Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter

Husbands and Wives

Monday morning saw all the 5th, 6th and 7th years gathered in the great hall at 9 o'clock. Lessons had been suspended for them, as today was the day they would discover who their other half would be. Harry, Hermione and Ron were seated in the great hall along waiting anxiously for the staff to seal their fate.

The doors of the great hall swung open and in came the headmaster; Albus Dumbledore and Professors Snape, McGonagall, Flitwick and Sprout the head of the houses. All four walked to the front of the hall to where the teachers ate their meals at lunch. Clearing his throat Dumbledore spoke

"In the hands of Professor Snape are you and your partners names. When your name is called come to the front and turn to the right and go through the side door. Inside will be Simon Rust the property expert who'll inform you of the rules for buying your house and how to do it."

Eyes were wide as Snape opened the envelope and gave a bunch of parchment to Professor Sprout the head of Hufflepuff.

"We will call your names starting with the females first. Professor Snape will call the boy's names, I will call the girl's names" announced Sprout.

"Ginevra Weasley" called Professor Sprout all heads turned towards Ginny, as she was clutching George's hand tightly waiting apprehensively.

"Neville Longbottom" called Professor Snape with sneer. Ginny and Neville blushed and stood up then walked to the right and out of the door. And that's how it started:

"Angelina Johnson"

And

"Fred Weasley"

"Millicent Bullstrode"

And

"Seamus Finnegan"

"Pansy Parkinson"

And

"Harry Potter"

"Luna Lovegood"

And

"Dean Thomas"

"Katie bell"

And

"George Weasley"

"Lavender Brown"

And

"Ronald Weasley"

"Padma Patil"

And

"Gregory Goyle"

"Pavarti Patil"

And

"Vincent Crabbe"

"Hannah Abbot"

And

"Theodore Nott"….

And so it went on until almost all of the names had been called. There had been one 3-way relationship between Anthony goldstone, Oliver Calston and Abigail Vines. Three Ravenclaws, two in 6th year while the other was in 7th.

All the remaining students looked up when they noticed the staff had huddled together and they could hear furtive whispers between them. Professor Snape and Professor McGonagall had worried as well as confused expressions etched on their faces. Raising her head Professor McGonagall sent a sympathetic look towards the Gryffindor table. The names were called out

"Hermione Granger"

And

"Draco Malfoy"

And

"Blaise Zabini"

The whole room was in shock, and for many reasons. The first was simple: the two Slytherin princes and the Gryffindor Princess, were arch rivals and had been put together. The second was the fact that both Malfoy and Zabini, the "Slytherin sex god," were bisexual? The third came from the Slytherins who knew of the relationship between the two boys and their fascination for the bossy Gryffindor and were pleases that they were put together against all odds. The fourth came from the opposite house; Gryffindor who were all extremely protective over Hermione and no one could forget the Mudblood comments and harassment they gave her from the last six years. And the fifth was Hermione's, which was a dismayed, "I'm doomed."

Standing up they made their way to the right in complete and utter silence.

After all the students names had been called and paired, the teachers walked into the room on the right joining the students. "I thought you said that two Professors were going to be married but none were called." Blaise asked though he was still surprised at how everything had turned out.

"I did Mr Zabini and two will. I'm going to reveal who the lucky ones are right now." The four teachers stood wide eyed, they didn't breathe, they didn't move. They were like statues waiting anxiously for the results to see who would be forced to suffer the cruel torment. Dumbledore opened the envelope and brought out a thin piece of parchment. He cleared his throat and announced with a wry grin.

"The two professors who will marry are…Severus Snape and Minerva McGonagall."

To say they were shocked was a giant understatement. They both suddenly looked deathly pale like they were going to faint. Still they didn't speak or breathe or move. Worried Hermione quickly stood up and grabbed hold of Professor McGonagall's arm dragging her to a seat. "Sit down Professor and take a deep breath," said Hermione, her hand still gripping tightly to her head of house's arm. Doing as she was asked Professor McGonagall begun to breathe deeply. It didn't go unnoticed that she was shaking. Snape, who was in no better state sat down on the edge of a desk and copied the McGonagall's actions. He was secretly fuming. After so many years of being a spy for Dumbledore he had been so easily shaken by the thought of marrying Minerva McGonagall. When everyone was calm and had overcome the shock of the Gryffindor and Slytherin head of house having to marry each other. They turned their attention to Dumbledore who stood next to a man with shaggy dirty blonde hair and dark brown eyes. He was about 5ft 8, wearing a black tailored dress robe, with a burgundy cotton jumper with a pair of straight black trousers. On his feet were an expensive looking pair of leather shoes. On his dress robes he had a pin that said Simon's Houses.

"Now I'd like to introduce Simon Rust the property expert, who has come to advise you and your partners on how to buy the right home." explained Dumbledore with a twinkle in his eye making everyone wonder how the bloody hell he did that.

"Thank you" Simon said politely to Dumbledore.

Addressing his audience he said, "I've been helping people buy homes for 22 years now. My company called Simon's Houses is a popular agency for first time buyers like yourselves as well as people who've owned a house before. How this will work is simple but will take a lot of magic. You and your partner will go to the 4th floor where all the houses are located. Once you have gotten there an assistant will ask for 5 necessary items you want in your house. You must remember more rooms, larger gardens and a better location will cost more than other properties. So if you have a small income you may not be able to afford the nicer houses. While the ones who did remarkably well in their tests and got a high income means they can. This is why you were told that these tests were important." he finished his speech and the charming and cheerfulness of his voice made Snape's mood unpleasantly worse.

"Why do we have to pay for the house?" Snapped Malfoy moodily thinking to himself that Simon was way too happy to be humanly possible.

"Well Headmaster Dumbledore has had to pay a great amount of money for these houses to be built here and we both believe it is a good to expose you to the adult challenge of purchasing a home within a budget," he answered happily.

"Why did he have to pay why couldn't he use his wand?" Argued Parkinson who had the same feeling as Draco about this bloke.

"Well … I don't know actually," he said fidgeting with his collar.

"To answer your questions Miss Parkinson, all schools who are involved in this have to buy their houses for the school to keep the students together and as a bonus I got a large tub of lemon drops. Speaking of which, would anyone care to have one." Asked Dumbledore as he placed one into his mouth while everyone shook his or her head in reply.

Simon continued, "Tomorrow is the first day you can go house hunting. The homes you will look at are typically unfurnished. Furnished homes will be much more expensive. If you buy an unfurnished home then you can order from our catalogue and receive immediate magical delivery. If you buy a furnished home, feel free to modify the home to your tastes." With that the unnaturally happy wizard walked out of the door without saying goodbye.

Dumbledore addressed the crowd, "Students I suggest you get to know your partners after you have had lunch. That is all." The old wizard then shuffled away, humming "Do You Believe In Magic" amusing the students who knew that particular song.

Thank you J. for the edit.