A random assortment of things

featuring little scottish harry, who’s been adopted by an older couple that are the main staff of a small-town protestant church, and theo, the random british kid and total mama’s boy that has gone with her on a trip to the middle of nowhere scotland.

As Theo walks into the church, he looks around. The place is clearly old, but well maintained, aged but without dust. Pews are lined up on both sides of a single aisle and lead to the opposite side of the small church, where a long table is arranged in front of a pulpit, elevated slightly.

In the centre of it all is a boy standing facing the long table— he’s seemingly on the shorter side, and Theo can make out his dark, black hair and warm skin tone. The boy is in prayer, bowed over slightly, with a broom leaning on the edge of the pew beside him.

Theo stands in front of the ornate wooden doors as they finally close behind him, producing a loud, echoing sound as they do. The boy’s shoulders jolt, but he doesn’t make further movement for a few moments, leaving Theo uncertain.

Finally, the boy stands upright and turns around.

The first thing Theo notices are his eyes. They’re an impossible shade of green, unbridled even behind his glasses, and unbelievably bright. The light of the setting sun shifts as his hair, once an ink-like black, takes on an auburn colour under the light coming through the stained-glass of the church windows.

He’s wearing a short-sleeved white collared button-up, tucked into loose, pressed slacks. A navy tie is visibly poking out of one of the pockets of his trousers.

Theo had not entered this church with any belief in the singular God, but as the boy’s lips curl up into a gentle smile, he thinks, perhaps this boy is an angel.

The boy rushes over to Theo with soft steps, stopping an arm’s length in front of him.

“Good evening!” he greets. “Welcome. Please take all the time you need.”

Theo nods, noting that the Scottish accent he had come to expect of the townspeople is slightly subtler from this boy.

Rather than leaving immediately, the boy is now paused in front of him, wringing his clasped hands together while his eyes dart up and down, looking Theo over a few times. Finally, he opens his mouth again.

“Sorry, just tell me off if I’m being a bother, but are you new ‘round here? I’ve not seen you before, I don’t think.”

Theo nods once more.

“Yes, I am. I’m here visiting with my mother.”

The boy blinks, his lips parted slightly, very obviously surprised. Theo has never seen someone who wears their emotions so obviously, and his mind faintly registers the boy’s expression as cute.

“Oh, really! I didn’t think anyone visited here,” he giggles. “I’m Harry, Harry Potter-Davidson.”

The boy, apparently Harry Potter, holds out his hand to shake. It’s only now that Theo notices the lightning-shaped scar poking out of his fringe, too distracted by his brilliant eyes. In his shock, Theo leaves his hand hanging a moment too long, and Harry begins to look hesitant. He quickly reaches his hand out before he can think any longer.

“Theodore Nott. Please call me Theo. It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance,” he introduces himself, shaking the offered hand.

Oh no. He’s slipped into what mother calls his nervous habit— speaking horribly, awkwardly overpolitely in situations that do not call for it.

Harry’s smile twitches, as if holding in a laugh, and Theo feels his cheeks flush as he lets his hand fall to his side.

“Yes, a pleasure,” he says, but his still twitching lips ruin the politeness of his words, and Theo startles himself as he begins laughing at Harry’s attempt at seriousness.

Immediately, Harry is laughing along with him. The sound is ridiculous in the otherwise empty church, reverberating off the walls.

After a few moments, they both collect themselves. Theo lets his lips remain curled upwards, while Harry’s gentle smile has become a wide grin.

“Well then, Theo, what brings you here?” he asks, a hand gesturing at the space around them.

“I’ve been doing a bit of exploring. I’m not sure how long mother plans for us to stay, so I thought I should familiarize myself with the town, and this building caught my interest.”

At this, Harry bounces a bit, his eyes sparkling.

“Well then, you’ve got a good eye! This is the town’s church— my family has been working here for centuries!” he explains. “My da’s the Minister and my ma’s the Choir Director. I like helping out, which is what I was doing earlier.” He gestures at the broom, still leaning against a pew.

“The architecture is beautiful. Your family has maintained the church wonderfully,” Theo responds.

Harry puffs out his chest, making a proud noise, and Theo has to hold in a laugh. Harry then seems to catch himself, clearing his throat and returning to his straight-backed posture.

“Thank you. That makes me happy to hear, and I’m sure my parents would be, too,” he nods, more at himself than anything. “Then, I’ll leave you be if you dinnae need anything else?”

Theo pauses. Harry is funny, he’s Harry Potter — what’s Harry Potter doing in the middle of nowhere Scotland, anyways? — and Theo is going to spend the next foreseeable future in this town. It hasn’t seemed the most interesting so far, but Harry could make this interesting— he is interesting.

It’s then that, for once, Theo makes an impulsive decision.

“Sorry, do you think you could show me around the town, if you have the time? I’ll likely be around for a while, and it seems prudent to familiarize myself with everything.”

Theo feels terribly impolite, hears father’s etiquette lessons echo in his head. He’s already toured most of the town himself, but it’s all he can think of to spend more time with Harry.

Harry nods eagerly, an easy smile forming.

I had an idea of Harry (or someone else, but probably Harry) trying to get a piece of information from Theo and Theo is being a little brat going "What'll you give me? Information isn't cheap."

"If I tell you something you don't know, will you [insert request here]?"

"Depends on whether or not I find the information useful, advantageous, or simply entertaining."

"In Japan, Yaeba is culturally perceived as a sign of youthfulness, innocence, and natural beauty. Basically, it makes someone cute."

"What? How is this at all relevent?"

shrug "The deal was for new information. Did you already know that?"

"No…" frustrated sigh. "Fine. You win. What the hell is Yaeba?"

"Possessing a snaggletooth." cheeky grin

Flustered Theo noises

"Just tell me what the counterspell is..." Harry tempted again.

Theo rolled his eyes. "Draco will skin me."

"Draco can't skin you."

"You don't know that." Theo primly turned another page of his Herbology text, just to feel Harry's annoyance sharpen. He tried not to smile and did not succeed, but he did manage to bring it down to a smug smirk.

"What if...I tell you something you don't know?"

Theo glanced up at Harry. Harry raised his eyebrows, adopting the most perfect mischievious expression that he knew Theo could not resist. When the corner of his mouth ticked up and his eyes sparkled with that bit of secretive joy, Theo just couldn't help but -

"What is it?" He sighed, affecting his best impatient Draco tone of voice. "Better be quick about it, or else the hex will stick."

Harry narrowed his eyes. "In Japan, Yaeba is culturally perceived as a sign of youthfulness, innocence, and natural beauty. Basically, it makes someone cute."

Theo furrowed his brow. "Since when do you know anything about Japan?"

Harry shrugged carelessly. Great, now he was wearing the smug smirk. "I read things, you know. Books, mostly. Literature."

In the back of his mind, Theo remembered those thick, illustrated novels that Tracey had pulled out of a box one day. Harry had borrowed them too, right? Neither of them would let him see it, so he still wasn't sure what it was, but somehow he knew that this had something to do with those books.

"Right...and....I'm supposed to be impressed by this fact?"

Harry leaned down closer to him. His feet were still stuck together by Draco's spell, but he somehow made the move look effortless. "Did you know that fact, or not?"

Theo thew his hands up. "Fine! You win. You win, Fisher. Now tell me what the hell that means and why I should care."

Harry put his elbow on the desk, glancing down at Theo's mouth. "Yaeba means possessing a snaggletooth."

Theo's hand flew to cover his mouth. He froze there, his brain struggling to make sense of what Harry had just said. He knew his teeth were crooked, and the one canine - snaggletooth - it was something he'd been offered the chance to change when he was younger, but he'd liked it then. It reminded him of Becks, of dogs in general, really, with their long protruding canines, but no one else had one, everyone else with crooked teeth got their's fixed. Did Harry really notice it that much? Was it ugly?

Harry reached out and grasped his wrist. "It's cute," he said again, softly, even as he pushed Theo's hand away from his mouth. Theo could see that he wasn't lying. Harry almost never lied to him, and when he did, he could always tell. He traced Theo's face with his gaze, working from the top of his forehead down over his nose, his eyes, his chin, and to his mouth again. "It's really cute."

"Oh..." Theo breathed, feeling like he'd missed the last step on a flight stairs. Harry smiled, and Theo's lips twitched to smile back, but now he felt self-conscious, and his face was red, and if Harry kept looking at him like that he was going to snog him senseless right there in the middle of the library -

He shot the countercurse at Harry's feet, then swept all his books back into his bag with one neat spell. "Come on," he said, grabbing Harry's hand and pulling him toward the doors.

Also, since Theo is now an orphan in possession of the Library, does that put him closer to emancipation, like Harry? Or does he have to wait?

Feel free to shut me down if I'm getting into spoiler territory. I've spent the last week reading Ascendance of a Bookworm fics to purge my brain, and I'm still circling back to BotL

Ahh! Really there's two separate issues here at play.

In order for Theo to be emancipated like Harry is, he would need to become magically recognized by his House. In BOTL I sort of reinterpreted what being 'of-age' means and how that plays into the House thing.

Also, since Theo is now an orphan in possession of the Library, does that put him closer to emancipation, like Harry? Or does he have to wait?

Feel free to shut me down if I'm getting into spoiler territory. I've spent the last week reading Ascendance of a Bookworm fics to purge my brain, and I'm still circling back to BotL

Ahh! Really there's two separate issues here at play.

In order for Theo to be emancipated like Harry is, he would need to become magically recognized by his House. In BOTL I sort of reinterpreted what being 'of-age' means and how that plays into the House thing.

Happy Pride Month 🏳️‍🌈

100 - 1k Word NottPott Writing Challenge!

For our next prompt in the 100 - 1k word writing challenge, we have: AGILITY.

Dart across your keyboard and submit your story to the challenge! All are welcome. You do not need to be part of our discord, but we'd love to have you if you want to join!

Looking forward to reading the nimble twists and turns your creative mind takes you with this NottPott challenge for the next two weeks 💖

I wrote a master’s thesis on intentionally single people, and the number of them that said in various ways, “I didn’t know not dating people was even an option at first” was absolutely tragic. They honestly thought they had no choice and it never occurred to them that opting out was even a possibility available to them.  

People honestly believe these are life experience you are required to have AND THEY ARE NOT.

Written for Wild About NottPott's 100 - 1k Word Challenge.

Theme: AGILITY | WC: 983

"He's a madman on a bike!" Blaise zig-zagged his hands through the air. "You should have seen him in Rome! I thought he was going to plow into a car!"

Harry's gaze sharpened as if he could somehow use this (blatantly exaggerated) piece of information like a codex to crack the riddle of Theodore Nott.

100 - 1k Word NottPott Writing Challenge!

For our next prompt in the 100 - 1k word writing challenge, we have: AGILITY.

Dart across your keyboard and submit your story to the challenge! All are welcome. You do not need to be part of our discord, but we'd love to have you if you want to join!

Looking forward to reading the nimble twists and turns your creative mind takes you with this NottPott challenge for the next two weeks 💖

He figured it out when he was being fitted for his uniform and tried on a skirt for the first time and absolutely hated it and how it made him feel girly. How sharing a dorm with girls made him feel like the odd one out, like he wasn't supposed to be there. He was never actually like a girl growing up and he prefers it that way.