UDM: Granger Yet ~ Reasons Why (Harry Potter)

Reasons Why

"So, the young man you're introducing me to is your boyfriend?"

Regulus sat on the bench in the wooden bench inside of Palm House, looking at the tropical plants around them. He felt nervous, meeting someone from the magical community after so much time away, the one exception being the nerve racking shopping trip for school supplies between Hermione 's first and second years.

"Ron and I broke up," Hermione said as she sat next to him on the bench.

"Don't you hate me?"

"Your my dad."

"Ron. You mentioned him before," Regulus said, glad they were in a Muggle place—an indoor park—rather than meeting the person somewhere within the magical community. "I think you did."

"Ron Weasley," Hermione muttered. "You wouldn't have liked him."

"I didn't dislike Mr. Weasley, although it was a bit awkward interacting with him," Regulus hummed. "He's eccentric like myself. I am eccentric, right?"

"Normally, people don't declare to the world their eccentricity." His daughter smiled at him. "And Ron's not like his father.

"Ah." Regulus pushed his lips together. "I liked Mrs. Weasley's brothers. Fabian and Gideon were nice to me." He saw Hermione frown. "Did I say something wrong?"

"They both died during the previous war with Voldemort."

"Oh. I probably shouldn't bring them up in front of her then. My being a former Death Eater isn't going to sit well with her either."

"It didn't sit well with Ron either," Hermione said, watching some of the other Muggles coming and going.

"You told him?" Regulus tilted his head. "He dumped you?"

"No on both. I made a choice."

"You shouldn't have picked me," Regulus looked up at the ceiling of the greenhouse. "And what do you mean 'no on both'."

"I shouldn't have to choose, but that's exactly why—" Hermione swallowed—he heard her swallow. "I knew he would make me choose when I posed a theoretical to him, about what if one of my parents wasn't a Muggle. What if they were a Death Eater."

"That doesn't mean he would have."

"Considering he treated my question as a joke," Hermione tugged at his sleeve, making him look at her. He smiled at her. "As for the person meeting us—he's a former Death Eater."

"That—" Regulus swallowed. "I don't know. I mean..."

"I didn't say anything because I figured you would say something like that, but—" Hermione gave him that look, her eyes begging him much like she did the day she asked him to accompany her to Diagon Alley—that day he had an anxiety attack for reasons he at the time didn't understand. "He's in the same year as me, and needs someone to talk to."