Chapter 1
Avalon Perry was something of an oddity in the wizarding world. Having received no formal education, she resided in the outermost reaches of civilisation, as far away from any pesky witches and wizards that might wish to stick their noses where they don’t belong. That is how she had lived her entire life, a recluse, that didn’t wish to socialize with any of the riff raff that had found themselves wandering to her door over the years. Her mother had lived much the same, ignoring the wizarding folk that came barging into their little cottage in the middle of nowhere.
The wizarding folk that was. The muggles that came knocking were usually welcomed in with a kind smile and an offer of a cup of tea. Avalon had spent most of her childhood with strangers sitting at her kitchen table, dazed looks etched into their faces as they peered around at the strange home they had found themselves in. It wasn’t until she was older that she realised not everyone could do the things that she and her mother could. It seemed such a strange notion to her at the time; that the people who passed through her home could never accomplish even the simplest things that she did on the daily. They could never make a cup of tea with only a wave of a hand, they could never open a window from across the room, they would never be able to taste the magic that permeated through the air with every action that Avalon and her mother did.
She envied these muggles sometimes, to be able to live life with such wonder. Being able to question how unexplainable things happen without having the answers all the time. Magic was a brilliant thing, but it did take some of the wonder out of life.
This was why her mother disliked other magic folk. They didn’t question. They merely accepted that magic was magic. Why question something that you know exists and can see for yourself? Much like muggles could never understand magic, Nimue Perry would never understand how wizards managed to lose the magic of everyday life. She made sure that her daughter would never think like the wizards she had met, who had no whimsy within them. And to Nimue and Avalon Perry, whimsy was half the fun of being magical.
Avalon had carried on her mother’s work after she had passed. She continued to help the muggles that came to her, hearing word of the family in the cottage in the woods that would help those in need. It didn’t matter what that help was, if it was healing a broken bone, curing insomnia or being a haven for those who needed a place to go. She also taught her daughter, Laudine, just as her mother had taught her. She taught her to care for those in need, to always be there for those she cared about, to treasure her magic like the gift it was and to never lose her wonder. But most importantly, she warned her never to trust those who had lost their wonder.
Avalon had planned to live and raise her daughter much as her own mother had done. Which meant, raising her alone and away from the rest of wizarding society. Sadly, the universe and the ministry of magic didn’t have the same opinions.
The letter had arrived in the early hours of the morning. She hadn’t opened it. The emerald seal was still intact as she stared at it. She knew, or rather feared what was inside it. The newspapers hadn’t stopped wittering on about it for weeks at this point, she had almost unsubscribed from the daily prophet because of it. She’d only really had it to keep updated on the war, despite her seclusion, the war did bleed into her little corner of the world and her friends and customers had all been affected to varying degrees. Mainly the fear of the unknown had affected them, even the muggle news sources had been reporting on the ‘strange incidents’ that kept occurring. Avalon had had to make several batches of sleeping draughts in those months to keep the local village calm and rested. Still, the prophet had been of some use during those nights where everything seemed rather uncertain. And it had maintained its use in the last few weeks to alert her to the ministry’s bout of madness. She had hoped that she might have escaped their notice and would be spared this idiocy. It seemed it wasn’t to be, though.
Her hand brushed the paper, her breath stilled and her heart seemed to freeze in her chest.
“Mama!” Laudine’s voice called from the stairs, “I can’t find my jumper!” Ah yes, the horrible burgundy cardigan that her daughter’s school forced her to wear and that always seemed to end up in the strangest of places.
She mumbled ‘accio jumper’ under her breath and the mass of red wool came flying towards her face. She ushered Laudine closer to her and tugged the itchy fabric onto her daughter. She was practically convinced that Laudine had begun hiding the horrid thing in an attempt to not wear it. The defeated look on her face certainly pointed in that direction as she grabbed the ends of her sleeves and messed with the fraying strings. Avalon pushed the fiery red waves of hair out of her daughter’s face, running her finger over a smudge of dirt that streaked across her freckled cheek before motioning her towards the door.
A quick glance at the clock perched on the mantle showed that they were already running ten minutes late. She must have spent longer pondering the letter than she had thought. The reminder of the letter only further soured her day, she glared at the piece of parchment as they rushed out of the cottage.
She peered at her watch and sighed in frustration, “Come on, we’ll have to apparate. We’ll never make it in time and I don’t need Mrs. Calderwell giving me another lecture on punctuality.” Laudine giggled at the face her mother pulled and grabbed her hand, holding her breath in anticipation of the horrible mode of transport.
The feeling of being pulled through your naval was a feeling that Avalon would never enjoy. She truly loathed apparating, but her dislike of Mrs. Caldwell’s lectures was vastly more. They appeared around the corner from Laudine’s school, she could see the other year 5s were already queueing up to go in and she could see Mrs. Caldwell’s steely gaze glancing through all the students and parents. She spotted her dear friend Cynthia also scouring the gathered parents. Laudine pulled her mother forward towards her classmates and Cynthia’s face lit up as she spotted her friend. The tutting of Mrs. Caldwell was dismissed as Avalon felt the first moment of peace for the day under the watchful eye of Cynthia Parish.
“You look like you’ve seen a battlefield.” Cynthia’s soft voice floated to Avalon, the woman’s hand came to rest on Avalon’s arm.
“I feel like I’ve seen a battle.” She chuckled out the words. She wasn’t sure whether she wanted Cynthia to spot the mirth or merely laugh it off with her.
She waved to Laudine as her class went in and sighed, knowing that Laudine would not have to witness her mother’s stress for at least a few more hours. She hoped by that time, she would feel alright.
“That bad? Fancy a drink?” Avalon nodded and Cynthia smiled, pulling the red haired woman into a tight hug, “It’ll have to be your place I’m afraid, four boys will leave a house looking like a bomb hit it.” Avalon was always slightly in awe of her friend, she struggled with a single child and Cynthia managed to look after four. Granted, Cynthia’s children couldn’t make things float on a whim, but four non magical children surely were more difficult to look after than a single magical child.
Avalon almost collapsed into her chair when they finally reached her home. The letter was still sitting on the table staring up at her as if it were mocking her. Cynthia sat across from her, staying silent while Avalon decompressed. When she finally found the energy to look at her friend, she waved her hand and the kettle on the stove began to boil. The tea made itself as the two sat in companionable silence. The ministry of magic would have a field day if they knew she were doing magic in front of a muggle, but Cynthia had known of Avalon’s less than normal quirks since they were teenagers and the ministry hadn’t come knocking yet. She had hoped that that meant she wasn’t on their records but the letter that still sat unopened on the table between them proved that wasn’t the case.
“So what’s wrong?” Cynthia broke the silence, leaning across the table to fetch the sugar bowl. “Something has clearly fucked you up.” She loaded three large teaspoons of sugar into her tea. Avalon could never have such sweet tea, she only kept the sugar bowl for guests, she didn’t like it in her tea.
“Do you remember me telling you about the ministry rumours?” Avalon had always shared her worries with Cynthia. At the time, the two of them had joked about it, had spoken about how insane the ministry were if they were seriously contemplating it. The public backlash alone would be enough to curb any wayward decisions by the ministry, or so they had thought, “Well, I don’t think they’re rumours anymore.”
Cynthia stared at her friend confused, “You don’t think?”
Avalon shook her head and motioned towards the letter, “Why else would the ministry be owling me?” Her friend studied the paper, picking it up and twisting it through her hands. Avalon’s breath caught in her throat as she watched Cynthia rip into the seal and unfold the paper. “Cynthia! That’s private!”
She shot Avalon a glare, “You and I both know that this letter will never be opened if I leave you to do it.” She moved it away from Avalon’s grabbing hands and left the ginger haired woman to pout in her seat.
“Well, what does it say?” Petulant was not a word that Nimue Perry would have allowed her daughter to be called, however Avalon certainly felt like a petulant child with the glare that Cynthia had levelled on her.
Cynthia cleared her throat before she began reading from the letter.
“Dear Miss Avalon Cecilia Perry,
As you are probably aware, after the recent wizarding war, the magical population of Great Britain has seen a significant decline and as such, the ministry is being forced to aid. It is therefore our responsibility that you have been deemed fit to take part in the Ministry’s new Repopulation Law.
Enclosed you will find a short survey that should take no longer than 30 minutes to complete. This will help us to pair you with a suitable partner. After your pairing, you will be required to attend three ministry sanctioned “dates” over a period of three weeks in which you will get to know your partner. After these dates have concluded you will be required to wed within two months and produce a child within two years.
If you have any reason to believe that you are not suitable to be part of this act you may write to the ministry with your reasons. These should not include, having a previous child, being in a short term (less than two months) relationship, having issues with the new law in general or any other petty mis grievance. However, these may include being a homosexual or infertile. In these such cases, the ministry may still request you to take part in the law with appropriate changes given. This may include being requested to adopt or foster with a ministry selected partner.
Please submit your survey within one week of receiving this letter.
Many thanks,
Irma Solice, Head of the Department of Repopulation.”
Cynthia placed the letter on the table between them and took a sip of her tea that was now quite cold.
Avalon looked up from where her head had been resting in her hands, “Well, shit.”