The Note
**Present day**
Hermione stared across the great hall, always such a happy place for her, now gloomier and colder than she remembered. It could be because of the newly introduced presence of dark magic, thanks to the small army of death eaters now roaming freely through the halls of Hogwarts, or it could be the glaring absence of both of her best friends.
Her eyes stung at the thought of Harry and Ron, but she forced the tears back down, she had spent more than enough time crying the last two weeks, now it was time to put on her big girl panties and get to work. She was here for a reason, and she refused to feel sorry for herself. Ultimately, Hermione was afraid that if she started to cry again, she would never stop. This would be her first time at Hogwarts without Harry and Ron, and even though Ginny, Neville, and most of her friends were still here, the place still felt empty.
Everything seemed lost; Dumbledore was dead, Snape was sitting in the headmaster’s seat, and Harry and Ron were Merlin knows where searching for Horcruxes, and they had left her behind. They had disappeared in the middle of the night before Fleur and Bill’s wedding, leaving behind nothing but a note for Hermione and a charmed journal. The note had been short, but it made it clear that Hermione was left behind for a reason.
**2 weeks earlier**
Hermione,
Please forgive us.
We couldn’t bear the thought of Ginny alone at Hogwarts, not with death eaters infiltrating the staff and potentially even the students. Now we can sleep easier knowing you two can look out for each other.
Ron and I were talking, and we agreed that if Voldemort made Draco a death eater, who’s to say he hasn’t initiated any other students? We were blind to Malfoy, and now Dumbledore is dead. Next time, we need to be prepared. Ron and I both agree the best place to start would be Draco’s best mate, Theodore Nott.
Hermione, we can’t lose anyone else. Find out if Theodore Nott is a death-eater. By any means necessary.
If you learn anything helpful, you can communicate with us via the journal, it's enchanted with the Protean charm so that we can relay information back and forth without our whereabouts being compromised.
With love,
Harry & Ron
Hermione glanced down at the simple green journal that had been lying beneath the note and pocketed it. When Hermione first read the note, all she could do was stare at it in disbelief. She never thought her friends would leave her behind, and she couldn’t help but feel a certain sense of betrayal, but the more she thought about it, the less she could argue with their reasoning. Harry and Ron would never be able to focus if they were constantly worrying about Ginny.
She also couldn’t argue with their suspicions that Draco was likely not the only student that had been recruited by Voldemort. One of the biggest mistakes Hermione had ever made was believing that Voldemort wouldn’t prey on a 16-year-old boy, and she had been wrong. She had made the monumentally naive mistake of projecting her own morals onto someone who had none. Hermione had been completely convinced that Harry’s obsession with Malfoy being a death eater was ludicrous, and she would never forgive herself for it. She felt like she played a major part in the headmaster’s death, that her denial was the first domino that inevitably led to the slaughtering of one of the best men she had ever known. Sometimes the guilt was so heavy that she felt like she physically couldn’t breathe. Her dreams were filled with visions of Dumbledore lying broken beneath the astronomy tower. No, she was certain that Voldemort had recruited more students by now; why wouldn’t he? It worked so well for him the first time. The thought tasted like acid on Hermione’s tongue. She couldn’t let it happen again; she would do anything; sacrifice everything.
Once she came to terms with Harry and Ron’s reasoning for leaving her behind, she was then faced with the brutal realization that there was absolutely no way she could complete this mission. The logistics of such a task seemed impossible.
Her first thought was to spy on Theodore—to tail him, observe him, and learn from him. But Hermione had never been very good at being sneaky. Sure, she could be devious when she needed to be, but not particularly stealthy. Not to mention, Hogwarts wasn’t exactly a prime setting to investigate someone. They were in separate houses, and she would have no access to the Slytherin common room unless someone were to invite her. She scoffed at the thought of it. The hatred between the houses would be at an all-time high after the events of 6th year. She could try to follow him in the hallways, but she couldn’t imagine the son of the most prolific death eater in history wasn’t trained to always be on alert.
No, she would have to find a way to get close to him in plain sight—a way to make Theodore Nott trust her, at least enough to allow her to catch a glimpse of his forearm. Hermione frowned, realizing that what she was describing was finding a way to become friends with Theodore Nott, a Slytherin and son of a death eater—surely an impossible task. This would require extensive planning, and she would have to execute it in a way that seemed completely organic; if not, he would see her coming from a mile away. Even with thorough planning, the probability of this working seemed minimal. Theodore Nott was... well, popular, and Hermione was decidedly not. Not only did he exclusively hang out with other rich pureblood Slytherins, but he was also ridiculously attractive. Standing at about 6’3’ with olive skin that perfectly accentuated his ocean eyes, tussled brown hair that even at its worst was clearly a £500 haircut, and a wardrobe that would make the minister of magic look like a peasant, Hermione knew she had no place in his world. And the biggest obstacle she realized with a sinking feeling; her blood status. Theodore Nott had never openly bullied Hermione for being muggleborn like Draco had, but he had never intervened either, and Hermione had a sneaking suspicion that he had been raised with the same prejudicious beliefs.
Hermione glanced at the clock on the wall opposite her bed, which read 3:23 a.m. She had been lying here all night, and the best plan she had come up with was to somehow convince Theodore Nott to be her friend. Great.
Good god, why had they trusted her with a task like this? Hermione was smart—scary smart, at least when it came to books and logic—but people? Not so much. Sure, she’d read countless books on psychology, both magical and muggle, but none of it had made it any easier for her to make friends. Hermione was almost always the smartest person in the room, and that had never won her any popularity points. Her friendship with Harry and Ron was born out of necessity; they had needed her. That didn’t mean that they didn’t love her unconditionally now, but she never fooled herself into believing that it had been that way from the beginning.
Hermione took a slow breath in, counted to ten, and exhaled, slowing her thoughts. She needed to look at this like a test, something she could study for, practice, and execute. If she could break it down into manageable steps, each one being something she could prep for, like an exam, maybe she could manage it.
Feeling somewhat inspired, Hermione rolled out of bed, grabbed her wand from her nightstand, and lit the candles around her room with a flick of her wrist. Sitting down at her desk, she pulled out a blank piece of parchment, dipped her quill in ink, and paused with her fingers hovering over the blank page. Was she really doing this? Was she really going to try to trick a potential death eater into befriending her?
With a sinking feeling, Hermione realized she was worrying about the wrong things. Her own insecurities had her fretting about his popularity and devilishly good looks and her glaring lack thereof, when realistically she should be worrying about the possibility of Theodore being potentially dangerous. Theodore’s father, Erebus Nott, was widely known as the most violent of all Voldemort’s followers, with a death toll easily in the thousands. He was known for being ruthless and sadistic, and it was even rumored that he had killed Theodore’s mother right in front of Theodore when he was still just a boy, and that’s why Theodore could see Thestrals. Who’s to say Theodore didn’t take after his father? She would be willingly inserting herself into a situation that could be dangerous and possibly even deadly.
Hermione rolled the thoughts over in her head for a moment before casually pushing them all to the side. This was war, and too much had already been lost because of her hesitation and doubt. She wouldn’t let it stop her again. Her safety was a small price to pay in the grand scheme of things, and Harry and Ron did implore her to follow out this task by any means necessary, and as far as she could tell, this was the most plausible way of achieving such a thing. So she would try, if not for herself and her friends, then for Dumbledore.
Banishing all thoughts of death and disfigurement out of her mind, Hermione put pen to paper and began outlining her plan to befriend Theodore Nott, starting with...
Step 1…
**Present day**
After thumbing the note in her pocket and fending off the tears, Hermione covertly tilted her gaze towards the Slytherin table, looking for the boy she had spent the last two weeks thinking about. She scanned the blur of faces, stopping suddenly when she saw a familiar flash of white blonde hair.
It’s okay Hermione, you knew this was a possibility, her subconscious whispered. Now that Dumbledore was dead and Snape was Headmaster, she knew the likelihood of Draco returning to Hogwarts was high, but seeing him for the first time since that night was harder than she had imagined it would be. She closed her eyes and drew air in through her nose, focusing on slowing down her heartbeat. One thing at a time, she chanted to herself. If she was going to have a chance in hell of uncovering Theodore’s loyalties, she was going to have to get used to seeing Draco Malfoy around, considering they were best mates. Priorities Hermione she reminded herself before scanning the rest of the Slytherin table for Theodore.
She took in the faces of Malfoy, Crabbe, Goyle, Parkinson, Zabini, Nott, and Pucey. Nott. There he was. Her eyes snapped back to the tall brunette sitting in between Blaise and Adrian.
He looked tired, his crystalline eyes were dulled by dark bags, and his brows were furrowed. He seemed to be in a heavy discussion with Zabini, possibly even an argument. Unfortunately, from three tables away, she couldn’t hear any part of their conversation, and Theodore was speaking with his head tilted slightly downward, so she couldn’t even make an attempt to read his lips. She watched them as they went back and forth; it was obvious that whatever they were arguing about was serious by the way Theodore ran his hands through his hair in an almost neurotic, panicked way.
Suddenly, Theodore looked up, locking eyes with Hermione from across the great hall. Oh no, she had stared too long and had been caught. It was too late to look away; she had been caught red-handed, and she knew it, so instead she threw herself into those ocean eyes and took a swim. She searched them for any clue as to who Theodore Nott was, some kind of emotion or tell that she could use, but she was only met with the cold sanpaku stare that Theodore Nott was famous for.
Yes, the dead eyes that had all the girls tittering in the hallways. Hermione wasn’t immune to the gossip, and she had heard enough over the years to know that the girls loved Theodore Nott. They loved his mysterious demeanor, they loved his pureblood features, and above all, they loved that he didn’t love them. Theodore Nott, frankly, seemed too damn busy to entertain the hormone-ridden girls of Hogwarts, which Hermione respected. But of course, Hermione wasn’t made of stone; she wouldn’t pretend that she didn’t feel the flutter in her stomach when he focused that piercing gaze upon her from across the great hall, but she was also too busy to let herself be distracted by a pretty face. So instead, she broke his gaze and instead looked towards the plate full of food in front of her and started rehearsing her list in her head.
Step 1…