Wolves Without Teeth ── theodore nott ¹ ( UNDER EDITING )

chapter eleven

              𝖂innie desperately wished for some coffee. She had never wanted the substance more than that morning in almost sixteen years. She had endured an awful night trying to escape Professor Umbridge's quills and snotty eyes. ( It had been two days since the meeting in the Room of Requirement, and Winnie spent most of her time trying to practice the spells and avoid Theodore Nott. ) It also hadn't helped that everyone everywhere seemed to be whispering and talking about the upcoming quidditch match that night — Winnie absolutely hated the sport, and with Gryffindor going against Slytherin, she wanted to be as far away from the bloody mess as she could.

         She had already planned to hide away at her table in the library, perfectly content with pretending the world did not exist. Thank you very much!

       It certainly didn't help that her skin was feverous, her tie laid against her bedpost back in her dorm room, knitted blazers off and forgotten as she chewed relentlessly at her fingernails. They were bloody and chipped from the sharp edges of her teeth, and shivers trickled down her spine, creating goosebumps against her skin. The pride her sister, felt suffocated her at every chance they got, mixing with the slight fear her fellow housemates got with each passing day. Winnie no longer knew how to separate others' emotions from her own. She felt their pain, their fear that overclouded her own.

       She couldn't even feel her fear about the impending future that awaited her at home; instead, others choked and ruined her. She thought of that now as she made her way to Herbology, the outside air blowing against her flushed skin, despite the goosebumps appearing on her arms, sweat beaded at her forehead with the shaking of her fingers.

     Winnie entered the greenhouse, finding people already off in pairs, whispering to the partners. Instantly, she felt the familiar prickling of pins and needles against her back as she turned her gaze toward her partner. All emotions that swirled in the room sliced off, leaving nothing but the numbness of her own swirling in her head. Against her better judgement, she sighed in relief, shoulders unstraining from the built-up tension she had gathered over the past few days as she made her way towards Nott.

      He had begun to watch her every move since the horrid hand print, and while she tried to avoid him at every corner, Winnie, too, had found herself paying more attention to him after that. While the blonde was comfortable ignoring his presence, her watchful eyes had picked up things about him that she simply couldn't forget, no matter how much she wished to.

       She noticed that he almost always had a smile, but not the dimpled one she saw when he laughed at something she said. It was half filled with emotion, cutting off the tiny dimples in his cheeks. It didn't crinkle the corner of his green eyes, nor did he shake his head, causing small bunches of his curls to brush against his forehead untimely. It only tilted the pink of his lips against the olive of his skin, only a smile that was put on for show.

      She noticed that he greeted people he didn't even know in the hallways, flashing them hello as he passed. That same, almost smile trickled against his features as he raised his hand in a greeting. The more minor children had begun to say hello when they saw him, breaking out into wide grins that cherished him in adoration.