Small Cottage

"Well, Elroy doesn't know it yet, but I've taken out a little loan, and made quite enough money to move out of this shack. I mean, I've been packing up stuff for weeks, I'm nearly ready to move now. All I have to do is find a house and get Elroy into it!" Serenity seemed quite excited. "Plus, I don't want my child to live in squalor. Ever."

Rachel sighed, and set down her teacup. "Speaking of moving you know my neighbor a mile or two away? Mrs. Finn who would always watch the kids for me and Nick? She just moved away a couple days ago. And she lived in this very nice house... it was big and it could be very pretty if someone fixed it up." She shook her head. "It's a shame, I bet me and Nick could have gotten that house. But what matters is that now I'm going to have to find a new babysitter..."

Serenity's face lit up with sudden glee. "Rachel! I just had the greatest idea. We'll move into that house. Elroy, me, and the baby! Your children will meet my child and I'll babysit for you and I'll fix it right up. I've always been good at interior decorating. This will be great!"

Rachel looked as though she was about to drop her teacup. "But uh... Serenity," she cleared her throat. "Are you sure you want to be such close quarters with me? It might be a little uncomfortable. And, are you SURE you want to move all the way up there? It would be a culture shock!"

"It would be so great!" Serenity wasn't even listening to Rachel. "Yes, of course I would want to be close to you. You're my bestest friend! Our children could grow up together.. It's decided. I don't care what Elroy says."

"Serenity, wait." said Rachel jumping up while looking extremely worried. "Are you SURE you want to go through with this? What if you don't like the house? Or you don't like the town or anything?"

"How could I not like the town? You live there! You're one of the most picky, responsible people I know. Take that as a compliment." Serenity grinned. "I'll talk to him about it as soon as he gets home. This is GREAT!"

"Um well..." Rachel couldn't think of anything else to say, so she left it at that.

"Alright. So you get me the realtor or whoever is selling that house, and tell him you've got a friend who would love to buy the house immediately. Tell the person that they'll fix it up, make it pretty, anything. I want the house."

"But Serenity," began Rachel very quickly. "I'm a very busy woman! I can't do that all by myself. Why don't you? You ARE the one who's interested..."

"Well, fine, but Rachel.. I have to finalize this loan and pack up all this stuff. Also, I'm pregnant, and I need to tell Elroy without making him angry.." Serenity was giving her a pleading look.

"Fine fine fine!" huffed Rachel looking very irritable at this point. "I'll try my best, but no guarantees. You might have to do some of this yourself."

"Alright, thank you, Rachel! He'll be home soon, you had better leave. I'll see you soon!"

And so Rachel sent Serenity an owl.

"Hi Steph,
I called the Realtor and I got the whole thing worked out. Just for you. Because I'm such a nice and loving friend. Seriously though, they've done most of the fixing up. You can move in whenever you like you can paint it and decorate and do whatever you want. Enjoy!

~Rachel"

Serenity didn't bother sending an owl back- Rachel would hear from her as soon as possible, in the new house. Of course, Serenity would fix it up before Elroy saw it. So, she apparated off to the house.