Day Four

With no shop to worry about on Monday morning, Hermione decided to sleep in. She was exhausted. The night before she hadn't been able to sleep well. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn't ignore the frustrating thoughts that kept running through her mind. One second she worried that she would lose her business and in the next she thought maybe she should just go ahead and get rid of it. She hadn't felt all of the joy she assumed she would yet. Maybe it had been a mistake. If she sold it, they could move somewhere more private where it didn't matter about his past. He had been willing to marry a Muggle-Born. Would he be willing to move into a Muggle village?

She was glad that for one day she didn't have to even think about the shop. All she wanted to do was avoid the rest of the world as much as possible. At least for one day. Could she get by with hiding underneath her blankets? Or would her husband force her to come out at some point?

Finally some time mid-morning she decided it was fruitless to keep laying there with her maddening thoughts. Not needing to rush through her morning routine, she indulged herself in taking a long, hot bath. Usually she thought those were too time-consuming and a little self-absorbed. It took a great deal of water to fill the deep tub after all. That morning she didn't care. She stayed in the fragrant bubbly water until the temperature threatened to turn cold.

When she stepped outside of the bathroom dressed once more in casual clothes, Rabastan sat on her sofa reading a book. It charmed her to know that he really did enjoy reading as much as he claimed in his letters. There wasn't much else for him to do locked in his Azkaban cell all day. To know he continued to enjoy it when he had countless other options at his disposal made her think that she made the right choice with him.

He always smiled when she entered the room. With anyone else she wouldn't believe they were being genuine, but she believed he was. At least she hoped so. Some of her worst insecurities were hard to ignore. Once he saw she was headed his way, he put his book down, stood up, and pulled her into his arms.

It was quickly becoming the favorite part of her day. Still with a smile on his face, he kissed her breath away. Each day the kiss good morning lasted a little bit longer than the day before. She could understand why. They just seemed to get better and better. When he finally decided he should pull away before they were in danger of going too far, he took her hand and pulled her down onto the sofa next to him. She liked sitting there. It was nice, more comfortable than she would've ever imagined.

"You were in bed a long time. I was tempted to kiss you good morning like Sleeping Beauty, but as I haven't yet been invited into your bedroom, it felt wrong."

She smiled, feeling a little cheeky.

"It's been so long since I had a man in my bedroom I might have cursed you without thinking about it."

"No man in your bedroom? That's tragic."

Hermione rolled her eyes, but the smile stayed right where it was.

"It's perfectly normal to go through dry spells, you know."

"I was in prison. Of course I know that, but it doesn't make it any less tragic or frustrating."

The air around them grew tense. She knew that if they weren't careful it would be very easy to forget their agreement to wait. It was already so hard. Neither of them even needed to say it out loud. They'd both been very lonely for a long time.

"I haven't even asked you how your bedroom is."

"Much better than what I've sadly become accustomed to. It's not perfect, but it will do in the short term."

"Is the bed comfortable? Mine is better, but…"

"See now you're just teasing me."

Realizing what she said, she was flustered.

"I just meant the mattress isn't…"

Rabastan grabbed her hand in his right and used the fingers of his left to gently press against her lips to stop her nervous babbling. He smiled, evidently charmed by her inability to control her own tongue.

"Hermione, darling, I'm only teasing you. I made an agreement with you and I have every intention to honor that. I won't lie to you though. You are my wife and I don't ever intend to lie to you, so I'll be honest when I say I won't pressure you, but if you decided to chuck that agreement right out the window, you would get no complaints from me. I would throw you over my shoulder, carry you to our bedroom, and worship your body in the manner it was intended to be worshipped."

She smiled, feeling a little embarrassed. He ran the back of his fingers over her cheek.

"I do so hope you never stop blushing like this around me. It drives me absolutely mad."

Of course she only blushed harder when he said that. The effect he had on her was electric. With another grin, he pulled his hand back.

"Now, we have a whole day together. How shall we spend it? I know how I would choose to spend it, but I suppose I have to wait… what is it? Twenty-six more days?"

Trying very hard not blush again at the reminder that he would have her naked in three seconds if she just said the word, Hermione shrugged her shoulders. She really didn't know what she wanted to do. It had been a long time since she spent a day, even when it was closed, away from the shop. Often she used Mondays just to catch up on some of the tasks she left undone from the week before.

"I know we have some very serious conversations that we must have in the days ahead. Conversations about our pasts, our families, our intentions, our expectations, but would you mind terribly if we just didn't have them today? Could we just have some fun today?"

She was more than happy to agree. Knowing they wouldn't likely be welcomed just yet in wizarding districts, she thought she had an idea how they could spend the day.

"Are you very familiar with Muggle London?"

Rabastan smirked.

"With a family like mine? Not at all."

"No talking about family, remember? Let me show a proper Pureblood like you how Muggles have fun."

Hermione stood up and pulled him up to his feet by the arm.

"I assume you've never been to a cinema before."

Their entire day was perfect. From beginning to end, she wasn't sure when the last time she enjoyed herself that much was. It all felt so simple, so easy to be alone with him when they were out amongst people who had no clue who they were or where they'd been. The past would creep up on them whether they liked it or not. For that one day, they could pretend everything was normal.