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Everything Counts	By : DivineAngel Category: Harry Potter > Het - Male/Female > Snape/Hermione Views: 6125 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, nor any of the characters from the books or movies. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
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AN:
This is my response to the Marriage Law challenge, with a difference.
I was hit by a tiny plot bunny - and I should warn you that this will
be extremely close to PWP! - that had a difference in the law, making
it more fun and less angsty! So, if you read on, be prepared for
surprises. Don't say I didn't warn you!

I'm
taking a little break from Spark btw, I'm hoping some distance will
help me get back on track with it soon. I hope you enjoy this little
offering.

Chapter
1

Hermione
put down her copy of The Daily Prophet with a huff. Ron looked up
across the table, his spoon hanging in mid air in front of him, the
milk dripping into the bowl beneath.

"What
is it?" He asked tentatively. The Gryffindor table was quite
quiet, as was the rest of the great hall, it was still early. Harry
sat nursing a mug of coffee next to Ron, he looked up, his eyes heavy
and dark but curious.

"They've done it."
Hermione sighed, Ron and Harry waited, looking confused. "The
Ministry have passed that stupid marriage law."

"What?!" Harry
exclaimed, drawing looks from students across the hall. "What
does it say?" He grabbed the paper and pulled it to him.

"The article doesn't
go into detail, but it says you can send off to get a copy of the
whole thing." Hermione answered as Harry looked down and scanned
the page, he saw a small coupon at the bottom and tore it off,
handing it to Hermione, who was ready with her quill. She quickly
scratched the relevant details, took the slip of parchment and
practically ran to the owlery. This was important, if she was late
for potions, so be it.

A short while later
Hermione arrived at the potions classroom just after everyone else,
just on time. Hermione wondered how many students had seen the
article and how many were taking it seriously. She soon got her
answer, it was all people were talking about while they awaited the
arrival of their teacher. Some looked nervous, others simply seemed
stunned that such a law could come into being. She and Harry took
their seats in the second row and prepared themselves for yet another
gruelling lesson with Snape. Ron had decided not to take potions,
whether that was before or after he got his O.W.L. results, Harry and
Hermione didn't know, but Snape wouldn't have accepted Ron into the
class with the result he achieved.

He'd had little say in
the matter with the other two, no matter what his personal feelings
toward them were, he couldn't ignore their obvious aptitude for the
subject. He made no secret of his surprise at Harry's O.W.L. result, but
secretly he had a feeling the boy had been more relaxed and better
able to concentrate without the tension that existed between them. He
had tried not to be too hard on Harry this term, he knew it would
take some time for Harry to be able to take harsh criticism without
pulling his wand on the Professor, since Sirius's death. He swept
into the classroom with the usual flourish, but for once the
assembled students failed to cease their quiet chatter at the sight
of him. He stood at the front and glared around, still the mumbling
continued.

"Quiet." He
snapped. The students looked up at him, a few still daring to finish
their sentences. Snape's eyes grew wide. Were they no longer afraid
of him? What had changed? "Silence." He growled
threateningly. "What has got into you this morning?"
Hermione raised her hand gingerly, his face turned slowly to her, it
had been a rhetorical question.

"Please sir, it's
just.... the news sir." He took a deep breath, he had not had
time to read the paper yet and a deep sense of foreboding set in, he
allowed her to continue. "The new marriage law has got everyone
talking." He let out the breath he had been holding, relief took
over and he turned to begin the lesson.

"Of course." He
said with authority as he arranged his things on his desk. "But
you must concentrate on the lesson now, leave the gossip until
lunchtime."

Hermione bristled
slightly before recognising something unusual in Snape's tone of
voice. It was softer almost jovial, Hermione cocked an eyebrow and
tried to make eye contact with him, after a moment she succeeded and
he returned her look with something resembling amusement in his
features. Surprised, she risked a quick smile before beginning the
preparation of her ingredients. She decided not to mention it to
Harry, who hadn't seen the odd exchange, it was too hard to describe
and she wanted to mull it over before giving it over to speculation
by the boys.

At lunch, the entire hall
was buzzing with conversation about the new law. Everyone had their
own version of what the details of the law would turn out to be, it
was a muddled mess of ideas, Hermione was determined not to
speculate. Harry and Ron talked animatedly about it, deciding that
the Ministry would ensure the infusion of so-called "pure"
wizarding blood into the mix by locking newly married couples in a
room until the fruits of their union were visible. Hermione shook her
head and tried not to indulge them, preferring to keep out of it. It
was clear that the staff were discussing it too. Hermione wondered
how they were taking it, they were all talking rather seriously, but
she wanted to know what they were planning to do for the students to
prepare them for what would undoubtedly effect many of them. They had
all been watching the events unfold before now, the reports in the
Prophet about rising miscarriages and stillbirths, the decreasing
wizarding population in general and the increasing proportion of
mixed-blood wizards and witches. Everyone agreed that something would
have to be done to prevent the wizarding world being diluted into
oblivion, the gentle encouragement by the Ministry had failed to
persuade many purebloods to marry outside their own families. Some
kind of enforcement would be necessary to spread the wizarding genes
apart enough to secure a stable future. They were anticipating that
the law would apply to all aged seventeen and over, the legal adult
age. That would involve all of the seventh years and a good number of
sixth years too. Hermione tried to put it out of mind. She would know more
when her copy of the law arrived.

The following morning,
Hermione awaited the post eagerly. To her relief, a large brown owl
landed in front of her with a scroll bearing the Ministry's crest.
She took it, broke the seal and quickly unrolled it, Harry and Ron
leaned in to read it with her. Her eyes flew across the parchment,
widening as they went, her mouth grew steadily more open. Ron was
struggling to see around Harry and with an exasperated sigh he gave
up. Hermione shot a look at the staff table, desperate to know if any
of them knew the details she had before her. The staff were all
engaged in conversation, all except Snape, who sat holding a glass of
pumpkin juice, looking over the students with a severe expression on
his face. His eyes met Hermione's and she held them, a distressed
frown fixed upon her face. He tilted his head and gave her a pained
look, followed by what she guessed he meant to be a reassuring smile,
but it faltered on his lips and he quickly looked away. Hermione
dropped the parchment on the table, Ron promptly picked it up,
wanting to know what was so terrible that both of his best friends
would be struck dumb.

The new law stated that
all muggleborns and halfbloods of legal age must select one pureblood
partner within six months of their birthday. Those already seventeen
or over at the time of this law passing would have six months from
the day the law came into effect. Courtship was permitted, matches
would preferably be mutually agreeable and marriages resulting from
the law would have the same status and regulations as other
marriages. Due to the dwindling numbers of purebloods and the hope
that these marriages be successful and productive, only in desperate
circumstances would marriages be forced. The scroll stated that the
law would come into effect on March 1st, just three weeks time.

Hermione's face fell and
she caught Harry's eye.

"You know what this
means, Harry?" He nodded slowly and Ron looked at them both,
perplexed.

"What?" He
asked, "Why are you both looking like that?"

"Well, it includes
both of us, Ron. Harry's grandparents were muggles, the law states
that any muggle blood within two generations of the subject
classifies a witch or wizard as halfblood. Harry's got to find a wife
and I have to find a husband and it can't be each other." Ron
looked taken aback at this.

"Why would you marry
each other?" Hermione and Harry exchanged glances.

"Mate," Harry
began, but Ron put his hands up in front of him.

"Actually, I think
I'd rather not know."

"Ron, it's not what
you think, it's just that we were talking about it a while back, when
we first got wind of this from your dad. We had hoped that the law
would provide a loophole so that neither of us would have to marry
someone ghastly. We knew you'd be safe, it was really just an idea
tossed around, not something we gave serious consideration."

But there was no such
hope, there were to be no more marriages between muggleborns and
halfbloods, or between purebloods, all previous engagements were to
be called off, betrothals dismantled and even established unmarried
couples were to be broken up, even if children were already involved.
Not that there were many such couples in the wizarding community.

"I don't think I am
safe." Ron said quietly, reading through the details. "Any
witch could decide to have me, I could be made to marry Mandy
Brocklehurst." He had a grimace on his face that Hermione
couldn't help but laugh at.

"The worst of it is
the timing, I mean, they couldn't bring the law in after the end of
term could they?" Hermione was going over the clauses and
sub-clauses again, checking every detail. "It means our N.E.W.T.s
will be disrupted by marriages all over the place. The Ministry
couldn't have timed it worse." Harry and Ron exchanged grins,
trust Hermione to be worried about exams. She stood up suddenly and
ran from breakfast at break neck speed. Ron rolled his eyes.

"I wonder where
she's going." He said sarcastically. They were more than used to
this by now after more than six years, her tendency to run out in the
middle of conversations, almost without exception to the library.

Hermione gathered every
book on wizarding law and marriage, every journal on birth defects
and genealogy and began a tedious morning of research, lessons be
blowed. It didn't bode well, the evidence was all there for the very
reason behind the new law. There were no precepts preventing such a
law being passed, the Ministry had carefully tip toed around human
rights issues with clauses preventing forced marriages. But they'd
also covered themselves against civil disobedience, if a witch or
wizard refused to comply with the law they would be looking at
possibly a prison sentence, more likely an assignment to a household
of the Ministry's choosing. It would be a marriage in all but name
and certain charms and potions would be administered to the couple to
ensure a fruitful relationship. It was a hideous law, but Hermione
was thankful that it hadn't gone the way they had all been worried it
might, with the power in the hands of the pureblood families. At
least she would have free choice in which pureblood she married and
she had some time to pick someone suitable. With a sigh she resigned
herself to her fate and decided to hope for the best, that the law
would be repealed before she found herself at the altar.

The three weeks that
followed were filled with tension and distraction for all of the
older students. Hermione had never seen it like this, not even during
the final nights of the war. She supposed that the threat of
Voldemort was something remote for most of her peers, this marriage
law was going to have a direct effect on many of them, and soon.
N.E.W.T.s were largely forgotten, much to the teachers' utter
frustration, everyone was planning, speculating and gossiping. It got
to the point where Hermione took to hiding in her room when she
wasn't in lessons, just to avoid the madness. She realised that Ron
and Harry might think she was avoiding them and tried to make it
clear she wasn't at all. They had been largely unconcerned by the
law, apart from Ron's occasional wary looks at girls who he thought
might be checking him out and Harry's slightly quieter demeanour and
semi-permanent frown.

On the last night in
February, Hermione waited until the castle was quiet before slipping
from her head girl's room at the top of Gryffindor tower and making
her way quietly to the prefects' bathroom. She ran a bath with
bubbles and foam and shed her clothes, piling them neatly to one
side, moving a couple of warm, fuzzy towels to the side of the huge
pool-like tub before stepping into the hot, creamy water. She took a
sharp breath against the heat and slid down slowly until she was up
to her chin in the bath. Her skin was rapidly turning pink as she
bobbed up and down. As she became accustomed to the temperature,
Hermione took a deep breath and submerged herself completely. She had
always loved being under water, she loved the way all sound expanded
and became far away and yet inside your head at the same time. She
loved the sensation of weightlessness and the freedom of being under
water. Her skin felt tingly and tight, her eyes prickled from the
heat of the water and she came up for air, breathing deeply and
pushing her hair back off her face.

Hermione opened her eyes
and turned around in search of a towel.

"Bah!" She
screamed as the face of Blaise Zabini came into her view.

"Hi." He
grinned wickedly. Hermione crossed her arms over her chest, even
though she was still submerged to her neck.

"What do you think
you're doing? Sneaking up on people like that?" She snapped
half-heartedly, a slight smile creeping through. Blaise gave her an
innocent look and shrugged his shoulders. They both cracked and
laughed out loud.

"Stressful day?"
He asked, sitting down next to her clothes and leaning his head back
against the cool marble wall.

"Not exactly.
Preparing for tomorrow." He looked confused at first, but one
scowl from her jogged his memory. "Oh, of course. Sorry. Any
ideas yet?" Hermione swam to the edge of the sunken bath and
rested her arms on the floor.

"I'm going to wait
and see what happens. I mean, they've got to realise it isn't going
to work. I just hope they do before my six months are up."
Blaise nodded in silent agreement.

The two of them had
become good friends since the start of the year, it was the result of
working together as head boy and girl. Hermione had quickly realised
that Blaise simply wasn't like the other Slytherins she knew, he was
filled with quiet confidence that meant he didn't feel the need to
exhibit in front of the others. He came from a wealthy, influential
family, but as far as she knew, not a dark one. He had an
aristocratic air about him, but had never come across as bigoted or
superior, he kept his political opinions to himself, if he had any.
Hermione knew he was in Slytherin for a good reason, he was
undoubtedly ruthless and ambitious, he would always get what he
wanted from life, he was just much more subtle about it and a lot
more intelligent than his house mates.

It
was the people like him that held the wizarding world together,
Hermione felt, the people who were smart enough to know how to play
the political game and also to know enough to stay out of conflict.
During difficult times there would be those who took sides and fought
for what they believed in, and those who stood back, waiting for the
smoke to clear, who would pick up and dust off the survivors. The
Zabini family was one of those.

Hermione
studied his chiselled features, his olive skin and dark eyes, his
dark, curly hair swept back over his head. She admired his
appearance, was attracted to him, undeniably. In her mind's eye a
parchment appeared with the words Possible Husbands scrawled
across the top, mentally she added Blaise Zabini to the top of the
list.
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