Depths of Despair ✶ Theodore Nott

thirty four. tardiness is rarely rewarded

Although Valerie was truly not surprised, it would however turn out that Mad-Eye Moody remained a slight lunatic — his display of unforgivable curses in their very first Defense Against the Dark Arts class evidently not a one-time occurrence of mindless recklessness.

     His teaching methods remained radical, the man seemingly unbothered with curses and the subject of dark magic, and the more time passed, the more unsettled with Valerie become. Sipping his flask, his one eye able to spot everything in his surroundings, she felt strangely observed whenever he was near.

     When doing the same in return, discreetly trying to draw the figures of a pattern from the teacher's rather odd behavior, it was relatively obvious his gaze flickered back and forth between her and Harry whenever not busy with explaining the ways behind a particular defensive spell, or help a student how to properly use it. Triumph could be told apart from the lunacy within his eyes, which prompted Valerie to attempt breaking within the bounds of his mind on multiple occasions — failing each and every time, his brain so reinforced she would definitely not be able to glance within without being detected.

     "You're being paranoid," said Kieran when she confided to him about her concerns. It appeared her best friend was rather distracted as of late, the Yule ball leaving quite the impression on him as he now spent most of his days admiring Daphne Greengrass from afar. "The guy's been through a lot, if I was him I'd probably be overly cautious as well."

     Valerie had rolled her eyes upon his painfully reasonable response, however chose to dismiss the matter by teasing him about Daphne. Being suspicious of a teacher surely would get her no way else than detention, hence why she decided not to speak of it anymore: observing quietly, just in case.

     Better to be on look-out for information, than risk being surprised if danger was to strike.

     "Stop right there, miss Leclere." Severus Snape was in an abysmal mood, and it was noticeable merely by the bitterness written across his features: his dark gaze pinning her down, ridiculing her miserable attempt of sneaking inside his classroom without being noticed. Valerie cursed quietly to herself — accepting defeat as she turned to face the Potions teacher with a neutral expression on display to appear unbothered by being caught.

     "Apologies, professor." 

     "For whatever reason you decide to stomp in here, fifteen minutes late, I do not care," Snape muttered, Valerie battling the urge to roll her eyes. She normally was not one to oversleep. In fact, throughout her past four and a half years at Hogwarts, it had never happened before, and wasn't it just typical she had to premiere the experience the very day they had Potions as their first class of the day? "Ten points from Slytherin, for your tardiness. Now, sit down, and please do not disturb the lesson any further."

     She bit the inside of her cheek, able to visualize the amount of House-points dropping lower because of her — because of Snape, as he today appeared unwilling to spare her and the rest of the Slytherins the same favoritism as he usually did — however she let her glance trail across the classroom, groaning internally when the only vacant seat of course turned out to be alongside Theodore.

     Although her heart skipped a beat within her chest, unwillingness tugged at her mind. If the Yule ball and turned Kieran into a lovesick fool, it had done the opposite to Valerie. Terrified of whatever she'd felt toward Theodore on that dance floor, terrified of the butterflies swarming her stomach as he'd walked her back to their common room and said goodbye outside the girls' sleeping quarters. Unfortunately, she'd avoided him like the plague ever since, and now guilt spread across every cell in her body.

     "Sit down, Leclere," Snape's voice cut her hesitation short, his tone sharpened like the edge of a knife. She flinched in surprise, but said nothing — walking to the empty chair with her cheeks already heating up and turning red, Theodore wearing a triumphant smirk which made the situation no simpler to handle.

     The scraping sound of her chair against the tiled floor echoed emptily through the room, and she only then realized that everyone had turned to look at her after Snape's outburst. She found Kieran's gaze, sitting alongside Blaise at the front, and then she felt Harry looking her way with doubt evident across his features. Valerie frowned, but had no time to shamelessly dive into his mind to figure out what her half-brother was worrying about before a presence was leaning closer — eyes twinkling with amusement as he whispered into her ear only a short while thereafter.

     "Quite the entrance you make, Leclere." His voice sent waves of electricity down her spine, and as Valerie drew a sharp breath of air, Theodore raised an eyebrow in response to her reaction.

     Re-gaining her composure took not even a second, and after straightening out her posture, Valerie turned around to face him — hazel meeting blue. "Missed me that much, Nott?" she teased, to which Theodore chuckled.

     "Actually, yes," he continued confidently. Valerie hid her surprise, but awaited his next few words with careful consideration. "It seems that you, after the Yule ball, have been avoiding me."

     She feigned a frown of confusion. "Hm. Perhaps it has simply been coincidental?" He appeared unmistakably unimpressed with her attempt at excusing herself, and Valerie was sure her heart might as well jump out of her chest at any second as he scoffed — deeply blue eyes twinkling with amusement.

     "I don't think so. You remember when we bumped into each other in the common room the other day?" He asked, Valerie deciding to play along with the trail of oblivion.

     "I'm not sure I recall—?"

     "I said hi."

     "Oh, right. Now I remember." She searched her brain for a plausible excuse, groaning at her own stupidity when uttering aloud the most ridiculous of statements shortly thereafter. "I didn't see you until after I had already passed by. Clearly a misunderstanding..."

     "Hm. Interesting," he hummed while pretending to think back on the occurrence. "I distinctly recall you spotting me, only to turn around and walk the other way."

     Caught in a lie, Valerie parted her lips to come to her own defense, however was rudely cut off but an all the more angered voice coming from the very front of the classroom. "Nott. Leclere. Detention for disruptive behavior," Snape spoke, Valerie needing to bite her tongue to suffocate a row of profanities from being aimed at the Potions teacher. Normally she did not mind Snape, but on days like these, when his bad mood served the same effect as a Dementor robbing away all traces of happiness within your mind, she could do no else than despise him.

     "I apologize, professor," she spoke — repeating the very same words she'd spoken not to long before.

     Snape said nothing until he'd already turned back toward the board and continued writing down notes and instruction for a potion they were to brew. "Now, go back to your work."

     Theodore and Valerie shared one humorous with one another before sighing, both turning to start chopping up ingredients in silence.

. . . . .

Hi! I've been very busy this last week, which explains my infrequent updating. I'll try to write some more from now on, but feel free to point out any spelling errors in this chapter as I've been too lazy to go through it.