Please note the world of Harry Potter belongs to JKR. I'm only playing with her creation. Also the story image was a free download I found. Thank you to whomever it belongs. I will remove it immediately if asked.
Chapter 3: I've Died and Gone to Heaven
Half an hour later, James had led her and Bill through the two bedrooms, three baths and exercise space contained on the second floor and Ginny was at a loss for superlatives to praise what he was showing her.
Both bedrooms and the exercise space were situated so one wall overlooked Kensington Palace Gardens and Hyde Park. And like the main living areas those walls were pretty much floor to ceiling windows. In her room a sitting bench lined the window wall. It had wonderful soft cushions and pillows to make yourself comfy and was one long bookcase underneath. The bedroom itself was quite large, about 6 meters square. And it was furnished. James had made the queen size bed himself! Needless to say, her twin bed was going into storage. He'd also made the matching end tables. And for shame, he'd resorted to purchasing a small table and chairs to sit and have tea for the room. Given everything else, she'd normally have given him no end of harassment for something like that but her mind was just lost on everything else to really consider it.
For goodness sake, her closet wasn't walk in; it was walk through, straight from the bedroom to the bath. It was fully half the size of the bedroom and was filled with built in drawers and shelving. Her entire wardrobe wasn't going to fill even a third of it. The piece de résistance though was another of James' creations; an A-frame full length floor mirror. She had spent a full minute taking in its lines and spotless finish before allowing him to usher her into the suite's private bath.
And that had taken her breath away. It was like someone had reached into some untapped part of her mind and put every detail she hadn't realized she'd even thought of into the bath of her dreams. Even without a window it felt bright and airy. The shower was not overly large, but plenty big enough. It was tiled with large squares of soft brown porcelain and the coolest thing were the amazing cubbies built right into the shower wall to put all her shampoos and soaps on. It even had a small corner bench and though she wasn't likely to actually sit on it, it was perfect for propping her foot on while she shaved. The toilet was tucked into a small alcove keeping it out of sight while you relaxed in the tub. The sink was a large, vessel style, oval on a counter near five feet long. Those three things would have been more than enough but it just got better.
The tile work was breathtaking. The porcelain from the shower had been used on the walls in the bath to wainscoting height and then topped with a band of darker stones and glass. The floors were brown marble with; get this, a path of cobblestone river rock laid into it. It created the effect of a streambed spilling out of the shower, running across the floor past the vanity to the tub. And it was heated! And then there was the tub; a corner unit. It was easily big enough for two. The tub front was actually a curved wall and the same dark stone and glass from the band topping the wainscoting faced it. The decking was the same brown marble from the floor. And the back wall, wonder of wonders, there was a gas fireplace in it. She had a bloody fireplace in her bath! The whole suite; bedroom, closet and bath was spectacular. It rivaled anything she'd seen in Better Homes and Gardens. Hell, it was bigger than the entire flat she was living in now.
James' bedroom suite was slightly larger and just as meticulously designed and crafted. His shower actually had four different shower heads in it. Two overhead rain shower fixtures and two normal wall mount fixtures. He also had a fireplace in his bedroom to go with the one in his bath. The third bath was nicely finished with a pedestal sink, toilet and fairly standard tub/shower combination. It was fairly straight forward and obviously intended as a guest bath for the third and fourth bedrooms should he ever decide to put them into the space currently being used for his exercise area.
Like the two bedrooms, the exercise area also looked out over Hyde Park and Kensington Palace Gardens. And it was filled with weight equipment, a treadmill, stationary bike, a punching bag and space for yoga. The walls were floor to ceiling mirrors and it felt just like any gym she had ever been in. It made her feel motivated and lazy at the same time. All in all, it was just more than Natalya could fathom. She'd long since given up trying to come up with new ways to compliment each new wonder James showed them. And they hadn't even seen the rooftop garden. Whatever it did contain, she was certain it was going to be spectacular.
She eyed the spiral staircase just outside the door of his bedroom longingly. That has to go to the gardens, she thought giddily. I wonder if he might let me put some tomatoes in pots? "Does that go up to the garden then?" she asked eagerly.
James nodded. "Yep, just to warn you though it's a bit rough yet. I had the conservatory done first thing, but then I used it as a shop while I did the rest of the place. I only finished the table and chairs for the dining room last month and got the equipment moved out. Really, it's more just concept than anything right now. I'm planning to finish it out this summer."
"A… a conservatory?" Ginny asked weakly
"I get the impression your idea of rough and mine might not exactly be the same," Bill said dryly. "And you've done all of this yourself?"
James started up the stairs. "Most all the finish work, yes. Some things I don't wanna do so I hire it out."
"Like what?"
"Sheet rock," James answered. "Just touching the stuff makes my skin crawl; same with mudding and taping the stuff."
"I'm not all that fond of it either," Bill agreed. "Where'd you learn?"
"Mostly just did it. Read books, looked stuff up on line. Some things like plumbing and wiring I hired someone to come in and do it and paid them extra to teach me. That way I can do it myself next time and just hire them to come inspect it before having the city inspector come out and sign off on it."
"Next time," Bill observed, "don't look like there's much left to do."
"Here, no," James agreed. "The place I just bought, it's a disaster."
""You aren't selling this place, are you?" Natalya blurted.
James shrugged. "Haven't decided yet, but it gives me something to do that I enjoy. Probably depends on if I like it more than this place when I get it finished. He glanced back at Natalya with a decided smirk. "Don't worry; I promise you've got at least two years before I'll be looking to kick you out."
"I'll sue to have you continue to keep me in the lifestyle I've become accustomed to," she countered.
He laughed. "You've gotta be married for that, luv."
"I'm game."
"No you're not," Bill said.
She laughed. "Oh, so you're the only one of the family allowed to marry up then?"
"Don't go there," Bill said tightly.
"I'm sorry, Bill," she said immediately. "You know I didn't mean that."
"Just drop it and let's see what's left. I'm bloody starving and still hoping to get dinner out of tonight."
James had kept on up the stairs and called back, "Comin up or not, luv?"
"I really wish he'd stop calling you that," Bill said under his breath.
She sighed. "Bill, nearly everyone in the country calls everyone of the opposite sex luv."
"Yeah, I bloody hate it." He turned her back round and gave her a push. "Come on, I'm hungry."
"I'm going, I'm going," she complained and hurried up the remaining stars.
"I really don't know why I'm surprised," Bill said when he emerged on the landing square in the middle of a 7X18 meter conservatory. Ginny simply whimpered with longing.
"Like I said, a bit rough," James said. "The pots, along with the furniture, were only delivered last week. I've got a few more borders for the fixed beds to finish outside yet. I'm really hoping the weather is decent the next few days cause they're delivering the dirt week after next. Then it's just the planting and I might finally be finished with this place."
"You don't say," Bill said.
"I've died," Natalya breathed, "I've died and gone to heaven."
"There goes any chance of talking her out of this," Bill sighed.
"This is going to be amazing," she continued to gush. "You've got paths and everything. "Is that a koi pond!?"
"Gonna be," James answered.
She looked up to the ceiling. "How tall is it?"
"7 meters."
"And it's heated?"
"In the floors."
"Hot tub?" she asked pointing at a large cedar faced tub."
"That and an endless pool," James answered.
"Endless pool?" Bill asked.
"Yeah, come see." He led them over and up the stairs to the decking surrounding the two different tubs. "They need water obviously. But I thought it would be rather pointless to fill them till after I'd finished with the planting. I'd just have to drain them and probably have the whole jet system flushed to get the mud out."
"If you say so," Bill said. "What's it for?"
"Swimming."
"Bit short, isn't it?" Ginny asked.
"That's the beauty," James said. "It's basically a treadmill for swimming."
"How's it work?" Bill asked.
"It creates a current that you swim against," James answered. "See this little deal here?" He pointed to a spot in the pool. "It's a sensor. Shoots a laser across to here." He pointed to another spot on the opposite side of the large tub. "There's two more at the back. So if you're in there swimming, and you break this beam of light, it tells the computer you're too close to the front of the pool and makes the current stronger to push you back. If you end up breaking that beam down there, the computer adjusts the current so it's slower and you move forward again."
Bill and Ginny stared at the pool in wonder. "And I would get to use this too?" she eventually asked.
"Yep."
"When can I move in?"
"Tomorrow if you like."
"Sprite, can we talk about this?"
"Bill what's to talk about?" Natalya asked in exasperation.
"Privately?" he said pointedly.
"Bill, the rent is 175 quid!"
"Please, Sprite, will you just humor me?"
She rolled her eyes and shook her head. "Fine, can I ring you tomorrow, James?"
"Fine by me. The room's yours till you tell me you don't want it."
"Thank you."
"You're welcome."
The three of them stood there few seconds before Ginny broke the uncomfortable silence. "Well, if that's the end of the tour, I suppose we should go. I'd invite you to dinner but my brother wants to talk with me about you and I think that would be rather uncomfortable for all of us."
"Come on, Nat," Bill said. "Don't be like that."
"Like what?"
"Hello, still here," James interrupted. "Come on I'll show you out and you can go at him till your heart's content."
"Thanks," Bill muttered. Without another word he disappeared down the stairs.
James touched his hand to her shoulder before she could follow him. "Give him a break, yeah?" he said when she turned back to him. "If I were him I'd probably just have killed me and been done with it."
Ginny pressed her lips together angrily but forced herself to calm down. "I'll try not to cut his bits off and feed them to him," she managed.
"Ring me later?"
"Tomorrow probably."
"Works for me. "I'm usually up by 5:00"
"Tomorrow's the first day I haven't had to be up by 7 in three weeks. I'm having a lie in"
"Come on," he said let's not give him enough time to come up with more reasons to not like me."
Ginny set off down the stairs with him. "Probably a good idea," she agreed.
Three hours later, Bill walked Ginny back to her flat after their dinner out. "I thought you wanted to talk to me about moving into James' flat," she said.
Bill sighed. "I wanted to have a nice dinner with my sister. That's why I told you we'd talk about it later."
"Well it's later, Bill. I'm home, you're leaving and I'm ringing him tomorrow as soon as I get up to tell him I'm moving in. You better talk if you're going to."
"Just promise me you'll think about it."
"What's to think about, Bill?" she demanded with exasperation. "The place is amazing. The rent is cheaper than I'm paying now. And not by ten quid or anything. I'm paying 275 plus electricity to live in this dump. Top it off with the fact that he's in zone 2 instead of 4 on the tube and I'm cutting my bills by more than a 150 quid. That's three shifts a month I can cut out if I want."
Bill tipped his head back, staring up at the sky; looking anywhere but at her before speaking. "Look, Gin, first impression, I like the guy. But I don't know him. I know you're not 11 anymore. I know Riddle's dead and the diary's gone. But you trusted him once too." When she didn't respond he chanced looking at her.
A tear slipped down her cheek. "I can't believe you, of all people, would throw that in my face," she said, her voice laced with pain.
"Damnit, Gin, I'm not throwing it in your face. I told you I like the guy. The place is an effin' palace. I'd like nothing better than to tell you to go ahead and move in with him. Merlin knows I hate you livin' in this hole. But we've both known him for all of 5 hours. All I'm saying is if one of the most evil bastards to have ever lived could fool you, then this guy could fool us both. He said all the right things, did all the right things tonight. I don't get a warning in my gut from this guy. But then you almost never do. They arrest some psychopathic mass murderer or rapist and all you see on the telly is his neighbors talking about him being the nicest man; always helping me carry my bags and such. You just never know."
"If I lived like that, I'd never make friends, much less find a bloke to marry, the rest of my life."
Bill smirked. "I thought you were an avowed spinster."
"You know what I mean, Bill."
Bill ran his hand through his hair. "I know. And that's why I'm not just flat out tellin' you no. Sooner or later you have to go out on a limb and trust people. So just promise me you'll think about this tonight; not the place or the money, but him, really think about what you're doing. And swear to me if you do move in with him that you'll have the stun wand spell turned on and that you'll charge it every bloody day."
"Alright," she agreed.
He smiled weakly. "Thanks. Now can I get a hug goodnight or are you too pissed at me?" Ginny stepped up and wrapped him in her arms. Bill returned her hug fiercely. "I love you, Sprite; more than you'll ever know."
Ginny pushed back and kissed the corner of his mouth. "You're wrong. I do know."
He pulled her close again before pushing her back. "Go on and get inside so I know you're safe." Ginny rolled her eyes and turned for the door to her building. "And ring me when you decide what you're doing."
Ginny pushed the door open. "I will, Bill. Nite."
"Love you."
"Love you," she said and slipped inside.
Bill turned and walked away. "Mum is gonna kill me," he muttered.
Author's note.
I'm trying to post a picture showing the layout of Harry's flat for you all. Wish me luck.
Also, thank you to my reviewers. I appreciate that you take the time to drop a comment or two.
Sorcerer's Muse