A/N: Thank you all so much for your reviews, favorites and follows! I am so glad that you are enjoying this story, as I really enjoyed writing it. You can follow me on tumblr, where my handle is nauticalparamour. I post sneak peeks, story updates and answer questions. This one has such a cliff hanger, I almost can't believe I wrote it.
Please let me know what you thought of chapter twelve and be on the look out for chapter thirteen soon!
Hermione had been feeling rather down about her failure to get Ginny on their side and Antonin was getting sick of her sad sighs and attitude. It wasn't as though it was going to work in the first place. He wanted to shake her and tell her that it wasn't her fault and they would just have to try to figure something else out.
He hated that he had to leave her alone so much during the day and he hoped that she wasn't too bored. She seemed to genuinely enjoy learning, and he'd begun writing out little exercises or arithmancy problems he remembered from school for her to work on. She was quickly breezing through the curriculum and he almost wished that they were still in England so he could arrange for her to take her OWLs.
Frowning, he remembered that she wouldn't be allowed to take the exams because she was a muggleborn.
Antonin had been working all week with Thorfinn Rowle in the fields that they had planted earlier that spring. Autumn had descended and it was time to begin harvesting. It was difficult work, but seeing as they were thought of as the strong men, it was their duty to organize it. At least they had a lot of help.
They had corn, beans, and radishes. So many radishes. Antonin hoped that Malfoy liked radishes because it seemed that it would be all that they were going to be eating for some time. The corn had been good and it could be ground down to make kind of a flour like substance for baking.
Thorfinn was fairly good company, as far as Antonin was concerned. He was generally polite, but not above telling dirty jokes. He didn't really say anything badly about Hermione, which was a positive, considering some of the things that the men said when his back was turned. It was a partnership forged through years of hard work.
Standing up straight and cracking the bones of his back, Antonin took a break, conjuring some water into a cup. Even though the temperature was cooling, it was still hot to him. Looking out over their progress, he hoped that they only had another week of this left. He wondered if Hermione was doing anything to prepare their garden for the winter. She'd recently said another pumpkin was nearly ready to be eaten.
Noticing his partner's goofy smile, Thorfinn stopped his work as well. "What has you smiling over there like a loon?"
Antonin tried not to seem embarrassed at being caught, but he removed the smile from his face, suddenly serious. "Just thinking about my own garden." He said, his voice gruff from misuse. "Hermione is cultivating these things called pumpkins."
The burly blond man seemed just as perplexed by the plant as Antonin was, when he tried to describe what it looked like. He was happy to say that it didn't taste all that bad and he was actually looking forward to having the second one. Not that he would ever admit that to Hermione. He didn't want to think of the teasing he'd receive from her especially when his initial reaction had been one of horror.
Before he could reveal anymore, Antonin was surprised to see Rabastan walking up to them. "Wonder what he wants." Thorfinn said under his breath, though he walked away, knowing that the two friends would want to speak privately.
"Luna and I wanted to invite you and Hermione over for dinner tonight." Rabastan said loudly, perhaps trying to assure Thorfinn that nothing odd was going on. "They seem to get on well, our two little ladies." Rabastan couldn't resist the waggle of his eyebrows.
Antonin nodded, knowing that the real reason was likely to discuss their plan some more. Now that they were getting into specifics, it probably wasn't safe any more to speak at the bar in detail. "We will be there." Though, he rolled at his eyes at the idea of Hermione or Luna being little ladies. Of course, they were both polite and well mannered, but neither of them behaved like a pureblood lady.
"If only we could convince Yaxley to find a wife as lovely as either of ours." Rabastan said proudly. For all of his joking, it was clear as day to Antonin that his friend was entirely smitten with the little blonde fairy that he'd married.
"You know that he won't." Antonin said, this time with a smile on his face. It was something that he was willing to bet on.
Rabastan smirked, knowing that it was true as well. The man had been burned by too many witches in the past, the latest being his wife of eight years. "Well, I can hope that my friend will one day be as happy as I am, but I suppose that's all I can do. See you at seven?"
Antonin ran through the rest of his day before nodding. Seven should be plenty of time to finish here and then clean up. "We will be there." He promised, excited to tell Hermione. Hopefully if they had a new plan for Lucius, she would stop moping about.
If it was possible, it seemed as though Hermione felt her failure more acutely while they were walking to Rabastan and Luna's home. No one but Antonin had known of her plan to discuss things with Ginny, so she didn't look forward to letting them know that things hadn't gone as expected.
Still, it gave her a new sense of purpose as she walked beside Antonin towards her friend's house. She promised herself that she would make a significant contribution, and promised that she would free herself from the regime that had stolen her from her parents when she was just a girl. If Antonin recognized the stubborn set of her jaw, he didn't mention it.
Rabastan and Luna's home took the form of a small cheery cottage, standing one storey tall. Hermione could already see bits of Luna's odd personality coming out in the form of the plants that decorated their window boxes. A small chimney on the side of the building puffed out thick smoke, making Hermione worry that everything was working correctly.
When they got inside and were thoroughly greeted by their hosts, Hermione realized that the unusual smoke was caused from the number of herbs that Luna had added to the fire. "It helps keep the nargles away." Luna said succinctly, when she noticed Hermione's wandering eyes. "And if we are going to do any planning this evening, we won't want to be disturbed."
Yaxley was already there, with a pink flush on his cheeks. "We were just discussing the first new child born here in our colony."
Hermione hadn't realized that Arthur would have been the first child born from the filles, and therefore the first child born in the colony. It still didn't explain why Reuben would look quite so uncomfortable. "Do you not like children, Reuben?" She asked, taking a seat next to him on the couch.
Reuben's blush only darkened if possible. "No, it's not the children that I mind. Mrs. Lestrange was just describing to me the process women must go through in order to get the child."
She giggled at that. How had he gone through so much life and didn't know about birth? "I understand that it is a very rewarding process. You get something so wonderful at the end, all the pain melts away." Antonin came and sat on the other side of her, his long legs looking entirely out of place on such a small piece of furniture.
The blond man just rounded the conversation back on her, to Hermione's embarrassment. "And what about you, Mrs. Dolohov? Are you eager for a child of your own?"
Hermione looked down in her lap, a barrage of emotions welling up inside of her. Of course, she'd always wanted to be a mother, but for so long she thought it would never be a possibility. And now, though she was growing...fond of Antonin, it wasn't something they'd ever talked about. In fact, she'd still been under the impression that they were going to go their separate ways at the end of their first year of marriage.
Had he told his friends about their little arrangement? She couldn't imagine that he had. Further, she didn't want to embarrass him by bringing it up or trapping him with a child. She had no idea if he wanted a child of his own, and it would be wrong to make a pronouncement either way without discussing it first.
In any case, it wasn't as though it would be happening any time soon. You still had to have sex in order to have a child, and they hadn't engaged since their wedding night. No matter how much Hermione had wanted to again. Heated thoughts and dreams of passion haunted her at the most inopportune moments, and she was never really sure how to bring it up with him. She didn't want to ruin their fragile and fledgling relationship by asking for more than he was willing to give.
When she realized she hadn't answered yet, and Antonin watching her intensely, she was forced to answer. "Oh, I haven't really thought about it yet."
Thankfully, Hermione was saved from further questioning this time by a loud bang from in the kitchen. The two men jumped up, wands drawn, only to see Rabastan holding a large bottle. "Oh, put those away! It's just a little champagne from France! To celebrate!" The lithe man poured out five glasses of equal measure before handing them out.
"What are we celebrating?" Yaxley asked, the only one willing to admit that he was confused by the festivities.
"To the death of my brother!" Rabastan said, raising his glass in a toast, before swallowing all of the sparkling liquid in one gulp.
"Rodolphus is dead?" Antonin asked, his thick eyebrows knitted together in confusion. Had the colony's saboteur struck again?
"As good as!" Rabastan said cheerfully. "Come, sit down so that I can explain." Hermione took her seat while Luna placed a large plate on the table. To her immense joy, it turned out to be pork roast, if her sense of smell could be relied upon. She was thankful. Venison was good, but after a while one got sick of eating the same thing over and over.
"I found out that Rodolphus and Alecto Carrow are having an affair." Rabastan said, rubbing his hands together like a gleeful child. "They meet every Tuesday evening."
"Who is Alecto Carrow?" Hermione asked, unsure of who all the key players in the colony were.
"She was the only female Death Eater sent over here. She's meant to get married to Walden McNair, but they've been betrothed for nearly a decade, so who knows if they are going to follow through." Rabastan said, his excitement bubbling up, causing him to speak almost too fast for Hermione to understand.
"That's...unfortunate, I suppose." Hermione settled on, unsure of how affairs were viewed in the Death Eater circles. "But how does that help us with the Rodolphus issue."
"Because the Lestrange vows have very strict fidelity charms. The breaking of which, can cause death." Luna said in that dreamy way of hers. Hermione was surprised to learn that there were any such charms to ensure fidelity. Hermione wondered if the Dolohovs had anything similar, and she tried not to feel hurt that he hadn't wanted to include her in his life in such a way. It was as though she wasn't his real wife.
"They obviously don't have great geographic range or he'd already be dead." Rabastan said, gleefully. "But no one else knows that."
"So we just have to catch them in the act, off him and keep her quiet?" Yaxley asked, suspicious that it would be so easy.
"No, I will catch him in the act, and I will kill him and her, so she isn't an issue." Rabastan said with vicious glee. Hermione was a bit disturbed that hatred for his brother would extend so deeply.
Antonin scratched at the beard on his face, musing silently. "That would definitely work. You have to be sure you aren't the one to find them, though, or if you do, that you aren't alone. As his heir, you have the most to gain from his death."
Hermione couldn't restrain her curiosity any further. "Are you sure you will be able to do it? He is your brother after all."
Rabastan gave her a predatory grin, showing off sharp white teeth. "I have dreamed of this moment since I was thirteen. All it will be is a little whispered spell and he'll finally be gone."
She tried to hide her gasp, and she felt Antonin squeeze her leg under the table. She was reminded just how awful magic could be if used with the wrong intentions. It felt like a weight in her stomach to realize how easy it would be to kill someone. She'd read about all the Unforgivables, after all.
Rabastan, perhaps unaware of her mood, topped off everyone's glasses with the remaining champagne before thrusting his arm up in the air. "Cheers!"
The days to the planned killing of Rodolphus weighed heavily on Hermione's mind, and she found herself distracted more often than not while she was working around the cabin. She knew that Rodolphus was likely a terrible man, it still felt serious. Like it would change everything in the little microcosm they lived in.
One day, while she was wandering around their plot of land, Hermione decided to follow the tree line towards town for a ways. Antonin had recently begun drawing her a map of how things were set up, so she could find her way around. He preferred if she would wait for him if she had to go somewhere, but he also recognized that he couldn't keep her cooped up all the time. And, after much pleading, he had finally agreed to try to teach her to apparate herself.
The forest always made her hair stand on end. There were always odd sounds and the wind rustling through the drying leaves sounded like a death rattle. Still, following the tiny clear cut path that connected her home to the village was the best way to keep a course.
Looking ahead through the trees, though, she finally noticed a hulking figure walking away from her. She doubled her steps, wondering just who it was who would be so far from the village. Squinting her eyes, she realized that it was Fenrir Greyback. Sucking in her gasp of surprise, Hermione didn't even think twice about following him.
After all, the only reason that they were able to deal with Rodolphus was because they learned his habits. Surely, if she followed him, she would be able to learn something, maybe even get something that they could use against him.
She followed many paces behind him, wanting to make sure that no twig snap or sudden movement would give her away, and Fenrir seemed blissfully unaware of his follower. She cursed her long dress; the back and forth swishing of the fabric seemed deafening compared to the sounds of the forest. When he came to the confluence of several paths, he stopped for a moment, before choosing the one to the south.
Hermione didn't know where that went, but decided to follow anyway, confident that she would remember how to get back. To her dismay, the trees seemed to be thicker, branches reaching out like arms to hold her back, until she was positive that this wasn't even a path any more. Her heart was beating fast and wild, and she was sure that someone would be able to hear it if they got close enough.
She watched as Fenrir's form was lost behind a bend and she hastened to follow him, so as not to loose her quarry. To her utter dismay, he was nowhere to be found when she got past the bend.
Stopping, Hermione looked around, trying to calm her nerves. She had no idea where she was, though, and panic was setting in. Letting out a panicked whine, she felt little tears prickle at her eyes. How could she have been so stupid?
Without warning, two broad arms pulled her against a firm body. "Were you spying on me, little kitten?" A throaty voice whispered into her ear, her body violently shivering at the unpleasant sensation. He laughed, but turned her around to face him.
Seeing the very man she was trying to follow, Hermione shook her head from side to side, too frightened to speak. Her wand was held tightly in her grasp, but she was certain that she wouldn't be able to even speak the words to stun him.
His blue eyes looked over her body and he caught his lower lip in between savage teeth, as though he was barely able to contain himself. "Don't lie, kitten. Why do you think I led you this far away from the village?" He asked, before dipping his head to whisper in her ear again. "I could smell your delicious scent the whole time. Here's a hint, kitten. Don't walk down wind from a predator."
She shuddered, her mind spinning with all the possibilities. What was he going to do with her now that he got her alone? How had she been so stupid to fall right into his trap. Of course he was intelligent enough of a hunter to realize that she was following him. And now, she was all alone and no one knew where she was. If she ran, she was positive that she would only become more turned around. "Please, don't hurt me." She choked out, not wanting to bargain with him, but seeing little other option.
"Dolohov should take better care of his things." Greyback said, his head cocked to the side. He reached out and pulled one of her errant curls. "I did warn him after all."