FORBIDDEN SOULS.

ULTRAVIOLENCE.

filled with poison,
but blessed with
beauty and rage.

"Do you have a death wish?" Pansy fumed under her breath, considering the numerous lectures they'd received from the more peacekeeping members of the group (Graham, Astoria, and Millicent) to under no circumstances speak negatively of Tom in Talia's presence.

Did he have a death wish? A lust for life, definitely. His tendency to test the boundaries of his own life could be considered a death wish, but maybe he was just careless. Wild Theo Nott, without a care in the world. Was that not who he was—who he claimed to be? Brave Theo Nott, helping Talia Riddle despite the danger attached to her. Maybe he just held no regard for his own life— it had never been worth more than galleons and old-money prestige anyway.

'She's already erratic enough,' Graham had remarked the other day, after she'd had a fitful conversation with Daphne, a conversation that had left Daphne in tears, Astoria in a rare form of anger, and the rest of Slytherin in dismay. 'Do you really want to be the next victim?'

"Well, how can we send her back if we don't know who did this to her?" Theo snapped back. Clearly, he did have a death wish.

"Surely you could've been more delicate—"

"When have you ever been concerned about being delicate, Pansy?"

"In situations where I don't want to end up like that bedframe." Pansy pointed to her right, at the admittedly very ravaged bed frame.

Talia rolled her eyes. "I'm not going to blow up, so can the pair of you please get a grip on yourselves?"

There was a beat of silence while they all looked around at the once-pristine, now-destroyed dorm room.

She conceded, waving her wand in a few silent motions to restore the room's glory, with the green and silver drapes practically shimmering. "I'm not going to blow up, again." She corrected herself. When Pansy averted her eyes and Theo raised an eyebrow, she looked up in frustration. "Today. I am not going to blow up, again, today. Is that good enough?"

"Perfectly charming and reassuring." Theo nodded at her. "Would you like some parchment to write down that list of Tom's enemies that we were about to discuss?"

He ignored Pansy's narrowed eyes and chose to keep contact with Talia. She looked to be deep in thought. Theo would be lying if he said she wasn't unbelievably beautiful in that moment—in all moments, in fact.

"Get me the parchment then." She sat down at the desk that accompanied her side of the room while Theo easily summoned parchment, fishing through his robes for a spare quill.

"Here you go!" He said brightly when he found one, passing it to Talia, ignoring the granules of sugar nestled in his pocket and then also scattering around him when he handed it over.

"This is a...sugar quill." The corners of her lips almost turned into a laugh. "How many of those do you happen to have lying in your pockets?"

"Several, on a good day," Theo laughed, swapping it for a genuine quill and taking a bite of the sugared version. "Of course, I can't remember the last time we were in Hogsmeade, so I could well be running low."

A knock on the door sounded, and Pansy was only too happy to dart over and answer. Orion Lestrange was at the door, without his other half for once.