Chapter 14

Theo

Granger had taken over the common area in the eighth year dorm, she was stretched out on one of the couches with her textbooks. She was pretending to read it, Theo could tell because she hadn't turned the page in the almost fifteen minutes that he had been watching her.

No one else was sitting with her. Theo watched the Gryffindors look at her, but they all left probably to head back to their own tower for socialising. The only one that he'd really seen interacting with her had been Longbottom and there had been no sign of him this evening.

Theo watched her until he saw Draco looking for him in the entryway to the dorm rooms. He would have preferred to watch over her longer, but the unhappy tilt to Draco's mouth necessitated Theo leaving his hiding place and heading to bed. He couldn't have his mate be unhappy.

His other mate had never even noticed him. It shouldn't hurt as much as it did.

...

Draco

"So are you going to explain to me why you didn't lose it today when Professor Weasley had his hands all over your other mate?" Draco asked the moment that Theo entered his room.

"She's your mate too," Theo stated.

Draco laughed and crossed his arms. "I am fairly certain that that isn't how that works, Theo."

"Regardless of how you think that things work," Theo began, but twisted his methods when he saw the sceptical look on Draco's face. "Bill Weasley's wife is part Veela and he's got some wolf in him from Greyback. They are mated. So I don't have anything to worry about where he is concerned with Hermione."

"You're very confident for a Veela who hasn't secured his mate," Draco sneered. "Cocky even."

"I'll show you cocky," Theo purred, his hand wrapping around Draco's throat. "Mate."

Draco swallowed, his pupils blown wide.

...

Draco

Draco wasn't sure if Trelawney was an early riser or if she had just stayed up all night drinking and it was easier to have her courses first thing on everyone's time tables. Divination had shrunk exponentially. They were now combined with the seventh years because so many of the NEWT level Divination students had died in the Battle of Hogwarts.

There was a dark joke in there, Draco was sure.

Blaise was beside him, but he was busy hanging on to every mad word of Luna Lovegood. Draco shook his head in annoyance at the two of them, but couldn't find it in himself to be truly dismayed. She was an odd little thing, but she'd survived his dungeons and had been nothing but polite to him since, which was more than he deserved honestly. He doubted that she'd insist that Blaise cut off his school friends after the wedding, which seemed increasingly imminent as he whispered something into her ear that caused a blush to spread over her cheeks.

Daphne was so livid that she spilt her ink all over her robes, leaving no doubt that wasn't at all happy about Blaise's interest in another blonde, but her awful behaviour of late had hardly endeared her to anyone their age.

Trelawney told Daphne that the ink stain on her robes looked like the grim and Draco almost choked on his own laughter. Now that Potter had left school the woman had to foretell someone's doom. Couldn't happen to a nicer witch.

Daphne huffed and fled the room, Tracey and Millicent on her heels. The latter two should really choose better friends, Draco thought, returning to his notes.

...

Hermione

Charms had started with a practical quiz which took everyone by surprise. After thirty minutes of nonstop casting, Flitwick had announced that everyone in the room was clearly prepared to pass their NEWT with at least an Acceptable.

"If you want or need better than an Acceptable, please come and collect a copy of the revision schedule from me. If an Acceptable meets your needs, I bid you a good year and I'll see you in late May when it is time to sit your NEWTs."

A handful of Gryffindors and Hufflepuffs walked out of the room and everyone else stood in line to get their handout for the spells that they needed to master to do better than Acceptable. Hermione smiled as she looked over the list, there were only three charms that she was unfamiliar with. This was going to be a breeze.

She caught Theo watching her and her smile evaporated. What did he want with her? Why couldn't he start watching someone else?

...

Theo

Hermione had been smiling as she looked over the study guide and the light that shone from within her was so magnetic. Theo wanted to kiss every inch of her. He wanted all her smiles for himself and he would share them with Draco of course. But when she realised that he was watching her, her smile turned to a frown and she turned away. He wanted to snap his quill in half.

Why must she be so bloody difficult?