DEAR GOLDEN, theodore nott

twelve

"Leave me." Aurelia pleaded, struggling under the grasp. 

The taller boy pushed Aurelia towards Jake who caught her by her arm and twisted it causing Aurelia to cry in pain.

"Hold her tightly Jake." Said the tallest one,"I'm gonna tell her what she really is."

The boy then grabbed his wand , pointing it straight at Aurelia. He moved his hands causing a neon light colour to appear on Aurelia's robes and writing the letter 'F'.
He was about to write the letter R but was interrupted by a voice which Aurelia was very well familiar with.

"What's going on here?"

Aurelia whipped her head towards the source of the voice to find Theodore standing near the hallway with his bag slung on his shoulders. Theodore's eyes locked with the one having hazel eyes and his heart wrenched at how sad they looked.

"Oh nott, come on join me." The tallest one laughed,"it's fun."

Theodore wanted to punch him so badly but he calmed himself down and tried to convince him to let Aurelia go.

"Why are you guys even wasting time on her?" Theodore forced a chuckle while crossing his arms,"she's not even worth it."

Jake frowned at his statement.

"I mean, I would never want to waste my time on her. I had to spent few hours with her because of the potions essay and she bored me to death. She's just a freak." Theodore pushed the words out but he didn't mean them.

This was the only way he could help Aurelia because if he stood up for the girl, everybody would hate him. Or worse, Aurelia would think that he helped her.

"Oh come on." Jake groaned before looking at his other companion,"carry on addy."

The tallest one, called as addy by Jake, shrugged and lifted his wand up.

Theodore clenched his fist and walked closer to Jake. 

"Leave her, man!" Theodore exclaimed, trying to pull Aurelia away from Jake.

"Move aside nott." Addy yelled, running out of patience. 

Aurelia struggled under the grip and tried biting Jake's arms but he saved himself by pushing Aurelia's head down.

That was it, Theodore gritted his teeth and was about to punch Jake when he was knocked off his feet by another punch.

Theodore stumbled back, pressing his hands to his lips which had now started bleeding. Jake gasped and removed his grip from Aurelia who fell down on the floor. Jake and Addy took this as a cue to run, leaving behind an injured Theodore.

"Stay away from my sister Nott!" Harry shouted and that's when Theodore saw Harry standing in front of him.

Aurelia frowned and got up on her feet.

Harry grabbed Aurelia's arms and dragged her away from the mess. He had returned back because he wanted to ask her for her essay.

"Harry!" Aurelia protested, trying to remove her brother's tight grip from her arm.

"Harry!" Aurelia shouted causing the gryffindor to finally stop in his tracks.

"What?"

"Why did you punch Theodore? He did nothing!" Aurelia shrieked, a large frown resting on her face.

"You're defending him? When he tried to hurt you?" Harry exclaimed, throwing his hands up in the air.

"He tried helping me... " Aurelia trailed off, remembering how pissed Theodore looked when Jake ignored him. She knew that Jake was about to get a punch .

"Nott? Tried. Helping. You?" Harry dramatically asked, not believing his ears.

"Yes and you messed up everything." Aurelia groaned, slapping her forehead.

"Where are you going?" Harry asked when he saw Aurelia walking away in the same direction from where he had dragged her.

"I have to apologize to him." Aurelia answered and before Harry could protest she got lost in the dark hallways.

The first place Aurelia checked was the hospital wing. She peeked through the large door to find a boy sitting on one of the beds while Madam Pomfrey cleaned his wounds. It was Theodore.

Aurelia waited for a few minutes, pacing in front of the hospital wing when the door finally opened and out came Theodore. Ignoring the girl, he moved towards the stairs shortly stopped by Aurelia.

"Theodore-"

"What do you need?" Theodore hissed, turning around to find him inches apart from Aurelia whose face now held regret and sorrow. Aurelia flinched under the tone and noticed the hate for herself in Theodore's blue eyes. The blood has now been cleaned from his lips but he kept twitching his mouth in pain.

"I wanted to apologize." Aurelia admitted, not looking away from Theodore.

"For?" Theodore asked, taking a step back from the intoxicated aura around Aurelia.

"For what happened minutes ago. Harry committed a mistake. He didn't know that you were just trying to help me a-"

"I wasn't helping you." Theodore lied, keeping a blank expression on his face.

"Huh?" Aurelia frowned,"you were, you were about to punch the b-"

"You're just imagining things I would never beat my friend for someone like you." Theodore laughed bitterly, pointing his finger at Aurelia.

Aurelia felt sad and hurt by his words but didn't let him show it.

"Oh." Was all Aurelia could say. How stupid of her to assume that someone would help her.

Theodore noticed how dejected she looked after those venomous words left his mouth.

"I'm sorry." Theodore didn't know why he was apologising but he felt like it was necessary.

"What are you sorry for?" Aurelia questioned.

"I don't know, I'm... I'm just sorry." Was the last thing Theodore said before sprinting down the stairs, leaving behind a confused Aurelia.

He was scared ; scared that he would accidentally let the old Theodore crack up the walls he had put up. He was scared of releasing the old, loving and caring Theodore out of the reserved cage. He couldn't watch the walls coming down for some another person, moreover for Aurelia.