Drafting a Marriage


Chapter 7:

Silence reigned in the Great Hall before, one by one, the students turned to look at Luna. For her part, Luna didn't have the normally vacant look she wore around the castle – it was a look of shock just like everyone else.

"Perhaps there's been a mistake," she finally whispered out. McGonagall merely shook her head and turned the parchment around so everyone could see, in clear black script, Luna Lovegood.

"Oh my," was all she could squeak out before hugging herself tightly and rocking slowly back and forth on the bench. No one had ever seen Luna so worked up and Padma, sitting next to her fellow Ravenclaw, immediately scooted closer so she could rub her back soothingly.

In the meantime, Unspeakable Robbins had already cleared all of Luna's other slips from the drum and spun it again. With a growing unease, the masses watched the drum stop and their Headmistress once again draw a slip out.

"Neville Longbottom," she called out after only a few seconds.

Neville wasn't sure whether to be relieved or sick, so he settled on putting his head on the table and wrapping his arms tightly over it as if he expected a tornado to suddenly strike.

When the drum stopped a third time, Minerva opened the parchment and almost sagged in relief. "Harry Potter," she stated and turned the parchment for everyone to see. Harry could only groan and soon joined Neville's position with his head down on the table.

"At least you have a high pick, mate," Ron commented from beside him. "That means you'll pretty much get any bird you want."

Hermione looked as though she would deck her redheaded friend while Harry grumbled, "Somehow that doesn't make me feel any better."

"The fourth pick will be … Susan Bones." Everyone nodded in acceptance; Susan had lost more to Voldemort's forces than anyone except Harry. She deserved to at least get this.

The fifth pick will be … Ron Weasley." Ron was the first person who looked pleased with the outcome, giving a significant look over to Annabeth sitting with some of her Hufflepuff friends.

McGonagall again paused for quite some time before reading the sixth pick. "The sixth pick will be … Lisa Turpin."

"Oh thank Merlin I'm already on the board!" Neville blurted out before blushing a bright red and hiding his face yet again. Lisa either didn't hear him or didn't care as she squealed in delight and hugged her friend Mandy.

Slowly, agonizingly, the drawing continued. Due to the whims of chance, a few people had higher picks than they anticipated. Among them were Tracey Davis, Hermione Granger, Parvati Patil, and Dean Thomas. Sadly, others had much lower picks than anticipated. These included Ginny Weasley, Padma Patil, Daphne Greengrass, and Hannah Abbot.

Finally the Headmistress fished out the last name in the drum –Stan Shunpike's position had not improved. Around the Great Hall students slowly recovered from their shock and began filtering out the doors and back to their dorm rooms. Meanwhile one of the Unspeakables conjured a large board showing the order of picks and affixed it to the wall. Harry chose to view this as a monolithic reminder of impending doom and realized that from now until the Christmas hols, he would have to get all his meals from the kitchen directly.


"Harry, have you done your defense essay yet?" Neville called across the dorm. Now that the wizarding world knew the two men had early picks it seemed every witch was trying their hardest to woo them. Being courageous Gryffindors, they again decided to hole themselves up in their dormitory as much as possible.

"Hmm?" grunted Harry, clearly immersed in his work and not paying attention to his friend.

"Defense, Harry. Have you done the essay yet?"

"Umm … yeah, here you go," he replied, tossing the rolled-up parchment to Neville.

Neville caught the parchment but continued to study Harry for a couple minutes. "What are you working on?" he inquired curiously. "You seem … troubled or something."

Harry ducked his head in shame for a bit before directing a piercing look toward his friend. "You promise you won't laugh?"

"On my magic."

After appraising Neville for a bit longer, Harry reluctantly rolled up a second piece of parchment and walked stiffly across the dorm room. Without a word he unrolled it and sat down on the trunk beside Neville's bed.

After adjusting his vision to read Harry's scrawl, Neville noticed it was a list – a list of witches.

Neville looked up at his friend only to see him hanging his head in shame. With a deep sigh, Neville opened his book bag and dug around until he found a folded piece of parchment. Unfolding it slowly he placed it in front of Harry's bowed head, cringing slightly at what his reaction would be.

Harry took one look at the list then looked up at Neville, shock etching his features. "You too?" he blurted out.

Neville could only nod sheepishly. "I reckon everyone has one of these, even if they won't admit to it. I think I waited a week before I realized I better do something like this. I would hate to blurt out the first name that came to mind when it comes time, yeah?"

Both boys shuddered at the thought momentarily before locking gazes. Despite being unsaid, they both came to the same conclusion; it was time to compare lists.

"I'm surprised Ginny isn't on this. So you two are done, eh?"

Harry ruffled his hair in discomfort; after all, he saw that Ginny had appeared on Neville's list. "Erm … yeah, I think so. We had a talk a few weeks back and I think we're square. Well, she hasn't attempted to hex me at least."

"Yet, Harry. She hasn't attempted to hex you yet," Neville corrected. Harry shot his friend a concerned look before Neville could no longer maintain his poker face and cracked a smile. "Piss off," Harry muttered but looked relieved nonetheless.

"You have a good list; these are all very nice witches," Harry said has he handed Neville back the parchment.

Neville couldn't help but eye Harry appraisingly. He really got to know his dorm mate far better this year – what with being his near constant study partner due to their witch-induced exile in the Gryffindor dormitory – and therefore was able to read his body language better. He was no Hermione, but Neville figured he was now a solid number two in the school at reading Harry. "Out with it, Harry. What are you thinking?"

Again Harry looked a bit nervous. After trying to start a couple times, he finally managed to mumble out, "I guess I … I just figured you … well, I thought you would have Hermione on the list as well."

A few seconds passed while Neville processed this observation. "Well, she's a wonderful, wonderful witch. I just figured either you or Ron would choose her."

"But you pick before me or Ron does," Harry pointed out, slowly saying each word as if explaining a complex topic to a first year.

Before Neville could think of a way to tactfully ask Harry about his feelings for Hermione, the door burst open to reveal Seamus and Dean. "Mates!" Seamus exclaimed loudly before seeing the two boys shuffling parchment out of view and looking decidedly guilty. Looking back and forth between the two, he looked to Dean and narrowed his eyes. Dean merely looked confused before a grin slowly formed on his face.

Whipping a folded piece of parchment out of his pocket he proclaimed, "Alright mates, let's see those lists!"


Hermione and a group of three witches were pouring through thick tomes of runes, working to complete yet another project. While they still had three days to complete their work, things weren't going as quickly as usual for this normally bright group.

"Luna, have you found the translation for this symbol yet," Hermione asked as she slid a parchment over to the blonde.

No response. While Luna wasn't the most engaged person even on 'good' days, she had truly been lost in her own world ever since the drawing on Halloween. As the silence stretched on, Padma Patil and Susan Bones looked up from their books and noticed that nervous, unfocused stare they recently associated with Luna.

"Luna?" Susan called again, touching the girl's arm to get her attention. Jumping slightly, Luna looked back and forth to the three witches now staring back at her with a mixture of concern, pity, and discomfort.

"Sorry … I must have been attacked by Nargles or something," Luna replied, feebly attempting to pass off her inattention.

Padma gently chided, "It's not Nargles, Luna. We can see the stress you're under. It's this marriage law, isn't it?"

Luna's large eyes began to well with tears as she nodded mutely to her house-mate. With a quivering whisper she managed to choke out, "With other things, I've been able to push away my anxiety. If I didn't have friends, I just embraced my own creatures. If someone didn't like me, I thought about other things to make me happy. This … I can't escape this."

"So … you have no idea who you'll choose?" Hermione questioned.

Luna gave a watery chuckle, which surprised the others. "Not in the slightest. I mean, there are certain wizards I fancy but I don't want to make them unhappy that I chose them. Some people don't think I'm the most normal of girls, you know."

The group couldn't help but smile at this. "I can see how some might think that," Susan replied. "But you are a very endearing witch; you should choose the person you want and they will soon realize just how wonderful you are." The other two nodded in agreement, trying their best to comfort Luna.

Luna seemed to be considering Susan's arguments, as her tears subsided. "Who are you three considering, then? Perhaps I could get some ideas?"

Hermione looked slightly taken aback by the notion but soon realized this was Luna being, well, Luna. "Erm, I don't know if I have anyone in particular in mind," she started when she realized both Padma and Susan were looking to her for the first response to Luna's question. "But I do have a list of criteria that I think would mean a good fit." Seeing the other girls waiting, she felt her cheeks flush in embarrassment. It's not like she had a wealth of dating experience to base her decisions on!

Looking down at the table and nervously twisting her quill in her hands, she plunged on. "Well, they should be intelligent because I would like to have someone I can discuss things with. They need to be at least open to muggle things, since I'll always have some portion of time in that world due to my parents. I would like a career, so someone who is also open-minded about a witches role in society. Umm …" She trailed off, thinking about what else she felt was important.

"Nothing about how they look?" asked Susan curiously.

"Well, obviously I would like him to be at least decent looking," she finally conceded. "But honestly I care more about the person they are than the, er, package they come in," she finished while blushing anew.

Each girl smiled, feeling better knowing that even Hermione cared somewhat about appearances. Padma finally broke the silence by asking, "If that's your criteria, why in Merlin's name did you date Ron then?"

The ensuing laughter led to a very red-faced Hermione, an angry Madame Pince, and four witches who had to abandon their research early due to being thrown out of the library.


Ron just dropped Annabeth off back at the Hufflepuff dorm room and was whistling an unidentifiable tune when he heard, "Oi! Weasley!"

Turning, Ron saw Justin Finch-Fletchley hurrying toward him. Grabbing Ron's arm, Justin dragged the redhead into a nearby classroom before closing and sealing the door.

Ron, who up to this point thought Justin was a decent bloke, eyed the other boy warily and discretely slid his wand out from his robes. "Justin, what the bloody hell are you doing?"

Justin realized the tension in Ron's posture and put his wand down on a desk and slowly backed away. "Sorry, Ron. I just wanted to talk." Relaxing a bit, Ron motioned for Justin to say his piece.

Taking a deep breath, the Hufflepuff started, "Ron, I wanted to ask you a question. I don't need an answer right away, but I at least wanted you to think about it."

Justin waited for Ron to say … something … but the silence stretched. Steeling himself again, Justin continued, "Being a muggle-born I don't have a very good position in this marriage draft. I recall you asking the Minister if we could exchange spots …" He let the question linger, just to plant the seed in Ron's mind. His father was a businessman and, being the eldest son, Justin slowly learned the ropes that he would one day take over. His father's first rule: don't ask for a decision unless you are out of time. Plant the seeds instead and let the idea grow so you can nuture it properly.

"So you have a proposition for me?" Ron replied slowly, cottoning on to where this was headed.

Justin shook his head and reiterated, "I have a question. My question is what would it take for you to give up your spot?"

Ron stared back with narrowed eyes, rubbing his chin slowly. "So … like a certain number of galleons?"

"Maybe. Maybe not. I just want you to think about it. There are a lot of things to consider and all I'm asking is that you consider them. Yeah?"

The signs of concentration stayed on Ron's face but Justin could tell the wheels were turning. Slowly Ron started to nod while continuing to rub his chin. "Yeah, I can consider that."

"That's all I ask," Justin replied, trying to maintain his poise. "Just let me know if you want to talk." With that he picked up his wand and turned to flick it at the door. Once unlocked and open, he exited into the hallway to head back toward his common room.

Ron stood there deep in thought for a beat before fishing around in his pockets for some spare parchment and a quill. With new purpose, he headed toward the Great Hall in order to consult the drafting board.