Stopping at the bottom of the stairs, Hermione wanted to groan, they were in her place. The place she had gone after dinner by routine when she stayed here before. Blaise and her had sat in there last night and now the three of them were in there. Blaise wanted her to come in though or he wouldn't have been there.
This all raced through her mind in a second and she tried to casually walk that way and not pause at the sprawled males around the room. Really it was unfair, they had been in prison for five years and only made her feel small and frumpy.
All were tall, though Theo was broader than the other two and Blaise far darker. Draco had lighter hair and none looked alike but they were all gorgeous men and it felt like a buffet she couldn't eat or something. Just the thought made her so glad she didn't flush. She'd have to watch that, no making things awkward in any more ways.
Blaise looked up at her and grinned in a way she knew was a warning before he made room for her and she curled into the corner of the couch. Then decided she was best served by waiting and accepted the whiskey when Blaise passed it to her.
"Potter stopped by today." Blaise said into the silence and she only looked up and nodded to him. Patronus days were Tuesday's at ten unless previously arranged and so it was still two days away.
"He remains unhappy." The scoff from Malfoy wasn't a surprise and that made her giggle into her glass. The normalcy, or at least nostalgia at that response.
"I know Blaise. I hear once a week." She wasn't sarcastic but he shot her a sideways glance that made her feel defensive.
"What?" She asked him finally. Then took a sip and looked at the other two. Who were watching them but didn't chime in or offer a clue. Stupid men colluding with Blaise. It was to be expected but really.
"Is he going to arrest you?" Blaise asked and she stared at him.
"He wants to see me now?" She asked him and nodded. She almost asked why he didn't send a letter via Blaise but then she stopped.
"Did he write?" She asked the dark man and could see that Harry had indeed written.
"Where is it?" Was her next question and she seen the glance he exchanged with his friends. Blast them all.
"There is no way I would bring anything from a ministry employee here. Let alone from the same one that brought you a summons before." Was Blaise's dry response and she swatted his chest.
"As if we couldn't check it?" She asked and his look was firm. No deal. No risk.
"I agree with Blaise." Draco said firmly and she rolled her eyes at her friend who looked smug.
"He wasn't writing the boys though." She pointed out pertly and Blaise's smile fell at her pointed remark.
"None of that Bella." He said quietly and she looked down.
"I know. They asked me if I was staying so disappearing, even if it's unwillingly, wouldn't be a good idea." She admitted and Blaise gave her a look she didn't like, it meant she was being flippant and she thought about that.
"As the parent of one of the children you allegedly abducted, I am not pleased with this. I just got out of there and refuse to tell my son you got tossed in there for them." She looked at Draco as he spoke. The first part had been somewhat facetious but the second part was firm and he met her eyes.
"I won't let them take me. They won't either. Maybe Harry might get close enough but he wouldn't do it. I decided last year that I wouldn't let them take me." She admitted and Blaise gave her look that said don't borrow trouble but Theo made an approving sound.
"You thought about it at least." He said and seemed to think it only smart. She smiled a bit at the display of what Blaise called his 'always ready' persona. Always ready for things to go wrong though and he wasn't dependable when things were going better than he had planned for. It was funny now to see something Blaise referenced so often.
"Sometimes I think his life wasn't quite bad enough. Like he thinks of things but doesn't actually expect them to happen." She said to the man who was meeting her eyes directly and seemed more open than in the last couple days.
"That's exactly it. I don't think he's actually been a captive." Theo's serious words might have been a mood killer but there was something in his eyes that she thought meant he was playing a bit and she nodded seriously.
"Hasn't been tied down often enough." She said wisely and Draco chuckled at that and she held Theo's eyes.
"Maybe they are scared of his room." Theo suggested and she giggled then. Trying to keep in character while Draco laughed harder and Blaise huffed beside her.
"It's a serious place for serious business." She did manage to keep her voice even but then was laughing at Blaise's muttered threats and before Theo could reply she was being hit with a pillow.
"That's enough you two. Merlin and Nimue." He was growling but he was smiling too and she winked at him while she tried to get her hair out of her face. She felt better and she could tell Blaise did too.
"So is this your way of telling me we haven't gotten anywhere or just reminding me that my oldest friend isn't trustworthy by your standards?" She asked after a minute and a refill.
"Both Bella. There was no point talking about any of this with them if you weren't here." She thought he meant it and she nodded her understanding. He had said before that it depended on these two. How he went about it and how long it might take.
"I get the same monthly letter that all lawyers for missing suspects get. It's automated and as of fifteen days ago you are still wanted." Blaise's tones were calm and she didn't make him meet her eyes. This had upset him a lot, so she didn't say anything and looked at the carpet. It was new and she liked it. There was one in a lighter shade of gold in the living room at the Hideout and she wondered if he had a carpet guy or something.
"So your file is still active. No one knows though and so it is part of the boy's sealed files. It's all I can think of. No one ever came with a warrant and other than Potter's visits, which are also monthly and unofficial, there has been no news of any kind." The strained tones indicated his uncertainty and she looked quickly between the other two who were meeting eyes across the room.
"We can't hide them forever." She said into the quiet and both wizards looked at her. She just met their eyes quickly and looked to Blaise beside her, who didn't have any answers or didn't offer them.
"Can we just have you show you have them or something?" She finally asked. Losing patience with the lack of any of them saying anything. The two newcomers didn't look as if they weren't paying attention or as if they didn't have thoughts either. Glances were being fired around this room at light speed and none were for her.
"Nothing says they won't accept that and keep you a fugitive." Theo finally answered her but he was looking at Blaise. Another moment passed in the tense stillness and she was done.
"Why did I need to be here for this?" Her tone made it clear she meant it and Blaise looked to her a second before his friends did. She raised both brows in question and finished her drink, feeling small and not very confident.
"We just have to be sure we don't endanger you or them." Draco said and Blaise looked relieved that he had said that. Which she didn't understand at all, it wasn't surprising.
"Why won't I like this reasonable sounding stipulation?" Blaise was behaving oddly and she was unsettled by the conversation that started out somewhat normally but had somehow devolved.
"Please just ask whatever you don't want to." Her eyes flicked from Draco and Theo to Blaise. Waiting until his dark eyes met hers, she made him hold the eye contact and then made it clear she would wait. Empty glass clutched tightly in her hand while she did.
"Would you like us to settle this quietly?" Was Blaise's eventual question and she wasn't sure she understood.
"Less publicity is always better." Hermione answered evenly but cautiously. Aware she didn't understand something, this was always true.
"There is your answer." Theo said with finality and she looked up at him. His dark blue eyes were on Blaise and she wished he hadn't cut his hair. Trays curls weren't as tight as Theo's and she had always enjoyed watching them. The absent thought made her feel better. Blaise was rigid beside her and Draco had a mask on when she looked over.
"No, that is not an answer that solves anything. Less time in the papers is preferable. This is a truth." Blaise shifted but he wasn't looking at her and she was running out of patience.
"Malfoy. Tell me what the hell my tiny female muggle mind is not understanding." She demanded acidly and he met her eyes. Nearly completely closed to her.
"That you would prefer no one except those already aware knew you have any connection to my son." The words were not hollow but they were closer to the dead voice of their sixth year than she would like and she was sure she flinched.
"No. I didn't agree to that." It was a second of stillness but then she was on her feet and livid. What the hell? She spun to Blaise and his face was nearly blank.
"For years you have dealt with me in a way I would understand. If you can not do that in front of them, then I would prefer we speak privately." All of her emotions were swirling around and she felt blindsided. Without looking at either wizard, she was sure were staring at her, she spun to the door and walked toward it.
"Granger." Malfoy spoke quietly but she didn't want to turn around and so she didn't. She wanted to stomp her feet and she wanted to yell at someone she felt like she could. Someone who hadn't been reunited with his friends or been in prison.
"Bella come back and rage in here. I'll silence the room and I promise they won't be offended." Blaise was louder and she did stop and turn back after three hard steps. Her hands were fisted and she caught the dark eyes of her friend as she came back in.
"Drop that somber look you ass!" Was what she started with and she ignored the muffled laugh from Malfoy. He did but then he was sort of grinning at her but his eyes said he was listening.
"Please tell me right this second if that is what you three want, or you two. That we find a way to not have the boys publicly connected to me." Her tones were even and quiet. She didn't look at anyone, dropping Blaise's eyes before she spoke.
"No." Both wizards with sons spoke nearly immediately and she felt herself slump where she stood, then she met Blaise's eyes.
"Then my anger remains. What the hell?" She asked Blaise and he looked uncomfortable. It wasn't usual but she had seen it before and after ten seconds of his shifting eyes she turned to Malfoy, who she was sure was more likely to speak.
"It wouldn't be becoming to add to what you have already suffered." Draco spoke quietly and she was incredulous again.
She could tell that he saw it because his eyes flicked to her wand, which was in her hand and she hadn't noticed. Quietly she put it on the table by where she was sitting. Not sure if they needed the gesture or what. Wandless magic was totally a thing but sometimes the wand made it hard to concentrate. She wasn't sure what traumas or whatever they had.
"I'm not a Slytherin so throw me a quaffle or whatever you magicals say." She turned to Blaise again who looked more relaxed now and she wondered what in Merlin's name he had been thinking before.
"How about you tell me what you want to have happen." Blaise did smile a bit now and she did too and then it was gone.
"This isn't about what I want." She answered him and wished she wasn't standing in the middle of the room. He was holding her eyes though and she could tell this was a serious kind of moment. He was like that, had moods and it was best not to avoid.
"You tell me what you want to have happen, just like you expected to the day this all blew up." Hermione looked at her friend, her lawyer. She had nearly forgotten that expectation from what felt like ages ago. Blaise's dark eyes said he meant it and she cursed the mercurial nature of this wizard, and his stupid friends. Why couldn't they just talk about this, like normal
people.
"I want them to have normal lives. I want all of us to have normal lives. That seems a tall order though, even for you." Was her reply and she heard the quiet huff from behind her. Blaise had a soft look in his brown eyes now and she wondered how he managed to spend so much time with them, witches should have kept him tied to the bed.
"We free them, keep them until they are out. Halfway there." She offered after some seconds of thinking about it and he gave her a look that said it didn't answer the base issue. Whatever that was, she still didn't know.
"What? Is this about wanting to see them? Yes I want to see them. See them in restaurants and at a fair. Watch them play quidditch, do you guys have a youth league or something? Let's go get them some kittens or even a Pygmy puff. They will love George's shop." At that she turned to the two behind her and looked between them.
"Don't you want that? To just live, with them?" She asked quietly and couldn't see how this wouldn't be true. She had assured the boys and had been sure herself that they would meet them and want to just be with them. Family and together.
"Yes. I had no idea what that would look like before you guys showed up but yes." Draco said seriously and Theo made what she thought was a stilted nod and she didn't know what to do, or what to say. Blaise, he was her only hope for somehow making this something. Turning to face him again, she felt like she was missing something and he thought so too.
"Just say it." She basically begged him, all pride lost. Metaphorically getting to her knees and he shifted then she watched his eyes flick from Draco to Theo. Trying to see this difference in his expressions as he looked between the other two. Encouragement and then nearly stern was what she saw and she didn't understand at all. Then she had a desperate idea. Maybe it was ridiculous but this whole moment was. It had started normally and now it was something totally different.
"Can you give Blaise permission to speak. Like ask or phrase it however or something?" She spun towards the two behind her and she wished this wasn't so ridiculous. They could have at least sat where she could see them all.
Theo and Draco exchanged glances and unlike Blaise, she could read nearly nothing. So she turned back to her friend who was watching his friends with rapt attention. Clearly they were considering her proposal which was just weird. It had sounded so stupid.
"Do you want to do this together? Like face it together. You and them. The whole thing. The boys will be a sensation and that the heroine left to protect them." He trailed off and she tried to see why this was a question.
"Maybe I should ask the question?" She suggested and Blaise nodded firmly. As if this was what he had wanted and he knew what she would say. Why didn't he say so then?
"Will you two let me see them? I'm not their parent of course and I know that. I love them though and if you will let me, I still want to be their My. Have them and do things with them." Blaise shifted and she looked from the two who seemed contained to Blaise who she thought was indicating that had been close but not enough.
"What? I want it. They are not mine but they are, in a way you know. They could be really happy with you two, I'm sure they will be. I won't try and be anything more than their friend or whatever." This felt like a balancing act of making sure she said what she wanted, or some of it at least, but also didn't ask for more than what was fair or even her right to ask for, which was basically nothing.