Author's Note: I don't own Harry Potter.

Men

Hermione swiped desperately at her eyes, trying to muffle her sobs with her pillow. She had cast a silencing charm, but she was still paranoid that Harry could hear her crying. She didn't want to disturb his sleep.

One of them needed to be getting some.

She squeezed her eyes shut, but the flash of ginger hair and blue eyed glare that flitted through her mind had her opening them again.

She flinched as a tree branch swayed into the side of the tent, the crack reminding her of that of Disapparition.

Hermione closed her eyes again, letting the tears fall. She still couldn't believe he left.

Theo stared at the orb. The mist within it swirled, unthreatening.

"Fuck," He hissed, trying to muster the courage to pick it up.

The thin boy sucked in a breath, reaching his hand out and closing it around the globe.

"There, see?" He whispered to himself. "Nothing to be afraid o-oh bloody hell!"

Theodore let out a very undignified shriek as the orb began to glow. He shook his hand, trying to rid his fingers of the globe, but it was stuck fast.

"This is what I get. Albus Dumbledore left you, the son of a Deatheater, something in his will, and what do you do? You go and touch it. Nice going Theo," He muttered, staring wide-eyed at the little ball. It blinked back at him.

He had only just began to relax, thinking perhaps the globe was just a prank, when he felt the jerk on his naval.

Portkey.

Hermione always knew when she was dreaming. She wasn't sure how, but there was always a tiny voice in the back of her head that told her so.

She knew she was dreaming, but she also knew he was real.

It was a bit of a conundrum.

"Well you look well," Theo drawled sarcastically, trying desperately to hide his hand before she noticed the globe glued to his fingers.

"So do you," Granger narrowed her eyes, but Theodore could see that they held no malice.

He sighed, patting the rock he had found himself seated on. "Come here."

She crossed the small clearing quickly, sitting much closer to him than he had intended and leaning her head against his arm.

Theo ignored every ounce of sense he had and wrapped his arm around her, letting her rest her cheek against his chest. She exhaled softly, and he felt a dampness starting to bleed through his shirt.

"Are you okay?" He whispered. The girl he had come to care deeply for turned her brown, tear filled eyes towards him, and he frowned at the exhaustion that marred her features. "You haven't been captured, have you? I thought I'd have heard, if you had."

She shook her head. Her voice broke when she responded. "He left us."

Theodore sucked in a startled breath. "Why?"

"He...we're looking for something. Dark artifacts. The one we've found affects him more than Harry and I. He left."

Theo groaned. "You silly girl. You blame yourself."

It wasn't a question, but she nodded anyways.

"He loves you, Granger. I'm guessing he left in a fit of jealous rage, perhaps one caused by you and Potter leaving him out of something?"

She sniffled. "We weren't meaning to! We were just talking..."

"You and I know that, but when you've been in close proximity to a dark artifact it plays off of your insecurities. Trust me love, I grew up with these things. I'm sure Weasley, with his painfully obvious inferiority complex, feels like you'll never see him with Potter around. The artifact probably played into that, and it was enough to drive him crazy. Don't blame yourself or, though I can't believe I'm saying this, him for that. It's just dark magic."

He could see relief and understanding play out across her face. Theo was grateful the girl was as brilliant as she was, he didn't want to have to explain dark artifacts to her further.

"But Theo..." She said, voice trembling still, "I don't...I don't want to do this without Ron. Harry and I went to Godric's Hollow. He set up a trap, the snake was there and Harry's wand got broken. It was my fault. I can't do this."

He wrapped both arms around the weeping girl, trying to repress a shudder as the image of the snake striking at the Gryffindor princess played out in his mind.

"Stop blaming yourself for everything," He told her firmly. "You're doing the best you can."

He let her cry herself out, never once complaining about his soaked shirt. He realized, belatedly, that the globe had come unstuck from his hand and was now residing in his pocket.

"What if he doesn't come back?" She whispered.

"He will," Theo said with conviction, unsure of how he was so certain. "I promise you, he'll be back soon."

She stared at him; eyes soft and tired, and he found himself wishing, not for the first time, that things had been different. He could see her in a green tie, coming to his home for Christmas. He could see her making his father realize that blood truly didn't matter, for the petite girl reminded Theodore of his mother so strikingly that it occasionally brought tears to his eyes. Theo had always wanted a sister, and it was a cruel irony that he had found one in the one girl who was utterly off-limits to him.

"I'm tired," She whispered.

"Go to sleep Hermione," He breathed, finally giving in and calling her by her given name.

"But you won't be here when I wake up," Hermione protested.

"No," He agreed, "But he'll be there soon."

She pressed her cheek more firmly into Theodore's chest, her breathing evening out as she drifted into a peaceful sleep.

This time, it was Theo crying at the unfairness of their world.

Theo was gone when she woke up, but he hadn't been lying about Ron coming back.

Hermione didn't know what the little globe she had found lying on her nightstand was, but it somehow reminded her of Theodore.

The necklace she made it into hung just beside her heart.

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