Hermione,

I'm glad you found my suggestions regarding the alteration to Burning Bitterroot Balm to be beneficial. Looking over your notes, I see no reason we shouldn't be able to move on to the testing phase. This potion has done so much for Wizarding society and it's well time it was adapted to aid our fantastic beasts.

In regards to your other inquiry, I regret to say that I have heard no rumors as to what the hold up is within the Council. We have tried to get approval for naming two new creatures we've discovered in the past few months, but the forms are being delayed left and right.

Luna sends her love,

Rolf Scamander

Hermione frowned as she looked out her office window. The enchantment on the 4th floor Ministry windows today was a raging thunderstorm; perhaps to match her mood. Despite attempting to get a hearing with the Wizengamont for weeks now to go over her her new proposal that would require for equal rights to be extended for werewolves, full blooded veela, and centaurs, the Council had kept delaying due to what they deemed more pressing Ministry concerns.

"More pressing indeed" she muttered, pursing her lips as she straightened out the airplane folds from the mail system. In the five years since the end of the wizarding war and Voldemort's defeat the Ministry had done nothing but stall. One would think that they would want to move forward making changes that would better society as a whole, but the last thing she had been able to get on Kingley Shacklebolt's desk was a short dissent on pureblood culture and laws shortly before the Council blocked themselves off. She bet they hadn't even seen it and she had made several good points too.

"That's the face of a person that needs some butterbeer." Harry spoke from her office doorway with Ron beside him. "Come on, we told Ginny we would meet her at that new place off of Diagon Alley after her practice. You ready?"

"As long as we start with a round of fire whiskey, I suppose I can call it a day. It's not like I'm getting anywhere with this" she sighed.

"Cheer up, 'Mione!" Ron exclaimed, giving her a peck on the lips "Today can't be worse than the time you realized you'd have to take a flying exam as part of your comprehensive NEWTS!"

"Ugh, I don't want to ever remember that. It's a miracle I managed to even get the broom into my hand. What the three of you see in Quidditch, I'll never understand."

They met with Ginny at a tapas bar that had recently opened, The Witch and Crescent. Harry and Ron were animatedly describing the latest escapades of life as Aurors and the girls were dying laughing.

"We had to keep stunning him!" Harry laughed; his arm slung around his girlfriend's shoulders "He would hiccup, apparate in twenty different muggles from the surrounding village, and then wiggle his eyebrows and they would all start doing the Macarena!"

"I've gotten pretty good at it after watching it a dozen times. 'Eeeeey macarena! Ahhh!' I didn't even know that was a song before today. Dad's going to love it." Ron said.

"Oh man, the number of people we had to oblivi…" Harry started to speak but he was interrupted by the sound of all of the wands at The Witch and Crescent starting to chime.

The tables quieted down and everyone was starting to pull out their wands. A light appeared in front of each wand with a countdown timer, showing that there was an urgent news bulletin from the Ministry.

"Finish the story, Harry!" Ron said "This is probably just going to be them testing their new alert system again. Blasted thing. You'd think they'd pick a time when we weren't trying to relax and forget about…"

At that moment though, the countdown clock hit 0:00 and instead of the standard voice of the Minister's secretary that droned on and on saying "This is a test of the new Ministry alert system for Witches and Wizards" they were shocked to see Kingsley's face appear on a small screen of smoke in front of each wand in the room. As he began to speak, his voice amplified throughout the bar.

"Good evening, Wizarding Britain,

We have an important announcement to make, the details of which will be available and delivered for free tomorrow to every wizarding household in the Daily Prophet. We regret to say that despite our best efforts, we have not made the strides as a society that we wanted to in regards to restructuring our society to place less emphasis on blood types.

Recent studies have found that the likelihood of a muggle born witch or wizard and pureblood witch or wizard sustaining a friendship has only risen 3% in the last five years, a far cry from the 20% we were aiming for.

It is with a heavy conscience that I and the Wizengamont Council have decided that we will be proceeding with eradicating the Sacred Twenty-Eight as well as all others that might be considered to be pureblood through the introduction of the Marriage Law of 2003.

As of this moment, any of those considered pureblood have been magically returned to Britain and will be subject to the laws laid forth by the Ministry of Magic. Tomorrow, will begin the matching of purebloods with half-bloods and muggle borns; all witches and wizards that are subject to the laws will be notified and you will be matched with potential marriage prospects based on the compatibility of your magical core.

All those subjected to the law will be required to produce a minimum of two offspring to aid in the repopulation of the Wizarding world. A world which, going forward will be based on equality and with no blood status.

Any one that chooses to reject this process or tries to run will have their wand snapped, their memory modified, and their magic core burned off; forced to live the rest of their days as a muggle.

As said in the beginning, more details will be available in the Prophet tomorrow morning.

Good night."

The restaurant was silent as everyone processed what Kingsley had said. Quiet sobs could be heard in the surrounding booths. Harry and Ginny were holding hands and staring at one another. Ron wide eyed muttering "they can't do this to us. We fought Voldemort. We're supposed to be able to live our lives in peace."

Hermione wouldn't make eye contact with anyone. They had all seen her frazzled when she was going through a panic attack before a test or when she was hyper focused on a particular problem, but this was different. It was like she didn't want anyone to look at her for too long. No one could possibly know though, could they?

In her dissent on pure bloods; the one she thought had just ended up in a random pile to be thrown out on Kingley's desk; she had made one conclusion. That the elimination of pure bloods, half bloods, and muggle borns was the only way to bring balance and fairness to wizarding society in the immediate present in the hopes that with that break in bloodlines, society would become neutral and discrimination based on blood would cease in the generations to follow. She had been hoping that that very dissent would lead to more understanding and an open mind when it came time for her to present the briefing on her desk in regards to magical creatures.

Merlin help her, she had caused this.

Ginny's voice broke softly through the silence at their table. "You lot want to come back over to the Burrow tonight?" she whispered "I know Mum is going to be worried sick about this and it sounds like Charlie will be home as well."

"Sure, Gin." Hermione whispered as she pulled out enough Galleons to cover all of them. It was after all the least she could do to appease her guilty conscience.

In the years since the war, the stares and whispers that had followed the Golden Trio and many of the young heroes of Hogwarts like Ginny and Neville mostly faded, but tonight was not going to be one of those nights. As the four of them rose to leave, all eyes were on them and saw Harry Potter's hand shaking as he laced fingers with Ginny Weasley. They saw Ron Weasley grab Hermione Granger's iconic beaded bag she carried everywhere for her and then wrapped his arm around her waist. These young witches and wizards who had already given up so much of their childhood for the Wizarding world were going to once again have to put aside their own needs for the greater good.

With a loud crack they apparated away.

XXXXXXXXXXX

Molly had greeted them with hugs and reassurances that they were all family no matter what happened. They sat there in the kitchen, all lost in their own thoughts until the clock chiming reminded them how late it was. The girls bid everyone good night and went off to the room they had shared almost every summer since Ginny had started at Hogwarts. They slipped into pajamas and crawled into bed, a quick nox shut off the lights.

"He bought me a ring, you know." Hermione rolled towards her as Ginny started opening up. "He has been carrying it around for months thinking I didn't know. I always told him that I didn't want to get married until I got signed by the Harpies. Their seeker position finally opened up and I was waiting to tell him about the transfer next week for our anniversary."

Ginny paused for a moment and Hermione could hear her shifting in the twin bed next to hers.

"I'm not worried though. Kingsley said the matches were going to be determined based on your magical core and mine sings out every time Harry has ever kissed me. He is an extension of me, making my magic stronger, igniting a fire within me… touching him, even the slightest brush of our hands feels like the first time I held my wand; one that was fitted just for me. We are soul mates, so I'm not worried about what the letter is going to say tomorrow."

"You don't feel that way about Ron though, do you?" Ginny said softly "I would have loved you as a sister, Hermione, but we both know that your letter won't have his name."

"No, no, it will not" she agreed. "I love him and he loves me, but you're right, it's not the same. I can't imagine anyone though that could be a better fit. Who would even want boring, bookish Hermione Granger? Ron was always safe, you know? He knew who I was and was okay with it."

"It's going to be okay, 'Mione. You're a war hero, a beauty, brightest witch of her age… they won't match you with anyone terrible! They just couldn't! Let's try to get a bit of sleep before morning. Tomorrow's going to be a long day."

Hermione felt a single tear fall down her cheek. She survived Voldemort. She could survive this.