Author's note: This early update is for gpmum. This story is finished so it will keep rolling Compromises is 65 chapters and nearly finished I think. No worries and thank you for your review on the other story.

Is it too much for you, the readers? To have multiple stories with the same characters updating? I hadn't thought of that. They all feel individual to me. Let me know :)

JKR is the best for creating the world we play in.

-Maybenotahufflepuff

As Rueban finished the last of his sandwich he glanced at the witch again. Not so she would notice but because he was waiting for something. Some confirmation of what had happened. Having expected her to be a bit proud of how long it took for them to knock on her door, the stricken look on her face when she opened it was an unpleasant surprise. Then whatever she had meant by that slightly pleading and apologetic look was more than he could read in that short time.

When she walked away from them in the kitchen he immediately knew that something was wrong. The witch and been in uncomfortable situations with each of them before and a quick exchange of glances told him that this was a wholly new situation. Antonin had signalled them stay and his name for her was followed by a very short mumble and then silence. Their eventual return was anticlimactic and it was clear that his friend didn't understand any better than when he followed her out.

The most likely thing was also very troubling. Hermione had shown remarkable tolerance for them all. Antonin especially. Perhaps it hadn't been built on a firm enough foundation. If she was scared of him or had flashbacks as he attacked the wards then they could have a real problem. It had been going well, maybe too well. They had spoken of it just the night before.

They were in the woods and the only sound was the crunch of leaves and small twigs under their booted feet. They had been sitting comfortably in front of the fire when Antonin had begun to shift and Rueban knew that he wanted to make a round of the ward stones. This whole apprentice challenge had stirred up some interesting reactions all around.

At first he had been sure that the witch would lift her nose in that stubborn way and they would begin planning their triumph. Antonin had burst that bubble with his assertion of their inability to succeed. It had been an abrupt let down. It also explained his resistance to the idea. Of course the witch had reacted just as he had thought.

She would bow down to no one. Roll over for no one. Definitely not some boys club. It was all clear though, her acceptance of the situation. It hadn't taken very long for the underlying issues to become more important for her than the challenge. Antonin's opinion and her lack of suitability were both detractions from the upcoming events.

It was bothering the normally unruffled wizard, other than him he didn't think anyone would notice. The agitation was there and even magically he was a bit erratic. Even Rueban could feel the pressure of his magic before dinner the night before. What she could feel, he could only guess. What exactly was bothering him was not as obvious. There were many options. Before he had offered the scroll this had come up. He had brought it up. Wondering what Antonin thought of not getting to participate in the rites. The dismissal had seemed genuine. He just waved it off and then they moved on. Now that it was happening maybe he felt differently. Knowing that pushing now would only cause further delay in his accepting and then dealing with the problem, he waited.

"Why does she do that?" The waiting had paid off but the voice was lower than usual, that was an indication of his uncertainty. It also didn't explain nearly enough to know exactly what he meant. Three things came to mind quickly. He took a stab.

"Defer to you?" The grunt told him that he was close. Rueban thought that over and flipped up his jacket collar against the wind.

"I think there are several reasons. All apply here. Respect, uncertainty, your titular relationship, and gratitude." He was thinking through what he knew and assessing her responses. She was like no one he had ever known, or at least noticed. Perhaps others had rigid guidelines only they understood.

"That is all true. Not what I meant though. Trust." The last word was growled and Rueban didn't flinch in surprise outwardly but he did mentally. He didn't have an answer. She did though. When she had first asked him to scan her, both men had stilled and their silent decision had been to try. It was her suggestion and he had even offered the carrot of dueling to her a week prior. Neither thought it would work. Their history was so fractured that the level of trust needed was nearly impossible. Willpower alone wouldn't work. It hadn't for Antonin. They had been right but he could see from his expression and then their discussion later that it had been far better than either had expected. A few ripples didn't explain much to him actually but the contrast to Antonin's own experiences were stark.

"It's refreshing, whatever the reason for her open acceptance." His voice was lower than his usual and his friends silence beside him was agreement enough.

Maybe they had spoken to soon. It had been less than three months and this seemed to cement the tenuous nature of their relationship. Even with thorfinn and him here she and reacted thus. Honestly, he couldn't blame her. They had all hunted the witch, and not for fun. Perhaps their interactions didn't rate even top five for her but they were there. Thorfinn was right to appreciate her open demeanor and smiles. This was nearly unbearable and all three of them were uncomfortable with her uncharacteristic behaviour.

"Home then?" Rueban decided that this was enough.

At this her eyes flew to his and then a nod and before he could hold her gaze or read her she stood. Wand already in hand she began the magic to clean up. They waited and when she stood in the kitchen, head bowed, a rush of silent communication took place. Thorfinn wanted to go to her and they refused. They weren't in a position to be able to hide from whatever exactly this was. It would have to be dealt with. She seemed brittle right now, as if to much softness would crack her shell.

When her soft voice began casting, it was surprising how much she did non verbally, they all looked up and in a moment they realised she was putting wards up. Each felt the slight tug as their magics were added to them and again eyes met. When she had finished he looked to Antonin who had something in his eyes that was a bit calculating. Taking his lead they waited. It had been at least three or four minutes of casting wards continually. That was an impressive amount of protections though not as strong as when they arrived here.

As they filed out of the front door she made sure to be behind them instead of abreast of the group. He kept Thorfinn from falling back to walk with her, a glance warned him not to. Her eyes were down when he watched her spin away. Knowing they would all be sent to random points just outside the wards, he followed quickly. Making his way down the trails he had appeared on took a few minutes, they had beaten him there. Not Thorfinn but master and apprentice.

Antonin was standing in front of the fireplace and watching her, she was sitting in her usual place on the corner. Deliberately not meeting his eyes. Yaxley propped himself to the left of the door and opened it quietly when he heard the last member of their group reach it. Another glance signalled silence and to remain away from them. Then he waited, as she was, for the dark man to speak.

"Malyshka." Her eyes didn't come up as they usually would and he let himself frown.

"Da." Her posture straightened slightly and she was paying attention. Just not actually meeting his eyes. Maybe they were on his chest, he could see the muscles tighten around his friends jaw and knew that he was getting frustrated.

"Ob yasnyat'." The demand for her to explain snapped her eyes up and all of the emotions he had seen in front of her door were still there. Hidden better as she was facing her mentor but basically visible regardless of her wishes.

"Izvini, ya podvel tebya." Both older men's brows furrowed slightly. Her apology for letting him down was unexpected and Yaxley could only meet Antonin's gaze with a blank look of incomprehension. It did sound sincere however. Whatever she thought she had done, warranted this reaction, in her opinion. Silence. Antonin met his eyes again and he let himself form a question carefully before speaking.

"Hermione. Neither of us know what you are apologizing for." Her baffled look in response would usually have made him chuckle. She had expected them all to know what was going on. Even Thorfinn got a glance to check and see if he understood.

"My arrogance, among other things." He relaxed a bit but knew that they would have to speak of the immediate assumptions Antonin and him had made. Their thoughts meant it needed discussion. The trust needed to go two ways, three if he was included. Which he liked to be.

"It took twenty nine minutes for him to break the wards. I agree that arrogance is dangerous, that seems a bit of justifiable pride instead. What exactly do you think happened?" Antonin made a sound in protest of his flattery but didn't refute his statement. He agreed and she looked to him with clear disbelief. Of course he didn't give her any indication of his thoughts at all but she was becoming more used to his ways.

"I had no plans for them coming down. Until he was well on the way it didn't even cross my mind what would happen to all the energy I had poured into them. Anything could have happened! Rowle was in there with me and could have been hurt. What would have happened if it hadn't been him? No one else would have done whatever he did to make sure the energy of all those wards just didn't release as heat. They could have made it do anything and I would have given them the weapon." She didn't raise her voice but her self recrimination was clear. The look she gave her mentor demanded his assessment of her conclusions. Antonin reluctantly agreed he could see, and eventually did give her a slight tilt. He could see the blow that it was to her.

"I am not diminishing your concerns, merely moving on for a moment before we discuss what we have all learned today. What happened to you, when we came in. I am not deliberately bringing this up to make you uncomfortable. It is important, and more so relevant." He made his voice a bit firmer but not hard. She didn't need that.

As expected her eyes went down but he was surprised when they came up barely a moment later. All three of them received eye contact before hers moved back to him.

"Shame. Panic." A Gryffindor indeed. Rueban had felt those emotions and was sure the other two had but he wasn't sure if any of them had spoken the words about themselves, ever. It made going on harder. He felt a bit like he was stripping her skin, in public. It couldn't stand like this. Times were not as dangerous perhaps but he wasn't willing to have the bonds they were building crack without an attempt at rectifying it.

It had only been a few months but this was good for all of them. Certainly for the three males. She provided a sense of normalcy and continuity for three who had thought their lives were over. Rueban has been free but alone and removed from the world he had come from. A ghost, that only she could see. Usually he tried not to be so fanciful but it was that profound. Antonin was better too. Better than at any point during his last bout of freedom from the frigid island. The witch brought out other things and gave him a focus. Had Rueban known that an apprentice would ground his friend like this. Keep his busy mind engaged and in a constructive manner, he would have been searching one out for decades now. He wouldn't have found it though. They had to wait for her to grow up. Maybe even had to go through those years to get here. It left them damaged though. No one spoke openly about it, or not completely but it was always there. Their habits and allowances for behaviours they couldn't always control.

"The shame was for your oversight or the panic?" Rowle flinched slightly. He agreed, this was painful.

"Svyazano." Connected, entangled, associated. This was another of his concepts. It didn't help now though. Finally he moved his focus from the witch to his friend. The roil was in his eyes, his brain and emotions were all rapidly firing. Her use of Russian hadn't helped the situation. It was difficult for him to feel towards her at all. Or acknowledge it anyway, not even they could help their changing emotions, only hide them. He watched her eyes flick to Antonin's face and she looked stricken before she gathered herself. His relief that she was going to speak was tempered by what she might say.

Scenebreak replace and remove.

When she moved her eyes from Yaxley to Dolohov she couldn't help but recoil a bit at the look in his eyes. Those were the calculating ones from her nightmares, or close enough that she noticed. This day was just getting worse. As if her near breakdown wasn't bad enough, now she was sitting here having to speak about it. Taking a few breath she looked down, it would be easier to speak if she wasn't looking at them. Any of them.

"It was the wards coming down. Both things. That I wasn't prepared and had not lived up to anyone's expectations was bad enough but the danger or risk or whatever you want to call it was worse. I did send as much into the land as I could safely and some into the ley line near the oak in the front. Then." She paused and looked up. He had the right to know when she didn't function normally. Her issues could endanger someone even. It was hard though. So hard. Harry knew and had some similar issues. Different but equally as understandable to her as hers were to him.

Luna knew but they had never talked about the things each girl did to feel safe. They were many and varied. Both tried to just keep on and not panic. It was easier now than before. Many nights had been interrupted by one of them and she had done the same.

Rarely had she had so much of his attention on her personally and not her magic. It was unnerving and this time she couldn't push her thoughts out of her mind as she usually did. What he thought of her as a person. His judgements on her birth and often emotional personality. She always seemed to exasperate him now, which was better than enrage but it just made her uncertain when she really let herself wonder.

"Then I was in my home with no protections. It's. I can't be safe. I mean I know I am. I can defend myself, I know that. I can't turn it off though, without knowing something else is doing it for me. Monitoring my surroundings, keeping alert. Doing guard duty." Having got that far she decided to just keep going so this would be over.

"I couldn't even leave there without putting them back up. Most of them at least. It just all happened and I did my best not to completely panic." By the end, her voice was quivering and she swallowed quickly. Finally letting her eyes drop from his. His face had smoothed slightly and there was more contemplation in his eyes. The changes were subtle but she thought he had relaxed.

Silently Yaxley summoned glasses and whiskey bottle, then pulled out the chair across from her. Rowle sat down beside her and she was grateful for his proximity. The slight press of his calf against hers. It made it harder not to cry but still the contact was appreciated. She would have sat next to Harry and probably held his hand or let him wrap an arm around her if she had shared something like that. When they were all seated a glass was pushed in front of her by hand.

"You can have some of that merlot after. This is medicinal." Hermione thought that over and threw back the two fingers of whiskey in the glass. Feeling the burn helped distract her from her own issues for a moment. Keeping her eyes closed she waited and let herself calm down. Then realised her magic had responded to her distress and she began to smooth it out.

"Sorry." She murmured when she finished and knew the other two didn't understand that or his slight nod.

"Alright. So it wasn't who was taking down the wards?" Yaxley said this reluctantly and her eyes opened in surprise, gaze darting around the table. Suddenly their responses made a bit more sense. Knowing this was important she bit her lip and thought that over. Dolohov, that he had been taking down her wards, or that these men had all hunted her before. As she considered it she was a bit surprised that hadn't been part of it. Aware of the serious situation she met Dolohovs and then the other two wizards eyes steadily.

"If you were hunting me I would be scared. That's smart and realistic." She pointed out and Dolohov nodded his acknowledgement of her logic. That seemed to settle the situation and the tension melted away from the table. All of them appreciating her unemotional way of stating her trust.

Cradling her glass of promised red wine she listened to them talk about her wards. Yaxley had scanned them and tried first. He seemed both impressed and frustrated that he couldn't find one of the access points to force the wards response instead of deflection.