Pancakes at Dawn
Chapter Nineteen.
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter.
Snow fell from the clouds in the sky and temperatures dove to freezing. Christmas was finally here and Hermione woke bright and early on Christmas morning to the sounds of pots and pans bashing together in the kitchen. She rubbed at her tired eyes and rolled out of bed, running a hand through her unruly curls that was sticking up on all angles. She shoved her feet into a pair of fluffy slippers and shrugged on her dressing gown. As she wandered towards her door, she plucked a hair tie from the corner of her desk and shoved her hair up into a messy ponytail. Reaching down, she pulled open her bedroom door, forced to squint as her eyes were suddenly hit by the bright morning light streaming in from the windows in the living room. She could hear giggling from the kitchen and she wandered out, tying her dressing gown tightly around her body in a rushed movement. She spotted Ashleigh immediately and stifled a laugh when she saw what she was doing. The blonde was shaking her body in a goofy looking dance as she manoeuvred around the kitchen, waving around a wooden spoon.
"Oh Hermione!" laughed Ashleigh, noticing her best friend emerge from her bedroom. She dropped the spoon on to the counter with a clunk. "I'm so sorry that we woke you!"
"It's alright Ash."
"Merry Christmas!" Ashleigh rushed around the kitchen counter to envelope her in a hug, giggling as she rocked her back and forth.
"Happy Christmas Granger." she heard a male voice say and she glanced over in Theo's direction with a small smile. He was leaning against the counter in a pair of black slacks and a white t-shirt, his usually perfectly made-up hair slightly ruffled.
"You too, Nott." said the brunette as she nodded politely in his direction before turning her attention back to Ashleigh. Her best friend had let go of her and was now stirring a mixture in a bowl with a wooden spoon.
"Are you hungry?" asked Ashleigh. "I've got enough ingredients here to make you something."
"What are you making?"
"Pancakes," replied Ashleigh with a wide grin as she pointed towards the frying pan that was warming on the kitchen hob. "How many do you want?"
Hermione shook her head as she sucked in a breath. She hadn't eaten pancakes since...
Her train of thought immediately came screeching to a halt and she cleared her throat and chewed on her bottom lip slightly.
"Mione?" Ashleigh was looking at her expectantly.
"I don't want anything." was Hermione's simple response. Her mind drifted to Draco, her eyes seeming to glaze over memories of him filled her brain. Being with Draco, Five in the morning cafe visits, eating breakfast in bed with him feeding her a strawberry in between kisses, Draco standing in the kitchen in his boxers attempting to flip a pancake in the frying pan with her watching him, erupting into a fit of giggles when the pancake flew and smacked off the ceiling.
The sound of Ashleigh's voice snapped her back to reality and she blinked, glancing at the blonde who was pointing a spoon at her, the gloopy mixture threatening to fall off and hit the kitchen floor.
"Don't be silly, Mione! It's Christmas! You need a good breakfast.." insisted Ashleigh.
"I'd listen to her, Granger." chuckled Theo. "She's already threatened to hit me for chopping up fruit the wrong way so I say just don't argue with her today.."
"How can you chop fruit the wrong way?" Hermione asked him with a confused expression on her face. She crossed her arms across her body, aware for the first time that she was standing in front of Theo Nott in nothing more than bed clothes.
"Don't ask me-"
"Don't listen to him, Hermione. He's just sour because I forgot to buy raspberries." Ashleigh told her with a roll of her eyes and she dropped the spoon back into the bowl.
"Of course I am!" cried Theo in an over-exaggerated voice, throwing his hands up in the air for dramatic effect. "How can we have pancakes without raspberries? They are the only decent fruit!"
"Do shut up, Theodore," smirked Ashleigh. She had taken to calling him by his full name to rile him up after hearing Hermione say it. She knew it annoyed him but he would never get angry with her. Theo narrowed his eyes at her, taking a few steps closer.
"Too far," he snipped and the pretty blonde simply raised an eyebrow in his direction as if to challenge him, still smirking. His face broke out in an infectious grin and as quick as a flash, he reached his index finger down into the bowl filled with gloopy pancake batter. Picking some up on the end of his finger, he bopped her on the nose playfully, smearing the pale cream mixture across the tip of her nose.
"Theo!" she shrieked and reached out to bat his hand away with hers, the sound of him chuckling filling the kitchen.
Ashleigh pulled a piece of kitchen towel off the roll and wiped the gloopy mixture off of her face while her body shook with her own laughter.
"I'm going to have to make a new batch of mixture now that you went and stuck your bloody finger in it!" said Ashleigh.
"Oh don't be daft," replied Theo. "It's not like I've got bloody germs. My hands are clean."
Theo wiggled his fingers in front of his girlfriends' face as if for effect and she batted his hands away once more.
"You big idiot." laughed Ashleigh.
"I know," he grinned and leaned into her to plant a sweet kiss against her lips, his arms snaking around her waist to pull her closer to him.
Hermione couldn't help but watch them, wishing that she had someone like they did. Someone to love her, someone to act goofy with. Someone who was all hers. Her heart ached to know that she did have someone like that but she had pushed him away. She was all alone now and boy did she feel it, especially with Theo around all of the time. She couldn't deny it. She missed Draco. She missed him terribly and was filled with regret, but it was too late now.
After a few moments, she turned her head away from the kissing couple and wandered back into her bedroom. Taking a shower, she thought, may just help her clear her head.
Freshly showered and with her hair washed and dried in messy ringlets, Hermione stepped out of her room to see Theo and Ashleigh snuggled up on the sofa, the television playing Christmas songs softly as snow hit the windows outside. They were talking animatedly about their families and Hermione paused slightly, almost feeling like she was intruding. The door creaked slightly and Hermione inwardly winced at the noise. Ashleigh and Theo's conversation stilled and at the sound of the door opening, Ashleigh turned her head and smiled happily when she spotted her best friend.
"There you are!"
"Sorry," muttered Hermione, swiping her hair from her face. "I thought I should get dressed."
"No problem," replied Ashleigh in a jolly tone as she stood up. "I left you a bowl of fruit on the counter. You really should eat something and then we could open presents?"
"Sure Ash." Hermione tried to fake a smile at her but she knew Ashleigh could see right through her. The blonde stepped closer to her best friend, watching as Hermione rubbed her palms against her arms in an attempt to warm herself.
Ashleigh frowned at Hermione's sad tone of voice and her eyes locked with the brunette.
"What's wrong?" asked Ashleigh, her eyes soft as she stared at Hermione.
"Nothing," Hermione insisted and immediately the blonde cocked her head to the side and raised a single eyebrow. "I'm fine, honestly."
"Are you cold?"
"A little," Hermione admitted, still rubbing at her arms.
"The heater is on full blast," replied Ashleigh, looking worried. She glanced around at Theo who was sitting up on the sofa, staring across at both women. "Theo, are you cold?"
"Nope," was his simple reply as he shook his head. He paused for a second to stare at Hermione. "You look a bit pale, Granger. Are you sure you're alright?"
"I'm fine," she told him.
Ashleigh held up her hand and placed it against Hermione's forehead, hissing when she felt how cold she was. "Mione, you're like ice."
"It's December," argued Hermione. "It's snowing outside-"
"Hermione, the temperature in here is like a day in the middle of summer!" Ashleigh pointed out. "You must be coming down with something."
"Oh honestly," replied Hermione with a roll of her eyes. She moved away from her best friend and towards the kitchen, picking up a strawberry from the bowl that Ashleigh had left for her. Hearing footsteps behind her signalled that Ashleigh had followed after her but she didn't turn around. The brunette simply grasped the strawberry by the tuft of green on top and lifted it slowly to her mouth. Taking a big bite, the sweet flavour hit her tongue and she let out a sigh as she chewed. Breathing through her nose, she felt her head grow heavy and she reached out to place a hand against the kitchen counter as a wave of dizziness hit her. She twitched slightly and took in several deep breaths, blinking in an attempt to clear her vision.
"Hermione, if you're unwell then maybe you should be resting in bed-"
"I'm fine, Ash." Hermione lied once she had swallowed the strawberry and her vision returned to normal, gritting her teeth together to stop them from chattering.
Hermione blinked as she saw movement out of the corner of her eye. She could see the sofa over the top of Ashleigh's head and she spotted Theo pulling out his wand. He was out of Ashleigh's line of sight so she stayed still as she was not sure what he was doing. She watched as he waved his wand with practiced precision and she felt a heat overcome her. She shivered slightly as the sensation swept up her body, warming her from her toes upwards. Hermione glanced over to Theo properly, locking eyes with him and he nodded at her with a polite smile, tucking his wand away. He had cast a warming charm on her.
Ashleigh huffed and crossed her arms. "Hermione, I really think-"
"Ash, stop fussing, okay?" said Hermione. "I'm fine."
She hated lying to Ashleigh, she really did. She was her best friend after all but she didn't want to worry her either. She knew it was probably just a chill she had caught or something similar but she didn't want to ruin Christmas for Ashleigh by having her worry for the rest of the day. Besides, Theo had fixed it. She was warmed through and felt much better already. The brunette picked up a grape and popped it into her mouth, chewing quickly. She picked up the bowl in one hand and took hold of Ashleigh's hand in the other to walk her back into the living room.
"Come on, I'm alright." Hermione insisted, smiling at the blonde who was walking behind her. "I'm going to finish this fruit. Why don't you grab the presents?"
"Only if you're sure you're up for it," said Ashleigh.
"Ash.." Hermione warned with a pointed look.
"Alright, sorry!" laughed Ashleigh. The blonde kissed her on the cheek before skipping past Theo who was still sitting on the sofa as she headed across the room towards the Christmas tree.
Hermione smiled after her before she collapsed on the sofa on the opposite side to Theo, tucking her feet up under her bum. She looked over at him to see he was craning his neck around to watch his girlfriend digging around under the Christmas tree to pull out the presents that were neatly wrapped.
"Hey," said Hermione and at the sound of her voice, he turned his head to look at her.
"Yes Granger?"
"Thanks," replied Hermione with a small smile.
Theo raised an eyebrow at her.
"Thanks for what you did," she continued, resting her hands in her lap. "It- it really helped."
"No problem, Granger." shrugged Theo, the corner of his lip quirking upwards. "Everything okay?"
"I've probably just caught a chill," Hermione explained to him and nodded his head. "Nothing to worry about."
"Are you sure? There are some pretty nasty things going around at this time of year, you know."
Hermione snorted and glanced down at the coffee table. The thought of Theo Nott acting concerned about her was a little much. "I'm sure that it'll pass,"
"Good," replied Theo. "Because Draco would kill me if I let anything happen to you?"
Hermione's head snapped back up at that. "What?"
"Draco," said Theo, a small smirk sneaking onto his face. "He'd murder me with his bare hands if he thought you were sick and I did nothing to help."
Hermione was silent for a moment before she managed to find the words to speak.
"How is he?"
"How do you think he is, Granger?" said Theo with a pointed look, his hands reaching up to rest behind his head as he stretched his legs out in front of him. "He's miserable."
"Theo-"
"I mean, of course he's bloody miserable! After all, the woman he is in love with wants nothing more to do with him. How do you imagine you would feel, Granger?"
Hermione gulped and shyly looked down at the ground, a light blush covering her cheeks.
"He won't tell me what happened between the two of you, Granger," said Theo. "All I know is that my best mate is heartbroken and quite frankly, I can't stand to see him like that anymore."
"Theo, I miss him terribly," replied Hermione, feeling completely downtrodden. "I love him too but this is not something that I can just change my mind on. I will regret this decision for the rest of my life but it is the right decision. "
"So you admit that you regret it then?"
"Of course I do!" Hermione raised her voice slightly. "But I don't have a choice anymore. I've made that decision and there is no going back. I'm doing this for him, not just myself."
"I hope for your sake that you're right, Granger."
"And why is that?" asked Hermione.
"Because if not," said Theo before pausing. He stared back at her with sad eyes. "Well, if you continue to push people away at the rate you're going then you're in for one hell of a lonely life."
"Presents time!" shouted a happy voice from in front of the pair.
Hermione ripped her eyes from Theo and glanced up when Ashleigh appeared in her line of sight, a large smile on her face and her arms full of presents.
"Well, who wants to go first?" grinned Ashleigh.
"Granger can," Theo told his girlfriend with a straight face.
Ashleigh gave him an odd look before turning to her best friend.
"Mione?"
"Sure, Ash," replied Hermione. "I'll go first."
"Perfect!" Ashleigh knelt down, placing the presents carefully on the rug and began sorting through them, picking the presents based on the tags until they were separated into three piles.
Hermione slipped off the couch and settled on the floor with her legs crossed, reaching for the first present in the small pile. It was medium sized and wrapped in white wrapping paper, a pink ribbon tied neatly around the package in a bow and without even looking at the tag, she knew it was from Ashleigh. The perfect wrapping skills were unlike anything she had ever seen. She heard Ashleigh giggle beside her, as if she could hear what she was thinking and when she looked up, her best friend was smiling down at her from where she was standing.
"Go on then, open it."
Hermione tugged at the pink ribbon until it slipped loose, allowing her to tear carefully at the wrapping paper. A tear threatened to fall when she saw what was inside of the present.
"It's not much-" said Ashleigh, looking concerned as Hermione stayed silent, simply staring at the half opened present.
"It's perfect, Ash."
Hermione ripped at the rest of the wrapping paper and it fell away, revealing the gift to the room.
"What is it?" asked Theo, leaning forward to try and get a better look.
"It's us," smiled Hermione as she looked at a picture of herself and Ashleigh from last Christmas, both bundled up in red and white Christmas pyjamas, glasses of red wine in their hands. They were sitting on the couch, Crookshanks was nestled on Hermione's lap and they were smiling widely towards Holly who was holding the camera. It was Hermione's favourite picture of them and it was now in a beautiful wooden frame.
"I thought you could put it on your desk."
"It's lovely, Ash. Thank you." She placed the photo down and stood up, quickly pulling Ashleigh into a hug.
"Hey, that's not all I've got you!" replied Ashleigh, hugging her back. "If I'd known how happy you would have been with a photo in a frame, I could have saved myself some money."
"Oh shut up," laughed Hermione and she let her go with a smile.
"Open the rest of your presents."
Theo reached for his wand inside his pocket as he watched the women in front of him laugh over a box of chocolates. With a quick wave, all of the discarded wrapping paper had vanished and the living room was looking tidy once again, except for the gift strewn about the place.
"Ladies, I think we've forgotten one," he shouted across to them, trying to hide a smirk when he glanced down at the black box tied with a green ribbon.
"Who is it for?" asked Ashleigh, standing up and moving across the room and towards the present which sat on the coffee table.
"I think it's for me," said Hermione, noticing the wrapping and how similar it was to the box she had received with the potion inside.
"Right yet again, Granger," Theo smirked at her and Hermione rolled her eyes.
"For you?" asked Ashleigh, lifting the tag. "From who? There's no name on the tag."
"I think I can guess," replied Hermione, reaching out to take the present from Ashleigh, looping her finger through the expensive looking green ribbon and gently she tugged it loose. Her heart pounded heavily in her chest as she felt her temperature rise once more. "Did you have something to do with this?"
Theo glanced across to see that she was looking up at him with a raised eyebrow.
"Not a thing. Granger," he replied but his smirk told her otherwise.
Hermione sighed and dropped the ribbon, lifting open the black box and she let out a gasp, her eyes going wide when she saw what was inside.
"Oh my god!" squealed Ashleigh from over her shoulder. "Is that from-"
"Draco," said Hermione softly. Her deep brown eyes were glued to the beautiful gift inside the box. The type of box that it was had not escaped her and she chewed on her bottom lip. A beautiful and very expensive looking ring stared back up at her, nestled in its box. A stunning and rather large oval emerald surrounded by twelve smaller diamonds settled against a platinum band. With shaking hands, she lifted the ring out of the box and stared at it in awe.
"That's beautiful, Hermione," muttered Ashleigh, her eyes wide. "Aren't you going to try it on?"
"I'm not keeping it," said Hermione with a shake of her head, slowly putting the ring back where it belonged. "It's too much."
"Oh shut up, Granger," Theo told her with a chuckle. "You know that he's not going to take it back. Just put the damn thing on your finger and be done with it."
"Theo-"
"Don't Theo me, Granger," said Theo, still smirking. "Put it on."
Hermione huffed and picked up the ring once more. She dropped the box back onto the coffee table and stepped closer to Theo who was still smirked back at her. She lifted her hand and pressed the ring against his chest, holding it steady for a second as she looked into his eyes.
"Can the pair of you just stop it!" shouted Ashleigh who was looking between the pair of them in surprise.
"If you like it so much, why don't you wear the bloody thing?" she snapped at him, pressing the beautiful piece of jewellery deeper into his chest. He groaned in pain and grabbed at her wrist to try and move her away from him, only to cry out and rip his hand away in shock when a dark heat tingled at his fingers.
"Owe!" he grounded out, looking at her with wide eyes. "You burned me!"
"Take the ring," she hissed at him and Theo managed to catch the ring that she had let go of.
"Granger, you're burning up!" He reached out to grab her arm and he cried out in agony as his flesh burned on contact with hers.
"Hermione, stop!" yelled Ashleigh. "Stop it!"
Hermione backed away from Theo slowly, eyes flicking back and forth between the two people in front of her. She shook with each step and fire coursed through her veins, burning her blood and her entire body. The pain was excruciating and she couldn't take much more.
"I'm sorry! I don't know what is happening!" she cried out, screwing her eyes closed and tightening her hands into fists.
"Hermione," cried Ashleigh going to take a step closer to her best friend with wide and worried eyes. Theo cut in front of her quickly, stopping her in her tracks.
"Ash stay back!" he told her.
"She's my best friend, Theo-" she said and he gently manoeuvred her backwards and away from Hermione.
"Stay back," said Theo more forcefully this time and Ashleigh chewed on her bottom lip but remained still. He span around on his heels and rushed forwards in Hermione's direction.
"Granger, you have to calm down!" yelled Theo, gripping her by the shoulders, being careful not to touch her bare skin. "Granger!"
Hermione could no longer hear anything. She could no longer see. Her vision went black as she hit the floor, the dull echo of her name filling her ears.