Summary
Harry is a successful Hit Wizard, Hermione is a stay at home mum and Ron has driven his family in crippling debt while living his dream of working for the Chudley Cannons. Potions, scandals and unconventional debt payments, what could possibly go wrong?
Note RW/GW/MW bashing, with a small amount of AB bashing. Primarily a Harmony story however I have storyboarded a surprise extra for later in the story.
Rated M for language, topics covered and lemons.
Author Note
This story is based on the "Payment Plan" fanfiction written by Argo0, I liked the short story version and thought I'd flesh it out a little and ensure alignment with original book canon, note I'm excluding the "Cursed Child" simply because I disliked that story and as the author… I can 😊
Please be aware that this is my first attempt at writing fanfiction, so while I won't ask you to be nice, please keep the vitriol to a minimum, however constructive criticism is welcomed!
Chapter One – Why does it hurt?
"How is life on the home front Potter?" asked Ortwin Gorman, Harry's main partner for British-German joint Hit Wizard jobs.
"I have a beautiful wife and three wonderful children; you won't hear complaints from me. But..." Harry trailed off, unsure whether to continue.
"But what Potter, you've never thrown that on the end. Something got you questioning Ginny's loyalty?" Asked Ortwin.
"No, I'd never suspect Ginny of cheating she's the perfect wife. It's just she was really stressed when I told her I was going to be in Germany for an extended period at the last minute and since we've been here, I've been having these strange thoughts." Replied Harry.
Harry had been issued a last-minute joint extermination job by the British Ministry of Magic to assist the Germans with a serious werewolf issue they were having. Unlike a normal single hit, where you could do a lot of the research from the office using contacts and evidence, extermination jobs required long term deployment to ensure nothing is missed and being an international extermination job, he'd have restrictions placed on his communication outside of the taskforce. When Harry had floo'd home to let Ginny know, she'd almost yelled at him.
Flashback
"Absolutely not! You need to come home right away." Replied Ginny sternly "You're not to go to Germany until you come home, you can go tomorrow."
"I know you and the kids will miss me, especially since James and Albus are back for the holidays, however we can't put this off." Replied Harry "Unfortunately this is one of these no option jobs honey, I've got to run. I love you and I'll see you and the kids when I get back, I'll owl you guys when I can!"
"Wait Harry no you ne…" but Ginny was cut off as Ortwin cut the floo. "Come on Potter we are going to miss out portkey!"
Flashback Ends
"Was that the floo call you stupidly made 2 minutes before our portkey left?" asked Ortwin.
"Yeah, I know it was silly but for some reason I felt I needed to ask Ginny about the trip…" Harry trailed off again, indicating that he wasn't sure why he'd felt the driving need to floo his wife for something most of the other Hit Wizard's owl'd their wives about.
"And then there are these thoughts I've been having; I don't think I've ever questioned my life as much as I have in the last month and a half. I mean did I rush getting married, I don't regret the kids and I love them to death, but shit I had one major girlfriend who became my wife…" ranted Harry.
"Hey, from what you've told me, your school mates and everyone else was expecting you to shack up with that Hermione girl. Love works in mysterious ways Potter, maybe your love for Ginny just hit you like a dragon… or a potion" Ortwin replied jokingly with a laugh.
Harry had a moment of panic, during his fourth year Harry had started to have feelings for his female best friend, especially after the Tri-Wizard Tournament's Yule Ball, seeing Hermione dressed up to the nines had broken through to Harry in a way and made him see everything about her in a new light. He had sworn to himself that at the end of the tournament he was going to sit down with Hermione and confess everything.
That didn't happen however, Voldemort returned, Cedric died, and Dumbledore had stopped anyone communicating with him over the holidays. Then suddenly he'd found his desires shift from Hermione to Ginny, it started at Grimmauld place but continued through their fifth year. It suddenly seemed odd to Harry how that occurred. He could have sworn he was head over heels for Hermione and couldn't come to terms with why he got so angry with her that holiday break, it was Dumbledore's fault after all, not Hermione's. And the feelings for Ginny, he'd barely spoken to her in the four years he'd known her. Sure, she was pretty but as he thought back to those times she was almost a female Ron. Besides snogging the main discussion topics were Quidditch, the war and homework.
Harry thought back to the joke Ortwin had made and panicked a little.
"Hey Ortwin, how would I know if I was being potioned?" He shakingly asked.
"It was a joke Potter, don't stress."
"Well, I'm not joking" yelled Harry aggressively "I'm having a serious panic attack over here Ortwin, how the fuck do I find out if I've been potioned!"
"Ok, ok, chill Potter. Look once we've taken this pack out, I'll drag you to the German hospital and we can have a full suite of checks done on you ok. I don't know why you're panicking though, we Hit Wizards are screened regularly as part of our ICW mandated annual physicals." responded Ortwin in a slightly offended tone.
"We have physicals?" responded Harry questioningly.
"Scheisse Potter, maybe it's one of those things you don't need to worry about since you killed The Dark Lord" responded Ortwin laughing again "But I wouldn't worry, you've been happily married for 20 years now. No one as Light as the Weasley family would potion someone, especially for that long.
Harry however, wasn't feeling as confident…
Post Story Author Note
Short first chapter, under 1k words if you exclude the extended summary and AN. I just wanted to call out a few things, being an Australian I write in British English. At this stage, I have about 7 chapters storyboarded, meaning I've got the story planned out but not written so this is going to be updated quickly. I'm aiming for a chapter a month if I can.
I look forward to feedback, though not expecting much given it's only the first chapter.
FYI, Scheisse is shit in German. Also the name is from a random German name generator, I did google it to quickly check and it doesn't appear to be tied to anything controversial but I only checked the front search page so apologies if it's some random questionable politician in Germany lol.