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Theodore Nott stood in the Great Hall, in the group of Slytherins that had been formed. He had allowed himself to be pushed back from the front by the likes of Pansy Parkinson in the hopes that he wouldn't have to look at... her.
Despite his efforts, he couldn't look away, not when she was so close yet so far away.
The Slytherins were led to the Room of Requirement, where they were shown the path to the Hog's Head in Hogsmeade, owned by the late Headmaster's brother, Aberforth Dumbledore.
"Let's go." He heard one of the younger Slytherins tell their friends, barely fourteen.
"They're going to get themselves killed." He heard one of the sixth years mutter, but the third years had already left.
He couldn't let them go alone.
And so he slipped out of the Room of Requirement and into the Battle of Hogwarts.
...
He chased after the third years, hoping to use his height to catch up with them, but they taken a shortcut to the charms corridor and then sealed off the exit.
Theo swore under his breath before turning around and moving to the charm's corridor. What were they looking for in the charm's corridor? Deciding to find out before he sent them out of the school, by using the Imperius Curse if necessary. He cast a disillusionment charm on himself, as well as a silencing charm just to be sure before continuing towards the charms corridor.
They seemed to be taking their time because he reached the corridor at the same time they did.
"Father said we need to wait for the right moment." The one on the left said. Theo searched his brain for the name... ahh he was the son of a newer Death Eater wishing to advance his position within the ranks.
"I say we go now." The second boy said. "There's no time to waste."
"We're not going anywhere." The girl hissed. "We can't get this wrong, we'll be killed."
"The wards won't dismantle themselves." The second boy shot back.
"The entrance to the Ward Room won't open until they raise the defences fully, and that hasn't happened yet. They're still making the shield." The first boy gestured out of the window to where the luminous barrier was forming.
Deciding he had heard enough, Theo cancelled the charms keeping him hidden and revealed himself to the third years.
"Nott?" The second boy said.
"Go back to the Room of Requirement." He told them. They looked between themselves, uncertain, until the girl stepped forward, wand raised.
"No." She said pointing her wand towards him.
"Because you won't? Or because you can't." Theo asked them. "Whatever the Dark Lord has asked of you is most likely a suicide mission. You need to leave. Now."
"You don't understand." The boy on the left said, "We have no choice."
Theo laughed hollowly, thinking of the brand he had on his left forearm.
"I wasn't asking." He said before raising his wand, efficiently disarming all three students and summoning their bags to his feet.
"Imperio."
"You will go straight towards the Room of Requirement and take the passage to the Hog's Head, where you will ask someone to help you leave the premises. If the Room does not open for you, you will hide in the room behind the 5th portrait on the Transfiguration corridor and stay there until someone collects you."
He then cast the necessary concealment charms on the group of them and sent them on their way before staring at the wall in front of him.
The Hogwarts' Ward Room should only be accessible to the Ward Master, or in this case, the Headmaster or Headmistress of the School. So why would the room reveal itself?
Unless... the blood of one of the founders?
"Accio blood." He waved his wand at the bags in front of him. A vial shot out at him, which he caught in his left hand before holding it up to the wall for any kind of reaction. Moving it slightly downward to the height of a keyhole, he saw a handle start to materialise on the stone wall. That was all he needed, he quickly vanished the blood as well as the three bags belonging to the third years and began casting every single concealment and misdirection charm he knew on the entrance. Following those, he moved to one of the nearby portraits, unsticking it from the wall and casting the most permanent sticking charm he could produce in order to hide the entrance further.
Now he just had to defend the general area in case anyone came to investigate.
...
"Nott?" Bellatrix cackled as she rounded the corner, three dead Death Eaters lying at Theo's feet.
Theo held his wand tightly, squeezing it in his hand to hide his nerves. He was bleeding from his left arm, the last two had caught him by surprise and he could feel the blood loss weakening him.
"Hello, Bellatrix." He said, knowing this battle would be his last: the Threads were fading, he didn't have long.
With a snarl, the witch hurled a killing curse at him, forcing him to roll out of the way. He threw something equally dark back at his attacker, trying to draw her away from the Ward Room.
They duelled back and forth, with Theo gradually knocking her back.
Suddenly, a searing pain coursed through his Dark Mark, causing him to collapse to the ground in agony.
He saw a green flash and then darkness.
...
Theodore Nott was a quiet yet inquisitive child. He studied his duties thoroughly and was the perfect example of a Pureblood Heir. The only flaw he had, was that, at five years old, he had yet to produce any accidental magic, and his Father feared that his only heir was a Squib.
"I WILL FORCE IT OUT OF HIM IF I HAVE TO!!" He heard his father roar, followed by a crashing sound as an antique, perhaps a vase, was thrown across the room. Theo pressed his eye to the keyhole of his father's study. His parents were arguing because of him, again.
"Just give him time." His mother spoke calmly. "I have no doubts that any day now, Theo will show signs of magic."
Theo watched, frozen, as his father stilled and turned to his mother, anger visible in his eyes.
"HIS NAME IS THEODORE, MAYBE IF YOU HADN'T BEEN SO SOFT ON HIM, HE WOULD HAVE PRODUCED SOME MAGIC NOW. EVEN THE BLOODY MALFOY HEIR HAS PRODUCED SOME KIND OF MAGIC, NO MATTER HOW PATHETIC IT WAS." He yelled.
"He is our son. I will not treat him like some lowly cattle or as if he were a burden. I will not regret sheltering him from the horrors of this world. HE IS A CHILD." Theo was surprised to hear his mother raise her voice. He doesn't think he had ever heard her do so before.
"I SHOULD HAVE RETURNED YOU TO YOUR BASTARD FATHER, YOU INSOLENT WITCH."
"CRUCIO."
Theo tried to push the door open, but it wouldn't budge, even as he ran with all the strength his body had into the silenced door.
"MOTHER." He cried, desperately rattling the handle.
He felt something build up inside him, bubbling up through his veins.
Theo took another run at the door, surprised when it threw itself open, but he ran on: placing himself between his parents.
He saw the golden threads in front of him, and he pulled.
"STOP!!"
Time stopped.
...
Theo's mother was never the same after that day, her health began to deteriorate.
Even so, she continued to protect Theo as she had vowed, until eventually, her body became too weak.
Theo was left alone.
...
The first time Theodore Nott approached Hermione Granger, it was in the library. He wasn't really sure why he was doing so; he could summon his House Elf to bring him a copy of the text, but for some reason he found himself standing over Granger's table.
"Can I help you?" She asked, looking at him with mistrust.
"I need that book." He said, pointing at the book resting on the desk.
"Oh." Granger said. Theo reached over to grab the book when Granger violently flinched.
"I don't hurt children." He said evenly, but despite his external calmness, he was horrified at the unintentional accusation.
"I'm older than you?" The girl responded.
"19th September?" He told her, wondering why she would bother asking.
"You know when my birthday is?" She seemed surprised.
"No, that's my birthday." He said absentmindedly, still wondering why he was here at all.
"What time were you born?" The Gryffindor asked sharply.
"What relevance does that have?" He shot back, sitting down and pulling the book towards him.
"Surely that's upside down for you now." She commented.
"Obviously." Theo rolled his eyes. "Can't you read upside down?"
The girl eventually packed up and left, supposedly finished with her essay. Theo continued to write, pausing occasionally to check the reference book.
"What a strange Gryffindor." He thought.
...
Walking up the Owlery staircase, Theodore Nott spotted Hermione Granger tending to a majestic-looking Snowy Owl. She seemed to be unharmed, despite the rumours that Harry Potter had faced the Dark Lord himself on the Third Floor.
"All recovered now?" He said.
"Yes, thank you.... um." Granger said, turning around to face him as he continued his way up the stairs. He inspected her quickly to look for any obvious injuries before offering his name.
"Theodore Nott."
"Hermione Granger."
He walked past her to send his mandatory weekly letter to his father, wondering what the future would bring.
...
Theodore Nott knew that Hermione Granger had taken a book out of the Restricted Section of the library and he wanted to know what it was.
"What book did you take out of the Restricted Section?" He asked, pushing a stack of books Granger had piled up in front of her so that he could pull the Astronomy textbook towards him.
"Can't you ever start a conversation normally?" She asked, avoiding the question.
I'm not one of your sidekicks you can misdirect. Theo thought.
"No." He replied, "Don't avoid the question."
"It's about the Chamber of Secrets." Granger said sheepishly, clearly not giving him the full truth.
"Really?" He felt one eyebrow raise up.
The Gryffindor went silent with a non-committal hum and went back to her work, but something seemed to be bothering her.
She stared at him for a couple of moments before blurting out, "Are you even allowed to be talking to me?"
"Why not?" He asked. While sure, he'd definitely have a hard time explaining why he found himself talking to Granger again, who would actually stop him?
"Wouldn't Malfoy be on your case for talking to a mugg- mudblood, as he likes to call me." She said.
"Draco's all talk." Theo responded easily, "And besides, I'm a better duelist than he is." The worst Draco could do was tell Lucius Malfoy who could tell his father which would be... problematic but short of running off to marry one, his father didn't really care who he associated with.
Finishing his essay, Theo packed his things up and left, wondering if he should be attempting to put countermeasures in place to prevent Draco from finding out about this...
Association.
...
"Why am I even here?" Theo muttered to himself as he ran his hand down the bookcase, searching for the last book Granger had checked out.
She had a compact mirror in her hand when she ran past which meant she must have found something. Perhaps even the true nature of Slytherin's Monster.
There!
Theo quickly grabbed the book from the shelf, riffling through the pages until he found a loose page, the now petrified Gryffindor's handwriting forming the word pipes in the margin.
How to get it to Potter and Weasley? He certainly couldn't just walk up to them and hand it... wait hand?
He knew he would have to be quick, soon they would clamp down on the security of the Hospital Wing, he had to move immediately.
He ducked behind the curtain surrounding the girl's bed, kneeling on the chair to hide his presence.
Crumpling up the ball of paper, he closed the Gryffindor's fingers around the ball and then, before he could second-guess his actions, he ran.
...
Ever since Theo had first shown magic all those years ago, he had always had an affinity with time magics and spells. Any charms to do with speeding up or slowing down time he could do with ease, and he could sometimes see what he called Time Threads.
Hermione Granger was becoming a knot off these Time Threads and Theo wanted to know why. When they were assigned adjacent seats, Theo was going to use this opportunity to find out why time was flowing strangely around the strange Gryffindor.
She hid her tracks well, but despite this mystery, Hermione Granger became part of Theodore Nott's schedule in a way he could never anticipate. They met up at 7 in the library each evening, combing through advanced pieces of Arithmancy as well as many of their other subjects.
Theo never bought up the Time Threads, deciding that this was just another strange trait of the strange Gryffindor.
...
Theo was waiting at their usual table, he had arrived early and was checking through their latest Arithmancy assignment but something wasn't adding up.
There was no magical significance to 25, and yet he couldn't find the problem in his method, so he was now checking the sums again.
"Granger." He greeted, noticing a shadow fall over the desk.
"Hermione is fine." She said, grabbing her assignment out of her bag.
"What did you get for 4b?" He asked.
"28." Theo frowned, looking at his parchment. He reached across the table and picked up Hermione's parchment to look through it... the method was almost identical except:
"Hmm. I think you need to factorise here rather than divide." He said, gesturing to the page.
The Gryffindor quickly grabbed her parchment back and wrote the necessary corrections.
"26."
"That makes more sense since it's the doubling of thirteen, but I keep getting a solution of 25 which does not make sense. We've used the same method but not come to the same solution."
"4a?" She asked.
"325?"
"338 is what I worked out, Nott pass me your parchment?" She held out her hand and was handed the requested item.
"Here..." Theo paused for a moment, thinking carefully before deciding to throw caution to the wind.
"And you can call me Theo."
...
Fourth year began and Theo had discovered early through Draco that the Triwizard Tournament would be held at Hogwarts this year. There were rumours that the Dark Lord was plotting in the shadows, somehow influencing the tournament. He knew his father was wary of the Dark Lords return but he was still loyal to his old school friend despite never seeking him out after his apparent demise, curtesy of Harry Potter.
Harry Potter, who was currently the fourth champion of the Triwizard Tournament. Clearly, someone wanted to do him in. Weasley had gone and abandoned him, meaning many of Hermione's and his 7pm appointments had been cancelled or cut short due to Hermione's worries about Potter dying during the first task.
Now that the First Task was over and Potter had outflown a Hungarian Horntail, talks had shifted focus from the Champions to the impending Yule Ball.
Theo didn't have to worry about finding a date since a fellow Slytherin, Daphne Greengrass, had approached him with a mutually beneficial agreement.
He turned around the corner of the bookshelf, spotting a certain Gryffindor at their usual table, when suddenly she was approached by the Durmstrang Champion and International Quidditch Superstar: Victor Krum.
Despite his fame, Krum seemed nervous when approaching Hermione, who was completely oblivious of him until he was standing in front of her. Theo quickly read the situation and left, not wanting to intrude on their moment but mentally noting to ask about it at a later date.
...
It was New Year's Day, Theo was sitting with some of the other Slytherins in his year. The Yule Ball was uneventful, Daphne Greengrass' French stalker had needed little encouragement to leave her alone, allowing her some peace of mind.
Theo looked up when he saw some brown, bushy hair out of the corner of his eye. Glancing around to see Hermione's attacker but saw no one.
Must have been from around the corner, he thought.
Theo quickly picked out a handkerchief from his satchel and charmed it to form an origami bird which flew out of sight before doubling around and flapping towards the Gryffindor. She caught it gently as it unfolded in her hands, brown eyes flicking up to meet his before looking back down at her knee.
Hermione had been subject to a number of nasty hexes since many of the students currently at Hogwarts were either: obsessed with Potter, obsessed with Krum or obsessed a fan of Rita Skeeter.
Why people were such jealous idiots, he didn't know.
...
The fourth year had flown by and Theo had quickly realised that the Wizarding World of Britain would be very different in a few years.
Potter had landed on the Quidditch Pitch via Portkey holding the corpse of Cedric Diggory, sobbing and proclaiming that the Dark Lord had returned. Despite the disbelief of many of those who could hear what Potter was saying, Theo somehow knew that what he was saying was true. Most likely, his father had returned to the Dark Lords side and soon, they would be drawn into another war.
...
It was Easter Break of his fifth year and Theo held his mother's jewellery box with care as he went through the various necklaces, bracelets, and earrings that were linked with protective enchantments. He found a simple golden chain that would protect the wearer from most hexes and a few curses: nothing too dark, unfortunately, but it would give protection from any spell that would not cause lethal damage.
He placed it in his trunk, where it would stay until he could find a chance to give it to Hermione.
He hoped his mother would approve.
...
His father had been caught among the Death Eaters at the Ministry of Magic. Theo knew what would happen to him. He'd be taken in by Narcissa Malfoy at Malfoy Manor. He'd be living with the Malfoys. He'd be living with him.
He conjured a box and placed the golden chain inside it, wrapping the box in brown paper and securing it with a sticking charm. Attaching a letter before asking one of the house elves to deliver it to the Hospital Wing.
This will protect you from most hexes and a few of the minor curses, please wear it.
Stay safe.
He didn't sign the note; he didn't need to.
...
The summer of Theodore Nott's fifth year made him want to obliviate himself from the horrors he had witnessed.
The Dark Lord was infuriated by the failure at the Department of Mysteries, he and Draco were expected to take their father's places at the table. Bellatrix Lestrange would alternate between hysterical and murderous, taking any and every opportunity to better earn the Dark Lord's favour. Including the burning of his family's Manor using fiendfyre. The house, of course, would eventually repair itself, but any object inside was incinerated by the cursed flame including his communication parchment. The only objects not destroyed in the fire were his school trunk with his NEWT level books inside as well as his mother's jewellery box.
He cast a mail redirection ward on himself, any letters he would receive would be sent back, he couldn't afford to put Hermione in danger, even if she was sending her letters through a neutral owl office, it was too great a risk.
Theodore Nott hid himself behind his occlumency shields and blocked off his emotions.
Maybe his fate was sealed.
...
Theo felt as if he were dying. The constant darkness of the Mark was not something Theo was unfamiliar with, but he could feel his magic rejecting the brand that had been forcefully placed upon his arm. It was more and more difficult to perform any light spells, and his darker spells were doubled in strength but less contained or precise. Perhaps the Mark slowly was driving him insane, it would certainly explain a few things about some of the older Death Eaters.
Every time he made eye contact with Hermione, he would quickly avert his eyes, but he knew he couldn't keep running forever.
One morning, he noticed Hermione staring at him with a different intensity than usual. He tensed before spontaneously meeting her gaze. He owed her an explanation, even if it would be a painful one.
He saw her quickly leave the Great Hall after his signal so he waited a few minutes before excusing himself, making his way to their old table.
"How's your summer been, Granger?" He began uncertainly: occlumency shields still firmly in place.
"Just fine. You would know if you opened any of my letters." Hermione replied coldly, not making eye contact with him.
"It was too dangerous." Theo said, double checking there was no one in the area before casting a non-verbal privacy charm.
"Really? And you couldn't have written a note? What did you think I gave you that piece of parchment for?" Hermione asked, glaring at him angrily. Theo felt his occlumency shields slip. Hermione always seemed to cause them to crumble in a way even the Dark Lord could not.
"I- it was burned. Fiendfyre. I would have written but..." He trailed off, thinking about the Manor and painfully predicting what the Gryffindor would ask next.
"You can produce a Patronus?" Hermione said hesitantly.
"..." The two sixth years stared at each other for a few moments.
Theo closed his eyes before looking down at his arm where the Mark was.
"Not anymore."
"You didn't." Hermione gasped coming to the correct conclusion.
"I didn't have a choice. He's living at the Malfoys, and I'm living with the Malfoys, so I'm living with him." He explained as Hermione started to fret.
"We can go to Dumbledore, he can hide you." She said.
"No, I can't. Dumbledore knows I've been marked, the same way I can feel the Mark on Snape. There aren't many options left. The younger Slytherins are divided, and the half-bloods are getting worse and worse treatment every day. I can't leave them." Theo knew it was hopeless. He had to stay at Hogwarts until it was no longer deemed useful by the Dark Lord.
They both fell silent, both knowing that they were stuck on opposite sides of a war that they could not prevent.
Suddenly, Hermione exclaimed, "You need to obliviate me."
"Are you crazy? I can't obliviate you." Theo said in shock.
He wouldn't.
"You don't have a choice." Hermione said. "If anyone finds out that I know about..." She gestured at his arm. "You'll be killed. Or worse."
"I can't do the charm." Theo protested, it was too risky. "Well, not on you."
"I'm not asking." She said firmly.
"But you're not even of the majority age." Theo tried to reason his way out of it but deep inside, he knew there wasn't much choice.
"Neither are you." Hermione grabbed his arm and said, "Theo this will keep both of us safe. Harry already suspects that Malfoy's been marked, I can't lie to him."
"It's too dangerous."
"I'm aware of the risks."
Theo drew his wand, hand shaking.
"Are you sure?" Theo said. Hermione nodded and closed her eyes. Theo steadied his hand, slowly building his occlumency shields back up and focusing on the memories he needed to remove.
"You'll have to erase all suspicions that I have of yours and Malfoy's ill appearances." Hermione told him.
"You'll be even less likely to believe he's been marked." He said, adding it to the list.
"I know."
"And you won't remember this conversation."
"I know."
"Hermione?" She hummed in response as he took a deep breath.
"I love you."
I'm sorry. A tear escaped from the corner of his eye.
"Obliviate."
Goodbye, Hermione
...
Theo was buried at a muggle church, next to the person who filled the void in his life with light.
Perhaps they could be together,
In another life.