A/N: Thanks so much for your reviews, favorites and follows! I seriously loved reading through all your theories! There will be some more hints along the way, for sure. We've got a bit more Theo-Hermione interaction in this one. You can follow me on tumblr (nauticalparamour) where I post sneak peeks, story updates and answer questions!
Please let me know what you thought of chapter four and be on the lookout for chapter five soon!
Hermione had barely been able to eat dinner, picking over bits of roasted chicken and potatoes, all the while worrying about what it would be like to meet with Nott. She hadn't told Harry or Ron that she was going to be meeting anyone in the library, but to no one's surprise, they hadn't wanted to come along with her either.
Making the walk towards the library, she couldn't stop fidgeting with the strap of her bag, once again overcome with the feeling that things were not quite right in the school. Maybe it was just the heightened danger now that Voldemort was no longer hiding once he'd been seen by so many people at the Ministry, putting everyone on edge. It seemed as if no one could be trusted.
She wondered if Nott would even bother to show up in the library at all. Although it was embarrassing to admit, she'd scanned the Slytherin table several times throughout the entirety of dinner and she hadn't seen him. Maybe he would rather hide away in the dungeons than be forced to converse with her outside of class.
The library was relatively empty. It was far too early in the term for most people to willingly step foot inside Hermione's favorite place in the whole entire castle. Nibbling her lower lip, she realized that she hadn't specified a location to meet Nott in. Floundering for a moment, she finally decided that she would just head back towards her usual table.
To her surprise, she found Nott already seated at her usual spot, head tipped back and his eyes closed, as though he were trying to snatch a little extra sleep. "Oh," she murmured, the exclamation slipping past her lips before she had a chance to observe his face.
His eyes snapped open, his pupils constricting back to show a generous ring of blue iris. He had rather gorgeous eyes, Hermione could admit. They were a deeper blue than Ron's, darker and inscrutable. She watched as his jaw clenched when he looked at her, his previously serene expression completely erased. Hermione frowned, irked with his inability to hide his obvious disdain for her.
"Granger," he breathed out her name finally, tipping his head in greeting.
"Nott," she returned, before setting down her book back. "I didn't know if you were actually going to show up. You weren't at dinner."
The corners of his lips quirked up in baffled amusement, as though he couldn't decide if he should be smirking or smiling at her. "You noticed, Granger?" he asked, leaning back further in his chair. "Usually no one notices me."
She wasn't sure if he was being self-deprecating or sharing some of the misery of his anonymity with her. "Well, I'm not no one, am I?" she countered, pulling out a quill and parchment. "I didn't realize that you knew where I normally sit."
Nott didn't respond to that, didn't make any movement to indicate that he'd even heard her. Hermione blushed, suddenly recognizing how her words could be construed. She felt rather hot, sitting there with him. It was odd to be conversing with him, when they'd barely even spoken before. And now it was just the two of them, and he wouldn't stop staring at her with that predator's look in his eyes.
Swallowing, Hermione decided to get down to why they were there in the first place. She was sure that Nott didn't appreciate being there any longer than necessary. "I think we should devise a time table to meet throughout the term to work on our project," she said, scribbling notes at the top of her parchment. "I was thinking twice a week, but we could also meet once a week for longer, if that would be more convenient to you."
Laughter pierced the stillness of the library, shocking Hermione. She didn't think she could remember ever hearing Nott laugh, and so far, she'd thought that he rather humorless. His face was made all the more handsome by his laughter, but it didn't cancel out how derisive it was. "Oh, I haven't agreed to work with you on this project, yet, Granger," he said, amusement pulling one side of his mouth up in a lopsided smile. "We simply haven't finished our argument yet."
She felt her mouth drop open in shock, processing that the normally taciturn Nott had decided to talk back to her like that. Harry and Ron didn't even speak to her that way, and she wasn't entirely sure how she should respond. Snapping her mouth shut, she took a deep breath to collect her thoughts. "It's impossible for us not to work together, Nott."
"Why not?" he pressed her further. Now he definitely was smirking at her, seeing the rise that he was getting out of her. "It seems perfectly reasonable that we should just split up the list of students. We could even split them by gender or house association to give us more variables to include."
"Why not? Because any assumptions we make using the data will be very specific to the methods that we use to identify trends," she argued, quite passionately, knowing that this was a subject she felt highly qualified to discuss. She loved arithmancy, and Nott might have equivalent scores to her, but there was no way that he enjoyed it as much as her.
He leaned forward, his hands pressed into the table, and Hermione was momentarily struck by how tall he was. "So, we will just document the methods that we are using and compare them at the end," Nott countered.
"And then when one of us identifies a better method, we are in a mad scramble to recalculate everything right at the end of the project?" she asked with a snort. "No thank you, Nott. I'd rather just do it right the first time."
"There are a limited number of arithmetic methods that can be used in this applicati-"
"I've been known to be quite innovative in arithmancy," she snarled back at him, wondering what it was about Theo Nott that was getting under her skin so much. Maybe it was that he seemed to be actually knowledgeable enough about the subject to have a proper debate with her.
"Oh, so you are sure that you'll just have to be redoing my work at the end of term, then?" he accused, rolling his eyes at her. "You aren't the only intelligent one, Granger."
"Would you just listen to my point of view for a minute?" she demanded, unsure of when their discussion had grown to be quite so contentious, but trying to reel it back in all the same. "It's not as if I'm chomping at the bit to work with you on this either. I'm not angling to spend time with you, as difficult as that might be for you to comprehend."
His nostrils were flaring and if she wasn't mistaken, she saw a flash of hurt in his eyes and his shoulders slumped. In any case, the harsh words did seem to calm things down for a bit. "Fine, state your case," Nott finally ordered, with a wave of his hand.
"Nott, our calculations will be most precise if we are able to identify and control for trends that are found in all the available data," she said calmly, determined not to keep sniping at him. "If we split up the students, we might miss something big. I'm sure that's why Professor Vector wants us to work together."
He took a deep breath, but seemed to be honestly thinking over her argument. It was odd, she could practically see him turning the merits of it over in his mind. "Fine, we can start working side-by-side," he eventually conceded. "We can assess what methods we are using and if there are any overarching trends that are sticking out to us."
"Thank you, Nott," she responded, feeling relief that he had come around to her way of thinking.
"But then, I think after a few meetings, we should decide if continuing to work together is really necessary," he added on, crossing his arms over his broad chest. "I wouldn't want to burden you with my presence more than absolutely necessary, Granger."
She was about to contradict him, to tell him that it wasn't as if she was actually opposed to working with him. Hermione had only actually said that because she was under the impression that he'd rather work with anyone else but her; it hurt her, and she had wanted to hurt him back, to bruise his ego.
Just as she was about to open her mouth, though, she was cut off by Madam Pince. "This library is not for you to hold your debates, Miss Granger, Mister Nott," she said sternly, looking utterly disappointed in the pair. "Really, I expect better out of the two of you. You are disrupting other students who would like to study in silence, and I will have to ask the pair of you to leave."
Hermione flushed, wanting to placate the stern matron. "Oh, please Madam Pince, I didn't realize how loud we'd gotten," Hermione said, trying to smooth it over. "We'll be more quiet now, I promise."
"You won't get me to budge on this, Miss Granger," Madam Pince said, her mouth in a firm line that Hermione knew better than to argue with. "But, you can come back tomorrow, if you can learn to use your inside voice."
She hated being patronized to, but Hermione knew that she was getting nowhere with her. Lifting her book bag up on her shoulder, she groaned, knowing that she really shouldn't stuff it with quite so many books. She waited while Theo also gathered up his work, all the while under the watchful eye of the librarian.
"Well, should we meet back here at the end of the week, then Nott?" Hermione asked, annoyed that they still hadn't managed to work out a schedule. "We didn't exactly get anything concrete figured out."
He scrunched his nose, but nodded anyway. "Sure, we can meet here after arithmancy on Friday," he agreed eventually.
While she was staring up at him, wondering when the hell Nott had grown quite so tall, she stumbled over her own feet. Fully expecting the ground to meet her face, Hermione pulled her arms up to try and at least protect her face. But, she never met the ground, instead overwhelmed by the sensation of being in Nott's arms.
He let go of her as soon as humanly possible, as though she might burn him, but she was grateful for his quick reflexes all the same. "Nice catch," she complimented him, while they resumed their side-by-side walk out of the library. "I would imagine someone with your reflexes would be welcome on a Quidditch squad. How come you've never played?" she wondered aloud.
Nott rounded in front of her, as soon as they'd left the library and looked down at her sternly. "Why I choose to play or not play Quidditch is really none of your business," he barked at her, sternly. If she wasn't mistaken she saw the hint of a blush starting on his cheeks. "Listen, Granger, I don't know when you started paying attention to me so much, but you should leave it alone."
She did not enjoy being called out like she was obsessed with him. She didn't pay that much attention to Nott, not until recently at least. There was nothing wrong with being observant. "It was just friendly conversation," she said petulantly.
"Well, maybe we should keep our conversations strictly academic from now on?" he suggested snidely.
Hermione scoffed, but was unable to think of a clever retort in time. He was already turning away from her and skulking down the hallway in the direction of the dungeons. Realizing how close it was to curfew, Hermione knew that she would need to hurry herself if she wanted to get back to Gryffindor Tower without being harassed by Filch.
She might be a prefect, but the caretaker didn't seem to care much.