@slytherdornet & @hprarepairnet after the war challenge - part II
Draco couldn’t believe what he was seeing. He’d just walked in Theo’s office to pick him up for dinner and he found Hermione Granger sitting in front of Theo’s desk. As soon as she turned her head to look at him, Draco realized that she knew. She had never looked at him the way she was doing it now; her big eyes searching Draco’s face curiously as her face flushed bright red. Draco tried to stop the way his heart jumped to glare at Theo.
“I had to,” Theo said, leaving his chair and walking over to Draco. Draco took a few steps back and shook his head.
“You didn’t even talk to me first!” Draco tried not to shout but it was becoming increasingly difficult.
Draco couldn’t back away any more without actually leaving the office, so when Theo reached him, he closed the door behind Draco and took his hand. “I did! At the party I-”
“That wasn’t a conversation, that was you admiting you fancy Granger while I kept my mouth shut!” Draco turned to look at her then and felt his anger ebb a little. She was sitting quietly, her hands on her lap as she stared at the floor, obviously pretending she wasn’t listening. He turned back to Theo. “I didn’t think you were gonna run off and tell her that we both like her!”
“If I had waited for you to act first, you and I wouldn’t even be together right now. Remember how long you kept your feelings secret and denied having them at all? If I hadn’t taken the first step you’d still be at the manor brooding quietly like you did for the first fifteen months after the war.” Theo’s hand was craddling Draco’s face now and it made Draco relax slightly. Theo was right, of course, but that didn’t make Draco any less nervious about the current situation.
“You still should have said something,” Draco said, his voice significantly lower. “It’s one thing to make me expose my feelings to myself but you’ve involved somebody else now and I don’t even know if she…” Draco trailed off as he noticed Hermione moving form the corner of his eye.
He and Theo looked at her as she walked closer. “Draco’s right,” she said. “You two should talk and work things out. I appreciate your honesty Theo, but everybody needs to feel right about this if anything’s going to happen. I’ll leave you two alone.” Hermione was about to walk away when Draco stopped her.
“Wait,” he said, his hand reaching for her shoulder automatically. Had he ever touched her before, not includding awkward handshakes? But it didn’t feel strange at all, it was almost familiar. “If anything’s going to happen?” He repeated her words. “Are you on board with this?”
The way Hermione’s cheeks reddened again spoke volumes, and Draco’s insides were doing somersaults again. He figured Theo had just blurted out his and Draco’s feelings without any regards to how Hermione would take it, but now that he thought about it, he should have given his boyfriend more credit. Theo rarely improvised and if he made a bold move like that it meant that he had done his research and knew there was little probability of losing.
He had known that she liked them too, or at least heavily suspected it.
“Well, I mean, I don’t know what ‘this’ is yet but I guess I’m not against it,” Hermione said awkwardly, twiling a strand of hair between her fingers.
Draco felt himself smiling despite himself, and then he noticed that Theo was looking at her with the exact same smile.
Hermione crossed her arms over her chest and narrowed her eyes at them. “You know, I’m really at a disadvantage here. You know everything about each other; I barely know that you two are Slytherins and bisexuals, and that last bit just came up five minutes ago.”
“Not true,” Theo said “You know lot’s of-”
Draco interrupted him. “You must know some things about Theo, you work together,” Draco said with a small glance at Theo. “And he loves talking about himself.”
“He mostly talks about you, actually,” Hermione informed him. “About your hardworking habits, the types of books you read, how you take your tea,” Hermione looked toughtful for a second before looking up at Theo with a frown. Draco did the same, but Theo was looking anywhere but at them. “And he did it all so I would like you,” Hermione concluded.
Theo sighed when neither Draco nor Hermione kept their eyes off him. “Did you honestly expected me to wait patiently while my boyfriend and his former enemy started fancing each other? I wanted you both to like each other as much as I like you.”
“How can you be so sweet and evil at the same time?” Hermione shook her head, a small smile tugging at her lips. Draco quite agreed that that prhase perfectly described Theo. When no one said anything, Hermione cleared her throat. “So…what now?” she asked awkwardly.
Theo looked at Draco, most likely because he was the one who seem to have some issues before, but the cat was out of the bag now and he had never dreamed that Hermione wouldn’t run away in a situation like this.
Draco laced one of his arms with her. “I think it’s time for you to know some things about Theo too.”
Hermione chuckled and Theo rolled his eyes. “Don’t you mean that we should all get to know each other?”
“No, I know you pretty well, I just want to get even.” Draco looked down at Hermione. “Dinner?”
She nodded and offered her other arm to Theo, who joined them and let them lead him out of the office. “Keep in mind that I only shared stories that made you look good,” he reminded Draco. “Don’t scare her off.”
Hermione stopped walking and almost made them stumble. “Oh Theo,” she laughed in a low voice that sent a shiver down Draco’s spine. “I’m about to go on a date with two Slytherins on my own free will, I don’t think I’m the one who ought to be scared.”
She started walking again, pulling them along. Theo and Draco shared a look over Hermione’s head, a perfect mix of amusement, fright, and excitement on their faces.
As soon as they stepped outside the building, Hermione disapparated them.
