Author's Notes: Anonymous reviews can be terrifying and confusing and I hate that I can't reply to them. I'll try not to make a habit of this, but…

To 'bubble under': No, that's not the direction this story is going… and I think I'm scarred. But outside of the context of this story, that would be a hilarious read!

To '77 Sunsets': Nope, not going that direction either. Sorry to disappoint but I happen to like fanon Draco and lucky for me, I can write him however I want! Mwahahaha!

And to 'drarrymadhatter': I'm still working out whether or not that was complimentary to this story… but thank you? And I've been reading since at least '03, but I have not kept track of which stories came from which era. I'm honestly not even sure anymore what the original plot was like for a marriage law fic! I just know that I always read them anticipating greatness and often I end up facepalming at a point I consider vital. *shrug* Many will do the same with my story. There's no such thing as a perfect story or the perfect version of a plot for everyone.

And lastly, to 'Patronus': Sorry for killing you with just my title. I'm again, not sure if this is complimentary or not. So… thank you? Hope you're enjoying the story as it drains the life out of you!

Enjoy the story!

"There's just too many variables!"

"Mmf. What's tha' 'Mione?" came the tired voice of Hermione's roommate.

"Sorry, Parvati. Didn't mean to wake you." After a mumbled reply, Parvati fell silent once more and Hermione knew she was likely back to sleep already if she'd even truly woken up in the first place. Hermione rubbed her temples and decided she needed a walk to clear her head anyway. A quick tempus spell told her that it might be considered late enough in the morning to be permitted in the halls, so she decided to risk it and venture out.

She let her feet carry her on a familiar path as she thought about her predicament.

The Teen Witch Weekly article mentioned by the Daily Prophet had been frustrating at first, but after analyzing what it was actually saying - and cross-referencing its claims - Hermione had found it illuminating. This process was much more sophisticated than names drawn out of a hat - and had even been used in the past to choose the most beneficial pairing to continue a line or infuse more powerful magic into a dwindling line.

In fact, it had a nearly perfect success rate. The newly named Compatibility Testing was actually done by a magical object that dated back to the origins of magic (as far as anyone knew). This object had been used for generations by Houses, Clans, Alliances, and even once a wizarding town! Hogsmeade was, in fact, the first and only wholly wizarding community thanks to the use of this artifact to ensure a healthy population of wizarding families.

There were only a few public studies of this artifact that Hermione was able to acquire on such short notice. Luckily, she seemed to be the only student doing this much research on the artifact so she didn't have to deal with competition for limited copies. She had ranted about that and accused their entire generation of indolence much to Neville's bemusement. He had quickly corrected her and informed her that Purebloods wouldn't be researching it since it was part of their early tutelage traditionally. Then Hermione was left to fume at discovering she was even further behind her peers than she realized.

Needless to say, Hermione had devoured the articles and learned all she could about this new-to-her magic. It reminded her of the Goblet of Fire and Neville confirmed that they were a similar class of magical object. The traditional name was Pactum uniens populus propitius tegant omnibus expandentes - which Hermione was able to translate to something along the lines of "agreement uniting the people and far spreading profits for all." Neville laughed a bit at her translation and told her they were taught "It is a covenant that unites the people; be merciful to all they that spread their wings."

Regardless of the translation, the magic seemed to search the possibilities based on submitted options and would output the matches with the most likelihood of benefitting the most people in the long term. Hermione thought it sounded perfect.

She would essentially be told who the ideal husband would be for her to make the biggest impact on the world. She just knew she had so much to give the world, but had no clue what the best path would be. Minister for Magic had been in her crosshairs - the one before Fudge had even been a woman - until research had shown her that not a single muggleborn had been Minister ever. She had then set her sights on the Ministry itself and had discovered - with some help from the Weasley twins a few years back - that muggleborns struggled to break into even the lowest tiers of the Ministry. There had been some who were successful, but far more had their dreams crushed and were turned away. Hermione had long ago decided she would succeed where so many had failed, and this was an opportunity she couldn't waste.

Marrying into a Pureblood family would not be Hermione's first thought - or even her hundredth, if she were honest with herself. The muggleborn witch was not ashamed of her heritage and strongly believed in her own independence and ability to push past any obstacle. Until this marriage law was passed, she would never have considered marrying someone to use their pureblood title or influence. The idea alone left a sick feeling in her gut. But Hermione hadn't stayed at the top of her class or defeated Voldemort by not adjusting to new circumstances.

This was her reality now and there was no fighting it; no denying it; and no use ignoring it. She was well aware of the stages of grief and had forcibly worked herself through them as early as possible. She had been in shock only a few seconds, as she read the news article and denial only lasted long enough for her to receive and read the missive from the Ministry addressed to her only minutes later. She cringed as she recalled how many of Harry's possessions had been broken in her brief but impassioned anger stage over the course of breakfast. She had been staying with him and helping him fix up Grimmauld Place when the news broke. Then she had broke - everything in sight. It was then that she recognized the pattern and realized she was grieving for her loss of freedom.

Knowing it was next anyway, she pulled out all the stops and tried to bargain her way out of it. She sent letters to the Wizengamot, the committee assigned to organize the Muggleborn Integration Initiative, to the Weasleys, and even a very carefully worded inquiry to the Muggle Crown. Her missive to the Wizengamot was largely ignored as she received a wholly unhelpful rote response. The Committee had been more personable, but not forthcoming with answers either. The Weasley's provided mostly empty platitudes and a few decent ideas that she had already acted upon. She had been buying time and had even gone into the Ministry building to meet with the Committee. It was there that she was introduced to Penny as her assigned representative to the Committee. Having a prior acquaintance with Penny had seemed like a blessing. However, countless attempts to provide Penny with evidence that this act was unlawful, were fruitless. It wasn't that she was unsympathetic, but she simply did her job too well. She'd even made Hermione herself doubt whether this law really wasn't the best option. But it wasn't until Hermione received word from the muggle Crown that she finally gave up all hope.

The Queen was in fact aware of magic and had advisors look over the details of this act to determine its legality. The Muggleborn Integration Initiative had been approved in the muggle world as well. The letter had generously offered Hermione a minor position within the British government if she chose to have her memory wiped and return to the muggle world. She'd almost considered the offer before recalling the research she'd done into the effects of obliviation on one's intellect and memory functionality. She could never subject herself to obliviation. A twinge of guilt that she'd pushed to the back of her mind surfaced briefly before she swiftly secreted it away back where it came from.

It was indeed the better option to submit to the Act and get married instead. It wasn't too out of the realm of comfort for her. She had never been the typical girl who daydreamed about her future husband or who planned out her perfect wedding. It's not that she didn't want to get married. She had always assumed she would someday get married and even have a child or two, but it wasn't something she'd thought much about.

She allowed her thoughts to wander further and pictured herself in a gorgeous, but of indecipherable style white dress, with flowers in her hair and a veil draped over her face. Her father walking her down the aisle, looking dopey and out of place in a formal tuxedo, but sporting a genuine smile for his daughter as he hands her over to a mystery groom. Hermione's daydream halted immediately as she realized she had automatically placed Neville in the spot of groom.

Her thoughts went into overdrive as she analyzed her subconscious assignment of her groom. She supposed it only made sense. She knew that Neville was being voluntarily entered by his Gran. So he would be a possibility and since the two of them had been spending so much time together recently, it only made sense for her subconscious to insert him. She considered it for a few beats before deciding the idea was weird. Neville was a good guy - a great guy… and she thought she could probably even be happy with him in the long term. Her thoughts shifting to having children made her face pale. She did not think of Neville in that way!

Rounding a corner, she came up short as she almost barreled into someone. She halted and the other figure dodged around her narrowly avoiding a collision.

"I'm so sorry," she was quick to blurt out, "I should have been watching where…" she trailed off as her eyes registered the platinum blonde hair atop the quickly retreating figure. The Slytherin who would usually jump at the opportunity to taunt or insult her hadn't even bothered to acknowledge that they had almost collided. He continued swiftly along his path as she observed his lithe form.

Why was it somehow more annoying that he completely ignored her? She shook her head. She was overthinking everything now! She should just be happy that she had averted yet another possible headache to deal with.

Maybe that was the issue. She was overthinking, desperately trying to come up with a plan before she truly knew what she was dealing with. The steps she would need to take if she got paired with Neville were surely going to be different if she were paired with someone like Goyle or even Nott or Smith. The possibilities were endless! She could even be paired with someone already out of school! What she really needed to do was remain level headed, avoid a breakdown akin to what she had at Grimmauld Place, and deal with all new information as logically as possible. Then her plan would be to delay decisions until after she'd had time to assess and decide the best possible reaction to the new information in order to reach her ultimate goal of overhauling the Wizarding World. The joke term 'un-plan' actually fit nicely, she thought with amusement.

Hermione slipped a trembling finger behind the seal and pulled open the envelope. This was it. Her future husband was decided today. She took a few deep breaths but they didn't seem to help. Her heart was beating in her chest so loudly that she thought for sure everyone in the Great Hall had to hear it. Ron, Harry, and Ginny were looking at her expectantly. Delaying the inevitable she locked eyes with Ginny, not sure if she was looking for encouragement or begging for help. Ginny's eyes flickered between severe pity and desperate hope. Both somehow helped to strengthen Hermione's resolve. She had her un-plan and she would stick to it - no matter whose name was printed inside this letter. She convinced herself she was probably over-reacting anyway and felt herself hoping she would see Neville's name. That would make things simple. With renewed strength, Hermione wrenched her eyes away from Ginny's and unfolded the thick parchment card in her hands.

Her eyes skipped the rest of the letter and only saw the name written in elegant script halfway down the page:

Draco Cygnus Malfoy

Everything stopped.

It may have been half a second or it might have been minutes while Hermione just stared unblinkingly at her fate. She couldn't think; she couldn't breathe.

"Who is it?" Ron's voice brought Hermione out of her stupor and she breathed in a great rattling breath, feeling like she just couldn't get enough air.

Unconcerned with answering, she instead looked past Harry and Ron's heads toward the Slytherin table on the opposite side of the Hall. As her eyes scanned for the familiar platinum blonde hair, Harry snatched the card from her hand. A second later, Ron's shout of, "Malfoy?!" rang through the Hall.

All eyes snapped to either the Golden Trio or started scanning the Slytherin table too.

"He's not here," Hermione stated softly. She was painfully aware of all eyes on her to see her reaction. First, she grabbed the card back from Harry's hands. She shook herself and ground out, "You shouldn't have done that." Ron and Harry both looked ashamed as she continued obviously trying to control the shaking in her voice, "I- The Ministry decision was surprising. I need time to think." After a meaningful look in Ginny's direction, she calmly collected her bookbag and the opened card and walked out of the Hall, her gait seemingly unconcerned but inside she was fighting not to bolt.

Still at the Gryffindor table, Ginny shook herself from her shock and thought about the look Hermione had given her. Both boys immediately turned to her.

"What was that?" demanded Harry while Ron looked on slightly confused.

The redheaded girl didn't bother to hold back as she growled, "That was stupid. You don't understand anything!" Harry looked taken aback by his girlfriend's vitriol. Ron looked like a lightbulb had went off in his head.

"She looked at you. How do girls do that?" asked Ron, clearly not yet noticing his sister's anger.

Unknown to Ron, his innocent obliviousness actually cooled Ginny's temper slightly as she tried not to laugh at his cluelessness. But not wanting to let them off the hook, Ginny maintained her angry tone and snapped, "It's not exclusive to girls, Ronald. You and Harry could do to learn to read expressions too. It might prevent you from putting your foot in it in the future."

She rubbed her face, red from her anger, in agitation as she thought through what she saw. "Hermione is scared," she began slowly, "but she's also very intent on figuring this out. She'll need a bit of time to herself, but then I'll go to her to help her work through what she's thinking." Ginny was almost talking more to herself at this point and jumped a bit when Ron spoke up.

"I'll come too!"

Ginny glared at her dense brother and drawled, "Don't you think you've done enough?"

Ron's face scrunched up in disgust and Harry seemed to agree since he complained, "Do you have to drawl like that? It reminds me of the ferret and that's not something I want to be thinking about right now - or ever," he added the last bit as an afterthought.

"I'll talk how I want. It's thanks to you two dunderheads that everyone immediately knows that Hermione will be marrying that ferret -"

"She's not marrying him!" Ron immediately exclaimed, "I mean, obviously we'll figure out something different."

Ginny glared at him and asked in disbelief, "Have you not been listening? She's made it clear what she's going to do."

Ron waved a hand at his sister, "That was before it was Malfoy."

Ginny didn't know what to say and a glance at Harry just made her worry even more. His jaw was clenched, his eyes shone with determination, and Ginny couldn't help but feel like he was about to do something else to piss off their friend.

Awhile later

Someone plopped into the seat across from her and Hermione raised her eyes in surprise to see Ginny sitting in front of her glumly. Setting aside her book and glancing around - presumably for Madam Pince - Hermione whispered, "Ginny, how did you know-"

A deadpan look from Ginny as she gestured around them at the shelves of books gave Hermione her answer before she'd even completed the question.

"Okay, then why do you look so glum? Shouldn't I be the one upset?"

Ginny immediately perked up a bit and scrambled to say, "Oh, Hermione! I'm sorry. How are - er - What's…" Ginny trailed off, not really knowing how to ask what she needed to know.

Hermione smiled lightly but the smile didn't reach her eyes, "It's alright, Gin. I'm not upset, not really."

Ginny looked at her disbelievingly.

Hermione giggled behind her hand slightly. "Okay, maybe I am a bit upset. Why couldn't I have gotten paired with Neville? That would have made things so much easier!"

Ginny laughed with Hermione just a bit and nodded about Neville, but then got serious and asked hesitantly, "Does that mean you're - well - Are you still going with your un-plan?"

Hermione frowned a bit but nodded.

Ginny mirrored her nod a bit distractedly. "I thought you might." After an internal battle that showed on her face, Ginny added, "I think we'll have a problem with Ron now too."

Hermione sighed and grumbled, "I thought that might be the case. I have my work cut out for me. I'm going to have to address house rivalries much sooner than I originally planned."

Both girls sat in silence for a bit each lost in their own thoughts.

"Have you seen him yet?"

Hermione knew which 'him' she meant without asking. "No," she frowned, "He wasn't at breakfast when we received the Final Determinations. Come to think of it, neither was Neville. They probably still know, right?"

Ginny shrugged, "They probably stayed in their dorms to read their letters so all of Hogwarts wouldn't see their reactions."

"Why didn't I think of that? I suppose I'll have to wait until I see him in class on Monday."

"Well, he has to come to the feast, doesn't he?"

Hermione nodded, sighed again and put her head in her hands.

Pity made its way into Ginny's eyes again and Hermione groaned and asked, "The whole Hall does know, don't they? I wasn't just imagining it?"

"Oh no," Ginny shook her head, "Everyone knows - even those not at breakfast know by now, I'd assume."

"Damn Ron."

Ginny's eyebrows rose at Hermione's cursing. The word sounded weird coming from her and she said so.

Hermione blushed, but defended, "Well, if Ron hadn't shouted to the whole hall, I might have been able to plan some sort of beneficial revealing of the info."

Surprised, Ginny asked, "Like what?"

Hermione mumbled, "I had a few ideas… all useless now."

Before they could continue their conversation, Madam Pince swooped in on them with the threat of kicking them out, so both girls turned to books - Ginny grabbing one Hermione already had stacked on the table.

Author's Note:

Relevant headcanon (or perhaps headfanon, more accurately), but not enough so to include in the story: Madam Pince uses a localized taboo on certain words - like curse words - to keep hooligans out of her library. It would explain why she conveniently swoops in to kick out students in pretty much every fanfic set in the Hogwarts library. I figure the taboo ward? Charm? Isn't necessarily uncommon or difficult, but Voldemort's use of it was scarily impressive since it was set across the entire country and also ignored other wards meant to hide people. I would guess that sort of use for the taboo ward - normally used by nannies or parents for disciplining their children within their own home - was so shocking that some people may have even assumed he used some other dark magic instead. Either way, some unknown dark magic or familiar magic cast with so much power that it does so much more than originally thought possible - probably scary enough to make an entire nation afraid to say his name. Note: that's all just my own headcanon and as far as I know JKR hasn't even released any info about the specifics of the taboo, but if she has, her words are law in the wizarding world, not mine. ;)