January 23rd

A soft knock on the door to Lee Jordan's comfortable guest bedroom woke Hermione out of a sound sleep. It had been her intention once she was out of the shower the night before and dressed in clean pajamas laid out for her on the bed that she would only rest for a little while. Hardly even close her eyes. Her safety inside the Jordans' home was still uncertain. Maybe he was playing an elaborate game. Antonin could've put out an award for her capture. Everything she saw in the house on the way to the guest room on the ground floor and once inside seemed to prove that Lee wasn't hurting for money, but she knew better than most that outward appearances could be deceiving. Despite her best effort to remain awake, she'd allowed the warmth of the room and the softness of the bed to lull her into a dangerous sleep.

She was hesitant in opening the door to the corridor, unsure what to expect. Lee's behavior the night before had been bordering on bizarre. Who in their right mind invites a known Death Eater to spend the night in the same home as their wife and children? Especially one as notorious as she had been? There were numerous reasons and none of them were good. The woman on the other side of the door gave Hermione a nervous smile. At least she seemed intelligent enough to be afraid. Behind her light green eyes, she wasn't as successful at hiding her apprehension. If the woman was a witch, there was simply no way she could be unaware of just who she was standing across from.

"There's fresh tea in the kitchen and I just made some eggs if you're hungry."

Hermione wasn't used to using her voice. Long periods of time completely alone meant that the sound was strange even to her own ears. Wanting nothing more than to put the other woman at ease, she tried to return the smile. A promise that she would come out for breakfast when she was dressed seemed to help. Mrs. Jordan laughed a charming nervous giggle.

"Take your time. There's a warming charm on your plate."

Less than five minutes later, Hermione was dressed in her own clothes she'd removed the night before. The bed was made and the borrowed pajamas neatly folded on the pillow. She began to search for her beaded bag until she remembered that Lee never returned it. Being without even her most meager of belongings discomforted her even more than she was already. After a couple of deep breaths intended to calm her own rising anxiety, she traveled down the short corridor towards the familiar sounds of a kitchen.

Lee was nowhere to be seen. Hermione wasn't sure if that was a good sign or not. She had so many questions that she didn't imagine would be answered without him present. Mrs. Jordan gestured to an empty seat at the table with a plate of steaming eggs. Hot food, especially freshly prepared, was a luxury that she wasn't used to. Once upon a time, most of her meals were prepared in her own kitchen at home. It seemed like a lifetime ago. Not waiting for her to ask, her hostess brought the teapot over to fill up her empty mug.

"Thank you, Mrs. Jordan."

"Please call me Sarah."

Hermione nodded her acknowledgment, but stuffed a forkful of eggs into her mouth to keep from being expected to respond. Social cues and expectations were in as much disuse as Hermione's voice. The most she could hope for that meal was to make it to the end without completely insulting the other woman unintentionally. Sarah moved around the kitchen constantly, using activity as her own way to avoid a potentially uncomfortable conversation. What she could possibly be thinking about the situation she found herself in amused Hermione. She couldn't imagine it would have been a pleasant discussion to learn that her husband was bringing a dangerous criminal into their homes.

"Lee will be back shortly. He walked the girls to school around the corner."

"School?"

Even before the war was over and the Dark Lord was placed in absolute power, there had been small schools around the country preparing young witches and wizards for Hogwarts. These primaries instructed their students in all of the basic subjects they needed a foundation in before they could hope to learn magic at age eleven. Compulsory attendance at Hogwarts had been mandated early on once the war ended. Even Muggle-born students were allowed to attend the school under very strict guidelines.

As a Halfblood, a fact that very few alive were even aware of, Lord Voldemort did not prescribe to the belief of blood supremacy that so many of his early followers did. That had simply been a ploy to get more influential members of society involved in his plans to take over the wizarding world. Once Harry Potter was no longer a threat to his plans to live forever, the Dark Lord made his true feelings clear. Anyone who had any small bit of magical power was welcome in his new society provided they showed complete and total loyalty to him. It was a change in policy that angered many of the staunchest blood purists, but the Dark Lord left no room for dissension. 'Comply or die' had been his mantra.

Life for a Muggle-born student at Hogwarts had never been easy. Under the rule of the Dark Lord, it became only slightly less unbearable. Most didn't return for a second year, deciding instead to snap their wands in half and return to the obscurity and relative peace of the Muggle world. Those that were brave enough, or foolish enough depending on how one looked at it, to make it through all seven years of Hogwarts and to score favorably on their NEWTs were admitted into wizarding society with little fanfare. They were expected to always prove themselves worthy of the title of 'witch' or 'wizard'. It was exhausting, but there were benefits.

Wales was considered a neutral area. Neither Pro-Voldemort nor Pro-Resistance, a treaty had existed for almost as long as the regime, granting them special privileges from both sides for not willfully engaging with either. Their children were expected to attend Hogwarts if they wished to exist outside of the insular community of their home. If they chose not to, there were at least two small schools that Hermione was aware of that catered to the young Welsh wizards and witches. Unsure of the ages of Lee Jordan's children, she couldn't be sure if they were enrolled in one of those institutions or simply learning how to read and write.

"Just the basics right now," Sarah explained. "When they get old enough to go to Hogwarts, Lee and I will give them the choice. They get to decide what they want to do. We both have such fond memories of Hogwarts that it seems selfish to not even give them the opportunity to experience it."

"You were at Hogwarts?"

Sarah might have smiled, but Hermione instantly felt perhaps she should've been ashamed for asking.

"I was in Hufflepuff just a year after Lee. Our paths never crossed, I'm sure."

"Oh."

They were spared from any further awkwardness by Lee's return. He walked straight to his wife, pressed his lips against hers for a brief moment, and turned to face Hermione with his arm around his wife's waist. Though not entirely subtle, he was making it clear to his guest that he would protect the woman he loved if necessary. Once again, Hermione felt nothing but respect for the man.

"Sarah has a cousin who works as a liaison with the Muggle world here in Wales. Any time someone is arrested with a wand in their possession, an alarm goes off in his department. Not sure how it works. Something to do with computers. Truthfully, it's beyond me."

Lee sat down at the table across from Hermione to continue his explanation. She was thankful that he seemed eager to answer several of the questions that had been plaguing her since he picked her up from the Muggle police station the night before.

"I am a member of a security council that keeps an eye on the witches and wizards entering and leaving Wales. When he owled me a copy of your... oh, darling, what do they call those frozen photographs?"

"Mugshots."

"Yes, thank you. When I received your mugshot, I wasn't sure what to do. There are rumors, even in Wales, that you've not been seen with You-Know-Who in several months. Some believe you are dead."

Hermione dropped her eyes to the last few morsels of eggs left on her plate.

"I ran away. It became… too much."

"That's what I assumed. Or rather, that's what I hoped."

His words encouraged her enough to look up. Many lessons over the course of her life, taught by Antonin and others, helped her to understand when she could believe someone was genuine. Nothing she saw in Lee's eyes or countenance gave any indication that he was lying. He wanted to believe that there was still some good inside the girl he knew from school a lifetime earlier.

"We can't offer much. Just a place to stay for a little while until you know what you want to do next. No one will bother you here. Your kind… I mean, Death Eaters don't come within our borders without our permission. Neither does the Resistance. Stay here. Rest. Maybe we can help you find your way."

A feeling and a desire that Hermione hadn't experienced in too long began to manifest itself within her chest and the itching in her eyes. Expressing emotion was weakness. It was another of Antonin's rules. Bottle up anything that could be distracting from the task at hand. Of course, he was just as human as the rest of them. Eventually, he would explode from all of the pent-up emotions. It was best to be as far away from him as possible when it happened. Knowing that she couldn't allow herself to cry in front of two practical strangers, she swallowed the lump of emotion in her throat and asked a very simple, but important question.

"Why?"

Lee sighed and took a moment to gather his thoughts before he spoke. To encourage her husband in what had to have been a difficult moment, Sarah placed both of her slim hands on his shoulders. He seemed to draw strength from the simple touch. Hermione choked down her own rising bitterness.

"Maybe for the love my best mate had for you when he was alive."

Hermione felt her cheeks burn. More times than she could count in the innocent days of the past, she remembered catching Fred in an unguarded moment looking at her. He would usually brush it off with a joke or an exaggerated wink, but she hadn't been unaware of his feelings. Sometimes, she even found herself imagining what it might be like to encourage him. Lee, in an accurate imitation of his friend, laughed and winked to lighten the mood. It didn't help.

"Or maybe I see an opportunity to help. Seems to me you haven't had a lot of that since that horrible day at Hogwarts."

She couldn't argue.