Chapter 03:

The following Tuesday, Hermione apparated to the burrow late at night and crashed on the bed. She did not stir for the entire of the next day. It was Thursday morning that she finally managed to crawl out of bed. Swearing to refuse further favours to Kingsley, she stretched, freshened up and walked down to the breakfast table.

"Somebody's awake" mused George.

"Morning" she replied.

Before the interaction could go any further, Ginny pulled her by her wrist back to their room.

"Honestly Gin! I am sorely tired and raving hungry. Can't this wait?"

"No" was the firm reply. Though she refused to elaborate.

Upon entering the room she had walked out of just minutes ago, Hermione refused to speak to Ginny without getting any food first. Flustered, Ginny ran down the stairs and back up in a matter of minutes with hot pancakes and coffee, just what Hermione needed.

Hermione happily cut the pancakes and gulped the first few bites down washing it with coffee, before turning her attention to her best girlfriend.

Their friendship was strong enough that they by-passed the need to exchange pleasantries and Ginny got straight to the point. She filled Hermione in on the new Marriage Law, Kingsley's special requests to the Golden Trio, her own wedding with Harry (where Hermione hugged her and cried and congratulated her whole heartedly) and then passed on Hermione's ministry letter to her that had come in yesterday morning when she was asleep, dead to the world.

Hermione looked at the letter with nothing short of dread on her face, her blood running cold in her veins. She then carefully tore the envelop and unfolded the letter. Ginny knew they were stalling tactics but she didn't say a word because she also knew that Hermione needed to face this by herself. It was for that reason alone that she did not tell Hermione who her ministry match was.

Heart thudding loudly, Hermione read and then re-read the letter a good seven times before gulping hard and reading it again. It basically said that she had to be married within 2 months (that's before she even gave her NEWTs), she had to consummate her marriage within 24 hours for the wedding and that they had to…well… have sex for the want of a better term, at least once every week (unless either or both partners were travelling for work) till the time she conceived, within a two year time frame. There would be regular health checks for both, her partner and her, separation petition would be considered only in cases of abuse or infertility. So all in all, she was stuck. Well and truly stuck as she couldn't imagine divorcing the father of her child after 5 years of marriage. They had to have at least a 2 week dating period in case of new couples and they had to go on at least 1 date before their marriage. A ministry official would officiate their wedding. And last but not the least (and that was the part she was truly stuck at), her ministry match was Oliver Wood! Oliver Wood for crying out loud! Not that he wasn't a good man, he was. He was kind, sincere and loving. He was also drop dead gorgeous! Most of the girls in Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff and even Slytherin for that matter were crazy about him back in his school days. He was now a professional league player in some team or the other and dubbed as the most eligible bachelor in the United Kingdom. Unlike most pure bloods, he was sensible and sane, and had fought on the light side at the battle of Hogwarts just a few months ago. He would be a good partner and would treat her well, she knew that. But she also knew that his life revolved around quidditch and Hermione had never even successfully mounted a broom for Merlin's sake! How was this going to work? How at all?

As if reading her thoughts, Ginny smiled at her kindly and said, "I'll help."

!

After reading the letter by Oliver, that basically invited her to get in touch with him, Ginny convinced Hermione to go out with her citing a much needed girl time. It was Thursday, and Harry and Ron had left in the morning for their training so it was just the girls and Mrs. Weasley at home. Everyone else being at their respective jobs.

It was close to lunch time when Ginny innocently mentioned a new place she wanted to check out to Hermione and they then dressed, Ginny in a cute little navy blue summer dress with an open-knit short cardigan on it and Hermione in her patented muggle slim fit jeans, a soft cotton top and a light jacket. She threw a scarf around her shoulders to complete the look and put on her blue converses. Both girls looked chic in their own way as they made their way to the apparition point. On reaching it, Ginny mentioned that she wanted to surprise Hermione and asked her to hold on to her as she would apparate both of them to their destination. And with a loud pop they were gone.

On reaching their destination, Hermione took a few moments to get her bearings and blinked. She then got on a loud rant, yelling at Ginny colourfully.

"Call me what you may, but you need to meet up with the man you are about to marry. You have no idea when your next assignment might turn up and then you'll be gone for Merlin knows how long. Plus, they are all gearing up to re-introduce quidditch after the war. So, Oliver will also be extremely busy and caught up soon enough. So, pray tell, why waste the precious little time you have with him before your impending nuptials?"

Well, Hermione had no reply when Ginny put it like that but this was just odd and she was not going to go down without a fight. "Like you said, he might be very busy in there."

"Oh I'm sure he is but we aren't here to disturb him. We'll just say a flying hello and be out before his lunch break ends."

"Oh my God! You planned this, didn't you Ginerva Weasley-Potter?"

"Of course I did! You need a push and it's not gonna be just this once too! Now come on, let's go in."