Hello Love

𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝟏𝟕 - 𝐑𝐮𝐦𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐇𝐚𝐬 𝐈𝐭

Hermione's face was red, she felt really ashamed and wished the floor would swallow her whole. Theo was lying on top of her, his broad chest was pressed against her bosom, his face too close to hers, and to her utter horror, Pansy had seen them!

Hermione never liked Pansy, and she knew her to be one of the biggest gossips of Hogwarts from when they were classmates. She cringed, with Pansy seeing them like this, she knew things would only get worse. If they weren't worse already! How was this dumb rumour even formulated?! It was rubbish!

'Theo, please get off me.' she mumbled and Theo looked at her again. His azure eyes were fixed on her, boring into her while his soft dark curls - curse him! - brushed her forehead.

'Okay, on my mark you'll sit up and I'll back off.' he said, eying her seriously. She nodded at him. 'One, two.. Three!'

Hermione sat up and Theo backed off. They slowly stood up in unison, and Hermione inspected their wrists. 'I'll heal it.' she said, fishing her wand out of her purse.

She aimed it at their wrists and said the proper incantation, but the spell didn't seem to hold. 'Odd,' she said, pushing her wand absentmindedly inside the unruly mess of her hair on top of her head that she called a bun.

Stupid Theo with his perfect hair.

'It's goblin magic,' said Theo, dusting off his robes. 'I suppose it's different to ours.'

Hermione nodded to herself, thinking about Griphook and his spiffing character. How friendly and open he had been during the war, a real breath of fresh air.

Not.

'Let me grab some more Galleons and we'll be off.' he said with a small smile. 'I don't want to start any tabs in Diagon Alley, I don't like the feeling of being indebted.'

'Seems reasonable.' she mumbled. Although now she was indebted to him. Hermione groaned. 'Those darned goblins! Gah! Bloody wrinkled arses!'

'Thank you for the mental image.' grimaced Theo and Hermione laughed.

When he expertly threw in another handful of Galleons, Hermione clicked her purse shut. They walked back towards the large doors where the goblin had been patiently waiting for their return. Now they needed to get back to the surface..

She wasn't looking forward to it.

⪼⪼✦⪻⪻

Hermione's legs were wobbling and she was desperately clutching Theo's arm, feeling rather peevish. She didn't care how others perceived her momentarily, she was glad she had solid ground under her feet again.

'Are you alright?' he chuckled with an amused grin plastered on his face.

'I will be.' she shakily answered, still clutching his arm. Luckily their wrists weren't bound any longer, and she had healed the superficial cuts as soon as the goblin removed the golden string.

'If you keep holding on to me like that, I might get other ideas.' he joked and Hermione quickly glanced at his broad grinning face.

She cleared her throat, composed herself and dusted off imaginary specks of dust. 'That's absurd.' she said resolutely, fixing her dress a little.

'Of course it's absurd.' he scoffed. 'Your boyfriend will murder me. Well, he probably will anyway with this enticing rumour spreading.'

Hermione glared at him, but wasn't going to answer him as she cleared her throat again and started walking towards the apothecary. The conical flask sign that was mounted on the wall was slightly swinging in the wind, its rusty hinges creaking eerily.