A/N: Thank you all so much for your reviews, favorites and follows! I am so glad that you guys are enjoying this one because it has just been so much fun to write! You can follow me on tumblr (nauticalparamour) where I post sneak peeks, story updates and answer questions. Now without further ado...
Please let me know what you thought of chapter ten and be on the lookout for chapter eleven soon!
Hermione's day had not gone any better once she got to Herbology. Harry and Ron for once were being irritatingly perceptive and tried to get her to tell them what was wrong, but she just couldn't say the words out loud that she thought Harry might be right about Malfoy, especially not without proof. Her dinner was punctuated with the knowledge that Theo had not shown up, but Malfoy was there, head together with Zabini, whispering away.
That gave her pause, wondering what the hell Malfoy was still doing there if they were somehow working together. Surely, he'd be gone, too.
She hadn't been willing to stick around in the Common Room, instead retreating up to her room, hoping to stave off anymore questions from Harry and Ron. Lavender and Parvati were getting ready to go somewhere by the time that she flopped down on her bed. "Where are you two off to?" she asked, trying to be a good roommate for once. "Double date?"
"I wish," groaned Lavender, before holding up her star chart. "No, we are headed to the astronomy tower and not for a snog, unfortunately."
"It's the full moon tonight and Professor Sinistra suggested that we see if there was any significance of the phase of the moon on our star charts," Parvati said with a frown, sounding not very enthused about it. "Talk about a terrible way to spend a Friday night."
Hermione made a little noise of agreement, thinking that she wouldn't particularly like to spend the evening freezing her arse off on the astronomy tower. "Well, good luck, I suppose," she bid her two roommates before they left the room.
It wasn't until several minutes after they left that the words full moon seemed to register to Hermione. The thought hit her like a ton of bricks, while she tried to conjure up reasons of why it couldn't be true. Standing from her bed, she opened her planner and began flipping through the pages, counting back the days of moon phase. The last Friday in September had been a full moon, too, and there was one right before school started as well.
Holding the planner to her chest, Hermione stared at the hanging curtains of her bed, trying to decide how plausible that it was that Theo Nott was a werewolf. It would explain why he looked so much worse that Malfoy did, and only at particular times. Part of her had hoped that Theo was just more uncomfortable with the things that the Death Eaters did...that he was somehow better than Malfoy.
But, if he was a werewolf, that meant that it was unlikely he was a Death Eater. Even Hermione knew that Voldemort was unwilling to mark Fenrir Greyback, despite all of the terrible little things that he carried out for the dark wizard.
Shaking her head, Hermione tried to focus again. It would explain how he'd known that it was her in the corridor, because she knew from Remus that werewolves had slightly better than usual senses of smell and hearing. Had that been why he had sniffed her in that broom cupboard, too, she wondered? She hadn't been able to shake how odd that moment had been to her since it had happened.
Of course, if the new scar he sported on his jaw had been given to him by a werewolf, it made sense why he hadn't healed it. It would be a cursed scar, then, resistant to any magical means of healing. Merlin, and for some reason, she'd just thought that he hadn't been able to get it healed himself, like he hadn't grown up as a wizard his whole life!
She began to pace back and forth across the room as all the pieces began to fall into place for her. And, she was quick to remind herself, he'd burnt his fingers on the silver cauldron in potions class. Professor Slughorn had loudly announced that he was careless and burnt himself on a hot cauldron, but Hermione had noticed that the fire hadn't been lit yet. Was that all misdirection from the bumbling professor, or had he just assumed that Theo was inept?
Flopping down on her bed, Hermione whispered the words that seemed all too real for the first time. "Theo Nott is a werewolf," she said, with her head back on the pillow. That was the reason that he couldn't meet with her - because he would be transforming. Running her hand down her face, she felt horrified over how long it took her to figure everything out. She of all people should have known the signs. After all, she was very close with Remus, still, having figured out about his own furry little secret in third year, and subsequently keeping his secret.
Biting her lower lip, she wondered if she should write to Remus to tell him about Theo, but she knew that she couldn't rush things. There was always the very small chance that she had miscalculated and was wrong, and that would be too mortifying to face if she had already told people about what she suspected.
In her mind, a bit of a plan began to form, trying to determine the truth, once and for all. She had a little field trip to take in the morning, she decided. And then...and then she hoped that Theo would actually show up in the library.
...
It hadn't been too difficult to get the boys to agree to sneak into Hogsmeade the day before with her, in retrospect. Hermione had begged Harry to get the cloak and his map so that they could go to the wizarding village, citing a dying need for some Honeyduke's chocolate. If they were suspicious of her reasoning for wanting to go, they were only too eager to get out of the castle themselves to question it too much.
She supposed that it wasn't a dying need, but she did feel like she needed it on the off chance the Theo showed up. She had asked Remus once about his chocolate habit and he revealed that it actually had very mild euphoria producing properties for werewolves, and so it was always good to have on hand for after the full moon. And, outside of the full moon, it was just nice to have a sweet treat.
Now that she was in the library, hunkered down with her Transfiguration essay out in front of her, she placed the bar of chocolate on the desk, snapping off two pieces to eat. Honeyduke's chocolate was unusually delicious, but she forced herself to just have a couple of pieces, to make sure that she'd still have enough to share with Theo.
Hermione worked furiously for an hour, until she had a whole foot's worth of parchment completed. Sitting back in her chair, she read over what she had completed, looking for any errors or mistakes that she could find in what she'd written so far. Stretching her arms over her head when she was done, she whispered the tempus charm to see what time it was. Disappointed to realize how late it was, she knew that she had to face that Theo probably wasn't going to make it. Although, if he really was recovering from the full moon, she would be surprised if he'd find himself well enough to make it at all.
Just as she was about to begin packing her things up, Theo poked his head around the corner of the bookshelf. "Hey Granger," he whispered, so as not to attract Madam Pince's ire. "Still have time for a little arithmancy?"
She had to bite the inside of her cheek to stop the smile from spreading on her face. "Of course," she answered, gesturing to the open seat across from her. "Have a seat. I was just finishing my transfiguration essay."
Putting it in her bag, she pulled out the data for the arithmancy project, as well as all of their notes. Theo was inking a quill when she finally looked up at him again. Taking a moment, she let herself drink in his features. He looked...better. Worn out, but better than when he'd been in class on Friday. The dark circles under his blue eyes did not look so severe. His face was scruffy with the beginnings of a beard once again, and it made her smile.
His eyes met hers with surprise. Scratching at his jaw, he looked confused. "What is it? Something on my face?" he questioned.
Hermione shook her head, her cheeks feeling a bit hot when she realized that she'd been caught staring. "No, I just...your, uh, beard," she stammered, motioning on her own face. "It suits you."
"Oh," he scoffed. "Well, I won't be keeping it. I can only imagine what my father would think if he saw me with this." It was the first time that he'd mentioned his father since they had been working together and it left the atmosphere feeling a bit chilled. Hermione was surprised to hear that he would care so much if Theo decided not to shave a bit.
"Anyways, we should probably get to work," she said, turning her eyes to the parchment, trying to remember where they had left off. There was a bit of tension between the two of them now, and Hermione wondered if maybe it would be better if she had left the compliment to herself.
It didn't take long before they were both sitting in silence, quills scratching away as they worked through the calculations together. She waited a few moments before she reached towards the chocolate, pulling back the foil and taking another square before she popped it in her mouth. Glancing at Theo, she was surprised to see that he was staring at her, watching as she ate it.
"Sorry, terrible manners," she apologized, before shoving the chocolate bar towards him. "Have some - it's Honeyduke's."
He gave her a pained look, holding one hand in front of him. "I couldn't take your chocolate from you," he said, sounding like he would rather like to have some.
"Come on, don't make me eat it all on my own," she pleaded. When he didn't budge, Hermione rolled her eyes, hoping she could goad him into eating it. "I know how much you Slytherins detest muggleborns like me, Theo, but it's not like we have cooties."
"It's not- I know you don't have cooties, Hermione," he whispered, giving her a significant look like he was trying to tell her more, but she couldn't quite figure it out.
"Good. I would expect you to be smarter than that," she said, tersely.
Holding back a smile, Theo reached out and took a row of chocolate from her, before biting off a square. Hermione watched with bated breath for some kind of reaction. While it wasn't hugely significant, she could tell that he at least liked the chocolate. It seemed like some of the tension he was carrying in his shoulders was lifted.
He finished the rest of the row as he resumed his calculations. When he realized it was gone, he looked up at her with surprise. "Thanks for that," he said, as if he couldn't really believe it. "It made me feel better than I have in days, if I'm honest."
"Have the rest," she said, holding out the bar for him to take. "No, really, I insist. I'm not going to eat anymore and if you don't take it, I'm just going to give it to Ron."
Theo seemed hesitant at first, but he eventually took the bar from her outstretched hand. "Thanks, Granger. You are alright," he said with another half-smile on his face.
Hermione nodded, returning her eyes to her work. While it wasn't a telltale sign that he was a werewolf - after all, who didn't like chocolate? - it was certainly a step in the right direction. Theo seemed as partial to the treat as Remus was. She needed to figure out how she was going to learn for sure if he was one, and further...what she was going to do with that knowledge.