laconic • t.nott ✓

02 ➺ handsome cheekbones

「 HANDSOME CHEEKBONES 」

THEO OPENED HIS EYES AND instantly groaned.

It was one of those times when his entire day would be ruined because he had neglected to sleep properly the night before. Even as he lay unmoving on the armchair, his limbs protested weakly as they lay folded at odd angles. With some effort, Theo wrenched his arm out from underneath him and after giving his body a few minutes of rest, he stood, joints cracking and shifting as he did so. He stretched, relishing as the soreness gradually subsided, and then looked around at the deserted common room.

The Slytherin common room was situated in the dungeons, meaning it was blind to the outside world. The small circular windows gave the view of the dark waters of the Black Lake where occasionally one could witness the Giant Squid passing by, and very rarely, one or two merpeople could be seen. Theo often enjoyed sitting by one of the windows and watching the view it had to offer.

Judging by the lack of people in the room, he guessed that it was probably very early in the morning – perhaps the sun hasn't risen yet. But he was in no mood to go back to sleep – he doubted he could sleep anyway – and thus, decided to start the day early. If he was going to live the days with little sleep, he might as well make the most out of it.

When he entered the dorms, he found his dorm mates in deep sleep. From the bed in one corner, the deafening snores of Crabbe could be heard. He cringed internally at the almighty sound, wondering how he had been able to sleep well all these years.

Theo picked up his bag to pack it with the books he would need for the day but as he unzipped it, he found that Blaise had already done the job last night. Extracting his school robes from under the bed, he went to the bathroom to take a shower. He stood under the cool water for a long time, allowing it to wash away his tiredness.

When he was fully dressed, he wondered if he should wake Blaise up, but decided against it. Swinging his bag over his shoulders, he left the common room and walked out of the Slytherin dungeons.

The higher he went, the more lit up the place became, although it was still quite dark for the sun was still behind the horizon, waiting for the right moment to slide out and wash the earth with all its glory. Instead of going to the Great Hall, Theo took a detour and began to walk aimlessly down the corridors.

It took him a few more minutes of walking to finally register and acknowledge how very different early morning Hogwarts was from the one he was used to seeing. Eerily silent – no voices, no sounds of footsteps – the castle showed no movement. It almost felt like Hogwarts was sleeping, taking a well-deserved rest after having held about three hundred rowdy students in its heart for an entire day. Theo almost felt like he was intruding upon the castle's slumber.

As he rounded a corner, he abruptly came across two kids, most probably second years, walking in his direction. They froze upon seeing him and their eyes, which had initially been alight with laughter, turned to stone. Their eyes flitted down to his robes, very obviously Slytherin, and something sparked in them – fear. They retreated a few steps, snuggling close to each other. Theo was momentarily surprised at their reaction, but he understood why they were acting so.

It was unfair, he thought. When he was a second year, there was very little that could take the joys out of his life. And now, there were these kids – scared out of their wits upon seeing an older student, someone who was supposed to act as an older brother to them, not someone who would make them want to fear for their lives.

Theo was never one to exaggerate things, and he realised with a jolt that it certainly wasn't an exaggeration when he said "fear for their lives." When he was twelve, the worst he had feared was not handing in McGonagall's homework on time, and thus earning himself detention which usually included helping out a teacher with their work, or helping Filch scrub the toilets. These children, however, had to walk the castle with constant fear wriggling inside their hearts – fear of being too late in class, fear of being too loud, fear of asking questions to the teacher, fear of coming across a Slytherin who had every chance of hexing them, fear of getting on the Carrows' bad sides. Fear of existing.