My Darling | Theodore Nott

Year Six (III)

Theo was unsure of how Maddie would react to him being a death eater. She disliked Voldemort, hated him in fact, but she loved Theo.

He did not know if this could be considered a deception. He did not wish to deceive Maddie, he had only ever lied to her once in all the time he had known her, and that was in his third year. However he had apologized within the instant. Since then he had been a perfect saint.

Theo had earned a near-perfect score on his practice exam for the healing training program at St Mungos. Madam Pomfrey had been very proud of him.

He had read and reread her letter of recommendation for Any healing program of his choosing about a thousand times. He intended to read it aloud at his Grandmother's grave. 

He mounted the steps to the owlery. His father had written to him recently, about the possibility of taking Draco's seat in the inner circle. Theo did not wish to. He reread the letter he had penned to his father,

It was simple, only a page long, and put in simple terms his reluctance to join the inner circle by anything other than his own merit. Theo knew better than to refuse his father anything outright in fear he may decide to come to Hogwarts and steal his time away from more important matters.

Blaise was adamant about winning the Quidditch cup, Theo needed to practice. Maddie was too fond of hearts to not be enamored with Valentine's Day, Theo needed to think of gifts. There had been a recent outbreak of firepox among the first years and Theo was the only infirmary volunteer inoculated against them, Madam Pomfrey would require his aid.

"Theo,"

Celestia,

Theo nodded in acknowledgement as he passed her, eager to put as much distance between them as possible, he felt his throat may swell shut if she uttered another word to him,

"My mother owled me about you," Celestia said, Theo paused five steps above her and turned to face her.

Celestia was very beautiful. He did not like her very much. She- Theo regulated his breathing, the last time he had seen her had been one of the worst of his life.

"You know we never really broke up," Celestia said, "I just sort of stopped mentioning you in letters, and she was wondering if-"

"I would prefer not to see you," Theo said simply, his words entering the conversation at an improper time were poorly rehearsed,

"Because of Noceda?"

Theo did not nod. He did not shake his head.

"You violated me," Theo said,

Celestia's cheeks began to flush pink and she shook her head indignantly, "That was, that was- I mean how was I meant to react, Theo? Have you ever looked at it? It's a bit of a shock- I mean is it some strange skin condition, or, or-"

Theo turned away from her and continued up the steps to the owlry, Celestia followed after him, he ignored the sound of her footsteps behind him, he wished she would leave him alone,

"Theo, come off it, we can talk this through- I mean Noceda is pretty, sure, and I've heard her sing, but she's the for now girl, you know your family will never- And I mean, I just wanted to surprise you, it was meant to be nice, a, a nice surprise,"

Celestia had seen his scars and screamed in terror. It had taken Theo weeks before he even managed to look at himself with anything other than shame.

"And, and then you just- poof gone, not even an explanation," Celestia continued,

Theo found his owl quickly, resisting the urge to jump from the owlery to avoid this conversation,

He took the box containing Maddie's ring and tucked it in his pocket before Celestia could see it.