Minerva sat at her desk answering the letters she had received that morning, when she was startled by a loud knock on the door. Sighing at the ink smudged across the letter she had been writing, she called, "Come in."

Professor Pomona Sprout entered the office and sat down in the chair across from Minerva. She sighed as she commented, "Well that was horrifying. I had no idea how little our students know about reproduction. I should have let you talk to the Ravenclaws. Never-ending questions, most of which made the Hufflepuffs want to run away and hide. How did yours do?"

"I found the same was true for the students in my group. They didn't seem to know much about contraception at all, especially the charms here at Hogwarts. I'm thinking that we should teach these charms earlier in their time here instead of waiting until their last term."

"I agree," Pomona said. "Perhaps even add the potion as well. Severus might complain, but he will get used to the idea."

"If he doesn't," Minerva added, "We can threaten him with having to teach an entire class on the subject."

"That would make a fitting punishment for misbehaving students; sex education with Professor Snape."

Minerva chuckled at the thought, imagining all the horrified faces.

After a bit, Pomona put on a more serious face, and asked, "Did you get a letter this morning?"

"As vague as that sounds," Minerva quipped, "I did."

"The Prophet was correct then." Pomona stated.

"I don't think I would ever say that word in relation to the Daily Prophet, but I do "qualify" for this dreadful law."

"Have you made any plans yet? Do you have somebody in mind?" Pomona questioned.

"As of now, I have not made any decisions, but I received these today," She said as she pulled a stack of envelopes from her desk drawer.

Minerva noted the mischievous look as Pomona flipped through the stack of envelopes, most of which were still sealed.

"You haven't even opened these." Pomona scolded. "Prince Charming himself could have sent you a petition and you wouldn't even know it."

Minerva glared at her, "If you want to know so badly, then open them, but don't be surprised when they all mention that "advertisement" as its referred to now."

"Hmm," Pomona paused. "I'll take these and sort through them for you. There should be a diamond in here somewhere."

"I wouldn't bet on it," Minerva replied, seeing Pomona out.

"But I always win my bets." Pomona insisted as she continued out into the corridor.

The next morning, Minerva was ambushed at breakfast by Pomona and Poppy. They were too excited for it to be anything good.

"Min," Poppy started. "We found your prince charming, or at least a few options."

Minerva just rolled her eyes as Pomona explained, "I hope you don't mind that I enlisted Poppy, otherwise it would have taken ages to get through all those."

"I am very skeptical, but if you insist you can enlighten me as to my "options" after dinner." After seeing their disappointment at having to postpone said enlightenment, Minerva explained, "I don't have time this morning as I have set up appointments with Ms. Strallin and Ms. Carson. They are the only Gryffindors that have already turned 17. Later I am meeting Hermione for Tea, so you will just have to find something productive to do in the meantime."

Disappointed, Poppy and Pomona went on to their places as the head table. Minerva took her place, but couldn't help notice the not so quiet, excited whispers throughout the meal.

When the paper was delivered, Minerva was happy to notice that her name did not appear in any articles.

Her first two appointments went surprisingly well. The girls in question seemed to have a plan to deal with the new law. It all seemed so easy. They were both engaged with plans to marry within the next few weeks.

If she was honest, Minerva was envious. The news was unexpected, but this law seemed to be more of an inconvenience for them, rather than the devastating reality that she saw.

Somehow, she hoped that there really was a reasonable petition in that bunch, but the odds were not in her favor this time.

After lunch, Minerva returned to her office, to await her guest. She had asked Hagrid to escort Hermione to the castle, although asking wasn't strictly necessary.

Soon enough, Hermione arrived and Minerva ushered her into the office.

"Its very nice to see you again dear," The Deputy Headmistress welcomed. "Please have a seat."

"Thank you," Hermione replied taking her seat. "I was very happy to accept your invitation, but I can't decide if I should be asking for an extra assignment or trying to avoid a detention."

Smiling as she reminisced, Minerva seated herself. "I don't care to give out detentions today, but if you want an extra assignment, you can tell me how you are getting along at your new ministry job."

Without missing a beat, Hermione jumped right in telling all about her new position in the department of magical creatures. She had been recently been promoted so that she could focus more on the creature welfare and less on catching and hiding them.

It was a good distraction, but eventually even Hermione Granger ran out of things to say.

With a fresh cup of tea in hand, Minerva steered the conversation in a different direction. "Have you been keeping up with the Daily Prophet?"

"If by keeping up, you mean did I read Skeeter's article yesterday, than yes. I have never disliked anyone more excepting maybe Voldemort."

McGonagall took a minute before responding, "I thought things were just starting to even out again, when this madness popped up from nowhere. I don't know where to begin dealing with this. Thanks to Skeeter's advertisement, I have a box of petitions that has somehow made this situation even worse."

"No offense, but I am glad that someone else has the same problem. Some of the notes on said petitions are rather horrible. I don't even recognize many names, and that seems strange. If the Magical community is so small then where are all these wizards coming from?"

"I had similar thoughts myself," Minerva mused. "Have you beeen through all the petitions you received?"

"I haven't got through many, but I have been trying to sort them. So far I only have two stacks: ones I know, and ones I don't." With a sigh, Hermione added, "Only a few made it into the first stack.'

"To be honest, I only opened the first few. The rest Pomona and Poppy took to sort, or more likely, to gossip about. "

Neither spoke for a time, then finally Hermione offered, "I can't believe it, but I really just don't know what to do here. I don't have any great marriage prospects at the moment, and I don't want to leave either. I may just try to stick it out and see what happens. Maybe they will repeal it before the deadline, and if not, so be it."

Considering her words carefully, Minerva reasoned, "I will not run away from this, neither will I make a scene. I have to, somehow, set an example for those girls to come who have even worse options than myself. If it comes down to it, I will do what I am told. We need to fights this, but I cannot do so openly."

With a determined look, Hermione promised, "I will not give in without a fight."

"I wouldn't expect anything different."

They wrapped up their conversation pretty fast, neither in the mood for pointless small talk. There were many points to consider, and both knew that repeatedly talking about these matters wouldn't make life any easier.