Aca-demic Arrangements

Chapter 21

"Did you tell her? Did you fucking tell her where we live?!"

As soon as Theo excited Blaise's room, he heard shouting from down the hall. With a curious tilt of his head, he scooted down the wall, listening in to the yelling coming from inside the room with the little light bulb mounted outside.

A groan came from within the room. "Fuck…keep it down, mate. My bloody head—"

"Bugger your 'bloody head'! Did you, or didn't you tell your snotty girlfriend where we live?!"

"She is not my girlfriend. And NO! Why do you have your knickers in such a wad anyway?"

"Your damn bird threatened to show up here if she couldn't talk to Granger—"

"Wait…whoa, wait."

There was a loud creaking of leather as it sounded like someone was readjusting themselves noisily on a big couch or chair.

"When did she call you?" The voice sounded a bit nervous.

"This morning!" The other voice – Riddle, definitely Riddle – shouted. "She called looking for your hungover arse when Hermione and I were—" Riddle stopped abruptly and his tone shifted, the next words coming out with more initial hesitation. "—after I'd picked Granger up, we were talking and she interrupted looking for you."

"Talking." A pause and then the other man's voice purred teasingly, "Did this talking involve a more extensive use of teeth than usual, mate? You've got a…funny little bruise right there—"

"SHUT IT—"

"BOO!"

Theo barely contained his yelp with a hand over his mouth and turned to see a girl standing there, watching him with a smirk on her face and a cup of coffee in one of her hands.

"Ah, I was just uh—"

"Eavesdropping?" Hermione chirped helpfully.

"Um…"

She shrugged. "To be fair, I don't think you can really call it eavesdropping when Mummy and Daddy are being so bloody loud. With the door open, at that."

Theo opened his mouth to reply but squinted instead when he realized that this was the same girl from the bar, this was the one that Pansy had such a hard-on for. She was looking at him expectantly, clad in some scandalously short shorts and a sleeveless shirt that was far too large for her with a neckline that reached dangerously low.

Fuck, what did Riddle call her just now? "Ah, yeah, sorry about that. I was just about to head out—"

The door down the hall slammed loudly and the light outside flicked on as the rising shouts from behind it were muffled just enough to where neither of them could make out distinct words. Hermione rolled her eyes and sighed at how much of a tizzy Tom had been in at the concept of Pansy knowing where they rested their heads at night. She extended a hand to Theo and offered, "Would you like a coffee to go?"

Theo blinked at the red light and back to the girl's hand, hesitating only slightly before accepting and allowing the lovely woman to lead him to the kitchen. "That would be much appreciated, Miss…sorry I didn't catch your name."

"Hermione," she said offhandedly and sat Theo down on a stool that'd been tucked under the edge of the breakfast bar.

His brow creased, hearing the name again more clearly tickled something in his memory. "Hermione," Theo repeated, tasting the name on his tongue. When she looked at him curiously, he replaced his slight frown smoothly with a smile and reached his hand out to her, this time in belated greeting. "Theodore Nott. It's very much a pleasure, Miss Hermione, I hadn't expected to meet such a beautiful woman here. Particularly not after…assisting in the transportation of the…other occupants."

Hermione eyed him carefully but shook his hand and came around to the other side of the counter to fix him a to-go cup. "Are you fucking Blaise?" she asked without preamble.

Theo sputtered and the charming smile dropped from his face to be replaced with one of unmasked shocked. "E-excuse me?"

"Milk and sugar okay?"

"Uh, yes…"

Hermione spooned some sugar and splashed milk from the small carton she'd had on the counter into a branded travel mug and nudged it across the breakfast bar to Theo. "Back to my other question." She took up her own cup once more and sipped her drink. "You look a tad rumpled and you were coming out of his room, so I'm asking, are you our little Blaisie's boyfriend?"

Theo chanced a glance in the direction of Blaise's room before answering. "Ah, I'm not—"

"So you're just fucking him? Or…he's fucking you? I'm really not sure of his preference in the pairing or the logistics of it all, so I don't—"

"Hermione! Tzzzt! TZZT!" An appalled screech sounded from the doorway and a fully clothed Zabini appeared waving his arms at the girl so casually clad in partly her clothing and partly Tom's trying to shoo her away like a bug. "TZZZZZT! ZIP IT!"

"Oh, good morning, Blaise!" Hermione hummed merrily. "I was just grilling Theodore here about his association to you. Coffee?"

"NO, I would not like—wait, what is that thing there?"

"This? It's a French press. I found it in a cupboard."

"We have a French press?"

"Evidently."

"I've heard that they make very good coffee—"

"I make very good coffee. The French press helps. So, a cup?"

"Yes, please, that sounds delightful."

"Of course—"

"Now what the fuck do you think you're doing to our guest here?!" Blaise huffed at the girl as she gathered another mug from a cabinet then turned to Theodore. "I'm so sorry about her. We took her in from the streets not long ago, she has no clue how to function in polite society—"

"Yes, I'm positively rabid," Hermione muttered, fixing Blaise's coffee in a way he'd come to prefer.

"Hush, puppy," Blaise snapped at her and turned a too tight smile back to Theo who was staring strangely at Hermione's back. He followed the other man's gaze to the crest emblazoned on her exposed skin and he squawked at the indecency. Blaise scurried over to where she was mixing his drink, tugging and yanking on the top she'd stolen from their roommate until it was more sufficiently covering her. He glared at her, "Cover up, woman! This isn't a house of sin!"

Hermione gave him a funny look over her shoulder. "But by definition, if he's seen your peni—"

Blaise's hand clamped over her mouth and he looked to Theo once more who was watching them with obvious amusement dancing in his eyes as he sipped from his travel mug. "Come, Theodore, allow me to walk you out."

Theo smirked, that smooth, charming, pants melting smirk that made Blaise swallow thickly, and slid off the seat he'd been spectating from. "Sure." He waited for Blaise to release the girl, chuckling at the way he was staring at her as though she were a bomb liable to go off at any second, and followed. Theo spared Hermione a small wave as he exited. "Bye Miss Hermione, pleasure meeting you."

Hermione called something back to him in response, but Theo missed it with how hastily Blaise urged him through the garage door and slammed it shut behind them.

"Sorry about her," Blaise muttered and pressed the button on the opener, standing with him awkwardly as the outer garage door noisily clattered open.

Theo shrugged and fished his keys from his pocket. "S'alright. Made for an interesting morning at least. Not every day I get accused of being someone's boyfriend."

The door clanked as it settled fully into its open position and the darkening color to Blaise's cheeks was much more noticeable in the light of the sun. "So sorry about that—"

"Don't be," Theo said softly. Blaise's previously averted gaze snapped right back up and he winked when he caught it. "See you around."

Blaise opened his mouth to bid Theo farewell but only a soft squeak mildly resembling a "bye" came out and his hand did this half-wave, half-wiggling of his fingers thing of its own volition.

. . . . .

Hermione.

Hermione…Hermione…Hermione…

Theo sat at a red light, brow furrowed and thinking about the strange girl's strange name and how oddly familiar it was.

That…and that crest on her back.

He swore he'd seen it somewhere before.

Such a funny set of creatures on one crest.

A lion…

…a snake…

…a…weasel thing? What was that? A badger?

And some kind of bird.

Where the hell—

Theo's eyes widened and he reached suddenly for his glovebox, a plethora of overstuffed papers falling out and clattering to the floorboards. He glanced up to make sure the light was still red before jamming his foot on the brake and reaching over to rifle through the mixture of papers. Some were new fliers, articles, things Pansy had shoved at him to read or research for this year's a cappella championships that he'd promised her he'd look at right away, others were old random bits from clubbing and performing over the years from where he was from.

There was one thing – one thing – he was looking for from when he used to live up the coast in the Bay Area.

One-fucking-thing—

"AH!" Theo snatched a wadded up program that looked as though it had been crammed to the very back of the compartment and checked the date on it, finding it to be almost three years old. His eyes flicked over the cover to take in the bold, stylized imagery and print: "Hogwarts School of Music, Theatre, and Dance Proudly Presents . . ."

Theo flipped through the booklet to find the cast listing of this particular show.

"AH! Ah HA!" He swept over the bio page for the show's headliner "Miona Granger," his thumb brushing across the black and white picture of a familiar bushy haired girl smirking at the camera.

"Fuck," Theo breathed in awe, "Pansy was right, she is our Cinderella."

A/N: All the pop culture references. ALL OF THEM. I update from vacation. Vacation is nice.