A/N: Thank you all so much for your reviews, favorites and follows after last chapter! I am so excited to get going into the past now - into the thick of it. You can follow me on tumblr (nauticalparamour) where I post sneak peeks, story updates and answer questions. HUGE thank you to accio-echo for beta reading this chapter and being a tremendous help generally!
Please let me know what you thought of chapter three and be on the lookout for chapter four soon!
By the time that the time turner had finally stopped it's spinning, Hermione and Theo were leaning against one another from the extreme strain of hurtling through decades. They stood pressed against one another for a few moments, catching their collective breath, and Hermione let herself enjoy the feel of his hand against the small of her back, supporting her. Now that Theo was all that she had, there was no time to question his loyalty. They needed to rely on one another and she intended to do just that. Not to say that their relationship would be completely smooth, Hermione was certain that they would quickly grow comfortable with one another.
Leaning back, she looked up into her husband's eyes. Theo looked a little shell shocked, like he'd only just realized what he'd done. Pulling out her wand, Hermione cast the tempus charm to confirm that they were where they really needed to be. "June 5th, 1973. We've made it," she whispered, breaking the stillness of the Room of Requirement. No longer a burned out husk, the Room appeared full to bursting with lost and forgotten things once again.
Theo's lips quirked up in a fond little smile. "Draco's birthday," he revealed.
Hermione blinked once, realizing that she'd never bothered to learn Malfoy's birthday. "Not quite yet. We've got a few years yet until he's unleashed on the world again," she teased, too thrilled that they'd managed to get far enough back to make a real difference, and apparently in one piece. "Right, let's make a list of what we need to do. First and foremost is get out of here. Then we need money, but you might have that covered?" she asked, looking at the small bag of coins he still had clutched in his hand. "And then somewhere to live. Finally, I need a new wand."
"What's wrong with that one?" Theo asked, looking perplexed as she seemed to have a perfectly good one in her hand.
"It's Bellatrix's wand," Hermione revealed to him then, thinking that it would be quite suspicious for her to turn up with the exact same wand as the other witch. "It will raise questions and well...it doesn't respond very well to me."
He nodded in understanding then, knowing that a witch or wizard's wand was extremely personal, almost an extension of themselves. "I've got some money, but even with the inflation rate, it wouldn't be enough to get us through a month," Theo explained, his eyes dropping down to the bag he held. "The guys reminded me of a couple of Quidditch scores. I can place some winning bets, but we might want to place them in several locations so as not to raise suspicion."
"That's cheating," Hermione said with a frown, thinking that it didn't sound like a very fair way to do it.
"Didn't you say you were willing to do whatever it takes, Granger?" he asked with a laugh. "I figured this would be something that you would be willing to look past. After all, it's not worse than using polyjuice to sneak into the Slytherin Common Room."
"You know about that?" Hermione asked, feeling her cheeks go pink. "Well, I...I actually might know a football score or two, but the season doesn't start for a few months. I am pretty sure that Liverpool wins the FA Cup, so we could just always bet on them, but we would need to change some galleons to pounds."
"You're talking gibberish, Granger," Theo said, his eyes wide. "Anyway, I think we should definitely get out of Hogwarts as soon as possible. We can't do anything from here. Luckily everyone should be exams right now, so we can probably just slip out the front door."
"Actually, I know of a few secret passageways," Hermione said with another blush on her cheeks when she was forced to admit just how frequently she bent the rules. "I'll lead the way. And it's Nott now. You should get used to that." She didn't hesitate to grab his hand, knowing that they were going to have to get used to physical contact if they were meant to be happy, young newlyweds. Surely they were meant to be pawing at one another whenever they got the chance.
Their walk to the statue of the one-eyed witch was uneventful, and Theo managed to keep his face stoic when Hermione used her wand to open the secret passage. Instead, he followed blindly behind her as the passage slowly turned from stone to dirt, using his wand to illuminate the path. Once they reached the cellar of Honeydukes, Hermione stopped and told him where they were. "But I think we should be alright to apparate from right here. No need to get caught," she explained.
He was only too happy to follow her instruction, grabbing hold of of her hand more tightly, threading his fingers through hers, Theo apparated them both to a small side street off of Diagon Alley. "I know of a good realtor, but we will need to do a little fibbing," he said, before looking her over. He ran his hands through his toffee brown hair, realizing just how they looked. "Right, we will need to do a little transfiguration, too. You don't really look the part."
Hermione looked down at herself, seeing her dirty and ripped jumper and jeans, realizing that he was right. Her muggle clothes were enough of a sore thumb in her own time...nearly three decades before it would be even worse. He took it upon himself to fix it, though, and her outfit was quickly replaced with a pretty set of witch's robes, the same color as her jumper. Likewise, his own school uniform was updated to something a little bit more appropriate for the time. She was glad to realize that they seemed to work well with one another, even if they hadn't ever spoken much previously.
With their clothing handled, Theo led the way out of the small cobbled side street, until they were standing in front of a stately looking building that she'd never noticed before, advertising magical properties. Theo entered first, holding the door open for his wife, and spoke softly with the witch behind the front desk. Before Hermione knew it, she was seated with Theo in the realtor's office, looking through pages and pages of homes while Theo wove a tale of them moving back to England, but their funds being tied up in Croatia still. "Of course, you'll know that my family is good for the money, but they don't think it will clear the Croatian government for another week or two," he lied smoothly. "But I want my wife to have the best of the best. Can you help her with that?"
The realtor looked flustered and unsure, but found himself agreeing with Theo, knowing that the Notts were certainly a very reputable family to be dealing with. "Of course Mr. Nott," he stammered. "We will only show her the best."
Theo pressed a quick kiss to the corner of her mouth. "Darling, you'll be fine picking our home while I go sort things out with Gringotts?" he asked, looking at her indulgently. "I want you to get exactly what you want. Don't worry about the price."
Hermione really wasn't sure about the idea of being left alone in the past so quickly, but she knew that they needed to get the ball rolling on the betting. She nodded, ready to look through all the offerings that had been preselected for her, but not before pulling him down for one additional lingering kiss. Theo looked a bit shocked when he pulled away, but straightened and left, instructing her to wait for him in the reception area when she was finished, in about an hour.
Once they were left alone, the realtor began blathering away about all the trendy areas that they could find a flat in, most notably Godric's Hollow. Hermione mostly ignored the man, instead choosing to flip through the book, her eyes watering from the exorbitant prices that they were going for. Still, Theo had insisted that she spare no expense, and she knew that their home would need to project a certain level of wealth.
Flipping the page, Hermione's heart nearly stopped when she saw the address. Her fingers traced over the moving pictures included in the listing. "I like this one," she said confidently. "I don't even need to see it. I'm sure that this is the one," she added, breathless.
"Are you sure you don't want to see it Mrs. Nott?" the realtor asked, his bushy eyebrows nearly disappeared in his hairline. "I wouldn't want you to be unhappy with your decision."
"If you must," Hermione said dismissively, knowing that there was no way he was going to be able to talk her out of Number 26 Grimmauld Place. The vicinity to the Black family's townhouse was only too intriguing, and Hermione hoped it would be an easy way to cultivate connections with the pureblood sphere they needed to infiltrate.
A short while later, a portkey was arranged to take her to look at the home, for her comfort. The townhouse was nothing like the Grimmauld Place that she knew. Instead, it was light and airy, spacious, but in need of a good cleaning. There were more bedrooms than she and Theo could ever hope to inhabit, with several bathrooms as well. The dining room was beautifully appointed and the realtor even boasted of ample space to house an army of house elves. Hermione had to bite her tongue to stop from snapping at him about how they wouldn't be needing any House Elves when she realized that those kind of thoughts likely would not fit the bill.
She didn't see any reason why Theo shouldn't like the townhouse as it was perfectly acceptable, and with the right furnishings, she was sure they wouldn't be able to tell that it hadn't been in the family for ages.
The realtor returned her to his office where she found Theo waiting for her. He didn't even look at the paperwork before arranging for payment to be made from his newly opened Gringotts bank. Then her husband was ushering her out of the room."The goblins have given us some credit. My family name goes much further than I would have expected," he told her. "But the largest bet will be paid out in two days, so I am sure they will see that their faith was well placed."
"Our new home will need a lot of furniture. We won't be able to stay there tonight," Hermione explained, biting her lower lip as she thought it over. "Perhaps we should spend the evening at the Three Broomsticks and then come up with a more concrete plan for tomorrow morning."
"The Three Broomsticks?" Theo asked, looking aghast. "I can't ever imagine my father allowing me to stay there."
"I know, but...we are new to the Country, and well...we should save a little money if we can. Just because our bets will be paid out doesn't mean that we should blow through all of our galleons if we don't have to." Hermione didn't know what they would do if Malfoy and Zabini had somehow been wrong about the Quidditch scores in the first place. It was leaving too much up to chance in her opinion.
Theo could not argue with that logic. "Alright, I suppose. But first, let's get to Ollivander's. I can't leave you without a wand," he said, showing that he had not forgotten about the conundrum with Bellatrix's wand. The cobbled streets were familiar, but also somehow different, lined with old shops and ones that she had never seen before. But, it was clear that Garrick Ollivander had not changed one bit, giving her a quick smile when his eyes settled on her. "Hello, my wife needs a new wand," Theo said confidently, not stuttering on Hermione's new title.
"Of course, of course. I presume that you previously had a dragon heartstring core?" Ollivander asked, looking at Hermione at every angle while he tried to size her for a wand.
"Yes," Hermione answered, knowing better than to ask how he knew that. Ollivander always seemed to have a sense for which wand would fit which wizard. Even Bellatrix's wand was a dragon heartstring, even if the wood type was walnut instead of her faithful vinewood.
Hermione was eager to try whichever wand that he brought back for her, just glad everytime that it was not the wand she received when she was eleven. She didn't even want to think about would happen if her wand was no longer waiting for Hermione Granger the first time. She tried several before finally selecting a holly wand with a dragon heartstring core, at eleven and a half inches. It fit her much better than Bellatrix's wand.
"A very capable wand for a very capable witch," Ollivander said with a touch of awe in his eyes. "I don't believe I've had the pleasure of working with your family before."
She cleared her throat, looking back down at the wand, pleased to note that it was the same material wand that Harry's had been. It felt as if she had a little piece of him with her. "You wouldn't have," she said finally. "I've lived my entire life abroad." Hermione had decided that less was more when it came to discussing the manufactured life that they had created for her. The fewer details she needed to keep together, the better.
Theo paid for the wand and once theyleft, he lead the way to the Three Broomsticks. They were some of the only patrons inside and their entrance didn't cause much issue, mercifully. Theo ushered her towards the bar. After a few quick words with the barkeep, he was taking her upstairs. "I've arranged for us to have dinner brought to our room."
There was nothing spectacular about the full bed in the middle of the room, but Hermione felt the weight of the day leave her shoulders. She undid the transfiguration on her clothes and sunk down on the edge of the mattress. Turning her head, she watched as Theo dropped himself into the chair, his eyes dropping to his lap. It was odd to remember once again that he was the only person in this whole time that she could rely on. "Not having regrets, are you?" she asked softly.
He turned to face her, weariness in his eyes. "Not yet," he answered, simply, letting his eyes trace over the curve of her body spread on the bed. "You?"
"No," she answered his challenge, unwilling to show the Slytherin any weakness. "I'm glad I've had your help though. I don't know how I would have gotten on if it wasn't for you."
Theo seemed uncomfortable with the praise and dropped his eyes to his lap again. "Well, don't thank me yet. We still have a lot to accomplish. Furniture for the house and then clothes of course. Can't believe I forgot about clothes," he said with a frown. "Tell me about the house. You were so insistent, but I've never even heard of it before."
"Walburga and Orion Black live at Number Twelve Grimmauld Place, with their sons Sirius and Regulus. I figured it was too good of an opportunity to pass up. They could be our ticket in to You-Know-Who's circle of influence," she explained calmly, glad to see that he seemed to recognize the name. "And I have it on good authority that Orion Black is incredibly paranoid. As soon as he hears that a new magical couple have moved in on his block, I am sure he won't be able to resist reaching out."
"How do you know all of this?" Theo asked, looking amazed at the words that fell from her mouth.
"Sirius was Harry's godfather," she said with a bittersweet smile on her face. "And I've had more than one argument with that man when I lived at Grimmauld Place one summer."
"You like him," Theo said, eyes narrowing a fraction.
Hermione snorted in laughter. "Not like that. Don't be jealous, Theo," she said, smirking at him. "Besides...he's only what, thirteen here?" she asked trying to do the mental math.
It was Theo's turn to roll his eyes at her. "The absolute worst time in a young man's life. When he thinks that he is the epitome of attraction and that absolutely no witch can resist him, despite being little more than an annoying pest whose voice hasn't even changed properly yet."
"Speaking from experience," she mused.
Before they could argue about Sirius Black any more, there was a knock at the door. Theo went to answer it, finding their dinner waiting for them on the other side. Hermione used her new wand to move the desk so that they could sit across from one another. She was pleased to see Tom's classic mash with beef stew and dug in happily, only to notice that Theo had a slip of paper in his hands.
"Well, it seems as if your gamble has paid off, Hermione," he said, handing it over to her. "The Blacks have invited us to dinner at their home tomorrow."
Hermione was surprised that they would have moved that fast, but she couldn't say that she was disappointed when there was no reason why they shouldn't get started as soon as possible. "I guess this means we need to go shopping tomorrow," she said with a disappointed frown on her face. If there was one thing she disliked, it was shopping for formal robes; but it was made all the worse by being completely in the dark with how formal the occasion was. At least she would have Theo to help guide her.
An awkward silence settled between the two teenagers, neither one quite sure what to talk about when they weren't planning on their mission. They would certainly have to work on this if they were ever going to pass suspicion at Grimmauld Place.