Hello, please read this author's note, even though I know notes are irritating to read. I'm taking a slight hiatus, and have been sitting on this chapter for a few weeks. I wanted to leave you with this though. I will warn you that it does end with a slight cliff hanger, but you do get some Theo/Hermione relief that you've been waiting for!

A sense of pride swirled in her stomach as she followed him into his office. He kicked the door shut behind them, cutting off the voice of a reporter who had rushed after them while holding up his media badge.

Hermione snorted. "You could talk to him, you know."

Theo glanced at her, his gaze raking from her head to her toes as he cracked open the portfolio on his desk. "I could, but I only get so much time to eat mediocre takeaway for lunch. I'd rather not spend it talking to a reporter who is only going to ask asinine questions."

She took the plastic container he held out. "How do you know it's going to be an asinine question?"

With his mouth already full of curry, Theo rolled his eyes and made a show of swallowing. "I'm sorry, did you miss the part where I said he was a reporter? Bring your chair over here."

"Why?"

"I want help going over these statements before we go back in. Do you mind?"

Hermione shook her head and watched him point his wand at her chair. The legs screeched against the floor. Settling into the plush leather, Hermione tucked one leg under her, ignoring the look he gave her. "What do you want me to do?"

Theo levitated the statement in front of her. "Eat, Granger. Just don't get your grubby little hands on my witness statements."

"They're not little," she muttered, shoveling her food into her mouth.

He arched a brow. "So, you admit their grubby?"

Arse. Hermione leaned forward, and her mouth fell open. "Holy shit, you're joking. Theo, is this a statement from his wife?"

Hermione skimmed the text with Narcissa Malfoy's name staring back at her.

The woman had apparently held absolutely nothing back when she'd sat down to pen her testimony.

"Narcissa filed for divorce a few months ago. It seems, even from Azkaban, he's been able to keep the process tied up."

It was horrible, but she found that it was impossible to be surprised. "Is there any way you can help her expedite the process? Surely with your connections…"

He nodded. "I've spoken with the Department of Magical Bonds. From what I read, Abraxas Malfoy insisted on a non-traditional ceremony when it came time for his son to marry." Theo's voice dropped, and he looked towards the door. "It was dark magic. Lucius might not have known it was going to happen—which is what he'll say when this is over and it comes back to Narcissa—but he knew as soon as the vows were read."

She shifted in her seat, remaining completely quiet.

"It'll take a cursebreaker for the proceedings to go forward."

Muttering a low curse under her breath, Hermione returned to the parchment. It detailed the fact that Lucius hadn't been physically abusive during the course of their marriage—which was a small consolation, given everything else that had happened—but explained that he hadn't hesitated once Voldemort returned. Lucius had willingly gone to the Dark Lord, even before his Dark Mark burned, and he still supported him inside Azkaban.

Hermione had seen a lot over the course of her years as an Auror. There were terrible things that would never leave her, short of Obliviation, but an explicit account of a revel had her pushing her food away. "I can't," she muttered when he looked at her questioningly. "The revels…"

"I understand. You don't need to read that part if you—"

She shook her head.

"It's not your job to listen to everyone's story, Hermione." Theo sighed. "Besides, you're going to hear it anyway in twenty minutes. You might as well not go through it twice."

Reaching up, Hermione took the statement, and felt several pages press down into her hands. "Who else gave statements?"

"Draco wanted to, but I can't put him on the stand. They'd tear him apart." He rested his chin on his knuckles. "I'm more worried about him being tossed out of the room than the fact that he's too close to it."

That sounded like him, Hermione thought.

Even if his father's defence attempted to discredit him, Hermione could assume it wouldn't go over well. "You're doing great."

"Thank you." Theo's hand bumped into hers. "Have you made any progress in my case yet? You probably would have told me, but—" The pitch of his voice had skyrocketed.

Choosing to ignore it, Hermione nodded toward her bag. "I've crossed off about fifty names for those who had access to the information about the safe house, but still nothing. Have a look if you want. You're just going to tell me that everyone on the list hates you again."

"I didn't say everyone hated me." He snorted. Theo held out his arm after levitating her bag, not keen to get out of his seat, and pulled the worn folder from inside of it. "I said most of them disliked me. There's a difference. One might mean they wanted to have me brutally murdered—"

Hermione didn't laugh.

"Or if it's the latter, they may just want to see me publicly embarrassed. Also, you should clean this out. It's a mess." He drew a line through several names. "These ones don't have the mental prowess to orchestrate this mess."

She didn't look up as he reached into the side pocket and waved the wrapper of a sweet just out of her peripheral.

Theo cast a silencing charm.

"What are you—"

"What is this?" His voice was deadly low. Trapped between two fingers, he held the photograph of her in the air.

The floor wobbled under her feet. With the colour draining from her face, Hermione swallowed, and found her mouth to be dry. "Fuck. You weren't supposed to see that," she muttered in a quiet breath. "I've already reported it to Harry. It's nothing. This is just an attempt to rattle us."

Theo rested his elbow against his desk and leaned forward. "When did you get this?"

"Last week and I reported it to Harry the very next morning." She found it a bit hard to look at him when his eyes hardened. "I didn't tell you because you would have worried."

"Of course I would have."

"You would have berated yourself for putting me in danger again, even though you're not the one putting me in danger at all." Hermione reached for him, and laid her fingers over his. "It's clear the photograph had to have been taken a long time ago. This would have been taken before the wards were redone, before we went to the first safe house."

His nostrils flared. "I don't care when it was bloody taken. I care that it was taken at all!" Theo glared at the photo again, and his hand curled into a fist. "You should have told me."

A figure passed in front of the office.

"We haven't been speaking much, so I just let it go. You're too busy with this, and to be perfectly clear with you, I want that man back in Azkaban as much as the next person, possibly more. This would have been a distraction."

"I don't understand how this was taken." Theo pinched the bridge of his nose. "The wards inside the manor may not have been the strongest, but this?"

Truthfully, she didn't know either. Hermione doubted it was his stalker searching for a chink in the manor's armor. She suspected he preferred to pull the strings, testing how high his pawns would jump. Laying the statement by his hand, Hermione's shoulders fell. "You shouldn't worry. I've proven time and time again that I can protect myself, haven't I?"

He stood and there were only inches between his chest and hers as he towered over her. "Of course you have," Theo whispered. He curled her hair around his finger, and allowed the side of his hand to brush against her cheek. "It doesn't mean I'm going to like that there was someone only a few feet away from you—-while you were nude in the shower, no less."

She leaned into him without thinking. "Careful," Hermione breathed, lifting her eyes as he stared down at her. "Or I might start to believe there's some truth to that note."

Theo's eyes flashed, and one arm hooked around her waist. He pulled her forward, cradling her face while his lips crashed down on hers.

Her mind must have fizzled when Theo's hand closed on her hips moments later because, truthfully, Hermione only possessed a vague recollection of pushing him into his chair and climbing into his lap. "We shouldn't be doing this." She ran her hands up his chest, warmth radiating through his robes as her hands slipped beneath the heavy fabric.

He didn't reply. His hands slid down her back as it arched and rested on her arse.

The chair squeaked as it leaned backwards with them.

"We need to stop."

"I don't want to." He nibbled her lower lip.

Her fingers sank into his hair, nails lightly scratching his scalp. "You're due back in court soon."

They had ten minutes.

A lot could be done in ten minutes.

"Do you think I can't walk in there and win a case after snogging you? I'm offended, Granger."

"Are you telling me you're not that affected by me? Maybe I should try harder." Hermione slanted her lips to his again, and a low whimper left her.

Fingers climbed a slow path up her sides, ghosting over her ribcage and then the sides of her breasts. "I'm not going back." Theo deepened the kiss before she could attempt to form a reply. "Bloody hell—" he growled when she rolled her hips.

She'd imagined this more than once since they'd been caught snogging. Hermione had wondered what it would be like with those late nights in his office, for something to finally shift and fall into place… but there wasn't time to contemplate it now.

Even if she was certain that they'd been heading exactly where she wanted to be.

He gently traced her the bow of her lips. "Call Potter. I'll go anywhere you want, but I'm not going to leave you this time."

Hermione pulled away, her eyes widening while her thighs still bracketed his.

"I'm dropping the case, if that wasn't clear." His hands rested on her legs, thumbs sliding deliciously close to the apex of her thighs.

Harry stared at them over the rim of his glasses, his mouth falling open. "You're sure about this? They're saying the trial will only last through the end of the week. The jury is getting impatient. They're all ready to get back to their own lives."

"I'm positive."

Hermione stood at Theo's side, partly wishing she could grab his hand, but she had told Harry there was nothing going on between them. Her lips were still a bit numb from the snogging session they had struggled to cut short moments earlier.

But then there had been no one in the lift with them and Theo had caged her against the wall.

"If you hand this case over, all the bragging rights will go to someone who didn't do the work."

As much as she didn't want him to continue, Hermione didn't want him to resent her for it later either. "I already told him that. He's not going to change his mind, Harry."

"Right. Then I'll get this together and we'll go from there. It's going to take me a couple of hours to get a safe house ready that no one but I can find. Think you can wait?"

Theo's smirk grew. "Oh, I'm sure we'll find something to do to pass the time."

A shiver ran down her spine.

Theo grabbed everything from his office in a hurry once his request was approved. Parchment crinkled as it slid into his briefcase. She couldn't ignore his frown. "If you're going to apologize to me again, you really don't have to."

She hadn't planned on it, but it had crossed her mind so it was all the same really. "I know you wanted to win."

He nodded.

His door opened slowly and Hermione's stomach dropped. Percy's gaze raked over them as he sized up the office. "They've assigned me to this case."

"I'm sure you're pleased," Theo replied unevenly.

"You can still change your mind," Hermione mouthed.

Theo yanked the middle drawer out too roughly and it caught the edge of the metal with a loud bang. "Since when does taking over a case involve stealing an office, Weasley?" He sank into his chair, a smug smirk on his face while he rifled through papers. "Don't worry, I'll be out soon."

Hermione regretted never asking more about the rift between Theo and Percy. She knew that Percy had never quite been able to bridge the gap to gain the public's favour after the war. It had been so difficult to regain the trust of his own family—even when it came to Molly, who had never believed her children could do wrong.

Clearly, there was something more than professional jealousy at play here.

And, secretly, she'd double checked that his name wasn't on the list after the confrontation in Harry's office. "Percy, there are witnesses waiting to be prepped in the DMLE," Hermione cut in. "If you've come to gloat, might I offer you a bit of advice?"

Theo snorted.

"You ought to put the effort you make to irritate Nott towards being a lawyer. He's already made the case, of course, but do try to finish it properly." She flashed him a bright smile.

He fumbled to adjust his glasses and slammed the door as he exited.

"I could kiss you right now." Theo leaned back in his chair, fingers splayed over the edge of the armrest. "He's always been an arse."

Hermione couldn't think about straddling him again, despite how enticing the thought was. "Why is that? I've never cared for him, but he was my brother-in-law for a short time. I avoided him even then."

Tapping his fingers, Theo asked her why that was.

"He's unnecessarily cruel. He used to ask me when I was going to get pregnant, as if we weren't trying, which he knew. Toward the end, when Ron and I had decided separately that it was never going to work, Percy had the gall to ask me what was wrong with me."

His nails bit into the luxury leather as he scowled. "Did you hex him?"

"Actually, I recall bursting into tears in the middle of the kitchen. Ron was more furious than I'd ever seen him. The next thing I knew, his wand was at Percy's throat while he ranted that I'd done more during the war than he ever had. I left after that and Percy never mentioned it to me again."

He came to stand in front of her, his fingers bumping hers. "I'm sorry for questioning you about it myself, when this first—"

Hermione kissed him, quieting the apology on his lips. "It's alright. You've apologized several times over now."

"Still not enough." He tossed his briefcase into the chair and backed her toward his desk. "I'm fairly certain I could spend the rest of my life apologizing to you, and it still wouldn't feel like enough."

The corner of her mouth twitched. "Let me decide that." She wound her arms around his neck. "What are you—Oh, my God—"

Theo swiped an arm over his desk, sending everything tumbling to the floor. "Let's leave a mess for him to take care of, shall we?"

It was immature, but she didn't manage to tell him that.

They went to the manor first, then Apparated to a safe house. The floor creaked under her feet, and she found several notches in a door frame where it seemed someone had marked their child's height. Her stomach rolled as she flipped the envelope in her hands.

She and Theo had snogged multiple times throughout the day, but not once had they discussed the threat that had been sent to her. Nor had they discussed the hippogriff in the room. They'd been dancing around it for a long time. Since the very beginning, she suspected, even before she'd developed any feelings for him.

Winky had pressed the missive into her hands hours earlier at the manor, and it had weighed on her ever since. She needed to tell Nott, lest she cause another argument, but Hermione hadn't even opened it. Anxiety swirled in her stomach, cresting with each rapid shift, and she forced one foot in front of the other.

Hermione found Theo in the sitting room. He sat curled up at the far end of the couch, his mouth wrapped around the end of a sugar quill that he'd apparently stolen from her. "I'm looking through this list again. Since I can't work on the trial anymore, I figured I could attempt to make myself useful. Cassius Smith only has half a mind, and even that's not fully sane, but he—"

"Winky gave me something before we left." She held it up and noted disdainfully that her hand was shaking. "I haven't opened it."

Theo pulled his glasses from the bridge of his nose. "Why not?"

She shrugged. "I don't want to know what's inside. I could send it to Harry immediately, but…" Hermione sat beside him, and dropped it into his lap. Without opening it, she knew it would be bad.

His throat bobbed when he swallowed and Theo pulled it open gently. "Would you rather I look at it before you?" At her nod, he pulled a photograph from it and turned it over. "Fucking hell." He slammed it face down onto the table beside him.

"Is it for me?"

"Yes, it's for you." He forced the words through gritted teeth as he clenched his jaw. "You need to contact Potter."

Of course.

Hermione reached for it, berating herself for not opening it first. Once it was turned over, she yanked her hand away as if it burned her.

She'd been sleeping.

Her arm was tossed over her eyes, a habit that was haunting to see staring back at her. The strap of her camisole had slid down one of her shoulders, revealing the swell of her breasts, and the end of Dolohov's scar.

The sheets were bunched around her waist and the hem of her top was pushed up.

"He was right there." Hermione swallowed, looking back at him. "It's a good thing we came. Nothing will happen here, Theo."

"We thought that the first time." Theo dragged his hands down his face, his elbows resting on his knees. "Stay at my side at all times, Hermione. Please." He gripped her hand, swiping a thumb over her knuckles.

"We would have to share a bed." Hermione attempted to feign humor.

He blew out a breath and left the room.

Perhaps comedic relief hadn't been the best idea. It seemed to always go so well for Ron, she thought.

Theo returned, minutes later, after a string of several suspicious thumps upstairs. "There's only one bed now." He smirked.

Spluttering, Hermione asked, "What happened to the other one?"

He tucked his hands into his pockets. "I vanished it."

Laughter tore free from her throat—loud—and it felt so light that she wanted to chase that feeling. Over and over again. "You're incorrigible."

Theo pulled her to her feet, and she kissed him that time. He'd already been leaning in, but she balled her hands in the front of his shirt. "Don't let go." Before she could ask what that meant, there was a crack and they landed in the upstairs bedroom. "I didn't feel like wasting time walking up here."

If you went ahead and read this chapter, please know that I'm appreciative! I'd love to hear what you think here or on tumblr at mrsren.