Chapter 6 – Living Arrangements

That afternoon Hermione had to dash off for a series of interviews at a few book stores, and then she had a book signing that evening. She left the hospital feeling stressed. It wasn't the fact that Oliver was going to be living with her, that she was happy about, 'the more the merrier' as the saying goes. It was more the fact that the press would be very interested and she would have to put up with more whispers and rumours than before.

But she pushed that out of her mind, she had work to do, important work. She got to the floo network in the hospital and stepped into a free fireplace and travelled to where her first interview was being held.

She was quickly whisked into a dressing room where she sat as people applied makeup to her and did her hair while other people decided what it was she should be wearing for the interview.

Forty minutes later she was being ushered into a studio where she was photographed in 'natural' poses, such as flipping through her new book while lounging on a sofa, sipping some exotic type of drink and sat with a quill and parchment looking very thoughtful.

She was then taken to a small room and met her interviewer when the questions started. It went very well and Hermione was happy with her answers until they got to the last question, which threw her a little.

"There have been lots of rumours about you and currently injured Quidditch star keeper Oliver Wood, what exactly is going on?" The interviewer asked leaning forward slightly in anticipation to the answer.

"Oliver and I are old friends from school we've bumped into each other a few times in recent times and have gone out to catch up. He's a close friend but we're not in a relationship."

"What about the rumour that you went with him to France?" The interviewer shot at her, hoping to catch her off guard.

"I was promoting my last book, doing some interviews and the like. My friend went with me and on a day off we found out that the Magpies were playing so we went along to watch. Oliver met us afterwards and we went out for a few drinks." Hermione said simply with a shrug.

"Well thank you Miss Granger I think that's it." The woman said as she got up and shook Hermione's hand.

That evening Hermione came home later feeling very frazzled. She kicked off her shoes at the door and walked along the hall to the kitchen. She took off the shirt and pulled a t-shirt out of the basket of ironing that needed doing; she put it on and took her hair out of the ponytail it had been in all day.

Going over to the freezer she pulled out a tub of ice cream, she grabbed a spoon out of the drying rack by the sink and started to eat the ice cream while flipping through the day's newspaper.

After reading the articles that caught her eye she put the ice cream tub back into the freezer and walking into the living room. It was the one that she and Ginny used the most as it was the biggest of the living rooms. It had a huge TV with a DVD player, various games consoles and lots of books. Hermione had spent many nights trying to teach Ginny how to play the muggle games and was finally getting somewhere, or so she hoped. Harry and Ron loved this room when they came to visit and spent hours battling it out on wrestling, football and racing games.

Hermione launched herself onto the sofa and turned on the DVD player. The opening title of Colditz rolled onto the screen and she settled back to watch one of her all time favourite films.

She suddenly had an odd feeling that she wasn't alone and looked up to see a figure sat in the armchair at the back of the room by a large floor to ceiling bookcase. The person was in darkness so she couldn't make out their features.

Slowly, silently, with a shaky hand she reached for the main light switch and clicked on the light. With bated breath she took in the person and sighed with relief.

"Oliver!" She shrieked.

He jolted awake and the book fell from his hand. He looked around him to find out where the noise had come from. His eyes fell upon Hermione and he quickly stood up.

"Hermione, hi, I'm sorry." He said quickly.

"What are you doing here? You're not meant to be discharged until tomorrow at least."

"I sweet talked the doctor into letting me out early. As long as I get a lot of rest then I'll be fine." He said with a grin. "It's just that Ginny isn't here, she gave me a key before. But when I arrived she was out so I didn't want to be nosy so I came in here."

"Oh I see." Hermione said, feeling slightly taken aback. "I guess I could give you a tour. Or how about I just give you the basics as you can't walk very well." She gestured to his crutches.

He slowly got up wobbling slightly as he grabbed the two metal poles that he used for supports. He followed Hermione as she walked from the room, pausing every now and then so he could catch up.

She quickly showed him the kitchen and dinning room and various other rooms on the ground floor before they got to the last room; the room that would be his. She opened the door for him and he hobbled inside.

"You can decorate it however you want seeing as how you'll be here for a while. The bathroom's through there, sometimes it takes the shower a little while to heat up in the mornings so watch out if you don't want it too cold." Hermione said before turning to leave. "I'll leave you to it then, I've got a lot of work to do."

"Hermione wait." Oliver called after her. "Look are you ok with this? Truthfully? Because if you're not I don't have to be here."

"And have you cooped up in some tiny room in the Leaky Cauldron? No chance you're stuck with us mate." Hermione said with a weak smile before walking away.

The next morning Hermione had already gone to an interview by the time Oliver got up. He turned on the TV and got out his wand. Pointing it at the screen he said a spell word and the channel changed. It was a new invention come up by a muggle born witch a few years before. Wizard TV, there was now three wizard channels that could only be accessed using magic. One channel for news and interviews and the like, one channel for sports and one for music. He sat lazily and watched the Quidditch before, at eleven turning to watch Hermione's interview.

It was drawing to a close and Oliver was just about to change back to the Quidditch when a question caught his attention.

"What about you and Oliver Wood you've been getting close recently." The man asked with raised eyebrows.

"Oliver Wood and I are friends but that had nothing to do with my work so I will ask you not to question me on it." Hermione said firmly but with a smile.

Ginny came racing in that evening with a huge grin plastered on her face.

"I got a job!" she squealed as she jumped up and down on the spot.

"Great! What is it?" Hermione asked feeling happy for her.

"I'm going to work with Fred and George!" Ginny exclaimed. "It'll be great! I'll see more of the family and get discounts on all the products."

"Wow Gin! Congratulations!" Hermione praised and hugged her friend.

A week later most of Hermione's interviews had dwindled out and she was spending more and more time at the house. Which suited her as it was getting to be very sunny so she could take her laptop and sit out by the pool. Getting a tan while she worked, she marvelled, how cool could life get? She had received news that most shops had already sold out of her book and more were on order, which was good as this meant that a lot of money would currently be pouring into her account.

She gave a happy little sigh and turned back to her work, what she had right now was great she couldn't be happier with her life.

Oliver on the other hand was having quite a bad time of late. He spent most of his day sat in his room bored, he wanted to go out and ride around Hermione's garden on his broom. But his coach had confiscated it on interests to his health.

He hated the feeling of being completely useless. Usually he would be training or going over tactics for the next game but he was under very clear instructions: no Quidditch.

But he was so bored! He had nothing to do, no where to go, no one to see. Ginny was at work and Hermione had told him if he interrupted her she would rip out his eyeballs. He thought it best to leave her alone.

He would have gone for a dip in the pool and done some lengths except for the fact he wasn't allowed to submerge his cast in water whenever possible.

Ginny loved her job; her brothers were great and so much fun to work with. She got to see all the news things they invented before everyone else did and she even was allowed to take some stuff home with her.

She had only been there a week so the novelty had yet to ware off but she was sure even after a long time working there she would find it as much fun. Plus the fact that now she was getting a regular pay check she and Hermione could restart their shopping trips!

She was sat at the counter flipping through a magazine when the bell squawked and a customer walked in. she looked up to see that it was Harry and her stomach did the ever familiar leap as he smiled at her.

"Hi Harry how are you?" She asked willing herself not to go red.

"As good as ever Gin. I haven't seen you in ages you and Hermione should come round soon we only ever see you at the Burrow now."

"Harry, Ron came round to see us yesterday. In fact he pops round quite a lot really. It's you who doesn't make the effort." Ginny joked, although there was truth in what she was saying.

Ever since Ron had started hinting that Harry had found someone new they had seen less and less of him. Ginny didn't want to believe her brother but there was no other explanation. He was growing more and more distant as his relationship was getting more and more serious. A relationship he had told no one, but Ron, about.

This made Ginny feel quite hurt, he was supposed to be one of her best friends yet he was keeping something of a large size from her.

"Actually Gin," Came Harry's voice, interrupting her thoughts. "Are you free on Friday night? I want you and Hermione round there's something important I want to tell you both."

"Erm sure Friday should be fine." She said before adding "As long as we can bring a tag along, it wouldn't be fair leaving Oliver all alone while we're out. Plus he'd love the company, with me being out and Hermione still fixed on the idea that she doesn't want a relationship, he's getting quite lonely."

"Sure why not?" Harry said with a grin causing Ginny stomach to do another somersault. "Anyway I've got to go, stuff to do."

He walked from the shop and as Ginny watched him go her stomach gave another lurch. But this time for a completely different reason. This time it wasn't happiness she was feeling, it was pain.

The pain of seeing Harry's face light up as he walked towards a woman. A woman who wrapped her arms around his neck as they kissed. A beautiful woman that Ginny had no chance at competing with.

And as Ginny watched them, in agony, she realised what it was that Harry might be telling them. It was easy to guess once she had seen them walk hand in hand into the estate agents across the street.

"Fred! George!" She shouted "I'm not feeling too good I'm going for a walk."

And with that she bolted from the shop walking quickly down the back alleys to a place where she could be alone.

A place where she collapsed against the wall and slid down until she was stilling with her knees against her chest. The hot tears coursing down her cheeks and dripping onto the material of her t-shirt causing it to look speckled.

It felt as though someone had their hand holding her heart, Ginny thought, and now they were squeezing it tighter and tighter. She couldn't go on Friday night, she decided, she wouldn't be able to bare it. To pretend to be happy with the fact that Harry has a girlfriend and that they were going to be living together was more than she could manage. All she really wanted to do was yell 'why her? What's so special about her? I love you I always have and probably always will so why not choose me? I understand you!' but even when her mind was screaming this she had always kept her mouth firmly shut. And now she was paying the price.

A/N – shout outs to –

Chris
RandomSmirf13
FlairVerona
GrissomCainefan – thanks I had this pointed out to me a few reviews back but I forget to change it so I promise that next time I log in I will!