Chapter 2

Hermione walked down the King's Cross station towards the barrier between platforms 9 and 10. She casually leaned on the barrier and discreetly lipped through to the other side, onto platform 9 and 3/4. All of a sudden, she was surrounded by tons of people, running here and there to gather their stuff, looking to bid farewell to family members and to look for their friends. In the midst of all the hustle, she saw many familiar faces; some happy to be going back, and some looking gloomy at the prospect of studying the whole year again.

She stepped onto the train and looked around to find an empty apartment. Along the way, some people stopped and stared at her with no shame while others smiled at her and let her pass without a word. "Hey! Hermione!" called a familiar voice. She turned to look for her friend and saw him standing at the door of a compartment. "Neville!" she walked over to him and embraced him. "How are you?" he asked.

"I'm good. Hey Luna." she smiled at the girl and moved forward to hug her. "Hi Mione," she cocked her head and said, "You've got nargles in your head." Hermione giggled at her words and moved her stuff into their compartment. As she settled into her seat, she saw her favorite ginger head walking down the train.

"Ginny! Hey!" she called out to her best friend. "Oh, Mione!" Ginny entered the compartment and hugged her tightly. "I was looking for you. Can I sit here Neville, Luna?" She asked them. They nodded their heads and she plopped down onto the only vacant seat. Luna pulled out the latest edition of the Quibbler and disappeared behind it while Ginny, Neville, and Hermione started talking about the following school year.

"Firs' years! Firs' years! Mind yer step now! Follow me!" boomed Hagrid's familiar voice over the heads of the students. As Hermione, Neville, Luna, and Ginny made their way towards the carriages, Hermione stopped in front of the reptilian horses and looked into their pupil-less white eyes. "See, I had told you they're real. You're just as sane as I am." drifted Luna's dreamy voice. She looked around to see most of the students looking at the Thestrals just like she was. Almost all the students had seen people die during the war. Everyone had seen death, and now, they were seeing the ominous creatures. She shook her head to get rid of the memories of that dreadful day, plastered a smile on her face, and climbed into the carriage.

As they stepped into the entrance hall, they looked around in amazement at the walls and how they were looking exactly as they used to before the war. They walked into the Great Hall, which had been blasted into smithereens, and could barely make out where the ceiling had caved in and where the walls had been blasted off.

The three of them seated themselves on the Gryffindor table, with Harry sitting between Hermione and Ron, while Luna joined the Ravenclaws. As soon as all of them were in their seats, Professor Flitwick brought in the new first years. Most of them had the same terrified yet excited looks on their faces that Hermione, Harry, and the rest of them had on their first day, seven years back. As the Sorting Hat began its song, Hermione smiled as her head slowly filled with memories from her own sorting.

"Hmm. Ah! I see," the hat began, "Brave, chivalrous, you'll make a great Gryffindor. Oh, loyalty and hard work, eh? You'll do great in Hufflepuff too. You might take Ravenclaw to glory, with your incredible intelligence and wisdom. Slytherin will help you reach the top, with the help of your ambition and leadership qualities. So, which will it be?" it had asked her. She had hoped to go into either Gryffindor or Ravenclaw, and when the hat had shouted "Gryffindor!", she had shrieked with joy.

Suddenly, Hermione felt someone shaking her an heard a voice drifting towards her from far away, calling "Mione! Mione? Are you okay?" She jolted awake as Harry shook her. "Are you okay? The feast just started. Don't you wanna eat?" he asked, gesturing towards the dishes piled with food. "I-I'm okay Harry," she said and began eating.

Filling her plate with roast beef, potatoes, and gravy and began eating while nodding along to Harry's rant about how boring the year will be. As she looked at him while eating, her eyes fell on Ron stuffing his mouth with chicken and beef and steak simultaneously. She shook her head and frowned. "How could I have ever fallen in love with an idiot like him?" she thought to herself silently.

When everyone had eaten as much as they could, Headmistress McGonagall stood up and cleared her throat. "Ahem - now that you all have eaten, I would like to ask the seventh years and the returning eighth years to stay behind while the rest of the students proceed to their respective common rooms," she said with a grave expression on her face. "I have an announcement to make."

"Now what's wrong?" Neville asked in a nervous tone. "Dunno. What do you think Mione?" asked Ginny. "Oh, it's probably about our time tables. I mean, both seventh years and eighth years are taking the same classes, right? So there are double the students, but still the same number of teachers." said Hermione knowingly.

"Dear students, it is with great regret that I am informing you that the Ministry of Magic has passed a new Marriage Law concerning the seventh and eighth-year students," said McGonnagal sadly.

Her announcement was met by quite an obvious response. There were quite a few audible gasps, shouts of annoyance, and even some sobs, while others, like Hermione, were sitting in silent shock, staring at McGonnagal with rapt attention.

"What is even worse is that the Ministry will be choosing your partners, or rather, soulmates, for you. You won't get a say, and if you refuse to get married, you will be stripped off of your magic and will be forced to live in the muggle world. And, you and your soulmate will be required to produce an offspring in under a year after you marriages."

Hermione's breaths became labored as she heard the Headmistress's words and she gripped Ginny's hands tightly with anger and bitterness coursing through the veins.

"Your soulmates will be chosen right now," McGonnagal concluded as the door to the Great Hall opened and the Minister of Magic, Kingsley Shacklebolt walked in with a smile on his face, only to be met with expressions of horror, anger, and disgust.

On the other side of the Great Hall, Draco was sitting completely still, silently dreading who the Ministry would choose to put with him, the ex-Death Eater. He involuntarily rubbed the faded Dark Mark on his forearm, took a deep breath, and tried to pay attention to what the Minister had to say next.