Hermione POV

It was a wonder that Warden McGonagall and Saint Potter agreed to let me out of the infirmary. Harry had shown up sometime while I slept and he was by my bedside all weekend while Madame Pomfrey healed my cracked skull. He must have convinced the warden to release my shackles because I woke up with freed wrists and the Aurors hadn't been waiting to haul me away so I suppose all was well that ends well when you're the chosen one's right hand woman. They couldn't prove that I had used it of course. The castle was for learning and so it wasn't completely unheard of for the curse to be used on the grounds and so no one would know. There was no reason to check my wand because no one reported it. It made me irrationally angry. I should have been on my way to Azkaban and he should have been dead. I should have used that curse instead. I wondered if it would have been as satisfying. I doubted it, watching him squirm was half the fun.

Harry had told me about his release while I ate oatmeal and shot back pain potions like they were butterbeer. The fuzzy warmth of the wizard drugs were enough to ease my anger to listen, but it still simmered in my gut as he spoke. Him and Theo had been released on good behavior. That revelation swirled in my brains for hours. What had he done to deserve his freedom? What could he have possibly done to earn himself a spot back in society? Theo was one thing. Theo was…Theo. He hadn't taken the mark, he hadn't used the unforgivables. He had fought beside his side at the battle of Hogwarts though. I'd seen him there, throwing hexes at anyone who stepped near him. Maybe Theo was capable of redemption, but I couldn't wrap my head around the other Slytherin deserving it.

"Malfoy didn't out us to Voldemort, Hermione. He could have and he didn't."

That's the excuse he gave when he mentioned his part, that he had testified in favor of the release. It took every effort of my restraint to not smack him. Harry didn't know about what else had happened in that manor while him and Ron were working with Dobby to escape. They heard some of it, but they hadn't felt it, they didn't know the whole story, and I didn't have the words to tell him, not even in writing. So I chose to sit in silence for the remainder of our time in the infirmary, not bothering with the quill and parchment on the side table.

"You can come back to my place, you know," Harry said, walking with me back to my room the morning of the first day of classes. Well, not so much with me as behind me. I didn't want to go back to his place and from the slight unsure tone of his voice he didn't want me to. I wanted to scream at him, to tell him to leave me the fuck alone, but once again my words were lost. I settled for closing the door on him. It gave me the satisfaction of seeing his shocked face just before the door concealed him from view.

McGonagall wouldn't send me away. She was too self-righteous, too sure that she could maintain control as long as she had my wand and Harry was too much of a coward to say what he meant. His Gryffindor bravery had met it's match at my PTSD. Him and McGonagall felt so much damn pity for me that not even an unforgivable curse could stop them on their quest to heal me. I was the new pet project.

I didn't bother changing into my uniform. I chose a pair of jeans and a long T-shirt instead. What would they do? Expel me? If they wouldn't send me to Azkaban for an unforgivable then they certainly didn't have the balls to expel me. It was sort of empowering. I had broken the rules a hundred times in my pursuit of justice, now it felt strangely satisfying to do it for fun. The warmth of my anger was still blotting out the cold of my loneliness and those dark memories.

Professor Slughorn only raised an eyebrow as I walked into Potions class. I searched the tables for him, but found that he wasn't in attendance. Theo was there though and the only free seat was at his table. Of course it was. I walked through the classroom, avoiding the eyes of children. That's what they were, children. They had been 5th years during the battle. They leaned away from me as I made my way to that empty seat. There was already a book there, fresh and new. Most of the supplies had been destroyed in the battle so it wasn't a surprise. I opened the text to find an envelope with my name written elegantly on the outside in delicate loops. The same loops that filled in the parchment at my side.

I wanted to rip it up, tear it to shreds and burn the pieces, but I wanted answers more. Where was he? Would the letter tell me, or would it be more compliments that made me feel strange. I wanted to know. Curiosity got the better of me and I ripped the letter open, skimming it's contents.

He wanted to see me, wanted to speak to me in person before he would attend classes with me. Theo claimed that he wanted to make things right. I barked out a laugh that bordered on insanity. Everyone turned to me and with a sharp tongue Slughorn spoke.

"Ten points from Gryffindor."

I wanted to tell him to shove those points up his arse. My mouth opened and quickly snapped shut. The words were right there on my tongue, but I failed to force them out. All I could focus on was my seething anger. It made my palm itch for my wand. I lifted my quill instead and wrote out a quick reply.

Tell him to take his apology and shove it up is arsehole. I don't take apologies from death eaters.

Theo wrote a quick response and slid the parchment back to me.

He'll let you do it again- the curse. I know you want to.

Fire in my veins, that's what the desire felt like. There was nothing I wanted more. I craved nothing more than the thought of watching him suffer. I looked at Theo, but his eyes were not on mine. His full attention was on Professor Slughorn while he lectured the class on the purposes of veritaserum as if he hadn't experienced the effects of it first hand. We both had, I was sure of it.

I don't have a wand. McGonagall took it.

It was the best excuse I had because it wasn't a lie. It would be a lie if I said that I didn't want to.

I'll steal it back. If you agree to meet him, to hear him out, I'll get it for you. He'll let you ease that anger of yours.

I didn't second guess myself as I wrote out my reply. I actually felt strangely calm. Maybe it was the thought of my anger having an outlet or simply the idea of seeing that proud face of his contorted in pain.

Astronomy tower. Midnight. Bring my wand.