Close with Snakes

Ten

Hermione woke up the next morning before the sun did. She turned and found Theo sleeping on his side facing her. He was a beautiful man.

She slowly got out of the bed to use the loo. When she made her way back out to the room she went to sit on the couch in front of the fireplace. She was planning on reading whatever books he had on his table when the couch full of clothes stopped her. She gasped.

Theo stirred from the bed. "Hermione? Are you alright?"

"What is this?"

"Oh, I had sent an owl to my private shopper to go about Muggle London to get you some clothes. I hope I got your size right. I didn't want to put any of it away in case there was something you didn't like."

"Put away?"

"I'm not sure how often you would want to stay here, but I wanted you to have your own things here and feel like this could be a place for you too. My closet is your closet. Is it too much?"

"It's - It's a lot. I'm not really used to this kind of treatment."

"I'm sorry." Hermione saw Theo start to retreat for the first time since she's known him.

"Theo, don't do that. Don't close down. It's a lot, and it's new, but I'm not going to run away." She walked over to him and planted a kiss on his lips. "I chose you too. Remember that."

Theo smiled weakly at her. "What are you doing awake before the sun?"

"I had to use the bathroom, and I think I slept quite enough. I might go into work early."

"Maybe I'll come by your office today and fill it with more goodies." He threw her a wink, but she wasn't sure he was joking.

Hermione rolled her eyes and returned to the pile of clothes. She saw some muggle scrubs in the pile and smiled at the sensibility that Theo had. She grabbed the first matching set she could find and laughed when she noticed it was a deep green color. She dressed for work and encouraged Theo to go back to sleep, and told him she would be back for dinner. It felt like they were a married couple and she was off for her normal day at work and would come back to a nice evening with him.

The next few days were normal as normal could be, given the situation. Work had the same flow of patients as usual. She would go straight to Nott Manor, eat dinner, and strictly sleep next to Theo. It was a comfortable experience. When Hermione asked if Draco could join them the next day, Theo told her that he was swamped with work and hadn't been able to respond. She briefly joked about including something about a sequel to their first night together in a letter to him.

On Friday morning, she got ready for work as normal. She went to kiss Theo goodbye as normal. Instead of a sleepy kiss, he pulled her into bed with him and tackled her down. She laughed as she looked into his serious eyes.

"Theo, I'm 5 minutes from my start time."

"We can do it. I know you can handle it. Wanna make me proud?"

She blushed. She no doubt wanted to but she knew she would want more than what 5 minutes could get them.

"Theo, more than anything."

"There's a 'but' coming isn't there?" There was a slight pout from Theo.

"But my job is very important. I love what I do, and I don't want to have any poor marks on my file."

Theo jokingly rolled his eyes. "Fine. I'll respect it, but I won't be happy about it." He released her and gave her a kiss. "Oh, and don't forget. We'll be at Zabini Manor tonight so that Blaise and Luna can show off their oddities." He laughed knowing it was going to be a ridiculous night.