Chapter 3 : Bloody Hell Indeed
There was only silence for a moment as they stared with mouth agape at the Headmaster. Albus Dumbledore attempted to present what he thought was an assuring smile but failed miserably and instantly resorted to drop it.
"He's gone off his rocker." A quiet murmur emerged from behind Harry. Harry turned to face the culprit but even he was unable to find the right word to defend the old man, ending up of opening and closing his mouth like a fish out of water.
Delayed as it was, the Great Hall finally burst out into a chorus of loud protest. A string of very, very colourful words were flying off from everywhere around the hall while the teachers frowned in disapproval.
"However," Dumbledore added amidst the thunderous uproar. "After much resistance on the Ministry's side, I managed to convince the Ministry to allow you being partnered up within the school as of not to bring a great discomfort to you with a marriage to a complete stranger or someone dramatically older than you. A booklet will be handed to you right now and it provides more details of the new law. "
He finished with a heavy sigh before reluctantly waving his wand in a swift motion to levitate the booklets to the livid students. Hermione was the first one to snatch it up and began scanning it at such inhuman speed while Dean let out a choked whimper at the mere sight of the first page.
"The Ministry is out of their mind!" Seamus spat as he threw away the booklet in disgust. It was bad enough that they were forced to marry at such young age but the worst part had to be the fact that they didn't even have a say in the choice of their future spouse.
"Obviously." George muttered under his breath as he placed the booklet before him and stared hard at the offending object. In contrary, his twin was narrowing his eyes in Dumbledore's direction with his lips pressed tightly together.
"Way to go to bring it into a whole new level of awkward." He drawled through gritted teeth. "Discomfort my ass. I'd rather married a complete stranger instead."
"Why?" Ginny prompted without thinking.
"Because my sweet little Ginevra, there is no guarantee you won't be paired up with..those." All heads instantly whipped around and trailed after Fred's accusing finger before all the colors drained out of their faces. Ron snorted while Neville loosened his tie slightly and shifted restlessly in his seat. Being tied up to a member of the Slytherin house in a wizarding marriage for the rest of your life was not exactly that appealing to them.
"Anyone but Millicent Bulstrode." Harry commented with a shudder and was welcomed with mutual agreement from the boys.
"One last thing before I let you off to bed," Dumbledore interrupted. "All of you are require to be present here after breakfast tomorrow so we can assign your partner and explain further details after that. Now, off you go!"
"This is insane, exceedingly barbaric and plainly outrageous!" Ron said furiously as all of them stalked off to the Gryffindor Tower.
"Preach, little brother." Fred said while slinging his arm around the latter.
"That explained why he specifically asked us to come back. Right, Fred?"
"Yeah. I'm torn between hexing Dumbledore to oblivion or showering him with roses now."
"That come down to the pairings tomorrow I supposed."
Fred scoffed. "Any hint of Slytherin and I'm so out of here."
Ron's whole face suddenly lit up once hearing that with his eyes sparkling hopefully. "We can do that?"
"Maybe but I doubt so." Harry commented with a thoughtful look. They had reached the end of the corridor to the Gryffindor common room by that time and the Fat Lady gave them a sympathetic smile before her portrait swung open to reveal the circular tower room. They settled down on the empty armchairs in front of the fireplace with Ron flinging himself into the chair.
"Great, even the portrait is mocking us now." Ron muttered sullenly. "How long do you reckon I need to get pass the gates before I can Apparate?"
"Might as well use a broom instead."
"Good thinking. I should head to Romania and stay with Charlie until all of this madness dies out."
"Fat chance, Ron." Hermione turned up with Ginny right behind her, sinking into the chair between Fred and Ron. "The law stated that it applies to all wizards and witches with British citizenship even if you are not living here at the moment."
Ron widened his eyes in disbelief before he dramatically threw his hands in the air and began firing curses under his breath. Fred and George also cursed under their breath while Harry just remained emotionless, though he did sneaked a glance at Ginny once a while. Even when the war is officially over now with Voldemort finally gone for good, Harry found himself unable to find it in him to rekindle his relationship with the youngest Weasley. Breaking up their previous relationship for the sole reason of protecting her, Harry admitted it was absurd that he was not making any move to win her back when the only barrier between them was gone for a few months now. With the Marriage Law now in the way, he wondered if that had been for the best.
"Hermione, what happens if we refuse the law?" Ginny suddenly questioned, having noticed the missing piece at last.
The said witch looked up and stared for a while. It took a while but she eventually cleared her throat and murmured softly. "Either be sent to Azkaban or surrender your magic."
A look of horror quickly registered on their faces. Slumping his body against the chair, Fred pinched the bridge of his nose while George took a few calming breath.
"We are so doomed."
And though Hermione was trying her best not to freak out by the new law, by next morning she would have given any number of Galleons to be anywhere but Hogwarts. Her stomach gave an uncomfortable lurch as she stepped into the chaotic common room, fully occupied with agitated seventh years. There was a lot of complaining and grumbling as they walked out of the portrait hole to the Great Hall-or more like to our doom as Seamus kindly rephrased-, which their already sealed fate awaited.
It was hard not to notice how different the Great Hall was that morning. It was unusually quiet, unlike the usual bright and lively vibe in the air on the first day of lessons. Seventh years could be spotted all over the hall with matching gloomy expression, in which even the younger students couldn't help but to eat in silence as well.
"I think I'm going to be sick." Hermione muttered with a frown as she helped herself to a plate of toast and eggs. She began stabbing the eggs and shoved it down her throat depressingly.
Meanwhile, Ron was already shoveling a mouthful of bacons into his mouth. Harry settled for a bowl of porridge instead and he had just swallowed his fourth spoon when he decided his stomach was truly not in any condition to swallow anything more at the moment. He grabbed the pumpkin juice and chugged it down even when it strangely tasted like nothing more than water.
"The wonderful part is yet to come, Hermione." Fred said sarcastically through a mouthful of sausages.
As much as they dreaded it, there was every ounce of truth in his words. It wasn't even far-fetched for the teachers strode in just minutes later, ushering the remaining younger students to class. With one last pity look, the teachers fled the Great Hall just as Professor Dumbledore and Professor McGonagall appeared at the entrance. Some of them immediately began muttering with each other noisily once their eyes landed on Professor McGonagall's hands.
"The next time I'm in Dumbledore's office, I would steal that blasted hat, shred it into pieces and throw it into Gryffindor's fireplace." Ginny hissed while staring at the Sorting Hat in distaste.
Ron was also staring at the hat, eyes filled with horror instead of dislike. "Do you reckon this is a good time to vouch our War Heroes title?"
"Students," Dumbledore began, putting a stop on the hushed conversations around the hall. "As you can see, we are going to use the Sorting Hat to assign you a partner. Initially, according to the law, you are suppose to go through a series of tests at the Ministry in order for the Ministry to pair you off in terms of genetic compatibility. However as I had explained to you last night, I was able to convince them otherwise thus allowing us to sort all of you using the Sorting Hat. This will give you more benefits in terms of actual compatibility and personal preference. The Sorting Hat will ensure that your future spouse is someone with the most potential for you to build a good life together. The sorting will begin as of now."
Resentfully, the students watched as Professor McGonagall stepped forward with a long roll of parchment. "When I call your name, you will step forward and put the hat on. Your future spouse will be joining you shortly."
"Abbott, Hannah."
All eyes instantly turned to look for the said girl in the sea of students with yellow and black ties. The Hufflepuff girl was pale as a sheet by the time she stumbled to the stool and shakily reached for the old hat. A moment's pause-
"Ernie Macmillan!" shouted the hat. She hastily removed the hat and stood to the side before Ernie Macmillan appeared next to her. Undoubtedly, they were both relieved though not exactly thrilled. It could had been worst after all.
"Bones, Susan."
Susan was not any better than Hannah as she moved forward but it seemed that being a Hufflepuff finally had its perk and their kind nature was paid off somehow as the Sorting Hat shouted, "Terry Boot!" and the girl looked more relieved than anything.
"Brown, Lavender!"
The blonde witch sauntered to the hat hesitantly and crossed her arms as she waited for the hat to decide while the Weasley twins were having the time of their life nudging Ron from both side.
"Won-Won! Won-Won!" Fred chanted not so quietly next to a very flushed Ron.
"Don't be ridiculous." He quickly retorted while scrambling to clutch Hermione's hand. "I already have Hermione."
"Seamus Finnigan!"
The Weasley twins instantly let out a loud groan while Ron was looking smug and partly relieved. On the other hand, the elected boy's first reaction was to scratch his head in confusion, torn between feeling thankful or the other way around. He eventually trudged his way to his now soon-to-be wife.
"Awkward." George commented, indicating the most likely shattered friendship between the two.
"Bulstrode, Millicent!"
"My bet is on Malfoy." Fred whispered with a wicked smile. Unfortunately, she was immediately paired off with an equally sullen Vincent Crabbe. "They will make some ugly babies." He remarked with a judging look.
Smack.
"That's not very nice, Fred."
"Ow!"
"Chang, Cho." The Ravenclaw girl slowly made her way to the stool, glancing around nervously. If anything, she looked more disturbed than ever and Hermione wondered briefly if this Marriage Law is going to be the new cause of her another failed attempt at N.E.W.T. and another repeat of her final year. She sat on the stool for a moment, waiting for the hat to decide with an anxious look while occasionally biting her lips.
"Fred Weasley!"
"Bloody hell," Fred halted in the middle of rubbing his injured head from Hermione's powerful blow and gawked in disbelief. "Me? As in, really me?" He began, pointing at himself before flailing around wildly. "There must be some kind of mistake!"
"Mister Weasley, please join your fiancée." Professor McGonagall said sternly before returning to the long parchment. Still in disbelief, Fred looked around at the other Gryffindors, desperate for some assurance that it was just a really, really bad joke.
"Go on, Fred." George prodded gently, helping his twin getting on his feet. Fred eventually dragged himself to the growing line of couples, standing awkwardly next to a distraught Cho Chang.
The next in line was a Slytherin girl named Tracey Davis and the Great Hall instantly fell into silence when the hat suddenly called out, "Neville Longbottom!" and a loud thud resounded through the hall.
"No, I'm fine. Just leave me alone for a bit." Neville insisted as Hermione attempted to help him in concern. "Do not touch me!" He snapped when a few boys also tried to help him.
"Leave Mister Longbottom alone." Professor Dumbledore stated calmly. "Moving on, Minerva."
"Greengrass, Astoria."
All of the Slytherin boys positively perked up once hearing her name and they watched with utmost interest as she put the hat on. Even Malfoy was currently staring at her though he wished nothing more than someone else to be paired up with the witch. It was a known fact among the Slytherin house members that he was originally to be bethrothed to the younger one because of their so-called respectable pure-blood marriage tradition.
After a few moment of consideration, the Sorting Hat bellowed, "Harry Potter!"
Malfoy's jaw dropped and so do the rest of the seventh years.
"Potter?" Blaise Zabini repeated in antonishment.
"How did he gets so lucky?" Theodore Nott protested.
Malfoy sneered. "He's the Boy-Who-Lived after all."
Apparently, the Gryffindor was not having the same thought. His emerald eyes blinked profusely, stunned and deeply rooted to his seat. From the corner of his eyes, he noticed that Ginny was as rigid as a board while Hermione had one hand slapped across her mouth. The urge to use the Summoning Charm on his Firebolt or joining Neville on the floor were weighing on his mind when Dean recovered from his shock and gave him a slight push so he was forced to go through the sudden endless and lengthy walk to the waiting girl.
"Very well then." Professor McGonagall said though her concern eyes gave a quick glance at him. "Greengrass, Daphne!"
It took four of the Gryffindor boys to hold the selected boy back after his name was called out and he tried to make a run for the Entrance Hall while the Slytherin boys groaned in unison. The top Slytherin girls were officially crossed off the list.
"I should be more thankful it seems." Fred chuckled as George begrudgingly made his way to a frowning Daphne. He was staring at the floor longingly as he went, wishing for the floor to swallow him alive already.
"Lovegood, Luna."
Unlike the other girls, there were no surprise when Luna calmly rose from her seat and simply strolled between the Ravenclaw and Slytherin tables. She sat with her hands clasped together neatly and her silvery grey eyes focused on nothing in particular around the hall. Too serene and well-composed as if the Sorting Hat is not about to announce the name of her future spouse, one that she is definitely not supposed to find now.
"Theodore Nott!"
"You're joking!" Theodore Nott said loudly with a scandalized look. "That..That's Loony Lovegood!"
"At least, she is a pure-blood." Blaise Zabini muttered unhelpfully. Theo glared at the Italian before letting an even louder whining as Professor McGonagall beckoned him to step forward. In spite of that, Luna casually greeted him with a smile and dreamily pointed out the nice weather while he just stared at her with a dumbfounded look.
In the meantime, Parvati Patil just got paired up with an esctatic Dean Thomas and the Great Hall was instantly surrounded with explosive applause and catcalling for the happy couple. Dean sprinted to the front with a huge grin and attempted to jump on his future bride if it wasn't because of Dumbledore's quick jinx. The tension that had filled the hall since the many odd couples' pairing suddenly broke. Nearly everyone laughed and Dumbledore chuckled appreciatively.
"Yeah!" He yelled when he settled next to a grinning Parvati and fist-pumped in victory.
"Right then, Mister Thomas." Professor McGonagall interjected but she was also smiling slightly. "Patil, Padma!"
The students watched in interest as the hat rested on her shiny black hair, eager for another good news. However, the hat unexpectedly took a long time to decide with Padma. A prolonged silence engulfed the hall as they waited with bated breath.
Those seconds of silence past when finally, "Gregory Goyle!" was shouted by the Sorting Hat.
"Someone bring Madam Pomfrey!" Ginny shrieked while standing up hastily. "That poor girl is about to have a heart attack!"
That was particularly true since Padma Patil was frozen on the stool with wide, terrified eyes. She almost slipped and ended up on the floor if her twin had not rushed to her side. She was brought to the Ravenclaw table, where Parvati and Dean tried to comfort her. Hermione caught Goyle staring at the girl and swore she saw a flash of hurt swimming in his eyes.
"Parkinson, Pansy."
Watching the Slytherin witch marched forward with an annoyed look, Ginny sniggered and nudged Hermione. "This should be interesting."
"Malfoy, you reckon?" Hermione said, chuckling. "Bet Lucius would have a blast."
But Hermione was far from being right and the hat had barely reached Pansy's head when it screamed, "Ronald Weasley!"
Everybody literally dropped their jaws to the floor.
"What?" Pansy spat as she tugged the hat harshly and ripped it off her head. "That's absolutely rubbish! He's a Weasley!"
"This is bullshit!" Ron bellowed from the Gryffindor table and almost this close to climbing up the table in protest if it wasn't because of his housemates prying him off. "I demand a redo!"
"Enough, Mister Weasley, Miss Parkinson." Professor McGonagall reprimanded strictly. "The pairings are final. Unless of course, you would rather surrender your magic or imprisonment in Azkaban."
There was silence for a moment. Ron was frowning deeply, still refusing to approach the witch while Pansy looked plainly disgusted.
"Bring it on," Pansy hissed at last, breaking the silence. "I would rather have a Dementor's kiss than popping little redheads out!"
Professor McGonagall rolled her eyes because she saw right through the girl. Undeterred with the younger witch's all talk, she clearly called out, "Mister Weasley! Up here, if you please!"
With a loud grumbling, Ron eventually stomped to the Slytherin witch. They kept an excessive distance between each other, both giving the impression of quite ready to torture or murder someone with a simple flick of their wands. They might even succeed on giving Bellatrix Lestrange a run for her money and putting Lord Voldemort to shame.
"Weasley, Ginevra."
"She sounds like mum." Ginny mumbled before she sauntered to the stool and jammed the ruddy hat on her head. She tapped her foot impatiently as the hat remained still and silent for a while. Her three brothers at the side watched with a serious look, ignoring their own messed up partner for now.
"Blaise Zabini!" hollered the hat at last, sealing Ginny's fate as the future Mrs. Zabini. Blaise let out an audible gasp but Ginny just started laughing and for a moment, Blaise Zabini was scared for his dear life that he just got matched with a mentally unstable witch.
"Oh Merlin, are you serious?" Ginny questioned when Professor McGonagall furrowed her brows in concern. With a hesitant nod from the older witch, Ginny quickly turned white as a ghost before unceremoniously falling from the stool. As if on cue, this caused quite a stir but to Blaise's surprise, the loud protest wasn't even from her or any of her brothers but from her impressive number of fanboys. ("I will definitely have to sleep with Protego Totalum all over me after this.") Even the already partnered up boys were growling in protest while Ginny simply looked terrified by now. Or so they thought because Blaise swore he saw her lips curling into a barely noticeable proud smirk.
"Right-"
"Professor McGonagall?" Hermione's hand suddenly shot in the air as if she was in a class just as Dumbledore managed to quiet down the crowd.
"Yes, Miss Granger?"
"I believe you missed my name." She simply stated. She had noticed that they were called in order by their last names, alphabetically. In that case, her name was supposed to come out before the Greengrass sisters. She was about to ignore this in the beginning and wished that she would magically end up with nobody. However, she eventually acknowledged that was less likely to happen and a quick glance around the hall told her that she was running out of decent choice especially with Cormac McLaggen still in the list.
"Ah yes, it seems so. It must had slipped out of my mind because of the..pairings." She glanced briefly at the couples as she said so before Hermione was requested to step forward and went through the sorting first before the remaining seventh year girls.
Hermione sucked in a deep gulp of air as she unwillingly stood up and staggered to the hat. She shut her eyes tightly as the hat came in contact with her head, praying hard for her future husband to be anyone but the insufferable Gryffindor. A few minutes passed as the hat took an even longer time to decide with her. Harry and Ron exchanged a quick look of concern at the side while the rest were holding their breath in anticipation, looking forward to the fate of the last member of the Golden Trio.
Clawing at her own thigh right now, Hermione grew restless as the hat showed no sign of producing a single word. Her heart was already beating wildly, thumping against her ribcage with such force it was almost amusing. In their eyes, she also looked ready to puke her guts out right then and there. But long ago, two people had been bound together by Fate itself. With a clear, loud voice, the hat finally bellowed, "Draco Malfoy!"
A wave of gasps broke out among the crowd and spreaded out like wildfire around the hall as they gawked with their jaws open and tongue hanging out in incredulity at the newly paired couple. This had to be the most absurd one yet.
On the other hand, Draco Malfoy was on the verge of tearing his head out. He did not see that coming. When all of the girls around his age were already called out earlier, he registered with a sense of relief that he was about to pair off with someone slightly younger and utterly unfamiliar instead. However, the sudden turn of events certainly was uncalled for. Swallowing heavily, he took a small step back but it would obviously do him little good.
"Hermione?" Meanwhile, Hannah Abbott, who was the closest one to the stunned girl, cautiously took a step forward and placed a hand on her shoulder.
"Is she okay?" Ginny inquired worriedly.
"You got to be kidding me." She muttered at last.
And then, there was the inky darkness.