aurelia and theodore were sitting in the courtyard after their classes with a game of chess going between them.
theodore smiled at how concentrated aurelia looked with her eyebrows knitted together in a way to find out a way.
"ugh." aurelia groaned after fifteen minutes passed as she was still not able to tackle the problem.
theodore chuckled at her frustration,"so should i consider this as a win?"
"yes i guess." aurelia nodded,moving her horse away from her king in order to save her queen.
"aha!" theodore grinned, a proud smile of victory appearing on his lips. he took his queen and moved it in front of aurelia's king, indicating a checkmate as the queen smashed the king colored in white.
"what! hey i thought you were about to take my queen." aurelia gasped, dramatically clasping her hands over her mouth.
"that was the trick." theodore winked, earning a light chuckle from aurelia.
"wicked."
theodore kept the chessboard aside and shifted on his spot so that he could be closer to aurelia ; to his home. aurelia smiled at him and that's when theodore noticed the girl besides him playing with a what looked like a stick to him. she pulled the cap of the stick and held it in front of her hands causing theodore to watch intently.
"what's that?" he asked when curiosity took the best of him.
"it's a pen. muggle quill actually except the fact that you don't need ink." aurelia explained.
no words were exchanged after that, just the comfortable draping them. the sudden change in aurelia's frank and light behaviour didn't go unnoticed by theodore who asked for a chess match just to get her mind off the things worrying her.
"what's wrong? is something bothering you?" theodore asked, snapping aurelia back to earth from her train of thoughts.
"it's nothing." aurelia quietly muttered,not sure how to tell him about the horcruxes which made voldemort immortal.
theodore knew she was hiding something but he didn't force her further ,very well aware of the fact that she hardly hides anything from him only when she's confused and worried. instead he got up on his feet, holding out his hand for aurelia to take who gave him a confused look.
"come on." theodore urged , his hand still held out in front of aurelia who lightly put her hand on his. smiling, theodore led her inside the castle and towards the basement.
"where are we going?"
"just come with me."
theodore stopped in front of a painting of a pear which on tinkling presented the door leading to the kitchen. giving a small smile to aurelia who wore a confused expression, theodore proceeded to unlock the door by twisting the knob.
"let's have something that will help you make feel better." theodore said, pulling aurelia inside with him.
"i'm perfectly fine." aurelia claimed, stopping by the entrance. theodore sighed sadly and turned around to look at the confused girl standing in front of him.
"you can't lie to me."
"i'm not lying." aurelia protested, a frown appearing on her distressed face.
"listen." said theodore, walking up to where aurelia was standing and grabbed both of her hands,"it's alright to be not okay sometimes. it's alright to forget about your pain and misery for a moment. it's okay to drown it down."
aurelia looked him in the eye which held so many emotions for her and smiled slightly, her heart overwhelming at his assuring words.
"do you come here frequently?" aurelia asked when theodore let go of her hand to get some butter beer for her.
"no. i used to." answered theodore, his back facing aurelia who was leaning by the counter and watching him,"after mom left,i kind of felt lonely and came here. the elves kind of took care of me. they talked to me and gave me everything i asked them to."
"so why did you stop? i mean stopped coming here?" aurelia asked when theodore walked up to her, holding a big glass of butter beer for her.
"because i got you." theodore smiled causing a blush to creep up aurelia's cheeks.
"mister theodore nott!"
both of the students turned around to find a happy looking elf coming towards them, it's body covered in rags.
"oh winky! how many times do i need to tell you to call me theodore?" the Slytherin chuckled lightly, keeping his hands on the elf's shoulder as a way to greet.
"sorry winky keeps forgetting." the elf apologised shyly before her eyes fell on aurelia who was smiling at them,"what an honour to have the aurelia potter right in front of me."
aurelia greeted the elf with a small smile before gulping the whole big glass in one go startling theodore who let out a horrible scream.
"what the hell!" theodore panicked, snatching the empty glass from aurelia's grasp who looked more confused than ever.
"what- what's wrong?" aurelia asked, wiping her lips with the sleeves of her cloak.
"you scared winky!" the elf accused theodore, earning an apologetic look from the slytherin.
"you didn't have to drink the whole damn glass! i poured half for me . you're gonna have a terrible hangover now." theodore shrieked , walking up to her, scared of the girl's behaviour after getting so drunk.
"how can you be so stupid theodore." aurelia cried, her eyes going wide in horror.
"oh no." theodore muttered under his breath,"i'm so sorry."
"it isn't really your fault theodore." aurelia said,"I'm so stupid!"
"winky!" theodore suddenly exclaimed, turning on his heels,"do you know how to cure drunkenness or anything of that sort?"
"winky needs to think but winky is afraid that there isn't anything like that." the elf answered causing theodore to sigh in defeat.
he glanced at aurelia who now had a carefree expression on her face and was giggling softly. he slapped his hand on his forehead, cursing himself but it soon struck him that at least she wasn't worried anymore. shut up! his inner voice scolded.
minutes later of aurelia trying to sing and dance, she settled on the floor and leaned by the kitchen wall for support. tired of trying to control a high aurelia, theodore and winky slipped besides the hufflepuff ,breathing heavily.
aurelia had nearly created a havoc which theodore was really sorry for but winky assured him that she would take care of everything.
theodore looked out of the window to find the sun setting in the west , giving a beautiful spark to the sky.
"look at the sky!" aurelia exclaimed,"how beautiful!" she turned to look at theodore whose eyes were fixed on the sky outside the window,"just like you."
this caught theodore's attention, making him blush like crazy and he had to laugh to ease the sudden tension. "winky would like to get something for theodore n- he might be hungry."
with that the house elf, scampered away leaving aurelia and theodore alone.
"why are you laughing?" aurelia pouted , turning completely to face him,"i'm not joking."
laughing to herself, aurelia cupped theodore's face who looked like a red tomato at that moment.
"your eyes? beautiful." aurelia giggled, looking at his brown, honey eyes," your hair? beautiful." aurelia ran one of her hand through his hair before placing it on his cheeks,"your lips? beautiful. your face? beautiful." aurelia giggled at her own words before ending her sentence,"you? beautiful."
theodore cracked an awkward smile, a storm of crazy butterflies erupting like a volcano in his stomach , making him feel giddy with joy and shyness. aurelia drew her hand back, smiling at him when an idea popped in theodore's head.
"winky? please watch aurelia for me. i"ll be back soon." theodore called, earning a faint yes from the elf who had no idea what she was doing.
"i"ll be back soon." theodore smiled looking at aurelia who sadly nodded.
theodore jumped on his feet and ran out of the kitchen,his eyes searching for two certain hufflepuffs who could help him at that very moment. much to his luck, he found susan and hannah climbing down the stairs which would led them to the hufflepuff common room.
"hey!" theodore called, running as fast as he could to reach them.
the two girls turned around to find theodore standing in front of them while trying to catch his breath.
"i need you two to help me!" he said once he had regained his breathing,"it's really urgent."
"um sure." susan nodded, motioning him to go on. taking a deep breath and getting ready to be lectured by the two girls, theodore told them how he accidentally got aurelia to drink a big, whole glass of butter beer.
"i need you guys to take her to her dorm. without anybody else noticing her." theodore ended, quite scared to see their reaction.
"how can you be so idiotic nott?" susan frowned, her arms crossed against her chest in an upset manner.
"i know i messed up but i need your help." theodore admitted,"please."
"alright, we'll help." hannah spoke up before susan would start scolding him over again. susan gave a unimpressed glance to her friend but nonetheless followed the slytherin to the kitchen.
"theodore!" aurelia grinned, running up to him like he had just brought the most valuable thing to her. when her eyes fell on the other two girls, she engulfed them in a hug which they returned.
"come on let's get you to our dorm." susan smiled after they pulled away from the hug.
"already?" aurelia pouted, taking a step back to stand besides theodore.
"just go and sleep okay? i'll talk to you in the morning." theodore assured, feeling the awkward tension rising around.
"okay." aurelia half heartedly agreed before placing a kiss on theodore's cheeks,"good night love."
theodore nearly choked on his saliva while the other two girls pretended to turn a deaf ear to what aurelia just said.
theodore threw a shy smile towards the hufflepuff before clearing his throat to ease the awkwardness. susan and hannah got the hint and without wasting any other second, linked their arms with aurelia, hurrying to the hufflepuff common room.
with much difficulty and much trying to get aurelia past everybody, they succeeded and brought her up to their dorm.
later , next morning when aurelia woke up with her head and hands throbbing with pain,it was already afternoon. on finding out the reason she was asleep for so long, aurelia felt embarassed but nevertheless at last left the dorm to eat her lunch.
harry had noticed aurelia's absence in the morning and had asked about it to susan and hannah who made up a lie that she wasn't feeling well. harry thought that maybe she was worried about the horcruxes and was quite scared when harry had pleaded dumbledore to let them help him in hunting horcruxes. when he saw aurelia entering the great hall in the afternoon, he rushed up to her to know if she was alright.
"are you okay?" harry asked, suddenly appearing in front of aurelia, blocking her way to enter the great hall.
"oh harry." aurelia smiled, realising that susan and hannah might have lied to him about her absence,"i'm alright. it was just a headache."
"are you worried about hor-" harry looked around to make sure that nobody else was listening to their conversation.
"kind of." aurelia shrugged, very well knowing what her brother was talking about.
"don't take it too hard on yourself." harry gave a sympathetic smile,"you're not alone in this."
"same goes to you." aurelia smiled, patting harry's arms before making her way to the hufflepuff table.
she glanced over at the slytherin table to find theodore quietly eating his food, just like he always did. aurelia returned back to her lunch, mentally preparing herself to face theodore after the embarassing things she did.
to her surprise, theodore was acting the usual himself when she talked to him after lunch which made aurelia feel quite relieved. theodore assumed that maybe she feels something for him which could be a good thing because the feelings are mutual.
**
a day before the match between ravenclaw and gryffindor, aurelia spent her time with luna, helping her to make a supporting banner for her house while aurelia made one for gryffindor to support her brother's match as a captain.
"let's go. it's time for dinner." said aurelia, putting the banners away at a safe place in her cupboard. luna nodded and followed aurelia out of the hufflepuff common room. aurelia was about to enter the great hall when she was stopped by theodore who was panting to catch his breath.
"what happened?" aurelia frowned after telling luna to proceed with her dinner.
"your brother!" theodore breathed out,"blaise told me that he saw potter drenched in water and blood."
"what!" aurelia gasped, her heart thumping dangerously in her chest as she kept on shaking her head to keep the negative thoughts away.
"you should go see him." said theodore.
without another word, aurelia rushed to the gryffindor common room as she needed to make sure that her brother was okay. quickly giving the new password harry had told her, aurelia entered inside the common room to find her brother sitting on the couch with a rueful expression on his face. he was surrounded by hermione, ron and Ginny who were urging him to seek. aurelia wasted no time in embracing her brother in a hug who was completely fine with no harm.
"what happened? why were you covered in blood." aurelia demanded, placing herself between ginny and harry.
"he was just about to tell us until you came." ginny informed.
"I won't say 'I told you so,' " said hermione after harry had ended telling about his deeds. aurelia was shocked to say the least. never in her whole life had she thought of harry attacking malfoy just because he was being conspicuous.
"leave it, hermione," said ron angrily.
"I told you there was something wrong with that prince person," hermione said, evidently unable to stop herself. "and I was right, wasn't I?"
"no, I don't think you were," said harry stubbornly.
"harry," said hermione, "how can you still stick up for that book when that spell —"
"will you stop harping on about the book!" snapped harry,"the prince only copied it out! It's not like he was advising anyone to use it! for all we know, he was making a note of something that had been used against him!"
"calm down." aurelia whispered, rubbing harry's arm.
"I don't believe this," said hermione. "you're actually defending —"
"I'm not defending what I did!" said harry quickly. "I wish I hadn't done it, and not just because I've got about a dozen detentions. you know I wouldn't've used a spell like that, not even on malfoy, but you can't blame the prince, he hadn't written 'try this out, it's really good' — he was just making notes for himself,wasn't he, not for anyone else. . . ."
"are you telling me," said hermione,"that you're going to go back — ?"
"and get the book? yeah, I am," said harry forcefully. "listen, without the prince I'd never have won the felix felicis. I'd never have known how to save ron from poisoning, I'd never have —"
"— got a reputation for Potions brilliance you don't deserve," said hermione nastily.
"and i thought you were upset about harry cursing draco?" aurelia frowned,not understanding what hermione was trying to convey with that sentence.
"right, give it a rest, hermione!" said ginny, and harry was so amazed, so grateful, he looked up,"by the sound of it, malfoy was trying to use an unforgivable curse, you should be glad harry had something good up his sleeve!"
"well, of course I'm glad harry wasn't cursed!" said hermione, clearly stung,"but you can't call that sectumsempra spell good, ginny, look where it's landed him! and I'd have thought, seeing what this has done to your chances in the match —"
"oh, don't start acting as though you understand quidditch," snapped ginny, "you'll only embarrass yourself."
everybody was surprised by the sudden argument but nobody spoke a word.
when everybody had left, leaving the twins alone, aurelia turned her head to face her brother,"harry, I'm not gonna lecture you or anything but please just be careful with anything you did. though I'm really upset with the fact that you nearly killed draco."
"i didn't mean to." harry sighed.
"i know but just be careful from now on." aurelia said earning a nod from her brother.
"did you eat dinner?" harry asked out of nowhere.
"no, you?"
"no. i don't have any appetite at all."
"i think you should go and sleep."
harry nodded and got up from the couch before speaking up,"it's really late. take the invisibility cloak."
after getting the cloak, aurelia walked out of the common room when an idea struck her. she hurried to her dorm where she found susan and hannah preparing to go to bed.
aurelia pulled out a piece of parchment and quickly wrote get well soon on it. after the girls had gone to sleep, aurelia draped the invisibility cloak around herself and left the common room. making sure that nobody was around, aurelia tiptoed to draco's bed who was fast asleep. aurelia uncovered herself and kept the paper on the side table before pulling out her wand.
"orchideous." she whispered that conjured a bouquet of flowers from the tip of the her wand.
she was about to leave when she heard a rather cold voice,"potter? what are you doing?"
"oh." startled aurelia, turned around to face the slytherin,"just wanted to drop these flowers for you. and i'm really sorry for what my brother did and um . . . get well soon."
draco was surprised but he hid it with a slight nod of acknowledgement while aurelia hurried out of the hospital wing
a/n: aurelia creating awkward situations for one chapter straight.