They spent all morning in the flat, figuring they may as well just wait for the official that was due to show up at any time before the end of their work day, likely around five o'clock. Hermione said she wanted to get it over and done with, deal with the ministry worker as soon as possible rather than risk being elsewhere when they dropped by and having to anticipate when they would reschedule. Fred didn't argue with her there.

They ate breakfast, showered, dressed and then Hermione took to a book while Fred busied himself by nicking a few of the workbooks from the shop and revising the potions and recipes written within them as well as looking over the ideas for new products.

Things were different between them now, even as he sat on the couch with her against his side. All morning, from the moment the two had left the bedroom, he could feel the change between them. It had never taken much to get a blush from Hermione but now every time he met her eyes her cheeks turned slightly pink at the very least. And she seemed to be in a different place as well, her mind elsewhere as she went about her day.

He knew he wasn't acting entirely the same either. He was feeling sort of conflicted around her himself. If he stared at her just a moment too long his thoughts returned to what had transpired the night before. He had to fight the urge to scoop her up and take her back into the bedroom, had to stop himself from remembering the way her body had felt beneath his, the way she reacted to his touch, from imagining what other reactions he could get from her. It was damn near painful.

Around noon, the official still hadn't arrived and Fred and Hermione were getting hungry. Fred searched the fridge and found that Hermione had bought deli meat and sandwich bread. He made turkey and cheese sandwiches for the both of them, which they ate on the couch over light conversation.

The official knocked on the door at two o'clock. Hermione answered it as Fred had just excused himself to the loo and was met by a woman in grey robes with a tight, though not unkind, smile. Her dark hair was pulled back in a tight ponytail at the nape of her neck. "Hello, Mrs. Weasley, my name is Grace Pollock and I've been assigned to oversee your, among others, marriage."

Hermione nodded and opened the door wider, stepping aside. "Come in," she invited.

The woman left her sensible heels at the door and entered the flat primly.

"Can I get you something to drink?" Hermione offered. "A cup of tea?"

"No, thank you. Hello, Mr. Weasley." She nodded at Fred, who had just come out of the washroom, and produced a brown file folder from the brief case she carried. Getting right down to business as Fred led the way to the couch, she began. "So. You two were married Thursday evening, that's correct?"

They nodded.

"And I assume the marriage was consummated in the given forty-eight hours?"

They showed her their gold bands as proof whilst nodding once again.

She fixed them a serious look. "And you two are aware that it is against the law to use any method of contraceptive during intercourse with your partner. And doing so constitutes as failure to adhere to the law and you will therefore be sentenced to time in prison or have your wand snapped."

"Yes," Hermione replied.

"Wonderful," said, though it seemed a tad dry with her monotone. "Now." She glanced at the file and read as though she was ticking items off of a grocery list. "You two are required to engage in intercourse once a week. Mrs. Weasley—"

"Hermione," she corrected. "Hermione is fine."

The woman looked put off at being interrupted and continued tersely. "Hermione, you are expected to be pregnant within the year. You must see a healer every month to be tested until you are either announced pregnant or you and/or Mr. Weasley are proven to be sterile, in which case you may either see the ministry about being exempt from the law or continue on as you are. Understood?"

"Yes," Hermione agreed, though she was tense all the while.

"Good. And you are both living here?"

Fred nodded, encasing Hermione's hand in his and squeezing gently.

"Let's have a look around then, shall we?" Ms. Pollock suggested.

Fred got to his feet and began to usher the woman around the flat. Hermione followed them and threw her own little tidbits in every once in a while. Ms. Pollock didn't dawdle. She wrote things down as she went, though she gave no indication of what, and they went along from the living room, to a glance around the kitchen, a quick peek into the loo, then Fred's room, then Hermione's.

That was when Ms. Pollock stopped writing and faced the pair. "This is your room," she said, looking at Hermione. "That other one was Mr. Weasley's? Your things are all in here."

Hermione nodded, looking at Fred worriedly.

"Okay." Ms. Pollock closed the file and tucked it back into her briefcase. "I see you're both following the law accordingly. That makes my role in all of this a lot easier." She stood ramrod straight and folded her hands in front of her. "But this law is about more than repopulation. This law has been put into place to bring people together again, to stop the prejudice and the bigotry. The ministry wants these marriages to work. You are going to produce a child. You are going to be parents. Ideally, you are going to be a family." She gave them a long look before turning on her heel and heading out to the front door, talking all the while.

"Now, I cannot make you share a bed, meals, conversations, your lives with each other. Nowhere in the law does it command you to care for one another. But, it would be nice, wouldn't it?" She put on her shoes and straightened her robe. Her tone was incredibly formal once again. "As your assigned agent, I have full derestriction to simply check-in whenever I'd like. I will be checking in and I will be speaking with your healer. Your first appointment should be scheduled for the end of the month. And I trust you two will be…complying to the law's requirements until then."

"Yeah," Fred said, the corner of his mouth quirking up. "We'll be having sex. Don't worry about it."

Hermione looked down, trying to hide both her smile and her blush. He was unbelievable. "Thank you, Ms. Pollock," Hermione said finally as Fred got the door for her.

"Goodbye, Mr. Weasley, Mrs. Weasley."

The door shut behind her and Hermione sighed. "Goodbye and good riddance," she said. "How often do you think we'll have to see that woman?"

Fred shrugged. "That wasn't so bad. Could have been worse. Ron said they've only been visited three times."

Hermione didn't think that would be so bad. "Harry and Ginny say their official just likes to stop by for a chat every once in a while."

"Well, Ms. Pollock doesn't seem the type for that," Fred commented. He looked at the time. "Do you want to get out of here?" he asked. "Go for a walk or something?"

In all honesty, Hermione didn't feel like doing much of anything. She would have rather curled up on the couch for a while with Fred and a trashy romance novel or maybe even slipped into bed for a quick nap. She could tell that Fred was going to go a little stir crazy in the flat though, there wasn't much for him to do there. She wouldn't really mind going out for a bit. "Okay," she agreed. "Sure."

Hermione couldn't help but think about what Ms. Pollock had said. It'd been running through the back of her mind all day. A family. Parents. She and Fred were going to be parents. She was going to be pregnant. She was going to have a child. Fred's child. The idea was terrifying, and yet her stomach fluttered at the thought.

She changed into her pyjamas and left her room to hurry her way to his. There was a moment of hesitation as she stood outside of his door nearly closed door. She knew he'd said knocking wasn't necessary but at the same time she didn't want to walk right in if he was indecent. The worry was a little ridiculous considering that just last night she had seen it all, but for propriety's sake she took it upon herself to call, "Fred?" and wait for a reply.

"You can come right in, Hermione."

She turned the knob and entered the room sheepishly. Fred gave her a grin, his hair ruffled as the neck of his t-shirt had just passed over his head and he put his arms through the sleeves of the garment. She laughed. "Backwards, Fred," she pointed out. The tag of his shirt stuck out under his chin.

"Oh." He pulled his arms back into his shirt and twisted it around. "Thanks."

"So, I was wondering…I mean, I know after last night it's not…well, I was hoping I could sleep in here." She licked her bottom lip nervously.

Fred smiled. "Yeah," he said. "Go right ahead." He nodded towards the bed.

"Um." Her eyes closed and she took a deep breath. "Permanently?" she asked, hesitantly, hopefully.

"Whatever you want, Hermione." He strode over to her, brushing her hair back from her face and cupping her cheek. Her eyes flicked up to him, wide beneath her dark lashes. He kissed her, his mouth warm and inviting against hers. "Permanently sounds great."

Together they turned down the bedding and got under the covers. Fred turned on his side to face her and Hermione did the same, sweeping her hair out behind her and smiling slightly.

He smiled back. "Here's a question," he said, "and don't feel like you have to say either way on my account, but are you going to take my name? I never asked."

She was taken off guard by the inquiry. She hadn't thought about it herself really. Fred filled the silence. "Are you going to continue to go by Hermione Granger?"

Her lips pursed thoughtfully. She tried out the variations of her name in her head, like reading a crushing schoolgirl's notebook. She thought about people addressing her as Mrs. Weasley. It wasn't a bad title, she considered, but in her own mind that name was reserved for Fred's mum and Fred's mum only. On the other hand, she had just been thinking about starting a family with Fred and in that case taking her husband's name sounded quite nice. Her mind went to her own parents. They might not have been aware of it, but they were still Grangers, and so was she.

"Hermione…Granger Weasley," she settled on slowly.

He repeated it back and she nodded decidedly. "I like it," he announced.

"I'll have to work on my signature."

He chuckled and reached for her hand, wanting some sort of contact. As his thumb patterned back and forth on her soft skin, her fingers folded around his.

"So, I'm back at work tomorrow," she told him. "I don't know what time you usually get up at…" She trailed off in hopes that he'd fill in the blank.

"The shop opens at nine," Fred told her, "closes at five thirty. George and I are usually down there by about eight though."

"Well, I have to be in the office for eight," Hermione said, "so I'll probably be up at about seven. I should be home just after five or so. I won't wake you when I leave, will I?"

He shook his head. "I'll be fine," he dismissed.

"Okay."

He watched her expression carefully. She seemed sort of sad. "Everything alright?" he asked.

"Fine," she replied. "I just...as much as I do love my job, the past couple of days have been really nice." Her voice was soft as she looked down at the space between them. "You know, I thought…well, I don't know what I thought but it isn't a thing like this is." She met his blue eyes. "In a good way," she added hurriedly.

She had thought that going back to work would be something she'd look forward to after the wedding. Sitting behind her desk, filing paperwork, arranging meetings; it would all be a bit of welcomed normalcy, a nice contrast to the unfamiliarity of where she'd be returning to come five o'clock. Now, she wasn't so sure. While she hadn't exactly settled into routine quite yet and things were still a little foreign, she found the idea of spending more time with Fred, just the two of them, rather appealing. The last few days had been different, strange like the nonsensical dreams one had whilst asleep. They didn't make sense but they seemed sort of right, enjoyable. She wasn't sure she was ready to wake up quite yet.

Fred nodded. "I know what you mean," he said.

Author's Note: Hi! I know, I know, I was very on the fence about this. But I'm thinking after this chapter I might just fly through a whole overview of things and write snippets for the good parts like pregnancy and such. An epilogue of sorts? Anyway, I really do want to write it but I'm not sure how long it will take me as my main focus is "Lettie" at the moment, I'm trying to finish that up. So, I hope you'll let me know if you'd be interested in seeing that, if you guys want it written than I will most definitely write it, I just can't make promises on how soon it will be finished.

Also, thank you so much for all of your wonderful feedback on the last chapter. I was very antsy about hearing from you guys as I wasn't sure how I did on it. You all are such an amazing and lovely bunch of readers. Thanks a million and one.

Anyways,

Scarlett