The Cost of Friendship

Chapter Two

Making Room

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"What do you mean you got fired?" Ron asked. "That office needs you."

"Well, not anymore I guess." Harry replied.

Harry sat down next to Ginny on her desk and looked at the paper she was holding. Harry suddenly realized that his depressing attitude was crashing the party. "I'm sorry, I forgot all about your meeting today with the House Elves, I see they signed the contract."

"Yeah, Dobby was elected their representative and he quickly agreed to join our efforts, the meeting went well. But we want to hear about your job…what happened?" Hermione said pulling up a chair and sitting in front of Harry.

Harry took a deep sigh and said, "Well, I guess I deserved it, I screwed up. Because I have only been there full time for a few months but they were still giving me easy cases."

Ron grumbled, "There doing it to me too Harry but I figured it was because I only work part time at the ministry. Shouldn't they be giving you full cases by now?"

"Well, that's what I thought. They keep putting me on muggle duty and I was tired of it. That other new guy, Blake or whatever his name is got his first full case today and I started well before he did. My anger got the better of me and I went off on the head of my department, and he fired me." Harry said.

"Did he tell you why he wasn't putting you on full cases yet?" Ron asked.

"Yeah, he said that he was waiting to give me a more serious case, and he had one ready for me he just hadn't had a chance to talk to me yet. Some dark wizard escaped a German prison and was killing muggles; he said it was perfect for me. But of course I messed that all up."

"I can't believe you haven'tlearned to control your temper yet Harry." Hermione said sternly.

Harry looked like he was ready to stun Hermione but he figured she had a point. He put his head in his hands and rubbed his eyes. "It's okay; I really didn't like sitting behind a desk anyways. With most of the death eaters gone it's not very exciting around here, I'll find something else to do."

Ginny suddenly jumped off the desk and walked to the other side of the room. "Hermione, can I talk to you over her for a moment."

Hermione walked over to Ginny, leaving Harry and Ron to chat. "What is it Ginny?"

"Do we have room for Harry to work here? He may not like working for me but I really could use a personal assistant, now more than ever." Ginny said.

"But Ginny, you're my assistant!" Hermione said.

"Really, I thought I was your partner!" Ginny said indignantly.

Hermione smacked her forehead and threw her hands in the air. "That's it Ginny!"

"What's it?" Ginny said, confused.

"We need another office!"

"Did I say that?" Ginny asked.

"No, but you are my partner, I think you should run our other office in Diagon Alley." Hermione said, excited.

"But Hermione, we don't have that office anymore, you told me terminate the lease and I did." Ginny said.

"Oh, well that's all right, you and Harry can find a new residence and start up another office."

"You think I can handle that?" Ginny asked.

"You have been working for me for over two years now, you know how to run this place better than I do, of course you can. That and this way we can free up some room for the new elf that's coming to work for us."

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At first Harry wasn't too happy with the idea; he couldn't quite get over the thought of being fired. But after Ginny, Ron and Hermione talked him into it he agreed to at least help Ginny get her new office started. Ginny seemed glad to have the help, after all it wasn't long ago that Harry and Ginny worked together on various S.P.E.W. projects, it would feel like old times again.

While Harry and Ginny were off searching for a new office Hermione and Ron were hard at work coming up with their next campaign, or so they claimed. Hermione had sent the rest of her staff members off on various assignments, most of which involved visiting House elves and letting them know of the organizations progress. This of course suited Ron because for the first time sense Dobby's visit, they were completely alone.

"Hey Ron, I have a question for you." Hermione called from her desk across the room.

Ron got up and snuck his way across the room, sat down on Hermione's desk and batted his eyelashes playfully. "Yes my dear?"

"Ron, don't be cute. I wanted to know which one of these invitations you liked better." Hermione said.

"Hermione, this is the first time we have been alone in ages and your working on wedding plans?" Ron asked.

"Yes I am, we need to get moving on this, we only have a few months you know." Hermione said.

Ron sighed and looked down at the two invitation examples sitting on her desk. The first one was a white parchment with a gold bow attached to the top. A photograph of Ron and Hermione was on the front, and the wedding information on the back. The second one was a red parchment with simple gold writing that was magically appearing, giving all the details of the wedding. Ron picked up the red one, examined it more closely and smiled.

"This one, I like the gold writing and it's simple, that other one is too flashy."

Hermione stood up and kissed Ron, "I knew that was the one you would pick, I like that one too. I liked it because it reminded me of Gryffindor."

"Oh yeah, it does!" Ron smiled. "So are those our colors then, red and gold?"

"Yeah, it's turning out that way." Hermione said, smiling.

Ron, who couldn't stand it much longer, scooted forward and wrapped his arms around Hermione and kissed her, she tried to fight him at first but he was to strong and it felt too good so she gave in. Before they knew it they found themselves pressed up against the center conference table. Ron tore off Hermione's shirt, picked her up and sat her on the table. Ron was getting thoroughly excited because she had never allowed him to do this in her office before. Hermione had slid her hands under his shirt and pulled it up over his head and tossed it across the room.

Just as Ron was reaching for the top button of her pants the office door swung open and in popped Ginny who was laughing heartily until her eyes found Ron and Hermione in their current state. Ginny shrieked and turned to hide her eyes in Harry's chest, who was standing behind her. Ron and Hermione quickly found their shirts and put them back on.

Harry who was equally horrified at seeing Hermione topless had covered his eyes with his hands. "Is it safe yet?" He asked.

"Yes." Ron said in an unusually high pitched voice.

Ginny choose to ignore what she just saw, instead went onto the reason why she was there. "Umm…we found a place Hermione and we wanted you to see it before we rented it."

"Oh, right…do you want to go now." Hermione asked.

Harry smiled and grabbed Ginny's hand, "No, it can wait until tomorrow, we will see you later." Harry said as he and Ginny walked out the door.

Ron and Hermione just looked at each other and busted up laughing.