Chapter 05:
Hermione was glowering at the broken state of his home when Paul got back.
"What shape did you say you shift into?" she enquired with saccharine sweetness.
Paul furrowed his brows. "I didn't," he said wondering how she knew what he could do.
"Looking at your sty, I'd put my bets on a pig!" she spat angrily at him and Paul felt his lips twitching in amusement.
"Yeah, sorry about that. You see, we're contractors and.."
"Really?" Hermione asked shocked. "If this is how well you work, I wonder how you ever get any jobs at all."
"When the weather's good I'm out working on other's houses and when it's bad, we can't work anyway. And to be honest, I was just happy to have a concrete roof over my head for so long, but now that you're here, I'll try to squeeze in all the hours I can and finish it for you as quickly as possible. Just tell how you'd like it done, and…"
Hermione scowled. "There's no need for that. I'll do it after lunch." Paul cocked his brow in doubt. "You can cook, right?" she asked, ignoring his questioning look, dipping her head towards the cooker.
"Not too well," he confessed sheepishly, rubbing at the hair at the back of his head.
"Order in then. I'm starving. And since this is going to a permanent arrangement, you'd best learn to cook, I'm shit at all the domestic stuff."
His smile was blinding. "So, you are staying?" He pressed, needing to her confirmation.
"What choice do I have? I have worked to better the lives of magical creatures, I can't disown mine now, can I? Plus, thanks to you, everything I've worked for has blown up in my face so I have literally nowhere else to go! Not to mention, we're as good as married…"
Paul spluttered. "I'm sorry, what?!"
"This" Hermione tugged her t-shirt again, "is binding. Have I not been screaming that since I arrived? It's a mating mark. You and I, we're mated. Fated. Call it what you may, but that's that. There's gonna be no one else for either of us, ever. We're it!"