Author's Note: Sorry for the long delay! My computer was down for a while, but it's back up and running now, along with the story.

Augusta

Chapter Three: Katherine Mendoza

When he got back to Fleur and Bill's place, he found Fleur talking to a very professional-looking woman at the kitchen table. The Frenchwoman looked a little skeptical about her companion. The second woman's head whipped around when she noticed they were no longer alone, fixing him with a hard, challenging stare.

Ron found himself subconsciously checking her out. Pretty enough, he supposed, dark hair with blondish streaks in it, light olive complexion, almost black eyes. She looked like she might be part Spanish, but he wasn't sure. She also had to have a well-paying job to afford her clothes-there was probably more money on her back in that one outfit than he spent on clothes in a year. After a long moment, she stood and extended her hand.

"The name's Mendoza," she said, her voice almost as hard as her eyes. "Katherine Mendoza. I'm your attorney."

"I don't have an attorney," Ron replied as politely as he could manage. He could already tell that Katherine Mendoza was one of those women who possessed a natural talent for getting on his absolute last nerve no matter what either of them said or did-one of those hard, unsmiling women who thought men were the scum of the earth as a matter of principle.

"You do now, Weasley," Katherine said flatly, putting down her still unshook hand. "I wouldn't give you the time of day, but an old friend asked me to as a favor to her. You're stuck with me until your divorce is finalized." She didn't look as if she were any happier about the idea than he was.

"Let me get this straight," he said. "You and my wife are friends and she hired you as my attorney?"

"Precisely. Hermione knows I'm the best in my field and she knows you're going to need all the help you can get when things really do get ugly. I owe her one, so I agreed to help you out." Her gaze intensified, if that was possible. "You should be grateful to her, Weasley. Hermione knows perfectly well that friends or no friends, I play to win and I do win."

"We'll see about that in court, won't we, Mendoza?" Ron replied sarcastically. A charity lawyer. Great. Hermione really wasn't pulling any punches, attacking his pride before she even filed the papers.

"Watch your mouth around me or you might find your teeth being knocked down your throat," Katherine said almost cheerfully. "I have very few male clients who win my respect. I seriously doubt that you're going to be one of them." He had been right; she was one of Hermione's feminist friends. He normally didn't have anything in particular against them, but Mendoza was clearly one of those who went around with her nose in the air and that holier-than-thou air almost visible around her.

She was fiddling with the clasps of a briefcase. "The first thing to determine is how we want the assets divided," she said matter-of-factly. "Hermione told me she wants to settle as much of this out of court as she can, particuarly in regards to the children. Children are the most difficult assets to win totally in a divorce, especially for a man. Your best chance as far as they go would be to agree to giving Hermione custody, because no court in England, Muggle or magical, is going to side with you over her when you take into account that it's standard policy to grant the mother custody and your schedule. If you let her have them, she probably won't keep you from them altogether. For an otherwise practical woman, Hermione can be very sentimental." Katherine sounded like she thought the less of Hermione for it.

"Not a chance in hell," he said flatly. "Not a chance, Mendoza. Hermione's as likely as not to run off some fine day and not tell anyone. She hasn't exactly qualified for mother of the year with any of the kids. "

"Hermione's tendancy to abandon the homefront when she's under stress is the greatest weapon you have against her, but all she has to do is agree to see a shrink and that'll probably be considered taken care of. Who'd take care of them while you're working if they're not living with Hermione?"

"Me," Fleur said firmly. Ron jumped a little; he had forgotten that his sister-in-law was there. "I 'ave nothing to do all day but watch after the little ones in this family. I do this all the time for all the family."

Mendoza shook her head. "Not good enough. Wouldn't be accepted in court. The children aren't the only assets involved, however, so I think we should move on for the time being to-" she never got to finish her sentance because just then Chloe and Adam came barging in, yelling and obviously furious at each other. Helena was running after them, trying to separate them. Looking at her harrassed face, he suddenly realized that Helena was the only one of the four to bear anoticeable resemblance to Hermione. Mendoza looked shocked, and Fleur jumped up and started scolding them in French, which caused them to cease fighting simply because they didn't have a clue what she was saying and found it amusing to listen to her rant in a language that seemed impossibly silly to them.

"I'll be in touch," Mendoza said shortly, then picked up her briefcase and left. Ron couldn't help but grin. Katherine Mendoza and Hermione Granger had both badly miscalculated if they expected the Weasleys to be an easy piece of work.