End of Sallow

Say that you'll bring me along.

He was gone for far longer than he should have been. Podex had been all too happy to send him off to gather ancient magic and to weed out the goblins and dark wizards with the goblins plans in mind. And Theo killed them, not bothering trying to get answers, even if it did seem they knew where the repository was. Due to his vow, wording would have to be very careful, and Theo didn't have the patience for it. So, everyone died without questions and without mercy.

And by the time he got back, Levi was asleep, though he'd left a very angry letter on his bed, telling him that he was worried and he'd better be back by morning so they could talk. The thought of talking it out with Levi wasn't something Theo looked forward to.

But what was worse was the fact that even after being gone and working all the damn day, after showering and dragging his feet to his dorm. He wasn't tired enough to sleep. He sighed as he got out of his bed, glancing around. Maybe if he read, he could go to sleep. But that's when he came across the recipe book Tessa had given him.

He realized then that he hadn't eaten all day either. Usually that kind of thing was on the forefront of his mind, but now...

He flipped through the pages until he found something that looked easy enough to cook and made his way to the kitchens.

Unfortunately, it was not as easy as it looked. Millie had asked multiple times if she could help but Theo had just politely told her no, explaining he didn't want to use any magic. The elf very obviously didn't understand why, but didn't question him on it.

But when she tried to ask for the cookbook to read for herself, Theo found he couldn't give it to her. "I just need to figure this out myself, please, Millie?" He asked, and he knew his voice was starting to sound desperate. There was flour everywhere from trying to make the damn dough on the name of the dish. Pork dumplings, which was apparently some sort of appetizer. No matter what he did, they weren't coming out right.

Millie had given up on trying to help, pacing the kitchens as he worked, too worried to even leave Theo alone for long. Theo couldn't run his fingers through his hair without a slight sharp tug now because of the sticky flour making his hair stick together.

No matter how much he tried, the dough was not sticking to edges correctly, the pork falling out as soon as he went to lift it and put it to fry in a pan.

The ones that did make it, he could hardly taste the pork at all. It was mostly dough.

"Millie has brought friend! Maybe she can help?"

What? He hadn't even noticed that Millie had stepped out, but when he looked up and saw Charlie, he fixed his expression quickly, even though his chest squeezed and ached immediately upon seeing her.

Charlie scoffed as Millie snapped away, apparently feeling that Theo was safe in Charlie's hands. If only she knew.

"Why do you do that?" Charlie asked in a snap, that mistrusting expression coming back to her face. But his eyes didn't stay on hers for long.

He felt like he couldn't breathe.

She was wearing his damn quidditch jersey. It hurt.

"Up here, pervert. You don't need to be staring at me like that," Charlie growled, snapping her fingers to get his attention.

"Why are you wearing that?" He rasped, hating his voice at the moment. It was obvious he was in pain.

She looked down at herself, frowning, as if she didn't realize what she'd put on before leaving the sanctuary of her room. "It was just... The first thing I grabbed..." She murmured. "I hate quidditch."

I know he wanted to say, but he knew that would just lead to disaster. Knowing Charlie when she didn't know him was the worst mistake he could make. So instead of answering or saying anything, he turned back to his messy counter top.