Theo swirled his drink around before taking another slow sip. Draco grabbed one of their hidden bottles of firewhiskey as soon as the others went to sleep. They were sitting in silence before that, their peers knowing better than to ask questions.
They both took their favourite spots in the room. Theo preferred the large black leather armchair next to the fireplace with a good view of the whole room. Draco sat at the windowsill staring into the lake, with his back turned to his friend, for protection. They spent many nights like this, debating school topics, politics, quidditch, and everything in between.
Except tonight they both failed to find the right words.
Well into the early hours of the next day, Draco got up, with the half-drained bottle still in hand, and walked to the couch next to Theo, casting some privacy charms. His face got some of its colour back, not that there was much to begin with. You could see some emotions flash deep within his eyes if you knew what to look for. The hand that did not hold the bottle was hidden deep inside his robes, no doubt clutching his wand.
Theo remembered, that even as a kid, Draco could always find solace in his magic. That, and flying. They had some great memories together, playing in the Manor's gardens, finding sticks to 'duel' with. He always thought they would know every single spell in the book by the time they arrived in Hogwarts because every day they searched the library for new spells to 'try'.
And when they finally had their first test, they looked at the results only to have some unknown girl steal their glory. Draco couldn't get her name out of his mind ever since.
Theo pushed the memories back, focusing on somehow starting what was no doubt going to be an exhausting conversation.
"You thought she'd kill you."
"She has every right to do so." Draco nodded, then took a swig. It was going to be a hard night. "I guess you have too, now."
"I am not going to challenge you to a duel because of the supposedly broken honour of a sister I didn't even know I had until some hours ago. It's stupid-"
"It's tradition" Draco interrupted.
"-and I'm fairly sure Granger would hex both our arses for conforming to such archaic rules." Theo finished, glaring daggers.
Draco scoffed. "You know you sound a lot like her when you do that."
Theo knew better than to take the bait. He ignored the veiled insult to try and catch his friend's gaze, but he appeared to be counting every single torch along the walls. An inkling of concern hit him. The last time his friend shut him out like this, he was getting ready to unleash those crazy bastards on school grounds.
The blond was clearly torn about her, even if his cold hard mask did not give it away.
"Will you court her?"
Draco's eyes snapped to his friends', and Theo picked up on the subtle changes: jaw slightly slackened, and his eyebrows arched just a bit differently.
"Don't look at me like that, I know you've been pining for her ever since that punch. Which is still weird, by the way. Who gets turned on by getting their nose broken?"
"She's a Mud-Muggleborn" Draco quickly replied before seeing his friend's now cocked eyebrow and realizing his mistake.
Theo snatched the bottle from his hand, refilling his own glass.
"Any other arguments? Better ones?" He leaned back in the armchair with a neutral expression.
"She hates me" Draco supplied.
"If she hated any of us, we would be in the Forbidden Forest getting eaten by Acromantulas, if the rumours have even a speck of truth to them."
Draco swallowed, and Theo knew why. He also heard how Gryffindors would learn from that unqualified half-giant how to tame all sorts of wild beasts and ride them around the forest. But again, it was a sort of a school legend, rather than a fact. Every house had its own. Hufflepuffs are said to know all sorts of secret passages leading around Hogwarts. Ravenclaws supposedly had their own wing of the library that no one else can use. Slytherins had access to secret parts of the dungeons.
Well, there may be a bit more truth to that last one than the others.
Draco looked more and more nervous, but you could only tell from the slight shake of his legs.
"I was a Death Eater."
"We were 'children biased by the ignorance and intolerance of their ancestors', to quote from her testimony that, keep in mind, kept us from going to Azkaban. Have you even thanked her for that?" Theo wanted to stop this conversation before it got out of hand. His friend would always find an excuse.
"Have you?" He asked quietly.
"Yes, after the trials" Theo nodded. "Well, if you change your mind, know that you have my support as her paterfamilias, although I'm sure that means little for her."
Draco nodded solemnly, understanding the weight of his friend's words. If Granger were a normal pureblood girl, Draco could now be setting the date for their wedding.
But Granger is Granger.
There was a knock on the wall near the hidden entrance. Both boys looked at the strange occurrence. After the first meek knock, two more came, louder and heavier.
Theo got to his feet pushing through Draco's charms to get the door, but to his surprise, no one actually stood outside. He could see Draco on the couch, looking questioningly, so he closed it and walked back to his place.
Was it just him, or did the charms feel different going back in?
"False alarm, I guess," he shrugged.
Draco scoffed. "Do you really think she'll come? Because I have my doubts."
"O ye of little faith."
Both boys jumped, Draco dropping the Ogden's spilling it all over the small carpet. Theo hit his shin on the edge of the coffee table and was now cursing like a sailor.
A small giggle could be heard from the other couch before the light rippled, then suddenly the girl in question was standing before them. What in Merlin's beard?
"I'm sorry, really. I just wanted to make sure we get under some muffling charms before I reveal myself in case you started screaming." She looked at the two glaring boys, Theo still massaging his aching leg and Draco teetering halfway off the couch. "I was clearly in the right to do so."
With a wave of her wand, she Evanesco'd the bottle and its spilled contents.
"Hey, that was the good stuff!" Draco suddenly exclaimed, then immediately went still and looked at the girl.
"Were you planning on sucking that off the carpet? In that case, I apologise, Malfoy." She quipped, but Theo thought her voice did not have the same edge as usual. Hermione sounded tired.
Theo took a moment to take in the sight of the girl, a lion in the snake pit. The red of her clothes clashed with the green pillows around her. Her curls as unruly as ever. She did not have her normal school bag with her, just a small purple handbag. She had a thicker coat on, which made Theo wonder what she planned for the day.
"What?" Hermione asked, fidgeting.
"I'm just marveling at the first Gryffindor that ever made it in Slytherin common," he snickered. "We should get you a trophy."
"While I appreciate the sentiment, I am afraid its rightful owners would be Harry and Ron," she smirked. Theo frowned, but before he could ask, Draco did.
"What do you mean? When did Potter and Weasley get in here?"
"Second year," she shrugged, leaving the two Slytherins shocked.
"How?"
Hermione just smiled. "Wouldn't you like to know, Malfoy?" Then, as if that conversation was already concluded, she turned to Theo.
"Can we talk now, Nott…" she frowned. "May I call you Theodore?" she asked gently. Theo would never admit it out loud, but it made his heart jump.
"Theo, please."
"Call me Hermione then," she smiled warmly at her brother. "Can we talk now, Theo, or are you against some hiking before breakfast?"
"We shouldn't be outside of our common rooms this early. Are you suggesting we break the rules, Hermione?" He said, teasing the girl.
Hermione did not answer, she simply shook some cloth in her hand. When did that get there?
"If you come with me, I'll tell you how Harry and Ron got in here," she said, then turned and winked at Malfoy. Theo couldn't even imagine what his friend's heart was going through at this moment. "Dress warmly."
Theo went to grab his coat but kept an eye on the pair. They seemed to have reached some sort of unspoken truce.
"You know, that was practically Slytherin of you." He told the girl, who turned that sentence in her mind a couple of times, before arriving at "Thank you."
"So how will we get outside?"
Theo hoped that Gryffindor's princess had something good up her sleeve because he had no intention of serving detention this year. Slytherins were always the most despised in Hogwarts, but now that sentiment multiplied tenfold. Even Filch was harder on them, for all the cleaning he had to do during the summer.
Hermione shook the cloth again, waiting for some reaction from him. When it did not come, she pulled it around herself… then disappeared.
"You have a cloak of invisibility?" Theo asked excitedly.
"It's Potter's," Draco said, finally rejoining the conversation. That wink took him out of commission for a while. "I caught him under it a couple of times."
Theo felt the cloak getting thrown around him, finding himself at the back of his sister. He couldn't help but smile at her wild curls.
"Malfoy, if we don't get back until dinner, could you tell Harry we went the long way," she asked. He scoffed.
"Please? If I get lost you also lose Theo."
The blond rolled his eyes, but a subtle twitch of his mouth told Theo he quite enjoyed finally talking to the girl.
"…Fine. Does he know?"
"Yes. And he knows that you know too."
"Well, it's good to know that everyone knows everything." Draco crossed his arms, then got up from the couch, retreating towards his room.
Hermione called after him. "…Malfoy? You might want to avoid Ron today." The advice only earned her a sneer.
He felt her shrug as the cloak moved around, then she cast some spells on the both of them.
"So, will you tell me the plan for today?" Theo asked as he followed her out the door.
"Not yet. You'll just have to see when we get there." He could hear that she was smiling.
"So we're going on an adventure?" He asked, play-mocking.
"Obviously. Gryffindor, remember?"
"I think you won't let me forget."
To Theo's surprise, they did not take the door that would lead them outside but marched right up to the third floor.
When they arrived at the statue of Gunhilda, Hermione stopped and turned to face him.
"Theo, you are not allowed to tell anyone about this. Especially not other Slytherins." She said in a hushed tone.
Now this got Theo's attention. Just what did the feisty little lioness plan for them?
He nodded. "I won't."
"Dissendium," she whispered.
Theo's eyebrows shot up as the hump of the statue opened.
"I'll go first," she said, jumping in the small opening. Theo decided to trust the girl and descended after her.
The passage they got into continued in a tunnel, that, after a long way of walking, opened up to a cellar.
When they sneaked out from there, Theo's jaw dropped. They were in bloody Honeydukes! Before he could get a word out, however, the girl grinned at him.
"So, Theo how do you like our adventure?"
Theo smirked, but internally, his thoughts ran wild. So there really were hidden ways? How many? Did she know about them? Why did he not know?
But out loud, he said: "Very educational. So there is a hidden passage in Hogwarts." He baited her, and she took it.
"There are many, actually," she said, confirming his thoughts. "I guess Slytherins aren't privy to that information. I mean, who wants the sneaks to sneak more efficiently?" She joked.
"So where do you want to start?"
They ate breakfast, then browsed in the shops. Hermione did not tell him to bring money so he was being treated by her. He said to himself that he would return it with the rest of her inheritance after the conference.
They talked throughout the day, first about school, then about their lives. Theo was engrossed by Hermione's tales of a Muggle childhood, then her recounting of the first couple of years at Hogwarts of the Golden Trio. The one about their old professor chilled him to the bone, he was very apologetic about the basilisk business, even if he wanted to go and see the beast for himself. Hermione tried to downplay her part on many occasions, but it was clear as day to him, that without her, the other two would've bit the dust a long time ago, probably crushed by the Devil's Snare.
In return, he told some of the stories of his childhood. About the unpleasable governesses. How he played and studied with Draco and their little game in the library. When it made her laugh, he felt his heart warm a little.
He even told her how he only saw his father maybe once a month, as the man had been engrossed in his research, first for his own interest, then for the Dark Lord.
It was nearing sundown when they headed back to Honeydukes. He stopped her just outside.
"Hermione, I just wanted to say thank you for today."
She gave him one of those big, genuine smiles he just learned to appreciate.
"The pleasure was all mine." She pulled him into a hug. "I think we'll make good friends-" she blushed a bit, "-and even better siblings."
"A snake and a lion banding together, people won't know what hit them," he smiled.
When they finally returned, she escorted him down to the dungeons under the cloak. Then, before saying goodbyes, she held out a small paper bag.
"Could you please give it to Draco?" She surprised him. When did she buy this? "And please tell him that I'm sorry."
Theo nodded, then said his goodbyes. Before he opened the door, however, he sneaked a peek into the bag.
It was a big package of deluxe sugar quills. Draco's favourite.
A/N: So, remember how I said ~1000 words per chapter? Yeah, me neither. :)
Another character's POV is new territory for me, so let me know if these types of chapters are enjoyable or should I just stick to Hermione's.
Love, LydieBerry