Author Note: New chapter, woohoo! I hope you all enjoy it. Thanks for reading :)

Theo Apparated directly into a side street that placed him near Slug and Jiggers Apothecary. Straightening his robes, he walked out into the busy street, weaving through the usual crowds.

It was a Saturday, so the Alley was extra busy. Theo dodged many young families, obviously out on their regular shopping trips, as well as many other individuals who had regular jobs and needed to run their errands outside of weekdays.

He sighed in annoyance at having to constantly dodge uncoordinated children and their equally harried parents. His shoulders sagged in relief when he finally arrived at the Apothecary, the bell over the door softly jingling as he stepped through the entrance into the almost empty shop.

He had come to buy the ingredients for Dreamless Sleep Potion, as he had already tried plain old Sleeping Draught a couple of nights ago, thinking that a nice heavy sleep would do the trick. Unfortunately, the nightmares were even stranger and he had found it more difficult to wake up from them. He knew, however, that a Dreamless Sleep Potion would be a better answer. He really needed a good nights sleep soon, the fatigue was really starting to get to him.

He turned a corner without looking and walked straight into someone. "Shit," he muttered, and grimaced in pain, his left arm had hit whoever he had walked into and was now burning.

"Oh, I'm so sorry," came a feminine voice from somewhere beneath him. He looked down and internally groaned at the familiar mop of bushy brown hair that came into view.

He had walked into Hermione Granger. Terrific. Just what he wanted. A slight tinge of guilt travelled through him because she had actually been knocked right over and was currently awkwardly situated on the floor. She still wasn't looking at his face, as she had a multitude of shopping bags she was trying to get under control while she continued to mutter some kind of rambling apology.

"- wasn't watching where I was going. I'm really sorry …" she said, immediately trailing off when she looked up and made eye contact with him. "Nott," she greeted after blinking in surprise.

"Granger." Theo nodded at her.

She remained in her awkward sitting position on the ground, clutching at her multitude of bags. Theo sighed in annoyance and reluctantly held out his (unhurt) arm to help her up. She stared at it rather dumbly before making eye contact with him, and then turning to look at his (now awkward) outstretched hand.

Before Theo could tisk in annoyance at the muggleborn witch, she finally took the hint and reached out and grabbed his hand. He pulled her up easily, startled at how light she actually was - maybe hair wasn't that heavy afterall - and how warm her rather small hand felt clasped in his.

"Er, sorry, Nott, I wasn't watching where I was going," she apologised, looking down and to the side, so he couldn't see her expression clearly.

"Well, you should apologise, I think you hit my arm quite hard. Watch where you're walking next time," he replied haughtily, thoroughly enjoying calling the know-it-all out.

Her head snapped upwards in a flash at his rather insensitive words. Theo continued to smirk. What? Did she actually expect him to apologise as well? As if it would be some kind of mutual apology convention?

Hah, unlikely.

Her apologetic expression quickly morphed into a scowl. "But you … you," she began, obviously annoyed that he wouldn't meet her halfway. "Well, have it your way, Nott. By the way, I would very much appreciate it if you let go of me immediately," she snipped.

Theo clenched his jaw in annoyance. He didn't realise he was still holding onto her. Damn, he thought as his hand quickly dropped away from her arm and frowned at the smug look she gave him.

"Well, Nott, again, I would like to say it's been enjoyable seeing you, but that would be a lie," she snapped and stomped off in a whirl of robes, shopping bags, and bushy hair.

Theo scoffed and rolled his eyes. It felt like Granger had been popping up all over the place, whether it was physically or via general conversation. Firstly, she had moved to the village near his Manor, though he could handle that, it's not like he ever visited the muggle village much anyway. Secondly, there was Blaise's wedding. He was going to be part of the wedding party, as was Granger. He certainly hoped Blaise and Padma didn't expect them all to work together or something … that would be disastrous. And now, he was seeing her on his regular shopping trips … After two years of barely hearing anything about her, it felt like she was everywhere now.

He was so lost in his thoughts he didn't even notice until it was too late that the very same witch who was occupying them just happened to be standing at the same ingredients area he needed to access.

"What is it now?" she asked in agitation when she turned to see him approaching her.

Theo's lips thinned in annoyance. "I need to buy some Nightmare Vine," he snapped, nodding at the dried plant on the shelf behind her.

"Hmph," she muttered in annoyance and stepped over slightly so Theo could reach the ingredient.

Theo internally rolled his eyes at her before stepping forward and reaching for the Vine. As he was selecting what he wanted, her nagging voice interrupted his attempt at ignoring her.

"The Ministry regulations say that you're only allowed to buy five ten centimetre pieces of Nightmare Vine per week," she lectured.

Theo looked down at the six pieces he had accidentally picked up. Really, now! He didn't need to be told the rules, he knew them! It was just a simple mistake. He groaned and rolled his eyes as he turned to look at her smug, know-it-all expression.

"I know that," he snapped.

Granger raised her eyebrows and pursed her lips, before crossing her arms. "Just reminding you incase you forgot."

"Ever heard of a mistake, Granger?" he drawled, before taking one of the pieces and putting it back on the shelf.

"I guess. I'm sure you'd be more well-acquainted than me, though," she retorted.

He was about to say something incredibly derogatory and offensive to the uptight little bint until he noticed how her eyes travelled to his arm and grew wide. His eyes followed hers, and he couldn't hide the shock either. His robe had slipped down on his left arm, revealing quite an obvious red burn mark. The nightmare, he remembered suddenly.

"That's quite a burn," she commented, eyeing it and almost looking concerned.

Theo quickly dropped his arm, allowing the fabric to cover it again. He was confused, and wasn't sure what to think or say at this point in time.

"The Nightmare Vine isn't going to help with that," she added.

Theo was still too stunned by the mark on his arm to really be too peeved by how nosy she was currently being. "I know," he replied slowly. "That's for something else."

"Oh," she replied. "Well, I know they sell burn-healing paste over the counter here, so that would be your best bet."

"Right," he replied quietly, glancing at his arm and then looking back at the witch standing next to him, who was eyeing him strangely.

I'd be eyeing me strangely too, he thought, trying to pull himself together.

"Are you okay, Nott?" she finally asked.

Theo stopped his thinking, his attention snapping back to her again. Here he was, acting like a loon in front of Hermione Granger … yet again. This had to stop.

"I'm fine," he snapped, sounding more abrupt than what he really meant to be. "Merlin, Granger, do you always feel the need to be in everyone's business?" he sneered. Theo knew he was being harsh on purpose, but he was feeling stressed and cornered and just wanted her to go away and leave him to work out how a burn appeared in the same area he recently had a terrible nightmare about.

Her eyes flashed in anger and her mouth pursed. He was even sure he saw her hair crackle slightly.

"Well, excuse me, Nott," she said, her voice like acid. "It's actually my role as a Healer to show a duty of care towards everyone! Even complete tossers like yourself!"

It was true, her hair was crackling.

"Well, Granger, don't bother," he snapped back. "I have everything under control, so take the hint and get lost."

"Ha! In case you didn't notice, this is a public place so you can't tell me to go away! But your mere presence is so disgusting I don't want to stay here anymore!"

"Fine!"

"Fine!" she repeated and before he knew it, she had already stormed off.

Theo stood there for a few seconds, his heart beating rapidly and his breathing shallow. He quickly pulled the sleeve of his robe back up again and stared at the burn mark. How? he wondered. A terrible feeling caused his stomach to drop and roll, so he lowered the sleeve, not wanting to look at it any more, for now. A small part of him knew that whatever this was, it wasn't good.

XXX

"And then he had the audacity to tell me to 'get lost'!" Hermione ranted.

It was later that night, and both Hermione and Padma were stuck on shift together until midnight. Both had managed to wrangle a coffee break and were currently refuelling to make it through the next couple of hours.

"Well, I don't really know what to say," Padma replied, taking a sip of her coffee.

"Besides the fact that he is arrogant, thoughtless, and possibly one of the rudest people I have ever had the displeasure of meeting?"

"Yes, it was very rude of him," Padma agreed. "I must say, you certainly know how bring it out of him. Theodore is normally so reserved and quiet … I'd never expect him to have such an outburst."

"Well, believe it," Hermione replied. "Slytherins …" she muttered angrily.

"Hey! I happen to be marrying a Slytherin," Padma replied with a laugh.

"You know what I mean," Hermione replied, rolling her eyes. "Blaise seems to be the only decent one out of the lot of them."

"He is now. At Hogwarts he was just as much of a prat as the rest of them," Padma said. "But yes, he did have to do some growing up before I'd even consider going on a date with him." She nodded to herself with a rather pleased expression on her face.

"Well, it goes to show that some people can grow up for the better, then there are others …" Hermione shuddered.

"You do realise he is going to be part of the wedding party?"

Hermione dropped copy of the Daily Prophet she had been casually reading. "What? No!"

"Yes … He's one of Blaise's closest friends."

"Urgh, please don't partner me with him, Padma!"

Padma laughed. "Well, your other choices are Malfoy or Adrian Pucey, so …"

"Malfoy?!" Hermione blanched, completely ignoring the other boy … she couldn't even recall him from school anyway.

"Hey! You already agreed to be a bridesmaid, you cannot back out now!" Padma said, before cracking up in laughter at Hermione's stricken expression.

"But-"

"No backing out," she said firmly before looking at her watch. "Now, break's up. I hate to love you and leave you …"

"After you shared such wonderful news, why would you ever want to leave?" Hermione said sarcastically, eyebrow raised at her friend.

"It'll be fine, Hermione! And don't worry, I'll pair Pavarti up with Malfoy."

"At this stage, I don't know who is worse out of the two," Hermione muttered angrily.

"It'll be fine!" she repeated. "Don't worry, I won't leave you alone with the big, bad Slytherins … too much," she sniggered as she got up from her seat and smoothed her Healer robes down.

Hermione huffed, and ignored Padma's laughter and farewell. Deciding she needed to get back to her own shift, she stood up and left the small break room alone.

Just what had she got herself into? Of course with Padma marrying Blaise Zabini there would be a disgustingly high number of Slytherins involved in her wedding. Hermione had just been so caught up in the excitement of being asked to be a bridesmaid that she didn't stop to consider what it might involve … or rather, who it would involve.

Nott and Malfoy? Yuck!

Wait, maybe she could get paired up with that Pucey bloke that Padma had mentioned? She couldn't recall him at all, but surely anyone was better than Nott at this stage. Yes, the next time she spoke to Padma, she would ask - no beg - to be paired with this other guy.

Author Note: Okay, so I tried looking up the ingredients for the Dreamless Sleep Potion, but alas, no luck on any of the usual HP sources. I did however, in my google adventures, see that World of Warcraft has a similar potion. Therefore, the Nightmare Vine has been borrowed from the WoW universe, so all credits and much appreciation to them.

What do you think about Theo's burn? And poor Hermione! What an awful wedding party to be a part of! Haha, sometimes I am just too mean to her ;P

I've loved writing this so far, and am so grateful for the wonderful feedback I've received ^^ So thank you :)

Thanks for reading! xo