Title: Self-blinded
Author: Isil
Rating: G
Genre: Angst
Characters: Hermione/Theodore
Word count: 366
Summary: Hermione watches him, even though she knows he doesn't even see her
Disclaimer: Not mine, Rowling owns them.

It's the way he holds his quill. The grip is firm and precise, the motions graceful, the tip of the quill barely scratching the parchment. The lonely Slytherin writes just as silently as he moves around, like a cat lurking in the shadows.

It's the way she notices him in the library and vaguely remembers him from lessons. He is a nameless face, defined by the green and silver of his neatly knotted tie. He doesn't slouch in his chair but sits proudly, in a way that could be regal if it didn't look so natural. He's the very opposite of what she's used to in her own House, but he's not exactly the typical Slytherin either.

It's the way he doesn't even blink when they get paired up in Potions. Malfoy glares, Ron protests but he shrugs and starts moving his things. She's learned his name by now, and finds that she doesn't care. She sits by him and watches him move, long fingers, bitten nails but graceful nonetheless. He glances at her, an expectant eyebrow raised. She scrambles with the next ingredient and calls herself stupid. He doesn't even appear to notice.

It's the way he doesn't look at her. Well, he does, sometimes, but he gives her the same look he gives everyone else. His face is stony and his eyes pierce you, just enough for you to start feeling the pain, then move to something else, as if you're not worthy. No one is worthy, in his eyes, for he looks at Snape the way he glances at Malfoy or Harry, or even herself. She thinks he makes himself blind because he doesn't want to see.

It's the way she knows he could be better than her if he tried, but doesn't care. He cares for nothing, not even himself. After months of watching him and trying to catch his eye, he still won't look at her, still won't see her. He doesn't see the world outside, the war raging at their doors either, and after what she feels is the last look she'll ever have of him, at the end of the year, she realizes he probably doesn't even see himself.

FIN.