Chapter Text
Hermione Granger eyed the owl-delivered envelope from the Ministry with some trepidation. Supposedly, the name of her future husband was contained within it. She sighed because at just twenty-two years of age, she really had no desire to marry anyone, yet. She was not really against the idea of marriage. She just wanted to wait until she found someone whom she could love and who could love her back. Unfortunately, however, she was not even being given the option to do that at the current time. It was all due to the Ministry’s fears about the decreasing Wizarding population that had caused them to pass a damn Marriage Law. Consequently, all witches and wizards of reasonable child bearing age were expected to comply – or be forced to leave the wizarding world forever.
Of course, Hermione had put a contingency plan into place as soon as the rumors had started. (She was the brightest witch of her age, after all!). She knew that she could easily live as a muggle, but she really did not want to give up all of the knowledge and power for which she worked and fought for so hard and so long. Therefore, there was an untraceable wand, an unregistered international portkey, a full set of legal wizarding documents under the name of Mia Wilkins, and a sackful of galleons waiting for her in a safety deposit box in a muggle bank in London – just in case.
In spite of all this, however, she did not really want to leave Wizarding Britain. After all, her friends were there. Both Harry and Ron, as well as the rest of the previously unattached Weasleys, had all gotten married in the last couple of years. However, they were all still close to her, and she did not want to leave the comfort and security of those longstanding relationships. That was especially true since her parents were lost to her due to the irreversible Obliviates that she had placed them under several years ago in order to save them from Voldemort and his crazed followers. It had worked, too. They were still alive...and apparently happy...in Australia. However, they had no memory of their daughter and, unfortunately, that was the way that it had to stay!
As a result, Hermione was willing to give the extremely inconvenient Marriage Law just one shot. She determined that she would stay long enough to see to whom she was matched and to see if a relationship with this unknown person had any chance of working at all. She rationalized that... if the news was not good...then she could still be gone within twenty-four hours of receiving her letter!
She was not really hopeful about the man...even though he was supposed to be her closest match in both personality and pure magical skill and power...at least according to the powerful eHarmonious spell that the Ministry had utilized to arrange the matches in the first place. She had to admit, though, that she was really quite curious as to whom this referred. She knew that things like compatibility could possibly change over the years, depending on life experiences, etc. Consequently, at the current time, she did not know of anybody her own age...or any student in any year (with whom she had attended Hogwarts)...to whom this description could easily apply.
Realistically, she guessed that it could also be someone she had never heard of: someone who had attended school out of the country or who had been privately tutored. It could even be someone in the older generation. That was a thought! The age range for the marriage law was wide enough that the most of her friends’ and classmates’ parents would be eligible, too - if they were single. Hermione was not against the idea of an older husband, though. Far from it! In fact, she really thought that it would be a more likely scenario for compatibility than someone near her own age.
At any rate, her extreme curiosity dictated that she could not leave the country – not yet – at least until she knew for sure. In fact, deep down inside, she knew that she was holding onto a faint tiny hope that somehow it could all still work out for her. As unlikely as that dream was, Hermione was hoping that she could stay in England, near her friends, with a husband whom she could really care about and who would care about her in return.
The witch looked doubtfully down at the envelope in her hand again as she mused about how much her future happiness depended on its contents! Then she took a deep breath as she slowly opened it and pulled out the letter. It took every bit of Gryffindor courage that she had just to glance at the name inside. Only then did she quickly released the breath that she did not even realize that she had been holding with a loud “Oomph!” and she sat down hard as her legs gave out with surprise.
After all of this time…this is quite unexpected. Her thoughts were hesitant, yet hopeful. However...perhaps...I can work with this! Hermione reflected upon the man whose name was written down in front of her as her perfect match. She thought about their tumultuous history first, but then she remembered his loyalty, bravery, intellect, and skill. Finally, she nodded in relief.
Yes, I think he might be the one person who could really understand. Maybe we can make this work after all.
Then she smiled, a bit grimly, as she thought about what his reaction to the news would be. Remembering him as she did, she was sure that he would not be pleased at all...especially at first...and she wondered what steps he would take to try to get out of the match altogether. Knowing him, she was sure that he probably had a contingency plan set up, as well, just like she did. In fact, she thought that he would probably try to get her to reject him outright, in order to buy himself some more time to put his plan into motion. At any rate, she was certain that he would try to fight it every step of the way – unless she somehow managed to get him to change his mind!
At first, her emotions fluctuated wildly at that particular realization as they touched upon everything between certain disappointment and fervent hope that she could actually succeed...before they settled firmly on the latter.
Fortunately, she thought with some glee at the prospect, one thing that the war taught me is that I’m VERY good at fighting, as well! He won't even know what hit him!