Chapter 7

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"You've all done an absolutely wonderful job, making the circles and keeping them operational through so many rituals and I expect you've all learned a great deal about rune chaining and maintaining and repairing runic sequences which will serve you well in any future rune projects you undertake. I would give you all house points but that would defeat the secrecy of the whole operation," Bathsheba Babbling said. "I would recommend any of you for a runes, ritual, or warding apprenticeship. If that's not where your future plans lie you can all count on me for a good reference for whatever career you want when the time comes."

"It won't matter anymore, will it?" Padma asked. As a foreign born pureblood she was one of the eldest in their year turning seventeen in late October and she wasn't sure whether her magical heritage would be recognised in Britain or if the decree would apply to her and was worried that she and her sister would be matched. The fact that her country traditionally practiced arranged marriage was one of the reasons her father had brought their family to England when his business between Britain and India could just as easily been managed from their home town just south of Mumbai.

She'd been horrified when the law came out and more than happy to help with the reseach and to use her knowledge of ritual magic to help with the rune circles. She had been relieved when the ritual worked for her the first time with her long term boyfriend Terry Boot, and for her sister Parvati with Seamus Finnegan.

"The ministry won't be able to undo the rituals or annul the marriages, and it's extremely impractical to even try to imprison everyone who participated in the rituals, but they could still try to prosecute the ringleaders if they identify them, so it's not a good idea to have any record of who was involved in organising the whole process. So, I know it's difficult to destroy work you've put so much time and effort into, but I need you to get rid of all your notes and anything that could be used against you or anyone else if they investigate, even if you think that it's well hidden it will be at risk if they bring in cursebreakers or unspeakables to investigate. I've set the house elves to remove the rune rings you used and give those classrooms an extra good clean to remove all magical residues," Bathsheba said seriously. "I would also seriously consider whether it is possible to spell everyone who knows to forget who organised it."

"Could we use the Fidelius Charm to hide the secret?" Hermione asked.

"It would take quite a lot of power but yes possibly. I'll talk to Filius and Minerva, they're the only two who are likely to be able to do it, well able and willing," Bathsheba replied thoughtfully.

"I have a question. Can you tell me what charms are on this letter?" Hermione asked.

"We didn't manage to identify them all but I have a few new revealing charms I looked up this morning," Bathsheba replied, careful not to touch the parchment as she cast.

"This is your official ministry notice of your match?" she asked.

"Yes and I must say that I'm glad I didn't wait. I cannot believe we could be magically compatible. He's thicker than Crabbe and Goyle put together!" Hermione declared.

"Making you one of the only witches they could possibly procreate with that would provide them with children smart enough to pass any OWLs," Daphne snarked. "It might make a lousy miserable marriage for you but it would also save the house of Higgs."

Hermione frowned, "That tells us something about the true motivations of those involved in allocating the matches, doesn't it?" she asked unhappily.

"There's a portkey charm which I have deactivated, a compulsion charm for you to be holding the letter when it activates to take you to the ministry for your wedding on the time and date stated, a chastity charm, so you don't pre-empt the wedding night, but it's easily removed by a flushing draught if you know it's affecting you and why they even bothered is beyond me, and a dark fertility curse. It's dark because it negates all contraceptive spells and potions for at least the next three months and takes away your choices. Unfortunately it will not have been negated by the flushing draught. I'm afraid that if you have touched this, any sexual relations in the next three months will lead almost certainly to conception," she warned. "It's not directed at you specifically or the first person to touch the letter, everyone who touched this letter will be affected. I assume all the others will be spelled the same.

"What about muggle birth control?" Justin Finch-Fletchley asked.

"I'm not sure dear, I don't know enough about it," Bathsheba admitted.

"Well it might be able to negate the pill but it couldn't possibly prevent a condom from working," Hermione said practically. "We will have to ask someone to send us a crate of them."

"Yeah no! That's not something I could ask Mummy or Father," Justin said turning scarlet.

"Well yes. I guess that isn't something you could do in a letter. "Hey Mum, I got married and I need a couple of thousand condoms to share with my husband and friends until they go home for Christmas and can buy their own." Dean agreed.

"We are going to need them though, does anyone have a brother or older friend they could ask?" Hermione asked.

"Katie Bell's two best friends graduated last year, wasn't one of them muggleborn," Parvati suggested.

"Angelina has left the country, Katie could ask Alicia, except she married one of the Weasley twins. I don't think any of the boys will want to put a condom they've had access to anywhere near their penis," Hermione replied.

Seeing all the boys shudder agreement made the rest of the girls laugh but they agreed.

"Harry has a way out of the castle, he could floo from Hogsmeade to London and go and buy out a couple of pharmacies," Hermione suggested. "I'll collect the money, Muggle pounds will be better if you have them or he will need to take to Gringotts and exchange them so that will cost a little more, and risk attracting attention."

"Back to the letter. Will it still force Hermione to go to the ministry for the bonding ceremony?" Padma asked.

"I don't know. The letter itself is the portkey but while I believe I have deactivated it I couldn't remove it completely. Can you throw it into the fire Miss Granger?" Bathsheba asked.

"What if they have a way of tracking the portkey and know the letter has been destroyed?" Hermione asked hesitantly.

"I don't think that is possible. Throw the letter into the fire Miss Granger," Bathsheba ordered firmly.

Hermione managed to do it but she was breathing hard and sweating before she let the letter go.

"That was surprisingly difficult," she admitted shaking.

"Perhaps the best thing to do would be to have those that received a letter ask their friends to destroy the letter for them or to keep an eye on you that day and stun them if you try to touch it, or better yet all of you should try to destroy as many of your friends' letters as possible without waiting to be asked by the letter's recipient who may not be able to ask," Bathsheba replied. "You also need to go to Madam Pomfrey and ask if she's able to remove the fertility curse. She's been looking into it all morning so hopefully she will find something. Please talk to all the others who have opened their letters to do the same. It would be better for those who haven't opened them to throw them in the fire unopened but with curiosity being what it is I expect most letters have been opened by now."

The students in the room all looked sheepish.

"Go and eat some lunch and then see Madam Pomfrey and for heaven sakes burn as many of those letters as you can, unopened if possible, grab and burn each other's if you have to," Bathsheba ordered, dismissing them.

Harry was waiting outside the classroom with a basket of sandwiches.

"Oh, you planned a picnic! That was very sweet Harry but I needed to talk with Professor Babbling about the letters, and I need to talk to everyone who opened one of them and warn them," Hermione said apologetically.

"I guessed that when most of the more traditional purebloods from your class all turned up and none of you. So, I brought lunch for you all, you still need to eat and there's a member from each house here so it will be easy enough to pass on the message after lunch. I was just about to knock on the door and deliver it when you came out," Harry said. Hearing that they went back into the classroom and Harry opened the basket and passed around sandwiches and glasses of pumpkin juice spelled not to spill.

"Thanks Harry," Padma said.

"There is a dark fertility curse on the letter. You touched it so you have been affected. It will negate every known form of magical birth control," Professor Babbling said.

"We were hoping that you could go and buy condoms if people give you muggle money for them," Hermione said. "You and the twins have an uncanny way of getting out of the castle."

"Sure, but I don't know how many people bring muggle money to Hogwarts, there's nowhere to spend it here," Harry said.

"We don't think you should go to Gringotts to exchange money until after the ministry find out about the bondings," Hermione replied.

Harry nodded. "It's no hassle to make a second trip."

-o0o-

They hadn't been able to get to many letters before the recipients had opened them but the majority of students while not able to put the letters into the fire, were able to give the letters to their new spouses when asked and the spouse then had no difficulty destroying their bonded's portkey letters even if they couldn't destroy their own.

Madam Pomfrey wasn't able to totally remove the fertility curse but once the students knew about it most of them were prepared to wait it out rather than have a child immediately. Even if the 'Daily Prophet' had reported that the law said they only had a year to produce a child Madam Pomfrey assured them that being with child in twelve months' time would meet the requirements of the law well enough, they could hardly imprison pregnant witches for not producing a child quickly enough. Of course, there were a few unlucky girls who didn't get the message about the curse before being intimate with their partners after opening their letter. Abortion was illegal in the wizarding world as the birth rate was low and every child was needed to maintain their population so the pregnant newly married witches were given calming draughts and put to bed as Madam Pomfrey called Minerva McGonagall to discuss a way to hold separate pregnancy safe classes for these witches so they didn't have to drop out of school due to the ministry's interference in their lives.

-o0o-

Harry snuck through the tunnel to the basement of Honeyduke's after classes that night with his pockets full of pounds. He was surprised how many students had muggle money on them but Dean said that his mother normally took him Christmas shopping on the way home from the train.

He used his cloak to sneak out of Honeyduke's and into the Three Broomsticks. He whisked off his cloak and floo'd through to the Leaky Cauldron and keeping his head down, crossed the pub and headed out into muggle London. It didn't take him long to find a chemist shop but once confronted with the array of different condoms he hesitated unsure of what to get. Comparing prices he quickly discounted the novelty condoms, glow in the dark, flavoured, and the cheapest brand, he didn't want to be responsible for buying inferior quality and having his friends fall pregnant because they broke. He was tempted to get the ones with the spermicide but they were quite expensive, and one of the other brands came in a bulk pack making them cheaper. Quickly calculating he picked up all five bulk packs and nearly died of embarrassment at the comments the woman at the cash register made. Thankfully the chemist bag was opaque and he was able to get them back to Hogwarts without anyone else seeing his purchases and Hermione helped distribute them to everyone along with notes telling each person who they owed a galleon to for them.

-o0o-

Surprisingly the Hogwarts students had been able to keep the secret, partly because after Ginny tried to throw a tantrum in the great hall about Harry and Hermione's marriage, those who were asked to bond and refused like Ginny and those whose bonds had failed to form and hadn't kept trying again until they succeeded, like Ron and Neville were spelled to secrecy. And throughout the endeavour every effort was made to identify which purebloods were most likely to object or to inform the ministry and then every effort was made to keep all rumours about the ritual away from them. Ably helped by several of the professors assigning detentions instead of point losses to those students for any infractions of behaviour in spite of Snape's protests.

The students being kept in the dark were of course aware of the early outcry when the law was first published and the search for a way around the ritual but in their belief of their own superiority it didn't even concern them. Of course, the muggleborns wouldn't manage to find a loophole ion a law drafted by the pureblood lords of the Wizengamot. When they noticed the researchers stopped meeting in the library they just assumed they'd come to the same conclusion and given up. None of them bothered to inform their parents about any of it.

And after the rituals, when they noticed many new couples around the school and the amount of gossip of who'd been caught in compromising positions in empty classrooms and broom closets seemed to explode they all just thought it was a last ditch attempt to find someone who loved them and if they thought of it at all the pureblood bigots were amused by how pathetic they thought it was, again nothing worth mentioning in their letters home, which were filled with more important things like changes in the hierarchy in Slytherin and titbits and dirt about the professors and their classmates, anything to hopefully help their parents gain social or political power to take advantage of the vacuum that had been left in the wake of the Dark Lord's most recent demise.

-o0o-

The ministry sanctioned weddings involving Hogwarts students were scheduled to be held starting on Saturday, partly to appease Dumbledore because the students wouldn't be missing classes for the ceremonies and partly in the hope that the majority of the weddings could occur before he realised how many of his students were involved. Especially as several of the senior partners had indicated that their new spouses would not be continuing their formal education after the marriage, and others had indicated that they would allow them to continue to attend during the week so long as they were allowed to return home every weekend until they became pregnant and were therefore expelled hoping their new wives would then blame Hogwarts and Dumbledore for denying them the education they'd wanted. The senior classes would be decimated but as a side effect it would allow the students from the old pureblood families to excel in the class placings, hopefully stopping their protests about the quality of education at Hogwarts, or the quality of the testing process that let the muggleborns outshine the more worthy students.

Fudge decided not to officiate the marriages himself, to appear to distance himself from the matching process in the eyes of the brides (no need to upset that many future voters and he was stupid enough that he didn't realise that the muggleborns would still blame him and his leadership for this), instead he had a spell caster to perform the ceremony and two Aurors to keep the peace in case anyone objected or tried to refuse the marriages, set up in a small room off the main entryway.

There was no decoration or romantic trappings in the room and the ceremony itself was as simple as possible, more of a business transaction than an actual wedding but perhaps that was fitting since most of the brides and grooms would meet for the first time that day.

They'd scheduled marriages every quarter hour, the spells themselves would only take a moment to cast and the minor partner in the marriage did not have to participate in the ceremony in any way other than being present which the portkey in the letter would take care of whether the 'bride' was willing or not.

Terrence Higgs was the first groom of the day and he waited anxiously for his bride to appear. He was looking forward to showing the mudblood that intelligence didn't count for much in this world and in fact he thought she was fifth year and so without returning to school to even sit her OWLS she wouldn't even be legally able to use her wand unsupervised. Still it would be fun to teach her her place in this society. Her place at his feet, in his bed or where ever else he wanted her. She wasn't bad looking for a mudblood. Not to mention that he was taking her away from Potter. He didn't believe for a moment that they were just friends. No she was probably servicing both Potter and the youngest Weasley boy as well as doing both their homework, there was no other reason the two would hang around with a mudblood. Maybe Potter would even flunk out of school without her help. He was so busy dreaming about what he was going to do to her that he failed to realise that she should have arrived by now.

The spell castor and the Aurors however, were aware of the passing time and looking at each other anxiously wondering what had gone wrong, particularly when the second bridegroom arrived.

"Hey Terrence, where's your bride? Did you send her home already?" Caradoc Dearborn, a friend of his grandfather asked.

"She hasn't arrived yet," Terrence replied.

"Well I hope you teach her to be more punctual in future," Caradoc said. "My bride better not keep me waiting or she will learn to fear my displeasure."

Even Terrence cringed at the idea of a school aged girl married to such an old man, even if she was a muggleborn. They waited but this second bride failed to appear as well.

"Perhaps there was something wrong with the portkeys," one of the Auror's suggested.

"Nonsense! I cast the spells myself," the marriage officiator retorted, highly insulted.

"Could they have decided not to come?" the second Auror asked.

"They'd be facing three months in Azkaban if they have. Would the letters still have arrived even if the recipients weren't holding them?" the first Auror asked.

"No, the portkeys on the letters will activate as soon as they are touched after their appointment time, but the compulsion spells should have ensured that they had them on their person and touched them frequently," the marriage officiator said.

"So, they'd still be brought even if they didn't agree to the marriage?" the Auror asked uncertainly.

"Of course, these marriages have been ordered by the minister himself. Who would disagree. Besides the law states quite clearly that they have to marry or they'll be sent to Azkaban for three months before being rematched. I doubt anyone would choose that over marriage," the spell castor replied.

"I don't know about you but if my sister got a letter demanding she show up and marry someone old enough to be her grandfather she'd be more likely to put it in the fire than hang on to it," the first Auror said.

"The charms would not let her destroy the letter," the spell castor replied, huffily.

"The Wizengamot said that the participants would be paired for compatibility. How can a schoolgirl's most compatible match be a man nearly one hundred years older than she is?" the second Auror asked.

"Magical compatibility has nothing to do with age," the spell castor replied sharply. In truth he did feel slightly uneasy about the union and the fact that the compatibility actually wasn't that high, it was merely the highest possible from among those purebloods who'd volunteered for an arranged marriage to a school aged witch and not paid extra to be paired with a particular witch.

"But there's a lot more to a successful marriage than magical compatibility. We're talking about a sixteen year old girl, they're more interested in appearance and what they have in common with their boyfriends," the first Auror said. "The poor girl is not going to be pleased with this match."

"Not to mention that he's nearly 120 years old, did anyone bother to confirm he's capable of fathering a child before matching up with a teenager?" the second Auror asked.

"That's irrelevant, the little mudblood should be grateful for the chance to marry into a pureblood family," Caradoc said repressively.

"That's the funny thing about blood purity, it's only the purebloods that think it matters," the Auror replied. "In fact, I'd bet my whole week's paycheck that if the girl was given the choice between marrying you and marrying a muggle boy her own age, she'd pick the muggle."

"That would defeat the purpose of the marriage law," the spell castor replied.

"Most seventeen year olds wouldn't care," the Auror replied.

Caradoc drew his wand and looked like he was about to attack the auror who'd been speaking when the other disarmed him and cuffed him.

"You don't want to attack an Auror. Go home now and if your bride turns up we'll send you a message. You too Higgs, the next couple are due any minute," the second Auror said leading them both to the Floo's in the entrance hall. He uncuffed Caradoc and almost forced him into the Floo.

The third groom showed up and also was left waiting impatiently for his fifteen minute appointment before being sent home by the Aurors but the forth groom made such a fuss that the Aurors called for backup and escorted him to cool off in the holding cells for a couple of hours.

When the third and then the fourth 'bride' also failed to appear one of the Aurors was sent to inform the minister. A watch was kept but none of that day's 'brides' appeared. The following day was the same but on the third day when they began the weddings of Hogwarts graduates it was a different story with many of the 'brides' arriving promptly though many of them were surprised to find themselves there.

There was still confusion and outrage among the grooms as many of the brides claimed that the contract was invalid as they'd already married before receiving their allocated matches. Diagnostic spells quickly confirmed that the witches and wizards were in fact already married and in many cases already expecting a child and the Aurors spent most of the day trying to calm down the jilted bridegrooms as the ministry promised them that they would be rematched as quickly as possible.

"They've already matched every available muggleborn between seventeen and sixty and all the unmarried halfbloods under sixty who've graduated Hogwarts. Where are they going to get the witches to rematch all these purebloods?" one Auror asked.

"They'll match up the halfbloods and sixteen year olds at Hogwarts I'd wager," the other Auror replied, sighing. "Those that thought they were safe from the law for another year so haven't done anything to get out of it."

"My sister is one of those sixteen year olds," the first Auror whispered in horror.

"You'll be writing to her tonight then, warning her to tell her friends too," the other replied quietly. The muggleborns at Hogwarts found a way to get out of coming. The sixteen year olds deserve a chance at that too."

"Unless they only managed to burn the letters so they didn't arrive. They could all be arrested or forced to marry in a day or too," the first Auror replied.

Unfortunately, there were those who hadn't taken the marriage law seriously enough, or who had thought that simply giving up using magic and moving into the muggle world and refusing to turn up to the appointments would be enough. The letters had still found them and without friends who knew to throw the letters into the fire like the Hogwarts students had, the compulsions on the letters still works and they found themselves at the ministry at the appointed time, being unwillingly married off to their chosen bride grooms whether they intended to come or not. Of course, in this case 'bride' referred to the submissive (less pureblood) partner in the marriage not necessarily to the female. It was just lucky for the remaining muggleborns that the most abusive purebloods except those that wanted a particular school rival wanted younger, less trained spouses .

Those who moved to nearby countries also received their letters and were affected by the spells cast on it but because the celebrant had only cast national level portkeys on the letters they did not successfully activate to bring them to the weddings though there were a few injuries among witches and wizards in France from the partial activations.

-o0o-

Dear Favourite Uncle and my new Aunt

Congratulations on your wedding. I wish you both great joy and a prosperous marriage.

As to your advice, all I can say is mischief managed. Please don't worry about Hermione and I, things have settled well. Sorry we couldn't accept your help but she couldn't wait until the summer.

My best friend is brilliant you know, she solved the problem for all the seventh years that wanted her help. I would expect some fireworks once those that think they have the right to make those decisions find out that their plans are now obsolete but there's nothing they can do to undo it.

Your Cubs.

Remus opened his mail Sunday morning.

"Harry is married!" he exclaimed surprised.

"Harry and Ginny? How? Molly will be upset they didn't wait until summer to have a big wedding but I can understand why he didn't want to wait if it's because of the ministry though he should be safe until he turns seventeen. Please tell me it's not because he knocked her up," Tonks said surprised.

"I think he married Hermione. She was seventeen this September. His letter was vague about the details. No doubt he doesn't want it to get out yet," Remus replied reading it over again.

Tonks took the letter and read it through. "Vague is an understatement. I wouldn't know what it meant."

"I think that was the point. After last year he is always very careful what he puts in his letters in case they're intercepted. I advised him in my last letter to get married before his birthday this summer," Remus replied.

"Yes that makes sense but I thought Hermione and Ron were a couple, and Harry was with Ginny," Tonks said.

"They seemed to be heading that way over the summer but you know how quickly relationships can change at that age," Remus agreed. "But I think Harry and Hermione are well suited. They certainly care about each other."

A/N: Thank you to caughtinblackseyes, .Wonderland.8510, J.F.C, BMS, Tyler'sPrincess, katmom, mwinter1, mother oracle, Jostanos, BadWolfJiggy, roon0, Millie072, jkarr, starboy454, Melikalilly, Firehedgehog, Rori Potter, Lexarius, Rainbow2007, mikanMD and all those who followed or favourited for your support.