Authors Note: Sorry there's very little dialog from the main characters so far! I'm trying to set the stage, if you will, for what they're getting into. Please also note that I had written that they had six months to get married, and it's written as three in every other chapter that I've written, it was supposed to say three in the first chapter but I missed it, sorry! Thanks in advance for all of your awesome reviews Also, thanks to everyone who's read the first chapter and already added it to their list of favorites or following! Hope you enjoy!

Disclaimer: I own nothing that you recognize! It all belongs to the glorious JK Rowling!

Chapter Two:

Hermione say with the curtains drawn on her four poster bed, curled up in a ball hugging her knees. 'This is just perfect! All I wanted was to just escape!' She hugged her pillow tighter to her chest. It had been a whirlwind of a year, on the run with Harry and Ron, the battle, and to top it all off, she had gone back to her childhood home, excited and hopeful to see her house again, it had all shattered. She had found it in ruins, muggle police yellow tape around the perimeter of her parents garden and back yard. Hermione was in shock. She had gone straight to the police station and demanded to know what had happened.

"A couple of blokes in hoods and carryin' sticks came round, neighbors thought they were robbers, so they called us. By the time we had gotten there they had already gone and the house was up in flames. Did our best to put it out, when we went inside there wasn't anyone there. Apparently they went off on some vacation. Nobody's seen them sense." The police officer didn't realize that he had seen death eaters. At the time Hermione was grateful that they had escaped, she thought they were ok.

The next morning she apperated onto the door step of the house her parents were living in in Australia. She had knocked on the door, a smile on her face, ready to reverse the memory charm and hug her mum and dad. That idea went out of her head when an elderly woman had opened the door with a look of confusion on her face.

"Can I help you dear?" she had asked politely.

"Yes, ah, I'm looking for the Wilkensens? They were living here at the beginning of last year." Hermione was confused, maybe they had moved she thought, or had rented out a room to this woman. The woman looked at her with a sad expression on her face.

"Oh I'm sorry love, they died about four months ago. A robbery is what the police said, the house was a wreck. They were found in the kitchen, truth be told, the coroner didn't actually know what killed them, no signs of trauma. Oh I'm so sorry, the papers said they didn't have any family, are you a friend?" Hermione was staring blankly at her, she couldn't or wouldn't believe what this woman had said was true, but she had to. The Death Eaters had found them, and they were dead.

"Yes, you could call me a family friend," Hermione laughed bitterly, "Thank you for your help. Goodbye," and she turned around and left.

She stayed at the Leaky Couldron the rest of the summer, she couldn't go to the Weasleys and have them ask her about her parents. In fact, when they had asked her about them at Kings Cross, she just stared, not saying a thing, and quickly changed the subject. With all of the chaos going on, it looked like Mrs. Weasley was the only one who noticed how quick she was to get off the subject, but Mrs. Weasley respected her choice to not speak about it, and went along with the new conversation.

Now Hermione was all alone, she couldn't get over all of the death and destruction she had seen over the last year and a half, and now instead of taking some time to herself, the ministry was throwing her into a marriage to someone she probably didn't know very well, or even hated. How was she supposed to deal with all of this? 'You are Hermione Jean Granger, you will deal with this with your head held high, and you will pull yourself out of this funk, or at least pretend. Fake it till you make it. You don't have a choice.'

…*…*…*…*…*…*…*…

It was the morning of September the second, the day they would find out who their future spouse was, the usual first day of classes announcements were made by Professor McGonagall, along with some more news about the new Marriage Law.

" The Quiddich Captains are as follows; Hufflepuff, Hannah Abbot. Ravenclaw, Anthony Goldstein, Slytherin, Draco Malfoy, Gryffindor, Harry Potter. Congratulations. Please be aware that attendance to the meeting concerning the Marriage Law tonight after dinner is mandatory, not being there to find out who you are paired with does not get you out it. Your time tables are now in front of you," timetables for each student had appeared in front of them at the table. "You will notice that of age students have a study hall at the same time, today that time slot will be used to show you around your living quarters when you get married. I understand that you have three months to get married, but you will begin cohabitating tonight. I will meet you all here at three thirty."

…*…*…*…*…*…*…*…

Hermione, Ginny, Ron, Harry, Seamus, and Luna all walked together to the Great Hall together after their final class was over and they were headed to see what the ministry had provided Hogwarts for student cohabitation. They were the first to arrive, though the other students were quick to follow in behind them. When they were all lined up at the entrance to the Great Hall, Professor McGonagall started, "Good afternoon, while you were all in class Mr. Wix and other employees of the Department of Magical Procreation were finishing off the space you all will be living in with your future spouse. All of the men will notice their last names on the doors as of this evening, as the women will soon be taking those names. Now, if you'll follow me, I'll show you to Mr. Wix, and he will begin the tour," She walked them over to the corner of the Great Hall, close to where the door that lead to the trophy room was, and stopped.

Mr. Wix was standing next to a set of ornate double doors that seemed to have appeared out of nowhere, holding a box that held multiple sets of keys in his hands. "Right then, let's get started. First I'm going to hand you all your keys. Boys, your keys will already fit into a home, girls, once you find out whom your future spouse is, your key will morph to fit into the designated lock." He started calling out the last names of all the boys, who all walked up when it was their turn and got their key, then passed around the rest of the keys to the girls. Once everyone got their key he opened the doors and led them inside.

If it was under any other circumstance, Hermione would have loved it. Somehow the Ministry employees had managed to fit a small village into Hogwarts. Right in front of them there was a beautiful garden, filled with muggle and magical flowers alike. Around the garden was a circular width of pavement, then the most wonderful little houses. Each one was Victorian in style, and each a different color. Some had benches in the front gardens, some had wishing wells. They were all beautiful though.

"Right, I'll explain the layout first. There are two rings of homes, each home is has two floors. On the main floor are a living room, a half bath, a kitchenette, and a dining alcove. On the second floor is a master bedroom with an attached full bath, as well as another bedroom and a study. You will find that the furnishings are all neutral in color. When you first step into your new home, the house will change to best suit the tastes of both of you. Each house is also equipped with a small back porch and a small back yard. Our goal for these homes is not only for the purpose of housing you, but also to build some inter house unity. You will be required to eat meals in this village three nights a week, please use this time to get to know your spouse, as well as having some people over, build new friendships, and solidify old ones." He quickly walked them into one of the houses nearest them and showed them inside, it was indeed lovely. Once they all had a good look, he called them back to the center garden and started speaking to them once more.

"Alright, we're all going to head back into the Great Hall and announce your spouses! Please follow me!" He clapped his hands and led the way back into the Great Hall.

'Oh Merlin, this is it, I'm going to have to live and procreate with one of these men!' Hermione started having a small panic attack, 'It's going to be fine, everything will be ok, it's going to be fine.'

The seventh and 'eighth' years had sat themselves at a new table that had been placed along the staffs. Everyone had just finished eating, the younger students had been dismissed, and now they were just waiting for Mr. Wix to get started. He was standing at the podium once more, and looking into the fountain that would decide the fate of all of them.

"We're just going to jump right into it, as I call your names, please stand up and go straight into the Village, you will find the name of your future family name on the door of your new home." He tapped the top of the fountain with his wand, and out from the middle of the basin shot a spiraling ribbon, as the tip of the ribbon got further out of the basin, it morphed and grew into a shimmering page of parchment that seemed to be made up of the pieces they had offered it the night before. "First on the list, Anthony Goldstein and Melinda Bobbin," they walked up from the table made their way through the large double doors. "Luna Lovegood and Seamus Finnigan," they too walked into the village, Luna seemed to have her signature airy smile on her face, Seamus was grinning like a fool and grabbed her hand after opening the doors for her. 'Well at least someone might enjoy their situation.'

More and more couples were called, the fountain seemed not to have cared about Houses, or blood status, everyone was getting paired up seemingly randomly. Only a few of them were left, "Blaise Zabini and Ginerva Weasley," the remaining students in the hall went dead silent. Hermione heard them whispering,

"Wasn't she dating Harry?"

"He'll kill her in his sleep!"

"Nah, she'll set him straight right quick, have you been on the other end of one of her bat bogey hexes?"

It almost seemed fortunate now that Harry and Ginny had split earlier in the summer, they just weren't right for each other. Ginny found him a bit too laid back after the war, to 'vanilla' for her taste is what she said in her letter actually. Hermione thought for a moment about her and Blaise, she'd never heard anything particularly bad about him, other than that he had a knack for getting into mischief, which as far as being with Ginny goes, isn't a bad thing. 'At least he'll be able to keep up with her, and she knows how to keep men in line growing up with all those brothers.' While Hermione had been thinking to herself two other couples had been matched up and had left into the Village. Then he called the boys, her boys, the ones that she had spent the last seven years taking care of, "Harry Potter and Piper Fae," and after one other couple, "Ronald Weasley and Pansy Parkinson." She couldn't believe it, both of them had been matched with Slytherins. She sat there incredulous for a moment, and then she heard it, "Draco Malfoy and Hermione Granger."

…*…*…*…*…*…*…*…

He was absolutely dumbstruck. He was screwed, absolutely screwed. They would kill each other! With all of the bad blood between them, how on earth did that stupid bloody bird bath think he was the perfect match for Hermione Granger. He looked over at her, she had the same look of bafflement on her face as he imagined he did just a few seconds ago. 'Might as well start fixing this now,' he slowly got up from his seat, walked over to hers, and put his hand in front of her.

"Up you get Granger, we have a bloody house to look at," she turned to him wearing a blank, stony expression on her face, looked at his hand for a moment, took it, and let him walk her through the double doors and into the Village. "Right," he started awkwardly, "well we should probably find our house," suddenly their keys got hot in their pockets. Draco pulled his out; Hermione didn't seem to register much about what was going on at the moment. He looked at the key in his hand; it now had their address on it. Row 2, Number 7. Well that was good; at least he didn't have to drag a zombie-like Granger around to all of the houses to see which one had his name on it. 'It's gonna be her name too you know,' that little voice in his head that he had avoided and ignored up until now had reared its head. 'Shut up, for now it's still my own bloody name.' He grabbed Granger around her waist, 'small waist, that's nice at least, Merlin, very nice waist. Oh bloody hell shut up, I really shouldn't be thinking about that,' he shook his head and marched them to their house, put his key in the lock, and opened the door. 'Home sweet home.'