Day Six

Another morning Hermione woke up to a silent flat. It seemed wrong when she knew there was another person living there with her. When she was on her own, she had gotten used to the silence. She even claimed quietly to herself that she found some comfort in it whether or not that was entirely true. After even just a few days of being married, she noticed a subtle change to the sounds in her home thanks to the addition of her husband. It felt odd not to hear them.

His bedroom door was open. The more she thought about it, the more she decided she had yet to see it closed. That seemed curious to her as she rarely felt comfortable sleeping in a room with an open door. Carefully peeking in to make certain she didn't disturb him if he was still sleeping, she relaxed a little when she saw that he was indeed there. A small part of her worried that she only imagined hearing him come home the night before. Still dressed in the clothes he wore the night before, now throughly wrinkled, he was asleep on top of the blankets. She thought she could smell a faint hint of stale fire whiskey. It had been a long time since she'd seen a man in her life the morning after tying one on, but she still knew the signs.

From out of the cupboard in the bathroom she pulled a hangover potion. Glad that she hadn't put her shoes on yet, she was able to tiptoe quietly into his bedroom. Rabastan didn't even move. His loud snores were almost adorable. Because she hadn't heard the snoring before, she was even more convinced he spent the evening before drinking far too much. She left the hangover potion on the nightstand next to his bed and just as quietly snuck back out.

Downstairs in the equally silent shop, she unlocked the front door just as Nicholas arrived. Other than a curt nod of his head in greeting, he didn't say a word to her. His first task of the day was to review the sales receipts from the day before. She didn't miss his satisfied smirk when there were none to be found. How could one person continually be that annoying?

"You realize that rooting for me to fail is like hoping the driver of the Knight's Bus will crash while you're a passenger?"

"You misunderstand me then, Mrs. Lestrange. I'm not rooting for you to fail. Only hoping you give up and sell this shop to someone who actually knows what they're doing."

Further frustrated and worried she was on the verge of losing her temper, Hermione retreated to the safety of her office to fume. From the very first day she bought the shop, she didn't like the man. As time wore on, she grew to hate him. She wanted nothing more than to figure out a way to get rid of him. Unfortunately, there weren't any just causes other than he was simply an arsehole. He was a good employee who really did know his job and performed it well. During the first several months of running the shop, his experience had been invaluable. It was easy to forget that when his attitude soured.

Feeling a headache forming, she stood with her back facing the open door. She pinched the bridge of her nose, willing the pain to go away. After only a few seconds of standing that way, she felt arms wrap around her shoulders from behind. She sighed when Rabastan kissed the side of her head. Until that moment she hadn't realized how much she missed him after not seeing him for the better part of the previous day.

Wanting to see for herself that he was all right, she turned around to look. Already he seemed better. Water dripped from the end of his hair proving he'd taken the time to shower before he sought her out. He gave her a half-smile, like he was on the verge of apologizing. She chose to cut him off before he could. It was unnecessary.

"You never have to apologize for needing time to yourself. I understand."

The more genuine smile that came next showed he was relieved. His kiss good morning was shorter and more chaste than the previous few days. It only lasted a few seconds before he pulled back just to hug her tightly. She realized it was the first real hug they had had. It was almost as good the kiss. The feel of being held in his arms was one she loved and could definitely get used to. When he started to pull away, she didn't want to, but she did.

"Thank you for the potion. It was… needed unfortunately."

"I've been known to need it myself from time to time."

His smile grew brighter. She felt her own lips mirror his.

"I think I would enjoy seeing that."

"I think you would too, so I think it's best that I remain sober for the rest of the month."

Rabastan raised an eyebrow.

"Now you have me really intrigued."

Hermione playfully swatted his chest with a laugh.

"You're terrible."

His laugh in response was interrupted by the obnoxious clearing of Nicholas' throat behind them. If he had been watching the whole exchange between the married couple, she didn't know. It seemed like the sort of creepy thing he would do.

"There's a shipment of new books. Would you like me to sign for them?"

Annoyed to be bothered over something so trivial, something he had done a thousand times before without needing to ask her, she tried to keep calm. It would do no one any good for her to lose her temper.

"Yes, thank you."

Thankfully, Nicholas didn't linger long. Once he was out of earshot, she sighed.

"I suppose I should get back to work, but you are more than welcome to stay. You didn't get to see much of it yesterday, I'm afraid."

Immediately she wished she hadn't said anything. Rabastan only smiled and agreed. For the rest of the dismally slow day, she showed him how the shop operated. There were no customers again. More than a few times throughout the day there was tension between Rabastan and Nicholas. Neither of the men cared for the other, one barely even bothering to hide his distaste. They were both relieved when Nicholas walked out the front door just after the shop closed for the night.

"Why don't we sneak into Muggle London and you take me to another one of your favorite restaurants? I feel like I have so much more to learn."

Their night was much more pleasant than their day. Hermione was glad to show him around London, grateful that they weren't subjected to the hateful looks from the people who knew who they were. Keeping their conversations light and simple, they weren't in a rush to have another hard discussion like the day before. There would be plenty of time for those later.