The Deal I Made With Theodore Nott - NL x TN

26

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"What the fuck is this?"

I sat up abruptly in the hospital wing cot, this sent Theo flying backwards onto the floor. He scrambled to pull his pants back on, still having discarded them last night.

The sun was just rising, much too early for madam Pomfrey to return. Unfortunately that meant it was Draco Malfoy standing in front of us at present moment.

"What are you doing here Draco?" Theo questioned anxiously, looking between me and the Slytherin.

"Someone told me they saw Gabbie come in here last night, but now I can see it was this loser Gryffindor." Draco said, stepping towards me and pointing his finger into my chest.

Theo quickly swatted Draco's hand away, stepping in front of me defensively.

"I thought I told you to stay away from him." The blonde wizard hissed.

"I tried-"

"Not hard enough it seems, are you that easily seduced Theo? I thought you'd learn your lesson the first time."

This struck a nerve in me. I'd never talked back to Draco before but there was a first time for everything. Seeing the way Theo shrunk at Draco's words gave me enough confidence for the both of us.

"Fuck off!" I yelled up at him, stepping towards him. He was slightly surprised at first but he quickly covered his shock up with an ugly smirk.

"Aw you poor sweet thing, how many times do I need to scare you away huh? Flint didn't knock enough sense into you for me? Do I have to do everything myself?" Draco chimed.

"That was you?" Theo questioned.

Draco chuckled darkly, as if he were enjoying the idea of what he had done.
"Yes, I told Flint to push Longbottom around a bit. Now I can see it wasn't enough, I'll do better next time."

He smiled down at me, joy written on his face as he toyed with me and his best mate.
I was fuming.

"You won't touch him Draco." Theo huffed.

"No I won't, and you won't either. Did you forget how close our fathers are? How much pull they have in the ministry?" Draco explained.

"I don't care about your empty threats." I scoffed.

Draco laughed at me then nodded towards Theo making my attention follow suit.
"You don't, but he does.

Theo looked scared, that same look of fear falling onto this expression again. He wasn't normally weak, he never backed down from a challenge. That is until someone speaks of his father, then he fell apart.

"Theo- no." I begged. This wasn't happening again, it couldn't be. Not after last night, not after the things we said. Yet I knew it would happen, our time was up.
Once again.

"I'm sorry Neville- I-"

"No, you can't do this to me everytime!" I yelled at him now, tears rolling down my cheeks. I took a step towards him but he stepped away, turning to look anywhere but my face.
"You coward!"

"I can't let him hurt you Neville, they'll find you and-"

"I don't care about me, you don't care either!" I scoffed. Theo's attention locked back onto me. His eyes were red and his cheeks wet with tears of his own.
"You only care about yourself."

"That's not true and you know it!" He yelled back at me.

"How could I know it? You are still letting your father control you, you are still letting small minded people like Draco get to you." I explained while pointing at Malfoy, whom was slightly taken back now, his smile long gone as he watched us argue with passion.
"I'd do anything to be with you Theo, would you do the same?"

I could tell he wanted to say something, but he just silently looked back at me. He bit his cheek in frustration.
"When you look in the mirror Theo, I'm sure you'll be very disappointed in what you'll see." I finally stated, pushing passed Draco to leave.

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•Theo POV•

I let Neville walk away.

I wanted nothing more than to grab his wrist and turn him around. To kiss him and reassure him that it's him I wanted and nothing could stop us.

But I didn't.

I was scared sure, but he was wrong. I wasn't scared for myself, I was scared of what they might do to him, what they would do to his family or his name. They could ruin him and barely lift a finger doing so.

"Theo I didn't-"

Draco's words were cut off by me flipping over a cot in frustration. I kicked it a few times, denting it and hurting my foot in the process. Hot tears stained my cheeks as I kept driving my heel into the metal.

"Theo stop!" Pansy yelled out as her and Blaise entered the room. She wrapped her arms around me as I collapsed to the floor, letting out loud sobs into her jumper.

"What the fuck Draco, what did you do?" Blaise questioned, pushing Draco aggressively.

Draco didn't react like he normally would. On an average day he wouldn't let someone talk to him that way or put their hands on him. But he just stood there like an empty husk, like the reality of what he had done was just now crashing down on him.
"I didn't mean to- I didn't know they."

"What did you do?" Blaise repeated himself.

"Isn't it obvious Blaise? He's ruined everything, just like he always does. No one is allowed to be happy if you aren't, isn't that right Malfoy?" Pansy spoke with venom in her voice.

"I didn't know- that they loved each other." Draco said breathlessly, still not making eye contact with anyone.

The room fell silent, my shaky breath was the only thing echoing off the empty walls.

It was a reality check. Draco did indeed have a heart somewhere deep inside his cold body, and yet that wasn't the thing I was processing.

I love Neville Longbottom,
I have for a long time now. I just never admitted it to myself, I was either too scared or too stupid. It hurt knowing of my feelings now, because I wasn't sure there would ever be a chance to tell him.