Daylight

Now that classes are fully in session, Hermione has taken it upon herself to prepare a rigorous study schedule so she can stay on top of her school work. Saturdays are reserved for Arithmancy and Divination, however (seeing as the latter is the largest bin of rubbish), she tends to spend them reading her non-school books. Today, she has chosen a wizarding fiction she picked up in Diagon by Milly Bibbell, entitled The Wolf is Where?. Right as she is getting to the point where the protagonist, Hector, gets bit by a werewolf while walking home on a full moon, she hears a cough in front of her.

Startled, she snaps her head up to see Theodore Nott sitting across from her. Hermione has not managed to catch his eye since that odd dinner in the Great Hall, but she finds herself unconsciously looking for him in the corridors and in classes. She wondered if she imagined the silent exchange, but that wouldn’t explain the newfound curiosity for her Slytherin classmate.

“Oh! Hello, I’m sorry, were you needing this table?” she feels a heat rising up the back of her neck, and hopes Theodore hasn't noticed.

“No actually, I just wanted to introduce myself, since I don’t believe we have officially met.” he sticks his hand out to her across the table, “I’m Theo.”

Taking his hand, it takes Hermione a few seconds to realise she hasn’t responded, but rather has just stared at his hand enveloping hers. “Yes! Hello Theodore, yes. I’m Hermione. Granger.”

Chuckling, he pulls his hand away, “Just Theo is fine, and of course I know your name, Hermione.” Of course he does, he has only been in classes with her since first year. She wishes a sinkhole would appear under her chair, so she can escape the mortification. Sadly, no sinkhole comes to save her, and Hemione’s face grows redder as he looks at her suddenly embarrassing novel she is reading. Sinkhole. Please.

“The Wolf is Where? Huh, I didn’t know you were a fan of Bibbell, Granger. A few girls in the dorms can’t seem to put her newest novel down.” He states as he turns it over, inspecting the blurb on the back cover.

“I actually haven’t read anything of hers just yet, this was recommended to me by the shopkeeper’s wife over at Flourish & Blott’s. Harry says I need to get away from reading ‘books that are twice the size of my head’, so this is what I came up with. You’d be surprised at how large all of the interesting books are.” Suddenly feeling like she has overshared, she stares at the table and awaits the taunts she usually hears from members of Slytherin House. When she doesn’t hear a reply, she looks up and sees Theo taking out his school books.

Looking up to meet her eyes, he gives her a genuine smile and says, “Personally, I wouldn’t take anything scarhead says to heart. Everyone knows you’re the brains of that whole operation. Mind if I study with you? I promise not to judge even if your books are larger than your head.” She can’t believe he is being so… normal?... with her right now. Where are the mean remarks about her looks and heritage? Sensing her unease, he adds, “If not, Granger just say the word. I would hate to be a bother to the Gryffindor princess.”

Suddenly pulled out of her own thoughts, she sees Theo moving to pack up. Not wanting him to leave she puts her arms out and says, “No! No, Theo of course you can sit here with me. I’m sorry, I’m just not used to members of your house being so nice to me. Forgive my bluntness, Theo, but we’ve never spoken before. Why are you here now?” She probably shouldn’t have been so rude with him, now he might think she's some jaded muggleborn.

“I want you to know, Hermione, that despite what you may hear I do not follow the same beliefs as many of my housemates. Being pureblood, there are a lot of expectations but on us from a young age. Many of our classmates just can’t seem to find the free will to form their own opinions. As for why I’m sitting with you, I figured three years is much too long to not get friendly with my competition.”

Feeling much more at ease by his confession, Hermione relaxes her shoulders. “You can get friendly all you want, Nott, but it won’t help you in the end.” She teases with a grin. Theo lets out a large laugh, and matches her grin with his own.

“Okay, if that’s how you want to play, how about we make this term interesting?” He starts with a devilish look in his eye, “If I get a higher ranking than you overall by the end of term, you have to go to Hogsmeade with me. If you score higher than me, I will read any five books of your choosing, so that you can finally have someone to share all of those big thoughts with.”

Taken aback by his boldness, Hermione can’t help but stare wide-eyed at the boy in front of her. Nobody has ever asked her out before, if you can even consider this “asking her out”. It could just be a plot by the Slytherins to embarrass her, but that doesn’t quite make sense, considering she has always had top marks. Surprising herself, she sticks her hand out across the table, “You’ve got yourself a deal, Theo Nott.”

Giving her a cheeky smile, Theo reaches her hand, but instead of shaking it, he grabs it and plants a kiss on her knuckles. “I can’t wait, Hermione Granger.” He then lets her hand go, and turns back to his books.

It doesn’t take long for Hermione to finish her novel, she would be lying if she said that the romantic scenes hadn’t given her motivation to keep reading. As she closes her book, she looks at the large clock on the wall and realises it’s time for lunch. Looking at the boy across from her, she decides she might just do something stupid. “Well, looks like it’s time for lunch. Would you like to join me, Theo?”

For the first time, she sees a flash of surprise break through the usually cool exterior. “I should probably go down to the dungeons for lunch. The seventh years usually have the house elves bring us a buffet so we will help set up the parties.”

Trying to hide her disappointment, Hermione replies “Oh, yes! Sounds like fun. Do- Does Slytherin usually do a party every weekend”

“Yes, but we are only allowed to go if we help set it up. Even then, they created a charm that limits us to two butterbeers each. If we try to drink more, or something else, it turns into gillywater.” He rolls his eyes, seemingly speaking from experience. “How about you, do the lions even know how to throw a party?”

Feeling defensive of her house, she is quick to retort, “Of course we know how to have a party. In fact we’re having one tomorrow for my birthday.” She feels her eyes widen, she did NOT want yet another person to know of her birthday. It was bad enough that her whole house wanted to throw a party. Not to mention on a Sunday, with classes the following day.

He gave her a look of amusement, “Tomorrow is your birthday, Granger? I can’t believe you didn’t tell me! What kind of friend would I be if I didn't get you some sort of gift?”

This made Hermione giggle, and she replied, “I don’t like making a big fuss over it. Besides, we’ve only been friends for about two hours so I wouldn’t hold it against you.” without giving it much thought, she added “You can come tomorrow if you’d like. It’s just in the common room. Our tower is behind the portrait of The Fat Lady. If it makes you feel better, you could bring a friend?”

“Thank you very much for the invitation Hermione, I will see if I’m able to come. It was lovely studying with you today. I hope we can do it again soon.” With that, he sent her a wink, and left the library. Hermione is left feeling stunned. She can’t help the nerves that start bubbling as she thinks about the fact that she just invited a Slytherin into Gryffindor Tower. She pushes all thoughts of dreamy green eyes away, and makes her way to the Great Hall for lunch.