May 20th - Slytherin Common Room
With NEWTs only a week away, the entirety of seventh-year was holed up either in the library or in their common rooms, studying from sunrise to sunset. Younger students were avoiding both of these spots, electing to study for their end-of-year exams outside, to avoid the easily provoked older students.
Theodore Nott was one of the students currently in the Slytherin Common Room, pouring himself over his Ancient Runes notes. His mind was hardly focused on the parchment in front of him, though, not with the letter tucked in his trunk, detailing exactly what he'd have to face when he returned home.
How the hell did that girl manage to locate the diadem?
And why was the blasted crown so important to the Dark Lord?
Needless to say, exams were the last thing on the boy's mind at the moment, even though he wanted desperately to find something to occupy himself with.
Nephera was in her dorm, seeking the silence of the dungeons to study, knowing that if she were in the marauders' dorm or the library, someone would be around to bother and distract her. She'd miss the green and silver common room, she realized, the coldness of it, the ominous atmosphere that lingered in the air, it was her first home, after all.
But more than that, she'd miss the safety the castle provided. From the very first year, Hogwarts had been a safe haven for her, away from her father, his abuse, a place where she could be a child and teenager without the outside world playing any part in it.
And now, that there was only half a month left in her seventh year, they'd be leaving, and they'd be thrown head-first into a war no one had asked for. Rummaging through her trunk, she found the four letters she had written and rewritten so many times, never quite managing to find the perfect words to write.
Setting down her notes for Defense Against the Dark Arts- she hardly needed any help with the subject anyways- she moved from her desk to her bed, sighing loudly. Her two roommates were someplace else, leaving the dorm empty and the brunette to her own devices.
Taking out a roll of parchment, she wrote the four letters again.
And again.
And again.
It took four tries for her to finally give up and seal them into envelopes, putting them in a pile and staring at it intently. How could someone fit everything they wanted to say in a letter? Their entire lives, their last words... how could a single piece of parchment be enough?
Still, she had to find a way to do it. She wasn't exactly low on Voldemort's hit list, hell, after the stunt with the diadem, she had probably catapulted herself to the very top. She could die any moment, especially now that she was leaving Hogwarts and she'd be involved full-time with both the Auror office and the Order.
The question that remained now would be who she could give the letters to, who was the one person that would no doubt survive the war when she couldn't.
Dumbledore was the obvious answer to that, but Nephera would much rather light herself on fire than trust that old fool.
Only one name came to mind after that, and she quickly changed out of her sleeping attire and into jeans and one of Sirius's shirts, pulling on her shoes and exiting the dorm quickly.
Her original plan was to head straight to her original destination, but the girl paused once she saw Nott sitting on one of the armchairs, notes jumbled on the table in front of him, although by the way he was smoking cigarette after cigarette it was clear that his mind was elsewhere, and it didn't take a genius to know where.
Despite her better judgement, she tucked the letters into her back pocket and took a seat on the chair in front of him, staying silent and allowing him to have the first word, "You've already signed my death warrant, Winchester," he sighed, looking up from his notes, "I could kill you right now, at least I'd be safe in Azkaban,"
The girl only laughed, leaning forward to grab a cigarette from his pack. Looking around, she shot a few glances to the people that were sitting there, all of them dutifully gathering their stuff and leaving the room in mere seconds, "You won't kill me, Nott," she sighed, taking a drag out of her cigarette, "Mainly because you wouldn't be able to. You've always been the smarter of the lot, I've known that for quite some time. The thing you've got to offer to Riddle is your mind, not your duelling skills,"
She could practically see the cogs turning in the boy's mind as he picked up his wand and cast a silencing charm around the room, "It sounds like you're trying to offer me a deal," he said, leaning back
Now, Nephera wasn't stupid, not in the least bit. And as much trust, as she had in her manipulative tendencies, she knew she wouldn't be able to sway Nott in his beliefs and make him a spy. She could, however, feed him fake information, and by extension, pass that fake information to Riddle.
Regulus would be the one giving her information from the Death Eater's side of things, warning her about the traps and their plans.
Nott, on the other hand, Nott would be her pawn. He'd be passing false information from her part to the Death Eaters, creating traps for them without even knowing it.
"I am," she replied, "You've seen what I can do, I figured out where the diadem was hidden, I've tricked your Lord time and time again, are you really sure you're on the winning side of this war?"
"My beliefs are not to be swayed, so you can keep your pre-rehearsed speech to yourself,"
"Everyone's beliefs are swayed," she countered, "You're a scholar, Nott, you want knowledge, and I can offer it to you. Are you familiar with Grindenwald's library?"
There it was, the small tick in his jaw, the flicker of recognition in his eyes, he was hooked, "That's a myth," he spat
"Hardly. It's all real, and I have the location, and the way to enter it," she leaned forwards, putting out her cigarette, "Imagine, Theodore, the biggest pool of information on the Dark Arts at your disposal, you'd be unbeatable,"
Every word that came out of her mouth was carefully picked and chosen. The use of his first name for the very first time would show that she was being serious, the word unbeatable would resonate with him greatly, the promise of knowledge would be enough to rope him in.
"You do make a good bargain," he drawled, raking his eyes over her face for any hint of a lie, but found none
Theodore Nott was a very smart person, so he knew that making a deal with Nephera Winchester was making a deal for a very long and painful death, for the Dark Lord would surely find out. However, that did not mean that he couldn't take a leaf out of her playbook.
She used people constantly, so why couldn't he?
Besides, once the Dark Lord found out that he had tricked Nephera Winchester, the young boy would be at the top of his ranks in no time.
"Why me?" he asked, acting as though he hadn't already decided
"Like I said, you're smart. We've known each other since we were kids, Theodore, and I amy not trust you, but I trust your brain and your sense of self-preservation. You can see the odds turning, and you can see them quickly stacking up against Tom,"
The boy leaned back, running a hand through his hair, "You do realize what you're asking of me, right?"
"I'm asking you to help me win the war," she declared confidently
Now that wasn't exactly a lie. He would indeed be helping her win the war, just not in the way he thought.
Nott looked around, as though checking for witnesses, "And I'd have to tell you what he's planning, then?"
"That's the deal, I'd also be informing you of what the Order is doing, so you can cover for us,"
Now this, got the boy's attention. Here she was, offering him an insight into the Order. She was quite literally handing him everything they needed to win the war on a silver platter, and he'd be damned if he didn't take that opportunity.
Little did he know, that was exactly the girl's plan all along.
He nodded, purposefully focusing on a random point on the wall in order to appear as though he was deep in thought, "Who else would know?"
"Just me," she resisted the urge to smirk, it was far too easy nowadays, she almost missed a challenge
Nott raised an eyebrow, "Not even Black? Or Potter? The rest of your little gang?"
Knowing that he needed one final push, the girl gave a cold laugh, "They're my friends, but they don't get the finer things, not as we do,"
They don't get the finer things, not as we do. That phrase awakened a memory he had forgotten, and his eyes glazed over as it replayed in his head.
An eight-year-old Theodore Nott was waiting patiently by his father's side, greeting the guests as they entered the house of the Annual Spring Solstice Ball the Notts always hosted. He was eagerly waiting for the guests to stop arriving so he could join the other children in the gardens of the Estate.
All the pureblood children were close, after all, they were the only friends they were allowed to have, but there were always exceptions to that rule. One of them was Sirius Black, whose loud disposition and complete disregard of the rules made him a pariah amongst the community.
The other was Nephera Winchester. The young girl, although the same age as him, was much more mature, and she had already mastered the cold and detached look the Winchester family was known for, and as the only pureblood girl his age, she was highly popular amongst the group.
Yet, the girl seemed to show no interest in any of them. No, at only eight years old, Nephera Winchester was already untouchable to the rest of them.
"Ah, Castiel," said his father, "Welcome, welcome,"
Castiel and Emmeline Winchester walked into the room, with Nephera following behind them, "Ralston, thank you for having us," said her father, shaking his father's hand, "Nephera, greet little Theodore,"
"Theo," said the girl, looking at him with an obviously fake smile
The boy was very well aware of how he should act in a social setting, and so he too put on his brightest and fakest smile, "Hello Nephera, let me lead you to the gardens, where the rest of us are,"
Nephera wanted nothing less than to go outside with the other children, for she had never quite liked spending time with them, but she knew she couldn't say that out loud. So, she waited until they were a safe distance away from the adults to wrangle her arm out of the boy's grasp, "Who's here?" she asked
Nott, who had long since stopped being affected by her cold behaviour, sighed, "Mulciber, Avery, and the two Blacks,"
"Merlin, not that idiot," spat the girl, "I'm not going out there, take me to the library,"
Theodore shook his head, "I can't do that, father said I'm not allowed,"
"He doesn't have to know," countered Nephera, "Come on, don't tell me you'd rather go outside and roll in the grass with Avery than look around in the old manifests of the Estate,"
The slight hesitation in the boy's demeanour told her that he agreed, "Come on, you know it's more interesting," she continued, "The rest of them, they don't get the finer things, not as we do,"
"You've got yourself a spy, Winchester," he said, and the girl sat back, satisfied
Nott too was filled with an immense sense of satisfaction as he realized that he had just tricked her. Nephera Winchester had fallen right into his game, and he didn't even have to lift a finger.
Hook, line, and sinker, thought the girl, standing up, "Now, if you'll excuse me, I have some letters to deliver,"
Even though it was Friday afternoon, the corridors of the school were almost empty, courtesy of everyone studying for their upcoming exams. The girl had always loved Hogwarts when it was like this, the beauty of the castle was often hidden with the hoards of students walking around it.
She placed a hand on top of her back pocket, where she had put the letters. They felt heavy, heavier than they should've given the fact that it was simply ink on parchment, and she quickly retracted her hand away.
"Ms. Winchester," came a voice, and she fought the urge to groan audibly and roll her eyes
Turning around, she came face to face with the one person who she did not want to see at the moment, "Yes, Headmaster?" she asked, raising an eyebrow impatiently
"One would think you would be studying? Where are you walking to with such a hurry?"
Your funeral, "I need to ask Professor McGonagall a question," she said instead, "About Transfiguration,"
"I used to be the Transfiguration Professor, I could help you with whatever it is," he countered, calling her bluff
Nephera put on her most innocent smile, "Well, about the History of Transfiguration part of the exam, what was the spell that reversed Gellert Grindelwald's human Transfiguration disguise in 1926?"
Dumbledore felt his blood boil at the reminder that the girl knew every bit of his well-hidden past, but the only outside indication of his frustration was the slight narrowing of his eyes. So small was the action, that Nephera would've missed it had she not been so observant, "Revelio," he spat
Nephera weighed her options at that moment. Like it or not, Dumbledore was in fact, head of the Order, and it would get far too complicated if he didn't know about Nott. After all, if the trap with the young Death Eater was to work, she would have to tell him some of the Order's plans. Fake plans, of course, but still.
Not to mention, that her giving him a sliver of what she had been working on all those months would appease him enough to not dig deeper into what she'd been up to. The last thing she wanted was for him to find out about the Horcruxes, or, even worse, Regulus's true nature.
So, taking a deep breath, she looked at him in the eyes, "There is actually something you should know. Follow me to your office,"
She gave him no option but to follow after her as she turned on her heel and walked up the stairs. The Slytherin was rather pleased to see that Dumbledore hadn't tried to use Legitimacy on her, at least he'd finally digested the fact that she'd never allow him to read her mind.
The walk to the Headmaster's office was long and completely silent. Dumbledore was thinking about what Nephera could want to talk to him about, the girl certainly didn't like him, she'd made that clear enough, so what was so important that she'd been the one to initiate the meeting?
He knew that after graduation, both her, the marauders, and the Gryffindor girls would be involved fully in the Order almost immediately, so it could have something to do with that. Questions, so as to what that meant, how the schedule would look from the summer onwards. But it couldn't be that Nephera wouldn't waste her time with petty questions about scheduling and logistics.
Needless to say, when the two finally sat down in his office and the Slytherin explained her plan to him, he was shocked and slightly scared at her brilliance, "So you told Mr. Nott that you wanted him to be your spy, with no intention of actually using him for information?" he asked, leaning back and looking at the girl through his half-moon spectacles
"Getting slow in your old age? Nott is currently on cloud nine, thinking he played me, what he doesn't know, is that I'm counting on that," she leaned forward, "For example, I tell him to deffer Voldemort's attention to something else because we have a team of say seven people entering a certain location,"
Dumbledore nodded, "Mr. Nott would inform Voldemort, and they'd think they were setting a trap for us, so they'd send a team of ten against our seven,"
"But in reality, we'd have fifteen people waiting there, hidden," she smirked, "Creating a trap for Voldemort by making him think he's in control when I'm the one pulling the strings all along,"
The use of the singular pronoun annoyed him to no end, but even Albus himself had to give it to the girl, the plan was too smart to have been constructed by an eighteen-year-old, "That's smart, Ms. Winchester," he said, "Very smart,"
"Scary too, isn't it?" asked Nephera rhetorically, "The fact that I thought about it when you didn't?"
'Where are you, mon coeur? Or are you sleeping over at your dorm tonight?' she heard Sirius's voice in her head
Tapping the rune on her bracelet thrice, she responded, 'I'll be there soon, I just need to do something first,' she thought, "Well, I'm off," announced the girl, "Don't dwell on your hurt ego too much, Albus,"
Thankfully for the brunette, Pressor McGonagall's office was close to the Headmasters', and on the way to Gryffindor tower, meaning that the girl wouldn't have to run all around the castle now that it was slowly starting to get dark. Knocking on the door of the Professor's office, she pushed inside, "Nephera, is something wrong?" asked McGonagall, knowing that the girl did not need any extra help in her subject
Closing the door behind her, the Slytherin took a deep breath and drew the letters from her back pocket, dropping them on the desk, "I need you to promise me," she started, "That if anything happens to me-"
"Nephera, you can't think like that," frowned the older witch, standing up
The girl in question only sighed, shaking her head, "We both know what the probabilities of me surviving this war are, Minnie, no need to lie. I just need you to promise that if I die, you'll give these to the boys,"
Minerva looked down at the letters on the table, frowning deeply. Nephera was only eighteen, she shouldn't be making arrangements for her death, yet here she was. Still, the Professor knew that the girl was right, she'd been catapulted in the middle of a war, and was on top of Voldemort's hit list, the chances of the brunette making it to the end were slim.
So, with a heavy heart, the older witch picked up the letters and placed them carefully in the drawer of her desk, "I promise, Nephera," she replied earnestly, "But the best thing you can do for those boys is staying alive, you know that,"
"I do, and trust me, I'll fight for it, but..."
McGonagall smiled sympathetically, sadness deep in her eyes, and Nephera knew that there was nothing more to be said. Thanking the Professor one last time, she exited the office, wanting nothing more than to fall asleep in Sirius's bed.
She'd always loved the fact that the Slytherin common room was in the dungeons, mainly because it meant that she wouldn't have to go up thousands of stairs whenever she wanted to return to her dorm. That was, unfortunately, not the case for the Gryffindor dorms, and the girl found herself hanging off the railing as she began the long trek up the staircase.
That day had felt longer than it already was, and her mind was buzzing from the over-exhaustion. The studying, the impromptu plan with Nott, the interrogation by Dumbledore and her conversation with McGonagall had left her feeling heavy and exhausted, and she practically cried on relief when the Portrait of the Fat Lady came to view.
"Password?" she asked
"Hippogriff,"
The portrait dutifully swung open, and she walked inside, being greeted with the sight of her friends, minus Sirius, sitting in their usual seats, "Neph, up for a game of chess?" asked Peter, an excited grin on his face
The girl shook her head, "Tomorrow, Pete, I'm fucking exhausted," she said, smiling tiredly at him, "Although I do understand why you're so bored, none of the others are much of a challenge, are they?"
This brought yells of disapproval from everyone else, mainly James and Marlene, "Pipe down all of you," yelled Peter over the noise, "She said she's tired, quite yelling! Sirius is upstairs napping,"
Nodding in thanks, the girl quickly ascended the stairs to the boy's dorm, walking inside without bothering to knock, it was only Sirius in there anyways. Shedding her pants and shirt, she found her wizard's old Quidditch Jersey that she always slept in and crawled into bed, "Mm, Nephera?" asked the boy, waking up from his nap, "That you?"
"Yeah," she whispered, eagerly shuffling closer to him, as the boy opened his arms and then wrapped them around her, her back to his chest
"Everything alright?" he mumbled, pressing a kiss to her shoulder from where his jersey had fallen over slightly, courtesy of it being oversized on the girl
Nephera sighed, already feeling lethargy catch up to her, "Just tired, a lot happened today," she shuffled closer to him, "I'll tell you tomorrow, it's nothing to worry about,"
The only response she got to that, was Sirius's arms tightening around her waist and pulling her closer to him.
A/N
3.8k words
i hope you all understood what happened with Nott lmao i tried to write it as clear as possible but it's complicated
also, i know that like, all OC's on wattpad are described as being shorter than the love interest, and i know i say that Nephera's shorter and smaller than Sirius multiple times, so I'm sorry if you're tall and that annoys you, but i have a fucking size kink that i need to feed, alright? thank you for coming to my TEDtalk
be sure to check my Tom Riddle fic, Gods&Monsters, first few chapters are already up
don't forget to comment and vote!
xx