Theodore slammed the book shut with a loud bang. 'Where did you find this trash? The upstart author has no respect for the Pytagion Theory, so all his logic is fundamentally flawed.'

Hermione ignored him as she scribbled out her own notes.

'Why are you smiling? I just wasted half an hour on this crummy book!'

Hermione smiled even wider. 'Your passion for obscure arithmancy principles just makes me really happy.'

'I'm glad I amuse you,' he grumbled.

'Anyway, you can blame the Noble House of Black. The book came with Harry's inheritance from his godfather.' She never mentioned Grimmauld Place directly. Theodore made a great study partner, but she wasn't quite ready to spill all of her secrets. She had learnt the importance of having a cosy secret safe-house the hard way, through the horrors of tent life. Now that they knew Snape wasn't a traitor, they could trust in the safety of Grimmauld Place again. Anyway, she was glad for the excuse not to invite him to her dreary home. The owner of Tomes and Scrolls at Hogsmeade had let her use the backroom for studying, as part of her payment for some inventory work, along with a small amount of galleons. Though she liked the security of the money, she appreciated the study space even more.

Hermione turned back to her Transfiguration textbook, waving her wand in the pattern demonstrated in the book for turning toads into feathers.

'Your swish is too high,' Theodore said. 'It should peak at chin level.'

She shook her head. 'You're such a know-it-all.' But she followed his advice, and she had to admit that the motion felt more natural.

Her eyes were starting to droop when she felt a tug, and she grasped her book harder. 'Hey!' she shouted.

'You need a break,' Theodore insisted as he yanked the book out of her hands with his superior strength. 'Think logically. Compare your brains, resources and study efforts against the difficulty of the test. There is no universe in which you wouldn't get an O in your Transfiguration N.E.W.T. Go grab a coffee and give me a chance to catch up.'

She tried to stare him down, but it seemed he was immune. She gave in ungracefully, shuffling out the door and making a beeline for Morgana's Coffeehouse. If she was forced away from her books, she might as well energise her brain with some caffeine so she could make up for the lost time later.

As she walked down the street she caught a glimpse of white around the corner. She raced forward to catch up with it. 'Malfoy!' she whisper-shouted. He turned around, then gestured to the side of Madam Puddifoots. She followed him around to the back of the shop, where there was a little garden. She peered around and finally saw a shoe sticking out from behind a big oak tree. As she joined him, she realised that the spot was hidden by the tree on one side and a fence on the other. 'Well,' she said, 'Is this a secret Slytherin make-out spot?'

'More like a super-obvious make-out spot known by anyone who ever went to Hogwarts.'

She could see how that would be the case. But school was out so they were unlikely to be interrupted by any students. Plus the chance of being caught did give things a certain thrill. She would deny it if anyone asked, but she hadn't exactly spent all that time hanging around the boy-who-lived for the mundane lifestyle.

He reached out and she stepped into the circle of his arms, greeting him with a kiss. She stepped back despite his protests, and looked up thoughtfully. She waved her wand, and a ladder appeared on the tree. She grasped the ladder and started climbing, brushing against him on her way up. When she reached the thick branch two feet off the ground, she hoisted herself up, straddling the branch. 'Up for some fun?' she called down.

He climbed up quickly, then straddled the other side of the branch so that they were facing each other. She scooted along the branch as far as she could, then leaned in for another kiss, keeping her hands on the branch for balance. He responded enthusiastically, grabbing her ass and pulling her forward until they were fully pressed against one another. Her legs started to ache from the strain, as though she were doing the splits. She found relief when she bent them at the knee and twined them around his. Using him for support, she felt confident enough to lift her death grip on the tree branch. She ran her hands across his shoulders, then pulled away from his mouth. He made a sound of protest which turned into a moan when she nipped at his neck, sucking at his pulse point. When she licked a particularly sensitive spot, he wobbled and almost lost his balance, saved when she grabbed the branch hard in one hand, and his shirt with the other. They stared at each other in shock for a few moments after the close call, then burst into laughter.

'Well, that was different,' Malfoy said when they had calmed themselves down. They had rearranged themselves so his back was firmly against the tree trunk to avoid any more near-death experiences, and she was leaning back against him with her legs to one side of the tree, his arm around her waist.

The gravity-defying shenanigans were new, but they had been meeting every other day for the last three weeks, mostly in the Muggle world, and they had been getting pretty creative. There was a memorable encounter in a sauna that would star in her dreams for a while yet. Three weeks ago they had met at the art gallery as agreed, and wandered around with nothing but friendly chatter and the occasional not-so-accidental brush of hands. They had kept up the pretence for about an hour, then she had succumbed to lust after a well-timed stroke of her thigh to 'brush off some dirt' as they sat on the steps outside. That had led to a heavy make-out session that was only interrupted by the sudden burst of music from a street performer nearby.

She had been surprised to learn that he had an apartment a few blocks from Diagon Alley, but they had yet to take their romance to his home. She had designated it a friends-only zone. It made their liaisons more complicated, but that was the point. She was determined to be his friend as well as his lover. They didn't exactly stay up late having deep conversations about their feelings, but they asked about each other's days, and picked up some of the rest from non-verbal cues. She had been right about his loneliness. He didn't seem to have much contact with the world outside of visits with his mother and the occasional letter to Pansy Parkinson in France. She herself felt incredibly spoiled to be surrounded by so many friends she loved, but she would never forget what it felt like to be alone, as she had been when she was younger. She wanted to be his friend, but she didn't want to be his girlfriend, for a million obvious reasons. So boundaries were necessary. If she visited his apartment they might share a meal, but they wouldn't have sex. For his part, he seemed happy either way, to see Hermione the friend or Hermione the lover. She felt the same way. She wasn't sure why it worked, this weird and messy compartmentalising, but it did.

Draco nudged her leg with his. 'I was shocked by your choice of location. I thought you hated flying. Isn't this just like being on a big stationary broom?'

She shook her head. 'I'm not afraid of heights. I'm not even scared of flying in general either- I've ridden Hippogriffs and dragons. But brooms always feel so flimsy, like there's nothing between you and gravity.'

'That's the fun part,' he insisted. She smiled, thinking of how many times Harry had said the exact same thing.

She was startled by the tolling of a bell in the distance. 'Is it really 2 o'clock already? I have to go,' she said, as she reached for the ladder.

'What's the rush?' he asked.

'Study session with Neville,' she said. 'I was on a coffee break. He'll be wondering if I fell in a ditch somewhere.'

He followed after her, and when they reached the bottom of the tree he gave her a kiss on the cheek, before walking away. She stared after him for a moment, wondering if she should be concerned at the show of casual affection. She decided to just let it be. She took the left turn back onto the main street and collided with someone, who steadied her before she could fall over.

'Neville!' she exclaimed, looking up. It was as though she had summoned him with her lie. 'How are you? It's been ages.'

'I'm great,' he said. 'I've been studying, setting up my own little greenhouse. I'm here running some errands for Nan.'

'And Luna? She and her father are staying with you, right?'

'Yep,' he said. 'I thought they would clash, but Nan adores her. Says she keeps things lively.'

Hermione laughed. 'Are you and Luna…'

'No,' he said with a smile. 'I adore Luna too, but we're just good friends. The chemistry isn't there. You on the other hand…' He gave a meaningful look towards the garden where she came from.

'Ah,' she said. 'So you saw us.'

'I did,' he said. 'You looked happy.'

'It's nothing serious,' she said. 'We've just been fooling around for a while.'

'It looked like a bit more than that,' he said softly. 'You don't need to defend yourself to me. I trust your judgement. You're the smartest person I know.'

She sighed and led him over to a nearby bench. 'Okay,' she said. 'So maybe it isn't entirely meaningless,' she said. 'We've been hanging out for a while. We met at a bar a few months ago, and there was just this moment when things clicked, you know? A moment of…'

'Kinship,' he suggested.

'Exactly,' she said, with a surprised look.

He blushed. 'I was going stir-crazy for a while before Luna moved in. Nan has a lot of old-timey romance books in her library.'

'No judgement here,' Hermione said.

'Sometimes those books have truth in them, you know? All the best relationships have those moments of kinship. Romances, friendships… do you remember when we met on the train in first year?'

'I do,' she said. 'You were looking around frantically for Trevor. You looked so lost and out of place. I'm sure I came off like an arrogant little brat, as Ron would say, but I felt exactly the same on the inside.'

'I knew you did,' he said, squeezing her hand. She squeezed back.

'Hermione!' came a breathless shout, as Luna came running up to them. 'I could sense the Nargles down the street, and I knew I would find you here if I ran fast enough.'

She handed Neville a wallet. 'You left this behind.'

Hermione gave her a hug. 'You look well.' The last time she had seen Luna, she had looked even frailer than usual, as though she would float away. She had tried to put her usual cheerful spin on it, but losing her home had obviously hurt her. Living with the Longbottoms seemed to agree with her.

'So do you,' Luna said, reaching out to pick a leaf out of Hermione's hair. 'Communing with nature can free the Fuzzputs from your aura. So can eating strawberries, and kissing.'

Hermione gave a nervous laugh, and looked to Neville for help.

Neville linked his arm with Luna's, and dug out a list. 'I'd better finish off these errands. Care to join me, Luna? Maybe we can get dinner afterwards.'

'Wait,' Hermione said on an impulse. 'How about a study session? I'd like you to meet my brother.'

Theodore looked up as the door slammed shut. 'About time. I thought you might have abandoned me for a second, but I knew you would never abandon your books.

Hermione shifted nervously from foot to foot. 'You remember Neville and Luna?' she asked. Then she regretted asking the question and continued on before he could answer. 'I invited them to join us. I need to study Herbology, and Neville has the greenest thumb I know.'

'Pull up a seat,' he told Neville wryly. Luna had already pulled out the chair next to Theodore's, and scooted it close to him. He looked at her askance.

'That book is better upside down,' Luna said in her dreamiest voice, eyeing the arithmancy tome that had irritated Theo earlier. 'The thunder before the lightning. Liffles only like to dance in the light.'

He gave her the look that strangers always gave Luna, the one Hermione was ashamed to have used frequently when they first met. 'If you say so,' he said.

Hermione dug her Herbology textbook out of her bag, finding her place with the ease of practice. 'Now, this plant looks like Aconite, but I know it's different somehow,' she told Neville.

'That's brilliant!' Theodore shouted suddenly ten minutes later. 'This crackpot makes more sense if you look at his answers first. He obviously found the result by accident and then tried to recreate the angles. He heard the thunder before he saw the lightning.' He was looking at Luna as though he might hug her. Hermione and Neville watched with wide eyes, but in the end Theodore just extended a hand to her. 'Theodore Nott. It's nice to meet you, Luna Lovegood.' Luna shook his hand with a look of satisfaction. Hermione had a feeling that Theodore had just passed a test. Luna was more devious than they gave her credit for. Soon Theodore and Luna were talking so intensely about arithmancy that they didn't notice when Neville slipped out. When he returned with scones, they paused only long enough to gulp one down each, and then continued where they left off.

Hermione smiled at Neville. 'Thank you,' she whispered, 'for making this so easy.'

'It was no problem,' Neville said. 'Luna did the hard part. She really is a wonder.'

'That she is,' Hermione agreed.

As she finished off her own scone, she thought about how jealous Harry and Ron would be that she had let Neville and Luna meet Theodore as her brother first. Well, maybe it would encourage them to be more serious about their studies next time.