Starboy

14 April 1996

Bookworm,

Please write me back. I'm sorry for who I was in the past.

Your letters have changed me.

Starboy

===

Draco smacked his friend repeatedly with a pillow. "Your... plan... sucked..." he growled between hits.

Theo snatched the pillow away from Draco and threw it back on the bed where it belonged, "What do you mean?"

"Granger is no longer writing me back. Thinking you're the one writing to her made her hate me!"

Theo scoffed, "And you think she'd be okay with it if she knew it was you?"

"She didn't have to," Draco snapped, "What am I going to do? You bloody ruined everything."

"ME? I ruined- What about you? Your dumb arse decided to ignore her in the first place. Your dumb arse didn't read the stupid book. Your dumb arse went along with my dumb arse's idea!"

Draco groaned loudly. "Piss off, Nott. Get out of my face," he seethed.

"Gladly," Theo huffed before leaving the room and slamming the door behind him, causing the whole room to shake.

===

Potions with Slytherin was Hermione's most dreaded class of the week. Today, they were brewing a Draught of Peace, and the whole room had an unusually calming effect on Hermione. Few people were doing well with the brewing process, per Snape's comments. Hermione knew hers was near perfection, though Snape would never admit it. Harry's was okay, but Snape still insulted it. Malfoy looked so at ease in front of his cauldron that Hermione didn't know if it was due to the potion or if he was simply that comfortable in this dark, clammy classroom. If being skilled at Potions was the only thing that pointed her to Starboy, she definitely would have guessed it to be Malfoy. Weirdly, Theo's was not going great. It wasn't going badly by any means, but she thought he was supposed to be the best in the class. Maybe he was just having a rough day - after all, the Draught of Peace was a very difficult potion to brew and she had been ignoring him for a few days. 

When class ended, most people rushed out of the room, as fast as their calm daze would allow them, but Hermione took her time, scribbling some last-minute notes down in her notebook. She felt a presence beside her and looked up to see Theo leaning nonchalantly on her table. "What are you doing?" she hissed.

Theo feigned a hurt expression, "Why have you been ignoring me?"

Hermione wasn't sure how to answer. She didn't want to tell the truth and hurt his feelings. "I was just shocked when I found out my um, bully was the person I've been sending letters about bloody romance books to. I needed time to process things."

Theo scratched the back of his neck, "I'm sorry. I know I've hurt you in the past, but that was before I found out how great you are. I don't care about your blood status anymore. You've changed me. I know this doesn't make up for anything, but," he gave her a hasty kiss on the forehead and reminded himself to wash his face soon, "I really am sorry and I really do like you. Will you write me soon?"

Hermione blushed, "Yeah, of course."

===

"You're welcome!" Theo sang, dumping himself onto the bench next to Draco, ready to dig into their dinner.

Draco scowled, still mad at his friend, "For what?"

Theo smiled proudly, "I just got your mudblood girlfriend to write you back."

"Don't call her that," Draco hissed.

"What? Mudblood? Or your girlfriend?" Theo snorted.

"Both," Draco snapped.

Theo ignored him, "She told me she just needed time to process that her bully was actually very much in love with her."

Across the table, Blaise choked on his chicken, "Malfoy's in love with Gr-"

"Shut up!" Draco kicked Blaise's shin under the table, "I am not in love."

"Whatever you have to tell yourself," Blaise rolled his eyes.

The three friends ate their dinner mostly in silence, with the occasional playful banter.

"Oh, by the way," Theo chuckled once his plate was clear, his eyes lighting up devilishly, "I told her you really like her."

Before Draco could react, Theo was gone. "What a git!" Draco growled.

"Hey man, he's not wrong," Blaise chortled. 

===

"He kissed me!" Hermione gushed to her ginger friend.

"Why can't we know who Hermione's boyfriend is?" Harry groaned.

"Yeah, why does Ginny get all the fun?" Ron grumbled.

"He's not my boyfriend!" Hermione snapped.

"When?" Ginny asked, ignoring the two boys across from them.

"After Potions! He was apologizing and saying that he's different now because of me. He kissed my forehead and then, he asked if I would write him back, and I agreed."