Chapter 15: Street Reconnaissance

Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author.

A big hug of thanks goes out to VIVAvivacious for her mad beta skills.

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The street was empty, snow laying thick over the roads and pathways. If it were spring, she would be able to see bitumen and concrete in its stead.

She had always loved winter as a child, but now she would always view the season through different eyes. Colder eyes. The warmth in them had long since fled, leaving cinnamon where there was once sweet chocolate. Her eyes scanned across all the houses tightly packed together along the street. She had searched the other two zones Snape had marked for her on the map but had come up empty-handed. In this area, two different streets had lit up like magical beacons.

She just had to narrow down the two houses by the afternoon, so that when she had them, she had time to investigate which of the two it was before nightfall. After all, she intended to be working very late that night; she planned to wait until Greyback had a chance to have a few drinks and therefore be less resistant when she attempted her seduction. Well, she rather hoped he was the kind of man who would toss back a few at the end of the day.

It was nearly an hour later when she was able to seek out the first house and work her way through the wards, taking them down layer by layer but re-erecting them behind her as she went. She didn't need to make the owners suspicious, let alone aware of her presence. Once she cracked through the final ward, she gave the outside of the house a scan and noted it seemed to be a fairly regular house. She didn't even have to break in to know it was not the house she was looking for.

Resigned, Hermione removed herself from the premises swiftly and expertly, ensuring all the enchantments and wards were perfectly in place before moving on to the house she was certain Greyback would be hiding away in. She found it a little odd there were two Wizarding households in such close quarters with one another, but she merely shrugged it off. It wasn't as though she knew everything about the living habits of all magical folk.

She walked through the snow, an Impervius cast over her shoes to deflect the snow and prevent them from leaving prints. She didn't want anyone to be alerted to her walking the streets. When she arrived at her destination the next street down, she looked at her map quickly and saw Greyback's name was still hovering over the area where her name was also scrawled. Tapping her wand against the parchment, she refolded it and tucked it away in the inner pocket of her heavy winter coat.

She approached the house carefully, casting a few small charms that would be barely noticeable over it to establish what kind of wards were in place. She was then dumbfounded to find there were only minor theft charms at work, as well as a really low-level intruder alert. Frowning, Hermione took both enchantments down in quick succession and replaced them once she was a little closer to the house. Peering in, she saw exactly what she wanted to, right in the front sitting room.

A family portrait hung on the wall opposite the window, a younger Greyback featured in it, standing beside a lady who was sitting in a chair and a taller man on his other side. It was an old photo, but it was still unmistakeably him.

She could see the fire was crackling, indicating he was obviously home, so Hermione decided to take her leave quickly for the time being before Greyback noticed there was something amiss. She walked to a park just down the road, and from behind a large tree, she Apparated back into the centre of town, intending to stop for a time to get out of the chill and replenish her strength with some food.

Entering a tiny cafe on the corner of the main street, she sat down and waited for the busboy to attend her.

'What can I get for you today, Miss?' he asked, his brogue so thick Hermione was barely able to understand him.

'Just an espresso with cream and whatever soup the chef suggests,' she answered, looking over at the specials menu.

'Right you are, Miss,' he said congenially with a wink before walking off.

Hermione sat back in her chair by the window and relaxed, staring at the random passersby as they trudged their way through the cold, wet snow. Her coffee arrived a few moments later by the same man who had taken her order. Mixing a spoon of sugar and some cream into the brew, she took a dainty sip. Satisfied, she continued to stare out the window. Just as her soup arrived at the table with a side of thick-cut herb toast, Hermione noted small flakes began drifting down from the sky. It was snowing.

She snorted inwardly. Of course it would begin to snow the one day when she hoped it wouldn't.

She began to eat her soup, pumpkin, savouring the warmth as it slid down her throat. She ate in silence, very aware of the fact that the busboys at the counter were eyeing her off and chatting about her. She supposed she couldn't blame them – the shop was nearly empty and they likely didn't get many visitors from out of town during this time of the year.

When she was finished with her meal, she pulled out her map after pushing her bowl and plate to the side, finishing the rest of her coffee as she spread out the portion she needed to view.

Wandlessly, she cast a charm over the map so that it would look like any old regular map to the Muggles if they were to see it. She didn't need to risk exposing herself to non-magical folk while she was there when she had been so careful to avoid the magical ones from discovering her. Casually, she shifted her right leg just enough under the table to be able to adjust the item she had strapped to her shin. She was carrying a hunter's knife she had from her father's old weaponry collection. It never hurt to have some back up in case she was unable to access her wand.

The sky grew dark earlier than she had expected, being just past five. Paying her bill, she left the cafe and made her way to an alley to Apparate back to the park near Greyback's house. On her arrival, she chose a swing on the playground to sit on, dusting off the new layer of snow that covered it. The snow was still falling rather lightly, but she knew there was a chance it could develop into a full-blown blizzard at any time.

When her gloves no longer warded off the chill and her body began to shiver, she left the little park and resumed her trip down the road to the home of Fenrir Greyback. On arrival, she removed the intruder alert ward and slipped through the gate, raising it again behind her. She had little to no need to remove the anti-theft spell. She wouldn't be removing anything from the premises, after all. Shakily, all nerves, she walked the pathway up to the front door.

Hermione paused before knocking, resting her gloved hands on the door, the wool rasping lightly against the chipped paintwork.

This was the moment she had been tirelessly working towards for weeks. She had put so much time and effort into finding Greyback, and here, perched on the very edge of the precipice, she was hesitant to push forward. She felt a lump form in her throat. Why was she not pushing ahead just as she had planned? Closing her eyes, she took several calming breaths, willing her pulse to return to normal. When she felt confident she was able to continue, she raised her hand to the heavy brass knocker and tapped it against the door clearly.

Straining to listen, she heard heavy footsteps from behind the door, and she steeled herself to face the monster that had changed her forever. She stepped back from the door when the footsteps grew louder and grasped the bottom of her wand with her right hand in case she would need to use it right away. All her nerves fled the moment the door opened, revealing Greyback in a state more dishevelled than usual.

His smile on seeing her was feral, to say the very least. 'Mudblood, I see you managed to find me,' he said, fingering his wand that was tucked into the front pocket of his pants lazily. 'Did you come here to kill me?'

Hermione raised an eyebrow at him. 'I hadn't really decided yet,' she lied effortlessly, her years in Drama Club when she was younger finally paying off. 'Are you going to let me in, or are you going to let me freeze?'

'If I didn't know any better, I would say you were here of your own free will,' he said. His words were oily and dripping from his mouth. 'Get inside, then.'

Leaning in close to him as she moved to go inside, she allowed her mouth to brush against his roughly-stubbled cheek. 'And now, how can you be so certain I'm here against my own will,' she rasped huskily into his ear before grazing her body against his as she walked the rest of the way inside.

It didn't take long for Greyback to follow her inside, closing his door behind him as he did. Hermione walked slowly down the hall and into his sitting room uninvited, leaning a hip against the old buffeted lounge she found there. She crossed her arms beneath her breasts, accentuating them slightly. Greyback fell for the bait, eyeing her appreciatively.

'You're overdressed,' he said silkily. 'Let me take that coat for you.'

Hermione shrugged out of her winter coat, leaving her in just her slacks and a white button down. She passed the coat to him, and he draped it over the back of a worn leather armchair as she took in her surroundings. Her eyes clapped onto the family picture she had seen earlier. He looked like an evil prick even then. She snapped her eyes back onto Greyback and watched as he began to approach her, like a beast coming down on its prey.

'I know why you're here,' he murmured softly.

Hermione let her eyebrow quirk up at him for the second time that night. 'Oh, really? And what might that reason be?' she asked, deliberately licking her bottom lip.

'Your magic sings to me,' he growled, coming to stand before her, grasping her chin with a roughened hand. 'I can feel the darkness travelling within you. It knows my darkness – they reach out to one another.'

She allowed him to tilt her face up to look directly at him. 'Your darkness does indeed call out to me,' she said, and she wasn't lying. So close to him, she knew the darkness in her soul was reaching out to its maker.

'You want to continue what I started that night,' he said, staring deep into her eyes with his own dilated, amber-coloured ones. 'I know you want it. Why else would you have come here if you weren't sure I wouldn't kill you on sight?'

'I want you to continue what you started,' she breathed, restraining the gasp that threatened to pass her lips as he leaned in to nuzzle her throat with his disgusting lips.

'You are such a fucking pretty little Mudblood,' he spat, latching onto her ear with his teeth and nipping at it roughly.

Hermione didn't hold back. She knew she needed to lure him into a false sense of security. She knew he wanted her. His arousal pressed hard into her thigh, and his hands went up to cup her breasts over her white shirt, massaging them roughly. She bit back a cry of anguish, feeling filthier than she had since the night in the forest.

Greyback finally mashed his lips to hers, roughly biting on her bottom lip, causing her to gasp. His tongue invaded her mouth like an out-of-control eel, sliding against hers and practically gagging her. She was just about to close her eyes when she felt him stiffen against her. Looking up into his eyes, she saw the faint realisation.

'You filthy, little bitch,' he spat.

Hermione had only just enough time to grasp her wand before he grabbed the front of her shirt and threw her bodily across the room. She hit a wall with a thump and a crack.

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A/N – Yes, my very first cliffhanger.