A/N: And I'm back! :) Sorry, my schedule is awfully full these days.

Now let's finally see what got Draco so worked up during the visit…

Theo swore that if Dray woke him up at the crack of dawn just one more time, he would skin the bastard alive. He should've been less specific, however, as just before the clock hit midnight, a loud banging tore him from his dream. He got up to open the door, only to find a heavily dishevelled Draco leaning against the frame.

He let him in with a sigh. Looks like sleep will have to wait once again.

The blond quickly circled his room twice, nearly knocking over a stack of books before sitting down on the couch. Then, like he remembered something, jumped up and settled on the foot of his bed, burying his face in his hands.

Theo always knew when something was amiss. Call it his big brother instinct. He sat on the abandoned couch and waited for his friend to stop shaking and at least semi-return to reality. Draco did this sometimes, overthinking, turning into a shaky mess, then cooling down. It looked awful; it was most certainly not healthy, but he was unable to help him. The last time he tried, he got punched in the face.

So he sat, and about fifteen different scenarios played out in his head about their visit to Malfoy manor. He knew just how nasty Narcissa could be if she wanted. Or Hermione. Honestly, the women in his life just seemed so antagonistic at times he felt the need to hide away in a dark corner somewhere until they finished battering their chosen victim of the day.

But now he could only sit and wait for his friend to clear things up.

"How's Hermione?" he asked, when Draco calmed down a bit.

"She's fine - with Ginny - sleeping - passed out - had to - dodge Filch." His words were incoherent, but Theo only needed the first part of the sentence, anyway. Everything else they could discuss later.

He went into the bathroom, conjuring a Firewhiskey from an enchanted, hidden box he installed in sixth year. When he returned, Draco looked at the bottle and shook his head.

Well, then. Something was extremely amiss. He got a glass of cold water instead, which the wizard accepted.

"Bad news?" he asked, dread building in his stomach. "Did Narcissa-"

That question snapped Draco out of his shocked state. He stood up, pacing the room once again.

"No. Bloody glorious news!" Draco suddenly exclaimed. "Do you have any idea what your dear sister did?" Theo shook his head. Just what could she have done? She studied for this meeting rigorously. She wanted it to work. Now, since she was dating Draco, probably doubly so.

"First, she wanted to sit in the drawing room! Even I can't enter the damn place, and I only had to watch-." He ran his hands through his hair in exasperation.

"Please tell me you stopped her," he said, and Draco nodded. Thank Merlin.

"Barely," he sighed. "Then we ran into grandfather's portrait. You know which one."

He did. Sometimes, paintings would move around the manor just like they do in Hogwarts, and that particular painting was a menace.

"It started to berate us, like always. But then, she conjured bloody a curtain over it, covering half the wall in Gryffindor colours. It muffled the bastard completely." He swirled his hand around, mimicking her wand movements. "Did you know a spell like that even existed?" He glanced suspiciously at Theo. "Have you taught her?"

Theo shook his head. "If I had a spell like that, half of my manor would be covered in curtains by now." Or maybe the entirety of it. Heck, they should probably drape the whole thing in from the outside. Then set it on fire.

Draco understood this well. Neither of them had a fondness for their childhood homes, yet they were expected to live there for their whole lives, since it was protected by their old family magic.

"Mother would agree with you." His mouth twisted in a smile. "With that single spell, Hermione had her wrapped around her little finger before we even left the foyer. It was inspiring to watch, really."

"Are you sure she wasn't just pretending?" Narcissa was known for her mind games.

"I am fairly certain she already started planning the wedding." Draco grumbled with a hint of redness on his cheeks.

Now that just sounded far-fetched. "How-"

"Hermione got a present for her." Draco interrupted, hiding his face once again. "A flower with golden petals. It was made with some sort of Muggle techno-magic."

Theo quietly chuckled at the thought of red curtains and a vaseful of golden flowers in the Malfoy manor. "Sounds like her. Going to your house, seeking friendship." It was a bit of a societal misstep to bring it for a first visit, but nothing too bad. Yet, Draco still looked like he was about to faint.

"It was potted." He pushed the words through gritted teeth, and Theo nearly dropped his own glass. Circe's tits- he forgot to warn her. But why would anyone in their right mind gift potted flowers?!

"Did Narcissa accept it?" As long as she didn't, they were in the clear. And if she did, well, he would have to find a secure place to hide when the Daily Prophet announced the magical engagement.

Draco shook his head again. "No. But she made me make a declaration. And do you know what I realised as I was trying to explain what just happened without upsetting Hermione too much?"

He let his question hang theatrically before his lips turned into a twisted smile of non-belief.

"You already gave me precedence."

Theo was glad he was sitting down, as his legs surely would've buckled under him. He did do that. A shiver run down his spine. He did it jokingly, without thinking about the consequences. But again, the chances for these events to happen were so ridiculously small…

"What will you do?" he asked, hoping his friend had a suitable answer ready.

Well, he didn't.

"She will bloody murder us," Draco mumbled.

The boys looked at each other with a genuine sense of dread hanging over them. Theo quickly came to learn that there were only a few things more terrifying than an upset Hermione, and having shared this knowledge with Draco, they were now both thinking about the best ways to survive.

"Why don't you just tell her? It's not finalized yet, and if she knew she had to look out for-"

"Yes, and how exactly can I go about that? 'Hello, Hermione, nice weather we're having today. Oh, just so you know, if you ever get a flower from my mother as a gift, we become magically bound and irrevocably married because of an ancient rite you had no idea you were involved in?'" Theo shuddered at the words as his friend sneered. "What a bloody great idea. I'm certain she will be swooning in my arms after that and not at all spending entire days in the library trying to find a solution. And that is assuming she doesn't just break up with me on the spot, hexing my bollocks off as she leaves."

He was right, maybe the girl was a little lion, but she didn't need the extra stress. And judging by his friend's shaking hands and shallow breaths, he could not handle a breakup right now. He just got the girl of his dreams, and while Theo never even had a crush before, he at least understood why his friend would be unwilling to let go. His sister was a damn prize.

So, that left them with only one option. "Ask your mother to cease the spell then?"

Draco actually laughed at him this time.

"It's only binding for the old families," he said with a pained smile.

Theo was starting to get a headache. Just how could things get messed up this much during a single visit for tea?

"And if we tell your mother that Hermione is my sister…" he mused.

"She would probably uproot our entire garden to send to her." Draco finished his sentence, giving a painful end to his comment about Narcissa's wedding plans.

The panic gripping both their throats rendered them speechless. Like the cold, scaly body of that big, ugly snake that thankfully now lay beheaded in a ditch.

Theo briefly wondered if this was some sort of cosmic joke played at their expense for dancing tango with the lions. He remembered how throughout that first fateful meeting with Hermione, the self-preserving part of his brain kept telling him to get away, close the door, and never open it again.

But he chose family. So now, with his bed done, he had to bloody lie in it.

"You could revoke the precedence." The blond whispered, so low he barely heard it.

"You won't be able to get married then. Ever." He whispered back, horrified. Surely Draco had lost his mind.

"We could do it the Muggle way. Hermione wouldn't mind." He shrugged, but his shoulders were shaking once again, betraying his emotions.

"Well, I would mind. And you would mind. And if you give me enough time to explain to her what exactly happens during a magical wedding and how without it, your magical cores could never be connected, I'm fairly sure she would mind too."

Another dark laugh came from Draco. "Please explain it to her. And while you're at it, why don't you also mention that my father is not only her legal representative at the moment, but also her godfather? That way we can both lose her at the same time."

This chilled Theo to the core. Not even the fact about Lucius - he could deal with that later - but this undeserved and desperate verbal stab in the gut. Draco was giving up, and he was taking out his anger on the only person he could talk to. Well, he would not stand for it. He gathered up his thoughts and hoped to Merlin that this time, he'd be able to convince his friend to not do something stupid. Theo was still kicking himself for failing to do so in sixth year.

"Okay." He took a deep breath. "Okay. You're slipping back into your old self. You know, the one Hermione punched in the nose?"

Draco only grumbled at him something unintelligible. So he pushed forward.

"At the possibility of sounding like a bleeding-hearted Hufflepuff, let me say this. I will not revoke your precedence as long as Hermione doesn't ask for it herself, because in this whole messed up world there is not a single wizard I would rather see her with."

"I am a mess. And a bully. And a Death Eater," Draco muttered with increasing intensity. "I don't deserve her."

Theo let out a sigh, settling on the floor where his friend just slumped down moments ago.

"You were all those things, yes, but now you're different. You don't get to decide if she deserves you or not. Only she can decide that, and from what I see, she thinks you do," he said with conviction. "What you are right now, is a man sorely in love, haunted by bad memories, sleep deprivation and war trauma. So, you're going to go back to your room, get some sleep, forget about all this, and then you can spend the next two weeks wooing her off her feet so that she may only hex one bollock off each of us when she finds out the next time she visits your parents."

Draco tensed up. "But what if-"

"Let me finish. You can do all that, because I am going to play my big brother card and monitor her owls, so you'll have nothing to worry about." Theo did not know how he would do that, but that was tomorrow's problem. Surely he could find some archaic rules about owls somewhere.

Draco looked at him like he was truly traipsing around in yellow and black by now. Then, after some moments have passed, he gave him one of his patented smirks.

"One bollock off each still sounds bloody awful."

Theo shrugged, getting up from the ground, and offering him a helping hand.

"That's the best I can do right now. Take it or leave it."