Work Text:
Theo Nott was alone. Though it was a harsh change for many of the returning 'eighth year' Slytherins, he had never interacted much with his peers. Sure he got along enough with most people in the other houses, but otherwise he sunk into the background. He considered himself a firmly neutral party in pretty much everything that had happened over the past seven years. It only took a couple of weeks in first year for his housemates to stop trying to involve him in their plots.
The library was his safe haven in the perpetual chaos of the school. Even without factoring in the war they had just finished, any place that held several hundred magical teenagers would never be the level of quiet Theo desired. Or the lack of other people in general.
Which led to where he was sitting: a mildly warded table in a corner of the library that took seven random turns to find and was surrounded by books so ancient that he doubted even Madam Pince remembered they existed. In the three years he had been using the table not a single soul had wandered near him, even before he had warded it.
So people could forgive him for being started when he heard someone clear their throat next to him.
He whipped his head up, wand in hand hidden under the table, and was greeted with the sight of Harry Potter standing in front of his table. He looked considerably better than he had in the wake of the Battle, not that Theo had been watching, but he tamped down the urge to scowl at how bony he still looked. Did his friends even care?
It was only after he realized he had just been staring at Potter that he set his book on the table. Still open so he didn't seem too inviting, but enough to signal he was actually paying attention. "Potter," he said, "Are you looking for something?" He couldn't remember the last time he had seen Potter actually study in a library, not that he could see anyone from his table. His table that was supposed to be warded against people wandering his way.
Potter, like the madman he clearly was, just smiled at him. "A place to sit!" he said, pulling out a chair on the other side of the table. "Do you mind if I join you for a bit?" He was already in the seat when he asked, his bag hitting the ground with a dull thunk.
There were no words for how ridiculous the situation was, so he didn't answer at all and instead picked his book back up. Part of him wanted to pack up and leave but the other part of him was too prideful to be driven from his table by Potter, savior of the world or not.
After about an hour he could admit that there could have been worse people to force their company on him. Potter, to his surprise, could refrain from talking. He had a charms textbook open and was occasionally jotting down notes. Theo decidedly did not look when he rolled his sleeves up to avoid the ink. It took another half hour after he noticed this for Potter to look down at his watch and grimace before getting up.
He glanced at his own watch and saw that the two of them had stayed in the library through lunch. He was well accustomed to taking meals at odd times, but Potter clearly had not been eating enough to push back his lunch. He smirked at the thought of the lecture Potter would likely get from the Granger girl. It was well deserved for disrupting Theo's peace and quiet. Though a little concerning that no one came to find Potter when he skipped a meal.
"Thanks for letting me sit," Potter said, "Have a good evening Nott." Before Theo could think of responding, which he would not, Potter had vanished into the shelves.
Surprising that Potter knew his name. Everyone knew who Potter was, of course, but Theo failed to recall any time in the past eight years they had talked. He classified the whole interaction as a temporary warp in reality and went back to his book, though he did promise to redo his wards the next time because he had clearly gotten sloppy.
-
Potter had the audacity to sit next to him. Well, there was an empty seat in-between them, but he had a sinking feeling that was because Theo had spread his work out so much and not because of politeness.
He had taken down and redid every ward surrounding the table, so that no other student should have even thought about coming within three rows of him. Yet there Potter was, setting his work on the table with that infuriating grin on his face. "Good morning Nott! Thought I'd get some work done before messing around outside," he said.
That was another thing. The first time could maybe, if he squinted and tilted his head, be passed off as every other table being full. Or dodging the fans Theo had seen him running away from before. But there was absolutely no way that every other table and shadowy corner of the library was filled at seven in the morning on a Saturday.
"Potter," He muttered as a greeting. That was one more word than he had wanted to speak today. It could be fine as long as Potter kept his newly found skill of shutting up and sitting quietly.
Tap. Or mostly quietly.
Tap. Tap. Tap-Tap. He quickly glanced at Potter and he hadn't even opened the book he took out. He was tapping his fingers on the desk while staring at the cover.
He wanted to say something, didn't he. Tap. Potter had lost his ability to sit still with it.
Tap-Tap. He would sit there and read his book until Potter either found the Gryffindor courage that he had been coasting on for eight years, or left him alone.
Tap.
Tap.
Ta-"Just spit it out, Potter. I can tell you want to say something." It came out a bit more rude than he meant to be, as annoying as he could be he didn't actually dislike the man, but anymore taps would have drove him mad.
Potter jerked his head up and stared at him for a couple of seconds. Not that Theo was watching him, he never looked up from the book he was reading. "Me and a couple of friends, Hermione, Ron, Neville, and the like, are doing a pickup game of quidditch?" he blurted out, running the words together.
Theo nodded. He had no need for Potter's day plans, but maybe this was one of those Gryffindor things he would never understand. The whole house seemed to be in each others pockets, so it was possible they all told eachother their plans constantly.
"Is that a question?" he responded, though he refused to look away from his book. "Do you need my plans for the day too before you can move on with your work?" The question was mostly sacastic, but he would do it if it gave him some peace.
Potter laughed. He hated that the dreary corner of the library seemed a little brighter when he did. Stupid Gryffindor. "I was wondering if your plans could be the same?" He asked.
Theo's brain went blank as he processed the question. He slowly looked up from his book to look at Potter, whose smile dropped a little at the look on his face. "Are you asking me to play a pickup game of quidditch with you and your Gryffindor lot?"
"If you want? I just thought I'd invite you since I'm kinda invading your space here."
So Potter did know what he was doing sitting there and was doing it anyway. He was unsure if that made him feel better or worse. "Sorry to disappoint but I have never played quiddich and I am far from comfortable on a broom." He also doubted Potter's friends, the most Gryffindor bunch he had ever seen, would take kindly to an antisocial Slytherin randomly showing up.
"Oh. That's okay then." Potter went back to his book, and Theo was not thinking about the slight frown on his face. He wasn't.
-
Potter did not stop showing up to his library table. It didn't matter how many wards Theo put up, he waltzed right through all of them.
It would have been fine if Potter hadn't started talking to him. And if Theo hadn't started talking back.
Potter, and he was not going to give into the man's demands he call him Harry, was infuriatingly kind. And funny. And smart when he put his mind to it. It drove Theo crazy.
"Morning, Theodore!" Potter said, once again walking through his wards like they were made of paper. And didn't that nearly give him a heart attack the first time he heard it, Potter calling him Theodore like they were childhood friends. What he should have done was call the whole thing off there and demand that Potter call him Nott like a sensible person. But it had been so long since someone had said his name with such joy and Theo was allowed a moment or two of weakness, so the name stayed.
"Good morning Potter. What subject are you defiling today?" He responded, unable to stop himself. Now here he was, starting the conversation of the day instead of waiting until the silence got to Potter.
The happiness that lit up Potter's face when he asked made it hard to regret. "Charms!" He tossed him bag onto the table and took the seat next to him. "If Professor Flitwick understands a single thing in this essay it's one more thing than I understood writing it."
He rolled his shoulders to get the tension out that snuck in as soon as Potter sat down less than a foot from him and scoffed. "How you got this far in Charms Potter I will never know." However, he picked a book he had finished reading and slid it in Potter's direction, tapping the cover. "Pages 294 to 308."
Out of the corner of his eye he saw Potter grab the book and slide it closer to him like it was made of glass. "Thank you Theodore. How much do I have to bribe you to call me Harry?"
"How much gold do you have in your vaults?" He asked teasingly.
"Enough for several people to live extravagantly and never have to work. If gold's not your thing I haven't really looked but people have told me I own lots of ancient artifacts and the like." He was smiling, but it wasn't a joking smile. Theo knew his joking smile, and it wasn't this. This was exactly the smile he had seen on his rich housemates as they made unwise financial decisions solely for their own satisfaction.
"What's wrong with me calling you Potter, Potter?"
Potter groaned and leaned back in his chair. "There's nothing wrong with it, I just don't like it."
"Somehow I think you have lived through worse."
Potter didn't say anything for a moment, instead tilting his head and staring at him. "I'm going to start calling you Theo."
"No." It was one thing for Potter to start calling him his first name, it was another for him to use his nickname unprompted. Like they were close. Like they were friends.
"Yes," Potter said. He was smiling like he was one twitch away from laughing. "If you call me Harry then I'll go back to Theodore. Otherwise it's Theo now."
He resisted the urge to faceplant into the desk. He spoke reluctantly, "Fine, Harry."
Harry's resulting smile made the table five degrees warmer, and Theo refused to look at that any closer. "Pleasure doing business with you Theodore!"
-
Theo knew it was a stupid decision. That didn't stop him from pulling the bag out as his watch hit noon. He pulled out a variety of snacks, all carefully wrapped by the house elves, and slid half of the pile towards Harry. Who had claimed the seat directly next to Theo regardless of the books formally occupying the space.
"Huh?" Harry looked at the food like he had never seen snacks before. "What's this for?"
Did he need to spell everything out for him? "It's for you. Because it's lunch time."
That made Harry's face light up. There was something about the way his eyes scrunched and his cheeks flushed that made the room warmer and made Theo itch to cause it again. "Did you bring food for me?" He sounded more excited than someone should be at some snacks.
"I brought food for me," he corrected, "However, I'm allowing you to have some because I can tell your eating habits are terrible." Seriously, he was debating trying to sneak nutrient potions in his bag.
That only managed to make Harry's smile wider, and before he knew it, Harry had thrown his arm around Theo's shoulder in a side hug. "Thanks, I needed some food."
It took him several seconds of processing the contact before he was able to respond. "I just don't want to look at you malnourished all the time." If bringing Harry food incited that kind of response, he wouldn't be against doing it again. And again.
-
It was like that had opened the floodgates to Harry's tendency for physical touch. Everytime Harry sat down, talked, or got up, he managed to touch Theo in some way. And despite thinking he probably should, Theo never told him to stop. It was a weakness he was rather happy to indulge in.
Slowly, Harry managed to force his way piece by piece into Theo's life. And slowly, Theo stopped resisting it.
Which led him to his current situation: standing anxiously outside the great hall waiting for Harry and his group of friends to descend on him like a pack of vultures.
It only took Harry one study session to convince him to join Harry's friends on a picnic, which apparently they did whenever the weather was nice enough. Theo was apparently a weak man to Harry's pouts and pleas. Maybe it was like the opposite of exposure therapy, the more time he spent around Harry the less immune he was.
He made sure to get there first because he was not sure he could find it in himself to walk up to a group of Gryffindors by himself. Which was abundantly clear as the group came down the stairs, all talking over each other and jostling to the point he was surprised no one fell down the steps.
"Theodore!" Harry exclaimed, running a couple steps ahead to grab his arm. "Thanks for agreeing this time! I promise we'll try to keep the Gryffindorness to a minimum."
"You are the most Gryffindor person I have ever met. I doubt you will succeed."
That was not meant to be a compliment, nevertheless Harry's face broke into a smile. He did not have it in himself to make his point more clear.
"Nott." Someone said to the side, "It's about time Harry dragged you out of the library."
"Granger," Theo nodded in greeting. "Weasley, Weasley, Longbottom, Luna." Wasn't that a surprise, seeing Luna floating behind them on the stairs.
Harry pulled on his sleeve. "Why does she get to be Luna and I had to threaten you into calling me Harry?" If Theo didn't know any better, Harry's tone sounded almost jealous.
"Theo and I shared a childhood," Luna said dreamily while Theo was trying to process what Harry meant, "He was always very quiet, if you wanted to know."
Theo sighed, "Thank you Luna. I'm glad you are well."
She leaned closer to them, eyes wide. "You both have many whumdigs floating around, you ought to get rid of those soon."
He stifled a laugh at the bewildered expression on Harry's face. He took the hand that wasn't now pressed to Harry's side and patted Luna's hands gently. "I'll look into that Luna. Let's see if some sun would drive them away for a bit, shall we?"
She nodded and picked up the picnic basket he hadn't noticed was at her feet. Harry was looking between the two of them with a confused look on his face.
Weasley stepped up and inspected him for a moment before sticking his hand out. "You seem like the okay sort Nott, and Harry really really likes you-"
"Ron!" Harry hissed, reaching out to hit his friend on the arm.
Weasley dodged and kept going "-so as long as you don't hurt him we'll be good."
Theo blinked. If he had any intention of attacking Harry he would have done it in the corner of the library, not here in the middle of the crowded halls. "I have no intention of attacking Harry," he said slowly. Besides, Theo was no slouch at magic, but Harry had managed to defeat the Dark Lord. He had done enough self reflection to know his odds there were abysmally low.
Granger had put a hand on Weasley's shoulder and was whispering to him, and Harry was turned as far away from him as he could be while still grabbing his arm and his face was tinted a dark red. The younger Weasley was smirking at him, and Luna had engaged Longbottom in a discussion about the whumdigs Theo was apparently infested with.
Harry cleared his throat loudly and said, "Can we at least go outside before you start embarrassing me?"
His friends protested something about always embarrassing him, but started to wander outside anyway. Theo was confused about why the whole scene was embarrassing for Harry. It was well known that while Theo kept out of the war as much as possible, his father was still a deatheater. It was reasonable that his friends wanted to keep him safe. Less reasonable that they had waited about three months to do so, he had expected an interrogation within the first week.
Harry didn't let go of his arm until they were sitting on a blanket next to the lake, and even then he nudged Theo around until Harry was sitting between him and the school. Theo scoffed and moved over. "You know I'm not going to run away," he said. He wasn't sure if Harry wanted to be in an easier position to run, or if he was trying to make sure Theo couldn't run.
Harry smiled and shoved Theo over a bit more, "Not taking any chances, it took me ages to get you to agree to come out here."
"You only asked me once," he pointed out as he adjusted his robes, which were not cut for sitting on the ground. He had forgotten this part of the picnic when he got dressed that morning.
"Maybe for the picnic I only had to ask you once, but I've been trying to get you out of the library with me for forever."
He squinted at Harry. "When?" Was he referring to the quiddich game three months ago? Because they had had like two conversations, and that wasn't much of a basis for him to drop his plans and play quiddich. A sport he had never been interested in.
"Two weeks ago when I said we were going down to Hogsmede? Or the week before that when I asked you if you liked the pie they were going to be serving at lunch?"
"What about that?"
Harry sighed and leaned his head against Theo's shoulder. "How are you so smart but so stupid," he muttered. "I was inviting you to go to hogsmede with me. Or at the very least eat in the great hall with us."
Theo stared down at the top of Harry's head, where the curls flopped around his glasses and hit Theo's neck. Did he really miss that? Eight years of fending for himself in the snake pit and he missed something as simple as an invitation for lunch? He was almost embarrassed to call himself a Slytherin after that. "Oh."
"Yeah 'oh'," Harry scoffed, "You're lucky I like you too much to be upset."
Before Theo could comprehend what that meant, Granger threw a sandwich at Harry's face, which was in Theo's shoulder, so the sandwich hit him instead. "Yeah yeah you've gotten your boy out of the library, eat your food and pretend the rest of us still exist, would you?" she said, passing out the food from Luna's basket.
Lunch was… enjoyable. His father was probably turning over in the grave watching him eat lunch on a blanket with a bunch of Gryffindors and be having a good time on top of it.
He leaned back on his hands, trying not to jostle where Harry had thrown his legs over his lap. He supposed that maybe it would be worth it to venture outside the library a little more often. He closed his eyes for a minute as the conversation lulled around him.
When he opened them a second later, everyone was gone. His wand snapped into his hand as he pushed himself on his knees, barely realizing he had thrown Harry's legs off of his. Nearly all of the stuff was gone too, only the blankets and a little bit of food remaining.
Something grabbed onto his arm and he had his wand pointed and a spell on his tongue before he recognized Harry on the ground next to him, with a hand latched onto his sleeve. "Theodore," he asked, "what's wrong? Are you okay?"
Was Harry blind? "Where did your merry gang of Gryffindors go, Potter? I thought you would be above an ambush." It was only Harry's confused face that stopped him from either warding the clearing to hell and back or running for the castle as fast as possible.
Harry tugged his sleeve until he was basically forced to sit down. "They just left. You looked so comfortable I didn't want to wake you. I'm sorry, I should have just woken you clearly."
He couldn't believe he had fallen asleep. Outside. Surrounded by Gryffindors. He scrambled back to his feet. "You should have gone with your friends, Potter," he said, trying to clean up the remaining items scattered on the blanket.
Harry, however, refused to move. "It's Harry. Or I'm going back to calling you Theo." He was almost smirking, looking up at Theo bustling around the blanket.
He took a deep breath to stop himself from doing something rash. "Yes, Harry then, you should have gone with your friends."
"I didn't want to go with my friends."
He stopped to stare at Harry, confused. "Why on earth would you not?" It wasn't like Theo was good company falling asleep like that. Merlin, that was so rude of him. At essentially their first meeting too.
Harry wrapped his hand in the outside layer of Theo's robes, saying confidently. "I have been reliably informed that it's utterly useless trying to get me to do anything else but look at you when you're here."
Apparently the hand in his robes was to stop Theo's knee-jerk reaction of bolting from that statement. "Pottter what the hell?" he exclaimed, kept on the blanket by Harry's tight grip on his robes.
"Theo," Harry said, "I thought I was being pretty obvious with how much I liked you." There was a crease between his eyebrows that Theo would find adorable in any other context.
He liked to think that his brain was one of his greatest weapons, but Harry had left him utterly speechless. Harry slowly unwound his hand from Theo's robes, supposedly confident that Theo wouldn't bolt. He stared at Theo's panicked face for a second before saying, "I was hoping this would go a little better but would you like to go to Hogsmede with me? Like as a date?"
That was when it really sunk in. Harry Potter, the golden boy of Gryffindor, liked him. Wanted to date him.
And maybe some of that Gryffindor had rubbed off on Theo because he shoved Harry to the ground a second later, capturing his lips in a kiss.
After a little too long making out on the picnic blanket he laid his head on Harry's chest to catch his breath. "So," Harry said from above him, "Is that a yes to Hogsmede?"
Theo huffed, "I suppose if you're going to be my boyfriend you can call me Theo."
"Well Theo, I am going to take you on the world's best date next Saturday, all right?"
"You better. I have high standards."
"I wouldn't expect any less."