Chapter Thirty-seven
The Hogsmede trip was on the fifteenth of April. The morning of, Ron woke up as Hermione planted a kiss on his lips.
"Morning love." Ron muttered with his eyes still shut.
"Good morning." Hermione responded, propping her head up on her elbows and turning to look at Ron. His eyes blinked open and he turned to look at Hermione. "So everything should be here around eleven like with the bookshop. And then we can put the gold plaque on your door and everything should be set for the first issue to come out on July 1st." Hermione said. She smiled, because Ron looked happy as well. She moved over and moved her lips onto his once again. He kissed back and they stayed like that until the very last, possible second when they had to get ready.
The weather was surprisingly hot for practically the middle of April. It seemed like it was May or at least the end of April. Hermione changed into a pair of jean capris and a turquoise short sleeve shirt with a brown camisole underneath. She also slipped on a pair of brown flip-flops. Ron had on a pair of jean shorts and a blue polo shirt over a white one. He stuck a cap on his head and walked with Hermione to the Great Hall for breakfast.
In Hogsmede Ron was walking at a fast pace toward the Quidditch memorabilia shop. It was 5 minutes to eleven and he wanted to be there when it happened. He had also told the people who would be staff on the new paper to be there at eleven thirty so he could go over everything. And they would be meeting Marty at one. They made it to the place with only seconds to spare. As they walked in furniture appeared and Ron smiled. He had never actually been in this building before so he was shocked to see how big it was. Hermione had explained the building of it and he had seen pictures so he knew what the plan was. The rooms on the first floor were where the Owlery and morgue would be. The Owlery was where all of the owls would live when they weren't delivering papers and the morgue was where old issues of the paper would go. (Hermione read that that's what newspapers have once and she let Ron know. She had researched everything, to do anything to help out.) In the open space there was another desk for a secretary to organize meetings for interviews and to let the reporters know when something is happening. There was a couch for people waiting on interviews with the reporters or people there to meet with Ron. On the next floor there were four regular-sized rooms and one larger one. The larger one was where all of the reporters would have their desks and the smaller ones were for each department. One for ads (Justin and Padma were in charge of that department and he planned on having a few more workers in that department), one for the photographers (he planned on having about three or four of them to work with the reporters), one for the spells column (Vanessa's job gave him an idea so he decided that maybe having a few people explain how to use certain spells and tell how useful they are.) The last room was for his office. They wandered around examining each room. All of the desks and shelves and chairs and everything else seemed to have appeared as well. Ron even put up the gold plaque on his door. Before he knew it, it was eleven thirty. They went downstairs as everyone who would be working there next year arrived. Lupin even showed up for the meeting although he only had a limited amount of time before he had to get back to Tonks. Everyone was either on the couch, a chair, the floor, or standing.
Ron had a speech prepared. "Welcome to the Magical Gazette." He started. "First I wanted to thank you all for coming and, again, thank you for helping make this place happen. Now to get down to business. We graduate on the 22nd and from the 25th on I'm going to need you all here and working so that we can get the first issue out by July 1st. Obviously, we're going to need more staff than what we have here so I'm going to need you all to get the word out because we clearly can't advertise in the Prophet." Ron took a breath and saw everyone listening intently. He liked having this kind of power. It made him feel more important than just being the editor. He was in charged of this paper, his sole responsibility. "So with that said, any questions, feel free to ask any questions and we'll take a tour of the place." Ron started leading everyone through, explaining everything. Hermione watched from the sidelines, admiring him and his takeover.
Soon everyone was dismissed with a promise to spread the word and to be back on the 25th of June. Hermione, Harry, and Ginny sat with Ron on the couch.
"You did great." Hermione said.
"Really? Cuz I'm sweating like crazy." He answered, wiping his brow, then taking off his cap and running his hands through his hair. "I was nervous talking in front of everyone because I'm responsible for it. The fate of this paper lays in my hands." He said.
"Look at the Herald. It's doing great, you're going to do this just fine. You've already did a great job today." Hermione assured him.
"Yeah I was even listening and I have no interest in it." Harry said.
"I was listening." Ginny agreed. Ron smiled at their assurance.
"So shall we go get something to eat before we meet Marty?" Ron asked, in a cheerier mood. He put his cap back on his head and took Hermione's hand, pulling her out of the store with him.
As they were walking back to meet Marty they noticed the sign, Magical Gazette, overt the top of the building. Ron smiled, proudly and turned the key in the lock. Marty was there at one on the dot with his briefcase.
"Hello, hello!" He said cheerfully. "I can't tell you how happy I was to get your letter." He shook hands with all of them and then he turned professional. "Now are we settled on those two flats? You know that there are rules to living a muggle city right?"
"Yes of course." Hermione answered, being the most businesslike. "We know all about that. I've researched everything about it. Those are the apartments we want and we're willing to make any offer."
"No need for that." Marty said with a smile. "I have all the paperwork right here, I just need your four signatures, a down payment and rent for the first three months, starting, of course, when you get out of Hogwarts, and you can have your keys." He took out papers that Hermione looked over before they each put their signatures on. They each paid their share of the down payment and rent to Marty. He handed them each a key. "Well I'm pretty sure that I've reached the limit on how much business I can get from you lot, so it's been nice knowing you." Marty said.
"Don't count on it. Some where down the line we'll have to buy houses." Ginny said. Marty smiled.
"Well till then." He smiled, tipped his hat to them and left. Ron looked at the two keys, one for his and Hermione's apartment and one for the office. It seemed almost surreal that this was happening. Life was going by so fast. He sat back on the couch and looked at them.
"Honey," Hermione said for the second time. "What's wrong?" She asked sitting next to him. He put both keys in one hand and took her hand in his other.
"It all seems surreal." Ron admitted. "It feels like I'm going to open my eyes and wake-up and you'll be off somewhere with Ginny, avoiding me. And Harry and I would be hanging out with Dean and Seamus and Neville. It doesn't even seem real that I own this place." He looked at all of them.
"Close your eyes." Hermione said. Ron was about to protest but Hermione put her finger to his lips. "Just close your eyes." She said. He did as he was told, not sure if Hermione was loosing it. She met her lips with Ron for several seconds. When she pulled away Ron opened his eyes. "Still here." Hermione said. "And not going anywhere." Ron chuckled.
"Thanks for proving that." He said. He looked up to find Harry and Ginny gone.
"I think they went up to one of the other rooms, to leave us alone." Hermione said. A mischievous smile crossed Ron's face but Hermione had another idea. "So we should probably go get them." Hermione said, getting up and walking with a sway towards the stairs. Ron shot up and walked toward her.
"Not so fast." He said, capturing her in his arms. "Maybe we can take some advantage of the time we have." He said. Hermione smiled.
"We could." She started, pressing her body up against his. "Or we could go get them." She started again for the stairs waiting for the plan to work out. He watched her walk away for a half-a-second before he came to his senses. He stopped her and backed her against a wall, holding her hands so she couldn't get free. She smiled and looked up at him; this had been the reaction that she was waiting for. He met their lips.
They had to stop several minutes later because Harry and Ginny were coming down the stairs.
"Eh, hem!" Harry coughed before they got all the way down so Hermione and Ron got a warning ahead of time. They separated and casually stood there. Harry and Ginny laughed when they saw the unkempt looks of them. Hermione and Ron quickly fixed themselves before they went with Harry and Ginny to hang around Hogsmede a little longer. They all decided to go see Fred and George.
In the shop all of the boxes were gone. Fred and George had an appointment with the Ministry the next day to get it ready to open up. Fred, George, Angelina, and Alicia were standing around the counter writing furiously on paper and shoving them into envelopes. They stopped when they noticed the other four come into the shop. Hello's and congratulations on shops.
"What are you doing?" Hermione asked.
"Wedding invitations." Alicia answered.
"So you've decided on dates?" Ginny asked.
"Yup." Angelina said. "Fred and I are having ours on July 3rd."
"And Alicia and I are having ours on August 27th because that's the day we met, almost nine years ago." George said.
"How did you know each other before Hogwarts?" Harry asked.
"We met in Diagon Alley when we were getting books." Alicia said smiling at George.
"So that was the girl you were bragging about?" Ron asked, remembering the day George said that he met a girl he really liked in Diagon Alley when he was getting his books.
"Yup, said I was going to marry that girl and I am." George said, smiling at Alicia. Of course, back then it had been just kid love but it had progressed and grown.
"So what's special about July 3rd?" Harry asked Fred and Angelina.
"Actually, I don't know. Fred picked it, I just went along with it." Angelina said. She looked at Fred for an answer. Fred looked a bit red.
"Well that was the day that I figured out that I loved you." Fred said. "Of course you turned me down afterwards but I still thought it was a good day." He smiled at Angelina, who wrapped her arms around him and gave him a kiss.
"So Ron, how's the Gazette coming along?" Alicia asked. Ron smiled and launched into a very long explanation of how things went today. Then at the end he added about how they bought their apartments.
"You bought a flat before you got out of Hogwarts?" Fred asked.
"Yup." Harry said smiling at Ginny.
"Why?" George asked.
"So it's all set when we get out of here." Ginny said.
"Can we see them?" Fed asked.
"No." Hermione said. "We want to actually see them first."
"Well then come along." George said.
"We can't just leave." Hermione protested.
"Yeah, she's right." Ron agreed. "We're supposed to be back up at the castle in an hour." Fred and George laughed.
"You're honestly telling me that none of you have ever Apparated out of Hogsmede before?" Fred asked.
"We'd get in trouble." Hermione said simply.
"Not if no one knows." George said. "Everyone used to do it all of the time. Hermione reached in her pocket and felt the key; she really wanted to see her apartment so she could decide what furniture she wanted.
"Alright let's go – but quickly." She added. Ron stared at her in shock but before he could speak Angelina and Alicia jumped up.
"Great, Ginny you could Apparate with me. I've already done side-along-Apparation before and you're close to passing your test next month anyways." Angelina said. Ron was still in shock with Hermione.
"Mione, are you sure that you want to go? What if we get in trouble?" Ron asked.
"It'll be quick and don't you want to see the flat?" Hermione asked. Ron did want to see the flat.
"Are you in Ron? Mione is." Fred said. Ron nodded.
"Quickly though." He said. With several cracks, they landed in the hallway of the flats. They were on the top floor so no muggles were would come up here unless they came to call on them, which wasn't too likely. Ginny already had her key in the door so they decided that they would look in there first. Ginny rushed in and started looking everywhere.
"It's perfect!" She exclaimed to Harry.
"It is." Harry agreed. He looked around at all the rooms with her while Fred, George, Angelina, Alicia, Hermione, and Ron looked around as well. At the counter Ginny seemed to have an epiphany.
"We could put bar stools here. And oh! We could have a table here," she pointed to an area by the counter. "And we could put our couch here."
"And don't forget the TV." Harry added. The other six left Ginny and Harry to their, "we could put this there" discussion and went across the hall. The door opened and Hermione looked around, amazed at this place. She rushed over to the window seat, looking onto a porch and the city.
"Look at the view." She gushed. "And we could put a ton of pillows here so it's comfortable to sit and read here." She said, starting their own, "we could put this here" conversation. Ron was smiling but also thinking about a TV.
"What if we put the couch here and then the TV here across from it." Ron said, after considering it. Fred, Angelina, George, and Alicia went to look in the bedrooms. Hermione agreed to what Ron said and said that they could put a nice armchair next to it and a coffee table in the middle. Ron went over to the kitchen area of the apartment next. He was just imagining all of the food that would be stuffed into those cabinets and fridge. Harry and Ginny came across the hall after locking up their apartment to check out Ron and Hermione's.
When they finished checking out Ron and Hermione's apartment, they locked up and Apparated back, Hermione and Ginny having images of how they wanted their places to look. They all said goodbye to Fred, George, Angelina, and Alicia before heading back up to the castle with barely any time to spare.
