Part 6
"They were sixteen and seventeen when they joined and they knew nothing about what they were signing up for. They'd been ostracised at school for years due to them being Slytherins. Leonidas did not stop vomiting for hours after the first raid, Martin fainted. Tony and I tried to keep them to the sidelines as much as possible."
"Mr Yaxley, good evening. Did the MLE invent a new method to read minds?"
"You have a very expressive face, even with that glamour. And I was only guessing, you confirmed my guess just now."
"My mistake. Since leaving school I have questioned a lot. And read about Hogwarts under other headmasters. Dumbledore's pedestal has long since crumbled. Why would he always put Slytherins and Gryffindors in class together? Every single potions lesson of that combination must have threatened Professor Snape with a heart attack at least three times."
"Aye. He always had massive tension headaches on Fridays. So you've been to Hogwarts. Presumably in Gryffindor or Slytherin but I tend to avoid naming the houses in grown-up life. Let me have something more challenging than discussing the non-existant chances of the Chudley Cannons at winning the Quidditch cup or the equally non-existant chances of Maggie not injuring some bystander at darts. I have a few suspicions as who you could be. Amelia Bones is ruled out, she would not glamour herself as a younger woman nor would she need Tony's guidance for the Old Ways. If you have any questions, my family always observed."
"I've had enough of the Cannons to last a lifetime. As to the Old Ways my impression is that it is among British wizards quite similar to British Muggles concerning religion – they observe the major holidays without much connection to the underlying meanings. Is that correct in your opinion?"
Yaxley took his time to answer.
"Your assessment is quite correct concerning public observances. In their family cercles the traditional families have customs that are intricately tied to the worship of Lady Magic. The Yaxley family for instance always marries in our ritual grove which is over the crossing of two strong ley lines. Also children born into the family are presented there during their naming ceremony."
"Marrying barefoot and in linen shifts?"
"Aye. But there have been exemptions, mainly when the marriage could not wait until warmer weather, if you catch my meaning."
"Ah, yes. Robes hide a multitude of sins but not a seven-month-pregnancy."
"Quite. And no one wants cystitis on their honeymoon."
The firewhiskey helped along to Hermione laughing openly about the surreal turn their conversation was taking. The linen shifts reminded her of her state of undress. Now she really wished she'd taken the time to pop home for some underwear. As the pub was quite noisy Yaxley had scooted over on the bench to be able to converse without shouting. Antonin had teamed up with Rowle and they'd won the first leg at darts, with Mulciber and Jugson squabbling over whose fault their loss was. Hermione was watching the first two men. After the meditation in the morning and the opening of her magic today she was more inclined to trust her intuition. Dolohov and Rowle gave her a feeling of being intimately connected but not of being gay. Yaxley was raising an eyebrow.
"Ask away, little witch."
"I feel I am missing a salient point concerning these two."
"It is not really a secret but it is not something they like to talk about. Tony and Finn are two thirds of a triad but they haven't found their witch yet. I am not sure who would be able to put up with two so diametrally different husbands. Finn is like a puppy most of the time while Tony needs intellectual challenge, he gets mean if he's bored. When he brought you along we were hoping you'd be the one, but alas-"
She raised her hands, "I hope we can be friends, so far we haven't run out of obscure topics to talk about." Hermione fleetingly thought of Luna Lovegood. As strange her behaviour sometimes was as thoroughly researched and innovative were her articles in the "Quibbler". And she had been the student with the highest NEWT scores in her year.
A shout drew their attention. A body was crashing on the table. Yaxley threw himself over Hermione in protection. As she saw a dart sticking out from the knee of the wizard on the table she was not worried and therefore free to notice things. Mainly how good the MLE officer smelled and that he felt fit.
"Oi Tony, why the shield! It bounced me right across the room!"
"Look at your knee, Leo!"
"Fuck! Maggie, the board is in front of you!"
Hermione bent over the table and plucked the dart out of Mulciber's knee while whispering a healing charm wandlessly. The wounded wizard gave her puppy dog eyes, "Miss, you need to kiss it better!" She blew a kiss in the direction of his knee and rolled her eyes.
"There, you're set to go on playing."
Another group had occupied the darts board meanwhile so the four wizards returned to the table.
"Might I bother you with a drink at the quiet end of the bar? These four will be shouting at each other in a few moments."
Hermione followed Yaxley to the far off end of the bar. The wizard had already procured a new drink for her. Standing quite close he bent down to her ear and enquired, "Why would an upstanding witch come to a pub full with wizards of a questionable reputation without her underwear?"
The witch blushed, thankfully it was quite dark in here. She drew herself up. That brought her in contact with Yaxley's chest, which was further distracting.
"First, you do not know whether I am an upstanding witch. For all you know I could be a Quidditch or Death Eater groupie. Second, I am not falling into your trap again, confirming things you are only guessing."
He chuckled, "Right. I cannot know about any knickers, but that you do not wear a bra I felt clearly when Leo took that dive over the table. For a Quidditch groupie you are too disinterested in Finn. And there are no Death Eaters in here. Maybe a few wizards with a checkered past, but right now I'm not even seeing those around here. And there's that Tony told me about how he chatted an afternoon away with Ms Granger. So yes, I stand by my assessment of you being an upstanding witch."
"Maybe. I am thorough however, and if someone showing me how to feel ley-lines tells me only to wear natural fibres I will do so. And I do not own a bra without at least metal hooks at the fastener."
"Tony is right with the natural fibres, but some hooks or even elastane would not prevent you from feeling the lines. I would not recommend it during a ritual, but for ley-lines it is all right. You can test it when walking along Diagon Alley. There is a major line under it between the Leaky and the Weasleys' joke shop."
"Oh! When I first came to Diagon Alley it felt like coming home! I thought that was because of the whole street being saturated with magic!"
Yaxley's answer came in a lecturing mode although he tried to tone it down from how he talked to his underlings at MLE.
"There is no such thing as saturating something with magic. Magic is or is not, some materials are a better conduit than others. You would feel nothing if there were an underground train running under Diagon Alley or if it would be concrete instead of cobblestones."
"But Antonin told me about certain types of stones like black granite serving as lode stones when warding a bigger area!"
"And he knows his wards better than anyone I know. But from a theoretical point of view storing magic – or saturating something with it as you put it – is just not possible. Otherwise there would not be Squibs in magical families, nor Muggleborns. Of course it differs between living beings and inanimate objects but people either have magic or not. Same with the land. The old Pureblood families wish to think that their land and ritual cercles is full of magic because of them but it is the other way round. Their ancestors, much more in sync with their surroundings than these inbred buffoons now, just chose very well where to settle."
At the beginning of the man's speech Hermione had been miffed by his talking down to her but at the end she had to chuckle.
"I may not know Nott's Pure-blood directory very well but I seem to remember a Scottish family named Yaxley being one of the Twentyeight."
He winked at that and Hermione felt herself blush.
"My grandfather had some blackmail material on Nott, that's why we're included. My ancestors put being healthy and being Scottish higher on the list than blood status, which is why some of my cousins are buffoons but at least never attempted to marry my sisters."
He leaned closer.
"If you wanted to know whether it is safe to have a gaggle of children with me you could have just asked."
The witch gasped.
"Mr Yaxley! You might want to buy me another drink before talking about impregnating me!"
"Right, lass. A beer or something more substantial?"
"Fire-whiskey, please."
While the Scot went to the bar the young witch thought about their conversation. She had enjoyed Yaxley's flirting but was unsure about whether he intended more than just frivolous conversation. And whether she would like more than that. Although substantially older than herself the man cut an impressive figure. More importantly he seemed to be interested in the same topics as she – magical law, theory of magic – and knowledable in these areas as well. His Death Eater past did not bother her too much. The past years had told her a lot about the viewpoint of the other side of the last war. Quite a few of Voldemort's earlier aims were at least understandable. Yaxley's court files had shown that he had tried to subvert his master's plans from the point where the whole conflict had slid from being political to open violence. If – and that was a big if at this point of time – their relationship grew unto something more tangible than alcohol induced flirting they would have to have a serious talk about their positions during the war.
Several fire-whiskeys later, after the closing of the pub, the whole posse relocated to a Wizarding club. Hermione danced the night away with Yaxley and the other men too. Most of the music sounded very 60ties and 70ties to her ears but that was allright as that was what she knew from her parent's records. Twisting with a handful of Ex-Death Eaters was more fun than she had in years. And during a slow Clapton number she noticed how much she liked Corban's smell.