Learning to Make Her Smile
First Year
"Brocklehurst, Amanda" Professor McGonagall called from the front of the Great Hall.
Theodore Nott, tall for eleven and equally gangly, watched transfixed as an angel broke away from the mass of new First Years and made her way carefully up to the stool and Sorting Hat. Her face looked calm but Theo couldn't help but notice the way her hands shook as she sat down, clasping her fingers tightly in her lap. She hurriedly tucked a loose curl behind her ear and visibly released a breath as the hat was lowered onto her outrageous head of brilliant dark, auburn ringlets. Even at this distance he could see her eyes darting around from table to table as she listened to the Sorting Hat's commentary about her placement.
Theo heard snickering behind him and turned to see a platinum blond haired boy he knew to be Draco Malfoy whispering to a varied gaggle of the Sacred Twenty-Eight's Pure-blooded offspring. Theo turned back to the angel still under the Sorting Hat's scrutiny. It couldn't be? How could she be merely a Half-Blood? Theo felt his heart fill with disappointment as he realized that meant he would never know her. Never befriend her. Well, maybe with any luck she would at least be sorted into…
"Ravenclaw!" The hat cried and Theo's heart sank as Amanda Brocklehurst leapt off the stool with a wide, excited grin. Theo sighed and resolved to forget her. She was probably a terrible bore, anyway, even if his heart pounded at the sight of her smile.
Second Year
"And our final pair will be Ms. Brocklehurst and Mr. Nott. Give each other a few tries each before attempting simultaneous disarming." Professor Flitwick was instructing at the front of the class. Despite his best intentions, Theo's heartbeat thundered in his chest as the girl walked his way.
He had done his absolute best to ignore her but found that even a year later he was drawn to her. He noticed when she entered the Great Hall for meals. He noticed when she wasn't in class and noticed even more when she was. He had yet to speak a word to her but here was his chance. He hoped he didn't make a fool of himself but the back of his mind merely prayed that after this he would lose interest in something he could never have.
When she reached him she stuck out her hand toward him. "Mandy Brocklehurst." She introduced confidently, Irish accent ringing crisp and clear in his ears as her clear hazel eyes looked straight into his own dark brown ones.
Theo pulled his face into a look he hoped looked apathetic as he glanced at her hand and then back to her eyes. Theo slowly offered his hand to her and she gave his a surprisingly strong squeeze. "Theodore Nott." He replied his eyebrows lifting in surprise. In his circles he was used to girls who meekly offered the backs of their hands for a light brush of the lips not this firm shake of hands usually exchanged between the men. His upbringing told him to be appalled but the quirk he felt pull at his lips and the increased rate of his pulse told him he was not.
She nodded curtly, her curls bouncing around her shoulders as she did. "So, do you want to try the spell first or shall I?"
Theo shrugged.
"Better let her, Nott." Draco Malfoy laughed over his shoulder. "She's bound to need the practice."
"Excuse me," Mandy asked, crossing her arms over her chest. "But just what do you mean by that?"
Draco stepped away from his partner to stand next to Theo. "Why, I was merely implying that your breeding may… make the spell harder for you. I was offering a kindness. Give you a chance to get your bearings, you know."
Mandy's face blossomed into a bright shade of red that climbed up into her hairline and down her neck. She took a quick lunge forward toward Draco. "Expelliarmus!" She cried with a tight, precise twirl of her wand. Draco's wand went flying out of his hand and clattering to the floor a few paces away. Both Slytherin's mouths dropped open as they looked at her smug expression of triumph.
Theo watched as Draco glared. "Lucky shot." He grumbled and turned on his heel to collect his wand and return to his partner. As Theo watched him go, he felt his lips quirk up into a smirk at the realization that she was someone worth knowing. His odd obsession with her was justified.
Only to be immediately followed by a sharp pang in his chest at the recollection that she was Half-Blood, and despite her brilliance, he would not have the opportunity to do more than observe.
"So, you want to try first?"
Mandy's voice pulled him back and his eyes snapped to focus on her confident, smug smile. His heart swelled, if only that smile had been for him instead of in spite of him.
Third Year
Theo allowed himself to glance at his Potions partner yet again. He could hardly believe his luck as well as his misfortune. He was barely able to contain his excitement over the fact that both Blaise and Mandy's partner… Padma or whoever... were both in the hospital wing sick this week.
And so, there she sat next to him. She was checking the third step of the Shrinking Solution they had been working on and Theo had been fighting an internal battle with himself on whether or not to correct her mistake or let her figure it out on her own.
After she consulted the book and peered into her cauldron for the fourth time without moving on to the next step Theo decided to make an attempt. He cleared his throat and leaned toward her.
"You'll want to utter the incantation at the same time as adding the ingredients listed." He said quietly, looking about him for wandering Slytherin eyes. "That's why it didn't respond the first time you did it."
She looked up at him, clearly surprised.
"At the same time?" She questioned, eyes wide as she regarded him.
Theo could tell she was unsure if she could believe him but he nodded anyway. "The book doesn't say so, the instructions are rather obscure but," he shrugged. "That's what I did, anyway."
Mandy looked at her own potion and then leaned over Theo to look at his own brew. He held his breath as she did so, uncertain how to act with her this close to him. He glanced around the room hurriedly but his eyes were met by no one.
Her eyebrows knit together while her mouth puckered. "Huh." She said more to herself than him as she pulled away. She uttered the spell under her breath while she added the previously prepared mixture and sighed a heavy breath of relief as her potion took on the appropriate sheen. Her eyes drifted back to Theo with a bright smile spread across her freckled face.
"Thank you." She said rather breathlessly and Theo felt his chest inflate with pride both at his ability to help her and for the clear happiness and excitement reflected in her eyes as she succeeded. But Theo forced himself to shrug and reply "Welcome." In a noncommittal tone, turning his body back to his book, while keeping his eyes trained on her.
He would think about that smile for weeks afterward. Encouraging himself to concoct ways to inspire her to do it again and admonishing himself for wanting that in the first place.
Fourth Year
Theodore's eyes narrowed as he concentrated on the page before him. He'd been sitting in this back corner of the library for two hours now. The first hour had been incredibly productive, despite the fan girls surrounding and chattering around Viktor Krum who had been watching Hermione Granger since Theo had sat down. However, the second hour could not have been less productive than if he'd stuck around in the Slytherin Common Room to listen to Malfoy complain about Potter and his new status as a Triwizard competitor, again.
The distraction in question was sitting only a table away. Mandy Brocklehurst, the Irish Half-Blood from Ravenclaw House had sat down precisely an hour ago and had Theo's eyes glancing up to watch her every time she flipped the page of her textbook. Everytime she sighed with a shake of her head, letting her brilliant head of unruly red curls tumble around her shoulders, Theo found his attention drifting from his History of Magic homework.
Theo squared his shoulders and readdressed his homework with a renewed vigor. It simply wouldn't do to continue to stare at the girl. She was a half-blood, for Merlin's sake! It wasn't like he could actually pursue her. Kiss her. Touch her. Introduce her to his parents.
In his peripheral vision he watched as saw Mandy's form shifted in her chair and his eyes involuntarily flicked upward just as she finished tucking her leg under herself, settling her chin in her hand and pulling her small, pink bottom lip between her teeth.
Theo looked away quickly and snapped his book shut. Maybe the Slytherin Common Room was the place to be. Daphne would be there in anycase. Maybe she would be interested in him.
Fifth Year
Theo couldn't believe he had sunk so low as this. There he stood on a Saturday morning, watching Mandy Brocklehurst sitting in the library, as studious as always. However, Theo was not studying. He had been pretending to look for a book for about twenty minutes now as he watched Mandy turn pages, shake her head in disagreement, or smirk at the passages under her fingertips. She had the cutest, sweetest, sexiest little mouth he had ever seen. Every time her lips quirked up into that smirk while she read Theo felt his pulse quicken and his guilt simmer.
"What are you doing?" Asked a familiar, drawl behind him.
Theo sighed and pulled his hands from the volumes in front of him before turning to face his Housemate. "I'm looking for research project ideas for Transfig." He answered coolly, slipping his hands into his pockets and straightening his spine.
"Mmm. Is that what you're calling it then?" Malfoy sneered, glancing over Theo's shoulder to the brilliant red headed girl behind the stacks of books.
Theo's eyebrows knit tightly together in a scowl while he regarded the Slytherin before him. He remained silent as his eyes took in Draco Malfoy's body language, his facial expressions before turning back to the shelf and running a finger down the column of one of the books idly. "Why else would I spend my Saturday in this dusty dump of a room our pathetic excuse of a school calls a library?" He asked with a tone that would have made his father proud. Theo allowed his hand to stop on the book beside the one he had been originally considering and pulled it from the shelf.
"To pine after that Half-Blood Ravenclaw." Draco said pointedly to Theo's back.
Theo fought to remain relaxed and cool, even as his back sought to stiffen and his tongue urged to retort. But instead Theo turned slowly back to his acquaintance and opened the book to the Table of Contents without looking at him.
"Although, it is a pity. Her blood, I mean, she is incredibly fit, mate." Draco continued.
Theo knew what Malfoy was attempting and forced himself to breath, he allowed his eyes to glance up, his head quirking to the side with a light lift of his eyebrows in confusion. "Who?" He asked softly.
Malfoy grinned. "You know who, Nott."
Theo's face twisted into one of annoyance. "No. I don't, Malfoy. So, if you would please let me in on this little joke of yours I would be happy to-"
"Amanda Brocklehurst." Draco sneered. "You come in here every bloody day and watch her study. I've seen you. Don't deny it. You sit a table away from her for Merlin's sake."
Theo snapped the book shut in his hand and tucked it under his arm, schooling his face into a well practiced look of superiority as he looked down his nose at his fellow. "Now, why would I do a thing like that?"
Draco snorted and shook his head before glancing back over Theo's shoulder again. "Because you think she's dishy and you need to find a bird?"
Theo chuckled and shook his head. "Like I couldn't get a pure-blooded one, at least?" Theo scoffed. "I'm planning on asking Daphne to Hogsmeade next weekend, as a matter of fact."
Draco rolled his eyes. "A likely story mate." And with that he turned and walked away.
Theo released a breath and turned back to the shelf to find Mandy gone and her table empty.
Sixth Year
"Theo?" A clear but soft voice came from over his shoulder.
Theo looked up from his book in mock surprise and looked up at the object of his affection.
"Yes?" He drawled, feigning ignorance to why she was standing there. But of course, he knew exactly why. He was sitting at her table. He had come into the library early today just to sit at her table and force an interaction with her.
"Umm, I don't mean to be rude, but what are you doing here?" She asked, shifting her weight over to her opposite foot.
Theo lifted his eyebrows. "I'm doing homework." His eyes darted around the library a moment before bringing them back to her own skeptical gaze. "That is what you do in here, isn't it?"
Her eyes narrowed as she set her heavy bag down with a 'thunk'. "Yes, but usually you do it over there." She lifted her hand and pointed to the table that Theo normally worked at. It was empty.
Theo smirked. "Notice where I work do you?"
Her mouth set into a hard line and she braced her hands on her hips. "I work at this table everyday. So, yes, I've noticed that you work one row over which leads me to believe that you know I work here because I do everyday. So, again, what are you doing here?"
"Hmm." Theo mused, letting his smirk widen. "I just fancied a bit of a change in scenery. It's quite nice this." He lifted a hand to gesture to the surrounding stacks.
"Yes, well. I imagine that it looks just as nice at your usual table." She said and Theo couldn't decide if he wanted to laugh at that or be disappointed that she was trying to encourage him to move away from her.
He shook his head with a snicker. "You would think so, but I assure you. It's much nicer over here. But," He paused and pulled the chair out that she was standing in front of. "I'm willing to share."
Mandy glanced at the chair and then back to him. "What are you doing?"
Theo's eyebrows knit together and he tilted his head to the side. "Offering you a seat."
She took it silently and began pulling books and parchment out of her bag. She didn't look at him but Theo could practically hear the cogs whirring in her head as she attempted to figure out what he was doing sitting with her.
Seventh Year
Theo paced and paced outside of the library. He knew Mandy was in there. She always was.
He shook his head as he walked. It was crazy what he was planning. He could be disowned for what he was about to attempt but he realized he didn't care. He didn't give a damn, as a matter of fact. The more he thought about it the more he realized that this fact was true. He didn't care if his Housemates saw, his father, or anyone else. What did it actually matter? He'd been paying attention to her and wishing he really knew her for a majority of his life and occasionally convincing her to let him share a workspace hardly counted as getting to know her.
It was their last year of school. It was now or never.
He took a deep breath and strode into the library. His legs stretched to cover as much ground as possible until he came upon Mandy's table where he sat down without a word.
She glanced up confused. "Theo?"
He began unpacking his bag, unloading a few books and a scroll of parchment. "Mandy." He greeted stiffly, feeling his bravery begin to desert him under her gaze. But he didn't leave. He sat down and began opening books to prepare for the work to be done.
"Theodore."
Theo finally looked at her and cursed his lungs as his breath left him. "Yes?"
"Why are you in here on a Friday? You never work on Friday." She said, her lips twitching into a suppressed smile.
Theo noticed the movement and found himself vowing to convince her to unleash that smile. "Well, uhm, I was wondering what you were doing Saturday." He finally said.
"Saturday?" Mandy replied, she was clearly amused but Theo couldn't figure out why for the life of him. "You came in to work on a day you usually don't to ask me about what I'm doing on... Saturday?"
"Right. Saturday. As in tomorrow." Theo confirmed, watching her face closely.
"Well, I do homework, I go for a jog, and then I finish up my day with more homework." She said.
Of course, Theo knew that she normally spent every waking moment doing homework, this mention of jogging was a surprise to him.
"Jog?" He questioned and much to his annoyance she chuckled and nodded her head. But he was less annoyed to watch her eyes light up at something he said.
"Yes, exercise. I run for exercise." She clarified.
"Exercise." Theo repeated.
"Exercise." Mandy confirmed.
"What do you need exercise for?" Theo asked confused.
Mandy shrugged, her hazel eyes lifting skyward before fixing themselves back on Theo. "Stress relief mostly. I usually go when I've had just about enough of working and need to… blow of some steam, as it were."
"Steam." Theo's lips pulled into a small smile, his eyes crinkling at the corners.
Mandy nodded. "It's not terribly conventional of wizards to go running for the fun of it but I like the way it makes me feel."
"And how does it make you feel?" Theo asked, curious. In his world you ran out of necessity and not for any other reason.
The witch shrugged. "Free, I guess. Like I could just run and run and run and no one could ever catch up with me and I could just feel wind in my hair, see the green grass all around me and not have a care in the world."
Theo swallowed hard. This was the most he'd ever talked to her about something that wasn't related to school work. When he'd walked into the library a few minutes ago he'd had a goal on his mind but he hadn't anticipated this, these intimate details she was sharing with him. He felt greedy consuming them but at the same time he couldn't get enough and was unwilling to shy away from her offering of them.
"Why don't you just fly, then?" He asked her and she shook her head and rolled her eyes with a sigh.
"It's not the same. You don't really exert yourself on a broom. The broom does the work for you, you're dependent on the broom but when you run it's all you. It's the power in your own legs and the will in your own heart that pushes you forward and onward."
Theo nodded staring at her. The way her cheeks flushed in excitement while she talked, the light that made her eyes bright and the small, subtle quirk of her mouth into a smile. He'd seen watered down versions of her expression while she read something she particularly liked but he felt himself nearly falling over in awe of the full version.
"But anyway, I'm sure you don't want to hear about that." She finished and Theo found himself shaking his head in disagreement but she didn't seem to notice. "So, that's what I'm doing on Saturday."
"Well, maybe you'd be interested in taking a break from all that...I was actually wondering if you would go to Hogsmeade with me. We could go to Madam Puddifoot's…" He broke off as her face contorted. Her nose scrunched and her eyes rolled in disgust.
"Well, I'm not going this weekend. I have much more important things to do. We have NEWTS coming up, you know." She said quickly "Certainly more important than that pathetic tea shop designed to profit off of young people's misguided attempts at romance and intimacy." She declared, pulling her shoulders back as she watched him.
She was watching him for his response, he knew and he couldn't help the small smile that spread across his face. He snickered. Of course she wouldn't interested in a place like that. Even with the little he knew about her, he should have known that she wouldn't be the kind of girl to go on a date there.
"Alright. Fair enough. Well, if you were to go to Hogsmeade... with me, where would you be willing to go?"
Mandy fixed him with a strange look that Theo couldn't quite place. "I'm not going to snog you, Theodore Nott." She said frankly, leaning on her elbows on the table. "If you think you can… oh, I don't know, sweep me off my feet for a thorough snogging and then go back to ignoring me off in your study corner, you've got another thing coming."
Theo blinked. "So, Honeydukes then?"
Now it was Mandy's turn to blink. "Yeah, alright. Honeydukes."
Theo smiled with a nod and began flipping through pages in his textbook but he continued to watch her out of the corner of his eye. She appeared to be returning to her books as well, but as he looked her over he noticed a quick shift of her eyes from the pages before her, to him, and back again with a sweet, rose blush spreading up her neck and across her cheeks as she pretended to read.
Theo grinned knowing those blushes and smiles were all his and he couldn't help bubble of excitement that expanded in his chest. He couldn't wait to learn how to make her smile.