A/N: Thank you all so much for your reviews, favorites and follows after last chapter! And thank you for being patient with the wait...my old computer bricked and I was waiting until today for my new laptop to arrive :) I hope that you enjoy this chapter...I know a lot of you have been missing Regulus. You can follow me on tumblr (nauticalparamour) where I post sneak peeks, story updates and answer questions.

Please let me know what you thought of chapter twenty-four and be on the lookout for chapter twenty-five soon!

2000

Staring at the tea in his cup, Draco wondered if his Uncle was going to feel compelled to speak first, or if he was just going to wait for Draco to divulge what had prompted the sudden request for a meeting. He hoped that Regulus would say something because he wasn't entirely sure how he could bring up what he wanted to. Salazar, he couldn't remember the last time he'd spent any time one on one with his Uncle.

"I take it you didn't ask to come over just because you enjoy my tea making skills," Regulus teased, a confused look in his knowing grey eyes. "Why don't you ask me whatever it was that you wanted to?"

"How did you get Aunt Hermione?" Draco asked, the words coming out of his mouth in a jumble, sounding far less eloquent than he'd planned. Immediately, he flushed in embarrassment. "What I mean to say is...how did you get Aunt Hermione to fall in love with you?"

Regulus laughed at the rather unexpected question. "Well, if I am honest, you've got it the wrong way around," he explained, setting his tea cup down. "It was your Aunt Hermione that had me falling head over heels for her."

Draco was surprised to hear that. Regulus was a very good looking bloke, even now when he was nearly forty, with his wavy dark hair and mercurial eyes. He would have guessed that his uncle had all sorts of witches throwing themselves at him while he'd been in Hogwarts. "Really?" he asked, amazed that he'd never heard this story before.

"It's true," Regulus continued on, getting a far off look in his eyes. "And, for the longest time I was convinced that she was after Sirius the whole time and I would make an utter fool of myself if I told her how I felt about her, even after she kissed me the first time."

The younger Slytherin felt sure that his eyebrows were going to retreat all the way into his hairline at how surprised he was. This wasn't how he'd thought Hermione and Regulus's relationship had gone at all. "But, you were courting her, weren't you?" Draco asked weakly. "Mum always said that you two courted in the old way."

Regulus gave him a wry little look. "Well, I'm embarrassed to tell you this, but the only reason we were courting was because my mother demanded it after learning that Hermione was also courting Rabastan Lestrange," he said with a wince. "She couldn't bare the thought of the Lestranges getting their hands on a pureblood witch completely new to our society," he said, rolling his eyes.

"Hermione dated a Lestrange?" Draco said, sounding a bit hysterical. "And you only started dating her because your mum told you to?"

"The war was an odd time," Regulus said, returning his eyes to nephew. "But I am glad that she did. It gave Hermione and I time to get to know one another."

"I am starting to think that you weren't the best person to go to for relationship advice," Draco said, running a hand down his face. "My Hermione has a lot in common with Aunt Hermione," he continued on, not noticing the look on his Uncle's face. "And I was hoping you'd have some sort of secret on how to win her heart."

"Well, I'm not completely hopeless. I still got her to agree to marry me, despite my mother," Regulus countered. "Why don't you tell me what you've been doing so far?" he asked gently.

Draco quickly launched into a description of all the ways that he'd been trying to demonstrate his value to Hermione as a romantic partner, including all the lingering touches. He liked to think that he was well versed in flirting, especially growing up with Alphard as a roommate, but Hermione remained stubbornly immune to everything that he tried. "I'm beginning to worry that she might not feel the same way about me," he said quietly, hoping that by voicing his words aloud, he wasn't speaking the words into existence.

"Well, Draco," Regulus said, after listening to everything he'd been doing. "If your Hermione is anything like my Hermione, she is going to be completely oblivious to Slytherin subtlety. Being a little more direct is certain to go a long way."

The blond was not really sure what his Uncle was suggesting. "But I've asked her on dates already, she never seems to understand that it's an actual date and not just...friends hanging out."

"I'm saying that you should just be honest with her, Draco. Tell her how you feel," Regulus said.

He felt all the color drain out of his face at the idea of being quite so open with Hermione. It seemed a daunting task and one he couldn't believe he was actually considering. "That seems rather...drastic, doesn't it?" he stammered out.

"Let's put it this way...if you tell her and she doesn't feel the same way about you as you do about her, well, at least you will know," Regulus said gently. "And then you can move on and remain friends. But, if she does like you the same way...well, isn't that worth the risk?"

Draco set down his now empty tea cup. He wasn't sure how he felt about Regulus's advice just yet, but he was certainly going to think on it at the very least. "I suppose there are big payoffs for big risks," he said weakly. "Thank you for your time, Uncle Regulus."

"Of course, Draco, anytime," his Uncle said magnanimously. They stopped together at the floo, giving each other a manly handshake in farewell. "You know, sometimes the only way to sweep a Gryffindor off their feet is by grand romantic gestures," he tacked on as an afterthought.

Draco walked through the floo, feeling more adrift than he had been before he spoke with his Uncle. It wasn't until Draco returned to his flat that he realized that Regulus had gotten Hermione's house wrong. Curious.