For Her Safety

A/N- I'm sorry I haven't updated in ages (real life can be a real pain), but I'm back and back to work! So here's your next chapter. Please review, I'd love to know what you think as I'm still trying to get the rust out of my writing.

Enjoy! Much love,
zairaphel

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Hermione placed two small phials on the counter as Sirius walked into the kitchen. Pressing her wand to her temple she concentrated hard as a silvery wisp of memory emerged. Gently she poked it into one of the phials.

"What are you doing, Love?" Sirius asked as he watched her intently.

With a wave of her wand, the wisp in the jar doubled, the extra placing itself in the empty phial. Removing the original memory she drew it back into her mind.

"I'm just replicating a memory," she said with a smile, placing a few charms on the phial with the memory enclosed.

"Why?"

Hermione laughed lightly at her husband's curiosity. "If you must know... When I asked Professor Snape for the Veritaserum I told him of my plan, knowing that if I didn't, he wouldn't just give me the potion. So, in exchange for the Veritaserum, he insisted that he get to see just what went on last night. I do think he'll be getting his potion's worth!"

Sirius chuckled softly. "Yeah, I think he'll get a kick out of that... Always one to like meddling..."

"Yes, well. At least in his meddling he managed to tell Remus what was going on. Otherwise none of us would be the wiser, so I do suppose we have him to thank for that much," Hermione said as she shrunk the bottle of memory and tied it to Archimedes leg and sent him off to find Snape.

Archimedes had barely left out the open window before another owl swooped in, twittering as noisily as a songbird. Hermione sighed as she tried to get the annoying little creature to settle itself on the table.

"You just had to get this bloody owl," Hermione grumbled as she untied the parchment from Pigwidgeon's leg. "And then Ron so gallantly decides to let the Order use him to deliver messages. Prat probably couldn't stand the thing hooting and circling his head every waking minute!"

Sirius did his best to hide his snickers as Hermione groused about the owl. "So, Love, what's the note?"

"Just a quick note from Arthur Weasley informing us of an impromptu Order Meeting in an hour. He hopes we can make it because apparently it pertains to us. And apparently Harry, Ginny, and Ron will be joining us for the meeting as well. Curious. You can tell it's a Saturday, though... There's never a free minute with them on a Saturday," she said as she read the parchment.

"It will be good to see Harry for a little bit. There's always such a long stretch between the start of school and the Christmas holiday... You know. I can't help but wonder after Severus sees your memory of last night if he'll be inclined to do more meddling. Though he only seems to do the meddling if he knows it would cause trouble, the greasy bat."

"If he meddles simply to spread discord, then we know this isn't over yet," Hermione rolled her eyes as she spoke.

Grabbing a quill and ink she penned a quick reply, letting them know that it would be no trouble for them to go to the meeting. In fact they would love to get out of the house for a little bit just to see everyone. Hermione smiled as she tied the missive to Pigwidgeon's leg as it tried to squirm about.

"I told Arthur we'd be there promptly and that we're looking looking forward to it. Best to remain outwardly civil to all parties..."

Sirius nodded silently and perched himself on the edge of the table. Hermione watched him for a few moments before asking: "Are you alright, Love?"

"Yes, I guess so. I just think I still need to give Molly a piece of my mind. It's not right, and she needs to hear that from more than just you, I think. Don't get me wrong, you did a wonderful job of telling her, " Sirius said with a wistful grin.

"Please just don't make this a public issue unless it absolutely has to be. Gods, I hate being the center of conflict. I spent too many years in that position with Harry and Ron," she sighed.

"Of course not. But if she does anything to disrespect or belittle you, she'll get a piece of my mind, even if the rest of the Order has to watch. And it won't be pretty," he vowed.

Hermione sighed. There he goes, playing the rash hero... My knight in shining armor...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Everyone had arrived for the impromptu Order meeting and were now gathered around the large table waiting for things to get under way. All those present could feel the tension that was radiating between Molly Weasley on one side of the table, and Remus, Hermione, and Sirius on the other side. The twins were watching the staring match that was occurring on both sides of the table with unveiled interest.

"Good afternoon" Dumbledore stood from his chair at the head of the table. "I am pleased that everyone could make it on such short notice. I know it is not common place to have non members attend an Order meeting, however, since todays meeting is not of general business, I saw no reason why the young Misters Potter and Weasley and the young Miss Weasley could not join us," he said with a smile as he glanced over at Harry and Ginny, snuggled close against each other.

"And speaking of the young Mr. Potter. I believe Harry has something to say. So with that, I give Harry the floor," Dumbledore said as he settled back into his chair with a slight smile.

"Thank you, Professor. I do indeed have an announcement to make..." Harry took a deep breath as he prepared himself. Taking Ginny's hand in his he spoke. "Ginny and I were married this afternoon in Hogsmead."

There was an overwhelming amount of noise, mostly in the form of congratulatory whoops and cheers in their general direction, especially from Fred and George, that is, until Molly Weasley finally had a chance to speak up.

"That can't be possible! Ginevra Weasley, you aren't of age yet! You can't possibly have gotten married! You deserve a proper wedding, with the whole family there! Besides, you would have needed a parent to sign off on the marriage certificate, and I certainly wouldn't have done that," Molly all but shrieked.

"No, you wouldn't have given your permission. But I did," Arthur said firmly as he looked at his wife. "That boy loves our daughter and would do anything to protect her. I didn't see any reason why I should stop them. Besides, better she marry someone who truly loves than leave her to the mercies of that ridiculous law."

Sirius leaned over to Hermione and whispered proudly, "Harry's more and more like his old man every day..."

"I believe Mister Potter had more to say before he was interrupted," Dumbledore said, his eyes twinkling brightly.

"Um, yes, well... Today Ginny and I, as well as being married, had to make difficult decisions regarding our future, and as much as I hate it, the future of wizarding world," Harry said as he rolled his eyes. "It took us some time, but over the last few weeks we have decided on the best course of action during this difficult time... Yesterday, with the support of our professors, Ginny and I sat for, and passed, our N.E.W.T.S."

"Why on earth would you do that!" Molly shrieked, turning positively red.

"Because after much though we have decided we will be starting our lives in the real world, doing what we can to help in the war effort, hopefully bringing things to a faster end. We know we can't have everything sugar coated any longer. We all know of my destiny, and we know that we can't get the upper hand while I am still in at Hogwarts, allowing things to happen that shouldn't. And Ginny wouldn't continue there without me, not matter what I said. Besides, her safety would be at risk. It would be putting her into the same position that Hermione found herself in this fall, and I would do anything to keep my wife safe," Harry said as he sat down next to Ginny, who was giving him an adoring and encouraging smile.

Before Molly could yell another word Dumbledore spoke up, "Congratulations, Harry and Ginny. I believe it is a wise decision that you have made and a great sacrifice for our world as well. Now as to the real reason we find ourselves here this afternoon. I have called this meeting as Kingsley tells me he has come across some important information that he wishes to share with us."

"Yes, thank you," Kingsley spoke up. "I have some interesting news for all of you. Ministry decree 47914B, also known as the marriage law, has as of two o'clock this afternoon, been repealed."

A cheer rose up through the meeting room, and for the first time all day Molly Weasley looked something other than upset knowing that her children were once again safe.

"Now, according to our research at the ministry, we found that the law was enacted illegally, just as we had all suspected," Kingsley continued. "Since the law was not lawful to begin with, the ministry is giving couples who were married under the law a chance to dissolve their marriage, as long as no child has been produced."

"Harry Potter, Ginevra Weasley, I demand that you annul your marriage right this second!" Molly shouted. "You're far to young to be making the decisions you did. You should dissolve it and wait until it's the right time worry about things like that!"

"Mrs. Weasley, I would have married your daughter regardless of the stupid law, and I love her with all my heart. I don't see any reason why we should have to dissolve our union."

"I don't care what you think! I am her mother, and I know what is best for my daughter. And what is best is waiting until she is older before she even think about entertaining such ideas as marriage!"

Ginny turned and met her mother with a cold stare. "I married the man I love and I will not be changing that because a law gives me the chance to 'opt out'. We are married, we love each other, and we made a decision that cannot be changed just because you want it to be. You're just going to have to make peace with that.”

“Molly, I agree with Harry and Ginny in this matter. What is done, is done. You must learn to live with their decisions in the matter,” Dumbledore said calmly. It was only a matter of seconds before everyone else present gave their support for the young couple, choosing to side against Molly, much to her aggravation.

Kingsley looked over at Sirius and Hermione, who had stayed moderately quiet throughout the proceedings. “And what about you two? You now have the chance to ‘opt out’ as Ginny put it, and continue with your lives before the law was enacted.” Everyone present turned to look at them as if expecting an instant answer.

Hermione bit her lower lip and looked at Sirius for a moment, who simply nodded with a bit of a smirk. “Well, as wonderful as the news is... My husband and I will not be separating.”

“Ah! So, the ladies man got her hooked, eh?” George laughed.

“Too good to just say no, Mione?” Fred put in.

“Sirius couldn’t help but laugh. “I’m certainly not going to deny my prowess in the bedroom, but Hermione and I don’t have a choice in the matter, though I do think that if we did, we still would choose not to dissolve our marriage.”

“What do you mean, you don’t have a choice?” Ron asked, looking from Sirius to Hermione.

“What we’re saying, is that Sirius and I cannot dissolve our marriage because of the ministry guidelines. Children are indeed involved. Sirius and I are expecting. Twins!” Hermione said with a little smirk that she had surely learned from her husband.

“Woo! Way to go! You sure didn’t waste any time! Didn’t half-arse it either! Twins, you two certainly know how to do it right!” came Fred and George’s congratulatory shouts.

“Now, Hermione. I am honestly quite surprised in you. And admittedly a bit disappointed as well,” professor McGonagall started. “Did you give any thought to your future when you decided to rush into this? You could have used a contraceptive charm. I am sure Severus could have supplied you with potions had that been the path you wanted to take. But how could you so carelessly throw away your future by doing something now that could have waited for quite some time, at least until you completely finished your education! Until you have a job to support yourself! Really, I would love to know what was going through that brilliant mind of yours!”

Hermione couldn’t help but stare blankly at her former mentor for a moment, completely caught off guard by the tongue lashing she had just received. But before she or Sirius could say a word, someone else spoke up.

“Now now, Minerva... I don’t believe you should be so very hard on Miss Granger.”

“That’s Mrs. Black, Severus... And why ever not?”

“Because, the blame in the matter should not be piled onto her when it is, in fact, not her fault,” Severus said with a bit of a smirk.

Everyone at the table could really only stare at the potions master, while Molly Weasley alternated between shades of red anger and green illness. Hermione simply buried her head in her hands, muttering, “Oh Gods... Here we go...”

“Exactly how is this not her fault, Severus? It is a young woman’s job to protect herself from pregnancy until she is ready!”

Snape couldn’t help but smirk slightly. “I have no doubt that under normal circumstances, Miss Granger would have taken the proper precaution to protect the world from Black’s demon seed. However, it is awfully difficult to do that when being unknowingly dosed with an extremely potent fertility potion.”

A chorus of gasps issued forth from the spectators. “Now, Severus, who in their right mind would have done something like that?” Minerva asked, honestly shocked that anyone would do something so underhanded.

“Hmm... Shall I give the guilty party a chance to confess?” Snape waited for perhaps two seconds, taking a brief glance around the table. “Well then, I suppose you should know it was Molly Weasley,” he said, the smirk returning as he took in the shouts of ‘What?’ and ‘I don’t believe it!’

Once again, Severus spoke up. “What’s more, the dosage that the negligent woman used could very well have killed the girl and her unborn within the first few days after having been administered!”

“Molly, Severus can’t be serious,” Minerva said softly, unsure what to think.

Molly Weasley sat tight lipped as everyone at the table turned to look at her. “I don’t have to say anything. Besides, why would you choose to believe that man, of all people.”

Dumbledore stared at Mrs Weasley over his half moon spectacles. After a few minutes he sighed, the light leaving his eyes. “I believe that Severus is telling the truth... This is the truth, isn’t it, Hermione?”

Hermione looked up, honestly surprised that anyone had finally taken the time to ask her opinion. “I am afraid it is the truth, yes,” she said with a sigh.

“How could you do something like that? You call our decision making into question, but this, Mrs Weasley, is one of the worst things you could have done! I thought better of you...” Harry said quietly.

“How could I do something like this? How could I not! Someone needed to protect that ungrateful girl from that filthy child in a man’s body! It was better that she sleep with him once, fulfill all clauses of the marriage contract and not have to bed that man again. I was simply doing what had to be done to keep her out of a situation that the girl simply couldn’t handle.”

Everyone at the table was staring wide eyed that the red haired witch as she shouted her displeasure.

“I can’t believe this...” Ginny said with disgust as she looked at her mother

“I can’t either. I honestly would have thought you’d have more common sense than that, mum!” George tried not to shout.

“You thought of ‘Mione as a daughter. Hell, you wanted her to be your daughter-in-law. How could you possibly do this to someone you thought of as family?” Fred growled out.

“I, for one, am thankful that your army of red headed offspring display more common sense and compassion than their mother,” Snape said with a touch of acid.

“Come on guys, back off! Leave mum alone,” Ron finally shouted

“And it appears I have spoken too soon...”