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The ceremony wasn’t the brief, simple thing she had agreed to. As Hermione stood at the altar across from the tall, gaunt form of Theodore Nott, she felt furious. She would have worried about showing so much emotion in front of her soon-to-be husband, but he wasn’t daring to look at her at the moment.
Coward, she thought. She didn’t want to look at him either, but it made her mad that he wouldn’t. This wasn’t what she wanted in a marriage, not that she wanted to marry at this point anyway. Theodore was the best option she had, but that didn’t make him a good one. She had wanted someone who was funny and kind, loving and intelligent. She wanted someone she could debate with, but who would be a good father, too, someday. A veritable unicorn of a man, her Mum would say. Or would have if she were around to hear Hermione’s musings.
Kingsley beamed at her, and at the crowd before them, enjoying the photo opportunity Hermione had grudgingly agreed to. Yes, she wanted the young Death Eaters and children of Death Eaters to be treated fairly and at least given a chance to stay out of Azkaban. Yes, she understood the population problems, that two wars only seventeen years apart had decimated wizarding Britain and they either had to force everyone to reproduce or accept the death of their magic. Yes, she had agreed to marry one of those children of a Death Eater in exchange for the Ministry’s help with finding her parents and restoring their memories.
There was a haunted look in the eyes of the boy across from her, even as Kingsley placed Theodore’s hands in hers and removed the chains from his wrists. Theodore’s eyes flickered up through his long lashes to meet Hermione’s. She couldn’t help but think how beautiful his deep blue eyes were. Something of her thoughts must have shown, because for one moment, it seemed like he might smile. Then a camera flashed and the moment was ruined.
He looked down again, grimacing but repeating the words of the ceremony as were required. As much as she wanted to be angry about him, too, Hermione found herself feeling pity instead. Pity and the mothering instinct that kept Harry and Ron alive for so long. Theodore was going to need care to be healthy again. Hermione would have to be that person. That’s what she was promising right now.
The vows left her lips without fully connecting with her brain. It might have been the same for him, except with his raspy voice and the way he fought to form words, she suspected Theodore had to hyperfocus in order to speak at all. Merlin knew he hadn’t said a single thing before now. Perhaps the words were more meaningful for him since they bought him his freedom, at least for the next 6 months while Hermione decided if she could stand to stay with him.
The other caveat she had insisted on was being allowed to choose her own partner from the “Death Eater brats” as they were being called. Though it wasn’t publicized any more than the bargain for her parents, they had agreed to this as long as she married just three days after the letters went out. It gave people something to focus on and looked like she had gotten a letter when everyone else did. They were just supposed to seem eager to wed.
There had been many files to go through, many men to meet, but in the end it had come down to two, both her own age - Theodore or Blaise Zabini. They were neither marked nor even associated with the Death Eaters personally. Blaise… he was a Slytherin, but Hermione hadn’t thought he would make a big enough statement. He hadn’t grown up with a Death Eater father since the man had died during the first war. Blaise had always seemed neutral, not even hurling insults at muggleborns when Malfoy led the others to do so. There were even rumors that he had quietly helped the side of Light during the Final Battle.
Theodore made it look like she was accepting an actual Death Eater without doing so. The name Nott meant bad news, but the boy himself seemed okay. They had both been quiet when she met with them. Azkaban would do that to a person, even if it was only a few weeks of it.
Judging from the condition Theodore had arrived in today, the last week and a half since she had chosen him had been even worse. She wasn’t sure whether it was the guards or other prisoners, but he had clearly been treated poorly by someone. Of course he was healed now. And showered, groomed, magically shaven (as the terms would not allow him near a sharp object), and well-dressed by Ministry officials. They had wanted him in his dirty, tattered robes from Azkaban, but she had insisted otherwise.
The price had been the photographers during the ceremony, the attempts to look happy with this choice. Hermione wasn’t frowning on the outside, not letting them see her anger. That was all she could manage. But they wouldn’t be the worst wedding pictures in the world. She had cried for lost opportunities too many times in the last few weeks since the marriage law was announced and her deal struck. She didn’t have any tears left.
Finally the binding was done. Theodore officially belonged to her for the next 6 months or however long she was willing to put up with him. If she rejected him after that time, he went straight to a trial and Azkaban. That they were letting him out now ensured the Ministry’s awareness that he and the others in the program were innocent, but it wouldn’t stop them from chucking them all in Azkaban anyway if they couldn’t make their marriages work.
As they stepped off the dais, hands clasped as expected, Hermione was surprised to find his other arm coming around to catch her when she stumbled. The crowd gasped, apparently thinking he would have let her fall, and Theodore glowered at them.
“Are you okay?” he asked quietly.
Laughter bubbled out of Hermione as she looked at the man before her, thinking how utterly ridiculous it was that he would ask her that. She heard a camera snap and laughed harder at the fact that it was probably the best picture they would get from the whole stupid wedding. Him holding her, looking down in concern, while she looked up at him, smiling and laughing.
“You’re right, stupid question,” he replied to himself as Hermione continued to laugh. She couldn’t help but love that the most words he had said so far were in conversation with himself.
She looked crazy, but she didn’t even care. Moving out of his arms, Hermione strode down the aisle with him presumably following. She was sure he didn’t want to be surrounded by the public without her there as a buffer. She slowed to let him catch up, realizing how cruel she was being by leaving him alone to face the world.
Hermione didn’t want to spend all of her time worrying about his feelings when she was certain he wouldn’t care about hers beyond whatever he had to do to stay out of Azkaban. Still, he was human and she couldn’t throw him to the sharks. She would just introduce him to her family instead.
Harry was looking stoic standing next to all the Weasleys. He was to marry Pansy Parkinson of all people in a few days. Ron was glowering beside him, though his wife-to-be beamed at her. Hermione wasn’t entirely sure if that was because the flighty girl loved weddings or if she was just happy Hermione couldn’t “tempt” Ron any longer. There had already been a fight about it last night.
Mrs. Weasley was sobbing. Hermione suspected she would sob through all the weddings, but she seemed to be taking Hermione and Ginny’s assignments the hardest. Arthur had an arm around Molly’s back. His eyes were kind as he gave Hermione a soft, sad smile.
The twins nodded and winked at her. In her peripheral vision, Hermione noticed Fred reach out and grab Theodore, pulling him in to say something. She could only imagine what it might have been since Theodore became even paler as he nodded.
Bill and Charlie nodded at him as well, a silent acknowledgement that they were going to back up anything Fred had just promised. She felt her heart squeeze as Fleur pulled her in for a hug.
“Zey weel always ‘ave your back, love,” she told Hermione. “I weesh we could ‘ave married you to one of zee boys but we weel make sure ‘e eez good to you.”
There was no one there to offer hugs or caring sentiments to Theodore. Anyone he might have invited was dead, in Azkaban for life, or awaiting their own hopeless trial or marriage ticket out.
So he stood behind her in a stance that was almost protective, rather than just him having no one else. Hermione moved through the line of well-wishers, pretending to all those who didn’t know her personally that this was a happy occasion. Theodore put his arm around her now and then, playing his part as well. Hermione let it happen without complaint.
Dinner was awkward, but they made it through. Hermione even managed to have a good time with Harry, Ron, Ginny, and the twins. Theodore ate quietly beside her.
She noticed without meaning to that he took tea with the meal, and added so much sugar she expected his teeth to all fall out at the sight of it. Watching to see, she couldn’t help but look at his lips as he sipped the tea, then heard the adorable little sigh he made as he took the first sip.
“Mione! Are you listening?” Ron asked, jostling her. She shook her head. What had she been thinking? “We’re talking about how to get this stupid law repealed!”
His new fiance, Lisa, pouted beside Ron. Hermione felt more than saw Theodore go absolutely still and rigid beside her. Repealing the law could very well mean a life in Azkaban for him, for no reason except being born to a horrible man. As much as she was sure he was an insufferable git, he had been okay so far, and she knew he hadn’t been a Death Eater himself. Hermione could see the hand on his tea starting to tremble slightly.
She didn’t even think before she did it. Her hand was in his, squeezing in understanding before she could contemplate how the others at the table would react to her touching the man she had just married.
“You can’t tell me you don’t want a new husband!” Ginny said, sniffing at her hand joined with Theodore’s.
Hermione paused, trying to figure out the right thing to say. “I intend to try and make this work,” she replied. Theodore nearly melted with relief.
“Well I’m fighting it with everything I have!” Ginny declared. Honestly, Hermione thought Ginny was overreacting. At a nudge from her, Ginny had been assigned Blaise rather than Malfoy. She thought it would be a good - if fiery - match. But any match with Ginny was destined to be fiery. It was just who she was.
Fred and George had been assigned Daphne Greengrass together. This was apparently common with magical twins, and a great honor based on how pleased Daphne was. Percy would be marrying his longtime girlfriend, Penny. Everyone was a little bitter about that as his position with Kingsley had to have won him that concession. Charlie had surprised them all by being assigned Draco Malfoy. Hermione had no idea how that was supposed to help the population, but if anyone could control Malfoy, it would be Charlie. And he was incredibly amused that he got to marry a dragon. He was the only person in the family who was pleased. And Molly nearly had kittens when he told her who he was assigned, though Hermione still hadn’t figured out if it was because he was gay or because he was marrying a Malfoy.
*********
Hermione was so relieved when the dinner ended and she was able to leave. They. She and her husband. Hermione and Theodore. They were to leave, together.
She was nervous, for a variety of reasons. The first was because she had only been to their new home once, only seen it from the outside, and she wasn’t at all sure how Theodore was going to feel about it. The next was what they were expected to do on their wedding night, but she shoved it out of her head, needing to focus on her other issue first.
“Where are we going?” Theodore asked, the first thing he had said since before dinner.
“A cottage. I… you may recognize it,” she said evasively. Merlin, she was afraid of his reaction.
When they stopped spinning, she heard an almost instant gasp. “Mum’s cottage,” he said, his voice filled with reverence. “How…”
“The Ministry said we were allowed one property from your estate. I… I’m sorry I couldn’t stand the Manor. They took me around to all of them, and I didn’t really intend to pick one without you, but this is just-”
“Perfect,” he said with her, the first sign she had seen of real happiness absolutely radiating from him. Theodore turned to her and smiled, dimples appearing on his cheeks, despite how thin he was. “This was the only one I would have wanted. Did you look all around the inside already?” he asked.
“No. It was quite weird the way they insisted I see everything but would only let me look at them from the outside,” Hermione complained.
“They were afraid of the wards,” he said, nodding, “And they should be, especially on Theodore’s properties.”
Something about the way he said that sounded wrong. “Aren’t you Theodore?”
“Junior,” he explained as he walked them toward the door. “But I go by Theo. Theodore Nott is my father, and a right arsehole. I don’t even remember what was said during the vows, but… I wanted to ask you if we can take the last name Granger, if that’s not too-”
“Truly?” she asked, her desperation for that very thing leaking through enough that he finally looked away from the cottage and straight at her.
“Of course. You think I want to be a Nott? I certainly don’t want to drag you down with that awful-” he was saying when she sprung at him, throwing her arms around his neck and nearly crushing him with her hug.
“There aren’t any Grangers but us,” she said against his neck, trying to fight the urge to cry as she breathed him in.
Theodore… no, Theo… closed his arms gently around her. “Right now it’s just the two of us, but we’ll work on more,” he said. It was the first time Hermione had felt like being forced to have babies so young might turn out okay. This was also the moment to tell him about her parents but… not yet.
He obviously assumed her parents were dead. And from his reaction to the cottage, she suspected his mother was dead. They knew so little about one another. Hermione shook her head, now was not the time.
Pulling away from him, she grabbed his hand and pulled toward the cottage. “Let’s see what it’s like!” she said.
Theo laughed and let his long legs stretch so that he was ahead of her. “Wait!” he cried just before they reached the inside.
“What is it?” Hermione asked. He sounded so serious.
Then his arms were around her and he had scooped her up, literally bridal style, her stupid white dress draping over his arms and dragging the ground as he stepped across the threshold of the cottage. It was… sweet, so much sweeter than she had expected from the son of a Death Eater.
“I had no idea that was a wizarding custom, too,” Hermione mused, still staring at him in something like awe.
That feeling only increased when he blushed and looked down. “It’s not. I um… researched muggle wedding customs a few years ago.”
She stared at him a moment before she could say anything. “Why?”
“I hoped… I didn’t want to marry a pureblood. Or even a half-blood. I hoped if I ran off and married a muggleborn or even a muggle, maybe Theodore would disown me. I was 14. I know now that it would have been too dangerous for me to do that to anyone, but at the time I wanted to learn all the muggle customs so they would know I thought their heritage was just as important as mine.”
Now Hermione was definitely in awe. She thought about this boy, four years before, still so much a child just trying to get away from his father’s world. Her heart ached for him, and also embraced him a little more just then.
“But nevermind all that,” Theo cried, grabbing her hand and dragging her further inside the cottage. “Look around!”
The inside of the cottage was surprisingly not larger in the way Hermione had expected. It was taller, but the footprint of the house seemed to be true to life. In a single large room, there was a kitchen, dining area, and sitting area.
There was a beautifully large window across the back wall of the cottage, making it bright and lovely inside. Along that wall there were hundreds of plants. From here, Hermione could already tell that many of them were potions ingredients, some that Neville would be quite jealous of. The dining area was adjacent.
“Mum loved her plants!” Theo said, rushing toward them. “And in the mornings we would take breakfast here looking out over the back garden and the forest beyond. Mum was friends with all the animals nearby and they would come up to say good morning. There was even a unicorn and her foal a few times. I’m sure they’re gone now, but maybe we can get them back!”
He continued babbling happily and Hermione found herself thinking how incredibly adorable this man was, so excitedly telling her about his Mum, this home he had enjoyed with her, and the home they would share.
“And you’re going to love this,” he told her, turning her around toward the door they had come in.
Nearer the front wall was the sitting area. Hermione only had eyes for the giant bookshelves next to the fireplace. They were full, books stacked in some places rather than slid in place to fit more in. She loved it instantly, of course.
“Mum taught me to read here,” Theo said, plopping into a large, comfy chair. “She always said that books were journeys into other worlds, that they had a magic of their own.” He was staring contemplatively at the shelf in front of him, looking more relaxed than Hermione had seen him to this point.
“My Mum said something similar,” Hermione offered. “And I loved the characters in books because I knew they would be my friends, no matter how odd I was.”
Theo looked at her for a long moment. “I suppose someone with magic in the muggle world would do some rather odd things.”
Hermione found herself giggling, thinking back to the times she turned her teacher’s hair blue, or called a toy to herself when she wanted it. “Yes, I think I would have been a bit odd even without magic, but it certainly made an impact on me socially.”
“It was my father, for me. The thing about me that had such an impact. I was supposed to be like him, so the kids who could have been my friends were afraid of me. But the ones who should have been allies with Theodore Nott Sr.’s son quickly realized I wasn’t anything like him. It was lonely, and books were an escape.”
Hermione nodded, finding their similarities both refreshing and confusing. Theodore Nott was supposed to be a cruel bully. How had this boy been in her own school year all this time and she had never noticed him? He was intelligent, bookish, and she suspected when he hadn’t just spent time in Azkaban, he was quite attractive.
“Oh!” he broke into her reverie, “Let me show you the upstairs!”
Grabbing her hand, Theo rushed them around a corner in the kitchen where several doors appeared. He quickly showed her the loo, then started up the staircase behind another of the doors.
“Wait,” Hermione said, “What’s that other one?”
“We’re saving it for last,” Theo told her with a grin.
They came out of the staircase into what was essentially a long sunroom. There were more plants along the a wall. There were bookshelves on the opposite wall, too. And Hermione noticed a rather opulent door in the far wall.
Coughing awkwardly, Theo said, “That will be our bedroom. Or yours, at least. I can sleep in a guest room if you prefer.” He opened the door for her and stepped back.
Hermione felt an instant sense of home and peace inside the room. It was a light sage green mixed with cream. The bedposts were carved to look like trees and the ceiling was a darker green, mottled to look like leaves. No, they were leaves somehow.
“In the fall they change colors, and in the winter you mostly see birds when you look up,” Theo said quietly.
“Do the leaves fall?” she couldn’t help but ask.
“No, not to the bed anyway. You see them detach, but then they fade away. Sometimes in the spring and summer, fairies dance in the tree. I always snuck in to sleep with Mum when we were here so I could watch for them.”
She imagined a tiny Theo doing just that. And in her heart she saw a tiny child of their own doing the same. The man who crawled onto the bed, tugging her with him so they could lay down and stare up into the leaves of the tree was no less sweet than those imaginary children.
After a few minutes, she looked over and realized that Theo was looking at her rather than the leaves above them. “What?” she asked.
“I’m just enjoying how much you like it. I… honestly I hadn’t had time to consider where we would live, but I never imagined it could be here. I didn’t think I would ever see this cottage again, and it’s the only place that has ever felt like home. I can’t thank you enough-”
“Don’t. You don’t have to thank me. It’s your inheritance, after all, and you should have been the one to get to choose-”
“May I kiss you?” he asked, cutting her off.
“I…” Hermione didn’t love that he was pushing it, but he was her husband, after all, and she did want to test that as well. She wasn’t sure, but she thought the look in his eyes was more warm affection than lust. That was the part that decided it for her.
Hermione leaned forward and met his lips. It was a sweet, gentle brush of lips. Theo didn’t push for more. He seemed perfectly content to keep the kiss chaste, and the delighted smile he wore when he pulled away said that he had enjoyed it every bit as much as Hermione had.
“As much as I would like to do that again, there’s more to show you,” Theo said, practically dragging her from the bed. Hermione would honestly have been okay going to sleep right then and there, finishing the tour in the morning, but Theo seemed to be getting more and more excited.
First was the attached loo. It was beautiful, and the entire wall was glass so she could look out into the forest beyond. “You can change the glass so that it’s frosted if it’s too sunny out. It naturally appears as a regular wall from outside, but you are able to let people see in if you wish.”
“Why would I want-” Hermione cut off, blushing, as she realized it was her husband she might want to do that for. “I see.”
Theo laughed, as he led her back into the master bedroom and across to three other doors. They each had a magical closet, always able to move whatever you wanted to the front of the rod or able to offer possibilities if you told it the type of clothing you needed. Hermione was astounded.
“Why doesn’t everyone have a closet like this?” she asked.
“It’s a tricky bit of magic,” Theo said. “Mum hated dressing for all the pureblood social things Theodore insisted she go to, so she needed something that would basically make the choices for her. She did this spell for all her closets, though she rarely needed that function here. She had planned to find a way to connect it to an account with a store so that the closet had an even larger inventory to pull from.”
“That’s brilliant!” Hermione said, beaming. She, too, despised picking clothes. They wouldn’t have the cash for expanding the spell, but she would have to give the closet a good selection as soon as she could.
“Now, this last door goes to the nursery,” he said, pulling her along.
The inside was nothing short of magical. They appeared to be in a meadow. There was a stream babbling along in the middle of the room. Hermione was amazed to find that it was real water. “If anyone’s head goes under, the water instantly disappears. So it’s safe, even when there are babies,” Theo told her.
The walls had all manner of wildlife, including magical creatures. Unicorns frolicked nearby. “They’re drawn to nurseries,” Theo explained. “And in the corner over there, where it looks like there’s a cave by the mountain, there’s a dragon and its baby.”
“Was the dragon your favorite?” she asked.
Theo blushed. “No… I’m more of a unicorn man, myself. But the dragon is very nice. For a dragon. Just don’t bother her baby when it’s sleeping.”
Hermione smiled at him, but got distracted before she could say more. In another corner there was a beautiful old rocking chair, with little seats off to the side for children to sit in. There was, of course, a bookshelf as well, crammed full of children’s books.
“The seats on the side of the chair can disappear when there’s just one little one on your lap. I suppose the last time we were here, two of my cousins were with us. Theodore killed them and my aunt, too, the day he murdered Mum.”
She gasped. “He-”
“I told you he’s a horrible man. He should have been put in Azkaban years ago - during the first war, so he wouldn’t have been around to ruin more lives,” Theo said vehemently.
Wanting to distract him from the dark thoughts, Hermione took his hand, squeezing it, and pulled him over to the crib. “Was this your crib?”
“Yes, and several generations before me on Mum’s side. Theodore never came here until that day.” He shook himself. “But that just made it our escape. We lived here as much as Mum could get away with.”
“Well the nursery is charming, and all the other rooms are beautiful as well. I think… honestly, Theo, I can’t imagine a home I would be happier in.”
He beamed at her. “Just wait for the best part. Come on.”
He led her back out to the sunroom and to the last door. He paused just before going in. “I’m taking you into the room that will be your favorite first-”
“But-”
“You’ll see. This door goes to the room you want or need at the moment,” he explained as they stepped into a beautiful library. The colors were the same light green mixed with a royal blue. It was calming and beautiful, especially with the mahogany shelves loaded with books.
“This is more than half the size of Hogwart’s library! How in Merlin’s name does all of this fit-”
“We’re wizards, Hermione. Normal laws of physics do not necessarily apply.”
“But there has to be a counterbalance somewhere,” Hermione answered automatically. “So the laws of physics still apply, just differently than in the muggle world.”
“This is true, but the important question is then what the laws are for those differences…”
And they were off. Hermione found herself sitting in one of the library’s window seats, debating the laws of physics far longer than she would have meant to. She was yawning when Theo said, “Merlin, I can’t believe I’ve let the time fly by like this. We’re not done seeing everything!”
“But that was the last door,” Hermione said.
“True,” Theo said with a grin.
Thinking he must mean something out on the grounds, Hermione shook her head. “I don’t think I can take much more tonight, Theo. I’m so tired.”
“We’ll just look at one more and I’ll tell you about the others, and show you in the morning.”
“Okay,” she gave in, seeing he wasn’t going to stop pushing.
They left the library through the same door they had used to come in… but now they were downstairs, coming through that last door he hadn’t shown her through.
“How did we get down here?” she asked, bewildered.
“We’re going back through,” Theo said, tugging her toward the door they had just come out of.
“Why would we-”
They were in a potions lab. There were ingredients in long lines on the shelves, all neatly labeled. There was a full potions cabinet standing open nearby. Sprigs of various herbs and plants hung from the ceiling, thoroughly dried after the years they had hung there. Hermione looked about in wonder. Two cauldrons were laid out already, but she could see a stack of more, in all different varieties, near the back of the room. It was a potion master’s dream.
“This is… it’s amazing. Was your Mum a potion’s master?”
“She was. And the child of a long line of them, which is why it’s so well thought out. Different ancestors improved on the original design over the years. All witches, of course. The men in the family were never as industrious, though she hoped to change that with me since she didn’t have a daughter.”
“And the room itself… or the door, rather…” she asked, so impressed she could barely figure out what she wanted to ask.
“No one wanted to destroy the way the cottage looks, like a muggle witch’s storybook cottage, so they created extra space on the inside instead. This door goes to six different rooms, and more could be added. Or, the nursery door can also do this if other children’s bedrooms are needed, though it then opens into a hallway with multiple doors instead of the door just taking you different places.”
Hermione blinked. “What are the other four rooms this door goes to?” she asked after a moment.
“The library and potions lab are my favorites, obviously, but there is also a music room, a formal dining room, and two guest bedrooms, each with their own attached loo,” Theo explained as he slowly herded her out and toward the stairs. “Do you want me to sleep in a guest room tonight?” he asked.
She had intended to demand just that. The law thankfully didn’t require them to be intimate immediately as long as they produced a child within the first year. But Hermione found herself wanting this man next to her. He was… sweet, adorable really. Every little thing about him had been unexpected. She felt safe with him, and maybe even happy.
“No. I think… We might as well get used to sleeping in the same bed, at least. I know it’s fast, but… I trust you.”
As they settled into bed together, each wearing pajamas and not quite touching, she found herself reaching over to him. “Thank you for this evening,” Hermione told him. She wasn’t sure how to encompass what she was feeling in words.
“No, thank you, Mrs. Granger,” Theo said with a smile. “For giving me a chance. I’ll do everything I can to make sure you don’t regret it.”
“Do you really mean to take my name?” she asked.
“As far as I’m concerned, I already have. We have Mum’s cottage and your name. With our minds together, we can accomplish anything. I think you’re ready to take on the world if that’s what you want and I will do everything I can to support you and make sure you can come home to refresh and live in peace.”
“Like a unicorn’s meadow, and you’re my unicorn,” Hermione said, the words slipping out without filtering through her brain to wonder if he might be offended.
Instead, Theo laughed. “I did say that’s the kind of man I am.”
“You make a beautiful unicorn.”
“So, dear, do you,” he told her, and their lips met sweetly once again.