Chapter 14

Room of Requirement

aka Come and Go Room

aka Room of Hidden Things

June 5, 1995

Grinning ear to ear, Hermione emerged from behind a wardrobe and a stack of treasure chests with a cake held in her hands. Fifteen candles burned brightly on top of it, but Hermione had charmed them all not to drip wax on top of the chocolate frosting.

Sitting on the floor, Draco was leaning against Theo, who was running his hands through Draco's hair and looked up at Hermione with surprise and pleasure.

She kneeled down next to her two boyfriends, her soulmates (it was still so strange to think that) and smiled, "I'd sing you the muggle Happy Birthday song, but I'm sure you'd hate it, so just blow the candles out and make a wish, Draco."

He raised an eyebrow, but did as she wished. After the candles were extinguished, Theo leaned forward. "What did you wish for Draco?"

Draco started to open his mouth, but Hermione jumped forward and covered his lips with her hand, urgently whispering, "You can't say or it won't come true."

"This from the girl who doesn't believe in Divination?" Theo laughed, eyes twinkling, and dimples on full display. Hermione blushed.

"Don't worry Granger," Draco looked up into her eyes, "I won't ever tell."

Somehow, Hermione thought that he was talking about far more than his birthday wish.

"Well," Hermione murmured as she dropped herself into the birthday boy's lap, her chest to his chest, and Theo ran his hand along her exposed leg, "I suppose now it's time for gifts." Hermione bit her lip nervously, and Draco groaned softly.

"Hermione, if you keep biting your lip, I'm going to do it for you," Draco looked at her lips meaningfully and Hermione had to hold herself back from biting her lip on purpose just to mess with him.

"Well, you are the birthday boy." She smiled and leaned backwards pulling a small brown paper package out from under her shirt. She tapped it with her wand, enlarging it and handing it to him.

Draco ran his hands over the wrapping carefully, but when Hermione tried to slide off his lap, one hand came to grip her hip, possessively holding her in place. "Stay right there," he whispered, looking into her amber eyes. He waited until she nodded and then began opening his present carefully. He made a show of slowly and gently opening the wrapping. Hermione nearly poked him in the ribs in her impatience. She had never been so nervous about a gift in her life.

The paper fell away and two small novels were revealed. They were classics. Two of Hermione's absolute favourites.

"Pride and Prejudice and Wuthering Heights." Draco ran his fingers over the raised gold lettering on the cover.

Theo moved closer to get a better look. "Oh, Drake, those are great books. I've read Wuthering Heights six times." Hermione looked over at Theo in shock. "What? Muggle novels can be exquisite, especially turn of the century female authors. They had some connection to pain and suffering that wizarding authors of the same period could only dream of." Theo trailed off and a blush stained his cheeks.

"I had no idea,Theo, that you loved Muggle literature. I didn't even think that you took Muggle studies." Hermione smiled at him reassuringly.

"Didn't," Theo smiled, sheepishly, "Father wouldn't allow it. But Ravenclaw Tower has a private library that is pretty extensive. I have a friend that has smuggled some books out for me."

Hermione tilted her head in puzzlement, but looked up into Draco's face wondering whether they had been a good gift for him. "They are my two favourite books of all time except Hogwarts: A History. I hoped you'd like them and we could talk about them. Only now I see maybe they would have been better gifts for Theo than you." Hermione's self-confidence waned.

"Oh no, no!" Draco shook his head, "I love them! Thank you for sharing something that means so much to you with me…It…means everything to me." He buried his face in her neck and some of her unease at whether she had chosen a good gift for her boyfriend. It was hard to shop for someone who was literally one of the richest wizards in Britain, possibly the world.

"Alright Hermione, time to vacate Draco's lap. My turn," Theo laughed.

"Theo, we just snogged for almost an hour before Hermione could join us, you can't possibly be jealous." Draco raised an eyebrow.

"Never," Theo snorted, "I love seeing you two together. Nothing makes me happier. It just looks more enjoyable to give you my gift on your lap." He grinned at Hermione who grinned back, before sliding backwards off of Draco's lap. Theo enthusiastically threw himself into Draco's lap, wrapping an arm around his neck and putting his feet on Hermione's lap, who had taken residence against the cushions, soaking up where the heat of Theo remained.

Theo pulled out a small wooden box tied with a black silk bow. Draco pulled the end of the bow and it unravelled easily. The silk length fell to the ground and Hermione stealthily snagged it, putting the length in her pocket.

Draco flipped open the lid and a shiny new seal with a black handle was revealed. "What's this?"

"It's a custom seal. I charmed it so only you can touch it." Draco turned the seal around and saw an ornate D with a dragon curling around the column of the letter on the stamp. "I thought you might want to send messages with your own personal seal rather than the Malfoy one from time to time. There's also wax beads at the bottom that are charmed so that only the person you've addressed the message to can open the parchment."

"Theo, it's amazing. Did you do all this charm work yourself?" Draco twirled the beautifully crafted seal in awe.

"I did." Theo answered, looking at lap shyly.

"You are bloody brilliant!" Draco captured Theo's lips in an enthusiastic kiss and Hermione smiled.

"Now I'm dying for some cake," Draco smiled after the two boys came up for air, and he pulled Hermione into his lap as well. Draco gave her some soft kisses as well, lips lingering, breath mingling. "This is the best birthday of my life so far."

Hermione thought her heart might explode from happiness.

...

Later that night, Hermione attempted to quietly sneak into her dorm, desperately hoping that the other girls were all asleep. Her hopes were dashed when Lavender walked in from the adjoining bathroom, her blonde hair wet and wearing her flufrobe.

"Oh hey Hermione, late night in the library was it?" Lavender smiled.

"Oh…yes…the library. Very late. Lost track of time."

Lavender raised a single eyebrow as she walked by her dormmate. "Did you know you have frosting on the tip of your nose?"

Hermione's hand flew to her face and came away with the tell tale chocolate smear. Sweet fucking Merlin. She was so caught. How was she ever going to explain this?

"Hermione," Lavender interrupted the doom spiral that was happening in Hermione's head, "if you don't feel comfortable telling me who your soulmate is, I'm not going to pry, but it might be nice if you let someone in, you know? But you also don't need to lie to me either. Okay?" Lavender went to her bed and laid her robe on the foot, climbing into her bed.

Feeling deeply conflicted, Hermione touched the black ribbon in her pocket. Draco and Theo asked her to keep them a secret for safety's sake, but what if she just admitted that they existed? Surely, that was safe. And Lavender wouldn't tell. Hermione knew that Pavarti told Lavender all her secrets, because Lavender was like a lockbox. Things went in, but they were never coming out.

Hermione sat nervously on the edge of her bed. "It's not one soulmate. I have two."

Turning over on her pillow, Lavender bit her lip to keep from squealing in excitement. "Triad soulmates! That's so rare! How exciting! Are they Durmstrang, Beauxbatons or Hogwarts students? Or are they from different places?" Lavender put her chin in her hands and was positively beaming at Hermione.

"They are both from Hogwarts, but they aren't in our house and they want to keep it a secret for a while."

"Hmmm," Lavender mused, "Purebloods then."

Hermione was started by Lavender's quick deductions. "Lav…"

"Don't worry Hermione, I'll keep your secrets and if I manage to figure out who your soulmates are, I'll keep that to myself, too." Lavender rolled over and looked at the ceiling, "I wish more than anything to meet my soulmate, but Circe knows I would just be happy with one."

Hermione transfigured her uniform into pyjamas and slid into bed.

"Lav?" Hermione whispered.

"Yes?"

"I have a ribbon that I'd like you to braid into my hair tomorrow, do you think you could?"

"I would love to."

...

The next morning, when Hermione walked into the Great Hall, her plaited hair showcased a wide black shiny silk ribbon. And if Lavender caught two boys from the Slytherin table unable to tear their eyes away from that ribbon, she just smiled a secret smile and kept her discovery to herself. And if she thought about how cake frosting and a certain Slytherin Prince's birthday might be connected, Lavender just chuckled to herself and practised patience. Hermione would need to talk to someone eventually, and Lavender planned to be that person.