A/N I cannot put into words how sorry I am about not updating for such a long time. I know a lot of people have probably chosen to give up on this and rightly so. But I'm finally back, and after an excruciating period of writer's block, personal issues and just being busy I give to you the next chapter of Reece Lestrange.

Chapter 42

And then Reece's fourth year came to an end. He'd explained everything about the hissing to Granger in the hospital wing, and explained it all to Theo and Blaise when he saw them. The date that Reece was going to meet Granger had been organised and she was going to meet him outside the Leaky Cauldron so that they weren't seen together in Diagon Alley. She'd even nagged him to dress slightly muggle and Reece couldn't help but think that Granger was doubting his ability to blend in. He had hugged Fleur goodbye when the two schools left, and she'd said that they would definitely meet in person again. It was hard for Reece to say goodbye to her after the year they'd all had, but Fleur promised they'd keep in touch by owl.

When Reece returned home Yaxley had greeted him happily. It was clear that the blonde knew about the return of the Dark Lord and seemed incredibly excited about it. For the first few days, Reece didn't tell his guardian about the hissing in his head, and instead had to open his window and smoke beside it sneakily. At the moment, Reece was on one muggle cigarette a day because he had promised Granger not to do it often, but the idea of having one every time the hissing got loud was very tempting. When Yaxley was at home Reece made sure that he was wearing one of his smart, black suits, in order to show Yaxley that he was no longer going through the 'rebellious' stage.

The day Reece was meeting Granger came around quickly and as soon as Yaxley left for work in the morning Reece went and changed into a pair of wizard-made black jeans and a dark green shirt. It wasn't exactly completely muggle but if he got spotted in Diagon Alley by someone he knew, it wouldn't come across as a scruffy outfit. They had planned to meet at twelve for lunch so at around eleven Reece left the house and set off to Gringotts. He'd been thinking about the Lestrange accounts for a while and now that the Dark Lord was back his family would soon be broken out, and he'd lose control of most accounts. This was an issue for Reece, as he liked having all of the vaults at his disposal. So, before his family took control of the accounts, Reece was going to make a few new ones and transfer equal sums from all of the existing vaults into his secret accounts.

"Reece Lestrange. I'm looking to create a new vault and transfer some galleons. Privately." He said to the goblin that he usually spoke to when making withdraws. Reece trusted this goblin – more so than the one that controlled Bellatrix's and Rodolphus' vaults. The goblin leaned over his desk, eyeing Reece suspiciously as he picked up and quill and stared down at a blank form over his hooked nose.

"Privately." The goblin repeated with a sickly smile. "Of course, Mr Lestrange. Right this way please." The goblin stood up, gesturing for Reece to follow him as he made his way over to the desk of another goblin. "This is Mr Lestrange – he's here to create a new private account that he would like to privately transfer some galleons into."

"Privately it is." The other goblin replied, grinning up at Reece and flashing his uneven, blackening teeth. "There will be a small fee of course," Reece nodded. "Fifty galleons to create the vault silently, or eighty galleons to create the vault and keep it out of the books – suffice to say that only the three of us will know about the transfer and the creation."

"Eighty galleons it is." Reece said with a smirk. Both goblins were now seated behind the desk: the one that Reece trusted was looking straight at him and the other one was ready to take notes. "I'd like this vault to be very deep within this building – it doesn't exactly need a dragon protecting it like the other Lestrange vault, but it at least needs some protection to keep unwanted visitors at bay. Now, I'd like to transfer four hundred galleons from the main Lestrange vault and put them all in the new account; is that doable?"

"Definitely doable Mr Lestrange." Said Grimshaw, the trusted goblin that wasn't making notes. "We have a large empty vault deep underneath the surface that will likely be to your liking."

"Excellent – now I believe there are four minor Lestrange vaults?" Reece questioned, still continuing to sit like Lucius Malfoy so that he was giving off the right impression. Grimshaw nodded. "I need one hundred galleons from each of them. They will also be moved into the new vault."

"As you wish, Mr Lestrange." Grimshaw said with a nod.

"No one else will have access to this vault, not even other Lestranges, so I'd like a key if it's not too much trouble." He told the two.

"Not a problem Mr Lestrange – we'll make sure that the crafted key is sent by a protected owl within a week." Grimshaw stated. "We'll also transfer the galleons from the vaults either today or tomorrow; feel free to come back and withdraw from the new vault or any other Lestrange account at any time. It is as always, a pleasure doing business with you."

"Thank you for your time, Grimshaw." Reece said clearly, rising from his chair while adjusting the cuffs of his shirt. As he left the bank the uncomfortable hissing in his head began to get louder. Reece had expected it though, as he hadn't smoked since the previous night.

He walked out into Diagon Alley, twisting the ring on his middle finger anxiously as he tried to block out the hissing. After passing Pansy and her family and engaging in small talk about how the weather was decent, Reece made his way to the Leaky Cauldron, still wanting to smash his head against a wall due to the sounds in his head. He was relying on Granger in all honesty. Hoping that she could distract him so that the sounds in his head would feel quieter.

He stopped in front of the door that lead out into muggle London. Was he – Reece Lestrange – really going to go out into the muggle world? Well it was leave now or be late, and Granger probably wouldn't be happy with him if he turned up ten minutes after their agreed time. Reece looked over his shoulder cautiously and when he knew no one was watching him, he quickly pushed open the door, stepped out into muggle London and then quickly shut the door behind him. Muggle London wasn't exactly what he had expected. In fact, it seemed quite normal. He took a deep breath, putting his hands in the pockets of his jeans as he observed the area around him. It was almost soothing; being in a world where no one knew who he was.

"Reece." He smiled when he heard Hermione's calm tone calling his name. It was as if the feeling of tranquillity just washed over him and even though the hissing was still there Reece thought less about it. She approached him with a huge smile spread across her lips, ignoring the slight breeze that blew her hair in front of her face. Reece couldn't help but stare at her because the muggle denim jacket she had on made her look rather pretty in his opinion. Bloody Zabini would be laughing at him right now.

"Missed ya, Granger." Reece grinned, accepting the light hug that Hermione had pulled him into.

"We only broke up from school a week ago." She said, laughing when Reece frowned playfully at her. "But I missed you too, I suppose."

"How could you not?" He questioned cheekily, deflecting her sarcasm with his own. "So where's my favourite Gryffindor planning to take me for lunch?"

"Favourite Gryffindor?" Hermione commented as she began walking, Reece following her as he took in the surrounding buildings and the few muggles that were walking on the opposite side of the street. "That's a new one. And where we're going to eat depends on what you fancy."

"I'm already with what-"

"What you fancy to eat." She cut in a sigh. Reece simply smirked at her as he continued walking with his hands in his pockets. "There's a café that does fish and chips nearby."

"Of course there is." He commented sarcastically.

"You're clearly not feeling very British today; I think there's a place that does pizza about ten minutes from here if you're okay with Italian food." Hermione stated reasonably as she looked to her left and then to her right before crossing the road.

"Pizza." Reece said thoughtfully as he followed. "They've served that at school a few times, haven't they?"

"It sometimes appears during evening meals – not as often as a lot of my housemates would like it to be served to be honest." She looked at Reece's expression as she continued walking, taking note of the way that his brow was slightly creased, seemingly in thought and confusion. "Hang on a minute," The realisation had suddenly hit the brightest witch of her age. "Do you never have it at home?"

"Picture this Granger." He answered. "A stuck-up pureblood family, sitting quietly with their fancy cutlery and glasses and stuff, being served pizza. And if you can't picture that then picture the Malfoys seated at their stupidly long dining table picking the pizza up with their hands, trying to look elegant as the cheese becomes really stringy-"

"Okay." Hermione laughed as she led him into a street that was swarming with streams of muggles rushing around during the common lunch hour. "I can picture it." Reece smiled a strained smile at her, trying not to let her see how uncomfortable he was feeling around such a big crowd of muggles that he was brought up to detest for the reason that they were not magical. Hermione noticed how he'd closed himself off though, it had been his eyes that had given him away; she reached for his hand slowly as they walked side by side, placing her own hand in his in attempt to give him a form of comfort in the busy environment. "It's only a few minutes away from here." She said softly, pulling him across another road.

"This food is so fucking good." Reece said happily as he reached for another slice of the large pizza that was placed in the middle of the table between the two of them. When ordering Reece and Hermione had decided to order just one large pizza to share, along with a bowl of chips that was sitting just to the side of the pizza plate.

"Do you always have to swear?" Hermione asked him as she took a bite out of a large chip.

"Yes." He replied simply, taking another bite out of the slice of pizza. "You know, you should try it sometime. It can be good if you want to put emphasis on something; it's also a good stress relief and I'm normally stressed about something in my life."

"I'd rather not." Hermione replied with a slight grimace. "You don't really seem like a stressed person though Reece. You're usually calm or angry – what is it that has you stressed?"

"This." Reece answered simply, tapping his temple three times to gesture at his head and the sounds that were currently inside. "Sometimes it feels like there's thousands of snakes in my head and when they all start hissing it literally feels like my head's about to explode under the pressure. I haven't mastered being able to think straight with them yet; then there's what they gave me to stop the sounds, the stuff you said will kill me if I keep smoking them."

"Oh I'm so sorry for not asking how you are." Hermione said. "I can't believe it hasn't stopped yet."

"Yeah it hasn't stopped, some days it gets worse and other days it gets better. Today's one of my better days, I haven't smoked to quiet them down yet." He said, leaving out the fact that he was doing his best not to do it because Hermione had made it clear that she didn't like it. "I've gotten nowhere with research into it either," Reece muttered. "My best guess is that it's got something to do with the fact that I can speak parseltongue but after that I'm stuck."

"Right." Hermione had obviously just put her thinking cap on and was ready to work. "So it started after the third task?" Reece nodded. "Just after you-know-who regained full power – if what Harry described was correct."

"Wait, hang on." He said with a frown. "You have doubts about what Potter said, don't you?"

"Well I haven't really had the chance to talk to Harry properly about it." Hermione said in defence.

"The Dark Lord's back." Reece stated as he ate a chip. "People are talking Granger. People who would only talk about it if it was true. Old sympathisers, former death eaters that probably won't be former for much longer. Yaxley doesn't know that I know that he's been leaving late at night and returning at like two in the morning – meaning the meetings and parties have started. The darker side of wizarding Britain's not dormant anymore; it's waking up."

"At least someone believes him." Hermione spoke softly. "I don't get every issue of the Prophet when I'm at home but I get some, and people have already started slandering and making comments about Harry, and Dumbledore because he's sticking up for him."

"Does Potter know about all the hate he's getting?" As soon as the question left Reece's mouth Hermione immediately tensed. "So he doesn't get the paper when he's with muggles… Have you not sent him a copy or a letter or something?"

"That thought has crossed my mind more times than I can count." She replied with a sad smile. "But I can't. None of us can."

"Granger, what the heck are you talking about?"

"Dumbledore asked us all not to contact Harry over the summer." Hermione blurted out quickly. Reece's eyebrows shot up once he was finally able to process what she had said. Dumbledore had told them all not to be there for their friend who just survived a battle with Voldemort. Was the old man going crazy?

"What? That's ridiculous." He said finally after a short silence.

"I know. But we all promised we wouldn't write."

"Good thing Dumbles didn't make me promise then, isn't it Granger?" Reece said with an arrogant smirk as he took a sip of his water. "He doesn't want any of Potter's friends contacting him; I'm not a friend."

"Oh will you actually try to get in contact with Harry?" Hermione asked excitedly.

"I'll try for you Granger." He replied bluntly. "But if I get in trouble for this I swear to god-"

"If you get in trouble I'll take the blame." She cut in swiftly.

"No you won't." Reece said sternly. "If somehow we manage to fuck this up we'll just say I was trying to ask Potter about what he saw that night, because I'm searching for answers about my head."

"So how are we going to do this?"

"Simple. You write a letter to Potter saying everything you want to say and then I'll put it in an envelope with a note from me telling him that he needs to send the letter to you back with my owl. Once he's written a reply and sent it to me I can then send Vesi to you with the reply. I'll do this once, it won't be a regular occurrence because I'm not your bloody personal owl."

"You always try to put off a vibe that you're not a good person and you're the perfect Slytherin. It confuses me constantly because when we spend time together you are actually nice most of the time and you seem to always want to help me like you have just now." Hermione said softly as she absentmindedly fiddled with the necklace that Reece had designed and bought for her earlier that year.

"I don't really like people Granger. But I like you. And when I like someone like how I like you, I'd go to hell and back to make them happy." He'd been blunt with her, but in all honesty Reece didn't care. She needed to know how he felt because he was sick of not knowing whether he'd have a chance with her or not. For a brief moment Hermione appeared stunned; she had stilled completely and was staring at him as if he were an alien. But then he smirked at her, all nervousness that he was feeling covered by his confident expression. And then she smiled back, ever so slightly.

"I like you too."