Oliver

There I was, walking down the streets of muggle London without a care in the world. Despite all the amazing tea flavors in the Wizarding World, I preferred to visit a small muggle café a few streets over from the Leakey Cauldron. It's where I always went when I wanted a nice, plain cuppa without having to worry about running into annoying fans or old school mates. It was especially easy to avoid Ministry officials when I sat around said café all day. I hated it when they tried to follow me around Diagon Alley or the Ministry itself.

After the downfall of Voldemort, the Ministry had decided to take up the task of decreasing the number of squib births. To do so, the Minister of Magic had to create a special division dedicated to reading records and sorting out which families hadn't married into another. Some families only had one heir of the same sex as another family; therefore, a homosexual couple was forced into being. It really was quite cruel. If you applied to take on the responsibility of an arranged marriage, you usually were allowed to sort through the candidates and court one another to decide whether or not you will be compatible. On the other hand, if you were like me, you only were allowed so many opportunities to accept the offer before you were forced into a marriage.

I was running out of opportunities. I was too busy to apply, anyway. Being a Quidditch captain is no easy feat and with the added responsibility of a mate and family, well, it would make my life damn near impossible to live. The last thing I needed was a nagging wench on my case all the time. Then again, the last thing I needed was a woman at all. Sure, I had friends that were women but I preferred romantic relationships with men. Unfortunately, all the men I liked were taken, hetero or mingled with my family. I didn't have many options left. With that said, it's no wonder the Ministry was always following me around. They were trying their hardest to convince me to apply for the program which I simply refused to do.

With that aggravating thought in mind, I entered the muggle café I had been looking for and acquired a table for myself. When I was seated, a pleasant young woman approached me with a grin and a notepad for my order. She couldn't be older than eighteen. Her light brown hair cut in a pleasant bob framed her face and gave her a sort of fun vibe. I also noticed her green eyes examining me but not too intently.

"Have you visited us before?" she asked with a bubbly voice, bouncing a bit in place. She must be new.

"Indeed," I answered with a small smile.

"Oh, well, excellent! Do you know what you would like to drink? Perhaps a scone?" she offered, smile still present.

"Earl Grey, please. As for your offer of the scone, no thank you," I smiled and she nodded, jotting down the order quickly and taking off for the kitchen.

While I waited, I picked up a nearby muggle paper and slid it over a copy of the newest edition of Quidditch Times and Lives. QTL was a magazine frequently purchased by fan girls and fan boys to keep tabs on their favorite Quidditch players. I, on the other hand, preferred to think of it as spying. As I was flipping through the pages, I came across a picture of Harry and Draco. Harry was leaned against a desk covered in papers while Draco was seated with his hands folded in front of him. Harry's arms were folded across his chest. Both were dressed nicely in slacks, dress shoes, button-up shirts, vests and ties. Both also had their sleeves rolled up. While Draco wore an emerald green vest, Harry wore a pleasant plum. Beneath the photo was an article talking about their recent promotions to heads of the Quidditch department at the Ministry.

With the new couple in charge, I was certain the Quidditch rules might become a bit stricter. I didn't really have an issue with that but, I was afraid that Draco might take a bit of the fun out of it. He was always more stern than Harry and never really appreciated the game as much as his lover. I had nothing against the lad but everyone knew Harry was far more qualified to be in charge. Of course, they ran the department as a partnership but Draco would definitely be handling the business side while Harry handled all the players. Draco never was much of a people person.

Suddenly the bubbly waitress appeared and set my cuppa in front of me. She seemed a bit nervous as she offered me an envelope with the Ministry seal on it.

"Um, this appeared on the counter for you. It says "Oliver Wood at the back corner table of Rest Easy Café," she explained nervously as I took it from her. Without another word, she retreated to the back room of the building.

I cautiously opened the envelope and retrieved the letter. The Minister of Magic himself requested a meeting with me at four o' clock in the afternoon the next day. It was to discuss who I was to marry. Damn it all to Hell.

DunDunDun…

Marcus

I sat at home, thumbing through the mail that had piled up over the past week. All the pointless letters were what made me hate going out of town whether it be for business or pleasure although, it was usually for business. This last trip had dragged me to Russia where I had spoken to the captain of the Moscow Muggleborns, so named for the fact that every member of the team is muggleborn. That in itself was amazing. The team's plays were also amazing. Unfortunately, that had made them hard to beat.

While I was away, I had received twenty letters from the Ministry begging me to apply for the marriage program they had started. Of course, I just trashed them all. I had received another letter from an old schoolmate suggesting we get together for lunch some time. I trashed that letter as well. The only envelope I bothered paying attention to was the one that held information about a scheduled meeting the next day.

The letter itself had infuriated me. The content on the other hand had made me prepared to blow up all of London. I had informed the Ministry plenty of times that I wanted nothing to do with their stupid and utterly barmy plan for less squib births. I didn't see the problem with squibs and I didn't see how the current number of births was doing any damage at all. I stood angrily and launched the letter into my fireplace where it dissipated into nothingness.

I was going to hex that idiot Minister the moment I saw him. He would rue the day that he decided to force me into something I didn't want to be in and that day would be tomorrow.