Disclaimer: None of this story is mine and I'm making no profit from it.

A/N: Chapter 3! Once again sorry, but there isn't much Scorose in this chapter. The story is gonna be a bit slow for a few chapters, but it's unavoidable, sorry :C. Also, I'm struggling a little with a scene in Chapter 5 that I'm writing right now, some help would be greatly appreciated! Message me. :D

Chapter 3

'The rules of this law state that a marriage shall be executed within two months of receiving your letter.'

Executed. Sounds about right.

'The wedding can be as traditional or simplistic as you wish. But must adhere to the original way of performing a valid marriage.'

...alright, unnecessary information, but alright.

'The couple must move into a shared residence within two months.'

There it is.

'The first pregnancy is required withing three years.'

I felt sick.

'Failure will result in couples being tested for fertility.'

I felt sicker.

'If found healthy,'

If found healthy. As if bad fertility is unhealthy.

'the couple will be given another six months'

Wow, so generous.

'to become pregnant.'

My hands were practically shaking with anger.

'Failure to follow'

I breathed in a deep breath.

'any of these rules'

Any of these psychotic rules,

'or to try hard enough to create children,'

I breathed out as steadily as I could.

'will result from expulsion from the wizarding world.'

...what.

'The offender will receive a snapped wand'

the

'and a complete memory wipe.'

fuck.

I stood, yelling in frustration as I furiously scrunched up the booklet and threw it across the room. Sending a violent spell after it and watching with an almost crazed satisfaction as it burst into flames. and slowly dissolved into ashes.

I sat heavily back on the bed and dropped my head in my hands. I could hardly believe this was real. I kept expecting Fred and James to pop in, yell 'surprise!' And explain that it had all been one massive prank.

They didn't, but I remained in my state of disbelief with my hands covering my face.

Gradually, a noise started to build up. It sounded like a breeze through a forest and got louder and louder, turning into rustling and whooshing noises. I picked up my head and look around, my brow furrowed in confusion.

The source of the noise were the ashes of the recently and aggressively cremated booklet. The disintegrated cinders were rising into the air as a swirling mass that began to look a bit like a snow storm.

The pieces began to attach on to each other, building back up and piecing together like a magical puzzle until a fully reformed and unmarked booklet finally came to rest, gracefully, on my lap.

I sat, dumbstruck for a moment. Before slapping it away in disgust and standing up hotly.

Footsteps came pounding up the stairs then, and Lily burst into the room. "Lunch is ready." She informed me unnecessarily loudly.

"Don't you know how to knock?" I asked, rolling my eyes at her.

She stuck her tongue out at me, and I laughed at her toddler-like tendencies as I followed her down the uneven staircase. Sometimes I still couldn't believe she was actually fifteen.

I was the last person to sit down at the table. We had to sit outside as we would never have been able to move in the tiny kitchen- let alone eat anything.

My family had already tucked in, so I grabbed as much food as I could and piled it on my plate to make sure it wouldn't be all gone before I even had a chance to dig my teeth in.

Molly Weasley didn't cook small meals, everything she ever fed us was fit for a King and twice as much as we needed. Regardless, we made short work of the meal. Before long we were sitting back in our chairs, holding our stomachs in satisfaction as if they would burst without the support.

"Who wants to go play quidditch?" Joked Fred, who was met with a chorus of laughs. I was sure any attempt at sport would make me throw up all this food Nana had spent so much time on.

It was one of those lunches that meant you didn't need a proper meal in the evening. So we lounged around the house for the rest of the day and just passed around various snacks when the sun began to set.

We had moved into the living room by then, and I was playing wizards chess with Lily. It was the semi-final of a tournament that had been going for almost two hours now and all of my cousins were crowded around us, eyes glued to the game. The adults had chosen not to join in, or I was sure I wouldn't have gotten this far.

"King to F5" She ordered her little wooden people, and I smirked internally as I watched her King slide over the board.

"Queen to F5," I said, letting the triumphant grin appear on my face as I watch realisation dawn on hers.

"Not fair!" She cried, as my Queen hit her King over the head with a chair, blasting him into smithereens and scattering pieces of him over the board.

"Rose wins again," Al exclaimed loudly, holding my hand up in the air like they did in those muggle boxing matches.

"She must have cheated," Lily decided, crossing her arms stubbornly.

"Don't be a sore loser Lil," James taunted, scruffing up her hair and earning a sour face from her in response. It disappeared quickly though and she jumped to her feet.

"It's Molly's turn to play Rosie now!" She hollered, grinning.

Molly sat down across from me and tapped the board with her wand to reset it. I watched fixedly as the broken chess pieces began to put themselves back together and return to their original positions. For a moment it reminded me of the booklet I had tried my best to destroy earlier, and the words inside.

I shook my head, eager to not let that affect anytime I spent with my family.

"Now the two undefeated players in the competition will go head to head." James began, seemingly deciding to commentate our game. "It's the final of the biggest chess competition in history and Molly Weasley will face her own cousin, Rose Weasley. We can only hope this game will not drive a wedge between their familial relationship."

I shot James an amused look as Molly made her first move. "Weasley number 1 seems to be confident in her abilities as she goes straight in with move number one of the final. The ginger Weasley-" I shot him a look of mock annoyance- "has fear already growing on her face- she's definitely rattled."

I rolled my eyes whilst retaliating with my move. "Oh! Did you see that move, Ginger Weasley plays the board excellently, this is a game changer..."

James' commentary faded into the back of my focus mind as Molly and I played back and forth across the chessboard. Over the last few years, the finals had almost always been between us two. Unless the adults had decided to join us- in which case it often ended as a showdown between my parents. Or my dad versus Uncle Percy.

Whenever one of us did a risky move, a chorus of 'ooh's would be emitted from the crowd surrounding us. If we did something good, cheers or boos would greet us. It made me want to burst out laughing every time, but I kept as straight face to stick to James' story that this was the most important event of my whole life.

"We're nearing the end of this epic showdown folks, and nearing the end of this competition overall. Both competitors have trained for months for this moment, but who will be victorious, and who will be thrown into the lake?"

Me and Molly both stopped, turning to look at James, but his face gave no hint of a lie. "I thought you were joking when you said that earlier?" Molly said, worry growing on her features.

"Joking?" James asked, incredulous. "Joking!" His features changed to appalled. "James Potter never jokes!"

Molly and I shared a look, then shook our heads and continued on with the game, admittedly, there were new tensions in the game now.

"The players return to their match with new stakes hanging thick in the air. This game has been a roller-coaster ride from start to finish, I've never seen anything like it."

It only took five more minutes to finish the game. The crowd around us screamed and cheered as Molly's knight delivered the final blow. Fred held her hand up and sent mini fireworks from the tip of his wand that singed the ceiling.

They hoisted me onto their shoulders and began to carry me outside toward the lake. The air was already chilly and the lake reflected the dark night sky, overall creating an almost sinister feel.

"No!" I shrieked with laughter as we pulled closer, kicking my legs against my cousins' grips and struggling to get free to no avail. "Please! I'm too young!" They stopped on the bank, pausing and I almost began to hope they would let me down.

How naive I was. James cast a wicked grin up at me, right before I was hurled into the lake.

I coldness of the water winded me as I plunged into the dark mass of icy water. Time seemed slower all of a sudden, and so I hesitated, letting the water hold me for a moment before I actually started to kick.

It was harder to swim with all my clothes on, but I hadn't gone that far under and broke the surface within seconds, spluttering and gasping for air. The previously gentle evening breeze now felt like a gale-force wind on my wet face.

I heard my cousins and brother laughing on the bank and dragged myself towards the sound. My limbs felt heavy, making the short three-metre swim back to the edge a much bigger feat than it should have been.

Molly and Teddy helped me onto the grass and Victoire cast a simple drying charm over me. I felt instantly better, as if the iciness of the water was just a distant memory.

I laughed with my family as we made our way back inside to the warm kitchen and sat in front of the blazing fire. It didn't take long for us to start wandering off to bed, one by one. I supposed our parents had sorted out the bedding whilst we were playing chess.

I caught a glimpse of Auntie Ginny's old room as I went past, and saw that I was right. The floor was obscured completely by mattresses and sleeping bags. This always happened when the whole family came to stay- we had to fit twenty-five people into seven rooms.

I was always in Uncle George's old room, which he had shared with his twin. So that's where I made my way to now. I pushed the door aside and didn't even bother changing before I collapsed onto one of the dusty beds, glad I had was the first one in and wouldn't be left to sleep on a mattress.

I wriggled under the covers and closed my eyes, but I was still awake when Hugo and Lily came into the room ten minutes later, chatting in hushed tones about something or other.

Al came in about five minutes after that and lay down on the mattress next to my bed. I felt- rather than saw- his eyes on me for a few moments, but I kept my eyes shut and didn't move, so eventually he rolled over and fell asleep.

I wasn't sure how he slept so easily, even now after everything that had happened. He had just that morning found out he would be marrying Alice Longbottom. Yet he dozed off as if there was nothing on his mind.

I'm not sure what time it was or what I was thinking about when I eventually followed him into unconsciousness.

When I woke, it was to the sight of Al watching me with cat-like intensity in his eyes.

It was early in the morning, and pale sunlight filtered through the sides of the curtains, casting streaks of bright light to run across the room and illuminating the rest of it. Hugo and Lil were still sleeping.

Closing my eyes again, I asked "What?" My voice thick with drowsiness

"I want to talk to you." He answered simply.

I buried my face deeper into the pillow and brought the duvet up to my chin. "About?"

"Scorpius."

My eyes shot open and fixed on his. His gaze hadn't wavered and his features were moulded into a serious expression. I groaned, "Al... please can we not do thi-"

"Rose, we have to," he began sitting up and turning his whole body to face me. "I know you hate him, but really he isn't so bad."

"Al!" I objected once more, covering my face with my duvet in an attempt to block him out.

"Rose." He replied steadily. "I understand that he's never been very kind to you, but that's because you showed him nothing but disgust from the moment you met him."

He was partially right, I suppose. But that didn't make the conversation or idea of marrying Malfoy any more bearable.

"Please, I don't want to see both my cousin and my best friend unhappy for the next Merlin-knows-how-many years of your life." He said earnestly, and I uncovered my face to look at him. "When you get back to Hogwarts, start fresh."

I didn't respond for a few moments, but eventually I nodded. I wasn't sure if I nodded just to get Al off my back or if I actually intended to do what he said. All I knew was that pretending to be civil with Malfoy would be easier said than done.

He seemed content with my response though, as he smiled and rolled back over in his bed to go back to sleep. Perhaps I could try, for Al. But it wouldn't matter how nice I was to him, I could treat him as if he were my favourite person in the whole world and he would only ever respond with contempt and distaste. That's just who he was as a person, everyone in my family saw it, except Al.

I settled back into my pillow again, groaning internally at the idea of my ready-made future and everything it would involve.

The following week was the best I had in a long time. So by the time it was getting dark on the last day and we were all standing in the kitchen with our trunks, I didn't want to go.

"Bye Rosie, visit us if you ever want to talk. "She said, holding me tightly and kissing me firmly on my forehead. "I'm sure McGonagall won't mind." I smiled at her, unsure of how true that was, but reassured by her words nevertheless.

I hugged my dad tightly, before pulling away as Dom flooed back to Hogwarts. "See you in the summer," I waved goodbye to my family before grabbing a handful of powder from the dwindling supply on the mantlepiece. I watched as Hugo was engulfed in green flames and disappeared, before climbing into the fireplace and dragging my trunk with me.

"Hogwarts," I half-shouted, before throwing the powder into the fire. The flames flared suddenly and suddenly I was spinning, up, down, all around as glimpses of living rooms and kitchen flashed past my vision. Until, finally, I landed and put my hand up against a rough stone wall to steady myself. My eyes were squeezed shut as I waited for the nausea in my stomach to settle.

It did, eventually, and I opened my eyes to climb out of the fireplace I was still stood. Only to realise I wasn't in Gryffindor tower. In fact, I wasn't sure where I was- it was an empty classroom, but not one I had ever been in before.

Confused, I made my way through the vacant seats and table and opened the door to reveal an equally empty corridor beyond. I headed out, pulling my trunk behind me, and looked around. I didn't recognise the hall, and neither the left nor right gave me any inkling of direction.

I went right, lugging my luggage behind me as my wanderings took me down winding staircases and along narrow passages. I was just beginning to think I was well and truly lost, when I turned a corner and stopped short; face-to-face with the person I least wanted to see.

Malfoy had frozen when he saw me; we stood perhaps three metres apart. His white-blonde hair was scruffier than usual, and his eyes looked tired, only adding to the haggard undertone he was practically radiating.

My breath caught in my throat at the sight of him, I had spent so many nights dreading this moment, and now it had pounced on me and caught me unawares. I had practised speeches in my head, about how we should let the past go and look at each other as new people. But all that dissipated.

Instead, I stood there in silence, watching him watching me.

"Weasley," he greeted me, eventually. His voice was cold and emotionless, showing me quite clearly that our relationship remained as it had been before. We were the same as always, in mutual hate for one another.

"Malfoy," I returned, trying to imitate his tone so he knew my opinion had not wavered where it concerned him either.

He stared at me, with curiosity behind his steely, silver eyes. I felt pinned to the spot under it, unable to move as his gaze bored into me. I returned his stare, putting as much heat and intensity into my gaze as I could.

I shook my head internally, adjusted the grip I held on my trunk and walked purposefully around him, marching down the corridor with my chin up and refusing to look back at him until the very end of the corridor.

I let myself glance shortly over my shoulder then, to see that- curiously- he hadn't moved at all.

I found my way back to the Gryffindor tower eventually, by which time it had been dark out for about an hour. Some of my family was scattered around the common room, chatting. But I decided I wanted to get myself back into the school routine as soon as possible, so I retrieved my school books from the dorm then sat across from Alice, in one of the armchairs in front of the fire.

We didn't talk that much, though I was desperate to ask her about how she felt about marrying Al. I decided it was better not to bring it up, I would eventually. But all I knew is that I would have hated talking about Malfoy in that moment, so I didn't want to bother her.

I lay out a half-finished potions essay on the table, and at the time I promise I had every intention of getting on with my work. But of course, I couldn't. My mind was racing, full of images of my soon-to-be husband and everything I had read in the booklet that suddenly seemed so much more real.

For instance, after we were married I would have to spend at least 7 hours with him every week. That was an hour every day. How would that even happen? Who would instigate it? I was sure his pride would keep him from doing so, and my stubbornness would stop me.

We also had to share a residence within two months? Whatever that meant for people like us, who were still in school. Perhaps us both living in Hogwarts would be a sufficient arrangement to fulfil that particular rule.

Somehow, I doubted it.

Then there was the part about the babies, which I barely even wanted to think about.

"Rose, you ok?" Alice's voice cut through my contemplation, and I dragged my thoughts back into the room. I realised I must have look very dazed, leaning back in my chair, staring into nothingness.

"Yeah, fine," I replied, sending her a smile. She didn't respond for a moment, but made a move as if she was about to speak a few times, then changed her mind. "Spit it out," I quipped at her, chuckling.

"Dom told me about Malfoy." She blurted out abruptly, and I found myself very quickly wishing I hadn't pushed her. "I'm sorry, I know you probably don't want to talk about it, but I had to say something." She looked at me expectantly for a second or two, but when I offered her nothing, she continued. "How are you?"

I thought about it for a moment, it was a harder question than you might think- one that I had struggled with myself, even. Sometimes, I would be sitting at the breakfast table and think 'perhaps this isn't so bad, all it is is a marriage on paper.' Then other times I would wake up in a cold-sweat and it would feel like my life was ending.

I didn't tell her all that though, instead I opened my mouth and answered simply, "just angry, mostly." She nodded, and- much to my relief- didn't ask me any more questions. However, her short-lived interrogation of me meant that I had unspoken permission to do the same to her.

I intended to make full use of it.

"So," I began, grinning. "Al." I tried to lighten the mood. Of course, I knew being forced into a marriage was never something that made someone happy, even if you'd had a crush on them for years.

She blushed bright red and bashfully averted her gaze to the floor. "How upset is Al?" She asked.

"He's not, at all!" I insisted, rushing to comfort my friend. "Of course he's not happy with the marriage law, but he's glad he got you. He knows how lucky he is." She looked up and smiled gratefully.

"I'm glad I got him too." She said, and I raised a suggestive eyebrow at her. "No! Not like that," her face flushed red again, "I just mean, you know, he's a good guy, and..." I sent her a dubious look, "we're friends."

Chuckling softly at her, I returned my attention to the essay sitting on the table in front of me.

It was hours before I eventually sat back in my chair, yawning, and looked at the time, it was coming up to 11 o clock. When I returned my gaze to my essay, I saw that I had only written a single paragraph.

Clearly, my mind was elsewhere.

"I'm going to bed," I told Alice, gathering up my books and getting to my feet. She waved her hand drowsily in acknowledgement from where she had her head on the table. So I turned and made my way to the girl's dorms.

I changed quickly, brushed my teeth, and then collapsed onto my bed. My pursuit of sleep took even longer than usual- because every time I closed my eyes I saw his silver gaze and the coldness that he had held behind them. It would be enough to invoke sleeplessness in anyone.

Alice woke me up in the morning, half dressed in her uniform and with drooping eyelids. I was confused- disorientated at first. I couldn't understand why she was waking me up so early, and why she was in uniform?

Then I remembered that our little break was over. We were back at school and it was Monday morning.

I groaned and dragged myself out of bed, shivering as the cold air washed over me and longing to just climb back under my duvet and never come out.

But of course, I couldn't, I needed to go to my lessons because I needed to absolutely nail these exams. Probably more so than before. Yes, supposedly being married to a Malfoy meant I would never have to worry about finances again. But, now I knew my future love-life would be shit, I wanted to make sure the rest of what I did was amazing. That included my career.

I changed quickly, in an easy routine after six and a half years of doing it, then me, Dom and Alice headed down to breakfast as the other girls in our dorm lagged behind. The great hall was packed- as usual. I was glad to be back amongst the busy atmosphere and the uncontrollable noise, and I was glad to be back with Alice too, despite all the downsides of school.

We sat down in our usual spots amongst the rest of the Gryffindors. It seemed that no marriage law could dampen our spirits, the whole table was just as alight with life as always. In fact, saying that, the whole room was. I smiled to myself, proud that we had not let this law ruin our lives.

I ate ravenously, having not done so since just before we left The Burrow the night before.

Near the end of breakfast, McGonagall stood up to make an announcement. Her grim face was enough to make us silent, suddenly, I didn't feel glad or proud or hungry.

"7th years," she began, cautiously, I grew tenser at the fact it was only directed towards us. "I know you're already prepared for your classes today, so I'm sorry for the short notice. But there will be no lessons for you today." Perhaps, due to my reputation, I should have been disappointed. But honestly, I was relieved, and glad I would get to spend the day catching up more with Alice.

"This is because there have been some adjustments in your living arrangements."

Oh, Merlin please no.

"As you probably know, the newly instated marriage law requires partners to live together. Whilst you are still in school, you might have thought it wouldn't apply to you." I felt my heart sink. "The Minister for Magic got in contact with me over the break, and we have agreed upon a system which includes all partners sharing a room."

I looked around me, expecting people to jump to their feet in uproar and dismay, but instead, there was silence. No one moved, except for a few who put their head in their hands.

However, whilst people had discarded their voices, the faces of the seventh years in the great hall said everything. Sullen, joyless, morose. Everyone I looked at had the same emotion painted over their features.

"We have converted the entire Western side of the castle, it now contains a room for each pair. Whilst this will mean some classes will have to be taken elsewhere, it should not be too much of an inconvenience to the rest of the school."

Oh, well that's alright then. Wouldn't want to inconvenience the rest of the school, would we?

"As for the seventh years." Her gaze now turned downcast as she cast her eyes over those of us scattered through the room who were subjected to the marriage law. "I know this will be a big change, you will probably feel angry at first. I understand, I'm angry too." The character break shocked me. Up until now she had always played along with the law, never spoken for it, I suppose, but definitely never spoken against it.

"However, this has been decided by the Ministry itself, so we must concede. Today, you will be shown your rooms and allowed to adjust. Tomorrow- it's back to lessons." She dismissed the other years then, and they all trailed out of the Great Hall. Lily gave me a reassuring smile before she left. It did make me feel better, but that weight in my stomach was still there.

I looked over at Lorcan as everyone else left, he seemed to sense mt gaze as he looked up after a moment and smiled, I smiled back. I would have to talk to him today, I had put it off for long enough.

I'm not even sure why I had been avoiding it, but I couldn't anymore.

I turned back to McGonagall when she began to speak again. She told us to go collect our things and go to the third-floor landing. So eventually we followed the rest of the school out of the hall.

I walked with Alice and Dom back to the Gryffindor common room, where we began to repack our trunks. It didn't take long, owing to the fact we had just returned to Hogwarts. I packed the fastest and lay down on my bed once I was done- staring up at the canopy.

I didn't want to leave this room, It had been my home-away-from-home for six and a half years. And the common room- I supposed I could still return to the common room sometimes, but it would be far away from my new room. A long walk, one I doubted I would bother to make very often.

Not only that- I would no longer share a room with Alice and Dom. I might not be anywhere near them.

"I don't want to leave," Dom exclaimed, after buckling up her trunk and sitting down heavily on her bed.

"Neither do I," agreed Jessica as she tossed her clothes into her bag. I would miss her too, and Eva and Denise, even though we had never been especially close. You create a sort of bond with people after you sleep in the same room with them for almost seven years.

We stretched it out for as long as we could, but after fifteen minutes we decided we couldn't plausibly stay any longer. So, reluctantly and miserably, we left the Gryffindor tower together.

A/N: I hope you liked it! I'm sorry for the lack of Scorose, but I hope it wasn't too painful to read. Leave a review with your feeback, it's very helpful.