the sorting was taking too long, while an eleven years old theodore nott shivered on the chair, praying for slytherin being screamed out, as his father was, as it should be
things seemed blurry and unfocused when the sorting hat shouted out a clear 'ravenclaw' and a stunned professor mcgonagall hurried him to join his housemates at the table
everyone looked at him like he had a troll head spurting out of his shoulder, but as theo sat down and clang to a cup full of water, he smiled to himself
because it was during the first night theo spent in the ravenclaw tower, looking at the very dark, very starry sky, lost in it's infinity, that he felt truly free
his father's owls were insistent and constant, but he knew that nothing could change the fact the sorting hat chose ravenclaw, the hat was never wrong
after the second week, the last owl he received from his father, was a single sentence letter, written angrily with dark ink “no son of mine is a ravenclaw”, and theodore nott smiled to himself again, overtaken by the same sense of freedom when he looked up at the sky from the ravenclaw tower
he shared his room with anthony goldstein, michael corner and terry boot
and the distance between draco and him increased, the distance with all his childhood friends, since he only saw them in their shared classes, and somehow that distance, the blue and the silver instead of the emerald and the grey, felt like theo was lifting a weight off his chest
ravenclaw theodore nott felt different, different from the fear and the anger, for the very first time
because there was such a sense of belonging in the walls of the ravenclaw common room, in the very lame way terry boot told jokes, in the preparations for quidditch matches, in the late night talks with anthony goldstein about judaism and muggle's religion, about the way michael corner's soft black curls framed his pale, structured face
so it made him less anxious, less ashamed and less afraid, it made him more social and less cold, like he didn't need to hide and make himself smaller, not any more
the first time he saw luna lovegood, it was in the common room, he was working on an assignment for charms, and she walked barefoot, handing over issues of the quibbler
michael, terry and anthony found her to be a 'complete nutcase', but he was fascinated
ravenclaw theodore nott wasn't this lonely, awkward child, but someone almost popular, good with grades and with kind manners, that always smiled and went over potions explanations even if he was repeating himself
theo became the only ravenclaw who was able to see thestrals, and that was the reason why luna and him started talking
“my mum”
“sorry?”
“it was my mum, and accident, i saw her dying”
“...mine too, an accident, too”
ravenclaw theodore nott still picked arithmancy as his elective, and like so, he became a close and valuable friend of hermione granger
the yule ball made him nervous, but he asked luna lovegood any way, she agreed graciously, but she asked with a bashful smile if he was only asking her because michael corner was attending with marietta edgecombe
(he didn't response, but he blushed while luna giggled, and that night, while they attempted to dance, he threw glances across the room that michael corner never seemed able to catch)
in his fifth year, he became one of the ravenclaw prefects along with anthony goldstein, and the others just joked that he only did it to have access to the prefects bathrooms
(he totally did, and prefects bathrooms were awesome, okay?)
he didn't really want to join the dumbledore army, he felt it would be such a risk, and he felt that because of his heritage, he might be unwanted. but anthony goldstein and luna lovegood told him he should if he wanted to, and theo really wanted to
risking his life on multiple occasions, he even managed to pass valuable information to harry potter, that saved several lives and truncated some plans
when pansy parkinson cried out for someone to take harry, when the slytherin students were scouted to the dungeons, theo was torn between a heavy chest and relief
ravenclaw theodore nott took sides, and fought the battle of hogwarts, standing in one side of the castle with professor lupin, kingsley shacklebolt and arthur weasley
when the battle was over, and the first thing he saw was lupin's body on the floor, he broke down in tears over anthony goldstein's shoulder
and he returned to hogwarts after the war, after uncomfortable trials, awkward silences and bittersweet separations, to the tower he had spent his childhood in, and the only place he felt truly at home
