Nott Your Boyfriend | A Slytherin/Hufflepuff Romance

Chapter 31: Lost Friends And Letters

It was like Hannah Abbott had suddenly disappeared from Hogwarts. The whole morning Susan Bones had been looking for her best friend, but she couldn't find her anywhere. After Zacharias had told her he hadn't spoken to Hannah the day before she had immediately gone to the Great Hall where she found Ernie and Justin. They hadn't seen Hannah at breakfast, even though they had been there for a while. Susan strongly suspected that Hannah had never gone to the Great Hall after leaving their dorm. Which meant that she had lied twice to her in the last twenty-four hours. This wasn't like Hannah at all and Susan was getting worried.

She didn't have any classes with Hannah that morning, but Susan was sure she would find her friend at lunch. So when Hannah skipped a second meal in the Great Hall that day alarm bells went off in Susan's head. Something had happened.

Now she was heading to Charms, the first class that day that she shared with her best friend. When she arrived at the door she searched for their usual spot but only Justin was seated there. Hannah's seat next to him was empty. Maybe she was just late, Susan tried to soothe herself.

Justin waved at her when he saw her in the doorway and she was about to wave back when someone bumped into her. Susan almost lost her balance, but a hand steadied her. A familiar citron scent hit her nose.

"I'm so sorry. I didn't see you."

Susan froze. She had been so focused on finding Hannah that for a moment she had forgotten that Theodore also took this class. And now his hand was resting on her upper arm.

She turned around and Theodore let go of her arm. He looked at the ground. His mouth was a grim thin line.

"Too occupied with thinking about Daphne Greengrass that you can't watch out where you're going?" Susan hadn't meant to say those words and she certainly hadn't meant for them to sound as harsh as they did, but apparently her tongue had other plans.

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Theodore Nott looked up at Susan Bones with shock. What did she just say?

"No Suzy," he started but then he stopped himself. This was not the time to use her nickname, he noted as Susan scrunched up her nose at the sound of it. "Daphne's stalking me."

"Yeah right," Susan interrupted him. He wanted to tell her that Daphne meant nothing to him, how she was the only girl he ever thought of. But then he remembered that he couldn't be in a relationship with her, so he held his tongue.

"Seems like everyone's lying to me nowadays. I'm not surprised you're joining in on the fun," Susan spat at him. He had never heard her speak so viciously. It felt like she was stabbing him right in his chest. He also had no idea what she was talking about. So when she turned her back to him and marched away to her seat, he just stared after her.

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"Are you okay?" Justin asked Susan as she sat down next to him. His eyes flicked towards Theodore at the other side of the classroom for a brief moment before looking back at her.

"Everything's just great," she replied sourly as she watched both Theodore and Seamus. Maybe dating someone you share classes with seems fun at the time, but when it's over it's just a bitter reminder of your failed relationship. And moving on would be a lot easier if she didn't have to see their stupid cheating faces ever again.

Professor Flitwick arrived and he was just about to close the door as a flushed-looking Hannah stuck her face through the door opening. Susan perked up. Hannah was mumbling something to the professor, probably some profound sounding apology.

As her friend slipped into the seat next to her Susan leaned closer to her and whispered: "Where have you been all day?"

"Sorry, I've just been busy," Hannah quickly replied while getting her textbook out of her bag, but she didn't even look at Susan. When even Hufflepuffs started lying to one another, the end of the world couldn't be far away.