RP: Lazy Sunday at Grimmauld

[rar_hermione]

Date: Sunday, October 2, 1998
Characters: Hermione Granger, Harry Potter, Ron Weasley
Location: Grimmauld Place
Status: Private
Summary: A lazy Sunday at home
Completion: Complete

Comments

[rar_harry]

Harry took a flagon of apple juice out of the fridge and moved to the cabinet for a couple of glasses. He and Hermione had just some in from walking, and she'd made it further than ever. Maybe Friday had given her a bit more confidence, Harry mused. She'd been alright in the crowd, he'd noticed, and maybe that made her feel like she could handle more in the open, too. He poured juice into each glass and replaced the container in the fridge.

Now she wanted to go over the catalogs and swatches Monty and Crispy had sent to them for the house. They were supposed to approve all the changes before the work started. Harry still wasn't too particular about it, in all honestly, only because he didn't know what to change, or what it needed to look better. Only that he wanted it to look better. But he could look over the samples and hope to provide some input that might be useful. It wasn't his preferred Sunday morning activity, but it was necessary, he supposed.

Taking the glasses upstairs, he went into the parlor, where Hermione had already spread the portfolios and papers out on the table in front of the sofa. "Hey," he said, crossing to her and placing the glasses on the table, trying to put them as far from all the parchment and fabric swatches as possible.

[rar_hermione]

"Hey." She looked up and smiled. "Thank you for the juice. I think I have all this material organized now. They sent a lot."

She picked up the glass of juice and took a sip before she patted the sofa beside her. "You can sit here, so we can look at these together. What do you want to start with? There's a book with furniture for bedrooms, one with dining rooms and kitchen things, and one with sitting room sort of furniture."

"Should we choose things for the sitting room if we don't know what the designers have in mind yet?" She frowned. "I'd hate to get my heart set on a comfy looking chair only to find out that color clashed. Or maybe they can just charm it to suit the room? This decorating stuff is so complicated."

[rar_harry]

Harry fidgeted slightly when she patted the cushion next to her. Might be better for all involved if he took the floor on the other side of the table, considering the last couple days. Evenings; whatever. Inwardly, though, he shook his head. This was Hermione, after all, and she was just ... Hermione. Swallowing, he moved forward and took a seat by her on the sofa.

He took a gulp of juice. "I suppose we can look at the sitting rooms first," he said. "I don't have a preference."

Listening to her, he shrugged, reaching for the book and opening it, placing it between them. "Dunno. Maybe they'll decide colors based on what we pick? If there's a chair that we have to have, or something, they'd work around it, maybe."

[rar_hermione]

"You have to have a preference, Harry. I'm sure there are some awful things in this catalog. Things that make the current furniture look good," she pointed out. She watched him put the book between them, which was just too awkward an angle to actually read.

"Here, we'll try this." She picked up the book and scooted closer, holding it open between them so they could look without having to turn their necks in such an odd way. "Oh, see? That is bloody horrid." She pointed out a sofa that looked hard and uncomfortable. "I wouldn't want to sit curled up on that with a good book after a long day."

She smiled. "That looks nice. It's cream, but I like neutral colors when it comes to furniture, it seems." She looked at him. "See anything you like yet?"

"How did you enjoy Mrs. Malfoy's dinner last night? I was thinking about it when I couldn't sleep, and I realized that she didn't have anyone there who seemed like a friend. It's sad, isn't it? To reach that age and not have someone to call a best friend. I mean, besides her husband, probably."

[rar_harry]

"Alright, well then I don't know what my preference is just now," he said, moving a shoulder when she picked up the book and scooted closer to him, her leg and hip bumping against his. He shook his head, looking at her curiously, before he took a look at the book.

"Yeah. I don't like that much either," he agreed as she turned the page and settled on some light-colored furniture. "That's alright," he told her and tried to imagine a room full of it. "Maybe with some brighter pillows, or something, though."

She asked him about the dinner and he shrugged. He was more focused on her not having been able to sleep than the dinner, but she would just dismiss it, anyway. "I guess it's a bit sad, yeah," he told her. "I think people are lucky if they can find a best friend, though. Maybe it's more rare than we think; I don't ... I'm not an expert or anything." He'd always felt lucky, though.

[rar_hermione]

"Bright pillows would help, but we might want something darker, so it wouldn't get dirty so easily." She bit her lip and flipped through a few more pages, giving Harry time to look.

"I think they are, too. I know I'm lucky to have you and Ron. It's funny because I break most of my life into these different periods, but the basic ones are life before meeting Harry and Ron and life after meeting Harry and Ron. Neville was the first real friend that I ever had, but you were the first friend who became a 'best', long before Ron ever did."

She looked at him and smiled. "Hard to believe, isn't it? When you met me on the train that day, you probably never expected that we'd become such close friends. I certainly didn't, I know."

She turned her attention back to the catalog and pointed. "That looks nice. I like the alternating stripes with black, beige, and cream. They go together well."

[rar_harry]

"No, I didn't. Ron and I were mates almost instantly," Harry said simply, remembering that first day on the train, "and we've had bumps, but he's always there for me in the end. Always knew we'd have each other. With you it was -- different. Not as immediate, more unexpected." He shrugged, looking at her. "And always constant."

He felt slightly out of his element with the conversation, and looked at her a moment before turning back to the catalog, blinking at the next color scheme. "Yeah," he said, nodding. "I think that's alright."

[rar_hermione]

"Not always constant," she said, remembering third year. "There was a time when you wouldn't speak to me for ages. It was awful. And then in sixth year, I thought maybe that you didn't need me anymore. You were so distracted and then Ginny and it was just a mess of a year." She looked at him again. "You'll always have me, though, Harry. Regardless of anything, you can think of me that way, like you do Ron."

She focused back on the furniture and smiled when he said the color scheme was okay. It was probably too boring for Ron, since it wasn't bright or festive, but she thought it was tasteful and pleasant. Relaxing, in a way. They could all use a relaxing sitting room.

"Have you thought about your bedroom yet? What kind of bed are wanting to get?"

[rar_harry]

He winced. "It was stupid," he said, glancing down, feeling like a prat. He wondered if she'd ever set that aside. "I didn't realise what was important. Now, I don't even have the sodding broom." He looked back at her, frowning, when she mentioned sixth year.

"Sixth year was a mess for everyone, me included," he said. "With you and Ron, and ..." he shifted. "For the first time I felt like I was on my own, when you didn't listen to me about Malfoy. I don't blame you," he added quickly. "The last time you'd followed me somewhere it was a trap and I'd nearly got you all killed. But it was -- strange, I suppose. I'm sorry I made you feel like I didn't need you."

"I don't think of you and Ron the same way." It had always been true, really, though just now it felt odd to be admitting it to her. "I think it's always been, er, different, with each of you. Anyway. You'll always have me too," he said finally, feeling like at least that should make sense.

She mentioned bedrooms and beds, and he cleared his throat, not looking at her. "Oh. Dunno, really. Something comfortable and not too fancy. And big." He ducked his head; he didn't want to sound too particular, but on this, he was pretty clear. His aversion to small living spaces had been cultivated from infancy, and only grew stronger when they'd been camping. "You?"

[rar_hermione]

"It's the past. We've all made mistakes or bad choices, and we will in the future. That's part of life. If we could go back to that time, I'd do the same thing even knowing that I'd lose you for a while because of it. I was worried, and it was worth that to make sure you were safe."

She looked at him and pursed her lips. "Harry, stop apologizing for things that were out of your control. I felt that way because you were beating me in Potions and not confiding in me the way you always have before. It was partially my fault because I was confused about Ron, and I just didn't think Malfoy was capable...well, I was obviously wrong about both things. It's not your fault, though, so no more 'I'm sorry' for that sort of thing, understood?"

"Good. I don't think of you and Ron the same way, either. You're two different people, and my relationships with each of you has never been exactly the same. Ron made fun of me and made me cry, after all, and you never made me cry from making fun of me." She kissed his cheek and ruffled his hair. "Listen to us. We're supposed to be making fun of awful furniture, not being so serious."

There were a lot of choices for beds, which was surprising. She'd never given it much thought so long as it had a comfortable mattress. "The same," she said, studying an ornate wooden bedframe that was ridiculous. "Something not like this. I don't really care that much as long as it's comfortable and big enough to move around while I sleep."

[rar_harry]

"Yeah; alright," he told her. He was more than happy to forget most of that year and how weird things had gotten. "No apologies."

"Made you cry in other ways?" he asked her lightly, hunching his shoulders and leaning forward slightly when she ruffled his hair and kissed his cheek, under the guise of reaching for the bedrooms book. It had stopped being comfortable, when she did that, he thought. He still liked it, which was odd, but it was no longer ... comfortable. "That's enough serious talk, I think," he agreed.

Wrinkling his nose at the bedframe that had all sorts of flowers carved into the wood, Harry turned the page, fingers grazing Hermione's hand as he did. He leaned across and reached for paint swatches, too. "How about colors?"

[rar_hermione]

"I cry a lot," she said simply. It was no longer completely true because the last year had forced her to become more tough and less emotional. She had cried so much while Ron was gone that she must have worn herself out on tears. Now, it wasn't as common but it still happened sometimes. "I agree. Enough of that sort of talking."

Harry made a face at the bed she'd shown him, which made her laugh. "Don't like that one, Potter?" she asked, shifting slightly when he touched her hand while turning the page. She bit her lip and looked at the catalog, jumping slightly when he suddenly leaned across her to get the paint samples.

"Colors are good." She frowned and reached up to push her hair behind her ear as she studied the paint colors. "What do you like? You'd mentioned blues before, and there's a lot of them. There are some pretty shades of green, too. I don't think the pink or red are anything we want to consider. Oh, or orange or yellow. I don't want a cheery room. I mean, happy is good, but not in color. This is a lovely blue here." She stopped talking and reached for her glass of juice, taking a sip as she watched Harry touch the paint swatches.

[rar_harry]

"You can't tell me you like it, Granger," he said, laughing and turning his head to look at her. She was biting her lip, and the action seemed in his mind to stretch out far more seconds than it should.

He blinked. "Er, I go for blue," he told her, "though as you said last night I seem to be wearing a lot of green lately." Shrugging, he flipped through the paint swatches, fingering the colors he liked. Mostly dark or dusty blues, really. "I don't mind yellow, I suppose, but only in small doses. Nothing for the walls. Maybe white would be better. If I had blue things in my room, it might be too much on the walls too." He looked at her again when she took a drink. "D'you, ah. What d'you think you'd want; the blue? It's nice."

[rar_hermione]

"No, I don't like it. Too fussy and overdone for me. I prefer something simple."

She watched Harry's fingers brush across the various blue swatches. The cards looked small in his hand, which reminded her of Friday night when they'd danced. She had held Harry's hands more times than she could even count, but she'd never noticed how big they were in comparison to hers.

He started to speak, and she blinked, listening as he mentioned blue and green. "I'm not fond of yellow. A pale yellow might not be too bad, but it's just too bright for me usually." She looked at him and shrugged. "It might be too much, but it could depend on the colors and such. If you had dark on one but light for the other, it might go nicely."

"I'm not sure yet," she said, shifting when he looked at her. "This gray is really pretty, and I like this pale green."

[rar_ron]

Ron had decided to have a bit of a lie-in today. He had no specific plans and was glad of it. Later on he needed to revise for Charms but he'd just got up and had a shower and a bite to eat. Wandering around, he heard voices in the sitting room.

Sticking his head in, he saw Harry and Hermione huddled on the sofa with catalogs and colour swatches and samples in front of them.

"Gray? Pale green?" he asked, leaning an arm on the back of a chair across from them as he squinted in their direction. "You want to paint something gray or pale green?"

[rar_harry]

Harry looked up quickly, distracted. He'd not been looking at the color swatches at all, but hoped that neither of them had noticed what he had been looking at, or on whom. Swallowing, he glanced at Hermione and shrugged.

"We were talking about bedrooms," he explained. "Hermione might want those for her room."