Author's Note: It's always JKR's. Not mine. I am just borrowing the characters and testing my writing skills. Your reviews are always an encouragement. No flames, please.

Chapter 1: Ancient Curse & Outbreak

One would think winning the war over Voldemort and his death eaters would finally see some positive changes in the wizarding world.

When funerals of the fallen, Professor Flitwick, Fred Weasley, Colin Creevey, Lavender Brown, Grawp, and many more were completed, a strange disease spread across magical Britain. It proved more disastrous than the war on the magical census, trade, and tourism. Other countries offered to research a cure and even came forward with financial aid. However, they strictly closed their borders to Britain witches and wizards fearing that it might be contagious. Despite St. Mungo's top administration declaring that the outbreak is not contagious and is the result of an ancient curse, no magical community wanted to take a risk.

Headmaster Severus Snape (Potions, Dark Arts, & Ancient Runes) along with Professor Septima Vector (Arithmancy & Charms) and their team of 4 newly appointed apprentices, Draco Malfoy (Dark Arts), Hermione Granger (Arithmancy & Ancient Runes), Padma Patil (Potions), and Justin Finch-Fletchley (Charms), researched relentlessly to identify the source of the curse and find a cure. In the 5 months that it took for their research team to find a cure, their team expanded from 5 to 25 members. However, they lost Vector and Padma to the curse. They discovered that the ancient curse which slowly fails all the vital organs in the body was the parting gift of Voldemort. In these 5 months, many lives were lost. In fact, the lives lost due to the outbreak have been significantly more than the lives lost due to the war.

Arthur and Molly opened the doors of Burrow to many lost souls with the purpose of sharing the grief with one another and moving forward. Though Molly uses it as an escape to actually grieve the loss of her son Fred, her daughter-in-law Fluer, and her unborn granddaughter Victoire. After losing his wife and unborn daughter to the curse, Bill Weasley one of the 20 who joined the research team. Ginny and Percy who were on the deathbeds were saved in the last minute by the invention of the cure.

Remus has lost his wife Nymphadora Tonks and is driven into a deep depression. Arthur and Harry dragged him and his 7-month-old son Teddy into the Burrow. Little Teddy and his cute babblings are the only source of happiness in the Burrow.

After the cure had been distributed and everyone afflicted was cured, the Ministry erected 2 huge pillar structures. One at Hogwarts with the names of the fallen during the battle and another at St. Mungo's with the names of the succumbed due to the curse. Most people frequented these pillars whenever they missed their loved ones or to pay respect to their lost ones.

On one such trip with Harry and Ron, Hermione noticed there seemed to be more witches' names than that of wizards on these pillars, especially the one at St. Mungo's. Literally, 3 walls of the 4-walled pillar consisted of names of witches. When she mentioned her observations at Burrow, Arthur tailed by Percy rushed to the Ministry to contact Kingsley, the now Minister of Magic. That is the last they saw Arthur or Percy for more than 10 minutes a stretch in the next 40 days.

One evening they returned home with an utterly defeated demeanour. Arthur even had tear stains on his face. When Molly pressured them to reveal what happened, Arthur couldn't even look into her eyes and rushed outside towards his shed. When Molly tried to follow him, Percy stopped her saying that both of them were bound by a magical vow to not reveal any Ministry decisions until tomorrow morning when the Daily Prophets are delivered. Arthur has not returned to the Burrow and spent the night alone in his shed.

There is a tense situation in the Burrow that somehow touched even Teddy Lupin who was sprouting a shaggy brown hair and gloomy expression. "I had enough of this silence treatment. Daily prophet will arrive any moment now. Percy, go call your father" shouted Molly.

Just as Percy made it to the entrance door, Arthur slowly entered his head bowed pushing open the door himself. "I heard you till the shed, Molly," he said with a sad smile.

At the same moment, an owl fluttered outside of their open window after delivering today's Prophet. Hermione rushed to the table and unrolled the newspaper. As she was about to read the headline, Molly snatched the paper from Hermione's hands and read the news silently. "NO! No, no, no!" shouted Molly with tears pooling in her eyes. She shredded the paper with her bare hands in her frustration and rushed into Arthur's arms bawling.

While everyone was staring at the Weasley couple in shock, Ron muttered at Reparo pointing his wand at the shredded newspaper. He quickly placed the restored paper into Hermione's hands not wanting to read the news himself. Slowly the rest of the unaware people gathered around Hermione while Percy rushed into his room. Rolling her eyes, Hermione opened the newspaper and read the headline on the front page out loud.

ACTIVE MARRIAGES TO BE DISSOLVED

There were a few sharp intakes of breaths, a few outright colourful swearings, and many shocked silent faces. As everyone started to speak at the same time, Bill Weasley shouted aloud, "Shut up everyone! Hermione, can you please continue reading the rest of the news" while looking pitifully at his parents.

Hermione nodded and started reading…

ACTIVE MARRIAGES TO BE DISSOLVED

The census, revenue, and goodwill of the British magical community following the tragic Battle of Hogwarts and the Curse Outbreak have seen an alarming decrease. The number of magical folks has reduced by 50% and the witches account for 76% of the recent deceased. Thorough research shows that our current witch-to-wizard ratio is 1:7. If no measures are taken, the famous Arithmancers declared that the magical Britain will cease to exist in 10 to 15 years.

To prevent this disastrous future, the Ministry of Magic and Wizengamot have decided to renew the Marriage Law of the 1350 Great Plague with certain amendments. As of yesterday midnight, the borders of the country have been magically closed. Any British witches or wizards of British origin who are staying outside the country will be contacted and urged to return in a week by Ministry pre-approved portkeys. Failing to do so will be severely punishable with a minimum of 3 months imprisonment in Azkaban, after which, the prisoners will be wedded as per the law.

To successfully implement the marriage law, the first step will be dissolving all the active marriages today at 10 AM sharp. All the citizens will receive an official letter from the Ministry of Magic by today 5 PM with the date and time of their appointment at St. Mungo's. The appointment involves, everyone submitting their wand for a scan to determine the strength of the magical core and a drop of their blood for fertility tests. These appointments will be spread over a span of a week and failing to present yourself for your appointment at St. Mungo's, will be severely punishable with a minimum of 3 months imprisonment in Azkaban, after which, the prisoners will be wedded as per the law.

All the details about the Amended 1999 Marriage Law will be released via a special edition of Daily Prophet which will be available to everyone at 6 PM at the Diagon Alley branch of the Prophet.

Complete cooperation is expected and will be deemed as the duty of every witch and wizard. Failing to comply will be severely punishable with a minimum of 3 months imprisonment in Azkaban, after which, the prisoners will be wedded as per the law.

...and the Borrow burst into pure chaos.