DISCLAIMER: HP belongs to JKR. The story line and all new characters, new character development, new developments are my intellectual property.

Written for 31 October Samhain. Reviews as usual welcome.

-Chapter1- Marriage, love and choices.

Kinsgley's request

Bill had been hired to help Hermione. He was to determine whether or not, there were Death Eaters in Azkaban who might have been under a curse to impair their free will. This came after an old curse was found, in Marcus Flint a young Death Eater.

After one year in Azkaban, Flint Sr. had broken down after he saw his son wasting away. Bill had examined Marcus and corroborated the father's claim; and once the curse was removed, Marcus was once again his own true-self. He had to undergo extensive counseling when faced with his past actions.

Marcus was no longer a rabid Mudblood hater; he had become one upon his father's casting of an old family curse, to influence his son to follow his footsteps. Since his case, at least a dozen more cases had been identified; however, they mostly affected younger Death Eaters.

Not all Death Eaters and other prisoners had been yet tested; it would take several months to a couple of years, to complete the task. He was the best, and it wasn't his only job. Soon enough, he formed his own company and took private requests, along with the Ministry's work.

She had been called to Kingsley's office, and she already knew what he wanted.

"Hermione, I know you don't want to take up the defense of a convict who was responsible for taking part in the torture of one of your friend's parents, and the deaths of Harry's parents. Nevertheless, you are the Deputy of the Magic Law Ministry, and if you are to take my job one day, you need to handle one of the cases. Thus far, you have refused to defend Lucius Malfoy, Greg Goyle, and several others," exasperation was easily detected in the tired voice.

"Yes, true, but I had reasons. I couldn't given them the representation they deserved. I cannot defend clients that have personally affronted me; I feel that it would be a disservice to them, and you forget I took over Malfoy's defense towards the end and obtained his pardon."

"Yes, I know and that is why I know you are our star. And this case will gain you many supporters, in the upper echelons of the Wizarding world. As a Minister you would have to be polite and even help your former enemies. You are a very smart witch, so I know you will understand when I tell you, you either defend Rabastan Lestrange, or you will be put in suspension until you do. Are we understood?"

Kingsley was losing his patience with the brilliant, yet temperamental witch. She was passionate both in love and hate; and she needed to learn to temper her outward reactions, as well as her impetuous decisions before she ruined her career.

"Ron will be upset. He already resents my career. He has told me in no uncertain terms that I am not allowed to defend Lestrange. I cannot say I am happy with his interfering; in reality, I am fed up that every career move I make, must be cleared through higher headquarters, i.e., the Weasley. I will do it."

"Ata, girl, you are the crown's jewel, our Hermione Granger-Weasley." Kingsley smiled.

No sooner than King left, Hermione sat down and covered her face with her hands. She was not ready for another fight. Ron had given her one year to get pregnant and had told her, loud and clear, that the defense of the notorious Death Eater was Verboten, forbidden, a no-go.

Her mother understood her predicament and brought her to her doctor's surgery. Hermione now had a contraceptive subcutaneous implant, which would be good for several months; she needed the time to decide where to go with her life. She was only 25; her career just started, and she didn't know what to do because she was uncertain of her future with Ron, she didn't need children right now.

She was in love with Ron, or she thought she had been when they married. Their sex life was excellent, what he lacked in finesse and expertise, he made up for in passion, stamina, and his powerful body. The problem was not in the bedroom but in their goals, and their definition of faithfulness and loyalty.

Financially, they were rather well off. After Hogwarts, Harry's vaults were not as plentiful as they should have been. So he had asked Hermione for help to grow the money he had. He wanted to save the Black fortune for Teddy, which he did, once the Potter vaults were finally replenished.

Hermione, Ron and Harry had their award money as well. As promised, Hermione figured out who could help Harry; it would be one of her cousins who was an investment banker at NYC. Muriel had increased Harry's vaults and their awards, several fold. It was fortuitous for all of them that Harry had come up to her, otherwise, she might not have thought about it.

Additionally, Hermione had a trust left by her grandparents; it provided her with an annuity that amounted to about half of her yearly salary; and they also left her a fully furnished, elegant flat in Muggle London. Ron had later pulled out his initial investment, his award money, to fund new ideas at the WWW, which also turned into a great investment. They were set for life, and work wasn't even necessary as Ron would daily remind her. He could not understand why she wanted to work; after all, they had more money that he had ever thought possible, and he still had a job.

The fights had been escalating, and the problem was that he would bring up their marital problems out in the open, whenever Harry and Ginny came to visit, or during family gatherings at the Burrow. The result was the same, because Ginny would always go straight to Molly to discuss her wayward sister-in-law.

There wasn't any love lost between the two witches; the reason was simple, Harry was the cause of their friction; Ginny was aware of the undercurrent between the two, and it made her uneasy. Of course, Hermione was the one blamed.

Hermione smiled thinking about it; if Ginny only knew. What she needed was to be grateful that Hermione had let go of Harry. Harry and Hermione had learned about love in each other's arms. It started after Sirius had died, and it continued off and on. At the end, Harry tired of Hermione's indecision, gradually drifted towards the more stable Ginny, and Hermione finally decided Ron was her true love and married him. However Ginny was always competing, and never missed a chance to create difficulties for her.

All had been well with Ron, or at least it felt that way, until Molly started to push for Hermione to give up her job. It was okay for Ginny to play Quidditch, but not for Hermione to work at the Ministry. At the end of the day, Molly was afraid that Hermione would be competition for one of the Weasley wizards, whenever Kingsley was ready to step down. The Weasley were too involved with each others lives, and it didn't make for good marriages.

Ultimatum-

"You must tell King that you will not defend that bloody Death Eater. You are not going to help him beat the system. He is guilty, he killed, and he should pay his dues."

"Your brother was the one who found the cursed piece, charmed as a mole on his left shoulder. Bill testified that the object had to be there for years; although there are more precise tests that could be performed, he ascertained that it was over 25 years old. The conclusion was that Lestrange has been paying for crimes committed when his will wasn't his."

Hermione sounded defeated and tired; all the fights with Ron were taking a toll.

"Besides King was clear, I will be suspended if I refuse. He is right, I cannot pick and choose whom I defend, so I am going to comply with his request, and you will have to be content."

"If you do it, it will be done against my wishes. Why do you need to work? Even after the 200,000 Galleons we gave my parents, we are several times millionaires. Plus, we are getting ready to open seven new WWW in cities all over Europe, and next year we go to America. Why do you need more?"

Ron thought it was about money, it was not. It had to do with her self-realization as a person, with finding out her true worth, but he would never understand. No sense in arguing.

He pouted like a spoiled and willful child. Hermione invariably melted whenever she saw him pouting; it took her back to first year; he was so little back then. He was so adorable, why fight, so she decided to try a better way.

"Don't be mad at me, my love. You know the Quidditch World Cup is coming up. I bought us tickets for all the England and final games. We also have reservations at a new exclusive hotel open just for the event. Imagine how much fun we'll have."

She took off her night robe as she was talking. She had nothing under but knee high socks and her Gryffindor tie, the same ones that she had worn to Hogwarts.

She stood by him and ran her finger along her chest. "If we are fighting over this, it will be miserable. Let's make it fun. Okay?" She asked as she moved down on his body.

He knew that she was right, and it would be a shame to waste the plans made for the games and to miss the great promises for the evening. Next time, he would impose his will. George could buy his own tickets, and he would take care of Percy, Bill, and Charlie. It would be great fun.

The next weeks were used for preparation. She wanted to know as much as possible before meeting the Dark wizard. The games came and went; although they had a great time, it was somewhat marred by the Weasley wizards partying. Their plans for hot sex did not always materialize, thanks to Ron's excessive drinking with his brothers.

Upon returning home and anticipating his coming upheaval, she had surprised him at their doorstep; she wore her court robes, when he came in she dropped them on the floor. She wore an abbreviated version of the Hogwarts' uniform, with nothing else underneath. She had a few more surprises and kept him appeased for a while.

The Death Eater. -The cell with a view into ?

Take my tidings:

Stags contend;

Snows descend-

Summer's end!

"I cannot defend you unless you trust me and treat me with due respect." The statement was polite yet forceful; her foot tapped on the hard floor, a little louder by the minute.

"I would rather stay at Azkaban than be defended by 'the Mudblood'," the shabbily dressed wizard answered in a low menacing voice. It was obvious that he didn't want to be heard by the guard posted just outside the door.

The oppressing atmosphere of the dark and inhospitable room became worse. Her control was eroding away, but she understood the need to remain calm. This wizard was one of the few who had been found 100 % innocent of the crimes he had been convicted for, because they have been committed under the curse; some could still argue the inability to determine, how the convicted or the accused, would have behaved without the curse in place.

He was, however, guilty of being a bigot, a Muggle hater, a supremacist and all of the rest of the attributes of Pureblood aristocrats stuck to the old ways; and, although it was true that he had served the Dark Lord under duress, controlled by an old, forgotten spell akin to the Imperius curse, he was still a hateful-arrogant jerk.

The difference between the Imperius and the older curse, was that the ancient-modified spell, couldn't be removed, as long as the sufferer kept a cursed object near their bodies; and the curse couldn't be broken unless the object was removed by an expert. In his case a very small chip had been stuck to his shoulder, and it just had taken the appearance of a mole. Unfortunely, it appeared the removal hadn't made him nicer or more likeable.

Ron's Demands

After meeting her Death Eater client for the first time, she came home ready to scream and with a killer headache.

"Love, I couldn't wait for you to get home. I was thinking all day of the day before the games. Merlin, I had such a boner at work. George kept teasing me; he wanted me to share what you have done. I told him to leave me alone." He was waiting for her at the front entrante

He embraced her and kissed her neck. "How was your day love?" He asked as he took off her cloak and held her from behind. He pressed his hips onto her to demonstrate his desire. She gasped.

"Let's talk about it later. Your kisses might be just what I need."

They ordered Chinese and sat naked in the bed to eat. "I have a question. Why don't we both quit working and just go to games, raise children, do our own thing?" Asked Ron, and from his face she could tell he was serious.

"Would we travel?" she asked, suddenly interested.

"Sure we would, but then we would need to stay home until the children were ready for Hogwarts." Ron answered.

"Ron, why have children so soon? If I quit working it would be to grow as an individual, and besides I don't want to make mothering my entire career. While I love children I want more than that."

"You just don't want to have children, do you?" Ron was rather angry.

"I do, just not now; I want to spend some more years alone with you. You know that there will be plenty of time later. I am afraid that if I quit now, I would lose all my progress and my career advancement."

"Tell that to Mum. Ginny is already pregnant for the second time, so why not you?"

"Darling, we are getting nowhere with this argument. Let's give it a rest and enjoy the time we have together." Hermione pleaded with him.

oOo

A/N She really has tried to make it work, a compromise of sorts. It will not get better.