laconic • t.nott ✓

30 ➺ home

「 HOME 」

THE VERY FAMILIAR DOOR LOOMED threateningly before him. Or rather, Theo imagined it was threatening. It was a simple enough door - thick wood carved with floral patterns - that hummed with magic every time he pressed his palm on its surface. The magic was meant to keep muggles out though Theo couldn't see why anyone with a shred of sense would come to a place like this, for the house was nestled in the middle of the woods. Trees grew close around the house and shrubs crawled up its walls and poked through rusted windows.

Theo had stopped at the large wrought iron gate that stood a hundred metres away from the house. A crooked path led from the gate to the porch, but Theo couldn't get his feet to move. He stared at the house, at its brick walls and dark windows, at the almost broken down roofs. One of the windows on the top floor was lit up - his father's room. He imagined Tristan Nott on his bed, perhaps devising new plots to get under the Dark Lord's good graces, not dreaming for a second that his son was right outside the house, gathering the courage to get in.

The train ride to King's Cross Station was rather uneventful. Theo had spent most of the time curled into a ball by the window, listening to Blaise as he seized every chance he got to convince Theo to go with him to his place. Theo had left the compartment only twice - once to go and say hi to Seamus, and once to ask Draco to check on Luna for him. Theo had asked him to write to him, but Draco was reluctant to do so considering that the Dark Lord had made his home into his headquarters, but eventually, he had agreed to sneak into his basement to check on Luna and give updates to Theo once they returned to Hogwarts after the break.

At the station, Theo had said goodbye to Blaise and Corben and apparated right outside the woods inside which was concealed his house. It was quite a long way from the edge of the woods to the centre, but there was a well-paved path that Theo loved walking on. It was lined with bushes on either side and Theo could often spot a squirrel or two. Besides, the walk would clear his head and give him enough time to back away and leave should he change his mind at the last moment.

Apparently, the walk didn't do much to clear his head, for he was at the gate and still had no intention to leave.

Hoisting his backpack securely over his shoulders, Theo took a few deep breaths. He reached up to touch the sign nailed to the bars of the gate. Nott Residence, it said. Pointless, Theo thought. They never had visitors. The sign was covered in a thick layer of dust, and a trail of fingerprints was left behind when he moved his hand.

"You can do this, Theo," he whispered quietly to himself. Then he pushed open the gate and stepped into the path.

After the long walk through the woods, this journey seemed to end far too quickly and before he knew it, Theo was on the porch, facing the door. It didn't seem so threatening up close now that Theo could clearly see the etchings on its surface. Before he could change his mind, he reached up and forced the door open. A small shiver passed through him as the magic coursed through his veins.

This house - his home - was so familiar to him and yet he felt like an outsider as he stepped into the foyer. There seemed to be no sign of life in the house. The curtains were drawn tight across the high windows and even the portraits on the walls were asleep. He doubted his father ever used any of the rooms other than his own bedroom. The library on the second floor used to be a favourite haunting of Tristan Nott but he had stopped going there after the return of the Dark Lord.

Theo dropped his bag by the door and followed the carpeted hallway. The stairway was to his right but he ignored it. There was someone he needed to greet first.

"Hi, Fowley," he said once he reached the kitchen.

The house-elf who had been busy washing a piece of china jumped violently. Remarkably, the cup remained secure in her small, wrinkled hands as she ran to Theo and burst into tears.