A/N: After leaving so many of you wanting more after publishing Tear You Apart earlier this year, I present She Wants Revenge, a sequel one-shot. I really hope that you like what I have in store as Theo and Hermione continue their relationship from the prior story, slowly seduced with Dark Magic. You can follow me on tumblr (nauticalparamour) where I post sneak peeks, story updates and answer questions. Huge thank you to cequeserasera for beta reading this!

Please let me know what you thought of this one! It's a bit different to the kind of story I usually write, so I would love to know if you liked it!

Hermione had waited over two months for any whisper or sign of the Order. Hours were spent searching the stormy skies for any hint of an owl wing. She snuck into Diagon Alley again and again despite the increased danger in the progressively bleak Wizarding London just to post letters. Letters that were returned unopened.

Nothing ever changed.

With September 1st growing nearer everyday, Hermione knew that it was time for her to face the facts. Harry and Ron weren't going to contact her and the Order didn't want her to fight with them. They all believed that she had been compromised by her relationship with Theo Nott. And the worst part was...she had been.

Her muggle parents, too absorbed into their dental practice to notice their daughter's increasingly cagey behaviour, were not safe here. She couldn't stand the idea that they might be used against her by the Death Eaters.

A plan grew in her mind.

It was raining when she obliviated them, making them forget that they'd ever even had a daughter and sending them off to Australia. It was irreversible, but at least they would be out of harm's way. They would be happier there, without a witch for a daughter, one that had an increasingly large target on her back.

With everything that she owned shoved into a small beaded bag with an illegal undetectable extension charm on it, Hermione made her way back into Diagon Alley, before edging into Knockturn Alley. She hadn't been there since the year before. The hair on her arms was standing on edge, overwhelmed with the feeling that she did not belong here, but she knew that she had to press forward anyway.

Theo was waiting inside the pub when she got there, just like he said he would be. His eyes found her immediately, a self-satisfied smirk worn on his face. She felt her heart surge in her chest, glad to see a familiar face.

"Theo," she whispered his name, throwing her arms around him in a hug, which he returned happily. "I...don't know what to do."

He cooed, cupping her jaw in one large hand, before guiding her to the booth he was sitting at. "Everything will be okay," he promised, looking rather smug with himself. "Just tell me what's happened."

"The Order has completely ignored me. They don't want my help any more. They...they lied," she said, her eyes held firmly on the table in front of her. "I thought that Harry and I were friends, but it was never real, because he's abandoned me." She was silent for a moment, taking comfort in Theo's hand holding her's. Opening her mouth several times, as though trying to find the words, she finally spoke. "I've obliviated my parents."

Theo pushed some of her hair back behind her ear, concern on his face. "Why would you do that, sweetheart?" he asked, eyebrows drawn together.

"So that they can't be used against me. For their protection. I know that the spell is horrific to use against someone without their knowledge, let alone muggles..." she trailed off.

"Oh, no," he said, giving her a half smile, shaking his head. "You did what you had to do. That's what I've been trying to tell you about so-called dark magic."

Hermione swallowed thickly, tears shining in her eyes. She turned to face him in the booth, so that her entire focus was on her classmate. "Theo, you are the only one that I have left," she told him, her voice barely above a whisper. "The Order has abandoned me, and even if they hadn't, they would never understand what I've done to my parents...not like you do." Her fingertips played with the skin on the inside of his wrist. Letting her eyes drift up from their hands to his face, she breathed in when she saw how utterly flattered Theo looked at her words. How long had he wanted to play the hero, she wondered?

"You'll come stay with me, of course," he told her, bringing his body closer to hers. "My father is still...away, so you can stay in the master bedroom with me."

She wasn't stupid. She knew that Theo meant his father was still in Azkaban. How wonderful it must feel for Theo to be running around his manor, as though he were in charge of it himself. "Really?" she asked, sounding suitably grateful. "Oh, Theo, I cannot thank you enough."

Hermione was sure that she could get along by herself, but it was nice to let someone else take care of her for a while, even if it was all for Theo's benefit.

Hermione could say a lot about Theo, but she would not deny that he was a wonderful teacher. After he'd gotten her settled into his home, helping her to unpack her things in the master bedroom, the first room that he'd shown her had been his family's library.

She'd nearly been unable to contain herself, gasping in pure delight while she let her fingers run along the spines of all the books, some of them innocuous and some of them as black as Voldemort's soul. He'd watched her with pleased eyes, before accepting her thanks in the form of a deep kiss.

Since then, she had spent nearly all of her time in the library, something that Theo was only too keen to encourage. He frequently went on tangents about opening her mind up to all sorts of magic, about how nothing should be forbidden to her. At first, she'd felt a terrible churning in her stomach about how awful some of the things she was learning, but she quickly gave up caring. For once in her life, Hermione threw caution to the wind, letting herself read any book that she wanted, no matter how dark and repulsive she found the magic inside.

It was...odd to see how readily her magic adapted to the darker spells she was casting. How readily it seemed to accept the terrible things she was practicing.

Hermione found it easy to get caught up in it - her mind soaking up each and every dark spell like a dry sponge in water now that there was nothing prohibiting her from learning about them. There was no restricted section in the Notts' library. She was particularly fascinated with blood magic and curses, even if the idea of actually using them against anyone still made her skin crawl.

She was elbows deep into a seventeenth century treatise on the use of blood curses used in matrimonial bonds when Theo waltzed into the library. Hermione made no effort to move from her spot, leant up against the book shelves, until he came up behind her, wrapping his arms around her middle.

"What's got your attention today?" he asked, indulgently, his chin pressed against her shoulder so that he could look at the book in her hands.

"Blood magic," Hermione answered, mewling when his lips found the pulse point on her neck, sucking against her skin.

Theo chuckled to himself. "That's quickly becoming your favorite, isn't it?" he asked.

Hermione pressed herself against his form, grinding back against his groin, feeling him begin to grow hard against the curve of her arse. "It's...dangerous, but I can see that it has its uses. This curse to prevent extramarital affairs seems like a good way to keep your lineage secure."

He was always unable to keep his hands off of her when she started talking about dark magic, some primal part of him so utterly turned on by her words. One arm tightened around her waist, pulling her secure against him, while the other hand snaked down the front of her jeans, inside her knickers.

It had only been two weeks, but he already knew how to make her body sing with just a few touches. She was wet and waiting for his fingers, sighing as he used two fingers to penetrate her, the heel of his palm pressed against her clit. The movement was slightly awkward, hindered by her clothes, but it was effective, making her moan, her voice echoing in the library. Hermione let her eyes slip closed, thankful for his arm around her when she felt her knees grow weak from the feeling.

With his lips sucking hard against her skin, marking her with love bruises, Hermione could feel herself begin to unravel at the seams. She turned her head to capture his lips in a kiss, ignoring the awkward angle of her neck, needing to be closer to him. When their lips met, it was as if fireworks went off in her brain.

The sweet surrender of orgasm washed over her in pleasurable waves, again and again, threatening to pull her under. His name was a whine on her lips and, even with her eyes shut tight, she could imagine the self-satisfied smirk on his face.

Theo was the cat that caught the canary and she was the bloody bird.

Theo had been waiting for this moment for longer than he realized. Ever since he'd conceived of his plan to break up the golden trio and get Hermione on the dark side, he had been kept in a moment of perpetual anticipation. He'd dreamed of consuming her, of getting into that beautiful mind of hers, and making it his.

He just never imagined that this day would come so soon.

Despite her being every inch his, Hermione did not appear broken down in the set of black robes that he'd gotten her for her presentation to the Dark Lord. No, she kept her jaw set, her nose in the air, standing proud and sure of herself.

"Young Mister Nott," the Dark Lord's voice called from inside the cavernous room at Malfoy Manor where they held their meetings. "I understand that you have something that you wish to show me."

Theo swept into the room, with Hermione on his arm, and smirked at the horrified gasps that rippled down the table when the Death Eaters saw who it was. "Yes, my Lord," he answered, pressing Hermione forward. "I have given you Potter's demise on a silver platter. For the last year I've been working to bring his mudblood to our side. I think that you'll agree that she's come around to our way of thinking."

He could feel the penetration of his mind by the powerful dark wizard and didn't deny him any access to his memories, knowing that he had nothing to hide. The Dark Lord repeated the action with Hermione only moments later. He wasn't sure what the man was looking for, though if it was the same as his, Theo knew that he was paying particular focus to their intimate encounters.

The Dark Lord stood from his spot at the head of the table, making the long walk to where Theo was standing with his prize. He grabbed Hermione by the chin with his skeletal fingers, turning her head this way and that to get a better look at her. "Remarkable, Theodore," the Dark Lord said with begrudging admiration. "She's utterly broken. And she has such a keen mind and aptitude for the dark arts."

"I knew that she'd be able to help our cause, despite her blood status," he answered with a smirk, staring down a fuming Bellatrix Lestrange. "It would be such a shame to let a mind like that go to waste when she's so willing to help us."

"My Lord, certainly this is a mistake. You can't honestly be thinking about accepting a mudblood into the fold," she hissed, sounding offended.

"You dare to question me, Bellatrix?" the Dark Lord answered with a snarl. "No, the mudblood will not wear our mark, but there is no reason that she can't be utilized. After all, Theodore has put her on such a pretty leash."

Hermione flinched at the word, but didn't argue with him. Theo knew that she would balk at the idea of being under his control, even if it was the truth. Hadn't she just said it just a few weeks before? She had no one else to turn to but him.

"I should have known that a wizard of your father's calibre would have such an enterprising...and loyal son," the Dark Lord cooed. "And you were only too happy to step up while he is still away. Admirable."

Theo wasn't entirely sure if this was a jibe at the snivelling Malfoy family that had lost their seats of priority at the table, or if it was a jibe at him for settling into the role of Head of House quite easily. Theo wasn't exactly bothered with his father locked away in Azkaban, but he certainly wasn't going to pretend as if he wasn't ambitious.

"I only wanted to help further the cause, my Lord," Theo cooed back, knowing that flattery would go far with the temperamental man, especially when his closest followers were kicking up such a fuss. "I hope that I haven't stepped on anyone's toes by taking the initiative."

"Don't apologize," the other man answered with a smirk. "We will need to begin planning for your initiation. You'll leave the mudblood at home for that."

Theo nodded, wrapping his arm around Hermione's middle when he noticed her nostrils flare in annoyance at being called mudblood so repeatedly. Of course, she would always remain a defiant little Gryffindor, but she was his little Gryffindor.

And he was going to enjoy her while he had her. Eager to get her home and back into his bed, Theo pulled her from the room, whispering the whole while in her ear about what a good girl she'd been.

They didn't talk about how his initiation into the ranks of the Death Eaters had gone, especially not after Theo had stumbled home in the middle of the night, bloody and battered. He'd immediately headed to the bathroom where he'd thrown up, before coming into the bedroom, his left forearm wrapped in a red-stained towel.

She never brought up the way that she'd held him in her arms, his face pressed against her breast like a baby, while he sobbed for nearly an hour, before he finally drifted off to sleep, her fingers running through his hair to soothe him.

It wasn't as if getting the Dark Mark had changed Theo. He was was still the same conniving, too smart for his own good, sexy man that had used her to get what he wanted in the first place. Just... now he had a hideous tattoo on his arm that showed exactly where his allegiances lay.

He was still as affectionate with her as ever, but he'd taken a more structured approach to her education in all things dark arts. Hermione rarely had time to herself in the library anymore. Instead, he would pull her to share the couch with him, tucking her under his arm while they read books together, with Theo pausing to lecture every now and again.

"The Dark Lord wants to be certain that you are educated just as a pureblood would be, so that you don't reflect poorly on him," he explained in a hushed tone one day.

Hermione was offended for a moment, before she saw everything that he meant. Then she was just irritated that all of this knowledge had been kept from her in the first place. There was all sorts of etiquette that would have helped her if she had just known about it when she was starting school.

"There should be a class for this," she said resolutely on afternoon. "I can't believe this isn't taught at Hogwarts."

Theo chuckled, seeing the fire in her eyes, recognizing that she was most motivated when she was pissed off, before pulling her in for a kiss. "You're so right. I should tell the Dark Lord. There are going to be lots of changes at Hogwarts this fall, now that Snape is Headmaster."

That was news that Hermione hadn't heard yet. She hadn't really thought of who would take over now that Professor Dumbledore was dead.

That day, Theo was discussing family trees with her. For whatever reason, Theo was quite keen to have her memorize his family tree, back several generations. The only thing that she could focus on was how the same surnames kept popping up again and again.

"Why is this relevant? Who cares if your great-grandfather was a Lestrange?" she asked in a huff, eventually, crossing her arms over her chest. "I just don't see why memorizing family trees are useful, aside from to try and include some more genetic variation for your offspring."

"You are interested in blood magic, right?" Theo asked, waiting for her nod. He pressed kisses up and down her neck. "The family tree is very useful, because all of these blood ties have real life consequences."

"Like what?" she asked, eyeing the way that certain branches came together, her mind turning like a well-oiled cog.

"Well, for instance, I have certain rights to other people, other families' wealth and homes all because we are distantly blood related," he explained, using his hand to trace a lineage back to the Selwyns. "See this link here. I am the last surviving male relative to them, so I could access their vaults if I wanted to."

"Why don't you?" Hermione asked, her eyebrows pressed together in confusion.

Theo snorted. "Well, because they are empty already. The Selwyns squandered their fortunes a long time ago, unfortunately."

That was certainly something that she'd never heard of before and she wondered how far the blood magic would stretch. Sirius had bequeathed all his property to Harry, but could it go to someone else if pressed? Draco perhaps? Or, since he was disowned by his own family, would Sirius even be affected?

The family trees seemed stupid at first, but the more Hermione learned about them, the more that she realized they were useful. Determined to absorb every shred of information she could get her hands on, Hermione filed that fact away for later contemplation.

He was drowning in Hermione.

Theo realized it one evening when they stayed up talking far too late, passing a bottle of firewhiskey back and forth between them. He'd always desired her, of course, but slowly that desire was morphing into something more. Something that was frightening him in it's intensity.

He welcomed her into his lungs, letting her choke the last of the oxygen from him.

At first, he'd planned on using her for his own pleasure, which she seemed up for, nearly as randy as he was. But then, once he'd had his fill of her, he'd been planning on setting her aside some day when it came time for him to find a pureblood wife.

Now, though...there could be no substitute for Hermione.

The night before they were due to go back to Hogwarts, he held her against his chest in his bedroom, his heart beating unusually fast while he worked over his arguments again and again. Finally, he spilled out the words he only dared to think moments before. "I'd like our first time to be tonight," he said, not sounding confident like he'd imagined. "I would just hate for it to be rushed in some broom closet at Hogwarts or in a dorm room with other boys around us."

She looked at him with a soft look of love and affection, before her face transformed into something far more sexy. Taking the initiative, she propped herself up onto her elbow so that she could kiss him, slanting her lips against his in a familiar dance. He groaned into her when her tongue slid against his, making his cock throb at the feeling.

Hermione climbed on top of him, straddling his hips before grinding her knicker-clad core against him. She looked like a goddess, sitting on top of him, and Theo needed to touch her. His fingers trailed up the bare skin of her thighs, before sliding under the cotton of her oversized t-shirt. With his hands on her hips, he pulled her against him harder, delighting in the squeal that she made in response.

Pulling away from his lips, she looked triumphant sitting astride him. "I think that's a lovely idea, Theo," she answered. "You are always so thoughtful of me, my feelings."

Theo could feel his throat constricting at her words, feeling suddenly overwhelmed, but needing to press forward. Hermione caught the hem of her shirt and pulled it up over her head, revealing the rest of her body to him. His hands slid up against her cashmere soft skin, past the curve of her waist, up to cup her breasts. He delighted in the way that his hands fit against her body so perfectly, her nipples pebbling into hard little points beneath the calluses of his palms.

She mewled, rocking her hips against him again and again, while she worked to disrobe him so that he would be as naked as she was.

His heart was pounding against his ribcage so loudly he was certain that she would be able to hear it, be able to hear how he was losing control. Wanting to regain a hold of the situation, Theo flipped them so that he was on top of her, cradled by her open legs.

Hermione smiled up at him, letting her hands wrap around his neck, her legs wrap around his hips. A whispered spell later, they were each free of the remainder of their clothing. Theo hissed feeling how wet she felt against his cock. Normally he would have taken his time, licking and sucking her until she came undone around his fingers and tongue, but he needed her too much in that moment. Unable to wait, he positioned himself at her entrance before pressing forward into her waiting warmth.

All he could focus on was the feeling of her cunt accepting him, her walls tight around him. He was drowning in ecstasy, drowning in her moans, her sighs of his name, the press of blunt nails against his back, unable to stop surging forward, thrusting into her again and again.

In a instant, Hermione was holding him closer, his name on her lips, coming around him. She was pulling him down under the waves into utter bliss. He thrust into her one, two, three more times before he was coming with her, his face pressed into her neck. His heart was racing while he gasped for breath, letting his mind be taken over by the waves of pleasure, coming back into his body slowly.

Theo realized that he would do anything for this witch, and it frightened him.

Returning to Hogwarts felt far more restrictive to Hermione than she could have imagined. All summer, she had felt that if she just got back to the wizarding school things would be okay, back to the way that they were. But, of course they couldn't be. Harry and Ron were who knew where and her friends had all but abandoned her.

Some of the Slytherins came by to gawk at her and Theo in their compartment, seeing them attached at the hip, but they quickly got the message that they shouldn't trifle with Theo Nott's things.

Her fellow Gryffindors were less understanding of that message.

Neville and Ginny, who had been left behind too, pulled her aside one day after class to confront her. "What the hell, Hermione? Do you even know how disappointed Harry would be if he could see you hanging all over Nott?" Neville demanded.

"And what about Ron? I thought you guys liked one another," Ginny added, her fingers tight around her wand, as though she were barely able to keep herself from hexing Hermione.

Hermione snorted in response to how childish the concern about Ron seemed at this point. She was positive she'd never be able to feel as deeply about Ron as she did Theo. "They lost their ability to care about what I did the moment that choosing a friend they didn't approve of become an unforgivable offense. They left me here without a care to how I would feel about it, so why would I give a fuck what they think?" she snarled back, before turning tail and leaving them confused in her wake.

If she was honest, it was nice for a change to be able to act exactly how she wanted without giving a care to what anyone else thought. She was sick of modulating her behavior to what everyone expected of her. She was not a little goodie two-shoes who always followed the rules. She'd trapped a woman in a jar, permanently scarred a girl, and broken a multitude of school rules in the past. She only ever followed them when they were convenient to her.

Her new found curiosity into dark magic meant that she excelled in the Amycus Carrow's class. He was only too delighted to see that there was no spell too dark for her to attempt, even though she resisted trying them on the younger students. Theo was always there, arms wrapped around her like a snake, preening whenever praise was heaped onto her shoulders.

After all, she was a reflection of him.

But, perhaps she should have known that she was too far gone when Headmaster Snape asked to see her alone after dinner one night. She joined him in his office after pressing a lingering kiss to Theo's lips with a promise to tell him everything that was discussed after.

She sat across the desk from her former potions master, feeling him probing at the edges of her mind, looking for something. Some motive, some trickery. But she wouldn't give him an inch. Meeting his fathomless black eyes, she waited in the silence for him to speak first.

When he did, it was with his fingers steepled together, leaning towards her in anticipation. "Are you sure you know what you are doing, Miss Granger?" he asked, finally.

Hermione smirked at him, surprised to learn that Snape was actually worried about her. But then again, he must have heard from the Carrows about her ruthless and exacting new method to magic. "Don't worry, sir," she said, demurely smoothing out the edge of her regulation school skirt. "I know exactly what I'm doing."

Dumbledore's old clock ticked in the background, but his eyes never left her face, weighing and judging what she was telling him. "Good," he said, finally. "Then, proceed as you were," he instructed, effectively dismissing her.

Hermione was glad that he hadn't spouted the same bullshit that Dumbledore always had, about help always being given at Hogwarts for those who asked for it. She would have gotten no help from Dumbledore, or her friends, or the rest of the Gryffindors if they knew what it was that she was really trying to do.

She left the Headmaster's office before heading straight down to the dungeons where she knew that Theo would be waiting for her. His hands caught her and pulled her into a broom closet before she even made it to the Common Room. She smiled, returning his eager kiss with a sigh.

She just might get the help she needed from Theo, though.

Hermione had come back to Nott Manor with him for the Yule break. It hadn't taken him much convincing to get her to leave the wizarding school for a few days, especially not when he reminded her that he was the only one she had left. The only one who could truly understand who she was.

His father had been sprung free from Azkaban finally, but he had nothing to say about Theo having taken over control of the family, nor of the mudblood that he had holed up in the master bedroom. Theo wouldn't have heard anything against it either.

The Dark Lord thought it was hilarious to see old Alfred Nott being pushed around by his much younger, much more ardent son, and Theo was quickly rising up in the ranks of the Death Eaters, not because he did tasks for the cause, but because of his keen mind, daring way of thinking, and that he didn't seem to give a shit what other people thought of his choices.

He brought Hermione to the little Yule feast that the Death Eaters held at the Malfoy home. She wore holly in her hair and her dress robes were shimmering gold, making her look like the return of the sun itself.

Bellatrix Lestrange was unable to keep her thoughts about Hermione to herself, immediately cornering the young couple. "You shouldn't flaunt your little slut around, Nott," she sneered, her eyes dragging up and down Hermione's more comely body. "Just think of what your future wife will think of it."

Hermione's hand had tightened around his arm at the words and Theo could feel her nails digging into the wool fabric of his own robes.

Unfortunately, Bellatrix noticed this as well. "Oh, didn't you realize that he was going to throw you away? His father will demand a pureblood wife," she cackled, sensing how the words were getting under Hermione's skin. "You might have some uses, mudblood, but you are nothing special in the end."

Later, after they had returned home from the party, drunk on spiced wine and eager for each other's bodies, they lay together on the bed in a tangle of naked limbs. Hermione wrapped her arms around him and whispered into his ear all of the dark, terrible ideas that she had.

"Theo, the Lestranges have no male heir after Rodolphus and Rabastan...I remember it from your family tree this summer," she said while her fingertips trailed down the plane of his stomach, his muscles jumping at the sensation. "You would be the one to inherit everything, through your great-grandfather."

He sucked in a breath, not sure what her aims were. "What do you want me to do? I would kill Bellatrix for you," he promised, surprised to hear the words come out of his own mouth. Theo had never killed anyone before, but he would do it in a heartbeat if Hermione just asked.

She wore a devious little smirk on her face when she propped herself up to look into his eyes, before shaking her head. "No, I think it would be better to mess with Bellatrix psychologically," she told him. "I want to go into the Lestrange vault and take something from her. Let her know that a mudblood like me has had her muddy little fingers all over her things. You can do that, right? Because of your shared blood?"

Theo let his fingers tangle in her hair, pulling her down for a deep kiss, needing to possess her. He loved the way that she thought, the quiet sabotage, using ancient pureblood customs against the proud Lestrange witch. It made him so hot for her. He kissed her until his lungs were screaming for air, and broke away with a groan. "Yes," he agreed with a nod. "I'll take you to Gringotts first thing in the morning, if that's what you want."

She beamed up at him, as if he just promised her the world, and Theo knew that he would give her the world if he could. He'd set out the year prior to rip the scales from her eyes and show her the potential of dark magic, knowing that she had the mind and the skill to become an asset. Hermione had been furious when she first learned the truth of his attentions, but she'd come crawling back to him just as he knew she would.

And now... she'd far surpassed even his wildest imaginations and he couldn't wait to see what Hermione had in store.

When Hermione had decided to fuck with Bellatrix Lestrange, she'd planned on taking a piece of jewelry. Some ostentatious necklace or tiara that she could wear to the next Death Eater party that she would be dragged to because Theo grew restless without her there. A piece that Bellatrix would immediately recognize as hers, as stolen, something that would drive the other woman insane with the knowledge that she'd waltzed right into her vault and taken whatever she wanted.

That Theo had let her do whatever she wanted and hadn't batted an eyelash.

Something to signal just how much power she had in this relationship.

Hermione had not been counting on finding something that she hadn't even known to be looking for. As soon as they entered the vault, the unmistakable feeling of dark magic overwhelmed her and she knew then that there was a horcrux there, in the vault. One of Voldemort's many horcruxes.

It was easy to take the small golden Cup without Theo noticing, far too busy looking through the piles of coins and jewels for something that would truly suit her. When he finally found it - a stunningly large sapphire ring - he gave her a crooked half-smile. He slid the ring onto her finger and she felt her heart skip a beat, her knees going weak, wondering if he knew the significance of what he was doing. Did he mean to further enrage Bellatrix with the thought that he might actually engage himself to a mudblood like her? Or was there no trickery involved in the act?

He'd pulled her in for an eager kiss, his fingers tangled in her hair holding her in place against him. Perhaps he just liked knowing that she belonged to him. Did he know that he belonged to her, too?

Hermione hadn't been able to study the Cup until she returned to Hogwarts after the Yule break, but it didn't take someone who had Hogwarts, A History memorized cover to cover long to figure out just what it was that she held in her hands.

The pattern slipped into place immediately. Slytherin's Ring. Slytherin's Locket. Hufflepuff's Cup. What else could she be looking for but the lost Diadem of Ravenclaw? There was nothing else so storied and special to hold a piece of Voldemort's soul other than something that was said to be lost to the ages.

She also knew that it was likely still in the castle. Hermione had turned over the timeline of Tom Riddle in her head thousands of times since Harry had shared it with them, and she'd done some investigation on her own. Why else would Tom Riddle apply to be a Defense Against The Dark Arts professor not once, but twice? She highly doubted that he had any interest in shaping young minds, but she should see the appeal of it if you wanted to hide a horcrux.

A few weeks slipped by while Hermione racked her brain trying to think of where he would have hidden it, praying all the while that it wasn't down in the Chamber of Secrets. It would have to be well concealed to not have been discovered in the years since he would have left it behind at Hogwarts.

It was an off-hand comment from Theo that reminded her of a place that she felt stupid for not thinking of before. She had mentioned the fact that she'd recently misplaced her favorite quill, when Theo looked up and made a suggestion that had her nearly hating herself for her idiocy. "Have you tried looking for it in the Room of Forgotten Things?"

Oh, how could she have forgotten that other students knew the Room of Requirement by many names? The Room of Forgotten Things, the Come and Go Room. The fact that Draco Malfoy had used an old vanishing cabinet in the Room of Requirement to sneak in the Death Eaters telegraphed the fact that Voldemort would have been intimately familiar with the contents of the room.

And, once she knew where to look, she had resigned herself to combing through the aisles and aisles of forgotten junk until she could get her hands on the Lost Diadem. Every moment of free time snatched from under Theo's watchful eyes was spent combing through the Room, searching for another horcrux.

As second term wore on, Hermione had completely given up the pretense of staying in her room in Gryffindor tower. Instead, she spent most nights sharing a little twin bed in the Slytherin boys dorms with him. "I can barely sleep without you holding me anymore," she had revealed to him after Yule.

Theo didn't give a fuck what his roommates thought about it, and the social balance of the Slytherins was too disrupted for any of them to say something about it to him. Draco was clearly out of favor after he'd fucked up the year before. Crabbe and Goyle, ever the followers, needed someone new to report to, but they didn't trust Theo enough to listen to him and so they remained helplessly adrift.

Just because he didn't care who knew about Hermione sleeping with him did not mean that he wanted any of his roommates to see her in her most delicate of states. He'd perfected the charms to keep his curtains closed tight and Hermione knew how to perform a silencing charm better than anyone else.

It meant that they were safe to retreat to their little love nest, naked and holding onto one another, talking about anything and everything. As he got to know her better, it was easier for him to open up to Hermione about his thoughts and feelings.

She was always there, waiting for him, whenever he had to return from some meeting with the Death Eaters. Theo always relished in the jealous looks that Draco would give him, wishing that he had a warm body to sink into after the truly heinous things that they saw together.

Theo had joined the Death Eaters with open eyes, but he'd quickly realized how wrong he'd had it. The Dark Lord was far more twisted than he could ever imagine. He couldn't count the number of witches and wizards that he had seen fed to the Dark Lord's snake, Nagini, her jaws unhinged and open wide. It turned his stomach and made him uneasy, wanting to do whatever it took to avoid a similar fate for himself. He'd learned early on that no one was safe.

It was nice to be able to tell Hermione these worries and doubts, knowing that if he told anyone else he would certainly be killed. She would run her fingers through his hair while he rested his head against her naked breast, listening to her heartbeat slow after a furious round of sex.

"Do you think that..." she said one time, before trailing off. "Never mind, it was silly."

"No, tell me," he begged, wanting to hear what it was that she was thinking. First and foremost, Theo knew that Hermione was smart. He'd hear any idea that she had, even if she thought that it was silly.

"I was going to ask if...if you thought that the Dark Lord seems a bit unstable?" she asked him, biting her lip when he met her innocent, brown eyes. "It seems to me that he is unraveling under the pressure."

"He's changed," he agreed, his voice quiet and concerned. It was a fear that he'd carried privately for months now, and he was glad to have someone else recognize it. "He grows more unpredictable every time I see him."

"Maybe," Hermione started, her fingers stopping their steady, soothing, progression through his hair. "Maybe we should think about...something to mitigate that."

He was fairly sure that he knew what it was that she was suggesting, but Theo didn't dare put words to what it was that he was thinking. It seemed too far-fetched, too impossible. "The Dark Lord is unbeatable. He has some safeguards, but I am not sure what," he explained, before flipping them over so that Hermione was safely tucked into his side.

She let her toes trail up the side of his calf, teasing and mischievous. He should have known never to underestimate her when she looked up at him, smirking. It was a look that she had perfected ever since they had returned to Hogwarts. "You don't have to worry about that, Theo," she instructed.

"What do you know?" he questioned, wondering if he should be more worried at what it was that she was suggesting.

Hermione sighed, wrapping her arms tighter around his waist. "You just leave the Dark Lord to me," she said. "I have a plan."

Salazar, he knew that he should be more concerned, but he trusted Hermione and he was surprised to find himself ready to believe her. Ready to see what it was that she had in mind.

Hermione had barely been able to contain her excitement when she found the Lost Diadem of Ravenclaw in the Room of Requirement. She'd taken a small moment to celebrate with herself, before she realized that she had two horcruxes and she needed to destroy them.

It didn't take long for her to decide what to do next.

The walk to the Headmaster's Office was finished in record time, even for Hermione's fast walking. She whispered the password to the gargoyle, having learned it after all the meetings Snape had requested of her over the year. He had an annoying habit of checking in on her, worried about her, that she was spiraling out of control. She could agree that the old Hermione was dead and gone, but she was happy with the new Hermione. Yes, her tactics might have changed, but she was doing what she knew she needed to do.

Snape looked surprised to see her storming up the spiral staircase, but didn't say anything when she started digging around in her beaded bag, pulling out the Diadem and the Cup. "I need the Sword of Gryffindor," she demanded, eyeing where it lay behind a glass case.

"Are those...?" he asked, his eyes not leaving the ancient relics.

Hermione nodded grimly, but didn't explain further.

Snape did not need to be told twice and he immediately went to get the sword from where it rested, before handing it over to her. "It's said this can be wielded by any worthy Gryffindor," he said, waiting to see what would happen when she used it.

Knowing that she needed to get this over with before she thought about it anymore, having felt the oppressive touch of caring the Cup with her for so many months, Hermione raised the sword over her head before bringing it down onto the Cup. The soul in the horcrux rioted against the penetration, being eaten alive by basilisk venom, but Hermione didn't wait before she repeated the process with the Diadem.

When she was done, she realized with a start that she was crying. Hating to seem weak in front of Snape, Hermione desperately wiped at the tears on her cheeks and wished that she had Theo there to wrap her into his arms, to tell her that all the whispers the horcruxes had said were wrong.

Snape looked at her with interest, but didn't say anything while she collected herself. "Harry and Ron?" she asked, knowing that it was impossible he didn't know how it was going with them. "Have they...destroyed theirs yet?" she asked, hating that she was still so concerned about the friends that only saw her as a traitor.

The dour man frowned. "No, they haven't been able to come up with any idea that they haven't tried yet," he said. "It's driving a wedge between them."

Hermione stared at the sword in her hand, rubbing her thumb on the ruby in the hilt. "Then give this to them. The blade has been impregnated with basilisk venom," she said with a snort, handing it over without argument. "Honestly, they are utterly useless without me. It's a wonder that they passed any classes."

"I think about that often, Miss Granger," Snape agreed, but took the sword from her anyway.

She let out a deep breath that she hadn't realized she'd been holding, running her hand down her face. Hermione was tired. "So that leaves two more," she said, drawing her eyebrows together and wondering just what the hell she should be looking for. It could be anything really, but it was likely to be something significant to the Dark Lord. There wasn't anything else from Founders History that fit the bill.

"Did you know that the Dark Lord is...quite fond of his familiar?" Snape asked, off-hand. "A snake by the name of Nagini."

Hermione pursed her lips together, thankful for the tip, but wondering how the fuck she was meant to pull that off. Things almost seemed more impossible than ever, and her time was undoubtedly running out. She turned to leave, but Snape called her back again.

"Before you go," he said, making her turn around on her heel. "There is one more thing that I should show you."

Her voice was caught in her throat when she saw him standing next to a massive pensive, his wand held at his temple while he pulled out a silvery strand of a memory.

It had been a horrible idea, Theo decided, his father demanding that he come home over the spring holiday. He wasn't sure what his plan had been in the first place. Was it to reassert his dominance over a wayward heir who had happily assumed his rightful mantle as Head of House? His father should have stepped aside a long time ago, anyway.

The demands that Alfred Nott had made had been too unreasonable for Theo to accept though.

Theo had brought Hermione home with him - of course he did. He rarely went anywhere without his love these days, and whenever they were forced to be parted, he found himself longing for her calming touch, her passionate kiss. She'd stared down his father over dinner, not caring if Alfred thought a certain way about her or the way that she leaned into Theo, hands rarely unclasped, drawing attention to the ring on her hand.

But that was when it had all gone, horribly, terribly wrong. His father had slammed down his napkin and forcefully insisted that Theo leave all this nonsense with Hermione behind once he graduated that spring. That it was unseemly to have a mudblood lover. "You'll have a wife, Theo," his father had crooned, not caring that his cold, uncaring words might hurt Hermione. "One who is better...suited to you. It won't take long for you to forget her."

"I don't want to forget her," Theo had said, his voice catching in his throat, drawing his wand from his sleeve under the table. "No one could replace Hermione." He had been so...so angry, so furious that his father would suggest something like that. At first, Hermione had been a very delightful means to an end - a way to gain his influence with the Dark Lord - with the pleasurable benefits of sex, but his relationship with Hermione had quickly spun out of control.

He couldn't live without Hermione.

His father had drawn his wand and leveled at the woman he loved before Theo could react, hitting her with a cruciatus curse. He stared at Hermione, crumpled on the floor with a look of agony on his face, before raising his own wand towards his father.

It was the first time that he'd ever even attempted the Killing Curse, but he found it easier and more satisfying than he would have imagined. He smiled seeing the shocked look on his father's face as he fell backwards, dead to the world. His blood was signing in his veins, full of adrenaline and power and a sense of righteousness he'd never felt before. Serves him right, Theo thought, maliciously.

Hermione was shaking when he lifted her up, cradling her against his chest. He let his fingers run through her hair while she cried against his chest. Her head turned to look at the man who lay dead on the floor. "Theo," she whispered, her voice even and low. "You've killed your father."

He tilted her head back, lovingly cupping her jaw, so that he could look at her. "He was trying to take you away from me," he whispered, dipping his head so that their foreheads could touch. "I love you too much to let that happen."

It was the first time that he'd said the words that he'd been feeling, the emotion and attachment slowly sneaking up on him over the weeks. Afraid that she might not return the sentiment, he caught her lips in a passionate kiss, his teeth biting at her plump lower lip before soothing the hurt with his tongue. Let let his fingers coil in the waves of her hair, holding her in place while he consumed her, invading her mouth.

She broke away with a delighted gasp on her bruised lips, her eyes sparkling in delight. Her pupils were blown so large that there was barely a ring of brown left while she struggled to regain her breath. "I love you, too," she answered, before pulling him back down.

He apparated them back to their bedroom, and she muttered a wandless spell to divest them of their clothes, until there was nothing separating them. "I told you that I would do anything for you," he promised, once again.

Hermione giggled when she pulled him down on the bed to lie on top of her, not bothering to worry over all the things they would need to take care of now that his father was dead. "I know you would," she answered, wrapping her legs around his waist, pulling him down with her.

The Battle for Hogwarts began without much pomp or circumstance. Hermione wasn't entirely sure how, but the news that Harry and Ron were back in the castle spread through the students like wildfire, even making it down to Slytherin where they had no friends.

There was a time when Hermione would have been thrilled to know that her friends were back, but she'd grown much too bitter in the months that she'd been left behind, left alone, assumed that she was a traitor because of who she chose to love. Theo might be a Death Eater now, but he wasn't when she'd started a tentative friendship with him the year before. Had she known...

There was no point in wondering about that now.

When the fighting began, Hermione knew that she only had two, well, three concerns. She needed to kill the snake and make sure that Voldemort ended up dead. If she could manage to get herself and Theo through the fighting alive, she would do that, too. But, there would be no point in living if she couldn't accomplish the other two first.

Hermione ran into Ron in one of the hallways, the Sword of Gryffindor swinging at his side. That, at least, made things a bit easier. "Give that to me," she demanded, catching him off guard.

His hatred and disappointment in her was undisguised on his face, but Hermione was past caring at this point. "Think again, you traitorous bitch," he growled, though he made no move to defend himself, perhaps thinking she would cower from his harsh words.

She'd heard much worse.

This version of Hermione didn't play by the rules anymore, and sent a painful, dark hex at her former friend, before running over and grabbing the sword by the handle. Ron was left slumped over and in pain, but she knew that it would wear off in a while. It wasn't as if she'd done anything permanent to him.

Running through the corridors of Hogwarts, most of the students gave her a wide berth. Her reputation preceded her at this point, but she didn't mind, knowing that it would help her get to Theo faster. He'd agreed to keep track of Nagini for her while she sorted out the sword.

When she arrived back in the courtyard, Harry and Voldemort were locked in a duel with one another, neither one giving an inch. Hermione paused for a moment, wondering if she should feel sorry for him. Did Harry know that he was destined to die, in order to save the wizarding world? Harry and Ron and the rest of the Order could hate her all they wanted, but the blame for Harry's demise would rest on Dumbledore's shoulders. The older man had had years, decades even, to figure out how to remove the bit of Voldemort's soul that had attached itself to Harry, but he was the one who'd done nothing.

Shaking her head, Hermione returned her attention to the snake. If Voldemort made it out of the duel with Harry, she didn't want anything left to give him an advantage. Nagini was hissing when she found Theo, barely pinned back by his spells. Her lover was dirty and sweating, but he'd kept her at bay, just like Hermione had asked.

"Theo!" she called before raising the sword up over her head. He stepped aside, just out of the way when Hermione ran forward towards the massive, hissing beast. The blade sang through the air as she brought it down with every ounce of strength that she had in her body and shut her eyes tightly, praying that she made contact.

Feeling the sword hit the ground, Hermione's eyes snapped open, worried that she'd just missed. To her great relief, Theo was wrapping his arms around her middle, holding her up and whispering words of praise in her ears. "You did it, Hermione," he said again and again, reminding her of how he'd seduced her back in his family's library.

Nagini lay dead on the dusty ground, cut in two, her body quickly decaying once it was no longer held in tact by Voldemort's soul.

An inhuman cry caught her attention, and she spun around, reminded of the duel that was locked in a single spell. She watched as the green jet of the Avada Kedavra finally pushed back Harry's Expelliarmus, hitting her old friend before rebounding back and hitting Voldemort as well.

The Dark Lord's body seemed to crumble, as if he was made of dust, flying off into the wind.

Harry Potter woke up, sent back from what was surely Death, and felt the gravel of the Hogwart's courtyard under his back. Everything he could hear sounded muffled, but it sounded like there was a commotion going on.

Someone was shouting - a spell, perhaps? - and then he could feel his wand fly out of his hand.

Blinking, he opened up his eyes, staring at the grey sky. Groaning, he sat up, letting the sights of the battle filter back into his vision. Rubbing at his eyes, he realized that one of the lenses in his glasses was shattered, but he still thought he could make out what was happening.

There, standing in the middle of the courtyard, was Hermione Granger, with his wand in hand. Theo Nott stood next to her side, so close that he was pressed up against her, but he didn't look as though he were suffocating or overwhelming her with his presence. It was welcome.

All around them, Death Eaters and Order members alike, wore grim faces.

"Hermione?" he asked, confused and unable to understand what was going on. It seemed as if Hermione was in charge?

"Ah, ah, ah, Harry," she said with a smirk. "I think it's time for a change in the way things are run in the wizarding world," she said rolling his wand in her hand. The Elder Wand, he realized with a start. "And I know just the witch for the job."