shades of cool | theo nott

24 || talking

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"𝙮𝙚𝙖𝙝 𝙢𝙮 𝙗𝙤𝙮𝙛𝙧𝙞𝙚𝙣𝙙'𝙨 𝙥𝙧𝙚𝙩𝙩𝙮 𝙘𝙤𝙤𝙡, 𝙗𝙪𝙩 𝙝𝙚'𝙨 𝙣𝙤𝙩 𝙖𝙨 𝙘𝙤𝙤𝙡 𝙖𝙨 𝙢𝙚."
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Vera gave her friends a grin as they stepped onto the train. "Feels nice to be going home." She remarked, swinging past compartments until she reached their favorite one. She took a seat by the window, Theo already beside her before she got a chance to ask him. "I like school but summer is just perfect."

"I suppose." Draco shrugged; the boy was still bitter about his father going to jail. Luckily, Dumbledore had forced the Ministry to control the media outlets, meaning that Draco, Theo, and Mattheo were safe from the Daily Prophet ruining their lives. For now, at least.

"I'm certainly happy to be on vacation." Pansy drawled, staring Draco down. Their whole situationship had gotten even tenser with everything going on and it meant he lashed out at her a lot more often. "Should we go on holiday together this year?" The girl asked, turning herself to look away from the blond and face the entire group instead.

"Mother's not going to take me on hers so, yeah, sounds good." Blaise nodded, not looking up from his novel.

"What if we went to Switzerland? Or Marseilles? I am part-French, you know." Enzo added, grinning at them.

"Say one sentence in French." Theo muttered, making eye contact with Vera. They still hadn't told their friends about their own plans. "And it can't be just hello or yes."

"Oui, je suis une pain au chocolat." Enzo stuttered out but still hoisted his head high and proud.

"Yes, I am a chocolate croissant?" Vera asked, crossing her arms over her chest. Pansy laughed as she leaned onto the window to get some rest.

"I don't know about that one V. Are you sure?" Enzo giggled, shaking his head at his own joke. "I am too good. Obviously she isn't a chocolate croissant."

"Alright buddy." Blaise drawled, his face still in his book. "Take a nap."

"Okay." Enzo shrugged, sliding into himself on the seat, trying to get comfortable. That was that.

Mattheo was silent and had been silent ever since that fateful night at the Ministry. Other than a few occasional words, he was practically mute. It hurt Vera to see one of her closest friends like this, especially because it was a complete 180 from the Mattheo that she was used to. She hated that her entire friend group got to feel what it was like to view Mattheo Riddle as an outsider.

Vera looked at Theo. He always bundled his emotions deep inside him so he would never upset her. After seeing her cry that day, he had been reluctant to share any details about the case. When she turned to silently stare at the boy and see what he was thinking, he seemed to have noticed her presence. He smiled at her and brushed a loose strand of hair out of her face. "Hey Veve." Theo said, acting as if they weren't right next to each other for a good ten minutes now. "How's it going?"

"Just swell, Theodore, and you?" The cherry haired girl responded, his smile too contagious.

"Pretty splendid." He answered, nodding as he turned to face the window outside the compartment.

"Huh?" Vera raised an eyebrow matter-of-factly. "Really?" She drew that last word out, causing him to eye her out of the corner of his eye.