YOURS TRULY, theodore nott (on hold)

ix.

dark;

I got back to the common room peacefully, but when I walked in, I was met with the eyes of Professor Sprout, who was giving me a disappointing look.

At least I'm not throwing up slugs.

"20 points. And detention for a week." I groaned, slightly happy it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. "That's not fair! They pressured me into it!"

"No excuses. You still agreed. They will be serving detention as well."

"But-"

"Detention starts tomorrow." She said sternly, walking back to her office.

I knew this was going to happen yet there was part of me that wished I was regurgitating slugs at the moment.

No.

Slugs are gross.

I walked back out not wanting to hear the complaints of losing 20 points. I let my feet carry me to the Astronomy Tower.

I laid down on my back admiring the sky. It was peaceful there. It wasn't exactly dark yet, but the sun was starting to set giving the sky a warm orange glow, with the faint outlines of the stars shining through. I loved the sky. I loved not knowing what was out there. It was intriguing, making your own theories, testing them, and proving a point. Divination was a different story; there was no way to actually tell whether the theories were right. In Astronomy, you could tell whether you were right or not, using the right equipment. It was also a lot of more interesting. Everything had a story and meaning behind it, whether or not it was actually discovered yet. Another thing, discovering things that people have yet to see, sort of having your own thing that only you knew about. It was extremely calming. The sky was pitch black now, and I was wondering how long I'd been up there.

I turned my head to check my watch for the second time that night.

5 hours.

11:11 pm.

I hadn't realized I had been up there for so long. Now it was way past curfew.

I wished I wouldn't get caught.

How wonderful. Now I'm gonna lose more house points with an extra day of detention.

Spectacular.

Footsteps snapped me out of my thoughts, and I didn't bother standing up, knowing either way I was going to get detention.

The footsteps stopped at the door and didn't say anything for a minute so I assumed it wasn't a teacher.

"I didn't take you as the type to be out past curfew, Riley."

I only hummed in response.

They laid down next to me, and I looked over to see who it was.

"I could say the same for you Justin." I stated, giving him a slight smile and he flashed one back.

"What's keeping you awake?" I asked, furrowing my brows.

"You didn't come back after your stunt, I figured you didn't make it out alive." He said.

"Oh how precious, you were worrying about me." I said, batting my eyelashes for effect.

"Yeah, and didn't you visit the hospital wing every day I was petrified last year, because you were 'worried sick'?" He fired back with the same tone I had used, smirking.

My jaw dropped and I hit him in the chest. "That was different!" He started laughing, with the echo bouncing off the walls and I crossed my arms while pouting my lip.

He nudged me. "I'm only joking."

"I know." I looked over at him and it was almost as if everything was frozen in place. His eyes looked much brighter then usual as they weren't really brown anymore, but more like the color of honey. Filled entirely with adoration. Then, I realized just how close we were. Reminding me of how close Theodore and I were in the broom closet not even a week ago, but I quickly pushed the thought aside. I looked back up at the sky and watched the stars glimmer.

I didn't know how or when, but I dazed into a deep sleep.

. * . * . * . * .

I was woken up by a clearing of a throat, and my nose soon filled with the smell of caramel. I tried to move, but soon realized my neck was stiff.

I sure as hell didn't sleep on a bed then.

All the sudden, whatever I was sleeping on, moved up.

Oh shit.

The events of what went on last night started popping into my head.

Oh shit.

I got up, and turned around to face the person who cleared their throat.

Oh shit.

McGonagall shook her head. "Five points. Both of you."  We opened our mouths to explain, but she held a finger up to stop us. "Another word and you'll get detention. Out." Her scottish accent thick.

We both nodded frantically and sprinted to the common room, quietly giggling along the way. We tapped the barrels to let us in, and we stopped dead in our tracks. Ernie was the only one up this early, clearly waiting for one of us to get back last night, but he hadn't noticed us yet. I pushed Justin forward, signaling for him to go up to his dorm, but before his foot touched the stairs Ernie looked up. "And where exactly have you been?"

If you pissed off Ernie, it took a lot of work. He didn't get mad often because there was never a reason for him to be. But when he has mad, you didn't want to be the reason for it. He always knew there was a good reasoning behind the situation. Unless there wasn't. Like getting points taken.

"I- I was hungry. Went to the kitchens."

"No, you didn't. I went to the kitchens. And you weren't there."

Justin locked eyes with me and Ernie turned around to face me, his eyes widened with even more anger. I glared at Justin, noting to mentally strangle him afterwards.

"Mind adding to your lie?" He raised his eyebrow, but his expression didn't change.

No, but maybe you should mind your own business.

"Only if you'd like me too." I shrugged. 

My hand shot up to cover my mouth.

I'm an idiot.

His eyes flashed dangerously.

"I'm guessing you were with each other then?" Choosing to ignore my previous comment.

I looked back at Justin and my jaw clenched. My gaze slowly shifted back to Ernie.

"Yeah." He said, shaking his head with disgust written all over his face.

"But don't bother telling me though. I'm only your brother," He turned to look at Justin. "and your best mate. Not anyone important."

"Ernie listen-"

"No," He said calmly. "I don't want to hear you're well-rehearsed story."

My explanation died on my tongue as we walked back up to his dorm. Justin looked at me and mouthed a "sorry" and I nodded. 

I walked back up to my dorm, wishing I was puking up slugs right now.