"I'm bored." His little witch piped up from behind the huge tome she was perusing. It had been days of reading and work, the last calculations for her own array and he wasn't surprised. It had been a bit lacking in luster lately, her work. It was all done and she was dedicated. Nothing to call her on but she seemed restless. In the week since her last challenge, things were different and all could clearly see it. Why though, that was less clear. The witch hadn't done, said, or behaved in a way he could even point out to latch onto as a starting point.

With him she didn't seem any different. Perhaps a bit more open, hiding less. He was glad of it but not of the other changes.

"Game?" She offered, eyes peeking over the huge book.

"Alright little witch. Broom tomorrow so let's play now. What do you want to do?" He asked and she mused for a minute before looking out the window. Then her eyes snapped to his before scanning him, he knew that look. Thorfinn didn't let the grin form on his face in response. Whatever she was thinking, he would like it.

"Tag? Hide and seek maybe?" Her eyes were bright and again her gaze skittered down him before meeting his. He shifted slightly, as his body reacted to her blatant perusal. He thought that over.

"You want to be caught then?" He surmised and she nodded. Her posture shifted and he chuckled.

"Here?" He asked, thinking of how they might make this a bit more fun.

"No. Woods maybe. Or a field?" It sounded as if she didn't care he reached over and took her book before grabbing her hand and pulling her into the apparition room.

"Five seconds when we land." Now he let her see him eye fuck her. All of his desire clear on his face and she flushed beautifully. The colour reaching down to her chest.

"You'll put up the privacy wards then?" She asked him and he groaned lowly. He would catch her and take her there. She trusted him with the wards. The witch was too much sometimes. He nodded and when she leaned into him, he made a decision and spun. Immediately he began warding the forest behind his family home. He hadn't been here and didn't want to go but these were good woods for a chase and he knew them. Could ward them properly and knew they would be strong. His family having used this as an extended backyard for generations.

Hearing her footfalls fade away, he smiled. She wasn't really hiding. Hadn't cloaked herself at all. With that he took off into the pine trees and bare maples he had played in as a child.

Ten minutes later he summoned her out of the tree she had been perched in and got an armful of laughing witch, no longer trying to escape him.

Wound up tight and ready, he silenced her laughs with his mouth and revelled in the way she capitulated. Let her body mould to his.

"Please Finn." Her clear desire and the way she was trying to wrap a leg around him was the last straw. With more force than he had ever used with her, he spun her and opened her jeans. Without complaint she braced her hands on the tree and wiggled her hips to help him peel the tight fabric down. Using a foot to help he began fumbling with his belt with one hand and sliding a finger under the knickers she called thongs. Whatever they were called, he loved how they looked and the string that slipped into shadow always made him instantly hard.

Her moan when his finger found the slick wetness between her legs prompted his own and he didn't think anymore, just spread her legs and moved the tiny piece of fabric before lifting her and thrusting into her tight heat.

For a moment he just stayed still and felt her clench around him. Then his mouth was on her neck and biting her shoulder. Her forearm was bracing her against the tree trunk and the other reached for his side. She was so much smaller than him, her feet not even touching the forest floor.

As he heard her moans change pitch and knew she was close he let himself be lost in her. Curls against his face, the way her skin felt, the sounds she made and when her whole body tightened and she began to come he spun so his back was against the tree and put his finger on her clit. Not letting her come down, he forced her up the precipice again and let her second orgasm pull his from him.

For a moment they stood there. Connected and precariously balanced before she wiggled and he pulled out and let her stand. Her grin was wide and smug.

"Can we come back here? I like it. The woods feel welcoming." She was looking around and after wandlessly cleaning them she began to put her jeans back on. He watched her and then followed suit.


Back in her kitchen she pulled the coin from her pocket and groaned. When you've a minute -Y. She looked up and noticed Finn doing the same. She rolled her eyes and looked at the makings of dinner on the counter.

When they reached the cabin, they were surprised to see only the wizard who had summoned them. With a table set for three and a steaming shepards pie. As they settled in and waited for him to begin, Hermione was thinking about what he might say.

"There are two things I would like to speak with you about." Hermione and Finn exchanged a look and then focused on the man in front of them. He looked serious.

"First. Whatever is bothering you, will it affect tomorrow?" He knew it was blunt but he just watched her carefully. Then assessed the wizard beside her.

"We're fine." Finn answered after Hermione tried to figure out what to say. Thankfully, she nodded.

"I see." His look to her told her that she couldn't hide forever but she just kept her expression and waited.

"Potter. The second thing is Potter. He would like to meet with me." At this Hermione smiled and her posture opened, she couldn't help it.

"That's wonderful. He hasn't said what he's been doing but since your show, he has been very thoughtful and asked me nearly nothing." To her this meant that he was trying to figure out how to accomplish it without her involvement. Why she wasn't sure but that wasn't important.

"What exactly do you mean?" His knife and fork were down and he was cradling his whiskey glass in a way that told her how interested he was. This explained Dolohov not being here for this, though he would know they were there.

"I'm sure he wants to make a deal with you." She wasn't sure what he meant.

"A deal, for what?" She just put her own fork down and stared at him.

"For your eventual legal freedom, at least I don't see what else he could offer you." Usually he understood exactly what was going on and she could tell that something didn't make sense to him.

"What is my part of this deal?" She blinked and met Finn's eyes. He too didn't know and she took a moment to appreciate that. Yaxley didn't know. Maybe no one did. They hadn't advertised and few knew what was in that locked room down in the archives.

"Restoring the paperwork." Hermione answered him, choosing to speak nonchalantly and pick up her fork.

"What paperwork?" Finn asked. Watching the two of them and then just Yaxley at the blank expression he was wearing.

"That last hundred years or so of official ministry records. Not the personal ones but everything else." Hermione sipped her wine and looked between the two men. Now enjoying herself immensely.

"Why?" He asked her directly and she knew what he meant. Why hadn't she done it? Letting her smile be impish and show her contrary nature, she waited a moment and then spoke.

"No one asked me Rueban." Her smile was a grin then and after a moment he grinned back at her. Finn didn't totally understand and after watching them he asked a question.

"So you think Potter is going to offer him legal pardon in exchange for undoing whatever he did to those files. Which you could have done but no one asked you to, and you didn't volunteer the information." He was looking at her speculatively.

"I did do a lot, while I was there." She pointed out.

"Hermione. You are an endless string of surprises." Yaxley was staring at her as if he'd never seen her and eventually looked to Finn. So did she and she watched him shrug and gesture helplessly. Smiling into her wine glass she just basked in something turning out.

"Maybe there is something we should tell you." Finn said. She looked up and he gave her a grim look and then a nod. Shrugging her acquiescence, she watched Yaxley focus on him.

"We are going to go have dinner with my sister the day after tomorrow. In the Alley." That said it all and he looked between them a few times.

"I've been waiting. What have you been waiting for?" Both shrugged a bit at him and then Hermione spoke.

"Wanting it enough, I guess. Sabrina too." She was thinking about the witches demands.

"She came for dinner the other night and out of the blue demanded to know if we were ashamed or something. After figuring out what she meant, we denied it and had already talked about it but weren't sure whether to just be casual or make a statement. She decided dinner at Lazarus to be exactly the right choice. Her scheming look was full force." Hermione nodded and smiled at the way they had been spoken too. Apparently Hermione alone was treated with more respect for boundaries than when lumped in with her brother.

"Indeed." His tone was thoughtful and she could see him considering all the angles.

Scenebreak replace and remove.

"It happened there. The pair." Antonin's words came seemingly out of nowhere but Rueban knew that he had been coming to it for at least a week. Rueban had noticed immediately and so had Antonin, though the latter had assumed it would fade. That something was bothering her but that it wasn't relevant.

Rueben had not been so sanguine but could do little, bar watch and wait. Waiting it had been, day after day, for his friend to accept that something had changed. It was unfortunate that he had nearly settled into having an apprentice. Emotionally, the practical aspect had been rolling along for months and both student and teacher were kept busy and engaged. Antonin hadn't even wanted to take on the myriad of job offers, though he had always only done what he wanted to. He had done Shacklebolt's after the man's tenth letter and his assurance that the witch didn't know and hadn't offered. It had gone very well indeed and they would start her own array next week, if they didn't get distracted by something else as they were prone to doing.

The Malfoys had bothered him, not Lucius but the underlying reasons for his crass comment. What had possessed the man, he didn't know. It was as if nearly everyone expected him to disregard his own protege. Be willing to have her skills slighted. Incomprehensible.

Now the moment was here and he put down the rune stone that he had been working on. It didn't have an eventual home but it was interesting and everyone else seemed to be doing it. Nothing wrong with wanting to keep relevant in this biased cabin.

"Yes." He agreed after a minute of silence. It had been right then. When she had walked in that something was gone. It wasn't her motivation or application. It was something Hermione, emotional. Thorfinn could see it, though had only shaken his head and asked if they had a complaint about her work or attitude. They didn't. She was respectful and polite. Laughed slightly less often and volunteered far less about her own life outside of her apprenticeship. It was nothing but it was clearly something. Had Antonin been unbothered by it, Rueban would have approached the witch and cleared the air between them personally. This wasn't a situation in which he could do that, he would not isolate Antonin further. Hermione wouldn't like it either, he was quite sure.

"What?" He asked and Rueban didn't know how to answer. All he had were things it didn't seem to be. After a minute of silence and a sound that was gruff and low he met his friends dark eyes and responded to the request, neither man would ever issue even a silent plea.

"It doesn't seem to be these things. Thorfinn. Anything to do with the magics themselves. Proximity. Anxiety. Exhaustion or drain. You know sometimes constant use leads to that drag. Not over tired or bored." He stopped though his list was much longer.

"Something is gone. The sparkle." It seemed costly for his friend to speak that word and Reuben smiled slowly at him. Letting him see his enjoyment of the situation and then became serious again.

"It is you. As a person not a wizard. It is all I can think of. Hiding herself, the woman, not exposing it." He knew that wasn't a clear explanation but it was the only theory that had held water as time passed.

"What could they have said?" So like him to just not state anything he felt uncomfortable with, if he didn't want to. Azkaban had made that worse.

"A myriad of things. Little she won't have encountered here though." He was thoughtful and so was Antonin.

"Is it gone then?" His voice was low and Rueban felt a bit hollow himself.

"I don't know. She is still here and that is really quite a feat. Her being here at all." Antonin nodded.

"She wanted it. Malyshka and still pushing. Doing and making time. Effort." Rueban could see the admiration for the witches' persistence. It was more than that though. It was sheer determination to succeed. To meet his expectations. That was a thought.