The Austere Stonewall

by Mudblood88

When the Ministry revives an old marriage law as a smokescreen to hide the reconstruction after the war, Hermione Granger is one of the first wave of people caught in the law. Not willing to marry Ron and doom them both to a life of misery, Hermione has no immediate prospects. With few viable options, Hermione proposes to someone else caught up by the law to help him avoid Azkaban.

2. Book 1 Chapter 1

The Austere Stonewall, Book 1: Hermione

Chapter 1: New Beginnings and New Problems

Along the old, white, clapboard cottage grew wild bluebells across the yard and all around for as far as the eye could see. Hermione took a deep breath of fresh Scotland air as she gazed upon the house she'd purchased. With every day that she spent working here, Hermione began to feel more at home. She'd afforded the house by using money she'd kept after obliviating her parents. Being dentists, her parents had been fairly wealthy. Only having one daughter, the Grangers had been well-prepared and had funds in Hermione's name including one for her schooling, and one to cover a modest graduation present and her future wedding.

Hermione remembered the nervous feeling she'd experienced the day she had to access all of her parents' accounts and practice with polyjuice and her mother's hair. Arrangements had to be made weeks prior to their flight to Australia in order to get everything accomplished. She'd only allowed herself to take what her parents had intended to give her and placed the Granger's own savings and checking account balances into an Australian bank account. A new home and dentistry was purchased by Hermione posing as her mother in a matter of weeks and her family's home was sold. Her distant and only relatives (a great aunt of her father's and a second cousin on her mother's side) had been notified of the deaths of all three Grangers (car accident). The paperwork was completed in the muggle world to consider the Grangers all dead and they no longer existed. All traces were wiped clean. Both older Grangers were now actually living a life in Australia that included a new dentistry, and a new house, but no daughter.

About half of her educational fund had already been spent on her previous 6 years of Hogwarts tuition and books and uniforms, and only had to last for another school year. Her parents, being muggles, hadn't known there wasn't a magical university and had planned for Hermione to attend. The education fund set up for her would provide her with the ability to attend private school and any university she chose. Hermione had tried to explain that she would be an adult at 17 and would complete her education at 18 but they had argued that she might like to attend a muggle university anyway. Knowing that she would not be attending a muggle university, when Hermione went on the run with Harry and Ron she had used some of her money to buy supplies throughout the year, whenever they'd been able to risk going into a village or a town to purchase something which wasn't often. They'd made do with what they could forage, for the most part which is how Hermione had come to lose so much weight in the past year. Even still, Hermione had managed to afford the cottage in front of her while still having enough to pay for her final year at Hogwarts and have enough to live off of.

The house in front of her was already much changed for the better since she'd bought it. The realtor, a muggle, had been very honest in telling her that the house was in need of a lot of work before becoming habitable. Clients loved the idea of the house as it had a private location and a lot of acreage but the house itself was small and in disrepair after sitting vacant for the last 10 years. The cost was decent as the previous owners had died and the bank inherited the property but could not seem to sell it. Getting construction crews to the house to complete the work the house needed would be astronomical given its location off the beaten path. That had not been an issue for Hermione, though. She had planned to do the work herself, aided by magic.

"I may not have graduated...yet, but thanks Mum and Dad for the early graduation gift," Hermione thought to herself as she walked through the bluebells to her "new" front porch. The idea of a graduation gift from her parents made her want to cry. Her eyes stung as she scanned the front of her house, considering how her parents would receive it had they been able to stand with her now.

Dad would scoff at how large the lawn is. Hermione snorted as she imagined her workaholic father rushing to cut the grass between dental appointments. Mum would say that brick would be a better option than clapboard.

It was back in early July that Hermione had had all of The Burrow she could stand. She and Harry had stayed at Hogwarts for a few weeks in June following the final battle to allow the Weasley's grieving room. She and Harry had offered to help the professors with the clean up and Madam Pompfrey with the hospital wing until the professional reinforcements had eventually arrived to begin the reconstruction. Harry felt responsible for the state of Hogwarts and its grounds, feeling that he'd brought the fight there. Hermione, who knew him better than anyone, had not wanted to leave him there with his guilt to work it off with physical labor. Besides that, Horace Slughorn had not stayed behind longer than a couple days post battle and Madame Pomfrey was in need of healing potions around the clock for Professor Snape and a few others who were kept on the grounds rather than sent off to St. Mungos. Even now, at the end of July, Hermione was still returning to the castle every couple of days to brew whatever was needed and to offer assistance as needed.

Like Harry, she felt that she had a duty to ensure Hogwarts was restored. She worked hard for the month of June to fix and replace the broken castle battlements and structure. She had worked alongside Minerva McGonagall and learned more about transfiguration in a month than she had in her 6 years of schooling. Working one on one with a professor with such power as MCgonagall was humbling and exciting.

Brewing potions for Poppy Pomfrey and helping in the hospital wing had been eye opening. She had volunteered knowing that there was no one else as able as she to do the job. As she brewed and helped with sterilization charms and feeding patients, Hermione knew that she wanted a job doing something hands on like this for a career. She had originally thought to work for the Ministry. Laws that were archaic and racist needed fixed. Now, Hermione just didn't see how she could do that and not be miserable the rest of her life. The instant gratification of helping a patient drink a potion to ease pain was nice. Brewing the potion that had granted that relief was even better.

Harry and Hermione had stayed as long as they could at the castle but eventually the work that could be done by the staff was completed and professionals were called in to do the parts that couldn't be done by a couple students and a handful of teachers. Funerals had all been held and respects had been paid. Trials for Death Eaters and other criminals had been held. Harry and Hermione had done their part in giving evidence against or for those they had dealings with. The busy work and obligations post-war were over and so they had gone and stayed at Grimmauld Place for exactly two nights before Molly Weasley insisted they stay with her for a while. Ron had shrugged and implied his mother could use someone else to fret over and cook for so Harry and Hermione had agreed.

Having lived in a cramped tent with two teenage wizards for over 9 months had given Hermione a new appreciation for space and privacy especially after her torture at the hands of Bellatrix Lestrange. Since then, her dreams were never innocent. Almost nightly did Hermione experience the terrors over again. Sharing a room with Ginny made it difficult to hide this. Her nightmares were not something she wanted to worry anyone over. She knew she was hardly the only person to be experiencing such things nor was she the only person with such horrible war experiences. Harry had lived a life of neglect and abuse, with a piece of Voldemort in his head, without whinging about his dream.

She knew people dealt with feelings differently but somehow she couldn't help feeling ashamed of herself for not handling her own experiences better. So she kept silencing charms up around her bed while she slept and she found dark corners to sit in and read when she could no longer sleep. She longed to have someone hold her and make her feel safe but Harry was the only person she had left who had that ability. He seemed to be at peace finally and she wasn't about to trouble him with her issues for anything.

At the Burrow it was harder to hide her issues as there were so many people and the Weasleys truly had no respect for anyone's privacy, including guests. Harry and Ron knew she was an early riser by nature and they'd been assuming that she'd simply been rising earlier than usual in order to complete more tasks in the day rather than unable to sleep.

Neither Harry nor Hermione wished to upset Mrs. Weasley when they both felt that their brief presences were helping to give Molly something else to focus on rather than the grief of losing a son. Harry had taken to visiting Grimmauld during the day to work on improvements with Kreacher and Hermione had gotten the idea from him that a house and a project would be good for her. She did not desire to feel like an orphan at the mercy of the Weasleys any longer than necessary. Also it would supply her a polite excuse to leave the Burrow and also keep her idle hands busy with Hogwarts having less and less for her to assist with. Without Hogwarts and its tasks, she had idle hands and, even worse, an idle mind.

Her father had always been the anxious worrier of the two of her parents and Hermione had gotten that gene as well. After her third year and all the stress of exams and the time turner, her father had taken Hermione with him on one of his morning jogs. He showed her how the simple act of running could clear his mind and help him find balance and peace. Hermione had latched on to the hobby after that and found that running was an easy enough sport that even a brain like hers could take pleasure in. During the school year, running had been difficult. She'd take a jog around the Black Lake a few days a week but when it turned cold, she'd been unable. Her 6th year she'd been able to use the Room of Requirement but during the past year, Hermione had been unable to leave the tent's protections to jog. She looked around the house at the trees and the bluebonnets and smiled at the pretty scenery her jogs here would have. She missed having fresh air in her lungs as she pushed her body to the limit while working over a puzzle with her mind. Harry and Ron, being the boys that they were, never noticed that she was in good physical shape despite not playing quidditch.

The house she'd purchased nearly 3 weeks ago was near enough to the sea that she could hear it from her porch and see it at a distance from her windows. It was a jaunt down a cliff to actually touch the ocean water, though. She knew when she saw the place that she could be at peace here despite the house's condition. What she didn't know how to fix, she could learn from spells and charms in the household spellbook she'd borrowed from Molly and Arthur (who had actually built the Burrow from the ground up themselves). Her time with Minerva McGonagall working on Hogwarts had also given her skills to work with.

For most of July she and Harry stayed at the Burrow at night and in the mornings they had apparated to their respective houses in order to build and clean and create a home for themselves. Ron had come with each of them a couple times but had ultimately decided that it was a bit too much work for him. He'd not said as much but it had been obvious the way he suddenly preferred to help his brother George with his shop. Ron was overjoyed to be back in his childhood home with his parents. He had home cooked meals around the clock and freedom to come and go among his brothers as needed. He seemed to think Hermione and Harry a little barmy for wanting to work on getting themselves a place when they had a place at the Burrow but he wasn't an orphan and neither she nor Harry begrudged him that.

Harry had only finished renovating Grimmauld Place in the last couple days which was great as it was only a few more days until his 18th birthday. Of course, he had a much more structurally sound house to work with and he had the help of Kreacher so Hermione tried not to force herself to rush her own house repairs. A large birthday bash at Grimmauld Place was being planned by Ginny who wouldn't be turning 17 until a few weeks later.. Everyone remaining from the Order of the Phoenix was invited along with the DA. After the battle, no one felt much like celebrating but now that it had been a couple months, people were ready to begin living again. She herself felt less inclined to a party but she knew Harry and Ron both needed it.

In addition to her nightmares, Hermione had noticed that she was prone to panic attacks. Even though the only people at the Burrow were Harry and the Weasleys, being around people made her more prone to panic at times. All the noise gave her a headache and caused irritation that she couldn't understand. It was like her ears were bleeding from just having two Weasleys in the same room as her. It was silly because they weren't being overly loud or obnoxious but somehow, their sounds bothered her. She used to enjoy the Burrow. She struggled to understand her sudden change. She had lived in relative silence the past year with Harry and Ron in the tent. Shouldn't some noise make her feel more settled and less jumpy? Perhaps it would become less jarring over time.

The first panic attack she remembered having occurred the second day she'd stayed at the Burrow. Ron had been shouting next to her at Bill and Charlie, deep in a friendly argument about something that had occurred years ago when Hermione had looked up at the males arguing, she'd seen Bill holding a bloody knife. Her heart stopped. Her skin went ice cold, then fiery hot. Sweat started bubbling up along her spine. The sick feeling of her stomach dropping through to her feet had forced her to stand up so quickly everyone stopped talking. All Hermione could hear was the pounding of her heart in her ears and the whooshing of her blood. She looked up at Bill to see his hands empty, the butter knife lying innocently on the table, marmalade dripping off of it onto the scrubbed-looking table top.

"Sorry, I need the loo," Hermione had mumbled and walked out of the room as quickly as she could without raising more concerns. She'd not left the room quickly enough to avoid Mr. and Mrs. Weasley and exchanging concerned glances over the heads of the rest of their family.

Since that incident, Hermione had only had a few minor repeats but she wasn't sure what to pinpoint as the reason for them. They seemed to happen out of the blue.

With Harry's birthday and his subsequent move into Grimmauld Place happening, Hermione had hoped to be far enough along in her own project to officially move out of the burrow as well but she was still struggling with a pipe issue and until that was fixed, she was stuck staying at the Burrow. Her job fixing the pipes was her current obsession that kept her busy. When she managed it, she'd find a new project. Anything to keep her mind busy.

Hermione took a break from working on the plumbing and sat down on the hearth of her newly repaired fireplace and drank a glass of tepid water conjured by her wand into a glass transfigured from a shard of an old broken window pane. Her nightmare last night had been so severe that she had left the Burrow before the sun had fully risen with a note stuck to Mrs. Weasley's tea pot to let her know she'd taken an early start. No doubt she'd receive a lecture later in the evening when she returned for not eating breakfast. Food did not appeal very often to Hermione and it most certainly did not after one of her nightmares.

An owl screeched in the distance. Hermione stood up and walked to the front door curiously. She wasn't expecting post from anyone and the Daily Prophet usually left her morning copy at the Burrow, though the paper was barely better than toilet tissue these days. She'd received an owl last week with only a letter that said "Soon." She figured it was an accident as the parchment wasn't addressed to her nor was it signed. She took a second to look this owl over carefully before accepting the letter, just in case.

The owl was Archimedes, Minerva McGonagall's owl. Working with the remaining staff at the reconstruction of Hogwarts had brought her closer to her transfiguration professor and while she had been given permission to use her teacher's given name outside of school, Hermione still struggled to think of her as "Minerva" in her mind and struggled even more to refer to her former head of house by her given name. Hermione gave Archimedes a stroke along the feathers. "I'm sorry, I don't have any treats for you here. Does she want a reply?" Archimedes hooted and flew to a nearby low hanging branch off a tree in the front yard. "I'll take that as a yes," Hermione replied for him.

Hermione

I am writing to let you know that Severus Snape is awake. I knew you would want to know, all things considering. Poppy feels confident that with him finally waking from the coma, that he will indeed be making an almost full recovery. She felt, given how much time and effort you expended on his case, you might like to come and visit the hospital wing to witness his health to relieve your anxiety over it. I had mentioned I was to be owling you and offered to pass along the news.

As for my reason for writing, I was hoping I could convince you to come for tea one afternoon this week. As the newly appointed headmistress, I've heard some concerning things from the Wizengamot and my old friends in the Ministry that I would like to bring to your attention.

If you could find it in your heart to spare me a few moments of your time, I would be very grateful. As soon as you could spare me a moment. Archimedes will wait for a reply.

Sincerely,

Minerva McGonagall

Hermione quickly summoned a quill and ink from her beaded bag and jotted down tomorrow's date and tea time down before sending her reply on the back of the letter the deputy headmistress had sent her. Her hands left dirty smudges on the parchment but Hermione left them there rather than scourifying them off. It would help explain her short and terse reply. She'd already planned to visit Hogwarts soon in order to brew for Madam Pomfrey so the offer of tea was unnecessary, even if Professor McGonagall did not know that.

The rest of her day Hermione worried about what Professor McGonagall had to share with her as she struggled to complete the plumbing. It was important, that was obvious, but rather than state that, the missive had taken efforts to not alarm her which meant it was war related or Hogwarts related.

On the other hand, Hermione was very happy to hear that Severus Snape was awake from his coma and healing now. Hermione had immediately gone into mediwitch mode the moment Voldemort had left the Shrieking Shack. She'd bottled the memories he was hemorrhaging and thrust them at Harry with instructions for him to go and look at them. Ron had pulled on her wrist to get her to follow but Hermione was determined to perform basic first aid services before leaving. The boys had turned and fled while she'd quickly sucked the poison out of his neck with her own mouth and spat until she couldn't taste the poison. She'd shoved a bezoar in each of their mouths to be safe and then helped Professor Snape to swallow a double dose of blood replenishing potion as fast as she could summon them from her bag.

She had then summoned her most precious ingredient: one drop of Fawke's Phoenix tears which had been given to her in a hidden compartment of her "Tales of Beedle the Bard" book. It wasn't until February while on guard duty that she had discovered the magic concealing a tiny ampule hidden within the spine of the book. She wasn't sure what made her use it on Professor Snape but dropped the one drop onto his neck without a second thought. A bit of dittany to prevent scarring, a hasty spell to close up his wounds, and a few bandages around his neck followed. She'd then placed him in a magical stasis and a disillusionment charm before catching up to the boys. After the battle was over, Hermione had slipped out of the Great Hall and retrieved Professor Snape, feeling immense relief that her gut feelings about him had been correct all these years.

Since then, he'd been in a natural coma. That day of the battle, Madam Pomfrey had commended Hermione on her work and released her stasis charm and did what little needed done that the Phoenix Tears had not healed. Snape's body had then fallen into a coma and no one was certain what would happen. His stats improved daily for a few weeks and then stayed level. Madam Pomfrey had said there was hope. Hermione had taken over brewing his potions after Slughorn had left the castle just days after the battle and along with that, anything that Madam Pomfrey had requested. She'd developed a close working relationship with the nurse since then. So far the matron had been so busy with patients that she'd not worried about Hermione being injured. She had assured Pomfrey that she had no broken bones or gashes that needed healed and that she was well enough to work. There were others with actual injuries that needed care. She really hadn't been injured much at the final battle. Cuts, scrapes, bruises and exhaustion were about the extent of it. The major damage was lingering side effects from her torture at Malfoy Manor and it was mostlyl in her head, manifesting as nightmares.

Wiping her brow, Hermione repeated the last spell on the pipes and tested them. She sighed in relief to see that the water was clear now and that the drainage was working appropriately. She knew that plumbing was not necessary in a wizarding house but Hermione didn't want to completely abandon her muggle roots. She knew electricity was not going to work well in a house with so much magic (and within only a few kilometers of Hogwarts to boot) so she had decided to equip her house with magically charmed items that would provide light with no spells required. All her muggle appliances could be swapped for the wizarding version. Although Hermione was thinking the refrigerator could simply be cleaned and redesigned and the correct cooling and stasis preservation charms applied rather than purchasing a wizarding cooling cabinet. By the end of the day, Hermione was feeling optimistic that she only needed a few more days to complete the house to the point that she could begin living there.

Her evening at the Burrow that day was another that ended with tension. Ron was still occasionally trying to make sly advances on her following the heated kiss they'd shared at the battle. She knew kissing him in a moment as charged as that one was confusing to him. The approaching, uncomfortable conversation was hanging over both of them. Ron had never taken rejection well and she was worried that their friendship would not recover from it.

Not that Hermione had much experience with kissing, but she was very underwhelmed with Ron's kiss. Didn't people write books and poems and songs about the electricity in a kiss with someone you love? Why then had Ron's kiss seemed flat and uncomfortable? With only two other kisses in her cache, she didn't have much to compare it to but she knew that it had been an unimpressive kiss for her. Victor had been her first and while his kiss had been more exciting, she felt like Ron might have been better at it from more practice. Cormac had been absolutely repulsive. Just the memory of his breath on her face and his slimy tongue probing her mouth turned her stomach. She knew that she would never mention her comparisons to Ron. Ever. It posed the question in her head, though, What had Ron thought about kissing her?

Hermione knew that her previous pursuit of Ron's attention prior to being on the run had been based on his initial lack of interest in her. From the train ride in their first year on, he'd thought her a nagging nightmare and considered her one of the guys. As a girl who had never felt pretty enough, Hermione had been hurt. Unconsciously Hermione had been looking for him to notice her in order to heal that wounded pride and now he had at last but she was no longer interested in him. She'd seen how he left her and Harry at the first sign of inconvenience. The horcrux could only be blamed for some of it. It had, after all, only brought out the worst in him. Ron was the guy to leave or abandon his friends during rough times, she'd seen it before in the Triwizard Tournament. She couldn't help but be turned off by it. Hermione had her time on the run to consider what she wanted from a partner someday and she was convinced now that Ron could never fulfill that role and she...she could never be what Ron needed from a partner.

The day following Hermione was up early but not nearly as early as the day before. She chose a sundress and some flats to wear as it was the very end of July with July-like weather and she might not have many more opportunities to wear it. Most of what was left of her wardrobe were ill-fitting or beyond repair and she was due to visit with Professor McGonagall that day. She grabbed her beaded bag and said goodbye to the Weasleys that were up, Ron not being one of them as he considered it still night time until after 8 am.

She apparated and appeared outside the ward boundaries on her cottage and walked through them to begin the last leg of work on her house: painting and adding shelves and minor cosmetic choices before moving her belongings into place. Depending on how she worked, she might be able to finish today. Time would tell. Her home was becoming a reality and Hermione had never felt more proud of anything she'd ever created. Being an analytically minded person, Hermione had never been what was considered creative. But her house, her home...this was her creation. Her masterpiece, even. She'd done what she was best at; she'd taken what was there and improved it. Her home had a porch with a swing on one side like the one she grew up with at her parents'. She now had a cozy living room with the right amount of windows and light for tea and reading books. Her kitchen had the modern conveniences she desired while also having the correct spells and enchantments from the wizarding world. She had a master bedroom that was spacious and included both a shower stall and a clawfoot tub for soaking in. She had a spare room and another room that she'd turned into a library/office for herself in which she was currently charming the can of paint onto the walls and drying it with a spell. With a swish of her wand she played with colors until finally deciding on a light grey tone that was calming and would match anything. The look was clean and she liked that. Light and airy and clean.

She took pride in immediately unshrinking her father's desk and placing it in the center of the room. She had many memories of her father sitting behind his desk, doing dental paperwork and filing the papers for the practice and she wanted to have the security of her father's desk in her home. She'd add bookshelves to the surrounding walls later and of course a desk chair that she would be comfortable working in but for now, the room was fine. She levitated the boxes of books out of her beaded bag and stacked them in a corner of the room until she was sure she had evicted them all from her bag. The last few books she pulled out were from her father's office and she couldn't help but laugh at the titles of a couple. She packed two of them back into her bag to take with her to the Hospital Wing.

From the library/office window Hermione could see the back garden of the house. She had a little shed that she'd repaired with the intent of using it as a lab for brewing. Next to it there was a patch of dirt where she was intending to grow some potion ingredients and vegetables. She'd always admired the way her parents' neighbors had flowers growing in the front window box in the spring and summer seasons. Her parents had never really had that much time to spend puttering around the house with flowers and gardens but they were something Hermione had always loved looking at from her favorite spot on the front porch. In those days, the book she would have been reading was science, history, or muggle fiction. Therefore, Hermione had affixed some flower boxes to the front of the house but she'd yet to plant anything. Mountain avens seemed to grow well enough here among the bluebonnets. Perhaps she'd plant those in the windows. Yes, someday soon, perhaps, but today she had more important house issues to solve.

Seeing she had an hour before she was due at Hogwarts, Hermione continued unpacking the box with the rest of the shrunken furniture and items that she'd kept from her parents. The Grangers had some expensive furniture that Hermione had opted to keep for herself rather than allowing the muggles to sell with the house when she and her parents had "died." It had been difficult to charm the bank and the realtors not to find anything off about her parents' funds being emptied days before they had been killed in a car crash. She'd had to also confund the muggle doctors to writing the report concerning their bodies. It took a whole week to catch all the people involved in the muggle world to leave no odd questions surrounding her parents' relocation. A house that had been emptied of half it's furniture was definitely one of the easier things to charm the muggles not to worry about.

She placed her parents' king-sized bedroom set in her new bedroom. It was a huge bed. Much larger than Hermione needed for herself. The wood was very dark, rich, and solid looking. Hermione waved her wand and charmed the bed into a lighter colored wood that now looked like an almost greyish ashy wood, a very natural and raw look that seemed to fit in with her cottage rather than the rich and heavy warm wooden appearance her parents had always enjoyed. She followed suit with the chest of drawers and the armoire and the nightstands. A few more swish and flicks and all her clothing was zipping out of her beaded bag and was zooming around the room as Hermione swished her wand, directing them where to go. She summoned her toiletry bag and stepped into the bathroom to put away her shampoos and toothpaste and also to freshen up as she'd been sweating some from the exertion.

Checking the wards a final time, Hermione apparated outside the castle's gates and rang the gate bell to let Hagrid know there was a visitor waiting for entry. Running a finger around a curl that had slid over her shoulder, Hermione checked the time. She had nearly thirty minutes before Professor McGonagall was expecting her but it did not seem to matter as Hagrid was expecting her.

" 'ermione!" Hagrid's booming voice greeted her from not far off the gates where he'd been petting Fang while he waited. She saw him pick up his pace to meet her, lumbering across the pathway.

Smiling, Hermione waved. "Hello, Hagrid! How are you?"

The gates squeaked open as Hagrid parted them wide enough for Hermione to squeeze through before he closed and locked them again. The magical enchantments settled back into place behind her as she joined Hagrid's side for the trek up to the castle.

Hagrid chatted her ear off during the walk up and Hermione was happy to simply nod and smile and gesture to his comments until they reached the front entry. None of the content of their conversation was anything important, just small talk and it helped Hermione to relax. She felt tired just thinking about speaking to anyone about anything more than the weather sometimes.

"Don' be a stranger, now, 'ermione. I spect you owe me a visit fer tea, soon," Hagrid said as he scratched Fang behind the ear.

"I promise, I will soon, Professor Hagrid," Hermione promised, enjoying the smile Hagrid always beamed at her when she called him "Professor." She still had over twenty minutes and since the hospital wing was on her way to the Headmaster's office. Hermione slipped the hospital wing inside to be immediately greeted by a more relaxed Madam Pomfrey than she had seen on her last visit.

"Hermione, it's so good to see you today! Please tell me you have time to help?" Madam Pomfrey said as she bustled around the curtains from the bed of the last occupant of the hospital wing. Hermione looked up and down and noted that Lavender Brown was no longer there, having been there for werewolf injuries until after the first full moon only a week ago.

With a polite smile, Hermione shrugged and replied, "I am on my way to see Professor McGonagall for tea but I will be back here after that. If you'll have the list of required potions and empty vials ready for me, I'll pick them up and brew them this evening."

A relieved smile graced the nurses face as she spelled the curtains around Professor Snape's bed to open. His eyes were closed and he appeared asleep, albeit very tensely.

A buzzing sound emitted from down the hospital wing. "One moment, Miss Granger, I'll be but one moment," came the harried reply from the matron as she went to the back of the hospital wing to the door that opened into a small potion's lab. Hermione suddenly felt guilty for not having been here for a week as it seemed Madam Pomfrey was in such need that she was brewing a potion herself. Hermione knew her to be capable of the basic potions but there often so many injuries that someone else brewed for her.

Hermione cautiously walked to the chair next to Professor Snape's bed. She'd sat here many of the nights she'd stayed at the castle in June. At first to give Madam Pomfrey a chance to sleep. Then it became routine anytime she couldn't sleep. She knew he wouldn't know she'd been there as he had been in a coma but she felt someone ought to be visiting him and since she couldn't sleep, she thought it was rather fitting. She had already invested a lot of effort into his healing already, anyway.

During those nights by his bed, she would read to keep her mind occupied when sleep wouldn't come. She'd written down many rudimentary formulas that she was experimenting with in between brews. While waiting for all those blood replenishing potions to steep, she'd been brewing her own shampoo, for example.

Not an Earth shattering discovery but she'd found a way to infuse honey and Moon Dew oil into her own shampoo. So far she'd found it to smell delicious, cost her much less than muggle shampoo, and it yielded a large amount each brew. When used regularly, her hair was much less frizzy. Her hair had gotten very long without any haircuts in the past year and the extra length combined with the new shampoo seemed to weigh it down enough to make it behave. She'd always have too much hair, but at least now it wasn't frizzing up so badly that it escaped her hair ties.

Hermione summoned from her bag the books from her father's office. Neither were books that Hermione had any interest in reading any time soon and she wasn't sure how she'd gotten them sorted into the books she'd taken from her parents' bookshelves but she'd thought that Professor Snape might like them. She quietly set both books on the nightstand beside his bed along where the most recent Potions Quarterly magazine from last month was already resting.

After a few more minutes of sitting in silence, Hermione realized Snape had not moved any at all and was unlikely to wake up while she was in the hospital wing so she sighed and stood before walking towards the front of the hospital wing. She cast a tempus and saw that she really needed to leave for tea now. Luckily, Madam Pomfrey came out of the adjoining potion's lab at that moment.

"I see it's time for you to meet Minerva now, dear. Sorry to have stalled you."

With a shake of her head, Hermione reassured her that she would be back to brew and to leave the rest for her to do when she returned.

The walk to the Headmaster's office wasn't as long as the walk to Gryffindor Tower, being centrally located, and Hermione was grateful as her lack of sleep, lack of appetite, and hard work on her house left her exhausted.

"Calico," Hermione said to the gargoyle who then stepped aside allowing her to step on the spiral staircase and hitch a ride.

She had barely knocked on the door when she heard a terse, "Enter!" from her former head of house.

Professor McGonagall looked up from her paperwork, glasses perched on the bridge of her nose, and smiled.

"Hermione, thank you so much for visiting me. The castle is much too dull without you and Mr. Potter here to speak to. You must tell me what you have been up to. I know I spoke with you a week ago but we didn't get to really talk of much."

That was how Hermione found herself enjoying tea and biscuits and describing her new house to the acting headmistress. Minerva Mcgonagall had many suggestions for her to add to her wards for security and seemed impressed by the amount of advanced transfiguration that Hermione had been doing which Hermione found flattering.

Likewise, Minerva told Hermione a humorous story of the most recent construction mishap and a minor incident that had occurred in which the boys' and girls' lavatories were mixed up. It seemed the school would be able to open up on time. People were eager to go back to normal and to pretend the past horrible year was a nightmare.

"My dear, that brings me to my next topic of conversation: your education." McGonagall said, while shifting in her seat to face Hermione square on. "I know you plan to return in order to complete your NEWTS, but I felt I should tell you face to face that I will be selecting the Head Girl and Boy from the current 7th year students."

Although she tried not to let it show on her face, Hermione was disappointed. She'd longed for the Head Girl position since she read about it in Hogwarts, A History 9 years ago. She knew that what her professor was saying made sense but it didn't stop the wave of sadness from crashing into her full force as she realized her dream was fully crushed.

Backpedaling, Minerva tried a new tact. "It's not that you aren't the most deserving student in the whole student body, Hermione, because you are. No student attending this coming school year would be more qualified to be Head Girl than you are. It's just that I feel to name a current 7th year student, rather than an 8th year student, would set a better tone going forward."

Nodding her head and breathing deeply, Hermione gave a small smile. "I know, professor, I know. You're right. I will be in classes with the 7th years but I took my first 6 years of classes among other students. It wouldn't be fair to those in the current graduating class to suddenly be competing with students from other grades for the position. You are right. Selecting a 7th year student would be allowing Hogwarts to move on rather than dally with the past. I agree."

She watched her professor looking at her with a strange emotion on her face that Hermione couldn't place and she shifted in her seat uncomfortably embarrassed.

"I'm so proud of you, Hermione. I know how much you coveted the Head Girl badge and I dearly wanted to give it to you but there are additional reasons I am choosing a 7th year student. You see, my former colleagues in the Wizengamot have let me in on the newest legislation that will be up for a vote the first of August. They are worried about Britain's wizarding population numbers."

She paused to take a sip of her tea while Hermione considered what she had said and where she was going with it.

"I do believe a fair amount of people have died because of the war, yes." Hermione stated, showing her comprehension of the topic.

Uncomfortably, the current headmistress steeled herself. "Yes, well the issue is that the population has been decreasing slowly over the past century combined with the rise of quibs and the steady incline of muggleborns. They want to see the population surge with mixed blood in order to slow the birth rate of squibs and to save some of the nearly extinct pureblood lines."

There was a pause as Minerva stirred a bit more tea into her cup and Hermione considered the new information.

"They believe if the population can increase by 30% over the next 5-10 years that we will be out of danger of having so many lines die out as well as fewer tragic anomalies."

With dread, Hermione cottoned onto the solution and posed the question that would give her the answer she didn't want to hear. "And, what does the Wizengamot plan to pass that would solve these issues?"

A withering sigh escaped her former head of house. "They wish to pass a marriage law affecting witches and wizards from ages 20 to 45. The population who didn't rush off to marry in a wave of "carpe diem" during the war will now be required to marry. It will be a choice of a 5 years in Azkaban or having their wand broken and their magic permanently bound or a marriage with the purpose being to produce a child or two. I have no idea the details yet as they have not voted it in but the Wizengamot are composed of older witches and wizards and I fear it will pass almost unanimously."

With a frown, Hermione was trying to figure out why her head of house was telling her this before the law was voted in.

"I'm turning 19 in September. This law will affect me the moment I turn 20, won't it?" Hermione whispered.

Clearing her throat, Minerva responded rather pinchedly, "I was informed by an old friend of mine about the upcoming proposal in an effort to help me avoid complications at Hogwarts. I believe the age of affected witches and wizards is being proposed to start at 20 to avoid Hogwarts students marrying and getting themselves up the duff while completing their education. Most students turn 18 during their 7th year of school but we have a lot of students returning to complete their education a year out of cycle. You are the oldest student of that returning year which puts you nearly a year older than the youngest of your grade. Unfortunately, I have to also inform you that your use of my time turner will have affected your age. You came of age sooner than your birthday as well but we didn't feel that we should bother you since it was probably only a matter of weeks or possibly a month or two earlier. Still yet, you'll turn 19 soon if you haven't already and shortly after you graduate, you will turn 20. After all that you have done for our society, I felt you deserved more than what you are going to be forced to do and so I am sharing with you to give you the best advantage I can."

Her heart was pounding in her ears. "The spell? Do you know the spell to check my magical age?"

McGonagall said that she did. Hermione took a deep breath and nodded at her in the affirmative, giving her permission to cast the spell.

Glowing numbers seemed to be floating on her skin's surface, she looked down at herself, attempting to read them but stopped as she saw the headmistress pointing out the numbers that floated above her head.

08111998was there in a bright green next to a blue number that seemed to be her age in year. The blue number showed 19:354:11:55:23,

Using parchment and quill, Mcgonagall copied the date down onto paper and began doing the math. "You aged yourself an additional year! Over a year! You'll be turning 20 in a matter of weeks. I had no idea you had used so much time, Hermione. What happened?"

Headmistress McGonagall's mouth was thin and her nostrils flared a bit as she stared at Hermione and she felt as if she were 12 again.

Swallowing, Hermione admitted, "My weekdays would start like everyone else's but at lunch I would turn back to the beginning in order to take my extra classes and then I would continue on from there into the afternoon classes. At dinner I would go back and take the extra afternoon classes and catch up to dinner. After everyone was asleep I would go back to the beginning of dinner and study for the extra classes and catch up on sleep. When I woke it was sometimes morning and I had to go back and put myself back to bed so I could wake up with my classmates. The weekends were easier, I would turn back only once and do my homework as needed."

Scratching out numbers quickly with her quill, Minerva gasped. "You must have added over 24 hours to each of your school days for the entire year to add 12 months to your age!"

Ashamed that she had disappointed her head of house, Hermione's head dropped. "I am sorry I abused your trust. It's just that, with every extra class, there was extra work to complete and I often didn't have time to fit the extra assignments into my normal day and then after I had done that, I was tired and a normal amount of sleep was not enough since I'd been up for longer than usual. It wasn't until March or April that I really began to lose track of where and when I was. I knew that I wasn't going to be able to put up with another year like that one and I used some time to get ahead in my extra subjects so that I could still pass the OWLs and NEWTs for them. I gave up Divination once I saw the subject for what it was but I didn't want to miss out on Care of Magical Creatures, or Muggle Studies either. I was able to keep Arithmancy and Ancient Runes in my regular schedule so I added some extra time into my schedule to study ahead for the two subjects to make up for not having the time turner after giving it back."

"And?" Minerva prompted.

"I was able to get through the 5th year texts before I gave back the time turner. You know I tested for the OWL for all subjects despite not having been in the classes for 4th and 5th years. That is how I was able to do it. In 6th year I continued to revise and study the curriculum in my spare time when I could. I hope to take my NEWTs in all subjects offered at Hogwarts. I made it a goal to achieve a NEWT in all nine subjects."

Silence filled the room for a moment. Both witches knew their focus should be on the upcoming law proposal rather than Hermione's use of time but neither was sure of what to say.

"Will I be allowed to even attend school this year?" Hermione asked meekly.

Minerva's head snapped up. "Of course you will! There are no Hogwarts bylaws that prevent a student from attending due to age. We've had students as old as you before, of course their situation was different. Dumber than rocks, they were, repeating years of school before being able to move to the next."

A sad smile graced the younger witch's face. "I meant because of the marriage law. If I am turning 20 and am subject to the law, will I still be considered a student? I can hardly come to school and then disappear for a few weeks to marry. I couldn't just reappear and continue classes like that, could I?"

McGonagall's lip pursed and grew very thin. "There aren't any bylaws preventing students who are of age and married from attending school but it won't be possible for you to bring a spouse with you. They aren't on the approved list of pets, after all," she said the last bit dryly.

A soft laugh escaped Hermione as she took a sip of her cooled tea. "Well, if I marry another student that could work, right? A student of age would already be in residence here so it would work out better than a spouse who is out of school."

"Alas, I do not know of the rules or particulars for this distasteful law. If it passes, I promise to help you in whatever way I can."

Both witches put talk of the possible law to the side as it did no good to plan around details they did not have. They finished their tea. Hermione didn't linger too long as she knew that Minerva had a lot of paperwork to accomplish in Professor Snape's absence. In the aftermath of the war, there was more paperwork to complete than there had been with all the students needing to repeat or to finish a year that had been excluded from previously. McGonagall was trying to manage the school long enough for him to recover and to help take over some of the duties. Apparently, according to Minerva, Professor Snape had wanted to redeem himself from afar, satisfied to allow her to take over as Headmistress.

Approaching the Hospital Wing again after leaving the Headmaster's office, Hermione quietly walked past a sleeping Snape, who had rolled to his side while she had been gone. None of the books or reading journals looked to have been touched. In the lab attached to the hospital wing, Hermione found the box of empty vials and the list of what was needed on top. Relieved, Hermione set to work. There were only three things on the list and they were easy enough to brew even if they might make her late to supper at the Burrow. She quickly cast her patronus and sent a message to Mrs. Weasley stating that she was working in the lab and wouldn't be back for the family meal.

An hour later, the batch of invigoration draught was completed and labeled. Hermione gathered the crate of them and trekked across the wing to store them for Madam Pomfrey. She rotated the older potions (there were only two left) to the front and placed all the new to the back. Even though the date on the older vials was labeled only two weeks prior and the handwriting hers, Hermione still checked the potion for efficacy before putting it back, satisfied that those two vials were still fresh enough to use. When she turned and picked up the carrying crate and began to walk back to the lab, she startled. From his bed, Severus Snape was looking at her, very obviously awake.

"Hello, Professor Snape. I'm sorry, that was so rude of me. I wasn't aware you were awake. Do you need anything?"

There was no response but Hermione could tell that he had heard her by the tightening of the muscles in his hands on top of the quilt.

Resuming her step, Hermione approached his bed, "I think Madame Pomfrey stepped out for a moment but if you need something, I'm happy to help."

There was still no response. Just as Hermione was about to apologize for bothering him and return to the lab, she heard his silky barritione. It was a bit more horse than it was the last time she heard it but not so much that it was unrecognizable.

"Did you leave me these...books?"

"I did, yes. I saw them among some of my things while unpacking and thought maybe you could use something to read while you're stuck in here. I merely thought you might find them amusing. You don't have to read them, though."

More silence.

"...thank you. I imagine I'll grow quite desperate enough to read them in my remaining days in this prison."

Stunned, Hermione simply blinked. "You're welcome, sir." Using her wand, she filled his empty water glass before returning to the lab. For anyone else she would have offered to do more but she was certain Professor Snape would not like to be viewed as weak or vulnerable and so she did not ask or offer more.

It was with a busy mind that Hermione brewed the last two potions the nurse had requested for the wing. It took her nearly 20 minutes longer than usual due to her wandering mind but she emerged from the lab at dusk to stock the refilled vials on the potions cabinet. Madam Pomfrey was in the wing again and was doing her typical cleaning and upkeep charms for the evening.

"Ah, thank you so much, Miss Granger! You've been such a boon to Hogwarts these past few months. I am grateful and I am sure Professor Snape is as well."

A snort could be heard from behind the partial curtain but Hermione pretended she had not heard it. "I am happy to help. Do you think you'll need me to return to brew again? I see that you're down to one patient now."

Shaking her head, Madam Pomfrey said, "I will be lucky to force him to stay put for another day or two. He'll likely want to brew his own now that he's feeling well enough to stand and move for short periods of time."

Hermione reiterated the offer of her services should they be required and left the hospital wing to make her way to the Burrow, hoping that Molly had left her a plate out of reach from Ron as she was actually feeling a little bit hungry now after not eating anything all day.

The walk to the gate was quiet and gave Hermione time to reflect on what the acting Headmistress had given her an advance warning of. She had carefully kept it from her mind during her brewing because she knew it would upset her or cause her to make a mistake in distraction. Now the thoughts would not be kept at bay.

She would have to marry someone if the law passed. She would have to have a child or two with that person. She was turning 20 in a matter of a week or two and she would be one of the first few affected by the law once passed. Perhaps Ron wasn't such a bad choice afterall. Even if she was sure that she didn't want to spend her life trying to downplay her own accomplishments for the sake of her spouse, she knew she could. She wouldn't be happy, but she wouldn't be miserable. She could do that for a few years. She'd already done it for 7, What's a few more?

A guilty feeling washed over her. She knew deep down that Ron could never be happy with her, though. Was his happiness worth nothing as long as she was comfortable? Ron needed a witch who was dependent on him. Her world needed to begin and end with him. Hermione could put up with his bad habits and his personality traits that she didn't find attractive but Ron deserved better than a wife who simply suffered him silently. She felt ashamed of herself for thinking selfishly that she could marry Ron to save herself from the situation. Ron was only 18. He had 2 years before the law, if passed, would affect him. In 2 years he could fall in love with a good witch who was better suited to him. He could also not find someone and marry an awful person but that wasn't really up to her.

What Hermione needed was to research wizarding customs and wedding rituals. She had never heard of a divorce in the wizarding world and with a possible marriage law approaching, that concerned her. If she married someone in haste to abide by the law who turned out to be less than a good match for her, what was there to be done about it when she realized it? OR, was it possible to divorce and simply not accepted by the ancient societal standards? McGonagall had asked her to keep her knowledge of the proposed law to herself until word of it breaks the front page. She would have to sit on this information without being able to turn to anyone or advice or support. If the proposed bill passed, 20-45 year old unmarried magical folk would be then forced to marry or go to Azkaban for a sentence. Azkaban was not a pleasant option and so Hermione would have to wed. She was fairly certain that any consequence of non-compliance would be unthinkable and she was so tired of fighting. Not knowing any of the details was already driving her crazy; the itch to start preparing for the upcoming horror was strong.