A/N: Thank you all so much for your reviews, favorites and follows! I am so glad that you are enjoying this one. I am excited to share this chapter with you! I hope that you like how I've handled the canon events here. You can follow me on tumblr (nauticalparamour) where I post sneak peeks, story updates and answer questions.
Please let me know what you thought of chapter twenty-nine and be on the lookout for chapter thirty soon!
Even with Ron gone, the tension between the three remaining teenagers hadn't dissipated at all. If anything, it only threw into sharp relief the fact of how little they had accomplished as the weeks had gone by, days growing shorter and nights growing colder. Their food supply had always been limited, but even with one less mouth to feed, it was still dwindling day after day.
Hermione tried to offer helpful advice, but it was becoming more and more clear that Harry had never had any plan to begin with. They were no closer to finding another horcrux than they had been when they fled the Burrow, and the one that they had still remained stubbornly in tact.
Harry was constantly wracked by emotions that weren't his own, and he grimly reported to Hermione and Theo that Voldemort was looking for something. "He's searching for...a solution," he whispered between gritted teeth while his hands pressed against his temples, wishing that he could push the images from his head. "He's desperate for...whatever it is he is looking for."
The lone female traveler had pulled out Tales of Beedle the Bard, then, leafing through the pages until she found the one she wanted. "I think he might be searching for the Elder Wand," Hermione said with a frown, nibbling at her lower lip. "This symbol here is the symbol of the Deathly Hallows - a resurrection stone, a cloak of invisibility, and the elder wand. The most powerful wand ever created. To wield it would make a wizard unstoppable."
"Your wands connected last time?" Theo asked, waiting for Harry to nod in agreement. "That's called priori incantatem. It's due to the fact that your wand cores are the same. He is probably trying to find a different, more powerful wand, so that the next time you meet, he won't face the same problem again."
"Merlin, you really are perfect for Hermione," Harry said with a smile tugging at one corner of his mouth. "Bloody swots, the two of you."
Hermione was glad that Harry was coming around on the idea of her and Theo being with one another. She was worried that he would be forever taking Ron's side, thinking that her and the youngest male Weasley should end up together. And, she agreed with his reading...she and Theo really were well suited to one another.
Theo did not take as kindly to being called a swot. "That's not very nice, Potter," he said with a sniff. "Not when I am only trying to save your life."
Harry laughed, enjoying the moment briefly, before the knowledge that Voldemort was looking for a wand that would make him unbeatable sunk in again. "I think we need to go to Godric's Hollow," Harry said suddenly. "I mean, everything has been pointing there...Dumbledore and the book...Hell, everything between me and Voldemort started there. I think we need to go back."
"I...alright. If you think we should go, we should go," Hermione conceded, quickly.
"Absolutely not!" Theo protested immediately. "If you want a little family reunion, you can do that after we've dealt with the fucking horcruxes, Potter. I am sick and tired of you just going off of hunches and running into things without a plan. It's dangerous, and I am not going to let you put Hermione in danger again." He crossed his arms over his broad chest, staring down at the shorter wizard, using his imposing height to his advantage.
Harry took a half-step back. "Well...well, what do you suggest we do then, Nott? Since you are so brimming full of ideas."
"We need to destroy the horcrux that we do have. We are doing ourselves no favors by keeping it around. It's just going to continue to wear us down the longer we have it," he explained, calmly, rationally.
"If we knew how to do that, don't you think we would have done it already?" Harry demanded.
"We do know how to destroy it," Theo countered, annoyance clear on his face. "Fiendfyre."
"That's...that's too dangerous," Hermione said, wetting her lower chapped lips, the same lips that he kissed every night. "We decided not to use fiendfyre. It could get out of control. We have no idea what will happen."
"No, you lot decided not to use fiendfyre," he argued back, clearly frustrated that they weren't even willing to try the spell. "Listen, it wouldn't be the first time that I've tried it, okay. Just let me get rid of the bloody locket, and once I do, I promise we will feel so much better. Then we can go rushing off to Godric's Hollow or wherever, but please, please, can we just accomplish one thing?"
Harry was already pulling the horcrux off from around his neck. "Harry!" Hermione scolded. "What are you doing?"
"What? I might go mad if we don't have something go right for a change," he said with a shrug of his shoulders. "And if Theo is so keen to try it, I'm going to let him." He threw the emerald locket down on the forest floor, not caring where it landed.
"And if we all end up dead?" Hermione asked pointedly.
"Hermione, as soon as Dumbledore died, we all knew that the highest probability outcome is that we all end up dead," he said with a snort. "Might as well give it a shot if we even think it has a chance of working."
Theo wrapped his arms around Hermione's body, pulling her into his chest. "Have a little faith in me, Hermione," he said, using his hands to tilt her face up so that she could look at him. "I haven't let anything bad happen to you yet, have I?" He leaned over so that he could slant his lips against hers in a desperate kiss, lingering just a little too long for Harry's liking.
She was nervous about what would happen, but she knew that Theo was telling the truth. He wouldn't even attempt it if he thought there was a chance that his mate would get hurt in the process. "Okay," she agreed, hugging him tightly.
Harry cleared his throat when they broke apart. "I'll command it to open," he said cautiously, wand drawn just in case. "But I have no idea what will happen when it does. So just...be prepared."
Theo pushed Hermione well behind him, making sure that he would have plenty of space to work. "Go ahead," he said, once he was certain that he was ready.
The soft uttering of parseltongue was enough to have the locket that had once belonged to Salazar Slytherin snapped open. Theo was lulled into a false sense of security when nothing happened immediately. Before long, though, a miasma seemed to ooze out of the heart of it, forming and taking shapes. The voice that had been whispering to all of them for so long now seemed to echo in the clearing.
"Theodore, how could you turn your back on your family?" the voice, sickeningly sweet, singled him out immediately. "We all expected better of you. We never would have guessed you could be a blood traitor."
The inky blackness was taking shape, advancing towards him, until he realized that it was his father walking towards him. "You can still come back, Theodore," his father's shade said. "If you repent, you could still be great. Even if you want to fuck a mudblood."
"No," he heard himself say, shaking his head back and forth. "I won't turn my back on Hermione," he said adamantly.
"Centuries of fine breeding, all thrown away," his father snarled. "And for what, Theodore? A mudblood who didn't even know who you were."
Theo felt his grip on his wand loosen as his father disappeared, replaced with a vision of Hermione. "Theodore Nott?" she asked, her voice high and beautiful, like a siren's call. "Who even is he? I wouldn't be with you if I didn't feel so obligated," she sneered at him, enjoying belittling him. "You are nothing more to me than a charity case, Theo Nott. Like a house elf," she giggled. He could feel his resolve weakening, his shoulders drooping, wondering how she knew exactly what to say.
"Theo!" the real Hermione shouted from somewhere behind him. "The spell, Theo! You have to perform the charm!"
He blinked as he registered her voice, before his attention was pulled back in by the shade.
"I can't believe you honestly thought we were going to be together forever," the horcrux laughed, throwing her head back, showing off her neck. "You're tainted, Theo, and I am going to get sick of you eventually. You're a disgusting half-breed. To think that I, Hermione Granger, would ever willingly be with a werewolf..."
Theo clenched his teeth tightly as realization snapped into place, his resolve steely. There was no way that his Hermione would ever speak that way about werewolves, and he was finally able to see the horcrux for what it really was. An evil thing that had preyed on his insecurities and weaknesses, delving into his psyche over the weeks he'd been wearing it. Raising his wand, he sneered at the fake Hermione. "Fiendfyre," he said, carefully twisting his wand, watching as the magic flames ate the locket alive.
The bit of soul within the horcrux screamed and fought, shrill and raging, but it was no match for the cursed flames that was lapping it up. It seemed to go on for an eternity, but Theo held firm, no matter how much strength it took him to keep control over the flames. Finally, once he was certain it was gone, he ended the spell. Immediately, he could feel how exhausted he was.
Arms wrapped around his middle and he could feel Hermione press her face against his back. She was shaking and it took a few seconds for him to register that she was crying. Turning around, he held her tightly against him. "What's the matter?" he asked, worried about her. "It's done. It's gone," he said with a half smile.
She pulled back to look him in the eyes. "Oh, it was so horrible," she said, her words coming out in a rush. "You know that I don't think those kind of things, right? I would never, Theo. I could never get sick of you. I don't think that way about you, and I don't think of you as a charity case," she blubbered away, fat tears rolling down her cheeks.
Theo smiled at her, cupping her jaw gently. "I know, I know you don't think that way," he explained. "That's how I knew it was fake...what drove me to destroy it. You aren't like that."
"Please Theo," she begged. "I don't feel obligated to be with you, don't you know that? I love you," she said, honesty clear on her face.
She was so sure of herself when he said it that he was temporarily stunned. There was no question in her voice. He could feel his heart soaring at the promise, thrilled that she might actually feel the same way about him as he did about her. Unable to help himself, he pressed his lips to hers in an intense kiss, deepening it immediately so that their tongues could slip against one another in a battle of dominance, Hermione yielding to him immediately. She tasted salty like her tears, but sweet like Hermione, something that was so uniquely her and something that he could never get enough of. He tangled his fingers into her hair, holding her against him tightly, never wanting to let her go. And how could he, when she was his mate?
He vaguely registered Potter clearing his throat before retreating back into the tent to give the pair some privacy. Theo had nearly forgotten the other man was there at all, and so he was grateful to have Hermione all to himself for a moment.
When he pulled away, they were both gasping for breath. "I love you, too," he answered back, just as sure as she had been. "Mine, my mate," he whispered, utterly in awe of what fate had chosen for him, but selfish enough to never let it go.
He kissed her again.