Chapter Ten; I'll Be There (part one)

-Theodore-

Dim light streamed in through the olive colored curtains that hung in the Slytherin common room and shimmered against off a head of pale blonde hair sitting on its own at a table beside the window.

I scowled as her name registered in my mind and made a dash for the stairs but her head turned my way and the voice belonging to it caught my ears just before I could escape, "Theodore, come back!"

I turned back down the hallway connecting the boys' dormitory dejectedly to the common room and reentered the room, waving at Atlantis awkwardly. I knew she probably pitied me before but now she was the one in the rough spot. Sure, she was fresh and interesting, beautiful and popular, but there were quite a few nasty rumors swirling around her. Besides, Daphne had been giggling about the beating she'd been given at the quidditch pitch, and sure enough when my eyes reached her face now turned my direction waiting expectantly is was marred by a series of black and blue bruises. She didn't even try to hide the light cut which stretched from her left eye down to corner of her smile; she still looked beautiful.

I grimaced instinctively, "oh, it's not that bad, is it?" she asked as her cheeks flushed a soft shade of rose.

I shook my head and smiled—forcedly—"no, not that bad."

"You're lying to me Theo, you're a terrible liar," she groaned, burying her face in her hands, streaks of blonde filtered through her slim fingers.

I battled internally for a moment, wringing my hands together before taking the seat at her side and pulling her hands down gently, "come now, Atlantis, it's not so bad. Rumor is you took it like a champ at least, Quidditch is a bloody game." I scolded myself mentally the moment I'd touched her hands, this girl is trouble but she's just so damn pretty.

"It's not fair," she sighed.
"Life's not fair."

She shook her head idly and gazed out the crack of window the curtains didn't quite cover, the sun sunk slowly into the navy purple sky as dusk crept nearer, "at least I haven't been cut yet, I suppose Blaise is still looking for a legitimate excuse."

"Yeah he is, Malfoy's been pressing him to cut you without one but Blaise has been persistent that you need to actually do something wrong in order to be disqualified from making the team. Nice of him, really," I replied.

"I thought Malfoy liked me," she said wistfully.
"He did."

She raised an eyebrow curiously and allowed her eyes to shift back towards me, "…so now…what?"

"You embarrassed him."

"I did not!" she huffed indignantly.

I couldn't help but snicker, "but you did, you see. You didn't oblige therefore you rejected him."

"He's dating Pansy for Merlin's sake!"

She's cute when she's annoyed, her cheeks flush ever so slightly, her nostrils flare a bit and her eyes burn a little brighter. It was hard not to enjoy the sight of her, especially when her temper was rising, more specifically when she was fighting this lost cause. "Blaise is right; you really don't know how things work around here, and I think he may also be right when he says we overestimate you abilities, Waverly."

"Oh sorry Nott, I didn't realize I was speaking to Greengrass," she hissed through gritted teeth.

"I heard that," Daphne said as she breezed through the common room seemingly out of thin air, she so kindly spared us a distaining glance keeping kept her eyes dead ahead as she spoke, "cute face Waverly, I hear bruise is the new blush."

"Don't you have someone to be shagging, Daph?" I asked slight irritated, she turned towards us as her cold green eyes were slick with venom grazed over Atlantis and settled on me, disapprovingly. "What Daphne? We've been over this more than once."

"Don't you dare Theodore," Daphne snipped loudly, "I can break you down faster then the cruciatus curse! In fact I—"

"What the hell is going on down here?" Pansy interrupted in a harsh whisper with Malfoy's hand in her own.

"People are staring," he added.

He was right, for the first time since I'd sat down with Atlantis (which had only been a mere minutes ago) I looked around our growing social circle to see the prying eyes we'd captured. I sneered, "don't you fifth years have O.W.L.S to be studying for?"

"Theodore," Pansy murmured, "get it together, this is so unlike you."

Malfoy, not to be one that enjoys being left out of a good controversy, eyes glinted maliciously as he prepared to pounce "not really, little Theodore Nott's been a bit snappier than usual this year, he actually thinks he can stand up to me—oh Atlantis! Awe, is itsy bitsy Nott playing the knight in shining armor against the big bad Daphne? It's like quidditch isn't it, Atla? Always needing someone to protect you."
"That is what beaters are for, isn't it? Protecting the team by harming others, and by others I don't mean your own players," she retorted as Draco clearly struck a nerve.

Pansy shifted uncomfortably and looked around the room which had seemed to shrunk 5 times its original size, Malfoy opened his mouth probably ready to retaliate, but I eagerly beat him to it, "Pans, you're just going to let him talk to your best friend like that?"
"Best friend!" Draco and Daphne exclaimed in unison, glaring at Pansy.

"I thought we discussed this days ago Pansy, you can't be socializing with a misfit, even if she is from Slytherin. She hangs out with outsiders, first Ravenclaws, next Hufflepuffs and then god only knows—she's on the road to palling around with St. Potter," Malfoy spat bitterly.

"Pansy…?" Atlantis asked softly, her blank expression masked her eyes and facial expression but her voice nearly betrayed her.

Pansy looked frantic as her eyes darted back and forth from Atlantis and Draco, even Daphne stood beside her with her hands on her hips, "I don't know! I don't kn—"

"I think you've all attracted enough attention to yourselves for the evening, and dinner has yet to even be served," said the smooth, familiar voice of Blaise as he sauntered around our group, circumambulating the circle until coming up behind Atlantis as she was the only one remaining in her seat—I'd shot up furiously at once as Draco began running his mouth, I'd hate to agree with Moody but he was right, Malfoy is a weasel. He placed his hand on Atlantis's shoulders as he glanced at each of us, she tensed visibly.

"Well maybe that's not such a bad idea," Draco said nastily, he opened his arms and took a step back, his head swiveled at the rest of the room, students sitting and standing pretending to do something else but stealing looks at us and keeping their conversations hushed to a minimum. "Maybe the rest of the house needs to know what kind of company their fair Atlantis is keeping and that Nott seems to think that that's perfectly ok. Next thing you know he'll have us eating our feelings out of a tub of—"

"That's enough, Draco," Blaise said shaking his head.
Malfoy glared at Blaise with so much strength I thought he might strain a muscle in his eyes, but he didn't mutter a word.

"Glad that's settled. Now, who's for dinner? I hear the Elves have prepared a special feast of behalf of Dumbledoor's birthday."

"What do you want Theodore? Couldn't you just tell me how disgusting you think I am and get it over with already without following me into what I thought was the only safe place in the school?" Atlantis said in an exasperated tone.

"Shut up—"

"Shhh!" Madam Pince shushed us from across the room, I waved my hand as a mock apology before taking Atlantis by the elbow and leading her behind another tall row book shelves further towards the back.

"I'm not sorry for 'overreacting' about you gossiping about me with the other girls because by now you should know what it feels like," I sighed.

She leaned back against the bookcase, her shoulder blades covering multiple battered copies of 'Hogwarts, a History', "I don't even know what people say about me…"

I shrugged her off, not wanting to be barer of bad news, "I hear there's only a couple tryout dates left for quidditch."

"Yeah, one more hell week. Yayy," she replied unenthused, "and now I don't even have Pansy to pretend to root for me."
"I'll be there."

"No you wont," she said looking at her feet.

I moved my arm to the side her face and propped myself over her against the book shelf, "I'll be there."