Chapter 1 – A New Start
Hermione Granger walked up to her new house alone, clutching the keys to her new life in one hand and the carry case of her beloved half-feline half-Kneazle pet, Crookshanks. The team of professional movers grabbed the many boxes of her belongings and newly bought furnishings out of the two white vans and stood behind her waiting for the doors to be opened and instructions to be given. All her non-magical belongings had fitted into the two vans with ease, but she had filled her school trunk full of all her magical items and shrunk it to fit into her jacket pocket, as to not scare off the men when it started to quiver.
Hermione had not seen the inside of her new house since before it was decorated, so she was a little apprehensive; she had left that mammoth of a task for Ginevra Potter, who had gotten herself a career in interior design, using both muggle and magical methods; but when she did see the interior she was shocked that this was her own house. Hermione glided around her new home admiring the simplistic modern design. As she went through the hall, the lounge, the kitchen, dining room and games room Hermione started to notice a pattern; cream coloured walls were dotted with random magical photos taken by Colin Creevey before he died in the war, that were charmed to stop moving once a muggle entered the room and black slate tiles covered all the floors, but instead of feeling cold they were warm to the touch.
Hermione walked into bedroom and gasped at the drastic difference in style between that room and the rest of the house. The bed was a king sized four-poster work-of-art; it was wooden framed painted gold with ornate carvings up each of the pillars and on the headboard. The Egyptian cotton bedding was a deep blood red and the small mountain of different sized pillows and cushions were mixture of different red's and gold's. There was a small gold satin quilt folded at the bottom of the bed that matched the colour the pillars. Almost see-through black curtains hung from the roof of the bed and from the window. The floor was swathed with a plush charcoal carpet and the walls were painted with Gryffindor's famous colour scheme, red on the walls and gold on the skirting. A black velvet chaise-long stood at the foot of the bed so that you could see the stunning view out of the window.
Whilst making a mental note to thank her best girlfriend later, Hermione wiped the tears away from her eyes. This room was her favourite by a landslide; it reminded her of her home, the Gryffindor Tower at her old school Hogwarts. She wondered if her female companion knew that her life was now going to be spent in this room, and if she had singled it, being the sex crazed female formally known as Ginny Potter was known to be, and was just giving Hermione a gentle shove in the right direction.
She walked into the bathroom to freshen-up and found it to be the darkest room in the house; it was covered completely with the same black slate as the floors in the rest of the house. There was a handcrafted curved sided copper-slipper-bath, which matched the oval sink and the shower cubical, which flowed in to the room. Hermione quickly splashed her face with water, and then walked out to start directing the handsome men to where they were supposed to be putting her belongings.
Within a couple of hours, all her effects were in their rightful places and she began relaxing for her new start without the life-endangering adventures.