Chapter 1

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Chapter 1

Hermione stood staring at herself in the full-length mirror at her childhood church. She was going to become Mrs. Ronald Bilius Weasley today, something she'd dreamed about for many months.

Ron had asked her right before they'd passed the new Marriage Law, just as Harry had asked Ginny, and she'd accepted him. And though Hermione hated that there even had to be a law, she did reluctantly understand the reasoning behind it.

Simply stated, the wizards and witches in England were dying out. She'd been at the Weasleys when Kingsley had been there, explaining to Arthur how dire the situation truly was, especially after the war. He'd even had color-coded charts.

If drastic measures were not taken, and taking into account the amount of Squib births within the past decade, given another twenty years, there would be scarce few magical folks born.

At least they are letting people chose their own spouse, even if they only have a year to choose, Hermione thought.

Stopping the morose thoughts on her wedding day, Hermione studied herself in her long, white, satin gown with her great-grandmother's pearls in her ears and around her neck and smiled. She did look rather pretty, if she did say so herself. She was suddenly brought out of her musings when she felt a soft hand on her shoulder.

"You look so lovely, dear," Mary Granger said with tears in her eyes. "I want to thank you again for agreeing to have the wedding here. I know it wasn't an easy thing to arrange, but it means so much to your father and me. We never really get to see you anymore. Not that we don't understand, mind."

"Not at all, Mum. You know that I've dreamed of getting married here since I was a girl. And though the wizards and witches may appear to be somewhat... odd, I think that for the short amount of time they'll be mixed with the Muggles, all will be well."

"I hope so. I've something I want to tell you. I struggled with the timing of it all, but with all the wedding planning going on, and since you're leaving for your honeymoon straight away, well, I don't know when I'll have another chance."

"What is it?" Hermione asked, starting to feel worried.

"Oh, nothing bad, I assure you. It's just that, with you grown and on your own now, and living in the wizarding world, well, your father and I have decided to move to Australia permanently."

"But, Mum..."

"Now, Hermione, don't," her mother said as she fussed with her daughter's veil, holding back tears. "Like I've said, we rarely get to see you anymore, not that I'm blaming you. I want to make it perfectly clear that I don't blame you for living your life, dear. You're doing exactly what we've raised you to do. But we really enjoyed it there, you know. Besides, you can pop in over there as easily as you do at home, can you not?"

"Yes, I suppose so. It just won't be the same."

"Dear," Mary laughed, "things haven't 'been the same' since an owl with an envelope flew down our chimney. But change is good, I say."

"Yes, it can be," Hermione agreed. "Definitely can be good," she said as she nodded once. Taking a deep breath, she looked in the mirror one last time. "This is it," she whispered.

"Ready, love?" Henry Granger asked from the doorway, tears running down his cheeks. "They're waiting for you."

"Daddy," Hermione said as she beamed at her father. "How dashing you look!" She took a tissue and gently wiped his face. "None of this now. You'll ruin your image."

Chuckling, he told her, "A man has a right to shed a tear or two when he's about to give his only daughter away to another man."

Kissing his cheek, she agreed. "I suppose he does." When the music started, she placed her arm inside his. "Ready?"

"As I'll ever be," he said, making her smile brighter. "You look beautiful."

"Thank you, Daddy. I feel beautiful!" she said as they began to walk down the aisle.

Hermione wanted to remember everything she could about this day. How the church looked, how Ginny and Luna, her maid-of-honor and bridesmaid looked, how her guests looked, and how her heart felt as she walked...no glided...to the man waiting for her at the end of the aisle, smiling at her as if she were the only woman in the world. But as soon as her wedding march began, Hermione could only stare at Ronald. She felt well and truly loved.

When her father presented her to him, she could scarcely make out the words coming from the priest's mouth so intent she was on her husband-to-be.

When he finally asked, "If anyone can show just cause why these two should not be wed, speak now or forever hold your peace," Hermione's bubble of happiness was burst.

"I can!" shouted a pretty woman with dark hair and eyes from the rows behind her.

Hermione stiffened and noticed two things at once. Ron turned to look at who shouted those words and went completely white, and Harry, standing up for Ron, also turned to look, and when he turned back to face Ron, he was livid, but not surprised.

"Ron!" Hermione harshly whispered. "What's going on? Who's shouting that?"

"Er..." Ron started as he put a finger under his collar as if he was suddenly too hot. "Nothing. It's no one." To the priest he said, "Please. Continue."

"I'm sorry, son, but I cannot. Not until I hear this woman's cause," the priest explained.

With dread cloaked around her, Hermione slowly turned to face the crowd. She didn't immediately recognize the woman standing there, but one thing was quite evident. She was noticeably pregnant. "Can I help you?" Hermione asked, trying to sound irritated to cover the terror.

The woman snorted. "Can you help me? I don't think so. However, he can," she said, pointing at Ron.

"Ron!" Harry hissed. "I thought you said you'd ended things with her!"

Ginny jerked her head from the woman to look at her fiancé. "You know who she is? You knew about that?"

"Ron?" Hermione asked, not wanting to believe the truth staring her in the face.

"What's this about, Ronald?" Molly Weasley asked. "What's this young lady on about?"

"You have no proof," Ron angrily said, shooting curses with his eyes at the woman.

"You know it's yours! I told you from the beginning I would do this if you kept ignoring me! I will not raise this baby alone, and you will acknowledge it."

"I do not know that it's mine!" Ron roared. "I only know what you claim! For all I know, it could be anybody's!"

"You know that it's not!" she shouted, tears streaming down her face. "I love you, Ron, and you love me. I know you do. You just don't want to disappoint your family. Do you think I've forgotten that you said you're not truly in love with..."

"Stop!" Hermione yelled, throwing up both hands to silence the woman from yelling anything else and making this very private moment any more public and shouting something she was not yet ready to hear. Turning to Ron, she asked quietly, "But it could be yours?"

"Hermione..."

"Who is she?" Hermione asked. Then, angrily facing the woman, asked, "Who are you!"

"Romilda Vane," she answered. "But of course, I don't expect the likes of you to remember me."

"The one who gave poisoned chocolates to Ron in our sixth year?" Hermione asked, gobsmacked.

"Meant for Harry," Ginny remembered as she sneered at Romilda.

"Ah, so you do remember," Romilda taunted. "Yes, that's me. And also the one who's been seeing Ron for the past eight months."

"NO!" Ron shouted. "I ended things with you three months ago!"

"Yes, when I told you that I'm pregnant, you panicked and ended things. If it hadn't been for that, I dare say things would still be going strong between us." She looked at Hermione. "I'm sorry, truly I am, but you must understand why I had to stop the wedding, under the circumstances."

"You're wrong," Hermione corrected Romilda. "I don't understand any of this. Ron, how could you?" she cried as she threw her bouquet in Ron's face and fled from the sanctuary.

"Hermione!" Ron yelled and started after her, but Harry placed a restraining hand on his arm.

"Let her go, mate. I cannot believe this. You said you'd ended it with Romilda!"

"I did! You just heard her admitting that I'd ended it months ago!" Ron said as he watched people leaving the church, giving him nasty looks as they cleared out. Both his and Hermione's parents had run after Hermione.

"When? After she'd told you she's pregnant, like she claims? You should've never let it start to begin with, Ron! I told you that!"

"And you knew," Ginny said accusingly. "You're just as bad as he is, and he's a complete and utter git. How could the two of you do this to Hermione? I thought you loved her!"

"I do!" both Harry and Ron said at the same time.

"No, neither of you do. Ron, if you can sleep with another woman, then you don't belong to Hermione. And Harry, if you can lie to her daily, straight to her face, then you're not her mate. You've both betrayed her.

"And I wonder. If the two of you can lie so easily to her day after day, what else can you lie about? Harry, I feel like you betrayed me, too. I've lost faith in you."

"Don't be ridiculous!" Harry snapped, worried at the look on Ginny's face. "This was not for me to tell. Ron should've come clean months ago. I didn't want to hurt her! Besides, this situation has nothing to do with you or us."

"Well, you did. She knows that you knew, and that will hurt her. And though this situation has nothing to do with us, you still told a horrible lie, day after day. Both of you!" she spat, turning her glare towards her brother.

"Ginny," Ron said imploringly.

"Stay away from me! I am so furious with you two! As a matter of fact, the both of you stay away from me right now! I don't want to see either of you! And for heaven's sake, leave Hermione alone for a few days," Ginny commanded as she stomped off, glaring at Romilda as she went.

Severus clutched his drink, only half listening to Lucius bitch and moan about how unfair his life was. Narcissa, after catching him with another woman one too many times, was finally divorcing the bastard. Serves him right.

They had been at this little exotic island for almost a week now because Lucius had said he'd needed a break and didn't want to be alone. Severus snorted. A break indeed.

"Something I said sound amusing to you, Severus?" Lucius interrupted Severus' musings, clearly put upon.

Severus looked at him, one eyebrow raised. "I find this whole situation amusing, Lucius. I've told you time and again that Cissy would soon tire of your womanizing, but you kept on with it. You've made your bed, so to speak, now lie in it."

Lucius turned to Severus, a hurt look on his face. "How can you say that to me? Narcissa is my life!"

"Save it," Severus snapped. "Draco hasn't joined us yet. He's the only one who believes that drivel. You can't constantly hurt someone if you love them."

"Those ladies meant nothing to me! They were merely... hobbies, if you will."

"Right. Well, looks like your hobby has cost you your wife."

"I don't know why she's doing this now. Especially since that dratted Marriage Law has been passed! It only means that she'll have to marry someone else and produce a child." Lucius brooded into his drink. "If she stays with me, she won't have to have any more children."

"She's been asking you for a baby for years, Father," Draco said as he walked up behind them with Greg Goyle, carrying the Daily Prophet. "You know how badly she's wanted one, especially in the past few years since the war ended."

"Well, I agreed, didn't I? I told her just the other day that I'd let her have a baby!"

"Too little, too late," Severus said. "And now, some other man will have the privilege of 'letting' Narcissa have a baby."

Lucius' eyes narrowed dangerously. "You wouldn't be thinking about having that privilege, would you, mate?"

Before Severus could answer, Draco said, "Damn. This paper is a week behind. Look." He pointed to a full size picture of Hermione in her wedding dress as he laughed. "Granger finally married Weasley. I suppose it won't be long until Potter marries into that family now."

"Now that is a divorce waiting to happen," Severus commented. "Weasley and Granger. Though I'm not in the least surprised that they've married. I figured she would be stupid enough to marry one of those two imbeciles. Neither would make her happy."

"You don't think they'll last?" Greg asked his former Potions professor. "They've always been together ever since we were kids. It seems like they will."

Severus shook his head. "They are not equals in any way. And I'd wager that they both want different things in life. Weasley will want what he knows...his mother. Granger will want to work and make her mark in our world. To prove herself worthy of being here," he spat. "As she's done from the start."

Draco laughed. "Well, that will never happen because she's not."

"Well, it proves one thing," Severus said. "All women are ignorant when it comes to the opposite sex. All a man has to do to get a woman is say a few choice words and shag her senseless. I can't imagine any other reason Granger would marry a Weasley. Any Weasley."

"I'd like an answer to my question, Severus," Lucius quietly said in a voice that Severus knew very well. It was a voice that many Muggle and a few Death Eaters had quickly learned to fear.

"Well, that's odd," Greg said as he nodded to the door. "What is she doing here with her?"

All eyes turned in the direction of the door. In walked Hermione Granger and Ginny Weasley. "Perhaps she brought the wrong Weasley with her on her honeymoon," Lucius snapped, irritated.

The other three men at the table snorted. "Probably get on better with her than the jughead she married," Greg said.

Suddenly, an owl flew to Draco, dropping several more Prophets.

"Hold on!" Draco said and began laughing so hard that he couldn't speak. Tears were literally rolling down his face. "Ssshhee ddiddn'ttt mmmaaarrryy him!" Draco stammered, pointing to the paper at the top of the pile.

"Draco! Control yourself this instant and give me that paper!" Lucius said harshly. After reading a bit, he simply said, "Ah. The plot thickens. It looks as if Weasley was having an affair, impregnating some witch, and the Granger girl cancelled the wedding. At the altar, no less. Tsk."

Severus snorted, amused. "That doesn't surprise me. She's better off, though I doubt that she thinks she is. Now she'll just have to find some other person who can put up with her. Perhaps Longbottom."

Lucius threw back his drink and finished it in one gulp. "What say you we have a bit of fun?"

"What are you up to, old man?" Severus asked, not liking the scheming look in his friend's eyes. Severus knew very well that by not answering Lucius' question about Narcissa, he was adding fuel to the fire, but the man needed to suffer a bit after the way he'd treated his wife.

Lucius shrugged. "You said it yourself. Women are easily wooed. Why don't you and Draco woo those two?" He nodded towards Hermione and Ginny. "And then right when they are at their most vulnerable, dump them."

"Bitter much?" Severus taunted.

"No, just enough. See there, the young Weasley? She looks a bit like the Mudblood you fancied so much, Potter's mother. Your victory over her would be twofold: taking a woman away from a Potter and having someone who so closely resembles Evans."

Severus tightened his hand around his drink, saying nothing. Lucius always spoke of Lily as if she'd been insignificant. He could easily see why Cissy had had enough of this man.

"Absolutely not!" Draco shouted. "I will not 'woo' any Mudblood. If we do this, I'll take the Weasley girl."

"Oh, and what a hardship it would be for you, too, eh, Draco? You've fancied her since our sixth year," Greg said as he watched a curvy waitress set new drinks on the table and smile shyly at him.

"Fancied is not the word I would use, Greg," Draco corrected him. "I wanted to shag her...nothing more."

"Whatever you wanted to do, or want to do now for that matter, is quite moot. I refuse to cow to this façade," Severus informed them. "It's extremely tasteless."

Lucius nodded. "You're scared. I understand that. You'd never get the Granger girl to look twice at you at any rate, especially after the way you've always treated her. I suppose women aren't quite as gullible as you made them out to be. Certainly not one as smart as that one is."

"Oh, stop trying to goad me into going along with this idiotic plan of yours to hurt everyone and everything because you're hurt and throwing a tantrum. What? You're not happy, so you don't want anyone else to be? Don't you think she's hurting enough at the moment?"

"Hardly. Besides, I'll get Narcissa to change her mind, have no doubt. I just thought that before we headed back home it would be amusing to watch those two get knocked off their high terrestrial. But obviously, you're not the man for the job."

"I could get the Granger girl if I wanted her, Lucius," Severus said, insulted. "A few choice words and acts of infatuation? A gift or two perhaps? She would eat right out of the palm of my hand."

"I say that you can't."

"I most certainly could."

"Prove it."

"I'll do my part," Draco quickly interrupted their banter, eyeing Ginny. "I'll get Weasley to fall for me and dump Potter."

Greg looked at Draco, raising both eyebrows. "Please! She's loved him all of her life. You think that you, someone she's hated all of her life, could change that?"

Draco winked at Greg. "Piece of cake."

"Why don't we make this interesting? Make a bit of sport out of it?"

"How would you suggest that we do that?" Severus inquired, curiosity piqued in spite of himself.

"Make it a bet? Say the two of you have two weeks to get Granger and Weasley to admit they're in love with you? If they leave here before then, you can continue back home. Once they've done so, you quite painfully dump them.

"Then when we get back home and the deed is done, you'll have plenty of time to find a suitable wife and comply with this absurd marriage law. Draco, I've said it enough; it's time for you to marry. I agree with this law if only for that. If you had done so and had produced a grandchild for your mother, perhaps she..."

"Enough!" Draco said. "What do we get if we win?"

"More importantly, what happens if they lose?" Greg asked.

"It doesn't matter," Severus said before Lucius could answer, "because I'm not doing it. It's distasteful. She's distasteful."

"Salazar's emerald stirring rod," Lucius blurted out. "If you win, I'll give it to you. I know how badly you want it."

"Are you mad?" Draco demanded.

Severus stared at Lucius intently. He must truly be worried about him going after Narcissa to offer that. "And if I lose?"

"You resign as Headmaster."

Severus sighed. "Lucius, they will not make your son Headmaster of Hogwarts. He's too young and inexperienced."

"Let me worry about that. Have we a deal?"

"What about me?" Draco asked. "What do I get if I win?"

"I will sign the deed to the villa in France over to you." Draco didn't have to know he'd planned on doing that anyway once he'd chosen a wife and married. "And if you lose, you will accept the job as Potions professor that Severus has been trying to get you to accept. You should do that anyway, son." Lucius had no doubt that Draco would not win his part of the bet. Greg was right. There was no way the youngest Weasley would leave Potter for his son. She was just not smart enough to understand how much superior Draco was.

"No, Father, I shouldn't. I despise the thought of it. However, I accept the terms. Severus?"

Lucius had Severus right where he wanted him, and he knew it. He'd coveted that stirring rod since the first time he'd lain eyes on it. And besides, Severus thought, I've already tried to resign as Headmaster, though Lucius doesn't know that. Because there was a binding contract signed, Severus had to remain as headmaster ten full school years. He sighed.

"Yes, I accept. With all the grief that girl has caused me, it will be my pleasure."

Lucius picked up his glass and toasted all at the table, well pleased. "Let the games begin."

Hermione and Ginny sat at the bar, each nursing a glass of wine. "Thank you for coming with me on what was supposed to be my honeymoon, Ginny, but it's not necessary. I don't need a sitter. I am perfectly fine. You must be ready to get back. No matter what you say, I know that you really miss Harry."

"No, actually, I don't. It's only been a week. Besides, I think time away from Harry would do us both good. I cannot believe those two! And I know you're still grieving. I don't want to leave you alone."

Hermione shook her head, not wanting to hear it. "It's done, Ginny. I don't want to think about it right now. I just want to sit back, relax, and get pissed."

"Sounds like a plan," Ginny agreed as she toasted her friend.

Just as Hermione took a drink, the bartender placed two frothy drinks in front of them. "From the gentlemen there," he said as he pointed towards Severus and Draco's table.

Hermione sighed and took another long sip of her wine. She was going to have to nip this in the bud. The last thing she wanted was a drink from a man! Turning in the direction the bartender had pointed to so that she could politely refuse the drink, she suddenly choked on her wine as Severus Snape raised his glass to her from across the room.

This is for the Potter_Place Variety Challenge:

I. Something Old

A. Oldies but Goodies

1. Revisit a once popular challenge

2. Try to bring it up-to-date by using current canon

a. example: Post DH Marriage Law Challenge where Snape is a half-blood (who survived that snakebite) has to marry because the Ministry says ...