Thanks for all the wonderful attention you guys! Glad this story has caught on so quickly. I probably could have gotten through this chapter a lot faster if I didn't have real world problems like jobs and sleep, and tumblr.

Anyways, this is about a week after the Great Hall scene. Hope you enjoy and let me know how you liked it!

BTW, I've kept Hedwig too, because she made me cry just as much as Fred.

And no, J.K. Rowling isn't anywhere near my name… legally. My mind is a whole different matter.

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Life at the Burrow had slowed down considerably in the following week. The day after the war at Hogwarts, Mrs. Weasley had hustled everyone to her home, no exceptions for anyone. Though Charlie didn't even live in the country, Bill lived with a pregnant Fleur at Shell Cottage, and the twins shared the flat over their shop in Diagon Alley, they all stayed without complaint. Fleur had even moved in to share a room with her husband, despite how uncomfortable she must have been in the full house. Charlie seemed rather ecstatic to be home, but Hermione couldn't decide if it was because of the war, or if he had missed his mother's cooking. Looking at him now stuffing his face with potatoes, she quickly decided it must be more for the food. Honestly, the Weasley boys could eat more than the entire wizarding world. Only, now maybe that wasn't a good parallel with the war having such a horrible impact on the wizarding population. She took another look around the overflowing kitchen table and tried to ignore the new burning in the pit of her stomach, just from imagining any of them not sitting at this table anymore.

George tossed another roll over his twins shoulder at Ginny and Harry, trying once more to break the two apart. All he achieved was a nasty sneer from his baby sister before her lips were occupied once more. He sighed, realizing it wasn't going to make a difference how much he meddled; the two were going to be completely inseparable.

"I really want to clock him,"

"Too bad he saved the world." Fred smirked at him, grabbing the tossed roll from the seat beside him and ripping half of it to give to George. They sat in silence for more than thirty seconds, contemplating together if they could let the fact that their sister was snogging someone right beside them go. One look at the other decided it, "Never," They chorused together.

"What are you two on about now?" They both looked up to see Hermione watching them from across the table. A quick look at her plate showed Fred she still wasn't eating properly, pushing the food around more than actually eating it. She was doing that a lot this past week, pretending to eat, coming down stairs early in the morning and going to bed much later in the night. Her face was still gaunt, showing the round circles under her eyes, and her cheekbones stuck out from her normally rounded cheeks. He couldn't deny that Hermione Granger was a small witch to begin with, but now the femininity of her size was gone, leaving only a frail little thing in her shadow. Not that he'd told George, but his twin seemed to pick up on his musings of the little witch. They had been trying to feed her more often than even their mother, pushing seconds and sometimes thirds, watching as she passed them through her lips. Whenever she made tea, they would add biscuits to her tray before sending her off to read and eat. She'd never said anything, but the gratitude in her eyes when they poured another helping of food to her plate was thanks enough for him. No one knew what those three had done all those months they were gone, but Fred suspected they had all sacrificed something at one point. Hermione had sacrificed her health for her best friends.

"Nothing to worry yourself about, Granger," George started up, shoving the rest of his roll into his mouth.

"You just stick to your plate,"

"We'll handle the lovebirds." Ginny finally took the hint and moved off Harry's lap, tucking into her plate of potatoes and roast. With a smug grin, George also started towards finishing his plate.

Hermione sighed and spun her potatoes around the tongs of her fork, having lost her appetite a few minutes ago. Food still didn't look appetizing in large amounts, her stomach unfit to shovel more than a quarter of the amount in front of her. She took a few more minutes to push the meat to the side, and then back again to be smothered in potato. Her cup suddenly moved an inch or less to the left, catching her attention. She looked up, to meet warm brown glaring at her. The twin's eyebrows were already raised in silent demand, 'You eating that?'

With a heavy sigh, she picked the fork up and pushed a mash of potatoes, carrots and meat into her mouth, forcing it down with a sip of her drink. She admitted to herself that her stomach was feeling better tonight than it had for quite some time. The fork seemed to lift on its own now, feeding her more of the dinner Molly had slaved over. As the small witch continued to eat, she missed most of the family watching her out of the corner of their eyes, making sure the food actually went into her instead of dropping back to the plate. The only ones who seemed oblivious to Hermione's malnourishment was Charlie, who hadn't been around long before the war began to notice. She may have noticed the twins concern, but the rest of the houses worry was a secret to her.

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The next morning moved around her like a dream. Ginny woke up before her, like she did every morning to go downstairs and talk with Harry before the rest of the house woke up. It seemed the Boy-who-lived had turned into the Boy-who-never-slept. Hermione wasn't sure he had slept a full night since the battle at Hogwarts. The second night at the Burrow, she and Ginny had tried to stay up with him until he fell asleep which only led to the two girls crashed on the couch, and Harry jumping around filled with caffeine. Since then, Ginny had woken up earlier in the morning to meet her boyfriend downstairs, to talk or whatever they did in the quiet house. It didn't matter to her anymore, as long as her best friend was happy, and he could relax somehow. She must have fallen back to sleep after Ginny had left because when she opened her eyes again, the sun was against her bed instead of the wall. Forcing herself to get out of the wonderfully warm haven she'd created for herself, Hermione shuffled around quietly, fining her robe and slippers. Usually the Burrow was bustling with noise by now; Mrs. Weasley should have been dragging her boys down to the kitchen to make them help, and then sending someone up to get her.

Ginny's bedroom door creaked when she opened it, the sound echoing across the third floor hall. No noise was coming from downstairs, an extremely uncommon occurrence, one that made Hermione instantly aware of her surroundings. She slipped her hand into the extra lining of her robe, touching the familiar wood she hadn't put down since Hogwarts. Making sure to miss the trick step on the way down, Hermione crept down the long staircase carefully. She could see the fireplace already burning in the living room, empty besides Hedwig sitting prettily on the window ledge. She continued to move through the room, passing Hedwig, causing the snowy owl to coo to her. Shushing her quietly and continuing on, Hermione passed through the kitchen doorway with her wand now in her hand.

"What the bloody - " A twin and Ginny were sitting at the kitchen table, a small breakfast spread in between them. Hermione froze when she saw them, honestly not expecting anyone she knew to be in the house. Ginny still had a piece of fruit half raised to her mouth, staring at Hermione with a look between shocked and amused. The twin, Fred, she decided by the two ears, was beginning to grin while looking slightly more concerned for her.

"Hermione, what's wrong?" Ginny placed the fruit back on her plate, moving to stand up.

"No, nothing Ginny, don't worry. I just didn't hear anyone down here." She went to sit across from the two red-headed siblings.

"So you assumed we needed saving?" Fred chuckled now, watching her stick her wand back into the slit of her robe. The glare she sent him could have made a Death Eater turn tail and run. "I assure you, Granger, we can handle ourselves."

"No, but sorry for having reflexes leftover from the war we just went through." Hermione grumbled, grabbing a muffin from Fred's tray. The Weasley's both looked properly chastised now, Fred even cringing a bit when she reached for his plate again. "Sorry," she mumbled into her second muffin.

"No, don't worry Hermione. Everyone is still asleep actually. I should have woken you up earlier." Ginny told her, finally finishing her fruit. Fred picked up his mug, hoping the girls would ignore him now.

Hermione seemed further flummoxed, "They're asleep?" Ginny nodded, using her wand to remove the empty dishes so as not to leave the conversation. Harry still sleeping seemed very strange, and she had to wonder if maybe he was getting better, or if Ginny had sent him back to bed.

"Mom and dad were invited to the Ministry for today, remember? They were sent that super official looking invitation?" She did in fact remember the invitation, but had forgotten the date on it. The Weasley's had gone to the Ministry, along with all the other wizarding parents it seemed. They had a very specific date and time on the invite, which Hermione took to mean each family was being told something one at a time rather than all at once. None of the kids in the Burrow had known what the event was, or why exactly everyone was being summoned to the Ministry like this. It didn't seem something that happened often in the wizarding community.

"When were they supposed to be back then?" Hermione asked now, getting up to make more tea. Fred got up as well, grabbing his now empty mug.

"Oh, like you don't already know Miss Bookworm." The next glare sent his way was significantly less fatal than the last.

Once the tea kettle was set up, the three sat back around the table, chatting. Hermione wasn't sure why Fred was still sitting with them, and talking with them. It wasn't often the twins were apart from each other, and they had been closer in the last week than Hermione had ever seen them. Seeing one part of the duo away from the other for a long amount of time was strange, but she found she rather enjoyed talking with both of them when they were apart from each other. George was the literal big brother from a story book. With so many Weasley males, it was hard not to have a few of them become brothers, but George took the job more seriously than the others. With her and Ginny spending so much time together, George had taken to asking Hermione things when he asked Ginny. She'd also been the subject of a few more pranks, all much more toned down than the rest of the Weasley's besides Ginny. Fred on the other hand, talked a lot more with her, whether she was with Ginny or anyone else. She was pretty sure more of her conversations in the last three days had included Fred than they did Harry or Ron. Though, thinking back, Ron hadn't been very talkative in the past week with her. Fred would make sure she and Ginny were comfortable, or in Ginny's case, Harry was more than a foot away.

After another half hour of talking, hoping not to wake the rest of the house and have to cook for them, the floo made a popping noise, signalling someone coming through. Ginny popped up to check, coming back in with her parents. Hermione cleared them a space, moving Mrs. Weasley into a seat. Mr. Weasley sat himself down beside his son, slumping comfortably into the chair. Fred and Hermione together made two cups of tea as Ginny began to question them about the Ministry. Mrs. Weasley thanked them warmly, but Hermione missed the odd look Mr. Weasley gave Fred as he sat back down beside her.

"Mum, just tell us." Ginny's whine shook Hermione from her thoughts, bringing her back to the present company. For the first time since they'd sat down, Hermione took note of how very frazzled the two looked. Molly especially was huffing a little, her fiery hair frizzed like she'd run her hands over it continuously. Neither said a thing, Mr. Weasley tending to his tea, avoiding eye contact when she looked at him. Hermione turned to the matron, setting her smaller hand over Mrs. Weasley's, "Molly?"

The name snapped her out of the state she was in, as she rather loved Hermione and Harry calling her 'Mum' or 'Molly'. "Yes dear, sorry. We just have some rather difficult, um, news, for all of you actually. Ginny dear, could you wake your brothers for us? And get Harry as well, the poor dear. I suppose we'll be the ones to tell him." Ginny didn't answer, just frowned a little at her mother and Hermione before moving up to the bedrooms.

"Mum?" Fred asked, moving his and Hermione's mugs away from them to the counter behind him. Molly smiled at him, and Hermione.

"Yes dear?"

"Please tell me what happened?" He asked it so quietly; Hermione could only assume he was pulling a magical puppy eyed look at his mother. One she knew for a fact worked wonders when Molly was withholding sweets or food. It didn't work this time, as Molly only shook her head at her son, looking down at the table. The obvious avoidance was strange to both of them; Mrs. Weasley was not a shy woman.

"Dad?" Fred turned to his father, hoping to gain some information. Arthur Weasley took the same road as his wife, shaking his head and staring at the tea mugs in the center of the table.

"Oh Freddie," Mrs. Weasley whispered, twirling her fingers through the knitted cardigan around her shoulders. Fred looked at Hermione, both of their eyes reflecting each others concern.

"Is it the house? Hogwarts? Did something happen to someone? Please, for the love of Merlin, someone answer me!" Mrs. Weasley was watching the two of them now, pain and concern showing through.

"Freddie," she whispered again, gaining both of their attention. Hermione was basically hanging off her every movement by now. "They reinstated that terrible law." Fred threw his hands up, looking to Hermione for an answer. She could only frown, unsure which law she could have been talking about.

"The Marriage Law Fred," Mr. Weasley burst out, louder than the current conversation, shocking Hermione a little before she could register what he had said.

"What's a marriage law?" Fred looked like he would pull out his hair soon. Hermione was sure Mr. and Mrs. Weasley could see the realization dawning in her eyes, as the connection was made in her mind.

"The Marriage Law, states that all unmarried wizards and witches between the age of sixteen and thirty must marry in order to bring the wizarding population higher after the war." Fred was frozen now, his mouth hanging open at his father.

"Then we," he stopped, unable to form the words in his shock.

"Have to get married." Hermione finished for him, needing the words to be said. Mrs. Weasley nodded, tears coming to her eyes.

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And that's the freaking ending to that! Holy cheese balls, this literally took me since last week to write. I was so stuck at first on how to continue; I've just sat at my desk for the past six hours to work on this and get it done. I needed to get this out for you, with the reviews and follows I've gotten it's been wonderful. So I slaved over this, and hope you love it as much as I ended up loving it. Hopefully this is how long all the chapters will end up being, but it really depended on how I'm feeling about the context of the chapter.

See you later!

AJ