Chapter 1

                                    

                                          
Three months after the war... 
                          
Hermione
                          
I woke to sunshine on my eyes and soft quilts around me. I slowly sat up and looked at Ginny. Her face was on the pillow and her butt in the air. 
                          
I jumped when the door opened and Harry walked in.
                          
"Good morning," I yawned.
                          
"Morning," he mumbled. "We need to leave soon if we're going to catch the train."
                          
I nodded and watched as he walked over to Ginny. He shook her lightly getting a scream and a slap.
                          
"Ginny! It's me!" Harry yelled.
                          
Her eyes focused and she silenced. She threw her arms around him.
                          
"Harry, I will murder you if you ever do that again," she muttered.
                          
I believed her. We had all been terrified after the war. Every night someone was screaming in the or sleep. Often two. 
                          
We all got dressed and went downstairs for breakfast. It wasn't the same any longer. With Fred gone and Molly sick the breakfast table was quiet.
                          
After the war, Molly fell into a terrible state of depression. She had grown extremely ill and now was a resident of St Mungos.
                          
We all packed and ate before apparating to the train station. 
                          
~*~*~
                          
Ron and I were wondering around the train when I ran into someone. 
                          
"Sorry-"
                          
I stopped when I saw the grey eyed, bleached blond, ferret in front of me.
                          
"Watch where you're going," he spat.
                          
I held Ron back and turned around. I walked back to our compartment.
                          
~*~*~
                          
At the feast, we were surprised to see Minister Shacklebolt appear at the front.
                          
"Attention please!" He yelled.
                          
The room silenced.
                          
"I'm afraid I have some rather bad news. As you all know the war has wiped out most of us. I'm afraid the only way to ensure our survival is a mass reproduce...." he started. "The ministry has put a new law in place. Every Witch or Wizard, from the ages of fourteen to thirty five are required to marry their soul mate chosen by the sorting hat. There will be dates you need to follow and classes for parenting and having a healthy marriage."
                          
The entire hall was shouting or sobbing. They were all angry. The hall went into a rampage of breaking stuff and hurting each other.
                          
All of the teachers quickly put a spell on the room. I felt myself getting dizzy. Blackness faded my vision and before I had time to think my face was on the cold floor.
                          
I let the darkness take over.
                          
~*~*~
                          
I woke with my body stuck to a bed. I was so weak I couldn't lift a finger. I gained enough strength to open my eyes.
                          
I was in a dorm room. All the beds in the room were occupied with sleeping girls. A younger woman walked in wearing a nurse uniform. Madam Promfey had a few other nurses work here now.
                          
"Oh, Ms. Granger. Good to see you awake. The other girls woke hours ago and I was starting to worry," she told me.
                          
She carefully grabbed my wrist and checked for a pulse.
                          
It was now I remember what had happened yesterday. I would be forced to marry whoever the sorting hat chooses. I started hyperventilating making the nurse panic.
                          
"Ms. Granger, breathe," she told me.
                          
When I couldn't regain my breathing she left the room and came back with Madam Promfey. She tried to get me to drink a potion. I refused and her face went cold.
                          
She forced the potion into my mouth and used a spell to make me swallow. I was too weak to fight and the potion made me weaker. Calming potion, I thought.
                          
My breathing went normal but I couldn't move. I couldn't speak. The nurses finished checking my pulse and temperature before leaving the room.
                          
~*~*~
                          
Bellatrix stood above me as I lay weak on the hardwood floors of Malfoy Manor. Greyback dragged Harry and Ron away, leaving me with Bellatrix. 
                          
"Crucio!" She yelled.
                          
I screamed in agony, begging someone to help me. Within seconds Bellatrix was on top of me, all her weight crushing my thin body.
                          
"Where did you get the sword?!" She shrieked.
                          
"W..we just found it," I sobbed.
                          
She held my left arm down and dragged a knife through it. I screamed more and more as she carved into my arm. 
                          
"Hermione..." a voice whispered.
                          
"WHERE DID YOU GET THE SWORD?!" Bellatrix yelled again.
                          
"We...we.. f..found it..t," I whimpered.
                          
She gripped my arm where she carved and twisted it. I screamed louder until my voice was Horace.
                          
"HERMIONE!" a voice yelled in the distance.
                          
"HERMIONE!" Ginny yelled, snapping me awake.
                          
My eyes snapped open and I shot up on the bed. I was sweating and crying in the bed. A small crowd surrounded me but Madam Promfey shooed them away.
                          
Ginny wrapped me in a tight embrace and let me cry on her shoulder.
                          
"IS SHE OKAY?!" Harry and Ron yelled from downstairs.
                          
She ignored them while Madam Promfey went downstairs.
                          
"Hermione, I know something that you would really want to know," Ginny told me.
                          
I pulled my head up.
                          
"Oh yeah?" I asked.
                          
She gave me a sad smile and wiped the tears off my face. I hadn't even realized I was holding my arm before she pried my fingers away.
                          
"We are getting our husbands today," she told me.
                          
"What if I'm not with Ron?" I whimpered.
                          
"We will just have to see... I hope I'm with Harry," she mumbled.

~*~*~
                          
"There, all done," Ginny said after doing my makeup.
                          
She forced a dress into my hands and pushed me into the bathroom. I got dressed and looked in the mirror.
                          
My makeup was all nude colors but with a bit sparkle. I looked at the beautiful dress. It went all the way to the floor and had a heart shape at the top. It was a royal purple and it fluffed out a bit.
                          
I went out of the bathroom to see Ginny in a beautiful green dress that with her red hair, reminded me of Christmas.
                          
"Come on, we're going to be late!" She yelled, grabbing my hand and running out the door.