To Me, From Me // DHr ✔️

s e v e n t e e n

"I-" Wheeze. "-can't-" Another wheeze. "-breathe!" Hermione huffed as she and Nott, no; Theo now, she reminded herself, sat by her fireplace sharing the alcohol he brought with him.

"The best part was that his grandfather asked me, 'Son, are those my glasses?' and-" He was laughing so much he had to stop to breathe before continuing on with his story of the one time he stole the glasses of Abraxas Malfoy. "I said, 'Sir, these are obviously my glasses – are you blind?'"

The two burst into another fit of giggles, both clutching their stomachs from the good kind of pain that too much laughter brought on. Hermione tried to think back to a time where she laughed this hard and realized that the only memory that came to mind was a good three years ago – when she and Harry were making fun of Ron's teaspoon-sized emotional range. Those weren't, by any means, simpler times, but they managed to still have the ability to laugh, to smile, to enjoy one another's company amidst an impending war. Thinking about her two best friends, about how they were together somewhere without her, about how easy it was for them to just up and leave without so much as a goodbye to her, had her laugh dying out almost immediately.

"Hey, what's with the face?" Theo, lying face down, nudged Hermione's calf using his nose.

"It just feels good to laugh again, you know? With Harry and Ron gone, I haven't really been the most social person." She admitted, grabbing the bottle and pouring herself another glass. "It's not great, being alone." She added more quietly.

Theo raised his head and brought his own glass up. "Well, you don't have to anymore. Here's to being alone together."

"Cheers."

After they both gulped the entire contents of their glasses and after they both winced as the fire liquid flowed down their throats, it seemed as though the only perfectly reasonable reaction to that was to start laughing again.

"Oh, Merlin," She sighed with a smile as she wiped away tears from her eyes. "It's actually very hard to imagine the terror that was you and Malfoy when you were young. Where was Zabini during all of this?" She inquired as she examined the almost-empty bottle by holding it too close to her face that on the other side, Theo could see Hermione's distorted reflection through the glass. He later would say that she looks good, better even, with her eyes bugging out of her head.

"We met him here. Draco took some time to get used to him, but once he did, we never let go of him."

"But I never saw you three together – until now, that is. All I remember was Crabbe and Goyle with Malfoy."

Theo scoffed. "That's entirely Draco's fault. The two dunderheads worshipped the ground he walked on. Blaise and I never put up with it."

Hermione suddenly felt a pang of sympathy for Theo. She knows what it feels like to be dropped like you weigh nothing. She was feeling that right now. "So he's apologized to you then?"

"Naturally." He grinned, and she found herself grinning too. Leaning her head on the brick pillar of the fireplace, she stretched out her legs, making sure to poke Theo's cheek with her big toe along the way.

"Can I ask you a question?" She asked suddenly. Theo's smile was replaced with a serious line.

"You can, but for me to answer depends solely on the question." He replied evenly. Spoken like a true Slytherin.

"Why did you ask to be on the committee? I highly doubt that choosing color schemes and tasting finger foods is the kind of weekend that gets you hyped."

Theo visibly relaxed at Hermione's question, possibly relieved that it's not heavily dark, war-related, or too intrusive. "Actually, Luna asked me to."

"Right," Hermione nodded. "She has mentioned to me that you were friends. That and she practically begged you to go to the party last night. What happened anyway?"

He gave her a what-did-you-think-happen glare then sighed, rubbing a tired hand to the side of his face. "She ended up defending me the entire five minutes I was in there. It was chaos." Then he shook his head like somehow he could shake the memory out. Oh, if only it were that easy.

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A/N:

For those who noticed, yes, the little story-time of the great misadventures of Theo and Draco is indeed taken from a scene created by the brilliant oliviablake in Clean (Chapter 14), who was kind enough to let me use her nugget of comedy gold. I've attached a link to her story in the external link below so those of you who haven't read this masterpiece yet can check it out for yourselves. I highly recommend it because it's amazing and definitely one of my favorites x

Also! Dedicated to @shaekate for commenting on the previous chapter asking so nicely for me to update. Here ya go girl, this one's for you. Keep the votes and comments coming guys! Much love xx