I took the Marriage Rules from Expectations and the Tale of Beedle and the Bard by anarchyartist23 (with permission!), and changed things up a little, adding in rules of my own too.

I am definitely not JK Rowling.

I started writing this story in 2010 and restarted it by rewriting chapters 5-10 in November 2015 so I'm now updating regularly!

The girl in this story is one year younger than Albus and Rose, one year older than Lily - 9 years younger than Teddy. Just a heads up if you don't like it. Teddy is 25, she is 17 (Born on October 22) and it begins in November.

"Marriage Law as Set Forth by British Ministry of Magic, 2022
Minister for Magic, Torphin Leonidas
British Ambassador, Percy Ignatius Weasley

*What follows is a series of acts housed under the Marriage Law as set forth by the Wizengamot Council in order to deal with the rise in Squibs and the decline of able-bodied witches and wizards in Britain's wizarding community.

*Failure to comply with the law will result in a five-year sentence in Azkaban after which the witch or wizard will be put before the Wizengamot to decide their suitability to return to the magical community or an immediate removal of wand, never to return to magical life.

*Upon receiving written notification of spouse, each couple has exactly three months to provide adequate proof of matrimony.

Rules and Stipulations:

All witches and wizards between the ages of 17 and 30 must marry a magical person of the Ministry's choosing if not already engaged or married. (Please note that the Ministry will attempt to partner people of close ages and similar characters, although in select cases this may not be possible)

Couples who are already together but are not engaged may enter pleas between the dates of November 3rd, 2022 and December 23rd, 2022 if they can prove at least one year of relations and/or proof of sexual relations which would make them unfit to marry another witch or wizard. Special pleas which involve a pregnancy before the stipulated one year time period will be granted.

Single witches and wizards who do not fall into marriageable age as set forth by the Marriage Law may petition the Ministry for a suitable match after undergoing an extensive background check.

Divorce is only possible after five years of marriage and at least one successful pregnancy.

Witches and wizards who wish to commit to marriage with a muggle of their choice must immediately contact the British Ambassador directly, Percy Weasley.

Witches and wizards wishing to commit to marriage with a witch or wizard who does not fall under the jurisdiction of the British Ministry of Magic may request a meeting with the Department of International Magical Cooperation.

Any questions regarding the law can be directed to Alaric Aleel, Senior Undersecretary. For the complete set of rules, please send a request by owl to the Department of Magical Law Enforcement."

The morning post had been accompanied by a special copy of the Daily Prophet, which the Ministry paid to be delivered to all witches and wizards, even those who didn't already have a subscription. This wouldn't have cost them much, as most people already had subscriptions, but it tended to include rather a few Hogwarts students so it might well have ended up more expensive than they'd imagined.

Headmistress Delaney had read it out in the Great Hall, despite the majority of students having already read through it before she'd finished. However, in doing this she'd managed to call the attention of the students to the newspaper when many of them had ignored it and so the message was spread much more quickly and calmly than it would have been otherwise.

In some cases, the jaws were slow to descend, and in others, sheer rage or confusion was an early expression on their faces.

Nothing had even hinted that this would be happening to the students, and by the looks on the teacher's faces they'd had no clue such a thing would come about either. I guessed it was probably something due to the slow realisation that after the war, there were less pureblood magical children in our generation or something.

Although really that might not explain why they were implementing it under the guise of an increase in the number of squibs. The intake at Hogwarts hadn't seemed to be getting any smaller over the years I'd been here... Only getting slightly larger if anything.

As soon as Delaney's voice had subsided, the hall broke out into a cacophony of whispers, calls and shouts over the matter.

'I swear! Leonidas' finally lost it! I was worried last year, when he-'

'Ridiculous! Absolutely bloody ridiculous!'

'This has got to be some kind of sick joke right!?' One boy nearby called to his friend in Ravenclaw, obviously hoping for a more logical explanation.

'Yeah! They can't really-' was the young Ravenclaw boy's response, drowned out as the noise hit an all-time high.

'That's your uncle's name on that Weasley!' One of Percy Weasley's nephews' best friends had seemed to take it upon himself to turn against him.

'I don't know! He wouldn't have!' Came the earnest enough sounding reply, despite being rather silly as his name was rather plainly there.

I looked to my right at the sound of a shriek, followed by a girl claiming her friend was dying from hyperventilation. The girl in question was quite obviously a fifth year, sitting three seats down to my right.

This meant that she wasn't eligible for the Marriage Law, and so I was obviously confused and curious. The answer came when she calmed down enough to ask anyone she thought would be listening how she could fulfill her five-year plan to get engaged to Albus Potter if he was going to be married to someone else for that time.

I scoffed, accidentally rather loudly. It was probably due to the noise around me that I didn't realise until the girl and her gaggle of friends who had been nodding sympathetically at her turned to me with their scarily identical looks of disgust.

Of course it would be what some people were talking about... What their concerns would be. Well, more understandably when they were in the position to be forced into a marriage arranged by the Ministry of Magic that was.

After about five minutes of this, Delaney seemed to decide that her eardrums had had enough and called the Great Hall to silence. As breakfast was now apparently over much to the annoyance of a few late first years, everyone in the fifth year and below (along with the majority of sixth year students who weren't yet 17) were given the privilege of cancelled lessons whilst the eligible sixth and seventh years would talk over their reactions and feelings.

Let's just say, talking to people, let alone strangers as most of the students still are, has never been my forte. In fact, I tend to be much less open than most people here, well vocally anyway. I've been so bad at talking to people, or so good at hiding from them, that even though I'd spent the past 6 years with these people, Albus Potter still took it upon himself to joke about me being the 'New Girl', or the 'Mute'.

I suppose I shouldn't give myself too much of a bad time. I mean, it's not completely my fault that people don't seem bothered by me. Well, apart from a Hufflepuff or two who I'd met over time, the Scamander twins or my best friend. I mean, I'm a shy muggle-born Gryffindor - not exactly what people think of when they hear brave and courageous. Why I was sorted into this house is a mystery even to me, whose idea of a good night is snuggling up in bed with a good book and some well made hot chocolate.

I'm not exactly the partying wild child that the majority of Gryffindors either are, or wish they are.

My school seems to think wanting nothing more than a quiet night is an odd thing for a Gryffindor. If I'd been sorted into Hufflepuff or Ravenclaw, maybe I would have found more acceptance and have more friends, but alas it was not to be. Of course, I might not have been this way if not for my roommates, but that's for another day.

Not to mention that I think my appearance seems to weird people out too. It always has, even when I was in a muggle primary school, however they'd taken to me eventually, through all the bullying. I guess that maybe given the right clothes and makeup, I might be considered halfway decent looking, but Hogwarts doesn't give many opportunities to explore those, and I think I'd prefer to have friends for who I am generally.

'I'd like to take it in turns to say something about the new law, and your reactions. We all know this is a rather scary time and we are all here for you. No one will interrupt another student and nothing anyone says is to be repeated outside this hall unless you're given permission to do so. You may only speak when I say your name.' I zoned out after that.

Delaney likes to have the odd inter-House Quidditch style pep talk. Rumour has it that she got it off her father when he used to be the English Quidditch Captain back in the day. With him at the helm, they managed to come close to winning two World Cup trophies.

I'd taken a seat right at the other end of the horseshoe to the one she started at, so I had enough time to adjust to the shock, as I'd be the last to speak. It seemed that as Delaney announced each person, she would also announce their future spouse from a strange-looking list that had dropped in her breakfast along with the Ministry's announcement.

Albus Severus Potter is to be married to the very red-haired beauty that is Daphne Wick. I saw that one coming to be quite honest, they've been secretly in love with each other for years. Just glad the Ministry got it right for the two of them.

The line seems to carry on in this vein. Couples who everyone could see would eventually get together anyway, or those who were already together found themselves engaged all over the place. There were few people in the Great Hall who didn't get matched with someone they really liked.

Except for me and a girl named Kary-Ann Spinnet that is. Kary-Ann was a seventh year who'd had her heart broken rather badly by her ex-boyfriend last year and was still recovering. He'd left the school to start work in a shop in Diagon Alley, promptly breaking up with her for a witch he met whilst there, and she'd been left to pick up the pieces.

'Kary-Ann Spinnet... And Justin Lee Jordan.' Delaney said with as much conviction as she could muster. Justin was Freddie Weasley's best friend at Hogwarts and they created pure havoc together with James Potter. I looked over to Spinnet, and thankfully she didn't seem too upset. Apparently their parents were old friends as she told us all, and he was a really nice guy so she was sure he'd be good to her.

Rose Weasley, sitting around the middle of the group, just made the really good point that there was a chance that if the Ministry were to get it wrong, or couples find they weren't as compatible as the Ministry thought they would be, they could waste five years of their young adult lives with someone who wasn't right.

Of course, she was marrying her sweetheart Scorpius Malfoy though, so she was still blushing happily whilst saying this.

Malfoy seems to think that there should be the chance to divorce if a spouse turns out to be abusive. I hadn't thought of that, and it set a girl off wailing loudly. It was then that I realised that a lot of people were crying, it just depended if they'd already been told who they were with, as to whether they were tears of happiness or sadness.

I guess this is one of those things which doesn't hit you until it does, and then BAM! It's all real and you're going to be married soon without any wriggle room or choice in the matter.

PRESENT TENSE

Oh Merlin. Maybe this is my BAM moment? And because I said it could come, it has come? Breathe! Breathe!

My heart's thudding, my breathing has increased. How did I not notice this before!? At least I'm not crying. That's a plus right?

Wow.

They're only four people away. There are only four people until I know who I'm going to marry... And all I know already is that they're going to be a former student like Kary-Ann's match was because there's no one left in the horseshoe apart from me who is still single.

You know when something's playing out in slow motion and you want to stop it, but you can't? And then you realise its coming quicker than you want and you can't do anything to slow it down either? I didn't... Until now!

I mean... Godric! What'm I going to tell my parents? How are they going to react to the fact that their daughter is suddenly getting married to someone she doesn't know, 'between the ages of 17 and 30'? The Ministry said they'd get it close but after this announcement, if there's one thing I'm not sure I trust any more, it's the Ministry of Magic!

Three...

Two...

One...

'Lastly. Amelie Cassandra Celia Edwards.' Did she need the whole name? Pretty sure she could have just stuck with Amelie Cassandra and been done with it. And she's speaking so slowly! 'Sixth Year... Born 22nd of October...' Yes! I know! If I was born a few months down the line, or even a couple of weeks, I'd be exempt as most of my year were. But I wasn't so like one other sixth year, I'm not, and I know that if I know the Fat Lady can't sing!

Wait. I missed the name with my stupid inner rant. What was his name? What? And everyone's staring at me. Presumably to find out my reaction right?

'I-I-I'm sorry... Could you please repeat that?' I hear myself muttering, stammering the first part because I'm so nervous talking in from of that many people. Jeez, I mean I get panic attacks sometimes having to answer a question in class...

Delaney paused after my name this time to take in a deep, calming breath before continuing.

"Teddy Remus Lupin... Quidditch Player for the Chudley Cannons and England Captain..." Another deep breath. "25... Born-'

And that's when I stand up in shock and everything goes black. I don't feel the pain of falling so I guess I fainted before I hit the ground...