A/N: I know. Marriage law fic. Cliché. Overdone. But I couldn't get this idea out of my head. This isn't going to JUST be Rose/Scorpius. It will also be James/OC and Albus/OC. I'll be honest here. I've only ever read one marriage law fic before and it was a Sirius/Hermione story. As Rose/Scorpius is probably my favorite pairing, I wanted to write one about them. I thought it would be an interesting start if Scorpius chose her, even though neither of them fancies the other. Please be brutally honest about this. Give the first chapter a fair shake and give me some honest feedback if you like it or not.

Yours,

MofDA

Disclaimer: I own nothing!

…

"Weasley."

"Which one?"

"You know which one," the boy laid back on his bed with a satisfied smirk. As if he'd already had sex with the bird when in reality he was just imagining it. Zachary Nott spoke openly to his friends in the seventh year Slytherin boy's dormitory. "I'm going to talk to McGonagall first thing in the morning."

"Not if I beat you to it," Nathan Zabini argued hotly, "you know I've been after her forever."

"You can take her veela cousin. What's her name? Dom?" offered Zachary generously.

"I don't want that blonde bimbo."

"What would you want with Rose anyway?" snapped Rider Selwyn, "you can hardly control your temper as it is, Zabini. Everyone knows Rose likes to argue. You'd probably end up beating her every day."

"Like you wouldn't," Zabini said casually, as if the topic of hitting a woman was of no importance to him at all, and in reality, it wasn't. "I bet she's a real firecracker in bed. All of that fiery red hair and her bossy little attitude," he gave a groan of appreciation.

Scorpius Malfoy listened to the conversation with his back turned toward his dorm mates. He was packing, or pretending to at least. A black t-shirt was balled up and fisted in his hand as he fought for control. He'd never really given the Weaselette much thought, but he couldn't stand the way they were talking about her.

"She wouldn't have sex with you," said Travis Goyle snidely, "at least not willingly."

"She would have to, wouldn't she? It's the law. She would be my wife. Do you think I would let my wife get away with not having sex with me?"

The boys all laughed in appreciation. Except Scorpius who felt his anger quickly reaching a boiling point. "Alright," said Goyle in a peace-making sort of tone that didn't fool anyone, "you know the rule anyway. We're supposed to write down three girls. Our first, second, and third choices. Even if all of us put Rose Weasley as our first choice, only one of us would get her and it's not up to us anyway."

"Or it could be none of us," said Zabini stiffly, "what if one of those Scamander idiots fancies her? As much as they don't act like it, they are purebloods."

The boys continued their banter as Scorpius continued to pack. Tomorrow he was going home. Tomorrow he was graduating from Hogwarts. Tomorrow he would submit his three choices to his the Headmistress and hope for the best.

A stiff sheet of parchment lay open on his bed next to him. He felt disgusted even touching it, so he had left it there and was trying hard not to look at it. It read:

To Whom it May Concern:

It has come to the attention of the Ministry of Magic that despite the outcome of the Second Wizard War, there are those in the magical community who still frown upon the mixing for magical and muggle blood. There are still those with strong prejudices living among us. In order to discourage this way of thinking, every single witch and wizard who is of age will be subjected to a new law stating that he/she will be paired with someone of opposite "blood status" to unite in matrimony.

Hoping you are well,

Mafilda Hopkirk

Another sheet of parchment lay just below it, with the top corner peeking out. That was the one that had Scorpius more upset than the first. This one read:

Mr. Scorpius Malfoy,

Because you are a "pureblood" wizard, you have been sent an extra sheet of parchment. On this sheet, you are to number it 1., 2., and 3. Choose three witches who are single, of age, and have either 'muggle-born' or 'half-blood' status whom you would wish to spend the rest of your life with. Number 1. is obviously your first choice, number 2. your second, and 3. your third. As you are still a student at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, please submit your completed form to Headmistress Minerva McGonagall who will in turn give it to the Ministry of Magic so you may be paired with someone who is hopefully of your choosing.

Sincerely,

Mafilda Hopkirk

From what Scorpius had heard from his father, and others, the half-bloods and muggle-borns had no idea about this part of the law. Because of the outrage from the 'pureblood' community, they were granted the right to partially choose their husband or wife. It seemed several boys in his year were going to put Rose Weasley as their first choice.

With a scowl, Scorpius threw his shirt into his trunk. He knew Rose better than the other boys in his dorm, although they'd never been particularly close. They were both Prefects and often did rounds together and worked on projects together. She was so bloody smart it astounded him. Stubborn as a Hippogriff, too.

To imagine her with a wizard like Zabini or Nott made his stomach turn. They would break her. The boys were now extinguishing the torches on the walls and climbing, for the last time, into their four-poster beds. Scorpius flicked his wand at the parchments, burning them into ashes, all except the one that he was supposed to return to Minerva McGonagall. So far his parchment looked like this:

Scorpius Hyperion Malfoy

1.

2.

3.

He moved it onto his bedside table and flopped onto his stomach on the mattress. His father had attempted to pay an ungodly amount of gold to the Ministry to get his son exempted from this law, but it hadn't worked.

Scorpius lay awake for a long time worrying. He was supposed to turn in the parchment first thing in the morning but so far it was blank. He didn't fancy anyone. Not even any pureblood girls. Let alone love one enough to request to marry her.

Again, his thoughts strayed to poor Rose Weasley. Perhaps one of the Scamander twins would request her hand and win. He knew that was unlikely. One of them was dating Lucy Weasley and the other was very obviously smitten by Rebecca Creevey.

Finally, he reached his conclusion. He pulled out an ink well and quill from his packed trunk, and scribbled on the parchment on his bedside table. He nodded at it in satisfaction and flopped back down onto his bed, finally being able to sleep. It now read:

Scorpius Hyperion Malfoy

Rose Nymphadora Weasley

Rose Nymphadora Weasley

Rose Nymphadora Weasley

….

The seventh year Gryffindor girl's dormitory was mostly asleep. Rose Weasley sat curled up in her bed, holding her weeping fifth year cousin, Lily Luna Potter. "Shhh," Rose soothed, "it's okay, Lily."

"No," sobbed Lily, "it's not! I'm not of age! I'm only fifteen. Vin is seventeen, Rose. He's going to be married off to someone else and there's nothing I can do to stop it!" Vincent Longbottom was Lily's boyfriend of nearly three years. Everyone knew how in love they were and their parents were ecstatic about the match, having been friends since their own years at Hogwarts.

Vincent Longbottom, however, was a pureblood, his parents being Neville Longbottom and Hannah Abbott. Rose hoped desperately that whatever the Ministry did in their infinite wisdom (heavy sarcasm in Rose's mind), they didn't pair Rose up with Vincent Longbottom. Hopefully not any of her other cousins either. It would kill Lily to have to watch the love of her life marry someone in her family.

Rose, however, had much more reason to worry than Lily. Hopefully by the time Lily was of age this absurd law will be overthrown. Rose Weasley was the brightest witch Hogwarts had seen since her mother and she knew that people who were supporting this law were rushing it through. There was no hope of her getting out of this, she had heard there was even going to be a deadline all couples had to be married by.

But there was also a good amount of witches and wizards who were vehemently opposed to the law, and in all reality, it would probably be overthrown before Lily turned seventeen. The unfortunate part, of course, was that there was no such thing as divorce in the Wizard World. If you married, it was forever. Magical ceremonies were so different from muggle ones it sometimes astounded Rose. There were immense amounts of deep ancient magic performed at weddings to bond the husband and wife in a myriad of ways.

Who would the Ministry choose for her? Did they even think about the decisions or did they just randomly draw names? Merlin, she hoped she didn't get paired with an 80 year old wizard. She wouldn't be able to go through with it. She would run away, become a fugitive, and never see her family ever again. And they would understand. But she still couldn't bring herself to consider that as a viable option.

Despite fierce efforts, silent tears leaked out of her eyes as she hugged her cousin even tighter.

…..

"Come in," Minerva McGonagall was busily shuffling through the stack of parchment on her desk. Unbeknownst by the muggle-borns and half-bloods, the purebloods had flocked to the Headmistress's office just after breakfast that morning and assailed her with their parchments. A few even tried to pay her to make sure they got the person who was their first choice.

Now she was re-counting them because it appeared that she was missing one. Then there had been a knock on her door. Scorpius Malfoy entered, looking entirely unsure of how he got there. "Good morning, Headmistress," he said politely; shyly.

Minerva McGonagall had always done her best to not show favoritism, but Scorpius Malfoy had always been one of her favorites. Nothing like his father. He was polite, shy, and quite frankly she had no idea how he ended up in Slytherin at all.

"Can I help you, Mr. Malfoy?" she asked with a smile.

"I'm here about the, um, you know, law," he waved a hand.

"Ah, yes, I'm assuming your request is the one I am missing?" she motioned to the others stacked on her desk.

"Yes, Ma'm." He held out his parchment to her and she took it before glancing it over with raised eyebrows.

"I think, perhaps, you misunderstood the-"

"I understood perfectly," he interrupted smoothly, "but I will not take any other witch as my wife and that's final."

McGonagall sighed, "Mr. Malfoy, three of your classmates have already put Ms. Rose Weasley as their first choices. That's not even counting other possible wizards who have already graduated and left Hogwarts who are currently giving the Ministry their requests."

"You don't understand," said Scorpius evenly, "Please, Professor," he was begging, there was a pleading tone in his voice she'd never heard there before and it definitely caught her attention. He looked like he was having an internal battle before the words spilled out in a rush, "You didn't hear the conversations my dorm mates were having about her. I'll be damned if I let that poor girl be married off to one of them."

For just a moment, Scorpius could have sworn that a look of triumph blazed in the old woman's eyes, but then it was gone before he could be sure of what he saw. In truth, Headmistress McGonagall had been trying to get those two together for ages. Both so intelligent and sweet, even if Rose didn't often come off that way at first. She had purposefully teamed them up for many Prefects projects but nothing had come of it.

"I see," her lips thinned. "What were they saying?"

"They only wanted her for her body," said Scorpius dismissively, "they talked about her like she would be a possession belonging to them. One in particular as good as said that he would beat her."

The Headmistress jumped to her feet, "This is exactly what I was worried about with this damned law! The Ministry is trying so hard to not be prejudiced that they have swung from one extreme to another. Instead of finding some sort of balance, those imbeciles have gone off the deep end in the other direction."

Scorpius snorted and tried to cover it with a cough, "I agree, Professor," he said with a polite nod.

"Very well," she said, "I happen to respect you very much, Mr. Malfoy, and I will see what I can do about this situation."

"Thank you, Headmistress," he nodded to her again and retreated from her office. Minerva McGonagall immediately began scribbling a message down for the Minister of Magic.

….

"James!" Ginny Potter yelled up the stairs for her eldest son, who was still sleeping despite the fact that it was well past noon.

He had graduated from Hogwarts a year before and was now the star Chaser for the Puddlemere United Quidditch team. His dream was to play for England and Ginny knew he would get there. James rolled out of bed and tousled his hair before jogging down the staircase looking disheveled.

"Where's the fire, Mum?" he asked groggily.

"It's almost three o'clock, James. Merlin, you would think that you were a vampire instead of a wizard," she reprimanded. But there wasn't any venom in her words. James Potter would always be his Mum's 'little boy' and they had a special bond.

"Well, we won the match yesterday," he began to explain, "so Fred suggested that we go out for drinks to celebrate, but on the way to the pub we ran into a few blokes from the other team. They said we only won because their replacement Beater had to fill in for their regular Beater because he was sick. Rick suggested a rematch and this time we would play with only one Beater on each team, to make it fair, you see. So-"

Ginny held up a hand to silence him and James immediately stopped talking. "Your letter came," she said quietly. His face fell. He knew exactly what letter she was talking about. The letter that would tell him who he would be stuck with for the rest of his life.

"Who's the lucky bird?" he tried for humor, but his soft chuckle didn't reach his eyes as he took the envelope from his mum and tore at the edge. "Do you think," he mused, "if I didn't open it, it wouldn't be real? If I ignore it, it will just go away."

"That's certainly not how it worked when you had Dragonpox," teased Albus as he came into the kitchen holding his own unopened letter. Hogwarts graduation had just been a week previously, and Albus had immediately moved into a flat in London with his cousin Rose. He said he couldn't jump from living at home to living with a wife. He insisted on having a transitional period. Rose had agreed.

As if on cue, Rose appeared behind Albus, both of them having obviously just used the Floo to enter the Potter home. She hadn't opened her letter yet either. "You know," she said, "there can't possibly be an even number of single wizards and witches subjected to this law. Logically, there must be some lucky people who escaped this simply because everyone else has been paired off."

"Like they would let us get off the hook," James grumbled, "we're members of the most popular family in the Wizard World. They'd make sure that we were included because we'll be the ones in the spotlight through this whole fiasco."

They all turned their attention back to their envelopes. "Together?" asked Al nervously.

"Nope, I'm opening mine first!" James tore into his envelope and extracted the parchment from within. Everyone in the room watched him with bated breath. He read through the letter with his eyebrows drawn together before breaking into a big grin and giving a quick laugh of relief. "Well, this isn't so bad!"

"Who is it?" asked Ginny, who was nervously wringing a dishtowel in her hands.

"Leila Scamander," his voice was so full of relief that his family smiled with him, truly happy for him. Even though James had never had a serious girlfriend, Leila and James had always been very good friends.

"Oh!" squeaked Ginny, "I can't wait to get with Luna to discuss all of the wedding plans! Go on, Albus, you next," she encouraged her second son.

Al grimaced before opening his letter and letting it unfold. His jaw dropped open and his facial expression didn't give away any emotion. "Well?" snapped Rose.

"Norah Zabini," his face paled, "they can't be serious? I've never even spoken to the girl!"

"Wasn't she in Slytherin?" asked Ginny nervously, recognizing the surname.

"No," answered Rose, "her brother was, though. Norah was a Hufflepuff."

"Rose?" Albus nudged her encouragingly.

With a shaky deep breath, Rose tore open the envelope and read through each word carefully before letting her eyes fall on the name in bold at the bottom.

Scorpius Hyperion Malfoy

Before anyone could ask her who she was going to marry, a distraction appeared in the form of a screaming Lily Potter. She was shrieking without saying any actual words, but as she came running down the stairs her face was absolutely jubilant.

"What is it, dear?" asked Ginny anxiously.

"Vin!" she screamed, happy tears now streaking down her flushed cheeks, "I just got a letter from him! The Ministry decided that he can wait for me to turn seventeen! They said they had more wizards than witches anyway, and since he plans on marrying me, a half-blood, some day anyway, they'll let him wait for me! Oh, Mum, I'm so happy," Lily was so happy she couldn't speak anymore as she burst into tears.

Ginny hugged her, also in tears, and Rose made her escape. Without anyone noticing, she retreated to the fireplace and disappeared in a swirl of green flames.

…..