"Can you pass the cream Hermione?"
Hermione slid the chilled carafe toward her friend, her stomach twisting at how faint the question had been spoken, at how miserable Ginny looked as she poured a generous amount into her teacup. She watched as Ginny set it down listlessly before raising the teapot, pouring in the steaming blend the house elves served at breakfast as if by rote, her mind obviously elsewhere.
"What's going on, Gin?" Hermione covered Ginny's hand across the table with her own. "Want to grab some toast and go for a walk on the grounds before classes?"
"No, thanks, Hermione. I'm fine."
Hermione raised an eyebrow but remained silent.
"Truly. I'm just..." A sigh escaped before Ginny ran her hand through her hair, tucking a strand absently behind her ear. "We've been here a week… A ruddy week. There's a lot to process this year, and I thought I'd have more time before, well… before—"
"Before you saw Harry again?"
The hollowness of Ginny's laugh rang loudly in the early morning din of the Great Hall. "After everything, it always ends up being about fucking Harry Potter."
"Who's fucking Harry Potter?" Dean asked, sliding in beside Hermione while a still muted Seamus slid onto the bench beside Ginny.
"Not me." Ginny quipped, stuffing her mouth with a bite of egg. Only Hermione seemed to have heard the muttered 'not anymore.'
Her heart broke for her friend. For both her friends. Hermione anticipated this weekend ending in tears, but wasn't sure if they'd be ones of heartbreak or celebration. Or both. Or of the whole weekend being one of complete avoidance and delayed decisions.
Neville, who'd been staring in the direction of the Hufflepuff table, chocked on his porridge.
"Oh, honestly," muttered the fifth year sitting beside Neville, thumping him on the back. "There are silencing spells, you know."
She shot them all a look that prior to the war may have ensured censor, or at least abashment. Now, however, it fell short in inciting any response other than silent dismissal.
Receiving nothing but blank stares at her rebuke, the fifth year huffed before turning back toward her own friends. Hermione rolled her eyes as giggles erupted and surreptitious glances were thrown over their shoulders despite the condemning words.
"What the —"
"Did she just —"
"You were saying, Ginny?"
"Nothing you lot. Hermione? You'd mentioned a walk around the grounds?"
During the interruption by the fifth year and Neville's choking, Ginny had made her way around to Hermione. Glancing over, Hermione took Ginny's proffered arm, allowing herself to be propelled toward the entrance to the Great Hall.
"See you all later. Remember, today we're meeting to register our partners with the Headmistress and begin finalizing our topics." Hermione called to the three, ignoring the various looks and grumbles shot back at her at her reminder and the rude gesture from Seamus in lieu of words unspoken.
oOo-xXx-oOo
"I can't wait to see their faces when we present our concept."
Hermione could barely contain her excitement as she and Theo waited in the great hall with the other seventh and eighth years that afternoon. Never in her whole academic career had she felt as confident, as proud, or as nervous, as she did in that moment.
"If we get even slightly close to our hypothesized conclusion, we'll have made records." She clenched her teeth in anticipation.
"We'll also be able to help people." Theo murmured.
Hermione found Theo's countenance adorable. She could practically feel him vibrating with anticipation beside her; his fingers tapping a soft and errant rhythm on the stack of parchment contained in an intricately embossed leather folio, his leg and arm muscles contracting and relaxing with each beat. To look at him, however; one wouldn't know he was anything but placidly waiting in polite ennui.
She knew if it was Ron beside her, he'd be pacing or bouncing his leg with no regard for decorum or care, unable to contain his emotions or body.
She admired Theo his control. His restraint in the face of a monumental academic decision. Of potential judgment or failure.
It warmed Hermione, his ease in letting her see beyond his standard stalwart demeanor. Of him bringing her behind the curtain keeping the rest of the world from seeing the real Theo. The Theo she was beginning to learn. Especially considering the speed in their acquaintance. That he trusted her enough to allow her to feel the vibrations of his energy by proximity lit a fire of warmth in her veins.
She nudged his shoulder ever so gently, and felt a shudder go through him. Theo turned his head to face her, eyes gleaming and his cheeks stretched as wide as they could go, showing his perfect teeth. Hermione's stomach fluttered at the glimpse of his dimples.
'Merlin help me.' She thought, mentally fanning herself down as she forced herself to look around the room instead of fixating on the wizard beside her. All she wanted to do was see if that dimple tasted as sweet as it looked.
"Miss Granger."
"We're up."
His breath tickled the shell of her ear, a shiver dancing down her spine at the denied anticipation of his lips touching her skin there.
She reached over and placed her hand over Theo's, her eyes searching his for acceptance. They'd held hands before, at the lake, but that was in private. Around their peer groups, they'd also hinted at a warming of relations, but hadn't come out and indicated any pointed desire or expressed claim.
This… This would be announcing their mutual regard for the other.
Publicly.
She wasn't sure if he was on board with that, or if this breeched some form of Pureblood etiquette she was still woefully unaware of. Her heart settled and a smile graced her lips as his palm turned over and he threaded his fingers through hers.
"After you, my lady." His words, pitched low enough for her ears alone, sent another shiver down her spine as she rose from the bench.
Abrupt silence blanketed the hall as together they made their way toward the Head Table, to where the Headmistress sat waiting. The professors for all subjects fanned around her on either side of the massive table, available for consult if needed. Professor Rowle—'Merlin, but that's a weird concept,' Hermione thought—was gazing at them with an almost exasperated amusement. Professor Blishen's gaze was… thoughtful, yet the intensity unsettled Hermione. There was a calculation, a shimmer of something, that set her teeth on edge.
"Miss Granger, Mr. Nott." Headmistress McGonagall's face was a study in neutrality, save for the sparkle Hermione detected in her eye. She motioned for them to take a seat in the vacant chairs across from her. Hermione saw the Headmistress's eyes swivel over the entire hall before coming to rest on Theo and herself.
"It seems the shock to ones sensibilities—preconceived or otherwise—has the power to silence as well as any incanted spell. Congratulations."
As the leader of the now disbanded Order, Hermione assumed that she was aware of Theo's assistance in the capture and incarceration of his father. That his loyalties were beyond question. As she and Theo settled into their chairs, the headmistress again scanned the students milling about before her, eyebrow raised and lips pursed. As the voices of their peers began bursting in pockets of gossip and various tones of awe or censure, Hermione felt certain that come what may, she—no, they—had a powerful ally.
Hermione was humbled.
She wasn't certain what the other professors thought or believed, about Theo and his place in the war, and frankly, Hermione didn't give a Morgana's arsehole. They didn't matter.
Not about this. Not about him.
"Good morning professors, Headmistress. Professors." Theo nodded in their direction across for where they sat. "A pleasure."
As Theo opened the leather folio Hermione swished her wand and deposited their proposal in front of the appropriate professors. Theo slid an additional copy across to the headmistress, one that contained a letter at the end. A letter neither of them desired others to become privy to.
A letter they desperately wished had no reason to be written, but for their protection, had to be.
As the respective teachers from the included subjects in their project reviewed their proposal, Hermione reached under the table and grasped Theo's hand beside her.
'This is it. Please... please acknowledge we're onto something here.'
"What is—"
"How did you—"
"I say, this is rather—"
"You're barking mad, the two of you." Professor Blishen all but sneered the words, her scorn dripping from each syllable as she peered over Professor Rowel's shoulder at their proposal. "You won't get past step one, though you might get... close. Wizards and witches better and more experienced than you have tried. Tried, and failed."
There was a gasp from the surrounding professors.
"Professor Blishen, control yourself." Snapped the headmistress. "Transfiguration was not one of the subjects they are using for their approach, nor were you given a copy. Kindly refrain from inflicting your opinion upon us."
Hermione saw a flicker of familiarity appear on Professor Blishen's face as her lips pursed at the rebuke. So subtle and fast was the flicker that she questioned if she even saw it.
As Professor Blishen settled back in her chair, positioning her robes in regal fashion around her ample hips, Professor Rowle turned toward Hermione and Theo, piercing them with a look. "This is quite an extraordinary undertaking… I can't wait to delve into the theory here. Explain, please."
'Here goes.' Hermione thought, squeezing Theo's hand before taking a deep breath. Releasing his hand, she sat forward and launched into breaking down the components and target benchmarks of their final project.
oOo-xXx-oOo
"I'm so glad that's over! I was expecting to be grilled, but that was more intense than I'd anticipated."
"Professor Blishen looked as if she'd swallowed something sour while you were presenting." Ginny said.
"You don't know the half of it…" Hermione grumbled, rubbing her eyes.
Ginny, Luna, and Hermione were with the eighth year Slytherins in the shared common room. Originally wanting to dive head first into their proposal following their pitch, Theo and Hermione had given it up as a bad job for the day after their meeting with the professors and headmistress. It hadn't been hard for Ginny or Draco to convince them to relax and enjoy the rest of their free period before supper.
'Before Ron and Harry arrive,' Hermione thought, not for the first time wondering how their presence would affect things here.
Hermione was leaning back against the sofa, looking listlessly at the ceiling. Her eyes traced the intricate pattern of the beams and stone above her, her thoughts sifting through the earlier discussions.
She couldn't shake the feeling she was missing something.
Something key.
'Forgetting something, maybe?' The feeling flittered as softly as the beat of a snitch's wing, and the thought flew out of her brain just as quickly, leaving her to brood in silence.
"Hermione was bloody brilliant. You should have seen her defend our hypothesis to the panel."
This comment brought Hermione out of her reverie.
"It was a joint effort Theo." Hermione flashed him a tired grin. "Don't forget, it was your compelling final argument that persuaded them to approve our proposal, rather than dismiss it as overzealous leprechaun gold."
"Right, like anything you'd propose would be as transparently transient as leprechaun gold." Pansy snorted, a surprisingly indelicate sound given her propensity for decorum.
"What was yours Pans?" Draco asked. "You and…"
"Eloise. Honestly Draco. We grew up with her. She attended all mother's Ostara garden parties until we entered Hogwarts."
Draco blinked owlishly. "Was she the one who pushed me into the pond? I had to scrub that slime out of my hair for an hour! Father's elf was forbidden to help."
"Because you'd called her a 'muggle loving scum' in front of her mother, and yours." Blaise shook his head, moving his bishop across the board of the perpetual chess game him and Tracy seemed to play.
"So what?… I was just repeating what I'd overheard father say at a party once, and again before we'd floo'd over."
As Ginny and Hermione opened their mouths, Draco rushed on his eyes widening. "I know, I know. I was a bigoted arsehole and my father more so. I know now why she'd push me in, but back then…"
He turned bewildered toward Blaise.
"Why would that have set her off? It was never explained to me. I was just rushed home, thrown in the tub and told to sort myself out by mother, lest I bring shame on the family once more with my tongue."
Pansy pinched the bridge of nose.
"Draco. Darling. I mean this in the best possible way, but you are the most obtuse and self involved prat."
Theo laughed. "Coming from you Pansy, that's almost a compliment!"
Pansy shot Theo a look, before turning toward Draco again.
"In a dragon egg, Her mother is a half blood. Meaning, Eloise has muggle grandparents. That was the reason they only came to Ostara and not other festivals. Her family straddled the line between the accepted Pureblood doctrine and practicing muggle culture."
"But why..." Draco began but silenced at the look Pansy shot him.
"Her dad was old blood. Established family. Not someone any wished to cross. Their familial... affiliations, were something no one discussed in polite society."
Hermione cocked her head.
"Polite society? You mean those who feared anyone different than themselves, right?"
"Have you read the tome I lent your… Hermione?" Pansy's voice was syrupy sweetness, her words cutting in their bite.
"No." Hermione sighed. "I haven't had time to read past the Introduction. I assume Polite society will be defined and extolled somewhere in the pages?"
"Quite." Said Pansy. "Read it, and then we will chat."
A comfortable silence settled over the group following Pansy's statement, broken only when it was time to head to the Great Hall for supper.