Day Sixteen

Early morning sunlight poured into the bedroom to settle straight on Hermione's eyes. She wanted to groan and complain and put her pillow over her face, but at the last second she remembered she wasn't alone. Rabastan was still sound asleep. It was unusual for her to be the first one up. He had been exhausted the night before after being up so early and working so hard. For another time in recent days she decided to make breakfast for him. There was no need to rush around. What did it matter if the shop opened late? No one would be there to notice.

The extra sleep put Rabastan in a good mood. Clearly he slept well. Unable to wait until she finished cooking, he pulled her away from the stove to kiss her good morning. Not caring she was in danger of burning their meal, he put all of his emotion into kissing her. Quickly it started to heat up. If there hadn't been a loud knock on the exterior flat door, there was no easy way to tell where they might have stopped. Or if they would've stopped. She had to laugh at his dramatic groan.

"Which one of your bloody friends is it now to come lecture you about the big, bad Death Eater you've invited into your bed?"

"You make it sound so naughty when all we've done is sleep in it."

"How about I answer the door, scare them away forever, and get back to kissing you?"

"Sounds like a great plan."

Hermione chuckled as he yanked the door open ready to terrify the wits out of whomever decided to disturb them in a particularly ardent moment.

"Roddy?"

Rabastan was shocked by their visitor. Never would he have expected his older brother to be waiting for him on the other side of the door. He threw his arms around Rodolphus to hug him tight. Hermione felt like an intruder witnessing their reunion. Wanting to give them some privacy, she turned back to the eggs to take them off of the heat. At the sound of the pan hitting the top of the stove, Rabastan stepped back.

"Roddy, I want you to meet my wife, Hermione."

Rodolphus' shy smile was kind. She didn't find him as scary as she assumed she would. When she extended her hand, he gently shook it.

"Your mysterious Miss H, little brother. She's as lovely as you imagined."

His compliment brought a blush to her cheeks that Rabastan didn't miss. He smirked like he always did when he saw her flushed cheeks. Rodolphus' statement made Hermione curious.

"You knew about me?"

Rodolphus' laugh was as pleasant as his smile. It was a nice, friendly sound, nothing at all like his late wife.

"Of course I did. Rabby never shut up about you. The only days he was bearable were when he received your letters. Or when you lent him a new book. Thank you for that, by the way. Sometimes he was generous enough to share them with me."

Hermione smiled.

"You were his next door neighbor?"

He nodded. That was a surprise. She supposed it was kind of the prison to put them next to each other.

"And after he left two weeks ago, I wasn't sure I would ever see him again."

"How are you here?" Rabastan asked. "What happened?"

"Well, it was quite extraordinary actually. About a week ago I received a rather surprising proposal from a dear old friend."

The older Lestrange brother turned around in the doorway to address someone behind him.

"Come on, darling. It's all right."

Hermione and Rabastan were both shocked when Andromeda entered the flat behind Rodolphus. Her hand was clasped tightly in her new husband's. Excited and pleased for his brother, Rabastan clapped his brother on the back while he laughed and then kissed Andromeda's cheek.

"Hermione and I were wondering why you came into the shop the other day acting so strangely. Why didn't you tell us?"

It was a simple question, but Andromeda seemed embarrassed to answer.

"We weren't sure we were going to be approved until yesterday morning. It all happened very quickly and I was afraid that…"

She looked at Hermione and sighed.

"I know Harry Potter wasn't happy about your marriage and I feared if he found out what I was trying to do before we were approved, he might use some of his influence to stop it. He butts in far too much where Teddy is concerned in my opinion. He might be the boy's godfather, but I'm his grandmother. That makes him my blood."

Andromeda sighed again and dropped her eyes from Hermione's. Wanting to prove to her that she understood in a physical way, Hermione placed a gentle hand on the older woman's elbow and squeezed.

"You're not wrong about that, I'm afraid. I understand why you didn't tell us, but if you had, just know I wouldn't have told Harry."

That seemed to pacify Andromeda. She was able to nod and smile.

"Hermione is almost finished with breakfast. Please join us."

"Thank you, little brother, but we can't. We have some shopping to do for me and we want to get it done before the Alley gets too busy."

They understood the desire to avoid as many other shoppers as possible. The two brothers embraced again and then they each kissed the cheek of their respective sister-in-law. When Rabastan closed the flat door behind the new couple, Hermione was sure she had never seen him so happy. He immediately pulled her into his arms for another passionate kiss.

Over breakfast he could hardly sit still. She was happy for him having his brother back in his life. Seeing the two of them together again reminded her of some questions she'd wanted to ask him about his earlier life and what it was like to be a Lestrange.

"What happened to your childhood home? You said you grew up in a fancy manor."

"I knew you only married me for my vault and now you want a fancy manor house too?"

She rolled her eyes. Likely he would tease her about that forever.

"When Father died, Roddy and I were both in Azkaban the first time and there was no hope we'd ever get out, so the estate was transferred to his younger brother. My cousins aren't likely to ever want to give it up, but my brother and I don't care. We've always hated that house. I might pay them a visit soon to see about recovering some personal belongings, but they can have the manor. I'm perfectly content in this tiny, leaky flat and Roddy would sleep in a damp cave as long as Andy was next to him."

"But how did you keep the vault?"

"Ahh, see I knew that's all you wanted me for."

He laughed when she rolled her eyes again.

"Gringotts has different rules about inheritance than whatever document my father and uncle drew up before he died. We weren't dead so the goblins wouldn't give our vault away. Oh dear, I've just realized. I'm sorry, my love, you aren't the only Mrs. Lestrange now. You'll actually have to share my vast riches with my brother and his new wife."

"How disappointing. Perhaps I should go there now and clean it out before they have a chance to get there."

She found his laughter amusing, but she wanted him to be certain of one very important truth.

"I married you before I knew you had a knut to your name so stop with the jokes that I married you for your vault."

It was easy for him to make the promise that he would try to stop making those jokes. She supposed it was the best she could hope for under those conditions. The rest of their breakfast was pleasant. Later that morning, they went downstairs together. He was anxious to get the rest of the painting finished on the outside of the building.

At one point in the afternoon Hermione looked outside to see Rodolphus standing out there working alongside his brother. Both of them seemed happy. She was glad for them.

The shop looked wonderful when they finished the last coat of paint late that evening. There was no sign that there had ever been any rude vandalism. Rabastan was in a wonderful mood up until the moment they climbed back into bed. She liked seeing him that happy and only hoped it would continue.