Chapter Eighteen.

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Now that she had passed the hurdle of leaving the apartment, Hermione fell into a new routine of therapy sessions and meeting with her friends. She still spent a lot of time at home, but now that she was able to focus her attention on her books again, she found much more enjoyment from being there. Her mental state improved immensely, as did her relationship with Theo, who had been spending all of his spare time at the apartment with her and Blaise. In short, Hermione was happy and found herself enjoying her life again.

It had been four months since she had visited the coast with Theo and the weather had turned cold a long while ago. They had grown incredibly close since then and Hermione was thinking of asking him to move in with her and Blaise, wondering why he bothered to keep his own apartment when he only slept there. He ate all his meals with them and only left late at night, so it hardly seemed worth it.

"Blaise?" Hermione asked, sitting down next to him on the sofa one morning before Theo.

"Hmmm?" He hummed, engrossed in his book.

Hermione sighed and pulled his book from him, ignoring his protests as she marked his page and closed it, putting it on the coffee table. She needed his full attention and input into this decision as this was as much his home as it was hers.

"How would you feel if I asked Theo to move in with us?" She asked and Blaise's eyebrows shot up.

"That's a big step." He noted and Hermione nodded, frowning. "Are you sure?"

"I think so." She nodded, "I mean, he spends all his time here and only goes home to sleep. And I sleep better on the nights that he's next to me... What do you think?"

"You know I wouldn't mind, Hermione." He told her, sighing. "I just worry about you. I don't want you to, you know, slip again."

Hermione nodded in understanding. Hermione considered that their proper relationship had begun on the day that he'd taken her to Cornwall, and that was four months ago, but while their emotional relationship had progressed, their physical one had not. She hadn't felt ready, though she was starting to. She had thought about it, and she knew that Theo would not push her for anything she didn't want and she relayed as much to Blaise.

"I'm not saying that he would hurt you, Hermione." Blaise smiled, "That man worships the ground you walk on. It's still going to be a big change though, and I don't want you to have anything to worry over."

"If anything," She mused, biting her lip. "It would only help. If I got better sleep every night then my mood would improve. Julia has approved of this, I spoke about it at my last session, I just wanted to make sure you'd be okay with it."

"Well... If it's okay with Julia, it's okay with me. But on one condition." Blaise said sternly and Hermione grinned excitedly, nodding. "If you start to feel down again, you HAVE to talk about it, got it? Before it gets too bad."

Hermione squealed and tackled Blaise, laughing, into a bear hug. He lost his balance and they fell back on the sofa so that he was pinned underneath an excited Hermione. Suddenly, the floo roared to life and Theo stepped out, raising his eyebrow in question at the scene he was confronted with. Hermione squealed all over again, almost deafening Blaise and dragged herself away from him, leaping into Theo's arms and wrapping her legs around his waist.

"The fuck is going on?" Theo laughed as he caught her and Blaise grinned at him.

"Welcome home, mate." Blaise chuckled and Theo frowned, confused.

Hermione pulled away from him and grabbed his face between her hands, kissing him hard on the lips before unwrapping her legs and dropping to the floor in front of him.

"We want you to move in." She said, giddy with excitement.

"Here? With you?" Theo asked, smiling and Hermione nodded. "When?"

"I'm going to say immediately?" Blaise laughed and Hermione nodded happily, running off to her room.

Theo watched her go, amused, until he heard her door slam shut and turned to his best friend, who was shaking his head as he picked up the book that Hermione had taken from him earlier.

"Not that I'm complaining, or anything," Theo chuckled, sitting down next to him, "But what's brought this on?"

"Something about sleeping better and Julia thinking it's a good idea?" Blaise muttered and Theo nodded before getting up and going after Hermione.

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"Okay so I emptied half of the drawers and there's space in the wardrobe for your shirts and stuff," Hermione said excitedly, showing Theo where to put his clothes, "And there's space in the bathroom for your toiletries, and if you want we can redecorate, but that can come later an-"

Theo stopped her excitable rambling with his lips pushed against hers, smiling against her. She gasped at the suddeness of the kiss and suddenly started to walk backwards towards the bed. She pulled away from him and moved her hands to his belt, frowning when she felt Theo's hands grab hers.

"Hermione, you know we don't have to-"

"I want to, Theo." She smiled and he frowned at her.

"Are you sure?" He asked, gently and smiled when she nodded, letting go of her hands and lowering her down onto the bed.

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"Bloody hell." Theo muttered, collapsing down next to her and pulling her to rest on his bare chest. Hermione sighed happily.

"That was..." Hermione trailed off, searching for the best word to describe the magic that had just happened between them.

"Amazing? Incredible? Fantastic?" Theo chuckled breathlessly and she nodded against his chest.

Hermione closed her eyes as she listened to his heartbeat through his chest. She did not regret her decision one bit, and Theo had been incredibly gentle with her and taken his time to make sure that she was completely relaxed and satisfied. It had been wonderful, and Hermione found herself coming to the realisation that this man was everything she didn't know that she had been looking for. He treated her with respect and gave her love freely and with no pressure for anything in return.

"I love you, Theo." She said, sure after all this time that she could say it with full belief of it's truth.

"I love you, too." He grinned and pressed a kiss to her forehead. "I'm proud of you, too."

"You are?" She asked, smiling shyly at him as she moved her head to look at him. He looked down at her and nodded. "Why?"

"Look at how far you've come, baby." He murmered and she smiled at the petname, "A few months ago we were watching for signs that you might make another attempt at your life, and now you're... Well, you're incredible."

"I wouldn't have tried again," Hermione told him, pulling away from him and laying her head on her own pillow. Theo rolled over to face her, frowning. "I know how bad I got, before you say anything, but I've never told anybody where I ended up the time that I tried. I never want to be in that place ever again." She shuddered.

"Where did you go?" He whispered, stroking his hand up and down her arm.

"It's hard to explain. It was nothingness and emptiness physically expressed as a-"

"A white expanse of nothing but muffled voices." He nodded, looking serious and Hermione gasped.

"How did you-"

"How do I know?" He asked and she nodded.

He pulled away from her slightly, lowering the sheet to show a scar that ran down from his collarbone to the middle of his stomach. Hermione ran her fingers over it and felt that it was ragged and raised from his skin, obviously from a severe injury and she looked up at him to see his face scrunched up in what she thought was pain. She went to snatch her hand away but Theo grabbed it and held it against his chest.

"My father was not a nice man, Hermione." He whispered and nodded when she gasped in disbelief. "He did this to me, and it almost cost me my life. I was only eight when he did this, and I still remember that place with perfect clarity."

"Jesus christ." Hermione whimpered, "I'm so sorry, Theo."

Theo shook his head and pulled her back against his chest, holding her while he let her absorb what he had just told her. Not many people knew the truth about his childhood, but he felt she should know that, and everything else. Hermione lifted her head and kissed a line down the scar and he groaned. The skin was extremely sensitive.

"Thank you for telling me." She murmered, resting her chin in the middle of his belly and he brought his hand up to stroke her hair.

"You've been honest with me." He shrugged, "It's only fair."