Author's note: It's been a while, but here I am again. With a kind of story I've never written before! So please let me know what you think Constrictive criticism is greatly appreciated.

Disclaimer: I own nothing, nor will I ever.

1

The day began as any other at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. The sun rose above the mountains, the birds began to sing their usual sung. But for some people in the Magical community, this day would turn out to be as unusual as they could ever have expected it to be.

Haleh was sitting at the Gryffindor table, eating her breakfast as fast as she possibly could. The present her friend had just given her was sitting unopened on the table.

"Why didn't you wake me up sooner?" she asked her in between two enormous bites of toast.

Marianne looked at her incredulously.

"It's your birthday, silly! What did you want me to do, wake you up at six and drag you out of bed to make sure you were on time for a –might I ad, very lousy!- potions class we're forced to endure this first hour?" Marianne asked.

Haleh drank some pumpkin juice to wash away the toast and marmalade before she answered the question.

"You know Snape'll not be anywhere near kind enough to not give us detention for being late simply because it's my birthday today," she shot back.

Marianne rolled her eyes but did not verbally respond. It was common knowledge that Snape was not known to show kindness or empathy, and she was well aware he would most certainly punish them for being late, even if they said it was only because it was Haleh's birthday.

Looking around, Haleh noticed a lot of students had already left their tables. And a few Slytherins were getting up at that very moment, making their way out of the Great Hall and towards the dungeons.

"Haleh, isn't that Pallas?" Marianne suddenly asked, referring to her friend's owl.

She looked up. The grayish owl she saw flying towards their table was indeed hers. But she was rather late, seeing as everyone had already received their letters from home. How come Pallas hadn't been there with them?

When the owl landed, she extended her paw and allowed Haleh to remove the letter attached to it. It looked very important. The envelop was a golden color, the stamp on the front looked very official.

"That's a ministerial stamp," Marianne whispered when she saw it.

Ministerial? Haleh thought. Who inside the Ministry of Magic would send her a letter?

She inwardly shrugged. It was probably nothing, maybe it had been meant for her mother but someone had addressed it to her by mistake.

A part of her thought that she shouldn't open the letter, then. But another part told her she should, because maybe it was for her. She couldn't be sure unless she checked it, after all.

Inside was a plain looking letter, just like the ones she got from her friends during the holidays. But the content of that letter, was anything but ordinary.

Dear miss Foley,

On behalf of the Minister for Magic himself I must inform you that since exactly one o'clock this morning a new law has been approved of by the Minister and his Employees.

This law is called the Marriage Law. Each witch or wizard that is seventeen years of age or older must me married and have a child or be pregnant within the first year of marriage, according to this law, to ensure that our society will strengthen itself again after the war we have just fought. It is a means of bringing back peace and stability to a community which has suffered greatly over the past two years, and even before that.

This law decrees that witches and wizards who are already engaged or who can prove they are in a long-term relationship in which both parties agree to get married immediately do not fall under this law. You, however, being a student and unmarried, do fall under this new law.

Our Minister has also spoken of who your husband should be. He decreed that Severus Snape, Hogwarts's Potions master, is to be your husband from now on. He shall see you as his wife, and you will see him as your husband.

We must hereby inform you that all official papers have been drawn up. Whether the two of you wish to have a wedding ceremony is entirely up to you. As are any other arrangement you would like to make. Please bear in mind that you should share chambers.

Hoping you will have a nice day,

Roger Birks,

Undersecretary to the Minister of Magic.

"Haleh?"

Marianne could tell by the look on her face that something was terribly wrong. But her friend did not speak. She simply handed her the letter, gesturing for her to read it for herself whilst grabbing her pumpkin juice.

It took a few seconds for everything to sink in after Marianne had read the letter. But then she stared at her friend in complete and utter shock.

"Are they being serious? Oh my word, Haleh… What are you going to do now?" she asked her friend.

For some reason, Haleh was quite a lot calmer than she had thought she'd be. But she didn't doubt she wouldn't stay that calm much longer.

"I need to talk to him. I mean… Does he even know already? Has he been informed? I have to get him to read this letter. Immediately. Else, there'll be trouble…"

Marianne looked at her apologetically. This situation was already complicated, and neither one of them thought that things were going to be getting any easier.

Haleh sighed and pushed herself up. They had to go, else they'd be late. And with what she had to go and tell Snape, she sure as hell wasn't going to be taking any risks.

The walk towards the dungeons seemed somehow shorter than it had ever done, as if time had just decided to speed up in an ironic attempt to give her the opportunity to talk to Snape as soon as possible.

Marianne was looking at her out of the corner of her eye, she was well aware of that, but she pretended not to see it.

"Keep your tramps shut and get inside," Snape's voice suddenly spat as soon as the door to his classroom opened.

For some reason Haleh was glad the potions master was behaving normal today. It actually seemed to calm her, as if him suddenly behaving nice would have made things even worse. But then again, if he was in a foul mood, things wouldn't go down smoothly either.

"Alright, today we'll be brewing a simple potion. If you would just follow the instructions on the blackboard, everybody should be able to brew an acceptable potion by the end of this lesson. If you decide today's the day to not be as stupid as you look, that is," he darkly said.

Haleh deemed it wise to simply grab the nearest ingredient and start to work. If she kept looking at the professor, she would surely only begin to worry about their upcoming conversation.

She didn't really pay a lot of attention to what she was doing, and a couple of times Marianne stayed her hand when she was about to add the wrong ingredient or the wrong amount of it.

"By now, your potions should all have the typical bluish color every potion of this type has. If not, you're definitely stupid. Now, let the flames under your kettles go out. If the potion's cooled, pour some of it into a vial, label it and hand it in. Then clean up your messes," Snape told them.

Haleh looked around. Some potions were gray, others green, but most of them were at least some shade of blue. Hers was not as light as it should have been, but she was glad it hadn't been any worse.

"Here. Take mine up, too," she asked Marianne when she made to hand over her potion. "I have to clean this up before I talk to him. I don't really feel like hanging around much longer."

Marianne looked at her sympathetically whilst taking over the vial. Haleh knew she was probably thinking of everything she could do to make things better, easier maybe. But there were none.

Everybody started to leave the room, glad it would be at least another day before they saw Snape again.

"Good luck," Marianne whispered when she left as well, squeezing her friend's hand lightly.

Haleh nodded her thanks. Grabbing the letter, she moved to the front of the classroom to hand it over to Snape.

"Professor?" she timidly asked.

He turned around, his usual expression still in place. She could tell he was not entirely pleased with being disturbed by a student. Pushing her nerves down, she extended the letter.

"I believe you should read this, professor Snape," she quietly said.

He looked at her questioningly, but took the letter from her without speaking. As his eyes scanned the parchment, she noticed his expression beginning to change. His usual smirk began to fade, his eyes widened with shock and she thought she even saw a bit of realization dawn on his face. But that didn't take away his daily, unpleasant stare.

"Thank you for informing me about this straight away. I'm sorry I was not aware of any of this, I didn't have the time to open my letters yet," he apologized.

It was very odd to stand there and hear Severs Snape, the strict and unpleasant man she had never imagined doing something nice, apologize to her. And in fact without a reason, if she were honest. Even though it wasn't very convincing because if that glare he was giving her.

"It's okay, professor," she said, unsure of what else she could say. "I just thought you should know, as this affects the both of us."

He nodded.

"It does, indeed. I'm sorry we can't talk any more now, since you've got classes as well, but I think we should meet tonight at the Headmaster's office. Eight o'clock," he said.

Haleh was glad Snape seemed to immediately be in control of the situation. It made it easier, because her mind was in so much turmoil that she couldn't really focus on anything, let alone wrap her head around the fact she was now married and supposed to be a mother in a year's time.

"I'll be there," she told him.

Being late for History of Magic as it was, she decided she wasn't going to run all through the castle. The little walk might just give her the time she needed to compose herself. After all, she didn't want her fellow pupils to see anything was wrong.

She wondered what Dumbledore, and probably McGonagall, since she was her Head of House, was going to say. Would he be able to find a way around the law, maybe because she was a student?

But then again, she should not think too much about what the Headmaster and her Head of House would say. There was a little voice in the back of her mind telling her she wasn't going to get out of this.

"I'm sorry for being late, professor Bins," she said as she pushed the door to the History of Magic classroom open.

She really had not been expecting a reaction from the ghost, so it came as no surprise that he simply kept babbling on with that same monotone voice he always used, not even looking at her for a second.

Fighting the urge to shake her head, she walked over the table at which Marianne was sitting. Her friend had some papers spread out in front of her, but as always Haleh could tell she hadn't taken a single note yet.

"And, how did it go?" she whispered as soon as Haleh had taken her seat next to her.

Some of the pupils were staring at Haleh. She knew none of them knew what had just transpired, they were just staring at her because she was never late.

She waved her friend down. If anyone heard them talking about that letter and its content, she would be in serious trouble. So she grabbed a piece of parchment instead.

We're meeting Dumbledore tonight at eight. I imagine McGonagall will be there as well. He's hoping they'll be able to help.

Marianne grabbed her own quill to write an answer.

Did he give you a hard time? Couldn't he find a way out of this mess himself? Yeah, I suppose McGonagall will be there, maybe a good thing since Dumbledore is… slightly delusional most of the time.

Haleh felt a bit better when she read that. She was glad for the comical note, it made things a tad more bearable.

The rest of the day passed by rather quickly, possibly because of the shock she was still trying to deal with. Hours seemed like minutes, classed passed by more quickly than they ever had. Before she knew it, noon had come and gone and her last lesson for the day was about to start.

"Do you think Care for Magical Creatures will be hard? I could do with some thinking time," she whispered into Marianne's ear.

Marianne shrugged. She had never liked the subject that much, but it wasn't too bad either.

"Hagrid usually takes it easy on us. You know, since his problems with that Hippogriff a few years back. I don't think he'll have anything difficult planned," she said.

Haleh silently agreed with that. If things were as calm today as they usually were during Care for Magical Creatures, Hagrid wouldn't notice if she was too lost in her own thoughts to pay much attention.

It seemed whatever higher power there might be decided to take pity on Haleh, because Care for Magical Creatures was very uneventful. They were asked to look after some sort of slimy worm that was most at ease when left alone.

"Okay, careful not to mess 'em up. They're delicate," Hagrid said as the students placed their worms into a sort of cage.

Hagrid watched as the student wiped their hands, some of them utterly grossed out by the slime the creatures had left on their skin. Haleh didn't really care, though, and was already leaving when most of the girls were still washing their hands. Marianne was by her side.

But dinner didn't seem to taste as good as it normally did. She kept pushing her potatoes around and only ate a spoonful of pees. This had her friend worrying about her even more.

"Please, Haleh. Just… Just eat one more piece of meat. It's not going to kill you," Marianne pleaded.

Haleh sighed.

"I know. It's just that my stomach doesn't feel right. And I'd rather not throw up right before I have to meet with Dumbledore and Snape. Let alone when I'm meeting with them," she said.

Marianne thought about that for a second. It was obvious she understood her friend's reasons. Suddenly, she grabbed a small, empty pot of the table and smiled.

"If you can't eat right now, maybe you'll be hungry when you get back. I'll put some food in here, and if you're hungry, you can eat it later. If not, the house elves can take it with them," Marianne said.

Haleh smiled a little herself, knowing she was probably right. When the stress fell off her shoulders, she'd be hungry.

Twenty minutes later, they were back in their common rooms. All of the students were very noisy, which Haleh was thankful for. They were distracting her a little. But every now and then, she would look at the clock, fear evident on her face.

Her bag was laying on the floor. After all, they had been spared of homework that day because it was only September first, the first day of school.

Haleh decided going over the stuff she had seen that day would be the perfect way to keep her busy. And she would have to go over that first chapter for History of Magic anyway, since it would be impossible to study it all right before the test they would surely be getting when they began the next chapter.

Sighing, she opened her bag, grabbed the book and began to read.

Before she knew it, Marianne was tapping her shoulder to get her attention. At first she thought her friend had a question for her, but then the other girl pointed towards the clock. It was seven thirty.

"I think it's time for you to go," Marianne whispered.

She'd be about ten minutes early if she left now. Considering the circumstances, however, that wasn't a bad thing at all. So she got up, pulled her skirt straight, pushed a strand of hair behind her ear and promised Marianne she would tell her everything they'd said when she got back before leaving.

The walk was quiet. There wasn't a single person in the corridors, no voices coming from empty classrooms as was often the case. She didn't even run into Peeves, which was a rare occurrence this early in the school year as he was always out to scare the first years. She was grateful, though. If the poltergeist was out, Filch was out as well. And it was utterly impossible to say which of them was worse.

Pushing her long brown hair behind her ears, she admitted to herself that she had no idea what to say to professor Snape, Dumbledore or McGonagall later. They would no doubt have numerous questions for her, but they would probably be the same ones that were running through her head and that she had yet to find the answer to herself.

Finally, she found herself in front of the gargoyle guarding Dumbledore's office. She began to approach it, suddenly very aware that she did not know the password. What was she to do now, guess?

Fortunately, Snape arrived just as she made to attempt to get the gargoyle to let her in despite not knowing the password. The back haired man acknowledged her with a small nod but did not speak to her.

"lemon drop," he said.

The gargoyle moved aside, the spiraling staircase was revealed and Snape stood still. Haleh was unsure why, but before she could ask, he grabbed her by the hand rather roughly and pushed her onto the stairs as he mumbled something under his breath.

Snape knocked, but he was already ushering her inside before Dumbledore had had the time to tell them to come in. Haleh had to fight the urge to struggle against being forced inside without being given permission, as this was the Headmaster. Then again, Snape was rumoured to be his friend.

Dumbledore was sitting at his desk, a serious expression on his face. Beside him was McGonagall. A strand of her hair had escaped from the confines of her bun, her glasses were in her hand. But what really made her look so very different from the woman she saw in class most of the days was the sadness around her.

"Have a seat," Minerva said, apparently not about to waste any time.

Haleh did as she was told, opting to take the chair in front of her Head of House. It made her feel safer, more sheltered. Minerva always fought for her cubs, she would certainly do so now as well.

"Headmaster, the letter was clear. You saw so yourself. Have you been able to speak to the Minister?" Snape immediately began.

Haleh was unsure how the Headmaster could have possibly seen the letter, but that was not what had gotten her attention. If Dumbledore had spoken to the Minster, there might be a way out.

"I have. He surely hadn't been expecting to see me, which gave me some leverage. Unfortunately, though, not enough to persuade him to raise the marrying age and exclude students. Or to have him reconsider forcing Haleh to have a child in one year's time, as he eventually agreed to do for the others. He firmly believes he needs at least one test subject. I'm sorry," he offered.

Haleh released a breath she didn't know she'd been holding. Severus closed his eyes for a second, but did not speak either. Minerva, however, did not keep silent. She released al of her anger now, not in the least bothered by the portraits on the walls. Or the people sitting at the other side of the desk, for that matter.

"You cannot be serious, Albus! Did you tell him Hogwarts is not a place to raise a child? That miss Foley is only a child herself and should not be forced into marriage or motherhood? That having a romantic relationship with a student is forbidden by law?" she asked loudly.

Haleh noticed Minerva was not calling her misses Snape, as she should now. She was unsure why, though she thought it might have something to do with the fact she was against marriage at a young age.

"I did tell him all of that, and more. But he claims this is best for society. Without this law, the wizarding society will find itself thinning and eventually die out. According to him, there is no alternative. And I was unable to convince him of the contrary," Dumbledore sadly said.

Severus was still sitting on his chair stoically, possibly waiting for the storm to calm down. Haleh, however, raised her hands in a gesture of peace to help the process along. Minerva and Albus fell silent straight away, obviously taken aback by her budding in.

"It's okay, professor," she said, addressing Minerva. "Professor Dumbledore did all he could. I could tell there was no way out as soon as I read that letter. And professor Snape was probably aware of it straight away as well."

At her left, Severus nodded in agreement.

"She's right. Nothing was left out of that letter. The rules, the fact the papers have already been drown up, they didn't leave any opening. No need to beat yourselves up over it," he grunted.

Haleh couldn't help it; she rolled her eyes. She had hoped he would bring it a little more convincingly. A small smile tugged at the corner of Minerva's lips.

"We will learn to live with this. It will take some time, but we'll adjust. We're both strong enough to do that," she told the both of them.

Severus's nearly black eyes, Minerva's green ones and Albus' blue eyes widened a little in response to those words. It was obvious that they had not been expecting her to say something like that.

"You are a very mature young woman indeed, misses Snape," Dumbledore said with an unreadable look in his eyes.

Haleh decided it was better not to glace at Snape from the corner of her eye, even though she really wanted to know what his reaction to the Headmaster's words was. Instead, she lightly bowed her head in acknowledgement of the compliment.

"I'm afraid I haven't been a child for a very long time," she said, hoping the undertone of her voice would be enough to persuade them not to ask any more questions.

Apparently, it was. After one last look at her, the Headmaster simply sighed and told them they were free to go.

"And do not forget that we are here for the both of you whenever you need our help," he reminded them right before the door closed behind them.

In the silence that fell now that they had left the office, Haleh looked at Snape. There were still quite a few unanswered questions. The fact Snape was being his usual silent self was not helping her gather the courage she needed to ask them. Fortunately, she quickly turned out not to be the only one concerned with a few of the details.

"Miss Foley," Snape suddenly said, "a room will be readied for you in my quarters tomorrow. If you would like, you could move in your things immediately after your last class. One of the house elves will be there to help you settle in."

Of course the man would have arranged all of that already, she darkly thought. He seemed a lot less fazed by the situation than she had expected, even from him. And despite the fact it was nice that he was still in control now that she seemed to be losing her grasp on things just a little, it was also a bit infuriating.

"I will be moving my things in tomorrow evening then," she said. In a bold move she added: "And professor?"

"Yes?" came the curt reply.

She looked straight into his eyes now, wanting to get the message across and not being subtle about it.

"It might be best if we start addressing each other by our first names. If the ministry sends one of their officials to see whether we're adhering to the law, it would be strange if we didn't."

After a few moments of silence, long enough for them to step out into the hallway, Snape finally answered.

"I suppose you are right… Haleh."

Without another word, he turned to the right and disappeared behind the corner.

"Good night to you to, Severus," she muttered under her breath.

She shrugged. Things might not have gone as well as she had hoped, but this day had been better than she had anticipated it would be after she had read that letter this morning. So all in all, she should be grateful.

Turning to her left, she began to make her way back to Gryffindor tower. It was already nine, curfew was in thirty minutes. And by the time she was done telling Marianne all that had happened and they were finally in bed, it would be very late.

Not to mention the time they'd be spending on discussing it all. But hey, that's what friends were for. Right?