Chapter 3
Theodore couldn’t shake the image of Hermione shaking in his hold, bleeding with that word carved into her arm. Draco had confided in him about what had happened at the Manor, about what his aunt had done to her, but everyone thought when they escaped, that she had healed.
Even more confusing was the fact that she had run away from him the second he was about to pull out his wand, as if the brightest witch of their age was suddenly scared of magic.
Theo walked away from the bookstore in a daze, desperate to talk to his partner, but Draco wouldn’t be home until later, and it wasn’t even the afternoon.
After the war ended and their fathers ended up in Azkaba,n and for the first time in their lives, they were free to do what they wanted. Though, that was with restrictions for the first five years as they ended up on probation. Which had been a nuisance, but the mandatory mind healers assigned to them had been helpful for the pair.
It didn’t take long for their relationship to be more than friends once they were freed from their father’s expectations. Once their probation was up and they were free to do as they pleased they had gotten married and walked away from living amongst the scrutiny of magical society.
He headed back to their penthouse on the far side of London, thankfully for once the weather wasn’t terrible so his walk was more than tolerable.
Once he arrived at the penthouse and took the elevator up he threw himself into his work hanging up his coat on the back of his chair and set an alarm for 6:00 pm so he’d know when to stop and start cooking dinner.
He answered emails and went through various profiles, which many applicants wanted to showcase at his club. He had opened it not long after their probation ended, creating a safe place for witches and wizards to explore their interests in a safe environment. Exclusively, it was members-only and all members went through a rigorous screening process before being accepted or denied. The main area was a bar area with tables to mingle at, and a main stage took the room front and center where there were entertainers of various kinds. The back rooms were only accessible via cards where a scanner would let them in and also let his system know who was in what room and when. Each room was designed for the various needs of his patrons. All day he bounced between emails and filling out order forms for new supplies needed.
He sighed, cracking his back as he leans back in his computer chair, rereading an email sent to him of someone seeking a membership to his club.
“How many times have I told you to take a break from that screen of yours, you have employees to go through these things.”
Draco fills the doorway to Theo’s office, leaning against it as he eyes his partner in disapproval. Silver eyes narrow in on Theo’s screen as he exits the email and rolls his eyes. His white pants are tight to his legs and his white button-up is popped open at the top, the light green coat over top proudly displays the healer’s emblem. His white hair is messed up and pushed back as if he was running his hands through it all day.
“I have employees but I still like to go over everything just to be safe,” Theodore responds as he pushes away from his desk, moving towards Draco he laces his arms around his waist, seeking his comfort as Draco wraps his arms around Theodore’s shoulders, kissing his forehead before pulling back.
“How was work, you’re home early?” Theo questions as he turns and looks at the clock that shows its 5:00 pm.
“Last patient cancelled on me, are you complaining that I’m home early? I could always leave.” He teases as Theo moves away to shut off his alarm.
“I’m not complaining, but a heads up would’ve been nice so I could have had dinner ready for us.” Theo shuts off the lights in his office as they exit and make their way to the kitchen where he starts taking out all the ingredients to make chicken Alfredo. Glad that he had remembered to take the chicken out of the freezer this morning.
“Let me help,” Draco says softly before moving to grab the cutting boards as he helps chop up the ingredients.
“Did you do anything besides work yourself to death today? Did you even remember to have water or eat?” Draco frets while Theo works on chopping up the chicken.
“Okay, no need to call me out like that, you know I don’t intentionally forget.” Draco stops chopping and moves his fingers under Theo’s chin, forcing him to look his partner in the eyes.
“I know you don’t intentionally forget but good boys take care of themselves so their partners don’t have to worry about them all day.” Theodore blushes a deep crimson at the pet name, his movements stalling at Draco’s low tone.
“Sorry.” He says sheepishly as Draco moves away and goes back to his task.
“So what else did you do? Please tell me you didn’t spend all day in your damn office.”
Theo scoffs as he finishes dicing up the chicken into strips and tosses them directly into the already-oiled pan on the stove.
He makes quick work to wash his hands before grabbing a stirring spoon and turning on the heat, unsure how to tell his partner about his day. All the words he wanted to say died on his tongue as he thought best about how to broach the subject.
“Theo?” Draco questions softly, putting down his knife once he finishes dicing up the onion.
“Did something happen?” Draco pushes, leaning against the kitchen island.
“Sort of.” Theo forces the words out.
“You’re worrying me,” Draco comments softly.
Theo takes a deep breath before speaking.
“I went to that bookstore on Marylebone today.” “And something happened there?” Draco interrupts, moving to grab Theodore’s left hand, tracing over the simple silver wedding band that matched his own.
“I saw Hermione there,” Theodore answers quietly, looking over at his partner to gauge his reaction. Draco grips his hand tighter and pales as if he’s seen a ghost. The chicken sizzles in the pan as Theo absentmindedly stirs it around, trying to make sure none of it burns.
“Did something happen between you two?” He gauges cautiously, looking like he might run if Theo let go of his hand.
“Yes, no, I mean kind of. Listen something’s wrong with her and I need to know if you know how to fix it.” Draco’s head cocks to the side as he motions for his partner to continue talking.
“You remember what happened when she and the other two got caught right? What your aunt did -”
“You know very well that I remember that clear as day.”
“It’s still on her.” Theo chokes out as he looks away, the wound replays in his mind as he closes his eyes.
“Like a scar? Yeah, I wouldn’t be surprised -”“No, not like that. It looks fresh still and I think it might be infected it looked all sorts of wrong.” Draco sucks in a breath.
“There’s no reason it should look that way, Granger’s smart enough to heal herself, wait how did you even end up seeing it?” Draco asks, Theo gives him the run down of Hermione falling and then her bleeding and him trying to help.
Draco stares off as Theo moves the pan off the burner, abandoning any hope of having dinner. Letting go of his hand, Draco paces the room going from one end of the island to the other. His hands run through his hair as he thinks over Theo’s words.
“Dittany didn’t help?” He asks and stops to look over at his partner still standing by the oven.
“She had more than that mixed into a paste, but I watched it with my own eyes; it barely did anything, and her skin was hot to the touch. She looked unwell, like she hadn’t been sleeping, and when I helped lift her onto the counter, it was like I was lifting hardly anything. Listen, I want to know if there’s anything I can do for her.” Theo sighs defeated, moving from the stove to the bar stool on the other side of the island. He lowers his head to his hands as his partner stands across from him in silence.
“I’d need to see it, while your description is something to work off of, it’s not enough for me to know what’s preventing it from healing, I’d have to try to extract some of the infection, see if there’s magical components that keep the wound from closing up.” Draco sighs and sits next to his partner, rubbing his back as he mulls over what to do.
“I don’t think she’ll let you near her, she was scared witless that I’d tell someone where she was, given your history, I doubt she’d be comfortable showing you. " He trails off as Draco’s hand stills on his back.
“I can’t help unless I can see it myself and cast a few diagnostics at bare minimum, but if it’s as bad as you say, she needs to be seen sooner rather than later.”
“There’s nothing I can do for her on my own, is there?” Theo pleads softly.
“Unless you can find a way to pretend this never happened and you don’t know about it, then no, I’m sorry I haven’t heard of this and off the top of my head I can’t think of anything that she probably hasn’t already done or tried.” Theo drops his head to the counter in defeat.
“I can’t un-see it, fuck I just, she looked so freaked out to see me there and I couldn’t just leave her like that. It felt like the same kind of panic you’d see from the war, like she was still living it.” Draco moves to hug his partner in comfort, wrapping his arms around Theo’s shoulders as he moves on the stool to put his face against Draco’s stomach.
“I’ll help, I’m not sure if I can do much but I’ll help, it’s the least I can do, especially when this upset you so much.” Draco presses a kiss to the top of Theodore’s head as they seek comfort from one another.
“I’ll go and check on her tomorrow and see if I can convince her to meet with us.” He looks at his partner with hopeful eyes. He may not have been the one to cause her harm, but he felt responsible for her, knowing that she’s likely on her own. Theodore was never one to shy away from a damsel in distress.
“Just be careful, don’t get yourself hexed trying to play hero,” Draco comments as he pulls away and goes back around the island to resume cooking.
After their discussion and dinner, Draco went to his study and grabbed some of the texts he had on magical wounds and brought them to bed. Theodore was already propped up and dressed in only plaid pyjama bottoms, his reading glasses on his face as he reached out for one of the books and flipped it open to the first page.
Theo had helped Draco study while they were on probation; their magic was limited to necessary reasoning only and with supervision, so both were forced to learn things the Muggle way. Many nights, Theodore spent awake with him, flashing him queue cards and testing him so he could pass his exams. The ministry had been hesitant to let them do anything, but agreed that continuing their studies would be important if they were to ever rejoin society.
By helping Draco study he was able to understand many of the medical textbooks Draco had acquired and could pick apart a medical journal with little difficulty.
“You’ll be looking for anything that has to do with poison, I’ll look through side effects from curses and see if anything matches your description.”
Draco settles in next to Theo as they spend the night awake in bed, trying to hunt down any possibilities for what could be happening to Hermione.
In the morning, Draco bid Theo farewell before departing for work again.
“If anything happens you come home and send me a patronus no matter what time it is,” Draco whispered before kissing Theo, pulling back to look him in the eyes, searching for confirmation.
“I promise I won’t do anything to get myself hexed. Go, you have people who need you.” With one last farewell kiss, Draco apperated away.
Much to Theodore’s dismay, the Lost Bookkeeper bookstore wasn’t open for another hour, so he busied himself with work. Answering more emails, going through staffing schedules, and answering Pansy and her lot of questions. She co-owned the club with him a night of drinks had led them to seriously invest money into the club. It started as a joke until both of them started hashing out the details, and not even two months later, club Resa was opened.
One of her emails was asking about books they could have on hand for those interested in learning more, and much to Theodore’s enthusiasm, he let her know that he knew of a bookshop that he could order them from.
The hour passed quickly and Theodore was out the door five minuets to 10:00 am when they opened. He speed-walked all the way there and made it just a few moments after they opened. The doorbell dings as he enters the warm store and looks around for Hermione.
“Can I help you with anything?” The girl with short blue hair asks from the desk.
“You wouldn’t happen to know where Hermione is, would you? I just wanted to check on her.” Theo approaches the desk as the girl organizes a stack of books.
“She’s out sick today, unfortunately I can let her know you popped by if you’d like?” “It’s actually quite urgent, you wouldn’t happen to be able to get a hold of her, would you? We were close in school, and I’m just worried she got herself hurt yesterday when she tripped on the ladder.” He pleads softly with her as she eyes him suspiciously before taking out her phone and looking through it. “Just give me a moment.” Hermione answers, and he can tell by the way the shopkeeper nods her head that this isn’t going well in his favour, but to his surprise, she hands him her phone.
“Hermione, where are you? “ Theo lowers his voice to a soft tone as the girl at the counter shouts, “Feel free to use the back room!”
“Theo, you agreed.” Hermione whines through the phone, and it takes everything in him not to correct her whining.
“You seriously thought I wouldn’t want to check on you after yesterday?” He huffs a laugh through the phone.
“I was hoping you’d respect my plea to leave me alone, please tell me you haven’t told anyone.” She whispers as if someone was listening in, her voice cracking as if she hadn’t drunk any water in hours. He shuts the door to the back room, leaning up against the same counter that he had banged her on yesterday.
“I haven’t said anything to anyone, are you alright, you sound unwell?” He massages his forehead in stress as he waits for her to answer, and for a moment,t she doesn’t. If it weren’t for the phone picking up her shallow breathing, he’d assume she hung up on him.
“ I just needed a day off, minor headache but enough to be a nuisance if I don’t take it easy.” She tries to brush him off, using a far gentler tone than he expected.
“Listen, I’m worried about you.” He tried to reason over the phone only for her to scoff at him, and he resisted the urge to roll his eyes at her stubbornness.
“Theodore I’ve managed just fine on my own, please just drop it and go give my boss her phone back.” Her voice cracks again as if raising it above a whisper was too painful for her to manage.
“Respectfully, if yesterday was any indication of how you’re doing I sincerely doubt that.”
“Goodbye, Theodore.” She grumbles before the line drops, the dial tone hanging between them as he moves the phone away from his ear to close it.
He takes a moment to steady himself before heading back out to give the girl at the counter her phone. “Is she alright?” She asks as she takes the phone from him. “I’m not sure, she can be quite stubborn about receiving help sometimes.” He admits, and the girl lets out a small laugh.
“Yeah, don’t I know it, she takes on so much and then ends up sick. Hopefully, she’s taking it easy for once.” Theo masks his shock and the girl’s admission, this clearly wasn’t the first time she had been unwell. “Thank you for getting ahold of her for me. By chance, would I be able to order a few books, a friend of mine wants them and I haven’t been able to find them elsewhere.” The blue-haired girl smiles up and him and nods gesturing to her computer. “I can look in our system and if we haven’t had it or don’t have it in I can always try and order it in for you. What is your friend after?”