"NOT TODAY," HE SAID.
"What?" She span around from the rack of wooden practice swords. "I thought we were doing swords again?"
"We are," Theo grinned. He titled his head towards the wall of swords. "Pick one."
The surprised look on Celestia's face had his grin widening. The left side of the wall in the training wall was filled with many different kinds of blades, all of which Theo had made her study their types and capabilities.
Short swords and longswords and broadswords. Daggers and sickles and knives. Rapiers and falchions and scimitars. Axes and halberds and flails. Katanas and daos and sabres.
For the past month — since she'd promised to begin training with him again — they had been using wooden swords, much to her disappointment. Apparently, getting cut or stabbed while practicing with actual blades happened a lot more than she originally thought.
So, Theo had her starting off the basics with a mock blade to avoid any injuries. She had finally begun to grasp everything he'd been teaching her; balance, stance, timing.
There were other facets, too, that she hadn't considered. Some days, he had her focusing on mental aspects: awareness, serenity, analysation. Others, the need for confidence, deception, intimidation and caution. The lack of rhythm, and importance of timing and distance.
She thought that they wouldn't be starting to use an actual steel blade for a while yet. So, she didn't run over to the section of swords like she wanted to.
"Are you messing with me?" she asked.
He shook his head, feeding off the excitement she was practically brimming with. "I'm serious."
In an instant, she was over by the swords. Theo chuckled behind her, and she pulled off a average looking short sword off the wall. It was heavier than she expected, but not unreasonably so.
He picked up a sword of his own, one similar to what she picked. They went to the middle of the room and stood opposite each other.
Theo made her go through the eight basic attack angles, and then the five main counters, making her attack and defend against imaginary enemies as she did so. She'd gotten the hang of them with a wooden sword, but it was starkly different with an actual weapon.
"Counter one," he ordered, and she raised the blade horizontally above her head while crouched slightly. It was a stance that would defend against an overhead attack. "Angle two, slash." She moved her sword to a position that would allow her to attack straight up, before slicing up at the invisible enemy from their groin to sternum. "Thrust."
She pivoted and lunged forward, slamming the blade through the breastplate of her non-existent opponent. She paused, expecting to be given a break.
"Counter three," he commanded. She parried an attacking coming from right to left by swinging her arm across her body. "Angle seven, strike." She angled her blade and struck horizontally to the right. "Angle three, cut." She cut down the body diagonally to the right.
Her movements weren't anywhere near as perfect as she'd like; each taking her a moment to recall the exact motion and execute it. She had to remind herself that she couldn't be perfect at everything instantly.
"Good," he commended as she wiped a hand across her brow. "Angle eight, slash, thrust."
She followed his orders without hesitation. She started to get the hang of it with an actual blade, her moves coming faster.
He gave her an combination and she followed through. Not once did he correct her; whether because she was doing everything right, or because he didn't want to interrupt her flow, she didn't know.
Her arm began to ache, but she didn't stop. She imagined opponents, their faces and bodies a blur as she attacked them, slashing at them like they were truly there.
She thought of Mad-Eye Moody and Remus Lupin and how hand-to-hand combat had failed her, how they tortured her, even now after she had escaped.
She thought of Sirius Black, and how she never truly got to exact any kind of revenge, how she had been nothing more than an abomination to him, even when all she wanted to be was his daughter.
She thought of Harry Potter, and how he did not understand anything, how he'd stolen her father from her, even after death.
She thought of Dumbledore, and how he was going to destroy Draco's sanity, how he turned a blind eye to matters where Slytherins are the victims, even though he'd seen how Celestia had been bullied for her fathers crimes.
She thought of every person who had ever wronged her, however little, and vowed that they would never be able to hurt her again: physically, emotionally, or mentally.
She thought of all the times she had yearned for unity, how she wished for a world where they stood together in harmony, even when they had hexed and cursed her.
No longer, though, did she crave to be their equal. If they wanted her to be their enemy, she would become the villain. If they wanted her to be the villain, then she would become the devil.
If they wanted to advocate for muggles, then they could die by her blade like one.
"One last time. Counter five, duck, strike." She obeyed, and he smiled. "Good girl."
Letting the sword drop to the floor, she rolled her shoulders back, relishing in no longer having to be in a stance. Some of her hair had fallen out from her ponytail, framing her face.
"Are we going to spar?" she asked, wiping a hand over her forehead.
She had asked him that every single time since they'd begun training with swords, but he had yet to say yes. Still, she thought considering they had used actual blades earlier than she had expected, perhaps they'd finally spar.
He leaned back against a small, circular and wooden table. "Not today, no."
She threw her head back and groaned. He gulped at the expanse of her sweat slicked throat, remembering the day when he'd wrapped his hand around it.
"Why not?" Celestia whined.
"I'd beat your arse, darling," he laughed, crossing his arms over his chest.
"Arrogant prick."
He shook his head before changing the subject. "I have something for you."
She realised that on the table, where'd they placed their wands before training, there was also a small box.
Theo picked up the box and held it out to her, and she moved to stand in front of him before taking it out of his hands. The box was black, polished wood, and absolutely gorgeous.
Running a hand down the edge of it, she glanced up at him. "What's this for? My birthday isn't for about a month."
"It was going to be your Christmas present"—he shifted awkwardly against the table—"but you know what happened. I still wanted to give it to you, though."
Celestia looked back down at the box and nodded. She opened the box, and it swung open on its hinges from the inside. A soft gasp escaped her lips at what she found inside.
Inside the box, there was a dagger. The hilt was coloured in an array of blues; mixed together so that it nearly looked black. It was the quillon that caught her attention; it looked ordinary, but turning the box around, it showed it was actually two raven heads before it extended into a silver blade. There was a small pommel too, which depicted two ravens circling a gemstone.
She hesitated to touch it, it was gorgeous. There was a small engraving on it as well that looked newer than the rest of the dagger: a semicircle with a line cut through it.
"Where'd you get it?" she breathed.
"Borgin and Burkes," Theo answered.
She drew her hand back and glared at him. "What the hell? Is it cursed?"
"What are you? Crazy? I wouldn't give you a cursed item," he scoffed. "It's a normal dagger, unnamed too."
She picked up the dagger, holding it the way he'd taught her. When she didn't immediately drop dead, she closed the box and admired it up close.
"It's beautiful," murmured Celestia.
Drawing a thumb down the edge of the blade, a drop of blood beaded. Clearly, it was sharp.
"Do you like it?" questioned Theo, suddenly self-conscious.
"I love it, are you kidding?" she said, pulling the dagger down so that she could look at him properly. "Thank you, Theo, genuinely."
He smiled — it was the smile he only ever gave to her — and her stomach churned. Then he looked away, glancing down at the watch on his wrist.
"We've got to go. If Draco is coming back, he'll be here any minute," he said.
She deflated slightly at the prospect of no longer training, but nodded. They packed up the room of anything out of place and left.
They moved soundlessly through Hogwarts, slinking into the shadows whenever a teacher walked by. Eventually, they were back in the dungeons and making their way into the common room.
As they entered the common room, she slowed down. Noticing that she was no longer walking by his side, he stopped and turned to look at her.
"Aren't you going up to bed?" Theo asked.
She shook her head. "I'm going to stay up and study for a bit."
He narrowed his eyes at her. "I'll join you, then."
Even though she wanted to argue, she didn't. Instead, she dropped onto the couch and pulled out here schoolwork.
Though Theo only lasted half an hour before he curled up under a blanket and closed his eyes just for a moment. That moment turned into hours when she didn't wake him up as she continued to study.
The Sleeping Draught that Madam Pomfrey gave her would only work so long as Celestia actually went to the matron. She had only gone to Pomfrey three times in the past month; she was sure that the nurse had already told Dumbledore that she was suffering from nightmares and would rather downplay how frequent they occurred.
Pansy, the traitor, had went and told Draco out of concern. This resulted in Draco, despite being exhausted himself, lecturing her on not telling him. Having said that, when she returned to her dorm that night, she found a dozen vials of Sleeping Draught.
She only had three bottles left of Draco's stash, and she didn't want to use them too quickly. So instead she had resulted in trying to tire herself out in hopes she'd be too burnt out to even dream. Some days, it worked. Others, she wasn't so lucky.
That night, she studied late into the night. She didn't know how long she was awake for, only knowing it must have been a couple hours.
The times when her brain hurt from the words, she'd take a break to look at what was around her.
The fire crackled a couple feet away from her, bathing her in firelight. She no longer flinched from its cracking and snapping, but sometimes, when she got too in her head, she'd think her bone had broken all over again only to glance down at her arm and see no scars from that day; only the scars that marred both her wrists and ankles.
There was also Theo, who lay along the couch beside her, his head nudging her thigh.
She watched him breathe, his breath tickling her leg. Occasionally she'd rest her hand on his head, and he'd snuggle in closer. She'd absentmindedly massage his head with one hand while keeping a book open in the other, and a small sigh of contentment would leave his lips.
It was like that, that Theo roused awake, albeit half asleep. He rolled over slightly, squishing her hand between the couch and his head. She glanced down from her book to look at him.
There was a strange look on his face, as he looked up at her through bleary eyes.
"You're my best friend," he said.
Her eyes twinkled, and her face transformed. She was beaming at him. "As you're mine."
His eyes fluttered close again and he hummed, snuggling in closer to her. She moved her hand down and patted his cheek.
"Hey, don't go back to sleep. Let's get you in your dorm, yeah?" Celestia said quietly.
He groaned, and opened one eye. "But I like it here. With you."
"Yeah, I like it too, but you'll regret in the morning when your back is hurting like a bitch."
He only closed his eyes and shifted closer to her, muttering something like, "Worth it," as he did.
"Come on, we need to get you into you into bed," she said, pulling him up.
"I hate you," he replied as he slumped against her.
She hummed, and pulled him off of the couch. She cursed and glared up at him. "A little help?"
Theo straightened slightly, and she practically carried him towards the boys dormitory. They reached his dorm, and she deposited him in his bed. She murmured goodnight, but she doubted he heard her.
Returning back to the common room, she gathered up the small amount of materials she had used for studying, and made her way towards her own dorm. She dropped the items on her bedside table before flopping into her bed. When she fell asleep soon after, she blamed it on the vigorous training and studying she'd done that day.
☆
"Why, exactly, is Pansy flirting with a Hufflepuff right now?" wondered Blaise as he sat down beside Theo and Celestia.
Taking a small mouthful of mashed potatoes and peas into her mouth, Celestia gestured towards the Gryffindor table with her chin. "Spot the difference."
Blaise turned his attention towards the table that sat parallel theirs, scanning the region bathed in red and gold.
"Well, Lavender Brown is crying her poor, little heart out and the golden, could-do-no-harm trio is missing," he noted.
"Yeah. We want to find out what happened," said Theo, taking a bite out of his Yorkshire pudding. "Maybe Weasley died."
Pansy brushed her hand over a Hufflepuff girls, sending her a soft but sultry smile. The Hufflepuff blushed widely, answering something back to her.
Pansy batted her eyes, somehow not making it embarrassing, and the Hufflepuff continued to speak. A couple moments later, Pansy rose from the seat beside her, and pressed a kiss to the girls cheek and began making her way over.
The Hufflepuff girl raised a hand to her cheek, as if surprised that had really happened, and turned to her friends with a large smile on her face.
"Did you find anything out?" asked Blaise when Pansy sat beside him.
"You doubt my skills?" She raised one perfect eyebrow. "Of course I found something."
Pansy didn't elaborate, though. Instead she took a spoonful of food into her mouth.
"What? I'm hungry. It's dinner, you know? A time of day when you eat?" said Pansy as her friends continued to stare at her.
"Come on, Pans, what'd you find out?" said Celestia.
"Fine, fine," muttered Pansy, dabbing a napkin at her lips before speaking louder. "Crazy story, but apparently Ron is in the Hospital Wing because he got poisoned."
"The Gods work in mysterious ways," said Blaise.
"Oh, no, that was probably me," Celestia muttered.
Theo slapped a hand over her mouth, and her other two friends heads snapped towards her. "She's kidding."
Blaise narrowed his eyes at her, but Pansy only shrugged.
"Supposedly, he actually got poisoned twice. He ate something with a Love Potion in it, went to Slughorn for help, and then got poisoned again somehow. He and his friends are all up at the Hospital Wing. Then he broke up with Lavender while half-dead. Poor girl," explained Pansy.
Theo's eyes slipped towards Celestia, and they both knew how exactly he got poisoned if he had been with Professor Slughorn. She expected to see a flicker of guilt or regret to flicker across his face. It didn't.
"Oh, did I mention its also his birthday?" she added.
"What a horrid way to end your birthday," said Theo.
"I hope I'm not poisoned on my birthday," remarked Celestia. Theo hit her upside the head and she cursed, rubbing the spot where he hit. "Jeez, Theo, what's with all the abuse today?"
"Don't say things like that," he reprimanded.
"What? All I said was that I wouldn't want to be poisoned on my birthday! That's normal," she said.
"Have you not be listening at all to Trelawney for the past couple years? There's a thing called manifesting and shit," he said.
"I'm saying that I don't want to be poisoned!"
"You seriously don't listen at all, do you? It doesn't just have to be positive reinforcements, sometimes it can be negative too."
"What did you want me to say then? I do want to get poisoned? Hey, Theo, I really hope I get poisoned on my birthday. Maybe even you could poison me, sound good?"
"Will you two stop bickering like an old married couple? Some people are trying to eat here," cried Pansy.
"Do you want to get married, Theo?" asked Celestia, ignoring Pansy.
"Not really, no," he answered.
"Well, fuck you then. I'll go find some other rich boy to wed."
She turned her head away, raising her nose as if she was sorely offended by his rejection.
He nudged her chin back to face him with his knuckle. "Okay, fine, we can get married."
"Okay," she paused. "I want a divorce now."
"Seriously?"
"Yeah, I'm taking all your money. And the kids."
"Not the kids!"
"Oh yeah, baby, the kids."
Blaise's head banged against the table and the duo jumped in their seats. They twisted their heads to look at the friends sitting opposite them; Blaise had his head in his plate of food, his shoulders heaving, and Pansy had her head into his shoulder blade and appeared to be fake crying.
"Merlin, what's wrong with them?" whispered Celestia.
"I have no idea," Theo answered.
Pansy raised her head, looking like she'd either been crying or laughing too hard. "Can we please just go back to the common room and study?"
"Please," begged Blaise, his voice muffled by his plate.
"Yeah, okay," said Theo.
Rubbing her eyes, Celestia centred back into the moment. For a second there, she had felt like they had been in their entirely own world.
"I'll join you guys in a minute. I need to grab a book from the library," she said, feeling breathless the way you usually did after laughing too much.
Theo looked at her again, and this time it appeared as if he was confused by something, but she couldn't understand why. Nonetheless, he nodded and the four of them rose from their seats.
Exiting the Great Hall, they went their separate ways. She hurriedly made her way towards the library, searching for the book that she needed for Transfiguration.
The halls were empty for the most part, but the library was filled with students doing late-night catch up after dinner.
Some Ravenclaws led study groups, while others looked like they wanted to set everything on fire. Most Hufflepuffs seemed content to help their friends where they can, though others were already fast asleep in their seats. Gryffindors were catching up with the homework that had built up the past couple months, sneaking peaks at each others answers.
There was a lack of Slytherins, and she knew most of them were all studying back in the common room, just like her friends. Though, a couple littered the groups of Hufflepuffs, or were sat in groups of only fellow Slytherins.
She thumbed through the books in the isle before finding the one she needed and pulled it off the shelf. Placing the book under her arm, she checked it out with the librarian.
She'd just left the library, book in hand, when she noticed someone else coming down the hallway opposite her.
At first, she hadn't recognised her. Despite the the bags under her eyes, Hermione looked more happy, freer, than she had in months. There was a pep in her step that Celestia had not seen before, but that stumbled when she caught sight of the Slytherin.
"You," said Hermione.
"Me," replied Celestia, just as dramatically, despite being confused.
"We need to have a talk," she said.
"Why would we do that?" wondered Celestia.
But before she could even finish asking the question, Hermione was pulling into a empty classroom that they were passing by. Hermione finally let go of her, striding a couple steps away before pulling out her wand.
Celestia's wand stayed in the pocket of her skirt, and she made no move to grab it. It had been over a month since she'd last sparred with any one of the Gryffindors; though Hermione had not fought with her then.
In the past, Hermione had repeatedly attempted to reconcile with her. Even after Celestia had walked out on the Order and tried to severe all ties with them.
However, this time she knew it was different. There was a scowl on Hermione's face that she'd never seen before, with narrowed eyes as if assessing an enemy.
Celestia couldn't tell if she loved or hated the way Hermione was staring at her. Hermione's credence in her being good had been different. The absence of it was aberrant. Only knowing minimal things about her, Hermione had still thought she could be good.
"What can I do for you, my dear Granger?" asked Celestia.
If it was possible, her eyes narrowed further. "I'm so disappointed in you, Celestia."
"Oh, skip the monologue," she scoffed. "You're disappointed, thought I was better than this, and you're going to accuse me of something, yeah?"
"Yeah, but you don't understand it, do you? I had so much faith in you, that you could do the right thing, that maybe you were just struggling a little bit; but there is a line, and you crossed it."
Leaning her chin on her hand, she quirked an eyebrow at Hermione. "Pray tell, how'd I cross the line?"
"You poisoned Ron," said Hermione.
"Wow, now that is quite the accusation."
"You must be an idiot if you think that we wouldn't notice anything. At first, I thought Harry was just being paranoid over Malfoy, but there is something going on isn't there? He's hardly around, and when he is, he looks half-dead. Do you want me to go on?" she said. "There have been two assassination attempts gone awry on Dumbledore. Considering Malfoy is busy, who else would be so vile to try and murder someone? His little cousin."
"I'm actually older," said Celestia before fully digesting her words. "Wait, now you are accusing me of murder? Of Dumbledore? Why the hell would I want to kill him?"
It was almost ironic, she realised, because Hermione had been there nearly a year ago when she'd yelled at them that Dumbledore was a shitty headmaster and a manipulative piece of shit.
"Listen, I have no idea what you're talking about, Hermione. I only just learnt that Weasley was in the Hospital Wing," claimed Celestia.
Technically, it wasn't a lie. She had learnt of him being poisoned less than twenty minutes ago. It was deflection, but she wasn't lying.
Her grip on her wand tightened. "Do you actually expect me to believe you had nothing to do with it?" Hermione shook her head. "You're treating real peoples lives, our lives, like some sort of fucking game."
"It's nothing personal," she responded.
"Who do you think you are playing God?" Hermione seethed.
"Playing God? Who says I'm playing? For all you know, God has been defeated and I'm simply stepping in. I mean, whose to say this isn't my rightful position? Are you going to tell me you believe that some God is watching over you, that you could be so special? Because to me, it seems like I'm the only one calling the shots," she answered.
"Without praise, a God can not be a God. No one will ever pray for you."
She shrugged. "History will."
"How egotistical can you be for a sixteen year old girl, whose dad is dead, to believe that you're some kind of God?" retorted Hermione.
"Way to mention my dead dad," snickered Celestia. "How much of a dumb mudblood do you have to be to trap yourself in a room with a girl whose been training since birth to be the next heir to the Noble House of Black?"
Hermione began moving towards the door of the classroom without turning her back on Celestia.
"I mean, seriously, Granger, you might be the brightest witch of our age, but you ought to remember you're Muggle-born."
Pressing her hand down on the door handle, it didn't move. She pushed again, and Hermione realised that the door was locked. Her face paled slightly.
Celestia raised her hands, and wiggled her fingers. "Surprise! I've been practicing wandless magic."
"We just finished learning non-verbal—" she started.
"Out of all the people, I thought you'd be the one to understand getting ahead of the curriculum," Celestia pointed out.
Doing the Locking Charm both wandlessly and non-verbally is the most she could do. She might be ahead of the curriculum, but she wasn't a genius. It would take her time to build up to do anything that could cause actual harm. But Hermione didn't know that.
To exit the room, Hermione would have to point her wand at the door instead of Celestia, and currently, it didn't look that was something she wanted to risk.
"So, to summarise, you poisoned Ron," said Hermione, diverting back to the original topic of discussion.
"No, I did not poison Ron," Celestia disagreed.
"Fine. You intended to poison and kill Dumbledore," she decided.
Celestia shook her head. "I didn't say that, either."
"You're not denying it."
"You want me to deny it? Okay." She leaned forward and looked directly into Hermione's eyes. "I didn't poison Dumbledore. I didn't try to poison Dumbledore. I don't want Dumbledore dead. Oh, and Draco isn't trying to kill him either, by the way."
Hermione gulped, her gaze switching between both of Celestia's eyes. Her eye contact didn't waver once.
"Could we wrap this up now? I have exams to study for," said Celestia. Hermione's gaze switched to the locked door. Following her gaze, she sighed. "I'm not going to try anything while you unlock the door. Seriously, what's with you and Ginny and thinking I'll kill you? I'm not even scary!"
Hermione didn't speak still, and Celestia was extremely tired of this conversation. Who knew that lying and manipulating could be so exhausting?
Striding past the Gryffindor, she slipped her wand out of her pocket and raised it to the door knob and murmured "Alohomora." The door made a click as it was unlocked, and Celestia swung the door open.
She took a couple steps into the hallway, still in Hermione's line of sight before turning to face her.
"Sorry that your little interrogation didn't go the way you wanted it to. Next time you need someone to row with, you know where to find me. And maybe do it in public next time? Those are always much more fun," said Celestia.
"Harry was right," Hermione said ominously.
Celestia turned and began making her way towards the dungeons. As much as she loved angering her Gryffindor counterparts, that conversation with Hermione had drained something from her.
When she finally reached the Slytherin common room, she only plopped down into a seat near her friends, and opened the book she had retrieved from the library.
If anyone noticed something off with her behaviour for the rest of the night, none of them said anything. Not verbally, at least. Theo's leg nudged her occasionally, mostly when she'd begun to zone out. She sent him a grateful smile every time.
AUTHORS NOTE
okay short chapter, kinda fast paced, also really hate it and think its cringy? yeah thats what this chapter is. i hope you guys somewhat enjoyed it???? idk let me know what you thought, cause somethings off with this chapter imo but maybe im insane
also, maybe im crazy, but ive been somewhat considering making a tiktok acc solely for this book. i keep hearing tiktok audios and going damn this reminds me of celestia/theo or celestia/draco or celestia/harry or celestia/sirius and i would love to share that kind of thing with a couple of you. i know i dont have a huge following, but its something i keep thinking about, so let me know your opinion pretty please!
anyways, if this chapter sucks ass the next one will be better. hehe. sixth year is coming to an end soon. you know what that means? war.
yours,
beth