Theo POV

Hermione looked like she had been smacked across the face and the intake of breath she took was full of emotion, crackling at the end. I watched her magic splutter, the colors swapping quickly into a muddy brownish color. She didn't speak, only starred with a blank face at her childhood friends. Weasel on the other hand appeared to be just getting started. He continued screaming at the same time that Draco and I stood to create a barrier between the two of them.

"What have you done to her?!" He yelled, taking in her clearly broken appearance, his hands latching onto Draco's collar

Draco turned his arrogance on overdrive, sneering at Ron, his magic sparking gold and green. The two colors were vying against each other, seemingly stretching behind him to commingle with the muddy mess coming from Hermione behind us. I could almost feel her pain and confusion. Her magic was a near tangible thing and it was clearly affecting Draco as well.

"The question you should be asking is what haven't we done to her? What all has she begged us to do to her that she would never dream of letting you do?" Draco said, his voice quiet and full of menace.

Bloody hell. He really did not know when to keep his mouth shut when he was angry.

"Draco!" I shouted at him, clasping onto Weasel's hand and yanking it off him. I eyed Hermione behind him, the nasty colors surrounding us, and Draco had the decency to look ashamed when he looked back and saw her near catatonic. His expression changed immediately to concern. He sat at her side, wrapping his arms around her and whispering softly so that only she could hear. The old Hermione was long gone. She didn't even seem to have the energy to be mad because she let him hold onto her without an argument. It made me feel sick. It felt wrong.

"What the fuck is he talking about, Hermione?" Ron continued. "Answer me!"

I turned to the angry redhead, fighting my own anger, my desire to speak with my fists instead of my words only overcome by the desire to get the dozens of eyes off Hermione before she had a full blown panic attack. It wasn't just the risk of embarrassing her, it was the danger of magic being used in the presence of muggles, of her kaleidoscope disease evolving into something dangerous.

I cleared my throat before I replied, squashing my desire to scream. "Let's take this outside."

"Fuck that! That Slytherin loving whore can answer me right here."

The golden glow that came off Draco and myself was so bright that I expected everyone to say something, to finally see the colors. It was a blaringly bright gold light that damn near blocked my entire view. It blasted through the mess of brown gunk and Hermione made a soft sound behind me something close to a whimper. I fought through clenched teeth to remain calm. I couldn't go back to Azkaban. Draco and I would never make it out again and we couldn't leave her, not now that the cat was out of the proverbial bag.

I needed to find the strength to not lose it so I settled for clenching my teeth and speaking through them.

"I get that your angry, but you will not call our girlfriend a whore." Each word came out precise and punctuated. I was seething. My hand itched to reach for my wand. It was a wonder that one of us hadn't pulled one yet.

"GIRLFRIEND?!"

Out of everyone on the other side to de-escalate the situation, I never expected it to be Harry. He yanked at Ron's shoulder, stopping him from reaching into his jacket.

"Are you mad?" Harry muttered, his eyes looking wide behind his signature glasses.

"We need to get him out of here," Ginny said, grabbing at his other shoulder. The two of them pulled him towards the door as he threw a toddler level fit. Weasel fought every step of the way and his familiar date followed, looking a mix of severely embarrassed and shocked. She probably knew who we were, it was impossible not to. The odd thing was, that I didn't know her, not really. Her name was alluding me. I think she was a model or something. I honestly didn't care.

When they were gone, Draco tried to get Hermione to move, but she remained seated, shaking her head fervently. The muggles were rushing us, some kind of manager demanding that we had to leave. Draco tossed some muggle money at them, not even looking at the amount.

"Come on, Love," I said, speaking to her low like I would a terrified child, swiping her bushy hair back before pulling her to her feet.

She opened her mouth to speak, shut it, opened it again.

"They-, they know…the-, they're all going to know." She hiccuped between the whispered words, stuttered through tears that threatened to fall.

I caught Draco's tiny wince with a flash of green. That telltale gesture that he always made when she hurt him. The words and his response were a crack to the chest even after everything. All the confessions of love in the world wouldn't make her shame hurt less.

"Everyone…everyone is going to-, to hate me. I already lost my parents. I can't have them ha-, hate me," I heard her mutter those words as we walked to the door and my self pity was overtaken by empathy. I was used to people hating me, hating Draco. She wasn't and what would she have left after the whole world abandoned her? She would have us, but she would still be losing so much. It wasn't about shame. She was scared. She was absolutely terrified. The muddy brownish magic around her turned nearly black as if my thinking it had brought it into being. Black magic. A new color, the color of fear.

"Fuck…" Draco swore, causing a muggle or two to gasp. We needed to get her outside, away from everything and everyone.

When we walked out the door, I expected to see a crowd of muggles gawking or at very least Harry Potter and the weasel waiting to confront us just outside the door. It was neither. There was a steady stream of muggles, too lost in their own world to notice a few people being evacuated from a now noisy restaurant, and there was Ginny Weasley. She stood on the pavement alone, seemingly oblivious to the muggles around her with her hands tucked deep into her jacket pockets. Draco and I again positioned ourselves around Hermione, now shrouded in black and curled into my side. We prepared for another onslaught of hateful comments or the risk she would physically attack. Ginny was a bad bitch on the Quidditch pitch, never one to back down from a challenge. Draco used to complain about her kicks to his legs being especially brutal for any player, let alone a girl.

The expression on Ginny's face wasn't one of anger though, it was worry and concern. She sighed before she spoke.

"Hermione, I need you to tell me this is what you want, at least a nod or something."

I wouldn't ask her to do it, I wouldn't beg Hermione to speak or do tricks to convince the red-headed girl to leave. Draco and I stayed silent, clearly on the same page. If we had to shove our way back to the path we would do it, but before we could take a step, Hermione nodded against me. I saw the first sign of pink since the debacle had begun, it was nothing compared to what it had been and only just barely visible in the black haze.

"Okay." Ginny bobbed her head, pulling at her coat pockets with another sigh. She repeated the word, almost as if she was trying to convince herself. "Okay."

She eyed Draco in his perfect stance. He was back to being that unwavering statue that had gotten him through everything he had ever faced. With two steps she closed in on him, looking up with sharp eyes.

"If I found out that you've hurt her or given her some sort of love potion, there won't be a corner of this world that I won't hunt you down to."

"Ginny, that's enough." Harry emerged from an alley alone. I could only assume that he had forced Weasel and his date to apparate. He looked over at Hermione with a sad expression. "Are you alright, Hermione?"

She looked up at him.

"Ha-, Harry, I-, I-, I'm s-, s-, sorry." Merlin, the stuttering was getting worse. Terror pooled in my stomach, but there was no color to mine only the feeling of dread, of losing control, of Hermione being at risk. "I sh-, should, have t-, told you."

"You definitely should have."

Harry looked between Draco and myself, searching for something between us. I reached out for Draco's hand and squeezed it, trying to cool the tension somehow or at least give him comfort.

"Are you safe with them?"

"Of course she is. We love her." It was that simple. He would either believe me or he wouldn't, but if he took one step in our direction, I would apparate, muggles and wizarding laws be damned. He wasn't going to take her with him.

"Not that it's any of your business, Potter."

Hermione lashed a hand out to smack at Draco, making contact with his stomach. Just like that Draco Malfoy softened, there was a hint of affection in the soft mumble of apology he gave her when her black magic pulsed and Harry caught the shift, saw the way that Hermione melted his cold facade.

"St-, stop, be-, being a d-, dick."

Harry actually smiled slightly. Her lack of infatuation was a good sign, hopefully it helped him realize she wasn't dosed with love potion.

"But you like my dick."

For the love of all that's magical. Did Draco have to choose now for a damn witty comeback?

The black faded a tinge, red coming out to color Hermione's cheeks and her magic. I was starting to see pink again in myself and Draco in response.

"Gross. Save me the visuals please?" Harry said, placing a hand on his forehead to massage his temples. "I just need to know you're okay, Hermione. We'll…we'll work out the rest."

Another color joined the party, a known one at least. Yellow. Hermione was seeping yellow at the prospect.

"I-, I am. Promise."

I'd never had anything against Harry Potter. His rivalry with Draco had been the only constant in Draco's shit life. Hating Harry hadn't just been a by-product of his upbringing. I knew it had been jealousy too. Seeing his happiness had only ever caused Draco pain. Without that jealousy and with the threat of Hermione's happiness hanging in the balance, Draco bridged the gap between them.

"Come and see for yourself, Potter. My mother is throwing a party at the manor on Christmas Eve. You're welcome to attend, if you can find it in your busy savior schedule of course," Draco said. "You can even bring the girl weasel."

Ginny chose violence, kicking him with her boot. She even gave him a smirk after she did it and I couldn't help a small laugh as Draco hissed. Hermione's hold on me loosened. More yellow, more pink. Thank fuck.

"It's a date then," Harry said with his own chuckle. "We already screwed up one of those this week. I was looking forward to those croissants. They were supposed to be delicious. Auror Lewis said they were the best in England."

"They were," Draco responded smugly, before glancing nervously at his pocket when his wand started to buzz. We were nearing our probation time limit for the trip into town.

"We have to go," I said and Harry looked again at Hermione and paused. He seemed to want to move forward, to embrace her, but he stopped himself. Hermione stared back, swallowing hard before she spoke again.

"Ha-Harry?"

"Yeah?"

"Love you." You could hear the familial connection between them, her desire for him to know that she was okay, that she still cared about him, that she understood there would be space to fix what had been broken.

"Love you too." He replied with a small smile. He only gave Draco and I a nod. "Malfoy. Nott."

After a responding nod from Draco and myself, we led the way back to the path towards home and hopefully towards answers. Another new color meant we were losing our hold on the kaleidoscope disease. Soon the whole wizarding world would know that Hermione Granger was dating us and the last thing we needed was for her to lose her magic…or worse. No. There couldn't be worse. We needed to save Hermione Granger's magic or we were going to be absolutely fucked.