A/N: Chapter Twenty-Six!

One Month Later

It was an hour to midnight, and the sound of the front door closing echoed through the corridors, coaxing me out of my dreams. I slowly leaned forward, into upright position, aware that my roommate had been called into work — again. It seemed his duties as Healer had doubled in the last few weeks. Part of me wondered if it was a coincidence, or the product of what happened in the loo one month ago.

Merlin knew that conversation had not gone the way I had hoped.

I breathed in, thinking back to it, back to the moment Nott told me he would prefer we remain just friends.

In twenty-five years, nothing had ever made me feel worse than those words from his mouth.

"You're beautiful," he had told me, keeping his back turned. "…and smart and an amazing witch…but I can't risk losing you…I can't risk a rift in what we've shared for the past two years. I…I hope you understand…"

In keeping with his decision, I forced a smile and told him I agreed, fighting back a sudden rush of tears, waiting until he left the loo before allowing the moisture to cascade down my cheeks and into the bath. I wasn't in love with him — but there was something about him, about us that I couldn't ignore.

It was more than chemistry. It was trust, understanding and mutual respect. It was mature, adult feelings — and I had been involved with too many men to know how rare it was to harbour those feelings for someone.

Still, there was no choice in the matter. Nott made his decision, and I was forced to accept it.

I was thankful that our work schedules intensified. It diminished our time together, leaving only the awkward run-in between leaving for work and coming home. In one month, the most I had seen him was an accumulated ten or twelve minutes. Of course, part of me missed him and wished that conversation had never happened, but it was a relief that those feelings were off my chest.

Back in the day, I'd been unable to admit my feelings for Ron, which left our bond at a stand still for years upon years. Since then, I promised myself that I would be more forthright with my desires — and in doing so, I changed mine and Nott's friendship forever.

I wanted him.

I wanted his arms around me and his lips on mine. I wanted to come home from the Auror Office and find him in the kitchen, with a piping hot meal prepared, amid candlelight and fresh flowers.

But he didn't want those things.

It hurt, to the point that I could feel an actual ache in my chest whenever his name was so much as mentioned or when I could hear him tip toe in and out of the house. I sometimes wondered if he missed me, too. I sometimes wondered if he felt as lonely as I did in our house. But those thoughts did me no good.

I pursed my eyes closed and tried to force myself back to sleep, knowing I had an early morning ahead of me, but memories of him wouldn't cease. It was bad, so bad I lifted the covers from my body and made my way to his bedroom, knowing he wasn't there and wouldn't be back for a long, long time.

The scent of his natural musk filled my nostrils, sending me back to the night I had spent there with him, with his arm around me and his breath tickling the skin of my neck. It brought actual tears to my eyes — which made me feel ridiculous, trust me — but the embarrassment that came with being so emotional was soon eclipsed when I noticed something.

His dresser was open.

The top drawer. The same drawer I had seen him rifling through the night we spoke in the loo. I convinced myself there was nothing worthwhile in there. Perhaps some more marijuana or at best, some kinky magazines. But the longer I stood there, the deeper my curiosity ran.

I glanced back to make sure he wasn't hovering over my shoulder, before tip toeing to his dresser and peering inside; startled as I noticed a small rectangular box. It was wrapped in white with a silver ribbon, and judging by the matching heart-shaped card, it appeared to be a Valentine's Day gift.

In that moment, my heart sank.

Nott had a girlfriend.

All this time, and he had a girlfriend.

Suddenly, his treatment towards me made more sense. As roommates, there were times we had disagreed and butted heads, but we squashed those arguments within minutes, knowing we were mature enough to work through petty fights. I expected the same for this rift. I waited for him to approach me, as I had tried several times, but he never did. I wondered why that could have been, what could possibly have driven him into giving me the silent treatment for an entire month — but the answer had been in front of me the whole time.

He was with someone else. He couldn't possibly had been interested in me. He found another, more attractive, smarter witch with whom he could have romantic candlelit dinners.

I breathed out, disappointed and humiliated, and just about ready to move out, until noticing the name scrawled on the heart-shaped card.

To Hermione,

Happy Valentine's Day.

With love,

Theo

x

My face screwed. "What in the actual fuck…?"

I glanced back again, feeling a sudden chill crawl the length of my spine, before doing as my best friends Ron and Harry would have done, and tearing that damned gift open. I tossed the wrapping aside, greeted with a velvet box, bringing colour to my cheeks and an even worse mix of emotions to my chest. Of all the things I had expected, a Valentine's Day gift from my estranged roommate was not one of them.

But that wasn't the shocking bit.

I ignored the remorseful feeling in my gut, and opened the box, dazzled by the item inside. It was a necklace: a thin, silver necklace with a delicate snowflake pendant, representing my favourite season and the season we happened to meet.

"Shit…" I mumbled, lifting the necklace from the box and marvelling at its simple, yet beautiful design. Knowing Nott, he had chosen it himself with careful attention to every detail, including the symbolism.

But this only baffled me further.

Why, if he desired to be nothing more than friends, did he purchase me something as gorgeous as that necklace, only to watch as Valentine's Day passed on by, with no mention of a gift or anything of the like.

It was February 16th.

His moment to gift me the necklace was long gone.

Perhaps…Perhaps he had decided not to, that it would confuse me into thinking he returned my feelings. I mean, he had to return them. I knew he felt the same. I felt it in his energy, in the way his eyes danced across me head to toe during those rare moments we passed one another in the corridor.

Something was holding him back.

Something deep and unyielding, and I made it my mission to discover the source to his reluctance — before fixing the box and the wrapping with some quick magic, and taking the necklace with me as I sauntered back to my bedroom. Just because he didn't have the bollocks to give it to me, didn't mean I wouldn't wear it — just — not around him.

Ron's Birthday — Whistler

It was a beautiful cabin, with enormous rooms and enough space to house even the largest groups of people. Ours consisted eight people: Ron, Daphne, Ginny, Harry, Astoria, Blaise, myself and Nott. To my understanding, Draco was supposed to be there but he ran into some last minute duties in Manhattan, and would be joining us later on in the week should his schedule clear up. I wasn't perturbed by this, as the last time I'd seen him, he woke me out of a drunken stupor and alluded to an event that never happened.

I didn't pass out in his bed.

I mean, I did but I didn't know it was his. He found me outside with Nott and took it upon himself to help me to my room, only to make a small detour to his, seeing as my clothes were there. During this time, my drunken arse passed out on his bed. Simple as that. Nothing remotely sexual or desperate.

Cough.

Anyway, he wasn't in Whistler and wouldn't be there for another couple days.

To this, I rejoiced and remained in good spirits the entire journey there, only to realize Daphne roomed me with her younger sister, as we were the only single girls in the group. Already, the holiday was off to a bad start, but I tried not to let this kink faze me. We were there to celebrate our good friend's birthday, not argue over a feud that spanned the first half of my 20s.

Granted, I hadn't spoken much to Ron in the last six years, but there was still an air of understanding between us. Most things were left unsaid. It didn't hurt that he defended my honour following the letter incident. It also didn't hurt that Daphne, his long-term girlfriend, was quickly becoming one of my best mates.

I loved that girl.

It shocked me to think she and Cuntgrass were products of the same upbringing. I saw no similarities in them; physical or otherwise. Daphne was elegant, soft-spoken and polite, with blonde hair, reminding me of a younger Narcissa Malfoy, whilst her sister was loud, abrasive and mean-spirited, with darker hair, not unlike Bellatrix.

I thought about those parallels for some time, before grudgingly making my way up the staircase, to the second floor, and into the room I was forced to share with the Madwoman's reincarnate. She was already there, with her things placed atop the bed closest to the window, leaving me with the one near the loo. Perfect. From there, we steadily ignored one another, unpacking our trunks in absolute silence.

"Knock, knock…"

Both of us turned to the door and found Daphne there, oblivious to the situation at hand, dressed in a white winter coat and an adorable winter hat to match.

"Daph," her younger sister began, moving past me without so much as a glance. "I can't sleep in this room."

Daphne arched an eyebrow. "Why not?"

"The energy is bad."

"The energy is bad?" the older Greengrass repeated. "There are no more rooms available, Astoria. I'm sorry."

"Lies. This place is enormous. There has to be another room."

"Mum and Dad rented out the other rooms to some Muggle travellers from Brazil. Trust me, I would have given all the singles their own rooms, were it possible."

Bellatrix 2.0 frowned at this, folding her arms. "What about Draco's room? He won't be here for another three days."

"Sorry, but no. Draco is rooming with Theo and Blaise, and I can't have you over there, being the only girl and all. It's inappropriate."

I smiled to myself, pretending not to eavesdrop as I continued unpacking my things. Never in my life had I been more thankful to have no siblings. It was hassle enough having to deal with Ron and Harry as teenagers. I didn't even want to imagine what it would have been like to have a sister.

"Hermione?" Daphne then called out to me. "Do you have any qualms about the room?"

With the kindest, most natural smile I could muster, I faced the door. "None at all. I think it's quite lovely."

Daphne turned back to her sister with a told you so look. "Sorted."

"Whatever…" Astoria muttered, moving back to her side of the room, where she promptly began to paint a fresh coat of red over her manicured nails.

Judging by the first five minutes of being roomies, I could tell the tension between us would only multiply. It was simply a matter of time.

A/N: Oh snap haha. It's about to go downnnnn.

Cheers

xo.