Title: Umbrella
Challenges/Prompts:
Hogwarts School of Witchcraft & Wizardry (Challenges & Assignments) Assignment #3 - Due 20th August
-Magical vs. Muggle Healing ~
Task #2: Pepperup potion vs. lemsips: Prompt: Write a fic using the trope huddling for warmth.
and
The Houses Competition
August Monthly Challenge
-Story Prompt: Back to School!
Prompts:
(emotion) angry
(object) a red towel
Pairing: Theomione
Summary: After being left behind in the rain to walk back up to the castle instead of taking one of the carriages, Head Girl Hermione has a lovely walk up to the castle with one Theodore Nott. No Horcruxes, so no second war.
Words: 1296
A/N: Hello everyone! Back again with another one-shot. If this gets enough attention, I can definitely be persuaded to continue it in the future. :3
This is written for THC Monthly Challenge: August. It's my first year with this competition (wow, I've done three comps for the first time this year alone XD ) I'm in Slytherin House for this year. This is also being written for Term 15 Assignment 3 of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry (Challenges and Assignments). Specific prompts can be seen above :)
Thanks mightily to Ash, Dhrish, and DaughteroftheOneTrueKing for betaing this!
"Umbrella"
The storm raged overhead, mercilessly soaking Hermione to the bone as soon as she stepped out from under the covered train platform in Hogsmeade. Hermione wanted to scowl as her Warming and Impervious Charms failed in the face of the downpour. Waving Harry and Ron forward, Hermione joined the Head Boy, Draco, under an enormous umbrella provided by Hagrid as they gathered all of the first years to them.
It was the first day of their seventh year, and Hermione was insistent on supporting the first years the way she wished she had been supported.
Draco Malfoy had agreed with her when she had brought it up on the train ride here, and had agreed under one condition. She would owe him a favor later on. Hermione had scowled at him.
"This is part of your job as Head Boy!" she had complained to him, and he merely smirked at her.
"If I can extort you in exchange for doing my duties, why wouldn't I?" he replied back, and her scowl had only deepened. They had then been interrupted by the first trickle of Prefects entering their compartment for the Prefect meeting, and Hermione shot him a glare, promising him that their conversation wasn't over.
She had won, in the end, but then again, so had he.
All too soon, the first years were gathered around Hagrid, who then helped them down the stone steps to the boathouse for their first, breathtaking journey across the lake into Hogwarts Castle. Hermione had read that this tradition was used to key them all into the wards, and that after they graduated at the end of their seventh year, they would leave by these same boats to reverse the magic. It was symbolic and purposeful. Hermione already felt herself tearing up at the thought of leaving her magical home this coming June.
"...ranger...GRANGER!" Draco called, snapping her out of her thoughts. Hermione tried to swipe the tears that were already streaming down her face to no avail. The rain kept everything wet, and despite the amount of times she tried with her magic, the weather would win today.
Hermione turned to find Draco entering the last carriage reserved for the Head Students. He looked over his shoulder at her before grinning wickedly.
"Enjoy your walk back to the castle, Granger!" He winked at her, and Hermione couldn't help but screech in response.
"MALFOY!" She sprinted to catch him before the carriage took off, knowing it would leave as soon as he shut the carriage door. The Thestrals pulling the carriage took off, leaving her behind in the rain and thunder. Hermione let out another screech as she stomped her foot, anger burning in her mind at her fellow Head. Oh, Professor McGonagall was going to hear about this!
"Draco can be a right prat sometimes, you know?" A voice came from behind her as a hand pulled her under an awning. Her eyes lifted to find Theo Nott, fellow seventh year and academic rival, standing beside her.
"He leave you behind too?" Hermione asked wryly, prompting a smile. A blast of warm air from his wand made her shiver, and then suddenly a red towel with golden stitching was conjured before her, falling into her hands. She gratefully clutched at it, looking at the boy before her curiously.
"Thought the Gryffindor-red would suit your Gryffindor-self nicely," he teased, and a smile tugged at her lips. She murmured her thanks as she used the red towel to dry her hair a bit. It would be a complete mess when it fully dried later on.
"Metelojinx," he then intoned, holding his wand to the sky, and an invisible umbrella appeared above them. Watching silently, Hermione noticed the way Theo's brow furrowed as he concentrated intently on the slight shimmer in the air that was his magic. The umbrella he had created slowly elongated, growing in size to cover more space vertically, before he dropped his arm chest height, as if he carried a physical umbrella instead of one made by magic. Her eyes lingered over him, noticing how he had filled out over the years. Never in all of her life had she cursed the shapeless form of their Hogwarts robes more than now.
"Walk with me?" he asked, offering her his spare hand, his gaze now riveted on her, and Hermione swallowed thickly.
Nodding, Hermione took his hand before joining him under his umbrella, and, as one, they stepped back out into the storm. Almost instantly, their lower legs were soaked once more, but the umbrella charm held and they were saved from mostly drowning in the rain.
They chatted amicably as they headed up to the castle, sharing what they had done that past summer and their future plans after graduation. Just after they passed the wardline, Hermione let her anger explode.
"I can't believe that ferret! Taking the last carriage by himself when he knows we need to present a united front! If I knew I wouldn't get in trouble, I'd clock him in the face again!" Theo patiently listened as she continued to rant, despite being one of Draco's best friends, and Hermione noticed he added affirmations wherever he thought they were needed. He waited until she ran out of steam before opening his mouth to reply, but Hermione suddenly shivered violently, nearly knocking his wand out of his hand. Even with their thick robes and the large towel Theo had conjured, the wind was piercingly cold.
"Did you want to come closer to share body heat as we walk? We don't want you getting a cold the first week of classes," he teased good-naturedly, and she shot him a glare. Hermione opened her mouth to respond before her face contorted in what everyone knew was the universal sign of 'sudden sneeze'.
Hermione crouched to sneeze, her whole body shaking, and she groaned a bit as she was suddenly soaked. Theo hadn't been quick enough to drop the umbrella with her. Standing up once more, she took out her own wand and dried herself before shuffling closer to him.
"I think that might be a smart idea," she replied with a sniffle, already dreading the Pepper Up Potion Madam Pomfrey would force down her throat tonight. With a hidden smile, Theo drew her closer, letting her sink into his side and wrapping his cloak around the Gryffindor bookworm. With a sigh as his heat soaked into her, Hermione let him wrap his free arm around her waist, her own arms coming up to wrap around his chest.
The rest of the walk seemed to speed by, and all too soon, they reached the steps of the castle. Just inside the Entrance Hall stood Harry, Ron, and Draco waiting for them, all three boys smirking as if they were in on some big joke.
Hermione stepped away from Theo, already missing his warmth, before she narrowed her eyes at Draco. She tried to march over to him, but her attention was quickly caught by Theo, who grabbed her hand and bowed over it, placing a kiss on her knuckles. A faint blush covered her cheeks.
"Keep the towel. I hope you find many uses for it," he said, his eyes catching hers with an intense look, causing her blush to deepen. He then headed for the Great Hall with Harry and Ron behind him. Draco walked up to Hermione as she tried to get her blush under control.
She suddenly rounded on him and slapped his arm. "How dare you leave me behind!"
Draco took the slap good naturedly as he chuckled. "How was your walk with Theo, then?" he asked with a grin like he was a cat who just caught the canary.
Hermione blushed again.