Duplicitous | T.N.

LXIII • The prodigal boyfriend

"Maybe I did hex that Bell girl, maybe I didn't." Came the malicious hiss of a sixth year Slytherin, backed into a corner and forced to succumb to his last defence, hatred. Isolated, within the lonely walls of an empty Hogwarts corridor, his Professor had him vulnerable. "What's it to you?" The younger gasped as his body was flung.

The elder wizard, had the boy grasped by his collar, back flush against the wall that almost too held him still, there was no escape, he knew this. Professor Snape, himself was cornered, however his sense was less literal than Draco's, bound by the promise of a deadly vowel, he sought to assist this young boy and his friend in their act.

"I swore to protect you." Severus rushed, his words fast and desperate, not alike his casual drawl of slow words. He was in panic, just as Draco was and just as Theodore was. "I made the unbreakable vow." His slithered voice hissed dangerously.

Neither noticed the scrawny boy who hid a wall away, consumed by the shadows he fell unnoticed, an ear open and eyes wide as he sought to uncover Draco Malfoy's dreaded truths... and now he knew, Severus Snape had his own share of faults. Their despair and anguish exposed enough for Harry to form his own assumptions, no evidence followed, he knew he wouldn't receive this.

Both ecstatic and fearful that he had overheard their non-direct confessions, the boy who lived was ready to flee, fearful he may get caught the boy lingered in the darkness, hopeful his allegiance with the shadows would disguise him as he made a run for it. However, before the first step was taken, a new voice served as an addition to the dire conversation.

"Then you're just as much of an idiot as he is."

The young Wizarding prodigy had to pause. Stealing a gulp of air, the boys eyes clenched shut in realisation. He could recognise the particular snap of this tone, it was one he had loathed, one he never cared for. But Rory had. It was not like he wanted Theodore Nott to be a death eater, Harry's lungs drowned within the absence of air as he allowed no more oxygen to cascade down his swollen throat.

This was the first time, Harry realised, that he did not want the worst for a Slytherin, one who he had directly despised up until an hour ago at that. The boy stole a peak at the three as they spoke, hopeful that maybe he had heard it all wrong and that Theodore was not a death eater, that this was all a big mistake, and Theodore Nott cared enough for Aurora not to risk exposing her to such a blackness.

"He doesn't need your help, he has me." It was definitely Nott, Harry realised, the voice of the very boy who had clung to Aurora Flores just hours before, whispering sweet nothings in her ear and running off with, teasing and tickling her, evoking swarms of boyish laughter.

"We don't need protection." Draco continued as if no one was listening at all, Harry almost wish he wasn't. "We were chosen for this! Out of all others, us! And I won't fail him." Draco's tone slipping.

"You're both afraid." Snape observed, a knowing look obvious along his dull features. Harry watched as Draco squirmed underneath Snape's grip, and the certain straightening of Theodore's stance, the way insecurities played them both as a puppet master would his doll. An honest reaction to their fear, because it was true, they were both scared out of their young minds.

Theodore did not believe he deserved this, he wished the only worry on his mind be whether or not Aurora really wanted to go out with him, whether she was honestly content as they kept their shared secret hidden. The ways he could make her happy, introduce her to his friends, take her to see his mum. But there he was, with a tattoo he referred to as a scar, a jagged, hideous scar he prayed he could be rid of.

But the world worked in mysterious ways, and as he begged the world listen, it had refused to answer the likes of Theodore Alejandro Nott.  Anger and fear drove him, for it was all he truely had left. That, and himself. He knew the very moment his mark were revealed, Aurora would hate him. Despite how much he was beginning to love her.