Step 2
The first few days living with Theo was fairly unremarkable, Hermione would see quick flashes of him in between classes, and sometimes she would hear him making his way to their communal bathroom in the middle of the night, but from what she could tell, he was avoiding her just as much as she was avoiding him. He was definitely steering clear of the common room, as was she, and so far, it was working.
But Hermione knew it needed to stop, she had a job to do. Yes, she had been caught off guard at how uneasy he had made her, and angry at herself for how much she had let slip in her wine induced haze, but she was never going to to learn anything else about him if she was letting her own nervousness dictate her actions. It was time to suck it up and start working on the next step in espionage, the black bag operation. She needed to gather intel on Theo, for multiple reasons. There was the obvious, perhaps something in his belongings would expose the nature of his intentions or allegiance, but more likely, just basic intel that could help her bridge the gap between the two of them, something that she could use to forge some common ground between the two of them. Perhaps a book they had both read? A hobby they shared? She was desperate at this point.
So, Hermione woke up early and waited in her room, listening for the familiar sounds of Theo leaving for his first class, which was luckily a whole period before Hermione’s first class. She could hear him making his morning tea and cooking something in the kitchen while humming a familiar tune that Hermione realized with an audible snort was ‘No Diggity’ by Blackstreet, a very popular song in the muggle world. The irony.
In due time she heard the front door to their shared space open and close, and she knew that this was her opportunity. She opened the door to her bedroom quietly, scanning her eyes around the common area to confirm that Theo had left. Checking that the room was empty, she tiptoed over to his bedroom door and stared at the doorknob leading to his bedroom door. She had a sneaking suspicion that someone from a family like the Nott’s had been trained to use more than just a locking charm. She cast a ward detecting spell and read the diagnostic, admiring the intricate spellwork of wards he had placed around his room; her pulse quickened, someone with nothing to hide would never spend this much time warding off their bedroom. This would take time. Hermione glanced at her watch, she had 54 minutes until her next class, which was unfortunately with Theo, who would notice her absence.
She took a deep breath and got to work, carefully dissecting the wards, enough to grant her entry but not enough to alert the caster of forced entry. She internally smirked, Theo was smart, and came from an ancient bloodline saturated in dark magic, but he had never been challenged by Hermione Granger before, and she was going to give him a run for his money.
42 minutes later Hermione was dripping with sweat, but she had done it, she had dissected a hole in Theo’s wards large enough to let her through. Hermione = 1, Theo = 0. She stepped through the wards and placed her wand up to Theo’s lock and whispered alohamora with a triumphant smirk.
‘Clank’ went the lock, but nothing happened. Hermione’s smirk fell. She cast alohamora a little louder but was met with the same result. Now she was full on frowning, she hadn’t expected this. Hermione only knew of a few locking charms, and all of them should be openable with alohamora. She could use portaberto or open sesame, but both would leave visible evidence of forced entry. Hermione cast another detection charm over the lock, but nothing out of the ordinary showed up in the diagnostic.
Before she could spend any more time pondering, she heard someone walking up to the entrance to their dorms. Panic coursed through Hermione’s veins, and she dove to the closest hiding spot she could find; behind one of the sitting chairs in the living room. The front door opened, and she could hear Theo making his way into the room, still humming that stupid song. She held her breath and he passed the chair she was hiding behind, and he let himself into his room without even a pause at his door. She let out the breath she had been holding, he didn’t seem to have noticed her attempt at entering his room. Once the door had closed behind him, she used the opportunity to quietly tiptoe to her own room, shutting her door behind her with care. Once safely in her own room, Hermione gasped with relief; that had been too close for comfort, but at least he hadn’t noticed her, and she could start fresh tomorrow.
Hermione used scourgify on the sweat on her clothes and gathered her books, she only had a few minutes before her next class, so she bolted out of her room and out of the dorm before she could bump into Theo and made her way to her next class, Charms, which they shared.
As per usual, Hermione was one of the first to arrive, so she sat in her usual spot; second row back on the left side of the classroom, it left her the most exposed for Flitwick to see her raised hand and gave her an excellent view of the board. She unpacked her bag, straightened her quill on the desk just like she liked, and waited for class to begin. Within a few minutes, the rest of the students poured in, including Flitwick, who immediately turned towards the board and started outlining the lesson plan for the day, which Hermione usually would have zeroed in on right away, but instead Hermione found herself watching the door, nervously waiting for Theo’s arrival. He caught her eyes with his playful gaze the moment he walked through the door, and cocked an eyebrow as he took his own seat several seats behind her. Hermione tried to soothe her anxiety, she was so careful at dissecting his wards, there’s no way he could have known. She willed herself to break eye contact and began reading the daily lesson plan instead. Today they would be learning the confundus charm, which Hermione had taught herself in third year. Well, at least today would be easy.
Hermione began copying the lesson plan onto her scroll, her anxiety lifting now that she was in her element. She heard someone from the back of the class clear their throat.
“Yes Mr. Nott?” call Flitwick.
“Is it possible to cast wards that use the confundus charm as a line of defense?” Theo asked in his low voice.
“It depends, in what context?”
“Such as…” Theo seemed to think for a moment, “Perhaps an extra line of defense against someone trying to use alohamora on a locked door?”.
Hermione felt her face turn white, and she whipped her head in Theo’s direction, who locked eyes with her and smirked.
“…In Theory, but stitching together a ward and a charm as complicated as confundus would be very difficult Mr. Nott-“.
“But it can be done?” Theo interrupted.
“Yes…” responded Flitwick, clearly a little confused with why Theo was asking such an oddly specific question. In fact, the whole class was shifting uncomfortably, but not Hermione, she knew exactly what he was playing at.
He had known she would try to break into his room, and he had outsmarted her. Flitwick was correct, weaving charms into wards was notoriously complicated spellwork. Not only had he cast a ward so subtle she had missed it entirely, but the confundus was so expertly cast that she hadn’t even realized she had been confunded. She had probably been mumbling gobbledygook at the doorknob and didn’t even realize. Hermione was equal parts impressed and terrified, what would happen now?
Hermione stared up at Flitwick who had continued with his lesson, but her blood was pumping through her veins so hard she couldn’t hear a word he was saying. Her palms where sweating and she could feel eyes on the back of her neck, and she just knew it was Theo. She was so busted. Hermione had never come across an undetectable ward, anyone worth their wand knows that all magic leaves a trace, even dark magic. The only way he could have created a ward so intricate and subtle, yet effective, would be… blood magic.
Hermione’s pulse quickened even more. Was Theodore Nott using blood magic? Hermione craned her neck to look at Theo in disbelief, who was still looking at her. His eyes where glittering with mischief, he clearly knew he had one upped her.
Blood magic was forbidden in the wizarding world, even more so than dark magic, even though blood magic itself wasn’t inherently dark. If Theo was in fact using blood magic, then she was way out of her depth. She needed to make a trip to the library, now.
Hermione stood up quickly in a panic, her chair screeching against the stone floors of the castle, completely oblivious to the fact that Flitwick was mid lecture. She felt the entire class including Flitwick turn to her in bewilderment. She mumbled the first thing that came to her mind, “I’m sorry, I’m not feeling well” and jerkily grabbed her belongings and walked out of the classroom, heading straight for the library. She could feel Theo’s eyes on her the entire way through the classroom. It was only once she finally crossed the threshold into the hallway and the heavy wooden door closed behind her that she felt like she could breathe again, and she gulped down the crisp castle air like a woman starved. She rested her forehead against the cool stone walls and surprised herself by bursting into laughter. Hermione has always been the smartest person in the room, and now that she may have met someone with equal or perhaps even superior intelligence, she didn’t know how to act. She was scared, intrigued, but most of all, irritated. Theo had humiliated her, and by the look on his face before she had run, was relishing in the fact. She was so overwhelmed with emotions that all she could do was laugh.
She had been so careless, and in one foul swoop had made it totally obvious she had an agenda. Going forward, she would have to find an entirely new way to get through to him, and this time, she would probably have to do it right out on the open.
Once her insane laughing died down and she got her breathing under control, she began making her way to the library, deep in thought. Perhaps she would have to play him at his own game. She had blown any semblance of cover, so now anything she did would be regarded with suspicion. But would he expect her to take a page out of his book? Probably not. She could use her own reputation as a weapon. The golden girl. Innocent. Good.
She could use the Gryffindor stereotype to her advantage and blindside Theo. With a renewed sense of vigor, she reached the library and immediately made her way to the restricted section, mentally thanking Madam Pince for giving her the freedom to come and go as she pleased. She skipped through the stacks until she reached the section she was looking for; blood magic. She pulled out a few titles that sounded useful, Blood Magic through the Ages, Theory of Hemocraft, The Power of Blood and Blood Rituals, and almost as an afterthought she summoned a book on Wizarding Law from the unrestricted part of the library.
Satisfied with her selection, Hermione made herself comfortable at one of the desks scattered throughout the stacks of the restricted section and propped open her first book, Blood Magic through the Ages, and threw herself into the pages.
Hermione had a habit of losing track of time when she was immersed in the stacks, and today was no exception, when she had entered the library it had been roughly around 11am, and now looking out the window she could tell she had most likely missed dinner. All of the books were now splayed open on the table in front of her, and Hermione was furiously scribbling notes into a journal.
She had learned a lot in the last few hours, the Hogwarts restricted section had been surprisingly flush with books on the subject. Blood magic goes back thousands of years, with some of the earliest documentation being cave paintings that predated the Paleolithic period. Blood magic, or Hematomancy, pops up all throughout history, primarily used by covens and prominent bloodlines, and was a common practice amongst the sacred twenty-eight until the late 19th century when it was outlawed because of its potential for misuse, which explains Theo’s partiality for it, being a Nott. Blood magic was versatile, it could be used for protection; creating impregnable wards based of your magical signature that fuse with the ley lines of a dwelling, most pureblood estates were permeated with centuries of blood magic. It was used by covens for thousands of years to bind its members and enhance one’s magical prowess. Blood magic could be used alongside ancient runes to create locating spells, portals, and even allow one to potentially ‘borrow’ magic from the earth itself, although that last part had become somewhat of a legend since nobody had successfully executed the practice in hundreds of years.
But blood magic had a high potential for misuse, which is why it was outlawed. In the wrong hands, blood magic could be used to hijack another person’s body and mind against their will, necromancy, and even the power to siphon magic from others, essentially draining others of their life force.
Hermione’s brain felt like it was swimming with information, and she was officially more concerned than ever. Not only was Theo smarter than she had anticipated, but she was realizing how limited her knowledge of magic really was. She had always been adamant about “staying in the light” so to speak, and it was beginning to dawn on her just how naïve that was. Refusing to learn about an entire of subsection of magic because its considered dark isn’t admirable, its stupid, and a fast way to get yourself killed. Stepping out of her comfort zone wasn’t going to be enough, she was going to have to leave it behind entirely.
Hermione got up from her seat and wandered back into the stacks in the blood magic section and stared at the books, deep in thought. If Theo was indeed dabbling in blood magic, she would have to learn everything she could about the subject, which would take more than just a single night. Hermione picked out a few more titles from the shelves in front of her to take to her dorm, so deep in thought that she didn’t hear the quiet steps behind her. It was only when Theo’s deep voice sounded behind her that she realized she wasn’t alone.
“Tsk Tsk Granger, I didn’t take you as the type to disregard curfew”.
Hermione nearly jumped out of her skin and whirled around to find herself only inches away from Theo, who was towering over her, his hands casually in his pants pockets and a smirk on his face.
One of Hermione’s hand clutched at her chest as the other dove for her wand in her pocket out of instinct, which didn’t escape Theo’s gaze, his smirk only growing wider.
“Nott” she breathed while willing her heart to slow down and loosening her grip on her wand, but not letting it go entirely.
His expression morphed into something Hermione couldn’t read and he turned his head to the side, looking as some of the other stacks.
“You should learn be more aware of your surroundings, in times like these, you let your guard down, you die” he muttered, lost in thought.
“I know” she responded lamely, at a loss for what else to say.
Her turned back to her, looking surprised like he just remembered she was standing in front of him. The air between them felt oddly vulnerable, and Hermione had a feeling she was seeing a glimpse of the real Theo for the first time. Then the moment passed and then his mouth curved back into his signature smirk, his eyes glancing at the titles behind her.
“Interesting section to be perusing in the wee hours, what could have possibly happened to drive goody two shoes Granger to research illicit magic after curfew?” he taunted.
“You know exactly what” she snapped at him, dropping all pretenses. Lying would be pointless.
He barked out a laugh, “you try to break into my room and your mad at me?”.
Hermione opened her mouth to shoot back but snapped it shut when she realized she had no idea what to say, ultimately, he was right. Yes, he had used illegal magic to ward his room, but she had been illegally trying to break into his room.
“That’s what I thought” he said with a chuckle.
Hermione temper flared back to life, he was so smug.
“Sure, I tried to break into your room, but someone with nothing to hide wouldn’t go that far to ward off their room to begin with” she shot back, angerly poking his chest with her pointer finger.
Theo caught her hand poking at his chest with his own in a cage grip and took a step forward, boxing Hermione in closer with the shelf. His smirk dropped and Hermione was met with those dead eyes that Theo was notorious for.
“Now tell me, why would Hermione Granger, best friend of Harry Potter and known member of the Order, be trying to break into my room?”.
Hermione’s arm hair stood up on end, she could feel the danger in his voice, like a arsenic laced honey. She tried to look away, but Theo brought his face closer to hers, forcing her to look him in the eyes.
Hermione’s thoughts where racing, there was no good way to respond. She could lie, but they were already past that, he knew exactly what she was up to, he just wanted her to say it. But if she said it, then who knows what would happen next, she was alone in the restricted section in the middle of the night with a possible death eater. She needed to deflect. To change the subject, but her was literally an inch away from her face, waiting for a response. Nothing she could say would save her from this conversation.
So instead, in her desperation, she did something that shocked even her. She kissed him. She pushed forward and pressed her lips to his.
He froze in shock, and she braced herself for him to push her away, berate her, storm off, or possibly even get violent. What she didn’t expect, was for him to open his mouth and deepen the kiss, but that’s exactly what he did after his shock wore off.
His opened his mouth and coxed her tongue out with his own, tangling them together and pressing his mouth harder against hers. He tasted like cherries and sin, and Hermione, against her better judgement, found herself leaning into the kiss with abandon.
Theo, feeling Hermione relaxing into the kiss, backed her up into the stacks with his body and caged her in with his arms. This proximity made Hermione realize their vast size difference, Theo was at least a foot taller than her, but for some reason instead of making her nervous, it ignited something inside of her and she found herself moaning into Theo’s mouth.
Her moan triggered something for Theo and something in him snapped, reaching down and scooping up Hermione’s thighs with his arms, he pulled her up the stacks and pressed his body into hers. Hermione could feel every inch of his body pressing against hers and her brain short circuited, she found herself wrapping her arms around his neck for dear life, which he seemed to enjoy and gave her a groan of approval.
His lips left hers and began trailing open mouth kisses from the side of her mouth down to her neck, focusing on her pulse point. Hermione began to pant; she had never felt as intoxicated as she did in that moment. She gripped his back and clawed at his shirt, feeling the wiry muscles underneath. He nipped at her pulse point and she yelped, earning a rumble of approval from his chest.
Theo reached down and guided her thighs around his waist before pulling her away from the bookshelf a few inches, using the extra space to pull her shirt up and over her head, which Hermione was only too eager to assist with my lifting her arms. She looked into his half-lidded ocean eyes and saw a hunger, and she knew her eyes must look the same. The thought made her whimper.
Theo slammed her back into the bookcase, some of the books falling haphazardly to the floor beneath them and resumed his attack on her mouth. The books and shelving were pressing into her bare back, but she barely noticed, all she could feel was Theo’s lips on her own.
Suddenly there was footsteps, and a light shining somewhere within the stacks. Theo was one step ahead of her, before she had even registered that someone else was in the restricted section with them, he had already cast a wandless ‘notice me not’ charm around them and planted one of his large hands directly over her mouth. Hermione felt the soft tickle of his magic washing over them, still impressed and slightly terrified at his advanced magical capabilities.
Her heart felt like it was beating out of her chest, a mixture of adrenaline and lust coursing through her veins. Theo had his eyes trained on the shifting light in the stacks, his whole body tensed like a cougar ready to pounce. His body was still flush against hers, and she could feel his erection pressed against her through his pants. Hermione experimentally wiggled her hips against him. His hand over her mouth pressed harder, his eyes closing briefly as he sucked in a breath.
“Is someone there?” the voice called from the shadows, which Hermione recognized with horror was Sebastian Clark, a Gryffindor prefect. Hearing his voice was like being doused in ice water, suddenly she was stone cold sober. What was she doing? She was supposed to be gaining intelligence on Theo, and instead she was snogging him in the library after hours and loving it. Harry and Ron would be so disappointed in her. How had she gotten so distracted?
There were more footsteps, this time heading in the opposite direction, Sebastian must have moved on. Theo loosened his hold on her mouth and Hermione used the opportunity to break free and wiggle out of his grasp, dropping to the library floor and almost losing her footing, her legs felt like that of a newborn deer.
“Granger?” Theo inquired; his face puzzled.
“This was a mistake” she mumbled while grabbing her shirt off the cold stone floors and slipping it back over her head.
“It didn’t seem like you thought it was a mistake 5 minutes ago” he pressed, slipping his hands into his pockets defensively.
“Yeah, well…” Hermione started, at a loss for what else to say. “Neither of us are morons, we both have jobs to do, so let’s not complicate things yeah?”.
Theo stared at her for a moment, reading her face, which Hermione hoped wasn’t betraying her.
“Right” he said simply, still reading her face.
His scrutiny was threatening the mask she had in place, so before the mask had a chance to break, she turned and walked out of the library instead, leaving behind the books scattered on the table and Theo, who stared at her figure as it retreated into the dark.