~23 Days Until the Ceremony~
Hermione sat in her flat by the fire, attempting to look over research done on the whereabouts of the werewolves from the tip off Harry had received weeks ago. She had sent two of her caseworkers to dig up any information they could, yet she was finding it too hard to concentrate. She was exhausted after having to extend her normal work day to accommodate working on the Goblet of Unity and it was taking up so much of her time that it was all she could think about.
It was a crazy plan; she understood the Minister's reluctance too, he was a smart man. He knew this wouldn't be the solution to all the problems the Ministry was still facing with blood purity, ignorance, and violence. Not to mention it was by far asking too much of these young, war stricken kids… herself and her friends included. Well, they weren't really kids anymore, were they? She put her head in her hands, sighing.
Who will I be paired with?, she wondered for the hundredth time. A few months ago, she might have guessed Ron, what with the way they had been so inseparable after the war. But time unraveled their differences and she couldn't really say she wasn't happier now on her own…
Ron would have made sense in the pureblood aspect of it too, she remembered, as she considered how the goblet was supposed to take blood status into account too. Half the purpose of this law was to make sure magical lineage was maintained somehow. Yet, even marrying off what few muggleborns were left didn't guarantee they'd produce magical children… or even have children for that matter, she considered for the first time.
And it wasn't unknown that purebloods could have squibs too. She sighed again. How was that part of the law written again? Padma was struggling with amending the part about having children and had asked Hermione for advice. They'd spent hours poring over the ancient texts, trying to figure something out. So far, they'd come up short. A 5 year timeline always sounds great, until you think about it…
As Hermione sat, lost in thought, she completely ignored the fire which started to crackle and burst in front of her. In seconds, the flames turned green and out stepped a very unhappy redhead who looked on the verge of tears.
"Oh Ginny!" Hermione was shaken out of her own mind.
"It's awful Hermione, simply awful!" Ginny sobbed, collapsing into Hermione's open arms.
"I would have figured you'd be angry more than upset."
Hermione caught her friend's words through the raking tears, "I-I was, believe me. Harry saw the brunt of it but, but then I got all emotional because… what-what if Harry and I aren't chosen for each other? I know its stupid but, I can't help it!"
Hermione had forgotten, weighed down with work, the goblet, and her own thoughts of the law; how many other couples were already happy and would have this law tear them apart? So many people would be hurt…
"Not to mention you!" Ginny started, looking up at Hermione with tear stained cheeks.
"What do you mean?"
"Don't think you can fool me Hermione, you're acting all brave but this stupid law is going to mix bloodlines. You've got to be scared!"
"Nervous, yes," Hermione considered but her fear and anger had finally dissipated. She already tried to fight this law and had lost on all fronts. She hadn't let Kingsley or the Wizengamot hear the end of it, owls and personal meetings and arguments. But they'd already enacted it with an old magical spell; there was no undoing this.
"Gin, I have to agree to this, I tried to argue, to fight it and change it and do everything I could but-"
Ginny's strangled voice cut her off. "But Hermione… you're-you're going to end up a death eater's wife!"
The words felt harsh when they were said out loud. Hermione's eyes grew much too wide; sure she had considered it for all of a brief moment, but there wasn't a chance in hell she'd be compatible with someone like that. Never.
But something in hearing it out loud had a different feeling all together. The fear crept in much too fast. Knowing what her best friend faced, what they all faced; she wrapped her arms around Ginny tighter.
~2 Weeks Until the Ceremony~
It was late Friday night when the team finally finished their work for the day and headed to the Leaky Cauldron. Making the Goblet of Unity was taking a lot more effort than expected and the exhaustion was starting to show. Even Kingsley felt bad for them and wrote up a proposal to give them all bonuses. The Wizengamot seemed annoyed by it but he wouldn't let them get away without signing it.
"This is getting ridiculous," Theo said as he narrowed in on three open bar stools and began waving for the bartender to come over. He eyed him uneasily before taking his order, but upon seeing Luna and Harry behind Theo, he smiled.
"Yeah, I am so behind on all my other work," said Padma, taking a seat. She put a hand to her forehead and sighed. Ron, Harry, and Ernie remained standing and took the glasses Theo offered them eagerly.
"You could say that again," Hermione huffed as she stood beside her old classmates and grabbed a glass too. "I had at least six owls on my desk and two case workers waiting for me when I snuck to my office during lunch."
"Yeah, as much as this little break has been nice," Harry mentioned, "I'm leaving my team in Spain with two new recruits. Not the smartest move on my part…" he took a sip of the glass.
Ron looked like he was trying to find some encouraging words. "2 weeks guys. That's all we got left. At least there's that."
"Does wedding season get your knickers all flustered Weasley?" Theo laughed rather sarcastically after he downed his glass. He raised a hand for another round and the bartender came right over. Harry chuckled as he reached into his pocket and threw a few gold galleons to him.
Ron gave Harry a nudge with his elbow. "Well of course not, but it doesn't do well to sit here, moping like moaning Myrtle. Isn't the most stressful part now figuring out who we're going to be paired with?" he looked around the group to see if they agreed.
Padma and Luna shrugged. "You're probably right," Padma agreed. "Especially since we've been placing all these compatibility charms that were originally made to be accurate. Makes you wonder…"
"Am I the only one thinking our old Hogwarts houses are already going to be a dead giveaway though?" Ernie said. "We've been sorted by our traits already."
"One would think," Theo pondered out loud. "Although, I doubt many Slytherins are ripe to be paired with a snuggly little hufflepuff." Luna laughed at this but everyone stared at her. Theo just shrugged.
"But every person doesn't fit the cookie cutter mold for each house," it was Harry who reminded them of this. "I could have been in more than one house, the Sorting Hat told me so himself."
"Mate, that's because you were half Voldy at that point," Ron laughed. His joke made Theo and Ernie chuckle but Harry didn't seem to find it very funny.
"Harry's right though, the Sorting Hat told me he'd considered placing Parvati in Hufflepuff or Gryffindor. And that I would have made an interesting addition to Slytherin. I think it's all relative. We've all changed a lot since sorting," Padma told them.
"You could say that again," Theo said under his breath. Ron snorted.
"Fancy yourself more like a Hufflepuff or a Ravenclaw Nott?" Ron asked jokingly. "Bronze seems a grand color for you."
"Doesn't matter," Theo stated, "it's my pureblood status that's on everyone's mind. Mine and all the other Slytherins. Not which house I'd fit in now. Not my real attributes which are vastly different from those of my dumb, adolescent self."
"Well Theo, it's not like compatibility charms account for blood status. These spells and enchantments we are doing won't ensure bloodlines mix. The bloodlines could remain the same for all we know," Hermione stated, irritation in her voice. "And to be frank, I don't think the Wizengamot even realizes."
She wanted so much to believe her own words; ever since Ginny visited her it was all she could think about, the possibility of being paired with a Slytherin. She had considered all the boys in their year who were pureblood, desperate that her easy friendship with Neville could work itself into a marriage or that perhaps her and Ron could sort some of their problems out in the long run.
She would even take Dean Thomas or maybe Lee Jordan too, they were half-bloods. Anyone but Slytherins seemed viable options. Maybe Theo wouldn't be so bad if she had to choose anyone from that house. He had said he'd changed. How many other Slytherins were now tolerable to be around, she wondered seriously…
"Hermione, hello?" Harry was saying to her and she shook out of her reverie. She hadn't realized that, in her tiredness, she'd completely missed hearing what Luna had said in response to her comment.
"Sorry," she managed. "What were you saying?" she drank the rest of her glass and Padma grabbed another from off the bar to hand to her. When Hermione looked hesitant, Padma just nodded and pushed the glass toward her.
"I agree with you. I don't think they've realized that in using pairing spells and Amortentia and all the other additions they aren't going to necessarily get muggleborns paired with purebloods and half-bloods," Luna explained. "It's kind of funny, like our little secret."
"Yeah, a secret fuck you to the Wizengamot," Theo laughed. "I'm okay with that."
"It's cute how they think this is helping the wizarding community grow," laughed Ron, now onto his third glass. His cheeks were beginning to get rosy.
"I guess by insisting on marriage they think we'll have kids right away too," Ernie suggested.
"Thank Merlin that's not written into the law," Theo said with a little too much relief in his voice. "A ring on my finger is plenty."
"Well Nott, it's not immediate but I'm desperately trying to find a way around the whole having kids aspect of the law. These ancient law writers were just awful. Not an ounce of humanity in them really," Padma frowned. Theo paled and Padma gave him a weary look.
"About the rings," Ernie brought up then, rather reluctantly. "The ministry officials are giving me a special request…"
"And what's that? The rings bound us together, never letting couples separate more than a couple feet?" Theo said, the sarcasm oozing from his lips.
"Not quite," Ernie said, "but the rings we all are getting are going to be enchanted. The Wizengamot wants to ensure these pairings last and that no one gets ideas afterward. So, they told me they have to bind the witch and wizard together somehow…"
Luna, Padma, and Hermione stood, mouths open. "What in Merlin's sagging bollocks does that mean," Theo stated for them all.
"They're having my department work on them, but we're still figuring it out. It's got something to do with linking magic and maybe then, as you get closer and your bond becomes stronger, the ring becomes stronger," Ernie explained. "He only told me yesterday, so I'm not really sure…" He looked at the bottom of his glass, apologetic for keeping the information from them.
"Screw it, this whole thing is bonkers," Padma mumbled.
The circle grew quiet as the reality sunk in deeper. Not only would they be paired up but then bonded with special rings? What would the rings even mean for the pairs? The future was looking ever more grim for them all.
Harry put an arm around Hermione when he saw her looking down at her glass, a line of fear growing across her forehead. She hadn't told him about what Ginny had said to her, but she wondered if Ginny had already talked with Harry about it anyway.
When Hermione looked at everyone else, she saw much of the same agitation. Padma had her head in her hands and Theo was twirling a ring on his finger, looking off in the distance trying to hide the worry in his blue eyes. Ron sighed before draining his glass and Ernie was shifting back and forth on his feet nervously, paying too much attention to the bartender as he made a drink.
Luna looked around the circle, her voice soft and comforting when she spoke, "well at least one thing came out of this whole ordeal; they've managed to make friends out of us all."
"I guess that's something," Ernie searched for confirmation in the faces around him.
"Yes," Harry said, trying to smile. "It's true, even for you Nott." Theo looked up at this, a little embarrassed and uncertain of the truth behind it.
"Perhaps their bigger plan was something along these lines," Hermione realized then. "Or more likely, this is a complete accident."
"Cheers to accidents," Theo stated loudly, holding his glass out. They all clinked, weak laughter coming to the circle as a whole. It was all they had on this dreary night, 2 weeks before all their lives would change. They were holding onto all they could.