Well, it turned out that this update took slightly longer than a week, and for that I apologise *looks sheepish*

I do have something of an excuse, though: I was contacted last minute about an interview for my next-year work placement this week, basically a job interview, but I didn't have any of my interview clothes or nice shoes here at uni so I spent the week panic-shopping. I should hear back about my success/failure soon though, so wish me luck! :)

Big thanks to NotoriousNat for reviewing the last chapter, and also to everyone who's reviewed, favourited and followed this story. Love you guys! :D

This is for you...


"Mother, please listen to me! You have to leave, right now!" Theo begged, willing her to see the desperation in his eyes, to understand.

His mother shook her head. "Leave? Don't be ridiculous, Theodore. Your father-"

"My father is a murdering, coldblooded bastard. I know what he did to you. What his friends did to you." Theo watched for her reaction, feeling terribly guilty for invoking those memories, but he had no choice. She had to see how desperate this situation was.

"He has made some...regrettable choices, it's true," she began, but Theo shook his head and grabbed her by the shoulders.

"Listen to me. There's no time. You have to leave now, or you could be killed. I mean it, mum."

Her eyes widened at the nickname. He hadn't called her that since he was three. "Theo..." she whispered. "It's serious, then?"

"Deadly." He released her shoulder and drew her into a hug instead. "I love you. Please just go."

"I'll go when he's not expecting it. He watches me, you know. When we're down there." She looked terrified, but he felt proud of her.

"Thank you." He kissed her cheek and straightened up. "If I don't see you again, after... If I don't, promise me you'll stay away from him? Have a good life."

"I will," she replied, her eyes filling with tears. "But please, do come back, Theo."

The conversation went round and round in Theo's head as he crept down the corridor towards his destination. He'd done what he'd said he would. The wards were lowered and Potter now had free run of the manor until the Death Eaters were sure they wouldn't need reinforcements. Cowards and idiots that they were, that would probably be ages yet. Best of all, his mother had agreed to leave as he had asked her to. For her own sake she should have left years ago, but since he was the reason she'd stayed, he could hardly hold it against her. Besides, better late than never.

His ears caught the sound of shouting and a loud crash. He shook his head. It was supposed to be a quick, fairly quiet operation. Lower the wards, get Hermione out, go home. Something always had to go wrong, didn't it?

Theo was grateful, though, for the unexpected news he'd heard from Dolohov, one of the four men responsible for maintaining the wards. According to Dolohov, Voldemort had left the Manor. The snake had gone with him, both of them disappearing to who-knew-where. That had given Theo the courage he had needed to complete his task. Incapacitating Dolohov had been easy, almost laughably so, but he had no time to gloat about it.

Sliding his wand from his sleeve, he tapped the door handle and heard the lock click. The door opened with only a slight creak but Theo still winced, waiting several seconds before pushing it fully open and slipping into the room.

A quick scan of the room showed him what he was looking for: a pile of wands lying discarded on the writing desk. He had no idea which one was Hermione's so he took them all, reasoning that the Order definitely needed them more than the Death Eaters did. Stuffing the wands into his pocket, he checked in the mirror that his Dissilusionment charm was still working, then crept back out of the room, relocking the door behind him.

He wished he could be there to see Hermione's face when she got her wand back. He'd heard that being reunited with one's wand after a lengthy time apart felt similarly to the way it felt to first receive the wand. He remembered how amazing it felt to hold his wand for the first time, feeling the magic rushing through his veins, and felt pride that he was the reason Hermione would be able to feel that again.

As Theo made his way back downstairs, he wondered whether Potter had got into the dungeons alright. For a moment, he was worried, then remembered the coin in his pocket. Any issues and Potter would have contacted him already. Shaking his head, he continued towards the main hall - the source of most of the shouting.


"Harry," Hermione whispered, then grabbed his still-outstretched hand and held it to her cheek. It felt warm and rough and real.

He smiled and nodded, blinking back tears, and squeezed her hand reassuringly. "Hermione. I'm so...it's so good to see you."

"I thought...I thought I..."

"I know."

"Isn't this too dangerous for you? To be here, I mean. Won't he know?" she asked, nervously.

Harry looked as though he wanted to pull her into a hug, but a loud crash overhead made him look up worriedly. "We, uh, don't have a lot of time. I need to get you out of here and call everyone off."

"Everyone? Who else is here?" she demanded, needing to hear their names. Who had been put in danger because of her?

"Neville, Seamus, Ginny, Remus and Ron," he reeled off, having apparently expected the question. "And they're fighting up there so I can get you out. We've got to go, now."

They came back for me... Hermione blinked, then nodded, remembering where she was and why he was here. "Yes. But-"

"What?" Harry asked, a little impatiently.

"There's another prisoner. In the other cell." She pointed. "We have to take him with us. They'll kill him if we don't."

"I don't think that's a good idea. He could be one of them, Hermione," Harry said uncomfortably, but Hermione wasn't having any of it.

"He's my friend." Wrenching her hand away, she said sharply, "I'm not going anywhere without him."

Harry stared at her for a full five seconds before deciding she was serious. "Fine. Hang on, then."

He tapped the door of the other cell with his wand and Hermione felt a pang of jealousy and loss as she watched. She hadn't even seen her wand, let alone held it, for what had to be six weeks at least.

The shouts from above were getting louder, more urgent. Hermione started to feel anxious. "Harry?"

"I'm coming," he called back. "Can you get to the door?"

She crawled across the floor, her weak muscles barely responding to her commands, until she could reach his hand. His other hand was clasped tightly around the seemingly unconscious boy's wrist. "What did you do to him?" she demanded.

"He's just stunned. Relax. Let's go."

Hermione had always hated the horrible, squeezing feeling of Apparition, but right then it was the most amazing thing she'd ever experienced. It was freedom itself: the ability to travel anywhere you wished, regardless of distance, time or resources. It was something Muggles only dreamed of, a feature of every science-fiction story. Hermione had never been more grateful to exist in the hidden world of magic than she was at that moment.

They landed on a hard wooden floor seconds later. Hermione cried out in pain as the impact jarred her bruised body and curled instinctively into a protective ball. Only when gentle hands touched her shoulders and a warm, comforting voice spoke in her ear did she open her eyes and look around.

"Hermione, it's alright. You're safe now." Molly Weasley smiled at her, holding out a hand.

Hermione stared at her for several seconds, then reached out slowly and took her hand. "Molly?"

"Yes, dear. Who else?" the woman said good-naturedly, still smiling. Then her lip trembled and she suddenly drew Hermione into a soft, motherly hug. Hermione couldn't help it; she'd gone so long without any comfort or affection, let alone that of someone she loved almost as dearly as her own mother. Her eyes filled with tears and she buried her face into Molly's shoulder, sobbing openly. All of the pain, fear and grief she'd been bottling up inside over the last few weeks seemed to come pouring out as floods of tears, but on top of that she felt a horrible cold stab of guilt. She felt guilty that she could feel so comforted by another person's mother, when the people she really ought to want comfort from were her own mother and father.

Mum...Dad... I miss you, so much. I'm so sorry.


Theo ran and ran, faster than he'd ever had to run before. Heading towards the sounds of battle, he turned a corner and came face to face with a Death Eater he didn't recognise. Luckily, his reflexes were quick and he Stunned them before they could hit him or sound any kind of alarm. Theo was fairly certain that he was going to die tonight, but he had to live long enough to know she was gone, that she was safe. He could hear the screams and roars of both sides battling it out in the halls and corridors of the Manor, accompanied by the 'crack's of Apparition. He dodged a jet of green light flying across the room and sent a flash of red flying in the direction it had come from, all the while scanning his surroundings for familiar faces. Anyone would do, as long as they knew what he needed to know.

He heard a familiar voice shouting from across the room. Weasley. Not his favourite, but better than nothing.

Spotting the trademark red hair from across the hall, he darted forwards into the fray. He weaved between the bodies of those still standing and stepped carefully over the ones who weren't, firing spells over his shoulder as he went. He'd been fully honest with Potter when he'd said he could only promise he wouldn't fight against the Order. It wasn't until he'd seen his mother Apparate away with his own eyes that he was willing to take an active role in the fight, on the side he now knew for certain was the right one. He didn't need to worry about protecting anyone, not now his mother was out of the picture and Hermione was being rescued.

"Weasley," he said shortly, when he reached the other boy.

"Nott. I thought you weren't going to fight?" Weasley asked, Stunning a Death Eater across the room and frowning at his unexpected companion.

"Changed my mind. Is Hermione out? Is she safe?" He knew he sounded desperate, but he needed to be sure.

"Yeah, Harry went to get her. He said he'd send a message when-"

Weasley's sentence was cut off as he ducked a curse and sent one back, but Nott had already felt his Galleon burning in his pocket. Yanking it out, he stared at the words on the flat gold surface.

Got her. Harry.

Theo's mouth slowly curved in a smile and he tucked the coin away again. "She's out. Time to call it a night?"

"Definitely." Weasley turned around, touched his wand to his throat and roared, "LET'S GO!"

An affirmative roar of many voices made Weasley grin and Theo couldn't help but join in. He'd done it. Hermione was free.

The Order members started to Disapparate, a series of whip-cracks filling the room one after another. Should he go too? Where to? he asked himself bitterly. He didn't even know where they were going; how could he consider trying to go with them. There was no time to negotiate terms, or anything like that. He opened his mouth to say something to Weasley - he had no idea what - but the other boy was clearly just about to leave. So much for that plan, then.

"Here, before you go." Theo dug into his pocket and pulled out the handful of stolen wands. "Hermione's is in there. I reckon you can probably find a use for the rest."

Weasley took them and nodded in salute to Theo, who returned the gesture, then the redhead jogged away and disappeared through a broken French-window. Theo blinked, then remembered where he was and spun on the spot, scanning his surroundings. Apart from several incapacitated Death Eaters lying on the floor nearby, he was alone. He debated checking whether they were dead, then decided he didn't care enough to want to know.

Now what? Should he make a run for it? Or hide somewhere, injure himself and pretend he was a casualty of the attack, same as the others?

There was no point, he knew. More than one Death Eater had witnessed him firing spells at his own side of the battle. He was definitely a blood-traitor now, that much was certain. What he was less sure about was what that actually meant with regard to his future. He was still a member of the Nott family, a fairly powerful pureblood line, but he was fairly sure his blood wasn't enough to wipe out this crime against the Dark Lord's regime.

The hall was almost silent now, apart from the moans of fallen Death Eaters and the occasional creak of a settling floorboard. Glancing around, Theo started to walk around the room, checking the Death Eater's faces for familiarity. Relieved, he found he didn't recognise any of them. That meant they were either older and therefore in a more senior circle than he was privy to, or they were new recruits. He supposed he should have felt guilty about that, as it could have been his curses that had laid them out like this, but he didn't.

A new sound broke the silence as the door creaked open. Theo whipped around, raising his wand, but was forced to dive sideways instead, just in time to dodge a spell which burned a hole in the floor where he had just been.

"Traitor!"

He turned his head quickly and stared as Bellatrix Lestrange, her face white with fury, raised her wand again. He sent a silent Stunning Spell her way, which she blocked easily, but distracted her long enough for him to scramble backwards a few feet.

"You did this, didn't you? You did this!"she shrieked, slashing her wand through the air. He tried to block the severing spell but wasn't quite quick enough: sharp, stinging pain shot through his chest as an invisible blade sliced through clothes and skin. A painful wound, but not too deep. He took a deep breath and rolled to the side to avoid another spell which sliced into the floor where he had been crouching.

"Bella," he started to say, but she raised her wand and aimed it at his face, her black eyes flashing.

"No!" she screamed, sending another silent spell his way.

He was too slow. Thin ropes wrapped themselves around his body, pinning his arms and legs to his chest. He wobbled, then overbalanced and crashed to the floor. Scanning the room desperately, he prayed to see someone, anyone, who might help him. Lovegood, Weasley, Potter...even Longbottom would be welcome right now.

"You let them take it, didn't you?" Bellatrix purred, walking closer. "Oh well, I was going to kill it anyway. And there I was, thinking I would have to look for a new toy..."

She leaned closer and the tips of her hair tickled his face, making his skin crawl.

"...Thank you for saving me the trouble."


I am so sorry, everyone who has been commenting on how awesome and lovely Theo is. I am going to be mean to him, there's no point denying it now. Please don't disown me :s If it helps, I've grown to love him too. He may get a story of his own in the future :)

Reviews would be lovely :) It's been a while since I've heard from some of you, so I'd really like to know what you guys think. And any new readers, don't be afraid to speak up :)

Also, don't worry if it looked like Hermione and Harry were a thing in this chapter - this story was always destined to be Dramione and will remain that way. There will be no Hermy, or Harrmione, or whatever they call it O_o (If you know what it's suppposed to be called, please let me know :P)

As always, thanks so much for reading!