A/N:

This is clearly AU, I just haven't developed it yet XD

But I hope you enjoy this one-shot of a reckless Gryffindor scaling a tower to rescue a damsel-in-distress.

This is unbetaed, so all mistakes are mine!

Word Count: 1802

Disclaimers/Warnings: x

Summary: Hermione didn't know that her association with Theodore Nott would have such dire consequences. Now, she has to fix things, like any reckless Gryffindor should.

Prompts:

Hogwarts School Of Witchcraft and Wizardry

Ongoing Challenge: Library

Twilight by Stephanie Meyer - (weather) rain

Ongoing Challenge: Wicked Webs

Hermione/Theo

Web Patching Thread: (relationship type) Rescuer & Damsel

Ongoing Challenge: Gather Your Party!

Sorcerer: Storm Sorcery: Weather: Thunderstorm

"Damsel"

Lightning crackled around her as she climbed, and it was only through sheer dumb luck that Hermione wasn't stuck. The rain that pounded down on her was thankfully warm, unlike the piercing rains that often caught them unawares at Hogwarts. The ivy clinging to the lattice she was using to climb was slippery, and oftentimes she had to slow down her ascent in order to not slip off.

Already, she had climbed twenty of the hundred foot climb, and didn't fancy being thrown back onto the ground with a miscalculated handhold.

Why did Purebloods have to be so archaic in their building designs? Hermione thought to herself. She had to pause a moment as another clap of thunder rattled through her chest, readjusting her hold on the thick vines that covered the stonework.

While very pretty, they should really remove the vines, she thought idly. The roots will get into the grout and ruin the structural integrity. The wind blew at that moment, cooling the drenched Hermione enough to make her shiver. Holding on tightly with her left hand, she released her right to grab her wand. Recasting her charms–featherweight, sticking, impervious–she stashed her wand and continued climbing, her hands slipping occasionally amongst the slick ivy.

Normally Hermione wouldn't have bothered with the physical effort. She could have strode in through the front door and climbed stairs if there wasn't a magical way to instantly transport her to the top of the tower. She was a Gryffindor, and was used to the stairs in the castle. This situation, however, was a bit more delicate than that.

After all, this was Nott Manor, and she was on a rescue mission.

This is why you don't get involved with Slytherins, Hermione grumbled to herself as she continued her climb. Thankfully the lightning strikes and thunderclaps were getting further and further apart. The rain continued to downpour, however, but she paid no mind to it. She continued to climb, and her mind wandered to the person who was responsible for getting her into this mess.

It had started out innocently enough. They had been partnered on a Charms project, with Theodore Nott actually interested in being a team player. He contributed ideas and didn't have to be nagged to pull his weight on the project, and that had immediately endeared him to her. When the project had to be presented, Hermione had been slightly disappointed that their study sessions in the library had to come to an end. It had been nice to find herself an intellectual equal who could keep up with the conversation. She would never admit it to Harry and Ron, but it was refreshing to not have to pause a conversation to explain a concept.

Every Tuesday and Thursday night, after her Prefect rounds, she and Theo would sequester themselves in the library at a table out of the way and work on homework together. Sometimes, when all homework was done, they would sit and talk in low tones, just appreciating the time they had together.

Besides Harry and Ron, Theo was becoming one of her best friends.

There was always the suspicion in the back of her mind that he might be playing the long game. He was a Slytherin, after all, and a Pureblood one at that. But what could he want with a Muggleborn Gryffindor? Besides the fact that she was friends with Harry Potter, the Boy-Who-Lived.

But time and time again, Theo proved himself to be a true friend, and when it came time to part for the summer, he gave her his address.

"My father wouldn't approve of me speaking to you, but I also can't go the entire summer break without hearing from you. Will you write me?" he had asked her. Hermione, always starving for intellectual conversation, agreed easily, and their summer had begun in a flurry of parchment and owl deliveries.

But August started and Theo wrote that his father was getting suspicious. I spend time with Draco nearly every single day, so I can't give the excuse of talking with him. I dare not ask you to send less letters, for your words are an oasis in this desert that I'm stranded in until we can meet again on the Hogwarts Express. I will, however, be unable to reply as frequently as I had been.

Hermione had been okay with the change, and eventually Theo's letters had dropped down to every other day, then every three days, until in the middle of August, the day before she was supposed to go to Grimmauld Place to spend time with Harry and Sirius before they went school shopping, Hermione got a letter from the most unexpected person.

Granger,

I know what Theo and you are doing. You need to stop. His father wouldn't want his son and only heir to associate with someone Lord Nott sees as so clearly beneath him. I do not write out of maliciousness, but out of worry.

Theo is my best friend, and his father has banned him from leaving the house. For your protection and Theo's peace of mind, stop writing to him. You can see him when we go back to school, where Theo's father has much less reach.

Lord Nott hasn't refrained from disciplining Theo for slights and transgressions in the past, and I worry what he might do to him if he found out about your association.

For Theo's sake, stop.

Draco Malfoy

And of course, Hermione, being a Gryffindor, surrounded by Gryffindors, couldn't have been deterred from her call to action.

Spurred on by the might of Lord Black behind her, Hermione began to stage the rescue of one Theodore Nott.

And so that's why, at three in the morning, Hermione was scaling an ivy covered tower that the Nott house elf had directed her towards. The elves couldn't bring her directly to Theo–Hermione had asked and found out that Theo's father had forbidden the elves from stepping foot into the tower–but they could give her assistance to access the tower from outside the actual building.

The last few feet of ivy covered a trellis, allowing Hermione a sturdier handhold. Hoisting herself up, she clambered into the window, thankful that the room was dark. A flick of her wand and she was dry, her hair frizzing out nearly immediately. Absently putting her hair up to get it out of her face, Hermione inspected the dark room. There was a mattress in the corner, and what looked to be a chamber pot, but nothing much else. No curtains to try to make a rope, no sharp objects to break off the lock on the door, nothing.

Merlin, did she hate Theo's father.

"Who's there?" asked a shivering form huddling in the corner. "Hermione?"

"Theo!" Hermione rushed forward, her wand flashing, sending a warming charm his way.

"Hermione, you can't be here. How did you get in here? The door and window were locked–"

"Your house elves unlocked the window for me. I climbed. The elves couldn't let me into the house itself, but they showed me the vines and lattice leading up here," Hermione replied.

"You climbed?" he asked in a small voice.

"Yes, Theodore, please keep up. You're normally much smarter than this," Hermione teased back. "You needed rescuing, and I'm a Gryffindor, so…" She held a hand out to him, and he took it without hesitation, getting to his feet. She wrapped an arm around his back and helped him stand up. He leaned against her heavily. "Now, are you ready to be rescued, Mr Damsel-in-Distress?" Hermione giggled quietly as Theo smiled at her, his whole face lighting up.

"Oh thank you, my Gallant Knight! Thank you for rescuing me from my evil, evil father!" Theo suddenly stopped short as he grabbed onto Hermione, pulling her into his arms. "Wait, what about my father? He surely would have felt you breach the wards–"

"Don't worry, Sirius is keeping him busy," Hermione replied as she helped him over to the window. He gained strength with every step, so when she pushed the window further open to fit the both of them, Theo could stand on his own.

"Lord Black is here?"

"Of course! I'm not a one-woman show here. Although he may not be here in the capacity of Lord Black…" she said, trailing off as shouts came from the lawn. The two of them looked down, seeing a man-shaped blob running across the lawn, a darker, faster shape chasing him.

"Is that…a Grim?" Theo asked, squinting to see better through the rain. It was definitely a dog chasing after his father.

"Actually, that's Lord Black," Hermione replied, now rummaging around in her bag. Theo sputtered at her. "Alright, are we ready to get out of here?"

"In this weather?!" Theo asked. "You're crazy!"

"Yup," she replied. "Crazy enough to do it once already to get you, and now we'll do it once more to get down. Welcome to being friends with a Gryffindor!"

Theo stared at her for a moment as she then triumphantly pulled something out of her bag, but he wasn't paying attention to that. Instead he reached out and pulled Hermione to him, kissing her for all that he could. He cradled her face when she melted into his embrace, and then a moment later they parted.

"We're going to talk about that once we're back at the townhouse," Hermione demanded, pointing a stick at him. Theo grinned goofily back at her.

"Yes ma'am!" he replied. He then focused on the stick in her hand, assuming it was his wand.

It was a shrunken broom.

"Why didn't you use that to get up here?" Theo asked as she resized it. Theo realized it was a Firebolt, and electricity shot through his veins at the thought of riding one.

"Me and flying? Are you mad? No, you're flying this thing. I'll just be clinging to you for my dear life. So be gentle, okay?" Hermione replied, handing it over.

"Yes ma'am!" Mounting the broom, Theo took a moment to admire the Gryffindor that had slowly started to capture his heart. He hoped that discussion they had later would be positive. Hermione climbed onto the broom behind him and held on tight, her grip tightening even further as he kicked off to hover a few feet off the floor. Theo felt her take a deep breath as another thunderclap reverberated through the tower.

"Now, Mr Damsel-in-Distress. Let's break you from this tower!" With a nod, Theo lowered his head to press them closer to the broom, and then they shot out of the tower into the pouring rain. He headed for the wardline, willing to go wherever this amazingly brave Gryffindor took him. He'd be fine, so long as he had her by his side.