A/N: Hello everyone! Welcome back to another fic :) To be honest, this was so hard to write in the sense that I needed to stay under 1000 words, and this naturally ended up starting at 1328 words. Thankfully I was able to cut some fluff, but that also detracted from the story as a whole, in my opinion. So please, look for an expanded story of this in the future! :)

This one is for Round 8 of The Houses Competition, where I'm in Ravenclaw House and writing for Potions. This competition, we have to write a drabble (500-1000 words) as well as a standard (1000-3000 words). This fic is the Drabble of the two. Prompts are listed below.

The items below bracketed in ** denote text taken directly from Shakespeare's As You Like It.

Thank you kindly to Starr, and BeaWrites for the beta!

Word Count: 996

Disclaimers/Warnings:

Summary: Hermione and her boyfriend go to the theater for her birthday and accidentally end up married?!

Prompts:

The Houses Competition Y10 R8

[Word] Theatre

BONUS: [Character] Hermione

QLFC 2023 Autumn Bingo

Accidental Marriage

"As You Like It"

Hermione enjoyed going to the Muggle theater every year for her birthday. It just so happened that her current boyfriend, Theodore Nott, had decided to take her there on a surprise birthday date.

They had been dating for over a year now–and wasn't that startling when he had turned up at her door in the Ministry with a bouquet of flowers and a first edition text of A Winter's Tale–and while she had been suspicious at first, Theo had proven himself to be a stalwart companion and attentive boyfriend.

He threw himself wholeheartedly into Muggle culture, not only to impress her, but to improve himself.

So now they sat in box seats for the Trinity Theater waiting for the production of As You Like It to start.

Her hand entwined with his, Hermione leaned against Theo. The lights dimmed, a spotlight appeared on stage, and Theo leaned his head on hers.

She couldn't help but smile at the love she felt for him at that moment.

When the last act began, and the multiple couples all came on stage with the god Hymen to perform the marriage ceremony, Hermione couldn't help but mouth along with the actors on stage. *"You and you no cross shall part. You and you are heart in heart. You and you are sure together as the winter to foul weather."*

Hermione turned and met Theo's eyes. Emotion welled up within her, and she kissed him, warmth filling her as she realized, I love this man.

Without words, the two of them turned back to watch the rest of the play, her head on Theo's shoulder, their arms intertwined.

Her finger itched, but she paid it no mind.

The end of the show came quickly afterwards, and Hermione gave a standing ovation to the actors. Grinning widely, they left, chatting all the while on what was their favorite part.

Hermione absently scratched at her still itchy finger as they left the crowded lobby. A slight bump was there, but nothing she could see in the lowered lighting.

With a grin on her face, she absently scratched at her finger again when her nail suddenly hit something metal and she stopped in her tracks. Lifting her left hand up to inspect it, Hermione felt growing confusion as she spotted the silver band on her ring finger.

"What the-?" she asked. Theo turned to see her looking at her hand and when she looked at him, a matching ring adorned his hand.

"What just happened?" he asked.

"Something at the theater, maybe? Where did these rings come from?"

Their path back to the now fairly empty theater lobby was clear, the majority of the guests having dispersed onto the street.

A uniformed man standing in front of a door almost immediately spotted them and their expressions of confusion and he waved them over. As they drew close, he commented, "Hogwarts Alumni?"

Hermione nodded wordlessly, and with that, he waved them into the door behind him. "You wouldn't be the first. Go ahead and talk to the stage manager. He's near the costume cage."

Hermione and Theo headed through the door to get to a room stacked from floor to ceiling with stage props and set pieces. "Hello?" she called out to the seemingly empty room.

A loud crash from the other side of the room made her jump, and only Theo's warm hand on her back kept her from crying out in alarm.

"Oh, hello there!" A blonde man poked his head out from between two teetering stacks, stepping out from behind it fully a moment later. "What can I help you with?"

"The security guard motioned us back here when we noticed, well…" Theo started before holding up his hand to show the man the ring on his left finger. Hermione followed to show her own to him.

"Oh, not again!"

Sat down in the green room, Hermione and Theo were each handed steaming cups of hot cocoa before they got the answers they wanted.

"You're the third couple this month who's accidentally gotten married during our play. We're so sorry! Normally nothing happens, but when one of the couple says the vows from the play and then initiates a kiss, Magic deems them worthy and marries them. The actor playing Hymen, God of Marriage, is a Muggleborn, but when we used his understudy, who is just a Muggle, the same thing happened. I myself am a Squib, so that's why I even know about all of this," Josiah Clearwater, the Stage Manager, said.

"And the security guard?" Theo asked.

"Richard is also a Squib. But again, we are so sorry about this! This was not at all our intention and we hope you can forgive us," Josiah stated, grimacing. "You can petition the Ministry to dissolve the marriage, so long as you don't consummate it in the next forty-eight hours."

Hermione hummed in thought as she looked at her boyf–no, her husband as he sat there sipping hot cocoa. Given enough time, she could have seen herself leaning in that direction, and if Magic deemed that they had to get a jumpstart on the marriage part, well…

"Thank you for your honesty, Mr. Clearwater," Hermione stated as she stood. Theo followed suit, his drained mug set gently on the counter alongside hers. "It's not ideal, and not how I would want to get married, but I think we can work with this." Her eyes met Theo's, and she only saw love and acceptance reflected there.

"Good luck, and congratulations!" Josiah called out after them as they left the room, hand-in-hand. Hermione had research to do, and a conversation to have with her husband. But here was neither the time nor place. No, they would have this life-altering conversation back in the safety of her flat, not in the backrooms of the local theater. Because while not ideal, this also wasn't the worst thing to happen to her since joining the Wizarding World.