* ~ The Eighth Year Universe Series ~ *
PART THREE
The Eighth Year
Chapter 55: Is it Too Late to Apologise?
A/N: The chapter title is from the song:
Apologize by Timbaland.
Neville slept for 16 hours straight after draining his magic with the shield charm. Theo had passed out, and Lilly had healed all his little cuts and bruises, then she gave him a sleeping potion so that his magic could recharge.
When he woke up, he refused to leave his dorm; he even skipped all of his classes. As annoyed as they were, the others had to admit that they were slightly worried.
Draco wasn't talking to anyone either. He had rebuffed Hermione and locked her out of his and Harry's dorm. Then he had pretended to be asleep when Harry tried to talk to him. He shoved his food around his plate and didn't eat; he looked as miserable as he had for the entirety of sixth year.
"I'm worried about him," Hermione whispered at dinner.
Daphne sighed, "Don't take it personally. This will have brought up a lot of memories of Pansy, and although he loves you, he loved her too."
"I know he did, but he loves Theo too," Hermione whispered. She looked over at Sadie, "They can't function without each other."
"They will have to learn," Sadie said coldly.
"They did during the war," Daphne said with a shrug, "Things were strained between them then."
"Well, if it got to the point where Theo slept with his girlfriend, I'm not surprised," Hermione muttered.
"It was more complicated than that," Daphne said with a frown, "The whole thing was a mess. He did bad things because he loved Pansy and wanted to protect her. He made some stupid decisions that Theo disagreed with, and…"
"He put her before all of us," Sadie said icily, "He always put Pansy before us. He left us to starve in that bathroom while he protected Pansy."
Daphne shot Sadie a look, "Sadie, that's not our place to say."
"What do you mean?" Hermione asked Daphne.
Sadie looked up and raised an eyebrow at Daphne, "You're still protecting Draco? After he broke your heart and moved onto Pansy? After he left us for dead to save her after what she did to you! You are still protecting him?"
"Not here, fucking hell Sadie," Daphne muttered. She glared at her friend and grabbed Hermione's hand, "If you want to be a helpful part of the conversation that you started, then come to the grounds with us."
Sadie rolled her eyes and got to her feet. Daphne pulled Hermione out of the hall, through the entrance hall and into the grounds, and Sadie trudged behind them.
"What really happened during the war then?" Hermione asked quietly, "What hasn't he told me?"
"Everything," Sadie muttered bitterly.
Daphne sighed and looked out at the lake, "Neville had his room of requirement, and we had our bathroom. We set up a little safe haven for ourselves there, and we looked out for our own. We got each other out of the Dark Tower when the Carrows kidnapped us mostly, we went out on raids for food, and when we could, we helped the younger students."
Hermione nodded, "I knew that."
"What you don't know is that at Christmas, Draco was kidnapped and taken back to Malfoy Manor," Daphne said, "None of us really know what happened to him, but it was bad. He came back different; he was jumpy and paranoid. While he was gone, the Carrows told us that he was dead, and that was when Theo slept with Pansy."
"Okay," Hermione said slowly, "But that doesn't sound like what Sadie said about being left for dead-"
"That was later," Daphne said quickly, "Some stuff happened, and Draco decided to re-affirm his loyalty to Voldemort so that he could keep Pansy safe. He went away, did some bad things-"
"He tortured Luna; I know about that," Hermione said quietly.
Daphne sighed, "Yeah, then he got back, and he won Pansy's safety. For the last month of the war, he and Pansy lived it up in the Slytherin common room. He played the part of the perfect little Death Eater. He tortured students, used the cruciatus curse on Seamus Finnigan, you name it. All in the name of love for Pansy, it was hell for Theo."
"No, it wasn't," Sadie scoffed, "Theo had seen her for what she was by then."
Hermione's frown deepened.
"As I said, some stuff happened," Daphne said evasively, "Including Pansy being manipulative and a liar and trying to use the imperius curse on me."
"What?" Hermione barked.
"It didn't work, and it's a long story," Daphne said quickly, "It's not the point anyway. The point is that Draco did choose Pansy over us. He left us to save her, and that made all of us bitter, but nobody more than Theo."
"They didn't talk for most of the summer after the battle," Sadie said.
"They made up not long before we came back to school for eighth year," Daphne said with a nod, "Draco spent all summer sleeping at my house-"
"In your bed," Sadie snorted.
"But we weren't having sex," Daphne promised Hermione, "Sadie, I'm going to hex you if you keep saying misleading shit!"
Sadie rolled her eyes and threw a rock into the lake.
"We shared a bed all summer, but nothing happened," Daphne continued, "He and Theo made amends, but this might well tear them apart if it hasn't already."
Hermione sighed, "You need to talk to him, Daphne. You were there for him through Pansy's death, and I think right now…you might be the only person who he will listen to."
"Yeah," Daphne said, "You might be right."
"He might try and get a pity shag out of you like he did after the war," Sadie remarked bitterly.
"Right!" Daphne snapped. She kicked her friend into the lake, "Would you shut the fuck up and grow up? You love Theo, you're being a petty bitch, and he's being a dickhead! Stop trying to get me in shit with Hermione over it and grow up!"
Sadie spluttered and dragged herself out of the lake as Daphne turned on her heel and stalked away from them.
Hermione looked between them in disbelief, "Is this what Slytherins do when they fall out?" she asked, pulling Sadie from the lake and casting a drying charm on her.
Sadie scoffed, "Pretty much," she muttered irritably as she stomped away from Hermione.
After dinner that night, Harry made his way up to Theo's dorm to speak to the Slytherin.
"You're a wanker, Theo, but Sally is a malicious skank, and she should never have put that list up," Harry said as he sat down on the edge of Theo's bed, it was clear to see that he had been crying.
Theo didn't even bother looking up at Harry, "No offence Harry but can you please just piss off?"
"Theo, you've got something fantastic with Sadie. If you'd just tell people the truth and be honest, you'd be a happier person. You need to stop being an arrogant git and accept how good what you have is and hold onto it," Harry said as he decided to ignore Theo's rude behaviour, "If you don't, you're going to become like Snape. You'll be a sad, bitter, pathetic lonely old man who once had something amazing but let it go and regretted it for the rest of his life."
"Whatever I did or didn't have with Sadie, I fucked it up," Theo said as he clenched his hand tightly around the ring, cutting into his palm. He unclenched it and showed Harry the ring, which was now coated in blood from where Theo had cut himself, clenching it, "She gave me the ring back."
"Everyone says the Slytherins are supposed to be cunning. If you were a proper snake, you'd find some way to make Sadie take that ring back, but as it is, you're nothing more than a worm," Harry said, and of course, this earned him a punch to the face. Harry didn't flinch as he casually wiped the blood from his mouth.
"Don't talk to me like that," Theo hissed angrily.
Harry said calmly, "Do you want to know how to get out of this situation? You say sorry to every person you've screwed over in the past. Because Theo, you have been a git, and you've slept with a lot of people, but this is your chance to right all of those wrongs."
"What do you know about righting wrongs?" Theo asked bitterly as he angrily wiped his eyes and turned away from Harry.
"I know that I never got a chance to right a lot of my wrongs. A man who was practically a father to me died, and I never really got to say sorry for being a bastard to him before he did," Harry said as he got slightly worked up, "Didn't what happened to Dean and Tracey teach you anything? The war might be over, but we live in a dangerous world. If you lost Sadie tomorrow, wouldn't you want her to go knowing you loved her?"
Theo sighed and rested his head in his hands, "Of course I would, Harry, but I don't know if she wants to hear that at the moment."
"Trust me, Theo, she wants to hear it more than anything, but she wants to be able to believe it, and she won't until you give up on this manly facade and be honest with her," Harry said truthfully.
Theo groaned, "Where do I even start?"
"I usually find the beginning is as good a place as any," Harry said somewhat cryptically.
Theo snorted and said, "Merlin, now you just sound like bloody Dumbledore."
Harry only chuckled and said, "Well, like him or not; he knew what he was talking about, trust me."
"In that case, I'll start with you. Sorry for punching you in the face," Theo said, he tried his best to sound sincere, but it just looked slightly awkward.
Harry raised an eyebrow at his friend, "You're going to need to get a lot more heartfelt for Draco and Sadie, though.''
Theo tried to laugh, but it came out as more of a sob, "Draco's going to be harder than Sadie," he muttered.
Harry nodded and caught his eye, "Yeah. Is there a reason for that?"
Theo frowned and shook his head, "It's not that kind of pureblood thing. I know we seem close, and we were always closer than friends, but it's not like that."
"Yeah, I think I get it," Harry said with a slight frown as he thought about the way he felt about Neville. He loved him, but as more than as a friend. He was like his family.
"I'm sorry for being a wanker," Theo said as Harry got to his feet.
The Gryffindor smiled at his friend, "I forgive you, Theo."
Theo nodded as Harry left the dorm room. He looked down at the ring and cast a cleaning charm on it then slipped it into his pocket. He took a moment to gather his thoughts. After a couple of minutes, he concluded that Harry was right.
This was a good chance to right his wrongs.
Daphne shut the gate into the graveyard on the grounds of the school. She walked through the darkened cemetery to a bench in the centre, close to Dumbledore's tomb. Surely enough, Draco was sitting there with a hipflask of firewhiskey in his hand.
She sat down next to him and said, "I knew too."
"What?"
"I knew about Theo and Pansy," Daphne said simply.
"You knew?" Draco asked coldly, "And you never told me?"
"I knew, Sadie knew, Tracey knew," Daphne said, staring down at him, "And yes, I never told you. But when was I suppose to tell you, exactly? Just after I found out, you were gone. Then when you came back from Malfoy Manor, having re-pledged yourself to that fucking bastard, you and Pansy were playing happy Death Eater families in the Slytherin common room."
Draco's eyes darkened, "Don't you dare-"
"Oh, I dare!" Daphne snapped, "Do you know how bad things were for us in that last month? No, you don't because you weren't there! We couldn't leave the bathroom because there weren't enough of us, we had no intel coming in, we knew next to nothing about what was happening! We were splitting at the seams and practically starving in that last week. If it hadn't been for the battle, we would have had to surrender, and we would have all been killed."
Draco looked at her in horror.
"All because you left," Daphne spat, "So yes, I do dare to ask you when I was supposed to tell you? The final battle happened, Pansy died, and you were a drunken mess! So what good would it have done if I had told you that she had fucked your best friend in the war? She was already gone, Draco!"
"I know!" Draco roared, "But he betrayed me! He betrayed my trust; he betrayed my friendship! He betrayed my..."
"Love?" Daphne asked. She raised an eyebrow at him, "You can say, love, I know you love him. I've never worked out quite in what way, and I'm not convinced that you have either."
"What does it matter now," Draco muttered.
"He didn't betray you," Daphne said, "He thought you were dead; we all did. That's not some cock and bull story that he's making up to make you feel bad. The Carrows told us that you were dead. Then when you came back, you made a joke out of the whole thing-"
"Because what happened to me at Christmas would have fucking broken me if I hadn't joked about it!" Draco snapped, "And while I was being tortured within an inch of my life and clawing to get back to Pansy, he was fucking her!"
"Because he thought you were dead!" Daphne shouted, "What part of that, do you not fucking get? Cast Legilimens."
"What?" He barked.
"Cast Legilimens on me!" Daphne snapped.
"Why?"
"Just do it!"
Draco scoffed, but cast the charm. He shut his eyes and instantly saw Daphne's memories, and the one at the forefront played it as clear as day in her head…
Tracey walked into the bathroom lair that they had used during the war. She looked crestfallen as she said, "Draco is dead."
"What?" Pansy choked.
"The Carrows announced it to the Slytherin common room last night," Tracey said darkly, "They said that the Dark Lord had terminated his life because of his betrayal. They asked every member of Slytherin house to hand over any rebels that they come across and not to abet them, or they will suffer the same fate."
"No," Sadie whispered.
Daphne cried out angrily and threw a curse at one of the walls.
Pansy broke down into tears and slid down to the floor, sitting with her head in her hands as she sobbed.
But Theo…he shook his head and said, "No…no…NO!" He screamed as he picked up a book and threw it across the room. He lost it, he upturned the desk, "He didn't fucking deserve that!"
He shouted, screamed and eventually, having punched a mirror and smashed it to pieces, he leant over a sink and breathed heavily, "He didn't deserve that," he whispered as his tears fell thick and fast.
Draco withdrew from Daphne's mind and breathed in sharply.
"You see why I could never work out what the relationship between you two was?" Daphne asked, honestly.
Draco just nodded.
"He loves you, and when he thought you were gone, he lost it," Daphne said, "And Pansy was miserable. Two people who loved you sought comfort in each other because they thought you were dead."
Draco sighed and rested his head on his hands, "When did you find out that they slept together?"
"I found out when Pansy told me she was pregnant," Daphne said honestly.
Draco's eyes flashed.
"No," Daphne said, reading his mind, "That baby was yours. I know that because she was terrified of it being Theo's. She had me do the test, and I told her she was pregnant, but she demanded to know how many weeks pregnant she was. Tracey came in and told her; she estimated that the baby had been conceived around the 20th of January. She and Theo slept together at Christmas; you were back in early January."
Draco let his head drop completely into his hands.
"So that baby was yours, and she was so happy to hear that," Daphne said, prying his hands away to look in his eyes, despite the tears that were falling, "Theo came in, and I realised as soon as he found out that she was pregnant, that they had slept together. I realised that's why she was so desperate for a conception date. This is what you have to remember, Draco. She loved you, and she chose you. She was desperate for that baby to be yours."
Draco looked Daphne in the eye
"Can you imagine how Theo felt?" Daphne continued, "He was cast aside the minute you came back. He felt used, he felt like a cut-price Draco Malfoy, and he is not heartless. If anything, he has too much heart, and he cared about her, Draco. Imagine that, imagine being in the room when someone you slept with finds out they are pregnant, and all they want is for it to not be yours."
Draco sighed, "Shit. I'd feel fucking shit. I'm being a wanker, aren't I?"
"Yes," Daphne said honestly, "But you can't take it out on, Theo. He was wrong not to tell you about what happened, but what happened wasn't entirely his fault either. Pansy had an equal part in it; she was the one who tried to imperius me so that I wouldn't tell you."
Draco frowned, "What?"
"Yeah, when she found out that the baby was yours. I was going to tell you about her and Theo, and she tried to imperius me," Daphne said calmly, "But luckily, she was never a match for me magically."
Draco's frown deepened.
"I think she was hoping that desperation would act as will, but it didn't," Daphne said bluntly, "She was stupid enough to think that it had worked, and as I said, I never had the chance to tell you anyway."
"Thanks, Daph," Draco sighed, "Thanks for still being there for me, even when I don't deserve you."
"You have been a bit of a prick over the last year or so," Daphne said with a shrug, "But ever since you got back here and started walking off into the sunset with the golden princess, you've been a bit more human."
"Yeah," Draco said with a slight smile, "She's the best thing to happen to me."
"I'm glad you feel that way," Daphne said, swiping his hipflask, "Cause you're going to have to have an awkward chat with her, thanks to Sadie."
"Oh fuck," Draco muttered, "Did she tell her about the baby?"
"No, but that's about the only part of the war that she didn't tell her about," Daphne said pointedly, "We always forget how petty Sadie can be when she's angry."
"Why is she angry?" Draco asked.
"Because she asked Theo not to sleep with Sally, and he did," Daphne said, "Then he lied about it, and she wrote that list. Sadie feels betrayed, and she doesn't want to be the idiot who fell for Theodore Nott's reformed man act. She gave him back the ring."
"Fuck," Draco muttered.
"Then he lost control of his magic and nearly blew up the Eastern Tower, but Neville stopped him with the most amazing shield charm in existence; I'm quoting Harry here," Daphne said.
"Fuck!" Draco cursed and got to his feet, "I need to talk to him."
"Yeah," Daphne said, "You do but Draco?"
He turned to look at her, "Yeah?"
She threw him the hipflask, "I think you might need this."
Theodore Nott did not often wander the halls of Hogwarts alone, he usually had company, but at the moment, everybody hated him. After composing himself, he decided to go and find Draco and apologise. Harry had let him borrow the Marauders map, which he had spent 10 minutes admiring before he had even started his search.
When he did locate Draco on the map, he discovered that he was on the astronomy tower. Theo smirked as he hatched a plan. He started his journey to the astronomy tower, which he had to admit was much easier with Harry's map. It meant that he knew which passages to take and who was hiding around the corner or down the next corridor, not that he ever got caught anyway.
When he eventually reached the top of the astronomy tower, Draco didn't bother turning around to look at him.
"Draco, I'm an idiot," Theo admitted. This was the sincerest he had been in his life, "I really am. I should have realised sooner that the fact I never told you probably hurts about as much as the fact that I did it."
Draco remained silent and kept his back to Theo.
"We thought you were dead and that…honestly, nothing has ever hurt me that much," Theo said quietly, "I was angry, and then I felt numb. Pansy was a mess, and it was my shoulder that she was leaning on. It was stupid, and it shouldn't have happened, and after it did…we both just cried."
Draco breathed in sharply but didn't turn around.
"That's the truth of it," Theo said, his voice shook, "She said your name, and we both cried. It wasn't romantic; it wasn't malicious; it was just fucking sad."
Draco turned to look at Theo, and his eyes were filled with tears, "You were in love with her."
It wasn't a question, but Theo answered anyway. He looked Draco in the eye, "Yeah, I thought I was. I hadn't been in love before. I'd had sex with girls and then not thought about them again. After Pansy…when she made it clear that she loved you, it hurt like hell, and I hated it, I decided if that was love, then love fucking sucked."
"Yeah, it does when you lose the person you love," Draco said, tearing his eyes away from Theo's.
"She never loved me," Theo said, "You came back, and she made it very clear that I couldn't tell you. She uh…oh fuck, you don't want to hear this…"
"I need to, though, Theo," Draco said, "Just like I needed to hear from Daphne that Pansy tried to imperius her."
"Yeah," Theo sighed, he walked to the edge of the tower and leant on the parapet, "She said, 'If you love me, then you will never tell Draco about what happened between us' and I did love her, so I kept my mouth shut. After she died, there was no point."
Draco leant next to Theo; his arm rested against his best friends.
"I'm sorry," Draco said.
Theo turned his head to look at him, "You're sorry?"
"I'm sorry for being so wrapped up in my own drama that I didn't realise you had feelings for her," Draco said. He looked out at the night sky, "And I'm sorry that she chose me. I can't imagine how much that must have hurt. If it had been the other way around, if it had been your baby that she was pregnant with and she loved you…"
Theo shook his head, "Look, it hurt, but it's in the past. The future is more important, and I can't imagine a future without you in it. We nearly lost it after the war, but we found our way back, and I can't lose you, Draco."
Draco sighed and grabbed Theo's hand.
Theo squeezed Draco's in response.
"I know," Draco said, "I don't want to lose you either."
Theo looked down at their hands and said, "I saw so much pain during the war. I nearly saw you die more than once, and that changed me. I keep up the act, but I'm different."
"I know you are," Draco said quietly, "And I am too. The things that happened at my home…I can't talk about them yet, not to you or Hermione, but I think you know anyway."
"Yeah," Theo squeezed his hand, "I've got an idea."
"And nearly losing you in the war," Draco frowned, "That would have been almost as bad as losing Pansy. The..uh…the extent I went to, to save you after we got you out of the Dark Tower…it's what I would have done for her."
Theo frowned over at him, "But she was the love of your life."
"Yeah," Draco agreed, "She was, and I…loved her as much as I love you. That is the one and only time you will hear me tell you that, by the way, so don't go expecting outpourings of feelings like this again."
Theo smiled slightly, "Yeah, well, I lost control of my magic and nearly blew up a tower because I thought I had lost the two people I love more than anything else."
Draco laughed weakly, "Okay, I think this is the point where I need to ask this question outright. What the hell kind of relationship do we have? Because Daphne and Hermione don't know, and I don't even think I know."
"Neither do I," Theo snorted, "I love you, but I really have no interest in shagging you. I mean, you're a terrible kisser."
Draco laughed out loud, "Fuck off."
"You are," Theo said as they both laughed. The dark-haired man smiled and said, "Honestly, you're my closest friend. You were there when I hated my step-mother for moving in and when my half-sister was born, and I didn't know how to deal with it."
"And you were there for me when my father was trying to force the mark on me, at the lowest point in my life," Draco said honestly, "I just feel like I can't…live without you."
"Wow, way to make this cliché," Theo grinned, "Hermione got you listening to Muggle songs?"
Draco laughed, "Look, I'm trying to be serious here. Our grandfathers-"
"Oh holy shit, we're onto the gay grandfathers now," Theo said with a snort, "I already told you I don't wanna shag you."
"Just hear me out," Draco said with an amused smile, "Nobody knows if they were gay, do they? They just couldn't seem to function without each other. My grandfather was happy with my grandmother; they openly showed affection for each other."
"So did my grandparents," Theo admitted.
"So what's to say that they weren't just like us?" Draco asked, "Yeah, it's not conventional, but I feel like I…sweet Salazar, the only way I can think to say this makes it sound really cheesy."
Theo snorted, "Go on."
"I feel like I need Hermione and you to function," Draco said, glancing over at him, "But I only want to sleep with one of you."
"It's me, right?"
"Shut up, you prat," Draco said, whacking him around the head for good measure.
Theo stopped laughing and looked sincere for a moment, "I get it, because I feel the same. Alright? It's a bit gay. I'm not gonna lie; a couple of times, someone has said we seem a bit too close, and I have questioned my sexuality. Then I kissed you during the war and realised I never wanted to repeat that experience."
"I'm really not that bad a kisser."
"You really are. I don't know how Hermione puts up with it."
"You're a prick."
"Ah, you love me. You can't deny it now; you've said it."
Draco put his arm around Theo and said, "I really hope you're my Auror partner, you know?"
"Yeah?" Theo asked, "Not, Harry?"
"Nah," Draco said, "I'd take you over Harry Potter any day."
"Haven't we just had the 'not gay' chat?" Theo joked.
Draco laughed and said, "I do feel like we act a bit like a couple sometimes though, you know?"
"We basically are a couple," Theo snorted.
"So are we back together?" Draco laughed.
Theo grinned, "Yeah, course we are. I need all the love I can get right now cause Sadie broke up with me and gave me the engagement ring back."
"So what are you going to do about it?" Draco asked.
"I don't know, I need to try and apologise, but I don't even know where to start," Theo said with a sigh. He felt a pounding headache coming on.
"Show as much raw emotion as you did with me for a start," Draco said, "I haven't seen you that emotional since you were a kid who dropped his favourite hippogriff cuddly toy in the lake."
"You gave me yours," Theo remembered with a smile, "Did you love me back then too?"
"You're not going to let that one go anytime soon, are you?"
"Nope," Theo said with a grin.
Theo didn't sleep at all that night; he sat up in bed, mulling over how he would apologise to Sadie and how he was going to get her back. He spent so long going through everything he had ever done to her and all the ways he had screwed up. When his alarm finally buzzed to tell him it was 7 am, he couldn't have been gladder to say hello to the morning. That had been one of the longest nights of his life.
When Theo got to the common room, Sadie had just left. He rushed out after her and ran down the stairs; he took them two at a time. When he did eventually catch up with her, it was just before she made it onto the grand staircase.
"Sadie, wait, please!" Theo called, and he knew exactly how desperate he sounded, but for once, he didn't care. He didn't care about how he looked or sounded to anyone apart from Sadie.
At first, he didn't think that she would stop, but she did. Theo jogged to catch up with her, and when she turned around, he felt his heart drop in his chest as he saw the dark bags under her red bloodshot eyes.
"Can we talk, Sadie, please?" Theo begged. He was praying that she would at least give him a chance, another one. Theo knew, deep down that, he didn't deserve that chance.
"Why should I talk to you, Theo?" Sadie asked. Her voice wasn't chirpy like it usually was. She sounded emotionless and fed up, "All you would do is fill me with more lies that I'd stupidly eat up."
"I did lie about Sally, but I haven't lied about anything else. I promise, I've told you everything," Theo said honestly as his voice broke, "Please just let me explain; I'm practically begging you."
"It's kind of pathetic, Theo," Sadie said with a sharp glare.
"I know it is," Theo said honestly, "But I don't care how pathetic it is if it means you'll let me explain. If you choose to still hate me after that, then I'll let you go but please, Sadie, let me explain first."
Sadie sighed and pressed her fingers against her forehead, "Fine," she said as she threw her hands up into the air.
She followed Theo into an empty classroom, and once they were inside, Theo shut the door and turned around. Sadie stood and watched him with her arms crossed over her chest.
"I'm sorry," Theo said, "You told me not to sleep with her, and you were right. She's a skank. I'm sure you saw what I did to her."
"I did," Sadie said.
"It was kind of Annie's fault, she goaded me into it, but that's not the point," Theo said with a shake of his head, "The point is that I should have listened to you. But I didn't, and that was because I had a problem. I was insecure, and I sought comfort in sex. I used sex as a way to channel my anger and my bitterness, and that was fucked up."
Sadie regarded him a little more softly.
"During the war, you made me realise how hurtful that behaviour was," Theo said honestly, "And during the war, while I was cut up over Pansy, I didn't realise that you were right in front of me. I should have told you how I felt such a long time ago, and by keeping it to myself for so long, I nearly blew my chance. I don't want to blow it again, Sade, not now that I've got you. I can't imagine anything worse than having to give you up. To have to go on and live my life, having had this love for you because I won't feel it for another girl, I know I won't."
Sadie sighed and bit her lip.
Theo was so sincere, he needed to be, he had to show her how much she meant to him, "You were there for me during the war, and I am so grateful for that, but you have seen me at my best, and my worst and you still love me. You know me inside out. Nobody else knows me like that apart from you and Draco."
Sadie finally caught his eye.
"You are more than I deserve," Theo finished, "You're an angel, and I don't deserve you. I never have. I have never felt worthy of your love, but you gave it to me anyway. You make me better; when I'm with you, I'm a better person. I can't lose you, Sadie. I love you."
Sadie took a step forward and wrapped her arms around him tightly. Theo sighed in relief and hugged her back, breathing in the familiar scent of her hair as he held her close to his chest.
"I'm sorry for giving you the ring back," she mumbled against his chest.
"I'm sorry for everything else," Theo said honestly, "When I proposed to you, it wasn't because I wanted you to make an honest man out of me. It was because you are the only girl I have ever been able to envision a future with. I close my eyes, and I can see you walking down the aisle in that vintage style dress like the ones you've been cutting out of magazines since you were thirteen. I see us with two little blonde-haired, blue-eyed girls, one named for your grandma and one for my mother, just like we talked about drunk one night."
Sadie smiled tearfully up at him.
"I want that with you," Theo promised her, "And I have never wanted it with anybody else. That's my promise to you."
Sadie pushed herself up and captured his lips in a passionate if slightly wet and salty kiss. Theo broke the kiss and pulled her engagement ring out of his pocket, "What do you say, baby? Take me back?"
Sadie nodded tearfully and let him put the ring back on her finger. Then she wrapped her arms around his neck and hugged him tightly.
Theo pulled back slightly from the embrace and, putting a finger under her chin, lifted Sadies head so that he could kiss her once more. Sadie deepened the kiss, and they broke apart breathily a few minutes later. Sadie pulled out her wand and cast a locking charm at the door.
Theo raised an eyebrow, "You forgive me then?"
"Almost," Sadie replied. She kissed him again.
"But you've got Divination," Theo murmured against her lips.
"Do you really care if I miss Divination?" Sadie asked. She rolled her hips slightly, and he groaned.
"Fuck, no, I really don't care if you miss Divination," He decided as he lifted her up and sat her on the edge of the desk.
He closed the gap between them and vanished her underwear silently.
"Did you just learn that spell to show off to girls?"
Theo smirked, "It's convenient."
Before Sadie could ask why or say any more on the subject, he showed her just how convenient it was, and she gasped, "Theo! You could have-" she gripped him tightly and moaned, "-transfigured a bed or something."
"Where would be the fun in that?" He murmured into her ear as he pulled her close to him.
A shiver shot down her spine, "I love you."
She smiled and kissed him, "I love you too."
Theo, being Theo, couldn't keep the moment romantic. He had to ruin it by saying, "I bet you're really hoping Trelawney isn't a real seer cause if she is, her inner eye is getting a right eyeful of you right now."
"Theo! Oh! Theo," Her irritation turned into a moan, and Theo chuckled as he captured her lips once more.
"Do you think they will make up?" Hermione asked Draco quietly as she bit her lip; they had just seen Sadie and Theo disappear into an empty classroom together.
"I hope so. He's happier with her than he's ever been in his life," Draco said with a sigh.
"But they were the first to get engaged. Don't you think it's a bit young?" Hermione asked.
Draco shrugged, "I don't know. I think it was right for them at the time."
"And when do you think it will be right for us?" Hermione asked.
This alarmed Draco, and Hermione added quickly, "Metaphorically, of course."
Draco smiled and kissed Hermione on the cheek, "You'll know when it's the right time."
"How?" Hermione asked curiously.
Draco replied with a smirk, "I'll give you a ring."
"Very funny," Hermione said dryly, although she did smile at her boyfriend, "What about Harry and Daphne?"
"I don't know about them," Draco said thoughtfully, "I mean, they love Teddy obviously, but can you see them settling down really quickly?"
"Oi! I want three kids, thanks very much!"
The slightly miffed female voice belonged to Daphne, who was walking behind them with Harry.
"I thought you wanted four kids," Harry chuckled.
"I do," Daphne said with a cryptic smile, "But we already have Teddy, and one plus three equals four."
"Really?" Draco asked sarcastically.
Daphne said, "Yeah, it's called maths, dumbass. And for your information, Black, I bet Harry and I get engaged before you and Hermione."
"Daphne," Harry said in amusement and exasperation, "Don't bet on who's going to get engaged first."
Daphne rolled her eyes, "Fine," she said.
Harry chuckled, "And to think you were scared of relationships when I met you."
Daphne merely smiled at this and took Harry's hand, "Of course, if I have those kids with Harry, he won't get any choice in naming them."
"Oi!"
"You want to call them after a bunch of dead people!" Daphne exclaimed.
Hermione chuckled, "Albus Severus..."
"Imagine if he named a kid after all the people he knows who have died..." Draco said thoughtfully, "Albus Severus Lily James Sirius Remus Cedric Alistair Hedwig Potter, you were named for 9 of the bravest people I ever knew and an owl..."
Harry hit Draco around the back of the head for this and said playfully, "Oh shut it, Draco."
Draco sniggered and said, "Anyway, as far as engagements go, some people's names just sound right. I mean Sadie Nott, for example. Now Daphne Potter, though, that just sounds weird."
"So does Hermione Black," Harry said, "I mean, it sounds like she's marrying Sirius! You'll have the same name as my godfather!"
Hermione rolled her eyes and said, "Oh come on, Harry, we both know Hermione Weasley sounds weirder."
"Gross," Draco agreed.
Harry rolled his eyes, "Ginny Potter never really sounded right either, or Cho Potter actually."
"Hermione Krum..." Daphne teased, and Hermione rolled her eyes again.
"So Hermione, is Draco going to give kids normal names?" Daphne asked as she walked ahead and grabbed Hermione's arm.
"Well, he's probably going to want to name them all after bloody star signs," Hermione said.
Draco objected from behind, "Cassiopeia and Elladora are nice names!"
"I think they should invent a new law that states that men shouldn't be allowed to name children," Daphne stated matter of factly.
Hermione laughed loudly at this, "I completely agree."
"Merlin, what have we let ourselves in for?" Harry asked as he listened to the girls start a discussion on baby names.
"I don't know," Draco admitted with a chuckle.
When Sadie and Theo walked into the great hall towards the end of breakfast holding hands, there was a round of applause, and some of the eighth years even stood up to cheer. Sadie blushed; she didn't like all of the attention. Theo would usually have lapped it up, but he just put his arm around Sadie and led her towards the eighth year table.
"So it's back on," Lilly said with a raised eyebrow as Sadie sat down and flashed her ring.
"Yeah," Sadie said sheepishly, "And we've set a date."
"When is it?" Lilly asked eagerly.
Sadie replied with a smile, "The first Saturday in July."
"Oh, Merlin!" Lilly squealed as she hugged her friend. Sadie couldn't stop smiling.
"That's great, Sadie," Daphne said happily as she jumped up and hugged Sadie. From the other side, Hermione congratulated and hugged Sadie. Even Ginny shouted her congrats from across the table. Susan hurried over from the other end of the table to get the gossip, and she too hugged and congratulated her friend.
Sadie smiled at them all, "I wanted to ask you something, Daph. I wondered if you'd be my maid of honour."
"Are you kidding?" Daphne asked with a grin, "Of course, Sadie! It would be an honour!"
"And I wondered if you guys would be bridesmaids," Sadie said to Hermione, Lilly and Susan. They were all delighted at being asked, and Lilly and Susan wasted no time saying that they would love to be Sadie's bridesmaids.
Hermione smiled broadly at Sadie, "Of course I will, Sadie. It means a lot that you would ask."
Next to Sadie, Theo smiled as she told her new maid of honour and bridesmaids the news. He turned to Draco, who was sitting next to him, "So Draco, what do you say? Will you be my best man?"
Draco was a little embarrassed about the fact he got slightly teary at this, but he nodded, "Of course I will, Theo, you can count on it."
Theo nodded happily and patted his friend on the back.
Neville sniggered across the table, and Harry whispered, "Oh shut up you, you'll be the same when I ask you to be my best man," he said with a wink.
Neville smirked, "But I won't anymore because now I know you're going to ask."
Harry rolled his eyes at this, and Neville asked jokingly, "Does this mean I have to ask you to be mine now?"
"If you're going to be like that, I'll ask Draco," Harry joked.
Neville laughed, "Nah, of course, I'm going to ask you to be my best man Harry when I eventually get to that point. I can't imagine anyone else standing beside me on the biggest day of my life, but I'm surprised that you would want me over Ron."
"I don't know about Ron," Harry sighed, "He's still a great friend, and he always will be. But keeping in touch is far harder than it should be considering how close he is."
"I get it," Neville said with a slight smile.
Harry nodded thoughtfully, "Well, as my future best man are you free this weekend? I'm sort of going shopping for a certain sparkly circular object."
Neville grinned, "Of course I'll come with you. It looks like I'll be the last by a longshot to get engaged."
"Well, you and Lil did just get together," Harry pointed out, "And you're the most sceptical about relationships since Hannah."
"I'm not that sceptical about this one," Neville smiled, "I'm not anywhere near the thinking about rings part yet, but I'm definitely falling head over heels."
"She's a brilliant girl," Harry said with a fond smile, "I'm not surprised."
"Yeah, well, you've got a pretty good one yourself," Neville said as he patted Harry on the back.
Harry smiled even more broadly and glanced over at Daphne. She looked up when she saw him, and she smiled back at him. He gave her a vague wave, and he knew that it was certainly time to start thinking more seriously about his relationship with Daphne.
"So Harry, Nev, Blaise," Theo said, "Fancy being my groomsmen?"
Harry grinned, "Sure thing Theo," he said.
Neville smiled widely, "Of course, mate!"
Later that evening, Sadie and Hermione were studying together in the common room when Theo tapped Hermione on the shoulder, "Hey, princess. What you working on?"
Hermione rolled her eyes, "Are you ever going to stop calling me that?"
"Nah," Theo grinned.
"It's Herbology revision," Hermione yawned, "What do you want?"
Sadie looked up at her fiancé, "You do look a bit suspicious."
"It's just because I need the two of you," Theo said, "Draco and I need to have a chat with you."
Sadie frowned, "Where is Draco?"
"Downstairs, it's not a common room sort of chat," Theo said with a shrug, "It's a serious one."
"Right," Hermione said slowly. She got to her feet, "I suppose we ought to go then."
Theo nodded sincerely, and Hermione shot Sadie a concerned look as they followed Theo down the tower's steps into a disused classroom on the seventh floor. When they stepped inside, Draco narrowed his eyes, "Why do they look so worried?"
"Theo said it was a serious chat," Hermione said, eyeing Draco warily.
Draco rolled his eyes, "I specifically said, don't say it's serious because then you'll freak them out!"
"Sorry, but it is a serious chat!" Theo said sheepishly. He sat down next to Draco on the teacher's desk and said to the girls, "Sit down."
"Oh, sweet Salazar," Sadie muttered.
At the same time, Hermione had said, "Good Godric."
"It's happening," Sadie said, eyeing the two of them, "Isn't it?"
"We did wonder," Hermione said. She bit her lip.
"This is the point when you tell us you want this to be a twisted pureblood relationship where you marry us, but you're actually in love with each other," Sadie said warily.
"What? No," Theo said with a roll of his eye, "I mean, I know everyone thinks that about us, and we do love each other but not in that way."
"We don't want to sleep with each other," Draco agreed, "That's the good news."
"What's the bad news?" Hermione asked.
"Well," Draco frowned, "We sort of realised that we kind of act like a couple, without the sex and that we kind of…."
"Love each other?" Hermione filled in.
"Yeah," Draco conceded, "So we can't live without each other."
"Right," Sadie said, "Do you remember how I said we didn't need to get concerned until they said that they wanted to build secret passageways to each other's houses like their grandfathers?"
"Yep, this is that chat, isn't it?" Hermione asked.
"Sort of, yeah," Draco admitted.
"Yeah, it kinda is," Theo agreed.
"Are you okay with that?" Draco asked Hermione slowly.
"Look, I spent the last six years in-between Harry and Ron while they were joined at the hip," Hermione said with an amused smile, "I'm kind of used to guys being overly attached to their best friend, so no, I don't mind."
Theo snorted and looked over at his fiancé, "Sadie?"
"I'm not even surprised," Sadie said honestly, "Frankly, I think everyone else realised before you. I'm just glad you haven't had a sexual epiphany and realised you were gay because I genuinely thought that might happen for a while."
"So did I then I had to kiss him in the war," Theo said, he made a face, "How do you do it, Hermione? He's a terrible kisser."
Hermione shot Theo an amused look, "No, he isn't. I guess he just wasn't into you that much."
Draco smirked at his girlfriend, "I love you."
"Oh, now you love her? Last night it was me, I'm telling you, there's going to be a lot of jealousy in this four-way."
"New rule," Sadie chipped in, "Never call it a four-way again."
~ TBC ~