More Than a Gut Feeling
Pairing: soulmate!Theo Nott x fem!reader
Word count: 2.5k
Based on this request! :)
TW: none, just unlawful amounts of fluff
Featuring: Theo, Draco, Mattheo, Pansy, Lorenzo, Blaise
Summary: Transferring schools in your fifth year is overwhelming enough. But when you find yourself seemingly tethered to a Slytherin boy, you start to wonder… Did you come to Hogwarts by choice? Or did someone lead you here?
“And there was fog, and dust, and all I could see was this hand reaching out for me-”
“Bloody hell Theo, please, we get it. You smoked before bed and had trippy dreams,” Pansy complains, cutting him off from his hazy explanation. She turns to you and rolls her eyes, expressing her disdain.
It’s a typical Monday breakfast in the Great Hall for the Slytherin lads, except they have you now. They’ve recently (and graciously) taken you under their wing after you transferred schools in your fifth year.
Though you’re still adjusting to your surroundings at Hogwarts, your new friends have made the transition easier.
“I didn’t smoke before bed, bastardo,” he replies, lunging slightly towards her in annoyance.
Your eyes linger on Theo for a moment, his dream piquing your interest for some reason. There’s something about it that feels… familiar.
But you shake it off as deja vu in order to move past it. The last thing you want right now is to stand out amongst your new peers.
It’s only been a week since you arrived, but the connection you have with Theodore is unlike the others, and they are starting to notice.
Like when you first met, and the both of you were each holding a hardcover copy of your mutual favorite poetry book.
And a couple days later, when you turned your head to greet him as he was several yards behind you in the hallway, before he even called your name.
And yesterday, when you watched him win the first quidditch match you’d seen because the golden snitch hovered over you the entire time.
“I wish I could remember my dreams like that,” you respond, adding a touch of understanding to the conversation.
Theo’s head turns in the direction of your soft voice, like his gaze is attached to it somehow.
Blaise looks between the two of you, eyebrows raised in suspicion.
Suddenly and smoothly, Mattheo nudges you with his elbow and leans in close to your ear.
“If you dreamt of me, you would.” He smirks, laughing to himself and earning a light smack on the chest from Lorenzo. You notice Theo’s expression turn a smidge darker, something new looming in his eyes.
Lorenzo comments. “You really do ruin everything. You’re like, the king of ruining everything.”
Draco scoffs at Mattheo’s quip and places his hands on the table to signify that it’s time to leave for class. “Come on, Mattheo. Let’s not traumatize the new girl.”
Draco throws an apologetic glance your way.
“Please don’t listen to this child.” He spits out the last few words with haste.
When you look at Theo, you find him still staring at you with a hint of wonder and confusion.
You blush, feeling the crimson warmth spreading from one cheek to another. You reach down to grab your bag and make your way to potions class with the rest of the group.
—
Today’s lesson is, surprisingly, something you’ve already learned at your previous school. And thank the gods, because something about Theo’s dream has your attention caught like a fly in a web.
You imagine his vision, the fog and the reaching. You look down to your own hand, your brows furrowing as you continue to rack your brain. The longer you look at your hand, the more convinced you are that…
No. You just met him a week ago… there’s no way.
But that’s not it. It’s the other dreams he’s mentioned in the past few days, too. One where he’s at Durmstrang looking for someone, another where he’s trying to find them on the Hogwarts Express, but he doesn’t know who he’s following.
Who he’s looking for.
You can’t help but compare them to your own dreams, strikingly, eerily similar.
You recount images of them, scouring through empty train cabins and following the sound of alluring footsteps in your former school.
A tug on your ponytail pulls you out of your distraction, the slight pain guiding your stare. A sea of giggles spreads through the class as you watch Professor Snape’s hand return to his side.
“Miss Y/L/N, I suspect you were the potions teacher at Durmstrang with the way you ignore my curriculum.” Snape retorts, his stern voice closer than you were expecting.
But one particular laugh catches your ears, the corners of your mouth turning up at the sound of it. Your eyes land on Theo, and something about his expression makes your heart skip a beat.
“Tsk tsk, bella,” He whispers, and you bite your lip in response, turning back to your textbook as that damn blush creeps back onto your face.
There’s no denying how unfathomably handsome this man is when he smiles at you, because of you.
Your desk partner, Draco, looks to Theo and then back to you in bewilderment.
“I can never get him to joke around like that,” He says to you. “I’ll be damned if he fancies you more than me already.”
You smile back to Draco, returning the playful demeanor. “Oh, I bet he just adores you.” You respond loud enough so Theo can hear behind you.
You don’t have to turn around to see the bashful smirk on Theo’s face.
—
That night, you toss and turn more than usual. A wild dream keeps you trapped in slumber, unable to relinquish you from it until your roommate, Pansy, physically shakes you awake.
“I’m right here, you oaf!” Pansy yells, her hands squeezing your shoulders as you urgently sit up in bed.
“What? What are you doing? Why are you yelling?” You ask, genuinely lost. The beads of sweat trickle down your temple.
“You don’t remember just now when you were asking ‘Where are you?’ a thousand times in your own sleep?” She responds, her eyes widening with each word.
And then it hits you, the images of your dream. That laugh, a gentle breeze, and a-
“Paper crane?” Pansy asks, looking down into your lap with eyes like headlights.
You slowly look down, afraid to reveal to yourself what lays in your grasp. In your palm is a small, crumpled paper crane. Your baffled stare freaks her out, her hands retracting from your sides.
“What the filthy fuck is that?!” Pansy yells, but her voice sounds quite distant to you as you try desperately to get a hold on reality.
But you know. You know what this is, and you know how you got it. Accepting this fact is like swallowing glass.
“I brought something out of my dream,” you whisper, your breath picking up in pace and weight. The thought is sending you reeling, your brain suddenly racing yet devoid at the same time, unwilling to connect the dots.
“How is this even possible?” You ask yourself.
Pansy continues rambling on, asking you endless questions.
But you can’t seem to shake the idea that this item didn’t exist before you fell asleep last night.
—
After long deliberation, and a real pull back to reality, you manage to get yourself dressed and out the door. But the mental picture of this thing takes up most of the space in your mind that day, haunting you each time you think of it.
It’s not until Divination class, your last period, that things somehow become even more unsettling.
Professor Trelawney begins a lesson about the influence of dreams in real life and the messages they can send to the dreamer.
“Dreams, they can be so powerful. They can point you in specific directions, impact your decisions, make you see the truth.”
Her shakey, ominous voice echoes through your head, her words bouncing off the walls of your skull as you feel around in your pocket for the mysterious object. When you feel the edges of the paper graze your skin, you gently pull it out and place it on the corner of your desk.
From the table over, Theo absentmindedly observes you, your movement guiding his trailing eyes. He sees the object in front of you, but it takes him a second to register what it is, that curious little thing.
He squints, then performs a stunning double take. And when he’s finally able to identify it…
Everything changes.
“Oh… my… god…” Theo whispers, his heart dropping into his stomach like an anchor. His body goes into a state of utter disbelief and stillness. His eyes piercing white and his face ghostly pale as he struggles to grasp the scene in front of him.
Mattheo notices Theo’s knuckles white against the desk and chimes in to check on his friend.
“Mate, you alright? You look like Enzo after a Friday night at the Three–”
But before Mattheo can finish asking, Theo suddenly stands up and gains the attention of everyone in class by the sound of his bench skidding backwards on the floor.
Professor Trelawney’s gaze shifts from Theo to you as she locates the focus point of his unrelenting stare. She offers to take him to the infirmary as he looks “unwell.”
But Theo shakes his head, places his hand over his heart, and silently dashes out of the classroom.
Pansy’s head slowly turns to you with a look of complete perplexity.
“Better go check on Rome, new girl,” she mutters under her breath, referencing Theo’s hometown. She gestures her head in the direction of the door.
You nod hesitantly, soon following in his footsteps and ignoring any questions from your teacher.
—
When you make it to the hallway, you find Theo pacing back and forth, his hand still placed over his heart as if to stop it from exploding. But when he sees you, it only gets more difficult.
You open your mouth to speak, but he cuts you off before you can even inhale.
“Where in seven hells did you get that paper crane?!” He asks, stopping in his tracks. The conversation continues in bouts of interrupting each other.
“Theodore, I-”
“Don’t call me that, that’s not what you call me in-”
“In what?”
“In my-”
Then a pause. A tense, incredible pause. A stare down.
He continues. “Nothing, it’s mind numbingly mad,”
You take a step towards him, but something in your chest suddenly becomes achingly heavy. In response, you place a hand over your heart, just like Theo is.
In your free hand, you unfold your fingers to reveal the paper crane. His eyes land on it, the shock of it still trapping every fiber of his being.
“You…” you start, the weight in your chest transforms from a brick to a block of anvil with each word.
When you’re within arms length of each other, he manages to reach out, the struggle evident on his face. He fights to finish your sentence for you.
“Made this. Gave this… to you, last night.” He explains, his voice dragging as you notice his hand now gripping his shirt in a fist from the sheer pain in his chest.
“Theo… I think we aren’t dreaming of each other,” you suggest, taking time to breathe between thoughts. The weight on your heart is now seemingly unbearable.
“We’re dreaming with each other,” you say, and just as you finish the thought, Theo’s fingers touch the paper crane in your hand, a graze that feels like lightning.
And just then, as the object fuses the touch of two destined souls, a small clad of thunder emits from between you that only you two can hear. The pains in your chests implode, a knee-dropping sensation of light and warmth replacing it.
Like dynamite in your hearts.
“Bella,” Theo’s hoarse voice is laced with a sincerity that sounds like liquid gold to your ears. There’s no way to describe the feeling inside you right now, this fantastic blend of energies and desires.
The only thing you do know is that it’s burning at both ends, like a charring rope.
“I think… I was meant to find you, cara mia. Gods I sound mental,” he shakes his head, embarrassment written all over his face. To his surprise, he finds your hand gently caressing his cheek, guiding his gaze back to yours.
“Then maybe we both need to visit the infirmary, because I’ve only just arrived here and for some reason I can’t fathom a minute away from you.”
Relief washes over him as he drinks in your words, and the stunning sight of you confessing the very same sentiment he, too, harbors.
Your heart rate quickens as you feel an arm snake around your lower back, out of your line of sight. This feels strangely comfortable, like you’ve felt it for a lifetime already.
“Y/N…” he beckons, his forehead dropping to rest on yours. “I can’t ask you to be mine, because I think someone, or something, else already decided that.” He jokes, the huff from his laugh hitting your face.
The sight of both your smiles is what shifts everything into place. Everything, all at once. And then, your fists are the ones gripping his shirt, pulling his lips onto yours.
The paper crane falls to the ground between you as your lips move against each other, his hands exploring your back like they’re hunting for treasure. The magnitude of this kiss surpasses any other you’ve shared in the past.
Chills run up and down your body, like it’s finally found its home. Its match. His fingers grasp your hair lightly, keeping you in place as he kisses you with vigor.
He pulls away, looking at you like you’re his most prized possession.
“You’re more than a gut feeling, tesoro.” He confesses, earning another kiss from you. This one feels like an aftershock, the aftermath of the impact of your newfound, yet momentous intimacy.
You nod your head in understanding, barely able to form a coherent sentence at the moment.
“Did you… feel that, Theo?” You question, sending a glimmer of hope his way.
“Yes, like… fireworks?” He asks back. He takes your hand and places it on his chest once again, and you swear you could feel the butterflies erupting from inside.
Behind you, a mess of rushed footsteps make their entrance, accompanied by a couple of stern voices.
“These two, I swear…” Blaise complains, shaking his head and catching his breath.
“What in the Merlin-loving fuck is going on here?” Lorenzo sneers, his expression a mix of urgency and frustration.
But you two never broke that stare, that ruthless, solid stare. Instead you beam at each other as you scramble to put the answer into words.
“Fireworks.”
—
That night, you wander the grounds of Hogwarts together as Mattheo, Draco, and Pansy watch you from the Astronomy Tower. The three of them convene to discuss.
“You reckon she used a love potion?” Mattheo suggests, earning another smack on the arm.
“No, you bloody fool. They’re like, tethered or something.” She attempts to convey the notion to the boys, but they just don’t get it.
“Are we tethered then, doll?” Draco jokingly asks Pansy.
“In your dreams, mate.” Mattheo responds, taking a drag from his cigarette. She responds while picturing the paper crane she found in your lap that one fated morning last week.
“You’d be surprised how accurate that is.”
🤍🤍🤍🤍🤍
