Debts and Decisions

Susan Bones was not fairing any better than Neville as she sat there while her Aunt Amelia tore strips out of her behind. Most everyone did not know that Susan had a fiery temper and she was bristling at what her aunt was saying.

Amelia said "I taught you this myself. You knew about the family alliances and yet you chose to ignore them. May I ask why?"

"Potter lied to everyone. I know he entered himself in that tournament and it was all so that he could make Cedric and Hufflepuff look bad. I don't have to do anything to help a liar or a cheat."

Amelia gave her a hard stare for a minute. "I find it kind of hard to accept that when Mr. Diggory has made a public statement to the fact that he believes Mr. Potter and is in fact friends with the young man. Hell Susan, he even made it a point of family honor to help Mr. Potter in whatever way he could."

"So Potters got him fooled. It wouldn't be the first time Auntie. Even his best friends don't believe him."

Amelia got quiet for a minute and then said "The Bones family is honor bound to the Potters. If that wasn't enough, we are in the Potter family's debt for many other things one of which is when Charlus Potter paid to have our manor rebuilt after it was burned to the ground so that you and I would have a home of our own."

Amelia knew that she was seeing the beginning of the end for House Bones if Harry pulled out of the alliance as they no longer would be trusted by the majority of wizarding Britain. The Bones family had built their reputation upon their integrity and it was quite possible that a little girl with a crush had ignored the very thing she had been taught since she was six. Susan's anger rose at her Aunt's tirade and she snapped "I suppose you want me to kiss his arse now."

Amelia turned on her and did the one thing she had never done to her niece in their entire time together. She smacked her face. Without saying a word, Amelia walked out of the room and left the castle. It would be weeks later that Susan realized what she had done as she hadn't heard from her Aunt Amelia since that day.

****

All across the castle, similar talks were being held as parents explained the depth of their debts to the Potters. Many got the message that if Harry Potter called in all debts owed to the Potter family, there was a good chance that they would not be returning to Hogwarts and would immediately have to go to work to help pay back what was owed. The only reason they were able to maintain the standard of living they currently held was that the financial contracts were very relaxed and the Potters were in the business of actually trying to help others. It was also pointed out that this was a trait of Harry Potter as well until this year. Many students left their meetings with their parents with a whole now understanding of life and were instructed to fix the damage.

****

Katie Bell sat in a classroom with her parents with tears leaking out of her eyes. Out of most of the students, she was probably the most remorseful of them all as she and Harry were the closest in age on the Quidditch team and had formed a strong friendship. She knew Harry was unbelievably shy and wouldn't catch a troll sized hint if it was sitting on him but she came to school wanting to try dating him. She was well aware of his feelings for Hermione but felt that the bookworm would never act on them.

Katie was crying into her hands as she told her father that she tried to apologize to him but he was so angry at what they had done that he even refused to play on the same team with them anymore.

Her father said "We wanted to check on you to make sure you were alright and maybe see if there was anything we could do to help. She looked up at him confused and asked "Why would you come all the way up here just to help with this?"

Albert Bell shot his wife a quick glance before he spoke. "There are some things you don't know about our family Katie. You never met my father as he was already gone before you came along."

"What does your father have to do with my problems with Harry Potter?"

"My father fought along side Charlus Potter in the battle against Grindelwald. Both men saved each other's lives and from that point on they were inseparable. My father bought a home near Potter manor and Charlus eventually backed my father in a business venture. The business was successful but one day there was an explosion at the business that caused my father to be paralyzed. With the business destroyed, the money he had saved quickly disappeared in medical costs and we were left with some very large debts and no way to pay them off. It was about this time that mum ran off because she didn't want to be poor with a crippled husband. Another problem was that no one would hire dad because of his condition."

Katie just sat there looking at him in astonishment as she had never been told this before. Albert started again. "Charlus found out about our problems and stepped in and bought out all of the Bell family debts only to turn around and claim them settled. He then offered dad a job where he remained until he passed on. The result was that James and I were always together growing up and we knew each other well."

"James and Charlus paid for my Hogwarts education and when I was done with that, James even paid my way through law school only I didn't know it at the time. I only found that out in the papers my father left for me when he died."

"When I returned from law school, James approached me and offered me a deal. The deal was that James would front the money for me to open my own practice on the condition that I remained on retainer for the Potter family. As long as I was on retainer, the money would never have to be repaid but if the contract was ever cancelled, all debts would come due. Under normal circumstances, the contract wouldn't have been a big deal for most barristers but I had taken the example shown to me by the Potters to heart and was generous to others. The money will make things a little tight for a while but we can handle it."

Katie finally said "I'm sorry dad, I've tried to apologize and fix things between us but he won't hear it. I'll work hard and get on a professional Quidditch team. I'll do what I can to make up for my mistake."

"I appreciate that Katie but if the Potters pull out, I'll more than likely have to close my practice since no one else will trust me."

"Surely it won't be that bad. I mean I know he's the boy-who-lived but even the papers think he's crazy most of the time."

That comment was not the right thing to say as he replied "It's that attitude that has placed us in an already worse position than we were already in. I was sworn not only to the Potters but to Harry in particular by James and Dumbledore blocked me from ever doing my duty for Harry. It won't be long before secrets are exposed that will bring a lot of high ranking people down. Once it gets out that I failed to do my job in respect to the Potters, my reputation will be ruined."

"Then shouldn't Dumbledore take the fall?"

"In a perfect world yes but our world is far from perfect. There's also one other thing we need to talk about and it is way worse."

"What can be worse than that?"

"I found some other papers amongst dad's. My father was very grateful to Charlus for what he had done for us and he did the only thing he could think of to pay the Potters back."

"What is it dad?"

"He drew up a marriage contract between our families as a way to repay the debt. The contract states that when there is a son of the Potters and a daughter of the Bells and there is no more than two years difference in their ages, the contract will activate when they both turn sixteen and will be required to be fulfilled when the youngest turns seventeen."

"Ah shit dad, I've got to marry Harry Potter. He hates me right now."

"Well maybe not, you see there is a clause in there that states that if the son of Potter finds the daughter of Bell unworthy, then the contract will be voided but with a penalty."

"What penalty?"

"Well it has degrees, if the son of Potter is already in love with another; it would roll to another generation until the contract is fulfilled."

"Are there other conditions?"

"Yes. If the rejection is due to a betrayal, the entire amount of the family debt that was cancelled would be required to satisfy the contract with interest."

"Just how much are we talking about?"

"A half a million galleons."

Katie's head dropped into her hands. Without looking up, she asked "If the Potters were so damn honorable, why did they write a contract such as this?"

Albert hissed "The Potters are honorable Katherine. My father wrote this contract to ensure that our family remembered what we owed some very good people. They only agreed to it to make dad happy as he was already dying. James told me that it was his father's intention to cancel the contract but he needed my blood to do it. After dad died, I was out of the country for a while and by the time I got back; Uncle Charlus and Aunt Dorea had been murdered. Once they died, the contract could not be voided."

Katie got up from her chair deep in thought; she finally said "I'll fix it somehow." She walked out of the room and down the hall without a clue as to how she would ever get Harry to even speak to her again and even more challenging would be convincing him to do her a favor by not destroying her family when he laughed at her face.

....

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