I don't know, that makes Hermione's motives seem way too simplistic. Although I do think that you may have a point about Hiram wanting to push Veronica away from Archie by brining him into the family business. But then what would he do with Archie afterwards since Archie being Veronica's boyfriend is the only reason he's even in the family in the first place? I think I'm gonna wait and see what Hermione's motives are, because I think she's being a lot more clever than you suspect.

Thanks for the link, dragonfire! Madchen is just great with this stuff. She's such a shipper.