Smoke and Stars - A Theo Nott Story

The Boggart

Theo wished he could raise Voldemort from the dead so he could do him a favor and avada kedavra him. Then again, he could just ask Tom. That creepy little shit was a little too happy whenever murder came into the conversation.

"Do you like walking out of class, Mr. Nott?" Professor Snape's low voice drawled. 

"No, sir," Theo muttered.

"Then perhaps your insolence is to blame."

"Sir, I just have difficulties with boggarts." That was an understatement. His boggart was always a reenactment of his mother dying. During his third year, Theo was haunted by the visions for three and a half months. It felt like being seven years old all over again. Two weeks ago, Professor Snape had sprung a surprise boggart on his N.E.W.T. students. Theo couldn't take the horror so he walked out of class.

Only to be dragged right back by Snape at this very moment.

It was, perhaps, the worst time he could ever face a boggart. He was still ruminating over Enzo's words. Let love be enough. Well, love couldn't save him from a bloody boggart or the professor sneering at him, who was almost just as scary.

"In a moment, I will open the cabinet. If you cannot successfully contain the boggart, consider this examination failed." Normally, he wouldn't care about a failed exam. But ever since he started caring about his classes, for Aria, he couldn't bring himself to stop caring again. So Theo just sighed and nodded.

The latch of the door clicked before it slowly creaked open. He steeled himself for the sight of his mother. Riddikulus, he repeated to himself. He wasn't sure how he was going to make death in childbirth amusing... perhaps turning it into a scene from one of his childhood birthday parties? That sounded like his best bet.

Theo gritted his teeth, his wand clenched tightly in his hand. He waited for the boggart, waited to see Isabella go through it all over again. There was a moment of silence and then...

"Theo?" a small voice said.

He loosened his grip on his wand as soon as he saw her deep blue eyes. "Aria?" he questioned. Did she somehow get inside the boggart cabinet? What was she doing here? Snape looked as confused as he felt.

"Theo, I—" She began, reaching out to him with love in her eyes but then she gasped. Her hands moved to her stomach and she fell to her knees. "Theo," she whimpered. When her fingers pulled away from her stomach, he was surprised to see that it was large. Was she pregnant?

All of a sudden, Aria somehow found herself in a maiden's bed. In the back of his mind, there was a part of Theo that knew that this was a boggart. After all, she was sitting in the same bed his mother died in with the same purple, floral duvet. Her soft brown hair was matted to the side of her head with sweat, her blue eyes glistening with tears, her jaw clenched in pain. "Ahhhh!" She screamed, holding onto the sides of the bed.

"Aria!" he shouted, rushing over to where she lay. But something prevented him from reaching her. All he could do while she lay there in agony was watch. "Aria, baby, I'm here... I'm here..." 

But it was no use. Her face turned red as she cried out in pain. Her breaths were uneven and shaky. Every once in a while, she pushed hard. 

How did this happen? How did she get here? Theo's brain wasn't thinking rationally. All he saw was the woman he loved dying in the same way his mother did. All he felt was helplessness and despair.

Slowly, Aria's face became pale. Her breaths slowed and her cries became soft whimpers. If one didn't know what was going on, they would have thought that she was better.