Chapter Two:
Harry exits down a staircase onto the busy street of London. He loves London on a Sunday morning, the bright sun setting over the the peak of the buildings. Sadly, he wasn't the only person who loved London's mornings. The roads were crowded with cars and people following down sidewalks.
He decides to go to a local coffee shop, just down the street from his apartment. When Harry steps through the door, no one stops and stares at him like they do at Hogwarts or anywhere else in the Wizarding world. He can have peace here. Away from the constant reminder of letting people down, or even embarrassing himself.
Harry orders some tea and bagels just to pass the time. (And he didn't finish his breakfast that Hermione made him, so he was still a bit hungry.) After the waitress sets his food down, Hermione comes rumbling in. She spots him and sits down at the booth right across from him.
"Harry. I've been looking for you everywhere!" She looks at him, breathing heavily.
"Don't ever do that to me again, okay?" Her voice comes out small and Harry immediatly feels bad for storming out like that. She dips her chin down and he gently tilts her head up.
"I'm sorry." He brushes some hair out of her face. "I won't do that again, promise."
Hermione smiles, then she frowns.
"I don't think that it's your fault that those people died in the war. There was nothing you could do Harry. You can't keep holding that weight on your shoulders forever."
Harry looks at her. She looks beautiful, even in her simple day clothes. Her brown, curly hair, he thought, was never ugly. She was never ugly.
"I'm sorry that I overreacted...I was just-" Harry didn't know how to put it. He felt heartbroken, and he has for a long time. Even though it's been almost a year after the war, it's still fresh in Harry's mind. He knows he can't carry this on his whole life, but he can't let go just yet. But he can't hurt Hermione just because he's feeling the weight.
"I was just a little overwhelmed." Good, he thought, that sounds okay.
Hermione faintly smiles and gives him a peck on the hand.
"I'm sorry I overwhelmed you. And by the way, I don't think your going mad Harry. I think your perfectly sane thinking the way you do. I just don't want you to be hurt, that's all."
Harry nodded understandingly.
Then suddenly, Harry thought about Ron. He missed him terribly. Ron went on a "vacation" after the war. He acted fine at the time, but Mrs. Weasley told them he left because he needed some time alone. To process Fred's death, and everything else that went down. The booth felt strangely empty without Ron, though.
Their eyes meet and he can tell Hermione is thinking about Ron too.
"I wish Ron were here with us right now." Harry said.
"Yeah, me too."
When they got back to the house, (after eating a bagel or two and drinking some hot tea of course,) Hermione thought of something brilliant.
"Harry! I know exactly what would help you!" She sat up, eyes buzzing with excitement.
"What is it?"
"Well since I work all day and live at my own apartment, I think it would be nice to get you some company."
Harry looked up from the recent Daily Prophet he was reading and quirks an eyebrow.
"You don't mean a girlfriend, do you? I already have one of those." He winks at her.
Hermione blushes.
"Well, no. I was thinking more of having a roommate." She looks at him hopefully.
Harry frowns.
"Well, I guess that's a pretty good idea. But-"
Hermione interrupts him."Great! We will put an ad into the phone book tonight!"
By Wednesday morning, the ad was successfully published.
The ad read,"Are you looking for a cheap place to hit the hay? Just call us!" Of course, Hermione made it up. It was a little corny, though. Harry kept that thought to himself.
He knew to never, never, tell Hermione that her work was at least the bit perfect.
But overall, the ad tuned out to be pretty convincing. By Friday afternoon, a person was going to come take a look around Harry's apartment. The only thing Harry was worried about was that he had no clue who was about to become a potential roommate.
Author's Note: Just to clear up some confusion, I accidentally put "their apartment" instead of just Harry's apartment. And apologies to the first short chapter. Please forgive me, darlings. Also, this is going to have multiple chapters. I'm estimating over fifteen? Maybe even more...I guess we will see! Remember, stay tuned and review! :)