In the Mood

Chapter Six


Their first kiss had been very memorable. The second was more so for her as she managed to knock him out cold with the tackle she had given him when he landed backwards. She was able to heal him and get him into the house. Guilt ate at her, as she sat next to him and waited for him to wake. She ended up curled up in bed with him asleep by the time dawn was breaking.


And so that was how he awoke with Hermione sound asleep on top of him. He absently stroked her hair, trying to think as he might what had happened the night before. When he recalled what had happened, Alastor rolled his eyes and smacked her ass sharply.


“Ouch!” she exclaimed, jumping up from the bed with her hands on her bottom. “Why did you do that?”


“You tackled me! You knocked me out cold!” He stood up and snarled down at her, “If I had it my way you’d be lucky to walk for a week, Missy!”


Frowning she muttered, “It’s moments like this that I wish I had paid more attention to what a girl is supposed to do.”


Now he was looking at her frowning as well.


“But no! I had to actually read and study and get the highest NEWT scores since Regina Ravenclaw herself,” she muttered. “So yes, I know charms and potions and spells, but I don’t know a thing when it comes to men! There! Now you know that I’m a clumsy idiot that hasn’t even kissed a man before you and didn’t know how and don’t you know that I had to go off and do that!” She was now crying. “Now if you please excuse me, I am going to bathroom and throw up in mortification.”


He yanked her back, pulling her over to the bed and sat her on his lap. Alastor took out his hankie and blotted her tears away. He pulled her into a hug, kissing her eyes and simply rocked her.


“I am the first man you’ve kissed?” he asked her.


“Ron tried twice, but it ended badly both times,” she muttered. “I accidently gave him a concussion the first time.” When he chuckled, she explained, “We were in the forbidden forest. He just jumped me. I pulled my wand and had him flying before I knew it was him.”


“Silly boy,” he muttered, not liking the sound of this Ron boy being around his Hermione.


“The second time was worse in a way. He was trying to make his girlfriend jealous and we all knew it. I broke his nose.”


Smiling into her hair, he murmured, “That’s my girl.”


She pulled back and looked into his eyes. “Alastor?”


“Hmm?”


“Thank you.”


“For what?” he asked, truly puzzled.


“For making me feel like a beautiful woman,” she answered shyly. “That means more than I can say.”


He cupped her face, his thumb rubbing along her jaw. “You are.”


She leaned in and kissed his mouth lightly, cautiously. When she pulled back, Hermione asked, “Still conscious?”


“Yes.”


“You’re not bleeding are you?”


“No,” he replied, smiling.


“Are you sure you’re okay?”


“My heart stop beating because I had the most beautiful girl in the world kissing me, but other than that I am doing well.” This had her chuckling, as he hugged her tighter to himself. “Ahh, Missy, what am I going to do with you?”


***


Hermione was reading a book, one of several that Albus had gotten for her to read about time manipulation when Alastor came charging into his own office. He slammed the door and began pacing. She put her book down and waited.


“They want to end the investigation,” he said to her. “Call it a simple robbery.”


“A robbery? What with him wearing that gold pocket timepiece and diamond stick pin?” she asked quietly.


“Exactly!” he exclaimed. “I told him so!”


“Who would that be?” she asked him.


“Head Auror Black.” Hermione leaned back and thought it over.


“Well, that’s no surprise,” she whispered. “There’s more to this death than meets the eye.”


Hermione looked over to Alastor. “At first I thought this was a clear case of Abraxas Malfoy wanting his inheritance now rather than waiting for it. But it could be that someone else wanted him to have the money. After all, he had money from his mother’s family, correct?”


He nodded. “That he does.”


“But it’s a pittance compared to the Malfoy family vaults,” she told him. “I have a very bad feeling that we are dealing with a dark wizard I have had the misfortune of doing so before.” She took a deep breath. “We need to go to Hogwarts.”


“Hogwarts? Why?”


“To talk to Albus for one,” she said casually. “And to return this tome for another.” She picked it up. “Albus lent it to me, but it belongs to the school.” When he began to frown, she rolled her eyes and said, “What now?”


“Nothing.”


She stared at him for a moment. “I’m not interested in him in that fashion, nor do I think of him that way. Even if I did, there is something that you need to know.”


“And that would be?”


“Not something I have any business telling you, but if it means that you aren’t going to be a pill on this trip over, so be it. He doesn’t like girls that way.”


He blinked at her, not knowing what to make of what she said.


“He’s a homosexual,” she told him. “He’d sooner kiss you than me.” She smiled when his jaw dropped. “But given everything that has happened and will happen within the next few years, I doubt that he would try.”


“So he is homosexual?” he asked. “Makes sense the way he kept looking at Grindelwald with adoring eyes.”


She nodded sadly. “He loves him.” Alastor looked at her in shock. “Albus is going to have to…” She made herself stop. “It isn’t going to be easy for him, not in the least.” Hermione grabbed up his hand and said, “Whatever happens, promise me that you will see after him. He’ll need all the support he can get.”


He nodded briskly. “That I will, Missy. Let’s get going to that school.”


She kissed his cheek, murmuring, “Thank you, Alastor.”


Smiling he pulled her off his land and apperated both of them to the gates of Hogwarts.


***


When they arrived at the school’s gates, they found a teenaged half giant crying as he stared in. Hermione sighed heavily as she stepped away from Alastor.


“Hello, Hagrid,” she said, pulling out a hankie and handing it to him. “What’s wrong?”


“I-I miss it so-o much!” he sobbed. “All…of the…animals!”


“I know you do,” she murmured. “Come along. We’ll go to visit Professor Dumbledore. I’m sure that he would like seeing you.”


He smiled broadly. “That would be grand!” But then he frowned. “But who told you my name?”


She smiled. “You’d be amazed at what I know.” Hermione looked over to Alastor who was frowning. “Alastor, we are going to be late for lunch at this rate.”


“Missy, we need to talk,” he told her briskly, pulling her away from the boy. Once they were several feet away from Hagrid, he said, “That boy is a killer!”


“You think that he killed someone?” she asked him.


“Not him, but his spider,” he muttered.


She bit her lip, wanting to tell him the truth of it, but knew she couldn’t. “He needs to speak to Albus.”


“Why do you say that?” he asked, sounding as if he was already trying to come up with a reason not to let the young wizard into the school.


“Look at him,” she whispered. “How many days has he worn that outfit? I can smell his need for a bath from here. Alastor, what loving parent would allow him to just stand outside of the gates of his old school like that? There’s more here than we know.”


She walked back over to Hagrid. “Where is your father?”


He let out a long wail, pulling her into a hug that was nearly crushing her as he stammered, “He’s dead! He’s dead!”


Alastor managed to get Hermione away from the grieving half giant. He mumbled an apology, as Hermione was bent over trying to catch her breath. The auror rubbed her back.


“I told you…”


“I know,” she muttered, standing up straight. “He still needs to speak to Dumbledore. After all, wouldn’t it be for the best that Hagrid be left to his own devices.”


He nodded briskly, wrapping his arm around her shoulders, turning to the young wizard. “Hagrid, come along! We aren’t waiting all day!”


***

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