Theo POV

I missed the shack and the contented high of the gillyweed. I missed sitting with Hermione on the couch sprawled out between us in Draco's shirt, drifting in sleep. I missed eating junk food while reading her book, and listening to Draco hum along to the music in a blissful state. I'd begun to miss it the moment that the gillyweed had started to wear off and clothes had been replaced. The worst part about being high was the downfall. Coming back to reality after floating in joy was a kick to the gut. When the colors returned and the horns blasted to mark the end of the Quidditch game it had been the final tipping point back to the real world. Slytherin students were bound to come to the shack for the evening and Hermione adamantly refused to be there when they did.

To make matters worse, we didn't have the luxury of taking magical suppressants after that. Magic was too important, too critical to our research. Hermione was scouring the records left at Hogwarts, leaving Draco and I to spend all of our free time amidst the thousands of books in Malfoy Manor until curfew would inevitably bring us back to our room. Between quidditch, detention, classes, and double bass the only colors on our skin these days were a heavy blanket of green and brief flashes of gold. We were all too worried, too consumed, obsessed. The risk of losing a magically bonded mate to some crazy rare disease had us giving Theodora a run for her money.

I was actually kind of glad when we were forced to put that research on hold the second Friday in December. We had lab time for the veritaserum project. The potions had started their brew during class the day after the announced assignment. Slughorn had monitored the beginning of the process, spending much of his time at the table of Astoria Greengrass, oohing and aahing her every move. As if the difficult portion didn't actually come after, during the steeping phase.

That was the point we were at now, adding the ingredients that would most likely make or break our potions. I was hoping after an hour long break from the frantic research of runes and healing potions that maybe I could convince my bonded mates that some hot sex could cure all ailments. That thought was blown to the wind with the addition of Nicola, Draco's partner. It turned out that the guy was as dumb as a box of rocks, which was why Hermione, Draco, and I were all sputtering gold.

"Don't touch that!" Draco snapped, smacking Nicola's hand away from the hot cauldron. I had no idea how the fuck he'd made it into a 7th year potions class, but I was 99.9% sure it had involved some sort of cheating. I had met some brilliant Hufflepuffs. Nicola was not one of them.

"Relax, Mate," Nicola's reply only made that metallic magic on Draco's skin glow. It would have been beautiful if I didn't know the meaning of the color. I kind of wished that Nicola could see it, maybe then he would be showing the proper amount of fear.

Hermione twirled her wand around our own cauldron though her eyes were firmly focused on the debacle that was Nicola and Draco. Draco was working around him masterfully, throwing in ingredients and twisting around his partner like a ballet dancer. That is if ballet dancers wore angry expressions and smelled of expensive cologne. Despite all his epic spins, our hour in the lab was almost done and he was a solid ten steps behind. I'd tried to steer Nicola's attention away a few times. Unfortunately, the guy was adamant about 'helping'. His helping was only causing the tension in the room to rise. Draco's panic and irritation was making Hermione uneasy. I could tell in the way she was staring, in the tightened grip on her wand and the straightness of her spine. Even without the gold it was obvious.

She looked ready to attack Nicola. I wouldn't blame her if she did. Unfortunately, none of us could risk the punishment. It would get her more detention or expulsion, it would mean a one way ticket to Azkaban for myself or Draco. I'd been just shy of my 17th birthday when the battle happened. It's the only reason my records had been sealed. Yet they showed little leniency on my sentence since I was a famous death eater's son. I doubted they would give a second thought to locking me up again or even worse for Draco. The punishments wouldn't be worth the satisfaction.

I placed a hand on her lower back to relax her and myself, taking advantage of Nicola and Draco's distraction with their brew. It came with a mist of pink where my fingers made contact.

"Not the sharpest tool in the shed, is he?" I asked softly in her ear, trying to grab a hold of that light feeling and capture it for a few precious moments.

A tiny peak of a smile was my reward, a lessening of gold on her body and mine. There was even a twinge of red. I almost managed to successfully shift the mood. With Hermione and I focused on each other, I missed that Draco's back was turned and I missed the moment that things went from bad to terrible. I didn't see it, but I heard it- it came with the sound of Nicola's voice.

"I think this is next," he said.

I turned my head a second too late and caught him dropping an uncrushed sopophorous bean into the mix. His face hovered directly over the cauldron where it landed with a plop and the reaction was immediate. Smoke billowed around his face, thick and black. The noxious smell that came off the cloud was a mix of rot and sulfur.

Draco's eyes moved from the feathers in his hand to the smoke and then to Nicole, his eyes darkening into pure rage. He looked like he had been touched by King Midas, all of him was pure molten gold, and that gold was about to find an exit, a release. My chest got tight with panic.

I saw him raise his wand toward Nicola just as the smoke grew, taking over the small room. It was so thick and heavy that I couldn't see Draco's wand hand, but I heard no spell, felt no magic shift in the smoky air. Nicola bolted for the exit, coughing and muttering excuses when he bumped into me before reaching the door. He was uninjured and the ache around my heart loosened. I doubted he even knew how close he had been to being on the wrong end of Draco's wand. The smoke cleared with the help of a spell from Hermione. There were a few lingering coughs heard in the hall outside the door. They faded and disappeared compelted. Draco was standing still, his wand discarded by the bubbling cauldron and his hands braced on the edges of the table. I'd never seen him stop mid-spell when he was angry, and I'd never been more proud of him. He wasn't proud though or happy. His head was bent over the cauldron, green magic thicker than the smoke had been unfurling from his body. There was gold on the edges, an aftermath of the rage that was now lost in anguish.

"Colloportus." The door locked with a click. He would hate if anyone saw him that way- broken and silent.

I took a few cautious step towards him. My height made it easy to look inside the cauldron as I was walking up, it was full of sticky black liquid.

"I almost hexed him. I-, fuck!" He shook his head, shoving the pot with both hands. He barely winced at the heat. The cast iron pot fell on its side then rolled onto the floor with a loud bang, the nasty looking potion inside spread out onto the stone floor.

"You didn't though," I said, placing a pink hand on his shoulder. I was so glad he didn't. I was so fucking proud. I loved his strength even when he felt weak. He shrugged my hand off and looked up at me, his eyes wet.

"But I wanted to, Theo. What does that say about me? That after a year in Azkaban, after everything that we went through, after…" He looked at Hermione who hadn't spoken, hadn't shifted from her spot back at our table. There was no color to her skin, no anger or sorrow or lust. His attention shifted back to me. "I almost ruined everything over a stupid potion."

I opened my mouth to speak, but closed it when Hermione cut in.

"It means your normal," she said. She sounded so calm and collected. "Anger is normal, Malfoy. Hell, I punched Romilda in the face because I was angry. You didn't even do anything."

When he didn't reply she added, "Don't you get it? There was a time when you wouldn't have stopped. You're not that arsehole kid anymore. Almost only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades."

Draco looked at her, examined her body and the way she seemed so entirely unbothered. She had already started working on our potion again. The green on him lightened.

"What the fuck are hand grenades? Is that more of your muggle nonsense?" He asked.

"Okay, so you're still kind of an arsehole," She said, rolling her eyes. I could swear I saw a gentle mist of yellow radiate from her body, so different from the gold. It was buttery and warm, and it came with a smile that lit up her whole face. As much as I loved to see that grin, I knew that more colors were not a good sign. Was she getting worse? Did I imagine that strange yellow color? I was just tired and stressed. It had to be my eyes that were interpreting the gold incorrectly. Only she clearly wasn't mad.

A knock came at the door, a jiggle of the handle. I could hear muffled voices in the hall. The next two lab groups were outside.

"Why is the door locked?"

"Did Professor Slughorn forget to unlock it?"

"There were four other groups before us, wanker. Why would it be locked now?"

Hermione acted quickly and with little concern. She pointed her wand towards the fallen cauldron. The pot floated off the floor, the liquid disappeared, and I didn't question it when half our potion flew into Draco's now empty cauldron. She tossed in the last of the ingredients with a cringing expression, and looked at Draco and me. Neither of us made any effort to stop staring at her. It was her, the old Hermione, rising to the surface. Confident, witty, kind, and quick on her toes. We had only ever seen that version of her from the outside. There had been a few glimpses in the bedroom, but nothing like now. I couldn't speak for Draco, but it made my heart trip.

"What?" She asked, noticing our stares and the sudden lack of green on Draco's skin. "It's not like we can let you fail. Granted, I doubt we'll get better than Acceptable with half the potion."

I elbowed Draco, noticing the new color taking place of the green. I'd gotten to seeing it when he was around me, but he had been good at hiding it from her. His eyes flicked down to see the pink wafting off him. I was starting to turn pink too, the lightness in my chest flooding outwards. We both cleared our throats, and she blushed, her eyes moving abruptly back to the pots.

"They aren't perfect, but they'll do," she said. Why did it feel like she wasn't talking about the potions at all? After a final peak at the liquid, she levitated Draco's pot back to his own table and shoved her supplies into her bag.

There wasn't another word from her or stare or smile. She walked towards the door and unlocked it, ignoring the students on the other side who practically tumbled into the classroom. We both scurried after her.