4 PM Meeting

After the day she had gone through, Ana Levski wanted nothing more than for this last meeting to end quickly so she could head home and deal with everything she needed to. The next day was her only day off from these meetings, a Sunday, and meant that she could sleep in for the first time in ages. More than that, she could try to relax - even though she would undoubtedly fail.

To make things even worse than they already were, Ana now had to deal with another one of those strange matches where a student was forced into marrying a graduate. She could only hope that they could deal with what was ahead of them without taking it badly or taking it out on her. Her attitude wouldn't be able to be helped if these two fought her about the law. It certainly wouldn't be pretty.

It was becoming a bad habit of hers to purse her lips and glance about the room in frustration. It seemed to happen every meeting without fail now, her fingers steepled, adding to the effect. If one of these two didn't show up, or if they argued with her, they would be on the receiving end of a very angry Ministry employee who wasn't about to take any retaliation.

A glance at the time showed her that she only had a minute or two before they arrived - provided neither were early - and she had to sit through another of these meetings. It would be lovely if the meeting ended early and she could head home and start her little break early. Any break was a good break, Ana decided, and tried to settle herself before anyone arrived.

Amelia had been moody ever since she got that letter. She knew her mother was rolling over in the grave. She felt like her world was coming out from under her. She cursed the Ministry of Magic. She may not be able to fight this directly but they had no idea what they had realized. She had finally calmed down from her recklessness after her mother died. There was a new problem to deal with. Purposely causing trouble and doing damage.

She had learned many things form her mother. It was going to take all her will to do this. She wasn’t stupid enough to try to argue and lash out. She was going for the silent rebellion for now. She’d get through this and then give the Ministry hell. She was angry but Hufflepuffs had their own way of rebelling, or maybe it was just Bones witches in general. She knew when the meeting was but she hadn’t dressed for it at all. She wore her hair in a messy ponytail. She had her Hufflepuff tie slung around her neck. She wore mismatched socks. She didn’t have any make-up on, not that she ever wore it. Her blouse had three buttons on top unbuttoned and the rest were lopsided not matched up with the right slots. She hadn’t worn her vest at all. She silently entered the room and sat down, not properly but crossed-legged. She looked as blank as possible. She knew her eyes were filled with upheaval. She had never been able to hide her feelings in her eyes.

“Ooh so excited for this part to begin?” Amelia said with a fake smile hiding her sarcasm. She wanted this over with. She hoped that anything that could go wrong with this whole thing did. She would never admit how scared she was. She had never wanted to have kids. She knew how hard it had been for her mother, and that scared the Merlin out her. But she refused to show fear, stupid Macmillan pride.

It was often thought that men like him didn't fear anything. The expressions, and behavior that came out of them were all signs that they were not afraid. But that wasn't his case, not at all. He didn't want to admit it, he never found, but he was afraid. A lot more afraid than he thought something like this would ever make him.

Yes, Aedan Cearul Brennan was afraid. But you'd never hear that come out of his mouth. Not even if it would save his life. He'd rather die than admit he was afraid, which could definitely be his downfall.

Aedan didn't want to do this. When he received his letter, he had been terrified. He wasn't ready for this, he wasn't ready to marry but he knew he didn't have a choice. He was being forced to. If only Jackie was still alive, then this wouldn't be happening to him. They would be together, happy with Mary. Aedan wished he could have done something for them, but he knew it was impossible.

His meeting was in Hogwarts. In the Guidance Office, was he supposed to do what he thought he was going to be forced to? Marry one of his students? Merlin, please no. He couldn't do that. It just couldn't happen. He hoped he was wrong, he would do anything to be wrong.

He took a deep breath as he approached the Guidance Office and knocked on the door lightly before entering. His heart dropped when he saw the girl who was seated opposite of Ana Levski. That was his match he assumed. It also didn't help that she was one of his students. He looked her over, the clothes she wore seemed like she didn't know the meeting was today, maybe that was she was going for. He was sure she didn't want to be there as much as he didn't.

"Good afternoon." he greeted both women lightly, offering a gentle smile.

Amelia tried to remain calm. It only could be her luck that this was happening. She hid behind her carless attitude she was going for. She was scared. This was a nightmares. She was supposed to marry her professor. The idea made her stomach turn. She had to find a way out. She couldn’t believe that this was happening. This was just a horrible dream.

She tried to keep herself together. She thought about the past year. This was the year from hell. Her whole world was crashing down around her. She’d do anything to have her mother with her now. For the first time in nearly two years she wanted her father. She truly felt alone in this world now. She didn’t even have her older brother to run too these days. She needed some sort of familiarity. She didn’t even have Alex or Lance for that. They seemed to have forgotten about her. What did it matter now? She was supposed to marry her professor and there was no way she could think of to get out.

Keep it together Amelia. Shut up emotions. Don’t let them win. You can scream and curse after this is over. Just make it through this meeting. Then you can owl Edgar and dad. She fought the tears that threaten to expose her facade.

Ana couldn’t bring herself to answer the girl when she entered, though she lifted an eyebrow in slight surprise. This girl was a Hufflepuff? Then again, Ana had heard stranger things and seen angrier students, so she couldn’t say she was honestly that surprised. Even through the faked smile on Amelia’s face, it wasn’t hard to notice the disdain that lived there. Ana offered a slight smile, though it didn’t reach her eyes.

Instead, she turned to her paperwork and left the girl to wait for the professor to arrive. This would certainly be an interesting meeting, she mused. As if on cue, as Ana’s thoughts turned to the man in question, the door opened again and he entered, greeting them far more politely than the student had.

“Hello, Professor.” She greeted lightly. “Safe to say you know each other,” Ana added, glancing down at her files again as she spoke. She wasn’t quite sure she wanted to face their wrath immediately. “If you’ll take a seat we can begin.”

Pushing back a heavy sigh, Ana straightened up in her chair and twined her fingers together in front of her on the desk. It was time to push out that obnoxious and over-stated speech of hers regarding the timeline for the next few weeks. While she wasn’t expecting them to take the information well, Ana simply hoped that the meeting would be brief, if nothing else.

“So,” she began, hiding her boredom with the sharpness of the first word. “The next two weeks are designated as time for you two to get to know each other. By the end of those fourteen days, we’ll need you to set a date for the ceremony. Whether or not you do the big wedding is up to you, but it must be officiated and filed with the Ministry by the end of thirty days. Then of course, you’ll have filled the first requirement of the law. After that, as is stated in the law, you have three years in which the Ministry expects you to have a child. Because of that, we’ll need to do a fertility test before you leave, for each of you. If you choose, during Aedan’s test, I can tell you the gender of your first child.”

Glancing between the two, Ana felt better for just having gotten all of the words out without rolling her eyes or sighing over having to say them. Again. “Any questions?” If they didn’t have any – which she seriously doubted – Ana could give the tests and be done with the meeting. That would be kind of lovely, actually, she mused.