Chapter 32
January 1996
Harry Potter threw his copy of the Daily Prophet down on the Gryffindor table, "I don't believe this. Fudge is blaming the breakout on Sirius?"
Hermione tried to restrain herself from rolling her eyes at Harry. The Ministry had established that it was corrupt, what did he expect? Honestly.
"What other options does he have? He can hardly say, 'Sorry everyone, Dumbledore warned me this might happen," Hermione waved her hand in the air, "the Dementors have joined Lord Voldemort and now Voldemort's worst supporters have broken out too.' I mean, he's spent a good six months telling everyone you and Dumbledore are liars, hasn't he?"
Ignoring what Harry was saying in reply, her eyes flickered to the Slytherin table and she met Theo's eyes. Draco had the Prophet clenched in white knuckled hands. She felt his unrest and fear in the bond, and Theo's attempt to soothe him.
"Right, Hermione?" Ron was saying.
"Right," she hoped she wasn't agreeing to something stupid, but she could hardly say that she hadn't been paying attention because she'd been trying to communicate with Theo Nott across the Great Hall.
She hated her double life, more and more, but she knew she couldn't trust Ron not to get her killed just by losing his temper over the whole thing. Sure he'd regret it later, like he always did, but she would be dead by then. Harry, on the other hand, was so naive, so sure about who was good and who was evil.
She almost wanted to laugh, she had been as well before Draco and Theo, before the Yule Ball, before she learned about Molly and her potions, her own bloodline and everything else.
She wished she could talk to Remus and Sirius. She missed them more than she missed her parents, but couldn't seem to find it in herself to feel guilty about that.
She felt someone's eyes on her and looked up to see Draco's hard grey gaze, his jaw clenched tight.
She needed to speak to her boys as soon as she could.
...
Hermione looked left and then right, coming towards the room that they'd chosen for their rendezvous far down an abandoned corridor. Draco and Theo were already there as she pulled the door closed behind her and locked it with a charm.
She cast a silencing ward to prevent eavesdropping that Remus had taught her over the holidays and felt that same tug of missing her former professor turned mentor. She wished she could just live at Grimmauld Place and be homeschooled more often than she wanted to admit.
If it wasn't for Draco and Theo…
Well and the fact that Dumbledore would hardly allow her to drop out of school.
Theo was sitting on top of the ancient teacher's desk, Draco leaning back in the chair, his feet propped up.
"We had to dust," Draco said as Hermione walked to them, "The Castle elves are lazy little blighters. Nowhere should be as filthy as this room was. Even the Come and Go Room is cleaner."
Theo pulled her into his arms as soon as she was close enough, burying his face in her curls and breathing in. His breath made her giggle as it tickled her. Draco rose and his hands were on their necks guiding their mouths to each other's and then to his. They kissed and touched each other desperately, the bond flaring between them and causing sparks of golden magic and light to flicker about the room.
"The bond," Theo exhaled, looking around them for a second in wonder. "It wants us to complete it. I can feel it."
"I'm not ready," Draco whispered, "Is that okay?" Hermione stroked his cheek, his face so vulnerable, so soft.
"I'm not ready either," Hermione said softly, capturing his lips, her hands running through his pale hair.
...
"And I'll happily wait for you two to be ready," Theo smiled as he watched them kiss.
Draco and Hermione were his everything and if they weren't comfortable making love yet, then Theo was content to wait despite how desperately he wanted them both.
The kissing and touching went on for a long time, when they realised that they had spent all the time that they could have been talking snogging one another, the three of them were awash with blushes and sheepish expressions.
"You have to be careful," Draco urged Hermione, "My aunt, she's insane. She tortured Longbottom's parents. Her husband is worse. I don't know who many of these other Death Eaters are, but suffice it to say, you Hermione Granger are the most high profile Muggleborn since Potter's mum. You need to be vigilant."
"Constant vigilance," Hermione said, rolling her eyes.
"Don't give him that look," Theo scolded.
"I was thinking of Moody, actually," Hermione sighed, "But I will be careful. You two be careful too. Umbridge is a nightmare."
Draco scoffed, "Not so much for Pureblood Slytherins, but we'll stay out of her way as much as we can if you promise to do the same. Let Potter collect her detentions, just stay out of it."
Tersely, Hermione nodded, wishing that for once things could be simple.