The more I learned the less I felt I knew you and I got lost counting stars, I fell dreaming. Sometimes I'd wander away. Maybe I wasn't ready or maybe it was just a hard time to love. You always reminded me of home and I could never fathom the reasoning behind your smile. Perhaps one day, if we believe enough, we'll find our way. R.M. Drake
Theo stood before a small white building on a busy muggle walkduring the morning work commute in London. He hadn't seen this many people since deciding against returning to Hogwarts for his seventh year. He began to yearn for the oppressed stillness of Hogsmeade and the quiet comfort of Honey's Lounge. The crowds made him anxious.
He glanced about nervously every few moments as if he were waiting for something, or someone. He looked repetitively up at the white sign dangling beside his head as if to affirm he was really at the right place.
"Arthur Probsthain." he silently read for the seventh time from beneath the larger scrolled 'Tea and Tattle'. "This has got to be it." he nodded to himself unconvincingly.
An unfamiliar voice sounded from behind him.
"Oh, thank Merlin! You figured it out!" the woman said with a relieved sigh. "Sorry, I changed the date on you so many times, things…changed." Theo turned on his heel to see the strange face that accompanied the voice, his face contorted in confusion.
"Uh, I'm sorry ma'am but I believe you've mistaken me for—Wait…Hermione?"
"Hush!" she hissed. "I am Mafalda Hopkirk." she whispered into his ear as she excitedly hugged him.
"Oh! Sorry, Gr—Miss Hopkirk." he grinned cheekily.
"We haven't much time, Theodore! Walk with me." and without another warning, she continued down the street. Theo slowly processed what she had said and jogged to catch up. While he had considered the logical possibility that Hermione would not risk coming as Hermione, something felt…off.
"Where are you going?" he asked accusingly.
She hesitated, "The Ministry."
"Why? What the hell are you lot up to now?" he said in alarm, grabbing her arm concernedly and trying to pull her to a stop. She pulled away and determinedly kept on.
Her voice blanched slightly. "Why would you think we're up to anything?"
He only looked blankly at her up and down as if to gesture at the abnormality that was her current body.
"Right. Well, if you must know we're on to…something." she said. "But that's not exactly why I wanted to meet!" she added hurriedly.
"Miss me too much, eh?
"No! Well, yes." she smirked. "A lot actually. I needed to check in. How are you? and how is your friend?"
"The pointy blonde one?" he laughed.
"Yes, your only real friend aside from old Mafalda here." she smirked.
"He's well. We both are." Theo lied.
"Good." Hermione said simply, a smile creeping onto Mafalda's thin lips. "So as to why I brought you here… As the son of a Death Eater I need to consult your knowledge on You-Know-Who." He ignored this, cringing inwardly. He decided that if she wasn't going to let on to what they were up to, he wasn't going to cooperate either.
"Before I forget! I've brought you something!" he said waving his forefinger in the air.
"What?" she asked, pursing her brows.
"Happy birthday, Her—Hopkirk!" he said, slipping a journal into her hands.
Hermione looked down at it through Mafalda's eyes. It was leather-bound and hazelnut in color, it's cover embossed with a large 'HJG' and tied shut with an intricately braided leather cord. There was a soft grey fabric bookmark poking out from it's thick pages.
"See, this monogram looks proper, with your initials in the right spots and everything!" he teased.
"Thanks, Theo! I love it!" she smiled before tucking it safely into her jacket. "My question though—"
"That's not even the half of it! Instructions are on the first page. Ask the book your question later, love." he winked, "Ah! And can't forget the best little pressie!" he said, reaching his hand into his pocket, extracting something, before grabbing Hermione's hand and slipping a red woven bracelet onto her wrist. Upon closer examination, she noticed even more solitary lettering.
"'W.W.T.N.D.'?" she read aloud from the absinthe letters, "Is this like one of those muggle Jesus bracelets?"
"It's exactly that! I asked the shopkeeper." he said enthusiastically, "I arrived a bit early today. Saw it while perusing a shop and asked what kind of a word 'wuhwajud' was, then transfigured it into something a tad more inspiring for you to wear while you're off gallivanting with The Chosen you find yourself in a bind, think to yourself 'What would Theo Nott do?'."
At this she giggled. "Thank you, Theodore. However, I don't think simply batting my lashes will get me out of trouble with Death Eaters."
During their chatting, the two had arrived outside of a pair of lavatories. All the while, Theo had noticed two middle-aged men staring at them awkwardly, speaking in hushed voices.
"Now, I'm going to go ahead and make the educated guess that those two tossers are with you." he said, gesturing obviously to the men.
Hermione rolled her eyes before shooting a look of daggers at the two men. "I really should be going. It was so good to see you." Theo nodded in understanding and they shared a tightembrace. As she pulled away, he grabbed her hand and brushed his soft lips against her knuckles. When he did this, he was sure to make eye-contact with the one he presumed (by the tense fists and glare) to be Weasley. Draco would definitely get a kick out of this.
"I told you two, it was important!" he heard her scold, before the trio of middle-aged strangers disappeared into their respective washrooms. Theo stood alone for a few moments, arguing with himself over what to do next. He knew he should go home; he needed to rest. Another side of him was yearning to go to see Draco as he had promised he would. A larger part of him, however, wanted to make sure Hermione made it safely out of the Ministry. Those bloody Gryffindors. Their bravery often exceeded their abilities. As Theo stepped into the men's lavatoryhe wondered how their egos were contained in such average-sized bodies.
XXX
He noticed Ron and Harry enter stalls as he approached and stood patiently in the queue. Before he knew it, it was his turn to disgustingly step into the toilet. With a sneer to rival Draco Malfoy, he flushed himself down into the Ministry of Magic.
Theo took a deep breath as he stepped through the floo and out into the Ministry atrium, just in time to see the trio he was looking for walking toward the lifts. Now there was nothing to do but not-so-patiently wait for their return while pondering what business they possibly could have at the Ministry in such times as these.
Just as he was running out of excuses to be hanging about the atrium, his ears pricked at a distant commotion and he looked to the lifts, as this was probably his cue.
"HARRY! IT'S HARRY POTTER!" someone yelled. Of fucking course.
Theo felt his stomach lurch. Before he could properly form a plan, a chased Harry, Hermione, and Ron were running at full speed in his direction. He noticed his father's friend and fellow Death Eater, Yaxley. Theo's blood began to boil at the thought of harm coming to Hermione. He had to act. He ducked between two closing floos. Just as the Death Eater was about to dive for Ron Weasley, Theo shot a Trip Jinx at him. It was too late. Yaxley had followed wherever the trio went off to and Theo now slumped helplessly to the floor.
XXX
When the Ministry floos opened once more, Theo gathered himself and his thoughts and jumped at the chance to get out of there. He had two destinations on his mind but only knew the location to one.
He stepped gingerly into Malfoy Manor, taking in his surroundings. Through the soft light filtering into the large windows, he could see there was not a witch or wizard in sight. They were presumably all off to the Ministry to investigate the Potter-sighting or hiding in one of the Manor's many this, he knew Draco would be home waiting for him.
"What happened?" burst a terrified Draco, when he opened his bedroom door.
"I—I don't know."
"You were there weren't you?" Draco spat, returning to pacealong the trail he had obviously burned into the carpet with his expensive dragon-hide shoes that day.
"Well, yes. I tried, mate." he paused, "Y-Yaxley made it through the floo after them...but I'm sure Hermione and those two buffoons could hold their own against one measly Death Eater." Theo finished hopefully.
"I'm sure they could do a number on him. I just can't believe she would be so stupid!" Draco said, wringing his hands.
"I can." Theo snarled. "She still asked about you."
Draco stopped pacing. "She did?"
Theo nodded, his expression softening. "Oh but you should have seen Weasley! That bloke needs to sort out his emotions." he laughed, "Never thought I would be happy to see he and Potter though." he added as an afterthought.
"I'm going to pretend you didn't just admit to warm thoughts about Potter and Weasel." Draco laughed. "How did she look though?"
"Uh…old. Then…Then younger at the end." At the sight of Draco's puzzled face, he elaborated. "She was polyjuiced to be some old bint. A…Mafalda Hopkirk. It had worn off by the time they left the Ministry of course. She looked good. I mean, she was running for her life…so take away the look of terror and she looked like our Hermione." Theo smiled warmly as he said her name.
Draco nodded, taking it all in. "Did you give her the journal?"
"Oh, you know what! I must have forgotten." Theo feigned, tapping a finger to his lips.
"And just how the bloody fuck could you forget?" Draco's temper was flaring again.
"Whoa, mate!" Theo threw his hands up in surrender. "I'm only joking. Of course I gave her the journal. I only spent weeks trying to properly charm it."
"And you wouldn't have had the idea without—"
"Without your incessant bitching. Yes, I know. Thanks for that, mate." Theo said sweetly, walking forward to clap a slack-jawed Draco on the shoulder. "Oh and ickle Tom's diary. That was most inspirational."
Draco cringed at the casual mention of the Dark Lord and sunk down into an onyx, high-backed leather armchair in order to better glare at Theo and brood some more.
"I did some last minute adjusting on the spellwork, by the morning when I couldn't sleep." Theo said, ignoring Draco's icy stare completely, while pulling a similar leather-bound book from the pocket of his cloak bearing the Slytherin House Crest rather than Hermione's initials.
"Now in addition to the bit I did for when she's holding it, it will tremble if she is writing into hers. But only if the book is in the company of friends. A foe will cause it to do nothing. It won'teven show a single drop of ink."
"That's brilliant, Theo."
"I thought the same thing," he said puffing his chest confidently, "especially since our lives are swimming with those dodgy Death Eaters these days… No offense of course, mate."
"None taken." Draco said, waving a dismissive hand. "I don't consider myself the least bit dodgy." he smirked and straightened his tie, appearing momentarily as the Draco Malfoythat Theo had grown up with, rather than the ghost that had been wearing his clothing as of late. The two sat quietly for a fewmoments, unsure of how to fill the silence.
"So now we wait?" Draco asked feebly.
"Now we wait."
XXX
Hermione was well beyond ready to end what felt like the longest day of her life. They had narrowly escaped the Ministry and even more narrowly escaped Yaxley. He had seen Grimmauld Place. It was no longer safe, so she quickly apparated them away. Ron had been splinched and she felt like every bit of it was her fault.
Seeing Theo was great, but she didn't even get to pick his brain over anything pertaining to the Horcrux hunt. So far she was considering meeting him as an entirely reckless and potentially a wholly-selfish decision. Hermione began to contemplate the day's outcome, had she not wasted the time she did chatting with Theo. Would they instead be sitting in the warmth of Grimmauld Place rather than this cold and manky tent? Would Ron be still be lying in a cot recovering from being on the brink of death only hours earlier?
Her mind would not let these thoughts rest. However, she didn't want the answer to the bubbling questions just yet. She took the leather book she was clutching in her hands and placed it gently into her bag. She slid the bag beneath her cot and rose to exit the tent and find Harry, now that Ron was finally in a deep walked slowly to the flap and grasped it, before pausing, staring down at the fabric between her fingers and then out into the darkness. She released the flap and doubled back, reaching her cot in record time.
Hermione sat and exhaled, slowly and deeply, tracing her finger over the embossed monogram before finally untying the braided leather cord. She cracked the books rigid spine even slower still, opening to the marked page; the first page. Her eyes fell upon the familiar curvy penmanship that belonged to one Theodore Nott.
Granger Danger!
This bit of magic will give even you a run for your galleons! I'm quite proud of it so please don't lose it. And don't burn it or anything! I know your lot has had a bad past with diaries that write back but this a just sweet little old me on the other side, I promise. I've added some security features as well, so don't fret about any enemies being able to read our late-night conversations. Be sure to picture me winking suggestively right now.
Yours,
TNI
PS—My extra gift to you is that 'bookmark'. I guess there could be a suggestive wink here too.
She couldn't help but smile as she heard Theo's voice ringing in her ears and imagined his typical smirk. She looked down strangely at the grey bookmark with an emerald smudge at the top and bottom edges. It was only then that she noticed there was already a ribbon attached to the binding to mark her place.
"That's odd." she thought, "but why would he—"
She referenced the note once more, her eyes lingering over the quotations he put around the word 'bookmark'. Not only did he gift her a mind-puzzle, but as she quietly muttered "Finite", she found a long and thick, grey cable-knit men's scarf with deep emerald, almost midnight, ends. This only made her smile bigger. As she wrapped the scarf around her neck, she breathed in it's familiar scent. This wasn't Theo's scarf, but Draco's. It smelled like musk and coming home.
Hermione felt immensely better. She was content with the cards laid before her. They now had a constant line straight to Theo for any questions they needed answered. While unfortunate, she now considered visiting Theo as a worthy delay. This journal was a small win. She stood quickly and clutched the book to her scarfed chest, grabbed a blanket from her cot, and happily pointed herself toward Harry who was on guard outside.
She found him sitting against a tree, reading one of her sat down beside him and draped her blanket over the both of them.
"How's Ron?" he asked.
"He's sleeping soundly. He should be fine soon enough though."she said.
"Good to hear it. You really should get some sleep, Hermione."
"I know. I just thought I would check in first. I have good news, actually."
"Yeah? What news is that?" he said, sounding excited.
"This journal," she said, placing it in her lap, "we can write back and forth to Theo in it."
"How do you mean?" he questioned curiously.
"Well," she began, "scary as it sounds...think Riddle's diary, minus the sociopath on the other side. Just cheeky—smart,Theo."
"Son of a Death Eater, Theo?"
"He's on our side, Harry. Otherwise there is no way we would have even made it into the Ministry today."
"We sure made it out without a hitch, didn't we?" Harry said, an underlying bitterness in his tone.
"Just trust me, Harry. Trust my judgement."
"You're right. I'm sorry." he paused pensively, "So, about Ron..."
"I feel awful." she said sadly.
"I don't mean that." he said simply. "I mean how he feels about you. What are you going to tell him?"
"Why should I tell him anything? I had feelings for him before, or what I thought were feelings… We're friends, Harry. Just friends."
"Are you going to tell him about Malfoy?"
Her body tensed. "What are you on about, Harry Potter?"
"Hermione, I'm not stupid. You don't have to keep it from me." Her body noticeably relaxed and he continued, "I want to understand it. Help me understand."
XXX
Draco and Theo sat tensely, both sets of eyes trained on the small journal before them, and more specifically at the silver details that had woven their way slowly through the Slytherin House Crest and had been present for the better part of an hour.
"She's been touching it, why won't she bloody write to us?" Draco ground his teeth.
"Not sure. Maybe she doesn't have a quill." Theo replied with a laugh.
Draco looked smugly at his friend. "She's Hermione!" he said as he picked up a nearby book and transfigured it wordlessly into a quill, waving it mockingly in Theo's face.
"Point taken." Theo quipped, "Just be patient, princess."
XXX
Harry and Hermione lingered in the silence that came after their discussion. Hermione felt a calmness after getting almost everything out on the proverbial table. Harry hadn't even taken it as poorly as she expected. He seemed to understand, or at least be trying to. Something told her Ron would be another story mcompletely, but Harry assured her that he would try to talk to him and to imply that Ron and Hermione were simply to remain platonic. Hermione agreed that she would tell Ron everything eventually; when the time was right he would hear about her feelings for Draco Malfoy straight from her lips. As her best friend, he deserved it.
"Go in and rest." Harry said gently, leaning to kiss her on her cheek.
She rose slowly, bracing her tired frame with the tree. "Thanks, Harry."
"You ought to write to him. Tell him you're okay. He was in the atrium waiting. I saw his face."
"Oh." she stammered, "I didn't notice. I'll do that."
Hermione realized that if Theo had seen them chased out of the Ministry and followed, he would have to be worried sick. She scolded herself for forgetting to even write in the book in the excitement of the find.
She made it back into the tent, slipped a potion into Ron's groaning mouth, and sat on her cot. She reached for her bag and dug out a Self-Inking Quill.
XXX
"She's writing! She's writing!" Draco announced, nudging a dozing Theo from his slumber.
"No, Dibley, I don't want to go to dance class today." he whined through a yawn.
"Uh, we'll definitely be talking about that later," Draco said, "but look!"
Theo's blurry eyes focused and he saw fresh ink appear on the page before him.
Are you there?
"What should we write?" Theo asked aloud.
"What do you mean? A 'yes' would suffice." Draco said annoyingly. Theo smiled.
No.
I'm serious.
And I'm a bit upset you left me worrying for hours!
I'm sorry. A lot happened!
You're okay?
Yes! All in one piece. Now I suppose I should ask you a question to ensure its really you.
You don't trust me?
Constant vigilance.
What?
Never mind it. Where were we when you kissed me?
As the words appeared, Draco smacked Theo across the back of his head.
"Ouch! I told you before she kissed me. It's obviously a trick question, mate."
"Oh. Sorry, I guess." Draco mumbled insincerely. Theo grinned and went back to writing.
Now Granger Danger, if I remember properly, it was your lips that sought mine that day in the library.
"Tosspot…" Draco grumbled.
Correct, you are, Mister Nott. Now I have questions.
Go on, love.
Do you know of anything or any places particularly sentimental to You-Know-Who?
Not really. I've always distanced myself from my father. I don't even live at the Manor these days. However, I'll see what I can dig up. Can I have any more information?
Theodore Isaac Nott, where are you living?
Hogsmeade. I run a business there now. No use in being at Hogwarts this year.
I suppose you're right. That's fantastic about the business though! Congratulations!
Reading this caused Theo to snigger. Hermione would think very differently if she knew what his business entailed. That was another conversation for another time; Another year, if he could help it.
Oh, you'd love it Granger Danger! If you ever need a place to hide out, let me know. But do tell me what I should be researching.
Well, Voldemort…He's split his soul into bits. They're called Horcruxes. It's actually a bit twisted you modeled this journal after one.
How was I supposed to know?
No you're right. So the diary was one. Then Dumbledore found a ring and we recovered Salazar Slytherin's locket today at the Ministry.
There's THREE?
No…more. Dumbledore had reason to believe there were six total.
Draco and Theo shared a nervous glance.
So seven pieces? Wow, I can honestly say that he is more insane than I thought. I didn't know Voldy was so calculatingly into arithmancy.
I see the pun but I'm not giving you the pleasure. But really? His obsession with the magical properties of the number seven is what throws him over the line of insanity for you? Honestly, Theo.
And here I thought this book would make you hard to read…
Theo.
Sorry, love. Those puns were simply too good to resist.
SO back to Horcruxes… Think small, sentimental, and of something that Voldemort would think to be powerful magically. Dumbledore and Harry think he aspired to turn things from each of Hogwarts' founders.
On it.
Thanks for everything, Theo. And by the way, I love the scarf.
Draco had been lost in thought over the Horcruxes but his brows furrowed at this. "Scarf?" he questioned.
"'S nothing, mate." Theo replied, his cheeks turning a lovely shade of pink.
I should really be off to bed. I'll check in when I can. I've missed you.
Draco turned away at this, trying to imagine it as the last sentence was spoken to him.
But she was safe. For now, she was safe.
He focused on this in order to silence the thoughts of the special Cup his Aunt Bellatrix had boasted the Dark Lord had entrusted her to store within her family vault.
XXX
The days quickly grew to weeks. The early autumn green of the forest changed slowly into dullness as the temperature sunk with the remainder of the year. Harry, Ron, and Hermione took turns wearing the locket that they could not yet destroy.
Tension built as tangible progress failed to be made on the hunt for the other Horcruxes. They had a few near run-ins with Snatchers, balanced delicately by the small victory of Hermione establishing that the Sword of Gryffindor could be used to destroy the dangerous bits of Voldemort's soul. The currently lost Sword of Gryffindor.
The atmosphere seemed particularly delicate when the locket's chain sat nestled around Ron's pink neck. When this coincided with Hermione wearing a vaguely familiar men's scarf, Ronald was downright venomous. To remedy the situation she shrank away the scarf, tucking it safely into her journal and reverted to the significantly less warm, pink scarf she had packed with her. Once again, she was hiding something that made her happy just to humor her redheaded friend.
She and Harry occasionally talked with Theo through her book but unfortunately, he hadn't found anything notable yet. They decided to keep the book's magic as yet another secret from Ron. He was just so mentally strained lately that he was fragile and they were worried to set him off. If he didn't trust his best friends, there was no way he would trust Theo. Much to Harry and Hermione's chagrin, he broke nonetheless.
Hermione and Harry had closed the book after talking to Theo outside of the tent. Ron stood between the flaps, watching them carefully. They startled when they saw him, but for different reasons than he thought.
"I'm still here, you know." he said with malice.
"Who ever said you weren't?" Harry asked, growing tired of Ron's constant jealousy and negative demeanor.
"I see how you two act. I know what's going on here." he glared dangerously at them.
"Ron, take the locket off. It's not what you think. You wouldn't even be saying any of this—" Hermione pleaded before she was interrupted. She was ready to just tell him.
"You've been telling me that Hermione and I are just meant to be friends so you could move in on her instead! You're always giggling off in some corner together where I won't hear you. She even wears your bloody scarf like a trophy!" Ron's eyes blazed.
Harry's mouth gaped at Ron's skewed perception. "You're real thick you know that?"
Harry then looked at Hermione, wearing her pink scarf. "And you think I'd wear a pink scarf?"
"Not that one, the other one. You know full well what I'm talking about."
Hermione grew livid. Their voices faded from her brain, just as Ron began shouting over the fact that they hadn't destroyed the locket or added to their Horcrux collection. She calmly collected her thoughts, one by one, ready to verbally tear Ron apart, and as the sound returned just before the explosion, she heard Harry speaking.
"You don't have to stay here you know, you can go home to your mum. I'm sure dinner is about on the table."
"YOU DIMWIT, RONALD WEASLEY!"
Silence fell around her. Actual silence; not just the quiet of the safety inside her head.
"You're right. I don't have feelings for you! Just as how I DON'T have feelings for Harry! This diary," she said holding it up, "is from Theo. We can communicate with him through it. That's why we giggle. He's hilarious! And before you even say it," she grit, "I don't have feelings for him either. The scarf isn't Harry's. It's not Theo's. It belongs to Draco Malfoy! I-I love Draco Malfoy."
At this, Ron's face twisted in hurt and rage. He walked stormed toward the edge of the enchantments and disapparated. He was gone. Harry and Hermione were alone.