Hello All! I've decided to go ahead and publish this story I've been writing behind the scenes for awhile now. I've taken inspiration from all the other "Marriage Law" fics that are on here. Some things might be similar to other stories. Please know that I'm not trying to steal anything from anyone. The whole "Marriage Law" troupe has been done quite a bit with more or less the same thought process behind it, so I don't feel too bad about using what I did for this story. My main characters are all OC and their from the United States (where I'm from). The whole idea got started when I wondered what would happen if someone not from Britain got caught up in a marriage law after the war. And here we are. I'm trying to show the cultural differences between the States and Britain but if I mess something up please let me know and try not to hold it against me. Lol! Enjoy!

ooOoo

You could have heard a pin drop in the silence that followed Headmistress McGonagall's announcement. It was almost as if all the 7th and honorary 8th year students in the room weren't even breathing. Though considering the nature of the announcement, Sammy wasn't too surprised by this. Even she was having a difficult time processing what the Headmistress was saying and she had known ahead of time.

The war Voldemort had waged against magical Britain had decimated the wizard population and the Ministry of Magic was desperate. Sammy's grandfather had told her and her sisters that the Wizengamot had been arguing for the better part of the year about what needed to be done about the dwindling population. Almost all had been against a marriage law; however when the arithmancy experts, even those brought in from out of the country, came forward with the same evidence, the Wizengamot had been forced to extreme measures. A marriage law that required everyone between the ages of 17 and 65 to be paired up; married within a week for those who had graduated already and six months for those who were still in school. They were also required to begin popping out kids no later than six months into the marriage and had to have a minimum of four. For those couples who were in the age bracket and already married, they were required to contribute at least another three children to the population regardless of how many kids they already had. It was extreme to say the least.

The deathly silence continued as the Headmistress introduced an arithmancy expert from Russia. The tall, broad man came forward to take the Headmistress's place at the podium. Sammy thought he looked like a Santa Claus that you really didn't want to get on his naughty list. Kind blue eyes twinkled from under bushy white eye brows. His salt and pepper beard was trimmed neatly and fell to his belly button. His matching hair was swept back and neatly styled. He gave the Great Hall a grim smile as his accented voice filled the room.

"I am sorry to be meeting you all under these circumstances. I am here to explain the reasoning behind the Wizengamot's new law. It is an extreme law, one that was passed with much trepidation. I can speak to the honor of those who voted to pass this as I was in the room and I can attest to the fact that no one took joy in it. You are all responsible adults who have just fought and ended a war against a tyrant. You are all to be praised for your sacrifice's. I am sure you are all wondering why, after all that, must you be subjected to this law." The man flicked his wand and arithmancy charts appeared above his head; large enough for even those in the back of the room to see. After a moment of silence there were several loud gasps and one boy from the Ravenclaw table stood up suddenly and swore.

The Russian man gave another grim smile, "I see some of you can already understand the huge problem. For those of you who don't, let me explain."

He then went into a lengthy description of each line, the population it represented and the inevidable outcome of said population should the line be allowed to continue as it was.

"The wizarding population in the greater Europe area has been slowly declining and weakening over the past 500 years due to the ridged ideologies of pure blood breeding. This past war was the last brick to crumble in the foundation and now the whole wizard population in Europe is looking at extinction should nothing be done to drastically boost the numbers. This is not a problem that is 200 or even 100 years down the road, this is a problem that will begin showing ramifications in 20 to 25 years. And it's not just Britain that will suffer. France, Italy, Sweden, Germany, they are all looking at extinction, though Britain will fall first if nothing is done." The man waved his wand and the glowing magic lines disappeared. He sighed and continued, "This would all be bad enough however, it gets infinitely worse."

Someone from the Gryffindor table shouted angrily, "How could it possibly get worse!?" he was aggressively shushed and the Russian man shook his head, looking really tired.

"Magic is a sentient thing. It is not passive. It is a thing bent on surviving. Should it deem the witches and wizards in a certain population doomed to die out, it will flee and find another population to inhabit. In short, you are all looking at losing your magic. Permanently, unless you follow this new law and begin boosting the population immediately. We have estimated that countries have 6 to 7 years to drastically boost their numbers before the magic in the area decides to find a new home."

More suffocating silence as the man's words sank in. And then absolute chaos. Students were shouting and jumping up from their seats. Some sat in utter shock. Several girls at the Hufflepuff table started crying. Only the rather empty Slytherin table sat quietly. Sammy watched it all grimly, holding her older sisters hand tightly. Brittany squeezed it reassuringly and Sammy returned it before searching for their oldest sister at the Gryffindor table. Emma sat calmly as her housemates raged around her. She glanced over and gave Sammy a small smile, which she returned as the Headmistress began calling for silence. She had to resort to letting off a cannon noise from her wand and the silence that suddenly fell was eerie. Then from the Gryffindor table, the infamous Harry Potter stepped forward.

"So you're saying that we are all at risk of losing our magic and our people will die out if we don't follow this new law?"

The Russian man nodded, "Yes Mr. Potter. That is what I'm saying."

"Well, as much as I absolutely hate this idea, I hate the idea of losing my magic even more. I didn't fight bloody snake face and live just to turn around and lose my magic." There was another moment of silence as his words echoed across the big room. The boy shrugged and stuffed his hands in the pockets of his jeans, "So where do we go from here?"

The Headmistress stepped forward again and took the Russian man's place. "The countries who are most in danger have all passed the same law that I've just described to you. For all the people between the ages of 17 and 35, you will be paired by the sorting hat. New charms have been placed on the hat. It will take into account compatibilities, your magic cores and your history with potential mates."

Someone from the Ravenclaw table piped up, "What about those who are older than 35 but still fall within the specifications of the law?"

"There are significantly less of those individuals and they have already had arithmancy equations drawn up to pair them with their mates. Now, tomorrow all the men who have graduated will be coming to Hogwarts for the pairing. The hat will be placed on their heads first, then, after all the men have been evaluated, the women will come forward and the hat will call out your pairings."

A small red head from the Gryffindor table leapt up and shouted, "But what about those of us who are already dating someone!? Surely you don't expect us to all be ok with having that dusty old hat pair us with someone else?"

The Headmistress sighed, "Miss Weasley, part of the charms that have been placed on the hat evaluates your magical core and pairs you with someone who compliments it. One of the problems that has come from the pure blood ideology is that the magic has grown weaker and weaker with each generation born. This new law must not just boost the population but strengthen the future magic users as well. The hat will pair you with someone of whom you can produce powerful offspring. Hopefully that will be the person with whom you are already in a relationship with, however I would caution you all from getting your hopes up for that outcome. More than likely, it will not be the case."

More silence before another girl from Gryffindor with curly hair stood and came to stand beside Harry.

"I don't like this either but I'll stand with Harry. I know better than most what life would be like without magic. Besides, it's not just our lives we need to think about. We're looking at a total population extinction. It's not just about us anymore. All those kids who are younger than us deserve the chance to grow up with their magic. Our, MY children deserve that right. I'll sacrifice for that."

Sammy watched as Harry wrapped an arm around Hermione's shoulders and pulled her into a side hug. There was another long minute of muted silence with the occasional sniffle to break it.

"What the hell."

She looked over to see a tall red head, Ron, jump to his feet and stomp over to stand beside his friends. Slinging his arm across Harry's shoulders he said, "Let's just get this bloody thing over with. All those people didn't give their lives fighting Moldymort just for us to sit around and let our magic die out because we don't have the balls to do what needs to be done."

Hermione could be heard hissing, "Language Ronald!" as a ripple of laughter rolled through the hall breaking the suffocating tension.

The Headmistress smiled down fondle at the three hero's, "While I don't condone your language Mr. Weasley I do agree with your reasoning. Thank you." She raised her head to the rest of the hall, "I am truly sorry that the responsibility for our entire species has fallen on all your shoulders. If I could," the older witches voice broke and she had to take a minute to clear her throat, "If I could take your places, just know that I would gladly do so." Her eyes scanned across all the tables, she paused and held the gaze of everyone at the Slytherin table, "For every last one of you." Looking back up to the general room she said, "You are now dismissed for the day. Tomorrow the gentlemen need to be here in the great hall by 8 am. The ladies need to arrive by 10. Ladies, you are welcome to come earlier but nothing will begin happening until all the boys have been evaluated. I suggest you take this evening to comfort and give strength to each other. In the spirit of the difficulties you are now facing, I have done away with the curfew for tonight and welcome you to gather in the Room of Requirement. We will be providing refreshments. Every house is encouraged to join. Please remember, you are all in this together. Let us come together in this difficult time. You are dismissed."

Very few people actually left the hall. Most seemed more interested in gathering together to talk about what their futures held. Sammy stood with Brittany and together, still holding hands, they hunted down their other two sisters. They found Emma and Kailey by the doors and together, all four of them headed out. Following the eldest, Emma led them all outside and into the courtyard where they could talk quietly together.

Sammy sat on the bench with Kailey and slowly looked around to meet her sister's eyes. They all looked resigned to their fates. After all, they really had no choice. They had moved here over the summer from America because they'd lost their parents in a car accident. Their only living relative, their grandfather on their mother's side, had surprisingly reached out and offered them a place at his home. His rather large estate actually, their grandfather was super rich. They had all been shocked; he'd not been in contact with them at all due to their mother running away with an American muggle, their father, against grandfathers' wishes. But seeing as how they had no other way to support themselves, they'd accepted. Their citizenship had just gone through and been approved when Grandfather had come home a couple of days later to tell them of the new law that he'd just had to vote into passing. It was too late for them to try moving back to the States. They were stuck in this mess just like the rest of them. Grandfather had begged they're forgiveness after explaining why the law needed to be put into place. After looking at the facts, none of them had had the heart to be angry with him.

Sammy sighed softly and reached out to wrap Kailey in a hug when her raven haired twin sniffed and hastily wiped a tear from her cheek. Kailey had been the most upset out of all of them. She was such a romantic at heart, despite her rather logical brain, and had hated the idea of marrying a man she wasn't in love with. At least none of them had left boyfriends back home. Home. She supposed she would have to get used to England being her home now. She was going to be marrying an Englishman after all.

Emma shifted and heaved a sigh before kneeling at Sammy's feet. Reaching out to grasp Brittany and Sammy's hands she said, "Do we want to go to the 'yay we're being forced to get married to complete strangers' party tonight?"

Brittany grumbled and knelt to place her head in Kailey's lap. Kailey reached out to gently begin running her fingers through her wavy blonde hair.

"Not really. We don't know anyone here. I haven't even had a chance to really make any friends."

Emma sighed again and muttered, "Me neither. The Gryffindor's are nice enough, but they've all been through a war together. They all have this connection that I just can't relate with."

Sammy nodded, "Yeah. I think that's the truth for everyone at this school."

"So we skip?"

Kailey nuzzled her head into a more comfortable spot on Sammy's shoulder as Sammy said, "We could sneak in and grab some snacks from the party and go hide in a classroom together. The principle said we didn't have a curfew anymore."

Kailey poked her in the side and said, "They call them Headmistress and Headmasters."

"Whatever."

Emma snorted, "It's because they're uppity here in England."

The sisters shared a laugh as Emma stood. Brushing off her butt she said, "Alright. Commence operation steal snacks and commandeer a class room will begin at O nine-hundred hours. I'm going to go take a shower and get in my pj's. We'll meet outside the Room of Requirement… wherever the hell that is."