1 pm Meeting

Ana stared at the desk in front of her. The meetings today just seemed to get more and more ridiculous. After the first one, she had been hoping that it would have been the strangest occurrence. She was very wrong, and decided to stop hoping for things outright and just subconsciously wishing for them. With a heavy sigh, Ana pushed the hair out of her face and looked over at the door.

The meeting was due to start any minute - she had spent the last hour searching the castle for food before finally finding it and nearly running into the man involved in the next meeting. It was quite something, she admitted. Ana decided it would be easier to just leave the door open, so she stood, pushed the doorway open and jumped when she found the man in question already outside the door.

"Afternoon, Mr. Hayes." Ana greeted cooly, covering her surprise. "I'm pleased to see that you are early."

"To be early is to be on time, Ana." He reminded lightly, following her inside and seating himself at the desk he pointed out. "This is all so strange."

"It may seem that way, yes, but it is for good reason." She informed him, raising an eyebrow as if to test if he would question her. She was used to being the professor figure to him, as an old guest lecturer at AETAS University - where Keiran had completed his schooling - and Ana had certainly gotten to know him over the years as he was one of the more curious and questioning students.

"I bet it is." He answered, knowing full well the answers he had given on his form were particularly ridiculous. He could only wonder why he was sitting here, rather than in the Ministry somewhere, and with whom he would be matched.

Tailfeather, the female Hippogriff that the Care of Magical Creatures had been looking after since the start of the school year, was finally giving birth to her foals. In the cool, crisp autumn morning, three infant Hippogriffs were born into the world, a mess of ginger feathers and matted blood. It had fallen to Melissa Finnigan to wash them off and make sure they warmed up and it was a job that she took great pride in, making sure the foals were sparkling before gently tipping them out of the wooden tub and back onto their feet when they were done so that they could run back to their mother. It was glorious morning, watching the foals get to know the world in the ever so slightly chilly air. Certainly, it wasn’t something that could be replicated just anywhere. The magic could only really happen at Hogwarts; and happen it did.

Such a morning meant that the afternoon activities were far from desirable; especially considering that Millie’s name had been called. She’d been matched; and she knew for certain that it wasn’t Trent who she’d be marrying. She doubted she’d ever see Trent again if the lack of letters was anything to go by; and oddly, she found that with the mix of schooling and trying to get to know her friends again after so long being away from them, she couldn’t find the time to really care or mourn his loss. In fact, now that she’d been matched it meant that a new force in her life would come to be bared again - her mother. Certainly, Lavender Brown née Finnigan née Brown would not miss out on her daughter’s wedding - her only daughter’s wedding - no, not for the world.

A touch late though she was, Millie thought it a miracle that she’d arrived at all. It would’ve been so much easier not to but she was determined to make the best out whatever it was the Ministry afforded her with. She was a Half-Blood which meant that she’d end up with a Pureblood or another Half-Blood - perhaps even a Muggleborn. That didn’t give her much insight, though, and despite herself she couldn’t help but feel excited.

Unceremoniously opening the door to the guidance office which had been so aptly named, Millie stepped inside, her work boots clunking on the wood floors but thankfully quite clean enough to walk through the castle with - completely devoid of Hippogriff poo. Nevertheless, she wasn’t exactly dressed for a meeting. A pair of scraggy old jeans and a barely-there top which revealed a good portion of the wriggling wings inked into her back wasn’t exactly the best impression to give. Millie worked weekends at the Ministry though for Elijah whenever she could, the end of summer having stolen away her hours, and so she knew Ana as well as anyone could and had on many occasion fetched some coffee for her. This was, however, an entirely different scenario.

“Wotcher!” Millie greeted jovially, dumping herself in the chair next to... Professor Hayes? Millie scoffed out a laugh of disbelief, a smile dipping onto her fair features. “Oh, you aren’t serious are you?” She paused a moment before laughing a little louder, caught between asking whether she’d get to pass Transfiguration because she was sleeping with her Professor or, the favoured, voiced one: “Does this mean I get to call you Keiran?” She inquired with a smirk before adding. “It’s okay. You can call me Millie. I reckon you’ll do, eh? If you want any special skills, I can put my feet behind my head!” She grinned, bouncing a little in her seat before furrowing her eyebrows at him a little bit. “Being legally married will sure as heck take the fun out of sleeping with a professor.” She pouted a little bit before turning to Ana curiously. “And how are you, Ms Levski?” She inquired balefully before grinning, unable to stop herself.

Ana didn't seem all too impressed by Keiran's reaction, though he didn't expect much more from the older woman. She had always been easily disappointed - even if she pretended otherwise. After school, though they hadn't talked formally or any such thing - Keiran had read about her rise in the Ministry and the like. It seems she hadn't changed very much over the years.

It shouldn't have been so entirely surprising, but when one of his students walked through the door, Keiran was quite sure he looked taken aback. If his mouth hadn't fallen open, Keiran would have been surprised with even himself. Ana spoke before Keiran had to find words to reply, saying, "Yes, Miss Finnigan, I'm quite serious."

Her next round of questions and comments were directed at Keiran and he found himself somehow amused by her inquiries. He coughed to cover his noise of alarm when she moved to the topic of more... Interesting activities. He hadn't exactly thought that through after seeing who he was matched with.

"Keiran, do answer the girl." Ana chided him lightly, apparently entertained by his reaction. He shot her an annoyed look in return.

"If we're not in class, I suppose you should... Millie" He said, in response to her question about his name, testing the feeling of hers in return. He wasn't sure how to reply to any of the rest of it so he looked to Ana in question as Melissa greeted her.

"As soon as I explain to you the process you should expect, you'll have plenty of time to get to know each other. You'll have about two weeks before the follow-up meeting, after which you will have another two weeks in which to marry." Ana explained.

"A month to fall for someone is asking quite a lot, Ana." Keiran pointed out, glancing at.. Millie. He doubted she would find herself interested in the Transfiguration Professor. He shot Ana a warning glance, hoping she wouldn't comment on his next statement, and turned to Melissa. "Look, I don't expect you to be up for this, but I will do whatever I can to make this less odd for you."

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.”

Ana watched, bemused, at the back and forth between the two. She could already tell that the pair would be interesting to watch as time went on. She would have to ask Elijah if she could be involved in the check-in two weeks later. She supposed she appeared quite cynical compared to this Professor who just wanted to girl to feel approved of and wanted. The Unspeakable found that she was incredibly entertained by the idea of someone so pulled back as Keiran acting so gentle around someone he should be an authority figure to.

"I can't say I'm such a big reader - I should be, granted, but I hardly have the time." Keiran said, qualifying his response with something he hoped she would understand. Ana found herself laughing at how much he wanted her to approve. Strange, she mused, that the Gryffindor would be the deciding factor on Keiran's - a Slytherin's - happiness. "That isn't to say I don't believe it is possible. I just.. don't want anyone's hopes to be raised."

Ana looked back at Melissa at her questions and nearly laughed. "It's meant to be by your own time." She began, "The details of the arrangement are up to the two of you, but there is a deadline." The details of the law were strict when it came to deadlines, but Ana noted the freedom it could allow if you looked at it the right way.

Miss Finnigan seemed to be a growing writer or some such career, if Ana read her right. The girl was practically waxing philosophical and Ana wouldn't be surprised if the girl made some sort of impact on the world - one besides being one of the few, if not the only one, who married someone who was her elder by such an extent.

Keiran's eyes spoke far more than his body language or the rest of his face suggested. If this girl didn't know him very well, Ana doubted she could read him the way someone like Mrs. Levski - who had trained herself in the ideas of understanding other people - could. There was an amused glint in his eyes as he turned so he was leaning in her direction to match the girl's stature. Somehow, Ana knew that they had found the right person for the professor. He may not see it, and she wasn't sure the young Gryffindor did either, but Ana knew it was there to be found.

"Yes, it'll be odd. But it's what we've been given. We'll just have to work through it together." He shrugged, clearly trying to make it easier for the girl. Ana nearly smiled to herself. She hadn't seen people take it so well thus far, and was particularly pleased. They could end up being an example for those down the road if things went right.

Millie wasn’t satisfied but she knew, deep down, that it could’ve been worse and she could have truly loathed her husband to be, someone she would, for the foreseeable future, have to spend her life with. As it was, Keiran was the lesser of the two evils that the Ministry presented and Millie was beginning to warm to the idea of marrying him over going to Azkaban. She was a cynic in the sense that she was resigned to what her government had laid out for her.

She would’ve run away if it had suited her but she had no one to run away to anymore. It wasn’t as though she had her father to protect her, her brother to house her or Trent to lover her. For all intents and purposes, Keiran was the only one she had and she’d been gifted him with a wedding band and all of the promises and trappings such ceremonies entailed; and least he’d already made his way in life. The security she’d lacked for so long was beginning to make its way back to her; and for it she was grateful. For him she was grateful.

“It’ll be fine,” Millie assured, her optimism more for him, she supposed, just as he wanted to make her feel assured and calm and content about their situation. “We can work it out. We have time, right? Even if it’s all sorted out on the day of the deadline...we’ve got time.”

Millie looked at Ms. Levski, an abundance of questions still on her lips. She was unsure about some of them, hesitant about others and downright embarrassed and feeling foolish for even thinking them. Silly things like where they’d live were whirling through her mind. They were sensible really but she wanted, needed, to know where she’d live. In the Gryffindor tower, still or with Keiran in his quarters? But who was she to impose? Wife-to-be or not, it was still rude.

“I...” Millie bit down on her lip again, drawing it into her mouth, and frowned a little before continuing hesitantly. “I suppose it’s all something we’ll have to work out together. Is there anything else that’s, sort of, Ministerial - if you will - that we need to work out, Ms Levski, or can Keiran and I go off and introduce our socks to each other so they don’t get all nervous and angry when they have to share a drawer?”

As the conversation between the pair died down, Ana looked between them, wondering what other curious thoughts were going through their heads. Keiran likely had a ridiculous amount of them, if Ana had to guess. It wasn't Keiran who asked anything, however. He did chuckle quietly at her question, however. Folding her hands on her desk, Ana leaned forward to answer Melissa.

"We do need to have you two take the fertility test, but I would like to mention living arrangements." She replied, "There is to be a tower for students involved in the law, but I doubt that Mr. Hayes wants to be living with a copious amounts of angry teens. That said, it's up to him if you head in that direction. He does have his own place in the school, of course, that could be considered if the two of you decide it's what you want to do."

Keiran raised an eyebrow in her direction before muttering something that sounded like, "We'll discuss that on our own time."

Ana nodded, understanding that it would likely be best. "The tests, then." Reaching for her wand, she gestured to Keiran. "I hope neither of you have a problem with doing this in front of the other person.." She began as she walked around her desk.

"We can't very well start off by hiding things, Ana." Keiran said quietly as she slid her wand across the air in front of his torso. By comparison to the other tests she had administered, this group was far more sensible about it all, and the man's test went far better than some others.

The colors appeared before her as they decided the results of the test. "It looks like you're going to be just fine, Mr. Hayes, and I rather hope you'll enjoy a little wizard running around in the future. Young boys are always interesting." Keiran's face was mostly one of surprise but Ana still laughed before turning to Melissa to see if the girl was ready.

Fertility, particularly her fertility or lack thereof, was not something Millie had initially thought they’d discuss and it was something that she’d hoped that, at the very least, she’d be allowed to deal with in private. Without her truly, consciously, noticing, her hand snuck over her stomach as though protecting herself from Ana’s spell even though to do so would be fruitless. She wasn’t entirely sure what Felix Barker had ever mentioned about her time with him, or what he’d done. She wasn’t particularly sure, either, what St. Mungo’s had said in the fallout afterwards. She hadn’t wanted to know. She hadn’t cared at the time whether she could have more children. She’d wanted the one that Felix had taken from her. To have motherhood thrust upon her wasn’t something Millie was sure she was comfortable with; actually, she wasn’t at all.

“N-no,” Millie shook her head. “I-it’s fine.” She managed a smile but it wasn’t one that was as winning as the ones that had preceded it and it betrayed her nervousness. Keiran was fine, she took solace in that. It did take two to tango, after all; or at least that’s what her father had said. Millie was sure that he’d been fine after her and Elliot. Anymore after that was just insult to injury and more griping from his wife. Perhaps Keiran would be the same way? That said, Millie never really kicked up a fuss unless it was absolutely necessary. Even when Felix had done unforgivable things, unforgivable things that could not be buried by her conscience, she didn’t say a word and returned to work as soon as she’d been cleared by the Healers to do so. Elijah hadn’t said anything to her and so, thereafter, it was forgotten; and Trent, he’d not even mentioned it.

Millie looked up as the sudden silence stretched out and she nodded, unable to voice her acquiescence, and removed her hand from her stomach, letting her arm fall over the side of the chair and allow her fingers to twinkle in the air. Sons they could have. Wonderful sons with sweet smiles and full heads of dark hair or blonde hair or bright red hair; but what of the one she’d never had? Or the daughter, the girl she’d been denied? Would this make up for it? Would it heal old wounds or would it just make things irrevocably worse?

Keiran couldn't tell if he was a little excited at the fact that children could be in his future, or slightly nervous at the idea of it being mentioned in front of the person he was told to marry rather than someone he had chosen. He couldn't think of anyone he would have picked besides Avery - he made a mental note to send her an owl and find out what had happened in her case. He wondered how things had been going with Robin and their bet.

Turning his attention back to Millie - the name came surprisingly easy - and her test, Keiran saw the anxiousness in her eyes. Maybe it was his habit as a Professor, but he immediately wanted to calm her down. "Here." He started, crossing his arms over his chest as he turned away. He could practically feel Ana smirking at his back. Why was she bothering him so much about everything? Maybe they were the most interesting couple she had met with so far. He kind of doubted it, seeing as he was incredibly quiet about everything.

Ana cast the spell, apparently, for she was humming under her breath like she had when the colors were forming in front of himself moments before. When it was over, she sat on the edge of the desk. "Keiran, you're fine." Ana announced. "As it turns out, you're both looking quite well in the children department. I have a feeling your kids will be rather entertaining. I just see little lads ambling about already."

"Easy there, Ana." Keiran said after she finished, choosing to remain standing. "If you haven't anything else, I think there's been enough stress for one morning." He suggested pointedly, glancing at the door once.

"I've nothing if you two have no questions." Ana replied, shrugging. She was clearly too pleased with the results of this meeting and it made Keiran feel like rolling his eyes, though he refrained.

“...you’re both looking quite well in the children department.”

Millie’s eyes shot back to Ana with lightning speed and tried to read her face for any word of a lie; but it wasn’t there. She was telling the truth. Everything...everything was fine. She was fine. She could have children. She wouldn’t be one of those spinsters with far too many cats, one for every regret she’d ever had in her life. No, she’d have her children. She’d have her babies. She’d get to send them off to Hogwarts and watch as they grew up. She’d get to be better. She would be better and somehow make up for what she didn’t ever have. Everything was going to be fine and it showed as Millie’s face glowed with bright lightness of being; and there was nothing unbearable about her lightness. No, everything was fine - splendid, even.

“Thank you,” she spluttered out brightly, despite herself. “Thank you so much. Uh, well, not for marrying me off but ... all the same.” Millie felt her cheeks warm with a rosy hue and she laughed a little bit, unable to quite take herself away from the fact that she was fine, she was well. She could have children.

Millie’s hand shot up playfully, out of habit and amusement and, well, happiness.

“Where would be the best place in Hogsmeade to go for lunch, do you think?” She inquired with a broad grin.