Drowning In You

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters you might recognize, they belong to JKR.

Prologue: The Contract

Ron Weasley was a man with a plan. Well it wasn't a well thought out plan more like a big idea. He wanted to ask his girlfriend Hermione Granger to marry him. They had only began dating about eight months ago but they've know each other for years. Hermione has been in school for the past five months finishing her last year and she wasn't the type of girl who'd jump straight into getting married before she established herself as a prominent business woman; so Ron figured it would be a long engagement.

Ron knew from the moment that he saw Hermione at his brother's wedding that he would never want anyone else. Lavender Brown was a mistake. His crush on Fleur was even worse. Hermione was and would always be the only girl for him. So he worked hard to prove himself to be a stable guy worth marrying.

Ron has two jobs. He works part time at Weasley's Wizard Wheezes helping his brother build back his joke shop empire. Business was definitely picking back up. It had seemed touch and go for a while after the war. Ron's other job is his dream job: an auror for the ministry of magic. After all his school adventures of fighting the dark arts being an auror was surreal. It was like having all your dreams come true. Ron had wanted to be an auror for so many years. However what his dreams didn't see was that being an auror didn't pay much. Ron worked 90 hours weeks not including overtime and yet the local barmaids were making more galleons. The low pay was because when the ministry went to the dark side so did a lot of its money. Sometimes Ron wished Pius Thickness was still alive so Ron could kill him with his bare hands. Ron wasn't the only one with those thoughts either.

100 million galleons went into creating that horrendous statue of a wizarding couple sitting on top of naked and ailing muggles. The thing was horrid and everyone was glad to see the thing fall.

When the war ended Ron, like most people, thought that the world would automatically right itself and go back to being the way it was before the re-rise of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named. It didn't go back to the way it was, and it never would.

That brings us back to Ron and his dilemma. He wanted to buy Hermione an engagement ring, a house with a big yard and a picket fence, a muggle car, hell he wanted to buy her the world if she so desired it. But nothing in life was cheap.

Growing up poor, Ron always wanted to change that status and that would start today. Ron couldn't borrow money from any of his brothers. They were all either starting a family or trying to rebuild the world with low paying jobs like he was. He refused to ask his best friend Harry. He was always too embarrassed whenever it came to money around Harry. Plus he didn't want a hand out.. Ron was not a charity case, he's a man with a plan, kinda.

Taking a few steps up the stairs Ron looked around. It was dark, no one was following him, it was safe to proced. He knocked twice on the door tentatively.

The door was opened by a tall man with long black hair and crystal blue eyes. He was wearing old fashioned robes that screamed Pureblood. Ron had to control the thoughts that went through his head. Mostly they were along the lines of 'what was I thinking' and 'this is such a bad idea.'

Apollo Greengrass stared down at the young man in front of him.

"Auror Weasley, what brings you to my humble abode, not work I presume." Apollo's eyes was watching Ron like a hawk.

Ron would have loved to arrest all of the Slytherin Purebloods, but in this case he couldn't. Apollo was never known to be a follower of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named. When the dark side took over the ministry Apollo took his wife and fled the country. He couldn't have taken his daughters because it was obligatory for them to attend Hogwarts. Both his daughters kept their heads down at school; one of them was even a Ravenclaw.

Ron did as through of a background check and could find nothing incriminating against Apollo. It went against his nature to even trust a Slytherin but here he was.

"Business, I hope" Ron replied. "A birdie named Verity recommended that I should come here."

"Oh" Apollo said shocked. He took a step back to let Ron in. as he closed the door behind him he continued. "How is Verity doing? I was very disappointed when she stopped working for me to go work for your brother."

Ron held back a snort. Verity was fired, she didn't quit. Not that she minded she said she liked working at the shop better because at least there she wasn't constantly being hit on by an old man.

"Verity is doing fine" Ron said.

They entered a room with a large Victorian desk and three antique chairs. Apollo sat at the chair behind the desk and motioned Ron to have a seat as well.

"How much do you need?"

Ron was startled for a second. He didn't know what he expected, but Apollo being blunt wasn't one of them.

"Um…"

"I'll give you how much ever you want with no compensations on one condition."

Ron's eyebrows rose. "I'm listening." Ron had no idea where this was going and he was really starting to regret ever showing up. He was going to have a long talk with Verity the next time he sees her.

"You have to marry one of my daughters. Daphne is the same age—"

"Nope" Ron cut him off. "I don't know what I'm doing here, I'll just be going now."

As Ron stood up the door shut and an audible click could be heard. Ron pulled out his wand and pointed it at Apollo. There was no way he'd allow himself to be stuck here. He was an auror for crying out loud. He would blow this whole place to smitherings and walkway unscathed.

"Calm down, have a seat, I won't force you to marry my daughters."

Ron slowly went back to his seat but he didn't put his wand away.

"You're dating the muggleborn, I forgot" Apollo said. With a sigh and a wave of his wand two glasses appeared as well as a bottle of firewhiskey. As the drink began pouring itself Apollo continued "I have no sons, I want my family name to live on but with my wife's condition I'm afraid that won't be possible."

Apollo took a sip from his glass and sat the other one in front of Ron. "It's not poisoned."

Ron took a sip, then with a shrug of his shoulders downed the whole shot. He already gotten himself into to this mess, he might as well finish what he started.

"You're going to marry the Granger girl, I take it?"

Ron nodded.

"Figures. Purebloods are thinning out, we're no longer in favor with the ministry after the whole fiasco with Voldemort." Ron couldn't stop himself from twitching. Even though the man was dead hearing the name bought back memories…. "You need money, I have it. You come from a rising family, I come from a falling one. You're making new connections, and I have plenty already. I may even have connections with people who know the locations of some of the people you're hunting down."

"We aren't having problems tracking down certain people" Ron said. It was a lie. While most of the Death Eaters and their followers are in jail or behind bars there are still quite a few who remained elusive. "What's your point?"

"If I give you these people you'll have more free time on your hands. Free time to spend maybe with your young witch friend? You help me out and I'll help you out. I'll still loan you the money of course but my conditions have changed. Your first born daughter has to marry my first born grandson."

Ron picked up his glass that had refilled itself. "If I have any children they won't be pureblood, you okay with that?"

"Times are changing Weasley. There might not be any reputable purebloods left by the time I have grandchildren. This is the deal I'm offering, take it or leave it."

Ron sat back. Damn Slytherins, always trying to make sure they get what they want out of a deal. This is why he doesn't like them in the first place. Hermione would skin him alive if she knew. That is if she even says yes to marrying him. He agrees to this and he could kiss Hermione goodbye. She'd never stand for anything like this. He claims to know death eater locations, to have all of them locked away would be…damn him for even considering this.

Taking the rest of the shot Ron thought, wait, Weasley's are known for having male children. Female Weasleys are rare. Ginny was the first in seven generations. What were the odds of him having a daughter? Could he really make this deal without repercussions?

Apollo saw the acquiescence in Ron's eyes.

"ANYA!"

A small house elf appeared. "Master Greengrass" she said with a bow.

"Were you listening at the door?"

"Yes Master" Anya said still bowing.

"Draw up a contract based on the conditions we've laid out."

With one more 'Yes Master" Anya disappeared. Five minutes later she was back with a foot long scroll.

Apollo pulled a big red quill from one of his desk drawers. After reading the terms and nodding he signed his name at the bottom. "Your daughter will have a year after her seventeenth birthday to marry my oldest male grandchild, no matter his age. You can read it over yourself but you have to sign with this."

"That's a blood quill" Ron said looking at the words on Apollo's hand.

"Yes, this is also a blood contract."

Ron gulped. After a minute he reached for the contract and read the terms. Hesitantly Ron signed his name at the bottom thinking that all he had to do was never have a daughter.

AN: I know Ron is OOC in this chapter, but I really wanted to do this story and I need him to be a little OOC. I've had this story stuck in my head for weeks so I decided to publish the prologue to see if it gets any hits.