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Nobody could say for sure how it happened but everyone agreed it was due to the Marriage Law. When the law was passed in 2004 it had been unprecedented and a surprise to many. Not a whisper had been heard of declining population numbers or a tanking economy. The announcement of the law in the Daily Prophet had been shortly followed by letters outlining the stipulations of the law and appointments to solidify marriages in the following days. No exceptions had been allowed and those who refused to comply lost all rights as British citizens. Rumors had been started that in some cases people even had their memories removed and were placed in other countries.
Hermione and Percy had been matched together, an ill-suit made worse with the knowledge that Hermione had been rendered sterile due to injuries incurred from the war. It took two years of petitions and demonstrations for the government to allow dissolutions and medical exemptions to the law on a case-by-case basis. Hermione and Percy were divorced right around the time the first batch of war criminals were paroled from Azkaban.
In the aftermath of the war, the government had been flooded with calls to both arrest and release a number of individuals for their role in the war. In an effort to appear unbiased all were tried regardless of their political affiliation for their crimes. Some simply paid fines while many were placed in Azkaban for their use of unforgiveables in circumstances that were not self-defense, which included a number of students that attended Hogwarts prior to the end of the war. The fact that families like the Malfoys and the Weasleys both had members in jail seemed to mollify the public, if not those who fought alongside either party.
Being one of a few single wizards when the parolees were released Percy was owled immediately that a new bride had been chosen for him. The wedding took place two days after the mass release within the ministry. Pansy wasn’t the first Slytherin to join the Weasley family, with George married to Daphne Greengrass, but she was the most infamous one. The fact she was a shadow of her former self, totally mute and unable to come in contact with anyone without flinching, drew sympathy, however, and cooled the ire of anyone still holding a grudge.