Prologue
Hermione Granger was relaxing in her charming little two-bedroom apartment in Port Fairy with a new book she had purchased on her way home from the market when a tapping brought her attention to the window. She was surprised to hear it as when she’d moved to the little town in Victoria, she hadn’t told anyone where she now lived. In fact, she’d had very little contact with her friends or English society since she’d left for Australia three years ago. She had wards up that she’d invented herself (mixing the more powerful pre-existing wards with a few choice Latin phrases and charms to strengthen them) and only communicated with her friends over fire calls and muggle letters sent through the post (always in awe that no matter how many times she told Ron and the other Weasley’s they only needed three to five stamps to send her their letters, they continued to completely cover the envelopes). Even then, her friends didn’t know where she lived. They just sent letters to a PO box she had charmed to move the mail to her house after a few safety stops in between.
She wasn’t paranoid, she assured herself, she was reasonable. After all, when she’d last heard from Harry just a few months ago there were still death eaters on the loose and she was a prime target, especially living on her own. She kept to herself, for the most part. She worked from home (cataloguing and sorting the magical and mundane animals that Luna Lovegood found and sent proof of for further study) and she’d really only made friends with the postwoman, Keely, who always worked the desk when she went to send her mail, and the two sweet, old couples who ran the shops she regulared. Burt and Annie always set aside new arrivals to their bookstore for her to peruse before they stocked them, and Jeffrey and Harrison never let her leave the market without fresh produce and a few sweets (“free of charge” Jeff always said with a wink). So, why, then, was there an owl she didn’t recognize tapping on her window?
Setting aside her copy of The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold (and really this owl had just awful timing), she picked up her wand and cautiously opened the window enough for the little, brown owl to get through. She glanced about quickly before shutting her window once more and taking a better look at the owl that hooted at her. For such a little bird the parcel it carried was somewhat large for it. Setting her wand back down on her end table, she set about untying the burden from the bird’s feet as it waited patiently on the back of her chair. She took note that the package was addressed to her from the British Ministry of Magic in London, and pet the bird on the head softly.
“You came all the way from London? My, that is quite a trip. I apologize but I don't have any snacks for you, as I don’t get many owls.” She told the bird. It chirped sharply in reply, though it didn’t look all that put out by what she said. She didn’t see any pouch on the bird's leg that indicated she needed to pay it for its services, so she stepped back over to the window, tucked the parcel under her arm, and reopened the exit for the bird. “Thank you for...whatever this is. I’m sure the Australian Ministry has a much closer place for you to rest before heading back to England.” The bird dipped its head at her slightly and took off the way it came, leaving Hermione to once again shut the window. Displacing Crookshanks from where he’d taken up residence on her chair with a disgruntled mewl, she set the parcel down in front of her and set about opening it. It looked as if it contained three separate packages within the large outer one, so she started with the rolled-up scroll that had been on top. Unfurling it slightly, she let out a gasp of shock and dropped it. She couldn’t have possibly read what she thought she’d read? Surely, this was some kind of mistake! Picking it up once more with slightly shaky hands, she opened it further and began to read:
Ministry Decree No. 130,902: Marriage and Repopulation Law
Instated: 1st of June, year of 2002 A.M.
Decrees within this document: Ministry Arranged Marriage Decree, Minimum of Three Live Births Decree, Banning and Disablement of Contraceptives Decree, Housing Amendment, Sexuality and Gender Accommodations Amendment
Minister Shaklebolt in accordance with the British Ministry of Magic has implemented a plan to strengthen the wizarding population through marriage and children. Each witch or wizard who is currently a free citizen of the British Ministry between the ages of 17 and 40 who have completed their basic education and is not already married is subject to arranged unions with a witch or wizard of the Ministry’s choosing. Each union will be announced on the 1st of July. Each free Witch and Wizard of Britain between the ages of 17 and 40 must be present at the mandatory meeting in ministry outbuilding number three in London, England for the pairing announcements. These announcements will take place at nine am on the 1st of July, at which time a ministry representative will be present to answer any of the public‘s questions. Anyone found to not be in attendance will be detained resulting in either a wand snapping or imprisonment in Azkaban prison. Each union is required to take place before the 31st of August. Each chosen pairing will take a two-week honeymoon period. Each chosen pairing will be required to share a dwelling until they have birthed three live children or have gotten the partnership dissolved by the Wizengamot. Each married couple in the Ministries jurisdiction affected by the 2002 marriages is required to have at least one living child by the end of the year of Merlin, 2003. Each couple will be required to take Ministry-selected fertility treatments, overseen by Head Mediwitch Bathalda Gorski at St Mungos' in conjunction with the Wizengamot and Minister of Magic Kingsley Shacklebolt, until such time that they have birthed three live children. The Ministry of Magic will begin magically disabling and banning all contraceptive spells and mechanisms (including those of muggle design) starting the 1st of July, 2002. If you are married with more than three children or require birth control for strictly medical reasons you may be given Ministry approval for monthly potions from St Mungos that you may take in front of a Mediwitch or Mediwizard to ensure you are the only one taking your prescribed potion. Anyone caught manufacturing new versions of contraceptives that are not already disabled or sharing contraceptives without Ministry approval will be subject to imprisonment in Azkaban.
Any couple seeking a dissolvement of their union before the birth of three live children will be required to discuss the reasons with the Wizengamot court under the influence of Veritaserum until the courts reach a decision about the dissolvement. Each couple affected by the 2002 marriages is required to have a minimum of three children by the 1st of January, 2012. Failure to comply without good reason, as decided upon by the Wizengamot, will result in each witch and wizard being put under house arrest with the potential for further wand snapping dependent on the situation.
Any Witch or Wizard caught fleeing these decrees will be immediately detained. Should the witch or wizard in question fail to see reason they will be thrown into Azkaban until such time that the ministry feels they can see reason.
These arranged unions will happen yearly until such a time that the Ministry feels the population has started thriving once more.
You may petition the courts before the 15th of June to be paired with a witch or wizard of your choice, after the 15th of June the choice will be up to the ministry based on compatibility studies. These compatibility studies will have been provided in addition to this announcement and are to be filled out by every free citizen of the British Ministry between the ages of 17 and 40 who is not already married and returned no later than the 15th of June. Failure to comply will result in jail time equalling the number of days that the studies are late. Enclosed you will find further instructions on how to proceed.
Anyone of a sexual or gender orientation that does not lend itself to creating children must let the ministry know so that we may accommodate you and pair you and your chosen partner with a set of partnering Witches or Wizards of the opposite sex that may become surrogate mothers or fathers. Should you fall into this category you will be required to have six children minimum between the two couples. Enclosed you will find further instructions on how to proceed.
Henceforth, from the 1st of June, 2002, all marriage services not already scheduled and not discussed with the ministry will be halted.
Following the 1st of June, 2002, all witches and wizards of Britain are banned from applying to other magical governance for relocation until such time that they have birthed three children with their ministry-appointed partner or have discussed alternative problems or conditions with the British Ministry of Magic. All pre-existing applications will be taken into consideration and dealt with accordingly. Work permits and visitation permits for travel outside the British Ministry’s jurisdiction will still exist, however, all witches and wizards affected will still be subject to British law.
Signed into Ministry bills on May the 11th of 2002 by Minister of Magic Kingsley Shacklebolt
Final amendments and edits signed into law on May the 18th of 2002 by Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot, Ursula Johnson-Piebolt
Law submitted and accepted for publication on May the 31st of 2002 by Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot, Ursula Johnson-Piebolt, in cooperation with Minister of Magic Kingsley Shacklebolt
Hermione stared at the document in utter shock, letting what she had just read absorb before rereading it twice more. It didn’t make any sense to her. Why did the ministry feel the need to take away their right to self-autonomy? Their right to choose whom to spend their lives with! Of course, the population is down currently! They had just bloody fought in a war for Morgana’s sake! They had lost a lot of people, and those still living were more concerned with being happy and not looking over their shoulders for once to worry about settling down and having families. Rubbing her palms to her eyes in frustration, she reached for the more reasonable-looking scroll left to read. She took notice of the Minister of Magic’s purple wax seal on the tie and carefully removed it to unroll the letter.
Ms Hermione Granger,
I do hope this message finds you alright wherever it is that you are currently. At this, she huffed in disdainful bemusement. You must have some very secure wards as the only way I’m able to send this to you is through the use of a modified Book of Admittance on loan to the ministry from Hogwarts for the purposes of distributing the new law to the populace. Headmistress McGonagall would like me to extend her greeting and hopes that you will feel free to visit her upon your return. I apologize for blindsiding you like this. As you are one of the most brilliant and clear-minded individuals I’ve had the pleasure of knowing, I would have liked your input on the studies before fully committing to the new Marriage Law. However, you were (as you are already aware) untraceable. This brings me to why I am writing to you in the first place; I am sure you have questions in regards to the new decrees.
Firstly, I want to assure you that this is in fact necessary.
Hermione snorted, I highly doubt that she thought to herself. Digressing, she continued to read;
We have been monitoring the population growth since my election to the office of Minister and the numbers aren’t good. While it is normal for there to be population booms and ebbs, what we are seeing is drastic decreases without the normal partnering increases. As of May 29th, when I am writing this letter, there are only 3,087 witches and wizards in British society. Compare this to the 19,492 recorded before the second wizarding war, you can see why we are so concerned. Truthfully, I am at a disadvantage in regards to knowing the correct way to handle the situation. There have only been 41 births since the final battle four years ago, but there have been 268 deaths. The Wizengamot went into a state of emergency meeting in early January to try and come up with a way to compensate for these numbers. We had arithmancers, diviners, and runeologists working tirelessly to come up with a solution. And unfortunately, this was the only one they could agree would help our society.
The 75 world-renowned arithmancers we were working with all told us that the numbers would continue to only decline, with no feasible way of obtaining the births we need to stop our race from going extinct without drastic measures like the requirement of minimum birth numbers.
The 20 diviners (and yes I am aware of your disdain for the subject and agree that it should be considered a faulty subject at best) all prophesied that without the implication of a marriage law, even if we did manage to increase our population, we would crumble as a society.
And of the 15 runologists we talked to, only one had read of a society coming back from the brink of extinction like this. She said that they only achieved this through a major population boom. 9 had not been able to find any ancient texts, runes, or anthologies about this kind of issue. And the remaining 5? They all said the same thing; the only runes they had deciphered in regard to this were from collapsing civilizations that didn’t survive seven years of the kind of population decline we are experiencing.
Hermione had to take a break from her reading, placing her head in her hands. The emotional side of her wanted nothing more than to argue that they could keep looking, that there had to be another way to fix this problem that didn’t involve forcing them into marriages and unwanted pregnancies. But the logical side? The logical side of her brain knew that what she was reading wasn’t good. In fact, it was panicking right alongside the ministry. How could there possibly have been such a decline? Surely there were more people having children than that! However, the more she thought about it, the more she realized that the trend was already noticeable. In the handful of letters she had exchanged with her friends in the last three years, she’d only received news of one birth; that of Dominique Weasley. Ginny and Ron had both urged her to come to visit the young baby but she was still mourning the loss of her parents and couldn’t bring herself to return to the Burrow where the feeling of death still hung over everything two years ago. Not one other person had written to her about a birth announcement, or even mentioned in passing a marriage or birth they knew had taken place.
I’m sure you can now appreciate the graveness of our situation. After much debate, these decrees were the only way we could see being effective in boosting our population and stabilizing the family unit to keep society from falling apart during the incline of birth rates. Without these measures, we could very well be within three years of irreparable damage to our population in Britain, if we made it that far. I can send you copies of the studies for further inquiry if it will help appease you, it would she thought, however, there is nothing more for it. Come July, everyone will be required to follow the laws we have been forced to implement. A handful of people on the Wizengamot, myself as an example, are to be included in this Marriage Decree. So, we do not make these decisions lightly. Please feel free to reach out for anything; questions, a shoulder to cry on, someone level-headed to speak to, or help with relocating back to Europe. I am only a quill away.
Regrettably,
Kingsley Shacklebolt
Fuck. Hermione thought, eyeing the final package with apprehension. She had a terrible feeling in the pit of her stomach, and she just knew that this was not going to go well.
Hermione and Ron had dated for a few months before she returned to school and he went into his Auror training. They tried to make it work but conflicting schedules and wanting different things in life led to their somewhat awkward split. It probably would have been worse had they still been living in the same place, but as she was dorming in Gryffindor tower and not at the Burrow it helped to keep them from running into each other at random times. She had been offered the Head Girl position, however, she didn’t feel right taking it. It was all she’d wanted in terms of schooling but now it just felt like a childish daydream. Besides, she was an eighth year, it wasn’t fair to the current seventh years for her to take the Head position.
She had kept her head down, studying just as hard as always and spending even more time in the library attempting to hide from the younger students who wanted to ask about the war and her time on the run. It bothered her to no end that no matter how hard she tried to forget that dark period and move on, they just wouldn’t let her. She wasn’t the only one who was trying to avoid the masses; she rarely ever saw Luna, and aside from classes Neville was scarce to be seen as well. Ginny barely left the dorm outside of classes either, except for quidditch practice and games. Hermione knew that being at Hogwarts at all hurt Ginny, the death of Fred still hanging over the whole Weasley clan. It was made worse being back where he’d died but like Hermione, Ginny wanted to finish her education. Unlike her and Ron, she and Harry seemed to be going steady still.
Another group of students who couldn’t avoid the questions and stares, albeit for different reasons, were the returning Slytherins. Especially Malfoy. She couldn’t believe he’d actually returned and was weirded out greatly when he’d offered his apologies in the first week for his past transgressions. His exact words had been, “Hey Granger, I wanted to extend my apologies for the way I’ve acted in the past. The ministry is insisting I make amends with those that I’ve wronged as part of my probation and I thought I’d start with you. So...sorry.” Of course, that was the only time he’d spoken to her all year, keeping his head down more than she was, but it was a nice change from constantly being on her toes and verbally (and occasionally physically) sparring with the boy. That had become so tedious and annoying by the time she had gone on the run, having a break from it was one more thing she was grateful for. She still didn’t really trust him, nor had she forgotten what he’d done, but he seemed to be trying everything in his power to melt into the metaphorical woodwork of the halls. She saw him occasionally in the library, at a table a few down from hers with Theo Nott and Gregory Goyle but aside from a head nod in greeting they didn’t interact. Theo, however, she saw quite a bit of. She ran into him a few times at the beginning of the year in the library, taking out similar books as her and offering a few polite pleasantries. It turned into sharing a table in amiable silence, and before long she was helping him with homework and laughing at his corny jokes (while receiving a heatless reprimand from Madam Pince). It was a nice change of pace, hanging out with him. He wasn’t anywhere near as close to her as she and Harry or herself and Ginny (who had grown closer to her after the war and with whom she shared a dorm that year) were, but intellectually he was more her equal and the conversation was often stimulating in a way that most of theirs weren’t. She didn’t hold it against her friends to not be as astute or studious as she was, but to not have to help Harry with his homework (or practically do Ron’s for him) was refreshing. She could compare class notes with Theo, and discuss different methods of charm alteration, and what would happen if you exchanged X for Y in a potion. Eventually, Daphne Greengrass joined their study group as well, being Theo’s girlfriend and an intellectual equal, she offered even more opinions and theories. Between that, and having “girl talk” as Ginny called it (consisting of, in her opinion, pretty useless chatter about things like makeup and hairdos, as well as what to wear when, and what boys were cute and who wasn’t (and yes Mione, Ginny had said, I am allowed to look as long as I don’t touch. I’m taken, not blind.)) in her dorm most nights, the year seemed to just fly by. Before she knew it, it was May and she was spending all her time studying for her NEWTs. She passed everything with Outstandings of course. Well... almost all Outstandings but she was not going to think about Herbology in which she had only passed with Exceeds Expectations. She just didn’t have a very good green thumb dammit! She was top of the class at graduation with Malfoy in a close second, followed by Daphne and a Ravenclaw student named Olivia behind him. When July rolled into August and she didn’t need to return to Hogwarts she decided it was time to try and bring her parents home. She had no idea if it was even possible, or if they’d want to come back to Europe if it was but anything had to be better than tip-toeing around Ron and the rest of the Weasleys. She was in contact with the Tracers in the Magical Transportation department in the reestablished British Ministry, as well as Tracers in the Australian-New Zealand joint Ministry for a few months before they narrowed down the last known location to Laverton in Melbourne. She booked an international portkey and was there in a matter of days. Unfortunately, it was harder from there to find them. When she’d altered their memories to forget her she’d changed their names from Monica and Wendell Granger to Lisa and Henry Smith, and no one seemed to know anything about either identity or where they were now. At last, she’d run into a Ms Jiles who’d worked with them at the dentist’s office two towns over who let her know that last she’d heard they were in Port Fairy. On October 12th, Hermione arrived in Port Fairy herself. On October 17th, she was told that the only people who matched her parent's description had passed away. On October 18th, she found their graves.
She let out a breath from her constricting lungs at the thought of her parents and brushed away a stray tear as it escaped. She had been nine months too late. She often thought about the what-ifs; what if she hadn’t gone back to school before going to find them? What if she’d sent them to America or Africa instead? What if they hadn’t been on the road on January 4th, what if the drunk driver had stayed wherever he’d come from, what if it hadn’t been raining, what if the ambulance had been just a little faster? All of these things tormented her mind and she knew if she let herself think about them too long she’d go absolutely mad. She wondered now how they’d react to this new bout of news. They’d probably tell her to give up her wand. They’d tell her that there were more important things in the world than magic, and her own ability to make choices was one of them. Chuckling softly, Hermione realized she’d be disagreeing with them. She’d argue that she had spent so long proving that she belonged, that now that she finally felt like she had solid footing and a place in the world, it would be a waste to throw it all away and try to live without magic. It was a part of her, how do you choose to leave a part of yourself behind?
Sitting in silence for a few minutes, letting her mind come back to the present reality she knew she’d have no other option but to oblige this stupid law. She could try and find loopholes and fight it once she was back, but until then she’d do what the law said she had to.
She wondered who she’d get stuck with. She hoped it wasn’t Ron or Harry (who had been broken up with by Ginny a few months ago). With Ron, there was at least some passion but it was the wrong kind. They fought constantly, he was immature and too sensitive for her straightforward arguments. He didn’t want more than one kid. She wanted to have three or four (having hated growing up as an only child).
He loved being in the spotlight; being stopped by reporters and fans, and talking to magazines, and all that came with the trappings of fame.
She, on the other hand, hated it. She didn’t need her life written about in some trashy article in the Daily Prophet, didn’t want a camera in her face while she tried to buy groceries in her ratty pj's with her hair in an extremely messy bun. Sure, she and Ron were back to almost normal now that they’d been just friends again these last few years but there was still the undercurrent of tension there. She knew he wanted to get back together with her if for nothing more than it was what everyone expected.
That had been Ginny and Harry’s problem; everyone expected them to be together but when it came down to it the relationship lacked something. Ginny had told her it was looking through rose-coloured glasses that had led to them getting back together in the first place when the war had ended. But without the walls of the school or Ron and Hermione constantly around them, they didn’t have the passion or the drive to make it work. As far as Hermione knew from everyone’s letters, they were doing much better than she and Ron had been after their split. The breakup had been mutual and they remained friends now instead. She and Ron’s split had been mutual too if you asked Ron, but Hermione knew that mostly it was her who wanted the breakup.
On the other hand, being paired with Harry would be too weird. They had similar interests and wants in life, sure, but he was practically her brother. She considered him family and knew he did as well. Being forced to have a romantic or sexual relationship with him would be too awkward. Like having “The Talk” with your parents, awkward.
She tried to imagine who else she might get paired with; she couldn’t remember a whole lot of people and didn’t know who was single and who wasn’t. She supposed that Theo would be a viable option if he and Daphne weren’t still going out. She didn’t really fancy him but at least they’d have interesting conversations. Or maybe Blaise Zabini, she hadn’t talked to him much in school but he had a reputation for being good in bed. Having arm candy and someone who was a good shag wouldn’t be so bad. Of course, this whole thing would have been so much easier if she could decide for herself who she wanted to go out with, or even just know how they were pairing everyone up.
Yes, the letter had said it was some kind of “Compatibility Questionnaire” or whatever, but she didn’t put much stock in those. It was probably like one of those corny tests in the back of teen magazines, “What is your love language?”, “Are you and your best friend ‘best friends forever’ material?”, “What new hairstyle should you try? Answer these questions and find out!” It was laughable how stupid those were and just how many girls filled them out expecting real answers. They were almost never accurate. Sighing, and tucking a stray hair behind her ear she decided that it was one of the questions she’d need to ask Shacklebolt when she replied to his letter. Which reminded her, standing up and dusting the stray cat hair from her trousers, she needed to write to Harry and everyone that she’d be coming home. She wondered if any of them would be writing to her anyway about this new law.
～Edited 19th Jan, 2022