A/N: Thank you all so much for your response to last chapter! I know I am putting Hermione through a lot and I am not done yet. You can follow me over on tumblr (nauticalparamour) where I post sneak peeks, story updates and answer questions. Huge thank you to lanamarymack for alpha/beta reading this chapter :)
Please let me know what you thought of chapter ten and be on the lookout for eleven in a few days!
The rest of Hermione's week passed without much fanfare. She kept her head down at both school and at home, focusing on catching up on her homework as well as double and triple checking her work on essays, even though her teachers already said she had the most immaculately sourced work they'd seen. Who cared if she didn't see Harry and Ron much at school? It's not like she could stand to talk to them right now anyway, even though she had loads of questions for Harry.
And her parents...well, they were trying, she knew they were. There was some small part of them that felt bad because of how things had now turned out with her friends, even though they would rather her not be friends with a Potter. The only problem was they had absolutely no idea of how to comfort her after so many years apart and as a result, had fallen into their old habits of trying to buy her happiness. She kept finding little trinkets in her room after school, but she still refused to say more than two words to them when they ran into one another in the kitchen.
The only present that had given her pause was a dainty, perfect little diamond on a white gold chain necklace. Her father had added a note saying that it had belonged to his grandma and he wanted her to take care of it.
She had not been too reluctant to slip it around her neck and found herself toying with it in class or when she was at her desk studying at night.
On Saturday, Daphne had called her and invited her to the party at Adrian's for a second time. Hermione could imagine Daphne standing in her kitchen, twirling the long phone cord around her finger while she talked, the epitome of the pretty, teenage girl, something that felt completely alien to Hermione. A lot of times growing up she had felt like she'd had to hide the feminine side of herself at home, seeing as Sirius and Remus didn't really know how to handle it.
"Please, Hermione, it's going to be so much fun," Daphne pleaded over a scratchy line. "I'm sure that Theo will be there. He'd love to see you again."
Hermione sighed. "I just don't know," she said.
"Well, if you don't like Theo, I caught Marcus looking at you a lot," Daphne sing-songed.
"Daphne!" Hermione scolded, trying to hide a laugh of her own.
"What? I've seen him shirtless," Daphne whispered. "He's fit."
"I'm sure he is," Hermione choked out, unable to believe that Daphne was trying to set her up with Marcus Flint of all people. "But, it's not about him or Theo, I just...I've got some stuff going on at home, so I'll have to miss out on this time," Hermione lied to her own empty kitchen. She didn't have anything going on at home except studying and her parents were out. Again.
"Oh," Daphne said, knowingly. "Of course, your parents."
Hermione didn't know what to make of the assumption that she was somehow up to something with her parents, but she didn't bother to correct Daphne. "You'll let me know about the next one, though, right?" she asked, not wanting to burn a bridge with a potential new friend, especially considering how Ron and Harry were treating her like a persona non grata.
"Definitely!" Daphne said cheerfully. "See you on Monday."
"Yeah, have fun, Daph," Hermione added, before hanging up the phone on the wall.
Sighing, she looked around the room, her eyes settling on the clock. It was quarter past eight already and she'd spent basically her whole day tucked away in her room studying and she didn't really fancy returning to her self-imposed exile. Maybe she should have gone to the party with Daphne.
Her stomach growled and she realized that she should probably make something for dinner. She had everything that she needed to make herself a reasonable meal, but for some reason, the thought of cooking for herself was just not appealing. Nibbling at her lower lip, she thought about the massive allowance her father had given her and decided to go out for food for a change.
Returning to her room, Hermione looked at herself in the mirror, tilting her head to the side as she assessed herself. The t-shirt she was wearing was stretched and faded. Even though she didn't feel the need to dress up to impress anyone, she decided to change into a nicer top made of white lace. On the way out the door, she borrowed her mum's leather jacket, once again hanging in the front closet, knowing that she wouldn't mind.
Then, she made the short walk to Fenrir's pub — the Half Moon — remembering that he had actually made a decent sandwich the last time that she was there. Throwing the door open, she was pleased to see that it was mostly empty, even for a Saturday night.
Until her eyes settled on who was sitting at the bar.
Theo.
Hermione froze up and she almost thought about just walking right back out, but he'd already turned to look and recognized her. A crooked grin on his face, Theo beckoned her to come over, so now Hermione knew that she couldn't just waltz out without being rude.
Not that she'd ever minded being rude before.
"Fancy seeing you here," he said when she walked over to where he was sitting.
"Same for you," Hermione countered, lifting her chin in defiance. "I had figured that you'd be at Adrian's. He's having a party." Hermione wasn't sure if she was trying to offend him if he hadn't actually been invited or just trying to figure out why he wouldn't be hanging out with his friend.
Theo laughed, his blue eyes sparkling in the low light. "I wanted to, but I actually got caught up," he revealed. "Daphne asked you?"
"Yeah," she answered, before sitting down and ordering a cider from the massive and glowering barkeep. The pint he put in front of her was so sour it made her lips pucker and her ears ache, but little did he know she loved the sensation.
"Good," Theo said, taking a sip of his own pint. "She seemed to really get on with you."
"I'm...not sure how to handle my new found popularity with her," Hermione revealed, surprised at how easy it was to open up to her old friend. "She isn't like my other friends. She's so...girly and flighty and fun. I don't know how to act around her."
"Just be yourself," he answered. "And if she doesn't like you any more, she can fuck off."
Hermione's eyes raised in shock. Surely, at this point, Theo would know Daphne far better than he knew her. When Fenrir came back, Hermione ordered a sandwich with chips.
"So why aren't you at the party? If Daphne invited you," Theo asked casually, turning in his chair so that he was facing her — his full attention on her.
She shrugged her shoulders, hoping that he wouldn't find her answer totally lame. "I was studying pretty much all day today," she explained, knowing that Ron and Harry would just roll their eyes to hear about it. "I know it's...nerdy, but my future is really important to me. It's my ticket out of this hell hole."
"Ah, so I take it things are not going well with your parents still?" he asked, gently.
"Not in the slightest," Hermione said with a snort. "They just don't understand me at all. They think that they can just...buy my love with presents and money. I don't care about that stuff." Her fingers went to the tiny diamond necklace that she wore, toying with it to give her something to do.
Her gaze dropped to the bar in front of her, realizing that she hadn't been a very good conversationalist the whole time that she'd been reintroduced to Theo — only ever talking about herself and never asking him about his life. She supposed at first she'd wanted to keep him at arm's length, too busy pushing away anything that had a connection with her parents. But now...now she knew that she was stuck here for at least the next few months and having a few more friends in her corner wouldn't hurt.
"I just realized that I haven't seen your parents at all since I've been back," she said, giving Theo a tentative smile. "How are they doing?"
Theo gave her a wry smile, running his fingers through his slightly-long brown hair, revealing that it wasn't overly styled like she'd first assumed. A forbidden thought ran through her mind, wondering how soft his hair would feel in between her fingers.
"Dad is...well, he's not as good at getting around anymore. The man's nearly seventy after all!" Theo said, with an odd sort of grimace on his face. "He spends a lot of time watching television, but he still goes round to Tom's. He's not as involved anymore."
Hermione knew that Theo's father had seemed old when she was a child, but then again, all grownups had. She never knew just how old he really was. It made the relationship with Theo's mum all the stranger. When she was a child, Hermione had been absolutely enamored with Cora Nott, who was stunningly beautiful — slim and graceful, with perfectly wavy brown hair. She looked like she could have stepped out of the pages of a magazine, but she was there in the same set of row houses as Hermione.
"And your mum?" she inquired softly. "She practically raised me. I should really thank her."
"Yeah, she actually walked out on us when I was...oh, eleven?" Theo said, scratching the back of his neck.
"Oh my god, Theo, I'm so sorry to have brought it up," Hermione said, wondering how she'd made such a terrible faux pax. She should have asked her parents when she hadn't seen hide or hair of the (former?) Mrs. Nott instead of just pressing things with her friend. Obviously he would have mentioned her if he wanted to.
"It's alright, I'm over it now," he explained, before finishing off his ale and indicating for Fenrir to bring another one. "You didn't know, so there is no need to be sorry."
"It's not alright," Hermione said hotly, thinking that she would never abandon her child to be raised by someone like the odious Alfie next door.
"No, I mean...I sort of get why she did it," Theo continued, obviously having had a lot of time to process the situation. "I sometimes think about it, too. About how nice it would be to leave this place behind. And my dad tolerates me — they never got along. I just...sometimes wonder why she didn't think that I was worth taking with."
Hermione tried to swallow the lump that had formed in her throat at the thought of little Theo being left behind by his own mother. Suddenly, the horrid way she'd been treating her own parents felt bratty and selfish. Now she could understand why Theo was so insistent on bringing up how much they missed and cared for her. He saw something in her parents that he didn't have from his own mother. They did want her, enough to fight for her even when things seemed beyond hopeless.
"I'm sure...I'm sure there was more to it than that," she stammered out, unsure of what to say. "I'm sure she would have taken you with if she could have."
"Anyways, it's in the past now," Theo said sadly. "Nothing I can do now other than move on."
"Does your mum leaving have anything to do with why you dropped out of school? I know she was always so proud of your intelligence," Hermione said, chewing at her lower lip.
"Yes and no," Theo said, after a moment of contemplation. "I suppose without her there, my dad would have to take me with him on business sometimes. Then Tom started to pay me for little odd jobs here and there, when I was in secondary. Nothing too serious."
When Hermione had moved in with Sirius, she had been placed in a different primary from Theo — the same one that Harry had gone to. She hadn't thought to look him up once their schools were joined in secondary school, even though he had always been smart like her. At that point, it had seemed like a good idea to slam the door on her past.
"Anyway, it just got to a point where...the money was a bit hard to ignore, you know? Why should I sit around in classrooms when I could be out here, making my own way and earning quite a bit of money while I'm at it," Theo finished his explanation.
"It can't possibly be that much money, Theo," Hermione said, skeptical. "Think of your future earning potential."
"Well, this job I'm working on right now..." he trailed off, looking her up and down, for the first time wondering if she was okay to reveal this to.
Hermione tried to hide a smile. "It's alright, I won't tell anyone," she reassured him. "It's not like I have anyone worth telling, anyway. Sirius and I are...not in a good place right now."
"Are you sure you want to know?" Theo asked, perhaps thinking that she didn't know what she was getting into by associating with him. It was one thing to work in vagueries, but another to actually learn the specifics. "You can't take it back."
She took a deep breath and studied the angles of Theo's face. He was more man than boy at this point, but she knew, deep down, that he was still her little friend who had lived next door. She could keep his secret, even if she shouldn't. "I want to know."
"I was at an under 23s match today, down at the football stadium. The first team match is tomorrow," Theo explained. "They have to bring in all sorts of small bills for the game tomorrow, for ticket sales, you know? Anyway, they had almost no guards when they brought in all this money."
Her breath caught in her throat. "So you are going to rob them?" she asked, thinking that maybe she had underestimated the sort of trouble that Theo was capable of.
He laughed. "I knew I shouldn't have told you," he said with a smirk. "You're still so sweet."
She didn't know why, but the word felt like an insult. "I'm not," she argued. "I'm just...surprised, I guess."
He turned to face the bar again, trying to hide his mirth at having shocked her. "I won't be doing any of the robbing, actually," he said after a few beats. "I just did the reconnaissance. But I'll get a cut of the final take. And, it's a lot more than I could make in a month and all I had to do was watch a football match."
Maybe it was lucrative enough to quit school, she thought with a frown. Maybe playing fair wasn't all it was cracked up to be.
Before she knew it, she was done with her dinner and two pints of cider and it was time for her to head home for the night. She paid her bill with one of the twenties her father had given her even though Theo offered to pay for her dinner. Again.
"It's okay. My parents finally realized that they can't just leave me at home without food or money," Hermione explained to him with a roll of her eyes. "Though it took them long enough to figure it out."
"I knew they'd put it together eventually," he answered with a smirk. "Can't have someone so precious wasting away."
She blushed at this compliment. Somehow, it felt so much more sincere — like he really thought she was precious. She was surprised when he fell into step with her, back towards their townhouses, even though the night was still young. "Aren't you going to go to the party?" she asked. "I'm sure your friends would love to see you."
"That depends. Are you going to the party?" he asked, letting his arm rub up against hers as they walked down the pavement, much closer than they should have. Every other step his fingers would brush against hers, seeking out her hand as if he wanted to hold it.
It made Hermione's heart skip a beat every time.
"No, I wasn't planning on it," she answered. "I already told Daphne that it wasn't a good time for me today."
"Then, no, I'm not going to go to the party," he told her.
She didn't know what to make of that. It was almost as if he wanted to spend time with her and her alone. "I'm not going to invite you inside or anything," she snapped at him, hoping to make her intentions clear. Theo made her feel so off balance. She could never understand why he would be interested in her for more than just friendship. "So don't get any ideas."
"That is a very difficult thing to agree to," he said, following her up the stairs to her doorstep, just as he had done the other night. "I've got a lot of ideas that involve you."
Hermione caught her lower lip between her teeth to stop herself from saying the first stupid thing that popped into her head. She had to look so far up just to look at Theo's face to gauge his intent. Was he teasing her? God, when had he gotten so tall? It was hardly fair.
Before she knew it, he was caging her into the doorway, strong arms on either side of her body, until she could focus on nothing but him. There would be no quick retreat this time. Instead, she was helpless to stop the slow dip of his head, his lips slanting against hers in a first, hesitant kiss. She sighed into him, enjoying the feel of how they fit together so perfectly.
He pulled back far too soon and the moment was broken, her nerves suddenly back with a vengeance. A thousand what ifs popped into her head, trying to convince her that he was just doing this because she was new and exciting. Reminding her that there were a million and one reasons that Theo shouldn't want her.
Her head dropped. "I think that was an idea you should have kept to yourself," she said, her voice barely more than a whisper.
"I don't care how long it takes to show you, Hermione," Theo vowed. "I am going to convince you how much I want you."
But, it was all too much, a promise of that nature. She didn't even want to think about what that meant. She retreated into the safety of her house once again, feeling like she was floating up the stairs.