DISCLAIMER: All JK's. Not mine

February - heart

"I thought when you said we'd be helping him-"

"Crabbe, thinking has never been your strong point, so why bother. Just do as I say and-"

"Malfoy, be quiet and pay attention!"

Theo suppressed a smirk as the ferret turned red, and twitched back to his spot, avoiding Professor Snape's eyes as they flashed in his direction. That's strange, thought Theo as the Apparition Instructor began his wheezing diatribe again. Yet now that he thought about it, Snape hadn't been spoiling Malfoy in potions recently, and Draco had almost ceased the butt-kissing routine that had become standard for him and their head of house.

Jerked from his musings as a scramble for hoop positions began, Theo placed himself behind Crabbe, who was again arguing with Malfoy. "-nearly run out. You can't expect us to do it forever. How-"

"I don't know how much longer, all right? It's taking longer than I thought it would."

Curiouser and curiouser. What's the little amateur Death Eater up to now? Theo leaned in a little trying to catch every word. Glancing to his right, he nearly did a double-take when he noticed Potter, who had somehow wormed his way into the midst of the Slytherins, unconsciously mirroring his actions.

"- keep a lookout."

Lookout? What was-

"I'd tell my friends what I'm up to, if I want them to keep a lookout for me."

It took all of Theo's Slytherin restraint to stop himself from crucioing Potter there and then. Stupid, oafish, thickheaded Gryffindor! Just had to open his stupid mouth and drag all the attention to him. If he'd just stayed quiet then Malfoy might have let something slip, assuming that only Slytherins would be able to hear. But now he knew "The Chosen One" was standing behind him, Theo doubted that his tendency to boast would outweigh the possible dangers of an enemy overhearing.

Full of frustration and curiosity, Theo was unable to focus on apparating the five feet to his hoop, despite having managed the feat at his home during the previous summer. Still, he decided, as they trooped back down to the dungeons, it was probably better that no-one knew that he could apparate. After all, no-one else had managed it either. Not even Morag, despite being considered an expert after being side-alonged everywhere by her parents who didn't trust the Floo network, or muggle transport.

Back in the common room, Theo slipped into a chair near the fireplace, grabbing his half-finished potions essay that he had started the night before.

"Potions?"

Theo glanced up at Malfoy, and jerked his head in the positive.

"Mind if I borrow your book? Just need to look up the effects of crushed shrivelfig in ageing potions and then I'm done."

Without looking, Theo tossed over his copy of Advanced Potion Making, which turned out to be a mistake.

Theo, when studying, had a tendency to skip from a bit of this chapter here, to a side section there, and therefore had a good half a dozen pages bookmarked with scraps of parchment at a time. While airborne, one of these slips fell out, and was swooped upon by Parkinson who immediately noticed the shape of the vines that Theo had failed to see in the month that it had been in his possession.

Waving it above her head, she announced loudly "Oh look, Nott's got himself a girlfriend. How sweet, a snake and a raven in a heart. Please tell me it's not that MacDougal cow. She thinks she is so good at everything."

Blaise snatched it with glee and examined it, before flicking it to Malfoy, who gave it a perfunctory glance, then waved it away, once again facing Theo.

"MacDougal…that's Tom's cousin right? Pureblood?" Theo nodded twice, and Malfoy turned back to his essay, disinterested. "Could do worse."

Deciding that trying to convince them that she was not actually his girlfriend was a pointless effort, Theo scribbled the last line of his essay, gathered his belongings, and swept down to the boys dormitory, reclaiming the drawing from Blaise as he went past with a stinging hex.

"Better hope by tomorrow morning her teeth aren't grown past her chin, runt." Theo ignored Zabini's threat. After all, Morag could take care of herself against a moron like him. And if not, Theo would pay him back. Eventually.