A/N: I re-uploaded chapter 11 shortly after I uploaded it. I forgot to include Fred's match. I fixed it, but if you haven't seen it you might want to go back and check it out.

A/N2: My surprises last chapter have stirred up some reactions from you dear readers. I don't think I have ever received this many reviews for a single chapter ever. I will address some of the questions/remarks at the end of this chapter. Please know that I love and cherish every review, favorite and follow I receive. Even though I don't react to each and every one of them privately they mean a lot to me and are fuel to my muse.

Enjoy!


Chapter 12

The five finish their letter at the same time and look up with their mouths open.

Ron is the first to snap out of it. He throws his letter on the table before storming out of the house. Angelina who is sitting next to Ron pick up the letter and reads it. "Wow, I did not see that coming." she says.

"Did not see what coming?" Arthur asks.

"Ron got paired with Draco Malfoy." The rest of the Weasley's look at Angelina in surprise.

"You think that is an unexpected pairing? What about mine? I got paired with Minerva Mcgonagall." Now everybody turns to Fred in surprise. After a minute of silence Arthur speaks up. "Any more surprises?" He looks at the three who still have to reveal their match.

Harry shrugs. "I got paired with Luna Lovegood. Definitely not as surprising as Ron's and Fred's matches. What about you girls?" Harry turns to Hermione and Ginny who are sitting next to one another and still seem to be in shock. After a push from Fred Ginny clears her throat. "I got paired with Hermione." Before Ginny has even finished saying Hermione's name Molly is already squealing and running towards the girls. "What a wonderful match. I'm so happy for you two. This is truly a match made in heaven." She exclaims while pulling the two fo them into a hug. Molly releases the girls when there is a ticking at the window. Looking up she sees an owl and walks over to the window to retrieve the letter which is addressed to Fred. He takes the letter from his mother and reads it out loud.

Dear Mr. Weasley,

I received my match letter from the ministry this morning and to my surprise I am paired with you.

It is my believe that the two of us are nowhere near ready to get married, however with the deadline of september first it is important that we get to that point sooner rather than later. Therefore I would like to invite you to my chambers in Hogwarts for a private dinner this evening. You can floo in together with your siblings.

Please be advised: no pranks. I've had to put up with your and your brothers antics for nearly seven year and will not put up with such nonsense in my marriage.

Please let me know if you will be attending. My owl will wait for your response.

Sincerely

M. Mcgonagall.

"You'd think using first names would be the most crucial step towards getting ready for marriage, but apparently no, pranking is more important." Fred scoffs before summoning parchment and a quill to reply.

Dear Minerva,

I believe calling me Fred instead of Mr. Weasley would be a good start in working towards our marriage.

I will see you tonight and I'll leave my pranks at home. As you might have heard I am the proprietor of a joke shop, pranks are therefore a part of my job and life. So I will not make any promises regarding pranks in the future.

I look forward to seeing you tonight.

Love,

Fred

Fred gives his letter to Minerva's owl and turns to his mother. "I should probably bring her flowers or chocolates or something right?"

"No chocolates, she prefers ginger newts." Hermione answers Fred's question. "Why are you not freaked out by your march?" Harry asks him.

"Well first off if the ministry paired us this means our aptitude test shows that we are compatible. Secondly With Mcgonagall I get an intelligent and interesting wive. I could have done a lot worse."

"But she's a lot older than you are." Harry continues.

"I prefer the term more experienced than me. And I don't see anything wrong with that. Yes this is not a match I would have come up with in my wildest dreams, however I made the choice to get paired by the ministry through their aptitude test. By choosing that I chose to be paired with someone compatible. I might not see yet how Mcgonagall and I are compatible, but I'm going to find out and enjoy doing this. Now if you lot will excuse me, I have a date to get ready for." Fred ends the discussion about his match and he walks to the fireplace to floo out.

The rest of the occupants of the kitchen look at the fire in surprise. Fred Weasley seems to have grown up and takes his match like an adult.

Ginny turns to Hermione when Fred is gone. "We should probably talk about us?"

"Yes, but later. For now I want to find Ron and see how he is doing. Same as Fred he had an unexpected match." Hermione answers before leaving the kitchen. Ginny walks after her. "Wait I'm coming with."

When both girls have left the kitchen Harry speaks up. "I should probably write Luna before I go and find Ron." With that he also leaves the kitchen to fetch some parchment and a quill to contact Luna.

When he has left it is silent for a few moments before Bill starts laughing. When he gets weird faces he explains. "I was thinking, we all thought we would have an easy year with Voldemort finally gone. Instead with got the marriage law which has possibly lead to more drama than Voldemort with Ron engaged to a Malfoy, Fred engaged to a former teacher and out sister engaged to the woman we all consider our second sister." When he's finished his explanation the rest of the kitchen's occupants start to laugh as well.

When everybody is calmed down the couples talk some more about the matches of their children and siblings. Eventually they reach the conclusion that no matter how weird some of the matches seem when you look deeper the matches actually make sense.


It doesn't take Hermione long to find Ron. He is sitting against one of the quidditch hoop in the back garden with a letter in his hand and his broom lying down next to him. She sits down on his other side.

"So you and Draco."

"Yeah… What was the ministry thinking, putting two people together from families who have a long standing rivalry."

"You know Ron, just because things between the Malfoys and Weasleys have been a certain way does not mean the have to stay that way."

"Well yeah, but still it's Malfoy, the guy who has bullied and made fun of me for years. How are we supposed to get past that and have a happy marriage."

"What I would like to know is how the hell you got paired with a man. I didn't even know you are gay." Ginny who has arrived as well speaks up.

"I'm not gay. Hermione told me something over the summer that made me think." Ron gives a little explanation, obviously trying to keep his promise to Hermione not to reveal her sexual orientation.

"What was that?" Ginny presses and Hermione decides to explain.

"When Ron proposed to me the second time I basically told him I'm gay. I know that is one of many things the two of us have to talk about in the coming days." Hermione tells Ginny before turning to Ron and continuing. "How did me being gay give you a male match?"

"It got me thinking about genders and that a man and a woman might be the most common match, same-sex matches might be just as good a match. When the aptitude test asked about my preferred gender I felt that writing down female as my preferred gender would unnecessarily diminish my possibilities. I mean marriage should be about love and compatibility and if I'm really honest with myself I did have a crush on Krum in fourth year. So yeah I figured why limit myself to one gender. If I would have known I'd end up with Malfoy as my match I'd have written down women as preferred gender." Ron explains his reasoning.

"The aptitude test was charmed to compel you to tell the truth. You would not have been able to write down women as preferred gender if you don't have a preferred gender." Hermione tells him.

"Seriously? I had no idea. How do you know that?" Ginny wonders.

"Minerva told me. I was afraid I would end up with somebody who had less than honorable intentions. When I voiced my concern she explained the compulsion." Hermione gives a brief explanation. The three sit in silence for a few minutes when Hermione speaks up again.

"Who wrote you?" She says while pointing to the letter in Ron's hand.

"Malfoy." Ron says and hand over the letter.

Dear Ron,

I just received my match letter and I'm sure you are just as surprised as me with the fact we got paired together. Beside the fact that I'm surprised we are considered compatible I didn't even know you fancy blokes.

When the aptitude test was first announced I did some research in how pairs would be matched and I have to say my research showed that the ministry pairing would be rock solid. This leads me to believe we compatible even though I might not be able to see how yet. I would like to find out though, maybe we can figure out together what makes us compatible? Would you accompany me on a lunch date saturday?

Now before you freak out even more than you probably already are let me tell you this: You did not get paired with a teacher who is more than twice your age like Longbottom who got paired with Sprout, nor did you faint when you read your match letter like Mcgonagall (At least I hope you didn't faint. Please tell me you didn't faint. I can deal with marrying a Weasley I can't deal with marrying a bloke who faints when he gets unexpected news.)

I'll see you at dinner tonight.

Sincerely,

Draco

Ginny who has been reading over Hermione's shoulder starts laughing.

"Why are you laughing?" Ron asks.

"Minerva fainted when she saw who she is matched with. That is hilarious." She explains.

"Minerva fainting while Fred took their pairing in stride and stepped up to be an adult about it. What has come of the world?" Hermione giggles.

"Merlin, I was so shocked by my pairing I forgot all about the other pairing. Who did you, Harry and Fred get?" Ron asks.

"Harry got Luna, Fred got Minerva and I got Ginny." Hermione tells Ron who's mouth falls open.

"I'm not sure what to think of that. Who would have thought I would consider Harry and Luna an unsurprising pair. Fred got Mcgonagall no wonder she fainted. He and George caused tons of trouble when they were at Hogwarts. I can only imagine what he will get up to when he returns while no longer a student." Ron laughs before sobering up like he just remembers something and turns to Hermione.

"You got paired with my sister?"

"Yes." Hermione answers timidly

"As happy as I am that you will become my sister, I want you to know that if you ever hurt my sister I'll hunt you down and hurt you, badly. No matter what we've been through in the past." Ron warns her.

"I know and I you should know that I would never intentionally hurt your sister." Hermione tells him.

"I know, but as her big brother it is my job to threaten her future wife." Ron laughs.

"Have you two talked about being paired together?" Ron asks when he is done laughing.

"Not yet." Ginny tells him.

"Well I'll leave you two to it then. I have some explaining to do anyway." Ron tells them while getting up and walking back to the Burrow.

"So, you're gay?" Ginny starts.

"Yes. You?" Hermione answers.

"Me too."

"I should probably ask why you haven't told me but I think that would be rather hypocritical. So instead I'll try to explain why I didn't tell you." Hermione takes a deep breath before continuing. "I've suspected for a while I'm gay but wasn't entirely sure until Ron kissed me after the battle. I confided in Minerva and from the start she has been encouraging me to tell you. Originally I had planned to tell you, not right away but after maybe a few weeks. When the marriage law came into play things changed. I was afraid of who I would get paired with and decided I needed you to be there for me. I needed my best friend. The thought of losing you as a friend was heartbreaking even before the law, but the thought of not having my best friend around while getting ready to be paired with some unknown witch was terrifying. I realise now I had no reason to worry and should have listened to Minerva when she told me to tell you. I am really sorry for hiding this and for being your match. I'm sure if it was up to you you would have chosen someone else."

"No need to be sorry for not telling me Hermione. I understand perfectly. I actually went through a similar process. Not wanting to take the chance of loosing my best friend when I needed her support the most. So no more apologizing for that alright. Me both made a choice that in hindsight was not necessary, let;s leave it in the past. A for apologizing for being my match, don't you dare ever do that again. I got matched with the girl I've fancied for a while, that is as good as it can get."

Hermione looks up at Ginny in surprise when she hears Ginny reveal that last piece of information. "You fancy me?"

"Yes I do. But before you say anything. I know you don't fancied me and before today I didn't dare dream I would matched with you, especially since I was convinced you liked blokes. Now that I know that I have a chance with you, however small, I plan to show you how special you are to me. So miss Hermione Granger, be prepared to get wooed." Ginny ends her speech giggling before standing up and moving to walk back to the Burrow.

"Wait a second Ginny. You can't go and make that kind of statement and walk away. I mean beside that little revelation about your feelings we haven't even talked about where to go from here. When are we getting married, where are we going to live. We have to make children for Merlin's sake."

"Calm down Hermione. We have nine months left to get married. For now just relaxed and sit back while I woo you. I promise we will talk about our future, our wedding, living arrangement kids and all that in a few months. Now let's get back and see if lunch is ready. I don't know about you but I'm starving." Ginny pulls Hermione up from the ground before walking back to the Burrow leaving a slightly confused Hermione behind.


A/N: When I decided to write my version of a marriage law story I started with writing a one page outline of the story. The pairings was one of the first things I wrote down. Hermione and Ginny was obvious but I also wanted to include Minerva in the law and I wanted Draco in the story because I think if you forget about the house rivalry and his prejudice they would make a good group of friends. Which I hope to show in this story.

The reason I paired Minerva with Fred is twofold. First of I don't really see her with any of the elder characters in the books and I wanted to use existing characters as much as possible. Secondly I think one of the twins with Minerva would strangely enough work. Both are intelligent although they use their intelligence differently. Although it's not extensively shown in the books, Minerva does have a naughty same goes for the serious side of the twins.

My other HP stories are M rated because something angsty has happened to at least one of the main characters. I want to keep this story light but still with some drama. Draco/Ron are obviously going to create some drama while I believe Minerva/Fred will make it easy to balance the drama with some lighthearted fun. At least that is the plan.

A rather lengthy note, but seeing all your reactions at the last chapter I felt I owed you a little explanation. I would love to know what you all think about this chapter.