3 P.M. Meeting

Ana had just about had it with the meetings for these students. Not only had she never attended Hogwarts, she didn’t actually like the idea of being on the grounds with professors who – if Mr. Hayes was any indication – did not like her, and students who were either afraid of her or wanted to have at her. Neither parts of the population seemed appealing in the least, and Ana was ready to forget them. But first, she had a meeting. It was the last one of the day, and she was incredibly pleased to be going into a weekend, where no meetings would be had for two entire days.

So close was she to the end, she had basically started considering the meetings a habit or a ritual. Ana hardly felt like she was paying full attention, but when certain people riled her up, the inevitable reaction was not pleasant. Those involved, she mused, needed to learn some self-control, and needed to learn to pick their battles.

Behind the desk in the poorly-named Guidance Office, Mrs. Levski found herself grateful that her children were not involved. Were they, she knew that it would not deter them from being matched. She did not believe in special treatment, regardless of if she was someone’s friend or even their family member. No, indeed, if her children were the proper age (rather than fourteen and thirteen) they would have walked through that door to have a meeting with her. Luckily, this meeting was not with anyone she knew.

Glancing at the time, she noted that it was practically time for the students to arrive, so she sat back and toyed with the files sitting before her. Hopefully, the students would at least be on time. Then, Ana would not be frustrated from the start of the meeting. Rather, she would be content with the fact that the students were concerned enough with their fate to show up when necessary.

The only unfortunate part of the meeting, of course, would be trying to explain that one of the people involved would be a graduate, and the other a student. It explained why the meeting was held at Hogwarts, sure, but did not necessarily make things easier for the people involved. Ana had seen it work, however, with the very same professor she was certain did not like her, and his Gryffindor. In truth, she supposed the best option would be to tell them that it had been done, and that they couldn’t really get out of it unless something dramatic occurred.

Eva had just finished up the last of her classes for the day. Sure she had homework she had to do over the weekend. It came with being a student after all. She would do most of it on Sunday, like she always did, giving her time to enjoy the weekend with some of the few people she had managed to actually call friends. But first, she had a meeting with the infamous Ana Levski...the creator of this horrible marriage law. Her only explanation to this was that she was nearing her sixteenth birthday and would therefore be matched with someone.

She had already seen the damage that the marriage law had already caused her family. Her brother was debating on moving back to Italy for supposedly not following the law. She could hardly say that she was scared of the woman. After all, she had never met her to make an informed decision about her. All she knew what to say was that she was slightly intimidated. After the fiasco with her brother, she had every reason to be. She had seen him arrested for such a foolish law as this marriage law, and she quite honestly thought it silly. So what if the wizarding world was producing less magical children and more squibs. After years of pure blooded families inbreeding with one another it would only make sense.


She made her way down to the notorious Guidance Office with a laugh. What guidance could they really offer a girl such Eva? She was stared at by several students, who by now had heard of Ana being at the school and eyed Eva with avid curiosity. She had always been taught to be somewhere at least a few minutes before she was actually scheduled to be there if it could be helped. It was a habit that her parents had instilled into her at an extremely young age. Something most people her age didn't understand. Making impressions counted for something, and a good first impression with anyone never hurt right?

Approaching the door to the guidance office, Eva felt a bit of trepidation at what was behind it. She quickly found herself almost hesitating as she looked down and moved her hand across her robes to straighten them out before nervously knocking on the door. She awaited an answer before opening the door and walking in. "Mrs. Levski," she said as she made her way into the office to see the woman sitting behind a desk, "You wanted to see me?"

Luckily it was the end of the day for him, and he was looking forward to a nice relaxing weekend. His plans all the sudden came to a halt as he received his letter telling him he had to go to Hogwarts for his stupid meeting. "So they finally find a match for me I see?"Tyler thought to himself chuckling. Tyler thought this whole law was stupid and pointless, he knew not everyone was going to follow it. Grabbing his things, he apparated out of the aurors office and appeared with a pop in Hogsmeade.

Taking the bloody carriage back to Hogwarts, his mind wondered on who his match was going to be. He was already dating Eva, and he wanted to be with her not someone he was forced to marry. He just hoped it was going to go well like his cousin Kenneth went who was paired with his girlfriend Taranee. He hoped it was Eva and not someone that he had to force to like and marry. If it wasn't Eva, he really didn't see this meeting working out to much for him.

Walking into Hogwarts he headed towards the Guidance Office, his feet seemly guiding him to his doom. After a few minutes, he reached the office before he looked at the door and rolled his eyes. It reminded him of a muggle principals office, was this suppose to make him feel more comfortable? Tyler laughed to himself. " Good Afternoon Ms. Levski, hope you're well!"said Tyler smirking at her.

Not noticing that Eva was sitting in the chair due to him being so tired, Tyler flopped in chair beside her sighing. Tyler hoped that this stupid meeting went by quick, he was tired and wanted to go home. " So... who did you match me with Ms . Levski?"Tyler asked her smirking as he looked at who was sitting beside him. "E -Eva?"Tyler asked her softly but shocked to see her sitting beside him.

Ana looked up as the door alerted her to a student waiting outside. She would have to make a note to just leave the door open next time. It was much easier than having to call out each time. “It’s open,” she informed them, nodding at the girl as she walked in. “Yes, you’re on time.” She nearly asked the girl to leave the door open, but just decided against it. “Please have a seat. As soon as your match arrives, we can start discussing what will happen.”

Almost as soon as she finished speaking, the door opened once more and she blinked in slight surprise at his works. She was fairly certain that he was being sarcastic, but she chose to ignore that and instead gave him a cold smile that didn’t reach her eyes. “I am, actually.” It was the last meeting of the day, so that wasn’t exactly a total lie. She was nearly done. Nearly free for the weekend.

“Technically, I didn’t make the matches.” She pointed out, ignoring the fact that he talked over her. Lifting an eyebrow, Ana waited for the girl to respond before folding her hands in front of her and setting them atop the desk. “I take it you know each other. That should make this easier. Do you have any questions or objections before I go through the schedule for your next month?”

She couldn’t help but hope they would just let her go through the usual spiel and be done with it, thus moving on to the real discussion. The meeting could end quickly, her life would be easier for it, and the two people sitting across from her would just go off to deal with their issues as needed.

Wait, what? Eva listened to her speak, a look of shock on her face. She had literally just turned sixteen, so how could she possibly be matched already? She wasn’t quite sure how this worked exactly. It had never really been explained to her in detail. However, she quickly put two and two together. She was here and Tyler was there. It was obvious that they had been matched together. She wondered if Tyler had known about it before hand and if so was that the reason that he had asked her out.

“But I literally just turned sixteen. How could I be matched this soon?” She said looking at Ana curiously and slightly concerned. But after all who wouldn’t be concerned being told that they were going to have to marry someone that she had no say in. “I always thought I would at least have more time than a few days.” She looked confused. "I'm supposed to be going to Italy in a week to help my grandparents out at their farm. My grandmother has been extremely ill lately."

“And I do know Tyler.” She added, “We just recently started dating.” She looked at Tyler and then back at Ana, “Are you telling me I’ve been matched with Tyler and that’s why we’re here?” She looked over at Tyler, she wondered how he would react to this. She knew that he had told her he wasn’t in favor of the marriage law, but she also knew that he couldn’t lose his job by openly opposing it either. She might have been young, but she was by no means completely stupid.

What a minute what? How did they get paired together when they just started dating? Tyler was lost at all this, it was to much for him to wrap his head around. He couldn't believe that he gotten paired with Eva, it was just to hard for him to believe. Not that he didn't want to, but Eva was going to think he had something to do with this when he really had no clue about it at all! He had no clue who he was paired with, all he knew that he got his letter to attend the meeting at Hogwarts.

Which Eva was going to believe him or not, that was another story but it was the truth, he didn't know anything about this. Nor did he pay the ministry to pair him up with her, it was just a weird thing that happened to them. Although this whole meeting made it looked like Tyler set the whole thing up. Tyler sighed and ran his hands through his hair before looking at Eva.

" I had no idea that this was going to happen I swear, I know this may look like I set this up but I didn't!"said Tyler honestly. " I asked you out before I even got my letter from the ministry. " said Tyler. " Besides I don't think I can pay the ministry if I tried they pick the couples."said Tyler. Tyler couldn't believe this stupid meeting was making him look like he asked Eva out just because he knew that they were going to get matched together.

Ana’s face fell even further at Eva’s words. She wasn’t sure what exactly was going on, but she did know that her patience had already ebbed. It was like these two had no idea that the only reason she was there was because the Ministry had sent her. “Well I’m certainly not here to congratulate you on your birthday.” Ana remarked dryly, realizing that it would probably offend, but not caring enough to keep from saying it. She had dealt with her fair share of disgruntled people over the past few weeks, and was not interested in experiencing two more for longer than she needed to.

The boy immediately started making excuses, even before Eva had directed any blame at him, and Ana merely watched until he seemed to finish, and then decided that she needed to cut in. “Most people get their letter the day of their birthday, so it’s more unusual that it was delayed. Regardless, neither Tyler, here, or myself had anything to do with the match. I have not led a single meeting in which someone was allowed to choose their pair. It sometimes works out that when they fill out the form, they get the person they asked for, but not always. So it’s possible that one of you wrote down the other in the application, or that it simply happened.”

“On another note,” She started, looking to change the conversation and direct it towards the purpose of the meeting, “at least you two already know each other. That’s more than most people I’ve met with could say. The fact that you actually like each other is a good thing for you, and should be what you’re focusing on.”

If she could calm the pair down enough to realize how lucky they were, perhaps the conversation would be more relaxed, and would go by quickly.

“As for the match, the Ministry is going to give you two weeks to get to know each other better, at which point you will need to set a date for the wedding. That wedding must take place no more than thirty days from today, and must be registered with the Ministry. After that, you will have a year before we check to see whether or not you are expecting a child, as is required by law. Yes, it’s awkward, and yes, you must,” She added quickly, hoping to avoid any repetitive questions. “Other than that, do you have any questions?”

She tuned Tyler out. She wasn’t going to let him start making excuses and try to start an argument in front of the woman who was trying to explain how the process worked. Eva ran her hand through her hair as Ana spoke and laid out the terms of how this worked. Her goal was to make it out of the room without losing her temper. She wasn’t the type of person who enjoyed being told what to do. Eva had been taught by her parents to respect her elders, so she found it fairly easy to not comment on the snide comment that Ana had made towards her and her birthday.

“I see.” She said quietly as she listened to Ana explain how the picking process worked. She couldn’t remember having put anyone’s name down and she and Tyler really didn’t know each other, except for in passing when she had filled out her application. Eva nodded as she explained. Focus on the fact that they like each other? Well that would be easier said than done in all honesty. Eva really just wanted to go home. She was essentially being told that her grandparents wouldn’t be allowed to be at her wedding, something she had wanted since she was a child.

She took a deep breath before she spoke, “We have only thirty days from today?” she asked, “I’m sorry I’m not trying to come off like I don’t understand, it’s just there is no time for any of my family to be able to make arrangements to come from Italy.” She explained, quickly realizing that the woman probably wouldn’t care. She had come to inform them that they had been matched and they only had a certain amount of time to follow through with it or face consequences.

“And..if I’m not expecting at the end of the year?” Eva probed actually curiously. It was actually something she really wanted to know.

Tyler finished his nonsense rambling as he listened to what Ana told them. " What the bloody hell? Eva isn't a gumball machine that can spit out babies when someone turned the handle!"Tyler thought angrily to himself. Tyler couldn't believe all this, they had a month to get married and a year to have a child? It was just to much for him to take in, he was a Auror he dealt with stuff all the time, but nothing like this.

Although he knew all about this, it was still to much for him to take in at one time, looking at Eva he seen she was in the same boat he was but more. She looked scared out of her wits, and Tyler didn't blame her. Taking a hold of her hand, he squeezed it before giving her a comforting smile. " Is there any tests we have to do Ms. Levski? " Tyler asked her softly but curiously. " Sorry. ..I didn't know, I just wanted to see what we have to do. " Tyler muttered nervously.

Tyler didn't know what she needed from him, all he heard is that they did a test to see what you were having. Tyler didn't know how detailed it was, but he was honestly scared to find out. Although he'll do whatever it took to make the rest of this meeting go as smoothly as possible. Although him being here was making him nervous within every second that passed.

"That, I'm afraid, I can't help you with." Ana replied to the inquiry about travel plans. "It's entirely legal to do a civil union of sorts in the country and then travel to have a larger ceremony. You would just be officially married before it took place."

Looking at Tyler, Ana lifted an eyebrow in slight surprise at his comment. The analogy was actually rather fitting, but she kept that to herself. "If you're not, the Ministry will take it upon themselves to have you arrested, and sent to Azkaban. Although the research was mine, the rules about timeframe are not in any way under my control. So, again, I cannot help you regarding that."

Nodding at Tyler's question, Ana stood and made her way around the desk, leaning back against the top of it as she regarded the pair of them. "I'm meant to administer fertility tests for the pair of you. We'll start with Eva, and then when we do yours, Tyler, it's possible that I can tell you the gender of your first child. If you two wish to know. But for now let's just start with Eva, yes?"

She gestured for the brunette to stand, and waited until she appeared ready before slicing her wand trough the air in front of Eva's torso. A line of color formed in the space between them, and Ana waited for it to settle before nodding. "You're fine," she said, giving an attempt at a smile before directing Eva back into her seat.

Looking at Tyler, Ana paused. "Do you want to know? Or should I not say?"