Three’s Company

By Willis

Chapter One: The Decision

“ What do you two think? It’s a bit rusty, I guess, but I reckon I’ll make real good use of it.”

Hermione sauntered about the small London flat, her sensible shoes scraping along the dusty floor. Sunlight squeezed its fingers through the crevices of the dirty windows. With each excited step Hermione took, dust bunnies arose and swirled visibly in the beams of light.

“ Er –,” Ron stood rooted in his spot. He was rather speechless since he, Harry, and Hermione had first Apparated to the front of the building only moments ago. His face, however, showed his confused revulsion. “ It’s … large?”

Harry couldn’t help but smile as Hermione frowned a little. “ It’s what I can afford for now. I wasn’t expecting a grand suite right away, Ron. Selling books doesn’t supply me loads of galleons, but at least I’m supporting myself.”

Ron reddened a bit. He was still living at the Burrow, still eating the breakfast Molly made for him every morning, and still sleeping in his violently orange bedroom.

Harry kicked the dust at his feet, sending them in a swirl of gray. “ Why don’t you just find another job? I doubt working at Flourish and Blott’s is hardly worth whatever amount of N.E.W.T.’s you got.”

“ I know,” the 18-year-old witch replied heavily. “ It’s just a starting job, Harry. I’ll have a real one soon. You know what I mean, right?”

Harry did know what she meant. Upon leaving Hogwarts almost a year ago, Harry had been bombarded with so many choices that he simply did not know which route to take, so he had, rather reluctantly, accepted a temporary job in the Department of Magical Games of Sports (where he’d received a position from a very enthusiastic Ludo Bagman). Harry had to admit that the people he worked with were a very nice and cheerful lot, but he felt deprived of excitement every day that he went to work at his desk, and was planning on moving on as soon as he figured out what to do. Harry had stayed at the Leaky Cauldron since he left Privet Drive three months ago. It was close to the Ministry Building in Diagon Alley, but like his job, Harry considered the room a temporary ordeal.

Ron ran his index finger along the windowsill, letting the dust collect on it. Hermione scowled towards him, before continuing into the depths of the flat.

Moments ago, the three of them had walked up a narrow staircase and through a door with peeled yellow paint. It led straight into a fairly large, open space, in which half of it was taken up by the kitchen counters, stove, and old-fashioned refrigerator that had accumulated some sort of mold on its tarnished handle. The cloudy window where Ron had swiped his finger was at the end of a row of them, lined up along one wall.

And yet, Hermione’s eyes lit up at the sight of her surroundings. She acted as if the flat were her palace. She entered the narrow corridor that was past the kitchen, where mustard colored wallpaper was peeling. There were three doors, one on her left, one on her right, and one right in front. The first time she came to see her future home, she’d established that the small room on her right was to be her bedroom, and the one straight ahead was to be her study. The door on her left was for the grimy bathroom.

There was a knock on the door, and Harry, being closest to it, pulled it open. He was greeted by a short stout woman with flyaway gray hair to rival Professor Sprout’s. Two pudgy, freckle-covered arms stuck out of the sleeveless dress she had slipped on over her pear-shaped body. There was a large crinkle between her eyes.

“ You’re not the new tenant,” she said hoarsely, scratching her nose. It was a simple statement, but sounded bitter to Harry’s ears.

“ Er, no. Please, come in.” Harry let in the woman, who did not even look at him as she waddled into the flat.

Ron was still in consternation that somebody like Hermione could tolerate such a dump. Hermione, who heard the woman, came out to greet her.

“ Hello Mrs. Pill. These are my friends –,”

“ They’re not going to live here, are they? You three are a noisy lot! Bernard’s very upset by it!”

Assuming Bernard was Mrs. Pill’s husband, Hermione said, “ Oh, we’re terribly sorry to disturb you two.”

Mrs. Pill had her round, cartoonish hand placed on the large hip that protruded from her spherical body. “ I’m here to let you know about the rent, m’dear. It’s due the first of every month, and I don’t accept it even an hour late.” She pointed her stumpy thumb over her shoulder. “ You’ll leave if there’s one problem.” She slipped her hand into a hidden pocket within the folds of her dress and withdrew a small slip of paper. “ Here’s the amount.”

Hermione stopped smiling when her gaze hit the paper. She looked up at Mrs. Pill, and with strained politeness, she said, “ This is a higher than what you told me yesterday.”

The landlady scowled. “ I didn’t know yesterday that you’d be this noisy, did you?” She turned and began to walk away, giving Ron a chance to peer over Hermione’s shoulder. His eyes widened and he gave out a sort of disbelieving guffaw.

“ For this dump?” he whispered.

Mrs. Pill whipped around. She might have had ears like a hawk, for she glared angrily at Ron. “ First of the month,” she muttered, waving her hands and let herself out.

Hermione looked like she would collapse, but that was not an appealing idea, as the floor was covered with tick dust. “ What’ll I do?” she asked, desperately. Her mood had considerably taken a turn. “ I’m not going to be able to pay for this – I mean, selling books can only give me so much…”

“ Did the cost really increase that much?” asked Harry, perplexed. Hermione showed him the slip, and his eyes widened. He understood what Ron had meant – the flat was definitely not worth all that.

Hermione’s shoulder slumped as she began walking around the empty space. “ Oh, I really wanted the place too. I mean, yes, it’s a bit… dirty, but I’ve grown quite attached to it. And now this…” she flailed her arms. “ Oh, I hate that landlady.”

Harry sympathized with Hermione, even though he couldn’t figure out why anyone would like such a dump like this flat. “ I could lend you some money, Hermione. You could consider it a loan or something…” Harry had no idea how to use proper banking terms.

A slight smile appeared on Hermione’s face. “ Oh, don’t bother Harry. It’d take me forever to pay you back, and then it would be like you were paying for the place, not me.”

As if someone muttered Lumos in his mind, and idea popped up like a light. “ Hermione, I bet I could pay for this place.”

Hermione eyed him questioningly. “ What?”

“ I could – I could help you pay the rent,” he started. He began pacing like Hermione was and considered his sudden thought very carefully. The words spilled out of his mouth before they even processed. “ I could live here with you.”

Ron’s eyes practically bulged out of his head. “ Are you mad?” he asked, his ears turning pink.

“ Why would he be?” asked Hermione, although she asked it a bit skeptically. “ Do you realize what you’re suggesting?”

“ Yeah, I guess it is pretty ridiculous,” Harry answered, scratching his head.

Ron gave a dry laugh. “ Er, yeah.”

Hermione held up her hand. “ Now wait a minute. I can give you, for a bedroom, what I was planning on making my study. And the flat is fairly large. Besides, you need a place to live, right?” she directed the latter to Harry, who half-shrugged and nodded.

“ No, you wait,” demanded Ron. “ Do you realize what you’re suggesting? You and Harry will be living together, depending on each other, like a family…”

Hermione gave a heavy sigh. “ The thing is, Ron, I really want this flat.” The desperation in her voice was back. “ Really. And it looks like in order for me to afford it, I might have to share it with someone. Harry needs a place to live and he’s my friend. It – works out, doesn’t it?”

Ron’s narrowed eyes darted from Harry to Hermione and back to Harry.

Harry began to understand Ron’s reaction. “ Listen,” he said, shaking his head. “ I don’t make a lot of money either… and we’d still need money for food and furniture and er, something to fix up this place.”

Hermione’s eyes met Harry’s, and suddenly, understanding shot through their gaze. “ Oh, right.” Her face grew visibly pinker. “ We might need another flatmate.”

Harry smiled at Ron apprehensively. Hermione was running the toe of her shoe across the floor, making a line in the dust.

Again, Ron glanced from one friend to the other. “ I’ll move in with you,” he piped. To diminish his tone of cheerfulness, he added, “ I mean, I can’t live in The Burrow forever.”

Hermione let out a sigh of relief, and a huge smile cracked upon her face. She hugged Ron. “ Oh, thank you.” She let go and approached Harry to hug him too. “ Thank you,” she repeated.

Eyeing the piece of paper that was still clutched in Hermione’s hand, Harry asked nervously “ Er, who’s going to tell Mrs. Pill?”

~ * ~

:: Contents :: Chapter Two ::