A/N: Thank you for your reviews, favorites and follows after last chapter! Huge thank you to lanamarymack for alpha/beta reading this chapter. You know you can find me on tumblr!
Please let me know what you thought of chapter sixty and be on the lookout for chapter sixty-one soon!
Once they returned to Grimmauld Place, Sirius immediately guided them towards their father's study, knowing that he would need to give a full report on what had happened. Hermione still could not wrap her mind around everything that she had learned, both about her muggle parents and her grandfather. Fury simmered in her veins as she thought of the selfish way that he'd kept his knowledge about their heritage from her.
Keeping a protective arm around her shoulders, Sirius pushed the door to Orion's study after a quick wrap of his knuckles against the door, knowing that she needed someone to lean on. Tears swam in her eyes, but she was trying to keep a hold on her emotions well enough that she just looked a bit dazed.
To her surprise, their father was not alone in the office. Rabastan was already there and they were looking over a parchment together.
Rabastan barely needed to look at her to know that she was upset. Immediately, concern washed over his face and he pulled up a chair for her to sit in. "What is it? What's happened?" he demanded, looking to Sirius. "What did you do to her?"
Sirius bristled at the suggestion that he was the reason for her upset, but perhaps knew better than to argue against it. Orion stood from behind his desk, too, and stared hard at his son. "We made some calls today," he said, not sure what Hermione would want to reveal.
"I asked Sirius to take me to visit my muggle family," Hermione said, sounding miserable. She relayed the way that they had found their home sold and that they'd sought out Marius Black for answers.
"We looked for him, before," Orion said. "But couldn't find him anywhere."
"He changed his name, remember? They use the surname Baker," Hermione explained, her sadness easing as she talked about her previous family more matter-of-factly.
"I could never remember the name that you'd given us," Orion said, eyes eyebrows drawn together.
"He told me that the Ministry gave my parents the option of being obliviated and that they eventually took it when they couldn't handle the devastating knowledge that their daughter was dead," Hermione explained. "They live in Australia now. I'll never see them again. Can the Ministry really do that?"
Her father and Rabastan shared a bewildered sort of look, but eventually Orion spoke. "I have never heard of something like that being offered to muggles," he said, sounding confused and sorry. "But I will look into it, I promise."
"Marius was a real piece of work," Sirius said, a grim look on his face. "Pretty much figured out that he didn't tell Hermione about being a squib because he was jealous of her magic."
"He wasn't the Grandpa Mark that I remember," Hermione said, softly.
"Though, apparently, Hermione takes after Great Aunt Belvina, so there's that," Sirius said, hoping to lighten up the mood a bit.
Orion fought a smirk. "Is that so? I always thought that she favored my Aunt Lycoris," he teased, giving her a look over.
Hermione wiped her cheeks, riding any lingering evidence of the tears that had escaped her eyes. "Enough about him," she insisted. "What are you doing here, anyway?" she asked Rabastan, giving his hand an affectionate squeeze.
"Your father asked me here to discuss the transfer of ownership of the townhouse he'd gifted us, to be completed when the marriage is finalized," he explained. "It has been sitting empty since... well, while you were gone, so we've just come from refreshing the warding, too."
"It will be just as safe as Grimmauld Place when I'm done with it," her father said proudly. "But hopefully you can help me with some Charms work yourself when you are up to it. Familial blood wards work well, but it would be best if you put your own blood into it."
Sirius made a face of disgust, but Hermione could not hide her curiosity around it. "Oh, I've actually never seen the townhouse. Do you think that I might be able to take a tour?" she asked, looking to Orion eagerly. "Perhaps, if you are done with him, Rabastan could show me while you and Sirius look into the Obliviation issue?"
Hermione made a pointed effort not to look at Rabastan when thoughts of getting him alone were running through her head. Her cheeks were already flushed enough to be a tell.
Orion took a deep breath. "I don't see why that should be an issue," he agreed, after a while. "But I will send Regulus to come collect you."
"When?" Hermione asked, sharply.
"Who knows? So I'd recommend you remain on your best behavior," he answered, shushing Sirius's flustered arguments against the idea.
Hermione did not want to wait for anyone to change their mind, so she stood and grabbed Rabastan's hand in hers, tugging him towards the Floo. "Well, where to?" she asked, completely unaware of the address of the townhouse.
Rabastan called out the name and then stepped through the green flames. When they were alone, he looked at her with worry in his blue-green eyes. "You've gotten a lot of news today," he said gently, not even giving her a chance to look around. "How are you feeling?"
Her shoulders drooped. "Disappointed," she said. "But, I suppose, a part of me had grieved my muggle parents already at the start of all this. The blow wasn't as bad as I was expecting and for some reason that makes me... feel guilty, I suppose."
He breathed out. "I cannot begin to understand what you've gone through, but I confess when my own mother died, I felt a bit of... relief," he confessed. "I loved her, of course, and she was my mother, but she could be so smothering sometimes. And I felt awful to think even a tiny part of me was glad that she was... gone."
"Oh Rabastan," she said, wrapping her arms around his waist. "Life has not been easy on you."
Rabastan gave her a tight smile. "My fortunes are changing," he answered. "Come, let's talk about happier things while I show you around."
The ground floor of the townhouse was not particularly spectacular. There was an entryway and a small parlor at the front to receive guests, with a large kitchen in the back, with quarters for a house elf. Hermione bit her tongue for the moment, knowing that it wouldn't be productive to argue about having a house elf at the moment.
The second floor had a grand family dining room and a study that she presumed Rabastsan would use. In the front of house, there was a huge room. "I was thinking this is what we would use for a library," he said. "But I think that its original purpose was a ballroom."
Hermione stood in the middle of the room and spun around, looking at the huge windows at the front that let in gorgeous natural light throughout the day and the massive fireplace opposite. "Yes, I think this will do nicely," she said, her breath catching in her throat when she caught Rabastan watching her.
"I've already contracted someone to install the bookcases," he said, giving her a grin.
"I can't imagine that I will ever fill a library this large," she murmured, thinking that it would be quite a task.
"I'm sure that we can manage between the two of us," Rabastan answered, taking a step closer to her. "Shall we continue the tour?"
They made their way up to the next level, which contained a small room at the back of the house that Rabastan recommended as her private study. The rest of the floor was dominated by the suite that the pair of them would share, with a bathroom that would certainly need some fixing up and a wonderful dressing room.
She swallowed, standing in the empty space that would someday hold their bed. She turned to smirk at her soon to be husband, who didn't seem to know where to look. "I can't believe that we've never actually shared a bed together," she said, mischievously. "Seems like something we should remedy sooner rather than later."
Rabastsan shuddered, the look in his blue-green eyes was one of pure longing. "Please don't tease me, Hermione," he begged.
"We could fix it right now. I am very good at conjuring things," she said, pleased to know that she still had such an effect on him.
"And risk Regulus barging in? I'd like to keep my bollocks, thank you very much," he answered, crossing his arms over his chest in a protective gesture.
"He needs to learn to get over it," she insisted. "But, it would be quite the headache. I'll let it go for now."
Rabastan looked somewhere between relieved and disappointed. "Only one floor left," he said, offering her his hand so they could walk up to the next level.
The top level of the house had three bedrooms and a shared bathroom. Rabastan made some comment about it housing guest rooms, but there was an implicit suggestion that it would someday be used for children. Hermione blushed, remembering Edmond's insistence that he wanted grandchildren, but she couldn't even think about having a baby while Voldemort was at large. It just wasn't feasible.
She noticed Rabastan fiddling with his hand in his pocket and eventually he produced a small velvet box. "I think that I promised you a more worthy ring a long time ago. It's past time that I rectified that," he said, before opening the box, revealing a pale green pear shaped stone, settled in a cluster of smaller diamonds.
"Oh Rabastan, it's beautiful," she whispered, her eyes on the gorgeous ring. "But, I do not wish to be parted from your signet ring. It's...special to me."
He nodded, his throat bobbing while he found the words. "I would never ask for that back," he said. "They are both yours to wear, as you see fit."
Hermione nibbled at her lower lip, thinking it over before she pulled it off of her left ring finger and exchanged it for her right hand. Then, she took the ring that Rabastan offered and slipped it onto her open left finger. She sighed, looking at it. It truly was gorgeous. She found him grinning at her when she looked up at him once again.
Stepping forward, he pressed one hand to her shoulder, while his other hand caught her jaw, tilting her face up so that he could slant his lips against hers in a kiss. He looked besotted when he pulled back. "I cannot wait for this war to end so that we can finally be married," he said.
"I'd sooner marry you now without the fanfare, just to know that I was your wife, even for just a day, in case something —"
He pressed a finger to her lips, cutting her off. "Do not speak such things into existence," he ordered. "Nothing is going to happen. Besides, you already know You-Know-Who's secret. Tell me, what do you know of the horcruxes and what is to be done about them?"
Hermione looked around the room and conjured a settee that they could sit on. This sort of conversation necessitated being comfortable. "Well, he's been able to come back several times, when he should have been dead," she said. "He possessed my Defense Professor in my first year. And in my second year, he used a Diary to possess Ginny Weasley to do his bidding. He was trying to steal her life force to come back."
"A Diary?"
"Yes, the Diary that he used as a student," Hermione explained. "Apparently, hearing about that is what helped my Father put two and two together. So, you see, he must have made multiple if he is back again. But, I have no idea how many or where or what they might be."
"And how was the Diary destroyed?" he asked. She could already see the ideas in his mind turning around.
"Harry used a basilisk fang to destroy it," she said. "But I don't know all the particulars. I was petrified during that situation."
Rabastan swore, hearing that she'd been put in danger in such a way. He cupped her face and kissed her, catching her lower lip between his teeth in a gentle nip. Wanting more, Hermione decided to deepen the kiss, parting her lips, eager for his intrusion. Unable to stop her moan, her fingers found purchase in the front of his shirt.
Once this spark between them started it was almost impossible to stop. But, the looming threat of Regulus was too much to ignore and so Rabastan was soon pulling back from her, trying to catch his breath. "You make me lose my head, witch," he said, running his fingers through his hair.
"I'm not sorry," she answered, impishly.
"Well, since we don't have any spare basilisk fangs around, we should probably start figuring out how to destroy the horcruxes once we find them," he said. "I am sure that your family library is well versed in that sort of magic, but I will check my own as well."
"You really will help me?" Hermione asked, amazed that he was not only helping, but volunteering his time as well.
"I don't want anything to stand in the way of us being together — happily," he answered. "But it would help if we knew what we were looking for."
Hermione hummed in agreement. "Yes, I got the feeling that Dumbledore knew more than he was letting on," she said. "I think he might have found another. His... his hand was damaged from a curse. If I could just sit down with Harry and Ron, I am sure that they would tell me everything they knew."
"I guess we'll just have to get you in a room with them, then," he said, shrugging his shoulders.
When he said it like that, it really sounded so simple. She felt better with a bit of direction and the knowledge that Rabastan was going to be helping her along the way.
Before they could talk about it any more, Regulus was jumping into the room, having used a silencing spell to creep up the stairs, hoping to catch them doing something. "What are you doing?" he asked, eyes narrowed in suspicion.
"We were just talking after our tour of the house," Hermione insisted, standing up from her spot on the settee. "I was just telling Rabastan that I think this might make a lovely nursery someday soon," she added, patting his hand against a stunned Regulus's chest when she walked by him.
She looked over her shoulder to share a secret smirk with Rabastan, only to find him looking as stunned as her brother. Laughing at the two of them, she flounced down the stairs, listening to the two of them bicker about what sort of touching was and was not allowed before the wedding.