A/N: Thank you all so much for your reviews, favorites and follows! I know we all wish we could have a time turner to go back and stop Ron from ever interfering. Hopefully you will enjoy this chapter, too. You can follow me on tumblr (nauticalparamour) where I post sneak peeks, story updates and answer questions, for now. Obviously, the site is in flux and I will let you know if I eventually move to some other home.
Please let me know what you thought of chapter twelve and be on the lookout for chapter thirteen soon!
Hermione had been watching the month of November creep by with unfailing certainty, until it was the week of the full moon once again. She'd paid attention to how Theo seemed to be feeling as the full moon crept closer and closer, watching as he seemed to grow worse and worse as it neared. He'd been in class when the Friday before for arithmancy, but Hermione was surprised when he didn't cancel their standing meeting in the library that night. She wondered if he was just trying not to raise any suspicions.
"You don't look well, Theo," she'd said, hoping her tone remained casual and not accusatory, keeping her eyes locked on her paper. "Trouble sleeping? Perhaps you could speak to Madame Pomfrey about it."
From her peripheral vision, she could see that he stiffened under her line of questioning, his body still. He cleared his throat, drawing her attention up from her notes. His blue eyes always seemed to darken when he looked at her, reminding her of the predator she was sure that he was. "I'll have to speak to her, then," he said, pushing his hair out of his face.
Part of Hermione wanted to just tell him right then and there that she knew his secret, but she was also cognizant that it was likely to spook him. Werewolves were not treated well by wizarding society, so she was sure he would panic if it seemed like his affliction got out. She doubted that she'd even be able to tell him that it didn't matter to her - he was still Theo, afterall.
"Listen, I don't mean it in a rude way," she said, reaching across the table to give his hand a squeeze. He pulled his hand back from her grasp, making Hermione frown. "I just mean...I'm your friend. You could tell me if there was something bothering you. If you wanted to talk, I mean."
"We might be...closer than we were before," he conceded with a sneer. "But I mean it respectfully when I saw that we are not friends, Granger. I have nothing to confess to you, okay?"
Hermione swallowed thickly, but nodded, letting him know that she understood. She could feel the beginnings of tears prickle in the back of her eyes, hating how hot and cold he could be with her. It had seemed like they'd passed some point in their relationship when he'd cheered her up after Ron had kissed Lavender. But, as they grew closer to the full moon, he seemed intent to keep her as far as possible.
She'd left the library wanting to figure out the truth more than ever before.
Deciding that the best way to do that was to try and figure out what he did the night of the full moon, Hermione approached Harry on Sunday evening after dinner. It wasn't hard to get him alone, seeing as Ron still wasn't speaking to her. The redhead was spending as much of his time as possible snogging Lavender in public, which turned Harry's stomach as much as it did hers.
"Harry, could I borrow the map and your cloak tonight?" she whispered while they were walking back towards the Common Room, knowing that the portraits had ears.
He was silent for a few beats while he considered it. "What do you need it for?" he asked, treating her request with suspicion.
Hermione bit her lower lip, wondering if she should share her instincts with her oldest friend, before deciding that there was still too much of a risk that she was wrong to reveal them. "I can't...I can't tell you," she said. "Not yet anyway. Just...it's really important. Please Harry?"
Harry pulled her into a little alcove so he could look at her while he was speaking. "Does this have something to do with Nott?" he asked, his eyes searching her face. "Ron told me that Nott had you trapped alone in an empty classroom and-"
She cut him off before he could say anything else. "Ron is full of shit, Harry," she said, rolling her eyes. Leave it to Ron to embellish the story. "Nott wasn't holding me against my will, but we were in the classroom together when Ron and Lavender barged in."
"But, when we went looking for Malfoy, I saw you and him in that-"
"Harry, stop worrying about Nott," she instructed, thinking that Harry was really being too perceptive for his own good. He'd been so obsessed with Malfoy all term, she was surprised that he'd noticed her run-ins with Theo to begin with.
"You sit with him in the library sometimes, too," Harry said, not able to help himself. "Is there something going on between the two of you? You could tell me."
A part of her wanted to tell Harry about her growing crush on Nott, but she couldn't trust him not to go back and tell Ron. "Nott and I are partners for an arithmancy project, Harry. That's all," she said, firmly. "We meet in the library because we are furiously running calculations, not because we are having some kind of torrid love affair like you seem to think," she said, a bright blush on her cheeks. "And he's not threatening me, like Ron seems to think either."
Harry stared at her for a long moment, like he was trying to determine if she was telling the truth or not. Luckily, she knew that he was not suited to mind magic after his lessons with Snape the year before proved fruitless. "Okay," he said, finally with a nod. "If you say so."
"I do say so," Hermione reinforced. "Now, please tell me I can borrow the map and the cloak? It's just for tonight. I've never even asked before."
He agreed readily enough, though the wary look on his face let Hermione know that they weren't done with the conversation. She waited impatiently for him to retrieve them from his trunk. When he returned, Hermione wrapped him in a tight hug, catching him off guard. "You are a good friend, Harry Potter," she said honestly. "And I know you are trying to look out for me. I will tell you what this is all about...eventually. I just...can't. Not yet."
Holding his arms out in front of him, Harry gave her a half-smile. "No need for further explanation, Hermione," he responded. "You must have a good reason for it."
She gave him a weak smile, wondering if he would still think that it was a good enough reason when she eventually had to tell him the truth. Knowing that she couldn't put it off any longer, Hermione ducked out of the Common Room before finding an empty corridor to put on the Cloak. "I solemnly swear that I am up to no good," she whispered, tapping her wand on the map.
The map came alive, bunches of little dots moving around the castle. It was very nearly curfew, so there were not many students out in the corridor. She found herself fairly easily, orienting where she was in the castle. Ron and Lavender were easily found in an empty classroom; the petty part of her sort of wanted to track them down and take house points, but she knew she would find no friends in Gryffindor if she did that.
Scouring the dungeons, she looked for any sign of Theo, but was unable to locate the dot that represented him. Next, she tried the vast library, but was unable to find him there either. Deciding to be methodical about it, she began scanning each of the floors, one after the other, looking for any sign of him. She was beginning to give up hope, wondering if he'd been relegated to the Shrieking Shack just like Remus had been all those years ago when she finally checked the seventh floor.
Gasping when she found his name, she realized that he was in one of the abandoned wings that used to hold some more quarters for professors. Gathering herself up, Hermione made her way towards the seventh floor, her heart thudding in her chest with each step that brought her closer to getting to the bottom of Theo Nott's mysterious behavior.
She made her way down the winding corridor, one that she hadn't ever explored before, excitement growing as it became narrower after each turn. Finally, she stood outside the door that Theo was behind. It was nondescript and if she had to guess had once belonged to a professor. Holding her breath, she listened for any sign of noise, but heard only the pounding of her blood through her veins.
Lifting her hand, Hermione tried the handle. Masking a yelp of pain, she jumped back when she was stung before she'd even laid hands on it. Perhaps she was being a little bit rash trying to open the door if what she suspected was correct. It wouldn't do to just go barging in if Nott was a werewolf. She had no idea what his demeanor would be this close to moonrise, and it could be dangerous.
Raising her wand, Hermione began to tease at the wards that had been layered over the door. They were quite robust, ensuring that no one was going to break them down in a night. Briefly, Hermione wondered why they hadn't tried something similar when they had been housing Fluffy at the school. Surely, that would have been an excellent way for them to protect the Philosopher's Stone.
Even if she couldn't get inside the room, Hermione knew now that there was no denying it - Theo was a werewolf. He must be taking the wolfsbane potion if he was able to remain in the school, which meant that the staff must be aware. Surely, Madame Pomfrey would know, since she took care of him after his transformations.
Knowing that she was doing no good sitting here on the ground staring at an unmovable door, she threw the cloak back on before walking back towards Gryffindor tower. Watching the map for any sign of Filch, she crept along the hallways hoping to avoid detection. In the end, it seemed that it was a good thing that she was, because if she hadn't kept her eyes on the map in front of her, she would have ran straight into Draco Malfoy, his dot suddenly appearing around the corner, seemingly out of nowhere. Just like Harry had said.
Narrowing her eyes, Hermione hurried around the corner to see if she could figure out where Malfoy had been. She watched his retreating back striding down the dark hallway, until she went to go investigate. When she saw the portrait of Barnabas the Barmy, she could have smacked herself. Merlin, how stupid could she have been to not remember that the Room of Requirement didn't show up on the map?
Buoyed by everything she'd learned that night, she had to stop herself from running back to the Common Room. Once she was safely inside, she kept the cloak on, creeping up the stairs to the boys' dormitory. Pulling back the sheets around Harry's bed, she sat on the edge before covering his mouth with her hand, hoping that he wouldn't alert anyone to her presence. That would be difficult to explain.
Harry's eyes shot open, wild and alert. "Shh, Harry, it's just me," she whispered, pulling the cloak off of her head and handing him his glasses.
He blinked at her, his eyes adjusting to the darkness. "What in the bloody hell are you doing sneaking around up here like that?" he demanded, though he kept his voice in a whisper. "You could have just returned the map and cloak to me tomorrow morning."
It was nearly impossible to hide her grin from him, knowing just how pleased Harry would be when she told him the reason that she was there. "It couldn't wait," she answered. "I know where Malfoy has been disappearing off to."