Notes: I am still so very impressed by all of you. Thank you for your comments, kudos, etc. This story is a long and winding road and really, we're still at the beginning. So glad to have all of you with me on the journey. Stay well and stay safe.

~*~ Thirteen ~*~

"Can you pass the trowel?"

Hermione shifted, reaching across the lab bench to hand Aurelia the tool. "Here. What next?"

The other girl shrugged, honey eyes studiously avoiding Hermione. "Plant it and wait. Professor Winesport said it should germinate before the end of class today and be ready to harvest next week."

"I suppose it'll give me a chance to finish my latest essay for Professor Dumbledore," Hermione murmured, allowing Aurelia to complete the planting unassisted. It had been a week since the dance and while Malfoy had seemed more amiable, Aurelia was most certainly not.

For several minutes there was nothing but the scratch of Hermione's quill on the parchment and the clank of the trowel on the clay pot, but then Aurelia abruptly dropped the tool, the clatter echoing across the greenhouse, and stared across the workbench at Hermione. "Is it true you're sleeping with Tom?"

Hermione's breath caught and then released as she met her housemate's challenging glare. Since the epiphany that sex with Tom might be the closest she ever got to total escape from her past and her pain, they hadn't bothered to quell their urges. He'd claimed her in the library amidst the stacks, behind tapestries in the halls, even in the Slytherin common room in the darkest hours of the morning. They'd been utterly shameless in their pursuit of pleasure, worried about nothing beyond the heights of ecstasy they could reach together. It was at once liberating and terrifying.

Aurelia scraped the pot across the wooden surface of the bench. "I deserve an answer, Gable."

Hermione knew that the idea of propriety in the Wizarding world was always ahead of that in the Muggle world, but she wasn't entirely sure how ready the 1940's, in either world, were for what she and Tom were doing. But she'd already treated Aurelia, the only person beyond Dumbledore who'd welcomed her freely here, so poorly. There was no excuse to continue to lie to her, propriety be damned. Sighing, Hermione nodded. "Yes."

The other girl blinked, momentarily stunned as she digested Hermione's answer. Her lips twitched and her eyes alit, closer to the luminous honey of when they'd first been acquainted. "Is it any good? I heard from Hyacinth Parkinson that when she and Cygnus finally did the act, it was awful and she never wanted to see another man without his clothes again."

Hermione couldn't help the snort of laughter that escaped. "Merlin, that must have been truly awful. Although the first time isn't always good. Actually, unless you have a partner that takes the time to… care for you, it can be bloody awful." She paused, studying Aurelia. The girl's hands were clenched on the edge of the workbench, her body tilted toward Hermione in undisguised interest. "Tom wasn't my first time, Aurelia. Far from it actually. But he is by far the best I've ever had."

"But never with Mallet?"

It took Hermione a moment to realize she was asking about Malfoy. Her stomach dropped upon the realization, a dread she couldn't understand curdling its contents. "No. I didn't lie to you before, Aurelia. Dacian and I are barely friends. We were thrown together by circumstance, not choice."

"That may be, but I'm not blind. And neither is Tom. You can deny it all you want, but Dacian clearly feels something substantial for you. He's protective in a way only a sibling or lover should be." There was an apologetic smile on her thin lips, a knowledge that her words were not what Hermione wanted to believe. "I know you don't want to hear this and I know the distance between us is my fault, but being naïve isn't going to help you, Hermione."

Hermione ran a hand through her hair, fingers snagging on stray curls. Sighing, she met Aurelia's charged stare. "I know. I just don't understand Dacian at all. I thought I knew where we stood, but the closer I get to Tom, the less I understand anything."

Aurelia blinked once, slowly. "You're falling for him. Truly falling for him." She shook her head, mouth tugging down at the corners. "Oh, Hermione. He's going to shatter you. How could you be so stupid?"

How could she, indeed. And yet every time he took her away from the pain, every time she downed in those dark sapphire eyes, every time he filled the ache that festered deep within, she slipped just a little bit further. She, better than anyone, knew how foolish it was to fall for the monster, to stake her life and the world's future on a boy with madness in his veins. But without his touch, what was the point of it all anyway? Her world had already ended, her friends and family dead and gone, and this was only limbo, all greys and shadows of a life that had once been. Was it really such a crime to cling to him and all the hope he gave her battered soul? For with every high a sliver of her returned from the darkness, a fraction of the girl who'd believed the world should be saved.

Beside her, Aurelia sighed, the sound heavier than it ought to be. "But I get it. If anyone can handle Tom, it's you." Hermione nodded her appreciation, her throat still tight with raw emotion. A hint of a smirk worked the frown off her friend's lips. "But you are going to have to tell everyone, and soon. The rumors are flying far too fast to keep this contained. Plus, I think Malfoy saw you two in the common room one morning."

Hermione jerked, eyes wide, before she realized Aurelia meant Abraxas. Her Malfoy already knew exactly what she and Tom were doing. Of course, just because he'd already heard her—they'd been careful to use silencing spells after that—didn't mean that she wanted him seeing her with Tom. Something about the possibility had bile rising in her throat.

Shaking her head, she focused on the important part of Aurelia's observation. "I'll be sure to mention it to Tom. Although I'm sure he's aware of every single word anyone has said about him anywhere in the school."

"Yes, he does have a way of being annoyingly omniscient," was her dry reply.

Legilimency was the obvious explanation, but Hermione wasn't about to alert anyone, not even Aurelia, to her full knowledge of Tom's darker talents. Besides, he hadn't directed an attack of that particular variety in her direction since they'd started this semblance of a relationship. She wanted to believe he would continue to respect her mind so long as they were together. A less naïve part of her mocked that hope, but Hermione was in the practice of ignoring large portions of her conscious and subconscious.

A sudden bustle in the rest of the greenhouse alerted both girls to the end of the class period. Aurelia picked up their Sneezewort and placed it on the counter with the rest. By the time she returned, Hermione had rolled her parchment into a neat tube and tied it with extra twine she kept in her schoolbag. Aurelia bounced on her toes for a long moment before a half smile cracked across her face.

"Walk me to Divination?"

Hermione couldn't help her answering grin. "Absolutely."

The delighted giggle that escaped her friend elicited an answering laugh. Feeling lighter, Hermione threaded her arm through Aurelia's as they strode out of the greenhouse, laughter echoing off the castle walls. This, this she could do without even a hint of remorse or guilt.