Regulus was reading her letter and smiling to himself despite the pain flowing from his cheek. She wrote of his brother and the werewolf… an interesting turn of events if he had to say so himself. He knew, even for his youth and lack of experience on the subject, that this witch had genuine affection for them. It pleased him that she wasn't sulking, even though he was envious that it was because of his wanker older brother and his best mate.
"You are not a hard person to find in a crowd any longer," The slimy voice of Lucius broke the ambiance of the Hog's Head.
"Say what you will, but I have no qualms about what transpired. Insolence is punishable by death, and he showed me mercy due to my loyalty." Regulus declared as he pocketed the letter.
Lucius shrugged his shoulders and made a face of disgust. "He is terribly fond of you for reasons I haven't a clue."
Regulus smirked after sipping his drink. "Jealous, Malfoy?"
The blond wizard scoffed and folded his legs under the table. "No, Black, not even remotely. I actually came here to give you an invitation to a little party I will be having in a week's time. I was hoping you would bring your family and your future bride. Our master feels it is important to keep up appearances; make us look like the stronghold he built his ideals off of initially."
Regulus hid the small panic that built in his mind about Hermione's reaction and smiled instead, "That sounds like an excellent idea indeed. I cannot wait to pass the information to my mother and my Diana."
Lucius glanced at the door and saw a stout man enter, "I see your meeting is about to start, I shall be seeing you fairly soon, Black." He left swiftly and disappeared into the crowd.
Peter Pettigrew was a pathetic man in Regulus's opinion. Not only does he betray the very friends he has; he was indeed a rat. When he caught sights of Regulus, he cringed but moved toward the young Black, "Reggie, nice to see you. What are you doing here?"
"Pettigrew, you have a gift for me?" He asked, and the animagus paled as he sat down.
"You are- you can't- no," Peter sputtered, and Regulus stood up.
There was a brief moment that the Death Eater thinned his lips to decide what to do with him. "I am, are you going to not listen to your orders?"
"No! You won't!" He shrieked, and Regulus glowered.
"Come with me, Peter… we need to have words." The Death Eater did not wait and dragged the stout man with him out the door.
He knew Lucius was tailing them closely and thought of a place that the blond would not know about. He disapparated quickly from just out front of the pub and to the cliff Hermione took him to that night. Throwing the traitor on the ground, he pulled out his wand.
"Don't even think about it, Wormtail. I have no problem killing you and sleeping at night." Regulus warned the sniveling man.
"You are betraying him! Our master must know!" Peter shouted, and Regulus flicked his wand and bound the animagus.
"You are betraying your friends as it would seem as well, let me just have a look at your report." Regulus dug into the pockets of the round man until he found a piece of parchment.
It read about details spoken at an Order meeting… but it also had features displaying his and Hermione's recent contributions of information to the Order. Talked about her false identity and his activities as a betraying double agent. He also went into details about her appearance, her odd attachments to people in the Order and more extreme… the possibility of her knowing a huge secret of Voldemort.
"Seems you have been very busy, Peter… tisk tisk. We will have to change things a bit," Regulus flicked his wand at the parchment and placed false details of the meeting, including possible links to a witch alias named Lionne in Paris.
"Are you going to kill me?" Peter grumbled and Regulus pointed his wand at the bound wizard.
"I should kill you. For all the things you have and might have the chance to do… but I won't. I have plans for you, Pettigrew, and they will go off without a hitch. I am an excellent strategist… I had to be living this long in my family. We are going to become good friends, you and I. You will soon kiss the very ground I walk on. We just need to alter a few things, and you will come out of this… for now." Regulus snickered with vicious joy, and Peter's eyes grew. "I happen to be extraordinary at memory charms, care to see?"
Regulus started his work and knew this was not a permanent fix, but would cull some of the urgent heat on him and his partner. After all, he was sure she would agree, a rat in your pocket is best kept there and not waking the snakes…
She flipped her long black hair and smiled at the werewolf. He helped her disguise as a remarkable looking witch with bright icy eyes and raven hair. Hermione was sure he was the envy of quite a few wizards that walked by snickering at the couple eating ice cream. It was the first time in so long that she felt remotely attractive.
"I miss your curls," Remus said as he let her lean against him.
"No one misses that hair. It was a frizzy mess," Hermione grumbled, shaking her head.
"I do. They remind me of Shakespeare."
Hermione sighed and placed effort into hiding her blush. "Don't say Rosaline or I might cry."
Remus chuckled and shook his head. "No, definitely not. You are most certainly a Portia."
She pulled away enough to gaze at him. "Remus, that is the nicest thing you have ever said to me. Aside from calling me the Brightest witch of the age."
His cheeks tinted slightly, and he made work of what was left of his ice cream cone. Hermione knew that he meant it, even if he deliberately ignored her. Hermione continued to enjoy her own ice cream and thought of his actions as of late. There wasn't much that had changed between who he was now and who he became. Less fissured from life, but still puzzling. An excellent source of companionship, but yet distant… something had occurred to her.
"Remus, do you think I smelled the same?"
That stopped the werewolf, and his eyes grew. Remus had wondered and assumed the same thing. It wasn't like him to just disregard someone's friendship due to age… there was something more profound than that, and he had come to that conclusion while they were walking closely through Diagon Alley. "Yes, Hermione. I believe you did and I most certainly noticed."
"Which is why you took care not to spend too much time alone with me?" Her question made him heated and squirm.
"That is something I cannot answer honestly, but it could have been possible."
Hermione took a bite of her cone and smirked at him. "I remember this one night, you were in the Padfoot's library and reading while listening to swing music. Pads was off with Harry and Ron following them around… I watched as you bobbed your head lightly to the beat, but stilled a moment to sniff the air. You caught me, and I knew it, so I walked into the room." She paused and raised an eyebrow at him, "You said that I would always be too clever and curious for my own good."
"Well, you are." He finished his ice cream and pulled out a handkerchief, wiping his face. "I have an interesting musing."
Hermione stole the cloth from him and grinned. "Oh, what is it?"
"There is a wizard over there, and he is trying to figure out if we are an item. He has been glancing over the paper at us for the last ten minutes."
The witch carefully glanced over and saw a decent looking wizard with blond locks popped over the paper, "Looks like Lockheart. Come here; I have a secret to tell you," She whispered, and Remus leaned closer with a frown.
Hermione wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed his lips lightly. The werewolf groaned and did not ask, he took her in his arms and adequately snogged the witch. She melted for him, and Remus growled in victory as he heard her whimper and smelt the lovely evolution of her scent.
She pulled away, and he could see her cheeks were aflame with a yearning he felt smug to create, "Remus, do you think…" she trailed off, and he shook his head.
"We are not leaving the public eye until I am assured the Potters are home."
She giggled with a nod, "Probably the better plan… I'm a mess," she finished and shook her head.
The realization that even if there was something between her and the werewolf, it could not happen. She was going to get married to Regulus. She may not be entirely virtuous, but she shouldn't even engage in thoughts of otherworldly adventures with anyone. How did she fall so far from her isolation so quickly?
"It isn't you… it is the small comforts we seek in an effort to feel that way again. To feel more than just word on a page or pictures in an album. There isn't anything wrong with you; I just can't dishonor you." Remus softly said and found the cobblestone to be far more interesting than usual.
She sighed heavily and nodded, "I know, Moony. When were you going to tell me about this?"
He shook his head and finally took an examination of her eyes. "Never, Hermione. What I feel and the things I think are the only pieces of me that I can keep away from the world. You didn't need to know anything. You are getting married, for whatever reasons you feel are pertinent, I am a werewolf; my baser half only listens to me when I have it under control."
Hermione took his hand, "Just know… you are amazing and if things were-" she was going to continue, but Remus pulled away.
"But things aren't going to change, and anything you say next is going to be tainted by hypotheticals and longing. I would much prefer to leave it alone, Hermione."
She knew he was right… this would and should never be a topic of conversation. No matter what she thought or felt, it had to remain as it was. They sat there against the bench and people-watched for some time. Remus placed his arm around her shoulder for comfort, and she found that it was enough. This could be enough for her, even if she knew she wanted more.
It wasn't long before Remus had suggested that they do their book shopping. It was beautiful for her to have a companion who enjoyed the written word as much as her. They spent long moments among the tomes in heavy discussion about specific theories and many different concepts that went with them. Never in her life had she felt a pure sense of belonging that she did with Remus.
Hermione bought each and every book that Remus said he had been wanting… a great handful of them that they argued about her paying for him. Ten minutes of her silence passed before he finally caved and she set down her books and paid for the lot. He begrudgingly took the bags and Hermione could see he wasn't able to hide his giddiness from having all sorts of new material.
They weren't aware of eyes on them in the shadows. They were clueless to the danger that skirted them ever so tightly. So beguiled by the volumes and each other that they did not note the dark eyes of another watching and waiting patiently for a bit of information she could finally use.
"Do you think Sirius would like this?" Hermione questioned as pointed at a pocket watch on display in one of the shops.
"A watch, why?" Remus inquired, and she smiled at him.
"A bit of a joke, don't you think? Placing time in your pocket as a form of control, when we truly have none." She replied, and the werewolf chuckled and nodded.
"Give him a card that reads, 'Here's to time,' that would get him rolling. A gift of time from the traveler herself."
Hermione gave him a nod and popped into the shop, leaving the werewolf outside waiting. He glanced around as he waited and noticed a cloaked figure standing nearby. Remus knew this wasn't nearly as odd as the feeling that this stranger was watching them. How long? That made him nervous and clenched his fingers in anxiety. He frowned lightly and turned, but smelling the air to see if he could find a definitive scent to narrow down their spy.
When the woman bounced from the store, she held up a small bag and smirked, "I ended up buying it for him. It has a lovely etched 'S' on the outside of it like it was made for him."
The werewolf pulled her close like he was nuzzling her neck and breathed. "Don't act unusual, we're being followed. We'll slowly make our way back to the Leaky Cauldron and floo back to the Potters."
She feigned a giggle and gave him a nod, "If you insist, I would be more than happy to help you take these home."
They started to stroll toward the inn, but Remus took care to stay away from any of the side streets or alleys. He could see the figure following them through the crowd as he turned to make pleasant conversation with Hermione. It was alarming how deliberate the pursuer was making themselves known.
"Something is wrong… this is a shepherd's task. We are being pushed into a possible ambush." Remus breathed and led her into the Owl Emporium. They gazed outside and saw that the dark figure was joined by another sizeable cloaked stranger.
"Why? What is their purpose… Remus, what if Peter talked about me already? I was sure that Regulus would have taken care of it, but what if he didn't?"
The werewolf swayed his head from side to side. "No, this is something else. They would have tried to separate us and take you if that were the case. Unless, of course, they are worried you are spilling secrets. Then none of us are safe."
"We cannot reach your flat or the Potters' house from another fireplace, correct?" Hermione asked as the strangers grew closer.
"No, we blocked other access."
Hermione sighed and gave him a nod. "Come with me; I have an idea." She tugged him to the back of the shop towards the shop owner, "Can we use your fireplace?"
He gave her a nod and pointed up the stairs. "Sitting room, floo powder is right near there. Might want to hurry, seems a few unsavory characters are about to come in."
They were walking up and out of sight when the owls grew quiet from their chatter. Remus smelt the air, and he paled, pushing Hermione up the steps. They arrived at the sitting room just as the two figures down the stairs were talking to the keeper.
"Where's the girl," A wretched female voice asked, and Hermione squeaked as they got to the fireplace.
"It's Bellatrix…" Hermione whispered, and Remus nodded gravely.
"Go, hurry up and use the fireplace, I will cast a muffling charm and follow." Remus hissed and started flicking his wand.
"You little flea, she asked where the girl was!" Fenrir's voice boomed, and Hermione turned ghostly.
"I said go, that isn't a request, witch!" Remus growled and pushed her forward.
Hermione grabbed a handful of floo powder and gave him a nod in the fireplace. "I will meet you at the Burrow." She declared and flung the dust down.
She called it out and disappeared in green flames, hoping Remus would follow… it was going to be hard enough to explain when she got there.