Just - Theodore Nott

⁂𝐒𝐇𝐎𝐖𝐄𝐑⁂

Aliyah's Pov:
Wednesday, January 10

I tried my best to stay away from everyone as much as I possibly could, which i can say worked maybe a bit, yet it didn't stop them from messaging me.

I wanted to stay away from them because I didn't want to hurt them. I didn't want their pity or sorrow either, for I'll only feel worse about myself.

I also didn't want to seem vulnerable or pathetic, which is why I also covered up every cut I'd gotten, including the one on my face.

I quickly took my place in potions class, the class slowly going quiet as Professor Slughorn walked in. "Good afternoon class, books to page 42 please" he said in his usually cheery voice.

"Today, we will be learning how to make Veritaserum" he walked around the classroom "can anyone tell me what the Veritaserum potion does?". Granger's hand immediately shot up from the front row of the classroom. I lowly raised my hand from the back.

"Yes, Ms. Riddle?" He raised a brow and everyone turned to look
I gulped. "Veritaserum is a liquid that is colorless and odorless that forces the drinker to tell the truth, yet it is not completely trustworthy, for it doesn't always show the absolute truth" i explained quickly.

Slughorn's face lit up "Very well, Ms.Riddle. Ten points to Slytherin for that" he cleared his throat and walked back to the front of the class

"As explained, Veritaserum can be used as a truth serum, and we will be working on it for this entire month, it takes approximately 28 days. Read the first paragraph of the chapter then group up and gather the ingredients mentioned" he smiled.

Group? Shit...

I moved to the group table with Lorenzo and Theodore, where I simply placed my book and immediately got up to gather the ingredients.

I placed them all on the table and started working in silence, my head down the entire time. They worked in silence as well, yet I could see them shooting each other different looks when they thought I wouldn't notice.

Just as Enzo was about to open his mouth to say something, class ended. I got out as fast as I could and ran to my locker room.

I sat there during lunch to do my assignments and then got ready for quidditch practice. I changed into my uniform, got my broom and walked out onto the pitch where most of the team already was.

It was a bit cloudy today, but no big deal, it's better the direct sunlight in your eyes.

The rest of the team arrived and we started with a few laps around the pitch, increasing speed per minute. I focused on nothing other than it, looking straight ahead as I flew.

Lucian Bole caught up to me, flying around next to me. "Hey, Aliyah..." he said awkwardly. I dud my best to ignore him but it was slowly becoming impossible as he kept nagging "please, just hear me out"

"What is it?" I grumbled "that you were too busy? Honestly, not to be narcissistic, but the only girl that genuinely asked you is the one you bailed on." I scoffed "I don't even care, I only ever asked you because I didn't want to be alone"

He sighed "Well then forget it, you're an arse anyways, no wonder you're alone. Even your friends don't talk to you" he rolled his eyes at me
His comments weren't helping, so I figured I'd give him some back.
"Thank for the reminder, Bole. Just remember that you're a great piece of shit and a little bitch" I gave him the finger and sped up.

—

I stayed in front of the hoops, protecting the quaffle from entering it at all times by kicking it aggressively. Best I could do since my hand was still a bit weak.

And somehow, mid-way through training, it started to rain. Nothing much, just light rain, so we kept going. A few minutes later, it rained a bit more.

"It's fine, we can keep going!" Marcus yelled over the noise of the rain.

Soon enough, the sky was dark, and it was pouring. Cats and dogs raining.
Before we knew it, it was a full on storm out. Crazy rain, thunder, lightning and extremely cold and heavy wind.

We all rushed back inside, hair and clothes completely soaked. Marcus said he'd arrange to get us extra time on Friday and told us all to go back to the locker rooms to shower.

I entered mine to wring my Quidditch uniform, then prepared the hot water.

As I took off the long sleeves of the uniform, i heard a knock at the door. I quickly covered my arm with the shirt and went to answer the door.

"Yes?" I said as i peeked my head out the door, only to see — Theodore. What was he doing here?

"Hey, one of the showers in the boys locker room is broken, and it's really cold. Would you mind if I... showered here?" He asked, a bit of concern plastered on his face.

"Uh, yeah, come in" i fully opened the door and he walked in, taking a look around
"This place is really clean". I nodded.

"Aliyah, and... I really need to talk to you" he sighed. I simply looked at the ground "Yeah?" , I didn't want to seem weak.

"Hey..." He lifted my chin up to get a clear view of my face "Don't hide from me... tell me, what happened?". An extremely long pause of silence is what happened after that.

I debated whether I should tell him anything or not, and I decided against it. "It's nothing, nothing" i shook my head, getting his grip off my chin.

I walked behind the lockers and undressed, covering myself with a towel. "We shower back to back, no looking" i said

"Oh- yeah, okay". He did the same.

We got in the shower at the same time. I placed my towel on the door handle of the shower area and let the hot water warm my freezing cold body.

I shampooed and conditioned my hair, and while I cleaned my body, I looked at my arm. God, that mark I despised.

I finally rinsed all the soap off before turning off the water and wrapping my towel around my body, stepping out of the shower.

As we dressed up, also back to back, I put my pants and bra on. I searched around in my locker for my shirt and I spotted Theodore looking at me concerned.

"Aliyah?" He got up and stood behind me looking at my back. "How'd you get this cut?..."

"It's nothing, I accidentally hit my back, it's nothing to worry about" i finally found my shirt and put it on.

"It's clearly not nothing, why won't you just tell me what's going on?!" He was a bit frustrated, until I turned to look at him. That's only when I realized the soap from the shower completely removed my makeup, so he could see the cut on my face.

His face immediately turned to one of concern "bella, who did this to you?" His voice broke. He caressed my cheek softly.

"It's not important" I repeated. "You can't tell anyone that you've seen this, nor the one on my back, or any of the others you saw" I demanded

... "There are more?...". I sighed, "Goodnight, Theodore." I said before running off to my dorm.

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1257 wc!!
I'm most probably not going to be writing another chapter today because I'm going out w/ my mom
Vote please!! And thank you SO MUCH to the people who are liking this story so far.
Reminder: this story is a slow burn, so it's gonna be slow
🩷🩶