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slumberTitle: Unsettled
Fandom: Harry Potter
Pairing: Theodore/Susan, Theodore/Daphne, a dash of Oliver/Katie
Rating: PG-13
Word Count: ~3100
Summary: The war is over, but it doesn't feel like it's truly ended.
Additional Notes: Written for the community at![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
hp_spring_fling. Many, many thanks to my beta, Ashvarden, who helped shape and prod this into readable form. The request I had asked for a tone more somber than I was used to writing, and this had been an interesting exercise in restraint versus... whatever its opposite was. Erm. So yeah.
The Nott Manor had never been one to inspire feelings of cheer and fuzziness. Not that Katie had ever expected to set foot in it, but there it loomed in the middle of a vast, empty moorland. Its perimeter was surrounded by the soft shimmer of a strong, ancient ward that resisted, but ultimately gave in to, those that carried with them a specially charmed invitation.
She hated that feeling, that probing kind of magic that clung to her skin and seeped into her pores. That, coupled with grey, abysmal weather and the long, wind-chilled trek from the closest Portkey drop-off point, was enough to make her second-guess her decision to attend.
"You look a bit cold," Oliver said, cutting through the silence with the kind of warmth that could change Katie's mood, placing his cloak around her shoulders.
"Then you'll freeze, and how would I carry your corpse around?" Katie asked, the corner of her lips twitching upward.
"We're nearly there."
"I don't want to go."
"Katie--"
"I know, I know. But I don't feel right in this place; I just don't, and I can't--"
Oliver draped his arm around her shoulders, and Katie found herself leaning against him. He squeezed her arm gently, and that was enough.
"I'm a horrible friend."
"You aren't," Oliver told her, stopping as they reached the entrance, a tall door made of black wood. "We can go back if you like; she'll understand."
Katie shook her head. "She won't, and I can't blame her." She eyed the door warily before taking the large, heavy knocker.
***
The Nott Manor, a year and a half earlier
"Do you have any other questions, Mr. Nott?"
"Theodore."
"I'm sorry?"
"You can call me Theodore."
"Alright, then. Do you have any other questions, Theodore?"
The man, pale and reed-thin, merely shook his head. His face was drawn with sharp lines and hard angles, contrasted by dark curls that fell over his brow and softened the steel of his ice-blue eyes. He sat up straight and stiff, in formal robes that did nothing to make him look older than his twenty-two years, all composure belying the despair of a man-- a boy, really-- who was in over his head.
Susan was only twenty-two herself, but there was a world of difference between the two of them. "If you could please sign this document, then, confirming all of the artifacts that you're turning over to the Ministry, I'll soon be on my way and out of your hair."
Theodore's quill hovered a few inches over the parchment for a moment or two. The list was long, but it was painfully detailed and not a stroke of ink on it was incorrect. Finally, he signed his name. A quick glow, the mark of a binding agreement, and then it was done.
"Thank you very much for your time, Theodore," Susan said, counter-signing beneath to designate herself as witness before she rolled the parchment up and sealed it. It was enough to indict Theodore Nott Sr. on the charges he was facing, and perhaps, enough to implicate his son as complicit in harboring forbidden artifacts as well.
"I do have a question after all."
"Yes?"
"What if I know where the others keep theirs?"
"Others?" Susan asked.
"You know who I mean. Malfoy, Crabbe, Goyle. Zabini, even. The Warringtons and Montagues too."
"Is that all of them? What about the Davises, the Greengrasses, the Baddocks?" She ticked off the rest of the names under Ministry suspicion.
Theodore shook his head. "They're all clean."
"Then we can speak another day, Theodore," she said, fighting the urge to smile.
The Order's plan had worked.
***
The Nott Manor, Katie thought, seemed to have benefited from a woman's touch. Inasmuch as the exterior had worried her, inside it was surprisingly, drastically different. The long hallway that connected the foyer to the ballroom was lit aglow by a hundred faerie lights on each side. Their brightness took away from the unforgiving stares that portraits of a hundred Notts past gave the manor's Muggle and Muggle-loving guests. It was easy for Katie to gape instead in awe at the faeries, but one portrait caught her eye.
She was, Katie presumed, a former lady of the house, the only one among the austere, disapproving masters of Nott Manor. Positioned towards the end of the hall, enshrined in faerie light where the others were shadowed by it, she sat primly in her seat, her fingers moving over the beads of a rosary as she murmured prayers and looked over passers-by. She was dressed in robes not yet considered dated; her hair fell in waves to her shoulders and though she was beautiful, there was a sickliness to the pallor of her skin and the tired smile on her face left Katie feeling oddly hollow.
"This way, please," said the aging elf that received them, snapping Katie out of her thoughts. He bowed so low his nose nearly touched the ground as he stretched a spindly arm towards the ballroom entrance.
"Thank you," Katie said. "Oh, my."
What the hallway promised, the ballroom over-delivered. An impossibly high ceiling-- Katie was sure it was charmed in the same fashion that the Great Hall was-- reflected a clear night, unlike the one outside, which sparkled with a million tiny stars. Floating candles cast a warm glow on the entire ballroom, where round tables peppered the area surrounding the dance floor that lay right in the middle of it all. Each table setting was covered in ivory linen accentuated by deep burgundy and hints of gold; in the middle of each, a centerpiece of wildly curling vines reached towards the heavens.
Beside her, Oliver whistled.
"Katie! Ollie!" Hannah ran up to them, eyes wide and cheeks flushed, Neville not far behind her. "Can you believe this place?" she gushed, as radiant as the room in a gown of dark yellows.
"No, but it looks wonderful. You do too."
"Oh, thank you." Hannah smiled shyly. "I can't wait to tell Susan she did a terrific job on the place."
"Where is she?"
"Waiting to make an entrance, I'm sure. Doesn't seem like her, but that's what you do at these kinds of things, I suppose."
Katie knew exactly what she meant, but before she could say so, Theodore and Susan Nott appeared. Susan was a vision in emerald robes, and Theodore looked happy, if Katie had to put a word to describe the way he sort of smiled and held Susan close to him. The guests-- Order members, Ministry workers-- raised their glasses to toast the hosts. Katie smiled when she saw how Theodore leaned towards Susan, almost subconsciously, and how Susan steadied him beside her.
They looked right.
***
The Nott Manor, a year earlier
"I think that went very well, don't you?"
"Shacklebolt seemed pleased."
"He isn't a very expressive man, I've learned," Susan said, walking over to a large armchair. Theodore never touched the seat, but it was close to a writing surface and he'd never protested when Susan used it. She documented many things when she visited the manor. Theodore, as it turned out, had a lot to say. "But I'm telling you: Shacklebolt was thrilled."
"Good for him."
Susan looked up from her paperwork. Theodore's words sounded as though he was gritting them out in lieu of an entirely different sentiment. "What's wrong?"
Theodore said nothing, though his jaw was set and his fists were clenched.
"Something's bothering you."
"You must think we're all the same," Theodore said. "Filthy, underhanded, double-crossing snakes."
"What are you talking about?"
"That if one of us didn't talk, someone else would have." Theodore looked at her, and for the first time in six months she saw emotion. It was loathing-- and with a strange, sinking feeling, Susan realized it wasn't directed at her. "You're wrong."
"Theodore--"
"They were my friends too," he went on. "We're supposed to protect our own."
"So why didn't you?" Susan asked. "You volunteered the information; we hardly had to force you."
"I didn't mean to," he admitted. "But the words were out before I could stop them, and if I'd taken them back you would have started investigating regardless."
And if he had already implicated his classmates, then he may as well use that position to negotiate for his own freedom. Neither of them said it, but that much was clear.
"I don't expect nor want you to pity disloyalty."
"I don't," Susan said, hesitating for a moment before she reached for his hand. "But ultimately, you did what was right."
Whether he'd intended to or not.
***
"Thanks again for coming," Susan said, squeezing Katie's hands. "It means a lot to us."
"We wouldn't have missed it for the world," Katie told her, feeling less guilty about blatantly lying than about wanting to back out. Susan looked entirely too relieved when she'd seen them. The Frost Ball was in full swing, but the tables had been set for more than had shown up.
"Well, there's plenty of refreshments and the floor's open, so please, have fun and enjoy yourselves."
"We will." Oliver nodded at Theodore. "Thanks for having us."
"Any friend of Susan's is welcome here. If you'll excuse us, I believe I owe my wife a dance."
"Go ahead," Oliver said. "We'll join you."
Katie allowed Oliver to lead her to the ballroom. "Have you ever seen anyone as happy?" Katie asked quietly, so only Oliver could hear.
"I can think of a couple," Oliver said, grinning as he half-made up a dance step for them to follow. "Rugged, handsome Scottish boy with his gorgeous girlfriend of four or five years."
Katie laughed. "Four or five?"
"The years went by in a blur; that's how fast time runs with you," Oliver said, straight-faced.
"Nice save, Wood." Katie leaned against Oliver, the music having slowed to a more lilting, leisurely ballad at this point. They'd gone through a lot and she marveled at how easily they could find ways to laugh now that the worst of the war was over.
"I can hear you thinking, Katie."
Katie's gaze landed on Theodore and Susan. There had always been an intensity around Theodore; it reminded her of how Oliver usually was before a game, but she'd rarely seen Theodore at ease.
"Katie?"
"Nothing," she said, catching the smile on Susan's face. This was her happily-ever-after. She smiled at Oliver. "I was just thinking your dancing's gone a long way since the Yule Ball."
***
The Nott Manor, six months earlier
"They're essentially getting slaps on the wrist. Considering what they were facing, this is good."
"I know."
"You did the best you could."
"They won't see that, all the same."
Susan sighed, cupping Theodore's cheeks and forcing him to look her in the eyes. "Had the Ministry encountered resistance, they would all have been placed in Azkaban, no questions asked. As it is, they're going to be able to start over here. Whatever they say, you did them a favor. They owe this to you."
"It doesn't feel like it," Theodore said, his hands closing around Susan's wrists and his forehead resting against hers. "But thank you for all your help. You didn't have to."
"I can see true loyalty, even when no one else can. You're a good person, Theodore. I'm sorry your friends don't understand, but I do. I know what's in front of me."
"Susan--"
She didn't let him complete his protest. Instead, she closed the gap between their lips with a firm, slow kiss-- a little surer and somewhat bolder than their first had been. Theodore squeezed her wrists, leaning into the kiss as she had towards him just a few weeks ago.
"They'll come around," she murmured, her fingers curling through his hair. She wasn't sure either of them believed her.
***
"There you are!" Katie waved Hannah and Neville over once she spotted the pair. "I was beginning to wonder where you'd gone!"
"Sorry, Neville found the garden," Hannah explained. "We went to take a look."
"Susan's been working on it since she moved in," Neville added. "Asked me what she should plant. She put nearly everything I told her would be nice."
Katie nodded. "She mentioned it a couple of times. Used to be Theodore's mum's, but she died young, didn't she?"
"When he was six, Susan told me."
"You should see the garden," Neville said. "It isn't too cold out anymore and it's just really amazing."
"Yeah, that sounds like fun." Oliver turned to Katie. "What do you think?"
"Wait-- Magic Works!" Katie squealed as a new song came on-- a classic that the Weird Sisters had performed at the Yule Ball, the very same one that she and Oliver had first danced to all those years ago. "One more dance?"
"Who am I to argue?" Oliver grinned.
Beside them, Neville extended his hand towards Hannah. "May I have this dance?" he asked.
But Hannah's attention wasn't on Neville, or the song, or memories from a Hogwarts ball a decade past. She was staring across the ballroom, to the wide double doors that had just opened and let in a late guest. "Is that Daphne Greengrass?"
They all turned to look.
When Theodore Nott first started working with the Order, much was made of the falling out that had occurred between him and the rest of the Slytherin house. He was instrumental in providing both damning evidence as well as unquestionable alibis to condemn or clear nearly all suspected Slytherins. But to his Housemates, even the ones he'd helped prove innocent, his actions were beyond unforgivable. As everyone would learn from Susan, no Slytherin had spoken with Theodore since.
"What is she doing here?" Hannah wondered.
"Maybe she was invited." Or maybe Daphne had a flair for the scandalous. Katie scanned the crowd, and thankfully it didn't seem as though many guests had noticed her arrival.
The hosts, however, had. Susan looked puzzled and Katie could not read Theodore's expression at all. He had stilled in the middle of the dance floor, staring straight at Daphne, and it was only when Susan gently touched his arm that he offered her a small smile and leaned close to whisper something in her ear. Susan nodded, then watched as her husband walked over and asked an old Housemate to dance.
***
The Nott Manor, tonight
"You don't look very happy to see me."
"I don't know why you think that."
"I can feel it in your shoulders," Daphne said, her arms resting against the distinct knotting of Theodore's muscles. "Relax; I'm not here to cause trouble."
Theodore wasn't quite sure he believed her. "Then what are you here for?"
"I love this song. I don't think I've heard this since we were in school."
"Daphne."
"So believe that magic works; don't be afraid of being hurt," she sang softly, her voice low and lilting. She lifted her face and met Theodore's gaze, letting the band sing the rest. "I miss you, Teddy. You never come and see us anymore."
"Your sister threw five different heirloom vases at me and told me never to be within a hundred feet of her if I valued my life."
"She didn't know any better. But I do."
"Why don't we talk outside?"
"Would she mind?" Daphne asked, cocking her head towards Mrs. Nott.
"No," Theodore said, taking her arm and guiding her to the doors that opened out into the garden. There was a spot just behind an oak tree, obscured by some plants but not too far from the ballroom. He could still hear the music, however faint.
"That's awfully naive of her," Daphne murmured. "If some witch waltzed into my own party and took my husband out alone, I'd be five steps behind them."
"She trusts me."
"Will she ask why your wards still let me in?" Daphne leaned back, resting her weight against the tree.
"What is this really about, Daphne?"
"I'd wondered that many times myself. You've always been a smart boy, Teddy. You were always a step ahead of the rest of us. You missed nothing." Daphne sighed. "And yet--"
"And yet?"
"You couldn't have forgotten the summer before fourth year by accident," Daphne said. "I thought maybe Astoria or my mum had hexed you to forget, but neither of them knew, and their spellwork can be very shoddy. Nothing like Daddy's at all, and maybe Daddy could have, but--" and here Daphne gave a sharp laugh-- "dead men don't curse."
"I'm sorry about your father."
"Don't be. That isn't on you, for once." Daphne looked up at Theodore. "But riddle me this, Teddy: Blaise said but a word and you were able to show the Ministry where the Zabini hoard was. We spent a summer's day in that room and not a hint in any of your testimonials?"
Theodore remembered that summer all too clearly: the humid air that had driven them indoors, the dares and chases and the rush of blood through his veins every time Daphne's eyes met his. The way they stumbled into that secret room, the jolt through his senses when Daphne's hand sought his. "Your father had passed, your mother was grieving. Your family didn't need more problems," he said instead.
"You could say that for everyone else, yet you didn't think twice about selling them off for your own freedom."
"I didn't intend to--"
"So I wondered if there was something else up your sleeve," Daphne concluded. "A reason behind protecting my father's valuables. You know I haven't gone in there since fourth year? It is quite the treasure trove, but I'm sure you knew that already."
Theodore's eyes widened. "No. Daphne, you've misunderstood."
Daphne's eyes gleamed. "But I found it, Teddy," she whispered, impossibly delighted. "I found the Book."
"What Book?" Theodore asked, though there was only one that would have interested the Dark Lord.
"That's what you wanted me to see, wasn't it? That's what you wanted to protect in that room, right? Oh, we'd make everything right again if we could just bring him back--"
"I wanted to protect you," Theodore said. "Daphne, for Merlin's sake, leave that room alone. It isn't--"
"Don't deny it now!" Daphne hissed. "Don't tell me you went through all of this-- that you betrayed us and married one of them-- because you wanted to."
"It was the right thing to do."
"Bollocks! Then why didn't you turn me in?"
"Because you were innocent! And I couldn't-- I didn't--"
Daphne raised an eyebrow. "Nobody was innocent. You were just blind," she said coolly. "And maybe I had been as well."
"What do you mean?"
She shook her head. "I wanted to do this with you, Teddy. I thought I would. We would have made Daddy so proud."
"Daphne, please--"
"But thank you. Whether you intended to or not, you showed me exactly what I needed to do." Daphne moved closer, standing on her tiptoes as she pressed a kiss to Theodore's lips.
"Daphne--"
"Be well, Teddy," Daphne murmured. "If you change your mind, you know where to find me."
A skipped heartbeat later, she was gone, leaving Theodore with a dry throat and a gut-wrenching feeling in the pit of his stomach. His head was swimming in a million desperate thoughts, and he needed a drink, or some air-- anything-- to clear the one thought that wouldn't leave his mind.
She had tasted like summer.
FIN
Note: Magic Works is an actual song, which I didn't find out until I went to see whether The Weird Sisters had a discography of any sort. They did, and the full lyrics can be found here.
Fandom: Harry Potter
Pairing: Theodore/Susan, Theodore/Daphne, a dash of Oliver/Katie
Rating: PG-13
Word Count: ~3100
Summary: The war is over, but it doesn't feel like it's truly ended.
Additional Notes: Written for the community at
hp_spring_fling. Many, many thanks to my beta, Ashvarden, who helped shape and prod this into readable form. The request I had asked for a tone more somber than I was used to writing, and this had been an interesting exercise in restraint versus... whatever its opposite was. Erm. So yeah.The Nott Manor had never been one to inspire feelings of cheer and fuzziness. Not that Katie had ever expected to set foot in it, but there it loomed in the middle of a vast, empty moorland. Its perimeter was surrounded by the soft shimmer of a strong, ancient ward that resisted, but ultimately gave in to, those that carried with them a specially charmed invitation.
She hated that feeling, that probing kind of magic that clung to her skin and seeped into her pores. That, coupled with grey, abysmal weather and the long, wind-chilled trek from the closest Portkey drop-off point, was enough to make her second-guess her decision to attend.
"You look a bit cold," Oliver said, cutting through the silence with the kind of warmth that could change Katie's mood, placing his cloak around her shoulders.
"Then you'll freeze, and how would I carry your corpse around?" Katie asked, the corner of her lips twitching upward.
"We're nearly there."
"I don't want to go."
"Katie--"
"I know, I know. But I don't feel right in this place; I just don't, and I can't--"
Oliver draped his arm around her shoulders, and Katie found herself leaning against him. He squeezed her arm gently, and that was enough.
"I'm a horrible friend."
"You aren't," Oliver told her, stopping as they reached the entrance, a tall door made of black wood. "We can go back if you like; she'll understand."
Katie shook her head. "She won't, and I can't blame her." She eyed the door warily before taking the large, heavy knocker.
The Nott Manor, a year and a half earlier
"Do you have any other questions, Mr. Nott?"
"Theodore."
"I'm sorry?"
"You can call me Theodore."
"Alright, then. Do you have any other questions, Theodore?"
The man, pale and reed-thin, merely shook his head. His face was drawn with sharp lines and hard angles, contrasted by dark curls that fell over his brow and softened the steel of his ice-blue eyes. He sat up straight and stiff, in formal robes that did nothing to make him look older than his twenty-two years, all composure belying the despair of a man-- a boy, really-- who was in over his head.
Susan was only twenty-two herself, but there was a world of difference between the two of them. "If you could please sign this document, then, confirming all of the artifacts that you're turning over to the Ministry, I'll soon be on my way and out of your hair."
Theodore's quill hovered a few inches over the parchment for a moment or two. The list was long, but it was painfully detailed and not a stroke of ink on it was incorrect. Finally, he signed his name. A quick glow, the mark of a binding agreement, and then it was done.
"Thank you very much for your time, Theodore," Susan said, counter-signing beneath to designate herself as witness before she rolled the parchment up and sealed it. It was enough to indict Theodore Nott Sr. on the charges he was facing, and perhaps, enough to implicate his son as complicit in harboring forbidden artifacts as well.
"I do have a question after all."
"Yes?"
"What if I know where the others keep theirs?"
"Others?" Susan asked.
"You know who I mean. Malfoy, Crabbe, Goyle. Zabini, even. The Warringtons and Montagues too."
"Is that all of them? What about the Davises, the Greengrasses, the Baddocks?" She ticked off the rest of the names under Ministry suspicion.
Theodore shook his head. "They're all clean."
"Then we can speak another day, Theodore," she said, fighting the urge to smile.
The Order's plan had worked.
The Nott Manor, Katie thought, seemed to have benefited from a woman's touch. Inasmuch as the exterior had worried her, inside it was surprisingly, drastically different. The long hallway that connected the foyer to the ballroom was lit aglow by a hundred faerie lights on each side. Their brightness took away from the unforgiving stares that portraits of a hundred Notts past gave the manor's Muggle and Muggle-loving guests. It was easy for Katie to gape instead in awe at the faeries, but one portrait caught her eye.
She was, Katie presumed, a former lady of the house, the only one among the austere, disapproving masters of Nott Manor. Positioned towards the end of the hall, enshrined in faerie light where the others were shadowed by it, she sat primly in her seat, her fingers moving over the beads of a rosary as she murmured prayers and looked over passers-by. She was dressed in robes not yet considered dated; her hair fell in waves to her shoulders and though she was beautiful, there was a sickliness to the pallor of her skin and the tired smile on her face left Katie feeling oddly hollow.
"This way, please," said the aging elf that received them, snapping Katie out of her thoughts. He bowed so low his nose nearly touched the ground as he stretched a spindly arm towards the ballroom entrance.
"Thank you," Katie said. "Oh, my."
What the hallway promised, the ballroom over-delivered. An impossibly high ceiling-- Katie was sure it was charmed in the same fashion that the Great Hall was-- reflected a clear night, unlike the one outside, which sparkled with a million tiny stars. Floating candles cast a warm glow on the entire ballroom, where round tables peppered the area surrounding the dance floor that lay right in the middle of it all. Each table setting was covered in ivory linen accentuated by deep burgundy and hints of gold; in the middle of each, a centerpiece of wildly curling vines reached towards the heavens.
Beside her, Oliver whistled.
"Katie! Ollie!" Hannah ran up to them, eyes wide and cheeks flushed, Neville not far behind her. "Can you believe this place?" she gushed, as radiant as the room in a gown of dark yellows.
"No, but it looks wonderful. You do too."
"Oh, thank you." Hannah smiled shyly. "I can't wait to tell Susan she did a terrific job on the place."
"Where is she?"
"Waiting to make an entrance, I'm sure. Doesn't seem like her, but that's what you do at these kinds of things, I suppose."
Katie knew exactly what she meant, but before she could say so, Theodore and Susan Nott appeared. Susan was a vision in emerald robes, and Theodore looked happy, if Katie had to put a word to describe the way he sort of smiled and held Susan close to him. The guests-- Order members, Ministry workers-- raised their glasses to toast the hosts. Katie smiled when she saw how Theodore leaned towards Susan, almost subconsciously, and how Susan steadied him beside her.
They looked right.
The Nott Manor, a year earlier
"I think that went very well, don't you?"
"Shacklebolt seemed pleased."
"He isn't a very expressive man, I've learned," Susan said, walking over to a large armchair. Theodore never touched the seat, but it was close to a writing surface and he'd never protested when Susan used it. She documented many things when she visited the manor. Theodore, as it turned out, had a lot to say. "But I'm telling you: Shacklebolt was thrilled."
"Good for him."
Susan looked up from her paperwork. Theodore's words sounded as though he was gritting them out in lieu of an entirely different sentiment. "What's wrong?"
Theodore said nothing, though his jaw was set and his fists were clenched.
"Something's bothering you."
"You must think we're all the same," Theodore said. "Filthy, underhanded, double-crossing snakes."
"What are you talking about?"
"That if one of us didn't talk, someone else would have." Theodore looked at her, and for the first time in six months she saw emotion. It was loathing-- and with a strange, sinking feeling, Susan realized it wasn't directed at her. "You're wrong."
"Theodore--"
"They were my friends too," he went on. "We're supposed to protect our own."
"So why didn't you?" Susan asked. "You volunteered the information; we hardly had to force you."
"I didn't mean to," he admitted. "But the words were out before I could stop them, and if I'd taken them back you would have started investigating regardless."
And if he had already implicated his classmates, then he may as well use that position to negotiate for his own freedom. Neither of them said it, but that much was clear.
"I don't expect nor want you to pity disloyalty."
"I don't," Susan said, hesitating for a moment before she reached for his hand. "But ultimately, you did what was right."
Whether he'd intended to or not.
"Thanks again for coming," Susan said, squeezing Katie's hands. "It means a lot to us."
"We wouldn't have missed it for the world," Katie told her, feeling less guilty about blatantly lying than about wanting to back out. Susan looked entirely too relieved when she'd seen them. The Frost Ball was in full swing, but the tables had been set for more than had shown up.
"Well, there's plenty of refreshments and the floor's open, so please, have fun and enjoy yourselves."
"We will." Oliver nodded at Theodore. "Thanks for having us."
"Any friend of Susan's is welcome here. If you'll excuse us, I believe I owe my wife a dance."
"Go ahead," Oliver said. "We'll join you."
Katie allowed Oliver to lead her to the ballroom. "Have you ever seen anyone as happy?" Katie asked quietly, so only Oliver could hear.
"I can think of a couple," Oliver said, grinning as he half-made up a dance step for them to follow. "Rugged, handsome Scottish boy with his gorgeous girlfriend of four or five years."
Katie laughed. "Four or five?"
"The years went by in a blur; that's how fast time runs with you," Oliver said, straight-faced.
"Nice save, Wood." Katie leaned against Oliver, the music having slowed to a more lilting, leisurely ballad at this point. They'd gone through a lot and she marveled at how easily they could find ways to laugh now that the worst of the war was over.
"I can hear you thinking, Katie."
Katie's gaze landed on Theodore and Susan. There had always been an intensity around Theodore; it reminded her of how Oliver usually was before a game, but she'd rarely seen Theodore at ease.
"Katie?"
"Nothing," she said, catching the smile on Susan's face. This was her happily-ever-after. She smiled at Oliver. "I was just thinking your dancing's gone a long way since the Yule Ball."
The Nott Manor, six months earlier
"They're essentially getting slaps on the wrist. Considering what they were facing, this is good."
"I know."
"You did the best you could."
"They won't see that, all the same."
Susan sighed, cupping Theodore's cheeks and forcing him to look her in the eyes. "Had the Ministry encountered resistance, they would all have been placed in Azkaban, no questions asked. As it is, they're going to be able to start over here. Whatever they say, you did them a favor. They owe this to you."
"It doesn't feel like it," Theodore said, his hands closing around Susan's wrists and his forehead resting against hers. "But thank you for all your help. You didn't have to."
"I can see true loyalty, even when no one else can. You're a good person, Theodore. I'm sorry your friends don't understand, but I do. I know what's in front of me."
"Susan--"
She didn't let him complete his protest. Instead, she closed the gap between their lips with a firm, slow kiss-- a little surer and somewhat bolder than their first had been. Theodore squeezed her wrists, leaning into the kiss as she had towards him just a few weeks ago.
"They'll come around," she murmured, her fingers curling through his hair. She wasn't sure either of them believed her.
"There you are!" Katie waved Hannah and Neville over once she spotted the pair. "I was beginning to wonder where you'd gone!"
"Sorry, Neville found the garden," Hannah explained. "We went to take a look."
"Susan's been working on it since she moved in," Neville added. "Asked me what she should plant. She put nearly everything I told her would be nice."
Katie nodded. "She mentioned it a couple of times. Used to be Theodore's mum's, but she died young, didn't she?"
"When he was six, Susan told me."
"You should see the garden," Neville said. "It isn't too cold out anymore and it's just really amazing."
"Yeah, that sounds like fun." Oliver turned to Katie. "What do you think?"
"Wait-- Magic Works!" Katie squealed as a new song came on-- a classic that the Weird Sisters had performed at the Yule Ball, the very same one that she and Oliver had first danced to all those years ago. "One more dance?"
"Who am I to argue?" Oliver grinned.
Beside them, Neville extended his hand towards Hannah. "May I have this dance?" he asked.
But Hannah's attention wasn't on Neville, or the song, or memories from a Hogwarts ball a decade past. She was staring across the ballroom, to the wide double doors that had just opened and let in a late guest. "Is that Daphne Greengrass?"
They all turned to look.
When Theodore Nott first started working with the Order, much was made of the falling out that had occurred between him and the rest of the Slytherin house. He was instrumental in providing both damning evidence as well as unquestionable alibis to condemn or clear nearly all suspected Slytherins. But to his Housemates, even the ones he'd helped prove innocent, his actions were beyond unforgivable. As everyone would learn from Susan, no Slytherin had spoken with Theodore since.
"What is she doing here?" Hannah wondered.
"Maybe she was invited." Or maybe Daphne had a flair for the scandalous. Katie scanned the crowd, and thankfully it didn't seem as though many guests had noticed her arrival.
The hosts, however, had. Susan looked puzzled and Katie could not read Theodore's expression at all. He had stilled in the middle of the dance floor, staring straight at Daphne, and it was only when Susan gently touched his arm that he offered her a small smile and leaned close to whisper something in her ear. Susan nodded, then watched as her husband walked over and asked an old Housemate to dance.
The Nott Manor, tonight
"You don't look very happy to see me."
"I don't know why you think that."
"I can feel it in your shoulders," Daphne said, her arms resting against the distinct knotting of Theodore's muscles. "Relax; I'm not here to cause trouble."
Theodore wasn't quite sure he believed her. "Then what are you here for?"
"I love this song. I don't think I've heard this since we were in school."
"Daphne."
"So believe that magic works; don't be afraid of being hurt," she sang softly, her voice low and lilting. She lifted her face and met Theodore's gaze, letting the band sing the rest. "I miss you, Teddy. You never come and see us anymore."
"Your sister threw five different heirloom vases at me and told me never to be within a hundred feet of her if I valued my life."
"She didn't know any better. But I do."
"Why don't we talk outside?"
"Would she mind?" Daphne asked, cocking her head towards Mrs. Nott.
"No," Theodore said, taking her arm and guiding her to the doors that opened out into the garden. There was a spot just behind an oak tree, obscured by some plants but not too far from the ballroom. He could still hear the music, however faint.
"That's awfully naive of her," Daphne murmured. "If some witch waltzed into my own party and took my husband out alone, I'd be five steps behind them."
"She trusts me."
"Will she ask why your wards still let me in?" Daphne leaned back, resting her weight against the tree.
"What is this really about, Daphne?"
"I'd wondered that many times myself. You've always been a smart boy, Teddy. You were always a step ahead of the rest of us. You missed nothing." Daphne sighed. "And yet--"
"And yet?"
"You couldn't have forgotten the summer before fourth year by accident," Daphne said. "I thought maybe Astoria or my mum had hexed you to forget, but neither of them knew, and their spellwork can be very shoddy. Nothing like Daddy's at all, and maybe Daddy could have, but--" and here Daphne gave a sharp laugh-- "dead men don't curse."
"I'm sorry about your father."
"Don't be. That isn't on you, for once." Daphne looked up at Theodore. "But riddle me this, Teddy: Blaise said but a word and you were able to show the Ministry where the Zabini hoard was. We spent a summer's day in that room and not a hint in any of your testimonials?"
Theodore remembered that summer all too clearly: the humid air that had driven them indoors, the dares and chases and the rush of blood through his veins every time Daphne's eyes met his. The way they stumbled into that secret room, the jolt through his senses when Daphne's hand sought his. "Your father had passed, your mother was grieving. Your family didn't need more problems," he said instead.
"You could say that for everyone else, yet you didn't think twice about selling them off for your own freedom."
"I didn't intend to--"
"So I wondered if there was something else up your sleeve," Daphne concluded. "A reason behind protecting my father's valuables. You know I haven't gone in there since fourth year? It is quite the treasure trove, but I'm sure you knew that already."
Theodore's eyes widened. "No. Daphne, you've misunderstood."
Daphne's eyes gleamed. "But I found it, Teddy," she whispered, impossibly delighted. "I found the Book."
"What Book?" Theodore asked, though there was only one that would have interested the Dark Lord.
"That's what you wanted me to see, wasn't it? That's what you wanted to protect in that room, right? Oh, we'd make everything right again if we could just bring him back--"
"I wanted to protect you," Theodore said. "Daphne, for Merlin's sake, leave that room alone. It isn't--"
"Don't deny it now!" Daphne hissed. "Don't tell me you went through all of this-- that you betrayed us and married one of them-- because you wanted to."
"It was the right thing to do."
"Bollocks! Then why didn't you turn me in?"
"Because you were innocent! And I couldn't-- I didn't--"
Daphne raised an eyebrow. "Nobody was innocent. You were just blind," she said coolly. "And maybe I had been as well."
"What do you mean?"
She shook her head. "I wanted to do this with you, Teddy. I thought I would. We would have made Daddy so proud."
"Daphne, please--"
"But thank you. Whether you intended to or not, you showed me exactly what I needed to do." Daphne moved closer, standing on her tiptoes as she pressed a kiss to Theodore's lips.
"Daphne--"
"Be well, Teddy," Daphne murmured. "If you change your mind, you know where to find me."
A skipped heartbeat later, she was gone, leaving Theodore with a dry throat and a gut-wrenching feeling in the pit of his stomach. His head was swimming in a million desperate thoughts, and he needed a drink, or some air-- anything-- to clear the one thought that wouldn't leave his mind.
She had tasted like summer.
Note: Magic Works is an actual song, which I didn't find out until I went to see whether The Weird Sisters had a discography of any sort. They did, and the full lyrics can be found here.
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Date: 2014-01-21 05:40 am (UTC)