mind over matter - theodore nott

o3. some sort of way

SOME SORT OF WAY

Defence against the dark arts, one of my least favourites. Honestly, the only thing that had ever contributed the most to defence against the dark arts being high on my ranking of lessons, is because in every other year, me and Lena were sat next to each other. But this year we had a new professor. Professor Snape. We'd had multiple professors for this class before but Snape was one I was really not looking forward to. But, hey, no one can be as bad as Umbitch, right? Lupin was by far my favourite, he was probably my favourite professor out of every other one in the whole school if I'm being totally honest. But he want here for long at all.

I walked through the dark corridors of Hogwarts, they seemed to get darker every year. Everything did now. The scent of cigarettes, burnt wood, aftershave and weed, or some shit similar, still lingered in my senses. It was clinging on for dear fucking life. I couldn't get rid of it.

As I entered the classroom, there were already quite a few others there, including Lena, all waiting at the back of the room to get their assigned seats. I stood myself next to my friend and neatened out my robe at the back before professor Snape stormed into the room, his cape flowing behind him before it began to drag on the floor following Snape.

"I swear to god if we aren't sitting together, I'm gonna sue." Lenora exclaimed from beside me with a serious face. I nodded in response to her statement as Snape made his way up to the front, turning to look at us students, carefully deciding on where to sit us. Usually, we would be able to sit where we wanted, but not this time.

There were only a few students left now, even Lena had been seated, leaving me, Blaise, Pansy, and Theodore. I wouldn't have minded being sat next to Blaise, we get along quite well. We're not close but we're friends, I guess. Pansy would just be funny with me if we got sat next to each other so I silently prayed that we wouldn't be sat next to each other, which actually seemed to work. "Zabini and Parkinson, here." Snape gently placed his cloak-covered hand on the desk he wanted the two to sit at. This left me and Theodore. Oh, shit.

"Nott and Mortimer." There was only one desk left now so we both got the idea that was the one we were to sit at without Snape having to point it out. I watched as Theodore made his way over to the desk and I loosely followed behind him in his smooth pace. He made no effort to speak to me when we sat down, only making the effort to drop his heavy book onto the table and lean forward in his seat, not being able to slouch backwards because, as annoying as it can be, there aren't any backs to these bloody benches. With both his arms crossed on the table in front of him, he looked straight ahead.

I rested my head in my hand, facing the front of the class. All was fine until I had noticed the all-too-familiar scent was the strongest it had been yet. My nostrils flared at the strong smell, trying to figure out in which direction it was travelling from. There was one that stood out, the one beside me. The one who sat completely and utterly oblivious to my fast-paced heartbeat and my shaking right leg. The one identified as Theodore Nott. Lena was right. Cigarettes, aftershave, burnt wood, and some sort of drug or whatever. The scent of Nott. The realisation made me roll my eyes slightly in annoyance. I hadn't even spoken to the guy yet, why the fuck would I want to become bloody obsessed with him?

As the lesson wore on, my leg didn't stop. The shakes were still at the same pace fifteen minutes later. But, suddenly, the anxious knot repeatedly tying itself up in my empty stomach paused. The sirens going off in my head stopped. Everything was put on hold. And the only feelings felt were warmth, nervousness, and confusion, as Theodore Nott's knee made contact with my own, causing the shaking to slowly end, bringing the anxiety levels to a bare minimum. I didn't move my leg from its position, not wanting to make the situation the slightest awkward but also just not wanting to move it. And, to my surprise, his leg stayed there, until the very end of the class. But there was one thing that stuck on my mind the whole time, us being sat next to one another clearly stated that we were going to be partners in this lesson for any tasks or other shit that we had to get done, meaning we were far from never speaking. But, for all we knew, this could just have been it. The silent lessons sitting beside each other, legs touching, facing the front, no words being emitted. The unspoken eye contact that could last for seconds as we caught the others eye from across the room. This could've been all we were made for, one-way pining from me.