Ch 103: New Normal
They'd been back from Haiti for a while and were very slowly settling into a new routine. Hermione would head off to her office each morning, and Ron would head to one of his jobs. When they got home in the evening they tried to go for a walk a few nights a week, to visit with the ladies at the care home at least once a week, and tried to spend time with the Potters, Melissa or Michael and Fatima when they could. Some nights they would stay up later and talk about the Haiti plan or even watch a movie together. But, all in all it was rather quiet and anticlimactic after their trips to America, France and Haiti across August and September.
One mid-October Sunday found them all at The Burrow for the regular Sunday meal, and Ron couldn't help but notice how strangely quiet it seemed. There were still fourteen adults there, but with only Louis and Rox, who quickly disappeared from the larger group, it was quiet. Ron laughed to himself thinking of when he'd counted Teddy and Vic as kids, but now they were politely chatting about their wedding plans with the other adults, which all made Ron feel very old. After dinner, Ron excused himself and wandered up the stairs to find his niece and nephew in his old bedroom.
"Hi, Uncle Ron," Louis said. "What are you doing up here? Is it ok we're in your old room?"
"What? Oh, of course, Louis. I was just coming to see what you two were up to."
"Playing exploding snap. It is way too boring down there with nothing but boring grown up talk. We can't wait until the holidays when everyone is home again. It's so boring being the last of the grandchildren," lamented Rox.
"Yeah, at least we're the same age so we'll both go to school together next year, and there won't be any single kid left to the boring adults," Louis added.
"Yeah, I guess you're right. Hey, can I play with you two?"
"Really?"
"Yeah. Hugo and I played a lot, but it's not really Hermione's game. I miss it I guess."
"Sure, have a seat, we'll deal you in," Louis said.
"Yeah, and then we'll kick your arse," laughed Rox.
"Lovely. You are so your father's kid," George chuckled.
Around an hour later, Hermione appeared at the bedroom door. "I wondered where you had gone off to. Have you been up here the whole time?"
"Well, since dinner," he shrugged sheepishly.
She chuckled. "Did you at least win?"
"Not a chance!" yelled Rox.
Ron rolled his eyes. "Well, I beat Louis anyway."
"Well, come on. I need to get home as I have to be in the office early tomorrow."
"Alright. I'll finish this round and be right down."
Once he'd lost to Rox one last time, he wound his way down the familiar steps to the sitting room where he found his wife and sister chatting. They said their goodnights and floo'd home.
"Did you have fun?" Hermione asked.
"Are you picking on me?"
"No. It was an earnest question. I know you miss your evenings with Hugo. So, I'm hoping some kid time with Rox and Louis helped."
"A bit. I enjoyed it, but yeah, made me miss him a bit more I suppose," he said sadly.
"It will get easier," she said as she moved her arms around him.
"Really?" he asked skeptically.
"Really," she promised as she kissed him deeply, instantly arousing him.
Pulling back, he grinned. "Well yeah, that's definitely better."
Later that week he was at the shop working on some supplier contracts when his mobile rang. Seeing it was Hermione, he grinned and picked it up.
"Hey there, love."
"Hi, yourself. Do you happen to have time to have lunch today?"
"Um, I could do that if you are up for a late lunch. I promised I'd cover for George when he goes to some school thing of Rox's. But he should be back by 1. Would that work?"
"Yeah. That'll work. Why don't you pick up some take away and just come to the office. I wanted to go over some things with you if you have time."
"Will do. What are you in the mood for?"
"Anything but curry," she said.
"Right," he said laughing but agreeing with her. "My stomach still tumbles at just the word. So, I'll be there in a few hours."
"Perfect."
Ron arrived at her building just after 1:30 and made his way to her office. They set up the sandwiches and crisps in the conference room and tucked in, laughing over some amusing customer stories from the shop that morning.
As he finished his last bite, Ron said, "So, what is it we need to look at?"
"Hold on, let me fetch the papers." She ducked out as he cleaned up their wrappers from lunch. "OK, here we go," she said flipping through a large stack of file folders. "Do you remember when we first started talking about this and you said you hadn't looked in a while but thought there was about 10 million pounds?"
"Yeah," he asked nervously. "Is there not enough to do the stuff we want in Haiti?"
"Oh no, that's not a problem. It's just – well – when was the last time you looked at all of the investments?"
"Um. Definitely not since the accident. And, well, I guess it had been a while before that. So, it could be maybe five years? Maybe more? I would just write to the account manager and ask him to give away a set percent divided between certain groups. But, then I haven't done that in at least two, maybe three years now. Why?"
"Well, I know you had let the investment group know you were shifting things over and that you added me to the account. So, I met with a Mr. Simon Mullerton."
"Yeah – Simon. That's his name."
"Right. Well, let's say there is significantly more than $10 million pounds."
"Really?" Ron asked nervously, nose and forehead scrunched at the thought.
"It's not a bad thing, love."
"No, I know that," he sighed, running his hand through his hair. "It's just – well – I guess it really does feel a bit like a burden at times. I feel like I need to spend it wisely, and apparently I can't even keep track of how much there is. Simon just makes sure I have a set amount in my account each month, and I don't worry about the rest. Seems irresponsible or something."
"Trust me," she said. "Turning the money you were given into a large sum of money to give away is hardly irresponsible."
"OK. You're avoiding it. How much?"
"You really want to know?"
He nodded, but his eyes were squeezed shut.
"OK. The investment total- not counting what's in our personal bank accounts that we access regularly – the total is more than $100 million pounds."
"Shite," he said as his eyes popped open and his face paled.
"Yeah, that wasn't my reaction," she laughed.
"How did I miss that?"
"Because you are an amazing man who does not focus on material things. And because your account manager watches out for you. I know he doesn't know why, but the famous smart investor you said was a brother of a muggle born you saved in the war? Yeah, he is one of the most famous investors in America, love. So, when that person told your investment house to take care of you, they do what he says. Apparently they have to personally account to him if they make a bad investment on your behalf, and none of them are willing to make that call."
"Really?"
"Really."
"OK. So, what did Simon say about everything other than the fact I can't keep track of my money?"
"Well, I think he's glad that there is someone helping you who is more familiar with economics and the financial markets. He looked visibly relieved when I explained I was a solicitor."
"That makes two of us."
"Well, yes. But, he loved the idea of leaving a large sum in principle to keep growing, but to shift a significant portion to the foundation's control. He was rather tickled at how we set it up as anonymous funders but that I am the hired Foundation Director. I believe he called it 'bloody brilliant.' He also loved the things I told him about Haiti. He even offered to be one of the business mentors in our program."
"That's wonderful!"
"Yeah. I think so too. Kind of makes me trust him even more. But, I went ahead and did the paperwork to have some set up in accounts to care for our parents and the kids if anything were to happen to the other money. Shifted it into safer investments like bonds and cash. It won't grow much, but it won't drop either. Then, well, I hope it's ok, I went ahead and paid off the mortgage on my old house and my parents' house."
"Brilliant. Sorry – I should have done that before now. I'm sorry I didn't think of it."
"Don't apologize. It's perfectly fine. And I went ahead and did it without asking first, which honestly, I feel shows great progress on my part in feeling comfortable with all of this."
He gave her a lopsided grin. "You're right. And I hope you know how happy that makes me. Clearly I wasn't up to the challenge of handling such a burdensome gift. So, I am so grateful you are in this with me."
"I also managed to send an anonymous donation to the art center and to Rose and Hugo's primary school to fund the arts program."
He simply grinned.
"And finally, I went ahead and set up the fund for Hogwarts that we had talked about to help provide tuition and some 'extras' to the students who need help getting wands, books, robes, brooms or other supplies. McGonagall was shocked and falling over herself with gratitude. She begged to know who the family was, but of course I kept their identity a strict secret. She gave me a funny look which makes me wonder if she suspected something, but she simply said she would send me a thank you note to pass along to the family, which I of course promised I would do."
"That sounds like an incredibly productive and fun morning."
"It was, actually. I felt a bit like Father Christmas," she laughed.
"Excellent. But that was the easier stuff, wasn't it? I mean, the Haiti work will be harder, won't it?"
"Yeah. It will. And now that I understand how much larger this foundation is from a financial perspective I think we need to bring on some actual staff."
"Don't sell yourself short. You're actual staff."
"OK. Ok, sure. But I meant other people. I am not totally sure which skill sets we need first, but definitely someone who can help evaluate programs and monitor progress as well as someone to do basic assistant work like manage schedules and organize the office."
"Whatever you think, love. You know that."
She smiled at him. "Ok. Thanks. Well, I guess I'll figure out how to get started on all of that. I would love to hire squibs or maybe some muggle born witches or wizards if we can so we can be open about magic but functional in the muggle world. I wonder how you figure out if there is a squib network of sorts?"
"Well, I would say your first call should be to Fatima."
"That's brilliant! I will do exactly that."
Ron chuckled. "Well, clearly my work here is done. I'm headed back to the shop but should be home by 6."
"Good. See you then," she said as she gave him a quick kiss and walked him out.
