Hogwarts Hit List /Marauders Era/

25. Hogwarts Hit List - Simply, Nothing.

He was able to put two and two together when he saw the letter still clutched in her hand, knowing she was making her way towards the Gryffindor tower to give the letter to Peter, he kept his distance. He could hear her crying up ahead, and it didn't fail to break his heart, all he wanted to do was hold her, beg her to come back to bed, to make her realise that it would be alright, that the professors believed it wasn't her, that they had asked her and she didn't need to be scared, because it was alright.

But he knew how stubborn she could get, he knew that when her mind was set on something, it would take over, and it would be the only thing she could think about until something a lot more important came along, but her life was the most important thing to Theo, and he wasn't going to let her take away the one thing he finally had.

He watched her climb the stairs to the tower and instead he stayed outside, he stayed hidden behind the corridor waiting for her to come back out. It took longer than he thought it would for her to exit the tower, but the thought that maybe time had slowed down crossed his mind, that the events he absolutely didn't want to happen had pulled out time for an achingly long time.

The thought stayed in his head with every step he took towards the girl who left the tower, who was trying to wipe her tears enough to see clearly, but even Theo was having a hard time keeping the tears at bay, he was having the hardest time keeping in his sobs, too, knowing that if his cover was blown, and Estella saw him, he wouldn't have a better chance at stopping her.

But his heart stopped when he realised where she was going, and following her was getting harder when he knew what he would have to do, but he would do absolutely anything for her, and that thought nestled its way into his mind as he followed her up the stairs towards the astronomy tower, every step felt painful, every moment further and further into witnessing Estella do what Theo never ever wanted the girl to ever do.

He didn't want Estella to think that death was the only option for her, even though it seemed that way.

When he reached the top, she was leaning over the side, her hands tightly clutching the railing, her sobs streaming down her cheeks but Theo couldn't see them. His mind wandered to just over a month ago when he was teasing her in the library, how good it felt to be intimate with her, even if it was in a closet, having her so close to him felt like simple bliss, but everything crashed and burned after that, they didn't have that bliss anymore, they had accusations. She was miserable.

He watched her climb onto the railing, and that was when he moved, pushing himself forward, before she could take another step, his arm slipped around her waist, pulling her into him and off of the railing, pulling her to the floor with him whilst she screamed her protest.

"Let me go!" she shrieked, her aching voice mixed with her sobs as she squirmed in his grip, pulling at his hands whilst her legs kicked around her, "let me go right now!"

"Estella, Stella," Theo whispered, pulling her tightly into his embrace whilst she cried, gripping onto his shirt, "it's just me, it's me, it's Theo, calm down baby."

"I'm sorry," she sobbed, hiccupping as she gripped tightly onto him, sobbing into the fabric of his shirt whilst his hand tangled in her hair, keeping her close to him, "I-I can't do it anymore, Theo...I can't live like this!"

"Stella," he whispered, lifting her face, "you are the strongest girl I have ever met, you can do anything!"

"No, no, no- Theo! You don't understand," she sobbed, "I'm here for two more years and they won't stop, I know they won't stop because they have terrorised muggleborn's for years and I tried to help, I tried to do something to help them, and I messed up, but I'm not going to go to Azkaban for some stupid purebloods!"