Marriage wasn’t something Millie had at all considered prior to the passing of the law that made it an offense not to. She’d never imagined herself in a big white dress, not since she was a little girl, at least, when it was appropriate for little girls to dream about their princes, they, of course, being the princesses. She hadn’t thought about children, either. Not since, well, not since that it had been a fleeting thing, stolen from her before she could even try to comprehend what it would mean to be a mother, to have a child. She’d always wanted to be better than her own parents, if she was to be a parent at all. She wanted to be there for her children, not to discard them when it suited because they weren’t what she expected; or perish because alcohol was a less bitter pill to swallow than accepting the marriage was over. She didn’t want that but the marriage law lent the potential for reality.
Swallowing back her hesitance and instead focusing on the positives - like, childishly, passing Transfiguration without too much of a worry - Millie painted a gentle, easy smile on her lips as she regarded her professor who had somehow morphed into her equal and vice versa. It was like trying to thrust too much pastry through an elaborately shaped cutter to make the right sort of tree or star or whatever else the holiday season demanded you to bake. They couldn’t be moulded into equals, into lovers, into partners. They couldn’t be expected to have a brood of manic, probably ginger, children. They were missing one vital ingredient - a raising agent like baking soda or far too much flour and eggs: love.
“Have you never read any fiction, Professor?” Millie inquired lightly. “A lot can happen in twenty four hours. People fall in love every day, every hour, every minute, every second. Comparatively, two weeks is practically a tiny lifetime.” She smoothed out a crease in her jeans before looking back at Ana.
“Is there...” Millie sucked her bottom lip into her mouth as she took a moment to think before continuing, releasing her lip with an audible pop. “Like, a specific time. You know...are the Ministry acting like little girls and planning out everyone’s marriage for them? Do we have an allotted slot and flower girls sorted out already, that sort of thing?”
Millie looked sideways at Keiran curiously.
“Answer me this,” she began, turning her body towards his. “How could this be any less odd? Hm? Our lives are being plotted out like tiny lines on a map by little men who know nothing of us bar our names, our ages, where we were born, what we do and little satire titbits we filled out on forms. Odd is all we have, Prof- Keiran. Keiran.” Millie rolled her eyes skyward for a moment, making a note to remember to use Keiran when she could. She lowered them again, back to his face, before speaking. “So, if we do anything, we should merely make this whole thing stranger. I’m not upset. I’m not angry. We don’t have a choice, though. It’s not an ideal situation, I’ll admit. I wanted to do things. So do you. I guess we’ll just have ...” Millie rolled her lips together, “a partner.”