Between Fine Lines

Twenty

"I never realized how awful I was at this game until watching the two of you play," Hermione admitted aloud. She sat perched on the couch, a book in her lap long forgotten as her attention had been taken by the game of wizards chess that Regulus and Draco were playing. They had knocked almost all of the pieces off the board and it was truly going to be a matter of the most precise, next few moves to determine who would win.

"I told you I was letting you win, you just didn't want to believe me," Regulus teased, glancing away from the board to look at Hermione. He and Draco had dragged two chairs to opposite ends of the coffee table after breakfast and had been playing a few rounds, they had each already won a game and now this final game would determine the overall winner.

"Well when you have somebody like Weasley teaching you how to play," Draco muttered, pausing when he realized what he had said. Hermione huffed, "Ron is actually a very good chess player, we played on a life sized board in our second year, you know. Won the game with two handicaps too," she nodded, her eyes trailing to watch Harry and Ron, who sat whispering at the kitchen table over their own breakfast, both of them having gotten up just before noon.

"Two handicaps?" Regulus questioned, actually interested in hearing this story. "We were pieces," Hermione informed him. "Harry was a king, Ron was a knight and I was a queen. So he had to make sure neither one of us got destroyed."

"Well isn't that just thrilling?" Regulus smiled at Hermione. "Life size wizards chess... I wouldn't mind swinging a chair at Weasley's head," he commented, watching his King do just that and take out Draco's last pawn. Annoyed at the move, Draco couldn't help but laugh at Regulus' comment, smirking as Hermione rolled her eyes.

"You're on your own, Granger. Five points to Gryffindor for an interesting story, but minus fifty for continuing to be friends with that oaf."

"Can't we all just get along?" Hermione sighed, her shoulders sagging a bit as she closed the book on her lap. "Maybe when we're all on the same i.q. level, Potter's almost there," Regulus winked at her.

"So Never," coughed Draco and the two boys started to laugh again. Draco directed his chess pieces and Regulus jumped up, cursing as he lost the match. "Fucking hell Malfoy!" Regulus groaned unhappily. "How are you so good at this?"

"A lot of late nights in the common room with Theo-" Draco paused and Hermione watched him curiously as the smallest hint of pink began to appear on his ear lobes. "Lots of wizards chess games," he finished quickly, getting up and heading for the kitchen.

"Hmmm..." Regulus watched the blonde leave the room, plopping himself down on the couch next to Hermione. "Whos' Theo?" he questioned curiously as he took Hermione's book, setting it down on the coffee table.

"I assume he's referring to Theodore Nott, he's a Slytherin boy in our year. He's really smart, his marks are just as high as mine and Draco's, I think they've been friends for a long time," Hermione watched Regulus as the metaphorical gears turned in his head.

"Friend or friend?" Regulus whispered, emphasis on the second time he said the word, raising his eyebrows suggestively. Hermione's eyes widened, "I don't think so! Draco was always attached to this horrid girl named Pansy." Regulus shook his head, "Maybe they all had late night common room sessions, together," he snickered, pulling Hermione to sit on his lap.

"I never thought about things like that," Hermione admitted. "Malfoy was too busy picking on me for my blood status," she sniffed indignantly.

"Maybe he wanted you to be a part of his threesome," Regulus teased and Hermione swatted his arm. "Regulus, please!" she exclaimed, laughing. "Don't suggest such things."

"Well for one, I'm not like the rest of my family, a bunch of incestual weirdos. Secondly, I don't share, so you never have to worry about me asking Draco to partake in bedroom activities with us," he whispered with a grin, pulling Hermione down onto the couch and kissing her.

"Oh yes, quite the casanova you are, talking about your own cousin and then snogging me," Hermione laughed, kissing Regulus back. He let out a small laugh, scooting down to rest his head on Hermione's stomach. "I think I'll have a nap," he informed her, playfully biting at her hip through her jeans. "That behavior says otherwise."

"I mean... we could go upstairs, have a nap together," he suggested, his tone implying he did not actually mean a nap. Hermione opened her mouth to respond when there was a pop and a loud crashing noise suddenly in the kitchen.

"Kreacher's found him!" Draco called out and Regulus and Hermione jumped up, going into the kitchen to find Mundungus hiding under the table from the group of wizards.

"What the hell! One minute I'm in Diagon and the next I'm here!" Mundungus yelped as Remus reached under the table, dragging the man out by his ratty coat.

"We are one night away from the full moon," Remus growled, shoving Mundungus into the counter, causing Draco to jump out of the way, slightly hiding himself behind Sirius. "And my patience for you is absolutely, none Fletch." The sneer on the normally calm wizard's face was clearly his inner wolf looking for blood. "You're going to answer our questions truthfully or I may decide to eat you."

Mundungus gulped, his eyes unable to tear away from Remus' face, even as Sirius pulled him back. Regulus wandered up to the older gentleman and Mundungus' face paled even more. "Y-You're Regulus Black, I recognize you from the photos in the hallway," he stuttered. "You're supposed to be dead."

"Today's just full of surprises for you then, isn't it?" Regulus held out his hand to Kreacher, who handed him the fake locket. He dangled it in front of Mundungus' face, "You took a necklace that looked just like this when nobody was living here- don't open your mouth and try to deny it, because Kreacher saw you-where is it?"

Mundungus looked at the locket then at Regulus, watching him hand it back to the house elf. "Why? Is it worth something?" he questioned curiously. Regulus had his wand under Fletcher's neck in an instance, the look on his face anything but amused.

"Talk. Where is the locket?" he questioned, tone low.

"I gave it to some lady, she threatened to throw me in Azkaban cause I don't have papers to be selling on the street," he huffed. "If I would've known it was valuable, I would've offered something else."

"What lady?" Hermione questioned. "What did she look like?"

Mundungus looked around at the group, eyeing Malfoy but saying nothing. "Snooty, ministry type, all in pink."

"Not bloody Umbridge," Ron muttered with a groan. Hermione snatched up the paper on the table, pointing at the photo of Umbridge on the front page . "This woman?" she questioned. Mundungus narrowed his eyes, pointing at the photo. "That's her, if you look close enough you can see she's got it on her neck."

Harry peered over Hermione's shoulder, a sigh coming out of his mouth. Nobody had truly bothered to look at the paper this morning, especially once they saw their ex school teacher's horrid face on the front page.

"Fantastic," Harry muttered. "Now what do we do with him?" He looked at Mundungus. "Wipe his memory and throw him back out on the street," Regulus insisted. "He keeps eyeing Draco funny and now he knows too much."

"Wipe his mind? With pleasure!" Sirius exclaimed, grabbing Mundungus' coat and dragging him off into the other room.

"Umbridge has the locket, and we still have to figure out the other horcruxes... any suggestions?" Harry looked at the group.

"What are you looking for?" Draco questioned, raising a confused brow. "Horcruxes, things that belonged to the other Hogwarts heads of houses," Harry informed him.

"... Like Hufflepuff's cup?" Draco asked and Hermione and Regulus turned to look at him.

"Exactly like that," Harry eyed Draco curiously. "How'd you know?"

"Aunt Bellatrix has it in her Gringotts vault."