Chapter 17

Hermione blinked owlishly at the door Bill and Grimbles disappeared through just seconds ago. Her lips twitched and spread into a smile that quickly morphed into resounding giggles. A sudden, unladylike, snort escaped making her blush and clap a hand over her nose and mouth, her giggles now outright guffaws.

"Hope I'm not intruding…" a wry, mild voice from the other side of the desk made her jump ad whirl around in her seat… again. She continued to snicker at the intense sense of déjà vu.

"Of course not," Hermione stood and send the paperwork spread across her and Grimbles's desks whizzing into Bill's office to land in neatly stacked and organized piles. She charmed clean their coffee mugs and sent them back to where they belonged while vanishing Grimbles's desk and chair and fixing her own papers on her desk.

"I'd sell my soul for Ron to become that neat and efficient," Lavender sounded wistful, and the look she gave Hermione spoke volumes of the familiar issues they'd both experienced with the man's ineptitude with housework. "Maybe after he moves in he'll get better." Her voice sounded falsely hopeful and totally contrary to the bomb she'd dropped.

"Rather you than me," Hermione laughed again, somehow managing to control her surprise and Lavender's sudden announcement. "You sure cohabitating is a good idea? If you think it's bad now, just imagine if he never left," Hermione's warning was only half-joking, though she already knew the answer.

"Absolutely," Lavender was now serious, and quite emphatic. Hermione quickly sobered, sensing their conversation was about to take a turn for the serious. "We've been together for so long; we're long overdue to take the next step."

"Long overdue, for more than just the next step," Hermione thought wryly as she smiled and nodded her agreement.

"I was actually thinking about asking him at dinner tonight," Lavender cast her eyes away from Hermione as she played with a tendril of her hair, effectively telling Hermione exactly why she was visiting so suddenly. "You know, that way we have the weekend to movie him into my flat… if he says yes I mean."

"Oh I'm sure he will," Hermione quickly assured her, already having anticipated in the indirect question.

"Yeah… I just… I don't know. I mean the subject would have come up. Don't you think he'd have mentioned it over the years…" Lavender looked beseechingly at Hermione, fear now evident in her eyes.

"You would think so wouldn't you," Hermione muttered; there was a certain red-head that needed to be reminded that his girlfriend wasn't supposed to be the only one moving their relationship forward – his brothers still never let him live down being pursued by her for their first date. "But," she quickly continued, seeing Lavender pale as panic set in. "This is Ron we're talking about. Chances are, he hasn't thought about things the same way we have. Or, is he has, he may have simply thought the same as you… neither of you have spoken about it so maybe the other wasn't interested." Lavender nodded, seeing the logic in what Hermione said.

"Yeah, you're probably right," she conceded. "That's why I always come to you. You know us both so well, and I know you'll always be honest and logical – not try and say what you know I want to hear," Lavender smiled softly. "I just love him so much," she trailed off, obviously at a loss for words. Hermione grinned at the love-struck woman, happy to see her so blissful.

"All these years later and you're still crazy for each other," she smiled broadly. "I'm just happy to be able to help. Anytime you feel panicky, some find me," she chuckled at the unintentional rhyme.

"So what's got you in such a perky mood?" Lavender finally asked the one thing she couldn't figure out since she'd walked into the office.

"Oh I don't know. I'm probably just overtired and all," Hermione shrugged. At Lavender's silent prompting, she gave a very brief recount of the day, more details left out than anything.

"Sounds like you had a… interesting first few days," Lavender was now grinning as well. She suspected Hermione's good mood had more to do with being impressed with a certain someone's grand entry than being tired – she'd heard one too many horror stories of what happened when Hermione was tired to believe that. Wisely though, she chose to keep her opinion to herself. "I'm a bit confused though, are you behind on your work or not?"

Hermione shook her head as she rolled and sealed a length of parchment Lavender hadn't even noticed her written on. "Not really." She silently called out to the owlery for what felt like the billionth time that day. She made a mental note to visit the owlery later that day to give treats to the three owls that's been flying so hard all day to make so many deliveries so quickly. "Bill's work is caught up and ahead by just over half a day so all he's left to do is check everything over and answer any new correspondences."

"And your work?" Lavender repeated her question, resisting the urge to roll her eyes at, what she at least felt where, Hermione's backward priorities.

"Almost done as well," Hermione held out her arm for a small brown owl to perch on. "Now that I have this housekeeper advertisement ready to send to the post, I just have paperwork to finish," she tied the scroll to the owl's ankle and sent it off.

"A housekeeper's a good idea. I know Ron's so used to depending on Molly doing everything that it's almost dangerous to allow him to do any house work," both women grinned remembering all too well some of the disaster zones left in Ron's aftermath.

"Poor Harry," Hermione referred to how eerily often Harry was the primary victim of Ron's far from natural disasters. Their grins turned to laughter at the poor man's expense, the mere memory of some of the incidences making their laughter grow.

"So will I see you before dinner tonight?" Lavender asked when they finally caught their breaths. She felt butterflies take flight in her stomach at the thought of her dinner plans.

"Probably not," Hermione cast her an apologetic smile. "I've got just over half a day's work left to complete and I want to get it all done since the next few days will be filled with housekeeper applications."

"Okay, just don't overdo it."

"I won't. You'll have to tell me how things go tomorrow – I'd wish you luck, but I'm sure you won't need it."

"Thanks 'Mione," Lavender hugged her and waved good-bye on her way out the door.

Ten Minutes Later

Lavender accepted the mug of coffee Ginny held out to her and sat next to Luna at the table. Ginny soon followed to sit across the table and placed a small plate of biscotti between them. The girls were silent as they each grabbed a biscotti, dunked it in their coffee and bit into it. They savored the taste, and then washed the bite down with a sip of coffee. They finished the few of the cookies on the platter in silence before Lavender finally told them about her visit.

Fifteen minutes later, the girls had been caught up and their coffee was finished, signaling the end of their meeting. Not five minutes later, each could be found with their respective boyfriend filling him in on all the details. Two minutes after that a werewolf and ex-con were caught up to date first by the founder of their little group, then by the only blond of the group. They spent the rest of the afternoon holed up at Grimmauld, knowing that as soon as one of them didn't have the other three keeping him in line anyone unfortunate enough to be more masculine in appearance and have even slightly red hair would have hell to pay.

I've got a couple more chapters written, but since I'm a feedback junkie I'm holding them hostage, and will only going to update every other week (the 11th in this case). Every five reviews I get I'll update a day sooner. Reviews that are really juicy will get the update even faster (maybe half a day for each REALLY juicy one). I know there's plenty of you out there - so if your update takes a long time don't blame me :p

Reviews make the pen flow faster...