Treacherous - Theodore Nott

Chapter Twenty Eight

The dreamless sleep potion Lorenzo brewed for me the other day has completely fixed every problem in my life. Except for the obvious one- or two.

The homework load has been grueling. I've been trying to catch up with my last few missed weeks, as well as doing makeup work and extra credit for what I wasn't able to catch up on. With my current plan, I should finish up Sunday evening.

My dueling skills have also exponentially gotten better. I was actually able to disarm Lorenzo once yesterday, which led him to promptly hex me onto my ass right after.

Mcgonagall dismisses us from class and I stuff my parchment into my bag to head to the next class.

The moment I step out of the door I am bombarded by a pack of green cloaks.

"So. What are you doing tonight, Violet?" Mattheo runs up beside me, throwing an arm over my shoulders. He's smirking playfully and his eyes have a glint of mischief.

I roll my eyes at the look. "Well, let's see." I hold up my hand to count off my tasks. "I've got a two page parchment for Snape, a teacup to turn into a gerbil for Mcgonagall, an ancient runes translation..."

Mattheo covers my hand with his, lowering it. He shakes his head solemnly and tsks. "Dearest Violet, don't you know that Ravenclaw's hosting tonight? The all house party?"

I groan and slap my hand to my forehead. I hadn't realized that the party would be tonight.

Every year, each house throws one party where members from any house are welcome to come. Slytherin's is obviously the best, with Griffyndor coming in second. No matter the house though, they're always loads of fun and turn into absolute ragers. Unfortunately, my workload is just too heavy right now.

"Violet you have to come," Lorenzo begs from my other side, still walking through the hallways.

I shake my head regretfully. "You guys, I wish I could."

He dramatically clutches his heart as if he's been stabbed. "You wound me."

"Theo's going," Mattheo taunts, wiggling his eyebrows.

"You really got him to agree to go?"

"Well, not yet. But he will!"

I chuckle at his response.

Astoria pouts at me from her spot next to Mia. I shoot her a sorry look and shrug my shoulders. She rolls her eyes at me but goes back to whatever she and Mia had been talking about previously.

"Have fun tonight you guys, I need to get to class early to ask about makeup work."

I wave goodbye and walk away from my friends, who always stay in the hallway tormenting first years until the last possible second. I walk into the classroom, but not before I hear Astoria say, "Don't worry about her, I've got it."

                        ——————————

I'm starting to worry that I'll have to change my class work schedule around because I have been working on this ancient runes project for roughly an hour and a half and have not even made a dent in it.

I groan and drop my head into my hands, rubbing circles on my temple with my thumbs. Someone approaches the table I've taken over and pulls out a chair.

"Hi Astoria," I say, head still in my hands.

"Seriously Violet, what do I have to do to get you to come out tonight?"

I look up to see her smiling brightly at me, like she knows how badly I want to go. Like if she smiles hard enough I might agree to it.

"I wish I could, you know that. I just have too much work to catch up on and I'm still fixing my sleep schedule so I can't go out and mess it up again so soon."

"Violet please," she whines.

"I don't know what else you want me to say."

"To say yes, that you'll go."

I press my lips into a line, trying to give that 'not going to happen' look.

"What if we come to an agreement?"

"What sort of agreement?" I raise a brow.

Astoria stops to think for a moment. She then looks at me, very seriously. "How about this; I'll do your ancient runes work," she stops and gestures at the pages in front of me. "And we can limit you to three drinks. I'll go back to the dorm with you at midnight." 

There's a small glimmer in her eyes. She knows that I know that she won't be going back to our dorm tonight, but the offer is tempting. This ancient runes work would take up the rest of my evening and part of tomorrow anyways, so her doing it for me might even let me move faster. As long as I limit myself to three drinks, it really should be fine.

"You really don't mind doing my ancient runes?"

She really is much better at it than I am.

"Well obviously I don't want to, but my need for you to be at this party definitely outweighs that. I've already done my work for the weekend so I'll have time," she shrugs.

I lean over and wrap her into a tight hug. "You're the best."

She grabs my shoulders and pushes me back. "No more than three drinks tonight ma'am," she says, wagging a finger in my face.

I laugh, knowing she'll be the one handing me more.

We pack my books up and walk out of the library back to our dorm together. I've wasted precious getting ready time.

"Did Nott ever agree to go?"

I pray silently in my head that Astoria won't be weird about my asking that question. I'm just curious after all.

She smirks at me. "I don't think so, but maybe he'll change his mind now that you're going."

"Don't be stupid," I swat her shoulder. "Why would he do that?"

She sighs in what sounds like exasperation. "You two are just impossible."

When we get back to our dorm, I see a small silver dress laid out on my bed.

"You were so sure I would come?" I laugh.

Astoria raises her brows. "What? I'm very persuasive."

The process of getting ready goes as it usually does. I'm curling my hair when Astoria pours me a drink. She hands it to me and mumbles something along the lines of pregame drinks don't count.

By the time I start on my makeup, Astoria is on drink number three. I'm making sure to slowly sip mine, so I'm only about halfway through my first one.

Once we're both ready and dressed, Astoria is properly sloshed.

There's a small knock on the door, and she skips happily over to it. Before she opens it, she looks over her shoulder at me slyly.

It opens to Mia of course, who she nearly knocks over with a hug.

Behind Mia are the boys, who walk in behind her.

"Ready ladies?" Lorenzo asks.

We both nod.

"Glad to see you changed your mind," he smiles at me.

"Oh please we all knew she would. She can't resist a night out with me," Mattheo inserts. He is clearly also very drunk. "And of course as soon as he found out you were going, he changed his mind as well!" He gestures to Theodore, who I hadn't noticed until now.

His hands are deep in his pockets and he has deep circles under his eyes. He doesn't react to Mattheo's taunt, but I'm not surprised. Why would he?

Astoria runs back to me, linking her arm in mine and dragging me back over to Mia, linking their arms as well.

"Let's head out folks!" She exclaims.