Author's Note: This is my first multichapter Fremione. It's also my first multichapter fan fic ever. I'm quite nervous about it. I really hope you enjoy it. I'm already 7 chapters in to writing it. I wanted to be sure I could stick with it before I started publishing it. Anyways, enjoy!

Disclaimer: None of this is mine. I do not own Harry Potter or anything else that JKRowling or WB has created. I am not making money from this, it is pure fun.

The war was over. Voldemort was gone; dead this time. Harry had done it. They'd all done it. Now, three months later, everyone had believed things were getting back to normal. Although they didn't quite know what normal was, considering the trio had been fighting The Dark Lord and getting into mischief for eleven years.

Just like every other summer, everyone had gathered at the Burrow. Hermione was on the living room floor with all her books spread around her, studying for her NEWTs. Hermione wasn't planning on going back to Hogwarts for her seventh year, it just wasn't the same, but she was still going to take her NEWTs the following spring. Ginny was sprawled across the couch flipping through some teen witch magazine. Harry and Ron were staring intently at a chess board. Molly was in the kitchen cooking. Arthur and Percy were still at work. The twins were to arrive for dinner after they closed the joke shop and even Bill, Fleur, and Charlie were going to pop in that evening. It seemed like any other summer evening to them.

Hermione was startled and let out a small yelp when two loud cracks on either side of her snapped her out of her studies and caused her books to scatter across the room.

"Oi, Hermione, can't you study from just one book at a time?" questioned George as he fought to gain his balance after landing on a haphazard pile of potion books. On the other side Fred hadn't had much better luck with his landing. His chuckling at Hermione's yelp wasn't helping his case either. Before either twin could stop themselves they were toppling forward and landing against the young witch between them. Everyone else in the room had watched this event and the room had filled with laughter.

George managed to get himself up rather quickly. Fred on the other hand was covered in sheets of parchment that had flown up in the chaos. He winked at Hermione, and then with a flick of his wand stacked all the parchments and books neatly again.

Hermione was staring pointedly at Fred, "Do you mind?"

Realizing he was still laying half across her lap he smiled, "Actually, I do. I'm quite comfortable here; think I might take a quick nap before dinner." He chuckled and shut his eyes in a fake sleep.

"Honestly," she huffed, rolling her eyes and standing up, sending Fred's head to the floor with a loud thud. Hermione gathered her books and headed up the stairs to replace them in the room she shared with Ginny. With his back to the others, Fred stared after her with a grin.

Hermione shut the door to their room behind her and leaned back. When she closed her eyes she could still feel Fred's head resting against her leg and see his smile. It was so nice to see his smile. They'd nearly lost him in the war. He was in a coma for nearly two months. But now he was just alive as ever and Hermione was grateful. She didn't know how the Weasley's, including herself and Harry in the name now, would have survived without the prankster. Sometimes Hermione could see George watching Fred though, as if not wanting to let him get out of sight in case something was to happen. George never left Fred's side when he was at St. Mungo's; he even closed the shop for those two months. Even she had spent a great deal of time at his bedside. Hermione wasn't sure why exactly; she had just felt like she had to be there. Even when all the others went home for the evening she would often stay late into the night and just listen to Fred's steady breathing.

It was during that time she and George had become close. He opened up to her when he wouldn't talk to anyone else. Maybe he had realized that Hermione felt just as strong a need to be there as he did, even if she couldn't explain it. He told her how if they had lost Fred he never would have forgiven himself for not being there. They wondered about how curious it was that the only time they were injured was when they were apart. Some nights they just sat quietly. Hermione knew that those were probably the most important nights. The ones where George silently cried but let her remain with him; she would take his hand and just stay quiet. George didn't need comforting words, he needed his brother to wake up and that wasn't something Hermione could give him.

In the time since Fred had woken up, Hermione and George had remained close. They made sure to find time each week to see one another. During the week Hermione would go to Diagon Alley to have lunch with George. Then on Sundays after dinner at the Burrow they would spend an hour or two walking in the garden. At first the others had found this odd. After a bit though it was just as normal as Hermione spending time with Harry or Ron because it became clear that their relationship was purely platonic.

Fred was still sprawled on the floor where he had fallen after the chaos of apparating onto Hermione's books. While he tried to appear into the conversation that had begun in the living room, his mind was upstairs. When he had woken up in St. Mungo's Hermione had been there, just her and George. It wasn't something he had been expecting. Honestly he had been expecting to wake up in his bed in the flat above the shop. Of course he quickly remembered what had happened at Hogwarts and George –after nearly crushing him to death in a hug that could have threatened their mum's- filled him in on the last couple months he had been unaware of. Still, the fact that Hermione was there and had evidently been there quite a bit was puzzling to Fred. At first he, just like all the others, thought there was something going on between Hermione and his brother. Unlike everyone else, Fred had flat out asked them instead of beating around the bush and they quickly dispelled his theory.

He had to admit, at least to himself, he liked that Hermione had been there. At first he tried telling himself it was just because she had kept George company and his brother had found some sort of comfort in Hermione. After a while though he realized it was more than that. Fred liked the idea that Hermione had been there for him not just for his brother. It did bother him that he didn't know why she had spent so much time there watching over him but he didn't know how to bring up the topic with Hermione. Really, he thought maybe he was getting his hopes up and she wasn't there for him after all. Since he decided it wasn't something he wanted to risk, Fred kept his thoughts to himself.

And these days, those were an awful lot of thoughts to keep. He found himself waiting anxiously for the days when Hermione would stop by the shop to check on how he was doing and go out to lunch with George. He was impatient when it was time to leave for Sunday dinner at the Burrow and his brother wasn't ready yet. When Hermione smiled he couldn't help but smile as well. Fred didn't know what was going on with him but he had a feeling he'd have to confide in George soon or else he'd go mad.

"Mum, is dinner ready yet?" Ron was beginning to get restless waiting to eat.

Mrs. Weasley sighed, "Yes dear, but your father and Percy aren't home yet. Don't you think we should wait for them?"

Ron shook his head but the majority of the room agreed. The youngest Weasley son was left with a sour look on his face and went back to staring at the chess board. Neither he nor Harry had made a move in ages. The others set about wondering what was keeping Mr. Weasley and Percy. It wasn't odd for them to be late coming home, but it had happened less and less often over the months since the war had ended.

This was the conversation that Hermione found herself in when she finally made her way back downstairs.

"Ah, probably got stuck talking to Kingsley" George was saying. Seeing Hermione he gave her a smile and moved over on the couch so she could sit down.

Harry shook his head, "Don't you think Kingsley would have just come along if that were the case? He knows he's always welcome here."

Ginny got up from her spot on the couch next to George to stand next to Harry, "You're probably right, but I'm sure it's nothing to worry about." She patted his shoulder softly. Harry was having the hardest time adjusting to post war life. After all, he'd spent the majority of his life having to assume something bad was going to happen. It was going to take some time to stop worrying so much.

Seeing an opportunity, Fred jumped from the floor and flopped himself across the couch- right over George and Hermione's laps.

The second twin laughed "Oi, brother-mine, do you mind not crushing me?"

Fred gasped and faked insult, "I am no heavier than a feather, right Hermione?" He batted his eyelashes at the young witch, hoping she'd play along.

"A ton of feather's maybe," she joked. In the last couple of months she had opened up more when it came to joking around and had become less disapproving of the twins pranks. The war had awoken her to the fact that she had never really gotten to be a kid or a teenager. Hermione was always studying or looking after Harry and Ron or fighting a war. She never took time to goof off and have a bit of fun. It was something that she had vowed to do now that she had the chance to do so.

Both twins laughed and Fred started to comment when he was suddenly pushed off the couch to the floor.

"Hey, what the-" looking up to see that George had stood and not just shoved him off, he redirected his eyes to where his brother was staring. Mr. Weasley and Percy had just flooed in. While the latter was unreadable, the first looked troubled.

Mrs. Weasley bustled into the living room, ready to get everyone to the table when she saw the look on her husband's face. "What is it, Arthur?"

"Why don't we sit down for dinner first, I'm sure everyone must be starving. I'll explain after we've all had a bit of food, alright?" Mr. Weasley asked the question but no one answered, they knew it didn't require one. Instead they all made their way to the kitchen.

Once everyone had found their seats, filled their plates, and had eaten some they looked expectantly at the head of the house.

Sighing, Mr. Weasley put down his fork. He looked at each of his children, including Harry and Hermione who were as good as his own. "Now, you must understand that the Ministry has not officially announced this yet so it does not leave this house." Everyone nodded. "Tomorrow morning in the Daily Prophet there will be an article describing a new law that the Ministry has passed."

Hermione couldn't stop herself from interrupting, "They passed a new law, why haven't we heard about it? Don't they usually run articles before they're passed so that it can be disputed and fought if need be?"

"Yes dear, usually that is how the process works," Mr. Weasley explained, "but in this case the Ministry knew that the law would be fought against so hard that they decided to keep it a secret. They even kept it from Kingsley until the new Minister had been appointed because he would have put a stop to it right away."

Harry's worry lines were visible when he spoke, "What could be so bad that they'd have to keep it from Kingsley even?"

Mr. Weasley looked tired and worn down; he took a moment before he spoke, "A marriage law."

"A what?" Ginny asked.

"A marriage law," Mr. Weasley said again. "In the simplest terms, the Ministry is deciding who is going to marry who and when. They will be sending out owls tomorrow afternoon after the announcement in the Prophet. The Ministry is worried that there were too many causalities from the war; they want to rebuild the wizarding population. To do this they are using some sort of matching charm that is supposed to pair witches and wizards with the most compatibility and likelihood to make stronger future witches and wizards and not produce squibs."

Hermione was repulsed, "They can't do that!" she exclaimed.

"I'm afraid they can," Percy spoke for the first time. "It's already passed."

George looked at his brother, "Are you telling me you agree with this rubbish?"

Percy shook his head, "No, of course not. I'm only saying they can do this. But I've looked into the fine print of the law. There is a way around it. If you are already in a committed relationship you will be permitted to marry that person instead of the witch or wizard you are matched with. However, that leaves the person you were matched with to be matched again unless they too were in a relationship."

Ginny sighed relief, "So even if Harry and I weren't matched, we'd be able to stay together?"

Mr. Weasley nodded, "Yes. You'll have to go to the Ministry and fill out some forms stating that you were already committed to each other and that you are willing to marry within the time frame given to you."

The room was quiet. Harry and Ginny looked at each other with relief. Bill, Fleur, and Mr. and Mrs. Weasley all looked at each other and then to the faces of the young witch and wizards that would soon be paired against their will. They in turn had looks ranging from worried to irate to scared.

Before long they all rose from the table and moved throughout the house since none of them felt much like eating anymore. Harry and Ron returned to their chess game, Ginny to her magazine. Percy, Bill, Fleur, and Charlie sat near the fireplace talking softly, Mr. and Mrs. Weasley stayed in the kitchen whispering to one another. Fred flopped across an arm chair, and Hermione and George decided to go for their evening walk in the garden.

For a while, both Hermione and George stayed quiet as they meandered about the various flowers and plants. Finally George broke the silence, "Penny for your thoughts?" He had begun picking up a few muggle phrases from her.

"I don't think they're worth that much, clearly the Ministry doesn't think so," Hermione spat. She realized that she sounded awful, "I'm sorry George, I don't mean to be short with you. I'm just so angry."

Arriving at the solitary bench deep in the garden, George sat down and waited for Hermione to do the same. "I know. I am too. I don't understand how they can do this to us."

Hermione shook her head, "It's absolutely absurd. Who are they to tell us who we are going to marry! This is the person we're going to spend the rest of our lives with! It isn't like the muggle world where we could divorce if it doesn't work out!" She had risen from the bench already and was pacing back and forth in front of her wizard companion. "What happens if we're paired with someone we loathe? Oh Merlin, what if I'm paired with Malfoy!" The young witch exclaimed with a look of absolute horror as the realization of what could happen dawned on her.

Watching Hermione had given him an idea; George reached up and pulled Hermione back to the bench. "'Mione," he made sure she was looking at him so she'd know he wasn't joking with her, "Why don't we get married? We already know we get along and maybe after a while we could even grow to feel romantically for each other."

Hermione's eyes were sad, "George, you'd do that for me? What if you were paired with Angelina? I know you fancy her and there's a chance you could be put with her."

"Hermione, I care for you too much to see you end up with some prat like Malfoy. I do fancy Angelina, but you are my friend, as good as my sister, and I'll do what I have to in order to take care of you."

She smiled, knowing he was telling her the truth, "Let's just see what tomorrow brings George, but I promise you I'll consider it."

Later that night when Hermione was laying in the dark of Ginny's room she replayed the evening's events over again. She was still in disbelief that the Ministry had managed to pass the law to begin with. When it came to George's proposal she had to admit that it wouldn't be the worst arrangement but she was afraid she would spend her life wishing he were his twin instead. It was only alone in the dark that she would ever confess to herself that she had feelings for Fred. In the light of day it was irrelevant because she knew he would never see her the same way. Maybe marrying George would be her best bet after all. After hours of wondering and musing Hermione finally told herself the same thing she had told George that evening, to see what the morning would bring, and she let herself drift into a troubled sleep.