Theodore woke up the next morning feeling unfulfilled. He didn't like this feeling much, because it made left him with an extremely empty inside, and he doubted very much that a good breakfast in the Great Hall would help much at all. Whether or not going to the Great Hall would cure his emptiness, he was so used to his morning routine that he didn't have a second thought until he had sat down at the Slytherin table. A few seats down from him was Draco Malfoy, who was incidentally trying to fight Pansy Parkinson off his lap, without actually hurting her. This was another usual occurrence in the morning, since Pansy was an extremely stubborn and spoiled girl who definitely was used to getting what she wanted; but Draco was equally, if not more stubborn than her, so it was rather entertaining to watch.
"What do you want today Parkinson?" Draco asked her, his tone laced with rudeness.
"Just you Draco," She replied, flashing him her brilliant smile. Pansy was an extremely good looking girl, and she knew it, which was why Theodore had never been interested in her at all. She had sat herself right in the center of Draco's lap, and had wrapped both her arms affectionately around her neck. Theodore could see her running a finger across the nape of Draco's neck absently, he eyes narrowed carefully with concentration and determinacy.
Draco paused for a moment to consider this offer, because he knew that Pansy was a very pretty girl, but it only took him a moment to wrap his arms around her waste and push her off of him with ease.
"No Pansy, I've already told you," He said "No." He raised his eyebrows at him threateningly, and Theodore wondered vaguely if there was something more going on there then he had originally suspected.
Pansy looked mildly annoyed, but she turned defiantly and left Draco alone, eventually joining a gaggle of girls at the end of the table. Every so often she shot a look at Draco though, but he was too caught up in his own conversation to notice, and it looked like she took offence to that. Theodore, however, had caught Draco's eye more then once, and they simply exchanged solemn glances, and then looked away as though it was awkward. Theodore thought it was awkward, he doubted that Draco even gave the glances half a thought before moving on to the next topics with his friends.
Friends were something that Theodore didn't have much of. He only had one really close friend who went by the name of Daphne Greengrass. She was actually a sweet girl, and acted very shy around crowds, resulting in her rarely talking in the great hall, even to Theodore. She was one of the only girls Theodore had talked to that didn't have a desperate crush on Draco, or anyone for that matter. Theodore enjoyed spending time with her just because she wasn't another mindless drone following everyone else into oblivion.
It was at that moment Daphne sat down right next to him, or at least that was when he noticed she was sitting next to him; she was very quiet and could have been sitting there for ten minutes for all Theodore knew. He smiled at her in greeting, not wanting to force her into conversation in the Great Hall like he had done on many occasions, all of which Daphne looked like she was uncomfortable beyond belief. She nodded and smiled back, showing a row of pearly teeth, then looked down at the empty plate in front of her, embarrassed for showing that much emotion in public.
When Daphne looked back up she was a bit red in the face, but otherwise completely blank of any of the emotions she had just flashed towards Theodore. She took a small glance around the rest of the table to see if anyone else was looking at her, but no one was and this didn't seem to be a surprise to Daphne, since most people just ignored the fact that she existed.
Theodore could see why most students didn't even notice that Daphne was alive. She was a very plain looking girl, and she was very, very shy. She had extremely dark red hair that fell in waves over her shoulder. But her hair was so dark that it appeared brown from a distance, making her blend with the rest of the students. She had shocking brown eyes that were the colour of very old liquor. She usually wore very plain clothes, when she wasn't wearing the Slytherin uniform. And even the uniform fitted her so perfectly that she completely blended into every aspect of any crowd.
Theodore thought the fact that Daphne blended in so much was a pity, because if someone actually took the time to admire her amazingly red hair, or her dark honey eyes, or even stopped to talk to her, and hear her interesting outlook on life, they might actually be a better person as a result. But since she was so good at being a chameleon, everyone simply ignored her like a brick in a wall, except for Theodore.
Daphne took great care in eating a muffin out of one of the wicker baskets sitting on the table. Theodore watched her intently, with thoughts going through his mind about her apparent plainness, although from the outside, he looked casual enough to not seem strange for staring at her.
Speaking of strange, two more girls sat down at the Slytherin table at that moment, one of them being Elizabeth Lestrange and the other being Erin. The two happened to be fairly close friends, and Theodore rarely saw one without the other. Elizabeth, who hated her given name and her surname with a passion, preferred to be called Liz, and anyone who didn't do so would be in the hospital wing with several muggle related injuries. Liz was a very shocking looking girl, with violently violet eyes that were sharp, and darted in Theodore's direction during a lapse in the conversation between herself and Erin. She also had very long, very straight black hair that reflected any light shone on it with such intensity, it was difficult to watch her for very long without sunglasses.
Liz was actually very pretty, even if she was one of the skinniest girls in Slytherin. Her uniform hung loose off her shoulders, and Theodore doubted she ate very much, because he never saw her take any food during meal times.
Theodore broke his stare from Daphne to nod a greeting at the two girls, who he would be seeing later that night at Draco's little Death Eater meeting, but right now, nothing had changed between them. Erin smiled widely at Theodore and waved in a friendly matter, while Liz stared at him with her vicious violet eyes and nodded back at him very formally.
Once everyone had been seated, Theodore noticed that Draco was looking increasingly more uncomfortable, and he left shortly after Erin and Liz had arrived. Theodore thought if Draco was this nervous around the Spawn of Death Eaters now, then exactly how does he expect to survive being in a room alone with them in less then a day. Theodore did the calculations in his mind and figured they would be meeting in 15 hours time. This seemed like such a long time, to do nothing but wait for 10:00, but Theodore really had nothing planned for this miserable Saturday.
Theodore decided that he would tell Daphne about the meeting, even though she wasn't a Death Eater. He trusted her enough to know that she wouldn't tell anyone, and that she wouldn't judge him at all for going to the meeting. That was the great thing about Daphne, Theodore thought, she is incapable of hating anyone, since she always seems to find the good in everyone she talks to; although, to be fair, Daphne hasn't exactly talked to a lot of people, and that's part of her charm. Theodore admired Daphne's ability to hold her temper when a group of Ravenclaw's walked by, and one of them knocked Daphne in the head with their book bag, completely unaware of her existence. She just took a deep breath and exchanged glances with Theodore concerning the rudeness of some of the students at this school.
Theodore and Daphne seemed to have this connection, where they could just look at each other and know exactly what they were thinking. This was an accomplishment, considering they had only known each other for a limited number of years, and Daphne hadn't talked much in that time. But the fact that she hadn't talked much may be part of the reason they could nearly read each other's mind. Theodore figured that he had spent so much time trying to read her expression, and find out what she was thinking without actually talking to her, that he somehow learned how to read the girl. This ability did come in handy, since Daphne was really very quiet.
Theodore took a moment to steal another glance at Erin who was having a very animated conversation with Liz. Liz wasn't looking at Erin though, she was looking at Theodore. He knew why. Everyone was acting very strange today, well, everyone who had the dark mark prickling on their fore arm. Theodore knew it was because of their little get together that night, but he didn't feel this day would be any different then all the ones before it, and was rather annoyed by everyone's sudden interest is staring at him.
Finally, Theodore became bored or annoyed enough to get up, and inform Daphne that he was going back to the common room to read. Being done her muffin, she silently insisted that she go with him. He would have preferred to be alone, but instead, let himself be pounded into submission without even flinching. Theodore wondered why he didn't have the power to say no, especially to Daphne. He simply had too much respect, or pity for her to deny her the things she wanted.
So the two of them got up from the table and headed for the door. Theodore took one last glance at Draco, who was glaring at him, almost accusingly for abandoning the Slytherin Prince, but Theodore didn't really care. If Draco was going to act like he could handle everything on his own, then Theodore was going to let him. Theodore held the door open politely for Daphne as she passed by him into the very empty entrance hall. He shut the door quietly behind him and followed her down into the dungeons, in silence. Once Theodore thought they were far enough away from everyone to not be heard, he took a moment to convince himself that telling Daphne about the Dark Mark was a good idea, then he stopped her.