Chapter 10
This is the first chapter that earned this fic the Underage tag, if you don't want to read about underage Theo engaging in dubiously consented to sex with sex workers who aren't particularly keen on having to deal with Theo's homicidal dad, skip to the next section. Also TW: Sex-Trafficking,Implied Torture all in that same flashback. Practice self-care if you need to and skip the section. This won't be the only flashback to this incident.
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When Theo gets the walkman to work, they listen to
6 Underground - Sneaker Pimps
track/7KvSuH86lIT2aTl9PBCAfd?si=03e38fc2dc154ddc
Blaise and Luna's song is
Dandelions by Ruth B.
track/2eAvDnpXP5W0cVtiI0PUxV?si=ELVmwhYbQlKqkSQ_-DGpvg
The playlist for the entire fic can be found at playlist/7H5Eskhpc9tuV78PCXFAMt?si=335aB4m8T7SfkuRjlmchsw
End Notes: Thanks to the alpha/beta team for this chapter! Amebb42, Megsivy, Justaddjewelry, my_saturday_girl & Ndcyciv
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Flashback
A month after the Battle of the Department of Mysteries
A Wizarding Brothel in France
Theo didn't particularly want to be in a brothel in Europe with his father, who had complained that Lucius had inconvenienced him by going to Azkaban and it was supposed to be a son-father trip for the four of them. How Theo wished that his father was also in Azkaban. He couldn't find it in himself to wish that Draco was here as well. It wasn't the sort of experience he wanted to share with his best friend, his forbidden crush.
The brothel was clean enough, but he could hear the screams in the rooms that weren't silenced and most of the witches had dead eyes, with many of them not older than his own fifteen years. He would not have been surprised to learn that some of them were even younger.
The landlady had a row of girls out for Thoros' inspection when they arrived, because this had been scheduled. Planned. In advance. Thoros had told the witch in charge that Theo was there "to be educated" in carnal matters and to see to it.
Theo felt sick.
His father chose a girl for himself that looked disturbingly like a young version of Theo's mother. Theo wished desperately that this girl might make it out of the weekend alive. As his father grabbed the brunette by the hair and dragged her up the stairs, the girl stared at Theo with real fear in her blue eyes. He wanted to cry.
"Don't disappoint me, boy," his father snarled at him before disappearing to rape a girl who didn't look in the slightest bit willing. None of these girls looked particularly willing– a less-than-arousing realisation Theo couldn't even consider. He didn't mind being a virgin for a bit longer, he'd much rather shag someone who wanted him, not someone his father had to pay.
"Alright, young Master Nott," the robust landlady put her hands on her hips, "come with me."
Theo thought he could already hear the girl his father had dragged away beginning to scream.
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After the previous night, with all its voyeuristic Hermione excitement and today's disastrous individual therapy, Theo was a little too exhausted for any manual labour around the campus that afternoon. Trudging up to his dorm, he threw himself onto the nearest couch, covering his eyes with his arms and almost wishing he had left the tapestries up over the windows. It was too bloody bright in here now, and the light was making his head throb.
Scoffing, he couldn't imagine that the school was going to be ready for the return of the entire student body in just a few weeks. The Board of Governors and the Ministry really needed to come up with a better plan than having a bunch of students do free labour for them. Shite, with how much restitution they'd taken just from the Nott vaults with the excuse of 'rebuilding Hogwarts' there should be an entire team of contractors working on the bloody school. Shocker that none of that money was actually going to where it was intended. Instead, it was probably lining more wallets and growing others' vaults.
A light knock at the Head Suite's door an hour later dragged Theo from his malaise. When he stood up, he was excited to see Thomas and Finnigan standing outside the door.
"Nott, I brought the walkman and some CDs in case you could get it working," Thomas greeted, "Is this a good time?"
"Were you taking a wee kip, Nott?" Finnigan asked, walking past Thomas and not waiting to be invited in. Theo shoved his curls back out of his eyes, and smiled at the intruders.
"I was," Theo answered, "but I probably need to wake up so I don't stay up all night. Do come in. Can I get you something to drink? Tea? Firewhiskey? "
Thomas said "Tea would be grand," at the same time that Finnigan said, "Oh you're a mate, I'd love a whiskey." Theo headed into the kitchenette to get their drinks, and a tea liberally doused with firewhiskey for himself as well.
Bringing the drinks on one of the serving trays from the kitchen, Theo floated it over to the table in front of the sofa where the two young men had taken up residence. Thomas and Finnigan were holding hands and Thomas had leaned his brown cheek against Finnegan's red hair and was murmuring something into his ear. The sound of the tray setting in front of them caused them to split apart.
"Merlin, don't stop being cuddly on my account," Theo smiled at the couple, "I'm certainly not offended. I'm usually all over at least one of my partners if I have one of them at hand." He laughed as he served the pair of them their drinks.
The other two boys began holding hands again as they sipped their drinks.
"You've got more than one partner, Nott? How does that even work?" Finnigan inquired, giving the Head Boy a sceptical glance.
"Well, I don't particularly believe in monogamy. No one person can fulfil all the sexual and romantic needs of another in my experience, but that may just be because I'm a complicated bastard with impossible needs." Theo grinned at the others, taking a sip of his laced tea and embracing the burn as it went through him. He needed a smoke to help rid his body of the lasting tension. "I got a lass and a bloke at the moment, although now that I'm thinking about it, I'm not sure either of them want the whole world to know, probably should check in before I out them." Theo's smile became a little tight and forced.
"Fair enough," Thomas consented. "This plonker and I went back and forth for months about coming out, and we couldn't even agree about it until therapy camp. I'm not even sure that it will be all that safe to be out once the rest of the school is back."
Theo scowled and felt the weight of his Head Boy responsibilities for a moment. Was this something that he needed to go talk with McGonagall about? Students deserved to be safe, to feel safe after fighting in a bloody war.
Aloud Theo said, "By then the eighth year dorm should be open, is there anyone who is particularly unfriendly to you? I don't want you to hesitate to come to me, I mean I am Head Boy."
Finnigan took a long drink from his tumbler, "McLaggen can be an arse, but he's been pretty on the prowl for a bit of wet quim. Neville's a good guy. We probably could have kissed in front of Harry and he wouldn't have noticed. He's the most oblivious bugger. Wood was gay and had a boyfriend in another house our first year, they kept it hush. Ron was an arse about it until the twins laid into him. So I have to say that we're glad he won't be back, without the twins to keep him in line he's a bit of a sexist homophobe."
Theo took a drink of his tea and then topped it off with his flask, before drinking again, "Weasel's a bigot, why am I not surprised? The nonsense he sold to the Prophet was a low blow to Granger."
"He's always been a bit of a disloyal prick," Thomas said taking a sip of his tea, "And Rita Skeeter's had some weird obsession with Hermione's sex life since the Triwizard Tournament. It's a little creepy honestly."
"Ron's a tosser all around, Dean," Seamus pointed out, handing his glass to Theo for a refill. "He was a real arsehole to you when you were pretending to be straight and dated Ginny too."
"So then why are you friends with him?" Theo asked, curious.
"We aren't really. Housemates. We are better friends with Neville and Ginny more. Luna's been pretty out at least to us for years, which is nice, like we don't have to worry what she'd think ya know, but she's just a bit out there. And we're friends with Harry, I suppose, but Ron's always guarded access to him. He's a bit jealous." Thomas answered for the two of them.
"Truly, I wouldn't be surprised if Ron didn't have a secret thing for Harry, ya know. Bein' a homophobe and so possessive of his best mate," Seamus said after taking a long sip of his firewhiskey. "This is excellent Nott, thank you."
"Raided my father's liquor cellar before we came back to school," Theo smiled, "It's nice to be my own Head of House. First time in my life I've not been answerable to a madman at home. Looking forward to having all the curses off the house and being able to bring lovers of whatever gender home."
While he looked a bit taken aback by the curses bit, Dean sighed wistfully, "I can't even imagine. I live with my mother and her husband and all my younger sisters. I fought in a war and she still treats me like a child at home. Not to mention that the level of homophobia at home is off the charts. Being on the run was hard, but being at home is impossible."
Seamus squeezed his boyfriend's shoulder, "And it isn't any better at my house. Mum being a witch isn't too fussed about it, as long as we figure out the kid thing at some point, but me dad is a muggle and his family especially isn't real keen on the idea. Best to not say anything me mum says."
Theo laughed, "Why don't you two get a flat? After our 8th year is over?"
"With what galleons, Nott?" Dean snorted, "Not all of us inherited a Manor and the funds to manage it."
"Thank Merlin for my galleons," Theo pointed out, adding a bit more firewhiskey to his tea cup, "Who is gonna hire me with my name and my family connections? You didn't get rewarded after the battle?" Couldn't they both go work with Potter at the DMLE? It paid quite well, Theo thought, but maybe they didn't want to do dangerous work.
"I got a pittance for being in the battle, nothing for being held prisoner or being on the run from the Muggleborn commission, because when they looked into it, I'm actually a halfblood. My dad was killed in the first Wizarding War. My mum thought he did a runner on us. So I was disqualified from receiving that." Thomas shared, refilling his tea cup with actual tea. What a travesty.
"That's bloody nonsense. You were assumed to be a Muggleborn our entire lives, the Death Eaters thought you were Muggleborn, and that's not good enough? What the bleeding hell," Theo cried out in astonishment.
"That's the Ministry for you," Dean said, shrugging.
Theo was annoyed. He liked the couple in front of him. They might become, dare he thought it, his first gay friends he wasn't trying to shag. Maybe something could be done about their financial situation, he'd have a look into it.
"Well let's see what you've brought then," Theo said, changing the subject.
Dean handed over the Walkman, a pair of small speakers, a few CDs, and a muggle kid's book on how electricity works. Theo was instantly enthralled with the drawings and diagrams in the book. Merlin, how Theo wished he'd been allowed to take Muggle Studies. He'd talk to McGonagall and ask to take it this year.
"I'm going to need to read this for a bit, to figure out how to make the player work." Theo said. "Do either of you fancy another drink while I read?"
"We aren't posh enough to need you to serve us," Finnigan said, "although if you have a smoke, then I will take you up on that."
Theo grinned, using his wand and an Alohomora to open the balcony door. Everyone didn't need to know how much wandless and nonverbal magic Theo was capable of. He liked them, he did, but he didn't necessarily trust them. He didn't trust anyone really, except Pansy, Blaise and Draco. Maybe someday he could trust Hermione. Not quite yet though.
The other two men went out to the balcony with their drinks, "Now that's a bloody grand perk to being Head Boy." Theo smiled and went back to puzzling over the diagrams.
Electricity seemed a lot like magic to Theo. And when he saw the diagrams of wind generated power, Theo transfigured a small turbine. He created a circular breeze, small and targeted, that spun the miniature windmill, then when he could feel the energy building up in it, he transfigured a connection for the "adapter" that Thomas had brought along.
Theo crossed his arms in pride as the Sneaker Pimps' "6 Underground" blared through the Head dorm. He heard Thomas' shout of excitement from the balcony, and grinned up at him, as they rejoined him in the common area and looked in awe at his tidy bit of spellcraft.
Take me down
6 underground
The ground beneath your feet
Laid out low
Nothing to go
Nowhere a way to meet
I've got a head full of drought
Down here
So far off of losing out
Round here
Overground, watch this space
I'm open to falling from grace
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Sitting out with the pretty blonde that he couldn't stop thinking about, Blaise decided to make his move. Lucia, Blaise's cousin, had gotten permission for him to join them for dinner in Hogsmeade. Despite her contacts at the Ministry, she could not secure permission for Draco and Pansy to leave Hogwarts. Theo would not leave them behind, so he was out as company.
This opportunity was too good to pass up.
Still wearing the daisy crown she'd made for him, he watched her look through the foxgloves with her magnifying glass for some kind of magical beetle.
"Luna," Blaise said from his place under the tree.
"Yes, Blaise," she replied, turning to look at him with her eye gigantically magnified in the lens of her glass.
"Do you have any plans this evening?" Why did he feel so nervous? He never felt nervous around witches.
Luna smiled, her blue eyes sparkling and put her magnifier into a pouch on her belt. "Blaise Zabini, are you asking me on a date?"
Blaise looked awestruck at the little blue dress she was wearing covered in embroidered kittens and the matching socks with ears, her sparkly blue mary janes. She was so the opposite of anything he'd ever thought he'd want. Salazar how he wanted her.
"I am," Blaise grinned at her, "my cousins have invited me to dinner with them in Hogsmeade. Would you care to accompany me?"
Luna bit her lip and blushed prettily, "I need to run up to Ravenclaw Tower and grab my coat, is that alright?" Her blushes stirred something in him. He knew she was a naughty little thing, but the innocence she exuded when she looked at him like that had him feeling protective and possessive. Salazar, how he wanted to make her his. He had never felt like that about a witch before. They were around for a good time, not a long time.
"Of course. I can wait in front of the castle," Blaise stated, and he turned to try to stand up. When he looked up he could see that she was already gone. Would he ever get used to the way she just left when she was done with a conversation? He felt the grin on his face, and he couldn't help but laugh. It was like her strangeness transformed him into someone else, someone who wanted more than a quick shag, someone with dreams of forever.
Was this what love was? He wondered, as he walked towards where he would meet her. He couldn't stop thinking about her. All of the other witches he had considered shagging this summer had faded into black and white, becoming part of the background in comparison to her.
Her face was the last thing in his mind when he went to sleep and the first thing that he would desire when he woke. Every word she said to him was poured over and analysed. She was like an enigma wrapped in a mystery, something rare and magical, even in the magical world in which they resided.
The sun was almost setting and the castle was bathed in pink and lavender light, and as Luna ran towards him, clutching a bright pink coat to her chest and matching beret on her head, she looked like something from a vision. Her nervousness was so apparent as he looked at her, he couldn't help but gather her to him and whisper, "Luna, you look ravishing."
Staring up into his face, she wrapped her arms around him and sighed, "Blaise, you are an absolute revelation." She ran her hand down his cheek and smiled at him like he was something she'd never imagined that she would have, some special surprise or a beloved dessert, like she wanted to devour him. And Blaise desperately tried to keep his arousal in check.
"Shall we head down to Hogsmeade?" He asked, instead of the questions on his mind. Can I find some secret place to make love to you? Can I make you cum? Have you ever had a wizard inside you before?
Luna stepped back and slid her coat on, "Let's head down. I'm ready." She ran her hand along his arm, and he took her arm in his, drawing her next to him.
"I'm really happy that you could join me." Blaise murmured into the shell of her ear.
Luna looked up at him, her smile bright and causing him to feel these flutters in his chest, in his stomach. She was positively ethereal.
"I'm so happy that you asked me," she whispered back. "So how are you related to your cousins who have been doing the restoration work for the school? Through your mother or father?"
"Neither, actually," Blaise said, "Lucia was related to one of my first few stepfathers when I was young and adorable. His family embraced me as one of their own and despite the rather messy end he met, they decided I was still family after everything was said and done."
"That was kind of them," Luna gazed into his face. "Your mother has been married several times?"
"Twelve I think," Blaise said. "She tends to outlive her husbands. I couldn't even name all of them."
Luna nodded thoughtfully and Blaise felt the urge to defend his mother, and also a simultaneous urge to confess. She kills them, Luna. I'm not even sure if she killed my father or if his death was an accident as she has told me. I even watched her once, that's how I know.
Instead he smiled, "How about your parents? I know your mom passed, but what about your father? Has he remarried?"
Luna's laughter was like the tolling of fairy bells, "No, no my father has never even considered taking another wife. I think my mother was it for him. She was a rather singular witch."
"Do you want to tell me about her?" Blaise asked. "My mother has been the only consistent thing at home my whole life, I can't imagine what I would do if something happened to her."
"My mother was brilliant. Ravenclaw through and through." Luna smiled. "She invented several spells. A medical stasis spell that slows ageing that they still use for coma patients at St. Mungos, amongst others. I look just like her. I guess she and my father looked very similar. I remember the idea of her, more than her actuality. The sound of her voice, the feel of her hand on my back when I wasn't feeling well. My father has a couple photographs of her but he guards them like a dragon. His wrackspurt infestation is really quite severe. He has some...memory issues, he admits to forgetting things about my mother and sometimes he calls me her name."
Blaise tried to imagine what Luna's home life must have been like since her mother passed. A father who struggled to remember his own wife, who hoarded her photographs. He looked down at Luna as they continued their walk to the village. She was staring off into the woods with a thoughtful expression.
Her uniqueness was a response to the madness of her day to day life. She was a Magical creature, something rare and precious.
"What did you say in the therapy group?" Blaise asked. "Your father was a seer before you were born?"
Luna came back to herself, and looked at him, "So my mother told me. He lost the power around the time I was born. I understand he and Sybil Trelawney were of similar power and she was the one who foretold about Harry and Voldemort."
"Does he ever make prophecies anymore?" Blaise asked.
"Never," Luna said. "Sometimes he speaks in an if-then statement. If you blank my moon, this may happen. If you befriend Harry Potter, it may help win the war. If you go to this summer program, you may find happiness. But never the definitive statements of true prophecy."
Blaise let himself think about one of those if/then statements. If she came to summer camp, she might find happiness. Did her father mean this, them? Ugh Oracles. They never made it easy.
To change the subject, Blaise shared, "So after Hogwarts, I've been thinking that I want to open quality Italian restaurants in Wizarding Britain. I own several vineyards so it would be easy to make a wine list only using my own wineries. I have considered going into tattooing like my mother's current husband, but I am not sure I want to do that as a career, maybe as a hobby. I don't want to tattoo whatever people want, I want to make things that are magical and special like gifts." Although he was rich enough to never have to work, which actually made things more complicated not less.
He could see the rooftops of the village coming up, and wanted to walk slower, to stretch out his time alone with this beautiful woman who was staring up at him with her dreamy serene expression.
"Have you done any tattoos?"
"A couple, on my stepfather actually and a few of his friends. It was a little nerve-wracking, but he was happy with them. He taught me the charm to enchant them too, so I can do things like make tattooed flowers bloom or butterfly wings flutter." He put his hands behind his back, as he walked, and imagined what it would be like to put ink into her skin, maybe a moon that changed phases.
"I'd let you tattoo me," she said and before he could respond, she continued. "I think I want to be a magizoologist but my father's health is somewhat declining and I may be forced to take over running the Quibbler instead unless I decide to sell the paper to someone else. But I'm not sure that someone else would honour my father's legacy. It's a challenge. I don't want the Quibbler to just turn into another Daily Prophet."
Blaise nodded, and opened the door to the pub of the Three Broomsticks so Luna could enter. He could see his cousins at a table in the corner, and then Hans spotted him and waved one of his giant viking arms in their direction.
Once Blaise led Luna over to them, they were both embraced by the huge man, whose excitement at Blaise bringing a young lady with him was palpable.
"Hans please don't transform into a dog at the table. I swear it's like you aren't even housebroken," Lucia sighed, exasperated.
"Sorry liebchen," Hans said, folding his giant self back into his chair. Blaise pulled out Luna's seat and sat next to her, putting his arm across the back of her chair as he saw a couple of the men at the bar admiring her long fair hair. They needed to realise she was his. Shite. She was definitely not his. He needed to get himself under control, but just look at her.
She'd removed that pink coat, but the pink beret remained, and he found himself watching her pink lips as she greeted his cousins, so warmly. She was just so genuine.
The meal was quickly ordered and the four of them chatted about the reconstruction work at the castle. Hans and Lucia shared that there was only about another week of work there for them at most.
"Honestly," Luna declared after her third butterbeer, "I don't see how the Ministry expects the professors, forty students and your team to conduct all the repairs and have the castle ready for the full class of students in September. I certainly embrace believing in impossible things. Believe six impossible things before breakfast and all that, but this. The scale of it! It simply can't be done." She waved her hands airily. "Oh excuse me, I need to go to the loo." And with that she was up and gone, without waiting for a reply in that quintessential Luna way that left Blaise grinning.
"She seems like a reizendes Mädchen," Hans stated, cracking his knuckles and motioning to the server for another butterbeer.
Not at all subtly, Lucia leaned over and asked loudly, "What's this with you and the pretty blonde? Shall we have your mother start planning the wedding? "
"Not quite yet," Blaise said, attentively watching for Luna, so she didn't walk up to them discussing her. "But I wouldn't say it's entirely off the table either."
"Ammazza!," Lucia grinned," I don't think I have ever heard you talk about a woman in such a way. I thought perhaps you'd live the bachelor life forever."
"I think she may be the most unique creature that I have ever come across and I can't help but want to make her mine" Blaise confided, "I have never felt this way about any witch before."
"Dat is how I would describe your cousin," Hans remarked, stretching his long legs and leaning back in his chair, earning him a fond smile from Lucia before she shoved him, almost causing him to topple over.
Blaise barely restrained his laughter at their antics, but was smiling widely as Luna rejoined them.
"You have the nicest smile, Blaise Zabini," Luna said softly and put her hand on his. "It makes me want to smile too." She didn't notice Lucia smacking Hans beneath the table and gesturing to their joined hands, but Blaise did, his cheeks heating.
"Vell Jugend," Hans yawned, standing, "Lucia and I have another long day tomorrow, so as lovely as this has been, we must head upstairs. Miss Lovegud, it's been a pleasure to make your acquaintance this evening." Hans shook her hand, and his immense hand swallowed hers.
She's so petite, Blaise thought. The things I could do to her. Throw her over my shoulder. Take her against a wall, her legs around my waist. Focus.
Lucia was hugging Luna and whispering into her ear. Luna nodded and smiled back at Blaise, blushing. What was his cousin saying to her? But before he could inquire, they were back outside in the cold night air heading back up to Hogwarts.
"I'm not quite ready for the night to be over," Blaise said to Luna truthfully as they left the Three Broomsticks.
"Nor I," Luna said, looking up at him through pale lashes.
"They are probably drinking in the Heads Dorm tonight, what do you say about having a nightcap and visiting our friends?" Blaise offered.
"Our friends' sounded so strange on his tongue. Had he ever shagged anyone with whom he shared friends? Never. And she wasn't just any friend, Pansy was Luna's ex and the two girls were very cordial. Luna and Theo had a close friendship that they allowed very few others to see normally. They'd given up a bit during camp, letting their fondness be obvious at least during group.
Draco and Luna were not friendly, but not unfriendly either despite her time in his dungeons. They just looked unsettlingly similar. All purebloods were related though. Although maybe she was a halfblood. He wasn't sure. It's not like he had examined their blood lines and family trees. He wasn't particularly interested in it himself, but his mother was. He could write to his mother and ask her about Luna's genealogy and whether she knew what Luna's mother's name was before she married. Perhaps that would get him an owl from his mother. His mother's lack of response to him was driving him spare.
"Let's go," Luna responded, lacing her arm through his and drawing him close. The scent of her led him to put his lips to her hair, and she released a happy exhalation that had him almost vibrating with the feeling of possibility that he held in his arms.
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The Heads Dorm was the image of Slytherin domesticity. Pansy was reading the copy of Witch Weekly that had miraculously survived Hermione's destruction with her feet up on a pillow. Draco was writing a letter to Narcissa. Theo had the electricity book and was reading through the chapter about different types of energy storage, wondering whether there might be applications for magical energy. Could he make a necklace that held extra magic that could be tapped into in order to make a spell more powerful? Could it hold magic from multiple people? This was an intriguing idea. Just how to go about it.
A knock sounded at the door of the Head's Suite, and Theo opened it to find Blaise and Luna outside. Theo grinned at the proprietary arm that Blaise had around Luna's shoulders, and winked at his little blonde friend. She smiled in pleasure back at him.
"Theodore, are you going to invite us in?" Luna asked, "or leave us out here all night?"
"Oh, please," Theo said with an inviting arm. "Do come in. Shall I get you refreshments?" Pansy snorted behind him and swung her feet off the couch, straightening her short black skirt.
Draco folded up his letter, and rose, "I will grab the Firewhiskey and some tumblers."
Blaise led Luna inside, and when he sat in what was now his favourite armchair, she looked around at the available seats and instead bit her lip and plopped onto his lap. Theo felt almost giddy as he watched Luna put a pale arm around Blaise's neck and Blaise smiled with real pleasure and wrapped his darker arm around her waist. His tall, dark broad athletic friend with the petite fair Ravenclaw on his lap looked like something Drake should paint.
The two of them were beautiful together. Now this is something I saw coming, but doesn't it feel nice to be right? Theo sat next to Pansy on the couch, stretching his leg behind her and pulling the dark haired witch to his chest. Her eyes flashed and she made as though she was going to swipe at him with her nails.
"Ask first, pet," she scolded.
Properly admonished, Theo apologised with promises to bleed prettily for her soon, whispered so softly into her ear that no one else in the room could hear. Pansy's nipples hardened and she nodded her agreement to being touched.
Theo felt like he could get used to this as Pansy's curves folded into him and Draco handed him a glass of good firewhiskey. He took a deep sip and inhaled the spicy scent of Pansy's skin, as she accepted her glass of wine from the blonde. Pansy wouldn't appreciate it if he marked her neck with little bites like he wanted, so he restrained himself, barely.
Hermione had responded very well to a little forceful touching in Hogsmeade. He was certain he had left bruises on her. The image of the ghosts of his fingers printed into her skin made him purr and he sipped at his drink. Pansy threw him a knowing look as she felt him harden against her.
"That for me?" she whispered into his ear.
"Just thinking about whether Granger would let me leave lovely purple bruises all over her neck and tits," he breathed.
"Merlin and Morgana, Theo," Pansy gasped, rubbing her thighs together to seek some friction, and taking a deep drink of her wine. It left her lips red and shining. Theo looked up and saw Draco watching him and Pansy with hooded eyes.
Was Draco hoping for a repeat of the other night? Salazar knows that I'm hoping for a repeat.
Blaise and Luna were drinking their firewhiskey and seemed to be a bit lost in each others' eyes. And Theo was pretty sure he hadn't shagged her yet, which for Blaise was unbelievable. He'd never seen the Italian court a girl like this. It was usually a shag or two and then he moved onto the next, but the possessive hand on Luna's hip was telling Theo that this was something very different. His heart felt warmed and for a change it wasn't the firewhisky.
The door opened and Hermione walked in, stopping for a second in surprise as she surveyed the five of them. Her eyebrows visibly raised as she saw Luna cuddled in Blaise's lap, but to her credit she just shrugged and didn't make any unneeded commentary.
"Hello, looks like I walked into a little party," Hermione said, sitting her book bag by the door. "Can I get a glass of firewhiskey as well?"
"Coming right up, Granger," Draco said, and went to the kitchenette to grab her a glass. Merlin, Theo loved seeing Draco engage in acts of service. It made him want to reward his Slytherin Prince in all the dirtiest ways.
"Hermione, we are about to play a drinking game," Theo said, earning raised eyebrows, sceptical looks and an outright laugh from Luna who all knew that that had absolutely not been what had been going on prior to Hermione's entrance. "Have you ever played "Never have I ever?""
"Someone says something they've never done and if you have done it you drink?" Hermione drawled, "I have been to a party before Theo."
"Oh, we are back to Theo again, I'm beyond pleased."
Draco entered then and handed Hermione a drink, setting the bottle down on the low table and taking back his seat on the loveseat with Pansy and Theo. Hermione looked at the open space between Draco and Pansy for a minute, but then remembered Blaise and Luna and sat in the other armchair near the fire. Theo struggled to stifle his disappointment, but kept his charming smile on his face.
"We all have a drink? Alright, I'll go first. Never have I ever had sex in a greenhouse," announced Pansy. Luna and Theo took a drink.
"Not together,'' Luna answered the unspoken question in Blaise's eyes, putting her hand on his cheek. He covered it with his own, and closed his eyes for a moment.
Theo called out, "Never have I ever drank champagne off someone's nipples."
Only Blaise drank. "I own vineyards and wineries, you know. Honestly I highly recommend it. The salt of a woman's breasts just opens up the flavour. It's divine." Blaise's hand was ghosting along the outline of Luna's breasts and Theo could see that his friend's pupils were blown wide.
Blaise went next. "Never have I ever watched someone else shag."
Draco, Luna, Hermione, and Theo all drank. "You are a bloody cheater, Zabini," Theo snarked. "When you've had girls from every house, Beauxbatons and Durmstrang in your bed in our dorm and you never shut the curtains!" Theo cast his eyes over to Hermione, who was hiding her blushes behind her glass. Had she watched someone other than he and Drake? What he wouldn't give to be a legilimens.
"Playing to win, Nott, playing to win," Blaise toasted towards Theo. "And if a girl's not keen on putting on a show, there are better places to shag than a shared dorm room if you get my meaning."
"Voyeur kinks all around," Luna giggled into her cup. Blaise nuzzled her neck and adjusted her on his lap, her eyes glazing as she leaned back into him. Luna laughed again. "Never have I ever watched someone else shag and not enjoyed the show."
Theo drank, "It wasn't exactly a consensual shag. My dad's a bit of a monster. Let Hermione go next."
Hermione struggled to come up with something, and took another drink of her beverage, and as the warm cast a glow across her skin, she quietly said, "Never have I ever given a lap dance."
Luna, Theo and Pansy all drank. "Although to be fair," Pansy said, "I've received many more than I've ever given. Tenfold perhaps." She smiled at Luna and Theo.
Draco scoffed, "My turn then? Let's see how to win against you degenerates? How about never have I ever had actual sex." Blaise laughed aloud as Draco admitted what all the Slytherins already knew. Theo thought that the look of shock on Hermione's face was absolutely worth it. Her golden eyes were looking over Draco as though she had never seen him before.
Oh look at that, Theo thought, he's become a mystery to her. And how she loves to solve mysteries.
"Come on now," Draco sneered, the image of his younger self, "Drink up all you libertines. I'm still waiting."
Sighing, Pansy drank and looked over at Hermione, who after staring for another moment at Draco's ring-adorned hands clenching his glass, took a deep drink. Confirmation, Theo sighs internally. Draco and Hermione's eyes caught for a second and they both looked away, blushing.
Blaise chuckled and drank, "I'm not sure that we have enough firewhiskey for how far from a virgin I am."
Luna giggled at that, "As long as we are counting lesbian encounters, then I am not a virgin either." Theo grinned at the look of feral hunger that crossed Blaise's face at that. Oh he's beyond smitten. Hermione's face had turned bright red and she was looking at Luna in real surprise.
Pansy scoffed, "Obviously, we are counting lesbian encounters. Otherwise I wouldn't have taken a drink." Pansy smiled seductively, leaning more into Theo and drinking her wine. Hermione seemed to have choked on her drink a bit. "Okay there, Hermione?"
"Fine. Fine." Hermione coughed a little, patting herself on her chest. She drained her glass and refilled it.
"Oral only does not count," Theo declared confidently.
"And why is that Theo?" Pansy asked, curious.
"Because Draco couldn't say never have I ever, if it counted," Theo drawled, throwing a wink at Draco who was blushing furiously and then at Hermione who was opening and closing her mouth like a fish.
Blaise made a noise to draw attention and announced, "I think we can say that Draco won this round." Draco raised his glass in self-acknowledgement, and Blaise smiled as he nipped at Luna's earlobe and she shifted in his lap. "But let's keep it interesting. What's the naughtiest thing you've ever done? I had sex on the balcony at the Yule Ball during the Ball."
"With who?" Theo queried.
"A gentleman never kisses and tells," Blaise scolded, running his hands over Luna, as she seemed to melt into his touch. Theo rolled his eyes at the two of them. If Blaise didn't shag her tonight, he was a fool.
"I had sex with my ex-girlfriend in the prefect carriage on the Hogwarts express," Pansy confided. Hermione's eyes continued to be as wide as saucers, her hands shaking slightly at the open way that Pansy was discussing her sapphic conquests. I should have said never have I ever kissed a girl, even though it was a lie, Theo thought. He'd bet 1000 galleons that Hermione would not have taken a drink. The look that she was giving Pansy right now told him that she was definitely curious.
Pulling her attention away from Blaise's mouth making marks on her neck, Luna asked, "Are all the naughty things going to have to do with sex?"
"Maybe?" Theo said, "Hermione wouldn't let us do dirty questions last time."
Hermione scoffed, "Theo, I don't let or not let you do anything."
"No, that's my job," Pansy teased, standing to go over to where her wine bottle was. After she refilled her glass, Theo watched as she made the most of being so near to Hermione. Looking up into the Head Girl's blushing face, Pansy touched her softly on the leg, on the knee, running her fingers along her arm. Theo's eyes were glued to their points of contact.
Breathless, Hermione stared into Pansy's eyes and stammered, "M-mine doesn't. I robbed Gringotts while Polyjuiced as Bellatrix and rode out of there on a stolen blind albino dragon."
Blaise's shocked noise was swallowed up by a kiss from the amorous blonde on his lap.
"Why am I not surprised," Pansy taunted, running her nails over Hermione's arm. "Golden girl always going above and beyond."
"I don't like being called that," Hermione confided, her honey eyes still locked on Pansy's, like neither girl could look away. The sexual tension was palpable. Theo couldn't wait until it snapped.
"Granger was that before or after I saw you at the Manor?" Draco inquired. Theo looked over at him and could see from the steel of his eyes that Draco was occluding.
Hermione finally broke eye contact with Pansy, to look over at Draco. "After of course, how do you think I had both her hair and her wand? She did let slip that she had something in her vault that she didn't want us to have." She threw Draco a confident smile that made Theo's breath catch in his throat. They were bantering about her fucking torture. It was disturbing, but Theo couldn't help but be aroused.
Turning around to return to him, the expression on Pansy's face told him that she was in the same state. Maybe she'd have need of his services tonight. Theo looked hungrily at her body and she smiled knowingly at him.
"You are terrifying, you know that?" Draco breathed.
Hermione took a long drink and smiled to herself.
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