Chapter 10

After the Leaving Feast

As if Hermione didn't have enough to worry about with revising for her N.E.W.T.s, the Ministry sent her a letter four days before exams, threatening to expel her and any student agreeing to follow her example. Hermione wrote a letter telling Charles Polister to go ahead and try expelling nearly half the student population of Hogwarts, and she dared him to explain to the public why every single student appeared to be fighting his department's forced marriages. She sent copies of the letter to each publication: the Sorcerer's Sun, Magical Living, Witch Weekly, The Magic Mirror, Witches Home Journal, and of course, The Quibbler, which all printed the letter.

The Daily Prophet ran a scathing article about all of Hermione's defiance against the Ministry's efforts to resolve the problem of magical defects and strengthening the magical bloodlines. Several people wrote her, outraged that the Ministry would continue its attack against her the week before her exams. Many of the letters stated that copies had been sent to Charles Polister and the Minister himself. Both papers, the Sorcerer's Sun and The Quibbler, published copies the letters she'd received showing their support.

Hermione responded with a letter in the Sorcerer's Sun and The Quibbler that forcing people to get married through a Yenta, disregarding and denying the engagements of people in love was repugnant. She argued that as long as the S.H.M.R.C. was going to force people into marriages without allowing the couples to decline the Yenta's matches, it was a flawed program of forced breeding, and that the Wizengamot was showing of complete disregard to the individual's feelings or concerns.

The S.H.M.R.C.s program is extremely prejudicial, just as prejudicial as Voldemort's idealism was, only targeted against pure-bloods instead of Muggle-borns. Instead of trying to heal the wounds of war, new wounds are being opened, new prejudices spouted and acted upon to the determent of us all. Why must blood be a factor in these decisions? Why must blood be the segregation factor that divides us? Why not look at ourselves and each other and see people. Witch or wizard...we are human beings and deserve respect. She also pointed out in her letter, If we learned anything from the rise of Voldemort, and from Gellert Grindelwald before him, it is that prejudices are destructive to our society and to us as human beings. It's time to rise above this petty nonsense and see each other as people, equal, each of us unique and special in our own rights. I would hope that our legacy isn't a continuation of hate and disrespect because of who you were born to, but rather from our actions, contributions, and achievements. Only then will we have a society to be proud of.

The day of her first exam, more letters poured into to the Great Hall the following day, some in support, others defamatory.

The Daily Prophet decided to run an article on the location of the Quidditch World Cup and two huge articles on the competing teams, Germany and Italy.

Ginny was commenting on the change in the Prophet as they exited the Great Hall for the library to revise.

"Er, Hermione, you got a minute?"

She turned, surprised to see Greg waiting for her in the corridor. "Sure, Greg, what's up?"

"I was hopin', well, I wondered if you had a minute," he said, gripping his book bag tightly in his hands.

Hermione smiled. "Sure, I have a minute." She turned to Ginny. "I'll catch up with you later, okay?"

"Yeah," Ginny said, waving her off. "I'll save you a seat."

Hermione walked over to Greg and placed a hand on his arm. "You're worried about your Muggle Studies N.E.W.T., aren't you?"

Greg nodded and looked down. "If I don't pass my N.E.W.T., I won't be leaving Hogwarts. Part of my, er, probation. Me and some of the guys, we were wondering, do you...could you have a review session tonight?"

Hermione bit her lip. She had two N.E.W.T.s to revise for: Ancient Runes and Literature. She'd read all the books on the reading list Professor Kleiger had given them, and she didn't need all night for Runes... "I think I can spare some time this evening. How about right after dinner?"

"How about dinner?" Greg asked hopefully.

Three third-years passing them shot surprised glances their way. She laughed at his suggestion as they watched the students leave. "So, Mr. Goyle, is that a proposition for a date?" she asked teasingly.

His face turned a few shades of pink. "Francine wouldn't like that very much. I was thinking that we could get you into the common room and have dinner there. If you'd want to, of course."

"Sure. But I have to revise for Ancient Runes. I have that N.E.W.T. tomorrow morning, but I can spare an hour or two," Hermione agreed. "By the way, how is Francine? She hasn't asked me for her potion. Did she decide to go along with whomever the Ministry selected for her?"

Greg turned a much darker shade of red and stared at his hands. "She stopped taking the potion. I'm gonna be a dad." He looked up as Hermione gaped at him in shock. "She's pregnant. Twins. Two of them. Me. I'm having a baby...two of 'em."

"Greg, I'm happy for you if you are," she said encouragingly, her smile genuine. "I know you like the girl."

"She's all right. She picked me, you know. Out of all the blokes, she picked me," he said as if still in awe. "She's so smart and pretty. A Hufflepuff, but they make good mums, right?" He looked away again as he leaned against the wall. "I have told her to keep the suit in case my dad gets mad and tries anything. I won't contest it, if she'll have me. Draco says that if the baby is...are...both of them are healthy and strong, the Wizengamot will marry us. That is if they approve." He looked up at her earnestly, his worry that he'd let her down evident in his eyes. "Are you disappointed in us?"

"Greg, if it makes you happy, then I'm happy for you," Hermione said, giving his arm a squeeze again to emphasize her sentiments. "All I ever wanted was for us to have matches we wanted. If you and Francine will be happy together, then I'm happy for you."

"Thanks," he said, grinning. "I still can't believe I'm gonna be a dad."

"Considering what the Ministry is doing, it was inevitable," she replied, smiling back at him. "I think you'll make a great dad."

"Thanks. Do you really think so? I don't want to muck up and, well, you know, do it wrong," he replied. "But I gotta pass my N.E.W.T.s first. I think I'll do all right in History of Magic; I only needed an acceptable in that one, but I have to do get an Exceeds in my Muggle Studies so they know I took it seriously enough."

"Well, we do have a dinner date to revise for that one," Hermione said cheekily. "Besides, I've always wanted to see the Slytherin common room, ever since my second year."

"Oi, about that...who impersonated me that time?" he asked, giving her an all too familiar scowling glare.

"If I remember right, it was Harry," she admitted.

Greg nodded as if thinking whether he should be mad or not. "Crabbe and I had a bet going... Moot point now, isn't it? But I'm kinda glad it was him." He pushed off from the wall. "I got to go. Francine wants to talk about baby names again."

"See you in the Entrance Hall or should I meet you in the dungeons?" she asked, falling in step with him as they walked off. "I have no idea where the Slytherin common room entrance is, except that it's in the dungeons."

He smiled, knowingly. "I'll meet you by the stairs that lead to the dungeons. That way you won't get lost."

Hermione exited the classroom with a fidgety sense of uncertainty that she always felt after an exam. She fought down the urge to run and check her answers, forcing herself to be content with the fact that given everything going on around her she had done her upmost best on the exam, and come what may, she knew her score would be high. She had one more exam, and then her schooling at Hogwarts would be over.

Draco hadn't given up on his intention of talking her into accepting his proposal, much to Hermione's annoyance. The second day of exams, he'd approached her to ask if she'd reconsidered, then escorted her to her next exam. Since they had Transfiguration together the next day, he escorted her there as well, and afterwards to the library, then to the Transfigurations practical. She managed to ditch him before dinner, but afterwards, he tried to escort her to her common room, all under the pretenses of wanting her to 'get to know him better.' In addition, each meal in the Great Hall that day, as he had the day before, and the day before that, he'd made eye contact with her and had raised his goblet in her direction as if toasting them as a couple with what she knew he'd thought to be his most winning smile. It had been aggravating her to no end and highly distracting. Thankfully, all her friends had their Herbology practical after breakfast the last day of exams, so she'd been surrounded by them on her way to the greenhouses as they'd compared notes and shared last minute revision questions. She'd even managed to ditch him on her way to lunch.

"Draco, I haven't changed my mind," Hermione snapped when Draco, followed by Cecil, cornered Hermione in the corridor between exams.

"Well, I certainly hope not or you'll put us all in a jam!" Cecil scowled at her.

"Of course not!" she exclaimed, furious at the accusation.

"Look, some of the guys need to talk to you." Draco shoved a piece of parchment at her. "Here is the list of guys who have sorted things out with their girlfriends and went and got their girlfriends pregnant...for real! The rest of us are meeting in the classroom next to the History of Magic room after the last exam. Can you come?"

"Yes, I can come...I'm not quitting anything." Hermione shoved the parchment in her bag. "Are you saying you got a girl pregnant?"

"No, Hermione, but we've been designated as leader or spokeswizard for the guys," Draco said, chuckling softly. "Since we've been in the thick of it since the beginning, it was kind of natural...look, some of the guys were getting nervous and their girlfriends were getting scared. So some of the blokes decided to go ahead and... We're getting together to talk about how to defend their actions. A little late, but they can't do the Sterility Charm if they got their girls pregnant, and the Ministry is putting pressure on the girls to drop their paternity suits."

"Pretty much, anyone who's going to be sterilized has done so, right?" Cecil asked, checking that they were not attracting unwanted attention.

"Most of the students who had been conspiring in the ruse of the false pregnancies have allowed me to sterilize them with the promise that the charm would be reversed when they decided to have children," Hermione admitted. "But not all of them. I know a few girls told me that they had gotten pregnant and therefore couldn't have the charm done. It would've caused a miscarriage."

"From what Julianna told me, several of the girls who'd been claiming that their boyfriends knocked them up risked Azkaban by taking fertility potions to get pregnant," Draco stated.

"Yeah, Luna and Shelia said that they'd heard that Madam Pomfrey sent in a correction letter stating the new due dates with the report confirming the pregnancies by means of fetal vital signs," Hermione said, crossing her arms. "Shelia said that it really confused the Healers of St. Mungo's. The article this morning in the Daily Prophet reported that the couples were hoping to win their paternity suits so they could marry their boyfriends. I really hope they can. The article was particularly harsh. The Prophet condemned them for taking matters into their own hands and increasing the risk of adding more deformed and magically inept children onto magical society, as if that is really going to happen," she sneered. "The other publications, like The Quibbler, Witch Weekly, and the Sun simply stated that since the Pregnancy Charm hadn't been used, Madam Pomfrey had simply been mistaken, confusing pre-N.E.W.T. stress as pregnancy symptoms."

"Bet that put her knickers in a twist," Cecil snickered.

"She wasn't pleased, but she's staying silent on it for now. She's been trying to help us all along, but even she is getting threats from the Wizengamot." She tilted her head and her brow creased as she tried to consider what if anything she could do about their situation.

"So, the guys want to talk to you...us...about the ramifications," Cecil stated, breaking her train of thought.

Hermione shrugged, wondering what if anything there was to say to these couples, they were taking a huge risk, actually getting pregnant. "I can try, but you'd know more about that than me, Draco. You know these laws as well as I do."

"Hermione, those of us that are sticking with the sterility plan are, well, it's nerve wracking. We want assurances that this potion will work... that you were...are...are you a virgin?"

"Am I a what?" she exclaimed in disbelief. "How can you ask me that?"

"I read the potions directions from Snape," Draco said with a raised eyebrow. "Certainly you and Weasley..."

"As if that's your business!" she snapped then covered her mouth! "You think...me...how dare you presume anything Draco Malfoy!"

"That would be a no," Draco said, turning to Cecil.

"So who collected the water?" Cecil asked.

Hermione tried to fight down the slight warm feeling in her face. "Luna asked the female for the water."

"Excuse me?" they asked in unison with identical looks of stunned disbelief.

"You heard me," Hermione replied, nodding. "The Unicorn took the container and filled it herself."

"Well, that's a relief," Cecil said, although Draco was eyeing her suspiciously.

"So what about the meeting, you coming or not?" he asked.

"Draco, I'm going to law school, not a graduate of...I know as much about this as you do! Less, actually! You're the one who told me about the Bastard Law!"

Cecil hitched his bag more comfortably on his shoulder. "Look, at this point it's for moral support. These guys, they're in a fix with the S.H.M.R.C. and are getting a lot of pressure. Those of us who are choosing to be sterile, well, they want reassurances. They got letters too saying...Charles Polister and Graceilla Warblock wrote that all us guys broke the law by impregnating our girlfriends and will face fines...even imprisonment. And now we are considering being made sterile...but...you know... sterilization? You started this movement...finish it!"

"We are all under pressure from the S.H.M.R.C.! I'll come, but I have no idea what I can say or do. They, like me, and every one of us, are defying the laws. The laws are wrong, and someday, somehow, someone will figure that out and do something about it, but until then..." She sighed to calm herself down. "Everyone who had decided to do the Psuedopregnanacy Potion is now on the receiving end of the Ministry's vengeance for our independent declaration of defiance, just as our letters from the MLE stated. But so far no one has been arrested. No one is going to jail...but they are putting pressure on us all to comply with the law and the S.H.M.R.C. I'm sure of that as long as the couples who have gotten pregnant have healthy babies, it will be all right, but what can the S.H.M.R.C. do? They're whole thing is about making babies and boosting the population of wizardkind!"

"They threatened to put the girls in St. Mungo's and the blokes in Azkaban," Draco stated. "We should go."

Cecil nodded and turned to leave.

Draco looked at her with a piercingly resolute stare. "Reconsider, Hermione. It wouldn't be that bad."

"No, Draco," she said, shaking her head.

He looked away and back at her as he sighed. "Why not? You'd have everything you could possibly want."

"Not everything," she said, glaring at him. "Money isn't everything."

Draco shrugged. "Makes things a lot easier," he said as he turned to leave. "Think about it and reconsider my offer."

Hermione turned quickly and stormed off in the opposite direction for her next exam, muttering, "As if, you sneaky, underhanded snake! You don't love me, and I don't love you, you little ferret. I don't care if the Wizengamot approved us...I'm not marrying anyone because I have the right bloodline...or lack of bloodlines. Ooughhh!"

"Hermione, are you all right?" Shelia asked, holding open the door to the classroom.

Valerie blushed and hurried inside.

Hermione let another Ravenclaw guy pass them. "Do you remember what I told you Draco asked me?"

"Yeah," Shelia stated, wrinkling her brow in confusion.

"He told me to reconsider."

"Git," Shelia said with a jerk of her head and a roll of her eyes. "C'mon, forget him. We have our Charms N.EW.T. to fail."

"DON'T SAY THAT!" Hermione screeched in shock, one hand reaching out automatically to grab Shelia's arm, the other clutching her chest, making several students in the classroom turn around, some of them snickering.

"Hermione, calm down! I was only joking," Shelia said, trying to reassure her.

Ginny started laughing from her seat at the front of the room. "Didn't you know? That's Hermione's Boggart...McGonagall telling her she'd failed something."

Several students groaned at the comment, one boy said, "As if that would happen," and several more had to turn away to conceal their mirth or shook their heads.

"Not funny, Gin! Stop laughing," Hermione said as she hurried to her seat, her heart still pounding in her chest.

Valerie groaned as Hermione and Shelia walked past her desk. "As if you'd fail a test. No one gets higher scores."

"Everyone, settle down now," Griselda Marchbanks said as the stack test pamphlets floated down the aisle and individual ones landed on each occupied desk. She stopped directly in front of Hermione and gave her a wink as she nodded her head. "Just do your best, young lady. Everything will work out, but keep your wits about you," she said encouragingly, then lowered her voice. "I'm right proud of you, Miss Granger. Tosh, this blasted law...infernal tripe it is, but you keep at it. It's making a difference."

Hermione stared at the woman, gobsmacked.

"Bags away, all your belongings off your desks," Mrs. Marchbanks said clearly. "Your exam quills are beside your inkwells. You may break the seal on your test booklet and begin."

Mrs. Marchbanks nodded at the sound of the seals popping. "You may begin."

Hermione exited the large classroom with a sigh of relief, her last N.E.W.T. was over, and she was now a graduate of Hogwarts.

Throughout the week, several more students had approached Hermione and Ginny to say that they had decided to defy the Wizengamot and try the sterilization spell. They'd tried to be as reassuring as possible, answered the concerned inquiries with as much patience as possible, but inwardly Hermione hated being frequently interrupted while revising. Susan, Julianna, and Luna frequently joined her and Ginny, Shelia, and Bernice in the library whenever possible, as did Valerie. Thankfully, her friends were fielding as many questions as she was, so that was a relief. But since Hermione was considered the leader of their rebellion, she was the one most frequently sought out.

Hermione had never been at a leaving feast that held as much nervous anxiety as the one that had been held last night. Slips of parchment were passed to her from so many students, wanting to keep in touch and worried about what would happen over the summer. She had even started using a Muggle address book, adding in extra pages magically to keep all the address and Floo connections she was receiving.

That night, the Room of Requirement was once again a huge spacious meeting room, as those leaving and those who faced a year without her gathered to hear Hermione's assurances that she was only an owl away and that the potion to reverse the sterility would be available to anyone who asked her for it. "REMEMBER," she shouted over the din in the room. "Keep your lock of hair in a safe place because you'll need it to reverse the spell."

"You're sure you can reverse it, right?" Marlene, a sixth-year Hufflepuff, asked, toying nervously with her braid. "I mean, if I wanted to, I can still have kids later, right?"

"Absolutely," Hermione stated firmly. Both Hermione and Ginny had their hair next to their heart in a locket on a long chain. "But the reversal potion only works during the transformation period as the Polyjuice Potion wears off...when you are returning back into yourself. The Polyjuice Potion alters your physical makeup and the reversal potion repairs the reproductive organs as you revert back. So don't lose your hairs. I have both formulas, a male version and a female version, so anyone can do this."

"But where did you get the directions?" a fifth-year boy asked.

Hermione saw Julianna nod out of the corner of her eye, and Shelia and Ginny both nodded as well. "It was given to me by Master Severus S. Prince." She had no idea why she was using his pseudonym, except to protect him or something. She saw Draco shake his head, but both Ginny and Julianna smiled as they shook their heads, silently laughing at her.

"I thought he was dead," Wayne Hopkins said, looking confused. "Didn't he die in You-Know-Who's first reign of terror?"

"No," Draco said, smirking. "He changed his name and went into service making potions and teaching dunderheads."

Hermione scowled at him, then turned to face Wayne. "No, he's alive and living abroad. He's made a name for himself in France." Murmurs started spreading. "Look, he's an incredible Potions master and I would...I am trusting him. Ginny sterilized me and I have sterilized my best friends and many of you only because I really trust Master Prince. I know this potion works, I have his assurances. I have enough to give each of you a dose, secured away in a vault in Gringotts for whenever you...any of you ask me for it. Contact me, Ginny, Shelia, Bernice, or Julianna. Susan and Luna will be able to reach me as well. Yes, I'm going to law school, but I won't be far. Only a Floo away. I'll be staying at Harry's place over the summer."

"If not longer," Ginny added with a chuckle.

She ignored the dark glare from Draco as she pointed to a Ravenclaw across the room to answer her question.

The night before the students were to return home, Hermione held one last meeting in the Room of Requirement, promising all the fourth-, fifth-, and sixth-years that she'd still give the Sterility Reversal Potion to anyone who opted to take sterility over a forced marriage. And she swore that someday she'd find a way to appeal the Marriage Law from the books for good.

By the time the students were boarding the train to go home, an unprecedented two-thirds of the seventh- and eighth-years leaving school had some kind of apprenticeship or training lined up, or opted to apply for a Master or Tradesman in their favorite subjects. Twenty-one seventh-, and eighth-year girls had confirmed pregnancies, and all of those females who were not, and many of the guys, nearly one hundred-thirty students in all, were confirmed as sterile.

Hermione, Shelia, and Draco all applied to law school at the Elfrida Clagg School of Magical and Danelaw in Castle Hill, Cambridgeshire.

Bernice, Ernil, and Ginny applied to St. Mungo's Healer training program.

Draco boarded the train and slyly followed Ginny to see which compartment she'd go into, knowing that Hermione would be in the same one. He was surprised to see Julianna Connery walking with Shelia Margulies and Bernice Witherspoon. The girls were all talking animatedly as they checked the doors to the compartments. The three of them ducked into the compartment Ginny was in. Damn. He wouldn't be able to ride back with Hermione and Ginny.

"Excuse me, Draco," Hermione said as she squeezed past.

"No problem," he said as he flattened himself against the windows, but not enough that she didn't brush against him as she passed. She glared at him, and he gave her a pleased smirk in return. "Anytime, Hermione."

She tossed her hair as she stormed away, followed by Luna Lovegood and Julie Hazelton.

He turned and saw Greg enter the compartment with Francine Perry and her friends. His mate was truly into the girl he'd knocked up. Wet prat. His dad will lay a dragon over that mess. Draco casually walked past Hermione's compartment, glancing in and nodding. It was full. Nah, if he was to have any chance convincing Hermione to accept his proposal, he'd have to find another way to prove he'd changed. Draco joined Cecil, Charles, and Thomas, watching them in amazement at how much they'd changed over the course of the year. Only seven months ago, they were sneering at the Muggle-borns, and now Cecil and Thomas were talking about which ones they'd prefer to marry. Cecil was even considering Julie Hazelton or the Westmore girl from Hufflepuff. Adam Davis walked in holding hands with Valerie Harness, another couple that would never have happened without this blasted Marriage Law.

"What about you, Draco?" Charles asked. "You still think you have a chance with Granger?"

"Oh, of course I do. We're approved and all, and we're going to law school together. Only time will tell," Draco said as he turned to look out of the window. "But she'll succumb to the Malfoy charm in the end."

"Not so sure, mate, she was rather adamant last week," Cecil said with a smirk.

"I'll just have to convince her otherwise, won't I?" Draco stated, looking smug. So much has changed. I can't believe I'm pursuing Potter's best mate. He could have smacked himself in the forehead. Of course! I have to prove I've changed. If I befriend Potter...Harry, she'll have to see I've changed, and for the better. If I can convince Harry, I'll have an in with Hermione.

"Draco, you all right?" Valerie asked, still holding hands with Adam.

"Yeah, I'm fine," Draco replied, smiling his winning Malfoy smile at her. Things will be just fine.