Day Eleven

After so many days of waking up to the sound of Rabastan moving around in the kitchen and smelling breakfast, it was odd for Hermione to hear how silent the flat was again. She was used to it being silent before she got married. Perhaps he thought she might be interested in having another lie-in like she did the previous Monday when the shop was closed. It was thoughtful of him to assume so. Sometimes she knew she spent far too much time sleeping away the harshness of reality.

When she knew she could rest no longer, she threw off the blankets and got up. It was only after she completed her morning shower and was fully dressed for the day that she got suspicious about how quiet the flat still was. A quick peek in the spare bedroom yielded no signs of Rabastan. His bed had already been neatly made. There weren't many other places in the small flat he could be hiding.

The door to the staircase that led down to the shop was open a crack. Curious to know what might have lured him down into the shop so early on the day it remained closed, she started down the stairs. Perhaps he was bored with whatever books she had upstairs and wanted something new to read. She was encouraged by the number of times she'd seen him with a heavy volume in his hand. Never before had she been in a relationship with a man who actually liked to read. It was something she could definitely get used to. When they were struggling with safe topics to discuss over meals, they had been able to share their thoughts about books they'd both read. Selfishly, she hoped he wouldn't get sick of reading now that he was out of prison with other opportunities available to him to pursue.

Hermione found her husband in the office of the shop surrounded with all of the shop's accounting books spread open around him. A pair of glasses that she knew he would take off every time she entered the room sat on the bridge of his nose as he read over all of the shop's profits. Once or twice already since he'd moved into her flat she'd been tempted to tell him to stop trying to hide the fact that he wore glasses to read. It didn't make him look old. If anything, she thought he looked more like a handsome professor whose class she would very much like to earn extra credit in. Would he ever wear one of those tweed jackets with the patches on the elbows? Or would he smoke a pipe? He didn't have to actually smoke it, just put it between his lips…

Remembering herself and how she couldn't afford to let those fantasies get away from her when she was still struggling to keep from throwing up her hands and demanding they forget they wait the thirty days they agreed upon, Hermione cleared her throat. Rabastan jumped when he heard the sound. So intensely occupied had he been with looking over the books, he hadn't seen or heard her approach. A little embarrassed to be caught, he removed his glasses with a sheepish grin.

"Good morning, darling. I expected you would be sleeping in a little bit longer this morning."

"What are you doing?"

"Oh, well, I just thought I would take a look at how the shop was doing."

She didn't know why it embarrassed her so much to have him see her failure written out in black and increasingly more red ink. It wasn't as if he wasn't already aware that the situation was dire. The fact that he felt like he had to sneak down into the shop while she was sleeping to look made it all seem that much more salacious. Was he mortified that he'd married a businesswoman with no business owning a business? Frustrated, she sat down on the settee with a childish, petulant sigh that the smirk on his lips seemed to indicate he found amusing.

"So now you know it's even worse than I told you."

"It is bad. I won't deny that. But I do have some encouraging news."

Before she could ask a question, Rabastan pushed one of the large volumes in her hand. He tapped his wand on the page and all of the numbers began to rearrange themselves into different formations and combinations. None of the columns were disaffected. She didn't understand what was happening.

"Nicholas has been stealing from you. Quite cleverly too, I'm annoyed to say."

"What? What is this, Rabastan? What did you just do?"

"Removed the intricate cloaking spell the bastard cast on your books. He was falsifying them. Looks like he would put the true figures in and then cast the spell to make them look different to you so you wouldn't see how much he was taking. It was rather brilliant in a horribly disgusting way."

Hermione stared at the numbers on the page sick to her stomach. When she first took over the shop, she didn't know the first thing about accounting. It all overwhelmed her immensely. Determined that she would learn everything she could, she tried to do it all herself in the beginning. During one of his seemingly helpful moments long before she grew to loathe the manager, Nicholas offered to help. According to him, he often helped the previous owners, especially when their eyesight became so poor they could hardly read the tiny numbers. Because she had been so blown away by the amount of work required to run the shop she hadn't been aware of, she was glad to hand that responsibility off to the wizard. As she learned more about how the shop worked and she had a better handle on the accounting required to run a business, she felt like she was finally able to look over the business' books with a discerning eye.

Unable to look at it a moment longer, she slammed the book shut. It was humiliating, utterly and completely mortifying. The worm had been taking advantage of her for nearly a year and she hadn't the first idea. How much had he stolen from her under the guise of being helpful? No, she didn't want to know. It was sickening enough already. At every turn, she'd been taken advantage of. She covered her face with her hands and willed the tears that were rolling out of her eyes to disappear.

Rabastan didn't even hesitate to sit down next to her on the settee. Picking the book up out of her lap, he tossed it onto the desk before enveloping her entire body in his arms. She had never felt so dumb in her entire life. So dumb and so trusting. Not feeling she deserved the comfort her husband was offering, Hermione gently pushed him away and started to wipe the tears off of her face.

"You must think I'm some sort of foolish idiot."

"Not at all. Why would you think that?"

"I don't know what I'm doing. I bought this shop on a whim because I was bored to tears in my Ministry job. I knew nothing about running it when I started so I was just an easy target."

"And Nicholas is vermin. Anyone who preys on another person like he did is just the scum of the earth. He should be the one ashamed about what he did, not you. You have got to start being kinder to yourself, my darling. No one knows everything, especially when they start something new. You can't expect yourself to know what you don't know."

She hated to admit that he made a lot of sense. Of course she put too much pressure on herself. It was something she had been doing her entire life. If she didn't know how to do something, she rushed to find a book that would tell her what to do. Sometimes books didn't provide her with any joy, they just exacerbated her anxiety. When she tried to teach herself the accounting with a few books, both magical and Muggle, it had been difficult and not something that she immediately understood. Why did she expect perfection out of herself?

"Now, the important part about all of this is we discovered the problem."

"No, you discovered the problem. If I hadn't married you, this would've continued on for who knows how long."

"Then I suppose it's a very good thing you married me, isn't it?"

His cheeky grin forced a smile out of her too. Sensing she needed some more encouragement, Rabastan leaned over to finally give her her good morning kiss. Putting an extra bit of affection into it, she was much calmer when he decided he had performed his duty admirably and pulled back with a smile.

"Good morning, wife."

"Good morning, husband."

"I know you're only teasing me, but I don't hate the sound of that."

Hermione playfully slapped at his arm. He grabbed her hand and wouldn't let it go.

"Now, we have evidence that Nicholas has been stealing, so you can stop feeling like you can't fire him. He needs to go immediately. Personally, I wish we could report him to the authorities and have him arrested, but I'm afraid at this point, it would probably be his word against ours. You might have a good reputation, but I certainly don't. It would be best that he just quietly goes. Maybe if we threaten with reporting him, he will think twice about going to the papers."

A sense of relief fell over Hermione knowing that she wouldn't have to work with Nicholas any longer. Something about him had always unnerved her. Perhaps she subconsciously was aware that he couldn't be trusted.

"All right, so I fire Nicholas. And then what? If customers ever come back to the shop, I can't handle this all by myself. I need someone to replace him."

"As it happens, I know a wizard who has found himself unemployed who very much enjoys books and even more so wishes to make your life easier."

"Well, that's helpful. Do you think this wizard can start right away?"

"Perhaps. If the salary is adequate."

"How much?"

He made a dramatic show of thinking hard about how he would answer the question. Rolling her eyes with a smile, she appreciated that he had a sense of humor. Life would be more difficult otherwise.

"Your agreement was for me to kiss you good morning, so if you want me to be your manager, you can kiss me good night."

She couldn't help but laugh at his proposal. The impish smirk that appeared on his face was even funnier. Of course she would offer him something in actual galleons and sickles.

"A kiss good night? How do you expect me to report that income on your P60 every year? I'd hate for you to get into trouble with the Ministry over failure to pay your taxes properly. You've only just now gotten out of Azkaban."

"I suppose you can just pay me under the table. Or on top of the table if you're feeling adventurous."

"Fine. It's a deal. I will kiss you good night."

"Every night for the rest of our lives even if I accidentally burn down the shop and we become homeless and unemployed."

Again, she had to laugh.

"That seems oddly specific, but yes, every night."

When she started to stand up from the settee, Rabastan pulled her gently back down.

"You know, I've already worked in the shop a few days and after discovering the theft this morning, I think I deserve to collect some back pay."

There was no reason to deny him the kisses he desired. Especially not when she desired them every bit as much. She pressed her lips against his. As soon as they touched, the air around them felt heavy and electric. Her arms went around his neck and his around her waist. Loving the feel of his hair between her fingers, she ran her hand through the thick black locks. A groan of appreciation in her mouth was her reward when she accidentally pulled a little too hard.

Lost in the feel of Rabastan's lips against hers and her tongue in his mouth, she didn't even notice how he pushed her down onto her back. Likely he didn't even realize he was doing it either. The settee was hardly big enough, but they didn't care. Feeling his weight pressed on top of her body, she wanted to keep him right where he was. From that position the temptation to move from her mouth to her neck and further down was too strong. Hermione couldn't stop the pleased moan that came out of her involuntarily when his tongue swiped a very sensitive part of her neck.

Perhaps finally realizing how close he was to ripping her robes open and activating their bonding spell right there on the uncomfortable settee, Rabastan reluctantly climbed to his feet. She opened her eyes to see him staring down at her laid out like she was a feast ready to be devoured. It would've been too easy to pull him back down on top of her, damn the agreement. Only knowing that he would likely come to regret not waiting the full month like he promised made her stand back up.

With a respectable distance between the married couple, they tried to regain their composure. Hermione wanted to drag him upstairs and she knew that if she could slip into his mind, she would see the most debauched thoughts inside his head. Her cheeks burned at the thought. Smoothing down her messed up hair, she cleared her throat.

"Why don't we go out for breakfast this morning?"

Rabastan was quick to agree. They needed to be out in public. Alone in the empty shop or up in their flat was just asking for trouble. Delightful, pleasurable trouble, but trouble nonetheless.