Kayy, so this is my first fanfiction. I need practice, and I know this is not that good, but you have to start somewhere! Also, I'm pretty much lost on basically how this site works, so tips would help ;). Be gentle please!

Disclaimer: okay I might be very confused on what I'm supposed to be doing, but I pretty much know that I'm supposed to say all this stuff does not belong to me, yaddah yaddah. If it did, I would be extremely happy, but *sigh* I don't.

Hermione stood in front of her mirror, inspecting her body, one that had experienced the horrors known to the wizarding world. The war had just died down with the death of Voldemort, but things had not stopped there. There were many things to be done, lives to rebuild, and Hermione's life was no exception. What she had experienced the last year would be permanently ingrained into her brain, and she knew it would haunt her for the rest of her life. However, her thoughts of what was to come were interrupted as she heard an owl pecking at the window. She opened the window softly to let the gentle bird in.

"Here you go, now what do you have there for me?" she crooned to the owl.

She flipped the letter over to see a ministry seal, and slightly frowned. The ministry had not bothered the Golden Trio since the war, and this contact surprised her greatly. She pulled the letter open and read:

Dear Miss Hermione Granger,

We are sorry to inform you that a new ordinance has been passed in the Ministry of Magic. All members of the magical community that are between the ages of 18-30 will have to take a spouse. To make this process as painless and less of a hassle then it already is, there will be a simple test to find your soulmate. We will schedule an appointment for this test, and you must arrive promptly, or you will be faced with a fine for disregard of a law. We will see you on the first of December.

Sincerely,

The Minister of Magic

Hermione's hands trembled as she read the offending letter.

"How can this be happening," she thought, "we just got out of a bloody war and their forcing us to marry?"

Her shock quickly turned to rage as she let the information sink in. She whipped out her wand, turned on the spot, and apparated to the Burrow.

"WHAT THE BLOODY HELL IS THIS!?" Hermione exploded.

Ginny tried to console her friend. She had just been married to Harry about a month ago, and this new law did not apply to her. She felt terrible for her friend and tried to soothe her.

"Well maybe it won't be so bad Mione. You never know, you might find the perfect guy!" Ginny said.

"I wanted to do that on my bloody own, not through some ordinance someone wrote!" Hermione could not hide her agitation at the thought that she was being forced into a marriage. She was highly independent and could not stand to be smothered.

"Hermione just go to the meeting. It's better than being fined and you can't –," Ginny was cut off as Bill entered the room.

"I'm guessing you got the letter from the ministry as well," Bill said with a smirk. "When are you supposed to go? Maybe we can go together."

Ginny turned to glare at her brother," Oh wonderful brother of mine, if you had your head out of your arse, you would probably be able to tell that Hermione is not that happy about this."

"I know," he said, his smirk growing wider," I'm just pretty sure that I've found my mate. Yes, I did say my mate."

Okay yes it's a bit rough, but i wrote it in about 20 min...please, please review. Be blunt but not too harsh. Please and thank you.