Potions and Parchment Match

Severus Snape was disgusted. His potions class would again be disrupted due to the damn Ministry of Magic. The war was finally over. Voldemort had been defeated by Harry Potter, the bloody savior of the bloody Wizarding world, and now the ministry was wanting to get on with repopulating the Wizarding world. After the numerous deaths they had decided that the numbers were down and they needed to move the people towards reproduction. They decided to use old magic and give everyone a fair shot at finding their best match. A potion was to be brewed, the Uniheartius, to determine who would likely blend together best.

The potion was activated when blood was dropped into a small amount and then dropped onto magical parchment. The name of the most compatible witch or wizard would show up. Not everyone had a match so those would be excluded until all the matches were paired up. The ministry in their great wisdom decided to give all of those who did have a match a chance to meet them. The parchment was charmed to give the blood donor the name and location of their mate. If no name appeared then there would not be a mate for that person and the ministry would later force the non-mated people together.

The advanced potions class was to be the first group try the potion at Hogwarts. A few of the students had already been matched to other students at both Beauxbatons and Durmstrange, and one first year witch had been matched to an auror at the ministry. She had spent the entire day crying about being forced to marry a man thirty years her senior. The potion did not recognize age, sex, or blood status and the ministry would enforce any matches that the potion created.

As he watched his seventh year students arrive he wondered whom Potter would be matched with. He hoped that it would be with someone who would spend the rest of their lives driving him insane like he had done to him for the past seven years. He glanced at the know-it-all Granger and hoped that she would be matched with someone like Crabbe or Goyle. She also deserved to be stuck with an idiot who would make her miserable. Severus sighed. He knew that that match would never happen. The potion was designed to match someone based on compatibility. Granger would never be matched with someone so intellectually inferior as Crabbe or Goyle. He looked around the room. The only one in the room besides himself that would intellectually match her would be Draco, and he knew that neither himself or Draco would match her in any other way. Likely if she had a match it would be someone from another school.

“Silence!” he yelled to the excited students. They all knew what was going to occur today. They had heard the rumors from the students who were already matched. The ministry expected everyone who was matched to marry within thirty days and get busy with the chore of reproducing the next generation of witches and wizards. “You all know what we are doing today. Each of you will come to the front of the room and take a piece of parchment from this stack, and a vial from this basket. You will return to your seat and prick your finger. You will add one drop of blood to the potion and shake it well. Next, you will pour a few drops of your vial onto the potion. If you are lucky a name will appear. If a name appears you will bring your parchment to me. If no name appears, the ministry will contact you at a later date. Begin,” he said standing back.

He was glad that Neville Longbottom wasn’t in this class. He knew that the idiot would somehow find a way to screw up this potion and make a mistake. With the exception of Potter he didn’t expect any mishaps. He wouldn’t have taken Potter into this class to begin with if he hadn’t been forced into it. Slughorn had accepted him last year and after Dumbledores death and then Voldemorts defeat, he was forced to let the Wizarding savior into his class based solely on the fact that he owed it to him. Potter had defended him and given evidence that he hadn’t murdered Dumbledore and had only been acting on his orders. Since Potter had in fact made it possible for him to resume his life he felt obligated. Severus hated to feel obligated and made sure that Potter knew it.

Harry and Hermione walked to the front of the class together and grabbed the required objects. They quickly returned to their seats before Snape could make some snide comment and take house points away. Quickly following the directions they both pulled out their knives and poked small pricks into their fingers. “I hope a name shows,” Hermione said to Harry as she dripped blood into her vial.

Harry nodded. “Yeah, me too. I would hate to be one of the ones with no name,” he agreed, adding his own blood to the potion.

“Let’s do it together on the count of three, alright?”

“Sure. One, two, three! Pour!” they both grinned to each other and then poured the potion onto the parchment. At first nothing occurred then both of their papers starting showing faint writing that darkened as the seconds went by.

“Oh god!” Hermione shrieked.

“Shit!” Harry said.

Across the room they both heard a loud, “Bloody hell!”

Harry looked at his parchment in horror. He then glanced at Hermione’s. “Oh gods, Hermione!” he whispered.

“This can’t be right, can it?” she asked in desperation.

Snape stood behind the pair reading over their shoulders. His eyes bugged when he read both of their papers. “There is no errors in this potion, Miss Granger.”

Harry gulped and tried to keep himself from hyperventilating. He was about to marry Pansy Parkinson. He could not imagine what he could possibly have in common with the obnoxious Slytherin.

Draco Malfoy looked across the room at two of the golden trio. He saw the frizzy haired witch turn white and then look to their professor in shock. He could see the emotions run across her face that he himself was feeling. Hermione Granger was about to become his wife.

Snape looked across the room at his godson and saw the look he gave Granger. He must have gotten the same results as she. He could tell he was equally as shocked as she was. He knew that intellectually they were about equal, but he never would have guessed a chemistry between the two. He glanced around the room to see many disappointed faces.

“How many in this room have been matched?” he asked.

Six hands went up out of fifteen. Potter, Granger, Malfoy, Zabini, Cameron, and Dwight. They were the lucky ones whether they choose to believe it or not. The rest would be left to the whim of the Ministry. Those of you who are matched bring me your parchment. The rest of you may leave.”

After the students filed out of the room and Severus had the parchment he sat down at his desk and thumbed through them. Blaise Zabini had been matched to Ginny Weasley. That was a surprise. Probably not a bad match though. Stella Cameron was matched with an older wizard who had graduated from Hogwarts about five years ago named Thomas Gover. Brian Dwight had been matched with a witch in fourth year named Clairissa Thomas. That marriage would be postponed until the witch was at least sixteen.

“The ministry has decreed that you will contact your match and arrange a meeting. You will be required to marry within thirty days unless your match is under the age of sixteen. If that is the case you will postpone your marriage until that time. I have been requested to inform you that these matches are binding and you will marry the person the parchment has matched you to. If you refuse to follow through with the marriage your wands will be confiscated, and in the case of those of you who know wandless magic, you will have a spell placed on you that will not allow you to perform magic until you do comply.”

“Professor, this is hardly fair!” Draco complained.

“Take it up with the Minister of Magic. I have no control over this whatsoever.”

“What about our schooling? Will we be allowed to finish our education if we are married?” Hermione asked.

“The school is already rearranging its walls to allow for separate apartments for the married students. They will be ready by the time that your marriage is performed.”

“If you have no further questions, you are dismissed. Please refrain from hexing your intended. Remember, they have as little say in this matter as you do. This potion matches you based off of intellectual compatibility, chemistry, and several other factors. I would imagine if you give your partner a chance, you could probably make your marriage work.”

“Easy for you to say, you’re not being forced to marry a Mudblood!” Draco hissed glaring at Hermione.

“Actually Mr. Malfoy, I am,” Severus said disappearing into his office.

The students stared with open mouths at the door that just closed. They had never imagined that the professors would be forced to marry. They all wondered who would be forced to marry Snape, but nobody was brave enough to ask.

Hermione, Harry and Ron sat at a table in the great hall. Ron had performed his match test in the great hall during his free period with all the other students who had a free period during the morning class. He had not been matched. He was shocked at who Harry and Hermione had been matched with. “Damn, Hermione, sorry for your match. I wouldn’t wish Malfoy on my worst enemy.”

“What about me?” Harry demanded. “Can you see me with Parkinson?”

Ron snorted. “She’ll be happy. She’s spent the past year drooling over you, mate.”

“What?” Harry asked in surprise.

Both Ron and Hermione laughed. They both knew that Harry was oblivious to everything around him. “He’s right, Harry, she’s had a crush on you for ages.”

“Really?” he said looking across the great hall towards the Slytherin’s table. She was looking at him and when their eyes met Harry blushed and looked away.

“I hate to say I told you so,” Ron said laughing, “but I told you so!”

“Shut up!” Harry hissed blushing again.

Hermione rolled her eyes. “It’s not like everyone isn’t going to know by the end of the day.”

“So now what? Do we go over there and sit down or what?” he asked Hermione. Pansy and Draco were sitting together talking quietly with Blaise Zabini.

“Why not?” Hermione said standing up.

“You coming, Ron?” Harry asked.

“Why not?” he shrugged.

The three of them walked over to the Slytherin table and stood in front of Draco and Pansy. “Can we join you?” Harry asked.

Draco nodded to the empty seats in front of them and they sat down. “So…” Harry said.

Pansy looked at Harry and blushed. “We’re you surprised?” she asked him with a small smile.

Harry nodded his head. “I was. Were you?”

“Yes. I wasn’t upset by it though.”

Harry looked at her with a shy smile. “I have honestly never thought about who I would marry.”

“Will it be so bad being married to me?” she demanded.

“I don’t know,” he said honestly. “I don’t know you very well. I promise you that I am willing to give it a chance though.”

“I guess that is better than nothing.”

“Isn’t this cozy?” Draco sneered at them. “Potter and Pansy agreeing to get along. Don’t expect the same from me, Mudblood.”

Hermione rolled her eyes. “That one’s getting a bit old isn’t it, ferret?”

“Don’t call me that!” he hissed.

“The day that you stop calling me Mudblood, is the day that I stop calling your ferret!” she hissed. “When you can be civil, you know where to find me!” she said standing up and storming towards the door.

“Don’t you turn your back on me, Granger!” he shouted following after her.

“You are not my boss, Malfoy!” she shouted still walking away.

“I will be when we are married. You will do as you are told!”

Hermione snorted. “In your wet dreams! I will never bow down to you!”

Draco grabbed her and pushed against the wall outside of the great hall. “You will bow down to me!” he hissed.

“Not in this life time!” she said glaring.

Draco stared at her flashing hazel eyes and her flushed face. He felt desire shoot through him and realized that her stormy attitude turned him on. He leaned his face within inches of hers and said, “I will wear the pants in our home, Granger, and you would do well to remember that!”

“You can wear whatever you want, Malfoy, but in our home I will do as I choose. You will not own me like one of your house elves!”

Draco thrust his hips into her belly and crashed his lips onto hers. He grabbed her by the hair and pulled her closer to him. He ground his lips against her with more pressure and thrust his tongue into her mouth when she gasped. He felt her arms snake around his neck and her hands thread through his hair. A moment later they pulled apart breathless. Both of them stared at each other in shock. Neither one had been prepared for the shock of desire that ran through both of them.

“That was surprising,” Draco whispered.

“It changes nothing,” Hermione said walking away.

“It changes everything,” he whispered to her retreating back.


Harry and Ron started to follow Hermione and Draco out the door but the words from the Slytherin’s stopped them. “If you don’t let them work it out between themselves, they never will figure it out on their own,” Blaise said.

“They really are a good match if you stop and think about it,” Pansy said.

Ron and Harry sat back down. They both turned and looked at Blaise. “Who were you matched with?” Harry asked.

Blaise’s eyes went to Ron. “Your sister.”

“What?” Ron said shouting. “You can’t marry my sister!”

“Tell that to the Ministry,” he said softly.

“But she’s to young!” he said.

“She’s sixteen. According to the Ministry that is old enough.”

“Gods!” Ron said. It hadn’t even occurred to him that Ginny would get married. He looked over at Blaise and said, “If you hurt her, I will kill you.”

Blaise nodded his head. “That sounds fair. I plan to do my best to make my marriage work. I do not relish the idea of spending my life living in a battle zone.”

“You know that she is the youngest of seven children and the only daughter in our house? My mother is going to blow a gasket.”

“She has six older brothers?” he gasped.

Ron grinned. “Yeah, and I’m the smallest.”

Blaise knew that the Weasley’s had a large family but he hadn’t realized quite how large they were. “At least I know she’ll be a good breeder,” he said watching Ron’s face turn purple.

Ron jumped over the table to strangle him and Harry pulled him back. “Ginny will kill you if you touch him. You know how she is about you guys interfering.”

“He’s talking about Ginny breeding, Harry!” he shouting.

“Isn’t that the point of all of this?” Pansy asked.

“Yeah, but not with my baby sister!”


A/N:
I have had this idea floating around in my head for awhile. Let me know what you think so far...I like reviews and the more I get the fast that I update!