"Hey i know you said you'd come back in when you were ready but i figured you might want some company."
I heard Theo's voice echo through the empty garden.
"Yeah alright. You didn't piss me off too much come sit." I turned around with a smile.
"I just saw Charlie and his father leave, were you really that bad of a dancer?" he laughed
"Oh no he's just really bad at keeping secret plots to win me over for my money a secret and instead talks about them openly with his father after he has already made a big deal to me about how important genuine people are to him and about how he wants to be the one to take care of me." i scoffed.
"Like you need someone to take care of you," Theo laughed, "You seem to have that pretty much covered on your own."
I turned to him, "Exactly!"
"That sucks you guys really seemed to be hitting it off." He leaned back in his chair.
"Well maybe. But there was no...i dont know...he would have been a perfect match for me about two years ago. Actually three or four." I said reasoning out the numbers and mental states in my head.
"Why is that?" he asked cocking his eyebrow at me.
"Back then i was....well i was hyperinvolved and cared so much about everything but i was also...it was different. It was before all of it went to hell you know?" Theo nodded his agreement. "So even though i KNEW what pain looked like and and already been through a lot. I had no idea the kind of stuff i was going to go through. I was so innocent. He had no idea about the kind of things we went through. He was so blissfully unaware about it all and how he was acting. It's just bizarre."
I stared up at the sky. The stars above seemed so far but so close. I tried to remember the last time i looked at the stars without my brain trying to plot our next course and figure out how to stay in hiding. Or before i was wondering what Voldemort was doing, far before we even had to be on the run. When we still worried for our lives. I had trouble remembering.
"Im not the same person i was before all of this either." Theo said softly, "I dont know if im better or worse or anything like that i just know that im different now. I just know that this version of me is not the same version that stepped on the train to go off to my first year."
"Its okay that we're not the same. It would be scary if we were." i laughed.
"Yeah it probably would be."
I turned to look at him and saw him staring back at me. Those chaotic green eyes that had picked me up in the forest that day. Im glad that he was here.
Theo reminded me of the physical embodiment of calm.
On the table inbetween us he moved his hand closer to mine. Until our pinkies were just barely touching.
a small gesture. him telling me that he was here.
i smiled.
a small gesture. me telling him i was glad that he was here.
"Oi! I swear to merlin! Mate if you're snogging or even trying to snog my sister. Nott i will not hesitate to crucio you right here right now!" Both of us jumped a little bit as Blaise came loudly through the double doors.
"No i swear im not. I was just listening to her tell me about how," He paused for a millisecond before continuing on, "Charlie is a complete wanker. Was literally just here for the money."
"You're lying." Blaise raised his eyebrow.
"Nope, told me this whole thing about how he wanted to stay with me forever and then i walked in on him telling his dad not to worry because he was going to get me and my money too essentially."
"Oh so he's a prick, got it." Ginny said as she came onto the balcony, Astoria and Harry in tow.
"I am not a prick you can't say that after we've just agreed to play nice!" Draco shouted as he swaggered out into the crisp night air.
"Oh yeah sure whatever. Like you dont have enough ego to recover from one insult." Ginny turned around and scoffed. "Besides it wasn't even about you."
"About who?" Ron and George joined the now significantly larger group in the garden and slumped into two chairs.
"Nothing Charlie is a prick. Thats the short of it." Theo said with a smile.
"Called it." Astoria said sipping her drink.
"Called what?" Pansy said sauntering out to join the rest of the group.
"Charlie is a prick." Harry said with a laugh.
"Well obviously. Of course Ast called it. She called it back in fourth year when he tried to stick his hand up her skirt." Pansy snorted into her cup.
"Okay next time we're trying to get someone to escort my sister can we just, i dont know, maybe- TELL ME ABOUT THE DOUCHEBAG BEHAVIOR THAT THE POTENTIAL ESCORTS HAVE EXHIBITED?! Thanks." Blaise yelled.
Astoria and Pansy rolled their eyes.
"Alright enough of this." Draco said before making a few motions with his wand before a bottle of Firewhiskey appeared on the table in front of them.
"Draco. Really?" Harry wore a slightly confused but also disappointed expression.
"Here's the deal, I am not going to make it through this night sober and i doubt any of us will because from the looks of it most of us already want to through ourselves into the nearest lake and never swim back up."
There were a few murmers but no one openly objected.
"Therfore," he continued, "We are each going to take a drink from this bottle until it is gone, and then we will go back inside and we'll see how we feel and i anticipated us finding our way back out here in say...." He looked at his watch, "73 minutes."
There was a small moment of silence as everyone turned to Blaise and I.
"Oh what the hell, you up for it Mari?" I just smiled and nodded.
"Its our party and we say drink so- lets get to it."
Within the next five minutes the bottle was gone and for the most part everyone had taken their swig like a champ. Except Ast, who felt the need to remind the group that this was not her drink of choice, and surprisingly Ron who decided that he was going to need to find a drink that would not 'burn the hell out of his throat'.
With the edge slightly taken off the group headed back into the party.
Where Blaise and Mari were immediately bombarded with question on their life plans and told that so and so would just 'love to meet you' and that they were 'such a lovely person' with this and that talent and such and such a career plan.
"Oh im so sorry but Mari is needed-" Theo began
"Im sorry Blaise but they really did say it was urgent-" Ast interjected
"The timing couldn't have been worse, oh gosh, im so sorry-" Ginny fake consoled
"Really dont blame her, if anyone blame me, its just her mother-" Harry sighed
"We've been looking high and low for you two-" Ron pretended to worry
"Honestly its just a real shame, it did seem rather important though-" Draco reasoned
"I swear these things never happen when you want them to and then when you dont- there they are!" George scoffed
"Really you should've been there ten minutes ago!" Pansy pretended to scold.
The group whisked them off in the direction of the dance floor pairing off and giggling while they did so.
The night went by slowly, but every time one of Zabini twins needed them, their friends were right there, pulling them away from the prying parents.
At a quarter to ten there was a tinking on a glass and the room grew quiet.
All eyes turned to Mr. Zabini.
theo
The room grew quiet and once it was finally completely silent Mr.Zabini started to speak.
"Many fathers will talk about how hard it is to let their children grow up. To finally venture out into the world we have created for them. Letting them make those decsions we always have made for them is a difficult thing. But it is even harder when you have a child who has grown up away from you. I feel that i never got to truly know my daughter. And now..." He paused and caught the eye of Mari.
"She is a grown woman. She is an adult who makes adult decisions. And i did not get to see her grow. However i am happy for the time i get with her now. Just because she is grown, does not mean i am losing her. " He laughed a little here.
I turned to look at Mari and saw a small smile creeping onto her face.
"My son however," Her father began again, "I have been lucky enough to see grow into the young man that stands in front of me today." He motioned toward Blaise.
"I watched him learn and fail and succeed. I was lucky enough to be there when he learned to ride a broom and when he bought his wand. I was there for all of it. Every minute. Even the hard parts."
Blaise was suddenly very tense next to me.
"I have seen him grow into the man you see before you all today. These two children. They have not been children for awhile now. They have been grown adults for years. Making decisions and struggling through problems that we never could have imagined they would have had to be involved in. So tonight, we are not commemorating their final sprint into adulthood. Rather finally recognizing what has already happened."
He raised his glass and there was some cheering. And then the dancing continued and i finally was able to look at Mari without seeming awkward.
"Okay that was too sappy. I need a drink." Pansy said standing up and motioning for us to follow her.
" We cant all leave at once we'll be noticed." Blaise said with a laugh.
"Alright then, figure it out among yourselves. Gin and I are going to get a drink." Pansy said dragging her away from the group.
Ginny just shrugged.
mariella
"Hey...Mari?" I turned to see George standing there with a small smile.
"Hey, whats up?" I said worried about him.
"Oh nothing im just going to....im going to head home i told Ang I'd be home soon so." He said with a small laugh.
"How's that going anyway?" Angelina Johnson and George had been dating for awhile now and i know that she was invited. I hadn't had the time to pull him aside and ask her where she was yet.
"Good..." he said as I walked him toward the door.
"You sure? I mean she didn't come and i-" I began
"Shes resting.... she actually......pregnant." He said with a smile.
"Holy!-you didnt! -why didnt you tell me!?" I said punching his arm lightly
"Cool it there punchy, mum and dad dont even know yet i just thought that I'd tell you now...but you can't tell anyone." He said with a serious expression.
"Cross my heart and swear to die." I couldn't contain the giggle that slipped out.
He pulled me into a hug and gently kissed the top of my head.
"Night Mione. Happy Birthday- late birthday." And then he left.
Mione.
It was strange to hear someone call me that. But i dont think he'd ever be able to give it up completely. Not after everything we'd gone through together.
I turned to go back to the others but as i passed the garden door i heard that they had all made their way out there. The noise was impossible to ignore.
"Hold on! Hold on! Hold on! You liked Luna??" Harry said cackling and holding his stomache.
"Liked? No try loved, no try loves in the present tense!" Draco howled.
"Merlin you dont even know she is the strangest person i've ever met." Ron said with a dazed expression, "But also the most interesting....i think."
"Like you can talk Weasley didnt you go out with Lavender Brown."
"Oh yeah, that definetly happened!" Ginny interjected.
"You didn't tell them!" Harry snorted
"Didn't tell us what?" Ginny giggled. I moved toward them and sat next to Theo and Blaise.
"He's been meeting up with Lavy-Poo all summer!" Harry snickered.
"Mate!" Ron laughed as he ran his hands over his face before he elbowed Harry in the arm, "She's quite lovely now im sure you would all get on with her now."
"I'll believe it when i see it." Draco laughed.
I reached onto the table and grabbed the bottle of Firewhiskey that was sitting there half full now. I took a long drink and felt the burning sensation his my throat.
"Did Draco get plastered at your ball as well?" I whispered to Theo.
"No-" he said with a laugh, "I didn't have one."
I turned in my chair to face him completely, "You didn't have one?"
He just shrugged.
"Why not?" The words left my mouth before i could register when his birthday must have been.
"Guess the world wasn't really in a party-ing mood." He said light-heartedly.
"Nope unacceptable.......here. " I shoved the bottle of Firewhiskey into his hands and umped up before pulling myself to a standing position on top of my stair.
"Silence!" I waved my hands and the group hushed down, stiffling a few giggles.
"Thank you all for coming to the coming of age gathering of Theodore Nott." Draco whooped and Ron clapped loudly.
"Yes yes yes, i agree," I continued, "I could make some speech about how Theo has grown up and its sad to let him be an adult but we all know thats absolute rubbish."
"Hear hear!" Pansy interjected raising her amber filled glass.
"We've been grown ups for awhile now and its useless to pretend we are just now getting there. So instead of that im going to recount a few things i know about Theo that he would like to forget and then pass over the mic to anyone else who would like to interject." There were some nods and i smiled down at Theo who remained seated next to me a small smile on his lips.
"Okay to start," I placed my hands on my hips, "I once saw Theo completely eat it on the main staircase at Hogwarts. Just slipped and fell. And then got up and pretened nothing happened even though we were the only two people on the stair and i was no where near him." Draco snorted into his glass before raising his eyebrow at Theo.
"Theo is terrible at muggle studies but kept trying anyways because he is stubborn. And he used to sit next to me in class and ask me how to properly use a muggle camera," I smiled down at him. Theo didn't talk to me toomuch but he was polite to me on multiple occasions. "I had to break it to him that it is used the exact same way except the pictures do not move." I was laughing fully at this point.
"And just to round this out and end on a real note," I coughed, clearing away my laughter, "Theo once found me very emotional and though he could have made fun of me on multiple occasions for it. He never has. And I think that. I am very lucky to be able to call him someone I trust now."
Theo smiled up at me before helping me down from the chair.
"I could've gotten it myself." I said with a smile.
"Im sure you could've just thought it would be better not to have you break your neck in heels." he whispered back to me.
"Alright I'm up!" Draco hopped up on his chair and raised his glass high in the air, "I could say a lot of things about Theo. I could remind him that technically he still owes me 2 gallons because Blaise did not ask out Luna. I could say that he was such a stubborn kid that have the stuff we got done was because he refused to let it not get done." Draco laughed.
"But i think the most important thing to know about Theo...." Draco continued, "Is that he's loyal. Hes never let any of us down. He's always been there when we needed him. And.....he's just the most reliable bloke ive ever met. And im proud to call him my friend."
I dont think I've ever seen Draco be that emotional, its quite interesting actually.
We went on like this, Pansy and Astoria had simular stories about Theo and it seemed that there was no shortage of good feelings about him. Which was unsurprising.
Then, lastly, came Blaise.
"Okay, so this idiot right her." Blaise said standing up on his chair towering above the rest of the group, "Followed me around, merlin, everywhere. This summer i mean. I dragged him through Ireland, England, Parts of the US, and finally bloody Australia. And he was right there next to me. I think i would have had to kill him to make him go home. He has never once let me be alone. Especially when i need him." Blaise's face suddenly got very serious.
"Most of us did not have rosey childhoods. We grew up in a war for Salzar's sake. But, No matter how bad our families got. How alone we felt. We both always knew that we had eachother." Blaise paused and laughed for a second, "And the amount of times we opened the door to find Theo on our front steps asking to stay for a few day- i literally cant even begin to count them. Eventually he just let himself in!" Theo chuckled next to me.
"Mate," Blaise said looking down at Theo, "Thanks for everything you've done for me...for us" He motioned around the group. "Especially-" Blaise paused and decided it was better to leave that part quiet- he wasnt tipsy enough to let that slip.
"Well merlin you get the point okay! To Theo!"
"To Theo!" Everyone echoed and took another drink.
"We should get back or mum will have all of our heads. Especially you Draco, i could probably light your breathe on fire right now." I giggled
We dragged ourselves back inside in a fit of laughter and yelling.
"Ms.Zabini!