Burning down the house

By Lady of the Lads

Summary: Ginny buys a small dump of an apartment because of a stupid challenge of sorts. It has a lot of… erm… potential, but needs a little touching up. Harry is going to help her. Will they manage to fix the flat or will they go crazy first? How unlucky can a pair of people be? Funny n' romantic. ;)

Rating: Rated T for minor language.

Disclaimer: I own nothing… sighs dramatically why me god, why me?!

Chapter One – Intro

"Hermione?" Ginny asked cautiously from one end of the wooden kitchen table.

"Mmm?" Hermione answered half-heartedly, not looking up from the magazine she was reading.

"Could you go house-hunting with me tomorrow? The real-estate guy told me about this cute little place in downtown London. He said he'd show it to me tomorrow? Want to come along? I'll buy you a cup of coffee on the way. Please?"

Hermione sighed and put down the magazine.

"I have work tomorrow." She said dryly, referring to her Ministry job at Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures. "Don't you?"

Ginny snorted. "I'll take a day off. You could too. I helped you and Ron out when you were getting this place and I consider myself a great help in your wedding planning; for truth to be told it's the least you can do." Ginny said accusingly and pointed at their surroundings, Hermione and Ron's small but cosy apartment.

Hermione avoided the eyes of her redheaded friend by looking out the kitchen window, but nonetheless felt the demanding brown stare bore into her head.

"Fine." Hermione finally muttered, "But you'd better like this 'cute little place'. I am a busy person and I don't have endless time to go with you to look at some houses that you're not even interested in. I've stopped counting the numbers of times I've gone to take looks at houses with you. And you said you weren't interested. Over and over again."

"Oh, I'm interested in this one. I saw some pictures of the outside and it looks very nice. Like 'buy it' nice."

"Well, although I find it hard to believe that you can set your mind on it, sure I'll do it. When are we going?"

"I can buy a house, and I want to buy a house. I just haven't found the right one yet. Anyway, we're supposed to be there at three o' clock. Just apparate to Diagon Alley, I'll meet you in front of Gringott's at thirty to three. Then we have time to grab a coffee."

"Allright." Hermione replied and put her empty teacup in the kitchen sink, "I'll see you then."

"See you!" Ginny waved happily before apparating to the Burrow, where she was currently living along with her mother and father.

Meanwhile, at her house Hermione put the magazine in the newspaper stand, and walked into the bedroom where her fiancé Ron was taking a nap.

"Ron, honey," Hermione nudged the sleeping figure "remember what dad said? You have to brush your teeth before you go to sleep. And remember the fluoride mouthwash."

He rolled to face her.

"Noo… I can't…"

"Yeah, you can."

"No I really can't. My legs are numb," He added for dramatic effect, "I am falling asleep again, I can't control it! Oh no!"

Ron was a really bad actor and Hermione gave him a look.

"Oh, allright. I'll go brush. Is Ginny still here?"

"No she went home. I'm going with her to look at an apartment tomorrow."

Ron sighed. "I really hope she'll like this one. Three bloody months of searching; I can't believe it can possibly take this long. For truth to be told, I think she just doesn't want to move out of the Burrow."

Hermione grinned at Ron. "Well it's a good thing that you moved out of there and bought this flat with me. I'm not sure if we would have enough privacy to do this," She moved closer to him "at the Burrow." She softly put her lips on his, and right then, Ron totally forgot everything about his dentist and fluoride.

…

"So this guy just comes up to me and he's like 'Whoa whoa whoa, don't think that you're something just because you helped defeat Voldemort.' And I'm like 'Lad, you know nothing about that bloody scenario, and you wouldn't want to.' And he's like 'Weasley, would you go out with me?' And I was like 'No, you imbecile!' Can you believe that Hermione, can you?" Ginny finished her story dramatically and waited for a response from her brunette friend, who was currently half asleep onto the coffeehouse table. When no response came, Ginny raised her voice.

"Can you?!"

Hermione shot up and shook her head. "No I can't. It's…um...dreadful."

"Well yeah it is!" Ginny confirmed into her teacup. "So, how is the wedding planning going? I bet Ron is a great help."

Hermione grinned a little. "Well, I'd be lying if I said he was. But I have been enjoying getting to decide everything. Just today I settled for orchids as flower ornaments, and I think I'll order the Howling Hexes to play in the reception."

"Sounds good. I wish I had a wedding to plan. You know, in mum's opinion I'm getting past wedding age."

"Well, with all due respect, your mum doesn't know everything." Hermione smiled kindly to Ginny, "You'll find someone."

"Yeah, I guess I will. And now that I'll have my own place, I can actually invite guys to dinner or something, without the old duo lurking over us I mean."

"Well, good luck with that." Hermione took a quick look at her wristwatch. "Shouldn't we get going? It's only two minutes to three."

Ginny nodded and the two apparated to inner London. They found themselves standing in front of a well taken care of block of flats.

"It looks even better than in the pictures. C'mon, I can't wait to see the inside." Ginny pulled Hermione with her towards a man who was standing outside the house.

"Hello Miss Weasley."

"Oh Mr. Daniels. Can we see the apartment now?" Ginny replied friendly "This is my friend Hermione Granger, she's here to accompany me.

"Very well!" The man exclaimed happily and gestured for them to go inside the building, and inside an elevator.

When they got out of the elevator in the seventh floor, the man ushered them towards a wooden door, and when he opened it, Hermione gasped.

…

"Well, that's… rustic…" Hermione finished awkwardly as she tore her gaze away from the ugly pink wallpaper which had begun to mould, and to the old parquet on the floors.

Ginny, who stood beside her, seemed to have a different feeling about the whole thing though.

"I love it!" She screeched, "Look how much character it has got. Imagine what I could do with this place, I could make it Ginny style, totally like I want it to be!"

"Um… Gin. Maybe we should take a look around before we start making statements, allright?" Hermione said stiffly and started walking towards the shabby bedroom, dragging the redhead with her. "Look at that!" She hissed in Ginny's ear when they were alone. "This place is falling apart; you don't want anything to do with it. Let's say a polite 'no thanks' to the nice real estate agent lad and then get out of here, allright?"

Hermione waited for an answer from Ginny, hoping desperately, praying, that her friend hadn't fallen into the stubborn, persistent mode which was easy to get into, but very, very hard to get out of again.

"I am going to buy this apartment!" Ginny said slowly, raising her eyebrows at Hermione, daring her to take an action.

Hermione mentally screamed. Damn it, how childish Ginny could be sometimes!

"Fine then!" The brunette spoke harshly. "Fine. But I am sure that in no time you'll come crying to me and Ron for help. Yes, I'm absolutely sure."

Hermione turned on her heel and stormed out of the apartment, apparating back home.

…

As Ginny was standing alone in the room the smelly bedroom, a few minutes later, she realised what a huge mistake she had done. The stench of the old, damp walls reached her senses, the parquet seemed a hundred years old, and the paint on the windowsills was so flaky, there was more naked panel than painted spots.

She took a walk around, just to make sure that the rest of the house was just as bad as the bedroom and the living room.

They were, in fact worse. The kitchen cabinets were in need of new doors, and even though magic would probably work wonders on the kitchen appliances, it was a close call.

The bathroom was the worst though. It would be hell to clean, and she would have to buy a new sink, the old one had deep cracks in it and was capable of falling apart any minute now.

The youngest Weasley was about to scream out when there was a poke on her shoulder.

"Are you going to take it, Miss?"

Ginny turned around to look in the moss-green eyes of the super-annoyingly-happy real estate agent.

This apartment was a royal dump, that was certain, but… would Ginny Weasley, the queen of stubbornness, be intrigued by the challenge of turning this piece of junk into a house fit for a king? Would she?

Would she?

The hell she wouldn't!

"I love it Mr. Daniels." Ginny smiled, proud of herself. "You have my number, contact me when you're ready with a contract to sign."

…

And when Ginny was back to the Burrow, sitting in her old room, she didn't know if she was to cry or laugh. She really didn't.

Chapter Two – Chances Taken