"Ashes" by killing_rose (PG-13)

[stars-inthe-sky.livejournal.com]

Fandom Category: Harry Potter
Pairing: Hermione Granger/Ron Weasley, Penelope Clearwater/Percy Weasley, Fleur Delacoeur/Bill Weasley, Ginny Weasley/Harry Potter, mentions of others
Fic Title: Ashes
Author: killing_rose
Link: http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:9sOjdDb8HCwJ:killing-rose.livejournal.com/62373.html (It's a Google cache of the story--I could not find a current posting.)
Rating/Warning(s): Discussion of abortion and unwanted pregnancies.
Genre: Angst, futurefic
WIP?: No.

Why This Must Be Read: Did anyone else think it was a little off that just about everyone in the Potterverse ends up married to, really, their middle school sweetheart? killing_rose takes that musing a step further and wonders why, by the (horrible for many reasons) epilogue, just about everyone we know who survived the war has kids the same age, and why not that much time has lapsed since the last chapter.  Told from Hermione's point of view but accounting for almost every other named female character, "Ashes" explores a a darker rendering of the future than I think JKR ever intended--but then again, she gave us a universe where these restrictions on contraception and birth control, and attitudes towards them, are believable. It's also a very different insight into the sisterhood of Hogwarts and the magical world, which is hardly touched on in the male-POV books but often (as here) expertly rendered in fic. 

For what it's worth, Penelope/Percy does not have a tag, but it's really not a fic about them, so I don't think it applies to the current challenge.