A dish best served cold

4

Back in the common room, completely unaware of what was playing out across the castle Ronald Weasley and Hermione Granger were having a heated whisper fight in a darkened corner of the room about how they would get back the money they had lost. After hearing all of the different things Harry had been saying and the way he had been acting, they suspected that he had found out about their theft. They were right. The account had been drained. Even Ginny had come to them saying that some of her money had disappeared. She had gone into a rage when she had found out what had happened, but there wasn't really anything she could do without admitting to being a party to theft.

"Listen to me, Ronald! If you ever want to touch my body in any way ever again, you will find some way to get more money. I don't care if you have to sell dragon pills and whimsy whips to bring in gold. You'll do it! Is that clear?" Hermione was past caring if selling drugs was even moral or logical. She had grown used to the idea that if she needed something, the money was there for her to spend and would be there for when she finished school. She had never planned to keep Weasley around once school was done. He was going to have an unfortunate accident of some sort and she would be left will all of the money. Then, she would change her name and disappear to Europe where she would start a new life.

Of course, these plans had all been made in case Harry died during the final battle. If he didn't, well then she would transfer the gold to a Swiss Magic Bank where it would be out the reach of Goblins. Those greedy little creatures. If she was still friend's him and he was single, well then she would try to seduce him and get her hands on more money.

All of these thoughts had started after they had started taking money. She had never needed contingency plans and had never been a money grubbing whore before, but before didn't really matter, did it? It was now that was important.

Ron was getting tired of being bossed around. "You know what? Why don't you come up with an idea? I'm the one always finding ways to keep the money coming in; I mean it was me that got you the money in the first place. How about you contribute something for once, huh?"

The bushy-haired girl was angry that he would speak to her like that, but decided to give in just this once, especially since it gave her the opportunity to argue another option she had favored as a back-up plan. "Well if you insist! I think we should consider Percy's offer."

"Oh, not that shit again!" Ron was tired of hearing about this plan. It was not only very risky, considering the man they would help had been losing political power, but he also didn't like Percy and didn't want to work the uptight dickhead.

"Hey! You told me to come up with the idea, and right now, this is all we've got to work with. He promised to pay us handsomely for our services and help us get a foot in the door as far as jobs with the Ministry are concerned. They even offered for private tutors to visit Hogsmeade to help us for the OWL's" Ron looked defeated and Hermione was glad, because she wanted to start getting that money back soon. Had you asked her if she had become obsessed, she would deny it, but she would also deny that she was going slightly crazy as well.

"What about Umbridge? Did you forget that you would have to work with her? You didn't seem to like her today in class." Ron asked raising an eyebrow, wondering how she would respond. She surprised him by laughing.

"You mean that little performance I put on about He-who-must-not-be-named returning? That was all planned. She came to me after breakfast just after you had to run back up here to get your books." Ron looked shocked at what she was saying. He almost wanted to believe she was lying so she wouldn't look like a fool. But he was smart to keep that thought to himself. "She told me that she had noticed how Harry was treating a once friend who had done so much for him and that she sympathized. She then explained her plan for getting him into detention, where she would use a Blood Quill to make him see the error of his ways."