"In a good way or a bad way?" she asked him, her eyes tracing his face. He glanced back at the horizon, and she was momentarily distracted by the sound of his fingers tapping on the railing.

"I'd like to think that it's for the better," he gave her a final look and spun on his heel, leaving her alone.

Always so cryptic.

She felt like all of his answers were left for interpretation. There could be a hundred meanings behind those words. And although Hermione enjoyed the art of solving mysteries, an enigma like Malfoy wasn't on her list of priorities.

If his thoughts on certain things have altered for the better, good for him. It didn't really mean much to her.

…

"Have you ever wondered who I could be?" Harry questioned. He was quite sure his therapy partner wasn't anyone he knew well since if it were, he would've easily guessed who from the way they spoke or their slang. All the people he was close to had some speaking patterns that he grew pretty aware of.

"Sometimes," Theo answered, "But then I stop myself from thinking about it."

"Why?" Harry asked, feeling a bit hurt by his answer.

"Because I know that if I think about it enough, I'll figure it out eventually."

Harry pushed his glasses back with his index finger, "And what's the problem in that? Mcgonnogal didn't say anything about whether we could or couldn't share each other's identities."

Theo let out a low scoff and pinched the bridge of his nose, "Trust me, I couldn't care less about what Mcgonnagal said. It's just that," he paused for a second, trying to find a way to organize his thoughts to prevent from revealing more than what's necessary, "I'm," he didn't want to say it, "I just don't want what we have to be ruined or get complicated by external environments."

Theo was sure that the person behind the wall wasn't anyone he knew either, and his partner was sort of his safe space. Someone who listened to his deepest, darkest thoughts, showed understanding and wasn't judgmental whatsoever. No one he knew outside these walls would react with such compassion to his thoughts and actually listen to him, not even Draco most of the time. He knew that Draco cared about him and had his shit to deal with. Theo didn't mind that he wasn't around to listen all the time, but he couldn't suppress his own needs of wanting to have someone that would be there for him, even if it was only for one hour each week. It was enough for him.

But, he was afraid that his safe space would turn out to be nothing like he had expected. That things wouldn't be the same, and they wouldn't talk to each other the same way anymore. That finding out who he was would create distance between them rather than bringing them closer.

"Why do you think like that?" Harry disagreed with him. He didn't think that their unique form of linkage would be ruined once they knew each other's identities. Friendships were never really complicated for Harry. He only cared about a handful of things, the most important of them being trust.

If there was no trust, there was no friendship.

He learned that golden principle through a lot of betrayals and painful experiences. But, so far, he trusted his therapy partner even more than he should.

He also didn't like people with unpredictable behavior patterns. It reminded him of his childhood with the Dursleys. Since their moods and reactions always depended on how they felt at certain moments. Petunia would sometimes act decent and be nice to him but could instantly switch her mood and lock him under the cupboard for absolutely no reason.

He could literally be cleaning the house and doing all the chores demanded of him and even do a little extra to make them happy, or in the hopes that they would give a tiny fraction of the attention, they shower Dudley with on a daily basis, but no. Instead, Petunia would cut his dinner portion in two just because he used his time inefficiently and could've instead spent that extra time polishing her shoes to the brink of perfection.

He wanted to break this cycle of instantly eliminating people out of his life when they showed tiny hints of unpredictability and not let his past installed childhood traumas affect his adult life, but it was mentally challenging to take a step forward without healing his inner child.

The child that was trapped like a bird in a cage and couldn't experience the comfort of his mother reading him a bedtime story and tucking him in bed at night. The one that lived his adolescence years with the constant pressure of the whole wizarding world depending on him.

Theo chewed on his bottom lip, "It's not really a thought. It's just a feeling that I have, and most of my feelings come out to be true," he answered truthfully.

"Most of them," Harry pointed out, "How do you know that it'll be the case this time?"

Harry could sense that his therapy partner didn't really want to have this conversation, and he promised himself that he wouldn't push it. Even if he knew that he didn't only want to communicate with him through a wall and spend more time with him, he was okay with continuing like this if it meant that his partner was going to be his life.

"I don't," he answered, shifting in his seat, "but I don't want to risk it." Harry nodded in understanding, "Okay, enough deep talk," Theo said, slamming his palms on his thighs, "What do you think one of the worst top ten moments of Falmouth Falcons is?"

Harry shook his head, smiling, "Where do I even begin!" He exclaimed, happy to be back in his safe space.

…

It was time to ask Ginny about what the final verdict was with Harry. She had previously planned on asking her during dinner, but Seamus had sat next to them and proceeded to go on forever about his recent girl problems and whined about how girls apparently acted interested in him so that they could get close and more information about Dean.

The approach they used was logical to Ginny since Dean mostly kept to himself and didn't socialize much, and to be fair, he did look really handsome, and Hermione thought it was wrong. That the girls should just talk to Dean directly instead of doing it through Seamus, even though he came across as intimidating, and she also never really liked Seamus. She found him irritating, and he only talked nonsense that she couldn't have cared less about.

"So…" Hermione started, laying on her bed and pulling the covers over her petite frame.

"What?" Ginny asked, arching her head forward to look at Hermione from her bed.

"You haven't told me what happened?" Hermione sat up on her bed and placed two pillows behind her to straighten her back. She was never able to have serious conversations when she lay in bed. She always felt like she had to sit up in a more formal manner.

"About what?" The redhead pulled her brows together, gripping a pillow from her side and squishing it between her legs.

Hermione rolled her eyes, "You know exactly what I'm referring to, Gin."

"No, I don't," she denied in a tone full of dripping sarcasm.

She huffed and waited until Ginny stopped fooling with her.

"I could do this for hours," the redhead witch said, "Me too," Hermione retorted.

"Ha! I made you talk," Ginny smiled triumphantly. She rolled her eyes again and continued to give her the silent treatment by picking a book from her nightstand. She glanced at the words rapidly without taking in the words.

"Fine!" Ginny cried out, "you're no funnn." A brief smile formed on her lips, and she shut the book, placing it back on her nightstand, "He apologized for acting distant with me and asked me to stay with him."

Hermione knew how Harry worked, and she was sure that he probably didn't have the heart to tell her how he actually felt about their relationship, but seeing Ginny all hopeful worried her.

From the looks of it, she didn't know how long Harry could carry on this act, but she could already tell that it wasn't going to end well.

She wanted to believe that what Harry was experiencing was just a phase and that he would grow out of it, but usually, when he made a decision, it was definitive.

She hated being in the middle. She felt like a traitor.

Hermione sighed and tried to muster up a smile, "I'm glad that things are better between you two."

"I was pretty terrified whilst walking up to his room, actually, but I'm glad we're okay now. I can't really see myself with anyone else," she confided, also sitting up like Hermione, "When he stopped being affectionate with me for a while, I tried to look at other guys and picture myself being with someone else, but I couldn't. Harry was the first guy I was ever interested in, and I want him to be the last. Gods , I sound so cheesy," she slammed her hands on her face, shaking her head.

"Yeah, I know, Gin," she let out a brief chuckle, "I've had to listen to you crushing over my best friend since second year. It's still a bit odd to listen to you talking about 'how beautiful his eyes are' or you describing the way 'he kisses you. "

Ginny threw a pillow towards her, which she easily dodged, "Hey!" She exclaimed, tossing the pillow back, "Or 'how hot he looks in his quidditch uniform'" Hermione cringed her teeth in disgust. She tolerated Ginny talking about Harry like that, but it was still weird. Harry was her best friend, and having to listen to a sexualized version of him wasn't really something she was dying to hear.

"You think that's weird?" She scoffed, "I had to listen to you romanticizing about my brother for seven fucking years. There's literally nothing worse than that."

Hermione rolled her eyes, "Well, Harry is like my brother, and you haven't had to listen to me romanticizing about him on a daily basis—"

"Daily basis, my ass!" Ginny exclaimed, "I never talked about Harry daily. I probably only talked about him once a week or every two weeks. "

"Are you sure about that? Because we can go to a pensive right now and retreat all my memories from when you talked about Harry, and I'm pretty sure the memory count will add up to a minimum of two thousand," she retorted matter-of-factly, pursing her lips.

"Two thousand? That's definitely a reach," Ginny folded her arms, "And why are we even talking about this right now? I seriously don't remember how we got here," she laughed, grabbing a napkin from her nightstand to wipe her nose.

"I don't know either, to be honest," she said, getting up and sitting on Ginny's bed, "I'm glad you're okay, though," she gave her a half smile.

"Yeah, me too," the redhead mirrored her smile, "Okay, so update me on what's going on with that shitty therapy partner of yours."

Hermione chuckled, "Well…he likes Mint Chocolate," she offered in a high-pitched tone.

Ginny cringed her teeth and made a face of disgust, "Let's put a tick next to potential psycho on the listen then. Seriously Mint Chocolate? And it's a 'he' then, huh?"

She nodded, "Yup."

"So, in the last two weeks, you've only come to find out that he likes Mint Chocolate?" Ginny inquired, crossing her legs together.

When she really thought about it, that really was it. She knew that he didn't want to share anything personal with her and that he liked Mint Chocolate, "Pretty much he doesn't like to share much."

"Those thirty minutes must be hell for you then," Ginny scoffed, running a hand through her hair.

Was it hell?

Not really.

It was more of a challenge.

An enigma that she actually wanted to solve, opposite to what she felt about Malfoy.

"Not really. I think that the way he is makes me more interested in wanting to know more about him. He somehow motivates me to try harder" she answered truthfully, the realization hitting her at the same time.

"So what you're saying is you like hard to get," she quirked her lip upwards, forming a smirk.

"Yeah... Yeah, I guess I do."

"Makes sense. It's very suitable for your nature," she commented, rising up to her feet.

Hermione watched her as she walked to the bathroom, "I'll take that as a good thing."

An enigma suitable for her nature. She liked the thought of that.

…

Whilst Harry and Hermione walked to dinner. She saw Theo gesturing for her to come to sit with him at the Slytherin table, "Would you like to join?" She asked Harry, who looked quite hesitant, "Harry, we both know that this house system is bollocks, and from what I've seen, you seem to get along pretty well with Theo," she looked at him expectantly.

"But I promised to Seamus and Dean that I would join them for dinner," he said, looking over at the two boys, who looked like they were arguing about something.

"Trust me. They're the last people you want to talk with right now. Do you really want to listen to Seamus go on and on about his never-ending girl problems?" She inquired, placing her hands on her hips.

"No, not really," he whispered.

"Okay then. Let's go," they both walked over to the Slytherin table. A couple of sneers and bad looks were cast at them, but they both ignored them and continued.

"Potter now too? Might as well call over the whole Weasley clan to complete the picture," Draco huffed, clutching his teacup away from him to prevent another episode of manic laughter imposed by Alihosty.

"He's not that bad actually," Theo defended, watching as the pair approached them.

"And what makes you say that?" Draco asked, glaring at Granger, who had her eyes cast to the ground.

The dark-haired wizard tilted his head back to glare at him, "I've actually gotten to know him a bit, and he's not as bad as we once thought," he answered and was cut off by Hermione.

"Hey," she took a seat next to Theo, and Harry sat next to her.

"Heyy, how was the date?" He smirked at her playfully and gave the nod to Harry.

"The date?" Harry asked, looking confused, and glanced over at Malfoy, who was concentrating on the contents of his plate, ignoring their arrival.

"Yeah," she tilted her face towards him, "I was obliged to go on a date with Adrian because of him," she motioned her head in the direction of the platinum blonde.

Draco huffed, shaking his head, "You're the one who suggested going on a date with him. It had nothing to do with me," he said defensively, taking a sip of his peppermint tea.

"Nothing to do with you? It has everything to do with you, Malfoy!" She snapped, watching him as he placed his cup on the saucer. A bark of chocolate was placed on the side of it. It looked like milk chocolate with tiny bits of something in it, but she couldn't quite tell what it was.

Maybe hazelnut chocolate?

Milk chocolate with candy canes in it?

Milk chocolate with caramel?

Mint?

She dismissed that last thought. He didn't seem like the Mint Chocolate type. Her best guess was that he was more of a ninety percent bitter dark chocolate type of person.

She did enjoy dark chocolate occasionally but could only tolerate it until forty percent dark chocolate. Anything higher than that was too bitter for her. She didn't see the point of consuming chocolate if it didn't leave a sweet aftertaste in her mouth.

"How? It's not like I forced you to," he retorted, intertwining his hands together and placing them on the table.

She licked her lips in frustration, "No," she commenced, trying to keep a tone that didn't show any emotion, "But, your actions did," she started placing fries on her plate and some sweet and sour chicken.

"You can't blame others for the way you handle situations, Granger," he said matter-of-factly.

"Do you know what's going on?" Theo chimed in, looking at Harry.

Harry snickers lightly, "Not at all—" he shook his head.

"Instead of complaining, you know you can thank me for saving your arse from a potential suspension from what you were about to do. But, no, of course you can't. I wouldn't even be surprised if you didn't know what thanking people meant. And here you are, claiming that you've changed for the better. Is this ' the better' you were talking about?!" She cut into her chicken aggressively, staring at her plate to not get annoyed by looking at his infuriating face.

"Mind including us in your convo?" Theo asked at the bickering duo, expecting to be yelled at by one of them.

He didn't even acknowledge Theo's comment, "Why would I risk getting suspended for someone that means absolutely nothing to me? And, you're mistaken again. I know how to thank people, but only the ones that are worth thanking," his voice was calm, compared to hers, full of rage.

"No? Okayyy," Theo said, slowly getting up from his seat and motioning to Harry to do the same. The scarhead followed him, and they casually walked away from the-soon to be war scene.

"Are they still always like this?" Harry asked when they were quite far from them.

"Yup. If you think this is bad, then you don't even want to know how they are during our group meetings. But I love watching them. It's free entertainment," he confessed, shrugging, and Harry chuckled.

"You're acting as if I did something bad for you," she said in a more gentle tone this time.

"I didn't need you to help me," he tucked back a strand of hair that fell on his forehead, making his signet ring flash with the collision of the candlelights above them.

"But I did!" She clapped back, "Sue me."

A hint of a smirk formed on the corner of his lips, "If I did, you would be indebted to me for life," he said, his quicksilver eyes darkening a fraction and studying her features intently.

"Or I can open your case back up at the Wizengamot and testify against you along with others who would be more than happy to do so and send you to Azkaban for life," she spun on her heel and walked out of the Great Hall without another word. She didn't even bother hiding the satisfying look on her face.