Archive of Our Own

‘To Harry and Ginny,’ Seamus Finnegan said, lifting his glass. ‘Fucking over the Ministry one last time. Congratulations, you two!’

The newlyweds grinned as their entire group of friends toasted them again, as they’d been doing for the last couple of hours. The wedding had taken place earlier that day, back at the Burrow, but in lieu of a reception, Harry had organised Portkeys for them all for a two day celebration in Las Vegas filled with booze and snacks and dancing and for most of them, a sort of combined hens/bucks/final weekend of debauchery before their wedding deadlines.

Hermione sighed as there was another toast made, this time to ‘Freedom and all that shit,’ but she drank along with the rest. Weddings were supposed to be a beginning, a way forward to the future, and for Harry and Ginny, even if this had been rushed, Hermione supposed it was a beginning. For the rest of them, it only signalled the end.

It had been less than a month since the Ministry of Magic announced their latest scheme to boost population numbers, and the Marriage Law, as it came to be known, had come into effect. The law stated that all unmarried witches and wizards over the age of 21 would have to present themselves to the Department of Mysteries to be matched and married, and the deadline was in two days time. To that end, the Ministry had put a moratorium on all magical weddings until the matching had been completed, to ensure that no one made any hasty decisions, as if the Ministry hadn’t been making plenty of hasty decisions of their own.

Hermione - and most of their friends - had all assumed the Ministry was counting on Harry Potter to once more be their shining light, and to arrive at the Ministry with a smile on his face and leave with a ring on his finger. They hadn’t counted on the fact that Ginny Weasley was only 20, and therefore not eligible for matching. So the day after the law was announced, Harry proposed, Ginny accepted, and today, they’d been married by George Weasley, who’d been thrilled to get a not-strictly-legal registrant’s licence and perform a not-strictly-legal-but-still-binding ceremony, and then they’d all promptly fled the country.

And now, surrounded by a large group of friends, they were all celebrating that at least one couple had been able to make their own choices.

Hermione took another sip of her drink. She’d argued against the law - many of them had - but it was to no avail. They’d spent the last three weeks attending meeting after meeting at the Ministry, but even defeating the Dark Lord didn’t prepare them for the mountains of bureaucracy and red tape they faced. Finally, Harry and Ron had convinced Hermione and Padma Patil and a few of the other Ravenclaws who were helping to argue against the law that their last weekend would be better spent celebrating in defiance, not miserably sitting in a library. So they’d come to Las Vegas, where Hermione could miserably sit in a nightclub, instead.

‘Hey!’ Neville Longbottom practically bounced up to their privately roped off section, towing Hannah Abbott in his wake. They both looked overjoyed, and Neville pointed to the champagne in the ice bucket next to the low couch Hermione was sitting on. ‘Got another one of those bottles?’ 

‘Why are you so pleased, Longbottom?’ Draco Malfoy sneered, although it was without the bite and bile he used to employ. Three years on from the war, old lines had blurred and their friend groups had mixed in fairly organically. It had started during eighth year, when less then half of their original number had returned, and Neville, Hermione and Dean, as the resident Gryffindors, had found themselves naturally spending more time with the Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs, and even the few Slytherins. Outside Hogwarts, at the same time, Harry and Ron joined Auror training with older witches and wizards from the years above them, who promptly assured the two - and Seamus, and Susan, and Terry - that House loyalties would mean less and less the longer they were away from school.

And as time passed, it came to be true. Malfoy had joined Auror training a year later, and he and Harry made a surprisingly good team. Neville started seeing Hannah, and Hermione was joined at university by Michael Corner, studying journalism, and Padma Patil, who did a few biology electives while getting her Healer’s licence. So when Harry invited Malfoy to after work drinks, Draco usually bought Pansy and Theo and Blaise, and when Neville and Hannah came, so did Justin and Ernie, and when Hermione and Michael couldn’t stand staring at their books any longer, he dragged Mandy and Anthony along, and within no time at all, Hermione’s social circle had expanded exponentially. 

Tonight was an even larger group than usual, because aside from Harry booking out the club and organising hotel rooms for everyone attending the wedding, some of the others had contributed and booked rooms for anyone who wanted to come along - Draco and Theo in particular always took great pleasure in spending their inheritances in ways their fathers would most certainly disapprove, but Justin also had money and influence in the Muggle world that the rest of them did not, and he was able to book a few last minute things the purebloods would never see coming, including a helicopter flight over the Grand Canyon, booked in for the next day.

But Hermione honestly doubted any of them would make it to a sunrise flight the next day, given the way the champagne and fairy wine and firewhiskey were flowing that night, and were about to flow harder given the look of joy on Neville and Hannah’s faces.

‘We’re married!’ Neville announced, holding up Hannah’s hand to show off the ring on her finger. ‘Just did it, down the road. There’s a chapel and everything, it only takes a couple of minutes.’ 

‘No shit?’ Pansy Parkinson’s eyes lit up. ‘Granger, you’ll know, is that legal? Do Muggle marriages count?’

‘Well, yes,’ Hermione said. ‘The ceremony is fairly similar, minus the magical bonds, of course, but legally, it’s all above board. You’ll still need to register with the UK office when we get home, since you’re married overseas, but the UK recognises American marriages, so it’s fine. Muggle weddings are how we marry Muggles, after all.’

‘What the fuck are we waiting for, then?’ Pansy grabbed the ice bucket, removed the bottle of champagne and tipped the bucket upside down, spilling ice across the floor.

‘Pansy!’ Hermione sighed. ‘Someone has to clean that up.’

Pansy shrugged, so Hermione vanished the ice as Pansy waved the bucket at the group. ‘Right then, you lot, singles, wands in the bucket. Marrieds, you can fuck right off.’

‘Explain, Parkinson,’ Seamus said, and there were a lot of nods.

‘Look,’ Pansy said. ‘I don’t particularly want to leave my future up to the Ministry of Magic to make my choices for me. I’ve accepted that I will be married in two days, but now we have a choice - we can wait and let the Department of Mysteries and their crystal ball or their fucking fairy dust choose a match for us, or we can take charge and do what Longbottom and Abbott did, and get married now, on our own terms. I’m not saying I’m in love with any of you, but quite frankly, the Hippogriff I know is better than the one I don’t, and so if I have to be married, I’d rather it was someone in this circle. At least I know all you fuckers and I don’t actively hate any of you anymore. If I leave it to the Ministry, I could end up with anyone.’

‘That’s… surprisingly reasonable,’ Padma said. ‘I have to admit, I would rather marry a friend than a stranger.’

‘So what’s your plan, Parks?’ Blaise Zabini asked. ‘Wands in the bucket?’

‘Yeah,’ she said. ‘Like Seven Minutes. Wands in, and the wand you pick is your best match.’

‘Wait, what’s this?’ Hermione asked, as she looked around the group and realised she was the only one who didn’t understand what Pansy meant.

‘You know, Granger, like at school. Seven Minutes in Heaven. We played at all the parties.’

‘I didn’t,’ Hermione said, and her lack of socialising in school didn’t hurt so much anymore, but sometimes that curl of jealousy in her stomach rose up.

‘Yeah, you played, I’m sure you did.’

‘She said she didn’t, Pansy,’ Theo Nott said quietly. ‘Maybe just explain it again?’

Hermione gave him a small smile in thanks as Pansy sighed theatrically.

‘Fine,’ she said. ‘Everyone puts their wands in the bucket. Then we cast the spell, and the wand of the person who is your best match will fly into your hand, and that’s the person you take into the closet for seven minutes. Or, in our case, that’s the person you marry. It’s not binding or anything, so I propose we do the spell then you’ve got twenty four hours to talk it over with your match and decide if you want to go through with it, or if you want to put your trust into the idiots at the Department of Mysteries.’

‘Hey,’ Theo said mildly. 

‘Fine, the idiots at the DOM who are not Junior Unspeakable Nott,’ Pansy conceded and Theo shrugged.

‘In my defence,’ he said, ‘I’ve been kept well away from this project so I actually don’t know any more than the rest of you about how it works.’

Pansy had put her wand into the bucket and was holding it out to the rest of the group, waiting for the next brave soul to join her. Ron shrugged and tossed his wand in, followed by Parvati and then Dean. One by one, the rest of the group did the same, until finally, Pansy held the bucket in front of Hermione.

‘In or out, Granger?’ she said. ‘What’s it going to be?’

Hermione looked around the group and caught Ron’s eye. When Harry had proposed to Ginny, Hermione and Ron had talked it over, as quickly and as maturely as they’d ever discussed anything, and had decided a quick marriage would be as ill-advised as a hasty kiss in the middle of a battle, but that didn’t mean Hermione was looking forward to the prospect of marrying an unknown wizard. If the magic chose Ron as her match, though… but it wasn’t binding, just a teenage party trick, and she wouldn’t be obliged to go through with the wedding if she didn’t want it. It was just, as Pansy said, a way for them to wrestle back some sort of choice. 

Hermione threw her wand into the bucket.

‘Ladies first, then?’ Blaise asked, and Pansy nodded.

‘Seems fair,’ she said. ‘Witches, choose your husband.’ They put their hands out, and one by one, wands flew up to meet them. Hermione took the wand that had jumped immediately into her hand and examined it, not looking up just yet. It was dark, a little longer than her own, and elegant, with an inlaid strip of a lighter wood around the handle. It felt competent in her hands, like it knew she wasn’t its master, but that it would accept her commands anyway, if she tried to use it.

‘Wait,’ Lavender Brown asked. ‘What if the wands don’t match? What if the guy who gets my wand is not the one who’s wand I have?’

‘Shouldn’t happen,’ Pansy said. ‘I modified the usual spell, but if it does, we’ll just reset and put in the non matching couples again.’ She rattled the bucket again. ‘Boys?’

‘I can’t believe I am choosing a wife from a plastic ice bucket,’ Draco said, holding his hand out and receiving a wand nonetheless. 

‘Could be worse,’ Ron said. ‘You could be choosing a wife from a carefully selected list of debutantes that your mother approves of.’ Ron pulled out a wand also, and Hermione took a sneaky glance. It wasn’t hers.

‘I can’t decide what’s worse,’ Draco said. ‘Agreeing with you, or marrying anyone approved by my mother.’ Hermione snuck a peek at the wand Draco was holding. Also not hers.

She took a deep breath - not a feeling of relief, but certainly something that the wand she held wasn’t Ron’s, and wasn’t Draco’s. He had changed, and they’d gotten to be… friendly acquaintances over the years, especially once he began working in the Auror’s office with Harry. They’d all spent many a night at the Leaky after work, and she and Malfoy - and a lot of the Slytherins, actually - had found more common ground than not. She’d been holding suspicions that one of them might have been her DOM approved match, and she felt like she would have had amicable lives with either Ron or Draco, but it wouldn’t have been love, and Hermione, despite all the best efforts of the Ministry of Magic, was still, deep down, hoping for love.

‘Right then,’ Pansy said, putting the empty bucket on the small table next to her. ‘Go figure out who’s got your wand.’

Hermione nervously rolled the wand between her fingers as she watched her friends slowly pair off. Some couples were obvious - Blaise and Lavender had been flirting for months now - and some were not - Luna, who’d turned twenty one only a few days ago, skipped over to Draco with a sweet smile on her face - and some couples, although unexpected, seemed like they would just work, like, surprisingly, Pansy and Ron.

There was one last person she suspected she might pair well with, and it was only a moment until that person held out her wand to her. ‘I believe you have something of mine,’ he said, gently taking his wand from her hands, and passing her own back. ‘May I sit?’

‘Of course,’ Hermione said, and Theo Nott sank into the low couch next to her. They were quiet for a few moments, and then he spoke.

‘What do you think of the matches?’ he asked, looking out at the couples around them.

‘I think Lavender has been scheming for this wedding for months,’ Hermione said, watching her old housemate whispering into Blaise’s ear, and Theo huffed a laugh.

‘Blaise would not have been opposed to that,’ he said. ‘Draco and Luna are an interesting case. I’m not completely surprised by it, though, I think he got to know her while she was -’ he paused and Hermione filled in the blank.

‘Enjoying his hospitality during the war?’

‘Sure,’ Theo said. ‘Let’s go with that, although in all seriousness, from what little he has said, he did try to take care of her as best he could.’

‘No, I know,’ Hermione said. ‘I wasn’t being entirely facetious, Luna has said as much too. It’s a bit strange, but I think it will work. He’ll take care of her, and she’ll keep him - lighter, I suppose.’

‘Mmm,’ Theo agreed. ‘And what about Pansy and Ron?’ He looked over to where the couple in question were talking animatedly - or possibly arguing already, Hermione thought. ‘We thought that maybe you and Ron would have…’ Theo trailed off, and Hermione shook her head.

‘We talked about it,’ she said honestly. ‘For many of the same reasons that Pansy laid out, but we decided it just wouldn’t work. Ron will be good for Pansy, I think, if they go through with it, but he wasn’t right for me.’ Hermione decided to suck up her courage and ask the question Theo was clearly leading towards. ‘And you and me?’

‘I’m very pleased with the outcome,’ Theo said, and Hermione let out a breath she didn’t realise she was holding. Like Malfoy, she and Theo had struck up a friendship over the years, although it was less fraught with history and drama, and she still didn’t know Theo all that well. They’d studied together a few times in eighth year, and sat next to each other at drinks every so often, but had never delved into anything more personal than sharing book recommendations. Although Hermione had always considered book recommendations to be quite personal, and she’d always enjoyed what Theo had recommended, a mix of magical biographies and unusual historical retellings.

‘I’m pleased, too,’ she admitted a little shyly, and he stood up and held out his hand.

‘Should we go for a walk? Get away from all this noise and get some fresh air?’

‘That’s a good idea,’ she said, taking his hand and letting him pull her to her feet. ‘Let me just go say goodbye to Harry and Ginny - I’ll meet you out the front?’

Theo nodded, and he made his way over to Draco as Hermione headed to where Harry, Ginny, Neville and Hannah were sitting. She sat down next to Harry and put her head on his shoulder. Ginny leaned across him and patted Hermione’s arm.

‘I’m surprised you took part,’ Ginny said, ‘although you definitely lucked out there. Tell the truth, did you do a sneaky trick to pick Theo’s wand?’

‘What?’ Hermione glared at Ginny. ‘I would never, and why would I, anyway?’

‘Oh, come on, Hermione, we all know you’ve had a little crush on Unspeakable Nott since he showed up to drinks that time in his uniform robes and his sexy nerd glasses.’

Harry sighed and Hannah giggled. Hermione glared at Ginny some more but chose not to respond. ‘We’re going for a walk,’ she told Harry. ‘Don’t stick around waiting for me, you should go and enjoy yourselves. You too,’ she said to Neville and Hannah.

‘You don’t have to rush anything, Hermione,’ Harry said, squeezing her hand. ‘This is just a game. If it doesn’t feel right, don’t do it.’

Hermione shrugged. ‘It’s now, or it’s in two days, Harry. It’s Theo or a stranger. I’m not going to decide right now, but I think my decision is going to be easier than I thought it would be.’ She watched Theo clap Blaise on the shoulder and kiss Lavender’s cheek as he passed them on his way to the exit, and then he stood there patiently, giving her a smile as she caught his eye. She gave hugs to all her friends, collected her jacket from the hooks in the corner, then met Theo at the front. 

‘Let’s go,’ she said.

***

Theo had known instantly whose wand he was holding. Of course it was hers. He’d avoided watching as the witches all pulled wands from the bucket, but as soon as he was holding hers, the distinctive, delicate vines crawling along the light wood, he looked over, and sure enough, Hermione Granger was twirling his wand through her fingers, looking down and avoiding the glances of the men in the group.

Hermione had been one of the strongest voices against the Marriage Law. He’d opposed it as well, but he was constrained by his job and his Vow from speaking out, and it had been the first time he’d truly resented the restrictions placed on him by the Department. The Law, and the subsequent matching project, had been kept very, very quiet within the DOM, and the little Theo had been able to find out led him to suspect that only married Unspeakables had been assigned to work on the project, and that any of his colleagues who would also be subject to the Law were kept out.

So Theo didn’t know how the matching would work. Would it be random, as rumours suggested, or would it be a more sophisticated version of the spell Pansy had used tonight? In either case, Theo was not interested in leaving this choice to chance, and as Pansy had outlined her plan, he’d looked around their circle, calculating his odds and chances. He’d thought there were three witches likely to match with him. He’d never actually dated Daphne Greengrass, but they did go to the Yule Ball together, and they’d ended up quite good friends. Padma Patil was a Healer usually assigned to DOM disasters, and they’d ended up sharing drinks after work a few times, and always enjoyed a good conversation.

He’d have been perfectly content to marry either of them, so he’d thrown his wand in when it was his turn.

But, of course, the witch with the best odds, the one he’d been thinking about for years, the one who he had almost gotten the courage up to ask out, the night before the Law was announced, was the one who had selected his wand, and Theo couldn’t even be mad about it. Not when she’d smiled so sweetly at him and told him she, too, was pleased to be paired with him.

Hermione gave her friends a last hug and met him at the entrance to the nightclub. It was tucked away in the magical section of their hotel - Excalibur, complete with knights and jousting and the fucking Muggle interpretation of Merlin. Who said wizards didn’t have a sense of humour? They left the club, and ducked through the small, unobtrusive door that was the exit to the Muggle section of the hotel - Theo much preferred the simple exit as compared to the ostentatious, tacky entrance - and were immediately accosted by the far larger and louder Muggle crowds. 

‘This is better,’ Theo said, as he took Hermione’s hand to lead her through the crowds. ‘It was starting to get stifling in there.’

‘It was,’ Hermione said. ‘I know everyone wanted to celebrate the wedding and to forget the deadline for a little while, but nightclubs have never been my favourite thing.’

‘Mine either,’ Theo saw the exit up ahead and headed towards the glass doors. Somehow the Muggles had charmed them to open automatically. Hermione and Dean had explained it once, back in eighth, but Theo still found it fascinating. ‘I’d have much preferred just a night at the pub.’

‘I wanted to keep researching,’ Hermione said with a small pout. ‘Harry wouldn’t let me, said I’d done all I could.’

‘He was right,’ Theo told her. ‘We all went over your notes and petitions, you tried absolutely everything.’

‘Except running our own matching spell, I guess,’ Hermione said, and Theo laughed. 

‘Yeah, fair call,’ he said. ‘I don’t think that could have come from the mind of anyone except Pansy Parkinson, but I’m feeling very grateful towards her right now. Left or right?’

Hermione looked quizzically at him, and he pointed down the Strip. ‘Do you want to go left or right?’

‘Right,’ Hermione said. ‘We’re almost at the end so we might as well go that way and start from the beginning. Then we can see how far down the street we can get.’

‘Can we agree to be very honest with each other tonight?’ Theo asked as they started to wander down the Strip, past the Luxor and towards the casino on the end. When Harry had told them all his plan, Theo had done some reading on the Strip, not wanting to be drunk inside a club for their entire stay like Blaise and Pansy had planned. He had a vague idea of what he wanted to see at most of the major casinos, and he thought he’d remembered an aquarium down this way. ‘I don’t want to disparage our friends, but I feel like the two of us will want to have a deeper conversation about what this decision will mean for us, more so than some of them.’

Hermione smiled at him. ‘That’s down to the type of people we are, I think,’ she said. ‘I like to have all the facts in front of me so my decision is informed, and I think you’re the same way.’

‘I am,’ he said. ‘But there’s more to it as well. My job - well, there’s a lot I still can’t say.’

‘I’d wondered about that,’ Hermione said. ‘I know there is a Vow so you can’t talk about your work, but does that apply to spouses? It’s just that it seems awfully lonely if you can’t even vent about your day to your wife.’ She blushed a little at wife and Theo felt a rush of sadness that he wouldn’t get the chance to call her his girlfriend. They were still so young.

‘There’s another Vow,’ he said. ‘Not so well known, but the spouses of Unspeakables can take it to promise not to reveal anything their partner tells them.’

‘Oh,’ Hermione said, brightening. ‘That’s much better. Is that a new development? I don’t remember reading about that.’

‘Reasonably new,’ Theo said. ‘I think the Department was seeing a lot of staff turnover, and a lot of Unspeakables burning out because of that exact reason, no one to talk with outside work. So I can’t say much now, but if we go ahead, you would have the choice to take that Vow.’

‘I would, of course,’ she said. ‘That’s not even a question.’

‘How are your studies going?’ He’d known Hermione was doing further studies at a Muggle institution, but it had only been recently that he’d found out she was studying Law. Once her Muggle Law studies were finished, she had another year to complete to get her Magical Law licence.

‘Good,’ Hermione said. ‘Final exams in a couple of months, then I’ll have a couple more months free before I start the magical component. I’m enjoying it, mostly, it’s a lot of work, but it’s satisfying.’ She paused, then asked, ‘If this Law hadn’t happened, how did you see your life going? Did you plan on marriage?’

‘I did,’ he said. 

‘You weren’t seeing anyone, though?’ she asked. ‘I don’t remember you dating anyone since we left school.’

‘No, I wasn’t,’ Theo said. ‘And the same for you? Not seeing any poor sod who’s about to have his heart stomped on?’

Hermione gave a soft laugh as she dodged a group of women making their way in the opposite direction. Theo held out his arm and Hermione took it, pulling herself in a little closer to him. In true Vegas fashion, or at least, what he’d heard of the desert city, it was still warm, even at 7pm, but Hermione was only wearing a short dress and a light jacket. He tucked her under his arm instead.

‘No, not seeing anyone,’ she said. ‘And I’d always wanted to get married as well, although I had hoped to be further along in my career first.’

‘Children?’ he asked, then paused. ‘I feel as though I should apologise for being so serious on our first date. I’d much rather be courting you properly.’

‘Serious is fine,’ Hermione said. ‘I’d rather we didn’t pretend like everything is normal and this isn’t the most surreal conversation we could be having. But, yes, I would like children, although again, I’d rather have waited until later, and also, what exactly does courting entail for a Slytherin?’ She gave him a cheeky smirk and Theo grinned back as he held the door to the Mandalay Bay open for her.

‘Well, it would start with flowers, or a gift,’ he said. ‘To show my intentions, of course, and if you were happy to continue with a courtship, your acceptance of the gift would signify that.’

Hermione held tight to his arm as he led her through the winding corridors. ‘There’s an actual ritual?’ she asked. ‘I was only joking.’

‘It’s not very common these days,’ Theo said. ‘Most wizards have probably forgotten all about it, but some families still stick to the old ways.’ 

‘And you would have?’ Hermione asked as the corridor widened into the aquarium entrance, and Theo drew in a breath at the sight of the giant tanks. Hermione started towards the ticket desk, but Theo held her back. If the guidebook was correct - yes, there it was. He led them towards a door marked ‘Maintenance Only,’ and quickly glanced around. No one was watching them, so he tapped the door with his wand, and it shimmered softly. He pushed through, Hermione following, and they found themselves in front of another ticket desk, but this one requested an entrance fee in Galleons. Theo smiled at the witch behind the desk, and handed over enough gold for himself and Hermione. She gave him a long suffering look, but she’d spent enough time with Draco and himself over the years to know it was a futile argument that she could pay for herself.

As they walked into the first room, a dimly lit recreation of an English moor and a sign proclaiming this to be the home of the fearsome Grindylow, Hermione asked again. ‘You would have traditionally courted a witch, had the law not passed?’

‘I don’t know,’ Theo told her. ‘My father insisted, back when I was younger, but it would have only been on his terms and with a witch he selected. I never wanted that. Once he was gone, and my choices became my own, it would have depended on the witch, I think. The right witch - yes. I would have wanted to show her how important she was to me, and how seriously I would take our relationship.’

They walked through a few more rooms - one with a large window looking out onto a massive lake, where Theo could just see a herd of Hippocampi frolicking in the distance, and another room that held a small family of Kappas. After another couple of rooms, a small walkway unobtrusively led back into the Muggle area of the aquarium, and they walked through the shark tank before exiting into the gift shop. Hermione idly flicked through a stand of postcards as Theo saw something he couldn’t resist, and he’d paid the shop attendant and had it tucked into a small gift bag before Hermione turned around.

‘Shall we continue?’ he asked, and Hermione eyed the bag suspiciously, but nodded and followed him out of the casino and back onto the Strip.

They walked for a few minutes and made it back to the front of the large pyramid shaped casino before Hermione snapped.

‘What’s in the bag?’ she asked.

‘Three minutes,’ Theo said, grinning. ‘Your restraint lasted three minutes, I’m actually impressed.’

‘Shut up,’ she said, but she was grinning as well. ‘I didn’t see you buy anything, you must have been very quick and sneaky.’

‘Slytherin,’ he said, holding the bag out to her. ‘It’s for you, anyway.’ He watched as she opened the bag and pulled out the little seascape glitter globe. ‘It’s not traditional flowers,’ he explained, ‘but the coral is just as lovely, and this way it will last forever. Hermione, this is an unusual situation, and I only have about one day and eighteen hours to win you over, but I’d like to offer you this gift as a sign of my intention to court you, very quickly. Will you accept?’

Hermione turned the globe over, watching the glitter float back down to the base, then she rose up on her toes and kissed Theo quickly on the cheek. ‘I accept your courtship,’ she said, ‘and I would like to suggest we skip past whatever other stages this ritual has and move straight through to marriage discussions.’

Theo laughed. She was a delight, and he wanted to court her, properly and thoroughly, but he couldn’t, so instead, he would court her quickly and intensely. ‘My father would be horrified, which is honestly how I judge all my decisions these days, so yes, absolutely.’ She put the snow globe back in the bag, and he took it back to carry it for her, and they continued along the Strip.

***

‘Thank you for not asking me why I work, by the way.’

Hermione frowned. Who would ask that?

‘Who would ask that?’ she said. ‘What a weird question.’

Theo laughed and Hermione nearly melted. He had such a nice laugh. Despite their circumstances, despite the weirdness of this date, Hermione was enjoying herself, and if she’d considered it three hours ago, she hadn’t thought that it would have been possible for her to be having fun tonight. Theo was a good companion, thoughtful about what she would enjoy, interesting enough to keep up a steady conversation, kind and polite to the people they’d interacted with, and - it could not be denied - extremely pleasant to look at. He was tall, but not so tall that she strained her neck to see his face, and his dark curls fell into his bright blue eyes very fetchingly. He was not currently wearing his sexy nerd glasses, but he had pulled them out to read the drinks menu earlier, and Hermione considered that another check in the ‘MARRY THIS MAN’ column of the pros and cons list she was creating in her mind.

They’d crossed the Strip at the Luxor and were now seated in the bar at the Tropicana, drinking ridiculous cocktails out of coconut shaped cups, and somehow Theo looked just as comfortable in the fifties themed bar as he had in the magical nightclub earlier. She knew he hadn’t spent any time in the Muggle world as a child, and with his job as an Unspeakable, it was unlikely he’d had much opportunity as an adult, either, but she appreciated the effort he always seemed to make. He still had to glance at his cash before he paid for their drinks, but to be fair, American currency tripped Hermione up, too.

‘Many people have asked. It seems that most people think of the size of the Nott family vaults and assume I would prefer to sit around all day counting my father’s money.’

‘You?’ she said. ‘What a disaster that would be. I know how clever you are, giving you unlimited free time and unlimited funds would doom us all. You would absolutely become some sort of mad genius shut in, inventing a freeze ray or trying to communicate with the outer edges of the galaxy, or some other world shattering project.’

Theo froze, just for a moment, but Hermione caught it, along with the pleasantly blank expression he put on next. She narrowed her eyes at him.

‘Theodore Nott,’ she said, and he gave her a look that begged her not to ask the question. She asked the question. ‘Do you work in the Space room? Did I happen to stumble upon something you’re not allowed to tell me?’

‘You’re a menace to society and far too observant,’ he said, and Hermione laughed.

‘Turns out I don’t need a spousal vow, then,’ she teased, and Theo stood up, taking her jacket and holding it for her to slide her arms into.

‘I did not confirm nor deny anything,’ he said. ‘I merely commented on your horribly annoying tendency to figure out exactly what someone is trying to keep away from your notice.’

‘Oh well,’ she said. ‘You kept it away from me for a few months, at least, that’s longer than most people.’

He led the way out the front entrance and up onto the overpass, back towards the New York themed casino, and straight in the front door. The coolness of the air conditioner made her shiver, and Theo pulled her a little closer.

‘You know,’ he said, ‘if you wanted a job in the DOM, you could practically walk in and take your pick. They’d fall all over themselves to have you join.’

‘I can’t say it’s not tempting,’ she told him as he gazed up at a fake street sign, apparently seeing the direction of what he was after, and he led her off to one side of the casino floor. ‘Learning and decoding the mysteries of magic would be amazing. But after this past month, I’m more set on law than ever. I might not have been able to stop the Marriage Law for us, and probably not for the next couple of years, but I’m determined to keep fighting it, for the kids who are at Hogwarts now, and all of those to come in the future. They deserve better than this.’

‘They do,’ Theo agreed as he checked his wallet and handed some notes over to a booth attendant, and Hermione looked around.

‘Wait, where are we?’ Then she saw the tracks and cars in front of her and started shaking her head violently. ‘No no no,’ she said, pulling back, but Theo laughed again and pulled her forward.

‘Rollercoaster,’ he said excitedly. ‘I’ve never been on one but I read about this in the guidebook when I knew we were coming here. Muggles built this, Hermione, apparently it’s as close to flying as they get!’

Hermione gave a small whine. ‘I hate flying,’ she said despondently. Theo slipped his arm around her shoulders.

‘I’ll protect you,’ he said. ‘And then after, we can come back to -’ he pointed behind them ‘-that bakery, and you can tell me what a pretzel is and give me a full history on its background and etymology.’

Hermione sighed. It was very nice being snuggled in with Theo like this, and those cars did look quite small. Perhaps she could handle it for the couple of minutes they would be hurtling through the air.

*** 

Hermione screeched like a banshee on the rollercoaster. Honestly, Theo thought it was adorable. The witch had flown on thestrals and hippogriffs and a damn dragon, and she was scared of a little Muggle contraption?

She’d clung to his arm and screamed in his ear, and slugged him in the shoulder once they’d reached solid ground again, and Theo had grinned the whole time. Ahead of them, he watched a Muggle couple as they also disembarked the ride, and the lady was pushing at her companion also, and as the couple passed, the man caught Theo’s eye and winked, drawing his girlfriend closer and kissing her temple, and Theo gave him a small nod and smile.

‘And what are you smirking at?’ Hermione demanded, and Theo copied the Muggle man, leaning down to kiss Hermione’s temple. 

‘Just thinking how very similar we all are,’ Theo said. ‘See that couple up ahead? The man took his girlfriend on the ride for the exact same reason I did. An excuse to cuddle closer and have our women act all outraged so we can soothe you after.’

Hermione huffed for a moment, but then she took his hand. ‘I believe I was promised pretzels,’ she said, and Theo could get used to this.

After pretzels, they left New York and headed back to the Strip. Hermione had promised she had something for them to see, and Theo looked back at the recreation of the city skyline as they crossed the street again.

‘Have you travelled much?’ he asked. ‘Do you like to travel?’

‘Well, I don’t plan on camping again anytime soon,’ she said playfully, and Theo shuddered. 

‘No, I can promise I will never take you camping,’ he said.

‘I do like to travel, though, although I haven’t done a lot. My parents took me to a few places around the south of England when I was younger, Brighton and the like, and we went to France a couple of times. I did go to Australia just after the war to check up on them, but I couldn’t stay too long, it was rather painful. I would like to go back, I think, though.’

Hermione had confessed to a small group of them about a year ago how she had protected her parents before the war. Most of the group had been suitably upset for her - Neville and Hannah had both cried - but Draco and Theo had exchanged heavy glances, and it had been Draco who’d reached out to her, taking her hand and telling her that her instinct had been correct. Draco had more inside information than Theo had, back during the war, and while he’d spared them all the details, he had confessed that he’d known some Muggles were very high targets within the Death Eater regime, and the Grangers had been right up there.

The memory charms she’d used had been irreversible, and Hermione had seemed to have made her peace with it. For a few months after, though, Theo had found himself making inquiries at the DOM, what studies they’d done and what luck they’d had reversing memory charms, but it was an understudied and underfunded field. By the time anything could potentially be done, the Grangers would be too deep into their new life and memories.

‘I’ve barely travelled anywhere,’ he said, changing the subject neatly, although he kept a tight grip on Hermione’s hand. ‘And even when I did get to go somewhere, it was just to another pureblood estate, heavily warded and locked. I’ve been to the Malfoy place in France and the Zabini’s in Italy, but I couldn’t say I saw any of the sights or culture. We did go to Spain just after finishing eighth, Blaise and Greg and Draco and I, but we stayed in the wizarding district and, honestly, it was mostly drinking every night. This trip is really the first time I’ve seen anything outside the magical districts or London or Hogsmeade.’

‘Where would you go,’ Hermione asked, ‘if money was not an object?’

‘Technically, love,’ he grinned, ‘money is not an object. Traditionally the problems for me have been time, permission or travelling companions.’

‘Well,’ she said. ‘Time is an issue for everyone, but we can always make time. You don’t need permission anymore, except for leaving work, I suppose, and I doubt companionship is a problem now, either. If it’s not me, I suppose you’ll have a shiny new Ministry approved wife in a couple of days.’

Theo didn’t want to get into that right now. ‘I want to take you to Brazil,’ he said instead.

‘Why Brazil?’ Hermione steered him towards a very brightly coloured store with a strange round mascot figure.

‘Why not?’ he replied. ‘It’s warm, there’s a big magical community, you would wear very few clothes on the beach…’

Hermione laughed, even as she smacked him on the arm. ‘Enough flirting out of you. Here, I wanted to show you this, it’s maybe as close as the Muggles get to a mass-produced Honeydukes. Welcome to M&M World!’

The store was massive, about twice the size of Honeydukes, and with an entire wall dedicated to what looked like every colour of a lolly similar to Bertie Botts. Hermione had grabbed herself a clear bag, and was filling it with a random assortment of colours, and Theo frowned.

‘The flavours will get all mixed up,’ he pointed out, and Hermione shook her head.

‘No, these are all just chocolate inside,’ she said. ‘They do have some other flavours but these are the regular ones. I’m getting Harpies and Cannons colours for Harry and Ginny as a wedding present. Maybe we should get Gryffindor and Hufflepuff for Hannah and Neville as well?’

They couldn’t buy individual presents for everyone, but Theo consoled himself by filling a bag with a handful of every colour for the group to share tomorrow. Probably he’d tell Draco and Blaise that they were like Berties, and to watch out for the earwax flavours.

After a while, they placed their purchases inside Hermione’s nifty little beaded bag that she still carried, and continued on. Theo could see a recreation of the Eiffel Tower some way ahead of them, and he’d read that there was an observation deck on top. He might not have been able to court Hermione properly, nor had they had enough time to adjust to the thought of marriage, but if they were going to go through with this, he was at least going to do the proposal as well as he could.

Before they made it to Paris, though, Theo stopped outside a casino that looked, incredibly, like an Arabian temple. 

‘Oh, Aladdin,’ Hermione said in recognition. ‘I’ve heard of this one, apparently it’s completely outrageous on the inside. All gold and fake Middle Eastern treasures. Completely unrealistic, but it’s Vegas. There’s a magical section here, too.’

‘Behind the genie’s lamp, I think,’ Theo said, remembering it from his guidebook, and sure enough, just beyond the large glowing lamp statue, there was a familiar looking ‘Maintenance Only’ marking on a door, and they stepped through into a foyer that was far more magical, but no less ostentatious than it’s Muggle counterpart. Tiny lamps hung in the air, glowing all manner of colours, and flying rugs whisked customers and luggage alike off to the far edges of the room, disappearing down corridors to accommodation rooms, presumably. There were a number of shops nearby - tourist junk, mostly, and Theo considered telling George and Ron Weasley to come check it out before they went home - Weasley’s Wizarding Wheezes would fit right in if they were still looking for expansion sites. A little further on were some higher end stores, clothing and jewellery, and even a broomstick vendor, although Theo didn’t recognise any of the brooms on sale so they must have been local manufacturers. 

They wandered along for a few minutes before they came to a row of restaurants, and Theo pulled Hermione to a stop.

‘Should we go in?’ he asked, looking at a promotional sign for The Golden Lantern, Aladdin’s Newest Magical Attraction! It was a restaurant that promised to read the diner’s emotional state and serve them the food that would be most meaningful to them. They’d been walking for a while, and the drinks they’d had earlier had worn off, and Theo was starting to feel hungry.

‘Sounds good,’ Hermione said, and Theo nodded at the hostess, who led them to a small table near the side of the restaurant. The windows were charmed to show desert vistas, in keeping with the Middle Eastern theme, and Theo could see the sandy dunes bathed in moonlight below an expanse of stars in the dark sky. 

‘That’s beautiful,’ Hermione said, looking out at the view. ‘It’s one thing I miss about Hogwarts, the night sky. It’s just not the same in London or Oxford.’

‘I’ll take you out to Nott Manor one day,’ he said. ‘I go out every now and again to check on the house, and there’s a little cottage on the grounds that I stay at, sometimes. It’s in North Wales, near Angelsey, and on a clear night, it feels like the stars go on forever.’

‘It sounds lovely,’ she said. 

‘The cottage was my mother’s,’ he told her. ‘She loved Herbology, and she took over the groundskeeper’s cottage when she married my father. I don’t think he ever realised just how much work she put into it. I imagine he thought it was little more than a shack or greenhouse, but it’s fully liveable. I’ve never wanted to live there full time, but it’s a perfect holiday home.’

‘I grew up in Surrey,’ Hermione said. ‘Just a regular family home, but I loved it. It was sold when my parents left for Australia, I haven’t been back since.’

The waitress came by and placed a drink in front of each of them - a cold cider for Hermione and a firewhiskey for Theo. It wasn’t his favourite drink, but oddly - or not so oddly, considering the premise of the restaurant - it was exactly what he felt like drinking. He held it up and tapped it against Hermione’s glass, who was looking at her glass and considering the contents as well.

‘I don’t particularly like firewhiskey,’ he said, ‘but it reminds me of leaving home.’ 

‘Apple cider reminds me of my parents,’ she said. ‘When did you leave home? And actually, where are you living at the moment? I’m not sure that I know.’

‘I moved out after the battle,’ he said, ‘although technically, I just never went back during seventh year, so I guess I really left home the day I left for seventh. After the battle, I stayed with Blaise over the summer, and we got wasted on firewhiskey too many times to count. And then after eighth year was done, Draco and I bought a townhouse in Kensington, and toasted with firewhiskey on our first night there, and we’ve been there since. Neither of us had any interest in living in our family houses, and it’s been good, having someone else around. I guess we all got used to living with each other at school anyway.’

‘That makes sense,’ Hermione said. ‘For myself, Harry and I moved into Grimmauld Place after the battle, and he’s still there. I stay there on weekends and breaks, but I have a small flat in Oxford near school. I suppose Ginny will officially move in with Harry now as well. She stays there during the week, mostly, although she’s still travelling with the Harpies a lot.’

Once they were matched and married, the particulars of the Marriage Law would give each couple a month to sort out their affairs and decide on living arrangements and such. Draco and Theo had talked it over and chosen to wait to see who their matches were before making any decisions, although they had both thought they’d like to keep living in the house, at least until any children came along. It was a large, three story house with five bedrooms, chosen because both boys had had far too much money at eighteen, and wanted to secure a space where all their friends would be welcome to stay when needed. The extra bedrooms had come in useful many times, and Pansy, Blaise, Daphne and plenty of others had crashed on multiple nights. Depending on their matches, Theo had always thought living with his wife and his best friend would be a good way to ease into a relationship he hadn’t wanted, especially if they’d gotten lucky enough that their matches would be friends. 

Luna and Hermione were friends, but Theo didn’t know how close they were, or if either witch would be receptive to the plan.

‘One benefit to magic that I’ve always appreciated is the quick commute time, though,’ Hermione said. ‘I suppose that technically, so long as it has a fireplace or an Apparition point, I can live anywhere in the UK.’

‘Mmm,’ Theo hummed in agreement. ‘I suppose we are again dancing around questions that should not be asked until months into a relationship, but would you consider moving in with me? And Draco, and Luna, it seems, if she is also amenable?’

‘I would,’ Hermione said, taking another sip, and Theo breathed a sigh of relief. ‘I would like to see your house, of course, but my flat is not really practical for another person - it’s honestly little more than a bed and a desk - and I wouldn’t subject you, or anyone, to the madness of the Potter residence. There’s always a Weasley or two making a mess, not to mention Teddy Lupin’s toys and whichever version of a Quidditch team Harry has rounded up for a weekend match. That’s why I moved out during the week, no peace to study.’

‘I can promise you peace,’ Theo said. ‘I’m at work, obviously, and when he’s not working, Draco is usually in the lab brewing. I’m not sure about Luna, but -’

‘She’s still at The Quibbler,’ Hermione said as the waitress arrived and placed two covered dishes in front of them. She smiled up at the witch and asked ‘do we need to… do anything to reveal the meals? Will we know what it is and why it’s been selected for us?’

‘You’ll know,’ the witch said. ‘If you don’t recognise it immediately, we find that most people remember the dish after the first bite, and will understand why it’s been selected. Please enjoy!’

Theo ignored his plate in favour of watching Hermione lift the lid on hers. She took a deep breath and then smiled. ‘Pad Thai,’ she told him. ‘It’s not the most adventurous of options, but my parents were never big fans of Thai food, so I didn’t eat it at home, and, well, the magical world is a little boring in their cuisine options, you know. When I moved to Oxford, it was the first meal I bought for myself.’ She blushed a little as she said ‘It tastes like independence.’

‘I’ve never tried it,’ Theo admitted as her jaw dropped. 

‘Really?’ She twirled a fork in the noodles and then held it out to him, and it was Theo’s turn to blush as he opened his mouth. The noodles were salty and nutty and a little bit sweet, and Hermione’s eyes sparkled at him as she said ‘It’s good, right? This is a good version but when we get home, I’ll take you to my favourite place, they do the best Pad Thai but I love their coconut curries as well.’

‘I would like that,’ Theo told her as he lifted the lid on his own plate. ‘I haven’t tried much outside the magical world, I’m afraid. We tried, Draco and I, when we moved in together, but it felt… overwhelming,’ he said. It wasn’t that they’d felt the Muggle world was inferior or tainted, but that neither of them knew where to begin or who to ask for help, and as the years and months went on, they’d settled so deeply into the Ministry and Diagon Alley that thoughts of travelling outside that bubble had been too complicated to contemplate. Sometimes Theo had regretted that, and he found himself regretting it all over again as he watched Hermione’s smile. She had fully embraced the magical world without losing her Muggle roots, and he envied her courage.

‘Well,’ she said, twirling another forkful of noodles, ‘you’ve got me now, and I can handle overwhelming. I think I’ve been handling overwhelming for my entire life. What have you got there?’ She gestured towards his plate, and he looked down.

‘Pasta,’ he said, huffing a laugh as he looked at their plates. ‘Different cuisines but the same dish, it seems,’ and she grinned at him. 

‘One more thing in common, then. What’s the pasta connection?’

‘Similar to you, I think. It tastes like independence. I suppose it makes sense, given we’ve been discussing our first steps into the world. After seventh year, after the battle, when I stayed with Blaise, we went to his estate in Milan, and it was the first time I’d eaten anything that wasn’t - what did you say? Boring magical food? I’d never understood why Blaise always complained about the food at Hogwarts until I tried the food that was grown at his place, they used all local ingredients and it was so light and fresh. Not that Hogwarts was bad, it was just… different, and that’s the first time I realised how much more was in the world, even if I didn’t quite know how to go out and find it.’

Hermione hummed as she took a sip of her cider. ‘Can I ask an impolite question?’

Theo shrugged. ‘My secrets are your secrets,’ he said.

‘How much money do you have?’

Theo shrugged again. ‘Honestly? I don’t know. A lot of the estate is tied up in land, or gold, or magical artefacts, and you can’t always put a value on that. There’s a vault at Gringotts that is full, and I keep trying to spend it, but the estate also owns a lot of businesses and things that keep bringing more money in.’ 

He could tell Hermione had questions, but the question she asked wasn’t one he’d expected. 

‘You call it the estate’s money,’ she said. ‘It’s not yours?’

She was watching him carefully and he felt like squirming under her gaze. ‘It’s not mine,’ he said, ‘not really. I just inherited it, I didn’t have to work for it and it’s always felt rather tainted with my father’s actions. When he died, at first I wanted nothing to do with it, but I realised I would have to take at least some actions with it, to prevent anyone getting hold of anything dangerous. I’ve had the vault locked and the Aurors have combed over the house to remove anything dangerous.’

‘Have you thought of doing anything with it all?’

‘Like charity?’ he asked, and Hermione nodded.

‘I have,’ he said. ‘I’ve donated when asked - Draco and I both have.’

‘You could do more,’ Hermione said, and Theo nodded.

‘I could,’ he admitted. ‘I’ve thought about that but again, I just don’t know where to start. I suppose that’s another benefit to this marriage for you.’

‘For me?’ Hermione asked, and Theo grinned back at her. It had been another source of worry for him when the law was announced - what if his match looked at him and saw only Galleons and Sickles?

‘What’s mine is yours,’ he told her happily. He knew her well enough to have known immediately that Hermione would never look at him and see only his money. ‘That includes the estate, and you can spend it however you like. We both make enough money working to sustain ourselves and a family, or will, once you finish studying, so as far as I’m concerned, you can spend it all. Save the world, fund a house elf revolution, do whatever you like. As soon as the marriage is legal, I’ll add you to the vaults and you have free reign.’

Hermione stared at him for a moment and then shook her head. ‘I’m going to need some time with that. But Theo, you know I don’t expect -’

‘I know,’ he told her. ‘I know you don’t expect any money from me, and I appreciate that, Hermione, I really do.’

They sat in silence for a few moments, and as they finished the last bites of their meals, another covered dish arrived on their table, and Hermione looked at Theo, furrowing her brow. ‘Dessert, I guess?’ she said, and he gestured back, happy to change the subject to something a little lighter.

‘Most likely. To share, I assume? You can reveal it.’

She did, lifting the cover so they both saw the little dessert at the same time, and Hermione blushed while Theo smirked, feeling a slight blush rise over his own cheeks.

‘I suppose that’s rather self explanatory,’ he said, looking at the perfect, miniature wedding cake in front of them, a tiny bride and groom swaying in a dance on top. He reached for the small gold-handled knife sitting next to the cake, and angled himself so that Hermione could hold the knife as well. ‘Tradition,’ he said in response to her look, and she laid her hand over his. The tiny dancing figures disappeared into smoke as they slid the knife through the layers, cutting the cake into two serves.

‘Is this another check in the pros column of the list you have in your mind?’ Theo asked, and Hermione’s eyes widened in shock.

‘How did you know that?’ she asked. ‘Oh, Merlin, I haven’t been obvious, have I? I’m so sorry.’

‘No, not at all,’ he reassured her. ‘I have the same list, I suppose.’ The list in his mind had very few checks in the CONS column, though. The speed of the arrangement. The fact that the match had been made by a drunk Pansy Parkinson playing a kid’s party game. The fact that Hermione clearly liked him, but he suspected his feelings were far stronger than hers right now. 

‘It is a pros check,’ Hermione said. ‘How can I argue with cake?’ Her tone was light and Theo echoed it.

‘Dessert is always right,’ he said solemnly, and he grinned as Hermione giggled.

***

The pros/cons list in her mind was getting harder to ignore, and honestly, the fact that Theo was tracking the same sort of list was just another check in the YES column. There weren’t that many marks in the NO column, except that: 1. This was so fast. 2. This was based on a silly game. 3. She didn’t love him. That last point, however, was countered by a yet in the pros column.

Everything else they’d discussed seemed to lead to them being incredibly compatible. They were both ambitious in their career goals, and their careers would not be contradictory. They both hated the idea of the Marriage Law, but would take their marriage seriously. They both wanted children, eventually, and both wanted to travel more. Hermione never felt like she had to downplay her intelligence around Theo, and she thought he felt the same. The question of his family's money still played on her mind, but he was correct in saying neither of them needed the money, and so that would not be a dealbreaker.

There was, perhaps, one more test she wanted to try before she made a decision, but before she could, as they left the restaurant and made their way back to the genie’s lamp that hid the magical entrance, Hermione caught sight of a store she would rather like to visit before any potential weddings - or wedding nights. 

‘Theo,’ she said, pulling him to a stop. ‘Two questions - what’s your favourite colour? And do you mind if I disappear for twenty minutes or so? I just… need to take care of something.’

‘Pale blue,’ he said, ‘and of course. I actually could do with a few minutes to myself as well. On a completely unrelated note, what is your favourite colour?’

‘Green,’ Hermione said, and laughed at the expression on his face. ‘Yes, I know, it was seven years of misery watching all you obnoxious Slytherins skulking around in my favourite colour. But I like a bright grassy green,’ she finished, and his eyes brightened. 

‘Your Amortentia,’ he realised, and she nodded.

‘I’m surprised you remember,’ she said, ‘but yes. Freshly mown grass - I love the colour and the scent.’

‘That’s very helpful,’ Theo said. ‘Shall we meet back here in twenty minutes?’ They agreed, and Hermione waited until he’d turned around to slip into the lingerie store.

Barely fifteen minutes later, she had what she needed, and the sales witch had even kindly offered her a plain bag with no branding, once Hermione had explained she wanted to surprise her - boyfriend - with something pretty. She slipped the paper wrapped parcel into her beaded bag, and found Theo lurking around the broomstick seller, examining a broom that had Huntress emblazoned down the stick. 

‘Ginny would kill to fly a broom called the Huntress,’ Hermione said as she reached his side. Theo glanced at her and shrugged. 

‘It’s all flash and branding,’ he said. ‘The specs aren’t anywhere near the standards of the Firebolts, she’s better sticking with what she’s got.’

Hermione shrugged in reply. ‘I’ll take your word for it. Are you ready to head out? I’d like to cross the street and see the fountains, I think.’

He nodded and she let him steer her back through the lamp and out onto the street, where they crossed over and made their way up to the Bellagio. Hermione could hear the strains of music in the distance, and splashes of water as the fountains rose and fell.

Once they arrived, they found themselves surrounded by crowds, and as the song re-started and the fountains began again, a thought occurred to Hermione.

‘How did you know I never played the seven minutes game?’ Hermione asked as they watched the fountains play and dance. It was almost magical, she thought, and the oohs and aahs of the crowd seemed to agree.

‘I would have remembered you being there,’ Theo said. ‘If you’d been at any of those games, I probably would have played, too.’

‘You didn’t play?’

‘No one else I wanted to get caught with,’ he said simply, and Hermione sighed.

‘You would have wanted to be shoved into a closet with me?’

‘Absolutely,’ he said. ‘It would have been - well, reckless, and dangerous, and if my father had found out, I can’t even imagine what he’d have done, but you would have been worth it.’

‘I wish I’d known,’ she said. Hermione hadn’t been particularly social in school, nor had she wanted to be, given the danger she and Harry and Ron had found themselves in quite regularly, but she’d still been a teenage girl, and the thought that the cute, quiet boy from Arithmancy had liked her would have been a boost that sixteen year old Hermione had desperately needed.

‘I was going to ask you out,’ Theo told her, and Hermione looked at him in shock.

‘You were? When? Why didn’t you?’

‘I wasn’t brave enough at school, but just recently. About a month ago,’ he said. ‘We were all at the Leaky on a Monday night, and I just thought enough. Ask her now. But I didn’t want to do it in front of everyone, so I was going to bring you lunch the next day and ask you to dinner.’

‘What happened?’

‘The Marriage Law was announced,’ Theo said ruefully. ‘I figured we’d both be better off not getting involved at that point. Sometimes I just wish I’d managed to ask earlier.’

Hermione considered this. ‘I’m actually rather pleased you didn’t, I think. You’re right, it would have been a mess if you’d asked me after the law was announced, but even if you’d asked me before, it still would have been a mess.’

Theo tipped his head and looked at her with a thoughtful expression. ‘How so?’ he asked.

‘What do you think would have happened, had we been seeing each other for a couple of weeks or even a couple of months when that was announced?’

Hermione watched Theo consider this. He took his time, thinking over the likely outcomes, and he was more analytical than she was. She thought he was probably calculating odds in his mind, where Hermione had more of an instinct for what they would have done.

‘We would have talked it over,’ he said finally. ‘We would have discussed how what we had was very new, and neither of us were comfortable making the decision if we should marry. We’d have decided to do the sensible thing and leave it up to the Ministry, and if they’d selected someone else for me, I’d have been miserable. If they’d selected you for me, I’d still have been miserable that I didn’t have the courage to just tell you that I wanted you.’

Hermione nodded. ‘We’d both have been very sensible about the whole thing. And honestly, I’m sick of being fucking sensible,’ she said, and a wicked little smirk grew across Theo’s face. 

‘Well,’ he said. ‘I’m happy to help you explore other options. What do you suggest?’

Hermione matched his smirk. ‘Let’s get married,’ she said. ‘No more pros and cons, no more long discussions, no talking about our common goals or future dreams. Let’s just go find that chapel right now and get married.’

Theo looked shocked for a moment, but then he started to hunt through his pockets before bringing out a small box. ‘Once again, Hermione Granger,’ he said, ‘you are ahead of the class, and you’ve beaten me to the answer. I did plan to take you up there -’ he pointed to the Eiffel Tower across the street ‘- but this is just as lovely.’

He dropped to one knee, and Hermione could hear the people around them cooing and cheering, but she kept her eyes on the wizard kneeling in front of her. 

‘I told you that I wanted to court you properly, that I would want to tell the woman I planned to marry just how important she is to me, and that I would want to follow all our traditions for you. Tonight has been so far beyond what I could have imagined, and all those old rituals mean nothing, so long as I’m with you. I want to marry you, Hermione, and it doesn’t matter how or why we’ve come together, and it doesn’t matter what our traditions are. I want you, and I don’t think I will ever stop wanting you. Hermione Granger, will you do me the honour of becoming my wife tonight?’

He held out the small box, opened, and Hermione looked down at the lovely emerald ring inside, and she was almost ready to say yes. She pulled Theo to his feet and said ‘I need to make one more check in the yes column first.’ 

Then she kissed him.

***

Theo wanted to say that kissing Hermione was a revelation, or an epiphany, or something else eloquent and life-changing, but the truth was, it just felt right. Her hands were wrapped around the back of his neck, making small strokes, and his hands cupped her face gently, and he breathed in, and she was filling all his senses. Slowly, they both remembered they were very much in public, and he drew back, and so did she, and she gave him a lovely smile.

‘Well,’ she sounded out of breath and Theo was filled with pride. ‘That’s definitely another check in the yes column.’

‘How many checks is that now?’ he asked, taking her hand and nodding and smiling at the crowds who were congratulating them as they left the viewing area and started to walk back down the Strip.

‘All of them,’ Hermione said. ‘All the check marks are yeses. I accept your proposal, Theo, I want to marry you, too, and not because of a law or a game or any other reason except that I like you, and I think one day very soon I will love you.’

‘I like you, Hermione,’ he replied, ‘and I think one day very, very soon, I will love you, too.’

They kept walking for a moment, and Theo couldn’t help glancing at Hermione, who had a smile on her face to match his own. 

‘Where do you suppose Neville and Hannah found this chapel, then?’ Theo asked her, and Hermione grinned. 

‘I don’t know what your guidebook told you,’ she said, ‘but Vegas is essentially wedding chapel central. There’s probably a chapel in every casino, honestly. What sort of wedding would you like?’ She pointed out a few casinos in the distance. ‘Ancient Rome could be fun. Pirates - probably not.’ 

Theo looked up and down the Strip, and started to smirk as a casino caught his eye. He pointed at it and grinned as Hermione laughed at his choice. ‘Venice. Perfect,’ she said. ‘We can get married and have a gondola ride along a fake canal.’

‘I can’t wait to tell Blaise we got married in fake Italy,’ Theo said.

***

They walked out of the chapel, hand in hand, and Hermione wanted to laugh, or sing, or dance, or something with the pure joy of it all. They were married - she, Hermione Granger, had married him, Theo Nott, without months of preparation, without planning their lives, without even the knowledge or blessing of her friends and found family, and she was astonished to realise none of that mattered. She was well on her way to loving him, and she knew he felt the same, and whatever challenges lay ahead - dealing with the Ministry, combining their lives, telling their friends - they would manage it together.

‘Well,’ Theo said. ‘I suppose we should go and announce our happy news? See who else is planning to marry? I’m rather surprised we didn’t see Blaise and Lavender here after all, but I suppose fake Italy is just so banal and uninspiring for the future Mr and Mrs Zabini.’

‘We could,’ Hermione said slowly. ‘Or.’ She paused, and Theo looked down at her, his eyes seeming to sparkle in the glow of the Vegas strip.

‘Or?’ he asked, and Hermione bit her lip, and Theo’s sparkling eyes darkened.

‘Or,’ she repeated. ‘What do your pureblood courting customs say about consummating a marriage?’

Theo’s expression changed further and became both more serious and more playful as he watched her carefully.

‘It’s very important,’ he said finally. ‘Should be done as soon as possible after the vows to ensure a strong bond.’

‘That’s what I hoped you would say,’ Hermione told him. ‘Back to the hotel, but not to the others, then?’

Theo kissed her. ‘Yes,’ he said, ‘but did you have a room alone? I’m sharing a suite with Blaise and Draco. Three bedrooms but a shared common area, and I don’t know that I really want to be with you like that.’

Hermione wrinkled her nose. ‘I didn’t think of that. I’m sharing a room with Padma, so that won’t work either.’

Theo’s hands ran absently up and down her arms as he held her and considered, and then his face brightened once more as he looked down the Strip. ‘I have an idea,’ he said, taking her hand and walking them back down in the direction they’d started. He gestured ahead. ‘We got married in Venice. How do you feel about a honeymoon in Paris?’

She caught sight of the replica Eiffel Tower in front of them and laughed. ‘It’s perfect,’ she said. ‘I do have the cleverest of husbands.’

Before long, they’d entered Paris, and Hermione couldn’t help groaning fondly at the excess of it all. A painted sky with clouds, and cobblestone streets, and fake little windows, and cafes with “outdoor” seating to resemble a Parisian street. ‘ There must be more than this provincial life,' she sang to herself quietly as they lined up at the hotel reception.

‘What’s that?’ her husband asked, and Hermione shrugged.

‘A song from a Muggle movie,’ she said. ‘It’s set in a tiny French town that looks extremely fake, rather like this, and it’s about a very bookish girl who dreams of adventure. I always related to her and this whole place reminds me of the movie,’ she gestured around them as the front desk agent called them forward.

‘We’d like a room for the night,’ Theo said grandly. ‘Your most beautiful suite available, please. We’re newlyweds.’

Before long, they had a room key and a drink voucher, and Hermione smiled at the agent. ‘Can you make that two keys, please?’

A few minutes later, Hermione took one key and handed the voucher and the other key to Theo. ‘You should go have a drink,’ she told him. ‘Come up to the room in, say, fifteen minutes?’ He agreed, but not without a suspicious glance at her bag, and Hermione giggled to herself. In the room, which was plush and floral and romantic, Hermione quickly hung her dress in the wardrobe and slipped into the lovely blue lingerie set she’d bought, matching silk dressing gown wafting around her ankles as she called room service for a bottle of champagne.

Sixteen minutes later, the champagne was popped and poured, and the door whirred as Theo slipped his key card in and out, and entered the room. His eyes widened appreciatively as he took in Hermione, leaning against the desk, sipping her drink and holding his glass out. 

He stepped fully into the room, closing the door softly behind him, and ignoring the drink Hermione was holding out, instead patting his hands up and down his chest, then checking his pockets. Hermione frowned at him, but she could feel herself smiling as well.

‘What are you doing?’ she asked, and he grinned, coming over to finally take his drink.

‘Checking for a Time Turner,’ he said cheekily. ‘I want to go back and tell fifteen year old Theo to never give up hope, and that you really are just as beautiful as he’s imagining right now.’

Hermione laughed. ‘Fifteen year old Hermione would be impressed, don’t get me wrong, but she didn’t really know who you were. Sixteen year old Hermione would be head over heels that she’s standing here in front of the smartest boy she knows - the cutest boy, too - and thinking that she can’t wait to start her life with him.’

Theo took a step closer. ‘Cutest, hey?’

Hermione set her glass down on the desk. ‘That’s what you took? Not smartest? Not the rest of our lives?'

Theo set his own glass next to hers. ‘I would have preferred that you call me devastatingly handsome, but I’ll take what I can get.’

Hermione reached a hand up and slipped it behind his neck, ruffling at the soft curls she found there. ‘Can I just call you mine?’

Theo’s hands found her hips, lifting her off the desk. ‘Yes,’ he said softly. ‘Yours. Always.’ He leant in and kissed her.

***

They definitely missed the sunrise Grand Canyon tour the next morning, but Hermione couldn’t find it in herself to care. They slept late - for her, at least, and she was looking forward to learning these things about Theo, but she suspected he was a usual early riser as well. Deciding to skip breakfast at Paris, they dressed and headed out into the early morning Vegas sunshine, holding hands and walking down the wide street, smiling at the few others out and about, and talking about everything and nothing in particular.

‘Hermione, dearest,’ Theo said as they approached the entrance to the magical section of the Excalibur.

‘Yes, Theo?’ she responded, knowing what was coming.

‘Will you open the entrance, please?'

Hermione held back a snort. It had been clear on their arrival the day prior that many of their group considered the entrance to the magical section of the hotel rather… lacking. Honestly, as someone who worked in a governmental building in which the entrance was a public lavatory, Theo really didn’t have a leg to stand on with his opposition to this entrance.

‘But you’re taller,’ Hermione said, ‘and therefore you can reach better than me.’

‘Hermione,’ he said, and Theo Nott was far too elegant to whine, except when he was whining, it seemed. Hermione laughed, and fist-bumped Merlin. The figure gave her a double thumbs up in return, and the curtains behind him drew open, and they slipped through.

‘It’s not even a real statue,’ Theo complained. ‘It’s a mannequin in a cheap and garish robe.’

‘You really are impossibly posh,’ Hermione said fondly.

‘Having a sense of style and taste is not confined to the posh, Granger.’

‘Uh-uh,’ Hermione grinned, wiggling her finger at him. ‘You can’t call me that any more. It’s Nott now.’ Her eyes lit up as she had a thought. ‘Ooh, I should hyphenate, and then you can call me Nott-Granger.’

Theo stared at her, a clear grin trying not to burst through. ‘You know,’ he said slowly. ‘I thought I’d heard every ridiculous joke and pun about my name, but now, that one is my favourite, Hermione Nott-Granger.’ 

She couldn’t resist kissing him again. 

It was a few minutes before they were able to pull themselves apart and then shake out clothes and hair and put themselves back together to take the lift up to the top floors. They came to a stop just outside the door of the suite that Harry had booked as a sort of common room for them all, and Theo leant down to give Hermione one last kiss. ‘Shall we, my wife?’ he asked against her lips, and she murmured in agreement.

‘Yes, husband,’ she said. ‘Let’s go see who else shares our anniversary, then.’ 

Theo unlocked the door and held it open for Hermione. She gave him another kiss on the side of his jaw as she slipped past him, and was immediately accosted by Ginny.

‘Hermione!’ she shrieked. ‘Where have you two been, we’ve been trying to find you all night!’

Hermione laughed and held up her hand. ‘We got married,’ she said, showing Ginny her ring, but instead of the congratulatory remarks and sounds she’d expected, the room was softly quiet with just a couple of gasps. Hermione glanced back at Theo, looking as confused as she felt, then looked around the room. There weren’t many people there - only Harry and Ginny, Ron, Pansy, Draco, and Neville. Hannah was there as well, but she seemed to be napping on the couch with her head in Neville’s lap, and Hermione could see through the open door to the bedroom where both Luna and Parvati were sleeping.

‘Hermione,’ Harry said, coming over and taking her hand, and giving Theo an apologetic glance. ‘We’ve had some news from London, it came through last night, but none of us could get hold of you, and we can’t do Patronuses here, I’m sorry.’

‘I know,’ Hermione said. ‘I’m the one who checked those laws, remember? What’s the news?’

‘The Marriage Law’s been scrapped,’ Draco said bluntly. ‘They’re pulling it. No reason why, yet, but we’re assuming the Ministry caught wind of Potter and Weas- Girl Potter’s little stunt and realised it would destroy all their remaining shreds of credibility.’

‘So none of you went through with it?’ Theo asked slowly, and he grabbed Hermione’s hand tightly.

‘No,’ Ron said. ‘We were still all at the club when Bill managed to Portkey in with the news. We’ve been out searching for you two but we called it off around 1am and figured we’d just meet you here in the morning. Assumed that of all of us, you two would be least likely to rush into anything and we’d just tell you when you came back.’ He raised an eyebrow in what looked like combined shock and amusement.

Hermione tried to take this all in. She looked at Harry and Ginny. ‘What are you two going to do?’

‘Stay married,’ Harry shrugged. ‘It would have happened eventually anyway.’ Ginny leaned in and rested her head against his chest as she watched Hermione. Hermione looked over at Neville.

‘You and Hannah?’

‘Same,’ Neville softly swept the hair back from Hannah’s forehead as she slept. ‘We weren’t planning on marriage yet, I’m still studying and Han’s still figuring out what she wants, but like Harry, we would have gotten there eventually. Now, we’ll just get there together.’ 

Uncharacteristically, Pansy came over and took Hermione and Theo’s hands in her own. ‘I’m sorry,’ she said softly. ‘This is all my fault, if I hadn’t been so rash last night, this would never have happened.’

Hermione dropped Theo’s hand and pulled Pansy into a hug. ‘It’s not your fault,’ she said. ‘You were trying to do what was best for us all, and it was a good idea, Pansy.’ 

‘It really was,’ Ginny said. ‘Think of it this way, Parkinson, you managed to open up a lot of eyes last night and maybe kickstarted a couple of new relationships.’

Pansy huffed a laugh, still holding onto Hermione, and Theo looked around. ‘I note Blaise is not in our welcoming party,’ he said, and Ginny snorted.

‘No, he and Lavender are taking full advantage of the bucket,’ she said. ‘So are Seamus and Padma, Parvati is distraught and disgusted. It was hilarious.’

‘So what will you two do?’ Neville asked softly.

Hermione gave Pansy’s hands another squeeze before letting the witch go and turning around to Theo - to her husband. He was watching her carefully, and she could tell he was running mental calculations again - what would she do, what would she say, what was the best plan, what would get them out of this with the least harm. But Hermione had her own calculations to do, and what did he want?

‘The sensible thing to do,’ she announced to the room, even as her eyes never left his, ‘would be to go get this marriage annulled right now.’ Theo’s eyes dimmed, just a little, even as he started nodding, and she had her answer. ‘But quite honestly, just among us, I have a confession. I’m so sick of being fucking sensible.'

Theo’s eyes lit right back up, and he grabbed her and twirled her into a kiss, even as she could hear their friends start to laugh and cheer. ‘Do you mean it?’ he asked quietly, and she kissed him right back.

‘Absolutely,’ she said. ‘I told you. You’re mine now, Ministry be damned.’