mind over matter - theodore nott

1o. birthday boy

BIRTHDAY BOY

November the first had already come around: Malfoy and Zabini raced down the stairs into the common room, both with large smiles on their faces. They were closely followed by a happy yet tired-looking, messy haired Theodore Nott, who still rocked the faded black eye he was given from Cormac McLaggen; whom had also suffered with a black eye, and a swollen lip, but he somehow got rid of the swollen lip extremely quickly.

The trio ran down to where me and Lenora were sat, on the only sofas in the room. It may have been early but Lena was meant to be doing some sort of test for muggle studies today and she hadn't studied at all. This mishap caused Lena to wake up at three am that morning and panic with realisation that she had a test that day.

On the other hand, I didn't do muggle studies, I already grew up in the muggle world anyway. Sure, I still grew up around magic, given that my whole family are a part of this devious world, but the south west of England was a very muggle-ish place to grow, if you ask me.

Theodore had a joyful yet pained tint to his look that day as he messed around with his two closets friends. His face was very readable, to me, anyways.

"Happy birthday!" Lenora greeted Theodore as he sat down on the sofa, opposite me.

It was his fucking birthday?

"Thanks." Theodore gave her a small smile before relaxing into the sofa, looking my way.

"Happy birthday." I managed to word, somehow having all of my words crammed at the back of my throat, not being able to escape.

His small smile grew and the look in his mischievous eyes became purer than before, with less pain overpowering the happiness. He nodded once before getting pounced on by two excited slytherin boys. They were both ten times more excited than Theodore, the birthday boy. I knew why.

That year had already resulted in Hogwarts being overpowered by dark forces, and the birthday of someone who was also being dragged down by darkness was something the boys were happy about; it gave them a reason to be happy.

Theodore groaned a laugh as Blaise grabbed a wrapped present from the desk to my right, walking over to the curly haired boy. "I said no presents." Theodore stated with a deep, raspy morning-voice. Bloody hell, his voice.

"Do you really think we give a fuck?" Blaise objected, tossing the present into Theodore's lap.

He was wearing the same plaid pyjama bottoms as he wore the night I went up to his dorm, the night I got high for the first time. He was also wearing a grey sweatshirt, but lord did he look fine. This mother fucker looked fine doing literally everything.

"Thanks." He picked the present up off his lap and stared at it as he turned it in his fingers. His smile soon faded as he looked at the small present in his hands, confusing me as such.

After the other day, me cleaning his blood-stained lips, his hands on my hips, the all-too-familiar scent of him filling my senses, the everlasting glances, longing, yearning for him; we hadn't spoken since. The short-lasted looks were all I lived off during the time we were cold. But after ten days of trying to understand what the fight was about, my brain still hadn't figured it out. It was still a mystery to me. And so was Theodore Nott.

"Open it!" Malfoy excitedly commanded from beside the hesitant slytherin.

Theodore purses his lips into another little smile before ripping the shiny, black paper.

Inside was a black box, and inside that was a silver chain. Theodore grinned at both of the boys, taking out the chain and holding it with two of his fingers.

"It attracts the ladies." Malfoy remarked with a smirk worn on his face. He stood up from where he was sat on the arm of the sofa and grabbed a few things from behind, earning a puzzled look from Theodore whom was twirling the silver chain with his fingers, amusingly.

Malfoy popped up with loads of boxes and packets of wizard chocolates and sweets, from Chocolate Frogs to Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans. Theodore's smile widened as the sweet treats fell onto his lap. "Thanks, mate."

I felt sort of sad that I didn't get him anything. After all, this year was already shit, we needed something to cheer us up. However, I didn't know it was his birthday in the first place so that's the reason I had no gift, but I wish I had known.

"You never told us anything you wanted, so we just got you what we thought you'd like." Blaise explained, perching himself on the leather coffee table.

"Yeah, there weren't many things on my mind that were possible to get." I was almost caught off guard when Theodore's eyes locked with mine after he made that statement, his head was faced more downwards but his eyes were looking up at me. He had the slightest, visible smile on his lips. But his eyes said nothing, as if he were emotionless.

His lips pursed together before he turned away, shortly followed by him putting his new, silver chain on.

Lord, have mercy.

"See, all the girls are gonna fall for you now." Draco teased.

"As if they haven't already." Blaise protested with a scoff, inspecting a pack of Exploding Bonbon's.

Theodore smirked at the snarky comment before pushing the piles of treats off his lap and beginning to stand up, earning puzzled looks from his two friends.

"Where are you off to?" Malfoy asked, his eyebrows furrowed.

Theodore turned round in his spot, "It's my birthday."

The statement didn't help with the confusion worn by the two other slytherins.

"I'm not going to school on my birthday." Theodore replied bluntly, a tone as if he was staring the obvious.

He turned to walk again, this time not stopped by any of us, whilst me and Lenora were just finishing off the last part of her required homework for today.

The messy-haired boy's head took one last turn right before he left the room, his craved gaze meeting mine with more emotion this time; it read some sort of joy, but also darkness.

And then, he left.