Chapter Four - A New Perspective

Authors Note

I'm blown away by the response this is getting and appreciate the favourites and follows! Please don't hesitate to leave reviews, any feedback on the story is certainly welcome!

Also, just a quick comment on the economic setup here. As detailed in my initial Summary, I aim to align with canon as well as I can. Given this I'm using the exchange rate located on the Harry Potter Fandom site, which has 1G at £4.93. When I wrote the last chapter, I had this multiplied by ten which is why I used 10,000G as the payout to Ginny. I've updated this to be 100,000 at the same time I'm uploading this chapter to align the economics of everything.

I hope you find the above helpful in trying to consider the economic impacts of the numbers in this story, lord knows the rate varies between stories…

Wednesday April 5th, 2017 - 2 weeks after the settlement was approved.

Hermione began her day as she always did any other weekday, woken by the lovely sounds of her husband getting up to head off to work. When they'd first married, he'd been an Auror alongside that blasted Potter, but Ron had decided to follow his dreams and become the security manager for the Chudley Cannons. A plus of this change had been the normalisation of Ron's schedule, he now effectively worked 9-5 Monday to Friday and just had to be available if one of his staff had an issue out of hours. Hermione had been in full support of this change as not only did she get to see more of Ron, but he got to follow his dream as well.

Hermione followed Ron out of bed but headed to the kitchen instead of the bathroom as she needed to prepare breakfast for him and little Hugo, who would be up soon to get ready for Primary school. As always, she took inspiration from Molly and prepared a Full English Breakfast, with enough grease to sink a battleship. Ron needed the energy after all for his workday.

Ron waddled in just as Hermione finished preparing breakfast, as he sat down, he said "Where is my coffee and why are the mushies burnt 'Mione?"

Hermione hadn't liked the pet name at first but since Ron had given it to her, she cherished it. Being a stay-at-home mum, she rarely left the house for anything but shopping and Burrow visits. Again, this had bothered her at first, but she understood, things were tight at the moment, since security managers made significantly less than Aurors, but as Ron said it is simply the price of him living out his dream. We don't all have everything like Potter, Ron had pointed out that he just gets everything handed to him and it's unfair on Ron, since he did just as much during the war. My poor Ron…

Wednesday April 19th, 2017

Hermione woke, as she normally did to the sound of her husband getting out of bed for work. She realised that this morning he sounded a little less excited about work but decided not to ask. On autopilot she headed towards the kitchen but instead of preparing Ron's Full English, she made him some porridge. She'd realised in the last two weeks that Ron didn't need a Full English every day, he sat behind a desk all day and read reports afterall. Since changing to the Security Manager role, he'd put on an obscene amount of weight and almost reminded her of Potter's Uncle Vernon.

As her husband waddled out, he suddenly got quite agitated. "Where is my breakfast 'Mione? All I can see on the table is this slop!"

Hermione sighed "It's not slop dear, it's porridge. Even you'll admit you've put on some pounds since you stopped being an Auror and so I'm restricting you to one Full English a week." She ended the sentence with a tone that said 'Don't talk back'.

Ron looked dejected at the porridge but recognising that he wasn't going to get anywhere (He certainly wasn't going to cook, that is the wife's job!) he wolfed down the porridge and rushed out the door.

After Ron had left, Hermione started on a grocery list for that week, however once finished began scratching unnecessary items off since they couldn't afford it. Hermione had asked yesterday about their position given the drop in income, but Ron had assured her that his investments would start paying off soon and not to worry. She cut that memory off, after all who was she to question her husband… right?

Wednesday April 26th, 2017

Hermione woke quite irritated; she'd been having trouble sleeping and decided to sleep on the couch in the living room. Ron, due to his weight, snored quite loudly, louder than he ever had back at Hogwarts or during the Horcrux hunt and the last few days she hadn't been able to block it out.

They had started fighting the weekend past, as Hermione had held her ground when it came to Ron's diet, and she'd also asked about money. Ron's response had irritated her to no end, simply stating "Money is the man's concern 'Mione, you just worry about a wife's duties, the kitchen, the kids and the bedroom…" that line had set Hermione off.

"Ronald Bilius Weasley, how dare you speak to me like that. I'm an intelligent, driven woman and there is more to me than those three things!"
Ron had simply stormed off after being spoken too like that, but the cogs started turning in Hermione's head. She'd said those things about herself, and believed them, however what had she done in the past 20 years. Once the Battle for Hogwarts had finished, Hermione's life seemed to run on out-of-control overdrive. One minute she was kissing Ron, the next they were getting married, then the house, then kids. She'd never finished her studies and never gotten a job. Why didn't these things bother her in the past?

In her fourth year she had plans, she was going to reform the Ministry of Magic from the inside and strive to reach the highest office she could, understanding that in its current setup the Minister of Magic position was out of reach for a Muggle Born witch. She wanted to write books and develop magic but then she seemed to lose all her drive. Fifth year saw them battling The Pink Toad and helping Potter with the DA, sixth year was their most normal year, with the most outstanding event in her mind being fighting with Potter over that stupid potions book with her spending most of her time trying to save Ron's grades, that then flowed into the Horcrux hunt where she was stuck with Potter after Ron left them (understandably needing a break), then Battle of Hogwarts and the rest, as they say, is history.

Speaking of Potter, I wonder how he is…

Wednesday May 4th, 2017

Hermione couldn't stand it anymore; Ron was driving her insane... What did she see in him in the first place?

When she thought back to their school years, all they ever did was fight and this seems to have started again! The only thing that brought them together at school was Harry, who she realised she hadn't spoken too in over a decade… why was that?

"'Mione, just because we are fighting doesn't mean I don't get breakfast and why are you just lazing on the couch anyway. There is plenty of housework still to be done" Ron said as he waddled into the kitchen/dining area.

Hermione was relaxing on the couch reading an interesting Arithmancy book that concentrated on defensive charm development and modification. She'd borrowed it from Ted when she'd seen him over the weekend at The Burrow.

"Stop calling me that, I told you yesterday I don't like that name, Merlin knows I didn't like it when we were in school, and I don't like it now. Regarding my "lazing about" as you put it, I'm reading a book, something I've not done in what feels like forever and lastly, given you don't do any of the housework yourself I won't have you commenting on when it needs to be done." Hermione responded as calmly as possible; she'd like to avoid fighting while Hugo was home.

"What about my breakfast?" Ron asked, still quite agitated.

"It is porridge Ron, pot, oats, water and heat. If you can't work it out maybe you're better off not eating." Hermione responded with a little more heat this time. Ron just huffed and waddled out the door.

Hermione put the book down and began getting everything ready for Hugo's school day, while she did this, she started planning for the monthly Weasley ladies catch up.

Molly, Ginny and Hermione caught up each month just to have tea and scones, while chatting aimlessly. Given their financial position Hermione treasures these few hours each month as Molly brings the scones and Ginny the tea. Her little time to spoil herself each month since they couldn't afford such frivolities at the moment. On that topic she really needed to get access to the bank statements regardless of what Ron said about duties...

***Line break***

As Hermione walked back into the house after dropping Hugo off at school, she began planning out two letters she wanted to send. The first was to Gringotts, she'd request a breakdown of their financial position, goblins didn't care about wizard thoughts of marriage, she was jointly on the accounts so wouldn't get any pushback from them. The second was to Harry, she wasn't sure why she'd been avoiding him, but she was certainly putting a stop to it now. She had to be quick though, as she was expecting Molly and Ginny to arrive any moment now. It took her a few goes but she finally got the letter finished.

Dear Account Manager Knifelicker,

Please send me a complete breakdown of mine and my husband's accounts as soon as possible. I have become aware of some recent changes that may be negatively impacting our financial position as a family and I want to assess how well positioned we are as a family to weather this unfortunate period.

I look forward to your response.

Mrs Hermione Jean Weasley

She set the letter down to dry and then checked the time, unfortunately she wasn't going to have time to write Harry's letter. Actually, come to think of it, Molly and Ginny should be here already… Hermione got up to make a floo call.

"The Burrow" she said, throwing a pinch of floo powder into the fire.

"Molly? Arthur? Are you there?"

"Oh, Hermione how are you?" Arthur's voice came through.

"I'm good Arthur however I was expecting your wife and daughter over about ten minutes ago, is Molly there?"

"Not at the moment, she is over at Ginny's place helping reorganise the place since Harry left." Arthur said sadly.

"WHAT? What happened Arthur, why did Harry move out?"

"Oh, did Ron not tell you? Harry and Ginny got divorced, I've not been told the details, but I do know James and Albus are living with Ginny in Hogsmeade and Lily is living with Harry, I think he moved back to Grimmauld…" Arthur said with a mixed level of confidence.

"Thanks Arthur, I'll try Hogsmeade."

"Not a problem Hermione. Give Ron my love." Arthur said as Hermione closed off the floo.

What has been going on, what else had she missed being locked up in this house… If Ron was withholding information as large as the breakdown of Harry and Ginny's marriage, what else was he hiding? She raced back to the study and grabbed the Gringotts letter, now more eager than ever to get a clear picture of their situation. Placing the dried letter into an envelope and sending it off by owl, hoping for a quick response. She then sat back down and began drafting the letter to Harry.

***Line break***

Hermione spent the next two hours trying to get the letter right but every letter she wrote just sounded wrong. The letters were either coming off too familiar, given she hadn't spoken to him and in some cases had been antagonistic over the past decade, or it came off as cold and distant which she didn't want. Harry used to be her best friend, and at some point she had hoped for more, they had done everything together and then just one day they had fallen apart…

As Hermione began her 5th time attempt at the letter to Harry, she heard pecking at the window. When she looked up, she noticed two owls, one was the family owl, which when she opened the window quickly flew to its perch, the second was a Gringotts owl, which flew across to her desk and waited to have the letters removed.

Hermione unstrapped the letters from the Gringotts owl, which quickly took to the air again and flew straight out the window. Hermione noticed that there were three envelopes, the first was quite thin while alternatively the other two were quite thick. She quickly reasoned that the first was likely a letter from Knifelicker, while the other two must be the statement of accounts she'd requested. She quickly opened the letter and began reading.

Dear Mrs. Hermione Jean Weasley,

We at Gringotts are glad you've finally decided to respond to our requests, we have not heard from you directly in some time and given the tardiness of your husband in responding to our latest demands we will now address these items with you.

Oh Merlin, what has Ron done that has the goblins making demands… Hermione continued reading.

As I'm sure you're aware, your accounts were initially in fantastic standing due to the awards you and your husband received at the end of the last war, however some recent leveraged investments made by you and your husband have gone poorly, with most of the businesses closing down or debt holders defaulting. We had stressed at the time that real estate or Gringotts bonds were better options, but your husband was adamant that he knew better than a Goblin.

Hermione remembered the Order of Merlin First Class the three of them had received at the end of the war, in addition to recognition they also received an award of 100,000 galleons each. With 200,000 galleons they could have lived quite comfortably from small withdrawals alongside Ron's job… Merlin what had he done with the money...

In addition to the margin debts outstanding to The Bank, Gringotts has been made aware of some other unsecured debt that has been obtained from non-bank entities. Given this development the bank has serious concerns with your ability to service the outstanding debt with Gringotts. Please contact us within the next month on how you plan to meet the repayments or restructure the debt, failure to do so will lead to Gringotts seizing any assets held by your family and as per our right, may seize assets of your wider family.

We look forward to a positive outcome.

Regards

Account Manager Knifelicker.

Hermione's world seemed to fall away from her. She quickly opened the other envelopes and began devouring the statements. She quickly discovered that they were indebted to the bank near enough 150,000 galleons and the repayments had been quickly draining away their savings. Ron's wage had effectively been covering living expenses and the repayments but there were strange withdrawals that started off small but began to eat up more and more of Ron's wage. To the point where they barely had enough to cover living expenses, leaving nothing for debt repayments. Hermione assumed that these were the repayments for the non-bank debt that Knifelicker had referred to.

Hermione suddenly realised that it wasn't just their life that was in trouble here. Knifelicker referred to "…your wider family." meaning Gringotts might try to take her parent's home and retirement assets and The Burrow from the Weasley's.

Hermione looked over at the letter she had begun writing to Harry, she paused for a moment, considering asking for help... She quickly scrunched it up and threw it in the fireplace. No, she refused to ask him, she ruined their friendship from what she could tell, and she felt terrible for even entertaining the idea.

Hermione sat there stressing about what she could do, where her family would live and how she would protect her parents, when there was a quiet knock at the door.

Thinking it was Molly and Ginny, she rushed to the door, pausing only a moment to ensure she was presentable (not wanting to let on about their issues) and then pulled the door open. Freezing when she saw who it was.

"Hey Hermione… long time no see." Said Harry Potter, standing there awkwardly.

Authors Notes

So, I'm not going to lie, this was likely the hardest chapter for me to write. Although I love Hermione as a character and Harmony is one of my favourite pairings (up there with Honks and Haphne) however trying to write Hermione coming off potions, while conveying the breakdown of her and Ron's relationship was challenging, and I still don't think I got this. I was expecting to land around the 3,500-word mark and ended up at 2,700…

To give you an idea of how difficult this has been for me, I moved onto Chapter Five and I'm already 1,900 words deep without breaking a sweat.