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Chapter Four: Logic

13 June 2025

Miss Weasley,

The Department of Magical Nuptials and Familial Relations cannot accept your request for exemption to Ministry of Magic Bill #18463, the Marriage Act of 2015. You will comply with your match and be married by 1 September 2025 or be charged up to 20,000 galleons and jailed for up to a year.

Most sincerely,

Helga Generoff
Head of the Department of Magical Nuptials and Familial Relations

I stared at the letter in my lap with possibly more emotion than I had the first one. Of course they wouldn't grant me an exemption. They had offered me the chance to tell them if there was anyone I didn't want paired with. I wished more than anything that I had thought about it back then, but I simply hadn't thought that I would be matched with him, of all people. Just lucky, I guess.

I hadn't told the Malfoys about my intentions to ask for an exemption, but they were smart. There was no way that they didn't expect this. Regardless, both Scorpius and his mother had owled me multiple times since that night at dinner, Scorpius under the guise of apologizing for pushing me and Astoria to tell me that when I was ready to start the wedding planning she would be there.

Strangely enough, my mother was saying the same thing.

The only person besides the Malfoys that knew about that night was Albus, who had been sworn to secrecy. For now, I'd decided, I would do as the Ministry wanted me to; as I had planned to do from the beginning. This law had been around since I was seven years old, after all. I'd always known that one day I would have to get married, and it might not be to someone I was in love with. If my parents could survive a bloody war, I could survive this.

I had a checklist for the day.

First, I would owl Scorpius. I would apologize for smacking him (as much as I still hated him, it really wasn't his fault about the spell, and there were plenty of legitimate things for me to hate him for still). I would tell him that this changed nothing about our arrangement. We would move forward as planned.

Second, I would owl Astoria and talk to my mother. I would set a date to sit down and do wedding planning. If I was going to get married, I was going to do it as I had planned since I was a little girl, with the perfect dress, the perfect venue, and the perfect day, even if there was an imperfect groom.

Third, I was going to start sending in applications. Just because I was getting married didn't mean that I could ignore everything else, and I was already late starting. If I was going to get the job I had hoped for so long for, I would need to start early.

And finally, once all else was done, I would start my search for a way to break this damned curse.

Satisfied with my newfound purpose, I sat down at my desk and began to write.

I got a reply from Scorpius almost instantly. I'd sent his and his mother's letters at the same time, since they were going to the same place, and he'd decided to write back for the both of them. His mother was keen to begin wedding planning as soon as possible, he said, and would be more than happy to meet my mother and I the following day for lunch to discuss it. As for him, he forgave me completely and apologized for his own actions once again.

It was for this reason that I found myself in the Leaky Cauldron at eleven o' clock on a Saturday morning, sitting next to my mother and sipping a butterbeer. I almost felt like I was eleven again, about to shop for my first year school supplies. That is, until Astoria walked in (looking perfect as usual) with Scorpius and Narcissa.

As the others sat down across from Mum and I, the air seemed to grow tense. "Mrs. Malfoy," my mother began with an obviously fake smile, "I wasn't aware you'd be joining us today."

"Of course," Narcissa answered flippantly, "There's about to be a Malfoy wedding. You can be sure that I'll be here to make sure that it gets done properly." The edge in her voice was almost accusatory as she said the word properly. Was she really insulting my mother right to her face?

Mum scratched at her right forearm, like she always did when she was tense, but bit her cheek. "Alright then." She turned to the other two. "Hello Astoria, Scorpius. It's nice to see the both of you."

They each smiled at her warmly, Astoria looking vaguely apologetic. "You too, Hermione," she said. She looked at me. "Hello Rose. Have you given any thought to what you want to talk about today?"

Just like that, the tenseness at the table eased (just barely) and I began with my mental list. I'd thought it all through logically, from start to finish. The first order of business, as I saw it, was the guest list. Once we'd decided on a number that everyone at the table was comfortable with, we began talking about the venue. Scorpius and I, surprisingly, agreed that we wanted to be married outside, though Narcissa visibly blanched at the thought of having us married at the Burrow. We tabled that discussion for later.

The next order of business, as I saw it, was the wedding party. Scorpius only had two first cousins, Adrina and Emilio Zabini, and a brother Hugo's age who attended Durmstrang and had come home the day after my introductory dinner. Because of this, I could only pick two bridesmaids. I resolved to ask Alice, who I'd known since diapers, and Dierdre Eldridge, who had been my best girl friend since we were both Sorted into Ravenclaw in first year. Mum and I agreed that asking any of my cousins risked the possibility of offending the others, and the last thing this wedding needed was a few pissed off Weasley women.

Determined to keep this wedding exactly half Weasley and half Greengrass/Malfoy, I asked the Malfoys if they had any young children in their family, and to my relief Astoria confirmed that Scorpius' cousin, Adrina, had a four-year-old boy named Alexander. It was decided that Alexander would be ringbearer while Victoire's five-year-old, Daniella, would be my flower girl.

When it came time to discuss who would actually be performing the ceremony, Narcissa practically insisted upon us using the same wizard who blessed both her wedding and Astoria's. I agreed, since my family was traditionally married by someone within the family and I was trying to keep the numbers equal.

It was nearly five o' clock when all of that was done for the day, and all of us were exhausted. I had never made so many mental lists and preparations in my life, even while studying for my N.E.W.T.s. It was Scorpius who suggested that we get back together another day if we wanted to continue planning.

"That's a beautiful idea," my mother agreed with a smile at my (ew) fiance. She looked at Astoria and Narcissa. "I assume that you ladies will want to make a date to pick out dresses soon?"

Both women nodded. "We'll have to do that quickly," Narcissa said. Her eyes twinkled for a moment and for the first time she seemed excited about the prospect of wedding planning. "If we're going to have them married in less than three months, we need to place orders immediately."

We all stood, but at the last second Scorpius spoke. "Ladies, would you mind if I borrow Rose for dinner? I believe there are things that she and I need to discuss alone."

The ladies all looked at me for my approval, and I gave a wear nod, to which they all replied affirmatively. Within moments Scorpius and I were alone.

I turned toward the blond warily. "What do you need, Scorpius?"

"I just want to talk," he replied, putting both of his hands up like a surrender. "It's been a while since we've done that properly."

I could almost feel my eyes glossing over as I remembered the last time we'd talked about anything deeper than the weather and arranged marriages. Do you think you can ever forgive me?

I scowled. "As far as I'm concerned I barely knew you before all of this," I said coldly. "That's what our families think, at least. The only people that know are Albus and Dierdre, and I plan on keeping it that way."

Scorpius' expression was blank. "I understand. I just meant, if we're going to be getting married I'd like to clear the air."

I sighed deeply. "Alright," I conceded, "But whatever this is, it isn't a date, and if you think for one second that this changes anything, you're out of your mind."

"Got it," Scorpius replied. "Come with me. I have this one place I really like to have dinner at."

He began walking out of the Leaky, making his way to the exit into the Muggle world. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't more than a little bit surprised, but nonetheless he continued to lead me down the streets of Muggle London. When we finally stopped a couple of blocks away, we were standing outside of a cute little diner that looked like something right outside of a fifties' movie.

He shot me a miniscule, almost imperceptible smile as he opened the door for me, and I just stared blankly back. The place was almost empty, and we sat as far in the back as possible so as to be able to talk without drawing Muggle attention. A waitress came to take our orders quickly after that, and then we were alone with our dinners.

"First of all," Scorpius said, "I want to call you Rose."

I shot him a glare. "Now you want to use my name so badly," I said bitterly. "Why is it so important to you?"

"Because you're about to be my wife-" I blanched. "-and our families are going to find it peculiar if I'm not even allowed to refer to you by name. Not to mention, your mum is right. Using your last name is like rolling the dice and hoping it lands on a one."

I rolled my eyes. "Fine. Anything else?"

"Yes," Scorpius continued. "I want you to know that I don't plan on using my family's spell on you."

I scowled down at my plate. "I don't believe you," I said.

"You can not believe me if you like," Scorpius said, "But I wouldn't do that to you. I wouldn't make you do anything you didn't want to."

The table was silent for a couple of minutes after that.

"What exactly is it that you want out of this marriage, Scorpius?"

He looked up quickly, almost as though my question surprised him, but his face was still relatively expressionless. "I don't know," he said. "I want us both to be happy."

I mulled over his words. Logically, if the spell on his family made it so that neither of us were able to cheat on the other, we were completely stuck. If we didn't find a way to make this work, it was quite possible that we would end up being the loneliest married couple on Earth.

On the other hand, a second part of my brain cautioned me. Just because we had to get married now didn't change the past, which played over like a movie in my head. You're a monster, Scorpius. I'd meant those words then. But did I still mean them?

I steeled myself. Yes, I did still mean them.

"That's probably not going to happen, Scorpius. We'd better get used to that." I sighed. "Listen, thank you for dinner. But I meant what I said - this doesn't change anything. As far as I'm concerned, this will be a marriage only on paper. I'm making the best out of it because of our families and because there's no reason to deny myself the little bit of happiness I can manage to milk out of this situation, but once we're married I don't think there will be any. There's just too much water under this particular bridge."

Scorpius nodded. "I understand."

I stood up. "Good night, Scorpius."

"Good night, Rose."

With that, I apparated away.