Smoking Cigarettes On The Roof
Pairing: Theodore Nott x slytherin reader
Summary: You decided to take up a new hobby and start selling your own cigarettes except you could've never imagined that you'd end up smoking them with the guy everybody seemed to want at Hogwarts.
Warnings: Smoking, mentions of addiction, reader is a female. Also strongly inspired by Remus' storyline in atyd.
wc: 3.2k
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The whole Hogwarts believed Slytherins to be the most arrogant students among all, filled with superiority complexes and hatred. Not to mention their obsession with blood status, and the Slytherin boys somehow managed to uphold that belief. Especially the famous Draco Malfoy, who had made the life of the Gryffindors a living hell. Everybody at Hogwarts knew Draco's friend group and made sure to stay away not only from them but from every Slytherin there was.
But what nobody talked about was a different side of the house. Yeah, most of the Slytherins might have disliked Gryffindors or Muggle-borns and even bullied them for that, but there were also people who couldn't have bothered caring about others' blood statuses, including you.
You had never ever felt like you were above anyone else, and in fact, that was the least important thing to you. But despite that others still made sure to stay away from you as well, considering you were a Slytherin yourself, and your distant personality wasn't helping your case either. What's more, your housemates barely noticed you. You were like a ghost who enjoyed peace and quiet, but that didn't mean you didn't have friends. You were pretty close with the sweet, blonde girl from Ravenclaw named Luna Lovegood, who very much loved to talk about different magical creatures. And you loved to listen, so it was a perfect match.
You two would often find yourselves sitting under the whomping willow and chatting about the books, teachers and sometimes even about the people you found attractive at school. But when Luna was busy with her studies and you had some free time for yourself you would hang out alone. However, that wasn't as bad as it sounded, since you had many hobbies. You enjoyed reading or simply listening to music and daydreaming. But what you loved the most was observing people, especially at nights when your insomnia would kick in and you noticed that sleep didn't seem to want you. That's why you knew almost everyone at Hogwarts, even though they had never heard of you. You knew that Harry and Ron loved sneaking out of the castle at nights. And even though Hermione scolded them for it, she always ended up going with them. You knew that Lorenzo Berkshire had his eyes on some Hufflepuff girl, and you also knew that Theodore Nott always aced all of his exams, even though he would never admit it.
But one day, you realized that you were getting bored with doing the same every day so you came up with an idea. You started making your own cigarettes and selling them through Hogwarts. At first, nobody seemed to want them but soon enough they became quite popular within the sixth and seventh year old students.
Despite the fame your cigarettes received, you made sure to stay anonymous and deal with anyone who tried to sell them to the first or second year olds. Then more people started buying and reselling them, and in no time, the business was flowing.
Mattheo Riddle, who was literally a smoke addict himself, was no exception when it came to your cigarettes. And the first time he told his best friend Theo how much better they tasted compared to the crap they used to smoke, Theodore was a little bit hesitant and loyal to the ones he had loved so much for the past three years. But in the end, he started using your cigars like everybody else at Hogwarts.
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The business was going very good and nobody seemed to catch you either. Mostly it was because they couldn't have cared less for who made the stuff they used to smoke, rather than the difficulty of figuring out the one behind them.
But either way, you enjoyed making them, and they enjoyed using them, so it was a win-win situation. Not to mention the money you made from the business.
Everything was going perfectly well and smoothly until one day you found yourself staying up late to study for the upcoming exams in an almost empty library. You hadn't paid any attention to anything other than your notes, but Theodore Nott was as observant person as you were.
Many people thought that he was as proud and cunning as any of his friends because he mostly hung out with them, but that simply wasn't true. Theodore Nott was more of a quiet type. And that was what scared others the most. He despised getting into meaningless fights and kept himself from doing so unless it truly mattered. Unless somebody really touched a nerve, and he had to protect himself or any of the people he cared about. And when he did fight, he made sure to make the other person regret they even opened their mouth. What's more, Theodore was a smart guy. Probably one of the smartest students at Hogwarts, but he somehow managed to keep it quiet.
Theodore himself had decided to stay up late that day. And now, sitting in a library lit by the yellow light coming from the lamps above, he noticed a long-haired girl sleeping peacefully at the table not far from his with the long forgotten potions book lying in front of her. Theodore wasn't the one to fall for a girl easily, but something about you caught his attention.
Any other day, Theodore would've looked away and gone back to doing what he had been doing before. But today was different. Something in him told him to get up and go over to you.
But as soon as he approached your table, he stopped his movements. Why was he even there? What was he doing? Should he have woken you up? But before his thoughts could turn into an endless loop, you stirred awake.
The first thing you saw was a tall brunette hovering over you. You immediately recognised the famous Theodore Nott, but he, himself, failed to remember knowing you. Despite his observant personality, you somehow had managed to escape his attention. And now standing in front of you, he couldn't figure out what to say.
"Hi?" You said awkwardly.
"Do you need help with potions?" Why was the guy who had never let fear show on his face panicking in front of a simple girl like you? Theodore couldn't really figure out that either. All you could think about, on the other hand, was how visible his Italian accent was.
"Kind of?...maybe...Yeah, I do," you finally managed to utter, "but if you promise not to laugh at my stupidity."
"Deal," he said, sitting down next to you.
And just like that, Theodore Nott spent the past couple of hours explaining one of his favourite subjects to the girl he had just met.
He liked your company. At first, you seemed to be very quiet, but as the time passed and the topics didn't seem to end any time soon, you started warming up to him and even let your real personality slip. And just like that, you had managed to make Theo mentally laugh at your stupid jokes and almost smile at every stupid answer you gave him. But he would never admit that, though.
"Slughorn totally hates me, no matter how well I study, he'll never give me a high mark anyway," you complained, "And that is if I manage to remember all of the topics, which I highly doubt."
"You'll remember everything, don't worry," Theo said casually, "And if he dares to give you a low mark, I'll deal with him."
At that, you chuckled, "Well, I doubt I'll be able to ace it, but at least I'll pass, right?"
"You shouldn't be doubting yourself." After a couple of minutes, Theo noticed his gaze on you, "What?"
"I like your Italian accent," you admitted.
"Thank you," Theo nodded. "I kind of get that a lot."
"Oh I'm sure you do."
At that, Theo furrowed his brows, and you explained, "It's one of the reasons you seem so attractive to most of the girls."
"Oh, so you think I'm attractive?" Theo asked sarcastically.
"What? Of course not, wait, I don't mean that rudely. You know what? I'm pretty tired, and that's my tired self talking," you tried explaining yourself and earned a chuckle from Theo.
"Oh, here you are," you heard a female voice, only to see the famous Pansy Parkinson in a distance. Obviously, the 'no yelling' rule had missed her eyes because she was screaming across the library.
"Since when do you hang out in the library, huh?" Theodore asked her sarcastically.
Were they together? You hoped not because you had just been 'flirting' with Theodore a minute earlier, and you would be too ashamed if it turned out he had a girlfriend. But Pansy was too pretty not to be his girlfriend. She had those beautiful green eyes and one of the prettiest face shapes. Before you could stop yourself, you asked, "Are you dating?"
At that Pansy laughed, "What? Us dating? Why would I date this idiot? I'm for the girls."
Oh, you had completely misread the situation. How had you missed that? It looked too obvious now.
"In fact," Pansy continued, turning to Theo, "The reason I'm here, as you were asking my dearest friend, is because I'm meeting a girl."
"I'm finding it hard to believe that a girl who goes to the library would be interested in you," Theodore replied, smirking.
"Here she is, gotta go, bye lovebirds or whatever you are." And just like that, Pansy was gone.
"She's going out with Hermione?" You asked, shocked as you watched her sit down next to the curly-haired girl who had just entered.
"Pansy's been crushing on her for a while now," Theodore admitted, shrugging, "Looks like she finally got the courage to ask her out."
"That's cute," you told him, smiling.
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Thanks to Theo, not only did you manage to pass the Potions' exam, but even got one of the highest scores. Even Slughorn himself couldn't believe his eyes.
"Well done," was the first thing Theo told you when you met him. You were really in a good mood and needed to take a smoke, so the Astronomy tower seemed like a perfect place for it. You didn't expect to run into Theodore Nott there.
So now, standing next to the taller guy, he decided to break the silence, "Do you often come here? Because I've never seen you here before."
"Not really, I usually hang out in my room, but I've been here a couple of times," you said, exhaling the smoke.
"Really nice cigarettes, huh?" He asked, taking a smoke himself.
"Yeah, they're good," you replied, trying not to sound obvious.
"Half the Hogwarts' using them now," he stated it as a fact, "wonder who made them."
"Yeah, me too," you said, exhaling, "By the way, Draco was looking for you. Said they were going to deal with some guy, um, what was his name? I don't remember?"
"Whatever, Draco can go fuck himself." He replied simply, earning a laugh from you.
"Yeah, he can."
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You two started becoming closer, but none of you seemed to notice. A few accidental meetings turned into spending the evenings and sometimes sleepless nights together at the Astronomy tower. It became a habit to just stand there and smoke together. Sometimes you didn't even talk and just enjoyed each other's company. Theodore hadn't told his friends about a certain wide-eyed girl he enjoyed spending time with. In fact, nobody knew since you two always made sure to keep it between you. None of you seemed to like the unwanted attention from the unwanted people.
Tonight was like any other nights. Sleep had denied both of you, so you sneaked away to the Astronomy tower. At first, both of you relished the silence, but like always, Theodore was the first to break it.
"You're good at it," was the first thing he said, and you furrowed your brows.
"Good at what?"
"At making those," he said, gesturing towards his cigarette, and your eyes widened, "and at hiding it," he finished.
"How do you know?" Was the only question you asked, and so Theodore explained.
He had decided to sneak into your dorm the other day. Of course, at first you scolded him, but minutes later you were sitting on your bed laughing with him as he read some stupid book to you. The two of you even bet on whether the characters would get together in the end or not, but the book was so cringe that you didn't manage to finish it.
When you decided to go to the bathroom, Theo was left alone, so he just kept looking around, trying to pass the time. That's when his gaze landed on a sketch book on the nightstand, and before his curiosity could get even worse, he picked it up and started going through your sketches. They even had dates on them, and that's when he came across a familiar drawing. At first, he couldn't remember where he had seen it, but after a few minutes of thinking, he took the cigarette box out of his pocket and compared the little sketch of a swan to the one drawn on the box. The details were too accurate for it to be drawn by another person, not to mention the date in the sketch book proved that it had been drawn months before your cigarettes came out.
When you decided to go to the bathroom, Theo was left alone, so he just kept looking around, trying to pass the time. That's when his gaze landed on a sketch book on the nightstand, and before his curiosity could get even worse, he picked it up and started going through your sketches. They even had dates on them, and that's when he came across a familiar drawing. At first, he couldn't remember where he had seen it, but after a few minutes of thinking, he took the cigarette box out of his pocket and compared the little sketch of a swan to the one drawn on the box. The details were too accurate for it to be drawn by another person, not to mention the date in the sketch book proved that it had been drawn months before your cigarettes came out.
Of course, he wouldn't have relied on the sketch alone, so countless newly-made similar cigarette boxes that were waiting to be used in your drawer proved his suspicions.
"You know, if anybody were to figure it out, I was sure it would be you," you said, smiling as you stood next to him on the astronomy tower.
"Oh, really?" He asked, smirking.
"You're just too smart, I don't know how you do it," you said, trying to sound sarcastic, but it was true, he was one of the smartest guys you knew.
"Really? Because I think you're pretty smart yourself, too." It was obvious when Theodore was flirting, and that was one of the moments as well.
"Me?"
"Yeah, you managed to score almost the highest mark after just two hours of studying. Do you really think everybody would manage to do that?"
"Careful, Nott, you might make me think you like me," you joked, but Nott went quiet.
"So Yule Ball's coming up," you said, trying to ease the awkwardness, "got a date already?" You had been meaning to ask him that for a long time, and now, when you did, you were too scared to hear the answer.
"Yes," he replied, refusing to make eye contact. Fuck it, you thought. Was this guy stupid? Had he not noticed how you looked at him?
"Well, that's good," you smiled awkwardly.
"What about you?" Theo asked.
"Not yet," you replied, "you know what, I'm getting sleepy, so I'll head inside. Goodnight, Theo."
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You hadn't talked to Theodore after that. For some reason, staying away from him looked easier than seeing him while knowing he was going to the Ball with another girl.
You went to the Yule Ball alone because no guy had asked you to go with them. It's not like you would've said yes anyway, but somehow you still felt bad. Nobody wanted to go with you, so why would Theodore Nott do? You didn't even want to go at first, but after hours of Luna listing countless reasons why you should, you gave in.
Now, standing in your emerald green dress, you felt very out of place. The couples were dancing, laughing, having fun, and you were just there. Luna had left to get you guys some drinks, and you remained seated on the sofa just observing, like always.
That's when you felt a familiar pair of eyes on you. When you looked up, you locked eyes with Theo. You wanted to look away, but suddenly you realised he was standing alone. Had his date ditched him? Nah, that was impossible. Who would ditch a guy like him? Maybe she was also getting drinks. Before you could keep up with your mind, you were standing up and walking towards him. There was no going back now.
"Why are you alone?" Was the first question you asked.
"So no hi? How are you?" Theodore smirked, raising his brow.
"Hi, how are you? Why are you alone?"
At that, he chuckled, shaking his head, "She ditched me. Now, why are you alone?"
You were too embarrassed to admit the real reason so you just replied "felt like it."
"You look really pretty in that dress," he admitted.
"Just in that dress?" You asked challenging.
"No, you look really pretty in your teddy bear pajamas as well," Theo joked.
"Oh, so we're joking now?" You said rolling your eyes.
"I'm kidding, you look pretty in anything. You're the prettiest girl I've ever seen," he said, leaning in, but soon enough realized he had made the situation awkward and yelled again through the music, "So, um, wanna dance?"
"I don't know how to dance," you yelled back.
"Good then, I'll teach you," and just like that, he was grabbing your hand and dragging you towards the crowd. His hair swayed with his every move, and his fingers danced over yours. He guided your steps, and in no time, you two were dancing like a couple made in heaven. The music was slow, giving the students who were dancing like crazy earlier a chance to relax with their partners. Theodore wasn't exactly your 'partner' partner, though you wished he was, but somehow you had never felt calmer than dancing with him between countless of people.
"This is so much fun," you whispered into his ear as he held your back.
"I never had a date," was the only thing he whispered back. After a minute of inner debate, Theodore decided this was the perfect moment to tell you.
"What?" You asked, moving your head to meet his eyes.
"I never asked anyone out," he replied when you stopped dancing.
"Why?"
"Because I'm a coward. I thought that the only girl I wanted to ask out would say no."
"What? That's nonsense. Who would say no to you, you're like perfect. You're attractive, smar-"
"It's you," Theo interrupted before you could go any further, "the girl I wanted to ask out, it's you. I like you. I like you very damn much."
You didn't know what to say. Or do. It's not like you didn't like Theo back you just didn't know what people did in those types of situations.
"Please, if you don't like me, just tell me to fuck off and I will, but if y-"
Now you were the one to interrupt him. But if that was how you did it, he wouldn't mind getting interrupted every day because your lips captured his into a warm kiss none of you wanted to pull away from. But after some time, you needed to catch your breath.
"I like you too, Theodore Nott."
"Fuck it," and just like that, Theodore pulled you into another kiss.
"And by the way, I may or may haven't threatened a couple of guys that wanted to ask you to the Yule Ball," he admitted after the kiss, and your eyes immediately widened.
"Fuck you then," you said, kicking his shoe.
"Oh, please do," he replied, "But come on, princess, didn't you find it odd that nobody asked a beautiful girl like you out?"
"Right, because guys ask me out every day," you replied sarcastically.
"So you finally told her?" Mattheo asked, approaching you two, "Oh, I'm sorry, I don't think we've ever talked before. I'm Mattheo Riddle." He stuck his hand out for you, and you shook it, smiling.
"Oh, cut it, Mat, almost everybody here knows who you are," Draco said, rolling his eyes at his friend.
"Don't listen to them, they're both idiots," Theo said, annoyed.
"Yeah? Want me to tell her how you were ready to sing to her in front of the whole school when you were drunk the other day?" Mattheo humbled his best friend.
"Shut up you fucker," Theo hissed at Mat, "Come on, tesoro, they're all dickheads anyway, don't listen to them."
"What? No, I'm enjoying this conversation," you said, laughing.
"See Nott? Your girlfriend likes our company, too."
"I'm not his-" but before you could finish your sentence, Lorenzo interrupted.
"Come on, guys, leave them alone and come drink with me."
And just like that, they were gone, leaving you with your 'boyfriend'.
"I'm not your girlfriend, right?"
"Right, you're not...yet. But who says you won't be tomorrow? Or even an hour later? Hm?" He teased.
"Oh, you've got a big ego, Mr. Nott."
"I get that a lot, bella ragazza."