DISCLAIMER: I do not own any recognisable characters.

This story was inspired by AkashaTheKitty's Dramione story, The Bracelet. The story made me fall in love with Theo Nott, therefore creating this "Themione".

Chapter Five – Roses and Guns

Hermione's phone rang.

Groaning, she squinted at the digital clock next to her bed (it read 2.04am) before reaching for her phone.

Her eyes widened in alarm at the caller ID.

"Hello?" she rasped.

"Hermione?" the voice at the other end asked. "It's me… Theo."

Hermione tried to clear her throat. "Hey, Theo. Erm, was there a particular reason why you called me at two in the morning?"

There was a brief pause, and Hermione could practically feel the nerves down the telephone lines.

"I was…" Theo paused, before continuing, now sounding a little strained. "I was a little worried when you didn't text or call… I thought you might have walked home and got beaten up or something."

Hermione was lost for words. "Oh."

"Yeah… I mean, remember my two friends that you saw on the way to your friend's house? They've sort of joked around with my friend from the train… said something about how I stopped to chat to a girl. And I think my friend from the train must have known it was you, because he sort of got really suspicious of me all of a sudden, and I was just worried something happened to you because of it…"

Once again, the bushy-haired know-it-all's genius reply was, "Oh."

Theo chuckled at himself on the other end, but the sound was humourless and edgy. "I'm sorry for being so paranoid, Hermione. It can't be helped, I guess, coming from my school."

The mention of Theo's school brought back Ginny's story. All of a sudden, Hermione found herself angry.

"Yes, I can imagine," Hermione said haughtily. "The more enemies you have, the more paranoid you become, isn't it?"

There was silence on the other end, before Theo spoke up, seemingly confused. "Enemies? Draco isn't my enemy, he's one of my best friends."

Hermione remembered the name Malfoy on the back of the tank top of Theo's friend from the train. She remembered him from Ginny's story. She fired up again that Theo's best friend was the ringleader and planner of the bashing up of Colin Creevy.

"I'm surprised you call him your friend," she said coldly. "Why don't you call him your ally and be done with it?"

Her anger seemed to have finally gotten through the telephone lines and through Theo's mobile.

"Don't make assumptions about my relationships to the people in my life, Hermione," Theo snapped.

"Oh really?" Hermione replied snootily. "So you disagree with me if I said Draco Malfoy would beat me senseless if that's what it takes for you to leave me alone?"

"Yes!" he said vehemently. "Draco would never do that."

Hermione's voice cooled down about fifty degrees. "And yet he'd beat up a kid three years younger than him, wouldn't he?"

Theo seemed to have lost his voice. Hermione ploughed on relentlessly.

"And you'd help him, wouldn't you?" she hissed. "You'd gang up on a helpless kid three years younger than you because he was alone and from a different school, despite the fact that he did nothing to provoke you."

"H-how did you know a-about that?" Theo stammered.

Hermione laughed coldly. "Why does it matter, Theo? Do you think it matters? That kid goes to the same school as me. I saw him before you two beat him up, I saw him after you beat him up, and I saw him after everything had blown over. Do you have any idea what your mindless fun did to him?"

"That was last year," Theo argued. "I'm different now."

"You keep the same company, Theo."

"What, do you think Draco still beats up little Year 9 kids now? Do you think he'd ever gang up with someone else to pick on little kids?"

"Maybe not as obviously as he did back then, but he still does. I can tell in the way he walks and talks and acts. He carries around that sort of aura where he thinks he can do anything and get away with it. Besides, he probably wouldn't want an official police investigation this time, would he? He wouldn't want his name sullied on national TV again, would he? Not so close to graduating."

"We were stupid back then," Theo answered, trying to keep calm. "We were just egged on by our friends—"

"There goes that word again," Hermione said, matching Theo and keeping her voice calm, as if the matter they were discussing was unimportant.

"I thought I told you not to assume my relationships to the people in my life?"

Hermione let out a derisive laugh. "Oh please. If they were your friends, they would never have made you do something so dangerous and possibly fatal to an innocent kid."

Theo's voice started to rise. "I don't think you know how life here works, Hermione. Respect is important to us, and we gain that by impressing our friends, or allies, whatever you want to call it—"

"I severely disagree with that," Hermione shot back. "How does beating up a kid gain respect from people who are important in your life?"

"This is not about the kid! It could have been anyone on that station. It could have been some Year 12 bloke if it had to be! It could have been—"

"Me," Hermione interrupted.

"No," Theo breathed. "We never beat up girls."

Hermione snorted. "Give up the chivalrous act, Theo. You know Draco or any one of your friends would have no qualms about beating up anyone from my school just because we go there."

The line was quiet, but Hermione could still hear Theo breathing down the line. He seemed to be gathering his remaining patience for something.

"And do you think," Theo finally said, his voice dangerously soft. "I would be able to do that to a girl? To one of your friends? To you?"

Hermione was speechless, but only for three seconds. "I know so. They're your 'friends', Theo. You'd do anything to impress them."

Theo was breathing hard. Hermione could tell her answer had finally sent him over the edge.

"You don't know anything, not one single thing, about me."

AN:

This chapter is dedicated to Drizzle Me Some Drake for reviewing every chapter. Thank you =]

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