I am going to start out this message by apologizing profusely for not updating sooner. I had an influx of school work and just no time to do what I love, which unfortunately means you all had to suffer, maybe, along with me. The end of term is coming soon and because of that I decided it would be best to post this chapter now, without reading through it another four or five times, and hope that my spelling and grammar are not so horrendous that you all decide to delete me and my story from your update list. As it is, I had fun writing this chapter, when I found the time to work on it, and I sencearily hope that you enjoy reading it as well. I really hope that it was worth the wait. Let me know what you think and I look forward to hearing from. Oh, and if, in the off chance, Abe Lincoln Equals Scotland is reading this, I really enjoyed reading your review and wish I could have responded to you directly. The same to everyone else who leaves reviews I can't respond to. I wish you would. I love talking back and forth between you guys. Anyway, I've blathered on enough. I hope you enjoy this, Noterwomann

Chapter Sixteen: Held Accountable

"Bloody Hell." Ron grunted as he landed painfully on his back. "What the fuck was that for?"

"Take a wild guess." Parker snarled using his foot to shove Ron back to the floor when he made to get up. "Stay down." He warned as he withdrew his wand with the speed and agility honed from years of training. "By Merlin, if you hurt her…"

Ron rolled his eyes. "Is that what this is about?"

"Of course it is, you bloody tosser."He jabbed his wand at Ron. "What did you do to her?"

"Nothing to get this riled over."

"I'll decide what's worth getting riled over." Parker's voice was laced with menace, warning Ron to take care if he didn't want to be hit again. "Hermione wasn't in her office this morning."

"There's a perfectly…"

"She's never late for work."

"Relax, Parker. Bloody hell, she wanted a wash and fresh clothes."

"And why would she need that? What time did she leave your house this morning?"

"How did you know…"

"I'm asking the questions." Parker gripped his wand tighter and sparks leapt from the end to singe the tip of Ron's nose.

"Would you get that out of my face?" Ron knocked the wand with the back of his hand, his anger mounting.

Parker brought it instantly back around. "Not until I get some answers from you."

Ron's chin stiffened with ire as his second continued to stare down at him with murder in his eyes. "Parker Gale," he snapped, assuming as much authority as a man held at wand point of the floor could assume. "Stand down." Though Ron's voice was laced with warning Parker continued to glare mutinously at him for several seconds. Ron's eyes narrowed. "Now." He said with deadly finality.

Parker dropped his wand hand after a moment more of defiance and stepped back.

Ron sat up, his narrowed eyes never leaving Parker's incensed ones. When he regained his feet he batted at his robes in an attempt to put them back into place. "Would you mind telling me why you thought it was a good idea to wallop me this early in the morning?"

Parker squared his shoulders as he pocketed his wand. He clasped his hands behind his back and stood at attention. "I'm not sure which offense to begin with, Sir."

Ron quirked a brow at Parker. "Sir? That does sound serious." He cast a quick healing charm against his jaw. He was almost certain it would still bruise by mourning, but at least the pain was gone. "Several offences you say? Well, best to have them all out then. Maybe then I'll understand why you felt the need to attack your commanding officer."

"I didn't feel I had any other option, Sir."

"You don't think perhaps you could have come and had a civilized conversation with me?"

"I tried that, Sir." His eyes blazed with fury when the landed on Ron for a brief moment. "Last night. You warded your house."

"I wasn't in the mood to talk last night."

"Which you made abundantly clear when you abducted Hermione."

Ron stiffened at the meaning behind Parker's words became clear. "You thought I was going to hurt her." It wasn't a question.

"The thought crossed my mind."

"How dare… How could you... I would never hurt her."

"Really?" Parker asked pointedly. "I saw her flinch several times over the course of your argument."

Ron's eyes darkened to an intense blue. "I would never hit her."

"You looked like you would last night." Parker snapped back. "And I wasn't the only one who thought so." He glanced briefly at Ron before returning his focus to the wall in front of him. "Nearly all your brothers and your brother-in-law joined me to try and come to her assistances. You were very angry last night. No one knew what you were capable of."

"I wouldn't have hurt her." Ron said again.

"How were we to know that?"Parker asked. "Three hours we spent trying to break through your wards."

"Well that was a bloody waste of time, wasn't it. You and Harry both know there was no way to get through."

"Which is the only reason I eventually sent your brothers home to their wives."

"But you didn't leave?" Ron asked perceptively.

"No." Parker stiffened his jaw. "I knew I wouldn't be able to sleep until you let her go."

"You watched my house all night?" Ron asked with exasperation. "You stubborn arse. Might I ask why you didn't come charging in once I lowered the wards?"

"Because," Parker snarled, "I fell asleep. By the time I woke up you were both gone."

Turning abruptly, Ron walked to his desk more out of his sudden need to hide his amused smirk then to sit. He couldn't remain angry with Parker knowing that Parker had been standing outside his house all night fuming while he and Hermione had been comfortably inside having all sorts of…fun. No wonder he had right hooked him.

"Then I guess I would have to say it's a dammed good thing I did ward the house." Ron said as he took his seat and sent the chair spinning around so that he was facing forward. "I think Hermione would have disliked being interrupted as much as I would have."

Parker's eyes flashed with anger. "This is not a laughing matter."

"You're right," Ron agreed, folding his hands and resuming his position of authority. "It's not. You're actions this morning have been less then fitting for someone of your position. I don't think I like the fact that my second in command, my partner and friend, trusts me so little. I also do not appreciate that a member of my own squad, an Alpha no less, attacked a commanding officer." Ron watched a dull flush spread over Parker's expressionless face. "What if someone had seen you? You would have brought disgrace not only on yourself, but on me and the entire Alpha Squad. As it is you're lucky I don't take disciplinary action against you."

"I assure you," Parker said through clenched teeth, "that disgracing you or the squad was not my intention."

"I'm sure it wasn't. Parker, use your common sense. You have the entire squad talking about you. What exactly did you say to Fern?"

"I'm afraid I was a little short with her when she didn't know where you were."

"You'll apologize to her. Whatever disagreement you have with me, you leave the rest of the squad out of it. And that includes Fern."

"Yes, Sir."

Ron sat there a moment and continued to look at him. "You're still angry with me."

Parker turned and looked him directly in the eye. "That depends."

"On?"

"I'll ask you again, and this time be honest. Is Hermione your girl?"

Ron silently stared at Parker for several minutes trying to decipher the best way to answer his question. When he could glen nothing from the man's stony expression, he sighed heavily. "Yes. She is."

The air hung heavy with tension as Ron waited for Parker to respond. The seconds seemed to tick by agonizingly slow as the other man continued to stare at him, not a twitch of a muscle giving away his thoughts. "And about damn time to."

Ron's head snapped up as Parker strode happily to one of the vacant chairs set in front of his desk and plopped down comfortably. "Took you bloody well long enough. I mean honestly man, how think could you get?"

Ron blinked several time in shock. "W-what?"

"I said, it took you bloody well long enough. It's a good thing you wised up when you did too. I was this close," he held up his hand to show a small gap between his thumb and forefinger, "to abandoning my plane and pursuing her for real. Damn it, Ron, how could you let a girl like that get away? She's bloody perfect."

Ron's mouth hung open uselessly for several minutes as his mind tried to catch up to the sudden shift in his reality. "This was a set up?"

Parker laughed as he bracketed his fingers behind his head. "Don't look at it that way." His face was all smiles as he leaned back in his seat and crossed one ankle over the other on the edge of Ron's desk. "Look at it more as steering a friend in the right direction."

Ron's mouth gapped several times trying to form a proper sentence. "I can't believe you did that." He finally managed. "I've been on the verge of murdering you for…"

"And don't think I don't appreciate the peril I put myself in. Last night I thought I was a dead man."

Ron's fingers cracked as he gripped the together. "You still might be. I should kill you for toying with Hermione's affections like that. If you never planned on really pursuing her you should have left her alone."

Parker's grin grew painfully wide. "Look at big tough Ron Weasley becoming all protective over a girl again. I've heard stories you use to be that way."

"Parker, don't you have a conscience? What if she had fallen for you?"

Parker waved away his concern with the flip of a hand. "Not a chance."

"She could have. I've seen it happen before."

"Ron," Parker said evenly, "Hermione was never at any risk of falling for me."

"You can't know that."

"Yes I can. Bloody hell, man. She was too far gone on you to ever be interested in me. Besides, I spent most of my time with her trying to convince her that you weren't a complete tosser. You should be thanking me."

"Thanking you? You drove me mad with jealousy for months."

"Of course I did. That was the whole brilliance of my plan."

Ron gapped at him stupidly. "Sometimes I have no idea what's going through your head. What were you thinking? You almost destroyed our friendship."

Parker used the back of his hand to cover a theatrical yawn. "With a loyal bugger like you as my mate that was never a risk. I was counting on your…hatred…of her to outweigh your anger with me."

"That could have completely blown up in your face."

Parker shrugged dismissively. "It was a risk I was willing to take."

"Why?"

"Because," Ron was surprised to see the humor was suddenly gone from his friend's eyes. "I couldn't stand seeing you so miserable anymore."

"I wasn't miserable."

"Ron, you were so miserable I don't think you even knew how to be happy." Parker pulled his heals off the desk so that he could sit up and look at Ron directly. "You've been a work obsessed hermit since I officially met you. All your friends from school say you have a wicked sense of humor, but when have I ever seen it? Witches have been throwing themselves at you for years and you never noticed. Not to mention how rarely you genuinely smile. And even though you never said anything I knew Hermione was the key to all of this."

Ron chuckled mirthlessly. "How could you know that?"

"It doesn't take someone of Hermione's intelligence to put the pieces together. Remember, us mere Ravenclaws are meant to be smart. I remember what you were like at school. You weren't like this. You and Harry were always laughing about something. And when you weren't fighting with Hermione the three of you were inseparable."

"What has that to do with anything?"

"Ron, we've not only been partners but friends for over five years now. Did you really think I wouldn't notice that you never talked about her? Five years and I can't recall you mentioning her once. Whenever you talked about your time at Hogwarts and the adventures you had there, you made it sound like it was only you and Harry who went on them. You cut Hermione out of the stories you could and didn't tell the ones where you couldn't. I might have been a year ahead of you at Hogwarts, but I wasn't oblivious. I heard the rumors just like everyone else. I know how close you were to both of them."

"Why didn't you ever say anything?"

"How could I? When you first joined up I didn't know you well enough and by the time I did I felt like too much time had passed. I knew someone had hurt you very badly and it didn't take me long to guess at who it was, but still… You acted like nothing had ever happened. And what's worse, I had to watch as that pain you carried with you turned into hatred and there was nothing I could do about it. That was a part of your life you never bothered to share with me."

"So what persuaded you to try and fix it?"

"Honestly?" Ron nodded. "The look in your eyes that first morning you ran into Hermione again. For one moment you let your guard down and I knew how happy the thought of seeing her again made you."

Ron ducked his head as his ears turned bright red. "You're making me sound like a Nancy."

Parker shook his head as he laughed. "Ron, that's probably the one thing no one will ever accuse you of being. Besides, I'm just telling you what I saw. For a brief moment before you turned around I saw how happy you were. Then how sad. And then you put up that damnable unemotional mask you always wear. I knew then that everything I suspected about you was true. And that's when I decided to take it upon myself to get you two back together."

"And you thought flirting with her was the best way to do it?"

Parker nodded his head. "I was up all night thinking about you circumstances and spent nearly all the next day talking with your old school mates. I came to the conclusion that you decided a long time ago to cut her out of your life. From what I had gathered over the years you made it a point not to be around when she came home for a visit. And that day in the Ministry you didn't even acknowledge her presences. Not a hello. Not a curt nod. Nothing. I came to the conclusion that if it were left to you you would continue to ignore her very existences for the rest of your life, and I couldn't have that. I knew I needed to make you pay attention. I needed to make certain that you were always aware of her. That her image was always nagging the back of that thick brain of yours. I couldn't very well say, 'Look at her Ron. Look how beautiful she is. Do you remember how much you once cared for her? How protective you use to be?' And then I remembered the belching slug incident and I was almost certain my plan would work."

"You heard about that?"

Parker chuckled softly at the dismay on his captain's face. "Everybody heard of that. The Slytherine team made sure of it."

Ron groaned as he dropped his head into his hands. "I'm never going to live that down, am I?"

"Why would you want to?" Ron looked up, his eyes wide with surprise. "Your friends told me what really happened that day. What Draco Malfoy said to Hermione. Why would you be ashamed you stood up for her?"

"I'm not."

"Then what?"

Ron's skin turned bright red at the memory of his humiliation. "I'm ashamed that I wasn't able to defender her the way I should. I failed her and made a fool of myself in the process."

"I'm sure you would have done an admirable job if your wand hadn't been broken."

Ron shook his head with disbelief. "How is it that you know so much about me?"

Parker smiled sheepishly as he shrugged. "I like to do my research. Besides it was through my research with your friends that I learned what a hot head you were in your youth, which of course I remembered. But what I wasn't aware of was that the fastest way to set you off was to make you jealous. Nearly everyone I talked to mentioned how riled you use to get over Viktor Krum and Cormac McLaggen."

"Stupid gits." Ron muttered under his breath.

"Precisely my point. I deduced, rather easily, that you get insanely jealous when anyone so much as shows any interest in Hermione. Hence, my plan. Spend as much time blatantly flirting with her right in front of you until that jealous streak came out again. I knew I got it right by the way you reacted that day you came across me in her office." Parker laughed softly. "You were infuriated."

"You say that like it's a good thing."

"Well, in this case it was. You dwell when you're angry."

"I do not." Ron denied heatedly.

"Right." Parker said knowingly. "You just let everything roll right off your back. Not one to hold a grudge, are you?" Ron who had been about to speak snapped his mouth shut. "Like I said, I needed to keep you constantly thinking about her. If that meant that I needed to make you perpetually annoyed, then so be it. Besides it worked out in the end."

Ron shook his head with incredulity. "I can't believe you deliberately put me through that kind of hell."

"And what about you? Have you any idea what I went through last night? By Merlin, I thought the whole plan had backfired and Hermione got caught in the backlash. You're a real tosspot for activating the wards like that."

Ron shook his head with disbelief. "I still can't believe you stood outside and watched my house all night."

"You're an emotional man, Ron. I've watched you try to suppress that side of yourself for years and last night it came back with a vengeance. I've neverseen you have to struggle so hard to maintain control. I didn't know if you were going to be able to hold back five years worth of anger and frustration. In the off chance that you couldn't, I needed to be there in case she needed… I guess in case she needed me."

"Parker, I swear to you, I would never hurt her. I thought you knew that."

"I did. I mean, I do. It's just my anxiety overruled my judgment. Come on Ron," he said when his friend still looked disgruntle. "Do you think someone who was in their right mind would have stood outside all night waiting for a light to turn on so he could make sure that the two people inside were still alive?"

Ron huffed out a breath of air as he closed his eyes and pressed his lips together. He felt the urge to laugh come over him like before but now that most of the tension between him and Parker was resolved he was finding it much more difficult to suppress.

"What's so funny?"

Ron shook his head.

"Tell me."

Ron took a breath in an attempt to compose himself before returning his focus to Parker. "I was just thinking it's a damn good thing we didn't turn the lights on. If you had been standing anywhere near the study you would have gotten quite a show."

Parker leaned forward and rested one arm on the desk as he stared at Ron, taking in the almost smug quirk to his lips. "You didn't."

Ron tried but couldn't stop a smile from slipping on is lips. "A wizard doesn't kiss and tell."

"You did. You slept with Hermione."

Ron rolled his eyes. "Why are you so surprised? We're all adults."

"But you… All those nasty things you said to her…I stayed up all night terrified that I had buggered it for the both of you and you were inside happily shagging her?"

Ron tapped pointedly at his jaw before rubbing it gently. "Let's call ourselves even."

"Oh no, we're not even close to even, mate. You still have to account for the way you treated her."

"I didn't realize my actions were held accountable to you."

"They are where she's concerned."

"Really?" Ron's brow arched.

Look, I've spent a great deal of time with Hermione over the past few months. I would be lying if I didn't say I was half in love with her already. She's an amazing girl and a wonderful friend. Don't do anything to hurt her."

Ron took several deep breaths as he tried to ease the band tightening around his heart. Parker in love with Hermione? The idea terrified him. Images of Parker touching Hermione's beautiful hair or resting his hand on the small of her back barreled through his brain. His shoulders tensed as his possessiveness come roaring to life with a vengeance.

"You needn't worry yourself." He said coldly. "I have no intention of ever hurting Hermione again. And as far as your infatuation with her goes, it better end now because I have no intention of ever letting her go." And as soon as he said the words he knew he meant them. If she let him, Ron knew he would spend the rest of his life doing everything in his power to love her, protect her and make her happy.

"Good." Parker nodded. "I'm thrilled to hear it."

"Right," Ron nodded, forcing his mind to return to the issue at hand. "Which is why I'm sure you'll understand when I tell you to stay away from her."

"What?" Parker laughed, the sound dying on his lips when Ron remained still. He sat forward, his face a mask of disbelief. "You're pulling my leg."

"Sorry, mate." Ron shook his head. "Hermione always gets hacked off when I play the jealous git and until you learn to keep your hands to yourself I can't promise I won't pummel you. Can't tell you how many times I had to stop myself from coming after you already. So, in order to save your hide and my ear, I suggest you give us space."

Parker's mouth gapped a few times as he tried to find something appropriate to say. "What if I promise not to flirt with her?"

Ron's brow arched higher.

"Harry lets me flirt with Ginny." Parker pointed out.

"Harry isn't nearly as possessive as I am. Besides, Harry knows Ginny's been in love with him since she was ten."

"This is ridiculous." Parker threw up his hands in exasperation. "We all three work here at the Ministry together, I'm bound to bump into her. Besides, after all the effort I went through to bring you two together I expect a front row invitation to the wedding."

"It might be a bit early to be talking about weddings, don't you think?" Ron's focus snapped over Parker's shoulders and his eyes lit up. Parker whirled around in his seat to find Hermione standing in the doorway, leaning against the post with her arms crossed over her chest and an amused smile on her lips. "After all," her eyes never left Ron's, "we've only been together since last night."

"Yes, but my resources say you've been in love with him for much longer."

Hermione tore her eyes away from Ron to focus on Parker. "And here I thought I'd find you two in combat over my hand." She said teasingly.

"Battles already been waged, love."

Hermione's eyes widened with disbelief, then concern when she saw the first trace of a bruise forming on Ron's jaw. "And who won?" She asked as she dropped her bag on the floor just inside the door and moved inside to closer inspect Ron's jaw.

"I did, of course." Ron said, his eyes sliding closed as her fingers touched his face gently, turning up his chin so she could better see. "Did you even doubt it?"

Hermione smiled softly as she pressed a kiss to the contusion. "Not for a moment." She whispered. Withdrawing her wand from her pocket, she cast another healing charm against Ron's jaw and watched with satisfaction as the angered skin returned to normal. "Honestly, didn't they teach you healing charms in training?"

"I'm out of practice." Ron said smugly. "I don't usually get hit."

Parker snorted from his seat. "Except this morning when I laid him flat."

Hermione whirled on the other man, hands planted on her hips and her eyes narrowing. "And who," her voice warned him not to lie, "resorted to fists first? Was it you?"

Parker shrugged noncommittally. "It might have been."

Hermione shook her head with displeasure. "Parker Gale, I expected better of you."

"I thought I showed an admirable amount of restraint." Hermione rolled her eyes. "It's a male thing, love. You wouldn't understand."

"Wouldn't I? I've been best friends with Harry and Ron for half my life. I've had to deal with his," his jabbed a thumb over her shoulder at Ron, "immaturity. Why don't you try me."

"Well you see," he said in his best imitation of a lecturer, "When one bloke steels another bloke's girl from him…"

"Oh please…" Hermione huffed. "You don't seem to be taking it very hard."

"Hermione love," he said sadly, "If you could see my heart you would see it's torn in two."

She glanced to where his hand was clutching his chest over his heart and back to his eyes. "I'm sure it will mend with the next pretty face. By the way, I seem to have forgotten myself so I probably shouldn't say anything, but…private conversations have a higher rate of staying such if they're done behind closed doors." She flicked her wand toward the open door and it closed neatly with a snap.

"Brilliant this one, isn't she?" Hermione turned to find Ron holding his hand out to her beseechingly. Biting her lip to hide her pleasure she slipped her fingers between his. "Absolutly brilliant." He said as he gave her hand a tug and pulled her into his lap, tilting her chin up so that he could reach her lips when he bent his head.

"Enough of that." Hermione said turning her face and breaking the kiss when she heard Parker cough discreetly behind them. "Ron," she grabbed onto his robes and threatened him playfully, "I did not just hear you tell Parker to avoid me again, did I?"

"You did." Parker said helpfully as Hermione turned in Ron's arms to face him. "The selfish bastard has every intention of keeping you all to himself."

"How much of that did you hear?" Ron asked as he nuzzled playfully at Hermione's neck.

"Enough to discern what Parker's ulterior motive was." She turned her warm brown eyes on the other man. "You have a lot to learn about the proper way to woo a girl."

After a moment of stunned silence Ron threw back his head and laughed, filling the room with his strong guffaws "Did you hear that Parker?" He slapped the surface of the desk in his amusement. "You need to learn the proper way to woo a girl."

"I thought I did a fantastic job." He said with a pout. "I accomplished exactly what I wanted to."

"Precisely."Hermione said knowingly. "I never really believed you were trying to court me. You spent way too much time trying to convince me how wonderful Ron was."

"Did it work?" Parker watched as Ron wound one of her longer curls around his finger in an attempt to make it seem like her answer wouldn't affect him. But he couldn't hide the anxious way his eyes repeatedly darted to her face then away, almost as if he was afraid to be caught staring at her.

Hermione smiled tenderly as she turned to look at Ron. She lifted her free hand and ran her fingers through his hair. "Not really. I always knew how wonderful he was."

"You could have fooled me."Parker snorted.

"Well," Hermione smiled sheepishly. "I might have needed a bit of reminding."

"That's alright, love." Ron gently coaxed her chin back around with his fingers so he could kiss her. "I needed a bit of reminding myself."

Parker smiled with satisfaction as he leaned back in his chair and propped his feet up once again. He always enjoyed the fruits of a job well done. "Would you look at the two of you?" The pair broke apart to look around at the man they had momentarily forgotten was still in the room. "Molly's going to be thrilled when you tell her. She's been pushing Ron to settle down since I've known her. I don't think she could have asked for anyone better for her little Ronnikins."

Ron groaned as he tucked his face into Hermione's shoulder hiding the bright red that was staining his cheeks and ears.

"Actually," Hermione said tentatively, playing with the hair fanning the back of Ron's neck. "That's one of the things I came here to talk to you about." Ron pulled back uneasily so that he could look up into her eyes. "I think for the time being it would be better if the three of us were the only ones who knew about this."

"What?" Ron's hand reflexively tightened around her fingers.

"Just until the custody hearing is over." She said quickly, hoping to stop his destructive self-doubt before it had a chance to rear its ugly head. "Then we can tell everyone, but…"

"Why?" He cut her off. "I don't understand."

"Ron," she gripped his head tight, forcing him to look at her. "I thought you would understand. We have a case to win. It's going to be difficult enough as it is. We don't want to impeach our character by involving ourselves in a scandal."

"What scandal?"

"Ron," Hermione cupped his face tenderly, "How do you think it would look to the judge if he found out you were shagging your legal counsel?"

"Ms Granger," Parker gasped, sounding perfectly scandalized. "Such language."

"Parker," she rounded on him. "Toss off. You're not helping."

For a moment the two men stared at her in shocked disbelief. "Did she just say what I think she said?" Ron asked.

Parker nodded dumbly. "I think so."

The two men glanced at each other and the evident shock on both of their faces shattered their restraint. Hermione scowled angrily as Ron and Parker howled with laughter, the vast range of emotions they had already been through making the situation funnier then it merited. "Bloody hell," Ron said through his laughter, "I don't think I've ever heard her say that before."

"Oh please," Hermione crossed her arms over her chest with a huff. "It's not that bad. All I said was toss off." The two words coming out of Hermione's prim mouth seemed to be too much for the tall redhead. He threw his head back and the room echoed with the happy sound. Parker's own laugh faltered and died with the sad realization that he had never heard Ron laugh with such abandonment ever before. It was as if when Hermione left five years ago something had died inside of him and it was only now starting to come to life again. He was suddenly faced with a whole new dimension of his friend and found himself quite eager to know him.

Smiling happily with contentment, Parker watched as his best mate hugged Hermione tight to his body before tilting her face up for another hungry kiss. "Gods, I love you." He heard him murmur, holding her face close to his.

Parker crossed his arms smugly over his chest. "Are you sure you'll be able to keep your relationship a secret?"

"I don't see why not." Hermione beamed, not bothering to look away from Ron long enough to address him directly.

"Oh no? You look like you're ready to devour each other."

Hermione blushed prettily but still managed to throw him an impish smile. "Maybe that's because I am."

Parker roared with laughter as he once again pulled his feet from Ron's desk, readying himself to leave. "You better let Harry in on your little secret if you haven't already. He'll want to know why you're spending every night at Ron's house."

"I hadn't…we never…" Her eyes grew suddenly wide. "Ronald Bilius Weasley." She rounded on the tall redhead. "You told him?"

"He guessed." Ron said defending himself.

"And you couldn't have lied?"

"What for? He would have figured it out eventually."

"That's not the point!" She snapped. "Last night was…"

"Special." He cut in, stopping her before she could get herself really riled up. Taking a risk he reached up and cupped her face tenderly between his hands. "Wonderful." He pressed a kiss to the tip of her nose. "The most amazing night of my entire life."

"Yes." She said begrudgingly. "Something like that."

"Hermione," he ran his fingers through her hair. "I love you."

She pouted a moment more before leaning forward and pecking him on the lips. "That's not going to work for ever, Wealsey." She warned. "Eventually you're going to have to learn to not be such a pratt."

Ron smiled as he kissed her again. "Just so long as I'm your pratt."

"Och, enough." Parker pushed to his feet. "You two are sickenly sweet and I can't stomach it. Let me know when this honeymoon stage is over and then maybe we can be friends again."

"Parker," Hermione called after him when he turned to leave. "Please don't go. I actually did come in here for a reason." He turned back around to see that Hermione had extracted herself from Ron's arms and was now standing beside his desk, smoothing her robes fretfully as Ron tried to hide his disappointment. "I wanted to talk to you both about Blake's case."

Parker saw the happy glow Ron had protectively surrounded himself with evaporate. His shoulders hunched forward as he leaned his elbows on his desk, pressing his lips to his raised, clasped hands. He stared at the knuckles in front of his nose and closed his eyes a moment as he tried to swallow. Parker watched as Ron internally berated himself. He knew Ron was tormenting himself with guilt for letting himself be even momentarily happy when Blake's future was so uncertain. He felt his heart sink from his chest to his stomach. For the first time since Blake had arrived in Ron's life, Parker finally understood how much his friend loved his little girl. Being separated from her now was eating him up inside, the pain of it evident on his face. Parker knew without a doubt that if Ron lost custody it would devastate him, maybe even more then losing Hermione once had.

"Yes of course," he nodded, turning back around and taking his seat. "I'll do whatever I can."

Hermione smiled thankfully as she took the other empty seat. "Alright," she summoned her bag from where she had left it near the door. From inside she pulled out a yellow legal pad and a pen. "Now, I want you both to tell me everything that's happened since you first started investigating the Blythes. Don't leave anything out. You never know what bit of information might prove beneficial. Also, I'll need you to get me a copy of all the Ministry's files surrounding the case. I'll need Blake's, the two Blythes's, Amadeus's, and anyone else who might remotely be connected to the Blythes. Anyone they might have helped flee the country or even suspected of having been in contact with. And most definitely get me the files on Amadeus's family, especially the sister and brother-in-law." Hermione sighed sadly as she started writing notes for herself at the top of the bright yellow paper. "So," she said looking up, "Wha-" She stopped when she saw the devastation haunting Ron's eyes. Her own heart constricting, she reached across the desk and placed her hand gently on his. "We'll get her back, Ron. I promise." He nodded once but could not hide his fear from her. Her fingers squeezed his reassuringly, her eyes firming with resolve. "You leave everything to me."