"Oh, Gareth, I've missed you," cried Hermione, throwing herself on Scabior as soon as he entered his glassed-in retreat, and kissing him wildly.

He was surprised by the ferocity of her greeting and the fact that she'd already taken off all of her clothes. He had thought after their time apart that she'd be timid and had actually looked forward to gently easing her into comfort and intimacy. "Hermione," he said passionately, as she pulled off his shirt and went to work on his pants, "I've missed you. I've wanted you bad."

"That's what I'm here for," she said with unexpected brazenness, as she led him to the over-sized bed and lay on top of him. More surprises awaited him, as she used her mouth, hands and body to quickly bring him to arousal and took her place on the seat of power. "Oops, Prophylla," she said as an afterthought, explaining to him as she rapidly moved on him that she and Ron didn't use contraception.

Gareth heard Hagrid lumbering toward his copse of trees on a routine forest inspection. Hermione didn't notice, as her pleasure mounted to its highest point. Gareth covered her mouth with his own, just before she could cry out and alert her oldest friend at Hogwarts to what she was currently doing.

"I've missed holding you," he said, lying next to her. "Nothing is as soft or sweet to hold as you are."

"I've missed your…power and the way you feel…all over me," Hermione said breathily, burying her face on the side of his neck then lightly touching it with the tip of her tongue.

"But didn't you just return from a second honeymoon with your husband? Was it that bad?"

"Oh, no," Hermione said. "It was wonderful, especially compared to the first. We're both much better lovers now than we were then. Ron liked having sex places muggles couldn't."

Scabior smirked. "Yeah, that's always fun."

Hermione nodded and looked into his eyes. "Do you know what's even more fun? We used the invisibility cloak for sex surrounded by people and they didn't know." She giggled, her brown eyes dancing.

He smiled at her excitement. "Did you do a muting charm on each other or muffliato for the people around you?"

"Usually the muting charm," she said, bored with the details, "except when we were in a castle that was supposed to be haunted. We made as much noise as we wanted and the tourists thought we were really randy ghosts."

This time he laughed with her. 'Sounds like you got the most out of that cloak."

Hermione looked more mischievous. She was quiet as she shifted position then said, "Sometimes I let the cloak fall off of me. If I saw a really attractive man…I watched his face go from shock to excited and then disappointed when I disappeared."

Gareth was surprised, not so much about dropping the cloak, (all wizards loved to tease muggles) but that she engaged in flirting with other men while making love to her husband. "Did Ron know about that?"

"No, Ron's far too conservative for that," she answered, grazing Scabior's chest with the tip of a fingernail.

He chuckled, thinking that two minutes ago, he would have thought Hermione was too conservative for that. "So you just suddenly appeared lying down in front of people?"

"I told you only when there was a really attractive man and if he was more or less alone. But sometimes I was on top and let someone see me from the side. And once Ron had me against the wall so the two men there saw half of me, with my leg up on his hips that they couldn't see. They came toward me," she said with an excited giggle, "so I had to duck back under quickly that time." Her breath increased as she told the story. She wiggled uncontrollably. She was aroused.

Gareth raised his eyebrows. "Are you pleased to know that you can shock me?"

She sighed. "If felt…good…to know I could make a man react like that, like he was attracted to me."

He looked at her questioningly. "Aren't you used to that?"

"No," she said, shaking her head emphatically, "I've never been attractive to many people. At school my hair was really impossible and I had buck teeth and more limbs than body. No one ever wanted me but Ron and I guess that was more because we were with each other so much. And…you've told me your interest in me is because I make you feel better about yourself".

Scabior looked disbelievingly at her. How could she not know? "I can assure you, Hermione, brightest witch of all, that there were other people at school who thought about you and, as you got older and grew into your body, wanted you. You just scared the hell out of them."

She smiled briefly, not convinced. "Are you hungry," he asked.

She gave a small nod. He crooked a finger and a lap table from the other side of the room flew to them. She was impressed again by all he could do without a wand.

"That's nothing," he said, enjoying showing off for her. "Wait 'til you see this." He sat up on his knees and clapped his hands over the table, reminiscent of Dumbledore, with a better chest. And, like Dumbledore, it resulted in food appearing on the table.

"How did you do that?" Hermione asked. She was well aware of the difficulties in procuring food from her months in hiding with Ron and Harry and the restrictions of Gamp's Law of Transfiguration.

"The same way Dumbledore did it," Gareth explained. "The kitchen staff responds to anyone from school. You know when he used to say 'help will always be given at Hogwarts to those who ask for it'? This was one of the ways help would be given. He just didn't tell anyone," he said, the old resentment returning to his voice.

Hermione pretended not to hear the edge in his tone and dug into the delicacies before her. Scabior watched her then, with a pass of his hand, the food and table disappeared.

He lay her back on the pillows and leaned over her. "I want to be very clear about this," he said softly, touching her face. "I love being with you, not because it makes me feel noble, but because you're one of the most desirable women I've ever seen. And that opinion is shared by the majority of the population. Do you understand?"

She nodded happily, finally convinced.