A/N There are some characters I just can't write. Mrs Weasley is one of them aha. As for Hermione in this chapter, I know she's written as quite bold when it comes to Reece but I like to think that she just needed someone to bring out the less innocent side of her.

Oh and Naruhina1519 I've been debating the idea of him being picked for a while. I'm not sure if he will or not at the moment but thank you for reviewing and to anyone else with plot suggestions, please suggest them;)

Chapter 28

Reece had spent his day with Molly, after the group left for the World Cup they sat and had breakfast. And then later on he and Mrs Weasley cleaned up even though they hadn't had any sleep the previous night. They spoke a lot, and Reece confided in her about his home life. In exchange Mrs Weasley had gone on to tell him that her family was for far from perfect, especially when it came to money related issues. Upon mention Reece had said that if she ever needed help financially he had his own Lestrange vault, but Molly quickly denied the aid as she was clearly too proud to accept it.

Unfortunately for Reece the group at the World Cup had returned early due to attacks and the appearance of the dark mark. He stayed near Molly, in case one of her sons or perhaps daughter made a lunge for him. The living room was tense. That was until a certain outburst.

"He probably knew about the attack before it happened." Ron spat. The attention of everyone suddenly moved to Reece and he couldn't help but feel agitated by Weasley's pathetic targeting.

"Ron don't start." Harry muttered, giving in to Hermione's 'you better do something' glare.

"I'm not starting." Ron grumbled in reply as he slouched even further down in the arm chair he was sitting in. "I was just saying."

"The main thing we need to focus on is that everyone's okay." Arthur said to the group, drawing the attention away from Molly's guest.

"Yeah no thanks to him."

"That's enough Ronald!" Mrs Weasley snapped. "Reece hasn't said an ill word about any of you since he's been here, and all you're doing is giving him grief." Silence flooded the home immediately and it was clear to Reece that no one in their right mind would ever anger the Weasley matriarch. She turned to Reece and added a softer "I'm sorry about this dear" before resuming her rant. "Now if anyone – except for Ron – has a problem please make it clear now?" Molly said sternly, once again planting her hands on her hips. She looked over everyone one by one, and when the twins opened their mouths to say something her glare cut them off.

"Is it possible I can have a private conversation with you Reece?" Everyone's stare quickly moved to Hermione, shocked that she had spoken up during a time of such tension.

"Are you mad?" Ron shouted.

"Of course dear." Mrs Weasley butt in, glaring heatedly at her son as she did so. "You can talk in Ginny's room, I'm sure she won't mind." The youngest Weasley simply shrugged, as her and Reece had not had many issues during her time at Hogwarts. Her opinion of the Slytherin was therefore not as prejudiced as Ron's, Harry's or even Fred and George's. Hermione wasted no time in escaping the tense gathering, and Reece left Molly's side to quickly follow her up the stairs. He followed her into the room, immediately going to the window and spotting Vesi staring inside.

"You know he's nipped Ginny about six times because she wants to shoo him away." Hermione said as she shut the door and cast a silencing charm. The charm was simply to make sure that the twins would not eavesdrop as they did it so frequently. Reece turned back round to face her, smirking at the fact that she'd requested a private talk. As soon as she put her wand away, Hermione threw her arms around his neck. Reece was stunned to say the least, but he returned the embrace by wrapping his arms around her. "What happened?" She whispered, pressing her face against his shoulder when he tried to pull away because of the question.

"He used an unforgivable, because apparently my sunglasses are too muggle and I was being rude." Reece muttered, pulling away from her reluctantly and looking back at an expectant Vesi. "I didn't know you'd be here, I just sent him to you because I trust you to take care of him." Hermione smiled at his words, moving beside him and looking at the beautiful ocean eyes of the dark owl.

"What else is going on Reece?" She questioned softly while opening the window and letting the owl inside. Vesi made a sound of satisfaction, and although he was big he jumped up onto Reece's shoulder. "One day I see you and you're happy, but then the next day you look depressed and tired."

"I faced my boggart." He muttered tensely, stroking the side of Vesi's face instead of focusing on Hermione's concerned expression. "It wasn't a snake, spider or anything else like that. It wasn't as simple as that; nothing ever is with me." As he spoke, Vesi left his shoulder and went back to the window ledge.

"What was it?" She asked, her voice barely above a whisper as she hesitantly reached for his hand. Reece flinched as her hand touched his, but to her surprise he didn't pull away as she interlocked their fingers. "You can tell me, I won't judge you." Then there was a pause.

"Myself." He whispered, turning his head away from her in shame. Why in the world he was letting her see him in such a vulnerable state he had no idea. Keeping her hand in his, Hermione moved round from his side and stood in front of him. "Myself in the future." Reece elaborated as he continued to look at one of Ginny's Quidditch posters. "It- I wasn't expecting that and it just scared the living hell out of me. God I sound so pathetic." Scolding himself was a defence mechanism. Destroying himself even more always had been.

"Stop it you're not being pathetic." Hermione said in shock. "You can't be fine all the time Reece, sometimes you're going to be down." And with those honest blunt words she let go of his hand and pulled him in by the neck again. Reece instantly fell into her touch and when she started massaging the back of his head with her fingertips, all of his established self-control melted away. Just like that he circled his arms around her waist and lightly pressed his face into her neck, taking in the scent of red roses that was lingering on her skin. "When you are I'm always going to be here." Hermione whispered softly as she moved her fingers in a soothing motion. Reece couldn't help but shiver under the electric touch.

"Are you?" His words caught in his throat, and Reece wanted to hex himself for how weak he was coming across. "You're not going to leave me?" She didn't know what possessed her to say it, and he couldn't help but wonder why Hermione was so sure of her answer,

"Never."


Not long after their deep discussion, Ginny had entered the room. Both Reece and Hermione were glad to silently admit that they weren't caught in each other's arms as they had parted only moments before. The youngest Weasley had been hesitant at first, sitting down on her bed and looking across at the two that were now sat on Hermione's bed awkwardly.

"Mums going ballistic downstairs." Ginny told the two while crossing her legs and holding them together with her hands. "Ron made a comment about your family when you came up here and she just exploded." Hermione looked to Reece nervously and noticed him sitting calmly, simply listening to Ginny as if she was telling him about the weather. "Sorry if I interrupted you two." She exclaimed, looking to her window and scowling when she saw the owl once again. Reece glanced at Hermione and noticed that she was supressing a smirk, and when Ginny began walking towards the window he knew why. "Bloody thing won't stop pecking me." She snapped, waving her hand in attempt to chase it away. "Of course it doesn't even go for Hermione, only me." Hermione snorted slightly when Vesi nipped Ginny's hand once again, and Reece couldn't help but snigger along with the brunette as Ginny yelped, jumping back from the window while shaking her hand.

"You'll have to forgive the bird." Reece said once he and Hermione had both been glared at by the fiery redhead. "Vesi, don't you dare peck her again." He said approaching the bird and stroking it while giving Ginny a comforting smile.

"That's your owl?" Reece nodded. "But it got here before you did, didn't it?" Ginny questioned suspiciously, raising both of her eyebrows expectantly at Hermione.

"I didn't know this was your house, and I didn't know Granger was here. But I sent him to her, because I knew she'd at least put up with the appearance of an owl that won't leave. You Gryffindors have good hearts, I'm not denying it, and in all honesty I would put my trust in you two before putting my trust in my friends." Reece explained, a hidden smile on his face as his back was to the two of them, teasing Vesi and occasionally letting the owl nip his fingers playfully. "When you get hit with a spell like that, your mind goes fuzzy and you're impulsive. Your mother understands that. That's why I've not been kicked out."

"Are you gonna go back to your home?"

"Ginny." Hermione scolded quickly, giving her friend a glare that told her to stop asking such personal questions that their guest may have not been ready to answer.

"I have to." Reece sighed heavily, breathing in the cool air. "Hopefully he's learned his lesson and won't curse me again. My father left me with him because he trusted Mr Yaxley to take care of me. Having your kid run away isn't exactly under the category of taking care of; so maybe he'll just smack me across the face again and leave it."

"He hits you?" Hermione gasped in horror, her hands flying to cover her mouth as the words slipped out. Ginny appeared to be equally mortified as she was looking at Hermione with wide eyes. "Reece that isn't right, you can't just let him do something like that." He turned to face the girls, his posture slouched as he rolled his eyes.

"Mr Yaxley works for the ministry, even if I wanted to say something I couldn't." Reece slumped back on the bed beside Hermione, looking down at his hands in absent thought. "Besides what's the point you know, he accepted me when my father got caught and taken to Azkaban. I don't need to cause trouble for the man after he's pretty much raised me; seems I'm becoming an issue anyway. He said I was a burden the other day."

"Reece you are not a burden or anything of the sort." Hermione said equably, attempting to keep the room calm and unlike the room downstairs that Mrs Weasley was currently unleashing hell in. "Don't think of yourself like that, it's not right of him to say that to you."

"Can we stop talking about this now?" He didn't mean it to come out the way that it did, but the situation was making him uncomfortable. Especially as he was discussing it with the two girls that were always targeted by Pansy for being enemies of the Slytherin house. "Sorry." Reece said quickly, leaning against the wall behind the side of the bed. "I'm just… Not used to talking about this stuff. Its personal shit and I just don't like everyone knowing my personal shit you know."

"If mum hears you using that language she'll beat you with her tea towel." Ginny giggled slightly as Hermione glared at her for her insensitivity again.

"Noted." Reece grinned back. "I won't swear around your mum."

"Don't do it around me either." Hermione muttered with obvious distaste in her tone as she spoke. Reece smirked at Ginny while sitting up straight once again.

"Damn Granger, I thought you had a thing for bad boys." He teased, nudging her shoulder with his own as he did so. Ginny snorted back a laugh in an unladylike manner as Hermione shoved his arm playfully, attempting to cover up her slight blush. "Nah I'm just messing, but in all seriousness I wouldn't judge you if you did. To be fair I'd encourage it." This time Ginny did indeed burst out laughing, diving into her pillow to try and recompose herself while Hermione stared at Reece with her jaw open in shock. He smirked at her, softly pushing her chin up with the back of his hand. "Open your mouth any wider and you'll catch flies Granger."

"Oh shut it." Hermione scolded teasingly, turning away to conceal the heat rising up her neck. "I really don't know why you find this so funny Ginny." The youngest Weasley sat up, wiping the tears of laughter from her eyes while giving Hermione a conniving grin.

"It's quite comical really Hermione." Ginny said as the two of them both raised a single brow at her in question. "I mean, no one would ever expect you two to get along so well but seriously you're like the perfect duo. See look at each other now," She said excitedly. "You've got the exact same expression on your faces; it's as if you're both judging me."

"Not gonna lie," Reece smiled awkwardly as he rubbed the back of his neck. "I kind of am." Hermione swatted his arm with the back of her hand and Ginny stifled a laugh. "What?" He questioned incredulously, hiding a smirk as he did so.

"You're so rude." Hermione sighed dramatically while rolling her eyes and giving him a disapproving shake of the head.

"I know." Reece replied simply, much to Ginny's amusement. "People often find it funny though, so it counts as a good quality."

"Hermione's rude as well." Ginny cut in, purposely winding her friend up in hopes that she'd snap. "Says what she wants when she wants. You should hear what she has to say about the girls in her room at Hogwarts."

"Ginny!"

"I've never really thought of her to be the bitchy type." Reece said, ignoring Hermione's hilarious outraged expression. "Rude, well yes I guess she can be. But bitchy?" Ginny smirked as her troublemaking side appeared for show and Reece couldn't help but play along.

"I'm not-"

"Oh you should hear her at breakfast when she's been kept up at night by Parvati and Lavender." The redhead laughed. "Apparently Lavender won't stop talking about you and it's driving her mad; listening to Parvati gushing over the story and Brown exaggerating it. Isn't that right Hermione?"

"Ginny I'm going to hex you if you don't shut up." She replied in a cold tone, crossing her arms and ignoring her embarrassed blush. "Besides, it gets all noisy when Fay Dunbar starts telling the two that you and your friends are horrible." Hermione said to Reece while peeling her glare away from the youngest Weasley. "As soon as Fay decides to butt in bloody Lavender flies off the handle, screeching about how Fay's only jealous because she hasn't kissed anyone before."

"Girl drama." Reece muttered under his breath. "So you're basically saying I've caused this? Because I pulled Brown and all that."

"You actually did?" Ginny yelled in shock. "Oh my god I thought it was just rumours and Lavender trying to become popular or something."

"If it's any constellation she's a shit pull." Hermione sighed at the language as Reece shrugged at Ginny. "It was awful really," He grimaced at the thought of it once again. "The bloody girl had no idea what she was doing and I had to bite her lip to get her to let me pull her properly. You can spread that around if you want by the way, I'm more than happy to back the statements up and knock the cow down a peg."

"Why did you even snog her in the first place?" Hermione questioned, turning up her nose slightly showing her clear dislike for her fellow Gryffindor.

"Don't think less of me now." Reece said quietly. His mood had obviously dampened and wasn't as it had been during the previous banter and teasing of Hermione. "But it was this Slytherin thing you see, a bet sort of thing…