Bad Things

"When I lay with you
I could stay there
close my eyes
feel you here forever
you and I together
nothing gets better"

-Adele

Hermione Granger loved her boyfriend Adrian Pucey; they had met right after the war. They had known of each other during school of course, but they had never really talked. He had showed up to fight in the battle of Hogwarts on the good side, which surprised many people, along with him was Theodore Nott, and Daphne, and Astoria Greengrass. He had been there when she fainted at the sight of all the dead bodies, he had caught her. Ever since then, they had been together, they were practically inseparable. She felt like he was her other half the way he would simply always read her mind. She knew after the first date with him that things were going to go well between the two of them. He was the guy she had always dreamed of ending up with. He was the perfect gentlemen to her, always opened her door, walked her to her door at night, and didn't try to stick his tongue down her throat all the time. He was always telling how beautiful and amazing she was, and for once in her life she actually believed it. He was a little nerdy, and super cheesy, but he was the kindest guy she had ever met. She could tell that he meant every word that he spoke to her. She was happy for the first time in her life, and things were going splendidly, that is until he came into the picture.

Theodore Nott was his roommate, best mate and basically like his brother, he was also extremely distracting. Theo was bloody fucking gorgeous, he could sing, he loved to read more so than Adrian, and surprisingly he actually loved watching muggle American football, as much if not more than she did. Not to mention he was not bad on the eyes, unfortunately every time she came over to see Adrian, Theo was always there and always walked in when he wasn't wearing a shirt. Adrian always teased her about how she always showed up at the moment when Theo was not wearing a shirt, and she just had to peel her eyes away, of course how could anyone blame her. Theo was not doing badly in the looks department. He was skinnier than she, but he had that wiry muscle, and nice looking abs. He had electric blue eyes and brown hair, and that smile made her panties melt. Sure he had a more chest hair than Adrian but that didn't stop her from almost ogling him. It wasn't a big deal she was only attracted to her boyfriend's best mate¸ nothing to worry about. He was only probably the only guy for her, her soul mate for Merlin's sake, and it wasn't like he felt the same about her. There were so many times she felt something stronger than she felt with Adrian, but she kept denying it.

There was one time when Theo had inquired about her coming over for a game of exploding snap with him and Adrian. During this game his foot had hat by mistake touched hers and he had apologized. She of course was in a trance, and then she quickly pulled her foot away, embarrassed. However no one seemed to notice her odd behavior too engrossed in the game. Adrian meanwhile had been nudging his own foot with hers, but she would not participate in this round of footsy when Theo was currently in the room. Another day she had come over and ended up falling asleep in Adrian's arms, and she had been half awake when she heard Theo get back in from the club. He had gone dancing with one of his good girlfriends Daphne Greengrass that was in town. She remembered hoping that Daphne was only a friend, and nothing more to Theo. Theo had told her about one of his collector games, and she had asked about the contents in it, he grabbed to case and sat down right next to her. He had showed her, and explained the contents and all she could think about was the fact that he was too close for her. She could have kissed him if she wanted, but she of course didn't do that, because she was still in denial.

The next morning she had a dream about him kissing her on the sofa, when Adrian was asleep in his room. She was completely aware that Theo would never return these feelings; he practically avoided her like she was the bloody plague so why would she bother. She decided that she would ignore these feelings and Theo himself, she would be polite to him, but nothing more. She would try to fall in love with Adrian, because it was the right thing to do. The sad thing was she couldn't even tell her friends about this, they loved her but they also adored Adrian. They would judge her severely though, and tell her that she needed to suck it up, and be loyal to Adrian. She honestly could not handle that. Her plans of moving from Theo, and falling more in love with Adrian were working, she wasn't going to let Theo be the cause of losing her only chance at love.

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Why did he have to like Her of all people! She was his best mate's girl, not his. He tried to avoid it, he made sure to make plans every time he knew she was going to come over. There were times however when Adrian didn't always tell him that she would be there. He finally decided to just get over it, and be there when she was there; he didn't want her to think she hated him, in fact Adrian had told him to give her a chance. Apparently Hermione had told him that she didn't think that he liked her, and Adrian assured her it wasn't true, that Theo was just a busy guy. When she had come over for the game of exploding snap, she of course had to sit next to him. He couldn't stop thinking crude thoughts about her when she was so close to him. He had to stop himself from grabbing any part of her. What the bloody hell was she thinking coming there wearing those tiny little shorts! He wanted to rip them off her, take her to bed and fuck her brains out. He tried to go to bed early since he had work in the morning, but he couldn't sleep. He lay in bed thinking of her, replaying everything about her. He thought about how her eyes lit up when she was happy, how when she had laughed he never heard anything so adorable. What the hell was the matter with him, he was acting like a sodding sap.

The following week he had woke up to the sound of moans, it took him a second to realize that those moans belonged to her, just the sound of her moans were making him already harder. He heard her joke about going into his bed if Adrian didn't kiss her properly, and he thought she might when he heard her tiptoeing to his door, but just as she was about to go in, she ran back into Adrian's arms giggling. If only it had actually happened, he was in deep. He felt his heart harden at her joking about that. He would have to just be her friend, and act like she was nothing more to him, He needed to get over her and he knew for a fact that his friend Charlotte was interested. Why not give her a chance; maybe he would like more than he liked Hermione. He could never pursue Hermione because that would kill Adrian. Adrian was practically his brother, he didn't need that pain. Adrian never really had anyone like Hermione; the girls Adrian tried to date always ending up interested in him not Adrian. He couldn't do that to him, he deserved his own shot at a happy ending. That didn't stop him from sneaking into Adrian's room though, he'd go to his bed and see Hermione's head print on the pillows, and her perfume soaked up the sheets divinely. He inhaled as much of her scent as he could before leaving the room. The sooner he started seeing Charlotte the better.

He started to bring Charlotte for dates when Adrian and Hermione were there as well. Hermione was ever polite to her of course, but something seemed off about her. He noticed how her voice cracked when she introduced herself. Was there trouble in paradise for Adrian and Hermione? He shared a look with Adrian that confirmed that Adrian was just as confused as he by her odd behavior. "Uh well I should actually get going" her voice cracking again, this time the whole time. "Hermione love are you alright poppet?" Adrian asked like the perfect boyfriend. She turned to him and he could have sworn he saw something similar to pain in her chocolaty amber depths. As quickly as it was there it was gone in a flash. She turned back to Adrian and smiled at him. "Of course darling, I'm just really tired is all, and I have work early in the morning" she explained smoothly, but Theo could tell she was lying. She waved her hand like it was nothing. She ran out the door in a hurry, forgetting to grab her purse. "I'll go give it to her Adrian" He offered. "Thank you Theo, I would appreciate it" Theo nodded taking off out the door after her.

He walked a couple blocks before he found her, well heard her. He heard cries coming from the alley, and decided to go inspect it, sure enough there she was. She was sitting on the ground with her head in her arms crying her eyes out. Why ever would his beautiful lioness be crying? "Hermione are you alright?" he asked in a gentle voice while placing his hand on her shoulder. She looked up at him with tear stained cheeks still looking utterly beautiful. She looked at him with a pained expression again. "Theo..." She began, but then shook head, rubbing her eyes and standing up. "I um erm have to" she explained and was just about to leave when he called after her. "Wait! You forgot your bag" he said handing it to her. "Right Well thanks a bunch a Theo, see you round" and she left just like that, leaving him once more bewildered.

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Did he not see how her heart was breaking from seeing him with someone else? Why should he care, he wasn't aware that she fancied him more than her own boyfriend. She had truly believed that she was getting over him for good this time that she was finally happier with Adrian again. Then he had to show up with his girlfriend. Hermione had never felt so much pain before, and she was jealous. Charlotte was nice but the relationship wouldn't last long, just like his other relationships .She recalled Adrian telling her how he had 4 girlfriends in just the last year. She felt bad for her; she would end up like all those other girls. If it had been her, he probably would have tossed her in a month. Nobody deserved that heartbreak, and yet here she was experiencing the same thing when she wasn't even with him. She had to break things off with Adrian immediately, she was no longer dealing with a measly school crush, and she was in love with him. She couldn't pretend that she loved Adrian anymore. She would head over there after work and tell him the truth-well most of it- she was just about to call him when he called instead asking for her to do a favor. "Hi poppet, I know that the ball tonight, and I was going to be your date, but unfortunately I want be back from France till later, this meeting is taking longer than I had expected, so would you go with Theo, since Charlotte won't be able to make it, I need you to keep him company, you know how he gets at these kind of events. Oh jeez there calling us back Love I got to run. Love you" he was gone before she could even object, not like she would have anyways.

She figured the least she could do was do him this favor since she was going to end up hurting him, but she could have found some way out of it surely. "Well If I'm going to have to go this with him, might as well look my best" she muttered to herself, before grabbing the perfect dress. It was an emerald green floor length dress with one shoulder strap; it was styled like the dresses the Greek goddesses wore. She slipped it on, put her hair in a French braid and then pinned it up. 30 minutes later makeup and hair done, and she was ready to go. She checked to make sure it was actually Theo at her door before opening the door. She heard Theo gasp and saw him drop his jaw. She nodded at him "Hello. All ready to go then" she inquired all business like.

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He tried not to make it obvious how much of a bloody fool he was for her, but she looked so stunning. She was like a princess out of a fairytale. Ok now he was seriously losing it! He was Theodore Nott, he didn't act like a bloody sap, and he was the one to make girls melt at his feet. She was different though, she continuously took his breath away. Now he finally had a chance to have her in his arms, even if it was just for tonight, it was all he could ever ask for. She was a bloody fucking siren, and he was the sailor being lured by her into the ocean, he would gladly follow her to his death. She didn't even realize how bloody gorgeous she looked. She was she was a beauty to behold.

Theo was the perfect gentlemen, but that did not stop him from having disturbingly crude thoughts about ripping her dress off her body. He would show here just how beautiful she was, he would worship every inch of her body with his lip and hands. He was just going to have to kiss her, get it over with so he could know for sure if she really was worth all this pain. He asked her to dance with him and she smiled at him. She never really truly smiled at him lately, and there it was. She could light up a bloody room with that smile. He led her outside to the garden and pulled her into his arms. He twirled her around the ground in his arms, holding her as close as possible, and then he dipped her. He looked into her eyes, she had a hazy look in them, filled with something else-was that lust? No it couldn't be- he pondered while dropping his head down lower.

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He was going to kiss her! She could feel it in in her bones. That's why he had led her away from everyone else to dance. She looked up at him under her lashes suddenly bashful. "Theo…" but before she could say anything more, he had pressed his lips to hers. He was actually kissing her, this wasn't a dream, this was really happening. He was attracted to her as well, all this time she had believed that feelings weren't mutual. She couldn't do this though, no matter how much she wanted to, it was wrong. She wasn't the type to cheat even if she was planning on breaking up with Adrian. She pushed Theo a little and he pulled his lips away. He looked at her waiting for to say something, that she didn't feel that way for him. She could say that to him, but she could see in his eyes that he truly cared about her the same way. She took deep breath, trying not to cry. "Theo stop, we can't do this" He looked at her still holding onto her. "Why the bloody hell not Hermione? We both want this, and frankly if were being honest, I have wanted to do this since the day I met you. Here I believed that you weren't feeling what I've been feeling this entire time. Well you sure had me fooled this whole time. Don't fight it Hermione!" he said gripping her shoulders and shook her gently. He was right she wanted it more than she had ever wanted anything in her life. She wanted with all her heart to just be reckless and let Theo take her to bed with him, but she just couldn't do that to Adrian. "I may want this Theo, but that doesn't mean it's the right thing to do" She looked at him trying to convey how much she truly wanted this to happen, but it couldn't. He pulled her closer his lips a breath away from her own. "Who cares if it's not the bloody right thing to do, it feels fucking right. Nothing has ever felt so right Hermione." He said kissing her once more, when she didn't kiss back he pulled away in pain already tasting the salt of her tears. Pain for not only his self but her, he eyes were filled with tears, he wiped her cheeks with the pad of his thumbs. "I'm so sorry Theo. I wish I could have met you first, Instead of Adrian, but I didn't. I can't hurt Adrian any more than I'm already doing so. I have to" She was choking back the tears, her voice cracking again. She ran away from a heartbroken Theo, running as fast as her feet would carry her.

She ran to her flat and wrote a note to all her friends explaining that she was going to Australia to live with her parents; she had already called them, and told them she would explain soon, she had planned on leaving anyways to visit them. She called Adrian seeing if she could come over to talk and told her to come over when she could. He had just got back from France like he had told her he would. She went straight over after flooing him. He was there smiling at her of course, so blissfully unaware of what was about to happen. "Hello love, I've missed you terribly" he held out his arms for her, but she shook her head at him, and he dropped them. He arched a brow at her, hurt and confused to why she wouldn't give him a hug.

"We need to talk" she explained. "Ok" he said hesitantly. She took a deep breath. "I can't do this anymore" He opened his mouth to say more but she cut him off. "The truth is I'm not in love with you Adrian. I thought I was for a long time, but then I started to realize that I really didn't, I wanted to, but I was in love with the idea of being in love with you. Believe me I tried to fall in love with you, but I couldn't. You're an amazing person, and I wish I could be the girl for you, but it's just not mean to be. I'm so terribly sorry" Now she was sobbing, she expected him to tell her to get out, but instead he pulled her into his arms and held her as she cried. "Shhh Shhh, It's alright I don't hate you poppet. I never could, sometimes love is unrequited, and there is nothing you can do about it, you tried. I still love you and I always will, even if you only do love me as a friend." He said kissing her her hair and drying her tears. "Thank you Adrian, you will always be my friend as well, and I will always love you as a brother, and you can always write me whenever." At this he looked confused. She shook her head, forgetting she had yet to mention that part yet. " Oh yeah that's the other thing I came here to tell you. I'm moving to Australia with my mum, dad, and new little baby brother. I need to spend more time with them, and get to know my adorable baby brother. A fresh start will do me a lot of good, it's all for the best. Please give everyone my love though, I leave tonight and it's better this way that I don't say goodbye." She didn't cry this time. "Of course Hermione, I hope you find happiness there love." He gave her one final hug. "Thank you Adrian, I hope the same for you as well, you deserve it." She hugged him back. "Goodbye" She would miss him, he had become her best friend. He smiled back at her "Goodbye Poppet" he kissed her cheek again.

She went back to her flat to finish the last bit of packing and write one last letter, she gave the letter to her owl, knowing Lucy would have no trouble finding the place. With one last look at her flat, she left it all behind. She was leaving the one she truly loved to avoid hurting herself and others. She could only hope that he would find happieness with someone else, she would always love him. They were meant for each other but she knew they could never be together in the end.

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He had been there when she had called things off with Adrian, and he had never felt happier until she told Adrian that was leaving. He wanted to chase after her and tell her to stay with him, to be with him, but he knew he couldn't change her mind. The next morning he found her owl perched on his window sill, holding a tiny envelope addressed to him. He practically tore the envelop open, and he began to read.

Dearest Theo,

By now you have heard the news that I broke things off with Adrian. I told him I didn't love him, but that wasn't the only reason that I ended things. I believed that I loved him for quite some time, that was until you came into the picture. You the guy who was my perfect match but so arrogant at times. The guy who had never had a steady relationship in his life, well you took me by surprise. You constantly distracted me by not ever wearing a shirt when I would be there, and when you would sit really close to me, all I wanted to do was kiss you. I wanted to crawl into your arms and feel completely safe and content for once. I wanted you more than I had ever wanted anything in my life. I fell in love with you Theo, you of all people. I tried to pretend like you didn't affect me, and that I was the perfect girlfriend to Adrian, but then you brought Charlotte over, and I knew I was only lying to myself. My heart was broken that day, I couldn't even breath, and that was why I ran out of there that day. You came and found me, and I nearly told you the truth, that I loved you. That night I planned on ending things with Adrian, but he called asking me to go with you, because he was worried about you, and I couldn't refuse because it was the least I could do. You kissed me under the stars, and it was the kiss I have always dreamed of since I was a little girl. I finally knew that my attraction to you was not one sided after all . I was happier than I have ever been in my entire life. When you pulled away it was as clear as day that you were feeling what I was feeling. I couldn't hurt Adrian. So I ran from you once again, only this time for good. I ended things with Adrian because I could no longer lie to him or myself, and he deserves better than that. I'm moving to Australia with my parents for good, I have no intention of ever returning. I'm so sorry for whatever pain I have caused you by doing this, but I have to do this. I couldn't hurt Adrian anymore than I already have. I love you Theodore Nott and I will always love you until all my last breath leaves me. As much as I wish that we could just forget everything and spend our lives together, It can't be so. We can't be together, and that pains me more than you will ever know, someday though I hope you will forget me. Find a wonderful woman who can see the amazing man that you are like I do. Good bye my almost lover. Take care of yourself my love.

Love always and forever Hermione Jean Granger

Theo had never in his life cried as much as he did that year. He would never see his beautiful little lioness ever again, she had left him to avoid the pain that would it would cause others by them being together. She was the kindest woman he had ever met, she would rather be alone than hurt people. He couldn't be angry with her, because one the things he loved about her was her pure heart. She was such a strong Independent woman, and he was sure that she would find someone else. As for himself he knew he would never love again the way he loved her. She was his heart and soul

20 years later

There wasn't a day that he didn't think about her, he missed her terribly, but one day his world came crashing down. Adrian came in to tell him the news. Hermione Granger was dead, she had been killed in a car crash on the way home to parents. She was gone, at such a young age, only 40 years and she was taken from him. He should have fought harder for her, it was all his fault that she was gone.

On the day of her funeral, everyone was there, Adrian, himself, the Potters, the Weasleys, teachers, everyone who knew her was there. Crying that there best friend, sister past student, daughter was gone. He waited till everyone was gone before he went to see her. Her parents and brother were there. They grabbed him and pulled him into a hug. "Hermione told us all about you Theo, and she loved you so much, we told her many times that she think about her own happieness instead of everyone else's, but you know her stubborn as always. We're so glad that you're here Theo." Hermione's mum Jane said crying. "Thank you Mrs. Granger,that means more than you could ever know. He tried to go see her, but when he saw here lying there, still forever, he couldn't do it. He ran out of there and to the nearest pub for a shot of whiskey. He was crying and drinking himself to the brink.

For the next month everyday was the same, he would wake up in a motel, with a hangover, but no matter how much he drank, it wouldn't bring her back. Adrian tried to talk to him, he wondered what was wrong with his best mate, but theo wouldn't stop. One day he went see her, he had yet to go to her grave, and now here he was, a bottle of fire whiskey in one hand, and bouquet of lilies in the other. He kneeled down on her grave. "Hello love, I'm sorry I haven't come to see you yet, I just haven't been able to until now. I miss you so much Hermione, I don't know what to do without you. I thought it was painful just not being able to see you and knowing your probably with someone else, but this is killing me. Why did you have to go, why couldn't you have come back, I would have protected you, kept you safe. I can't go on without you, you were the other half of my soul, and now that you're not here, my soul is empty. I couldn't move on like you had hoped I would, because no one could ever be you. I have thought about you every day, it never got easier with you not there. I need you love." He was crying so hard, he kept taking another sip of the fire whiskey, until finally he had no energy left in him, he no longer wanted to fight. He layed his head down on her grave, and let death take him.

He saw the light and there she was, still stunning in death, she was in white and her curls fell freely. She smiled at him, holding out her hand to him. " Hello my darling, I have missed you so." He took her hand and followed her into the light.

Adrian was the one to find his body, now he knew why Theo had been so different he had loved her, and she him, that was why she had left. He had always suspected something was between them, but he had never thought it was strong of a love. He cried for his best friend and the girl that he had once loved. He knew one thing was for sure they were finally happy, they were together again, like they always should have been, and he could rest better knowing that they were much happier. He only had one final thing left to do. He said one final goodbye to his best mates, not looking back.