They slipped out into the Muggle street. The pavement was narrow enough that they kept bumping shoulders. Teddy tried not to notice how each time their fingers accidentally brushed it sent a jolt up his arm.
"Where do you live, Teddy?" Hermione said.
"What?" he asked, startled out of his reverie.
"You are a werewolf. So how do you live? Do you have a flat?"
"Oh," Teddy said and rubbed the back of his head. "Er, actually I don't. Before Lilith and I broke up I spent most of my time at the werewolf forest. She has a cottage there, you see."
Hermione blinked. "Lilith is the woman who was killed?"
Teddy nodded miserably and forced himself to swallow around his dry throat. "Yeah, we only broke up a few months ago." He thought about it. "Okay maybe six."
"Oh, Teddy, that is horrible," she said, casting a sympathetic look his way.
Teddy's shoulders automatically hunched. "Yeah, well, that is why I'm glad to be on this case. That way I can catch the bastard that did this."
Hermione nodded. "That makes sense," she said hesitantly.
"But you were asking about living conditions?" Teddy said, not wanting to talk about it. "You don't want to stay at Grimmauld House?"
She nodded.
"It will probably be hard to find a place once people know you are a werewolf. You could look into Muggle options. That's what I was considering before. It just wasn't a priority after..." he waved a hand to encompass everything. Dating Lilith. Breaking up. Her death. Lately he had just gone home to his grandmother's house or the clubhouse and crashed after eating dinner. He hadn't had much energy for anything else, including trying to find his own flat.
Hermione cast another sympathetic look his way. "But people don't know you are a werewolf. Why would you consider Muggle housing?"
"Harry insisted on it." At her indignant look he shrugged. "I think he is right. If the landlord got suspicious and started being nosy it could mean a lot of trouble for me."
She looked like she was considering this.
"Harry isn't going to let you live on your own until the killer is caught."
Hermione raised an eyebrow. "He isn't going to let me?"
Teddy shrugged and looked away. "He is going to want you to have protection."
"You said that you were here about the case?" She asked. "How close are you to capturing the killer?"
"Er, well, we're stalled, actually," he said. "We wanted to get your information before we try to break the werewolf ranks."
"Oh," she said and looked down. "Teddy, I'm not going to be any help."
"I'm sure-"
"No, Teddy. I don't remember the attack."
Teddy's heart stuttered and sank. "Oh."
