Outcasts | 5 Slytherins 1 Hermione | REVERSE HAREM

XX

Hermione had spent plenty of time thinking about it.

She was done with thinking.

It was time to show Mattheo, not just tell him.

Trust.

That's what he needed from her.

In the past, she had repeatedly shown how little trust she had in him. What he didn't know was that after the Parkinson incident, everything changed. She began to see him in a new light.

It might sound dramatic, but it was true.

She realized that even after casting an Unforgivable, inflicting excruciating pain on him, he neither retaliated nor punished her. Instead, he understood and still wanted to be with her.

He didn't see it as a betrayal. Despite her many attacks, he never took his anger out on her. And even when he did lose his temper, he managed to rein it in before things got ugly.

She couldn't say the same about herself.

Maybe what she needed was a gesture.

Hermione nearly snorted at the thought but didn't dismiss it.

She needed a 'romantic' gesture—something that would show him exactly how she felt. Something beyond sex.

Tapping her foot, she glanced at the wizard in question, biting the end of her quill. If he noticed her gaze, he didn't let it show.

What kind of gesture would appease a sadist?

Lately, she found herself doing this often—staring at him. In class, when she should have been preparing for the impending NEWTs, she was instead studying the small freckles on his face, the sweep of his dark lashes, the sharp angles of his jawline—anything but transfiguration or potions.

A rush of warmth pooled in her middle, and she quickly snapped her eyes back to the book in front of her.

Gods, she really couldn't pass this off as mere lust anymore, could she?

She had to start accepting it—she was falling for all of them. Or maybe she was already in love with them... she didn't want to think about that at the moment.

Her cheeks flushed as embarrassment surged at the memory of just last night.

~

"I love yo-" She froze, eyes wide, hoping they were already asleep.

They weren't.

The moment the words left her lips, she froze in horror, her breath catching in her throat. Time seemed to stretch causing the ache in her heart to become agonizing.

Theo and Draco didn't move at first, equally stunned. For a brief moment, that felt like an eternity, no one spoke.

Then, without thinking, Hermione jumped out of bed to flee, her face burning with embarrassment. Muttering something about how late it was and how she should head off to bed.

Before she could make it more than a few steps, a strong hand caught her wrist. She spun around to find Theo's firm grip holding her back, his expression a mix of surprise and something else she couldn't quite decipher.

"Hermione, wait,"

Draco stepped around the bed, blocking her escape, his usual cool demeanor cracking just enough to reveal a hint of vulnerability. "You can't just run off after saying something like that," he said.