Chapter 9

Submission or Infertility

Madam Pomfrey smiled at Hermione when she entered the hospital wing for her scheduled appointment. "Have you given any more thought as to what field you will pursue after leaving Hogwarts?" the kindly matron asked.

"In truth, I had been considering applying to the Ministry before all this happened, but now I'm not sure I want to," Hermione stated, taking her seat on the bed for her examination. "With everything going on, I was thinking about going into Magical Law."

"Have you ever heard about the Elfrida Clagg School of Magical and Danelaw in Castle Hill, Cambridgeshire? My nephew is a professor there. It's associated with Cambridge University and is a fine institution. I'm sure Professor McGonagall would write you a letter of reference, if you like?" Madam Pomfrey asked as she swept her wand over Hermione's torso.

"Danelaw? The wizarding world follows Danelaw?" Hermione asked in shock.

"For centuries." The tip of her wand glowed red as it passed over her abdomen. "Hermione, you're not pregnant, are you?"

"How?!" She recoiled in shock and jumped to her feet. "You cannot perform the Pregnancy Charm without my consent! How could you?"

"No fetal heartbeat," the Healer said softly and sat down, indicating that she do the same. "I wanted to know for sure. I'm sorry. This will stay between us. But I feel compelled to tell you that the Wizengamot is going to require certain vital signs be taken on each of you girls to verify that you are carrying a vital, healthy fetus." She looked at her hands as she rolled her wand in her fingers, and then looked up, her grey eyes full of empathy. "You should know that as of next week, I am to include fetal heart rate, sex, size, and approximate weight in my monthly reports. You girls may refuse, but they're going to pass as a law requiring Healers to record prenatal vital signs on all pregnancies sometime soon. They want verification of your pregnancies now instead waiting until June."

"My third trimester isn't until July!" Hermione felt the blood drain form her face. "Wait! That means that they are revoking the Healer-patient confidentiality..."

Madam Pomfrey shook her head. "You're third trimester starts the eighteenth of June. Hermione, they are amending what qualifies as Healer-patient privileged information under the Healer's Hippocratic Oath, as well as what is or is not protected under Healer-patient confidentiality rights." She lowered her voice even more. "I suspect to be so informed by the end of next week. I had truly hoped to wait until you girls hit your third trimester before I had to report you, but it looks like I won't be able to. Those who would have their third trimester in the summer after leaving school...the Healers at St. Mungo's the S.H.R.M.C. are using aren't going to be lenient. Many of you are falsifying your paternity claims. The young wizards' families will have cause to sue each girl who has made false claims."

Hermione inhaled sharply as she covered her mouth. "The down side of the Bastard Law. I was hoping that this law would be repealed before...shit! What are we going to do?"

The kindly Healer laid her hand on Hermione's, and she felt a slip of parchment pressed into her palm. "It's a long shot, but you could claim that the girls all ate this. It's a rare delicacy that very few house-elves can make."

"Clam chowder from Shetland Island snow clams!? They're poisonous!" Hermione exclaimed when she unfolded the parchment. "Women used them to abort pregnancies."

"And if the soup is not prepared correctly it can cause sterility," Madam Pomfrey stated, so quietly Hermione had to strain to hear her. "I could lose my license, saying this, but I am on your side. I think that this Marriage Law is horrible. I'm too old, thank God," she said, crossing herself, "but I cannot condone what the Ministry is doing. It's one thing to encourage couples to have children, even provide fertility potions, but this... No, I agree with you girls. I'd fight it too. If you speak to the house-elves, Old Brenna knows how to make it properly. I should think a..."

Hermione stared at her in shock. "You have been fighting this with us, haven't you, in your own way?" she asked, suddenly aware of that the Healer had been helping them all along.

Madam Pomfrey stood abruptly, her expression an exaggerated show of righteous indignation. "I have no idea what you are implying, young lady! Of course not," she said in a bristled, curt tone, smoothing down her skirts. "I have done no such thing!" She winked just before she pulled herself up to her full height. "My reports have always been accurate and thorough. I have been the Hogwarts Healer for longer then you're parents have been alive! And I do not condone this sort of behavior." However, she was pointing to the file on the bedside table, and Hermione lowered her head, nodding in understanding. Making a sly glance at the wall as if looking at the Healer in embarrassment, she saw all the Healers in the portraits were watching them, some overtly, some coyly.

When she left the hospital wing, Hermione pulled out her DA coin and sent a message to Luna, Susan, and Julianna to gather some of the girls from each house and meet her in the room where she brewed the potions. When everyone was gathered, Hermione told the girls what Madam Pomfrey had said, and Ginny told them the warning that Professor McGonagall had given them.

"So now what?" Susan exclaimed, her fright making her voice seem nearly hysterical.

"Calm down, that's what," Julianna said, crossing her arms. "The S.H.M.R.C. is trying to root out what's going on, that's what."

"So we're going to be forced to admit that the paternity claims are false?" Bernice asked, wringing her hands together. "My family can't afford a false paternity suit."

"Like mine can?" Mary, a seventh-year Hufflepuff, snapped back, her expression as fearful as Susan's.

"Can they do that, take away our Healer-patient confidentiality rights?" Susan asked.

Luna was braiding a lock of her hair. "If the Wizengamot does, there won't be a witch or wizard who will confide in their Healer!" She looked serenely at Julianna. "And even if a Healer does break their oath to do this charm, the Healer's Hippocratic Wand Oath would invalidate it. Their wand would snap and their wand arm would be crippled with paraungius bursoliths."

"Ernil told me about that! It's really a painful calcification of the bursa in the knuckles and wrist joints...they wouldn't be able to use their hand anymore. It's worse than arthritis; it isn't curable!" Susan stated, wringing her hands. "So why is the Wizengamot doing this? When the public finds out...when the Healers find out..."

"Susan, you're brilliant!" Ginny exclaimed excitedly.

"What is? We're being found out!" Valerie whined. Up until to now, she'd been really uncomfortable about the whole idea of faking the pregnancies and had been spending more time with her other friends, disassociating herself from Shelia and Hermione.

"Hermione said that Madam Pomfrey was only told this recently...and Professor McGonagall knew that this was going to happen! I think they were given the information from an inside source and they've passed it on to us!" Ginny said, smiling and indicated toward Shelia with her hand. "They are trying to give us forewarning, like Shelia's dad does when he hears things through his reporters!"

Hermione pressed the heel of her palm to her temple. "Only I was so blind...I'm so sorry!" She looked up and grimaced. "Professor McGonagall was giving me a heads up, and I missed it! Madam Pomfrey was reminding me that the law is going to be passed. She is forewarning us! The public doesn't know! But we do!"

"So?" Susan asked, perplexed. "We know in advance. How is that going to stop it from happening?"

"We use our resources!" Shelia exclaimed, grinning, making a jerk with her fists as if ready to fight. "There isn't a witch alive who would stand for being forced to take potions or charms against their will. According to my dad, loads of couples are following our example and trying to defy this Marriage Law. The lists of couples are nowhere near as long as they should be if people weren't resisting, right? I mean, if everyone out there," she said with a wide sweep of her hand, "age seventeen to sixty are on the list and have filled out the census, why were there only twenty or so engagements in the last Daily Prophet? Why not hundreds? We're talking about all of Great Britain, right?"

Bernice was so excited she butted in, "So if we write letters, like we did last time..."

Shelia nodded as she interjected, "We will inform the public!"

Valerie didn't look too convinced. "But will it make any difference. We are talking about the government. They can do whatever they want!"

"By writing to every publication in the wizarding world!" Julianna said as Susan exclaimed, "Oh it could work! We can do a letter campaign!"

Julianna nodded, smiling exuberantly. "I'll get everyone in Slytherin to get on it tonight."

"You can count on Hufflepuff, too," Susan said.

"Does the school have enough owls?" Luna asked. "It might take a while for every one of us to send letters to each publication. The poor birds will be flying round trips for days."

"There is always the Hogsmeade post office," Ginny said with a smirk. "And any eighth-years can walk down to Hogsmeade in the afternoon as long as they don't skive off lessons."

That started a letter campaign amongst the fifth-, sixth-, seventh-, and eighth-year students to every known publication, local and abroad, and every relative and family friend they knew. Thanks to the Sorcerer's Sun, Witches Home Journal, Magical Living, Witch Weekly, The Magic Mirror, and of course The Quibbler printing many of the girl's letters, and several of the concerned parents as well, the public became aware of what the Ministry was actually doing with their new law...forcing everybody, patients and students, to forfeit their Healer-patient confidentiality rights and submit to the Ministry-arranged marriages. Once word got out about what the Ministry was doing, the Daily Prophet spouted the Ministry's propaganda in favor of the law and its reasons.

By the end of the week-long letter campaign, Professor McGonagall made an announcement at breakfast. "May I have your attention please," she said, tapping her water goblet with her spoon. Everyone settled down and turned to look at her. "In light of the increase of outgoing post, both here and at the Hogsmeade Post office, Postmaster Gains and Professor Hagrid have both asked me to remind you that owls are creatures that do have limitations. Although the Hogwarts owls are by nature loyal and proud of their station and are willing to keep up the normal flow of correspondences, such recent increases in outgoing post has caused wing strain for some of our smaller owls. Therefore, boxes shall be set in the Deputy Headmaster's office for any outgoing post to any publication you choose to write to, which will then be sent by Floo the following morning. Hopefully, this will alleviate any undue strain on our owls. Thank you."

Hermione turned to Shelia and Ginny, and all three girls broke out in laughter as the bowls of eggs and platters of pancakes appeared on the table.

Over the next week, many of the publications were printing letters of concerned readers as well. Encouraged by the letters of the concerned parents and students, numerous couples agreed to be interviewed by the publications, many claiming that the Ministry's approach was not in the usual manner of a magical matchmaker, but that of an arranged marriage forced upon the couples against their will. One article in Witch Weekly, which was printed in three other papers, was from none other than Rita Skeeter. Hermione was all smiles as she read the first half of the reporter's article and then sighed in empathy for what followed.

I, Rita Skeeter, reporter for the Daily Prophet, now engaging as an independent correspondent, have had the pleasure of meeting with several of the young couples whose marriages were arranged by Mrs. Edithe Havershiems. I have been a long time friend of Mrs. Graceilla Warblock, a lovely lady of fine breeding and repute, and therefore in the beginning, I was supportive of this new Ministry Program of the Social Heritage, Marriage, and Registration Committee. However, it has come to my attention that certain occurrences are happening that must be brought to light. My dear readers, I was appalled to learn that I, Rita Skeeter, am to be matched with Marcus Barbary, father to the famous Heathcote Barbary, rhythm guitar player for the Weird Sisters. Imagine my shock when my friend informed me that I was to be engaged! To a wizard some thirty-five years (or so) my senior and father of six! Me! Forced into this infernal travesty and expected to bear children in the prime of my career? I certainly want to do my part for wizardkind, but I am on the road all the time, searching juicy tidbits for you, my avid fans. Now I ask you, how can I be a good mother if I'm on the road all the time?

This interview had me wondering if any of the other witches who are in Ministry-approved unions are likewise unsatisfied. I was appalled to find nine couples trying to appeal to the Wizengamot to invalidate their marriages. Nine who are desperately trying to be released from their Ministry-approved matches! None of the couples were given the right to deny their match, nor were they given alternatives if the witch or wizard disapproved of the person the Ministry Yenta selected for them! Can you believe this...

Hermione looked up as Julianna touched her shoulder. "Did you read the article in Witch Weekly today?"

"The one by Rita Skeeter? Just now," Hermione said, making room for the girl to sit down. "Serrena is your sister, isn't she?"

Julianna nodded. "She's in St. Mungo's again. I just got word. Helbert beat her again because he found out that Rita Skeeter came by the house. Of course, the Ministry's main concern is the baby she is carrying, but she had a broken jaw, three ribs, a fractured wrist, and multiple bruises. But until she delivers four children, she's stuck in this marriage."

"Julianna, I'm sorry!" Hermione exclaimed, placing her hand on the girl's arm. "But why? Isn't there anything that can be done?"

She looked up from where her gaze had been on Hermione's hand to look her in the eye. "We are doing it. This...all of this...is helping! By fighting this law, we and people like my sister are making the world aware of how unfair it all is." She turned her head. "I came over here to say thank you for..." Her gaze shifted to look Hermione in the eye again. "I'm glad that you included us Slytherins. It means a lot to me that you didn't turn your back on us."

Hermione gave the girl's arm a squeeze. "Like I said to you earlier, I'm glad to have you on my side. And when you write your sister, please send her my condolences for her situation and my support that hopefully things can get better for her...for all of us."

Julianna smiled sadly as she rose. "You're all right, Hermione. Thank you for your concern. It means a lot to me. I'm glad we've gotten to know each other. I'd be proud to think of you as a friend."

"I'd like that, being friends," Hermione said, smiling back as Julianna walked away for the Slytherin table.

Ginny nudged her. "We could send her a card. What do you think?"

Hermione nodded. "I think it's a great idea. We can make one during break."

Rita's article caused quite a stir. One by one, over the next two weeks, the girls were asked to see their Head of House to discuss the situation of the pregnancies. But for a short time, it seemed that all the forced marriages were being reconsidered.

The Quibbler ran the announcement that Luna had petitioned for approval of her engagement to the son of her father's friend, Rolf Scamander, since the summer after the war, however the Wizengamot listed her betrothal as pending in the Daily Prophet. Likewise, many other couples who were still pending permission to get married submitted letters to announce their engagements in the Sorcerer's Sun and The Quibbler, making quite a fuss for the Wizengamot to sort out. Finally, many of the engagements were granted, just so long as at least three viable and magically sound children were produced. Harry wrote to Ginny and Hermione telling them that hundreds of Howlers from angry people, furious that the couples were allowed to side step the law, had flooded the Ministry and the members of the Wizengamot. Apparently, many of the new Howlers also contained dung bombs that exploded once the Howler finished its message.

Professor McGonagall once again called Ginny and Hermione into her office. Harry had filed a no-contest to his paternity suit and claimed that he and Ginny had become engaged the end of his sixth year. Witch Weekly and The Quibbler ran the article in which he explained his promise to wed her if they survived Voldemort, which was confirmed in the interview by Ron.

But Hermione's claim to be already engaged to Ron was denied by the committee. When Hermione asked why, Professor McGonagall stated that their stories didn't match up and that Harry wasn't sure as to when Hermione and Ron had formally decided to get engaged. The boys claimed it was while they were camping, not at the end of the school year as Hermione had claimed. "They are retaliating against you. You are to be matched up with Draco Malfoy. They hope his family can get you in hand."

"What?" Hermione shrieked, jumping to her feet and slamming her hands on the Headmistress' desk. "I can't marry that ferret!"

It took Professor McGonagall fifteen minutes to calm her down.

Not soon after, the Ministry passed a law enforcing that the Healer's Hippocratic Wand Oath did not apply when the witch or wizard was doing something or carried a condition destructive to their health. With that amendment to the Healer's Hippocratic Oath, Madam Pomfrey was directed to confirm or deny all the supposed pregnancies at Hogwarts. Of course, most of the girls were found to be suffering from a Pseudocyesis condition caused by undue stress and aggravation brought on by the Marriage Law, and final examinations, O.W.L.s, and N.E.W.T. exams. Each girl was given proper potions to correct the situation and a vial of Calming Draught and a mild Sleeping Potion.

Knowing that the ruse was going to be found out, Hermione, Draco and their friends had tried to find the potions that reversed the Sterility Curse. The curse, generally used on illegally cross-bred magical creatures, would help the girls avoid marriages under the clause of 'deemed unfit for the program or as a suitable wife.'

Finally, Hermione found the journal with the article about reversing the Sterility Curse. She was pleased that Severus S. Prince was given due accolades he deserved for developing the potion, but the journal only had a summary of the potion, not the actual directions. "Apparently during Voldemort's first reign of terror, some of the Death Eaters were using the Sterility Curse on the Muggle-born females to prohibit their being able to further pollute wizarding society with their spawn, as they say," she explained when she had called a meeting to discuss the plan.

"Severus Snape's discovery of the potion to reverse the effect of the curse had been during the time right before The Dark...you know's first fall," Draco stated, looking somber.

"Professor Snape had been published in an obscure Potions Journal the Hogwarts library still subscribes to, but he'd removed it when he'd started teaching," Hermione stated. "That's why I had a hard time finding it...Madam Pince said he still had it, so the library only had the one that mentioned his discovery."

"What's sad is that his efforts to help the wounded Muggle-borns had been over-looked in his trial, and he'd never received the acclaim for his discovery," Ginny stated.

"Well, if you want to write it up, I'm sure my dad would love to run the article," Shelia stated.

"My father will, too," Luna said wistfully. "We have a lovely picture of him on file."

"But even though we know who invented it, I don't have the directions to the potion!" Hermione said with a sigh. "No point planning on this without the potion to back it up."

"We still have the potions section of the Manor to look through, if you're up for defying the rules again, Hermione," Draco said with a smirk.

"And I've written to Severus again," Hermione stated. "I'm hoping he answers. If not, I'm sure it will turn up. But if not, thank you for the offer, Draco. I'll think about it. Maybe next weekend."

Draco smirked as he replied, "I'll take you home with me whenever you're ready," with a wink.

Hermione shook her head and walked away.

Severus' letter came just as Hermione was about to give up and ask Draco to take her back to his family library to search.

Miss Granger,

Severus S. Prince.

Bernice had burst out laughing at the list. "I'm sure Dad can get the leeches, lacewing flies, knotgrass, and boomslang skin!" she exclaimed and sent a letter to her father asking for the ingredients. This time her father and uncle sent her the necessary ingredients the next day and had even selected the finest quality that they could and assured Bernice that they met the exact specifications she asked for. Draco and Cecil once again came through with the necessary equipment, and on the night of the new moon, Luna went with Hermione to collect the water in a meadow Luna knew about where the Unicorns came to drink.

Although the potions would take a month to brew, numerous girls opted to let Hermione use a modified version of the Sterility Curse, not easily detectable and seemingly permanent, or trying Madam Pomfrey's soup, in lieu of facing an unwanted marriage. Unlike the Pseudopregnancy Potion, this appeared to be an actual deformity in the girls' reproductive organs and seemed irreversible.

Madam Pomfrey noted in each girl's chart the unfortunate discovery. She placed a note in the crate with her monthly report with a smile.

To the Members of the Wizengamot and Wizengamot Administration Services,

Healer of Hogwarts School for Witchcraft and Wizardry

This really confused the Healers, and since none of the Healers at St. Mungo's were told of the reversal potion, nearly every 'eligible' girl in Hogwarts was 'deemed unfit for the program or as a suitable wife.'

Hermione received a letter from Harry, asking for her to meet him in Hogsmeade. When she arrived, he escorted her to a back room in the Three Broomsticks and indicated that she sit down. "Hermione, you have to drop this paternity suit against Ron," he said after their third butterbeer.

"Why?" she screeched at the sudden change of subject. "I thought..."

Harry was staring into his mug as if divining from the head of foam. "Ron was matched up with Ursula Fancourt. Lavender Brown also petitioned for him, so both matches are pending. Lavender's family is friends with the Warblocks. She wants to marry Ron, and Miss Havershiems approved the match, but so did Ursula Fancourt. Just before Christmas, he'd been given a month to choose which witch...then you filed the paternity suit."

She couldn't believe it. She didn't know Ursula Fancourt very well except as a snooty Ravenclaw from her year who bragged about being related to Perpetuna Fancourt, the witch who'd invented the Lunascope. "But I thought that Lavender is a pure-blood!"

"No, well, mostly. Lavender's father's family is German, and her grandmother on her mother's side is from France. The Ministry under Voldemort didn't bother checking families with foreign backgrounds all that carefully. Apparently there are plenty of half-bloods in her family ancestry, enough to make the match valid under the current laws."

"But what does Ron want?" she asked, stunned by his revelation.

"I'm not sure what Ron wants," he admitted, cradling his mug with two hands. "Lavender's really mad at you over the suit. And that's only half of it; the point is that if you don't drop your suit, Ron will be kicked out of Auror Training."

She couldn't believe what he was asking of her. "Oh, can't have that, can we? What about me? I'm doing this for both of us."

Harry shrugged listlessly. "Lavender said that you are faking your pregnancy. You'll be investigated."

"Bitch!"

He looked up; his expression one that told her he was going to tell her bad news. "Hermione, he's seeing a girl from the Department of Magical Games and Sports."

His statement cut like a knife. "Let me guess, she works in the British Quidditch offices," she said waspishly.

"Department of International Quidditch League Headquarters, actually," he admitted, staring at the mug again, his shoulders slumping warily.

He looked up at her, and she knew that he didn't want to tell her these things, but that wasn't stopping him. "Hermione, you know I am on your side, right? Aren't you planning on going to a training program or something?"

She nodded. "Law school. Professor McGonagall and all my professors are writing me letters for law school."

Harry nodded, then let go of his mug, tracing a crack in the table with his finger. "So, I was thinking, Charlie isn't on the list; what about filing for him and then going to law school? By the time you finish, this insanity has to be over anyway."

"Trade one Weasley for another," she said bitterly, gripping her own mug tightly in her hands. "I can't. I'm the leader of this rebellion, and if I drop out, it sets a bad example for the others who are relying on me."

"Just think about it, will you? I don't want my first act as Auror to be arresting my best mate," he said sadly. She'd simply stared at him as he rose to go. "Really think this over, will you? I...I don't want to see you in Azkaban."

The trek back to the castle was the longest one Hermione had ever made. She told Ginny what Harry had said and listened to her friend try to reassure her that it wouldn't happen. However, Hermione wasn't convinced. Something about Harry's slumped shoulders and forlorn expression told her his warning had to be taken seriously.

Draco was waiting for her in the Entrance Hall when she came down for dinner. "Hermione, have you got a minute?"

"Sure, what's up," she asked, trying to sound chipper.

"Me, us," he stammered, his hands shoved deep in his pockets. "I have been thinking about this. I got a response to my request to marry Daphne. The Wizengamot informed me that I have to marry a Muggle-born. I don't know any that...well, what I was thinking is that you and I don't make a bad match."

"What?! Are you insane? You've hated me for years! You've only been decent this year because we are on the same side of this insane law!" she screeched, not caring who overheard them. "I seriously doubt your opinions of me have changed all that much, Draco Malfoy!"

"Actually, they have," Draco said and shrugged his shoulders as he looked at her imploringly. "There are a lot of reasons why you and I are a good match. We like the same subjects. We both love to read, and if we have kids, I can afford nannies, governesses, and you'd be able to pursue your interests..."

This was too much for her to be dealing with at the moment. "You...me...have kids? You're nutters if you think I'd agree! What about your family? I'm sure that your parents would love having me as a daughter-in-law shoved down their snobby, pure-as-snow-blood throats!"

"That is uncalled for!" he snapped, then looked apologetically at her.

She ignored his look. "I was tortured in your house! You...yourself hexed, cursed, and tormented me for years! You made my front teeth grow down to my chest! Your father's friends attacked my parent's home and burned it to the ground! I was nearly killed by your aunt!" she ranted, the stress of her situation making her frustrations come out at him.

"All right, we have history," he said, pulling his hands out and holding them palm up in front of him.

"History!" she screeched, her hands on her hips. "Is that what you want to call it? A history?"

"Would you even consider that I might have changed?" he said through gritted teeth, aware that people were staring.

"Yes, I will give you that," she snapped at him.

"Then will you at least consider it?" he asked.

"Draco, there isn't that much to consider. You can't go from nemesis to lover overnight," she said with a shake of her head. "We've hardly even been friends that long and certainly haven't been seeing each other romantically. Things don't change that quickly. We've only started to be amicable this year, compatriots in battle, so to speak. Hardly ground for marriage and certainly not to..."

"So I'm not good enough for you, is that it? You set your sights awfully high, Mudblood!" he sneered, his feelings clearly hurt.

"Back to Mudblood, am I? Watch it, Draco, you'll land in Azkaban for calling me that!" she sneered back.

"You stuck up, bitch. You're impossible!" he snapped at her, his hands now clenched in fists by his side.

Hermione balled her hands into fists, wishing that he'd drop the idea. "Look. You and me... You don't love me. I have no idea why you'd pick me, of all people? You and I...I can't see us as a couple."

"You've been invaluable in all this..." He relaxed his hands at his sides, raising his right hand in her direction. "If you don't drop your suit, you'll be in Azkaban and Weasley kicked out from becoming an Auror. Is that what you want? The Wizengamot will approve our match."

"How do you...you filed a petition for me? Didn't you?" she asked, remembering what Professor McGonagall had told her. "You did! Damn you, Draco. Well, for your information I'm going to law school. I am not going to marry anyone until I graduate, and that's final!"

He shoved his hands back in his pockets and resumed his old arrogant pose. "Well, I'll be seeing you in class, Hermione. I'm going to Law School, too."

"What?" she screeched. This was simply too much.

"Elfrida Clagg School of Magical and Danelaw in Castle Hill, Cambridgeshire. So you'll have plenty of time to decide on what you want." He smirked at her, and she wanted to wipe it off his face. "But know this...we've been approved!"