Author Note: I really appreciate all the reviews. Just so you know.
On another note, the time flow of this story isn't perfect. There are large gaps of time skipped over every now and then, simply because I originally designed this story to act as a series of glimpses into the lives of Harry, Hermione, and Ron. In between, feel free to assume that life goes on as normal, with plenty of jokes and, of course, recovery from the war. Also, this chapter was originally split into two, but I find that the parallels function better as one long chapter. Let me know if you think otherwise.
Now that the ridiculously long author note is concluded, let's start with the story. As always, I don't own Harry Potter.
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Chapter 3: The Good, the Bad, the Paint, and the Nanopets
"Ron, you absolutely cannot paint the kitchen orange!" Hermione hissed, and her friend guiltily replaced the pumpkin-orange color swatch.
"I know, I know, it was just a joke!" Ron backpedaled, hoping the overly friendly employees at the paint store weren't going to come running and-too late.
"Is there anything I can help you with?"
"I think we're all right-just deciding on a kitchen color," Hermione replied graciously, and Ron sighed. He knew what came next…
"How about this color?" The employee showed them a gold color, and soon enough Hermione and the girl were picking out the colors without any of Ron's input.
"I knew we should've brought Harry," he mumbled, "but of course the prat had to choose today to go visit Hagrid."
Truth be told, fixing up a flat was a whole lot harder than any of them had bargained. Harry and Hermione had insisted they refurbish it the Muggle way, as they were the only wizarding inhabitants in the building. Still, their landlady was extremely friendly, and more or less allowed them to do anything beneficial to their rented space, even if she found it a little strange that two young men and one girl were living together.
And it might have been odd living together, had Hermione and Ron ever really begun and maintained some sort of romantic relationship, but whatever had inspired Hermione to kiss Ron back in June had, apparently, evaporated. That and it seemed that whenever the topic came up between them, a rather nasty fight followed. As Ron had remarked to Harry after his last fight with Hermione,
"It's a bit hard for a bloke to date a girl who's going to choose your best friend over you in a fight." Which had made Harry feel awkward, but Ron swore he didn't hold it against him.
The return to friendship between Ron and Hermione had been surprisingly easy after two weeks or so of awkwardness. And, Ron had to admit, he was happier now than he had been when he thought he loved her. Or rather, thought he was in love with her. They had saved the Wizarding World at the age of eighteen (well, Harry had been seventeen)-now was hardly the time to start settling down!
Now, as a brisk November began to really chill London's streets, they were more than content to slowly gain their footing in the world, and enjoy the company of their friends. Neville, Seamus, and Dean were frequent visitors, plus Luna and Ginny wrote letters detailing their adventures at Hogwarts-though Luna's often wandered into strange topics that not even Ron quite understood. If Ginny was still hoping to be with Harry, it never showed in any of her letters, which Ron was grateful for, as he really didn't want to have to fight with Harry about his little sister. It certainly didn't seem like his friend had any intentions of giving his relationship with Ginny another go.
In fact, if the ginger-haired boy hadn't known any better, he'd say that Harry and Hermione were becoming closer than ever. And perhaps he should have felt some sort of romantic jealousy, but he didn't. Sure, it was definitely a little strange and he never liked feeling out of the loop, but honestly, they were all so busy decorating and working through their job training, that those undeniable moments of connection hardly ever occurred more than a few times a week.
"Ron! We're ready to go!" Hermione's voice jarred him out of his thoughts, and she stared at him strangely as he nodded and took one of the heavy bags from her.
"What, were you actually thinking?" She teased as they left the store.
"Something like that. Do you think we could get Kreacher to help paint?" Ron asked, knowing full well that the house-elf bit would keep her from prying.
"Honestly, Ronald. Sometimes I think you just want me to get angry. We most certainly will not ask Kreacher for help. The entire point of buying the paint, brushes, and rollers ourselves was to-"
But Ron wasn't really listening anymore, because after he shrunk his purchases, he apparated back to their neighborhood, shortly followed by an annoyed Hermione. And maybe he had been acting a little strangely, but a bloke has to grow up a little sometime.
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"Hermione, when did you get so fond of the color blue?" Harry asked, as they began painting the room she had designated as her room (but would, Ron believed, look far more like a library thanks to all the bookshelves).
"I don't like blue anymore than the other colors we picked out, but I think this one happens to go best with all the bookshelves we got." Hermione replied amiably, motioning to the shelves that had been covered in plastic and moved away from the wall.
"I suppose your room's going to be Gryffindor red and gold then?" She added as an afterthought, and began rolling the paint onto the wall.
"Probably. Those are the colors you bought for it, anyways," Harry remarked dryly, and they continued painting in comfortable silence.
"What, is Ravenclaw blue Hermione's new favorite color?" Ron asked as he wandered into the room, before the paint fumes caused him to cough a few times. Harry chuckled a bit as he continued painting, and Hermione fired right back at Ron, amiably,
"Well, at least I don't want Chudley Cannons' orange for my room."
"If we're going to keep that up, Harry's room can be Slytherin green. It'll make him think of good `ole Malfoy."
"Well, better Slytherin green than Ron's favorite color-pink!" Harry remarked coolly amidst the laughter.
Ron couldn't help but think that it was nice to simply be together and laugh again. Between his Auror training, Harry's Quidditch practices, and Hermione's Unspeakable research, it had been almost as busy as when they'd been back at Hogwarts, trying to study and combat Voldemort at the same time.
And chances were, Hermione's room was not going to be finished today, because there was too much paint on all three of them.
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"I can't believe Hermione talked us into this!" Harry murmured to an equally miserable Ron, who nodded and opened his mouth to reply when Hermione interrupted them.
"Oh hush, you two-we need a new fridge, and if we don't get it while everything's still on sale you'll be sorry."
"That's not true, Hermione, Harry's got loads of Galleons in-" Ron protested, and Hermione shushed him. She really wasn't in the mood to have random passers-by give them strange looks just now, because she needed to be convincing when they bargained for their latest purchase.
Harry was just grateful that she didn't remind Ron why they needed a new fridge-their redheaded friend had more or less destroyed the electrical system in the old one with a poorly executed heating charm (he was still a bit suspicious of the microwave).
As the two boys stood aside and let Hermione do the negotiating with the harried-looking salesman, Ron tugged Harry's arm and pointed towards a small child playing with a round keychain.
"What's that? I don't think I've ever seen a Muggle with one of those before." Harry shrugged-whatever it was held the girl's attention completely, in spite of the item's ordinary round shape and a simple trio of buttons.
"I think it's a Nanopet," remarked Hermione as the salesperson practically fled in search of a contract for her.
"A Nano-what?" asked Ron.
"A Nanopet. We got my cousin one for Christmas. Apparently, there's a computerized dog or cat inside that the child can feed and take care of."
"Why? Seems kind of silly." Harry remarked. Dudley had been obsessed with these virtual reality things, and he had never quite understood the appeal.
"Who knows."
"Well, I for one think you sent that poor bloke away in tears," Ron remarked, ready to change the subject. Harry laughed and agreed,
"Yeah, what did you do to him? Threaten his job if he didn't give you a good discount?"
"No," Hermione huffed, "I just told him that he'd miscalculated the price and that I would take my business elsewhere if it wasn't corrected, with free delivery thrown in."
"Why would we need free delivery? We could just shrink it and carry it back in our pocket…" Ron questioned, and Hermione shook her head sternly.
"We're not putting any spells or charms on the fridge, Ron. Not after last time."
Her sharp look silenced any more questions, and as she left to go after the salesman, Harry looked at her inquisitively. Normally she could be a bit short with the both of them, but this was more than a bit. Come to think of it, she'd been acting that way for a week or two now. It really made no sense. She had been thrilled, albeit surprised, when Ron admitted he fancied Luna. Although the two weren't exactly a couple (Luna was reluctant to box their relationship with an official title), Hermione had certainly not exhibited any jealousy either way.
Was she feeling left out? But how? Harry wasn't seeing anyone, so it wasn't like she was the odd one out. Sure, Ginny had (somewhat unexpectedly) expressed a desire to resume their relationship, and even kissed him (under the mistletoe, and thanks to the catcalls of Bill, Charlie, and George), but Harry had quietly explained that it was time to move on.
~~~
"Ginny, I know you thought we'd probably be back together by now-I thought so too before."
"It's okay, we both needed time to process. But I'm fine now, and you seem loads better too."
"I am…"
"So what's the problem?" She smiled up at him, as pretty as ever.
"I don't think it'll work between us. We're not the same people anymore." It was hard to say, and he struggled a bit with the words. Her long red hair was still beautiful, and the smell of her so close was still a little inviting, but it didn't entice like it used to. He looked at her sadly, and watched as she worked to contain her temper in order to preserve her dignity.
"So that's it, then?"
"I suppose so." She hugged him awkwardly, but paused at the door,
"There's not someone else?"
"No, Ginny," He replied blankly, and she nodded slowly, seemingly satisfied, and then she was gone. They didn't talk for a day or two, but things were almost back to normal when she boarded the train back to Hogwarts. Once again, she was just Ron's little sister, and Harry was relieved that Ron hadn't broken his face (though he suspected Luna had something to do with that).
~~~
Her job, perhaps? Never. Hermione loved work as Unspeakable. So here he was, in a muggle appliance store with his best friends, and Hermione acting like she was on a warpath. As they waited for the salesman to return, Harry turned to Ron,
"How's Luna?"
"Hmm? Oh, she's great. Loony as ever…but great." His reply was tinged with red ears and a struggle between his new and old views of the eccentric Ravenclaw, but he looked genuinely happy about all of it. Harry nodded, deciding for once not to take the mickey out of the poor guy, and moved on.
"Good. D'you think that guy will ever come back?"
"Maybe. Hermione definitely scared him enough."
"Yeah…maybe a bit scarier than usual."
"What do you mean?" It seemed an innocent enough question at first, and Ron hadn't planned on giving Harry opportunity to voice his worries and begin an in-depth conversation. Not to say that it wasn't okay, just that it was a bit weird for two guys to talk like that in the middle of a store.
"Well, don't you think she's been acting a lot angrier than usual? She usually bewilders them with her amazing smarts while smiling, not with threats."
"…I guess…" Ron looked at his best mate with an odd expression on his face.
"I mean, I'm just worried. Don't read too much into it, Ron." Harry replied, a grin creeping onto his face in spite of himself.
"Whatever you say…" Ron teased, but stopped short with Hermione's reappearance, followed by the poor salesman, who she curtly thanked before turning to them and practically ordering,
"We can go now."
Nodding dumbly, the two boys got up, and following Hermione, left. Until she got out of this mood, there was going to be no peace.
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