Life and Love After Voldemort

A week later, Ron and Harry's penthouse suite was as subdued as a Hogwarts study hall. Ron was snoozing on one of the couches, and Harry was in the adjoining lounge penning a letter to Neville. Harry was about to launch into a description of Chudders' combustible antics when a familiar-looking bit of mail was dropped like a hot potato onto Ron's lap by Pigwidgeon. It smoldered like a Howler, which jarred Ron awake and left him with a frazzled look on his face. Harry thought for an instant that Pig might've been carrying a tampered letter from a crazed fan, but there was a mail-filtering charm in place on the suite. Sure enough, the return address had "Hermione Granger" written in her handwriting.

"I better open it, then," said Ron. He broke the seal and then dove behind the couch.

Instead of screams pouring out of the Howler and berating Ron, Hermione's voice spoke in a measured tone. "Ronald, you'd better examine today's Daily Prophet if you haven't already. When you do, we'll need to talk, so send Pigwidgeon back telling me where we should engage in our discussions. Remember that I love you, and please send a message back ASAP."

Ron ran for the front door to grab their papers. A modified Howler, mused Harry. Hermione's certainly doing her part to keep the lines of communication open...

"'King' Ropes In Regal Roommate to Make Rent Payment on Castle." The front-page headline of their copies of the Daily Prophet was punctuated by photos from the Cannons-Magpies post-game celebration, two of which zoomed in on Ron and Harry's buoyant expressions as they waved and made faces at the reader. The byline was Skeeter's, as were the poisonous implications throughout the article that Ron and Harry were digesting simultaneously. Unnamed sources expressed concern over Ron's spending, and were "confident that Weasley is living beyond his means."

Skeeter painted a picture of a youngster from a cash-strapped background coming into money but not knowing how to manage it.

"As the bills have come due, one source close to the situation speculates that Weasley saw the writing on the wall and tapped his friend, teammate, and Ministry of Magic spokesman Harry Potter to again come to the rescue. Another source claims that Weasley didn't understand the terms of the contract drafted by team owner Ludovic Bagman in accordance with the league's rookie salary cap passed shortly before Weasley signed with the Cannons. 'Since players get paid by the match, someone spending as freely as Weasley is rumored to have done is going to have a significant cash flow problem.'"

"That part about not knowing all the terms is true," Ron admitted. "I wasn't completely stupid; I had Percy do a quick exam of the deal, and he thought it was fine. Then again, he's not exactly an expert on sports contracts. I never heard of the daft rule change until I signed, and I didn't know anyone who'd heard of the new rule until weeks later, even though I was following every story coming out about the Quidditch league."

Harry pressed him for the full story. "You have to admit that you were living pretty large when you started out. So what's the real deal?"

Ron admitted that cash reserves got low from the suite rental, clothes, gifts, room service, stretch-carriage rental, and the handful of parties he did have. "I had a $5 million Galleon deal, so I thought I'd be good for it, y'know?"

Ron said he relied on advice from Ludo on how to handle a lot of his rentals and purchases, and Bagman had never intimated to Ron that everything he was charging might not be covered by his actual cash flow. "Can't blame him, I guess; he's not my accountant or my dad. But I was never as out of control as Rita's painting it. For instance, I don't know what she's on about with the 'wild parties nightly' rubbish. Before you got here, I had a couple of house warming shindigs, and that's about it. Having the last party here wasn't even my idea; it was Ludo's! Most nights, I'm too knackered to do anything but sleep or play a few games of Solitaire Wizard Chess with an enchanted set I bought after I signed. I'm surprised Rita didn't slam me for that, too."

"I can just the see the headline when they do," added Harry. "'Checkmate For King Weasley: Will He Confess His Chess Mess to the Press?'" Ron groaned.

"Harry, you have to believe me that I didn't have you room here for the money. When I first found out about the cash flow issue, I thought about doing even more ad campaigns, especially since I was doing the ads for George free of charge. But you know how things are nowadays, so that was out."

The market for personal advertising deals was extremely soft in the aftermath of the war brought by Voldemort, and Ludo had cautioned that excessive ad deals made by an individual to maintain a big-league lifestyle would have been viewed by many as despicable profiteering. "The hit to your public image would drive down ticket sales considerably," Ludo warned, "and thus limit the amount of charitable contributions that we may give from our profits to the wizarding community in its time of need."

Harry could almost see his manager's nose and jaw rise in the air as his self-serving plea for Ron to bite the bullet oozed from his sanctimonious lips. That's easy for you to say when you've just waltzed into a fortune, Bagman.

"I know you didn't rope me into rooming with you over money, Ron. But you'd tell me if you were getting low and needed something to tide you over until the next game check, right?"

"That's just it; I did fine once I knew I had to cool it on my spending, and I could probably cover the next six to eight months of pre-Potter rent rates right now. You'd think the Prophet would have something better to do than plaster my name on the front page with a non-story like this."

"Yeah, but this is Skeeter we're talking about it, and I've been expecting something like this since our blowup." If that's the best you've got, Rita, keep it up. Maybe I'll leak that I leave the cap off the toothpaste and see what her sources can make out of that...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Numerous taunts from opposing fans marked the matches for the Cannons in subsequent weeks. Everything was employed from waving towels made to look like hotel bills, mascots dressed as giant checks that bounced up and down constantly, and chants of 'GOT MY FIVER, KING?' However, it was all to no avail, as the elevated play of the Cannons turned those matches into cakewalks. Harry and Ron had dedicated themselves to their training program with clear-cut results on the pitch, and Ivanova was as outstanding at Center Chaser as she had been when the two had watched her start for Bulgaria versus Ireland in the World Cup.

The Cannons were not merely a novelty act anymore; they were serious contenders for the league title. The wizarding community in and around Chudley was suddenly flooded with tourists paying top Galleon to watch the Cannons or sneaking a peek at the star-studded lineup around town between matches. This development led Kingsley to give Harry his first field assignment after one of his private training sessions.

"Harry, the job is two-fold. First, use your undercover training to hide your identity as you scan Chudley for overt wizarding presence in the Muggle community. Perform memory charms as needed, but also make an ongoing survey of potential vulnerabilities to our identity protection network so that our other law enforcement personnel will know where the trouble spots are. Second, we've arranged for you to speak at the stadium on behalf of the Ministry and remind our population of their legal requirement to remain inconspicuous to the Muggle world."

"Minister, would you mind if I had Ron Weasley assist with my survey work? I'll explain to him that it's part of my general Ministry training. He's already worked on personal disguises because of his notoriety, and it would be useful to have another set of eyes."

"I will permit that as long as you keep his contribution within the defined parameters. I think his involvement would be a positive thing," Kingsley confided to Harry. "You two have always worked well together, and this should be no different."

I hope so, Harry thought. It'd be nice if he got the Auror bug again...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Any hope of rekindling Ron's interest in being an Auror through the field assignment was quickly dashed. Ron had reacted enthusiastically to the concept of the task, but was soon bored with it after a couple of hours of surveying. "Is this all there is, then?" he queried Harry when they took a break at a small café. "I had more action by the hour when I was a prefect."

"Ron, it's not always going to be intrigue and excitement. Work like this is essential to the overall mission of law enforcement, and they had me experience it firsthand so that I could more readily speak on the subject."

Ron snorted. "So you'd make what we're doing today your life's work? I don't think so."

How little it matters how little you know, Harry thought, and decided to make further sport of Ron's ignorance on Harry's true career path. "I suppose it would surprise you to say that I'm still strongly considering becoming an Auror."

"Yeah, I know you went back to Hogwarts and passed your N.E.W.T.s to leave your options open... That reminds me, I need to owl George and find out when the Blast-End Skeeter piñata will be ready for your N.E.W.T.- passing celebration. Still think we should have it at the suite just to rub Rita's nose in it, but having it at the Burrow like Hermione said is the right thing to do - at least if I'm going to keep the peace and avoid full-blown Howlers."

Harry brought the conversation back to his career plans. "You sound like you don't believe that I'd actually leave Quidditch and do something else."

"It's an easy thing to toss about when it's just talk, Harry, but I can't see the league's top Seeker walking away from it. And don't even bother denying that you're the best; there's no one to touch you in Europe, not even Krum." Ron produced a sound of revulsion after uttering Krum's name.

"Ron, nothing matters to me more than fighting against the dark forces. It's what motivates me everyday. Right now, I'm doing that by recruiting for the Ministry and advocating for people to think of choosing a career that's of service to the magical world. In the future, it might be working in DOMLEE - law enforcement, Ron - as an Auror, because that's where I would probably best achieve my dream of fighting against dark forces on behalf of those I love. If it means some yawner assignments here and there, so be it; frankly, I could use that kind of respite every so often. While I love the game, Quidditch doesn't drive me the way it drives someone like Ginny. Let's be honest, the girl's been more into the X's and O's of most games we've played than I have, which is great because at least she's found her passion - other than yours truly, of course," Harry cleared his throat importantly and pretended to primp while gazing into his spoon.

"Get off it, mate, she's still my baby sister," Ron snapped.

Harry was growing weary of this reaction from Ron every time Harry mentioned his fiancée. "She's a promised woman, Ron, something she's spelled out to you more emphatically than I ever could. I can't help it if she's your sister; I'm still going to make a couple of comments occasionally in the presence of my best friend that loosely allude to the fact that I'm a man, she's a woman, and we like each other -- especially when we're engaged to be married! It's the way of the world, last I checked."

Ron gave a non-committal grunt in response. Harry reached over and slapped Ron on the arm. "It could've been worse, you know. I hear Draco's on the prowl these days looking for a witch worthy of his attention."

Ron's face was mostly obscured by his attempt at an undercover get-up, but what parts of it Harry could see expressed horror at the thought. "Yeah, all right, I'll ease off. I just pictured a bunch of blond freckled nieces and nephews scowling up at me as we headed to Azkaban to see Grandpa Lucius."

"Ron, he got 6 months after co-operating with the Ministry, so --"

"It's my nightmare, ain't it? Azkaban it is!" Ron insisted with such conviction that Harry almost fell off his chair with laughter.

And on that note, let's wrap up today's assignment, Harry thought as he motioned to their waiter. "Check, please!"