Here's the next chapter. I hope you enjoy it. Please read and review love Hermione xxx
For the first time in his life James started to think about what he was going to do before doing it. He realised that going to Hogwarts now guns blazing would not help him. He then decided to go there under the guise of needing to see Jim. This way he could see Jim for a while and then get revenge on Lavender while he was there. No one ever hurt his Violet and got away with it. He entered the school and Dumbledore was surprised to see him but brought him to an office to meet Jim. He entered to find Jim waiting for him.
"Yes dad you wished to see me. Is everything alright?" he asked as James face was puce with embarrassment by now.
"I need a raise in my allowance Jim. Ten thousand galleons a month is simply not enough for me" he said seriously as Jim rounded on him a shocked and angry expression on his face.
"As a school student I have seriously broken apart these stereotypes that every idiot in this place seems to have. I had a friend soul bond with Ronald Weasley in Hufflepuff. It was a surprise to say the least but he is my very best friend and I would do anything for him. He spoke to me about how he's never had much money but imagine his joy when he told me that a new relative of his had gifted him ten thousand galleons for his own use exclusively. Ron has never had much money but this amount of money will quite literally change his life. He understands the value of every knut he gets. You do not!" he said seriously without anger.
"Well in fairness the Weasley's have always been poor so any amount of money to them will be rich indeed. I however have always been richer than rich. Please consent to giving me a raise son" he said as kindly as he could.
"How much were you thinking of? Tell me and then we can talk" he said seriously.
"Well I was thinking of sixty thousand a month only. You know it will not even put a dent in our remaining funds. We are after all very rich" he said as Jim surprised him.
"Wait here. I will return. Make yourself at home I just have something I need to do" he said leaving and telling Harry via their bond he needed to meet him in an unused classroom near the office. Harry came at once.
"Hello Jim what's up?" he asked hugging his brother briefly.
"Hello Harry I am good. I know that mum gave you half of the Potter fortune and I will never ask for it back as you have truly earned it and the right to do with it what you see fit. Dad gets ten thousand galleons a month from me but has come here to ask me for sixty thousand a month. He wants a raise. What would you do in my place? I know what I will do I just value your opinion" he said as Harry looked thoughtful.
"Well there is no love lost between me and James but forgetting for a moment that it is him I would be asking him why he needs the raise in allowance and what he intends to spend it on. If he could prove he did legitimately need the money then I would give it to him. Factor in that it is James however and I'd leave him to stew in it for a while before giving him a raise just not the one he wants. I was so happy to hear about your soul friend bond with Ron. He's wonderful. I have one myself with Neville and I would be lost without him. I must go now because I promised mum I'd get her something and she'll be waiting for me" he said as he once more hugged his twin and left.
It would seem since making up himself and Jim were a lot more tactile then they had been at the start. Neither of them had thought it would be so but it was. They often hugged when they met up and seemed to need to do it too. They often communicated via their bond and both loved to get clarification from the other when a decision needed to be made like Jim had just done now. They nearly always knew already what they wanted to do but needed the opinion of their twin just to be sure it would be the right thing. He entered the room to find James sitting on the table with some tea which had been brought in for him.
"Sorry about that I was brewing a potion and it needed to be switched off. I almost forgot about it but did not thank goodness. Now as for this raise you are looking for I see no problem with it at all. Please tell me why you need it and what you intend to use it for as I may be able to help you out if you need me to buy you something you cannot afford right now" he said as James looked furious. He couldn't explain why he needed the new money.
"Well clothes and things for the baby are not cheap and then there are the bills to pay as well. My job only pays so much son and I would appreciate not having to worry about where each galleon goes. I am not used to this and it is deeply troubling for me" he said with a slightly visible grimace. It had taken all of his strength to find even those reasons as to why he would need more money. Thinking so much was not his strong suit. He was a doer and not a thinker at all if his mannerisms were anything to go by.
"I had no idea about that. I guess going from one extreme to the next is not healthy. However you will admit that ten thousand galleons is a lot of money and that in the hands of someone better it would indeed last them the month. You have terrible management skills. I will give you a raise but I am not happy about it. You will get one raise and nothing more then that. Now let's see. Ok you will now get thirty thousand a month which should be enough for both of you. I already told you I will set up an educational fund for your new son so he can have all of his educational needs met by me. There is no reason he shouldn't have an education even with your terrible choice making skills. Do you need anything else?" he asked as James looked furious beyond belief.
"Well then that will just have to suffice. Yes could you ask Lavender to come here and see me as I need to talk to her about something important? It is important I introduce myself" he said as Jim agreed and left at once. Lavender entered shocked when she was blasted with a bone breaking curse to the legs which shattered upon contact making her scream out in pain and fall to the floor.
"No one ever attacks my Violet and gets away with it. You scumbag slut! You will live with us at the end of the year and you will tow the line so help me Merlin!" he snapped as she fired off a spell and bound him in ropes so he couldn't escape. She sent a message to Dumbledore via Patronus about what had happened and he arrived seeing James bound and frowned at the situation before him. She was only able to cast the spell as she had inherited the natural ability of effortless spell casting with her ladyship ring. What was he meant to do now? He added another spell so James couldn't leave at all and left with Lavender taking her back to the hospital wing. Jim was there visiting Ron who'd had a potions accident and was in the process of getting healed when a very broken Lavender came in crying in pain.
"What the hell happened to her?" he asked in full concern. He'd never seen her so sore and quite frankly broken looking in his life. She was obviously literally broken but looked broken inside too.
"Unfortunately James Potter is what happened to her. She has bound him in the office and I have added protections so he isn't going anywhere for now. You are his head of house what do you want to do about this?" he asked as Jim smirked. He had a elf deliver a letter to the bank stating that no money was to go to James Potter now.
"He will get no financial aid from me now whatsoever and he can like it or lump it. I am so sorry Lavender. What else would you like me to do about him?" he asked Lavender who was slowly healed by an angry Madam Pomfrey who wanted to help her out but couldn't as it was a matter for Lord Potter to deal with and not her.
"Well Jim I can see you have cut him off financially. Seeing him living in ruins would be fun however violet is still my mother even if I do hate her. Would it be possible to set up a fund for our little brother that can only be accessed to buy him things he needs? Like they would have to sign a contract with a blood quill stating that everything they withdraw from that vault would be used only for him?" she asked as he looked thoughtful.
"Yes indeed that will be doable. He will never go without don't you worry about that. He didn't ask to be born or to have pricks as parents. Between us both you and me will do all we can for him. As of right now though I have no choice but to call an auror here and tell them what he did. If he gets fired for it then so be it. It would teach him a valuable lesson that being that he is no longer in control and should leave things to the big boys!" he smirked.
"Oh Jim I'm so sorry about your sister" said Ron comforting Jim who smiled at him.
"Thank you Ron. You truly are the best friend I could ever have. And actually for your birthday coming up I am going to give you the gift which was denied to my father as he didn't earn it!" he said calling his elf to him who he gave written instructions to and had her sent to the bank.
"What did you just do Jim?" Ron asked feeling highly nervous.
"Well dad wanted sixty thousand galleons and I told him he could only have thirty but you have more kindness in your whole body then he has in his little finger. You will not waste money and know how to use it properly. I must say Ron I am happy you ended up in Hufflepuff it has well and truly been the making of you. Happy early birthday!" he said handing Ron the note which had come from the bank stating that Sixty thousand galleons had been added to Ron's ten thousand in his vault and that forty thousand would be added at Christmas as requested.
Ron would have one hundred thousand galleons by the end of the year from Jim alone and was so totally overwhelmed by the situation that he cried.
"Thank you so very much Jim. You know if I had it I would give it to you too. This will forever change my life you have no idea you really don't. I love you Jim!" he said hugging his best friend who smiled brightly at him.
"I love you too Ron you know that. Best friends forever. I wouldn't know what to get you so I will just be giving you this each year and Christmas. I know it sounds boring as hell but that way you can get your own gift whenever you like. Most people give millions as gifts but I think one hundred thousand a year for ten years will give you the million anyway and it will be worth it for me. I would suggest buying yourself a house now so it can be ready for the future when you leave school but that is just advice from me you don't have to take it if you don't like!" he said as Ron looked so shocked. His own house!
Being in Hufflepuff his grades had sky rocketed. He had been essentially told where to go by everyone there when he tried to slack off and noticed as soon as he started to work hard he had loads of friends. This worked as a great incentive for him as he didn't want to end up friendless and hated which was a possibility in Hufflepuff if you didn't pull your own weight. Molly was stunned to get his report card home with all of her other sons and see that he was getting O's in everything but History. He was failing History actually but considering who taught it she didn't care. She got the notification from the bank that Ron and Jim had been involved in the soul friend bond and that Jim had set up a direct debit for Ron to the tune of one hundred thousand galleons a year. It even said Ron had been instructed to buy his own house now so he had somewhere to go when he graduated school where his parents could visit him. She was so proud of him. She showed Arthur who was equally proud of him. They both knew that via his soul friend bond and Jim becoming Lord Potter in the meantime it would make Ron more mature. Not too mature though but he would at least understand more why certain adult decisions needed to be made without questioning everything all the time as he did before his friend soul bond.
Ron asked Jim's elf to bring him a home prospectus to look at. He could see the sense in it at once. He'd use the remaining money to buy whatever he wanted to. He was still a kid after all but preparing for the future sounded so nice to him. Ron took the homes prospectus she'd handed to him and looked through it. He found loads of manors which wasn't something he was ever interested in owning. Yes they looked fancy more so then anything he'd ever seen but it wasn't realistic to him at all. He'd practically drown in a manor he could tell. He kept looking as manor after manor passed him by on the pages. Then he ended up in the fancy cottage section and smiled. This was more like it. It wasn't full of boring old cottages but slightly fancy versions which weren't outrageous manors and would be perfect for him.
He found one there which was wonderful for fifty thousand galleons and decided to take it. It had four bedrooms in it and was designed in Danish way. He read on to see what that meant. When you entered the house you had your hallway and then your living room off to the right which was large and spacious. On the second door to your right hand side was a spacious office. Then once back in the main hall you would go up a flight of stairs to reach the kitchen, dinning room and bathroom. Going back down to the main hallway you would continue to go down another flight of stairs which lead to the bedrooms. There was another bathroom down here and the master bedroom had its own walk in closet and bathroom. It looked perfect. There were a couple of acres of land included too and he bought it after showing it to Jim.
"Well Ron that looks wonderful dear. Your parents would be very proud indeed" said Madam Pomfrey who had been observing him and giggled when he blushed.
"Thank you ma'am. It is my aim to please them whenever I can. What do you think Jim?" he asked his best friend who was smiling so brightly at him.
"I think Ron you have wonderful taste. Now go on and spend that money on some sweets. I know you want to!" he said winking as Ron cheered and spent one hundred galleons on owl order sweets and feeling very naughty for doing it at all. He'd have them for the whole year and was delighted. Being in Hufflepuff had taught him how to carefully ration and enjoy things. He learned he didn't need to stuff his face at meals or eat everything he ever got in one go. It wasn't going to go anywhere and he wasn't at home where fighting over meals often ensued. He was so happy. Since the soul friend bond he had inherited some of Jim's maturity when he'd become Lord Potter. Not a lot of it mind you but enough to know that purchasing a house now for his future would be a sensible choice.
Molly had felt guilty reading Ron's good report. She had always loved her son but since having a daughter he did seem to have become just another son for her which she now saw and realised he shouldn't have. When you have so many kids it's only natural that this would happen but still it shouldn't. She had vowed to make each of her kids always feel important no matter what. Mike had taught her that anything was possible and that dreams can sometimes come true if you never give up on them. Her heart felt so full right now. Jim had had taken control and asked to have the fidelius charm put on Ron's house with Ron as the secret keeper. The spell had been reinvented so this was now a possibility which was wonderful. It took twenty minutes and a blood sample from Ron but once done Ron was able to tell him where he lived. He would tell his parents too. However Ron decided for now just to tell his parents and no one else in his family. For the first time ever he had something which was just his and he planned to enjoy it as much as he could. He could be as messy or clean as he wanted to and he didn't have to make his bed either if he chose not to. The thought was really appealing to him.
Now with Lavender on the way to being healed the Auror had arrived and had arrested James after checking the last spell he'd fired with a priori incantatem. He would not be fired from his job because he was excellent at it and a pureblood to boot which did really matter to them but he would be suspended for the month so he would need to make those ten thousand galleons last for sure. He was horrified to learn his son had cut off all funds to him but not to his new son. He then saw the contract which he and Violet were made to sign with a blood quill. He hated it but more control was necessary and he it would seem would never escape contracts in his lifetime. You did not fuck with a Lord and get away with it nor a Lady for that matter. He'd learn that lesson soon enough though.