Okay, so it's kind of ridiculous how long it's taken me to get this up, but summer's here, and I graduated, so no more stress for a while! I hope everyone can forgive me… Maybe I'll be able to write more often now, though. Please review! That's the best kind of motivation . Enjoy!
Hermione yawned and rolled over, thinking about the day ahead of her. She and Ron were going to go look for his apartment, and she was excited but a little nervous that they wouldn't have any luck. It had been a week since Ginny's birthday, and the Burrow had been quite calm ever since; she was ready to get out of the house.
She got out of bed and slipped on her jeans, not bothering to be quiet about it – she knew Ginny wouldn't wake up for another hour or two. She grabbed a book from her small selection and headed downstairs and out the kitchen door. The morning was hotter than usual, so she made her way towards a shady spot under a tree. About thirty minutes later Ron came outside and took a seat next to her. Hermione smiled in his general direction but didn't take her eyes off the page. Ron absentmindedly toyed with a piece of grass while he waited for her to find a stopping place. Finally after waiting silently for five minutes, he heaved a huge sigh, and when she didn't look over did it again. Hermione shut her book and was about to tell him off, but then she saw the nervous look on his face.
"Don't be nervous, Ron, we'll find something," she told him softly.
"I know, I know, it's just kinda… scary." He stood up and pulled her with him. "Come on, breakfast has to be ready."
She laughed at him and said, "Is that all you think about?"
He smirked and pulled her closer, "I think about you a lot," he said, and leaned in for a kiss.
She laughed again and pushed his face away. "Nice try Ron. Lets go."
When they got to the kitchen, Harry was sitting at the table bleary-eyed with a cup of tea in front of him. "M-m-morning," he said as he yawned.
"Oh, good," Mrs. Weasley said, appearing suddenly. "Ron, dear, go wake up Ginny. The school letters have just arrived."
"I would Mum, but I hate to take away those precious moments from Harry. He just told me that waking up Ginny is always the best part of his day." He shot a winning grin at Harry, who glared and discretely threw a sugar cube at him.
"That's sweet, Harry dear," Mrs. Weasley said absentmindedly, already occupied with cleaning the dishes. Harry let out a quiet sigh and made his way up the stairs to get Ginny.
It was almost ten minutes later when Harry and Ginny finally arrived in the kitchen, both looking a little mussed up, and something told Ron he didn't want to know how Harry woke Ginny up. One mischievous grin from Harry confirmed that suspicion, and Ron put it in this mind to never trick Harry into something like that again. Ron shook the image out of his head and then paid attention to Mrs. Weasley, who was handing out the letters. He leaned over Hermione's shoulder to read what was on hers.
She turned with a huge smile on her face before he could get a good look. "Look, Ron, McGonagall's made me head girl! I didn't think she would since… but this is wonderful!"
Mrs. Weasley beamed over at her, "Hermione, dear, that's such good news!"
"Hermione, who else would they make head girl?" Ron said, hugging her but rolling his eyes at the same time. He looked over to Harry and Ginny to see what they thought and found similar looks of shock on both of their faces. Ron sighed, "what now?"
Harry seemed to come to himself first and mumbled, "They've…er…made me Head Boy…" he didn't quite seem to know what to do with this information, but Hermione and Molly were beside themselves, both telling him that of course he was made Head Boy and that there was no one better for the job. Even Ron didn't seem too surprised and smacked Harry on the back with a good natured "don't know what they were thinking."
Only Ginny remained silent through all of this, and eventually everyone looked back over at her with concern.
"Erm, Gin? Is something wrong?" Harry asked tentatively.
"I've been made quidditch captain…" she said with doubt and then looked over at Harry, who snorted.
Everyone looked at him. "Well, duh," he said. "Gin, who else would they pick?"
"No, Harry, you're supposed to be quidditch captain. This isn't right, McGonagall's made a mistake."
"She didn't make a mistake, Gin. I didn't think I was ever going back so I wrote to McGonagall last year telling her that I resigned and left the captain position to you. And even if I thought there was a chance I would come back I still would have left it to you. You deserve it more than I do; you helped Gryffindor when the Cup your fourth and fifth year and I…. didn't."
Ginny started to protest but he silenced her with a kiss on her forehead and a soft smile. "Really Ginny, I want this for you."
She still looked uncertain, but she threw her arms around Harry's neck and whispered "thank you" so quietly only he could hear it.
"Well, isn't this wonderful? A Head Boy, Head Girl, and quidditch Captain all under one roof! And my little boy, all grown up and getting his own apartment today…oh it's too much for a mother to handle. We'll have to celebrate for dinner tonight…" she continued talking to herself about setting up tables in the garden.
While Harry and Ginny sat down at the table to finish eating, Ron turned to Hermione. "You ready? I told Ms. Topple we would meet her at the Leaky Cauldron at 9:30."
"Where exactly did you find this woman, Ron?" Hermione asked as they stepped out the kitchen door.
"Er, George recommended the company to me…" he said uncertainly. Hermione responded only by rolling her eyes.
They were about twenty minutes early when they arrived at the Leaky Cauldron, so they found a table and ordered two cups of tea. At nine thirty-five, Hermione started to get antsy.
"Hermione, she's only five minutes late. Not everyone's perfect like you." Ron said with a teasing smile as he tucked a curl behind her ear.
Hermione blushed and said, "I'm not perfect, and I just think she should be on time, considering this is a business deal and you're a potential customer and-"
"Mr. Weasley?"
Ron turned around at the sound of his name. A tall woman with extravagant blonde hair piled up on her head and long fingernails hesitantly walked up to them, and Ron was instantly reminded of a younger Rita Skeeter. He was a little wary of the woman, but stood and shook her hand nevertheless.
"I'm Ms. Nellie Topple, you can call me Nellie, and I'll be helping you look for your dream home today. Any specific things that you're looking for Mr. Weasley?"
"I just don't want anything too big." He answered.
"Okay, well, I'm sure we'll look at many things that will work." Nellie said. She seemed extremely nervous as she led them to the back exit of the pub. "We'll start in Diagon Alley, I suppose, and then we'll…"
As Nellie continued to talk, Ron couldn't help but notice that she was acting more nervous than the situation called for. Hadn't this woman sold people places to live before? When Nellie messed up the brick combination to get into Diagon Alley for the third time, he decided to voice his concerns.
"Er, Nellie, Is everything alright? If this is a bad day for you, we can meet another time…?"
"NO! I mean no, everything's fine it's just… I've never found a home for a celebrity before." She blurted.
Ron and Hermione just stared at her. Finally Ron shook himself and let out a humorless chuckle.
"Nellie, we're not celebrities."
"Oh, but you are! We had to draw names at the office to see who would get you!"
Ron, by now, was pink in the ears, but said quite calmly, "There's no reason to be nervous around us; we're just like any other customers. Please, don't feel like you have to act differently around us."
While Ron was a bit flattered, Hermione was just annoyed. Nellie reminded her too much of Lavender Brown for her to feel pity for the girl's clumsiness. She grabbed Ron's hand to discourage any future flirting on Nellie's part, and did the brick combination herself. As soon as the hole was large enough for her to fit through, Hermione shoved through and pulled Ron in after her, leading the way into the alley.
The first few flats that Nellie showed them were a bit too flashy for Ron. He felt as if he wouldn't be able to live there in fear of messing it up. The next few were a bit too small. After sharing a house with nine people, Ron wanted a roomy space to call his own. He felt so overwhelmed with trying to explain what exactly he wanted or needed to Nellie. If anything, he was glad Hermione was there, for she seemed to know exactly what he was thinking.
"No, this one won't work. Look, the only bathroom is in the bedroom and there's only space enough for one chair in the sitting room." Whenever Hermione made a comment like this, Ron just nodded his head and suggested they move on.
When it seemed like they had visited every building in the world, Nellie finally said, "Well, that's all the listings in Diagon Alley, shall we try Hogsmeade next? Or perhaps you would like to try muggle London? Some wizards actually prefer to surround themselves with-"
"Hogsmeade, I think." Ron said.
"Very well!" Nellie said with a tired smile, "to the three broomsticks then!"
"Oh, Ron!" Hermione exclaimed softly as they entered the fourth flat in Hogsmeade. The front door led into a sitting room with wooden floors. To the right Ron could see a open doorway that led into the kitchen and dining area. Hermione pulled him by the hand to the doorway and they looked around. The kitchen was full of earthy colors and had plenty of counter and cupboard space. Instead of being long and thin like most of the other kitchens they had seen today it was spacious and square, with a counter top for bar stool seating, and room enough for a small breakfast table as well. As they walked back through the doorway, Ron saw that there were no other doorways to go into off the sitting room, besides one that led to a half bath. There was, however, a spiral staircase that led to another floor. He and Hermione looked at each other and then began to ascend the staircase. The second floor consisted of two bedrooms. The first one they entered was on the small side, but had its own bathroom. The second one was obviously the master bedroom, with more floor space and a higher ceiling. As Hermione left his side to look at the master bathroom, Ron went in the opposite direction to open the blinds at the window.
As soon as he opened the blinds he knew. "Hermione, come look." He called to her softly. She came out of the bathroom and walked towards Ron with a smile on her face. She turned to look at what Ron was pointing at and gave a little gasp at what she saw. Outside the window was the most breathtaking view of Hogwarts she had ever seen. The castle, in all its glory, was high on its hill with the great vast lake surrounding the grounds.
As Nellie walked into the room to find them (she had let them go up alone first, to look around in privacy) she asked, "So, Mr. Weasley, what do you think? Two bedrooms, two and a half baths…the view, of course, adds a little to the price but-"
"I'll take it." Ron said without looking away from the view.
"Excellent! I'll prepare the papers!" And with that, Nellie fled from the room, leaving them alone once again.
Ron wrapped his arm around Hermione's shoulders and whispered, "thanks."
Hermione tore her eyes away from the castle and asked, "for what?"
"For helping me! I couldn't have done this without you, I don't have the patience."
"I'll say!" she said, but softened it with a smile. "Its perfect Ron, the kitchen, the bedroom, that view…" she said, turning back to the window.
"Yeah, it is." He said. But in his opinion, the thing that made it perfect was simply how close he would be to the girl currently in his arms.
Thanks for reading, Please review!
