A/N: This is a marriage law fic. No one will be forced. But there will be some up's and downs in the characters' lives. This is mainly Harry/Ginny fic. But there will be others also and pairings are strictly canon.

Getting the news

Red. His vision was clouded with just that. No, it was not the blood from the war. It wasn't liquid. In fact it was silky. He tried to touch it and felt the strands. Surely it was not cloth. It was hair. Really beautiful red hair. And the owner of the hair was a girl. A petite, red haired beautiful girl. He couldn't see her face and tried to call her. She laughed and ran away from him. He stretched his arms and tried to call her back,

"Wait! Come back here. Please."

"Harry."

"Come-"

"Harry wake up. Is it the nightmares again?"

Slowly he opened his eyes to find an anxious Ron waiting for him. He realised he had been dreaming. But the dream was so- Realistic. He had not dared to be romantically involved with any other girl after the Cho fiasco, neither had he any crush as such. This was so bizarre.

"Nothing Ron, it was just a dream not a nightmare. No need to worry."

Ron seemed to relax but he was a bit curious as to what Harry could be dreaming. Anyways he shrugged and said, "Mom said breakfast is ready, we better get going."

Slowly he got up and put on his glasses. The mystery girl was so… if he had to find the right word it had to be heart-warming. He only felt like that with Hermione. Of course Hermione was like his sister and he never had any such feelings for her. It was so easy to look at her as if she was just a guy. It was pretty different to look at her as a girl. And finally she and Ron had begun dating. It had to take a bloody war and a house-elf comment for them to get together. It was pretty much the same actually. Of course they never stopped bickering. They complemented each other very well, and even in their bickering he could find their love. Whenever he looked at them he felt a bit jealous. He was happy for both of them, really. He just wanted someone for him just like that. Someone who -would love him, for being Harry, but not 'The-Chosen-One-Who-Conquered-The-Dark-Lord'.

He sighed and got down. He doubted there would be anyone who could look at him without gawking at him, just after this Voldy-phobia was over. May be he would find someone. Just may be.

Burrow was a bit depressed, really. It was safe to say that none of the Weasleys had suffered any life-losses. Of course George lost his ear and Fred had almost died. Thank god for Percy's quick reflex skills that saved him. Bit ironic really. At least now he was not an outcast in the Burrow. He had finally realised his mistake and it was nice.

But people had died. Colin, Remus, Tonks. It was really bad. Little Teddy was now without his parents. Andromeda looked after him but there was still a hole in their lives losing 3 people in their family. Dennis was a wreck after the war. He was a fourth year. He had lost his brother. He was in a very bad state after the war. It took more than little people to get him to be somewhat normal.

As Harry was musing over his life, war and people he did not look at the person he had just collided. As he looked, it was a mass of red again. It just looked like the mass of red hair in his dream.

"Oof, sorry Harry, didn't see you coming there." It was Ginny. She had a vibrant smile pasted on her face. She looked really good. Surely she wasn't the one in the dream? Nah… couldn't be. She was a bit friendlier with him than before and last person she dated was Dean. Why did he bother? Really he had to stop now.

They all sat at the table and were eating breakfast. Everyone had gotten up early and went to presume their jobs. After Kingsley became the minister, there was a bit of revolution. He had changed many things and if it weren't for him many death eaters and snatchers couldn't be captured. Surely he was doing a great job.

Hedwig came with the daily prophet in her beak. She took a small bite of Harry's toast and went to find pig, Errol, and Hermes. They were all pretty good friends actually.

That was when Hermione opened the paper and swore under her breath.

"Hermione swearing…. Now we can't have that, can we?" teased Ginny. Everyone laughed and then Hermione said, "You would too, if you just read what I read."

"Well then. Go on tell us what it says."

Ministry of Magic introduces the Marriage Law. By Jemma winters.

"You can't be bloody serious!" It was Ginny. It was good that Mrs Weasley wasn't in the hearing range.

"Just let's listen to the whole thing." Harry said.

Minister Kingsley Shacklebolt introduces the Marriage Law. Yes folks, you got that right. This is not the first time this law is being introduced. This law was first used in England in 1556. And the law was not touched over centuries by even other countries. Minister Shacklebolt told the prophet his views.

"I know that many people will not be very pleased when they listen about this law. But please I ask you to listen to the complete content and then judge. Our society is facing a very large threat. Not as big as Voldemort, but it is a threat yes. Following the war that happened, many innocent people lost their lives. Our population has depleted by 30% just in the war. And many others are injured or tortured to insanity that the efficient people in our world reduce to an extent of just about 60%. And not to mention the dark magic that has had some adverse effects and still killing the people. Our world is depleted. We need to reinstate it."

It looks like there will surely be some kind of pressure from the law. But minister says that he has made several changes to the law. He gives a detailed description of the law which he says will not be as demanding as the previous one.

"You should all know that we are just not going to assign someone who is incompetent to you. Firstly let's talk about choosing you partners. This is a very ancient magic used in the time of Merlin. We will not be disclosing the procedure now. We will talk about this when it's time to assign partners. With the help of this we will be able to search a person for you who will be as good as your soul mate. I ask no one to worry because this procedure would be thoroughly tested and then we assign your partners. As minister it is my duty for all of you to be happy. I don't want to force you into anything. That is the reason why this kind of ancient magic is being used so that we can search for the one whom you are truly made for."

Surely I hope that reduces some pressure on you readers. They will not be forcing you into anything.

"Now after assigning the partners, I would like you to get to know each other well. Because when you get to know you will realise that, it is the person for you. At first you might not want to be with the person. But I ask you to get to know each other well so that there will be no problems. But even after that you have found that you don't want to stay with the person for one reason or the other, we will surely let you go your separate ways."

"This law is applicable to all who have turned 17 and are not married or engaged. They have time until the youngest of them turns 20. And seven years for them to have a child. I have tried my best to change the law and hope you have no objections for it."

"And one last thing. Witches and Wizards who have turns 17 and will be attending school. Your partners will be assigned there. And there will be arrangements for your bonding time. For people who are not students anymore a day would be assigned for them in the ministry. And people who are over 20 and are not yet in any kind of relationship, the law applies to you too. You would have around a year to get to know each other and 3 years to have children. In case of any doubt, I ask you to contact the appropriate ministry office. Thank you."

Well that's it folks. It surely is not as bad as centuries ago where you had to immediately marry and had a year to reproduce. And surely minister has said that he is going to produce essential proofs about this law.

"Well it surely is not as bad as I expected." Ginny said.

"Yeah, it could have been worse." Ron said.

"NOT BAD! ARE YOU INSANE? WHAT IF YOU AND I ARE NOT PUT TOGETHER RON? IT'S TAKEN WHAT? 7 BLOODY YEARS TO GET TOGETHER AND NOW IF I LOSE YOU, I SWEAR I WILL KILL EVERY MINISTRY OFFICIAL I FIND."

This was enough for Mrs Weasley to come there. Hermione showed her the paper and Molly said, "Surely dear it could have been worse. And don't you see they will be assigning a person who is as good as your soul mate? I know you are worried about Ron and you not being together. But surely if you two love each other, then it will not stop them from assigning you both together."

This seemed to cool Hermione because she nodded. As soon as was out of earshot. Ron teased her. "I didn't know you were in love with me." She blushed and said, "Well… that I thought was obvious." Then Ron did something not so Ron. He hugged Hermione and said, "If we are meant to be together Hermione we will be, no matter what. I will always be there for you no matter what." This was enough for her because she smiled.

"Harry you haven't said anything."

He looked up. "I'm fine Hermione."

"Harry-"

"No really, I'm more than fine actually. Come to think of it, it gives me hope that there could be someone who will love me for what I am. Not because of Voldemort. It is strange really to be famous because of your mortal enemy. This year might be good after all. I think there will be surprise for us this year. Not like every other, mind you. This time it will be a good one." He said that and left, leaving others musing over what he said.

Surely this year would be a pleasant one and first time in 7 years, he knew Hogwarts would be different in a way he would really love.

A/N: As you have seen Fred and Hedwig are alive. This is not a forced marriage law fic. You can see they have accepted it. I was not very happy with my work on Kingsley's thing in daily prophet. I may have not explained very clearly. But if you find this good enough, I will continue. Please read and review. Reviews are the only way I know if I have done a good work or a bad one. I will surely improve in my future chapters. I am not yet very good. The pairings will be strictly canon.

I have tried my best checking spelling and grammar. My mother-tongue is not English so it may not be good enough. But please please review.