A/N: Thank you all so much for your reviews, favorites and follows! I can't believe we are already on chapter eight of this story! Just a heads up, there will be 15 chapters, so we are just a little over halfway through it! I really hope that you enjoy what this chapter has in store :) 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 eight and be on the lookout for chapter nine soon!


It had been one week since the odd run in with Rabastan's brother at the grocery store, and Hermione had not seen seen her elusive neighbor, despite all of her best wishes. The only time that she'd even caught a glance of him it was only his back. He'd been working on his motorcycle once again, a greasy bandana hanging out of the back pocket of his jeans. By the time she'd gone outside to her own garden to try to speak to him over the wall, he'd gone inside.

Hermione was beginning to wonder if perhaps Rabastan was avoiding her. The realization that she missed him had come on suddenly one evening. It caught her completely off-guard. She wasn't sure when it had happened, but her heart had slowly been warming to the forward man.

She wanted to know how he was adjusting to things with Salazar. Were they still snuggling together every night? She wanted to know if he'd been back to the grocery store once again or had he relapsed into his frozen pizza culinary skills. Mostly, she missed talking to him about anything and everything, getting to know more insights about him.

At first, she'd been so taken aback by his amorous attitude towards her, but she'd come to miss his flirty banter and the way that his light green eyes would linger on her form, not even trying to hide that he was checking her out. Forbidden, memories of the time he'd kissed her would come back to her while she was tucked into her bed at night, and she was surprised to find herself wanting to kiss him again.

It wasn't until the following Saturday that Rabastan had finally knocked on her door once again. Hermione had to bite the inside of her lip to stop from smiling so broadly. He shouldn't know how much she missed him after he'd ignored her for a whole week. Not without an explanation at least.

Rabastan had his hands shoved in his pockets, a sign of how nervous he was, when Hermione finally opened the door. However, his scruffy face held no hint of anxiousness when he locked eyes with her, instead adorned by a crooked smile that belied his sheepishness. "Hey," he said, looking at her casual studying outfit.

"Hey yourself," Hermione answered, raising an eyebrow in his direction.

"I was um, wondering...if you'd like to come over to my place for dinner?" he asked eagerly. "I'm still finding my way around the kitchen, and it would be nice to have the supervision of someone who definitely doesn't eat takeaways all the time."

Hermione laughed despite herself. "Hm, sounds tempting. What's in it for me?" she countered, already knowing that she was going to agree.

"Well, I've got far too much dinner to eat myself, so you'd have a warm meal. You'd also get to play with a rather precocious kitten called Salazar," he said, counting off points on his fingers, drawing her attention to his fingers. "I'd get to make it up to you for dipping out on you the other night. Oh, and you'd get to spend time with me."

She tilted her head to the side as though she were already considering it. "Hm, you've sold me," she said finally, feeling her stomach swoop when she saw how much his face lit up at her agreement. "Just let me grab my shoes." She shut the door before slipping into her trainers and grabbing her keys, before meeting Rabastan back onto the stoop.

She had to admit that she was very curious to see the inside of his flat, having not been in the garden level for many years. She eagerly followed him down the steps, only to be amazed with the delicious smells that hit her when she walked in. "Wow, it smells amazing in her Rabastan. Are you sure you really need my help?" she asked, already feeling impressed.

"Ha, I've barely even gotten through the first step of the recipe," he told her with a shrug of his shoulders. "Talking about Zabinis the other day gave me a real hankering for some bolognese, so I decided to try my hand at it. All I've done so far is browned the meat."

Hermione followed him into the kitchen and saw that he was telling the truth, seeing the large pot on the hob. "Well, what can I help you with?" she asked, wanting something to do with herself so she didn't just gawk at her handsome neighbor.

"How are you at cutting onions?" he asked, showing her the recipe that he'd printed out.

"Pants, I'm afraid," Hermione said with a grin. "It always makes me tear up. I could do the carrots and celery, though," she offered. Rabastan nodded eagerly, before getting her set up with his plastic cutting board and knife. Before long, she was working away at the vegetables, chopping them into even pieces.

When she dumped them into the pot, Rabastan looked at her amazed. In front of him was his own chopped onion, which had pieces of every sort of size, not at all precise. "How did you do that?" he asked, sounding astonished. "I could barely even hold the onion straight!"

Hermione laughed with him, before wrapping her hand around the hand that held his knife, showing him the technique she used to methodically chop the onion into more manageable pieces. She tried not to blush when his face became very serious, enjoying the feeling of holding his hand. Once it was done, they dumped the onion into the pot as well, before leaving it to stew for a bit.

"You want wine?" he asked, motioning to an unopened bottle of red. "It's not as nice as what we had before, but its not total swill either."

She nodded eagerly, slipping into one of the chairs at the tiny kitchen table that was pressed against the wall. She bit her lower lip while she watched his long fingers working to uncork the bottle and pour her a glass. "So, the other day you said you had work, and I realized that I am such a terrible neighbor, I don't even know what you do," she pressed, wanting to get some more information on him.

Rabastan handed her a glass, before sitting in the chair opposite her. "I work as a bouncer at a bar not far from here. Just checking IDs, that sort of thing," he said with a shrug of his shoulders.

"It doesn't seem like something you are that excited about?" Hermione asked, before realizing how stupid that sounded. She figured that there were very few people who thought it was their life's calling to be a bouncer, and the reason that he worked there probably had more to do with his recent release from prison. Even though they weren't supposed to discriminate, she didn't doubt that some people would take a look at his record and then throw his application in the trash.

He gave her a hopeful smile. "It pays the bills, and it's fairly steady work. The hours aren't terrible, though sometimes I feel a bit like a creature of the night, getting home so late and sleeping in until the afternoon," he explained.

Hermione laughed at his characterization, before shaking her head. "Surely there is something else that you might like to do more?" she questioned, hoping that she wasn't treading into any uncomfortable topics with him. "What are you good at?"

"Well, I'm pretty handy with my motorcycle, actually," he said, sounding thoughtful. "I think I might like to be a mechanic, but I don't exactly have the training for it."

She smiled at him encouragingly, knowing just how much he must like working with his motorcycle considering how often he was out in the back garden. There was something about Rabastan that just seemed right with a bit of grease smudged on his hands, holding a wrench. "I think it would suit you. Maybe once you get settled, you could see what kind of training you would need. You don't have to have everything figured out right away, Rabastan," she encouraged him, reaching over the table to give his hand a little squeeze in hers.

He brightened up at the physical contact, opening his hand and threading his fingers through her's, his thumb tracing idle patterns on the inside of her wrist. "You're right," he said softly, his green eyes never leaving her face. "I've just gotta keep making steps forward. I don't have to jump right in."

Hermione blushed, wondering if he was talking about his life after prison, or if he were speaking more about this tentative relationship that they were tiptoeing on together. Before she could answer him, their timer was going off, signaling the need to add in the tomatoes. She stood abruptly, returning to her cutting board to try and put a little distance between the two of him. Rabastan made her feel warm and giddy, unlike any boy she'd ever had a crush on before.

After they set up the final timer to let them know when the sauce would be done, they returned to the table and talked idly about Hermione's classes. Rabastan didn't seem to have much context for some of the history that she was studying, but it seemed like he was mostly just eager to listen to her talk, with a dumb, lovestruck look on her face. At some point, Salazar leapt into his lap, snuggling into a tiny ball that really did have Hermione's heart melting.

He cleared his throat after a bit, giving Salazar a tiny scratch behind the ears that had the kitten preening in delight. "I hope that your friends didn't give you too hard of a time after last weekend," he said with a frown. "I hope I didn't embarrass you too much."

"No, you didn't...embarrass me. They were the ones that embarrassed me," Hermione explained. "They'll get over it. Ron is dating a new girl this week, probably trying to show me how over me he is, but he'll come around eventually. We always apologize to each other in the end."

Rabastan looked at her, an unsure look on his face. "Maybe you two need to clear the air. You said that you mutually decided not to date, but if he's still acting so jealous..." he trailed off, before giving her a sly smile. "I'd be happy to sort him out for you, if you need."

Hermione laughed despite herself. "No, no, there is no need to go around punching my friends," she teased. "Harry and Ginny will sort him out if he's still moping."

Before he could respond, there was a furious pounding at the door. Rabastan stood up, confused. He looked out of the peephole, only to be confronted with the warped image of his brother and Bellatrix peering in at them. "Fuck," he muttered to himself, his head dropping to the door.

Returning to the kitchen with a frown on his face, Hermione could easily tell that something had gone wrong. "What is it? Has something happened?" she asked, standing up, looking concerned.

"I'm so very sorry, Hermione, but I'll have to cut this short. My brother and his wife are here and..." he trailed off, looking guilty. "I think it would be better if you left."

"Oh, okay," Hermione said, swallowing the lump that had formed in her throat. Their evening had been going so well together, and she'd really enjoyed cooking with Rabastan, getting to know him better, feeling little zings of excitement every time they accidentally touched one another.

"It's not-" he licked his lips, trying to verbalize what he was feeling. "It's not that I'm ashamed of you, or anything. It's just...they are not the kind of people that you should be around. They're dangerous, if I'm honest."

Hermione nodded, wanting to tell him that he shouldn't be around them either if they were dangerous. Did he really want all of his hard work to go down the drain? All those years spent in prison? "I'll just slip out the back then," she offered, not wanting to leave, but knowing that she had to respect Rabastan's wishes and go.

"Thanks babe," he said with a grin, only to be startled by more furious pounding that had his front door rattling on its hinges. He cupped her cheeks in his hands, pulling her in for a quick kiss that Hermione was not expecting.

The moment their lips touched, she felt her stomach doing eager flip flops at the sensation. Even though it wasn't really the time or the place, she grabbed at his soft t-shirt, before deepening the kiss, pulling his body flush against hers. Rabastan groaned as he pushed her back against the wall, his tongue slipping past her open lips.

Then, just as soon as it had begun, it was over once again. He pressed his forehead against hers, drinking in the sight of her blown pupils, before dropping his head back in disappointment. "I'll make it up to you," he promised. "Goodbye, Hermione." She sighed, returning his longing look while she walked back towards the door that would lead her into the back garden.

Rabastan finally turned back towards the front door. "Alright, alright, I heard you the first time," he shouted to his impatient brother who waited on the other side of the wood. "Can't you be patient for once in your life, you motherfucker!"

Rodolphus was laughing when Rabastan finally opened the door, perhaps enjoying the discomfort he'd caused his little brother. Before Rabastan could even ask what they were doing there, the pair of them oozed past him into the narrow entryway. "You were harder to find than I expected, Rabby," Bellatrix cooed. "Though, I can't say I'd be shouting my address from the rooftops either, if I lived in a shithole like this."

"Oh, and you live somewhere much nicer do you?" Rabastan sneered at his sister-in-law, knowing that they were probably living in some hovel just the same. At least he had his own roof over his head.

"That smells good, Rab," Rodolphus said, following his nose to towards the kitchen.

Rabastan followed the destructive pair towards the kitchen, where Rodolphus already had the wooden spoon out of the pot and into his mouth. He shrugged his shoulders. "Yeah, I was thinking a lot about home lately," he explained quietly. "I was missing Zabini's."

Rodolphus got a far off look on his face, as if he were imagining the owner of Zabini's right there in front of him. "Damn, do I miss her, too," he said with a half-smile, only to have Bellatrix whack the back of his head on fury.

Once Rodolphus stopped laughing at how jealous his wife was about his apparent appreciation of another woman, his blue eyes settled on the pair of wine glasses on the kitchen table. He frowned, before wrapping an arm around Rabastan's shoulders. "Did you have a little date tonight, Rab?"

Bellatrix caught on quickly enough. "Yeah, where is your little slut, Rabby? Why haven't you introduced us properly?" she prodded, laughing when she saw how upset the line of questioning was making him.

"She isn't a slut, and she left before you two got here," he lied, hoping that they wouldn't realize it.

Rodolphus was pressing him into one of the kitchen chairs, before sitting next to him, invading his personal space. "Don't lie, brother. You don't want us to meet her. What, do you think that you are better than us?" he sneered.

Rabastan shook his head, though internally he agreed. He was better than Rodolphus and Bellatrix, trying to make a better life for himself.

Bella slipped into the chair opposite him, the one that had previously been occupied by Hermione. "Come on, Rabastan, don't fool yourself. That little goodie two shoes doesn't understand you like we do. She'll just get fed up with you and leave you," she said cruelly. "Do you honestly think a little good girl like that will want to introduce mummy and daddy to a felon like you?"

Rabastan swallowed, wanting to think that Hermione wasn't like that, but he didn't know. It wasn't as if they were dating...he didn't even know if she'd want him to be her bloody boyfriend yet. Still, he knew that he would take whatever scraps Hermione sent his way, like a damn dog. He wasn't about to stop pursuing her just because of what might happen.

Rodolphus gave him another squeeze around the shoulders. "We're your family, Rabastan, and we are just trying to do what's best for you," he said, his voice dropping an octave. "Let us take care of you, same as we did before prison."

"Last time you took care of me, I ended up doing a dime," Rabastan snarled, knowing that they were only out for themselves, but still feeling fleeting guilt when he was reminded that Rodolphus was his family, the only family that he had left. Families stuck together, didn't they?

"And you know how much I appreciate that, don't you?" Rodolphus questioned, though his sincerity was highly suspect. Rabastan was sure that Rodolphus appreciated him but only as far as he continued to benefit his older brother. "Now, look, Bellatrix and I have an in on a little work that could be very profitable for all of us. Tom's getting out soon, too, and we want to give him the welcome he deserves, don't we?"

Rabastan felt his blood run cold when he heard that. He hadn't thought much of Tom Riddle at all since he'd been arrested, and he had thought that the leader of their old gang was going away for life. He swallowed thickly, suddenly wishing that he'd never run into Bella and Dolph again at all. Maybe it would have been better for him to just leave the country.

"Don't go rushing into any decisions," Bellatrix cautioned. "Just hear us out first. I think that you'll find we can be very persuasive."