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Theo avoided seeing Draco Malfoy for five days before the blond-haired Slytherin showed up on his doorstep unannounced.
“Nott! You’re back and you go to see Blaise before me?”
Theo stood stunned in the doorway, paralyzed by surprise as his oldest friend grasped him in a tight hug. Hermione must really have had quite the influence on him over the years if he was the type of man to be hugging now.
After a moment, Theo’s senses returned to him and he responded in kind, clapping the other Slytherin on the back. “Save the best for last, of course.”
He led his friend into the flat and watched as Draco took it all in. “I like your place.”
Theo shrugged. “I had no desire to ever live in that manor again. This is enough.”
“I understand. I haven’t been back home since…” he started, before stuttering off. Draco looked away, blinking quickly, coughing to cover the emotion in his voice.
Theo stuck his hands in his pockets, shoulders rounded, and looked at his friend sympathetically. “I’m sorry about your father, and I’m sorry I didn’t come back for the funeral. It was just so soon after the war, I’d only been gone a few years, and I thought—”
Draco waved his hand, brushing it off. “It’s fine. Honestly, it was a small gathering, and it would have just made things harder for your family if you’d been there in support of us. We all had to get by somehow, didn’t we?”
Theo fidgeted, uncomfortable with his friend’s easily offered understanding. “I heard he did a lot of charity work in his last years, though. That’s great.”
Draco’s laugh was hollow. “Yeah I’m sure he saw my family as some of that charity work. He never stopped looking at Hermione like she was less than me for her blood, and you should’ve seen his face when Lyra was born.”
Sweat collected at Theo’s hairline.
“He couldn’t believe that we’d had a girl. Finally, a girl born to the Malfoy line. He looked so…disappointed.” Draco shook his head sadly, and then a thought made him smile. “She’s perfect. Real spitfire. Gods, she’s like Hermione when she’s angry. It’s hard not to laugh sometimes. Her hair even does the thing.” Draco made hand motions like sparks near his head.
Theo laughed uncomfortably. “That’s great, Draco.”
His friend looked around Theo’s kitchen, still lost in thought. “And then we had Scorpius, just a few years before Lucius died. Scorp is amazing, you’ll get along great. Absolutely brilliant with potions, great on a broom, humor I can’t keep up with. So in the end, my father still got his heir. Maybe he’ll rest somewhat peacefully after all.” Draco rolled his eyes, arms crossed in front of him. He shook out his hands and turned back to Theo, who was leaning as casually as he could manage against the counter. “Anyway, that’s not important. You’ll meet them when you come over for dinner.”
“Dinner?” Theo was surprised that his voice didn’t squeak.
“Course, mate. Hermione’s dying to see you. We were all so close that last year before you left. I think she was really heartbroken that you had to go.”
Theo swallowed. He knew that. It was why the betrayal felt so much worse. “I never expected to have a friend like her. I always thought it would just be me, you, and Blaise. Especially after Pans left without a word.”
Somewhere inside, in the back of his heart, in a cupboard he never looked in anymore, Theo felt a small twinge that still ached. He and Pansy had been inseparable through their last year at school and for the six months after the war had ended. When the Carrows were terrorizing the students and the Dark Lord was making people disappear left and right, they clung to each other and planned a life together in a distant dreamlike future. They talked about what they would do, where they would live, what their life would look like if the Order won and Voldemort was defeated. And Theo planned how to get her out of England if they didn’t.
When the war did finally end, they all agreed to go back for their eighth year to finish things right and take a moment to be together before they started on their own paths. Things were going well, so Theo thought. But looking back, he saw the signs that Pansy was fraying at the edges.
Students and teachers alike made comments about her, or her family, or her actions during the war. She had no social status anymore, couldn’t rule with fear. And Theo knew better than anyone that those were just the tools she used to protect herself. He knew that inside she was kind and loyal and loving. He knew she was capable of far more than the rest of the world saw.
But she couldn’t handle how different things had become, and day by day, it got worse. She started snapping at him, skipping classes…until one night, she suddenly seemed calm. Serene. He didn’t know it at the time, but that would be the last night Theo spent with her, and she’d made sure it was perfect. They spent hours in each other’s bed, whispered secrets, declarations, benedictions. She made sure he knew that she would never have made it through the war without him, and he promised her the world for the rest of their lives.
When he came back from lessons the next day, he found a note in his dorm. She was leaving for France with her family and had no plans to return. He had almost lost it. He was sure that if he’d only had Malfoy and Zabini, he would’ve. But Hermione and Draco had fallen for each other barely a month after the war ended, and although the first year of their relationship was volatile as they worked through their past, it was clear to everyone around them that they fit perfectly together.
And it was Hermione who helped him put his heart back together. She was the one who held him while he sobbed on his bed at night holding Pansy’s pillow. She convinced him to go out and play Quidditch with the boys. She helped him send owls to Pansy that always came back unopened. And she took him to an old junkyard to destroy things when he needed something to break besides his own heart.
It was shortly after that, as soon as the school year ended, that he decided to leave England. His family was facing the same sort of backlash that the Parkinsons and Malfoys had, but the Notts had fewer redeeming qualities in everyone’s eyes. They were neither as philanthropic as the Malfoys nor as removed from the Dark Lord’s inner circle as the Parkinsons. Many of the old families faced ongoing criticism for years, but it was clear early on that there was no place left in Britain for the Notts. With a tearful goodbye, he left the only real friends he had ever known and started over again in America.
“Did you ever hear from her?” Draco asked, shaking him from his reverie.
Theo shook his head. “No, but I’ve seen the newspaper articles. I know she’s been very successful in Paris with Muggle fashion.”
“Yeah.” There didn’t seem to be more to say. Draco rubbed his hands together, snapping his fingers as if it could clear the air of the conversation. “Well I need to get back. Lyra’s moving home today.”
Theo’s head snapped up. “Why?” It was a stupid question, he had no reason to show any interest that Draco knew of anyway, but the word was out of his mouth before he could catch it.
“Uni’s over and she wants to figure out a plan. Plus we’ve missed her, so we may have asked a few hundred times if she would spend the summer with us.” Draco’s mouth pulled up on one side and Theo could see the love for his daughter in his eyes.
A hint of pride went through Theo. Without knowing anything else, he knew that Draco was a better father than Lucius had ever been.
Draco looked at him. “Come over for dinner tomorrow. Please. We’ve missed you.”
Theo swallowed, trying to stem the panic sitting just below the surface. “Of course.”
Draco clapped him on the shoulder with one hand and headed for the front door. “And open your Floo, Nott. I’m not going to use the damn door every time.”
Theo laughed. That was the Draco he remembered. “Will do, Malfoy.”
The front door closed and Theo’s smile fell as he was left alone with his thoughts. And his guilt.
* * *
The next day, Theo appeared at the boundary line to the new Malfoy property. It was certainly smaller than Malfoy Manor, but it wasn’t a London flat either. Lyra and Scorpius had had plenty of space outside to grow up, and Theo felt powerful wards around the estate, undoubtedly placed to protect the family given their father’s past.
He felt small and feeble standing there with just a bottle of elf-made wine in his hand. He was seconds away from Apparating home and sending a note to say he was sick when he heard a familiar voice.
“Theo!”
He turned to see Hermione running full pelt at him and his fears and other thoughts vanished. He dropped the unbreakable bottle onto the ground as the gates opened just in time to catch the witch who had flung herself into his arms. She was still sunshine after all these years, and he understood why Draco had fallen for her.
“Gods, Granger, it’s good to see you too.”
Hermione laughed, a watery sound as she rubbed the tears from her eyes. “You are never to leave us for that long again. Do you understand?”
“Yes, only one decade next time.” He grinned.
She slapped him on the arm. “Oh hush.” Throwing her arms around him again, she buried her face into his chest. “I’m so glad you’re here.”
Theo kissed the top of her hair as he held one of his best friends in his arms. It warmed his heart that even twenty-two years later, their bond was just as strong.
“Come on,” she said. “I’ll show you around.”
She led him up the drive to the house where Draco was waiting for them.
“You’re keyed into the wards, Nott. You can just Apparate next time.”
Theo swallowed. Even after being gone so long, they treated him just like family. Another stone settled into his stomach as his guilt bloomed. “Thanks. I fixed my Floo, too. I don’t have wards on my flat, so technically you could waltz in any time you please.”
Hermione looked aghast. “No, that won’t do. I’ll come set them up for you next week.”
“I can do it,” Theo said.
“You’re really going to argue with a Charms expert?” Draco teased.
Theo pretended to consider it. “On second thought, that sounds great. Thanks, Granger.”
The three of them went inside and Draco led them through a tour of the house. Hermione was so delighted to see Theo that she held onto his arm the whole time. They’d had a very easy, platonically close relationship, and it felt good to his very soul that time hadn’t changed that. He kept his arm around her as well and was pleased that Draco never thought there was anything more untoward going on.
Not with your wife, mate. Your daughter, on the other hand… his brain supplied. He shook off the thought as he took in the stunning home.
They moved back down to the main floor and settled in the living room with a few glasses of Firewhisky. Draco sat in a wingback chair with an ankle resting across his knee while Theo and Hermione sat on the sofa adjacent to him. Just as they were all settling in, Theo heard a voice that made his blood freeze.
“Dad!”
Draco looked up towards the door, his Firewhisky still in hand. “In here, Lyra!”
Theo had barely three seconds to decide how to react. Hermione was still sitting next to him on the couch, leaning into his shoulder with her feet tucked up next to her, so he couldn’t simply Apparate away. First of all, he had no good excuse. Second of all, he would end up taking her with him. It was a bad plan.
He counted his breaths as Lyra walked into the room and froze. Her eyes immediately found his, the words on her lips hanging in the air as she looked at her mother on his arm, trying to figure out both the context and the proper response.
When one eyebrow raised, in an eerily reminiscent way as her father’s, Theo was afraid she had come to the wrong conclusion. Thankfully, Draco jumped in before she could ask any questions.
“Lyra, come say hello. This is Theo Nott. He went to school with your mother and I and is one of our oldest friends.”
“We haven’t seen him in over twenty years, he’s just moved back to England,” Hermione added, beaming. “We hope he’ll be around a lot now that he’s back.”
“That was the plan,” Theo stated, quickly glancing at Lyra before looking away.
He watched her calculating her options and silently pleaded with her to go easy on him.
---
What the fuck was going on.
Her mother was physically affectionate with her uncles Harry and Ron, but outside of her father and immediate family, she never saw her be close to anyone else.
Something turned in Lyra’s stomach and she sincerely hoped that when Theo had said that Hermione was going to kill him, he didn’t mean because they’d dated. She could handle an age gap, but she wasn’t interested in dating her mother’s ex-boyfriend. The timeline didn’t make sense though, not for everything she knew about her mother’s role in the war and her friendship with the Slytherins after. And she didn’t think her father would be so okay with the present situation if the two had a history.
Theo looked as panicked as he had in Blaise’s office, only he was keeping it inside. She knew by looking at him that he hadn’t told them anything, even that they’d met.
For everyone’s sake, she decided to play along.
“Nice to meet you. I’m Lyra.” She walked up to him and stuck out her hand.
He glanced at it for half a second too long and then shook it. She felt the energy crackling through their skin and pulled away before she blushed.
She turned towards her father. “I was just unpacking some more boxes and wanted to know if Scorp was still using the spare room for storage. I don’t think there’s enough space for everything I brought.”
“He is, but there’s plenty of room. You can store things in there as well. Do you need help?”
“I can carry boxes,” Theo said. Lyra turned to look at him, keeping her countenance congenial but internally thinking it was the flimsiest excuse she’d ever heard and he’d be lucky if he didn’t immediately give away the secret.
“She is a witch, boys,” Hermione replied with a chortle. “And she got my skills with charms. I’m sure she can levitate them just fine.”
Lyra smiled. She hated when men tried to take care of things for her just because she was a girl. “Thanks, Mum.”
---
“Dinner’ll be ready in half an hour,” Draco said. “Let Scorp know too?”
Lyra rolled her eyes. “If I can get him off the phone with Al, you might see him make an appearance.”
“You get phones to work here?” Theo said looking at Hermione, surprise written all over his face.
“Charms expert, Theo. Did you think I was just here to look pretty sitting next to Draco for the last twenty years?”
Theo laughed and looked over at the blond man. “No, we all know Draco’s more the sitting pretty type.”
“Hey, hey, I will have you know I have done more than just uphold society’s expectations for Malfoy beauty in the last two decades.”
“Oh of course,” Theo acquiesced, his hand coming to his chest in mock apology. “My mistake.”
The three old friends laughed easily.
“Well,” Lyra said awkwardly, taking a step back. “I’ll see you at dinner then.” She looked straight at Theo before turning to leave the room.
“I’m so glad you’re home,” Hermione said, giving Theo a squeeze around his waist.
“Me too,” Draco said, raising his glass to Theo.
“Yeah,” Theo echoed, feeling more torn than he had in many years. “Me too.”
* * *
Dinner was an incredibly awkward affair, but only if you were Theo Nott. Lyra seemed to be handling things with ease, to the point where Theo wondered how she had gotten so good at pretending to have never met someone before. Was their encounter actually not important to her? He didn’t think so, not after the proposal she had made before leaving Blaise’s office. Perhaps she was the love ’em and leave ’em type all along. Probably not, though.
Perhaps she was just as clever as Hermione and as self-assured as Draco and smarter than all three of them combined.
Four, if you counted Scorpius. Theo’s conversation with the youngest Granger-Malfoy was invigorating—he didn’t know anyone who had shared his love for potions to quite the same extent, and they’d already made a plan to go into Knockturn together the next week in search of rare ingredients.
For the most part, Theo avoided speaking directly to Lyra. He kept his head down or focused on one of the others, but he couldn’t help staring at her out of the corner of his eye. He couldn’t help noticing how beautiful she looked in just joggers and a tank top. How easygoing her demeanor was and how passionate she became when discussing something she liked.
He wasn’t sure how, but sitting across the table from the witch he had met only days before while her parents and brother were present was only making him more smitten with her. He got to see a side of her usually reserved for later on in relationships, an intimate peek into her daily life.
He was fucked.
Even the way she laughed was enchanting, leaning her head against her hand with her fork pointing out as her eyes focused on her doting father, whose humor she shared as he referenced a well-worn joke. She was perfect.
He needed to leave.
As he made his excuses and stood, Lyra’s smile dropped, her eyes immediately finding his. Did she not want him to go?
He knew that her parents’ dining room wasn’t the right place for that discussion, so he shook his head the smallest degree, hoping she would let it go.
He should have known she wouldn’t be deterred.
“I can show Mr. Nott out,” Lyra offered.
Hearing her call him that was like a knife in his stomach. “Just Theo, please.”
“All right, I can show Theo out,” she said. She looked over to her mother who was standing to kiss Theo on both cheeks.
“I can Apparate, it’s really no problem.”
“Hermione’s sending you home with enough food to splinch yourself,” Draco interjected. “Just use the Floo. Lyra can make sure it works in both directions now.”
Theo had no way to protest without drawing more attention to the situation. “All right. Thanks.”
With his arms full of plates of food, Theo let Lyra throw Floo powder into the fireplace before stepping in and announcing, “Theo Nott’s flat.”
He stepped out into his kitchen with Lyra just steps behind him.
Without looking at her, he walked to the counter and started putting food in the fridge and the cupboards.
“Well that was unexpected.”
He didn’t reply as he continued to place plates of food under stasis and away. After a minute of this, Lyra asked, “Aren’t you going to say anything?”
He breathed out, frustrated from the day. He was so happy to have his friends in his life again, and somehow he had already ruined it beyond repair. They just didn’t know it yet. How long would it be before they turned him away and he didn’t even have the hope of returning to England and his life there to look forward to? If he went away again, he didn’t know what he would hold onto to make it through.
He turned towards the waiting witch, his expression unkind. “What would you like me to say?”
She raised a brow at his icy tone. “Honestly? This is how you’re going to behave right now?”
“Go home, Lyra.” He had no patience left for this. He turned his back to the cupboards, but he had nothing else to put away, so he just leaned his palms against the counter.
“No.”
He gripped the counter, feeling tears prick his eyes. It wasn’t fair. Why couldn’t he have the people who meant the world to him and this witch who every part of him wanted more than he could understand?
“You’re not even going to talk to me about it?” she pressed. “I think at the very least you owe me some explanation.”
He turned at that, blinking in surprise. “I owe you explanations? Of what, exactly?”
“Did you date my mother?”
Theo was too stunned to answer, and then finally he laughed. Truly laughed. “No. Your mother is one of my best friends, and she helped me survive things I didn’t know how to at the time. But we never dated. It was always her and Draco.”
He watched her face relax with the answer. “All right.” She took a breath. “So what now?”
“What do you mean?”
“Well, how do we proceed?” she asked, leaning in as if they were discussing state secrets together. “Should we wait a while or tell them sooner, do you think?”
Theo leaned back against the counter, expression blank. “Lyra, we can’t tell them anything.”
She blinked at him, then laughed. “You’re joking. You think I’m going to agree to just be your secret forever?”
“No,” he said honestly.
Her face grew serious. “Are you saying you don’t want to keep seeing me?”
Theo looked at the floor. “Your father will be wondering where you are.”
She walked towards him, stopping a foot away. “He knows where I am. I’ll tell him we started talking about America. He knows I’ve been wanting to visit.”
Theo shook his head. “No.”
“Theo—”
“Go home, Lyra. This is over.”
The shock crossed her face like she’d been slapped and he wondered how often in her life she hadn’t been able to talk her way into something.
“You do not get to make this decision on your own, Theo!”
Everything inside him hurt; he felt like glass pushed to its breaking point, fine lines forming throughout the piece before it shatters. “I have to. I’m sorry.”
Lyra reached her hand towards him, but pulled it back. “You know there’s something here,” she said in a quiet voice. “I know you felt it too.”
He couldn’t meet her eyes. “I know.”
“Don’t you want it?” Her voice was an octave higher and it was breaking him. He held his arms across his chest to avoid reaching for her.
“This is crazy, Lyra. We just met.”
“I know. But there’s something special between us, Theo. I don’t know what it is, but you know it’s there. So answer me. Do you want me, or not?” she demanded.
“It doesn’t matter.” He looked up from the floor to watch as her face slowly slid from anger to despair, her inability to change his mind registering.
“Why?” Her voice cracked on the syllable.
“Because your parents saved my life, and I can’t do this to them.”
“So you’ll hurt me instead?” she asked.
He knew there was no right answer. So he gave her the honest one. “I’d hurt myself instead. I’m sorry that you get hurt in the process.”
She nodded, biting her lip to stop from crying. “You’re a real bastard, Theo Nott.”
He breathed in and out slowly. “I know.”
He couldn’t stand watching her face break as the grief became rage and hurt. Thankfully, she spun on her heel and Disapparated, leaving him alone.
He’d never felt more like a coward in his life.
* * *
He missed her every day for the next two weeks.
His excuses for not returning to the Malfoy house were running out. There were only so many people he could claim to need to visit, so many business meetings he could schedule over meals. So finally, on a Thursday evening, he found himself accepting an invitation to come over for dinner.
The note had said that Hermione and Draco would be visiting Narcissa beforehand, so they’d be a bit late, but to make himself comfortable whenever he wanted.
Theo took the opportunity to Apparate directly to the house and look around more slowly.
It really was a beautiful home, no doubt Hermione’s doing with a bit of Narcissa’s influence, but he could see the touches of Draco’s upbringing as well. There was special attention paid to the flowers in each room, and he knew that was a habit that Draco had picked up from his mother.
Every few moments, no matter how hard he tried, his thoughts turned to Lyra.
He wondered if she was home yet. Perhaps they could talk. Just talk. He missed the sound of her voice, wanted to hear her go on and on about a topic she knew more about than him. Wanted to be near her.
Without really planning it, he found himself making his way to the second floor, remembering the doors that Hermione had pointed out during their tour. He found Lyra’s door and stood outside it.
He desperately wanted to knock. To see if she was in. If they could talk. Wanted to apologize for being such an arse. Even though he knew there was nothing he could do to change things.
He knocked anyway.
There was no answer.
He slowly opened the door and looked inside. It was all unpacked, as if she’d been living here forever. He took in the four poster canopy bed, the dresser in the corner, the wall of moving photographs of her friends from school. He stood in the center of it and marveled at the life this witch had, and it just made his heart ache worse. He didn’t belong here.
He heard sounds coming from somewhere in the house and quickly left the room, shutting the door behind him. Hurrying down the stairs, he kept his eyes peeled for any sign of the curly-haired young witch. He didn’t know whether he wanted to see her or wanted not to see her. He was torn; he’d missed her so much that he wasn’t sure he could handle seeing her without wanting to kiss her, hold her, wrap her up in his arms. But he’d rejected her, and he knew that there was no guarantee she would want those things anymore either. He couldn’t bear the possibility, so when he saw her at the end of a hall, he turned on his heel and rounded the corner in a different direction.
“Theo!”
He kept up the pace, grateful that their home had plenty of space to hide. But she gained on him; it was her house after all.
“Theo!” she called, chasing after him through the house. “Will you stop it already? You’re acting like a child.”
He laughed in sheer disbelief and then grabbed his chest in fright as she popped up in front of him, cutting him off through a different doorway. His eyes were wide as he turned to face her. “A child? I’m acting like a child?” He stared and the seconds passed as the full weight of the situation settled around them.
“Well,” she said breathlessly, “you are.”
Theo shook his head, turning on his heel as he sped down the corridor once more. He didn’t know why he thought he’d be able to be around her without wanting her more. He wasn’t ready. “I can’t do this.”
---
Lyra stood in place in the hallway, watching him go. Her heart clenched, her stomach dropped, and she felt like an invisible cord between them was being pulled so taut it might snap. The last two weeks had been torture and she wasn’t sure how much more she could take, being forced to be in his presence without him even acknowledging how badly he was hurting her. “Please.”
It stopped him in his tracks. He didn’t turn, but her heart sped up with the opportunity to make him listen.
“Please, Theo,” she said, and her voice sounded tired. “I can’t do this either. I can’t have you here, in my house, pretending you don’t know me. Pretending that nothing happened. I know you feel it too, when we touch. This is more than just attraction. I feel—with you—you’re—” She couldn’t find the words to express how much he had already become part of her life and her thoughts in such a short time. How she felt safer around him than she’d ever felt with a man. How badly she wanted to kiss him again. “You’re different,” she finished. “I like you.”
She watched him take a deep breath, and then so quietly she almost missed it, he said, “I like you too, Lyra.”
---
Theo took a deep breath before turning to face her, knowing that her pouty lips and wide eyes and mane of curls would have him doubting his own resolution to move on from each other. As he slowly turned in place, he saw her watching him with a pained expression. Her eyes pleaded with his, mouth hung just the smallest bit open, and he sucked in a breath. Even just looking at her, the universe felt more rightly situated than it had in weeks. Drawn in like there was a pulley between them, his feet gradually moved towards her until he was standing a mere few steps away.
She was breathing like she’d been running, struggling to say something. She started, then stopped. And finally it came out in one big rush. “Was it just sex for you?”
“No,” he replied immediately.
She nodded, seeming to be satisfied with his answer.
“But that doesn’t mean it’s right for us to keep seeing each other.”
“What makes it so wrong?”
He groaned, running a hand through his brown hair. “I don’t know. It just is.”
She took a step forward. “That’s not a very good answer.”
“You’re my best friend’s daughter, you’re twenty-one, you’re just starting your life,” he listed. “You don’t want to be associated with me, trust me. My name would only drag you down.” It felt like driving a knife into his own chest to admit it, how much better she could do.
She was undeterred. Lyra took another step forward, and then another, until he could feel her warm breath on his face. “Theo,” she whispered as if letting him in on a secret. “I’m a Malfoy. I already know what it feels like to be defined by your name.”
He hadn’t considered that. Had she suffered at school for the things Draco and Lucius had done? Was that where her thick armor came from? She certainly didn’t seem to be harboring any major trauma, but perhaps compared to a madman and a war, he wouldn’t know what to look for. He didn’t know what her life had been like as a Granger-Malfoy after the fall of the Dark Lord; he was too busy running away to pay attention to what happened at home.
Lyra took his silence as an opportunity to lean in just a little closer. She stroked his face with the back of her fingers, soft hands running the length of his jaw. “I want you,” she whispered. “All of you.”
He felt his resolve slipping and closed his eyes as he leaned the rest of the way, his lips brushing hers.
It felt like heaven.
Her lips on his was everything right with the world and he didn’t know how he’d survived weeks without it. His hands twisted into her hair, curls cascading down them as he tilted her head to kiss her more deeply. Her hands found his shoulders, pulling him into her. It felt as easy as breathing, as natural as anything. Every time they stopped to breathe it was like waking from a pleasant dream with the desire to slip back into it and continue to bask in the warm glow.
“Theo,” she breathed against his mouth, passion taking over as she kissed him more heatedly.
“Lyra.” Her name was honey on his lips and he knew he’d find nothing as sweet as her ever again.
But all dreams must come to an end. The sound of a door shutting elsewhere in the house reverberated, breaking them from their spell, and both jumped.
“Theo!” Draco called. “Are you here mate?”
Theo turned back to Lyra with panic and apology in his eyes. His eyes darted between hers as he struggled to find the words to say, feeling them catch in his throat. He wanted nothing more than to keep kissing her, to admit how badly he wanted her too, how he hadn’t thought of another witch since he’d laid eyes on her. How she was in his dreams each night, lying in his arms, and he would give anything, almost anything, to make that a reality.
But Draco called again and he closed his eyes, bracing for impact.
“Lyra…” he started.
She must have heard it in his voice because she pulled back, stepping away from him as if burned.
“No. Don’t. Don’t say it.” She looked at him, disappointed, and it was worse than anything he could have imagined. Her chest heaved with angry breaths. “I don’t want to hear it. If you won’t fight for me, then this really is over.”
She turned and walked quickly down the corridor and out of sight.
* * *
She didn’t stay for dinner that night.
“I think she went to Blaise’s club again with Victoire,” Hermione said as she sipped her wine at the dinner table.
“I wish she wouldn’t,” Draco muttered.
“Oh Draco, she’s a grown woman. She is entitled to have some fun.”
Theo wondered how much Hermione would hold that opinion if she knew he was the type of fun Lyra wanted to be having.
He ate in silence, trying not to mope too noticeably as he pushed food around his plate. Hermione and Draco discussed upcoming social events, family updates, and other plans to get together with everyone, happy to fill the conversation, until it became obvious that something was wrong.
“Theo,” Hermione said softly, placing her hand on his. “Is everything all right?”
“Yeah you look like shite, man,” Draco added.
Hermione looked daggers at her husband.
“Well he does.”
Theo took a sip to buy himself time. “Yeah. I’m fine. Just thinking about the apothecary opening I’ve got scheduled this weekend. That bartender at the club was great for the last one, might try to get him again.”
“You’ve only been back a couple weeks, Nott. Settle in, relax, meet a girl or something.”
Theo spluttered into his wine. They looked at him quizzically but he waved his hand. “I’m fine. Just swallowed wrong.” He cleared his throat. “It’s all right, I like keeping busy. It’s been weird being back, so it helps.”
“All right,” Hermione conceded, “but next weekend come with us to Harry and Ginny’s. There’s a big party and they’d love to see you.”
Theo smiled. “All right.” He stood. “I should get going. I need to try to get the rest of the details figured out for the opening.”
Hermione hugged him goodbye and Draco made him promise to go flying next week to let loose.
Theo Apparated to his flat and immediately walked straight to his bed, the weight and sadness of the day pulling him down faster than gravity as he fell onto it, holding the pillow clutched between his arms.
He slept till dawn.
* * *
Theo walked into the club the next night in a foul mood. Shoulders hunched, he pushed his way through the crowd of half-dressed uni students and made his way to the bar. The roving lights and shimmering outfits were irritating tonight. It all felt obscene. Who found love in a club, anyway? He was too old to be there. Wouldn’t be there at all if Blaise let his fucking bartender have a night off so Theo could talk to him somewhere besides the club.
“Hey man,” the bartender said, placing a drink in front of Theo before hurriedly moving back down the bar. “We’re packed. Gimme ten all right?”
Theo raised his glass in acknowledgment before downing the Firewhisky in one go.
His nerves were raw and the pounding of the music wasn’t making it any better. He’d barely slept since the night Lyra stood in his kitchen, when he’d turned his back on the most genuine connection he’d ever had. And the feel of her lips on his just the night before was haunting him. Maybe he should find someone else, he thought. Get her out of his system.
He looked out at the crowd and his stomach turned. One corner was just a bunch of barely-not-kids in his eyes—seriously, how many uni students came there? —and the rest were a bit more in his age range, but no one stood out.
Not until he saw her.
Lyra was pressed against a man he’d never seen before, her hips pushed to his groin as they moved to the music.
Theo suddenly knew what it felt like to see red. He hadn’t cared about another witch enough to feel this way in over two decades.
The man’s hands were sliding up Lyra’s waist as he kissed behind her ear. Lyra’s mouth hung open in arousal, eyes closed, as the man wrapped one arm around her hips to hold her against him, his other hand sliding under the hem of her dress to tease her—
Her mouth made that little “o” shape and Theo lost it.
Stalking across the club with inhuman speed, he landed in front of them. “What are you doing?”
Lyra’s eyes popped open and she flinched, startled as she looked at him.
“Piss off, mate,” the man said, his fingers still under Lyra’s dress.
“Don’t think I will, mate,” Theo said, his eyes still on Lyra.”What are you doing?” he asked her.
“What the fuck does it look like, Theo?” The edges of her words were razor sharp with frustration.
“Is there a problem or are you—” The man didn’t get to finish, as Theo wandlessly and silently silenced him. The man opened and closed his mouth, but when no words came out he grabbed at his throat in panic.
Lyra’s eyes went wide with anger and the grey pools turned molten. “Theo!” she scream-whispered. “He’s a Muggle!”
“What are you doing, Lyra?” Theo asked, ignoring the rest.
Lyra’s hair crackled with a familiar energy as her eyes pierced his, cutting him down. “You have no right to be here, Theo. You have no right to walk over here and tell me what I can and can’t do with anyone else. I wanted you, I made that very clear, and you turned me down. You can go.”
She turned back to the stranger and released the spell, pushing a drink in his hand from a nearby table. Probably hoping he’d be drunk enough not to remember.
Theo’s cheeks went red with shame. She was right; he had no say in what she did or who she did it with. But he couldn’t just let her go.
“Come home with me,” he called to her.
She turned, curls flying out behind her, surprise on her face. “Excuse me?”
“Come home with me. Please. You were right, about all of it.”
She glared at him. “Why should I give you another chance?”
He didn’t have a good reason. He just knew it would kill him not to try. “Because I miss you like crazy, and I want to take you home.”
---
Lyra stared up at him, speechless—a rarity for her. She didn’t really want to continue to dance with the stranger when the man she wanted was offering her exactly what she’d desired since she’d met him. The stranger had been nice, and he could make her body respond, but there was no fire in it. No passion.
No magic.
She nodded slowly, taking Theo’s hand as he led her through the crowd and out the side door into an alley.
As soon as they were outside, Theo grabbed her and pulled her to him, one hand around her waist and the other in her hair as he kissed her. She pulled him in just as deeply and soon he was picking her up so her legs were around his.
He pressed her back into the wall and rolled his hips forward. “Missed your mouth,” he said against her lips. He kissed down her jaw and neck until he was sucking bruises on her shoulder.
“Missed your hands,” she breathed, feeling him push up her dress until he was able to tease her puffy lips through her knickers.
She felt him growl. “You’re wet,” he said, but it sounded almost…angry?
“Of course I am,” she panted, a bit confused. Didn’t he want her to be turned on by him?
“But is it all for me?”
Oh. He was jealous.
Lyra thought she should have found that a turn off, should have shut the whole encounter down. Who was he to tell her what she could feel with someone else when he had turned her away. But instead, something about it excited her.
“Are you jealous, Theo? That someone else had their hands here.” She pushed his hand flat against her center. “Can’t stand the idea of someone else filling me up?” She leaned into his mouth, her lips barely touching his as she spoke. “Of me coming on someone else’s cock?”
---
Theo’s heart was racing and much to his surprise, his cock was straining against his trousers.
“Yes,” he growled again, pushing his hand against her harder. “Yes, I’m fucking jealous, are you happy? I can’t stand the thought of someone else inside you, making you scream, feeling how soft and wet your cunt is.”
Lyra’s eyes rolled back as she pressed against his hand and moaned. He knew something about it was turning her on, too. As his hand cupped her, he drew one finger back and forth along her slit, still outside her knickers.
“I can’t stand the idea of someone else touching what’s mine.”
“Then stop pushing me away,” she bit back, though it was breathy as she moved against his hand. “Or I swear, I will find someone else to give me what I want. And if I want to scream while I’m coming with a cock inside me, then I’ll get it, Theo. Yours or not.”
Fuck. There was something so sexy about that. She wasn’t playing any games for his sake. She was going after exactly what she wanted. And he would be a fool to turn her down again; next time, she might want someone else.
“Oh I know, angel,” he said, changing tactics. “You’re very good at getting what you want. But would they make you feel like this?”
He pulled her knickers to the side and the flesh of his palm made contact with her soft, wet folds. The second their skin touched, the electricity was there.
She gasped, all pretense lost, and stared back into his eyes, hands clasped behind his neck as her mouth fell open with pleasure.
“Tell me, baby,” he was gaining control again, “who do you want to claim you?” Slipping one long finger inside her, he rubbed the most sensitive spot, pulling a whine from her lips. Her hand reached down between them, dipping her fingers into the top of his waistband, feeling the head of his erection. It was everything Theo could do to remain composed. “Do the others make you feel like this?”
“Just you,” she panted. “Why is it you, Theo?” It sounded almost pained, but he didn’t have the answer either.
“I don’t know. Fate?” He half-grinned, remembering the conversation from their first night.
“Fate,” Lyra repeated, leaning her head back against the wall and closing her eyes as he added another finger.
Words kept pressing forward on his tongue, threatening to pass his lips and enter the body of things he wouldn’t be able to take back. He tried to stem the flow, to play it cool, to keep her at a distance, but it hardly seemed to matter anymore. If he was already going to pay for wanting to be deep inside his friend’s daughter, he might as well be honest. “You asked if I was jealous seeing you with that stranger?” She nodded. He continued, “Yes, sweetheart, I was jealous, but not just for this—” he rolled his hips again, hooking his finger so he was pressing on the nerves near her clit from both sides. “It’s more than that. You are stunning and brilliant and funny and you could probably flatten me on my back in a duel, and I have never felt so captivated in my life. The thought of you spending the night with another man, of losing you—it feels like I’m dying.”
Her eyes shone with emotion as she listened enraptured to his words.
“I want you, Lyra. Just you.”
“I want you too,” she whispered. It had an anguished lilt, like she was close to tears.
They both knew they were resigning themselves to something more than they understood. Hopefully something the Fates designed with compassionate hands.
“Do you want me now?” he asked, leaning into her ear and kissing the spot she liked there.
She nodded quickly, and he shuffled them so the head of his cock was pressed against her opening. She was warm and wet and he kept his eyes locked on hers as he slid into her slick heat inch by inch until he was finally seated inside her, holding himself still as they stared unblinking at each other.
“Lyra…” There were no words for what he wanted to express.
“I know.”
She started to cry. Theo panicked, moving to pull out of her, but she used her arms and legs to hold him still. “No, please. Stay.”
“What’s wrong?” He searched her face for signs of injury, of fear, of pain. “What is it? Are you hurt? Did I hurt you?”
She shook her head but another choked sob shook her body and his panic rose. She looked down at the place where they were joined and started crying harder. Theo’s heart was in his throat. Did she regret it? Had he gone too fast?
“Please tell me,” he whispered, trying to keep his voice calm. “Please, baby, I—I want to fix it.” He brushed his knuckle along her cheek gently. “Lyra.”
She closed her eyes, but raised her face towards his voice. “I thought it wouldn’t matter. If you left, I would find someone else. I’ve always found someone else. I practically did tonight even if he was boring and just wanted a shag. But, but—feeling you here like this—I forgot that you’d find someone else too and you’d feel like this to them and, and—”
Theo tried not to smile too widely since she was actually upset—he didn’t want to seem like a total bastard—but a piece of his heart was soothed by her words, and his mood soared. She was just as attached as he was. She knew something had been special between them and he had walked away anyway, and now that he was back and afraid to lose whatever it was, she was registering that fear again too. They had come full circle.
“Lyra, love.” She opened her eyes slowly, as if she were embarrassed to be caught. “Do you feel jealous?”
Her face was pained as if this was a new concept to her.
She nodded.
He ran his free hand along the side of her face and her hair, pushing it back and tilting her chin to place a soft kiss on her lips. “You don’t have anyone to be jealous of. No one feels like this, and I haven’t been with anyone else since I met you.”
Her eyes widened, brows raising on her forehead, and she sighed in relief. “Really?”
Theo nodded. And then his brows drew together. “Have you?”
She shook her head. “Just what you saw tonight.”
He leaned his forehead against her as they breathed together, letting the words sink in. “I think we have a bit of a possessive thing about each other.”
She laughed. “That’s horrible isn’t it?”
He pulled back to look at her face. The tear stained cheeks. Gentle freckles. Perfect mouth. “There are worse things.”
He shifted his weight, having held her in one position for so long.
“Why do we always end up having serious conversations when you’re inside me?” she asked.
He laughed. “I don’t know, but this position is getting difficult to hold. I think we ought to relocate if we want to continue this tonight.”
---
Lyra wasn’t sure what she wanted. Suddenly going home with Theo felt like too much all at once. So much had been said, it felt more solid and more precarious. She wasn’t sure she could take the additional emotional stimulation of being inside his house.
“Sit,” she said.
He raised one eyebrow. “What?”
She reached for her wand and Conjured a chair. “Sit.”
Theo did as he was told, helping her down and sitting in the chair, the front of his trousers still unzipped, cock visible over the top of his pants.
He sat in the small but comfortable leather chair that Lyra had provided and she cast a Notice-Me-Not charm on the alley. She didn’t mind being fucked against a wall, but she didn’t want someone to be able to come up behind her and catch her unawares while she was wrapped around Theo.
He watched her every move as she crawled onto his lap, knees tucked into the sides of the seat, and slowly sank down onto his cock.
“Fuck, babygirl, you feel incredible.”
She beamed inside. She’d never been one for nicknames before, but he could call her whatever he liked and it sounded the way being the best at things felt. She had always loved that feeling.
She used her legs to slowly rise and fall on his cock, her arousal leaking onto his trousers with every move, and cupped his face. With startling care, she kissed him. Slowly, carefully, like a lover you hadn’t seen in so long that things felt a little strange at first, a hint of nerves permeating through until you were familiar with each other’s bodies again.
He returned the kiss, deepening it, and one hand went to her lower back to help her. He thrust from below, meeting her strokes.
---
“You feel perfect.” His breathing was ragged but he didn’t care about anything else at that moment. All that mattered was her perfect cunt wrapped around his cock. His fingers tracing the length of her hip before reaching between them to rub her clit.
“Ungh,” she groaned, and he bit his lip to hide his grin.
She was starting to shake, her movements stuttering as her orgasm built, so he picked up the pace for her, hitting deep inside her with every stroke.
“Come for me, Lyra. That’s my good girl, come on my cock. It’s all yours. Just yours.”
She screamed and he let her given the charms. It felt so good to hear her as she lost control on his hard length. As she started to breathe slower again, he held her tighter, staring into her eyes as he chased his own release. He’d never come with her before.
“I want to fill you up,” he whispered.
“I want it inside me,” she whispered back, reaching down to play with her clit.
“Oh fuck.” There was nothing hotter than watching her touch herself while he was about to fill her incredibly tight body with his cum.
She was getting close again, her face flushing and eyes half closed. Was she getting off on the thought of his cum inside her?
“I’ve never, I’ve never,” she blushed, “—let anyone—”
That was all it took. He was erupting inside her, the knowledge that he was the first person to paint her pretty, soft walls with seed was intoxicating. He thought he might pass out.
She crashed her mouth onto his, moaning as she came again with his cum sitting inside her.
When they both came down, she collapsed against his chest and he ran his hands through her hair. Their breathing slowly returned to normal.
“Thank you,” he said.
“For what?”
“Trusting me to do that.”
She nestled closer to his chest. “I’ve always wondered what it would feel like, I’d just never met anyone who I wanted to feel that connected with.”
He thought for a minute. “You were going to let me, that first night.”
She sighed. “I told you, you’re different, Theo. I knew it when I met you. I don’t know why and I don’t really care in the end. I just know what I want.”
He kissed her on the forehead. “You’re an amazing witch.”
She smiled lazily, leaning up for a kiss. The movement made him slip out of her a bit and he lifted her the rest of the way off to clean them both.
Once they were standing and the chair had been Vanished, she stared at him awkwardly. The sounds of nightlife from the streets crept back in, a breeze teased the edge of her dress, making her shiver. Neither moved.
“So,” she said, “what now?”
Theo leaned back against the wall and looked up at the strip of night sky between the buildings. Somewhere up there, little clusters of stardust burned and twinkled and formed constellations he had spent years looking at from below. Tracing the sky with his eyes, he found the Big Dipper, and then Polaris. He couldn’t pretend he didn’t know exactly where to look to find the dragon’s tail. Couldn’t pretend he didn’t know exactly what came next.
“Now I guess we find a way to tell your parents.”