A/N: Thank you for checking out my latest story! This is, of course, a marriage law fic, which I have to say, I'm very excited about! I've been reading marriage law stories for many years, and so I just had to try my hand at one. It's been my favorite story to write so far, and I hope everyone enjoys it.

A couple of notes before the story begins. This story is more AU than my other two. In this one, Sirius is alive and well, having never fallen through the Veil. It is not expressly talked about, but things will be mentioned here and there alluding to the time between when he dies in the books and when this story begins. Some other character deaths are ignored as well.

This story is very much still a work in progress. I wanted to make that clear going in. I personally hate reading WIPs since I've had many abandoned on me, so I want readers to know I have not finished writing this story yet. However, as of this time, I have completed 22 chapters, and my goal is to post once a week and to stay ahead of the posting schedule with my writing. I hope I can pull it off!

Thank you, as always, to my friend and beta, Ms. K. Everdeen!

Disclaimer: I wish I could live in this world, but I unfortunately don't own any of it.

Chapter 1: The Marriage Law

Hermione stared at the newspaper in her hands. She had long thought the Daily Prophet was a useless rag for any real news reporting, but it was still the premier newspaper for the British wizarding world, so Hermione still read it daily.

Her shock this morning when she sat down for her breakfast in the kitchen of 12 Grimmauld Place and pulled the paper toward her was absolute. She could not believe what she was reading on the front page and had to stare at the headline for several moments before the reality of the situation sank in.

"Hermione?"

Hermione startled from her thoughts and looked up at the concerned face of one of her roommates, Remus. By the way he was looking at her, he had clearly attempted to gain her attention several times, but her head was elsewhere, and she hadn't even noticed him entering the room. How long had she been sitting there looking at the paper?

"What's wrong?" Remus questioned, voice grave, "You look pale as a ghost."

Hermione tried to force her mouth to form words to answer Remus' question, but no sound came out. So, she just shook her head and pushed the paper across the table toward him.

"Marriage Law Expected to Pass," he read the headline aloud, then slid into the chair across from her as he continued to read silently. His face grew more ashen the farther down the page he got.

When his eyes flew to hers, he seemed as speechless as she had been. After a few false starts, he finally managed to ground out in a hoarse voice, "The Ministry couldn't possibly get away with this."

Hermione scoffed, anger rising in her, "Why couldn't they? After every horrible thing they did during the war?"

"Yes, but that was under Voldemort's reign. The war is over, people aren't going to just lay down and accept their fate," Remus tried to reason, though his voice sounded unconvinced by his own argument.

"They will if Azkaban is the result of fighting it. No, this will pass. And we'll all just have to deal with the fall out." Hermione closed her eyes and lay her head down on the table. She could feel the beginnings of a major stress headache coming on, and thought she better get up and take a pain potion before it got out of control. But she couldn't seem to summon the energy needed to get up from the table.

Remus kept silent, and after an indeterminate amount of time, she heard the front door slam, and stomping feet coming down the stairs leading to the kitchen. She raised her head just in time to see Sirius saunter in, clothes and hair rumpled, obviously just getting in from an overnight stay somewhere.

He was whistling some tune Hermione couldn't place and started banging around the kitchen, apparently taking no notice of the mood of the room. She felt the pain begin to pound behind her eyes, and she snapped, "Could you possibly be a little quieter?! You're not the only person in the room!"

Sirius glared at her from his place by the stove, "Merlin Hermione, what's gotten your panties in a twist this morning? I was just making tea."

Though his tone was annoyed, she noticed he stopped banging things about. Grateful for the reprieve, she laid her head down again.

"What the hell is wrong with you two this morning?" Sirius asked after a few minutes of silence.

"Haven't read the Prophet this morning, I take it?" Remus questioned as Sirius sat down at the table with his tea. Hermione pulled her head back up to observe the conversation.

"You know I don't read that trash. It's all useless rot," Sirius retorted.

"Well, you may want to take a look," Remus said, pushing the paper toward him.

Sirius tilted the paper up and leaned back in his chair as he got a look at the headline. At first, a look of confusion crossed his face, but as his eyes skimmed the page, his expression turned to rage. When he reached the end of the article, his fist slammed down on the table, causing both Hermione and his teacup to jump, splashing tea across the aged wood.

"Shit! Those bloody arseholes are taking things too far! They can't do this!"

"They can, and they will. The vote today is just a formality, the law already has the support it needs in the Wizengamet to pass," Hermione stated, feeling completely drained.

"This is bloody insanity! I can't believe this could even be happening!" Sirius exclaimed again, though thankfully for Hermione's aching head, without the corresponding violent outburst.

Remus and Sirius began to argue back and forth about the validity of the law and whether people would be willing to bend to the Ministry's demands.

She took the opportunity to read through the article again while the men argued, though she had already read it several times.

Marriage Law Expected to Pass

Today, the Wizengamet is expected to vote on a bill that has been nicknamed the "Marriage Law." This bill, if passed into law, will immediately be put into effect and will have far reaching consequences for the British wizarding population.

Though it has not been widely publicized, Healers at St. Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries have been involved in research project spanning years. The project's main concentration is studying birthrates in the British wizarding world, specifically the rise in infertility, miscarriages, and squib births among the pureblooded population.

"The statistics are very concerning," said Healer Mortimer, head researcher for the project. "There has been a dramatic drop in magical birthrates over the last several decades, concentrating mainly among the pureblooded families. And with the loss of so many magical lives during the war with You Know Who, there stands a very real possibility the wizarding world is headed for extinction in Britain if action isn't taken to correct the problem."

Once presented with the project's findings, the Ministry decided to take immediate action, and quickly hobbled together the aforementioned Marriage Law bill. While the vote has not yet happened, it is expected to pass today as it reportedly already has the support it needs.

So, what does this mean for the citizens of the wizarding world? It will affect those yet unmarried within child bearing ages (witches aged 17-45, wizards aged 17-60). The Ministry is giving a six-month timeline to allow for couples to marry without Ministry intervention. If the six-month timeline is not met, the Ministry will pair couples together to be married within the following two weeks.

Of course, the Ministry's hope is to increase procreation. So, additional restrictions have been added in an attempt to temper the disturbing statistics about pureblooded birthrates. While muggleborn and halfblooded citizens may marry amongst themselves as they see fit, purebloods will be legally required to marry muggleborns. Pureblood marriage to another pureblood or a halfblood are expressly forbidden by this law.

An insider at the Ministry told this reporter, "We are aware that there will be outcry about this law. That this will, in all likelihood, disrupt existing relationships that do not meet the law's requirements, and will likely force people who may be near strangers into marriage with each other based on the timeline. However, it has been agreed by the Ministry and the Wizengamet that the threat to the British wizarding world is too great to do nothing.

Those who do not agree to follow the dictates of the law can expect a stint in Azkaban prison for their troubles.

While this law as currently written will not affect those couples already married, it is expected that an amendment may pass to outlaw the use of any form of contraceptive for all married couples of child bearing age.

Stayed tuned to tomorrow's edition to get additional details of the law in its entirety once it has been passed.

Hermione set the paper back down and tuned back into Remus and Sirius. Remus was currently speaking, "...at Hogwarts! How can they expect seventh year students to be married?!"

Sirius shrugged, somewhat helplessly. Silence fell, and Hermione took a deep breath. Then she said, "It doesn't matter how terrible it is, or how much we hate it. The truth is it will affect all of us in this house, Ron included. And we better start making plans, because I don't think any of us plan on going to Azkaban over this."

Both men shook their heads, Sirius much more vigorously.

"Thank Merlin Harry and Ginny got married last summer. Their blood status wouldn't have complied with this law," Remus said. Sirius let out a whoosh of air, obviously not having thought down those lines.

"I'm going upstairs to take a pain potion for my headache. Can one of you stay here to let Ron know when he gets up?" Hermione asked, and both men nodded.

Hermione closed the door to her bathroom and gently leaned her head back up against it, closing her eyes. 'What a nightmare,' she thought. She made her way over to thecabinet and pulled out a pain relief potion, swallowing it down quickly. She immediately felt the pain behind her eyes recede, and she let out a sigh of relief. Though nothing could be done about the anxiety curling around in her stomach.

She looked at herself in the mirror and noticed that Remus had been right, she was pale as a ghost.

She had never seen herself as pretty. Medium height, thin, but without the womanly curves she knew many men desired; bushy, honey-brown curls, plain brown eyes, and a smattering of freckles across her nose and cheeks. She wasn't ugly she knew, but she was plain. She was just Hermione.

She knew looks shouldn't really matter, and they never really had to her before. At 22, she had been in a couple short-lived romances. Nothing too serious, and definitely nothing that she would have ever expected to end in marriage. And she had never really thought about marriage. She always had figured that one day, if she met the right man, it may happen to her. But now what? She wasn't even interested in anyone right now, let alone dating anyone. And now she had six months to not only meet and get to know someone, but marry him!

Hermione shook her head, watching her wild curls bounce. She had a horrible sinking feeling that she would be one of the pathetic people who would be incapable of finding her own husband and would have to have the Ministry pair her. How embarrassing that would be!

She opened the bathroom door and walked across the hall to her bedroom to get dressed for the day. It was Thursday, and she had to go to work, whether she felt like it or not. She dreaded the buzz that she felt sure would pervade the Ministry today, sure that it would even reach her little Department of the Control and Regulation of Foreign Potions Ingredients, as obscure as it was.

Though not her dream job, she had settled for it after her graduation from Hogwarts. After her year on the run with Harry, Ron, and Sirius, hunting Horcruxes and generally trying not to get killed, she was the only one to decide to turn down the Ministry's offer to provide the "Golden Trio" with jobs of their choosing, NEWTS results unnecessary. But Hermione, as studious as she was, could not stand the idea of leaving her education unfinished.

However, she had been very disappointed after graduation to discover the Ministry had been more than a little miffed at her rebuff, and was no longer as flexible with her with potential positions. She ended up in her little Department after several failed attempts to join other, more desirable Departments that had no positions available.

Her first choice would have been to further her education and begin an apprenticeship, but apprenticeships were expensive and unpaid, and despite Sirius' invitation to live at Grimmauld rent free (he had also offered to pay for an apprenticeship, which she had flatly refused), Hermione could not afford to go down that route.

While she had modified her parent's memories and sent them away to safety in Australia knowing full well she would not be able to fix them, she had still been devastated to have that confirmed after the war ended. And since she had made sure to set them up financially with their own money, she had left nothing for herself to live off and would obviously receive no financial support from them.

She took some comfort in knowing she had made the right choice when she had received word several months after the war ended that some rouge Death Eaters that had escaped capture had attacked her parent's house, leaving it destroyed, in retaliation for Hermione's part in the fall of Voldemort. She had no doubt her parents would have been killed, and at least she had the knowledge that they were safe and happy out there, even if it was without her.

Even though her job wasn't ideal and her family gone, she had lived a fairly happy life these past four years. Though initially she had questioned her own sanity in moving into Grimmauld Place with four bachelors (Harry had lived there until he married Ginny last year), the experience had actually been amazing, at least after she had set some ground rules. First, she demanded to have her own bathroom, which Remus, who occupied the other bedroom on her floor, agree to, going downstairs to the next floor to use the loo.

Next, silencing charms would always be employed with overnight guests (which was only forgotten occasionally) and overnight guests were to stick to the bedroom (Sirius sometimes had trouble with that one, and since it was his house, she didn't complain too much. He had, however, agreed to always stay out of the kitchen and library, to use a good, solid locking charm to avoid anyone walking in, and a strong scourgify afterwards).

The men she had been living with were her very dearest friends, and she had forged special bonds with each of them. They each held a special role in her life. Harry had always been her rock, the one person she could always count on to be there for her. Ron was her comic relief, forcing her to lighten up and ensuring that she didn't suffocate under a heavy pile of books. Remus was her intellectual partner, someone who she could talk about anything with and have him understand. Sirius was her challenger, never letting her accept the status quo and always pushing her to question her ideals and beliefs, and to better herself.

And suddenly she realized she would probably be losing that. While Harry had married Ginny, whom she was quite close with as well, and her relationship with Harry had remained close, Remus, Sirius, and Ron would likely marry women that she wasn't friends with and may not even know. She doubted very much that she would be able to keep the level of friendship with them she was used to once they were all married. She certainly wouldn't be living here with them all.

Though she was only halfway ready for work and would be late if she lingered, Hermione laid down in her bed and let the tears that were suddenly burning in her eyes fall. The gravity of the situation and how it would change all their lives was enormous, and she felt herself crumbling under the weight.

They would have to all work together to figure this out. She couldn't lose these men. She couldn't lose this life.