Depths of Despair ✶ Theodore Nott

five. rage is overwhelming

With a splitting headache, Valerie Leclere walked inside the Great Hall to eat her breakfast; Keiran by her side as they searched for an open spot at the Slytherin table to sit themselves down.

He was talking rather rapidly, but Valerie found it not within herself to wholeheartedly pay attention — it was unintentional, but a headache of which she could easily determine where it came from, tormented her enough to delay her every action, causing his words to fade into the background until he grabbed her arm and haltered her pace.

"Let's sit here", he disclaimed and pointed at the vacant couple of seats, and with a nod Valerie plopped down by the table; wincing at the pain forcing itself through her head, though quickly making sure to hide her distress.

Simply as a distraction she reached for some scrambled eggs and bacon, yet the very thought of food had her nauseated.

"We have Snape for two hours", Kieran stared as-a-matter-of-factly, looking at her rather strangely; appearing rather concerned all of a sudden. Valerie awaited further declarations, but received none — left to question whether or not that was all he wished to be said. The look on his face, however, told that it was him who waited for some sort of response, which had her only more confused.

"I know?" She eventually exclaimed rather hesitantly. Always had she been good at potions, so the knowledge of the upcoming two-hour class was
to her no bother.

"I hope you're planning on eating more than that." He pointed toward her plate: Valerie immediately looking down. There was indeed a concerning small amount of food considering she usually loved breakfast, and something within her gaze Kieran managed to de-code — tilting his head to the side. "You haven't slept." It was a statement, not a question, and Valerie could in no way decline without being caught in a lie.

She was the one able to hear his every thought as he was terrible at occlumency, however always did he somehow manage to read her like an open book.

Without answering, she shoveled some more bacon onto her plate: grasping her fork and stabbing it into the food, again and again, without eating any of it. Her silence was answer enough, and her best friend sighed deeply. "Is it the nightmares again?"

"No", she shortly replied, and Kieran quickly understood what the problem was. While she could somewhat filter her mind while awake, all defenses
against utter chaos seemed to shatter when falling asleep. Becoming a beacon for all minds within reach, all the thoughts, emotions and dreams belonging to others automatically and unintentionally hijacked, oftentimes ended up overwhelming her —her mind unable to handle the many thoughts and impressions at once.

Waking up that morning, she had felt no more rested than she had when falling asleep ten hours earlier, and the very second she dared open her eyes came the headache.

"I'm fine", she muttered when able to foresee his cascade of worry. "The headache will disappear, and I will go to Dumbledore if it continues."

He parted his lips to further lecture her, but was cut off by the screeching noise of approaching owls; both Kieran and Valerie looking up to see the mail being delivered all over the hall. While most students — her best friend included — received letters from their parents, a single newspaper only landed before Valerie mere seconds later.

Rather curiously did she unfold it, the front page able to capture her attention by simply reading the very first word. PETER PETTIGREW STILL ON THE LOOSE — she frowned at the text that followed the headline, for witnesses claiming to have spotted the Azkaban escapee appeared to only live closer and closer to Hogwarts for each passing day.

"He's getting closer", she spoke after nudging Kieran in the side. Her best friend took a few moments to read the article, then nodded his head.

"It appears so", he absentmindedly agreed, raising his fork to take a bite of his bacon. "But I'm sure it's nothing to worry about. Dementors are literally surrounding the castle, and even if he gets past them it's Potter he wants."

"Yeah, yeah", muttered Valerie, eyes going over the words again and again. It was not Pettigrew himself she was worried about — no, it was what responses his breakout from Azkaban might set in action.

"Reading the Prophet, I see", exclaimed an approaching tone, a figure haltering behind both Kieran and Valerie. The later mentioned turned around, already rolling her eyes, and to her reaction Theodore Nott only smirked. "Any news on out escapee?" Without asking for permission he snatched the newspaper from her hands — Valerie once again overtaken by the urge to hit him. "Oh, he's getting closer. That's not good."

"Will you give that back?" Valerie complained and reached out for her copy — groaning in annoyance when he simply brought it out of her reach; continuing his reading only to make her angry.

Kieran sighed at the two; never able to understand why they seemed unable to get along. He'd given up on trying to suggest a treaty, somewhere along the way figuring out it was better to simply stay out of their bickering. Never would they cease the pointless arguments, and not getting involved certainly saved him a lot of trouble.

Theodore smirked widely before he folded the Prophet and handed it back to a fuming Valerie. She accepted it with a glare and tucked it inside her shoulder bag, stabbing her fork through the last strip of bacon on her plate. "We have potions", she then muttered bitterly — Kieran forced to stand up along with her as she intended to escape Theodore Nott's presence as soon as possible.

"Indeed", Theodore, however, replied and followed them toward the exit doors — keeping up with their rather quick pace.

"What are you doing?" Valerie questioned, hazel eyes narrowing in suspicion. Almost had she forgotten about her headache, until Theodore came along with his arrogance — now every frown, every glare had her wince in pain, however she decided it was worth it.

     He had joined her by her right side whilst Kieran walked on the opposite, and his annoyingly nonchalant smirk only seemed to grow wider. "As you said, we have potions", Theodore replied as if the sight of her signs of annoyance brought him uttermost excitement. "Wouldn't want to be late, right?"

"Get lost."

"No can do."

     "Creep."

     "Idiot."

"Okay, will you two stop it?" Kieran, after deciding it was best to switch places with Valerie to prevent a physical fight, called out — grabbing onto his best friend's arm and making sure to spin her a half turn around himself so that she walked on the outside instead of in the middle.

     She grunted out a, "Thank you", however he seemed not to spare any sentiment for either of them — slowly but carefully running out of patience with their bickering.

     "Yeah, yeah. Let's just get to class."