Harry woke up the next day, groggy and slightly hungover from the alcohol consumed the night before. He groaned at the light spilling from the window. He could hex Hermione for having an east-facing window right about now. He turned over and tried covering himself with the blankets but he found himself flailing his arms around searching for any inch of fabric to shield him from the sun. Harry groaned and gave up searching for a blanket. He sat up, rubbing his eyes and taking the pair of square glasses that sat on the side table, and pushed them up to his nose. He finally looked around the room and finally solved the short mystery of where his blankets had gone.
"Oh, that's where they all went."
The blankets were strewn all over the floor and he suspected it was because he moved and kicked so much during sleep. Harry was used to kicking and moving in his sleep that this didn't phase him. It amused him if anything.
He turned to look at Hermione's bed and saw there was a delicately folded note on top of her already done bed. He grabbed his pair of square glasses, a purchase he made after he realized his circle frames were starting to look a little too small on him, and slipped them on.
Gone to work, help yourself to anything in the house and I'll meet you for lunch.
Harry sighed and slipped on his grey university hoodie and made his way out the room making sure not to step on any of Hermione's books that were strewn all over the room's floor. Although it was nearly summertime in California, San Francisco was notorious for being chilly and windy all year long. Harry shivered while he padded his way into the kitchen and was startled to find Theodore, clad in his blue pajama pants with small drawings of cartoon wolves frolicking all over, and surprisingly, sans shirt. Not that Harry was complaining anyway.
Theo was absentmindedly humming a song that Harry vaguely recognized while happily chewing on a piece of toast and flipping eggs on the stove. There was a kettle on the stove and a french press on the counter along with a glass container holding whole bean coffee. Harry stood in the hallway silently observing him and appreciating Theo's backside.
Life after the war was quite difficult for Harry at first. He had spent his entire childhood in what seemed a never-ending cycle of anger, sadness, and despair from being 'the chosen one'. He never asked for his parents to get murdered by an evil power-hungry half-blood and he never asked to be the savior of the wizarding war. A year after the war, Harry had had enough of constant press and left his pseudo-family, The Weasleys, to explore what was out there for him. His relationship with Ginny Weasley had ended amicably and the two still constantly exchanged letters. The two had agreed that they felt too much like siblings to continue any romantic or sexual administrations.
The rest of his pseudo-family understood that he needed to explore life on his own, including his best mate, Ron. Unlike Harry, Ron had embraced the media with open arms. Ron had even struck up a romance with the lead lifestyle writer at Witch Weekly, Padma Patil. Ron had been so fascinated by Padma's work on Witch Weekly that he decided to try and become a Quidditch reporter. To everyone's surprise, Ron had flourished in that department that he had gotten job offers from several different quidditch magazines around the world. Last Harry and Hermione knew, he was reporting on the South Asian Quidditch leagues.
It took Harry a few months to finally feel comfortable about himself. Part of the process seemed to include a sloppy make-out session in a supply closet on the 5th floor of the philosophy building, with the cute guy from the universities' book store. Rough and calloused hands against his warm skin, experienced, the hands knew what they were doing. Especially when they tugged against the waistband of his underwear. The other part of the process was kissing the cute girl he met at some rooftop party. Soft and delicate hands tugging his messy black hair and pushing his shirt open and off his shoulders. He'd mull over his findings for the next few weeks until Ginny visited him. He told her, she hugged him, kissed his cheek, and made a joke about finally understanding why Harry liked hanging out with Charlie when he visited the Burrow.
Taking one last look at the dimples of Theo's lower back, Harry cleared his throat to get his attention. Startled, Theo dropped the spatula and jumped back. He brought a hand to his chest catching his breath and he caught a glimpse of a tattoo under Theo's left rib. A bouquet of daisies. Odd choice, Harry thought for only a second before he was distracted by the rest of Theo's chest.
"Pott– Harry, you scared me."
"Morning," Harry said with an air of confidence, walking towards the refrigerator next to Theo.
Theo, acutely aware that he was shirtless in the same room that a sleepy Harry Potter was in, barefoot, messy hair, gruff voice, and in a pair of boxers. He stepped back to lean across the counter to clear his mind, forgetting about the eggs he was cooking. Harry opened the fridge as Theo watched him bend over and reached for the bag of sliced bread. Harry closed the door and made a face holding the bread bag up.
"Who in their right mind leaves bread in the fridge?"
Theo, slightly offended, tilted his head in protest, "It keeps the bread fresh-er. I think."
Harry playfully rolled his eyes and made his way to the toaster that was on the counter. The same counter that Theo was leaning against. He saw Theo stiffen and Harry quietly laughed as he stopped in front of him, reaching an arm into the bag of bread, refusing to break eye contact with the tall brown-haired man in front of him, and pulled out two slices. Without turning away, Harry plopped the sliced bread into the toaster behind Theo and pushed down on the toasting button.
Theo felt his face starting to burn as he remembers the slightly drunken flirting the two did the night before. Harry's eyes stared into Theo's with a mischievous glint to them. These square frame glasses make him look like a sexy profess– no, no, bad Theo! Bad Theo! Stop thinking about him sinking to his knees in fron–
"You okay, mate?" Harry's voice, punctuating the 't' in mate, broke through his thoughts. Theo noticed that Harry hadn't moved back, in fact, he could argue he moved even closer. Theo nodded and swallowed the saliva that had magically started producing in liters. Seriously, how had he produced that much saliva in a matter of seconds? He should probably get that checked out or something.
At that point, the two pieces of toast pop out behind him, and Theo jerked, making his hand brush against Harry's hand. Theo, slightly taller than Harry, watched him reach around him and pluck the two slices of toast out. Theo's face was burning to the point that he felt some sections of his face briefly go cold. Without breaking eye contact, Harry took a bite and Theo felt a spark of pleasure run down his spine that settled above his groin.
Harry delicately sniffed the air, furrowed his brows, and reluctantly broke eye contact to look behind him on the stove. "Erm–" Harry hesitated not wanting to break the tension, "your eggs are burning."
Theo snapped out of his lust-filled daze and recovered when he realized the smoke in the room was not being produced from the dreamland he currently resided in starring Harry Potter, but from the pan that now contained burned eggs.
Theo launched himself towards the stove, turning it off quickly and covering the pan. Recovering, he sighed and wiped his damp forehead with the back of his hand. He kept the other hand clasped to the lids' handle for a while until Harry shifted beside him.
"You okay there, Theodore?" Harry's gruff voice spoke.
Theo shivered involuntarily at the sound of his voice. He felt a familiar tightness growing in his groin. The same tightness he had the night before after sitting next to Harry all night. Unable to ignore it like last night, Theo came to terms that his breakfast was going to be cut short. He sighed quietly and recoiled as pleasure settled back between his legs. Looking down and noticing a tent forming in his loose pajama pants, Theo blanched and tried thinking of anything and everything that turned him off. The stench of Thestral shite, watching a dragon hatch, the seals at pier 39 fighting for space to sunbathe on. Looking down to confirm the tent in his pants had gone down, Theo cleared his throat and leaned against the counter.
Harry had shifted over to the small table with his toast and he smirked at Theo's awkward attempt of hiding the bulge between his legs. They made eye contact and harry shifted his gaze from Theo's face to his groin. He delicately licked his lips and watched as Theo swallowed in response to his knowing smirk.
"I'm going to–" harry raised an eyebrow at Theo and leaned back into the chair, stretching his arms above his head revealing the skin just above his boxers. Theo's eyes tracked Harry's stretching form and landed on his thighs flexing, Theo's mouth went dry as he shifted his gaze back up to meet Harry's but landing in the obvious bulge between his legs.
"Hmm?" Harry said with a mischievous grin.
"I'm– I think I'm going to lay down," Theo responded with a nervous edge to his voice. "I think I might still be hungover." Theo turned, trying to keep his still tented pants out of sight but was unsuccessful. "Um, I'll clean this up after," he nodded towards the items still out for breakfast including his french press and coffee beans. Harry raised a brow as Theo avoided eye contact. Harry settled into his chair and took another bite of his toast as Theo walked towards his room dragging his sock-clad feet and shut the door quietly. He leaned against the closed door, threw his head back against the door, and let out a breath he didn't know he was holding. Without moving his head, through his lashes, Theo peered down towards the tent in his groin and groaned.
He ran his hands through his floppy curls and walked to the desk in front of the window overlooking the street. He sat on his desk chair and opened one of the books he had borrowed from Benji on dragons from Japan in hopes to help him forget the throbbing pressure between his legs.
Back in the kitchen, Harry smiled, satisfied with himself, as he looked around the kitchen and finished off his toast. He looked out the small window and smiled as he saw people going about their daily lives outside. A middle-aged woman walking three small fluffy dogs, an extremely tall man crossing the street with a bright green bike, and a group of teens making their way up the steep street. Harry helped himself to some juice and made himself a bowl of oatmeal. He ate silently and perused the rest of the living space for the time being.
After mulling it over, Harry got up and tackled making coffee in hopes he could make a good enough cup to talk to Theo again. Throughout their earlier exchange, Harry could not help but suppress the sudden urge to sink onto his knees and situate himself between Theo's legs. Harry was aware this attraction was not in the least just sexual, but he felt a pull towards Theo that was much bigger than all the other people he was attracted to. Conversation flowed easily enough that stolen glances and subtle touches to the arm, laced with the sweetness of the ginger beer, came naturally to him.
Standing up, Harry started making coffee the muggle way. His life in New York was extremely fast-paced that he never found the time to make his coffee but always enjoyed making it when he had the time. He flipped the kettle on and measured the perfect amount of coffee beans and put them in the electric grinder.
After a few minutes of steeping the coffee, Harry poured himself a cup using the mug that was clearly Theo's. He took and sip and relished in the warmth it brought to him but was interrupted when a loud squawk came from the living room window. Harry tilted his head at the noise and watched the large white bird squawk again. Theo, now clad in jeans and a dark green pullover, walked over to the window, blushing at the sight of Harry, still in a hoodie and his boxers, standing with his head tilted in curiosity at the large bird.
"It's a...seagull?" Harry asked.
Theo, carefully prying the window open and quickly exchanging some bird treats for the letters in the bird's beak, laughed quietly. "Yeah, they also respond to magic like owls. Since there are so many of them here, Wizarding San Francisco started training a group of them as an experiment and they worked just as well as owls, but they just delivered directly to the address, not to the person like owls. More efficient according to MACUSA, plus most of us use muggle technology" He shifted through the 5 letters, one from Draco to Theo, another for Theo with a familiar seal, and the rest were from the University addressed Theo and Hermione.
Theo grabbed the ones addressed to him and without looking at Harry, who had shifted towards the kitchen, tore open the one from Draco. It was a short missive confirming their plans for lunch that day. He turned and shoved it in his back pocket, along with the one with a familiar seal, and he placed the letters to Hermione on the counter and looked up before opening the letter addressed to him from the University. His heart stuttered as he saw Harry drinking out of his mug. The one that Hermione had gifted Theo for their first Christmas living together.
Theo smiled softly and looked down, looked at the letter, and hid his incoming blush. He tore it open and smiled widely at his grades.
Harry had moved from the kitchen where he held out a mug with a cat on it, Hermione's mug, and handed it to Theo.
"Thought you'd need this, you know because you're–'' Harry looked down and back up, his cheeks filling with a pink tint, "–hungover?"He finished with a small smirk forming on his lips.
Theo reached out taking the coffee mug and took a sip, still holding his grades, "Thanks, I, I'm sorry about, um, earlier."
"Don't worry about it, I'll take it as a compliment" Theo blushed and Harry leaned against the wall separating the kitchen and the living room nonchalantly. "Any good news?" he asked, gesturing to the letter that Theo held.
"My grades, um, I passed my classes with good scores."
Harry sipped his coffee and walked closer, holding out his hand out to Theo, "You mind if I take a look?"
Theo looked up and nervously handed the parchment to Harry, "Yeah, sure."
"Woah, no wonder you and 'Mione get along so well," Harry laughed. "We should go out and celebrate. Tonight," he finished confidently.
Before Theo could protest, Harry walked to Hermione's room and swung the door open, searching for his cell phone, "I'll text her to let the rest of the group know," he talked louder over his shoulder while shuffling through his duffel bag, "you should let Malfoy know too."
Theo, still standing in the kitchen, dumbstruck and unable to form words, just smiled and blushed at how easily Harry-fucking-Potter could and would celebrate his success.
That was a first.
"So when were you going to tell me that Theo was also a genius?" Harry asked taking a sip of his juice.
"What do you mean? Have you seen his room? He's got just as many books as me," Hermione smiled, taking a bite of her sandwich.
The pair had settled on having a picnic at the park and now sat on a park bench with their drinks and potato chips settled between them.
"Well, I haven't been invited into his room."
"Yet." Hermione returned with a brow raised.
"Yet," Harry smirked and leaned back to rest his arm on the bench behind Hermione. "I got confirmation he's into me, by the way."
Hermione scoffed, "what like me telling you he had a crush on you wasn't enough?"
"Well I got...physical confirmation," he said, taking another bite of his sandwich.
"I don't even wanna know what that means."
Harry laughed and finished his sandwich before reaching the subject he truly wanted to talk about.
"So, I told Theo to invite Malfoy to dinner later. I hope that's okay?"
He watched Hermione's cheeks turn pink and nodded, swallowing the last bite of the sandwich she was chewing on. "Yeah, um that's fine."
Harry watched her from the corner of his eye and smirked at her while she shifted her weight on the bench. "Hmm."
"Hmmm, what?"
"Nothing, that's just not the reaction I expected."
"What do you mean?" She cut her attention from the people in the park to Harry.
Harry rubbed the stubble on his chin and turned his attention to Hermione, "Well you know, you two last night were obviously flirting."
Hermione huffed and rolled her eyes, "That-that was not flirting."
"Yeah sure, because avoiding the subject after I confronted you about it last night was grounds for eliminating the possibility that you, Hermione Granger, may have a little crush on a tall, handsome blonde."
"You think Malfoy is handsome?", she sputtered nervously.
"That's what you picked up on?" He shook his head indignantly and sniffed, "I appreciate the view," Harry said, taking an elegant sip from his drink. "I think you forget I play for both teams."
"No of course not, it's just-" she hesitated and shifted away from Harry, suddenly feeling uncomfortable with explaining to Harry her feelings-not feelings towards Malfoy and the mixed emotions he brought back from the war.
Harry smirked, "You're extremely transparent Hermione."
Harry knew her despite being apart for a while, he could still read her like a book. Even when she had a crush on Ron during their time at Hogwarts, Harry was the first to notice despite her own denial on the topic.
Hermione debated with herself wondering if she was ready to admit anything to herself, nonetheless Harry. But Harry was her brother. She knew he wouldn't judge her on having a crush on a blond Slytherin. Harry also seemed to harbour a crush on a certain Slytherin himself.
"Harry–" she hesitated and pulled a lock of curly hair behind her ear. She didn't know why but there was a hint of guilt at the thought of admitting such a thing. She knew the guilt that loomed over her was the remaining survivor's guilt she had. It used to be worse before she first went to a muggle therapist. She used to not allow herself to smile and laugh before then. She would cry herself to sleep every night thinking of the loved ones people lost. She thought of all the muggle parents that lost their child to the war and her heart ached for every single one. They all had bright futures ahead of them but she survived and believed that she hardly deserved to survive. After all, she lost her own family to the war.
Harry, sensing her hesitation and apprehension to the topic, "I know how you feel. You don't need to tell me what you're feeling. But you can't keep blaming yourself for what happened during and after the war." He watched her sigh of relief from Harry sensing her apprehension and reading her thoughts. "I was the same way, at first. That's why I left for New York, I felt like I was better off away from the wizarding world. My name alone caused so many problems, it could even get you killed during the war."
Hermione looked at Harry with sad eyes and she felt the all too familiar twitch of her nose, signaling the incoming of tears.
"After the war, it was all too hard to face anyone who had lost someone. You know I used to blame the loss of your parents on me?"
Hermione sucked in a harsh but quick breath. "Harry, that wasn't your fault. You shouldn't have done that. If anything, we can only blame it on m—"
"The Order and Dumbledore." Harry cut her off swiftly. Hermione looked at him aghast. "They should have provided some type of protection. They knew you were my best friend, who just so happened to be a muggle-born, and Dumbledore knew what was going to happen." Hermione looked at him with wide eyes. Not once had he ever admitted such a thing to her. He held The Order in high regard so it was surprising for him to say anything against them. "They've always known there was some type of danger. It took me a long time to get past blaming myself but it had to be done. Yeah, we can blame them for their negligence but I realized that there's a point where you have to move on, as bad as that might sound to you, but it's the only way." Harry sighed and slipped his hands into his jean pockets and tilted his head back, letting the sun soak into his skin.
The two were quiet for a few minutes. Hermione let the information sink in and thought about all the things that the order could have done to protect her parents and several others. Before she could start overthinking, Harry spoke up again. "As much as I'd like to go back in time and change the outcome, we can't. You know the consequences of using a time-turner. We can't change the timeline. The present now could be different. We just have to learn to live with what life ended up dealing for us. But you have me, and your friends here and Theo and everyone else back in Britain." There was a pregnant pause before he carefully spoke again, "but we do deserve to be happy and have fun now. Even if that means, flirting with–" a glare from Hermione stopped him from finishing before he corrected, "–I mean, being friendly with someone, no matter who that is."
Hermione felt a tear slide across her cheek and she wiped it away as fast as she could and sniffled. "Harry James Potter, when did you get so emotionally intelligent?" she laughed.
"Since my best friend told my other best friend he had the 'emotional range of a teaspoon, figured she didn't need two of her friends having that small of an emotional range." Harry grinned and Hermione playfully slapped his arm. "You okay?"Harry asked quietly.
"Not yet," she answered honestly. Even her candor caught her off guard, "but I will be, speaking of Ron, have you seen him lately?"
"I saw him back in January before he left for Indonesia and Singapore with Padma. They were in New York for a meeting Padma had with a muggle magazine and I took Ron to a basketball game."
"Ron sent me an owl a month ago, sending his love. He sent me a book on Southeast Asian magical history and Padma sent me a handmade headscarf." She leaned back and smiled at the memory of her redheaded best friend. "I'm proud of him, his articles are very well written. If I knew he could write like that, I wouldn't have let myself write his introductions to all his essays."
Harry laughed, "Who knew huh? I'm just glad he found his own path and he's pretty damn good at it." Hermione silently agreed and closed her eyes, letting the sun warm her body. She let the noises of the park relax her and decided to focus on the birds chirping and let the guilt of her parents subside. She knew she wasn't going to get rid of the feeling overnight but there was some comfort in knowing it was less than what she had felt before. It was hard enough having to deal with her classes and work that knowing this feeling would pass, eased her.
"Oh before I forget, you got two letters in the post today," he pulled out two heavy parchments and handed them over, "the seagulls are a bit...weird."
She took them, noticing both letters had a seal from her school, "They aren't weird Harry, they are just different." she opened the first one, scanning the contents quickly and smiled when she saw her grades.
Harry peeked over her shoulder and huffed, "of course you'd get a perfect score in every class." She bumped his shoulder with her own and opened the other parchment. The one that was suspiciously larger than the other one, and pulled the contents. Her University's logo and another logo Hermione recognized as the logo for the Mexican National Museum of Magical Anthropology, were embossed with gold ink across the folder. Harry gasped quietly when he realized the letter contained onboarding documents.
"I got in," Hermione whispered to herself disbelievingly and flipped through the letter.
Harry hugged her shoulders and squeezed her tight against him, "Of course you did, you're Hermione." He squeezed her shoulders once more before kissing her temple and letting her go, "Congrats 'Mione, you deserve this."
She preened at the compliment and smiled at him, "Camila is going to freak out when she finds out. Oh my god! I should call her," she exclaimed and pulled out her phone, dialing Camila's number and letting it ring once before she heard her friend pick up on the other line.
"Did you get in?" Camila said to the phone at the same time that Hermione spoke, "Camila, did you get in?"
"Oh, you go first–" Camila spoke.
"No, you go first–"
"Fine, did you get in Hermione?" She spoke nervously through the phone and Hermione could hear the smile growing in her friends' voice.
"Ye–"
"I knew it!" Camila cut her off, "Me too! I told you we'd get in." Hermione could hear the smugness in her friend's voice and rolled her eyes playfully as Harry laughed out loud. "Who's there with you? Is it Draco?"
Harry laughed even louder and muttered something about Hermione blushing at the mention of Draco Malfoy. Hermione shushed Harry and went back to talking to Camila. "No, it's Harry. He brought me the letter from home when we came out to lunch."
"Oh...I thought you would have been out with the blond," Hermione blushed again and cleared her throat. "Anyways, Benji told me that Theodore told him we are all meeting up for dinner? You coming?"
"Um, yeah Harry just told me about it."
"Good. Oh! And don't bring a sweater." Camila told her confidently.
Hermione, perplexed, "Huh? Why wouldn't I bring a sweater?"
Camila sighed loudly from the other line, "Because, I said so...Just, trust me."
Hermione shook her head, "okay fine, we'll see you later." Camila bid her goodbye and hung up. Hermione looked up at Harry, who was now standing up in front of her holding his hand out to her to help her up out of his seat. "I guess we have a dinner to get ready for."
"Come on," Harry said with a bright smile. "And I have a Slytherin to seduce", he finished with a wink.
And Harry did just that throughout dinner. The group crammed themselves in a U-shaped booth in the corner of a Mexican food restaurant in the mission district. The group had sipped on Palomas and margaritas to celebrate the end of another school year as well as Camila and Hermione's programme acceptance.
And to Hermione's slight discomfort and Camila's delight, Draco came along. Throughout dinner, Hermione could feel Camila's glare whenever Draco spoke. Hermione also felt shivers down her spine whenever he spoke but that was unrelated, so she suspected.
Theo and Harry moved on to playfully flirting that the table ignored them most of the time. Halfway through dinner, Theo excused himself to the bathroom and Harry suspiciously disappeared a few minutes later. The pair came back 10 min later with mussed hair and swollen lips.
Harry even blushed when Hermione gave him a pointed look as if silently asking what had happened.
The group was now making their way to Pier 3, where they could see beautiful views of the bay and the city. Aya, Camila, and Benji led the group walking a few paces ahead of Theo and Harry, who seemed to be in the middle of a riveting conversation that the two hadn't looked away from each other. Hermione and Draco had suspiciously ended up walking next to each other.
"Congratulations on your internship, Granger." Draco broke the awkward silence between the pair. His hands were in the pockets of his jeans and his shoulders were relaxed. They hadn't talked much during dinner, now that both Harry and Camila had their eyes on her on this whole Malfoy thing.
Hermione cleared her throat in surprise, "Th-thanks." She kept her head straight, looking at Theo and Harry, now brushing shoulders on every step. She smiled at Harry's reddened cheeks as Theo gesticulated wildly about his internship at MACUSA.
Draco seemed to know what she was thinking about when he spoke, "Oh they definitely snogged back at the restaurant".
Hermione laughed quietly, 'Oh yeah. They did."
"Though I do wonder," He started with a tilt to his head, "who snogged who first?"
"Definitely, not Teddy," she giggled, "he's been moping over Harry for almost a year and never did anything about it."
"You'd be surprised, Theo used to do some stupidly brave things when we were kids," he shook his head and privately smiled at all his good childhood memories that had always seemed to include Theo.
The group had finally reached the pier and they watched as Aya, Camila and Benji were huddled close to each other near a bench and they spotted Harry and Theo leaning against the pier, talking and throwing flirty glances at each other. With a small nod of her head, she tilted her head towards the other side of the pier and walked as Draco followed. The two leaned against the deck facing the Bay Bridge.
"Well my money is still on Harry, he's an actual Gryffindor."
Draco gave a half-suppressed laugh and ran a hand through his hair. Just then, Camila interrupted the pair by coming over to Hermione with what looked like a panicked look on her face. "Give me your sweater, now," she whispered to Hermione's ear. Draco had to suppress another laugh at her poor attempts at whispering or being sneaky.
"What? Why?" Hermione asked, confused just as Camila was pulling Hermione's jacket off before she would say no.
"Benji accidentally spilled the rest of his drink on me," she pointed at a small spot of water on her shirt that could easily be cleaned with a quick scourgify.
"Where? I don't see it," Hermione protested, not wanting to let go of her jacket. "Can't you just cast a charm on it? We do have magic you know?"
"No-not a charm, you can't. Not on this shirt… it," Camila looked into Hermione's eyes, silently explaining that she was trying to help her with Malfoy. "It's… dry clean only! You out of everyone should know that," she won the battle of the jacket as Hermione wandlessly cast a warming spell around her. She quickly thought about extending the spell over Draco and she decided it would be the friendly thing to do. After all, they had agreed to be cordial.
She watched Camila retreat with a much too smug look on her face and she slumped back against the pier. They quietly stared at the twinkling lights situated all around the bridge. Hermione thought about what he said about Theo being stupidly brave as a child and she was itching to know how the two were as children.
"How was growing up with Theo, before Hogwarts?" Hermione asked quietly, hoping he heard her but a part of her was hoping he didn't hear her. There was something about having a conversation about their childhood that sent goosebumps all over her skin. Was this too intimate of a conversion topic between acquaintances?
"As I said earlier, he was stupidly brave sometimes," he spoke after a few seconds of silence. Hermione could hear the small smile in his voice. "You know he took me to Muggle London once when we were nine?"
Hermione perked up at the mention of Muggle London and she turned to look at him disbelievingly, "There's no way that ever happened."
"It did, I swear. He had tricked me to beg Lucius to take us to the quidditch store in wizarding London. When Lucius made up some excuse about meeting up with a business partner for lunch, Theo dragged me out of the store and into a shop that ended up being in the middle of Muggle London." Draco looked over his shoulder and towards Theo, who was now sitting too close to Harry on the bench next to Aya and the rest of the group. Draco cleared his throat and turned to continue his story. "I stupidly followed him through the streets and we ended up near a park. We ended up chasing the ducks around near the pond."
Hermione laughed out loud that even she was surprised at her outburst, "Oh sorry I didn't mean to laugh that loud, it's just I cannot imagine you and Theo going through London chasing ducks."
Draco shifted and turned his body towards her, "sometimes it was hard for me to believe we did that and never got caught," Hermione met his gaze and she unconsciously smiled at him and his cheeks reddened a bit.
"Theo should have been sorted into Gryffindor then", she wrapped her arms around herself, starting to feel the cold breeze nipped at her skin. Her warming charm was starting to wear off. She also wanted to keep asking him questions about their trip and what he had thought, being a pureblood and all, but she didn't feel like it was appropriate for her to be prying into his past. She could see Draco missed his past but she could also see that he was not the same pureblood bigoted boy she knew during her time at Hogwarts. She was itching to know more about this new Draco.
"How'd you get past...everything? From–from the past?", she asked nervously, "If you don't mind me asking...you don't have to answer that, nevermind that was stu–"
Draco was surprised she would even ask that question, but if anyone deserved to know the answer, it was Hermione Granger. "No, no it's not stupid." he cleared his throat and looked out into the water, watching small lights float in the water. He could hear the rest of the group laughing and talking. "It, it was difficult at first. Learning how to navigate the world knowing you played this horrible role in the war. I was on the wrong side, not by choice but I had to do it. To protect my mother. Everyone had a role to play and some got dealt really good hands while others…"
Hermione hummed in answer listening to him speak. "...healing was a process, I'm sure you're well aware," she nodded and he continued. "It was hard at first because I was frustrated that it wasn't happening the way I expected to."
Hermione turned to look at him, confused, "What'd you expect?"
"I expected healing to be a one-and-done situation, but it's not. Healing is not linear. I would be good for days, weeks, and then suddenly a wave of all the emotions–" Hermione hummed in an understanding of all those emotions. "It's...in healing it's inevitable to not regress. It's bound to happen, and when it came to those times for me...It was difficult. Bad at times, but I learned from those moments."
Hermione shivered at the thought of having to relive the memories of the war. She knew she too understood the wave of emotions that Draco was talking about. Healing is not linear, he'd said. She had never considered that she could be struggling with her healing path. She just knew and had accepted the fact she was going to feel sorrow from a deep place in her heart for the rest of her life. After all, she did spend her entire childhood trying to fit in both the muggle and magical world.
She was focusing her vision on a light in the water, much too far away to gauge the size of the boat it was on when she felt a soft warm fabric envelope her shoulders. She looked up and met Draco's soft gaze, "Oh you don't–" she started shrugging off his jacket when he put his hands up to stop her.
"Just take it, Granger, I can hear your teeth clattering from here, and besides my body runs warm," he finished with a smirk and Hermione channeled all her bravery to shrug it back on and smirk back at him.
Draco let out a booming laugh that sent shivers down her spine. "We'll work on that," he said between his laughs.
"What do you mean? What's so funny?" she asked worriedly, bringing a hand to her mouth.
"Nothing, it's just your smirk is, well...you kind of look constipated when you do that."
Shocked but amused, Hermione smacked his shoulder and mockingly pouted, "I do not look constipated!"
"You do a little, but like I said we can work on that," he let out a short breath and lightly bumped her shoulder. "Tell me about this little internship we celebrated tonight."
Hermione's eyes lit up and she battled internally wondering what she should talk about first. "Well, first of all, it's not little. It's at the National Museum of Magical Anthropology in Mexico and we learn how to archive all works of art and literature. We also get to shadow a few professors who work at the magical university and we have a thesis to write, which I'm extremely excited about–", she looked up to see Draco smiling, yeah smiling at her. "I'm going too fast aren't I?"
"No, not at all. You're very animated." He turned back and shook his head as if shaking other thoughts away. "Well, it sounds exciting and I hope to see your work soon. Published, even?" He gave her a pointed look, arching a brow.
Hermione sputtered, "Yeah, right. Me being a published writer? First let me get through this programme," she shrugged and tilted her head towards the rest of the group and Draco nodded, walking side by side towards the group, "If I ever get published, you'll be the first to know."
He nodded and kept his hands in his pockets, as relaxed as possible. "Counting on it, Granger."
"Oi! Get over here you two," Harry called out from the bench, his arm was slung around Theo on one side and Camila on the other. Benji was sitting in between Camila and his sister, Aya.
"Benji and Aya want to come over to visit when we are off in Mexico, you okay with that Herms?" Camila called out.
"Hey! I wanna come too! Can I visit too?" Theo called out.
From Camila, "No Theodore, you're not invited."
From Hermione, "of course you can visit Teddy, I'll invite you."
"We should have a party and then Harry can come," Aya spoke excitedly.
"Oh that's a really good idea Aya," Theo said, looking at Harry with a blush.
"I think I could make some room in my schedule," Harry winked at Theo.
"Sure I'll come," Benji said to nobody in particular.
Camila set her hand over Benji's knee and squeezed it and he smiled shyly to himself.
"We should go cave diving!", screeched Aya, "I've always wanted to go!"
"That sounds like fun," Harry piped up.
"Okay fine, Theodore you can come, but only if you bring Draco with you."
"Deal," Theo responded without thinking, meeting Draco's gaze.
Both Draco and Hermione responded as quickly as they could, "What?". The pair exchanged an apologetic look, Hermione more than Draco.
"Well, you two have been cozy all night," Camila spoke to the pair and looking at the rest of the group to confirm, "cute sweater by the way herms," she finished with a wink to Hermione. The pair blushed and Draco cleared his throat, drawing the attention away from Hermione.
"I suppose if it is okay with everyone," Draco spoke, making eye contact with Hermione, silently asking her for permission.
Hermione gave him a tiny nod and tightened this jacket around her shoulders. The group all nodded and Camila stood up, taking the lead. "Perfect! Now that we have that settled, what does the first week of June sound like?"
"What did you and Hermione talk about? You two seemed to have an interesting conversation," Theo told Draco.
The two were walking back towards Draco's hotel building.
"I could say the same thing about you and Potter," Draco scoffed, "you two came back with very suspicious looks on your face, I don't even want to imagine what happened in there."
"Well if you must know, we–"
"No, Theo please, I'm good. I don't need any visuals." Draco started.
"Draco, have you felt his biceps?" Theo asked in a lust-filled daze.
"No, and I don't want to hear anything about Potter's bice–"
"Merlin, his hands!"
"–or his hands! Better yet, anything you did, do or plan to do with Potter–"
"Oh, now you got me thinking of what I'll do when I see him next–"
"Theo, focus."
"Right, fine," Theo agreed," he's brilliant, you know that?"
"Well, I did spend 6 years of my life thinking he was the most annoying prat in the universe, so no. I didn't know he was brilliant." Draco suppressed half a laugh and patted Theo's back. "You really like him huh?"
Theo smiled brightly and nodded, "Yeah, I really think I do."
"Good, I'm happy for you."
Thanks, mate." Theo reached into his jacket pocket and pulled a parchment out. "I got this today. I got it this morning and didn't read it until right before dinner." he handed Draco the parchment and he flipped it open, quickly scanning the words.
"It's from the Ministry back in Britain. I'll have to go back and straighten out everything my father left behind. His accounts, the Nott estates, and the Manor. I was um," Theo's voice cracked and the two stopped walking. The orange hue from the street lamps made Theo's face look jaundiced.
"I'll go with you–" Draco interrupted before Theo could continue. He heard the hurt and fear still laced in Theo's voice. He had missed out on so much of his life that he knew being there for Theo was the one right thing he could do. "I mean if you want me to go with you, I'll go with you."
Theo quickly wiped a wayward tear and sniffled, "Yeah, I'd like that mate. Thank you, I mean it."
"Yeah, no problem. Come on, let's get a quick drink at the hotel bar." Draco tipped his head and Theo followed suit.
"He kissed you? Harry!" Hermione screeched. Harry nodded with a huge smile on his face.
The two were sitting face to face on Harry's bed. Hermione was wrapped in a large purple knitted throw and Harry was hugging a pillow to his chest.
"And he's bloody good at it."
"Are you sure you didn't kiss him first? There's no way Theo made the first move." Hermione bit her nails, curious to know what happened between the two.
Harry hit her with his pillow and Hermione laughed, "Hey! He did! We were just washing our hands and boom! The next thing I know I was having the best song of my life pushed against a hand blow dryer in the restroom of a random Mexican restaurant." Harry sighed and leaned back against the pillows behind him.
"Ew, those are really gross." Hermione said, scrunching her nose, "When you think about it, those machines are just blowing the bacteria in the bathroom around."
"Oh, wait, that is really gross. It's just blowing around butt air to dry your hands." The two went quiet contemplating the information before they looked at each other and burst out into laughter.
The two settled down and Hermione moved to sit beside Harry. He pulled her into him and she huddled closer.
"Theo's sweet, I think he really likes you," Hermione whispered.
Harry smiled and blushed, "Yeah, I think so too. You think he'll say yes if I ask him out?"
"Are you kidding? You two were inseparable tonight." Hermione pulled herself out of bed and she playfully slapped his arm, "Now I know why."
"Hey! Foul play 'Mione. Besides, I saw you cozy up to Malfoy. Or should I say, Malfoy's jacket?" Harry winked and poked Hermione on her side causing her to get up and retreat to her bed.
"No, I wasn't. Camila needed my sweater more than I needed it at the time. She's my friend, I wasn't going to let her walk around with a stained shirt, Harry," Hermione acquiesced. She took a seat on her bed and turned her bedside lamp off as Harry turned the light back on.
"Oh yeah, what a huge stain she had on her shirt." He rolled his eyes, playfully.
Hermione shut the lamp back off. "Yes!"
Harry flipped the light back on and sent Hermione a smirk, "Yeah, so this has nothing to do with you blushing every time I mention Malfoy?"
Lamp off. "I do not blush–"
Lamp on. "Yes you do, and there's nothing wrong with it."
Lamp off. "No, I don't blush."
Lamp on. "Give it up 'Mione. You're bloody excited for him to come over to Mexico."
Lamp off. "Am not."
Lamp on, "'Mione likes Malfoy" Harry whisper snag.
Hermione jumped out of her bed and reached behind her bedside and pulled the electrical plug out of its socket and quickly climbed her bed, she turned her body away from Harry and pulled the blankets to her chin.
Harry snickered from his bed, "Harry James Potter, if you breathe one word about this, I won't be afraid to trap you in a jar. I've done it before, I can do it again."
Harry snickered once more before the two burst out in another spell of laughter.