Disclaimer: I sadly own nothing Harry Potter.

Author's Note: Thank you for all the wonderful reviews! They have been helpful for me and my story line. I HAVE to give props to my wonderful beta Katty! She seriously rocks and makes the story sooo much better. On with the show!

Chapter 3: Letters

I was so flustered that I could hardly comprehend the letter. The fight I had with Ron wore me down so much that I wasn't even sure how to react.

Miss Granger,

Please meet me in my office.

Dumbledore

I had no idea what Dumbledore wanted from me, and I wasn't thinking clearly enough to figure anything out. He gave me no details, or even a hint of what he meant. Did he want me to see him now? I supposed so. It had to do with this new law. But why on earth would he want to speak with me? I didn't know what I could possible do- I was barely handling things now. I felt like a zombie. I roamed the halls to Dumbledore's office in silence, staring at the floor solemnly. Some man that I was not familiar with was waiting for me by the Statue.

"Hermione Granger?" He asked.

"Yes," I said unsure, "Who are you?"

"I'm the new psychiatrist, Dr. Finkle." He said, perky. He smiled down at me, probably waiting for me to return one back but it never came. I stared at him expectantly and his smile faded slightly. "I'm here to talk with you and Dumbledore today. Shall we?" He motioned to the Statue, and spoke the password. In moments we were up the moving staircase, and sitting in Dumbledore's office. I felt nervous for some reason.

"So Hermione," Dr. Finkle said, "How are you doing today?"

I looked over at him, as if this were a ridiculous question, "Fantastic." I replied sarcastically.

"Really?" He asked, "What's been the matter?"

Was he serious? I looked over at Dumbledore pleadingly, "I don't mean to disrespect you professor… but what is this all about?"

The doctor blinked at me, then laughed creepily, "I'm sorry, did you not know? We're meeting with all of the sixth and seventh years here at Hogwarts who are getting married."

"You're seeing each student within a two week period?" I said astonished. How was one man supposed to counsel every sixth and seventh year in two weeks?

"Two weeks?" He laughed again. "Gods no. We have a whole month to get to each student." What was this man on? There was only two weeks before the marriages…

Dumbledore obviously saw my confusion and picked up where Dr. Finkle had started. "You received one of the first dates to be married Miss Granger." He explained. The twinkle that was always in his eyes was missing and I could see how much of a toll this was taking on him. "We're going in order. So far you have been the fifth we've seen today."

I nodded, understanding. I suppose it was a good idea, but it seemed rather ridiculous to me. As if anyone was going to tell this man anything. Especially not in an hour of which we were with him.

"So," He began again, "Tell me what's wrong."

No way was I going to talk to this man about my issues, however, I figured I'd better give him some ridiculously small worry about myself so he could supposedly "fix" it and I could leave.

"Well, I guess I'm nervous about school and how being married will affect it." That was a totally true worry, along with seven thousand other worries that came before it.

"I see," He said, a quick quill next to him writing down all of my words. Dumbledore raised an eye at me, as I kept my cool. I wasn't sure if I could handle this interrogation right now.

"Well I see that you are worried about your marriage. What about your friends? I also know you are the top of your class Hermione, I doubt you'll struggle to keep up with the curriculum." I shrugged. It was better to let him think he was right, hopefully it'd get me out of here quicker. "However, your lack of emotion is worrisome," He said eyeing me. Writing something down by hand.

"Excuse me?" I asked, unsure if I heard his question correctly. Was he accusing me of the same thing Ron was? This was ridiculous.

"Well Hermione, with all of this information, most people would be breaking down in tears, yelling, or doing SOMETHING. You however look unaffected by this." He looked at me suspiciously. "Holding in your frustrations is not good." I fought the urge to snort. Instead, I stared angrily at the man who had no idea who he was talking about.

"I guess I'm just not like everyone else." I cut him off before he could continue. "And if I could be so bold doctor the only one really annoying me is you, so if we could get this over with as quickly as possible, I could get back to my studies."

He stared at me blankly as if unsure what to say. I had only spent five minutes with the man and I hated him, no way could I spend another hour.

"The only way to a good marriage is through communication," He said with a smile and I fought the urge to roll my eyes. "Communication starts at level one. You have to be able to communicate and understand yourself before you could ever hope to do it with anyone else." Wow, this guy was a piece of work. I swallowed the response I wanted to give and took a moment to think of a more polite answer.

"I am being honest with myself," I put on my best fake smile towards the Doctor. "I'm fine Doctor. Honestly, I find what has been going on in the walls of Hogwarts distasteful and outrageous. People can be so dramatic," I said shaking my head.

The man opened his eyes wide, as if just realize something, "Ah," he said several times, "So you're trying to 'be strong' for everyone. As well as not wishing to sink to their level." He wrote it down on his little note pad once again.

"No," I said too quickly. "Well, not completely. I don't feel the need to break down like that. I am fine!" My voice started to rise the more I had to continue to talk to Dr. Finkle. I needed to get out of here before he could figure everything out.

He just nodded, and then stared at me for an obscene amount of time. That was possibly the worst part, him looking at me. I was unable to look him in the eye, so I averted my eyes around the room. Eventually I rested my sight on Dumbledore who had a look of sympathy on his face. I turned away from him.

"So have you talked with," He looked down at his parchment and squinted. "Mr. Fred Weasley?" His tone was lighter and I swallowed hard at the name and the memories of this morning.

"Well, I saw him last night," I started. His eyes grew wide and he jotted the note down quickly. When I realized what I had said I quickly corrected myself, "No no! That's not what I mean. My friends and I stayed at his loft last night to get away from Hogwarts. We hardly said more than three words to each other though." Why was I telling him this? Why didn't I just say that I haven't seen him yet?

"I see," He said more interested, "So things are awkward between the two of you?"

There was no reason to answer falsely, "Yes." I stated bluntly.

"Well Hermione, as I said before, everything can be fixed with some communication. Just talk with him, and sort things out."

I laughed sarcastically, "You don't know Fred."

He raised an eyebrow at me, "Oh? And what do you know about Fred that would make this statement impossible?"

"He's a prankster. He jokes and has fun. I don't think he really knows how to be serious. So a serious conversation wouldn't exactly work out." I shrugged. He had asked me to be honest…

"Well," He said once again, "Hopefully you'll work that out soon, since your wedding date is in less than two weeks." He said looking down at his watch, "I'm sorry to say that it's time for my next counseling session."

He stood up from his chair, and I followed. He grabbed my hand and shook it hard. I pulled away from the shake as soon as possible. Dumbledore stood up with us. He was frowning at Doctor Finkle, but honestly, who wouldn't be.

"Nice to meet you Hermione," He said with fake kindness which I reciprocated. Then I walked down the moving staircase, and fled Dumbledore's office as fast as possible. The man was absolutely infuriating, but now that I was out of his sight I felt better, relieved even. I decided I was going to go take nap before Transfigurations. I had all my homework plus tomorrows homework finished in that class, so I could spare an hour of rest.

I wandered up to my room aimlessly. I passed Ginny on the way up. She didn't say a word, but she looked sadly over at me. I was about to go over and talk with her about the meeting I was just forced to sit through, but then Harry came up behind her. He wrapped his arms around her waist lovingly and kissed her. This only started a snogging fest and I resisted the urge to roll my eyes. I decided I would just talk to Ginny later.

There were no signs of Ron, but then again, I wasn't exactly looking. I was happy that I didn't encounter him. I wasn't necessarily angry with him, but then again, I wasn't happy with him. I knew the reason he was yelling at me was simply because he was upset with having to marry Parvati, but as it seems, they have been getting along a lot better now. When I got up to my room, I went straight to my bed. Luckily, there was no one in there. I was perfectly alone. I breathed deeply and closed my eyes.

I couldn't get what Ron and Dr. Finkle had told me out of my head. They said I was emotionless. That I wasn't behaving how a person would if they were forced to marry against their will. Certainly, it was a terrible thing. However, I didn't think terrorizing the school was going to get me anywhere. I felt horrid, and sick, and angry, and sad all the time. How could they think I didn't feel?

Just then, an owl flew in my window, a letter tied to its ankle. From the looks of it, it was Fred and George's owl, although I couldn't be certain. I wasn't THAT familiar with it. I fed the owl a treat, and it went on its way. The letter was rather long, I realized, as I was unraveling it.

Dear Hermione,

There's going to be an Order meeting at 12 Grimmald Place tomorrow night. Seeing as you are not an Order member, you shouldn't know this information. However, I believe Dumbledore is going to ask the four of you to come anyway.

Just to give you a heads up. I believe the reason he wants you all to come is because we'll be discussing the marriage law. I just thought you might want to know, feel free to inform the others.

Fred

I wasn't really sure what to think of the letter. The Ministry has been passing some outrageous laws lately, and every time this happened, the order felt the need to have a meeting. However, Ron, Ginny, Harry, and I had never been formally invited to one. If that would even be the case, I wasn't sure, but I knew it must be serious.

Even with all the thoughts dancing curiously in my head, I closed my eyes, and passed out onto my bed. I wasn't sure if I ever wanted to wake up again.

~~~~~~~~~3~~~~~~~~~~~

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