A/N: You guys! I can't believe how many of you have followed/favourited/reviewed this story already! Thank you!
A very small section of dialogue in this chapter has been taken from HBP.
" – and you'll never guess who Potter asked to Slughorn's party," Daphne told him, the air of scandal permeating from her just as it always did when she was subjecting Theo to the latest gossip. She let the statement hang in the air between them as she raised her goblet to her lips, and arched a delicate eyebrow for dramatic effect.
"I don't care, Daph," Theo told her honestly, far more interested in the contents of his cottage pie.
Daphne clicked her tongue and gave him a disapproving frown for spoiling her fun, but Theo knew the knockback wouldn't last for long. Sure enough, no more than three seconds later her expression regained its former enthusiasm. "Loony Lovegood," she revealed with a small giggle. "Can you believe it? And here I thought the Chosen One couldn't sink any lower in my eyes," she said scathingly.
Though Theo showed no reaction to her words, he certainly shared her low opinion of Potter – and no bizarre pact with his curly-haired best friend was going to change that.
For the fifth time in less than six minutes, his eyes involuntarily flicked over to the Gryffindor table to seek out the object of his thoughts, but she looked no different from the last time his gaze had strayed over to her. Granger was sat on her own, completely isolated from the fifth years on her left and her fellow sixth years on her right. He took a bite of mashed potato, wondering what she had done to leave her ostracised from the rest of her housemates – it couldn't just be because she'd fallen out with Weasley, could it? The whole house wouldn't turn on her for something so ridiculous, surely? But, then again, Gryffindors were derided in Slytherin for their hot-headedness and being overly emotional.
He told himself that he didn't care about Granger's well-being (because he really didn't) and that he was more irked by the hypocrisy of a house that claimed they were paragons of loyalty. Not even Potter was sat with Granger despite all the shit she was rumoured to have gotten into for him over the years. What an ungrateful prick.
He tuned back into Daphne's chattering in time to hear her repeat what a Ravenclaw had told her about the suspected guest list, and he noticed a definite hint of jealousy in her tone.
"You could have gone, Daph," he reminded her but she scoffed and flicked her golden hair over her shoulder.
"As if I'd go anywhere with Blaise 'vanity personified' Zabini," she sneered, sending a disapproving glance along the table to their housemate. "I want a date that can't take their eyes off of me not their own reflection in every shiny surface they can find." Theo choked a little on his mouthful of juice at her words and she grinned at him, before shrugging her shoulders indifferently. "Besides, if I went I'd miss the last night we're going to have together for two weeks – and that would be completely unacceptable."
She smiled at Theo warmly and his cup paused on its journey back to the table, a slither of guilt curling in his stomach.
"Daphne, there's…" he began to say and his eyes, once again, unconsciously darted over to Granger. Unlike all the other times he'd looked her way, she now looked troubled and her gaze was focused on something a few seats along her table. Theo shifted his gaze slightly and saw at once what had annoyed her: Lavender Brown had arrived and she was currently stuffing her tongue down Weasley's throat. It was quite nauseating. His eyes slid back to Granger and he was mildly startled to see her looking back at him, a determined expression on her face.
"Theo!" Daphne's sharp tone brought his attention back to her. "What's got you so distracted?"
"I'm sorry," he replied, getting to his feet as she looked over her shoulder to try and locate what he'd been focused on. "I'll talk to you later."
"What?" she said in alarm, turning back to him. "Where are you going? You haven't even finished your dinner!"
"It's fine," he said distractedly, "I can eat something later."
It was possible that Daphne called his name again but Theo's attention was now fixed on the upper end of the Gryffindor table, watching as Granger approached her fellow sixth years. The Patil twin noticed her first, breaking off her conversation with Potter and fixing an overly enthusiastic smile on her face as she greeted Granger.
Theo was wryly amused at the lack of subtlety his date possessed when she matched Patil's bright smile and greeting. "Are you going to Slughorn's party tonight?" Granger asked the girl.
"No invite," Patil replied gloomily. "I'd love to go, though; it sounds like it's going to be really good. You're going, aren't you?"
"Yes, I'm meeting Theo at eight and we're going up to the party together." The stupefying effect these words had on the Gryffindors in earshot was satisfying to Theo's gaze, so he could only imagine how much it was enhanced for Granger – especially when Weasley pulled back so abruptly from Brown she almost fell to the floor.
"Theo?" Patil repeated, her face a mixture of confusion and disbelief. "Theodore Nott, you mean?"
"That's right," Granger said brightly, probably relishing the dumbfounded look on Weasley's face. "The Slytherin who's top of his house."
"The one whose Death Eater father tried to kill us at the Ministry?" Potter asked incredulously, looking at Granger as though she'd gone mad. Behind him, a redness was creeping up Weasley's neck in a shade that Theo felt confident in predicting would clash horribly with his hair.
"Oh, Harry, you know we should never judge someone by their relations," Granger gently rebuked him. "The actions of Theo's father don't have any bearing on who he is as a person." Theo tried not to react to her words as he knew that they were said purely for the benefit of pissing off Weasley, but it did sound very strange that the voice that he was so used to hearing recite the text book now defending him to her friends.
Weasley's entire face was now so red that it appeared as though it was about to explode and Potter looked like he wanted to argue Granger's point, but Patil spoke first, leaning forward eagerly with wide eyes. "So, are you going out with him, then?
"Yes, she is," Theo announced, his approach undetected by the Gryffindors because they'd been so focused on Granger's astonishing news. "Not that it's any of your business, Patil."
If anything, Theo's presence and subsequent confirmation of Granger's claim only stunned the Gryffindors even more and there were a number of dropped jaws as their eyes took him in. Granger beamed at him and he let his amusement at the situation morph his face into a more pleasant expression than he usually wore.
"Do you want me to show you the book I told you about: the one I used to complete our arithmancy homework?" he asked her, pretending to ignore the gawking lions all around him. "It doesn't have the same applications as Laxman's method but it should help you to resolve the Euripium theorem that Professor Vector told us about."
Granger's smile took on a hint of mischief at his words for they had been utter nonsense – not that any of her idiotic eavesdropping 'friends' would have the faintest idea. "I'd love to see it," she said enthusiastically. "We'll have to be quick, though, if we don't want to be late to Slughorn's party."
Theo shrugged, as though the party everyone else was desperate to attend wasn't at all interesting to him (which was actually true). "That doesn't matter," he said casually, "I know you'll love this book. Here, let me." He reached out and pulled the strap of her bag off her shoulder and onto his own, before extending his other hand out towards hers.
There was almost a collective holding of breath as the students around them goggled at the sight of a Pureblood Slytherin holding out a hand to a mudblood. It was a step beyond what Theo had anticipated he would be doing when he'd approached the Gryffindor table, but the sight of her moronic friends had provoked him to commit to his part.
Granger hesitated for only a moment, her eyes locked uncertainly on his, before her smile widened and she slid her fingers against his. The sensation of their skin touching, her fingers twining through his, was so strange for him that he was suddenly reminded of how long it had been since he had last experienced it. Emotions stirred deep within him that he had taken great pains to bury many years ago, and he fought to stop them from surfacing.
Weasley made a strange strangled sound, which was suitably distracting, and Theo gave Granger's hand a gentle tug to move them away. She looked over her shoulder, throwing her friends a breezy, "See you later," and the two of them departed from the incredulous Great Hall.
A/N Suffice to say, there will be more fallout from their little announcement from both houses!
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Red
PS Do you guys have anyone in mind when you picture Theo? I've always wondered what other people think he looks like...