New Perspective

Chapter 8

No Good Deed

Ever since she had come to England, Tomoyo had been in a panic. She was panicked about her classes, panicked about losing her old friends, panicked about the obvious state of the war, and now she had so much anxiety about Theodore Nott.

It was very obvious to her that he was being bullied. He would wait around for hallways to clear before he made a mad dash to his next class, he would always try to stay close to the teachers, and at times he could not be found at all.

In the Slytherin house, he was her only friend. Her cheerful personality seemed to make the rest of Slytherin keep their distance from her, but Theodore Nott had been different.

In his own emotionless way, he had warmed up to her immediately and welcomed her to the house in the most cryptic way he knew how. By warning her that Slytherin was a place to watch your back, to mull over your words carefully before saying them, and to always have your wand ready and a defensive spell in your mind.

And to return this small bit of friendship that he had offered her, Tomoyo had decided that she would try her best to keep this obviously troubled boy safe. She was not a fighter or a skilled magician, but she could make sure that he was okay. She would check up on him, tell a teacher if things were to get out of hand, and maybe one day she could fight someone off if it came down to it.

And that is why she was currently pacing their common room, having an anxiety attack over him. He had disappeared. He was no where to be found, which wasn't exactly an uncommon thing for him, but Draco Malfoy had entered the common room looking sickly pleased with himself, and Tomoyo knew that no good could come of it.

She sat down on one of the couches facing the door and waited, tapping her foot nervously.

"What's wrong, Japan?" Malfoy's voice said right beside her ear. He was leaned against the back of the couch, whispering directly in her ear.

She quickly pulled away from him. Have you hurt Theodore? That's all she really wanted to say. She wanted to accuse him of murdering Theo and hiding his body in the lake.

But of course doing so would break all the rules that Theo had given her to follow for survival, and she couldn't let his effort go to waste. She couldn't show Malfoy any weakness, or the Slytherins would swarm like sharks that caught a whiff of blood.

"I had too much coffee at dinner." She lied swiftly. She glanced sideways at her bag. She knew Spinel Sun would be in there keeping an ear out for any trouble, but she still felt unsafe around the soulless boy that was standing beside her.

He jumped over the back of the couch and sank down into the plush seat to her right.

She tried to stop herself from cringing.

"I know that we didn't get off to a good start, Daidouji." He scooted closer to her. Her skin crawled. "But I just want you to know that Slytherin is a very welcoming group of people. I would love to show you around Hogsmede this weekend." He smiled kindly at her. "We could get a butterbeer. I could show you the local spook house." He kept inching closer to her. "And you could tell me about what Japan is like."

Tomoyo's body was ramrod straight and tense.

Was this psychopath asking her out on a date?

"I'm not sure that's necessary. I've already made plans with my friends that are in Gryffindor." And I don't want to be sexually molested in a dark alley. She added in her head.

The stone wall across the room swung open and Theo stepped in, unharmed. Malfoy's eyes narrowed as Nott walked across the room towards them.

"Nott, I was just telling Daidouji here that she should go to Hogsmede with me." Draco laid his hand on the back of the couch behind Tomoyo's shoulders. "You're her friend, tell her that it would be to her benefit to have me on her side." His gray eyes and unveiled threats seemed to lower the temperature of the common room a couple of degrees. He reached his cold hand towards her and pushed her hair behind her shoulder.

Theo stared back at Draco blankly and stood in silence for a moment. Suddenly, Tomoyo noticed a subtle twitch of his lips. He spoke loudly. "Really, Draco! I don't think Pansy would like to know that you were making moves on the new girl."

Draco's face turned white as a shrill hiss was heard across the room.

"Are you kidding me, Draco?" Pansy yelled at him. The whole common room sat in silence at the very familiar scene that was playing out in front of them. "Again?!"

Draco growled. "Damn, Pansy. I was just trying to be helpful." Pansy stormed up the stairs to her dormitory. Draco chased after her.

"We both know exactly what you were trying to do!" Pansy shrieked. There voices thankfully faded out, but Tomoyo could still hear the occasionally shrill cry of a harpy resonate down the staircase. She laughed behind her hand as Nott plopped down on the couch beside her.

"Well done." She complimented him. "And thank you."

"It's not a problem." He said, shaking his head. "He left a pretty big opening hitting on you in the same room as his girlfriend. You should try to stay off his radar though."

Tomoyo noticed that the shimmering glamour that she had seen Theo apply multiple times earlier in the day had disappeared from his face.

"Did you go to nurse's office?" She whispered to him, leaning in to inspect his face.

He shook his head. "Your friend Granger did it." A small blush appeared on his now unmarred face.

Tomoyo smiled at him warmly. "She's really nice, huh?"

He shrugged passively. "It wasn't really her business." He paused. "Your boyfriend gave me detention by the way."

Boyfriend? Tomoyo scrunched her face up. "Eriol is not my boyfriend."

"He sure does act like it." Theo replied. Tomoyo noticed her bag shift beside her.

She shook her head at him. "Well, he's not. Why did you get detention?" She asked politely.

"I left class because my glamour faded. Granger followed me. The professor obviously assumed the worst. He accused me of messing around in the locker rooms." Theo shook his head. "It was embarrassing."

"You could have told him about what the other boys did to you last night." Tomoyo whispered. "He wouldn't have punished you if he knew that you had a good reason."

Theo paused to think it over. "I'd rather not have the whole school knowing." He said simply. Suddenly his eyes widened. "Shit." He whispered back to Tomoyo. "Hiirizagawa probably caught Granger too."

Tomoyo watched the rare panic cross Theo's normally passive face. "Do you think she would tell a teacher my secret if she thought she was in trouble?" He asked quickly.

"I haven't known her very long." Tomoyo said honestly. "I'm not sure."

"Fuck." He cursed suddenly.

"Want me to ask her tomorrow morning?" Tomoyo placed her hand on Theo's.

"It won't matter by tomorrow morning. Everyone will already know."

Hermione yawned as she sat at the Gryffindor table alone the next morning. She couldn't believe she had gotten detention to save a Slytherin from having his secret exposed.

There was just something about the way Theo had looked in the locker room. He had seemed vulnerable and scared. His eyes had been dark and intense.

His shirt had been off.

She shook her head. Damn teenage hormones. This was serious.

But she knew that she would rather have detention than betray her promise to him. Still, she wondered what exactly she was covering up. Theodore Nott was such a mystery.

"I can't believe you."

Ron sat down next to her for the first time in the whole semester.

"What can you not believe, Ronald?" Hermione said boredly, turning the page to her Defense book.

"You are fucking a Slytherin." He whispered furiously.

"Excuse me?" She said loudly.

"You heard me." He said, raising his voice. "Neville saw you two sneaking out of class yesterday."

"Then Neville saw wrong." Hermione said, slamming her book closed. "And I'm not listening to this garbage." She lowered her voice.

Ron shook his head and took a deep breath. "I know that I hurt you, Hermione." He started.

She laughed. "You didn't hurt me, Ron."

"You thought that we were in love," Ron went on as if she hadn't even spoken. "You had this fairy tale romance played out in your head about me."

Her skull was going to explode. She could not believe how much bullshit was getting thrown at her right now.

"And to get back at me, you completely ruined your reputation by messing around with Theodore Nott?" Ron scoffed. "He's such a loser."

"I didn't mess around with him and I certainly didn't have any kind of revenge motives against you." Hermione glared at him, willing him to disappear.

Please just let this moment be over. It was so mortifying.

"Lie all you want." Ron said coldly. "Everyone already knows the truth." He got up and stormed away from the table.

And that's when Hermione realized that he was right.

Everyone in the Great Hall was staring at her. They were whispering behind their hands, watching her like she was some spectacle to be watched.

They all thought she had some kind of lover's rendezvous with Nott… in the middle of class.

Like some kind of harlot.

She shook her head, gathered her belongings, and walked to the nearest discrete secret passage to hide in. Breakfast be damned, she was waiting this one out away from staring eyes.

The rumor mill was in full swing. Theo had heard about his business as soon as he had walked out of his dormitory.

Apparently, he had been having some secret love affair with Potter's mudblood.

Delightful.

As if he wasn't being bullied enough.

Tomoyo beamed at him from the foot of the boy's staircase as he descended.

"Is it true?" She said excitedly.

Theo gaped at her. "Are you serious?"

"You two would be soooo cute together." She gushed.

"No, it's not true." He said firmly. They walked to the hallway.

Tomoyo sighed.

Theo rolled his eyes and shook his head at her. "I already told you what happened during Defense." He whispered furiously. "She noticed that I had gotten my ass kicked and decided that it was time for Saint Granger to rain down some good will to all the poor peasants."

"Then why does everyone think that you're dating?" Tomoyo asked thoughtfully. She was obviously sad that her two newest friends weren't an item.

"The rumor mill at Hogwarts is brutal." Theo explained. As they passed the Great Hall, he reached in and grabbed a couple apples off of a produce cart near the doors. He paused. "Or maybe she did this."

"Why would she want everyone to think that you two are dating?" Tomoyo asked with confusion.

"Weasley?" Theo reasoned. "I heard that they had been a thing and that he cheated on her."

"Another rumor?" Tomoyo shook her head at him, disappointed. "You were just saying that it was all a bunch of lies and now you're buying into something that you have no proof of."

"She obviously got caught after our rendezvous." He spat the last word out in disdain. "Then when the professor accused her of sneaking off for some afternoon delight, she jumped at the opportunity to reset her image." Theo speculated.

"Hermione isn't like that." Tomoyo told him as they began to climb the flights of stairs up to Charms class.

"She's a Gryffindor. And Gryffindors are all crazy, Tomoyo." Theo explained. He let his face blank as he prepared himself for the onslaught that the day had in store for him. "She's going to get me killed."

She could really do without all of this.

Her first couple classes had been spent staring directly at the blackboard, trying to ignore snickering in the rows behind her. What was it about teenagers that made them the worst people in the world to be around?

Harry was being distant again. He told her that he believed her, but his eyes had looked doubtful. After all, she had disappeared from class. That fact could not be refuted in the boy-who-lived's eyes.

And without a good excuse, she was defenseless against the scandal that was brewing. As it turns out the old saying was true.

No good deed goes unpunished.

She had been ducking in and out of secret passageways and rarely traversed corridors all day. It was exhausting. She sighed as she made it to defense relatively unscathed. Peeves had hurled a water balloon at her on the fourth floor. She sank down in to her front row seat and waited patiently for class to start.

"Konnichiwa!" Sakura said loudly as she took a seat beside Hermione. Syaoran waved quietly at her.

"Hey." Hermione whispered. Sakura really was one of the friendliest people Hermione had ever had the pleasure of being around.

"I heard the good news!" Sakura smiled widely at her.

"Oh no, It's not-"

"You and that cute Slytherin that's always with Tomoyo, right?"

Hermione sighed. She felt static electricity flicker through her hair as it always did whenever she felt upset. She tried to smooth it out with her hands as she explained. "It's just a horrible rumor. There's no truth behind it."

"Aiii. I'm sorry."

"It's not a big deal." Hermione said, shaking her head in defeat.

Syaoran rest his head against the table and groaned.

Sakura and Hermione both looked at him. "Something wrong, Syaoran?" Hermione asked.

"This magic is so different. I get headaches all the time from casting." Syaoran grumbled. "It's really taking it out of me."

"You're rewriting neurological pathways." Hermione explained. "Different forms of magic have different signatures that you have to get used to." She reached into her bag. "I have a headache potion that I carry around, want some?"

Syaoran nodded thankfully. Sakura rubbed his back.

"Careful, Li! Granger's gonna trick you with her love potion just like she did with Nott over here." Blaise Zabini yelled from the back row. The rest of the hooligans that he hung out with all fell into laughter.

Hermione tried not to look. But knowing that Theo was just a few feet away was tempting. She really wondered what he thought about this whole situation.

"That's it." Syaoran growled. Syaoran glared at her tormenters and slowly rose from his seat. He took a few menacing steps in their direction before the professor ran up to him from behind.

"None of that today, Syaoran." Eriol whispered. He raised his voice so that the Slytherins could hear him. "While I know you haven't gotten to beat the hell out of someone in ages, I hardly think that my classroom is the place to do it." Syaoran sat back down in his seat.

Eriol then turned to the Slyterin's in the back row. "You should keep your mouths shut if you know what's good for you." He warned.

Hermione smiled at the teacher as he began his presentation for the day. Maybe Professor Hiirizagawa wasn't as much of a dark wizard creep as she had originally thought.

He nodded to her and dove into his lecture on Aggressive and Defensive uses of Elemental Magic.

As she was making her way to the Great Hall to eat the quickest dinner she could manage, Hermione was jerked into a small alcove by an unknown attacker from behind.

She quickly drove her elbow into his stomach.

"Granger. Son of a bitch." Theo cursed as he held his torso.

She slapped him on the arm with as much force as she could muster. "Don't you 'Granger' me. You don't grab girls and drag them into some hidey-hole. You deserved that." She scolded him.

Theo winced as he was hit again. "Well, sorry. I didn't know that you were already poised for an attack." He shook his head, trying to get over the constant abuse that always seemed to be thrown his way. "I wanted to talk to you."

Hermione leaned against the wall opposite him. "About our love affair?" She said wryly.

Theo glared at her. "Are you the one that started it?"

Hermione gaped at him. "Of course not."

"Really?" He raised his eyebrows at her. "You weren't trying to make Weasley jealous?" He asked doubtful that his theory was incorrect.

Hermione growled before smacking him on the shoulder again.

"I can't believe you!" Hermione whispered furiously at him. "I helped you yesterday, promised not to tell anyone what I had seen, and then you accuse me of this? I don't want people thinking that we're together. I don't want to be tormented in the hallways. And I sure as shit don't want to serve detention for some asshole that doesn't even appreciate it."

Theo looked at her boredly. "Are you done?"

She glanced down at her watch, realizing that she had missed dinner. "No. You have also caused me to miss all three meals today. Thanks a lot." She stormed away from him to the entrance hall.

He sighed and followed after her quietly.

Eriol stood in the entrance hall in dark blue traveling robes. He was smiling brightly, talking the ear off of Severus Snape, who looked miserable.

He smiled in their direction when he saw them. "Good evening, delinquents." He said cheerfully. Severus glared at them.

"I'm afraid that I'm on my way to London for the night. You will be serving your detentions with Severus here for the next couple of weeks."

Hermione felt depression permeate throughout her body. "Detentions? As in plural?" She asked quietly.

Eriol raised his eyebrows at her. "Why, yes. You didn't think that sneaking off in the middle of class and then not having a good reason warranted only one detention?"

She sighed. "I kind of hoped that it did."

"That's so funny." Eriol noted. He nodded to Severus before disappeared out of the castle.

They followed Snape sullenly to the dungeons. Hermione made sure to shove Theo a little bit when Snape wasn't looking.

This bastard was ruining her life.

Words: 3,091

Notes: Here's my speedy update as always. Truthfully, I wrote that really sad chapter before, and then we moved across states. And then I forgot. But, I'm writing again (a FF8 fanfiction, actually), so I figured I could show some love to this story. I think the next chapter is going to be Hogsmede. What kind of mischief could CCS/Hermione/And Theo get into there?