The Serpent that Devours Us

Chapter 13

Once Ginny Weasley was old enough to understand why she was poor, her entire future changed.

Her parents, Arthur and Molly Weasley, were loving, kind, hard-working but slightly naïve people. When they'd been expecting their third child and the Burrow needed expanding, they'd gotten a loan from who they assumed was an honourable wizard. Unfortunately for them, Aloysius Nott was anything but. One might best describe him as a loan shark with a talent for writing creative contracts with exorbitant interest rates.

That is how Arthur and Molly Weasley got stuck paying off a small loan for the rest of their lives. Arthur's already measly Ministry salary was stretched almost to the breaking point under these payments. The thing was that the contract was so obviously skirting the law that it probably wouldn't hold up in front of the Wizengamot. But to get it in front of the Wizengamot one needed a solicitor, and solicitors were far too expensive for the Weasleys to afford.

When Ginny Weasley learned all this, she was determined to become the first ever solicitor in the Weasley family. Problem with this was that becoming a solicitor required a four year apprenticeship and those were not free. In fact, a law apprenticeship was amongst the most expensive of apprenticeships, aside from a Potions one. A master may decide to wave any apprenticeship fees if the student was exceptionally talented or otherwise benefited the Master in some ways, like having a important family name.

Such had happened with a young but poor man named Severus Snape, who was so naturally talented that several Potioneers had actually offered Severus a salary to come work as their apprentice. This was practically unheard of.

Ginny Weasley had no family name to fall back on, nor was she particularly talented in ways that stood out, aside from on the Quidditch pitch.

It was her good friend Harry Potter who ultimately inspired Ginny. When Harry left Hogwarts he was determined to get a Mastery in Magical Zoology. But Harry's family refused to pay for it, so Harry used his other major talent, that of a Seeker, to fly for the Montrose Magpies for many years while he got his mastery.

This, Ginny realized, was her one and only chance to save her family from financial doom. She put everything she had in becoming the best Quidditch player she could be in her final year at Hogwarts. She was Captain of the Gryffindor team and led them to victory in the Quidditch Cup. And when she applied to the Holyhead Harpies she was hired right out of Hogwarts as their new star Chaser.

Ginny kept living at the Burrow and saved every knut she made. She even wrote articles about Quidditch for several newspapers and magazines, and she accepted a Spellington Broom Wax sponsorship, all to earn as much money as she could. After 4 long years she finally had enough to pay for a law apprenticeship. Ted and Andromeda Tonks accepted her as their new apprentice and taught her everything they knew.

Unbeknownst to Ginny, however, someone had been keeping a very close eye on her career. What had started as an innocent crush on a pretty girl who looked particularly good while flying a broomstick at Hogwarts had eventually turned into something of an obsession.

Theodore Nott, youngest child of Aloysius Nott, was a brand new solicitor who'd apprenticed under his uncle Lambert Nott. He was also madly in love with Ginny Weasley, even if he'd yet to speak a word to her.

It wasn't until Theo, as he preferred to be called, ran into Ginny in the bowels of the ministry that he finally spoke to her. And the words he said to Ginny were definitely enough to make her notice him at once.