Triangle

PART ONE

When you've been best friends for seven years, there isn't much you don't share. That's why Ron, Harry, and Hermione had all moved into a flat together. There hadn't even been much discussion about it. In fact, to the best of anyone's knowledge, the "discussion" had been quite simple.

"I can't believe we just graduated!" Hermione said happily.

"I know, it's bloody brilliant!" Harry agreed.

"We have to get jobs now," Ron complained.

"Yeah, and we have to find places to live and pay bills..." Harry sighed.

"Why don't we just get a flat together?" Hermione asked. "It'll be cheaper."

"Sounds fine to me," Harry shrugged.

"Me, too," Ron said.

And just like that, it had been decided. Oh, sure, their parents went nuts at first. Ron distinctly remembered the night his mother had given him "The Talk" to prepare him for the temptations he'd be facing living with a woman. What Ron didn't tell her was that he'd lost his virginity two years prior to his first girlfriend, Lavender Brown. Oh, well. What his mum didn't know wouldn't kill her, would it?

Hermione's parents had been especially reluctant at first to let their daughter live with two strapping young wizards, but after she assured them that they were just friends, they finally agreed.

And so, just like that, Harry, Ron, and Hermione found themselves living in a lovely little two bedroom flat in the heart of Muggle London. Harry went to Auror training everyday, Hermione became a Healer at St. Mungo's, and Ron became a paper-pusher at the Ministry.

Considering that they had three incomes (well, Ron and Hermione's incomes plus Harry's inheritance since he wasn't actually working yet), they lived a nice life. They had money to spare and for the first time in Ron's life, he was able to buy just about anything he wanted. Still, he did the responsible thing (at Hermione's urging) and saved most of it, though he did convince her to let him splurge every now and again.

They all took turns cooking (though with magic, it really wasn't a big deal). Harry had convinced the other two to buy a Muggle telly. He would sit in front of it and watch it for hours. Ron decided this little obsession stemmed from the fact that he was never allowed to watch what he wanted at the Dursleys. Either way, Ron didn't have much interest in it, and Hermione mostly only watched the news and the late-night shows that were really reruns from thirty years ago.

Their apartment was a nice-sized place, with two bedrooms (one for Harry and Ron and one for Hermione) and one bathroom. The living room was quite large as far as living rooms go, so Hermione had turned one corner of it into her own private library. Their kitchen was large and Hermione decorated it in apple-themed décor. Hermione had decorated the whole place, actually. Who'd have thought that she actually had some hidden decorating sense? For the dining room she'd chosen a scarlet theme. Everything in the room was either scarlet or a color that complemented the scarlet quite well. She had even decorated the laundry room, though for what reason, Ron and Harry didn't know. No one ever looked in there besides the three of them, and the boys didn't really care what it looked like, as long as their clothes got clean. Hermione had just rolled her eyes when they'd asked why.

Hermione sometimes felt like the odd person out, especially since she hadn't shared living quarters with these two before. Harry and Ron had lived together for most of the past seven years. She hadn't. She felt really odd when she'd come home late at night and the two of them would be sitting on the couch in their boxers and old ratty tee-shirts, killing flies with their wands as the insects buzzed around their heads, and drinking firewhiskey. She supposed it was only a matter of time before they stopped wearing the tee-shirts, and sure enough, three months into their new living arrangement, she came home to find the two of them sitting around half-naked. Ron was wearing orange boxers with the Chudley Cannons logo on them, and Harry was wearing green ones with tiny Snitches and broomsticks flying about. Did those two have no modesty?

While the boys seemed quite comfortable half-naked in front of Hermione, she didn't feel nearly as comfortable around them. She trusted them with her life; that wasn't the problem. She knew that even if she waltzed into the dining room naked for dinner one night, they wouldn't dare lay a hand on her, but that wasn't the issue. The issue was she'd only been naked in front of one boy in her life, and that hadn't really ended on a good note.

Six months into their living together, Hermione finally got up the courage to come to the table for breakfast in her pajamas. Up until then, she'd been getting fully dressed prior to coming to the dining room. Harry and Ron teased her relentlessly.

"Whoo!" Ron whistled. "Hermione, you're positively naked!" he laughed.

"Yeah, Hermione. Better be careful. You'll give us both semis before breakfast," Harry joked.

Hermione promptly turned right back around, headed back to her room, and got dressed before rejoining them at the table.

"Harry, in the future, I would prefer not to hear the "State of the Penis Address" over breakfast," she said as she sat down.

Harry chuckled.

"Aw, come on, Hermione. Don't be like that. We were only joking. You can come to the table in your PJs if you'd like. We really don't care."

"Well, of course you don't. You have no sense of human decency. You two sit around in nothing but your underwear."

"You're welcome to join us in that," Harry grinned.

Hermione threw a piece of bacon at him.

"Fine, fine..." Ron sighed. "It's your turn to do laundry."

"What? No, I just did it last Friday. It's your turn."

"No, I did it on Tuesday."

"Then it's Harry's turn."

"Harry did it on this Friday. It's your turn."

"Fine," Hermione sighed. How did they go through so many clothes so fast? "I'll do them tomorrow evening after work."

"Okay," Harry stood. "I've got to get going to training."

"Bye," Hermione said. Harry grabbed his wand from the table and Disapparated.

"Well, I'll see you this evening," Hermione stood up as well.

"Actually, I've a date tonight, so I probably won't be home before you go to bed."

"A date?" Hermione asked.

"Yeah. This girl from work. Name's Marissa Goldwater."

"Oh," Hermione stared at the ground. "Guess I'll see you tomorrow then, won't I?"

"Yeah." This was awkward. "Bye," he Disapparated.

Hermione stared at the now-empty space where Ron had just stood. "Bye."

With a crack, Hermione Disapparated.