~*T*~

Hermione looked up to see Carol Dallon in the audience this week, and started to curl in on herself. She took a deep breath, spread her feet slightly more than shoulder-width apart, head up, shoulders back, hands on her hips, and turned back to Luna's spiel.

"Mayla," Luna pointed with her chin, "Brought up a good point last week: Economics can drive abductions. I asked you guys to think about it, why, how, is it a good thing or a bad one?"

"Getting abducted and forced into prostitution is bad," a boy said. He got a Dove dark chocolate bar.

"Being a prostitute wouldn't be bad," the teen paused, adjusted his jacket, "Well, the pay would probably still kinda suck, being a female-dominated profession and all, but the rest of it would be much less bad if it wasn't illegal. If it was legal and had less social," he paused again, "Wasn't looked down on as much, it would be kinda OK, a little bit soul-destroying, but most jobs are," he paused again, "Stigma, that's the word I was looking for." He got a Milky Way Midnight and a hug from the girl next to him.

"Yeah, if it wasn't illegal, there wouldn't be any pimps," a girl said. She got a bag of Reece's Pieces.

"What's the difference between a pimp and a hired guard? They both provide security the police can't, because prostitution is illegal." Luna asked.

"Power," a man in the back said, after waiting a few seconds. He got a Dove dark chocolate bar.

"Yeah," a girl closer to the front said, "The guard is hired, and there's agreed upon pay and duties. He's an employee. The pimp controls the girls, takes their money and only gives a little of it back, controls how they spend their time, what they wear, who they have sex with, molests them whenever he wants." She got a hug, and a bag of M&Ms.

"Why is prostitution illegal?"

"Because the bible says its wrong?"

"Where does it say that?" Luna asked, but got the girl a bag of Reece's Pieces, too.

"Didn't Jesus throw the prostitutes out of the Temple?" He got a Milky Way Midnight.

"Was that "prostitution is bad" or "don't have sex in church"?" She got a Dove dark chocolate bar.

"That's a good question, and one the Bible doesn't provide a clear answer to," Carol said.

Hemione watched, bemused, as she got a bag of Reece's Pieces.

"Because the church wanted to control women," an older girl said, "Just like they went after healers and midwives." She got a bag of M&Ms.

"Yeah," a boy said, "Independent money? Control over fertility and children?" he laughed, "And heap shame on everything to do with sex as well as make it illegal, and we're still stuck," he got a bag of Reece's Pieces.

"So that's an overview of why prostitution being illegal is bad, try to think of some reasons why prostitution being illegal could be good."

The candy boxes were ransacked, and a short line asked nicely to get their tongues pulled.

"Could you do mine, too, Amy?" Carol said, last in line.

Hermione stared at her.

"Please?"

Hermione nodded, held up her hand.

Carol leaned it, held out her tongue, and Hermione pulled it to her eyebrow.

"Thank you," Carol said. She looked down a moment, then back up, "I'm proud of what you're doing, here. Did you know that people are posting these up on the internet?"

"No, I didn't."

"Can I give you a hug?"

Hermione nodded, and stepped closer.

~*i*~

"Speaking of prostitutes," Hermione asked, "How're they doing in Brockton Bay?"

"It's better. The ABB is offering security services, and being honest about it. The last pimp got out of the business," Harry paused, 'Well, there's a few who call themselves pimps, but have an ethical business model. So long as the prostitutes working with them remain happy and safe," she shrugged, "I'm not going to make things harder on them."

~*i*~

"Martha!" Hermione recognized the young woman when she touched her, "How are you?"

"Suspiciously well," Martha said, a bit testily, "I didn't like being weak, but being old? Being almost done with all this shit? That was nice."

"Are there any upsides?"

"Having a libido again is odd. The fact that no one cares when I dance with a girl at the bar is nice, though."

"Yeah, that's one of the nicest things about this modern world."

"When I was a girl, the first time? No one cared. No one discussed it. It was hard, but that was because two girls had a hard time making enough to live on," she looked down at her soft, smooth hand, "Then the money got better, and the people got worse."

"Yeah, there's nothing like blaming someone to distract from bigger problems."

"And things have gotten so much better these last few years. I copped out decades ago, married a man. He was nice. He died, he was a little younger than me, but . . . " she blinked, sighed. "And now I need to worry about the fact that I've been eating my principal, I haven't worked in a decade, two incomes are probably not going to be enough to afford kids. Even worse, I actually want some now," she shook her head, "SNAFU."

"May I give you a hug?"

Martha looked at her suspiciously, "OK."

Hermione wrapped her arms around her, "Life can be hard, but it can be awesome, too. A lot of the difference is just you, and the way you view the world."

"Gotta love the Army, huh?"

"What do you mean?"

"If you don't love what you're doing, you'll just be miserable. Where's the fun in that?" Martha pulled back from the hug and wiped her face, "Yeah," she smiled sadly, "See you round."

"See you," Hermione waved.

~*T*~

A guest pointed out an edit fail on the author's part. That was fixed..