Chapter Nine

Sirius wiped his hands on a kitchen towel, and turned to peel and chop some garlic. He barely noticed when a newly arrived Remus suddenly appeared, as though from thin air, and began to pull out plates and silverware to set the table. They moved in silence; Remus' jokes about Sirius' new found domesticity had long since been run into the ground and brutally beaten to death. Remus quickly finished set the table while Sirius finished his pre-work, and began to cook Balsamic Chicken, a favorite of Hermione's. Minutes later Draco strolled in baring several bottles of the best elf wine money could buy. Just a few feet behind him was Harry, carefully balancing a huge cake, courtesy of Mrs. Weasley.

Motley crew though they were, they were also four of the most trusted men in Hermione's life. Like most people, while Hermione had a good relationship with her parents, she didn't talk to them about everything. Ron wasn't much of an option… they just weren't like that. At first that had left her with only Ginny and Harry as her confidants, but as time passed she grew closer to the other three men and found them to be some of the best confidants, advisors and friends a girl could ask for.

Harry placed the unwieldy cake on the counter and turned to find three pairs of eyes trained on him intently. "What?" He demanded slightly defensively. Two and a half pairs of eyebrows were raised questioningly.

"Since when does the Gryffindor Princess send out an urgent request for a meeting, sounding so frazzled?" Draco asked rhetorically, his voice dripping with something akin to cold sarcasm. "Especially during her first day at a new job."

"Did something happen today? You mentioned thinking about going to visit her last week," Remus clarified, his voice somewhat distant sounding. Sirius stood next to him; his back turned to the group as her carefully minded the chicken. The subtle tension in the way he stood that served as the only indication that he was just as concerned about the unusual plead for help as the other two.

"Yeah I did, but she seemed fine. I know that she'd been worried about meeting her boss but…" Harry was quickly cut off by three very sharp looks and yet another outburst from Draco.

"Seemed fine? Seemed fine? Who's the good-for-nothing, dickless, little mrmmrff!" Draco was silenced suddenly when Remus slide behind him and clapped a hand tightly over his mouth.

"Who is her boss… did you meet him?" Remus once again translated, ignoring Draco's struggles and muffled curses. His voice was uncannily low and hard, making Draco freeze, his eyes wide suddenly aware he was at the mercy of a werewolf who considered Hermione to be something akin to a part of his pack. Sirius, having just finished dinner and covered it, stepped up and rested a hand on Remus's free arm, carefully controlling his own sharply protective anger. The familiar touch from the closest person to family and pack he'd known growing up was enough to cool Remus off. There was palpable relief in the room as Draco was freed.

"I was trying to tell you – there's nothing to worry about, her boss is Bill," Harry explained. He leaned back against the cashier and tucked his hands into his pockets.

"Being a Weasley doesn't automatically mean innocence Harry. Bill seemed like a decent enough man the past few times we've met, but none of us actually know him," Remus pointed out. His voice grew steadily more and more dangerous, bordering on a growl. Sirius' hand tightened on his arm; he didn't dare say anything knowing his friend could already sense his own similar feelings, and hearing it would just add fuel to the fire. Unfortunately Draco failed to think about the angry werewolf, too distracted by his own protective streak.

"I don't give a flying fuck who he is! If there's one mark on 'Mione… if he did or said anything to her… I'll tear off his god damn balls with my bare fucking hands and shove them down his pathetic little, mother-fucking throat 'till he dies a slow and painful death." Draco hissed violently. The nearly identical growls from Sirius and Remus said they had similar plans of a slow, painful murder. Throughout Draco's declaration, Remus' brown eyes grew lighter and lighter until they appeared to be golden. Unwittingly, Sirius' hand tightened as he subconsciously sensed how close his old friend was to losing control.

Harry openly gaped at the three men, momentarily floored by how protective they were of the little witch. He was only slightly less surprised when he realized that he felt the exact same way, despite having extremely close ties to the Weasley family. The others noticed his hesitation and surprised and immediately misinterpreted it. A protective ferocity blanketed them. A violent tremor ran over Remus' body and an animalistic growl echoed low in his chest.

"Easy Mooney," Sirius' voice was all but a growl itself as he slid closer and dragged his hand up from Remus' arm to cup it tightly over the back of Remus' neck in a similar fashion to an Alpha wolf disciplining a lower one, or easing a cub's nerves. His automatic, instinctual response paired with the positive reaction of Remus' eyes darkening to a honey brown indicating he'd regained a relatively strong hold of his inner wolf showed how strong and intimate their friendship truly was.

"No, you don't understand!" Harry quickly amended to further sooth them, suddenly aware that he was all that stood between the three extremely powerful men and Bill's untimely death. "Trust me, I'd be right there next to you if I thought Bill had done anything wrong, but he hasn't. If anything he's proven to be a pretty great boss."

"Then why the bloody hell did 'Mione call us together so urgently?" Sirius demanded roughly, feeling it was safe enough for him to speak up now that Remus was in control. There were a few other things he'd like to say, but the lycan was still on edge and he didn't want to risk it.

"He's right, she'd never call us all together without good reason, and knowing her, she's more likely to down play an issue than cause us to worry," Remus' lip curled distastefully at the thought. Harry remained thoughtfully silent for a moment, before a smirk spread on his face, reminiscent of the youngest Weasley. Caught off guard, the others stared blankly at him.

"Something tells me this is gonna be one hell of an explanation," Draco smirked as he levitated four butterbeers out of the refrigerator and to the table. By silent consensus, they all sat, opened a beer and took a few swigs. "So… pray tell Potter, what's eating at our girl that could make even you smirk," Draco drawled. Harry smirked yet again and leaned back, relaxing in his chair. With humor shinning in his eyes he quickly told them about that morning and recounted the events of his lunch visit, carefully skipping over any reference to a certain mail clerk. After he finished catching them up, several beats passed in silence before slowly, one by one, they began to chuckle.

"So the mighty Gryffindor Lioness just may have met her match," Remus shook his head still laughing.

"And a ginger no less," Sirius and Draco added in unison, causing everyone's laughter to redouble. As their laughter died down they relaxed back in their seats, and sipped on the last dregs of their beers silently.

"This is the first she's been truly interested in a man isn't it," Harry said sounding almost haunted. The three nodding heads holding three far-off, contemplative looks said he wasn't the only one finally seeing the big picture.

"Probably the only one she's felt a real interest in since…" Draco trailed off as tension creeped back into the room.

"So what do we do now?' Sirius asked, voicing everyone's thoughts.

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