Harry Potter One Shots (Vol. I)

Written in the Subtext (Theodore Nott)

Honestly, I don't even know what this is ... 

I'm not proud of it but it's been a while since I updated so I decided to just post it. 

When the now seventh years had warned us about how hard the jump between a fifth year and the sixth year was, my friends and I had laughed, simply taking their words to be something they said to tease us. Or even to get back at us for the way our year had embarrassed them by setting up pranks simultaneously in the dorm rooms of the then sixth-year boys and girls dorm rooms.

Helga how I'd hoped that they had been joking but of course they weren't. The first full week of our sixth year had yet to finish and I could already feel the oncoming rise in my anxiety levels. Even now, as I walked between Wayne and Megan as we exited our Arithmancy class, I wanted to cry.

"Wasn't this year supposed to be easier?" Wayne rationalised, "Considering we're only doing the subjects that we want to?"

"Nothing in life is that straightforward," I murmured with a sigh, frowning at Mariyah when she swatted at my arm and gestured to something further down the corridor. "What? Use your words, Jones."

"Loverboy is waiting for you," she finally announced, pointing once again down the corridor. And this time knowing what, or rather who, I was supposed to be looking for, my search became much easier.

My eyes scanned the corridor, looking between the crowds of students who were making their way back to their common room after a day of lessons and found the tall Slytherin leaning against the wall. The idiot was so stubborn that he wouldn't move, even if he was in everyone's way; he would much rather make them have to walk around him. It didn't matter if he appeared rather prickly to the people who drifted past him when just the sight of the sixth year brought an instant smile to my face.

I liked to think that he reacted in a similar when he finally spied me but then again, he never really was one for outward displays of emotion. It had something to do with his father and that was a subject I knew to steer clear of. I had grown used to his taciturn nature, or rather I was trying to grow used to it, but the people I surrounded myself with, didn't seem to share my willingness to accept him as he was.

"Does he ever smile?" Wayne griped, looking him over with a Theodore with a slight frown. "I mean, a scowl is bound to be more taxing than a smile. Surely?"

"Lay off," I ordered gently, reaching out blindly to swat at Wayne's arm. "Not everyone is as smiley as you always are."

"I'd be surprised if he knows how to smile," Megan mumbled under her breath, watching as Theodore gestured for me to join him.

Biting my lip hesitantly, I looked between my friends and shook my head at Theodore's silent request. He furrowed his brows, gesturing more insistently now and I rolled my eyes; bloody Slytherins. With an apologetic smile, I said goodbye to Megan and Wayne before promising to meet them in the common room. Before they could protest, not as they would, I was making my way through the bustling crowds of the corridor, having to squeeze through some people until I was finally standing in front of Theodore.

"Did you really want to walk me back to the common room that desperately?" I asked with a slight scoff as he pushed away from the wall and started to lead me to the common room via a different, longer route. His only answer to my question was a smile that might not have even been noticed if I hadn't been keeping an eye out for it.

Like I knew he would, Theodore remained silent and didn't speak a single word until we managed to find our way into one of the smaller, lesser used corridors. The silence the hallway offered was a stark contrast to the one we had just left but, if complete silence was what it took for me to hear his voice then I welcomed it. Sure enough, once we were away from the hustle and bustle, Theo allowed the tension to bleed out of his shoulders as he straightened up to his full height, hands tucked deep into the pockets of his robes as he turned his gaze to my figure.