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The younger years slowly moved upstairs and Harry finished his essay and was about to suggest that they move over to one of the couches and talk for a bit when one of the seventh years came running in frantically, asking Hermione to come and fix one of the rune circles.
"I'll get my cloak and my map," Harry said.
"You don't need to come," Hermione protested.
"I won't if you don't want me to, but I'll feel better if I know you have the tools to avoid being caught," Harry said.
"Thanks Harry," Hermione said smiling at him.
Neville was waiting for Harry when he arrived up in the dorm.
"Hey Harry," Neville said quietly, wondering if Hermione had told him.
"Hey Neville," Harry said shortly. He was still a little angry with the boy for trying to talk Hermione into bonding with him instead.
"Did you and Hermione bond?" Neville asked.
"Yes," Harry said proudly and happily. "We did!"
"Oh… Congratulations," Neville said stiffly.
"You and Hannah?" Harry asked to be polite, though he didn't think they had from the way Neville was acting.
"No, we went through the ritual and it didn't work," Neville admitted. He'd been hoping that the ritual's failure was a sign that he was meant to be with Hermione after all, but it seems she wasn't meant to be with him.
"What are you going to do?" Harry asked in spite of his anger.
Neville sighed. "Wait for the ministry to choose me a wife, there isn't anyone else I want to marry.
Can I ask why you didn't bond with Ginny? She was your girlfriend."
"She didn't want to try it. She said she wasn't ready to bond. Remember she's one of the youngest in her year level too, the law won't affect her until August of the year after next, she feels she still has time for a proper wedding in the family orchard like she's always dreamed of," Harry said, trying to excuse her.
"Yeah," Neville replied. "But I thought she wanted to be with you. She talked a lot about you, even when she was with Dean and at the Yule Ball as my date, she used to ask me about you all the time."
"She wanted to be my girlfriend. Becoming a wife was a step too far for her at the moment. Remember that now I'm married I have a year to have a child. By waiting until she has to Ginny will be able to finish her NEWTs before falling pregnant," Harry replied. "I can't blame her for wanting to finish school. I just wish that Hermione could too."
"What do you mean, you beat the law by marrying Hermione," Neville said.
"No unfortunately, we didn't, not all of it, we just prevented the ministry from being able to choose who we were married to. The law also stated that all married couples have twelve months to have another child," Harry said. "Our bonding protected her from being paired up with a Death Eater or some old creep but it hasn't changed that."
"I guess I'm glad it didn't work with Hannah then, I'm not ready to be a father," Neville said.
"Unless the law is repealed you will have to be by the summer after your NEWTS anyway," Harry reminded him.
"Where are… no never mind. I'll see you tomorrow," Neville said blushing.
Harry blushed too as he realised what Neville thought. "Hermione's going to help repair the rune circles. Something's gone wrong with one of them and the people booked to use it don't want to wait until tomorrow," he explained hurriedly.
Harry walked Hermione down to the first floor and waited with the couples that were waiting for the rune circles. They gave him some odd looks for being alone but none of them wanted to talk as a group. There were two couples who were obviously dating, one making out in the corner and the other whispering and giggling to each other and the third couple were highly embarrassed and trying not to look at each other, Harry didn't want to judge and he knew the results had been surprising but he couldn't see the third couple successfully completing the bond.
Harry wished he'd brought something to do, even homework would be better than sitting here awkwardly. He contemplated going back to get his books but without knowing how long Hermione would be he didn't want to risk not being there when she finished. They weren't far from the kitchens though so he went to get snacks for himself, the couples waiting and the people fixing the runes. The couples weren't interested in eating but Hermione and Padma were hungry and grateful for the food. Hermione was exhausted she'd spent every spare moment drawing and maintaining the rune circles and stressing about her future. She was glad that she and Harry had been able to complete the ritual the day he offered to and she didn't have to spend the night worrying whether it would work, or having nightmares that it wouldn't because Harry didn't care for her enough either.
-o0o-
Harry and Hermione were awkward with each other when they met the next morning each not knowing whether they should treat each other differently or not.
After a moment, Harry gathered his courage and gave Hermione a hug and a kiss on the cheek. "Good morning," he said.
"Morning Harry, did you sleep well?" Hermione asked.
"Yeah, better than usual. Something you should know if you don't already, Neville and Hannah's ritual didn't work," he said dropping his voice.
"I can't say I'm surprised. He didn't seem to me like he was committed to wanting it to work," Hermione said. "Did he say how Hannah took it?"
"No, he didn't mention her, and I didn't ask. I think he only accepted her proposal in the first place because he thought you bonded with Ron, Ginny bonded with me or Dean and Susan Bones had already asked someone else too, and it saved him the trouble of asking someone himself. He said he's not going to try again and he'll wait to be matched by the ministry. He was disappointed that you and I succeeded," Harry said thoughtfully.
Hermione sighed. "Fourth choice, no wonder it didn't work," she muttered. "He should have said no and let Hannah ask someone else."
"Yeah, you're right," Harry agreed. "He didn't say anything to me, but I could see he was disappointed that our bond worked and he didn't get a second chance with you."
"I wouldn't have tried with him anyway. If it hadn't worked with you, I was going to leave the country. Mum and Dad had been talking about visiting cousins in Australia," Hermione replied.
"Maybe you should go anyway over the summer. We could do our seventh year and sit our NEWTs in Australia before we have a baby," Harry said.
"Hopefully the law will be amended to allow us to finish school," Hermione said. "That's going to be our next fight once we get everyone through the ritual."
"Are there many more couples waiting to do the ritual? I thought they'd be just about done by now," Harry asked.
"We will be finished with the couples currently on the list late tonight if the rune circles hold up, but every day there's been new couples wanting to sign up," Hermione replied. "All the seventh year muggleborns have been successful now, but there's still some halfblood and pureblood couples who want to try and some of the fifth and sixth year muggleborns are worried that this will be made illegal once the ministry finds out what we've done and they won't be able to find another way out of the ministry matches. We've even had a fourth year couple sign up, they're a bit too young but they're really serious about each other."
"That Ravenclaw couple that are always together?" Ginny assumed.
"That's them, I think that they were betrothed until this law came in and made family betrothals illegal," Hermione said.
"Really? I thought there were more failures," Harry said.
"There were at first, but once they worked out that it didn't need to be romantic you both just had to want to get married it went a bit smoother. A lot of muggleborns ended up marrying each other, their combined desperation to protect themselves from the ministry matches was enough," Hermione explained.
"So they married someone they're not attracted to or in love with. That's not going to make for peaceful marriages," Ginny said.
"I don't know about that, most of them have married friends. I think I'll have a lot more harmonious marriage with Hermione than you and I would've had. I hate fighting and yelling but you enjoy arguing for the sake of it and your temper is too much like your mum's," Harry said. "That's not to say I don't love Hermione of course, but I never thought about liking her romantically and we did both at least try to ask someone else first."
"Hermione gets into just as many fights as I do," Ginny protested, missing the point that Harry and Hermione had already married each other. She didn't want Harry to start thinking of Hermione as a potential partner, he was noble enough to sacrifice their happiness together if he thought like that.
"Not with me," Harry defended his wife.
"I get into fights with Ronald and with Malfoy and Parkinson, all of whom usually instigate them, I don't start fights about little things. Even disagreements between the two of us are normally started by you not me," Hermione retorted. "Harry and I rarely argue unless he gets pulled into one of my arguments with Ronald."
Ginny was only half paying attention. She kept looking up waiting for the owls to deliver the mail.
"Expecting a letter, Gin?" Harry asked as one swooped down and dropped a letter for Harry. He looked at the writing, grinned and pocketed it to read later.
"The betrothal notices come out this morning, I'm just curious who will be paired, aren't you?" Ginny said.
"Not particularly, I don't think any of us want to know. I just wish it wasn't happening," Hermione said with a shudder.
"But they said they're going to match on magical compatibility. This person will be the next best thing to your soulmate," Ginny gushed.
"Ginny, the matches are being organised by the ministry. You know how corrupt Fudge is. Hermione will probably be paired with some pureblood wanker who thinks her parentage makes her inferior and will treat her like scum. Particularly if the amendments Malfoy senior is pushing get through and he can take a pureblood wife as well," Harry reminded her.
"Don't worry Harry they're going to pair us together. I just know it. You and I are fated to be together," Ginny said dreamily.
"Then why on earth didn't you agree to bond with him when he wanted you to?" Hermione said huffing as Harry looked at Ginny incredulously.
"I want to have a proper wedding at the Burrow, with the ceremony in the orchard when the trees are all in blossom," Ginny said dreamily. "I have it all planned out. We will need to go home for the Easter holidays to finalise the plans and organise the robes and things. You will be my bridesmaid won't you?"
"Good luck with that Gin. If you're paired with a muggleborn, he's going to want the wedding somewhere that his family and friends from home can come," Harry said casually. He looked at Hermione and she nodded slightly and drew her wand casting Muffliato around them and held it ready to silence or stun Ginny if she reacted badly.
"I'm not going to have to worry about that. I'm not going to invite your horrible relatives, Harry!" Ginny declared.
"Ginny, I'm already married," Harry told her softly. "I didn't trust the ministry and when the ritual didn't work for Hermione with Ron she asked me. We did the ritual and bonded last night."
Ginny looked like she was about to cry for a moment before she started yelling.
"How could you..." Was as far as she got before Hermione silenced her and cast impedimenta to slow her movements so she could pull her back down into her seat.
"You can't go throwing a tantrum and yelling about it here. Someone will tell the ministry and there's still muggleborns waiting for the ritual that you'd put in danger," Hermione hissed, furious at her friend's thoughtless selfishness.
"You have no right to object Ginny. I tried to ask you first. You said you wouldn't even consider doing the ritual!" Harry said getting up. They pulled her to her feet and marched her out of the great hall and into a deserted room where Hermione erected silencing wards before removing the charm from Ginny.
"How could you Harry, you don't love Hermione," Ginny wailed.
"I do love Hermione. She's my best friend. The one that has always been there for me, always seen just Harry and not The-Boy-Who-Lived, always had my best interests at heart. We may not be in romantic love but she's always been one of the most important people in the world to me and I knew she always would be no matter who I married," Harry declared.
"But I'm your true love," Ginny protested.
"Ginny. I never thought you were the love of my life. We only dated for three weeks. And if you remember, you weren't that upset when I broke up with you on Tuesday when you refused to marry me. I told you that if you didn't care about me enough to marry me now then there was no point being together and you didn't argue. And you were kissing Dean again, the very next day so I figured that you didn't have real feelings for me," Harry said incredulously.
"I didn't argue because I didn't want you to keep insisting that we used the ritual to get married straight away. I knew that once this crazy mess died down you would remember what I meant to you and we'd get back together. I love you Harry," Ginny said. She didn't want to admit that the main reason she'd kissed Dean was to make Harry jealous and she was shocked that it hadn't worked, and then she and Dean had had a huge fight as well when she refused to bond with him.
"Well you gambled and lost, Ginny. By breaking up with me when I needed you, you left me free to help Hermione when she needed me," Harry said. "I refuse to apologise, or to regret marrying Hermione. The ministry has it in for me Ginny. I warned you that I couldn't afford to wait around for you to grow up."
Hermione was surprised that Harry was so stern and unapologetic with his girlfriend, and so supportive of the decision to perform the ritual with her. But he must have been hurt by her refusal to have broken up with her over it.
"What's done is done Ginny. And it can't be undone, the ritual we chose promises eternal fidelity so the ministry couldn't just annul the marriages and marry us off as they choose!" Hermione said bluntly.
"What about Ron? Have you told him? He'll be heartbroken!" Ginny accused. "You broke both our hearts. I thought you were supposed to be our friends."
"We haven't told him yet because we haven't seen him since we bonded, but the ritual didn't work for me with Ron because he didn't truly want to marry me. Even knowing that I would be paired up with a stranger of I didn't complete the ritual he couldn't make himself want to protect me enough for the ritual to work," Hermione said huffing. "He can hardly object to me finding someone else willing to protect me. If it wasn't Harry it would have been another muggleborn that wanted to do the ritual or whoever the ministry paired me with."
Harry knew it probably wasn't going to be that easy. Ron's temper often made him explode first and think things through later. They needed to find him and tell him in private before someone else didn't and he gave the secret away with his anger.
"While we've got you in here to work off your anger, you should know that Dean married Leanne Tinker last night as well," Hermione said.
Ginny shrugged dismissively. Dean had been little more than a means to an end, she was totally over him.
"I didn't know he liked Leanne?" Harry asked.
"She got to know him through Katie Bell, he and Katie became friends being on the quidditch team together, and Dean's a muggleborn whose first choice turned him down," Hermione said. "I think they'll make a good couple."
"I didn't say they wouldn't. I just didn't expect it. They've never gone out have they?" Harry asked.
"No, but there are a lot of couples that succeeded in the ritual without having dated, particularly those that had to try more than once," Hermione replied. "I think those that were good friends have a better chance of being happy than those who only just started dating and don't really know each other well enough to know whether their personalities are truly compatible."
"We're going to be late for class," Harry reminded Hermione.
"We need to go Ginny, are you calm enough to keep the secret for the sake of those still waiting to bond, or would you like me to obliviate you until everyone else is safely married?" Hermione asked.
"No don't obliviate me," Ginny said sniffling.
"Then you need to vow not to tell anyone, or talk about it where you might be overheard, that includes writing to your parents," Hermione said firmly. The last thing they needed was for Ginny to tell her mother that Harry and Hermione had broken her heart and for Molly Weasley to send one of them a howler.
Ginny made the vow. "My heart is broken, what do I tell my friends when they see how upset I am?"
"Tell them that you tried to get back together with me and I have a new girlfriend, or that your mum wrote to say the family pet chook died, or something," Harry suggested.
"You really don't care that I love you?" Ginny asked crying.
"If you loved me you wouldn't have said no when I told you I needed to bond with someone. You had to realise I would ask someone else. You didn't care that I was desperate to escape this mess," Harry said unfeelingly.
"Do you regret that it was Hermione and not me at all?" Ginny sobbed.
"Honestly Ginny, not really. I understand that you turned me down because you weren't ready to be a wife and mother. Being married to me now wouldn't have made you happy and you would have resented me for forcing you to have a baby in the next year. I think that things turned out for the best this way," Harry replied, sorry that he was hurting his friend but needing her to let go of what he now realised was only a crush on him and face the truth for her own sake so she could move on.
He wouldn't tell her that he realised while waiting for Hermione to tell him about her talk with Neville that the thought of her changing her mind about wanting to bond with him hurt a lot more than Ginny telling him not to ask her had hurt.
-o0o-
It wasn't until after charms that Hermione remembered that Harry hadn't opened the letter that he received that morning and her curiosity got the better of her.
"Who was your letter from Harry?" Hermione asked.
"Remus," Harry said pulling it out and reading it quickly before handing it to Hermione.
Dear Cub
I wanted you to be one of the first to know that Tonks and I got married today. We have been casually dating for a while and as the daughter of a muggleborn and a pureblood who was disowned from her family she was afraid she would be caught up in the ministry of magic's new law. Some of the rumours about who is organizing the matches is disturbing.
I wish you could have been at the wedding but we thought it best to marry as quietly as possible.
Cub I urge you to give serious thought to getting married yourself this summer before you turn seventeen unless this law is revoked before then and honestly I do not believe that it will be. I would be honoured to help organize your wedding if you need it, though I'm sure Molly would also be more than happy to help arrange everything.
Your Loving Uncle.
"Oh that's wonderful news," Hermione said smiling. "She really cares about him."
"He cares about her too but I always thought it was a more big brother type of caring. Obviously I was wrong," Harry replied.
"I think he did like her romantically but he didn't see how she would love him back so he tried to make it seem platonic. He just lacked the self esteem to believe that anyone would want to be with him seriously with his affliction and the prejudice he faces for it," Hermione said softly. "You should write back and tell him about our marriage."
"We all promised not to do that until the ministry found out," Harry pointed out.
"I'm sure we could be obscure enough that nobody who hasn't read his letter will understand. I'll help you write it," Hermione replied.
A/N: Thank you to roon0, caughtinblackseyes, BMS, katmom, Tyler'sPrincess, Jostanos, mwinter1, mother oracle, Rori Potter, the dragon and the rose, BadWolfJiggy and all those who favourited or followed for your support.
