THEO

Chapter 9: Florence-

She was starting to really get pissed off. She had heard one word from him since everything went down. It was now a week later. He completely ditched her on their study session and she was more confused than ever.
She was loosing hope until she walked into the boys dorm looking for Draco. The only person in their was Theo. They were probably in the common room. She was tempted to walk away, give him a taste of his own medicine. But she knew they needed to talk.
She slowly walked in.
"Where were you Thursday" she speaks lowly. "I waited an hour" she tries to make eye contact, but he won't, can't, look at her.
"Didn't feel like it" is all he manages.
"That would've been nice to know" she rolls her eyes.
When he doesn't respond, she gets mad. "Is this about what happened last weekend" she finally erupts.
"What happened last weekend shouldn't have happened at all" he states. "I was just really drunk. I don't even know how I got over there"
Out of all the answers she had came up with in her mind, this was not one of them. She has a look of shock and hurt on her face.
"So that didn't mean anything" she asks.
"No, it was a drunken mistake" he says.
She notices how he still hasn't made eye contact with her yet.
"Okay. I just wanted to know where your head was at" she says, flatly.
She was about to walk away when she remembered something.
"Your patronus worked. That's really great" she states. "What was the memory? What changed"
"You have no idea" he scoffs.
She takes a step closer.
"Than give me an idea" is all she says to break him.
The space between them was closing and he had to get out. He couldn't be in there with her any longer, he would do something he can't.
He gets up and walks straight past her.
It did hurt. She grew to be very attracted to him. She craved him and wanted him more and more everyday. She didn't know where these feelings came from, but they were definitely there.
And all for nothing.
She tried not to hang onto false hope, but she did think the boy had feelings for her back. He showed it deep down all the time. Hearing that he clearly didn't was hard. She was frustrated, annoyed, confused and hurt. She couldn't wrap her head around it. She didn't understand why he did the things he did if he never really cared at all. It didn't make any sense. She hated it.
All in all, she wanted things to just continue. He was in their friend group, so things wouldn't change that much. She couldn't help but still want to be close to him, she just had to be more careful. She wasn't going to let him stop her from enjoying herself.
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Theo's walls were back up, but with each day, Florence lowered them. She didn't mean to or intentionally try to, that's just the hold she has over him. Theo had no control and never realized most of the time. When he did, he immediately walked away and put them back up. He tried his hardest, but he still fell for her more and more everyday.
She hated seeing this and didn't know why, but she tried to just keep a good mindset. All she wanted was one of her closest friends back.
Theo felt himself getting too comfortable again and was determined to do something about it.
And so he did.
It's been over a month when he finally decided on what to do. When he wasn't studying with her, he would be talking with her for hours at a time at the astronomy tower and knew that's where he could find her.
He walked up to her and sat down without saying a word.
She looked at him and grinned. That smile always made him go crazy. When he has trouble returning the smile like he usually does, her smile fades. She doesn't push.
"I just wanted to tell you before you had to hear from anyone else" he pauses. "Me and Daphne are together. Asked her out yesterday"
Of course she knew Daphne Greengrass. She was close with her sister, Astoria. She didn't take her as Theo's type at all, but here they were.
She tries to read him, thinking this couldn't possibly be true. She had no idea they were even friends, let along more than friends. His look was genuine and his face was soft. He was telling the truth, whether he liked it or not.
She let a look of shock take over her face, only for a split second. She didn't know how to respond. She couldn't help but feel let down. She was convinced he was being stubborn, but there they were. He found someone else and there was nothing she could do about it. She really was nothing but a memory to him. It crushed her more than she thought it would.
She looked down for a second to gather herself.
"That's awesome, Theo" she looks back up. "I'm happy for you"
And there was the girl he fell for. The one who always put others first. Who didn't care as long as he was happy. Who was always there for him no matter what. Who he could trust whole heartedly. True to herself, Florence Shrine. His one and only, and he was breaking her heart. He watched as it crushed her almost as much as it crushed him. He had to push forward, to protect her.
"Thank you" he murmurs.
She lays down at this news.
He doesn't say anything, even though he could've guessed why she was upset. Instead, he lays down beside her.
"Why are you upset" she asks.
"I'm so torn" he simply states.
"Don't be. It ruins the fun" she chuckles.
He laughs too because that was such a Florence line. A line he grew to know so well.