A/N: Written for Hermione's Haven Roll-a-Drabble Prompt in February 2019. My Roll-a-Drabble prompts were: Hermione/Marcus and Marriage LAw. No beta other than Grammarly. I will be updating these for each month that I do them. They will have a variety of pairings, but all are starring Hermione. Ratings will be a solid M for curse words. And the goal is to be between 100-1k words. Find me on Tumblr at crochetawayhpff.

WiPP

Marcus Flint stared glumly at the piece of parchment in front of him. How had this even happened? He narrowed his eyes at the parchment as if glaring at it would give him the answers he was searching for. None were forthcoming. He read the whole thing again, just to make sure it said what he thought it did.

Dear Marcus Tiberius Flint,

Congratulations! You have been matched in the Ministry of Magic's Wizarding Perpetuity Program! You'll find all the details of the law on pages two through seven (2-7) paragraphs A through P.

You were matched with:

Hermione Jean Granger

Please arrange a time to speak with your intended within the next week. A marriage is expected to be performed between you within sixty (60) days of receiving this notice.

As a reminder failure to comply with the Wizarding Perpetuity Program will result in your expulsion from the wizarding world including the snapping of your wand and a thorough Obliviation.

Sincerely,

Wendella Bridgeport

Junior Minister of the Department of Marriages, Births, and Deaths

It said the same thing it did a moment ago. What was this tosh about a Wizarding Perpetuity Program? And marriage? How could he marry Hermione Granger? How was any of this possible?

He wasn't as stupid as most made him out to be, he knew who Hermione Granger was and there was no way she would consent to be alone in the same room with him, let alone marry him. He crumpled the parchment, without reading the bits about the requirements of the law and tossed it into his rubbish bin. It had to be a joke. He stood up and left the room, grabbing his broom on the way, he was going to be late to practice if he didn't hurry.

Unbeknownst to Marcus, the parchment unfolded itself and flew across the room to land on his desk once again.

Marcus was dead tired when he returned from practice, he flew directly to the front door of his apartment building, removing he Disillusionment Charm the moment he landed and ascertained no Muggles were about. He'd worked himself hard, trying to forget about that bit of parchment he'd thrown away earlier. Marcus took the four flights of stairs up to his flat. He lived in Portree, preferring to live close to his team training facility rather than the ancestral manor home in the South of Wales. He hated that place.

He stopped short when he spotted Granger leaning against his door, waiting for him. The very witch that had been on his mind the majority of the day was now standing before him. She was in fashionable work robes that showed off her figure and Marcus swallowed hard.

"Hello," she said. She sounded pleasant enough, but Marcus was still wary. She was a war hero, venerated in their society while he played for a Quidditch team that barely broke the halfway mark on the ladder each season. Why was she here?

"Hullo," Marcus replied sullenly. He could barely meet her eye and dropped his gaze to the floor. Any moment she would begin berating him for something that he knew wasn't his fault, but who could blame her? Why would she want to be stuck with him for the rest of her life? Nobody in their right mind would want that.

"Can we go inside...maybe talk a bit?" she asked. Her voice was soft and Marcus thought maybe she sounded nervous. He chanced a glance up to her face to see she was biting her bottom lip. Heat suffused him and he looked away quickly again. He nodded and approached the door. She stepped aside and he unlocked it with a flick of his wand.

He walked through the door briskly, sending his broom off to where it belonged with a flick of his wand as he headed toward the kitchen.

"Tea?" he mumbled, not caring whether she actually responded or not.

"Sure," she said. "I can make it though. It looks like you just came from practice. Would you want to shower before we talk?"

Marcus whirled around and glared at her. Why was she being so nice? The truth was, he did want to shower. It was his ritual to come home from practice and have a shower and a wank. He clenched his jaw, no way was he going to be able to relax enough to have a wank with her in his flat.

"Tea things are above the cooker," Marcus grunted. He edged around her and headed for the bathroom. He didn't understand what was going on and hoped that she would explain herself once they sat down to have a cuppa.

He rushed through his shower and was back out in the sitting room in record time. Granger already had the tea tray set up on the coffee table and was pouring for them both. He settled next to her uneasily on the sofa, the only other piece of furniture in the room. She looked at him with a question in her eyes.

"Splash of milk and a lump," Marcus said. She added the milk and sugar and gave the cup a delicate stir before handing it to him.

After fixing her own, she leaned back into the sofa and sipped her tea. She smiled faintly, before settling the cup in her lap and piercing him with her frank gaze. He looked away, sipping his own tea.

After several long moments where Marcus could feel her watching him and he refused to look at her, he finally spoke. "Why are you here?"

"Didn't you get the announcement about the whip?" Granger asked.

"The what?" Marcus asked, eyes widening.

"The WiPP, the Wizarding Perpetuity Program,"

Marcus grunted, he hated all the acronyms thrown around by the Ministry. "I was hoping that was a prank."

Granger laughed, a tinkling sound that Marcus thought was rather pleasant.

"If only," she said after a moment. "No, it's quite real."

"Doesn't explain why you are here," Marcus said. He finished his tea and set the cup on the coffee table. Immediately he wished he still had something to fiddle with or a reason to not look at her.

"More?" Granger asked, leaning forward.

Marcus shook his head.

Granger sighed and leaned back again. Marcus could smell the faint scent of her perfume, orange blossoms, vanilla, and something he couldn't quite place. It was lovely.

"I'm here because we've been matched, Marcus," Granger said after a long moment. "I was hoping we could come to an arrangement and pick a date to hold the wedding."

"Why aren't you trying to get out of this?" Marcus asked. Suddenly he was angry. "Why would you want to marry me? You're a war hero, go use your influence to get out of this and leave me alone."

"Marcus," Hermione said placing her hand on his arm. He flinched but didn't remove her hand from him. It was warm and felt rather nice. "I have to follow the law, same as everyone else. The truth is, I was part of the reason the law was created in the first place."

"What do you mean?" Marcus asked, narrowing his eyes at her.

Granger sighed. "I am an Arithmancer for the Ministry. About a year and a half ago I was asked to look at population numbers and when we realized that without some sort of drastic policy change, we were going to go extinct in a few hundred years, well the Wizarding Perpetuity Program came into being."

"But surely you could find someone else," Marcus said. "Someone more worthy of you and your fame. Someone more Gryffindor."

Granger laughed again and this time Marcus wondered if she was laughing at him. Because he was stupid. He hunched his shoulders and half turned away from her.

"Oh, Merlin, Marcus! I wasn't laughing at you," Granger said. She pulled on his shoulder to get him to face her again. She was quite a bit closer to him and Marcus' heart began to beat faster. "I was laughing because the Arithmantic equations to match people were mine. I worked on them for six months solid and ran them against every test I could. Even if I could petition for someone else, I wouldn't want to. According to magic, you're my perfect match." She smiled up at him then and Marcus recognized that the heat he was feeling was desire.

"Perfect match?" Marcus asked.

Granger nodded. "I triple checked when I figured out it was going to be you. I wasn't even upset, I just wanted to be sure."

Marcus flinched at her words. "How could you not be upset? You should be with someone like you."

"What is that supposed to mean?" Granger asked, scooting away from him and crossing her arms over her chest.

"Someone beautiful. Someone not tainted by a past. Someone not stupid enough to have to repeat his seventh year at Hogwarts," Marcus said. What did she think he meant?

"But none of those things matter," Granger said. She moved closer, kneeling on the sofa now and placed a hand on his cheek, turning his face so she could see his eyes. "What matters is what's in your heart. Your magic and my magic were meant to be. That's what those Arithmantic equations mean. They find your perfect match. You didn't have anyone else on your list and neither did I."

Marcus looked up at her then, her brilliant brown eyes were shining down on him with such hopefulness that he couldn't stop himself from leaning forward and pressing a soft kiss to her lips. He started to pull away, embarrassed by his actions when she followed his lips with her own. She slipped and landed awkwardly in his lap.

"Sorry," she murmured. She was half-lying in his lap, propping herself up against the armrest and had her lower lip between her teeth.

"I'm not," Marcus said, pressing another kiss to her lips. They were soft and inviting and he couldn't seem to stop himself. When she opened his mouth under him, he groaned and slipped a hand behind her head, holding her to him. Another hand went to her waist and he pulled until she was straddling him. She rolled her hips and Marcus' half-hard cock went to full mast so quickly he felt dizzy.

He breathed heavily, breaking the kiss and pressing his forehead against hers.

"You alright?" she asked him softly, her hand caressing his face. He leaned into the touch. The only times he was touched these days was on the Quidditch pitch and his eyes fluttered closed at the pleasure of it.

"Yeah," he said after a moment, licking his lips and opening his eyes. She was staring at him so frankly that he wanted to close them again.

"I think this is going to work out in the end, Marcus," she murmured her lips quirking up in a small smile.

"Yeah," Marcus said returning the smile and pressing his lips to hers again. He'd do anything to keep her in his life now.

~Fin~