She made her way towards the kitchen, her tired feet shuffling on the wood. She sat at the counter, putting her head on her arm and laying on the granite stone.

Luna came in from the garden at Ginny's call.  This was possibly the first time she had seen her roommate in over a week, not counting stumbling trips to the coffee pot as one or the other tried to recover from a late night in their chosen professions.  Luna thought that maybe she had it easier, when it came to those late nights.  At least her job didn't normally feature life and death situations.

"Didn't expect to see you," she confessed, shrugging out of the jumper she had pulled on while in the garden.  It was much larger than her, made of soft blue yarn and featuring a crescent moon on the front.  Mrs. Weasley had knitted it for her last Christmas, and she thought it was wonderful.  "Rough day?"

She went to put some chocolate on, knowing it would help relax them both.

Ginny looked up at Luna, her chin resting on her forearm. "Long day. Long day with little breaks and crying babies and lancing boils." She grimaced, sitting up in the chair, watching as her friend moved around the kitchen. "I can't wait until I have a day off. Really. I'm sure Mum and Dad want me to come home and see them, but I'd much rather just sleep. Forever. Or take a bath. And sleep in the tub. Yeah. That sounds nice."

Feeling like a lazy schlep, she stood, going to the cabinet and grabbing two mugs and two spoons. "How about you? Anything nice happening at the Quib?"

"Daddy's back," Luna said as she stirred in the chocolate.  Xeno Lovegood had developed a series of increasingly worse chest afflictions soon after the war, getting sicker and sicker until he'd been unable to make it into the office.  The medi-wizards had guessed that the root cause was stress from the war and had prescribed chest compresses and rest.  Luna had been forced to take on more responsibility than she had really wanted right after school, even with the rest of the paper's staff there with helping hands.

Sometimes she wondered if that was why her relationship with Seamus had failed.  She'd been so busy with the paper and her father, rarely even having the time to stop in at the apartment they had shared, too busy to pay him the attention he had apparently needed and the Irish witch had so freely offered.  Or maybe they were just destined to fail.  Her father hadn't approved of him in any case, which would have put a strain on the relationship eventually.

"He's down to one of those breathing potions a day -- the ones that open his lungs?  And his medi-wizard says he can start easing off a few of the other potions.  But he's restricted to working half days at the moment."

Ginny nodded. "That's probably best. The Oxyginate will help him a lot." She opened the drawer, pulling out two spoons. "They're working on a new fast-activation aerosol of the potion, I hear. They've been working on it for a while. The muggles have something similar that they're sort of copying." She grinned, looking over at the blond. "'One of the few things they've done right', my supervisor said."

Luna nodded distractedly, not really caring about the muggles' innovations.  Her mind was on her father, and how relieved she was that he was improving.  It had never occurred to her just how old he was. She'd known that he'd been older than most when she was born, but he'd always been strong, running after snorkacks and other creatures with no problems.  It was only after he had taken ill that she realized that it was possible that he'd be gone from her life before she was ready.  Not that she ever would be.

She poured the chocolate into the mugs and handed one to Ginny with a smile.  "Any interesting cases today?"

Ginny took the mug, using it to warm her hands. It was starting to get cold outside, and the wood was ice under her feet, but she wasn't ready to turn on the heat yet. Turning on the heat would mean it was winter, and winter meant she'd have to sludge through the snow in Diagon Alley whenever she wanted to visit Fred. Well, whenever she had the time to visit Fred. "We had a pair of people come in who'd used Finley's Fine Forever Forming glue on themselves in a compromising position." She laughed, remembering the other medi-wizards' faces when they'd apparated in.

"I think they're still on the fourth floor. We're still not quite sure how it happened, and they're not really letting us know. I think they might have done it by accident, but didn't want to admit it." She took a sip of the drink, marveling at how, yet again, Luna had made it perfectly. Ginny always managed to burn the chocolate at the bottom of the pan.

Luna laughed, the image of the unfortunate couple trying to explain to the hospital staff what had happened running through her head.  In her imagination, the couple bore Seamus and his wife's faces, which made it all the better.  "That's much more amusing than the wizard who got his arse stuck in a bucket.  You should write these down, you know.  Maybe publish a book later.  'Lost Patients' or something like that."

"I'd make a mint," Ginny joked, returning to her seat across from Luna. She looked up at the girl thoughtfully. "I'm sorry I haven't been home as much lately. I know when we moved in together I said we'd be spending a lot of time with each other. I believe I told you you'd hate my guts by summer. I'm glad you don't hate me, but I'm sad I haven't gotten to spend as much time with you as I wanted." She turned the mug in her hands. "Maybe when I leave Mungo's, I'll have a little more time to myself."

Luna settled into the seat across from Ginny and looked at her seriously.  "It's not like I've been any better, what with Daddy and the Quib.  There's been nights that I slept on the couch in the office simply because it was easier than trying to remember where I lived.  Or nights when I needed to be near Daddy because he was too sick to do much of anything."

She took a sip of her chocolate, savoring the liquid.  It had cooled just enough so that she could comfortably take large swallows.  "Is it decided, then?  Last time we managed to talk, you were only thinking of starting your own practice.  When did you decide?"

Ginny waved her hand suggestively. "It's still just an idea. I'm going to do a little research first. Find a premises, costs, maybe see if I could find someone to provide me with potions. I've some funds left over from the Ministry scholarship, so I know I could probably start it up, but the question if whether or not I could keep it running."

After she graduated from Hogwarts, Ginny had found herself eligible for a Ministry scholarship to further her profession in the healing arts. It's the only way she would have been able to afford going through St. Mungo's training program without taking massive amounts of borrowed money from the goblins at Gringotts. Bill had strongly opposed that, knowing how the goblins were strict with their payback dates. It helped that her father worked at the Ministry, not that he persuaded the board, but it helped that they knew who she was and what she'd lost in the war.

The scholarship had paid for everything, the dues of the training, her books to study with, even a flat if she needed one. Finding the house with Luna had left her with a little extra money in her account, and ever since the idea had blossomed in her head to start her own practice, she'd been looking at those galleons with wide eyes, trying to figure out if it's be enough for the start-up costs.

"I don't know how I feel about opening it myself. I'm not very well known in the healing community. I might want a partner of some sort, but I don't know anyone. Well, no one that I work with currently has caught my eye."

"Sounds like you're going about it all logically."  Luna was the last one to mention using logic to make decisions, of course.  Her last two major life choices had had very little to do with logic, despite her Ravenclaw background.  Moving in with Seamus right after Hogwarts had seemed like a good idea at the time.  At least moving in with Ginny had resulted in better consequences.

She forced Seamus out of her thoughts.  November eighteenth had been when they had started dating, and she could feel herself become more and more morose as the date approached.  Not the type of thing she wanted to focus on.

"What about an advertisement in the paper, looking for a partner?  Mediwizards have a private magazine for that type of thing, right?"

"Yeah, but I think anyone who would answer an ad from that rubbish magazine would be an uptight, aristocratic arse, and I really can't see myself going into work with someone I dislike." She sat back in her chair, placing the mug on the counter. "I might consider putting something in the Prophet, though. Another rubbish paper, yes, but everyone reads it. There's a much larger chance of getting someone I can tolerate."

She smiled. "That's actually where I'm going to start looking for a potion's master. I'm sure there's plenty of those out there, working from home. I'd probably give them a smart lab in the back of the shop so they'd be there whenever I needed them." The thoughts of what she could do with her own practice had been filling her mind more and more lately, especially since she'd been working so many hours at St. Mungo's. It seemed silly to work for an establishment where she received no recognition for the work she put in.

"We should go out sometime this weekend. Go into Diagon and do some window shopping. Do something outside of this house, or the Quib, or Mungo's. Pretty soon it'll be too cold to window shop."

"Then we'll just have to go inside to shop," Luna teased.  The two of them were on pretty strict budgets and so tended to window shop more than anything else.  But every once in awhile a woman needed to splurge on herself, buy something feminine or completely worthless.  Luna hadn't had a chance to do that in months, and knew that doing so would brighten a whole week, at least. 

"I'd like that.  Do you think you'll have a problem getting a day off?"

"Hmm." Ginny cocked her head to the side, thinking what poor soul she could seduce into switching shifts with her. "I know Brian would probably let me slough my Saturday off on him. He's been saying he needs money for a new broom. He's offered to take me flying with him once he gets one." She rolled her eyes, smiling slightly. He'd been flirting with her for ages, and even though she never gave him the impression she liked him, he still persisted. She felt a little guilty using him to get a day off, but maybe she would let him take her flying as payment. "So, yeah, I could probably get this Saturday off. Do you think you could swing getting off a the Quib?"

"Yes, I'm sure it's his broom he wants you to ride," Luna snarked with a smile.  "With Daddy taking a role again and the paper not due at the printer's for at least two weeks, it should be manageable.  Probably the only time it would be.  It's a good thing I don't have a bloke on the side.  I'd never have time for him."

"Well, good. There's a new store in Diagon that has all the medi-witches talking about frilly things. I'll need to find something. I've a date with Roger next weekend." Ginny grinned slyly, rising and taking her mug over to the sink, rinsing it out. She could hear Luna snort behind her, which made Ginny grin wider.

Roger was someone she'd met at work. He'd been a patient, she'd had to give him a full body exam. They'd been exchanging owls forever before Roger plucked up the courage to actually ask her on a date. That'd been eight months ago, and their dates had been infrequent, but whenever she found a little time, they saw each other. Ginny, of course, had filled Luna in every morning she'd come home.

Luna wouldn't admit to being slightly jealous of Gin's romance with Roger, though she was.  She really needed to find the time to have a relationship of her own.  She didn't miss sex particularly, since she'd never really enjoyed it in the first place.  But she did miss having strong arms wrapped around her and the feel of a warm body next to hers. 

"You've gotten to the frilly knickers stage, have you?" she teased.  "Then we'll absolutely have to go shopping.  Frilly knickers should be brand new the first time."

"Well, the frilly knickers wouldn't be just for him, you know. It's good for a girl to have frilly knickers, just in case." She turned, leaning back against the counter and crossing her arms over her chest. "Besides, it'll be my treat. I'll buy you a nice pair of frilly knickers too." She snorted, shaking her head at how many times 'frilly knickers' had been said during their conversation.

She looked over at the clock on the wall, grimacing when it told her she had less than 5 hours to sleep before needing to head right back. "You know, if there was a potion that made me able to run without sleep, I think I'd take it."

"I'd think that wouldn't be safe," Luna murmured, rising and placing her mug in the sink.  She'd clean it in the morning.  "Seamus made me watch a muggle tele show about that.  Completely silly program from the Americas about people living on a spaceship.  He insisted it was an essential part of muggle culture, though.  One program had the crew going without sleep until they were almost dead.  That was the only part I thought was even slightly believable."

"Interesting." Ginny nodded, not wanting to say anything else. She knew her friend was still upset about Seamus and what had happened. Luna had actually had to keep Ginny from apparating to Ireland and hexing Seamus and the wench he'd shacked up with. Ginny still had plans to get her revenge on the wizard some day. The day would come, and he'd know exactly why the horrible luck had befallen him. When the opportunity presented itself, Ginny would take it.

She sighed, pushing off of the counter. "I should try and get some sleep before I have to wake up, shower and start all over again." She walked around the island, pulling Luna under one of her arms and squeezing. "I'm glad we have plans. I love plans with Luna."

Luna laughed and pushed her away.  "And plans with Gin are just as good.  But you're starting to rock back and forth a bit."  And indeed, now that one arm wasn't around Luna's shoulders, Ginny was rocking slightly from side to side, exhaustion clear in the lines of her face.  "Off to bed with you.  Tomorrow will come too soon as it is."

Nodding, Ginny started shuffling down the hall. She turned, calling back over her shoulder as she started up the stairs towards her room. "Frilly knickers! Saturday! Be prepared!"

Luna laughed softly and made her way to her own room.  So she wasn't sure what she'd do with a set of frilly knickers when there were no romantic prospects on the horizon.  Just owning a new pair would lift her spirits.