything…" Kingsley nodded, looking straight ahead as the elevator door opened and Yaxley stepped in.

Mr. Weasley immediately stepped far away from Kingsley and immediately got off the elevator at the next stop, leaving Kingsley and Yaxley alone.

"What did that filthy blood-traitor have to say?" Yaxley asked Kingsley once Mr. Weasley was off the elevator.

Kingsley realized this was his opportune moment and seized it. "He was just complaining about the marriage law…it pertaining to his son Ron in particular."

Yaxley laughed. "Yes, I met his son a few days ago. He's been paired with that Granger girl…we figured two of Potter's friends out for the count won't hurt anyone…"

"How do you figure?" Kingsley asked.

"Well, either Granger and Weasley follow the law and she falls pregnant…which renders her useless…or they don't follow it and we get to punish them severely." Yaxley grinned at this. "We are counting on the second one."

"What if they just lie and say they are trying for a child?" Kingsley asked.

"Oh, we have taken many measures to ensure there is no possible way they can lie to us. If they attempt to, we will find out, and they will be punished." Yaxley continued to smile as the elevator stopped and he stepped off.

Kingsley just nodded to him, feeling rather sick to his stomach. So this whole law did have many hidden meanings, and in regards to Hermione and Ron, it really was done in order to punish Harry and the Weasley family, as well as Hermione for her blood. Kingsley shook his head, having a feeling that the upcoming battle with Voldemort would be worse then the first.

Hermione still stood in the living room, trying on more wedding dresses while Ginny and Fleur had completely lost interest, both sitting on the couch, merely shaking their heads at every dress Hermione tried on. The only one who still seemed interested was Mrs. Weasley.

"How about this one, dear?" Mrs. Weasley held up another dress she had sewn together, with magic, in about five minutes.

Hermione gave Mrs. Weasley a weak smile. In truth, she was exhausted of standing there, trying on dress after dress; she was keeping a strict record in her mind, and she knew she was on her thirty-seventh dress now.

"Mum…she is sick of trying them on…and we are sick of watching…" Ginny complained from the couch.

Mrs. Weasley looked up at Hermione and realized the curly-haired brunette did look rather tired. "Oh alright…one more, Hermione? Then we will just have to pick out of the ones we sort of liked…"

"Sure." Hermione smiled a little more, knowing this would be the last dress. She quickly slipped it on, flattening it against her tiny waist before glancing up to see Mrs. Weasley standing their with her mouth covered and Ginny and Fleur both glancing from the couch in astonishment.

"What?" Hermione asked, searching their faces for some sort of reason for their reactions.

"You look…" Ginny said.

"Beautiful…" Fleur ended Ginny's sentence, clearing in awe.

Hermione's brows creased together as she glanced at Mrs. Weasley who was just nodding feverishly, unable to say a word.

Hermione turned quickly to view herself in the mirror and realized they were right; she looked amazing. The dress was simple, strapless with just a small hint of lace around her small breast. Hermione had never seen herself look so beautiful in her whole life. She truly, in that instant, forgot about the circumstances of her impending marriage and simply saw herself for what she was; a beautiful bride-to-be.

Ron, Harry, Remus, and Tonks were still sitting on the kitchen, going over all the material they could find with literally no luck on any way around the consummation of the marriage part of the law.

While the four were hovering over the books and parchment, Mr. Weasley and Kingsley apparated into the kitchen, both looking rather tired from work. Immediately, all eyes were on them.

"Did you find anything out?" Ron asked quickly.

"Not anything you want to hear…" Kingsley sighed.

"Brilliant…" Ron sighed; slamming the book he had been reading shut.

"I'm sorry. I ran into Yaxley today…" Kingsley started.

"Who's that?" Harry asked.

"The git that me and Hermione met with at the Ministry…" Ron said.

"Anyway, he said they are banking on you and Hermione not following the consummation part of the law. Our worst fears were confirmed…they chose the two of you to render you useless to Harry…" Kingsley said.

Harry and Ron exchanged a look.

Mr. Weasley, who had been told the story by Kingsley, picked it up from there. "The Ministry figures that either Hermione gets pregnant and you can't help Harry, or you two don't follow the law completely and they punish you…"

"Either way you can't help me…" Harry nodded, understanding.

"Those sick bas—" Tonks started, but stopped when she saw Remus make a face at the language she was about to use. She simply shrugged; they deserved to be called that, didn't they?

"Well, I guess there is only one bloody thing to do…" Ron sighed, although he was embarrassed of the fact that the idea of sleeping with Hermione didn't completely turn him off, but rather did the opposite. He wouldn't let anyone know that though.

"What's that?" Remus asked the redheaded teen, curious to the solution he had come upon.

"Pray to bloody merlin that I don't have it in me to knock her up…" Ron grinned as if it were a private joke.

Everyone else laughed nervously, realizing that was probably the only thing they could hope for.

"I mean, I usually am not that lucky…if we do it once, I doubt I'd be able to…you know…" Ron shrugged, his ears hot with embarrassment.

"Well then yes, we will pray that Weasley's are no more potentate then anyone else…" Kingsley added to the joke, trying to break the nervous tension in the room.

As everyone was coming to terms with what was going on in the kitchen, Mrs. Weasley appeared in the door frame, clearing her throat and causing everyone to look over at her.

"I know its not traditional for Ron to see his bride before the big day, but Hermione insisted on getting everyone's opinion on this dress…" Mrs. Weasley said.

"You're still trying on dresses? Weren't you doing that when I left this morning?" Mr. Weasley raised an eyebrow.

Mrs Weasley turned a sharp eye on her husband, but stepped out of the doorframe, allowing Hermione to step through.

A pin could have dropped and been heard when everyone's eyes fell on Hermione. She looked down at the dress in embarrassment as she felt everyone in the kitchen's eyes on her.

Finally, Hermione mustered up the strength to look up. "Well…?"

Ron's mouth gapped open and shut. He was certain he had never seen anything more beautiful then Hermione in that moment. She was undeniably perfect. The dress clung to her in such a way that he could see every curl in her body and the white of it made her look so pure, so innocent. His body reacted immediately to her, but he was at a loss of words.

"You look lovely, dear." Tonks was the first to respond.

"Radiant." Remus added with a nod.

Hermione smiled at them both, but her eyes moved toward Harry and Ron; they were the ones she really wanted the opinion from; Ron even more so.

"I'm impressed, Hermione." Harry gave a nod. She did look great, but it was like looking at his sister.

Hermione smiled and then her eyes locked with Ron's blue ones. She wanted his opinion, he was really the only one she was concerned about. She knew it was silly, but the second she had put that dress on, things felt right, as if her and Ron were getting married because they wanted to, not because they had to. That was the illogical part of her mind; the logical part continued to tell her this was happening over some barbaric law and she was hardly ready to be wed at eighteen.

For the past few minutes, however, Hermione had let the illogical part of her mind run wild. She continued to look at Ron, waiting for a response.

Ron managed to pick his chin up off the table long enough to respond. "You look…bloody beautiful…"

Hermione blushed slightly, shrugging a bit and then rambling on, "Well, my hair will be done and I'll have some make-up on…"

"Perfect…" Ron's eyes were glued to Hermione as he whispered the words, mostly to himself, though Hermione heard him as she blushed a deeper shade of crimson.

Ginny, who was standing behind Hermione, glanced over at Harry and they both raised an eyebrow at the exchange between Ron and Hermione.