The Austere Stonewall, Book 1: Hermione
Chapter 3: The Move
Surprisingly, Hermione had slept hard. She hadn't had any dreams, too exhausted for her mind to conjure anything up, she supposed. It was lucky as she'd forgotten to cast any silencing charms before falling asleep. Looking over to GInny's bed, she saw it was empty but the covers were rumbled. Hermione staggered to her feet in a slight panic. It must be late if Ginny was up before she was. A glance out the window confirmed that the sun had already risen and it was surely after 8 am. She pulled on a pair of denims and a Chudley Cannons t-shirt that must have fit Ron in their first year. She pulled her curls up and through a hair tie in a sloppy high ponytail and rushed to the bathroom to brush her teeth. As the daughter of dentists, Hermione still followed the doctrine instilled in her for dental hygiene. She wondered if there was a way to infuse toothpaste or mouthwash with potions to extend and maintain tartar control. She'd have to look into that.
Downstairs in the kitchen, she arrived to find Harry and Ginny eating breakfast with Mrs. Weasley, Mr. Weasley was undoubtedly at work already and Ron was nowhere in sight.
"He's at the shop with George until after it closes," Harry answered her unasked question.
She sat and began eating her food.
Ginny cleared her throat, "Harry said he was going to help you move today. Would you mind if I came with you guys? I want to help."
"Sure. That's nice of you to offer," Hermione smiled. "Mrs. Weasley, you're welcome to come as well, just don't expect much from it yet. I would love to have you all visit and see it. I'm sure you guys will be able to find something I forgot to do and I'd appreciate any help I can get."
Breakfast was quickly finished, the dishes cleaned and put away and food wrapped up and stored to be brought with them at Molly's insistence. A floo call to the Ministry had informed Arthur of where they were going to be. He promised to set up her floo network before flooring that afternoon. Hermione had promised to write down the coordinates of her floo and the name for him so that the floo could be connected.
She ran upstairs to grab her beaded bag and her remaining possessions. She wrote "Thornfield Cottage" on a scrap of parchment and wrote down the coordinates for her house. She descended the stairs and grabbed some floo powder to floo the message to Mr. Weasley's office.
"All right, dear, I've got plenty here to bring with us," Mrs. Weasley announced, her arms full of linens and other various cloth items that she had grabbed.
Hermione opened her mouth to begin to protest Mrs. Weasley giving her anything only to be interrupted before she could start.
"You are moving out so it's only fair that I can pass on some things we have lying around to help you get started. You can transfigure or replace anything you like when you're ready to but for now, they might be useful to have," Molly said firmly.
Hermione smiled and thanked her as she reached out to hold some of her burden. Harry returned with a box of items he had undoubtedly been told to fetch and Ginny was holding a basket with fresh produce in one hand a mystery box in the other that was dusty on the top. They followed Hermnione into the yard and Hermione reached out to apparate Mrs. Weasley first.
They reappeared in front of Hermione's cottage and she heard Molly's gasp as she took in the view of the little white house surrounded by bluebonnets and the edge of the cliff that led to the sea. She shifted the bundle in her arms and flicked her wand to adjust the wards to recognize Molly's magical signature. She let down the ward that was keeping the house safe from anyone entering.
"It's open now and you've been added to my wards. I'll be back with Harry and Ginny in a moment. Make yourself at home."
She disapparated back to the Burrow catching Ginny and Harry mid-snog. "Guys, I was gone less than a minute!" she said in fake exasperation.
They all laughed a bit before Hermione grabbed both their arms and apparated to the front yard so they could both get the proper view of her house. She heard dual gasps and smiled to herself, loving that she wasn't the only person who loved the view of her little house.
"It's adorable, Hermione!" Ginny gushed.
"Yeah," came Harry's eloquent comment. "I like the flowers."
"Bluebonnets," Hermione corrected. "They are native here in Scotland. They were in full bloom when I bought the house. I've done my best not to disturb them."
The trio walked up the pathway to the front porch to find Mrs. Weasley already inspecting the foundation and strength of the spellwork reinforcing the construction. She nodded her head with what she found and continued around the house. Hermione waved Harry and Ginny inside for a tour.
The day flew by in a haze of unpacking the rest of her things from her bag, the basket of food brought from the Burrow, and tranfiguring and charming the existing furniture Hermione had to fit the space and her tastes.
It had taken some effort to get all of Mrs. Weasley's charms on the old non-working refrigerator but they had succeeded in not only improving the look of it from an old olive green to a sleek stainless steel and also removing the mechanical parts that were no longer necessary. She felt sad that Arthur was missing this part but vanished the mess at Molly's look. Mr. Weasley would be wanting to take it all home with him to play with if she left it for him to see.
The charmed refrigerator would now keep a constant temperature and was full of the eggs, milk, vegetables and fruits grown at the Burrow. Hermione was thankful for it all. She would still have to go to a grocer's but at least she had a start.
For lunch the group decided to take the walk to Hogsmede to visit the Three Broomsticks. The walk was actually a proper distance. Too far for school children to find their way to her house on Hogsmeade weekends but close enough that it wasn't a burden to walk rather than apparate to the town. Hermione mentioned her idea for making a walking trail around the perimeter of her land so she could take walks or jogs and when they returned from lunch, Harry set to work measuring a 1 kilometer pathway around the perimeter of her house. She caught Ginny watching from the windows as he smoothed out the ground and removed any stubbing blocks.
Ginny blushed and went back to doing as much as she could to help. Being a couple weeks shy of 17 meant she could only clean by hand and arrange linens without spells. Hermione realized with a start that she and Ginny now shared a "birthday" and decided that she would keep her original birthday for celebration purposes so as to not step on Ginny's toes. Birthdays were one thing most of the Weasley children had to themselves and she didn't want to take that away from her friend. She felt sadness at realizing that even George had his own birthday now.
By the time Arthur flooed to her cottage after work, Harry had created a running path for her and had also snuck down to the cliffs and spelled some of the rocks to jut out at proper intervals, forming a staircase of sorts. Hermione would now be able to get to the beach down below easily without having to use magic or a broom or go the long way around. While her property did not extend to the beach, the realtor had told her the part that touched on her land was public property and she was free to visit as much as she liked.
Arthur added some strength to her wards (as had Harry and Molly) and after only a few more spells here and there, claimed her house to be structurally sound. Hermione beamed at him as he tried to think of other charms that her cottage could benefit from only really thinking up an impervious spell for the wooden porch to preserve it from rot.
Dinner was approaching and Hermione was trying to think of what she could serve for food as they were all still at her home, it was her chore to do so. When Harry confessed that he had a surprise he wanted to set up for her and asked if she could hide her eyes for a while, she had an idea.
With a withering stare aimed at Harry, she replied, "I'm going to pop out and pick up pizza and chinese take away. Can I trust you not to burn down my new home, Harry James Potter?"
Hands in the air in fake surrender, Harry laughed, "It's a good surprise and it will not ruin anything. It's an early birthday gift that I picked up late last night and I want to set it up for you. I'm going to need Arthur's help, though so that will be perfect."
"Can I take Ginny or do you need her for this...surprise?"
Shrugging, Harry looked around for Mr. or Mrs. Weasley. Harry jutted his chin at Mrs. Weasley who was planting some seeds in her new flower boxes at the front of the house. Hermione hadn't fully made her mind up on what she wanted to plant there so she resigned herself to keeping whatever Molly was putting there for her. "You'll have to ask Mrs. Weasley since you're going Muggle. I can spare her for an hour or so, I guess."
Barely pausing in her work, Molly agreed to allow Hermione apparate Ginny side-along to Muggle London to pick up food so long as they were careful and responsible. Hermione swore that the only magic necessary was apparition and that they weren't going to be wandering around aimlessly.
Ginny was oddly excited to go with Hermione to muggle London. She and Harry shared a glance that was amused at how eager some of the Weasleys were to see the most ordinary things. It was their own joke since they both knew magic excited them just as easily.
As soon as Hermione apparated them to the side alley next to their destination, she turned to Ginny and asked, "How are things going with Harry?"
Rolling her eyes at the lack of subtlety, Ginny linked her arm through Hermione's and fell into step slightly behind her. Hermione listened as Ginny described the new way Harry had of appreciating her more. She gushed about how Harry would stare at her in wonder or how he was happy just holding her hand in awe. She paused long enough to let Hermione order 2 large pizzas and to pay for them. Promising to return to pick them up in half an hour, the girls left the small shop and walked down the road.
"I spent a year thinking that we would never be anything again. I worried he'd die and I'd be without him. The best case scenario was that he was alive but the threat of You-Know-Who would keep us from having a life together-"
"You picture a life with Harry?" Hermione stopped walking and turned to her abruptly.
Confused, Ginny came back with, "Well, yeah, of course I do?"
"That's great, Ginny. I'm happy for you."
Kicking a small ball of trash in the gutter, Ginny muttered, "That doesn't mean he feels the same. For all I know, he's just happy with me here and now."
After a short internal debate, Hermione admitted, "He feels the same. I spent a year with him. He never wanted to break up with you and he worried constantly over your safety. He's just faced his own death and he has never really thought that he would get to have a future. You may just have to be patient with him as he sorts out his emotions now that he's free to actually have them."
The girls shared a smile. Hermione felt a little bad for sharing anything about Harry with Ginny, almost like she was betraying his confidence but Ginny was her best girl friend and it was for Harry's benefit that she was revealing what she knew.
They arrived at the Chinese take away place and Hermione ordered a few dishes that she was sure the Weasleys would like trying. The food was ready almost immediately and she handed the bag to Ginny.
There was a grocer's stall not far so she and Ginny walked across the street and picked up some food for her new place, including some tea and other staples that she was in need of. They still had a few minutes to spare when they made it back to the pizza shop so Hermione quietly answered questions for Ginny about different aspects of the muggle world. Against her better judgment, she purchased some sodas as Ginny was keen to try them. She figured Harry would like them as well and the rest would keep for the next time Harry visited her. Her best friend never was allowed to try sweets as a kid and now as a young adult, he often over indulged.
They arrived back at her cottage with their arms full of shopping and food as Hermione had not wanted to duck anywhere private to shrink the items. The girls set the items down and Hermione cast a stasis charm on the take out while Ginny went about putting the shopping in the refrigerator and the pantry while pulling out flatware. The plates were a simple set and had very simplistic designs of small blue flowers around the edge of the bone white plates. Hermione loved it immediately. Ginny explained they were a set of dishes her parents had from their early marriage but it only included a set of 4 now due to wear and tear. Mrs. Weasley must not have used them much after the roughness of her eldest boys.
Before she could look for Mr. and Mrs. Weasley and Harry, Harry came in from the back door, sweat on his brow. He smiled at her and shut the door and cast a spell to close the curtains. He jogged over to peck Ginny on the lips before and stepped behind Hermione and guided her to the backdoor.
"I have a surprise for you and I want you to take all in at the same time, okay? We've just finished it and I hope you like it. It was going to be my birthday gift to you but after last night I felt like you could use it early. Ready?"
She looked at her best friend over her shoulder and saw how excited Harry was about it. She vowed to be as happy and excited as he was, even if she hated it. Harry was hardly ever this excited about anything so she knew he must have put a lot into whatever it was.
Nodding at him, she allowed Harry to guide her to the door with his hand clapped over her eyes. She heard Ginny open the door for her and Harry told her that she was no longer going to need to step down the back stairs because the footing was now even.
With Harry's hand on her shoulder she was guided to step onto the now even floor protruding from the back door in what she assumed was a deck of wood.
The hand was removed from her eyes and she looked around, blinking. She was indeed standing on a new deck off the back of her house.
The wood matched the front porch in color and style but at the edge of the wooden deck flooring, was a screened wall around the deck. Above her she could see a roof that extended from the house and continued sloping down as if it were always a part of the house. What really stunned her, though, was the large white baby grand piano sitting off to one side of the porch. It was the most elegant and beautiful piano she had ever seen, she decided. It had such a shiny lacquer on it that the sun, now sinking in the early evening sky, was reflected at her.
Without saying anything, she turned and hurled herself at her best friend's arms. She felt tears begin to flow and she could only burrow her face into his neck and hold him tightly. She calculated in her head and decided that this gift cost roughly the same as his Firebolt and she couldn't even begin to fathom paying that much money for a gift, let alone affording it. Harry had always been generous with his money and possessions but this was really beyond all common expectancy. She pulled back and laughed a little when she saw Harry had tears in his eyes as well.
"I can't believe you did this, Harry! I can't believe you remembered!"
He scuffed his toe on the deck, a sure sign he was embarrassed. "It's kinda hard to forget that, Mi. You have always been there for me, even before I was a friend to you. I may not have realized it then or appreciated it, but you've always had my best interests at heart. You've stood by me when I was a prat and mad at you for caring about me and doing the right thing. You've never failed to bail me out or hold me up to succeed. I don't know where I'd be without you there handing me the tools I needed all these years."
Now Hermione looked down, embarrassed at his speech because she could now see Mr. and Mrs. Weasley smiling at them. Ginny stood a few feet away looking at them curiously so Harry obliged.
"It was Christmas and it was just Hermione and me and we'd had the toughest day of all our time on the run, at that point. We realized it was Christmas and gave ourselves a break. We tried to find Potter Watch but could only find music so we gave up and danced silly and we talked. Hermione admitted to me that she'd taken piano lessons as a girl and that she missed it. She told me a story from when she was 6 and I knew then that I was going to buy her a piano like the one in her story if I was ever given the chance."
At that, Mrs. Weasley and Ginny both had a tear in their eye and there was a lot of sniffling. Hermione was thankful Harry hadn't shared the actual story with everyone. She had never told anyone else of it before and she wanted to keep it that way. She hugged Harry and thanked him sincerely in his ear before hugging Molly and Arthur, as she was reminded again to call them. She let Arthur show her the deck he and Harry had built and he shared with her the charms on it to repel the weather and to keep the air inside the deck a certain temperature year round. It would take a semi-regular recasting of the charms to keep it fresh but Hermione was very thrilled to now have a piano of her own in a place of her own, to play.
Dinner was a very enjoyable affair with laughing and stories. They ate pizza and Chinese and drank green tea and sodas as Arthur shared stories of how they learned the hard way to put child lock spells on virtually everything in the Burrow as Bill and Charlie had gotten into a paint can one day and painted the new floor in the freshly created addition that would become Percy's room.
Molly shared the background of the flatware she'd given Hermione (Arthur's great uncle had given them as a wedding gift) and had refused the offer to give them back when Hermione had stated that she could buy her own dishes soon.
"I've chosen to give them to you, dear. Ginny has already told me she didn't want them and I have plenty others to give her and Ron. I've already given the other boys their share when they moved out. Ron won't care about any of them, anyways, I think."
No one said that Ron would not want hand-me-down anything as soon as he could afford to buy something for himself. Most of the Weasleys were secure about their impoverished lifestyle but Ron had only ever seen it as a symbol to the world of how he wasn't good enough. Hermione felt a little warmer, more a part of the family, having Molly treat her as she did her own children. She never told Molly how much it hurt to be left out of the Weasley sweaters for the first few years of her friendship to Ron while Harry was given one.
Hermione thanked her and didn't press the issue with anything else she'd been given that day. All in all, she was very pleased with her house and thought it had come together perfectly well. Long after Mr. and Mrs. Weasley left with a container of take out (Arthur had fallen in love with the fried rice), Hermione was admiring the simple white lace curtains and the chunky-knit indigo blanket on the back of her couch that Mrs. Weasley had left for her to curl up under while reading. It was nice to have others leaving a touch of themselves in her new home.
Later that night, she took her time playing out her favorite compositions on her piano. She would need to buy some music as she was out of practice. Her parents hadn't had a piano at home for her to play. They had bought a much more practical keyboard that could be stowed away when she was at Hogwarts but the feel of her new piano was so heavenly. The weight of the keys under her fingers was amazingly cathartic. This was going to be a place she sat a lot in the next month, she thought as music flowed out of her in an attempt for her to escape her mind and the upcoming marriage law and hide in her music.
As she dressed for bed, Hermione combed through her long, wild curls and went through a list of what she wanted to accomplish tomorrow.
Potions Lab in the garden shed
Shop for and plant potion ingredients and garden
Research marriage bonds and past marriage laws in wizarding Britain.
She knew she needed a shopping day soon (despite how much she disliked shopping) as she would not only need a birthday gift for Harry's party, but something to wear. Ginny had stated that Harry's birthday was a chance for everyone to spend time together and have fun and she hinted that Hermione might need to wear a dress or something nicer than what she had been wearing so she planned to pick up Ginny and take her shopping for clothes and gifts. She made a mental note to think of a house warming gift to bring to the party for Harry as well.