Epilogue: Prompt #5 – Start Over

To Hermione, the townhouse had always felt like a rambling affair that was simply too big for just two people. Having grown up in a modern, detached new build in the suburbs, she had always found the almost decadent use of space sinful. Her mother would have turned one of the spare rooms into a sewing room, or a gym, or to some other useful purpose. Hermione did not sew, though, and she certainly did not have any need for a gym. As a consequence many of the rooms had remained empty, though perfectly decorated.

That did not change now that there were three permanent occupants. The three of them barely seemed to take up any more room at all.

The first night after she returned, she had padded through the building having – for the moment – escaped Blaise’s ever watchful presence. She had peered through doorways, noting any and all changes that had occurred. She had used the time taken by her exploration of the rooms to try to find her place within them again. Finally, she had escaped into the glorious isolation of her study and pretended to unpack boxes until it grew too late to ignore the ever present spectre of retiring to bed. Thankfully - and to her surprise - she had been left alone for the greater majority of that time.

When night had fallen, Blaise had appeared in the doorway to the study with a pensive expression on his face. Gone was the excitable man from earlier in the day. Gently taking her by the hand, he had silently urged her upstairs to their bedroom. Marcus had already been there – in the flesh and in the little touches that revealed that he had been occupying the room in her absence. Having already observed as much earlier, Hermione felt nothing but a placid curiosity as she watched him move about the space, preparing for bed as he did so. There had been an understandably awkward moment as they tried to settle on their sleeping arrangements but eventually they had settled between the sheets and into a surprisingly blissful sleep. Hermione woke feeling more rested than she had for a long time, although admittedly rather cramped.

Nothing had happened that night – or for the three that followed it. Hermione lay undisturbed in the bed, sometimes next to only Blaise and sometimes sandwiched between the two men. Marcus, she learned, did not like to be in the middle. Blaise, she learned, loved it. In the nights that would follow, there were occasions when Marcus would not sleep in the room at all, claiming he felt the need to sprawl in a bed by himself.

They talked and argued as they negotiated their way back into normality – or as close to it as Hermione thought that they could hope to achieve. Several times she came very close to hexing both of them. Once she even stormed out of the townhouse and had marched halfway to Ginny’s flat before she regained control of her emotions. Adapting was every bit as hard as she imagined that it would be, and at times she felt an almost dry sense of satisfaction as she saw the other two thirds of their relationship realise as much. For his part, Blaise continued to barrage her with gifts - although this time he was far less reliant on flowers.

Ginny proved to be unspeakably smug about the whole affair. Two days after Hermione had moved out, the bubbly redhead turned up on the doorstep with a large cake box from work, the contents of which the pair managed to completely devour over the next couple of hours.

Fork in hand, Ginny had grinned broadly at her over the kitchen table and said, “You know, if you’re looking for someone to thank for your recent good fortune then you might what to cast your eye in the direction of your favourite redhead.”

“Ron?”

Ginny snorted. “Ron would never have the wit or intelligence to plan something like this. He certainly would not have been brave enough.”

“Okay, I’ll bite. What did you do?”

Ginny’s eyes danced as she began to explain.

By the time that Ginny had finished speaking, Hermione’s eyebrows were nearly at her hairline. According to the redhead, she had carefully negotiated a truce with a certain ‘ferret faced git’ before agreeing to collaborate with him. After considerable planning, they had apparently set out to manoeuvre Hermione, Blaise and Marcus into a position where they were bound to come into contact with each other. This they had achieved with great success. Their motives had been similar. Draco had been tired of his having to put up with his friends moping around. “And I wanted my flat back,” Ginny had concluded. “You can be really quite messy, you know.”

Hermione had rolled her eyes at that. Secretly, she had wondered how the pair had managed to stay in the same room as each other long enough to plot anything without one of them ending up dead.

Later, when Hermione had related the conversation to Blaise and Marcus, the former had laughed out loud. Smirking broadly, he said, “Why don’t you ask Ginevra exactly where her little blond ferret slept on the night of their triumph?”

It had taken Hermione only a few seconds to connect the dots.

On the morning of the fifth day, Hermione woke to sounds of harsh breathing and slow kisses. Instantly awake, she remained perfectly still and invested all her concentration on listening. Her cheeks grew warm and then warmer still as she realised precisely what it was she was overhearing. She felt her heart quicken as she did so.

She rolled over to find Marcus leaning over Blaise, pressing him down onto the mattress as they kissed. The heat in her cheeks flared anew but she did not feel the need to turn way. Instead, she watched as Marcus almost languidly teased Blaise into responding. He did not stop there though. He continued to tease even once the younger man had begun to kiss him back, causing Blaise to strain as he tried to follow Marcus’ mouth. The small, disgruntled sounding protest that escaped Blaise’s lips as Marcus reared back and denied him was so familiar that it was almost eerie.

It was not long before they noticed that they had her attention. Indeed, Hermione was surprised that they did not notice the fact sooner since she was all too aware of her heart thudding noisily. Eventually, however, Marcus turned his head towards her, his lips slipping into a grin that left Hermione in little doubt that, at the very least, he had an inkling of what was running through her mind. She felt her cheeks darken once again but tilted her head defiantly.

His smile widened. “Don’t you want to touch?” he asked. His voice was rough, and at the sound of it a strangled sound escaped Blaise.

Hermione arched an eyebrow and very deliberately avoided looking at Blaise. “I don’t know,” she said. “I mean, I’m not sure he deserves it.”

“What?” Blaise exclaimed.

“You might have a point,” Marcus agreed, ignoring his boyfriend’s astonished expression. His eyes sparkled. “He hasn’t earned it, has he?”

Hermione felt a line of tension run down her spine. She could not quite believe that Marcus was actually playing along. “He really did mess us around,” she agreed.

“If it hadn’t been for him then this situation might have been resolved far sooner.”

Nodding her head, Hermione eased closer to the pair. Reaching out, she tugged at the sheets and watched as it slid down the line of Marcus’ bare back until it was settled dangerously low. Shifting onto her knees, she leaned across and caught his mouth, though only briefly. “Maybe he shouldn’t get to play at all,” she whispered.

“Hey!” Blaise cried. “I apologised. I did! Hermione…” He struggled to sit up but Marcus still had his hands fastened tightly around his wrists. Seemingly without any extra effort the bigger man held him down.

Marcus grinned slyly. “I knew there was a reason that I fell for you. Did you have anything specific in mind?”

Hermione had not, but she tilted her head to the side and said, “Maybe,” anyway. What had followed had left her blushing for days.

Six months slipped by, almost without Hermione realising. They settled into being lovers and companions with an ease that Hermione felt was very nearly unnatural, even if it was occasionally troublesome. Negotiating their way through daily life and explaining to their friends and family was just as awkward as Hermione had anticipated. Her mother had looked quite faint when Hermione had turned up to Sunday lunch one week with both Marcus and Blaise in tow. Her father had proceeded to drink entirely too much wine with his meal, and in the end had retreated to his den to watch the rugby. It had not been until a series of raucous cries of disbelief had exploded from the room that Hermione had realised that Marcus had gone and joined him. Harry and Ron’s reactions had been no less astonished.

There were times, considering the responses of those around her, that Hermione wished that she could turn back time to just after she had found out the truth. She would, she thought, have been both more and less impulsive. The first thing that she would have done would have been to confront Blaise rather than give in to her initial impulse to hide away from him. She wished that she had screamed and shouted at him. Maybe then things would have been resolved between them sooner, although she had to doubt whether their present state of equilibrium would ever have been reached if she had.

Knowing that dwelling on the matter would no doubt gnaw away at her, Hermione attempted to distract herself. It was not too difficult. In truth, once she had accepted that their relationship was not something that was going to vanish, Hermione found that it occupied her thoughts in far pleasanter ways. She was in love. But – even more importantly - she was loved.

THE END

Final Author’s Note:

When I started writing this I imagined that I would finish it in a matter of weeks. I thought that I would be done in under 10,000 words, to be completely honest. I didn’t realise that it was going to take on a life of its own and that I would end up working on it for just over a year. I am… reasonably pleased with how it turned out. To be completely honest I’ve had a love/hate relationship with this story -- which is possibly why I feel a little bit like I’ve gone completely insane for starting writing a companion story. It will be shorter than Inamorata and hopefully I should be able to start posting it in the next couple of weeks.

Finally, I just want to say thank you to everyone who has reviewed over the last year – especially to those who have left reviews but haven’t signed in to the site. I haven’t been able to reply to you guys and sometimes I’ve really, really wanted to. Anyway, quite frankly I’ve been shocking at times with regards to updating. I mean, I’ve had a lot going on in RL but there have been times when idleness has played a part. Hopefully you’ll all stick with me for the companion story as well.