A/N: I do not own Harry Potter or any characters/locations related to the franchise. That all belongs to the wonderful J.K. Rowling. I hope you enjoy the only thing I do own...the plot. Also M rating for language and possible sexually explicit scenes (really just wanted to be safe with the rating).
-TNHGTNHGTN-
Early the next morning Hermione awoke to Theodore's soft whispers from next to her in the bed. It was early enough that the room was still bathed in darkness so her eyes searched out his form while she tried to adjust to the inky blackness surrounding her. "Expecto Patronum," Just as her eyes began to make out his face laying next to hers she saw white wisps of light as the spell formed around him. Shooting from his wand was the full form of his Patronus, and judging from the accomplished look on his face, this was the first time he had been able to cast it. Happiness spread through her as she was filled with pride watching him cast this spell. She smiled slightly and bit her lip, a warm feeling washed over her in waves and caused her chest to constrict in elation. She watched him intently as he blinked several times at the magic waiting for it to take shape.
As they watched in anticipation a spectral raven began to fly around the room before landing in front of him. It stared back at him for a moment, shaking its body and ruffling its feathers, before hopping towards him happily and tilting its head waiting for a command. Feeling like she was probably intruding on a private moment, Hermione closed her eyes and feigned sleep as the spell stuttered casting the room once again in darkness. She felt the bed tilt and dip under Theo's weight as he adjusted himself next to her before dropping a feather like kiss to her temple. "Thank you, Hermione," He whispered to her seemingly unconscious form before standing from the bed and leaving the room.
She heard the shower start in the bathroom, and so she decided it would be a good moment to head back to her room. Once there, she sat on the bed and began thinking. It was ridiculous to imagine that she had anything to do with his new ability to cast the spell. Sure she had helped both Slytherins practice the wand movements, and had given them a couple of short lessons on how to do it, but the way he had thanked her implied that she had done something more. She stood from the bed and paced the room a couple of times before running fingers through her tangled hair. Deciding to shower later that day, she changed into some comfortable muggle clothes of joggers and an oversized jumper before heading to the small kitchenette where she began brewing tea.
Theo had exited the bathroom after the first pot had stopped steeping, and accepted a cup with a small nod. Hermione couldn't be sure, but she thought she might have seen a small blush make its way upon his cheeks when their hands touched. "About last night…" She began as she sat down on one of the plush armchairs, wrapped in the blanket he had given her after their first 'study date'. She saw him stiffen slightly, and her heart tightened in her chest at the possibility that he did indeed regret it.
"What about last night, Granger?" She saw his indifferent mask pull into place as he sat down on the loveseat next to her, clearly preparing himself for whatever she was going to say next. She fiddled a little with her cup, enjoying the warmth as it seeped through the porcelain and laid claim to her fingers.
Deciding that the quicker they had this discussion the better, Hermione straightened her shoulders and looked him directly in the eye, "Did you kiss me because you wanted to...or because you were drunk." He stared at her for a second. He pulled his bottom lip into his teeth before setting his cup down lightly on the coffee table in the middle of the sitting area.
"I've wanted to for years…" He said slowly, his eyes dropping from hers as a sheepish expression passed over his face.
"How long?"
"I've wanted to be your friend since first year. I have wanted to kiss you since third. I have wanted to do more, and be more to you since fifth." He explained, as he kept his gaze down. She started to wiggle a little bit, feeling slightly uncomfortable under the weight of his confession.
"I have one more question before we start talking about where last night is going to lead us." He nodded as if he expected her questions, leaning forward and placing his forearms on his knees, his tea abandoned and getting cold as it rested on the wood surface.
"How...How did you know about the time turner?" She asked, watching his expression change from steady impassivity to amused as his eyes looked up at her. This clearly was not the question he had been expecting.
His lips lifted into a small smirk before he rolled his eyes and started talking, "You weren't that clever." He laughed at her offended expression before he held out a hand to prevent her from arguing, "It's fine, no one but me noticed. Um...Malfoy was bitching one day about you storming out of Divination, which got me thinking that it was odd because I couldn't take Divination. You see, I had decided that my brain was put to better use in Ancient Runes, which you were also in. I started keeping a closer eye on you then I already was, which for the record made me feel like an outright stalker." He chided accusingly as he gave her a pointed look. His eyes shined in amusement as he playfully blamed her for his attentive behavior.
"It was the day that you slapped the blond idiot that it finally made sense. You didn't see me behind the passageway you guys had just come through, I was reading an Arithmancy text trying to catch up to you in the course. Once he had run off with Crabbe and Goyle, the three of you went down to Hagrid's hut." He smiled his crooked smile as he leaned forward and lowered his voice as if telling a secret, "Imagine my surprise when not five minutes later you and Potter came out of the same passageway, and followed yourself down the same pathway." He watched as Hermione found her tea cup extremely interesting, her cheeks flaring pink. He leaned back on the loveseat, his smile growing. When he spoke again his voice was back to its normal volume, "It was that day I put two and two together. I was so bloody furious that you got to take extra courses when I was stuck choosing between them."
"Well, if it makes you feel any better Divination was a waste of time." She reassured, as she took another sip of her tea her lips forming into a wry smile.
"So I've heard," His voice was amused as his eyes drifted down to her blanket. "So, where is last night going to take us?"
"I was rather hoping we could-" Her sentence was cut off as there was a knock on the portrait.
"Hold that thought," Theo sighed, standing and stretching before he crossed the room and answered the door. She heard Draco and Theo greet each other in the entrance passageway, and finished her tea before going back to the kitchenette and pulling another mug down for the new guest.
"Tea, Malfoy?"
"Yes, thank you Granger." He huffed lightly, giving her a sad looking smile, "Anyway, mother told me she will be heading to France to visit friends this holiday since she didn't get to last year with everything that happened. So, that means I will be spending my Yule time here at the castle." He finished telling Theodore as he slumped onto the chair across from Hermione's. He sounded put-out as he waved his wand before him sending the occasional shower of sparks across the room.
"Sugar? Cream?"
"Two teaspoons of sugar, please and thank you." He called.
"Don't worry about it, mate. It's not like you will be alone, I'll be here. We can celebrate our idiotic families together." Theo placated while giving his shoulder a firm pat and sitting down back in his spot on the loveseat. "We will have a nice Friendsmas!"
"Mind if I join you?" Hermione asked as she gave Malfoy his tea before wrapping herself in her blanket.
"Nice colors Granger, they suit you." Malfoy smirked as he noticed her green and silver blanket. "I thought you usually celebrated with the Weasley brood."
"I do, but with Ron being so...well Ron, and with this being the first holiday without Fred I don't really want to intrude." She said, ignoring his comment about her blanket as she wrapped it tighter around herself. "They deserve to have a holiday together without Ron's attitude towards me mucking it up." She dropped her gaze as she used the cotton to guard her heart from the dark feelings she received every time she remembered Fred being gone. She stared down at the empty fireplace as a familiar smirk danced its way across her memories. A smirk that she would only ever get to see on the face of his brother, which truth be told wasn't the same. She felt her eyes water slightly and was brought out of the darkness by a familiar deep voice.
"Fred was a good bloke. They found me, the twins I mean, lost on the third floor our first year. I was so scared because we weren't supposed to be up there, and I was sure they were going to prank me or hurt me for being a Slytherin. They told me not to worry about it, and led me back to the dungeons." Theo remembered, as he stared at his forgotten tea mug on the table. He cast a quick warming charm on it and gave it a sip.
"I had a crush on Fred." Hermione admitted suddenly. She blinked a couple of times, slightly shocked at herself because it was something she had only admitted to one other person...and that person was dead. "Fifth year when we were in Dumbledore's Army. He had been betting on me winning a duel against Ron, and thought I didn't hear him. I did." She smiled sadly, "It was a stupid school girl thing and was over by the end of sixth year." She added shaking her head to clear it of the bitter sweet memories that had been dragged up. "Anyway you didn't answer my question."
"Of course you can join us Granger. You are our friend right?" Malfoy smirked over the top of his mug as Theo lit the fire place noticing her pull her blanket even tighter around her.
"Yeah...I am." She smiled up at him, "I really didn't take you for a lover of Christmas." She said as she rose from her chair to get another cup of tea.
"Really? Well, it is my favorite holiday, mother used to always make time for me on Christmas. We would decorate the Manor together, and she would make time to play a couple games of Wizard's Chess with me." He seemed lost in memory as he spoke occasionally sipping his tea, "She would also bake me a pie every year, without the house elves help."
"What about you, Theo? How did you spend your Christmas'?" Hermione asked, ignoring the raised eyebrow she got from Malfoy as she called Theodore by his first name.
"I usually spent my holidays in the castle," His eyes were back to the blank expression he wore when he was Occluding. Before she could say anything further Malfoy's voice sounded on the other side of the room.
"Bring me more tea, Granger." She rolled her eyes as she crossed the room bringing the tea pot with her as they settled down in front of the fire for the rest of the morning.
-TNHGTNHGTN-
Later that day, after the Hogwarts Express had departed taking the Gryffindors with it, Hermione was scrambling through a snow ridden Hogsmead trying to find the perfect gifts for two stupidly rich boys. How was she supposed to find something for them? What did you get two men who could buy whatever they wanted? Walking through the quidditch shop she cringed as she passed by signed portraits of professional players, her heart clenching a little when a familiar Bulgarian picture winked at her. She watched as the picture repeated the process on an endless loop before turning around and pacing around the store once more.
Twenty galleons. That's how much money she could spare on these boys. She had already purchased presents for Ginny, Harry, and Ron back in November, before the blow up in the Great Hall. She had given these presents to the Hogwarts elves to deliver on Christmas and felt weird taking them back (even if Ron didn't really deserve a gift from her).
Theo and Draco were currently back at the castle, having decided to spend the day with Blaise who had been feeling left out recently. Theo had promised to make time to talk more with Hermione regarding last night later, before he had ducked through the portrait with Draco. She had agreed as well, accepting the granted time without the two of them to purchase presents. It hadn't even crossed her mind that they might be the kind to exchange Christmas presents until Draco had cockily mentioned that she was going to just 'love' what he had gotten her. This left Hermione scrambling to find something a week before Christmas when most stores were almost sold out of stock. She released a low grunt in annoyance as she stormed out of the store. It's not like she would know what to purchase from this shop anyway!
She needed to buy a new ink jar for her refillable quill. The quill was wonderful but would only work with good quality ink, and if you used cheaper ink it would cause the quill to gum up. She walked through the snow, lifting her feet higher than normal so she wouldn't trip, before crossing the street and heading into Scrivenshaft's Quill Shop. She looked around and found a rather pretty deep purple ink and a traditional black one. The wizard at the counter eyed her behind thick glasses, his crooked nose occasionally released a low sniffle as dust flew up from the old tome he was reading.
She crossed to the counter giving the wizard a smile, as she placed her inks on the counter for purchase. The wizard gave her a grin back revealing several missing teeth as he marked her purchases down in his ledger. While waiting for him to finish, she noticed a few leather bound journals beneath a glass display case. They were well made, with even stitching across the spine and a deep cream parchment on the inside. Pursing her lips and narrowing her eyes in thought she turned to the wizard, "Are these for purchase?"
"Of course, my dear." His shaky voice replied as he slid off of his stool and walked slightly hunched over to the display case. He grabbed a brass key from a cord around his neck, and placed it on the case. Hermione watched in fascination as the key hopped over to the case and entered the lock before turning itself. The glass disappeared, and allowed the wizard to reach in and remove the stack of journals. "They are made by Regina Clawfoot, the legendary magic infuser herself. The pages take well to magic allowing the user to infuse the pages with animated paintings and drawings. A perfect gift for someone in need of a dream journal, an architect's sketch notebook, or even a writer's idea book." He handed her one so she could look it over. The journal was warm and she could feel the magic pulsating a little beneath the leather.
"Do you suppose they would take well to a Protean Charm?" She asked, as she eyed the pages, her brown eyes narrowing even more as a plan slowly began to take form in her head.
"I suppose, if one could produce that sort of magic. It is beyond my capability though." He coughed slightly, as he moved back to sit behind the register.
"How much are you asking for them?"
"Each journal is 15 galleons." He tapped his wand on her ink, wrapping it up nicely and placing it in a bag.
"Wait!" She cried reaching out, "I have changed my mind on my purchase today. I would like to purchase two of these notebooks instead of the ink, please." She looked sadly at the ink as it was taken out of its bag and banished to its original counter. She would have to use money she had been saving for a new novel and the new ink, but she thought it was worth it. Once she had purchased the journals she hurried back to the castle.
First, she took each notebook and cast a small but powerful heat charm on their covers. Thinking of a picture in her head she scorched the surface of one of them with the silhouetted head of a raven surrounded with feathers. The other with the silhouetted head of a snow leopard surrounded by matching paw prints. She then connected the two journals using a variation of the Protean Charm. Finally, on the first page of the journal sporting the raven she wrote a small missive:
These notebooks will help you two stay connected no matter the distance. They are charmed, of course, so all you need to do is write in one, and it will appear in the other. I hope this keeps you two from getting lonely every time we banish Draco back to the dungeons or Theo hides away in the Forest.
With all my love,
Hermione J. Granger
She waited until she felt the other journal heat up, and then opened it to the first page. She watched as the message appeared on the first page of the second journal in her handwriting. The heat slowly dissipated as she read the message. Happy with her handiwork she wrapped them carefully in red and gold paper, signing her name to each gift with a flourish. Summoning a house elf she told them where each gift was to be sent before smiling to herself. This was going to be a fun Christmas indeed.