Theo Nott III

“Maybe they will, but they probably won’t survive another year in this school, so it’s kind of the same,” she laughs and shakes her head, slapping Theo’s shoulder. Only he would get annoyed about messy complicated exam schedules, the least of annoying things Potter and his friends did if you asked her. “Oh please don’t, who am I supposed to complain with if you’re gone? I mean okay, sure, there’s Millie, but….” Daphne shrugs, not sure how to finish the sentence. She’s trying to be nice and caring, that should be enough anyway, right? “Then don’t find a date. You just come with me and my date, if I get asked. Or you come as my date if I don’t. Easy.”

Marcus hadn’t even really noticed him but rolled his eyes at his words. He might have apologized if Theo had watched his tone. “My bad,” he said, his lips rising in a smirk, sounding completely unapologetic. He glanced at the stuff in his hand, raising an eyebrow, “You supposed to have that, Nott?” 

Theo’s thrown by the question, almost forgetting his anger at Marcus flying what he viewed as too close in favour of his indignation at being accused of theft. Which, yeah, he absolutely had stolen the plants, but-- “It’s not like they were being put to good use!” Yeah, that sounded almost credible, he was going to go with that. Better than ‘they were there’ and ‘he couldn’t stop himself’. “What, should I have just let the third years kill them instead?”

Fleur cocks an eyebrow, glancing at the person leaning back against the wall as she approaches the side of the castle and does the exact same thing. It’s after curfew, but she doesn’t believe it applies to her. If anyone asks what she’s doing, she’s just going to the Beauxbatons carriages to look for something she might have forgotten. She doubts anyone would dare contradict her. Fortunately, the stranger seems to be breaking the rules as much as she is - so she’s sure he isn’t going to say anything about her presence. 

“So does that monster of a punching tree you have there and no one seems to be saying anything about that.”, she shrugs, standing next to the student and taking off her shoes. Her heels are killing her after a whole day of walking around; and she just wants to dip her toes in the lake. There’s something about water in the darkness that’s always been really attractive to her, and equally terrifying. “I did not know Hogwarts students were allowed to smoke.”

Theo doesn’t rush to answer, exhaling smoke and watching it drift up towards the night sky. He’s not going to do anything that would break the peace of the moment, for once in his life not in the mood to pick a fight with some random French girl. “The tree’s got character,” he takes another drag of the cigarette before continuing, “not everything in life has to be sanitized and safe.” The last word comes across like an insult, a state of mind shown more clearly by the bruises in various states of healing scattered across his skin. “I didn’t know Beauxbatons students were allowed to wander past curfew.” Amusement’s clear in his voice, quiet as it is. “I won’t tell if you don’t.”

Millicent cackled. “M’sure you would Nott. And I would like nothing more than to see you kicking some French arse.” She rolled her eyes, sending a nasty glance to a group of Beauxbatons students who were just entering the Great Hall right that second. “They’re so pretentious, like they believe they own the bloody school or something.” She shrugged. “Why don’t y’pay someone to put your name for you? And if you get chosen y’can say you know nothing about it. It’s not like they’re going to question you under torture or anything.”

Theo joins in on glaring at the arriving Beauxbatons students, not recognizing any of them in particular but not really caring to either. They were part of the horrid competition that seemed to exist just to mock him and that’s all that mattered. “Don’t need a tournament to do that, though-- they can’t always move in packs like that, can they?” He’s fairly sure he wouldn’t actually attack another student at random though, no matter how tempting it might be. “That just seems too simple. Anyone could do that, they’ve probably thought of it and done something to stop idiots like me. Doesn’t mean I’m not gonna try, though-- you’re 17, aren’t you?”

He closes his eyes, taking a moment to enjoy the sensation, when he hears footsteps approaching. The last thing he wants to do is interact with someone, but he figures he’s got little chance of making them leave at this point. “Smoking kills, y’know?” he asks rhetorically, an undertone of dark humor in his voice.

“Oh you know, might be a bit much for people I guess,” she snorts and moves a bit to a side to give Theo some space, “they’re not that bad, come on. You have to admit at least it’s more fun than having to listen about Harry freaking Potter and his stupid friends every single year. At least he’s not the center of attention this year.” Lucky them, huh? “Am I looking forward to the ball? Sweetie, have you met me? Of course I’m looking forward to it, an excuse to dress up and look like a princess? Yes please,” Daphne nods and bumps her shoulder against his, “you’re not? Please tell me you’re not going to skip, we’ve got enough training with our parents, it’ll be fun watching mudbloods struggle through the dancing and wearing cheap horrible outfits. Come on.”

♬ for a music rec or lyric owl

And what’s the closest you can come to a total wreck

and still walk away, all limbs intact?

A near miss or a close call?

I keep a room at the hospital,

I scratch my accidents into the wall.

I cut in line, I bled to death,

I got to you and there was nothing left

✂ for a worried owl about the receiver

Flora,

I haven’t seen you in a couple days, is everything alright? I tried to corner your sister to ask her but that didn’t... [crossed out] work well. I’m here for you and all that, just... let me know if there’s something I can do? [crossed out]

i want you to hit me as hard as you can.