Part 2 : the partner reveal
Once the legitimacy of the Marriage Law is established, the next step is to introduce your two unknowing partners to each other.
Now you might think that the Wizengameot will pair wizards based on similarities in order to at the very least avoid collateral damage that is bound to occur when forcing strangers to share a household and children against their will? Perhaps the Ministry of Magic will send out a survey or allow the citizens to have 'first choice' of their partner? If not, the partners will be chosen based on characteristics such as : equal social status, compatibility, child birthing ability etc.?
No, because again, this will raise questions in your readers' minds about politics and as we know, politics and romance do not mix. What matters here is upping the hopelessness and inevitability of the situation.
The only thing that matters is pairing your OTP together against all odds. Why? Why? Because the Wizengameot said so and as my mother likes to say 'you get what you get and you don't throw a fit.'
"
Snape stalks into Dumbledore's study ready for the worst of news regarding his future spouse. Quite frankly, he does not know why he was selected for this political 'pet project'. He hasn't had sex since Prince Charles' wedding and is not sure if he's capable of bringing women to anything but tears. Well, he's not ready because he sees the Know It All Hermione Granger sitting there, practically jumping out of her robes in anticipation of the verdict.
"I thought you should know the news as soon as I've received them. You and Hermione Granger have been selected to marry," says the Headmaster.
Snape is incapable of expressing any noticeable emotion. Hermione is quite the opposite.
"But, sir is there no other way?" she says, on the verge of a tearful rage. "Ron and Harry offered to marry me, and even George Weasley-"
"Silence!" Dumbledore yells calmly. "The witch doth protest too much. You will be with Severus Snape."
Hermione is fuming. Snape yet again sees a woman who he had upset merely by existing in her vicinity.
"
This chapter should leave readers with a sense of light angst. However, will these two characters learn to cope with their unfortunate circumstances?
If your characters are canonically mismatched (i.e. one of them in a Professor/ Death Eater/ Slytherin/ your MC's nemesis and the other is Hermione Granger the opposite), then it wouldn't be wise to introduce any sort of doubts on the behalf of this union from any of the knowledgable parties. In fact, the fewer people who know about the arrangement, the better. If a friend or another teacher does discover the circumstance, they must simply turn a blind eye to the event, accepting it as the Unbendable Law of your literary universe. Even better, they will convince both parties that this marriage is legal, acceptable and in their best interests.
Bonus points for including the following plot decorations:
-Harry, Ron, Neville, Pansy, Luna, Ginny, or Parvati suddenly become too self-involved with their own partners or too frightened to protest on behalf of your Main Character
-Dumbledore trusts your Love Interest has the main character's best interests at heart
-One of your characters has secretly admired the other from afar but has been too embarrassed to admit it
Part 3: the wedding
Now that you've arranged your character's first meeting on equal grounds, it's time for their special day: the wedding ceremony.
This event, as the actual one, should pass in a blur. Adding any decoration or positive description of the wedding will only result in making readers believe that happiness can exist in arranged marriages as long as they are built on respect, honesty and setting good boundaries. No - love can only exist where choice does and your characters have no choice in your Marriage Law fanfiction.
Again, the main emotion you hope to evoke in your readership is an even heightened angst. Nothing about this wedding should even whisper 'romance' or 'love' or Merlin forbid, happily ever after. Take a page from Panic! At the Disco if you must.
There are a variety of ways to plan your dismal ceremony. Here are a few excellent options to get your creative juices flowing:
The bride/groom arrives late or is Missing In Action
One character shows up piss drunk (on Firewhiskey)
One character is caught red-handed with another more rightful lover in the broom closet
The weather threatens to upheave the set-up
Unexpected guests show up. Bonus points if they are Death Eaters or a tearful ex-paramour threatening to kill whoever marries your MC
Upon seeing your character dolled up in their 'Sunday Best', their family/friends/Hagrid is so overcome with emotion that they begin to cry, instantly forgetting their disapproval of the arrangement
Your main character receives social support from a sober, jaded friend in the key of 'it won't be so bad' in their dressing room
Drunk on barrel-aged mead from Rosmerta's cellar at the minibar, a fight arises
Dumbledore/ Voldemort officiate the wedding
"
Dressed all in white like a giant bowl of whipped creme fraiche at afternoon high tea, with her parents and siblings weeping in the pews, Ginny stands at the altar before Draco Malfoy. This was the boy who hated her parents, whose father had insulted her dad on multiple occasions at work and who has referred to her family as 'Mudblood lovers', despite the fact that the Weasley family is just as pureblooded as them.
"Y' ready, Weaserella?" Draco says, tilting his head over. He smells of booze like he'd been up all night at the Three Broomsticks.
"Let's just get this over with," Ginny hisses through clenched teeth, remembering her friend Luna's advice about 'getting what you get and you don't get upset'. Besides Luna's getting paired with Draco's father so, in retrospect, things could have gone much worse for Ginny.
"
Now that the wedding is over, let's skip to the most critical and all-important scene that draws the first act of our story to an end….
A\N: This fanfiction is a work of satire\meta and a gift \ hommage to the writer Darsynia who has inspired me with her "How to write a cliche Time Turner's fanfiction.