Pulling Strings - Theodore Nott

30. Ambitious

Her ears were ringing and she felt herself moving in slow motion, almost as if her limbs were not hers to control. It was either that or she was still dazed from the prolonged kiss she had shared with the boy next to her.

She avoided looking at him. The last thing she wanted to see was that disgusting self-satisfied smirk on his face.

Things had gone way out of her control. She should've never offered this, but there was no other way to get the information she needed. Actually, he shouldn't have put her in that position. She tried to get mad at him, to blame him for it but something would not let her.

Perhaps it was the fact that her lips were still tingling. She could feel him still, and she hated that.

Now she was once again sitting on his bed, where she never should've sat to begin with. Looking down at her hands fidgeting on her lap, gathering the courage to raise her head and face him once again. She still needed that answer. There was no way that she was going to uphold her end of the deal and he wasn't. Not when it had cost her so greatly.

Her breath was coming out ragged, still. But she had started to suspect that it had more to do with the tense situation at hand than as an after effect of being breathless for a long period. Or she convinced herself of that.

When she finally raised her head, she was met with Zabini's playful smirk, but much to her surprise, it was not directed at her.

"Here," He threw a pillow from his bed at Theodore's head which he promptly caught and lowered it to his lap. "You can keep it." His laughter filled the quiet room.

Theodore, for his part, did not laugh. She tried to look at him, covertly, not wanting to make it obvious that she was intrigued by the previous exchange. He looked...normal. The only tell that he had been kissing her not even a minute ago was the redness of his lips. He did not look agitated like she felt and he certainly did not look as...affected as she felt.

Of course he wasn't. She didn't know what she had expected.

"You're not funny," Theodore spoke for the first time, but not directed at her, obviously. His eyes were narrowed, looking at his friend standing a few steps away from them. "And I don't—" He closed his mouth shut, after giving her a quick look.

The silence only gave Blaise another window of opportunity to tease his friend. "Mhm, should we ask her?"

"Ask me, what?"

This time, she felt Theodore's eyes on her before they shifted to his friend once again. A warning tone in his voice. "Blaise..."

He chuckled, not at all intimidated by Theodore. Then looked at her, almost as if considering his next words carefully. His face was alight with pure glee, clearly enjoying the discomfort in the room. Then, he sighed.

"I'll spare you this time, Theo," She noticed how Theodore's shoulders relaxed and wondered why he was so tense to begin with. The only one in a compromising position was her. "But only because I owe you." He shrugged. "I guess I will have to take my leave now—Oh, Selwyn? I'll let Anna know you are...occupied, she asked me to see if you were still here." When he was finished, he threw a wink at her and left the room, shutting the door on his way out.

The loud bang of it was followed by the utmost silence. It suddenly felt like all the air had been sucked out of the room.

She took a deep breath. She could do this, she had to.

Turning around on the mattress, she faced him. "So...what do you know?" Her voice tried its hardest to remain even but she did not miss the small pitchiness.