"I have absolutely nothing to wear!" Susan Bones screamed in frustration at her closet. It was Saturday morning and in only fifteen minutes Theodore Nott would come pick her up. Hannah Abbott looked at Susan from her bed.
"Nonsense, you have loads of cute outfits," she tried to help.
Her friend was missing the point. Susan didn't want to look cute on this date. She wanted to look like a girl who would actually date a Slytherin bad boy. She wanted to look like the exciting girl Seamus Finnigan was dreaming of. Only now she realized nothing in her closet worked for that.
"I'm going out with a Slytherin. Cute will not work," she said while throwing a few pieces on her bed she could maybe work with.
Hannah stood up to inspect the options on the bed. "Susan, you just have to be yourself. If he doesn't like that, he shouldn't date you. Simple as that." Susan grumbled as a reply.
"What about this?" her best friend said. Susan turned around. Hannah was holding up a pair of jeans and Susan's yellow sunflower sweatshirt.
"That's not exactly what I had in mind," she said. "It's not edgy at all."
"Maybe not, but it is very you and I know you feel comfortable and confident in this piece and that's what's most important on a date. I think you should wear it."
Susan hesitated but when she threw a glance at the clock she sighed and took the clothes from her friend. She quickly changed.
(this is Susan's outfit)
"I should have put on some make-up," Susan said while checking herself in the mirror.
"You never wear make-up," Hannah replied and she grabbed Susan by the wrist and pulled her out of their dorm. "Just go have fun and don't be so nervous!"
"Okay okay," Susan laughed while twisting her hair around her fingers. "Will you be okay today?"
"Of course," her friend replied impatiently. "I'm just going to have a few Butterbeers with the boys. We will be fine. And we will all want to hear how your date went at the end of the day," she winked.
Susan waved her friend goodbye and left the common room.
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Theodore Nott was waiting outside of the Hufflepuff common room, pacing back and forth with his hands in his pockets.
"Hi."
He turned around. Susan was standing in front of him in a yellow sweatshirt and cute yellow boots. She had her hair up in a ponytail. She looked very cheerful. He smiled at her.
"Hi."
He hoped that he looked okay to go on a date with her. He had had no idea how to dress so he had just thrown something on. Now that he saw how cute Susan looked he was second-guessing his decision. He looked nowhere near as good as she.
(this is Theodore's outfit)
"Shall we?" he said. Susan nodded and they left.
They walked in awkward silence towards the village for the first couple of minutes until Theodore said: "I'm sorry, I have no idea how to do this. I'm probably a pretty awful date."
Susan looked at him in surprise. "Oh no, not at all. I was actually enjoying just walking beside you," she said. Then she blushed. "I mean, you don't have to talk all the time or try your best to impress me or anything. It's not like this is an actual date."
Theodore looked at her sideways. "No, but I'd still like you to have a good time," he replied. "Where do you want to go?"
"I was thinking Madam Puddifoot's. If people see us there, they'll surely know we're dating."
Theodore had never actually been to that place. To be honest, he didn't visit Hogsmeade much. During most visiting weekends he stayed at the castle, enjoying a quiet common room while most Slytherins were out. He got a lot of his reading done on those days.
"Okay, that makes sense."
When they arrived at Madam Puddifoot's tea shop Theodore held the door open for Susan because he thought that was what people did on dates. Susan smiled at him widely.
They sat down at a table at the windows so they would be in plain view for all the students walking past.
Theodore looked at the tea shop uncomfortably. It was very ... pink. Susan ordered a rosehip tea and Theodore went for black coffee, no sugar. Susan insisted on also ordering some cupcakes.
"So, why'd you drop my essence of wormwood in Potions?" Susan asked while Theodore was sipping his coffee.
"I thought it was my bottle but then I saw you were a Hufflepuff."
Susan didn't look very pleased with his answer. Theodore shifted in his chair. He was ruining it. He never really knew how to handle social situations and he always seemed to say the wrong things.
"You dropped it because I'm a Hufflepuff?" she repeated, sounding offended.
"Yeah, but now that I've actually talked to you, I wouldn't drop your bottle. I would hand it back to you," he tried. Susan raised an eyebrow. Theodore looked out of the window. He didn't know what to say.
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Susan Bones followed Theodore Nott's gaze. She was thinking of a conversation topic that might make things less awkward, for Theodore seemed to be a very quiet boy. But then she spotted Seamus Finnigan walking with Dean Thomas, Neville Longbottom and Luna Lovegood.
"Quick! Hold my hand!" she told Theodore.
The boy looked up in confusion. "What?"
Susan didn't hesitate. There wasn't a second to waste. She grabbed Theodore's hand and intertwined her fingers with his. "Look me in the eyes!" she hissed.
Theodore obeyed with flushed cheeks while Susan smiled at him. She noticed that his brown eyes had a golden hint to them. They were actually quite pretty, now she thought of it.
To her satisfaction she saw Seamus do a double take while walking past the window. His eyes widened when he saw her holding hands with Nott.
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Theodore Nott felt a bit uncomfortable staring into Susan Bones' eyes like this. To his surprise her hands were soft and warm and actually quite nice to hold. When she released his fingers he felt a bit sad that it was over already.
"Yes, he saw us!" she said, her eyes sparkling with excitement.
"Who?" Theodore asked confused.
"Seamus Finnigan," she explained. "God, I hope this works." She looked out of the window.
Theodore followed her gaze and looked at the back of the Gryffindor boy. Why was she so obsessed with him? He looked like a dork.
"Why did you guys break up?" He hadn't meant to ask the question but somehow the words had rolled of his tongue before he could catch them.
Susan's smile faltered and he instantly regretted having asked the question. He liked it when she looked so happy her eyes sparkled.
Theodore shuffled uncomfortably in his chair. "I mean, I know you said you wanted to date a Slytherin because he had told you you were too good for him but is that really why he broke things off?"
Susan looked at her cup of tea and pulled at her yellow sweatshirt. Oh no, he had made things worse again.
Then the girl shrugged. "I don't really know why. Apparently I'm too boring and not exciting enough. He didn't really give me more reasons than that."
Theodore thought that this was weird. He didn't really know Susan but from what he had already seen she wasn't boring, not in the slightest.
"Sounds like a load of crap if you ask me," he said.
A small smile appeared on Susan's lips which made him happy.
"Why didn't you want to go on a date with Daphne Greengrass?" she asked. She had picked her tea back up and took a sip.
Theodore shrugged. "I don't want to date anyone."
"Why not?" she asked, holding her head to the side.
"I just never had any interest in it. I have better things to do."
She looked out of the window for a moment and then back up at him. "I'm sorry if this is boring to you, Theodore," she said with a sad look on her face.
"No, I don't think this is boring at all!" he quickly countered. "You're not boring me. I think my conversations with you have been the most interesting ones so far this school year."
She lightened up at those words. "Really?"
"Yeah," he laughed. "But when your competition is Malfoy, Zabini, Crabbe and Goyle it's not hard to be interesting."
Susan held her hand to her mouth and chuckled.
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They had finished their drinks and cupcakes when Theodore had suggested a visit to Honeydukes. Susan had agreed to that. They were walking in the street and she was looking up at him. He was quite tall. She looked at his hand and remembered their fake dating guide.
"Theo?" she asked, testing out the nickname. When his eyes met hers she continued: "Is it okay if I hold your hand?" She wanted to be absolutely sure that the boy was comfortable. She felt a bit bad about grabbing his hand out of nowhere in Madam Puddifoot's and didn't want to repeat such an incident.
"Sure," he replied and he slid his hand around hers. They continued walking down the street. Susan noted several students looking at them curiously.
Susan felt content. Theodore had actually made her feel better about herself in the tea shop, like it was okay to be who she was and like she didn't have to act in any other way. It had been nice.
When they entered the shop a mixture of a dozen sweet scents came drifting towards her. It was intoxicating.
Theodore didn't let go of her hand and walked with her to one of the back shelves. They stood next to each other perusing for a while when Theodore said to her: "What do you want?"
Susan looked at him in surprise. "Do you mean ...?"
"Yeah," he said, holding up some Jelly Slugs. "I'm going to buy you something. I thought that would be nice for people to see."
Susan smiled at him "That's smart!"
Theodore snorted. "Of course it is. I'm in Slytherin. What did you expect?"
"Crabbe and Goyle are also in Slytherin," Susan said casually while looking at a package of Chocolate Frogs.
Theodore grinned. "Touché."
"Nott?" someone said behind them.
They both spun around simultaneously, Theodore only briefly loosening his grip on her hand before sliding his fingers back in place. In front of them stood a dark-skinned boy.
"Hey Blaise," Theodore said.
The boy looked at their entwined hands and grinned.
"Oh my god, this is your date?" he asked. "Nice to meet you, I'm Blaise Zabini," and he grabbed Susan's free hand. "If you ever get bored of Nott here, I'm available," he winked.
"The fuck, Blaise!" Theodore cried out.
"Have fun, lovebirds," the boy said and then disappeared into the crowd.
Theodore looked at her slightly annoyed. "For your own sake, please stay away from Zabini," he said.
Theodore bought her some Chocolate Cauldrons and they happily shared them on their way back to the castle. When they arrived in the dungeons, Susan let go of Theodore's hand, smiled and said: "I had a lot of fun today, Theo."
Theodore smiled back. "Me too," he said, then added with a grin "Suzy."
He turned around to walk to his own common room and Susan watched him before she entered her own.
Hannah, Ernie, Justin and Zacharias all stood up from the couch immediately.
"Susan!" Hannah exclaimed excitedly. "How was your date? You have to tell us EVERYTHING!"
Susan smiled as she gave her friends all a hug and said: "It was fun. I like the guy." It was only when she sat down to answer her friends' questions that she realized that it hadn't even been a lie.