Author's note: A big thank you to the guest who reviews each chapter, if it's the same one. Thank you all for your encouragement! I really appreciate the comments and we are halfway now. It's been finished for a while, since I started posting it and it's exciting to be getting further.
-Maybenotahufflepuff
Hermione was looking at the floor of Dolohov's cabin. Waiting for him to do whatever he was doing before they went to her house. He was checking her wards and it made her nervous. When he came to stand beside her she looked up at him. He wasn't as tall as Rowle or Yaxley but he was much taller than her. Six feet or so of dark brooding Russian wizard.
When she opened the door and headed outside he didn't follow immediately and she stopped. Turning back she looked and waited patiently. When Yaxley and Rowle headed toward her she understood and didn't have to pretend she knew what was going on. When they reached the clearing Dolohov spoke.
"You will apparate in and I will follow." Her brow furrowed. He wouldn't be able to and out of habit she looked to Yaxley who indicated that he didn't have anything to add. She opened her mouth and then closed it again. If that's what he wanted then she wouldn't argue. When he didn't add anything she spun and appeared in her floo room. Alone. Yaxley hadn't been added and Rowle hadn't been sent with her so she called her kitten and waited.
Walking around the lower floor she took the time to appreciate the furniture she had found and tried to imagine pieces on the bare spots of things she might like that weren't as functional. Then she felt it. A zing and when she ran into the floo room Rowle was on the ground. A moment of panic was followed by a feeling of smug satisfaction. He had tried to get the younger wizard to bring him. By her reckoning the younger man hadn't tried to bring him or both should have ended up outside. Not having tested these wards with people, she supposed something else could have happened.
Her coin heated in her pocket. 'Still alive?" The Y indicated it was from Yaxley and clearly about the wizard on her floor. She sincerely hoped they had at least known what would happen. Hopefully they were just messing with her. She had considered more severe consequences.
'Knocked out.' She sent in reply. Even though she wanted to ask what had happened to whomever was holding onto him, she didn't.
Lev was sitting on the big wizard's chest and she felt awkward with him unconscious on her floor. Enervate woke him and she let him come to quietly.
"Little witch. What did you do?" She scoffed. It wasn't her fault.
"One of them tried to ride you in. Not my doing." Deliberately she let herself be a bit crass and scowled at his chuckle instead of a rebuttal of some kind. Watching his face as he sat up she couldn't help a small grin. He looked kind of sleepy and he was a bit mussed.
He noted her flinch and then make herself still. The assault had begun. Moving a bit closer to her in reassurance she allowed it and let her magic spread further around her home.
"Drink? Or something." She offered. It was a bit early for alcohol, not even noon. Maybe she should make lunch. His nod indicated his desire not to stand there and wait even if it didn't tell her what he wanted in the way of sustenance.
The two of them followed Lev into the bright kitchen and she began pulling the makings of potato soup and rolls out. Then started picking through her fridge for sandwich fixings. Soon the counters were covered in food and utensils were working without their hands on them. Once the soup was simmering she put a potions spell on it that forced a contained boil for fifteen minutes. When she had found it her first thought had been pressure cooker and it worked well for that.
Then rolls were mixed and a laundry spell kneaded the dough and then an arithmancy spell divided it equally and they went in the oven. For a moment she stopped and made coffee then began on the varied sandwich options. The two of them worked in silence, excepting the needed words to accomplish their task. Summoning juice and some cans of soda she set the table and then sat at the kitchen island. He joined her and for a while they sat in silence as she tried not to look deranged, flinching at all the hits her wards were taking. With no rune stone matrix they would come down.
"Did you cook at home?" It was rare for a magical to ask about her muggle life, unless it was as if asking about life on the moon.
"Not much. Not at all really. We had a housekeeper when I was growing up and then the last few years a lady came in afternoons and cooked for them. I wasn't home much." Unsure how much he would want to hear about her muggle family.
"When did you learn then?" This was a simple question and it had a simple answer but it was complicated too.
"After the war. When we were on the hunt, I'm sure you know that we moved around. It was in a tent that smelled of cats. It was better than the muggle variants I could buy and no one offered us any help." The last sentence was defensive, he had laughed at the cat comment.
"Hey, you did well. Better than anyone thought. You couldn't cook then though?" She didn't like to speak about this with anyone that wasn't Harry. It had been so hard. Every part of it.
"No." If he was going to make fun she wouldn't talk about it. It hadn't been fun. Very few parts were bright in her memory. Almost the whole year had a grey tinge.
"Why did you after? You didn't need to." So he did want to know. She sighed softly and then couldn't stop the shudder at the beating her magic was taking. Deciding that draining herself to keep him out hadn't been part of the plan, she didn't let herself begin putting her own power into them. Moving to the window she looked out and it reminded her of them assaulting the wards before the final battle. Bright flares of lights were hitting the dome in several places and she marveled that there were only two out there.
"Having spent ten months in a dingy tent with two teenage boys, ungrateful ones, there were all sorts of things I promised myself in that time. One of them was to learn to cook. Harry can do the very basics. He hates it so doesn't try. Ron was totally useless and as far as I know hasn't bothered to learn anything about preparing the food he so enjoys devouring. That way if they were rude or ungrateful they could eat what they could manage and I would make myself something wonderful. I'm not as good as Yaxley by any means but I can do what I want to." There. That was true and she had shared but it wasn't emotional. She wanted to be, more open and free with her feelings but it was hard. Inside she felt more sure by the day that he wasn't going to act on whatever feelings he had. That meant she would have to get over him and do it without pulling a Draco and punishing him for not wanting her as much as she did him.
"They are going to come down." Her voice was tight and he looked a bit concerned. Suddenly she wondered what would happen when they did. The taboo had broken some of these wards but it did something with the energy. Alerted teams of snatchers to the location of the breached wards. Hers were going to do nothing and she began to panic.
Pulling her wand from its holster she began to cast quickly. Randomly deciding what each should do. Every day, all the time really, if she was home then she fed power into the wards and they were stronger than when she had cast them. Much stronger. It would all be lost and she would have less, with more people potentially trying to get in.
"Fuck!" She yelled as they began to go down. Then he found her pattern and it was faster, less breaking them and more taking them apart.
Standing in her kitchen she knew that she hadn't thought this through properly. She should have prepared for them going down. Had a plan so they weren't standing in her undefended home. Surrounded by lunch.
"Little witch." He sounded a bit concerned and she couldn't meet his eyes at the moment but she nodded.
"I'm fine. It's fine." That was all she could say. It would be moments before Dolohov stood before her and she had to answer for her arrogance. It had been arrogant not to plan for someone being able to take them down. She hadn't even timed how long that took.
A knock at her front door. That was the first time she had ever heard it and she opened her eyes. Rowle was a bit closer than she had expected and looked worried. Not just a little either. With a muttered confirmation she was fine, she rounded the island and made for the front door. He would know she was there so she only allowed herself a moment, holding the door knob, before opening it.
Light framed the two men standing there and she was grateful she couldn't see their faces. Moving to the side she gestured them in and Yaxley caught her eye, forcing her to keep contact. His face asked a silent question and she tried to tell him what had happened without words but could see that was beyond her skills. So a small head shake and a shrug would have to do.
They waited for her to lead them toward the smell of food and she limply gestured them to eat and headed back to the front door. Unless she was in public, she couldn't remember the last time she had eaten in the open without wards. Just knowing that she was in her home, without their formidable protections made her feel extremely exposed. Standing in front of the closed door for a moment she was brought out of her escalating cycle of panicked thoughts by her kitten. Who wound himself around her ankles and asked quietly to be picked up. That's what the meow said to her at least.
Holding his warm weight she closed her eyes and forced herself to calm down. There were three wizards here, she wasn't alone. Yes she was exposed but not defenceless. She had her wand. She could do this. Twenty slow breaths later she opened her eyes to the small panes of glass that made up the top of the door. Her head had been tilted back, they were as lovely as she had thought her first day here. Alright. Time to go in there.
"Malyshka." His voice was not close to her but it wasn't far either. She hadn't been far enough from them to feel him leave and then enter her range though. It made her feel a bit better that her magic had not reacted. After that proto panic attack she appreciated the sign that she hadn't totally relapsed.
"I'm okay." He just held her gaze when she raised it. Able to see nothing on his hard face. Though he looked to be seeing everything on hers.
Again she closed her eyes for a long blink. Feeling the creeping lick of shame at her weakness. There was nothing for it. If he knew then he knew. Rationally she could admit that he should know. It was embarrassing. More so in front of him than someone else. Nearly anyone else.
Knowing he would wait her out she held his eyes until she was nearly to him and then let hers fall as she passed him and walked into the kitchen. It was bright and the two men were waiting for them. They hadn't eaten and she felt even worse. Her gesture indicated they begin and after she was subjected to a long look from each of them they began. The small sounds of cutlery, then requests to pass something made her feel a bit calmer too.
When Dolohov sat beside her she knew that it shouldn't make her feel better. To have him here. Any of them. She shouldn't need wards or wizards to feel safe. It did though, a small amount, but she would take it.