"I don't how I got myself roped into this," Ron said as him and Harry opened up several empty cardboard boxes.
"What do you mean? You're the one Hermione's moving in with," Harry said. "I don't know how I got roped into this."
"Ron will help when Ginny moves into your place next week," Hermione said, coming into her old bedroom.
"Not much to pack, she practically lives there now," Ron scoffed, rolling his eyes.
"I've just talked to our new landlord, Ron, and we'll be set to move into the flat first thing in the morning," Hermione said. "Have you got your stuff packed?"
"I can do that tonight," Ron shrugged.
"You mean you haven't even started yet?" Hermione frowned.
"Well, I was going to do it last night," Ron defended. "Only then Ginny roped me into playing Keeper for her so she could practice her shots before her Harpies try-outs. But it won't take long; I've only got a few boxes of stuff. It'll take ten-minutes tops. Just like here."
He pulled out his wand and aimed it at Hermione's dresser.
"What on earth do you think you're doing?" Hermione exclaimed.
"Er, packing?"
"You can't just magic all of my stuff into boxes!" Hermione said. "We need to go through it, decide whether it stays here, or if I keep it, and then put it carefully in one of the boxes."
"By carefully, you mean you don't want us using magic, don't you?" Harry sighed.
"You're mad!" Ron frowned. "Hermione, without magic it'll take us the rest of the day to pack all this up."
"Well, I suppose we can break it up over the course of a few days, if you like," Hermione said. "I just thought you'd like to get settled into our own place as soon as possible. But if you rather we put that off a bit longer than-"
"Oh alright," Ron sighed.
"Thank you, Ron," Hermione smiled, giving him a quick kiss on the cheek. "And thank you, Harry. Now, I suppose the first thing we should start on is the books…"
"Yes, I suppose that would take the longest with you," Harry said, grinning at Ron. They turned to the five bookshelves that were crammed all around Hermione's walls.
"And these aren't even including your school books," Ron said, shaking his head in awe. "Those are stored in your trunk…Have you read these all?"
"Some more times than others," Hermione nodded. "A lot of them are muggle books."
"And let me guess? They'll all be coming with us into our flat?" Ron smiled knowingly.
"Well if your Cannons posters are going up in our room, then I'm entitled to my books," Hermione smirked.
"Algebra?" Harry read, picking up a thick book from one of the shelves. "Calculus?"
"What the bloody hell are those?" Ron asked.
"Math books," Harry said, flipping through them. "You reviewed these over the summers between Hogwarts, didn't you?"
"Well I wasn't going to waste all of my muggle schooling," Hermione said, taking the books from Harry. "I kept up as much as could over the summer. I do admit, I got a bit lazy with history, though. I have some very interesting chemistry books, if you'd like to borrow them. You know, it's fascinating to compare some of the work in that area to potions and-"
"I'll take your word," Harry grinned.
Just then there was a loud peck at Hermione's window. She quickly stepped across the room and let the bird in, taking the owl that was in its beak.
"Oh, it's from the Ministry," Hermione said, opening the letter. "Oh! Melinda Bobbit is finally able to meet with me!"
"Who?" Harry asked.
"She's the vice-head of the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures," Ron told him. "Hermione's been trying to meet with her for weeks about drafting regulations to finally give house elves basic rights. When are you meeting with her?"
"Well…she only has availability right now," Hermione said slowly.
"So go!" Ron said. "Who knows when she'd be able to meet with you again."
"Yes, but I don't want to leave you alone here to pack up my things," Hermione said. "That's hardly fair."
"Hermione, you fighting for House Elves rights is far more important than helping Harry and me pack up your stuff," Ron said firmly. "Go. We don't mind at all, right Harry?"
"Oh, I suppose not," Harry agreed.
"Well…alright," Hermione smiled. "I don't think I'll be more than a couple of hours. Mum and dad will be at work until this evening, so you'll be on your own here. Just please be careful; some of this stuff is fragile."
"Course," Ron said, leaning down to kiss her.
"Thank you, Ron," Hermione said to her boyfriend. "And Harry, I really do appreciate you helping. Well, I'll see you both later then."
"She's definitely going to convince Bobbit to start the work on drafting that legislation," Ron said admiringly as Hermione left the room. "You should here her argument, it's brilliant."
"Don't doubt it, mate," Harry smiled. "So, shall we get started on these books?"
"Right," Ron said, stepping over to one of the bookshelves. "Honestly…how can one girl have so many books? Look at this; she has two entire books about the Goblin Wars of the fourteenth century."
"We should be thankful she's read so many books," Harry pointed out. "She's saved our skins about three dozen times because of that."
"Very true," Ron nodded. "These books are quite small…"
"Those are muggle novels," Harry said. "Children's' ones. I guess she read a lot of them before she started Hogwarts."
"Think she'd want to save these?" Ron asked.
"Probably," Harry shrugged. "Hermione wouldn't want to throw out any book, even if it's a children's' book."
"Some of these titles are strange," Ron commented. "The Phantom's Tollbooth? Charlotte's Web? Matilda? What's a Matilda?"
"Oh, I've read that book, I think," Harry said.
"You have?"
"They make you read a ton of books like this in primary school," Harry explained, picking up the copy of the book. "Course Dudley would normally cram my copies down the toilet, but this is one of the few that he missed. It's quite good, from what I remember."
"Seems like she's read it a lot," Ron said, noticing how worn the book was.
"Wouldn't be surprised, I could see Hermione enjoying this one," Harry grinned. "It's about a girl who loves to read. I don't remember properly, but I think she gets some sort of magical ability because she got so smart from reading so many books."
Ron laughed. "You're right, she would enjoy this." He opened up the book. "Wicked; there are even drawings in here. Weird that they're so still, but I suppose they're still nice. Hmm…doesn't seem like a bad read."
"Well read it later," Harry said. "After you've helped me finish packing."
"Yeah, yeah, sure," Ron said, not looking up from the book. "I'll help…Huh, wish I had books like this when I was a kid. This is great!"
"Ron, I'm not packing everything myself," Harry said. "So don't you get any ideas about-"
"How about we just take a quick break?" Ron said, settling down on Hermione's bed with the book.
"Break from what exactly?" Harry frowned. "You haven't done anything."
Ron didn't reply as he flipped a page in the book.
Harry sighed. "Right then. Looks like I'm on my own."
…
"Oh! You've finished everything!" Hermione beamed as she walked back into her bedroom several hours later.
"Told you we'd handle it," Ron said, wrapping an arm around her.
"We?" Harry scoffed. "You didn't do a thing other than sit on the bed and read that bloody book."
"Ron, you made Harry do all the work?" Hermione frowned.
"Well…he seemed to be doing such a good job that I didn't want to disturb him," Ron said lamely. "Besides, I was reading Hermione. You wouldn't want to get in the way of that, would you?"
"I'm going to go see Ginny," Harry said, rolling his eyes.
"Thank you for all your help, Harry," Hermione said. "I really appreciate it. How about I take you to lunch tomorrow at work?"
"Sure," Harry smiled, giving her a quick hug. "Good night, you two."
"Well," Hermione said, turning back to Ron. "Can I at least see which book it was that kept you from helping poor Harry?"
"This one," Ron said, holding up the novel.
"Matilda?" Hermione said, slightly surprised. "Oh! I haven't read that book in ages; not since I started Hogwarts, I think. I used to love it."
"It's a great story," Ron said. "The girl, though, she reminds me of someone…can't quite put my finger on who though."
"Oh really?" Hermione laughed. She took the book from Ron and smiled down nostalgically at the cover. "I used to read this book almost every day when I would come home from school."
"Well, I'm obviously not as fast of a reader as you are, but I'm nearly halfway done," Ron told her. "So we'll just have to take this book with us to the new flat."
"If you insist," Hermione grinned. "I'm sure we can find a place for it."