The Marriage Law

The Letters

Hermione's POV:

The night after the announcement, I skipped dinner. Not because I didn't want to face Ron, but because I didn't want to face Mrs. Weasley. When Harry came in to coax me out, I pretended to be asleep. By the time Ginny came in, I really was. I slept fitfully, waking up every hour, tossing and turning over who I would get paired with. My mind kept returning to the worst case scenarios: Malfoy. Zabini. McClaggen. Ron. 

When I woke up the next morning, it was to Mrs. Weasley knocking gently on the door. 

"Hermione, dear? Kingsley's here. He wants to speak to all of us."

"I'll be right there."

I got dressed quickly, throwing on a pair of jeans and a nice blouse. When I arrived in the living room, I saw everyone sitting silently and somberly in the living room. Kingsley Shacklebolt stood in the corner, whispering with Bill. When they saw me, Bill sat down with his arm around Fleur. In an effort to stay as far away from Ron as possible, I set down in between Fred and George, who actually managed to keep their mouths shut for once. Fred rubbed my shoulder encouragingly as Kingsley started talking.

"As all of you know, there was a marriage law passed by the ministry early yesterday morning. It requires all witches and wizards between the ages of 17 and 40 to be married within a year to a ministry selected partner. Unfortunately, that includes all of you."

"But Bill and I are already married!" Fleur exclaimed. Kingsley's grim face broke into a bit of a smile as he reassured Fleur.

"The ministry is aware of that. You and Bill, as well as Ginny and Harry now that they're engaged, are exempt from the first part off the law."

"And what eez the second part of ze law?"

"You'll still be required to have or be expecting a child within a year."

Bill started laughing. It was deep and kind, the kind of laugh that made the rest of us smile, even though we were scared and had no idea what was so funny. Grabbing Fleur's hand Bill said,

"Well, then I guess we're done. We found out today-Fleur's pregnant!"

"I'm going to be a grandmother!"

Mrs. Weasley almost crushed Bill and Fleur in her excitement.  It took ten minutes and two boxes of tissues before she stopped crying and Kingsley could continue. 

"Well, Bill and Fleur may not be affected, but the rest of you are. Harry and Ginny, here's a letter telling you the dates you need to have married and conceived by." He handed the couple a very official looking envelope with the Ministy seal on it. "As for everyone else...I have letters for Fred, George, and Ron. Percy is getting his by owl later today and Charlie is exempt since he lives in Romania."

I watched as everyone received their letters. Only when Fred announced (blushing furiously) that he was matched with Angelina Johnson did it occur to me that I hadn't gotten a letter. Mrs. Weasley must have noticed too because just then she said,

"Kingsley, what about Hermione? Does she get a letter?"

I watched as Kingsley's face fell. His already somber expression turned even more so as he faced me.

"Hermione...can I...can I talk to you outside?"

I felt my heart shatter as I nodded and followed Kingsley outside into the Burrows garden. I felt sure he was about to tell me I couldn't have kids. As much as I didn't want to be married off to a stranger, I wanted kids even more. 

"Well, Hermione-"

"Kingsley, just be straight with me. If I can't have kids, I want to know now."

"Oh, Hermione, I'm so sorry!" Kingsley grabs my hands in his to console me. "I should have known that's what you would assume. No, as far as we know, you are perfectly capable of having kids. It's your match that I want to talk to you about."

I laugh. 

"What could be so important about my match that the Minister of Magic himself had to come tell me about it?"

"Well, he's older than you." Kinglsey sighs. "Like, a lot older. He's also...not very popular in the wizarding community. I actually tried to have him exempted from the law in fear of his wife becoming an outcast, but no such luck."

"Not very popular? Older?" I chuckled humorlessly. "Kingsley, please tell me I'm not marrying Lucius Malfoy."

"No. You're marrying Sirius Black."