Harry's Big Money Gift.....(Was: Clues from GoF)

[bluesqueak <pipdowns@etchells0.demon.co.uk>]

No: HPFGUIDX 53054

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "Carrie S" <carrie525 at m...> 
wrote:

<Snip>
> 
Carrie wrote:
> 
> Ya know, this goes along with the Jealous!Ron theory...that I 
> don't actually agree with, but.......
> 
> Remember when Fred and George gave Harry the Map. Ron's 
> comment "why didn't they give me the Map, I am their brother?" A 
> point well taken by Ron, in my opinion.
> 
> Well....why didn't Harry give Ron the money?? Ron's his best 
> friend, he knows he needs money for things. He knows how 
> frustrated Ron is of hand-me-downs, etc. Ron is always (well 
> except for a huge part of GoF) there for him, helped him get on 
> his feet in the WW, etc. He owes Ron a lot. And he just disses him 
> like that. You would think at least he would give the twin's the 
> money Ludo owed them and the balance to Ron. Is our little Harry 
> harboring angst toward Ron still?? Hmmmm...

> Oh well, I am sure it's a literary device for something. But 
> still, poor Ron.......
> 
> Carrie ..... who could have thought of a lot better things to do 
> with that money! =)

I think Harry is distinguishing between 'want' and 'need'. He's done 
this before; in PoA he realises that much as he 'wants' the 
fantastic racing broom in the window, he doesn't 'need' it. He'd 
never lost a match on his current broom. The need to use the money 
his parents left him to support himself through the five remaining 
years of school was more important.

Similarly, Ron 'wants' money. He doesn't need it. He is fed, he is 
clothed, he has toys, and books, and pocket money. It may be 
embarrassing to go to the ball in a second hand dress suit, but 
embarrassing is all it is.

The twins, on the other hand, have decided what they want in life. 
They want to open up a joke shop. Their primary problem is that they 
need capital to do this. Capital for renting premises and buying 
ingredients. Since their parents don't *have* a spare thousand 
galleons, how are they going to get it?

Molly has just stymied their first, perfectly legitimate and 
sensible plan for getting money together. She destroyed half the 
stock that they were planning to sell at Hogwarts. If they make 
jokes at home, they risk Molly destroying them. Route one: 'start 
small and save the profits until you can expand' is effectively shut.

Route two: 'speculate with the little money they have got' has also 
been shut off because Bagman was dishonest.

Route three: 'borrow money' is also a little dodgy. Defaulting on a 
loan from Goblins looks like the kind of mistake which leads to 
intimate knowledge of river bottoms. And the joke shop *is* 
speculative; businesses do fail.

So the Twins are facing a future of arguments about their choice of 
career and of a long period scrabbling around looking for money. 

Harry meanwhile, *has* money. One thousand Galleons that he obtained 
by fraud. It wasn't his fraud (it was Crouch Jr's), but still, he 
feels that he didn't earn it. With Cedric's death attached to it he 
doesn't feel comfortable keeping it. If he gives it to Ron, all Ron 
will do is spend it on sweets, toys and the sort of stuff a 14 year 
old would spend it on. If he gives it to the Twins, they'll use it 
to kick start their career ....

So who should he give it to? His best friend who just 'wants' it? Or 
to two people he knows who need the money and will use it for their 
futures? Especially since, as Harry points out, the WW is probably 
going to 'need' a few good laughs in its near future ....

Pip