Ron's Apartment

"Rose, come on. It's time for bed." I take her almost empty bowl of oatmeal and put it in the sink to wash later.

"Ron, exactly how did you ask her?" Harry asked.

We had been talking about me offering to let Hermione stay here until she had all of her furniture for the apartment.

"I just asked her. Told her she could stay here at least for tonight. Tomorrow we're going to look for a bed, I think. Well, she is. Not me. A bed for her." I ramble, as I get Rose out of her chair and promise her a bedtime story if she goes to the bathroom.

Ginny peaks her head out of Rose's bedroom. "Are you going to invite her to dinner with Mom and Dad?"

I rinse out Rose's oatmeal bowl. "Bloody hell no. You know how protective they are about Rose. I can't just bring any woman home. Not after Lavender."

Suddenly the doorbell rings.

"Who could that be Ron?"

I shrug. "S'probably the landlord."

Nope. I couldn't be more wrong.

Hermione tucks a stray hair behind her ear. "Can I, uh, still take your offer?"

I step aside and let her in. "Sure. Come on in. You remember Harry and my sister Ginny's with Rose."

Hermione smiles and waves at Harry, who is in the living room.

"Ron, can you come get your daughter? She won't put her jammies on." Ginny calls from the room. She comes out with Rose in her arms. "Oh…"

"I promised her a story, so you and Harry go ahead. I'm sure mom is getting worried now."

"Come on, I'll show you around," I suggested nodding for Hermione to follow.

Hermione smiles and follows behind me.

"Thanks again for offering. I can only sleep on those couch cushions a few times."

"Bye Hermione," Ginny calls out before I hear the door slam shut.

After showing her the important areas; the bathroom and her guest bedroom, we come back into the living room.

"Daddy. I need story." Rose peaks her head out from her room.

Hermione smiles at her and waves gently.

"Do you mind?" I ask Hermione. "She's pretty tired so it should only take about half an hour. I can order a pizza, if you want?"

"That sounds lovely. I'll just work on my plans for the apartment," she says sweetly.

She sits at one of the bar stools at the kitchen center counter space.

"Daddy!" Rose calls in her sweet sleepy voice.

I chuckle at the sweet but forceful demand by my kid. "Wish me luck."

Hermione places a hand on my arm to stop me before I go. "A pillow helps for sleeping with a broken arm. Just prop her arm up comfortably."

Rose peeks her head out of her room again. "Daddy, you promised!"

"Thanks," I whisper to Hermione before meeting Rose at her doorway. I picked her up. "What story would you like tonight?"

Hermione's POV*

I'm able to plan out a bit more for what I want my apartment to look like by the time Ron finishes putting Rose to bed.

"How'd it go?" I ask when he emerges into the living room.

He leans back into the back of his couch, which is a nice gray colored leather "Oh it didn't take long for her to get to sleep, but she insisted that I read the story two times. Fell asleep less than halfway through the second."

I can't help but laugh. He's so sweet.

"So, I see you've been busy." He gestures to the open notebook I have out.

"Yeah, I sort of bring this thing everywhere. I'm just trying to make a plan for tomorrow. I at least want to get my bedroom furniture and maybe a couple of barstools for the kitchen."

Ron walks over to the fridge. "I'm sure we can get it all done. But it has to be finished before 7. I've got a big family dinner, my mom would scold me about if I missed. I was going to make some dinner, but would you mind a pizza instead? I can order in for us."

I slide my notebook away from me. "That sounds good."

He orders quickly on his phone. "Alright, it should be here in 20 minutes."

"Do you think we can really do this? I mean pull it off? My mom truly is the worst."

Ron holds his hand out in front of me. "I definitely think we can make it work. "Come, the couch is more comfortable than these old chairs."

Ron sits right beside me. He drapes his arm behind me again.

"Is this alright?" He shifts away from me a little.

I lean back a bit. "Yeah. I'm really sorry about this. Forcing us into something we're not."

Ron tangles his hand in my ponytail. "We have to make it believable, right? But you know if you don't like it, I can stop. Don't want to make you uncomfortable. We can just play it up at the wedding."

"No. It feels good. I'm…. I'm just a little stressed"

"Did you finish your plans for the apartment?" He asks, just as the doorbell rings out. I'll get it."

I was admiring his living room when he came back into the room.

Ron hands me a plate. "You should leave your hair down more. It's pretty."

I purposely brush my hand against his to feel that butterfly feeling in the pit of my stomach. "Thanks. Um do you think we could talk about everything tomorrow? It's been a long day."

"Right, yeah," He says.

I get up to grab a slice of pizza. "I'd rather have a plan to go off and then at the wedding we can gage it."

"Of course. Makes sense. I should have never said anything. S'all my fault really."

Ron blushes when I catch him looking me up and down quickly and not so subtly as possible.

We finish our pizza in silence, which isn't too horrible.