Wolves Without Teeth ── theodore nott ¹ ( UNDER EDITING )

chapter twenty seven

            Growing up, there were certain rules that Theodore ( Theo ) Nott had understood the importance of at an unfortunate age. He understood that making noise when silence was to be the normal was unacceptable, he had learned that rule the hard way the moment his father backhanded him for laughing at a pup when he was five. He understood that he was the heir of his family, and being the heir came with important responsibilities such as pretending to enjoy dinners with pureblood families that all have their nose high in the air, that you must always put your best face forward and be fake at every scene. He understood that he can not disappoint his father, nor anyone in the little pureblood circle for that fact. It would cost him greatly if he did, and he already saw what would happen if he did disappoint.

He had been having nightmares ever since he was five years old because of his very first disappointment.

It was one of the many reasons he tried not to get involved in many things during his time at Hogwarts, it wasn't for his own safety of course, it was always for others. Theo couldn't afford distractions, or anything messy that would make his father displeased.

And yet, ever since he was six years old and had seen the spiteful, puffy face of Winifred Bulstrode, she has been nothing but a distraction.

Theo had done well over the years of avoiding her, even if that meant having to lock down every single emotion he ever had of her. He was happier that way, or at least that's what he told himself. Really, it was safer for her that way. He would watch from afar instead, watching her read all these years in the library by herself, watch the way her eyebrows would crease, or she would laugh with her hand covering her lips in case anyone would hear her. Her emotions were always so on display, ever since she was little with mismatched teeth that he had found quite endearing, even at their young age.

It was as if she had casted a spell over him, for suddenly everything else in the world didn't matter unless she was there. She was like the sun, feeling and brightening everything while he moved through the night with dull eyes and numbness to his heart.

The problem was, he knew what happened to lovers who fell for each other when the world disapproved, and he knew his father would disapprove more than anyone else. Theo could handle everyone else, everyone else was as irrelevant as an ant, but his father, his father, was the one factor that he could not ignore. He had seen firsthand what his father would, and could easily do the people he loved, so he shielded himself shut and pretended that she was dirt he walked upon.

He was quite okay with doing that, no matter how much he felt like dying every time her lips would frown or glower in that disapproving way of hers, with her eyes sparking with hurt every time he opened his mouth. He was okay with doing it because at least she was safe and alive.

But then fifth year struck and suddenly a book he had kept shut for many years in his mind had snapped open the moment she had burned her handprint into the stone of Hogwarts. With her fingers shaking and eyes running ramped and furious, he had seen the signs before, and suddenly, everything he was okay with before disappeared.

She could die either way, and all he could find himself thinking and yearning was the need to help her.

Helping her came with a price, and price that had fallen upon him the moment he returned home from school during Yule break. His hands had been tied and the only way to break free was to admit to the affections he kept trapped for so many years, with his fathers smirking features in front of him, his lips had swollen shut and mouth had washed dry with a thousand columns of cotton swabs.