Beauty From Pain

Chapter Eight

"If you botch this, I will put the fear of Merlin in you, Nott. I swear to Godric, you'll regret ever being born."

Theo nodded solemnly. He had felt true fear only a few times in his life, but Ginny Weasley was easily one of the witches he could admit to being afraid of. Pansy had ensured he held the power of a witch with a wand in high regards, and his gaze was carefully fixed on the one currently sticking out of Ginny's boot.

"Ginny, back off him already." Hermione entered the room with a disapproving glare in Ginny's direction and a tray of tattooing equipment in her arms. "I trained him myself, and you trust me don't you?"

Ginny fixed Theo with one more intimidating glare before smiling sweetly at Hermione. "Of course I trust you, Hermione. I might question your sanity in certain apprentice decisions, but I trust you."

"Then hush up already and get in the chair."

Theo's foot bounced restlessly as though it could shake the nerves from his system.

Ginny had come into the shop looking to get yet another tattoo, and Hermione had decided it was the perfect opportunity for Theo to have his first client. In theory, having one of Hermione's close friends as his first official tattoo was the ideal situation, but Ginny Weasley was a loose canon on a good day.

"Theo, you look like you might vomit." Hermione grinned at him and shoved the tray into his hands. "Are you having second thoughts?"

"No, of course not." He shook his head a bit too frantically and said, "If you believe I'm ready, then I am."

She held his gaze for several beats for silence. Her eyes searched his for any sign of doubt, and when she found none she smiled. "Good. Then wash up, and I'll get Ginny prepped."

Theo moved to wash his hands in the small hand sink and felt his nervous energy quickly bloom into excitement. He couldn't resist the small smile that quirked up the corners of his mouth. He was about to give Ginny a tattoo, and it would be entirely his design.

When Ginny had come into Virago that morning, she had declared to them both that she didn't have any ideas or care at all what the design ended up being. She simply wanted a new tattoo, this time on her left inner wrist, and she would let Theo and Hermione decide what they put there. It had taken Hermione all of a breath to grin mischievously at Theo and announce he would be designing and tattooing Ginny.

Perhaps Ginny wasn't entirely wrong to question Hermione's sanity.

Nevertheless, he was excited.

His design was small but not entirely simple. The inner wrist was a smaller area to work with than he would like, but he was thankful his first piece wasn't large. He gathered several colored inks that he would need and took a seat beside Ginny.

"Are you sure you don't want to see the design first?"

Ginny rolled her eyes at him. "Don't lose confidence before you even begin, Nott."

He raised his eyebrows at her and clipped his wand into the tattooing machine. "Last chance to back out. After this you will have a permanent marking from a Slytherin on your body."

"When you put it like that," she drawled with a sly grin. "Do your worst."

Theo was surprised by Ginny's composure throughout the whole process. She sat calmly in the chair, chatting away with Hermione and seemingly oblivious to the feeling of the ink spreading under her skin. He knew his experience had been exceptionally painful due to his dark mark and that most normal tattoos hurt far less than his, but he was still impressed.