October 25, 1998
Hermione woke to a soft tapping on her door. "Hermione?" The door squeaked a bit as it opened. She opened her eyes, and was a bit disoriented at first. She realized that she was in Ginny's room at The Burrow, and rather than in the camp bed that was usually set up when she stayed there, she was sleeping in Ginny's bed. Ron was peeking in around the door. She yawned and stretched, then smiled, and patted the bed next to her, inviting him into the room.
Ron sat down on the edge of the bed. "Hi, there sleepyhead," he tucked a stray curl behind her ear. We're meeting with the estate agent in an hour; I figured I'd better come wake you up.
Hermione sat up. "What time is it?"
"Half eight. Mum has breakfast ready once you're dressed."
"Wow, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to sleep so late."
Ron chuckled and stroked her shoulder. "It's half eight, love. Not as if you've even had a real lie-in. Besides, if you slept this late, you've probably needed more sleep." He leaned in and kissed her forehead.
Hermione smiled and tilted her face up for a proper kiss. Ron happily obliged, but pulled back as things got a bit more heated. "What?" his girlfriend asked.
He pulled her into a hug as his mother peeked into the room. "Are you almost ready for breakfast? You need to be in London soon," she reminded the couple, smiling at their innocent-looking embrace, and choosing to believe that all that happened between her youngest son and his girlfriend. In truth, she wasn't far from the truth, as most of their time together ended up being under her very watchful eye.
Hermione kissed Ron on the cheek and pushed him away lightly, "Ok, you need to go so I can change. I'll be down in a few minutes. Why don't you go start on breakfast?"
Ron left the room, but Mrs. Weasley lingered, smiling. "Do you have everything you need," she asked. "I noticed that you didn't have much luggage."
Hermione smiled back. "Thank you, Mrs. Weasley. I have everything I need in here," she held up the beaded bag. "In fact," she shook it, "it's rather empty." She reached in and pulled out her clothes from the day … jeans and a red jumper, as some of the places the estate agent wanted to show them were in Muggle areas.
When Hermione arrived in the kitchen a few minutes later, Ron pushed the chair next to him out with his foot as he continued shovelling food from the plate in front of him into his mouth. Her eyes twinkled with amusement. "Why thank you, Ron," she giggled. He nodded an acknowledgement. Harry sat across from them, with a mug of tea in one hand, and a sheaf of papers in the other. Hermione recognized the papers as the ones Ron had showed her last night – the ones that the estate agent had sent for Ron to look over.
"O wha oo shink?" Ron addressed Harry.
"Ron," Hermione chided.
Ron rolled his eyes at his girlfriend and made a great show of swallowing. "What do you think, Harry?"
"I kind of like this one." He waved a piece of parchment in the air. "But this one has possibilities, too. It's right in London."
"I dunno, I think it'd be better to have some space around."
Harry shrugged and placed the offending parchment in the pile next to his plate.
"What's the first one, Harry?" Hermione bit off a piece of toast and reached for the parchment. She read through while she chewed. "It's nice. It's out in the country. You'll like that. It has three bedrooms. That's a lot of space. Are you sure it isn't too big?"
"Well, I was thinking it would have room to grow into," Ron said, blushing. "I was thinking I'd buy something now, and then I wouldn't have to move for a long time."
"But there's just you." Hermione didn't get the hint.
Harry watched his two best friends, amused. As brilliant and observant as she often was, Hermione never seemed to catch on to any of Ron's oblique hints when it came to their relationship.
"Um, yeah," Ron coloured. "But …"
'He's going to chicken out,' thought Harry.
"Harry's going to move in with me until he's finished getting Grimmauld Place fixed up, right, Mate?" Ron looked to Harry for support.
Harry smirked. "Yeah, right."
"That could take a long time," observed Ron. "Lots of work to do there. You don't want to live in a construction zone."
Harry shrugged. "I suppose not."
"And then, then the other bedroom. Well, when you finish school, you're going to need a place to live, right? So I figured you can move in with me. And Harry. Me and Harry. You can move in with me and Harry. You know; the three of us, like old times."
Now, Harry was biting the inside of his cheek to keep from bursting into laughter, but Hermione was looking at Ron like he'd grown another head.
"Um, well, I suppose. I admit I hadn't given it a lot of thought." She mulled the situation over in her head. "I'm still not sure what our parents will think of it, but we're all adults after all."
"Yeah," Harry snickered. "We're all adults," he emphasized the last word.
Hermione regarded her friend quizzically. She wasn't so clueless as to not realize she was missing something, but she'd yet to puzzle out exactly what it was that she was missing.
Eager to end this awkward situation, Ron abruptly stood up and grabbed his and Hermione's dishes, just as she grabbed the last piece of toast from her plate. "Come on, we need to get going. We're going to be late." He grabbed his and Hermione's cloaks from the pegs by the door. "You coming, Harry?" He dragged Hermione outside.
Harry grabbed the papers from the table, chortling as he grabbed his cloak and followed.
A/N: Chapter 10 is giving me problems, I can't get it to where I like it. (11, on the other hand, is ready, but won't make much sense without 10.) I'm going on vacation and taking it with me. Maybe inspiration will hit. I'll be back before the end of June, hopefully with an update.
To elfwarden re: Ron working at Wheezes. I figured he'd work there until George was solidly on his feet again. As you can see, he's not there yet. I figured it would take a couple of years, and this story is only planned for while the girls are in school. Though there may be some planting of things that explain why he'd go that route later on.
