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The silence was oppressive.
Hermione knew Fabian was not yet asleep - she had shared a room often enough with him on missions to know his distinctive light snore.
Sighing, she sat up, accioed herself another pillow. The somewhat elevated position helped - for all of five minutes.
With a frustrated groan, she got up and went to the kitchenette to see that, yep, there was still nothing to eat apart from some aging fruit.
Good thing she wasn’t hungry - but anything would be better than just silently sharing a bed with a grumpy Fabian Prewett. Even if he had a good reason, she reminded herself.
Merlin, she hated when he was angry with her. And of course, this had to be the mission where they had to stay in this tiny safehouse. The one with only one bed. True, it was at least big and wide enough to let them both sleep comfortably without touching.
But right now, this surely was the most uncomfortable timing ever for them to be in such close quarters.
Walking back into the room, Hermione stood at her side of the bed and stared down at Fabian, who lay with his back to her. Still pretending to sleep - still ignoring her.
She couldn’t take it anymore.
“Can we please talk about this?”
No reaction.
“Fabian, come on. I know you’re not asleep.”
“Of course I’m not. How could I when you move around all the time, jostling me awake every damn second.”
“We both know that’s not what it is,” she replied, crossing her arms over her chest, glaring at the back of his head. “Fabian!”
“What do you want me to say?” Fabian bit out, turning around to glare right back at her. “That I’m happy for you? I am. Absolutely. Do you want my blessing? It’s yours. Now let me sleep. We have a tiring day ahead of us.”
“I get that you’re angry-”
“Angry?” he interrupted, sitting up. “Hermione, I’m not angry.”
“What-?”
“I’m gutted,” Fabian explained, pain visible on his features.
Hermione was lost. Unable to say a word, she simply stared at him, waiting for him to continue.
“I’m gutted, Hermione,” Fabian repeated, calmer this time. “He’s my brother, you’re my partner - and I have to find out by accident? I-I… I don’t know, I…”
He looked up at her and Hermione had to swallow hard, trying to hold back her tears.
“Shouldn’t I have been the first to know?”
“Yes, but-”
“But what?” he interrupted, challenging her. “What, Hermione? What reason could you have for keeping your relationship a secret from me? From me?”
“Please don’t yell,” she finally begged, unable to think clearly when he was raising his voice like this.
Fabian had been her mentor ever since she had joined the Auror department right after Hogwarts, thirteen years ago. When her parents didn’t regain their memories, he had become like a father to her; one she admired and one who could - with one look - render her silent when he was frustrated with her; one who was there to comfort her, and one she went to whenever she needed help.
For eight years now, they had been partners.
For over five years, she had kept a secret from him. A huge secret. But how could she have told him - or anyone, really - that she had developed a crush on the youngest Prewett sibling?
How could she have explained that, for her, Gideon was no longer just a second mentor? Not just another part of the Weasley family, just Fabian’s brother; or Ron’s uncle!
How could she have explained such a thing when for years, she had believed it to be an unrequited crush?
It was only last summer that she had found out just how wrong she had been in her assumption. So for half a year now, it had been quite a different secret she had kept from her partner.
“Fabian, think about it, please. Not… not as my partner. Or as Gideon’s brother. Just…”
Hermione sighed, brushing away one of the unruly locks of hair that were tickling her skin - as if she needed that right now!
“You must see how people will think about this relationship. We wanted to be absolutely sure that- that it would be more than… I don’t know. We wanted to be… sure. About us. About our relationship.”
“And you think I would have what? Judged you? Tried to talk either of you out of it?”
“No!... Yes? Maybe. I don’t know. I honestly don’t know anymore.”
“Not good enough.”
“Then what do you want me to say? That I’m sorry? I am. I honestly am. We talked about telling you so often-”
“But you haven’t.”
“But we wanted to! You and- and all the others. It’s just… we didn’t know how. We know how this looks, what people will think-”
“And you thought I wouldn’t help you with that?” Fabian shot back. “That I wouldn’t have your backs?”
Biting her lip, Hermione shrugged.
“Hermione, you’re my partner,” Fabian repeated. “Gideon is my brother!”
She was sure of what was coming - the lecture, the disgust, the ‘he-could-be-your-father’ speech.
But instead.
“I will always have your back!”
Looking up, Hermione met his eyes. His honest, warm eyes.
“I’m not angry,” he reassured her again. “I’m sad neither of you had enough trust in me. Is this weird for me? Yeah! Will I give him the ‘hurt-her-and-I’ll-kill-you’ speech? You bet. And I’ll do the same with you! But in the end… in the end, you’re the two people I trust most - I thought that went both ways.”
“It does,” Hermione blurted out, her voice already watery as she could feel the first tears spilling over. “It does, Fabian, honestly. You would’ve been the first to know… as soon as we figured out how to tell you,” she added with a small voice.
“And when would that have been?” Fabian asked - but his voice was different now, teasing, and with a forced lightness that told Hermione they had reached the other side of this steep hill. He even raised one eyebrow, as he liked to do when he mocked her. “When Gid asked me to help him pick a diamond for your ring?”
Huffing out a laugh, Hermione shook her head.
“No, I guess when I asked you to walk me down the aisle.”
As Fabian rolled his eyes, he opened his arms. Right away, Hermione climbed onto the bed and into his arms, hugging him close and letting him hold her in return.
She knew this wasn’t over yet - Gideon would get an earful over this as well. He might be his brother but everyone knew that Hermione was like a daughter to Fabian - and every man who dared to come close to her got the same treatment, family or not.
But for now, she was thankful he seemed to have forgiven her. And he was right, they had a tiring day ahead of them. With a last squeeze, Fabian let her go, pressed a kiss to her forehead, and they rolled over to finally get some much-needed sleep.