Ink and Parchment ~ blood and bone

52

“I’ve found Theo” Blaise said with something like shock in his voice and Eliza followed to where his dark eyes were looking.

Theo was talking to someone. The boy had shockingly bright blue hair that stood out in the crowd and both she and Blaise watched as the boy burst into bright ringing laughter, Theo listening with an indulgent smile.

“Who is that?” Eliza asked and Blaise narrowed his eyes.

“You know” he said “I have no bloody clue”

She and Blaise were just about to walk over when they were interrupted by Daphne “They’ve been talking to each other for twenty minutes now – that’s practically a years’ worth of socialising in Theo’s world” she said excitedly.

“Oh my Merlin” Blaise breathed, gripping onto Daphne’s arm when Theo allowed himself to be dragged to join the other couples dancing “Who is this boy?”

“That” Draco said, popping up out of the crowd to throw his arm over Blaise’s shoulder “Is Elijah Sinclair, a cousin of mine on my father’s side who dropped by for the ball”

“Well” Eliza started, watching as Theo and Sinclair left the dance floor and started making their way towards a secluded corner “It seems unfair that we know Sinclair’s name and he doesn’t know ours”

“You’re right Eliza” Daphne said with vehemence “we really should go over there and introduce ourselves to him”

“Would be rude of us not to, really” Blaise added in.

Together they started to try and discretely make their way over to the pair in the corner, making their way through the crowd.

“Ah cousin Elijah” Draco exclaimed dramatically as they neared “I see you’ve met our Theo”

Instead of looking abashed the blue-haired boy grinned brightly “Cousin Draco! You didn’t say your friend was this attractive”

Eliza gawped when Theo actually blushed.

She didn’t know he could do that.

“Can you blame me?” Draco joked “I didn’t want you stealing away my best friend”

“He’s my best friend actually” Eliza butted in and Theo chuckled softly at their antics. Turning to face Sinclair Eliza held out her hand.

“I’m Eliza Potter, pleasure to meet you” she said and shook Sinclair’s hand “This is Blaise Zabini, and that’s Daphne Greengrass” she introduced everyone else and Sinclair smiled back at them happily, but before he could say anything Theo interrupted

“They’re also known as my irritating best friends” he said drily, and Blaise let out a dramatic gasp.

“I’m hurt Theo – all we wanted to do was meet your new friend” he defended himself with a pout and Theo sighed. Sinclair laughed, entertained by their antics.

“I’m Elijah Sinclair, a cousin of Draco’s”

“And why haven’t we seen you around before?” Daphne casually interrogated and Eliza snickered slightly when Theo face-palmed. Sinclair smiled good-naturedly before replying.

“I find wizarding Britain a tad too stuffy but there’s only so long one can avoid Narcissa Black” he joked and Eliza laughed slightly.

“Too true” she muttered and the pair of them shared commiserating looks before Sinclair moved on again

“But it seems this year the company has far exceeded my expectations” he tacked on and winked at Theo who glanced away shyly. Eliza wanted to grab him and shake him about. Theo was never shy, he was witty and amazing and if he didn’t start flirting back with the cute French boy soon Eliza would kill him.