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THEODORE NOTT HUMMED quietly as he shovelled bites of cauldron cakes into his mouth at ten o'clock in the evening.
The boy had been kicked out of his dormitory for eating, to which he responded with a shrug before choosing to continue his snack down in the Common Room. Technically speaking it was already past curfew, but the Slytherin Prefects were too preoccupied with picking on frightened first-years in the halls.
His luck seemed to have run out as the painting door creaked open, cueing him to shove the last piece of cake in his mouth. It was a rather ghastly sight.
He sighed in relief when Valerie Grindelwald came walking in, he wasn't about to get caught after all.
A cheeky grin made its way to his face. "Well, what do you know?"
The blonde nearly jumped at his words, something Theodore thought to be completely out of character. Sure, she always look drained in class, but she never had a care in the world.
Valerie looked around the room in an alarmed manner, before making her way towards the boy, "What are you doing here?"
"Got kicked out for eating." Theodore raised his eyebrows in amusement as she took a seat beside him, "Where were you? You missed a lot, there was this troll in the— wait, are you alright?"
It was only then that he noticed her bloodshot eyes. The girl was clearly unnerved, and her hands were trembling as she set them on the table.
"Perfectly spiffing." Valerie answered, with a nod. "Could you talk about something? Anything at all."
"You don't look—"
"Just talk, please." she told him.
As much as Theodore wanted to know, he sighed and slouched back in his seat. "Okay, what do you wanna hear?"
Valerie shrugged, "Tell me one of your nonsense stories, you're good at those."
Theodore laid a hand over his heart, gasping dramatically. "Mind you, my stories are not nonsense. They have morals, and carefully thought-out wording."
"Sure," she sighed without argument.
"Oh, I do have one you might like." Theodore perked up. "So, you know how my family's been rather close with the Malfoys?"
"Yeah." Valerie recalled the times she'd seen him by Draco's side, looking rather irked.
"Well, during the summer, they invited us over for afternoon tea. We had arrived a little earlier than usual, and I desperately needed to use the loo, so I walked upstairs. You'll never believe who I found in the bathroom."
Valerie tilted her head at him curiously.
"It was Lucius, adding some sort of extensions to his hair." Theodore shook his head, horrified. "Could never look at him the same way."
