Hermione felt the glow in her muscles. her breathing was a bit faster than usual and her heart was beating a bit fast to. The lights came on in the room and the lights on the equipment blinked out. That had been the most fun hour she had enjoyed in a long time. Sternly she told herself that wishing it wasn't over didn't help, be grateful for the time she had. Rowle came up behind her and spun her around, she laughed and batted at his hands goodnaturedly.
"That was fun little witch." His face was pink from the exertion of their game and he had a lazy looking grin. Unable to help herself she returned the expression.
"You'll do it again? Maybe some other things too?" Hermione knew she looked like an eager school girl but couldn't help it. He had taken it just the right amount of serious. Hunting her and hiding when they agreed to switch places. Using all the camouflage and props they could. He could be quiet, which was surprising for someone of his size. The amount of adrenaline as she rolled away from his range of fire had been just right.
"Yea. People play in teams too right? Are there bigger rooms?" He was looking around the room now that it was lit and they could see the foam blocks and pulleys for the ropes.
"Groups of all sizes. Some are much bigger than this one." They stripped the gear off and were heading out of the building when she spoke again.
"Do you have plans for tonight? Want to grab dinner with me then? There's a great taco place down the street from here." For a moment he just looked at her and she stopped walking. Waiting for a response. Finally he nodded and they started walking again.
When they entered the little restaurant, she could tell he didn't expect the tiny tables or the number of people in the small space. She just smiled and asked what he wanted.
"I don't know what a taco is but I like most things." He offered.
"Spicy food?" A shrug in response.
"I'll get some of each then. Grab us a table?" He headed off to an empty one and she scanned the list of specials. Ordering and waiting took a few minutes and her tray was full when she carefully placed it on the table.
"This is tacos and beer. It's a great combination. It's alcoholic but pretty light." He looked a bit overwhelmed so she explained a bit about the fillings and the concept of the Mexican food. Ten minutes and two tacos in she could tell that he liked it. Relieved she ate the rest of hers with more enjoyment. He watched the people ordering and paying with interest. Pulling a ten pound note from her wallet, she handed it to him.
"Go tell her you want two pints." She encouraged and his grin was payment enough. He swaggered back to her with both beer and change.
"Did you tip her? No biggie. Usually you give something to the server. Fifteen percent or so. We can just leave it on the table." They were debating who might want to come back here with them when Hermione felt a brush of magic against hers and tried not to react. She failed, as Rowle stiffened slightly and then less than a minute later a shadow fell over the table. Both of their hands suddenly had wands in them, under the table.
"There you are. Took me awhile to find you." Hermione closed her eyes for a moment and then opened them. Looking up she met the amethyst eyes of Rueban Yaxley.
"I didn't know you were looking for me. Usually we just snatch each other off the street." She replied dryly. Rowle looked all too interested in this meeting.
"I didn't think that was a good idea. You've got company today." The men exchanged nods and then both looked at her. She tilted her head in question.
"He bids you come." The tone was dry and Hermione froze in her seat. Why would he want to see her. She looked at Rowle, who shrugged. He didn't know either.
Feeling defeated, she stood. Most of the good feelings from this afternoon and the meal draining away.
The three of them walked out of the restaurant, garnering some interest. Hermione didn't blame them. Yaxley was older but both men exuded a bit of danger. Hermione felt sandwiched between them and dropped back a bit. Both stopped and she raised a brow. They didn't reply. So she was baggage then. With a huff she followed Yaxley's lead and entered a building that must be abandoned. She wondered if he had been investigating muggle London in the past two years.
"Same place?" She asked the older wizard and he nodded at her. The glance he gave her was unreadable to her but Rowle seemed to understand something and his gaze flicked to her. Seeming a bit worried. She nodded and spun into blackness.
Appearing in the same clearing Rowle had brought her two four days ago she took a step then stopped. Her wand was in her hand but it had been held casually. Now it was in front of her and she immediately started casting wards and detection spells. Something was there. She could feel it as her magic tried to scout her surroundings. Then she relaxed a bit. It was completely encircling her. Two charms and she knew it was a layered ward. Another two and she began to take it down. It wasn't particularly hard but it was an exacting one. Just before it released she paused. Why had she appeared and they hadn't followed. Why such a simple ward if it was to trap her. None of this made sense.
Waiting for something to happen, she slowly finished the last enchantment and then had less than a second to throw herself to the ground. Beams of magic shot at her from what she thought was six directions and she came up in a crouch. There were seven and they seemed stationary. It probably wasn't Wizards, but magics set up to react to a series of events. She blocked them with shields that she directed toward the beams, giving her some room. Knowing those were draining her she got to finding the magic controlling them. That found she dismantled the spells holding them and then the ward that was powering them. They collapsed and she stood. Waiting. Nothing.
Quickly she amplified her hearing and then scanned her surroundings. Silence. Not even wildlife. So she was enclosed somehow. She should never have come. What was she, today's entertainment? As her anger rose she knew she had to be careful. For a moment she tried to remember how loose and relaxed she had felt half an hour ago. Not so much that she got distracted by his grin again. Or the way his shirt hugged his shoulders. That made her grin a bit and she did feel better. This was hardly the worst thing that could have happened. It was good that Yaxley and him were back together anyways. He would like laser tag, she was sure. Maybe she could get one of the sets you could use anywhere. These woods would be good for it, or Rabastan's.
"Invite him to play laser tag next time Rowle." She called out. Two steps up the path. Nothing. He was watching and she refused to cower so just kept going with all of her awareness searching for something, it could be anything, moving out there. A minute or so went by and she began to relax her shoulders, even knowing that if he could see her, he would notice. Bloody Slytherins were so observant. Why did she spend so much time.
The thought was cut off by the feeling of compression that pushed her magic suddenly. Thirty feet her mind computed even as she began casting, free hand guiding the magic already around her. Had he not taught her to feed her magic out generally she wouldn't have felt this until it had her, it was her most used skill. It was how she knew who was there and how she knew who Yaxley was the first time she had seen him after the war. In that moment she had recognized the voice and taken him to the field. Then her mind correlated the person with her instincts and she relaxed. It had surprised him then, she could tell. She wondered if he was surprised now.
Like two overlapping circles being pulled apart it thinned in an almond shape as she finished her defences. Then she began deciphering what they were and their make up. She didn't have time to actually understand their construction or intent, merely their structure. That's what she needed in order to break them. Rigid layers. Four on each one. For a moment she contemplated just blasting them apart. It would work but she was sure there would be an unpleasant consequence. He didn't like working that way, neither did she. So she began weakening the outer rings on each one. Forcing the two in the middle to bear most of the force against her defences. Next she began delivering needle like bolts of power all in one place. Weakening it.
Suddenly she considered what would happen when they snapped and threw herself to the ground again just as they broke. As she fell she began casting more and different protections against whatever the energy would be released as. Unchanged it would be heat but he could make it do whatever he wanted via secondary channeling. This was where she wanted to use spacing. In between the layers of the wards. In her mind it was like a string of lights inside of another. Each bulb holding the smaller bulb and the cords strung together. Hidden in the main power supply for the visible bigger lights. Neither Luna nor Harry had understood but she couldn't let it go. For about fifteen seconds she waited and then watched the land around her become an ice sculpture of what had been there. Reminded of her failure she began taking down what she had cast against the previous challenge and looking around.
There it was. Exactly the same sculpture. Of course she remembered everything about the last time she had stood before this obelisk of ice. Unwilling to assume the steps were the same, she began peeling away the layers. Expecting something different. When she got to the last one she anchored stabilization wards and cast several temperature wards, enclosing herself in them. It was freezing but she was unwilling to contaminate this area with any warming magics of her own. She felt herself tighten and begin to shiver. Cold and anticipation. He knew she couldn't do the astrological calculations, it was the middle of the moon cycle. So she used the position of the sun as reference and moved closer. Two spells and she had the starting point. Then the most precise cutting charm with a stabilization alteration she had made to it for this moment, last time. Making the angle appear like a laser level, wandlessly, she used her wand to slice the ice. Carefully dragging the line against the light marking the angle.
The top portion of the ice sculpture began to slide off and she quickly cast a levitation charm on it. She hadn't gotten this far last time and didn't know if she would need it. Slowly she approached closer, having been far enough away to judge the angle. Nothing. It was hollow. Frowning she peered inside and could see the frozen ground. Even as she puzzled out the situation and was freezing, her appreciation of the magic that made this was prevalent in her thoughts.
Glad she had kept the top intact as it looked like the solution she moved it so it's cut side was at her eye level and cast lumos. There it was. Like a hollow in the ice, with a frozen number in it. 433.67. All the magic she cast showed no further use for the ice. She hadn't thought there would be but it paid to be careful, as she had just seen. All at once she realized what she had done and couldn't help the grin. She let the charms holding the temperature go and began walking again. Unable to help herself she stopped and opened her bag, then wallet. There was a bobby pin that she pulled out and with two wand waves and a password it became a piece of paper covered in numbers and annotations.
She summoned a quill without her wand or a word and quickly began to scribble against a tree. It was still frozen so that worked quite well. The answer was 7. Such a small number. As she folded the paper and stowed it away again she began to wonder why she was here. As usual she had gotten caught up in the hunt for an answer and the intricacies of the magic. Finally deciding she was cold enough and had completed the challenge, warming charms were cast on her feet and hands. Immediately wards came up around her and she knew they were in response to her attempt to be comfortable. Growling under her breath she blasted them which caused the temperature to drop further. It took all of her control to walk to the front door of the cabin. A minute of trying told her that this door would not open unless he did it. Maybe if she was willing to spend a day on it or something. She wasn't.
Two minutes, that's how long she would wait. Enough was enough. The consequences of warming herself were too much work after all that magic use in such a short time. Starting to count the seconds. 1,2,3,4,5.