Chapter 10

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Molly and Arthur were just finishing breakfast when an unfamiliar owl dropped a red smoking letter on the table. Harry hadn't wanted to use Hedwig, he didn't want to risk hurting her ears with the howler.

Arthur looked at the letter and wondered who had finally had enough of Molly's habit of sending howlers. He rather thought it might be the twins. He covered his ears as it exploded and Harry's voice started shouting.

MOLLY WEASLEY

HOW DARE YOU SPEAK TO MY WIFE THAT WAY!

AND HOW DARE YOU ACCUSE THE TWO OF US OF CHEATING ON YOUR CHILDREN. THE TRUTH IS THAT THEY DIDN'T WANT TO MARRY US. GINNY REFUSED TO EVEN DISCUSS IT WE BROKE UP AND SHE WAS DATING DEAN THOMAS AGAIN BEFORE HERMIONE AND I GOT MARRIED. SHE REFUSED TO MARRY HIM TOO BUT BY THE TIME SHE DECIDED SHE WANTED ME BACK I WAS ALREADY MARRIED. IM SORRY HER FEELINGS WERE HURT BUT SHE DOESN'T LOVE ME THE WAY SHE THINKS SHE DOES. IF SHE DID SHE WOULDN'T HAVE REFUSED TO MARRY ME.

RON DIDN'T WANT TO MARRY HERMIONE EITHER AND THEY NEVER DATED.

NEITHER HERMIONE OR I ARE YOUR CHILDREN AND IT IS UNPARDONABLY RUDE OF YOU TO SEND US A HOWLER ACCUSING US OF THINGS WE DIDN'T DO!

DID YOU EVEN TRY TO FIND OUT IF WHAT YOU HEARD WAS TRUE?

THIS IS THE SECOND TIME YOU'VE PUBLICALLY ACCUSED MY WIFE OF CHEATING, OF BEING A SCARLET WOMAN.

THIS TIME A PRIVATE APOLOGY WILL NOT BE SUFFICIENT TO MAKE UP FOR THE INSULT YOU DELIVERED.

Arthur looked at the letter in shock as it finished speaking and exploded.

"Molly what did you do?" he asked apprehensively.

Molly didn't even hear her husband. "How dare he…" she began yelling. She went to stand and Arthur grabbed her before she could go off on a rant and do whatever she was planning to do.

"Molly, what did you do?" Arthur demanded.

"How could he do that to me. When I get a hold of that young man, he is going to regret his actions," Molly fumed.

"Molly, Harry is not your son. It is not your responsibility to punish him," Arthur said.

"He has no respect for me. I didn't bring him up to behave like that!" Molly yelled.

"You didn't bring him up at all. He is not one of your sons. What did you do to make him react like that? Why did he feel it necessary to send you a howler? He is normally such a polite boy," Arthur demanded. "Please tell me you didn't send Harry and Hermione a howler?"

"He hurt Ginny, he left her. Ginny loves him! She was his girlfriend! They were destined to be together and he want and married someone else! How did he not know he was supposed to be with Ginny?" Molly said angrily.

"Did you even listen to what he had to say or were you too angry to listen. He said Ginny refused to marry him and Ron didn't want to marry Hermione. Hermione had to do something, she was in danger! You know the Death Eaters were using bribes to get the brides they wanted. How long do you think Hermione would have survived married to a Death Eater?" Arthur said firmly, still holding his wife still trying to force her to listen.

"He broke Ginny's heart!" Molly wailed. "Our precious Ginny who's already been through too much. He was her hero and he abandoned her!"

"It sounds more like she abandoned him from his point of view. He said he asked Ginny to marry him before he asked Hermione. Ginny said NO!" Arthur kept trying to get through to the distraught and deluded woman who was his wife.

"But she loves him!" Molly cried.

"Then she should have agreed to marry him when he asked her. It is not Harry or Hermione's fault if she's changed her mind and decided she wants him after all," Arthur retorted.

"He still had no right to break her heart, and no right to speak to me like that," Molly declared.

"I would be angry with him too if he sent my wife a howler for no good reason. He has every right to be upset with you and while I don't approve of him using a howler to express that upset, you did send the first one," Arthur said sighing.

"I'm going to.." Molly began.

"STOP Right there! I forbid you from contacting Harry or Hermione until you are ready and willing to apologise to them for your rudeness, I also forbid you to send any more howlers to anyone. You know that it is considered the height of bad manners," Arthur ordered.

-o0o-

"Did you end up sending that howler to Ron's Mum?" Seamus asked.

"Yes I did. She should be receiving it right about now. What I want to know is who wrote to Molly and lied to her about the events leading up to our bonding, to cause her to send the howler in the first place. As angry as I am about Mrs Weasley's response, I know she wouldn't have sent it if she knew the truth," Harry said

"They didn't necessarily have had to lie," Dean said, though he didn't really know why he was bothering to defend his ex-girlfriend.

"But not telling the whole story in order to mislead their mother is lying. They led her to believe I was still dating Ginny when I married Hermione without telling Ginny anything about it. They had to have realised what she would do," Harry retorted.

"That's what Ginny believed when we spoke to her," Hermione said.

"And what Ron believed too but Ginny vowed not to tell anyone, including her parents, and Ron was spelled not to be able to talk about the ritual," Harry said.

"But the spell and the vow only lasted until the ministry found out, which they did Monday at lunch. Either of them could have sent a letter that afternoon though I think it would be more likely to have been Ginny to have acted so quickly," Hermione said referring to Ron's laziness.

"Which still means their letter was written after they spoke to us. They knew the truth," Harry pointed out.

-o0o-

At the same time as all this was going on, in a flat over a joke shop in Diagon Alley, the occupants received a letter a friend of theirs had written after hearing the howler from Molly Weasley the morning before.

Dear Fred and George and Alicia

Congratulations George and Alicia on your marriage. Just know that Angelina may have left the country but I didn't and if you do not treat her well you will answer to me George Weasley.

I too am married to Eddie Carmichael. You do remember Eddie, don't you? I'm sorry I couldn't say anything about it when we met Liss. I vowed to keep it secret. As I'm sure you can guess, this was Hermione's plan.

Hermione and some others found a marriage ritual which didn't require an outside binder and cannot be annulled or reversed. It was a runic ritual and it took ages to draw all the runes so that's why we were still waiting to see if it would work when I last saw you.

One of the reasons for writing other than to congratulate you and tell you about my marriage is to tell you what's been going on with Ron and Ginny.

Hermione is already seventeen too and she was afraid of who she'd be matched with too. She tried to marry Ron but the bond didn't take and the only explanation for that is that Ron didn't really want it to. Harry also asked Ginny to marry him and she refused, she wanted a big white wedding in the summer but Harry was too worried to wait. I know he's only sixteen but as he said, he's Harry Potter, and he was worried that once the ministry found out about this ritual and the number of muggleborns who escaped their ministry matched marriages they would make it illegal for others to marry. Hermione was desperate and I'd say harry was too so they married each other. Ron and Ginny are upset about it of course but it's really their own fault so nobody took their complaints seriously except for your mum who sent Harry and Hermione a howler. From what it said your mum doesn't know the full story and Harry is furious with the lot of them.

Your mum said in her howler that she was going to tell you not to be friends with Harry and Hermione any more and I figured it was best that you learn the whole truth before you decided to prank them.

Yours sincerely,

Katie Carmichael nee Bell.

"What a mess" Alicia said.

"I'm glad we found out before we sent them anything," Fred said.

"The real question is, should we send this parcel to Ron instead?" George asked.

"I think we should wait and see whether it was Ron that dished the dirt on Harry and Hermione to Mum, or if it was Ginny," Fred replied.

"There is that, but how do we find out?" George agreed.

"I think a visit to our esteemed parents might be in order George," Fred declared in a fake haughty tone of voice.

"I'm Fred you idiot," George said automatically.

"I'm fairly sure I'm Fred," Fred replied.

Alicia leaned over and cuffed George on the back of the head. "That doesn't work on me guys."

"Shall we visit tonight?" Fred said becoming serious.

"I think we should," George said.

"Are you coming clean about your marriage too? It will be a good opportunity while Mum's distracted," Fred suggested.

"I think you should, I'll come with you," Alicia said before George could reply.

-o0o-

Elsewhere the Aurors were having a busy week.

When the original ministry matches were declared invalid and all couples who'd married were ordered to report to the ministry to have their marriages undone. Those that did not arrive on the day were collected by Aurors, and if necessary the abusers were arrested and the victims port-keyed to St Mungo's for their injuries to be documented and healed. Unfortunately the majority of couples had to be collected and many of the muggleborns had to receive at least some healing.

Unsurprisingly there was not a single couple where the muggleborn partner wanted to stay in the marriage, even among those who had not been physically abused.

-o0o-

It took several days for the elves to arrange for the married quarters for everyone who had taken part in a successful ritual. In the days before they became available, Hermione got tired of kicking couples out of broom closets and abandoned classrooms while on prefect patrol and suggested to the other prefects that they exempt married couples from losing points and detentions until they had their own rooms.

Unfortunately for Hermione moving to married quarters had an unexpected side effect. Professor McGonagall had announced the day the decisions were to be finalised.

"Students moving out of their houses and into married accommodation will need to give up their prefect badges, as a large part of their duties was supervising the younger students in their common rooms and providing mentoring for them. They will however remain eligible for the positions of head boy or girl," Minerva announced. We will allocate new prefects once we have confirmation who will be remaining in the dormitories and who will be moving to other accommodation."

Hermione frowned. "That's going to cause problems, I think all the seventh year Gryffindors got married and the only other sixth year to give it to would be Neville."

Seamus laughed. "I can't wait to tease him about being the girls' prefect."

Dean and Ron cracked up laughing too.

"They might appoint two fifth year prefects instead and make Neville the boys' seventh year prefect," Hermione said.

-o0o-

Many couples had gone back to having sex in spite of the fertility hex on their letters because they'd thought that they'd have to have a child before leaving Hogwarts anyway. Harry and Hermione had discussed it and she wanted to wait as long as possible. She figured that if throwing someone in Azkaban at the very start of a pregnancy could endanger the baby it would be enough to be pregnant before the eighteen month deadline, and part of her wanted to take that chance and finish her NEWTS before trying to have a baby. Not to mention she needed to find a way to explain the whole mess to her parents and that would be easier if she wasn't already pregnant. She was annoyed that she had to have a baby before finishing her mastery and establishing her career. To have a baby this year would delay her academic career to take and additional year before sitting her NEWT's but on the other hand an extra year at Hogwarts with full access to the library seemed like a dream come true to her.

The news of the alterations in the implementation of the emergency marriage act the next day was met with mixed responses. Those witches who had already married and were not already trying to have a baby or had given into the fertility curse were relieved to find out that so long as they were still attending school they had until three months after finishing their NEWTs before they had to be pregnant. On the other hand, those seventeen year old half-bloods and purebloods who had not received match notifications from the ministry in the first round were upset to hear that it was not just muggleborns who would be subjected to the emergency marriage act and that they would be matched this year after all with new notifications expected to be announced by Yule at the latest. And several pureblood couples began asking the married couples how they had managed to marry in secret, wanting to do the same.

In addition to this, Ron and Ginny were upset with Harry and Hermione all over again once it became known that her match with Terrence Higgs had been declared invalid. They seemed to think that with the changes in the law Harry had overreacted in marrying Hermione instead of waiting until the summer when he and Ginny could have had a big white wedding in the orchard at the Burrow like Ginny had dreamed of, and both had subjected Hermione to some very publicly embarrassing screaming tantrums in the great hall, costing Gryffindor to loose enough points to make the two Weasleys pariahs among their housemates, particularly the muggleborns and all the others who had performed the marriage bonding ritual.

-o0o-

Hermione noticed that there seemed to be a lot more mail delivered at breakfast the day that the Daily Prophet announced the changes to the marriage law and that following breakfast a large number of students approached their heads of house. She also noticed that Professor Snape seemed pleased as he nodded and signed something for each student, but that the other three heads of house seemed more resigned than pleased though none of them put forth any objection or hesitated to sign whatever paperwork they were being given. The next thing they noticed throughout the day was that a lot of the students who had had forms signed, were not in class that morning, or attended morning classes before being absent in the afternoon classes. She asked several people what was going on, but it wasn't until the last class of the day, Arithmancy, that Daphne Greengrass and Tracey Davis were able to give her answers.

"A lot of students from traditional families have been pulled out of classes today and taken home by their families who have arranged a druid to come to their homes and finalise their betrothals, before the ministry can break the betrothals and match them to someone else," Tracey said quietly. "The ministry hadn't properly considered all the business deals and honour debts that are made based on family betrothals. To break them all would cause chaos, not to mention that I'm not sure that accepting the ministry match allocation wouldn't be considered a breach of a betrothal contract and some of the penalties for that could be severe on the betrothed and their families depending on the contract itself."

"You mean they're getting married too. You got a letter, are you going to be in trouble for not going?" Hermione asked. "What about the penalties in your betrothal contracts?"

"I'm probably going to be disowned for getting married, my parents should have received my letter telling them this morning so they won't be expecting me to come, but as minors the penalties will fall on our head of house who arranged the betrothals in the first place, my parents and Daphne's grandfather" Tracey replied.

"My parents won't be furious, they weren't happy about my betrothal anyway, my Grandfather is head of House Greengrass and betrothed me and my sister Astoria," Daphne said even more quietly. "I should have tried to get Storey to try the ritual," she added guiltily.

"It wouldn't have worked. She's only thirteen, not old enough to make a commitment for life. She wouldn't have done it anyway, and she might have told him and ruined everything, you know she isn't unhappy with her betrothal," Tracey said.

"She got a letter today. She's going to be married this afternoon to Draco Malfoy. She thinks he's rich and handsome but she isn't going to be happy once she gets to know him better," Daphne said sadly. "She was quite angry that I refused to go to her wedding, but I couldn't bear to watch her tie herself to him. She's so lovely, happy, innocent and optimistic about everything. She should have been a Hufflepuff."

"I thought that Draco was betrothed to Pansy?" Hermione said confused.

"She would like to think so. I don't think her parents had told her who she was betrothed to. Draco didn't know about Storey either. It was the one thing Mum and Dad were able to insist on in the contract, that she be let grow up without having him hanging over her. Of course, they weren't supposed to marry until she finished school," Daphne replied.

"I wish the married quarters were ready. It's going to be foul in the common room and dorm tonight," Tracey said.

"You could ask the professors, surely some are ready if it's going to be dangerous for you to stay in the dorms," Hermione suggested. "If they say no then I am sure your husbands would be willing to sneak you into their dorms."

"Except I married Blasé who also won't be safe in the Slytherin dorms tonight," Tracey said.

"He should be safe enough tonight. They'll be too focused on their own marriages to do anything so long as the two of you stick together, Daphne said.

"Except for those whose betrothed don't go to Hogwarts," Tracy said pessimistically.

-o0o-

"We are going to have to hire house supervisors to look after the younger students," Minerva said as the staff meeting moved from academics to other things.

"I'm sure that won't be necessary," Albus said calmly.

"I have two male sixteen year old sixth year Gryffindors living in the dorms neither of whom will be seventeen until the spring and summer, and no sixth year girls or seventh years at all. There is also only one fifth year girl who won't be sixteen until August. She cannot be responsible for half the junior Gryffindors. We would be remiss in our duty of care to the younger years if we do not hire someone to supervise them in their common room. The current teaching staff cannot possibly be asked to add this to their duties, we are stretched thin enough as it is," Minerva retorted.

"I think that hiring a house supervisor is the only workable option. Ravenclaw will be similarly bereft of senior students," Filius added.

"As will Hufflepuff," Pomona agreed.

"And as of this week Slytherin will also have no unmarried students over fifteen," Severus said.

"I was only aware of three of your sixth years participating in the marriage bonding rituals and requesting married quarters," Minerva said surprised.

"Many of the students were called home for their families to arrange immediate marriage to their betrothed to avoid the penalties of breaking the betrothal agreements the ministry refused to honour," Severus said sneering.

"I'm sure that as head of house you can provide adequate supervision to your students," Albus said.

"Not if I'm also expected to complete the brewing for the infirmary and the necessary class preparation and marking," Severus sneered.

"And not if you wanted me to continue completing all the tasks that are actually listed as the Headmaster's duties as well as all the deputy Headmistress duties," Minerva replied firmly. "It would be cheaper to hire a house supervisor for each house than it would be to hire an administration assistant, an assistant Herbologist to maintain the greenhouses and a second potions master."

Albus capitulated frowning. "I'm not at all sure where we'd find the budget for them," he protested.

"Let me worry about that. I have been in charge of the budget for some years now and I believe we could easily afford it. Those positions were in the budget until approximately forty years ago and still remain in the Hogwarts Charter," Minerva said uncompromisingly.

-o0o-

Harry and Hermione went to pack their trunks for the move, Hermione didn't have any issues, both her roommates were also moving out as well and the two of them were busy trying to sort out which things belonged to whom. Hermione's things were mostly already tidily put away and it only took a few minutes to pack the clean clothes the elves had returned that day and the quilt her grandmother had made her.

Harry wasn't so lucky, Dean and Seamus had already taken their things and moved out while Harry was at quidditch training, and he arrived back in the dorm from the shower to find Ron and Neville sitting on their beds talking. He gathered his clothes and hurriedly pulled them on before throwing his things into his trunk.

"You're leaving us," Ron said mulishly.

"I'm moving to the married accommodation," Harry confirmed.

"You don't have to, Dumbledore gave couples a choice," Neville said.

"I know, but I also know that the ministry are looking for excuses to punish the couples who used the ritual rather than marry their ministry assigned spouses. Hermione says that it's important that none of us give the impression that we're not in a romantic married relationship," Harry explained matter-of-factly. "Not to mention Hermione and I don't want our child conceived in a broom closet."

Ron's ears turned red and Neville blushed scarlet. Neither of them said a single thing as Harry finished packing his stuff. "See you in class," he said.

He carried his trunk to his new room and knocked before letting himself in.

"You don't need to knock Harry, these are your rooms too," Hermione said.

He looked around in surprise, it wasn't a bedroom as he'd been expecting but a small flat with a loungeroom/study a separate bedroom and their own loo and shower.

"I could sleep on the couch," he offered. It looked long and comfortable enough.

"If you'd prefer to," Hermione said stiffly.

"Hermione?" Harry said uncertainly.

Hermione turned and continued unpacking. "You can have the cupboards and drawers on that side," she said briskly.

"Hermione, what's wrong?" Harry asked. "Don't you want me to sleep on the couch? I'm happy to sleep in here with you if you want me to. I offered to sleep on the couch because I thought you might want me to."

Hermione looked up, "I think I want you in here with me, I want to have as much of a real marriage as possible. We need to make the best of this."

"This is a real marriage, I understand you don't want to risk falling pregnant this year and I'm more than willing to wait. I've never shared a bed with anyone though, not since my parents died at least, I don't remember before that. I tend to flail about a bit when I have a nightmare though, so feel free to change your mind and ask me to sleep on the couch if it becomes too much of a problem," Harry said softly.

"Hopefully having me here will stop you from having so many nightmares," Hermione replied gently.

"I hope so," Harry said doubtfully as he finished putting away his things and sat to wait for Hermione so they could walk down to dinner together.

Harry thought that living with Hermione might just turn out to be even more awkward than sharing a dorm with Ron and Neville. It took more than a marriage ritual to make a real marriage. This wasn't just a choice made to save his best friend but a whole new life. But the decision was made, Hermione was his wife and he was determined to make it work.

A/N: Thank you to tyrannicpuppy, J.F.C, mwinter1, Melikalilly, katmom, BMS, Lientjuhh, animeromance1972, Tyler'sPrincess, Ghostisreading, mother oracle, sln1987, Millie072, jkarr, Child of Dreams, Icelynne, Rori Potter, BadWolfJiggy, Embers, Rainbow2007, Jostanos, ordinaryguy2, mooneysfate, Firehedgehog, rb2312, reader1writer1, dragonfighter11, Village-Mystic and all those who followed and favourited me or this story for your support.

A/N2: Sorry everyone, there wont be a chapter tomorrow or probably the day after either, it isn't written yet.