shades of cool | theo nott

33 || cusp of war

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" 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙝𝙖𝙫𝙚 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙡𝙚𝙛𝙩 𝙖 𝙨𝙚𝙖𝙩 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙢𝙚?
𝙞𝙨 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙨𝙪𝙘𝙝 𝙖 𝙨𝙩𝙧𝙚𝙩𝙘𝙝 𝙤𝙛 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙞𝙢𝙖𝙜𝙞𝙣𝙖𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣?
𝙞'𝙢 𝙝𝙖𝙣𝙜𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙞𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙧𝙚, 𝙙𝙤𝙣'𝙩 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙨𝙚𝙚?
𝙞𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙥𝙧𝙤𝙘𝙚𝙨𝙨 𝙤𝙛 𝙚𝙡𝙞𝙢𝙞𝙣𝙖𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣"
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Dinner was fine. Small talk, polite smiles, and a hearty meal fresh from the shore. Vera picked at her food, wishing that she didn't have to come back to reality. Whatever this was.

Her mother had served flaky Cornish turbot on top of a bed of watercress, cabbage, and a side of brown rice, lemon garlic scallops, and a rich and creamy chopped salad for the four of them. For dessert, the elves prepared apple cider sorbet, considering it was still summer. They had outdone themselves. Too bad that Vera hated seafood.

Theo smiled at all the right times, laughed at the right jokes, and pressed his hand into her thigh under the table as he charmed her parents once again. He timed it so that no one would notice as his hand drifted from his napkin to his girlfriend. She was wearing a light and flowy sundress, due to her mother's insistance that she wear something lovely for dinner.

Her father listened intently as she described all of her volunteer work, leaving out the parts where she had to interact with all of those muggles and muggleborn homeless people. Theo also listened deeply during this part, considering she had never told her about any of this when they were still in Italy.

She would just come back from volunteering, change her clothes, take a shower, and then take a nap with Theo, the sun from the window giving them deep tans as they slept carelessly, legs tangled.

She described the office work she did, the money they generated through the fundraisers, and how the workers all congratulated her on her first promotion from volunteer to paid intern. Her father congratulated her on making her mark on the world at such a young age.

Vera could have sworn she spotted her mother roll her eyes as she glanced sideways at her father.

They finished up dinner and said bye to Theo, who daringly pressed a kiss to her cheek in front of her parents before he left.

For the next few days, Vera hid herself inside her room, determined to go as long as possible without talking to her mother. She read her books, did some yoga and meditation, and wrote all about her holiday with Theo in a journal, including all of the juicy bits, meticulously, detail by detail. She then placed multiple locking charms on the journal, praying that her future children didn't find it, or worse, her mother or father.

The week after that, Vera's mother called her down, a huge white binder in her hands. "Come now, you must start planning your birthday ball. August is readily approaching." She gave her a small smile that Vera felt forced to return.

Seeing her father in the corner of her eye, she turned around. "Daddy!" She exclaimed, gesturing him to come towards them with her eyes.

"Hi, Veve, yes?" He asked, taking a seat at the kitchen island, staring warily at the large binder that sat in front of them.

"Mother, I don't know if I should have my birthday ball now." Vera said quietly. Cassius winced as Alma's eyes flashed with rage.

"You have got to be kidding me, Vera Saltori, I swear to Salazar--" Her mother started, her voice raising.

"Alma, hear her out." Cassius crossed his arms, staring at Vera. "Please."

"The Dark Lord," The name felt bitter on her tongue as she spoke,  "He would be angry that we are spending time doing things for society pages instead of helping his agenda."

Alma looked thoughtful. "Wouldn't the Dark Lord appreciate if we distracted from everything with more parties and pureblood events?" She turned to Cassius now, fully disregarding her daughter who brought up the intelligent point in the first place.

"Not necessarily." Cassius looked alarmed as if he should have thought of that in the first place. "Als, I think that she is correct. If we take away from the Dark Lord just as things are starting to go his way, our family will be punished accordingly. You saw what happened to Lucuis, Corban, Evan, Goyle, and even Tiberius." His eyes flitted towards his daughter before he twisted back to Alma and whispered, "and their families."

Vera could barely make out what he said but she could infer what the end of that sentence had been. Her heart hurt for her boyfriend. She imagined deep blue eyes, an intelligent mind that spewed profound thoughts, pink lips curled into a smirk, and kisses on her pulsepoint. Vera always wanted him to be okay.

"Regardless, what will everyone else think?" Alma huffed, tying up her golden locks with her wand into a bun lazily, something she only did in the confines of her own home. "She has one of the latest birthdays, every other girl her age has had one."

Cassius stared deeply at his wife. His voice was serious as he began speaking again. "Perhaps they will assume that we are on the cusp of a war.  I am actually quite angry at myself for not taking it as seriously as Veve had the foresight to do." He shook his head.

"Don't be silly." She swatted him with her free hand, looking upset. "She's just a girl."

"I am only in the Ministry, Alma. I don't do that dirty work anymore because I have a family. The Dark Lord hasn't summoned me because I can assist his agenda from the inside if needed." Vera's father sighed, thinking deeply about the future. Maybe Vera's father was also stuck on which side of the war to choose, similar to Vera and Theo. "Luckily, it hasn't come to that yet. I don't want us to be moved further up on his list, which I know He must have somewhere, just because we refuse to cease throwing a birthday party." Cassius' stern voice caused Alma to step back for a moment, staring back with narrowed eyes.

Before her mother could speak again, Vera quickly responded.

"Please, I don't want anything bad to happen." Vera said, still thinking of Theodore and his twisted life. "I'll do anything you want, just cancel the ball."

"Anything?" Alma smiled cruelly as if she had her claws in her quarry now. "Come here then, I know what my first request will be."

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a/n:
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