My Love // Theo Nott

fifty four

Holiday break was... stressful. I was meeting new people everyday, but Christmas Eve was when things got really hectic. We were staying at my uncle's house for the majority of the break, but on Christmas Eve morning we took a train southeast from where we were at for a "family reunion". And of course to celebrate Christmas.

There was a lot of crying and hugging, so I was relieved when we finally got to the airport to go back to London.

"Three more days before you guys have to go back to school. Anything you guys want to do?" mum asked Elio and I while we were waiting for our dad to get the car and pick us up.

"No" I said right when Elio said, "Yes". I gave him a look saying 'shut up', but he didn't care. "Draco wrote us a letter asking about New Years. Just to have us all spend the night at his manor and have fun." Elio continued on.

"Who is 'all'?" my mum asked.

"Draco, Blaise, Pansy, and Theo."

My mum looked at me all while I pretended I was looking out for when I saw my dad. "You know I have to ask about sleeping arrangements, right?" my mum said. I still didn't acknowledge she was very clearly talking to me until she said, "Aurora".

"I don't know how many beds Draco has so-"

"Aurora and I will share." Elio, thankfully, cut me off. We left it at that and got permission to go in two days.

Truthfully, I didn't even know if Theo would be going. I wrote to him a couple of times, but after a while it got exhausting not getting a response back. He was clearly getting the letters, my owl continued returning.

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Elio got attached to those babies so when it was time for us to go to Draco's house, he nearly decided to just stay home. It was only for two nights then we'd go back to school.

The instant we came out of the floo network at Draco's house we were greeted with all our friends, except Theo. I didn't dare question it, but that didn't mean Elio had the same mind as mine.

"Where's Theo?" Elio asked automatically. Draco and Pansy both looked at Blaise.

"He didn't write to you guys?" Blaise asked. When everyone said no, he turned to me. "Aurora?"

"I didn't get a letter." Everyone continually asked Blaise about Theo's whereabouts, but when it was clear they weren't going to get any answers out of Blaise they stopped asking altogether.

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The time spent at Draco's manor felt just like being at Hogwarts except without the schoolwork and other people. It was very calming and the house was big enough to spend a whole day exploring the grounds.

One night we all decided to go skating in a small pond in the woods behind the manor. It was extremely cold, but entirely worth it when we stayed out all night and saw the sunrise.

As we were just resting on the ground Blaise sat next to me and very quietly asked, "Did he really not tell you why he didn't come?" I knew who he was talking about so I simply nodded my head.

"Did you write at all?" Blaise continued.

I exhaled lightly. "I did. Theo didn't." That was the end of that.

When we got to the train station to return to Hogwarts it took some time before I saw Theo. I greeted everyone while Elio and our friends went ahead of me and sat in our usual compartment. When I walked onto train I started heading towards the back. On the way I passed the compartment in which the changing rooms are located and right when I walked in, Theo walked out, running right into me.

I stumbled back slightly and began apologizing, but stopped myself when I realized it was Theo. I instinctively took a step closer, but he took a step away. "Theo," I began saying, but he only cut me off by shaking his head and looking down.

He had a fresh bruise on his face and a couple yellowing spots from recovering bruises.

"What happened-"

"Where is everyone?" He cut me off again.

"The same compartment-" as he turned around to walk away I grabbed him by his jumper and held onto him tightly. "How'd that happen?" I asked seriously.

"It doesn't matter, Aurora." Theo had turned slightly to face me and for a long while we stood in that position. Me holding his jumper in my fist while looking up at him and him looking down at the ground.

"Do you want me to cover them up for you with makeup?" I asked Theo quietly. He looked at me abruptly with shock.

"You don't wear makeup." Theo said. As if the very idea of me wearing any was absolutely insane. I took slight offense to that.

"I got a ton of it for Christmas. I was just planning on giving it to Pansy." I said, conscious of my true intentions with it.

It took a while for Theo to finally answer, so when he did I took him by his jumper into a dressing room and had him sit on one of the little stools as I got out the stuff I was planning on putting on his face.

"Does it hurt?" I asked right before applying anything. He shook his head. I knew it did, but I wasn't going to continue asking.

"How was your break?" I asked a bit awkwardly. Theo was unusually... not very affectionate.

"Fine. Yours?" he asked after a pause.

"Fine. Draco's house was fun. Wish you had been there." He nodded his head slightly.

When I was finished I started putting everything back into my bag and stood up. I stood next to the door while Theo stayed sitting while looking at me. Not knowing what to do I said, "I think I'm going to go with... Hermione." I hadn't thought of sitting next to anyone else, so I hoped she wouldn't turn me away.

"Why aren't you sitting with everyone else?" Theo asked before I had the chance to walk out. I shrugged my shoulders in response. "Who's arm will you sleep on if I'm not there?" he asked playfully.

"Ron's." I said playfully as he stood up. As he stood in front of me I could tell a difference in the atmosphere around us. He was calmer and less hostile. He was acting more like the man I left before the holiday break.

When we got to the compartment everyone greeted Theo. I fell asleep as usual and when I woke up we had already arrived at Hogwarts.

Dinner had the same welcome back speech and feast. We had classes the following morning so I decided that I would just go to sleep in my dorm.

"You're not spending the night with Theo?" Elio asked me when he saw I was headed to the girls dormitory.

"Are you going to miss not sleeping in the same room with me?" I teased. Elio rolled his eyes dramatically and walked away from me without another word.

In all honesty I missed just having a bed to myself. The whole time in Italy I shared with Elio and at the manor I shared with Pansy to not have to be in an unknown room by myself. I had one day at home, but Elio was mostly hanging around in my room that night, so it didn't feel like I was very much alone.

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I apologize for the extremely long wait. I'm currently working on another chapter so hopefully it'll be posted by tonight. This was mostly a filler chapter.
*** Also if the next chapters don't match up with previous events in the story please tell me. It's been a while and I don't remember little important details so I will definitely eventually mess up.