Chapter 8: The Truth
24 August 2002
Draco was eating breakfast next to Eleanor as they were getting ready to part ways for the day. Draco had just recently accepted the position as the new potions master at Hogwarts. Slughorn had been the one to recommend Draco as his replacement after he'd completed his studies. The elder wizard had even gone as far as telling McGonagall that there would be no one better than Draco to teach the next generation.
Despite how rocky his first year in his mastery program had been, Slughorn had seen the potential that Draco had when no one else could. There was one thing to be said for the odd old man, he really was able to see someone's potential. Even when the person doubted themselves, he could always see what they were capable of. Good or bad.
"Little girl, don't get jam on my robes!" Draco scolded, but Ellie just giggled, reaching out for her dad. "I've got to set up my classroom. I can't show up being a sticky mess because someone couldn't be bothered to clean her hands before a cuddle ." When his daughter pouted though, Draco's resolve broke and he lifted her out of the little seat and pulled her against his chest.
The man was a sucker when it came to his girl.
"Are you nervous?" Draco asked Hermione as he used his wand to clean their child's face. Spraying a few extra bubbles, he gave her a soapy beard that had her nearly toppling out of Draco's arms as she laughed at her reflection.
"A bit, he asked if we could meet alone." Hermione fidgeted with the hem of her sundress, looking towards her boyfriend and daughter. They were both now free of jam and suds, looking completely ready for the day. "How long are you going to be at the school?" She wanted a change of subject to take her mind off whatever Theo might have to say.
When she'd last seen him, his behaviour had been so bizarre as he ran from her bedroom and while she wanted an answer as to why, she still feared what he might say. Did he want Draco all for himself? Or was sharing Draco going to be too much for him and he was going to tell her that he was actually leaving for the states again? Whatever it was, when he'd requested that neither Draco or Ellie come along for this, it'd put her on edge.
"I can always tell McGonagall that I'll finish setting up my classroom next week and come with you." Hermione smiled as it seemed Draco was just reading her mind or picking up on what was causing such unease within her.
"No, because the Headmistress will have your head if you don't have everything done by this weekend. Plus you're so close and then you'll be ready for your students. I promise, I'll be fine. I'm just going to get Ellie over to your mum's for their girl's night. Honestly, I bet he's just worried that I'm upset with the two of you." Hermione leaned in and pressed her mouth to Draco's for a brief chaste kiss. Taking Ellie in her arms, Hermione smiled down at her precious daughter as she grabbed Hermione's cheeks and pulled her in for a kiss of her own.
ooo
"A fresh tea bag for you?" The elderly waitress asked Hermione, holding up the chamomile tea she'd been drinking.
"Yes please," Hermione replied, smiling at the witch who flicked her wand to make a fresh steaming teapot appear.
"No need to fret, my dear," the woman said while pouring the tea for Hermione. "Whatever it is you're waiting on, these things always seem to have a way of working themselves out."
The bell above the entrance chimed, causing both women to look in the direction of the door and Hermione knew that her mouth had dropped open. There was Theo, stepping into the little tea shop looking completely out of place. His tight muggle jeans hugged his thighs and the shirt he'd chosen was stretched thin across his broad chest. He'd left his hair hanging around his shoulders and today he was wearing a pair of thick rimmed glasses that somehow made him look even more delicious.
"I take back everything I've ever said about the maker," the waitress stated, her gaze also on Theo.
"Excuse me?" Hermione asked, looking up at the woman.
"I've questioned a few times if the maker knew what they were doing when they created some of these knuckle head men I've met. However, they got it right with this one." She made a low whistle as she walked away, causing Hermione to snort a laugh out with her departure.
Theo's smooth movements across the shop were that of a confident man. Someone who knew that he was more than what the world knew of his name. Theo was a man who'd lived a life and had earned his own respect through his accomplishments, and he was only just getting started.
When he reached the table Hermione was at though, he seemed a bit nervous now that he was standing in front of her.
"Granger," he greeted her as he sat down and accepted the cup of tea that she'd poured for him. It looked like he was as in need of the calming tea as she was. "Thanks for meeting me," he looked around and saw the shop was nearly empty with just a few other patrons absorbed in their own conversations. Still, he pulled his wand and set up a silencing charm around them.
"Of course, your note made it seem urgent that I speak to you." Hermione replied, thankful that he'd had the foresight to keep their conversation private. Regardless that they were four years post war, Skeeter would kill to get her hands on whatever story she could make up between them.
Hermione didn't say anything else. She didn't want to jump to conclusions or put words in his mouth so she kept quiet waiting for him to take the lead.
After what had felt like an eternity, and two cups of tea later, Theo finally looked up from the floral tablecloth and met her eye. "Granger, I've been debating how to tell you this since the other morning."
Her heart sank into the pit of her stomach, but still Hermione bit her tongue and said nothing. This was it, he was going to tell her that he wanted Draco to himself. He didn't think he could share, but she wasn't going to just let him have the love of her life. No way in hell.
"Okay," Hermione squared her shoulders, preparing herself for the blow.
"I…well…the thing is, I was at Gringotts the other day." Hermione felt her face scrunch up in confusion, but she couldn't help it. This was not what she was expecting him to say. "While I was there, they informed me that I have an heir, but you see the thing is that I didn't know I had an heir at all."
Now Hermione was even more confused. While she was attracted to Theo and she knew that he and Draco had a strange history together, she didn't see herself as the person that he would come to confide these things in. Still, she kept her mouth shut, because she assumed he'd eventually get to the point of his strange rambles. Slytherins were a very odd group indeed.
"Of course, I thought the goblins were completely off their rockers. There was no way that I could have an heir. I'd been in America for nearly four years at that point and I mean, I'd always been careful. But here he was showing me the paperwork that I had an heir. I'm assuming you know about the tapestries that pureblood families have? They're magical and automatically update with every birth and marriage."
"Uh, yes. I've seen the Black family one at Grimmauld and then Draco has shown me one at the manor. I'm sorry, I don't mean to interrupt, but why are you telling me all this?" Hermione replied, unable to hold back any longer.
"Well, you see. After I went to Gringotts, I went back to my family's home to check the tapestry. And the other morning after your daughter came in, I realised something." Hermione's heart rate sped up as he continued. Before he said it, she knew what was coming. "Connected to my name as my direct descendant is Eleanor Cassandra Nott, born the ninth of May 1999."
Hermione didn't move as Theo sat across from her. His eyes were pleading with her to believe him, but she couldn't breath. What he was saying was impossible. Her Ellie was not Theo's daughter. Her biological father was some muggle, not one of the sacred twenty-eight pureblood's heirs. It couldn't be.
"Theo, I think you've made a mistake," Hermione stated before she began to gather her things. "How dare you," she spat, as she ripped her tote off the back of her chair, turning her heated gaze onto the wizard before her. She'd never felt such furry in her life as she stared down the man still sitting at the table across from her.
"I told you about her parentage in confidence. How dare you try to claim my daughter as your heir for some sick game. I don't know what you're playing at, Nott, but you leave me and my family alone."
Not waiting to hear the pleas he was calling out behind her, Hermione stormed from the building and onto the street. Not wanting him to be able to stop her, Hermione turned on her heels and disapparated away.
ooo
"Pans!?" Hermione called out as she stepped through the floor of her best friend's home. "Pansy! I know you're home!" Hermione yelled as she moved through the kitchen towards the backyard.
Since moving in, Pansy had made a few demands for updates she 'couldn't live without.' One of those things was an in-ground pool in the backyard for her to sun herself next to. Harry, of course, couldn't deny the love of his life. Even though it irked her mother to no end, Pansy was happily living out her life as the trophy wife she'd been raised to be. Only instead of doing it with a pureblood husband, she was with the half-blooded chosen one.
"Pansy!" Hermione yelled again as she stepped into the backyard to find the raven haired witch with a wide brim hat shading her face while under a giant umbrella.
"Granger, you're disrupting my pool time." The woman said, not moving from her spot or even sparing Hermione a glance.
"Pansy, from the bottom of my heart, I truly do not give a single fuck about your pool time." Hermione told her, walking up to the witch who finally opened her eyes and saw the state Hermione was in.
Seeing that her friend was a wreck, Pansy sat up, a spark in her mossy green eyes. "What one did it? I'm guessing Theo, I'll castrate him." She declared, flicking her wand as she gathered up the discarded book and drink next to her. Pansy was swift and precise with her movements, and Hermione knew if she didn't calm the woman down that she would follow through with the threat.
"It was Theo, but don't cut anything off yet." Pansy's posture didn't relax, and Hermione knew that she needed to get to the bottom of this and unfortunately the irrational Pansy was her best bet.
"Spit it out, Granger, you're scaring me and it's not good for my complexion to be under this type of stress." Pansy snipped, standing from her chair as she swept past Hermione towards the house. "I'm going to get Potter, he'll help me hide the body, tick tock Granger."
"He says he thinks he's Ellie's father." Hermione called out, causing her insane friend to freeze. "He said her name and birthday are on his family tapestry. Pansy, I– I don't know what to do." Hermione confessed the truth that had been haunting her for the last few hours since she'd run out on Theo. She'd contemplated going to Draco, but with things between Theo and Draco so new and just getting started, she didn't want to cause waves between them until she had more information.
She'd considered going to Ginny, but she didn't know Theo very well and would be of no help. While Blaise had grown up with Theo and the two of them were friendly, she didn't feel comfortable confiding this in him. That left just one person. Pansy. And as the witch slowly turned to face her, Hermione was questioning if she shouldn't have just gone to Blaise instead.
"She's on his tapestry?" Pansy asked, her eyes narrow.
"Her name and birthday."
"Come," Pansy commanded, turning back around as she began towards the house again.
She left Hermione no choice but to play along as she swept through the house saying nothing else. When they reached the stairs to the attic, Hermione was starting to get concerned for the girl's mental state. When she'd moved in, Pansy had made Harry levitate everything up there. Her reason being that her magic couldn't even be contaminated by the dirt she knew was up here. Now the witch was willingly ascending the stairs.
Hermione scurried behind and followed Pansy through the maze of belongings until they came to what had clearly been her school trunk. The thing was as obnoxious as a truck could get. Slytherin house stickers all over it. Mrs. Pansy Malfoy was carved on it right next to Mrs. Pansy Zabini. Without a word, Pansy opened the trunk and began to pull out old editions of Witch Weekly, journals she'd kept in school, before finding what she was looking for.
"Here," she shoved a large album into Hermione's arms, turning back to her trunk as she began to search through it again. "That one is from the first half of sixth year. Theo will be in there. Little scrawny guy with glasses and cropped curly hair."
"Pansy, what–"
"Don't ask questions, open the damn book." The witch snapped, pulling out another album triumphantly. She quickly started scanning the pages while Hermione sat unmoving. "Here," Pansy said almost immediately, shoving the book under Hermione's nose. "That's Theo, right there."
She was pointing at a page with all the Slytherins from their year. Draco was sitting in the front in a large plush chair with a glass of what was probably firewhisky in his hand. He looked awful and Hermione's heart ached for what she now knew he'd been going through that year. Pansy was laid out on Blaise's lap, her mouth open as he poured wine in her mouth while Daphne and the other girls were making poses and silly faces towards the camera. Crabbe and Goyle were sitting near Draco, always the loyal bodyguards and there off to the side was a boy that Hermione couldn't place.
"That's Theo," Pansy told her and Hermione's jaw dropped open. She never would have even noticed him if Pansy hadn't pointed him out. He was standing slightly behind the girls, but his gaze was locked on Draco. His glasses were far too large for his face and he was rather small. Daphne was taller for a female, always had been. She stood more than a head above Theo in this picture, nearly blocking him completely from view.
His hair was cut so short that it was nearly shaved on the sides with just a tuft of it on top. He had a bandage across his cheek where she knew he now had a piercing. His robes were too long on him and his hands were hidden from sight as was the rest of his body, but the way they hung on him it was obvious that he was extremely thin.
"There's no way that's Theo." Hermione breathed, flipping through the pages until she saw another picture of him. This time he was seated next to Blaise who had an arm slung over his shoulders. His hair was a bit longer and his glasses were falling off his nose. The sleeve of his oxford was rolled up and the scars that covered his arms were horrific. It looked as if he'd at some point had third degree burns on his forearms.
"I don't recognise him at all," Hermione admitted as she flipped through and found picture after picture of this boy. She could see glimpses of the man Theo would eventually grow into, but only because she Pansy had said it was him. "He's injured in nearly every picture."
"Thoros Nott was a monster. He was one of the Dark Lords most feared Death Eaters, and you can guess who his test subject for any new curses he thought up was." Hermione looked up at Pansy with wide eyes before back down at teenage Theo. "Theo's mum took the brunt of his abuse until he finally killed her during winter holiday our second year. Thoros mutilated Cassandra to the point that she was hardly able to be identified. After that, I think he realised that he had a son and starting the summer between second and third year, Theo always came to school with a new scar or injury."
"His mother's name was Cassandra?" Hermione asked, completely shocked by this revelation. She'd had no idea when she'd named Ellie. It wasn't until she was holding her daughter and looking at her did she even decide on her name. It just felt right for some reason, and yet no one had ever told her the significance of her secondary name. "Pans, I know the muggle that fathered Ellie was much taller than Theo. I don't remember much, but I do recall at least that much about him."
"Hold on, Theo had a growth spurt during the war. He came back to school our seventh year and he looked like a whole different person. We didn't take pictures; you know fearing for our lives kinda dampened the mood." Pansy was now pulling out old newspaper clippings.
When she finally found what she was looking for, Pansy shoved the old yellowed paper into her hands. Thoros Nott's Trial! Read in large letters as the headline and there right under it was Theo's father. "There's Theo in the front row after his growth spurt." Pansy pointed her finger towards Theo with his hair slightly longer and hanging around his ears. Instead of the tiny scrawny looking boy he'd been at Hogwarts, he was all gangly and wiry. His movements were awkward as if he didn't know how to use his new height and length, which was endearing and heartbreaking to watch.
"He might look familiar," she admitted as she watched him. "I'd chosen the muggle because he'd been the opposite of what I was usually attracted to."
"Granger," Pansy spoke so softly that Hermione hardly heard her over her whirling thoughts. "I think it's at least worth it to check for paternity. The chances of your daughter's name and birthdate ending up on Theo's tapestry are one in a million. You, Ellie, and Theo all deserve to know the truth."
"What about Draco?" Hermione could feel her heartbreak as she thought of the love of her life. He'd been Ellie's father since the day she'd been born. If Theo ended up being her biological father, that could change everything.
"Draco Malfoy is so in love with you and that little girl that there isn't a force on this Earth that would drive him away from you." Pansy laid a hand over the top of Hermione's, pulling her out of her racing thoughts. "You need to do the test, Hermione. Because all the negatives pale in comparison to what your life will be if he is her father."
ooo
Hermione knocked out a cute little rhythm on the front door in front of her, her nerves getting the better of her at the moment. Hermione let her hand drop to the strap of her tote as she hung on tight, as if it were the anchor holding her. Looking around the neighbourhood Theo was staying in, she had to admit that she was impressed. Though, it made sense that he would be staying in a wealthy area.
The Nott family fortune rivalled the Malfoy fortune, and being the head of the Nott family, Theo would have control of it all. When the door swung open, Hermione's mouth dropped open at the sight before her.
Theo was without a shirt, showing off that expanse of his chest that was covered in tattoos. Though as she studied him now, she wondered how many of the tattoos were because he enjoyed them or if they were to aid in hiding the scars his father had left on him.
"Granger, what are you…" Theo trialled off looking around. "Come in, I suppose. I wasn't expecting you." He finally said, stepping aside and letting her enter his home.
The first thing she noticed was how bare the walls were. Not a single bit of colour was painted or pictures hung. White, sterile looking even. She followed silently behind, not surprised as they passed through the hall and it looked the same as the entrance. When they reached the sitting room, there was only one couch and a loveseat, both black leather, with a couple of end tables.
"Can I offer you anything to drink?" Theo asked, motioning towards the couch for Hermione to sit. "I'm afraid I don't have much to offer besides firewhisky, tea, or water."
"Tea would be lovely." She told him, sitting down and folding her hands in her lap. She watched the wizard nod and walk off into a kitchen that was positioned right off the room they were in. She looked around, but there was nothing to catch her attention besides how empty the space felt.
Theo was gone for a few moments, and in that time Hermione considered backing out and leaving, but that wouldn't be very Gryffindor of her. So she sat and waited with the potion Draco had brewed for her the night before without question. He trusted her, and he knew that she'd tell him when there was something to tell.
Finally, Theo returned with a tray, setting it on the side table closest to Hermione. She thanked him and prepared her tea. Taking a sip, she let the warm liquid work to calm her nerves. The entire time, Theo said nothing, just watched her from his seat.
Once the cup was drained and she could stall no further, Hermione said nothing as she pulled the glass vial from her bag. Setting it on the coffee table between them, Hermione reached back into her bag and pulled out a baggie with a long strand of Ellie's hair.
Uncapping the paternity potion, Hermione deposited her daughter's hair and watched as it turned a deep shade of blue. The way the potion worked as Draco had explained was that the child's hair would cause the potion to turn blue. If the mother were to add her hair it would turn light purple while if the father added his it would become bright green. If the suspected parent's hair that was added was not a biological match, the potion would turn a dark brown.
Simple. No questions, no speculations. Just pure fact.
Theo must have recognised what Hermione was doing, because Ellie's hair had hardly been added before he was pulling out one of his own long strands. Leaning forwards, Hermione held her breath as she watched Theo add it to the potion.
It quickly began to bubble and both witch and wizard couldn't take their eyes off the glass in front of them. When it turned a bright green, neither said a word.
