Written for The Quidditch League Fanfiction Competition

Position: Seeker

Prompt: Hippogriff: Write about someone who is hard to approach but loyal when befriended.

There were many things taught within Pureblood homes. You were taught how to eat properly, walk properly, talk properly. You were taught that you were one of the best the wizarding world had to offer because of your family and blood. You were taught that anyone else without your pedigree was beneath you—unless you were in a blood-traitor family, that is. One that had turned its back on the pride of being pure and unsullied by Muggle blood. One that accepted half-bloods and Muggle-borns as equals.

Theodore Nott was taught these things. He was taught how to be a proper pureblood, how to network among his peers and attach himself to those sure to succeed if he, himself, wasn't that person. When he finally made his way to Hogwarts, he was told to go into Slytherin and make the right sorts of friends. Theodore knew that that meant the people who would lift him up alongside them. There were no true friends within Slytherin house in the first few years, only alliances.

It didn't take long for Theodore to find a place in Slytherin. His father had created the perfect group for him along with other the pureblood families that had followed the Dark Lord. He was grouped with Draco Malfoy, Blaise Zabini, Pansy Parkinson, Vincent Crabbe, and Gregory Goyle. Draco was, of course, the default leader due to his father's old position in the Dark Lord's inner circle. Theodore didn't mind, he was more the type to sit back and observe.

He had found that you learned a lot when you were quietly in the background. People stopped paying attention to you, stopped watching their tongues around you if you were silent and unobtrusive. He learned a lot in Hogwarts and not all of it was from the teachers. He had been taught from a young age about the ebb and flow in groups. How the power balance often shifted slightly. He saw it happen in the Slytherin common room as the seperate groups vied for top position.

He stood away from the others and watched the people around him, learning so many things. He watched the other Houses as well. He saw how the Gryffindors pushed each other around and laughed at the many jokes. How they stood to the defense of anyone they perceived in danger. He watched their hatred for Slytherin blind them to the individuals within the house that may not agree with the stereotypical Slytherin thought process.

He saw Hufflepuff's shrink away from confrontation but stand up and fiercely defend themselves if there was no way to peacefully resolve a situation. He saw the Hufflepuff house as more than the mere duffers that the rest of the wizarding world believed them to be. They preferred peaceful solutions, yes, but that didn't mean they wouldn't happily kill you if they felt it was necessary. Theodore avoided making the Hufflepuff's angry after he learned this.

Then there was the Ravenclaws. Those that were believed to be bookworms of the highest order. They were the knowledgeable ones and yet there were people within that house that were barely scraping by with acceptables. That was when Theodore learned there were different types of smart people. A Ravenclaw may know a million strange facts and know how to solve riddles, but that didn't mean that those facts were actually useful in a real life situation.

It was in his second year that he saw the strange girl. She was the one who truly opened his eyes to the truth of Ravenclaw. She looked as far away in her own little world as anyone ever could and yet she could stare right into your soul and tell you what was wrong. She wasn't the same sort of smart that the world considered Ravenclaw to be. She was an instinctive smart person, not book smart.

She was also being bullied by the rest of her housemates for being so unlike them. Theo tried to ignore it. Then one day she smiled at him and handed him a pumpkin pasty when he hadn't been able to eat. That was when he realised she had been watching him just as he had been watching her.

Their relationship continued like that for a few months. They would silently comfort each other with offerings of food or drink but never really speak. They would know when the other was in trouble and help if they could, but were never friends. It lasted until the Chamber of Secrets was open and so many people were petrified.

Theo himself was petrified—not by the monster but by the fact that there was something within Hogwarts that was doing this and the professors couldn't seem to stop it. Luna found him huddled up in the Astronomy Tower and said nothing, merely curled around him in a hug. He stiffened ever so slightly. Theodore was not used to hugs.

There was no hugging in Slytherin unless there was a reason for it other than comfort. There was no hugging in the Nott household at all. Luna didn't seem to mind, just ran her hand through his hair and continued to hold him loosely, giving him an easy out if he wanted it. He decided he didn't want it. He liked hugging.

They became actual friends after that. Luna had given him something that no one else had and he knew that she could use a little help with her housemates. Whenever Luna 'lost' something, Theo was there to help her find it. He researched ahead of the second-year curriculum and found the summoning charm that he then learned and taught to Luna. He snuck into Professor Snape's potions lab for potions Luna needed, knowing that Professor Snape would most likely blame Harry Potter for the thefts.

When, at the end of the second wizarding war, he was told to accept the Dark Mark from the Dark Lord, Theo hesitated. All his life he had been taught the virtues of the Dark Lord's mission, how he was doing what was right and just, and yet, he remembered Luna. She had hugged him, easily, without expectations. She had stayed with him even though he was from the 'evil' Slytherin house.

He knew he had no choice but to accept the Mark if he wanted to live, but that didn't mean he had to be loyal to the Dark Lord. Theo was loyal to Luna and Luna was loyal to Harry Potter. Luna had given him a friendship that he loved with all his heart and he never wanted to betray that friendship. The Dark Lord could torture him all he liked, Theo decided. In the end, it was Luna that Theo cared about, not the Dark Lord.

There were many things taught within Pureblood homes. You were taught how to eat properly, walk properly, talk properly.

You were not taught about friendship and how the love of a friend could make you strong enough to face down the most feared Dark wizard the world had seen since Grindelwald.