Author's Note: Things are going to get crazy in this chapter...enjoy!
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Harry woke up a few hours later with strange images of red dancing through his mind. Shaking his head a little he glanced at the clock noticing it was nearly 5 o'clock.
Well I haven't had anything to do today, might as well take off early, he thought happily to himself as he left his office and apparated home.
He entered his small flat and took account of everything. He shared an apartment with Ron, and although the layout was nice enough, it was always messy. The only person that made an effort to clean it up, or at least get the boys to clean it was Hermione. Her frequent visits were always filled with rantings about how cleanliness was important.
Harry called out but noticed that Ron wasn't home. Must be a work still, poor man, Harry thought. He went into the kitchen and decided to heat up a can of soup. Normally he would have simply used magic to heat the soup and such, but today he felt like taking his time, and as he turned the stove on low, and poured in the canned liquid, he went into his bedroom to change and wait for his meal to heat.
Two minutes later he heard a tapping on his window. He looked up and noticed a Ministry owl waiting on the window ledge. Dammit, probably shouldn't have left work early.
He opened the window and took the note from the bird, feeding him a treat as he left. He glanced at the note and groaned.
Potter,
Urgent business. Sorry to make you work after hours but a group of deatheaters have been tracked down, and we need you to come catch them. Please meet me at the office in 5 minutes for briefing.
-Kingsley
Just wonderful, now he was going to have to work! Oh, well, it wasn't like he was tired after that long nap today. He changed back into his work clothes and apparated out of the apartment, forgetting completely about the soup and the burning stove.
...
Ron and Harry had caught the deatheater group moving westward into Spain, and after a congratulatory drink at a local pub, they made their way home and around one in morning.
As they walked to their apartment building, they noticed a crowd of people and a bunch of big red trucks sitting outside. They were curious as to what the firetrucks, as Harry called them, were doing there so late at night.
They ran up the stairs following a crowd and stood outside of an apartment that was clearly on fire within. They were slightly disoriented and were extremely confused when a little old lady who was their neighbor approached them and asked, "Excuse me boys, but isn't this your apartment?"
They looked around, "Bloody hell Harry, this is our floor! That's our apartment!" Ron shouted.
Harry quickly realised that he was right, and the two boys attempted to run into their apartment, but they were blocked by Muggle firemen.
"Sorry boys, but you can't come in here." One fireman said.
"Sir, that's our apartment, we need to get in there," said Harry panicked.
"Oh, well alright, we put out the flames half an hour ago so I guess you should come inspect the damage." The fireman replied.
He led them into the flat making sure they watched their step, some of the floorboards had become weak from the fire. Harry and Ron looked around slightly shocked. The main walls of the flat had not been affected which was good because the rest of the building would be fine, but their flat was completely burned inside. All of their possessions were ruined, and everything carried a layer of back soot if it wasn't already destroyed.
"What happened?" asked Ron still shell shocked.
"Well, it looks like the stove was left on, that's what we determined to be the source of the fire anyway. We think that the flames caught onto a napkin or towel or something that was left too close, but we can't be sure because all that's left near the stove are ashes. Did either of you boys leave the stove on tonight?" the fireman asked.
"Bloody hell," muttered Harry, "Ron it's my fault, I was making soup and I must have left the stove on when I went to the Minis... I mean work." Harry finished glancing at the fireman.
"Damn right you left the stove on Harry! Look at this place!" shouted Ron. He then leaned in closed and muttered a little, "Why were you even using the stove, your wand works perfectly fine too you prat!"
"Ron, I'm so sorry, I wasn't thinking and then I had to leave so quickly..." Harry trailed off. "Ron, we can have this place fixed immediately," he glanced at his wand hidden in his pocket for emphasis.
"Harry, we can't just fix the place overnight with a spell, the whole neighborhood is here, they will get suspicious if our apartment is suddenly back to normal!" Ron said as soon as the fireman was out of ear shot.
Damn Ron was right, well they would just have to fix it gradually overtime as if they were Muggles, otherwise the Muggles would get suspicious, and then they would have to obliviate everybody's memory, and it would just be a mess, Harry thought.
"We can stay at the Burrow for the time being," Ron said. "Mum will love having you over finally, and you can have your own room, what with all the extras since my brothers moved out."
"That sounds like a good idea, besides it could be fun," Harry said. The more he thought about it, the better it sounded. He could spend time with Ginny now, she lived at the Burrow too right? Now they could get to know each other... as friends. Yep, just as friends, that was what Harry was determined to keep it as. A friendly relationship. Two peas in a pod, comrades, amigos. Friends.
Unless of course she didn't want to be friends, in which case he would back off. Then again, she was friendly at breakfast, and there was no reason for her to not want to be his friend. Right?
Harry and Ron walked into their bedrooms to pack whatever had survived the fire. Luckily, their rooms hadn't been affected too badly considering they were in the back of the apartment and the fire only really reached the front rooms. After a last glance around their ruined flat, they grabbed their luggage and apparated to the Burrow.
...
Ginny sat sitting at the kitchen table in the Burrow at two in the morning drinking hot chocolate. Her feet hurt like hell from practice that day, and she couldn't sleep.
Was it even possible to not be able to sleep from aching feet, she wondered. Oh yeah, it was most definitely possible.
She was cleaning out her mug and putting it away when she heard two loud pops coming from outside, sounding as though someone had just apparated there.
She walked tenderly to the front door on her heels (the only part of her foot that didn't hurt) and swung open the door, wand in hand, to reveal Harry and Ron, with luggage in hand.
Ron was holding his wand too, ready it seemed to perform the "alohamora" charm to get in. "Hey thanks Gin," he said, "What are you doing up so late?" he asked, coming into the hall with luggage and Harry in tow.
"Uh, couldn't sleep. I have a better question though, what the hell are you doing here with all of that luggage? Now is hardly the time for a luggage party!" Ginny said sarcastically.
Ron ignored the sarcasm and replied "Well, Harry here had a craving for soup, but he left the stove on and left the apartment... stupid prat! A fire started and the whole apartment is ruined! We are going to stay here for a couple of months, do you think mum will mind?"
"Are you kidding, mum will almost be jumping for joy when she hears your apartment is ruined, she loves having people stay here," Ginny said. "Why can't you just fix the flat with your wands though?"
"We would, but too many Muggles saw the damage, the nosy gits," Harry said, speaking up for the first time since arriving. "They would get suspicious if we moved back in tomorrow and everything was just dandy. Besides you need Ministry permission to obliviate their memories."
Ginny snickered, "Yeah, that's true. Well then, goodnight boys, I'm exhausted. See you in the morning"
The boys waved goodnight to Ginny and sorted out which room Harry would be sleeping in.
It didn't occur to Ginny until she was lying on her bed that Harry and she would be living in the same house! Living in the same proximity, under one roof. Seeing each other all the time! This realization was both good and bad to Ginny. It was good because she was determined to become Harry's friend, it was bad though, because she wanted much more, but couldn't have it. She would just have to settle with friends.
This is going to be an interesting couple of months, she thought to herself as she finally fell asleep, dreaming of green eyes and a lightning shaped scar.
