Chapter 35

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QUIDDITCH LEAGUE IN SHAMBLES AS HOLYHEAD HARPIES TOTALLY UNABLE TO FIELD A TEAM.

British professional quidditch is in dire straits this season as all of its female players fall subject to the law demanding that they produce a baby in the next year. Witches make up just over 35% of professional players but over 50% of the starting and reserve chasers across the league. Of course, the team hardest hit by the compulsory baby boom will be the Holyhead Harpies all female team. We spoke to their Captain Gwenog Jones today who told us that:

"The entire starting lineup and several of the reserves are already expecting and by law the rest of them will also have to be within the next six months. It's a bloody disaster for professional Quidditch and for witches who want to play now and in the future until this law is changed," Gwenog said.

"Does this mean you will be announcing tryouts?"

"There's not much point. Any new players we would be able to recruit will also have to have a baby in the next year. Some of us looked into adopting so we could play for another couple of years but the amount of traveling required made us ineligible according to WCPS.

"Could this mean that for the first time in history the Holyhead Harpies opened up their tryouts to wizards?" the reporter asked curiously.

"We can't do that. Our charter specifically states that the Harpies is an all witch team and we'd lose a lot of our funding if we tried to change that," Gwenog replied.

"Won't you lose all your funding if you don't put forward a team?"

"Yes, that's true for this year but what is the alternative?" Gwenog asked.

"Will you recruit players from Hogwarts?" the reported asked eagerly.

"We are in negotiations to do that but normally only one player per year level is good enough to be recruited straight to the starting line-up of any team and looking at last year's Hogwarts' roster that's true. Not to mention it still leaves us without a keeper or beaters with any experience in those positions, since all the house teams had wizards filling those positions last year," Gwenog said frowning. "Not to mention it would be impossible to keep up with the training requirements to improve their skills to the necessary level and learn to work as an effective team and travel with the team while still attending classes and studying for NEWTs, and for those who are seventeen they will need to have a baby within twelve months of leaving school so at best they could only play one season if they stayed in classes and half a season if they quit school to play. We don't want to encourage young witches to abandon their education. Our best choice is to recruit players internationally but we'd need a guarantee from the ministry that players born overseas who move to Britain to play professionally wouldn't subject them to our marriage and breeding laws or to move the team to the European competition and set up a new home base outside of Britain."

"Could you move your training facilities to France and travel to Britain for games? And would leaving Britain release your current players from the legal obligation to have a baby in the next year?"

"The travel would be difficult, and no unfortunately I'm not sure that any of our current players or any other British witch we managed to recruit would be allowed to move to France and it certainly doesn't help British born witches evade the marriage act. Those that have left the country to avoid the marriage act are currently unable to return without being arrested as soon as they're seen back in Britain," Gwenog said.

Harry looked up from the newspaper. Ron was grinning madly beside him. "This could be our chance," he said excitedly.

"At what cost. Playing for the Harpies has been Ginny's dream forever too, and now she won't even be able to listen to her team play, you'd be devastated if the Chudley Cannons announced they weren't going to play this season," Harry said sombrely. "And I know Katie and Alicia both tried out for a couple of teams this year. The recruiters actually told them that they would've had a good chance of being selected any other year, but the Harpies were the only team recruiting girls because of the law and they already had a full chaser line-up and reserves. There's a whole generation of witches that are going to miss out on playing professional Quidditch unless the law gets revoked."

"The problem isn't just limited to Quidditch, most apprentice masters are choosing wizards as their apprentices this year no matter how many more qualified witches have applied to them, because they won't have to limit what they're able to safely do while pregnant, take time off to have a baby and then have to potentially work limited hours afterwards when they can find someone to look after the children. Auror training is just as bad, it's not safe for pregnant witches to take the active component and apparently too difficult to allow them to do all the theory now and the active components later. The top three ranking students were witches last year and none of them got into the apprenticeship or training they most wanted, Leanne was lucky but she's one of the minority," Hermione said frowning.

Harry's face fell, he wanted Hermione to be happy, and he'd thought that avoiding the stupid abusive match the ministry had chosen for her would make her life happier, but how happy would she be stuck at home with a baby, or in a second rate job rather than the brilliant career she deserved.

"Dumbledore could let us stay at school and do one subject so the law doesn't apply to us this year. I could play. I know I'm good enough. I could actually make enough money playing Quidditch for two years to afford a baby," Ginny complained at Quidditch training that afternoon.

"You should suggest it to him," Demelza said. "Explain that it's your only chance to play professionally."

"Mum will kill you," Ron said.

"Bugger Mum. Doesn't she understand that not everyone wants to stay home and waste the best years of their lives being a bloody housewife and brood mare," Ginny snapped.

"You'll still need more than one NEWT to have decent career choices after Quidditch," Grace Fotheringay, a fellow classmate said.

"Yeah. Most witches only play for three or four years," Ron said.

"And others like Gwenog Jones play for decades, or she would've If this bloody law didn't stop her," Ginny retorted.

"You don't know that she won't come back to play again after the baby," Demelza said.

"It's really hard to get back to match fitness after a baby, not to mention all the travelling isn't a good way to bring up a kid. They're the real reasons that witches don't play for as long as wizards," Ginny said regretfully.

"Will you try out after you graduate and have a baby?" Demelza asked.

"That depends on who I marry and how supportive he and his family are about me working or playing quidditch. Mum won't support me working with a baby at home if we can afford for me to stay home," Ginny said.

"Why not?" Demelza asked surprised.

"She believes wives should run the home and look after the children and support their husband. Even after I started Hogwarts and none of us was home she didn't look for a job. I think she's actually pretty happy that she has to have more children," Ginny replied.

"How many brothers and sisters do you have? Demelza asked.

"Six brothers and no sisters so far. I was the youngest but Mum's still young enough to be caught in this bloody law too. She's expecting twins," Ginny said, rolling her eyes at the idea. "So, I'm about to have two baby siblings and five new nieces or nephews in the next year or two. At least my baby won't ever be lacking in cousins to play with."

"Or Aunts and Uncles to share the childcare duties, if your mum won't help," Demelza suggested.

"Yeah but they'll all have their own babies and my sisters-in-law would expect me to take a turn caring for their brats too." Ginny said frowning.

"Okay, that's only fair," Demelza said. "I certainly wouldn't spend all my time babysitting my brother's child so his wife can finish her apprenticeship without getting something for it, and she's only going to have one."

Ginny continued to frown as the others all agreed with her.

-o0o-

"All potions' classes are cancelled for the rest of the week and I know you will all join me in congratulating Professor Snape on the birth of his daughter and wishing the family well," Albus announced cheerfully at breakfast one morning in early November.

"Snape has a kid," Ron all but whispered in horror.

"That poor baby," Neville moaned.

"Snape has a wife! Who'd marry him?" Seamus exclaimed in disgust.

"I hope the baby takes after her mother in looks and temperament, poor kid," Lavender said shuddering.

"That depends who the mother is," Dean retorted.

Harry wasn't so sure he agreed with Dean, at least 3 of the dragons in the Triwizard tournament had a nicer personality than Snape in his opinion, well they did when you weren't trying to steal their eggs, and protecting their unborn babies was reasonable behaviour. "I just hope the poor kid doesn't grow up to be a Gryffindor, Snape would disown them," he said.

"I don't know why you're all so surprised about it. Professor Snape is well and truly young enough to have been affected by the marriage and childbearing laws. I doubt this will be the last announcement like that, I think that professors Vector, Babbling and perhaps Trelawney are young enough too. Not to mention Professor's Lockhart, Lupin, and Umbridge. So they would have to have a baby within twelve months and another in the next couple of years and would've been matched by the ministry if they weren't already married." Hermione said matter-of-factly. "It's difficult to tell with their teaching robes but I think Professor Babbling is already expecting."

"You think some poor witch was forced to marry him?" Neville asked horrified.

"Well I doubt he was already married, he never goes home for Yule or Easter holidays, and I'm sure she would've heard about it if she'd joined him for Christmans dinner," Lavender said.

"He never had a guest to dinner, even at Christmas he used to eat dinner with Albus and whoever was here. At least it wasn't a student who was forced to marry him or we would have heard," Harry replied.

They all shuddered at that thought.

"They're old as my parents," Parvati said.

"If your parents' live in Britain and are British citizens they might have to either have another baby or prove that they're medically unable to," Hermione said.

"They've moved back to India officially, Dad's here every couple of weeks to manage the company, and Mum came to visit long enough to organise and attend our wedding but she said she's not coming back again until the law is changed," Parvati replied. "Seamus' Mum is pregnant."

"Snape may already have had a wife, we've never known anything about any of the professors private lives," Leanne said.

"Yes well at least those who were already married didn't need to marry someone else but they do still have to have the extra children if they're capable of it," Hermione explained patiently.

"I know Mum is expecting twins because of the law, she's due in January," Ron confirmed.

"Surely Mum doesn't have to have more children, I already have a brother and a sister, she's too old for more children," Lavender said shuddering.

"I already have two sisters and a brother," Parvati agreed.

"I have four younger sisters," Dean replied, but my folks are muggle so they don't have to worry about this stupid law.

"I doubt it will make any difference to magical parents unless they're over 60, there wasn't a limit in the law exempting people who already had children no matter how many or how young or old their other children were, I would have thought if anyone would get an exemption for already having enough children, it would have been Ron's parents, he already has five brothers and a sister and several nieces and nephews on the way as well, but you heard Ron, Mrs Weasley is still expecting another baby because of the law," Harry reminded them.

"Gran was still trying to get an exemption for my parents, I haven't heard whether she was successful," Neville said quietly.

"But surely they can't… They couldn't bring up a child," Harry said.

"No it would be done with a spell and a potion if they can't get an exemption and the healer thinks Mum is well enough to produce a healthy baby," Neville said. "I would have liked to have a brother or sister, but not like this."

"Would you raise the baby if she has one?" Hermione asked.

Elsie paled and Neville looked uncertain. "I think I would have to. Mum isn't capable and Gran's getting too old to be bringing up babies now." Nobody said anything but most of Neville's friends secretly thought she'd probably already been a bit too old and set in her ways to bring up Neville as well as she could have.

"If Neville adopted his parent's baby wouldn't that count as him having a child?" Harry asked.

"I don't know. The way the law was written you can adopt an orphan instead of having a baby but Neville's sibling would already be part of his family and in spite of the circumstances they would have living parents, I don't think they'd classify as an orphan for adoption, just like his Gran didn't actually adopt him" Hermione replied slowly, hating to admit she didn't know something but the truth was nobody could predict the actions of the ministry and the Wizengamot most of the time. "I think that they'd be more likely to exempt his mother from having a baby than exempt Neville and Elsie for adopting. I hope your mother gets an exemption Neville, I don't know what it would do to her health physically or mentally to have to go through a pregnancy in her condition."

"No, her healers couldn't tell us that either, they said she's probably physically well enough to conceive but carrying a child to term would be physically and magically taxing for her and they have no way to predict whether it would cause mental trauma or even if she'd notice at all or would misunderstand what was happening to her and try to harm the baby," Neville said sighing anxiously.

"Could you have them transferred to a hospital in another country?" Hermione asked quietly.

"No Gran tried to send them to St Augustine's in France when she first realised that they could be caught up in this law, but the healers said the ministry wouldn't approve it," Neville replied frustrated. "I've been begging her to send them overseas for years, or at least to research if there are treatments out there somewhere that aren't available here, and when she finally agrees with me the government blocked the transfer."

Harry and Hermione watched him go anxiously. There was nothing they could do to help the situation.

-o0o-

MARRIAGE LAW CREATING THE PROBLEMS IT WAS INTENDED TO PREVENT

There is an acute shortage of new healer and Auror trainees this year. At first glance it looked like our population issues were worse than we'd previously suspected and the impulse was to amend the emergency marriage act of 1583 to require a third child from all couples who are able to produce one without risk to maternal health.

However, my dear readers, investigation by yours truly suggests that it is not only unnecessary but that the change would actually make the problem worse instead of better over the next five to ten years.

Healer Smethwyck, spoke on behalf of St Mungo's - "The problem is not that there aren't witches wanting to accept the apprenticeship positions we have available, there are just as many as in previous years, it's that they're unable to commit to the training this year. The law requires all of the witches graduating from our schools to produce or adopt their first child by the end of June next year so if we offered them positions they would barely be half way through their training before they would have to take maternity leave."

Rita – "The Wizengamot stated that they anticipated the law will be in place for up to ten years to build up our population to sustainable levels. It seems this will be an ongoing problem. What are the plans to alter the training to allow witches to train and fulfil their duty to our society?"

Healer Smethwyck – "We are still discussing the possibilities. The problem of course is that the female trainees would have to take leave at different times. Some almost immediately if there are complications with their pregnancy, others might be well enough to work up to the last few weeks before delivery. Then some would also have child care options that enabled them to return to work quite quickly and others will want several years off to rear their children, and even those that do return will have to produce a second child within five years and the cycle will start again. It is very difficult to make plans with that level of uncertainty."

Rita – "We have heard you also have current staffing issues.

Healer Smethwyck – "We do! The problem of course is that many of our current female Healers and Mediwitches also fall into the age group that were affected by the law and many of them will be going on maternity leave over the next few months which limits our ability to thoroughly educate even the reduced number of trainees we have accepted, much less find the additional teaching staff to put in place a flexible training program pregnant witches and new mothers are going to require. When you add the increased numbers of midwives we're going to need for the increased birthrate and it becomes an almost unsolvable problem unless the law is changed or exceptions can be made."

Rita – "But surely you do not intend to prevent Witches from being able to train as healers for the next ten years. That's intolerable!"

Healer Smethwyck – I completely agree. But it's more than intolerable. It's imperative that we find a solution, or obtain exemptions for some of our Healers, Healing Educators and trainees. Otherwise the lack of trainees graduating in two years' time is going to create critical staffing shortages across the entire hospital.

Rita – "Shortages that will effect the health of our society?"

Healer Smethwyck – "Unfortunately it will. Already we are finding shifts difficult to fill and our healers are working longer hours than they would like to try to cover the shortfall as increasing numbers of healers and mediwitches begin to go on maternity leave. We predict that waiting times in our clinics and for non-emergencies will more than double in the next few months. We also predict that patients will be discharged home to the care of their families earlier and will have to return daily to see the healer because we will not have mediwitches available to care for the level of patients in the hospital that we normally have. The worst of it is that the ministry have forced these young women into pregnancy and without a dramatic increase in the number of midwives we cannot guarantee the safety of that many new mothers or their children."

Rita – "So you are predicting a fairly grim picture of health care for the whole of Britain for the next few years?"

Healer Smethwyck – "We will be lucky if it is only a few years. The problem is of course that we have no guarantee how long it will be before witches will be able to return to work after having their babies. Many witches whose husbands are financially secure prefer to stay home with their children until their children reach Hogwarts age. Others will want to return earlier because the law has forced them to have a child before they were financially ready to take time off, but with all their friends and family members in the same situation we anticipate that obtaining childcare in the first couple of years to enable them to return to work quickly after the birth of their child will be impossible for a significant percentage of witches both our qualified healers and those in the training program, and then there's the requirement for all witches to have an additional child within the next five years and the cycle will begin again. I expect this to be an ongoing problem for at least a year or two after the emergency marriage act is ceased."

Rita – "Is there anything that can be done?"

Healer Smethwyck – "Muggle women return to working much earlier than witches some of them as soon as six weeks after their children are born. There is an entire industry designed to provide facilities that care for infants and preschool aged children while their mothers are working, and of course muggle children start school at the age of five instead of being homeschooled until they're eleven, so many mothers return to work at that time."

Rita – "Would it be possible for witches to take advantage of these facilities? Or are you suggesting that we will need to set up our own facility?

Healer Smethwyck – "I'm sure muggleborn witches or those married to a muggleborn wizard would have no difficulty accessing these facilities, at least until their children start showing signs of accidental magic, after all our muggleborn's attended muggle schooling themselves before going to Hogwarts. As to setting up our own childcare facility we are looking into that for our staff but I have no idea how we will find experienced child carers to staff it. Perhaps older witches who are not required to have their own babies or those who cannot have a child of their own and do not have their own grandbabies in need of babysitting while their mothers return to work might be interested."

Rita – "Would using muggle facilities be a risk to the statute of secrecy?"

Healer Smethwyck – "Not for babies and toddlers. Most children don't show signs of accidental magic until at least five or six. Even then the risk must be manageable, after all muggleborn children attend muggle schooling from the age of five to eleven without any difficulties."

Rita – "The Obliviators might have a different opinion."

Healer Smethwyck – "You would have to ask them. I wouldn't know."

In checking with the Obliviators I found the problem was far more widespread than I'd thought.

The Obiliviator preferred not to be named but he reported that they do make frequent visits to muggleborn children both in their homes and at their schools and places of entertainment, and that he anticipated that they would have to increase their staffing numbers considerably if sending children into the muggle world for childcare became common practice.

He also mentioned that they were also being affected by the number of staff expecting children and needing to go on leave over the next several months, and that backfilling those positions would be difficult and increasing their staffing level as they'd require would be impossible as the problem was ministry wide. "The combination of more children in muggle childcare and schools and less obliviators will pose a serious threat to the Statute of Secrecy" the Head Obliviator warned seriously.

Contacts in the Auror training department also reported that they were only accepting wizards into their training programs this year.

"We would willingly hire witches, the Auror Corps is known for it's equal opportunity hiring practices but it just isn't safe for expectant witches to undergo the training they need to do their jobs effectively. In fact, female Auror trainees normally have to sign an agreement to avoid falling pregnant during training, something that witches today cannot do," Head Auror Rufus Scrimgeour stated.

We've even had to put on hold about 30% of last year's trainees, most of them have found other temporary positions elsewhere in the DMLE or the Ministry while they're still able to work.

When asked they had no plans to alter the training schedule to allow for expectant witches to complete the sections of training that would be safe for them now and the high-risk sections later. Though Auror Scrimgeour admits that having 25-30% less graduates would cause severe staffing shortages which would worsen over time.

Normally we only get about half the witches in the Auror Corps back in the field after having children, they just don't want to take those risks with a child at home.

-o0o-

Hermione had been early to breakfast that morning and was able to read through the article as soon as it arrived. She sat looking around watching other people's reactions to it. Most of the other witches and quite a few of the wizards were upset. It was only the wealthy purebloods who didn't expect their wives to work, and the witches from wealthy families who had avoided the ministry matches who looked totally unconcerned.

Hermione thought that some of those witches who had made a ministry match or a hasty match to avoid it might be in for a rude surprise when it came to their husband's financial security. She had wanted to work in the wizarding world, but she knew could get around the restrictions somewhat by returning to muggle education and Harry had enough money to support her so she didn't have to try to get a job immediately, but a lot of her friends weren't so lucky.

She knew that Lavender's husband had an established career and Seamus had received offers to work for both his father and father-in-law, Neville and Elsie could afford not to work but Dean and Ron would need to.

Eloise was in the same position that Dean had been this year, she had another year at Hogwarts for Ron to get though some sort of training and start earning money before a baby came along. But Leanne was due early this summer and Dean had accepted an apprenticeship with a magical craftsman. It wasn't the career he would have liked to have but with a wife and baby to support he couldn't afford to be picky.

Hermione had read up on magical midwifery and while she would much prefer to have a baby at St Mungo's with the pain relief spells she was prepared to go to the muggle hospital and have an outpatient appointment for magical healing when she was discharged, so as long as her baby was healthy the shortages in Healers wasn't a particular concern to her. It was more the lack of choices that she and her friends were facing that made her blood boil.

A/N: Thank you to all those who reviewed followed or favourited this story for your support.