cigarettes & invisible string || golden trio era

𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐍𝐈𝐆𝐇𝐓 𝐁𝐄𝐅𝐎𝐑𝐄

TW: mentions of SA
(There is a warning for this in the beginning of the book but I wanted to remind you all that I'll put a summary of the chapter in the authors note so if you guys need to skip, just scroll down to the bottom when it's super heavy stuff like this. If you only want to skip the scene because there is some info you need to hear in the beginning, just read until the group goes to the party.)

third person pov

Theo and Rose never went back to the dorm that night. Instead, they snuck into Mcgongall's office and used her floo to muggle Scotland. Theo letting Rose take him to a twenty four-seven cafe, grabbing a booth by a window covered in droplets of water—the remnants of a storm. It felt metaphorical in a way.

Rose had been quick to call a waitress over, ordering herself a black coffee and him a latte without a second thought. And Theo smirked, leaning back into the bench seat as he watched her. Amused in a way of how easily she fell into old habits, quick to scold Rose when she rolled her eyes about his refusal to simply drink black coffee.

The hard part of the conversation came first, having to figure out where they went from here. Admitting you were in love with your best friend meant many complications, neither of them needing to take the time to get to know each other or any of the average relationship stuff. Theo wanted to go head first, and Rose did too. More than anything.

But there were things she had to tell him first. Although it terrified her that once she spoke honestly Theo could run away, Rose began filling him in on everything that happened with Draco from Yule and since then. She explained how patient Draco had been about their situation, and that she did really love the Malfoy—even more so when he promised to give her time. Theo didn't seem surprised but he didn't appear happy about it either, a slight look held inside his eyes that told Rose he wished to punch Draco straight across the face. Sharing her? The idea of her loving someone else? It made Theo feel a dark sense of possessiveness.

Despite this though, Rose had stared Theo straight in the eye and told him she would not choose. Claiming that if neither of them could handle it, then they couldn't handle her. Rose didn't necessarily say her plans were to have them both, she simply explained they needed to take things slow and see where it led to. Theo didn't let his worry win, she loved him. She's in love with him. There was no universe where Theo wouldn't be by her side until the end of time, he knew that.

After all the difficult stuff, Rose and Theo fell into catching each other up on every detail of the past few months. Theo didn't have much to tell, he quite literally stayed by Whitman's side or slept—not knowing how to breathe without her. Rose didn't know how to do so without him either and she made sure to tell Theo that. The only way Rose managed so long was filling her schedule full after no longer having a toxic relationship to distract herself with.

They spent all night in that cafe, falling into a barrel of laughter over the random stories Rose shared about the first years she has been teaching and Theo telling her how annoyed Whitman had gotten with him. Many other things too, of course. Both attempting to joke about how miserable they'd been without each other while downing coffee after coffee, Rose going on to explain how she would talk to Theo in her head—saying his imaginary version was not as nice. It took Theo awhile to admit it, his face too busy watching her in a bittersweet place of heartache as she talked animatedly in way he hadn't seen in months.

But eventually, Theo told Rose how he had talked to her mentally too—even going so far to recall Whitman catching him doing it aloud.