love, theo | theodore nott

happy birthday, rory!

Aurora woke up with a smile on her face.

Today was her birthday, and when she didn't find Theo beside her in bed, her smile grew wider, because she was sure he'd prepared something.

She slipped into her sandals and walked downstairs.

"Good morning," she greeted.

Theo cheered happily. He rushed to the end of the stairs, a cake in hand. "The birthday girl's awake!"

Aurora rubbed her eyes. She looked around to see a fully birthday themed decorated living room, but the kitchen still looked rather messy.

"What's all this?" she gasped. "Oh my God, you sneaky Slytherin, when did you do all this?"

Theo flashed her a smile. "Last night," he answered.

Aurora looked at the bags under his eyes. "Did you get any sleep?"

"Nope. I'm about to faint any second now so you better make your wish," he joked, at least she hoped he was joking

She closed her eyes and blew the candles.

I wish my family can accept Theo.

Theo grinned as he placed the cake on the table — now wrapping his arms around her and kissing the top of her head.

"Happy birthday," he planted another kiss. "I love you I love you I love you."

"I love you too," Aurora smiled widely. She looked down at the cake — chocolate — white icing — sprinkles. It looked perfect. "Thank you so much — I've never had a 'Happy birthday Rory' cake before."

His eyebrows furrowed. "Why not?"

"Well, because it's always been Happy birthday Rory and Harry," she said, remembering every birthday she had. It had always been the two of them, and no matter how many times she lied about it, she loved sharing her cake with Harry. "

Aurora forced a smile. "So this is nice."

"Is it really?"

"Yeah, of course! You did an amazing job – how'd you even learn how to—"

"Rory," Theo whispered, his voice knowing. He sat down and pulled her gently to sit beside him.

Aurora complied, nuzzling into his chest immediately.

"I've never celebrated a birthday without Harry, that's all," she shrugged. "It's different, but a nice kind of different. I was tired of sharing all the time."

"No, that's not true," he said, "It's okay to miss him."

She shook her head, fighting the tears. "I don't want to miss him — I don't want to miss any of them."

"They're your family," Theo told her, "It's natural to miss them every now and then, even after bad things happen. Nothing's going to change that."

"But, Theo, they—"

They tried to hurt you, she wanted to say. They could hurt you.

"I'm not asking you to completely forget about them for me, that's not possible," he interrupted, his fingers running through her hair. "There will be a day where I man up and take you home, talk to your dad, and ask for your hand, but now isn't really a good time, is it?"

Just the thought of that makes Aurora smile goofily like a little girl.

"No," she said, fingers tapping his chest. "But I'm looking forward to it."

He chuckled. "Me too."

Aurora got comfortable listening to his heart beating through his chest as she laid her head there – Theo twirled her red hair around his finger, but he kept thinking about one thing. One person.