DISCLAIMER: Not mine, never will be. I'm not making any profit!

"Minister Shacklebolt, after long deliberations, the Wizengamot has decided, due to the unexpected and unprecedented failure of the Marriage Act of 1999, that said Act shall hereby be repealed, and henceforth no witch or wizard, Muggle-born or Pureblood, shall be required by law to marry and bear children..."

Ronald Weasley was nervous - so nervous that he didn't bother to read that Sunday morning's Daily Prophet. If he had, he would have been spared so much pain and embarrassment.

You see, this morning, Ronald Weasley will propose to his girlfriend, Hermione Granger. Ex-girlfriend, actually. Hermione broke up with him on Christmas evening after she caught him – we shall refrain from using Lucius Malfoy's most elegant words – shagging Lavender Brown senseless into the wall - again. One can safely assume that Hermione was quite perturbed, to say the least.

Let's see how this all plays out, shall we?

Hermione sat alone at the kitchen table in The Burrow late that fateful Sunday morning, reading The Daily Prophet with a mixture of shock, happiness, and wonder playing across her face and in her emotions. "Oh, thank Merlin..." she whispered to herself.

Harry Potter and his fiancée Ginevra were upstairs, murmuring to each other their excitement of how much easier life would be without that dreadful Marriage Law hanging over everyone's heads.

"Harry," Ginny began, "d'you suppose Ron will still propose to 'Mione even now that the Law's been repealed?"

"I don't expect so. Unless..."

"Unless?"

"Unless he hasn't read the Prophet yet, and he's still planning on popping the question..."

"Oh, Harry, we've got to make sure he knows!"

They ran out of the room and practically flew down the stairs towards the kitchen, only to see Mrs. Weasley closing the door to the kitchen, beaming.

"Mum, no! You can't-"

"Shush, Ginny. Ron needs to ask our Hermione something... special." she beamed. "It would be best if we didn't disturb them right now."

"But-"

"No 'buts,' Ginevra! Quiet! Five minutes should do the trick."

Harry hung his head and leaned against the wall, now prepared for the worst. Ginny leaned her forehead into his shoulder, begging for his comfort. Mrs. Weasley, oblivious to the behavior of her youngest daughter and her betrothed, pressed her ear to the door to hear more.

"Ahem."

"Go away, Ronald."

"Hermione, just hear me out-"

"No."

"Please?"

Hermione closed her eyes, leaned her head back, gave a deep sigh, and grudgingly gave her consent for him to proceed with whatever pathetic apology she was sure he had cooked up.

"Hermione, for – almost – as long as I've known you, you've been so special to me. I know I've gone and bollixed it up too many times and I don't deserve your forgiveness-"

"The understatement of the century."

"-but I think-" He took a deep breath, "-I know that found a way to fix this awful mess I've made of us."

"Have you, now?" She raised her left eyebrow up expectantly.

"Yes, I have." He paused, his courage faltering just a little.

"Well?"

Another deep breath, and his courage returns with a trace of egoism. "Hermione, we should get married. Now before you interrupt, I need to tell you my reasons behind my decision."

Hermione was too shocked either to agree or object. The emotional side of her brain was begging to lash out at the stupid blighter, but her logical side overruled the emotion, longing to see Ron hang himself with his own words.

"The first reason should be the most obvious. I love you, and we are just meant to be together. Everyone says so, and they're right. My mistakes aside, I know you love me, too."

"Ron-"

"No, Hermione. Let me finish." He smiled. "The second reason: I'm not rich, but I could take good care of you, despite what you think. Lavender is through, 'Mione. I promise you that. From now on, you are the only woman in my life. And the third reason – which I probably should have mentioned first – is that old Marriage Law. You're eligible now, and I can keep you safe from all those creeps who just want you for – well, you know."

Waiting to see if he was through speaking, Hermione paused, then spoke: "Ron, I appreciate that it took you a lot of courage to come and talk to me-"

"Don't say anything else, 'Mione, my love! Everything will be perfect once we're married, just don't worry!"

"Ron, stop."

But Ron did not stop. He kept blathering on and on about how the ceremony could be just how she wanted it, how she could work for a few years until they wanted kids, and then when they had kids, they would have oh, so many! On and on about how much he loved her, how grateful he was for her forgiveness-

"RONALD! STOP! You forget that I have yet to give you an answer. Let me, once again, thank you for the honor of your proposal, but I simply cannot accept it."

Ron gave an incredulous laugh and said, "You're kidding, right? Oh, come on, 'Mione, stop playing so hard to get and just-"

"Ron, I mean it. I cannot marry you. You could never again make me happy and I am certain that I am the last woman in the world to make you so. I would be surprised if we could make each other mildly content with each other-"

"Hermione, have you even thought about this? This may be the only decent marriage offer you're ever going to get, and then the Ministry will have to set you up with some random, creepy, inbred Pureblood! How 'content' would you be then?"

"Ronald, that is enough! I suppose you haven't heard-"

"Heard what?" he snapped.

She glared at him for a moment before reaching to pick up the front page of The Daily Prophet and handed it to the now visibly upset Ronald Weasley. For the first time that day, Ronald read:

The Daily Prophet – Sunday, February 24, 2001

Ministry Repeals Marriage Act!

"At approximately 9:30 PM last night, the Wizengamot ruled that the

Marriage Act of 1999 is now null and void, and that witches and wizards,

Muggle-borns, Purebloods, and all those in the middle are now free from

the constraints of the previously stated Act, and may now marry whom they

will and procure as many offspring or no offspring if they so desire..."

"This- this can't be true."

"Believe it, Ron. I'm sorry. Even under those circumstances, I could not have married you. You've hurt me too deeply too many times to even consider it."

He took a few deep, fast breaths before speaking. "Even so, this may be the only marriage offer you'll ever get, so I say you should think about it more than you have already!"

"The only offer? Excuse me, Ronald?"

"Oh, face it, Hermione. You're too prudish for anyone to really want you. How many 18-year-old virgins have you heard of nowadays? Very few, I can tell you that. How many men are really going to desire a woman who won't even put out a little bit?"

Hermione felt as if she had been slapped in the face. "This conversation is over, Ronald. I do not love you and I will not marry you, even if you are the last man in the world who could ever want me!" She crossed the room quickly and opened the door to find the entire clan of Weasleys listening by the door.

She looked shocked for a second, and before she could say anything, Mrs. Weasley exclaimed, "Hermione, dear, please reconsider-"

"No! I can't take this. Just- just- leave me alone!"

She burst into tears and tried to run away, but Molly Weasley grabbed her arm and begged, "Hermione, please! If you don't accept my son's offer of marriage, then- well- I will never speak to you again!"

Most of the Weasleys had the decency to at least look shocked; Ron appeared triumphant.

Molly continued, "Arthur! Convince her!"

Mr. Weasley sighed and looked at Hermione, who he viewed as one of his own. "Hermione, an unhappy alternative is before you today, poor child." He began. "From this day forward, you must be a stranger to one of your 'adoptive' parents. Molly claims she will never speak to you again if you refuse Ronald, and I-" He thought for a second, smirked, then spoke again, "I shall never speak to you again if you do."

Hermione had never been more grateful to another human being in her life. She broke away from Molly's clutches and gave Mr. Weasley a great bear hug, thanking him for everything, then ran upstairs to try and get some peace and quiet.

"Oh, Arthur!" Molly broke into sobs and cried against her husband. "I'm so sorry! I don't know what came over me, I just-" She couldn't continue and just cried.

No one noticed that Ron had slowly sneaked away, perhaps to visit Lavender at her new flat for a quick shag?

Meanwhile, Hermione laid on her bed and stared up at the ceiling, just breathing. She was quite sure that she had not felt this free in a long, long time.