laconic • t.nott ✓

44 ➺ chaos unfolding

「 CHAOS UNFOLDING 」

FOR THE FIRST TIME IN a long, long time, Theo did not dread facing a new day.

It was still quite dark out but Theo was out on the porch, sitting on the chair with his legs pulled up. Colour was starting to spread over the horizon, signifying the sun that was to rise soon. His old Hogwarts habits have remained and he still slept late and woke up early, even though he wasn't nearly as stressed as he used to be.

The sun peeked out from behind the tops of the trees. Theo watched in fascination though this was in no way his first time witnessing a sunrise. But the beautifully diverse colours that seeped through the sky never failed to mesmerise him.

Two months have passed since the war which was now being called the Battle of Hogwarts. Two months since Daphne's death and two months since he faced his father who had raised a wand against him with the intent to kill. The two months have flown by, barely giving Theo the chance to rest. He had attended funerals, visited Daphne's family, gone to Hogwarts to help with the repairs and the redecoration. 

He had perused each edition of the Daily Prophet obsessively during these two months, reading every article about the Death Eaters and the battle, hoping to see the news of them being locked up for life. It has been an excruciatingly slow process thus far. Voldemort and his Death Eaters had taken over the Ministry of Magic toward the end of their rule and they were still trying to weed out traitors from the Ministry itself and to repair the damage caused by Pius Thicknesse who had been put under the Imperius curse and appointed as the Minister for Magic during the war.

Theo had found one morning, to his delight, that Kingsley Shacklebolt had succeeded Thicknesse as the new Minister through popular vote.

He had immediately brought about massive changes to the Ministry as well as to the British wizarding community. It was an ongoing process, for the previous few ministers had managed to thoroughly derail the government in various different ways. But after the appointment of Shacklebolt, witches and wizards all over Great Britain heaved a sigh of relief.

Theo would now be reading the Daily Prophet on the porch but just two days ago, Blaise had threatened to burn all his belongings down if he didn't stop obsessing over the news. For good measure, he had also unsubscribed to the paper, so Theo was now left to sit on the porch alone and watch the sunrise.

Though he had protested at first, Theo was later forced to admit that the Daily Prophet had been doing him no good. Constantly worrying about whether or not the Death Eaters have been convicted has been taking a toll on his mental health but after Blaise had disposed of all of the editions, Theo realised he could breathe freely.

"Good morning."

Theo looked away from the sunrise and found Blaise standing on the porch, a cup in each hand. He slid over to let Blaise sit next to him and accepted his cup, taking a sip of the tea and sighing contentedly.

Right after the battle, Theo had come to live at Blaise's house and had stayed there for a week before he was able to gather the courage to return to his own home and fetch his belongings. On his first night here, he was curled up on the porch, right where he was now but with grief destroying him from the inside, when Blaise had brought him tea. That was when he discovered Blaise's talent in the culinary arts. And he melted on the inside every time Blaise brought him food.

"You have a letter," Blaise said and pulled out a crisp looking envelope from his pocket. The seal, when Theo looked closely, was an insignia of the Ministry. He took another long sip of his tea in an attempt to calm his nerves that have gone into overdrive at the sight of the letter.