While he wasn't thrilled about leaving the two of them behind, it was also a few minutes he could use to try and think about things. Or not think about things and just keep going.
It wasn't all that believable, that they had gone into the master suite of his home and fulfilled the Rites. None of the scenarios he had considered had been that one. The way she looked at him and the way she felt, the magic and her words. He had wanted her to do it but when she asked him for help he knew that was better. His mind was still kind of foggy from the mind bending orgasm and magic combination. The amount of magic and the power of it was more than he had anticipated.
Hermione was more than he had anticipated too. When he realised what was happening this morning she was trying to move. His immediate response had been to restrict that and instead of fighting him she had given him a minute, let his mind accept his location and the feelings. Her body was soft and smooth against his. The sinful feeling of his cock rubbing against her and the way she was there with him, like she was okay with it. The witch admitted she didn't really want to get up but had to and he knew he had to let her go. The rush of feelings as he watched her leave the bed weren't anything to be proud of.
All he could think was what if she didn't come back. If this time was over and there would be a different landscape between them when he seen her next. Their eye contact didn't say that though and he hadn't been sure that this wasn't all part of the magic, that the ease between them had come from that and she wouldn't be as open to him when she had time to think about it.
Calling the elf had come to mind immediately. Then he had made himself wait, sat up against the headboard, he knew he wanted to keep that particular piece of furniture. It was plush and comfortable, it had been here last night and he wanted to keep it. When he thought enough time had passed the elf didn't even pop in, merely appeared by the door and waited, meeting his eyes and that was not the usual. His question as to whether she was still in there was met with a curt yes. Then he asked politely if the elf would ask her if he could join her. It had been a few seconds of silence before the elf popped away.
He grinned at the way being with her had surely changed the elf. He didn't remember him distinctly from before but if he had always been set to be Charlotte's then that made sense. He was Hermione's now and that was comforting in a way, an elf wasn't to be trifled with if they didn't want to be.
Standing in Josh's floo room wasn't the time to think about the shower and the two witches were waiting so he called Minty and was informed his friend was in the dueling room. That wasn't particularly good at all. In fact it was telling, Josh was frustrated and he wasn't sure what was going on in his friend's head.
When Josh got out it had been good. He thought that his friend was steady enough and had his head on straight. They had talked about taking what came and their usual conversations about outcomes. Thor had talked broadly, but in more detail than ever before, about the way Hermione had talked about Daphne. Tried his best to make sure Josh wasn't so defensive with the witch and her family that something unfortunate happened. Two and a half years in prison wasn't a joke and Josh had worried relentlessly about what it was doing to both witches and his name, his life.
Thorfinn didn't think it would be that bad and there were no indications now that it was. Something about Hermione wasn't sitting right with his friend and he didn't like it. That was the last thought he had before he said scales to the door and it opened.
The room was a bit different. There were cabinets built into the wall closest to him and a door that was labelled change rooms on the far wall. Other than that, it was the same dark grey room with a black floor.
"Breakfast time." He said and knew Josh knew he was there and so waited. His friend was contained and Thor had never understood how he did it but that's how Josh was and his years with him had taught him that pushing wasn't always the right answer, especially if you weren't sure what the problem was. Thor wasn't sure now and so the lack of any mention of the clear issue.
"Is she alright?" He stared at the back of his friend's head at the terse question and wondered what he was thinking.
"Yes. Sitting at the table with Sabrina." Thor answered easily and the tension didn't leave Josh's posture.
"What do you want to know?" He asked after too long without movement or speech.
"Tell me something." Josh's seething frustration was clear even though it had been absent until now.
"The Rites are insane. It was good I think, not traumatic in any way. She talked to me. Looked me in the eye, when she could. We went for a walk this morning." He answered seriously and Josh turned to him, wand in hand and Thor didn't say anything else. It was fresh and personal, between her and him.
He wanted to tell Josh some things, not sexual things but some of how he felt. Hermione didn't trust his friend though, not with her feelings. That was difficult to accept and he hoped it wouldn't stay that way.
Thor watched the indecision and was losing patience already, he took a breath and then spoke.
"She expects you to come with me to breakfast." Josh met his eyes then and he could tell that had been the right way to go about it.
"I'll be ready in a minute." Josh spoke after a long look and a reluctant nod. He let Josh walk past him and waited for enough time that he wouldn't be heard before retracing his steps and waiting by the floo.
Maybe they were going to France, he had noticed the listing on his parole terms. It was labelled holiday residence and had the symbol for secure information on it. So she had registered it and had it sealed. Probably for their paroles, Sabrina had said she had mentioned Josh and him going there when they had gone for the first time summers ago.
Neither of them spoke when Josh walked in and he sent them to the same floo on the second floor. The family wing main floo, and stepped out into the quiet space. The vaguely unfinished nature of it was odd but he understood, or thought he did. She wanted him to be here when they made this place a home, he hoped that was what it meant. Sabrina and Zabini had both straight out said or implied it and he tried to just accept their confidence.
The two walked down two hallways and then he heard the low laugh of his witch and the louder one of Sabrina in return.
"Dress shopping with Astoria was always going to be an exercise in loyalty." Hermione said firmly and Sabrina was quiet, Hermione added on in a quieter tone as Josh and him made it to the door.
"Daphne has promised us separate spa rooms. Me and you, her and Astoria." The tone said it was the best they could ask for and he let himself chuckle lowly and enjoy the way their eyes darted toward the door. Neither were surprised and so had known they were there.
"Still not your favourite Sprite?" He asked and the two of them sat down. The table wasn't groaning but it was full and he raised an eyebrow at the witch. She shrugged as if she couldn't control what the elves did.
"No. Thankfully she isn't the one marrying into the family." Sabrina's words were sort of polite but her tone wasn't.
"Rina, we don't have to like everyone." It was sort of a chastisement but also permission and acceptance. He had wondered how they interacted, what it would be like and it was way different from anything he had seen before. Not quite peers, Sabrina seemed to expect some amount of parenting and she had mentioned that word yesterday. Her smile said she liked it too and Josh made a sound Thor thought was agreement.
He listened to Sabrina and Hermione talk quietly and emptied his plate. He felt better then, maybe the magic took more out of him than he thought. The witch had eaten twice what she had last night and Josh caught his eye. The look said what his friend thought and he only rolled his eyes, glad Josh hadn't been betrothed to his sister.
For the first time he seriously thought that his friend might actually prefer it wasn't him. That thought was unsettling and he pushed it away when Sabrina asked if they were staying here for the day and Hermione didn't respond. That led his sister to look at him and he wasn't sure what to say.
"Do you want to go?" He asked her and watched the two witches exchange a glance.
"Yes." Sabrina said it to Hermione but then looked at him. Her eyes showed she meant it but he didn't think she actually wanted to if he didn't, wouldn't be upset if they stayed here instead.
"Then we will. Are you opposed to warmer weather?" He asked Josh and made sure he seen the look that said he could come or not, genuinely no pressure mate.
"For dinner?" Josh suggested and both witches nodded.
"Just you?" Hermione asked and he couldn't read anything more into it than that, wanting to know how many they would be. Josh looked to him and he knew this was his call.
"Yeah." Thor knew it wasn't the polite thing to say but none of the three around him looked anything other than accepting.
"It's Wednesday so maybe Daphne could come this weekend." Hermione suggested and his agreement seemed to set Josh at ease some.
The paper was enough to keep them occupied once it appeared beside Hermione's plate. Josh looked unhappy before she opened it and stared at the headline.
"That explains the delay, maybe I should be grateful Zavi let me have it at all." He watched her cheeks pink and Sabrina stilled and then a look of blank expectancy was on her face.
Those usually warm brown eyes were chilly indeed when Hermione finally looked up. He held Josh's eyes and held a hand out to the witch. The paper touched his hand and she wasn't looking at him, but at her empty plate, when he looked at her and took it.
He scanned the headline and then the listing of the smaller articles that made up the whole. Basically it was a timeline and it ended with what the Prophet could put together about the Rites.
That part was relatively respectful but the rest was hardly kind. Sabrina and Sinclair, how frequently she was seen or known to be in and out of Azkaban, people she had been linked to and allegations made. The analysis of her political aims was interesting but the one that got him was what the public knew of their interactions in the war. The way they wrote about the ironic twist that led her to marry a man who had allegedly tried to hand her over to worse than she ended up suffering.
It was all he could do to be still. He wished he hadn't read the fucking paper, had stayed in the tiny bubble they were in and not thought about the public. About what everyone else thought or didn't about the two of them.
"You should have bought it." Josh bit out and he looked up to see his friend staring at his witch with frustration clear for them to see.
"Are you why Mac is always mentioning that?" She looked as frustrated as her brother and he could only look to Sabrina to see what she thought. His sister was staring at the paper in his hands and he didn't want to give it to her. The fierce demand there was clear though and so he did, handed the paper to his sister and looked up when Josh didn't answer.
"Having to read that is hardly a pleasant pastime." Josh said eventually and Hermione just stared before seeming to calm herself by will alone.
"Then you buy the paper. I don't want to deal with what people will say if they think I'm censoring the press." Was her reply and Josh didn't answer her. He did stand and quietly thank her for the meal before nodding at him and Sabrina then leaving.
The three of them sat in silence while Sabrina read the paper and the witch stared at the door. Eventually she looked to him all he could see was frustration. There were other things but he didn't know her well enough to be able to judge. It was hard to look her in the eye after reading that. In a room she had made sure was there for them and having had her last night. None of that had been there or here until he read that paper and it felt like it might all be gone.
"Rina." Hermione looked away from him when she spoke and his sister made her wait. Thorfinn didn't think she was reading anymore though. Eyes the same as his eventually looked up at he felt worse again at what he could see there. Apology and anger. Hurt too, and he heard Hermione take a deep slow breath.
"We talked about this. Blaise said he was going to talk to you about it too." He looked to her and could see her concern but also the calm she was projecting.
"He did. You did too. It's none of their business." The last was hissed and Hermione smiled then. It wasn't genuine but it was wry and Sabrina huffed and then looked to him, with worry clear to see now. As if she didn't know what he would do or what this meant.
All he could really think to do was offer to give them some space.
"Do you want me to go find Josh for a bit?" He asked and looked between them. Hermione didn't move but Sabrina shook her head firmly, then slumped a bit and he waited.
"No that isn't what I want." She said quietly and Hermione sat up a bit straighter and looked from
his sister to him. He could only wait and look for anything that said this reminder of their past was relevant.
"I expected this, well not this but something. That you two were brought into it is unfair and if you would like the newspaper as an early Christmas gift then we will visit Mac directly." Hermioke spoke to Sabrina, not him but met his eyes several times. Checking he thought and while she wasn't addressing this between them she wasn't stone walling him either. Maybe it was because Sabrina was here, he was grateful for that. His sister viewed the war differently than Hermione did, how that differed exactly he wasn't sure.
"I don't want the paper either. Why would he think you did want to own it?" Sabrina was clearly incredulous and he cleared his throat. Offering to add a comment if they wanted. He felt less certain now than ten minutes ago.
"If you have some insight then do share." Hermione said and Sabrina gave him a look he couldn't quite decipher. It wasn't warning though and so he did.
"The fact that you were slandered and questioned so brutally and publicly was difficult for us to deal with. I'm sure you didn't bring him the worst of it but I assure you he has read it now. I'm not saying you need the protection or shielding but that you can't fault us for preferring this wasn't a stress in your life." Both blinked are him and then they looked at each other.
"That didn't come across." Sabrina said bluntly into their clear surprise.
"Surely he can do that though. In a better way than buying the paper." Hermione looked thoughtful and disbelieving. He considered that and the fact that she had been surrounded by Slytherins for all this time. Increasingly more of them and been accomplishing things with them, Narcissa Malfoy probably didn't want to own the paper either.