And again.
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Charlie and Gus had whisked Hermione away to The Leaky Cauldron so she could meet the rest of the team. She was wedged between Charlie and Gus as Andrei and Caleb, both from Belarus told her about themselves. They were only a few years older than Hermione, and cousins who were more like brothers. They were smart and very witty but not overly talkative. That was left to Sebastian and Kurt, whose Maltese upbringing and love of laughter had everyone clutching at their sides at least once during the evening. The final member of Charlie's team was Marco. Spanish by birth, but by all rights as English as Hermione. He was slightly weary of her to begin with, but as Charlie spoke about her research, and the fact she had made polyjuice potion at the age of twelve, he respected that she was as bright as a button and dedicated to boot, but that didn't mean she had to like her.

"So Hermione," Gus started in his smooth baritone voice as another round of Butterbeers were left at their table. "What job have you just dumped to help out our little band of brothers?"

"Well, I helped rebuild Hogwarts for three years after the war, and I've been in the Department for the Control of Magical Creatures since," she started. "I started the Society for the Protection of Elfish Welfare at school, and wanted to take it further to include goblins and maybe mermaids and centaurs. I had all these ideas but I was a pencil pusher used by people whose egos outweigh their worth. Between them and you guys there wasn't much of a choice."

"Oh, so that's what SPEW is!" Charlie said as he listened. "Ron had a badge on his bedside table for months but I didn't ask about it. You were fourteen when you started it!"

"Fourteen?" Seb and Kurt ask at the same time.

"Yes, I saw a house elf being treated badly and I wanted to stop it," Hermione said quietly. "It was unfair, and I couldn't let it happen."

"But you were younger than Charlie was when he started the research!" Seb said, awestruck that someone was a harder worker than Charlie. He'd been at the end of one of Charlie's threats more than once whenever he slipped on research work.

"Well, my life isn't exactly a typical one," Hermione said with a smile. "Muggle born, and then I met Harry when I was eleven. Any chance of a normal school life were gone after he and Charlie's youngest brother saved me from a pissed off mountain troll."

The table laughed and Kurt broke out his troll impression, something he insisted was saved for parties and drunken nights out with the boys. Hermione was warming to the group as time went on but she noticed that Marco was still reserved. He asked her direct questions, and looked at her carefully when she replied, as though trying to catch her out with her answers. She quickly noticed and looked him in the eye as she spoke, determined not to be made inferior.

"What else did you do at Hogwarts then, Hermione?" Marco asked as politely as possible before taking a swig from his Butterbeer.

"Well I did the work like we had to," she started, looking him in the eye as she placed her glass back on the table. Gus had slung his arm on the back of her chair and watched their exchange. "If you listen to anyone from my year they'll tell you I worked more than anyone, but I did what I felt I had to do."

"But you were friends with Harry Potter, surely there were more interesting things than essays?" Marco pressed.

"Yes, he had his moments and I helped him as best as I could. He, Ron and myself backed ourselves into corners almost every year but we got through it with only a few scrapes." Hermione's tone was sharpening. She didn't want to tell six people she had just met about her life in so much detail, but not doing so would raise Marco's suspicions further. Of course, being Harry Potter's friend meant that she was asked questions about him more than people asked about herself, but it was something Hermione had come to terms with.

"But the basilisk, and freeing that convict, and the whole Department of Mysteries thing. That's more than backing into a corner when you were still such a child." Marco countered.

"It was Harry who killed the basilisk, I just helped him to figure out what the creature was before it prettified me," she said firmly. The others were watching uncomfortably as Hermione held her ground against Marco. The man was not giving up as she continued. "And that convict, as you put it, was not only Harry's godfather and the nearest thing to family he had after the Weasley's. He was innocent. Putting an innocent man in front of the Dementors for a kiss is not something I take lightly. If you think I'm going to talk about the Department of Mysteries then I'm sorry to disappoint you but I am not sharing that sort of information."

"So asking about Bellatrix Lestrange is out of the question then?" Marco asked, feigning indifference. There was some common knowledge of her actions against Hermione when a reporter had caught her 'mudblood' scar in a photograph. The table was deadly silent, Andrei and Caleb were disgusted at Marco's behaviour while Charlie and Gus stood to Hermione's defense.

"Marco," Charlie warned. "Enough."

"Leave it, Marco," Gus added.

Hermione continued as though Charlie and Gus hadn't spoken. She pushed up the sleeve of her blouse and bared her arm to the group, her brown eyes not leaving Marco's nearly black ones.

"She did this when we were hunting Horcruxes," Hermione spoke through her teeth. She was angry with the wizard in front of her and determined not to look weak in the face of her new team. "I'm a muggleborn, a mudblood and I won against your pureblood elite. Bellatrix Lestrange carved that into my arm, but look who's laughing now. Definitely not her since Charlie's mother killed her at the Battle and Voldemort is finished."

Hermione may have taken it too far as Charlie placed his arm on hers to steady her. He knew his mother had killed, but it wasn't a popular topic of conversation and none of the team knew. Seb, Kurt, Andrei and Caleb all flinched at Voldemort's name, but Charlie and Gus looked on pointedly, not moving a muscle.

"Look at you, with your thick-set brow and sharp jaw. How many years of inbreeding have you had to suffer to get ideals like that of the Death Eaters?" Hermione asked the nonchalant man lounging in his seat opposite her. He may be wearing jeans with holes at the knees and rugged shirts and boots, but his were expensive. Exclusive to the pureboods left in the world.

Marco said nothing as he took in Hermione's words. She was right and he hadn't told her anything. His blood was as pure as the Weasley's or the Malfoy's and she saw straight through whatever influence he had been brought up on. He conceded that Hermione was smart enough to keep up with Charlie, if not more so. She was also a Gryffindor, recklessly brave as she spoke to the pureblood elite with connections that would make her blood boil.

"Gus, keep an eye on Hermione," Charlie said without taking his eyes from Marco. "You. Outside."

Marco stepped up elegantly while Charlie angrily brushed past the crowd to the door of the pub. Before the door even closed Charlie had his wand in Marco's throat as he backed him into a wall.

"What the fuck do you think you're doing?" Charlie snarled at the dark haired man. He'd known Hermione a lot longer than he'd known Marco so it was she who he would defend. She was standing up for herself and Charlie had always been taught to do what was right. His parents were insistent on it.

"Getting to know her." He said simply. It had been obvious that Marco caused a slight rift in the group, but Charlie had always dismissed it as pureblood stereotyping. He was needed for the work to progress so he was kept.

"So you ask her about your distant relative torturing her? You're a sick, sick bastard Marco." Charlie spat as he pressed his wand harder into his neck.

"You're descended from the same bloodline, Charlie. She's your distant relative too."

Charlie snarled as Marco made his point. The Weasley line was interwoven with the Black line centuries ago but he was no more one of them than Hermione was.

"I'm not a Black, I'm a fucking Weasley. You do not speak to her like that again, do you hear?"

Marco said nothing.

"I said," Charlie was fuming. "Do. You. Hear?"

"You're a pureblood Charlie, you know how things work," Marco stated quietly. His voice was rough thanks to the force Charlie was using to press his wand into his trachea. "If it wasn't me, someone else would have said something. I can't promise she won't be hurt by one of us at some point."

"Don't threaten her. The team won't do a thing to hurt her. We're all working towards the same goal, or have you forgotten that?"

"I didn't mean the team," Marco stated.

Taking heed of the warning, Charlie lowered his wand before swinging his arm back and landing it on Marco's jaw. The Spanish man's head cracked on the wall behind him before he slid into an ungracious lump on the floor.

"Do anything and I'll do worse than knock a few teeth out. Don't bother continuing your research, you're not part of this team."

"We both know it's my money funding this!" Marco shouted thickly through a bloody mouth as Charlie stormed away.

Charlie reentered the pub and made a beeline to the table where a solemn round of firewhiskey was being downed by his team. Gus has his arm thrown around Hermione's shoulders and he was keeping an eye on the busying pub. He liked Hermione, and if Charlie trusted her then he would.

Kurt and Seb were telling unflattering stories of Marco in the hopes of raising Hermione's spirits, but she sat shaking into her firewhiskey. Andrei and Caleb were more tuned into Hermione's thoughts at that moment as they had both had an altercation with Marco at some point and knew he was vicious even if his caring and passionate exterior was just a façade.

"I think I should leave," Hermione said as Charlie retook his seat next to her. He took her hand and gave it an affectionate squeeze.

"It's ok. He's gone," Charlie told her. "He won't be working with us any longer."

"About fucking time," Caleb said, with a sardonic toast of his firewhiskey.

"Is everyone ok?" Charlie asked around the table, focusing on Gus.

"We're good, man," Gus said quietly as he passed Charlie a drink. "You're onto a winner with this one. I've never seen someone put that piece of shit in his place before." He said fondly while squeezing Hermione's shoulders. "I wouldn't want to guess at what you've been through Hermione, but I reckon it gives you skin like a Horntail."

She tried to smile but nothing worked. It was times like this when she felt most lonely. Harry and Ron were both Aurors and barely had time to spare these days and they were the only ones who could even begin to feel what Hermione was feeling.

"Shall we head off? We can use my parent's place as a base for the night," Charlie suggested. He watched as Seb, Kurt, Andrei and Caleb went outside to smoke one last cigarette. Gus hung back but saw Charlie's small nod and he went to wait outside too.

Hermione was quiet as she reached for her travelling cloak and bag. Of her new team, Charlie understood. His family had suffered during the war and he had heard stories from Bill about what she, Harry and Ron had gone through to end it all. He saw her fumbling with the clasp on her cloak and took over.

"Let me," he said softly. He took the heavy pewter clasp between his fingers and linked the two halves together just under Hermione's chin.

"I thought blood hate had ended," Hermione said timidly. "I suppose that was naive of me."

"Not at all, Hermione. There was always going to be the extremists who are out for blood, muggleborn or otherwise. He would have been after me given enough time, nothing screams blood traitor better than Weasley. We wouldn't be human if we weren't fighting at all." Charlie said sadly. He smoothed the heavy wool of Hermione's cloak across her shoulders. "Stay at the Burrow tonight. I don't want you to be on your own after what Marco said."

Too angry and tired to argue, she allowed Charlie to lead her to the door where the met with the others.

"You all ok to Apperate?" he asked the masses. With nods from them, they all grabbed Charlie's arm and were spun into blackness.

For now…
What do you think? Please review and let me know your thoughts on the team, or Charlie's actions, or Marco's threat.
Next part in a few days. X