How'd you guys meet again?
summary: THEO X OBLIVIOUS! HI! basically just how the two of you met, i'm character building, let me live.
warnings: a little bit of angst/crying and some sad thoughts
words: 1.1k
first "part" of this here
Theodore Nott had always known what was expected of him. Stay strong-willed, be cunning, listen more than you speak, become a Death Eater, and, most importantly, find an obedient pureblood girl to marry so the bloodline stays undiluted.
He hated them—expectations, his family. His last name and the fear that came along with it like they complemented each other.
The only thing his family hadn't planned out for him was his death, but he was sure that if he stepped out of line one too many times, he would be next on his family's list of 'To-dos.'
Though, even he could admit that stepping away from his responsibilities was not in the question. He couldn't disappoint his mother, which was a tough pill to swallow for an 11-year-old.
So, when his father had reminded him of his responsibilities on Platform 9 ¾ by slyly nodding to you and your family, murmuring that Theo should 'Go talk to her,' he knew what he had to do, no matter the bad taste lingering at the back of his throat.
Expectations, expectations, expectations.
When he stared at you hard enough, Theo realized he had seen you before at various galas, always smiling, always prim and proper. His father rarely talked with yours, which usually meant you were higher up the food chain than he was.
You were just a means to an end, another ladder to climb.
And, if he was being entirely too honest, a young Theo Nott would have said he hated you. Hated you because you were what his father's dreams were made of—pretty, pureblood, and more powerful than him. Hated you because you were overly happy for someone who had the same expectations he had weighing him down, you were loud, talkative, only listened when necessary, smart, and actually wanted to be his friend.
You sat next to him in the classes you shared, somehow found a spot in the Great Hall next to him and his small friend group, eventually bringing your own into the mix, talking to all of them like they were your own, like you meshed well with them.
Theo didn't mesh. He either accepted or rejected, and he wanted to reject you.
You had infiltrated everything and not once did your smile falter.
If you weren't so pretty and kind, he probably would have been more ill-tempered, but Theo would never admit that.
Theo's silent jealousy anger continued like that for the majority of his first year, almost boiling over a few times, but you always flashed him a grin and soft eyes which simmered it down.
And he had almost gone through being 11 without succumbing to your charms.
When it was a restless night of no sleep, the only thing that soothed his unease was a warm cup of tea. Tonight was one of those, his mind racing with thoughts of how in the hell was he supposed to go back to his house for the summer. The house that was too big and hadn't felt warm since his mother died.
Reluctantly, he headed up to the kitchens, making sure to close his dorm door softly as to not wake Draco or Mattheo.
At first he didn't see you, didn't see the tears or the shaky breaths going in through your nose and out through your mouth.
Theo just grabbed his tea bag and a little bit of sugar before sitting at a rickety wooden table shoved into the corner of the room. Elves bustled around, paying him no mind. One, though, he thought her name started with an 'L,' walked up to a figure, highlighted with different shades of gold from flickering flames. Shakily, the small elf extended a cookie toward you, a silent offering.
He flinched when he noticed it was you who was sitting by the fire, shuttering shoulders and all. You were crying.
He whispered your name, just quiet enough so it wouldn't scare you and just loud enough so he knew you'd hear it. The elf scurried away.
Your head swiveled around, and your face, puffy from crying and furiously wiping at tears, made his chest feel like it had been cracked open.
The two of you just stared at each other.
"…Are you okay?" Theo murmured, tea already forgotten and going cold.
You quickly blinked away the new set of tears pooling. "Oh… yes!" You smiled. He noticed it didn't reach your eyes like it always had done before. "I'm fine, I promise. Couldn't sleep. What, uh, what are you doing in here?"
He stood, shuffling over to where you were sat on the floor. The heat of the fire burned the front of his face. "Couldn't sleep too."
You stayed silent for a beat too long, and curiosity forced Theo to look over at you.
Your bottom lip was wobbling, head drawn down as you stared at the floor between your bent knees. Your cry was silent, like you had mastered the art of silently sobbing, just as he had.
For the first time, you looked real. Not untouchable, not the girl his father had pushed him to talk to. Just painfully you.
"You're not okay," he remarked.
That got a laugh out of you—albeit it was thin and loose like a piece of paper, but it was a laugh nonetheless. "I'm afraid not."
You explained to him with tired, bloodshot eyes that your grandmother had passed suddenly, and you only just received a letter from your parents, who hardly let you down easy.
Theo put an arm around your shoulder, tugging you into his side. You wrapped your arms around his midsection. He knew grief all too well.
For the rest of that night you were just two kids who were too mature for their age.
After Theo saw the inner parts of you, the grief and longing behind happy smiles, he couldn't leave you alone. He didn't have any more reasons to hate you when you were just like him.
Theo wasn't sure when the lines blurred. When he toed the thin line between friendship and love, then between love and obsession. He wasn't even sure that there was something to pinpoint—maybe when that Ravenclaw had asked you out in your fourth year and he could only white-knuckle the arms of his chair as you gushed about it, or maybe it was during one of the many times the two of you had sat in the courtyard, him attempting to read a book while you chattered his ear off. Maybe it was in your first year when you told him just how sad you really were.
Something that he ignored until it grew into what it is today. Hopelessly pining after you, who, for some reason, had made him off limits somewhere in the deep recesses of your mind.
when he first met you vs when he first met who you really are, are two different things imo... sorry for the delay people
