Chapter 25
3 Months Later
Things fell apart quickly after the Death Eaters gained control over Gringotts. All of the Wizarding World within the United Kingdom was in a panic. Of course there were other banks in existence, but the Diagon Alley location was the central hub. The other banks couldn't make a move without the Diagon Alley's Gringotts permission. The Wizarding community was in an uproar. At first there were protests. People waited outside the site where Gringotts once stood, demanding their money back. The Ministry put forth all their effort in finding those responsible and obtaining peace. After a month of monetary control by the Death Eaters, people were no longer worried about affording luxuries, they were concerned that they wouldn't be able to buy food. Would the Death Eaters let wizards and witches starve?
The answer is no. They would not let people starve. At least, not the important people. In the days after the attack, rumours started circulating that certain Ministry Officials got offered their money as a bribe from the Death Eaters. These individuals were supposedly given access to their funds, but only so much as the Death Eaters allowed, so that no one could take the money and run. In return, these Ministry Officials were under complete control of the Death Eaters, carrying out their every whim. Unfortunately this was proved to be true. Kingsley was one of the few who had not been approached, along with several other like-minded Ministry workers, including Mr. Weasley.
The ranks of the Death Eaters were growing daily as more and more people accepted their terms. The hold outs were the ones who never trusted the bank in the first place and squirreled their money away, as well as members and sympathizers of the reincarnated Order of the Phoenix.
Surprisingly, there had been no murders in the months since the Death Eaters took over, but they still had a strong hold. It was a struggle for all, including the Order of the Phoenix.
12 Grimmauld Place was once again Order headquarters, with Harry as secret keeper. Draco and Hermione had been living there, and several Order members often stayed for days at a time. The next safest place was The Burrow, where weekly dinners went on despite the unrest. No one knew what was coming, but the last war taught them that time with family and friends was necessary. For a few hours every week everyone could forget about the state their world was in. Luckily, Mr. and Mrs. Weasley kept a flourishing vegetable and herb garden as well as a few chickens so food wasn't as big of an issue as it could have been.
"I never thought growing up poor would someday be this helpful," Ginny remarked as she helped her mother prepare dinner.
"Not poor, but resourceful," Mrs. Weasley reproached.
"If that's what you want to call it," Ginny smirked, "Hermione, how is Malfoy handling his lack of funds?"
Hermione laughed, "He was terrified at first, but he's getting used to it," she said, thinking back to the day after Gringotts disappeared.
After the Order meetings finally ended, and the shock was wearing off, Draco and Hermione sat in their room trying to wind down after the excitement of the last couple of days. They were lying in bed, not talking, but just being together, when Draco suddenly sat straight up.
"The money!" He said.
"What? Have you thought of a way to get it back?" she asked excitedly.
"No. I just realized I don't have any!" He said with more than a note of panic in his voice.
"Only just realized that, have you?" she said sarcastically.
"Granger, this isn't a joke. I've never been poor before," he said in slightly mock (but more real than he'd admit) despair.
"I guess that just means no more jaunts to Paris," she said, patting his shoulder.
It was an adjustment, but they were getting by. The only thing they could do was work toward finding out who was leading the Death Eaters. They still had several Order members within in the Ministry, but they hadn't found out any information about the leader. They knew that Muggles were being turned into Witches and Wizards for an exorbitant fee, and then forced to join the ranks of the Death Eaters, and given very little training in magic. They knew that there was a curse on the Dark Marks that caused the Death Eaters to die once captured, and were working on a counter curse. They also were fairly positive that the leader was likely a rich pureblood, most likely someone who fought in the last war and lost. Harry, Hermione, and Draco, hypothesized that it was someone around their own age, based on his attempt at throwing suspicion on to Draco. Theodore Nott was their main suspect. He hated Draco, had the money to start an operation such as this, and, according to Draco, was smarter than most people knew.
Hermione had written several articles during this time. Luckily, Lila was one of the few who hadn't given in to the Death Eaters demands. However, the same could not said about the owner of the Daily Prophet. As the weeks went on, the newspaper became more and more biased; ignoring anything about the disappearance of the Wizarding World's largest bank, and any corruption within the Ministry. Lila snuck Hermione's latest article in at the last second without anyone knowing. A truthful article begging people not to surrender to the Death Eaters. Everyone knew it was her, but they couldn't prove it. Despite that, she still resigned, and became an official member of the Order. She still had a lot of connections and was able to provide valuable information. She was the one who discovered that the Minister himself had succumbed to the Death Eaters bribery.
No one knew what they should do. There had been many arguments over the matter.
"It's not like we can just arrest the Minister of Magic," Kingsley said, aggravated, "There's no one to approve the arrest, seeing as the rest of the department heads will back him up,"
About 80% of Ministry workers had accepted the Death Eaters terms. The Order suspected that there was more involved than just money, perhaps blackmail or even threats.
"But we have to do something!" Harry shouted. This helplessness was something he had tried desperately to prevent ever feeling again.
"I think our main focus needs to be on finding out who exactly is behind all of this,"Hermione interjected. This wasn't like last time where they had a clear goal; find the horcuxes, kill Voldemort. Without anyone stepping forward to take credit, there wasn't much to go on. What she couldn't figure out was why this person continued to hide. Surely, he would consider this a victory. Unless, he didn't think he could win if it came to a battle. What was the endgame?
Despite all of the fear, life went on. The Burrow was full of life and laughter. There was no talk of the current political situation allowed during dinner. For a couple of hours every week, everyone could pretend that life was the same as ever. Harry and Ginny took turns feeding baby James, Teddy got to know his Great Aunt Narcissa, Draco and Hermione held hands under the table when they thought no one was looking, though they fooled no one. Victoire still had a small crush on Draco, and Teddy looked on jealously. It seemed that he himself had started to fancy Victoire. Yes, for those few hours a week, everything seemed quite normal. Happy even. The happy moments may have been getting harder to come by, but those fleeting moments were the most important they had, and they all knew it.