Eleven

Chapter Eleven

Arthur found Snape pacing up and down the hallway outside a room filled with curtained off cubicles.

"How is she?" he asked as he fell into step beside Snape.

"The Healers are with her," Snape said. "Her dizziness has abated, and her short-term memory loss appears to have improved as well."

"She's going to be all right, then," Arthur said in a relieved tone.

"No thanks to me."

"You probably saved her life! I was across the room – my spell might not have reached Sybill before she finished her own incantation."

Snape stopped pacing and glared at Arthur. "I should have disarmed the bitch before she ever had a chance to raise her wand against Hermione."

"You couldn't have known that she would attempt to use the Killing Curse."

"No one knows better than I do that the actions of a madman can never be predicted. As tiresome as he sometimes was, Moody had the right of it when he preached 'constant vigilance'. I was careless, and my carelessness could have resulted in my wife's death."

"You and Hermione really are married, then?" Arthur asked.

"Yes, we are," Snape snapped out. "Sybill may have destroyed one of the copies of our Certificate of Marriage, but there are others – including the one that was validated and filed by your own Special Registrar. We were married in Cyprus three days ago."

"But Sybill showed me the Declaration you and she filed within days after the lists were published," Arthur said. "She was giddy at the idea of marrying you."

"And how did she explain why my name continued to appear each day on the list of eligible wizards?"

"She said that the two of you wanted to keep things quiet."

Snape made a sound of disgust.

"She even commiserated with me about Ron not making the list," Arthur continued. "She said she would have made sure to match him with Hermione if he had."

"I wouldn't have married him."

At the sound of her voice, Snape swung around to see Hermione standing just a few feet away.

"Hermione!"

He stepped in front of her, and then he placed his hands on her upper arms and peered down at her.

"What are you doing out of bed?" he asked.

"I don't need to be in bed; the Healers said I could go home."

"I think you should stay ... you may have a concussion ..."

"I don't have a concussion."

"... or neurological damage ..."

"All the scans were negative."

"... internal bleeding ..."

Hermione actually stamped her foot.

"Can you hear yourself?" she asked.

"I'm merely expressing my concern."

"And I appreciate it, but I'm fine. I wasn't even hit by a curse; I was caught in the nimbus of a Stupefying Spell ..."

"Two Stupefying Spells," Snape interrupted.

"All right – two Stupefying Spells. The number doesn't matter, the effect does, and I didn't even lose consciousness. The Healers checked me out, and I'm fine. I just want to go home."

"You suffered memory loss."

"I remember everything now."

"You were ranting ..."

"Ranting?"

"Rambling ... off your head."

Hermione raised her eyebrows. "Off my head? What did I say?"

"You don't remember? That just proves my point about your memory loss. You need to stay here for observation."

"Oh, wait ... I do recall you saying earlier that I was off my head ... right after I said you smelled nice."

"She's caught you out, Severus."

Severus turned to Arthur and scowled. Now that he knew Hermione was all right, he remembered that Arthur Weasley was one of the reasons he and Hermione found themselves in their current circumstance.

"Why are you still here, Arthur? Don't you have duties? Some data to manipulate? Some cover-up to instigate?"

"I have plenty to do ... especially now," Arthur said with a sigh. "I just wanted to make sure that Hermione was all right. And, unlike you, I can see that she is. Aren't you, dear?"

"Yes, I am, thank you, Minister," Hermione said a bit stiffly.

"Minister?" He shook his head sadly. "You used to call me Arthur, or at least Mr. Weasley. Though I don't suppose I deserve better."

Hermione didn't reply. She turned away from Arthur and addressed Severus. "Will you take me home now, Severus?"

"Hermione, wait!"

Hermione hesitated, but then she turned back.

"Yes?"

"I'm going to need your help," Arthur said in a pleading tone. "And yours as well, Severus."

"We've been offering our help for years," Snape said. "You've rebuffed us at every turn. Why should we help you now?"

Mindful of the people milling about, Arthur lowered his voice before he spoke again. "Can we discuss this in private?"

"I'm taking Hermione home. If she's well enough, we'll come to your office tomorrow."

"I'm going to call the Wizengamot into special session as soon as possible – in the morning if I can reach enough members. I'd be grateful if we could talk tonight."

"I told you I'm taking Hermione home," Snape insisted.

"I'm not asking for myself."

Hermione tried to remain unmoved, but the look of abject misery on Arthur Weasley's face was more than she could bear. She touched a hand to Snape's arm.

"Maybe we should."

"You need to rest."

"Neither one of us is going to rest until this is settled, and you know it."

Snape scowled, but he conceded her point.

"Very well, then," he said. "But I must insist that you come to us, Arthur, so that Hermione can at least be in comfortable surroundings while we discuss the situation."

"I understand."

"I'll adjust my wards so you can Floo in. Give us a few minutes to get settled and then come through," Snape instructed.

"Thank you," Arthur said with relief. Snape nodded, and then he draped an arm across Hermione's shoulders and led her toward the Floo.

Almost forty minutes passed before Snape's Floo activated, and Arthur Weasley stepped out of the shimmering green flames.

"How nice of you to join us," Snape said in an icy tone.

"I was waylaid by Rita Skeeter," Arthur said as he brushed off his robes.

"The press has got hold of this already, then," Hermione said from the couch. At her husband's insistence, she was in a semi-reclining position with a pillow behind her head and a blanket over her lap.

"Several people entered the Office of the Special Registrar before we left," Snape said. "Any one of them could have contacted the press."

"I admonished them not to discuss what they'd seen with anyone."

"You're living in a fantasy world if you thought they'd follow that edict," Snape said. "The Ministry has a long history of security problems."

"And there were plenty of people at St. Mungo's who could've contacted Rita Skeeter," Hermione added.

Arthur sighed. "I suppose I'll have to issue a statement."

"And what will you say?" Snape demanded. "That an insane charlatan masquerading as a seer managed to pull the wool over the eyes of the entire wizarding world, up to and including the Wizengamot and even the Minister for Magic himself?"

"I can't just let speculation run wild. I'll have to explain things."

Snape shook his head.

"The truth has to come out, Severus," Hermione said.

"I agree. But at the same time, there has to be a plan in place to correct those things, else you'll have riots on your hands. A grave injustice has been inflicted upon the populace. Once the details of Sybill's scheme become known, they'll be out for blood; and if they can't have hers, they'll have yours instead."

Arthur straightened and lifted his chin before he spoke. "I intend to assume full responsibility for what's happened. I don't deserve to be Minister for Magic, but I won't wait to be ignominiously drummed out of office as Fudge was; I'll be tendering my resignation tomorrow."

"And I'll be urging the Wizengamot to accept it," Snape replied harshly, "but not tomorrow. You need to remain in office until this mess is cleared away. Besides, I doubt you'll find anyone in the wizarding world who'll want your job once this news breaks."

He paused a moment, and when he spoke again, his tone was less hostile. "Arthur, how did you allow this to happen?"

"I didn't know that she had altered the data. I swear I didn't know." Arthur was pacing up and down the carpet that covered the small space between the fireplace and the couch in Snape's parlour.

"You would have known if you had taken even one of the messages I tried to send to you," Hermione snapped out. "Why didn't you?"

"What messages?"

"I sent at least a dozen in the past few months alone. Are you saying you never received any of them?"

"The last message I got from you was at least a year ago," Arthur insisted, "and it had nothing to do with toxic magic or birth rates."

"And I don't suppose you knew that I was trying to contact you, either, did you?" Snape asked. "Or Filius Flitwick?"

Arthur shook his head.

"She must have re-directed everything," Hermione said.

"She wanted to make very sure that the new law was the only option," Snape said.

"Were you aware at all of the work that the three of us have been doing?" Hermione asked Arthur.

"Sybill mentioned something once," he replied. "She said potions and charms were a waste of time; she said the toxic magic was immune to such mundane interventions."

Snape sneered. "When did Sybill Trelawney become a potions master; and why would you think that she knew more about charms than Filius or Hermione? Wouldn't the logical choice have been to pursue all avenues in search of a solution?"

"I regret my ... inaction."

"Unfortunately, your regret isn't going to help all the poor bastards who've been forced into marriage over the last three months, is it?"

Arthur was wringing his hands and shaking his head. "She seemed so convincing ..."

Snape, who understood how an otherwise rational person could be seduced by the rhetoric of a charismatic lunatic, finally relented. "What's done is done; now we have to work on its undoing."

"The Wizengamot will undoubtedly repeal the law once they understand how we've all been duped," Arthur said. "The forced marriages will be annulled or divorces granted ..."

"The Wizengamot can't just issue a blanket annulment of every marriage that's taken place in the last three months," Hermione protested.

"Why not?"

"Because, at least in a majority of the marriages, there are probably other considerations by now."

Arthur looked puzzled, and now it was Snape shaking his head.

"Are you really as naïve as you seem? Consummation of the marriages was required, weekly sexual activity was mandated, and contraceptive charms and potions were expressly prohibited. Since it appears that Sybill didn't alter the results of the fertility tests, the logical consequences of such activity are ..."

"Babies ..." Arthur said with dawning comprehension.

"Hundreds of babies, most likely," Snape said. "And every one of them required to be born in wedlock."

"Oh, my ..."

"Every marriage will need to be reviewed individually," Hermione said. "Every woman will have to get a pregnancy test before an annulment can be granted."

Snape shook his head again. "Even before that, the Wizengamot must void the provisions requiring weekly sexual activity and prohibiting contraceptives. Perhaps a few of the recently married couples can avoid finding themselves facing parenthood."

"Well, since the whole point of the law was for couples to produce children ..." Arthur began.

"Actually, it seems the whole point of the law was for Sybill Trelawney to trap Severus into marriage and to punish me for some imagined insult," Hermione said.

Arthur sat down heavily, as though the weight of the situation was just now becoming obvious. "It seems preposterous that she created such an elaborate scheme with that sole purpose in mind. How did she know you wouldn't marry someone else?"

"I think she would have done exactly what she did," Snape said. "She would have claimed the Declaration was never received and proceeded to engage herself to me. I don't believe she thought it would be necessary, however. I'm hardly marriage material."

"And I hadn't even had a date in years," Hermione added. "I was rather soured on men after my last go-round with Ron."

Arthur looked at Hermione. "I had always hoped that you and Ron would work out your differences. When Ron didn't make the list, I resigned myself to the fact that you'd never be together. I must confess, however, that I was shocked when Sybill showed me the Declaration that you and Mundungus filed ..."

"Hermione never filed a Declaration of Betrothal with Fletcher, any more than I filed one with Sybill Trelawney."

"I believed that you had, especially since they were both listed as voluntary rather than arranged Declarations."

"How could you think that I would willingly marry Mundungus Fletcher?"

Arthur shook his head. "I don't know, but I didn't question the legitimacy of the Declarations."

"I'm sure Sybill made certain you didn't," Snape replied. "The fact of the matter is that we sent in our paperwork on the last day of filing, but the Special Coordinator claimed it was never received. We tried to re-file, but we were informed that other matches had already been made for us."

Snape adjusted the blanket that was draped across Hermione's lap, and then he sat down on the edge of the couch next to her. Once he was settled, he spoke again.

"Filius Flitwick sent an affidavit attesting to the fact that he had witnessed our Declaration, and he was threatened with Azkaban for his trouble. We were unable to extricate ourselves from our forced betrothals in spite of numerous attempts. We were advised that our only option was to exercise our Right of Exemption. Since neither one of us was willing to give up our magic, we were left with no choice but to go elsewhere and then present ourselves at the Ministry with our marriage a fait accompli.

"Fletcher was quite willing to walk away from the arrangement. It's obvious that he was coerced, whether by someone Sybill Imperiused, or by Sybill herself with the help of some Polyjuice Potion, we may never know."

"Does it really matter?" Hermione asked.

"No. All that matters is resolving the situation as quickly as possible," Snape said. "Have you arranged for the special session of the Wizengamot?"

"I've contacted several members, and they've contacted others. The special session will convene at eleven o'clock tomorrow morning," Arthur said. "Will you testify, Hermione? If we can show them the correct data ..."

"Apparently I didn't have the correct data," she said. "I based my conclusions on the birth rate information released by the Ministry – or rather, the corrupted data released by Sybill Trelawney. I have no idea what the true statistics are!"

"We have to go to her office," Snape said. "She wouldn't have destroyed the original birth records. She would have needed to refer to them every time she released new, false information. The originals have to be there."

"She'll have everything warded," Hermione warned.

Snape merely arched his brow.

"Although I'm quite sure you'll have no trouble getting through whatever paltry wards she may have erected," Hermione finished smoothly.

"I'm quite sure, as well," Snape replied with a smirk.

"Cheeky bugger," Hermione muttered, but she was smiling.

After Arthur left, Snape and Hermione shared a small meal, and then Snape insisted that Hermione go to bed.

"Since you're adamant about accompanying Arthur and me on our foray into Sybill's office tomorrow," he said as he tucked the blanket up under her chin, "you need to rest tonight."

"Did Arthur say how she was doing? I saw her fall, but then things got a bit fuzzy."

"Arthur took her to St. Mungo's only moments after I went there with you."

"And?" Hermione asked around a wide yawn.

"She's raving. The Healers had to give her a Calming Draught, and they are not optimistic about her prognosis."

"Now that we know to what extremes she went to arrange her marriage to you, her violent reaction is understandable."

"Understandable? She tried to kill you."

"In her own sick, twisted way, she felt she was justified."

"How could she think that I would marry her after she murdered you?"

Hermione shrugged. "I don't think we'll ever know what she was thinking."

"Probably not," Snape agreed. "Given her present condition, it's likely she'll be keeping Gilderoy Lockhart company for the rest of her life."

"Better there than Azkaban," Hermione said, and then she yawned again.

"You're far more forgiving than I," Snape murmured, as he reached out and touched her forehead gently.

"I do so enjoy serving as a good example. And I don't have a fever," she added as she captured Snape's hand and lifted it away from her forehead.

Snape had the grace to look a bit chagrined that his ruse had been so easily seen through, in spite of the fact that Hermione's eyes were drooping with fatigue. "A few hours ago you were looking forward to creating a scandal," he reminded her.

"And wasn't that a grand success?" she mumbled sleepily.

"Oh, yes ... I can hardly wait to see the headlines tomorrow."

Hermione had no comment as she had fallen asleep.

Author's Note: This story was written for the Potter Place's Variety Challenge. This is the prompt I chose: Something Old – Revisit a once popular challenge. I chose to revisit the Marriage Law Challenge, but I've placed the story in a post-DH timeline.