After Kingsley and Hermione had left to walk to the edges of the wards, Loki sat back down in his armchair, accepting another cup of tea from his hostess. "Hermione and the Minister seem close. Should I be worried?" His wry smile was supposed to indicate that he was joking, but, aware of the underlying insecurities that occasionally plagued him, Minerva was unconvinced, and swiftly put his mind to rest.

"Kingsley has known Hermione since she was 15 years old through his membership of the Order of the Phoenix. When she left Hogwarts, he was her mentor at the Ministry for nearly five years. But no Loki, you have no cause to worry and well you know it."

Sipping her tea she turned her mind to more practical matters. "Under the circumstances, it might be better if you avoided the Great Hall while you are here as your presence is bound to cause a stir. Would you like me to get Kreacher to bring you something up to your room , or will you walk down to Hogsmead for dinner?"

Loki's eyes lit up. "Do you know, it's been forever since I had one of Rosmerta's chocolate puddings. Hogsmead it is I think...

ooo0ooo

They walked down the main staircase in silence, but Kingsley could not resist glancing at the woman by his side, Hermione was back in her red velvet cloak, but had set the hood back onto her shoulders. Beneath it she wore a deep blue gown, trimmed with silver in the Asgardian fashion. She looked very unlike either the bushy haired bookish schoolgirl of his earliest memory, or the serious, businesslike woman, with something to prove that had worked for him at the Ministry.

Reaching the bottom of the stairs, he took her hand momentarily.

"You look well Hermione. Are you happy in this new life? I have to say, I don't know quite what to make of this husband of yours. His past is... well..."

Hermione tucked her arm into his. "Kingsley, you worry too much. Trust me. He is a good man. The best. He some real issues when he was young, and for an Asgardian that is a very very long time to get messed up. Believe me, he has more than paid for everything he did in New York – and that wasn't even by his choice, someone much bigger and nastier was pulling his strings. After that he suffered appalling injuries at the hands of Odin. By the time he came to me at Hogwarts he was physically and mentally - broken is the only way to describe him..."

Kingsley smiled wryly. "You never could resist a hopeless case could you Hermione? If it wasn't for you Draco Malfoy would be rotting in Azkaban now rather than teaching students very successfully here at Hogwarts. And let's be honest, Harry Potter was the ultimate in hopeless causes – and you managed that one quite successfully too.

Hermione shook her head. "Draco Malfoy. Another screwed up young man that appeared to grow up with everything he could ever want – except the normal, straightforward loving relationship with his parents that every child deserves.

Kingsley laughed as they came into sight of the gate. "That's the secret is it. Every psychotic super villain just wants to be loved?"

Hermione smiled serenely. "Isn't that what we all want Kingsley? Who knows, if Tom Riddle had been born to normal decent loving parents, ideally magical so that he didn't grow up feeling so different, the world may never have heard of Lord Voldemort." Reaching up she kissed him on the cheek. "Goodbye Kingsley. We'll see you tomorrow at the Ministry."

ooo0ooo

That evening, Hermione and Loki shared the luxury of a quiet dinner à deux, at the Three Broomsticks, not something they were able to do very often in Asgard. But Hermione couldn't help noticing that Loki seemed a little distracted. Even his favourite desert was being pushed half heartedly around his plate. Reaching across the table, she took his hand in hers.

"What is it darling?"

Loki looked up, "I'm sorry. We get one night to ourselves, and I spend it moping. I'm just – well to be honest I'm worried to death about going down that bloody hole tomorrow. What happens if I..."

"Then we do what we've always done, we deal with it. Together. And don't worry about Kingsley. He's spent most of his life fighting the worst dark wizards this world has to offer, and it's got pretty messy at times. He's seen plenty of people with similar symptoms as a result, he won't judge you for it. This isn't Asgard..."

Loki still looked unconvinced. Hermione waved to catch Rosmerta's eye. "Come on, if you're not going to eat that we'll ask Rosmerta to put it in a box for you. Then when you're awake and fretting in the middle of the night you'll at least have something to snack on without waking poor Kreacher..."

Hermione awoke several hours before dawn, unsurprised to find the other side of the bed both empty and cold. Wandering into the sitting room, she found Loki curled up asleep in the large chair by the empty fireplace, a book on his lap. The room was bitterly cold, and so was he. Hermione considered waking him to come to bed, or even levitating him, but as stressed as he had been, she couldn't guarantee that he would be able to go back to sleep if she woke him, so instead she fetched a blanket from the bedroom for him, and with a whisper of her wand, she conjured a fire in the hearth. Brushing a kiss over his hair, she turned to go back to bed. As she turned she caught her foot on something she hadn't noticed before. Looking down, she realised with a smile that it was an empty box, containing a few remaining chocolate crumbs...

ooo0ooo

"Good morning, welcome to the Ministry for Magic. Please check your wand on the scales."

Hermione put her wand on the tray. The clerk behind the desk peered at the printout. "10¾ inches, vine wood, and dragon heartstring. Purpose of your visit?"

"The Minister for Magic is expecting us". A badge printed out "Hermione, Princess of Asgard. Visiting Minister for Magic"

The clerk looked at Loki expectantly.

"I don't have a wand. I don't need one." Loki glared at the clerk, daring him to make something of it. To his disgust, his badge just said "Visitor". With a poisonous glare at the cowering official, Loki stalked after his wife.

It took longer to reach Kingsley's office than they had expected. Primarily because, even though it had been almost ten years since she left, a surprising number of witches and wizards greeted her with pleasure, and were delighted to meet her husband. Loki couldn't have remembered a quarter of those that he was introduced to. One of them, however, he would remember, all too clearly...

"Hermione? Merlin's balls, what the hell are you doing back? I thought Mum said that you'd married some foreign bloke. Hope he doesn't mind the smell of books? Loki's eyebrows shot up as he turned to face a tall, burly man with a shock of ginger hair.

"Ron." Hermione's voice was flat, and unimpressed with the oaf's attempt at humour. "How are you?"

"Oh you know. Overworked and underpaid. Lav's alright, she's expecting again. We'll have our own Quidditch team soon." His eyes flicked curiously at Loki.

Hermione sighed. Some people never changed. "Ron, can I introduce my husband Loki, Prince and Lord Chancellor of Asgard, Loki, this is Ron, an old school friend of mine."

Ron looked Loki up and down in a way that made his temper prickle. "Asgard huh. Never heard of it. One of those tin pot European states that you only hear about in pub quizzes?"

Hermione rolled her eyes. "Really Ronald, you don't change do you? Even if you don't read books, don't you read the news. Try looking it up sometime... Anyway, you must excuse us, we have an appointment with Kingsley in five minutes and it would be rude to keep him waiting." Turning on her heel, she left the ginger oaf standing in the corridor with his mouth open.

Loki's face was thunderous. "I would assume that he wasn't a good friend of yours. What a clod!"

Hermione chuckled ruefully. "Would you believe that not only was he one of my best friends, I even fancied myself in love with him. After the war, if you had asked, I would have said that I was fully intending on marrying him. We were together for several years."

Loki stopped, dumbfounded, unable to imagine his beautiful, elegant, intelligent wife shackled to the lout he had just met – and failing miserably. "Wait a minute - THAT Ron - thank the Nine that you came to your senses eventually?"

"Oh yes, I realised that I wanted a life and a partner, and he wanted a housekeeper and a substitute for his mother. It was pretty acrimonious until we both decided to call it quits. He was Harry's best friend, but they don't have much in common any more... they've just grown in different directions.

The conversation halted abruptly as they came to a large and imposing wooden door. An auror, standing guard outside nodded them straight through

Hermione looked at Loki, somewhat nervously. "We're here!"