Susan/Theo. Written for The Golden Snitch forum: the Prompt of the Day. (dialogue) "When people act to chummy with me, I like to call them by the wrong name to show them I don't really care about them." Word count: 738

"Patty?"

Silence.

"Pat?"

Frown

Theodore Nott gave the girl in front of him a rather critical look, looking from the top of her head down to her shoes and ignored his wife, Susan frantically mouthing at him from across the table. His eyebrows narrowed in thought.

"Panda?"

Slap.

Theodore rubbed his sore cheek ruefully as the girl, offended by his name-guessing, pranced off into the party to mingle again. "Well, no need to be rude about it."

"Girls don't like being called a panda, Theo." Susan tried to hide her wide grin. Very much amused. Which slightly annoyed Theo because coming to this little party had been her idea and ever since they had arrived, he had been forced to try and remember classmate's names that he hadn't even cared to remember when he had been going to school with them. Except Harry Potter. He knew that one. Who didn't.

"I called you a panda once."

Susan rolled her eyes, "Yeah, and then you said I was cute or something. Girls forgive when you call them cute afterwards."

"And if I don't?"

Susan casually took a sip from her drink, "Instant death. Or pain."

"Any tips for avoiding them?"

"Since I'm your wife, I don't think it really matters."

"Right." Theo sighed, "You'd kill me anyway."

"It was in the marriage contract."

"Women are Slytherins at heart."

Susan laughed while Theo tried to survey the guests that had already arrived at this 'party' which mostly consisted of random married couples who had gone to school at Hogwarts together. Houses that you had been in didn't really matter to these people once they had graduated and married. A sign of maturing times. His gaze focused on the Weasleys; a bushy-haired woman and her red-headed husband were tallking to the girl who had pranced away from them. He tried to look closer at the Granger's stomach. These Weasleys...any day, another one was bound to be bo-

"Theo! That's rude. And don't you dare ask her if she is pregnant."

"Instant death?"

"Duh."

Theo grumbled to himself, "Too many rules."

"Thank goodness you love studying then."

He smirked at her, "Lucky me. I only plan on studying one girl, though." Now he was amused as her face slowly turned slightly red. "Not that Padma girl either."

Susan choked on the drink she had hastily drank to try and hide her blush, "You remembered her name?"

"I never forgot it." It's not like he forgot everyone. He remembered some people. Like Draco Malfoy, but that guy had said his name repeatedly during the six years in his dorm that Theo couldn't bloody forget the name, or the fact that the guy had a father, even if he wanted to.

"Then why...?"

"When people get too chummy with me,, I like to call them by the wrong name to let them know I don't really care about them."

Susan stared at him.

"It's a Slytherin thing."

"..."

"We aren't like you little social Huffle people." He wrinkled his nose in distaste. "You probably have billions of phonebooks devoted to people that you stay in contact with. The horror if the Headmaster of Hogwarts was a Hufflepuff. The walls would be filled with them."

"I'm impressed you know what a phonebook is."

"I like knowing the weapons that social mad people like to wield so I can avoid them for the rest of my life. Muggle or not."

"Oi. I invited you to this party to socialize."

"You invited me to what now?"

"Oh hush. Go study the girls."

"I plan too." He grinned, "One girl in particular, I believe I mentioned before."

"Panda?" Susan smiled innocently and lifted her glass.

"Please." He lifted his glass up to her in return, "This girl is a lot cuter than Panda."

Theo remembered faintly as he watched her try and gulp down a glass of wine in embarrassment, that since the day they had met, he had never forgotten her name nor tried to pretend he didn't remember.

Susan...

She frowned at him, "Okay, now you are staring at me. What's wrong?"

Theo shook his head and smiled, "You...just have a nice name."

"Uh, thanks."

"Much better than Panda."

"Padma is going to kill you one day."

"Don't be silly. Only you are allowed to do that."