A Matter of Propriety

Two: Cold hands, cold feet

He waited out in the chilly late October air, hands forced into his coat pockets, staring upwards at the strange monstrosity that had been a landmark upon the London skyline for the past three years. A frown crossed Theodore Nott's face as he sighed, lips quirked into a strange half-grimace as he tilted his head upwards. Yes, the muggles had been successful in building the famed London Eye, but it was still a far cry from some of the amazing things their own kind had seen in the parallel world where true magic existed.

He would have continued to look upwards had he not been interrupted by a voice from behind him. "That's funny. I could have sworn you never took a day off." Padma Patil visibly shuddered at the chilly wind blowing from the north, frowning lightly. "Chilly autumn, I must say," She added as she wrinkled her nose slightly.

"I don't," Nott replied easily, a light smirk crossing his lips as he glanced at her from the corner of his eye. "Funny, I could've sworn you never took a day off either."

Padma snorted lightly. "Only the afternoon," She replied as she glanced upwards at the Ferris wheel. "Well, c'mon then, if you want to ride it…" He followed behind her as they paid for their tickets (though Nott insisted on paying for Padma), finding themselves squished into the room-sized box with another couple. The box swayed a bit, Padma pressing her nose up against the glass as they began to move up and up into the sky. "Look, you can see all sorts of stuff from up here."

"What'd you think we were going to see?"

Padma couldn't tell if he was teasing her or not as she simply shrugged her shoulders, keeping her back to him and the others in the car. "I'm assuming you didn't have a huge case load to deal with today, since you managed to get away from the office?"

"Nothing that couldn't be done another day," Nott came to stand just beside her, peering down at the city below them. "I was just surprised to see you taking time off. Last time I checked, you didn't take time away from the hospital."

Padma made a face in the glass. "I suppose I was just sick of being there today. I don't know really—I know Parvati would have a field day to know I was off attempting to have a social life. She worries I'm not doing enough for myself and I keep telling her I'm just fine but she insists on making sure I have something to do when I'm not working."

"She must love you a lot," Nott mused aloud as he watched Padma out of the corner of his eye.

"Yeah, she does," Padma sighed as she turned around to face him, arms folded across her chest. "I mean, having a twin means we share this bond, I guess, and it's great sometimes but not so great at others, if you know what I mean."

"Actually," Nott said after a moment of thoughtfulness, "I don't." He paused a moment before he continued in a softer voice, uncomfortable with the idea of the others in the car listening to this 

conversation, "I was an only child. My father was a driven man, enough so that he wasn't home often and I only knew my mother for a short period of time. The love you're describing isn't an everyday occurrence, sadly."

"Oh, I'm sorry." Padma gave an apologetic murmur as she glanced his way. To her surprised, she saw him frowning in response. "What?"

"I wasn't looking for pity," He grumbled in a clipped tone. "I don't need any extra pity."

"That wasn't my intention," She snapped back in a quiet tone, giving him a light scowl and a roll of her eyes.

"Good."

"Fine."

They were silent for another long bout of the climb up towards the sky. The car rocked back and forth slightly and Padma firmly planted her feet to the ground, refusing to glance back at Nott, who was also fixing his wounded pride. Yet a chance glance back gave her a different view; the couple that had boarded with them were off snogging in the corner of the box. Padma tutted, rolling her eyes as she muttered, "Figures."

"Why's that?" Nott ventured to ask after a moment, eyes trained on Padma.

"Everyone I know is managing to pair up," She said in a disgruntled tone. "No matter who they were before, they suddenly decided to pair up with someone and become a couple of sorts. I'm not sure how I feel about it." She sniffed before adding, "Well, that and it seems my family thinks I should be one of these couples, pairing myself with some nice boy." She paused before adding, "Well, a nice pure blood boy," She rolled her eyes, disgusted that her family had standards like those. Old fashioned is what Padma called it and she couldn't stand it, to be honest.

"Now, you're making all of these relationships seem like farces," Nott pointed out in an objective manner as he gazed out over London. "I may even go so far to say that you sound bitter."

"Well I'm not," Padma replied in an irked tone. "I'm merely stating that the idea of companionship merely for the sake of being with someone is a stupid idea and something I wouldn't entertain. Why should I be with someone merely because I want a relationship?"

"People do many different things without much reason or thought behind it," Nott argued lightly. "Some even go through great lengths to find companionship merely because they are lonely."

"Merlin knows I'm not going to be one of those people," Padma replied firmly. From the corner of her eye, she thought she saw a smile waver across his features but, when she looked, the expression had changed and the moment was lost.

The ride ended as the two of them exited off the Eye, walking down along the river. Padma shivered as a cold wind blew straight at them. "Cold?"



"A little, yeah." She nodded her head, arms crossing over her chest as she frowned against the wind.

"Let me…" Nott moved in closer, discreetly removing his wand from his coat pocket. Quietly, he muttered a spell and Padma found she was warm, from the tips of her fingers down to her little toe. "Better?"

"I could've done it myself, you know," Padma argued lightly, though she didn't seem displeased.

Nott only gave a strange, enigmatic smile. "I know."