Title: Diverging Reality
Fandom: Harry Potter
Characters: Harry, Ron, Hermione, some Ginny
Chapter: 8
Word Count: 1547
Warnings: nothing

Edited by: eiliagh
AN: My hips and back is killing me. I did to much (shopping then baking the next day). So I'm paying it so I'm resting currently but here, have this story.

Ron shoved his hands into his pockets and groaned. He was being forced by his mother to talk to Harry about how he was treating Ginevra. He walked over to where Harry was studying in the common room and flopped down., Harry looked up as he raised an eyebrow. "Is something wrong, Ron?" Hermione asked almost absently as she barely lifted her eyes from her book before she returned to it.

Ron groaned again. "I've just had Ginny complain at me for the last hour about how you're not spending any time with her lately," he said, rubbing his face. "And mom is making me talk to you about how you've been 'so cold' to her."

Harry simply raised an eyebrow at him, trying to figure out just where Ron stood on the whole matter when it came to his upcoming marriage. "I do spend time with her as the contract dictates. I just do not spend the time that she wishes to dictate I would, as is my right as the Heir of a Most Ancient and Noble House," he stated. He closed the book in his hand with a frown. "What exactly is she saying?" he asked.

Rong grunted as he slumped down on the couch, hands on his stomach. "She's saying that you've refused to take her out on real dates. That the contract says that you need to," he said. "But since I'm not one of the signatories and don't know what the contract says, I told her to talk to dad and mum about it because it's not my place. As I said, mum told me to come talk to you."

Harry clicked his tongue and shook his head. "Such improper behavior of a future wife of the Black and Potter families to air out her issues to her family. Especially since I give her everything that the contract tells me I have to. Tell me, has she been bitching about her allowance?" he asked. Ron just gave him a 'no duh' look. "I see. As I told her when I gave her the key to her vault, that is the amount that I am allowed to give to her under the charters of my families. The lower number always takes precedence since it was the max amount that I could allow her under the Black Family charters," he explained. "If she had read the tomes that I had given her, the same tomes that all brides of my families get, she would know this. This is basic etiquette for the noble houses I am heir to," he said.

Ron sighed as he slumped even more. "To Ginny, if it wasn't taught by mum, then it's not important information. And mum has never been one to teach the etiquette for the Families," he admitted as he rubbed his face. "Calls it all hogwash, even though she's a Prewitt."

"Isn't the Prewitt family an Ancient and Most Noble House? About even with the Malfoy name in the political arenas and moneywise, aren't they?" Hermione asked, looking up from her book.

"Yeah, but mum did a stupid thing when she was young and broke a marriage contract to get dad without doing the proper thing and just requesting it to be broken. She can't inherit. Me, the twins, and Charlie were all pulled aside when we turned fifteen and told that at any time we could take up the heirship for the Prewitt family if we wanted," Ron admitted. He blushed slightly. "We all got the books for it."

"So why haven't you or your brothers taken it up then?" Harry asked. He was rather curious about this. Ron scrunched up his nose.

"With Charlie, he'd have to leave Romania and he doesn't want to. He's on the fast track to becoming the director of the preserver that he's at before he's thirty. The twins did consider it but they still have their shop to think about and wouldn't have nearly enough time to spend on the whole 'Lords' thing if they did take up the rings," Ron admitted. "Me? I'm still in school and watching this bunch of shite go down."

"I take it that you're not happy about the fact that Harry is being forced to marry your sister?" Hermione asked him, tilting her head to stare at him.

Ron wrinkled his nose and shook his head. "I would be, sure, if it was happening naturally. I would have loved the fact that he was my brother by choice and by law. But since he's not wanting it, and by the way he's been treating everyone involved so coldly, I am not happy." He shifted in his seat. "I actually wrote to Krum to ask him if he could get me a book from Bulgaria when I heard about the contract. The Prewitts have a bunch of family over there and they still hold the original charter. I've been really thinking about if I want to take the seat and then I'll be able to separate myself from the Weasley name. I really do love most of my family but mum is mental and I want away."

"I hate to say this, Ron, but your father is a doormat when it comes to your mother," Harry told him. He pursed his lips. "I've already sent a letter to your eldest brother, William, telling him that I will not speak with your mother about the wedding, but only him," he said. Ron smirked.

"When she finds out, mum will pitch a huge fit. Kinda glad that I decided to stay here for Christmas. I know that you're leaving to do some personal business, but I'm not going back there. She's likely to demand more that I talk to you about all of this the moment that we get back here. I wouldn't be allowed to enjoy my holiday," Ron said, stretching. "At least this way, she has to wait for our owl to deliver the letter and for me to read it. Much less write back."

Hermione smirked before a frown pulled at her lips, a thought occurred to her. "Why wasn't Percy offered this when he turned fifteen?" she asked.

Ron sighed and rubbed at his hair. "He's too much a loyal Ministry lapdog. The Prewitt family doesn't stand for the kind of bullshit that they pull," he told them. "He'd end up going against the Charters of the family that say that we lead, we invest. We don't bow down to corruption and suck its dick," he told them. Harry and Hermione shared a look between them.

"Ron, if I was to offer to pay for you to make a will orb, would you be willing to go to Gringotts with me over the Christmas holidays to see about creating one?" Harry asked him. "Hermione and I both have one in our vaults, and I think that it would be a good idea for you to have one yourself."

Ron frowned at that, pushing aside the instinctive refusal, something his eldest brother had suggested he work on over the summer months, thinking about what Harry wasn't saying aloud. "This is about what mum and Ginny are doing, isn't it?" he asked. Harry nodded. "Yeah, alright. Give me a list of what I need to think about putting into my will and anything else you think I should do, and I'll do it," he finally said.

Harry relaxed, smiling at his friend as Hermione pulled out a slim book from her tote that never left her side, Lorin hissing softly from his warm pocket, and handed it over to Ron. "Yeah. You're going to have to do some reading, but you do have some time before you must worry about it," Harry teased the older male. Ron grumbled good naturedly and took the book with a nod.

The three friends shared a smile and turned to their own books, ignoring when Ginevra walked in, spotting them sitting around together, just reading in peace. She snarled, huffed and stormed up to her room, wishing that the people around her would just accept that she was right. That Harry was meant to be with her. Dumbledore and her mother had said that she was right about that, and they had signed the contract for her to marry him after all.

She stepped into her room and took a deep breath, calming herself and reminding herself of the contract that Dumbledore had written for their marriage. She was sure that she would be proven right once they had said their vows and became married. Sitting down at her personal desk next to her bed, she flipped open her journal, pulled out a dip pen that Harry had invested in and started to write out her plans, including just how she would take over the household upkeep when she was at home.

And was, of course, not busy with her social life and career.

She missed the moment when Hermione swept by her dorms and her open door with a glacier cold look on her delicate features before she continued on, sighing over the parties that she would hold in the Potter mansion.

Once she'd had it updated to her standards and a more modern look.