Renovations

Hermione lets herself into the back yard of 12 Grimmauld Place, turning the large iron key in the rusty lock. The gate is heavy iron, painted black, with gothic spikes in a manner befitting the house of twisted people like the Black family.

She still doesn't know exactly why Harry first chose to live here. It's not as if he doesn't have the money to buy a house somewhere else. Yet he insists on staying here, even though it has been almost seven years since Sirius fell through the veil. He insisted it remain as the headquarters for the Order of the Phoenix all throughout the war against Voldemort, and after all the mess of war had been cleaned up, he still stayed.

Hermione goes down a steep flight of stairs to the tradesmen entrance into the basement kitchen. She tends to use this entrance, to avoid the charred spot in the entrance hall where the portrait of Sirius' mother had hung all throughout the war. Once Voldemort had been vanquished, Harry had invited Remus, Ron and herself to finally destroy it. It had taken several well-placed incendio charms to finally obliterate any trace of the screeching painting.

That was the first time Harry cried since Sirius died. It was also the day Harry declared that he was going to live in Sirius' house, just as they had planned to live together before his death. He decided to totally renovate the inside of the house, which consisted at first of removing every item with a snake design or the colors green and silver. They all agreed to help him, though it ended up falling mostly on Hermione.

Remus had barely survived the last war; his hair was completely silver, he was skinnier than when he had first taught them at Hogwarts, and he was forced to use a cane to walk around. He tended to spend most afternoons sitting in the back garden, which Hermione had convinced Neville to replant; he took most of the more dangerous specimens for his own research in trade for the labor. Ron came, too, when he wasn't off playing Quidditch matches as keeper of the Chudley Cannons - that was most of the time.

So it ended up being Harry and Hermione, stripping wallpaper and cleaning windows. Harry ended up overcompensating, which left large gouges in the floors and walls that Hermione had to fix. The house slowly took shape, becoming a home. They finished the library first, so Remus would have somewhere to sit once the weather turned towards fall. Hermione insisted the kitchen be renovated next; once they had finished, Harry invited Dobby and Winky to come down from Hogwarts. The two house-elves jumped on the chance and insisted on working for free, much to Hermione's annoyance.

Over the next year, as Harry and Hermione gradually finished the renovations, the house became a haven for other friends: Ginny moved in briefly when she broke up with Dean Thomas; by the time she left, they had gotten engaged. Neville and Charlie were occasional overnight visitors, as well as Oliver Wood, who would spend the entire visit trying to convince Harry to join as seeker for Puddlemere United. Tonks got kicked out of her apartment and spent a few weeks attempting to help them redo the bathrooms. It was quite fun, though it took them another week to get all the plumbing back in order.

At the end, what had once been a claustrophobic nightmare was a large, airy home filled with friends and life. Any reference to the previous owners had been erased, from the lion rampant doorknockers to the tapestry covering the former home of Mrs. Black. Hermione had lived in the house for a whole year, and couldn't conceive of what would happen next, where she would go. But other things had changed over the past year beside the house...

Hermione steps into the warm, friendly kitchen. Dobby looks up from the stove where he is making some strange concoction.

"Miss Hermione is home! What do you want for dinner?" the house-elf said, tugging at one of his mismatched socks.

"Anything will be fine, Dobby, and I told you not to call me miss!" Hermione says, folding her coat over the chair and placing her bag on the table.

Dobby disappears briefly, then returns to the kitchen. "I has told Harry Potter sir about you're being home, Miss Hermione."

"Thank you, Dobby," Hermione replies, lowering herself into a chair. She soon hears footsteps coming down the stairs.

"Hey, Hermione," Harry says, crossing over to where she is sitting. "How was work today?"

"Quite boring, actually - I was stuck in meetings all day long and couldn't do any actual work. Of course, sitting for that long was quite uncomfortable." Hermione replies, shifting on the wooden chair. "Sitting at all is increasingly becoming a problem."

Harry laughs and places a hand on her distended stomach. "Only another month, Hermione."

"Just so you know that there won't be any more after this." Hermione says tartly. "I'd like to be able to sit regularly after this."

"How about we leave the option open?" Harry asks her, feeling the baby kick.

Hermione scoffs. "Only if you're having the next one."

Harry leans over and kisses her. "I'm glad you're home."