Friday night had come sooner than Hermione realized and she was on her way to the library to meet up with Theo. Arriving 15 minutes early she aligned her books on the table, grabbed some parchment, quill and ink, and began taking notes on the potion. It wasn't her first time brewing Amortentia, and she already knew what she smelled, but this time she would be filling the Goblet of Eros with her potion and sacrificing her blood to bond herself with her soulmate. It needed to be perfect. Theo arrived five minutes early, to Hermione's surprise, and sat opposite of her spreading his books on the table in a similar fashion.
"Good evening... friend." He emphasized the last part.
She smiled, "Good evening. So, let's get straight to it. From what McGonagall said the other day in class, we will be using the amortentia to fill up our Goblet for the offering. Did you successfully brew it in sixth year?"
"Yes, I did. I don't remember it being too hard, it's just very tedious."
"Right. If there's any time to be perfect, now is the time. We can go to the outskirts of the Forrest and gather some of the plant items right before we brew so they will be really fresh."
"Good idea. So, do you mind asking me what your amortentia smells like?"
"Um. That's kind of personal."
"I'm just curious. I'll tell you mine if you like. It's treacle tart, vanilla, and broomstick handle." He offered the information before Hermione could give him an answer.
"Oh, very nice. Uh. Please keep this to yourself. Mine is fresh mowed grass, spearmint, and leather."
Theo quirked an eyebrow as a thought entered his head. He decided against saying anything and simply replied with a "very nice." Hermione perked the sides of her mouth up into a short smile and opened her potions book.
"It says that when brewing you must stir in a clockwise motion, but I know a little trick that for every ten stirs, you can do two counter clockwise and it can reduce the brewing by up to an hour."
"And how in the world did you figure that out?"
"In a book."
"What book? I've read every potions book available and I've never read that before." Theo questioned.
Hermione hesitated for a moment, deciding on whether or not she should share the information about the book Harry used in their sixth year. "Sixth year potions book. Harry's was filled with Snape's notes, but it was destroyed in the Room of Requirement."
"Oh. Well, that makes sense. And also explains how he knew one of Snape's hexes. Like the one that hit Draco. It was in the book, too, wasn't it.." Theo said in more of a statement than a question.
Hermione winced at the comment. Even though she didn't particularly care for Malfoy, she never wished him dead and Harry had almost killed him with Snape's sectumsempra spell.
"For what it's worth, I told Harry to stop using the book and be careful with the spells. We didn't know it was Snape's at the time."
"I'm not upset, Hermione. I believe you. Draco deserves whatever was coming his way. He was and still is an ass." He let out a light laugh.
"You're horrible! He could have died." She was starting to giggle, too. "And he's your best friend. Don't ever tell Malfoy, but I gave Harry the scolding of his life and was angry with him for a week over that. Malfoy is an ass, but I don't think he deserved to die. Anyway." She continued after controlling herself, "Lets get to work."
As if they didn't already have enough interruptions with their fit off giggles, a satchel landed on the table.
"Good evening, Theo, Miss Granger."
The beautiful brown skinned young man pulled out a chair and sat down next to Hermione.
"Blaise. We are studying. What can we do for you?" Theo clipped.
"Studying for The Prick, of course. Isn't that what you two are doing?"
"Yeah. But we are partners. Don't you have Draco for this?"
"Yes. He should be here any moment now. Looks like we planned our studies at the same time. Couldn't hurt for all of us to do it together, right?" Blaise said with a cheeky grin.
"Sure. As long as Hermione is okay with it." Theo eyed her for approval. She gave a short nod and continued with her notes.
Shortly after Blaise's arrival Draco came rolling into the library. He turned the corner to find two Slytherins and the last Gryffindor he'd want to be around, sitting at a table. He inwardly groaned as he made his way over and sat in the only remaining chair next to Hermione.
"Theo, Blaise, ... Granger." He turned his head a little in her direction as he choked out her name. It was just enough for her to catch the scent of spearmint coming from his breath. She stiffened her body and her spine tingled. It was just a coincidence. Nothing more. Leather, spearmint. She didn't smell grass on him. Nothing to worry about then.
She cleared her throat before speaking. "Malfoy."
Theo took this opportunity to corner Draco.
"Before we begin, weren't you telling me you had something to say to Hermione today?"
If looks could kill, Theo would be deader than dead. Draco's eyes had narrowed and his jaw clenched tight. Blaise gathered his things and grabbed Theo by the arm. He whispered in his ear "Do you have to make life so awkward sometimes Theo? Get your shit and let's go before he murders you right here."
Theo magicked his things together quickly and stood. "Let's take a rain check on the studying, yeah? Blaise has just informed me of.. something we forgot to do."
Hermione gave him a pleading look. Silently begging him with her eyes not to leave her alone with Malfoy. She wasn't afraid of him, she just didn't want to be left with him alone.
Theo and Blaise left in a hurry. After a moment of silence, she decided that it was time for her to leave as well. Malfoy obviously had nothing to say to her so she didn't want to be there any longer than she needed to be. As she was rising from the table, she heard a whisper.
"Excuse me?"
"Wait." Draco said a little louder. "Please." He ground out as if the words were trying to kill him.
Hermione sat back down and stared at him wide eyed. Just those two words alone were probably more than he's ever managed to say to her outside of an insult.
"I think I owe you an apology."
She scoffed. "You.. think?"
He was becoming even more angry, as if that were even possible. "Yes." He bit. "I know I do, alright?" He couldn't look her in the eyes. "I'm sorry. For.. for everything."
She grabbed her bag and for a second time and began to leave. Who does he think he is? After everything he's put her through, after she testified for him to keep him from reviving the kiss. She knew she deserved more than a sorry apology. Not a forced one, real one if he was going to give or none at all. Stomping her way out of the library she set off down the hall.
Draco couldn't believe he was doing this, but he made a run for it to catch up to Hermione. She could hear the footsteps coming after her but didn't dare look back. The anger in her intensified with every step she took and before she knew it there was a hand on her shoulder.
"I'm sorry." He panted. "I'm sorry for my sorry apology. I'm sorry for everything I've ever said to you. I'm sorry for bullying you, for what happened to you at my house. For.. everything. I'm also sorry that you're about to lose your new best friend because I'm going to kill Theo."
Hermione didn't even have time to process anything he said before he was gone. She could only guess what Theo was going to endure once Draco made it to their dorm. At the moment she didn't care. How dare he force her into that awkwardness. Boys are just so dumb.
...
Slytherin Dorms
Draco nearly blasted open the door to their room and went straight for Theo, grabbing him by the neck with one hand while shoving his wand to Theo's throat with the other.
"I'M GOING TO FUCKING KILL YOU, THEO!"
Theo was trying to shove Draco off but he must've put a weight charm on his hands because he could barely lift them.
"I swear I was just messing with you." Theo said as calmly as he could.
"I TOLD YOU I WOULD APOLOGIZE WHEN I WAS READY!"
"It's just a two man running clu.. what? Did you just apologize to Hermione?"
"YES, YOU FUCKER. AND I WASN'T READY. I HAVE NIGHTMARES ABOUT HER EVERY FUCKING NIGHT AND IT PAINS ME TO BE WITHIN FIFTY FEET OF HER. I DON'T KNOW WHAT THE FUCK YOUR PROBLEM IS, BUT STAY THE HELL AWAY FROM ME."
Blaise was watching from his side of the room as the whole thing went down. Draco stormed out and Theo dropped to the floor gasping for air.
"He has a point, Theo. What were you thinking?"
"I was talking about.. *gasp* our running club. Me and Granger. We run every morning.. *gasp* and I told him if he was still going to join me that he had to ask her if he could join."
Blaise started laughing hysterically.
"You mean to tell me he apologized to her because he thought that's what you were talking about? And you just wanted him to ask her to join your run club?" It was all Blaise could do to get that out between laughs.
"I guess so. I did tell him the other morning that I would force him to apologize to her, but I swear I was talking about our run club. Damn. That really came back to bite me in the ass, huh?"
Blaise was still laughing and gripping his bed post to hold himself up. Finally he calmed down and The two settled into bed after waiting up until close to midnight, but Draco never returned until the wee hours of the night and left early in the morning before the other two awoke. In and out without a peep.