A/N: Thank you all so much for your reviews, favorites and follows! I am so glad that you liked last chapter - seriously, what's not to like about a big, tough guy with a sweet little kitten? I hope that you like what I've got next. You can follow me over on tumblr (nauticalparamour) where I post sneak peeks, story updates, and answer questions!
Please let me know what you thought of chapter six and be on the lookout for chapter seven soon!
Hermione woke up the next day to a curious little Salazar batting gently at her face, perhaps trying to get her attention. Opening her eyes, she was unable to stop her grin at the tiny grey kitten who was perched on her chest, and gave him a little scratch behind the ears. Immediately, the little kitten began to purr and stretch, rubbing his furry body against her neck.
Turning, she looked to see Crookshanks giving her a traitorous glare at the attention she was giving the new cat. "Don't worry, Crooks. Salazar couldn't replace you in my eyes, no matter how cute he is," she spoke to the orange cat. Sitting up, she cradled the kitten against her chest, before standing up from the bed. "Salazar is probably just hungry again, aren't you? Let's go see about getting you a treat."
Setting the kitten down on the floor, she pulled her robe off of the back of her door, tying it loosely around her waist. She wasn't sure if Rabastan was still in the house, but she didn't want to give him a show in her tiny pajamas if she didn't have to. Walking purposefully towards the kitchen, she smiled hearing Salazar meow at her and follow into the kitchen, eager for his next meal.
Yawing, Hermione peered into the living room and found Rabastan still asleep on her couch, one arm raised over his face to block out the sun and one leg half hanging off the edge of the couch. That doesn't look comfortable, she thought to herself, before continuing onto the kitchen. Hermione reached up into the cabinet to find more of the dry food feeling Salazar press little paws against her leg in his eagerness to be fed. "Yes, I've heard you," Hermione whispered to the cat fondly. "Just wait a second."
Placing the open can onto the ground, the kitten dug in greedily, and Hermione prepared Crookshanks his own wet food, thinking that her orange cat was getting rather spoiled with all the treats. Reaching down to the give Crookshanks an affectionate squeeze, she hoped that he wasn't feeling too jealous about the other cat in the house, especially seeing as it was only temporary. "You know I love you best, don't you?" she asked him.
A snort of amusement caught her off-guard, and Hermione spun around, coming face to face with a sheepish looking Rabastan. "Do you always talk to your cat?" he asked.
"You just wait, soon you will be talking to Salazar," she countered, knowing that it was a bit odd. However, it was a way to combat some of the loneliness of living alone. "Besides, I am positive that he understands me sometimes." Hermione's eyes trailed over his arms, no longer covered by his leather jacket, and she was intrigued by the tattoos that he had on his forearms, including one of a snake that curled around, ending around his thumb.
Rabastan yawned loudly. "Wow, this is just about the earliest that I've been awake since I've been out," he told her. "Got any coffee?"
Hermione nodded, trying not to ogle the man too much, and got to work fiddling with the machine so that she'd have something to focus on. It didn't take too long for the coffee machine to beep, and Hermione poured each of them a cup. Turning to hand it to him, she found Rabastan staring out of the kitchen window, showing the great vantage it had of his bit of the garden.
Seeing her red cheeks and guilty gaze, Rabastan smirked at her in amusement. "Great view you've got there, babe," he teased. "You spend much time looking out here?"
She pursed her lips. "I mean, if I happen to be walking by the window, I might look out of it, but it's not as if...I don't make a habit of - it's not like I'm spying on you," she babbled, trying to explain and not sound like a total creep, despite the fact that she had been watching him with some regularity.
"Hey, don't worry, I was just teasing," Rabastan responded, perhaps wondering if he'd pressed her too hard. He took the coffee mug from her hands gratefully, taking a drink, before setting it down on the counter. Leaning back, his light green eyes looked her up and down, appreciating the long leg that was revealed by her pajamas. "Thanks for all your help yesterday. And for letting me crash here."
Hermione shook her head, smiling. "It was nothing. I was happy to help you with Sal," she said, peeking over her shoulder at the kitten who was still whiskers deep in his can of food.
"If I could further impose on your generosity...I'm sure there are all sorts of things that I need to pick up for that little runt," he said, giving her a hopeful look. "Would you help me get it? I'm sure that there are about a hundred things that I haven't even thought about."
"Of course," Hermione agreed readily, her eyes softening when she looked at him. "The shop I go to for Crookshanks should be opening soon. We can go this morning."
"And I'll take you to breakfast," he said suddenly, the words rushing out of his mouth. "I mean, as a thank you, for being so helpful." He ran his hand through his dark hair, making Hermione's breath catch in her throat. "Besides, I owe you for helping me out with my Oyster card, too."
He looked so hopeful, almost childlike, in his eagerness to take her out. Hermione bit her lower lip, wondering if this was a date. Then again, it was only breakfast, not your typical date venue. But, he had spent the night at her's, even if it was just on her couch. He looked so utterly sexy and at home standing in her kitchen, Hermione found herself readily agreeing. "I'd...like that Rabastan," she said, cautiously, wanting to give the man a chance. "Just let me change and I will meet you out front in a few minutes?"
"What about Salazar?" he asked, seeing that the little kitten was not nearly ready to give up his food dish any time soon.
Hermione shrugged. "Oh, you can leave him here for now and then get him when we get back," she suggested. "Besides, I think Crookshanks might like the company." While she wasn't entirely sure if that was the truth, she knew she'd be able to make to up to her elderly cat with catnip and belly rubs later.
Once it was agreed, Rabastan left out the front door, taking his muddy boots with him, while Hermione retreated to her own room to change out of her pajamas and into something a bit more respectable. She wore jeans and an oversized sweater, tying her hair up into a ponytail that was just barely able to contain her wild hair. She hurried outside, only to find Rabastan waiting wearing his usual leather jacket with a soft looking green t-shirt.
He turned around when he heard her coming down the stairs, only to give her a bit of a dumbfounded look. "You look really nice," he said with a shy smile. "Like I'd like to cuddle up to you on a couch all afternoon and read."
Hermione flushed pink, thinking that the picture he painted sounded lovely, but she wondered just how accurate it was. "Really? You'd like to read?" she asked, thinking that he didn't really seem the intellectual type.
"Well, maybe you read, and I watch more of that Top Gear," he said with a shrug of his shoulders, shoving his hands into his pockets, as though he were worried he might want to reach out and hold her hand. "Or I could read a magazine on motorcycles, I'm not particular."
She laughed at that, figuring it was true that he didn't need to be reading some heavy book just to spend the afternoon reading. Leading the way down the block, wanting to take him to the greasy spoon not far away. The morning was bright, but cool, the ground still wet from the rain the day before.
"I actually read a lot in prison," he said after a few beats of silence passed between them. "There wasn't actually much else to do if you wanted to stay out of trouble."
"And did you? Stay out of trouble, I mean," Hermione asked, realizing that she never would have thought about what someone does while they were in prison for ten years. It wasn't as if he could just turn on the telly or watch the match of the week or travel. They would have very limited options of how to keep busy.
"I tried to of course, but every now and again you have to show everyone that you aren't to be messed with," he said, staring at her face to gauge her reactions. "But I mostly spent my free time lifting weights or reading. Thought about trying to do the whole degree thing for a while, but couldn't find anything that really interested me."
Hermione made a little noise, but she really couldn't imagine not being able to find something that interested you enough to get a degree in it. Really, she was more distracted by his comments about lifting weights, knowing exactly how he looked under his shirts from forbidden glimpses she'd stolen when he was working in the back garden and felt her breath speed up a bit at the thought. "Well, schooling isn't for everyone I suppose," she said, diplomatically.
By that time, they had finally reached the restaurant and Hermione went in first, with Rabastan trailing behind her. They found a spot at the counter easily enough and both ordered a scramble for themselves. Sitting so close to one another, Hermione could again feel his leg pressed against hers and she wondered if he was doing it on purpose, wondered if he knew how the physical contact made her heartbeat speed up a bit faster every time.
"So, you were finally able to get your bike working?" she asked, remembering that he'd said he'd found Salazar when he was out on a ride the day before.
Rabastan nodded eagerly. "Yeah, it was the first time that I took it out. Of course, I've still got a ton of work to do on it. You'd be surprised how much needs to be tinkered with after sitting unused for ten years," he told her, his face lighting up when he told her about something that he was obviously very passionate about. He explained all of the things he'd repaired so far between bites of hashbrown and fried tomato, his face filled with a childlike exuberance.
"You should come for a ride with me sometime," he said, nudging her with his shoulder playfully. "I think that you'd really enjoy it."
"Oh, I don't know, it seems awfully scary," Hermione said, nibbling her lower lip.
"I promise that I wouldn't let anything happen to you. You'd just have to hold onto me real tight," he told her with a wink.
Hermione blushed immediately thinking of how nice it would be to hold onto him, her hands snaking into his leather jacket to keep warm. She wondered what his abs would feel like through his ubiquitous white t shirts. "Um, well, I suppose-"
Before Hermione could finish her words, she was interrupted by a voice that she certainly wasn't expecting to hear this early on a Sunday. "Just what do we have going on here?" Ronald's loud voice boomed through the cafe, making sure that everyone's attention was on them.
Hermione turned around to come face to face with her two best friends, Harry looking sheepish and Ron's loud behavior. "Just having breakfast, Ronald, same as you I'd wager," Hermione said, wondering what Rabastan must think of them. Did he wonder how she always managed to attract loud, pushy men in her life?
"And who is your...date?" he asked, his eyebrows narrowing in suspicion at the heavily tattooed man that she was sitting with. She supposed that Rabastan was decidedly not her usual type.
She was about to introduce him, but before she could Rabastan was standing up and offering his hand to shake. "Hi, I'm Rabastan Lestrange," he said with a fake smile on his face. "I'm Hermione's new neighbor."
"Yeah well, I'm Ron," Ron answered, shaking Rabastan's hand with far too much force. "I'm Hermione's - friend," he stumbled over the words, perhaps still hoping that they'd been something more. Hermione sighed, hating that he was doing this. It seemed like Ron only ever got jealous when someone else was interested in her. But, she didn't appreciate his territorial display when he had absolutely no claim over her. She was a grown woman and could make choices on her own.
Harry cleared his throat, amused over the extended hand-shaking contest, before offering his own hand to Rabastan. "I'm Harry, I'm Hermione's friend, too," he said, looking Rabastan up and down, though doing a much better job of not seeming like he was trying to size him up for a fight. "It's nice to meet you, Hermione's mentioned you once or twice."
Hermione's cheeks turned bright red at that, hoping that Rabastan didn't think she'd been mooning over him to her friends or anything like that. Instead, Rabastan didn't seem phased at all. "Yeah? Only good things I hope," he said a bit aggressively, as if he were daring Harry to say otherwise. "I'm sure you'll be hearing a lot more about me in the future. Hermione and I have been getting along splendidly."
"I wouldn't count on it mate," Ron said, glaring at the other man. "A bloke like you - the two of you couldn't possibly have much in common."
She was shocked at how terribly this meeting was going and wanted to end the little impromptu confrontation as quickly as possible. "Alright, well, it was great seeing you two. I think that Rabastan are going to get back to our breakfast," Hermione said through clenched teeth. "Bye Harry, Ron. Talk to you later."
"I dunno, Harry. I think we should sit here with Hermione and Rabastan," Ron countered, before pulling out the seat next to Hermione.
"Actually, Hermione I think we should be on our way," Rabastan said, sounding apologetic, but appearing anything but. He pulled out his wallet and threw a couple of bills onto the counter. He wrapped his arm around her waist in a possessive move, but Hermione couldn't find it in herself to tell him off after the deplorable way that Ron had acted. Instead, she found herself leaning into his side, enjoying the way the heat from his hand radiated into her side.
Trying to hide a smirk from the dazed look on Ron's face, Hermione bid her two friends goodbye. "See you guys later. Text me?" she asked, but let Rabastan lead her out of the restaurant before she could hear either of their replies.
By the time that they were outside, Rabastan made no move to remove his arm from where it was holding her tight against his body, and Hermione didn't make a move to wiggle her way out. It was nice. And really, she was just pleased that he still wanted anything to do with her after how crazy her friends seemed. "I'm so sorry about that," she apologized.
"Don't worry about it," Rabstan said with a snort. "Despite their best efforts, neither one of your friends was very intimidating to me." He seemed to walk a bit taller after that. "So, there was something between you and the ginger one then?"
Hermione sighed, wondering how best to answer the question. "We've been friends for ages, who always seemed to like the other one at the wrong time. But, as I've grown to see how immature he is, well, the attraction sort of fizzled out on my end. We've agreed that we are better off as just friends," she told him smartly, only to be dismayed with Rabastan gave her an incredulous look. "It's true!"
"Well, he's certainly jealous enough that he seemed like a scorned ex. Maybe he wasn't as much in agreement as you were," Rabastan countered with a look that seemed to suggest he knew what he was talking about.
She considered his words carefully, and wondered if he was maybe right. "It doesn't matter what he is in agreement with. I don't want to date him anymore," she said with a finality that she didn't know she possessed. It was true that she didn't want to, but it felt good to say it out loud, affirming the feelings that she knew she felt. "I don't owe him anything."
Rabastan gave her an appreciative look, admiring the way that she seemed to know exactly what she wanted. And perhaps he was just a little bit glad that it was not Ron that she wanted. Giving her a small smile, he deftly changed the subject. "Alright, where is the pet store? I've got a little critter that needs all sorts of supplies and treats."
Hermione returned his grin. "Yes, treats are very important. You are already learning what it takes to be a successful cat owner," she teased him. "It's just right around the corner." As they walked along the pavement together, Hermione was surprised to realize that talking with Rabastan had put her completely at ease after the intense confrontation with her friends.
She really liked him far more than she should.
