Nott's Order | 𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘰𝘥𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘕𝘰𝘵𝘵

Twenty-One

I Chose You.

Trudging through mud and rain, the weather had turned horrid, as the autumn season neared. Rain, rain and more rain, whenever they dried off it would rain again, it was pointless to be completely dry. However, Mollie insisted they stayed warm and dry to avoid being sick, so she would keep drying them as often as it was needed.

She clung to Theo's arm, holding onto his hand with such a tight grip, he was positive that her nails caused his hand to bleed. He allowed her to have this hold of him, for it kept her mind at ease, and prevented her from panicking further when she heard strange sounds in the night. While neither spoke for the first few days, the silence was becoming unbearable.

He set up their tent just like every night she quickly retreated inside, no words were spoken when they ate, only a nod or small smile to acknowledge each other. Theo understood it was hard for her to leave, and returning now wouldn't do either of them any favours, while she settled herself down for the night, he checked their wards were strong enough to conceal them.

He shivered, this night was the coldest, as he entered the tent, he quickly wrote a letter, enchanting it to fly to the intended person. Hearing movement in the bedroom of the tent, he saw her shivering, her breath visible in the cold air, he looked down at the ground, 'I shouldn't have asked her to run,' he believed she might have been safer with him, but freezing in a tent wasn't what he had intended to happen, they should have reached the destination by now.

Theo slipped under the covers draping his arm over her, holding Mollie close to him, savouring the warmth. She twisted around, snuggling closer to him, wrapping her arms around his waist, he kissed her cheek feeling a tear drip onto his chest.

"I'm sorry," the first words he had mumbled to her since they left, "I'm sorry, I dragged you into this, I should have never forced you to come with me,"

"Forced me?" she questioned quietly, looking up at him, "you didn't force me to do anything, you gave me options, and I chose you,"

"Still, I shouldn't have asked this of you-

"Shhh, I chose you," she sighed, "I'll admit, I've been thinking about Dina ever since we left, I've never been without her, even when we were at Hogwarts, Remus would bring her to Hogsmeade for me to see her,"

"I don't remember much about you from Hogwarts," he smiled down at her, "What was your favourite subject?"

"If this is your idea of sexy talk, it's not working,"

"Nah, come on, I'm serious, mine was Potions-

"No surprise there, Snape favours you Slytherins," he laughed, she snuggled closer to him, "mine was Potions too,"

"Really? That's actually surprising, I thought you'd like Charms or McGonagal's class better,"

"And why is that, because a studious Ravenclaw," he laughed holding his hands up in surrender, "I'll have you know I'm pretty stupid for a Ravenclaw, I once got locked out of my Dormitory because I couldn't figure out the riddle,"

"Well, that must have been a horrible night,"

"Not really, I ended up staying in Gryffindor Tower, with Hermione," he hummed, pulling her closer to him, planting soft kisses against her neck. "Theo,"

"Yes," he mumbled against her throat,

"Where are we heading to?" he pulled away from her neck

"If I tell you promise me not to freak out," she nodded, he hesitated, "we're going to find, Pansy," he paused letting her take in the name, "and Blaise,"

"And what will they say when you bring me," she asked, not a hundred per cent sure she wanted the answer.

"They're my friends, I think I could date whoever I wanted and they'd support me," she looked down between them, "what do you think of us dating," he softly caressed her thigh, she looked up at him, as he leaned in pecking feather-light kisses against her neck.

"I don't know what to think," he smirked against her neck, pulling away for just a moment.

"What do you want Mollie?"

She wanted him, just him, no one else. He had this way of making her feel safe and alive, she couldn't think straight half the time, and then he'd tell her that she could do anything. Encouraged her to be stronger, and take charge in her life, the last couple of months she had discovered something inside her that she didn't know was there.

She leaned in pressing her lips against his that was her answer. Him, she wants him. Whatever fate had led her to this point she was glad it did, grateful that their paths had crossed. A world without him seemed boring now, Theo made life fun even with the haunting memories of what he'd done, he found the time to laugh and have fun.

"About your friends," she mumbled, he pulled away smiling at her, "I don't think they'd approve of me, especially Malfoy"

"I don't recall you being concerned with what a Slytherin thought of you," she rolled her eyes at him, "Leave Draco to me okay?" she nodded, he kissed her forehead, smiling softly at her "you should get some sleep,"

He waited for her to be asleep before settling his mind. Only he couldn't settle his mind, it was one thing to be with Mollie, and a whole other thing for her to be a part of his life. If they made it out of this alive, what kind of life could he offer her, he couldn't deny the secrecy of their relationship, made it a hell of a lot more fun.

But how long could they keep it a secret?