To Me, From Me // DHr ✔️

e i g h t e e n

"You should've brought more." Hermione shook her head, scowling at the almost empty bottle. "Did you know that the name 'Ogden' comes from a surname which is derived from a place name meaning 'oak valley' in Old English? And that oak barrels are a favorite in liquor aging? Fitting, no?" She grinned.

Theo chuckled. "A know-it-all sober and a know-it-all drunk. Never saw that one coming."

Still grinning, she bobbed her head. "I had a slight crush on the son of a family friend who was ridiculously poshy and so to impress him, I read up all about the wines and the cheeses."

"Hermione Granger, a closet seductress of the upper-class broods? Who would've thought?" He said in a tone of voice that reminded her of Rita Skeeter every time she stumbled across some juicy new gossip.

"Ron used to say 'thunk' just to piss me off." She frowned, remembering the many instances of Ron making fun of her bits of random information.

"I'm not the first one to tell you this nor will I be the last – your friend is an idiot." He deadpanned.

Her throat gave out a sound of affirmation. "I'll cheers to that."

They both gulped down the remaining auburn liquid, wincing and not laughing this time around because everyone knows the bitterness always pools at the bottom.

"Speaking of, how did you and Luna end up being friends anyway?"

"Back in fifth year. I helped her track down her missing shoes." He smiled wistfully, but she knew it wasn't a smile directed at her.

"If you like Luna, what did you do to Parvati?" The innocence in her question made Theo guffaw with laughter.

"What makes you think I did something to her? Flattery goes a long way, if you must know, and there is no ego in this world that doesn't love to be stroked." He said smugly.

Without thinking, Hermione stood up, her hand extended to Theo. "Come on!"

Although confused, he took her hand and let Hermione haul himself off the carpet. "What do you think you're doing?"

"This room is getting stuffy, don't you agree? Let's enjoy the wonderfully cool night before winter kills it."

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They ended up racing towards the Black Lake. Perched on a big rock overlooking the water and the full moon that bathed them in natural light, Theo and Hermione breathed in the serenity of their surroundings.

"Salazar's balls, it's freezing!" He complained as Hermione refused to put a warming charm on the rock before pushing him down on it to sit. She relented after a few minutes only because she started to lose feeling in her fingers.

"You live in the dungeon where it's always cold and wet!" She countered, to which Theo retaliated by exhaling frost to her direction.

"You're not so bad for a snake." Hermione smiled lopsidedly at him.

"A Pureblood and a Muggle-born side by side together? All is finally right with the world." He replied.

Another thought floated to Hermione's mind – the photograph. She sighed.

"Not quite."

She's been so busy with school amongst all her other things that she's forgotten about her impossible manhunt. She planned on shaking everyone's hand at the match yesterday to check if anyone's got the silver ring she's looking for, but instead, she just had to follow Malfoy. Curse him and his sketchiness.

She didn't even need to see Theo's face to know that he was curious about what she meant. Nibbling on her bottom lip, she thought of letting him in on her little secret. In retrospect, it really isn't a secret, just a ripped photograph. And the sender was herself from the future. She hasn't had any luck figuring out the who and why by herself, so maybe someone else can help?

Digging into her pocket, she pulled out the little secret and gave it to Theo, who took it eagerly. She gave him a few minutes to examine it for himself, noting that the first thing he did after seeing what the photo showed was look at the back, just as she did. And just like her the first time she saw the photo, his eyebrows rose once the timestamp registered.

"At least, now you know that you won't live alone and miserable."

"Ha-ha, give me that." She snatched the photograph from him, but then he took the photograph back.

For some reason, as he was going over it again, his eyes lit up.

"What? What'd you see? Do you know who it is?" She asked with the excitement very evident in her high pitch.

It took Theo four heartbeats, yes, Hermione counted, before answering. "No, I have absolutely no idea."

"Theo!"

Both heads whipped around to the sound the voice came from. Out of the darkness, the lithe figure of Draco Malfoy came into view. Hermione quickly took the photograph from Theo and stuffed it back into her pocket, a motion that she knew Malfoy caught, but thankfully he didn't say anything except raise an eyebrow.

What is up with eyebrow-raising with these people?

She could feel her tipsiness ebbing away slowly but surely, the cold nip of the weather managed to sober her up quick but not yet fully. She cannot be drunk while talking to Malfoy. All she has is her better wit, take that away from her and Malfoy wins. She was also starting to become very sleepy.

"I'm drunk and in no state to trade insults with you. Come back again tomorrow."

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A/N:

This one's for @Makankey who gave me the spark of inspiration to start working on this chapter xx Don't forget to vote and comment!