Dark Return Feast

You were sitting alone at the end of the Slytherin table in the Great Hall. The winter break was officially over and the rest of the student body was due back any minute now. Crabbe and Goyle received a letter midway through the day delivered by Draco’s eagle owl with instructions to meet him down in Hogsmeade station when the train arrived. You weren’t sure what that was about. You hadn’t actually seen the letter for yourself but Crabbe and Goyle were about as subtle as a bag of rocks so if it said anything else you would’ve found out.

Vincent and Gregory left a while ago along with Damian Perriss and Percy Weasley - the two fifth year prefects who stayed for the holidays. You noticed during your first term that the fifth year prefects were the ones who dealt with the first years, and since Hagrid was up at the Head Table, you took that to mean that the returning first years wouldn’t be sailing across the Black Lake and would instead be guided back to the castle by the fifth year prefects.

The noise level outside the Great Hall rose as the departed students made their return. You were seated at the end of the table closest to the door so you had a view of everyone as they came in.

There was no real set pattern in how the students arrived. You supposed it was just a matter of who got off the train and made it up to the castle first. A handful of older Ravenclaws were the first ‘early birds’ to arrive but the first students that you actually recognized were the first year Hufflepuff boys - the purebloods Ernie Macmillan and Zacharias Smith, the halfblood Wayne Hopkins, and the muggleborn Justin Finch-Fletchley. The four boys were trailing behind the fifth year prefect who you identified as Gabriel Truman. You shared Charms with the Hufflepuffs but didn’t interact with them much outside it. However, seeing the Puffs once again reminded you that you needed to approach Professor Sprout in order to earn some house points from her so you could complete your self-imposed game of House Point Bingo.

Percy Weasley strode in next with the returning first year Gryffindors and his female counterpart bringing up the rear. A familiar mass of bushy brown hair caught your eye and you spotted Hermione Granger. You scowled as she made her way along the Gryffindor table to where Harry Potter and Ron Weasley were sitting. Neville Longbottom trailed behind her looking very pale. The dynamic duo would no doubt fill their two returning friends about your altercation with them. And sure enough, it wasn’t long before the quartet started to shoot glares in your direction. You smirked back and gave a cheeky wave in return. They wouldn’t be able to jump you again now that the rest of the student body had returned. Slytherins weren’t known for being overly trustworthy but you knew that Draco was happy to have your back against the Gryffindors.

Well over half of the returning students were back now. The rest of the Hufflepuff first years came in and then all the Ravenclaw first years arrived together. Penelope Clearwater led the little birds into the room while her fellow prefect Robert Hilliard brought up the rear. You tensed when you briefly locked eyes with Terry Boot. Similarly to the Hufflepuffs, you didn’t interact much with the first year Ravenclaws outside of the few classes you had together. In fact, your groups in Herbology had remained more or less the same since that first lesson all the way back in September. But the one Ravenclaw you actually made a point to avoid was Terry Boot.

You didn’t have anything personally against him. But you both came from the same place… Mother Goose’s Orphanage for Magical Children.

Boot. Cobbler. Heel. Trainer. Cleat. Plimsoll. And even Golash. Those were a handful of the common ‘shoe-based’ surnames that Mother Goose and the Sisters gave the orphans that they raised in the manky old boot. Your old name Oliver Swift was an example of one of the times that they drew their inspiration from classic literature and nursery rhymes instead of using one of the usual ‘shoe’ names.

You were even more fortunate to have been discovered in Lucius Malfoy’s attempt to restore some prestige to his family name. Your bloodline got you out of that crowded old boot and you were given a valuable new name that actually meant something. You were now the last surviving member of an ancient pureblood family and a descendant of one of the Hogwarts founders. Terry wasn’t so fortunate. His blood was magical but it wasn’t from a longstanding pureblood family so he would be spending the rest of his childhood in the magical orphanage.

Honestly though, Terry should’ve been happy that you were discovered and removed from the orphanage. Mother Goose’s Orphanage for Magical Children only had enough money to send one orphan to Hogwarts per year. The previous year’s orphan was Jacob Spratt, a notably skinny boy who had been sorted into Gryffindor. The ‘extra’ orphans in the year wound up being homeschooled by Mother Goose and the Sisters. So if you hadn’t been discovered by the Ministry then you and Terry would’ve had to compete for the spot in your year. This was the only way that both of you could attend Hogwarts.

“Boot,” you silently mouthed which caused Terry to twitch. Maybe that had been a little cruel but learning to cast the Flagrante Curse taught you how important your new name was to you. Surnames carried a great deal of weight in the magical world. Terry twitched every time someone called him ‘Boot’ because it was yet another reminder that his was just a made up name given to him by the Sisters at Mother Goose’s. And similarly, you didn’t care for reminders of your own fake name from before you became Marvolo Gaunt. Terry was another reminder of that dull period in your life and so you did your best to keep him at a distance.

There was a loud THUNK and you were jolted out of your thoughts when Crabbe and Goyle slammed a large cauldron down on the table in front of you.

“Wow, you were really out of it,” Gemma Farley remarked as she stood at the end of the table beside you with the rest of your recently arrived fellow Slytherin first years gathered around her. “Didn’t even see us walk in.”

But you barely registered their presence as your attention was still fixed on the cauldron sitting on the table in front of you. There was a golden cake sticking out from the cauldron’s brim with chocolate icing coating the upper portion and fourteen green candles stuck in the top as well as a big silver one for good luck. It was a cauldron cake… except it wasn’t… normal Cauldron Cakes were small confections that could fit in one hand. They were fluffy yellow cup-sized cakes. This was a full-sized cauldron filled with cake… a cauldron birthday cake. A wide smile spread across your face when you realized that the birthday cake was for you.

“Happy Birthday, Marvolo!” the group chorused.

“Thanks, guys!” you gushed as you turned to face Gemma and your fellow Slytherin first years. Damien Perriss had already wandered off. “I can’t believe you got me a cauldron birthday cake!”

“Actually, that was mostly this one,” Gemma informed you as she grabbed Millicent by her broad shoulders and managed to pull the girl in front of her. You noted that your taller-than-average fellow fourteen year old was a few inches taller than the average height the fifth year behind her. You were, unfortunately, still waiting on a growth spurt so BOTH girls were taller than you.

Millie’s face flushed when she suddenly found herself at the center of attention. “Er…. you mentioned that the ministry people never celebrated your birthday since it’s only a week after Christmas… and since you helped all of us pass Snape’s not-really-a-surprise exam on the Wiggenweld Potion… I thought it fitting that we all celebrate together… with a cauldron cake. I found the recipe for regular Cauldron Cakes over the holidays... mum helped me adjust it to make a full-sized cake.”

That was amazing! She made you a birthday cake! You beamed at her as Gemma leaned forward and patted Millicent’s shoulder. “You should've seen the poor thing trying to board the train while juggling the cauldron, her trunk, and her cat.”

“Mittens was in his carrier… but he was not happy about being jostled,” Millie admitted.

Gemma pointed at Draco, “I saw that one standing and gawking nearby so I gave him a shove in her direction and told him to act like a gentleman.”

Draco rubbed a phantom pain in his shoulder, “I nearly pulled my arm out of the socket hauling that bloody cauldron onto the train.”

“You’re lucky she didn’t hand you the cat… or you’d be complaining about scratches instead,” Blaise chimed in with a smirk.

“I suppose that’s why he decided to owl these two strapping lads during the ride,” Gemma said as she motioned to Crabbe and Goyle and cast a teasing smirk at Draco. “Did you two pull your shoulders out too? You ran for the carriages like a pair of charging centaurs.”

“Nah, it was just a cake,” Goyle said with a shrug. Unknowingly embarrassing Draco by downplaying his struggles.

“Are we gonna eat it now?” Crabbe asked hopefully which showed their true motivation for cutting such a quick pace.

“The feast hasn’t even started yet,” Gemma reminded him as she made a quick nod toward the table full of empty plates. Your cauldron cake was the only food on it. “What kind of responsible prefect would I be if I let you kids stuff yourselves with cake before supper? I’ll come back and take the Stasis Charm off after the main course.”

“Stasis Charm?” you repeated.

“Da cast it to keep it from going bad on the long train ride,” Millie explained. “Daphne and Tracey spent half the trip prodding at it.”

That set off a red flag as you remembered the Christmas present the two girls sent you.

“What? It was an interesting charm,” Tracey defended herself.

You eyed Daphne suspiciously. “Did you do anything to it?”

“I wouldn’t tamper with your food!” the dark-haired girl insisted.

“You sent me an open box of Bertie Bott’s for Christmas!” you reminded her.

“Oh, does that mean you didn’t eat them?” Daphne asked with a wide smile. “How sad for you.”

You shook your head and resigned yourself to another term of dealing with the two annoying girls before you shifted your gaze and eyed Theodore Nott who was standing behind them. He looked pale and was even more quiet than normal. The near silent boy was usually very alert but now he was almost in a daze. You decided to ask him about it later. If something was bothering him then you didn’t want to draw everyone’s attention to it.

Gemma came around behind you and placed her hands on your shoulders, “Anyway, I’m off, happy belated birthday, you little scamp.” She brought her hand up to your head and you braced yourself to have your hair ruffled like she usually did. But instead she used her hold on your hair to pull your head back and your heart stopped as you found yourself staring up at the prefect’s descending face as she leaned down pressed her lips to your forehead for a quick kiss.

The girls giggled and you felt the heat radiating off of your face from an intense blush as Gemma gave you one last pat on the shoulder and walked off.

Rather than remain the target of teasing ridicule from your fellow first year Slytherins, you decided to shift some of the attention away by giving your best friend a proper thank you for the homemade birthday cake and makeshift birthday party. You sprang up from your seat at the end of the table and threw your arms around Millicent for a tight hug.

“Thanks, one in a Millie-on,” you gushed as you gave her another tight squeeze.

It was mostly a whim, but since Gemma had just laid one on you, you decided to ‘pay it forward’ and gave Millie a quick peck on the cheek as you pulled away. As a result, Millicent’s face went beet red. Oops. Maybe that was a bad idea. You hadn’t meant to embarrass her.

Of course, then Pansy made the situation even worse when she chimed with her usual shrill cackle of laughter, “Aw, that’s adorable! They’ve got matching blushes!”

Oh well, so much for dodging that Blasting Curse. Millicent hadn’t actually registered Pansy’s teasing and looked like she had frozen in shock. You grabbed her hand and guided her into your vacated seat at the end of the Slytherin table and shifted over to the seat beside her.

Pansy plopped herself down in the seat across from you while Daphne and Tracey took the seats on her sides. The three girls all seemed to be sharing the same unspoken joke because they were all smiling way too widely. Vincent and Gregory took the two seats on your other side and eagerly eyed your chocolate frosted cauldron birthday cake while Draco and Blaise sat across from the still shaken Theodore Nott further down the table.

The feast soon began and the serving trays filled with food. You helped yourselves to dinner and shared stories about your holiday. Millicent came out of her daze long enough to start eating while the three girls across from you seemed to find something highly amusing.

“Are those new glasses?” you inquired as you took note of Daphne and Tracey’s upgraded eyewear. Last term, the two were wearing glasses they had seemingly found and cast a number of charms on themselves. Now they each had a stylish pair of frames with lenses that had a faint bluish tint which gave you the impression that they had been charmed by a professional.

Daphne’s lenses were an oval shape with the dark frames only going over the top of the glass leaving the bottoms to hang free.

“Oh, you noticed,” Daphne smiled coyly and played with her hair. “All the better to see you with, Marvolo.”

Meanwhile, Tracey’s glasses had dark squarish frames that caused the name Velma Dinkley flash through your mind. Apparently, her thoughts were of a similar line because she stared you dead in the eye and said… “Jinkies.”

The corners of your mouth quirked upward at the quoted catchphrase. Yeah, she knew exactly what she was doing.

Daphne and Tracey fixed you with a pair of very obvious stares that didn’t quite meet your eyes. They seemed to be fixed on something a few inches higher.

“But you still don’t actually need them to see,” you felt the need to point out.

“Maybe you could use a pair of glasses, Marvolo,” Pansy suggested. “Then you’d be more aware of what’s going on around you.” This caused the trio to break out in a new fit of giggles.

“What’s so funny?” you wondered.

Millicent finally opened her mouth to say something for the first time since you laid one on her but Daphne quickly shushed her. “Sssh! Don’t ruin it!”

You narrowed your eyes. You didn’t trust Daphne as far as you could throw her… which wouldn’t be very far until you learned the Banishing Charm. Something was up. You looked over at your best friend. “What’s going on, Millie?”

Millicent’s eyes flicked up to your forehead then she glanced over at the three girls across the table and glared at them before finally turning back to you. “You’ve got lipstick on your forehead.”

Gemma’s kiss. You reached up and rubbed the spot where the Perfect Prefect kissed you.

“Millicent! You ruined it!” Pansy squawked at her fun being spoiled.

Once again, Millicent proved to be the only one in the snake pit you could actually trust. The other three girls were content to leave the mark on your forehead for their own personal amusement. Who knew how many people would’ve seen it before you finally noticed it.

“Rubbing it like that is only smudging it,” Millicent advised. “Use water.”

“One in a million,” you said as you reached out and gave Millicent’s hand and appreciative squeeze. You grabbed a nearby pitcher of water, poured some in your empty goblet, then dabbed your fingers into the cup and used the water to wipe the smeared lipstick off your forehead.

“What’s with you?” Further down the table, Draco finally noticed the dazed boy across from him. But in asking he drew everyone’s attention to him like you had been trying to avoid doing. Theodore Nott was a very quiet and private person and you knew you were more likely to get some kind of a response from him if you talked to him alone rather than making him the focal point of your group.

Blaise spoke up on his silent roommate’s behalf. “He’s been out of it since we got on the horseless carriage down at Hogsmeade Station.”

“Wait… horseless carriages?” you repeated. This seemed like a good change of subject. “Is that how everyone else got to the castle when we were on the boats?”

“Yes, there was a whole fleet of horse-drawn carriages - minus the horses - waiting for us when we got off the train,” Pansy confirmed. “Although, it was annoying that they weren’t there when we left back in December. Everyone that was going home had to drag their luggage all the way down to Hogsmeade. I’m not looking forward to doing that again in June.”

“Well, not all the way,” Draco admitted. “The elves brought everyone’s stuff down to the Entrance Hall. If you ask me, they should be punished for only half completing the job.”

You had a soft spot for House Elves. “Maybe they didn’t know where everyone was going to sit on the train?” you suggested as a possible defense. “Here in the castle we all have assigned rooms. Aside from the one for the Prefects, there are no assigned compartments on the Hogwarts Express.”

“Still, it was annoying only having the carriages go one way,” Draco insisted.

“Some of the older students floated their trunks down to Hogsmeade,” Tracey supplied. “But none of us could keep our Levitation Charm going for that long.”

“I guess that’s something to work on during the new term,” you mused. “I need a new project.”

“Oh, what was your old project?” the ever-so-nosy Daphne questioned.

“He spent a good chunk of every day in the library,” Vincent stated.

“We tried to tell ‘im it was winter break but he still went ev’ry day,” Gregory added.

“Waste of a holiday if ya ask me,” Vincent imparted.

“What could you have been spending so much time studying while the rest of the school was away?” Daphne pressed you.

“Wow Daphne, still obsessed with him?” Pansy snarked. Since Millicent had ended the fun she was having at your expense that left the catty girl to make snide comments toward other people.

But despite Pansy’s chiding, Daphne and Tracey were still eying you suspiciously. They really weren’t going to drop it. This was going to become a whole thing. You remembered Gemma’s warning about being torn apart by starving dogs. And after coming face to faces with a real three-headed starving dog and then the even more terrifying flame-covered Boggart version that was something you had no interest in provoking.

“Fine, since you’re so curious, I’ll tell you,” you resolved. “Millie sent me some information on my mother for Christmas. It turns out that Octavia Bulstrode had a talent for fire magic. Since I inherited Parseltongue through my father’s side of the family, I decided to see if mum had passed anything onto me. I managed to learn a few fire spells. Here… watch this…the Flagrate Charm lets you write in the air with fiery letters.” You drew your wand and cast “Flagrate!” and wrote out ‘Welcome Back’ in fiery green letters and much improved penmanship.

Rather than be impressed, Pansy complained. “It’s backwards.”

”You're facing the other way…” you countered, “Hold on… I can fix that…” You waved your wand underneath the fiery letters and they spun around in midair so they could be read by the girls across the table. After getting jumped by Potter and Weasley, you relocated your private spell practice sessions to your bedroom. The ability to rearrange the letters was one of the things you discovered in that time. It played a major part in improving your previously problematic penmanship.

“Do the letters have to be green?” Pansy asked.

“No, it’s like the Time-Telling Charm,” you explained. “Picking the color of the fire is an essential part of casting the spell.” You waved your wand through the fiery letters and watched them evaporate then concentrated and cast it again. “Flagrate!” And drew a fiery pink flower. “Hopefully this’ll keep Daphne and Velma off my back.”

Tracey’s square-framed gaze shifted from the fiery flower to you. She pointed at her eyes then back to you for the universal sign of ‘I’m watching you’.

From there, the conversation went back to how the others spent your Christmas holidays. Apparently, while you were at Hogwarts enjoying the Christmas Feast with Crabbe and Goyle, everyone else had attended the traditional Yule Pale which had been hosted by the Parkinsons this year.

Pansy took great joy in regaling the night. “Too bad you missed it, Marvolo. I got my hair done, wore a brand new dress, and mother even allowed me to wear some makeup.”

The girls giggled at the word ‘makeup’ and glanced up at your forehead. You were once again grateful that Millie tipped you off. You could weather their teasing now that you at least knew the blemish was no longer on your forehead.

True to her word, Gemma came back after the main dinner course ended and removed the Stasis Charm on your cauldron birthday cake then she cast another spell to light the fourteen green candles. Then everyone sang the Happy Birthday song. You remembered the song from back in the orphanage but you hadn’t heard it since you became Marvolo Gaunt so it wasn’t as embarrassing as you expected.

“How’re we supposed to cut it?” Crabbe wondered after you blew out the candles.

At that, the cauldron birthday cake vanished off the table. It reappeared roughly thirty seconds later on a serving tray. The cauldron had been removed, the candles were plucked out of the chocolate-frosted top, and the cake had been cut into pieces. Must’ve been the elves. You leaned over and shouted a loud “THANK YOU!” down through the table.

Everyone helped themselves to a piece of cake, including Gemma who brought a small plate with her.

“Aw, who told him?” the fifth year asked when she caught a glimpse of your forehead.

“Millicent!” Pansy was quick to throw her roommate under the Knight Bus.

“I’m not apologising,” Millicent insisted as she defiantly met the gaze of the other girls.

“Don’t worry about it,” Gemma said as she placed her hands on your shoulders then leaned down in between you and Millicent and pecked you on the cheek. “There. Got you again. Now you know my lipstick leaves a mark so you can decide whether or not you want to remove it.”

You idly reached up and fingered the warm spot on your cheek.

“Oh, by the way,” Gemma leaned down and once again stuck her head in between you and Millicent. Her warm breath sent a shiver running down your spine. “Watch out for Flint.”

You blinked in surprise. That hadn’t been what you were expecting. “What?”

“I hope you didn’t forget that Slytherin is currently in last place in the standings for the Inter-House Quidditch Cup,” Gemma reminded you. “Our team usually plays Ravenclaw the first weekend in February. Flint’s going to spend the end of January and beginning of February dragging your cute little arse out onto the pitch for target practice whenever he can get away with it.” The shivers going down your back made it so you could barely concentrate on Gemma’s whispered warning. You had no doubt that your face was bright red at that moment. “And Flint’s going to be even more unbearable when he discovers that Skye Parkin was smart enough to plan ahead and book her time with the pitch last term.”

“How… how do you know that?” you stammered. Your mind barely processed what you were being told due to the close proximity of the pretty fifth year.

“Because it’s one of Ravenclaw’s usual strategies,” Gemma explained. “They book the pitch in advance so the team can plan their studying around their practices. Flint would know that too if he ever did any proper scouting. It was on the schedule back in December. Ravenclaw’s first practice is Saturday morning. I wouldn’t put it past Flint to book the pitch that afternoon.”

Slytherin had sixty points. Hufflepuff was at one hundred. Gryffindor was in second at one-seventy and Ravenclaw was in first place with an even two hundred. Gryffindor and Hufflepuff would be facing off in the fourth match. And no matter who won, the team that caught the Snitch would rocket up the rankings with one hundred fifty extra points. That meant Hufflepuff would be at two—

Your attempted calculations were disrupted when two arms snaked over your shoulders and crossed under your neck. Gemma shifted forward into a from-behind hug. The somewhat awkward position had the possibly unintended consequence of pressing her chest into the back of your head.

HER BOOBS WERE PRESSING INTO YOUR HEAD! HER BOOBS WERE PRESSING INTO YOUR HEAD!! HER BOOBS WERE PRESSING INTO YOUR HEAD!!! HER BOOBS WERE–

They were pulled away when she broke the hug and called out a quick “Good luck!”

Your cognitive processes finally started to return. You had no idea how much time had passed. It could’ve been a second, a minute, an hour, or even a day. You had absolutely no concept of time just then.

You attempted to take stock of your surroundings. You were still in the Great Hall seated at the Slytherin table. There was still a partially eaten birthday cake in front of you. Gemma’s plate had disappeared along with her. Pansy, Daphne and Tracey were all still sitting across from you and were giggling at something. Probably you.

“What was that all about?” Millicent asked from beside you with a sour expression.

You blinked as you remembered Gemma’s warning and turned toward your fellow reserve.

“Draco! Gemma says to watch out for Flint. Slytherin’s playing Ravenclaw the first weekend of February and Parkin’s already got the pitch booked for her team’s practices. We’re in last place. And as the two reserves that he doesn’t actually need for the match… he’s likely to take his frustrations out on us.”

Draco stared owlishly as the warning sunk in. He had been unfortunate enough to be sitting near Flint during the second Quidditch match which had put Slytherin in last place. He already knew first hand how angry your team captain was at his team’s last place ranking. Draco’s already pale face lost all color and he suddenly looked just as dazed as Theodore.

Speaking of… you still needed to have a ‘chat’ with the near silent boy.

Your cake was finished off thanks to the twin bottomless pits known as Crabbe and Goyle and you made a point to once again thank Millicent for making it for you. Your group stood from your place at the end of the Slytherin table to return to the common room.

You hung back as the others walked out of the Great Hall then grabbed Theodore as he went by and dragged him to the side out of the flow of traffic. The Slytherins continued down the stairs to the dungeons, the Gryffindors and Ravenclaws headed up the Grand Staircase to their respective towers, and the Hufflepuffs went down the hallway in the opposite direction. You heard a rumor that the Hufflepuff common room was somewhere in the castle’s basement - which was a completely separate area from the dungeons.

“Hey, are you okay?” you asked your quiet companion. It seemed that being pulled aside and directly confronted had finally snapped Theodore out of his daze.

Now that he was at least alert you could actually make some headway on what the problem was and prepared yourself for a one-sided conversation with the silent boy.

“Blaise said you’ve been out of it since those horseless carriages,” you began, “Is this about something that happened on the train or during the carriage ride?”

Theodore held up two fingers. The second one. “Okay, is it about the carriages?”

He shook his head. If it wasn’t about the carriages… “Is it about the horses?”

Nott nodded. His eyes were extra wide. “Did you actually see something?”

A slow deliberate nod. “But none of the others did?”

Another nod. “Any idea what it was?”

This time he shook his head.

“Hm…” you mused, “Well, I doubt they’d allow it around students if it was dangerous.”

Theodore gave a weird expression which you translated to ‘You believe me?’

“Sure, why Nott,” you reassured him and smirked at the play on his surname. “You don’t talk much but you’ve never given the impression that you’re a liar. Or crazy. I’ve grown up with magic so I’m more inclined to believe that it’s a magical creature with a special ability.”

“Ah!” You heard a gasp behind you and turned to see Potter, Weasley, Granger, and Longbottom staring at you.

“Telling your snake friend about the magical creature you encountered over the holiday?” Weasley was quick to accuse you.

You blinked as you processed that. You weren’t sure how much they overheard of your one-sided conversation but since Weasley managed to get the situation completely backwards you felt it safe to assume that they only caught the tail end. On the other hand, you knew what they knew so you reasoned that they probably figured you were talking about ‘Fluffy’.

Since the red and gold quartet already thought the worst of you and likely wouldn’t believe a word you said anyway now that you weren’t being held at wand point, you decided there was no harm in fueling Weasley’s wrong interpretation.

“Why yes, of course,” you lied, “And next we’ll go over my latest plan to publicly **** Potter. I’m not sure why I didn’t bother doing it during the holiday while no one was here. I guess I was waiting so there’d be as many witnesses as possible to catch me in the act.”

You received four harsh glares in response before they trudged off to the tower. You had been happy to point out how many witnesses were around now to catch them in the act. After all, despite their overly villainous opinion of you, they were the ones to start your last altercation.

When you turned back to Theodore, he had an eyebrow raised and an expression that clearly meant ‘What was that all about?’

“I was practicing some spells in an abandoned classroom outside the library over the holidays when Potter and Weasley ambushed me and did their best to interrogate me.” You spotted a look of concern. “Oh, I managed to fight my way out with only a few boils on my face but it seems that Potter and his gang are under the impression that I’m trying to find a way past the monster in the Forbidden Corridor that mauled Professor Snape on Halloween. Oh, and I’m also apparently the one who was jinxing Potter’s broom during the Quidditch match. Basically whenever something goes wrong at Hogwarts, I’m the one to blame. Or Professor Snape. Or we’re in it together.”

Theodore rolled his eyes.

“Yeah I know,” you agreed, “How I managed to pull that jinx off while sandwiched between a prefect and the nosiest witch in Hogwarts is a conclusion that only a bunch of Gryffindors could jump to. But Gryffidors aren’t exactly known for using their heads. They follow their gut instinct… even when it leads them right off a cliff.”

You decided against telling him that you actually were trying to find a way past Fluffy for Professor Quirrell’s ‘extra credit’ assignment. While you obviously found it highly unlikely that he’d actually tell anyone… you were still opposed to getting someone else involved in the homicidal professor’s business.

From there, the two of you continued down to the Slytherin common room and then went to split off for your own rooms once you reached the boys’ hallway. But Theodore stopped and turned back to you and pointed at his cheek… while staring at your own.

You blinked as you raised your hand to the indicated spot on your right cheek. Gemma’s kiss. You completely forgot about it. “Now you know my lipstick leaves a mark so you can decide whether or not you want to remove it.”

You shrugged, “Oh well. The damage is already done at this point. I suppose I can keep it for a little longer and deal with it in the morning.” You got kissed by your crush. Twice. Pretty good night for you.

Theodore rolled his eyes and gave you a sardonic grin. For someone who prided himself on not talking he could be remarkably cheeky. But it was good to see that he was okay after his encounter with the mysterious ‘horse’. You had no doubt that the studious boy would be researching the strange creature in the upcoming week.