Chapter XVI: finding home
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"Life isn't about finding yourself. Life is about creating yourself."
-George Bernard Shaw
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"So… I was thinking," he suddenly heard a voice announce; drawing his attention from the research he had been so focused on.
"Hermione, what are you doing here?"
"Am I not welcome?" she asked, raising an accusing eyebrow.
"No, it's not that, but-well, what are you doing here?"
"Didn't I just tell you `I was thinking?' honestly, Harry, you're an Auror now, you have to learn to pay more attention to the little things-details," she rolled her eyes as she took a seat across from him.
He smirked slightly. "So what were you thinking about?"
"I don't want to impose," she blurted out seriously, leaving behind her teasing tone that their conversation had just had as she confessed.
"What are you-oh, bloody hell, Hermione! Why are you so stubborn? It's Grimmauld Place for Christ's sake, the manor's far too large for just me; I told you I could use the company anyway."
"But-"
"You shouldn't be in a hotel, Hermione, I get that you needed to stay there before because you didn't want to get settled and get too attached so I let it go, but-"
Hermione stiffened, interrupting him to ask "how'd you know that?"
A smile tugged on his lips slightly. "We're best mates for a reason, and that's also why you're staying with me, whether you like it or not."
"Fine, but only until I find my own place."
"Okay," he nodded, "I'll settle for that."
"Good," she nodded, "because that's my final offer."
"it's over, Granger, I won, don't try to make it seem as if you're in control-let me at least revel in one of the few moments in which I beat you."
Hermione scoffed as she got up from the chair. "One thing that you're going to have to learn about me, Harry, is that I'm always right," she told him with a wink. "I'll leave you to your work, I have some of my own to take care of anyway-oh, and nice office you have here…"
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"I can't believe that this is all you have," Harry exclaimed as the he helped Hermione settle into one of the rooms at Grimmauld Place that evening.
"Well what more was I supposed to have, I didn't exactly go partying every night. My basic attire for work everyday consisted of just some jeans and a t-shirt, I told you I have to go shopping."
"Just don't expect me to help you with that," he told her with a grin as he took a seat on the bed, watching her place all of her clothes into the drawers.
"Well I am going to need someone to carry the bags," she tactfully told him, back strategically turned to him as she spoke so that he wouldn't see her grin.
"Not happening."
"You know, it's nice how naïve you can be sometimes, Harry," she told him with a smile as she turned around to face him.
"And why do you say that?" he suspiciously asked her.
"Because, let's be serious, you and Ron are far too scared of me to ever deny me anything."
"Well-okay, I'll admit that I am a bit terrified of you at times, especially given all of those times you've hexed us-"
"Oi, you deserved it!"
"Never denied it, love," he told her with a charming smile. "But it doesn't change the fact that you've always been a bit violent."
"So then how about you protect yourself by going shopping with me?"
He let out a frustrated sigh as he ran a hand through his hair. "It's just clothes, right?"
"Well…"
"Hermione!"
"So I may want to pick up a few books," she sheepishly admitted.
"The Ron definition of a few or a library full version of `a few'?"
She merely smiled at him. "I think we should leave tomorrow at about ten so we can get that all done and then work on Ron and Luna's parties," she told him before leaving the room.
"Hermione, you didn't answer my question!" he, pointlessly and rather desperately, called after her.
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author's note: so this chap was mainly banter, but next one should be a lot of fun to write…
anyway, please review, and wish me luck (off to another kennel I found in my seemingly never ending search for a dog my cat isn't scared of… or won't beat up…)
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