In this chapter we meet a new character (she's fun… you'll like her!) and see a slightly different side of Leo… not as much drama here, but that could also be the fact that I was listening to The Kinks the entire time I wrote it.

Warning: this chapter contains spoilers from Deathly Hallows. Also, I should probably mention that this story does not contain Horcruxes of any sort: it is AU after all….

Nadine Clement was just your average struggling fashion journalist.

Except, well… she wasn't.

If you could look past, for example, the stark-but-comfy-chic loft apartment, too-perky roommate, and hodgepodge collection of experimental and obscure indie music, you would find that, at 22, she was also a licensed kickboxing instructor with a half a degree in Criminology (she liked to think of it as half, anyway, because she hated having put all that work into it for nothing). She abandoned that career track altogether upon discovering her true calling: bartending.

Of course, considering that she was now in charge of a column (albeit a small one) for Stiletto magazine, you can see how well that worked out.

"I'm just a small-town girl with big-city dreams," she used to say. Nadine's parents had grown up in England, but she was born and bred in Dallas, Texas, electing to hop back across the pond for her schooling after turning 18 (and living comfortably off of mommy and daddy's money). Her parents had been planning on moving back there, or so they had been saying for the past few years; she didn't really expect much to come out of that anytime soon. But she had adopted some strange combination of a Southern and British accent that never failed to turn a few heads when she spoke.

Not that she ever had a problem turning heads, anyway. It could have been her long, silky auburn hair, her bright green eyes and full, rosy lips, and pale skin with a dusting of freckles over her nose and cheeks. Or it could have been her height, which, at 5'10, was intimidating enough without adding the 4-inch heels that she practically lived in. Although on mornings like the one she was currently having, she preferred to curse their very existence. Literally.

"Shit! Shit, shit, shit. Fuck it all!"

Nadine had caught the edge of an outdoor café table as she stumbled forward, sloshing coffee all down the front of her new red peacoat and gray pencil skirt (which she had left the tag on, just in case. Oh well.). The heel of her one of her suede black boots had gotten stuck in a sidewalk crack, and was now dangling from the shoe like a miserable dead rat.

Nadine felt as miserable as she imagined that rat might.

What had startled her, though, had been the vibrating of her cell phone, and she now reached into her pocket to retrieve the irritating little bugger. She flipped it open. "Talk to me," she growled, quickly snatching a folded linen napkin from one of the café tables and trying to blot out the stain, limping away before a maître d' could spot her.

"Kelly needs that sample dress by one o'clock, and you had better get it here before her lunch break is over, either way. Where on earth are you?"

Nadine did not need someone policing her, and certainly not yelling at her, when she had just decimated her favorite Jimmy Choos. "Hell," she snapped, and the phone clicked shut.

It rang again before she could slip it back into her pocket. She didn't bother to look at Caller ID. "WHAT? " she screamed into the mouthpiece, drawing stares from both sides of the narrow street.

"Uh… Nadine?"

Her prepared stream of insults died in her throat. "Liam?"

His voice was grim. "The one and only. Listen, I, need to ask a favor of you."

She wasn't the least bit surprised at this revelation. Why else would she expect him to call her? "Oh, do you now?" she said with a trace of bitterness. "This really isn't the best time, Liam. I was called in to work this morning on my fucking day off and I'm really not in the mood."

"Well, right now I'm not a fucking ray of sunshine myself, either," he snapped back. "But it's not a favor for me. I'm having a… uh…" he floundered for words for a moment, "… kind of a family issue."

Nadine felt most of the anger whoosh out of her. "I thought you said you didn't have any family?" She stuffed the stained napkin in her handbag, reached down, and tore the dangling portion of her heel clean off so she wouldn't trip (she might as well have been ripping out her heart, also). That, too, she stuffed in her handbag, before leaning against the brick wall of a nearby storefront.

"Well apparently, I do. It's uh… my second cousin. Her house burned down a few days ago and she's staying at my flat for a while."

Nadine shuddered. Liam hadn't cleaned the place in months, and while they had been dating she had refused to set foot in there. "Well, what can I do?" Any girl that was forced to stay in that flat deserved a little help.

He sighed as if he was reluctant to even be putting her up at his place. What an arse! Family is family, no matter what. Apparently that was an idea that would take him some getting-used-to. "She lost everything, so she doesn't have any clothes… or, well, anything with her. But she, uh, broke her ankle trying to get out of the burning house, so she can't shop for them herself. I was wondering, since I'm not really good with this stuff, if you could –"

"Oh, of course!" she said, all traces of her bad mood quickly replaced by guilt. She hardly felt as if she had the right to be unhappy about a pair of shoes and a stained blouse, when this poor girl had it far worse than she did. "I can start as soon as I get off work at two. The poor dear. What's her name? What size is she?"

There was a grimace in Liam's voice that Nadine chose to ignore. "She says she's a 6, an in shoes." He hastily added, "Look, I can just pick them up from you. Don't bother coming here at all…"

But Nadine clicked the phone shut mid-sentence, her spirits significantly lifted by the prospect of an afternoon of retail therapy.

"Bugger," Leo mumbled, peering at the tiny screen. The words 'Call Ended, 01:57' blinked for a moment before disappearing. He had to admit that Wizards were unwise not to give more credit to Muggle technology, but sometimes he was simply baffled by it, no matter how much he was used to living without magic. He was getting along alright with his cellular phone, but in no way had the patience to try and figure out computers, or those eye-pods, whatever they were called.

He glanced over at the couch where Hermione was eyeing him expectantly, her foot propped up on a pillow. He glowered back at her. She certainly had some nerve, making those demands of hers. Of course, he wouldn't openly admit to himself that she had had a bit of a point, because doing that would also mean admitting that she was here to stay. For a while, anyway, until a better solution presented itself.

He prayed that one would.

"Are you satisfied?" he asked, his voice dripping with sarcasm. He stuffed his phone back in his jacket pocket and stepped out of the front hallway. Leo had a feeling he was going to regret this later, but he hadn't seen an easier way to get the problem solved; it would be a cold day in hell when he sank to the role of personal shopper. She was bloody lucky he had even consented to do this at all.

She nodded at him hesitantly over the back of the couch. Well, he still had her afraid of him, which was a plus. He suppressed a smirk, lest she misinterpret it as him being pleased that she had gotten what she wanted. She was still his prisoner, after all.

"Who was that you were talking to?" she asked.

Leo went into the kitchen, grabbing a Muggle beer from the fridge. The stuff wasn't so bad once you got used to it, although he was really craving a firewhiskey at the moment to clear his head. He hadn't had one in over a year.

He uncapped the bottle and took a swig, peering at Hermione over the half-wall in a way that he hoped was more intimidating than his nonchalant body language. "That's not really any of your business, is it?" he said, but then thought about it. If Nadine was going to drop the clothes off here later, she'd almost certainly want to meet the person she had bought them for. He could say Hermione was sleeping, but she'd just want to come back later and keep her company, or some bullshit. And the same would be true if he went to pick up the clothes instead of having her come by.

Fucking bleeding heart.

He supposed he could just Obliviate her. He'd done it to Nadine before, and Muggles were easier to perform it on, anyhow. But it was unnecessary… and suddenly, he remembered that Jarrod knew he had a girl in his flat, too. Well, shit. It was better if he had a cover story.

"Bollocks," he groaned. "I'm going to have to tell you, I guess, because she's coming by later." When he saw Hermione's eyes light up, though, he had to do quick damage control. "Don't even think I won't Impirius you if you can't act like a pathetic girl whose house just burned to the bloody ground. I'm warning you."

Indignant, she had opened her mouth to say something, but he cut her off with his deep laughter as he walked around the counters and towards the couch again. "Doll, you can't even go anywhere, so running's out of the question. And you don't have a wand, so I think you'd better listen to the person here who does."

Hermione sat up and crossed her arms in a huff. "Don't call me 'doll'. And quit goading me. Just tell me what I need to know." She did her best to glare daggers at him but really only accomplished looking slightly cross-eyed. He burst out in laughter again and this time, she really did look pissed. Oh, joy.

"You're going to meet my ex, Nadine. She's a Muggle who works at some chick magazine or something." He could see Hermione becoming skeptical, and didn't really blame her. "Doesn't seem my type, I know. But she was kind of a one-night-stand, and…" Why was he bothering to explain himself? Was he worried that he couldn't keep her convinced that she should be afraid of him, if she knew he had dated a flippant fashion journalist? Like hell. And in his defense, she had been a bartender when he met her. "Anyway, that's not the point," he said, squaring his shoulders. "The point is, she's my ex, and we've somehow remained civil with one another."

"Oh, that's bloody terrific," Hermione deadpanned. "That's one less thing to worry about, a crazy ex-girlfriend. I didn't need any more on my plate."

In an instant, he had crossed the room and was hovering over her. Her eyes were wide again, but not as fearful as they'd been earlier that morning. He couldn't be already losing his touch, could he? "It'd make things a whole lot more pleasant if you'd shut your bloody smart-ass mouth," he growled, and he reached into his back pocket to grab his wand.

Before Hermione could blink, he'd tapped it on her throat and muttered something. In a moment of panic, she had her hands on his chest and was shoving him away from her, but the damage was done; she opened her mouth to curse at him, and no sound came out.

He stepped back from the couch, smoothing the shirt that she'd wrinkled, and gave her a smile that was sure to make her blood boil. "Can't believe I didn't think of that sooner."

Her face was nearly five shades of red right now, and it only made his smirk wider. She looked him straight in the eye and mouthed very clearly: Fuck. You.

"What was that?" He put his hand to his ear as if he was struggling to listen. "Did you say something?"

She gave a soundless scream of frustration and fell backwards onto the couch, covering her face with a pillow.

"That's what I thought."

Score one for the Werewolf.

It must have been hours later when Hermione was jerked awake by a hard shove to her shoulder. "Get up, Hermione. Wake up! Nadine's just buzzed through the lobby."

She gave a disoriented moan (and smiled to herself that it was actually audible. Leo must have removed the charm while she was sleeping) and pulled herself to a sitting position with some difficulty. When had she fallen asleep? She couldn't even remember closing her eyes…

The sun was low in the sky now, and the clock read 7:02. Hermione sighed. Another lousy day spent wasting away on her derrière. She imagined that this was the most she had ever slept in a single day, and instead of feeling rested, she simply felt like a useless lump. Idleness was not something Hermione did well, and she was almost looking forward to being put to the task of making Leo's Wolfsbane potion. It would give her something to do, at least, and might make time go by a little more quickly. She couldn't believe it was only day three of her captivity; it felt like a bloody lifetime.

A swift rapping on the door brought Hermione's attention back to the reason why she had been woken so rudely in the first place. Nadine! Her heart soared, and she was afraid it might beat out of her chest. The prospect of simply seeing another human being made her want to do cartwheels around the living room. Even if she couldn't run, even if she didn't have a wand, even under the threat of Leo's Impirius curse, she still had some sort of hope.

She could feel the gears turning in her head. This might be her only chance to have contact with an outsider; she had to milk it for all it was worth.

Leo's hand paused on the doorknob and he shot her a significant look. "Remember what we talked about," he hissed, before unlatching the deadbolt and opening the door.

"Well hello there!"

Hermione shared Leo's slight grimace, in spite of herself. She had had enough doom and gloom in the past three days to last her a lifetime; she could handle one cheery, high-pitched voice. Odd accent though, she observed.

Leo said some greeting that Hermione couldn't hear. She strained to see what was going on, but the door remained half-closed, and Leo filled up the other half quite nicely.

There was a pregnant pause and a rustling of bags, and Hermione heard, "Liam, aren't you going to invite me in?"

Liam. So that was his Muggle name, then. She made a note of it.

Leo reluctantly cracked open the door and Hermione breathed a sigh of relief. She had almost been afraid that he was going to just take the bags right out there in the hallway, but as the door was shoved the rest of the way open (nearly taking out the wall behind it) she had a feeling that this girl wouldn't take 'no' for an answer.

And she certainly knew how to make an entrance! Nearly six feet of supermodel/Amazon ex-girlfriend came strutting through the foyer toting five or six bulging shopping bags. She dropped them by the kitchen and turned to Hermione, tossing back her curtain of dark hair and flashing a thousand-Galleon smile.

Hermione beamed back, feeling slightly overwhelmed with giddiness as Nadine all but skipped around the couch, taking both of her hands firmly in her own. They were warm and manicured. "I'm Nadine," she said enthusiastically, and Hermione instantly liked her.

There was no question as to why she and Leo were no longer a couple.

The latter was currently glowering at them from the doorway, and Hermione had a moment of Umbridge-like satisfaction. "Since my cousin obviously needs someone to remind him of his manners and clearly does not possess the decency to introduce me, I'm Hermione." She couldn't stop smiling, even though she knew she would pay for this later.

"Oh, like Shakespeare!" Nadine exclaimed, and Hermione thought it was impossible for her grin to get any wider.

"I really, really do appreciate you having done this for me, Nadine."

"Oh it's not a bother at all, I promise you. I had the most awful morning but once Liam called me with your errand, I perked right up!"

I can see that, she thought, but it was certainly a welcome change of pace. She folded her legs up against her chest so Nadine would have room to sit next to her on the sofa. "Please, make yourself comfortable."

She hesitated, undoubtedly wary about allowing her designer dark-wash denim to come in contact with the mystery polyblend (and probably moldy, somewhere) fibers of Leo's couch, but her sympathy for Hermione outweighed whatever was holding her back, and she sat.

Hermione felt Leo's glare burning a hole through her back. He clearly had expected this to be a quick in-and-out, but Hermione was going to fight him tooth and nail, if she had to. "I'm so glad you were able to stop by. It's been just miserable here all by myself. Not a thing to do at all, except rest my leg, and –" she lowered her voice slightly, so that Leo could still hear " – without any decent reading material or even a telly, I'm simply going mad with boredom!" She lowered her voice even more. "It's almost as if Liam keeps me locked away from the rest of the world. I feel so isolated," she hinted.

Nadine nodded sympathetically. "I've been there myself, darling, not a fun place." She was referring to the ankle. Hermione deflated a little, until Nadine's eyes took in the thin sheet that was thrown over the back of the couch. "Is this where you sleep?"

"Oh, yes," Hermione said, casting her eyes downward in what she hoped came across as embarrassment. "But it's okay, really. I'm thankful to have anywhere to live, at all, even if it does sometimes feel like a prison cell." She coughed a little and spared a glance at Leo, who looked as if he were straining against something. His hands were in fists, stuffed down his pockets. One of those pockets had a wand in it, Hermione knew, but she was having too much fun.

"Are you okay? You're not sick, are you?" Nadine was fretting about Hermione's cough, and Hermione held up a hand.

"I've just had a bit of a cough since the fire… smoke inhalation, and all that. Although…" she lowered her voice to a whisper. "… there's so much dust and mildew in this place, it's a wonder I can breathe at all." And that, at least was the truth. Of course, the lower Nadine's opinion of Leo, the better; she seemed kind-hearted enough to want to return and visit Hermione if she knew she was miserable and not being treated well. For some reason, Leo was friends with this girl, and he probably couldn't refuse all of her requests to see Hermione without rousing suspicion. She prayed that eventually this Oscar-winning performance would pay off.

Nadine nodded in agreement. "I never did like it here," she said, not lowering her voice as Hermione had, for Leo's benefit. "Perhaps it just needs a woman's touch though. I stocked Liam up completely with state-of-the-art cleaning supplies once, hoping he could take the hint, but from the look of things, they're probably all gathering dust below the sink and haven't moved since I put them there."

Leo cleared his throat to remind the two of them that he was still in the room, but Nadine only huffed and shot him a look of disgust. "Well, it's true, you know. This place is a disaster, and it's a shame that you couldn't even bother to do more to make Hermione's stay more comfortable – don't you roll your eyes at me! You don't know the first thing about hospitality, never did!"

Hermione could feel her face reddening from trying to hold back the laughter that was bubbling up in her chest. Nadine was lecturing him, actually lecturing him! And he was taking it? (By 'taking it,' she supposed she meant his head hadn't exploded yet.) Was this the same Leo that had her pinned to the bed that very morning?

And then, with that entirely unintentional sequencing of words in her head, surfaced a completely different image than the one she recalled from before, and she was red for a whole different reason.

Thankfully though, Leo quickly interrupted her thoughts. "I think it's time for you to be leaving," he all but growled, nodding towards Nadine. She frowned at him and stood reluctantly, brushing off her pants (brushing what off, Hermione could only guess). "Hermione, it was really a pleasure to meet you, and don't bother trying to pay me back because I won't accept a penny of it, not after the way Liam's been keeping you. It's my gift."

Hermione genuinely tried to protest but Nadine wouldn't have any of it. She was secretly relieved though, because to be frank, she hadn't exactly expected Leo to follow through on his promise, and therefore didn't put any thought into how she was going to pay. She didn't have any Muggle money, only the few Galleons she had brought with her to Knockturn Alley (that were still sitting in her cloak). "You really are too generous, Nadine. I don't know how I can ever thank you for your incredible kindness." Her words were completely sincere this time.

"Don't you mention it. Just let me know how everything fits, dear, and I'll be back to check up on you!" She slapped Leo's hand away; he had been ready to push her towards the foyer. His eyes flashed dangerously and Hermione could tell that he was positively kicking himself for allowing the two of them to meet at all. "I'll see myself out, thank you," she snapped. Her mood seemed to have done an about-face, but Hermione didn't mind if it wasn't directed towards her.

And then, she was gone, and seemed to take all of the light and air in the flat with her. Nadine's presence had filled even the darkest corners of the room with warmth, and Hermione immediately missed it.

And she assumed yet another confrontation with Leo was inevitable. Lovely.

This was all getting old. Really fast.

"You're sure?" Dumbledore peered through his half-moon spectacles at the black-haired professor that was seated comfortably in front of his desk. "This is information he would have trusted you with, yes?"

"I'm sure," Snape said confidently. "If he was planning to do anything through a Hogwarts student, I would be the first to know about it."

Dumbldore raised an eyebrow slightly, but said nothing. He couldn't have Severus losing favor with Voldemort before their plans were carried out. Perhaps Severus was slightly disillusioned about his standing with the Dark Lord, but he knew that was less likely than the prospect of Hermione having been taken by a third party.

"You must ensure that he does not discover Hermione is missing. If he finds her before we do, that will certainly beget a whole new score of problems that we cannot even begin to imagine."

Snape nodded curtly. "Albus, what have you told the students?"

Dumbledore sighed wearily. "Of course, those who matter know the truth."

Snape snorted unceremoniously. "Do you believe for a second that our resident hero Potter will take this sitting down? Knowing him, he and Weasley are undoubtedly concocting some little plan to rush to her rescue as we speak."

"There is nothing they can do for her right now. Harry realizes as much. We must be careful of the information we give them, though, because I am certain you are correct; however, I am hoping that Dedalus and Nymphadora will be able to return her to us before the boy is driven to any serious action."

"What of the other students? Surely her absence of her… eager hand in every class won't go unnoticed."

"If anyone asks, the Professors been instructed to say she had family issues to attend to, but offer nothing more."

"Sir," he drawled, "if the Dark Lord believes Hermione's disappearance is significant, he will hardly believe that is the extent of my knowledge on the matter."

"Then," Dumbledore said, leaning over his desk and looking Snape in the eye, "if it comes to that, you must convince him that her absence is not significant. For everyone's sake."

AN: Well, we're all entitled to our dating mistakes, even Leo. He's had a pretty awful past, as you will eventually discover. Cut the guy some slack! :)

And I know the inside of an ugly flat not only gets boring for Hermione, but for readers, too… don't worry. There's still plenty yet to happen!