the cadence of part time poets

Chapter 97: #43 Knoxbridge Lane

This will be an everlasting love,
This will be the one I've waited for;
This will be the first time anyone has loved me,

I'm so glad you found me in time,
And I'm so glad that you've rectified my mind;
This will be an everlasting love for me...

- "This Will Be" Natalie Cole, 1975

They moved in at the beginning of July. It was a two story London maisonette in the middle of Shepherd's Bush that overlooked a busy street filled with shops and greengrocers. It would've been too small if it weren't for the attic that'd been converted into a small bedroom and toilet. That space would become their sanctuary; their little piece of the pie.

Their very first home.

It was the corner flat—Remus smacked Sirius the first time he called it a 'townhouse'—leaving them with just a single set of neighbours to their left, which suited them just fine, what with all the noise they were bound to make. There had been no asking price listed on the advert Sirius had shown him and so Remus had been sceptical, but it was a decent area, and as wonderful as the Potters had been to them, there was only so long he could stand free-loading before he ended up renting some seedy guest house in South London.

"You're lucky you caught my ad when you did," said the landlady, as she showed them around the ground floor. "I was going to divvy it up into separate flats, but I bloody hate dealing with contractors."

"We'll need the space anyway," replied Sirius, as he ran his fingers along the faded wallpaper in the front entryway. The landlady meandered after them keenly. She appeared glamorous, with long, painted eyelashes and a waist nearly the same size as her neck. The advert had been listed to a "Margaret" but when they'd arrived she'd introduced herself as "Peggy". She seemed very pleased indeed when Sirius reached out to kiss her hand—even more so when he'd flashed that dishy grin at her. Remus thought the act a bit superfluous, but anything to get a roof over their heads.

"My third husband, Paul, tried to have the entire thing gutted last year," Peggy went on. "Only got as far as the floors before he croaked, but everything's been freshly painted."

"I can see that," Remus said, picking at a half-inch nail sticking out of the kitchen doorway that'd been painted over in a rather foul shade of beige. Peggy kept close on their heels, smoking a cigarette and looking them up and down as if she were still trying to decide whether or not they were wasting her time. Perhaps she doubted their ability to pay, judging them for their age and choice of dress like any wary forty-something with an unresolved bone to pick with the world.

"I'm looking to get at least one-forty for it," she said, pointedly.

"That's kind of steep."

"Market's facing a rent shortage, you know."

"Yeah, has been since 1965."

Sirius elbowed him. The flat was perfect, enough space for all of them and their instruments and wasn't even completely manky. Best to not bottle it.

"So you're firm on the price?" Remus asked, testing the waters.

"Price's firm."

He glanced around, wondering what their odds were of being scammed. Not that he knew anything about buying a home. The walls were high—much higher than the ones back at Tomny's place. There were no water marks on the ceiling either, and all the lights worked.

"Does it get cold in the winter?"

"Oh, no. It's all central heating 'round here nowadays," Peggy said. "Fridge's been replaced too. I'm willing to let out to students but I'll need at least three months rent upfront. Plus a deposit for anything you might break."