AN: I own nothing. Still. As always.
Thank you guys so much for the reviews, follows and faves. Means a lot. Since I don't have a job right now, I'm really hoping to get caught up on my stories. Seriously, I'm way behind on some of them.
Alright, forward we go. Enjoy!
"Morning, Hermione." Sirius greeted as she stepped into the kitchen. "Coffee's on, and breakfast is almost ready." he said from his spot by the stove. After the war, Kreacher had decided to stay and take care of Hogwarts, so Grimmauld Place was elf-free. But, to his credit, Sirius had gotten much better at cooking, and after a few weeks, he was able to make food other than his specialty, which he dubbed 'Blackened Bread', or burnt toast, rather.
"Good morning, Siri." Hermione said, stopping at the table to place a kiss on Harry's head. "Morning, love." she said. Harry had been very sweet the previous night, letting her sleep in his bed as he held her. There was no hanky-panky, all there was just comfort.
"Morning." he smiled. "Heard from them yet?" Harry asked, knowing Hermione had been waiting for her parents to call from America.
Hermione shook her head as she poured herself a cup of coffee. "No, not yet." she said. "But, knowing them like I do, they'll more than likely sleep 'til at least noon their time, which will be...six pm our time." she said.
"Six? Where'd they go again?" Sirius asked, putting a big bowl of scrambled eggs on the table before turning back to the stove.
"Chicago." Hermione said, setting her coffee on the table in front of her plate beside Harry's. "But, with the time difference and jet lag, they'll be exhausted."
"Geez, when was the last time I slept 'til noon?" Sirius muttered under his breath.
Hermione leaned in, whispering, "Last week, Siri," which made him jump, not having heard her come up behind him.
"I'm gonna put a bell on you, you know that?" he asked, glaring at Harry as he laughed.
"So, what are you up to today?" Harry asked, putting a Ron sized portion of eggs on his plate.
"Oh, well...I need to visit Diagon Alley and get some final measurements of my new flat, then I need to see about getting some furniture." she said, taking sausage out of the pan for Sirius as he flipped the pancakes.
"For the whole flat?" Sirius asked, raising his eyebrows.
Hermione nodded. "Yup. I need a couch, maybe two, I can't remember exactly how big the living room is. Uh...I know I need a desk, a chair, some bookshelves, I was planning on getting a different bed than the one I have now. Plus, I need rugs, kitchen supplies, bathroom supplies, office supplies, and..."
Sirius whistled, interrupting her list. "Wow, that is a lot of stuff, Mione." he said. "Can you afford all that?"
"Well, yeah. I have quite a bit of money, Sirius. I have my Gringott's account, a muggle bank account, and a couple of credit cards, so I'm good." she said. "The only thing I'm going to have problems with is the decorating. Oh, which reminds me, I need some paint." she said to herself.
"Paint? Why?" Harry asked, furrowing his brow.
"The living room is currently a puke green color, and I'm not living with that." she said, sitting down beside Harry to finally start eating breakfast.
"Can you do that?" Sirius asked. "I mean, does your contract allow you to make changes like that?"
"I don't rent it, Siri, I bought the flat." she said. "The manager of Flourish and Blotts owns the flats next door, and he was selling them off to get rid of them, so I bought one." she shrugged.
"Oh, well..." Sirius said, floundering for something to say. "Uh...what color are you gonna paint it?"
"I don't know yet. I have some paint samples in my bag, so I'll figure out something later." she said.
Hermione walked in the door of Grimmauld Place at half past five, feeling quite cheery. She had accomplished a lot of her to do list today. She had gotten the measurements taken, decided on a color to paint the living room, and the kitchen after she decided she didn't care for the turquoise color it had been painted. Plus, she had also went into London and gotten all her kitchen utensils and supplies, as well as her bathroom accessories, and she had gotten her furniture ordered
She had been a bit doubtful about the furniture store in Diagon Alley. It looked a bit iffy, but it had turned out nicely. After browsing their huge catalog for a few hours, she had chosen a black leather sectional sofa with light brown colored cushions, a matching padded coffee table, and an overstuffed brown recliner. She had also picked out a lovely king sized cherry colored canopy bed that would fit in perfectly with the color of her bedroom. She still needed to go back into London, though, to get some rugs, but figured it could wait a day or so.
"Hello, Minister." she said, seeing Kingsley sitting in the living room with Sirius.
"Hermione, I've told you to call me Kingsley." he said, smiling his bright white smile at her.
"Sorry, it's a habit." she said, giving him a quick hug. "What brings you by?"
Kingsley and Sirius exchanged a glance. "Just a small matter I needed Sirius' input on." he said.
Sirius cleared his throat, setting his drink on the coffee table. "Hey, why don't you have a seat, Mione? There's something Kings and I want to talk to you about."
Hermione looked warily at the two, wondering what was wrong. "Okay." she said, lowering herself into one of the chairs. "What's going on?" she asked, clasping her hands tightly together in her lap.
Kingsley let out a bark of laughter, smiling at her. "Don't worry, Hermione, it's nothing bad. I promise." he said. "The Ministry is hosting a gala to help with the rebuilding, and I was hoping you would..."
"Let me stop you there, Kingsley. I know my parent's would be thrilled that you thought of them, but they're currently in America on a tour, and once they get home..." Hermione said, holding her hand up.
"Hermione, I was thinking about you, actually." Kingsley said over her.
Hermione stopped talking and gave him a surprised look. "Me?"
"Yeah, Mione, you." Sirius said with a chuckle. "Harry got on his computer thingy and showed Kingsley a few videos of you singing with the band, and..." he started, stopping as the doorbell rang. "Excuse me." he said, getting up.
"And I thought you were great." Kingsley finished, smiling. "I mean, your mum and dad are good, but you were the better, in my opinion." he said.
Hermione let out a breath, leaning back in the chair. "Oh. Well...I mean, thank you." she said, smiling a bit. She had had people tell her she was good, but until now, nobody had said she was better than her parents.
"Just telling the truth, Hermione." Kingsley said. "I understand if you need time to make a decision about the benefit, and even if you don't sing, I'd appreciate it if you'd be on the committee. I have some information here if you want to look it over." he added, placing a large manila envelope on the table.
"When do you need an answer by?" she asked.
"Well, the benefit is being scheduled sometime around the weekend after next, so as soon as possible, really." Kingsley said.
"I don't need to think it over, Kingsley, I'll do it." Hermione said. "But, I'm declining being on the committee. Maybe next year if this turns into a recurring thing or whatever, but I'm too busy this year. I'm also not giving any speeches." she said.
Kingsley laughed, leaning forward and grabbing the envelope. Opening it, he pulled out a blank schedule of the night's events. "So, we're scheduled for next Saturday at the Ministry in the Crystal Ballroom. Okay, let's see." he murmured, staring at the schedule and thinking. "The gala starts at seven, speech, speech, memorial for those we lost, then you'll go on..."
"What time would I go on, Kingsley?" Hermione asked, looking at the schedule upside down.
"Around eight, I'd say. If that's alright with you?" he answered, looking up at her.
Hermione nodded. "That's fine. Uh...who else is scheduled?" she asked.
"We're still waiting on the Weird Sisters to reply to our owl, and that's it." Kingsley said. "So, looking at it now, it'd be opening, speech, speech, memorial, you, dinner, the silent auction, Weird Sisters, if they decide to attend, the announcement of the silent auction winners, then the closing speech." he said.
"Wait. Wouldn't it make more sense to have silent auction before dinner?" Hermione asked. "I mean, if you're going to have the auction items all spread out on tables, no one's going to want to walk around after a big dinner." she explained.
Kingsley frowned, using his wand to make some adjustments to his newly filled schedule. "Hmmm...that does make more sense." he said.
"Also, if you want to make more money, charge a fee per plate." she said. "I went to a benefit with mum and dad once, and they charged like seventy five pounds per plate, so..."
"Oh, I couldn't charge that much, Hermione." Kingsley said.
"No, more like ten galleons or so should be good. I mean, that's a very reasonable price to pay if the elves are going to go all out and serve something like a seven course meal, you know." she said.
"You're right. That does sound good. And the ten galleons is fairly reasonable." Kingsley smiled, making a note at the bottom of the page. "Are you sure you don't want to be on the committee, Hermione?" he asked.
Hermione laughed and shook her head, leaning back in her chair. "No, thank you." she said.
Sirius stuck his head in the room, knocking on the door to get their attention. "Dinner's here, if you're hungry. Kingsley, you're more than welcome to stay." he said.
"What are we having?" Hermione asked, standing and walking toward him.
"Harry and I went with pizza." he smiled. "And yes, we got your precious pepperoni and mushroom." he added, laughing as Hermione beamed, kissing him on the cheek as she passed.
"Yum." she said, disappearing into the kitchen.
"What about you, Kings? You want to stay for dinner?" Sirius asked.
"Well, now, that depends."
"On?"
"Did you get those cheese things?"
Sirius smiled. "Yes, we got cheese sticks." he said.
"Then I'd love to stay." Kingsley smiled, clapping Sirius on the shoulder as he passed.
Review please.
Next chapter: Ministry gala.
Til next time!
XOXO - Onyx Obsidian